With Every Breath

My sister and her friend Abel recorded a version of the song, "With Every Breath". Abel is on the guitar and singing the male part. My sister, obviously, is singing the female part.

I listened to it last night on repeat. The lights were off, my eyes were closed, and the song just washed over me. The simple innocence of their rendition of this song is incredibly beautiful.

Enjoy!

Static in the morning

There's nothing like a little static in the morning to wake you up.

On the routine drive from Danville to Walnut Creek BART, I listen to The Candle, northern california's christian radio station. The stations I usually listen to are not appropriate for my 7am, half-awake stupor.

But once I get closer to BART, I start losing reception. The station changes over to some opera/little kid choir radio station. Usually I just wait out the static because I know the station will come back, but sometimes I'm stuck at the light for so long that I can't take the static anymore.

Today was one of those mornings.

Hobby: people watching.

I love people watching.

Since I commute on BART, I have many opportunities to practice this hobby of mine. Sometimes on BART, I wonder what music is playing in everyone's ipods. Are they closet Britney Spears fans or are they listening to Mozart to calm them down from a stressful day? And what books are they reading? Do they buy into self-help philosophy or are they enjoying a cheeky novel? I always wonder what characterizes the commuters riding BART from Walnut Creek toward San Francisco.

Every now and then I take the bus to a friend's place after work instead of BARTing home. I love this change of scenery because I get to watch different kinds of people. Instead of reading books or listening to ipods, the 72 bus riders are usually chatting, laughing, or arguing. I've also discovered that babies are more common on the bus than they are on the BART. So then, what characterizes the people who ride the bus? And why are they so different from those that BART?

Face Lift

In the spirit of transitions and changes in life, I've decided to turn over a new leaf and blog more.

I used to put so much pressure on myself to only blog about profound epiphanies or to write and rewrite something until it was eloquent and symbolic. However, I've learned that my random, often uncensored musings are the best.

So with this face lift, I hope to take off the pretentious mask I've been hiding behind and write with raw emotion. I'm not going to pretend like I'm always thinking about deep things.

More often than not, I'm thinking about how much I love the rain or I'm wondering what I should eat for lunch tomorrow.

The day the sky exploded.

She awoke to the gentle pinging of water on window and the flashbulb intensity of lightning capturing an image of the sky. Unable to fall back asleep, the quietness of the morning lured her into a state of consciousness. As the day's hiking activities were cancelled, her curiosity compelled her to explore the chaos developing outside. Armed with a Nikon D90, she chased the clouds away, fighting to save the sun. In the end,

were the trophies of her success

And yet, despite the victorious triumph over ruined hikes and a sad sky, the subtle mixture of despair and hope was the only thing that mattered. While fighting the chaos, yearning to earn her name on a trophy, the God of the Universe painted a reminder of her mortality in the western sky.

This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth." [Genesis 9:12-17]

This, my friends, is a story of hope; a story of renewed life.
Simply put, it's a story of the day the sky exploded.

Back to Basics

I'm a baby trying to learn how to drive without first taking the time to learn the motion of walking.

In my heart, I'm eager. Eager to go BIG for God, eager to sacrifice, eager to live incarnationally.

But what I'm realizing is that we need to be utterly and completely sold out to God on not just the BIG things. Obedience is not just to the ends of the world and to oppressed communities of the poor, obedience is waking up every day saying Jesus, may my thoughts, my words, and my deeds be glorifying to You today. Obedience is an active surrendering of the day-to-day yucky sins like pride, jealousy, lust.

Then one day, when we've become so used to this attitude of obedience, God will call us into something BIG for His kingdom and it will be so natural to say YES because we've been doing it all along.

I'm a big picture person. Ask any of my study buddies and they will tell you that I'm the one asking the "What does this mean?" question. I'm afraid, though, that the big picture without the details is never really complete. It's like one of those mosaic puzzles, a bigger picture made of lots of tiny ones. Without the beauty and the presence of those smaller pictures, the big picture would never exist.

So, as we desire to go BIG for God and to follow Him to the ends of the earth, let's begin by going back to the basics and surrendering every day, every moment to Him.