Time to Write

It’s June 27th, 2017: 10:50pm.

We did a lot of random things today, but for some reason I feel the need to capture them all:
Woke up for a quick workout, walking & running stairs at the Kansas State Capital Building
Had smoothies for breakfast
Went to work while Carly stayed at home and took care of a few things and had a quiet time.
Met the new RV band director to hand over keys.
Met Carly at Brown’s Shoe Fit to try a couple pairs of sandals.
Went back to work for a few hours until lunchtime.
Had lunch with Carly at Subway.
Headed to SH to pick up my keys to my new classroom and buildings.
Went to Lawrence to buy some sandals, caught up with an old high school acquaintance.
Returned to Topeka and helped sister-in-law clean and organize her belongings.
Grabbed a quick dinner of salad and burritos.
Visited our friends Joe & Shelli to see how their week and new goals are going.

I didn’t anticipate leaving home and doing all of these things, but they were quite fun and quite fulfilling. I was encouraged by my conversations with the new RV director, one of my new bosses at SH, and of course in spending lots of time with my wife and other family and friends.

Truly felt like a refreshing summer day, while getting some good work done. Feeling thankful.

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Image

I start to sink in quicksand confusion
Fully aware of the life vest I’m wearing
The sand warms my bare feet with a haunting finality.
Will this suffocate me like they really say?

What if I embrace the slow descent
and find myself so drastically changed
That I cannot right myself again?
If I let go into the far-away darkness,
I’ll land somewhere I’ve never been before.
But will I finally really know?

I think of image.
Color upon color,
History upon brokenness.
These are things I think I control.
Yours is the mind I think I console.
To try and save us all.

But I’m also the only one that sees
Inside me as I slowly sink.
The sand slyly creeps upwards
Trying to silence this loud secret.

“These things you can’t control”
“These minds you can’t console”

“You need to grab hold of hope somehow.”

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Beauty of God

A friend said recently that we tend to look to far for God, or that we try and find him in places or contexts we assume that he will be. This is unnecessary. God is everywhere. He is among us. Around us. And by his Holy Spirit, in us. We need not look far to see his beauty.

Lately, Carly and I have been rising early to take walks in our new neighborhood before running off to work. This is something we did a lot in Lubbock, the better part of an entire year. We cherished the time together, and it helped us start our mornings off right – prioritizing our marriage and talking through all sorts of plans and issues.

Now that we’re in a new home with a new career, its been very hard to connect with God. I realized that if we could just turn our eyes toward God in our daily routines, we could find ourselves much closer to him. Those squirrels chasing each other up and down tree trunks…they’re having fun because God made them and allows them to do that. The refreshing fall breeze, cold and crisp in our lungs…that’s by His design so we might breathe in life.

Romans 1 says that God’s existence has been made evident in the history of creation, that is, everything. As many composers have quoted “The Heavens are declaring the Glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). While we can look to the natural world around us and not necessarily immediately understand that God exists and loves us, we can take our knowledge of the historical God, the historical Jesus, and the church, and see that every truth becomes truer in God. Indeed, God’s work in the world is evident in so many ways.

I’m thankful that I get the pleasure of morning walks. I get the pleasure of comfort, a wonderful wife, a rewarding career, sincere friends, loving family, and downright goofy fun. God in His goodness, beautifully ordains all this for his Glory and so that we might trust him more and more.

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