day 2.1 (i'm not that impressive)

I caught myself this morning feeling like I have to impress my old friends and I don't like that. I want to be real.
If I'm not that impressive than so what?

The saying is true,

"Better to be hated for what you are, than loved for what you are not"

In other news I have a 1996 jeep cheeroke now. I just spend the morning with my mother cleaning it. Hopefully it will make it back to Arizona.

day 1

Well today is the first day of my adventure.
I'm back in my home town of Gulfport, MS and I must say, its a little surreal being here.
Its the same town I spent 19 years of my life and it feels so different. Everything is faintly familiar, like waking up from a dream and trying to remember what happened.

Its a little scary being here and its a little scary realizing I will be driving 1800 miles in a few days.

I pray everything goes good on this trip, and I hope I still get along with the people I used to know.

instead of show

I found a song today that really is amazing.
It is by Jon Foreman, singer of Switchfoot.

It's really funny because Saturday Brandon & I had a discussion about church people and program minded churches. This song really kind of wraps it all up.
We have a friend who had a dream about people dying in a church parking lot and people stepping over them to go inside the church to paint the walls.
What do we go to church for? What are our motives? Do we care more about our rituals, traditions, programs, and our feel-good times than about people and actually going outside of our comfort zone & into the world?

Anyways, check this song out here.

I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your
singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands

Ah! let’s argue this out
if your sins are blood red
let’s argue this out
you’ll be white as the clouds
let’s argue this out
quit fooling around

give love to the ones who can’t love at all
give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all
instead of a show
I hate all your show

In Irons

I did an interview with In Irons for hxcchristian.com

Check it out

http://hxcchristian.com/47/yarrr-in-irons-matey

no place like home

I'm going on a trip back to Mississippi at the end of the month and I gotta say, I'm a little anxious.
I haven't been back since before katrina and I'm sure the town I left is very different.
But I'm also wondering what its going to be like seeing old friends. A lot of them I haven't seen or spoken to in 8 years. I've changed so much and I'm sure they've changed just as much. I wonder if I'll even recognize some of them. I wonder if they'll recognize me.
I'm a much different person that the one I was then and that in many ways a good thing.

another year

As I got older it just seems like the days, weeks, months, and years get shorter and shorter.
Every year I find it a little funny how people make resolutions that they never keep and say that this year will be better than the last.
Maybe I'm just a little jaded but it feels like every year is the same.
The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun.
We put our trust in a new year for our lives to change or we put our trust in a politician to bring change but in the end we are dissapointed because everything ends up the same.
I don't want to say life is mundane but I can be sometimes if we are looking for a lot of exciting events to happen. Life is lived in the everyday, not with a lot of high points and will be exciting if you look for all the little things.
I'm hoping with this new year I become closer and more in love with Jesus. Real change only comes through him though, not through a new year or change in the political world. Look more for His mericies which are new every morning.