A good catalyst for movie watching is getting your wisdom teeth out. In the past week Ive had the time to see some real gems.

Gangs of New York- 3 names that can (almost) never do wrong, DiCaprio, Day Lewis, and Scorsese. Great period flick.

Snatch- I luv brits, and Guy Richie is one of the funnier ones. Super Duper.

The Godfather Pt.2- I had never seen this landmark trilogy, so I am making my way through it. Pt.2 is 4.5 hours, but it never drags.


Doubt- One of the best purely acted movies I've seen in a long time. Meryl Streep kills it.

The Resurgence. If you didn't already know about this website then its time to check it out.

http://www.theresurgence.com

One of the newer articles on TheResurgence is about reformed rappers and their community in Philly.
Checkout some of my faves:
Shai Linne (I have his album "The Atonement" and its good)
http://www.myspace.com/shailinne
Stephen the Levite
http://www.myspace.com/stephenthelevite

And check out their label Lamp Mode fo sum moe gud stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/lampmode

Trading blows.


You may have bruised His heel,

but as sure as He is alive today,

He will crush your head.

I have a coin collection. Yes indeed.

Yesterday I added a penny from Trinidad and Tobago that I got out of a Coinstar machine. Yahoo!

I'm a nerder for sure.

And I officially moved out of the Krippy Kreme house so I'll be in birmingslam until next saturday.

And I only have 2 weeks left at Mercedes and its getting very interesting everyday. Pray that the Lord would enable His servants to continue to preach and practice the gospel.

And thats enough for now.

Oh.....BTW

Got my ESV Study Bible inda mail and it's sweet. Like a solid 5lb brick of holiness. I was reading it on the steps of Gorgas and I swear people wouldn't get near me, lest I beat them into a bloody repentance with it. Got it on Amazon.com for less than $50, which it is $74 in stores. I'm gonna buy Clay one.

Speaking of Clay, he got into a bar fight this weekend and broke his hand. So its kinda ironic when he walks to break, with a bible in one hand and his cast from being stupid on the other. But I guess I cant say anything because at least he didn't get into a fight at a church.........


Yesterday we got to talk a good bit about the Lord and he was asking a lot of questions and the Lord enabled me to answer him with the Word and also some pretty good analogies. The Lord is working a lot in him but its still frustrating because he sometimes seems not even able to consider that his own logic is flawed, like he has never been wrong before, even when Scripture is crystal clear.


What I find most fascinating is his want for the law over the allure of relationship with the Lord. He continually asks what is ok to do, and what is not ok and I keep having to explain to him that we (he says he is a believer so I use we) are justified by our faith. I would argue that his chief love in life is his own "ignorance". He doesn't want to know any better, nor does he think any kind of enlightenment will help him. He is content to stumble about aimlessly until he finally get hung somewhere like trash in a river. But we know that he is not truly ignorant because the law is written on his heart (Rom 2:15) and he cannot hide from the reality of his own depraved spirit and mind and the Lordship of Jesus.

So I bought him a ESV study bible yesterday, and I'll surprise him with it on Monday.

Tonight I meet miss Stephanie, the skip in Mr. Parker's step. Can't wait.

Word of the Day I came across proofreading a colleague's document. He meant to say unwanted but he typed an "o" and spell check let it go. So I figured you might add this to your vocab.

Unwonted
Main Entry: un·wont·ed
Function: adjective
Date: 1553
Definition: being out of the ordinary : rare, unusual : not accustomed by experience
— un·wont·ed·ly adverb
— un·wont·ed·ness noun

This is what I'm currently doing TO work, AT work because of a successful cup of Seattle's Best.

Thank you Lord for coffee and nameless Columbian farmers.

Tally HO!

July 7, 2009: A Coffee Saga.

When I awoke, I knew. I needed coffee today.

So when I got to work, after my standard OJ and breakfast I decided to, instead of the house coffee, take my fill of a tall cup of Seattle's Best, the premium brew. Seattle's Best is very similar to Starbuck's but a little smoother-- good stuff. So I made my cup, poured the perfect amount of half-n-half, a little sugar and carried my steaming concoction all the way (several hundred yards) back to my desk.

First sip. The aroma of the arabica bean first, then the overwhelming burnt bitterness of a brew too strong for even Paul Bunyan to stomach. I remarked that I would in fact grow a large beard if I tried to finish the cup. So I proceeded to return their failure for a refund and settle for any coffee at this point.

Attempt #2. Filled my trusty "Go Green!" mug and filled up on the house coffee and made it and returned again back to my desk. Now, this coffee tastes the same everyday and it always suffices for my fix. But apparently their was a bandit afoot making HORRIBLE coffee brews to deny me any java this day. So you see even the coffee impossible to mess up was also too strong.

But I survived.

And I talked to Eric Parker and he gave me tha lowdown.....which was awesome. I love seeing the Lord bless with good gifts and to see people receive the gift with thankfulness.

Eric Parker, Tyler Campbell, Matt Makar, and Davis Ann: I thank you for your friendship so far this summer that has really been integral in the Lord's work of renewal in me.

Bless you all friends and raccoons alike!

Just ordered my ESV Study Bible. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. I'll have to blog about it when it comes in.

I just tried to cook what I think is a mouse out of the inner workings of my oven but I gave up. The rule is: dont make noises and dont crawl on Eric while he is sleeping, and most importantly stay out of sight. If they meet this criteria they can stay.


Well I ran like a wild banshee today so I am gonna shower the gunk off and sleep......like a fat baby.

Toodles.

You wanna get messed up?

Read this whole article and listen to the argument she makes.

Oh God, circumcise our hearts by the Gospel and let us carry your revelation and reconciliation back into the Body of Christ.

Tonight I got to hold a 7-week old baby boy and it was quite exciting. If you really think about it, babies live lives of complete contemplation for a great long while before they are actually useful for anything. Studying the intricacies for the human face, the ceiling, their own fingers, the reaction of mommy and daddy give when I make this noise.....etc. And if you sense some envy on my part towards them, you'd be right.

But when I got home I was struck with a thought by the Spirit. The Lord father must have such a time watching we, his babies, learn and develop. Yes, from the very beginnings of faith and the adoption process into His family as sons. As we begin to start and stumble. As we follow cookie trails that lead to His lap. Finding precious presents where and when we least expect them. Receiving His discipline, and being thankful for it even if it takes years. Rebelling and running away and finding out we could never truly escape His kingdom and the powerful love that forever changed our heart into something much brighter, something more like His own.

Perfect father, come and hold us now.

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."
Hebrews 2:14-15

micro-blog:

Just watched A Beautiful Mind for the first time all the way through and it really knocked me off my feet. Well done, sir!

Gotta get up at 3:45am and take Jourdan to the airport so he can fly back to Detroit and get his wife and kids so he can bring them here. So I am late to bed and its only 8:45pm.

Tomorrow is work and then to Juvenile Detention. There are so many that need the Father's love, and in that love, the hope, grace, and mercy that is Christ. His word will stand forever, and as the rain waters the earth, the word of His mouth will not return void.

Last night was great. Never been to a drive-in theater, but there are first times for a lot of things. Didn't see any teenagers making out but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Today we go back to the Jefferson County Juvenile Detention center for my 3rd time this summer. Ive been working with a guy named Ricky from Odenville. He is almost 18 years old and has been in juvi nine times. Yes, nine times. What has been such a blessing and a surprise is his openness to the Word and the enthusiasm he shows toward me for the truth. But in the same stride I've heard the story of how incarcerated people's faith is so incredibly hard to recreate on the outside. Someone told me a story (maybe it was on the TV), about a guy that mad a complete change in jail for like 20 years and was ordained and became the jails honorary preacher and was just a good guy, but not long after he got out he was back in jail for a non-petty offense. There are success stories though. Bobby Fox, a brother in Christ a couple years older than me, who was so influential in my journey of faith(and still is), was serving two years in youth jail when he found the Lord and began to burn so brightly even to this day.

What is exciting is the hope that these broken vessels, these no good, mostly fatherless children will be made whole into whole men who carry the mystery of God inside. Chosen when foolish to be made wise before the Lord. Accursed before man, now blessed in the Kingdom of God. From mostly good-for-nothings dads, to now adopted by the Father in heaven who has given them an equal inheritance in His will.

Unrelated: the National Sacred Harp convention in Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in bham and I'm thinking about checking it out Saturday. Check the link if you don't know what I'm talking about and get back to me if you might want to go listen for a little while. http://www.awakemysoul.com

Earlier today I was somewhat considering a lyric talking about reaping what you sow. It was in the context of sin and I was thinking about how my life has seen this worked out in many, many, many ways. But this in the bigger discussion I have been having internally in what it means to "sow to the flesh" or to "sow the Spirit" in which Mr. J. Rizzo says in a song "I am doing one or the other all the time". Then today I was given a tiny, yet lovely revelation:

I was doing my thing at work and there was a a wild over grown area near our ponds filled with ripe blackberry bushes. In the midst of all these I seemed to find the bushes with the biggest clusters and proceeded to have my fill of the good fruit. I thought, "What a treasure just for me!" And the Lord seemed to say,

"Eric, see how the grace in My love is so good you have reaped where you have not sown? For that matter, no one has sown these seeds into the earth and watched over their fruits carefully but Myself, for they are wild.

Yet this is just a manifestation of a greater mystery: how you reaped a measure of My grace, and My mercy today, even when you sowed your portion yesterday into the flesh. Still greater is how you were unable to sow life for yourself because you were dead in sin but I sent my Son to sow it for you with his life and you have reaped the the most precious fruit, again, where you did not and could not sow."

Is this not so good?!?

Can I quickly tell you how insurmountably thankful I am for the Body of Christ and how being apart of a community where the river from the throne is flowing and refreshing is just the greatest thing.

There is a great impostor in the world and it calls itself the church, the body of Christ Jesus, when in fact the spirit of the anti-Christ is its head with all its greed and control and faith in another gospel altogether. But when you read the scriptures and see the hope of the true church, set upon the rock of the Gospel of God, and experience the true reconciliatory and spirit-building power, it truly is unsettling in its perfection.

I still don't believe we have scratched the surface of what it really means to be THE BODY and to be as knit as closely as we need to be to endure the end, but Lord willing, I want to invest in this. Paul was so convicted of the supremacy of the local church that he said of casting out members of the church until they repented being "handed over to Satan" for "the destruction of their flesh" (1Cor5). Beloved (IHOP humor), we need this kind of conviction in our own hearts for the importance of the working of His holy church.

A case of the awkwards. We all get them; some more than others.

Sometimes it can be in a "cute" way, like a first date or receiving a reward or a nice compliment. Or it can be in a horrible way, like (this has never happened to me I promise but I live in constant fear it will) on a crowded elevator, a sneeze uncontrollably causing an audible flatulence and having to ride several more floors while people do their best to, or not to, control their reactions.

Did you feel that? As you recoiled away from the screen, turned your head, closed your eyes, gritted your teeth, and felt the bottom of your stomach clench, you felt it.

You tasted the pure essence of Awkward, baby.

Then sometimes it comes in another form altogether. I have what I like to call Chronic Acute Progressive Awkwardness (CAPA) and as you may or may not can tell its almost incapacitating to me and my daily activities. It goes beyond shaking a fist bump, copying your exact same sentiments as we say our goodbyes, or letting the silence lull between every subject of conversation. Its ingrained into everything I do even when I am alone. Even my closest companions: dogs, cats, and woodland creatures scurry away and attend to non-descript tasks when I come near.

I need give one last example before I sleep. Yesterday I saw an old friend at church and then when it came time to part I quickly decided that the needed end of our conversation should be an off the wall random fact about a person she didn't know. It was magical for sure.

Soon I will set up a Pay-Pal and 24/7 phone desk to recieve donations but until then keep your check books near.


peece.

I have an internal resistance to all things organizational.

Save me.

when at first you think you know...

you really don't. even in the most concrete things your life is built upon sometimes, many times, those things, even with its fruit abundant, are called into question by your own flawed reasoning.

a semester of many questions with many different answers.

assuredly, lets be sure.

(p.s. i slobbered on my keyboard as wrote this. congratulations to myself)

Rebirth: world of blogos

So I figured I would start a new blog, since my other one was chock full of stuff not meant to be seen by others.

And just for your benefit, yes you, the title means "If the Lord wills"

And the url: "emo 4 Jesus" is for Davis Ann and whoever else laughs condescendingly. One day you'll be sorry.

currently jamming: mewithoutyou(it's all crazy! it's all false! it's all a dream! it's alright)//Luke Wood(The Sound of War)//ISIS(Wavering Radiant)