reaching the clouds

They point up to the cloudless blue sea-
imperfect symbols of desert
flying by amidst not much else.
To be left standing
under the midday sun.
And we were halfway to Tucson,
as if it really mattered.
They say it's about a journey, not a destination
but journey without destination leaves you in one spot
that you'll never pass without leaving.
And we found ourselves still only halfway there-
when we starting reaching the clouds.

We were in Chicago sitting outside a Starbucks when at a table behind us we noticed this man sitting there. Reading his paper and eating his sandwich. There was no 4 dollar coffee in sight. Oblivious to the world around him I can only imagine what he was finding so enticing in that day's news. Was he homeless? I don't know. Scanning classifieds for a job that demands only skills that he can offer? Could have been. He certainly didn't notice us taking his picture and I suspect he won't stumble upon this website surfing the internet one day... Filling his stomach occupies far too much of his time. He certainly has family, only whether he knows them I don't know. I can't even tell you if he believes in God or in the makers of fresh bread.

What he reminds me of is Jesus telling us who the blessed truly are. He often seems to still be saying today-- that one won't understand what being comforted is like unless you have mourned. The humble people are the ones who get to be part of the kingdom of heaven. Only the truly meek inherit anything worth mentioning. It's those who crave justice who will be satisfied with what they get. Those who show mercy in this lifetime happen to recieve it in the next. And if you want to see God, well, may your heart be like a glass of clear water held up against the sun, allowing the light in its full glory to shine upon your face.
And if the gate is narrow and it's holding onto things too tightly in this life that make it difficult to get through to the next, than what Jesus says about this man is true, that in all his poorness, despite whatever led him to be sitting there aware of only a half-eaten sandwich and folded newspaper, he is no further away from being a very, very rich man than something very, very simple.

by Frederick Buechner

The question is not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God's things or God's things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak -- even the walk from the house to the garage that you have walked ten thousand times before, even the moments when you cannot believe there is a God who speaks at all anywhere. He speaks, I believe, and the words he speaks are incarnate in the flesh and blood of our selves and of our own footsore and sacred journeys. We cannot live our lives constantly looking back, listening back, lest we be turned to pillars of longing and regret, but to live without listening at all is to live deaf to the fullness of the music. Sometimes we avoid listening for fear of what we may hear, sometimes for fear that we may not hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of our own feet on the pavement. But be not affeard, says Caliban, nor is he the only one to say it. "Be not afraid," says another, "for lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." He says he is with us on our journeys. He says he has been with us since each of our journeys began. Listen for him. Listen to the sweet and bitter airs of your present and your past for the sound of him.

coffee

varying degrees of coffee. black. a little bit of milk. a lot of milk. waaaay too much milk.

i would assume its Jesus and the twelve disciples.

sevilla

yesterday i went to seville. it came fully recommended and stays fully recommended. kind of like good coffee. i'll have it any time of the day. or night.

seville is three hours from where i live. going south. you hit the mountains on the way down there making the view downright nice after you get used to the flat scenary where i live. we left at 6 and arrived at 9 and had a quick visit to the dominican and colombian consulates which should tell you the nationality of my fellow travelers. the visit to the colombian consul turned into a longish one as they kept announcing that the person who had to sign documents would arrive in twenty minutes. several hours later and at 3 in the afternoon she showed up. looking sleepy. now that could be me being cynical and imagining things. or she might have been taking a lunchtime nap. fortunately for me i wasn't waiting for any colombian stamps and so i was free to roam about during the formentioned signature-awaiting session. during that i took in the real betis football stadium. a premier division soccer team. and sat there eating chips cause i was very hungry and it was very past my lunchtime.

one nice lunch later, some even better coffee and then some rain i had taken in a good piece of the city center. and the outside of an incredible cathedral. i believe i shall upload some photos of the place here shortly. a lot was left to see but it was time to go home. and it was raining. thanks to some hurricane from the caribbean. like a good appetizer it just left me wanting more. i'll be back though. maybe get to take in not only the inside of the cathedral but some flamenco music/dancing, un poquito de vino sevillano, and some more of their colorful, tight streets leading to who knows where.

en espana and your comment if you please

yeah im in spain now again after a 30 hour hiatus from new paris indiana to badajoz extremadura. working on something to reintroduce myself on here... should be posted shortly.


if you happen to check this- make a comment on the following comment in one way or another if you have an opinion:

"Life is a journey that we are all making... Or being taken on... But perhaps the older we become the more we are being taken and the less we actually making..."
-Choice

embarquation

its interesting writing knowing that really no one will read this post at the time of its postage because i haven't announced the re-embarking of not only this blog but several other things...

like spain. spain is being re-embarked upon. by me. starting tomorrow. unless of course you view embarking as something that is constant. so in that case i have been embarking back upon spain ever since i left. so tomorrow won't be the beginning, just another day in the journey. huh.

id like to make a commitment to write consistently. last time i made a commitment like that i went on to not touch that "novel" to this very day. so i think we'll go easy on the commitment front today and see if i can just put my money where my fingers type.

once i prove to myself that i truly have embarked (or perhaps arrived) upon (at) a new journey (a place) of consistent blogging i will let people know. until then may this post bask in obscurity.