symbols

Unfermented grape juice is a bland and pleasant drink, especially on a warm afternoon mixed half-and-half with ginger ale. It is a ghastly symbol of the life blood of Jesus Christ, especially when served in individual antiseptic, thimble-sized glasses.
Wine is booze, which means it is dangerous and drunk-making. It makes the timid brave and the reserved amorous. It loosens the tongue and breaks the ice, especially when served in a loving cup. It kills germs. As symbols go, it is a rather splendid one.


the above is quoted from Frederick Buechner's book Wishful Thinking in the context of communion. But he is not just talking about communion, he is talking about so much more.


Thinking about it, we all have a choice from which cup we will drink in life. Buechner is right, one cup is easy and safe, and the other difficult and dangerous, probably bringing with it a host of problems. Jesus posed the question that still lingers today, "Can you drink from my cup?" The cup is full of risks, pain, suffering, problems and in a way death. But when we stop and think about it, really think about it, we will see that it is the only cup that brings life, life in its truest and fullest form. The way it was meant to be lived.

una coversación

¿para qué? te pregunto
y me miras con sola una mirada.
¿a donde? atrevo yo
y me sonríes con compasión.
que no sé si puedo
y me respondes que ya he llegado

lyrics for the cure for pain

I'm not sure why it always flows downhill
Why broken cisterns never could stay filled
I've spent ten years singing gravity away
But the water keeps on falling from the sky

And here tonight while the stars are blacking out
With every hope and dream I've ever had in doubt
I've spent ten years trying to sing these doubts away
But the water keeps on falling from my eyes

And heaven knows... heaven knows
I tried to find a cure for the pain
Oh my Lord! to suffer like you do...
It would be a lie to run away

So blood is fire pulsing through our veins
We're either riders or fools behind the reigns
I've spent 10 years trying to sing it all away
but the water keeps on falling from my tries

faith

They say faith is about stepping off the edge and knowing, or is it believing? that there will either be something to catch you... or that you will find that you have wings to fly.
Sometimes I feel like the edge has come and gone, and the wings I have are too small for the weight, no one has caught me yet, and I'm still falling, wandering what it will be like when I hit the bottom. The only faith I have left is that when I do, I will still be believing...

song by jon foreman

the cure for pain. sorry for the quality but it was the best i could find.

a few more photos

brighton

in salt lake city we decided we couldn't pass through without carving some powder, so a day's snowboarding was voted in... at Brighton Ski Resort...






pulled out of the ski resort at 5 and drove about 300 miles till we stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming at 9 pm.

from oregon to indiana

a 1994 toyota pickup needed to be driven back to indiana, so Isaiah and I jumped on the opportunity to drive it cross country...




i had to put both pics in since in the first one i had my brothers glasses on, and it's only fair that there is one of us both in them.
i am going to throw out a few of the stats from the journey mixed in with some pics, so here it goes...

shots from oregon to salt lake city:




Left on 1st of January at 5 am.
Drove 800 miles across Oregon, down through Idaho, till we got to Salt Lake City.
Arrived at 9 pm.

the first of dos mil ocho

well back in spain now. the following sessions should fill in what that means exactly but first, goodbye 2k7, hello 2k8. don't worry, no resolutions here.

i suppose i should go back to late november, early december when a series of events led to me getting a ticket to Oregon to spend Christmas with my family... A lot of airmiles were put to use to avoid spending the extortionate holiday rates. and i found myself in the northwest enjoying a mitchell christmas with the fam.

in december my grandpa passed away, suddenly, but not entirely unexpectedly. so it was a blessing to be able to be with family after that happened.

i was due to fly straight back to madrid on the 3rd of january but there was an unexpected road trip about to take place.

lonely post

the lone post in december.

i will not say much, just that i find myself in oregon, on the west coast of the US, enjoying some family, food and snowboarding...

look for a big january here. internet will be back in session and there is lots to tell.

the 1st of january a major road trip kicks off... from Oregon to Indiana... more news to come..

required reading and internet

im not facing the prospect of a month without internet. i could say im fasting from the net, but they reality of the situation is that the ´blessed´ company which calls itself my internet service provider happens to be incompetent. but blessings come in disguises and the past couple weeks have primed me to be without the ole world wide web for the coming month. it´s good for me, heck it´s probably good for us all. i´m already reaping the benefits of starving my body from the subtle addiction... so from now till christmas and probably beyond my internet access will be limited to just a few quick snatches a week. that´s no excuse though to not write....

and while im here i must recommend a book, even call it required reading...

the irresistible revolution by shane clairborne. to sum it up, it´s about ordinary radicals...

re-envisionment

well just when the blog picks up a bit of steam something comes along like a broken internet connection and turns it into water.

what we need is some re-envisioning.


have you ever wondering what it would be like to wake up one morning and have the realization hit you like a ton of bricks... that all this time you have been walking about like a man in a haze, and that all it takes to burn away the fog is to live a life that burns so brightly that everyone in your surroundings either gets burnt or runs away...

what if...?

tag along

Lewis

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."


"Nothing is yet in its true form."


"Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours."


"You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."

201

And the worst thing would be to live wondering, What if?

200

it's the 200th time there's been a posting. i remember starting this blog not really having much idea of the direction it would head. fortunately it took it upon itself to form its own identity as we went along. i am envious of those who can see into the future and systematically walk in that direction. i struggle with that on a certain level as i tend to have a hazy idea of something, set off in a hazy direction, and end up with something that at most resembles, often remotely, what i set out for. it is what makes up the differences between us, and let it be said that we need other. i guess you could say i work it out as i go along. i think though that i am learning to balance myself a bit more in the other sense, because not everything is meant to be worked out on the fly, just as not everything is meant to be set in stone before we leave. it's those two sides of the coin again...

so here's to beautiful unplanned things caught up beside vision that brings itself to completion in a faithful manner...

the road

The past months have been a variety of varieties. Different continents with different times zones coupled with different languages amidst different cultures make for variety. Someone once said that variety is the spice of life. Who am I to deny the truth in that and in fact am more than inclined to agree.
What is just as true though, is that continuety is just as important. Stability, permanency, and some steadiness mixed in are ingredients just as vital. Occasionally while running between worlds, the variety that yes, is the spice of life, suddenly becomes too much and burns.


That just came out. It wasn't meant to be a dissertation on life. I sometimes find myself craving stability, knowing what the next week holds, what the next month will bring, and even perhaps, what the next year will be. Of course so often God only shows us a few yards down the path. That's that whole faith/trust thing, and it's entirely good. But then sometimes it's like God flicks on a floodlight and you get a glimpse of what lies off in the distance. So often we desire that and we ask for it, but then when it comes (in his good timing) it suddenly dawns on us what we were asking for, and having seen, we freak out. Once we are given that glimpse there is no going back, no erasing what is now etched within us. Naivety can be bliss, and we are called to be like little children, trusting in Him. But the other side of the coin (and there are almost always two) is that picking up and carrying our cross after having glimpsed what lies at the end of the long walk up the hill outside the city, instills within us a firmness that cannot be bought. Perhaps that is what Paul was hinting at in Ephesians 5: we know that what is suffered instills a firmness in us that enables us to support whatever comes our way, and because of this firmness, God can lead us as he wishes, and this all fills us with hope, a hope that does not dissapoint.

Because we know that whether or not the light reaches the end of the road, whether or not our eyes can peer past the darkness, we have seen past the end of the road, into what lies beyond the end. It is the beyond that God has showed us, it is the beyond that he has talked about, it is the beyond that says to us, it matters not if the road is lit between where you are and here, because that road has already been travelled by the one who suffered it all, the end has been reached, you are already in his grasp, you won't be let go.

here it goes again, again

I have been generally contemplating writing again. Or should I say posting. I have thought about it and have waited and then thought a bit more. In the end, which is now, I decided that it is time. I didn't want to start and then have an immediate drought. So here it goes again.

when you are near

an amazing song. here are the words:

There’s no need to say a thing,
When I’m before you in this silence
I feel refreshed with peace
Break this noise that binds the voice
That tries speak open up my eyes to see
Your gracious sovereign reach

It’s hard to talk when I feel that you are near,
When all is quiet it’s the beauty that I hear,
This hidden place where I know that you calm my fears
I know that you’ve washed my tears

The seasons of change I’ve faced
Have never left me wounded
Only scars of hurt
But never deeply rooted
This healing I have felt
No burden can replace
Redemptive hope has been the story of my pain

All is lost without the breath of life you give
And you give so much
I want nothing more than you so here’s my heart

dialog

Well I have just experienced a drought. It has happened before and in nearly all likelihood will happen again. In the month of september there were two posts. Perhaps in the month of october that will be doubled. That's not much of a wager is it?

I'm back in Spain now. Really been back for a month but haven't had internet till just recently. So maybe blogspot and I will begin to dialog about what life is throwing at us again.