sara in the sky with diamonds

She probably doesn't realize I'm doing this right now ( and is currently singing her own rendition of Tubthumping : " Sara gets knocked down, but she gets up again . . . . " ), but I'm writing out a little blog about one of my favorite people in the world right now.

There's a Final Four match going on in the background, in my room - Butler is leading VCU by three - and Sara is whistling a Christmas tune ( what are the odds), and the only other noise is the clacking of the keys and the little alert from her phone that she has a text message.

I friggin love Sara. So much.

Today has been an awesome day. In the three years since I first met Sara, I think we've got to a point where no matter what we do, we have the time of our lives doing it. Today we walked to a 7/11 in the snow, pushed a car out, took one on the chin (that was her, not me), and kinda just cozied up in front of a fireplace and watched Friday Night Lights . . .

We are now arguing over how to sing the chorus of Fare Thee Well Love.

I write this because, since we are both human beings, there will probably be a time in our friendship when we aren't close. I will do something stupid, or she will misunderstand something I did, or I'll misread a situation, or any of the plethora of ways that a relationship can go sour. And, well (ha), I wanted to kinda preserve today a bit.

Today was the day we worked her name into every song. And it was hilarious, fun, and perfect.

Thanks, Champ, for being a friend. I'm a much better human being because I met you.

today is the greatest day i've ever known

dance with me
oh lover of my soul
to the song of all songs . . .

So I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all

So I'll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Today was one of those days I wish I could freeze and playback whenever I need to. Maybe this act of jotting down just what today meant to me will serve to accomplish that . . .

Though there are many things that bring me delight in life, nothing comes anywhere close to playing the drums for me. There's many reasons why - I love the physicality of it, the fact that there are intricacies to it that mean you can play the same song a plethora of ways and it still sounds good, the freedom of motion, the ability to impact a song in a way so different from any other instrument . . . But really, the biggest draw to the drums for me is that I can't do it on my own. Drums sound at their best when accompanying other instruments, and they never sound good if they're drowning everyone out. It's a secondary part of a song - vital, sure, but rarely focal. It serves as a great metaphor for the lessons I've been learning over the past few years about how I fit in to this Body of Christ called the Church.

Today, in church, we were tight. I loved how we sounded. I loved playing with a group of talented musicians and great friends. I loved playing The Stand, which has a drum solo bit, but it's such a complimentary solo that it never feels like I'm taking over forcefully.

I loved sharing the Eucharist with my family at Abundant Life.
I loved the phone call with my mom.
I loved hanging out with Sara, who is one of my best friends in the whole wide world.
I loved listening to Dance with Me by Jesus Culture while writing this.
I loved sharing every moment with the One Who gets me better than anyone else, the One I am so ridiculously in love with . . .

And, well, I just had to say something.

The Adventure

here we go
life's waiting to begin . .

I love Angels and Airwaves. Go listen to The Adventure right now. Or not, really. I'm not going to know either way. But if you do, and especially if it's your first time hearing it, you'll know you discovered one of those encapsulating songs that says more than its lyrics, as though talking to a part of you you're not always sure of yourself . . .

Maybe I'm a crazy optimist, and maybe I'm fairly stupid at times in my persistent belief that all things will be made right, but, well, I can't help but be bouyed by hope no matter what happens in life.

I'm entering into a new chapter in life, and the fear is there . . . but it's not a fear of failing, a fear of making a mistake, a fear of screwing up. No, it's a fear of doing nothing with this passion in me . . .

Valentine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day

Just a quick read shows us that what this day started out as has no connection to Eros, or Cupid, or Romance. Yet that doesn't change the fact that it is, now, very much a day to celebrate your loved one.

I am single. It's funny how innocent those words look right now, yet at 2 in the morning, they can keep me up, and when I think about where I am in my life, they can haunt me.

won't you dance with me

O Lover of my soul

to the song of all songs?

And yet right now, I'm exactly where I need to be. I've called my beautiful mom, told her I loved her and asked her to relay that to my sisters this morning with a hug and a kiss attached for each. I woke up this morning so in love with a God who loves me like no one else will ever be able to, and found myself once again in the middle of my very own Great Romance . . .

So while I celebrate with those of my friends and family who have that special someone, the one whose smile lights up their life, for me, I celebrate this love today, and wait patiently for when I play my part in that image of this Romance . . .

sojourner

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone

...Ulysses . . .Tennyson

I love horizons. I love conquering them and then searching for new ones. I get restless fast. I like challenging myself to do things I've never done before. I want to be a gourmet chef, an airline pilot, a drummer in a semi famous band, a monk, a published author, a shrimpin boat captain, a breakdancer, a parkourer (parkourist?).

I want to marry the most beautiful woman in the world and wake up beside her every morning, yearning for another adventure. I want her deep laugh to mix with mine daily, to not let a day go by without holding her hand on a walk around the block or wherever, really; I want to make 3 or 4 babies with her, and spend a good deal of time practicing it; I want those dear little kiddies to roll around in the grass with me, let me sweep them up in my arms when I come home from work and be content to sit outside and watch the stars dance in the summer sky and basically never grow up even if they get older.

I want to always be enchanted when I look in her eyes. I kind of think I will be.

I want to spend every day in full expectancy of the very best God has to offer, even if and when it takes the form of what I would think is the very worst that life could have. I want to always be alert for opportunities to be an angel in disguise, to do the little things that stick out in peoples minds when they wonder if God exists or not . . . "if God doesn't exist and isn't good, what about that angel who pushed my car out of the snow when everyone else downtown was walking by?" (true story - happened today. Next time I will wear gloves).

I want to always be amazed by God. I kind of think I will be. I want to fall more and more in love with Him, that rapturous love that makes fireworks into sparks and turns every little detail into an exquisite work of art, makes it so that ordinary is a word I no longer know.

I want to never feel like I have settled. Ever. For anything.

I want to bathe in solitude, drink deeply from that peace that comes from knowing your own soul well, and not only liking but enjoying, loving, and cherishing what you find there. I want to always embrace alone times, times of still when I know He is God. I want to be able to do this on the side of a mountain, as my eyes drift off to my nocturnal date with Morpheus, as I walk in a crowd.

I want to always travel, even if I never leave my house.

Love 146

Also.

New background here is courtesy of love146.org . . . again, what with February being all about hearts and love, I thought I'd have something here that tugs at my heart, something that stirs the love deep inside me like few things in this world . . .

Go ahead and check them out if you haven't already.

agape . . . amore . . .

February is Valentine's Day. I know, I know, the 14th doesn't last all month, but really, outside of Wiarton, Ontario and Punxatawney, PA, the only really big day in February that happens every year is V-Day.


Currently watching clips of Desmond and Penny from Lost . . . and I gotta say, I don't really know a whole lot in this thing called life. Not anymore, at any rate. But I do know that if you have found that person you know you're going to love for the rest of your life, you treasure that. You hold onto it, you nurture it, you cherish it . . . and if you haven't, but you know people who have, you celebrate it with them.


So to all my friends who are lovers and with their loved ones, I celebrate your love with you this month. Well, everyday, really, but especially now.

And to those who think that v-day single = worst thing ever, there are many avenues to express your love. Find one and do it with all you have, passionately, recklessly, wholly.