my buddy fairmoon and i have decided to start a new blog together for the purpose of investigating the dominant myths of our ancestors and seeing how we relate to them now from our differing faith perspectives. its called dovetailmyth and we hope you will check it out.

if nothing else you can stop by to watch as kurtmaddox lectures about the impossibility of peaceful co-existence between conversants of differing faiths and a personal God who can be known.

dead trees with writing on them keep finding their way into my yard. some say 'dallas morning news' on them and others have other such headings. this is troubling for me on many levels.

if i were to walk over to the city hall or police station of my town every few days and drop a big wad of newspapers on the lawn i would eventually be caught and cited and pay a fine. yet somehow these bloody paper chunking zealots are free to do so in my yard. doesnt make much sense. keep in mind that i have not requested these papers. they just keeply showing up in my yard and as they continue to appear on my lawn i am forced by city ordinance not to leave them there - but to remove them in a timely manner or be cited. thats right. the homeowners association and the city have combined forces to beautify our happy little suburb - which is all fine and dandy - but may i suggest that going after the frenzied paper tossing hooligans is a better use of time and resources? its at least less paradoxical.

the bigger problem for me however is that im one of those crazy environmental wackos who doesnt like newspapers bc of how many trees are felled only to ultimately end up in landfills or fireplaces. in a culture with internet wireless communication television and radio its just wasteful. i guess we could argue the same is true of the left behind series but thats another post entirely. now i know some of you who know me are wondering how i can be so into books if i dont like the idea of reading my news on the very same finely compressed pulp of dead trees. my point is that when i buy books i have sought them out and i keep them and often read them again or at the very least reference them from time to time. the trees that gave their precious lives for these books are honored on my bookshelves. but newspapers are the jerry springer show of the printed word. they are rarely worth keeping and the only time anyone keeps them at all is invariably if they are in them or possibly if something spectacular happened they may keep a front page with the picture. or i guess some old men like having stacks of them in their houses to soften the blow when they fall and cant get up on the way from the fridge to the recliner. you shouldnt be laughing at that. if you are - shame on you.

anyway - its a quandry that i am frustrated with but prolly wont do anything about - other than walking out twice a week before trash days and retrieving the papers for disposal. the devil is apparently in such details but he wont return my calls.

spent the past week at my sisters lakehouse in northern louisiana. we relaxed. we rested. we rejuvenated. words cant describe it so here are some pix...

when was the last time you had an in depth conversation about something that really mattered? unfortunately for many the answer will not be recent. its grown increasingly difficult in our noisy hectic culture to have long indepth conversations without being quite intentional about it. in fact there are many who are intentional and still dont reach any semblance of depth in their conversations. sometimes the difficulty wins and we give up – settling for menial verbal exchanges between employees or family or even God.

george barnas survey reveals that among xians over 70% could not remember the last time they felt strongly connected to God. but can that number be real? have we simply given up? what a frighteningly sad statistic.

interestingly enough there are 132 conversations between Jesus and someone else recorded in the gopsels. 6 take place in the temple and 4 in synagogues but 122 were with normal folk in normal settings outside ‘church’. how strange to see xians reverse that figure with our current ‘get em to church’ practices only to end up with a 70% failure rate on connecting with God himself – the whole purpose for being anywhere near a church to begin with. seems to me like there are 2 basic things we need to do if we are serious about having a conversation with God or anyone else. they are fairly simple:

slow down.
connect.

as a follower of christ i realize that sabbath is a vitally important part of my life. not the setting aside of one day for the avoidance of work but making time to rest in God – to connect with him and be refreshed in his presence. this has been no easy task – its often meant sacrificing certain things i want to do in order to have time. and theres certainly no hope of any truly meaningful connection with my fellow man if my connection with God is askew.

as a sidebar – i understand that the guys who taught us all that we should start our day with 15 minutes in prayer were well intentioned but i think theyve done us a disservice. theyve unknowingly got us thinking that we can byte size time with God and still be everything we need to be. but i know that it takes me 15 minutes just to settle my mind and get comfortably quiet in order to listen. if thats all i make time for in a busy day until im laying in bed fighting only half-heartedly to keep my eyes open while i drowsily attempt another byte sized quarter hour prayer time – theres little doubt that my connection with God is going to suck. royally. by at least 70% if not far more.

so looking for larger chunks of time has brought me to realize that i cant stay up all night anymore like i used to in college (sigh) and that i need to get up a bit earlier than the children (big sigh) so that i can begin each day in sabbath.

and as i write this im thinking – holy toledo can i possibly be saying this? did i just commit before God and man to go to bed earlier and get up earlier for the sake of rubbing callouses onto my knees as i bend beside the bed to seek my creators voice? cant i just stick with the quicky prayer of ‘dear God – bless this day.’ as i wake up sleepy eyed to my daughter bouncing next to me on the bed and yelling ‘wake up papa! i want some chocoate milk’?

no. this takes a serious commitment – an honest time consuming investment – and i am ready to push myself beyond my present comfort level to connect with God and others in this way. i am also dedicated to relearning what conversation really is. i am specifically working on being an open and attentive listener bc i sometimes drift into the poor habit of  preparing what im about to say instead of actively enagaging God or whoever is speaking at the moment and what they are saying. i guess i could shrug this off to adhd but i dont. i have been really processing and working on ways to focus myself on the speaker in a way that helps me actively engage not only what they are saying but who they are as well. so with God i need to spend much less time talking and more time quietly listening. this is true of my relationship with others as well. i talk way too much. i need to listen.

so with all that said i wonder – are you as connected to God as you would like to be and if so howd you get there and if not what are you going to do about it?

if you dont believe in God you can still apply what im saying to everyday life in your regular relationships so please feel free to comment on those instead.

im looking forward to your thots...

woke up early today with the help of bailey and after we woke jackson we decided today would be a good park day. so we got everything together and shuffled down to a nearby playground. there werent many other little ones there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves and we enjoyed every inch of that place. from the whatsit to the thingamajig. it was great fun watching them chase each other and watching how closely jackson was following in baileys footprints. wherever she went he followed. except down the big slide by himself. it was a bit too tall. their favorite part was running in circles around a tree just outside the playset area. go figure. all this expensive equipment and theyd rather commune with nature. they get that from their papa. my favorite part was shaking all the fine little pebbles out of my crocs every 5 seconds. it was so much fun it inspired a new rule - dont wear crocs to the playground. anyway - its been a really good day and i am blessed and refreshed by these little mercies of God.