Wow…tihs is rlleay ietetrnsnig!

What some kids was doing the whole 14+ hours on my flight home .  I kid you not…

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.  The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.  Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wolhe.  Amzanig huh?

New Year’s Resolution 2009

“I don’t want to be a product of my environment.  I want my environment to be a product of me.” –Jack Nicholson

What is home?

a tree someplace in Australia

Is it a place where one feels the company of like minded people, where conversations revolve around topics of similar interests, humor, and pursuits, where one could speak and others listen, comment, and/or consider with mutual commitment to each other’s value and worth? Is this one’s home?
Is it a place only where one does the  most activities, has meetings, needs to communicate the most, where they are called upon to do ‘things’ or ‘duties’ such that their absence would affect the function of the operations at hand, a place where should the duty, job, or activity cease so too would the relationships with the others cease also? Is this one’s home?
Is it a place that holds the fondest memories in life, where one had  some of the greatest experiences, though long gone and over with, and holds great joy whenever one thinks about it?  Was this one’s home?
Is it a place of friends, comrades, those with whom one can become transparent, vulnerable, tough, and honest all at the same time, a place of strong individual identity yet held together by the group’s unity no matter what the situations call for? Is this one’s home?
Is it a place where one’s blood family (mother, father, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, etc) reside regardless of their closeness or interaction, a place where one’s immediate and extended family reside? Is this one’s home?
Is it a place where one finds supreme solitude and sanctuary, where culture doesn’t matter and one is free to be oneself wholly, where everyday vernacular is understood, commonality is comforting, and an underlying thread of a shared history is apparent, where the food, weather, and the like make one say in their heart, “ahh…”?  Is this one’s home?
(I suppose it is nice if a person could reside in a place where all of these renditions of what a home is were true at the same time.  For me, each of these places is a different place…hardly the makings of a comfortable existence. To constantly juggle these does become wearisome at times. However, this reality doesn’t sadden me, at least not too much.  For those whose home include all of the above it is hard to explain.  But there is one more definition I’ve thought about…one that has kept me on this journey of life thus far:
Perhaps one’s true home is a place of destiny, a place one has yet to know, but one that is sure to come,  a place promised by a Greater One preparing for those who realize that home is no where to be found on this Earth, a place of promise, of rest, of joy, of never ending love, of enduring peace…a place where eyes nor ears have yet to experience, a place of no death, face to face reality, a place that many of us are living…and dying…for.
There are others who looked for the same thing…
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God….For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country….they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Heb 11:8-10, 14-16 (KJV)
28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Mark 10:28-31 (KJV)
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Romans 8:24-25 (KJV)

Home Part 2

A few things that have happened since I've been away from home....
1. My sister has graduated university.  :-)

2. My hometown (Ridgefield) hasn't changed much.  Still has that good ‘ol New England flavor, feel, and familiarity. 
3. My dentists (both of them) got married to each other. At least now they have something to talk about when they go home.
4. My mom became an ordained minister.
5. One of my cousins had 2 kids, another had 3, another had 1. Haven't met any of them as of yet.
6. My winter clothes still fit me! I've been happy as a bee wearing my favorite type of clothing - sweaters, jackets, gloves, boots, etc.
7. My dad took down our fence that separated our front from our back yard.
8. Everyone in my family has aged...especially my granddad. Missed a lot over the years…
9. One of my cousins won the state championship for football in Texas. you GO boy!
10. None of my equipment at home is broken (my DVD player, TV, tape deck, VCR deck, amp, speakers)
11. My mom's library has increased in size. She has many of the books I have to read for PI.
12. Memories that have waited for me have only grown stronger and were welcomed with more gratitude and appreciation than I expected from my own heart.
13.  Me.
In reality, it feels as if I never left.  Like I was just here yesterday.

Home Part 1

Click here to play!

On describing God..she's still got it

A dear sister in my church a while back posted this on her blog. Of all the things I've read in my life that attempt to describe God, her words still have no rival. I adore these words....words born from a heart that adores Him.

"and i still dont know what to say about God. i am always afraid that He will be reduced in the saying, that i'll end up making Him sound cliche or redundant, the bread of the masses, the point the weak cling to because they are afraid of the blankness of eternity. and so at the end of this post i still cannot describe to you what He is like, this constant Song. But if i did, it would be something about wholeness, and rest and love, and other deep unexplainable things."

"It is a hard thing to be a walker when you are surrounded by eagles. But sometimes walking is the best we can offer God. WALKING COUNTS TOO. Keep walking, because what we wait for is not more important than what happens to us while we are waiting. Now it is just a matter of time.”
-Bishop Willoughby (2006)

And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live....Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.
(Deu 8:2-3, 16)