Caption Please…(Just a little Friday Fun)

I’ve been putting off going to the zoo with my family for years, because it’s just not one of my favorite things to do.  I grew up on a farm so I got to see plenty of animals and smell plenty of crap, so why would I want to go to the zoo?  Last Friday during spring break I finally gave in and took off work to take my wife and son along with my brother and his family to the Fort Worth zoo.  It was a really great time and I walked away with a clasic picture.  Definitely worth the day!

Today you get to help me have a little fun.

Caption Please….

Taken Friday, March 20, at Fort Worth Zoo Copywrite by Kyle Stickens/Urban Eye Studio

 

Come on now it’s only fun if you leave a comment!

Life’s Like a Jump Rope…

…Up Down, Up Down, Up Down, Up Down, Yeah…..because it will get hard, remember life’s like a jump rope!

I woke up humming this song in my head this morning and I’ve still not been able to stop humming it.  It’s on the new album that came out on Tuesday, Approaching Normal, by Blue October.  When I heard it the first time I thought, “my gosh this song should be the theme song for Retread and it should be playing in the back ground when you pull up our website.”   Check out some of the lyrics in this song.

Remember how you used to say
“you couldn’t wait till tomorrow for a brand new day”
no fuss when ya had to ride the bus
you could add a little blush
just to paralyze your school crush

now your older and the weight upon your shoulder
makes the world a little colder
no more hidin in the old days
be strong
don’t give up hope
it will get hard
cause life’s like a jump rope

…up down, up down, up down, up down….yeah….because it will get hard, remember life’s like a jump rope!

there’ll be a bump there will be a bruise
there’ll be alarms and there will be a snooze
there’ll be a path that you will get to choose
there’ll be a win and there will be a lose

you have to hold your head up high and
watch all the negative go by
don’t you ever be ashamed to cry
YOU                GO                  AHEAD…
cuz life’s like a jump rope!

I want to tell you that everything will be okay
That everything will eventually turn itself to gold
Keep pushin through it all
Don’t follow, lead the way
Don’t lose yourself or your hope

Remember life’s like a jump rope!

I’m giving some big huge props to the band Blue October today for the incredible lyrics of Jump Rope.  Amazing to see people who some would consider outside the “Christian” world, write and sing such beautiful and inspiring lyrics.  It makes you realize, even if just a little, that everything is spiritual and God has connected all of in a way we may not ever fully understand until His kingdom is fully restored.  Until then I’ll continue to support people like Blue October and realize there are myriad of ways to find God and see all he has created.

sub-ur-buh n-er-ee

sub-ur-ban-ar-y

[suh-bur-buh n-er-ee]

-adjective

1.    a person who is sent on a mission to the suburbs of a city or town.

 

If you take the Dictionary.com definition for suburb and missionary and combine them to form the new word “suburbanary” you get the following definition in it’s simplest form;  a person who is sent on a mission to the suburbs of a city or town.  But what we tend to find in most American churches are foreign missionaries, because churches tend to see more need in foreign countries than they do right in their own back yard.  However, this leaves me wondering why churches in many “foreign” countries seem to be so alive and on fire, when our own churches seem so dead, stagnant, and irrelevant.  Is it just because of the hunger these people have for God or does it have something to do with the missionaries we send?

Do you feel if the church would embrace my new definition of the word “suburbanary” and start focusing on the people and relationships in the neighborhoods where their members live, instead of creating more “programs”, that the identity of the church could change and people who have been so disenchanted with the church would once again regain an understanding of its importance? 

I read an article last week by someone who was predicting the coming evangelical collapse.  In fact the first sentence boldly predicted a major collapse of evangelical Christianity within the next 10 years.

Flipped Switch

It’s an amazing and revealing feeling when the switch finally gets flipped and you realize why you’ve struggled to feel, to write, and to even sense a love for others.  I’ve had trouble thinking of what I can write about and how to even put into words the way I’ve been feeling.  A little empty would probably describe it the best, but I’ve not had any reason to feel that way.  Life is good and God is blessing me more right now than he has at any other time in my life.  But something has certainly been missing and I’ve been praying and asking God to just speak to me. 

Yesterday, while listening to an interview pod-cast with Jamie Tworkowski, founder of TWLOHA (To Write Love On Her Arms) I believe God pointed out what my problem is.  I’M COMFORTABLE!  I could sense it in Jamie’s voice and in his sincere answers.  He’s such a genuine and honest guy and he continually finds himself surrounded by hurting, depressed, and broken people.  His organization is doing an unbelievably good job at raising awareness and pointing out how so many people deal with addictions, depression, and severe disorders that leave them feeling lost and alone.

I’m feeling comfortable because when I look around at the people in my life I don’t see very many who are oppressed.  For the most part, the people in my circle are doing pretty well.  Sure there are problems and issues that we’ve dealt with, but compared to the man living on the street in Dallas, I’d say we’re all doing pretty well.

I’m finally to a point where I have to stop and ask “am I getting my hands dirty?”  What am I doing that is really helping people who are oppressed escape from their oppression and find the life that God wants us to all freely live?  What am I doing that puts myself right in the middle of the battlefield where I might be able to help someone?

I think part of the reason I feel so comfortable is from a lack of challenge in my life.  Most of that is my fault, because I’ve failed to read, seek out, and listen for those opportunities.  I’ve not been pushing myself to find the areas that need the most help and I find myself settling for the status quo.

Understand, I’m not being unreasonably hard on myself.  I am doing some really good things and helping children who are impoverished, but I do feel I have to stop and ask, how much I’m really making a difference.  It’s easy to send the money, the shoes, or the food, but when we’re required to really get our hands dirty, it’s often a different story.

Where I go from here and what my next step should be is the hard question, but as I prayed this morning I felt an overwhelming sense that God was saying “meet your neighbors, ask them what you can pray about for them, and maybe you’ll find oppression you didn’t know was there!”  Maybe if I will listen, trust in God, and do what I feel he’s asking me to do, my life won’t feel so complacent.