The Untold Story…continued
April 2, 2009
The whole reason for the untold story yesterday in the parable of the sower was because of a conversation I had with a co-worker. During our conversation I was being cynical and pessimistic and complaining about people who go to church, listen to the word, and then do nothing. I complained about how the church is producing these types of people left and right, but not producing people who are going out and producing a harvest beyond their wildest dreams. Of course he is very optimistic and shared with me, that even the seed eaten by the birds eventually could be deposited onto the good soil. Hummm! Hope? Grace? Redemption? Second chances? Never give up on people? These were all thoughts that have continued to flow through my mind over the past two days as I’ve been convicted about my negative attitude.
If you watched the little video clip above, from the movie The Bucket List, you got to see one of my favorite parts in the movie. It’s funny and raw, but I think it’s a wonderful story, the story about the Kopi Luwak coffee bean. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll remember how Morgan Freeman’s character shares this story with Jack Nicholson’s character by having him read it out loud. Of course, Nicholson’s character is not too pleased to find out his favorite and extremely expensive coffee is the bi-product of a tree cat. It’s the combination of the bean and the gastric juices of the tree cat that gives the coffee its unique flavor and aroma.
Even if you are the most committed coffee drinker you have to be asking yourself, how can tree cat crap make coffee taste that good? Not sure I’d want to find out. But, it does paint a beautiful picture of how something that sounds disgusting can become something loved and desired by others.
For me, the untold story is full of hope and redemption. The bird may represent the evil one, but even the evil one does not have power over the redeeming grace of God. The seed passing through the digestive system represents the Hell so many of us allow ourselves to be in by not listening to God’s word, but hope lies is in the fact that the digestive system (Hell) doesn’t have to be the end. Soon we may find ourselves deposited onto good soil where God can use us to produce a crop beyond our wildest dreams. God is redeeming and restoring everything so we should never give up and never lose hope.
Life’s Like a Jump Rope…
March 26, 2009
…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.
