Yule Shoot Your Eye Out!

FELIZ NAVIDAD Amigos!

Here we are another year over and at the most wonderful time of the year!

ok, seriously, I'll stop singing!

I just wanted to share a few thoughts that have been bouncing around my head with the sugar plums.

This year I have really begun to embrace the idea of Jesus being born for us, to save us, to rescue us. Now God could have simply said, "This is a waste of time", and wiped out the whole human race and started over, but instead he had a different plan and a different future. He wanted to show the Universe He was God and He could save His creation and bring them back to Him. But that required a sacrifice, the death of someone so innocent and pure that it would cover all the sins of the world. Now that is pure and that is a lot of iniquity.

But God cared that much, to give a living sacrifice, to bring us back to Him. PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE!!!

The other idea I've come to better understand is the idea of Jesus being brought into the world the way he was. His mom was young and scared, unprepared and single. He was born in a town known for its nastiness and crude citizens. He was born in a place where animals used the bathroom and in a box animals ate out of. Now that is a low birth, but it was part of God's plan. It symbolized how Jesus could go to the lowest places and still bring hope. How God was not required to be big and flashy to bring salvation. Even in the heart of darkness, God can still bring light.

It blows my mind at how creative God is and how awesome His plan was and it only gets me fired up to see his plan for us and our generation. Amazing things are done in those who desire and pursue God's plan above all else.

There will definitely be more blogs about this as we celebrate the great amazing birth and the beginning of a life that was ultimately meant for death!

Now, what is your favorite part of Christmas?

Adam T.

VIVA LA VIDA/The Coolest Kids Ever

Jamie Tworkoski from To Write Love On Her Arms just posted this video on his blog and it is absolutely amazing! It seriously made me tear up. It is from Coldplay's latest Album, Viva La Vida, and the song itself is Viva La Vida, (which means Live the Life in Spanish). I'll post the lyrics below the video and the link. PLEASE GO WATCH IT!


Head Sways and Hands to Chest Galore from Behind the Scenes on Vimeo.


http://vimeo.com/2430744


VIVA LA VIDA
by Coldplay

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sweep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world
(Ohhh)

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in.
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries Wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can not explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
(Ohhhhh Ohhh Ohhh)

Hear Jerusalem bells are ringings
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can not explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
(Oooooh Oooooh Oooooh)

Forget About It...

Hello everyone,

I have no fancy introductions today, or any funny stories to tell. Its a gloom day, a cloud day. You know, one of those days where you wake up late and feel like something's missing. Today I feel breakable, and perhaps already broken.

Lately this feeling has swept over me, and maybe it is the winter blues or the idea of not knowing what the future holds anymore. But I felt like I should write about it.

Loss. We all have experienced it, losing a friend, family member, moving to a new town, or just losing a fight for something. But loss is painful and scary.

This past week that pain and fear took me over more than ever when I was driving to work. I realized with loss comes a time when we forget, and that is even more scarier.

My grandmother died my senior year of high school, when I was 17. 4 years ago. I miss her a lot these days, because, although a simple woman, she was a woman of God and she experienced a lot and I feel like she would have some good advice for these days.

I realized while driving to work that I have forgotten her and our time together. I forgot how she loved us and how she took care of us. I forgot her laugh and all the things we did together, like watching Green Acres and I Love Lucy all day and driving to the mall and listening to Oldies on the radio and singing along. I forgot.

I guess what I'm getting at is that we all experience that loss in life, whatever it may be, but one thing we can not do is forget.

We can't forget to live and still embrace the loss. We can't forget to love and still reserve a place in our heart. We can't forget to laugh and only laugh more when we remember their laugh.

I watched Elizabethtown a couple nights ago, and the whole movie is about loss and losing the people who are the most important, and I noticed a line from the movie for the first time that really hit home.

Kirsten Dunst character said, "Sadness is easy because it's surrender, I say, make time to dance alone!"

Let us dance! Let us love! Let us embrace the loss and make much of the time we have!

So in light of that, I am gonna go crank up The Temptations and dance for MawMaw.

-AT

Hope

I hear HOPE whispering in the darkness, but it is only a spark.
That spark ignites into a flame only when the HOPE found is shared with another.



http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2008/12/05/dcl.ypwr.tworkowski.cnn.html

The Song of a Beggar (A Poem)

Is this an upbeat song, or a slow melodic waltz.
Is my life nothing more than what I see-
where is the symphony, where is the harmony of heart.

I feel like a toddler trying to play a tuba.
I feel like a bottle floating in the sea-
only that bottle is filled with an uncertain note
'do I want to be rescued, do I want peace, do I want freedom?'

I see pieces of peace, like stained glass, shattered about.
I feel properties of peace, sometimes there, sometimes not.

You, my Father, my Abba, are a mystery to me.
Sometimes You wrap me like a coat of Kashmir.
Sometimes that coat is coarse wool, painful and convicting.

So what is my song?
I often forget how close You are,
Whether Kashmir or wool, you are still a coat that wraps me up.
Giving me a song to sing.

You are my coat of many forms, and in many ways.

You are colorful.
You are steel.
You are warm.
You are new.
You never wear out, and I can't wear you in.
You are a strong fiber, staying close to the skin.
You keep out the cold.

You are my coat and you are my song.

You are putting the pieces of peace together.
You are singing in me.
I am singing to you.

My song is You.
To sing to You and about You, and through You, and not without You.

So I sing.
loud and soft.
clear and muffled.
fast and slow.
happy and painful.
open and closed.
new and old.
but to You.

My song is You.
It is broken, with no rhythm.
I often hit the wrong notes and sing off key, but You love my song still.

So I sing.
So I sing.
Sing unto You.

Adam Triplett