Monday, August 29, 2011

Tangled!

My new roommates are Diana, a Colombian from Queens, and Alena, a black girl from Bronx. We belong on a brochure. Sophomores, to remind me how to love, to remind me of redemption. "Like your NYC... your freedom!" Di said, and warned me before all the cry-worthy parts when I finally watched Tangled this Irene (supermarket stimulus & city-wide binge-snacking Netflix-watching lock-in) weekend. Girlfrands had been nagging me to watch for a while because apparently I am her, JJ thinks so too.
Heal what has been hurt...
Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine.
They note,
1. mother captor "knows best"
2. crazy unstable jailbird breathing free air bipolarity
3. flashbacks
4. "when will my life begin?"
5. big hair & freckles
6. "i'm not scared anymore"
7. "never even knowing just how blind i've been"
   "no. he wouldn't!"
   "see for yourself!"

And of course, she's wieldy with cast iron. I want her forearms, and her magical sing song voice.

Let's make floating paper lanterns!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

turn my sorrow into treasured gold.

lately i've been praying in jeremy riddle's words:

please keep my eyes fixed on You
please wound my heart so deep in You
keep me asking, keep me near
keep me abiding that i may bear fruit
keep me close to You

-- "full attention"

prayers that have invariably killed me.
because God delights in giving new life.
he grants more love, not less.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

To simplify is to recenter.

Simplicity, however, should not be confused with simplistic...
Simplicity does not rule out precision, craft or finesse... nor is comfort out of the question...
Simplicity transcends fretful anxieties about status; it can be rustic or urban, rich or poor, old or new.
It places human life back in the centre of the picture...

// Terence Conran

Friday, August 19, 2011

F for Forgiveness

". . . you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart—every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out. . . To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. . . how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night ‘forgive our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’ We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves."

// CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

luke 10.37

weak and wounded sinner
lost and left to die
raise your head for Love is passing by

// chris rice, on album "short term memories"

see Him there

go and do likewise.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Take care, Esther, til we have faces.

sorrowing i shall be in spirit
til released from flesh and sin

Take care, Agur, learn to walk--it hurts to fall.
Take care when you invest, that you do so as to free, not to buy.
Take care when you embrace, that you do so as to accept, not to engulf.
Take care with that white-knuckled deathgrip, when you cling on for dear "life."
Take care with that deadly, injurious, unduly possessive mimicry of Love.
Take care lest you love something to death--its and yours.
Take care––your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.
Take care––in that desperation, to turn unto Life.
You need a Savior, there is only One.

I Heart NY

Did you, did I, ever think I could say I love NY? 
I'm so thankful for this past summer, and this past year.
For renewal and redemption. New heart, new eyes, New York.
For being moved toward greater degrees of freedom than I thought possible--than I knew I needed.

God keeps doing what only He can! Yay!
I've never been so glad, relieved to return to this city.
The moment my long-delayed plane landed I was ready to go go go!
I've missed the pace--and the people--of this city.
I've missed my bicycle--(thanks YungBros!)
Yay for the 6 mile midnight ride to get pedaling again.
Yay for surprise snail mail! Keynotes Nate's IV staff support letter! Yay!
And Hannah's two pages written in IPA! Only us!
I'd forgotten about my green papasan chair.
My bookshelves and high ceilings.
I forgot I had a Tempurpedic bed.

Thank You for bringing me to a city I need! And for rescuing me always.
Scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone. :)
You make me certain.
You love my fears away.
You send worms after the shady plants I settle for.
How can I but thank You?

Giddy and grateful at the moment. :)
Help me remember.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Realtalk.

Many friends have given me WAY too much credit for my short stay in the slums of Sabah. Not that it wasn't glorious... just the glory's not mine.


Let me assure anyone tempted toward such praise with an open admission:
I definitely did not outstay the novelty.


My camera compositions are as subjective as my reporting is selective.
I capture what is newsworthy, new to me.
But a lot of it is familiar too.


For example, I wrote about walking these planks...


but there were also these boardwalks,


and these.


This school,


but also this classroom,


and this one.


In any case, shanty as they may appear from outside,
many of the houses were quite amenable!


with gas stoves...


electric wiring, wall art (including freakin precious moments),
and overhead lights...


floors, ceilings, and safe hydration...


more-than-full meals...


couches, fans...
in the upper left you can see part of the TV's surround sound system!

there and here, i have more than enough.
learning to live with less,
to live simply, so that others may simply live...
so that i might truly Live.
excess is not abundance--
LORD, help me to see true worth.

Don't run from the tension.

Death is there.
Honesty is there.
Redemption is there.
// Jamie George

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

LMGTFY may or may not be a love language... Questionable.

 Ellen:  is labor day a national holiday?
hahah
 me:  lol yes
 Ellen:  oh haha okay
whats it for
 me:  women giving birth
just kidding...
 Ellen:  HAHAHAH
oh thanks
;)
 me:  oh youre welcome
anything for you
i will even google things for you
 Ellen:  lol how did you do that
 Ellen:  hahah stop it!
just tell me
i dont get it
 me:  LOL
 Ellen:  ohh wait
i got it now!
hahaha
 me:  step 1. go to lmgtfy.com
 Ellen:  found it!!!
hehe