remember...

Love isn't a day. Love is a life. your life. my life. our life. community.


Valentines Day. I don't know why it's become the way it is today, and I don't think I want to know.

not everyone understands the history of this day and why it came about in the first place. I'm not going to go into great detail, but it sure is an interesting story. look it up sometime.

I'll say this, though... it doesn't matter if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. it doesn't matter what you look like or how many friends you have. it doesn't matter how many cards you get or how much chocolate you eat.

valentine's day isn't about cards and flowers and chocolate and sex.

we get cards on our birthdays and anniversaries, flowers on our graves; we eat chocolate when we're sad, and people have sex for no apparent reason.

I don't know how the life and death of a saint has anything to do with these things. Saint Valentine was killed for what he believed in. because he stood up for what was right...
and here we are, years later, being commercialized idiots about it.

spend this day with the people you truly love, remembering the people who have truly loved, and showing love to those who have never before known love.

a vicious cycle.

worldly things are oh so fleeting.

we're in this constant cycle of life and death.
family members, friends, pets, cars, money, air, plants, hobbies, passions, interests, music.
this constant cycle.
cycle in, cycle out.
worldly things are fleeting.

everything at this moment that we think is important, probably won't be so great two months from now.

Do we spend too much time on hair and makeup?. does it matter?. wash it off, comb it out, do it all over again tomorrow. lather, rinse, repeat. always wasting time, only to waste time the very next day, doing it all over again. you can perfect it after a while. it becomes routine. and then you change your style and it's a whole new cycle. a whole new procedure to learn.

cycle in, cycle out.

but with all this change, we have stayed so much the same, haven't we?

here we are, almost a decade into a new millennium, and we're still fighting about skin color and who slept with who and what he said and what she said and religion and politics. sure, it's always somewhat changing. the words are new, but I recognize the tune. it's all this big argument about anything and everything, often just for the sake of arguing.

Why haven't we given this up? we get up, we go about our daily activities, we listen, we argue, we debate, sometimes we yell and scream, and then we go to bed and do it all over again the next day.

it's a cycle.
same song, different station.
same book, new chapter.
every day.

does anybody actually know what we're all fighting about?

Well, I can guarantee you that it's nothing of great importance.

cycle in, cycle out...

the cycle itself is not as important as what you choose to do with the cycle.
it's your cycle and it's my cycle. it's the cycle of life and death.

throw away everything that you don't need, in a sense.


a cry for tomorrow;
cries for second chances.
a cry for the steps
in these life-and-death dances.
a cry for the boys,
a cry for the girls.
a cry for their future,
and a cry for the world.


it'll be okay,

rememberr.

Love isn't a day. Love is a life. your life. my life. our life. community.


Valentines Day. I don't know why it's become the way it is today, and I don't think I want to know.

not everyone understands the history of this day and why it came about in the first place. I'm not going to go into great detail, but it sure is an interesting story. look it up sometime.

I'll say this, though... it doesn't matter if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. it doesn't matter what you look like or how many friends you have. it doesn't matter how many cards you get or how much chocolate you eat.

valentine's day isn't about cards and flowers and chocolate and sex.

we get cards on our birthdays and anniversaries, flowers on our graves; we eat chocolate when we're sad, and people have sex for no apparent reason.

I don't know how the life and death of a saint has anything to do with these things. Saint Valentine was killed for what he believed in. because he stood up for what was right...
and here we are, years later, being commercialized idiots about it.

spend this day with the people you truly love, remembering the people who have truly loved, and showing love to those who have never before known love.

peacee.

No one should fault you for being honest and saving your best friends [butt] or for helping them


Massive amounts of peace is unattainable. world peace, peace amongst all your friends at the same time.
There's just a big pile of peace sittin' up in heaven, but most of it is inner peace.


when you have inner peace, nothing else really matters.

even in the wake of tragedy, peace is still attainable. it may not be as easy to achieve as it is if things were going smoothly.

but it's important to remember something...

keep. moving. on.


because today and yesterday don't matter.
time travel doesn't exist, at least not to my knowledge.
tomorrow is the only thing that matters. but don't worry. just live in the moment and work on the inner peace. and everything should fall into place.

we can fix this. it's never too late to apologize, no matter what anyone says.
anyways, just thought that needed to be said for multiple reasons.


Goodnight,

Every day, we face questions of what is right, and what is wrong. and decisions about whether to take action, or stay out of the game. and it's when these choices are most clear that we draw upon on conscience, follow our instincts, and reveal our true character.

what's in a name...?

a lot of people have said a lot of different things about who, what, when, why, where, and how God is. people even asked Jesus himself, God in the flesh, and you know what he said? "I am."
I bet that really confused and maybe even upset people. kind of like in the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, where they ask the computer what the meaning of life is, and it replies "forty-two." -an important question, answered with such brevity and conciseness... it seems absurd and sort of wrong.

but really, this is the part of the show where words mean more, much more, and God is more than just a magician sitting in the clouds.

some people see God as a boss, in a sense. ordering people around, heading up the management, making sure everything is in the right place and all the papers are filed and people pay their taxes on time. but really, not many people like their bosses. some bosses are portrayed or may be mean and nasty, over-working and under-paying their own employees. bosses have schedules and timelines and deadlines and people to please. bosses have more bosses, who have more bosses with even bigger bosses who sit in leather chairs at their maple wood desk, mac computer and make a lot of money. in the world of bosses, everybody owns somebody else and there seems to be an everlasting authority. people die and positions are filled and removed and power is always changing, as are the rules and the employment benefits and the 401k.

some see God as a father, as he is often portrayed in the Bible. but that can be very discouraging, because some fathers are mean and abusive. some fathers scream at their wives and children. some kill themselves. some of them lie and cheat. some of them don't even pay much attention to their own families. and for those who don't have a father, it's hard to grasp the concept. so to see God as a father can be a negative thing. your dad has messed up, mine has. there is sin in our fathers lives. I don't want God to be like my dad.

others see God as a police officer or keeper of the law. always spoiling fun and laying down the law. giving detentions and jail time and taking away privileges. a pistol-toting, handcuff-slapping, dress-shirt-and-tie kind of a deal. but that is not good at all. It kills me when you're on your third grade field trip to the police department and they tell you that you can trust anyone in uniform. policemen, firemen, security guards, so on and so forth. and then that night, flip on the television, first story- Deputy molest young girl or something of that nature... police officers aren't always nice, and some people think they're jerks. quite frankly, some of them are jerks; they abuse power and take what isn't theirs. whether it's money or a child's innocence.


It's a bummer when people see my God like this.

God isn't a boss. he doesn't have timelines and project proposals. he doesn't have meetings to attend and papers to file and taxes to pay. God doesn't do conference calls and staff meetings and layoffs. God is not Donald Trump, and heaven is not an office building.

God is not the kind of father you know. he is a heavenly father, and heaven is perfect. so therefore He is a perfect father. he has more than enough time for you. he always wants to listen to you. God doesn't carry guns and he doesn't yell and scream. he won't hit your mom and he certainly won't molest you. God won't get distracted by his job because the only thing he does is love us. that is a pretty sweet occupation, because he made us and it's good to love things you make, especially when they're beautiful, which we are.

you hate what you make- well, not if you're God.

God is not an officer. he doesn't carry handcuffs and he won't hit you with a baton or make you walk in a straight line and breathe into machines just to know how to punish you. God is also not a principal. he doesn't give detentions or scold kids who disobey. he doesn't have an office and he's not gonna call you in every few days to "look over your file, and just see how you're doing". he won't call your parents and he certainly will not expel you. Heaven is not an academy or a jailhouse...


so who and what is God? we've often heard that love is God and God is love, so let's define love, shall we?


The love chapter:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says this:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

there it is, sort of. that is God. but he is more than that. when he says, "I am," he is reminding us that he is absolutely perfect. he is everything that is good and right and lovely and true. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, hope...he is these things and oh so much more.

God isn't going to leave you. he's not going to forget about you or look down on you for the things you've done. we've done so many wrong things. God won't ever stop loving you or caring about you. ever.

Myths. a lot of people think that God only loves people who do good things for him. and some people only do good things for God because they think that's how they make God love them. but that's not true. the truth is, God loves us no matter what we do or don't do. we do good things for him because he loves us, not so he will love us.

God doesn't kill people. Christopher Columbus came to America and killed all sorts of people in God's name. the crusades were all about killing people in God's name. people have killed other people in God's name for hundreds and thousands of years. I don't think God doesn't want that. It's our sin that makes people die. whether they die slowly from a disease or are killed.

God doesn't favor anyone. I've heard it said countless times that God favors republicans and tax-payers and pro-life supporters and church-goers. but that is not true, and you shouldn't believe it. God created everyone equally, in his own image, and he loves all of us. and that includes prostitutes, drug addicts, drug dealers, thieves, murderers, homosexuals, abortionists, slave traders and yes, even illegal immigrants.

God didn't make anyone better than anyone else. he simply made us different. and we don't love our differences the way we should. we start wars and shed blood and pull knives and scream and yell and throw punches because of the way God made us. that is kind of silly, in my opinion. don't you think?

God is not a religion. I posted a "note" about this a few months ago, although it was rather short. I don't do things for him so he will love me. I do things for him because he loves me, that is what is important.

faith, true Christianity, is not a religion. it is more of a relationship. God loves us and he wants us to love him. he has eternal life for us. he has forgiveness and patience and kindness and gentleness and love and all sorts of great things to give us. he has a brilliant plan in the works just for us. me and you. but we can't have it if we don't know him, if we don't love him... but we must make sacrifices. we must give up our old ways, because they're not the best ways.

God wants us to talk to him. he knows our hearts and he knows our minds, but he wants to hear it from us. he wants to hear us spill our hearts to him. he wants us to ask questions and listen for answers. God didn't give us all the answers, and there's a reason for it. we have someone to turn to when we need help.

God is everywhere, all-knowing, all-powerful, the almighty. and God is real.

it's not a battle of who's right and who's wrong, who is true and who is false. because we're all equal.

life should not be a battle.

love is not a business, and God is not a monster.


I want to know something...

how do you see God?

we're in this together, so why not make the most of it?

oblivion.

Today, I was both sad and upset to hear someone bashing our President, Barack Obama.


Even if you don't agree with his views and moral, you should still respect him. not only because he is a human being just like you and I, but also because he's a leader, an authority figure, our ruler of sorts. the President.

Calling him names and making fun of him and his speeches aren't going to get us anywhere.
Face reality, I highly doubt he will wake up tomorrow morning and say - "Michelle, grab the kids and pack up, I'm resigning, people don't like me. they win".

...that's not going to happen.


I'm surrounded by very intelligent people who have submersed themselves in politics.
there is nothing wrong with that. to each their own.
I'm not a big fan of politics because it gets oh so messy and complicated, as most things do.
I'm thankful that some people are willing to put up with that, it's just not for me.

at the end of the day we need to remember that Barack Obama is still our President, and we need to respect him.

And, to be honest, it really doesn't matter.
The only ruler I want is God. at the end of the day, He's the only leader that matters.
He is still in the business of redemption, even for the "evil black baby killer" Barack Obama.

regardless of the color of his skin or why people voted for him.
the truth is, they voted. they chose him.

not to be harsh but, face reality. there is nothing you can do.
other than pray of course. protest and hurtful words won't change anything anymore.

We are the only ones who can bring change. all of us joining together, one man cannot change the world simply because of the color of his skin.

we have too.

united we stand, divided we fall.

involvement.

to write love on her arms

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

You need to know that rescue is possible, that freedom is possible, that God is still in the business of redemption. We're seeing it happen. We're seeing lives change as people get the help they need. People sitting across from a counselor for the first time. People stepping into treatment. In desperate moments, people calling a suicide hotline. We know that the first step to recovery is the hardest to take. We want to say here that it's worth it, that your life is worth fighting for, that it's possible to change.

www.twloha.com



dearjack

In the spring of 2005 Andrew McMahon paid a visit to his voice doctor in New York City with a list of health concerns. The following morning the results of his blood work landed him in the hospital where he was soon diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia. Through the summer of 2005 McMahon underwent two rounds of chemotherapy, radiation treatment and with an amazing blessing, a stem cell transplant from his sister, Katie. Having spent the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 recuperating at home, McMahon began playing occasional shows around town as well as short headlining runs in support of an effort to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

Andrew founded the Dear Jack Foundation in July 2006.

The Dear Jack Foundation will be working to find the organizations and charities with the greatest need and potential for impact. Amongst the recipients are the UCLA stem cell transplant program who are on the cutting edge of cures through transplantation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.

This is a cause that means a great deal to McMahon and he is constantly working on opportunities to drive money and awareness to the programs and charities that fight on the front lines against these diseases. Leukemia is finding new victims everyday in demographics that were otherwise untouched as few as two or three years ago. This disease is desperate for research and with help, we can save beautiful lives.

Andrew McMahon is the front man for the band, Jack's Mannequin.

www.dearjackfoundation.com



heart on your sleeve

There are 27 million slaves in the world today.
80% of them are female.
50% of them are under the age of 18.
600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year.
17,000 of those victims come into the United States.

When Kathryn and Katelyn found out, their hearts broke. They wanted to do something.
this is their move. this is their promise.

They are designing and making t-shirts to raise money for International Justice Mission, an organization committed to working justice for the oppressed where the church is incapable of doing so. To learn more about IJM and what they are doing, please visit www.IJM.org

Become a modern day abolitionist.
email them: heartonyoursleeve.forfreed om@gmail.com

www.myspace.com/heart_onyo ursleeve



some passages are excerpts from the websites.