Revolution

Everyone is groaning and aching for a new world, a right world. Revolution after revolution. The world is in an upheaval from it all. And everyone dreams of a someday right world when there is no more suffering, pain, hurt, death. Except it’s just like when Jesus came the first time- all were looking expectantly for a messiah, but they wanted him to overthrow the system their way. Instead, he came as a humble leader who served everyone, and gave up his life for our sins. Not exactly what the Jews wanted or were expecting. And this time? This utopia everyone is so fond of seeking? ….It still isn’t Jesus.

We want our own. We are upset and angry because we aren’t the one percent (the majority of what is being said sounds that way)(even though we are the 20%)…. And we somehow deserve our own. I have a feeling that Jesus might flip the whole scenario on it’s head and tell us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, to take no part in injustice, but also to trust to his ultimate justice. He might just tell us to forget about our predicaments for a moment and take consideration of others’ predicaments. He might tell us to receive grace and to give it abundantly.

He might even tell us to be thankful.

He might tell us to topple the system by putting the greedy, and the rich who are hoarding to shame by our abundant giving, and by our humility- not by our demands for more.

p.s. occupy wall street, greed has nothing to do with the amount of money you have. It is a condition of the heart and applies to more than just money or material wealth. You can just as easily be greedy and poor as you can be greedy and rich.

You want to ‘occupy wall street’? You want revolution? Lay down your own will and your own life and follow Jesus and his way. Love your neighbors. Love your enemies. Lay down your so-called rights for other’s rights. Glorify him, not yourself. Be thankful. Always. Mourn with those who mourn. Rejoice in the redemption that you’ve been given that can’t be taken away by any of this stuff. Take Joy in who Jesus is and his love and grace toward us. Seek his face. Be free to trust in him, not yourself, not humanity.

America, I don’t know if you’re ready for real revolution. It might be hard. (It might also be really good) It might not be what you want after all……

April 2011

computer resurrected, thanks to a great friend, photos to come soon.

.....gardening to come first. :)

Ok, well, photo-sharing portion of my redemption project is on hold, in light of the fact that my laptop has (temporarily, I hope) crashed.

hahaha.... I just had a silly thought. ...If it gets fixed, maybe I'll take a photo of it, I mean it would be kind of like a resurrection of sorts. Also it feels good to be able to joke about this sincerely, If it truly has died, well, then, it's just dead, least I can get my stuff off the hard drive, in the end it's just a hunk of metal.

O death, where is your sting?

3-20-11

So, I guess in my mind it's kind of obvious where I'm going with this one.
Part of redemption is death- death robbed of it's power, robbed of it's fear over us- it is death in submission to Christ. He has redeemed even that.

Redemption

3-19-11

A brother from my house. He is a walking, breathing, living example of redemption. Taken from very non-perfect circumstances, constantly learning what it is to be made new. Did I mention his guitar was painted by someone else? He stripped the paint away, redid some other things, and made it a new guitar. I think he had a sort of vision for re-creating it. It's been dropped, beaten-up, traveled with, and it has a beautiful sound. It's not a fancy guitar, which is why it's amazing and kind of astonishing that it sounds so beautiful.
Kinda like us when Jesus is walking next to us.......

3-18-11


This is all my friends fault who told me that I needed to take more photos of myself.... but also it is the result of having to take a picture after getting back home tired and with a headache.... and having no high aspirations.

Anyway, I guess an important part about redemption, is learning that it applies to all of us through Jesus' blood, and really believing it. Crazy as it sounds, I as well as you, am a representation of redemption- all because of Jesus. And if it isn't good news that I am being reclaimed and re-made into newness- resurrection with him, than I don't know what is.......

waiting

3-17-11

I don't feel all that creative taking picture of plants,(but at least I feel something: Cheesy! ) but it's almost spring, and all this expectation of things coming to life and being made new after the long slumber is making me think of all the waiting we seem to do when we're looking for redemption. .... and sometimes I can be a pretty impatient person. But those leaves will be coming out soon, and look, there's green poking through all that dead, dried up brown..... it's happening. It's transforming.

in the night

3-16-11


My eyes are brightening as the music is pounding it's way from my ears to my head.....to my soul. And it's changing me from the inside out; soon enough a smile sneaks out- and here I am, sitting here smiling. I have some confessions to make:
Sometimes I've let my hope get beaten up, black and blue, very hesitant to crawl back out into the sunlight for fear I would find it all darkness. So often that hope has proved to let me down, but that's because it was misplaced in my own selfish expectations, and I held it close and tight to my heart. Sometimes my hope was cast to the ground because it just didn't look far enough, or climb deep enough in.
I'm waking up, and words are echoing in my head, "none who place their hope in me will be disappointed"

I'm waking up and looking around me and wondering how I never saw all this with these eyes before.
I'm waking up and I'm a child again- looking into a pair of eyes and knowing that I can hope.

I'm waking up and it's spring. Everything is waking up. I'm looking through everything, all of the years built up into a translucent haze, and all I see through it is a face. In that gaze hangs the balance of all my hopes. And I know I won't be disappointed. I know I can't be disappointed- not when I see that face.
Not when I see that face.
Somehow all this connects to redemption. I've been thinking about things being reclaimed, but, redemption is our HOPE.

And so often it looks as though things are going badly, as though all our expectations and desires are crumbling around us.
Actually, it looks as though the entire world is crumbling around us.... and in fact it is. But remember, resurrection came after death. And our hope does not disappoint us. Redemption is happening all around us in this death, destruction, pain and brokenness. Jesus is putting on flesh and getting on a cross and dying and beating the hell out of death, and reclaiming.
He has given us hope that looks past the night and knows with a resolution that can't be shaken that dawn is coming, it's only hours away even though it may seem an eternity in this suffocating black.


Now when I look up at the stars at night I think of Abraham, of a promise, of a new name, of a story with many twists and turns, where it looks as though all is lost....but then the dawn rises and there is the best ending, the only ending.

I was reading in a magazine the other day that some photographers over the past few years have challenged themselves to take a photo every day for an entire year. Some just documented aspects of life- of their lives, others actually picked some sort of theme. I was juggling the idea around in my head, considering doing it myself, since I have really lacked some inspiration to go take pictures lately. Today I decided I would, and I was going to just do random photos for a year and see what I ended up with, when a friend suggested a theme might be better, or at least more interesting. I actually had one in mind, but at the time I was thinking it might be too vague. After more deliberation, I decided that I really wanted to do this theme anyway.

Everyday for a year I will be trying to take photos that are in some way representive of redemption.

This could be interesting in asheville.

As an afterthought, I realized that the more you look for something, the more you see it, everywhere that it's been all along. It's just putting on new eyes. I'm pretty excited about it, because I think a lot of the time I just get bogged down seeing all the destruction or waste, or abuse, or wronging going on around me... and those things definitely exist. But opening my eyes to redemption is like admitting that I actually believe God; that I actually believe that when he says he can, and does bring good out of a mess, he ain't kiddin'.
It's realizing that Jesus is, quite literally bigger than all of our problems, and when we look hard enough in any situation we will find redemption- ultimately in the face of Jesus.

But man, it doesn't get much more beautiful than opening your starving eyes to a reality that has always been there.
So, the death theme is on hold, not that it isn't important, but every so often I might share my photos and my thoughts on redemption. Seems like I'm gonna be looking for it for awhile. And I'm really hoping it starts changing my eyes and Jesus starts showing up everywhere. He's inescapable, you know.