This is my Chill-Fort. Wanna know the password?

Brooke Fraser… Arithmetic…

Chill. True. Sweet.

“I won’t find what I am looking for
If I only “see” by keeping score
‘Cuz I know now You are so much more than arithmetic.

‘Cuz if I add, if I subtract
If I give it all, try to take some back
I’ve forgotten the freedom that comes from the fact
That You are the sum,
So You are the one
I want.”

Live life like a thankYou!

Keep Smyling

-MAC <>< = )

“I Made a Man of Sorrows Sorry…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8VOv593_HI

“I made the Man of Sorrows sorry
By all my foolish lies
I drove the nails, I raised the cross
I was the reason that He died.”

Utterly unfaithful then
I added anger to my sin
In a world already dark to me
I closed my eyes and would not see

So I may kick and I may scream
Say many things I do not mean
Hold blindly to what is not true
But I will not walk away from You

Just why I choose to disobey
I simply cannot tell
Why I blame You when I rebel
And weep for wounds I give myself

Then screaming at an empty sky
I search for You and wonder why
Though I cause You so much agony
You refuse to walk away from me

Don’t read me pointless poems, friend
Don’t diagnose, don’t condescend,
Though you may be right to disagree
I need someone who’ll weep with me

-Michael Card

Sigh… (Dear Jesus… Thanks… =)

uhm…. hmmmm… hummm… ok.

Those days of relevant diversity are gone… words, trip over themselves… thoughts are all look-alikes… and pointlessness prevails… I’ve never really cared for the flavor of self-esteem anyway… Thanks, self. Goodnight, world. -Some of Michael’s Thoughts

“So when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from.” -Avett Brothers, The Weight of Lies

P.S.

I just had a rather long day…

-got stalked by a random dude with a belt buckle…

-helped sell baked goods at a church.

-took a nap in my parents’ van. (’twas warm. =D )

-had lunch with my sister! =D at some wonderful people’s house, and saw some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. =)

-made the whole car turn around on our mini-road trip… to retrieve a much needed key, and a slightly less necessary, bright orange hat.

-shot a super old shotgun, my dad gave me, from my grandpa(<who got it from his dad, maybe?)

-laughed about operator-error and hand-launched clay pigeons.

-rode a jeep unconventionaly.

-just missed getting to watch a calf get born.

-had fried egg sandwiches for dinner…  and wonderful wonderful water.

-watched the Blindside, and Shooter.

-talked about random stuff in the dark, with some rather joyful friends.

-rode an hour home… silence, intertwined with speech… simple, serene… sweet.

-had a skirmish with my parents’ cat.

-listened to the Avett Brothers

-blogged about my day.

-Slept.

Goodnight, fellow creations of our Awesome God.

Keep Praying, trusting, smyling…

-MAC <>< = )

Promise of Summer…

A’ight… so…

Jackopierce… Pretty chill. -like fly… like uber-rad!

mannnnn… *shakes head* what a song…

Sleep well, all ya’ll… T.T.Y.S. (Yeah, you gotta say each one out in letter format.)

wow… I need to sleep… work’s tomorrow… and there’s a road full of snow for me to brave out there!

G’night, kids!

-MAC <>< = )

P.S.

Trust God.

Three things, three…

First: All songs… 

1. Mess of Me, by Switchfoot. 

2. Monster, by Skillet 

3.  Incomplete Lullaby, by Lisa Mitchell 

—————————————————- 

Second: All events… 

1.  Work. 

2.  Bible Study. 

3. The “till whenever” party! 

——————————————- 

Third:  All happening… 

1.  Sister: Blogging. 

2. Me: Chess. 

3.  Brother: Firefight. 

—————————————– 

Explanation?  None… 

May y0ur pineapples forever fall on the far side of the hill, 

and may your giraffes give gregarious heed to sound doctrine. 

“I stick my neck out for nobody.” 

The way of the pomegranite lies before you… Do not deny…   

-MAC <>< = ) 

P.S.

“Nobody’ll take you seriously, if you write stuff like that.”

“Really?  You sure?”

“Pretty.”

“How do you know?”

“How do I know?  Just think of it… some guy, has some good stuff to say, and then one day, just goes off the deep end and starts trying to sound eloquent about a fellowship of Giraffes!?”

“People think stuff like that all the time. I’m just the guy who says it out loud… or -rather- who puts it on his blog in the middle of the night.  I’m giving a voice to the shy, voiceless pseudo-insanity that lies in all of us.”

“You know what you’re doing?  You’re going nuts!  -Crazy! “

“Crazy? This always comes up… it’s either all about dying, or all about insanity… why can’t your freudianism lead to something normal?”

“Normal… is… not… normal.”

 

“Look who’s talking.”

“People are listening to this… maybe we should talk somewhere, else?”

“Why?  You scared?”

“Maybe… and what if I am? Are you going to keep talking, anyway?

“Maybe…”

“Please don’t. Be kind.”

 

 

 

“Very well then.”

“Very… well.”

 

…

Death, Divergence, and Zero… Dollar Bills.

The dark cannot
Deny the deeds
Of Him who’s three in one.
And all
These thoughts
Run through my head,
Before the rise of sun.

Be here,
I beg! This “death”
I dread!
The solace of my sleep is deceit!

My heart
Is desperately wicked,
And swift
Toward evil, my feet!

Can past death
Deny the deeds
Of Him who’s three in one?
With all
These thoughts,
And all this “Life”
My mind is never done.

“It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep, cuz everything is never as it seems, when I fall asleep.” 

Adam Young, in this song, sings, “It’s hard to say THAT I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep…”

I was dissapointed when I learned this… I’ve always thought he said, “It’s hard to say BUT I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep…”

It made me sad. ha ha! 

Anyway… My friends come back from South Africa in five days!

And grounders plans are in the works, for Monday… =)

My sister just informed me, that last week on my blog, I had a rather humorous typo…

Ten, zero-dollar-bills to anybody who finds it. =)

Peace!

-MAC <>< =)

 

 

 

 

Chess record? 1-13 with 1 draw! This is too hard!

So…. I’ve decided:

-The game of Chess is such a versatile metaphor for life!

-I should only sing songs if I mean them.

-The moon is too small.

-Life is too crazy to be anything but the real deal.

-My mom should have birthdays more often.

-Dad’s are a blessing, that people like myself often overlook, or at least under-value.

-Discipline is difficult… for everyone involved.

-I really like telling 4-year-old twins Bible stories over lunch.

-It’s nearly impossible for me to beat my computer at chess.

-I like Colossians.

–E-sword = amazing. =)

-Roadtrips are so much fun!

-Cars really shouldn’t break… so brothers can enjoy roadtrips. =(

-Balance is beautiful.

-Come Thou Fount… is one of my favorite songs… EVER! =)

And that ends my list for the night.

Have a weird week everyone! 

Live life like a thankYou!

-MAC <>< = )

P.S.

Everybody knows something… but nobody knows everything.

Late nights, and cool sights, and things like irony.

Yes tah dayee…

Was Friday.  Friday I work. Friday I also go a’Bible-studying.

It’s always hard to decide which study to go to.

The more conservatively minded, smaller study… or the bigger, younger, more liberally minded study?

Last night I did both.  (The young-er’s stay up lat-er. =)

From the smaller, older:

Isaiah 63:6-7 (The contrast here is interesting.)

… Jeremiah 6:10-27 (“I am full of the furry of the Lord…”)

Ephesians 4.

and from the younger, later:

Genesis 6… and Jude. (Nephalim? Canonization?)

Crazy Love, by Francis Chan… anybody read it? 

————————————————————————————–

My sister and I stayed there and talked with everyone till 3:00 or so… =)

-Gave away some Nuggets tickets…
(My sister WON them… in a contest she didn’t even want to enter!)

-I locked a guy in the closet, and he SHOWED UP in another room!??? -plain-weirdness.

-Got to discuss Plato’s “cave analogy” yet again!  (What about colors?  What about levels?  what about relevance?)

-Pondered the word “Dramatic”.  (Does bursting out with an unintelligible scream when you remember that you’ve only 2 weeks of school left before graduation, count as “dramatic? =)

-Shared the news of a HUGE Fireball meteor!  The light of which my brother, my roommate, and I saw as if’t’were a momentary sunrise in the WEST!  a few nights back.  It was pretty cool. =) 

-Quoted some of “Inaudible Melodies” by Jack Johnson… (Goooooood music… *sigh*.)

-Thought about John Piper (Books, podcasts… due to my friend Chris’s mention of an audio book version of “Desiring God”.)

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

…my parents’ house, I slept on half of my brother’s couch… for a few hours, before two of my friends, “Elder” Call, and “Elder” Johnson showed up at the door this morning.  asking to talk to me… (I don’t even LIVE here! lol)

Anyway, I talked to them for a while… encouraged them to read Philippians, and Luke… and promised to read “Alma” 36, and 42 and “Moroni” 10 something… (which I did once they left.) 

I was soooo tired…

They are “nice” people… the first time I talked with them… Jesus broke my heart for them, and showed me how much He wanted them to know His truth from their lies… so this week they came again… and I learned from my last encounter, and encouraged them to seriously read the Bible and seek God. (The last time I kind of left it at, “Yeah, I guess if The Book of Mormon is a lie then God would show you if you asked Him.”)

I’m thinking of asking them if I can tag along with them next week… (I was their first stop this morning. =)

(They’ve never heard of Ravi Zacharias, EVEN THOUGH he talked at their Big Tabernacle place a while back. *shrug*)

It’s my mom’s birthday today! =)  She’s insane!  in a good way, mostly. =)P

I’ve no idea how she’s put up with all six of us crazy kids for so long.  But I’m glad she has. =)

We ate brownies with ice-cream, and played Taboo… my team won by 1 POINT! =)  (Not without a few disputes regarding “Jen” versus “Gin” and whether saying “Superhero” was allowed, when “Superman” was taboo.)

…and Chic-fil-a finished the night.  I yelled Bingo while we were ordering! not realizing that an ACTUAL game of bingo was going on. =( oops! lol!   I thought it was funny. 

Then I got to play legitimately, while we ate…

and… after several, suspenseful, close calls, I filled in a whole line… so… I jumped up and yelled “Bingo!” again, right? 

 I ran up to the table with my two hoodies half-on, and my stocking cap crooked, and my crumbled, ripped bingo sheet waving… only for the man to tell me that they were playing “Blackout Bingo.” 

My brother and I were debating -upon my “shameful/depressed” return- as to whether everyone in the place was staring at me because “No way did that dude BlackOut, after only that many numbers!” or “What on earth?  A craz-ed-ly joyful freak! with his jacket falling off, just beat us at Bingo!?” 

Anyway, we had a good time the rest of the night, with our “waiter” (Whom I know from various local church-ish happenings.) saying, “My pleasure.” in response to me saying, “I’m sorry.” -tee hee hee- AND THEN!  He didn’t say, “My pleasure” when I said thankyou for something else, later on! *gasp* That’s never happened to me before… EVERY employee at Chic-fil-a ALWAYS says “My pleasure” when someone says Thank you.  They just do.   But he didn’t!

I was… stunned, shocked… surprised, caught off guard… confused… But I recovered, as he walked away apparently completely oblivious to what he had just done.

There was a cow dancing around the whole time… Once, he purposefully got his hand caught in between the two doors while two young girls were watching. Motioning for help, he tried to get them to assist in freeing him… after several minutes the girls, as a team, freed the cow!  and learned, to some degree, a valuable lesson in good will, and being a servant to all. =) 

On the way home I was thinking about my Bingo defeat… and about how important it is to know what you’re shooting for. 

So many times I feel like people “miss the mark” partly because they’re shooting for another bull’s-eye.  (Like my Mormon friends.)

And I experienced, in a very tangible way, what it’s like to think you’ve accomplished the goal, only to find in the end that you were no where close. 

I don’t want that for young Mr. Call or Mr. Johnson.

I’m sitting here tonight, typing all this out… with a bunch of little things annoying me to pieces!  WHY?!

I’ve been thinking for the past two weeks, how important it is to tell God when I’m not doing what I know I should… when something’s distracting me from Him, when I feel like I can’t let something go.  *sigh*

My brother’s birthday is tomorrow. 

and I’m expected at church in the morning… (I should probably check with my friend about giving him a ride.)

My bigger sister is clicking to, and talking at, her cat!  (It’s stuff like that that sometimes gets to me!  And I can’t figure out why it sometimes does, and sometimes doesn’t.)

My biggest sister is listening to “Oh, My God” by Jars of Clay… I like that song… so much is packed into it!

I… should sleep… I’m sooo tired… five and a half hours of sleep wasn’t exactly what I’d planned.  (But, Thank You Jesus! for something eternally-directed to invest in as soon as I awoke! =)

I

Like

Jars of Clay

and Chicken

and Moms

and the Love,  Grace, and Justice of God incarnate, Jesus Christ!

and meteors

and brothers

and praying

and Philippians

and Clementines

and Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

and… Rhyming.

*************************

And now I will leave you all… have a blessed, restful, thankful Sabbath!

Keep Smyling… Praying… Trusting…Doing…

In Christ,

-MAC <>< = )

Thank you kindly, Mr. John Schmidt…

From the same place they record stuff for Veggie Tales… comes this:

 

 

Enjoy…

thank God for

beauty…

and family…

and smyles…

and music…

and cellos…

and pianos… =)

Have a grand Sunday!

-MAC <>< =)

P.S.

It’s snowing!

=D