Monday, October 30, 2006

A Dialogue...

THE VOICE OF THIS WORLD:
“Your shadow below is a cold, bitter sight,
Even he leaves you alone in the night.
No one you can hold; No one who can hear;
And people just haunt you, they never stay near.
Nothing lasts, and all shades turn to gray,
The sun always sets and the night turns to day.
Relationships may come but most of them go.
You won’t find love, you fool, don’t you know?
Haven’t you learned from the years of your youth?
The number of steps in your past has been two.
You can’t get it right! You’re destined to fail!
So how does it feel in solitude’s jail?
Are you going to cry with life's wind in your face?
Your tears will just dry and your cries will erase.
No one will listen in this masquerade.
Your countenance will fall and your vibrance will fade.
Yes, you’ll be alone 'til the last grain of sand,
And you’ll go to death's grave a weak little man.”

THE VOICE WITHIN:
“God, like a shadow, has stood by my side.
He never has left me, though leaving, I tried.
To Him do I hold and I know He can hear,
The haunts of my mind and the shed of my tear.
True, this world will pass, but pass not, will the fame,
And the glory of Christ; they will shine like the day.
Nothing is lost when you’ve gained what I know,
That love came to find me and rescue my soul.
Now the traces of pain from the years of my youth,
Have all given way to the Light and the Truth.
Truth that God is my right and God cannot fail.
My sin was a prison, but Christ paid my bail.
And though I may cry in this blowing of grace,
My tears, He will dry and my cries, He’ll erase.
Despite all mal-effort and despite all sin’s raid,
My life, a great telling of God’s glory displayed.
I’ll be one with Christ at the last grain of sand,
Having gone to earth’s grave a weak, little man.

And the lies of this life will be but ablaze,
In the light of God’s glory, God’s honor, and praise.”

Carson Joyner / 1997-2002 / Written at two different periods in my life.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

HOUSE PICS ( 2308 E. Fraktur )

That's right, I've further joined the GOOGLE bandwagon by utilizing their Picassa tool. Enjoy this gallery showing pretty much everything thus far.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Thoughts On Community ???

I've been thinking about community a lot more these days. How do you create it? How do we make it authentic? (ooh forgive the 'christianese' buzz word) And better yet, how do you cultivate it and KEEP it authentic, given the crazy pace, distance, and ever-changing nature of modern life?

There are moments when I definitely feel like authentic community is in fact happening ... like today when I logged on to my blog and saw all the New Valley peeps there with their comments and fellow blogs. And yet, the truth is that my heart desires so much more than weblinks, common clicks, and profiles. I want the real people! I want so much more committment to and from other friends. So much more 'face-time'. So much more prayer and sharing one another's burdens and celebrations in day-to-day life. And so much LESS surface relationships, shallow conversations, and fraud.

Jesus, chose 3 of the 12 disciples to engage on a more personal level; to go deeper with and to let inside his closest circle. Maybe the problem is that we honestly think we can foster authentic community with TOO MANY PEOPLE at the same time! I'm guessing that if the Savior of the World felt like he could handle 3 inner peeps, that I might be biting off a bigger flinstones vitamin than I can chew with my personal network of roughly 200 people. What do you think?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to moving south and closer to the church and some friends. I look foward to fostering deeper community with a select few (for starters) and seeing where it leads me. I'm looking forward to becoming a more complete, understood, loving person. I'm looking forward...