is love alive?

My handsome husband posted this recently - a beautiful poem written for President Obama's inauguration.

This January has so much to hope for. Hope for a revived economy, hope for a new presidency, hope for spring, hope for change. In past Januarys, I've written about this feeling of change but there hasn't been a January where I've felt such a need for love.

When our bank accounts are scant, when the weather reaches -25 with the windchill, when there are few roadsigns directing us into February, March, 2010, the rest of our lives... We need love, "love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance."

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
(1 John 4:16)

Learning to live loved.
- William P. Young, The Shack

"Have you loved well?"
- Chris Dupré

This is my winter song to you
The storm is coming soon
It rolls in from the sea

My voice, a beacon in the night
My words will be your light
To carry you to me

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love...

They say that things just cannot grow
Beneath the winter snow
Or so I have been told

They say we're buried far
Just like a distant star
I simply cannot hold

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?

This is my winter song
December never felt so wrong
'Cause you're not where you belong
Inside my arms

I still believe in summer days
The seasons always change
And life will find a way

I'll be your harvester of light
And send it out tonight
So we can start again

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?

This is my winter song
December never felt so wrong
'Cause you're not where you belong
Inside my arms

This is my winter song to you
The storm is coming soon
It rolls in from the sea

My love, a beacon in the night
My words will be your light
To carry you to me

Is love alive?

betty

An email sent from my brother, Simeon, to follow up a text he sent at 4:46 a.m., Saturday morning:

For those of you who have come to know and love Betty,
I'd like to send news of her passing, at 4:30 a.m.
She burnt to the f***ing ground.

Poetic, no?

__________________________________

For all those who have come to know and love Betty, my 23-year old Volvo, I am sending along word of her passing on Saturday, January 24, 4:30am. She will be greatly missed by all in Kingston and Toronto... nay, there is much weeping and gnashing of teeth over the entire world today as we mourn the passing of a legendary vehicle.

For those who have known Betty over the last year, you’ll have known the stories of her turbo blowing up north of Montreal, her oil pan leaking all over Kingston, her burnt hood in Tremblant, her colliding with several snowbanks, and lastly, her burning to the ground in my very own backyard. I was woken up by someone shouting, “YOUR CAR IS ON FIRE!!” and I knew at that moment, it was my Betty.

Pictures are attached of her last moments, and her final resting place. There are also several pictures of her glory days.

RIP Betty.

Sim

therefore

"There are times when I'm clueless.

I can not figure out what He's doing.

Now, I'll be honest with you: I haven't been in that predicament for a number of years, but it's fresh enough in my mind that I remember what it was like when I did not have a clue what He was doing.

But I could always, by choice, feed myself on what he had done.

Because I do have a brain and it does have a memory. I am able to call to mind the things that the Lord has done.

Sometimes it's a disciplined act of recalling to mind - in fact, Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations says, 'This I recall to my mind, THEREFORE have I hope.'

Bringing certain things to mind as a deliberate act is a part of the ongoing strengthening process of the people of God, no matter what happens."

- Bill Johnson, Bethel

"Hope has two beautiful daughters;
their names are Anger and Courage.
Anger at the way things are,
and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are."
– St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)

boost, part 2

For those of you in the know...

Shameless plug for Boost and for the company I work for, Yield, who came out with this spot:

charity

Webster's Dictionary* defines charity as:

1. Benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity.
2. a) Generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering; also: aid given to those in need, b) An institution engaged in relief of the poor, c) Public provision for the relief of the needy.
3. a) A gift for public benevolent purposes, b) An institution (as a hospital) founded by such gift.
4. Linient judgment of others.
   

Other than a vague association with Charity Churchmouse (from the 80's "Psalty, The Singing Songbook"...anyone? anyone?), I haven't often run into this word. It seems archaic. Cheesy, even. Charity. Wasn't the art of charity lost around the turn of the coloured television?

Even so, I'd have to say that I find myself regularly practicing #1, #2 (a, b, and, indirectly, c), and #3 in its entirety. #4 is still something that I'm working on...forgive me... But isn't charity more than just "benevolent goodwill"?

In the same way that I dislike the term "hiking" and prefer "a long, meandering walk in the woods with no particular destination in mind", I wonder if I'd take to using the word "charity" if it sounded more like this:


"That's the problem with charity: you have to mean things. You have to mean things to help people. Like the time I volunteered to help out at a soup kitchen...and very nearly made it."
- Will, About a Boy

* Andrew looooves it when people quote from Webster's. Shout out to you, La!

a study in curly haired boys

It's no surprise to most that I tend to develop crushes on pianists. Like him, him, him and, of course, him.

But, I'd like to take a moment to mention my first piano-man crush. I think I was about four years old. His name was Keith.

He was, in my mind, the perfect man. He liked animals. He had an amazing voice. He had passion. He loved his wife and kids. He was funny ("Would one of the angels like to go out and get the Lord a hamburger and a Coke?"). He was feisty ("Jesus came to your door, you've left him out on the streets."). Plus, my dad loved him.

The other day, I realized this childhood crush may have influenced me to crush on other pianists. Namely, my husband. Notice the following:

The similar album covers:

The similar plaid shirts:

The similar hair:

What strikes me as most similar about these two pianists, however, is their pure, unadulterated, passionate love of Jesus. My opinion may be considered biased but I can easily say that I haven't known anyone who loves Jesus more than my husband. It oozes from him. He reads scripture about Jesus and and is moved to tears. He reads poems written about Jesus and is moved to tears. He talks about and to Jesus like he's in the room. Jesus is the last person he talks to before going to sleep (although sometimes I try to give Jesus a run for his money). Jesus is the first person he consults before a major decision. And he has passion. Lots of it. Like Keith. Like Jesus.

Come away, come away, come away with me, my love
Come away from this mess, come away with me my love.
- Keith Green

Take me away, take me away with you
Take me away, take me away with you.
- Andrew Gazaneo

80's elves...why not?

The legend continues.