Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Paint

What terms stick and what ones don't? I find it odd that I can say one thing one place and it is cool but say it in another and it is not cool.

For example I remember when I was working at Abercrombie and Fitch in the Lou and it was cool to say shady. You know like that guy is shady or that's shady. Anyway I came home and said this to my sister and she did not like it. She thought that word sounded funny and not cool. In California I often got made fun for saying pop. I actually think that pop can sound better than soda. I feel like soda can be sound like a country word and not so much like a city word. Again this is all so stereotypical and who really defines what words are cool and who they belong with. But somehow words sound different to us. I mean even if it is a cool word how do we feel if an older person says that word.

I remember when one of the girls who comes to Cornerstone on Thursday nights said that I was too old to have holes in my jeans. I thought ok I wasn't wearing them back in the 80s when it was first cool but of recent I was up on the fashion wore them pretty quickly after they came out. Regardless something in her head tells her that is not cool.

All this is my introduction for the word Paint. We can so often hear people say they are going to go paint the town. This term can be used by young or old and no one blinks. I don't think it is cool or not cool it just is. But it was interesting to hear the term paint the town in one of the new Blackeyed Peas' songs. I heard them use the term paint the town and I thought how interesting. What does that even mean?

It actually in its original meaning means to go and go on a riot through out town. Originally taken from these men who did exactly that, had a riot in a town and did paint some of the town red. But I think now days while it can still hold that meaning it means going out and not missing a spot. Sure it does have some connotation to the idea that you are going to get in trouble. But I can tell you when my grandma says it, she is not meaning causing riots. She is probably talking more like making our presence known.

This got me to think about painting our faith and our lives. You know not missing a spot in either of those places. That we make sure everything that is said and known about us speaks faith and the fact we are living in the truth. If our lives were completely covered in Jesus and all that we spoke was about him.

Now realizing this is impossible. We are going to have places that need chiseled out. I just saw the video by the skit guys and know God must continue to shape our lives. But what if my intention was to paint Jesus where ever I went. How would my life change? Do I dare to paint the town Jesus???

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Quarter Machines Be There


So today I heard Howie Day's new song called Be There. I once heard this concert where Howie and John Mayer were talking about how they were stuck at one of those quarter machine for hours. They stood there watching as the quarters hung for dear life waiting to fall off the edge. Each quarter dropped is supposed to help change the setting and because of the metal pusher it could possibly have to fall off. It is confusing because it does look like they will fall but they never do.

I remember that after I heard that I found one of those machines. It is on Exit 131 between St. Louis and KC right outside of Columbia. It was a little BP station. I would remember that concert I heard and get caught in the world of playing the game. I am sure that game beat me more than I ever beat it. But I still stood there watching it and hoping they would all fall from the ledge to the base of the game and my pocket.

It was fun and I remember loving life in those moments and Howie Day reminds me of that. He reminds me of that time while I was in seminary. I can't really tell you what bad was happening to me but I can remember the gas station, the exit and the machine.

A quarter machine seems like something so simple but I ever wonder if God feels like that. Like He is just watching as we hang on to the edge of something. He stands up there feeding us and doing as much as He can to guide us so that we will become free but we hang on. There are times when we feel like we are ready to be free of this world and the trap we are in but yet we still hang on. And maybe it isn't us it might be people we know who refuse to see the truth or see a bit of the truth but still hang on to their old life.

It amazes me how awesome God is though. I mean I know He is so willing even in our stubbornness to keep feeding and guiding us. He will continue to stand their and watch us and not get frustrated. He will continue to wait for you and I to be free of this game we are trapped in.

Oh if I could only live in those moments of just Being There and taking in what God has for me and free from the game of life.