www.cascchurch.org/mtc/

Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

More pics here.

So Thankful.

For family.
Parents, siblings, in-laws & little ones.
Reunited dinner.
Savor union, tradition’s feast.

So Grateful.

For little gracious-mercies.
For great blessings & generosity.
For all that we don’t deserve.
For all that we do but didn’t.

So Wonderful.

For brand new relationships.
For tender affections & kinships.
Discovering extensions of ourselves.
Nurturing the ties that bind.

Soul Hopeful (so much more)

For everything and all.
For all that is to be.
For the longing of more.
The perfect Reunion.

Millionaire gives away fortune which made him miserable – Telegraph.

This is utterly refreshing to see as one of the headlines on Google News’ page.
What would happen if more people started doing this?
100, 1000, 10,000?
A critical mass doing this?
A whole generation doing this?
What if that’s how the world lived?
We need to stop acting.
We need to stop pretending.
Refreshing.
Rend the heavens.
Rend the soul.

Misty Edwards: Rend

Traditions are Tasty.

We didn’t have to cross the River Jordan to get this.

And it’s certainly not our 12 stones from the river bed.

But it was tasty.

We used to do this every single weekend huddling around those grease soaked tables after the college Bible Study at UIC.

Those were great times.

So was Bible study.

Though we’ve not gone to 7 Treasures as often these days, we are not about to let an institution die.

The institution of eating noodles in a bowl of hot MSG laden soup, with tasty morsels of Cha-Siu & Shrimp Wantons.

Li was telling someone on the phone something like “It’s the best place on earth.”

I find that hard to disagree.

Traditions are Full of Life.

So, traditions are supposed to make us feel good.

When it makes us feel good inside, we feel safe.

Traditions, like monuments,  in a way remind us of important times & events.

Just like the 12 stones for the 12  tribes.

Likely passing out of death of sorts and into new life.

For a remembrance of when God parted the river.

Remembering the presence of hope.

Realizing the accessibility of grace.

Appropriating it’s availability via faith.

Though traditions’ survival through posterity requires it to be meaningful.

Meaningful historically.

Meaningful liturgically.

Probably most meaningful emotionally & relationally; when it is full of life & alive.

Traditions are Good.

It’s that emotive resonance translating us instantaneously into the familiar confines felt previously.

The natural frequency amplifying and reinforcing both current and previous experiences.

Postmarking an event, an occasion into the annals of tradition, quarantined from the uneventful, mundane and everyday.

We are about to travel home over Chinese New Year.

As I related to someone at church, CNY has always been a special time yearly for as long as I can remember.

My favorite and loved it more than birthdays, holidays etc.

The relational connections.

Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins.

Emotively energized events.

Remembering family passed-on, well wishing, new year wardrobe, cornucopian delicacies & fireworks.

I am resonating.

Traditions are Good, Tasty + Full of Life

seed-crystal: www.brotherjohns.wordpress.com

It has been a really really long time since high school and even longer since experiments like these. But this past weekend, memory turned into a repository fueling a prophetic vision. After a meaningful, purposeful evening of chatting and sharing we spent a limited prayer time. Of course, length of time (or the lack thereof) isn’t a requisite for the Divine. As PDT was making heaven-bound-utterings, I had some heaven-sent-musings.

Crystallization.

And as a matter of symphonic-serendipity, Mel had uttered the exact same word in her prayer; serving to confirm what I had just seen in my mind’s eye prior. An image of saturated-colloidal-solution, beaming with particles swirling about the nucleus, the seed.

The Seed & Nucleus:

• the core of the being and of what it is to be
• its DNA
• its genetic make-up that will ultimately be replicated

The Colloid (& its constituents):

• all of the critical mass yet to be grafted into the core
• bearing the same DNA
• “swirling” around the seed & nucleus

The Crystallization:

• only like compounds with the same DNA coalesce with the core
• the core grows
• it grows in a certain pattern and order
• the core is clearer
• the core is stronger
• the core is harder
• non of the foreign particles are included; it is repudiated by the core
• it doesn’t look exactly like the core anymore
• it piers and it branches
• it’s a dynamic organism & network

Crystallization.

Viva-La-high school experiments.

Viva-La-Villark.

crystallization: www.brotherjohns.wordpress.com

We spent a good part of the day on New Year’s Day reviewing the past decade.

It was a good visual inspection of the decade in a timeline.

Marking out highlights, lowlights…basically significant moments of impact.

And we compared when we did what.

Then we looked ahead into 2010.

And prioritized specifically within these areas for growth:

1. God
2. Family
3. Ministry
4. Vocation
5. Burdens & Opportunities

All of these with the underlying theme phrases that I’ve gathered during our prayer & devotion times since last summer:

• Identity+Purpose
• Deliberate+Intentional
• Faithful+Diligent
• Thorough+Excellent

Then Mel made the most wonderful Marble Pound Cake with the bundt cake mold she got for Christmas from mom.

What a great start to Twenty10!

2009 X’mas
Originally uploaded by legos+dream

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Gaiety of gifts.

Gluttony of feast.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Traditions for the hell of it.

Celebrating not knowing the half of it.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Stockings and treats.

Families retreat.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Clueless merry making.

Pointless carol singing.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Eerie stillness of a silent night.

Hopelessness of giftless Magis.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Baby manger laying.

Love via death displaying.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Strangers comprehending.

Losers prevailing.

Merry Christmas.

Or the horror otherwise.

Christmas trees full of lights and decor,  candles, gifts, goodies, cards and more…the joys of the Christmas season! Shopping, wrapping and shopping some more…fighting the crowds and searching for deals…the joys of the Christmas season! Baking, cooking and cleaning for guests…hosting our Christmas party and more…the joys of Christmas season!

Recently I had a conversation with someone that she really hates the Christmas season. The pressures of getting the right gift…which home to spend Christmas eve at…her parent’s or her husband’s? The season seems to really stress her out and I don’t think she is alone. In the hectic chaos of the Christmas season there is the danger of missing the Christmas joy. The meaning behind the reason we celebrate in the first place. It’s not just about the materialism or the pressures from family…it’s all the traditions that have also lost their meaning.

Every year our family also celebrates Advent during the Christmas season. But even this year we have gotten so busy that we have missed a few times of lighting our Advent candle. I don’t want to miss out on the Joys of Christmas…but most importantly as we await the coming of Christ…I don’t want others to miss out on the true Joy of Christmas…Jesus…that’s the reason for it all!

Is failure the man-made criterion featuring the sixth letter of the alphabet scrawled on test scores?

or

Is it the blank stares of the room following your exhaustively-simple & clearly-imperative plea?

perhaps

It’s the always-imposing, counter-reality, nay-sayings, constant-remindings, of (n)ever (re)inforcements?

It may (likely) only be defeat.

Defeat, a requisite.

Defeat, a building block.

Defeat, the cost of dreams.

Defeat, savored taste of deferred victory.

Defeat, camouflaged Advent.

Defeat, not failure.

Failure, mis-intended, mis-placed, collapse of purposed utility.

Failure, not Defeat.

Every day yields new discoveries. Whether young or old there are new discoveries to enjoy. We just need fresh eyes to see them. I am learning about new discoveries from my nine-month old. A box of kleenex…a new musical toy that lights up…a cell phone…remote control. She looks at them with the most adoreable and quizzical expression. Then she fixes her eyes on the object and determines to discover what it is…most of the time by putting it in her mouth! Discovering how to crawl has yielded additional new discoveries for her too!

You name it there are new discoveries all around us for our enjoyment. I am discovering that I love to be a mom. I love to bake homeade pizza. I love to care for others and share my life with them. New discoveries are exciting….and are awaiting us. We just have to have our eyes open…and crawl or walk into them. What is it that you are discovering about life…yourself…the things you love? Whatever it is…enjoy the journey…seize the moment…and share your new discoveries with those you love!