Hey!
How are you??
No, really: How are you?
Just wanting to check in with y’all (yes, gonna stick with “y’all” since the majority voted against a nickname. sigh.)… I’m wondering how the week has been for those of you who may have typed it all out here last week. Wondering how our hearts are, and if those blood-stained hands were able to do some work.
So, in five words, leave it anonymously or claim it. But tell me: How are you?
I’ve spent some time this weekend thinking through what to write here next… How in the world do we carry on after what happened last week? But, then again, nothing here has really changed. This is still a tiny little blog with random musings and spewings from my mind to yours… And y’all still add pieces of your own mind, and we still have a conversation.
We just got down & dirty last week, by coming clean. And people are still coming clean, by the way… And I am still amazed and thankful…
So, back to my grand ideas for what’s next for you, my “mind-readers.” (Maybe we will be called mynd-readers. And maybe our theme song will be “Free-Bird”) Well, I had these grandiose ideas for a snazzy new video blog for all of you, especially any new people that decided to stick around after the dust settled. But, my body seems to be taking longer than anticipated to get over the season’s complimentary sinus infection, and I wouldn’t be able to get through three sentences without coughing. (No pity-comments, please.) Needless to say, I’m disappointed.
Then, there was the idea of ….. well….. There is none. That’s the only idea I had. And here’s the part where try to come up with some chatty conversation-starting question or thought, so you will join in the convo and we can read what all the “mi(y)nd-readers” think about whatever is spewing from my mind.
I really think we should have a name. It sort of solidifies the group-experience. A way to say that we belong, & we have read what really is hidden in others’ minds… And we still love each other. Amen?
OH! Look! A thought!! Let’s take a poll: What will we call ourselves? (Warning: this could be the dumbest idea I’ve ever had. Except I had the same thought about that other thing. So who knows…)
And if you hate this naming idea altogether, I’d love some input on what y’all think we should do next. So feel free to comment. 
Repeat after me: “I’m more creative than I realize.”
I have a late-night idea! Let’s do a weekend writing challenge together. Not that recent-and-impossible 800 words challenge; but more like 80. I know you can type out 80 creative words today.
Let’s use my favorite - object writing: short time of writing about a word, using the senses (touch, taste, sight, hearing, feeling, smell)
The word? LOST
Oh, if you’re wondering just how LONG 80 words is, it’s the exact length of this post.
Go!
A few days ago, I spent some time thinking about the wonderful relationships that I’ve formed just by having a blog, and by the amazing friends that I’m able to keep up with by reading their online “diaries” of blogging…
And I am thankful.
I’m thankful that a man that lives 3,000 miles away from me is producing my new album, with killer musicians and an amazing vision for my songs. And I’m thankful that a friend who is a professional designer is churning up some amazing cover art for this very project, using pictures that another blog friend, an amazing photographer, spent time working on to get just right.
All of these men are a part of my destiny because of the blogging world. I’ve met every one of them through blogging.
I’m thankful that you will take the time out of your busy and over-committed day just to listen and give thoughtful feedback to my latest songwriting endeavor. And, when I need it, you cheer me on. You leave a comment. You send an email. You stop me in the hallway at work and school. This community has shaped me as an artist and an individual.
So I just wanted to say thank you.
A thousand thank yous.
start thinking about white blood cells and antibodies and the like. we’ll get there in a minute.
sunday, my pastor preached from philippians 4, where Paul thanks the Thessalonians for supporting him while he’s stuck in jail.
anyway, my pastor made the point that the body’s resources are meant to be shared. when a part of the body is fighting off an infection, white blood cells come rushing to the infected area from all over the body. they come from other limbs, other areas of the blood stream, from all over. we are the Body of Christ, and we are to circulate our resources in much the same way.
1 Corinthians 12:25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
what i’ve been given isn’t necessarily for MY benefit, alone. it might be that i am supposed to share it with others in the Body that might have need. in fact, doesn’t Ephesians say that gifts are given to the benefit of the Body?
Ephesians 4:11-13 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
alright, that’s his sermon, and here’s where my brain trailed off:
i started really thinking through that analogy. and began to wonder: can we live without being connected to the Body? can we survive without having fresh live blood that flows through the ENTIRE Body also flowing to us? if we are disconnected – if we are out of regular fellowship – if we are out of true Christian community, are we dying?
and, are we dying faster than we realize?
so, i’m wondering, just how long can an organ (yeah, like a heart or kidney or something) survive on its own? how long can it remain “disconnected” before cells begin to deteriorate? how long before “resuscitation” is no longer possible?
and how does this apply to us? how long can we survive outside of the Body – the church?
Romans 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
thoughts???
