Weddings and Friends

Little late on the post, but about 3 weeks ago I spent four days in southwestern Colorado, near Telluride, to celebrate the marriage of my great friend Reilly.  This experience was less of a wedding and more of a biblical festival.  Food, drink, friends, and family ran abundant, and the scenery was breathtaking.  If you have never been to Colorado I suggest it.  As soon as possible.  It will still be beautiful no matter what day you decide to go.  In the midst of the  marriage revolution-of-sorts that has been keeping the country busy, it was incredible to be a part of a wedding the way it was meant to be.  No law can ever change that.

Check out the pics

View from the groomsman house

Adam might be on fire…

Williamsburg reunion

Ceremony setup

View from the top of Twin Peaks (10,800 feet)

Groomsmen getting ready

Reiguy’s getting married!

Reception on the ranch

Nice selection

Stress and the Bible

I had this thought when I was reading through Psalms the other day: My stress and my worries are often slightly out of perspective. The Psalms are some of my favorite passages in the Bible because of how emotionally transparent the writers were. These guys were completely unchained when they bring their thoughts and feelings before God. I’m not really good at that. Sometimes I think that if I were just half as real with God about my feelings as the psalmists were, I would have a much easier time trusting and understanding Him.

Back to my initial point, stress. Lately (as in the past 10 months) I have felt the weight of very real life things–many of which revolve around money–that I have not ever experienced before. Stress, aside from being from being unavoidable and largely undesirable, is an interesting phenomenon. It has the power to push a person into abnormal behavior, usually to compensate for the collective “wtf” that the body is expressing at the given moment. I do many things to counterbalance stress, some good and some probably not so good, but rarely do I ever just take my emotions straight to God, and have Him work them out for/with me. This realization totally floored me when I was reading Psalm 11 the other day. Check out how legit David is…

1 In the LORD I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
“Flee like a bird to your mountain.

2 For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”

I’m pretty sure that bows and arrows aren’t metaphors for overdue rent payments or IRS woes, but that David actually means people were trying to kill him. Literally. Right then. Or maybe a few hours prior. Sure there is some room for contextual differences, but what struck me is that he still went to God first. Every time. No matter what.  Can you imagine some of those prayers?  “Hey God, there’s a 9-foot Philistine solider killing half of the army.. but I know you will take care of me” or “Hey God, 95% of my friends just decided to hate/betray me and run me out of my house/city… but I still love you”  And my personal favorite: “Hey God, I’ve been starving in a cave for the last three days and there is an army waiting to painfully end my life as soon as they find me… but I still trust you”  His peace is still in the Lord and the Psalms usually end with some sort of worship or hope.  And certainly humbling, especially since I’m so quick to dip down into something that isn’t God at the first sign of unrest.  David, you are definitely the man.

The Psalms are great because not only are they really easy to connect with on a basic human level, but they also pull you out of your own selfish worldview really quickly.  Something I know that I need as often as possible.  Check ‘em out sometime.  Here are some of my favorites. 38 42 51 61 119

Have a great day.  Been too long since I’ve posted.  I’ll try to be better at that this summer.

Morningmusic: Bon Iver – Beach Baby

Hebrews 10:23-25

This is a visual representation of the verse that was used in a sermon on community at church this morning.  I made it with this cool website called Wordle.  It converts chunks of words into pictures like this one.  The thing I love about this program is that it forces you to interact with the text in an entirely different way than just black words on white paper.

When reading/studying the bible I often miss out on the power of words and sentences in scripture because I’m lulled into complacency by the constant left to right pattern of reading.  It’s easy for me to treat it just like a textbook, a newspaper, or even a blog post, and I miss out on the potency of the Words of God  because I just lazily cruise through the text to get to the end of a passage or chapter.  These word-pictures are engaging in the way that they draw the eye to different words every time they are looked upon, which, for me, often infuses new power into the original message.

Which words pulled you in from this verse?  How did it affect your thought process as you looked at the picture?

I Used to Write Poems

It’s true.

It happened a lot in high school.  Mostly sappy ramblings, that were pining away for whoever my blue-eyed-muse-of-the-moment from the senior class happened to be.  They were elementary at best.  Full of sugary abstractions and horrific rhyme schemes. I kept them in in a black spiral notebook (long before Moleskines were cool) which usually stayed in my car, sandwiched  between the passenger seat and the emergency brake.  Confession:  My over romanticized seventeen-year-old heart was always hoping for this scenario to unfold…

Random Beautiful Girl: Tripp, what’s this mysterious black notebook next to my seat?
Me: Um, well, it’s nothing really.  I.. uh.  Like to write sometimes…
RBG: You write poems?!
Me: Sometimes
RBG: Wow, that’s so cool/enigmatic/attractive/sophisticated/alluring!  Can I read them?
Me: Sure, I mean if you want to.  (Secret fist pump)
RBG: Ooooh these are incredible!
Me: Gosh.. do you think so?
RBG: Yes. I’m also in love with you.

Mission accomplished.

Fortunately, today is a much different day.  I no longer yearn for such ridiculous scenarios, and I have a much different relationship with poetry.  I continued to write off and on through college and even took a workshop class as part of my major when I was a junior.  My writing slightly matured, and by the end of the class I even had a slight grasp on the elements that make a poem arresting, powerful, and memorable.  Yet, I could never graft the practice of consistent writing into my life.  I certainly flirted with it–most notably during sunsets, lonely car rides, and other stereotypical emo moments–but I could never commit.  Insert commentary on my lack of discipline here.

Writing is such a great avenue for expression and reflection.  Whether we hoard thousands of journals that no one will ever see, or end up with a bestseller, the ability that we have to turn our thoughts and feelings into words is special and unique.  I just wish I could bring myself to do it more often.

I guess that’s part of what this blog is about.  Attempting to move back into that place where words can provoke, thought and emotion.  No performance necessary.  Just sharing.

Maybe one day I’ll walk you through my poetic evolution.  It’s hysterical.

• Morningmusic –> La Mar (The Ocean) – The Beautiful Girls  (Compliments of the Josh Radin Pandora station)

• Life is Different Today Because –> Mike Cordingly was born 24 years ago.  Happy Birthday big guy.  Remember when you drank that poisonous cocktail concoction that was thrust into your hand by Krissy Schnebel at 12:02 am on your 21st? I bet you don’t…  Have a great day man, you deserve it

Snow in 09?

So says the Macbook.  Sadly, the only thing I see outside my window is gray ice.

I’m SO ready to ski.  But it looks like today is not the day.