the unlikely orange

not moved. i've been reading colossians 1 this morning and i came across those words. paul is talking about the incredible thing Jesus did on the cross - reconciliation! - putting us, who were alienated, into right relationship with God. and then paul wants to encourage us to stay connected to that awesomeness and he says (in the NIV) in verse 23, that we need to continue - not moved from our hope. not moved. another translation (NLT) says that we shouldn't "drift away" from our assurance. i like this 'drift away' metaphor because i can easily picture my life as aa boat, which can so casually be moved by the current or the tides. it all happens gradually, but at some point i find myself somewhere i did not intend to be, just sort of floating by in life. it would seem that the obvious answer to this situation - the way to make sure we are not moved and not drifting away - is to put down anchor. it would seem we should remember the joy of our salvatio...

costa rica has crabs. and lots of them. as long as you are lying still on the beach, you can see hundreds (thousands?) of them all over the beach, scouring the sand for something to eat, leaving behind them a maze of little balls of sand, a kind of natural art that will soon be washed away by high tide. but as soon as you stand up they all scurry to their tiny little holes that take them somewhere beneath the surface of the sand. if you were casually walking the beach, you wouldn't even know they were there. but they are there. what lies beneath? it's a fair question, at least for my own life. what lies beneath the surface of my life? what am i missing as i walk through my calendar? what would i find if i took the time to be still and know....? enjoy these pictures of costa rican crabs, and take the time today to be still and know, even if just for a moment, what lies beneath the surface of the landscape of your life.

every once in a while i see a simple scene in a movie - a simple, mundane type of scene, but set to music - like a family at the dinner table or something, and i feel a sense of longing in me. that somehow i wish my life was that romantic. that i want to capture the moments of my life and set them to a soundtrack for the world to see. i want the life i live to be worth watching again. and then i tend to shelve that emotion among the dreams and unreachables in my soul. but then i have days like this thursday, and i realize that i am living that life, if only i would just pay attention. thursday was my day off. i woke up early and did some reading and praying, before the kids got up. they got up earlier than expected, because one of them peed the bed, so i took care of that mess, and then we watched cartoons in bed for awhile until breakfast. shannon uses my day off to get some much needed work done for her business, so i got jack and cade dressed and we headed over to the library, where...

it has hard for me to believe that these pictures were taken 10 years ago today, on the hottest day in recorded history. ten years ago?!? wow. but its been a great ten years, full of just about every kind of up and down that can fit into ten years. but standing at this point in the journey, looking back, i know still what i knew on that fiery day in 1999: that i am one lucky guy. thank you, my love, for these 10 years; for putting up with me; for loving me with all your amazing self; and for the wonderful prospect of many years yet to journey through.

one of my father's day gifts was an interview that shannon did with jack about my favorite things. she thought it would be fun to capture his 4-year old's version of what i love in life, and it turns out she was absolutely right. check it out. my daddy's favorites by jackson, age 4 favorite sport - steelers (he got this one right! it's hard for him to forget that one!) favorite game - don't break the ice (ummm...not so much) favorite song - twinkle twinkle little star (maybe if coldplay sang it) favorite book - the cat in the hat (he knows i love reading him dr. seuss books) favorite restaurant - mcdonalds (absolutely not) favorite movie - alvin and the chipmunks (never seen it, but i guarantee it would not be my fave) favorite tv show - lord of the rings, but he doesn't like randolph ( okay, first of all, he normally calls it 'lord of the beans,' and last night he told me that the two main characters are grandolph and dodo, so he hasn't tota...

lest you think we've abandoned our jazz for breakfast (we haven't), here is today's offering: jack teagarden . hope you are finding ways to pass good culture on to your children, or at least share it with other people, so it doesn't get lost among the miley cyrus's and jonas brothers' of the world. if we don't fall in love with bach and basie again, and share that love with the next generations, who will?

i love being a human, because stuff like this is possible. amazing!