Monday, March 22, 2010

Denizen.


It used to be about the lights. The shops. Yellow death cars chasing you down. These things remain. I've spent the year in the richest city lying down with poverty. When you share your bed with penniless dreamers...something changes. Some quiet noise in you becomes audible. Then loud. Not loud like you cannot sleep but loud like you should not sleep. Someone pressed blend inside your head so you become mixed. The beauty of what everyone sees and what really truly is becomes evident. And so you are without excuses any more. (I still reach for them everyday.)

I remind myself that this coffee shop is just a place I go. It's not apart of me. I say this because I cannot take it with me. I detach myself. An art in which I am fully accustomed to and improve on daily. Detachment. To move on from what has been to what will be. This element of me is as complicated as love itself. I suppose. Suppose. Supposing. I could just say empty words like love and miss. I choose. chose. Choosing. To express the drippings of how I feel. What I feel.


We are an obligatory nation. Say amen after you pray. Say thank you. Say nice things to relatives that you don't like. We say the expected.

I frequently want to be graphic(like a novel). Uncensored(like my mind). I unfortunately am obliged to obey the lines that have been drawn for me(by me). Simply simple. What a simpleton(can I change?).
I am a rare bird. Who chooses to surround herself with other colorful creations. I avoid the common loon.
There is nothing wrong with being the common loon. They just become confused by my(our) musings. So we are separate, no better than one another, just different. Just created apart in the same atmosphere.

It is I the unmasked caper who gets black listed. Yet I'm ok with any list I may end up on.

There are more important lists than the ones we create.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The walls are talking you just aren't listening...

There is a tiny Chinese restaurant in a strange part of Queens. In this restaurant there are even stranger decorations on the wall. The menu on the wall is made from paper and the staff seems on the surface to be quite disheveled. Foreign books and foreign space strangers to the face but they make it feel like home. If eyes could hug. You would be embraced.
Funny how I blog when I miss my mom. When I want people to feel God's love. When I want to feel God's love.
There is a plant in the corner of this hole in the wall restaurant. It is of course fake. I think the plant is honestly happy to be any where. Location isn't always location, location, location. We just think it is.
I've been craving a good wandering session with myself. Prone to wander. Yes like that song we all know. When I shut my eyes I see a shack of an apartment with a computer where I pour out all I've been storing up for the last 23 years...almost 24. I'm just busy with thoughts. And action isn't my supply of life but neither is complacency.
Is anyone weighed down with figuring things out? Lay it at His feet. Not just today. Tomorrow is entirely different than today. We have no idea what it looks like or what to expect. So when your eyes crack open at whatever response it takes to get you out of that bed remember that it's a new day to decided to do things Jesus's way. No matter what you deceided yesterday...it's over. And yesterdays excuses measure up to insufficent funds. You just can't cash them in. Of course this is what I'm learning this is why I'm writing it. A lesson for all.
I have a new bedroom.
It has a certain luring effect to it. Of comfort. For some reason ever since I moved in I've felt more like myself. I've wanted to spend more time loving Jesus...surroundings make such a difference. Like the plant in the Chinese place it's just something that says welcome it's not much but it's ours. Thats my room...not much but it's mine.
Where do we find ourselves? The obvious is the word. How do we get back when we've gone away? Well just like when I lace up my nikes and hit the pavement it hurts if I haven't done it in a month...but I instantly remember how good it feels.
It consumes me. Every word is dripping. So much to take in. Sometimes I want to ignore it just like I want to ignore the homeless because it cuts so deep. I'm not just walking by another person I'm walking right by Jesus's heart. His compassion is found in a cardboard box where Gucci and Prada don't matter and all the theology is just a bunch of tests from the past.
I can't ignore them...I can't I'm like two palms scrapping across the hot sidewalk a sight to see....I am struggle. Struggle for what I am and what I want to be. I struggle between religiousity and knowing God. Following Him and following dare I say my friends. Let's be honest we are most influenced by the people we love the most. Even the relationships that are seemingly dead affect us still. So I'm learning and my heart is brimming. I'm taking my time.
For now I am trying to conquer each day. To proclaim Jesus Christ as King a little louder than the day before and not clutching to yesterday. Focus.
Go ahead say the thing that you fear to say. Someone else is thinking it.
Keep peace with God. And love beyond what you are capable of. Til next time. Let's shake things wherever we our. God put us there so storm the gate.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I closed my eyes clicked my heels together said those magic words...

But I'm still at Elim.

Only 5 more days. Then I will be home again.Whatever that means. I'm not sure if home is something I can understand at this point. It's so liquid. Which is fine.

These walls are made of rubber...I swear... and I am using them to their full extent. That's right folks I am throwing myself at them wildly and of course they are spitting me right onto the ground. Which is made of wood. I am splinter free thus far. I'm sure the pain will catch up to me soon enough...it always does...doesn't it?

I have been exploring the caves inside my brain as of late and man(or woman...I'm not picky) are there some jems in there! I was beginning to think it was ash and soot. Beyond the rubble and common thoughts are some unexplored planets with civilizations of their own. Each with their own motives and plans. I cannot seem to connect the dots like, cassiopeia, it's just too vast to comprehend. I don't really mind though I have my miner hat on extra batteries in my pocket a pick ax in my hand. I'm all set but if the world doesn't mind I'd like to sort this one out on my own. I have many sources flying at me it's too confusing and I'm tired of ducking.

I just put on a hat. It's 12:43 but I felt a need to blog in a hat. It's from 1964...like the year. That's all.

Tomorrow I just may dig a hole...but for now I would like to talk about my floor cushion.



Aunt Susie bought it for me. I love it whenever I get tired of where I am I sit on it and suddenly I see the world anew. It's quite refreshing. If you are bored with an angle try a different view.

Miss list:

Mommy
Case
Pop
Brittany Marie
Lacy Ann
Sharon
Syd
Amy
Nanna
Kim
Jetta
Sleeping on the couch
Back to the Futureathons
Shtalking
Pop's cooking
Not doing homework
Wheat thins
The YMCA
Fresh Salads
The Fruit Bowl
Sitting on the kitchen table
Trumping around the house like a maniac
Grocery shopping with ma
Dog walking
The rain
Office quoting with sis
Towel snapping with pop
Nathan
Benjamina Gunn
Shchase
Justin
Pastor Rick

I must quit. My fingers could carry on I however cannot not.

Until we meet again:
Good night & bittersweet dreams or Good morning & wonderful life ahead...

A bit of truth before the sandman bids me hello:

Philippians 1:3-6(the message)

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

No matter how we start there is still a chance to win in the end.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Rain is to Aberdeen as Snow is to Lima

"I have found a grace that guides me by the hand."-Kim Walker

It has been quite some time since I tried to convey via my blog what is happening in the life of me. Since I am currently quite home sick and my life is oh so bittersweet I have decided to let everyone in on the know!

School has been really challenging this semester...man challenging is not the word I desire to use. It's so vague...it seems to incomplete to say "challenging". Let's start again. This semester has been a time where I finally know and recognize that I don't know much at all. The year started out great I drove over to New York with my mom and my sister,our trip was quite the extravaganza!(This must be saved for another time) I was pumped about the school year ready to take on the work, excited for my amazing room/beyond a blessing of roommates! I went in full force. Serving God is surely a marathon because I am still a month from finishing the semester out and if I were to be honest with the world(or at least the people in my world) I want to quit. To sit underneath a tree and pout. If you are startled by my honesty don't be. If there is anyone thing that God has been teaching me this year so far it's that we often hide from honesty, but why?

So why Callie do you want to quit? That seems so unlike you...True. First let's get things straight. There is a difference between wanting to quit and actually coming to fruition with that idea. I am not going to quit. I believe God has called me to Elim, and now even more that times are hard. I cannot express what it is that has me discouraged but I can tell you it is more than just a heart issue,it's a life issue. I have been questioning pulling at my hair and wondering with every fiber of my being what I've been taught about God. Do I believe God is real? Without a doubt. Don't fret about that. :) All I ask of you dear friends is that you pray.

I do not wish to be such a glumapotomous! Or lead you to believe that life is horrible. It certainly is not! I am just diving into the vast mystery that is my God of the universe. It's exciting and scary. It's pushing me beyond my limits leaving me aching and burning to have my questions answered just like Job! Am I sitting with boils left with nothing? No. I sit comfortably in my room left with a life of possessions knowing I am loved and not forgotten.Roommates! I have been very blessed to have two astounding roommates! Aaryn & Becca have been such a blessing to me! Last night we were talking about what we are thankful for and Becca expressed her gratitude for our room. God reminded me while she was talking about how careful He is...careful? Yes I said careful. What does that mean? Don't take my words and run with them. Oh man, you are running now aren't you? Stop in your tracks! I mean it! Ok, thank you, now I can finish my thought(golly people are always getting carried away with obscure thoughts)...God is not cautious He does what He wills. He is God His agenda is solid, yes we have a free will but He is in full control. *If your thought is-wow all this from roommates...don't worry I'm getting there( I always am getting there,then again aren't we all just getting there. Wherever there may or may not be?)* So onward(Christian soldier?) God is in control. He is also thought out His plans cannot be thwarted despite what the scheming of us or satan. God planned our room. We struggle we fall hard but all our scrapes,pumps bruises in the times where we are broken and bleeding on the floor. God knew. We have been saved by the God of grace who has installed himself in Becca, Aaryn & myself. By that grace in which He has so abundantly been placed in each one of us we are able to lift each other up. Out of the ashes we rise. Alone is never absolute. So trust this: God is careful.


Excuse me but...you should probably check
out this video:

youtube.com/watch?v=cYpxxAINw7w

Like it? I went to New Jersey with Aaryn over fall break and on our way home we saw Anna the Banana and of course we had to stop. Speaking of New Jersey it is beautiful! Don't believe the lies. I have seen it for myself. It is actually quite an enchanting place. This break was the best I have ever been on. It was awesome getting to know Aaryn's family. We got to sleep in almost everyday and we ate the most amazing food ever! Aaryn's mom is an excellent cook! We also went to NYC on Monday where we met up with some long lost friends and school mates! Each year at Elim the Junior class goes to NYSUM(New York School of Urban Ministry) it's in New York City and all they do for 5 weeks is straight up street ministry! Talk about amazing! On mondays they have the day off so we went to play with them! :)

Hmmm I feel I'm forgetting something...


Parting this blog proves to be harder and I have much more to say, however I also have homework calling my name(it is oh so demanding of my time:). I bid you ado. Hopefully I will have adventure of Boston(where I will be going for Thanksgiving) next time. Until then I will continue to chase after veritas...

Monday, September 15, 2008

All is fair in love & war?

"This is war peacock!"-Professor Plum,Clue

Two weeks have taken their sweet revenge on me. I stand in solemn silence as the bus drives away and I know without a shadow of a doubt that 5 weeks will pass like a year. It's a good thing I am not going to cling onto what I know. Rather I am going to take a giant leap off of this hypothetical building into a lake that doesn't yet exist trusting that by the time I get down to the bottom God will have provided one for me to oh so ineloquently dive into. Gibberish? Maybe.

I am going to die today. I want to. I need to. Death is painful. Sometimes it is very sudden and unexpected. Other _____ you aren't expecting it. For Christ I die that I may truly live. What does it mean to die? I truly don't understand it but I want explore it.

the act of dying; the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism. extinction; destruction:bloodshed or murder

What? Hold up so to die I need to but every thing I consider to be vital on the table and pull the plug. My eating,my thoughts, my sleeping, my so called needs...yes. What a horrible ideal! Who would want to endure this? ME! Thats what my heart screams but my head has a hard time keeping up.

Keep your head up. As my friends. Well they are distant musical friends that don't know me but I know them quite intimately. But they sang, they sing about keeping you head up. That sometimes you have to break your neck to do so. Cause it hurts in a healthy world to hold your head high but we are in a hurting world so it's impossible. Without death it's impossible.

So kill me...not even softly. The pain that we think we know is nothing compared to the life that we could gain. And we would not know of pain but of victory in blood alone.

And trust me it gets lonely when you are a tattered soldier on the sidelines or on the front lines or lying in a fox hole your regiment dug for you. To take a break from the bullets flying over head cause we understand if you need to sit this one out.

Because all is fair in love and war.[it's because we love Him that we war]

Be a causality with me?
Not so casually.
Cause it's not casual.
And it certainly isn't formal.
Or normal.
Death is just a reason to begin again.

Friday, January 18, 2008

WOP-Week of Prayer

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains,being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas,the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
Psalm 65:5-8

As I begin to type I cannot put it all into words what God has done. This week instead of going to classes like normal we spent the week in prayer over a variety of topics:Our world,our nation,our home towns,Lima,our families,our friends,ourselves,we repented and we cried out for God in worship-we prayed from 8:30 in the morning til 9:00 at night we short breaks in between. Here just a few things God did in me:

Restoration:God has restored my hope in a future ministry. He has breathed into me new vision and set on fire old vision. He has challenged me to pick up my ministry and run with it. God has said to me;"I want you to spend 15 minutes a day working on your ministry,by the time you graduate I will have used that plan,after all your plan is my plan."

Healing: God has healed my heart. I had felt heart sick for a long time. Sick because I felt so dry. Sick because I felt abandoned. God placed his hand on my heart and breathed new life into me.

Compassion:A friend of mine prayed compassion over me,God said through her this:"Callie God is going to give you the gift of compassion,you are going to care when no one else cares and love like never before."And God did just that my heart aches for those around me, those at home and those I've never met. I weep(I quite literally at times for those with needs) and for the first time I am not afraid of the tears and the joyful sorrow I feel for them.

Prayer:God has given me a new heart for prayer like never before. Most of the time I'm so selfish to pray for my home town or my nation but God has challenged me to seek his will and power for the world...for the unreached nations,for the broken,the needy,for the hopeless,the orphans,widows,for the media,for the political leaders.

Forgiveness: This week our focus was on two things the great commission and the greatest commandment(s). We heard this amazing message from Sister Clark. And she talked about forgiving your enemy and loving them as yourself. One thing that she said that really hit home was"you know you have truly forgiven someone when you can sit across from them and be friends." That night I forgave so many people. People I haven not even thought about in a long time.

Those are just a few :) I will write more later. Pray for me as I pray for you and we can stand in the gap for eachother.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Perseverance-sweating it out for God.

Luke8:15"But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance."

I love this passage because it talks about scripture and the way people receive and re-use the word of God(if they do at all).

per·se·ver·ance
[pur-suh-veer-uhns] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun
1.steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perseverance)

In spite of difficulties I'm going to choose to serve God.
I'm going to continue in a steady persistent course of action.
I have a purpose.
And though I may get discouraged.
I choose God...after all didn't he choose me first?

God let me hear your word with an honest and good heart,hold tight to it and pursue you so I can persevere through the pains and heartbreaks of life. I'm on this mountain and down is not an option. Not for as far as we've come. Not for as much as you paid. This is it.

20Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 gave, and the LORD has taken away;And he said,"Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD blessed be the name of the LORD."

9 days until I depart. This is blog is whats inside this stuffy head. Full of mystery are my days to come. So this is the countdown...look out New York cause here I come.

This is me chasing after veritas wherever it may lead me.