Currently Fall and Winter By Jon Foreman see related

I have a new blog!

Currently Listening Drops of Jupiter By Train see related

Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. [Jm. 2:26]

So, body: faith as spirit: works

I would think that the analogy would be the other way around. From my initial perspective, works are faith in bodily form, the physical expression of our faith.

After I thought about it for awhile, it made sense to think of it this way: Our spirits give life to our bodies. In the same way, works give life to our faith. Our spirits are what make our bodies get up and walk around; they give us personality and character qualities. They are the force, the drive behind what our bodies do.

Our works are what make our faith get up and walk around; our works reveal our character qualities. Our works are the force of our faith. We can have all the "faith" we want, but until we back it up with works, it's dead.

Currently Listening Narrow Stairs By Death Cab for Cutie see related

We can't get close enough.

Closer
by Jars of Clay

Well you thought you let go
but you’re still hanging on
Mother Earth slowing down
she’s still spinning around
and we are getting dizzy

I’ll drop out of the race
for more personal space
Cause the rockets we’re in
get so cold, and I miss your skin
It’s just how I’m feeling

If you need more love, well you’ve got to get close to me
If you want my love, well you’ve got to get closer to me.

No unreachable itch,
If you hemorrhage, I’ll stitch
You are tears, I’m a cheek.
I’m a pail on your boat with slow leaks
Out to sea for weeks

I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I want your kite strings tangled in my trees all wrapped up
Well, I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I’ll be the comets that are falling from the sky you light up

You’re my shirt iron on. I’m the tick, You’re the bomb
You’re the ‘L’ and the ‘V,’ I’m the ‘O’ and the ‘E’
Am I speaking clearly?

Cause I don’t understand why we can’t get close enough
I miss the chills in my spine every time that we touch

Currently Reading The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical By Shane Claiborne see related

The future is in his voice.

I highly recommend The Irresistable Revolution, by Shane Claiborne! I started reading it a couple days ago.

I'm really getting antsy lately. my job is great; I love the girls I work with, and the kids are [usually] well-behaved. I'm looking forward to having an apt. at college this year. I've been emailing my roommates & they all seem so sweet! I've been getting along with my family pretty well and hanging out with friends on the weekends. so what is wrong here? why am I so restless? I think I'm gaining a clearer picture of what God created me to do on this earth, & it's hard waiting for the right time.

people always ask college kids, "what do you want to do with your life?" I usually offer something to satisfy them about being an elementary school music teacher. but, what I really want to do is be close to the heart of God, to love, with body, soul, and spirit, to do something of the utmost importance, to look people in the eyes, to be devoted to truth, to listen, to be bold, to do the unexpected. I want to be wise, to learn, to forgive, to grow, to be merciful.

is there something wrong with wanting to go live in Africa with people who have nothing just because they need you? is it wrong to move to the worst neighborhood of the center city just because you're not afraid? is it bad to try to help people who are dying on the inside just because you used to be? is it all right to have dreams just because they might mean something to someone?

I think reading Shane's book is helping me a great deal, to uncover something precious God has placed in my heart. even in the first few pages, something in it really resonated with me, and the Spirit moved me to tears.

not that this really relates, but to me, it does right now - I'm listening to a Future of Forestry song called Speak to Me Gently, and here are some of the lyrics:

I'm searching the stars
In desperate hours
Bound to find meaning
God shows a face
In this desolate place
And tenderness meets me

Stories untold
Of redwoods grown old
Reside in the forest
And there you can hear
A whispering tear
That speaks into our loneliness

Can you just feel the time
Falling from some place new?
Can you just feel the sign?
Love waits for you

Currently Listening O By Damien Rice #1 - Delicate see related

It's easy to fall when you float like a cannonball.

"So why'd you fill my sorrows with the words you borrowed from the only place you've known?
And why'd you sing alleluia if it means nothin' to ya?  Why'd you sing with me at all?"
I've discovered Damien Rice. 

I'm looking at schools I could apply for jobs at when I graduate... it's a little premature, I know, but it's interesting... I think I'd like to work with emotionally disturbed children or other "at-risk" youth.  I've been looking in center-city Baltimore, and also in the counties that surround Frederick.  I wouldn't mind taking extra special ed classes at all.  Of course, Africa's still a big item on the list. 

My dad and I went to play tennis today together for an hour.  I hadn't played since 9th grade gym class, so it was funny, to say the least.    We had fun, though, and maybe we'll go back a few times before the end of the summer.  My arm hurts a lot now though!

I've been reading My Utmost for His Highest almost every day recently.  The one for today says, "Over and over again God has to remove our friends, our heroes, to put Himself in their place, and we falter, fail, and become discouraged.  When the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life?  Did I become ill or disheartened?  Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?"  It goes on to talk about our vision of God.  It was pretty convicting for me.  I've often lost good friends of mine - just because they move away, or we just drift apart and don't talk as often - but it stinks.  Sometimes they were the people who encouraged me the most in God, and I wonder why God would allow people like that to be taken out of my life.  I don't usually react well.  Our church family and our friends will come and go, but God will never leave.  He needs to be foremost in our lives - not because He's dependable or caring or even because He loves us, but because He's God, and deserves that high position of importance.