Sunday, July 24, 2005

The Vision

The Vision: By Pete Greig
So this guy comes up to me and says, "What's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this...

The vision? The vision is JESUS - obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice.They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the West was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.They are free, yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision?The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose that they might one day win the great "Well done" of faithful sons and daughters. Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"
And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing...This is the sound of the underground
And the army is discipl(in)ed. Young people who beat their bodies into submission. Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them? And the generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond talking,with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 - 7 - 365. Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mold them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside. On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate, but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell.
A throne for an electric chair. With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them. Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.
Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdos! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden. And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.
How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great "Amen!" from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Let the goodtimes roll

It's been a while, but hey, I've been busy so lay off!! :o) Not much is new with me right now. I'm still working all the time which is a good thing come pay day. I've recently picked TayBo back up (my guitar of course!) which makes me really happy. I go through periods where I mean to play and I want to, but never take the time to. I've finally received the music for the wedding and while it's a little overwhelming now, I know it'll be okay. All the other musicians are rehearsing tomorrow night so I'm feeling a bit behind. It'll be good though, I'm sure.
Things have been going well for my family lately (aside from my dad not doing well) and it makes me so happy for them. I can't tell you the last time we all felt settled. My sister and her fiance, just moved into a new house out in Plano, so they're doing well and my brother and his fiance are looking at houses now. I love when my family is happy and doing well.
I'm for sure ready to go back to the midwest. It seems like there's so much going on back there. My best friend, Michelle just got engaged and there are about a million more of my girl friends planning weddings, so that's always fun. Mostly I can't wait to get this last year of school done. I know that in about a year from now I'll be wishing I was going back, but for now I'm ready to be done.
Anyway, do you ever feel like you do things just for other people? You are motivated to do something because you care about what someone else will say of do. I've been working on something, but it's been for all the wrong reasons, you know? I need to learn to do things because they will make me happy, not to make others happy. I'm definitely not trying to sound selfish, but I think you know what I mean. I don't know. That's just something about me that I've noticed and really need to work on. Random!
I think its time for me to go put some thoughts down on paper and pick up my guitar. Night all!
Maddalone out! (okay so incase you haven't heard ryan seacrest has just put out his clothing line. that's all we need are more fem. guys walking around!) ;o)

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Foggy

It's about 2:30am right now and I'm pretty tired. It's been a while since I've written anything of importance (at least to me), but too bad for you I've got nothing important to say tonight. It's been a crazy few weeks to say the least. I work almost every single day for 9 hours... at a job I've been doing since I was 16. It's pretty redundant, but at the same time I don't ever have to worry about not knowing how to do something.
Tonight was kinda a bummer at work though; a person I care a lot about just got transfered and it was the last night we work together. I've only known this guy for 4 years, but he's done a lot for me and taught me a lot. I'm trying to look to the future instead of revelling in the past, but it's hard because everything ends now. There's finally a dead end. It'll be good in the long run.
Other than work, life is slow right now... as it should be in the summer. The only thing I have to do before I leave here is learn6 songs for the wedding I'm singing and playing in. That's a little stressful because it's in 4 weeks and I don't have music yet, but I'm sure we'll be fine. I miss my friends... a lot. I don't ever take the time to call people anymore, but I really need to. When I'm up and ready to talk it's usually too late to call anyone because I'm on west coast time.
Something that I'm really looking forward to is going to Florida in August. I bought my plane ticket a week and a half ago and I can't wait! My best friend, Stacy lives there and it's going to be amazing to see her. I might also get to see an old IWU friend who graduated two years ago, Jason, but I've yet to call him. Good times!
I apologize for the randomness. All the smoke from the bowling alley has fogged up my head.
~Chris~