Just Breathe

In this overload of nuggets of truth
from You and other artists chasing Your beauty
only to repaint it for others
I'm taking a moment to preserve them in a snapshot click...


Session One: Dewitt Jones
1. ) "Creativity is the moment where we see not redundancy but opportunity. It feels like falling in love with the world. Life really is that beautiful when you are open enough to see it."
2.) "When we are growing up, art and life are segregated. Art is the fun elective you get to take after all the boring classes that supposedly prepare us for life. But you can make your life a truly extraordinary piece of art when you celebrate all that is right in the world."
3.) "Begin each day with a full cup, and hang out with people who love their jobs."
4.) Quit flapping and ride the wind. Maybe it's the noise of your own flapping that keeps You from hearing from God."
5.) God built the greatest life lesson into one breath. Take it all in, and give it all back."

Session Two: Nancy Beach
1.) "If we as artists do not speak to the absence of God, we will not awaken the search for his presence. Our message of hope must be rooted in both darkness and light. We must live in the contradiction. Embrace the darkness while pointing to the light. All we can offer sometimes is a bit of a broken hallelujah."
2.) "You have to step through a doorway of truth to find a sense of wonder." Bono

Session Three: Dan Kimball
1.)"They like Jesus but not the church. Most non believers see the church as organized religion and right wng politics, buildings filled with judgemental, male-dominating, female oppressing, homophobic, I'm right-you're wrong, fundamentalists who take everything in the bible literally."
2.) Is your church attractional or missional in nature?"

sometimes i choke
in the captivity of activity
forgetting to float on the breeze of You
even when the wind changes
help me to choose exhilaration over fear
opportunity over redundancy
in the buffet line of turbulence
i long to slow down so i can pickup the pace
and chase You like a child with a camera
through a doorway of truth
i miss the pigtail barefoot
grass-tickling days of simplicity
like a child's first sleepover
and mommy's just a phone call away
only this is not the time for bravery
the dream to speak candidly on Your seeming absence
so they sense Your tangible presence
is now just a sideview mirror away
steady the table of rolling coins
in my neurotic, aftershock, alarm clock mind
where living in the contradiction
all resides in one breath
tonight i lift up a broken hallelujah
as i try to quit flapping and ride the wind
suddenly the lengthy job description
slinkies itself down to one simple word
messenger

"He makes winds his messengers,
flames of fire his servants." Psalm 104:4