MEMORY RESIDUE

Trust, Part Two: the scars remain

The love of God is not a pastry - it is a meal. Or for that matter, perhaps it is the protein that makes up the food. While fame, money, self-reliance, or the many other things that we fill our lives with, may keep us going, they may substitute but cannot replace the building block for a healthy life. Sometimes western Christianity has a tendency to cast the vibe that the love of God is a garnish to an 'American Dream,' when it is so much more. Journeying beyond calorie induced metaphors, I sense more and more that the love of God is the very air that fills our lungs. Every moment is grace. Frederick Buechner [...]

By Joel|2014-08-18T22:34:45+00:00June 22nd, 2011|Abandonment, Manning, trust|

Trust, Part One: the lesson we keep learning until we die

To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives- the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections- that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift [...]

By Joel|2014-08-18T22:34:45+00:00June 21st, 2011|Abandonment, Manning, prayer, trust|

Not the end: thoughts on redemption part three

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is [...]

By Joel|2014-08-26T03:13:38+00:00April 24th, 2011|Abandonment, Jesus Christ|

Redemption in the works: thoughts on redemption part two

Beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning...the beauty does not make the ashes non-existent and the joy doesn't negate the tears shed. Redemption doesn't mean everything is rosy, rather, it means that the prickly thorn is a part of the rose's beauty, not an ugly deformity that must be explained away or made excuses for.Here is the first listen to my new project Voices: the nomad chronicles, vol. 2. It is also part 2 to my song Regarding Elijah

By Joel|2014-08-18T22:34:45+00:00April 17th, 2011|Uncategorized|

Memoirs of a Visitor

Trust, Part Two: the scars remain

Trust, Part One: the lesson we keep learning until we die

Not the end: thoughts on redemption part three

Redemption in the works: thoughts on redemption part two