Today.

Today, I applied to go with an organization and teach overseas.

I'm nervous. But I'm not in control.

Gravity.

Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.
No matter what I say or do I'll still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone.

You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.

[CHORUS:]
Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
But you're on to me and all over me.

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile.
When I thought that I was strong.
But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone.

[CHORUS]

I live here on my knees as I try to make you see that you're everything I think I need here on the ground.
But you're neither friend nor foe though I can't seem to let you go.
The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down
You're on to me, on to me, and all over...
Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.

Meditation on Isaiah 9

Meditation on Isaiah 9
By Joshua Banner

Unto us a child is born
unto all of us
unto the window
unto the homeless
the addict
the AIDS patient
unto us the football captain
and the drag queen
unto us the politician
the factory blue collar
us the single mother
the crack baby
and unto us the affluent suburbanite
unto us the goth
the hippie
the rocker
the alternative and underground
unto us in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue
and unto all of us inbetween
unto us in the gutters of Calcutta
unto the Muslim
and the jew
the Buddhist
the Krishna and the Hindu
unto us the fatherless
unto the heavenly fatherless

For unto us a child is born
a son is given
and a secret revolution begun.
this is what the prophets had been preparing for.

They said his name would be,
"Most Beautiful Wisdom"
"the Highest of Heaven's Secrets"
his name would be
"The God who continually bends over backwards for you"
"The God who gets down on his hands and knees"
"the God who would become silly and mis-understood"
"The God who would be mocked -- the God whose name would be taken in vain."

He would be called
"The God of underdogs"

"The God of the powerless and unspiritual"

"The God of those who cannot pray or fast"

And there would be no end to him and his underdog weaklings or their secret
there would be no end even while the nations continue to rage on.
even as ethnos rises against ethnos
even as valleys are filled with dead bones
and rivers run with blood
even as violence runs through our streets
and schools and hearts
convering us like a thick fog
Even in this dark land of weak people
The God who bends over backwards
will shine forth like a great light
as the dawning of a new day
letting his secret spread forth with healing and joy

Drop the mirror and let it shatter
Crush the hourglass and stop the clocks ticking
stand still
hold your breath
anticipate.... imagine...
your wildest dreams
Sell everything and buy the farm
Come with me, cover your eyes and
hold our your hands
stop your weeping
stop your groans
the fast is over.

Let the celebration begin
the father has come
He has send his son
Unto us He has been born
even unto us.

Lu-Lu and He-Hu

My dear friend Lauren and I tonight had a talk. We talked about how here at our school, we don't have a good relationship with a lot of girls that go here. We wondered why our college experience is so different from probably every other school in the world. Our conclusion:

Women come to this school and worry about boys for four years.

We then talked about how, in the Christian culture at least, singleness is often looked down upon, though it is truly a gift (just as marriage is). She and I discussed the hurtfulness of a woman in a relationship or married who says, "ENJOY YOUR SINGLE YEARS! THEY ARE THE BEST YEARS OF YOUR LIFE"... when, in reality, if they were the best years of your life, you probably would have stayed in that time. Though, I realize God does some things in his own timing and in his own ways. But, you catch the drift.

Sometimes I just feel as if Christians: married, in relationships, older, younger, etc... look down on me because I'm single. As if being married is something to be obtained. In reality, though, it isn't. It is a blessing, a gift from the Lord, just as singleness.

Let's work together and change our perception. I'm not saying I want to be single forever, but I'm also not saying I want to be married, or even in a relationship. I'm saying that we should live according to the Holy Spirit. We should live in obedience in marriage, and singleness.