the Way, the Truth, and the Life

I find myself freed from something I created on my own.  It was the entrapment from what I thought was school and the push towards that goal.  When I finished my last class, with just my masters essay to go, I went to work the next day.  And that's when it washed over me that I could do anything I wanted; start another band; join a gym; begin recreational reading; become an avid bowler.  So many choices that are now available to me all of a sudden!     As quickly as that wave of emotion came, what followed was a profound question.  What stopped me from doing all that before?  I know that I may have literally been busy, but the more I realized what was hitting me I understood that it wasn't that all those ambitious things were not available to me to do, but that instead it was that I prevented them.  And more so, I was emotionally stopped.  It was the feeling of burden, and for no more reason then that I was in a self imposed ...

New header, new colors, revamped blog, again.  Detroit skyline of a picture I took when I was up on a building listening to a lecture about how to reinvent Detroit's urban landscape with art, or the artscape if you will.  I hope to speak of restoration that happens in places we do not expect.  As Detroit begins to turn corners, it is possible to witness even our lives turn corners, to claim victory with means beyond the walls we live in.  The Kingdom of Christ beckons to restore the worst of things, to set free the imprisoned. Here is a part from the Thrice song "The Earth Will Shake" that inspired my subtitle for the blog: Heartbroken, we found a gleam of hope Harken to the sound, a whistle blows Heaven sent reply, however small Evidence of life beyond these walls Born and bred in this machine Wardens dread to see us dream We hold tight to legends of Real life, the way it was before 

This may be a post where I am part convincing myself, part convincing the reader.  Maybe I should not look at it like that at all, and just spell this out. God.  It does all come down to relationship.  I was talking with a friend of mine a week ago about what makes a Christian Christian.  What separates the greatest humanitarian atheist from a meek, non-confrontational, addict-overcoming Christian is echoed in this statement: "I don't know you."  This is found in some parables explaining how God will look at some people who will cry out for Him.  But how can the God who created not know His creation?  I would venture to say the same way a wife may turn to a husband at some point in the marriage and say, "I don't even know anymore." Either asleep at the wheel follower or atheist, both are missing the relationship with Jesus.  I find this term something of a given since it has been injected into my head over and over growing up in the church, bu...

Freshly Painted Shed at Warren and Trumbull I took a stroll this morning, at about 9:30am, in the neighborhood I am moving away from.  After two years in the wonderful Detroit neighborhood, Woodbridge, it is only starting to come across how amazing this place is.  For sure it has benefited from being adjacent to Wayne State University, although in a love hate relationship (WSU was about to rip through it in the '80s, but some professors stepped up to the plate and started buying homes, see the website on the building to the right ). As I walked around, I saw the old St. Dominic church accessory building being renovated by the new church plant that is going on by  The Citadel Detroit (watch the video in the link).  They are creating something called "The Dream Center."  Can't wait to see what this will come to, but what I do know is that the lead pastor will be a speaker at this year's Christian Community Development Association national conference, so he m...

Part 1: Their is Work to be Done Here I took a bit of a hiatus on the old blog world.  It was first prompted by this complete revamping of the site design.  When I first launched this thing back in 2005, I was in a C++ computer programming course and designed the previous layout while code was running through my brain.  Then come this past December, I got the itch to get creative again and do something way different, and this is the result!  A couple friends helped guide me through the process of course, from graphic design experts to internet web masters.  They provided the proof reading and dotting of i's (and hurdles that needed to be overcome, like getting that background image up! The background image was taken by myself at this location in Detroit .  It shows what use to be a whole church mission there on Rosa Parks and Elmhurst.  There was a main church across the street, and then there was a soup kitchen and much more. In the picture to ...

Those who had seen it told the others what had happened to the demon-possessed man and the pigs. At first they were in awe - and then they were upset, upset over the drowned pigs. They demanded that Jesus leave and not come back. - Mark 5:16-17, The Message Here is the story of the madman who was demon possessed. Jesus just got done casting the demons out of the man and into some nearby pigs. I find the above part of the story very fascinating. This little snippet and many others like it make the bible so down to earth, literally coming down to earth and meeting us in the mess of a people that we are. Can you imagine giving a response like that one above? Demons are literally gone from a man and then there are pigs jumping off cliffs. Pretty exciting to say the least. Powerful. Yet, some of the first traceable advocates of anti-animal cruelty are documented here. I can imagine a scene today. Jesus enters into a church and knows that there are a few in the congregation who are...

One Church, One Story - The Detroit Blog - TIME.com This is the church just down the street from where I live. When my friend, John, told me about the story of this church over a month ago, we were compelled to at least make a visit. John actually knew about the church a while back when Mitch Albom first wrote about it nationally in Sports Illustrated . The story in SI ran back on January 7, 2009. John and I went for a visit on a Thursday night sometime in late October/early November. We went in and found that they were sheltering people that night, and we spoke with some of the helpers at the church. Then we met Henry, the pastor, only briefly as he was busy at the moment checking with people at the time. Before John and I entered in, someone at the door asked if we were with the press. I could see why he might have thought that, because we were two young white college looking kids that don't attend the church. We soon found out why were asked if we were the press. As we w...