el mol

el mol discusses failure

el mol discusses failure and looks for redemptive thread ala Steve Jobs.

nuff' said (thanks Jr.)

Here's to you Rod Beck

The Original Blue Collar Tour unto himself.  Cheryl and I spoke of him fondly on Saturday while we watched the Padres beat the Red Sox in San Diego.

Reality TV finally got it right

Papa Ceasars words, not mine. He actually saw this live last night. I did not. I think this show is ridiculous but but but . . . . A little back story first. About a year a go LLPH, BM, Taft, Jonna and I went to see our friend and coworker Gary’s band Fishing For Comets . . .who are genius and worth seeing more than once by the way. At the show and into the evening Gary repeated to us as he drank beer “Stay for Woodbelly”. “Stay for Woodbelly”. Repeat again. And because I was also enjoying my adult beverages that evening I believed him and may not have noticed at the time that he was saying this over and over again. Long story short: Imagine 3 fat east texas rednecks getting up and playing the most genius funk/reggae set you could imagine. And they were all great musicians with a lead singer that does not need a mic. We watched the whole set in awe with our jaws on the floor. Fastforward to last night and you get this. The days of seeing him them at Sons of Herman Hall with less than 50 people are probably gone forever. And you only get part of the glimpse with this video. The whole band together is better but this is unbelievable.

You are a little out of place

But by all means you mean well.  Stories are the thread that hold our humanity together.  An oral culture once had no pen and printing press to impress upon their children the important narratives of history and culture.  So we have advanced in technology and science to the point where Gen Y will refuse your literature. 

But that is ok, Tony Soprano and his cast of characters while wretched at many levels will reveal that even in the most decrepit souls there is a moral compass and a heart that invokes involuntary compassion.  Exploding through a parched exterior.  But sweet freedom nonetheless exists for those who can see that all people are made in the image of a creator and cannot be thrown out simply because the thick frames prevent you from seeing the goodness.

Don’t be afraid of Conor or Tony or the Cohen brothers for heavens sake.  They carry with them a magic looking glass that provides an opportunity for you to be read and critiqued in a way that does not happen when the only place you can have recess is in your mothers back yard.

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce

the stupidest man to ever walk on the face of the earth:  Bud Selig.  I am not one to judge, but this guy is an idiot at every turn.

This time I will not aim so high . . .

There are few things that will sustain you and certainly not what you are waiting for.  You have been around the block a few times.  Or at least around the two by fours that will someday mark the walls of a living room.  Check the trucks on your skateboard. You will need them loose to avoid the scattered penny nails and the splintered plywood.  It ain’t concrete but it will be someone’s house.  Somehow it was yours first.  Smile and be glad.

Google the earth and fly over your home.  Remember sixteen sitting in the grass with a fifth of whiskey and a loaded shotgun.  Canvasbacks will only stall so long.  But your stingy jackass friend who stole the drink from his Dad’s glass cabinet apparently imagines too much missing from the bottle.  That is fine, time will bring more multiple-choice memories.

And so the border patrol and dollar bills will separate you because apparently your satisfaction and contentment is not enough to satisfy the hunger to make your own living room comfortable.  A living room of lies and violence.  But hey, take a hammer and tap the fawcet because with a nod and wink it goes away.

I’m not angry.  It just happens.  But you won't do it again.

The Animals Laugh from the Dark of the Wilderness

It was not always this way.  A faith that depended on certainties holding an old life fabric together gives way to death and failure; reminding you that the engineer lens is inadequate.  Listen to the artists prose and read wild narratives and the spiral will unwind.

There is comfort and bondage in the very place you used to water your plants.  There is freedom and fear reaching to places that sometimes cause more confusion than clarity.  Fall forward into an ocean of opportunity wrought with temptation and resentment.  Choose freedom. 

You will return to me because the smartest man is not in this room.  And the men in the room are no longer all that smart.  Eat a burger at CJ’s if you want the 1950’s.  Rub shoulders with young hearts and crazy eyes and you will see yourself fading.  Choose the future.

Travel to Mexico and Maine.  Sip wine in France and smoke a Marlboro in Sarajevo.  Buy a helmet in Taiwan.  Scooter yourself to work.  Do a lap around your past.  Choose simplicity.

You can tear down a building.  Those buildings are falling.  Ask your foundation guy.  Explain yourself until you turn blue and be patient.  Don’t ask for respect or agreement.  Oh, and you will get very little credit.  Choose love.

Viva la Cassadaga

Excuse me while I abandon video for a moment

Here is why blogs continure to be genius (although I would recongnize their fading value or at least this blogs fading value).  This guy is named mike.  Apparently we met 6 years ago during a former life working for generic non-profit.  Because I am old I had long since forgotten that we shared a beer near the Godfather of Emergents Church. 

He came out of nowhere to declare some months back that he was a closeted reader of my blog and revealed a bit of his currrent struggle through grief.  We reconnected because of his comment and then got to meet again at the Emergent Theo . . . .errrrrr . . .Philosophical conversation in Philly a couple months back.  I realized something upon meeting him.  There are all kinds of things going on in and around my existence that sometimes I completely miss, regret and could never take credit for.  It really points to the overpowering sense that God is really active among us in ways that seldom get seen in unless you slow down and read between the lines.  Oh and a woman I met through good friends at my current church found her way to his church in her desperate search for a church that would be life giving.  Again because sometimes stupid things like blogs and beer can connect people without the intent of mere humans and in ways that prevent us from taking the credit.

I will say that this link to his post about Eggers book is quite self congratulatory because his words about me are hyperbolic and jackassian in proportion.

Nevertheless, this guy Mike is worth tracking with.

viva la eggers (the Brian Mclaren/Anne Lamott before they were cool)