My New Toy

Imagine when I get this toy into my hands. I ordered it last week and am waiting for it to ship to the store... hopefully within the next day or so... I know patience is a virtue. Check it out.

The Tracker on NPR

Tom Brown Jr. was on NPR's Talk of the Nation today. He was a guest on the show discussing how to track down fugitives. This is one of the many aspects of tracking that we learned at Tracker School and how those skills could translate into modern life.

Drawing inspiration... Hiding influence

I've been writing a lot more songs of lately and I hope to start doing some recording before much longer. Been listening to a lot of William Fitzsimmons, John Denver, Ray Lamontagne, Iron & Wine. Maybe they are the source for my inspiration. Derek Webb once said that the "full time job of an artist is hiding their influences."

That is really tough to do.

I know I have my own voice and part of the songwriting and crafting process is discovering how that takes shape without coming across as just another imitator.

Sweet Sounds

Mammals?

I think Agent Smith may have been right in The Matrix when he made the following observation:

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.

As I reflect back on my time at Tracker School, I realize that we were practicing ways in which we could be less virus-like and more mammal-like by developing a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment rather than just consuming it.

I wonder if humanity would change its present course of action against the earth if we saw ourselves as virus'? No wonder the earth is fighting back against us... hmm... makes you wonder huh?

Returning to Roots

Just got the new Caedmon's Call album. It is sweet! It sounds a lot like their older acoustic driven stuff. Also marks the return of Derek Webb to the group.

Kingdom reality

In my devotional reading today from Richard Rohr:

Kingdom people are history makers. People who are living in the false self, in the false world of illusion, are history stoppers.They just keep repeating. They're conformists, fearful people, the nice, respectable proper thinkers of every age who think collectivly and have no power to break through.
"Woe to you when the world speaks well of you," Jesus says (Luke 6:26). He seems to know that unhealthiness will usually be called healthy and normal.
Kingdom reality is seeing life in a new way. Things are not what they seem. Its not what you think. Only one thing is absolute. All else is relative and passing. The system is the way that people think when they don't think.
Kingdom thinking will never be commonly accepted. The system is very seductive and blinding.

I say Amen YES! Amen YES! Amen YES!