"Remember oh man, that you are dust, and to dust you will return."
Easter weekend is for remembering.
Ah, Holy Jesus
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee.
I crucified Thee.
For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For our atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee.
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
A short documentary addressing the trails and tribulations of pussy willow hunting for RoJo's wedding. Special thanks to Madey E for filming a lot and Elizabeth K for falling down a lot.
Hello. Its been a while. So, I do believe its time for me to make an obvious statement, because I am so good at them. Ahhhhem, here we go:
A lot can happen in a month, specifically March.
A lot. Like shooting and editing and then packing.
And going to the World Changers Summit and packing some more.
Like getting sick and then doing my taxes.
And taking my sister out for an ice cream cone.
Like attending showers and parties and reading books and blogs and then packing some more. Fitting 3 months of clothes in one checked bag and a carry on. A lot can happen in a month, like booking wedding and figuring out H264 codec and MXF files. Like celebrating life with my family and then leaving them on a plane, to move out to Oregon for a while.
Yeah see? I told you. A lot can happen in a month.
So, I moved out to Portland, well actually, Sandy, Oregon. To help a friend's family out while preparing for a wedding and a whole ton of other stuff. Its great. Last weekend, Elizabeth Knopp, Madey Edlin and I drove out to the beach to hunt for some pussy willows and just look at the ocean for a while.
Well, thats what I wanted to do, at least. I am still getting used to it. The ocean that is. My Pacific friend.
This was only my third time seeing in it in my whole life. The ocean is one of those majestic things in life that I dont want to just get used to. Its glorious. The waves that just keep on coming, over and over, never tiring. And the smell of the Sky meeting the Earth way out on the horizon. The interesting treasures and sorta dried out things that wash up when the tide is low.
I dont want to just "get used to" the jelly fish as clear as glass laying on the sand, resemling a rain drop from the sky that never broke open. I don't want to just get used to that tiny sliver glow of a lemon sun, right before it drops into the ocean, into tomorrow. I want to always be blown away by the small details, because, I'm learning that all big things (planets, ideas, people, cultures, songs, photos) are made out of little things, (rocks, statements, familes, towns, words, pixels).
So. With this in mind, I decided to scribe. A letter to Mr. Pacific, who ever he may be. I told him what I thought about the ocean and a little what I thought about the concept of upside down. Of Big and Little.
Then I stuck it in a rasberry Izzie bottle, screwed the red top on tight and released it to the ocean.
I wrote my address on it so that when Mr. Pacific get the message, he can mail me back his poetry and prose about the great open water, or how life is on the ship. Or, perhaps it will float back to land, and some unsuspecting soul will have a worn bottle brush their feet while flying a kite on a windy Oregon day. They will probaby write about the Wind. If I flew a kite, I would write about the wind and how its a little like life. But who knows? Maybe they will too.
All in all, it was a good idea, a good plan, and a darn good letter if I do say so myself. Below is the video of my thowing it out to the ocean. I never thought Mr. Pacific could be a dog.
You are walking down the street. You see a homeless person. And you mentally freeze. A million thoughts seem to swirl in your mind... "What should I do? Should I do anything? Should I look at them? Smile? Say hello?"
As you approach the homeless, you become more and more uncomfortable, and the tension within increases.
What happens next?
In 2008, a team of young artists spent two months in Portland, Oregon, to find out the answer to this question.
Spending this time on the streets revealed one thing: Each person that the team encountered had their own compelling story of why they had turned to the street. For some of them, it was out of rebellion - but the startling majority of them ad come to the streets seeking shelter.
Dear World contains excerpts of letters written by the street community to the world. Their stories are paired with their portraits and readers are given an eye-opening view of what life is really like on the street and how they can help people stay off it.
Readers will meet Miranda - a former meth addict who has found healing and restoration. They will meet Jeremiah, a young man who, like many Americans, misjudged the economic stability and lost it all. They will read the words penned by people that they choose to ignore, the invisible urban population that stands in front of us all.
Some of the community is heartbreakingly young; some members are born into the streets, other land their before they become teenagers. Other members are older grandparents shuffling down the street with all their belongings in a shopping cart. With the foreclosures at an all time high, the population is growing again.
We should not ignore them.
Dear World is a book that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to answer the question for yourself. And you will be honored to be the hands and feet of Jesus to your community.
I had the pleasure and the great opportunity to work on this project in Spring of 2008 with the RevMedia team. It was a time that was both convicting and life changing and there are days when I still ask my self "
" What should I do?"
I'm sure I'm not the only one.
So, do something about it. Join the campaign. Write your own Dear World and send it in to see it published. Tell your story, tell their story. Be the Change.
