A Storm's A-Coming.

A storm's a-coming.
Thundering, raging.
You can hear it, see it, smell it, feel it, taste it.
Hear the rumble.
See the flash.
Smell the petrichor.
Feel the cool.
Taste the dampness.

A storm's a-coming.
The atmosphere is electric.
The wind is chasing the clouds across the sky.
It whips through your hair -
Calling you, calling the wild.
The dangerous.
Will you come?
Will you surrender to the storm?

A storm's a-coming.
The power is more than you can live with.
The torrent is surging, and you can't keep it inside.
You have to release it, and the light rushes forth.
Bursting, blinding, coursing, brightening.

A storm's a-coming.

200K + an update.

Well, I've just reached over 200,000 views! That's pretty cool. Admittedly, over three-quarters of that is just for my Four Chords post, but still, that's pretty cool. So thank you to everyone who still looks at this from time to time, and who has found my various ramblings and thoughts somewhat interesting.

I haven't posted very much - at all - this year. But this year is coming quickly to an end, and I'm thinking that I'll start to get back into posting on here more regularly. Or, more frequently, rather. Probably not regularly, knowing me. But there's been quite a bit happening this year, and I'm wondering how much of that I'll be writing up on here in some form or another. I'm not sure just at the moment. But I'm sure there will be something.

I'll give you a quick update on things looking forward, though. At the moment, I'm looking for work. Again. Or still, rather. I technically haven't stopped since I finished up last year. Bit annoying. But yeah. The money that I've had saved up is coming very close to being finished, and I know I won't be able to stretch it much further. I have one three-day camp between now and the end of the year, so that will sustain me for a little more. But it is something that's on my mind. Hoping/praying that God has something for me coming up. That would be nice.

Apart from that, though, there's a couple of projects that I'm working on into the new year. A new album; a friend's musical; a book I'm writing; and an idea. Very dangerous things, ideas. I get rather a lot of them. But yes.

So I know some things about next year. But other things are more up in the air. There's a fair bit that I'm praying about/hoping for. And there's a fair bit of work I'm doing on myself. Because I think that's important.

Anyway, I'll finish up there for now. Thanks for listening, folks!

My Hope.

I've just come back from the last Impart Intensive, which is very sad. :( I'll probably do a post about it at some point. Maybe. But there was something that I wanted to put up here - a poem that I wrote while I was out there.

They took us out to Parramatta Lake, and told us we had a couple of hours or so for some time of solitude, reflection and so on. It was one of the last things we did, so it was really reflecting back on the whole time.
Now, we had been there before, so I decided to walk around the lake in the other direction. And what ended up happening is that there were particular spots where God got me to stop, and look around. And I would get out my Bible, and write a few short lines connecting what I was reading to what was happening - either around me, or inside me, or both. And it always seemed to connect in - sometimes I had to think a bit about it, but it did.

I had the privilege to share this poem as part of the last session at the Churches of Christ Ministers' Awakening, which has just finished; and it was received very well there, I think. I had a few people coming up to me and saying that they really connected well with it, which is good.

So, here's the poem. It's called "My Hope", because that was really the running theme. It's something that God had been working on with me for this last Intensive, so the poem was very much for me. For each section, I've got the section that I opened up to in the Bible, so if you want you can have a look yourself. I had the NLT, so I don't know if they won't connect as well with different translations.

My Hope

I sit under this tree; rough, yet light and grand;
And am reminded that our sins are rougher; his yoke, lighter; and his love, grander.
Therefore, my hope is in Him. (Psalm 130)
I sit near a great wall, offering its protection; and a pipe streaming water, seeming to provide;
But I remember that the Lord will protect me and sustain me more than I ever could.
Therefore, my hope is in Him. (2 Samuel 17:15-29)
I deviate from the main path, and wonder for a moment if I will be lost.
But I am reminded that the Lord always finds me, and I am never lost;
Therefore, my hope is in Him. (Amos 9:1-10)
I stand here next to the murky water, coughing, feeling full of phlegm;
But I am reminded that I am healed and cleansed by your power;
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Luke 8:1-3)
I sit and see beautiful lizards, hear melodious birds, and am captured by the lake's reflection;
But I remember that your glory is greater than all of these could ever be.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Isaiah 60)
I sit here so close to the beginning, yet I know it will also be the end -
And I am reminded that just as you have the power to give life, so you can take it away.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Ezekiel 26:1-14)
I sit on a great tree, that has now fallen to the ground;
And am reminded that no person is too great to escape your judgement.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Zephaniah 1)
I sit on the bank of a creek, looking across at the other bank;
And I am reminded of the separation between light and darkness, between you and what we were.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
I sit on a high rock, overlooking the water;
And I know that, even if I fell, your power could rescue me.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Isaiah 50:1-3)
I arrive at a house, but I cannot linger here;
I remember that you are my home, and not any building or land.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Acts 7)
I start to hurry, noting the time, but I almost miss the beautiful colours of spring;
And I am reminded that my attention and devotion to you must be pure and undivided;
Therefore, my hope is in you. (2 Corinthians 11:1-15)
I come to a bridge, and I sit down, the wood supporting me.
But I know that it is only your strength which I can rely on;
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Isaiah 31)
I sit near a swathe of vines, choking and surrounding trees and fences;
And I am reminded that the world may imprison us for what we do, but you give us grace and peace.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Philemon 1:1-3)
I stand near a road, and the noise brings to mind thoughts of home;
But I know that I must first build your house in my life, on solid foundations.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Haggai 1:1-11)
I rush forward, thinking I have much left to go; but I suddenly reach the end, and I stop -
For it is the beginning, but then, it is not. The old has gone, the new has come.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Colossians 3:1-17)
The end has come, and I am saddened; for I know the path ahead will be hard.
But you remind me that your Spirit and words will never leave me.
Therefore, my hope is in you. (Isaiah 59)

Pledge #15 - Ask God's Help

To constantly ask God for help, for none of this can I do without Him.

At all. Ever. Period. Fairly simple, but I'll expound on it slightly.

Do I mean by this, that I should not do anything? Well, no, I'm asking for help, that's something. But nothing apart from that? Just rely that God will do it all for me. No, I don't think that's what it's about.

I think God wants us to do our best with what we have. And that means putting in some effort, striving to be better. It also means praying and trusting in God - and it can be tricky knowing where which comes in more, and all this sort of thing. If in doubt, do both! God seems to be quite adept at making it work out, despite our lack of understanding in how it all works.

This concludes my series that I've been doing on this pledge of mine. Hopefully you've found it interesting. Until next time!

Pledge #14 - Harbour Peace

To not harbour resentment, anger, hate, jealousy, or other poisoners of the soul.

I've mentioned a fair few times before on here about how emotions self-perpetuate. If you haven't heard it before; essentially, all emotions want more of the said emotion. So the more you dwell on it, the bigger it grows, the less room you have for other emotions. Particularly less room for opposite emotions. This is true of both positive and negative emotions; so it can either be a great thing, or a bad thing. If you're dwelling on negative emotions - then you can easily get depressed, or much worse. It poisons your soul. If you dwell on positive emotions - then the negative emotions don't have any room to grow.

Now, that doesn't mean that when negative emotions legitimately arise for a proper reason, you act as if they're not there. You don't just ignore them and act like it's all fine and dandy. But when things go badly, you need to make sure that it's not all negative. Find that positive - if there's not one there, make one, put one there. We can always add a bit of positive. Often, having someone else there helps, a lot.

To me, this really matters, because I don't want to be a negative person. I know what wallowing in bad emotions can do, and it drowns you. It really does. So for me, harbouring instead hope, peace, joy, and love - that's really important. It's very reminiscent of Philippians 4:8 - "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

Pledge #13 - Seek Understanding

To seek understanding in the places that I lack.

Particularly so that I may understand people, and avoid the previous point of judging people on things that I don't understand. And also because the more you understand people, the better you can empathise with them, see where they're coming from - or maybe it's the other way around. They're related, anyway. And people are just interesting.

But it's also broader than just that - it's about learning, but going deeper than just knowing facts; understanding the way things work, the why and the how of it, that's what's really interesting. Getting into it and having a go for yourself. Doing it. That's often how we grow our understanding.

This is, of course, an ongoing process; you can never understand everything, and chances are you don't understand a lot of the things you think you do. It's just the nature of things, as it were. There's always a lot more to them than we can get.

Pledge #12 - Judging Slowly

To never judge another on something that I do not understand.

It's something that is very easy for us, as people, to do. Because we often think that we do understand, when in reality we don't. And so we make these snap decisions, thinking that we know the best - but actually, we have no clue. We're judging people; and doing so unjustly. As such, it's so important that we really think before we judge others; because there's always more to the story than we know. Often, there's more to it than they know as well, but one thing at a time.

You always hate it when people make snap decisions about you - so don't do it to others.

The Hope Diaries.

I've started a little project that I've called the Hope Diaries. I got the idea because I was wearing my Hope 103.2 beanie when I did the first one, so I thought, "Why not call it that?" Because it actually works really well.

This probably isn't something that I'll be putting up anywhere. I don't know. Maybe. But I thought I'd put up the idea, anyway.

Essentially, there are things we can do that aren't so great. But, because we're human, we tend to do them anyway. Some aren't that bad. Some really are. Each person struggles with a few of them. There's one in particular I'm working at that maybe I'll talk about at some point, but not in this post.

But I was in a place again today where I wanted to go back there. And then the thought came to me, to instead of doing that, play a song. A song that brought me hope. Rather than doing something that would diminish it. And so that's why the name works nicely.

Now, because I'm a 4 (the Tragic Romantic, for those not yet familiar with the Enneagram), a lot of them will probably be love songs, to some degree. Maybe I'll have a couple of my own, not sure. Hopefully there will be a few Christian ones in there as well. But basically, it will be the first one I see that works.

So yeah. That's the project. Knowing me, it could either happen very sporadically/barely at all, or maybe for quite a while. Guess we'll see.

Pledge #11 - Growing

To always learn and grow, in good times and bad.

This is something that God has been showing me a fair bit of this year as well. Because all the things that happen in our life have a purpose, a reason to them; and even when we are struggling, even when we are falling, we can learn from that place, and in that place. Learn how to get out; learn how to not find ourselves there again. There is always something more to learn, always something that we can grow in. We are not perfect; we need to constantly be learning and growing.

Because otherwise, we are stagnant; and not really living. If a tree is not growing; if a plant is not growing; we may wait for a while and give it some time, but often we will pull it out. It's not growing, it's not developing, it's not bearing fruit. And while we don't pull out people that aren't growing, I think that they aren't really living life. Because life is about growth, and maturing, and all this sort of thing. It's really important. And, of course, because of that, it's really important to help others to grow as well. Otherwise, it's kind of like being the big tree that's blocking out the sun for all the trees around. When you learn things, you share it with people. Being in community is the best way to grow and learn, because everyone has something to contribute, something that's different.

Pledge #10 - Supporting Others

To encourage and support others.

So, this one follows on pretty well from the previous. But this is specifically about building up; being positive, being a driving energy for other people. I've really already spoken a bit about this in the last one, so I'll keep it shorter.

But this is one that is so important, and I've seen the impact this has this year - with me. This year, I've been part of a group that exists to encourage and support the people within the group, and it's been incredible. It's been such a positive and growing experience; a challenging experience, yes, but you can only grow so far without breaking out of your skin, without outgrowing your rock-pool.

When you encourage and support others, they in turn will do the same for you. That's the truth.