Ever moving...

Haven't written here since before I left for Deeper Life...

And life has become deeper, crazier, scarier, harder, more fun, stressful, real, alive, tiring, hopeful...and the list goes on. I just want to be free and alive...

Also...I just want to be honest and say that I am not a huge fan of Blogspot...I just don't care for the set up...and I am quite attached to my original blog at www.apeacefulstill.wordpress.com . I though that this new place of writing would encourage me to journal life's events and the learning process of just living, which it did for a while. But when I look at my sidebar on wordpress and see my list of archives and months that I have been writing and sharing there I just feel so happy...I have been writing on wordpress since September '08, almost a year! I know it's more of my creative writing style, more artsy, more emotional, more lyrical, and poetic...but really that is more me than this is sometimes...because most of the time when I stand back with everything stripped away, that is how I see life. I see scribbled poems, future songs, folk and world melodies, abstract paintings, bright vivid colours, deep earthen tones, rich, smooth memories...and that is how I like to write about life. I don't really think I am much of an analytical documenting kind of a person, I can certainly pull it off if I want to, but I would rather keep writing in my dreamlike, Utopian style...I am a dreamer, I am hopeful, I am filled with wonder and streaming emotion...and I would like to keep it that way. So with all of that lengthily said I guess that maybe I will keep this blog up from time to time, or maybe not...I'm not sure yet...but I will be writing more often on wordpress, where my memories, stories, poems, songs, pictures, and life is stored. So I hope that you will continue to follow both and find inspiration through it all.

Stand Still No More...

As usual too many days have slipped in between posts...and every time I write something new it starts out with that same obvious statement.

I was reading psalms today...I haven't read psalms in a really long time...but I think that it is one of those books that you always go back to...well maybe just for me...but I lived off of Psalms for the longest time...When things in my life were not so pretty and where I was felt like a wasteland. The fact that David openly wrote to his God about his depression, pain, hardship, his want for death, and pleas for deliverance astound me. In one chapter he was extolling his LORD in the highest possible way, threading together lines describing His awesome power and presence, but in the next he was barely breathing, barely holding on...asking God why? This is hard for me, because in the churches that I grew up in and the "christian" groups and settings that I spent time in you didn't talk about things like that. If you had a problem, or sin, or some kind of issue you just were told to pray about it maybe go get professional help. It was like everything had to be kept pretty and together, so you had all these groups that consisted of hiding broken people and they wonder why things never got anywhere. You have to take care of the body. If we are not ready to heal each other's cuts then why are we here? Why keep inviting people in out of the world to only bring them so far? Why is depression and self-injury looked upon like a huge sin that can't be cleansed? Why do we as Christians have to be together and pretty all the time? Where does that get us? Maybe if we were open about where we were at and others were accepting and ready to heal then this "Jesus' life and love" thing might be just a little bit easier to grasp...just a bit more realistic. So after all that I just wanted to say that I find great encouragement from the Psalms.

I pray that we are filled with a thirst for God....for Breath....for Spirit....that we pursue Him with everything that we have...I don't want to be complacent...I don't want to be a part of nice "christian" programs and ministries that aren't really putting themselves out there. I grow so tired of standing still. Where are we going? Do we even want to go bad enough. I wonder what could happen if we recklessly centered our lives around Him who has saved us? Im not so sure its enough to call your self a christian, to maybe follow the "do not" rules....is it really enough to live a nice life going to church on sundays, maybe a bible study on wednesday? Why do you go? Really, w h y d o y o u g o ? Is there a point? Wake up Oh Sleeper and rise from the dead..let the light of Christ shine upon you. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO MERELY SLEEP THROUGH LIFE EVEN IF YOU FOLLOW THE RULES...are you living in LOVE are you inspired and moved by the Spirit?

May you realize that there is more to be breathed...more to love...places to reach...may you be filled to the point of overflowing so that you can spill throughout the world.

Catching up

Try to ignore the fact that about two weeks have passed in between these posts...as I am writing this I am even doubting that it will actually be completed...I have to leave for work soon...

Mornings are my favorite time of day...nothing is as amazing waking up early and watching the earth wake up around you...It is already pretty late, around 9:30 but the sky is blue and the sun is pretty high...today is going to be good...I can feel the energy starting to move, getting ready for the day.

I dont have very much in the way of life updates...just refocusing and redefining my relationship with our God...simplfying life...stripping away everything that is not of Him...My application is done for Muncie Alliance and will probably be sent out Monday...

Alright there are dishes to do and tea to drink before I leave...may His peace and deep energy run with you today.

Hana, Sean I mean seth, chikens, Isaac, kihei, tired incoherent-ness

I bring this to you at the end of another long but lovely day from Maui...

Today my aunt and I got up bright and early to go ziplining...which was a surprise/msytery for me, basically because she knew that if she told me I wouldn't have gone...But I am really glad that I did, it was a fun beautiful experience. I wasn't scared or sick so that's a huge plus...Not to mention the hilarious tour guides, they kept things very entertaining and light...Not to mention the one who practically professed his undying love to me and rescued me twice from the perilous heights...haha, I was a little too light (go figure?!) for two of the lines so I didn't quite make it all the way up the platform....so yeah...Hey, he also picked me a flower...but I kind of threw it in the ditch, apparently that when the break up occured...haha ;)

Tonight was my last gathering with the Kihei Calvary Chapel...I had such an amazing night...we had dinner outside, and then service after...The worship was so incredible...God is breathing very much through His people in that community...I stayed after talking with students...One of the girls really took an interest in my life, she prayed with and for me twice...I could see God strongly working in her...These people were such a blessing...I will never forget that experience.

Time for some more pictures....


The awesome road to Hana...probably my favorite part so far...




A wild Hawiian chiken on the way to Hana...they are everywhere...along with the cats...








This was on the sailboat...the dude is Isaac...my Grandmother was convinced that he was madly in love with me...not true...but he was cool and had gone through Youth With A Mission...







Alright...I wanted to get a few more pictures up...but they are taking a long time to load...and I am so tired!

Peace

Hanging loose with hawaiin cats

Aloha from another favorite city...Kihei!

I love this culture and I love this town...its small and casual...its great...

We spent today journeying through the road to Hana...So awesome and so beautiful...this road winds ( and I mean literally, dangerously winds! ) around the island of Maui...Along the way we (I, haha) decided to take a side road down into some so called town...welllll this town was like the mountian folk of the Tennessee foothills..there were some odd people with some odd living conditions in the middle of the forest...they were also like drinking..so we deffinatly turned around and got out of there...but that was a highlight of the day...But let me just tell you that the culture throughout the mountains is so awesome...everyone is so laid back, there are a ton of farms..lots of cattle, a few horses...WILD CATS...and roosters everywhere..these animals dont really belong to anyone they just roam around wild...its so cool.

I had the best night yesterday...I went to Kihei Calvary Chapel to attend some unplugged kind of service...well I get there and the whole building is dark and so I walked around just to make sure and I saw a light under one of the back doors so I opened it and there were all these college students sitting around a table eating dinner, they instantly welcomed me and gave me food..My aunt came in with me and they just loved talking to her...They were so amazing! So I stayed with them for a few hours watching a movie and eating hawaiin ice cream (which is soo good)...then I went home...but I plan to hang out with them again this week...I loved them soo much!

Alright now for some photos...
This is one of the wild hawaiin cats...I have been informed that I am not on any condition allowed to try and catch one, or attempt to bring it home....yeah.











This is in Hana..overlooking the pacific






































Peace and hang loose lovas...

5,280 Feet Above Sea Level

Well...I leave the beautiful snowland of marquette to begin my journey to Hawaii...And I find myself in the middle of a snow storm...pretty crazy...Denver has been in the 60s and 70s for about two months, apparently they haven't had more than 4 inches of snow all year...Ahem, not today...




I guess the spring blossoms should have held on a little longer...As now they are ice covered.

I just have to laugh at the irony of it all...crazy, crazy...but supposedly tomorrow I shall be on a plane bound for warm breezes, sunburns, blue water, and white sand...


We shall see about that...

Fallin asleep in Denver

So...It has been quite a while since I have been here...

Today I turned 18...and there are so many things I could say about that but I won't. Life is moving, I am breathing.

Today I flew to Denver...I am staying with my aunt and grandparents..Friday we fly to Hawaii...So I shall hopefully be recording my journey and movements...I hope to keep some photos flowing along with some words....

I cannot believe that michigan is so far away...