jesus @ tarboosh

Did you know that Jesus smokes hookah at Murfreesboro's own Mediterranean Cafe and Hookah Bar, Tarboosh?

Did you also know that He very much so dwells in the hearts and minds of the patrons of Tarboosh?

Young, college bound patrons...searching for hope and something to place their faith in.
Wrestling with the idea that maybe there is something in this world to believe in...in a very personal way.

Well...they are there, and so is He.

patience

ok ok...I get it. If I ask for patience...You'll give me great opportunities for patience. So, You don't so much give me the patience as much as You actually give me the situation to test my little patience. Allllright...I guess when its all said and done...yea, You supply the patience. But...man, does it feel like I'm lacking something.

The past two weeks have been a time of reflection...reflecting on the way things were, on life before the thought of graduation, on simplicity of friendships, on who Jesus could have been to me before this stage of my life. I am 23 years old, and yes to some people that is young...but in retrospect the things that I have been through, personally and in other friendshps, people twice my age never experience. I guess...I am just perplexed as to where I am going and what Jesus is trying to do with my life. And, I get it...I'm not supposed to understand or see the picture clearly...but that doesn't mean the desire to understand the workings of our Creator will just go away. I do understand, however, more than ever to just stop asking questions...not to stop asking God questions but stop questioning God himself. I've come to learn to accept the journey I've been given...in no way am I always happy with it. But...I get the fact that there is no sense in questioning God and consistently screaming "WHY?" But...though I understand not to do it...I still do. Creatures of habit, I suppose.

So...what am I getting at? I'm not quite sure...I just need to convey to people that God is consistently at work. In failure, in success, in patience, in eagerness, in the crappiest season of your life, and in the happiest...He's working. I guess, I don't feel like I am doing enough...b/c I'm not. As much as the world is trying to tell me that I am important and am getting things done...I'm still insignificant. Though I am insignificant...I desire to find the significance in purpose and design. So...here I am, still waiting. Still probably lacking some patience...

my mouth is dry with words i cannot verbalize

I have nothing spectacular to say necessarily...but I am just wanting to write something to explain my emotions or to at least verbalize them.

I'm typically a really impatient person...and it for sure showed tonight in downtown Nashville during the July 4th celebration as I was pushing my way through 100,000 patriotic...um...people. I'm just going to say people to be nice. Anyway...I'm ready to go and I'm ready to do...but it seems my envisionment of going and doing consists of me being...not here. I am anxiously awaiting to discover my whereabouts in a job opportunity. A job opportunity that I would be more than blessed to be given...a job opportunity that will change a lot of things. More than ever, I am actually trying to not get my hopes up...but I can't help to when I feel like I have been given such a peace about this opportunity. I guess...what I am saying...is that life is real. more than ever. By Friday...which is technically tomorrow...no more than the already submitted resumes can stand up to my credentials and experience. I'm becoming aware of the fact that this time next week I will have an idea of where I stand and whether or not I'll be invited for an interview. In person. So...I'm nervous, excited, contemplative, butterfly crazy, hopeful, alive, prayerful...prayerful, and in awe of what could be. I'm desiring an opportunity that is possible...I'm desiring the fulfillment of my readiness to just go...

Flags & Letters

Over the course of two evenings, I’ve watched two films both produced by Clint Eastwood with different perspectives concerning a specific battle during WWII. The battle was for a rather small island off the coast of Japan called Iwo Jima. The first of the two films is called Flags of our Fathers…obviously taking the perspective of the American soldiers. But, more specifically…the perspective of the men that apparently raised the flag on Iwo Jima. You know…the famous picture of the six men working together to raise an American flag. It was this picture that was released in American newspapers that gave the people of the United States a feeling of victory and hope.


But to these American soldiers it was a reminder of those days in battle…a reminder of those friends lost…a reminder of the real truth behind that simple, iconic photo. Now…the following film is called Letters from Iwo Jima. This film is from the Japanese perspective of those days in battle. Following the lives of a common baker and husband turned soldier, a controversial General, and a discharged, demoted soldier, Letters from Iwo Jima provides an American, like myself, an understanding of the emotion behind going to war with such a powerhouse like the US. During a specific scene in this film, one of the senior officers of the Japanese forces exchanges words…English words…with an American prisoner of war. The relation is friendly…and establishes some common ground between the two foreigners. This POW named Sam from Oklahoma dies soon thereafter…then, the senior officer reads a note he found on Sam to the soldiers around him. It was a letter from Sam’s mother. This scene changed the whole mood of the movie. The soldiers of the imperial army realized that these American soldiers weren’t bloodthirsty cowards like they had been taught…no…these Americans were receiving letters just like their own letters from their mothers and wives.

It’s easy to imagine going to war with people you consider your enemy…people you consider to be less than yourself. But…when you realize that your “enemy” has a mom and a dad…and probably a girlfriend somewhere or even a wife who may be pregnant, it’s hard to fathom taking their life. I’ve never really been against war…or even for war. There is a time and place for everything I’m sure…so I’m not discussing “war.” I’m simply discussing the emotion of both sides…the lives of both sides.

So, needless to say…if you haven’t seen either film or just one of the two, I suggest you see both. It was a gruesome, enlightening experience to watch something that still happens today…that is happening as we speak. Sam’s mother said in her letter to her son, ”Do what is right…because it is right.” That senior officer repeated those words to his men as they went forth during their final attempt to save face.