Celtic Odyssey

Fly'n Fiddler & Suspicious Contra Band I love this town. One of the great things about Norman is the Summer Breeze concert series. Local and out of town (and state!) bands come and play at a couple of parks about every other weekend all summer long. At tonights concert, which featured Fly'n Fiddler & Suspicious Contra Band , a Celtic mix of music, there are elderly people and young people; preppies and hippies; vegans and carnivours. People are just sitting around laughing and singing; smoking and drinking; playing frizbee and hacky-sack; having picnics; etc. Just one big party outside in YHWH's 'very good' creation. This is one of those things that make me appreciate life in the tribe of YHWH. I think this is what it is supposed to be like throughout the world. People just loving each other and accepting each other and just letting people be themselves. It's a great scene. I wish other people could experience this. If you live in Norman (o...

Wow, what a time! Here in good ol' Norman Oklahoma, we have a little festival known as 'Tribal Revival'. A friend of ours has this huge place out in the sticks and every year he has a huge party -- stage, lights, balloons, bands, beer, camping, huge screens to project slides and movies from previous years of TR, etc. It's kind of like our own private Woodstock. This year the event was free and the place was packed. I saw friends that I hadn't seen in over a year, got to hear some really great local talent that I hadn't heard yet and drank some really good beer! Mahina and I stayed out there till midnight or so while our daughter stayed the night with some of our friends in their tent. Just a great family event. I wish you all could experience something like this where you live! In all honesty, it reminds me of the previous blog, where I was discussing the different phrases one could use instead of 'kingdom of god'. I really like the 'tribe of...

I just finished this book from Brian McLaren (you can find it here ). It's a great read. Like most of the other stuff that I have been drawn to, this book talks about the social aspects of the gospel. It has been my experience that Christians (primarily, me) have often missed this point of the message of Jesus. We are so caught up in the 'more important' issue of 'going to heaven when we die' that we forget that we are supposed to be doing the Lord's work here and now. More often than not, the current world situation is not even on the radar for most of us. A lot of my brothers and sisters are too 'caught up' in the idea of the supposed 'rapture' that they completely neglect doing 'good works' while here. And let me assure you, by 'good works', I'm not referring to doing something to gain any type of favour from god. I am not god's employee looking for a pay raise. I'm talking about most of us seem 'so he...

I just like extra buttons! You know what I'm talking about? Like on the bottom of shirts or on the inside of pants. Sometimes the manufacturer will put extra buttons there just in case you happen to lose one, you have one all ready to fill in the gap! This is similar to the grace of YHWH. YHWH reaches out to us all day, every day. More times that not, we are 'too busy' to notice. But, if we just take a moment (several, actually) throughout our day, we will notice these special moments, these little extra buttons of grace. They are there. We just need YHWH to open our eyes and allow us to see them. A child's smile. A bird's song. A butterfly flitting around some flowers. A cat's stretch when it wakes up. Your lover's embrace. The gentle elderly couple holding hands on their walk. The young woman walking her dog. We can even experience this even in traffic (although, it's really hard at times); the morning sunrise. The fog just hanging r...