Belly of the Lion

I thought I would share this since I had a dream about hiking up a concrete riverbed. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep and thankfully, just before I woke up, I had made it out of the riverbed and into the forrest (that happened to be at the top...yeah, dreams are weird).

The lyrics video

Dance the dance
We call living and dying
In the valley of the city
in the belly of the lion
Work all week long
All week long
You can lose your soul
In the concrete riverbeds
Rolling with the flow
Of the currents of the walking deads
Five o'clock comes and you're a rolling stone

Days like these
We've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known

Listen to the rhythm
Of the pawn shop shore
Got you falling off your hinges
Like that old screen porch
It's the interstate slipping in your pores again
You can ride the vein
From the corner store to Amsterdam
You can bleed the train
From the courthouse to the Vatican
But Friday she's a ghost
And gonna slip right through your hands again

Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
Who would've known

So dance the dance
We call living and dying
In the valley of the city
in the belly of the lion
We work all week long
All week long
You can lose your soul
In the concrete riverbeds
Rolling with the flow
Of the currents of the walking deads
Five o'clock comes and you're a rolling stone

Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Day like these
Who would've known
Days like these
I don't know what I think about
Days like these
I've got nothing to sing about
Day like these
Who would've known


~"Belly of the Lion" by John Mark McMillan

Paris pour deux nuits

(and yes, I had to look up the title!)

Paris, two nights in a row. Wasn't planning on that.

I have never been very drawn to the idea of traveling through Europe, at least the Europe that (it feels like) most people travel through: London, Paris, Berlin...all those countries in that area of the world. Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands.

Perhaps this is the part my habit to avoid things that everyone else seems to love. I wonder if a lot of American's feel like that. It seems like a very American thing to say and do. Which is ironic; that a whole people would be drawn to what each other's neighbor is not.

Yet I found myself steeped in Paris France this weekend via two great movies: Moulin Rouge! and Midnight in Paris. I will do my best to not spoil them...but beware.

                                                   I was reminded how amazing this movie is. Not only are the songs well done and acting great but the story has a way of gripping you. It follows the Bohemian love story of Christian and Satine; and the returning theme of the Bohemian ideals, "Truth! Beauty! Freedom!  Above everything else, Love!" It is pretty fantastic overall. 

I appreciate the most that the story doesn't end simply, as you might expect (I will attempt to not spoil the movie!). It really tests the main character's idealism of his line, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."

The other movie I saw with my wife this weekend was Midnight in Paris. I am not a big Woody Allen fan, but I heard so many good things about this movie that I wanted to see it (in the $2 theater...spending $8 - $12 on this would be just criminal). There were some parts that I didn't like (such as the casual way marriage was treated; and the fact that despite the movie poster he doesn't meet Van Gough at all!) and there were some great aspects of this film. Gil Pender is a flourishing hollywood screenwriter who aspires to be novelist. He and his fiance go on vacation in Paris with his future in-laws. He discovers the world of Paris in the 1920's at midnight as he wanders the streets. I loved how in the end Gil actually comes to some great realizations about life and about himself. 

So...I'm open to Paris. It really is amazing that the people of the French culture have had a tremendously large impact on the world. And their country is relatively tiny! There are many things, if you give it a bit of thought, that are distinctly "French". I couldn't name them for you, but if I say, "think of a French person, town, experience, person of influence on history" you could. That is intriguing to me.

Tumult and Stillness

My spiritual director shared this psalm with me yesterday and I thought I would share it here. I have heard so much about v. 10

Psalm 46:10a
"Be still, and know that I am God."


but I have never heard it in the context of the other verses that seem so chaotic. I like it much better this way, I think it carries so much more weight with it. 

Psalm 46

 ¹God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present^[b] help in trouble.
²Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
   though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
³though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
                         Selah
 ⁴There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
   God will help her when morning dawns.
⁶ The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The LORD of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
                         Selah
 ⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD,
   how he has brought desolations on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the chariots with fire.
¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth!"
¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
                         Selah

Hymn #101

I love this song by Joe Pug, Hymn #101. It has received a lot of underground attention because it is so great! It speaks to me where I am at...minus the smoking and drinking references. :)

For the video

Yea I’ve come to know the wish list of my father
I’ve come to know the shipwrecks where he wished
I’ve come to wish aloud among the over dressed crowd
Come to witness now the sinking of the ship
Throwing pennies from the sea top next to it
And I’ve come to roam the forest past the village
With a dozen lazy horses in my cart
I’ve come here to get high,
To do more than just get by.
I’ve come to test the timber of my heart
Oh, I’ve come to test the timber of my heart
And I’ve come to be untroubled in my seeking
And I’ve come to see that nothing is for naught
I’ve come to reach out blind
to reach forward and behind
For the more I seek the more I’m sought
Yea, the more I seek the more I’m sought.

And I’ve come to meet the sheriff and his posse
To offer him the broadside of my jaw
I’ve come here to get broke
Then maybe bum a smoke
We’ll go drinking two towns over after all
Oh, we’ll go drinking two towns over after all.

And I’ve come to meet the legendary takers
I’ve only come to ask them for a lot
Oh they say I come with less
than I should rightfully posses
I say the more I buy the more I’m bought
And the more I’m bought the less I cost
And I’ve come to take their servants and their surplus
And I’ve come to take their raincoats and their speed
I’ve come to get my fill
To ransack and spill
I’ve come to take the harvest for the seed
I’ve come to take the harvest for the seed

And I’ve come to know the manger that you sleep in
I’ve come to be the stranger that you keep
I’ve come from down the road
And my footsteps never slowed
Before we met, I knew we’d meet
Before we met, I knew we’d meet

And I’ve come here to ignore your cries and heartaches
I’ve come to closely listen to you sing
I’ve come here to insist
That I leave here with a kiss
I‘ve come to say exactly what I mean
and I mean so many things.

And you’ve come to know me stubborn as a butcher
and you’ve come to know me thankless as a guest
will you recognize my face when gods awful grace
strips me of my jacket and my vest
and reveals all the treasure in my chest