Sigh No More album by Mumford and Sons

Sigh No More album by Mumford and Sons

As if playing the EP to death wasn't enough, I cannot bring myself to pull this album out of my CD player. Melodies are like cocaine and after few listens I began to realize the gravity of what he's singing about. A deeply spiritual album lyrically with powerful music to support the expression. Nothing sissy about this guy's sensitivity. A line from the title track "Sigh No More": "Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,

It will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be"

The Book

The auto-biography has begun. I will not finish it until I am dead. It will be a constant, third person journaling of the recent past until there is nothing left to document spare death and decay and at that point I will bring myself, first person, into the story. The purpose of it is to basically document my life as if I am an onlooker and is inspired by a grand concept: "We can never be the people we were." So I will record the life of Aaron Medeiros in a fashion that never truly knows with absolute certainty who he was or exactly what thought, but merely hypothesize. It's off to a solid start like most of my new ventures... We'll see if it survives the test of time.

Thread Count

Our church is in the market for a small group system... We have had them before with limited success but, then again, I'm in no position to measure the success of a small group. I'm not sure how that's done on paper. However, we are looking into various resources and references in crafting our own style and format of small group. It's looking promising and I think it might stick. I have high hopes and expectations for what God can do in the small group setting for the church community. And God knows it needs some help. One resource I stumbled across yesterday was www.threadsmedia.com. It may be inter-web taboo to promote a blog on a blog... But I don't care. Check this website out no matter what your ministry consists of. It's got some sound advice and pretty practical suggestions in small group leading and maintaining. The neat trendy layout doesn't hurt either. Read and be merry.

Life as an Appetizer

I was talking with someone the other day and, as is often the case, I made some remark about getting myself killed sooner or later. My friend informed me that she has a great fear of death and that my comment made her uneasy. In a desperate effort to redeem the conversation and myself, I developed this perspective...

Life as an appetizer is a perspective that targets the people that overvalue life here on earth and fear what's to come, or rather what's not to come. Valuing life here on earth is not unimportant in any way, but in the same manner one would consider the main course more significant than the appetizer, how much greater is heaven than these measly 80 years.
When you sit down at a restaurant and order your appetizer and main course, your focus and primary interest should not be on the sparse, and often overpriced, starter course. It's easy to get caught up in the here and now when the dish comes out and looks great. It's not the main course. If you gorge and over eat on it, you're main course experience will be ruined.
And then if the appetizer comes out disheveled or too cold or somebody screwed up the order completely, it's frustrating. Your expectations get shot down and what you were told was going to be something great, turns out to be a huge disappointment. A lot of people here on earth want you to feel like this is all you get. They want you to get everything you can and focus on yourself in this little whirlwind called life. They pressure you to hurry up and get yours because this is all they know. They tell you that once you mess this appetizer up, you're screwed. It's INSANE!
I'm hungry, I don't know about you. In truth I love life here on earth, it tastes great! But get real! If death came early or if some horrendous disaster shattered my life all over the floor, it won't change my perfect, amazing, and eternal main course.

Sunshine

So a hypochondriac might tell me I have seasonal depression. In fact they have told me. Can you believe the technical acronym for seasonal depression is SAD? Seriously, let's make it just that much worse for the patient when he hears the doctor say, "I'm sorry to inform you that not only do you feel sad but now you have SAD." Regardless of a pretty eerie match up on the symptoms, I'm in denial. On the flip side, the last couple days of sunshine, albeit with spurts of rain, have brought me a tremendous level of happiness. I'm not talking about joy. Joy is a permanent state in my opinion. Sure you'll have ups and downs but if you have obtained joy in life you are not one bit swayed by life's obstacles. You have reached a level of peace that.... oh let's say a level of peace that surpasses understanding for reference sake. That peace will remain in spite of the weather. The more temporal happiness, the moods, the superficial crust of joy, is what I'm addressing. And that kind of mood, is pummeled, in my case, by the weather. I would be in one serious struggle if I lived permanently in a place with no sunshine. I think people who love rain are sick, SICK individuals. I know it's emo and artsy to snuggle up and be contemplative on a rainy day but for the UV worshipers, it's nothing shy of torture. Yes, yes I acknowledge it's wonderful effects on our agriculture and call that point valid. Regardless, I cannot wait for some consistent sunshine. So this summer, when the thermometer is reading well passed 100, know that I am smiling. May my conditional happiness in the midst of your misery comfort you this summer. But above all else, may your unhappiness be as temporal as the rainy season in Central California.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Heroes

There is something about coastal towns that allows live performances to thrive. Call it the "hippie scene" or beach bum attitudes that bring about such a joyful atmosphere. Whatever it is, and regardless of how society views it, I like it. Last night I saw Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros in San Luis Obispo. It could have been aided by the fact that the opening band set the stage by playing in the audience and having everyone sit down and sing along. Maybe it was the Indian (dots not feathers) style dress, Christ-like beards, dreadlocks, or trumpets... It put the crowd into a comatose. And I'm certain that process was not aided by the lingering excess of THC... But people were happy to be there and happy to be around one another. I'm talking over a hundred people in a small dark room, shoulder to shoulder, truly enjoying themselves. Some belligerent bar patron stumbled into me in search of the restroom and I could not help but smile and help steer him in the right direction. I am not personally accustomed to such grace and patience. The show went on with magnificent creativity and impromptu adjustments to the already beautiful songs. Amongst strangers we danced and screamed and clapped and cheered and hugged till the place shut down. It was truly an unforgettable evening. After the show wrapped up I could not help but catch myself thinking, "When was the last time I experienced this kind of community harmony in a Church setting?" Why are secular gatherings nailing this loving atmosphere when we're pulling teeth just to greet one another? Why did I feel more at home around a bunch of hippies than I do with my own family? As you might suspect, I didn't, and don't, have an answer.