step outside yourself...

Only a select group of people have ever seen me in such a manner. Check out the Flickr page for more emptiness...

Sit down...it's just a talk

Friends, I am praying for boldness and confidence coming only from God. I've started to open up to those I surround myself with...a message of reconciliation and redemption. It gets easier when I'm not in control...being a loving channel.

How to save a life....

for dust you are, and dust you shall return..

(title Genesis 3:19)


I went to an Ash Wednesday service this evening. I've never been to one, but I thought it would be a good way to learn more about how "others worship/do church."
Here's how it went down: The reverend had some ashes (symbolically burnt palms from the preceding palm Sunday) and rubbed them on my forehead in the sign of a cross. It was meant to be "a public act of humility, admitting that I was a sinner." During this time, the organist played the wonderfully known "Just As I Am." And, as Tony Campolo once said, "The people sang Just As I Am, they came just as they are, and left just as they were!!"

In between the Holy Eucharist, the Sursum Corda and the Epiclesis...TANGENT!!!
CHEESE AND CRACKERS...What is all this stuff, so many rituals and standings and sittings, no wonder I lost focus of why I was really there!!! Oh yeah, before the tangent I was going to say that Communion was taken because everyone else did. A great message, but it was lost in religion.

Guilty Pleasure Two

COKE IS IT!!! It was just one of those days...just cold enough for another installment of Joe's Guilty Pleasures. It's been a long time since I had some carbonated nectar....wow. Notice my eyes are up, 'cause they're about to roll back in my head!!

rare...macchiato and chai latte influenced

Not since the summer nights at Cloud Nine on a bottomless cup binge have I felt this way. It started with reading; something I NEVER used to do. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell- I want this book, but I'll be patient and leave it where I found it...it gives me a good excuse to go back. Keywords are patient and go back. Ok, I'll explain...patient: I want to go back to South Carolina. My body has told me that I am a failure with my parents, but my heart tells me that I'm not giving up, I'm just moving on. My parents have told me (with a blessing) that they want me to have a life. Well, I choose freely to live in Anderson, South Carolina. A place where I can worship, serve, live, work and play.

NOTE: I've used a lot of Scripture on this subject...am I using it to get what I want and using it out of context...I'm still struggling with that.

Patient b: I'm past the five-month-itch, going on eight. Ok, I'll explain. Every relationship I've had strangely had a five month span between them. Right now, I'm struggling with wanting the emotions of a relationship. Joe's record states that he has shown the right kind of love to the wrong women. Just being honest; if I'm wrong with this statement, I'm married!! So, I guard my heart.
Well kids, congratulations, you've got all my words for the day.

Prayer Chain Letter

I found this in a Confirmation Booklet of one of my relatives, dated 1900. I've received enough of these through e-mail, but getting one through the postal service, is kinda creepy. Even almost 100 years later, the simple prayer of asking Jesus "to bless us and all mankind and help us to dwell eternalled"; so humbly stated, still holds true today.