Donald Miller was asked to pray (the closing Benediction) at the Democratic National Convention tonight in Denver. i'm pretty proud of my buddy Don, as in many ways, this is a brave move. Regardless of what you believe or who you plan to vote for, Don's prayer is pretty hard to argue with. i hope you'll take a moment to read it:
"Father God,
This week, as the world looks .. the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don't have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony. We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don't like us but that's because they don't know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
i've been crying wolf on this thing for two years so perhaps it's time for a plan. i spent five hours in the car today and this is what i came up with... i'm telling you so you can hold me to it.
july: write. august: write. september: write.
book.
october: editing = super fun. november: perhaps a presale. december: book. merry christmas.
what do you think?
: ) jamie (has some work to do)
Currently
listening
:
Follow The Lights
By
Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
Release date: 2007-10-23
Just came across this video. This is my favorite band. And one of my favorite songs. There is so much in this one. i've never met the guy in glasses but he's taught me a lot. That you can put it all in the same place - passion and pain, love and hope and sex and death, desire and all the rest of it. It's okay to be honest. It's okay to be serious. It's also okay to laugh. Some things are sacred. Some things are worth fighting for. There is a broken confidence in this band, in this man, in this song. i am thankful for it.
last week i was in los angeles. this blog is about a book about los angeles and this blog is written sort of in the style of the book about los angeles.
i just finished a book which never happens and this one was the longest one i've ever read (without skipping pages). this one was 501 pages and i read it in a week. this is a big deal because i almost never read (or write) let alone finish books. so to finish any book would be kind of a big deal but to finish a big book = it must be a good book.
i didn't know much about the book. i was walking with my friend danielle in los feliz last week pushing her son aiden in his stroller (and she was making fun of me because i was kind of sucking at it) and we stopped for coffee and she asked for a plate of fruit for aiden and i asked for whipped cream to go with the fruit i would be borrowing from aiden. it had to be good as on this day we were choosing this fruit (and whipped cream) over pinkberry. sidenote: pinkberry is proof that God exists. it is wonderful and i love it and i would suggest a medium regular with strawberries and yogurt chips. (the large is huge it's too much.)
we left the coffee place and passed a book store on the way to the kid's clothes store (aka children's clothing store). we went in the kid's clothes store first but after a few minutes danielle could tell i was bored which i wasn't going to tell her because i am a huge fan of aiden and he deserves to have cool clothes. we walked back to the book store to see if they had this book and they did and i knew almost nothing about it except that it was by the guy who wrote A Million Little Pieces. i don't know much about that book either except it was controversial and it sold a ton and at first it was true and then it came out that some parts were perhaps more true than others... anyway i read a few pages back when everyone was talking about it but i didn't get very far. not that it was bad just that i'm pretty A.D.D. and tend not to finish books. i remember the book was painful to read as it was a book about addiction.
anyway new book same author cool title but the kind that doesn't tell you what the book's about. again good cover art this time a photo. danielle and i both bought the book.
book turns out to be a book about los angeles and the timing was rather surprising as i've been thinking a lot about los angeles. i've been flirting with the idea of ending up there though i've been saying that for literally months now. maybe even years if you ask my friends.
los angeles is an interesting place as it's a place filled with beauty pain contrast dreams crime insanity sunshine hope rich poor fame alone. most of my friends either love it or hate it. not a lot of opinions in between. sidenote: if you live in a small town and you feel like there's no pretty girls it's because they've all moved to los angeles.
anyway, this book really captures LA. the book is painful in a lot of ways but it's powerful in that it really captures the humanity of the people living there. millions of lives colliding everyone with their dreams their pain their story. me sometimes among them and more coming every day.
all for now sore throat but it's gonna be okay. the next blog will have commas i promise.
ps: the book is called bright shiny morning and the author is james frey.
i found the following on the worldwide internet. i am listing it in reverse chronological order:
Coldplay's fourth album, due out on June 17th, will be called Viva la Vida. Singer Chris Martin chose it after seeing the phrase, which means "long live life," on a painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who endured polio, a broken spine, and chronic pain for decades. "She went through a lot of shit, of course, and then she started a big painting in her house that said 'Viva la Vida,'" says Martin. "I just loved the boldness of it."
In unrelated but similar good news, here is the long version of the video for the first single from Death Cab for Cutie's "Narrow Stairs", which comes out 5/13. It is called "I Will Possess Your Heart":
That is all for now. i do hope this finds you well. Everything is gonna be okay.
i almost bought a car the day i left for Australia. i'd been trying to find a black Prius for a few weeks and then when i was a few hours from leaving, i get this email that says "Your car is here". i really wrestled with it, and somehow, it felt like a really big decision. Buying a car is a pretty big decision, but i mean it felt bigger than that, like a defining moment. i called my parents. And i almost changed my plane ticket. And then i remembered some things my friend Bryan had been saying, about living like the sparrows. i heard freedom and trust and it all felt true. "Travel lightly and deeply" came to mind. As far as i know, sparrows do not have hefty car payments for cars they're not home to drive. (i am gone for a month now, then home for a week, then gone for another five.)
So i said no to the Prius and i got on the plane. Flew to LA, ate In and Out with my friend Justin. (In and Out Burger is proof that God exists. It is perfect stuff.) Spent 24 hours with my LA friends - they are feeling more and more like family. We all ate BBQ at this place on Ventura Blvd just before i went to the airport. We ordered this mega meal thing that feeds 10 people. And when the food arrived, it was apparent that most of us were southern folks. There was a pretty girl from Kentucky, and she clapped when the food arrived. You should have seen it. We were all fingers in sauce and bones across the table and the laughter was the best. It was a really good night.
And then suddenly i was alone at LAX and a few things hit me: 1. i am about to sit on an airplane for 14 hours. 2. At the end of the 14 hours, i will be handed the keys to a rental car. 3. They drive on the left in Australia. 4. i've never driven on the left before. 5. i don't have a phone number or address for the person i'm staying with. 6. i want to go back to the BBQ place.
So i make my way to the gate and i hear my name. But it's not coming from the speakers. It's coming from my friend Kelly. He is flying to Australia too. He is on my flight. Kelly is one of my favorite friends but he's almost always away and so we've hardly seen each other in the last few years. Suddenly, everything is okay. We end up sitting together (in an exit row = hooray) and we talk more that night above the Pacific than we have in the last five years combined. 14 hours is a long time so we also eat dinner and sleep. Kelly sleeps with his shoes on. i notice this because i am not asleep... i finally do sleep a little bit, and then Kelly wakes up and then the sun wakes up. And then it's breakfast and Brisbane. i've had two-hour flights that felt longer. Live like the sparrows. Live like the sparrows.
Now, a bit about Kelly: He is surfing's equivalent to Michael Jordan. He is the best ever. For a person who loves surfing, me, Kelly is a lot of fun to be friends with. He is also a lot of fun to go through Customs with. To give this some context, i have been learning that Customs is generally not a lot of fun. At the Canadian border, i could not tell them where i was going, who was picking me up, or where i'd be staying. They wanted a Canadian address. "I'll only be in your country for about eight hours. I'm here for the Warped Tour. We're driving back to America tonight." Needless to say, it was an interesting conversation.
At Gatwick in London a couple weeks ago, i told them i would be travelling with bands. "Are you some kind of groupie?", they asked. Again, interesting conversation.
Now, back to Kelly and Customs in Australia. First off, they gave us an express pass so we could skip the line. They didn't ask any questions. They wore these huge smiles and said something like "We know why you're here." i could have walked through holding a gun and it would have been no problem. They really like Kelly here.
Now it was time for the driving on the left. Kelly is good at pretty much everything, so the plan was to follow him to the Gold Coast. He got his car first so i was scrambling to get my stuff into my car, so he wouldn't have to wait. i threw my stuff in, jumped around to the side and learned the second interesting part of the driving on the left: The steering wheel is on the right. So i made a humble second move, this time to the right, and sure enough - there was the steering wheel.
It was really scary at first but that was a few days ago. i am an old pro now. i like it so much i may keep doing it once i get back to the States. (just kidding mom) Anyway, i made it to the Gold Coast and the first few days were busy with TWLOHA stuff (and driving to Brisbane and back three times), but there were some great moments. Some significant conversations. Some chances to say the things i believe, and that is certainly a privilege, especially this far from home.
And then yesterday and today were the days i knew i needed. Days off on the Gold Coast. i am staying with friends in an amazing 11th floor apartment, overlooking the Superbank. (For you non-surfers, the Superbank is a long point that sticks out in the ocean. The waves that break along it are some of the best in the world.)
i surfed until it was pitch-black last night. Kelly was out. Andy Irons and Dean Morrison were out. This is the equivalent of going to NBA All-Star weekend and getting to practice with Kobe and Lebron. It's that good. i couldn't stop smiling. Walked home inside the dark, along the strip where all the normal folks were eating dinner. i was still dripping and carrying my surfboard and not a care in the world.
i am remembering who i am. i lost it for a while last year, got lost in all the pain and change and stress. Got lost in all the losing. But i am finding my way back, and i'm believing better things. i was alive last night, in that water in the dark along a famous empty beach. It had me remembering early days in Florida, when i was small and so many things were simple and different. Remembering innocence, and by that i don't mean some lack of guilt, but more just the absence of pain. The beach was still and memories and then i crossed the street into the light and it's lovers and diners and friends. Them with their "You're just coming in now?" looks and me with my "i know - isn't is great!!" smile. Alone but less alone. Alive and like the sparrows.
Off to bed.
: ) jamie
Currently
listening
:
Into the West
By
Pilot Speed
Release date: 28 November, 2006
There is a place between holding on and letting go, a place where fight songs beg for love songs. She wrote from such a place. She wrote from all the darkness.
"It's come down to trying or just letting go and dying."
I didn't know Melody. I didn't know her story or how she got my e-mail address. I only knew she was in pain.
"What made you believe in love?" she asked.
I thought for a moment. Wow, what a question ...
"I'm not sure. I think maybe I was created to respond to love. Like gas for a car or food when you're hungry... it just made sense. In the middle of a life where a lot of things don't make sense, and a lot of things are hard, love makes sense to me. It has the power to heal, change, hope... it makes life better."
"Wow, I never really thought of it that way" she responded. "I know you believe in love and hope and help, but do you ever think that maybe suicide is the right option?"
God, what are the words?
I told her "no" but that I believed life was hard for most people most of the time. And that I know some people live with so much pain that it's hard to get out of bed, hard to eat, hard to smile. And so I understood how suicide could seem like a good option, a way out of the pain. But I added that I really truly believe this stuff I'm always talking about - this hope and help and community, this possibility that we were created with a purpose. I told her that I believed life was worth living, that storms can pass, and that we have to keep fighting.
I closed with this: "I believe we were created to love and be loved. And we can't do that if we choose to end our own lives. And we end up causing other people a ton of pain... "
I waited in the silence for Melody. Her response was this: "Thank you. You just helped me to change my perspective on suicide. I have been so consumed with hatred for life with pain, so obsessed with death and what it could hold for me, without really thinking of what life could hold for me. I guess I have some things to throw away tonight."
Those words were something wonderful, and she shared that the garbage box was bullets, that she had made a plan to kill herself that night.
I asked Melody if she had a gun. I asked her to get rid of it. I asked her not to be alone. She asked if I believed in God.
I told her that I did, that I believed He was who He said He was in the Bible, that He made me and He loves me and He's in control. I told her that I believe we have an enemy, that sin is real, and that those things have everything to do with the pain in the world and life being so hard. I told her that love helped me believe in God and that love seemed a picture of God.
In all, Melody and I traded 13 e-mails that night. Mostly short and huge. In her last email, she said that the bullets were gone, and the gun would go next. She said she would call a friend in the night and a counselor in the morning.
Melody wrote the next day to say hello and to tell me that she had called a crisis counselor. She had one more great question: "What is your favorite thing?"
The answer came quickly this time: "My favorite thing is stuff like this. People finding hope. People choosing life."
God is still in the business of redemption, and He invites us to join Him. He asks us to whisper truth to the face of death, to lay down our lives that others might find something alive. Something true. Pain is real. But hope is also real. The fight song and the love song collide. The song is ours to sing.
Currently
listening
:
A Weekend in the City
By
Bloc Party
Release date: 06 February, 2007
Excerpts, you might say... (or) Highlights from the last 48 hours... (or) The best interview i've done in a while... (or) A muse is a fascinating thing.
me: i don't know a lot about her but i like that you like her.
Four Fave Death Cab Songs: 1. Brothers on a Hotel Bed 2. Transatlanticism 3. All is Full of Love (Bjork cover) 4. Live version of 'Brand New Colony' at the end of 'Blacking Out the Friction' on John Byrd EP
It is (perhaps) not cool to like the song "Apologize" by OneRepublic & Timbaland but i do.
not me: Four Fave Death Cab Songs 1. We Looked Like Giants 2. Marching Bands of Manhattan 3. Soul Meets Body 4. Title and Registration
There's something about Almost Famous that seems to light some sort of fire in me. It's just so good.
me: i bought a shirt with a bunch of arrows on it, and it kinda meant chaos to me, like "which way is up?" or "where is home?"... and it's crazy to think about all that in light of the fire.
i was wearing a new hat when i met you and i think it's my Justin Timberlake hat. We had this funny moment in the van driving through Scotland with Justin Timberlake's Live DVD on. Somehow, it totally worked. Hills and sheep and snow, and Cry Me a River.
Journalism never felt right to me. It's cold and temporary. i wanted to be in the stories, and i wanted to know people and i knew the music mattered.
i felt some of that same magic i felt in Paris last fall. i felt it walking by Big Ben and then across the bridge and along the Thames and the Eye. it was late afternoon and the sun was low and perfect.
not me: It's probably going a little overboard , but i find that when i like something or am captivated by it, i get really into it. Some people call it obsessive; i prefer to think of it as passionate.
There's something about the music that will make you create something or fall in love or something to that extent.
"For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity. You need not look at that only in a negative way. You wanted to give your heart to others, and you did so quickly and easily. But now you are being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you. You must stop being a pleaser and reclaim your identity as a free self." - Henri Nouwen
My favourite part of London is actually the same area as yours. That was my first impression of the "City [that] now doth like a garment wear/ The beauty of the morning; silent, bare.../All bright and glittering in the smokeless air" – Wordsworth's London 1802.
me: i want to see the world change and i'm not afraid of "big" and i believe we have something to say... but yeah, paperwork and all-day meetings are not the fun part.
i guess the short version of the long version is that i guess i'm aware and rather fascinated by the power of the muse, and i have been for some time. i don't mean we should worship them, but as Don said, they do have the ability to make men swim large bodies of water and they also cause (things like) songs and poems. Hopefully, they just bring out the best. Fat guys with beards are suddenly waking up early, doing pushups, shaving, etc. (It is occurring to me now that this paragraph is mostly about boys and girls) But yeah, beyond that, people need to be inspired. People need to feel alive - not just romantic love - things like rivers and wind and sunshine and songs. And a favorite coffee place. i dig all of that.
Part of the thing i mentioned about the arrow shirt - it's that i don't know where home is.
i remember reading that and going "oh my gosh, this is so true and this is me and this is why it hurts so much."
Some of it was tough too but that keeps it real and raw and honest. If it was easy, it probably wouldn't be important. It would just be a pep rally : )
If you teach college, then i will audit a class. If you teach high school, it's probably best i don't come, as that might just be weird.
Don and i were chasing waterfalls east of Portland, just before dark, a couple years back. He told me "I just want to write beautiful stories and speak to lost people."
That sounded pretty good to me.
Currently
listening
:
Transatlanticism
By
Death Cab for Cutie
Release date: 07 October, 2003
