So, David shared some poetry on his Blog, which has inspired me to write some of my own. For you poetic pleasure (or dis-, as the case may be).

*BTW* I wrote this while driving into work this morning.

Untitled
The tree stood on the hill outside town
Ancient and solitary, it has kept its long vigil
But today it slumps. Old and alone
Once it was brilliant green
But the bitter cold has robbed it of color
Once it was covered in a thick canopy
But the fierce winds have driven its leaves to the ground
Once it stood straight and true
But the heavy snows have forced it to sag and droop
Now it is stark and bleak against the cold steel sky
But this is not the end
When the gray clouds split and blue skies return
When the pale wan sun is restored to its fiery glory
When the snows resolve to water and moisten the thirsty ground
Then slowly
Slowly
Very slowly
Green buds appear

"How do you keep the farmboy on the farm now that he's seen Paris?"

I cannot find the exact reference, but I remember this quote, paraphrased, regarding US servicemen returning home to middle America following World War 2. It came to my mind as I was listening to Sara Groves' "Painting Pictures of Eygpt". It will probably always be a mystery to me how we, as humans, and myself included, can so easily be satisfied returning to a worldly, empty, dreary existience after we have experienced the amazing love, incredible grace, and unbelievable presence of God. How I long to always have a wanderlust to follow after God. How I wish that my feet of stone would never find root in the shifting sands.

I was made for Glory, I was built to last.
God formed this feet to walk golden streets
When this hard life has past.
Say "He's doing well on the other side" if anybody asks
'Cuz I was made for Glory, I was built to last.
- Lost Dogs, from the album Scenic Routes

Blogging - Quick thoughts...

Overall, I like Blogging. Both sides of it actually. I like that I have a place where I spew thoughts that other people can see and comment on. And I like that I have friends who spew their thoughts that I can read and comment on. It opens a window into others lives that I think is really cool. I find that I share things in my blog that I wouldn't bring up in normal conversation, let alone initate contact with someone just to express.

On the other hand, it is only a projection, and a pretty weak one at that. If I'm going through a significant crisis in my life, I'm not going to post it in my blog. And a silent blog could mean a crisis or just an abundance of life.

But overall I appreciate being able to reach out to some friends and just give a gentle shout-out, "Hey, I'm thinking about you". And I think most people could use more of that.

Worst night of sleep EVER.

OK, to be fair, there were some night when we had infants of which I have no memory. I think the mind stops recording memories in those circumstances as a defense mechanism. And by defense, I mean defense of the children; If we as parents remembered the difficulties of dealing with our kids as infants, we would be much less "understanding" of them during their pre-teen and teen years.

But last night was pretty bad. At midnight, when I am usually ready to go to sleep, my darling wife decides that she isn't tired yet and she wants to watch Law & Order. I have a history of being able to sleep through anything short of WW3, so I tell her to go ahead. (The TV, BTW, is in our bedroom.) And to be fair to MDW, she did tell me that if it was bothering me, she would turn it off. And it seemed to work. I fell asleep in about 5 minutes to the story of a philandering theologian who may or may not be responsible for the murder of his wife. The problem is I kept almost waking up, catching snipets of the show and incorperating it in my dream. And I was never conscious enough to understand what was happening to me or to tell my wife that it was bothering me. And then after the show, the dreams continued. Getting up with the alarm was a Herculean effort.

But coffe is a wonderful thing, even if the super-brew at work tastes like tire rubber.

OK, to continue... Sunday night was Big Worship and it was awesome. Really cool time of worship and prayer and just waiting on the Lord. While we were singing I had what I could best describe as a vision. It was just a picyure planted in my head, almost like a dream. I saw two boys. I was one of them. The other boy had something cupped in his hands and hidden, like a boy holding a frag he had just caught. The other boy said to me, "Come here, I want to show you something." I came up close to him and we huddled together. He said "You won't understand this." He opened his hands and in his palm there was a cube. I remeber it very clearly. It looked metallic, and each side of the cube had ridges on it like someone had pressed all four fingers down on it.

I thought this was odd. We are in the middle of a series on spiritual gifts, so I figure that this has something to do with that. I say to myself, "OK, God, it seems you have something you want me to share and communicate with the congregation. If we have a chance later, I'll share this."

We sing some more, than Chris gets up to speak. He starts praying. There is a quiet time and the strangest thing happens. I start getting these words in my head, words of praise and thangsgiving and worship, and I feel the urge to say these words out loud. I didn't. I didn't know where these words were coming from. So I just kept it to myself. It wasn't until several minutes later that I remembered the vision I had earlier, and I realized that that message wasn't for anyone else. That was a message for me.

This was very odd for me. I have felt that, in the past, God has given my wisdom for certain individuals or for the congregation, but I have never felt so clear a message for me personally.

I told this story to our Christ Life group. Now, when God is doing something in your life that you think is really cool, and when you tell others about it and they think it's really cool ... well, that's just *really* cool. They prayed over me. It was awesome.

So much to blog, so little time.

Let's see. Since Wednesday I'm been to worship practice. I think Paula is attempting to make worship practice more like a small group, which I think is a awesome idea. (More on small groups later). The problem is that for each team, there are a couple weeks off with no practice, and no practice means no meeting. Also, I think several memebers of the worship team still see worship practice as just worship practice. In any case, I do like the direction that Paula is moving.

Then, on Friday, Serenity took Rand to Aquire the Fire. I stayed home with the younger boys. David came over and we played on his Xbox360. I'm gonna have to save up my nickels and dimes and get one of those some day. But mainly we had a chance to talk. It was a really good time.

Saturday came and Seren went back to Aquire the Fire for the marathon day. Like 9:00 AM to 9:30 PM. I should have known she wasn't going to make it. Around 1:00 she called me and asked if I would come down to Target Center and swap with her. I agreed, because I am an awesome husband. I was really put out, because I had plans for the day, but God helped me get through all that and I had a really good time.

Sunday came a little too early. I was running sound. Nicki was supposed to deliver the sermon, but she was a little under the weather, so we got Chris instead. The sermon was really good. Returning to the small groups issue, Chris related a story about something that had happened in their small group. It was really cool, and I felt jealous. We had wanted to join their small group, but couldn't; They meet on Thursdays and Worship Practice is on Thursdays, so at least 4 out of 5 Thursdays, one of us is busy. It made me hunger for that kind of fellowship. We have put off joining a particular small group because of Worship + Christ-life + serving for the Marriage Course. Part of me thinks 3 nights a week at Church functions is probablky enough. But this is something that I really need to pray over.

Sunday night was Big Worship. Oh, My. I almosty forgot. This is seperate-Post-Worthy in and of itself. And because of that, and because I'm out of time, I will continue that thought later.

Uh oh, my wife has found the internet. Now I need to watch what I say, er... type.

http://charleboislife.blogspot.com/

So Christ-Life Phase 2 last night made me think of this song. Powerful lyrics.


The Twist by the Swirling Eddies

Hang on, beleive
there's nothing up my sleeve
I've got no magic tricks to save the day
Put down the gun
You're not helping anyone
and I'm not about to run or back away.

Don't walk the fence
then come to my defense
I don't need fair weather kinds of friends around
So watch, and pray
as a traitor's kiss betrays
and rest your feet of clay on shaky ground

And look me in the face, at least what's left of it
Tell me you still love me just a little bit
Oh, nail me down, break the skin
Hard enough to do me in
But don't leave me hanging,
dying and dangling,
Twisting in the wind

Here, Touch my side
Let doubt be crucified
nailed with your wounded pride
to Love's grim altar
Here, Taste my flesh
My bloody humanness
I am no phantom guest;
no skinless martyr.

So taste and feel
There's nothing to conceal.
You always knew the deal was sacrifice
Stand up, Be Strong
When all you've got is gone
I left the light turned on in Paradise

And when the walls cave in
and the curtain's torn asunder
You'll know we're near the end
You'll hear me in the thunder
And when the sun grows dim
This will be your sign and wonder
That soon we'll meet again,
Just like we did last summer.

Here's an odd question. Why is that Jesus is accepted by so many people? I phrased that is a round-a-bout way on purpose. I know that the Holy Spirit prepares the heart of those that God has called to him. But so many people opposed to Christianity in general still accept the life and/or teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Some deny the existance of God. Even those that accept that creation had a Creator deny His power, or benevolance, or presence. As for the Holy Spirit, He is largely ignored. The supernatural gifts of the Spirit; healing, speaking in tongues, prophecy; are typically dismissed as the lunatic fringe even by many professing faith in Jesus.

So why do I keep encountering people, online or in writings, that accept Jesus but reject Christ? They argue that He was a great teacher, but misunderstood, and only human. Why do these critic raise their existential cross-hairs on the Father and the Spirit, and not the third member of the Trinity?

Mark chapter 1 makes reference to the fact that the demons knew Jesus. Makes me wonder...

The Soundtrack of my Life - The First 33 Years

Long Distance Love Affair - Sheena Easton
Pity the Child - Chess Cast
Big Man's Hat - Charlie Peacock
Wonderful - Everclear
Tell Her About It - Billy Joel
Oppurtunities - Pet Shop Boys
Bargain - Rez
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette
32 Footsteps - They Might Be Giants
Learning how to Smile - Everclear
The Lust, the Eyes, the Flesh, and the Pride of Life - 77's
My Mind Played a Trick on Me - Charlie Peacock
Bonus Track - Psalm 51 - Charlie Peacock

OK, fine. Enjoy this while you can because it's coming down in a few days.

http://www.myheritage.com

Overheard in the Charlebois household...

(Newsboys "Your Love is Better than Life" is playing while Dad does dishes)
Youngest Child (age 7): "Is he saying that love is better than life?!?"
Middle Child (age 9): "He's talking about the love of God."
YC: "Oh, OK."

God bless children. He certainly blessed us when He gave them to us.

Grrrr. People.

So I taking the bus to work today. For me, that entails about a 15 minutes layover in downtown Minneapolis. Now, there's a guy that I often see on the leg from Mpls to St. Louis Park; he gets off at the same stop that I do and he always has his bike. Even today. In the snow. And -8 degrees Farenheit. We start chatting. He complains that it took him an hour to get to Mpls from Lakeville. "Oh, Lakeville, eh? Which bus do you take?" "The 477." "Really, I thought that started at the Apple Valley Transit Station." "It does, I live several blocks south of the Apple Valley Transit Station, on the other side of the Apple Valley/Lakeville border."

Now I live about a half mile west of the Apple Valley Transit Station. So two complete strangers discover that they live about 2 miles apart and work about a half mile apart, despite the fact that work and home are about 30 miles apart.

But that's not the reason for the above-mentioned Grrrr.

So we're talking and fail to notice that our bus has pulled up until most of the people waiting have already boarded. We jump. I go straight for the bus, while my partner in inattention has to get his bike from the rear of the shelter. Because of this, as I get on the bus, I comment that there is someone coming with a bike. However, as I say this, I look through the windshield and see that he is already placing his bike on the bike rack on the front bumper. The driver apperently thinks I'm being a smart aleck. "You think I can't see that guy. Give me some credit. I mean I'm not blind. etc etc etc." I am not able to explain my situation before my momentum carries me back to a seat. However, when we reach my stop, I make a point to get up by the door a little early so I can explain to the driver that I was only trying to help a fellow rider because I thought he would take longer than he actually did. Her response: "He's a big boy, don't you think he can take care of himself?"

The sentiment behind that statement right there is, in my mind, a major problem in our culture. As a people, we are so proud that the idea, not even that we need help or assistance, but that help is even offered is considered to be an insult to the person's ability or competence. In many cases, we have difficult accepting assistance, and because of that, we hesitate to offer it. Just about everyone wants to help each other out, but few are graciously accepting of that help. I think that this also creates a sense that help others makes the helper superior to the helped. Hence even those that do help others feel that they can't or shouldn't accept help themselves. It's just wrong.

Goal for the Day: Keep Zombie 2Pac from releasing another album.

So yesterday on my way into work, my brain was abuzz with ideas to write in my blog. It was going to be a 3 post day. But then life happened and I got nothing in. Nada, zip, zilch. And then I forgot it. We need a "Brain Blogger". It would just pluck thoughts from my head and post them for the world to see. OK, maybe that would be a bad idea.

One thing that I did remember I wanted to post about is poetry. I was at the gas station yesterday morning and I go up to pay. First I have to pull out my Speed Rewards card. But then, due to the layout of my wallet, I need to flip it around and open the flap before I can remove my cash card. While doing this I idly say "Let me extricate this from it's leathery tomb." For some reason I got the strangest look from the cashier.

My point is that poetry is unique to the human creature. Animals can learn to interpret certain sounds with certain events. You should see our dog jump whenever anyone mentions the word "treat". But they cannot see deeper than that. Humans can reason by analogy. They routinely substitute one thing for another. The words on this page are just glowing electrons on a screen. It is the ability to see meaning in arbitrariness that allows a person to understand it.

Without this iniate ability, we could never understand the purpose of Jesus on Earth. He is the ultimate analogy, in meaning and in truth. He substituted Himself for us. Whenever I stop to think about it, I find it evermore amazing.