I will.

If You tell me to put myself in harm’s way,

I will

If You tell me to forsake everything, for Your sake,

I will.

The love and trust I desire, can only be found in You.

Be that Love for me.

Even if things don’t work out the way I want,

I trust You.

Purely.

Unadultered.

Unrestrained.

Your Love Inspires.

1.) Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes

2.) Jon Foreman – Spring/Summer

3.) Copeland – You Are My Sunshine

4.) My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges

5.) Coldplay – Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends

6.) Destroyer – Trouble in Dreams

7.) Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling

8.) Beck – Odelay (Deluxe reissue)

9.) No Age – Nouns

10.) Beach House – Devotion

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Radiohead – In Rainbows (techincally the cd release date was Jan.1, altought it was released digitally Oct. 10th of last year)

Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV (not so much for the music, but in terms of how it was released.  Much improved over the “In Rainbows” model before it and set the stage for Sigur Ros to do the same thing with their album)

Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook (yes, just the song.  not the album)

Bon Iver – For Emma, For Ever: I just picked this album up a few weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since.  If I had gotten it a lot sooner, I’m sure it would’ve made the top 10.

OTHER TOP 10′s: Please visit these other sites for a few friends’ take on their top releases of 2008.

Deborah Adams @ Chasingghost.blogspot.com

Gabriel Adams @gabrieladams.wordpress.com

Matthew Civis @ theciv.wordpress.com

Thomas Green @ xanga.com/trogtom

We didn’t choose to exist, but none the less here we are living in a time called America. The stories of the past involving family, friends, authors, presidents, leaders, nations, militaries, poets, prophets, activists, the poor, the rich etc.  have all seeped to in form our beings shaping our uniqueness. Like one of my favorite rappers manchild says, “all  I am is collection of souls that God has used to touch me.” We live this mysterious life in some sort of connection to our surroundings figuring out how to relate to ourselves, to society, to nature, and to God. The journey  of experiencing these relational dynamics is what I wish to humbly share with the rest of this paper space.

My first confession; I’m enamored with the Jesus story. Nothing is as beautiful to my soul than the peculiar Galilean Godman’s  teaching, healing, then laying down his life for the redemption of the universe. And up until recently I have been contently living with a dichotomy keeping spirituality and politics nice and tidy in separate spheres. But after being influenced from learning about Jesus’ and the early churches context in the Roman empire, the radical reformation strand of church history, and current grass roots movements of Jesus following,  I’m slowly realizing that an authentic faith in the historical Jesus is political in every sense of the word.

To paint a broad stroke of politics, it is simply how we relate to the world we live in. Anything that involves humans living together purposefully is political. Politics is a word to encompass all of our various relational dynamics in the world not just how we legislate issues . So we are all political simply in how we interact with society. So in whoever or whatever one puts their faith in, or pledges allegiance, or deems worthy of authority to is how they are political in the world in which we live. Consider the politics of the following people:

A law abiding citizen pledges allegiance to their nation. An Anarchist would pledge allegiance to autonomy of the self. A communist pledges allegiance to the formation of egalitarian, classless society and the powers that institute such movement. A Christian or a Christarchist if you will, would pledge allegiance to Jesus and his Kingdom.

A what? A Christarchist? What in the crap is that? A cute word to make Christians sound cool?

On the contrary I think that Christarchy properly understood would serve to enhance the call of Christian which is to love as Jesus loved.  Breaking down the portmanteau we trace archy to its Greek origins meaning ‘priority’, ‘primacy’, ‘primordial’. Archy identifies any principle of governance claiming to be of primal value for society. Christ would refer to the person of Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah to those who put their trust in Him. Christarchy means a politic where Jesus is the ultimate value.

Oh great,  you’re seeking to shove your religious political agenda on society. They already tried that it was called Christendom don’t you read history?

There is a different definition of political power that has radically differentiates Christarchy from domineering Christendom that has done so much horrific damage in the past. Christendom was based on a power struggle that was cloaked with religious language but wasn’t rooted in Jesus’ teachings.  A Christarchist, such as myself humbly asks for forgivness for this misrepresentation of our Lord, and we’ll re-define power by the sacrificial nature of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is power revealed in Jesus’ life and politics that power can come from serving under and bring love that transforms the heart of humans. Not the power over dominance struggle of empires and nations. More than anything Christarchy is new word to convey an ancient political message of new way to live in the world we find ourselves. In my short stint of  1424 weeks of life on the planet I have found no better news than this invitation into participation in this upside down kingdom of Jesus.

If you have read this far, I want to say thanks for hearing me out. I write this bit on Christarchy to convey a message that burns in my being; we are radically loved by a living God and seeking him is dangerous because it’ll mess up your life and politics. I’m not here to say my point of view is better than yours, I just want to expose and offer this exciting way of being. Peace and blessings!

“Sunday”

Day by Day

and in Every Way

Be My Strength

Seeing How I have none…

Taken while driving around with a friend in Port Orchards, WA.

“I’m dropping out of Bible college.”

We had just spoke about the subject the week prior, and had discussed the importance of finishing what you’ve started and all that other stuff that sounds right to say.  Startled, I asked him why he changed his mind so suddenly.

He went on to tell me that it wasn’t making him happy, and he wanted to do something that HE WANTED to do, not something he felt HE SHOULD do.  And that statement floored me.  So often I just end up in the Christian routine of doing things I should do because I feel like I’m supposed to and that’s what God wants.  But He has put desires in our hearts for a reason, and it would be wrong of us to forsake those desires out of some misguided sense of religiousity.  So if there is something in your heart that excites you, pursue that!  It is the very seeds of something divine planted in your heart from before you were made.

-John Milton

Thought: I love this quote….too many cats–mostly fellow Christ-followers–shy away from voicing their opinions/perspectives….even those views that often times are can be influenced by the HOLY SPIRIT…fighting in iraq, abortion, pacifism, politics, sports, ecclesiology, the WORD, relationships, etc….”well i don’t think my opinions are right or that they mean much”, u might say….of course u think they’re right–that’s why u believe them…if they were wrong, u’d believe a different perspective than the one u have adopted…and if u think ur views don’t matter, wikipedia our Founding Fathers, or Martin Luther, or FDR, or Adolf Hitler, or Thomas Edison, or Lincoln, or MLK, or the Unabomber and see if their perspectives didn’t matter…or try asking your parents, who were of the opinion that having kids and starting a family was a good idea …speak out!…say what u think, and think before u say…another quote to end this ish: “speak your mind, even if your voice shakes” –Maggie Kuhn…amen to that!….thanks Maggie

brother,

friend.

As the words poured from my heart,

one sentence stopped them all!

“can you pray for me?”

Brother.

yes.  I can.

I pray the richest blessing of all

a house full of love

and a heart full of encouragement

two halves of a whole

we are

apart

but not far.