The House of Hunt

And the dance continues. Rock on Wildcats. Rock on.

One of the biggest things I struggle with as a writer slash musician (or musician slash writer) is carving out the space and time to create. I get ideas rolling, but working them out to fruition is another matter. Case in point: I have some lyrics that I wrote based on some of what we’ve been learning at Renovatus and I’m excited about it, but I haven’t done much to finish the song. So I’m posting the words here as motivation for me to move my sorry ass into action. Enjoy…

Bread Alone

A voice cries out in the wilderness
Where will I seek You?
How will I find You?
I will wait for You

A heart calls out in the wilderness
Though my body faints
Though my mind fails
My soul will long for you

Chorus:
I will not call this bread from stone
I will not live by bread alone

Let me hear Your voice
Let me know Your heart
Burn my idols down
Flood my legion out

Bridge:
My guts scream out in hunger
Skin blisters in the blinding wing
Sand whips my eyes open sore
Feet crack and wound, bleeding more

Final Chorus:
We will not call this bread from stone
We will not live by bread alone
We will not climb the ancient throne
We will not live by bread alone

The less said, the better.

Trick R’ Treat!

The second part of my series on spiritual disciplines is now up at BillyGraham.org. This one deals with the question of fasting. For the Renovatus faithful, this won’t necessarily be anything new, but I spent some time wrestling anew with the concept of fasting and why we should be doing it. It’s definitely been convicting and stretching to write these pieces, as I’m constantly forced to acknowledge how far short I’m falling in my own walk. But I guess that intersection of my failure and God’s love is where the disciplines and grace meet. We’ll see…

This is a thing of beauty and poetry in motion. Given all the manly grab-assing that occurs on Sundays, I think some of my comrades at Renovatus could use these helpful hints.

Oh Craigslist. Is there anything you can’t do? The ever-luminous and observant Teddy Hart sent me this story and it’s simply too good not to mention. You can read the whole thing at the link above or you can read my CliffNotes-certified version right here…

Basically some poor guy in Oregon got most of his belongings jacked thanks to someone posting a fake ad on Craigslist. It alleged that all of his property had been seized by the local police and that everything was free for the taking. Unbelievable. Even crazier is the fact that he saw people speeding away from his house as he drove up (after being notified of weird goings-ons by a concerned neighbor).

I don’t know how the man refrained from resorting to violence. I know if I saw someone driving off with my crap in the back of their truck that I would probably end up getting arrested for extreme vengeance with a baseball bat and a crowbar. Or possibly with a machete. Assuming that it wasn’t already in someone’s trunk.

I think so.

As most of my regular visitors know, The House of Hunt is usually the place for random hilarity, rapist’s wit, and other sundry nonsense. But today I have the pleasure of directing the attention to something a little more worthwhile. Jonathan’s sermons at Renovatus have really been challenging me lately, causing me to dig deeper into my walk with Jesus and examine how I use my time. The concept of spiritual disciplines in particular have given me a lot to chew on, whether it’s figuring out how to fast or setting aside time alone with God (something that continues to be a real struggle for me).

Combine that with my work as a writer/editor at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and you’ve got some interesting crossover possibilities. And that’s exactly what happened at the beginning of this week. My senior editor asked me a week or so ago about article ideas for the main BG site…and I immediately thought about what I’ve been learning. I pitched the idea of doing a four-part series on spiritual disciplines and got Jonathan’s input and blessing on it (given that a lot of what I’m talking about comes straight from his sermons). My editor loved the concept and the first article was posted on Monday. You can check it out either on the BG homepage (it’s article No. 3) or you can hit it up directly here.

I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve gotten some good feedback so far, but I’m especially pumped about the opportunity to actually write something that will hopefully be encouraging to the readers of the BG site. I love making people laugh (this blog should be ample proof of that), but I also love challenging the status quo and making folks think. Now to be sure, I don’t think that the ideas expressed in my piece are especially revolutionary or groundbreaking. But they are simple truths. And I think that the simplicity of our walk with God is what is most compelling and earthshaking about Christianity.

So there you go! Class, what have we learned today? Jeremy wrote a new article. Yay. Go read it and let him know your honest thoughts. Just make sure that your honesty is pure, unadulterated praise. And massive props to Jonathan Martin to being such a kickass friend, brother, mentor and pastor.

Oh hot damn. You know who that is? You should. Because in exactly a year from now, this man and his compatriots are going to be kickin’ your ever-lovin’ ass all over the movie theatre. That’s The Comedian, from Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen, one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Monsieur Snyder was good enough to post new images of some of the main characters from the film over on his production blog. Go there now to check out shots of The Comedian, Rorschach, Ozymandias, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre II.

So far, everything I’ve seen and heard about this project fills me with great hope (including the image that’s been in the header of this here blog over the past few months). I thought Snyder’s version of 300 was terrific and quite faithful to the source material. Of course, Watchmen is like the Encyclopedia Brittanica compared to the pamphlet that is 300 when it comes to how much stuff to cram into a 2-3 hour movie. Only time will tell how well Snyder will navigate the plot. Thus far it seems like he’s got the look, feel, and atmosphere of the novel nailed. It’s time to hurry up and wait to see how he handles the story itself.