Got some new glasses...
...and moved to Washington DC!
The time is approaching. Soon I’ll be back in the cold world, and this one will be a memory. This world, where life rubs up against you on every side, where everything is simple and wild and free.
Bainbridge, Chagrin Falls,
Here, I never forget that I’m alive. Majestic natural splendor rubs itself all over me, and I fit in as part of creation. But the rubbing doesn’t stop with a jellyfish or a soft sea breeze. Fallen humanity has a very obvious way of rubbing its grime all over you here. Evil is present, and it’s thick. But again, I know my role; and it is a priceless gift to be on the Victor’s side.
Soon I'll be going back. Back to where the air sure ain’t soft and society feels just as cold. I’d like to blame that on all the stupid asphalt, but I think the real problem is the mask. People there have perfected the skill of politely hiding sin and wounds and pain. Evil, too, is more hidden. And it all drives me crazy. I want to tear the polite masks off and find something real underneath.
So I’ve been asking myself: why? Why do I feel like a square peg in a round hole at “home”? And why – though I don’t really fit into Belizean culture – does it all make more sense here?
I think I know why. Good and evil feel more dramatically real here. And knowing my role in this battle, I never forget that I’m alive. I’ve never been more alive.
Twenty-four oceans
Twenty-four skies
Twenty-four failures
And twenty-four tries
Twenty-four finds me
In twenty-fourth place
With twenty-four drop outs
At the end of the day
I had listened to these words countless times, but they didn't come to
life until I heard Jon Foreman explain the circumstances under which
they were written.
There's twenty-four reasons
To admit that I'm wrong
With all my excuses
Still twenty-four strong
Written the night before his 25th birthday, these reflective lyrics are
sobering yet hopeful.
But I want to be one today
Centered and true
I'm singing "Spirit, take me up in arms with You"
You're raising the dead in me
Oh, oh I am the second man
Oh, oh I am the second man now
And you're raising the dead in me