When the world welcomes us in,
We’re closer to Heaven than we’ll ever know.
They say this place has changed,
But strip away all of the technology
And you will see
That we all are hunters,
Hunting for something that will make us okay.

Here we lay alone in hospital beds,
Tracing life in our heads;
But all that is left
Is that this was our entrance and now it’s our exit,
As we find our way home.

All the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved
Follows us into our end,
Where we begin to understand

That we are made of love,
And all the beauty stemming from it.
We are made of love,
And every fracture caused by the lack of it.

“You were a million years of work,”
Said God and His angels, with needle and thread.
They kissed your head and said,
“You’re a good kid and you make us proud.
So just give your best and the rest will come,
And we’ll see you soon.”

All the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved
Follows us into our end,
Where we begin to understand

That maybe Hollywood was right:
When the credits have rolled and the tears have dried,
The answers that we have been dying to find
Are all pieced together and, somehow,
Made perfectly mine.

We are made of love,
And all the beauty stemming from it.
We are made of love,
And every fracture caused by the lack of love
-Ryan O'Neal

Green and Gray

I'm in a room full of people, hanging on one person's breath.
We would all vote him most likely to be loved to death.
I hope he still wants it, but it might remind him of when,
he aimed for the bulls eye and hit it nine times out of ten.
That one time his hand slipped, and I saw the dart sail away.
I don't know where it landed, but I'm guessing between green and gray.
We thought nothing of it, but it still haunts him like a ghost.
With all eyes upon him, except two that matter the most.

He says "Green is the color everyone sees al around me.
Gray is the color I see around her, and she's just a blur."
The more the crowd cheers, the less I can hear
and they don't really care what I play. It might be for her.
But for now it's between green and gray.

We paid and we cheered. Now we're gone and to us that feels right.
But for him every one of those evenings turns into a night.
With another hotel room where he lays awake to pretend
that he's doing fine with his notebook and discman for friends.

He says "Green is the color everyone sees all around me.
Gray is the color I see around her, and she's just a blur."
Night after night what I hear, what I write fills the room
and my head starts to sway. It might be for her,
but for now it's between green and gray.

I want you to love me, he whispers, unable to speak.
And he wonders aloud why feelings so strong make the body so weak.
Then he awoke. Now he's scared to death somebody heard.
If it was you, and you know her, please don't say a word.

-Chris Thile

The Independent Florida Alligator: The Avenue - Local philanthropist shoots photos for charity

The Independent Florida Alligator: The Avenue - Local philanthropist shoots photos for charity

So I am not going to write a Jamaica Pt. 2. Maybe I will one day. But not now. If you are in the Gainesville area you should come to the MSB auditorium tomorrow at 8:30 to hear me speak at Campus Crusade. It will be sweet. I am speaking on Matthew 5:13-16 about salt and light. After that I will get a little sleep and then head out bright and early to Cocoa Beach to run the Twenty-eight Nineteen booth at the Easter Surf Festival at Shepherd's Park this weekend. Should be amazing.

One of my buddies got engaged today and I got to be a part of it kinda...I was the photographer. Still, a cool experience and one I hope to experience one day.

If you have not checked out the band Cocoon...you should.

Jamaica Pt. 1

I got back last night from the island of Jamaica. I slept till like 12:30 pm today if that tells you anything of what a week there did to me. I was shocked at the lack of beauty on the island. It really is a kinda ugly place. I hate to say it, but there are a few areas that border on third world. I find it astounding at what media continues to numb us to. Before last week I pictured Jamaica as a place of lush beauty and wealth from a great tourist influx. Not so much it turns out... Kingston, which is where we spent most of our time is very, very poor. People sleeping in what would be condemned by local governments in America are common sleeping ground for most. Even those who have money have to build large concrete walls around their homes to protect them. It is crazy that even though many of the Jamaicans who dislike Americans do so justly...they have never seen the wealth in which we live. Let me be clear that I am not preaching some poverty gospel so as to make you think we should all go abandon our $300,000 homes and live in cardboard boxes. I am however a big believer in giving accurate pictures of how people really live so we can respond appropriately. Just as my compassion grew for the Jamaicans when I saw their conditions (however right or wrong this mind-shift may have been); I can't help but wonder if the Jamaican's view of us would change upon visiting us for the better or worse...or at all.

All that being said...if you ever go to Jamaica make sure you stock up on Blue Mountain Coffee, Cuban cigars, and festivals (rolls that taste like funnel cake without the powdered sugar.

Part 2 tomorrow...

Jamaica for a week!

I am heading down to the island of Jamaica for a week tomorrow. I am leading a team of college students with Campus Crusade down there for a week of ministry on the campus of the University of the West Indies in Kingston. Please be praying for our team while we are there that we would bear much fruit.

Know that I will not have phone or e-mail for a week so I will get back to any of you that contact me on March 14th once I am back in sunny Florida.

Oh ya...the sale for this month starting on the 19th is going to be absolutely crazy. You won't want to miss it. But it is a secret until then. Join the Facebook group so I can let you know when the sale starts: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7670987596

T-shirt payment finally on the website!!!

You can now buy T-shirts directly from the website!!! Check it out.

http://twentyeightnineteen.smugmug.com/gallery/4368129_PxMFe

Back to training...

So I was supposed to have surgery this week and now I do not have to after my pre-op CT scan of my sinuses was, by the grace of God, clear. Miraculous after being in a pretty bad state a month ago. I had been putting my training (distance running for those of you who don't know me) on a very mild schedule because I would need a solid 3 weeks off after surgery to heal before running again. However, now that no surgery is needed I am free to pick back up. I am looking foward to putting in 40 mile weeks again and getting some good racing in. Good stuff. Praise be to God. I feel more myself again.

And I'm back to it

Well I just posted a link to this blog on the webpage which I suppose means I need to update it regularly for all of you out there in cyberspace (that's such an old-fashioned word now isn't it?). Let me fill you in on some exciting Twenty-eight Nineteen news and such. We are so thankful for what the Lord is doing in our midst. The response from ya'll has been amazing over the past month. Our Facebook group has grown three-fold and our hits doubled last month alone (I suppose the two are related). We have a video on YouTube, we have some newspaper articles coming out, we are working with some major companies on easter weekend in cocoa beach at the Easter Surf Festival run by Ron Jon Surf Shop. We will have a booth there where we will sell some framed and unframed pieces, t-shirts, as well as a new product we will be releasing that weekend - clocks.

Needless to say, the Lord is at work in raising lots of money through our efforts and your buying of stuff from us. Thanks for co-laboring with us in bringing the Gospel to the world!

We have $10 RED and BLACK shirts available. Please e-mail us at twentyeightnineteen@gmail.com to order yours. They are pretty amazing.

Check back here often for updates on my life and musings on it. I will try to update this every few days. Have a great day!