Water-Trials. Shark-Enemy. Ladder-Choices. Helicopter-Provision. Bridge-Decisions. Mountain-Highs. Island-Life.

On the same subject...I saw this on another blog I have been following and couldn't resist adding it to my blog.

Ironic

GORE HEARING ON WARMING MAY BE PUT ON ICE
Mon Jan 26 2009 17:59:26 ET

Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the 'urgent need' to combat global warming.

But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings.

A 'Winter Storm Watch' has been posted for the nation's capitol and there is a potential for significant snow... sleet... or ice accumulations.

"I can't imagine the Democrats would want to showcase Mr. Gore and his new findings on global warming as a winter storm rages outside," a Republican lawmaker emailed the DRUDGE REPORT. "And if the ice really piles up, it will not be safe to travel."

(Source: Drudge Report 1/26/09)

Inauguration

"This half-meter resolution image of the United States Capitol, Washington D.C. was collected by the GeoEye-1 satellite on Jan. 20, 2009 to commemorate the Inauguration of President Barack Obama. The image, taken through high, whispy white clouds, shows the masses of people attending the Inaugural Celebration."

You should visit http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/gallery/detail.aspx?iid=220&gid=1 and download the high resolution image. Everyone looks like a pile of ants. Amazing...God sees every person, every ant, yet He is aware of the position of every single blade of grass, every movement of a spec of dirt. He knows every thought and guides every step simultaneously. His love abounds for the world and all of it's contents. Yea, His love can not be contained within this universe. He loved us so much that..."He gave His only begotten Son". He was crucified since the beginning of the world. God saw all that was to be and wrote the story to fulfill His glory. "He is before all things, and by him all things consist." From this view I see how insignificant we are. I can stand above an ant hill and see the same insignificance...yet we are the only part of creation created in His image. He calls us by name. What wondrous love is this...That my God would die for me? I pray then for our insignificant President, for our insignificant government, for our own insignificant efforts...but yet for our significant Church when empowered by the Spirit. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it withersoever He wills." God controls every ant. He is not amazed by an ant revolution. May our Father start a real revolution, a revolution of true love, a revolution not of this world, a revolution that shares with the world where true peace abounds. Even so, come soon King of Kings our Prince of Peace.

Letting Go

Soulful Tragedy
Plays its own melody
The tick of the bomb
The hiss of the snake
Breaks down sugar
To make a lemon cake
Heightened senses
Feel each prick
Whether from words
Or stones or a stick
See through lenses
Where you’ve created fences
Notice behind you is a door
Don’t lock it anymore
Your mind is playing tricks
Maybe you’ve seen too many flicks
Or maybe it is real
The things you feel
But no matter
The time has come
Can you hear the tick?
What’s inside you
Will make your lineage sick.
You might not let it show
But you must also let it go.
Kill the suspense
Or eventually you will see
The same fence
surround your family tree.

1/17/09
Copyright © 2009 Brian Jackson All rights reserved

I especially like short profound statements...this one says a lot.

"A friend is a gift you give yourself."

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

The Friendly Loner

Recently I have talked to friends and family that I haven't talked to for quite some time. I have been battling with the fact that I am not very friendly. I "hang out" with people whenever I good-n-well please to. My time is precious to me and I spend it how I want to. I would be totally fine with doing things on my own. I am happy to be a loner. I don't enjoy conversations. Maybe this is not so bad, because honestly aren't most conversations frivolous anyway? This may seem strange, but I marvel how some people can talk for so long. In some ways I wish I could do the same. Carrying a conversation for me is like trying to speak a sentence in Spanish class. It's all Greek to me. Being my friend is probably like having a friendship with a foreign student. Except, I don't care to understand your language. Do you have shivers up your spine yet with how cold I can be? The odd thing is...I do care. Sometimes I think my life is a paradox. I am sharing this after months of reflection. The Lord has convicted me to be more friendly. I may care on the inside, but I need to show it on the outside. "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly." "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." These verses are obviously about much more than conversations. However, I do think talking to others is part of being friendly. I have chosen within the past couple months to be a friendly person. I don't think this means the "life of the party" or a flamboyant personality. Much of it can be to just sit there and enjoy listening. I actually am starting to enjoy conversations a little bit. I am a very private person. Well, not anymore. This is one of the reasons I started a blog. If you see me around...I would love to have a conversation with you...you might need to do most of the talking though. If I ever seemed to be disinterested in the past, I apologize. That all said, my wife and children have been in Louisiana at my wife's parents now for over 2 weeks. I will pick them up from the airport in almost exactly 24 hours Lord willing. I look forward to sitting down with each one of them and having conversations. They are my best friends and it's time I show myself friendly.

Ummm.........

Whenever I write something I usually know exactly what I want the title to be.
For some reason I really struggled on what to title this poem.
Everything I thought of just didn't seem to fit or it sounded corny.
After 2 weeks of drawing a blank...I think I finally got it. Well...
maybe not. For now the title shall remain nameless. Maybe in another
2 weeks I'll think of something better...


The subtleties of your logic pull me in like gravity
The center of the universe is not your depravity
There is one true source that pulls with sincerity
All answer to its motion all are drawn by its parity

Everything revolves around its true form
None can ignore such a peaceful storm
Some will try to resist and not conform
Others will give in to fate and truly reform

All was created with this in mind
That in all things first this you will find
If you see anything without this you are blind
For this was how everything was aligned

The sun will shine and reveal its power
The moon will glow in the midnight hour
The grass will glisten after a shower
The intricacies are evident in the flower

Nothing can wash it away
It’s not short-lived it doesn’t sway
It doesn’t wilt It doesn’t decay
It’s even stronger when everything’s grey

Why then do we search beyond
Envisioning something we think we are fond
My friend we have been conned
It’s in front of us in our own pond

1/3/09
Copyright © 2009 Brian Jackson All rights reserved

In God We Trust

America the beautiful
Sublime but pitiful
Run by paper
Print more is our caper
It’s soul is green
Evidence all over the scene
Sacrifices of blood
Drug through the mud
For freedom they say
Inside lust for more play
We must be at ease
Our flesh we must please
We want more Uncle Sam
We follow like a lamb
Don’t let us have pain
Or we voted in vain
You say one billion…
Or even a trillion.
No matter the costs
It’s only our children’s loss
You must console
Take another poll
Do what it will take
For your own sake

We must remain the Superpower
Ah America, but it is your last hour
Your god you have trusted
Your pleasure have you lusted
Now it may be too late
Your worth has little weight
Based on nothing but words
To gold flock the herds
It was what we trusted
It was what we lusted
Now it’s time to pay
No more we can say
What is this god we trust?
It’s printed on the paper we lust

1/12/09
Copyright © 2009 Brian Jackson All rights reserved

Stained Glass

Up close can’t see clearly
Some glance cavalierly
But from a distance it’s beautiful.
Live inside can’t see outside
Outside can’t see in
From a distance it’s beautiful
Ah the intricate detail
Every piece unique travail
Oh but how beautiful
The attention to painstaking construction
The materials used from destruction
And yet how beautiful
For such some have poured their souls
And yes some have paid their tolls
Even so how beautiful
When it finally shatters from variable matters
Or pressure stresses it to break
Will it still be beautiful?

1/1/09
Copyright © 2009 Brian Jackson All rights reserved