Cold Coffee

Even the best things don’t last. Think about food for a moment. What’s your favorite thing to eat? Whatever it is, even if it is prepared by a master chef, give it just a few hours of sitting on the plate and its going to go cold and probably taste bad.

I’m a huge coffee drinker. So much so that I drink it black. No cream, no sugar. Black. It’s not as bad as you think. This way I can really taste the coffee, not the additives. And boy have I had some good coffee. And in my opinion it is best when served hot, not piping, but hot just after it has cooled itself a little from out of the pot. That’s when its fresh and you can taste the best points of it. But the fact of the matter is that every cup of coffee goes cold eventually. Or, you drink it until the last drop and its gone.

I’m really just noticing the transience of life and how so many good things don’t last. Love is about the only thing that lasts, or can last, but as most people know, love can be a treacherous road, and it can surely fade and disappear.

I’m gonna wrap this up quickly, so stick with me. The only thing I have ever found to be ever present in my life is grace. And not human grace either. Human grace is fallible and at best is only momentary, test it enough and it will fail. No, I’m talking about God’s grace. If you believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God (meaning it is 100% true and absolutely nothing can be taken from it without unraveling the rest of it) then you see that the entirety of the scripture is all about God’s grace. Man has failed despite our best effort, but God is big enough and loves us enough that he is trying to redeem us. Many think God is a judge and he is not. He is a father. A father is just, but he loves first.

So, when you drink a cup of coffee and it seems lukewarm, or a cold slice of pizza that has only moments of its former glorious taste, you might notice like I do sometimes that life is transient and that nothing seems to last. But if you get to that point, test the grace of God the father. There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing you’re loved without condition and that grace is yours even when you don’t know it or ask for it.

I Am Where?

I wrote a song once.

See, that’s what I do. That’s how I process the world. Through music. I also process through writing. Basically, I create. I don’t understand when it started in me or why, I just know that it’s how I do things, and that it’s always been that way.

Now, I’m starting a blog. I’ve tried this before and tried to make it about specific things but that didn’t work, and here I am again giving it another go based off of inspiration from others who have their own blogs. And I know exactly what this one has to be about: everything. Because I sometimes feel like I’m everywhere, all over the metaphorical map. I’m in a band as a singer/ songwriter/ guitar player. I have been a drummer for about 15 years. I am a writer, a sports fan, and a husband who loves his wife very much. All of these things could carry their own blog, sure, but this one is about all of it.

The song I once wrote is called “I Am Here.” It’s partially about being present in daily life, not living with your mind and heart in the future, and the transience of it all. But the key line of the chorus is “I am here… don’t forget.” In it I’m talking to the place or person I am with/at at the time of my noticing where I am. For instance, one chorus says “I am here because you’ve always been my home. I am here, don’t give up on me yet. I may leave you come tomorrow, but tonight I’ll rest my head. I am here, Carolina, don’t forget.”

The whole “don’t forget” thing really is the kicker for me. It’s the most vulnerable part of the song for me, the writer, the narrator. Asking a land or place to not forget about me might seem a little strange, but I wanted to speak to my desire to remind not only myself of my presence and relevance but also the place where I was. It is an apology. Because I sometimes feel like I’ve got so much ahead of me that what’s right in front of me I’m missing out on, and I’m neglecting my what is a blessing right in front of me. Our present days are just as much of a blessing, if not more so, than what is on the horizon. After all, we aren’t promised tomorrow.

Which brings me to another facet of my life. It’s probably the most important. I am a son of God. I am not a religious person, and I am not the box some people place what they view a Christian as. No, I am son to a heavenly Father to whom I have inherited all the blessings he has according to his riches in glory, all through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I believe that. As C.S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity like I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

There’s another song, not written by me, but it is one of my favorites of all time. It’s that one song I’d go to a deserted island with if I could only take one. It’s by 311 and its called “Running.” The best line of the song comes in the chorus and it says “Living is a journey- waking, believing, running.”

 So, this blog is an attempt to recognize where I am on my journey of life. That sounds like a tall order, but I don’t expect it to have some cultural shifting impact. It’s my understanding of who I am, where I am, and why I am. I do hope it will allow whoever may read it to be blessed or that it will raise questions that will lead to blessing. But I’m not going to try to focus on the weight of that. It’s out of my hands anyway. Besides that’s somewhere in the future. Right now, I am here.