i had plans for tuesday. i was going to get to work at 7:30, go to the park on my lunch break and read for a bit. then i was going to get off work at 4, go to the library, fill my car with gas, get my hair cut, meet my roommates for pizza, then go see our friends cori, erin, and sam sing at the village pub in east nashville. as i was rounding the corner to get to the office parking lot, my transmission failed. as a result, my day turned out quite different. i spent my lunch break paying a towing charge, left work at 4:30, deanna and i picked her kid up from daycare, and then i took her car and got home at 6, just in time to eat cereal for dinner and then i did end up going to village pub.
sometimes plans change. sometimes things happen that are beyond our control. but there is one thing that is in our control, and that is how we react to life. for example, in this situation, i can be angry that my car isn't working. or i can choose to remember that god is in control and that it's much better that way, and i can choose to live in that peace. and i can thank him for my struggles, for the reminder that he is sovereign, i can choose to trust in him to work this situation out, and i can choose to write in run-on sentences.
the city comes alive this time of year. as temperatures and daffodils rise, people come out of hibernation and start filling the parks with blankets and kites. we're officially two days into spring, but here in nashville it's been spring-like for a couple of weeks now. every year i can't help but think of how the changing of seasons in nature seem to always reflect the changes of seasons in life. there are changes i've talked about making in the past, and i'm finally starting to make the right decisions to see those changes take root. i'm hoping they will begin to blossom.
i sat in the orange chair in what we called "the upper room". looking out the window, i found myself mesmerized by the slow and steady falling snow. flakes bigger than i have ever seen before, which is saying something having spent all of my 18 years in michigan. i knew this place was special, a holy ground of sorts. a place where my soul felt free, felt peace. a peace i have felt in no other place. i didn't know what the future would hold, what adventures lay beyond my high school years.
five years later i returned to that room. a room which had previously represented peace now brought confusion. i sat in that orange chair again and poured my heart out on paper. the snowflakes replaced by raindrops, a relief from the heat of the august afternoon. everything i thought i had been working towards was falling apart. or so it seemed. i know now that it was a gift. protecting me from a future i didn't know i didn't want.
another five years has come and gone. i haven't seen that orange chair since. i long for it though. for the familiarity. for it's comfort. even in the confusion that room brought comfort. physically of course, but mostly emotionally. i often wonder if i will ever return to that place. but then i'm reminded it's not the room that matters. it never has mattered. what made that room so special was the community surrounding me. the great cloud of witnesses along my path, helping me to fight my battles.
and then i remember i still have that community. the face are different, as are the stories behind them. but an evolving story needs evolving and changing characters. new faces with new stories to help fight new battles in new places. here's to the next five years.
(10 points to anyone who gets the reference in my title)
anyway. my birthday was last week and as a result i have received a lot of new music, and i want to share some of it with you. some of these are just new-to-me, while some are new-to-all. enjoy.
the civil wars you may be familiar with the civil wars, you may not be. i first saw them open for another nashville musician a year or so ago when they just started as a duo. they were recently on leno performing their new single "barton hollow" and their debut album, out a week or two ago, was the #1 album on itunes for the whole week.
nick flora my roommate is a good friend of nick's and she sang bgv's on his newest album, "hello stranger". quirky and charming, i highly recommend you get this record. here's a little promo video he did for it:
patrick watson somehow i ended up with one of his songs on my itunes. i have no idea how; i'm guessing it was part of a compilation or free download somewhere. anyway, i liked the song so when my brother gave me an itunes gift card, i purchased the whole album.
trent dabbs if you don't know trent's music, then that needs to change. now. he just released a new album called "southerner" and i can't get enough of it. here's his first single off the record:
the head and the heart my friend taylor told me about this band awhile back, but i never got around to listening to them until last week. i bought the album on a whim and i'm addicted. here's a live version of the first two tracks:
stacy lantz i have the privilege of calling stacy my friend and my roommate, and this past week she put a few new songs up on youtube. take a listen then go get her album on itunes. (note: if you search for her around youtube, don't get her confused with stacey lantz. not the same person. definitely not the same talent.)
"we look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunders of god's power (the fact that we are dejected proves that we do), and we never dream that all the time god is in the commonplace things and people around us. if we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see him. one of the most amazing revelations of god comes when we learn that it is in the commonplace things that the deity of jesus christ is realized."
pardon the britney reference. jen has been harping on me to blog again. so. here i am. i'm back.
maybe i'll blame my lack of blogging in february on the fact that i had visitors for 9 out of the 28 days. and then i did blog for 5 of the days, so together that accounts for half the month. the other half i was living life as i always do. nothing significant to report, which probably is the true explanation for my lack of anything to say.
