renew

There's a gift on the way. Tonight. The promise of Perfection. To inhabit, to refresh, to encourage, to empower and to love. I want You. I want to be like You. I want Your boldness and Your tenderness equally. Do a new thing, as You have promised. This is Your desire; we will be filled with the miraculous to enjoy signs and wonders in our day.

Lord, I have heard of Your fame, I stand in awe of Your deeds. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. H. 3

the now

One thing leads to another. My choices today gradually transform themselves into the reality of my tomorrow. I've therefore decided to underscore the now and feast unreservedly on today. I've decided to paint more, read more, dream more. I'm spending more time in the city and less time in my car. My life today will begin to look exactly like the life I'm designing in my mind. One thing leads to another. I can't be found unprepared and without the stamina and power vital for promotion.

"When God gives you a sense of purpose, you are ruined for anything else. - BCH

the infamous she

I see a woman. Completely pristine in her presentation. Bold but controlled. Savvy and beyond talented. She knows her craft better than anyone. Her execution is clear and concise. A staple. She is her company's accessory. Her world is design and creativity. Windows. Studios. Galleries. Apartments and Brownstones. Lunch downtown with a client. Domestic flights and international. Paris and Rome quite frequently. Her eye is worth millions.

Kingdom attraction

Hello, love. Been thinking about this all week: most Christians believe enough to get salvation, but not enough to see the Kingdom. I remember the first time I ever heard about "the Kingdom" in a sermon. This man was saying we've got it all wrong when we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We should be preaching what Jesus preached and that was the Gospel of the Kingdom. I feel like the Ethiopian man trying to understand the Scriptures when Philip came along. "How can I understand unless I have a teacher?" he said. Who teaches this stuff? Why are so many Christians in the dark about what Kingdom living is? At some point, I don't want to have to refer to a book on the subject. I want to be an expert.

SDH.

released

I've never felt more confident, more comfortable. I'm relaxed and light as air. I'm completely at rest and I feel completely empowered. No need to make excuses or offer any explanations. I'm at last released. The burden and weight of who I'm created to be is a great delight.

feast

May I continually feast on the food before me. Subsequent dinners will be here soon enough. I fully intend to sample the delicacies of this town and these people while I remain at this table. My satisfaction here flavors what I'll taste there. There is so much joy in these moments.

hillsong stateside

I'm so hungry for this.

living for the city

One thing I've found to be true: always keep focus on the vision, and never be persuaded by the collective masses. You'll find us in the city.

my hunger

There's so much more beyond what's visable. There exists a realm that holds more than anything imaginiable. I am not referring to another world, not even Heaven. I'm talking about the realm we're in right here and right now. If we could open our eyes to see that the Kingdom has already come, we wouldn't waste our time on the inferior. I don't want to just know about this Superior realm, I want to experience the Superior. I don't want to invest my money in things. I want to invest it in people. I want to see people trained in their talents to minister the Truth. We need to get out of the church and plant ourselves in the epicenter of our culture. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, the release of the prisoners from darkenss, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The mandate is clear. The way we do that is up to us. If not, we're only serving ourselves - hoping the world will join us where we feel most comfortable. Because if you're satisfied by what you currently see, a new appetite awaits.

arsenal

Everything we have, anything we've got
it was given babe, it was given babe.
Ain't a thing we need that Heaven forgot
it was given babe, it was given babe.

my posture

In the not too distant past I couldn't wait to leave Washington. I had grown tired of the same square buildings, the same metro ride, the same emphasis on intellect over emotion. I blamed the District for my creative starvation and subsequent malnutrition. But she is what she is. It's not her problem, it's mine. She lives too deep in the past for my taste and moves at too slow of a pace. I suppose I'm a bigger advocate of the future and I enjoy progress and forward movement. So what used to be my problem with Washington has become an issue with me. I've grown as large as this atmosphere has allowed, but it's no longer with angst that I wind this part of my history down. I'm at complete rest. I'm so ready for a new level, a new perspective, a new environment.

My posture is still People. Cities. Nations.

my course

I'm seeking a new sophistication. In life, in love, in art, in speech, in deed. I will be what I want to become. I will taste before I see.

I'm seeking fresh stimuli. In style, in conversation, in sophistication. I will become what I'm exposed to, and what exposes itself to me will also become altered. My better version is always available.

I'm seeking a radical environment. In worship. In home, in work, in space, in movement. I will become a fixture where I am placed, and become an embodiment of authority as I grasp the Keys that only belong to me.

I'm not fleeing imperfection. I'm merely staying my own course. My vision is set on the urban, the creative, the Kingdom.

pink

mr. wooden

I'm on a rampage of following Jesus without reservation and without compromise. I'm struck with the awesome thought that God wants us to rule and reign in our areas of expertise where He has designated us to sing to Him. My thoughts are on Mr. John Wooden today, a man so noted for his leadership at UCLA as a college basketball coach.

It's no coincidence that he never had a losing season in 29 years as a head coach, had 4 undefeated seasons, 16 Final Four appearances (9 straight) and 21 Final Four wins, 10 NCAA Championships (7 straight), NCAA-record 88-game winning streak from 1971-74, 38-game NCAA Tournament winning streak from 1964-74, first person enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach, and authored several books on basketball, coaching, life and leadership. He lived by his Seven-Point Creed: be true to yourself, make each day your masterpiece, help others, drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible, make friendship a fine art, build a shelter against a rainy day, and pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

"I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior."

"If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me."

I love that he's from Indiana and a Purdue graduate, that he's made famous the name of Jesus and has inspired so many well-bred athletes on to greatness. Can you imagine how Heaven sings over his life? This is what it's all about! I'm praying that God will raise up a new generation of worshippers who will live their lives with this degree of integrity that the whole world sees its good deeds and will praise its Father in Heaven.

our Story

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Revelation 12:11

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. Revelation 6:9

rerouted

I've stopped at different places along the road thinking I had arrived at my destination. I wondered why my plans didn't work out, if I had done something wrong, if I was unworthy of a certain venture, if I wasn't smart enough, savvy enough, brave enough. But as silly as this might sound, every time I watch The City I come back to the overwhelming conclusion that I was completely destined to bypass the fashion community, not by avoiding it altogether, but by coming in through a different door than I expected. I was never meant, as hard as I tried, to work my way up the unforgiving and thankless fashion chain. I've pursued many angles of fashion and come back to the simplest of them all: to be fashionable and to live a fashionable life. These are my current coordinates on the map of my desires. If I had stopped too soon, I would have been robbed of the larger picture, the fuller realization of my calling. Being rerouted has been alarming and confusing. But when I consider the smallness of my earlier dreams, I begin to see the vastness of His. I can never fathom them all. My dreams will never compare and they will never be enough. What I'll do doesn't matter half as much as the promise that I will.

one month

We've been married one month. I don't sense a beginning or an end. It feels like we've always been. The days have been rich with togetherness and many laughs.