Friday, August 17, 2012

irrationality makes us human.

The Beauty of the Irrational from The African Attachment on Vimeo.



“And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?

It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.

I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed.”

Friday, August 10, 2012

broken record?

If you spend much time with me, you have probably heard me talk about this idea a lot.
Not to sound like a broken record, but I can't stop thinking about it tonight.
Almost 2 years ago, I posted this quote...

“He wanted his people to ‘loose the chains of injustice’ and not just go to church on Sunday. He wanted His people to ‘clothe the naked’ and not just attend midweek prayer meeting. He wanted His people to ‘spend themselves on behalf of the hungry,’ and not just sing praise music.
Personal piety and formal worship are essential to the Christian life, but they must lead to lives that ‘act justly and love mercy’ (Micah 6:8).”


And I really do like this quote, but I was questioning how to do this, act this out, in every day life.
I'll be honest...when I posted that, I knew I would be leaving for Kenya in a few months. I knew I'd be living in a place where I walk out  my front door and extreme poverty hits you in the face. A place where I would physically see injustice, or see those that needed clothes, or those that were actually really hungry.
And that's easy. Yeah, I said it.
It's much easier to "act justly and love mercy" in a land where the desperation is so evident...where people can't mask their need, their hurts, their "poverty" with fancy things.

But here I sit, in America, and Jesus still wants the same things from me. But it's hard. 
And I'm not sure I've completely figured out how to do it best. 
But I do know, the call to act, to love the unloved, to provide clothes for the poor, to feed the hungry...it's all the same.
Here, there, in a house, with a mouse...it doesn't matter.

Talk is cheap. I should talk less. Do more.

love,
t-con


Thursday, August 9, 2012

miss those faces.

Love Is Here - Africa from Check The Gate Films on Vimeo.

loving this video this morning.
watch it.
the photography is from the very talented kate magee joyce. i met her while living in kenya.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

it's this one's birthday ---> monica!

love her tons.
get to see her in 2 days!

happy birthday monica!

Monday, July 23, 2012

honky tonk.



I went to Nashville for the weekend! Got to spend time with 2 of the bees, Mallory and Ashley. 
I could brag on all my friends in every blog post, but I won't.
I am thankful x a hundred million. 
Goodnight folks!