finding...

Finding beauty - God is good at this.  God is the master of looking beyond our failures and short-comings to discover something beautiful.  One night while I was hanging out with a few friends, someone brought up a passage in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 4:5.  Here it is.  "Therefore, do not go on passing judgement before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God."  (here's the whole chapter if you want to check it out 1 Cor. 4). 

I was nervous, maybe even panicked, as I listened to this verse read out loud for the first time.  Oh no, God will bring to light everything in my life?  The things hidden in darkness and the motives of my heart?  Then what?  When He is done exposing and scrutinizing every aspect of who I am, what then?  And then I heard it, each person's praise will come from God.  Praise?  God will be pleased?  If this isn't good news, I don't know what is.   Somehow He finds something in me that is of value, something worthy of praise, even after seeing all of my hidden motives and secret thoughts?

Let this marinate for a moment: our praise will come from God.  He wades through anything we may have tried to hide.  He uncovers our true motives.  And then He praises us.  He is pleased with us.  He sees it all; the messiness and shame and brokenness and pain.  But He isn't afraid of that stuff.  He sees these things and still chooses to praise us, as any good father would.

Now, look outward...

Imagine it, what if each one of us decided to follow after God in this way?  We would engage the messiness and shame and brokenness and pain that is present in people's lives all around us; but those things won't scare us.  We would see the mess, and it will break our hearts; but that won't stop us from seeing and exposing the true beauty in people and lavishing praise and love.  Maybe Jesus had this in mind when He told us that we are lights in this world (Matt 5:14...and many other places!).  Maybe, He was hinting to us that He wants us to frequent the places that simply need a little light.  After all, just a little bit of light in a very dark place illuminates everything - beautiful things once cloaked in darkness; beautiful things that should be praised.

Much love,
-Zach

rambling...

This one is pretty raw.  I didn't do much editing; I guess it's more of a journal entry.

This morning, I studied for Elevations.  I studied stories and wrote out thoughts to discuss around a camp fire in Colorado's Front Range.  At lunch, I drove to a local park where I meet up with street kids twice a week for a running group I am starting.  No one showed.  It was pretty cold though, so I didn't mind.  Also this afternoon, I shopped for office supplies.  If there were office-related, non-marriage, equivalents to "honey-do's", that is how I spent a portion of my afternoon.  Later on I took my friend "Bob" to the bowling alley that we and our friends go to every week.  Last week he and another guy nearly got into a fight in the parking lot.  They didn't listen to my warnings and the owner of the bowling alley came out.  "I don't need this man!" he said.  The brawl continued to grow.  I told him I didn't need it either.  Finally, we got everyone relatively calmed down and back on the bus.  Over the next 5 minutes, while I talked with owner, 5 police cars rolled by one after another.  The owner banned Bob and the other kid from the bowling alley.  The next day I ran into Bob downtown and he pulled me aside and apologized for disrespecting me, Dry Bones, and the bowling spot.  I told him that I really appreciated it and that all was forgiven.  I had to tell him that the owner said he wasn't allowed to come back, but I also told him that an apology might go a long way.  We made a plan to go out there.  That happened this afternoon after the office-shopping.  He approached the owner and told him that he was sorry.  It was powerful, y'all.  Things on the streets are more often than not handled with violence.  Rarely with talking.  Bob set an example today.  He made something right and didn't use his fists.  The owner invited him to come back.  I was so proud of my friend.  The bus rolled up to the bowling alley shortly after that and we all bowled for the next couple of hours.  Spirits were high and there was no drama.  Later, after bowling, the wind outside at the meal was freezing, and I regretted shaving my winter beard.  But we all huddled around together and enjoyed being together.

Much love
-Zach

a weekend of biking

I love the sound of the whir of fully pressurized tires swiftly spinning on recently laid asphalt.  I love the feeling that accompanies the sound; it almost seems as if I am suspended, floating just millimeters from the ground that passes directly underneath me.  In those moments, I think of nothing but "pedal, shift, smile, pedal more...".

Outside Cafe 13

Courtney and I rode the foothills this weekend. We soaked up the sun, and enjoyed the incredible feeling of burning leg muscles after the winter off-season.  The views were incredible.  We made our way up through Red Rocks, winding around boulders the size of condos, and finally peaked at the top of Dinosaur ridge.  We looked east and gazed off into the plains that disappear away from the front range, as if the mountains are melting like glaciers and flowing off into nothingness.  From there, we descended the short, steep road that is closed to traffic, and continued West.  We finally stopped at a small cafe, "Cafe 13".  If you are ever in Denver, or Golden to be more specific, call us and we'll take you there.

Much love,
-Zach

the first post since 2008

Hello friends!  I realized, as I began the brainstorming process for this blog, that I had an old, rarely used blog from a few years ago.  Honestly, I had forgotten that I had it.  After reading the old posts and enjoying the nostalgia that came along with that, I decided to simply revive this one and make it new, relevant, and fresh.  I had a lot of updating to do.  So I got to work.  I cut and cropped, edited and tweaked, dusted off a few of the old posts I thought you might enjoy and deleted the others, wrote page descriptions, and updated "about me" information.  I put up a couple of pictures - because everyone loves pictures! -  including the awesome panorama at the top of the page that my wife took in Moab, UT.  Our new camera has this great feature that allows us to take shots like that!

Anyways, I finally got everything looking how I want it and I'm excited to finally share it!  When you have some time to browse around, be sure to check out the "why this blog?" article under the pages heading (located on the right hand column), the several blogs I am following, and the other links and tabs scattered around.  Please feel free to share this blog with anyone who might enjoy it...and maybe even with people who wouldn't naturally gravitate towards something like this!  I have installed options at the end of each post that will enable you to share any posts you like with your friends via e-mail, facebook, twitter, etc.  Also, you can subscribe to this blog so that every time I write something new you will be notified on your e-mail.  Look for the tab called "follow this blog by e-mail" on the right-hand column.  Just type your e-mail there and you will automatically be added to the list!  It's that easy.

I'm practicing adding links and such, so I'm going to try it here.  Instead of writing a story, I am adding a link of one of my speaking engagements from a little over a year ago.  In December of 2009, Garnett church in Tulsa, OK invited me out for a Back to Life weekend (Back to Life is a program that I head up at Dry Bones desigend to follow up with the youth groups that visit us in the summer time...more on all of this later).  We spent the weekend remembering the Elevations experience we shared over the summer, exploring the "bleeding places" of Tulsa, and serving together.  Garnett graciously allowed me to share a few words at their Sunday service, both in the high-school class and in the main assembly.  To hear the podcast, titled "What we are Learning from Dry Bones", that includes thoughts from Lance Newsom and one of the teen Elevations participants from the summer of '09, click HERE.  Thanks for checking it out!

Much love
-Zach