let me tell you about poetry. Poetry is like water that slides down your neck in a rainstorm. You don't know when it will slip into your life, and you must stop and feel it find its channel down your spine. Obedience is mandatory if one is to bear the fruit of any relationship, be it between language and myself, or Jesus and myself. I must be quick to obey and slow to speak, quick to enter in fully and slow to hold back. With poetry or Jesus, if I am late or hesitant I will miss out on that particular instance, that poem, that blessing. The surest way to write poetry is to be planted in the waters, remaining where there is great fruit. Interestingly, both poetry and Jesus are all around us, so "remaining" is actully being diligent in being aware of what goes on around.

my good friend Scott Allen arrived today. It is strange and wonderful how much I missed him. It is something special to have a friend who enjoys you as much as you enjoy him. Good night.

jc

I'm going to see Miracle tonight with my wife Anne this evening, and probably I'll eat a meal before then. That sounds terrific. On a different note, I am disappointed that A-Rod is a Yankee. Not as disappointed as I was when Jason Giambi sold out the A's. There was something tremendous beginning when he left the A's. A rivalry of the coasts that to me could maybe, just maybe have matched the old Dodgers-Yankees storyline. I loved the thought of the little A's with there small payroll and big character and heart against the juggernaut of the Yanks. I love the Yanks like I love baseball, but I hate the Yanks with that same love. Giambi could have powered something great, but now he will be just one more great player who used to play against the Yanks. A-Rod? Who knows. I hope God blesses him and teaches him about the love of money, because it so far has only gotten him from the great town of Seattle to Arlington, Texas, and now New York. Those places are not important, really.

jc

jc

tonight some of our small community decided to gather and worship. I am constistently hesitant - I believe that I have some unhealthy pessimism when it comes to things like this. I worry that we might be silly or surfacy, but instead I found that God indeed delights in our small praise. I have been growing lately (what a vague phrase) - my relationship with Jesus is becoming something new and close. This seems to inevitably mean that all my relationships follow this One relationship. So when I come to worship with this group, I must be prepared to be as close and real and expectant and vulnerable with them as I am with the Lord. The fact is, they are the body of Christ, and I cannot construct a difference between my relationships with them and my relationship with Jesus. This is uncomfortable - it is more human than I desire to be, it is more Kingdom than I desire to be. What an interesting life that I am being called/dragged into. My friends here teach me, they teach individual solitary me about enjoying other's presence and learning about who others are. I hope, in faith, I will learn this.

jc

sunday afternoon. Shabbat shalom. I am not used to this medium of expression, but expression to me is the only way towards real learning and understanding. We express through our lives - at least we notice our living expression - if we know ourselves well enough. Others express through creating - stories, poems, sclutpures, songs. Bloggish expression is not much different than other repetetive and learned types of expression; it is similar to the creativity, but not the discipline of practicing piano everyday. I know not if there is a certain rhythm or sensuality to this or not, but I am curious, for many of the people involved in the community I live in love this form of expression. It tends to encourage in people a certain openness and honesty about the condition of their lives, as long as they are allowing their yes's and no's to be just that.

jc

first blog, last blog, I do not know, but I am curious. Tomorrow, I will investigate more, but tonight, sleep.

jc