a coherent collection of random statements regarding God, words and tunes

Hello, I must be going....

To recap and move forward, hopefully in more ways than one:

1) Santa Fe was cool. Some touristy stuff, to be sure, and not the cheapest area, but also a lot of neat stuff, including arguably the best meal I've ever had anywhere (run, not walk, to Cafe Pascual's). And, of course, tons of art, some of which even made it home with us. I can now safety cross Taos off the list, though (THAT was a tourist trap), as well as the Mecca of the Evangelical World (i.e., Colorado Springs), where we stopped on the way home -- Garden of the Gods was cool but the city itself was bleah. (Again, Loveland/Fort Collins -- don't let this happen to YOU.)

2) The weekend we got back, we went to a meeting about the new services our new church will begin holding in our town in a few weeks. It struck me while listening that this would be a really good time to engage in another multi-faceted fast -- much like this time last year, when I was seeking the answers that appear to arriving now. So that'll be happening over the next couple weeks. In addition to the "normal" fasting, no message boards and (even more difficult) no tuneage. This promises to be a new beginning, and I need to get my head and my heart -- and, oh yes, my spirit -- on straight.

3) To take this a step deeper: Reflecting over the past year, it occurs to me that there's been an unusual number of occurences where I've been seriously let down by others I admire and/or who have been in some kind of position of authority in my life. Some of that has already been catalogued here, some of it hasn't. While all the while, I've been the most bereft of any authority in years. (I know, poor poor pitiful me -- the latter is really more just an observation, though. The fact that that's probably about to change on a couple different fronts makes said recent condition more obvious, is all. In some ways, it's been a good thing, not least of all in that #2 was my response to the changes now afoot.) But if you sense a connection in all of this, well, so do I -- I don't think it's cause-and-effect, but I don't think the two skipping hand-in-hand has done a whole lot for my general demeanor either.

4) All of which is to say: I can and need to start clean here, and jettison as much of the other crap as humanly possible. If that means making even more external changes in addition to the internal ones already en route, so be it. Let's see what happens by 8/19, when said new services start and I break up said self-imposed fasts. But my past CANNOT be allowed to poison my future. It just CAN'T. Not easy, I know, but engaging a little wisdom can't hurt.

5) So, all that said, anyone with my e-mail knows how to reach me. And I'll be checking here regularly, so any posts with a legitimate IP will be read and responded to. If something really profound occurs, maybe I'll post something here prior to the 19th. But don't hold yr breath. :)

Later, and further up and further in, guys. And thanks for yr prayers and support, past, present and future.

-- carl

Posted by: burninglight at 20:00 | link | comments

Addendum for the curious (reprise)...

One more unexpected entry before hitting the road next week....

Back in October I showed off a piece of my wife's artwork, specifically this:

We just found out that this piece and another one (a brand-new watercolor) were accepted for a statewide art show at the Denver Botanical Gardens next month. Coolishness. Needless to say, there's a lot of dancing going on right now, and if Momma happy, everybody happy. (OK, so the girls just landed in their respective destinations today and thus aren't even aware of this most recent development; you get the point.) 

Off to Santa Fe (to stare at yet more artists). See you in a while.

Posted by: burninglight at 01:38 | link | comments

Shameless Plug #…. well, you decide….

I want to preface all this by saying this was NOT my idea.

Our art director conscripted me several weeks ago to “star” in a series of web commercials for a new curriculum we've developed for preteens. No talking, but it’s all focused on my character -- an overwhelmed, frazzled individual who has all the wrong “tools” for the “situations” he faces (and thus a metaphor for the average preteen-Sunday-school teacher). In short, I get to play me, although the sweat here was actually the result of being “misted” a dozen or so times over the course of the two-plus hours we shot these, and the eye twitch at the end was manufactured for the occasion.

If that weren’t bad enough, the packaging and the website refers to me by first name. PROMINENTLY.

That said, these are pretty amusing (if only in a “wow, this guy’s really pathetic” sort of way), so…. um, again, enjoy: http://www.grapplefits.com/.

See you in a few weeks.

Posted by: burninglight at 15:36 | link | comments (2)

Posted by: burninglight at 17:30 | link | comments