Getting Some Closure

Today, I drove up to Irvine (where a bunch of the old Anchor Point stuff is stored) to unload the trailer for the last time and pass the sound system off to someone else who will actually use it.

I gotta tell ya, through the sweat from the 115 degree heat, I felt like this season of life really is coming to an end.

It got me thinking about how we used to unload that damn trailer every Sunday morning at 7am and set up our environs for worship and then tore it down 3 hours later. Wow. That seems so long ago. What a lifetime has passed since then...

I found this old photo gallery. Kinda nostalgic I guess you could say. Some photos from our first gathering as Anchor Point Church.

What a trip. What a journey. What an adventure. Good times and hard times. This is the stuff life is made of.

And now on to the next chapter...

Overrating Certainty

Thanks Joel.

German Theologian, Hans Kung, said it best when he said, "The People of God who pitch their tent without constantly looking out for new horizons, which do not continually strike camp, are being untrue to their calling... We must play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, live by improvisation and experiment."

Thanks Bud

Here is a little article on Bud Osborn.

Here is his poem that moved me today...

so here I am
here we are
amazingly alive
against long odds
left for dead
north america tellin lies
in our head
make you feel like shit
better off dead

so most days now
I say shout
shout for joy
shout for love
shout for you
shout for us
shout down this system
puts our souls in prison

say shout for life
shout with our last breath
shout fuck this north american culture of death

shout here we are
amazingly alive
against long odds
left for dead
shoutin this death culture
dancin this death culture
out of our heads

Thanks Bud...

Rich Mullins... My Hero

I just finished watching Homeless Man: The Restless Heart of Rich Mullins. Wow. What a man.

I grew up listening to Rich's music. There was a real sense of authenticity and a real lack of pretense in his writings.

Where are the Rich Mullins now? Who are they? I want to be one.

If you haven't seen this video, I could let you borrow it. A friend let me borrow it a long time ago. Or try to find it used.

I guess in a sense this trip we are about to embark on is in the spirit of Rich Mullins... or at least I'd like to think it is.

I am reminded of a saying that goes something like... The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

I want to be born of that Spirit.

One Of The Things I'll Miss The Most

The sky and ocean bleeding into each other... We have the most spectacular skies here on the coast... Today's sunset for your viewing pleasure...

The Cobalt Season - But I Tell You

The new album is for sale. 11 new tracks including American Empire, Glory, Like Jesus, Dream, and others.

It will ship Friday of this week via Priority Mail. For audio clips, check out the myspace account. Cheers!

The Elusive Mount Whitney Peak

Well, we're home. What a weekend.

We left at 4.30am on Friday morning. 7 of us went to hike/camp Whitney. We got our passes and got to the trailhead by 11am.

We hiked 6 beautiful miles up to Trail Camp... the highest point you can hike to and actually still camp at. We showed up at camp around 6pm with about 30 minutes of sunlight remaining.

Oh, back up a second. There was a huge snowstorm a few days ago and there is 3-4 ft. of snow from Trail Camp through the rest of the hike to the peak.

So, we camped at Trail Camp. 10-15 degrees and 30-50 mph wind all night long. 12 hours of non-sleep... for all of us. We all woke up with mild altitude sickness. Sweet.

We talked with some folks who were headed to summit, some who just returned from summiting, and some who turned around... we decided that ice, knee deep snow, and crazy winds were good reasons to not summit on Saturday. We turned around and headed down a day early.

Bummed we were, but tired and ready to get back to some warmth as well. The rangers said to us, "Smart thing to turn around. There's another snowstorm on it's way." That's always a good thing to hear.

So, we came back. No peak this year either. I've now hiked 26 miles on this mountain and not summited. Perhaps next year. Who knows.

Psychosis

How was it that I was reading books in my afternoons just weeks ago? I cannot fathom that kind of break in the day.

It has been chaotic to say the least around here. Packing, prepping for Mt. Whitney (we leave tomorrow at 4.30am!), finishing the album, cleaning the house from friends of friends who will be here this weekend. And most of that's just me. Holly has been busy as well... perhaps busier even.

Okay, deep breath.

Time for a benadryl (to help carry me to sleepytime) and a climb of a lifetime... the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. It'll be our second round on it. Hopefully we summit this time and don't get snowed out.

Mt. Whitney and an Album

So, the last 10 days have had me hunkered over my laptop with guitar in hand. I just finished recording and mixing my new album and passed it off to the duplicator. Sweet. It's done (sorta anyway).

Album release party is the same as the Art Show. Oct 2nd.

If you're interested, here are some of the new songs on my myspace account.

Today, tomorrow, then Friday: Mt. Whitney... all weekend. And it's supposed to be cold. But that's another story all together...

Friends, the writing and recording of this album has been very cathartic and moving for me. I do hope to share some of these with you either by disc or online or by playing a house-show at your place for you and some friends who might be on a similar journey. Lemme know.

¡Viva la Revolucíon de Jesus!

BBC Article here.

Socialized into Showering

This morning I had an epiphany.

You see, yesterday I woke up early, showered, recorded in my studio all day, grabbed a bite to eat, came home and recorded some more. No real manual labor or sweat or whatnot.

This morning looked like it'd go the same way. Around 8.30am I thought, "Oh, I'd better take a shower before I get too far into the day." So, I went to the bathroom, began to disrobe... and then I smelled my armpits... they smelled fine. As if I had just sprayed them with deodorant.

I was clean.

But I still got into the shower.

You see, I have been socialized into showering (at least) once a day. Some days, I forget that I've already showered, and I shower again.

What's up with that?

On Jesus Being the Way, Truth, and Life

Doug's right on.

I had a conversation today where the typical question presented to people who hold to a non-foundational approach - Wasn't Jesus' statement 'I am the way, the truth and the life' a foundationalist presupposition.

I can't count the number of times that people have used this statement to suggest an exclusivist view or foundationalist view (there may well be an argument made for these positions but this passage is not it).

It is so maddening sometimes, not in the case of this conversation today, but it drives me mad.

It would be like taking the other seven 'I Am' statements in John and thinking of them as literal statements - Jesus is really bread, really a vine, really a shepherd, or a door.

All of those are much better than that. Jesus was likening himself to Torah in the Way, Truth and Life. That was how the Torah was referred to, so Jesus was saying that he was as Torah.

There is great significance to this, all of which, in my opinion, are lost by the foundationalist perspective.

So the next time I hear someone say there must be absolute truth because Jesus said he was truth I am going to invite them to my house to hang a Jesus door, or prune the Jesus vines.

Art Show & Concert

Need I say more? Directions?

Leaving

Thought I'd let you know (if you're interested) that Holly and I are leaving. On October 6th, after packing our crap into storage or letting people borrow it (hint hint), we will be leaving Oceanside.

We're not sure where 'next' is really. We're just sure that it's time to go.

The remainder of 2005 will be spent driving across the US. We have several friends we are looking forward to staying with and some places we are looking forward to being in. But we are also planning 'non-planned time' into it too.

Who knows? Maybe we'll just stop at one spot and set roots there for a year.... Or perhaps we'll remember that we love being on the road and won't stop driving... Who knows? Or perhaps we'll return to Asia... Who knows?

This 3-month trip will be a sort of pilgrimage to see those we have wanted to see/meet over these last couple years. It will also be a chance to nourish and revitalize our marriage, our artistic-ness, and our gypsy leanings.

If you are around the US and would be interested in hosting us for a night or two, would you please let us know?

I'll be releasing a new album just before we leave, so part of the hope in travelling is 'touring' the album by doing a series of house shows... so if you're interested in hosting one, please let us know that as well.

So, there it is. Not sure what's next... just time to leave. So... see you soon?

The Cobalt Season

The band (that is me) from whom this blog gets its namesake is back in the mood to rock.

www.thecobaltseason.com

A new album is just on the horizon...

In case you didn't get yours...

From American Friends Service Committee.

One Hike, One Blister

Just finished Labor Day weekend. Whew.

Holly and Lisa and I and Travers and Ryan Bryant and the Cotés drove about 2 hours northeast of here to hike/backpack/camp Mount San Jacinto.

Wow.

About 9 miles or so of hiking to our dark, spooky campground near the seemingly abandoned ranger station. Slept (or tried to) with the wind blowing, making it sound like someone was outside our tent. Of course, that fictitous someone was trying to kill us. Holly and I both knew that.

Got up the next morning (after 1 lovely hour of sleep) and journeyed another 10 miles to summit and then head down the mountain.

Wow. That was a lot of work. Good stuff. Better in stories.

New Switchfoot

The new Switchfoot album is great.

Favorite lines thus far...

The shadow proves the sunshine...

Happy is a yuppy word...

I pledge allegiance to a country without borders.
Without politicians watchin’ for my sky to get torn apart!

We are broken, we are bitter, we're the problem.
We're the politicians watching for our sky to get torn apart!

Don't know if you care for these guys or not, but I thank God for their existence in the music scene. Perhaps it's cause they're a local North County band... or perhaps because they seem to have the same disillusionment with the Church Machine that I do... or perhaps because they seem to offer hopeful words that aren't all dressed up in religion (but instead in God's Kingdom).

Iraq=WWII?

Come on. Seriously.

Bush Calls Iraq War Moral Equivalent Of Allies' WWII Fight Against the Axis

On Tuesday, he cast the war in Iraq as the modern-day moral equivalent of the struggle against Nazi fascism and Japanese imperialism in World War II, arguing that the United States cannot retreat without disastrous consequences.