I'm sitting shotgun while Jake drives to our show in Birmingham. W are listening to the new paramore record. Yeah, it's poppy, yeah my little sister likes it, yes it's awesome.

Tomorrow is the first day i've been anxiously anticipating for the past week; Nashville. I am very excited to see my friends (not limited to); Helene, chad Johnson, Liz Machlitt, glorious unseen boys, and Mike Mowery.
I've been very busy looking for a home lately. I literally browse through the MLS listings every day while it regurgitates the same houses back at me. It's very hard to find JUST the right place when all you have to rely on are pictures/descriptions. God, please bless my house shopping, that I can find a place where I can glorify you with my hobbies/careers.

I was really upset last night that there was a Barnes and Noble adjacent to the club we played last night in New Orleans. I really want to pick up the new Don Miller book, A million miles..

Reading: book of Matthew; living water (brother yun)

Listening: new Paramore, new Btbam, new Brand New

Matt

This is matt, testing out blogger from my phone.

then is now, the brick and it's pattern.

It sends signals through our spinal cords, it raises every hair on every square inch of our bodies. A smile that doesn't tire. Learn to block out the noise and move on with a different ring in your ears. You see, the actions we take set the mood to follow; our mentality is guided and swayed by whatever it is we soak in our soft and fragile skin. And still we struggle, we toil, and we battle. Between our fingertips slips our purpose, our incentive to live. The answer is staring us straight in the face and all we know to do is play dead.

FACT: Parkway Drive is the biggest heavy band in Australia.

matt

listening to - Kings Of Leon

Australia

it's funny how i get irritable when i shouldn't, how i get lonely when i'm home, how noise and entertainment is boring and dead to me.

i think some of it has to do with comparing what i've heard to how it really is. after all, no one really says what they mean to when it's all on the line, the first 15 minutes isn't fame but really a faux first impression to bullshit their way around the awkwardness.

i think everyone wants the same thing at the end of the day. we'll filter ourselves so that some of us are grayscaled while others increase the saturation and others still cut out the bad and clone the good. modifying the master print doesn't change the artists name. it only lessens the final product. so much time and so much money and so much emotions. so much wasted energy when all along all was fine. all was amazing.

oh God, help me to be steadfast. to come back quicker next time I walk away. to shut off my egotistical self so I can see where i'm wrong.

this is me walking away.

Fact: Brisbane is San Diego, only 4000 miles further away from home.

matt

reading: The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Clairborne

when we were humans...

The difference between a person that lives with little and one that lives with much isn't how much stuff one has and the other one lacks. It doesn't come down to who has more messages to reply to or how many phone calls one has to make in a days time. It's human nature to allot time for all things enjoyable, all things pleasurable, all things easy and uncomplicated. There was a time when we awoke to a day filled with predicaments, with problems, with life-threatening situations Every single day flexed it's arms in opposition to human's providing for themselves. Gathering food, providing shelter, guarding loved ones, these were all standard procedures. All you really had around you was that which came from the earth. The wooden huts, the deer skin clothing, it all came from the earth and returned to the earth. The sun rose and the sun set and you were well aware of the earth's workings, it's pure power and complexity.

So much of my spiritual journey has been perpetuated by spending time (alone) in nature; hiking, camping, snowboarding, driving, flying. I'm a firm believer that our bodies, our souls, were meant to spend time (alone) in nature. Just as God created us to have dominion over nature, he created nature to be an enjoyment, another reminder of God's love and God's beauty and God's sovereignty over mankind.

When we were humans we were closer to God because we were closer to nature. When we were humans we didn't have stuff that got in the way of us and silence. Nature is peaceful, slow paced, spiritual. When we were humans we relied on faith to get through every second of every hour of every day. That faith CAN still exist, it does still exist. It's just there's so much emphasis put on YOU can do it. And certainly, if you can't do it, then WE can help. Let's get away. Humans vs. robots.

Fact: Missouri and Pennsylvania have lots in common.

Matt

reading: Matthew (chapters 5 and 6)

Do you know that feeling you have when you get to that part in a movie where you feel like shutting it off because you want to control what happens at the end; you want to dictate how the story ends, who falls in love, who lives and who dies, who lives happily ever after.

For me that movie is Titanic.

I often get sucked into a song I'm listening to and know that when the song ends, so will the feeling I had when listening to it. I feel like we as humans treat life the same way. We act as moderators of our (own) lives, catering to the highs and drinking away our lows. We wake up each morning with backwards mentalities. We focus on the bad and overlook the good, we envy power and smirk at the weak, the humble, the homeless.

Fact: Houston is HUMID.

Matt

When you've made up your mind...

Sometimes I think the things I was taught as a kid weren't absolutes, merely solid guidelines that would save me trouble and heartache down the road. Other times I think my parents and peers had it right; that the bible is truth and the truth would set me free. But then I wonder how much we've tweaked and twisted what was meant to be into what felt good, sounded right, and looked appealing.

When I look back at the time's I've ran away, those moments that I do what I know I ought not to, I consistently come to the same conclusion. I follow my body, I follow my mind, I abandon my soul. Living life the way we were destined to looks much different then how it actually is all around us. Living life the way Jesus did is counter-intuitive to the way our bodies are built (at least since Adam and Eve). The reality of that is bigger than I'm able to grasp at the moment.

Matt

reading: Matthew (chapters 1-4)