When I saw...

5:10 pm: My mom is driving me to work. I spent all evening up until now inside, with my friend Liz, making music and (more) videos, as well as getting ready for work. She left to go back up to school today. But she told me that she would probably be coming back down again next weekend.

While my mom is driving, I'm silently thinking about how Liz and I made a video for Mae Leah and how it made her happy. But in an instant my attention is stolen by the most challenging and staggering picture of color and light that I have ever seen.

A dark stretching cloud-wall, resembling a large, sloppy brush stroke from an old brush hung far up in the sky, highlighted by slits of a mix of screaming orange and yellow, it was on fire. All around it were transparent clouds that were not yellow, but gold. It's very presence violated all that was under it, changing everything's true color to a bright orange.

I saw the most beautiful sunset today, and I'll never forget it.

They way that it's beauty shamelessly mocked the orange, human, buildings beneath it. I felt that if hope was ever turned into a visual thing, it would be what I saw then, between 5:10 and 5:15 pm on Monday, January 19th, 2009.

It made me wonder: did anyone else experiencing this sunset the way I did? Was there someone else drinking it in just like me? I really hoped so.

Did you see it?

This Road

All heavy laden, acquainted with sorrow,
may Christ in our marrow, carry us home.
From alabaster, come blessings of laughter,
a fragrance of passion and joy from the truth.

Grant the unbroken, tears ever flowing,
from hearts of contrition, only for You.
May sin never hold true that love never broke through,
for God's mercy holds us, and we are His own.

This road that we travel, may it be the straight and narrow.
God, give us peace and grace from You, all the day,
Shelter with fire, our voices we raise still higher.
God give us peace and grace from You, all the day through.

(Jars of Clay)

Heavy Stuff

Why is it so hard to be an example of Christ sometimes?

Why do I learn from my mistakes, only to repeat them again in the near future?
Sometimes I wish I was perfect. Perfect people clearly don't have to deal with this kind of stuff.


But even in bleak times I know that God is steadfast, and I find this very encouraging.

Among other encouraging things is this: I look around and see people like Tim (tnellis.blogspot.com), and I know that he was once not the way he is now. He did not become the man of God that he is now without his own share of struggles. And even though he is a man of God, he still is far from perfection. But that almost goes without saying. The word "man" sort of presupposes the idea of constant imperfection, unless you're talking about Jesus.

Anyways, I have faith God will see me through this hard time. And I'll be a better person from it.

It's official.

I have a new favorite band:

Animal Collective

Yes, dethroning even the almighty Norma Jean and Sigur Ròs. I purchased their Water Curses EP earlier today which was released in May of 2008, so it's their most recent stuff. The only other album of theirs that I physically own is Sung Tongs, from 2004, that I got for Christmas.

I like to think that I have a fairly decent grasp on the nature of this band, but with every new purchase I find that I am horribly mistaken. I find them completely unpredictable, and I love it. It seems to me that such creativity that is both pleasantly bizarre and pure genius is pretty hard to come by. I feel almost foolish for not discovering them earlier, but I'm glad that I finally have. :)

I eagerly look forward to completing my (presently small) collection of their music!
For those of you who have listened to them, what do you think?

Yosemite & YouTube

I don't plan on posting every video that I make for YouTube here on my blog, but this is a special occasion. Being that this is my first official video that I made with the sole intention of sharing it with everyone via YouTube. So enjoy!

Also, to you grammar obsessed people, I apologize. I'm pretty sure that "It was probably one of the most cool experiences that I've ever had in my entire life." isn't correct. Oh well.

And I'll admit, I don't think I've got this whole talking to the camera thing nailed yet. But this was my best shot and so I just went with it. :)