Echoes and Moments

This past week I turned 25. My distance from the joyous days of college can create some dissonance in me, especially given the fractured nature of community, the difficulty of finding new friends post college, and the tension I live in as a resident in a new city. Yet I find it helpful to reflect upon a few things that make simply being alive beautiful and worthwhile. I recently moved to the city of Fresno to pursue new ministry opportunities serving the students at Fresno City College, a large urban commuter campus with a demographic makeup as diverse and beautiful as the city it draws its student population from. The student community I've found is incredibly loving, supportive, and even helped provide transportation when my beloved pickup Guillermo was in the shop for repairs. Additionally, they are for the most part committed to the apostolic vision of InterVarsity, which means we seek God's transformation of students, faculty, and the campus. Although campus ministry...

I awoke with fires in my head; They fanned out with a quickening spark, That inspiration found in the quiet nights And lonely highways where my mind Wandered, and we held onto fading thoughts. No, they were not the kind to shake me gently Or care to dance me into day's light Rather, thoughts burned screaming To be released and washed into an ocean Of noise that the world already had room for. Why does this dream haunt me so? Is there a return yield on investment That I was unaware I sowed into, Long prayers uttered in the darkest hours And awakening ancient rhythms to my lips? A party, some say at times: Others, simply voices Making the mind bend to allow for things That only seeded fear would shake That someday will collapse into canyons of memory. One voice rests quietly within Stillness seeping down into the cracks Where the fires once blazed violently The balm to soothe this weary mind-- The voice gives life where life once left. Yes, it is the fli...