Favorites of 2008

I haven't written in way too long. I want to get back into it because, honestly, I express myself best in writing and this is something that I haven't been doing much lately. I am going to post a list of my favorite things from 2008. The first will be the Best Album of 2008

In my opinion, Viva La Vida or Death and all of His Friends is the Best Album of 2008. Now, I know that some people hate Coldplay, which I believe is totally ridiculous and unwarranted. I have been a fan of Chris Martin and company for a while now. They have old, classic songs that remind me of the past, give me energy, and inspire me. Clocks, Yellow, In My Place, and Fix Me are all examples of these. It wasn't until Viva La Vida that I fell in love with Coldplay. This album is so different from their previous work but it still has Coldplay's Melancholy, cool signature sound. The addition of orchestral instruments, like the strings in the title song, in the place of electric instruments gives this new album a more organic sound that I have come to love. Just as always, these Brits write lyrics that relate to the listener on a personal level. It was also really great to hear Chris Martin tell ME that I sing well.......well technically it was the entire crowd.

Up Next Time: Favorite Movie of 2008

Unpacking......

Here are more random thoughts

I really want to be able to listen to God. I talked to a godly man about this last week and he really challenged me to get regular time just listening to God. .....not talking.....uninterupted....just me and God. I gave it a try the other evening and, thou I didn't hear God, felt peace. I want to refine this skill.

I am not going to Southeast Asia. My friend Todd is so I am excited about that.

I am tired of institutionalization. I am tired of being objectified. I am tired of being expected to produce while those in leadership forget that I am a human being with a schedule, feelings, and a need for friendship.

Garage sales suck but are a means for greatness.

I am ready for Glorieta.

I hate it when people believe so much in themselves that they disregard the notion that maybe at least one other person is a competent human who is capable of, I don't know, making an intelligent decision.

Loving people is hard but it is worth it......I hope.

More Random Thoughts

Sometimes I don't feel like a man.....sometimes society tells me that I am not because of my actions, lack of actions or feelings.

I love people but sometimes they make me really angry and rip my heart in two.

I just want to be loved.

I am tired of the melancholy roller coaster.

I am not great at much of anything but there are a few things that I am okay at.

It irritates me when people insist on telling me or showing me something "funny" when it obviously isnt funny.

I am ready for the new phase of life and I am tired of the one that I am currently in but at the same time I fear the future.

Sometimes I think that there is not hope for me......satan uses this one on me all the time.

I hate prejudice.....and I am not just talking abour racism. I think a lot of time people devalue the existence of people who are overweight. People do this all the time when I am right there. I just don't understand it.

I vent in writting and I like getting people feedback.

I don't know what the future holds.........

Random Thoughts

There has been lots of drama this week. I feel like that I came out of this wounded and the situation doesn't directly affect me, other than the fact that it hurt someone that I love. Really, it hurt a couple of people that I love. I cannot stand to see people in pain. It kills me, really. I have been reading alot about the Civil Rights movement lately and I have come to a conclusion. If I had been alive in the 1960s, I am fairly certain that I would be a liberal hippie. I am pretty much a bleading heart, although I disagree with Abortion and Gay Marriage. I cannot tolerate intolerance, which is somewhat hilariously ironic. I hate reading about people being hated against based on their ethnicity, nationality, or sexuality. I am positive that I would have been an activist. Its funny how being in this different time make me a different person.

I am sick of people telling me how I should feel. Spend a day in my skin and then tell me how to live. You would be scared out of your mind!

Donald Miller isnt quite as bad as I thought that he was. I am reading To Own a Dragon (see previous post) and I love it. I get this feeling that he gets me. He understands where I am coming from in a way that most humans cannot understand.

I enjoy clothes. I wish that I had unlimited resources with which I would buy lots and lots of clothes. Its exciting, really!

I am depraved. I need more of the word in my head to get all the other junk out of there.

Lost is a great show!

I miss some friends.

I want Jesus more than anything and much of the time I feel like he is in my grasp but falls from it.

Im not great at discipleship. Is there something wrong with me wanting to be?

I wish that I was an artist.....I want to produce beautiful things.

Politics-------------------> Go Huckabee!

"Only one life twill soon be passed,

only whats done for Christ will last"

To Own a Dragon

I am reading a book called To Own a Dragon. It is a book by Donald Miller, who is also the author of Blue Like Jazz. I didn't enjoy the later book but I am really loving this one. I thought that I would share some of my favorite exerpts from the book and maybe you will get a little commentary as well.

This book is about growing up without a father. I got it from my good buddy Tim. Now, I had a father growing up. I mean he was physically there for me. For the most part he provided for me but on a spiritual and emotional level he was not there for me. This is not a post to destroy the image of my father. I love him very much and as I get older I think that our relationship is getting much better. But unfortunately for most of my life I have believed that I was an accident. I believed that I really didn't belong. I fealt like if I had never existed that my family would live on unchanged. And everyone wants to know that they are needed. One of the things that is addressed in the book is that fact that everyone wants to know that they are here on purpose and for a purpose. Here are some good quotes.

"He was somebody who stepped into my life and helped

me believe that I was here on purpose, and for a purpose."

"And though some of us grows up without biological fathers, none

of us grows up without our actual Father. That is, if we have skin,

if we have a heart that is beating and can touch and feel, then all

this is because God has decided it would be so, because He

wanted to include us in His story."

"If God was fathering me, and He knew exactly what I needed,

then when I didn't get something I wanted, I could trust God

didn't give it to me because it was not something I needed."

Miller goes on talking about how every man craves validation from their father in which they say, "hey you are a man and I approve of you....I value you.....I am proud of you....I love you more than I love myself." He also says that if we lack this we will try to find this validation in every relationship that we have until we find it. And the really cool thing is that God gives us that validation....and He does it more wholly and completely than our earthly father ever could.

I think that this is a great book that every father and male disciplemaker should read. Reality is that fatherless homes abound and there needs to be men who are equipped to mentor this large portion of the population. What do you think?

Clayton