Home Is Where The Heart Is

We just returned from our Christmas trip to St. Louis. This year, I noticed a funny thing in my words: before we left SoCal, we were preparing to fly to StL for the week, and I kept saying to Meg, "I'm really looking forward to going home."

Then, at the end of the Christmas week, when we were in StL preparing to fly back to SoCal, I also said to Meg, "I'm really looking forward to going home."

Home truly is where the heart is. My heart is in both places. I have family and friends in both places. The Los Angeles area. The St. Louis area. Both are home to me. I am not torn between them because my heart is at home in both places.

What an amazing blessing from the Lord! I am both amazed and humbled that the Lord would be so gracious as to give me two homes, both of which I love and adore. I feel as though I am the most blessed man in the world. Lord, you overwhelm me with your outpouring of grace upon my life.

To all my loved ones: parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and all of my dear friends that are so close to my heart --- you are all my home.

Thank you, ALL, for allowing me to come home to you.

"UNTITLED"

I was passing this sculpture in Burbank the other day. The sculpture consisted of a series of multi-colored beams that resembled a rainbow. It was beautiful. It was elegant. It was inspired...
...it was "untitled."

Now, I'm not saying this beautiful sculpture piece didn't have a title.
No, no, no... the title was, "UNTITLED."

What is that?!?

There was obviously great care taken in the sculpture as well as the wonderfully engraved plague that proudly displayed the artist's name right below the inane title "UNTITLED."

This is one I have never understood: why would any artist, be it a sculptor, painter, musician, poet, etc., ever create an amazingly inspired piece of work (which, let's be honest, was inspired by something) and then not give the work a name...???

It's kind of pretentious; don't you think?

I feel like the artist is saying to me, "I'm too inspired by this incredible piece of art to even finish the mundane task of giving such brilliance a name, so I will simply call it, 'Untitled'." Come on! You took a mundane moment to give it a nameless name!

Take, for instance, this rainbow-looking sculpture I saw in Burbank. How about "Rainbow", Mr. Artist? Or "Promise"? Even "After The Rain" would do. How about "Reflections Of Oz"? Anything other than "Untitled"...

To me, Mr. Artist, do you know what your saying? You are saying that your piece of work is not worth my time.

That's right! I looked up "untitled" at www.thesaurus.com to see a few of the synonyms for "untitled." Do you know what they are, Mr Artist?

"Unacknowledged. Uncelebrated. Undistinguished. Unfamed. Unsung. A Whatchamacallit."

There you have it, Mr. Artist. If you can't even take a moment to come up with a simple name for your art, then your art will be forgettable.

Come on! Give it a title. Or leave it non-titled. Don't call it "untitled." I need a title. I feel I'm entitled!

Well-Worn Paths

My wife and I hike at this canyon nearby. We love to get up there, explore nature's majesty and breathe the fresh air (FYI - Angelenos have approx. 15% diminished lung capacity from the air quality).

We have an amazing time together.

We love to enjoy the beautiful weather while hiking, walking, jogging, laughing, praying and dreaming on our little journeys.

At this one particular canyon we hike regularly, the majority of hikers, Meg and myself included, stay on the main path - a huge, 10-foot wide, dirt path that is large enough for emergency and service vehicles.

Occasionally, however, I like to explore these little side trails. Not many people journey on these. They are off the well-worn paths - the road not taken, if you will ... or, in this case, the road less taken.

Now, by way of biographical information, I should tell you: I'm not much of an "adventurer" in the traditional Indiana-Jones-sense of the word. I don't like "nature" per se. I'm not a fan of bugs, spiders, creepy-crawlers, etc. I fight allergies. I don't even like it when my hands feel like they have that layer of dirt on them for an extended period of time. And you know the layer I'm talking about: that invisible, I-can't-see-it-but-I-know-it's-there-because-I've-been-working-outside-picking-up-dirty-stuff-and-it's-been-too-long-since-I've-washed-my-hands-so-I-can't-even-think-about-picking-up-a-piece-of-food-until-I-get-some-hand-soap! kind of layer of dirt. (yes, I may be a little OCD, thank you very much)

Yet, occasionally, I listen to that inner adventurer and trek to the road less taken. Just recently, I even went off the road less taken and forged a completely new path. As far as I could tell, I was on soil untouched by another human. There was something unique, something wild, something passionate in what I was doing. I prayed, I worshiped God. I stood in awe of His creation, the works of His hands... and I wondered to myself, "is this the life we were created to live?"

The life of an adventurer, an explorer, a discoverer.

How often do we go where so many others have gone before (I can almost hear Captain Kirk's voice), following the well-worn paths, instead of forging new ones? In every aspect of our lives (work, home, family, church, etc.), I think we should push ourselves beyond the limitations of what we have always done and what others before us have always done, and seek out the adventure of life waiting to be explored!

I don't know - these are just thougths... perhaps you and I need to re-awaken the adventurer within us...

And the amazing thing about this adventure is: with God, our quest can start at any age. We're never too old, never too far, never too tired for the Spirit to quicken and make alive our mortal bodies for the adventure that awaits - the journey of exploring God's divine destiny!

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson