Grease for the Wheels

As I mentioned in my first post. It was the blogs of some of my friends that helped me to go ahead with this crazy idea of putting my thoughts up on the internet for all the world to see. So I want to give some credit where credit is due. A few links to friends posts follow. All these posts really helped provide some grease to the rusty old wheels in my head...


For those of you that don't know, Shane Tucker was one of my best friends in high school, back in my Columbus, Ohio days. Shane is now a pastor working for the Church of Ireland Youth Department. He wrote this great article:
http://wwwdreamtoday.blogspot.com/2005/05/bohemian-christmas.html
Perhaps its because I was just in Prague that this article really spoke to me, but he touches on some great topics..."A very Ecclesiastes experience", "we are but wind passing through the fingers of God", and he even brings in a reference to Pulp Fiction. Great stuff! Also check out Shane's Dreamers of the Day website. Filled with good stuff about Christianity and the arts:
http://www.dreamtoday.org/intro.htm


Clint Roberts was one of my pastors back in SLC. I always appreciated his excellent teaching and his brilliant sense of humor. I think I like his blog even more than his teaching; the gloves come off in a way that isn't really possible in church setting. This particular article really stood out to me:
http://ccroberts.blogspot.com/2005/05/zeal-cant-make-up-for-ignorance.html
Again, this post probably appeals to me more because I am a recent escapee from the land of Mormons. I really loved the part referencing John Locke:
"As a Christian, Locke believed that faith was not merely wishful fancies, but included a responsibility to use the faculties God has given to make certain that you're as close to the truth as possible. A person has to come to know for himself whether his views be correct or not."
That's where I'm at right now, really trying to "use the faculties God has given" to get as close to the truth as I can.


Jonathan Hays is a friend from my SLC days. The strange thing is that he is currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland studying theology-something-or-other (what is it you are studying Jon?). Its only a five hour drive from here to visit him; we will be making the pilgrimage in July (much to the chagrin of our English neighbors who say there is no reason for anyone to go to Scotland). Crazy Jonathan (I witnessed some wild acts from him that will always stand out in my mind), seems to have done a lot of spiritualal growing, reading, studying, praying etc. in recent times. Take a look at this great post:
http://www.firstfloorflat.com/?p=270
Admittedly, I don't entirely agree with all of it, but Jon covers a lot of ground with this meandering post and I really like where he ends up.


There you have it, words of wisdom from across the globe brought together here at Wednesday Morning Coffee.

JE

The First Cup

In my old life, I had some good friends that I would meet with for coffee before work every Wednesday morning. The initial purpose of the meeting was to be a forum for us to discuss, collaborate, and encourage one another in our different artistic endeavors. We were artists of various forms: musicians, writers, photographers, philosophers. The other thing that we had in common was that we were all Christians. Christians and artists living in a place where being either of those things placed you out on the fringes of society. This fact helped to make our bonds grow stronger. Slowly the group evolved from our original high minded idea of artistic discourse to a group of good friends who really enjoyed talking about the strange journeys that we all found ourselves on. Some weeks we would still talk about our art, others we would talk about the more mundane details of our lives. Either way, it grew to become one of the most treasured times in my week.

Last fall I got a new job, packed my bags, and left that life far behind. I know that I will never have what I used to have in the days of Wednesday Morning Coffee. One thing life has taught me is that good things come and go, and you must enjoy them while you have them because they cannot last forever. I look forward to all of the new and exciting things to come in my life.

The end of the Wednesday Morning Coffee meetings has left a gap in my life. I still have thoughts and ideas running through my head. And an overwhelming desire to get those ideas out into the open where others can relate (or not) to them. And so, after being obsessed with the blogs of some of my old friends since moving away, I have decided to create this space. This web log has no real scope, just a place where I can share my thoughts and my life with my many friends who are now scattered all over this small world. I plan on publishing a new post every Wednesday Morning as I drink a cup of hot coffee. I hope all of you, my friends old and new, will check in and comment and thus keep alive the spirit of the old Wednesday Morning Coffee.

JE