To Paraphrase

This road is my life
Speeding through the night
I have been to these places
For barely a moment

Wide awake
Sometimes sleeping
Sometimes watching
Sometimes dreaming

Through stroby towns
Too fast to know their names
Too fast to know if I came or will come again

Sleeping towns joined together
By the Parallel lines
Parallel lives

You and I
We’re movie-rich
We’re reflected in the window
The dark night’s black mirror glass
Distant lights from the wrong side of the tracks

Christmas lights
Go by in the houses
Anonymous windows
Anonymous rooms of
Anonymous souls

So take my hand
Squeeze it tight
Make some light
In the darkness
I’m glad you came on this trip
Don’t lose your grip
This road is my life

Travel with me
And we’ll see..

Magician

Magician take me upon your wings and … gently roll the clouds away.  I’m sorry so sorry I have no incantations only words to help sweep me away.  I want some magic to sweep me away. I want some magic to sweep me away. I want to count to five turn around and find myself gone. (1,2,3,4,5)

Fly through the storm and wake up in the calm. Release me from the body from this bulk that moves outside me. Let me leave this body far away I’m sick of looking at me. I hate this painful body that disease has slowly worm away. Magician take my spirit inside I’m young and vital. Inside I’m alive.

So many things to do.  My fingers are weak – things just fall away. Inside I’m young and pretty. Too many things unfinished My very breath taken away.

Doctor you’re no magician – and I am no believer.  I need more than faith … can give me now I want to believe in miracles – not just belief in numbers.  I need some magic to take me away I want some magic to sweep me away.  Visit on this starlit night replace the stars the moon the light – the sun’s gone.

Fly me through this storm and wake up in the calm … I fly right through this storm and … I … Wake … Up … In … The … Calm

Burning Patriotism

Penn & Teller on “The West Wing”.

Inspiring.

A few weeks ago I got an email from my friend Mickey O’Connor. I’ve known Mickey for many years. He is a street performer, film maker, husband, father and friend. He was very excited to tell me about the movie that he had seen that afternoon. It was a documentary about a french street performer named Philippe Petit, wire walker, juggler and magician. It was the true story of the realizing of his desire to walk on a high wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

Mickey used the word inspiring several times as he told me about the film. It was just a matter of time before I caught this Sundance Film Festival Favorite. Thursday was the day. For whatever reason I thought it to be a bit poetic to see this film on 9/11. (Now playing in Charlotte at the Park Terrace.)

The movie begins before the buildings were even built. It chronicles the building of the tallest buildings in the world, with great archival film footage. The Twin Towers represent many things to many people, but for this one unique individual, he knew that they only had one real purpose, to be the stage for the greatest stunt of his life.

Can you imagine, being in New York, in 1974 looking waaaaaaayyyyyy up in the sky as seeing someone walking a tightrope between those buildings? And not just one time across! He spent 45 minutes up there making 8 passes and at one point lying down on the wire in the middle. You really have to see it to believe it.

When it was all over and he was being led away by NYC Police in handcuffs, the media all wanted to know why he did it. He smiled, looked into the faces and cameras and said, “There is no why. . . it’s just . . . beautiful”. At that moment many things about my own life came into focus. What it means to be an artist, to ditch the ‘real world’ in favor of living a dream. To follow your own muse to whatever end. Using what God faithfully put in your hands.

Beauty can be found in a flower, on a cactus, in the desert, or on the face of a smiling child or up in the sky as a man risks his life for his art, or in the heart of a performer.

I challenge you to look for it and find it in your own life. I know I am.

The Other Greatest Band

Most of my new friends, the ones who have come into my life in the past few years, have very strong feelings about exactly who ‘the greatest band’ is. A large number of them consider said band to be … well, UKnow … Don’t U? (And You, Too?)

They may be very convicted of this opinion, but they are wrong. I love them quite a bit. I saw them live while you were still in diapers. (Thank you Jesus for a long, full life.) They are not, however, the greatest.

I humbly submit to you the Greatest Band in existance today. (My psychic friends have guessed already.)

Marillion.

They took their name from ‘The Silmarillion’ by J.R.R. Tolkien.  That alone ought to send the fantasy readers, geeks and Mrs. Martin rushing to iTunes. They started off quite prog and jazz, writing sprawling epic songs in the nature of early Peter Gabriel era Genesis. They made a 35 minute song on the life of Grendel, he-monster of Beowulf fame. They have since refined their taste and mood, and create some of the most moving music ever recorded.

I discovered them in 1983, while trying to deal with my parent’s ugly divorce and MUCH uglier re-marriages. The frontman (Fish) wrote an entire album dealing with his failure as a husband. It pulled me through and I have been a fan ever since.

Want to hear more? Want to hear how the music of Marillion helped me save my life and my marriage? Drop a comment.

I know you, my friends and casual readers. You deserve to hear this band.

24/7

If you know me, you know what the title means.

A special prayer room, a full week of prayer. I started on Sunday at midnight to 1AM, continued my shift 2AM through 3:30 AM Sunday morning. I should have stayed until 4, and let the staff sleep. That has bothered me all week. Two of my daughters with me for an hour, my wife with me for another.

Dawn found sanctuary in the “green closet”. No surprise there. : )

First thing I read on my journey was a post-it note that read “I forgive the Hannibals”. Damn. That speaks.

It’s very humbling to feel you are the filthiest object in the room. Thank God for grace.

My replacement didn’t show up. Like a dummy I followed the rules and called the number for the staff, then prayed for whoever it was that didn’t come. They missed out on so much. I should have just stayed another hour when it was apparent they were a no show. Lisa lost some sleep because of me. I’m sorry …

I felt cleansed. I am greedy for that feeling again.

Shuffle Bored

From a magician friend in Spain; “The word for ‘cards’ in Spanish is in the feminine. It pleases me to know this. The deck is like a woman; if you hold it to tightly, you crush it. If you hold it to loose, it flies away. If you don’t show it the proper respect, you will never understand it’s many mysteries.”

Pornographic, Fear Mongering Moneychangers.

I have heard the opinion of men I respect regarding the sensationalism of the end times. Certain books, movies and songs have played upon the fear of well meaning Christians for what seems like nothing more than making a quick, easy buck. (I’m thinking of YOU, Kirk Cameron.)

Just when I thought I had seen the bottom of the barrel, someone made the barrel deeper. There’s a website where, for just $40 a year, you can send a message to your loved ones who miss the rapture. That’s right kids – their database will automatically send out a message for up to 62 of your friends and family six days after the rapture occurs.

(How do they know?) Glad you asked. According to the services page, if 3 or more of their 5 Christian agents fail to log in for 6 days in a row – the message goes out to the email addresses you supply that you have been raptured and they have been Left Behind.

I hate to give the jerks the hits – but to show this isn’t just a product of my twisted sense of humor; www.youvebeenleftbehind.com

But now, Casual Reader, I must leave you with a dilemma. Would Jesus click that link?

Looking for God on Speed Street

A thousand people in the square today
Pushing by – never come face to face
There might as well be no-one here at all
And I’m so lonely I could cry myself to sleep
I’m hungry for some kind of sign from You
Any excuse for something to say
I’m trembling now there’s nothing I can do
I’m scared in case I scare you away
I wouldn’t ask you for anything
I wouldn’t play no silly games
We don’t need to be lovers
But we could talk just the same

Who Am I?

I know theres a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still receive your kiss
How can I measure up to anyone
After such a love as this?