back to the earth: part 3

that one moment...

sitting by the ocean in la jolla the other night, i shared a moment with the waves and with a friend.

i was in awe at how many times the clash of the water against the rocks created a "boom" underneath where i was sitting. it was fascinating, nature's way of communicating beauty through obstruction ~ so we agreed. it was if the water showed clemency to the land, halting its gentle flow, creating splash - keeping our awe, wonder and fear abreast.

why would anyone want to know how the waves work? he asked me. i had no answer, because truly the mystery was beyond us both. nevertheless, the speech we received commanded our attention and again, i was drawn to something truly magnificent. 

broken things moved on, his grand finale left a quiet in his soul...at least for the moment.

on this night, there was no need  for commentary. it just existed

back to the earth: part 2

as it was...

"the stones will cry out."

it was the first thought that crossed my mind as i stared at the fallen rocks all around me. imperfect formation and seemingly in the way, but nevertheless: my perspective felt flawless. i had hiked through tall grasses, brush, and dirt - only to come to a landscape of rocks that i had to climb over just to see a picturesque waterfall, a rushing creek...the destination of my journey.

the sun had grown quite warm and my skin welcomed the cool breeze in the air. slipping off my tennis shoes and stretching out my legs, i breathed in and out deeply, peacefully taking in the scene. and all i could find in my soul was that even the rocks reflected a Majestic Origin.

while the phrase refers to a rebuke made at self-righteous leaders, it is a reminder of the very Spirit behind all that is.

i was enthralled by stepping stones to the very rock i was perched on. the spring waters sprayed delicately over stones that dared stand in the way. it reminded me - even these were Created with purpose and pose. the green grasses and seaweed coming out of their crevices was a sign of beauty and life...exceeding limitations.

and then i realized...

"knowledge of season lit his face//but he seemed restless//what he said almost made sense//but from a distance."

there was something spiritual about this place, the quiet affirmation of worship. it was an awe of expression, a union of strength and beauty. the power of this position is more than words could express. it is the sound of the rushing stream, a fresh perspective -- complicated, gorgeous, surrounded by stone. i was taken by a foundation of the transition, evident changes, rocks that had fallen. 

((back to the earth: part 1))

from Africa to America - learning is peace

learning is peace, he said. in fact it was one of the greatest things Atef said he hoped would help him change the world. 

i went for a late night work out at the gym this weekend. and while i was taking a moment between weight-lifting sets, a gentleman on the bench near by commented on the tattoo on my left shoulder in Arabic. 

interestingly enough, he told me he was from Tunisia and that he had come to the U.S. to study. he'd always been interested in literature and languages but, he noted, he was experimenting - so he tried his hand at computer science for awhile and now wanted to go back to political science. he had been in the United States for 3 years and worked as a bartender while he studied. 

the impact his country has-had among the African and Middle East revolutions has been on his mind because to Atef, it would be only a matter of time before the people would put another dictator in place and the cycle would start all over again. even with a good ruler - unless a new set of standards was adopted by many of his countrymen, it wouldn't really change. but then again, with the right education, maybe it could. 

he noted that he loved being in the US for now, and really Tunisia was just as diverse as the US. Atef said that people don't realize here that Tunisia is Africa and that there are just as many blends of ethnicity as anywhere else in the world - that being a majority Muslim country in the religious sense was really meaningless. 

his eyes were intense and he told me that if countries and cultures would take a moment to learn about one another, and understand that humans were really all the same, there would be more peace in the world. 

Atef hopes that by studying political science, he can better understand how to take new ideas back to his country - to influence laws and government and social change. 

but, he said, i don't know, people don't read in Tunisia. they play cards in coffee shops. i don't know how i'll get them to read. i laughed thinking of how many Americans play cards in coffee shops and how many of them don't read. 

of course - what it really proves - is that we all are the just same. 

back to the earth: part 1

as it began-

"back to the earth," he said.

 

it's a phrase that is resonating with me every time i repeat it and ever since my friend said that's what he was looking for. of course, at the time, he was initially referring to the pictures he wanted to me take for his photo shoot. and i can imagine that the connection of something greater than himself was a stake....something, yes, outside my own pretenses.

 

the earth...is the sum of it's parts.

 

and then it came-

 

at 1am, on the way to work, i diverted my route and decided to grab a chai from a local coffee shop, the only one open 24 hours...and i met frank. while he made my tea, i noticed an exquisite tattoo of the virgin madonna on his left arm and below, a celtic cross. in the course of conversation i learned that he was raised catholic. while he rarely, if ever attends mass anymore: he still goes to confession. it's not quite the obligation, he told me, there was just...something about it.

how fascinating...

and so i find -

the two are coinciding. it is in the state of confession, prostate in the presence of the earth: each hold the spirit of their Creator. 

breathed into life.

spoken into existence. 

it is a communion. for what is confession but nothing more than the soul surrendering to the spirit? and if that Spirit is in all that is, could it not be possible to surrender back to the earth? the origin of form, where it is we come from. in doing so: the Creator then rightly reclaims what belongs to Him. 

my soul. 

my gaze. 

my fascination.

going back to the earth renders my confession, my admittance of weakness, that i may be strong again. 

to be continued....

Justin Froese

Recently I had the privilege of shooting my friend Justin Froese who is a talented musician on Tour up the California West Coast this summer. Here are some of the pictures from the shoot and if you want to hear his tunes, which by the way, are awesome-- his website is: http://justinfroese.com/ one of my pictures has already been posted on his About page. Check it out!

songs of spring & joy...

it has been a long month of hard work. from a photo-shoot to an art show to preparing a video for a beloved band who swept san diego off its feet....AND here we are at the end of the month and you're wondering: well - let's see it! -- well, friends, you can do just that: head over to my website - http://untamedfocus.com and head to the music category. oh and below are some photos from talee's shoot earlier this month. she is a local musician with a BIG heart. her sweetness, beauty and faith come out in the spirit of her smile. it's inspiring and inviting.

Shouldn't Love Always Win? Part 2

In the last post I reviewed Rob Bell's analysis on heaven vs. hell in his book, "Love Wins," (so if haven't read it yet, get to it - here's the LINK) but one statement, one question remains unanswered, and I'll proceed here:

"Does God get what God wants? is a good question, and interesting question....But there's a better question, one we can answer, one that takes all of this speculation about the future

 --which no one has been to and then returned with hard empirical evidence and brings it back to one absolute we can depend on in the midst of all this, which turns out to be another question....

'Do we get what we want?'"  (Rob Bell, Love Wins)

Bell continues with the notion that we, as humans have a will, a choice in the matter of our life, death and ultimate destiny. Previously I noted how he discussed bringing heaven and hell to earth. Here we take a look further into what it means to do so. It's important, I think to realize there are multiple wills working in the Earth - and as such how we choose to respond to each of those - is our fate. 

There are those who would choose to torture less fortunate - and in doing so, they not only create hell for themselves, but hell for those they're afflicting. Then there are those who choose selfish means to get ahead, in business, in relationships and they too are creating Hell in their own life, consequences for poor choices and actions that do not speak life. Certainly, the experience of pain, physical or emotional or spiritual or mental can be a be great hell for which we need rescuing. 

What about natural disasters? I personally think that there is such a thing as the "will of the Earth." This in my mind is how creation functions. It is the result of Chemistry, Biology or Physics. It is the elements that make the world go-round. As such, these affect the human race also, for better or worse. And Bell recently said in an interview that when he's asked the question: how could God allow such traumas, like the one in Japan, and a host of others -happen? - He can only respond first to believing that God is a good God, that he understands pain and grief and sorrow and can meet the human being right where they are. From there, the answer is about redemption and restoration.

But back to "Love Wins," - Bell spends a great deal of time, and entire chapter concerning the matter of what God wants and what we want. He tackles a little more on the Book of Revelation and he says, "...the letter does not end with blood and violence. it ends with two chapters describing a new city, a new world that God makes, right here in the a midst of this one. It is a buoyant, hopeful vision.....this vision we're given here in the final words of the bible tells us all kinds of things about the big story, the one Jesus invites us in to...." (p.113) And in the new place - this life of Heaven, there is no room for destruction or decit. There's no place for evil to succeed. 

I imagine a person standing in this beautiful environment and their skin - their negativity, their evil and even their pain, their sorrow - peeling from their very being, their body and spirit. It is as if they are so compelled to strip from their Hell and enter the beauty of a heavenly life, an unconditional love - a extraordinary existence. Bell explains that for such beauty to exist, as God intended, He must say - no - to things that are not life-giving, and to those who continue to do them - "Not here you won't..." implying there is no room for their hellish thinking and living. But this does not negate the opportunity for restoration. And what it shows is that "love demands freedom. It always has, and it always will." (p.113) Such love compels - for one to leave the old and embrace the new. The stripping away is picture of death before life. Why would someone choose to live in Hell? Well, we all do - inadvertently- with or without thinking sometimes. But this doesn't mean the Gates of Heaven are shut. And it doesn't mean reconciliation to God is not eternally possible. 

Nevertheless, "The End" remains more mysterious than our Human mind can comprehend and I think it's fine to leave it just like that. Rob Bell may have critics, but theology is only a perspective so to harbor offense seems unnecessary. I do find his process and perspective agreeable - it's a conversation worth having. It's a conversation that's been hanging in the balance for thousands of years - and will continue. My recommendation is simple: have an open mind. 

In the meantime, I think it's accurate to say, we are all craving the beauty of something Greater than ourselves. And it's our purpose to bring Heaven to Earth - to be inspired and inspire others. The beauty of dreams and the beauty of sacrifices propel us forward into community living and an epic existence. These are a taste of Glory. Living now, today, thinking about how to spring out tomorrow and be just who we're meant to be. 

Shouldn't Love Always Win? Part 1

There is a lot of Material in the book I am about to review, and this is only a small approach to a wide topic for review. For now, I'll begin with this: 

"Those are questions, or more accurately, those are tensions we are free to leave fully intact. 

We don't need to resolve them or answer them because we can't, and so we simply respect them, creating space for the freedom that love requires." 

(Rob Bell, Love Wins)

It implies that there is a mystery in the account of heaven vs. hell. Rob Bell takes the topic by storm and addresses the questions so commonly asked by people who have never believed in a God and by those who have spent their entire life being frustrated by the box so many institutions -often- place God in. So what is the truth about heaven and hell and the fate of the entire human race?  I don't think Bell presumes to know the answer, rather after reading his material, I'm convinced that he is only presenting a new way of thinking that makes God truly powerful. "God gets what God wants."

And if God made man in his own image, if the Spirit of the Creator in everything that exists in the earth because of Love alone, why would He not offer every opportunity possible for each one to choose him? Even if it meant in infinite time and space? 

What I appreciate about Bell's analysis is that he presents both and heaven and hell as reality now, in the Earth. "The age to come" does not necessarily have to be a realm that is yet to arrive. Rather by establishing the reality of heaven and hell in the present, it prepares the human being for the future of this life and yes, then ultimately a Realm that will unite itself with the Earth.

In his address of heaven: he pulls in the story of the rich man who came to Jesus to ask him, "what must I do to have eternal life?" Bell states that the rich man wasn't necessarily concerned with whether or not he would get into heaven, in fact, having done all the "right" things and living the "good" life, he assumed he would. What that young man was concerned with was a deeper sense living in the "age to come" - the future of his existence before and after death. So to this, after Jesus recites the commandments (which the man had kept),  he drives it home - with a heart-issue. "Sell all you have..." and the man walked away. "He had great wealth...." Such was his greed. The point, Bell says, Jesus is making is that heaven is ultimately "entering life." What does it mean to really live? To have peace, love, joy? What does it mean to live in the state for which we were created? Could the goodness of LIFE be heaven on Earth? I can imagine so -- if in fact a God so big could create an Earth so beautiful, with laws of Physics and Biological intricacies that function at will. And honestly, I couldn't imagine the eternity to come existing without them.

Bell taps the lack of imagination we have when it concerns heaven. Floating in robes atop gold streets, through pearly gates and big 15th century stone castles. While it might be interesting - the world has grown, progressed, and discovered so much more since the days of King Richard the Great. Would it be so impossible --for what we experience on Earth to be a taste of Heaven? Could not heaven's existence mesh with the beauty of the Earth? I think so. 

Moreover - Bell continues by discussing the very idea that God set out to save the human race and that it is not FROM God for which people need saving, it is unto God one is saved. This indicates, in my mind - what we are being saved from ultimately - is ourselves. And if it is eternal - then it seems to me, it should exist in death and in life. 

But one might ask, what about justice? -is this not the fate of Hell? I am beginning to believe that we, as humans have derived our own form of justice (and in western culture, it includes court dates and prison cells and political bias) - If God is truly to be all powerful, is it not conceivable that His version of justice is beyond our comprehension and we have no idea what justice REALLY is? The Cross was meant to be a sacrifice - not just for the human race of 1st century, but for every century past and in an "age to come." 

I'll back up a moment and address Bell's analysis on Hell. First, it's important to note that he takes a more scholarly approach to the place Christianity has deemed a place for those who do not accept confess their sins in this life...

Bell discusses an the idea-- stating that in the Old Testament of the Bible, there is very little reference to a place called Hell and that there is more commentary on death itself - both in the physical and in the spiritual renewal of God's graces. In the second half of the Bible, Bell points out that Jesus reference's to hell were of a physical garbage dump that the Israelites of his day would have been familiar with. In essence, a common noun was used as metaphor to the consequences of poor choices. 

This is interesting. Why? Well - once again Bell makes a significant point about the importance of this life and how sometimes, we do a fine job of bringing Hell to Earth through our will, which we were given by God. We're not robotic. We're human and we are allowed to make up our mind, for better or worse, how we want our life to look. So this approach to the idea, once again, creates life in the here and now - rather than some furnace --where we'll feel our skin scorching for eternity. 

But what about the passages where Jesus may not refer directly to hell but to condemnation and punishment? It's a valid question. Bell takes a look more specifically at the audience Jesus was talking to - and ironically, it was never heathens that received his words, but rather  - the religious culture that believed they were on God's good side and had their ticket into heaven.  "This is not say that hell is not a pointed, urgent warning or that it isn't intimately connected with what we actually do believe, but simply to point out that Jesus talked about hell to people who considered themselves, "in." (p.82)-- He continues on to discuss references in the Bible where such punishment is the preparation for a great Redemption. It is ultimately about a death and consequences --before a transformation. "Failure," Bell notes, "isn't final, judgement has a point and consequences are for correction." 

As for references in the book of Revelation and traditional teachings about the end times, I was interested to find out -- through research -- more than one interpretation exists on the book, i.e., there are some theologians who actually believe the book was written specifically for it's time and the events already happened. Others believe that it was a book written to address timeless truths and still others who believe it is solely the end times. Nevertheless, the book is debated -- and we may have no true understanding. Which is it? Option D: All of the Above. 

So is there a place called hell? I believe so but I also admit my understanding of it is human, and therefore minuscule compared to where it actually may be or what  will really exist there. Could it really be His people that He made in His image? Or could it be the "fallen beings" - that do not yet exist in their eternal damnation? We really don't know. But it certainly gives the mystery of love and salvation more hope - don't you think?

Ultimately: Rob Bell's words make sense to me. His reference to scripture and study of the Hebrew text often fascinates me. There will be people who disagree with him, who will disagree with me. There will be some who would say these ideas are heresy and frankly haven't cracked open the book. And there will be those who read these words, already pre-set to disbelief and will still call Bell a heretic. Others will find they just can't wrap their mind around the concepts he offers. And that's ok. There will still be others that will find his words resonate in a deeply spiritual way, so much so, they find themselves approaching God in a way they never have before. To each of you -- I'm fine with that. So if the book stimulates any conversation, I can imagine it will be that of a God who came to save the Earth --- Such attention, in any form can only be applauded, correct?

So go ahead, read it, decide what you think. But don't jump on the bandwagon of critics before you do. Have an open mind. 

Nevertheless, I conclude with this. Each generation has its heretics. Ironically, Jesus himself was considered one in his own time. Often they are the revolutionary leaders that bring people into a new life of grace and understanding of an old idea. And frankly, I'd just rather be a heretic. 

eman al-obeidy: a woman in libya

this past weekend, a brave libyan woman stormed into a hotel where journalists were staying and began recounting her exerperience with gahdafi's regime. she had bruises on her body, and media personnel said you could see what looked to be rope burns on her wrists. the woman said- she was raped by 15 men - and while she was telling her story, a waitresses and government minders at the hotel tried to cover her head, shut her up and dragged her away.
 
a bbc reporter was punched in the face, trying to protect her. cnn reporter, nic roberston and his crew were on the scene and their cameras were taken and destroyed.
 
what we know about the woman is that she is 29 years old, engaged to be married and working at a travel agency. government officials tried to pass it off as if she were a prostitute or drunk and such accusations carry the weight of shame. her family is outraged. and no one seems to know exactly where she is.
 
my heart is outraged over this situation. it's true the story can't be directly verified -- but why would a muslim woman in a conservative country- dare to risk her life to tell a story if there wasn't something to it?
 
and it begs the question, how many women are being mangled and assulted -- and because their "society" or government shames or dismisses them -- never talk? it's not the religion's fault. it's culture of "authority" figures who corrupt it. and i pray deeply for her safety, the fate of her honor among peers and...that she will soon be returned to her family.
 
the outbreak of the people in libya is an important one. it builds on the revolution in egypt and tunsia. you see, people in these arab countries want freedom. they know they can have it. they should have it. and they are showing the world they can be muslim and be free. i believe whole-heartedly, they can be muslim and be free. they deserve to have a government they choose, leaders that will help them have a successful economy, and flourishing communities. 
 
democractic ideals do not belong to western-judeo-christian people. nor is the responsibility of western nations to force it upon any nation. such freedom belongs to anyone who finds it. i think egypt, tunisia, yemen, and libya...are showing us just that.

The Yes Team, Stills --

As I'm wrapping up pictures from The Yes Team photo-shoot and starting on their video, I thought I would share a few of my favorites: