"Sancturary" or "Michael Vick, Moving, & An Old Snickers Commercial Teach me About Space"

Last week I was watching Sportscenter, which in all honesty, I do more than study God's Word.

[This fact hit me the other day because we have moved and no longer have cable (or internet or TV for that matter), and I cared a lot more about who won what game, the status of my fantasy team, and if Jose Altidore was still continuing his tear through the English Premier League, rather than if I had spent quality time in God's word for that day.]

This made me borderline depressed with myself, which I really don't need the help with right now.

However, on that particular edition of Sportscenter, (which if you missed it, ESPN aired it again at 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, and 2) they were interviewing Michael Vick about his return to the football field, and he described the feeling of stepping between the painted white lines as his sanctuary.

I thought about that word for a long time.

Sanctuary.

Holy.

Set apart.

For Michael Vick, a guy who I completely understand needs to escape from the world around him, the field provided this outlet. It got me thinking, where do I find my sanctuary? In all honesty, it has never been in a church. Sure, there are formal, or "professional" sanctuaries there, and sacred and holy moments occur in those places for sure, but that is where we gather corporately, it's not my personal holy place. It's not a place that I have set apart. It's been set apart for me.

I think for awhile I have been relying on other people to provide holy moments for me. I long for the holy and sacred to invade my everyday, but I don't intentionally set apart an actual space for it.

I don't have a sanctuary.

There are no painted lines that I can walk between and just breathe. Just be me. Be present. For me, it cant be our couch, or our bedroom, or the coffee shop, because while I can and have experienced the holy in those places, there is nothing set apart.

So what about you? Do you have a sanctuary? Do you feel like you need one? Do you feel the need for an actual, physical "space"?

May we all find our sanctuary, even if it is constantly changing. And may we find rest in a God who longs to invade our everyday...

"Funk" or "I Am Not Writing About the Goodness That Is The Musical Stylings of George Clinton"

I once heard this quote: “I like all of my music on my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.”

This quote describes me. I am a notorious iTunes shuffler. However, as I was reading the other day, with the music washing over me, shuffle provided me with George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars. I haven’t listened to them in awhile, and to be honest, its not quality reading music. But it is infectious.

Anyway…that was a long introduction that has nothing to do with what I am thinking about, but I hadn’t listened to the funkmaster in awhile.

The truth is that I am in a funk. And a big part of me wants to sit down and write a lot about my “emotions” and my “feelings” and whatnot. I really find writing cathartic. I am not good at verbally processing, but I could sit here and type forever.

However, a friend recently shared this quote with me. Well, not really with me. She shared it with everyone who follows her on twitter, but I like to feel more important and think that people are tweeting just for me. Anyway, shallow narcissism aside, here is the quote:

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

- Henry David Thoreau

I think one reason I am remaining in a funk is because I am writing a lot (not on here obviously). But it raises the question, how are you living? How are you finding your passion? How are you exploring contentment? How do you define standing to live? What do you live for?

These are just some of the questions I am asking myself, along with I wonder how long it would take me to get some seriously awesome multi-colored dreads?