the sound of lights - minneapolis is shining...

mind the gap!

2009-02-19T02:57:00.002-06:00

the blogosphere hasn't heard from the timewalker in a while now, has it!?

I would like to most eloquently thank everybody for being utterly patient in waiting upon my return to this medium. For a long while, well perhaps over a year, I pondered a lot but didn't feel fit enough as a writer to jot down thoughts onto a blog. What was stopping me? Perfectionism. What stops every artist from doing what they're supposed to do with a great freedom that we only put ourselves in the way of? Perfectionism. Why did Beethoven only write nine symphonies in all his years of being the great composer that he was? Perfectionism... but, they're slap bang brilliant symphonies, aren't they!?

My heart has been crying for more of God. I have been filling it with more of worries and concerns for my own life... and I haven't been letting his word permeate my heart... and the corners of my heart have been dark and filled with the secret sins that I think I can hold onto so dearly and ever so closely without being found out... well, the deal is that all will be exposed to the light someday... and God sees everything. So, as my good housemate, Christian, and I were talking tonight, we discussed seeking God's judgement before the actual judgement... desiring the process of living for his kingdom by asking for him to continually purify us with a judgement that we receive in this life to make us more prepared for the judgement we will receive at the end of all days... wow, deep discussion, eh? Well, I don't know the answer to that and it left me hanging my head in wonderment... but, it made for a good discussion... amongst other things such as realizing we can no longer sleep but we must wake up and know these times and prepare for the worst...

Have you lit a candle today? Light one for the Saviour of all souls, Jesus Christ, in order that it may represent that you are a "light that shines in the darkness..." and know that "the darkness shall not overcome you..."

TiMeWaLkEr

Real Love

2008-05-22T01:54:00.002-05:00

A magnificent interpretation of this extraordinary Lennon tune... =)

liverpool and the cavern club...

2008-02-08T03:21:00.001-06:00

I'm just beginning to look at the video I shot in the UK last year. Here's a snippet of footage from my time at the Cavern Club in Liverpool - where the Beatles made their break in '61/'62.

Voyage music that will sweep you off your feet...

2008-02-07T09:44:00.000-06:00

Some footage I shot of the other night at the "new" Acadia Cafe here in Minneapolis... enjoy! =)

Ringo and Rambo...

2008-01-25T19:50:00.001-06:00

...have absolutely nothing to do with each other, but I've been intrigued by these two "name will sell their work alone" entertainment entities this week.

I've always loved Ringo Starr's post-Beatles work as well as his very charming childlike sing-along anthems of the fab four days. Back in 2000, when I graduated from college and came back home to the Twin Cities, I was in a brief period of not really having anyone to hang out with, I was looking for a church home and I was also trying to figure out what I should do for a job. So, having an abundance of free time, I went to the Taste of Minnesota in St. Paul to see Ringo for free. I danced and sang my heart out in the front row right against the stage and saw this man give a very engaging performance with an All-Starr line-up of musicians who played with other famous bands in the past. It will always be a day I will remember with fondness.

He is certainly aging (you can hear it in his voice), but Ringo still has the energy and enthusiasm to deliver. This comes through on his latest album called "Liverpool 8", which was released a week or two ago. I definitely recommend it. Here is the music video that was made for the title track...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5y956PV8no

long acronyms...

2008-01-09T02:45:00.000-06:00

SEARCH BEYOND (Spirit-Empowered Alliance of Radical Churches Bridging Endeavors for Yahweh's Omnipresent Network of Divinity)...

...yeah, it's kinda long, isn't it?!?!

Well, I talked about my trip tonight at church. It went fine. I was kind of non-linear in my delivery though. I think once I had my video playing, I was able to tie everything together much better.

I shouldn't be so hard on myself, I guess. I'm just glad that I got through it. We'll see where God takes this one...

Craig

a song that transcended time

2007-12-28T00:03:00.000-06:00

I found this tonight. As a songwriter, I really appreciate Billy Joel's analysis and dramatic "acting out" of his recollection of the first time he heard A Day in the Life by the Beatles...

"...one of the most momentous events in the history of science."

2007-12-08T14:05:00.000-06:00

Back in late August (or somewhere around there), I made this little tribute video for two dear friends of mine, Keith and Lizzy. I've known them since my early days at my previous church, The Rock (www.rockthechurch.com). They were roommates from 2000 to 2007.

That's seven years! Most great TV shows accomplish a length of seven seasons. From my personal experience of living with them, I know all too well that everyday at the house was like a real life sit-com! =)

Lizzy (tattoos, dark clothes, bigger) went off and married a great girl, Cheryl. Keith (blonde, jovial facial expressions, smaller) is still living at "the fortress" as I like to call it.

Only days before I would leave for a two-month trip in England, weighing out all of the last minute things I needed to take care of before leaving the country for a while, I thought it was equally important to have a tribute video created to honor their "odd couple" legacy. =)

If you know these guys, and haven't seen this video, then I hope this is turns out to be a nice little surprise for you. I had fun making it. I shot and edited the whole thing within a day. I'm still new at movie-making but the popular acclaim this project has received inspires me to make more movie projects of all kinds!

Enjoy...

"To days to come...all my love to long ago..."

2007-11-21T12:47:00.000-06:00

I've been watching over and over again this very touching, special Doctor Who episode broadcast last Friday as a part of the "Children In Need" charity show that the BBC airs every year. It reunited the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, with the current number Ten, played by David Tennant. If you're wondering what's going on with the girl leaving his ship and all the stuff happening at the end, this is the "bridge" story between the last episode of series 3 and the upcoming Christmas special. Here it is... TIME CRASH... it's only about eight minutes long...

I'll explain a little bit to help you understand what this eight minute special is all about and why it is so significant to Doctor Who fans like myself. The Doctor is a Time Lord and what makes his life special is that whenever he faces death or a situation that puts severe stress on his body, he has the ability to regenerate into a new body, yet retain his identity and memories of being who he is - the Doctor. In the original run of the show, from 1963 to 1989, the Doctor made it up to number Seven, then the show was cancelled. Since the return of the show in 2005, the Doctor has regenerated up to his Tenth incarnation.

In the original run of the series, a few stories were produced over the years where the Doctor ran into himself. "The Five Doctors" (1983) was one of those stories where Peter Davison, the then current Fifth Doctor, met his other selves. Time travel. Paradoxes. Weird aliens. Eccentric time travelers who dress in fashionable clothes. These are elements of Doctor Who.

This is a landmark episode because it brings back a former Doctor from the original series and teams him up with the current one.

"I love being you. Back when I first started, at the very beginning, I was always trying to be old and grumpy and important, like you do when you're young. And then I was you... you were my Doctor..." remarked the Tenth to the Fifth.

I really like that line because I feel like many of us miss out on a lot of life when we're too busy trying to be important and holding on too tightly to things that we just really need to let go of. Then, once we let go of things that we formerly tried to have so much control over, God can really start to move in our lives and give us a kind of freedom we've never experienced before.

When these two met in this episode, I feel like the Doctor had an epiphany moment where he realized how important his past was in how it shaped who he is in the present. He had an opportunity to look at himself in the mirror, literally at his past self standing right in front of him, and see how he has truly been his own inspiration.

I think it's easy to see just the negative and fail to honor who we were and where we came from. It's easy to assign the past a terrible reputation for being the days when we were foolish, naive and less-experienced than who we are now. And if there is anything in the past that we remember fondly, they're remembered as "the good old days". Yet, in reality, if we could actually go back, we might not find them as great as we remember them to be.

Maybe we would find ourselves in a moment of irony if we connected with a previous part of ourselves that we once dismissed as being the most ugly, confusing and disturbing part of our lives. Even if our previous self was from an era of great pain and trials, we might be able to see how important that truly was for who we are now...

What would I say to myself? "...thank you, Craig... you truly are important to God, very creative and insightful... you're going to be a blessing to many people and God is taking you places, my friend... hang in there... times will be difficult, you have some things to work out, but it will all be worth enduring through... you are an inspiration... but, again, thank you..." Well, something like that... =)

We might see how the darkest days were actually the most important ones because they gave us the fuel to walk through the days we're in now...

To days to come and all my love to long ago...

Craig

Think twice... cuz it's another day for you and me in paradise...

2007-11-14T13:42:00.000-06:00

I greatly enjoy the music of Phil Collins, Genesis and a lot of other '80s pop music that I remember from the early days of MTV. Many songs from those days cut very deep and have held up to the test of time in a profound way.

"Another Day in Paradise" gives us a picture of how we can be so oblivious to reality, having a false sense of "paradise" in the midst of brokenness all around us...

America has always been a place where many immigrants have sought dreams of freedom and prosperity. Sadly, as a nation, we've forgotten what freedom truly is and as biblical principles have been "exiting the building", it's made it harder and harder to know how to love and live among the many cultures that come into our country.

Often arriving in droves, these immigrants are met with the hard reality of seeing that this land of the "American Dream" is often found to be more the land of desolation and broken dreams. We can see the result of much of this in the homeless that fill the streets of not only America, but even in London and other places where people go having high hopes for a better life.

I was thinking back to an evening in London when I encountered a homeless man on the street corner, just hunched over with his hands together, praying... this was moments before I would walk into a large mega church where everybody was well-dressed and socializing as if it was a club or a party. I gave what I could to this man but I still didn't feel I gave enough. He was desperate for something else beyond just financial help and shelter. I think we are all like him. We take for granted how blessed we are with having some kind of financial income, the friends we can be assured we'll see on a regular basis and the shelter that we can always count on.

When all that is stripped away, what do we really have?

After a brief exchange of the few coins I had in my pocket and a few words of encouragement, I eventually made my way over to the church. I must have felt a little bit like Jesus when he went into the temple and saw the merchants going about with anything but the Father's business. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to reveal what church this was, because there are many like this one all over the world. In the basement, or "the crypt", was a huge room devoted to thousands of self-help books that were for sale. I thought to myself, "This huge crypt room could be emptied of all these books and replaced with beds prepared for the many homeless people that need them. That would be a church."

Looking around inside this place, it just seemed like the more knowledge, the better... I felt like I walked into a huge store with people ready to offer me books, church newspapers and any kind of literature that probably spent quite a bit of money to mass produce. And outside, in the streets, are the people that are what church is all about... and we miss the point consistently...

Adapted from Luke 10:25-37 (ESV)

ME: Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

JESUS: What is written in the Law? How do you read it?

ME: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

JESUS: You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.

ME: And who is my neighbor?

JESUS: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back." Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

ME: The one who showed him mercy.

JESUS: You go, and do likewise.

The road to destruction is paved with good intentions...

2007-11-13T22:44:00.000-06:00

I was back at the Salvage Yard tonight. It was great to be back to see the church made up of people that I call "family". That being the case, in addition to my biological family, there are lots of people. Bryan Keen recently got into a bicycle accident and hurt his left arm. Many of us prayed over him and we all hope he gets better soon. May it heal swiftly, Bryan!

Mark spoke about Genesis 16 but more poignant was the focus he directed toward this verse:

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)

He was relating something about it to Sarai and Hagar, but man, that Proverb hit me. If I'm honest with myself, I've depended too much on my own understanding. In the past, I've always ran across verses like this and thought to myself, "Wow, I'm sure glad I'm not THAT kind of person!" But, interestingly enough, after all these eight or so years of following the Lord, I'm learning that the Bible isn't to show us who we aren't, but who we are and why we need to stop sinning and run to Jesus. As Mark put it, it's a daily thing...a moment by moment thing...do we allow for our flesh to make decisions for us, or allow God to direct us with his Holy Spirit?

I'm a guy who's full of good intentions. I have some great ideas. Are they always from God? No! For someone like me, it's sometimes difficult to be wired to feel everything. You could say I'm very emotional. Being this way can have its downsides, but if used in the right way, it can be very instrumental in God's hands. It's important to confront these feelings, intentions or ideas when they come up. Perhaps we can test them with a question like, "Okay, is this great idea, good intention or strong feeling a product of my sinful, self-seeking flesh or will it edify the church and lift up Christ?"

Then, of course, that's where prayer always must come in. I think this leads into that well known verse:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

Where do I put my trust? I feel like it's often misplaced upon a path that I feel is one I need to have control over. Then I get this whole idea that God somehow is somewhere watching me or helping me by tagging alongside me, but kind of just there. He sadly becomes treated like he's second class.

Our relationship with God becomes a back seat situation where it's like putting a London black taxi driver (if you drive a black taxi, you are the best of the best drivers) into the back seat. We then have the audacity to think we can navigate through all the roads to our destination by ourselves only to find out we're dead wrong.

Now that I think of it, I would love to sit next to Jesus as he drove my 2003 Chevy Cavalier manual (stick) car... ah, enough of the car parallels already! I'm glad I don't have to "parallel park" this blog... oh, my hammy humor is just ridiculous, isn't it? =)

Craig

A guitar and amp have been provided... =)

2007-11-13T12:11:00.000-06:00

God is never early and never late. My former roommate felt as if I should have his Fender Telecaster and complimentary Fender amp for at least a year until I settle in on another guitar - whenever that is. He knows I like to use it for worship at church and it will also come in handy when I start recording or doing more things outside of church. So, what a blessing. Thanks Nate!

i'm sitting on the amp...

Still recovering, but settling in again...

2007-11-12T13:16:00.001-06:00

As many of you know, I was in England for two months working out a vision that God put on my heart. I believe that vision is meant to be carried on as I'm back home now. It's good to be back in Minneapolis and I feel like my heart has been in the process of being "refueled". I went through a lot of intense things out in London but in the few days that I've been home, I can say with confidence that seeds were indeed planted and I believe there may be a season in the future when I do make a return trip. For now, though, I believe God has things for me to do here in my native soil.

He's already provided me a new place to live! And it's close to everything I like being close to - church, friends, downtown things, Stone Arch Bridge/Mill City area, cool places close enough to bike to... Yay! Apart from that very timely blessing, I'm still looking for a new job... so your prayers are definitely needed for that.

The jet lag has been slowly wearing off... so, I'm nearly recovered... I should be back on schedule sometime this week. =) I've also had a lot of musical inspiration as a result of my trip and I'm ready to work out some parts with some of my musician friends and eventually record some tracks and see where God leads it... so, I'm looking foward to that!

Oh, and pray for me about a new guitar. I don't have one right now. I left my little travel guitar over in England because it would've been too much of a hassle to get it back over here (exceeded carry-on dimensions and only 1 was allowed)... I also sold my Martin acoustic before going to England for a little extra money... If anyone has a connection or an idea to how I might obtain a guitar, let me know.

I'm happy to be posting again... =)

Craig