The perfect discription of me.

My Bucket List

Most people have heard of a bucket list. It's that list of things someone wants to do, see, accomplish or experience before they die. The cliche list would include things like: sky dive, climb a mountain, travel to ________ (you fill in the blank), scuba dive, experience a _________ game at _________ (you fill in the sport and the venue), get a tattoo (ok, maybe that was just me)...things most people don't experience or do on a regular basis.

The idea of a bucket list is that, as the grave approaches, we have to work in all the things that make life, well, life...and not just survival.

Maybe it's because I'm in my mid-30s. Maybe it's because I saw that movie a while back. Whatever the reason, I've thought about what would be on my bucket list. But as my bride says about herself, the last thing I want to be is cliche.

So here's my bucket list: grow closer to God.

That might sound like some super-spiritual, copout answer, but think about it. Every one of those things above has something in common - it's about making life extraordinary. That's what God is all about!

In John 10:10 Jesus said himself, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

If that doesn't encapsulate the idea of fulfilling a "bucket list," I don't know what does!

Sure, I'd love to experience a lot of thrills in life. And I have. Most of what's above I've done, but there are many more I still want to do. But I don't just want those moments to be what makes my life exciting. I want every day, every moment to be exciting.

I think that's what God is all about. And as I grow closer to him - through my victories, my struggles, my boredom, my failures, my anger, my joy, my love - I want to watch as he turns the mundane and ordinary into monumental and extraordinary!

I Don't Know Myself

12 strangers sit in an old coffeeshop,
Not one says a word to another.
Each has a story that ticks with the clock,
Yet one doesn't know this from the others.

I can guess at who it is that is sitting around me;
I could create their stories and plotlines myself.
But I'd just be guessing at the lives all around me.
Who sits here? I don't know myself.

I sit down with paper and pen at the ready,
Struggling to capture the words and emotions.
And as every writer knows, this is the point most unsteady.
"Just write," the voice says. "Put the pen into motion!"

"But if it's not perfect" I argue and battle,
"It will forever remain unread and up on the shelf."
So what's the perfect combination of sounds and syllables?
What should I write? I don't know myself.

I finally step out, free, and head 'round the bend
And stare awestruck at what cannot be.
It's easy to look back and see where I've been,
But tomorrow, though I strain, I'll never fully see.

"But I have life under control," I pretend and I say,
"Like a book I can pull off of a shelf."
But as I step forward and into each new day,
Where'm I going? I don't know myself.

Pen and Paper.

Pen and paper are two of our world's most primitive communication devices. Yet, the power that propels one onto the other, found in the deep recesses of our consciences, drives the pursuit to communicate the old and discover the new.

Pen and paper are where old meets new, where purpose meets possibility, where dream meets reality. It is through these two that ideas form legs and begin to move on their own, ever increasing speed until all of a sudden they have surpassed their own creator.

Now...go write.