so these past two days i’ve just been completely blown away by the beauty of God as seen through events in nature. yesterday i went to austin, and as i was driving back home there was the most incredible lightning storm in front of me to guide me all the way. it was beautiful. the patterns of light in the clouds, the way the individual bolts twisted and turned in the sky without ever reaching the ground, just the sheer realization of how powerful a thing as lightning can actually be.

and then today as i walked outside from work i saw perhaps the most beautiful sunset i’ve ever seen. people use tired cliches all the time in describing sunsets, and i’ve never really found any of them to be too accurate until today. the one i’m talking about of course is ‘the sky looks like it’s on fire’. it really did. lots of different shades of red, orange, yellow, purple. the effect heightened by a group of clouds that aided in shading and allowed the lights to play off of the curves and pores within them.

a lot of the time i get myself so wrapped up in my own life and even in my own faith that i just fail to recognize God for all He truly is. i get caught up studying His word and trying to decipher that within it that i lose sight of the fact that God does not only reside within those 66 books. God is everywhere. one of His defining characteristics is that He’s omnipresent. He is in everything that we see, everything we touch, everything we smell, and we all take that for granted. at least i know that i do. and i am so thankful for the times that God wakes me up to that fact, like He has the last couple of days. as i just stood and gazed at what God was doing in the skies i just felt an intense peace befall my heart and i nearly wept at the fact that i had gone so long without consciously acknowledging God as Creator and without thanking Him for the beauty that He has infused throughout the earth, “for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. — E.E. Cummings

so i’ve decided that possibly the best job one could have would be anything that has to do with a record store. and i’m not talking about the music section at best buy or circuit city, or even some chain like tower records or virgin records. i mean an honest to goodness locally run and owned record store. if you’ve never been to one then you sure are missing out. they’re just so fun. the people that work there seem to be having the time of their lives, they get to talk to people all day long about music, and they get to subject their customers to whatever the hell they want to over the establishment’s loudspeakers. unlike chains where they have to play whatever is popular or just whatever the company tells them to play.

like today. i was in austin and went to a few of such businesses. the first i went to was Antone’s Records. it’s a small little place that i’ve never been to before and was quite excited to find that it’s inventory was made up of 75% vinyl. very cool. they had a lot of excellent stuff. there was only one person working there. a girl. this girl was just relaxin behind the counter with a stack of records next to her. those were records she had chosen from the store’s selection to be her soundtrack for the day. she had some jazz, lots of blues, and some zeppelin. how freakin cool is that!!!!!

the second place i visited was Waterloo Records. this is the coolest store on the planet. it’s big. really big. and there’s nothin but music there. granted they are a tad pricey, but it’s still the coolest store ever. all the people that worked there were typical ‘record store employee’ looking people, were all musical snobs (which is a good thing), and all seemed to be having the time of their life. and they get to do that EVERYDAY!!!! life is so unfair. i would even be content with getting to GO to a place like that everyday. but alas, i live in a small hick town with no such place of business. oh how i long to return to life in the big city. until then………..

so why is everyone in such a big hurry to grow up? do they really realize all that comes with that? i’m a college senior right now, and it seems that all of my friends are doing everything they can to get themselves hitched or engaged before they graduate. now i could understand it if they had been dating their partner all through school and marriage is just the next logical step. but most of them have only been dating their partner for months at the most, and some only for weeks. this baffles me. are they afraid of being single and out of school? do they think they won’t be able to meet people once they graduate? i don’t get it.

what’s even worse is that it seems that this fear completely clouds all sound judgment and they do not fully think about the reprucussions of being locked in the bondage of marriage, much less discuss them with their future bride/groom. or maybe they do think about those things, but are so overcome with the emotion in getting engaged that they forget about them. and then all the planning for the wedding starts, that monopolizes time, and they still fail to sort out all of the post-wedding day stuff that they’re going to have to eventually face. things like finances, living arrangements, jobs, chores, etc. then their marriage starts, all that stuff that they didn’t think through comes crashing down on them and then they end up stressed out over something that could have totally been avoided if they weren’t in such a hurry or in such desperation for a mate before they leave their undergraduate studies.

now don’t get me wrong. i definitely want to get married and go through all of that someday. i know all that i’ve said thus far sounds quite cynical, and perhaps it is. it’s june afterall, wedding month central, and i have a good amount of weddings that i will be attending in the next year. i guess this is just a part of my own growing up. dealing with people making less than educated decisions that will not only affect their own life, but the life of another person. i guess i just wish that people would totally think through a decision before they jump into something. i mean, that’s what friends are there for, right? don’t we have friends so we can tell them what we’re planning to do and then have them walk us through every aspect of that decision? or at the very least tell us we’re nuts?

i mean i guess people can do what they want to do, and it seems that it works out most of the time. i just know that when i get ready to make that leap with that special lady, i hope i have someone there to aid me in making sure it’s the best time to do so, so that all involved will be taken care of. that is all. until next time……….

so why is it so long between my posts? well i’ll tell you. see it’s a lack of inspiration. i have to be inspired to write, as i can’t just sit down and start writing about something. if i do, then it’s just drivel and doesn’t make any sense. now how do i become inspired? usually i get ideas from conversations i have or from things i read or from things i just sit and think on for a while. those thoughts start in my brain and i just allow them to mature and grow into something profound or poignant that i then translate to a page. so instead of complaining about the lack of posts, one should thank me that i do not subject them to mindless drivel that could actually prohibit the expansion of their own mind. with that said, that is all you will get for now. so be happy. another post lives. there is more to come soon. until then………