friend told me today

to not regret the things I do, but the things that I DON'T do.

I'm not sure that I entirely agree (I've done some regrettable things), but I like the concept. We have to make the most of the time we have here, and be ever looking ahead, or just looking around, taking in this life. Now is a moment you won't ever get back or relive.

"so help me drink in everything that is like a free convict, drunk on redemption from the way i've been. but i swear this time that thing's will be different."

"and time's not poison but once you drink it all you'll die. so let's just sip it real slow yeah we can nurse it all night, try to believe that once it's gone we'll pour another round and come back to life"

"that's gone and i know that it won't ever come back
i accept i won't cling to what i had in the past. cause life's a slippery slope, regret's the steepest hill, hope for the best plan for the worst and maybe end up somewhere in the middle."

"and I'm fine still swimming through time, afraid some days i've reached the shore. make yourself free, a man said that to me, and now my heart is like an open door."

(all Bright Eyes lyrics)

Until what we say and what we mean can finally be the same

Lately I've been thinking about the difference between saying I am a sinner and truly comprehending how devastatingly so.

County Jail Fellowship training today got me reflecting.
How I relate to the inmates, lately, the more I discover the depth of my own sin.
The fact that we are all sinners, equally deserving of death, is no longer mere hearsay; it's pivotal truth.

From the Worship Sourcebook:

The call to confession invites us to honest expression within the context of our covenant relationship with God. God's grace comes to us, creating a relationship with us in Christ in which honesty about our sin is welcome and safe. We confess our sin not in order for God to forgive us, but because God has forgiven us in Christ. The call to confession, therefore, is a word of grace like the assurance of pardon, not an exercise that shames us into confession.

We agreed that it is a gift to us when someone tells us "hey, I'm screwed up!" cause we've all felt it. Confession as honesty and accepting grace and mercy, rather than denying things in our life. A time of reflection and renewal, admitting to each other we are sinners. It doesn't matter if you're wearing orange or not. We are all sinners.



We Are Free Men By Bright Eyes

Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that's splitting infinitely up ahead
...
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's gonna fix
...
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral

...
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time, that things will be different

....
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live