Man In Black - Johnny Cash & Another Bedless Night

I'm still in one of the late nights involved in a 12+ hour travel day, we will make it where we are headed in Indiana in a while. I should have been using this ride to catch up on much needed sleep. But since my mind keeps challenging exhaustion to a race, what's one less hour of sleep?

I've had quite a few thoughts I wanted to write out this week, but I'm not sure how resolved any of them are.
One thing on the tip of my tongue... The problem of homelessness and the sad insensitivity of those of us that have a bed (well, I had one for a few nights...)  towards those that don't. I'm probably prompted to keep this in mind by nights like this, where I miss my house and I grow to love every minute I can sleep in a bed instead of a vehicle. I'm sure being traveled has heightened my sensitivity and awareness of the needs of the poor. But its shocking to me how easy it is for well-fed people to forget the hungry.

This may seem like a tangent, I have to confess though, I feel a little provoked by the churches closed doors sometimes and the First United Christian Facebook Church world, where Christians along with everyone else can become detached from reality and do their part by reposting whatever Christian chain status is circulating, or mimic the appropriate political statement of the moment, or spend hours each week in online conversations with other Facebook addicted Christians who are often neglecting their real life, family friends and the needs of others to meet their own social needs, in an online social life we build for ourself. Wow, I'll climb off of that soapbox... But I rest my case, how we behave on Facebook reflects a lot on how we are elsewhere. This is a concern.

I started this blog about 2am Thursday Morning somewhere between South Carolina and Shipshewana, Indiana... But now after a long eventful weekend with the Amish and Mennonites, a Johnny Cash Tribute Band, hot pretzels, and a lot of running back and forth with my family  between 6 concerts in 3 days while changing from overalls to suits and ties, listening to a lot of banjo, and getting standing ovation in a fancy lil theater and to make it all worthwhile a lot of good Bluegate pie... It's 2am Sunday, and I have to be awake for church in a few hours.

So many things I've been thinking and wanting to express are summed up well in the words of this song by a wiser man than me, Mister Johnny Cash...
"Man In Black"
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

Starving Artists :: Cornerstone part 3

Well now that I've written myself into a corner, I have to tell you about the hamburgers I led up to in my "love life" blog.

This year at Cornerstone I found myself hungry.... I don't mean like "oh, those vendors have curly fries and funnel cakes and I NEED them" hungry, I mean "since we didn't have Jesus Village we not only didn't feed everyone else we weren't setup to eat for ourselves either so the first 2 days at Cornerstone I didn't eat. I ate something in Indiana Wednesday morning then drove to Cornerstone, got out setup played my show with my beautiful friends and violins and cello's and accordians and then went on thru all night Wednesday & all day Thursday without eating" hungry. I know 40 some hours is nothing to go without eating, I wasn't starving but man, I felt like I was....I was ready for some food. Thursday night came around and as I sat down with my siblings and friends with hamburgers on our plates and oranges... We just kept looking at each other and saying thank you God for this food. I don't think I was the only one who had tears in my eyes as I started talking to my brother saying, do you realize that how we felt not eating or knowing where our meals would come from the last 2 days is what the people we feed always feel? I can not explain how poignant that moment was sitting there with our hamburgers almost crying because we realized how much what we do matters to people.

I am aware of the needs across America, in the city streets, in impoverished areas, in Appalachia, in third world countries, in our own overlooked backyards, but I didn't think that feeding people dinner at Cornerstone the last 10years as Jesus Village meant that much. Until suddenly I was one of the people who had spent all we had to get there and then went around the festival without a meal. Food isn't the point. The poor will be with you always....there will always be need and hunger, and whether I'm always out there trying to meet those needs or not I hope I always remember the point is always being where God wants you when He wants you there, so he can use you, as love, as a bridge, as truth and compassion.

I realized all of these things in succession as I ate, looking around at my family, my friends and at the unending faithfulness of God.
God let me have that moment to feel how grateful others are for even just a meal we give them. As I realized how God had used us even in that way at Cornerstone not just in the trenches I cried, tears of joy and fulfillment and thankfulness. I cried because I couldn't give anything away this year. But in the same moment I knew God had His reasons and timing and perfect ways. He's always doing the good. We just sometimes get to be in the middle of it. And if we're seeking Him in our walk... Well, you know how it goes...

All things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called... That would be me.

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