Blogtober #3 Listening

 

There was a time when I remember being able to sit and listen. Listen to the wind, to the birds, to the silence, to myself, and to God. As I've aged, it's been more difficult to do intentionally because I've had to make the time. When I was younger, I just had time, time to myself with nothing to do but listen- a great training ground. These days, I have to set the time aside to listen. Now, I'm not talking about listening to music or to others who are talking, though I'm sure I could use some help there at times, but the listening to things outside of me. This week I gave a challenge to myself and to my 16-year-old son to listen to see what God is trying to tell us this week. There might be a general sense as to what God is saying to each of us, but I wanted to focus on what is He trying to say to us as individuals, his sons, his brothers and how that might change us. Since this is the last day of the week, I haven't asked my son what he's heard, but I'm hearing God calling me back to deeper discussions with Himself and with others, to be a better listener to The Holy Spirit's leading. It's not something new, it's just something that I'm being reminded of in very real ways: that I need to be more intentional about listening more often, daily even.

Blogtober #2 Podcast...?

 So, no theme developed yet... today's ramble is a thought about a possible Podcast. I enjoyed producing, editing and creating visual/audio elements for the podcast, where I was in the background. No one except the creator and maybe some other staff members knew I was a part of it, maybe it was a good thing. In any case, I learned a lot and have always thought it would be fun to host my own, despite minimal interest from others in anything I create. The idea is that it would be fun for me and if anyone actually likes it, awesome, if not, no loss, because I found it fun! The idea would be focused around a nagging thought or a funny saying that I or others just can't let go of or have found amusing. It's not a show that answers questions but asks them in order to have better questions and deeper understandings of the life all around us. The cool part is that while the plane lands, it doesn't always have to arrive at a predetermined location. It's more of a let's see where this idea goes as I or we think outloud. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do this but the idea sounds fun enough to try it out. 

Thanks for reading!

BLOGTOBER #1 Dreamscape

 Today is the first day of Blogtober, where the challenge is to write a blog every day of October. Originally, I was thinking of organizing the writing around a theme, and I might do that; today I'm starting with the weird and busy dreams I had last night.

The dream starts with me in an old car waiting at a stoplight in what looked like a run-down part of Las Vegas. At some point, I found a group of friends that I picked up and then dropped them off where they were going, but I realized they weren't inviting me, though they appreciated the ride. Though once dropped off I found what looked like Community's space RV so I took a tour. At one point the entry was so small I had to crawl through but the person in front of me stopped to talk to someone past where it opened up to stand again, while I was in this crawl space. It seemed to take forever and I was getting hot so I opened a small window and realized I didn't have to wait. So I crawled back the way I came.

 Next thing I knew I was riding my bike out of town, and I wound up in what looked like a very expensive place to live with a cyber-park. The best way I could describe it was this park with man-made lakes, moving walkways, LED Tron-like lights throughout. The whole park was underground, like a converted parking garage, though there were parts of the roof  were windows and you could see the natural sky, where you could see there was a train depot, and it seems this was the rich community's way to beautify and not see the train depot. The sidewalk led straight into the underground park and you couldn't see the train depot unless you went to one of the windows of the ceiling. Once I was there, I saw a woman who was giving a tour and answering questions. I couldn't tell if she was real or a robot. I was trying to ask her about the place and what it was when another family showed up and she started her spiel all over again. I reasoned she must be a robot and continued on without the tour. I saw a group of people I knew and they were walking out so I joined them. I hopped off my bike and walked with them for a few yards when they encountered some people I knew from youth group. I waved at them in hello and goodbye as we were leaving and they seemed not to really know who I was. Once outside the group and I were going to part ways but then we got invited into a bar that was hosting a comedian. So, the 5 of us got a table, because they asked if I wanted to hang out with them to watch the comedian. Shortly after sitting down together a few of them found different seats with other people knew and within a few minutes everyone had left the table but me. The comedian was too hard to hear and I didn't feel like sticking around so I got back on my bike and left. Then I awoke.