Justice only becomes justice if it is enacted in a specific instance.
Therefore, if justice remains a concept it becomes injustice.

Do I bring justice or do I just want it to happen?
If I just want it to happen without doing what it takes to make it happen in the life I walk through every day, do I really want it?

I'm looking at my schedule for today.
Justice has not made the list.

If you and I put pursuits of justice on our lists then the people as numerous as the sands can change.  If you move the sand the dry desert changes.  If you change the desert you change the world.

"Specialization is for insects."

Be well rounded.
It'll make you better at what you're already good at.

Building a boat can make you better at loving your neighbor if you pay close attention.

      
"But apart from a personality what is there?  Some bones and flesh.  A collection of legal statistics, perhaps, but surely no person."

Look at the people around you.
Look at the people you love.
Look at the people you used to love, but have recently forgotten how to.
Look at the people who are different from you.

Now actually look at the person.  Don't look at their bones and their flesh.  Don't look at their tattered clothes or their no-longer-young eyes.
Their flesh is not them.  It never has been.

Their physical body has never contained their personhood.  It has just held them.

A person is their personality.  "Person"..."ality."  The property of the person.

Let's close our eyes and look again.

As my finger follows the rim of my coffee cup and the stool holds my crossed feet, I realize I am no exception.
And you aren't either.
And neither is the person you love the most.

Every person will realize this at some point.

My realization was this:
I am ending.  As soon my body stops growing it starts the process of winding down.

Now, I know there is the possibility of many years in my future.  Or very few...woah...weird.   But my feet have stopped growing and my hat size won't change so my body has concluded the process of growing up.  My mind and spirit will progress toward further maturity...hopefully...but this thought that "my hands will never grow again" as I look at them typing just struck me as odd this morning.

No matter how lofty or little our accomplishments, we are all progressing toward our end.

And this is a good thing because life beyond this one is incomprehensibly better.

   
"There's nothing up ahead that's any better than it is right here."
-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Contentment is what leads to prosperous travels.  There is no better moment to enjoy life than right now.

Traveling just puts you in a different place.  If the only goal is to see what is next, we will be blind to the beauty we are sitting within right now.  Mountains are just a pile of rocks if you don't enjoy the process of climbing them.

To forget this when taking a motorcycle trip would be sad.
To forget this on life's trip toward death would be detrimental to all that we are designed to be.
            

Well, I have committed.
"Man, if this thing ever comes to a close we need to just take a trip. I don't know, maybe we should hike the Appalachian Trail or jump on some motorcycles and head across America. Anything, really."

I'm going with the second one.
On April 1st, Casey and I will be heading out on a motorcycle trip across America. The goal is not the destination, but the miles in between. We'll probably ride the Pacific coast, take the back roads, see the Grand Canyon, and walk around in Montana, but all the details are yet to be planned. I haven't even left yet and I feel as if I have been extremely blessed in the pursuit of this trip. I'll write more about that later.

Is it a trip to "find myself?" No. It's a trip to find the thin places; the places where the distance between heaven and earth is small. I've heard it said that the Spirit of God rides in on the four winds. This trip is about trying to find all four and have the Spirit blow me away.

I am just searching for moments, and I want to stay in the habit of following through with dreams.
This is not a running away, but a running back from a different direction.
If I run far enough I'll be on my way back home.
I just want to head out so that when I head back in I can "love it again for all new reasons."

“If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away."
-John Steinbeck

Thoughts?

Where does the wind begin?

Worn out.

Let's take the ladder to the stars.
You'll step on me and I'll step on you, but we'll make it before the bright of day.
We'll make it.
You'll see.
I'll see.
See you in our dreams.

Your house is burning down.
Everyone is out.
What do you take?

An old book, that thing she made, some photos and notes in the drawer, the bag that carries my soul on paper, the guitar that smells like west.

What does that say about who you are?

I'm a son and a brother and a man on my own. I don't like watching movies twice. I read other people's inspirations and steal them so that I feel like I'm living a full life. The things I want to be the best at I feel like I'm the worst at. My greatest fear is forgetting, but I have a hard time planning. I oftentimes write to release my conviction of doing. I memorize things that will help me in the future, and then I forget them shortly after. Magic and wonder are two of my favorite words. Posed photos seem like cheating. I hate offices and love mountains. I like it when old things work like new.

How'd I get this way?
Ask yourself.

All of my friends are creators.
We rush down roads together.
They run toward forever and I get to come along.
I feel like Keroac being shown around by those that do things that interest me.
I scramble so we can all dance in the streets.

Lauren creates life's memories.
Michael creates the steady flow.
Grant creates the cave meeting.
Justin creates the night swimming.
Adam creates the song you know.
Kyle creates the sights.
Casey creates the moment's sound.
Aaron creates the gathering.
Ben creates the jam.
Paul creates the clapping.
Just to name a few. And there are many more. You all are.

I'm a man in motion and I'm glad I get to run, run, run with this crew.

Motion man.
Taken by Kyle DeLoach.

The church is moving out.

The woman on the subway reading her Bible in her peaceful world. Mine is filled with clatter. And clutter. But I see her.
She is the church on the move.
The pizza place in the old church in the big city. The stones that held the saved souls and sinners songs now throw dough and dollars.
This is the church on the move.

Are you a part of the moving in or the moving out?

A wise person and a fool know the same things.
They just choose differently.

I want to connect us.
When I say "us" what do I mean?

United States
Russia
Germany
India
Canada
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Poland
Italy
Ukraine
Saudi Arabia

Today, for the first time, I looked at the statistics about the viewers of this blog, and these were the countries that were represented. People from all over the world are checking in.
And I have failed you.
I have failed you because I have never connected you to each other by allowing you to share your common beliefs.
For we must have some things in common if we have been led to this blog.

So I want to start connecting you.

I've never posted comments before.
Why?
Selfish opinions lead to division if we aren't careful.
But let's unify.
If you have a comment that leads to discussion that leads to disturbance in the norm that leads to unity for the purpose of change then I believe I have the responsibility to post it.

Want to join in?

Where do you start?