I have stumbled onto something new...

It has occurred to me that apartments downtown are considered more "upscale" and can chage more by having two street names in their title... for example... The Dawson at Morgan (on the corner of Dawson St. and Morgan St.)... very upscale and trendy... on a corner... two names in the title... another is The Glenwood at West... up and coming apartment/condos...

You can say, "well Jason that is only 2..." well to that I say, "I am forgetting one and... and... all the better to get in on the front side of this trend..."

So... my good friend Chris Boyette and I have decided to get in while we can... we have found some older apartmet style dwelling places on the corner of... get ready... Mayo and Morgan... Wow... what a ring to it this has...

You may be wondering... isn't that right next to some kind of prison... and the answer is, well... yes... but we are convinced that nothing can slow down the current market trend for double st. named apartment condos...

Ok folks... you heard it here first... I stay over at "The Mayo at Morgan"... REPLY: "Really... I heard about those... they sound so cool... I would pay alot to live to there..."



If you want on the waiting list now... it is not too early as these will go very quickly...

Ok for now that is all... until next time...

-Jason

post script
I am in no way serious about investing in mayo and morgan currently... this blog post was only an attempt at humor by engaging a slight trend/exsistence in the downtown market and revealing a comical conversation between myself and Mr. Chris Boyette... I am also in no way mocking anyone living in a cool, trendy place like the ones I mentioned above... If the timing were different it is possible I too would live in one of these dwelling places...

It is time...

every year diana and I come to her parents house for Christmas with her family... and every year we prune the apple trees...

in certain cultures before one enters war or his unavoidable fate, he would write a poem, or song, or a story as a statement of acceptence...

and now... it is christmas... i am here... it is that time... i move forward with adandon... it is my fate... i except it... the trees are calling...

______________________________________________

trees... be weary...

trees... be afraid..

for you must know yourself... today is not your brightest day...

my pruners shall come... your extra limbs shall fall...

but the fruit you shall soon bear... will certainly be worth it all...

______________________________________________

enjoy... and happy day to you,

-Jason

So it's late...

I just got home... and my wife is already asleep... She is so beautiful... how am i so blessed... 3 and a half years of marriage already... So incredible...

Thoughts from a worship leader...

So as many of you know I act as, among other things, "worship leader" for our church community here in Raleigh. (mind you i have always thought the word is wierd based on my views of worship - prolly a different post) Well last night my home group and I (Visio Dei consists of a number of homegroups. These groups are where we live life together with a communtiy of people on mission to become who God has made us to be, find authentic community, and to live out the Way of Jesus) cooked dinner for a friend of ours Linette and her children Smith, Joylett, Jaylin, Jodie, Jessica, and Jennifer. We met Linette through another friend of ours that is apart of our church. Afterwards some of the women in our home group took her out shopping for her children while the rest of us stayed back and played with the youngins'. (I had very little to do with any of this happening from a logistical stand point)

Now here's the deal... I started thinking last night that as chruch planter and a pastor I couldn't ask for a more beautiful thing to be happening in that moment. We cooked dinner and were watching the children at our church building and we were also hosting an AA meeting in the "main gaterhing room". Then I started thinking of how we met this family and it had to do with someone else from our church stepping out to meet some folks that may need a bit of encouragement and love... then we got to meet this family... then i started thinking of the amazing stories I have just been hearing about how people in our community are reaching to meet needs of people around them.. and I was honestly a bit overwhelmed... overwhelmed by people who are realizing they have been blessed to be a blessing... and their blessing is overflowing into the lives of those around them... this to me is more important than having a church of 100 people.. 1,000 people... or even 10,000 people... (although 10,000 people living this way would be something to celebrate...)

SO from a worship leader who desires to create environments for people to encounter, experience, celebrate, and worship their God... last night I was led in a way, by our community, like never before to a place of worship... worshipping a God who moves... who opens the hearts of people like us.. to care about things bigger than ourselves... who opens our eyes to a better way of living... a life of love, compassion, and beauty...

God I thankyou for showing us how to live.. i thankyou for allowing us, as a community of people, to point each other towards your Kingdom... May we constantly realize your blessings in our life... may we be a blessing to those around us... May we live lives of worship...

Thanks to all who are apart of this journey... Thanks for leading me and those around you in worship... i couldnt ask for a better place to be in life...

Much love,

-J

Cheers...

So we took this picture for a present for someone as a joke and I thought it was funny...

I could say many things here... could get emotional about how we started a church together but that's not completely true cause so many others are involved... but either way, we were having a beer last night (cause we live in the same house and well we do that sometimes) and were talking a bit about how crazy things have been and how great our community is... even about how yesterday was an incredible time worshipping God together as a community... and I found myself thinking of how blessed I feel...

So anyways... kinda random post... but none the less...here's to good friends, love, life, community, family, and to following our God together...

Much Love,

-J

Great Band (and a funny video at bottom)

(if you dont like music just Watch This - it's hilarious - it is at the bottom too if you want to engage the whole post - I just said engage? hmmm... odd...)


Last week I went to the Brandtson and Love Drug show at the brewery... I love the passion the Love Drug brings but I gotta tell you... Brandtson stole the show... I prolly should have wrote about this last week but I didn't... Their energy was incredible and I could not stand still... Their music has gone to a Pop Rock meets dancetronic with a bit of funk crazy thing.... loops all over the place... so crazy... I was thinking the whole time... "I am at a rock show, but i want to dance..." so much fun... They put on a great show, have been around a while, and seem like great guys... very talented...



I actually went to the show in a bad mood and tired... and when they got on the stage I was taken to a different place... thank you music... thank you Brantson for making good music... thank you Lord for making it all... sooooo good!

So their new CD (Hello, Control) is incredible... buy it... track 2 and 3 are my favorite so far...

And now... what reminded me to post about these guys... Emily Aldin showed me this video... who was shown by Elizabeth Ivey... who was shown by Sean Pratt (how's that for Blog Ettiquette) This is track 2 from the CD.. This video is hilarious... I think I want to make one of these with some friends around here... where is Davo when you need him... Brandon Guy, help!!!

If you want in on the video, let me know!!!

Have a great weekend...

Much Love

-J

You have to Watch This

I have always made fun of church signs...

But here are a couple of shots of ours...





Disclaimer:
So these are lousy photos but it was cold out and i didn't have a cap for my bald head... sorry... (I will get Rebecca Blog Flickr to take a few later this week and get them up)

Also they don't really do the sign justice... but they will have to do...

Post:
We got our signed delivered today (we being us as a church... not sure why churches have signs.. well i guess to let people know where they meet? - ok, not my point) and its kinda wierd.. not the sign, but having one... I am not a big "sign guy" but the sign itself looks amazing... i went out there tonight to look at it cause it is backlit from the inside and honestly... it looks sweet...

Well this post is not just about a sign.. signs are prolly less important than we realize but its about where we are as a community. All through the Bible people built alters or stacked stones or raised an "ebenezer" as a sybmol for what God has done... to keep reminding us of all God has done... Well when I saw the sign tonight for the first time I got this sense of.... "Look at where I have brought you... I am being faithful to you as my people.." ans its not because we have a "sign"... but because we have a place in His story... he has called us to be His children and we are... So AMAZING... I have friends and family I would never know the way I do because of what God has done for us... and when I saw it tonight I was reminded of that in some ways...

So we have a sign... but more than that we are blessed that what our sign says is true... we are a church community... His Church...

In a world that is more broken than we can even imagine (I have heard today some of the most horrible tales of genecide, brutality, hurt, and injustice one could ever imagine) we still have hope...

Lord... thank you for allowing us to experience your Kingdom... may we, as Visio Dei, and as a part of Your church play a role in ushering in Your Kingdom... May we realize where you have brought us... what You have brought us out of... May we have moments of "remembering" or seeing "signs"... May we be compelled to share that with the brokeness or the world around us... May we share it with one another... May we bring You glory...

Love and Peace,

-J

Looking to find a sabbath... Wanting to make it Holy...

So last week was Thanksgiving and I had a great time with my family and closest friends. Even got to spend time with my boy Ashdown who is residing currently in Houston (Texas has snow right now and we don't... don't get me started...). These times were beautiful... I have more great family and friends than any one man, espeacially myself, deserve...

Well I was looking forward to this holiday b/c I had no plans... not traveling... no expectations.. nothing.. a little something I would call a break... and I was looking forward to it... like no words can explain...

You see my wife and I and, well, about 130 of our closest family and friends (to make it simple) are planting a church right now... well kinda (it's kinnda been a community for a while now but just moved stuff)... but really we did cause we are really seeking what it looks like to be the "Church" God would have us be and we are moving in directions we have never gone in before... we are leading and yet empowering in areas like never before... we have also recently aquired a beautiful new building in the heart of Raleigh that we have completely (almost, well not really, but done alot of work) remodeled... mostly by all of our own community, which was beautiful to see... on top of all that I am desperately seeking to really find my specific role within the context of our church...

So all that to say.. I have been a bit "busy"... I like being productive... i love things moving forward into uncharted areas... I am always searching for what's next and we are in a great place to be searching for that... so much so that a strange thing happened on last Friday when I tried to just relax...

On my day off... that i had so looked forward to... it happened... so stinking crappy... By 11:30am... I was no joke... sick to my stomach (but not food poisining kinda sick... ) I was bored, angry, frustrated, impatient, and stale.. I opened my email but it was Thanksgiving (no one is emailing me)... I had my stuff ready for Sunday morning cause I was gonna "not work" on the end of the week for Thanksgiving... My wife had to work and none of friends would return my phone calls as all already prolly had plans or something... I went to our new building to find something to clean... it was all done form the week bfore... SO i decided to try and write music... only problem was I was mad, burnt out, and completely uninspired... by 5:00pm I realized something... I have completely forgotten how to rest... I in all honesty got extremely frustrated... and borderline paniced... dead serious...

pause.. fast forward to Monday...

I was listening to this podcast by Rob Bell... He spoke of how Jesus wants to save us from "life happening to us"... From things just going by and us missing them... He spoke of rhythym of life and rhythym of creation... he spoke of the sabbath and reminded us not to treat it as a bunch of rules or "law" b/c we are not made for the sabbath, but to delight in it... enjoy it... take it... b/c the sabbath was made for us... for me... dang it... (Mark 2:27 paraphrase - New Living Jason Gore Translation - NLJGT - 39.95 Best Buy)

He talked about how when he and his wife first decided to take a sabbath a couple years ago... by 1:30pm they fealt like commiting suicide they were so bored... (I didn't feel as wierd when he said this) He just said it seemed so strange to phisiologically rest... like really get away from any stimulus that represents work to you...

He actually made mention of how even in zoos, Zoologists have noticed about a 6 day limit on the animals that are out on "disply" before their activity decreases substantially... did you catch that... the animal kingdom has a built in 6 day on, one day off rhythym... AMAZING!!! (and I am so stinkin much smarter than animals that I wont even slow down enough to realize how I was created... ok, well I know technically I am an animal kinda... and that is my point... kinda)

Anyways... So through this podcast and a few days of pondering... I have realized this... I have lost all sense of a rhythym in my life, in this world, in our days, even in my year... I have no idea where I am and maybe even how I am... I know I am busy and that is it... and honestly I am borderline ready to say screw it all... Not because I am burnt out... I am disciplined and dedicated and can work witht he best of them... but because I know I am missing out on the life God wants for me... I am missing the beauty that is right in front of me everyday... this, when I think of it this way, makes me want to cry... I live my life to tell people and to show the world the great life we can have following the Way of Jesus... yet I know so little of it... I know in my soul it is the best way to live yet I miss this part everyday... I am a follower of the Way yet am not enjoying the path I am following... (I have this image in my head of walking through a huge field full of flowers and birds.... streams and lakes... rolling hills all around and mountains in the distance... cool breeze right at my back... yet I am just walking briskly... not looking to the left or right... only concerned with walking forward.... forward... forward...) (sorry for the image if you are not a feeler... I am... prolly why all this hurts me so much)

WOW.. this was long.. Funny thing is, I feel like I could keep typing... but for the sake of any who kept reading this far... I will stop...

To those close to me... pray for me... pray I find some rhythym... pray I find The Rhythym... pray I can be disciplined enough to find a sabbath... find a way to make it Holy... maybe look yourself to find one if you feel the same burden...

I gotta believe our Creator knows what is best for us... I want to know the very best God has for us... may we not buy into the lie of our culture and socitety... not selling out to only busyness and productivity...

Lord I know I am no where near where I should be... I confess that... thank you for forgiveness and grace... I beg for wisdom... for direction... and for discipline... help me to find my sabbath...

Well... searching... following the Way... wanting all God has made us for...

Shalom,

-J