Unsatisfied By Average

Page 22 of 32

Absolute Love

April 15, 2011 / Seán / 5 Comments

My hands in my pockets, my eyes on the ground…

Walking slowly down a Tennessee farm road.

The splash of a pebble in the creek.

The sound of distant laughter.

A heart-melting sunset.

A throbbing soul.

Loneliness.

But it’s ok. More than ok. Should not the cross cost me more than the change in my pocket? Should it not cost me every drop of love in my human heart?

A conversation with one of my sisters last weekend still reverberates in my mind…

God is Trustworthy.

Love costs. Absolute love costs absolutely.

…Yet fills completely.

This is glory for me.

Walk on Water

April 5, 2011 / Seán / 7 Comments

I just want to walk on water…
Is that so much to ask?

Just to put my feet where He tells me, (even if it ~~seems like~~ is thin air) and then keep my eyes on His face, and march.

Boisterous waves notwithstanding.

It is the trusting and obedient that go impossible places and accomplish impossible things.

Not because they can.
Because He will.

Thank You

March 30, 2011 / Seán / 2 Comments

God has been faithful. Once again His grace has proven to be all we need…
And He has taught us to sing a deeper song of thanks through the last week.
So to all those who have prayed for, encouraged and supported us through this venture… A hundred times Thank You.

The real work has only now begun… And just hours after the last track was bounced out to rough mix 1.0 (to signal the beginning of listening, editing, tuning, re-mixing, tweaking, re-listening, re-listening, re-listening and re-listening,) half of my office/studio got packed in boxes for a two week jaunt to Oklahoma (where I am cumbersomely typing this post.)
So, the "behind the scenes" clips will be a bit delayed until I can access real internet. 🙂 But I will post them, notwithstanding rough audio…..

Whatever is worthy is God's gift.
Thanks to you…

Sent from my BlackBerry

Harmony

March 23, 2011 / Seán / 7 Comments

I have formulated a new definition for harmony…

It’s what happens when you mix life and love.

And the harmonies captured here today certainly consist of the love of more than 6 musicians…

Somebody’s been praying.

And we’ll always be indebted…

We’re at 7 of 14.

And we’re smiling.

Thanks friends… 🙂

Reflections…

March 21, 2011 / Seán / 2 Comments

If I was not formerly convinced that I have no light to shine, no song to sing, and no love to give of my own, I am now. But that is just fine… Why would I want to love with my feeble little heart when I could learn to love with His? Or sing my tuneless human compositions when I could be singing the songs of Heaven?

No comparison.

Now, I’ve said for some time I wanted to be a reflector… But I’ve learned something of late…

Not all reflections are created equal.

Some reflections are worthy

Some things are best absorbed…

Reflect light.

Reflect only light.

Pray for us this week… And stay tuned for samples while our next CD takes shape… 🙂

Lingering at Sunset…

March 14, 2011 / Seán / 9 Comments

Sunset.

My favorite color.

(That’ll be on a quiz someday. :))

Few things stop me dead in my tracks more quickly or rivet my soul more completely than God’s fingerprints across the western sky.

I always, always linger…

And if I’m compelled to tear my gaze away before the color is gone, my heart lingers. My heart sings…

Sometimes there’s a twinge of loss too… After all, the day is gone.

But there’s so much to be thankful for.

Well, I watched a “sunset” today.

The last teenager in our house turned 20.

And my heart is lingering.

Our day started early– or late yesterday, as the case may be. I got my first “Happy Birthday!” in way before you were awake this morning between blasts of my siren at herd after herd of obtuse elk on the highway.

But it’s been a happy day…

Happiest because of the joy we find in a God Who is faithful. . . and sister and daughter who is following where He leads.

And also happy because in the gather darkness that necessarily accompanies a sunset, we have begun to learn things we never could have learned in the light.

The next dawn is still shrouded in mystery.

But we’re all-out excited.

Excited about the altars that await us…

And the promises that sustain us.

And the joy of Jesus being All Sufficient.

It seems I’m seeing more sunsets in life of late…

Saying more goodbyes to yesterday.

But that’s ok.

The stars are coming out now.

we kinda went “all out” this year, and planned a once-in-a-lifetime surprise party with beloved friends and neighbors…

Chantée’s brainchild, the product of several girls’ culinary art and creativity.

Thanks for loving Jesus, sweet girl…

All photos: © Joshua Nebblett

Hope is My Prison, Lord

March 5, 2011 / Seán / 5 Comments

It’s been one of those weeks…
You know, when every 20 minutes there was another I-should-blog-that moment. And indeed, I would have posted more, had the luxury of time been afforded me.
Instead, I transformed the office into a recording studio/mastering suite and ran through life from summit to valley to next summit (every twenty minutes!) taking it all in faster than I could even journal about it.

Then yesterday afternoon it all came together.

I haven’t written a song in over a year… (Though I’ve half-written at least half a dozen)
And it wasn’t because I didn’t really want to. Just something would get me halfway through, and then drop me.
I got to the point where I was nearly convinced I’d written my last song.

Until this week.

Then I recognized a sweet little melody woven through everything…

– Through the boxes and boxes delivered by our friend the UPS man
– Through fists wrapped around a taught barbed wire while starring into the canyon, and talking to a God that’s a million lightyears away, and still within easy reach.
– Through middle-of-the-night prayers for a friend’s safety
– Through reality checks
– Through emails not so easy to read
– Through prayers for you– my blog friends. (I pray for you by name– all of you)
– Through reminders of loss
– Through conversations with my little sister…
– Through hours spent pacing over dust and rocks fighting darkness and finding light…

Here’s just an excerpt. Maybe the melody will never be published, I don’t know…
But I’ll always pray the prayer.

—

Water Your dreams my Lord,
  with tears I shed
Feed hungry children Lord,
  my promised bread
Send me to darkness Lord,
  teach me to pray
Through fire or freezing cold,
  I’ll smile and say–
. . .
Hope is my prison Lord,
  love is my chain
If I can serve You Lord,
  my loss is gain
I am a soldier Lord,
  called by Thy name
Let me walk worthy Lord,
  worthy of Your name…

Searching Out the Darkness

February 26, 2011 / Seán / 3 Comments

“It’s not the life we’re after. It’s the death.”

“It’s not the light we’re searching out. It’s the darkness.”

“..We’re foraging for shackles.”

Love it. Wish that there were a thousand where there are now only a few.

And make that three days from today.

Let’s cover them with prayer.

www.richardsteffens.com

Baguio Episode 1 from Richard Steffens on Vimeo.

Freedom… [of leaps and landings]

February 24, 2011 / Seán / 9 Comments

“You like flying through the air like that?”

That’s my dad. A calm, cool, collected guy, a brilliant physician, logical thinker, loving father, world-class leader, and my hero.

But he wasn’t sure about this.

“Oh,” said I, “That’s ultimate freedom…”

He just squinted his eyes and shook his head and laughed. I love that look…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Abandon…

Huge word. But I’ve never been much of a fan.

I take after my father, actually. At least when it comes to the “three C’s.” And especially the last one– collected.

I mean, abandon sounds way too much like out of control to me.

Right?

Right.

Hold that thought.

My Master has asked me to trust Him.

And to abandon my life to His grace…

“Serious?”

“Serious.”

“Alllllrighty then.”

And I’ve found out there’s something that people who tenaciously cling to their own lives and their own crutches will never understand.

And that something is freedom.

Too many people are afraid to live with abandon.

(Mind you, there are plenty of people who do. Care-less and careless people. Not what I’m talking about.)

I mean abandoning myself.

Perhaps we worry too much about ourselves. About our footing.

Perhaps it’s time we started worrying more about Him, (and His glory) and letting Him worry about us.

After all, if He groomed the jump, and sent you speeding toward it, He’ll make Himself responsible for the landing.

In the mean time, enjoy the flight…

Skiing from Sean Nebblett on Vimeo.

Privileged: Part 2

February 23, 2011 / Seán / 1 Comment

I’m reminded…

In death, there is life.

Though pain, and toil, and sacrifice are the lot of the soldier,

And though it may appear that for this time he gets no pay,

Remember that God has not asked anyone to serve Him here

without promising him an inheritance hereafter…

There has never been a night

that was not followed by the morning…

“With the sovereignty of God is bound up the well-being of man. The glory of God is the joy and the blessing of all created beings. When we seek to promote His glory we are seeking for ourselves the highest good which it is possible for us to receive. . . . God calls for the consecration to His service of every faculty, of every gift you have received from Him. He wants you to say, with David: ‘All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.'”

God’s Amazing Grace, Feb 22
Photo: Joshua Nebblett