Warning, from an outsider’s perspective, I admit, the following confession could be seen as annoyingly audacious, and if that’s what you come away from it with, I apologize. I apologize because you don’t know the size of my dreams, and you might be suffering with dreams of your own which are far too small.
Here is the first draft of my life goal:
I don’t want honor or glory. I want wealth, sure, but not as you Americans want it. I want wealth because I believe I was made to be a steward for wealth. I believe I was made to share wealth in a way others would be blessed by my blessing. No, I don’t want honor. If you’re going to praise me, say he found his place in God’s story. Say, “Joe figured something out about God’s plan for him, and lived that plan magnificently.” Don’t honor me with this world’s glory but the next’s.
Haha. That is an annoyingly audacious goal for a 22 year old with little life experience, little worth praising, and definitely no wealth to speak of. However, it’s my goal to be able to say it one day, that I figured something out about God’s plan for me, and that I lived that plan magnificently.
Firelight
Monday, September 15, 2008
By Joe Bunting
Red Clover Records; August 2008
In an age of digital downloads and portable players, much music has been relegated to the role of background noise. Some bands fight against it with fast tempos and hard vocals, and others, like Radiohead and Sigur Rós, make a living off playing “study rock.” Santa Barbara’s The Coral Sea fit seamlessly into the latter category. Frontman Rey Villalobos’s soft vocals and the band’s dark instrumental textures at times become kinetic enough to make even a casual listener stand up and take notice. Fittingly, one of Firelight’s cohesive themes is that of light versus dark, experienced most notably on the track “Cold Eyes Down,” with a violent lyrical beginning and the contrastingly optimistic outro playing off each other beautifully. The shining star of the effort undeniably is James Garza’s guitar work, which sings crisply and cleanly throughout.
Hello,
Long time no see. I kept my promise and haven’t posted in a long time, and actually it has been very therapeutic. I’ve gotten a chance to focus on my goals better and figure out what I’m doing with my life.
In other news, Liane and I just got back from Georgia where we were with Adventures in Missions on their new retreat called Break Through. It was a powerful experience, and we grew closer to God and to each other.
Today I wanted to share a small personal success. Lately I’ve been doing freelance writing for the Santa Barbara Independent. Below are two of my CD reviews. They’re pretty short. You can probably read them in less than a minute.
Alright, back to figuring out what I’m doing with my life. Adios.
The Anti-Mother by Norma Jean This Christian hardcore (I guess it’s actually post-hardcore, but I don’t really know the difference) is the first screamo band I actually started to like. Speaking of break through, getting used to hardcore was a big step for me.
If Less Is More… Nothing Is Everything by Kate McGarry This is music for old people. If you’re young though, take a peak anyway, just for me. Pretty please 
Tonight after work I’m leaving on an eight to nine hour treck to Tucson. I like road trips, especially through deserts. The light is so interesting. At dusk the mountains and hills turn purpley blue and the sky leaps with orange and yellow.
A few weeks ago, when I was traveling home from Las Vegas, the sun set right behind a huge peak. You know how in children’s picture books, they show the sun with jagged light rays coming from it, as it the sun is a giant yellow urchin in the sky.
I had been driving for a few hours by then, and was meditating on something or other. The sun had just set, and then I saw those picture book beams of light coming from behind the purple mountain. Unlike the stories, there were only four or five beams soft, translucent beams, just noticeable against the blue turning orange sky.
Tonight I probably will not see any sun beams, and probably won’t make it to the desert by sunset. I’m leaving at five and have to make it all the way through LA traffic first. I’ll get to Tucson by two or three in the morning, to get up at 9 for tomorrow’s funeral.
Yes, I’m going to a funeral. My sister’s mother-in-law passed away of a heart attack at 58. It was a huge surprise. What do the living know of death? We mark it with rituals to stave off fear and gather at it’s doorstep to comfort remaining husbands and children. Tonight I travel 500 miles to witness its wake.
But maybe death like the setting of the sun. Even after its passing, beams of light are still visible to remember it by. Yes, slowly the light eeks out and the living are left in darkness, but in no time at all, the sun has risen again, more beautiful than ever before.
Wrecked for the Ordinary is an online zine run by my friend Jeff Goins and written by all sorts of Christians with interesting perspectives on life, wealth (or lack of it), and adventure. It looks like they’re doing quite well too, as Jeff reports they had 25,000 visitors last month. It makes me excited for Jeff!
I hope you’ll take a look at his blog, Pilgrimage of the heart, where he talks about how Christians can engage with the culture more effectively. Today (Wednesday) he tells a story of how while he was reading Pagan Christianity a guy came up to him and told him, “I guess that’s what I am.” What do you say to that?
