come on...

Come, let us return to the Lord.
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
Like the spring rain watering the earth.

hosea.  6:3.


cheers, all.

...on getting old.

yep.  i looked at my hands this morning, and strangely enough, i saw nearly half the scars and lumps and spots of those in my old man's hands.  i'm 32, everybody.  it's strange.  those older than me will think, "you're young."  and those younger, "why the heck's he thinking about that for, yo?" 
i'm gonna have a new baby in my arms in a couple months, and it feels like that's making me old.  on death's doorstep.  every day. 
i thought this morning about all the things i spend my brainspace on... and how much of that stuff will die as well.  it sounds dark and sad.  but actually... i could die this afternoon.  i'm not in charge of the day and time of my death.  what i am in charge of is my decisions up until that point.  ...which brings me to an over-asked question...  what am i doing in my life that will last past my death, and even eternally?  perhaps i should live my life as if i had already died with regard to all those things that won't last.  like myself.  here i've gotta quote an old, old book,...  "for i have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer i who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life i now live in the flesh i live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." 
i've gotta live bigger than life and death... old or not.

...as they say,...

don't know if anyone reads this, but just for the sake of being annual, we figured it's time to post.

but as they say, good things come in bunches.  new house, new baby.  and there it is.  anybody reading this?

anybody not know this yet? 

okay, we don't have a good picture of the house yet.  we will. 

isn't she cute?  

inspired

so one of our lovely friends on the west coast is inspiring me, posting every couple days. very prolific. fooey. perhaps i'll just comment on their blog.

naurw.

perhaps i'll post some pictures of our latest excursion...

we're flexing for the camera at tim and sharon's.

we're so cool. i think we were crying at the end of this photo frenzy...

more lovely people.

good times.

more fun stuff.

we're going to wear these as julie wins "A NEW CAR!!!"

...or possibly we'll just get up insanely early in the morning to sit outside the cold door of some tv studio in hollywood. perhaps with coffee. perhaps with a bunch of other annoyoing drew carey fans.

good luck to us. :)

will i?

so here we have one of the songs i've gotten to really appreciating over the last... year (?) since i first heard it. aaron shust says it well: i will wait.





cheers, all...

my wife is the most

...beautiful woman in the world.

law

lets talk about law...

just listening to a derek webb cd, that's all. a new law.

-don't teach me about politics and government, just tell me who to vote for.-don't teach me about truth in beauty, just label my music.-don't tell me how to live like a free man, just give me a new law...

many of us don't want to live by the Spirit because it's not easy. really, what we're looking for is a new law. like the old law, just new. but we're condemned according to the old law... why would we want a new one?
he continues,

-i don't want to know if the answers aren't easy-just bring it down from the mountain to me-i want a new law
-don't teach me about moderation and liberty, i prefer a shot of grape juice-dont' teach me about loving my enemies-don't teach me how to listen to the Spirit, just give me a new law...

derek asks the question at the end of his song...
"what's the use in trading a law you can never keep for one that you can but cannot get you anything?"

here it is.



go, derek. i dig. let's take the hard road. let's take on the challenge, let's climb that mountain, let's not look for the new law. Jesus repeatedly says, as derek reminds us, "Do not be afraid."

one oldie but goodie favorite.

russ taff, from way back in the day, "take my hand."

nothing like today

more thinking...
and realizing that today in this moment, these seconds that tick by will never happen again. they've never happened before, and they never will again. memories we've got will never ever happen over again. just like today.
makes me think about what really matters. makes me tend to forget about that driver who failed to signal that he was turning.. causes me to absorb the lyrics sung by that radio, look people in the eyes, gaze out the window and breathe in the beauty of God's world around. what's God up to today? at this moment? what's He thinking about those eyes i just noticed? about that music? about that driver?
what really matters? ...because there will never be anything like today.

nope.

okay, cheers and merry holiday and stuff...

you're all wrong. julie and i got our tree up and decorated last weekend. the cats are already eating ornaments (and lights) and sipping fine tree-water.

we're poor and got a smallish tree. turns out our apartment is smallish and we've got a smallish little cove that was made for our smallish tree. sure smells good.

merry almost-Christmas, peoples!

"less of chuck..."

thinking this morning... relax, i know it's dangerous, but this is a nice thinking...

about an old buddy of mine... here's the visual: ------->

his name's chuck. kind of a large dude; i met him at Surfer's Chapel out in Huntington Beach about a zillion years ago... i think he was one of the first people i went surfing with. he had a surfboard that most people thought was big enough for two... he had a style of surfing that kind of flowed, kind of flopped, and he even had his own moves-- like the rear step-off, an arm-waving ballet-looking thing that made you wonder if he had hurt himself.

chuck would surf just about every day, and most days (especially if the sun was out), he'd "trunk it." no wetsuit. in 60-degree water, you'd see chuck out there before work, parked on that huge board of his, waiting for his one or two waves.

chuck's a quiet guy; i guess he enjoyed his moments of morning silence and (mostly) stillness... his bible was one of those big things that looked like it had been through the war; a sign that the guy wasn't falling apart inside.

so that's chuck.

i was thinking about old chuck this morning... one of the things i remember most about chuck was this phrase he used to say all the time: "more of Jesus, less of chuck." again, here's the visual...

and i was just remembering how perfect that was. ...and is. and how often i need to apply chuck's wisdom to myself. more of Jesus, less of james.

toothbrushes

so jb brushes with mashed potatoes.
just kidding.

she's got two. one's one of those fancy-pancy electronic things that scares little kids and cats and stuff like that. and she's got a normal one that doesn't require much intelligence to use (for use first thing in the morning when there's not much brainspace available...)

but she'd like to thank all 9 of you who thoughtfully placed votes. you're all brilliant. ...well, most of you, anyway.

this is new york.

enjoy this, california people... nothing you'll see in ol' so cal. :)

...perhaps if you look real hard..

or perhaps if you're looking around between february 16th and 26th... ;)

the beginning.

so we're giving in.

we're starting this stay-in-touch blog.

julie's pretty sure she's not going to post, so i'll post for her. i'll say things like, julie made awesome pumpkin pie yesterday. julie is the coolest girl ever. julie got a haircut. julie stole my toothbrush.



the plethera of pictures in the previously intermittently published-to "jameskingsley.com" will only be available by request. or maybe just whenever i feel like remembering something. or whenever julie gets a haircut. but remember, jameskingsley.com will only be up and running for another 5 months or so. so steal pictures now before they dissappear.

let's be up-front about a few key things about our life here, though... Jesus rocks, and we'd be dead without Him.

like some old dude named paul said, "to live is Christ, to die is gain."