sonnet writing practice...

Jealous I am of what I do not have.

To want is to neglect what is begat,

And to throw out perfect production gave

In heaps of trash not but a few days had.

Consuming eyes and stomach will ruin all good.

I want but do not have because I tire

Of the beauty given me once nude,

Once pure, before fig leaves, serpents, and fire.

If God is real and love as well is real

I pray that He dies out of love for me.

I stain, consume, and run in hopes to feel

But in the end I am killing a Jew daily.

Religion will fail me time and again

And I make it a christ that won’t descend.

O Autumn

autumn comes as hope
like breeze to the branches
as if God still romances his leaves

decades of harsh winter and summer
between living and not living
autumn comes swiftly in the formers' leisured leaving

one smells the oaks and sycamores turning
hearing rumors of another that's coming
one born of Nazareth, they call him Autumn ,

He is real and i pray he comes like fall, swift
o come, like Autumn, he is real like the changing of leaves
We shall call him Autumn

This isn't oregon trail anymore....

So I'm going to Portland!

Brad and Mirella Watson have moved to Portland about a week ago to start a church. Portland is supposedly the most un-churched area in all of the States. So this already seems like a daunting task, but I've talked to Brad and he knows he should be nowhere else. Brad had asked Grant, his younger brother and my best friend, and i to come live with him this summer in P-town; to hang out and meet people and to help in any way we could with the birth of this new church. Much to my dismay, Grant is staying Nashville in order to work and pursue some Music Business opportunities. (Which is totally sweet)

But I'm still going to live with these ex-Oklahoma(n?) newly-weds close to the city, hoping to meet all kinds of folks while I'm there.

It's funny because that is all i know. We've talked quite a bit but its hard to say what all will be going on when i show up...but i can't wait.

So be prayerful. Ask God to call many to himself. That his Spirit would move while I'm there and continue to move as this church begins. Pray for Brad and Mirella, that God would make them strong for his name. That their marriage would be strong and always reflecting Christ and his church.
Pray that my bible-belt upbringing won't make me want to run away from those who are different from me. That many would come to know the Lord in Portland.

Thanks. I'll do my best to do updates on this blog while I'm there. But if you want to learn more about whats happening now, read Brad and Mirella's blog. Also if you have twitter follow Brad and I. We will have lots of updates. @markapel @bradawatson

thanks for the prayers. Past, present, and future prayers.

Mark.

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. john 10:9-10

¹⁰While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." matthew 9:10-13

book list revised

finished nine stories...greatest read in a while

on chapter 14 of purpose driven life...surprisingly edifying and convicting(oh Rick)

Still only on the first few chapters of Mere Christianity...take it slow i hear, take it slow

Probably going to read either the Old Man and the Sea next, or Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters...

Also been skimming The Best American Non-Required Reading compiled by Dave Eggers and forwarded by Sufjan Stevens...great forward

Anybody have anything in mind to read? anything you've finished and think i should read?

Oh and brad watson's new book!

books for the summer

so here is the list for the summer:

Mere Christianity- C.S. Lewis

9 Stories- Salinger

The Purpose Driven Life- Rick Warren

The Old Man and The Sea- Hemingway

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man- James Joyce

Poetry- E.E. Cummings, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath


This is all subject to change. Give me some opinions on these if you've read 'em.

Church Interview pt. 1 from josh spires on Vimeo.

Church Interview Pt. 2 from josh spires on Vimeo.

Fleet Foxes

 

Check out La Blogotheque

Fleet Foxes- A band from Seattle featured at Austin's ACL Music Festival this past year. Starbucks pushed their record for a while so if you got your triple grande caramel machiatto with extra caramel on top this past month or two you may have seen their album. Enjoy this video

Jan 25 09 Update!/musik/Homosexuality and Jesus

[hmm...]

Wow its been a while. So what all has happened. A whole semester of school, Christmas break, work, and now back in Denton for a whole, brand-new semester at UNT. This is my first semester as an official English Literature major! (I'm thinking about teaching high school/college and writing for paper or magazine or website. I know you were about to ask!) I am two Lit. classes right now and i kind of love them. Just learning how the history of the United States plays into the mindsets of writers and the general public has been interesting. I'm not much of a history guy myself but hopefully this will help me appreciate it in a new light. One can like The Great Gatsby but i think through learning the social attitudes of the time will make me appreciate good ole' F. Scott even more. 

I now also find myself inside a musical pool of joy. (maybe even a small pond) I am officially a member of Baruch the Scribe. A band started by my friends Judson Valdez and Chaz Underriner inspired by a frustrating story found in Jeremiah 36. Its exciting to be a part of this. Along with BTS i am in my buddy Julian's band under the moniker Julian Pastrana and the City Carousel. A folk-march band inspired by old circuses and the kingdom come. And lastly but not leastly i play bass in the one and only Jon Ladner and the Cumulonimbus Band. I can't really explain this group. All i can say is: Jon Ladner!  

Busy semester? Yes!

I watched a movie the other day that really made me reconsider my approach to the homosexual community. The movie "Milk" starring Sean Penn is a true story of Harvey Milk, the first gay individual elected to major office in the United States. Now i do not uphold every scene or every sentence of this film but it really changed my thinking... especially as a Christian. I do not support the homosexual lifestyle and do not condone homosexuality but what i do support are gay people. I see homosexuality as a sin according to scripture as well as heterosexual lust, murder, adultery, and the list goes on and on. But yet i see inside the Church, myself included, this repulse of gay people. This mentality that they are too far gone. And i guess all i have too say with out getting to post-modern-Christian-preachy is that we've got to love them. Like really love them. If we plea for their soul and teach about Jesus and they reject that we would keep loving them as Christ loves us. Like not ever stopping. Like meeting their partners and pleading for their souls that God might call them too. And that we may join in their story and that they may add to ours. I think they have rights. I don't know how i feel about them getting married and all but i do know that by not listening to their story we shouldn't expect them to listen to ours. We've got lay down our pride and approach their Gay Pride and  show them its an empty well. I only hope that i too can do what I've just said.

Be praying for Denton. There are a lot of people searching around us. Pray for the Village Church and Denton Bible and many other Denton churches that God would call those who are searching. 

I love you guys. Keep in touch.

markapel.

what do i want to be when i grow up?

This one of those videos that everyone has already made in their minds. Just thought you should see it.