Legacy

Why do we continue to idly walk by without so much as the connection of an eye or a simple smile or a hi to acknowledge the presence of another child of God. Created in His image we continue to lose vision due to our decisions we make His people invisible ignoring their existence cuz we're so wrapped up in ourselves. We're Kingdom People but we ain't Kingdom livin but rather we're sinnin n livin in division this great schism between us like the Grand Canyon we abandon the truth we are called to stand in to live out of love this calling from above the reason Christ shed His blood, not for personal gain or to hold distain but rather to heal the pain of a broken world to offer salvation to every nation regardless of political views which we hold as "truths". Don't give me your religion or your rules your Western schools of thought which leave us feeling distraught needing to get to the top where to be blessed is to have success to live comfortably for me and my family in a gated community where I only see what I want to see and can ignore all those on the street or overseas or who view things differently from me and therefor must have it wrong. The best thing to happen to this world is America I beg to differ cuz rather it's Jesus who calls us to pick up our cross every day to live in a new way to stray from the world's push towards prosperity but rather dare to be rare to enter into despair to repair a broken system, to listen to the cries and see through the eyes of the oppressed to invest our lives in theirs. Call me unpatriotic but I want to be exotic in the way I love not a nation but His creation the indication of something greater than this country He undeniably transcend the "land of the free" and the way we see things. We are not here to hurl our broken beliefs or to retreat to safety and familiarity but rather to step outside and see what God sees, diversity, a wide range of speech, an entire mess of dress much too complex to neatly seat in this vehicle of Western Civilization. It ain't about bein above average or converting a "savage" to our ways but rather to clear up the haze of our faith and reveal the wonder of God and advance His kingdom. It's not about "Christian" persuasion but rather fascination brought about by a love so extraordinary one can't help but wonder where it came from. I am not perfect just like the rest of us i carry prejudice and have an incomplete picture of the God i serve and don't deserve a single drop of His grace. But when He looks at my face He sees His beloved son as he does with everyone He has placed on this earth. So let's live and love in a radical manner by the standard Christ has set before us. A life not of seclusion or intrusion but genuine love and care for His people...to treat each other as equal, to fill needs and feed the hungry, to see a world changed at the core, where we fight for the marginalized and care for the poor, where things are transformed. I may not see the change before I'm dead, but I pray we flip the world on its head and are truly known as Christians by our love....

In Memory of the UnNamed

So I wrote this on January 1, 2007 after the death of Denver Broncos Cornerback Darrent Willaims. Two and a half years later, after the passing of my best friend, and the recent media storm surrounding the death of Michael Jackson (and various other "celebrities") I stumbled upon it again. It's not necessarily my best work...but it seems just as fitting as it did that day, and is still holds true to my heart today.

In Memory of the UnNamed

Another life taken away
Another soul won't see another day
Another brother feeling pain
Another sister's tears fallin like rain
Another father, mother, and child who feel the same...
But why is this one different?

Why do they get all the news?
Why do their deaths cause the country to sing the blues?
Why do they get a press release?
Why are their deaths so hard believe?
Is it simply cuz they're celebrities?

I'm not tryin to show any disrespect
I'm just tryin to give respect to those we seem to forget...

This is for those who die in war
This is for those who no one hears of because they're poor
This is for those whose deaths we don't see
This is for those who die in the streets

All those "celebrities" and "stars"
Why are their deaths different from everyone else
When they died like everyone else
Why is it that they get the spotlight
When they shared such a similar plight...

It's not that I have no heart
It's just that my heart goes out to those people who go unnoticed
To those the news doesn't show
To those families who get a call from the hospital
But not from the news asking for an interview

What about those who die in the hood...
Are their deaths less news worthy than those who live in suburbia?
What about gang members whose lives are ripped away...
Is that any less of a tragedy?
Or the unborn babies who never see light...
Why don't their deaths come into plain light?

I understand it is hard to choose
So many deaths, which ones make the news?
I just wonder why certain deaths make headlines the way they do...

This is in memory of all who have died...
Singer, politician, athlete, homeless, middle class, all alike...
For the families who have had a member pass away...
Whether by violence, illness, an accident, mother nature, disease, or natural causes, or maybe just old age.
For all of those who have been affected by death...
My prayers for you never cease...

To all of those who have passed away...
REST IN PEACE

Dem Colorado Boyz

Silent nights
Broken by the sounds of your, melody
Quite skies
It’s your peace and, tranquility

Acoustic wire
Burning so quietly in my ear
It’s this, guitar fire
In these moments we draw near

Music speaking to our souls
Heavenly notes makin us whole
It doesn't have to rhyme or even make sense
It's these intimate moments that
Make us friends

Simple loves
Late night runs to burrito heaven
Crazy talks
Hell on earth and tribulation

Common hearts
Rolling through life's ebb and flow
Same home
Purple mountains covered in snow

Music speaking to our souls
Heavenly notes makin us whole
It doesn't have to rhyme or even make sense
It's these intimate moments that
Make us friends

Hurting People
Bodies broken and spirits burned
Save the world
For this our hearts yearn

Slaves to sin
By His love we've been set free
One goal
Bring Him praise so all can see

Music speaking to our souls
Heavenly notes makin us whole
It doesn't have to rhyme or even make sense
It's these intimate moments that
Make us friends

Music speaking to our souls
Heavenly notes makin us whole
It doesn't have to rhyme or even make sense
It's these intimate moments that
Make us friends

What Am I Supposed To Do With This Feeling?

I'm sittin at my desk
My pen is in hand
My brain is on lock
It can't seem to land
On the task
In front of me now
I'm tryinna push
Some way and some how

But I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

Insignificant it seems
All these papers
And political schemes
Back to the basics
That's where I want to go
Where the dirt is caked to my toes

Cuz I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

I'm an ordinary man
Simply saying "Yes I Can"
Make a difference with my life
Standing in the pain and the strife
Of the wounded and the weary
Sitting in circumstances so dreary

And I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

Houses burn to the ground
The wind carries with it the sound
Of people experiencing sorrow
And I'm supposed to sit in class tomorrow
And hear how Jesus served the poor
While wondering what I'm here for

I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

Throwing money at our appearance
And even more on the college experience
Indulging in unnecessary pleasures
Placing so much worth on earthly treasures
While some only have the clothes on their back
And whole groups of people are under attack

I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

This comfortable living is such a danger
Stuck in a bubble afraid to help a stranger
My soul is willing but my flesh is weak
Action is hard, it's easy to speak
What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?
My mind keeps racing but my heart just doesn't know...

I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

Lord I bring this to your feet
And ask for patients to take a seat
And peacefully listen to your call
Cuz I'm twisted and knotted in a ball
This isn't my life, it's for your glory
Please bring clarity to this story...

Cuz I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

Lord I can't seem to shake this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries

What am I supposed to do with this feeling
I just want to smash through the ceiling
And sore to lands, far and wide
To answer the broken hearted's cries...

Firestorm

My lungs are filled with smoke, stomach is upset, and eyes water and burn from the fumes. I can't help but wonder...where is this coming from? Is it a tree, or grass? Or could it be a teddy bear, or stuffed panda? Worse still, could it be someone's house? Who's life, who's memory, is blowing through the wind...?

Southern California has been ravished by wild fires for years...but it's finally hitting me close to home. My current stomping ground are in SoCal, much different than my true home in Colorado. Far enough away from the fires that I cannot see flames I am still close enough to be swarmed with smoke. I wish I could say as much for my friends. A wild fire recently knawwed on their school. Dorms as well as faculty homes and school building are lost. A friend of mine called one of these dorms their home. Houses throughout the area also fed and continue to feed the beasts that make this land their home. That feeling of sickness...it's not just from the smoke filling my lungs. It's from knowing my friends were in a gym surrounded by flames. It's in knowing hundreds of people have no place to return to, nothing to remind them of past adventures, no stuffed animal to cling to for comfort, no bed to return to in an effort to sleep away this nightmare. It's heartbreak. Heartbreak for those who have lost everything, left only with the clothes on their back and their family and friends. I sit in my dorm, with my computer on my lap...wondering. What if that was me? What if fire swept my school? Why am I fortunate enough not to have been directly hit by this "firestorm"? Yet that's all I can do...is wonder. I cannot empathize, I have never experienced this horror first hand...and pray I never do. So, I cannot empathize, what am I supposed to do...?

How am I supposed to focus on class when this ongoing tragic tail burns in my back yard? So many people are displaced and suffering, and I'm supposed to worry about school? Why can't I leave, go fight these fires myself!? I want to save the world...but I can't....I can't. So I'm left...trying to live my life, working on school work, and doing the little things I can. Donate money, maybe a cd or movie. I can give my friends a hug when I see them, and above all I can pray. Pray for my friends, pray for strangers, pray for that which was lost and that which can still be saved, and pray for peace and community and love and grace. I am firm in my faith and yet this still feels so minor, so helpless and intangible....i know it's not...but I want to save the world...God's the only one who can do that one.

So where am I going with this? Honestly...no where. I can't sleep. I can't tell if the sting in my eyes is from smoke or exhaustion. My heart is broken for those who are grieving and in shock...my mind races with images of flame engulfed scenary and pain and anguish ridden faces...my dreams are filled with heroism of fire fighters and RD's who tell the firemen to save the dorms instead of his home...these fires fit their name...wild. Only God knows what to expect next...so I bring it to you Lord. Heal the broken hearted, give rest to those who cannot sleep. This is just a small glimpse of the brokenness of this world...we will praise you in the good and the bad.

This is yet another reminder of how fragile this life is....

Remember, Life is short...don't waste it....Pura Vida and Carpe Diem.

Love and Peace,
~matty p