Randy Elrod's Blog, page 58
January 8, 2013
Observations On My 5 Year Anniversary on Twitter—The Best and the Worst of Times
It’s hard to believe five years ago today I began this Twitter journey. It’s one of those paradoxes in time that seems longer and shorter than it really is—all at the same time.
Five years.
A lot has happened in five years, both good and bad.
Jan. 8, 2007
As of today I have 42,134 followers and I have written19,179 updates. My following roughly equals a city the size of Dublin, California and if I spent 15 seconds on each update, I have invested (or burned) eighty hours of my life. About two w...
January 4, 2013
Why I Believe Every Sunset Is A Happy Sadness
After almost 55 years, I am still a mystery to myself.
And yet, I’mgradually and painfully coming to understand what John of the Cross called “luminous darkness,” a concept I refer to in perhaps a more “secular” way as delicious agony.These words are an attempt to describe the coexistence of deep suffering and intense joy in my life.
As I enter what Richard Rohr, in his priceless book Falling Upward, calls my second half of life, I find myself having less need or interest in eliminating the n...
January 2, 2013
A Very Personal (and Intimate) Invitation
I would like to personally invite you to join us at the 14th annual re:create Gathering of Creatives Feb. 4-7, 2013 in Franklin, TN. We have an amazing schedule planned this year with guests such as Audrey Assad, Future of Forestry, Trevor Morgan, author Andy Crouch, an evening with Essential Worship and much more.
Legendary Producer (Keb Mo, Emmy Lou Harris) Phil Madeira is bringing his new recording project: Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Usto life on our stage.
re:create is an intimate g...
December 31, 2012
Time Keeps On Slippin’… — My Latest Watercolor
12″ x 16″ Original Watercolor and Graphite on handmade paper
Purchase Original, Standard Prints & Ready to Hang Gallery Wraps HERE
”Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin,’ Into the future.Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin,’Into the future,I want to fly like an eagle,To the sea,Fly like an eagle,Let my spirit carry me,I want to fly like an eagle,Till I’m free.Feed the babies ,Who don’t have enough to eat ,Shoe the children,With no shoes on their feet,House the people,Livin’ in the...
My Ten Most Powerful (And Sometimes Shocking) Revelations This Year
Revelation: Something revealed or disclosed, especially a striking disclosure.
In no particular order…
1.There is a huge difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.
2.Endurance can be an idol.
3.The ego hates losing, even to God.
4.There are few in our religious culture who understand the necessity of mature internalized conscience, so wise guides are almost impossible to find.
5.Our culture has no rite of passage for the second half of life.
6.Suffering, even—and perhaps especially, when i...
December 27, 2012
Maestro — My Latest Watercolor
12″ x 16″ Original Watercolor and Graphite on handmade paper
Purchase Original, Standard Prints & Ready to Hang Gallery Wraps HERE
“Conducting is the ability to blend dissonant diversity into harmonic unity.”
—Randy Elrod
Related posts:
Incognito — My Latest Watercolor 12″ x 16″ Watercolor & Graphite on handmade paper Purchase...
Sanary-sur-Mer — My Latest Watercolor 12″ x 16″ Original Watercolor and Graphite on handmade paper...
Where Soul Meets Body — My Latest Watercolor 24″ x 33″ Original Wate...
December 26, 2012
What Can You Do With A Minister? (with apologies to Irving Berlin and the movie White Christmas)
When the time was over, why, there was praise galore
For the politicians who were in the church
But for ministers things were not so grand
And it’s not so hard to understand
[Refrain:]
What can you do with a minister
When he stops being a minister?
Oh, what can you do with a minister who falls down?
Who’s got a job for a minister
When he stops being a minister?
They all get a job but a confessor no one hires
They fill his head with praises while he’s upon the stage
And they spread the crimson carpet wh...
December 25, 2012
What Was Your Favorite Childhood Christmas Gift?
Ah, our childhood days. Magic, purity, simplicity andprepubescent life.
My fondest memories were of Christmas morning and waking up to discover what Santa had brought this naughty, ahem, nice young boy.
Some of my favorite gifts back in the turbulent nineteen sixties were Lionel train sets, play gas stations, Hot Wheels, Tonka dump trucks, and those little green army men stuffed in plastic bags by the hundreds.
I suppose many psychological essays could be written about that previous sentence....
December 24, 2012
A Merry Christmas Watercolor
8.5″ x 11″ Original Watercolor on handmade paper Not For Sale
Archival Giclee, Ready-to-Hang Canvases and Standard Prints Available—Click HERE
“Alas! How dreary would be the world if there was no Santa Claus!… There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.”
—Francis B. Church
Related posts:
My Latest Watercolor—Serenity “Serenity” “Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste...
Sémillon — My Latest Watercolor 15.5″ x 15.5″ Framed & Floated Or...
December 19, 2012
Falling Upward
In the first half of life, we are naturally and rightly preoccupied with establishing our identity—climbing, achieving, and performing. But those concerns will not serve us as we grow older and begin to embark on a further journey, one that involves challenges, mistakes, loss of control, broader horizons, and necessary suffering that actually shocks us out of our prior comfort zone.
Eventually we need to see ourselves in a different and more life-giving way. This message of “falling down”—th...
