kyle steed

a wonderful portrayal of the human side of fonts. Wingdings has, in my opinion, the best lines bar none. “Mailbox! Open Mailbox!”

new video from Death Cab for Cutie for their single I Will Possess Your Heart off the new album Narrow Stairs.

I bought the new album a few weeks ago and have listened to it quite a bit. To me it’s not as strong as Transatlanticism or even Plans, but it’s a solid progression none-the-less. This song is track #2 on the album and one of the more upbeat songs in my opinion. If you love the sound on their previous records it will take a few times listening all the way through to really appreciate what they’re doing here.

I’m sure there are many different viewpoints to the lyrics of this song and I’m not sure what Ben Gibbard meant when writing them. But one thing is certain to me, this song is sung from The Fathers heart. Just read the lyrics:

How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me 
It’s like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can’t read - just yet 
You gotta spend some time–love, you gotta spend some time with me 
And I know that you’ll find–love, I will possess your heart

There are days when outside your window, I see my reflection as I slowly pass 
And I long for this mirrored perspective, when we’ll be lovers, lovers at last 
You gotta spend some time–love, you gotta spend some time with me 
And I know that you’ll find–love, I will possess your heart

I will possess your heart

You reject my advances and desperate pleas 
I won’t let you, let me down so easily, so easily 

You gotta spend some time–love, you gotta spend some time with me 
And I know that you’ll find–love, I will possess your heart

I will possess your heart

brand new video from radiohead

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” - Deuteronomy 8:3 (Moses speaking to the Israelites)

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” - John 6:51

To this day I still don’t fully understand the process of fasting. I understand it’s simply giving up something for a certain period of time. But what I’m talking about is how do I know it’s the right time to fast? Sure our religions have set apart certain times of the year where you pick something to obstain from for 40 days. They even made a movie on the topic. But unless we hear from God what He is calling us to give up isn’t it really just torturing ourselves?

So up until last week I had not considered fasting for a long time. I think the last time I can remember was before the military. But talking with Jason about how The Lord was having him fast for his daughter really sparked something inside of me. And I wanted to hear what The Lord might be trying to tell me. Everyday last week I woke up thinking I should fast that day. But it wasn’t until Friday that it hit me. And this is the cool thing that I found out, God doesn’t strike you down if you mess up. Because I was pretty sure I needed to fast my breakfast, but I ended up eating some pop-tarts (which were so good). So I decided to fast for lunch. Also, another cool thing I learned is that God will honor our choices to obey Him even if we’re off a little bit.

Now I can’t claim to have fasted completely from all food for lunch that day because I know my body and how it reacts to low blood sugar, and I still had the rest of the day at work to finish. So this is where the bread ties into what God showed me. I asked The Lord what I could eat, and all I heard was bread. So I got two slices out of the fridge and then thought peanut butter would go good with it, but I heard “no, just bread”. So I thought “okay Lord, this is weird.”  Now there I was with two slices of plain wheat bread, feeling kind of silly, but as I sat down and began to eat The Lord began to unfold some things. He spoke to me about removing the sweet things, like peanut butter, and all the other things we pile on top of “bread” and going back to the simple piece of bread, the foundation of a sandwich. It was really pretty simple but something so profound at the same time that I still don’t get it all.

I think the biggest thing that’s come of this is the revelation that nothing is as important as my foundation, the bread alone. All the other toppings and condiments in this life are nice and full of flavor, but do not provide the real nutrients my body needs.

As God is sovereign enough to rule the universe in one hand and lead us with the other, He is able to use anything for His glory.

With that said, I came across an article today, Learning to Live In The Heart, which is written from an Eastern state of mind and philosophy, that The Lord used to remind me again of the importance of living out of my heart. It’s all too common, with our busy lives, congested traffic, 9 to 5 work days, that we just live our life according to what we think. For example, we get irritated when driving because we think “WE” are more important than anyone else on the road, or we become resentful at work because we think “WE” should have more recognition, or we get mad at our spouse because we think “WE” should be waited on hand and foot. All are common mistakes we make as humans, yet none-the-less selfish mistakes.

When we come to understand what it means to live from the heart we find a peace that passes all understanding. To me I don’t see a difference between living from the heart and living in The Spirit. Because when we are baptized in The Holy Spirit we are filled up with The Spirit and where does He make His home … in our hearts. But that doesn’t mean that all is well and good like this 1950’s commercial for rice krispies. There are still things we must surrender and die to, but that is part of our faith being perfected … so praise God for that.

In the article the author pointed out four differences between the heart and mind.

• empathy
• oneness
• spontaneity
• purpose

The one that really stuck out to me was the “oneness”. And I think this is really the heart of God too; what His plan has been all along, to bring His Body together as one. If you have any experience in reading the Bible then I’m sure you know the story in Acts of pentecost where The Holy Spirit showed up and kicked some major ass. (did he just say “kicked some major ass” and Holy Spirit in the same sentence?) But now with hundreds of different Christian denominations in America and around the world we are more separated than ever before. To me this comes from a mindset that “WE” are right and “YOU” are wrong. But really more than just a mindset, there’s a spirit of division that seeks to steal our hearts, kill our souls, and destroy the Body of Christ. So praise God that the enemy has been defeated.

Last night we were walking our dogs and there was a nice breeze in the air. And when the wind blows on my face I love to close my eyes, lift up my head, and breath deep the breath of God. Because I know in these moments my heart is rejoicing because it’s alive.