If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a flower, a bird, a child; they are perfect images of the kingdom. For they live from moment to moment in the eternal now with no past and no future. So they are spared the guilt and the anxiety that so torment human beings and they are full of the sheer joy of living, taking delight not so much in persons or things as in life itself. As long as your happiness is caused or sustained by something or someone outside of you, you are still in the land of the dead. The day you are happy for no reason whatsoever, the day you find yourself taking delight in everything and in nothing, you will know that you have found the land of unending joy called the kingdom. - Anthony De Mello "The Way To Love"

Bloom

We have now had our second Bloom event, of which, besides being quite moving, reached unknown levels of reverberation...sorry to those of you who shared in that audible pain. : ) And thank you to all who helped tear down and throw trash away after the event - you were an immense help!

For those of you who are wondering what Bloom is, it is a once-a-month gathering that we just started here in Denver. We want to discover a community that we can grow with and worship with, helping the Kingdom of God "bloom" in peoples lives and in the earth. We wait with great anticipation for the next gathering on July 13th, not only because we will all gather and experience the extraordinary and somewhat sexy body byrations from our very own Michael Gungor, but also because we will be talking about "God of Justice." This is a topic that I have been deeply convicted and drawn to, and through the conviction I am determined to live differently. If we are followers of Christ and are moving forward in becoming His bride, then we should see a transformation taking place in us and in the world we are connected with. We should be bringing heaven to earth through taking care of the poor, the homeless, the widow, and the marginalized people of the world. We should love our neighbor.

But so many of us don't know where to start or know how to make it a lifestyle. If you feel like you are one of those people, I want to encourage you to find an outreach in your area to connect with and volunteer at - be it a local homeless shelter, Habitat for Humanity, after school youth programs, etc. (I will soon post a list of outreaches available in Denver). Find the poor in your own life, be it someone who is physically in need, someone who rubs you the wrong way, or someone without a friend. This love isn't shown in order to gain an "in" to talk to them about Christ, we are telling people about Christ through how we live. We are telling people about Christ every day. So, let's join this irresistible revolution and bring heaven to earth (if you haven't read "Irrestible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne, you have something to look forward to). For those of you who plan on going to Bloom, we will see you on the 13th!

NEW CD!!

Hey everyone! The Michael Gungor Band's new album "All I Need Is Here" is finally out! We started this album about nine months ago in a house in Grand Rapids, MI. It's been quite a journey since then, and we are excited about how the whole thing evolved. I hope the message is near to your heart as it is ours. We have been struggling and wrestling through faith, discovering what it means to follow Christ and live it out. So check it out at myspace.com/michaelgungor and enjoy!

Terri

Man, Denver is great. We absolutely love living here. I still get lost A LOT, and have definitley been utilizing the amazing mapquest.com...Kudos to mapquest. And through the wandering about, one can expect to encounter quite a population of homeless people. It's amazing and heart breaking to hear their countless stories. One man was dying and had the "love of his life" there by his side to comfort him through it. One man, named "Spider" had actually performed surgery on himself - he had tumors in his nose...I'll spare the grotesque details. One nam beautifully serenaded us as we walked along. Another was quite sharp with quoting scripture - upon realizing that we believed in Christ, he knew all of hte verses to pull out...be's obviously had his share of "Christianese" conversations. Another lady was in a wheelchair because one of her legs had been amputated. Her name was Terri, and her toothless, ample grin and child-like enthusiasm was completely contagious.

I'm reading this book called "irrestible Revolution," and it's wrecking me. It has thrown me into this new way of looking at the world, this new way of living my life. It's full of stuff I've already been absorbing and struggling with like poverty, war, non-violence, social justice, being the church, and truly living the kind of like that Christ called us to. There is a better way to live, and we can have a better world. I'm compelled to invite the homeless and the stranger to share a meal, to become a part of someone's life who is in poverty, not just throw money at them and walk away. To live in such a way that repays violence with love and peace. We are called to it. All of us. If we're really followers of Christ, then shouldn't our lives reflect His? And what was He? He was a friend to the friendless, Father to the fatherless, dinned with sinners, hung out with prostitutes...he lived differently. He turned the tables on social edict.

So that's what I'm struggling toward. I'm trying to change the social edict that's been engrained in me, to re-examine this "American Dream" that so many people waste their lives on. And maybe someday soon Terri will be in my home, and we will share a mean. And she can teach me what it means to be a Christian.

Colorado

I'm sitting here on the only piece of furniture in our apartment (a super-sweet, marigold vintage sofa I just bought for a mere $200), looking at our Christmas tree that is only half-way covered in lights...hopefully our moving company gets here soon. Denver has now been our home for a week and a day, and I can see the city lights from my cool vintage sofa. So far, we have eaten some amazingly tasty Teke Masala (an Indian dish that you must try), saw Snow Patrol (the cd is better than the show), had a life changing experience watching Imogen Heap, learned a great tamboruine move that I definitely need to take on the road, found a fantastic bookstore that makes me think I'm in a Harry Potter movie, made friends with a man named Gary who frequents Starbucks every morning and every night, and had an amazing time snowboarding...bunny hills are awesome.

City people are quite interesting to me...most of them don't want to look at anyone, or have anyone look at them. Even if your bodies are crammed together so close you can smell coffee on their breath, most will look at the speck of dirt on their shoe the entire ride. There was this crazy man sitting in the back corner of the bus, dramatically reciting something about the death of Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer - I, of corse, couldn't help myself and laughed out loud. Most people acted as if they couldn't hear the jubilant vibrato, but a few grinned sheepishly. Now, I understand that you shouldn't be rude - laughing at someone is hardly edict - but it was really funny. Denver has a good portion of crazy people, and I like crazy people, so I'm sure I'm going to like Denver.

It's strange how one day can hold such extremes. Some good friends of ours in Chicago just had their first baby, and I was talking with John (the Uncle of the baby) about him - John was ecstatic, so excited to be a part of this new life. Later, actually just a few minutes ago, another friend called and told me her 2-year-old daughter just died. And as she told me the story of what had happened, my mind was swimming, trying to think of a single encouraging thing to say...but nothing came. Everything I thought of sounded so cliche and trite, and I could only keep muttering "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry."

The questions "why" are endless: Why didn't God.." "Why didn't we..." These are questions all humanity asks. And I do not think it is our job to figure out the answers. We can strive and dig, and come up with our own sort of formula to make sense of things. But we live in a fallen world, where things happen that we can't quite explain or come to terms with. One couple is rejoicing, another is morning...it just isn't fair. I am reminded of a lyric in one of Nichole Nordeman's songs: "The very hand that shields your eyes from understanding is the hand that will be holding you for miles."

I pray that God will grant peace in the questions, and hope in knowing, even in tragedy, He is holding us.

End of the Season

What a season. This weekend was our last Acquire The Fire event for the season. And for the last weekend, we went out with a bang - the whole band received cake right in the face. Yes...we do have it on video. And yes...you can view it at myspace.com/michaelgungor. Word to the wise - pink frosting DOES stain your face.

We also did a night of worship at a church in Mississippi this weekend - the whole service had a really great flow to it. The people were amazing, they were all right there with us from the first note. I especially enjoyed the charming Mississippi accents!

Thank you to all of you who have been a part of the ATF events, to those who attended and those who worked. We have received countless e-mails with testimonies that have made us cry, and lives that have truly been changed by the love of God. We loved worshiping with you, talking with you, sharing stories with you, and growing in this captivating, exploratory walk to become more like Christ.