I Wish I Had A Sylvia Plath...

A good read. Very depressing. Everything goes wrong for the main character. She goes insane. I really like her though. She's lovable. Check it out.

10 Thing I Love about Clarksdale, Mississippi

This is the Crossroads, where famous delta blues player was said to have sold his soul to the devil to play blues music.

1. "Abe's BBQ" and "Mississippi Burnin' Wings"
2. Old Friends
3. Clarksdale is the home of the Delta Blues
4. Alligator hunting (maybe not this time, but it was a trip)
5. Most people's rims are nicer than their cars
6. Various Hole-in-the-wall Food places
7. People drive around the neighborhood all day
8. The Bakery/Bar/Trance Metal/recording studio/venue/restaurant? its really one of a kind
9. Stealing wireless from hotels
10. Walmart and everything else closes around 8... if they want to stay open that late.

Community Missions Coordinator

I have recently been given a new title at my church. I am lucky to be interning with my friend matt low, helping start bible studies at school's and coordinating service projects. I get to meet new people and do what I love doing, so I am thankful. Off to mississippi, saturday. IM PUMPED! OH and emmylou harris is playing in austin at stubbs August 6th. If your a fan ( I am) let me know, cause im alone in my love of Emmylou right now.

Land of the Living

Catacombs have never really interested me, partly because I never took the time to think about their significance or purpose, but recently I did. Scattered throughout the catacombs are (Now, this is my account from tv and pictures, and readings, I have never been there) various drawn artwork of daniel in the lion's den, and the resurrection of Lazarus. It's haunting to realize that the people and artists, who occupied the catacombs, were experiencing persecution. On a regular basis they would find their friends or themselves being torn apart at parties by wild animals, or impaled and lit on fire to light gatherings, just to entertain the Romans. They never fled.

There are more dead people than there are living.

"Late in the 17^th century city growth in Paris, both in population and urban expansion, as well as the slow accumulation of generations of the dead had begun to overwhelm Parisian cemeteries. The largest cemetery in Paris, Les Innocents, was so saturated it began to affect those in surrounding neighborhoods. Residents began to suffer from diseases due to improper burials. For centuries, French officials condemned the cemetery to no avail. In 1786, officials decided to exhume the entire cemetery as well as other cemeteries in the city and to take the bones into the now abandoned tunnels of the rock quarries beneath the city. This was a process that would take two years to complete and moved an estimated six million bodies."

Scattered throughout the catacombs are plaques that remind living visitors of their own mortality. Though I have not been there to see it, I have read that as one exits the catacombs a plaque by the door offers a word to the bones:

Listen, dry bones
Listen to the voice of the Lord
The powerful God of our ancestors
Who in one breath created them
Will re-tie your undone knots
You will have new flesh
On which new skin will form
Dry bones, you will live again

We are bit of a long way in getting here, but I imagine that all of those bones – six million bodies worth – is something akin to what Ezekiel saw as he looked out across the valley of dry bones. (ezekiel 37) There scattered across the valley lay countless bones, lifeless, and windswept. Then, in classic Ezekiel fashion, which is to say something we would accuse someone of being high for seeing, or doing, Ezekiel begins to talk to the dry bones on God’s behalf. He calls out to the bones to get up, order themselves into skeletons. Ligaments, muscles, and tendons attach themselves to the bones and organs, skin, hair, teeth and eyes grow over the body. Ezekiel has commanded the bones to get up and to become a field of…well, zombies. You see, though they had all the attributes of a living being, they lacked that most basic of spiritual elements, breath. So Ezekiel calls the breath of God to come and from the four corners of the earth the breath fills their lungs and they are alive.

For Ezekiel, such pictures were wonderful object lessons. This is Israel. A people windswept and lifeless, all dried up. They are a people without a hope of living again; a people who live and yet do not live, zombies, in a foreign land. However, there is hope. God will bring them back from the grave and God will give them a new spirit and a new life. God will restore them to the land of the living.

Maybe that's why they never fled. Whats worse than death?

Yanni

For some reason this is really funny. Live at The Acropolis Yanni performed at the greek gods stadium. He cant read music, so he writes his arrangements in code. Only his band understands them. He now has his own recording studio, and has sold over 10 million albums. Being a self-taught musician, Yanni can neither read nor write music, but rather write down his compositions in his own special shorthand. He has perfect pitch, and composes all of his own music.

House of Cards video

Radiohead continues to surprise me. The entire music video was made without cameras or lights, but with lasers. Radiohead used technologies called "Geometric Informatics" and "Velodyne LIDAR" to scan their heads with lasers while singing the song. I have never been this excited about a music video, but this stuff is awesome.

Sermon Reflections

I am poor. I am blind. I am oppressed. I am weak. I am a sinner. I am a stranger. I am selfish. I need God just as much as you do. God is enough. God will rescue us. God will watch over us. God will be glorious in suffering and in peace.

Jesus & The Kingdom

Dinosaur Dienosore

 An old friend of mine has started a new musical endeavor and I offered to help him record it. It has been fun so far, I've never really recorded anybody else besides myself. The vibe of the songs are real ambient and soothing, its nice to try and make things softer instead of louder. So I hope it turns out swell, and im glad to be apart of it check them out dinosaur dienosore. The new stuff we did will be up there soon. Other news, I'm most likely staying in san antonio to attend college as of right now. Some loan and scholarships fell through. Im not upset about it. God doesn't make mistakes. If anything the whole situation has made me become more thoughtful of my mom and sister and I am very thankful for that. Thank you for your prayers.

Wonder Wasting?

Ever try to feel the arc of the earth while walking? Or try to peer over the horizon as if it were a fence? Todays been one of those days, everything is alright. I think I have to leave room for wonder sometimes or I'll go insane.

Victorious One

Victorious One
V:
oh victorious one
rise above in splendor
tear the old skies
the new days dawn
you've broken down the walls
now there's nothing left between us.
Victorious one you have finally freed us
B:
we will sing of your promise fulfilled
C:
We have won through victory in Christ
the risen one, you bring hope to our lives
victorious one, vicorious one
V2:
Your light has broken through
blurred lines that divide
mystery and truth
now can coincide
death now turns to life
now nothing can come between us
Victorious one, Lord we surrender

Tres Leches "three milks"

In no way will I ever attempt to make tres leches again. 

Black & White's

My Orchid Tree

The Orchid Tree is native in India and China and is related to the Redbud tree Jerusalem-Thorn tree and beans. It grows in both South and Central Florida to about 25 feet. It is a deciduous tree with medium green leaves shaped like the footprint of an ox or cow. The flowers look somewhat like an orchid and are about 3-4 inches across. They may be in colors like red, purple, lavender, yellow or white. I started growing this tree 6 years ago and after moving houses, it now sits in a pot, on my back porch. I'm not real big into growing plants, but this tree is a big deal to me. Hopefully I can find a place to put it permanently so it can grow, and it really is one of the prettiest things to see when the flowers come in. I've forgot about it recently because I have not been home, but it kept me company while I barbecued in the rain
all day today. Just me, the barbecue, and the tree.

Look On Us

More stuff Blake Quimby and I are working on.

The greatness of the Lord
Cannot be captured by a song
its hard to grasp or imagine
the power of this eternal god

his name alone can drive away
all the evil that plagues us all
with his breath hes made everything
that dwells within our soul

Sing high the almighty name of our God
lift your hearts and sing
come alive you church of complacent ones
oh that God would look on us

lover of the unloved
father of the abandoned ones
his compassion for the desolate
is wild and strong

arise, render the love that saves
its a furious fire that overtakes
although fears and doubts come flooding in
come lose to gain ,become awake

“Thy look is Thy being… I am, because Thou dost look at me… if Thou didst turn Thy glance from me, I should cease to be.” – Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464)

Noise Trade

"Some artists have good music they're willing to give away in exchange for a little help. Some fans have a few bucks or a few friends who'd love to hear about good, free music."

Started by Derek Webb, noise trade allows artists to give listeners the option to pay what they want to pay for the cd, or tell 3 friends by email about the cd in order to download a copy. Check it out for yourself I'm sure its gonna catch on fast. This is a great way to get your stuff out there through social connections. As of now they have such artists as Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Matthew Perryman Jones, The Allens, and Waterdeep.

Where did all the fireworks go?

Today I figured out how to apply rss feeds. So I spent most of my day trying to figure out which feeds I would like to stay updated in. I got a new e-mail its davidmatthewgamboa@gmail.com write me a letter and i'll write you one back. Thanks to gmail i'm able to unlock all the mac email features, stationary, photos, nice letter frames. I was preparing for a night of fireworks with my camera trying to catch something, but there were none. I hope to keep this thing up. Two posts in one day thats a record.

Songs In The Making

This week I got to hang out in Palacios, TX helping out with worship. Blake Quimby and I worked on some new stuff which we are both pretty excited about.

You reach down and train our hearts

, but set in our ways we fell apart

just like the moon that guides the tides

you guide our hearts in your direction

sin-soaked and tired we came

Isn't it just like you, to find us

chained in a prison of a dying place

, but love came and seized us, and link by link

these chains brittles and breaks when you breathe

creation sighs and wakes

can you hear the sound

Of your saints that await 

from this lowly ground

Our love is restored

My soul burns within me

waiting for Your hand to move

 

Constantly you've made a way

though near deaths gates we've escaped

You've shattered the fear that held us down

If all thats light turned night, surrounded us

somehow you would find us, 

oh to be lost no more