Just that it’s delicate.

Riding bikes through empty streets late at night is a favorite thing of mine to do.  My beloved room mate Tyler Saxton just invested wisely in a cool old French road bike, so we’ve spent a lot of time tearing around Fort Collins together lately.  Tonight we got back to the house just before two in the morning after a long talk sitting on some sticky tables we rode to downtown somewhere, a mile or so from our house.  The cold air, the fast bikes, the staggering drunks, the blue Gatorade, the heart-to-heart, all of it, made a great midnight outing.

We discussed tonight, like we do a lot, what God has for us in our relationships with girls.  My theory is that God has a set “Plan A” girl or guy for every person alive.  There are, in addition to this person, many other good candidates for a lifelong partner, but none will be to you what “Plan A” could be.  That’s the theory.

So my question was, are we guaranteed to find that person if we seek God for him or her and do our best to look and listen for his guidance in our relationships?  I’d like to believe that yes I will, in fact, wind up with my “Plan A” girl.  Now if I fall in love and give my heart away prematurely, I believe God will still bless my relationship with whoever if we, together, put him first in the matter and stay holy.  She becomes “Plan A” at this point, and because I cannot know that this woman is THE one for me without God explicitly telling me that, I have to live like she is “Plan A” and love her and treat her like “Plan A”.  So basically I’m saying that whatever girl I “choose”, as if God hasn’t kindly ordered every step of  mine, will become my “Plan A” girl no matter what.  Maybe this is true.

Regardless, it is my belief that although I would wind up happy with whomever, there is one specific girl who is made for me and I for her.  She is someone I won’t just be happy with, but completed with.  I think I’ll find myself  with that one.  I think I’ll know when I meet her.  I think, as I pray for her each day till we meet and thereafter, that the short term, life long relationship we’ll share will glorify God more than one of the relationships I could have had with any of the other wonderful girls all around me and because God orders my steps and brings himself glory through the ups and downs of my somewhat pathetic life, I can believe him to cross my path with that of “Plan A”.

Just some thoughts.  People talk about things like this just when they’re tired of being single and tired of thier unreasonably high standards.

Winter Albums Are For You.

Every year I get locked in a groove of winter music.  Not Christmas music, that has it’s place, but “Winter” music.  Songs that make me think of walking under frosty trees in the oval (pictured above) coming home from class, or driving in a warm car as the world around me claws the hard-packed snowy road for traction.  Songs of joy or songs of contemplation.  Albums that seamlessly convey hopeful or thoughtful themes.  Winter music.  A wonderful part of the season.  So here’s my list of winter albums your season will be incomplete without, in no particular order:

• “Into the Blue Again” by The Album Leaf
• “As Tall As Lions” by As Tall As Lions
• “3 Rounds and a Sound” by Blind Pilot
• “Letters” by Butch Walker
• “Brothers and Sisters” by Coldplay (specifically the song “Easy to Please”, probably my all-time favorite Coldplay song)
• “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” by Copeland
• “You Are My Sunshine” by Copeland (a new addition to the list)
• “O” by Damien Rice
• “The Photo Album” by Death Cab For Cutie
• “The Last Broadcast” by Doves
• “Marvelous Things” by Eisley (no longer on iTunes apparently)
• “Fleet Foxes” by Fleet Foxes
• “Now That I’ve Found You” by Alsion Krauss
• “The Moon Is Down” by Further Seems Forever
• “The Eleventh Hour” by Jars Of Clay
• “Winter” by Jon Foreman (crazy, right?)
• “Catch For Us The Foxes” by mewithoutYou (actually perfect for all seasons)
• “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones
• “Distorted Lullabies” by Ours (best blizzard driving music)
• “( )” by  Sigur Ros (life changing record)
• “The Eraser” by Thom Yorke of Radiohead
• “Set Yourself on Fire” by Stars
• “Sky Blue Sky” by Wilco

I guess that order turned out kind of alphabetical.  Don’t be overwhelmed if you don’t own every album listed above.  But definitely talk to me if you want a few of them, I would LOVE to hook you up.  A great place to start is “Eat, Sleep, Repeat” by Copeland.  If you don’t have that album don’t go any further till you do.  Amazing music.  Some of my favorite.

 

Seasons have a sound.  Summer sounds like Bleach.  Fall sounds like Augustana.  Spring sounds like old Mae.  But Winter cannot be named in a single band no matter how hard you try.  That’s what I think.

 

What are your favorite winter albums? Comment and tell me!