Everybody love Tyler, part I

I have found that recently I am in the habit of checking my email quite often. For about three weeks now, I have wrestled with whether I should write to a couple of the kids from the youth ministry we were asked to leave from. In particular, I had been thinking of Steph and Katie. They are two young ladies who Miranda and I were very close with and haven't had any conversation with either of them all summer. Well, it's Sunday morning and before preparing breakfast for our family and guests, I check

my electronic mailbox. Before my welling eyes, what should appear? I have one email waiting to be read from Stephanie. I was overcome with such a feeling of love and joy. You see, I am also in the habit of believing lies such as; none of the kids we used to spend so much time with any longer want anything to do with us. Of course this simply wasn't true as Stephanie let me know in her email. I immediately wrote her back and called her to invite her to come over to the house to talk. Around noon, she and Katie showed up at our front door--an occurence which was greatly missing from our lives. We all sat around and talked, listened and lamented over the wrongs done to us by others who should have been the ones building us up and modeling the attitude of Christ for us. It's easy to point the finger and lay blame, but we all know that what's done is done. The hard part is forgiveness. How do we keep from making the same mistakes and have no other agenda but listening to and following Jesus? It's difficult.

After we'd been talking awhile, Stephanie recieved a call from Kip and he soon joined us. We began to collectively think about our good friend Tyler who had started at school out in Arizona this fall. We miss him. We pondered how difficult it must be to live so far away from everyone you know and love. He seemed to spend every waking hour with his family and/or friends. Tyler is a great friend who genuinely cares for those close to him. Strangely, soon after we began discussing plans to bake him cookies and make him a video, Tyler himself calls Kip on his phone! Hmmm... So then, we all set out to, as I like to say, "bake the hell out of some peanut butter cookies" for our friend Tyler. It felt really good to spend the afternoon laughing and lamenting with these kids who we love so dearly. I'm so amazed at how God shows up in these moments of mortality and gives us comfort and joy in the company of others when we least expect them.

Startled squirrels and horseshit

As I sit in our "bedroom apartment" atop the home we are now sharing with my cousin Jason, his wife Kathy and their four children, I sip my morning coffee by the open window. The cold autumn air dances beneath my feet. Cold Spring Harbor plays behind me while my wife's loving words left upon the bathroom mirror this morning recall the activity of a gorgeous October Sunday.

With barely a cloud in the sky, the sun warmed the morning air quickly as we drove to Brown county state park. The leaves were just starting to change color and fall to the ground. Miranda recounted the days at our last house when she would wrap herself in a blanket and sit on the back patio facing the woods just past our backyard. She loved to sit and read while the tiny creek trickled through fallen leaves and earth. It's difficult to not long for that backyard again. Though we both agreed that there's no substitute for the proximity to our family and friends right now. Memories of the past always seem to haunt us. We know the futility in playing that game of twenty questions. We wonder if only we'd known how things would turn out, would we do things differently? It doesn't matter. Not that the past doesn't matters because it obviously matters a great deal, but we certainly do no good hoping for the past to give us another chance. My memories often take me to times spent with the kids from the youth ministry. Last fall, we spent a weekend at Yellowwood Forest. Little did I know that a year from then most of those kids would be removed from our daily lives. It's hard not to still be angry. I still wonder a great deal where we'll be in a couple of years.

Back at Brown county, Miranda and I hiked a few miles through the woods, startled squirrels & caterpillars and read beneath the shade of birch trees as acorns pelted our car like Indiana hail in the Summertime. Last spring, our travels to Brown county led us to a limestone creek bed. We hopped across rocks further down the creek to a secluded place where all we could hear was the sound of fresh water and wind. We were really looking forward to returning to our special place only to be disappointed that the creek was fairly dry and muddy. There were also cavalries of horseback riders galloping past us which left us trodding through horseshit.

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time getting away together and enjoying a most beautiful day. We can't know what tomorrow holds but we'd do well to just shut up and rest in the sound of sheer silence now and again. That's where Scripture tells us that God speaks and where we can hear.

The Bob Dylan Show: Rain or shine

Last night, Miranda and I ventured north to the mighty Fort Wayne to see the all-star rhythm & blues review, The Bob Dylan Show. I'd heard a number of exciting things about this Bob Dylan fellow. In fact, I had recently purchased his most recent sound recording entitled Modern Times which I enjoyed very much. The sun was shining down upon us from it's lofty throne as we drove along I-69 from Indianapolis. It appeared a picturesque day for an outdoor concert at a ball park! Yes indeed, we would be participants in a real slice of Americana!

Just then, as we pulled into the Memorial Stadium parking lot, a dark ominous cloud snuck up behind us and gathered directly above the ball field. The temperature dipped to chilly giving prelude to the light rain which would keep us company for the next several hours. "Rain or Shine" declared the ticket stub... and rain it did. As my wife and I snuggled beneath an increasingly damp blanket from high atop the metal bleachers, we listened to some fantastic music by Elana James & the Continental Two, Junior Brown, and Jimmie Vaughan. After several hours of good time boogie woogie music, the rain let, the sun went down and Bob Dylan and his band took to the stage to perform an amazing set opening with a rip-roaring version of "Cat's in the Well". Other highlights of the show were "Masters of War", "Tangled Up in Blue" and a beautiful 3/4 time rendition of "My Back Pages". Dylan's band was tight as could be and his vocals were surprisingly clear. Dylan led his band from behind the keys and broke out the harp for a handful of numbers with some beautifully delicate solos. Another highlight was hearing "Like a Rolling Stone" during the encore in which the house lights came up during each chorus.

After the show, Miranda and I hit the road and headed back home under the light of the full moon being veiled by the breaking clouds. Fantastic show with some great friends. Thanks to Ryan and Aimee for inviting us to the show with them. Thanks to Bob, Elana, Junior, Jimmie and the rest of the fine musicians who made the 4 hour round trip worth every mile.

Complete Bob Dylan setlist (9-5-06)

1. Cat's in the Well
2. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
3. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
4. Girl of the North Country
5. Watching the River Flow
6. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
7. Masters of War
8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
9. Tangled Up in Blue
10. Highway 61 Revisited
11. My Back Pages
12. Summer Days
13. Like a Rolling Stone (encore)
14. All Along the Watchtower

Kyrie eleison is coming

The finishing touches are being lovingly crafted for the distribution of the most recent sound recording by The Mustard Room artist Joel Rockey. Digitally stamped on compact disc, Kyrie Eleison includes thirteen original songs, guest appearances by Emily Furrow and Tyler Johnson, and hand-printed artwork. This newest release arrives at the dawn of a new day for The Mustard Room. Be sure to check back soon for the new website complete with online store and details of all The Mustard Room's creative solution services.

Hear ye, here ye

So here I sit, typing upon my keyboard, officially thirty years of ruggedly-aged joel. It would be silly to say that I really feel any older than I did yesterday, but it certainly does cause one to look back on the seasons of life with a little perspective. The last six months have been a series of emotional chutes and ladders for Miranda and I. There was really nothing that I wanted more than to celebrate my thirty years on earth with some the those who

are dearest to my heart. I was honestly overwhelmed as sixty or so family and friends merged in our backyard for conversation, food, games, music and frivolity through a monkey sprinkler!

Thank you everyone.

Garage sale

Aloha

After months of anticipation about our upcoming, long overdue vacation, Miranda and I finally made it to Hawaii. Oh sure, many never even make it across the Pacific to the beautifully lush islands in a lifetime. But you see, it was the very dreaming of one day traveling to Hawaii which brought our relationship to a new level of commitment what began eight short years ago. Now that the two of us have been to the islands together, we can finally move on with our lives. In planning for our visit, we opted to find a cheap, all-inclusive cruise which would visit several of the islands. After some online research, we chose to embark on The Pride of Aloha with Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We flew in to the island of Maui and enjoyed a couple of days there before floating over to Honolulu on Oahu. During our stay in Honolulu we met a wonderful family from Nebraska who hiked up Diamond Head Crater with us. We also joined them for dinner a couple of times on the boat. From Honolulu we drifted up to the garden island, Kauai where we had the privilege of looking out over the Grand Canyon of the Pacific known as Waimea. We also did some snorkeling in Kauai. I have to tell you, snorkeling in the Pacific was just about one of the most magical things Miranda and I have ever done together. During our honeymoon in Florida six years ago, we visited this makeshift aquatic zoo in what had to be someone's back yard. It was, to say the least, highly entertaining. The simultaneously cool and sad thing about this questionable operation though was that they had a giant sea turtle in this little pool. He was a beautiful creature slowly swimming back and forth. Occasionally, he would poke his head out of the water and look you right in the eye as if to say, "Not a whole lot to do around here is there." But Miranda marveled over him like a little child. Until then, I had no idea how much she enjoyed sea turtles... Fast forward to Kauai, 2006. Aside from the colorful fish of many sizes and shapes, we got to float right over two big sea turtles as they waved their mighty flippers and went on with their everyday turtle lives. As amazing as swimming with those turtles was,and believe me it was pretty amazing, the thing that gave me more joy was watching my wife's face light up behind her snorkel and mask. The plastic plumbing clinging tightly to her face couldn't hide the shrieks of delight as she watched those turtles float slowly beneath her. If I'd ever forgotten, all of the memories of why I first fell in love with this girl came rushing back to me.

After two days on Kauai, our boat took us to the big island where we stopped at Hilo for a day to ride bicycles down a volcano and then Kona where we went 100 feet below sea level in a tiny submarine. Our journey ended where it began back on the island of Maui where they booted us off the boat at 8:45am and shuttled us to the airport where our flight was to leave at 5:50pm. Miranda and I decided to rent a car and drive for a while. We took off along the coast down the Hana highway to see what we could see. We found a beautiful off-road oasis call the Twin Falls where we hiked back to swim in some crispy cool waterfalls. We then stopped to walk along the beach on our way back to the airport at afternoon's end.

Sure, we had to endure the tiresome bitching of some of the cruise snobs aboard the ship. We went cheap and had no cruise experience with what to compare. I say, you get whatyou pay for. And who cares anyway? We were in paradise. No amount of airborne flu, bad buffet food or obnoxious cruise directors could take away from that. The icing on the cake, as our plane departed over the Pacific, was looking out over the expanse of endless blue sea that slowly veiled itself beneath the thick of clouds that cradled the sky like an arctic landscape. I swear we could have set that big old jet right down and all walked out to dance around for a bit. I just said, yeah God, that's pretty good.