525,600

well i set out to bla(g)h tonight, but instead i went through this here piece of the Internets from January to today with a cherished friend. Its been a good year- one with lots of changes, realizations, and peaks and valleys...
but through it all love remains...


Jesus' blood never failed me yet
never failed me yet
Jesus' blood never failed me yet
this one thing i know
that He loves me so

is the Jars of Clay song. It's an interesting story, actually-
its a song by a homeless that a man named Gavin Bryars turned into a musical composition - he said this about it:

In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song - sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads - and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.

When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song - 13 bars in length - formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.

I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism."

Anyway... Jesus' love has never failed me, and never will.   The same love that held Him to a cross and took away my sins, that same love picks me up when I fall... which is oft, and dusts me off and carries me on my way... He never fails, because He can't.  He's God, and by that nature God can't lie or change or stop loving.  He is indeed Love, and He has bestowed it upon me insomuch as my guilt, and pain, and fears, and burdens are lifted off my weak and feeble shoulders and put squarely upon the Infinite where they need never worry me again.  This... this is.. so... wow.
while the world around me changes, His Love is changeless, and for that I say, for what it's worth, Thank you.

What I learned today:  In N Out Burgers are so worth the hype
What I learned about God today: Patience and love...
also, I'm grateful for "processing times", and glad to be real and (almost) equal... :)