EV Grieves Namesake

New York Times Feature today has me second guessing the all too late arrival to

My Neighborhood...>>

Sometimes Salvation?

"Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else." Galatians 6:4

I'm ready to run.

I'm used to it. I normally have a threshold of approximately three years in a place. But ever since the sun started its descent at 4PM and the radiant heating clinks and tinks its late night lullaby, I'm ready to pack it in and say mission accomplished.

Mission being, New York... Success accomplished in New York, well that's relative.

Six weeks of bible study with (gasp) Rick Warren has done very little to fuel me forward in my contentment. In fact, his paraphrasing the bible and littering the book with personal inflections has done more to infuriate my already stress filled heart.

Disclaimer: For any one who is searching for the Truth, Reading Purpose Driven Life may point you in the right direction, but it is NOT The Bible.

But finally Hallelujah, chapter 32 got my attention. "Using what God gave you", wasn't news to me but a hard punch of a notion, I had forgotten.

Of course, I had let the latest fashion trip me on my scuffed heels and toss me towards the ring of fire in this dark city. I had done what Satan wanted me to do.

I've compared and conformed to those around me, forgetting my unique gifts, my personal testimony, my particular strengths.

I am an Evangeliser. I have been my entire life. I've built relationships based on His shining light inside me. I've navigated journey's with His enduring strength. I've experienced gain through His Glory. I've reaped all rewards by His hand.

And I've continuously shared this recipe with others.

Lately, I've ceased being a workman of God who is not ashamed of the truth and in that misstep, I've drastically missed the mark.

The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. --C. S. Lewis

What would happen if all your ways, became His?

Show Must Go On

"The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?" Proverbs 18:14

Pickled Vegetables from my favorite Vietnamese restaurant had me bowed over in the hair and makeup line in preparation for three overnight shoots with Jim Carey. Stricken with a severe bout of food poisoning, watery eyed, I request to be dismissed from set with breath so toxic, even the most stoic of production assistants would crumble. They oblige.

In bed today, on my second dose of charcoal, I call casting to whimper my ill-fated explanation.

They hang up on me.

I run to hit the toilet just in the nick of time.

This should explain my lack of writing in the past and my lack of working in the future.

Screw Show Business.

Could this be my last curtain call?

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau

Banging my sweaty head against my Yoga Mat, I search for meaning to my madness and find it in the little things.

Feeling sheer joy at my Boardwalk Empire Debut.

Damn Straight Namaste

"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." Proverbs 3:7-8

When asked what to do when one comes to a difficult fork in the road, Hall of Famer Yogi Berra responded...Take it!

Through much prayer and Chinese massage, I've decided on my path to a pain free life, I'm going to have to commit myself to a devout practice of Vinyasa yoga and a considerable amount of the medicinal marijuana.

So in the words of a favored Yankee....

Texas, I'll take it...>>

Or is the magic potion in a synthetic capsule full of man-made chemicals, with severe side effects a better option?

Content. No Couldn't Be

"If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you." Matthew 10:13

Here's one thing about East Village that gives it a small town feel...I can put a pair of gently loved shoes on my stoop or a bag of clothes by the corner garbage and in a New York minute, the shoes have walked proudly past me and the clothes are marked high at the local sidewalk sale.

This makes me smile fondly towards my city.

So does this...

Snapshots of the neighborhood amidst this glorious extended Fall.

Courtesy of EV Grieve...

Don't the all knowing say, home is where the heart is?

V is for Valor

"This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God." 2 Corinthians 9:12

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” ~Thomas Jefferson

Navigating the New York City morning commute is not a peaceful process.

It is one thing to endure the cat calls from the Super next door, dodge the Guatemalan scrubbing down the sidewalk with bleach, get called a Bitch in Polish for not taking her "We Buy Gold" flyer, walk against uptown traffic amid the horns, sirens, and exhaust, curse the clickety clack of the heels gaining on your own, negotiate the dolly's full of delivered cans of Alpo and packaged Halvah, to ultimately get blocked out when the F train finally arrives and the doors open.

But to crawl through these hoops and jump these angry obstacles to go to a mediocre job, with a thankless boss, for a measly hourly rate, to compete against the equally as hungry, hustling in a city whose standard of living is absurd at best is well, a painful process.

Except this morning.

Just when I tucked my chin into my tightly wrapped scarf, the thunderous roar of a Harley Davidson raised my eyes to the horizon of East Houston and a smile spread through them.

A noise what normally would make me cringe sounded like the songs of angels as hundreds upon hundreds of motorcycles rumbled up 1st Avenue flying the most beautiful colors of Old Glory and stark POW MIA flags off the back of their leather seats with a sense of pride you could touch and feel.

We live in the greatest country in the world and our freedom is bought time and time again with shed blood and immeasurable bravery. The men and woman who put themselves on the line to defend our honor, our constitution, and our waving flag are protectors, warriors, and heroes. Their unwavering commitment to their duty to maintain our safety should be revered and remembered. And we owe them not just gratitude.. but our lives.

Happy Veterans Day.

"I'm proud to be an American
where at least I know I'm free,
And I won't forget the men who died
who gave that right to me,
And I gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today,
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A." LG

Did you say thank you?