the remnants of jonas

last night as my flight from cleveland began to climb above the cold remnants of jonas, i took a glance at my google calendar to realize how little of january i had left. 

had it really been 3 weeks?

i spent most of it living inside a cuban bubble mixing sound in the beautiful city of havana but now that ive been back i keep trying to pick up the fresh scent of 2016 slowly realizing that its gone and that the year has marched on ahead of me.

i sat on my non-reclining middle seat with these thoughts. i tried to sleep them away but i couldnt. i found that i had several podcasts saved on my phone and for the next few hours i began to listen to the kind, gentle, and wise words of alistair begg and r.c. sproul. ironically both of them were speaking on the futility of life and both were teaching from the book of ecclesiastes. the term living under the sun was thrown around, which simply states that without purpose everything we as human beings do and acquire is meaningless; that in essence we are all just useless passions.

https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/the-search-for-satisfaction/
http://renewingyourmind.org/broadcasts/2015/09/01/vanity-of-vanity

useless passions? seems kind of harsh. well, it can be but luckily we all have a hope and its found in Christ. apart from Him we are all left to our own devices, which according to the author of ecclesiastes all leads to vanity of vanities. most of the tough and painful lessons that ive learned were all caused by my own vanity.
it was great to hear sproul and begg put things into perspective and as we began our initial descent the rumblings inside my soul began to settle. it seemed like a few moments later but as i drove on the 105 i began to think of 2016 and the path that was laid before me, which at the moment was the on-ramp to the 710 freeway.

one step at a time 

unfinished business: cuba

6 months and a new year later and i'm back in miami international getting ready to board a flight to the island. there's unfinished business for the amigo skate crew and for the next two weeks we're going to try and unravel what the impact of the lifting of the us cuba embargo has done to the local skate scene and in a greater scheme the people. i'm excited to sweat & break bread with my good cuban kin.