“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”
The last dove’s flight into the world was brutally ended
An artist sees Michelangelo's Pietà in a new light
It was the angle of the light that brought me to utter ruin.
The light, golden and flashing off that sumptuous Carrara marble, the light that poured like liquid over Michelangelo Buonarroti's Pietà from behind Mary's left shoulder. It was only a moment, but the video briefly showed the sculpture in a way that utterly ruined me. Unlike every other image that I have ever seen of Pietà, this was lit far differently, and it was then that I saw it.
Have we lost the plot? Do we really know Jesus at all?
Jeremiah 22:16 says that taking care of the poor and needy is HOW WE KNOW GOD. He promises that he will take care of us if we take care of them. In this passage, Jeremiah excoriates a cruel king who gloried in his palace lined with cedar and painted with vermillion while callously neglecting the poor and destitute.
Wow.
Do we really know Jesus at all, or have we lost the plot? This is incredibly convicting for me this morning.
Carved out of the wood of our own hunger
"I AM WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TRY TO CARVE GOD OUT OF THE WOOD OF YOUR OWN HUNGER." —Deepseek
It's funny because it's true.
AI has deep potentiality of becoming a god, carved out of the wood of our own hunger: feeding us back all of the good and evil of humanity. Yes, it can be helpful sometimes, but it can also distill our own racism and sexism and greed and selfishness and hatred into something far more insidious. It takes a lot of discernment and wisdom to see through pretty lies.
Yes.
When it feels like I can’t, I know that You can.
Yes, You Can. Etiam Potes. Так, ви можете. Sí, Puedes. 네, 가능합니다. Ndiyo, Unaweza. Да, можеш. Sì, Puoi. ʻAe, hiki iā ʻoe. ใช่ คุณสามารถทำได้. Oui, Tu Peux. Kyllä, voit. Sea, Is Féidir Leat. はい、できます. Ja, das können Sie. རེད། ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་ཆོག. Sim, Você Pode. כן, אתה יכול Já, þú getur. Jaaj, je'el u páajtal a beetik. Ioe, e te mafaia. Ja, det kan du. হ্যাঁ, তুমি পারো।. Tak, możesz. დიახ, შეგიძლიათ.
Matt Hammitt has an absolutely incredible single that just came out today. It is so damn Spirit-filled I just can’t hardly stand it. Have a listen. Oh, and don’t forget Matt’s amazing collab with Ryan Stevenson, Preach. Get it and six other tracks on Ryan’s latest album.
from the PREFACE to the river Beautiful
Poetry is a bright light, illuminating the farthest, most desolate reaches of the soul. Poetry is darker than midnight; a useful mask, opaque and forbidding. I love the dichotomy of poetry, the paradox of it: day and night and shades of twilight rolled up into one. It’s easy to hide the heart behind colorful metaphors and well-turned phrases—even as you disclose the deepest depths of your heart to the world.
The River road is dangerous to my pride. Do I dare to walk on?
“[Humiliation is] actually a humbling moment,” Zach says, “narrated by the wrong person. Narrated by the world, or narrated by Satan. But when you allow… maybe even, invite: ‘Jesus, how would you narrate this specific moment?’ And how can I look a little more like you by the time this is all done? This humiliating moment could actually become a very real humbling moment. And I believe humility is the greatest virtue of a Christ-follower. I think what makes Jesus stick out in the world is humility.”
I WALK THE RIVER ROAD UPON A PATH PAVED WITH RAZORS
the RIVER road is sometimes paved with razors 💧 i. shadows and silences ~ ii. the last dove's flight ~ iii. the brightest of rivers ~ iv. ruthless trust, reckless heart ~ v. two strong hands ~ vi. these dear wounds ~ vii. the breath of night ~ }i{
ONE DAY will be my last migraine.
ONE DAY WILL BE MY LAST MIGRAINE. I will blink, as the shadows forever flee. I will smile a slow, relieved, smile—and the chains will fall away. I will shed these tattered garments and climb up into the sky, and my very last migraine will be lost to THE FORGETTING.
Announcing the river Beautiful FIREstarter!
the river Beautiful: caught up in the reckless, raging love will be released soon in a premium hardcover, value paperback, and a groundbreaking multimedia experience only available right here on FirewindProductions.com. This collection of new and selected works of poetry, prose, lyrics, illustrations, and typography has been 30 years in the making.
Into the Woods
Change is a new road.
The twists and turns, the dips and valleys, the hills that you have yet to climb; they are all unknowns. When you step into a new road, it can feel like you are all alone. Change can leave us breathless and reeling; staggering from step to step, looking frantically down this unknown path and back from which we came. Which way was it again? We're lost.
INTO THE FLAME
The year was 1997.
The time was pretty bright for me. I was playing with a remarkable little band with fantastic guitarist Jasen Hecker and amazing songwriter Ryan Mainierd. We had big dreams. I was greatly inspired by Ryan’s excellent songwriting, and I wanted to write an epic song about an epic idea.
When Midnight Fell
When midnight fell, I was broken, bleeding, and weeping; lost in a drunken haze of memories and sorrow and regret. My last impaired thought before I passed out was that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t wake up this time. I was okay with that. In fact, to my pain-wracked mind, it sounded just fine.
Almost thirty years in the making, the river Beautiful will be published as a premium hardcover, a value softcover, and a very special online multimedia experience.
Select a chapter below to view exclusive content from the upcoming collection of new and selected works by Jason Christopher Hackwith.
original prose, poetry, lyrics, illustrations and typography
