Every sunday morning my church congregation is led in the following "generosity liturgy," a prayer to prepare our hearts for a time of fellowship and monetary offerings. This prayer has helped shape the way that I think about money, generosity and my role as a member of the Church and of the human race, joining God in the renewal of all things!

(to God..)
There is nothing we have that You have not given us;  all we have and are belong to You, bought with the blood of Jesus. 

To spend everything on ourselves and to give without sacrifice are the way of the world that You cannot abide. But generosity is the way of those who call Christ their Lord; who love Him with free hearts and serve Him with renewed minds; who withstand the delusion of riches that chokes the word; whose hearts are in heaven, and not on earth.

We are determined to increase in generosity until it can be said  that there is no needy person among us. We are determined to be faithful stewards of such a little thing as money, that You may trust us with true riches. Above all, we are determined to be generous because You, our Father, are generous.

It is the delight of Your daughters and sons to share Your traits and to show what You are like to all the world.
 
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
Yeshua (Matt 6:26)

I'm still learning what it means to live in radical abandon for the Kingdom of God, to live out my calling, and to fully trust in God's provision. A large part of that has meant committing my time, energy, and thought to the office of songwriting; busking on the subway trains; becoming freegan.

Just found this note on paypal w a $20 donation attached: 

Gio, thank you for your beautiful and inspiring music. The ride in the subway yesterday was lit up by your talent and unassuming stance.

Let's just say this brought me to tears. I still struggle to trust God as I live hand-to-mouth; it often doesn't seem like it, but he always meets me halfway. The simple fact is that I love what I do, my calling, and God is good. I can rest in this.

Anyone can send me a donation or personal gift on paypal! If you appreciate what I do and how I do it, then I would really appreciate any donations in kind! They can be sent, via paypal, to [email protected].

You can also now get a FREE download of my debut album, Life Is A Bike Wreck (Better Wear Your Helmet), for a limited time on Noisetrade. You will also have the option there of leaving me a tip. 

If you DO decide to contribute in either of these ways, please know that 1) it will probably make me cry, 2) I'll send you free downloads and cool stuff, 3) I'll be so very very thankful!
 
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In a previous entry I mentioned my rubber band collection and intent to create a freegan rubber band ball. So I bided the half-hour waiting for my laundry in my buildings basement, stringing the bands around each other. 

My ball has gotten off to a good start!

Later in the week I received this message through the NYC freegan discussion list-serv:


I have an apartment full of items I need to pass on.  I will be backpacking through Asia for the next 6 months to a year and will be giving up my apartment. I have not been to any of the meet-ups but I do try to live by freegan principles... I am on a plane to Beijing on Tuesday, so I would like to have an open house this Sunday for anyone to take what they want... 

He then listed many items that he had available, including media (CDs, DVDs, books), appliances, furniture, electronics, and more. But the one item which really caught my attention:

-a crashed iMac, replace the hard drive and you are good to go

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And I've needed a new computer since January. I jumped at the chance and was apparently the first. So I brought home a like-new iMac computer on Sunday. "Excited" doesn't quite capture the feeling.

Most of the stuff was passed on to me, so I now wish to pass it on. This will help me shed the sedentary life for the simple life -- living out of a day pack.

I'm about equally thankful as jealous. Living up the slightly-less-simple-though-certainly-FREEgan life in NYC! And yes, the rubber-band-ball photo was taken with my new computer's built-in camera. This technology is novel for me, lol =D