To Tina:

All of his books are good
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=david+sedaris&x=0&y=0

also – not reading material but – get on itunes, find “This American Life” Podcast, and listen to that – its incredible.

Check out the New Yorker and the Atlantic magazine – they usually have at least one really great article a month. Here are two fantastic and long articles.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_bilger

read ben franklin’s autobio – its sounds stuffy its not, its great.

Stay away from titles with the word “LIFE” in them 

And finally The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West...Again – you know again, this book has a bad title, but it is a fantastic read – even for people who have no inclination toward what the title suggest, again do not judge the book by its title.
http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Way-Evangelism-Christianity-West-Again/dp/0687085853/ref=pd_bbs_sr_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228406552&sr=8-10

enjoy
s

Below is Acts 3:1-10 NIV followed by the SPV (Stevo Paraphrased Version)

Peter Heals the Crippled Beggar

1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.



Peter and John were out for a stroll one day heading toward the Temple in Jeruselem around 3pm when they were accosted by some homeless person. This homeless person was up there pretty much every day, every day that he could get someone to carry him that is, you see he was also crippled. Ironically enough this pathetic looking creature lay under a gate called “Beautiful” and it was here that he encountered what he thought would be just two more people with the potential to feed him.
When the homeless crippled man asked Peter and John for money, they gave him their full attention and requested his as well. Right off the bat they conceded to not having what he wanted – money. They didn’t then tell him to get a job or stop wearing the underwear on the outside of his pants so that he could get a job, they didn’t say we’re not giving you money because you’ll probably just spend it on hookers and booze. No, they said that though they don’t have money, they will give him what they do have, which was Christ, so They healed him in the name of Jesus Christ, and then helped him stand up. Now, you would have thought that atrophy would have set in and seriously destroyed any muscles he could have had, so much so that even healing him of his ailment would not have allowed him to walk, but God thought of that to (He’s kinda a specialist on that sorta thing). The bum’s illness, bones, muscles, and whatever else would have been medically relevant were healed as well, which allowed the cripple to stand up and to a little jig, which he did for Jesus, amen!
Now everybody new who this homeless, cripple bum was, because he asked them all for money like a thousand times each, probably so much so that they ran out of excuses for him and just ignored him as best you can ignore a disgusting looking cripple dude laying all contorted in the street. So, when they saw him walking around, obviously some were like, “I new that dude was faking it the whole time!” and they were so glad that never gave him any money, but for the most part it blew everybody’s mind and they wanted to know what happened.

I keep wanting to ask people if their kids are autistic... kinda like when i was riding my dirtbike through utah - i kept wanting to ask everybody if they were mormon - they were. but unlike in utah, i would hate to be wrong were i to ask these parents. I see a kid, doing something like coloring and being very concentrated while at the same time talking to me in a way where it would not matter if i were there or not - and i assume he's autistic. Maybe its from watching to much house, which btw i thought that it was interesting that the last house and the last 30 rock episodes (last according to hulu) were both about agoraphobes. I have to wonder if that were in any way planned. Does it seem to you that mental disorders get real popular (via media) and then... like schizophrenia was maybe the last popular disease - that maintained its popularity (gws and pts are kinda in and out, but never with any pop) for a while, and probably peaked with fight club, its interesting that ed norton played one in fight club, and played a character who was playing a schizo in primal fear. remeber oceans 13? spoke of agoraphobia in an almost condescending way - if you (as the audience) had never heard of it, it was a funny scene none the less. was howard hughes an agoraphobic?

Chapel

I like it, it seems like a lot of work is put into picking the speakers and they are usually very good and inspiring. this week dr. phil parshall is here to talk about islam. it is evangelism week, so i thought... well he's not doing what i thought he would do, he is spending a lot of time giving us the perspective of muslims around the world, as well as informing us of what the koran and islam really says - that last line probably makes some role their eyes. If he were reading this blog and someone else speaking in chapel he would roll his eyes as well. He believes (pro bably accurately) that we don't know what we are talking about when we talk about islam, so he basically made it his mission to dispel as many of the myths about islam we as evangelicals have been gravitating toward since, i don't know, 9/11. this includes not only holy scriptures of islam, but also stats and facts about terrorist and their connection to islam(and saudi arabia for that matter). He asked how many of the terrorist on 9/11 were from Afghanistan? answer - 0. so, lets invade afghanistan. (they were all saudi's) He went on to say that terrorist who usually associate themselves with islam are on the fringe - if your a christian think of it like this, the wacko's who call themselves christians and blow up abortion clinics and say really, really stupid @#$*, those are the terrorist of islam. oh yeah, one last thing, he mentioned obama's middle name having muslim heritage, he also went on to say how ridiculous it is to think that obama is a muslim. It was informative, but also disconcerting, we are seminary students - not the fringe - we know a lot of this stuff, and his assumption was a bit insulting, oh well. i'll post the link later when the dts site is working. oh, yeah - he also differentiated between folk islam and traditional islam - a distinction worth knowing.

I have lacked the ability interest myself in my own blogs, but i thought i might blog anyway today. Last thursday David Gibbons pastor of http://www.newsong.net/ came and spoke in chapel, and then after chapel we had a "brown bag" (he talks and answers questions in a classroom - while we eat lunch) with him. he spoke a lot of reaching out to the "Fringe" of society - defining fringe as basically the people nobody wants to talk to/deal with - or minister to. He said this is the new thrust of his life as of yet. The other thing he spoke of was "3rd Culture"



http://3culture.tv/ 3rd Culture people being defined as people who have spent the majority of their life in a country or two countries that is not their home. He sees this group of people as highly unreached - they are a people with no home. I do not understand the plight of third culture, because it is not my experience, but i spoke with someone in one of my classes this morning who was born in China, raised in Portugal, attended UT o A and is now here, he said that reaching out to 3rd culture is extremely important - like they are a group of people who need to be understood and ministered to accordingly. I'll blog about Eric Mason as soon as I can find his video.

Is there any talk anywhere about power becoming wireless in a similar way that my internet connection is. I ask cause most importantly i could stop carrying around my power supply, and secondly we could like end the global warming issues over night if our cars were all generated by wireless electricity?

enjoy this cracka'

23 Oct 2008 01:21 pm
McCain, Socialist

An exchange from 2000:

Responding to a question from a girl who wants to know why her her father, a doctor, pays a higher tax rate than people who earn less:

McCain: "I think it's to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more."

Doctor's daughter: Aren't we getting closer and closer to, like, socialism and stuff?

McCain: "Here's what I really believe. When you are, reach a certain level of comfort, there is nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/mccain-socialis.html

Chris,
I underlined a line you kept repeating at the cigar shop 6 or 7 months ago (you kept saying vessels prepared for destruction). I would like to suggest that maybe this verse is not what you intended it (a proof for God doing things completely inexplicable other to say that I AM God) but rather a verse about judgement, it indicates that the vessels to be destroyed were actively incurring God’s wrath, while He patiently waited. This is obviously a different thought than God makes some clay pots and smashes them because He can and He makes others and uses them in a productive manner also because He can. I’m not saying we are to understand why God does everything, but the way we think about God is important. If we think of Him as the cosmic brat breaking his toys because he can, what is then to become of our theology. This is the God of animism, whose worshipers only understand him through random and violent judgement. Understand that I made no pronouncement on Gods judgment, only the view in which God judges without cause or reason. Judgment for the sake of judgment is not judgment, this is the god that some ascribe to, this is the god I spoke of. The point of judgment is for correction.

Romans 9:19-24 (New American Standard Bible)

19(A)You will say to me then, "(B)Why does He still find fault? For (C)who resists His will?"
20On the contrary, who are you, (D)O man, who (E)answers back to God? (F)The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much (G)patience vessels of wrath (H)prepared for destruction?
23And He did so to make known (I)the riches of His glory upon (J)vessels of mercy, which He(K)prepared beforehand for glory,
24even us, whom He also (L)called, (M)not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

HOW SHOULD WE THEN BREATHE

To say what is, is, and what is not, is not, is true. And to say what is, is not, and what is not, is, is false. – Aristotle

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that we (believers) would be well equipped for every good work. When researching the ancient creeds and confession that have been preserved and affirmed for over a thousand years, one will rarely find any mention of doctrine or theology as it relates to this verse. Was it the most obvious and understood tenet of the Christian faith or simply not an issue in those times? Concerning famously historical creeds, it was not until the Westminster Confession in 1646 that the topic of the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture was considered notably creed worthy. Interestingly enough, after a millennia and half of silence during confession, the doctrine of inspiration appears at the top of one of the most famous confession of the Christian faith in Article I.

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.

II Timothy is a letter written by the Apostle Paul as a prisoner in a Roman prison, to Timothy a pastor in Ephesus approximately AD 62-66, just before Paul died. II Timothy is a letter in a group of letters known as the Pastoral Epistles, which address issues of pastoral duties, defending the faith especially against false teachers while also strengthening the believers, and encouragement.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
It is hard to imagine that such a seemingly obscure verse in the middle of a letter to a seemingly obscure pastor could be the keystone for modern Christian theology. The first step is to understand what the verse is saying by understanding what the words in the verse mean. There are three Greek words or compounds that we will look at first: Pasa, graphē, and Theopneusto.
Pasa - does it mean all or every, and what is the difference? I am not a Greek Scholar so I will not attempt to answer the question, but just relay to you that Paul Feinberg makes a short and simple case for use of the word every over all indicating that every part of the graphē is the subject of the verse.
Every Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
The next word is graphē which is used over fifty times in the NT and is always found to mean the one thing – the sacred writings. Though the verse in question does refer to both the New and Old Testament, it is likely that initially when Timothy thought of sacred writings he thought of the Law of Moses.
Every Sacred writing is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
Theopneustos is the compound of two Greek words, Theos (god), and pneo (breathe), which is usually translated, inspired or god-breathed. So what does pasa graphē Theopneusto then mean? Are we to understand that every sacred writing is god-breathed and therefore profitable or that every sacred writing that is inspired is profitable? And what does god-breathed mean regardless of the correct wording? To clarify, it is the words of scripture, and not the authors that are God-breathed, which is like saying that the words of scripture that God breathed is like the speech of God. Second, though it may sound redundant the text is saying that every sacred writing/scripture is inspired, which is quite different than saying some sacred writings are inspired and some are not. It must then follow, that if words were precisely given/breathed by a Holy God, then it is reasonable to believe that they are true and perfect and thus authoritative. So then the question of what is scripture is the next appropriate question, because as one can clearly see the canonical texts that are available are certainly not perfect, but the original Autographa were, which we no longer have. Knowing this, what authority does the “Bible” now retain? I will deal with this thought quickly, but not extensively, while the original texts were inerrant, preservation of the text was not. This is not to say that the text is negated, in fact, textual criticism has been a friend to those who view the Bible as a thoroughly retained document, still allowing it to be considered authoritative and wholly true.
Every Sacred writing that God breathed into is literally the speech of God, which is to say that every word in Scripture is His, and since God is Righteous, His word is perfect and is therefore useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…
As Christians we can be confident that we do have access to the words of God, we can be confident that His word is in fact righteous and useful, and excellent for correcting and instructing us as we walk with Christ. It is reasonable, as believers, for us to believe that though we live in a fallen world, God has revealed to us through His Son and His Word all that we require for this life. It is right for us to rest in Him and breathe easy.

Does anyone know of a reporter or someone like that who has actually gone into mexico and then attempted to cross illegally via a coyote, and wrote about it, or something like that?

This is an excerpt from today's New york Times at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/us/03omaha.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

its kind of amazing.

OMAHA — The abandonments began on Sept. 1, when a mother left her 14-year-old son in a police station here. By Sept. 23, two more boys and one girl, ages 11 to 14, had been abandoned in hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln. Then a 15-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl were left.

The biggest shock to public officials came last week, when a single father walked into an Omaha hospital and surrendered nine of his 10 children, ages 1 to 17, saying that his wife had died and he could no longer cope with the burden of raising them.

In total last month, 15 older children in Nebraska were dropped off by a beleaguered parent or custodial aunt or grandmother who said the children were unmanageable.

Officials have called the abandonments a misuse of a new law that was mainly intended to prevent so-called Dumpster babies — the abandonment of newborns by young, terrified mothers — but instead has been used to hand off out-of-control teenagers or, in the case of the father of 10, to escape financial and personal despair.....

What McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin:

MARC AMBINDER does a good job of showing a little bit about little bit. He shows what sort of process Kerry's campaign went through in deciding edwards as a running mate, and then reveals a bit about McCains campaign thought process and what was not part of their thought process.
enjoy.

They did not know that she told a television interviewer this summer that she did not fully understand what it is that a vice president does

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200808u/mccain-palin

3 more movies:

Bella was good and sweet, but i think i missed the point, its about a nice guy and something bad happens to him, and it changes his life and he "fixes it" - at least thats what i think the director would have us to think.
Before the Devil knows your dead(may you spend 30 minutes in heaven... before the devil knows your dead) - philip seymore h. always a great actor, didn't do much in this movie in the way of what he usually brings to the table, except in one scene, where he is assisted my marisa tomei, he is upset about the relationship he and his father have, it think it was one of the most emotional scene's i've ever scene in my life, i did not cry, but i should have, its truly amazingly heartbreaking, hmm.
Burn after reading - its good, its even pretty good, but not great, Brad Pitt's character is great, but he's great at playing those types - 12 monkeys, fight club, etc. Clooney's good to, his character kind of reminded me a little of o brother..., which made me smile.

Things are admirably arranged: God likes forgiving sins, and I like committing them” - German poet, Heinrich Heine

couple things:
first, i saw matt chandler strolling around campus today, well i should say i hear him first, then i saw him (he has a distinct voice). i thought about saying something stupid, literally stupid - not funny or clever, just stupid, i thought about asking him to sign my pocast. this is my fallback. there is such a thing as being star struck, the problem is, i don't think of him as a celebrity, but all my friends do, so its kinda like i wanna say something jerky just so i can tell them what i did to their hero...
second, I'm glad that while emotions or feeling my come through in people's writing, halitosis does not.
third, this summer i started reading the shack (semi spoiler alert) and never finished it, partly cause its not great, intriguing but not great, and partly because i ran out of time. plenty of christians love the book, and the rest hate it. God the Father is presented in the "Flesh" as a mami type mad black woman - seriously - anyway - i was having a conversation with someone about this, sorta, when they said that God is not a big fat black woman, to which I appropriately quipped, "yes he is!" i mean jeeze, everyone knows that, they don't call him king of kings and syrups to for nothin.
finally, Howard Hendricks, he recommended a book in class today called English Grammar for Language students, i went to the book store a couple of hours later to pick it up, and as i described to the staff they snickered a little, i asked if everyone was asking for it and they said yes. On this campus Hendricks = Oprah

Sometimes I feel behind…like sometimes I wanna quite everything to focus on one new thing, some new thing I must know thoroughly, or some times I feel I must concentrate thoroughly on some old thing, some old thing I feel I should have known thoroughly. Like right now I just wanna drop everything and spend all my time and energy learning English – I mean everything. I stink at English, I often wish I had majored in English, though I hated it, and new nothing of it. In fact I failed English 102 in college 5 times, the teacher just gave me a c the sixth time, I was thankful to be rid of en 102, but in hindsight I would have rather learned English.

Enjoy :)

I really like intelligent women (pause) sometimes (longer pause) of course I like stupid ones to. - Picasso

i think i've spent a lot of time developing my theology without ever cross-referencing scripture...

first day of orientation is over. remember when i said people act strange at orientation, well this morning they couldn't even remember how to stand in a line.
We were greeted a boisterous white haired old man, who goes by the moniker "chaplain bill.' Chaplain bill is the type of man who listens with his mouth agape. C.B. introduced us to the code of conduct section of the handbook by referencing howard stern and victoria's secret, to which he admitted wasn't much of a secret, hmm, anyway, when a strange silence came over the group of young and fresh seminarians, he added, "Just because there is snow on the roof, doesn't mean there isn't a fire in the hearth!" which i assume got him the response he was looking for. i guess the moral of the story is old dudes (72 year old dudes) still get...?
anyway today was kinda exciting, even for an orientation, i was however, a little disappointed that none of the big name professors weren't there, and might not be there this year because they are on sabbatical.

I got up at 6 am for my first day of orientation, being orientated has always been kinda awkward cause there is a lot of standing around with people and nobody knows what to do. anyway, i got up early, showered, made my coffee, and left by 6:30. I wanted to beat the dallas traffic, and i did, i arrived at 7, an hour before orientation starts. so i spent 30 minutes wandering around campus. I saw two signs pointed in two different directions that said new student orientation this way. as i was wandering i suddenly remember my tattoos on my arms, this morning as i was picking out a shirt, my first thought was long sleeve, but i dismissed it cause the one i was looking at i didn't like. its not like i don't love my tattoos, i just think they might be a little louder in this place that i would like to be on my first day.
Last night i dreamed that my student loan request was rejected.
this morning on the way here i listened to the Viva La Vida, i like the title track the best so far, it has a nice emotive sound for me.

in texas, only texans can rob banks. - calvera in the magnificent seven

school starts a week from tomorrow. Me starting school at dts is something that i've wanted for some time now, in fact I was rejected twice based my lack of academic excellence, and was told that they were not convinced that i could do graduate level work, so i did some somewhere else, they agreed it was at sufficient enough to let me in. so orientation is on the 21st and class begins the 25th, but right now i kind of have other things on my mind and am not enjoying the moment. and the moment is the opportunity to be taught the word of god from men who have lived and studied it well. I wonder if two or three things are getting in the way of me being really really excited to start school, the first being my prior history with knowledge of god, thats all its been just a thinking/book knowledge, not an intimate relationship, the second being the thing i do with it personally, do i use it to help people-to help myself rightly think of god, or do i just walk around trying to convince people that i know a lot of @#$t about the bible, amen! the third would be that i really have no need for seminary at this point, but more of a need to learn business skills so that when i do get to open i coffee shop it doesn't close down in a year. either way i am excited and looking forward to starting school next week.
here are my classes
Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics - Hendricks
Spiritual Life - Kuruvilla
Spiritual Formation I
Introduction to Theology - Blount
Cultural Dynamics in Ministry - BruceKL
Ministry Multicultural America - Pocock

You can always tell a small mom and pop shop by the bathroom set up. I was in an antique store today looking for vintage cigarette case, like have been for the last couple of weeks, and all of a sudden breakfast and the 3 espresso's hit me, i found the the bathroom and almost cried i was so happy, but then i saw the out of order sign. I truffle shuffled to the counter to ask the owner if she had any cigarette cases and a public bathroom. she said she might have one case but they sell pretty quick, she was wrong, but the toilet did work. As i sat there contemplating life's small town mysteries i noticed that there was a fridge, as in a refridgerator where people keep there food, in the bathroom. So while sitting there i opened the door, there were a bunch of lipton green tea bottles and some leftovers. I don't know why someone would keep a fridge next to the toilet, especially after what i was doing to it. I mean i'm sure it seems like a fantastic place to have a snack, i mean your already s(h)itting, but come on, its gross. then i thought of this tobacco shop used to visit, they always kept all the surplus pipe tobacco in the bathroom, i mean the bathroom smelled great as you can imagine, but those leaves aren't like non-absorbant... I guess I just wonder how someone comes to the conclusion that it is a really great idea store things that they put in their mouth in the toilet. did this practice originate on construction sites, men who didn't want their lunch stolen simply stoed it on the back of the toilet, until finally refridgeration came along. I guess I just don't like to mix oral with anal.

A couple of months ago i wrote this little journal entry while on a plane from dfw to atl to chattanooga...
Today I'm flying from dfw to atl to go see shayna. theirs something interesting about airports not just all the people or all the kinds of people. for instance i'm standing in the ticket cheking line, cause like an idiot i didn't print it out online at home, and me and a zillion people are in this long line snaking around the whole airport, and in the line next to me is the line for first class customers. now there is nothing special about these people that i can see, but that doesn't stop me from gauking at them. i can't help it, one of them was even wearing her sunglasses inside. anyway, then when you board the plane they're already there not looking at you while i again gauk. I know when i take my seat i stare everyone walking by but no first class customer has ever looked up at a 2nd class customer in the history of air travel, i think. i sit in my seat waiting, hoping, praying for a good "single serving" seat partner. 1 man walks down the aisle by himself with no carry on's (who has no carry on's?) anyway, he's a big boy, he tucks his arms in front of him like a penguine in order slide down the aisle. I step aside, he slides in, we don't speak. I pick my donald miller book back up and continue reading. It occurs to me that little donnie miller is large, probably even obese, and i think if he were the fatty next to me i'd be happy to chatt 'em up, but instead klenny is next to me. Lenny has been visiting his mom and is headed home where he cleans airplane engines for the company currently transporting us. We experience some turbulence and instead of leaning over i turn to him and say, "seems like someone didn't clean the engine very well."

I was in a chick fil a the other day and apparently vacation bible school (vbs) had just gotten out cause there were about 900 children in XL neon green shirts running around. i always feel kinda wierd around children of people i don't know cause in my mind society has created this stigma that pretty much says all single males are pedophiles, especially if they like hang out at chuck e cheese to drink beer... anyway i didn't get any dirty looks or anything i just felt very uncomfortable. something else about kids, they have no concept of space, while i was standing in line to order, 5 kids came up and stood in front of me close enough for me to smell there vbs smell. have you ever noticed you have to be between the ages of 8 and 12 to work at chick fil a?

I watched 3 movies in a row last week that were pretty depressing/intersting, first was Wristcutters, then then Rocket Science, and then I watched the Savages with philip seymore hoffman. I was most excited about the savages, but the whole movie i just wanted it to be over, but it never was. before that i while i was watching rocket science i kept waiting for it to be funny and good, but that never happened either. on a whim i watched wristcutters, which actually made me laugh out loud, it was tom waits and other fun characters, not to mention that this movie is really cute. strange huh. so anyway i recomend wrist cutters but none of the others. oh yeah and i also finally saw prince caspian, and i don't think the movies are bad, but there not great, so i wish someone would get fired and the right someone get hired quick, i want these narnia movies to be as great as the books were when i was a child, i don't think that thats asking too much.

i've been working in rockwall, tx lately on a big job, which happens to also be the new hometown/churchplant of joe mccormack. last tuesday night i spent an hour and a half pulling a cast iron tub out of the wall and five feet across the room, it was horribly back breaking. there is something neat about being in a new city by yourself, its like you feel invincible when your in a city where no one knows you. the cigar shops in rockwall give away free shiner on tap or jacob's creek cab/merlot, not to mention they are sooper cheap. supposedly rockwall is the richest city in texas. i notice that when the subject of my being in seminary or that i go to church comes up with my customers i notice that they become especially christian... for instance, with this last set of customers they were complaining that the tenets of the house that i'm now remodeling were korean (which in their mind explains all sorts of oddities and annoyances), so later it came up that i was a youth pastor at a korean church last year, and after that the bible verses that they were able to quote began-a-flowing. specifically when home depot didn't have the tile they wanted, they chalked that up to God closing the "door" i quickly reminded the customer that we were dealing with floors and not doors, he just walked off. the first night i was there i went to starb%$#@s to read but ending up chatting with a pakistani named basil for 3 hours about food, wine, and cigars (he was a chef). toward the end of the conversation he told me he was muslim, it occurred to me that maybe he had purposefully held this back for as long as he did, and might be in the custom of keeping his faith to himself, maybe to avoid prejudice types, which i thought was sad, but also so completely different from being a christian in this country. its so easy for me to say i'm a christian, for the most part it usually is greated with some version of relativity, but muslim of pakistan origin living in Texas, I could see why he might not be wearing a shirt that says..."muslims do it facing the east???" or something like that.

here is a website that could potentially keep you informed of ramey's condition.
http://prayforramey.wordpress.com/

Today i went out and did an estimate in irving at a presbt. church, and as i was driving out there i noticed that they were about a block from the area famous irving bible church, particularly in light of their most recent announcement this month. anyway i walked in to get some literature on their church and to see if they have anything published about their decision to be more inclusive of women in ministry (everything but elder). They did, it was in their periodic publication called "chatter" and it basically detailed a reason or two, and a very surface level conversational argument as to why, while maintaining a humble approach. anyway, good stuff, regardless of issue. http://www.irvingbible.org/index.php?id=1231 the church i was doing an estimate also had a brochure type periodical (it just looked like a church bulletin on crack) it is unattractive but slightly informative. I am also aware that the village church has a very good publication called "the village pub" and i found it worth while as well, particularly since they are just a local entity. anyway, i wonder if these attractive, informative, and interesting publications are helpful in attracting/keeping people my age... i'm really wondering why the back door at my church has recently been ripped off in the last year and half by people my age. i wonder if it has something to do with no pastor designated to young adults, or no direction from the elders, or the amount of thought not put into our group. i assure you this is not a rant, i have no desire to leave, my desire to find out whats up and then help solve the problem. i just don't really know what the problem is.

Yesterday Nathan Vaupel passed away in a car accident in Indiana, i assume he was visiting his sister, nathan and i never hung out socially, except one time last year while he was helping me with a missions project. I met nathan my first year of college while i was helping set up for a halloween program our student body used to host. he, his sister, and i stayed out till 5am that night working, this was nothing for him, he was characterized by the giving of his time and talents to causes he thought would enrich the kingdom of christ. I am very sorry for nathan's family and friends, i loved many of them very much, nathan was a great man, and an excellent servant model for every christian.

http://www.fox28.com/News/index.php?ID=37295

i've been watching some movies lately, and i just this instant finished the third one. i watched sleeper with woody allen, which was pretty stinking funny, i always appreciate his commentary. i watched lars and the real girl, which was also funny, but sweet and depressing at the same time. the golden compass, which is pretty much impossible to see that the church is the bad guy, unless you read the book, it might be obvious if you have a fairly decent grasp on church history, i dunno, but it was good to, slow to begin with but good. finally, the nines, an absolute must see by all, do not go into this film expecting anything, hold your breath, and you won't be disapointed. there is an excellent conversation at the end of the film between ryan reynolds(i know right?) and melissa mcarthy that just has an excellent theological perspective. i'd love to get into it, but i'm terrified of ruining the movie.

Today I've decided to blog on the practical side of life, I have made an instructional video for you on how to change the oild on your bmw motorcycle, however, i think that this will regardless whether or not you own a bmw or a bike at all, enjoy. :)





my bike dropped a valve about 100 miles after i got back from chattahoochie, and the piston beat the living ba-jeebies? out of it, so i'm trying to part it out, i'm probably screwed :(

My Trip to Chattanooga (to see my gorgeous girly):
Day 1
Well, On tuesday afternoon I was preparing my motorcycle and gear for my 700 mile stretch on wednesday (which by theway i was not looking forward to that bit - cause its a hard long boring stretch of asphalt). anyway, 8:30 rolls around and i am loathing the idea of leaving at like 5am. so i remember i have a friend who went to covenant college about 130miles away, on the way, so i call and leave a message, asking if i can stay with him for the night, and then i leave around 9pm. on the way to tyler, tx (where my ffriend jim knox lives), on the way there i explore the possibility of not being able to stay with him. i thought i might try to ride to shreveport and sleep in a ditch or something, which is ungodly far that late at night, but whatever. anyway, i got to tyler, and had a message from jim saying i could stay the night, so i went to his house and as i unpacked i was so stinking relieved that i was sleeping inside, in a bed, and i was exhausted. jim and i had a nice chatt,
Day 2
and then i left at 8am, and drove 600 miles to jeremy richters house. it was a beautiful day, and the only interesting thing that happend was, i saw 3 deer munching on some leaves on the side of I-20, a wasp flew into my helmet at a gas station, and 2 people in louisiana almost killed me by running me off the road, and then i got to jeremy's house and had to pee really stinkin bad. he let me in, went to his baptist church cause his pastor wouldn't let him skip, while i showered and entertained myself with a gentleman called jack. Jeremy eventually got home from church, we hung out, chatted, and then i had to crash.
Day3
Jeremy rode out with me this morning on his moto bike, and then i got in birmingham traffic, it wasn't bad, once i got going on the road, i was soon riding through the mtns on I-24, which are actually very pretty, i was stinkin freezin that morning, i eventually pulled over, took a wiz, and put on my winter gloves, and some more clothes. I rolled into chattanooga around 10:30 or 11am, i first rode to the new greenlife grocery store to pick up a beverage for shayna that tastes totally nasty, but she loves the crap out of it, plus it has .05% alchohol, so thats awesome. after that i went to greyfriars, where derick was standing outside of and waved at me, i went in, said some hello's had a double espresso, and then off to lunch with kevin woodruff at waly's. he wouldn't get on the bike so we walked. after lunch i rode to john whitely's house and showered, by then shayna was off work and on her way to pick me up.
Day6
I was suppossed to leave today, but by the time i was ready to go, it was like 1pm, so i stayed, instead shayna and i drove the moto up the mountain.
Day 7
I left my sweet shayna today, but at like 10 or 11, john made me this huge awesome breakfast, before i left, which came back to haunt me. I drove to fayetville, i think and pulled over for a honey's hamburger, i walked in with my gear on and was looked at like i was crazy, i got all my gear off and sat down at the bar, the old timer next to me asked where i was heading, and where i was coming from, and then chatted with me for a while, mostly about weather, then he asked if i knew his son, which i didn't. after he left the guy on my right chatted me up a bit, and by then i was finished, so paid and left. I drove up 24 toward nashville (cause i wanted to go a different way home) but turned left at Mt. eagle onto 41, which was a beautiful 15 mile stretch, which took me to highway 64 or davy crockett hwy, which was probably the prettiest country i've ever driven in. I took 64 for 300 miles and met some interesting people at the various gas and wiz stops, and only drove through a couple of hours of rain, but i stayed dry for the most part. that day was 500 miles, a little more than i expected, and ended in little rock, arkansas at a KOA cabin where my dad was waiting, actually he was waiting at the bar at an outback, which is where i met him, then we went to the cabin.
Day 8
today was suppossed to be one of the prettiest rides for hundreds of miles, but it was raining like crazy, and i was soaked to the bone, and scarred of the slick roads, so we stopped in hot springs, ar at this pastry/breakfast place. very cold and wet, i walk in, and the owner simply stares at me, he had the body of chris farely, i took off my helmet, and am still wearing something over my head that looks like something a ninja would wear, only my eyes are exposed, his eyes are still locked on me, i pull that off and order some coffee, my dad comes in a few minutes later and does the same, then chris farleyreally comes out of his shell, and talks to us for a solid hour. he even prints off picture of the radar to prove to us that all we are gonna see today is rain and more rain. we leave and get on i 30 and head for texarkana, and by that time i'm ready to just quit, but we stop at a starbucks, i change clothes completely, drink some coffee, and we leave for home.

its really interesting how when you are traveling on a motorcycle, it just invites people to talk to you, mostly in little towns i guess. its an experience like nothing i've ever had, its almost like traveling back in time, i imagine.

Lots have happened, I went to visit my beautiful girlfriend shayna in chatt town a couple of weeks ago on my motorcycle (which i'll put up a post later about the trip), she has agreed to move to texas in a month in a half, (a few days before amy gets married). my clavicle has finally healed, so i'm laying tile, sorta, not much work though, yet.

From John 17
1 Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said:
Father,
the hour has come.
Glorify Your Son
so that the Son (A) may glorify You, (B)
2 for You gave Him authority
over all flesh; (C) [a]
so He may give eternal life (D)
to all You have given Him. (E)
3 This is eternal life:
that they may know You, the only (F) true (G) God,
and the One You have sent (H) —Jesus Christ. (I)
4 I have glorified You on the earth
by completing the work You gave Me to do.
5 Now, Father, (J) glorify Me in Your presence
with that glory (K) I had with You
before the world existed. (L)

I watched The Brave One with Jodi Foster this week, the jist of the movie is she get hurt badly and then she goes vigilante and kills like 5 random bad people. there is a sense of this movie that is very gratifying, in fact i felt very pleased and satisfied with her sense of justice, that is taking the law into her own hands. however, there is something else in me, something i allow myself to follow, a guide or standard by which i am able to measure actions and feelings, something most important in times when something feels or seems so right that unless you have a prior standard..., no not prior, but greater, something greater than myself with which to measure, or be measured by, instead of having only my own feelings to guide me in what i believe. i guess what i'm saying is that while i felt good about the way her character behaved, i believe it was wrong, which is counter to my feelings.

i wonder if a lot of us are going to be answering to our kids in 10-15 about what we blogged today, both for good and not. i'm sure technology will allow them to access websites and blogs not in existence, and the google in 15 yrs will be able to search things that once were, and by today standards, are no longer, ie your old myspace page where you ranted about everything (and then erased). and they will reflect on who you were (and maybe are) in light of the history that was written since then, and the conversations you have had with them about how they should behave, and how that is inconsistent with your written past. you should be fun. but i wonder if that might deepen the relationships, cause of the forced honesty, or estrange them, because they are our children. i know parents who keep plenty of their past hidden from their children, to protect them? what if your kids could go back in time and watch you grow up, or not grow up?

"There are three species of mendacity, each worse than the one before - lies, damned lies, and statistics." - stephen jay gould quoting markin twain

I eat at Taco Cabana 3-4 times a week, i always order two egg and chorizo soft taco's and ask for salsa and pico de gallo on the side (those condiments are free). anyway, one day i bought a new wallet and it hadn't streched enough to get all my old junk from my old wallet into the new one, so one of the things i left out was this 20% of card, that i'm able to use every time i go to taco cabana. and of course the day i go there with out it, there is a new window teller, i order my food, i tell them that i have a 20% off gift card like i always do, and when i get to the window to pay i realize i don't have it with me, i explain my dilema, she says nothing, gives me a dirty look, and then adjust the price back to the regular price. no biggee. the next day when i went to taco cabana, i made sure i had my card with me, i ordered and said i had a gift card to the microphone, and the teller says back to me in the most condescending way, "DO YOU HAVE IT WITH YOU???" i said yes, and you could hear my eyes rolling in my voice, i got my discount and now she doesn't ask anymore, in fact she refuses to even look at it, when i present it. Now she has decided to not give me pico de gallo, its her new way of getting back at me, the other day i did my usuall order thing, and when she handed me the bag, i didn't even check to see if it was in there, cause it always is. well when i got to the office it wasn't, so today when i ordered i checked, and again it wasn't in there, so i politely knocked on the glass, and immediately she produced a container of pico, she is amazing.

i'm going to radonmly put out grievances with people who disagree with me on different issues, presbo's and baptists might enter the mix more than others, cause i have more experience disagreeing with them.
Perseverance of the Saints (P in the TULIP)

states that, if your a christian and you try really hard to be a good christian and you succeed, your a christian, but not with much certainty. Consequently, if your a christian and you try really hard to be a good christian, and you fail, your not a christian(and you never were), but with all the certainty the denomination can muster to convince you of this, and consequently treat you in the same way??? which is whole nother ting.

For Dave:
i blog about gross things, cause i'm gross... yesterday i was in the car driving, and when i stopped at the red light, i noticed that the guy next to me was digging deep inside of his nose, so i starred. and continued to starre? anyway, he caught me catching him, and then it was his turn to stair, but he gave me a dirty look while doing it, so i smiled, and turned away. but then i looked back at him and he was still sterring at me, he looked like he wanted to kill me, i felt like being generous and picking my nose to so he would know that its ok to pick your nose in public, but i didn't.

if i were solomon i would have said two things i love, a new haircut, and clothes worn yesterday that need not be washed for today. and two things i hate lousy drivers and overpriced beverages, but i'm not so instead i'm gonna talk about my childhood. It was strange, its like i was a total schizo, I mean i got in trouble a whole lot no matter who i was around, so that was a constant, but the degree of what i was willing to do was different. like i did and said stupid stuff while around my parents or while playing in the neighborhood, but always knowing that they weren't far away. but like at camps i would go to in the summer or stuff like that, where they were completely out of sight and out of mind, my level of stupidity was heightened to like code level orange or something, i just remember my time away from my parents at camp like a total blur of running and screaming, and thats pretty much it, no sitting still or acting calm. I remember one year i got into a fight with a kid at camp or something, which was stupid because he was about twice my size, so i charged him and while i was getting punched i just wrapped him up and bit, which was like his belly button (meaning thats how far i came up on him). i think another year i camp i put a fishing hook through a kids nose, they day we were leaving from camp, i mean everybody was already on the bus. that is actually pretty boring, but the point i'm trying to make is that getting in trouble with "other" people just pailed so much in comparison to getting in trouble with my dad it was like having a liscence to do whatever i want, cause he wasn't there to punish me. don't think that i was afraid of my dad, there is a difference between afraid and respect, on that level (not saying that that is what respect looks like across the board). i love(d) my dad and new he loved me, its just that pretty much everyone else getting upset or punishing me was a joke in contrast, here's the thing though, i didn't process this conscously, i think it just happened, but it is probably an explanation for my completely insane behavior while out of my fathers arm's reach. is that wierd?

ps i work for my mom as of 1-08 (cause i broke my clavicle), and she has been trying to get me to put the lid down on the toilet after i tinkle, and for the most part i do, it just seemed like the 3 times i forgot she was the next one to use it. she even called me at home once to tell me to put the lid down, i'm surprised she didn't leave a note for me in the bathroom (she likes to leave notes). anywho, there is another dude now working at the office, and i notice that he now leaves the lid up, so now that she has me trained, its ... did i mention everyone in the office is a woman, except dude.

I saw juno tonight with jon, amy, and my parents, it was great of course, but i stiffled my laughter when juno referred to pork swords, cause i was sitting next to my mom!

This morning i woke up and sat on the edge of my bed racking my brain trying to think of where i could go to study. you would think that the phrase "coffee shop" would be the first thing to pop into my head, but alas i am only surrounded by barnes and nobles and starbucks, neither of which offer free wireless, which is at the very least on a level with waterboarding (not the aquatic sport). so i remember that there are actually two decent "local" coffee shops in denton on the square, so i go downstairs only to discover that i didn't really tivo lost, like i thought, so i just flipped through our 4-500 channels that are available for about an hour. anyway, when i got to the jupiter house(coffee shop) i order a small coffee and a bagel, which cost 4.25, plus a .75 cent tip with the hope that that would motivate him to actually give me the food i paid for, and it worked. as i paid i asked if there were free refills, i assumed there was since i paid so much, i was wrong, they're a doller! oh. i got my bagel which turned out to be some sort of mini-bagel, later when i went to get my one dollar refill, i asked about a cup of coffee someone was holding that said bottomless cup, he said that that cup of coffee cost 4.50, he must of read my mind or my body language (i did start kicking things), because he followed up with, "coffee's expensive!" then i remembered that i have some knowledge of the coffee world, and that at greyfriars it only cost us about 5.5cents to make a cup of coffee, so i figure it might cost them 10.

Last night a kinda funny thing happened, i guess, i was walking out of wal-mart with newcastle(beer) and the girl scouts asked me if i wanted some cookies, and i did, cause i love thin mints and somoas (they only had thin mints). So i set my six pack on the table and paid for my cookies, and i thought, is this wierd?

My first one. I have thoughts about this blogging business as it pertains to me, but i don't have the time right now to write them. so, i'll just jump right in. On thursday night I go to a bible study with some other people my age and right now we are reading through Ecclisiastes(i had to check how to spell it) at the behest of me(i like ecclisiastes, my best friend tim, said it was his favorite at one time). We were reading through chapter 5 last night, and one of the girls read from Eugene peterson's the message which says, " So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?" and i wondered allowed if the 1/2 day i worked for the cigar shop last year, and received payment for my services(which consisted of ringing up a few customers, smoking more cigars, and reading book 5 of harry potter) in cigars was what ole solomon was referring to, or maybe that was the other part of the chapter when he says eat drink and be marry, and enjoy your life for what it is.

Hello!