Wake, Dead Man, Wake

Cover Songs I Want To Hear

2012-01-25T09:22:00.000-05:00

At work today I was listening to lots of cover songs via Spotify. It got me thinking of covers I would like to see. There is an art form to a good cover. The best covers reinterpret a song in an entirely new way, bringing something new to a song, giving it a new life without destroying the song in the process. I have a special affinity for cross-genre covers.

Possibly my favorite cover is Mat Weddle (of the band Obadiah Parker)'s cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya." Google it if you've never heard it. The original song has a lot of heart to it that can get lost in the original. Weddle manages to pull the emotional center of that song into the light with his "guy and a guitar" sound. Pretty impressive.

I've been thinking of other covers that I want to hear.

Bluegrass covers:
Muse - "Knights of Cydonia"
Daft Punk - "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"

Another one that could be fun: country cover of LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem"

My wife is amazing.

2011-08-08T15:18:00.003-04:00

She's a rock star, and she just finished up a local community theater production of an original play based on the story of the Prodigal Son, where she was the female lead. Here's a picture of her in action:

She did an incredible job and I just wanted to brag. She was truly awesome in her role, and that's even removing as much bias as I can. She's all sad now, since the show wrapped up yesterday. I always find it incredibly cool to see people doing what they love. Seeing people being completely invested and engaged in what they are doing always brings a smile to my face, even more so when it's someone I know and love.

So here's to you, dear! You rocked it.

Peace...

The Barfalounger...

2011-05-11T21:35:00.000-04:00

Some days are better than others.

And some days, you come home, take a shower, and begin to get settled in for the evening. You sit down at the computer, check some email, play a little music.

Then you hear that sound. If you have a dog or small child, you know what I'm talking about. That sound.

And then you find yourself cleaning dog barf off your beloved recliner.

This was one of the latter.
Poor dog. He just doesn't know any better, evidently. This seems to happen every time spring rolls around. After a long winter of not having a variety of fresh, growing things to eat outside, the poor dog just has to eat anything in his sight in the back yard. Oh! A new plant. NOM. What's that, a bush? NOM. Random thing that I'm not sure what it is but looks slightly tasty? NOM. Okay, now I'm done. Let's come inside and puke on that chair I'm always sleeping on. That'll be awesome.

So I just finished cleaning up dog puke on my favorite chair. He has a skill for always puking on carpet, rug, or upholstery. Never on the easy to clean hardwood floor or tile. Nope. Always, without fail, on something which requires lots of scrubbing.

This is my life...

Salute Your Jorts - Final Thoughts on the UK Basketball Season

2011-04-07T15:41:00.001-04:00

Going into this season, if anyone had told me that UK would make the Final Four, I would have asked them what drugs they were on. A team that lost 5 draft picks from the year before and had arguably their best player sitting on the sidelines this year doesn't seem like a recipe for success. We had a team of 10 guys, 6 of whom actually played with any regularity.

And yet, here we sit in early April asking ourselves why we didn't win the National Championship after a magnificent charge to the Final Four.

Not the outcome most sane people expected. The season had highs and lows. We were awesome at home, and awesomely bad on the road. But by March, we were a pretty good team. And a late season push led us to the SEC tourney championship. On the backs of our three veterans, Miller, Liggins and Harrellson, we managed to win the SEC tourney. Then we made a HUGELY surprising NCAA tourney run, coming in as a WAY under-seeded #4 in the toughest bracket, avenging last year's loss to WVU, then toppling the best team in the country, followed up by taking out a UNC team that narrowly beat us earlier in the year, setting up a rematch with the team that gave us the worst beating of the season, UConn. By this point, expectations had shifted dramatically. This team went from one that most expected to fall by the Sweet 16 to one that most expected to win the title.

Doomed by a terrible shooting night, both from the field and from the free throw line (gee... sound familiar?), UK fell to eventual champ UConn (and destroying what would likely be the only opportunity for my team to face my wife's alma mater, Butler, and inciting unprecedented levels of trash talking in our house), crushing the Big Blue Nation's dreams of hanging banner #8 for at least another year.

This team of avengers was full of amazing stories, and this already long post doesn't have the time/patience to detail them all, but given the title, we have to point out the transformation of Joshua "Jorts" Harrellson from also-ran who almost got kicked off the team to the glass cleaning, giant slaying, throwing balls through fools' chest, heart and soul of this program.

This transformation started with twitter, of all things. After a dominating performance in the Blue White game, Jorts was looking for a pat on the back from Cal (and a well deserved pat, IMO) that never came. Instead, he was banned from twitter and sentenced to crazy amounts of conditioning.

That punishment led us to the Final Four. Dropping pounds and getting in crazy shape allowed Josh to dominate lesser men in the paint and more than hold his own against better competition. It brought us the Denim-Drive offense, seeing him take guys off the dribble and work a BEAUTIFUL pick n' roll. He went from a guy who we could count on to clean the glass to a legit scoring option.

His underdog story struck a chord in the Bluegrass, resonating with a state that is an underdog itself, especially in the sports world. Kentucky is a special place. Our passion for the Wildcats comes from many places, but I believe our devotion, pride and support comes in large part because it is really the primary thing we have of which we can be excessively proud. We LOVE our Wildcats, and the success they have found. It's a program that doesn't settle for mediocrity. We don't hang participation banners. We hang Final Four and Championship banners. We are crazy. My wife, bless her heart, is from Tennessee, and despite my best efforts to teach and explain, is still perplexed by the rabid following of the millions of UK fans.

We follow our Wildcats because they give us something in which to believe. They give us a rallying point. They give us something that we can show to the world with pride. There are many, many things wrong or depressing or weird about our state. But when it comes to sports, we have our Wildcats, the greatest tradition in all of college basketball. Take practically any measure of success, and if UK is not #1, we're in the top 5. More wins than anyone, the second most national championships, highest program winning percentage, most NCAA tourney games, most All Americans, etc. Hit up the UK basketball wikipedia entry for "The List" and prepare to be wowed.

Simply put, we have the best program. Ever. Yes, there are black marks (numerous probation/violations, scandals, etc., though there are plenty of others with similar records), but top to bottom, no program beats the University of Kentucky men's basketball team. There are some close competitors, but we are the standard bearer.

It's really the only thing Kentucky can brag about, aside from horse racing and bourbon. The Commonwealth is an underdog, and Josh's story represents someone overcoming serious roadblocks on the way to success. This team that no one expected to make the Final Four did so in large part o the back of a perfect example of what we as Kentuckians value: dedication, hard work, commitment, doing the dirty work and persevering when things go bad.

So on behalf of a grateful Big Blue Nation, I want to thank and salute Josh and this entire team for bringing home a long overdue Final Four. It is your surprising success that makes us long for the fact that we narrowly missed out on another title, and that makes it so hard to overcome the loss to UConn. But we take great pride in what you did accomplish, and so unexpectedly. And when Midnight Madness rolls around and we celebrate your success, know that you made yourselves and all of us proud.

We hang Final Four banners. And we will hang yours with glowing pride and joy.

My Wife is Awesome.

2011-04-06T17:56:00.001-04:00

Congrats are in order for my lovely wife, who was approved on Monday for full ordination as an elder in the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. After a very long, strenuous and complicated 8 years, she has reached the final step in this process.

For those who don't know much about the UMC or ordination, one can sort of compare it to becoming a tenured professor or finishing your medical residency. Since June 2008, she has been a provisional elder (like a residency program), and in June of this year, at Annual Conference, she will be ordained.

It's a very long, tedious process full of paper writing, meetings, psychological evaluations, discernment, hard work and so much more. And now she's just about completed that process. I'm proud of her, and seeing her work through this process has been a great benefit to me as well as I continue to debate whether or not the UMC ordination process is where I'm headed.

In conclusion, i would like to repeat that my wife is awesome. Very proud of you, dear.

Peace...

Expanding the Big Tent (Further Thoughts)

2010-08-14T14:34:00.002-04:00

In my last post, I wrote briefly about what Big Tent Christianity means to me. I'd like to expand a little bit on that post:

Big Tent Christianity is Kingdom, not kingdom, focused. It's not about denominations or territories or any of the other minor, petty differences that have kept churches from being the Church. It's about embracing the fact that the God we serve, the Christ we follow, the Spirit we seek, is bigger than any one of us, and not something we can cram into some simple package. None of us have a monopoly on Truth.

For example... I was raised in Baptist churches. I currently work at a United Methodist church, my wife is a UM pastor. I went to a UM seminary. So, I like to refer to my spiritual heritage as Methobaptist or Wesleyan Baptist. One of the primary threads of Baptist theology is the belief in believer's baptism, that is, baptism by choice of the person being baptized. They make the decision as to when/if they want to be baptized, whereas the UMC has long practiced infant baptism. Historically, this conflict over the theology of baptism has been something that has caused some drama/beef/etc. Big Tent Christianity embraces both approaches, acknowledging that each one is theologically sound and has merit. It doesn't just push ignore differences, but rather realizes that each position is one that is tied in sound theological thinking and application. Believer's baptism acknowledges our ability to choose and enables the believer to actually remember their baptism, which they can then reflect upon and draw strength from in trying times. Infant baptism rightfully acknowledges that God is active and present in our lives before we ever even realize it (prevenient grace). There's room under the big tent for both approaches, and in interacting, Baptists and Methodists find themselves strengthened and blessed by the foundation behind both approaches. We learn and grow from each other, and the fellowship created is a gift of God.

Now, my hopes and dreams for the future of the Church...

Well, they're big. I know that much. I see a Church that spends little time squabbling over petty doctrinal disputes and more time practicing the incarnation of Christ, being the hands and feet of God in the world. We will be vested in our communities, a voice for the voiceless and sharing hope with the hopeless. We stop chasing the next fad or trend and instead practice the art of pointing to Christ. Instead of trying to be cool, we try to be Christ. If we really want to make any impact in this world, then we need to stop investing all our time in fitting in, and instead spend our time reaching out. Despite the protestations of some talking heads and supposed figureheads of Christianity, the concept of social justice is inherently tied to the message of Jesus. The church, when it is being the Church, is dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus with those around her, and that takes many, many forms. It's feeding someone physically and pointing to the need to be fed spiritually. It is helping the poor and pointing them toward the richness of Christ. It is breaking the bonds of oppression and pointing those newly freed (and those doing the oppressing) toward the freedom found in Jesus Christ.

I'm prone to dreaming big. The way things are are NOT the way they have to be. If there is no hope for change, then there is no hope in Christ. The very message of Jesus Christ indicates that we can be changed and we can take part in the changing. We can't do it on our own, but we don't have to. We have an advocate, and we have each other. So if we're talking about our hopes and dreams, then we cheat ourselves when we don't dream big.

Peace...

Big Tent Christianity - Part of Transforming Theology Synchroblog

2010-08-14T00:22:00.003-04:00

I'm taking part in a massive blogging effort as part of the Transforming Theology project, where numerous bloggers post about the same subject. The stated purpose of this project was to take a look at the concept of "Big Tent Christianity." We were asked to answer the question "What does Big Tent Christianity mean to you?"

For my readers (all 2 of you) out there that didn't go to seminary or don't care much about the Church, you might want to skip this post. But in case you don't (and because I don't think I'm smart or well-versed enough to do otherwise), I'll try to write this post as simply as possible without using the handful of $5 theological terms I know.

In my mind the concept of Big Tent Christianity is simply this- Kingdom over kingdom. For far too long (or rather too often) too many churches (and even the Church?) have been focused on their own little kingdoms with a lowercase "k." Concerned with increasing membership and tithes, we've focused on getting people in the doors. Butts in pews. In many cases, we became very adept at this process. We streamlined ushering people into our churches, but then failed to help usher the Kingdom into their lives and our own lives.

We missed the bigger picture. The Kingdom with a capital "K," that being the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven referred to so often in scripture. A Kingdom marked by peace, compassion, love. A Kingdom drenched in resurrection. A Kingdom that isn't marred by petty squabbles over who sits in what pew or what church gets the most people to darken their doors, but rather a Kingdom that doesn't rest when it sees injustice or pain. A Kingdom that reaches out to the poor, the outcast, the marginalized. A Kingdom that isn't about deciding who is on the outside, but rather one that opens its doors and invests itself into into the lives of all it touches.

The Kingdom of God. Right here. Among us. Within us. For some reason I fail to grasp, God lets us take part in creating this Kingdom. We are active participants in God's continuing creation.We all get to take part in this Kingdom. We sit at court with an entirely different type of King than anything the world has ever seen.

The Church needs to move beyond its short-sighted view of kingdom and see the bigger picture. To see the Kingdom in all its wondrously weird beauty. To see it right here, among us.

Peace...
PS: I'll try to write more tomorrow going a little more in-depth and answering (or rather sharing my thoughts on) some of the other questions they asked us to examine, like what our hopes and dreams are for the Church and what it looks like in our context. I wanted to get this in ASAP because, well, it was due by 8/13. I'm late to the party, but I'm here now.

So... I'm contemplating (lightly, at the moment) UMC ordination

2010-05-10T17:37:00.001-04:00

Yeah... not to betray my Baptist roots, but I am considering the possibility of going through the UMC ordination process. For those of you who don't know, it's a long (like 7-8 years minimum) ordeal. Assuming I get through, and assuming the UM system doesn't radically change in that time (which it might), it would mean a 99% guaranteed career. It would also mean that if I go down the elder track, I could be placed anywhere at any kind of church in a variety of positions: solo pastor, associate pastor, etc. I'm not sure I want that. Being the head pastor of a church is not my thing. I'd rather work with youth, college and/or young adults. The other option is the deacon track, but I'd have to find my own jobs (which is ultimately no different than now, and would prevent me from doing some of the things only elders can do), but it might give me the option to do things like college or youth ministry without the worry of where I would be placed.

Aside from the opening up of job prospects (I'd LOVE to be a college chaplain or campus minister, but it seems those jobs require ordination from a denomination more organized than my current Baptist ordination. I'd also enjoy working on the conference level to shape the youth/young adults branch of ministry), there are the other benefits- housing, pension, etc. I hate to sound so mercenary, but that's part of the deal, and a sizable part.

So right now, I'm weighing options and trying to discern what the right thing to do actually is. The process is LONG, so it wouldn't really impact my current job (don't worry, anyone from Mount Pleasant who reads this- it wouldn't be finished for many years). There's a great deal of paperwork, testing, meetings and writing that I would have to do. And I still have to determine which track to pursue, if any.

On an ideological level, I'm trying to determine if I can reconcile my own beliefs with those of the UMC. Theologically, I don't see a great deal of a problem (I realized in seminary that I was quite a Wesleyan Baptist), but polity-wise, I have more questions. I've talked with Jill about this, and am thinking about meeting with some other UMC people here in Indiana that I know who have similar jobs/passions as I do (other youth ministers, college ministers, conference people) and talking to them.

I'll keep you updated. Once I figure out what I'm thinking...

Peace.

I love it when people from a church act like the Church

2010-04-20T19:51:00.000-04:00

Had a guy and his son from Jill's church, Memorial UMC here in Terre Haute, who came over this evening and mowed our ridiculously out of control lawn. Our mower is broken/nonfunctional, or I would have done it myself.

They came over, mowed the yard, weed-eated part of it (I did the other part), swept up the clipping and hauled them off. And wouldn't take anything for their time and labor.

See, people like these two are what continue to fuel my faith that we, as humans, aren't completely screwed up. They reinforce my belief that the church can some day ascribe to be The Church, the living body of Christ in this world.

I had an idea for a blog post...

2010-04-18T14:32:00.001-04:00

But I lost it. Hate it when that happens. I've had several ideas that have come to me during these last 4 months, but when I get to a computer with the time to write, they disappear. Need to work on finding ways to capture ideas when they happen.

Maybe they will come back some day.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T18:09:00.001-05:00

¹In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ²(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³And everyone went to his own town to register.

⁴So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 1:1-20

On! On! U of K!

2009-11-16T22:22:00.001-05:00

John Wall.

Truth.

I am so glad basketball season is FINALLY here. After what seemed like the longest dead period between the end of last year and the first official game on Friday, I finally get to indulge in my favorite sporting season. After several dismal years (in UK terms), it looks like we will be good this year.

Maybe even great.

But not if we keep playing like we did tonight, barely surviving Miami of Ohio. We should have beaten them by 20 points, but instead we get a last second shot by John Wall at the buzzer for a 72-70 victory.

We were warned (in a prescient pre-season conversation) by Coach Calipari that there would be games like this, and I'd rather they happen now than against UNC or Louisville.

But now that we got that out of our system, I would love for us to crush every single opponent in our way on the road to Indianapolis for the Final Four.

And you better believe I'll give just about anything I have to be at those games. I'll sell a kidney if I have to.

ON! ON! U of K!

Championship Banner #8 awaits.

Peace...

Behold... The Dominator

2009-11-08T19:51:00.001-05:00

This sandwich will crush your taste buds. It will make your mouth water so intensely you'll become a cure for droughts. It will rock your face off.

Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair. I give you... the Dominator.

Would you like to make this tasty morsel yourself? I bet you would. Behold, ingredients:

1 bun, toasted

1 grilled chicken breast. I grill mine on our George Foreman, and give it a heavy dusting of Mesquite seasoning.

3 potato and cheese pierogies (we use Mrs. T's brand, because they are the only ones available here in Terre Haute that don't taste like boiled death). You can grill these on the Foreman too. 6.5 minutes to perfection.

1 slice of smoked provolone cheese

a few slices of paper thin smoked sharp cheddar cheese

3 strips of turkey bacon (because, you know, it's healthier)

Kraft Hickory Honey Smoked Barbecue sauce.

This sandwich will ruin all other sandwiches for you. Eat at your own risk. You can thank me later.

Peace...

Small Town Cultural Review: Covered Bridge Festival

2009-10-12T15:04:00.002-04:00

We're starting a new feature here at my blog*. It's called Small Town Cultural Review. Wherein I will review aspects of small town life.

Today's topic: The Covered Bridge Festival.

Jill and I moved to Terre Haute in June of '08. Around September 2008, we started hearing about Covered Bridge Festival. Evidently, it's THE place to be come mid-October. We were thoroughly excoriated and almost shunned when word got out that we did not attend this illustrious social event. Pariahs, we were.

With this deep scar on our social standing**, Jill and I set out on Saturday to remedy this glaring omission in our small town Indiana resume.

The Covered Bridge Festival celebrates the bajillion covered bridges in the Wabash Valley area, especially Parke County. There are bus tours that take you around the county, showing you covered bridges. Having grown up 15 minutes from a covered bridge, and sure of their lack of life-changing majesty and or wonderfulness, we eschewed the tour and made our way to Bridgeton, a tiny town with its own bridge and collection of colorful vendors selling everything from giant ceramic ducks to severed Ronald McDonald heads taken from old school McDonald's drive-thrus.

Exhibit A:

Additionally, and perhaps more germane to the interest of my reading public (all three of you) would be the collection of various foodstuffs in which one could indulge. Among the varied delicacies offered at this conglomeration of haute cuisine (did you see what I did there?), one could feast upon smoked turkey legs, kettle corn, homemade ice cream, biscuits and gravy, taco pierogies (which I regretfully only discovered after having stuffed myself with other goods) and more.

For my part, I had a mediocre barbecue chicken breast (I believe I could have outdone this pedestrian effort and I've never barbecued in my life). I also had a giant pretzel made by what appeared to be a contingent of Amish ladies. Looking back, I think the Amish persona may have been affected merely to enhance the ambiance of the consumer experience, as they were using a commercial oven to cook said pretzels, and I was under the assumption that the Amish generally tend to forgo the use of modern technology. Never deterred by this anachronistic touch, I foraged on, devouring my chewy and delicious pretzel with gusto. No lie, it stands easily as the second best pretzel I have ever had, denied the top spot by the tiniest of margins by an even larger pretzel that I had at an outlet mall near St. Augustine, FL. That pretzel was ginormous, to use the common parlance. Perhaps there is a correlation between pretzel size and pretzel deliciousness that we may examine at a later point.

The piece de resistance, however, was something that only could have come from the twisted and demented minds of Americans. This delicacy, this tastacular experience, nay, this little piece of heaven was...

Yes. To paraphrase former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green, it is what you thought it was. And crown it we shall.

The most regal of all fair food: a deep fried candy bar. A deep fried 3 Musketeers bar, to be exact. My favorite candy bar. Deep fried. I had heard rumors of such mischievous morsels on TV shows, and had seen them advertised at the county fair this summer, but much like the chupacabra, Sasquatch or the Loch Ness monster, these mythical creatures are hard to find. They were sold out during our day at the fair this past summer, and alas I went without experiencing the rapturous delights that such a treat promises.

But my mouth was not to be denied on this day.

Like a bloodhound on a scared racoon, I tracked my way through the teeming masses and located a vendor whose signage indicated the presence of this wonderful concoction. I made my purchase, and scurried away to find Jill and to share this experience with her. Plus, if it gave me a heart attack, I wanted someone close by to call the ambulance.

As I bit into its chewy outer coating, my tastebuds were gently and lovingly massaged by the sweetness of the melty chocolate contained within this doughy encasement. It was truly heavenly, and proof of a benevolent deity.

Of course, I had to promise Jill that I would only have one of these a year. I'm already a prime candidate for a heart attack- no use adding a 10 gallon can of gasoline to that smoldering fire.

We also bought a bag of kettle corn to take home. I always forget how much I enjoy kettle corn, that bag full of sweet and salty exploded kernels tantalizing and confusing my senses.

Jill and I made short work of the kettle corn. The bag is empty now, a hollow reminder of what once was.

Much like my heart shall remain until next year, when I can once again feast upon that glorious delight known as the deep fried 3 Musketeers bar. If for no other reason than the fact that Covered Bridge Festival finally brought me together with such a wondrous creation, then I must call it a success. I give it 4 coronaries out of 5, losing a point due to the ridiculous number of bees that swarmed us whenever we stopped moving.

Peace...

*No promises as to the recurring nature of said new feature.
**Not really. No one shunned us. Just told us we should go next year.

I'm not dead yet!

2009-09-15T21:44:00.004-04:00

I'm not dead yet, I promise. But until I come back with something else, here's a video for Thrice's "Come All You Weary," an awesome song.

Thrice - New Music - More Music Videos

Blog Changes/Redesign

2009-07-08T13:58:00.002-04:00

I'm thinking about redesigning this blog, or perhaps even moving it over to wordpress. I created a blog for the youth group I work with on wordpress, and I definitely prefer the format and variety of options they have compared to Blogger.

Anyone out there have any ideas or recommendations for this overhaul? Ideas definitely appreciated. I don't have to skill to really design my own stuff, and we don't have to money to pay for something so any suggestions with that in mind would be helpful.

Peace...

This is the best pizza ever

2009-07-02T09:28:00.004-04:00

(photo credit to chicagoblogger.com)

And I will fight anyone who disagrees.

Chicago Stuffed Pizza. With Pepperoni. The best pizza ever. It's clearly my favorite, and next weekend, I'm going to eat as much of it as I possibly can as Jill and I venture to Chicago for her uncle's wedding.

There was one place in Atlanta (Nancy's over in Buckhead) that had this type of pizza. And there is no place here in Terre Haute (which is WAY closer to Chicago, what's the deal with that?). My first taste of it was at Giordano's in Chi-town, and there was a place in Lexington that delivered to Transy that had a pretty good imitation. But I haven't had it in over 3 years.

But next weekend, oh next glorious weekend, I shall dine on the best food in the entire world. And it shall be marvelous.

Peace...

Disc golf is awesome.

2009-06-12T17:45:00.003-04:00

Played today for the first time, along with one of my youth and her dad. We had a great time. I was pretty bad, but not horrible for my first attempt. I've got this wicked right hook on my throw though that I need to fix. My mid range game is pretty good. Putting, well, could be worse.

You should go play. You can get a set of basic discs for like $20. And playing is free on nearly all courses, so it's a whole lot cheaper than that good walk spoiled, as Twain called golf.

I'm lucky- there's a park with a course right by our house. I can walk there, it's that close (and those of you who know how lazy I am, well this should tell you something).

Anyway, go play. I'm trying to convince Jill to go. We'll see if that happens. My guess is no.

Peace...

In which some faith in humanity is restored...

2009-05-15T16:51:00.003-04:00

I was (finally) mowing the yard on Tuesday, and I saw something that helped reassure me that humanity isn't entirely the rotten mess it gets made out to be in the media. I was minding my own business, mowing away, lost in some random thought (likely the eternal debate ove pirates versus ninjas), and out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the neighborhood kids standing on the sidewalk near our house.

Normally, our front lawn is the equivalent of a local playground- the neighborhood kids seem drawn to it like moths to flame. If the weather is good, they'll be out there, playing and enjoying life.

I stole a glance and saw the kid walk onto the grass and start picking up random small branches and twigs that are ever-present in the yard. Without being asked or bribed or anything, he just decided to help me out by moving them out of my way. Then, he left.

No real reason for him to help me. He didn't even say a word to me. Just walked by, saw that I was mowing and that the rest of his friends weren't in our yard playing. Instead of just walking away, he decided to help.

I don't know the kid's name. I didn't even get a chance to thank him. But his actions helped reinforce my belief that humanity isn't totally screwed up. There's some hope.

Thanks, random kid who picked up sticks from our yard. Thank you for, at least that moment in time, being a decent human being and helping someone out. A random act of kindness. It did not go unnoticed.

Peace...

Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?

2009-04-12T05:34:00.005-04:00

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them:

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again?"

Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home

Amazed at what had happened.

-Luke 24: 1-12

Finding the Holy in Holy Week...

2009-04-10T11:19:00.002-04:00

Is really hard to do. For clergy, it's a busy week full of services and ideally contemplation. I wonder what the people in the pews think about it- is it any different to them, except for perhaps a new outfit on Sunday, because we all know Jesus can't be resurrected if we aren't dressed in three piece suits and frilly dresses adorned with floral patterns.

Maybe I'm just being snippy. It's just that it's hard for me (and I'm assuming others in ministry) to find time to really dwell in Holy Week when we're running around coordinating 3-5 services, all while trying to keep up with the rest of our day-to-day tasks in ministry. And I'm not even leading any services! I just have to show up, and it's tiring. It leaves one tapped out, which for me makes it hard to tap in to the beauty and mystery of this sacred time.

For example, yesterday I worked in the am, then helped Jill and others at her church prep for a Seder meal, then I jetted back to the church where I work for Maundy Thursday service. I'm getting ready to leave our house to go back to Jill's church for their Good Friday service. Then Sunday, I've gotta be at church starting at 6 am for the sunrise service, then two more after that.

Wow. It's a busy time.

But in this time, I'm trying to really get a sense of what it is all about, instead of just rushing through it. I'm trying to get my mind around the fact that today, what we call Good Friday, Christ is dead.

Christ is dead.

And now we wait, holding on to a blessed hope. We wait. We wait for what was promised. We wait for the Kingdom. We wait for God.

Peace.

The (UK) world all atwitter...

2009-03-27T08:25:00.002-04:00

The UK world has been all atwitter over the last few days (weeks), with rampant speculation about what will happen with current coach Billy Gillispie. Some want him gone, some want him to get at least another year, some just want this march of madness to end.

My favorite UK sports site, KentuckySportsRadio.com has been crushed under the weight of millions of hits. They've had to resort to a twitter account to get out the news (hence that cleverly worded title). So, despite my reservations about a program that facilitates the broadcasting of an abundance of minutiae, I signed up for an account. You can reach me @ rcoreyhoward (wow... such a creative name!).

I have been able to find a few fraternity brothers, though, so it's a nice way to keep in touch with some of those guys who I don't get to talk to often.

Back to this UK craziness...

I want the administration to give BCG another year to show improvement, personally. I think two years is not nearly enough time to dig us out of the hole we were in. However, the team regressed this year, getting worse as the year went on. I think that the tryanny of the new is weighing heavily on this decision, as the most recent events regarding the program haven't been overly positive (although the team did show some passion and hard work during the NIT).

But BCG is the same guy who went 12-4 in the (much tougher) SEC last year. The same guy who donates time and money to causes like Dance Blue, and the same guy who evidently bought a car for some woman in need. The same guy who was hired because of his passion and devotion to basketball. The same guy who managed to convince Patterson to come to UK after the last coach change.

This guy deserves AT LEAST another year. Give him that, and see if we don't have some improvement. I don't think we'll win a title next year, but with a full lineup (assuming Meeks and Patterson stay), we'll cause some havoc. Patterson, Meeks, Orton, Miller, Hood, Harris, etc. sounds like a good option to me. Let's see what BCG can do with them.

Peace...

I hate colds...

2009-02-22T20:41:00.002-05:00

Yep. Hate 'em. And I think I have one now. The head congestion, the sinus pain, the "giant head" feeling. The running nose. It's all just a hassle. I'm fighting back with lots of sleep, vitamin C and a barrage of over the counter meds. I'm worried the DEA might come busting in, thinking I'm running a meth lab (For the record, I most certainly am not).

Enough whining about being sick.

It's been a busy few weeks. Between work and home stuff, I feel like I haven't had a lot of free time recently. I'm sure it's not the case, but it's like I've been running nonstop for a month. I realize that I'm a big slacker and I really enjoy being a bum.

Okay, enough whining about... well, anything.

I've been working on planning a retreat for our youth ministry. I think the hardest part was just juggling schedules between all the stuff our youth have going on in order to find a weekend that would work for the majority of our group! It's really ridiculous how busy everyone seems to be. I don't remember being that busy when I was in middle/high school. Anyway, we have a date, and a place. Now, I need to get working on praying, planning and all that stuff. In our youth ministry, I'm trying to build a real sense of community, to tighten the bonds among our youth and between our adults and youth. I realize that you can't force community (believe me- I've seen that tried before, and it does not work). But one can help to cultivate it. And that's what I'm trying and hoping to do.

Speaking of community, it's been a weird adjustment moving from Atlanta where we were surrounded by people our age, with whom we had much in common. Now we're here in Terre Haute, and it's been a difficult time trying to find people here our age. I'm sure I've written about this before, but it's been on my mind a lot as of late. Just how important community is, the value of great friends. It helps me value the friends I do have, even if they are states away. For example, some of my fraternity brothers went to Punxsutawney, PA over Groundhog day. A random trip, but I'm sure they had a great time. I had wanted to go along, but just couldn't get away. I miss ridiculous events with them.

This blog is depressing...haha.

Life's not bad at all. I suppose I use this place to vent, now that I think about it. In the future, I'll have some more substantive posts. I've gotten involved with some different things that involve me doing book reviews, so I'll be posting reviews here in the near future. I'm reviewing books for Thomas Nelson Publishers (the first of which I'll be reviewing is The Faith of Barack Obama, by Stephen Mansfield) as part of a blogger review thing. And I'm also doing reviews for the Transforming Theology project. I think the first one I'll be doing is John Cobb's Reclaiming the Church. Of course, I've got to finish reading them first. But you can look for those in the near future, if you're interested in my take on them. It's pretty exciting, getting to take part in something like this. And it's only made possible by the rise of social media like blogs and internet forums, things like facebook and twitter. I'm interested in seeing what the next step is in this technological revolution as it changes the way the world works. I'm especially interested in seeing how it impacts the church.

Okay, I've rambled on for quite a while now. I guess I'll get back to being bored to death as Jill subjects me to the Oscars...

Peace...

This made me laugh...

2009-01-20T09:47:00.005-05:00

I saw this picture on another blog, and thought I'd share it with, well... I suppose no one.

When I downloaded the image, it was titled "True Love." If (or I should say, when) the zombie apocalypse occurs, I hope my loved ones would do this to me.

Okay, kidding aside. It's been a busy week, and most of it because things all around me seem to be breaking.

Our TV was dying, but now I think it might actually be a problem with the xbox's GPU, after doing some research online.

Then, last Wednesday, our garage door would not open. It has a broken spring. Jill's car was in the garage at the time, which meant it was stuck in there. Fortunately, someone from her church came to help us open the door so we could at least get the car out.

Out into the 2 degree weather. That was the high one day last week. So, here we are, our cars stuck outside during the coldest week since we've been here.

We have under-appreciated our garage.

Oh, and Thursday morning, Jill's car wouldn't start. Dead battery. Fortunately, I didn't need my car, so she was able to use mine. We got her car jumped and got it a new battery. So now that's fixed. The garage door should be getting fixed on Friday.

I've always heard that bad things come in threes. So hopefully we're good for a while.

Other than that, I guess things have been going well.

I think I'm done for now. I think I'll go read some Lord of the Rings while Jill incessantly watches Inauguration coverage. It's a very historic day, but I can't stand just sitting there watching all the hoopla and hype leading up to it. Really, do we need to watch Dick Cheney make his way to a car, or watch the Obamas walk into the White House? Is that part really worthy of continual news coverage? Wake me when he takes the oath. That will actually be important. That is news. We don't need to know who designed their clothes. It's a waste of television time that could be used for something important (like me playing Left 4 Dead...haha)

Peace...

Our TV is dying...

2009-01-10T14:19:00.002-05:00

I was playing some Left 4 Dead, just doing my thing, killing zombies and having a good time. Then the picture started getting darker and fuzzy. Then it just quit. I tried to fix it, changed cables, tested the receiver/xbox to make sure it wasn't causing the problem. Isolate and attack, right? The TV is the problem. Of course, I'm not surprised. I bought it my sophomore/junior year of college, so it's been over 5 years. That TV has been used in 2 states, moved around numerous times. I supposed it is to be expected. But it's frustrating, none the less.

So, we're left with the question of what to do about the TV? We have another one in the house, but it's pretty tiny. Just 20 inches. Not the best option for playing games, nor watching movies.

I suppose we could start looking for a new TV. A new HDTV, perhaps? Of course, they're expensive. On the bright side, we have a friend from Jill's church who works for Sony and I'm wondering if he could get us a good deal on one.

Maybe we'll have a nice new awesome HDTV soon? Assuming we can afford it. Donations gladly accepted...haha.

In other news, there isn't much other news.

Jill and I went to see the movie "Doubt" last night. It was very good. I recommend it. Complex, nuanced, well-acted. Of course, the whole time I was watching, I kept trying to picture Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin (currently floating around the interwebs as a rumored casting decision for the next Batman movie). He'd be awesome, I think. I'm already anticipating the next Batman movie. The Dark Knight was fantastic (though it did have some minor plot holes/issues).

That's all I have for now, I think. Back to watching the UK game. GO CATS!

Peace...

Be it resolved...

2009-01-03T19:49:00.006-05:00

That I will be much better at updating this thing in 2009.

That I will not go 4 or 5 months between posts.

That I will instead go no more than a week or so without sharing something with you. All one of you who read this thing.

Since the last time I wrote, it's been a busy few months. I have a job now (which is a big part of the reason I haven't updated more). I'm the Youth Director at Mount Pleasant UMC in Terre Haute. It's going very well. I've been working there since 9/15/08, and at this point I'm starting to get to know the youth better, building relationships with them and hopefully teaching them something. Last night we had a lock-in, with almost 40 youth, mainly middle schoolers. I feel like I spent 14 hours herding cats. But we had a good time (though they didn't seem to like the Zombie Tag game I adapted for our use). Overall it was a great time, but I'm exhausted. I feel old- I used to be able to pull an all-nighter with just a headache to show for it. But today I feel pretty much worthless....haha.

So, I'm going to wrap this up for now and go watch the Colts with Jill. And our dog, Kole, the mini-schnauzer (we didn't pick the name or the ridiculous spelling). We got him back in September. He's a character. I'll talk more about him later.

For now, I'm going to try to not fall asleep on the couch. I'll be back soon with something of more substance.

Peace...

Quick Update

2008-08-27T18:09:00.003-04:00

Just a brief update:

1) Got married. Again. And it was a wonderful weekend. The ceremony was great, the reception was a lot of fun, the rehearsal dinner was tasty. It was so great to see family and friends all together to celebrate with us. It meant a lot to me. I also got to play lasertag, where I proceeded to destroy everyone in our first game, winning by something like 150 points. I got to see my best friends that I had not been able to hang out with in forever. And the whole wedding party got along ridiculously well. So well, in fact, that we all became depressed when we got back to our respective homes, which resulted in the immediate planning of a reunion. And to top it all off, my groomsmen, those wonderful, upstanding young gentlemen, got me quite possibly the best wedding gift ever: an XBox 360.

2) I've been playing a lot of XBox since we got back. Which is probably why I haven't updated.

3) Still looking for a job. I've had some meetings/interviews, and I hope to hear from some places soon. I'm really hoping something comes through soon. I've been trying to be patient, to wait upon the Lord, as it goes. Again, I know this is what I'm called to do, what I want to do with my life. When you know that, it makes you all the more eager to get started.

4) Jill and I are getting ready to go to Alaska. We leave Sept. 1 and will be back the 9th. I'm extremely excited. This will be my first cruise, and my first time out of the country (as we depart from Vancouver, B.C., Canada). Yeah, I'll only be in another country for a few hours, but hey, it counts. Even if is it only America's hat.

5) My dad is feeling better. He's recuperating. Of course, my sister has been sick the last few days, with gallstone/kidney stone issues. My mom and I are wagering on which of us is next. It's ridiculous.

6) That's about all I have for now. I have to go get started on dinner.

Peace...

Blogstravaganza limps to the finish line...

2008-08-10T22:47:00.004-04:00

The last entry in the inaugural (and likely last) Blogstravaganza is finally here. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. Or something.

Today was definitely better than yesterday. No random phone calls telling me a family member was in the hospital. In fact, my dad was able to go home this afternoon, where he is resting and recuperating. He's not the best patient, and he hates hospitals, so I'm sure he's glad to be home. He's sore and in pain, but it should get better in a few days/weeks. I'm relieved that everything went as well as it did. he's had a lot of health issues in the last few years, both he and my mom. It's hard not being there for them, unable to help out or lend support or just being present. So I pray. And I call. It's really all I can do.

In other news, I've decided that team handball looks incredibly fun. If you can't tell, I've been watching the Olympics quite a bit. At least, that is whenever I can figure out how to do so; whether a sport is on tv, or delayed, or streaming live. NBC has messed up in making their Olympics website user-friendly and easy to navigate. An absolute mess. Epic fail.

Back to the point... handball is a cross between basketball and hockey, minus the sticks and fights and plus a few more teeth. Not to mention fewer Canadians. Or perhaps it's better defined as dry water polo. Either way, it looks like fun, and I expect it to see some rise in popularity here in the US due to these Olympics. Much like the recent rise in Dodgeball after the movie came out, handball can only benefit from some screen time. Even if it's only available on your computer. That is, if one can figure out how to watch it. I'm still struggling. I randomly fell into a match earlier today, but I'm not sure I can get back to the handball video section. Thanks, NBC. Way to make your website for this ridiculously huge sporting event incredibly difficult when it doesn't have to be.

End Rant.

End Blogstravaganza.

I have nothing more to say.

I'm out.

Peace...

Crappy day...

2008-08-09T23:06:00.003-04:00

Today was kinda crappy. I got a call from my mom this morning, telling me she was at the hospital with my dad, who was having what felt like horrible indigestion/chest pain. Not a good sign for someone who had a heart attack 3 years ago. Turns out it wasn't a heart issue, but rather he had gallstones and a hernia. He had surgery this afternoon, and it went as well as it could. The gallstones are out and the hernia is fixed. He's recuperating and should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon as long as all goes well between now and then. So if you're the praying type, it would be much appreciated.

Other random small crappy stuff happened today that just made it a very frustrating day, like the universe just decided to smack me around a little.

That's all I have for right now. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Peace...

(I forgot to title this one yesterday when I originally posted it)

2008-08-08T21:35:00.003-04:00

Blogstravaganza '08: now with electrolytes...

Jill and I just got back from watching "Stepbrothers." Absolutely ridiculous. Ferrell, Reilly & co. once again deliver a truckload of laughs from a handful of idea. There honestly isn't much there, just an outlet for these two actors to act as ludicrous as you can imagine. I laughed. Hard and often. If you need a good laugh, it's definitely worth your time. Although, I am pretty disappointed that the line about a dead raccoon filled with ricotta cheese is not actually in the movie.

In other news, the University of Kentucky Wildcats just got a commitment from a highly-touted Texas QB, Ryan Mossakowski (via KentuckySportsRadio). It's an extremely difficult task for UK to get great talent due to their rather pitiful past, much less great talent from football hotbeds such as Texas. Perhaps things are really changing, and the best prospects are now at least considering UK (and occasionally making their way there). This is good news for Cat fans. Hopefully Coach Brooks (and Coach-In-Waiting Joker Phillips) have started something here.

What else to add... I guess not much. This blogging every day experiment is a challenge, especially when I live a pretty uneventful life at present. I never have much to say to begin with, so trying to write something worth reading every day is... Well, I'm not even sure it's worth reading....haha. But I shall press on. I promised a week's worth of blogs. And I aim to deliver.

Anyway, that's all I have for now.

Peace...

Parting Ways and Part-time

2008-08-07T21:27:00.003-04:00

Blogstravaganza '08: Eclectic Blogaloo

It's weird seeing Brett Favre holding a Jets jersey. Something's not quite right about the picture, like it's from bizarro world. There are no real winners in this situation, either. Green Bay loses a legend and its chances of a great season and Favre loses some of his legacy. The Jets do get a great QB, but he's almost 39, and is at best a short term solution to a long term problem. I'm a huge Favre fan; he's the reason I am a Green Bay fan. But even I know he is nearing the end of his playing career. Last season was great, and this season could have been pretty good had he made it clear from the start he wanted to play again. The team, initially left with the only option of moving on, did that as best they could. The whole thing just stinks.

Also, I had a meeting today with the pastor of the church where I'll be interviewing on Tuesday. It went really well, I think. It's only a part-time position, though, so I'm not sure what to do or how to continue on. The simple reality is that I need a full-time job (or at least full-time pay). And the other reality is that there is no such thing as part-time ministry. Doesn't happen. So, we'll see how it goes. It would be a very good place to work, and the position could grow to full-time. I just wonder if we can get by until that point. I could get another part-time job, but two part-times don't truly equal a full-time, once one factors in benefits like health insurance, etc.

Hopefully something will happen. That's all in God's hands, not mine. I'll do all I can here. The rest is beyond my control. Hopefully my creditors will be patient...

Just out of curiosity, does anyone read this? I'm thinking about adding a hit counter to see. I'm not sure who my audience is, if there is one.

I suppose that is all I have for today. Back to watching preseason football.

Peace...

And It's a Good Day...

2008-08-06T19:46:00.002-04:00

Blogstravangza '08 marches on...

Today is a good day. Today I a) won a prize from AAA where Jill and I had booked our honeymoon cruise. True, it was just a girly travel bag, but I won it nonetheless; b) I spent most of the day relaxing and running errands; c) I had a delicious chicken quesadilla for lunch and chicken teriyaki for dinner and most importantly...

d) I have a job interview on Tuesday of next week.

This is fantastic. Despite all my efforts so far, actually getting an interview is a difficult task. Most of my prospective jobs are moving a bit slower, still gathering resumes and not ready to interview yet. So the fact that I emailed this church just yesterday and they have already called me back and scheduled an interview for Tuesday (plus meeting the pastor tomorrow morning) is a remarkable feat. I really hope it goes well.

So, prayers and thoughts and such would be greatly appreciated.

That's about all I have right now.

Oh, also I've been listening to Obadiah Parker today. And you should too. Excellent music. Plus, their lead singer, Mat Weddle, did an amazing cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya." You can find it on YouTube and their music on iTunes. Go. Listen now. You can thank me later.

Peace...

Catnapping and Culinary Quests...

2008-08-05T23:03:00.003-04:00

Blogstravaganza '08 continues...

Well, last time I mentioned the missing cat. This evening I was sitting on the couch watching TV and Jill was outside talking on the phone, when she suddenly comes back inside, telling me she thinks she has found the cat. I go outside and work my cat-whisperer skills, getting the cat to come right up to me. I (gently) grab it, and put it in our garage while Jill calls the number on the flyer.

I'm thinking we're about to be $1000 richer.

Turns out, someone had already returned their beloved feline to them. So, here we are. Cat-nappers. And not the afternoon-dozing kind. The kind that grab some random cat (who looks almost exactly like the one pictured on the flyer) and stick it in a garage for pseudo-ransom.

We released the cat, unscathed and no worse for wear.

Fin.

On to the rest of today's post...

One of the things I'm learning about married life is the fact that Jill and I have a limited repertoire when it comes to cooking. Between us, we can cook a few dishes well, and dinner each night involves us sitting around for anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes deciding what to do for dinner. The conversation usually goes as such: "What do you want to for dinner? I don't know; what do you want to do? Oh, I don't know...." The banter revolves around each of us suggesting the other make a decision, namely, I think, because neither of us is exceptionally picky or prone to intense cravings for some specific food.

Deciding what to do for dinner is the most difficult decision I make these days.

Jill, ever the creature of habit and order, likes to eat the same things often. I enjoy making/eating different things, but that desire is tempered by my inherent laziness and current lack of culinary prowess. Such a quandary.

We have a collection of nice cookbooks, gifts from the wedding/shower/etc., but we always seem to be missing some ingredient or another. One very interesting tool we discovered to combat this failing is www.supercook.com.

This site lets you enter in the ingredients you have on hand, and it spits back a collection of recipes using the ingredients you actually have. It's been pretty helpful, even providing us with our new favorite dish, which is essentially chicken teriyaki with rice and veggies. It's fantastic, if I do say so myself. (Did I mention I'm the head chef at Chez Howard?)

That's about all I have for now. Back tomorrow with something for the world to not read.

Peace...

Blogstravaganza '08

2008-08-04T15:00:00.003-04:00

That's right! It's Blogstravaganza 2008, wherein I shall attempt the utterly remarkable, the monumental task of blogging every...single...day for an entire week. Starting today.

Today's post: Cat Hunting.

Evidently, there is someone in our neighborhood who has lost their cat. Lynus is an 8 pound tabby cat, and the owners are desperate to find him. So desperate, in fact, that they sent flyers out in the mail to places around us. One of these flyers ended up in the hands of someone at Jill's job who happens to live near us. She told Jill about it, and Jill brought home a flyer.

These people want this cat back so much, they have offered a reward.

A $1000 reward.

And here's the best part.

Jill and I are pretty sure we've seen this cat hanging around our house. On more than one occasion. So, I am now hunting for this cat. Being unemployed, this is a good deal. For no more than the cost of looking out our windows and catching this poor homeless cat, I could make a cool grand.

It's the best job prospect I've had since we moved here....haha.

So, I'm now in the animal control business. Wish me luck. I'ma go catch me a kitty.

Hire Me!

2008-07-31T11:42:00.002-04:00

I need a job. Now. Someone hire me.

That's about the only thing going on right now for me, this slowly moving job search. I've sent out resume after resume, called place after place only to find the position has been filled. I can't seem to buy an interview, or even an email telling me what the time line is for the position search.

Which leaves me very frustrated, and torn as to what to do. Do I go to McDonalds and try to get a job there while I wait for something more, well, more befitting my calling? Of course, I'm not sure if they would even hire me- I've got to be gone for nearly two weeks over the next month and a half with the wedding and the honeymoon.

The whole thing is ridiculous. I'm trying not to be envious of all the Methodists out there who don't have to deal with this particular frustration. You all know that you have a job. It may not be in the best of locations or exactly what you wanted to do. But it's a job. It's something you're called to and want to do. It pays the bills. It gives you something to do with your day besides household chores and killing vast amounts of time on the internet playing games and reading ESPN.

I need a job. And I don't know what I can do to further facilitate the acquisition of said job. I am frustrated. I KNOW I am called to work with youth, that this is the vocational passion of my life. While not trying to sound arrogant, I know I will be good at this kind of job. If only I can get it.

So I wait. I'm trying to wait patiently on the Lord (and the Lord's followers) as the Good Book says.

But the bills are stacking up, though not as high as the mountain of unknowing and frustration that comes from not having gainful employment. And on this mountain I sit, waiting.

Waiting...

Fire In the Hole!

2008-07-04T13:36:00.003-04:00

Avast ye scalawags and other assorted piratey greetings. It would appear that our otherwise quiet neighborhood is, at present, being besieged by pirate ships with long guns and cannons. This siege started yesterday afternoon. I was sitting at the dining room table reading when all of the sudden...

BOOM!

I actually jumped out of my chair it was so loud. You hear cannons in movies, the roaring concussive sound that vibrates the air around you. That was exactly what it sounded like. The shelling continued intermittently all day, and into the night. There was a ceasefire from about 1:00am until roughly 11:00am this morning.

The shelling continues today. Morale is dropping. The crew is tense, anticipating the clash of swords to come. We are also curious as to how the ship will approach our landlocked abode.

I am scrambling around the house, preparing munitions and stockpiling supplies. Also, I am looking for billowing shirts and bandanas, as well as a hat befitting someone of my rank.

I need to acquire a parrot, and perhaps a hook and/or eyepatch.

But not scurvy. That stuff is horrible. Trust me.

I will continue to send updates as circumstances allow. May God have mercy on us all...

Frustration...

2008-07-03T19:55:00.002-04:00

You would think that someone with no job might be more inclined to post more than, oh, once every month or so.

Not me.

I still have no job.

And I'm getting frustrated.

I've been applying for everything I can find that is a) remotely related to what I am called to/interested in/ educated and trained for, b) full time, c) financially suitable and d) within a reasonable commute.

It's a limited group, but a group nonetheless. Now I'm just waiting for everyone else to do their thing. Until then, I am spending my days as a househusband. It's actually not a bad gig- I clean, cook, run errands, etc. It wouldn't be a bad full time job. Of course, this job doesn't pay well. Or at all.

Grrr.

Other than being unemployed and waiting, life is going well. Jill and I are settled in at the parsonage. It's weird being in a whole house when it's only the two of us. We have tons of room (compared to an apartment), and the house is pretty nice. Our neighbors are very nice. Believe it or not, we've actually had a few people bring us cookies and muffins and the like. I wasn't sure people still did that. You see it in movies, or '50's TV shows, but now? Yeah it actually happens. That was very nice. The people at Memorial have also been extremely kind and welcoming, having us over for dinner and even contacting people they know to help aid in my job search.

Now, I'm just waiting to interview and to hopefully get a rewarding job. I KNOW I can do the jobs for which I've applied in at least a satisfactory manner. I KNOW I am educated enough for this. I KNOW I have been preparing for this for many years. Now I just need a chance to show all this to someone who can hire me and pay me.

Until then, I'll be keeping house. And waiting.

Peace...

Married, Done with school, Unemployed...

2008-05-06T16:20:00.002-04:00

Each of those words/phrases now describes me.

Jill and I had a small ceremony on the Quad at Emory on 4/18. We had two of our friends and classmates officiate, another friend play some music, a friend read some scripture, and a ton of friends surrounding us, supporting us. It was a really awesome time. Then we went to our fantastic reception...aka Candler Prom. It was a great night.

I finished my last paper for Candler, and perhaps my last paper forever, last Friday at about 4:30. It was a glorious feeling. I literally felt my shoulders lift, the burden I had carried for as long as I can remember now gone from me. No tests. No papers. No projects. My academic career is complete, at least for now. I might go back in the future (or back to the future? Baa-bum-bah!), but my brain needs a break. And now it has it. I am relishing this fact very much.

And now, I am looking for a job. I sent my resume to close to 50 churches and other places. Now, the waiting game. It's killing me. This is one of those times where I envy my Methodist friends. While they don't get a choice in their position, they are guaranteed a job (assuming they get commissioned). That would be nice. Instead, I sit here, getting ready to move to a place I've never known. I don't have any connections there. And I've found that, more important than your skills or ability or potential, what matters most in the job hunt is knowing someone who can put in a good word from the inside. Yes, I have references who will gladly say some good things about me (I hope?), but they, too, are outsiders in a sense.

So, I'm praying. And waiting. And hoping that I will be able to find some employment that means something to me. A way to put into practice the knowledge I've been stockpiling. I hope it works out. I don't want to be a cubicle monkey, but I will if I have to. Let's hope I don't.

That about covers it. Now that school is over, hopefully I'll be able to come up with more substantive and mind-stimulating posts.

Peace...

On Injustice and Inequality...

2008-04-10T15:57:00.008-04:00

Warning: this post is mostly a rant. But I think my point is true.

Candler has a Spring Banquet (aka Candler Prom) every year, a final celebration for the past year. It's a nice, formal dinner/dance (sort of). It requires that I a) wear a suit, b) be social and c) pay $20 for this privilege. Well, I suppose I should say someone has to pay for my ticket. This year, Jill bought our tickets, on account of me being BROKE. That's beside the point.

This event costs $20 per person. This is fine. Maybe a bit steep given the quality of the food, but still, it's not unreasonable. But here is what is unreasonable to me: Candler's international students, of which there are a great many, get to attend for free.

Let me preface the following rant by making clear that I have no problem with international students. I am very much in favor of their presence here. Living and learning with people from a variety of countries throughout my Candler career has been a great experience. They bring extremely valuable insights and new ideas and ways of looking at things. We would miss out on so much without their presence. I am truly thankful that I have met and learned with and from them. My roommate first year was part of a German exchange program. Bjoern was very cool, and I learned a lot from him in our living and talking together. I have no issue with international students. Just wanted to get that our there.

My issue is why we have to pay, and they do not. Candler talks a great deal about justice and equality. But this is unjust and definitely not equal treatment. To be sure, it isn't unjust on the level of issues we normally discuss at school. It is most definitely not comparable to issues such as racism, or violence, or any number of societal ills.

But it is not fair. It is not treating people as equals. And don't try to say "oh, they're international students, maybe they come from poor countries and don't have any money." There are two issues with that: 1) We're all in grad school. Most of us are broke. 2) I can't tell you how many of my international neighbors I see driving brand new cars. If they can afford a new car, they can surely afford to pay for their own dinner.

Back to my point- it is not equal. And I can't tell you how many times I have heard students, faculty, staff, etc. preach and talk about equality and justice and fairness and so forth. So, we have a situation here. To quote Dr. King, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

How can we, as a school (and one could extrapolate, as a Church, or a society), expect to effect any justice or equality on a large scale in the world, when we can't even get the small stuff right? How can we expect to overcome the injustice in the world at large when we continue to inflict it in our own small worlds?

The way I see it, Candler has a few options. One, they could make international students pay just like the rest of us. Two, they could make the rest of us not pay. Three, they could just not have Spring Banquet and avoid the issue entirely (here's an idea- give the money that might otherwise be spent on "Candler Prom" to a worthy cause!). Or four, they could leave things the way they are. Three of these options truly address the issue and are, I would argue, more just. Either make international students pay, or make no one pay. Or we can simply cancel the whole thing, and give the money to the One campaign, or for malaria nets, or any one of a million causes.

The other option, maintaining the status quo, just furthers something that I believe the school would fight against (and does) in other forms. Why is injustice acceptable in some forms, but not others? Who decides what those acceptable forms of injustice are? As I mentioned before, I am not trying to compare this issue with larger, much more important issues. Just pointing out the parallels.

I am, however, reminded of Christ's words in Luke 16 discussing the parable of the dishonest manager. Essentially, the lesson is "one who can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with little will also be dishonest with much." If we want to change the big things, it has to start with the small things. It's like learning to crawl before walking before running. You can't just expect to be born running, the same way we can't just expect to stop the huge issues of our world like poverty or racism or genocide without first facing them down in our own lives.

Candler has a chance to fix one very small thing. Will they? Oh, I doubt it. But I'll at least try to address it in my own life and practice what I preach.

EDIT: After contacting Candler admin., I have learned several things that should temper this response; namely that international students are ineligible for student loans, which has to make attending here incredibly difficult. Additionally, the receive significantly fewer scholarships. I assumed, falsely, that they were receiving scholarships from their home countries or churches that enabled them to journey here to study. Mea culpa. That being said, I have a better grasp now of the rationale. I also learned that the fee can be waived for domestic students who can demonstrate financial hardship.

That essentially eliminates my argument. I give Candler too little credit at times. My apologies.

So... I'm engaged!

2008-02-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

That's right... Jill and I are engaged as of about 6:30pm Monday, February 4, 2008. I am extremely excited about all of this. I think I've told the story at least a dozen times, and I'm sure she's told it even more. Here's a brief recap for the two or three people in our world who might not have heard:

About 6-8 months ago, I was leaving Jill's apartment (back when we lived in Turner Village). Her cable ran along the wall and in front of her door frame, so it often came unstuck. I knelt down on one knee to tape it back in place, and as I was doing that, I thought I might mess with her a little bit. I reached into my pocket as though I were grabbing a surprise (i.e. an engagement ring). She looked really shocked, scared even. She said "Don't do that. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I laughed, and told her the next time I was down on one knee in front of her, I'd have a ring and it would be a real proposal.

Fast forward to Monday. We had made plans to go grab some dinner at Panera. I showed up at her door at 6:30 and knocked. I was on one knee, "tying my shoe" (which I had to untie beforehand to make it look real). When she came to the door, I tied my shoe, and then looked at her, asking "Do you remember what I told you the last time I was on my knees like this?..." Her eyes lit up, and her hand flew up to her face. I said "Will you marry me?" and after a brief pause (I'm hoping due to surprise/shock, not fear or disgust), she said yes. Then we made the requisite calls to family and friends, got dressed up and went to dinner at Le Giverny, a nice French restaurant, which was the first nice place she and I went as a couple.

The wedding will be this summer, at a date not yet set.

So, needless to say, it has been an incredible week. Looking back over the last few years, it has been an interesting journey. Coming in to Candler, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to spend the rest of my life as a lonely old man. But my wonder was premature. From the very first day at Candler, when I met Jill at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, I felt something important there, something more than the joy of making a new friend. This was deeper, a connection that felt like it had always been there, and I was just stumbling upon it. The shifting sand of life, shaken up by my move to Atlanta and starting grad school, had brought forth this connection to someone I had just met, but felt like I had known from childhood. I know it sounds dramatic, cheesy, whatever, but the point is is that it was very, very real, and still is.

We didn't start dating until last December ('06, not '07), but by that point she was easily my best friend. No one else was close (not discounting the great friendships I have- don't get the wrong idea y'all). From the beginning, we just clicked. To steal from the band Mae, "I [could] feel something different from the first time/ Heaven made sense, and all the words rhymed." ( From the song "Ready and Waiting to Fall").

Being with her has always made sense. So, naturally I want to be with her always. Call it sappy, call it romantic, call it what you will. I call it real. And now I call her my fiancee.

And that is the best news I may have ever had.

Music to my ears...

2008-01-28T16:46:00.000-05:00

I stretched out on my floor this afternoon and listened to music. I haven't done this in forever. I mean, I have music on all the time in the background while I write papers or read for class or kill time on Facebook or playing games on the internet, but I can't remember the last time I sat down and listened to an entire album, start to finish, doing nothing but soaking in the sound. Not using it as background noise just so there's something to hear, but rather really listening to it, trying to hear what the artist is saying.

I realized how much I miss it.

As I lay sprawled out on the floor, listening to Thrice's "Water" disc from "The Alchemy Index," I spent half an hour soaking up an amazing work of art. This EP is part of what will eventually be a 4-disc set, each disc devoted to one of the four elements- earth, air, fire, and water, each with its own distinct feel. The fire and water albums, which are part of "The Alchemy Index, pt. I" are out now, with earth and air coming out as pt. 2 this spring. The fire album is raw molten metal, brimming with a prophetic defiance. Water, on the other hand, has a more introspective, solitary feel, making excellent use of digital effects to give each song a distinctly aquatic feel. If you're interested in some amazing music with intelligent, though-provoking lyrics, check them out. They're my favorite band...ever. I can firmly say that. Each album finds them getting better and better.

Where was I going?

Oh.

I have a rather sizable collection of music, but most of the time I find I'm only using it to fill up the quiet. It's there, but I'm not giving it real attention. I use it as a token, a perfunctory relationship that I exploit when I need it to do something for me.

And I realize, this is often times how I live my relationship with God. It's always there. I'm surrounded by the idea of God, discussion of God, studying about God, etc. I am in seminary, after all. But so often, I'm just using it as filler, as background noise, instead of really listening, instead of really engaging.

Ouch.

This revelation hurts a bit. It makes me realize that I'm not just here to get a degree, to read about God. I'm here because of a calling, because of my part in an ongoing relationship with Christ. And there are times when I'm just not as involved as I need to be. Instead of putting this relationship on as background noise, I need to listen. I need to engage, to hear what is being said. To respond.

I realized how much I miss it.

I realize also that no matter how much I can get it screwed up, the grace is still there. The music has never stopped playing; notes and lines continue to sound from speakers. But the whole time, the song remained the same.

I just forgot how to listen intentionally.

So I try to listen. To quiet my own noise, and listen.

To quote Thrice:

"I am drowning in a digital sea
I am slipping between the sound
Here my voice goes to ones and zeroes
I'm slipping beneath the sound"

-"Digital Sea"

Here my voice goes to ones and zeroes... now maybe I can begin to listen again.

Disconnectedness...

2007-11-19T16:43:00.000-05:00

Over the last few weeks, I have been talking to Jill, and several other people here at Candler, about how disconnected we all are, how we all feel isolated, stranded, even alone at times. Essentially, I heard from a variety of sources that we all feel like (despite Candler’s claims to the contrary) there is no community here, that we’re on our own here. I’ve heard similar sentiments from everyone ranging from first-years to third-years.

We’re all busy. Between class, work, reading, writing, and sleeping (occasionally), it’s a wonder anyone here has time for others and for the self. It is a hectic time. If one were to do all the assigned readings, all the papers, the studying and so forth, there would be absolutely no way to even get a healthy amount of sleep each night, not to mention time to eat, bathe, etc. Nearly every professor feels like theirs is the only class any of us have. And the handful of professors who don’t are dearly loved by their students.

Anyway, getting back from the tangent...

The point is, we all feel kind of isolated. Wondering if this is the place for us, or where we’re going to be after we graduate. We wonder if we have real friends here, friends who will still be in our lives after graduation. Yeah, we’re all going different places, but with facebook, email, blogs, cell phones, no one is far away. But the point is, are these friends who will reach back? Maybe that’s just me, but I wonder how many of the people here I will actually keep in touch with, and of those, who will bother to keep in touch with me. It’s a two-way street. I just wonder if I’m the only car who’ll be driving it.

(I realize the hypocritical nature of me saying that. I have friends from Transy who I never talk to. And that’s my fault. If any of you are reading, I’m sorry. I’m going to try to be better about it. And if I fail, let me know...haha.)

I wonder if what we’re feeling here is something peculiar to this environment, or if it is something endemic in our generation. In this modern society so intricately interwoven, in a world that continues to shrink, why do we feel alone? And especially at a place built upon a radicalized idea of community? The church is a community different from all others, a place that, in theory, is so close that people don’t get isolated like this. I know it’s idealistic, and when dealing with real people ideals and theories don’t work to perfection. But the idea is there. We should be looking out for each other, not letting others and ourselves get stranded. We need to love each other. And part of that is communicating, spending time together.

On the bright side, this weekend was a great weekend for spending time with people. Friday night Jill and I went to the movies, something we had not done in a long time. Saturday we had dinner with a few friends. We went to Edo, a Japanese steakhouse. It was delicious and fun. Then yesterday we hung out with some other friends at Taco Mac and watched football, then later that evening had pizza with even more friends. All in all, a good (and needed) weekend for healing some of the disconnectedness, for strengthening the bonds of friendship. We were not made to be in isolation for significant lengths of time. We all need time apart, but we really need time together. We need each other. Even God doesn’t exist in isolation (i.e. the Trinity). Why should we?

So, if anyone out there still reads this, and understands what I’m talking about, I just want to say that I’m always available to talk. Or rather that I want to be, and will be making an effort to be a better friend.

“If you need me, call me, I’ll be there in a hurry, you don’t have to worry... ‘cause baby there ain’t no mountain high enough...”

Peace...

Still no Halo or XBox, but I've got something better...

2007-09-24T15:53:00.000-04:00

So, no one's come to my aid in acquiring an XBox 360 and/or Halo 3. No surprise there; I'm not sure anyone other than Jill reads this thing anymore. Oh well, I don't need it.

Like the title says, I have something better. How about an amazing girlfriend who, get this, did my laundry for me?

That's right. Jill did my laundry for me. I brought it over to her place to use her washer and dryer. I did the first couple of loads, but then I left for a while, with every intention of finishing it when I got back. When I came back it was almost entirely done, folded and ready to go. I don't know what I did in some earlier life, but I must have been awesome to deserve someone so sweet. It's funny though- I'm not sure most people get to see how sweet and kind she really is. She's usually pretty serious and thoughtful, somewhat reserved. She's not the saccharine-sweet kind of girl. But she does all kinds of sweet things for me. Like my laundry. Evidently she finds folding clothes to be therapeutic. I don't know... whatever it is, she's great, and I know I don't deserve her. Hopefully she'll never realize that.

Anyway, this weekend was nice. Jill and I went to the Braves game on Saturday, which was fun. We had been talking about going to one all summer, but just hadn't made it yet. So, since it was the last home stand of the year we had to go. And we got free tickets from my roommate Chris, which was very nice of him. We were sitting in the next to last row in the upper decks, but it was fun nonetheless. And we got to park right across the street from Turner Field because Jill drives a Lexus (so we used the Lexus lot).

It seems I've been on the receiving end of a long list of random acts of kindness- free tickets, free laundry, good parking, etc.

Which, of course, makes me think- when was the last time I dealt out some random acts of kindness? And since nothing immediately comes to mind, I know one thing- it's been far too long.

You see, I mentioned that I have something better than an XBox or whatever. I have Jill, who loves me and is exceptionally kind to me. And even bigger than that, I'm reminded of the fact that we're all called to random acts of kindness. It's part of following a God who deals in agapic love, also referred to as charity (especially in Dr. Jackson's Ethics class). Not simply charity in the since of a philanthropist giving to causes and foundations. Charity in the sense of good done to another without concern to repayment or benefit. Giving for giving's sake. Just being kind, helping someone in need or giving someone something just because.

It's what God does.

All the time.

I can't even begin to imagine that. The depth of goodness it takes to always be pouring out good to people who, rather than accept graciously, so often just turn away. As though we don't need it. As though God's grace is a gift we'd rather not have, thanks.

I wonder what's wrong with me. With us.

If God is pure good, to God's very essence or being, then the best thing God can do is share that goodness with us. Which, I believe, God does; I think this is most concentrated and/or evident in Christ. So it makes sense to me, then, that we should try to participate in that goodness as best we can by doing good of our own. Imitation as the most sincere form of flattery, right?

So, this is my reminder to myself to try to do some good, to give charity, to show some of God's love that has been (and continues to be) shown to me. Hopefully I can do some of that.

Peace...

Anyone want to seriously endear themselves to me?

2007-09-17T15:17:00.000-04:00

Halo 3 comes out on 9/25. I'd love to have it. And of course, an XBox 360 (just not the core system).

Here's the info: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/25KEXJM5MAFN1/

If anyone out there has an extra $400 lying around, and wanted to do something kind, I would gladly be the recipient of said kindness. It's been a long long time since I was this interested in a video game. Guess I'm still a nerd at heart.

Okay, enough begging for stuff I want but don't need. I ought to be doing homework right now, but I need a break. I've been at it all day, and just don't want to do anymore. It's mostly busywork, which means I'm not motivated at all to do it. I've got a huge presentation to do for Thursday, but I'm waiting on a book so I can get started. Grr...

I spent most of this weekend not doing homework, and instead hanging out with Jill and other friends. Lots of football watching. That's one of the many awesome things about Jill- she actually likes to watch football. How cool is that? Yes, yes, all you guys out there can envy me. She's that wonderful. She made me dinner on Friday (cue more envy), and even made brownies for dessert. Delicious. I don't deserve her. I know.

I thought of something else I wanted to talk about here, but I've forgotten it by now. I should start making notes of this stuff.

Well, I'll spare you anymore ramblings. I'll be back.

Peace...

It's that time again...

2007-09-03T11:10:00.000-04:00

Time for school to start back up. It's my last year of seminary, and perhaps my last full year of formal education. I've been in school since I was 5.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Part of me is absolutely ready to be done with the regiment of sleep, class, read, write, test, repeat. I pretty much hate any time that I have to sit down and do homework. It often seems pointless. I don't feel that I really learn anything from writing a paper that regurgitates what I have read or heard from a professor. That isn't education. It's memorization. The more time I spend in higher education, the more it seems to me that I just get to be a mimic, firing back to a professor what they think.

There aren't many chances to write about what I think. Which I suppose is somewhat fortunate, since I'm not sure I have anything that important to say. But the point is, I am tired of professors ostensibly wanting to know what I think when in reality they only want to hear their own words coming out of the mouth of another. Welcome to academia.

End rant.

Other than school starting back up, life is great. I had an amazingly relaxing summer. I only worked a couple of days a week, and I spent the rest of the time being lazy and enjoying my last real summer break ever. I've been able to have a ton of free time to do what I wanted. And of course, I wasted most of it...haha.

Today is going to be a great day. I'm getting ready to draft a fantasy football team, then on to a Labor Day cookout/gathering, where there shall be Wii, Ping Pong and other festivities.

Life is good.

Peace...

I hate moving...

2007-08-07T15:26:00.001-04:00

Eventually, I'm hoping to get to a point where I actually update this thing regularly. You'd think this summer of working very little and being lazy very much would have been a perfect time for this to happen, but evidently not. But by request, I have returned to ramble on about whatever comes to mind.

I moved last week, leaving behind the wonderfully 1970's atmosphere of Turner Village for the more spacious (albeit equally retro) accommodations of President Park Apartment Complex. I now have a massive room, with enough floor space to actually walk around and the like, which, when compared to the labyrinth-like little path I had through my last bedroom, makes me feel almost spoiled. And to think I'm actually spending less money to live here! We even have a pool. So, while I do hate moving (especially when coupled with the fact that I'll be doing this again in only 10 months), the new place is better than the old one.

Here are some pics of the new room:
[Edit: The pics aren't showing up. I broke it.]

I've even got my own bathroom, which is actually something I have never had before. Of course, that means I'm the only one responsible for cleaning it. Dang it...

Anyway, moving out and then moving in have occupied most of my time over the last week. But now I'm just about settled in, and just in time for the summer to come to a close. I have exactly one month until classes start (AHHHH!) for my last year of education for the foreseeable future. My last year of school. Unless of course I decide to continue on and maybe get a D. Min or something crazy like that. But for now, the plan is to enter the real world come next May/June. I'm very ready to stop writing papers and taking tests, and yet I'm not completely excited about the prospect of no more summer breaks. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

Let's see, what else has been going on recently.... Well, Jill's birthday was Thursday, 8/2, and we went to dinner with a group of friends and then went to Stone Mountain for the laser show. That was a lot of fun, even though a lot of people were out of town and unable to come. Boo them. They're all bad people who kick puppies and punch the elderly. I hadn't been to the laser show this summer, and I enjoyed it. I think most guys like the concept of lasers and explosions and fireworks and flamethrowers, and that was reinforced by the reactions from the guys who were with us. Good times were had by all. And we had some deliciously fantastic freshly-made taffy. So that was good too.

Of course, most of all I was glad to be there with Jill. I gotta say, being with her makes even the awesomeness of explosions and fire that much more awesome.

We have now reached the sappy portion of today's blog.

She's so much fun to be around; she makes me laugh pretty much every time I see her. Before we were dating, I never thought she'd be so goofy. She usually comes across as pretty serious (and she is), but when we're together, it seems like we're always laughing about something. That's one thing I really love about her- she makes me laugh. And I do love to laugh. Usually, I find myself making other people laugh, but Jill cracks me up on a regular basis, something that isn't easy to do. I do love that girl, very very much.

Speaking of laughing, I've been watching "My Name Is Earl" on DVD the last couple of days, and that show continues to grow on me even more. It's absolutely hilarious, and it is made even more enjoyable by the fact that it is able to push a good message (trying to be a better person) without bludgeoning you over the head with it. For those not in the know, Earl (played fantastically by Jason Lee, of Kevin Smith-movie fame) discovers the idea of karma after winning $100k and then being hit by a car. The show revolves around him trying to make up for all the crap he has done in the past; these actions are all on his list, and each episode has time trying to tackle something and fix it. It's extremely funny, and I recommend it highly.

Okay, I think I've rambled on long enough. Again, I'll try to be more timely in my updates. I'd ideally like to update this thing everyday, but I'm 99% sure I don't have enough thoughts in my head to make that a worthwhile pursuit. I am boring. Very much so. But I'll do what I can; who knows? Maybe I'll stumble upon a good idea that will make updating daily easier. Some sort of gimmick or concept. I've seen people update their blog daily with what they eat, what they're thankful for, something that made them think that day, whatever. I'll try to find an angle with which to run. We'll see how that turns out...

Until next (hopefully sooner) time.

Peace...

Community?

2007-06-28T10:42:00.000-04:00

Here's what's happenin' ...

Today is my mom's birthday! So, happy birthday mom. This is when it sucks being 6 hours away, for stuff like birthdays and mother/father days and so on. I feel like a bad son, as I haven't been home in 6 months. Literally. But I'll make it home eventually. I think...

I've been trying to buy an iPod for like 2 months, and I'm not having any luck. I bought one from someone on eBay, and they didn't come through with it. Then I bought another one, and the jerk never sent it. So I'm in the middle of filing a claim against them to get my money back. It's so frustrating. I will give it one more shot, and then I'm just going to give up using eBay. I guess it's what I get for trying to save some money.

Thanks to Jill's mom, I'm currently reading a book called "The Book of Dave," by Will Self. To briefly summarize the plot, it is set in a sort of post-apocalyptic England where society has been recreated in light of the discovery of a book that was written around the turn of the millennium (2000 or so). This book was written by a cab driver named Dave who wrote the book for his son, in hopes that his son might find it one day. Anyway, the book gets discovered post-apocalypse and society is built upon the knowledge the book contains (which is all rather slanted to Dave's viewpoint).

In light of beginning to read this book (I haven't finished it yet), as well as many conversations with Jill and others, I've been thinking a lot about community. We hear a lot about this at Candler, about the value of community and how it is central to the Christian life. I completely agree that Christianity is very focused on community, both the community of the church as well as the community of humanity. Community is definitely a buzzword here, arising in pretty much every class discussion, many social conversations, etc. We spend a great deal of time thinking and talking about it. At Candler, they even consciously try to foster a strong sense of community.

But here's the deal- You cannot throw a group of people into a colloquy and simply expect them to instantly become a tight-knit community. But this is how Candler seems to think it works. Throughout Con Ed, New Testament, etc., it seems the powers that be think that we'll all just instantly become BFF's and open up to each other.

Wrong.

Community has to be organic. If we want it to be real, community cannot be forced. It cannot be mandated. It has to come out of the free choice (followed by deliberate effort to make it work) of those wishing to be in the community. You cannot make someone like someone, or make people open up to each other and share deep, sincere feelings, thoughts and so forth. I think stuff like that has to happen over time, and those involved need to have a choice in how that happens. You just can't force real community. Oh, you can make these groups and hope it happens (and sometimes it does). Or you might get the fake sense of community that I feel comes out of Con Ed (where we all sit together for 2 hours a week and get along, and then go our separate ways as soon as it's over) but I think real, true community has to come from choice.

Looking at the gospels (hey, imagine that!), we see Jesus reaching out to people, repeatedly saying "Follow me..." The gospel stories tell us that most of the time, people followed. Of course, there is the story of rich young ruler who walks away after being told he must give up everything to follow Jesus. But I think what we may overlook is the fact that these people (even though the very Son of God was asking them) had a choice to participate in the community. They made a conscious decision to follow Christ and participate in that community. They weren't names on a list thrown into a too-small classroom and almost forced to engage a group of strangers. To be fair, this can sometimes work. There are situations where random people forced into a group can become a real community, but my point is that I think one gets better relationships when people can choose. Of course, I am not encouraging some clique-type behavior where a group begins to exclude people via their choices.

This is where I think the Christian community is called to be markedly different from other communities. Whereas other communities (our circle of friends, perhaps?) tend to be insular, I think the Christian community is called to be open to all, to all who seek Christ and even those who don't. Christ was open to all he met, but he gave them the choice to follow. Those who chose to follow entered into a challenging and life-changing community.

Okay, I'm done ranting. Just wanted to get that out there. Plus, it's probably more engaging than hearing about my day-to-day escapades.

Peace...

My what? My grill!

2007-05-28T17:09:00.000-04:00

I bought a grill.

I will now cook delicious meats upon said grill.

I also bought a bocce ball set, so I'm looking forward to that too. I remember first being introduced to bocce ball at Off-Campus events during Rush. It is a simple lawn game that entails throwing softball-sized balls at a smaller target ball. And it is good times. I miss Rush.

Jill and I went to the Zoo on Thursday, and it was a lot of fun. Check Facebook for pictures of animals. And Jill in a giant nest, looking extraordinarily cute.

I love summer.

Peace...

I am a killing machine...

2007-05-19T17:58:00.000-04:00

At least on Star Wars Battlefront II, that is. I racked up over 300 kills in one round. Stupid thing resets at 255 though for some reason, so I had to keep a manual count.

As you can tell, I'm doing nothing productive. Summertime is great. Although it would be better if a certain special someone were here. Oh well... just a couple more days.

My mom visited yesterday. She was on her way down to Florida to spend a week with some family members. So it was nice to get to spend some time with her, since I haven't been home all year. Literally. We hung out, went to my softball game (we lost, dang it), and then had dinner with friends/coworkers of mine. Good times.

Alright... I think I'm gonna try to get some real work done for SHIFT tomorrow night. It's the last one of the season, and I need to organize my thoughts.

And then I'll probably kill some more stuff. But only on my PS2.

Peace...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone...

2007-05-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

I'm such a sap. Jill's out of town for a few days, and I'm just sitting around my apartment. Kinda sad. Missing her. Bored. Etc. I suppose there are plenty of things I could be doing, but instead I'm sitting here dwelling in my malaise. She'll be back in a few days, but man, it's just not the same without her.

Now that school is finally finished (yes, I did finish that last paper. Sort of. I kinda ran out of time, but it wasn't totally horrible. But the best part is that it is finished), I have time to breath again. To enjoy life again. To hang out with Jill, with friends, with all my friends at Briarlake, etc. To read for fun. To rest. To watch movies. You get the point.

And now that I have this free time, I've been feeling kinda weird lately. Not like health-weird, more like a-lot-on-my-mind weird. I find myself locked up inside my head, even when I'm hanging out with Jill or other people. Odd. It happens every now and then, I suppose. I remember times like this in the past, where I would spend more time thinking things over with myself instead of talking to other people. I guess that's just how I roll most of the time. But I need to learn to talk more to other people. To seek their advice, to bounce ideas. We live in community- be it our friends, the church, work, family, whatever. People are communal. I *know* this, I just find it hard to really do. I've always been rather private and more than comfortable keeping to myself. Note to self: open up sometimes- you have someone who will listen.

I don't even know why it happens, why I get lost in my own head. There's not that much there. I guess recently I've spent a lot of time looking toward the future, trying to get my plans set up for next school year, and then after that.... ominous... It's a daunting task, staring "the real world" right in the face and trying not to blink. Come this time next year, I will be a graduate of Candler with a Master's Degree, and trying to find gainful employment. And on a more important, personal level, I'll (Lord willing... seriously. Please?) be with Jill and figuring out where we're going to be and what we'll be doing. All my adult life (so far), I've been able to make decisions based on what I need/want to do. But I'm at a point in my life where I need to think not only of myself, but how those decisions impact others. Not saying that I haven't tried (or should have) to do that in the past, but when it came down to it, I had the final call.

Now things are different. It's a new challenge, and I'm just getting into it. I guess that's why I've been lost in my own thoughts. This whole "thinking bigger than myself" thing is a newish development. Hopefully I won't mess it up. Life is pretty spectacular now, and things are going really well. I just need to step up and be the person I can be. Be the best boyfriend, youth minister, friend, son, whatever, that I can be. And that's probably going to involve me opening up and giving a bit more of myself. Something at which I have not always been the best. So, I guess by writing this out, I'm pushing myself to step up to the challenge. Let's see how this all works out.

Peace...

I am Jack's complete lack of brainpower

2007-05-04T18:03:00.000-04:00

Yes I haven't posted in months after repeated statements saying I would. Sorry.

It's the end of the semester, and one stinkin' final exam stands between me and nearly 4 months of freedom. And I can't write. I haven't had writer's block this bad ever. 6 single spaced pages gets me to freedom, and I can't make myself write.

I am completely tapped out, mentally.

This has been a vicious semester for me, school work-wise. Everything else outside of school has been incredible- I've got an amazing woman who loves me, I've got a job working with an awesome group of kids, I have great friends who make me laugh, etc. But school just sucked this semester. Despite my typical complaints, I've always kind of enjoyed school. Not this semester.

And so instead of forcing myself to type, I am sitting here updating this blog. This paper is due Monday at 5pm. A little under 3 days from now. That's way too much time. I work so much better under pressure. Perhaps that is why I can't write. I actually feed off the pressure and it forces me to focus. I've always been that way. Some people hate it, and I seem to need it to write. But I want so badly to be done. And this is the quandary.

I think I understand now what Paul was saying in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do" Such is my life. I want so much to just be done, and yet I do not write. I suppose I should learn from this. At the very least, I'll have a personal story should I ever preach on Romans 7.

I need to write. Let's hope I can power my way through this writer's block and reach that blessed land of freedom.

Peace...

Okay, so it's been awhile... but let me explain

2007-02-09T13:39:00.000-05:00

Yes, I realize it's been almost 2 months since my last post. Yes, I know I said I'd start posting more often. Yes, I realize I am a liar. My apologies... but let me present my case.

It's been a really eventful and busy couple of months. First there were finals. Papers. Exams. Projects. School, school, school. Then, I went home for Christmas. Family time, presents, all that jazz. Came back to Atlanta. A few days of rest. Then, I had to meet with the pastor at Briarlake. I thought I had done something stupid (though I couldn't think of what it might have been). Turns out, I hadn't done anything stupid. Instead, they wanted to hire me as the interim youth minister. So, I got a job that I've felt called to do. It's an incredible feeling, being right where you feel you should be (more on that later...) Then school started. Now it's back to class, reading, writing, studying, busy-work, sleep, go to work, etc. It's a bit hectic.

Of course, I'm leaving something out. Something big. Something rather incredible. Before I get to that, allow me a brief (yet relevant) tangent.

A while back, I wrote here a little soul-baring reflection on dreams. I talked about how so many of my dreams (perhaps the term might be better read as "plans") had changed or not come true.

But on the other hand, sometimes dreams do in fact come true. It's strange how things work out.

Have you ever had someone enter your life and just completely floor you? Someone who you just couldn't get out of your mind? Well, I have.

I remember the first time we met. My entering class at Candler was doing the whole orientation thing, and we were at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for a field trip. I remember meeting her, and being pretty much enamored with her from the start.

She was brilliant. She was mysterious. She was beautiful. She was completely out of my league. I mean, just absolutely stunning. And she was talking to me, which is a shock in and of itself. I don't really remember what we said (I probably said something ridiculous; it's what I do), but I know that I couldn't get her out of my mind.

Not just for a day or a week. For a year and a half. We became close friends. She was actually my closest friend here. Yes, my best friend.

But now... well, now things are different.

Now, after nights of dreams and days of waiting, now I can say something I've wanted to say for a long, long time. Now, she's my girlfriend. By the way, all the attributes I listed, and probably a million more, still apply. Yeah, yeah. Cue the sappy, romantic stuff. Hey- it's my blog, I'll write what I want. Ha.

It's funny. All after all this time, we're now a couple. There was always some weird undercurrent, some weird tension between us. It made things kinda awkward sometimes, to be honest. But now, it feels normal. Right. It feels perfect to say, "Oh, this is Jill... my girlfriend." It feels like we're right where we should be. Together.

Life is absolutely incredible right now. I'm sure I've begun to annoy a few people with my ridiculous levels of happiness (sorry y'all). I've been giddy for nearly two months now. Absolutely crazy. I think it's funny how, sometimes, dreams really do come true. I spent a year and a half waiting for this to happen. And now it has. And I couldn't be more... well, I don't even have the words for it. I can't describe it. I've been trying to for weeks now, and I cannot sculpt any sort of expression that is adequate. It sounds all Hallmark-esque, but that doesn't change the fact that it's honest. My life is spectacular. And if you're reading... it's mostly because of you, Jill.

Peace...

I am alive...

2006-12-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

I am alive. And well. But busy. It is finals, and I am slowly being destroyed by stacks of books and papers to write. Fear not, I shall return, victorious.

Peace...

A Little Less Frustration, A Little More Action Please...

2006-11-07T21:41:00.000-05:00

Gar. Just... gar. I'm feeling kinda frustrated right now, for many reasons. Primarily because my truck isn't working. Yeah, the one I just bought in February. It is now just a useless pretty piece of metal sitting in front of my apartment. I'm ready to sell it, I'm tired of hassling with a vehicle that should work. I think it's a battery cable problem, but I have no real clue. All I know is it isn't working, and the guy I know and trust to work on it is 6 hours and 400 miles away.

I never realized how much of a hassle it is being without a vehicle. I was lucky enough (or rather I worked enough to save up enough money) to have bought my own vehicle by the time I was able to drive, and have had one ever since. Now, of course, I still have one. It just doesn't want to work.

Anyway, I really feel for anyone who doesn't have the resources to own their own vehicle. It's a total pain- I either have to rely on friends to get me to work, or I can hassle with MARTA. Either way, I've lost a lot of convenience and a lot of time.

Enough ranting. Think positive.

Had a New Testament test today, and I feel okay about it, especially considering the amount of studying I was able to squeeze in yesterday. Many of my friends were nervous and worried about it, but I was practically approaching a state of apathy about it. I guess I'm just calm and relaxed, I don't let minor things like a test bother me. I've never been one to get worked up over tests. I find myself often telling people "You know, in 5 years, you won't even remember this test." In the big scheme of things, a single test in a single class is incredibly small.

Let's see, what else is going on?

Oh! The youth group went to a corn maze and then played paintball on Saturday. The corn maze was okay, but the paintball was AMAZING! I had a great time. I'm now seriously thinking about getting a paintball gun. I can't wait to go back. It was my first time playing, and I have to say that I think I did okay for a rookie. I got shot a few times (and it hurt much less than I had heard it would), and I got a few kills. My best shot all day was in our next-to-last match. I was on one end of the field, and I popped up over a dirt bunker. I spotted an opponent clear across the field as he popped up from behind a bunker. I took one shot, and hit him right in the mouth. It was incredible. Good times, indeed.

Other than that, not much is going on. Just the daily grind of class, study, write, read, work, sleep repeat.

Alright, enough for now. I have to go watch a movie ("As Good As It Gets") for my Ecclesiastes class. I'll write more later this week.

Peace...

Birthdays and Dreams and Other Things...

2006-10-21T16:51:00.000-04:00

I know, I know. I said I'd update more often. And of course, I haven't. But I'm here now, and I have a little something to say.

A little something.

Haha... I'll be here all week. Tip your waitstaff. Try the veal, it's delicious.

But seriously-

Tuesday was my birthday. I'm 24 now. I'm old. I had a good birthday- skipped my first class, had dinner with several of my friends that evening. My family sent me a big ole box o' gifts. I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on my 24 years (I'll get into that later).

Catalyst Conference was pretty cool. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The speakers were for the most part good (and some were great), the music was good, and it was rather fun. Let's see, what all did we do? I was involved in the world's largest pillowfight (10,000 people), we assaulted the national dodgeball champions; a good time was had by all.

Speakerwise, my favorites were Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz), Marcus Buckingham (a British guy who worked for the Gallup organization), and Kevin Carroll (who worked for Nike as a creative genius, essentially).

Miller talked about how the church needs to not merely confront culture, but rather be on the leading edge of shaping and influencing culture, while at the same time getting past it's own issues and really being the church. Or at least that's what I got out of it.

Buckingham, coming from a business background, spoke about being a better leader, about how the most important task a leader faces is turning a person's talent into performance. To do that, he said leaders need to find what unique strengths a person has and figure out how to capitalize on that strength.

Of all the speakers, I think Kevin Carroll really struck me the most. He talked about the value of play, and how it leads to creativity. He talked about how, as children get older, society tends to squeeze out the creative mind and spirit every kids has, and in so doing, really hinders our ability to be creative later in life. He also talked about how important it was for us to dream. Not sleep-type dreams, but dreams we (should) have for our lives. Big, ridiculous, sky-high dreams that seem unreachable. He also talked about how kids view the world: they see everything as a first. They are fascinated with life, and that feeds creativity.

Essentially, he encouraged us to dream. To play. To look at the world as a child. To me, it was the most important thing anyone said at the conference. And it caused me to really think about my dreams, what I see in life.

So, my dreams in life have been on my mind a lot as of late. I've been known to dream big on occasion. Of course, too often I surrender those dreams to the circumstances around me- school, money, etc. It seems that when things heat up, the tangible stuff is easier to grasp, and the elusive quality of dreams causes them to slip right through my hands. It's frustrating, really.

I used to think that I had to develop this detailed plan for my life, that my future steps were being laid out before me through my current actions. I worked (somewhat) hard in high school to get into a good school on a full scholarship. I had a very serious relationship with a girl who I thought I was going to marry. I went to college. I worked (somewhat) hard once I decided I wanted to pursue further education. Now I'm in seminary/grad school in order to become a youth minister/possibly a professor.

But the more I think about it, the more I feel God doesn't want me (us) to focus so much on my (our) plans, my (our) details, my (our) small little world(s). It's funny- I didn't get that full scholarship for undergrad. I broke up with the girl I was engaged to. I slacked my first two years of undergrad, and only applied myself over my last two years (and even then, I know I could have worked harder). I'm in school still (and this time I am applying myself. Maybe not as much as I could, but more than I did in undergrad). I'm single. I'm 6 hours away from what I have called home for 23...no 24 years now. I moved here and I didn't know a single person. It's been a very interesting few years. Many of my short term dreams did not come true.

The plan I had all figured out came apart at the seams.

I think God wants us to enjoy life, to enjoy the world we have. I'm not saying we shouldn't plan, or that we should not work to make this world better- I think God calls us to do those things. I am not proposing rampant hedonism. But I think, I believe, that God wants us to both enjoy life and to work at making the world a better place.

I've been reading Ecclesiastes for a couple of months now (due to studying it for class). Repeated throughout the book is the idea to simply eat, drink, and find joy in your toil, because it is all going to end. The stones that we stack will fall, and the sand will cover them. The stuff we acquire we cannot keep. The fleeting joys we seek in this world are insufficient. The plans we make do not come to fruition. In the end, after all has fallen away, broken and tattered, all that remains is God.

A lot of people might find that disconcerting. But personally, it gives me great comfort. To quote Thrice (one of my favorite bands EVER)

"I know one day,
All our scars will disappear,
Like the stars at dawn
And all of our pain,
Will fade away when morning comes
And on that day
When we look backwards we will see,
That everything is changed
And all of our trials,
Will be as milestones on the way." -"For Miles"

(Thrice's album Vheissu, from which this song comes, is, I think, the soundtrack for my life so far. It's a great album and I recommend it to anyone.)

I know that all that is wrong in this world, all the pain, all the suffering, will one day be made right. I know that it is my responsibilty to work at this (though not to assume I can do it on my own). I know that, one day, our scars will fade. That helps.

Okay, I hate to make anyone depressed, and I'm drifting from my point. But I find it interestingly funny how some things that I find extremely comforting really bother some people and upset them.

Back to dreams...

Tuesday was my birthday, as I mentioned before. I always get reflective around my birthday. So that's why this entry has been both long and intense. But it's definitely something I needed to say. Besides, I promised you more than just updates of what my days are like. So, in the vein of dreaming and reflectiveness and so on, I have been dreaming.

I realize my two main focuses in this post seem contrary to each other. I say dreaming is important, and yet I rambled about how I think God doesn't want us to plan out our lives. But I feel the two are not opposites. I think God wants us to dream, to dream big even. I wonder- did God not dream big when creating this whole universe?

But dreaming is not a business plan. Dreaming is not detail oriented. Dreams are fuzzy. They are blurry and jumbled and confusing. In essence, dreams are us. And we are, in some sense, the summation of our dreams.

I hope you dream.

Peace...

Yeah, nothing.

2006-10-02T20:21:00.000-04:00

I tried to think of something worth writing here. I really did.

But the thoughts would not come. They are elsewhere, probably running freely, frolicking around like I imagine thoughts do when they're avoiding their job- which would be to manifest themselves in my mind so that I may transfer them from mind to paper (or bytes, as the case may be), and you may enjoy them.

Not happening. This whole "updating more often" thing is going to be difficult if I can't think of anything to write. Maybe I've got writer's block. Of course, one has to be some manner of a writer before that can happen, I believe.

So, on that note, I'll end this. Maybe tomorrow something will come to me while sitting bored in class.

Peace...

I gotta start updating more...

2006-09-30T17:08:00.000-04:00

Yeah, sorry about that. It's been a little while since the last update.

Short recap: School happens.

Back into the swing of things, I now realize how little time I have. If I'm not in class, I'm reading for class. If I'm not doing that, I'm working at church. If not at church, I'm probably asleep. Wedged in there are random segments usually occupied by friends. That seems to be my current day-to-day cycle. I usually forget all about this thing.

This week was, well, kinda crappy. On Tuesday I was walking to class, stepped off the edge of the sidewalk and fell flat on my face. Just...BAM! I landed awkwardly and nearly dislocated my shoulder. To top it off, I broke my phone. So that sucked.

Tuesday night I was actually going to go to IHOP with some friends. Got in my car, tried to turn the key... nothing. Stinkin' thing wouldn't start. This is the third time it has happened. It made me angry. So I messed with it for about 30 minutes. Getting nowhere, I decided to call it a night, so that I wouldn't get totally frustrated and push the thing off a cliff.

Woke up late Wednesday morning, and missed the shuttle to class. So, I was walking back to my apartment. Decided to try the truck, merely for curiosity's sake. It started right up. It's like the miraculous car-fixing fairy came by during the night. Anyway, I decided to drive to class, when on the way, the truck died. I was able to get it started, and I drove it back to my apartment (definitely missing class). So I spent the day reading for class and doing homework.

Wednesday night was good. Our SHIFT meeting went well, and it only took a couple hours. Now we have a good plan which should help shorten our Wednesday night meetings.

Spent the better part of this afternoon building a bookshelf and cleaning my room. It was a mess. I could barely walk through the place. My mom's obsessive cleanliness must have passed on to me- the mess was really starting to bother me. Now, the room is clean. And I have a bookshelf, which means no more random piles of books all over the floor.

Looking ahead- the Catalyst conference is this week- Wednesday through Friday. I'm really looking forward to that, for several reasons. Primarily, it will be an excellent opportunity to hear some great speakers and hopefully learn something. For those who don't know, Catalyst is for young church/religious leaders. They bring in relevant authors, teachers, church people, etc. to talk about all kinds of stuff. Secondly, it will get me out of school for a couple of days, and I'll get to hang out with some people from Briarlake, which is something I miss quite a bit. I'm definitely looking forward to the latter half of this week. Not so much the first half, since I have to do all my work for the week in advance, since I won't be in class on Thursday or Friday.

So that's what is going on, and what will be going on.

I'm really going to try to be more consistent in updating this, as a challenge to myself. And as a reward to all my loyal fans- all two of you...haha.

I think I'll try to update maybe late tomorrow (since I'll be at church all day and most of the night) or Monday. Maybe I'll have something to talk about instead of just telling you what I've been doing. I need a muse...

Peace...

My future homelessness and other assorted musings...

2006-09-08T21:08:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so I'm going to be homeless soon.

Emory has "other plans" for Turner Village starting July, 2007. Which means I've gotta find somewhere else to live for next school year (I'm cool this year). It would have been REALLY nice if they would have told me this before I signed a lease for this year. I would have went ahead and moved somewhere to get it over with. ARGH! I'm just frustrated right now, about this housing crap, and school stuff, and just other stuff.

School started on Tuesday. It's going to be an intense semester. Essentially, the only classes I am taking this semester are requirements- I've got Intro to New Testament, Systematic Theology, Ecclesiastes, Intro to Judaism and Con Ed. Notice the lack of youth ministry-related courses. That's kind of a bummer. Oh well. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

Anyway, I'm still getting back into the school flow, which is in no way related to the ill flow I have when I step to the mic... wait. What? Yeah... sorry. I'm trying to get used to reading, and writing papers, and going to class. All that stuff they expect you to do in grad school. Who's idea was that, by the way? I'm ready to be done with school. I'm ready to get into a full-time youth ministry position. But, I've got two more years here, and I plan on making the best of them. I'm at one of the top schools in the country, both Emory and Candler, so I just need to be thankful for the opportunity, even if it does seem ridiculous at times.

SHIFT is going well. We've had a great couple of events, and I have a feeling this Sunday is going to be great as well. We've got all kinds of good plans. Of course, it means nothing if God's not working there. But I feel God has been, and will continue to be, there. We've all been praying for SHIFT and Momentum, and so far it's been awesome. So for those of you who read this, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Let's see, what else is new? Got a new roommate. Todd. We have a lot in common, and we act quite a bit alike. We're going to get along pretty well. He's a cool cat.

Mentally, I've been lost in thought as of late, my mind working overtime trying to figure some things out. I don't even know. Thought I had it figured out, now I'm not so sure. So many things are beyond my control (Obscure and vague, I know. Just let me keep this one to myself).

As an aside, my Ecclesiastes class is going to be good for me I think. When I read the book, I feel like I could have written it. I can feel the author's frustration with the way things are, his angst when he says "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless," (or "Vanity" depending on the translation. Both are accurate). It just seems like no matter how much I try, no matter how hard I work, things don't ever seem to work out. I was looking at some lyrics from Thrice the other day, and the song "Stare at the Sun" stuck out. The chorus goes like so:

"'Cause I am due for a miracle
I'm waiting for a sign
I'll stare straight into the sun
And I won't close my eyes
Till I understand or go blind"

I feel like I need God to do something in my life (notice "I feel like I need," not "I know I need"), something miraculous. Things are going well. This summer was awesome, and I learned so much, and I was able to do so much with the youth. All that was excellent. It really was. I loved it, and it's the main reason I don't want to go back to school. But all that stuff was somewhat external. I don't know; my thoughts on this are running as I type. I just feel like I could use something in my life; I feel a void, an incompleteness, like a huge part of me is just missing. Hmm...

Back to Ecclesiastes... yeah, this class will be awesome. The professor is brilliant (most of them are at Candler. Brilliant, but strange.), and he's funny. And I love the subject. So, hopefully that all adds up to me reaching a deeper, tripartite understanding: more understanding of God, of the book, and of myself.

Alright. I've babbled long enough. No one is reading anymore...haha. I kid, I kid. To anyone who does read, I appreciate it. Feel free to leave me a note, to call me out on something, whatever. Let me know what you think.

Until next time.

Peace...

Everything...

2006-08-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

Man it's been a long time since I posted. Here's a short recap- after we got back from New Orleans, we had a week or two, then went to camp, which was pretty good. After camp, I've been mostly working on painting and renovating the youth building at church, which meant many 12+ hour days (like probably 15 in a 20 day span). Lots of hours...

That project is close to done, however, and I've spent the last couple of weeks working on our new stuff for the upcoming school year. We're doing two new worship services/experiences for our youth- SHIFT, for high school and college, and MOMENTUM, for middle school. So I've been working on that quite a bit (with a team of about 12 students and leaders). We had a big prayer meeting Saturday night to pray for SHIFT, MOMENTUM, the new school year, etc. We just spent like an hour praying that everyone who came would feel God's presence at SHIFT, etc. It was awesome. That brings us to last night...

Last night was the first SHIFT service. I was at church working with the team all day yesterday. We had a crew completely redesign the gym where we hold Sunday morning services. We had like 200 candles and rugs and stuff. We had an awesome band, and Alfred (my boss and the student minister), spoke. It seemed like the whole thing was just hanging by a thread all afternoon as we were working on stuff; things just weren't clicking for me (by the way, I'm serving as the quasi-director for this service, so I'm sort of responsible if it doesnt work).

But fortunately, it all came together, and I really think it went great. I felt God's presence there, and I think many of the students were shocked as well. It was something completely different for them, and from talking to them afterwards, I really think they liked it a lot.

I'm still kinda wired from the service. I was so excited about the way things turned out. I don't really know what to say about it, other than it was incredible. Now, we have to plan the next one...haha.

The band played the song "Everything" by Lifehouse last night, and it was amazing. I love this song. Here's some of the words:

"And how can I stand here with you
And not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be
Any better than this?

Cause you're all I want
You're all I need
You're everything... everything"

(You may have heard this song on Smallville, by the way)

That's kind of the way I feel right now. Just, how can I stand here amidst the wonderous creation God has made, and not be moved by it? How can I be at a worship service where 30-40 kids are praising God and not be moved by it? It's powerful, and anyone who thinks otherwise is missing out. It was awesome, as in awe-inspiring. Right now, I'm just realizing that God is incredible, and I just don't know what to say.

So, that's what's been going on with me as of late. Well, some of it anyway. There are other cool things going on. We'll just leave it at that for now...

Pics from New Orleans, as promised

2006-07-10T11:09:00.000-04:00

Here are the some pics from my recent mission trip to New Orleans, as promised. The construction ones are obviously from the worksite. The destruction ones are from the Lower 9th, and I'm posting them only because I want to keep it in people's minds how bad the devastation was, and still is. There is still a lot of work to be done. Then there are some other, random pics from the trip. Here you go...

There you go. Like I said before, it was an awesome trip, and now I get to look forward to camp. We leave this coming Sunday, and return that Thursday night. I'm definitely excited. This will actually be my first youth camp experience. I've been to other camps (4-H, stuff like that) but never a camp focused on one's spiritual life. So this Student Life camp should be an interesting experience.

Alright, it's lunch time. Peace...

I need words...

2006-07-01T21:43:00.000-04:00

Wow. Just wow.

For those of you who don't know, I just spent the last week in New Orleans on a mission trip with the youth at Briarlake, and we just got back tonight.

To be honest, I am almost speechless. I simply don't have many of the words right now to explain. About the devastation- I can talk about that. It's bad. I saw houses completely flipped upside down, cars destroyed, just destruction on more destruction. But here and there are signs of hope, the faintest breaths of a city coming back to life.

We worked with Habitat for Humanity and the Baptist Crossroads project. The Crossroads project was actually being planned before Katrina, and after the hurricanes and floods, it was expanded. The current plan is to build 79 houses in the 9th ward (where some of the the worst flooding was). Our group worked all week, doing everything from organizing materials, tools and supplies, to acutally framing up houses and so forth. It was hot. It was difficult. It was amazing. I'll talk about that later, and I'll post some pictures once I get my camera back.

But what most moved me was the transformation and growth that took place in our group. This was my first big event with this group, and I was very curious as to how it would work out. And this is where I am close to speechless. I could talk and try to say how amazing it was, but I wouldn't do it justice; I would really only insult what happened. I don't want to cheapen the work with too many uselss words. This explanation will fall short of what I want to say. Essentially, it was a very powerful experience for me, and for many of the group. It really reconnected me with something that I feel has been missing in my life for too long now, and that would be feeling God's presence. Last night we had a foot washing ceremony, and it was the first time I have felt God, I mean really felt like God was there, in a long, long time. I broke down. I bawled. It was just so powerful to see these youth and leaders bowing humbly before one another and washing each other's feet. It is such a connecting, sincere experience. The leaders started off by washing the feet of the youth, and then the youth were invited to wash the feet of people that had affected them throughout the week.

Let me tell you, it was one of the most...just... I guess humbling, touching, and heartening experiences of my entire life, to have some of these youth, my youth, come to me and wash my feet. It felt like God was reaching into my chest and wrenching my heart, pumping the blood and life through me. And it was equally powerful for me to wash the feet of these kids who I had seen work so hard, who I had seen give so much of themselves for something bigger than themselves. It was moving. So moving.

And now that I am back, I miss them. I am sitting here in my apartment, and I feel their absence, literally feel it around me. I wait to hear the sound of them running down the hall to go play four-square. I miss them sitting around talking. I miss sharing life with them. And it hurts. But it's a good hurt. Right now, I am just amazed at God's power and majesty. How God can take something so simply as driving a nail, or packing a board, or riding in a van together, or washing each other's feet, and turn it into something great, something awe-inspiring, something so sincere. I'm crying right now simply by remembering it. The youth were awesome. The trip was great. But God is so much better than any of that. And for me, that is powerful.

I suppose I could continue rambling on, but it isn't going to help. Maybe I will have words later. For now, I'll steal some from David Crowder...

"And He set me on fire,
And I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs
I am coming undone.
And I cannot hold it in
And remain composed.
Love's taken over me
And so I propose
Letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

I need to catch my breath,
I need to.
I need to catch my breath,
Give me a moment now.

I'm laughing so hard..."

Right now, I'm alive. I feel better than I have in a long, long time. And, like everything else, I owe it all to the awesomeness of God. I only wish I could explain...

I love this job...

2006-06-05T15:59:00.000-04:00

Just got back a little while ago from my first day on the job at Briarlake, which is going to be a lot of fun, almost too much- right, like that's even possible. Emily and I even get our own cubicle...haha. Basically, we just come in late, do whatever needs to be done, and then hang out with the kids.

We spent 2.5 hours today at a staff meeting, then touring the "campus" and goofing off. I played some drums, Emily rolled around on roller skates, Alfred harassed maintenance men (good natured-ly, of course). Good times all around. This is definitely going to be the most fun job I've ever had. And they might want to continue paying us throughout the next school year (maybe?) which would be sweet. I love my job.

I went home last week for graduations, Transy's and my sister's. It's hard to imagine that I graduated last year! It seems like yesterday. And it seems like yesterday I was just meeting the people in this graduating class. Crazy. Time does indeed fly. Anyway, home was good. Got to see the family (which I probably won't be able to do again until late August), and several Transy peoples. It still doesn't seem possible that people like the first FUPpers I "led" are graduated. As well as others. And my sister, that's crazy too! Now she's going on to college, which makes me rather proud of her. She hates school. But I think it will be very good for her.

Alright, I'm going to go play some video games or do something useless. It's what I do best.

Peace...

The zombie apocalypse and trying to be a good listener...

2006-05-24T11:20:00.000-04:00

So, I was goofing off this morning (imagine that), and stumbled across a wonderful time waster for anyone who likes zombies (and honestly, who wouldn't?)- http://www.urbandead.com is a turn based game wherein one creates a character and tries to survive a zombie apocalypse. So, being the fan of games, zombies, survivalism, and apocalypses that I am, I decided to play. You're very limited in what you can do, but it seemed like a good way to waste a few minutes each day. I probably will, anyway.

Going home Friday, for Transy's graduation, and then staying through 6/3 to see my sister graduate from high school. I'll be in Lexington this weekend, possibly getting a group together to go see X-Men 3 on Friday night, if anyone is interested. You know how to find me...

What have I been up to since the last update you (don't) ask? Well, absolutely nothing productive, that's for sure. I spend my days playing video games, reading, watching movies, and wasting time on the internet. I did talk to Alfred (at Briarlake), and I start that job on 6/4. Looking forward to doing something productive. Well, let me rephrase that- I look forward to being productive in that context, not so much being productive in general.

I've also spent a lot of time talking to people about relationships- break-ups, fights, etc. It seems like a great many of the people I know (from Transy, Emory, everywhere) are having some difficult times. So, I try to be a good friend and listen to them, and maybe even help them through it. But most of the time I feel useless, because there isn't anything I can do, other than listen. I don't really like feeling useless. In situations like this, however, listening and trying to be some source of comfort is pretty much all I can do. I wish I had the ability to make things right. I'd be rich (and of course, I would be helping people, which is honestly much more important). I hope my "help" has been just that- some help.

I find I am often someone that people turn to when they need to talk. I'm not really sure why that is- I'm no expert, I'm not much of a talker, and my advice is often just common sense. I suppose I make people feel comfortable, or so I am told. To be honest, when people come to me for advice, I'm usually just worried I'll say something stupid that causes more problems (which has happened on occasion). Of course, I do want to work with youth, and dealing with problems is a big part of that, so I suppose all the times people come to me for advice is good practice for that...haha. But, I care about the people who come to me, even if I feel unqualified. I try to help.

Ok, enough of that. I suppose I should get back to my busy schedule, so much to do, so little time. I love being at school with nothing to do. Those were always some of the best times at Transy, and I can see that trend continuing here...

Peace...

Yet another boring update...

2006-05-16T21:36:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since my last update- end of semester press and all. Lots of paper writing and reading. But on the bright side, I am done with forced academic work until September, leaving me free to engage in much more useful and beneficial stuff- that is, non-forced academic work. Translation- stuff in which I have an actual vested interest, namely working with the youth group at Briarlake, and "independent study."

I've already started reading some of the stuff I want to read this summer. Today I found a copy of "Fight Club" at a local used book store, so I'm about 3/4 the way done with that. I love that book, and the movie.

What else have I been up to? I spent a little over a week at home, visiting people at Transy and spending time with the fam. After finishing up my work for the semester (including a marathon session that resulted in 35 pages or writing in 2 days), Iturned the papers in and bolted for my old Kentucky home, God's country. I spent a few days at Transy, and was able to see just about everyone I intended to see, and even got some "bonus time" with people I didn't expect to see, including but not limited to Jon and Hutch (shout out). Good times. Then I went home, and did the family thing, also good times (for the most part).

Now I have two weeks here to do basically nothing, which I find to be glorious. The only thing I really need to do is get in touch with the people at Briarlake to set up when I will be starting, and to find out more about what exactly I will be doing. Other than that, nothing. It's going to be wonderful.

So, now that the boring recap of my actions is complete, I suppose I should talk about something of substance. Hmm... yeah, I got nothin'. I've never been accused of having substance anyway, other than the physical. I'll think about it and get back to you. Seeing as how my schedule has cleared up, I imagine I'll be updating this more often, so the two or three of you who actually read this can get pumped about that! I am Jack's wasted sarcasm and self-deprecating humor.

Peace...

On Battery, both academic and actual

2006-04-22T21:51:00.000-04:00

The end of the semester approaches, silent and stalking like a ninja, and at the same time loud and aggressive like some sort of rabid lion intent on devouring my flesh. It's quiet because it snuck up on me, and yet now it is yelling in my ear to do one of the many papers I have to do. Between now and 5/4, I have to write about 35 pages worth of stuff, and maybe take an Old Testament test. Academic battery. Candler should plead guilty and hope for a lesser sentence.

As far as "actually" actually goes, I was not assaulted. My battery on the new ride crapped out. I was heading out for Pigeon Forge this morning, going to visit the fam for a day as they were at Rod Runs (a huge classic car show/meeting/whatever). Went to turn the engine over, and got nothin'. Grrr... I am Jack's consistent frustration when things do not work. I really hate it when things do not work. I just got this car like two months ago. Given, the battery was old, but I was hoping it gained new life at the prospect of being owned by someone who would love it and take care of it.

My affections were spurned.

So, I spent about 5 hours total messing with it. I started by checking the connections. I unhooked all the stuff, allowed the computer to reset, etc. No luck. Tried to jump it, nothing. Finally, I conned a friend into taking me to get the battery charged. Props by the way to Derek "D-Rob" Robinette for helping a fellow Kentucky boy out. You are a gentleman and a scholar, even though you are deserting us for Asbury next year. It's okay though, you are getting married. I'll allow it. Sometimes, I too wish I was home in KY, for sure.

Eventually, I got the thing working (courtesy of a new deluxe-top-of-the-line-three-year-warrantee battery) though not in time to really have a chance to drive the 4 hours to the Forge and fight all the traffic there. So, no family visit for me. At least I'll be seeing them in two weeks, so it isn't an extraordinary loss, just a delay.

Other than that, things are going well. No luck on the zombie game. It's okay- people will come around. And if they don't, Michael, Tory and I (and probably others) at least will be prepared for the invasion. I will survive when the zombies rise!

Let's see, anything else of note? Oh, had a friend (Katie Bartlett) come visit Candler, I tried to convince her to come here next year (HINT HINT, if you're reading). That was fun. Good times. She got to meet some Candler people, and I'm not quite sure that was a good thing....haha. I kid, I kid. So we'll see how that pans out. It would be really nice to have someone here I know from back home. That would be cool. So, any of you out there interested in graduate education in Religion, Theology, Ministry, etc. let me know. I can put in some good words, and I'll give you a personal tour.

Alright, enough babbling. I think I'm going to go watch a movie....mmm....movies. I love movies.

Peace.

Zombies. Humans. Awesomeness.

2006-04-09T20:17:00.000-04:00

So I ran across this site from a link on Fark.com: http://phoenix.goucher.edu/~jsegedy/hvz/Options.php. It's a game similar to "Assassins" (popular on college campuses, involving "killing" target people) in execution (pun intended); that is it's a live-action simulation of sorts involving "zombies" and humans, along with nerf weapons [Disclaimer- this is not my original idea. Props and all that go to Brad Sappington, Chris Weed, and Jim Segedy for the game. I have no idea who they are, but they put it together] . Now I have another goal to add to my list of things to do before I die (maybe a topic for another post): I want to play this game.

It needs a few modifications I think, such as the inclusion of headshots as a manner of stopping the zombies to give the humans a chance of "winning" (instead of just surviving as long as they can), to be a true reflection of zombie-ness, but overall it looks like a lot of fun. I'm already working on rules to make it more interesting (at least in my mind). So, if you're reading this and you think it would be fun or you have ideas, let me know. I'm open to any insight.

Other than that excitement, not much is going on. I registered this week for classes for the fall. I'm taking New Testament with Luke Timothy Johnson (noted Biblical scholar), Systematic Theology with Don Saliers (noted professor as well), Con Ed II (at Briarlake Baptist, see previous posts), and right now I am enrolled in both Intro to Judaism and "A Skeptic in Scripture: Ecclesiastes," one of which I will be dropping and replacing with a course on Buddhism in the undergraduate religion department. I'm really looking forward to the undergrad course, because I enjoyed the Buddhism course I had at Transy (with the wonderful Dr. Trina Jones), and I am interested in seeing how it stacks up to my undergrad experience at Transy. But overall the schedule looks good. I may end up dropping both Judaism and Ecclesiastes, I'm not sure if I want to do the 5 course semester again. I feel like I'm always in class this semester, and while it isn't overly difficult, I'd just prefer less time in class (meaning fewer assignments). I'd be fine just going to classes. It's those silly papers and tests that bore me.

Non-school-wise, it's been a dull few weeks. Not much going on, no one seems to want to hang out, due to being busy, lazy, etc. I'll leave the reasons to choice, though I have my suspicions. I haven't really hung out with a big group of people in a while. I see people here and there, go out with a couple people now and then, but I'm one who enjoys a larger group at times too. And that's not happening, for various reasons. I guess I just got really spoiled at Transy, always having a million people coming by the room, going places, hanging out, etc. I lost count of how many people I found sleeping in "The Lounge" over the course of my time there. It was cool being so close to people. I miss living on the hall: no hall frisbee or Tag-bombing or Barbie ball here. I miss two out of three there....haha. And I don't get to set things on fire here, or throw microwaves and other junk out the windows (at most it's a two-story drop). Oh well...

Enough whining. Summer break is almost here, and I have big plans for that. I'm going to a lot of Braves games, I'm going to build a trebuchet (not full-scale sadly- I don't think I can legally build siege weaponry on campus, which in my opinion is a total drag), I'm going to read for fun, I'm going to play some video games, I'm going to work on my book. And most importantly, I'm hopefully going to be working with youth again. Still waiting to iron out all the details for the summer stuff at Briarlake. I'd like to get those ironed out ASAP so I can look for another part time job (since sadly the Briarlake position is only 15 hours/week). I'm thinking maybe a bookstore (thanks to Jon Clark for the idea). Who knows?

I think that should cover it for now. Oh, one more thing: my fraternity brothers won Campus Sing (also known as Greek Sing at a lot of places) again, which is like, I'm not sure, probably at least 3 years in a row, if not more. The theme was "One Hit Wonders," and you can see video of them rocking it out here: http://www.kylelibra.com/CampusSing. We're the ones in the lower left corner (Delta Sigma Phi). Congrats also to the lovely ladies of Phi Mu, who won the sorority competition, and to everyone involved. I'm sure together we all raised hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds of food. End shameless plug.

Until next time, remember: stay calm, carry lots of ammo, keep moving and aim for their heads...

I've decided to write a book...

2006-03-31T21:53:00.000-05:00

Yep. That's the plan. I'm going to write a book.

"And what is the topic of said book?" you might ask, and right you would be to ask. I haven't quite figured out all the specifics, but I think it's going to cover my college and grad school years, a sort of short-term autobiography consisting of whatever I can remember and coherently organize into something remotely resembling book form. I'm thinking it will center on my experiences in higher education (or more likely, the stuff I learned outside of class with the veneer of an actual educational process), how an ambitious, driven overachiever cast aside his dreams of world domination-through-entrepreneurship and opened his eyes to something remarkably different and beautiful.

This idea just sort of hit me tonight, although I think it's been brewing for a while. I've thought often about writing as a career (or at least a second job- I gotta eat, you know?). I actually tried to start writing a book the summer between my junior and senior years of undergrad. I didn't stick with it. At that point, I was completely unsure of what I wanted to do post-graduation, and I think the beginnings of that failed pursuit (the book, not graduating- I did that) were an attempt to figure some things out. I figured them out, so I do not consider the time spent a total loss. It served its purpose.

To that end, this book will serve as a way for me to reflect upon what will be 7 years of college education and experience by the time it is done, to make some sense out of things, to have a little fun, and to begin to formulate a coherent theology (in the future, I'm thinking of constructing a systematic theology- yet another book idea. First, I should probably take Systematics, and some other theology courses). I think I'll interweave stories from my college years with relevant links to my past and with theories and ideas. At least that's the general concept for now. I reserve the right to change this format without notice...haha.

So, that's what has been on my mind this evening. I may even use posts here as parts of the text. I haven't thought it all out yet. Primarily, I hope it will help me figure some things out. Hopefully it will be useful for others as well.

MuteMath in Concert, or How I learned to stop worrying and love the Keytar

2006-03-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

I went to see MuteMath in concert last night, with Greg and Patrick (one of Greg's friends and a pretty cool guy despite that fact...oh, burn). I think between the two of them, they knew half the crowd. It was crazy.

Anyway, I was excited to see the 'Math in concert. I've been following their career since the Earthsuit days (a couple of the band members were formerly in Earthuit before MuteMath), and I've always loved the sound. Earthsuit had almost a "reggae-rock with a fistful of rap" feel. MuteMath has a more "electro-synth rock meets U2" sorta thing going on. Both are incredible. Paul Meany, the lead singer for the two bands, is an extremely talented musician. Actually, all the guys in MuteMath were great.

The show was great. The opening bands, The Futurists and The Working Title, weren't bad. But MuteMath rocked it hard. It was crazy intense, with the band members operating in some sort of amorphous, pulsating awesomeness. The bassist was playing both his bass and a bass drum, Paul rocked a keytar and a piano, the drummer played everything from his drums to various parts of the set. It was awesome.

So, in response to the music of MuteMath, I've been inspired to buy a keytar and learn to play it. Eventually, I want to have enough instruments and equipment to record my own music: I've got the bass, need to get some drums, keytar, guitar, etc. A cowbell. Gotta have more cowbell! And of course stuff to record with. Whenever I settle down and get a real place, I plan on making a home studio and creating some of my own music. I've got a long way to go. I should probably learn to actually read music first. That's a good place to start. But, if you know of anyone with a keytar for sale, let me know. I've been watching on eBay, and tomorrow I plan on going to some music stores to see if I can find one.

I guess that's all for now. I think I'll go watch a movie and enjoy a nice, peaceful evening alone...ha.

I am Jack's one-man band...

Fantasy Fight Club...

2006-03-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

"How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?"
-Tyler Durden

I was watching Fight Club the other day, and it reminded me of the numerous conversations (mainly in Transy's cafeteria over long dinners) that all started with "So, who would win in a fight between..." Those were some great debates, though they often ended with no clear winner. Anyone who has ever pondered the merits of Batman versus Superman, or Lincoln's long arms versus the resourcefullness of MacGyver (or any other random pairing of combatants) knows about that which I am speaking. A fight is so simple, just two (or more) people (or whatever) going at it. It's intriguing to me anyway, who would win. How we fight (be it physical or whatever) tells a great deal about us. Plus I'd just love to know who would win in a battle between the Justice League and the X-men, because I am a superhero fan.

Wouldn't it be cool to have some sort of Fantasy Fight Club wherein we could pit two entities against each other to see who would win? There used to be a website that did something like this (http://www.grudge-match.com, as well as http://www.electricferret.com/battle). I think it would be interesting anyway. Maybe that's because I am a big dork. Anyway, my friends and I spent numerous hours debating the merits of various battles. It doesn't even have to be two people (see: rottweiler vs. rottweiler's weight in chihuahuas http://www.grudge-match.com/History/rott-chi.shtml ) So much fun. Hopefully I can entice some people here at Emory into these type of discussions...

I mean, who wouldn't want to see, say He-Man vs. Optimus Prime, or Einstein vs. Edison? Imagine the possibilities! It doesn't even have to make sense. If only there were some way to do this, some sort of online virtual reality fight generator, capable of quantifying and comparing opponents. We could even use it to stop wars: instead of people killing each other, just have the countries plug in some stats to the computer, and see where it goes! (This idea is related to my paintball war idea: instead of real guns, just use paintball guns. Last one standing wins. As an added bonus, paintball-related deaths have to be significantly less than war-related deaths!)

Yes, I realize this is completely flawed and ridiculous. Work with me here!

I think it would be amazing. If this were a reality, I'd probably never leave my apartment. The possibilities are endless...

Enough of that rambling. Although it would be really cool. Anyone reading this, feel free to leave your dream matches in the comments!

Spring Break was good. Went to the new Georgia Aquarium, the Zoo, the Coke Museum. Good times. Got quasi-lost just about everytime we went out, but never so lost as to not be able to get back on our own, so that's good. Josh and I went crazy at the Coke Museum (poor Colleen had to put up with us. Sorry 'bout that one), when our comedic minds combine...we are...probably loud and annoying. But funny.

Now it's back to the real world. Papers. Class. Reading. Studying. Working. I need to figure out what Scripture I am going to use for my Old Testament exegesis paper. That might be a good start.

The semester is about half way over, which is amazing. This school year has gone by so fast. I'm almost a third of the way done with the program here. Wow. Dang. I should really figure out what in the world I'm going to do after I graduate. Gah! I think I'll just retire. That sounds good.

That's enough rambling for now. Just wanted to let everyone know what has been on my mind as of late (and as you can see, it is nothing productive). Again, feel free to leave your dream matches in the comments! I'm off to figure out whether Zwingli could take Luther in a cage match...

WOO! Spring Break is here...

2006-03-11T19:38:00.000-05:00

Finally. After a long week, Spring Break is finally here.

So, to recap the week...

I was supposed to hear from the people at Briarlake on Monday. I didn't. Instead I spent the entire day doing homework for the week, so I could study for my Old Testament test on Thursday.

Went to class on Tuesday, nothing eventful. Spent Tuesday night and all Wednesday studying (except for a few hours for class Wed. night). Still no word from Briarlake. I am Jack's confusion.

Thursday morning. Cram session for Old Testament, a test over 15 different prophets. Gah. Too much information. Anyway, as I'm outlining an essay about the gendered metaphors in Hosea 1-2, Jeremiah 2-3, and Ezekiel 16, I get the call...

Good news! They want me for Con Ed. And they want me for the summer. And they want to pay me. I am Jack's rampant enthusiasm. I'm going to meet with them soon to iron out some details, so more on that as it develops.

1:00pm. Zero Hour. Prophecy in Israel, here I come. We begin, and I look over the test. Nothing too crazy. I rush through, barely finish the exam. Overall, I feel very good about it.

Thursday was great.

Spring Break began Friday afternoon, after working at my current Con Ed site. I've just been relaxing, hanging out with some people, etc. Spent the better part of today cleaning. I'm about to go to the airport and pick up Colleen, who is spending Spring Break here in A-Town. We're gonna go to the new Georgia Aquarium on Monday, and the Coke Museum some time next week. It should be a blast.

So, it's been a great, but busy week. I'm sure everyone is thrilled with the excitement that has been my last few entries. I'll try to come up with something a little more intruiging soon...

Off to the airport. Let's pray I don't get lost...

Rise Up...and more

2006-03-04T11:52:00.000-05:00

I went to my first NBA game last night, to see the Atlanta Hawks (Rise up!) play the Sacramento Kings. Greg (a Candler friend of mine, for you non-Emory people) scored some free tickets from a friend of his (thanks Matt), so we went to support A-town. Since I don't have an NBA team that I really care about, I think I'm going to adopt the Hawks. And the Braves, since I don't really have a MBL team either. I forgot my camera, so unfortunately I don't have any pictures...idiot.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, from haranguing Ron Artest ("Ron-Ron eats babies!") to watching a young Hawks team play together(seriously, they've only got a couple of players with more than 4 years experience in the NBA). And the Hawks have no viable big man, although crowd favorite (by crowd I mean Greg and I) Zaza Pachulia was trying. I was hoping to see Artest flip out again and then we would have a riot, which would have been my first riot too. Sadly, I did not succeed in my endeavours to incite a riot. Maybe next time. I want to get tear gassed. Wait. No.

Let's see, what else interesting happened this week. Oh, Tuesday was a great day. I started it off well by actually getting up relatively early. I went to meet with the student minister, Alfred (he's not a "student," he is in charge of ministering to students) at Briarlake, the church I have been attending and hope to work with this summer and next year. The meeting went well, I think. I hope I made an accurate presentation of how much I want to work there. I really liked Alfred, he seemed very laid-back and friendly, but I could see a fire in his eyes about working with youth, which was one of the things I always look for in youth ministers. I REALLY want to work there this summer. And wouldn't you know it, they REALLY need people for this summer. Someone to help do some planning stuff, go on the many trips, help with the administrative side of things, etc. I can do all of those things. I was a business major and I've worked for 5 or 6 years in clerical-type positions: I can definitely "push paper" with the best of them.

I really and sincerely hope this works out. I'm tired of jobs in which I have no real interest. I want to have a job where I feel like I am actually doing something. Actually helping. Actually ministering. I wonder if the position at Briarlake this summer will be a paid position. Let me clarify- this is not a "I want to make a ton of money to do nothing" sort of thing- I work hard, and will work hard. I only wonder if it will be paid because I HAVE to have a paying job this summer. I haven't had a real paying job since I graduated from Transy. If I don't make some money this summer, I won't be able to stay in school. That is a sad but true fact. If this job is not paying, I'll have to get another one, 40 hours a week, which will severely limit the amount of stuff I'll be able to do at Briarlake, i.e. I won't be able to go on any of the mission trips or fun trips or anything that would require me to miss work. I simply won't be able to devote the time I want and can give to them. And that will suck. So, I hope that this could be a paid position (it doesn't even have to be much. It could even be a salary or stipend, and then they could have all the time I have to give. They could monopolize me for a summer and I would love it. I'd just need a few days over the summer to see the fam at some point). Honestly, I would/could do it for say, around $3,500, give or take. While that seems like a lot, I would be willing to help full-time for about 3.5 months. So, 40 hours a week for 14 weeks is 560 hours. $3,500 over 560 hours is $6.25 an hour. It's cheap! I'm cheap...? And that's just 40 hours a week. I would be giving more- especially on the mission trip (24/7), etc. To be honest, it's pretty close to a bargain. Plus, I'll (hopefully) be giving them at least 5 hours a week for an entire school year following this summer for Con Ed.

Man, I really hope this works out. My motivation is to work with the youth group. I want to get involved, I want to help. I want to get into some ministry. But despite my motivations, the bills must be paid. And if I cannot pay them, I cannot stay in school. Which will prevent me from getting an education and being an actual educated youth minister (sorry, personal bias coming through- I STRONGLY believe youth ministers need at least an equal education to full pastors. I'll rant about that some other time). So, to summarize, I want to work full time at Briarlake. But I simply cannot do it for free, which I hate. I can volunteer a few hours a week for free. But if I want to really be involved on a substantive basis, unfortunately I'll have to make some money. I don't like money. I really don't, which is extremely weird for a former business major to say. But it's true. I do not like money.

The people at Briarlake are supposed to get back to me on Monday about Con Ed. I can do that for free, no problem. In fact, I'd rather do that for free. I'll have to talk to them about this summer at some point soon, so if they cannot do it (which I would understand- it's hard to find money like that), I'll have time to find another job. And if I have to find another job, I guess I'lll just suck it up and do it. And I'll just volunteer as much time as I can at Briarlake. But I would love, absolutely love, to not have to do that. I've been praying it all works out so I can give the church my time, not some job I won't really care for. I'd appreciate your prayers too, if anyone happens to actually read this.

I have a passion to work at Briarlake, a passion to get involved in their youth ministry. It's been a while since I've had a real passion for anything. There have been things that I've really enjoyed, things I like. I'm not ridiculing or discounting anything I've done lately, but it's been some time since something has hit me like this. Actually, I guess it has been since I last did FUP (the First-Year Urban Program, for you non-Transy people. It's a weeklong service project that I was involved with at Transy, until they decided they did not want me. That's also another story...haha), or even the summer I volunteered to be the quasi-interim youth minister at Forks of Elkhorn (my home church). The people here at Candler have yet to see me doing anyhing about which I am passionate. All my Transy people out there know how I can get some times. I love doing something about which I am passionate. That last sentence seems rather obvious. Maybe I should say I feel the most alive, the most useful, the most real, when I'm doing something I feel actually matters. That's it.

Now, I just hope I can express this to Tommy and Alfred, and whoever is involved in the personnel stuff at Briarlake. I want to be able to give them all I can. I need to be able to give them all I can. I need to feel alive.

I feel these waters stirring within me...

I got nothin'...

2006-02-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Yep. Nothing. I should be reading for class, but I cannot seem to focus on it. I am Jack's lack of motivation. It's stuff I've read before, so should I fail to read it again by 6:30pm tomorrow, I'll probably be okay. Speaking of class, I spent a while today writing a paper about my vision of youth ministry as interpreted through a metaphor. It was an interesting process. I eventually settled on youth ministry as an orchestra, which was an okay idea, I suppose. But writing the paper was a great experience (and how often can I say that about writing a paper?) and allowed me to really think about what I envision for my youth ministry. I did a similar project last semester, but I had to tweak the vision a bit to make it fit in with the rest of the paper.

Anyway, it got me thinking about what I want to do with my life. I've got all kinds of ideas, ranging from teaching to going into the music biz. I want to do so many things. I want to be a rock star. I want to teach. I want to start my own record label. I want to start a youth-oriented club. I want to do this and that, yadda yadda. Ideas that may be ridiculous, ideas that may be brilliant. But none of that is really important. I need to figure out not what I want to do, but rather what I should do. Someone very wise once told me, "It's not a matter of finding what you want to do with your life, what job you're supposed to have. It's about your relationship with God." That makes some sense to me. But I want a convergence of the two. I want to find a vocation that enhances my relationship with God while allowing me to help youth do the same. I think that's a noble desire- to have what I want to do be in line with what I should do. Now it's about figuring that out.

Enough metaphysical rambling.

On a practical level, I need to find a job for the summer, so I can start paying off the 'Blazer. I'd really love to work at Briarlake over the summer, maybe working with the youth group. But I'd even work in the office or whatever they needed, just so I can get really acquainted with the church as a whole. Whatever it is, I gotta make some money, that's for sure. I really enjoy Briarlake- I really like the services there, especially the music. I'm actually meeting with Alfred Burgess, the student minister, tomorrow to talk about doing my Con Ed (for you non-Candler people, that's like my fieldwork/on the job training) there next year. I talked to Tommy, the lead pastor, and he seemed really enthused about it. So, I think that'll be an awesome experience, assuming we can work it all out. I've been praying about it for a while now.

Yeah.

The music blog is now up and running, complete with the initial entry. I chose Project 86's "Wordsmith Legacy" since it is the namesake of the new blog. I think it's appropriate. I'm already mentally compiling a list of songs at which to look. Ideally I'll bring in a wide variety of music to analyze. I think the first one went well. Hopefully people will take a look at it (not-so-subtle proverbial "hint-hint, wink-wink, nudge-nudge" if you know what I'm saying). Comment, disagree, complain, provide alternate views, agree, whatever. I'm looking for it all. You don't even have to like the type of music. It's more a lyrical look than anything.

Enough shameless self-promotion.

I think that's about all I have to say for now. Oh, I discovered a new website recently. If you like video games, or web comics, or web comics about video games, check out: http://www.vgcats.com. It's pretty funny. Occasionally a bit foul-mouthed, but hey, aren't we all at times? Thanks to Amy for enlightening me as to this comedic delicacy.

That is all.

Je suis le roi de fromage.

Peace...

On Music, Lyrics, and Meaning

2006-02-25T21:16:00.000-05:00

It's been a few days since the last update. Translation: nothing very interesting has transpired. Class. Read. Write. Sleep. Eat. Work. So, rather uneventful.

Went to dinner with a couple of friends last night. Watched "The Village" and "Mighty Ducks 3" which is an interesting dichotomy. Watched the UK game this afternoon with the only other Kentuckian I know here. That was I guess as good a loss as I could reasonably imagine. They played well and had a shot to win it. But they didn't. C'est la vie, n'est-ce pas? Just got back from dinner with a couple friends, and now I'm updating. Translation: my life is not very interesting. I'm surprisingly okay with that.

But, I've been looking for a productive outlet for my boredom as of late. I've seen all my movies, and I can't really buy more right now- the fundage is going toward the new ride. I'm too tired of reading for class to read much for fun. So I've been spending a lot of time here, emptying my mind into the ether.

In that vein, I've decided to start a separate blog to cover one of my other significant interests: music. Namely, lyrics and meaning, or at least what they mean to me. You can find it at:

http://thewordsmithlegacy.blogspot.com

The title is taken, appropriately, from a song title from one of my favorite bands: Project 86. The song "Wordsmith Legacy" is on their newest album "...And The Rest Will Follow." If you like exquisitely sculpted music and lyrics in the hardcore manner, this is a band you need to check out. They rock. Hard.

Anyway, this new blog will be where one may find my take on artists, albums and songs, as well as anything else related to the music industry that peaks my interest. I've been writing songs for the past few years, keeping them pretty much to myself. Maybe I'll get really brave and post and discuss them on this new blog. Most of them are rather personal, and would probably need some explanation for them to make the most sense. We'll see about that. I've been interested in the music business for many years now, and one of my career goals is to work in the biz, at least for a while. I'd eventually like to open my own record label. That's another story. Back to the new blog...the plan is to post some lyrics and follow them with my viewpoint. Please feel free to comment with your own insights. That's a big part of why I'm doing this. And continue to comment here on the rest of my mundane but wonderful existence.

I suppose I should get started. But what song should be the first to go up? That merits some thought...

My new toy...cue schoolgirl-esque giggle

2006-02-21T16:32:00.000-05:00

This is my new baby...

It's a 2001 Chevy Blazer, dark blue in color, custom leather interior, power everything, sunroof, 4x4, cd player, power and heated seats, Onstar*, more buttons than I know what to do with. It has the Trailblazer package, which is why it has all the gadgets. They only made this package (which was a forerunner to the 2002 Trailblazer) for a short while. So, it's somewhat rare. It is essentially a top of the line Blazer with features that were transfered into the Trailblazer namesake. Here's another view:

I'm planning on doing some slight modifications. It needs some things to really make it stand out and draw attention to it's awesomness. I'm thinking either tube running boards or rocker bars, grille guard, chrome fender trim, chrome door handles all around, billet grille, fog lights, some serious window tinting, rear spoiler, new front air dam. Some custom wheels eventually. I'm sort of considering installing a DVD player. And that's just the "looks."I haven't even considered what I'm going to do to the perfomance part. I'm thinking I need some more horses...

Here's part of the leather. This insignia is on each of the headrests:

If it did not look so good, I'd definitely replace the headrests with ones that have a DVD player installed. But I really like the leather and its highlights. So, maybe the DVD player can mount to the roof and flip down.

So, this is what will probably be occupying a great deal of my free time in the upcoming months, as I first figure out what all I want to do to it, and also how I'm going to pay for it all. I need to get a job now something serious...

Weekend Update...complete with report card and kung-fu grip

2006-02-21T15:21:00.000-05:00

So, I'm rather excited at the moment. Before I get to why, here's what happened this weekend.

My trip started off somewhat crappily, as I left Thursday evening after 4.5 hours of class. I was tired. Loaded up the Corolla and sent its four cylinders of fury northward. Playlist for the trip home, in case anyone wants to know what music I listened to on this road trip:

Thrice- Vhiessu
Mixtape of assorted raptastic goodness
Relient K- Mmhmm
Mixtape of quasi-angry rock
Kids in the Way- Apparitions of Melody
Gorillaz- Demon Days
DMB- Everyday

Got home at about 1 am. Went to bed. Friday was uneventful, just hanging out with the family. Friday night we went bowling with our church league. I ended up substituting for someone who was absent. I bowled the worst 3-game series I can remember. Never broke 100. It was bad. Weekend rating about a C at this point.

Got up Saturday morning, feeling rather good. I had planned on spending my entire Saturday at Transylvania University, visiting all my Transy people. About a mile from my house, I hit a patch of snowy-icy destruction and hit a guardrail. No amount of damage to me. Unknown amount of damage to my car. Turned around and went back home to examine the damage. Busted bumper, partially shattered headlight, dented front and rear quarter panels. Essentially, a couple thousand dollars of damage. Those of you who know me, know my car has...how should I say this...hmmm "seen better days." Called the parents and told them. They took a look at it. Decision: possibly unsafe to drive. Plans to visit Transy: shattered like the dreams of small children. Spent the rest of the day discussing options with parents and looking around for a new ride. Test drove some things, but nothing fantastic. Weekend grade: F.

Sunday, went to church. Had dinner with the family. Sat around. Then got inspired and went to Transy on a whim. Visited my "wife" (fulfilling my marital duties so to speak...giggity, giggity, giggity. Alright.), her roomie (and my long-time friend), some of my fraternity brothers, friends, etc. (in no particular order- please, no one be offended...haha.) Finally able to eat some quality pizza, finally able to see my Transy people (just not for long enough). Weekend steadily improving. Still no decision about how I'm getting back to Atlanta. Or my status as the owner of a functional vehicle. Weekend grade: B-.

Monday, got up and had a strategy session with the 'rents. Mom would man the phones and find out about insurance stuff, rental cars, etc. Dad and I would go looking for potential suitors (cars, not people, silly.). We decided to try Lawrenceburg, KY, first, and then head to Lex Vegas. On the outskirts of Lawrenceburg was a small dealership. We pulled in and I saw several interesting vehicles, including a 2002 Lexus RX330. Cried because I'm quasi-broke. Not really.

Then, I spotted her. She was beautiful. The heavens rang out in an immaculate chorus. A 2001 Chevy Blazer with the Trailblazer package. I examined her, looking for flaws I knew would ruin my ability to purchase said beauty. Condition of vehicle: excellent. Price: manageable. Hmm....could it be? Oh yeah. I bought it. I am now the proud owner of a 2001 Chevy Blazer/Trailblazer/big old pile of awesome. For more info, see the next post. Weekend final grade: A+.

Got up this morning and drove my new toy back to Atlanta. I am pleased. My weekend went from bad to worse to incredible. I was able to accomplish everything I intended: see the fam, celebrate Dad's birthday, visit some friends, eat some Slice of Chicago pizza, and some I never imagined: having a wreck, buying a car. Overall, an awesome weekend.

Now, I'm back in the ATL with a new ride just waiting to be "pimped" as the current parlance goes. I'm already making plans...

You Can't Go Home Again...

2006-02-16T00:41:00.000-05:00

You know, I'm not sure what I think of that statement. You can go home again. It's just that home is not the same.

For example, I am leaving Thursday evening after class to drive home. Dad's 49th birthday is on Tuesday. I have class so I can't be there on the actual day, hence the weekend sojourn back to My Old Kentucky Home. Gonna go see the family, go to church, etc. But I'm rather excited about visiting my people in Lex Vegas on Saturday. So y'all best be ready. Of course, none of you read this. I just started it today (well technically yesterday, it is about 1:00am).

Going home now isn't really going home anymore. I have an apartment here. I pay rent here. This is where I live- peace up, A-Town down. Now, going "home" is really going to the location formerly known as home. Cue Prince-esque symbol. Anyway, I'm not sure what I'm getting at here. I just spent the past hour and a half or so talking to some friends about Transy. Really, I was just bragging. Good natured bragging of course. For all it's flaws, Transy is an awesome place. I got to enlighten these friends on topics ranging from the time I knocked myself out in the midst of the warzone that was 1st Clay, to sincerely missing my fraternity brothers, and many things in between. I'm usually not one to just open up and yak about my past, but tonight it just felt right to do so. So I did. We sat around reminiscing about our respective colleges, which brought back a lot of good memories.

All of this got me thinking: I miss Transy more than I thought I would. This place is good, don't get me wrong. I like it here, I have friends here, and this is definitely where I am supposed to be, but Transy was the place where I always felt the most comfortable. There's no place like Transy, and there are no people like Transy people. Transy is home.

And now, I get to go back and visit. For that, I am grateful. I'm looking forward to hiking up to 4th Davis and feeling "this is where I belong." I don't feel that anywhere else (of course, excluding my actual home with my family- that's an entirely different, but good, feeling).

Tomorrow, I am heading for home. Saturday, I'll be there.

Okay, kids, let's talk about Valentine's Day...

2006-02-15T16:33:00.000-05:00

Ahh Valentine's Day...that most lovely of holidays where we all express our love and affection for our significant others.

You know what? Why do we need a day to do this? Honestly? I blame Hallmark, who is definitely operating in conjunction with the chocolate and flower industries.

You know who else I blame? Men. Yes. That's right. I blame my gender. If we weren't (typically) so oblivious to what's going on around us, we wouldn't have to be subject to the pressure of V-Day. And trust me ladies, for guys V-Day is like preparing for war. You have to arm yourself (see: candy/flowers/etc.), develop a strategy (dinner plans, whatever), and then fight hard to simply survive (not tick off your mate). If you don't, well, let's just say it's not fun times.

So, now that I know you are all begging for more of my opinions...here's what I think we, as men, should do.

If we hate the pressure and build up of V-day so much, why not do smaller things throughout the year? Honestly, take out the trash a few times, call her randomly and tell her how you feel, send her a letter (yeah, those things you actually write out and put in the mail. You know they still send those things, right?), etc. and you'll be pure money, man. I think if we were all just a little more attentive, then if we were to maybe fail a little bit on Valentine's Day, we would not be casualties of this tragic war. Instead, we would have built up some credit or leverage or however you want to see it. You mess up on Valentine's Day? Just remind her of the time you sent her that (crappy) poem you wrote just for her. Or the times you called her for no reason. There, now instead of being executed by the firing squad (read: her when she tells her friends how you botched Valentine's day), you'll have done some damage control. Maybe you'll just lose a finger or something.

That is all.

For now...

And so it begins...

2006-02-15T15:54:00.000-05:00

I think it may be time. Time to simply say whatever is on my mind. So that's what I plan on doing here. It may be utterly ridiculous, or entirely serious. Who knows? I don't. I'm going to try to just let all this come out, just let it flow from mind to fingers to the realm of "the 'Net." We'll see how that works out.

Worse case scenario, I'll type this stuff and no one will read it. Maybe that's not all that bad. Yeah, probably not. So, real worst case scenario, I'll post something that stirs up some mysterious and elusive character from my past who hunts me down and turns me into his or her own second skin, Buffalo-Bill style. IT PUTS THE LOTION ON THE SKIN! Yeah, that's probably the worst case.

Best case scenario, I change the world. For the better, obviously. Yeah, that's probably as good as it could get.

So...this is it. Time for it all to begin. I click "publish," and it's all out there. Awesome. I am Jack's wavering indecision.

Yes.

Wake, dead man, wake...

Wake, Dead Man, Wake

Cover Songs I Want To Hear

My wife is amazing.

The Barfalounger...

Salute Your Jorts - Final Thoughts on the UK Basketball Season

My Wife is Awesome.

Expanding the Big Tent (Further Thoughts)

Big Tent Christianity - Part of Transforming Theology Synchroblog

So... I'm contemplating (lightly, at the moment) UMC ordination

I love it when people from a church act like the Church

I had an idea for a blog post...

Merry Christmas!

On! On! U of K!

Behold... The Dominator

Small Town Cultural Review: Covered Bridge Festival

I'm not dead yet!

Blog Changes/Redesign

This is the best pizza ever

Disc golf is awesome.

In which some faith in humanity is restored...

Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?

Finding the Holy in Holy Week...

The (UK) world all atwitter...

I hate colds...

This made me laugh...

Our TV is dying...

Be it resolved...

Quick Update

Blogstravaganza limps to the finish line...

Crappy day...

(I forgot to title this one yesterday when I originally posted it)

Parting Ways and Part-time

And It's a Good Day...

Catnapping and Culinary Quests...

Blogstravaganza '08

Hire Me!

Fire In the Hole!

Frustration...

Married, Done with school, Unemployed...

On Injustice and Inequality...

So... I'm engaged!

Music to my ears...

Disconnectedness...

Still no Halo or XBox, but I've got something better...

Anyone want to seriously endear themselves to me?

It's that time again...

I hate moving...

Community?

My what? My grill!

I am a killing machine...

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone...

I am Jack's complete lack of brainpower

Okay, so it's been awhile... but let me explain

I am alive...

A Little Less Frustration, A Little More Action Please...

Birthdays and Dreams and Other Things...

Yeah, nothing.

I gotta start updating more...

My future homelessness and other assorted musings...

Everything...

Pics from New Orleans, as promised

I need words...

I love this job...

The zombie apocalypse and trying to be a good listener...

Yet another boring update...

On Battery, both academic and actual

Zombies. Humans. Awesomeness.

I've decided to write a book...

MuteMath in Concert, or How I learned to stop worrying and love the Keytar

Fantasy Fight Club...

WOO! Spring Break is here...

Rise Up...and more

I got nothin'...

On Music, Lyrics, and Meaning

My new toy...*cue schoolgirl-esque giggle*

Weekend Update...complete with report card and kung-fu grip

You Can't Go Home Again...

Okay, kids, let's talk about Valentine's Day...

And so it begins...

My new toy...cue schoolgirl-esque giggle