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Agenda

2010-07-13T13:22:00.001-07:00

So recently I have been thinking about how so many decisions in this life are based around people's agendas. Even when people have the best intentions in the world they always have some kind of agenda deep down whether they mean to or not. I noticed about a year ago how much of my agenda has ruled my life, and how much it still does. It is very difficult to make a decision completely void of one. So whenever I am faced with making a decision now I always think for a long time, "is my agenda getting in the way?" or "do I have an agenda behind this decision and not even know it?" and even "is this a worthy agenda if I am going to move forward with an agenda based decision?"

I think you can have a good agenda to help you make decisions but so often it seems that agendas are people's selfish reaction to decisions.

As a Christian I see this in the Christian community so much. One of the things that always makes me cringe is when I hear somebody say "I think God is telling me this or God wants me to do this". As a sceptic the first thing I want to say is "no thats what you want and you are putting God's name in the middle of your agenda". Perhaps this is to harsh but I honestly believe this gets abused all of the time. One of my favorite singer/songwriters David Bazan even sings about this and makes a point in the line that describes how people steer conversations for the Lord when the whole time the Holy Spirit is begging you to shut up. He actually uses slightly different words that may offend some but the meaning is the same and every time I hear that song I think "amen".

There are two times in my life when I said I think God wants this for me. And I have been very careful when I say that because I think that gets thrown around way too much. And how can you argue with someone once they say that. I just want to say "ok well if God says so" and move on in life.

We see this stuff in politics, in the church, in the media, and it is really time for us to be careful not to throw that kind of language around.

So here is my challenge to humanity. Before making any kind of decision in life think for a while and ask yourself, "is this my personal agenda?", and if your a Christian please use this caution tenfold before you start declaring what God has revealed to your master plan.

-cheers

Monday Update

2010-07-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday night was spent at the cabin once again. Nice weather has meant many nice days at the cabin. We had a "pirate party" to celebrate a friend of ours finishing her graduate degree. Saturday was spent doing some house cleaning and organizing. Sunday was church, and more cabin time. Plenty of time spent reading books, swimming, and chilling in the hot tub. Overall great weekend.

Todays Events: Today is the first day of my 12 day vacation. Today I spent the day helping my father-in-law and brother-in-law pull a pontoon boat out of the lake. My father-in-law has a boat house where people rent boats. Some drunk people decided it would be a good idea to crash and wreck/sink our boat then blame us. So that was most of my day.

To-Do-List this week: Blog every weekday and complete all of my goals.

Current Procrastination: Losing weight and writing songs.

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon. Bible.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Ryan Adams - 29

How do I feel about this week: it's about time I had vacation!

Holiday Weekend Update

2010-07-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: I spent all weekend on Silcox Island, which is just in the middle of the lake that I live on. My wife's parents own a cabin out there and we go there every 4th of July with friends and family. We had a blast. Lots of junk food though, I think I gained 5 pounds last weekend and now I need to lose it all again. Overall great weekend. I honestly can't remember everything we did. I swam in 60 degree weather and now it is 90 just 3 days later when I have to work.

Todays Events: Because I am writing on a Wednesday I will be getting ready for youth group. It is hot so I need to plan for some outdoor games so we don't have to be indoors much. I think I will go find something cold to drink, perhaps a milkshake or lemonade.

To-Do-List this week: Talk to God about where he wants me.

Current Procrastination: Losing weight and writing songs.

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon. Bible.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: John Mark McMillan <--- Seriously go buy his album.

How do I feel about this week: abandoned by people, embraced by God.

Monday Update

2010-06-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday was a normal night at home with my wife. Saturday I watched the US lose in the world cup. Then I strategized a 6 month plan with Robert Wade (a musical artist I backup). Afterwords I got some frozen yogurt and headed home where I relaxed and watched the movies, Amazing Grace, and Braveheart. Sunday was church followed by an annual meeting. We got to vote on a couple things and eat pizza. The rest of the day I spent strategizing my future. Starting to feel like I am at the end of the road here.

Todays Events: Today was my day off and I spent most of it in work meetings. I decided I will make up for it by working less when I should be working this week. I think people call that comp time.

To-Do-List this week: Pray for direction, relax.

Current Procrastination: Finishing Camp paper work....and sending in my Chacos to be re-strapped.

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon. Bible.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: John Mark McMillan

How do I feel about this week: abandoned.

Tradition

2010-06-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

It seems that tradition usually holds a significantly high place in many churches. Perhaps some more than others but no matter where you go there will be some kind of tradition in place. You can usually find your tradition very easily by trying to change something. Usually and elder member of your church will speak up and say something that starts with "but we have always done it this way". I used to be very insensitive to this kind of talk. As a younger person working in ministry I always wanted to change everything and I usually had big ideas, I am a visionary. But as I start to get older I am growing some more respect for tradition. Though I am only 27 I have crafted my own traditions in the church and I started seeing them all around me. For instance I know the day my church destroys its old Holt Chapel that will be a very hard day for me. I grew up as a young Christian in the building, its where we had youth group. It is where I gave my life to Jesus. But at the end of the day it is an old building that is falling apart.

So in some ways I am being more sensitive to people and their dealing with tradition, but with still remembering that sometimes you have to let go. Sometimes we have to release our traditions for the greater good of the gospel, to keep giving it life. And while it may come in more important items than chairs over pews, or building being torn down, new service times, or what kind of coffee we serve we must always put the gospel first. I think so many times in the church we have given way to tradition and man made laws. And I think the man made laws are what bug me more than tradition. While its still apart of tradition it seems man made laws that are not supported by scripture (or that claim to be poorly supported by scripture through poor interpretation) are what I always want to destroy. The church has been so destructive over its history based on man made laws. And we still do it today. So many churches are marked by tradition of man made laws that you cannot find in scripture.

I guess what I am getting at is that this is my caution, that people's law through tradition would never hold a place over scripture. When the church does this it opens a door for evil and becomes very destructive. And soon we start worshiping policy over gospel.

I hope I can let my tradition be to live out the gospel. That is a tradition worthy of fighting for.

-cheers

Monday Update

2010-06-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

this last weekend: I am actually going to start with Thursday night. Thursday night my wife and I went to the zoo for a members only night and it was a blast! Friday I worked and then that evening my wife and I got to go to a Mariners game where they actually won! Cliff Lee pitched a complete game only allowing four hits. Saturday I did the laziest thing I have done in years. I got together with friends and we had a Band of Brothers marathon. Thats right, 10 straight hours of watching TV. Sunday was Fathers day and also the celebration of my dads birthday which was Friday night. We had fun eating together and playing games.

Todays Events: day off - clean, read, play music

To-Do-List this week: Pray. Figure out my future in Youth Ministry.

Current Procrastination: Blogging, reading, writing.

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Pedro the Lion - Control
How do I feel about this week: wanting more answers

Monday Update

2010-06-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday night was another night spent at home watching tv shows with my wife. Two of my favorite shows on friday are of course, Friday Night Lights, and Whale Wars. Saturday we took our dog for a walk and to the local dog park. Then we walked her to a coffee shop and studied and read while our dog chewed on a stick. That evening we went over to a friends house for some delicious sweet potato pancakes! Christina went home after dinner and I joined a friend to go to the theatre to see Robin Hood. Pretty good movie but everyone can wait to rent it. Sunday was church followed by my last Ultimate Frisbee game of the season. Next week is the championship tournament and I really think my team is good enough to win it all this year if we play our best.

Todays Events: day off, bbq dinner with the folks.

To-Do-List this week: Pray. Finish some tasks that need to get done by July.

Current Procrastination: Taking inventory of youth room supplies, getting camp booked (although this depends on others first).

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Vampire Weekend

How do I feel about this week: pessimistic

Record Stores

2010-06-03T15:40:00.001-07:00

As time progresses in our digital age I am finding that more record stores are going out of business. Now I am not going to act as though I am surprised. I saw it coming a million miles ahead but just tried to ignore the inevitable. Why drive down to the local Borders Book Store to check out their CD collection when you can shop iTunes at home? Now I admit that I have helped aid this movement by purchasing digital music; however, I would much rather explore a real record store any day over sitting at home clicking away on iTunes.

There is just something magical about the record store. Especially real record stores, not Best Buy, or Target, but the local record store. Folks in the suburbs don't get real record stores but in the city occasionally you will see one. They still carry real records! Some new with limited edition color and not to mention hand numbered! And it has real art work, it is a physical object that you can carry and read and hold before you even get to listen to it. And sometimes these record stores even have the bands play shows inside of them and it is amazing!

I remember in high school every Tuesday we would drive to the Tacoma record store and see what was new and get insight from the employees as to what was the latest indie stuff that we had to listen to. We would hang out there for hours sometimes before we would decide and make our purchase. I would work every weekend to pay for 4 things: Gas, Food, Records, and Show Tickets....that is if I wasn't on the guest list or didn't find another creative way to get in without paying.

I know that recently there has been a creation of record store day. This is not enough, every day needs to be record store day. And I have found a solution for all to share as we decide how to retain our record stores while still having digital music. What has been the most and most sustaining form of music packaging that proclaims timeless art? The Record! Listen people, only release records from now on, they are collectables, and with every record insert a free download code. This is the solution. Spread the good news!

-Cheers!

Monday Update on Wednesday

2010-06-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday night was spent at home with my wife. We got to hang out and watch some of our favorite TV shows together. Saturday I drove up to Bellingham for a family funeral. Funerals are always hard but we knew this family member was in God's hands. Afterwords our families went out to a dinner for a late lunch/early dinner. Sunday was church as usual. Our Pastor preached on Ezekiel 38 and 39. He got into some prophesy stuff that made everyone think. After church I headed up to Seattle with my friend Charlie and we attended the Folklife festival. This event is free but parking is 15 dollars! We finished the night by eating at a small dinner that my friend saw on the food network called Beth's Cafe. They have some of the best omelets ever. You choose from 6 egg or 12 egg omelets and with an omelet you get toast and unlimited hash browns.

Todays Events: I will be getting ready for my small groups as well as a lunch meeting with a potential volunteer.

To-Do-List this week: Plan out my summer schedule for the youth group/Figure out my role in the student ministries department for next year.

Current Procrastination: Lots of things.

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Bob Dylan and The Eels

How do I feel about this week: frustrated/confused

Monday Update

2010-05-10T19:59:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday was a very long day. Had a 16 hour day and took my small group guys to a Rainiers game. It was nice to see that in the midst of the Mariners doing horrible in the majors our triple A team rocks. I spent all of Saturday helping my good friend Charlie move from one apartment to a much nicer apartment. He was very excited because he has 2 or 3 times space for the same rent price in a beautiful community. Sunday was church followed by spending time with family for mothers day. I finished Sunday off with a fun game of ultimate frisbee, my team lost this week and are now 1 - 1.

Todays Events: Research Family Based Youth Ministry. Prepare for an event this Friday night.

To-Do-List this week: Plan out my summer schedule for the youth group.

Current Procrastination: Blogging

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Whiskytown and Pete Yorn

How do I feel about this week: blah.

This video speaks so much truth!

2010-05-08T17:18:00.001-07:00

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

late monday update on a Wednesday

2010-05-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I stayed home while my wife was at school. Saturday I had band practice with one of the groups I play music in under the name of Robert Wade. Afterwords we went to lunch to a great local place called 'Cars' which was opened by some friends of mine that I went to high school with. Later that day my wife and I went to a BBQ at her sisters house where many of our friends joined us for a good evening. Sunday was church and I had to lead our worship band so it was a very long day but a good one. I finished the night by going to my Ultimate Frisbee League game. We won 15-13.

Todays Events: Research Family Based Youth Ministry. Prepare for an event this Friday night.

To-Do-List this week: Find a way to make more time for God, writing, music, and of course blogging.

Current Procrastination: Still Taxes/Blogging

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Whiskytown

How do I feel about this week: content

Monday Update

2010-04-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I was sick all day, however, I did get to finally watch Avatar aka FurnGully. I am still recovering from being sick. Saturday I went into town with my wife and we picked up my new glasses and then went to Borders so I could spend a gift card on some new albums. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and then getting caught up on Lost. Sunday was church followed by family time spent celebrating all of the April birthdays in our family and then on to a going away party for my good friends that just recently left their church to move on to a new ministry opportunity in Atlanta.

Todays Events: Trying to get better from my illness. I need to walk the dog, spend some time reading and then off to play cards with some friends.

To-Do-List this week: Write lyrics. Prep for Worship Band Practice since I am leading this Sunday.

Current Procrastination: Still Taxes/Blogging

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon and The Sacredness of Questioning Everything by David Dark.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Alexi Murdoch and Ryan Adams

How do I feel about this week: sick of being sick.

A Worthy Example

2010-04-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

There are many times when Christianity takes a big hit in the media after a well known Pastor steps down from His or Her church. It usually is a result of some kind of scandal or sin issue that this person is dealing with and was either caught or breaks it out to the open. It is so exciting to hear from a well known Pastor who is stepping down for the right reasons.

This link has a short clip of Francis Chan explaining why he is leaving Cornerstone.

Now I know he doesn't have a for sure spelled out reason for why he is leaving but he knows God is tugging at his heart and he is moving where God is calling him. He is stepping out of the boat, he is putting full faith in God and not letting the fears get in the way. I would like to say I wish I could do this, but lately I feel like my calling is going to be shot down. So is it really a calling? Am I hearing wrong, or might others hear wrong? This is the difficult thing with God. I just hope that when I have it all figured out I will follow God wherever he sends me just like this worthy example set by Francis.

-cheers

Very Late Monday Update

2010-04-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday night I took it easy at home. Saturday I woke up to go have a birthday breakfast with my wife and parents. My birthday was on Thursday but this was a good time to celebrate with family. To my surprise I was given a very special gift. My parents went way out of the way to get me a new iPad. Very Cool! That evening my wife and I went out with some friends to a murder mystery dinner. The first and only one prior to this that I went to was horrible so I was a little nervous. It turned out to be a lot of fun and I am glad I went. Sunday was church and then the first week of my Ultimate Frisbee league. Overall a pretty fantastic weekend!

Todays Events: Since Im posting on a Wednesday, I am going to take the dog for a walk then work at the church all day getting ready for my youth group night.

To-Do-List this week: Write Lyrics to some music I already have written. And actually start blogging more.

Current Procrastination: Taxes/Blogging

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Ryan Adams, Wilco, She & Him

How do I feel about this week: Calm

Monday Update

2010-04-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I went on a backpacking trip with a couple of friends to the Olympics to Lake Lena. We were supposed to get back Sunday afternoon but we had to cut the trip short and only stay one night. The weekend before we read that the conditions were great. However, we had tons of rain midweek and it had snowed over all the camp sites. So we slept on snow/ice in 15 degree weather. Coldest night of my life. Sunday I was able to go to church and heard a great sermon on marriage. Then I had a BBQ with my wife and some friends. Overall good weekend.

Todays Events: Mondays are my day off. Today i will read, study, walk the dog and watch the Seattle Mariners home opener.

To-Do-List this week: Lots to do, lots of praying, thinking, reading, and getting everything done at the same time, and enjoying Thursday which is Tax Day and my Birthday. Oh yeah and I need to do my taxes.

Current Procrastination: Taxes

Books that I am currently reading: Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Ryan Adams, Wilco, The New Amsterdams

How do I feel about this week: unsure of the future

I failed March

2010-03-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so two posts ago I said that I would post 5 times a week in March. We are going to start that over again now that I am finally getting back into the swing of things. New goal is to post 5 times a week in April and we will see how that goes. I mentioned in a previous post that the reason I have been so out of my normal schedule was because I have been training my new puppy and she is a lot of work. Well here she is, I thought I would share a picture of her!

Meet Beesly!

Frustration

2010-03-02T15:35:00.001-08:00

It is always frustrating when you find out the true heart of somebody and what they really care about in life, especially when you used to look up to that person. Sometimes in life you just have to realize that people are people and are never perfect. It's just too bad when they fail to live up to expectations.

More soon. I am out of words.

where have I been?

2010-02-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

I was doing okay with my goals this year. One of them was to blog on a different category every day except Sunday. This has not been going good lately since I made a life change. This life change has caused a few goals to fly out the window, I have been having trouble finding balance.

My life change is a new puppy beagle named Beesly. I will post pictures soon, but she is a lot of work. We knew getting her at 8 weeks that she would be a lot of work but I didn't realize how life altering it would be. Our free time is planned around her now until she learns the basics of listening to us and growing out of her puppy stage.

As far as posting goes I have curved my goals a little. Starting March 1st, I plan on posting 5 times a week. I will see if I can do this every week in March and then go from there. I will post about different categories but will not limit a day to a category. I found this to be to limiting.

until next time,

-cheers

Sports....teams I like

2010-01-21T13:56:00.001-08:00

I thought for my sports post this week I would not talk about the Green Bay playoff game because I am still recovering from watching that game, but instead would just share with the world which sports teams and people I admire along with those I cannot stand.

The teams I like:

NFL: Green Bay Packers (for an AFC team I like to root for the Bills).

NBA: My interest in this league is not very high these days. They took away the Sonics. So I guess the Blazers.

MLB: Mariners and Brewers

NHL: Vancouver Canucks

MLS: Seattle Sounders FC

Premier League: Chelsea

College Football: Washington Huskies; Wisconsin Badgers; Nebraska

College Basketball: Washington Huskies; Wisconsin Badgers

WRC: Peter Solberg

Nascar: Denny Hamlin, Joey Lagano, Mark Martin

F1: Schumacher (Team Mercedes) and (Team US F1)

Teams I can't stand:

NFL: Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks.

NBA: Lakers

MLB: NY Yankees, Angels, Rangers, A's, Braves

NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers

MLS: Houston Dynamo

Nascar: Tony Stewart

Thats all for now.

-cheers

(Response to Local Issues or Global) Catching up for Tuesday

2010-01-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

I just want to say that it is just horrible that one of the poorest countries in the world is having to deal with the horror and outcome of a terrible natural disaster. When I first heard what happened in Haiti the first thing I thought of was how our Compassion International child was doing. A youth group that I lead has sponsored a child from Haiti for a few years now. I received an email from the organization stating that they were currently trying to track down and take count of all of their people and that they would let us know how the child we sponsor was doing. This really is a sad tragedy and the pictures really paint a picture of how bad it really is. This event really makes me thankful for all I have but also makes me realize that this could happen to anybody at any time. The good that can come of this is event is that it will point the eyes to Haiti and educate the world not only about the needs they have now but the needs they have always had. I look forward to talking to the kids this Sunday a little bit about what is going on in Haiti and the importance giving to those in need all around the world. Social Justice should never be ignored.

-cheers

Late Monday Update on a Tuesday

2010-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I relaxed a bit. Then later in the afternoon I volunteered at the YFC drop in center like i try to do every Friday. That night I went out with some family and friends to Puget Sound Pizza for dinner and Karaoke. Saturday I watched some football and spent time with my wife. Sunday after church we went to Bellingham to visit my wife's brother and his wife. We had a great time, I really love the city of Bellingham. We did not get back until late last night, which is why I am posting this now.

Todays Events: I am working from home because the City of Lakewood has me semi-trapped at my house while they poor the new roads in Tillicum. Only people with big trucks can get through without damaging their vehicle today. The city blames this on the contractor and the contractor blames it on the city. Nobody takes responsibility in my city (city of Lakewood) for anything.

To-Do-List this week: Clean the house after being gone for the weekend. Get on the scale and figure out how much weight I have to lose by July. Finish a couple of work projects. Read some books. And actually post daily (I failed last week).

Current Procrastination: Doing the dishes.

Books that I am currently reading: The new Don Miller Book, Prayer by Yancy, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Cold War Kids, Wilco, The Beatles

How do I feel about this week: hopeful

Monday Update

2010-01-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I spent the day working from home for a few hours. Then I decided to clean the house since my wife was still in Africa, I didn't want the house to get messy and have her come home tired to a messy house. Friday night I went out to a pub with some friends and we had a good time with great conversations. Saturday I spent the day at a good friends house for some football, and Sunday was followed with Church and then more football. Unfortunately my Green Bay Packers lost in a 45-51 score. Sunday night some friends came over and we played a board game and shared fun stories.

Todays Events: Today I spent the day getting ready to pick up my wife and the rest of her team that went to Africa. I spent some more time cleaning, then I went to the store to get her flowers and to buy myself lunch. So today went by very quickly.

To-Do-List this week: Hang out with my wife for a couple of days since she has been gone. Work on finishing a Winter Camp Packet for the youth group. Plan for small groups. Start my Diet and work out schedule.

Current Procrastination: Working out and eating right.

Books that I am currently reading: The new Don Miller Book, Prayer by Yancy, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Matisyahu's new album, M. Ward, Band of Horses, and some old Son House records.

How do I feel about this week: content.

film & music as art

2010-01-10T00:38:00.000-08:00

So I just got done watching a movie about 10 minutes ago and I was thinking to myself, how much of an impact media and art have on our culture. Now this is nothing new under the sun, cultures have been captivated by art for centuries. But our 21st Century Western culture has really adopted film and music on a whole other level. Sometimes I find myself getting so excited for a new movie or a new album so much that it consumes my mind. For some movies I have counted down the days till the release and made sure I was at the very first showing of a film at midnight even though I was extremely tired (even after six shots of espresso).

It can get so out of hand that I started to wonder if we can separate some film and music from art. Now I know that it is all a matter of perspective that is dictated by ones taste in film and movie styles and genres, but at what point is it art and at what point is it based around advertising, mass consumption and money? Perhaps this is why over the years I have been drawn to films and music that are done on a more independent level. This is not to say that there isn't good art that is mass produced (I mean I love the Lord of the Rings movies) but sometimes I sense that there is more art in some of the more independently produced material.

I have had more time this week to watch films and listen to music because my wife is currently in Africa and has been for over a week now. And it just now hit me that I spent so much of my free time reading books, watching blu-rays, and listening to itunes that I never really spent much time making art myself. I think that is the danger of how much our culture produces and consumes music/film. Where I like to go to these areas for inspiration, there is so much available and so much advertising that the desire to keep watching and listening can sometimes drain us out from using any of our time to sit down and write words or music or stories...

Perhaps this week I should have turned everything off and wrote like 50 songs.

When is art just art and when is art a product?

-cheers

p.s. Don't watch District 9.....it is a big disappointment.

For Friday

2010-01-09T03:29:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to have something "fun" up for Friday but could not think of anything. Guess I am not as fun this Friday as I hope to be every Friday.

-cheers

Joshua and Jesus

2010-01-07T22:34:00.000-08:00

So recently I have been going through the Bible on my own study program. I read the Bible daily while reading at least one chapter from the old testament and new testament along with a chapter from the poetic genre. I am currently working through Joshua, Galatians, and Proverbs. One of the struggles that I have had with the scriptures over the years tends to start with books like Joshua when I compare them to the gospels or the epistles.

I often read about what seems to be two completely personalities of God when I begin in Joshua with the wars and the battle commands coming straight from God then going to the gospels and the epistles where God seems to be much more on the forgiving and peaceful side. Now I know there is a difference between the two and it has to do with the cross. But I still feel like there should be something else. I also know you can sometimes have similar themes that seem like they are from the OT when indeed they are in the NT. Such as people getting struck to death by lightning in the book of Acts for doing something wrong. It just seems that there is a huge shift from the God of the OT to the God of the NT. And while I have answers to that and reason to support my answers it still makes me very uncomfortable.

Today I was reading an article from the current edition (Jan_Feb 2010) of Relevant Magazine, and the article was called Fact or Fiction. This article asks the question: What do we do when Scripture contradicts itself? Now that is almost an entire new topic for another day but there was a brief mention of the book of Joshua that really stuck out to me. The article brings up third-century Christian by the name of Origen, who was a great biblical interpreter of the early Church. The magazine quotes him denying the book of Joshua by saying "Why would God command His people to commit genocide?" The magazine then says that he resolved his problem by concluding that the stories in Joshua are allegories for how we fight temptations that we face in our lives. For me that explanation is not good enough because I believe that these things really did happen.

And the thought of God commanding His people to commit genocide because he promised them land does not seem good enough either. So I am still searching for the right answer. I study the work of Jesus and see that he always chooses love, peace, anything but war and know that He is part of the trinity that He is God, that he was a part of the Old Testament. Yet somehow the wrathful God of the old does not always seem to mesh well with the loving, graceful, and peaceful God of the new testament.

Perhaps this is a burden that I will never fully understand but one great thing is that it does cause me to seek God for the answer. And I am comfortable not having an answer for everything. Perhaps someday I will research this more and write a good book about it, and at the end of the book I will still have to tell people that I have no answer and that they may have just wasted fifteen dollars on a book if they wanted an answer.

I hope at some point even if it is when I go to be with my maker that I will have a final answer.

-cheers

Sports

2010-01-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

So today I am supposed to write about sports. I woke up today and realized that this would be the most difficult thing to type on a weekly basis. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy sports, it just seems that whenever people write or talk about sports on TV they get really intense and talk about sports as if it is the most important thing in the world.

I don't think I can talk like that and convince anybody that I am being authentic. Sometimes I live my life like the Green Bay Packers are the most important thing in the world. But I shouldn't, even though they are the best team in the NFL.

I was also thinking about how weird it is that people get so worked up over sports. We have to root for someone or a group of people in our off time and then hope they don't fail us in trying to win a game. And then the best part is we fight with our friends about which group of people playing the game is better than the other group of people playing the game. Then we throw it in our friends face that "we won", when in fact all we did was destroy our bodies with hot wings and beer while staring at a bright TV for eight hours.

With all of this said I still enjoy participating in this event, its just weird to type about it. I guess it is something that people have done for years. It even goes back to the Roman empire. After all, we have to do something with our free time. And if your going to participate you might as well root for the best franchise in all of sports history........The Green Bay Packers.

-Cheers

Back on Track for 2010

2010-01-05T16:57:00.000-08:00

So a while back I posted that I wanted to "post more". I still don't know what that means but I know I have not been doing it. I want to post more for me though, not for the 5 people that read this (probably more like 2) :) .

Anyways, I needed a system and I think I am going to start that system today. I will post randomly about random topics whenever I wish throughout the week; however, I will also have a topic each day of the week (except Sunday).

So here is the list:

Monday ::: Week in Review

Tuesday ::: Response to issues local or global (some serious, some just me babbling).

Wednesday ::: Sports

Thursday ::: Theology/Faith/Spirituality/Biblical Questions

Friday ::: Something Fun or Random

Saturday ::: Media/Arts

Also...still to come:

Post on "Looking back at 2009" and "Random Goals for 2010".

Now lets see how long this lasts!

-Cheers

Winter

2009-12-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

It is winter time....

It is cold. But not cold enough. I would really like it to snow.

Now I know it is still officially FALL, but in Washington once you have hit December it is officially winter time.

Some of my favorite parts of winter time are:

- Christmas music

- Hot Chocolate

- Layers of warm clothing

- Lights everywhere

- Skiing

- Snow

- How quiet everything can get in the middle of the day (so long as your not shopping)

- The fireplace that i don't have

- And the best part is the scenery. In washington when everything is dead in the winter we still have our good ol pine trees!

I hope everyone has a fantastic winter.

-Cheers

Monday Update

2009-11-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I spent the day going hunting with my brother in law. I have never been hunting and maybe I still have never been hunting because I didn't have a riffle. I basically went with him with an extra set of binoculars so that I could help scout out the deer. We didn't see any deer all day but I got to go hiking and spend some time outdoors in the great northwest. There was one trail we blazed along side of a river. It was a beautiful layout of God's creation. Saturday was a difficult day. I had two funerals to go to. One was for a former student of mine and the other was for a friend and long time church member who had an impact on many over the years. I also had a work day with my volunteers to give our youth room a new look. Sunday was the normal church stuff, followed by lunch at my Pastors house. We watched the Broncos lose. The night ended with cleaning and the board games.

Todays Events: Another Monday off to read and clean. I really enjoy having Mondays off. I think I will spend some time today re-evaluating my goals and find ways to hold to them better.

To-Do-List this week: Put my old car up for sale. Fix my wife's old Saab. Wash my Subaru. Catching on to the car theme? And of course there is this holiday called Thanksgiving. I also need to clean and organize my office.

Current Procrastination: Posting almost daily on this blog as promised.

Books that I am currently reading: Finished Forgotten God (review to be posted soon), Reimagining Church by Viola, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: Sufjan Stevens - Songs for Christmas, Jars of Clay - Good Monsters (had to go back to this album for a while this week, great album).

How do I feel about this week: Selfish

Monday Update

2009-11-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

Over this last weekend: Friday I spent most of the day getting caught up on work tasks that had to be done from my computer at home. Some times I work from home instead of my office so those projects are all on my computer at home, plus they are usually projects that my lame work computer cannot do. Friday evening I went out with my wife and some friends and saw 'Where the Wild Things Are'. As mentioned in the previous post this was a great movie. Saturday I spent the morning sleeping in. Then that afternoon my wife and I decided to go to are favorite pumpkin patch even though we knew most of the pumpkins would be gone. We still got to walk around take pictures and buy some tasty good fresh cider along with other farm foods.

Saturday night was Halloween and I stayed home and watched some classic movies and ate candy. Sunday morning we lead the youth service and then went home to finish making lunch before our guest came over to watch the Packers vs Vikings game. Unfortunately the Vikings won. I am still not ready to talk about this. It is a very sensitive topic for me so I will move on. Sunday night was followed by relaxing and another movie. Over all it was a good weekend!

Todays Events: I always take Mondays off so that I don't get the case of the mondays. I spent the day cleaning and reading scripture and trying to memorize John 1: 1-14. I am not good at memorizing anything. Later I plan on going for a walk with my wife and then going to the bank and a couple of stores.

To-Do-List this week: Finish planning for Wednesday night. Work on getting organized more at work. Work on some mail outs. Start putting together materials for Winter Camp. Go to a coffee shop and get lots of reading done. Finish Advent Conspiracy tasks.

Current Procrastination: Memorizing John. Catching up on my John Piper book for my Thursday class. I love books but find this one boring.

Books that I am currently reading: The Forgotten God by Francis Chan, Reimagining Church by Viola, Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Chabon.

Music that I have enjoyed this week: The Swell Season-Strict Joy and Karen O-Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack.

How do I feel about this week: Energized!

Where the Wild Things Are.....

2009-10-31T20:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the privilege of finally seeing a movie that I have been waiting to see for quite some time. I grew up reading the book 'Where the Wild Things Are' time after time until I had to buy a new copy because I wore the old one out.

The movie was everything that the book was and more. Jim Henson Studios made magic with their creature creations once again. Looking over the illustrations in the book I was truly impressed. It felt as if MAX really wrote the extended movie script himself. The humor and random parts of the movie kept me on the edge of my seat smiling.

I cannot wait until this comes to DVD. It will be a must buy for sure.

As for tonight, I plan on watching a few episodes of the Munsters, and possibly watching movies like Beetlejuice and Young Frankenstein.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Halloween!

-cheers!

im back.....and well while I have been gone and why.

2009-10-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

It feels weird to be posting again. But I have decided to come back and post very regularly.

However, I should start off with a brief explanation. Last summer I had a minor or maybe major (its all a matter of perspective) anxiety attack. Since I went away for college for the first time I have often dealt with anxiety. I don't know what triggered it but something did a while back. Since then it has been off and on yet struck harder than ever last summer. Through the help of my beautiful wife Christina and many friends and God I was able to battle this and get through it. I also deal with a bit of OCD. So for a while I shut myself off from the world. No more internet, took some time off from work, gave up facebook and twitter. And then read books, listened to music, prayed, and slept.

I finally went and saw a Christian doctor and have been getting better since. while I have picked certain things back up like internet, I am choosing to still not participate in things like facebook or twitter. I found that I was spending to much valuable time online with things like this. Since then I have used more time writing, especially music. I have written more music in the period than any other period of my life. I also used playing music as therapy. I am now currently playing in three music groups. One actually (ironically) called autobahn thought, one where I am backing up a recording artist called Robert Wade, and another I am doing on my own (no name yet).

I still read blogs and find that to be a much more interesting and a time worthy adventure online than other social web pages like facebook and twitter. I am very excited to start my blog up again. I am currently figuring out a way to post on different categories depending on what day it is. For instance....maybe every thursday you can count on a small post about music where tuesday might have to do with Christianity.

With that to say this is my first post back, it is an unorganized post but one that speaks truth.

Thank you God for loving me no matter what, thank you Christina for being the love of my life, and for all my friends and especially Tung who is currently discipling me.

It is good to sort of be back to 'normal'

-cheers!

Monday Update

2009-06-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

Monday Update, June 1, 2009

Over this last weekend: Friday night my wife and I went to a BBQ to visit with some friends of ours at their house where an additional mutual friend from high school was visiting from Texas. It was good catching up and having a great time together. Saturday was a sleep in day. I had a little bit of a lesson in life that day as well and I hope that I will learn from it. Lets just say my afternoon did not go so well. That evening my wife had a middle school small group over night event at one of my volunteers house (Kaitlyn) and because of this Kaitlyn sent her husband to stay with me that night. Because of this we stayed up late playing games. Sunday we did the church thing and I got to see one of my students get baptized, very cool!

Later that afternoon we celebrated my father-in-laws birthday. We had lunch and shared fun stories. I ended the day going down to Olympia to play in my last regular season Ultimate Frisbee game. Next week we will have the tournament. Out of the 6 teams we have the #3 seed.

Today's Events: I did a little bit of work from home this morning and then spent the afternoon on the lake. A bunch of guys that I am friends with and I had the afternoon off so we went wake boarding. Then I had a 3 hour meeting at the church tonight. So today went by very quickly.

To-Do-List this week: Plan for the last middle school small groups of the year. I need to plan out a better writing schedule. I would like to figure out a way to make this blog better (not visual but content, more consistency with what I am writing), Work on summer camp, and catch up on some reading.

Current Procrastination: Silence, prayer, exercise.

Books that I am currently reading: 1776 by David McCullough, and Reimagining Church by Frank Viola.

Music that I have been into this week: Oasis and M. Ward

How do I feel about this week: Ready for change.

-Cheers

So you think you can dance.

2009-05-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

This show has got to be the most boring show ever! It is also so clear that they made of blueprint of American Idol and added dances and another British guy in the hopes that ratings will sky rocket without having to think and use an original format. Join me in saying no to watching this poor excuse for a television show!

-cheers

Monday Update

2009-05-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Monday Update, May 25, 2009

Over this last weekend: My wife and I decided to go see her brother and his wife up in the town of Blaine, Wa. We had a wonderful time with them up north. Blaine is a very quiet town and is VERY close to the Canadian border. We had a BBQ in their back yard, followed by a very competitive game of spades where the gals killed the dudes. The next day we went with them to an interesting lecture at WWU where a professor from Notre Dame was presenting the dual natures of Christ along with the Trinity though the methods of Physics and Philosophy. Afterwords we spent time hanging out in Bellingham and going out to lunch at Boston Pizza. By the way if you ever get a chance to go to Boston Pizza do it! One of my favorite places when I lived in Canada. We also hit up a very cool coffee shop in Bellingham, although unfortunately I have forgotten the name of it now. Yet all in all it was a great trip!

Sunday was church, and after church my wife and I went to my parents house to visit with my Grandma and Aunt from Wisconsin. When that was over I had to head over to the next town over and prepare for a community service we do once a moth called Vespers. We usually have around 50 - 60 people show up but this time it was closer to 20 most likely due to the holiday weekend and the great weather. But it was a great time of fellowship with people from all over the community.

And today was a day of relaxing. My wife and I took a boat from our house to the island and spent the day in the water and at the cabin with family and friends. I was able to catch up on a lot of reading, and I even tried to do some scuba diving. I have never attempted this until today and was horrible at it. Something about getting used to breathing under water just doesn't click for me.

Today's Events: (Holiday) Take it easy. Read books.

To-Do-List this week: Plan an 8th grade event for my 8th graders in my youth group. Clean the house.

Current Procrastination: Silence, prayer, goals, and getting back into my workout program.

Books that I am currently reading: I just finished Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton (VERY GOOD), and 1776 by David McCullough is becoming a big focus now, and I added Reimagining Church by Frank Viola.

Music that I have been into this week: Jimmy Eat World and Decemberists. (thanks tim)

How do I feel about this week: Ready to get back into the swing of things.

-Cheers

Can't sleep before Blaine

2009-05-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow my wife and I are going to Blaine, Washington to see her brother and sister-in-law. It has been a while since I have been to blaine. Now the reason I cannot sleep has nothing to do with the excitement of going to Blaine, but don't get me wrong I am excited to spend time with family. It just so happens to be that much is on my mind the night before Blaine.

Sometimes there are things in life that are really hard to understand. And most of the time we shut our minds off and just ignore them. Lately I have been thinking things through that seem to be hard to figure out and comprehend. Unfortunately this leads to long nights and headaches while being trapped in a mental puzzle that just cannot be completed. I am hoping that thinking and meditating on complicated things rather than ignoring them will help me to eventually become stronger at fixing the puzzle....or at least finding the last piece that someone has been hiding this entire time.

-Cheers

Fun time at Youth Group

2009-05-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

I had an absolute blast at youth group last night. I am a middle school youth director/youth pastor at a church and sometimes it can be harder than it looks, yet last night was just one of the best nights ever. We had about 35 middle school students and 6 leaders there and we could not leave our youth room because the gym was being used and it was pouring outside. So all of the games and activities stayed inside. Can I just say it SMELLED like middle school. One of my old youth leaders came upstairs and told me he could smell it from downstairs. And with his history of over ten years of working with Middle Schoolers he knows that smell! But there was something about last night, besides the smell, that just made me feel very proud and privileged to be able to do what I do.

Here are my two favorite middle school quotes from last night:

"I love wearing high water pants, they make me feel awesome!"

"Sorry he couldn't come to youth group tonight because he is at the mall because he is fat" <-- for this one I had to ask the kid why he would say something like that but you would have to understand the two kids and their friendship to get this one completely I guess. But I laughed really hard in my head.

It is going to be really hard as always to say goodbye to our 8th graders this year as they move up to the High School ministry. That is always and probably will always be the hardest part of my job.

So again, thanks be to God for my wonderful ministry!

-cheers

Vancouver Time!

2009-05-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

I am a huge Vancouver Canucks fan! We have fallen in the current playoff series 3-2 against Chicago and now must win 2 in a row (the first in Chicago then one in Vancouver) to advance. If we lose tonight we are done... This is going to be a very intense game.

GO CANUCKS!

-cheers

Monday Update!

2009-05-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

Monday Update, May 11, 2009

Over this last weekend: Friday night I had date night with my wife and we went out to go see the new Star Trek movie. I loved it! It went past my expectations. I had no idea they were actually going to throw in a complex plot during what I perceived to be just another remake of something that was already great. Saturday was mothers day for my mother in law. We BBQ'd some Bratwurst and spent the afternoon with family. That evening we went out with my old friend Jon that I have known since middle school. He was in town from Spokane where he currently lives. I love the guy and wish he never moved. Sunday was mothers day with my mother. Spent some time and had lunch with my side of the family. This was followed by week 3 in my Ultimate Frisbee League down in Olympia. We lost again, and this time I believe it was because half of the team (including our captain) was not there. We are now 1-2. It was a fun and fast weekend, and I am really hoping for some warmer weather soon!

Today's Events: Catch up on some cleaning, reading, and prep work for a new series we will be going through on Wednesday night youth group sessions.

To-Do-List this week: Write a letter to parents about the new series for Wednesday nights with the youth group, and finish planning for the summer. Also some work around the house if it stops raining.

Current Procrastination: Silence. I need more silence with God in my life.

Books that I am currently reading: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (Almost Finished) , Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton (Almost Finished), and 1776 by David McCullough (Still have some time on this one).

Music that I have been into this week: Eels

How do I feel about this week: Good, just good.

-Cheers

Car Shopping

2009-04-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

So it is that time in life when I have to go car shopping. I really can't stand car shopping here are some of the reasons why:

1) I am not a huge fan of haggling

2) I don't like having to be a detective to figure out what is wrong with the car before I buy it.

3) I don't like another payment in the mail

4) I don't like the fact that when you are shopping for a used car you can never find the one you want even though you have seen it on lots thousands of other times when you were not looking.

5) It's far too time consuming.

6) You have to pay more for car insurance because you cannot get buy with liability anymore.

7) I have to figure out how to sell my old cars.

8) Because after I buy a nice car I will be afraid that I will do something like this to it:

But like everyone else I will have to go tough this one out. On the plus side we are trying to become a single car family. I have never done this in my 1.5 years of marriage but I think now is a good time to start. Oh the joys of life!

-Cheers

Songwriters

2009-04-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

So tonight I am working on some song writing. The hard part is that I am very critical of my own writing that I usually give up. I compare myself to my heroes that are veterans and have been doing this for years. However, the one rule that I do have is that it has to be heart felt even if it is fictional. One of my favorite singer/songwriters played in town recently and I just love his song writing. I think what makes his lyrics so good is the way he tells stories about his own struggles in life....much having to do with his faith (or decreasing faith) in the Christian God. But the lyrics are written so creatively in sometimes a parable form. And best of all he is slightly transparent about his struggles and conflicts with the world around him and beyond.

So here is to all the good songwriters who have worked hard to create wonderful song and lyric while maintaing authenticity and passion.

-Cheers

Monday Update

2009-04-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

Monday Update, April 27, 2009

Over this last weekend: I spent most of Friday getting ready for our 3rd annual Middle School vs. High School broom ball game that evening. We got stomped on this year 3-0. Last year the tables were turned and we won 3-0. It's hard when I have to continuously give the high school group my top 8th graders each year. Saturday was a day of relaxing with some friends of mine. We got together and watched the NFL draft. As many know I am a huge Packers fan and am very happy with their picks. That evening Christina and I went to a David Bazan concert in Tacoma with a friend of ours and saw other friends at the venue as well. It was a great concert. David always puts on a great show. Sunday after church we celebrated my sister-in-law and mother-in-law's birthdays. I then had to drive down to Olympia because my Ultimate Frisbee team had a game. We won. Overall it was a great weekend!

Today's Events: Have a french press, clean some of the house, work from home on some YM stuff. Find ways to get rid of shin splints.

To-Do-List this week: Go car shopping, work on a series transition for the YM.

Current Procrastination: Im finally exercising! So this week would have to be writing a letter to parents concerning our next series that we are teaching...."sex, purity, and dating".

Books that I am currently reading: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, and 1776 by David McCullough.

Music that I have been into this week: The Frames

How do I feel about this week: Chill

-Cheers

Today was different.

2009-04-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

Everything about today was different. It was anti-routine. It actually started out to be a beautiful morning filled with a sunny lake, warm french press and good music.

Then it was time to go to the office. When I arrived everything was so different....the way I logged onto my computer, the type of work I was doing, the organizing of the desk that has been put off for months. I took care of some budget items, cleared my physical inbox that still (in a weird way) has someone else's name on it from like 13 years ago.

Then I went to a staff meeting that had chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, and pie.

And when work was all finished this was the ringer. I actually started my running workout that I have put off for some time and then went to a soccer field to play soccer with a friend. I don't play soccer anymore, but I did today.

Then the Mariners beat Tampa Bay.

And to finish the night off I walked home from my accountability group in just a shirt, shorts and Chacos.

And now I am at home in a very hot and muggy house physically exhausted and cannot sleep. All I want to do is read until I get sleepy. And the only thing I keep thinking about is how weird today was, and how off my schedule and my wife's schedule has been over the days.....and how I miss her.

I like the running part, I like the mariners....shoot I even like Soccer.

But I need to find more time with my beautiful wife!

-Cheers

Tuesday Update - April 21

2009-04-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Update, April 21, 2009

Over this last weekend: Friday was a day filled with fun. Christina (my wife) and our good friend Charlie took a trip up to Seattle and hung out at the EMP, Pike Place, and then off to a Seattle Mariners Game. It was great! Plus Seattle won that day and it was beautiful outside. We probably walked a good amount that day as well. Saturday I slept in a little bit and then watched some playoffs before I got off my lazy rear and ran some errands. Friday night was a birthday party for my bud Justin. Sunday morning was another beautiful day here in the northwest! After church I went out to coffee with my wife and then we went off to Jakes bistro for a birthday lunch get together with myself and some close friends & family. My birthday was last Wednesday, but it was the middle of the week and I had to run youth group so this worked out. We sat out on the outdoor deck and ate lunch while looking over the sound. It doesn't get any better than that! Yesterday I worked from home for a few hours then went out Kayaking. Today is the last of sunny days for a while, but I am looking forward to this being more consistent.

Today's Events: Have a french press, clean some of the house, read, and then off to work and start planning for various youth events that I am running this week.

To-Do-List this week: Prepare students for Broomball Friday night, Run, Catch up on my inbox at work that is pretty full right now.

Current Procrastination: Exercising, eating right, and posting on this blog.

Books that I am currently reading: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, and 1776 by David McCullough.

Music that I have been into this week: New Amsterdams - Worse for the wear

How do I feel about this week: Excited!

-Cheers

Tuesday Update - I am back!

2009-03-31T23:19:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Update, March 31st, 2009

Over this last weekend: Over the last weekend and last week I had the opportunity to spend time in Hershey, Philadelphia, and New York City with my good friends Tyler and Wes. I will be posting details about each day of my trip over the next couple of days. I have also been gone for a bit with blogging, yet I am back now and ready to get back into the mode of regular posting.

Today's Events: Today I woke up after getting horrible sleep. I think I am still fixing my sleeping patterns from being on the east coast. Then I went to work and had a good vision meeting follow by a few hours of fixing my father in laws computer and watching the Canucks beat the Wild. I finished the evening meeting with my accountability group.

To-Do-List this week: Get caught up on all the stuff I missed out on while I was gone.

Current Procrastination: Exercising and eating right.

Books that I am currently reading: Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby.

Music that I have been into this week: Men, Women and Children

How do I feel about this week: Calm

-Cheers

Jars of Clay - only gets better

2009-02-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

Most people that know me know that I am disgusted by the quality of most Christian music. However, I have always been a sucker for Jars of Clay. I think they are a great band, wonderful songwriters, musicians, and people.

I really enjoyed their first two major full length albums. The ones that followed seemed to be okay but not as good as their first two. However, they woke me up with their last release with Good Monsters which I believe is in competition to be their second best album that has been released thus far.

On April 21st, 2009 they will be releasing a brand new album called "The Long Fall Back to Earth". I listened to some clips of the songs that will be on this album and I must say I am impressed. I will have to listen to it a few times after it comes out but it looks like they are still progressing in their later years.

Thanks Jars for making such wonderful music!

-Cheers!

ps. http://www.jarsofclay.com/ offers somewhat of a preview of the new album...check it out.

Monday now Tuesday

2009-02-16T23:45:00.001-08:00

Due to having Mondays off, I am moving my Monday report to Tuesday Report.

However, I will mention that I am crossing my fingers hoping that the Mariners win the deal for Ken Griffey Jr. tomorrow.

-Cheers!

Long live Ayinger

Music

2009-02-11T00:06:00.001-08:00

For some people who have known me for a long time, they know me as a musician. I have played in various bands for about 10 or 11 years now. I have undergone a really long break in songwriting and am excited to say that I will be writing and recording pre-production with one of my best friends in his new studio in March. It will probably take a year before something is on a CD.

My goal is to start playing live shows by December, and have some format of music available by March 2010.

-Cheers

Dreams

2009-02-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about dreams. I was curious as to if dreams really mean anything these days or not. If you read the Bible you find people needing to have their dreams interpreted by those who can do so. You can also find people who have dreams where God is speaking to them. My question is, do dreams still matter today? Does God still speak to us through dreams, and do we still need dreams to be interpreted? Or is this another one those 'that was back then and this is now' kind of things.

I really have no answers to these questions, just something that was on my mind. If you think you have answers feel free to leave them!

-Cheers!

Today is...

2009-02-05T10:44:00.001-08:00

One of those days where I am just not motivated to do what I love. When possible bad news hits, and changes my perspective on life, things get confusing and out of place. If only I had my precious routine back. It is a good thing I don't like money or else I would be screaming right now!

Role Playing Games Rule

2009-02-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

Saying Demons get opened up when you play an RPG game is just as accurate as saying it gets opened up when you read Narnia.

Super Bowl

2009-02-02T23:13:00.001-08:00

I have a few things to say about this years Super Bowl.

1. I was rooting for the Cardinals

2. But I could really care less who won.

3. This was a close and exciting game.

4. The referring was the worst I have ever seen in my life. I know the Cardinals would not have come back, but in a Super Bowl you booth review any questionable call within the last 2 minutes. And based on the ruling from earlier that was clearly considered a forward pass if you were to be consistent.

5. Worst year for commercials ever.

6. Bruce Springsteen rocked!

Monday Update

2009-02-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, January 26th, 2009

Over this last weekend: I spent this last weekend helping two local churches with their High School Winter Camp. We went up to the White Pass area to a camp that I used to attend when I was in middle and high school. It was fun to look around at all the stuff that I used to as a student and take a step back to think of how I am now the one investing time into the lives of the youth. It was one of the most relaxed and easy youth group trips ever. The youth were very responsible and more mature than most. The tube hills were fun and I have bruises and an injured shoulder to prove it. And best of all, my brother Caleb did a wonderful job sharing the gospel with the youth.

Today's Events: Today I am taking it easy after the weekend and before the start of a very busy week. Tonight I have one meeting to go to for work but that should only take 2 hours. I am also aware that there is a new Heroes on tonight! I also plan on getting caught up on some reading.

To-Do-List this week: Still working on my Winter Camp, and working with my Fundraiser.

Current Procrastination: Running/Exercising <--yes still! <--yes still still!

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The New Christians" by Tony Jones and still working through the long "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. <--Same

Music that I have been into this week: Starflyer 59

How do I feel about this week: Refreshed

-Cheers

Transforming Theology Theo-Blogger Consortium

2009-01-29T18:51:00.001-08:00

I will be participating in something called 'Transforming Theology Theo-Blogger Consortium', we will be reading and responding to articles and books in the effort of talking about theology through collective blogging. This is being hosted by a webiste/blog called 'Homebrewed Christianity'. Stay tuned for more.

-Cheers!

Looking for something?

2009-01-27T19:43:00.001-08:00

So the other day I was reading a REI catalogue and found a new pair of hiking boots that I really wanted. Being the selfless person that I am (of course) I immediately emailed my wife about the boots informing her that they would be a GREAT birthday present when the time comes.

How many times do we fall in love with the latest gadget, pair of shoes, a new car, or something that is our treasure that we feel that we must pursue purchasing? We will do anything just to get it. And how many times do we forget about it being our treasure a couple weeks after owning it, or even a couple of days? And then here is the kicker--it isn't long until we find a new treasure to make us happy, to fulfill our needs. To satisfy us.

This is so common in western societal thought. We buy into advertisements of needing stuff to make us feel complete. And we covet and we buy and we covet and we buy over and over and over.

I was reading the Bible the other day and I came across this verse that just struck me like never before. It is funny how you can read the same thing over and over and one day it is as if you have never read it before.

In the gospel of Matthew chapter 13 verse 44 it says:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

What if we really treated the gospel as if it were a treasure we found in the field? What if we really got so excited about finding Jesus and the kingdom of heaven that we would do anything it took to be in possession of it? What if we did whatever it took to put every investment of it?

This is how we should feel about the gospel, this is how we should feel about Jesus.

May we all spend less time worshiping idols and more time investing in the Kingdom.

-Cheers

Monday Update

2009-01-27T00:10:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, January 26th, 2009

Over this last weekend: I spent Friday evening at home with my pal nate dawg (no not the one that rapped with warren G) and watched 'Dan in Real Life' and ate Chicken Nuggets. Then we watched the original British "The Office" television show. Saturday I took my wife out on a date to Vashon Island. It was awesome! The weather was perfect and the ferry ride was cold but beautiful. Sunday was church followed by lunch at The Ram Restaurant with some good friends. Then I stayed home and watched the NHL All Star Game. The rest of the night was time for reading. I almost read the entire book of Matthew. Strong Book!

Today's Events: Today I had to take my friend/boss Carl to the train station so that he could eat dinner with his family. Then I went to a coffee shop and read good books, drank good coffee, and spent time with a good friend. Then for the evening I took my wife out to the local indie theatre to see 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Great movie, very moving! Now I am at home catching up on blogs and listening to Bruce Springsteen before I have to admit that my day off is over and go back to being busy tomorrow.

To-Do-List this week: Still working on Winter Camp, Fundraiser, and Small Group material. I also have to get ready to help another group with their Winter Camp this coming weekend. Busy week!

Current Procrastination: Running/Exercising <--yes still! <--yes still still!

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, I am now reading "The New Christians" by Tony Jones and still working through the long "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. <--Same

Music that I have been into this week: Anything Bruce Springsteen!

How do I feel about this week: Mysterious.

-Cheers

After all.....maybe he really WILL be missed!

2009-01-23T00:45:00.000-08:00

Will Ferrell didn't even need to make fun of him, he took care of business himself!

(Thanks to Zach for posting this)

Monday Update

2009-01-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, January 19th, 2009

Over this last weekend: I spent Friday evening at home with some friends and we watched the new Friday Night Lights episode. We also watched the movie called Eagle Eye. This was a fun movie, but I am glad that we rented it on DVD instead of seeing it in the theatre. We spent Saturday going car shopping. I almost found the exact car I wanted until I found out it wasn't for sell. It was fun though. My parents decided to tag along with my wife and I and they took us out to lunch. Free lunch is always the right choice. Sunday morning youth church went great! We discussed James 4:13-17. During main service they had our children's Christmas concert makeup day (due to cancellation of bad weather).

I left church a few minutes early because I had like 15 people coming over to my house for a party in celebration of the end of the fantasy football league (aka Dungeons and Dragons for Jocks). So my friend and Charlie and I spent an hour cleaning the house a bit before they came over (Charlie is like family, this is why he is also cleaning :) ). Everyone had a good time, we planned out next season, watched football, and ate together.

Today's Events: Today is MKL Jr. Day. I spent some time watching old clips of Dr. King. I have always been a huge fan of him and what he did. In fact so much so that I spent a portion of my undergrad studying King and other African American history at UW. I have a book that has a collection of his speeches and plan on reading some of that tonight.

Today I also spent some time cleaning, and I still need to clean more. 15 people at your house can get a little messy. I have also been catching up on some reading and am actually heading out with my wife to a books store so she can buy books for her next quarter of masters work. After the books store I plan on coming back home and reading more. Oh, and it is really foggy. I cannot even see the lake out my window.

To-Do-List this week: Still working on Winter Camp. I also have to work on our Fundraiser and contact some other churches and make sure that I am not needed at their camps anymore so that I can fill out my calendar for the next two months.

Current Procrastination: Running/Exercising <--yes still!

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, I am now reading "The New Christians" by Tony Jones and still working through the long "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Music that I have been into this week: The Boxer Rebellion - Union....this is more of a mainstream band that has not totally made its way, but surprisingly I really like them even though I tend to be more of a music snob.
How do I feel about this week: Relaxed.

-Cheers

Its Official

2009-01-16T20:28:00.001-08:00

I am getting FAT.

I need a new DIET.

I need a new WORK OUT PLAN.

I NEED HELP!

Monday Update (on a Tuesday again, I really have to get better at this)

2009-01-13T22:41:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, January 12th, 2009

Over this last weekend: I was able to chill at home with my wife. Usually we have a lot of people over each weekend and we decided not to do that and instead just relax as the two of us. Friday night we went out on a date to the Olive Garden and then off to see Yes Man. It was so much better than I had expected. Very funny film!

Today's Events: Today (Monday) I , as always, had monday off. I spent the day reading and then watching some TV shows I wanted to catch up on. Around 3 I went out to go to a Middle School Basketball game that one of my kids from the youth group was playing in. I swear he got like a million rebounds! Then my wife and I spent the evening taking a trip to the airport to pick up our good friend Charlie. The night ended with the 3 of us going out to the Ram for some good food.

To-Do-List this week: This week I have to keep hammering away for this years middle school Winter Camp. I also have to plan out the second half of the ministry year. I also have a lot of meetings this week.

Current Procrastination: Running/Exercising

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, I am now reading "The New Christians" by Tony Jones and still working through the long "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

I finished Scot McKnight's "The Blue Parakeet". I will post a review soon.

Music that I have been into this week: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular, and The Killers - Day & Age.

How do I feel about this week: Grrrrrreat!

-Cheers

Excuse me, I'm out of here.

2009-01-11T22:40:00.000-08:00

Today I saw something quite different and strange at church. An entire row left in the middle of a sermon. Possibly because they were offended and couldn't be in the pews any longer? Or maybe there was a family emergency. But anyways I thought it was interesting.

Welcome to the conference room Jesus, hope you brought your TPS Reports.

2009-01-04T00:44:00.000-08:00

I was listening to an old Mike Yaconelli (R.I.P.) talk the other day and something that he said really just struck a chord with where my heart is at. He said something along the lines of how it was wrong that churches are using secular models as primary ways to run their churches. He picked out how many churches, for example, decide that the best way to run their church is off of a business model. Perhaps like a business model that has been successful for many CEO's in the culture around them.

There always seems to be a problem when you try to run a church based off of a secular model. It removes itself from the Bible. After speaking with a brother of mine about his church, it hit me to think about how much churches get together and have staff meetings with the purpose to talk and strategize business with their staff. Organization and balancing of a budget, goals, strategic plans, visions, and so on becomes the main focus of the staff.

I really believe (and Yaconelli spoke about this) that what church ministry staff people have to do is throw all of that out the window and have their staff meetings based on the souls of the people leading the ministry. Not just a simple prayer request or joy report but an authentic conversation with how people in the ministry are doing in their life, relationship, and time with God. How far can the sheep go if the shepherd is sick, beaten down, tired, or lost.

Im tired of being around churches that have lost focus on the gospel and the hearts of sinners who need to constantly be reminded of the cross and the wonderful grace we have through Jesus. And what a relationship means. We should spend staff meetings discussing this, praying about this, praying for each other, confessing sins, reporting our soul condition and praising God.

While many "Leadership" books are out their to teach us how to make our "companies" so successful, we do not need this in the church. We cannot accomplish anything alone. We need Jesus, we need the cross, and the victory is already His.

Lord save us from our methods, programs, business plans, fiscal budgets, pie charts, statistics, PDA's, Laptops, Conference Rooms, TPS reports, and anything else that gets in the way of us as a collective group of ministers to focus on what is most important: Bringing glory to you, the condition of our hearts and souls, the condition of our neighbors whom we often ignore, the poor, the widows, the lost, worshiping you, reading your word, doing what it says, prayer, living lives as a daily sacrifice to you.

-Cheers

Monday Update

2008-12-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, December 29th, 2008

Over this last weekend: I had the joy of being sick. I am still very sick today. It just kept getting worse over the weekend until last night. This morning I believe is the turning point and I should be getting better. Friday we went out to get my wife a new case for her 'smaller' camera that I bought her for her birthday/christmas. She already has a big real nice Nikon, but wanted a more compact camera for quick random occasions. Then we had coffee and read books at a local coffee shop. It was a good day spent with my wife. Saturday I really started feeling sick. I pretty much sat inside and did nothing because I felt so horrible. It didn't help that I had to watch the Wisconsin Badgers get embarrassed by Florida State. Sunday I made it to church long enough to hang out with my middle schoolers and have youth church. I ended up leaving afterwords and missed main service due to being sick.

Today's Events: Recovering from being sick. I have watched a lot of the history channel in HD. I love the show where the guy goes underground all over the world and finds cool stuff. My favorite is the WW2 underground stuff.

To-Do-List this week: This week I have to start preparation for this years middle school Winter Camp. I also have to plan out the second half of the ministry year. Make a teaching, events, and small group schedule. And I would like to spend time reading more this week.

Current Procrastination: Writing new goals and making them realistic.

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, I am also reading "The Blue Parakeet" by Scot McKnight and "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Music that I have been into this week: The New Amsterdams - At the foot of my rival

How do I feel about this week: ill, but slowly better.

-Cheers

During a trip to my least favorite store I found this....

2008-12-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

Wall Mart is always cutting its prices!

Oh my God

2008-12-19T08:49:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I cannot forgive
And these days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we're better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder

Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat all the wounds that money causes,
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God

jars of clay

Monday Update? (actually Tuesday)

2008-12-16T08:20:00.001-08:00

Monday Update, December 1, 2008

Over this last weekend: This weekend was pretty good. Friday night I got to hang out with my wife at home and we watched a few of our favorite tv shows, some christmas movies, and ordered pizza. Saturday was cool because we had pizza left over in the fridge and one of my favorite things in the world is cold pizza for breakfast. Saturday morning while in my PJ's my buddy Nate Dawg showed up randomly after kayaking and wanted to hang out. So I got dressed and called another neighbor friend over and we hung out all day at the house just talking, drinking coffee, and eventually watching a movie. My wife hooked us up with some good lunch! Sunday morning we had a great youth service at church and then the main service was a choir concert. It was put together very well. The rest of Sunday was filled with braving out Christmas shopping at Borders, Best Buy, and lunch at Red Robin. My wife and I parked our car at one spot and just walked from store to sore because they were all around the same busy intersection and we wanted to cut out driving as much as possible. This was a good idea, but walking in our crazy random snow storm made it a little bit harder of a challenge. As for our little snow storm, if you live in an area that is used to snow you probably have people who know how to drive in the snow. People in Washington freak out whenever they see snow. There was a car in front of us on the freeway that spun out for now reason. Rookies. Anyway, it was a good weekend and it is still beautiful here covered with snow and 20 degree temperatures.

Today's Events: So Monday I had the day off. I ran some errands and cleaned the house. I also read a book and watched some star wars until my wife came home. Then we invited our good friend Charlie over for some Monday Night Football and then fun arcade games on the XBOX360.

To-Do-List this week: This week I have to plan for Small Groups, I have to plan for our youth Sunday service, start planning more for our Winter Camp, and meet with a few students about working on a video project for church. I also want to plan a night to take my wife to Zoo Lights. And of course I need to finish all of my remaining Christmas shopping this week.

Current Procrastination: Reading. I have been watching to many movies and need to read more.

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, I am also reading "The Cost of Discipleship" by Bonhoeffer and "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Music that I have been into this week: Brian Setzer Orchestra - Christmas Rocks!

How do I feel about this week: Okay if I can get rid of a runny nose!

-Cheers

Sometimes I want to grow down

2008-12-11T23:54:00.001-08:00

Tonight I spent some time looking at some beautiful pictures of my friend (since middle school) Theresa's newborn/firstborn baby that she posted on her facebook. It was just so unreal for me to see pictures of my friends baby. What the heck? It seems like just yesterday we were in middle school hanging out with our friends after school. Now we are all getting married, moving and having kids. What happened? We spend so much time when we are young discussion what we want to be or do when we grow up. Sometimes I think about what I would do if I got to grow down for a week. Sometimes I would love to hang out with my old friends 10 years ago just for a week.

Don't get me wrong. I love my life today. I have a beautiful wife who I love very much and am in a place where I am happy working in the ministry. But wow we are constantly in fast forward.

Lately I have been trying to take things SLOW in life. I try not to be so busy. Maybe this is why I find doing things Slow again so intriguing, because I am growing up to fast.

Perhaps we should all slow down and grow down a little.

-Cheers

Save the Whales

2008-12-09T09:37:00.001-08:00

So Awesome/And Convicting

2008-12-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

Caution: Lost Book Slow Down

2008-12-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

So I think I lost a book that I am reading. I don't know if this is normal and it happens to other people, but I am in the middle of a book and now its gone. So funny.

I actually heard a story from my father in law once about losing a book. In fact, I think the reason that it was so funny is because he didn't tell me about it like a story. I simply asked him about how a book was going that I saw him reading, and he had this little kid like smirk on his face and he said he "thought it fell out of the car into a puddle when he opened the door", but he wasn't sure.

Sometimes I think we get so busy we start losing books, but sometimes it becomes our minds or our passion in life or even our prospective.

This holiday season, more than ever, my challenge to myself is to simply slow down.

-Cheers

Monday Update

2008-12-01T22:16:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, December 1, 2008

Over this last weekend: This weekend was a good time of visiting family and relaxing. The day after thanksgiving many people woke up at 2 am and decided to go shopping. I slept in. Later that day we did drive to one store to pick up an item that we reserved online at Christmas. I love it when stores let you do this. So I got a black friday price and I got to sleep in. Saturday I spent the day catching up at home with cleaning and running errands that I missed out on the weekend before do to being in Nashville. Saturday night we stayed in and watched a movie I did not care for that much. Sunday was a normal sunday. Church, and football. It was hard watching my Packers lose again by a close ending to the game. Overall the weekend went by fast but was a good break from a busy life.

Today's Events: So Monday I have the day off - I went to get some stuff figured out at Comcast for my TV and then came home and finished cleaning the house. I spent some time watching Sportscenter and then working on a project on my iMac. My good friend Charlie came over and we watched one of the most boring Monday Night Football games ever.

To-Do-List this week: This week I have to start planning for the rest of the ministry year and really re-establish how I spend my week. I would like to spend more time hanging out with students and less time in my office.

Current Procrastination: Reading...I usually read much more.

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, I am also reading "Vintage Jesus" by Mark Driscoll and "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Music that I have been into this week: Sufjan Stevens - presents songs for Christmas.

How do I feel about this week: Excited!

-Cheers

NYWC Day 4

2008-12-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

So I never got around to posting day 4 so here it goes:

We didn't go to the morning breakout session. We slept in. It was so worth it.

The last session was really good.

Marko had a lot of good things to say and it was a good way to send everyone off after a remarkable weekend.

I loved NYWC so much. I hope I will be able to attend this more often in the future.

-Cheers

NYWC Day 3

2008-11-24T07:20:00.000-08:00

Day three was amazing because the first thing that we had to be at (at least on our schedule preference) was at 10:00 am. This gave us a chance to recover from the jet lag and late night activities. The line this morning was much to long to wait in for coffee, so instead we got regular coffee at the arena, which surprisingly wasn't as bad as I was expecting!

During the first General Session yesterday morning we had the privilege of enjoying the skit guys. These two guys have been doing youth ministry skits for years now and have put out dvds as well as books. I really enjoy these two because they are entertaining, hilarious, and really seem to enjoy what they are doing. Then there was Shane and Shane. I have never seen these guys in concert before and don't think I can remember listening to more than one of their songs in the past. So when they got on stage I was a little skeptical (as I always am with most Christian Bands), however, these guys blew me away. They had raw lyrics that really made you think, they had amazing voices and vocal melodies that were original and breath taking. These guys truly crafted art in the direction to bring glory to God.

Starfield led worship as well, and to me are your normal U2 sounding worship band, but they were good and did a great job leading in worship music.

The speaker at this session was Mike Pilavachi. He is from the UK and is a veteran youth worker who really challeged everyone to make the ministry about everyone in it, allowing students to use their gifts or to develop gifts even before they might be good at them. He mentioned that we have to be okay with two things. 1) They might not lead something as well as we the leader might. and 2) That there is a chance that they could do it better than us. Both are hard things to except when one has the heart of a leader and feels the need to do everything on their own. He was also Matt Redman's Youth Pastor which put a neat twist on his stories about working with his first youth group. Very good, very inspiring.

As for seminar series sessions, the first one I went to (the one I was excited for all weekend) was the Developing Our Own Curriculum w/ Middle School focus. This was lead by YS Marko (president of Youth Specialties), and was very different from other sessions in great way. Instead of listening to a lecture for an hour and a half, Marko made this more of a work session where he gave background information and tools to craft a curriculum then the opportunity to break off into groups and start crafting one right there. The only problem is that this needed more time. It would have been a great Super Session like the ones yesterday that were 2 and a half hours long.

The second one I attending was the How to Communicate to Middle Schoolers lead by Scott Rubin. This was very helpful because lately I have really been focusing on restructuring how I speak to students at youth group. How I get the message of the cross and grace to them in a way that they can understand, and maybe even begin to embrace. Scott gave some practical ways to really connect with youth in a way to make this possible.

We had some BBQ pulled pork for lunch and the place was packed. Every seat was taken, that is until a nice guy from Texas invited us to share a table with him. It turns out he was at the same conference and had some stories to tell about his home and his experiences in Youth Ministry. You see my good friend Ty and I who are at this convention today made it a goal to really connect with other youth workers and network with them so that we could keep in touch with them over time and see how things are going with people doing the same thing as us over the nation. So this was the second person already that day that we met and he was very funny and very much from Texas!

For dinner we just did something we have had before, Panera Bread. I must say they really got a packed house through their lines very quickly and with great service. So I give them 2 thumbs up!

The evening general session also had the skit guys along with worship from Starfield. And the main speaker was Danielle Strickland. She challenged us to not just keep salvation and the gospel on the inside once we are saved, but to then take the gospel out unto the world, to be the light, to serve the poor, broken and lost. She works for the Salvation Army and is currently located in Austrailia but is from Vancouver, BC Canada. I loved her humor and transparency. She was one of our favorite speakers all weekend.

Then we had the joy of hearing great music from Kendall Payne and one of my personal favorites (still going after all these years) Jars of Clay.

After all was said and done Ty and I went down to BB King's Blues Club and listened to some live music then came back to the hotel in the 'bridge' which is their bar area and hung out and met more youth workers.

Tonight I realized that I am feeling sort of like the kid in youth group that does not want to go home from camp because they love it so much. It is almost as if this is my camp/retreat.

However, I miss my wife and am excited and encouraged to go back to my youth ministry. This morning we will have one more general session than call it good.

What a great weekend thus far!

-Cheers

NYWC Day 2

2008-11-23T00:18:00.000-08:00

Today was a very early morning after a very late night. But with that aside I was still able to wake up enough to remember why I hate all alarm clocks and take out any and all aggression on it.

Eventually I got myself down to the main floor where there is a Starbucks so that I could get my coffee on. 30 minutes later I had finished my devotion while still in line ready to order. You gotta love convention Starbucks shops where everyone at the convention is addicted to coffee :)

I had an 8:00 am seminar that I wanted to go to put on by Dan Kimball. I am really glad I got up early and went to this because it was well worth the lack of sleep that i received a night earlier. Dan shared with us the idea of what happens to our post-youth group teens as they leave their comfortable youth group situations and enter the 'real world'. After being confronted by an old student and told to his face that he was a liar this convicted him to start earlier and talking with youth about tough but important topics. He gave a layout of main key issues that he saw important to talk about and gave some detail on them. I walked away from this session feeling very encouraged and challenged to really take more time planning out what I am teaching and how I am teaching and is this relevant to my students, and how do I make this more relevant for them?

The first main session that we had was really good as well. The worship was led by a band called Lincoln Brewster and the main speaker was Mark Yaconelli who challenged us to do like his young son wanted to since a young age and live life a little bit more slow. Away from all the distractions in life so that we could focus on God's creation and the wonderful person of Jesus who is all around us every day and that we sometimes have to put down all the devises and distractions to really truthfully connect with God. Somehow this all ended with a huge disco ball and Mark dancing in a disco outfit in front of a few thousand youth workers. More on this tomorrow.

After this I went to a Super session than focused on Middle School Students and this Middle School ministry that is at the center of my life right now. It took us all from the bottom up. It reminded us of some of the things that we knew, forgot, or maybe even thought we heard but didn't. And for others the talk was fresh and brand new. My point is, is that no matter what your background this session was valuable for every Middle School volunteer or potential volunteer.

And it was LUNCH TIME! So Ty and I decided to get a big hot dog or brat from one of those street carts. It was delicious except for that everything food wise is really good and expensive in Nashville.

We also had the joy of spending some time in a very vintage guitar shop where people sit around talking about the memories of sitting around the campfire with their kids after a long hard day of hunting and shooting a big ol buck. I promise you this actually happened.....no exaggeration.

The evening convention was very interesting. The person speaking was a Christian and also a genealogist; furthermore, he had appeared on the Cobert Report. His name was Francis Collins, I really enjoyed the first half of what he had to say even though much of it was very controversial with modern evangelicals. He was also trying to explain the connection between Christianity and evolution. This part really lost me. Not that I did not understand what he was saying but I thought his points were weak and not supported in a well fashioned way. Although I appreciated his willingness to be honest with his struggles and his desire to work through his struggles.

The best part of the night was shooting finger rockets at Marko and Tic.

At the end of the night my friend Ty and I had great conversations at the 'bridge' to discuss what he had experienced and learned that day. We also had many other discussions about faith, church, and ministry.

It was a great day!

-Cheers

NYWC Day 1

2008-11-22T23:47:00.000-08:00

Let me just start out by saying that the ONLY reason I have not been able to update this throughout the conference more often is because both the conference center and the high end hotel that we are in (renaissance hotel) charges like 13 bucks a day for internet. What is funny about this is that the Motel 8 that my roommate stayed at thursday night had both free internet and free breakfast. This 'high class' hotel over charges for both of those. Furthermore the convention staff for the actual center have been really rude in a weird uncomfortable way. With that said, really, those are the only complaints. And are minor ones.

So to start out with let me just say that I could have went home after the first day and felt that this trip was well worth the money!

During the first general session we were able to hear Francis Chan (pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California) speak about being real to scripture, being real to Jesus and being real to ourselves about what the bible says and what it says about Jesus and how he taught his people. He spoke from the book of Acts and re-evaluated how the church does church and how the church should be biblical in how we see and are the church. His heart was pure, you could feel the passion coming from him. He actually spent some time steeping down for a while from his church while he did some soul searching, spending time with God and asking how do I do this right before he came back. It challenged me to deal with real life and a real bible that says real things. And to be willing to discuss and have the courage to say things that sometimes need to be said without causing division. We need to reflect Christ's love in all we do. And that is Crazy Love.

The David Crowder Band was amazing as always. Nothing else really needs to be said. My good friend Ty and I had the pleasure of meeting David Crowder and a few of his band mates. Pictures were be up soon!

I also had the pleasure of having my picture taken with Marko and Tony Campolo. They were waiting for an elevator so I didn't have much time to do anything but thank them for all they do, Marko (president for Youth Specialties) is a great leader and a great person to look to for ideas on Middle School Youth Ministry or Youth Ministry as a whole.

I went to a seminar session put on by Duffy Robbins who usually does a great job with his sessions, however, this session did not meet my expectations because the content was different than I had planned for. He wrote a great book with Doug Fields called "Speaking to Teenagers", but the session did not follow the general direction of the book. The conversation was based more around physical technique, notes, and stand and body placement.

The last session was amazing. We had our second set from DCB along with great talks from both Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo who really challenged me in the realm of where Christianity is in the light of politics and social justice while sticking to the Biblical text. There was another Christian speaker (can't remember name-I will fix this tomorrow) who spoke about Gay and Lesbian communities and individuals and how to live among them and minister to them in our current cultural back set while still being Jesus to them,

Overall it has been a blast. YS is doing a great job!

The evening after all the events Ty and I went into town which is flooded with bars/restaurants where VERY GOOD and talented musicians are playing in each one. about 8 per block. So we saw a rockabilly band for a while in one pub, then we went to another to hear some Nashville to hear some country.

I stayed up very late this night after arriving to Nashville from a very tiring red eye flight. So WORTH it!

-Cheers

Nashville Bound/NYWC

2008-11-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

So I am leaving tonight for Nashville.

My plane arrives in Nashville at about 9:00 am tomorrow.

My reason for Nashville is that I will be attending the National Youth Workers Convention put on by Youth Specialties.

For those of you who are unaware, Youth Specialties is one of the largest youth worker publishers in the world. They not only put out books to help assist youth workers, but they also have great speakers all around the world to help equip youth workers with fresh ideas, as well as philosophies and new ways to think about how to work with the youth of today.

The best part about this is that there will be hundreds of youth workers attending. So hopefully it will be complete chaos!

Some of the key speakers that I will be seeing are:

Mark Oestreicher who just wrote a great book called Youth Ministry 3.0
Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love
Duffy Robbins (who wrote countless youth ministry books)
Tony Campolo
Greg Stier
Dan Kimball, author of They like Jesus but not the Church, and The Emerging Church
Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President
Chris Folmsbee
Les Christie
Mark Yaconelli, author of Contemplative Youth Ministry

And this is just to name a few.

I will be posting every day from the convention giving updates on sessions and the experience as a whole.

-Cheers

Youth Group - Middle School Guys Small Group

2008-11-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Quotes of the night from my middle school guys.

1)"If I had a million dollars I'd buy a new butt because mine has a big crack in it."

2) "I hate hippies"

3) "I wish I still had my cocaine" .....this in response to his cocaine card in the game 'Apples to Apples' because it worked for his category.

Tonight was the first night we had small groups for our middle school youth group.

It was a wonderful night.

In fact it was Legendary!

-Cheers

a question that puzzles my mind.

2008-11-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

if you believe in Jesus Christ,

if you believe in God,

if you believe in the Holy Spirit,

if you believe in salvation,

if you believe in the ability to have a 'relationship' with Jesus,

are you held to believe in Christianity?

-Cheers

Monday Update

2008-11-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

Monday Update, November 10th, 2008

Over this last weekend: Friday I had a great time getting together with a good friend of mine from the bay area along with my wife and other great friends and local youth workers. We had some great dinner and played a really funny board game together. Saturday day was a morning spent sleeping. It has been about a month since we were able to sleep in so my wife and I took advantage of that. Waking up at 10:00 felt nice. Then I got some great news that my friend in military prison got parole and is going to get out early. This of course is a special situation that would take to long to explain in a monday report, but trust me on this one, he is a great guy. Saturday during the day we cleaned and ate pancakes, then we watched one of my favorite movies...About a Boy. During the evening on Saturday night I had the privilege of taking my good friend Charlie out for his birthday. We went to one of his favorite places, Smokey Joe's. Smokies is a bar above a Bingo hall of all places that turns into one of the most comfortable and most beautiful sports bars that I have ever been to. It is filled with comfortable leather couches with big screen HD screens all over the walls. Great place for College football! It is also one of the few indoor establishments where one can partake in smoking the occasional pipe or cigar. Sunday morning I preached to the High School Ministry about Discouragement. I must say it went really well. God really really deserves all glory for this as well. What a wonderful message for students to find hope during times of discouragement and depression in the Bible. After church we did the normal Sunday football thing. Another Green Bay loss unfortunately. Next week we play the Bears, this will be a big game.

Today's Events: So Monday I have the day off - except this Monday. I worked from 8:00 am till about 11:30 am. Not bad but it is still painful when you have to work on your day off. Oh well, such is life. Tonight after everyone else got off work my wife and I had a couple friends over for Monday night football, Heroes, and I am now listening to them scream over fun games of Mario Kart Wii.

To-Do-List this week: Get small groups ready for next week. And I also have to work harder at getting ready for my Nashville trip, November 20th - 25th. I still have to book a hotel for the night of the 24th. Still working on those goals. Maybe I should start out with even MORE realistic goals.

Current Procrastination: Booking my hotel room, and paying bills.

Books that I am currently reading: I am still working on "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, however, I did finish "How to be Good" and "Watchmen". I will be posting reviews soon. I am now also reading "Vintage Jesus" by Mark Driscoll and "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Music that I have been into this week: The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, and David Bazan - (new single only) American Flags. Album release date TBA.

How do I feel about this week: A little unprepared. Excited to see what happens with Small Groups but also a little nervous.

-Cheers

NICE

2008-11-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I hate being a Youth Pastor because I hate being Nice. Sometimes I just want to be mean and tell people how I feel. Let them know how it is. But I can't. I'm locked away.

And then other times I think, well my church considers me a Youth Director. So maybe it doesn't matter.

Then I think was Jesus always Nice?

The World Around Me

2008-11-07T09:43:00.001-08:00

I grew up never knowing how cool things would be when I was older. I just assumed that everything around me would be the same when I was older. The only difference is that I would be older, working, and possibly married. I never even thought for a second that we would have flying cars or dick tracy watches. And when I was younger God wasn't in my focus. Although a few prayers made me win 1st grade bingo three times in a row. I still remember the first time I thought about God. I was walking in the streets of Frankfurt and I found an old metal cross on the ground. This is a weird memory that always stuck. But back then the distractions were slim. Were the late 80's and early 90's less distracting than now?

I live in a world with many hobbies and time consuming toys.

I have great shows to watch like: The Office, Heroes, Family Guy, SNL, Football, Hockey, and the occasional TOP DESIGN.

I have great music to listen to: Radiohead, Pedro The Lion (David Bazan), Wilco, The Beatles, Neil Young.

I have great books to read: Yiddish Policemen's Union, How to be Good, The Watchmen.

I have great gadgets: Thanks to Steve Jobs, iMac, iPhone and lets not forget Blogger and Google Chat.

I have fun video games: Fable 2, The Force Unleashed, Halo 3.

I have everything to entertain me.

But do I remember the important things?

I have a roof over my head, running water, a beautiful loving wife, food.

And do I remember the most important thing that I often neglect.

GOD.

Every day is a challenge to remember to put down material things and spend time with God our creator. My relationship with Jesus Christ has to be the most important thing in my life. And when it is not, it is noticed.

We all need to remember to put aside our material things, are material lives, are material views, and remember that there is something much bigger in this life. There are questions much more important worth asking and researching.

I must set aside my material life for what really matters. My worship, relational spiritual life with Jesus Christ.

Monday Update

2008-11-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

I decided to start doing monday updates. Someone does something similar on a blog that I read daily and I really liked the idea. It is a fun way to look back at the week and forward at the week to come. So this will soon become a weekly thing. Most people have a hard time dealing with Mondays, however, I never have a 'case of the Mondays' like those in the popular movie 'Office Space' site so accurately. In fact, I have Mondays off. So I look forward to taking time during my day off each week to create a Monday Update!

Monday Update, November 3rd, 2008

Over this last weekend: I spent my time on friday getting some last second studying finished for Sunday morning. Once I got home I prepared for Halloween. I made sure that we had our candy bars ready (full size candy bars! Since not many kids come to our house, those that do will be surprised that WE HAD THE BEST CANDY!). Then I cleaned out my car and got ready to volunteer for an event that my father in law was hosting for some youth in our neighborhood. He hosts a weekly Friday night Guys youth group for the Tillicum neighborhood. For Halloween he decided to do the classic Pumpkin Chase. It was a lot of fun. It is basically a scavenger hunt where you drive around town and follow clues to be the first team to find a huge pumpkin full of candy. Oh yeah my team won both games! Saturday I spent the morning/afternoon holding up signs petitioning for proposition 1 in Lakewood, Washington. I have never held a sign for a political cause but I really am behind this cause. Then I drive to my local phone store to upgrade my phone like I do every 2 years when it is time. I was excited for this because my old phone had a mind of its own and would just start beeping at me for no reason. Sometimes it would just die when it wanted to even with a full battery. Saturday evening my wife and I went to a Halloween party with a bunch of our friends. It has become an annual thing and is usually always the day after Halloween. Sunday was a normal church/football day. I watched my Packers lose another tough but close game. However, our good friend was up visiting from the Bay area and we had a great visit with her. Overall it was a great weekend!

Todays Events: Today was a not so fun trip to the dentist. I had three fillings performed on my teeth. Funny that I go to the dentist for fillings three days after Halloween. After the trip I sat around took headache medicine and read books and watched a few episodes of one of my favorite shows 'How I Met Your Mother'. I might catch up with the Monday Night Football game tonight and then watch Heroes.

To-Do-List this week: I really want to hit my weekly goals this week. I won't hit them all but I can get close this week if I push hard. I have them on the wall by the fridge so that I read what I need to do each time I get something to drink. I need to prepare for Wednesday Night Youth Group and for next Sunday as I am a guest teacher for a High School Ministry. I also need to book an extra hotel room for an additional night in Nashville (thanks Orbitz). And lastly I need to work on meeting with my volunteers to get our group set up for small groups.

Current Procrastinations: Becoming certified to be a substitute teacher in my neighborhood. I hope to achieve this soon so that I can make some extra savings money while teaching some of the kids I work with and getting to know their friends while also serving my community more.

Books that I am currently reading: I am almost finished with "How to be Good" by Nick Hornby and "The Watchmen" by Alan Moore. I will probably be working on finishing "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman for another week or two.

Music that I have been into this week: Rocky Votolato - The Brag and Cuss , and mewithoutyou - Brother, Sister.

How do I feel about this next week: Good actually! After dealing with a couple of weeks with discouragement I am looking forward to this week.

-Cheers

Churches

2008-10-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

Churches need to have less "ministries" and do more MINISTRY!

Getting Over the FLU

2008-10-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

So I got really sick this week from being around my friends' sick kids.

DANG KIDS!

Highlight of it all is that my buddy came over with a get well gift yesterday. He had bought me the new Hulk movie, special edition.

Thanks Chuck!

-Cheers

Time has been everywhere

2008-10-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Recently my time has been distributed everywhere; everywhere but here that is. That is not really a bad thing, however, I have had a few moments where I thought "I would really like to post about this." Lately I have really had some thoughts on some serious subjects. Hopefully soon I will get to post them. If not here is some small things that have been on my head.

1) A prayer request I read: "Please pray that the person God wants in office will win and be in office."

2) A student who approached me and asked me seriously if it was true that Obama was the anti-christ.

3) My thoughts on our "economic problem" as a nation.

4) My thoughts on our "bail out plan".

5) My response to when someone told me "I think we earned our SUV's and big things and so we deserve them"

Some of these things have been racing in my head for a comment or even a discussion. Hopefully soon I can address them.

For now...

-Cheers

Current Project

2008-10-14T23:22:00.001-07:00

This is what i am working on:
http://web.me.com/kmklas83/Site/the.autobahn.thought/the.autobahn.thought.html

I don't know if it will work out....this is just my first stab at it. I would just love to have more control over my blog.

-Cheers!

here we go again

2008-10-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

It seems that about every quarter of the year I ask myself this question: Why do I do what I do in life?

Here I am battling this out again. Trying to figure out why I do what I do, where I do what I do, and ponder, what could I do and where could I do it. And would it be better?

Swimming with questions constantly.

Prayer is expected. Perhaps I will find answers, or maybe I will find myself with more questions.

-Cheers!

This is my quiet place

2008-10-08T22:05:00.003-07:00

This is the view that we have off of our deck outside of our living room. When my world gets crazy I like to be thankful for times like this when I can escape and read with God's beauty spilled in front of me like a painting.

-Cheers

WOW....so bad!

2008-10-03T10:50:00.001-07:00

(ht ysmarko)

I want to die in....

2008-10-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

Effington

Stick a Fork in me

2008-10-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

So I have been sick for 2 weeks now. And it finally hit me so hard that I am going to take a day off. Last night for the 3rd night in a row I woke up not being able to breath. My throat is on fire. And my sinuses are enslaving me. I am such a busy person, so when I get sick its really hard for me to sit still and get better.

Looking forward to the day when I can sleep and breath normally.

-Cheers

New Ben Folds Album = Amazing!

2008-09-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Warning: For those who are offended by "cuss words" or "bad words" in music or art, feel free to ignore this post.

BEN FOLDS' Way To Normal is a daring and breath taking album that just hit stores today. Having already listened to this album and being a Ben Folds Five/Ben Folds fan for years, I am very satisfied. He really went away from his norm for this album while still providing a familiar sound. With funny, and serious creative story telling, (as always) he leaves the listener not only rocking out to the music but admiring the brilliant lyrical content.

A must buy if previously a fan of Ben Folds Five or Ben Folds.

Oh a 5 star system I would give this album a 4 out of 5 overall.

Check it

-Cheers

2008-09-22T20:52:00.001-07:00

Pagan Christianity: Exposing the Roots of Our Church Practices by Frank Viola

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
George Barna and Frank Viola collaborate in an effort to research and report the origins of many of our contemporary church practices and how they came to be from the first New Testament churches to Contemporary Churches today. This book challenges the reader to battle with some of the content and evidence as the authors unravel how the contemporary church arrived at where it is today. In many cases it was heavily influenced by Pagan beliefs while not having biblical support to explain why and how the evangelical church practices and takes positions on such things as: the church building, the order of worship, the sermon, the pastor, sunday morning dress, ministers of music, tithing, clergy salaries, baptism, the Lord's Supper and Christian Education. This book should be read with an open mind. It is a very powerful book filled with useful footnotes, leaving the reader excited to want to dig more and continue research on each topic. A must read for those interested in the origins of Contemporary Evangelical Church practice.

View all my reviews.

Fall is here

2008-09-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

Like many Monday mornings I woke up and sat out on my deck to read a good book. The beautiful thing about this Monday morning was that it was the first day of fall. And the best part was that it was apparent. While the sun was shining and the lake looked as beautiful as ever, I felt a strong cold chill the whole time I was outside. This was the first time I felt that sharp Washington cold chill in a while. It was incredibly refreshing. While many thirst and hunger for the 3 months of summer in this state, I look forward to the cold piercing nights, the gray rainy days, and the occasional snow. I love Washington Fall and Winter. I love the way the state looks during this time, I love an excuse to wear warm clothing and drink good coffee, and I love the seasonal joys that it brings. These are my seasons.

-Cheers!

Go Packers!

2008-09-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Most of those who know me know that I am a die hard Packers fan. Watching the Packers go 2-0 has been a big sigh of relief for me, knowing that I can now put my faith in the skill of a new talented starting QB. I have to admit I was not sure about how reliable Aaron Rodgers would have been. Do what you got to do kid! The real test will be next Sunday night in a game against the Cowboys who are probably the best team in the NFL right now.

Should be interesting.

-Cheers!

9/11

2008-09-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

Before the night is over i guess it wouldn't hurt to acknowledge those who serve and or lost somebody during one of the few times our nation was under attack. I remember this day. I had just decided to quit my job with Horizon Airlines to pursue College. I think I made the right decision. After this everyone I got hired on with was laid off.

But above all I hope everyone will take some time and remember how big the world is and that we are all apart of it no matter how protected we feel that we are. And above all else there is something bigger than everything most of us live for each day. Let us cast our time searching for what is bigger than our life here.

-Cheers

Never use Orbitz

2008-09-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

So my itinerary changes for my flight so bad that the only flight to get me home is the next day and they are unwilling to provide a place for me to stay. What makes it worse is that the phone operator, supervisor, and now manager cannot speak english clearly. I have no problem with a multi-cultured nation. In fact I grew up with a very diverse military community and loved it. But every American company that takes calls from Americans should provide phone operators who speak clear english. The same thing happens with DELL customer service...it drives me crazy that there would be a language barrier with Phone customer service. If anything a solution would be offering live Chat services which provide clear communication to all people.

The one company that has blown away these standards is Apple. Every time I have ever called them I don't wait on hold and they help me right away with someone who speaks clear english. Hopefully other companies will take this model from Apple when considering their customers who drop hundreds of dollars on them.

-Cheers!

Seminary?

2008-09-02T02:28:00.000-07:00

So I decided I will not go to seminary this quarter. Perhaps winter or spring. But not during the fall. The largest problem with this of course is that they have their courses laid out in order as the year goes through and most fall quarters I am unavailable. The seminary I currently attend is not the one I will most likely finish at. There are a few I am looking at for the future when I attend more full time and actually pursue finishing a masters level degree. I have a feeling that this will happen somewhere in the PDX area, but who knows.

The next question is what to do with such a degree?

Many people have asked me why I am going to seminary? My answer has always been the same. To learn more about Theology, the Bible, Church, Christian History, the role of a pastor, etc.

Then they ask, well are you going to be a pastor?

Most the time I say I don't know. This catches them off guard. But the truth is that I don't know. At first I wanted to go to aid me in my youth ministry career with the hopes of some day becoming a college professor at a Christian University/Bible School/ or some kind of Seminary.

However, lately I have been praying, thinking, strategizing about pursuing becoming a 'pastor'. Now this is kind of tricky because some people would say I am a pastor right now. It all depends on who you ask. My title says 'youth director' yet I have the role and responsibilities and expectations of a pastor. I also have to attend all of our pastoral meetings where I currently work. I personally like the title 'Youth Director' because it does give me flexibility to get out of some obligations.

Anyways....what I meant was a 'senior pastor'. But I don't think I will ever be a 'Senior Pastor', because I think I would give myself another title. I think I would plant a church that hopefully God could work through me to lead in a way that puts all the attention on him and not myself. I don't think preaching from a pulpit would be a regular weekly thing. But I think I would be interested in being a pastor over a church of people. Just in a more organic way that is heavily influence by the Christian churches pre-third century when Greek Pagan customs took over.

But who knows what will happen. It all comes back to the reason I go to seminary is to further equip and edify myself to serve God however he wants.

For all I know he will call myself and my wife to Africa someday to help in the missions field (this being her dream and not mine). In the END God will win, if I live my life right and actually listen to HIM.

So I guess this is a long answer to all those who have ever asked why to seminary.

-Cheers

Albums everyone should buy/borrow and listen to.

2008-08-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Most people who know me know that I am a bit of a music snob and love great music. I am also one to have a taste for creative indie/folk/rock.

The following are some albums I insist that everyone should listen to a couple of times through:

Explosions in the Sky- The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place (this is an instrumental album)

Sigur Ros - Meo Suo I Eyrum Vio Spilum Endalaust (this is an icelandic band)

The Frames - The Cost (this band is from Ireland)

Radiohead - In Rainbows (everyone should know who radiohead is)

Damien Rice - 9 (explicit language)

Coldplay - Viva la Vida

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

I hope you enjoy the list,

-Cheers!