Monday, October 27, 2008

Nobody Loves me Like You

Reasons for doing this below …

RULES:
1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, MP3 Player, etc. on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put any comments in brackets/w.e after the song name.
5. HAVE FUN.


How would you describe yourself?
Fad of the Land (Newsboys - I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. Times I have actually played this song according to iTunes: 0)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
Warrior (Caedmon’s Call)

How do you feel today?
You are on our Side (Bethany Dillon - More like where I want to get … more on that later)

Your life’s purpose?
Nothing but the Blood (Charlie Hall - Passion: How great is our God)

What is your motto?
It is Well With My Soul (Jennifer Knapp + Audio Adrenaline)

What do your friends think about you?
Wake Up (Leeland - point iTunes)

What do you think of your parents?
Pantala Naga Pampa (Dave Matthews Band)

What is 2 + 2?
The Marionette (Phil Keggy - I think he is playing in 4/4 though …)

What do you think of your best friends?
Inspiration (Sanctus Real)

What do you think of the person you like?
The Servant Song (Richard Gillard - I think this could turn into a blog unto itself, ironic. Sarah laugh with me … 5 points itunes)

What is your life story?
Free (Shaun McDonald - Yea … I paused here and actually listened to it: point to iTunes)

What do you want to be when you grow up?
For the Lord is Good (All Together Separate)

What do you think when you see the person you like?
You Are Holy (Michael W. Smith)

What will they play at your funeral?
Believe (Newsboys)

What is your hobby/interest?
God Only Knows (Joy Williams)

What is your biggest fear?
Candle (All Together Separate - Song about missions work)

What is your biggest secret?
Fuel (Metallica - Song about engines … hrum …)

What do you think of your friends?
Have you Ever? (Shaun McDonald)

What song best describes you?
Nick & Norah’s Theme (Mark Mothersbaugh)

What song best describes your crush?
Get Down (Audio Adreniline)

What will you post this as?
Nobody Loves me Like You (Jars of Clay)

This was done in a distraction to the following
Ords: 4, Minstrel: 0
See Question 3 ...

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Honored

So … I’m doing music for my friend’s, Chuck and Sarah, wedding, which is both exciting and kinda scary. On one hand I have had the joy of watching the two of them walk into their relationship, which has really been something beautiful to watch (and call Sarah out on it). Seeing the final step as the walk into the rest of their lives will feel like bookends.

On the scary side I have never done anything this big in terms of music and while I don’t feel any pressure now (cause I only have one song they want so far), I’m sure that I will feel much more pressured as the time gets close and as I work out how to get the musical instruments from wherever I am to Minnesota, where I’m playing, what music I need to bring, and the pile of last minute details that go into ANY event.

At the end of this whole thing I know that God will be glorified, and that stuff will work out, and that some of the mistakes will be some of the things that will be treasured and remembered for the rest of their lives.

On the plus side … I think I will have the best ‘seat’ in the house … since the wedding party will have to be standing the whole time. At least I think I will have a seat ...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Why I Could Never Play Intramural Football at Fuller



The other part of this is why I could never make Becca’s Birthday parties. Simply put, every third weekend in October I travel up or down to Pismo Beach to play football on the beach and remind myself that I’m getting older for the next two days as I recover from muscle soreness. This is an annual tradition that brings together the whole of the Fraternity that I was a part of at UCSB. There are active teams and alumni teams (commonly referred to as the ‘old-man division’ … our trophy has a walking stick attached to the Hiesman stiff arm hand.) Now before you go … ‘What … Alan in a Fraternity?!?’ it was a Christian Fraternity … that still upholds those ideals. Most of the time is spent asking about lives and what God is doing in them. Most of the alumni are dealing with kids, getting married, dealing with life, going to Masters schooling, and so on. But out of all of the guys that go through that fraternity 90% of them continue to serve and be involved in church on some level.

Either way 8 Alumni played with about another 3 to show support and just catch up on life came. And we wrecked shop…

4 games and we went 4-0 allowing only 2 touchdowns on us through the whole set of games, one by freak and fluke accident. Otherwise we scored an average of 20+ points and had about 4-5 interceptions a game. It was kinda evil. I think most of the time we had more interceptions than the other team had punts. I think the game finals were 33-6, 26-0, 19-0, 29-6. The last two were after we changed the time from 25 minutes to 20 per half … another side effect of ‘getting older.’ Basically Pismo football is like Intramural football except we are on sand, and everything is pretty much full contact. The full contact and injury issue is off set by the fact that sand makes you slower.

Running Power I formation has never been so fun :)

After what has been dubbed the ‘domination’ of Pismo we retired to the world of Roundtable for pizza and Presbyterian Beverages. It was a good time and such a fun fun time. And now we recover …

Friday, October 17, 2008

So True



From xkcd

I'm not sure if I should laugh at myself, or hang my head in shame.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Saints and Sinners

Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future

- Warren Buffet, CEO Berkshire Hathaway
(Said regarding pointing blame in middle of the worst of the economic downfall)
I remember being in high school and not quite being a Christian in the sense of I had made my own choice for Christ. At camps we would always hear about those people who had been at the bottom of the spiral and reached up to accept Christ and the sudden and somewhat dramatic shift in life. And I couldn’t identify fully with these stories. The idea of heading in the direction of ‘downward’ just to experience God’s sudden and dramatic grace didn’t seem like a good idea either. I had this strange idea that I ‘needed’ to have an emotional and somewhat spiritual engagement with God in order to be saved, even if I knew I was ‘basically’ a Christian.

Strangely enough that was about 10 years ago and I don’t think I knew the ride I would have since then. For some reason Buffet’s quote above stuck with me as I have kinda been watching the economic stuff in the background of my life. In a sense I realize that I’m not quite a saint, but I still have a past; and that I am a sinner who stands on the brink of a very unknown future. Not just in the sense of where I will get a job, but will there be a denomination that will still exist for me to go into. My adviser for all things Presbyterian told me ‘Think about the Presbytery that you get ordained into, as it could have some long range implications.’

This saddened me.

Mixed into this whole mess is a confrontation with the quote ‘Hate the sin, love the sinner.’ This is something that I used in the back of my head for a decent period of my seminary career. I was confronted with an idea (by a fuller prof) that our sin makes us who we are and to try to separate the two is not only impossible, but also insulting to the person. I realize more that my sins have long shaped the person that I have become and the person who I continue to become. This person has laid up many sacrifices of what I have wanted to say for the sake of love. They have never been easy points to reach in life, but they remain places where I seem to learn more about myself and become more and more able to accept the fact that I am not the judge, but God is.

One of the things I’m learning here in my internship is that God is using the very foolish here to confuse the wise. The unbelieving are coming forward to be baptized. The sinners are placed in charge and the church grows. The ideas that are crazy, above and beyond normal sanity, are the ideas that bring people to follow God and to enter into community. What saddens me is that most of the issues of the Presbyterian Church are on the order of detailed theology, which almost makes me angry. Not in the sense that the issues don’t need discussion, but that we have forgotten the whole mission of the church for the sake of one detail.

Do we spend too much time trying to be saints and burying our sins when we need to embrace both? In trying to become saints ... do we become the worst sinners?

Thursday, October 09, 2008

6am

So … I figured it out finally.

Now most of the people who read this blog on a regular basis know about my internal 6am alarm clock. I wake up then if I want to or not and then have the option of going back to sleep. It is to the point where I don’t need an alarm clock to wake up. Even worse is the fact that my body will normally wake up before that in a state of semi-awake which leads to some interesting ends to dreams.

Now depending on when I went to bed I will either get up or roll over and go back to sleep. Most of the time I do the former however there are occasions that I will my body back into a state of slumber. Much of this last week has been that way, I have figured out going back to bed is not the healthy response to me waking up.

My normal mode of operation is that of a patient and slow moving turtle (although I have a jet pack for emergencies). Waking up at 6am gives me time to start my day without a rush of things to do, without a need to feel like I’m behind, and simmer into consciousness rather than being flung off the deep end. Basically I am a happy camper rather than a grumpy camper. I tend to think ‘clearer’ and have time to do all the things I like to do in the morning (like read my comics and play a few games) and not have to leave them till later, when they become distractions rather than fun.

I also have a time to center life around peace and calm rather than panic and insanity that then leads into the rest of the day. Yea I’m a morning person, but I’m finding more and more that is helps me to be who I am without the need take time out of the day to catch up, but rather I have time to rest when there is space between one thing and another. Being ‘Terminally Early’ isn’t a bad thing, it gives time for life to catch up to you, to close your eyes and allow God to become the renewed center of the day.



The Sabbath is limited to a single day, but rather a place of rest. What if we took 2 hrs out of the day to just focus on God (24hrs - 8hrs sleep =16 … 1 hr per 7 hrs = 2 hrs total). Not in study, but in reflection, prayer, company, and joy; all the things that we ‘enjoy’ in life. To take the scenic route, and enjoy the ride.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

So what’s going on in Paso?

I’m glad you asked :)

So aside from my ‘cut short’ last post, life is actually really good. I have my first ‘what I’m really going to be doing during my internship’ meeting on Tuesday (10/7) where I will be sitting down with a group of Pentecostals who have found themselves in a Presbyterian Church … suckers. But seriously I will be in charge of empowering these people to do the ministry of compassion and reconciliation. How I’m supposed to do that … I’m not entirely sure, but me and my other half are going to get on our knees, pray and see what happens. The church itself is in a huge transition as it is moving from rented apartments and will be moving into its permanent offices near the end of this month. I got here just in time to see one of the large scale events take place.

Clicking ->here<- will pull up two videos, one is a mock staff meeting that is funny on a couple of levels, I don’t think you even have to know the staff to get some of the jokes. The second is actually footage from the event and it was lots of fun (but really cold).

This month will prove to be just as busy as we have two events. The first is a concert that the church’s praise band will be putting on to have tickets help pay for the building fund. Should be lots of fun and the praise band is pretty talented in terms of creativity and musicians, but they will probably do mostly cover songs. I don’t think the worship director has had time to write some of his own stuff yet. He is a busy guy.

The second requires some set up. The pastor here is a true blood Scotsman: plays bagpipes, owns a kilt, has a good accent when he summons it up … whole nine yards… yes on Guinness. So they have an annual Kirkin of the Tartan. Which is basically a bagpiper band in service with kilts. I might have pictures soon enough, as disturbing as that might be to some people who read this … I’m sorry, I’ll give you fair warning.