I am a nerd.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Names
I’m writing this as I wanted to use it for my film paper on The Final Cut, but found that I couldn’t fit it in thematically or logically, but most of all I need to get it out of my head so I can finish my thought processes.
When I look back and remember things I have learned or experiences I have had they normally have a name associated with them. For example: When I encountered God for what was the first ‘real’ time the names of Bart Tarman(former chaplain of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA) and Jill Pole are some of the first things that come to mind, more so Jill. In the two times I have had to move away from people who were very close friends I have simply told them to remember my name as it has more power than anything I have ever told them. I mean think about it: as Christians use the name of Jesus there is a certain understanding of what his life was like, we sometimes forget the tiny details. We can remember the major events, the type of person he was, and what his goals in life were. Jesus sent his disciples out ‘In his name’ knowing that he would be with the disciples if they remembered and spoke of Jesus himself.
I could list out probably 50 names of people that have directly affected me. Not many of them would be people who I barely knew and spoke from a pulpit once a week. Some people would have two names that mean two entirely different things. All of these are the names of friends who have shaped and molded my life whether they know it or not. The memories I have shared and remember are the things I treasure.
The premise behind The Final Cut is that technology has the ability to record all the visual and audio sounds that a person experiences over their lifetime. When the die those memories are stored in a computer file and then a person makes a movie of their life. The person who makes the movie is not involved with the family and has a huge computer to aid him in the film making process. The conflict of the movie revolves around how should people remember each other. Do you have a life distilled down by someone who has no emotional attachment; or do you remember what you have in your mind?
I have been to only one funeral in my lifetime. It was with someone who I barely knew, but after coming out I knew how the rest of the room felt. The memories and emotions that those in the room felt transmitted more than the words they spoke. Sometimes that which is unsaid speaks more than what is.
My name is Alan, my friends call me Cletus, and my closest friends call me a dork. And I embrace each of these with much joy.
When I look back and remember things I have learned or experiences I have had they normally have a name associated with them. For example: When I encountered God for what was the first ‘real’ time the names of Bart Tarman(former chaplain of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA) and Jill Pole are some of the first things that come to mind, more so Jill. In the two times I have had to move away from people who were very close friends I have simply told them to remember my name as it has more power than anything I have ever told them. I mean think about it: as Christians use the name of Jesus there is a certain understanding of what his life was like, we sometimes forget the tiny details. We can remember the major events, the type of person he was, and what his goals in life were. Jesus sent his disciples out ‘In his name’ knowing that he would be with the disciples if they remembered and spoke of Jesus himself.
I could list out probably 50 names of people that have directly affected me. Not many of them would be people who I barely knew and spoke from a pulpit once a week. Some people would have two names that mean two entirely different things. All of these are the names of friends who have shaped and molded my life whether they know it or not. The memories I have shared and remember are the things I treasure.
The premise behind The Final Cut is that technology has the ability to record all the visual and audio sounds that a person experiences over their lifetime. When the die those memories are stored in a computer file and then a person makes a movie of their life. The person who makes the movie is not involved with the family and has a huge computer to aid him in the film making process. The conflict of the movie revolves around how should people remember each other. Do you have a life distilled down by someone who has no emotional attachment; or do you remember what you have in your mind?
I have been to only one funeral in my lifetime. It was with someone who I barely knew, but after coming out I knew how the rest of the room felt. The memories and emotions that those in the room felt transmitted more than the words they spoke. Sometimes that which is unsaid speaks more than what is.
My name is Alan, my friends call me Cletus, and my closest friends call me a dork. And I embrace each of these with much joy.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Concerting …
I’m kinda a music guy. At any given point there is music playing in the background, even if everyone else can’t hear it, and I have really really cool background music. I don’t quite have enough money to hire a band to walk behind me and play ‘walking music’ but I can imagine.
Anywho Summer is normally the time for going to concerts since I have free time. I say normally as this year I missed my annual trip to the world of Spirit West Coast - Think Woodstock but all Christian artists. I just got a phone call from my normal partner in crime and got a report from this year’s trip and I must say that I am very angry that I was taking class, and I might just have to take 8 units next summer. I don’t want to discuss specific bands that I missed, as even in going I miss bands that I want to see only because there are three stages going on at the same time.
The Joust (As told by ‘the champ,’ exaggerated by me):
It is a long standing tradition that junior and senior high school students like beating up on their youth leaders. So the bet has become this: If one of them can beat up my buddy they are entitled to a free ‘vendor food’ of their choice, if they loose they become errand boy for the leader for one meal (leader pays). My buddy is about 5’ 10” and about 220 lbs, I am 5’10” just under 200. I am the gatekeeper, and they have to get past me to get to him, and I am undefeated. I have made more of my students look stupid than I care to admit, and I enjoyed it very much.
The joust is not our medieval joust in the sense of horses and lances; it is basically a wooden pole with really soft pillows wrapped around the end so no one gets hurt. Well except for one’s ego, but that already got hurt during the preflight trash talk.
This year I was not there, so my buddy replaced my with a very energetic 5’5”ish 120ish lbs (this is mostly from the last time I saw her a year ago) angel of a girl who graduated from high school a couple of years ago. Nice girl, no real Joust experience. So the champ is called to do battle (he is only the champ because the High schoolers want a piece of him more than they want a piece of me.) On the podium is the high school kid who really wants a piece of my buddy. I think this kid is 5’7” ish 130-140lbs and just a scrappy fighter. The kid is all set and joust in hand standing waiting to do battle. My buddy puts on his headgear, climbs up, and reaches down for the joust. At this moment the kid takes a swing while the champ is off balance…
The champ’s nickname when he is not jousting is “The Bear.” And the general rule is that “Don’t poke the bear or he will maul you.”
… and it was called the poke heard round the ring, as the crowd knew the result of the fight. The bear decided to ‘play with his food’ before putting it down, but the Kid did get his chance.
My Dad the rock star:
Audio Adrenaline is on it’s farewell tour and will not be a band at the end of this year. This is mostly due to the lead singer Mark Stuart’s voice basically being spent to the point there is scar tissue (I think). So the group made some “Adios” T-Shirts to wish the band goodbye and they all wore them to the concert. (They have obviously not watched PCU.) Their big hit “Big House” they normally do in concert and then at the end they have someone from the audience sing the last word.
My dad is a self-proclaimed geezer, he has made T-shirts and hats (I have a hat,) and SWC has a ‘good seats’ option where you can pay extra cash to be right up next to the stage. He and ‘his’ partner in crime purchased two of said seats. At the point in the song when the last line was to be sung, Mark hops down into the crowd and PULLS MY DAD UP ON STAGE. If I was younger than I am today, I think I would be embarrassed. So on stage, my dad gets to sing the last note of “Big House” I can only imagine it will be coming soon to a sermon example near you. I have been told there are pictures to record this event, and I just hope they are not cell phone pictures.
Casting Crowns:
I did make a road trip up to see Casting Crowns in concert with two friends and aside from the crazy drive (till 2am) we had a good time. I enjoyed a good time of touring the Mid-state fair and just getting away from school and out of LA. It was a nice change of scenery and in general a very worshipful evening that gave me a nice spiritual recharge after my vacation week of physical recharge. (More on vacation when I think about it)
Minor Things:
Newsboys: Rumor has it that with their new ‘non-worship’ album the greatest gift to a drummer is making a comeback to their set. Describing it would not do it justice. It must be seen to be believed. I’m getting giddy just thinking about it.
Anywho Summer is normally the time for going to concerts since I have free time. I say normally as this year I missed my annual trip to the world of Spirit West Coast - Think Woodstock but all Christian artists. I just got a phone call from my normal partner in crime and got a report from this year’s trip and I must say that I am very angry that I was taking class, and I might just have to take 8 units next summer. I don’t want to discuss specific bands that I missed, as even in going I miss bands that I want to see only because there are three stages going on at the same time.
The Joust (As told by ‘the champ,’ exaggerated by me):
It is a long standing tradition that junior and senior high school students like beating up on their youth leaders. So the bet has become this: If one of them can beat up my buddy they are entitled to a free ‘vendor food’ of their choice, if they loose they become errand boy for the leader for one meal (leader pays). My buddy is about 5’ 10” and about 220 lbs, I am 5’10” just under 200. I am the gatekeeper, and they have to get past me to get to him, and I am undefeated. I have made more of my students look stupid than I care to admit, and I enjoyed it very much.
The joust is not our medieval joust in the sense of horses and lances; it is basically a wooden pole with really soft pillows wrapped around the end so no one gets hurt. Well except for one’s ego, but that already got hurt during the preflight trash talk.
This year I was not there, so my buddy replaced my with a very energetic 5’5”ish 120ish lbs (this is mostly from the last time I saw her a year ago) angel of a girl who graduated from high school a couple of years ago. Nice girl, no real Joust experience. So the champ is called to do battle (he is only the champ because the High schoolers want a piece of him more than they want a piece of me.) On the podium is the high school kid who really wants a piece of my buddy. I think this kid is 5’7” ish 130-140lbs and just a scrappy fighter. The kid is all set and joust in hand standing waiting to do battle. My buddy puts on his headgear, climbs up, and reaches down for the joust. At this moment the kid takes a swing while the champ is off balance…
The champ’s nickname when he is not jousting is “The Bear.” And the general rule is that “Don’t poke the bear or he will maul you.”
… and it was called the poke heard round the ring, as the crowd knew the result of the fight. The bear decided to ‘play with his food’ before putting it down, but the Kid did get his chance.
My Dad the rock star:
Audio Adrenaline is on it’s farewell tour and will not be a band at the end of this year. This is mostly due to the lead singer Mark Stuart’s voice basically being spent to the point there is scar tissue (I think). So the group made some “Adios” T-Shirts to wish the band goodbye and they all wore them to the concert. (They have obviously not watched PCU.) Their big hit “Big House” they normally do in concert and then at the end they have someone from the audience sing the last word.
My dad is a self-proclaimed geezer, he has made T-shirts and hats (I have a hat,) and SWC has a ‘good seats’ option where you can pay extra cash to be right up next to the stage. He and ‘his’ partner in crime purchased two of said seats. At the point in the song when the last line was to be sung, Mark hops down into the crowd and PULLS MY DAD UP ON STAGE. If I was younger than I am today, I think I would be embarrassed. So on stage, my dad gets to sing the last note of “Big House” I can only imagine it will be coming soon to a sermon example near you. I have been told there are pictures to record this event, and I just hope they are not cell phone pictures.
Casting Crowns:
I did make a road trip up to see Casting Crowns in concert with two friends and aside from the crazy drive (till 2am) we had a good time. I enjoyed a good time of touring the Mid-state fair and just getting away from school and out of LA. It was a nice change of scenery and in general a very worshipful evening that gave me a nice spiritual recharge after my vacation week of physical recharge. (More on vacation when I think about it)
Minor Things:
Newsboys: Rumor has it that with their new ‘non-worship’ album the greatest gift to a drummer is making a comeback to their set. Describing it would not do it justice. It must be seen to be believed. I’m getting giddy just thinking about it.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Movies, Movies, Movies
I am on two weeks of vacation, and have been spending my money wisely. Good things (movies in this case) always come in threes and we go from funny to serious … I think. Please note that I hate receiving spoilers about movies I know I am going to see, so I will elude to spoilers, but not specifically come out an say it.
Cars - Fun
First off: Its P I X A R … that is all you need to know. If you have not seen this movie you need to seek another website that displays movie times and pick one.
I think the best part of this movie is the part dealing with a play on one of the greatest urban myths around. I will say no more, and if you see it coming, you will still enjoy it. All in all there are so many great moments within the movie, and make sure you stay around for the credits. Pixar has a superstition about John Ratzenberger that I never knew until I watched the commentary for The Incredibles. The part on the commentary is pretty much in the very last part of The Incredibles. Then again, you might be able to figure it out during the credits of Cars.
Final Comment: This movie will be added to my collection the day it comes out on DVD.
Pirates 2 - Scary fun
(Deep breath in, Deep breath out) I wish I could do an acrostic using the word amazing to describe my enjoyment of this movie. Between a furthering of the storyline (not going to say plot) and nice twist at the end I wait for the finale next summer with slightly less expectation than I had with Return of the King.
I appreciated some of the camera angle and the creativity of presenting some of the situations. On the top of my list is the organ, the watermill, and most of Davey Jones’ ship. However this movie is not for the faint of heart and is much ‘darker’ than the first one.
Final Comment: Now and again someone comes out with a very good review on a movie, this is pure satire by your neighborhood ninja. Also there is a post credits thing that is a final joke.
Saved - Scary serious
Ok a slightly older movie that I haven’t seen, but I have to watch it for my class in August so I figured I would get a head start on it. While I’m sure I will be watching it two or so more times before mid August, I can say that I will be enjoying the time spent. Aside from being enjoyable and a couple of years old, it is so modern that it defies logic. I wish I could call this movie satire, but I know people that are like some of the characters in this movie. Most of them I haven’t seen in a long time and are really only second hand information.
I have watched it twice now (second time with the two main actress’ commentary) and working through some of the deep questions, and how perception and intention got blurred. Also how some times lines come across as a natural understanding have quite a different meaning if the brain is skewed just right. (It is in the scene where the HS pastor is talking to his son). In the end you have every character dealing with real life issues. Hits closer to home than is sometimes comfortable.
Final Comment: Good movie, makes you think. Not quite a Dogma thinking, but in my future dealings with a youth group I’m sure this will come up.
Cars - Fun
First off: Its P I X A R … that is all you need to know. If you have not seen this movie you need to seek another website that displays movie times and pick one.
I think the best part of this movie is the part dealing with a play on one of the greatest urban myths around. I will say no more, and if you see it coming, you will still enjoy it. All in all there are so many great moments within the movie, and make sure you stay around for the credits. Pixar has a superstition about John Ratzenberger that I never knew until I watched the commentary for The Incredibles. The part on the commentary is pretty much in the very last part of The Incredibles. Then again, you might be able to figure it out during the credits of Cars.
Final Comment: This movie will be added to my collection the day it comes out on DVD.
Pirates 2 - Scary fun
(Deep breath in, Deep breath out) I wish I could do an acrostic using the word amazing to describe my enjoyment of this movie. Between a furthering of the storyline (not going to say plot) and nice twist at the end I wait for the finale next summer with slightly less expectation than I had with Return of the King.
I appreciated some of the camera angle and the creativity of presenting some of the situations. On the top of my list is the organ, the watermill, and most of Davey Jones’ ship. However this movie is not for the faint of heart and is much ‘darker’ than the first one.
Final Comment: Now and again someone comes out with a very good review on a movie, this is pure satire by your neighborhood ninja. Also there is a post credits thing that is a final joke.
Saved - Scary serious
Ok a slightly older movie that I haven’t seen, but I have to watch it for my class in August so I figured I would get a head start on it. While I’m sure I will be watching it two or so more times before mid August, I can say that I will be enjoying the time spent. Aside from being enjoyable and a couple of years old, it is so modern that it defies logic. I wish I could call this movie satire, but I know people that are like some of the characters in this movie. Most of them I haven’t seen in a long time and are really only second hand information.
I have watched it twice now (second time with the two main actress’ commentary) and working through some of the deep questions, and how perception and intention got blurred. Also how some times lines come across as a natural understanding have quite a different meaning if the brain is skewed just right. (It is in the scene where the HS pastor is talking to his son). In the end you have every character dealing with real life issues. Hits closer to home than is sometimes comfortable.
Final Comment: Good movie, makes you think. Not quite a Dogma thinking, but in my future dealings with a youth group I’m sure this will come up.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Superman Returns
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. For your consideration I leave you with my thousand words.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Stones
Friday!!!!!!
Ok so I just experienced what 10 weeks feels like condensed into 2 weeks. It is a little nuts. Luckily for me my next two-week session doesn’t start till Wednesday (pending getting an email) so I have time to work through some stuff, but there really is only one thing: The group presentation project that we had to do for class, and the naivety that I have about the church.
Our project description was to present a bible study for seminary students that would go beyond what a normal bible study did and to push the people in the crowd to make a decision to actually do something about it. We did John 8:1-11 … The Stoning of the Adulterous Woman. Not something easy to do, but we felt very strongly about it. So we went for it, and our goal was to make the class look at the woman as the adulterous church rather than just a sinner. The link was drawn from the OT idea that Israel was called an adulterous bride in that they had turned away from God.
Rewind to Thursday: So we passed out rocks to everyone in the class … and then said this:
Sin exists in the church, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sometimes it is a person, sometimes it is a doctrine, and sometimes it is ‘the way things are.’ Some of us have heard of churches that have fallen because of sin. Rory spoke two days ago about picking your battles within a church. Think about the battles that you want to fight, but just are not able to with the resources you have. Do they get under your skin? Do they keep you awake at night? Do you clench your fists till your knuckles turn white? Do you sit in your car yelling at God?
Perhaps the church has done something that has hurt you. I have a scar on my arm from when I broke my arm but this scar might be on your heart. Do you see it from time to time as you look inward? Has the wound healed? Is it still open? Is it festering with infection?
Lets come back to the passage, and put yourself in the place of the crowd (if you have difficultly doing that just pick your rock up.) Your standing there getting a good grip. Maybe picking a sharp side that you want to end up hitting her. Now that you have your grip, your eyes rise up off the rock and look up to see the woman. But is not the woman you see but the church that has hurt you, or drives you nuts. That something or someone embodied there. What do you see? The accusers are talking to someone on the side, but there it is, helpless, cant move, point blank, it’s a free shot.
After some more discussion we changed the point of view from the crowd to that of Christ. We had everyone look at their rocks and give a name to the rock in the form of the hurt or the thing. We went on to point out that Jesus acknowledge the woman's sin, and while the crowd had every right to throw stones, Jesus showed grace. We put a bucket up in the front and let people come up and drop their rocks if they wanted too, and gave them room to state what it was. I cried at some of the responses I heard
- I need to let God judge his own church
- The church that wasn’t there for me
- The church that sucked the life out of my family
- The church that destroyed the pastor’s marriage
- Fake Christians
- We have to be whole before we can make others whole.
If it were not for the fact that I had to catch up with some homework I would have done this yesterday. There were a few people who slammed their rocks down, others who just went up and were barely able to hold themselves together.
I do not claim that this short summary can even come close to the atmosphere of the room, but the hurts that were there were real.
Come back to Friday: I saw one of the rocks in class. It brought me hope. After the last of the presentations our professor got up and lost it, all the presentations hit very close to home in so many lives of the class that the class was for the better. Beyond just our presentation the Holy Spirit showed up each day in the sense that the groups that were on the same day, set up and complemented each other. We did not have a time for presentations but we had a teaching by the Holy Spirit. Our professor had to stop slight and collect herself some, and then she blessed us.
From this issues we discussed, we will need it.
Ok so I just experienced what 10 weeks feels like condensed into 2 weeks. It is a little nuts. Luckily for me my next two-week session doesn’t start till Wednesday (pending getting an email) so I have time to work through some stuff, but there really is only one thing: The group presentation project that we had to do for class, and the naivety that I have about the church.
Our project description was to present a bible study for seminary students that would go beyond what a normal bible study did and to push the people in the crowd to make a decision to actually do something about it. We did John 8:1-11 … The Stoning of the Adulterous Woman. Not something easy to do, but we felt very strongly about it. So we went for it, and our goal was to make the class look at the woman as the adulterous church rather than just a sinner. The link was drawn from the OT idea that Israel was called an adulterous bride in that they had turned away from God.
Rewind to Thursday: So we passed out rocks to everyone in the class … and then said this:
Sin exists in the church, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sometimes it is a person, sometimes it is a doctrine, and sometimes it is ‘the way things are.’ Some of us have heard of churches that have fallen because of sin. Rory spoke two days ago about picking your battles within a church. Think about the battles that you want to fight, but just are not able to with the resources you have. Do they get under your skin? Do they keep you awake at night? Do you clench your fists till your knuckles turn white? Do you sit in your car yelling at God?
Perhaps the church has done something that has hurt you. I have a scar on my arm from when I broke my arm but this scar might be on your heart. Do you see it from time to time as you look inward? Has the wound healed? Is it still open? Is it festering with infection?
Lets come back to the passage, and put yourself in the place of the crowd (if you have difficultly doing that just pick your rock up.) Your standing there getting a good grip. Maybe picking a sharp side that you want to end up hitting her. Now that you have your grip, your eyes rise up off the rock and look up to see the woman. But is not the woman you see but the church that has hurt you, or drives you nuts. That something or someone embodied there. What do you see? The accusers are talking to someone on the side, but there it is, helpless, cant move, point blank, it’s a free shot.
After some more discussion we changed the point of view from the crowd to that of Christ. We had everyone look at their rocks and give a name to the rock in the form of the hurt or the thing. We went on to point out that Jesus acknowledge the woman's sin, and while the crowd had every right to throw stones, Jesus showed grace. We put a bucket up in the front and let people come up and drop their rocks if they wanted too, and gave them room to state what it was. I cried at some of the responses I heard
- I need to let God judge his own church
- The church that wasn’t there for me
- The church that sucked the life out of my family
- The church that destroyed the pastor’s marriage
- Fake Christians
- We have to be whole before we can make others whole.
If it were not for the fact that I had to catch up with some homework I would have done this yesterday. There were a few people who slammed their rocks down, others who just went up and were barely able to hold themselves together.
I do not claim that this short summary can even come close to the atmosphere of the room, but the hurts that were there were real.
Come back to Friday: I saw one of the rocks in class. It brought me hope. After the last of the presentations our professor got up and lost it, all the presentations hit very close to home in so many lives of the class that the class was for the better. Beyond just our presentation the Holy Spirit showed up each day in the sense that the groups that were on the same day, set up and complemented each other. We did not have a time for presentations but we had a teaching by the Holy Spirit. Our professor had to stop slight and collect herself some, and then she blessed us.
From this issues we discussed, we will need it.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Post Finals Sanity
If such a thing exists… Mostly I am just tired of seeing my cynical blog up when I really don’t feel like that anymore. That and the more and more I look at it was a combination of final’s stress and paper writing. After I got my head screwed back on straight everything was fine. I has been a long, busy, but rewarding weekend.
Friday
This was the last day of paper writing, but I was done by around noon and had the rest of the afternoon to take a nap and then I got to go to my introduction to working commencement on Saturday. I had my first night where I was not worried about anything except getting a good chunk of rest. The guitar was out and I was very very very thankful and I probably could have sung for hours, if not for being exhausted, and having to get up at 5:15...
Saturday
To be at commencement by 6:15, looking shaven and pretty like. In the end I think I got the easy job doing student line up. I saw some of the ushers, they were having ‘fun’ and making sure others were sharing in the ‘fun’ More than anything I learned how not to screw up my on graduation some years ahead of me. By 1:30pm we were done both mentally and physically. I came home had some munchies, got a second shower, and just staggered around my apartment. By about 4 I finally figured out that I could actually enjoy my evening, so I decided to pick up a book I bought at the beginning of summer to read at some point, but never did: Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
Now I wasn’t always a seminary student, in fact I have the driver’s license to prove I was a nerd (In the nicest sense of the word). Stopping 30 minutes for dinner, and an hour when two buddies showed up, I went to bed at midnight having read the book cover to cover. I look at my iTunes and I went through 5 Caedmon’s Call Albums, 2 Casting Crowns Albums, and 2 Chris Tomlin Albums, with timestamps to show for my marathon reading. Ender’s Game resonated with me on so many different levels I am still working through some of the relationships and deceptions that are in that book. On some levels it reminds me of seminary, on another the idea of relationships. The book is basically a wartime strategy type of book and the one exchange that stuck out early in the book and then emphasized the point throughout was this:
“Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive”
“That’s a lie.”
“No. It’s just a half-truth. You can worry about the other half after we win this war.”
The more I try to process through this concept, the more and more I see the truth in it. In a sense it frightens me as well when I slowly begin to grasp the full measure of it’s worth. I had been told by many that I needed to read this book, and after doing so, it will be one of the few books that I will read again.
Sunday
I went to morning service at Cornerstone Bible Church in Glendora, where my roommate from college works as the worship pastor and youth director. It was a well-rewarded trip of worship, and fellowship. One of my older high school students from Santa Barbara was in town and we had a good talk before we parted ways, but an afternoon among believers and sharing a meal was a much-needed rest. I left my apartment roughly at 10:30, attended 11am service and got home around quarter to 4, and then promptly took a nap. I was reminded again of the importance of fellowship, and the power that it has to relax me and remind me of why I am paying as much money as I am to get an education that will drive me nuts. This trip was refreshing, renewing, and a reminder.
The rest of the day was relaxing as I got to see some other friends that were now done with finals, I get to watch the US world cup game in the morning, and I have a whole week to recover from this quarter before diving back in to the books. I think I might need it.
Friday
This was the last day of paper writing, but I was done by around noon and had the rest of the afternoon to take a nap and then I got to go to my introduction to working commencement on Saturday. I had my first night where I was not worried about anything except getting a good chunk of rest. The guitar was out and I was very very very thankful and I probably could have sung for hours, if not for being exhausted, and having to get up at 5:15...
Saturday
To be at commencement by 6:15, looking shaven and pretty like. In the end I think I got the easy job doing student line up. I saw some of the ushers, they were having ‘fun’ and making sure others were sharing in the ‘fun’ More than anything I learned how not to screw up my on graduation some years ahead of me. By 1:30pm we were done both mentally and physically. I came home had some munchies, got a second shower, and just staggered around my apartment. By about 4 I finally figured out that I could actually enjoy my evening, so I decided to pick up a book I bought at the beginning of summer to read at some point, but never did: Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
Now I wasn’t always a seminary student, in fact I have the driver’s license to prove I was a nerd (In the nicest sense of the word). Stopping 30 minutes for dinner, and an hour when two buddies showed up, I went to bed at midnight having read the book cover to cover. I look at my iTunes and I went through 5 Caedmon’s Call Albums, 2 Casting Crowns Albums, and 2 Chris Tomlin Albums, with timestamps to show for my marathon reading. Ender’s Game resonated with me on so many different levels I am still working through some of the relationships and deceptions that are in that book. On some levels it reminds me of seminary, on another the idea of relationships. The book is basically a wartime strategy type of book and the one exchange that stuck out early in the book and then emphasized the point throughout was this:
“Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive”
“That’s a lie.”
“No. It’s just a half-truth. You can worry about the other half after we win this war.”
The more I try to process through this concept, the more and more I see the truth in it. In a sense it frightens me as well when I slowly begin to grasp the full measure of it’s worth. I had been told by many that I needed to read this book, and after doing so, it will be one of the few books that I will read again.
Sunday
I went to morning service at Cornerstone Bible Church in Glendora, where my roommate from college works as the worship pastor and youth director. It was a well-rewarded trip of worship, and fellowship. One of my older high school students from Santa Barbara was in town and we had a good talk before we parted ways, but an afternoon among believers and sharing a meal was a much-needed rest. I left my apartment roughly at 10:30, attended 11am service and got home around quarter to 4, and then promptly took a nap. I was reminded again of the importance of fellowship, and the power that it has to relax me and remind me of why I am paying as much money as I am to get an education that will drive me nuts. This trip was refreshing, renewing, and a reminder.
The rest of the day was relaxing as I got to see some other friends that were now done with finals, I get to watch the US world cup game in the morning, and I have a whole week to recover from this quarter before diving back in to the books. I think I might need it.
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