First I would like to thank Jenn Moore for indirectly reminding me of one of my great childhood joys. On evening when I needed to ask her something I saw her away message of “Goodnight moon” which triggered the memory one of my favorite after school cartoons … Animaniacs. The trigger was directed around a remake of that line into “Nighty night toon.” This series has given me much joy in remaking a variety of already funny jokes even funnier. I’m not sure why but falling anvils are funny, and I have not seen that level of comedic writing in quite some time.
So ….
Good Idea: Driving home after you go to church.
Bad Idea: Driving home after you go to a 3 hour evening concert at church.
I went home (again) to play in the annual fraternity flag football tourney on the blistering sandbar of Pismo Beach. (Say that last like a la Chris Burmen and it will make sense) My intention was to play football Saturday, go to church on Sunday and then drive home to recover. I found out that there was a spare ticket (or two) and could think of about any number of reasons to NOT go to the concert.
[The concert in question involved 4 bands: Last Tuesday (as opposed to Late Tuesday), John Ruben, Sanctus Real, and Superchic[k]. The last two are on my normal rotation of music listening, the second I have heard of but not investigated, and the first I had only heard of.]
Needless to say (well maybe it does) I really didn’t care about my physical and mental well-being … So I went to church again. Hey it still fell in my line of planning of going home after church … well minus the recover part.
I have no regrets about going to the concert, other than the insanity that I demonstrated this morning, and might be having right now, but I might need a third opinion since the first two are my own.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Shock and Awe
So I went home this weekend to work for my mom and support my Seminary habit. While I have never seen the Disneyland fireworks extravaganza, I have seen fireworks. The drive home put them to shame. I was very thankful for prayer right before driving home. I hadn’t even gotten to the 101/405 interchange before seeing two accidents and hitting traffic. Not my favorite way to start a trip. Round about Santa Barbara the show began.
Most of the time my drives home are moments of reflection, and contemplation, or arguing. I had much to contemplate on the drive home but it kinda got pushed to the side. God was doing some late night artwork in the form of an electrical storm. Lightning alone is somewhat intimidating; it is bright, scary, and can kill you. Yet God was at work lighting up the sky with stroke after stroke after magnificent stroke.
Traveling over Cachuma Pass (shortcut that I take that goes up into the mountains above Santa Barbara) I had the storm displayed before me. Bending arcs, crawling arcs, Arcs that would strike, and then another would 1 second later, but the sky where the first strike was still black because your eyes were still temporarily blind. It wasn’t raining either, and I could still see the stars in the sky. Now and again lightning would arc but not be visible and polarize a white background with black clouds in front. Red tinted strikes, blue tinted strikes. Strikes that would synchronize with the music I was playing.
The teaching part came in 3 different strikes (no pun intended). The first was the fact that I had Tomlin’s Indescribable playing at one point and understood maybe for the first time the truth of that song. The second was a concept of God’s creation from my Pentateuch class and the ‘speaking’ light into darkness. Granted I had headlights, and orange dials showing some light as well as random lights from small towns, but they were pale in comparison. There is only one thing that I know of in human creation that can light up the sky like lightning: It ended one war, was the cause of another that was more of a race, and is in the news on the other side of the ocean. The last part came when I reached Santa Maria and the storm was overhead getting more of the ‘Awe’ part of the storm. Having the world go from dark to daylight to dark again is a little startling, if not creepy. I was reminded of many of the first sayings of angels who appear to people: ‘Do not fear’ when in a more direct meaning awe is a fearful reverence.
I normally get reminders when I have forgotten something…
Most of the time my drives home are moments of reflection, and contemplation, or arguing. I had much to contemplate on the drive home but it kinda got pushed to the side. God was doing some late night artwork in the form of an electrical storm. Lightning alone is somewhat intimidating; it is bright, scary, and can kill you. Yet God was at work lighting up the sky with stroke after stroke after magnificent stroke.
Traveling over Cachuma Pass (shortcut that I take that goes up into the mountains above Santa Barbara) I had the storm displayed before me. Bending arcs, crawling arcs, Arcs that would strike, and then another would 1 second later, but the sky where the first strike was still black because your eyes were still temporarily blind. It wasn’t raining either, and I could still see the stars in the sky. Now and again lightning would arc but not be visible and polarize a white background with black clouds in front. Red tinted strikes, blue tinted strikes. Strikes that would synchronize with the music I was playing.
The teaching part came in 3 different strikes (no pun intended). The first was the fact that I had Tomlin’s Indescribable playing at one point and understood maybe for the first time the truth of that song. The second was a concept of God’s creation from my Pentateuch class and the ‘speaking’ light into darkness. Granted I had headlights, and orange dials showing some light as well as random lights from small towns, but they were pale in comparison. There is only one thing that I know of in human creation that can light up the sky like lightning: It ended one war, was the cause of another that was more of a race, and is in the news on the other side of the ocean. The last part came when I reached Santa Maria and the storm was overhead getting more of the ‘Awe’ part of the storm. Having the world go from dark to daylight to dark again is a little startling, if not creepy. I was reminded of many of the first sayings of angels who appear to people: ‘Do not fear’ when in a more direct meaning awe is a fearful reverence.
I normally get reminders when I have forgotten something…
Monday, October 02, 2006
Climbing out From Under the Pile
Oh … I’m sorry, have you been looking here for me? I’ve been a little busy and things are kinda a mess around here. But I’ll try to catch you up to speed. The last two weeks have been a little nutty and if I seem to be a few screws short that is because they fell off somewhere along the way.
Orientation Week
I got a job working on-call for ATC at Fuller (Audio/Video tech for the campus) I worked three larger events and got to use some random fun stuff that they have. (rear projector screens are interesting) I got to play with the sound gear at First Cong. as well as see what goes into a weekly Travis chapel service when my first job was doing sound for the staff/faculty chapel.
The more and more I hear Dr. Mouw speak the more and more I like him and what he stands for. The man has stories and life experiences that are almost surreal in the grand scheme of things. The man has been everywhere, done more than a few things that are worthy of note, is in conversation with more people than I would be able to count, and at the same time has a sound and firm understanding in his faith. The man has a theology centered on the third verse of hymns, but more than anything he is a storyteller; something I aspire to be in my ministry.
First week o’ School
Classes are going to be a wonderful experience this quarter. I have good friends in every class that I am in, as well as getting to know a few new students in Church history. Greek is going to be enjoyable and difficult at the same time. Church history is going to be 1 part history, 1 part theology, and 1 part comedy, season with doughnuts, simmer at medium heat till ready. Pentateuch is going to be a little slower, but I think as we get moving it will start to interest me more as we get to the narrative sections. Foundations: I’m still slightly bitter about this class for other reasons, but in the end I think it will be a good time. I have a group of people that I know all but two of them through other relations.
Then there was the BBQ
Much fun was had, I got the hard question of “If you were able to take over a character in a movie, who would you be?” While I answered Han Solo, the real answer is Malcolm Reynolds from Serenity. Some of you are sick of my Serenity shtick; what you have to know is that you’re just going to have to deal with it. I’m not sure anyone else at the BBQ would have known who he was.
I can educate you on Serenity, but expect that it will take up at least 2 hours for movie watching for the basic course, and if you want to see more, then plan on a weekly event. Enrolment is free, and you get 4 units that will not transfer or apply to any degree program other than that of being a nerd.
What did we learn? (plays veggie tales lesson music)
And so what we have learned applies to our lives today, and God has a lot to say in His Book.
Yes, I did Google these words, and yes I'm posting them here.
You see, we know that God's Word is for everyone; and now that our song is done, we'll take a look.
I’m writing this at the end of the weekend, I have had a nap each day as the physical tiredness of the week finally caught up to me. They were two good weeks, and more than anything I had to trust in God to do things that I could not do. I had many things that I had expected to do taken away from me. Looking back it was a good thing, not only for me but also for others who helped pick up the things I had to give up. I say that I am good at delegating things, but I think I have a lot to improve on. I know I have a stubborn button in me that makes walking across hot tar look easy in comparison to trying to overcome my stubbornness.
Something that I heard recently was on the subject of asking for help. It was a discussion on how to help the homeless. But I think the principle stretches beyond that. The idea is that asking for help makes you weaker and allows the other person to have confidence in their abilities. I don't ask for help all that often, and normally when I do, I'm so far in over my head that my weakness ends up affecting other things. The bible alludes to many situations of being strong in faith, but in most of the day-to-day things, God asks us to rely on him rather than ourselves; a point that I am only beginning to understand as I write these words. These words should shuffle around in my head for this week.
Afterthoughts:
New Movies:
Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang - FUNNY!!! Mystery flick
Ice Harvest - Another Mystery flick - So So
New Music:
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters: I can’t get enough of their lyrics, I need to give the slower half of the album another chance, but I have one song that I can keep playing on repeat both for the truth of the words and the music behind it.
Evanescence: New Album on Oct 3rd, going to run to Target and pick it up before class.
Orientation Week
I got a job working on-call for ATC at Fuller (Audio/Video tech for the campus) I worked three larger events and got to use some random fun stuff that they have. (rear projector screens are interesting) I got to play with the sound gear at First Cong. as well as see what goes into a weekly Travis chapel service when my first job was doing sound for the staff/faculty chapel.
The more and more I hear Dr. Mouw speak the more and more I like him and what he stands for. The man has stories and life experiences that are almost surreal in the grand scheme of things. The man has been everywhere, done more than a few things that are worthy of note, is in conversation with more people than I would be able to count, and at the same time has a sound and firm understanding in his faith. The man has a theology centered on the third verse of hymns, but more than anything he is a storyteller; something I aspire to be in my ministry.
First week o’ School
Classes are going to be a wonderful experience this quarter. I have good friends in every class that I am in, as well as getting to know a few new students in Church history. Greek is going to be enjoyable and difficult at the same time. Church history is going to be 1 part history, 1 part theology, and 1 part comedy, season with doughnuts, simmer at medium heat till ready. Pentateuch is going to be a little slower, but I think as we get moving it will start to interest me more as we get to the narrative sections. Foundations: I’m still slightly bitter about this class for other reasons, but in the end I think it will be a good time. I have a group of people that I know all but two of them through other relations.
Then there was the BBQ
Much fun was had, I got the hard question of “If you were able to take over a character in a movie, who would you be?” While I answered Han Solo, the real answer is Malcolm Reynolds from Serenity. Some of you are sick of my Serenity shtick; what you have to know is that you’re just going to have to deal with it. I’m not sure anyone else at the BBQ would have known who he was.
I can educate you on Serenity, but expect that it will take up at least 2 hours for movie watching for the basic course, and if you want to see more, then plan on a weekly event. Enrolment is free, and you get 4 units that will not transfer or apply to any degree program other than that of being a nerd.
What did we learn? (plays veggie tales lesson music)
And so what we have learned applies to our lives today, and God has a lot to say in His Book.
Yes, I did Google these words, and yes I'm posting them here.
You see, we know that God's Word is for everyone; and now that our song is done, we'll take a look.
I’m writing this at the end of the weekend, I have had a nap each day as the physical tiredness of the week finally caught up to me. They were two good weeks, and more than anything I had to trust in God to do things that I could not do. I had many things that I had expected to do taken away from me. Looking back it was a good thing, not only for me but also for others who helped pick up the things I had to give up. I say that I am good at delegating things, but I think I have a lot to improve on. I know I have a stubborn button in me that makes walking across hot tar look easy in comparison to trying to overcome my stubbornness.
Something that I heard recently was on the subject of asking for help. It was a discussion on how to help the homeless. But I think the principle stretches beyond that. The idea is that asking for help makes you weaker and allows the other person to have confidence in their abilities. I don't ask for help all that often, and normally when I do, I'm so far in over my head that my weakness ends up affecting other things. The bible alludes to many situations of being strong in faith, but in most of the day-to-day things, God asks us to rely on him rather than ourselves; a point that I am only beginning to understand as I write these words. These words should shuffle around in my head for this week.
Afterthoughts:
New Movies:
Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang - FUNNY!!! Mystery flick
Ice Harvest - Another Mystery flick - So So
New Music:
Jars of Clay - Good Monsters: I can’t get enough of their lyrics, I need to give the slower half of the album another chance, but I have one song that I can keep playing on repeat both for the truth of the words and the music behind it.
Evanescence: New Album on Oct 3rd, going to run to Target and pick it up before class.
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