6.15.2007
6.10.2007
Birthday aftermath
Update on what's happenin:
* Well, outta my birthday checklist, I got most of it accomplished. The Aggies, however, did not win either of the first two games of their super regional, so that was quite disappointing.
* I also have yet to buy a pipe, at my fiancee's insisting. We'll see how that comes along in the next few weeks.
What I'm readin:
* Just finished the Human Story, and it was pretty decent. Very oversimplified, but an easy read and a decent overview of human history. Unfortunately, the closer he got to the present, the more the author skipped huge chunks of important histories.
* Just started the New Penguin History of the World, by JM Roberts. Unhappily, it is not a book about Penguin history (as cool as that would be), but it is a very thorough and well-written account of world history. I am enjoying it so far, but it is a much slower read than the previous book. This is mostly due to the fact that this book is 1200 pages long, and will hopefully cover the events of world history more in depth than my previous two reads.
Random thoughts on my PVM:
Well, my birthday came and went, and I am sure of one thing... I am getting older. This means that life is progressing, and I feel more and more compelled to keep up. My goal for the fall is to have read my topshelf book collection (15 books on world and ancient history, and about 15 more about Jewish and Christian History...).
Here's hoping I can keep up this pace!
* Well, outta my birthday checklist, I got most of it accomplished. The Aggies, however, did not win either of the first two games of their super regional, so that was quite disappointing.
* I also have yet to buy a pipe, at my fiancee's insisting. We'll see how that comes along in the next few weeks.
What I'm readin:
* Just finished the Human Story, and it was pretty decent. Very oversimplified, but an easy read and a decent overview of human history. Unfortunately, the closer he got to the present, the more the author skipped huge chunks of important histories.
* Just started the New Penguin History of the World, by JM Roberts. Unhappily, it is not a book about Penguin history (as cool as that would be), but it is a very thorough and well-written account of world history. I am enjoying it so far, but it is a much slower read than the previous book. This is mostly due to the fact that this book is 1200 pages long, and will hopefully cover the events of world history more in depth than my previous two reads.
Random thoughts on my PVM:
Well, my birthday came and went, and I am sure of one thing... I am getting older. This means that life is progressing, and I feel more and more compelled to keep up. My goal for the fall is to have read my topshelf book collection (15 books on world and ancient history, and about 15 more about Jewish and Christian History...).
Here's hoping I can keep up this pace!
6.08.2007
Celebrate...
It's my birthday! 27, I know, almost 30...
Things I want to do today:
* Get my marriage license with my future wife (did that at lunch - one week til the wedding!!)
* Sleep in (did that this morning... almost missed the previous item!)
* Start book #3 on my Grad School Prep Reading List (about to do this)
* Watch the Aggies beat the hell outta Rice in the first game of this weekend's super regional
* Buy a pipe, and some tobacco
* Spend time with my soon-to-be-bride
* Have a nice dinner
Things I want to do today:
* Get my marriage license with my future wife (did that at lunch - one week til the wedding!!)
* Sleep in (did that this morning... almost missed the previous item!)
* Start book #3 on my Grad School Prep Reading List (about to do this)
* Watch the Aggies beat the hell outta Rice in the first game of this weekend's super regional
* Buy a pipe, and some tobacco
* Spend time with my soon-to-be-bride
* Have a nice dinner
6.06.2007
Keep it up, keep it up, ha! ha! ha!
Update on what's happenin:
* At a new coffee shop called Drip. Cool place - just west of SMU on Lovers Lane. Free wifi, and fast! Yay!
* About to go interview with A+ Staffing, a student temp staffing company. Should go fine, and I should be loading luggage next week for $10/hour. Yippee! (I actually am excited to be making some more money)
* Am ready to get in a groove with my two worship gigs. I will be playing Sat nights and Sun nights for Heritage church starting July 1st, and I will be playing Sun mornings for Highland Park UMC all summer, then adding wed nights for HPUMC in the fall. The three (then four) services are all waaaay different, so that's cool. I should have a different core of songs for all three (four) groups.
* Am still waiting on Perkins regarding my admission to the MTS program. Planning on stalking some folks today...
What I'm readin:
* Just finished GG&S yesterday. Fantastic book. Will read it again someday, and hope to pass it on to friends and loved ones soon enough. It is such a lucid picture of where we come from, and the book truly accomplishes its purpose of demonstrating the untruth of racism and European Colonial arrogance. The people who became 'civilized' fastest were really just lucky enough to live where they lived.
* Just started The Human Story, by James Davis, yesterday, and am halfway through it. I am trying to hone my speed-reading skills for graduate school this fall. This book is good, but simplified in such a way to make history seem more interesting. The only problem is, history was already interesting to me, so at times I feel as if I am being talked down to. Its a good world history overview book, though.
* My next steps are to continue reading general world history books, then move on to Ancient History books, then to European History books, etc. until I feel like a have a good grasp on the contextual history surrounding the church's past.
* At a new coffee shop called Drip. Cool place - just west of SMU on Lovers Lane. Free wifi, and fast! Yay!
* About to go interview with A+ Staffing, a student temp staffing company. Should go fine, and I should be loading luggage next week for $10/hour. Yippee! (I actually am excited to be making some more money)
* Am ready to get in a groove with my two worship gigs. I will be playing Sat nights and Sun nights for Heritage church starting July 1st, and I will be playing Sun mornings for Highland Park UMC all summer, then adding wed nights for HPUMC in the fall. The three (then four) services are all waaaay different, so that's cool. I should have a different core of songs for all three (four) groups.
* Am still waiting on Perkins regarding my admission to the MTS program. Planning on stalking some folks today...
What I'm readin:
* Just finished GG&S yesterday. Fantastic book. Will read it again someday, and hope to pass it on to friends and loved ones soon enough. It is such a lucid picture of where we come from, and the book truly accomplishes its purpose of demonstrating the untruth of racism and European Colonial arrogance. The people who became 'civilized' fastest were really just lucky enough to live where they lived.
* Just started The Human Story, by James Davis, yesterday, and am halfway through it. I am trying to hone my speed-reading skills for graduate school this fall. This book is good, but simplified in such a way to make history seem more interesting. The only problem is, history was already interesting to me, so at times I feel as if I am being talked down to. Its a good world history overview book, though.
* My next steps are to continue reading general world history books, then move on to Ancient History books, then to European History books, etc. until I feel like a have a good grasp on the contextual history surrounding the church's past.
6.04.2007
June already? friggin wow
Update on what's happenin:
* 12 days till the wedding. Both exciting and scary.
* 4 days until I'm 27. Just scary...
* Went by the HPUMC Youth office. They're fun. Think I'll like leading worship there. Hope I have it in me. Think I do.
What I'm readin:
* Gonna finish GG&S tonight. I am upset with my slowness in reading. Doesn't bode well for Grad school
* Gonna do a chapter of Latin tonight. Once again, waaaay behind.
* 12 days till the wedding. Both exciting and scary.
* 4 days until I'm 27. Just scary...
* Went by the HPUMC Youth office. They're fun. Think I'll like leading worship there. Hope I have it in me. Think I do.
What I'm readin:
* Gonna finish GG&S tonight. I am upset with my slowness in reading. Doesn't bode well for Grad school
* Gonna do a chapter of Latin tonight. Once again, waaaay behind.
6.02.2007
Back in D-town
Update on what's happenin:
* I'm back in Dallas, and getting ready for my first weekend leading worship that is NOT an audition. Looking forward to getting back in that groove.
* I've been reorganizing all my praise stuff. After a few years of doing this praise thang, I feel like I have the organization process down pat. Once I get all the songs put into powerpoint format (should take me three-four days), I'll begin the process of going through the songs and powerpoints, checking for glaring errors, and begin numbering the songs so as to make the slides easily retrievable. This allows for an incredible amount of flexibility.
* Saw the movie Once with Jaimie last night. I loved it. But I love the Frames. Like, A LOT. So, a movie that had Glen Hansard (the lead singer) in a role in which he sang about 50% of the movie was a pretty good setup for me. The movie delivered. It was short and sweet, cute and not too sappy, and the music was gorgeous and Irish.
Random thoughts on my PVM:
I talked about the divergence of the 'church front' and the real life experience a little bit last week. I've read over it and want to talk a little more about this. I feel like there are many ways that we do this, and most of them are extremely subtle. We say things like, "I'll pray for you" and don't actually pray; we say we want to seek G-d wholeheartedly but still choose selfish things, and then we justify these choices without facing our self-servedness. I am not condemning these actions; they are very human actions. However, when we in the church begin to gloss over these things and pretend like they aren't happening, it's the first divergence. It grows further when people stop being accountable for larger decisions, like how we spend our money or how we treat our family. This is a common trend among Christians. Seems like Paul might have been addressing these issues in the very beginning of the whole Church thing.
We constantly swing to and fro regarding these things, but when you are in leadership, the split seems to grow larger and more blatant. Due to the holiness we ascribe to church leaders (or perhaps the holiness they ascribe to themselves), there is extra demand for perfection, perseverance and G-dliness. This demand, unfortunately, does not often lead to increased levels of these characteristics; instead, it seems to cause them to find new and creative ways to hide their own sinful natures, or perhaps new ways to point away from their own flaws by focusing on the flaws of others.
Maybe a better solution would be to begin each relationship with two things in mind: our own broken soul with all of its needs, weaknesses and failures AND the cross of Christ that both offers us any hope of justice and shows us how G-d wants us to make our choices. We put others first, always, everywhere in every situation. We trust that although we don't know the answers, we have hope in this G-d who died. And hopefully, we learn to be honest and open always, not hiding behind our sunday school answers and shiny fake smiles...
* I'm back in Dallas, and getting ready for my first weekend leading worship that is NOT an audition. Looking forward to getting back in that groove.
* I've been reorganizing all my praise stuff. After a few years of doing this praise thang, I feel like I have the organization process down pat. Once I get all the songs put into powerpoint format (should take me three-four days), I'll begin the process of going through the songs and powerpoints, checking for glaring errors, and begin numbering the songs so as to make the slides easily retrievable. This allows for an incredible amount of flexibility.
* Saw the movie Once with Jaimie last night. I loved it. But I love the Frames. Like, A LOT. So, a movie that had Glen Hansard (the lead singer) in a role in which he sang about 50% of the movie was a pretty good setup for me. The movie delivered. It was short and sweet, cute and not too sappy, and the music was gorgeous and Irish.
Random thoughts on my PVM:
I talked about the divergence of the 'church front' and the real life experience a little bit last week. I've read over it and want to talk a little more about this. I feel like there are many ways that we do this, and most of them are extremely subtle. We say things like, "I'll pray for you" and don't actually pray; we say we want to seek G-d wholeheartedly but still choose selfish things, and then we justify these choices without facing our self-servedness. I am not condemning these actions; they are very human actions. However, when we in the church begin to gloss over these things and pretend like they aren't happening, it's the first divergence. It grows further when people stop being accountable for larger decisions, like how we spend our money or how we treat our family. This is a common trend among Christians. Seems like Paul might have been addressing these issues in the very beginning of the whole Church thing.
We constantly swing to and fro regarding these things, but when you are in leadership, the split seems to grow larger and more blatant. Due to the holiness we ascribe to church leaders (or perhaps the holiness they ascribe to themselves), there is extra demand for perfection, perseverance and G-dliness. This demand, unfortunately, does not often lead to increased levels of these characteristics; instead, it seems to cause them to find new and creative ways to hide their own sinful natures, or perhaps new ways to point away from their own flaws by focusing on the flaws of others.
Maybe a better solution would be to begin each relationship with two things in mind: our own broken soul with all of its needs, weaknesses and failures AND the cross of Christ that both offers us any hope of justice and shows us how G-d wants us to make our choices. We put others first, always, everywhere in every situation. We trust that although we don't know the answers, we have hope in this G-d who died. And hopefully, we learn to be honest and open always, not hiding behind our sunday school answers and shiny fake smiles...
5.31.2007
Update on what's happenin:
* In Houston at the moment. Actually hanging out at my old place of employ - Christ UMC. Good to see some friendly faces and see how everyones doing...
* Been playing this game on facebook - iLike - its a music quiz. Fun times.
* Committed to lead worship officially at two churches in Dallas. That is fun, and a cool way for me to help earn some money while not exerting too much time.
What I'm readin:
* Still on GG&S ... still love it.
Random thoughts on my PVM:
Coming back to Sugar Land has jogged my memory a little bit. It is good seeing friends and feeling at home in a church building, but it also reminded me of why I left this church. The sharp divergence between my own personal experience and the words that I found myself speaking to the youth and members of the church was beginning to tear at me. Perhaps if we are sensitive to the tug and struggle of 'real life' and to the brokenness of the human soul, we would find a way to allow leadership in the church to truly exist within the Via Media. It seems that we are always asked in church leadership roles to slide away from the middle; maybe we think this will help drag others over towards the middle from their 'wanderings.'
I don't know the answers. But I do know that every time I felt like I had to hide a part of my own personal struggles when speaking to those who were struggling themselves, I was participating in injustice. I was perverting the truth, and manipulating the emotions of young people who could one day, be standing exactly where I was.
Maybe down the road I will begin to try and share my experiences and wisdom with young people again; but for now, I will focus on sharpening my senses, and listening harder to the echoes of G-d's music in this dark world.
* In Houston at the moment. Actually hanging out at my old place of employ - Christ UMC. Good to see some friendly faces and see how everyones doing...
* Been playing this game on facebook - iLike - its a music quiz. Fun times.
* Committed to lead worship officially at two churches in Dallas. That is fun, and a cool way for me to help earn some money while not exerting too much time.
What I'm readin:
* Still on GG&S ... still love it.
Random thoughts on my PVM:
Coming back to Sugar Land has jogged my memory a little bit. It is good seeing friends and feeling at home in a church building, but it also reminded me of why I left this church. The sharp divergence between my own personal experience and the words that I found myself speaking to the youth and members of the church was beginning to tear at me. Perhaps if we are sensitive to the tug and struggle of 'real life' and to the brokenness of the human soul, we would find a way to allow leadership in the church to truly exist within the Via Media. It seems that we are always asked in church leadership roles to slide away from the middle; maybe we think this will help drag others over towards the middle from their 'wanderings.'
I don't know the answers. But I do know that every time I felt like I had to hide a part of my own personal struggles when speaking to those who were struggling themselves, I was participating in injustice. I was perverting the truth, and manipulating the emotions of young people who could one day, be standing exactly where I was.
Maybe down the road I will begin to try and share my experiences and wisdom with young people again; but for now, I will focus on sharpening my senses, and listening harder to the echoes of G-d's music in this dark world.
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