Friday, February 27, 2004

here are, what i thought to be, some interesting quotes from today's Debating The Passion article found in the Dallas Morning News.

-"the passion is excessively, obsessively violent, much like other Gibson films. And that's ironic, given that much of Jesus' message and legacy concern the importance of peace and love." -Chris Vognar

-"To me the heartbeat of Christianity is in the Sermon on the Mount, but that gets nanoseconds of screen time as Gibson grinds on with his grotesque 19th century Catholic contemplation of The Stations of the Cross." -Jane Sumner

-"...the obsession with extreme physical sensations. it also reflects the media-made creatures we have become: we have to see something on-screen to make it real to us." -Tom Maurstad

-"Viewing it is not a healing experience. I am very much afraid that it's on-screen carnage could easily result in off-screen carnage as well as intolerance rather than peace." -Philip Wuntch

-"If only the film played less like a parade of pain and more like a plea for love and forgiveness." -Philip Wuntch

so lets make Jesus out to be a modern day hippie and make sure Gibson gets the blame for the "excessive" violence. we'll also make sure that our idea of angels are those cute naked babies with harps(just tossed that one in). i think some people are going to be a little surprised with the second coming. peace and love was never that easy.

so i think i am done talking about
the passion until provoked to do otherwise.
get this!!!

if you go to rapture letters.com you can write letters to "unbelieving friends and family" which they will receive after the rapture has taken place. you add their names to some database and a letter will be sent out the first friday after the rapture, and receive another letter each friday after that. wow! check out the letter.

what i got from this...get off the computer and go hang out with your friends and family!

Thursday, February 26, 2004

saw the passion last night. great flick. wasn't too shocking or what i thought would be hard to watch. for some reason it was almost exactly what i thought it would be. however, as i left the theater the only words i could conjure up between the tearful sobs was "i'm sorry" and "thank you".

some of that sorrow came from knowing that it took hollywood to remind me.

Sunday, February 22, 2004

success, full success!

i think a personal high point for me this weekend during the real teens bible conference was when i made the pick up for a very important drug deal at grapevine mills mall. i didn't think the mall was the most ideal place for an exchange either but i don't ask questions. i do my job and then i'm out. so i parked my car near the north west side of the mall and entered through neighborhood 2. some lady said something about me "ustedes la pasando por la entrada" but i wouldn't let that distract me. in order to avoid suspicion and being followed, i stopped by sun and ski sports to exchange some socks and then made my way to the pick up point. "look for the round table closest to the north entry into polar ice. the goods will be there" i repeated over and over in my head. my heart raced as i approached the pick up point. my eyes darted back and forth, scanning the scene for anything suspicious. cameras, men with dark sun glasses, clowns, whatever. coast was clear. the goods where right where they left them. i casually walked by, grabbed the shoes, and.... wait! what!?! that's right, shoes... so i really wasn't involved in this big drug deal. probably better that way, and besides, i pass on grass. it just so happened that i was the most available person to make a trip back up to polar ice to retrieve some shoes one of our mid-school girls left there. i just wanted to add some excitement to the whole thing.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

today i stayed after class to enjoy a free lunch that the BSM puts on called noondays. it was international day today and a exchange student from japan gave his testimony during the lunch. it was really amazing. he wasn't a Christian when he came to DBU, and in fact, said he tried to criticize Christianity. but because of a very influential friend he is very much excited about the person of Jesus Christ now. DBU has a pretty good international program and many students come to this university without prior knowledge or interest in Christianity. it was really cool to see someone who comes from a culture that doesn't find God relevant and see him so excited about the Bible.

on a different note, a friend of mine from school told me today that her "fiance" just broke up with her. it was kind of a weird situation and from what little i understood of the relationship it seemed to be lacking in honesty. in fact, i didn't even know they were engaged. i wanted to tell her that i thought the guy was a loser and it was probably for the best but i don't really know her that well. after all, she did say that she "loves". i just told her i was sorry and then logged it away in the "why are guys jerks and girls dumb enough to hang with them" file. such a weird phenomenon. speaking of guys being jerks, you remember that girl who was passing notes to me in class? well i kind of gave her the cold shoulder yesterday. i got to class before her and when she showed up, she found a seat a few desks over in the row in front of me. there was an unoccupied desk next to her and when we made eye contact she offered it to me. i had the audacity to think this girl was hitting on or something and in a panic i told her that "i am pretty well established where i am at" and "my seat was already warm" or something ridiculous like that. can you believe that. really i just wanted to sit at my desk and be left alone. i was afraid i would be subjected to more of her silly questions.

today was my friend phil's 22nd birthday. he was almost kicked out of chapel today because he was wearing a giant hat a dorm neighbor made for him out of balloons. you know those balloons clowns make crazy animals and swords with? quite an impressive hat but definitely a distraction for the university trustees we were hosting that day. the "man" held onto the hat for phil until chapel service was over.

Saturday, February 14, 2004

this weekends been one of those in which everything around me seems to be moving at a pretty regular pace but i can't seem to get off the starting block. it's like one of those bad dreams where your trying to run, usually away from something, but you feel like your shoes weigh a hundred pounds and... you... just.... can't........ get......... moving. but don't get me wrong, this weekend hasn't been a nightmare or anything. waking up to real snow saturday morning was pretty incredible and for the most part things around the house have been pretty low key. sometimes i just feel like there are not enough hours in the day or even week to do ever thing i am interested in. oh well, i need to learn how to pace myself. i'm afraid though that if i do that i'll be in school for another ten years trying to learn everything that i am interested in. but before i get into a "what am i going to do with the rest of my life" mood i need to go do some homework. ya'll be good.

Monday, February 09, 2004

it's official! this past weekend my spring break plans were etched in stone. i am excited to say that i'll be shredding some sick powder with my snowboard in beautiful winter park, colorado. can't wait to catch some big air and stick some beefy 740 mute grabs and phat madonnas with a inward McTwist. i really have no idea what i am talking about. more then likely i'll be that "texan" with the funny hat who stops the chair lift both getting on and getting off and uses the orange nets for brakes. like i said, i can't wait.
Jesus is my Homeboy

i am sure you've seen those t's being wore around with the "Jesus is my Homeboy" written across the front. well, before i go any further with this i must confess that i have a t-shirt of similar genre with "jesus surfs without a board" written on it purchased from the ever popular urban outfitters where you can also find bobble head Jesus and action figure Jesus, which my roommates and i out at tech shared. they seem funny and innocent enough and i understand that there are probably very convincing arguments as to why these things could be good or bad for christiandom but for right now i am not really sure i care much for the "Jesus is my homeboy" perspective. the reason i lean this way, i think, has to do with the suburban context of living i am surrounded by. to me, the mentality of Jesus being my homeboy seems to breed only apathy and carelessness. it lacks the reverence i think we've been easily neglecting. as i watch the Christians around me act and interact i don't think the idea of a comfortable, informal Jesus is what we need. i think some peoples worlds need to be shaken just a little. it's kind of like when tim mention people referring to God as the "man up stairs." that if we truly knew God we probably wouldn't refer to Him that way. i realize the risk in blanketing such a statement and i am sorry if i have offended any one of you but again realize that this is in the context of my surroundings(which i guess only really includes the people who read my blog). i don't think i am about finished on this topic but i do need to get ready for work. the over all point being that i think our worship, and i am just as much at fault, lacks reverence. ouch! sorry, shouldn't have said that.

Thursday, February 05, 2004

girls...

please don't try to pass notes with a guy during class. if we were in junior high i would probably light up like an A-BoMb if you sent one my way, but in college some of us really do want to pay attention to the lecture. i take class time very seriously and between the listening, thinking, day dreaming, drawing, dozing, drooling, i don't really have time or interest in passing notes. thanks.

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

thanks phil for finding your shadow. so does that mean that winter is about to start or should i keep my flip flops out just in case?
well i didn't make it to school today. mix of rain and multiple wrecks backed the traffic up pretty good. i spent an hour on a stretch of road that normally takes twenty minutes so i decided to throw in the towel and return home. i think i am going to take the whole day of now aside from maybe going to the doctors. i've been a bit under the weather lately. don't worry katherine, i'll call in sick so you guys will get a sub. maybe it will be scott today. he's nice...

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

during an intense game of crab soccer at work (yup, i get paid to play crab soccer) i attempted a scissor kick but completely missed the ball and landed on some coins in my pocket. now my hip and my pride are both bruised. it was somewhat disappointing to hear my elementary kids (who i work with at ESD) talking about the big super bowl game but not about how close the game was but more about the jaw-dropping halftime show. so thanks justin timberflake for making my job all the more important to me and motivating me to be a better role model than you.

Monday, February 02, 2004

something in the rain

i am going to pretend for just a second that this really is just a personal journal and nobody will ever read this stuff. but i know that you will and i have nothing else on my mind to blog about. last night i let past mistakes and fears rule my thoughts and i think i might be letting something amazing slip through my hands. oooh, so mysterious. i think i'll leave it at that.