Thursday, March 25, 2004

Sunday, March 21, 2004

When i consider Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which
You have ordained;
what is man that You take
thought of him,
and the son of man that You care
for him?
Yet You have made him a little
lower than God,
and You crown him with glory
and majesty!


-Psalm 8: 3-5

there's a tension that lies within me, an opposition that pulls me every which way. often i take for granted the glory i've been given. i received a card from a friend today. every intention behind the letter was penned for encouragement but for some reason it stirred a conviction deep within me. a pride i thought i could hide behind a facade of humility was brought to light. how am i using humility to cover my pride? i am reminded of moses and his evasiveness to God's calling. telling God he can't speak eloquently. moses seems to be in a state of humbleness, but God's anger burns against moses. he has forgotten just who it is he serves. often in an attempt to glorify my own abilities i try to deny them even though God has called me to use them, not for my glory, but for His. that's my tension.

so who am i when i forget who i am in You,
and who am i when i hide
when the glory i'm seeking is wrapped up in pride
covered by a humble tide
forgive me when i forget that my strength comes from you
not of me, but you
and who am i that you are mindful of me,
and who am i that you care for me?
yet you have made me a little lower than God,
and crowned me with glory and majesty!
-thank you

Saturday, March 13, 2004

it is my birthday

23, time to snowboard

aspen, salmon, wine.

Friday, March 12, 2004

today i...

-learned about a priori ontological arguments for the existence of God.
-aced my hebrews exam
-had lunch with professor jamie lash
-bought a firefish goby for my fish tank
-gathered worship songs for next weeks ski trip
-watched my incredible sister becca play soccer. (she's amazing and i love her)
-packed for the ski trip
-watched switchfoot perform on leno.
-went to bed (soon)

Thursday, March 11, 2004

memories...

went and saw a sneak preview of the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind with some buddies from school last night. it's the new jim carrey movie written by charlie kaufman. it's a pretty cool flick. very crazy in the beginning but it keeps you involved the whole way. i liked it. go see it.

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

life on the playground...

today was somewhat of an interesting day down at forest vista extended school day. well, its usually always interesting but aside from the normality of having to answer the same question asked by fifty different kids or repeatedly having to reprimand them, not only did i come across the one ring of power on the playground (or did it come to me?) but i got to witness the marriage of ryanne young and joe foreman. a very unlikely couple indeed but love conquers all, right? it was definitely an informal wedding with shorts and t-shirts but was really a joyous celebration with dancing, throwing wood chips, running from the foursquare area to the big blue side. joe was all smiles as he tried to catch up with his new bride before being mauled by ryanne's bridesmaids. what really struck me as odd was that not but an hour later ryanne was seen carrying around her newborn.

crazy kids.

Monday, March 08, 2004

i often wrestle with the thought of being in the world but not of it. what all exactly does that involve? when thinking about the dualistic nature of secular vs. sacred that the church can unnoticeably slip into at times and the compartmentalization that can occur, i gathered these few thoughts...

we don't need christian doctors, we need doctors who are christian.

we don't need christian politicians, we need christians in politics.

we don't need christian artists, we need artists who are christian.

we don't need christian musician, we need musicians who are christian.

we don't need christian leaders, we need leaders who are christian.

we don't need christian coaches, we need coaches who are christian.

we don't need christian ceo's, we need ceo's who are christian.

we don't need christian teachers, we need teachers who are christian

and so on....

i get tired of reading reviews, mostly in the music seen, of "christian" bands getting bashed by "christian" writers because the band chooses to play in clubs and not at the local church. your christian faith should be evident in your walk and not by the fish on the back of your car.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

a weekend in review...

this past weekend i traveled out to good old lubbock, texas with my buddy craig to visit some of my friends. it was a pretty quick trip but we definitely packed it all in. we rode into town around 8:30 friday evening and stopped off at my friend and previous boss' new establishment called sugar brown's coffee house. justin barnard, who is the creator of the local hit cilantro's burrito grille, is now trying his hand in the coffee industry. if you ever find yourself in lubbock,which, unless you have friends or family to see or the wind is blowing you in that direction, i don't see why you would just end up in lubbock, stop by sugar brown's and grab an aspen latte or one of their chai. you won't regret it.

after stopping by the shop and visiting with two good friends, marcus, the jazz guitar prodigy and emily, my frisbee golf and cilantro's buddy now known as banana seat, craig and i touched base with the vice president of walt disney world, THE ROOSKEY (a.k.a. daniel riskey) and his faithful sidekick mark "the mech-tech" alpert. after chatting for a few at the rooskey's apartment, the four of us headed back up to sugar brown's to meet up with jennifer "the pi phi ball'a" tollet and chrisanna "fake mom" sinclair. the rest of friday evening was spent catching up and reminiscing over times past.

we kicked off the following day by visiting robert bruno's unfinished metal creation overlooking ransom canyon, which is located just outside of Lubbock city limits. after gazing at bruno's thirty year labor of love, we dropped my snowboard off at ski lubbock, yes, that's right, i said ski lubbock, to get it waxed and the edges sharpened in preparation for the spring break ski trip. the rest of the morning was spent at sugar brown's playing chess and studying for school.

for lunch, craig, rooskey, emily, jennifer and i all enjoyed phat and fat burritos from cilantro's. then we burned it off by going to see the new starsky and hutch movie. after that we sat and traded stories some more while eating ice cream at cold stones. our group was later joined by the greatness of seth "starbucks" forgot his last name for a round of putt putt golf and go kart races, slices of pizza at one guy's and drinks once again at sugar brown's. and just when we thought the evening was going to retire, craig, the rooskey, emily, dave "big hair" hill, and i finished the night off with a round of frisbee golf on the tech campus. always a blast regardless of how bad i play.

it was truly a rich weekend. i miss all my friends out in lubbock very much. thanks for putting up with me. daniel, thanks again for letting craig and i stay at your pad. lubbock may not be the greatest place to live but it's sure nice to visit once in a while.

Monday, March 01, 2004

i am currently caught between the noetic effects of sin, pie charts and bar graphs, apologetics, and the High Priest, spreadsheet fundamentals and Psalms. i have a quiz tomorrow in my intro to computer class and a test on wednesday in philosophy of religion. andrew peterson is singing to me stories of coral castles and memories of growing up. the effects of the chai i had earlier are slowly fading. the house is settling down for the night. the low drone of the fan in my computer could put those struggling with insomnia to sleep. peterson begins picking on his guitar a familiar verse, a song titled three days before autumn, which he wrote for Rich Mullins after he died. it's a beautiful song balancing the sorrow of losing a loved one but rejoicing knowing they are in eternal fellowship with God, something we can be partakers of now.

...cause i'm broken, and breathless, and bent to the ground
and i'm listening Lord but i don't hear a sound
though the angels in heaven are dancing around
to the music that i want to hear.
and i'm watching and wishing and wondering why
this silence is louder the harder i try
though i can't believe it but i can't deny
that the winter came early this year...

ok, thanks to my A.D.D. that was a refreshing break. now back to reformed epistemology and rows and columns.