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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

so today i learned that i can listen to the entire thursday cd on my way to school and the rooney cd on the way back home without missing or repeating a track. 42:02 there and 39:11 back. the traffic wasn't to bad this morning.

a radiohead two-stepping of a weekend

it's been a weekend of extremes for me. friday night, myself and two guys, both named jay, hauled down to waco to catch a show featuring a couple indie rock bands. one of our friend's band was putting on a show in this old run down theater somewhere in the armpit of waco. with the undertones of radiohead and much delayed distortion we chilled out to the vibes of bands such as comrade, pacifica mile, and ethan durelle. it was a very enjoyable time for me. definitely a cup'o'tea i could drink from. ethan durellewill be coming to dallas soon so look for these guys cause they rock. after the show some of the band members along with the band-aids grubbed down at dennys. they're having a special right now on the meat lovers dish. you get two eggs, three pancakes, two sausage, two bacon strips, hash browns, and ham for $4.99. soooo good! so anywho, got back to flowerplex around five in the am.

saturday night brought somewhat of a different cultural experience for me. never much of a country music lover to begin with i bit the bullet on this one a went two stepping down at billy bob's in fort worth. thanks to great company i had a blast and to boots bought at goodwill i have blisters but i did got to be a cowboy for a few hours. got my fix for the year. don't know if i would recommend you give old tracy lawrence a listen but, hey, that's just one man's opinion. sunday will be a day of rest. trying to be cultured wears me out.

and this....

What Classic Movie Are You?

i did this twice, once with 18 questions and then with 27, and i got the same result. i guess i need to start watching my back for any model/killer.

What Famous Leader Are You?

pine cove no agenda retreat rocked my face off. right off. but i think i need another weekend to recuperate. it was so much fun hanging with the cbc high kids. i loved seeing everyone flock together in little groups not because of some hierarchy of coolness but simply because of similar interests. you had your jocks, your rock stars, nature lovers, and nappers. a beautiful collage of humanity. so anywho, i started classes today. dropped a load on books. don't you hate it when the class you spend the most money on is the class you are least interested in?

going to pine cove this weekend. catch ya'll later...

so i caught a little bit of the price is right on tv as i was riding the stationary bike at the ymca and i wondered how well could i match prices for certain items. and then i thought about what a confusing situation it would be for that poor helpless soul on stage about to make his next move to determine winning the prize, who had no educated guess on the price and had to sort out the numbers being yacked up by hundreds of excited audience members. every time that i have ever watched that show i have always assumed that everyone in the audience was trying to help the brother get the answer correct. but then what about the guy in the audience whose friend or family member is still stuck in the first round. the dude is probably tossing out some false suggestions to stump his opponent so his friend might have a chance to advance. so then i thought about life being a lot like that audience on the price is right. and then my time on the bike had expired.

this is what i got from the quiz:

"God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity he would be senseless."

You are Augustine! You love to study tough issues and don't mind it if you lose sleep over them. Everyone loves you and wants to talk to you and hear your views, you even get things like "nice debating with you." Yep, you are super smart, even if you are still trying to figure it all out. You're also very honest, something people admire, even when you do stupid things.

What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

i read an article recently on "experiential worship" and what that means to this particular church and their "creative arts" team. i can't say that i completely understand this whole emerging church phenomenon and living in a post-modern age. the article opened by saying that "Obviously, by definition, it is about providing an experience for the person in the pew." and then the author went on to say that "They (meaning church goers) want to "experience" God rather than have Him logically explained to them, (as they wanted in the 80’s). i don't know about you but this kind of stuff scares me. the author goes on in a rather lengthy account of several church services that he would describe as "experiential worship." there is much use of video loops during the entire service along with varies props handed out to the congregation before hand relating to the particular topic that day. interaction with the congregation is required. all to provide you with a "full-sensory" worship service. i applaud them for their creative interpretation and use of props for portraying the biblical stories but i am somewhat rubbed wrong by the idea that worship isn't logical. the author ends the article by saying that "It is about healthy risk. Healthy risk that leads to a better understanding of who God is or a healthy risk leads you to a place of deeper worship." sure the experience is great. we all want to experience God but to say that it needs no logical explanation seems like wanting to experience the atlantic ocean without a map. sure it's big and blue and the whales are fun to look at but where the crap are you going. you have no idea where you are in the expanse of the sea. you have no direction. you lack the underlying truth. i think that it's in this logical explanation that we are truly able to understand God and be able to worship Him more deeply. i think this so called "healthy risk" is for those how are afraid to really think about and understand God and who would rather have the experience provided for them. this article seemed to focus too much on the church providing the experience instead of allowing for the experience. it seems that in an effort for the emerging church to break free from the shackles of religion and tradition we are no better off having the experience handed to us on a platter. what have we gained besides another spiritual buzz. if i want a spiritual buzz i'll go watch MTV.

C.S. Lewis once said that one may never notice the ideal worship service because total attention would have been given to God.

"you know what... we're not dealers, players, or anything like that. we speak about what we know. the guys don't write about guns or anything like that because they don't have any. we're not involved in that, so why should we talk about it if we're not involved in it? that would be the stupidest thing ever. why front to be what's cool in the game when that's not you? just be you. and that's what we're doing: we're just being us. it might be quirky; it might be a little bit uncomfortable to some people, but hey, whatever."

-sarah ferguson of black eyed peas-

i know i may have written this before but...

have you ever thought about what heaven will be like? (ok, no, this isn't going to be some unedited version of i can only imagine) but really...i mean, when i look up at the stars at night or dig my toes in the sandy beach and watch the sun set i am taken back by an incredible sense of awe and wonder. when i get off a ski lift to find myself above the clouds and snow capped mountains i'm breathless. this could be because of the high altitude but you know what i mean. something about creation tells of Gods glory. his brush strokes are everywhere. i think the amazing thing is that even in all it's splendor allcreation is warped and screaming for redemption. it's kind of like "if this is the messed up version then, WOW!"