it is my birthday

23, time to snowboard

aspen, salmon, wine.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.