So, if you paraphrase The Message, what exactly is it at that point?
I believe I will call it the super-illegal-bootlegged-Margheimish-Message by Eugene Peterson Version (SIBMMEPV).
Isaiah 43.2ish (SIBMMEPV)
"Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you.
I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you.
When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place,
it won't be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God,
The Holy of Israel, your Rescuer."
Ok, so I only changed one word. But that's my new Christian trend-setting crusade.
Anywho, this verse popped up in the ESV Bible RSS Feed just now, and I liked it.
Peace, love and joy to you all
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Why I Hate Instant Messaging
I say lots of stupid things.
This is true regardless of the medium. Whether I'm in front of a group of people, talking to somebody on the phone, meeting up with a group of friends, blogging, or chatting via some magical instant messenger device, it's a pretty sure bet that if I'm saying something, something stupid either is presently coming out of my mouth (or fingers, I guess) or something stupid is about to.
Which is why, when I'm with a group of people, I am always checking to make sure that I haven't crossed the "This guy's a creepy annoying idiot" threshold, by making eye contact, listening to people's tone, and by keeping track of their body language around me. Through years of alienating peers, friends, roommates, siblings, and strangers, I've almost got this to a point where I am able to keep 10% of the people I come across on the good side of that threshold.
Unfortunately, this is nearly impossible via the pipes that connect my AIM to everybody else's AIM. So while I'm coming up with really really entirely ridiculous things to type, my only feedback is 'lol' or 'haha' or 'hmmmm.' Which could mean that somebody really is laughing out loud, or it could mean "This guy's a creepy and annoying idiot" or "I am seriously concerned for my safety after that last eye-gouging joke."
So, I've decided to let you all in on the hippest thing ever about instant messaging. It's called "ial," and it's the brainchild of my good friend Christine. ial=i'm actually laughing.
So feel free to use lol and haha to acknowledge a joke that may have made you smirk, or to somehow affirm the joker, but use ial whenever and only whenever you actually laugh at something you read.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
This is true regardless of the medium. Whether I'm in front of a group of people, talking to somebody on the phone, meeting up with a group of friends, blogging, or chatting via some magical instant messenger device, it's a pretty sure bet that if I'm saying something, something stupid either is presently coming out of my mouth (or fingers, I guess) or something stupid is about to.
Which is why, when I'm with a group of people, I am always checking to make sure that I haven't crossed the "This guy's a creepy annoying idiot" threshold, by making eye contact, listening to people's tone, and by keeping track of their body language around me. Through years of alienating peers, friends, roommates, siblings, and strangers, I've almost got this to a point where I am able to keep 10% of the people I come across on the good side of that threshold.
Unfortunately, this is nearly impossible via the pipes that connect my AIM to everybody else's AIM. So while I'm coming up with really really entirely ridiculous things to type, my only feedback is 'lol' or 'haha' or 'hmmmm.' Which could mean that somebody really is laughing out loud, or it could mean "This guy's a creepy and annoying idiot" or "I am seriously concerned for my safety after that last eye-gouging joke."
So, I've decided to let you all in on the hippest thing ever about instant messaging. It's called "ial," and it's the brainchild of my good friend Christine. ial=i'm actually laughing.
So feel free to use lol and haha to acknowledge a joke that may have made you smirk, or to somehow affirm the joker, but use ial whenever and only whenever you actually laugh at something you read.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Staff Meeting
From the "They don't quite know what tao do with me here" Department
The other day at church somebody asked me what my favorite flower was. I responded, "Wheat."
From the "All my posts somehow are about girls" Department
I regret that I'm not blogging more about my experience here in El Seg. It's kinda like there's this girl I really like and I think she might read my blog so I don't talk about it much. Only the girl's name this time is Everythingabout Thissummer.
From the "All my posts are ridiculously self-serving" Department
My favorite sentence that I've written on transparency|inaction:
"An old deaf man came up to me and we had a whole conversation about the hail and driving in it and tornadoes."
from Coming Home (Part 3/3)
From the "Business as usual" Department
I suppose that I'm a little bit sadder of late (not entirely sure why)...but I'm planning on getting down to the beach in the next day or two, so I'm hoping that's all that I need.
From the "Completely random" Department
Earlier today I realized that I've become one of those sadpanda people who holds conversations with their pets while progressing through a series of crossword puzzles. Oh well. I suppose there are still opportunities in monkery.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
The other day at church somebody asked me what my favorite flower was. I responded, "Wheat."
From the "All my posts somehow are about girls" Department
I regret that I'm not blogging more about my experience here in El Seg. It's kinda like there's this girl I really like and I think she might read my blog so I don't talk about it much. Only the girl's name this time is Everythingabout Thissummer.
From the "All my posts are ridiculously self-serving" Department
My favorite sentence that I've written on transparency|inaction:
"An old deaf man came up to me and we had a whole conversation about the hail and driving in it and tornadoes."
from Coming Home (Part 3/3)
From the "Business as usual" Department
I suppose that I'm a little bit sadder of late (not entirely sure why)...but I'm planning on getting down to the beach in the next day or two, so I'm hoping that's all that I need.
From the "Completely random" Department
Earlier today I realized that I've become one of those sadpanda people who holds conversations with their pets while progressing through a series of crossword puzzles. Oh well. I suppose there are still opportunities in monkery.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
A Story about Singapore
Maybe it's just the ORU that's all over me, but wherever I look it seems like I find stories about God.
Like the Muslim who converted to Christianity about a decade ago: he first heard about the Christian God from a fellow prisoner in Babylon, then escaped to travel around the world before finding God in Paradise. He was a very nice man.
But more than that, there's this story about the founding of Singapore which I love.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
Like the Muslim who converted to Christianity about a decade ago: he first heard about the Christian God from a fellow prisoner in Babylon, then escaped to travel around the world before finding God in Paradise. He was a very nice man.
But more than that, there's this story about the founding of Singapore which I love.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
'Heard
We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.
-Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Saturday, June 16, 2007
5 Things
5 Things that are different about my experience in Tulsa and El Segundo
- Tulsa: Nasty river bed. El Segundo: Beach.
- Tulsa: Moderate level of traffic. El Segundo: [almost] No traffic. Los Angeles: tons of traffic.
- Tulsa: Everyone acts like a Christian. (Nine times out of ten they are a Christian) El Segundo: Everyone acts like your friend. (Nine times out of ten they are your friend.)
- Tulsa: Gas costs $2.80 a gallon. El Segundo: Gas costs $3.39 a gallon.
- Tulsa (particularly ORU): People wear quite a bit of clothing. El Segundo: Everybody wears less.
- People are really nice.
- There are oil refineries nearby.
- I live in a safe, affluent neighborhood only a few miles from a city or neighborhood nationally known for poverty and crime. (North Tulsa and Compton)
- Me.
- I live really, really close to really loud things. (The other guys at ORU, LAX here in El Segundo)
- Thursday 9:00pm-11:00pm: Finished Uturn, set the stage for Sunday, and then headed to In-N-Out with the sibs and some of the cool kids here in El Seg.
- Friday 7:00am: Left the house with the sibs for a full day at Disneyland (pictures here, if you haven't already seen them).
- Friday 10:30pm: Returned from Disneyland. Pretty much straight to bed.
- Saturday 2:20-7:00am: Woke up, showered, and went to church, where I ran camera 2 on an insane program for the youth group here. I'll have to tell you about it someday.
- Saturday 9:00pm: Remember that I need to do laundry in order to have something to wear to church tomorrow. Decide to write something to force my body to stay awake.
- Script for a theatre/video thing for summer camp.
- Outline for teaching coming up in a week and a half.
- Catching up on Summer Greek.
- Keeping my ministry journal up to date.
- Whatever that other thing was that I was thinking about but forgot.
- Staring at ceilings looking for inspiration instead of just writing a script.
- Driving to LAX (even though it's only five minutes; four trips there in a week [eight if you count the In-N-Out runs, which I do] is still quite a bit)
- Trying to figure out who I know in Southfield, Michigan.
- Reading sports news.
- Thinking...
- Peace,
- love,
- and joy
- to
- you all
Friday, June 8, 2007
A Bedtime Story: The Story of Icarus and Atlas
This is totally a rerun, so if you've been reading any blog written by me for a year or so, you may recognize it. I wrote it from a specific context in my life, but it's kind of a riddle that I've never really felt resolved about. Any help?
The Story of Icarus and Atlas
Once upon a time, in a village not far from here, there lived two men (neighbors, as a matter of fact) named Icarus and Atlas. The village in which they lived had no name, for it was surrounded by a mystical and enchanted forest that was too thick to traverse. People who were courageous enough to venture into the woods quickly lost their way home, because there were no roads and the woods were so dense.
One day, while Atlas and Icarus were strolling through the village, they began to talk about the possibility of their being other villages like their own somewhere outside, beyond the bounds of the mystical forest. "If we cleared a road through the forest," said Atlas to his friend, "we could safely travel outside of the village in a straight line until we came upon some other people."
"Great idea," answered Icarus. "We ought to begin first thing in the morning." And, as the men separated at their houses, they settled in for a night filled with hope and anticipation for the exciting journey that was to begin at sunrise.
The next morning, however, their hope soon met with frustration when conflict about which direction they should clear. "It seems quite obvious to me," said Atlas, "that since the Sun sets in the west, this is the direction in which we will find other villages, because the Sun must visit us first," for it was common knowledge in the village that evenings were so much warmer than mornings because the mornings were when the Sun was first getting started and needed time to warm up from the cool of night. "If anyone lived to the east," Atlas concluded, "the Sun would be fully warmed by the time it reached us."
"Only a fool would believe such nonsense," said Icarus, since he felt himself a rather wise and educated man. "If anyone lived to the west of us, the Sun would surely be too warm by the time that it was over them for any kind of comfortable life. Instead, we should strike out east, where we will find a cooler but still somewhat hospitable land."
The two men argued and argued outside of their homes in the center of the village. As the Sun was setting (in the west, an event which Atlas continually referenced as his proof), the two men realized that they would never agree, and each determined to set out in his own direction the next morning.
At the sunrise the next day, the two went out to opposite ends of the village and began their work. From sunrise to sunset the two men chopped and chopped, each trying to outpace the other and comforting themselves with the futility of the work of the other. "After all," each man thought, "there are no people where he is heading." And on they chopped until nightfall.
The next morning, after both men had had some well earned sleep, both men were surprised and disappointed to find that the entirety of the forest each had cleared the day before had completely regrown in the night. Resilient, each man picked up his axe and began clearing again.
And so it continued for years, each man heading out in the morning, chopping all day, and sleeping all night, only to return the next morning to find that all of their clearing had regrown. After seven years of this daily pattern, Atlas decided that he had had enough. "This is foolishness," Atlas said to his neighbor. "Everyday we slave and toil, and every night the magic restores every branch of every tree we chop down."
"I'll never quit," replied Icarus, "for that is a greater foolishness. One day, Atlas, the magic will fail, and I will be able to clear the forest and make progress on my road."
The next morning, Icarus went out and chopped and Atlas stayed at home and drank tea, as was the custom in that village, and--for Icarus--the pattern continued. He went out at sunrise, chopped down trees all day, slept all night, only to return the next morning to find that all of his clearing had regrown. After another week of this, it occured to Icarus that maybe the forest was always growing and that he and Atlas' work was just keeping it from further encroaching on the village.
To test this thought, he went to the west edge of the village, to where Atlas had been chopping, to see if the magic that was restoring the forest was also enlarging it. To his great surprise, he found that the last day's work of chopping that Atlas had done had not regrown. "That fool," he said to himself. "He stopped chopping the very day that the magic quit working. It's power must be fading! If I continue to chop, it will eventually stop working on the east side of the village as well."
So he returned to his routine: every morning at sunrise he would go out, chop down trees all day, sleep all night, and find every morning that the magic was still working in his portion of the woods. The hope that he was close to outlasting the magic faded within the coming months, yet whenever he would ponder abandoning the project, he would remember that Atlas had quit the day the magic stopped, and that as long as there was any chance that the magic might stop, it was worth it for him to keep trying.
And so the pattern continued: wake up, chop, sleep, find that it had regrown. Days turned into weeks, weeks to months, months to years, and years to decades.
Until one day, Icarus died.
Now then, having read the story, who is the fool? Is it Atlas, who gave up a hair shy of the moment that he would have received the reward for his work? Or is it Icarus, who worked away a lifetime striving after a prize that would never be?
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
The Story of Icarus and Atlas
Once upon a time, in a village not far from here, there lived two men (neighbors, as a matter of fact) named Icarus and Atlas. The village in which they lived had no name, for it was surrounded by a mystical and enchanted forest that was too thick to traverse. People who were courageous enough to venture into the woods quickly lost their way home, because there were no roads and the woods were so dense.
One day, while Atlas and Icarus were strolling through the village, they began to talk about the possibility of their being other villages like their own somewhere outside, beyond the bounds of the mystical forest. "If we cleared a road through the forest," said Atlas to his friend, "we could safely travel outside of the village in a straight line until we came upon some other people."
"Great idea," answered Icarus. "We ought to begin first thing in the morning." And, as the men separated at their houses, they settled in for a night filled with hope and anticipation for the exciting journey that was to begin at sunrise.
The next morning, however, their hope soon met with frustration when conflict about which direction they should clear. "It seems quite obvious to me," said Atlas, "that since the Sun sets in the west, this is the direction in which we will find other villages, because the Sun must visit us first," for it was common knowledge in the village that evenings were so much warmer than mornings because the mornings were when the Sun was first getting started and needed time to warm up from the cool of night. "If anyone lived to the east," Atlas concluded, "the Sun would be fully warmed by the time it reached us."
"Only a fool would believe such nonsense," said Icarus, since he felt himself a rather wise and educated man. "If anyone lived to the west of us, the Sun would surely be too warm by the time that it was over them for any kind of comfortable life. Instead, we should strike out east, where we will find a cooler but still somewhat hospitable land."
The two men argued and argued outside of their homes in the center of the village. As the Sun was setting (in the west, an event which Atlas continually referenced as his proof), the two men realized that they would never agree, and each determined to set out in his own direction the next morning.
At the sunrise the next day, the two went out to opposite ends of the village and began their work. From sunrise to sunset the two men chopped and chopped, each trying to outpace the other and comforting themselves with the futility of the work of the other. "After all," each man thought, "there are no people where he is heading." And on they chopped until nightfall.
The next morning, after both men had had some well earned sleep, both men were surprised and disappointed to find that the entirety of the forest each had cleared the day before had completely regrown in the night. Resilient, each man picked up his axe and began clearing again.
And so it continued for years, each man heading out in the morning, chopping all day, and sleeping all night, only to return the next morning to find that all of their clearing had regrown. After seven years of this daily pattern, Atlas decided that he had had enough. "This is foolishness," Atlas said to his neighbor. "Everyday we slave and toil, and every night the magic restores every branch of every tree we chop down."
"I'll never quit," replied Icarus, "for that is a greater foolishness. One day, Atlas, the magic will fail, and I will be able to clear the forest and make progress on my road."
The next morning, Icarus went out and chopped and Atlas stayed at home and drank tea, as was the custom in that village, and--for Icarus--the pattern continued. He went out at sunrise, chopped down trees all day, slept all night, only to return the next morning to find that all of his clearing had regrown. After another week of this, it occured to Icarus that maybe the forest was always growing and that he and Atlas' work was just keeping it from further encroaching on the village.
To test this thought, he went to the west edge of the village, to where Atlas had been chopping, to see if the magic that was restoring the forest was also enlarging it. To his great surprise, he found that the last day's work of chopping that Atlas had done had not regrown. "That fool," he said to himself. "He stopped chopping the very day that the magic quit working. It's power must be fading! If I continue to chop, it will eventually stop working on the east side of the village as well."
So he returned to his routine: every morning at sunrise he would go out, chop down trees all day, sleep all night, and find every morning that the magic was still working in his portion of the woods. The hope that he was close to outlasting the magic faded within the coming months, yet whenever he would ponder abandoning the project, he would remember that Atlas had quit the day the magic stopped, and that as long as there was any chance that the magic might stop, it was worth it for him to keep trying.
And so the pattern continued: wake up, chop, sleep, find that it had regrown. Days turned into weeks, weeks to months, months to years, and years to decades.
Until one day, Icarus died.
Now then, having read the story, who is the fool? Is it Atlas, who gave up a hair shy of the moment that he would have received the reward for his work? Or is it Icarus, who worked away a lifetime striving after a prize that would never be?
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
A Realer Post About California
It's awesome.
El Segundo, for those of you wondering, really is a small town stuck on the side of LA. I'm right south of LAX (and am nearly constantly reminded of the fact when I'm at the house where I'm staying), north of a huge Chevron oil refinery, west of highway 1 and east of the ocean. It's pretty rockin.
I can't go anywhere with staff members without running into several sets of people that we (meaning they) know. Last night, just to pick up some Chicken Dijon we ran into no less than 3 different groups of people, all out on unrelated errands who wanted to talk to us.
I, having lived here only five days, have already run into somebody that I know out on the streets. Walking home from work today, I ran into one of the members of El Segundo Foursquare Church who happened to be picking his child up from daycare as I was walking by. I refused his offer for a ride home not because I had anything against him, but because it was such a gorgeous day in El Segundo today.
I've been to the beach a little. I'm planning on going back on Friday sometime.
This experience is really stretching and exciting and scary and hard and amazing. I love the people here; I don't know that I've ever felt accepted into a group so quickly. And, instead of really putting me to work on their pet projects, they've really given me the opportunity to tell them what I enjoy doing and try to figure out ways to build ways for me to do that as part of the greater mission of ES4sq.
Which is really cool. And at least a little frightening. I just really want to do well.
I think that's all I've got tonight. I hope y'all are having wonderful summers, and I hope to hear from all of you soon.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
El Segundo, for those of you wondering, really is a small town stuck on the side of LA. I'm right south of LAX (and am nearly constantly reminded of the fact when I'm at the house where I'm staying), north of a huge Chevron oil refinery, west of highway 1 and east of the ocean. It's pretty rockin.
I can't go anywhere with staff members without running into several sets of people that we (meaning they) know. Last night, just to pick up some Chicken Dijon we ran into no less than 3 different groups of people, all out on unrelated errands who wanted to talk to us.
I, having lived here only five days, have already run into somebody that I know out on the streets. Walking home from work today, I ran into one of the members of El Segundo Foursquare Church who happened to be picking his child up from daycare as I was walking by. I refused his offer for a ride home not because I had anything against him, but because it was such a gorgeous day in El Segundo today.
I've been to the beach a little. I'm planning on going back on Friday sometime.
This experience is really stretching and exciting and scary and hard and amazing. I love the people here; I don't know that I've ever felt accepted into a group so quickly. And, instead of really putting me to work on their pet projects, they've really given me the opportunity to tell them what I enjoy doing and try to figure out ways to build ways for me to do that as part of the greater mission of ES4sq.
Which is really cool. And at least a little frightening. I just really want to do well.
I think that's all I've got tonight. I hope y'all are having wonderful summers, and I hope to hear from all of you soon.
Peace, love, and joy to you all.
Monday, June 4, 2007
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