So i'm not typically one to post song lyrics, but today i had my playlist on shuffle and there were three songs in a row that have really stuck with me for a while, and i'd like to share with my small group of readers how these songs have affected me.
first off is one of my favorite songs of all time. this is the song that inspired me to listen to punk rock back when i was ten, and inspired me to pick up my first guitar. very rarely do i play guitar for more than a few minutes w/o playing this song. fortunately it's easy enough to play and sing at the same time.
Ball and Chain
by Social Distortion
Well it's been ten years and a thousand tears
And look at the mess I'm in-
A broken nose and a broken heart,
An empty bottle of gin
Well I sit and I pray
In my broken down Chevrolet-
While I'm singin' to myself
There's got to be another way
Take a way, take away,
Take away this ball and chain
I'm lonely and I'm tired
And I can't take any more pain
Take away, take away
Never to return again
Take away, take away...
Take away this ball and chain
Well I've searched and I've searched
To find the perfect life-
A brand new car and a brand new suit
I even got me a little wife-
But wherever I have gone
I was sure to find myself there-
You can run all your life
But not go anywhere
Take a way, take away,
Take away this ball and chain
I'm sick and I'm tired
And I can't take any more pain
Take away, take away
Never to return again
Take away, take away...
Take away this ball and chain
Well I'll pass the bar on the way
To my dingy hotel room-
I spent all my money
Been drinkin' since half past noon-
I'll wake there in the mornin'
Or maybe in the county jail-
Times are hard getting harder
I'm born to lose and destined to fail-
Take a way, take away,
Take away this ball and chain
I'm lonely and I'm tired
And I can't take any more pain
Take away, take away
Never to return again
Take away, take away...
Take away this ball and chain
I know this was not written by a christian, but it has really become a great prayer of sorts for me. How many times do you feel like you just want to break loose of everything that holds you back? man, talk about out a great request of God, to take away things that burden you... i'm pretty sure that's exactly what we're called to do.
The next song will probably make you laugh, i do every time that i sing it, but if you can get past the one-hit-wonder status of this song and dig into the lyrics, it really makes a great statement.
What's Up
by 4 Non Blondes
25 years of my life and still
Tryin' to get up that great big hill of
Hope, for a destination.
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of
Man, for whatever that means.
And so I cry sometimes, when I'm lying in bed
just to get all out, what's in my head, then
I, I am feeling, a little peculiar.
And so I wake in the morning, and I step outside
And I take a deep breath, and I get real high, and
I, scream from the top of my lungs, "What's going on?"
And I say, "Hey yeah yeah hey, hey yeah yeah."
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
And I say, "Hey yeah yeah hey, hey yeah yeah."
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
And I try, oh my god, do I try
I try all the time, in this institution.
And I pray, oh my god, do I pray
I pray every single day, for a revolution.
And so I cry sometimes, when I'm lying in bed
just to get all out, what's in my head, then
I, I am feeling, a little peculiar.
And so I wake in the morning, and I step outside
And I take a deep breath, and I get real high, and
I, scream from the top of my lungs, "What's going on?"
And I say, "Hey yeah yeah hey, hey yeah yeah."
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
And I say, "Hey yeah yeah hey, hey yeah yeah."
I said, "Hey, what's going on?"
25 years of my life and still
Tryin' to get up that great big hill of
Hope, for a destination
what a great song to sing to sum up being twenty five, and being somewhere between having life figured out, and having no clue at all. i love playing this really loud on my electric and literally screaming at the top of my lungs 'what's going on?'. i don't think my neighbors like this song anymore, which is sad, cause they're going to hear for a while.
and last but not least there's a new song on the block that really has me pumped up about where my ministry needs to be headed:
Landslide
by stretcharmstrong
all these years and no conclusion
a bitter end to each passing day
so alone now, so angry, so much confusion
you lose again, things always stay the same
and so you feel you're falling down
life's ropes are cut, lying all around
a landslide of nameless faces
these lost souls,
they come from a million places
no sense of home, feels like you don't belong
a landslide, we missed what you had to offer
how could you fight this endless battle?
the killers, they're armed to the teeth
and i know you're scared of this lonely struggle
no acceptance, fulfillment's out of reach
and so you feel you're falling down
life's ropes are cut, lying all around
left with no help to push on through
more and more of the pressure was killing you
a landslide of nameless faces
these lost souls,
they come from a million places
no sense of home, feels like you don't belong
a landslide, we missed what you had to offer
quietly dying
desperately crying
silently trying
we never knew you
a landslide of nameless faces
these lost souls,
they come from a million places
no sense of home, feels like you don't belong
a landslide, we missed what you had to offer
man, that song gets me every time. the line that hits the hardest for me is 'these lost souls they come from a million places'. the people that need Christ, need Christ for so many reasons. every person has their own story of why they need Christ in their lives. i get caught up so often in the church numbers game, that i sometimes forget that every person i reach out to has such different needs, but also has so much to offer God in return. most importantly, we all have a place in the body of Christ that gives us hope and a sense of belonging.
i know these songs may seem somewhat depressing, but really, what good song isn't? i can only listen to 'walking on sunshine' by katrina and the waves so many times before i need a good soul cleansing dose of rock n roll. that, and anyone that knows me knows that songs like these always make me feel better, a sense of release, something like that.
here's to six strings, three chords and a sore throat.
one love, one heart.
2.22.2006
2.16.2006
Clark W. Griswold
hola blogworld, it's been a while. i titled this post Clark W. Griswold, because that's who i have felt like these past few months. i had a crazy road trip across half of our country, a one-of-a-kind christmas, and my own european vacation. i still have never been to vegas, but admit it, no one really remembers the vegas vacation movie. anyways, it's been a while since i put my thoughts together in a readable format, and as i sit down now i'm remembering how therapeutic this is. i guess the best place to start off this post (which is by far going to be the longest post i've ever put together) is with what's on my mind currently...
THE LATEST NEWS
this week has just been one of those weeks. mi padre is closer to earning his wings than we had originally anticipated. part of me is waiting for that sense of relief in knowing that dad is finally cured of all pain, and that mi madre can relax and take a well deserved deep breath, while another part of me is tensing up like when you know you're going to get hit really hard. to be honest, this is wrecking shop for me physically, no sleep etc. however, i do feel the need to remind those around me that in no way shape or form does this have me questioning God's grace and compassion. in fact, i feel like the more tired i get, the more i can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding me through my days. it's like that old church song says, "more of You, and less of me", or something like that. whatever, i've felt God do too much in my life to start denying that He is still going to bless me through these next few months.
also on my mind this week is my brother by love, dantheman. he was up snowboarding on tues and took a pretty serious hit. when the ski patrol checked him out they realized he had ruptured his spleen, and was bleeding internally. they rushed him down the street to the hospital where they removed his spleen and about half of his blood. as of right now it looks like he is going to make a very good recovery. i went to spend the day with him on tuesday, and he was in good spirits, and was able to move around, although you could tell he was still in a lot of pain. actually, we couldn't really spend a lot of time together, because we would get to laughing and it would literally break his stitches, so i ended up getting him a free lawn mower and working on the yard outside. tappertrainman came by later to hang out as well and hooked up dantheman's entertainment system so we could watch blazing saddles. one of those things where you know it's going to hurt, but you do it anyways. whatever, you really don't need an excuse to watch blazing saddles.
about a month ago i said some things to dan in a way that was completely non-constructive. after my parent meeting (read below) a few months back i should have known better. fortunately those things were cleared up before this happened, but that has been weighing on my mind heavily the past few days. i've had years to prepare for my dad, but the potential to lose dantheman is something i simply could not handle. if i've learned any lesson recently, is that things that need to be said, need to be said. i'm talking about the 'i love yous', the 'thank yous' and the 'please forgive me' type of things that we always assume will come about naturally. i've cleared the air with dantheman and futuremom, and truly feel forgiven. i'm just ashamed that tragedies seem to be necessary to be called into action on certain things. this is a part of my life i am truly ready to change.
THE POSITIVE
now that i have cleared the negativity out of the my writing mood, i would be remiss to not mention the amazing gift of friendship that God has granted me lately. i'll start off with dantheman, because that's where friendship stats with me. these past couple of months dantheman and i have spent less time with each other than in previous years, and it continually amazes me how a friendship transfers through time. we have this uncanny ability to pick off where we left off at any given time, and finishing each others sentences is old hat to us. i think if we really wanted to freak people out we could convince strangers that we were psychically connected or something. it's gotten to the point that some of our conversations are boiled down to one word. he says a word, that reminds me of a story, we both laugh because he's thinking of the same thing, and then we move on. at the very least it's an efficient way to communicate.
next, i have to move on to move on to the youth ministry here in socal. specifically merlin and ronald. in my line of work, there really aren't a whole lot of other people who truly understand what i go through on a daily basis. so spending time with these guys becomes very important. also, we have a way of balancing each other out. lately, i've been struggling a bunch with my organization, and i have ronald to lean on for that. merlin has been struggling with some stuff happening in his church, and he has used us to vent and alleviate pressure with comedy. and ronald, well i think he's glad that someone laughs at his jokes, and will go on the buzz lightyear ride with him. to sum up, when it comes crunch time, playtime, work time, or whatever, i am realizing how much God uses my friends to affect the way that i feel.
then there's my two new friends that have entered my life with a bang. valleygirl and a-list. a-list asked to help out with the youth ministry a while ago, and he recently quit his part time job so that he could spend more time with the youth group. nuff said there. but i will mention that i've never would have imagined being friends with him way back in the day, which is awesome because it serves as a constant reminder of the way God plans stuff for us that we never see coming. he graduates this april and i plan on sabotaging any job interview that takes him away from the north l.a. area. then there's valleygirl, oh man i don't even know where to begin. we hit it off pretty good when i first got here, but not until recently have we sealed the deal as great friends. we spent a whole day together last week and it was like hanging out with someone i've known for years. needless to say it's been a while since i've been given the name 'bff', but coming from a legit valley girl, i just have to laugh. and yes i do refer to her as 'bff' as well. shut up.
and finally, i have to give it up to God for the new female in my life, risas mucho chica. not a lot to say yet on that subject, mainly because i don't want to jinx anything as has happened in the past with this very blog. regardless of that though, it's been fun so far, and i don't see any reason why that's going to change anytime soon.
so that's the current stuff, now i'm going to hear back to the time of my last post and put together some paragraphs about the stuff i remember. feel free to skip ahead or whatever. this blog was originally set up for me to look back so there's prob stuff coming up that no one else will care about.
POINT OF IMPACT
so we had our annual impact jr high retreat which was, as usual, an awesome event. i'm always encouraged to see jr high kiddos start to really appreciate and understand God for themselves. one of our kids decided to baptized when we got back from the weekend, which is def justification for the speed at which we traveled on the freeway back to church on sunday morning. definitely. i love it though, when you can see it in the kiddos faces that they get it. it's a little hard to describe, but it's like a look of shock, recognition, surprise, contentment and joy all in one. it's moments like those that serve as great reminders of why i do what i do.
impact was also my first time to be a speaker at a retreat, which was def a trip and a half. i'm so used to my kiddos, and my church, and it has taken over a year to get to a comfort level where i'm not really nervous to talk in front of a group that doesn't know me. it was weird being in front of a large group again, and it only took me a few seconds to realize that these kids had no clue about my sense of humor or my background, and it completely changed the way i had to present my lesson. needless to say, it didn't go as i had planned, but God took over and i think it ended up being a good day. we were talking about thanking God, and i had the story of the ten lepers that were healed and only one returned to thank Jesus. so at lunch time i had the chaperones give different problems to the kiddos like tying their arm in a sling, taping up one leg, covering their mouths, and putting caution tape on them to symbolize losing a limb, being mute, and being a leper. (had to be there kinda thing). anyways, i think some of the kids still remember the lesson a few months back which makes looking back at impact a pretty fond memory.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
there are certain things in my life that i avoid like the plague. the top of that list would be unnecessary drama. on down that list would be parent meetings with the youth ministry. i work my tail off to keep open relationships with the parents in my youth ministry, esp those that show a really involved interest. i think it's also important to note that i am not a big fan of doing things simply because they're 'supposed' to be done. in short, if we're doing something in the youth ministry, there's going to be a purpose to it. i held off for a while on a parent meeting because there really wasn't a whole lot to share yet, and every parent meeting i've ever been to has ended in someone, usually the youth minister leaving discouraged, instead of encouraged. i warned people about this, and i was still asked to hold a parent meeting. i agreed to have the meeting, as long as it was not a time to air out grievances, and we could focus on future planning.
so i prepare a couple of things to talk to my parents about. i know my weaknesses, because i deal with them every day. i also spent a lot of time in prayer and study on how to overcome my weaknesses. i did this because i did not want to have a bloodbath (which i have seen happen before), and i didn't have time to update my resume (i know a youth minister that updates his resume before every parent meeting, and after seeing the parents he works with, i can't blame him). so i go into this meeting hopeful that things are going to go smoothly, and we can focus on the future. i let the parents know about different books that i use for research that they might not know about, and i clue them into myspace, one of the biggest dangers to the kids in our youth group. so far so good. then i introduce some planning books that we are going to use this year, to help parents plan events.
then the bomb drops.
our former youth deacon asks the parents if anyone has any 'issues or concerns', the very question that turns any good meeting downhill. for a second things are going awesome. we had just baptized two kiddos in the youth group that previous week, and their parents had some great words of encouragement. i've got another set of parents that give me some awesome compliments, which were great to hear, but i really don't need a meeting as a forum to build me up because these parents tell me outside of meetings. see above relationship building. so then one set of parents decides to tee off on me. they start off with the books that i recommended for research saying that the Bible was nowhere in there, which automatically shows they weren't listening, because i prefaced my book recommendations as 'books parents might not be aware of'. then, they tee off on merry christmas madness, calling it unholy and embarrassing to the church, because last year a kid threw up. i'm sorry, but just because your child doesn't want to do anything to slightly get out of their shell, does not mean that everything they don't want to do is unholy. merry christmas madness was a huge success, and we even had our preacher involved last year. i'm not a fan of throwing up either, but when a kid tries to drink a two liter of soda and chucks it back up in sink, that's comedy. regardless, it's not some kind of unholy embarrassment. if that's the case, youth groups across the country should be warned not to ever ask any kid to do something they might have the slightest inclination of fear about, because it might cause an ounce of discomfort. yeah, you would never want to be uncomfortable as a christian. wait a second, try dying on a cross or being dinner for a lion. moving on, the one set of parents then teed off on the fact that we openly talked about one of our new members of the youth group being pregnant. to clarify, this young lady started hanging out with the youth group last summer, when she was already two months pregnant. she started attending on thursday nights, and we had several bible studies with her and her boyfriend. we were making huge progress with her and her family to bring them both to Christ. so these parents start in complaining how tough they had it having to talk to their kid about someone being pregnant in the youth group, never mind they are sitting right next to her mom (who has just started getting involved in the church) who promptly leaves the room crying. my heart is breaking as i'm watching so many souls potentially walking out of the door forever. the set of parents then finish up with me personally, insulting my artistic background, and saying that i don't use enough scripture in my lessons.
here's my response, once and for all, so i can finally just move over this. first of all, this should have never happened in this setting. in no way shape or form were those comments constructive to the youth ministry. secondly, i felt like my elders and youth deacon sold me out and left me out to dry, because they knew there was an issue with this parent, and they gave me no heads up. which leads me to the bigger issue, the parents should have come to me first. the irony of being called immature and unscriptural by someone who won't talk to me (and continues to avoid me) and completely skipped the biblical process of dealing with someone first, then going to others (check matthew 18), still doesn't sit well. to be honest, it's put a huge chip on my shoulder and still has me fired up. i was just getting settled with being okay as a youth minister, now i am out to prove to God, myself and anyone who cares to pay attention that i will never settle on anything less than being an excellent youth minister. talk about my feet to the fire, i'm so charged up now, and my ministry has become so clear, yeah... this is going to end up being a good thing. also, i really have a problem with any parents who complain about my teaching style, when they have never sat in on a single class, or asked me about my studying. esp when they're child spends an entire class time text messaging their friends. and lastly, i brought up a scripture in the parent meeting and this perspective has truly changed my outlook on my role as a youth minister. in matthew 9:12 Jesus says that the sick are the ones that need a doctor. enough said. sick people need Jesus, we have Him on our hearts, so we have the responsibility to share what we have. no more country club churches, no more secret society stuff, we're here to affect people.
all in all, things have worked out for the best. i called the mom that left the room the next morning and smoothed things out. we continued to study with the young lady and her boyfriend, who were both baptized soon after. i've had a huge outcry of support from my elders, along with an apology, and the continued support of my good friend and coworker lawdog, who has continued to be a spiritual rock for me.
EUROPEAN VACATION
so after all of that drama, it was great timing for me to get away, so i hopped on a plane and went to visit mi hermana, who was spending the semester in oxford with her group from ACU. this was by far the best trip i've ever been on, and my first real vacation on my own. yeah, i've set the bar pretty high. anyways, here are some of the highlights.
we spent a couple of days in and around oxford, which was an awesome town. we saw christchurch, the spot where cornwall was burned at the stake in the middle of the street, university park and all kinds of ancient buildings. my favorite places in oxford were the bench and park where tolkien wrote the hobbit, the restaurant where him and c.s. lewis hung out, and the oxford dictionary press. first off, i love lord of the rings, and sitting on the bench where tolkien wrote the hobbit made a huge impact on me. it really helped the movies come alive, and made me realize how much an environment can have an affect on how you feel and what you see. eating at the 'eagle and child', where the inklings met was also kind of a big deal, because you really got a sense of history, and how much one person can influence the world. that really came into play later on that week. as for the oxford press, it was just funny to be in oxford and be surrounded by dictionaries. call that my warped sense of humor. on my 'i guess it's famous' list, we also ate at the pub where bill clinton never inhaled, and saw the school where hugh grant attended (evidently that's a big deal over there).
then we spent a day or so in london, which may be the coolest city in the world. riding around on the underground was awesome, but it was kind of creepy too. here you have all of these packed cars, and no one makes a sound. i guess it's impolite to talk loudly in public over there, which def took some getting used to, but it does explain why every person on 'the tube' had their ipods on. but talk about useful, the underground was by far the coolest way i've ever gotten around a city. as much as i loved it tough, i was so stoked to get back home and drive my big ol suv around with my radio cranked up. back to england though... we also got to go to the first hard rock cafe, which was so sweet. i'm typically not a fan of hard rock cafe's, cause they usually have all of this stuff from one hit wonders. seriously, i don't really care to be eating under a rick james famed jerry curl wig. but in london, the hard rock had original beatles' guitars, guns n roses jackets, jimi hendrix concert posters, and then there was the vault. downstairs they have in one room a trumpet from miles davis, kurt cobain's guitar, bob dylan's hat and guitars, stuff from the clash, the who, bo diddley, elvis... nothing but huge names. the highlight for me was getting to hold a six million dollar jimi hendrix flying v guitar. i'd go back just to do that again.
then we walked through princess diana park to buckingham palace, which was trippy to say the least. the palace itself wasn't as impressive as i had imagined, but the fountain in front of it was unreal. some of the coolest sculptures i've ever seen, and me being the type that is really moved by art, was standing there speechless. oh yeah, something else i noticed about london; they say the police don't carry guns, and that may be true of the beat cops or patrolmen, but i guarantee there were plenty of swat looking guys with their hands on the triggers of m-16s walking around london, and they don't like to have their picture taken. especially the ones in and around buckingham palace. unfortunately though, we weren't able to see the changing of the guard, but that may be something to put on the list for another visit.
the next morning we woke up early and went to the british library, which was my favorite part of london by far. in one room they have original works of shakespeare, c.s. lewis, davinci, handel's messiah, mozart, beethoven, the beatles, an original guttenberg bible, THE magna carta, and on original king james bible. it was absolutely amazing to sit there and read the king james bible. i was overwhelmed with a sense of pride in knowing that i was reading something that truly has stood the test of time. there was also this feeling of satisfaction in knowing that the message i give to my youth group is the same message that God has been giving man for thousands of years. in one way, it made me feel really small because i kind of got a taste for the long reaching impact of the message of Christ, and i have my small little corner here in simi. on the other hand, it made me feel really important because i realized that i am part of a long list that includes some very distinguished and admirable people. this may sound odd, but i haven't been able to get that image out of my mind in a long time, and to be honest, i'm not sure if i really plan on doing so anytime soon. let's move one.
later that afternoon we made our way to ireland, which was some comedy. i've always griped about southwest airlines and how much their flights are like a cattle call. no more. we flew ryan air, which i guess is the equivalent to southwest for europe, because they had the cheapest fares, and they fly everywhere. well, the balance to the cheap fares is sitting in seat so close together that the in flight meal may as well be your knees. i'm not even that tall, and i could barely fit between the seat, fortunately, the flight wasn't that long, and i can pretty much sleep anywhere. unfortunately, the plane is bright yellow and bright blue on the inside, and just the reflection of light makes it impossible to sleep. it's one of those things i can look back and laugh because i know i don't have to constantly rely on that for transportation. the funniest part though, was the stewardesses dressed like hot dog on a stick employees, who were selling stuff on the plane. they don't have complimentary drinks or snacks on ryan air, but they do have a menu. the menu has the usual stuff like peanuts, sodas, candy... then they have watches, teddy bears, backpacks, flowers and pretty much anything else that you would never expect to see on a plane. it was like flying on a flea market. good times.
so we land in ireland, catch a double decker bus to downtown dublin, and proceed to the temple bar district, which is the heart of dublin. what a crazy town. seriously, they need to rename the island Guinness, because that's all that the irish talk about, and evidently it's all they drink too. seeing a Guinness sign in a restaurant window there is like seeing the visa/maastercard logo in a window here. needless to say it was a bit of a journey to find a pepsi anywhere, but i did manage to find the irish mixture for coke. not so good. anyways, dublin was a cool town. everyone hangs out in the pubs and watches football and has a pint from about 5-7 then everything shuts down. seriously, one minute we're walking down the street, ducking in and out of pubs checking out the different bands playing, then the next thing you know it's only the tourists out. a little weird, but fun.
the people of ireland are amazing too. they'll talk to anyone about anything irish all day long, and we met plenty of people that were ready and willing to do so. i loved it, because i was having these conversations, and i know these people were speaking english, and i didn't understand a single word. authentic irish gibberish, so much fun. even the little kids were hard to understand. i was barely able to understand our tour guide the next morning, but you get the idea that the whole island is kind of like that crazy little brother, to the stale and polite english older brother.
so on thanksgiving, we decided to take a celtic history tour. typically, i'm not a take the tour kind of person, but i'm so glad we did. our first stop was a tomb that was believed to be the spot where the evil spirits of the island rose from the ground. the tomb was literally a mound of dirt, but it was older than the egyptian pyramids, and inside was on of the first carvings of a human face. most other carvings at that time were of the human body, and there sitting in this old tomb was this unreal artifact. we then went to this abbey that had the oldest standing celtic cross in the world.
the celtic cross has always been a point of interest for me, i've always wondered why there was a circle around the cross. the celts were a pagan race, that believed there were hundreds of gods, and the island itself was a god, they worshipped the sun, because when the sun was out, things grew, things lived, when it was cold, things died. when the first missionaries came over to talk to the celts, and told them that there was only one God, and the sun wasn't it, they would get their heads chopped off. no barbaric race wants to hear that their gods aren't real. anyways, over time missionaries figured out to change their message, and sated saying that Jesus was the 'God over the other gods', and they combined the image of the cross with the image of the sun. so the celtic cross is really a symbol of diluting the message of Christ, and compromising the beliefs of Christianity. But the artwork on the cross really interested me. the celts did not believe in a written language (if i write down what i know, then you can know it, then you will be smarter than me) so the missionaries would use pictures, or carvings to tell their story. so in one frame you have this poor guy being sold out by his friends, then he's taken prisoner by these men, then he's killed up on a cross. but in the pictures, the poor guy didn't look like a Jewish guy, and the bad guys weren't Romans, they were Irish monks and vikings. interesting, they reworked the story to make it relevant to those they were preaching to, if this doesn't strike a chord with the current trend of american mega churches, it should. so i guess the question i started asking was how to find a balance between this message that has stood for the test of time, and still make it relevant to the culture i'm on w/o changing the meaning.
we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in small town, and ended up having turkey and stuffing which was cool, because it was thanksgiving day. then i met my favorite irish person of the trip. there was this stereotypical old irish guy sitting at the bar drinking his pint of Guinness, wool hat, jacket, sweater, the whole nine. he made some comment to me, then proceeded to talk to me and mi hermana for several minutes... i didn't understand a single word. i think he was mad because he may have been asking us questions, and we were just standing there nodding our heads. regardless, it was fun to hang out with some locals.
then came my favorite part of the trip. we went to slane abbey, where st. patrick became famous. here's how the story goes. patrick was a slave captured by an irishman, and forced to work for seven years. he learned the language and customs of the irish, and escaped to england on a fishing boat. he went back to france and decided to become a priest. after several years of schooling, he felt a calling to go back to ireland as a missionary. so he went back and changed the way Christianity was brought to ireland. for hundreds of years, priests went to the commoners to teach Christianity, because it put them on a level playing field spiritually as their masters, and the masters weren't having anything to do with God. every year to appease the sun god, the king of ireland would assemble all of the druid priests, and light a huge bonfire as a sacrifice to bring out the sun. every clan would send a reporter to the bonfire to report on what happened. so patrick builds a bigger bonfire than the king, and lights his first, getting the attention of not only the reporters, but the king and his men. so the king gathers up his men and charge over, expecting a fight (see next paragraph) only to find one unarmed man charging at them. they're thinking this guy is either crazy, or he has a powerful god on his side, either way, they don't fight him. patrick talks to the king, and tells him that there is only one God, and Jesus is Him. the king challenges patrick to prove it, and sends him in with some druid priests to a room, and patrick is the only one who comes out. the king then gives permission for patrick to tell of the Jesus, but he doesn't convert out of respect for his ancestors. so all of these reporters go back to their clans telling of this powerful Jesus, and his servant patrick. now, when priests come to these clans and ask if the people know about Jesus, the people are excited to hear about this all-powerful God. so i'm standing there on this hill, and the wind changes direction, and brings about this arctic chill. this story was amazing, one man completely changed the history of a whole nation. i realized how often i sell God short of what he is capable of doing, and how limited my own vision for the future is. one man changed an island. wow. suddenly converting a whole city or school doesn't seem like such an impossible task. this is one of those moments that has really had a profound impact on me. i'm still sorting out all of the details, but i do (still) feel a new sense of purpose and possibility when it comes to my ministry.
then we went to tara hill, which is where the celts used to crown their king. this is where the term 'king of the hill' comes from. rival clans would fight over who would be king, and whoever could hold the hill was the king for however long they could hold it. in 1600 years they had over 800 kings, so you can imagine it was a pretty stressful job. anyways, after the king had won his battles, the druid priests would cleanse (think hazing) them for a week, and allow them to touch this sacred rock that was supposedly the center of the heart f the island. i touched the rock, and my reign was about 30 seconds until me hermana took over. i like to think i was a good king.
so we headed back to temple bar, had a night of tourist shopping and getting lost, then got to work on getting back to england. the next morning we rode the bus all the way down to a ferry, that was supposed to take us across the sea to wales, and we were going to ride a train back to oxford. problem, that arctic storm that came in made the seas too rough, and the ferries weren't going to be running until the next day. problem. my flight left at 10am the next day. so we booked it back to the dublin airport and coughed up the extra money to get on a flight back that night. we had some chill time at the dublin airport, which was good, because we were tired and kind of getting on each other's nerves a little bit. a quick flight back, led to an adventure with trying to find a train back to oxford, where me and jake got to get all of our stuff back, sleep for three hours, before i had to get back to london to catch my flight.
what a crazy week. my first real vacation was def a memorable one. we took a bunch of pictures, i lost a lot of them on mi hermana's computer, i stayed at some hostels, had some english food (which was surprisingly good), met some good irish folk, was king for a few minutes, walked more in a week than i had in the previous month, got some cool stickers for my table, a couple of t-shirts for the closet, and a bunch of crazy stories. oh yeah, speaking of hostels, if you want to add an element of craziness to your trip to europe, i def recommend staying at hostels. the one in oxford was crazy, the people were pretty loud, and the rooms were mixed, so i ended up sharing a room with 20 other people, and had no clue who they were. the one in london was cool, and a lot nicer. the three of us were in there with some japanese girls, we think, but we never heard or saw them. really weird. the hostel in ireland was the real trip though, we had a french roommate who never said a word, a south african roommate who had just moved to ireland, and a kiwi roommate who had been in country for a while, and was looking for a flat. the kiwi was some comedy, and we invited him to grab a bite to eat with us the second night. the next morning though, was the 'yep, the US is a little different from here' moment of the trip. i got up early to take a shower, and as i'm opening the door to get my towel, i realize that the bathroom is a mixed bathroom. i realized this because there were two girls changing, and they laughed when i got embarrassed and shut the door. awkward much? i'd say so. wither way, it makes for a funny story now. all in all though, i had a great time. mi hermana was an awesome tour guide, and being in such a different place really put things into perspective for me. i'm not sure what that means, but i think you're supposed to say that after going to europe.
MERRY CHRISTMAS MADNESS
so after a few weeks of getting back into the swing of things, we had our year end big event, merry christmas madness. we doubled the attendance from last year, and had a really good time of outreach and craziness. i toned back some of the stuff on our list from last year, but the kids seemed to have a blast doing it. the video is still in the works though, several months later. too much stuff going on. not a great excuse i know, but the truth. so i'll prob post more on that when the video gets finished (thats the plan for the next few days)
all in all, i'd say it was pretty fun, and i think we have the groundwork for a great event every year.
YOUTHWAVE RETREAT
one of the benefits of being a youth minister is the fringe benefits. we have an event coming this summer called youthwave, which is an evangelism training camp. so we spent a couple of days up north talking about youthwave, kinda like those weekend sales pitches where they offer you a free toaster to hear about the joy of owning a timeshare. except that our 'time away' means a bunch of us getting together to get something done, then have a blast hanging out. so we talked about youthwave, which has me impressed to say the least. essentially, you get training every morning on how to preach to strangers, then they drop you off in los angeles all afternoon and you talk to strangers about God. here's the cool part though, the focus of the week is not to convert strangers, it's to get over fears we have of talking to our friends about God. it's an amazing concept that i'm really banking on to spur some great changes here. the focal point of the week is actually to write four letters to friends that you want to grow closer to Christ. i'm not the first to say it, but letter writing is starting to be the next big thing in ministry. if you're not writing letters yet you will be soon. anyways, we had some awesome praise and worship time, and we stayed up nice and late joking around, talking youth ministry stuff with the only people that could possibly identify.
the trip was sponsored by pepperdine, and since we stayed at a friends' house in morro bay, they had extra money left in the budget, so our host took us out to pismo beach to ride atv's on the beach. let me repeat that for all of my friends outside of southern california: last december we went to the beach and rode atvs. i had a blast. i'm not so much into the jumping dunes and all that, but i did love taking the atvs down the edge of the water at 60mph, going so fast your eyes dry up. too much fun. anyways, that's how we roll down here in socal, work hard, play hard.
CHRISTMAS VACATION
i'm a big fan of christmas. someday i'm going to be the guy that has 20,000 lights on his house, dresses like santa for the neighborhood kids, serves egg nog to anyone that comes over, and constantly hums christmas tunes. this past christmas was a blast. i kept my shopping to a minimal, got people stuff that they needed and wanted, and got it all done in one day, christmas eve. actually, christmas eve in our family has kinda become the holiday. we're all up and not tired, other families are usually able to join in, and we have a whole day of excitement to build up to our dinner and presents. anyways, this year was fun, because the whole family was able to make it out to my parents' house, which always leads to some good stories. and most importantly, mom was able to get most of the snowman militia out for the celebration. anyways, here are the other highlights:
the good: everyone really chipped in and mom wasn't near as stressed as i thought she was going to be. the cooking was great, we had plenty of food, no big drama, just a lot of chilling with the fam.
the bad: my aunt inadvertently telling jokes that make a guys locker room sound clean. me and my cousins trying to not to look at each other to keep from cracking up. my aunt repeating the joke with no clue of how dirty it was, and me and my cousins losing it and pointing out what she said. to top it off, my mom is now wondering how we know about certain things we know about, and my granny i think has given up on our family.
the ugly. the cuz singing his one country song for the whole family, a song about a dysfunctional redneck christmas. my other cousin's wife commenting on how much that song reminded her of her family.
the sentimental: mi padre not being able to shop for presents for anyone, but managing to describe the necklace he wants to get mi madre. even more sentimental, was him working on singing 'we wish you a merry christmas' for the whole family. it's one of those 'two coins' stories where someone give all that they can, and def puts gift giving in perspective.
the only in our family: after finishing up his first song, mi padre started up into the marine corps hymn, which prompted my grandpa to stand up and sing a long, followed immediately by granny, then my mom and her sisters, then the rest of us. that's right, christmas eve, and we're standing around trying to remember the words to the marine corps hymn. wouldn't trade it for the world.
THE DRIVE HOME
due to a change in schedule, and not wanting to spend 16+ hours traveling by plane each way (layovers on expedia flights are a punk), i decided to drive out to texas for christmas. it was awesome. mi hermana got to come out to simi and we hung out for a day or so. then we drove straight through to frisco, tx. not an eventful trip, but we did manage to have fun together, despite the fact that we were rarely awake at the same time.
the real fun was driving back by myself though. one of those wild at heart moments where you feel like you've conquered the road. i really enjoyed having the radio to myself for a day, and i know i blew at least two of my speakers. but, i got to see a lot of our great country, the desert at sunrise, and i was able to just talk out loud to God for a loooooong time. that last part happened early on, as it became more necessary to have louder music as i went on. lets just say by the time i was 45 minutes from home, i was listening to motorhead's greatest hits. my only complaint about the drive home was el paso. seriously, someone needs to go to el paso and make every person there retake the driving test. the interstate is not the place to see if your car can make it up to 45 mph. nuff said. anyways, it was a good drive, one that i am glad is out of my system.
NEW YEARS
this new years was pretty fun, and it def qualifies as one of those 'fun despite the circumstances' nights. we were slated to go to knott's berry farm for new years, but it rained a torrential downpour new years eve, so half of our kids backed out. whateva, those of us that went had a blast. the best part, was that the weather cleared up as we were heading south, and by the time we go there the skies were clear. so all of these people that had bailed on knott's left the park open to the few thousand of us that stayed the course. me not being one for rides, i still had a blast hanging out with the kids, and we all had a great time watching one of the best fireworks shows i've seen in a while. so it was a long night, but, i did get a good laugh the next day when i saw the...
BEST PRANK EVER
so i walk into my office sunday morning, new years day, and open my door to see nothing but newspaper... floor to ceiling. my whole office was filled with newspaper. it was soooooo funny, just thinking back on it is making me crack up. i have yet to get the culprits back, but plans have been set in motion, and they will reap the consequences for the greatest prank ever. by the way, the cleanup took a total of 12 man hours, and six mini dumpsters full of newspaper.
BBQ AND FRIENDS
so i took off to san diego a few weekends ago, and i just thought it was noteworthy to comment on how much i love going down there to visit mi amigos, esp the girls at north county c of c. they have one of the most close-knit groups i've been around. they have a way of building each other up that is pretty sweet , and def makes me feel like i'm having one of those on top of the hill moments. it also doesn't hurt when you split the pot playing poker. regardless, it was a fun night, a good bbq, good friends... nuff said. can't wait for the next trip down.
and while i was down in s.d., i stopped by to say hola to cutler and erin, which always turns out to be a blast. it's fun to hang out with people that have completely different lives than you do, just to get some other views on life. anyways, cutler is kind of like a second dad to me, and catching up with him is one of those things that should be much higher on my priority list. that, and he's one of those guys that goes to any extreme to make sure everyone is relaxed and having a good time. we ended up going to a nice italian place with his new wife, erin and her boyfriend, which was one of those mixes of people that only comes from hanging with cutler. needless to say, there was waaaay too much food, then they ordered desert, and there was plenty of great little awkward moments that make an evening interesting. and to top off the night, cutler gave me money to buy this Muhammad ali print that i've always wanted.
NCAA FOOTBALL
next...
THE RAWK SHOW
so one of my kids is in a punk band, officer whitey and the book'em boys, and i went to see on of their last shows over in the valley. what a flashback that night was. maybe thirty kids, all friends of the bands, an abandoned movie theater and plenty of really loud fast music. def took me back about ten years to my days in the punk/ska scene, which was a fun trip. that, and it's kind of fun to see that something that you were a part of has remained around.
DISNEYLAND
a few weeks ago merlin had a one night seminar down in mission viejo, so a group of us that went decided to stay down there that sunday night and go to disneyland that monday. i'm not typically the disneyland type, but man i have to say it is so much fun going with a bunch of twenty something guys. i still laugh at the image of the five of us grown men walking around, going on rides. and then there's buzz lightyear, the ride of choice for ronald and merlin, who have every target memorized, and compete with disneyland imagineers for the top score every day. yeah, we def rode that ride 14 times in one day, and i would venture to say that is not a record for either one of them. anyways, i actually had fun riding space mtn, and the matterhorn, which is cool because i'm not really the rides type of person, but space mtn esp is cool, because you can't tell how high up you are, and i can't really psyche myself out. the funniest part of the day though, would have to be me literally bumping into nikki hilton. i just apologized and then started laughing, because i couldn't think of anyone who i would be less likely to ever run into again. hard to explain, but at the very least i got to add to my celebrity spotting list.
ARTWORK
i've been working on my artwork a lot lately too. ever since i saw this guy banksy's work over in england, i've been really into stencil art ever since. i hope to have some of that stuff posted soon on my other blog dedicated to my artwork.
WALKING OFF THE STREET
lately we've had several kiddos that have pretty much walked in off the street to the youth group. it's pretty crazy to be honest. one kid started coming because he heard we had prayed for him and his family a few moths ago, another started coming because his family life is pretty crazy, and another started coming on her own to church just because she was interested. i've always been a firm believer that God will send us people when we are ready, and i think that this is a pretty good sign of where the group is at. the tough part goes to me on crossing over from a pastoral type of minister to an evangelist minister, but i think it's going to be fun.
BLACK OPS
we've got several college students, including valley girl and a-list, who have asked to start helping out with the youth ministry. let's see, volunteers coming to me to help out, all of which happen to be friends of mine here at church.... um, okay. yeah, needless to say, i'm pretty stoked about what is possible with this group, but i know that a good portion of my time coming soon is going to be dedicated to them and getting them events to pull of with the kiddos.
FINAL THOUGHTS
wow. this took forever. if it seems a little disjointed, it prob has something to do with the fact that i started this post a while ago, and have worked on it for several days and many hours. but, having it done def feels therapeutic, like i have one less thing on my list of stuff that
needs to be done. hopefully i can move on now and continue to do what i've done in the past, and update on tuesdays. we'll see. well, i'm going to relax for a bit and listen to the new jack j soundtrack to the curious george movie, do roots tonight, and then go home and play on guitar till i fall asleep. here's to you the devoted reader...
one love, one heart.
THE LATEST NEWS
this week has just been one of those weeks. mi padre is closer to earning his wings than we had originally anticipated. part of me is waiting for that sense of relief in knowing that dad is finally cured of all pain, and that mi madre can relax and take a well deserved deep breath, while another part of me is tensing up like when you know you're going to get hit really hard. to be honest, this is wrecking shop for me physically, no sleep etc. however, i do feel the need to remind those around me that in no way shape or form does this have me questioning God's grace and compassion. in fact, i feel like the more tired i get, the more i can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding me through my days. it's like that old church song says, "more of You, and less of me", or something like that. whatever, i've felt God do too much in my life to start denying that He is still going to bless me through these next few months.
also on my mind this week is my brother by love, dantheman. he was up snowboarding on tues and took a pretty serious hit. when the ski patrol checked him out they realized he had ruptured his spleen, and was bleeding internally. they rushed him down the street to the hospital where they removed his spleen and about half of his blood. as of right now it looks like he is going to make a very good recovery. i went to spend the day with him on tuesday, and he was in good spirits, and was able to move around, although you could tell he was still in a lot of pain. actually, we couldn't really spend a lot of time together, because we would get to laughing and it would literally break his stitches, so i ended up getting him a free lawn mower and working on the yard outside. tappertrainman came by later to hang out as well and hooked up dantheman's entertainment system so we could watch blazing saddles. one of those things where you know it's going to hurt, but you do it anyways. whatever, you really don't need an excuse to watch blazing saddles.
about a month ago i said some things to dan in a way that was completely non-constructive. after my parent meeting (read below) a few months back i should have known better. fortunately those things were cleared up before this happened, but that has been weighing on my mind heavily the past few days. i've had years to prepare for my dad, but the potential to lose dantheman is something i simply could not handle. if i've learned any lesson recently, is that things that need to be said, need to be said. i'm talking about the 'i love yous', the 'thank yous' and the 'please forgive me' type of things that we always assume will come about naturally. i've cleared the air with dantheman and futuremom, and truly feel forgiven. i'm just ashamed that tragedies seem to be necessary to be called into action on certain things. this is a part of my life i am truly ready to change.
THE POSITIVE
now that i have cleared the negativity out of the my writing mood, i would be remiss to not mention the amazing gift of friendship that God has granted me lately. i'll start off with dantheman, because that's where friendship stats with me. these past couple of months dantheman and i have spent less time with each other than in previous years, and it continually amazes me how a friendship transfers through time. we have this uncanny ability to pick off where we left off at any given time, and finishing each others sentences is old hat to us. i think if we really wanted to freak people out we could convince strangers that we were psychically connected or something. it's gotten to the point that some of our conversations are boiled down to one word. he says a word, that reminds me of a story, we both laugh because he's thinking of the same thing, and then we move on. at the very least it's an efficient way to communicate.
next, i have to move on to move on to the youth ministry here in socal. specifically merlin and ronald. in my line of work, there really aren't a whole lot of other people who truly understand what i go through on a daily basis. so spending time with these guys becomes very important. also, we have a way of balancing each other out. lately, i've been struggling a bunch with my organization, and i have ronald to lean on for that. merlin has been struggling with some stuff happening in his church, and he has used us to vent and alleviate pressure with comedy. and ronald, well i think he's glad that someone laughs at his jokes, and will go on the buzz lightyear ride with him. to sum up, when it comes crunch time, playtime, work time, or whatever, i am realizing how much God uses my friends to affect the way that i feel.
then there's my two new friends that have entered my life with a bang. valleygirl and a-list. a-list asked to help out with the youth ministry a while ago, and he recently quit his part time job so that he could spend more time with the youth group. nuff said there. but i will mention that i've never would have imagined being friends with him way back in the day, which is awesome because it serves as a constant reminder of the way God plans stuff for us that we never see coming. he graduates this april and i plan on sabotaging any job interview that takes him away from the north l.a. area. then there's valleygirl, oh man i don't even know where to begin. we hit it off pretty good when i first got here, but not until recently have we sealed the deal as great friends. we spent a whole day together last week and it was like hanging out with someone i've known for years. needless to say it's been a while since i've been given the name 'bff', but coming from a legit valley girl, i just have to laugh. and yes i do refer to her as 'bff' as well. shut up.
and finally, i have to give it up to God for the new female in my life, risas mucho chica. not a lot to say yet on that subject, mainly because i don't want to jinx anything as has happened in the past with this very blog. regardless of that though, it's been fun so far, and i don't see any reason why that's going to change anytime soon.
so that's the current stuff, now i'm going to hear back to the time of my last post and put together some paragraphs about the stuff i remember. feel free to skip ahead or whatever. this blog was originally set up for me to look back so there's prob stuff coming up that no one else will care about.
POINT OF IMPACT
so we had our annual impact jr high retreat which was, as usual, an awesome event. i'm always encouraged to see jr high kiddos start to really appreciate and understand God for themselves. one of our kids decided to baptized when we got back from the weekend, which is def justification for the speed at which we traveled on the freeway back to church on sunday morning. definitely. i love it though, when you can see it in the kiddos faces that they get it. it's a little hard to describe, but it's like a look of shock, recognition, surprise, contentment and joy all in one. it's moments like those that serve as great reminders of why i do what i do.
impact was also my first time to be a speaker at a retreat, which was def a trip and a half. i'm so used to my kiddos, and my church, and it has taken over a year to get to a comfort level where i'm not really nervous to talk in front of a group that doesn't know me. it was weird being in front of a large group again, and it only took me a few seconds to realize that these kids had no clue about my sense of humor or my background, and it completely changed the way i had to present my lesson. needless to say, it didn't go as i had planned, but God took over and i think it ended up being a good day. we were talking about thanking God, and i had the story of the ten lepers that were healed and only one returned to thank Jesus. so at lunch time i had the chaperones give different problems to the kiddos like tying their arm in a sling, taping up one leg, covering their mouths, and putting caution tape on them to symbolize losing a limb, being mute, and being a leper. (had to be there kinda thing). anyways, i think some of the kids still remember the lesson a few months back which makes looking back at impact a pretty fond memory.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
there are certain things in my life that i avoid like the plague. the top of that list would be unnecessary drama. on down that list would be parent meetings with the youth ministry. i work my tail off to keep open relationships with the parents in my youth ministry, esp those that show a really involved interest. i think it's also important to note that i am not a big fan of doing things simply because they're 'supposed' to be done. in short, if we're doing something in the youth ministry, there's going to be a purpose to it. i held off for a while on a parent meeting because there really wasn't a whole lot to share yet, and every parent meeting i've ever been to has ended in someone, usually the youth minister leaving discouraged, instead of encouraged. i warned people about this, and i was still asked to hold a parent meeting. i agreed to have the meeting, as long as it was not a time to air out grievances, and we could focus on future planning.
so i prepare a couple of things to talk to my parents about. i know my weaknesses, because i deal with them every day. i also spent a lot of time in prayer and study on how to overcome my weaknesses. i did this because i did not want to have a bloodbath (which i have seen happen before), and i didn't have time to update my resume (i know a youth minister that updates his resume before every parent meeting, and after seeing the parents he works with, i can't blame him). so i go into this meeting hopeful that things are going to go smoothly, and we can focus on the future. i let the parents know about different books that i use for research that they might not know about, and i clue them into myspace, one of the biggest dangers to the kids in our youth group. so far so good. then i introduce some planning books that we are going to use this year, to help parents plan events.
then the bomb drops.
our former youth deacon asks the parents if anyone has any 'issues or concerns', the very question that turns any good meeting downhill. for a second things are going awesome. we had just baptized two kiddos in the youth group that previous week, and their parents had some great words of encouragement. i've got another set of parents that give me some awesome compliments, which were great to hear, but i really don't need a meeting as a forum to build me up because these parents tell me outside of meetings. see above relationship building. so then one set of parents decides to tee off on me. they start off with the books that i recommended for research saying that the Bible was nowhere in there, which automatically shows they weren't listening, because i prefaced my book recommendations as 'books parents might not be aware of'. then, they tee off on merry christmas madness, calling it unholy and embarrassing to the church, because last year a kid threw up. i'm sorry, but just because your child doesn't want to do anything to slightly get out of their shell, does not mean that everything they don't want to do is unholy. merry christmas madness was a huge success, and we even had our preacher involved last year. i'm not a fan of throwing up either, but when a kid tries to drink a two liter of soda and chucks it back up in sink, that's comedy. regardless, it's not some kind of unholy embarrassment. if that's the case, youth groups across the country should be warned not to ever ask any kid to do something they might have the slightest inclination of fear about, because it might cause an ounce of discomfort. yeah, you would never want to be uncomfortable as a christian. wait a second, try dying on a cross or being dinner for a lion. moving on, the one set of parents then teed off on the fact that we openly talked about one of our new members of the youth group being pregnant. to clarify, this young lady started hanging out with the youth group last summer, when she was already two months pregnant. she started attending on thursday nights, and we had several bible studies with her and her boyfriend. we were making huge progress with her and her family to bring them both to Christ. so these parents start in complaining how tough they had it having to talk to their kid about someone being pregnant in the youth group, never mind they are sitting right next to her mom (who has just started getting involved in the church) who promptly leaves the room crying. my heart is breaking as i'm watching so many souls potentially walking out of the door forever. the set of parents then finish up with me personally, insulting my artistic background, and saying that i don't use enough scripture in my lessons.
here's my response, once and for all, so i can finally just move over this. first of all, this should have never happened in this setting. in no way shape or form were those comments constructive to the youth ministry. secondly, i felt like my elders and youth deacon sold me out and left me out to dry, because they knew there was an issue with this parent, and they gave me no heads up. which leads me to the bigger issue, the parents should have come to me first. the irony of being called immature and unscriptural by someone who won't talk to me (and continues to avoid me) and completely skipped the biblical process of dealing with someone first, then going to others (check matthew 18), still doesn't sit well. to be honest, it's put a huge chip on my shoulder and still has me fired up. i was just getting settled with being okay as a youth minister, now i am out to prove to God, myself and anyone who cares to pay attention that i will never settle on anything less than being an excellent youth minister. talk about my feet to the fire, i'm so charged up now, and my ministry has become so clear, yeah... this is going to end up being a good thing. also, i really have a problem with any parents who complain about my teaching style, when they have never sat in on a single class, or asked me about my studying. esp when they're child spends an entire class time text messaging their friends. and lastly, i brought up a scripture in the parent meeting and this perspective has truly changed my outlook on my role as a youth minister. in matthew 9:12 Jesus says that the sick are the ones that need a doctor. enough said. sick people need Jesus, we have Him on our hearts, so we have the responsibility to share what we have. no more country club churches, no more secret society stuff, we're here to affect people.
all in all, things have worked out for the best. i called the mom that left the room the next morning and smoothed things out. we continued to study with the young lady and her boyfriend, who were both baptized soon after. i've had a huge outcry of support from my elders, along with an apology, and the continued support of my good friend and coworker lawdog, who has continued to be a spiritual rock for me.
EUROPEAN VACATION
so after all of that drama, it was great timing for me to get away, so i hopped on a plane and went to visit mi hermana, who was spending the semester in oxford with her group from ACU. this was by far the best trip i've ever been on, and my first real vacation on my own. yeah, i've set the bar pretty high. anyways, here are some of the highlights.
we spent a couple of days in and around oxford, which was an awesome town. we saw christchurch, the spot where cornwall was burned at the stake in the middle of the street, university park and all kinds of ancient buildings. my favorite places in oxford were the bench and park where tolkien wrote the hobbit, the restaurant where him and c.s. lewis hung out, and the oxford dictionary press. first off, i love lord of the rings, and sitting on the bench where tolkien wrote the hobbit made a huge impact on me. it really helped the movies come alive, and made me realize how much an environment can have an affect on how you feel and what you see. eating at the 'eagle and child', where the inklings met was also kind of a big deal, because you really got a sense of history, and how much one person can influence the world. that really came into play later on that week. as for the oxford press, it was just funny to be in oxford and be surrounded by dictionaries. call that my warped sense of humor. on my 'i guess it's famous' list, we also ate at the pub where bill clinton never inhaled, and saw the school where hugh grant attended (evidently that's a big deal over there).
then we spent a day or so in london, which may be the coolest city in the world. riding around on the underground was awesome, but it was kind of creepy too. here you have all of these packed cars, and no one makes a sound. i guess it's impolite to talk loudly in public over there, which def took some getting used to, but it does explain why every person on 'the tube' had their ipods on. but talk about useful, the underground was by far the coolest way i've ever gotten around a city. as much as i loved it tough, i was so stoked to get back home and drive my big ol suv around with my radio cranked up. back to england though... we also got to go to the first hard rock cafe, which was so sweet. i'm typically not a fan of hard rock cafe's, cause they usually have all of this stuff from one hit wonders. seriously, i don't really care to be eating under a rick james famed jerry curl wig. but in london, the hard rock had original beatles' guitars, guns n roses jackets, jimi hendrix concert posters, and then there was the vault. downstairs they have in one room a trumpet from miles davis, kurt cobain's guitar, bob dylan's hat and guitars, stuff from the clash, the who, bo diddley, elvis... nothing but huge names. the highlight for me was getting to hold a six million dollar jimi hendrix flying v guitar. i'd go back just to do that again.
then we walked through princess diana park to buckingham palace, which was trippy to say the least. the palace itself wasn't as impressive as i had imagined, but the fountain in front of it was unreal. some of the coolest sculptures i've ever seen, and me being the type that is really moved by art, was standing there speechless. oh yeah, something else i noticed about london; they say the police don't carry guns, and that may be true of the beat cops or patrolmen, but i guarantee there were plenty of swat looking guys with their hands on the triggers of m-16s walking around london, and they don't like to have their picture taken. especially the ones in and around buckingham palace. unfortunately though, we weren't able to see the changing of the guard, but that may be something to put on the list for another visit.
the next morning we woke up early and went to the british library, which was my favorite part of london by far. in one room they have original works of shakespeare, c.s. lewis, davinci, handel's messiah, mozart, beethoven, the beatles, an original guttenberg bible, THE magna carta, and on original king james bible. it was absolutely amazing to sit there and read the king james bible. i was overwhelmed with a sense of pride in knowing that i was reading something that truly has stood the test of time. there was also this feeling of satisfaction in knowing that the message i give to my youth group is the same message that God has been giving man for thousands of years. in one way, it made me feel really small because i kind of got a taste for the long reaching impact of the message of Christ, and i have my small little corner here in simi. on the other hand, it made me feel really important because i realized that i am part of a long list that includes some very distinguished and admirable people. this may sound odd, but i haven't been able to get that image out of my mind in a long time, and to be honest, i'm not sure if i really plan on doing so anytime soon. let's move one.
later that afternoon we made our way to ireland, which was some comedy. i've always griped about southwest airlines and how much their flights are like a cattle call. no more. we flew ryan air, which i guess is the equivalent to southwest for europe, because they had the cheapest fares, and they fly everywhere. well, the balance to the cheap fares is sitting in seat so close together that the in flight meal may as well be your knees. i'm not even that tall, and i could barely fit between the seat, fortunately, the flight wasn't that long, and i can pretty much sleep anywhere. unfortunately, the plane is bright yellow and bright blue on the inside, and just the reflection of light makes it impossible to sleep. it's one of those things i can look back and laugh because i know i don't have to constantly rely on that for transportation. the funniest part though, was the stewardesses dressed like hot dog on a stick employees, who were selling stuff on the plane. they don't have complimentary drinks or snacks on ryan air, but they do have a menu. the menu has the usual stuff like peanuts, sodas, candy... then they have watches, teddy bears, backpacks, flowers and pretty much anything else that you would never expect to see on a plane. it was like flying on a flea market. good times.
so we land in ireland, catch a double decker bus to downtown dublin, and proceed to the temple bar district, which is the heart of dublin. what a crazy town. seriously, they need to rename the island Guinness, because that's all that the irish talk about, and evidently it's all they drink too. seeing a Guinness sign in a restaurant window there is like seeing the visa/maastercard logo in a window here. needless to say it was a bit of a journey to find a pepsi anywhere, but i did manage to find the irish mixture for coke. not so good. anyways, dublin was a cool town. everyone hangs out in the pubs and watches football and has a pint from about 5-7 then everything shuts down. seriously, one minute we're walking down the street, ducking in and out of pubs checking out the different bands playing, then the next thing you know it's only the tourists out. a little weird, but fun.
the people of ireland are amazing too. they'll talk to anyone about anything irish all day long, and we met plenty of people that were ready and willing to do so. i loved it, because i was having these conversations, and i know these people were speaking english, and i didn't understand a single word. authentic irish gibberish, so much fun. even the little kids were hard to understand. i was barely able to understand our tour guide the next morning, but you get the idea that the whole island is kind of like that crazy little brother, to the stale and polite english older brother.
so on thanksgiving, we decided to take a celtic history tour. typically, i'm not a take the tour kind of person, but i'm so glad we did. our first stop was a tomb that was believed to be the spot where the evil spirits of the island rose from the ground. the tomb was literally a mound of dirt, but it was older than the egyptian pyramids, and inside was on of the first carvings of a human face. most other carvings at that time were of the human body, and there sitting in this old tomb was this unreal artifact. we then went to this abbey that had the oldest standing celtic cross in the world.
the celtic cross has always been a point of interest for me, i've always wondered why there was a circle around the cross. the celts were a pagan race, that believed there were hundreds of gods, and the island itself was a god, they worshipped the sun, because when the sun was out, things grew, things lived, when it was cold, things died. when the first missionaries came over to talk to the celts, and told them that there was only one God, and the sun wasn't it, they would get their heads chopped off. no barbaric race wants to hear that their gods aren't real. anyways, over time missionaries figured out to change their message, and sated saying that Jesus was the 'God over the other gods', and they combined the image of the cross with the image of the sun. so the celtic cross is really a symbol of diluting the message of Christ, and compromising the beliefs of Christianity. But the artwork on the cross really interested me. the celts did not believe in a written language (if i write down what i know, then you can know it, then you will be smarter than me) so the missionaries would use pictures, or carvings to tell their story. so in one frame you have this poor guy being sold out by his friends, then he's taken prisoner by these men, then he's killed up on a cross. but in the pictures, the poor guy didn't look like a Jewish guy, and the bad guys weren't Romans, they were Irish monks and vikings. interesting, they reworked the story to make it relevant to those they were preaching to, if this doesn't strike a chord with the current trend of american mega churches, it should. so i guess the question i started asking was how to find a balance between this message that has stood for the test of time, and still make it relevant to the culture i'm on w/o changing the meaning.
we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in small town, and ended up having turkey and stuffing which was cool, because it was thanksgiving day. then i met my favorite irish person of the trip. there was this stereotypical old irish guy sitting at the bar drinking his pint of Guinness, wool hat, jacket, sweater, the whole nine. he made some comment to me, then proceeded to talk to me and mi hermana for several minutes... i didn't understand a single word. i think he was mad because he may have been asking us questions, and we were just standing there nodding our heads. regardless, it was fun to hang out with some locals.
then came my favorite part of the trip. we went to slane abbey, where st. patrick became famous. here's how the story goes. patrick was a slave captured by an irishman, and forced to work for seven years. he learned the language and customs of the irish, and escaped to england on a fishing boat. he went back to france and decided to become a priest. after several years of schooling, he felt a calling to go back to ireland as a missionary. so he went back and changed the way Christianity was brought to ireland. for hundreds of years, priests went to the commoners to teach Christianity, because it put them on a level playing field spiritually as their masters, and the masters weren't having anything to do with God. every year to appease the sun god, the king of ireland would assemble all of the druid priests, and light a huge bonfire as a sacrifice to bring out the sun. every clan would send a reporter to the bonfire to report on what happened. so patrick builds a bigger bonfire than the king, and lights his first, getting the attention of not only the reporters, but the king and his men. so the king gathers up his men and charge over, expecting a fight (see next paragraph) only to find one unarmed man charging at them. they're thinking this guy is either crazy, or he has a powerful god on his side, either way, they don't fight him. patrick talks to the king, and tells him that there is only one God, and Jesus is Him. the king challenges patrick to prove it, and sends him in with some druid priests to a room, and patrick is the only one who comes out. the king then gives permission for patrick to tell of the Jesus, but he doesn't convert out of respect for his ancestors. so all of these reporters go back to their clans telling of this powerful Jesus, and his servant patrick. now, when priests come to these clans and ask if the people know about Jesus, the people are excited to hear about this all-powerful God. so i'm standing there on this hill, and the wind changes direction, and brings about this arctic chill. this story was amazing, one man completely changed the history of a whole nation. i realized how often i sell God short of what he is capable of doing, and how limited my own vision for the future is. one man changed an island. wow. suddenly converting a whole city or school doesn't seem like such an impossible task. this is one of those moments that has really had a profound impact on me. i'm still sorting out all of the details, but i do (still) feel a new sense of purpose and possibility when it comes to my ministry.
then we went to tara hill, which is where the celts used to crown their king. this is where the term 'king of the hill' comes from. rival clans would fight over who would be king, and whoever could hold the hill was the king for however long they could hold it. in 1600 years they had over 800 kings, so you can imagine it was a pretty stressful job. anyways, after the king had won his battles, the druid priests would cleanse (think hazing) them for a week, and allow them to touch this sacred rock that was supposedly the center of the heart f the island. i touched the rock, and my reign was about 30 seconds until me hermana took over. i like to think i was a good king.
so we headed back to temple bar, had a night of tourist shopping and getting lost, then got to work on getting back to england. the next morning we rode the bus all the way down to a ferry, that was supposed to take us across the sea to wales, and we were going to ride a train back to oxford. problem, that arctic storm that came in made the seas too rough, and the ferries weren't going to be running until the next day. problem. my flight left at 10am the next day. so we booked it back to the dublin airport and coughed up the extra money to get on a flight back that night. we had some chill time at the dublin airport, which was good, because we were tired and kind of getting on each other's nerves a little bit. a quick flight back, led to an adventure with trying to find a train back to oxford, where me and jake got to get all of our stuff back, sleep for three hours, before i had to get back to london to catch my flight.
what a crazy week. my first real vacation was def a memorable one. we took a bunch of pictures, i lost a lot of them on mi hermana's computer, i stayed at some hostels, had some english food (which was surprisingly good), met some good irish folk, was king for a few minutes, walked more in a week than i had in the previous month, got some cool stickers for my table, a couple of t-shirts for the closet, and a bunch of crazy stories. oh yeah, speaking of hostels, if you want to add an element of craziness to your trip to europe, i def recommend staying at hostels. the one in oxford was crazy, the people were pretty loud, and the rooms were mixed, so i ended up sharing a room with 20 other people, and had no clue who they were. the one in london was cool, and a lot nicer. the three of us were in there with some japanese girls, we think, but we never heard or saw them. really weird. the hostel in ireland was the real trip though, we had a french roommate who never said a word, a south african roommate who had just moved to ireland, and a kiwi roommate who had been in country for a while, and was looking for a flat. the kiwi was some comedy, and we invited him to grab a bite to eat with us the second night. the next morning though, was the 'yep, the US is a little different from here' moment of the trip. i got up early to take a shower, and as i'm opening the door to get my towel, i realize that the bathroom is a mixed bathroom. i realized this because there were two girls changing, and they laughed when i got embarrassed and shut the door. awkward much? i'd say so. wither way, it makes for a funny story now. all in all though, i had a great time. mi hermana was an awesome tour guide, and being in such a different place really put things into perspective for me. i'm not sure what that means, but i think you're supposed to say that after going to europe.
MERRY CHRISTMAS MADNESS
so after a few weeks of getting back into the swing of things, we had our year end big event, merry christmas madness. we doubled the attendance from last year, and had a really good time of outreach and craziness. i toned back some of the stuff on our list from last year, but the kids seemed to have a blast doing it. the video is still in the works though, several months later. too much stuff going on. not a great excuse i know, but the truth. so i'll prob post more on that when the video gets finished (thats the plan for the next few days)
all in all, i'd say it was pretty fun, and i think we have the groundwork for a great event every year.
YOUTHWAVE RETREAT
one of the benefits of being a youth minister is the fringe benefits. we have an event coming this summer called youthwave, which is an evangelism training camp. so we spent a couple of days up north talking about youthwave, kinda like those weekend sales pitches where they offer you a free toaster to hear about the joy of owning a timeshare. except that our 'time away' means a bunch of us getting together to get something done, then have a blast hanging out. so we talked about youthwave, which has me impressed to say the least. essentially, you get training every morning on how to preach to strangers, then they drop you off in los angeles all afternoon and you talk to strangers about God. here's the cool part though, the focus of the week is not to convert strangers, it's to get over fears we have of talking to our friends about God. it's an amazing concept that i'm really banking on to spur some great changes here. the focal point of the week is actually to write four letters to friends that you want to grow closer to Christ. i'm not the first to say it, but letter writing is starting to be the next big thing in ministry. if you're not writing letters yet you will be soon. anyways, we had some awesome praise and worship time, and we stayed up nice and late joking around, talking youth ministry stuff with the only people that could possibly identify.
the trip was sponsored by pepperdine, and since we stayed at a friends' house in morro bay, they had extra money left in the budget, so our host took us out to pismo beach to ride atv's on the beach. let me repeat that for all of my friends outside of southern california: last december we went to the beach and rode atvs. i had a blast. i'm not so much into the jumping dunes and all that, but i did love taking the atvs down the edge of the water at 60mph, going so fast your eyes dry up. too much fun. anyways, that's how we roll down here in socal, work hard, play hard.
CHRISTMAS VACATION
i'm a big fan of christmas. someday i'm going to be the guy that has 20,000 lights on his house, dresses like santa for the neighborhood kids, serves egg nog to anyone that comes over, and constantly hums christmas tunes. this past christmas was a blast. i kept my shopping to a minimal, got people stuff that they needed and wanted, and got it all done in one day, christmas eve. actually, christmas eve in our family has kinda become the holiday. we're all up and not tired, other families are usually able to join in, and we have a whole day of excitement to build up to our dinner and presents. anyways, this year was fun, because the whole family was able to make it out to my parents' house, which always leads to some good stories. and most importantly, mom was able to get most of the snowman militia out for the celebration. anyways, here are the other highlights:
the good: everyone really chipped in and mom wasn't near as stressed as i thought she was going to be. the cooking was great, we had plenty of food, no big drama, just a lot of chilling with the fam.
the bad: my aunt inadvertently telling jokes that make a guys locker room sound clean. me and my cousins trying to not to look at each other to keep from cracking up. my aunt repeating the joke with no clue of how dirty it was, and me and my cousins losing it and pointing out what she said. to top it off, my mom is now wondering how we know about certain things we know about, and my granny i think has given up on our family.
the ugly. the cuz singing his one country song for the whole family, a song about a dysfunctional redneck christmas. my other cousin's wife commenting on how much that song reminded her of her family.
the sentimental: mi padre not being able to shop for presents for anyone, but managing to describe the necklace he wants to get mi madre. even more sentimental, was him working on singing 'we wish you a merry christmas' for the whole family. it's one of those 'two coins' stories where someone give all that they can, and def puts gift giving in perspective.
the only in our family: after finishing up his first song, mi padre started up into the marine corps hymn, which prompted my grandpa to stand up and sing a long, followed immediately by granny, then my mom and her sisters, then the rest of us. that's right, christmas eve, and we're standing around trying to remember the words to the marine corps hymn. wouldn't trade it for the world.
THE DRIVE HOME
due to a change in schedule, and not wanting to spend 16+ hours traveling by plane each way (layovers on expedia flights are a punk), i decided to drive out to texas for christmas. it was awesome. mi hermana got to come out to simi and we hung out for a day or so. then we drove straight through to frisco, tx. not an eventful trip, but we did manage to have fun together, despite the fact that we were rarely awake at the same time.
the real fun was driving back by myself though. one of those wild at heart moments where you feel like you've conquered the road. i really enjoyed having the radio to myself for a day, and i know i blew at least two of my speakers. but, i got to see a lot of our great country, the desert at sunrise, and i was able to just talk out loud to God for a loooooong time. that last part happened early on, as it became more necessary to have louder music as i went on. lets just say by the time i was 45 minutes from home, i was listening to motorhead's greatest hits. my only complaint about the drive home was el paso. seriously, someone needs to go to el paso and make every person there retake the driving test. the interstate is not the place to see if your car can make it up to 45 mph. nuff said. anyways, it was a good drive, one that i am glad is out of my system.
NEW YEARS
this new years was pretty fun, and it def qualifies as one of those 'fun despite the circumstances' nights. we were slated to go to knott's berry farm for new years, but it rained a torrential downpour new years eve, so half of our kids backed out. whateva, those of us that went had a blast. the best part, was that the weather cleared up as we were heading south, and by the time we go there the skies were clear. so all of these people that had bailed on knott's left the park open to the few thousand of us that stayed the course. me not being one for rides, i still had a blast hanging out with the kids, and we all had a great time watching one of the best fireworks shows i've seen in a while. so it was a long night, but, i did get a good laugh the next day when i saw the...
BEST PRANK EVER
so i walk into my office sunday morning, new years day, and open my door to see nothing but newspaper... floor to ceiling. my whole office was filled with newspaper. it was soooooo funny, just thinking back on it is making me crack up. i have yet to get the culprits back, but plans have been set in motion, and they will reap the consequences for the greatest prank ever. by the way, the cleanup took a total of 12 man hours, and six mini dumpsters full of newspaper.
BBQ AND FRIENDS
so i took off to san diego a few weekends ago, and i just thought it was noteworthy to comment on how much i love going down there to visit mi amigos, esp the girls at north county c of c. they have one of the most close-knit groups i've been around. they have a way of building each other up that is pretty sweet , and def makes me feel like i'm having one of those on top of the hill moments. it also doesn't hurt when you split the pot playing poker. regardless, it was a fun night, a good bbq, good friends... nuff said. can't wait for the next trip down.
and while i was down in s.d., i stopped by to say hola to cutler and erin, which always turns out to be a blast. it's fun to hang out with people that have completely different lives than you do, just to get some other views on life. anyways, cutler is kind of like a second dad to me, and catching up with him is one of those things that should be much higher on my priority list. that, and he's one of those guys that goes to any extreme to make sure everyone is relaxed and having a good time. we ended up going to a nice italian place with his new wife, erin and her boyfriend, which was one of those mixes of people that only comes from hanging with cutler. needless to say, there was waaaay too much food, then they ordered desert, and there was plenty of great little awkward moments that make an evening interesting. and to top off the night, cutler gave me money to buy this Muhammad ali print that i've always wanted.
NCAA FOOTBALL
next...
THE RAWK SHOW
so one of my kids is in a punk band, officer whitey and the book'em boys, and i went to see on of their last shows over in the valley. what a flashback that night was. maybe thirty kids, all friends of the bands, an abandoned movie theater and plenty of really loud fast music. def took me back about ten years to my days in the punk/ska scene, which was a fun trip. that, and it's kind of fun to see that something that you were a part of has remained around.
DISNEYLAND
a few weeks ago merlin had a one night seminar down in mission viejo, so a group of us that went decided to stay down there that sunday night and go to disneyland that monday. i'm not typically the disneyland type, but man i have to say it is so much fun going with a bunch of twenty something guys. i still laugh at the image of the five of us grown men walking around, going on rides. and then there's buzz lightyear, the ride of choice for ronald and merlin, who have every target memorized, and compete with disneyland imagineers for the top score every day. yeah, we def rode that ride 14 times in one day, and i would venture to say that is not a record for either one of them. anyways, i actually had fun riding space mtn, and the matterhorn, which is cool because i'm not really the rides type of person, but space mtn esp is cool, because you can't tell how high up you are, and i can't really psyche myself out. the funniest part of the day though, would have to be me literally bumping into nikki hilton. i just apologized and then started laughing, because i couldn't think of anyone who i would be less likely to ever run into again. hard to explain, but at the very least i got to add to my celebrity spotting list.
ARTWORK
i've been working on my artwork a lot lately too. ever since i saw this guy banksy's work over in england, i've been really into stencil art ever since. i hope to have some of that stuff posted soon on my other blog dedicated to my artwork.
WALKING OFF THE STREET
lately we've had several kiddos that have pretty much walked in off the street to the youth group. it's pretty crazy to be honest. one kid started coming because he heard we had prayed for him and his family a few moths ago, another started coming because his family life is pretty crazy, and another started coming on her own to church just because she was interested. i've always been a firm believer that God will send us people when we are ready, and i think that this is a pretty good sign of where the group is at. the tough part goes to me on crossing over from a pastoral type of minister to an evangelist minister, but i think it's going to be fun.
BLACK OPS
we've got several college students, including valley girl and a-list, who have asked to start helping out with the youth ministry. let's see, volunteers coming to me to help out, all of which happen to be friends of mine here at church.... um, okay. yeah, needless to say, i'm pretty stoked about what is possible with this group, but i know that a good portion of my time coming soon is going to be dedicated to them and getting them events to pull of with the kiddos.
FINAL THOUGHTS
wow. this took forever. if it seems a little disjointed, it prob has something to do with the fact that i started this post a while ago, and have worked on it for several days and many hours. but, having it done def feels therapeutic, like i have one less thing on my list of stuff that
needs to be done. hopefully i can move on now and continue to do what i've done in the past, and update on tuesdays. we'll see. well, i'm going to relax for a bit and listen to the new jack j soundtrack to the curious george movie, do roots tonight, and then go home and play on guitar till i fall asleep. here's to you the devoted reader...
one love, one heart.
2.15.2006
coming soon...
i'm working on a huge post to update this blog. it's going to be long, i promise... keep checking back.
one love, one heart.
one love, one heart.
11.11.2005
11.10.2005
I'm just tryin' to keep everything in balance, Woodrow. You do more work than you got to, so it's my obligation to do less. Gus McCrae-Lonesome Dove
physically speaking i have terrible balance. this would be the root of many of my sports related injuries and mishaps. my lack of balance contributes almost solely to my inability to longboard well (both skating and surfing), my fear of heights, and me always running into things and or slipping and falling. one of my problems is that i favor my right side so much, i am often not centered, and tend to not focus on my weaker (left) side.
i've also noticed lately that i have terrible balance when it comes to God providing for me, or to put it simply, the good outweighs the bad. here are a few of the things that have happened to me lately that have brought about this realization.
my bank card was declined the other day when i tried to pay rent, buy as and get cash from the machine. bad day. the reason my card was declined was that someone was trying to access my account and set off a security protocol that deactivates my card. in short, someone was trying to get into my money and they failed, and my bank protected me. much better day.
my apt complex would not take a personal check after my card was declined, so i had to drive 35 minutes to my nearest bank branch (don't ask why) and get a cashier's check and some cash for the rent and spending money for the next few days. bad day. but, my drive to my bank in port hueneme includes 15 minutes of driving through farm country near the coast. it's a beautiful drive and i got to listen to some great music on the way and just relax and enjoy the rainbow that God gives us after rain. good drive, very good day.
for the next week or so until i get my new card, i can not use an atm, or purchase anything online, or with my old card. so, i'm getting phone calls and letters from bill collectors about my card being declined. way lame day. but, after having to pay for everything in cash or check, i'm having to take a look at how i'm spending my money. i've been looking through my finances and finding new ways that i can save money, which is a much bigger priority in my life. i think when i get a day to just work on my finances, i'm going to have a lot of my stuff more organized. very good and necessary day.
this month i am out of town a lot. actually, i'm going to be gone from church four sundays in a row. not necessarily the best thing when there are many fires to take care of, and i def have an increased stress level, and most of all, i don't like being away from the kiddos. bad month. but, the reasons i'm gone four sundays in a row go like this: guest speaking at a retreat, jr high retreat, visiting my sister in england for thanksgiving, and a high school retreat at pepperdine. and, i've got a youth deacon that is missing hanging out with the kids teaching class on sundays. retreats, guest speaking, deacon involvement, traveling to europe... awesome month.
i've got a kid in the youth group that takes a lot of my energy when they are around. a great kid, with a great heart, that just takes a lot of 'talking to'. it's my job, and i love it, but it does add up to be a stressful thing having to talk with them about EVERYTHING. not necessarily bad, but energy consuming. anyways, their parent let me know recently that after a lifetime of looking forward to community college, they have changed their mind and their son now wants to go to oc and be a youth minister because of my influence. i felt like neo in the matrix when he just starts flying because he can. i was so ecstatic, i could barely contain myself, and i def cried right then and there. good day just doesn't seem to capture the feeling, but you get the idea.
the day after i got back from portland, i had a chance to see one of my friends, lameesa, who was in socal speaking at one of dantheman's retreats. we did the usual cracking up and just hanging out doing nothing and loving every minute of it. had a great talk and stuff was discussed that has me stoked for what the future might hold. way good day. on the way back i got stuck in traffic and it took almost four hours to get home. bad day, but not bad enough to make me forget how cool it is to hang out with the oc crew.
last and probably least, i got a giant stack of mail today. normally, a bad day seeing as how most of my mail consists of bills. but today was a good day, i got an autographed picture from mr robert goulet himself. oh man, i have not stopped laughing since this morning. and yes, the picture is now in a frame hanging on an office wall.
here's the kicker...this weekend we have a jr high retreat, with the theme of 'zero balance', and i don't think that there is really a coincidence between what i've been thinking lately and the theme of the retreat. my part of the retreat deals with the scripture regarding the ten lepers. in short, they call out to Jesus for pity, (note: they cry out for pity, not to be healed) and Jesus sends the to the local priest, and on the way they are healed. only one of the lepers comes back and thanks Jesus, and he turns around and rewards that man for his faith. the thing is, Jesus gave them more than what they asked for, and he did exactly what these guys needed him to do. it's crazy. i don't know how much of my life i've spent as one of the nine, but lately i really feel like God has been blessing me for focusing on being thankful for all of the blessings i have received, despite some of the garbage i have had to deal with lately. it's a great feeling, and i def feel like i should be throwing myself at the feet of Jesus.
Dear God,
I'm at your feet right now. It's where i belong, and it's where i want to be. thank you for giving me more than i ask for, and exactly what i need.
one love and one heart.
i've also noticed lately that i have terrible balance when it comes to God providing for me, or to put it simply, the good outweighs the bad. here are a few of the things that have happened to me lately that have brought about this realization.
my bank card was declined the other day when i tried to pay rent, buy as and get cash from the machine. bad day. the reason my card was declined was that someone was trying to access my account and set off a security protocol that deactivates my card. in short, someone was trying to get into my money and they failed, and my bank protected me. much better day.
my apt complex would not take a personal check after my card was declined, so i had to drive 35 minutes to my nearest bank branch (don't ask why) and get a cashier's check and some cash for the rent and spending money for the next few days. bad day. but, my drive to my bank in port hueneme includes 15 minutes of driving through farm country near the coast. it's a beautiful drive and i got to listen to some great music on the way and just relax and enjoy the rainbow that God gives us after rain. good drive, very good day.
for the next week or so until i get my new card, i can not use an atm, or purchase anything online, or with my old card. so, i'm getting phone calls and letters from bill collectors about my card being declined. way lame day. but, after having to pay for everything in cash or check, i'm having to take a look at how i'm spending my money. i've been looking through my finances and finding new ways that i can save money, which is a much bigger priority in my life. i think when i get a day to just work on my finances, i'm going to have a lot of my stuff more organized. very good and necessary day.
this month i am out of town a lot. actually, i'm going to be gone from church four sundays in a row. not necessarily the best thing when there are many fires to take care of, and i def have an increased stress level, and most of all, i don't like being away from the kiddos. bad month. but, the reasons i'm gone four sundays in a row go like this: guest speaking at a retreat, jr high retreat, visiting my sister in england for thanksgiving, and a high school retreat at pepperdine. and, i've got a youth deacon that is missing hanging out with the kids teaching class on sundays. retreats, guest speaking, deacon involvement, traveling to europe... awesome month.
i've got a kid in the youth group that takes a lot of my energy when they are around. a great kid, with a great heart, that just takes a lot of 'talking to'. it's my job, and i love it, but it does add up to be a stressful thing having to talk with them about EVERYTHING. not necessarily bad, but energy consuming. anyways, their parent let me know recently that after a lifetime of looking forward to community college, they have changed their mind and their son now wants to go to oc and be a youth minister because of my influence. i felt like neo in the matrix when he just starts flying because he can. i was so ecstatic, i could barely contain myself, and i def cried right then and there. good day just doesn't seem to capture the feeling, but you get the idea.
the day after i got back from portland, i had a chance to see one of my friends, lameesa, who was in socal speaking at one of dantheman's retreats. we did the usual cracking up and just hanging out doing nothing and loving every minute of it. had a great talk and stuff was discussed that has me stoked for what the future might hold. way good day. on the way back i got stuck in traffic and it took almost four hours to get home. bad day, but not bad enough to make me forget how cool it is to hang out with the oc crew.
last and probably least, i got a giant stack of mail today. normally, a bad day seeing as how most of my mail consists of bills. but today was a good day, i got an autographed picture from mr robert goulet himself. oh man, i have not stopped laughing since this morning. and yes, the picture is now in a frame hanging on an office wall.
here's the kicker...this weekend we have a jr high retreat, with the theme of 'zero balance', and i don't think that there is really a coincidence between what i've been thinking lately and the theme of the retreat. my part of the retreat deals with the scripture regarding the ten lepers. in short, they call out to Jesus for pity, (note: they cry out for pity, not to be healed) and Jesus sends the to the local priest, and on the way they are healed. only one of the lepers comes back and thanks Jesus, and he turns around and rewards that man for his faith. the thing is, Jesus gave them more than what they asked for, and he did exactly what these guys needed him to do. it's crazy. i don't know how much of my life i've spent as one of the nine, but lately i really feel like God has been blessing me for focusing on being thankful for all of the blessings i have received, despite some of the garbage i have had to deal with lately. it's a great feeling, and i def feel like i should be throwing myself at the feet of Jesus.
Dear God,
I'm at your feet right now. It's where i belong, and it's where i want to be. thank you for giving me more than i ask for, and exactly what i need.
one love and one heart.
10.31.2005
In the time it's taken to play this game you could have flown from Baltimore to Iceland. -Tim McCarver/WS Game 3
*disclaimer: this post was written in several parts over a few days, and it's been a while since my last post, therefore it's pretty long and a little disjointed. also, i can't figure out how to stop advertisers from commenting on my blog, so sorry for all the random comments.
hola blogworld, there's a lot going on, so i figured i would catch my breath for a few and write it all down before it slips my mind. the past couple of weeks has been (yet again) an awesome roller-coaster of emotions, stokedness, excitement, sickness, tiredness, overwhelmingness, and overall craziness.
when i last updated, the astros had just lost one of the most memorable playoff games in baseball history, storybook, the whole nine. anyways, uncle strech called up the cuz and said if the astros made the series, we had tix to a game if we could make it out. needless to say, the astros won the next night, and as soon as the last out was made, the cuz had our tix to houston printed out . chalk that up as yet another benefit of bachelorhood, no questions asked about seeing your team in the series. just a matter of tix. anyways, we were more than stoked, lawdog convinced the elders that i needed the time off after all the stuff thats been going on here lately, so i didn't even have to use my vacation days. seriously, short of the astros actually winning a few games, it was a perfect trip. so here's some of my thoughts on the flight out, looking for astros paraphernalia, and the games themselves.
white sox fan comment of the day goes to the guy on the plane out to l.a., who asked us (at nine in the morning) if roy oswalt had given up any runs yet.
i have to be more careful of the term 'my team' when it comes to sports. i think fans have this ownership complex when it comes to sports, we like to refer to teams as 'ours'. well, that had to change for me this past week, because we were sitting in front of the daughters f the owners of the white sox. they were pretty cool, and we got along pretty well, despite cheering on opposing teams. but the comment was made about 'our team', and i had to laugh, because it really was their team. that doesn't look near as funny online, but trust me, we had a good laugh. i was just glad the houston fans were respectful when the sox won. we turned around and congratulated them on the win and wished them the best, something they assured us would not have happened had the astros won the series in chicago. nuff said.
part of the hype and fanfare of going to the world series that really cracked me up was all of the people running around getting their hands on whatever astros merchandise they could find. i say this as one of the masses, who has never bought a program for any sporting event, and am currently looking at my framed world series program. i even picked up a couple of shirts for mi hermana and mmi madre's neighbor. oh yeah, i even bought a foam finger because i've always wanted one and my parents never let me have one.
i have to give up to the astros organization for being cool to the fans. i really wanted to keep my ticket from the games in pristine condition, sans the usual back-pocket folds that i typically incur. they handed out these little sleeves to put your ticket in the first game, so i got to keep both of mine in perfect condition, and those are now framed and in my office as well.
i also have to give it up to the astros fans. you would be hard pressed to find a situation where there were two out, or two strikes and the crowd wasn't on its feet. even in the fourteenth inning at 130-am of game three, and the last few outs of game four. and nobody left, not a single soul. it's pretty understandable when people payed what they payed for tickets, but was really cool when most of the fans stuck around even after the astros lost, and gave them a standing ovation for a good season while the white sox were starting to celebrate.
so on to thoughts on the game itself: this is the frustrating part, sorta.
i think the astros were just played out after beating the cardinals. nuff said. ensberg only had a few hits, and left a bunch of guys on base, and adam everett couldn't manage to get any of the twenty people in scoring position across the plate. that and i think he had a series high ten strikeouts. i stopped counting. then there's the almighty astros bullpen, that just got worked over. something got to lidge, and the white sox just didn't have any fear about where they were heading. i think it is important to note that none of the astros losses were charged to starting pitching though.
fundamentals win games. errors give the opposing teams extra out and motivation to take advantage of extra opportunities. that will get you to the post season, but to win in the post-season you must not only have the fundamentals down, but there must also be those one or two people that step it up every game and come through in what sports enthusiasts like to call 'the clutch'. it's pretty easy to see that the astros had the fundamentals down, every game of the sweep was close, and could have gone either way, but the astros did not have those guys step up in the clutch like they did against atlanta and st. louis.
after all is said and done though, it really was a great series, despite the 4-0 sweep. i had a blast, and i couldn't be more stoked that the astros actually made the world series, and i was there. although, there were two things that frustrated me. the first foul ball of the game was flying straight at me, it was a movie moment. music was playing, time was slowed down, until the idiot in front of me bumped my hand just enough to were the ball bounced off the back of my hand, and landed in the cuz's lap. at least the ball is in our apt for me to look at. then, two innings later the same thing, and the same guy knocked the ball away from me. one of those moments where i had go through my mental dictionary and cross out several words that i wanted to say. oh well, i was there.
possibly the best thing about actually going to the games though, was not having to listen to the worst announcer of all time, tim mccarver, butcher the airwaves with his unbearable, misinformed, idiotic play by play commentary. ugh, i would pay to go to any world series just to not have to listen to him. seriously, fox can keep the world series right, but they need to let tim mccarver go. they need to let mccarver go and hopefully he can just keep going. i think the wnba could use some help, maybe he could look there. whatever, bob costas should be required by law to do the world series commentary. he could win an emmy describing a person opening a jar of of peanut butter, and he could bring any viewer to tears with his epic storytelling of world series lore. i think i'm going to put my initiative to separate california in to two states on the back burner for while and address this issue first.
on to other stuff...
in other reasons to celebrate bachelorhood, i got a call at a halloween party late friday night that a ticket was available for the next morning usc game. i'm in, no questions asked. kinda like the word series, it's nice to be able to travel to a sporting event at the drop of a hat, with the only thought having to be 'is that jersey clean?'
and in other sports related stuff, i think it's time that i make my sports enthusiast declaration. i've been working on this a while (the plane to and from houston), and here are some thoughts for my rough draft. feel free to comment with any additions.
1. i reserve the right to cheer on any team that i see fit. wether it is a team i have always liked, or if it is a random game and i have no in depth knowledge of either team.
2. i will check espn, fox sports or any other sports network or information source by any other means whenever i see that it is fit to get updates or analysis on any sporting event.
3. i reserve the right to make any commentary i see fit about any sports team that i follow. i will be sure to clarify between personal opinion and statistic.
4. i will never acknowledge nascar as a sport.
5, i reserve the right to stand at any point of any sporting event and cheer on the team i am pulling for.
6. i reserve the right to make friendly wagers on games, but acknowledge that staking my life savings on any certain team, or outcome of any single sporting event is absolutely insane.
7. i reserve the right to operate as many fantasy teams as i can decently manage. i will not partake in a fantasy league where i never check on my team.
8. i will take my turn on hosting viewing parties of sporting events, and at said events i will provide, or offer to provide beverages and snacks.
9. the size of my tv is directly proportional to my obligation to host aforementioned sports viewing events.
10. i reserve the right to dress up in team colors, jersey, and other team paraphernalia, excluding body paint on a body that is over 215 pounds. fanny packs are also excluded.
11. tim mccarver is lame.
12. as corny as it gets, i reserve the right to hi five any and all fans cheering the same team after a good play. the high five will be used in concordance with the excitement level of the game. i.e. if the astros score a run in april, not a big deal, but if they come back to tie a game in the 8th inning of game four of the world series, everyone in my section is getting a hi five.
13. i will participate in any wave that i see fit, and will not refrain or discourage other from doing so.
14. i will never hit any beach ball towards security, or another lower level on purpose.
15. miniature team flags are unacceptable.
16. any autographed, commemorative, or collectible sports related items will be treated in a manner worthy of the item. i.e. my world series tickets are in a protective frame, on display, and my nascar hot wheels are in the the landfill down n san diego.
17. if i am an avid fan of a particular player on a team, and said player leaves that team i have one of two options. option a: become a fan of that players new team or b: stick with the team and renounce my being a fan of said player. (call this the Marshall Faulk clause.)
well, i think i'm going to have come back to this later, let's change gears here.
so after the stress of the last few weeks, i've kinda been more aware of God's presence, and more aware of spiritual implications of different situations. here's kinda what i've been thinking on lately:
i've always thought it was cool that there were so many names for Jesus, but i never really looked into why. so i've been doing a personal study on the names of Jesus lately and made some kind of cool observations. Jesus really is all things to all people. to different people in my life i take on a different persona. i am d.j. the son, the brother, the grandson, the cousin, the friend, the teacher, the youth minister, trucker, the coworker, the neighbor, the guy at church, the oc alum, the subway customer, the guy in the tahoe, and i'm sure there are plenty of others. in all of these situations people expect different things of me, and have different perceptions of me. I think we have the same expectations of Jesus. sometime i need the good shepherd to guide me back on track, sometimes i need the savior to get me out of a life and death situation, other times i may need the word, and the truth. right now i am looking at Jesus as rabbi, the teacher of the law. sometimes, i feel like i just need the friend of sinners. whatever the case may be, i encourage anyone who reads this to look into the names of Jesus (if you need a place to start, look for the seven 'I AM' statements in the book of John) and see what Jesus you need right now. maybe it's a combination of several. I know there are days when my pride gets away from me that i need the king of the jews, or the most high, so i can be put back in my place.
and last but not least, i've spent the last few weeks redoing my office. i can't really do anything to my apartment, and since i spend more time in my office anyways, i decided to turn it into a place i could really call mine. so out with the old lady carpet, beat up couch, and off white walls. threw some bright white paint on the walls, painted my shelves and table jet black, and i still have to build my new desk, which will also be black and white. the biggest thing though was that i put in pergo flooring in my room. talk about a huge difference, i finally have a place where i'm stoked to chill. and i think it makes me look more legit as a youth minister as well, that my space no longer resembles the old ladies prayer room. anyways, several things hit me on a spiritual level as i was working on my room.
it's nice to have a clean slate. when things are a brilliant white, it makes what once seemed clean so dirty in comparison. sometimes i think my spiritual life is so clean, until it actually gets that fresh coat of paint, and i realize how dirty, dull and off white i had become.
i is important to guard some things when painting. when i was painting my walls, i covered my shelves so as not to get white spots on the fresh black paint. but, i left my desk uncovered because it is old and about to go, and there really wasn't a need, and it would have been a hassle to not have something to set my paint on. i think it is important that i guard myself on certain areas, when there's a chance i'm going to be tainted, and leave some stuff uncovered that can handle a few drops of paint to fit in.
i was putting in the pergo, which is really easy once you get going, but took me a little while to figure out. the pieces fit so well together, i know that if there is a crack it is something in error with me or the floor, but not the pergo. there's also a certain order and direction you have to follow when putting in pergo. i started off going backwards, and was wondering why i was ruining these pergo slats. when i turned things around, all of the sudden things started to click, literally. i had read the directions, people had explained it to me, and yet i still managed to have some slight issues with getting it right. this is what really hit home. i've read the bible since i could read, i've been to church my whole life, and i have a pretty good understanding of christianity, but i still manage to mess up a few slats here and there, and do things a little backwards for a while. inevitably i will step back and take a look at the situation and realize i need to start on the other side. we've got a situation in our youth group that has been stressing me out lately. when i stop, step back, and take a look at the way God intended for me to handle this situation things get so much clearer, and the pieces fit together perfectly. amazing how that works.
also, my office is a mess still. i have some touching up to do, new light switch covers to put on, baseboards etc... so in now way am i done. but i look at the mess my office is in, and i know that when this little project is through, there is going to be a great reward on the other side. with all of the stuff that has hit our youth group lately, i can't wait to see what we have in store for us on the other side.
well, i think i'm going to get back to work, there's a lot on the todo list this week, and i'm back to feeling healthy again. to all my friends,
one love and one heart.
hola blogworld, there's a lot going on, so i figured i would catch my breath for a few and write it all down before it slips my mind. the past couple of weeks has been (yet again) an awesome roller-coaster of emotions, stokedness, excitement, sickness, tiredness, overwhelmingness, and overall craziness.
when i last updated, the astros had just lost one of the most memorable playoff games in baseball history, storybook, the whole nine. anyways, uncle strech called up the cuz and said if the astros made the series, we had tix to a game if we could make it out. needless to say, the astros won the next night, and as soon as the last out was made, the cuz had our tix to houston printed out . chalk that up as yet another benefit of bachelorhood, no questions asked about seeing your team in the series. just a matter of tix. anyways, we were more than stoked, lawdog convinced the elders that i needed the time off after all the stuff thats been going on here lately, so i didn't even have to use my vacation days. seriously, short of the astros actually winning a few games, it was a perfect trip. so here's some of my thoughts on the flight out, looking for astros paraphernalia, and the games themselves.
white sox fan comment of the day goes to the guy on the plane out to l.a., who asked us (at nine in the morning) if roy oswalt had given up any runs yet.
i have to be more careful of the term 'my team' when it comes to sports. i think fans have this ownership complex when it comes to sports, we like to refer to teams as 'ours'. well, that had to change for me this past week, because we were sitting in front of the daughters f the owners of the white sox. they were pretty cool, and we got along pretty well, despite cheering on opposing teams. but the comment was made about 'our team', and i had to laugh, because it really was their team. that doesn't look near as funny online, but trust me, we had a good laugh. i was just glad the houston fans were respectful when the sox won. we turned around and congratulated them on the win and wished them the best, something they assured us would not have happened had the astros won the series in chicago. nuff said.
part of the hype and fanfare of going to the world series that really cracked me up was all of the people running around getting their hands on whatever astros merchandise they could find. i say this as one of the masses, who has never bought a program for any sporting event, and am currently looking at my framed world series program. i even picked up a couple of shirts for mi hermana and mmi madre's neighbor. oh yeah, i even bought a foam finger because i've always wanted one and my parents never let me have one.
i have to give up to the astros organization for being cool to the fans. i really wanted to keep my ticket from the games in pristine condition, sans the usual back-pocket folds that i typically incur. they handed out these little sleeves to put your ticket in the first game, so i got to keep both of mine in perfect condition, and those are now framed and in my office as well.
i also have to give it up to the astros fans. you would be hard pressed to find a situation where there were two out, or two strikes and the crowd wasn't on its feet. even in the fourteenth inning at 130-am of game three, and the last few outs of game four. and nobody left, not a single soul. it's pretty understandable when people payed what they payed for tickets, but was really cool when most of the fans stuck around even after the astros lost, and gave them a standing ovation for a good season while the white sox were starting to celebrate.
so on to thoughts on the game itself: this is the frustrating part, sorta.
i think the astros were just played out after beating the cardinals. nuff said. ensberg only had a few hits, and left a bunch of guys on base, and adam everett couldn't manage to get any of the twenty people in scoring position across the plate. that and i think he had a series high ten strikeouts. i stopped counting. then there's the almighty astros bullpen, that just got worked over. something got to lidge, and the white sox just didn't have any fear about where they were heading. i think it is important to note that none of the astros losses were charged to starting pitching though.
fundamentals win games. errors give the opposing teams extra out and motivation to take advantage of extra opportunities. that will get you to the post season, but to win in the post-season you must not only have the fundamentals down, but there must also be those one or two people that step it up every game and come through in what sports enthusiasts like to call 'the clutch'. it's pretty easy to see that the astros had the fundamentals down, every game of the sweep was close, and could have gone either way, but the astros did not have those guys step up in the clutch like they did against atlanta and st. louis.
after all is said and done though, it really was a great series, despite the 4-0 sweep. i had a blast, and i couldn't be more stoked that the astros actually made the world series, and i was there. although, there were two things that frustrated me. the first foul ball of the game was flying straight at me, it was a movie moment. music was playing, time was slowed down, until the idiot in front of me bumped my hand just enough to were the ball bounced off the back of my hand, and landed in the cuz's lap. at least the ball is in our apt for me to look at. then, two innings later the same thing, and the same guy knocked the ball away from me. one of those moments where i had go through my mental dictionary and cross out several words that i wanted to say. oh well, i was there.
possibly the best thing about actually going to the games though, was not having to listen to the worst announcer of all time, tim mccarver, butcher the airwaves with his unbearable, misinformed, idiotic play by play commentary. ugh, i would pay to go to any world series just to not have to listen to him. seriously, fox can keep the world series right, but they need to let tim mccarver go. they need to let mccarver go and hopefully he can just keep going. i think the wnba could use some help, maybe he could look there. whatever, bob costas should be required by law to do the world series commentary. he could win an emmy describing a person opening a jar of of peanut butter, and he could bring any viewer to tears with his epic storytelling of world series lore. i think i'm going to put my initiative to separate california in to two states on the back burner for while and address this issue first.
on to other stuff...
in other reasons to celebrate bachelorhood, i got a call at a halloween party late friday night that a ticket was available for the next morning usc game. i'm in, no questions asked. kinda like the word series, it's nice to be able to travel to a sporting event at the drop of a hat, with the only thought having to be 'is that jersey clean?'
and in other sports related stuff, i think it's time that i make my sports enthusiast declaration. i've been working on this a while (the plane to and from houston), and here are some thoughts for my rough draft. feel free to comment with any additions.
1. i reserve the right to cheer on any team that i see fit. wether it is a team i have always liked, or if it is a random game and i have no in depth knowledge of either team.
2. i will check espn, fox sports or any other sports network or information source by any other means whenever i see that it is fit to get updates or analysis on any sporting event.
3. i reserve the right to make any commentary i see fit about any sports team that i follow. i will be sure to clarify between personal opinion and statistic.
4. i will never acknowledge nascar as a sport.
5, i reserve the right to stand at any point of any sporting event and cheer on the team i am pulling for.
6. i reserve the right to make friendly wagers on games, but acknowledge that staking my life savings on any certain team, or outcome of any single sporting event is absolutely insane.
7. i reserve the right to operate as many fantasy teams as i can decently manage. i will not partake in a fantasy league where i never check on my team.
8. i will take my turn on hosting viewing parties of sporting events, and at said events i will provide, or offer to provide beverages and snacks.
9. the size of my tv is directly proportional to my obligation to host aforementioned sports viewing events.
10. i reserve the right to dress up in team colors, jersey, and other team paraphernalia, excluding body paint on a body that is over 215 pounds. fanny packs are also excluded.
11. tim mccarver is lame.
12. as corny as it gets, i reserve the right to hi five any and all fans cheering the same team after a good play. the high five will be used in concordance with the excitement level of the game. i.e. if the astros score a run in april, not a big deal, but if they come back to tie a game in the 8th inning of game four of the world series, everyone in my section is getting a hi five.
13. i will participate in any wave that i see fit, and will not refrain or discourage other from doing so.
14. i will never hit any beach ball towards security, or another lower level on purpose.
15. miniature team flags are unacceptable.
16. any autographed, commemorative, or collectible sports related items will be treated in a manner worthy of the item. i.e. my world series tickets are in a protective frame, on display, and my nascar hot wheels are in the the landfill down n san diego.
17. if i am an avid fan of a particular player on a team, and said player leaves that team i have one of two options. option a: become a fan of that players new team or b: stick with the team and renounce my being a fan of said player. (call this the Marshall Faulk clause.)
well, i think i'm going to have come back to this later, let's change gears here.
so after the stress of the last few weeks, i've kinda been more aware of God's presence, and more aware of spiritual implications of different situations. here's kinda what i've been thinking on lately:
i've always thought it was cool that there were so many names for Jesus, but i never really looked into why. so i've been doing a personal study on the names of Jesus lately and made some kind of cool observations. Jesus really is all things to all people. to different people in my life i take on a different persona. i am d.j. the son, the brother, the grandson, the cousin, the friend, the teacher, the youth minister, trucker, the coworker, the neighbor, the guy at church, the oc alum, the subway customer, the guy in the tahoe, and i'm sure there are plenty of others. in all of these situations people expect different things of me, and have different perceptions of me. I think we have the same expectations of Jesus. sometime i need the good shepherd to guide me back on track, sometimes i need the savior to get me out of a life and death situation, other times i may need the word, and the truth. right now i am looking at Jesus as rabbi, the teacher of the law. sometimes, i feel like i just need the friend of sinners. whatever the case may be, i encourage anyone who reads this to look into the names of Jesus (if you need a place to start, look for the seven 'I AM' statements in the book of John) and see what Jesus you need right now. maybe it's a combination of several. I know there are days when my pride gets away from me that i need the king of the jews, or the most high, so i can be put back in my place.
and last but not least, i've spent the last few weeks redoing my office. i can't really do anything to my apartment, and since i spend more time in my office anyways, i decided to turn it into a place i could really call mine. so out with the old lady carpet, beat up couch, and off white walls. threw some bright white paint on the walls, painted my shelves and table jet black, and i still have to build my new desk, which will also be black and white. the biggest thing though was that i put in pergo flooring in my room. talk about a huge difference, i finally have a place where i'm stoked to chill. and i think it makes me look more legit as a youth minister as well, that my space no longer resembles the old ladies prayer room. anyways, several things hit me on a spiritual level as i was working on my room.
it's nice to have a clean slate. when things are a brilliant white, it makes what once seemed clean so dirty in comparison. sometimes i think my spiritual life is so clean, until it actually gets that fresh coat of paint, and i realize how dirty, dull and off white i had become.
i is important to guard some things when painting. when i was painting my walls, i covered my shelves so as not to get white spots on the fresh black paint. but, i left my desk uncovered because it is old and about to go, and there really wasn't a need, and it would have been a hassle to not have something to set my paint on. i think it is important that i guard myself on certain areas, when there's a chance i'm going to be tainted, and leave some stuff uncovered that can handle a few drops of paint to fit in.
i was putting in the pergo, which is really easy once you get going, but took me a little while to figure out. the pieces fit so well together, i know that if there is a crack it is something in error with me or the floor, but not the pergo. there's also a certain order and direction you have to follow when putting in pergo. i started off going backwards, and was wondering why i was ruining these pergo slats. when i turned things around, all of the sudden things started to click, literally. i had read the directions, people had explained it to me, and yet i still managed to have some slight issues with getting it right. this is what really hit home. i've read the bible since i could read, i've been to church my whole life, and i have a pretty good understanding of christianity, but i still manage to mess up a few slats here and there, and do things a little backwards for a while. inevitably i will step back and take a look at the situation and realize i need to start on the other side. we've got a situation in our youth group that has been stressing me out lately. when i stop, step back, and take a look at the way God intended for me to handle this situation things get so much clearer, and the pieces fit together perfectly. amazing how that works.
also, my office is a mess still. i have some touching up to do, new light switch covers to put on, baseboards etc... so in now way am i done. but i look at the mess my office is in, and i know that when this little project is through, there is going to be a great reward on the other side. with all of the stuff that has hit our youth group lately, i can't wait to see what we have in store for us on the other side.
well, i think i'm going to get back to work, there's a lot on the todo list this week, and i'm back to feeling healthy again. to all my friends,
one love and one heart.
10.18.2005
I think I'm getting the Black Lung, Pop. It's not very well ventilated down there. - Derek Zoolander
to quote my own blog from last year:
"Ugh. I don’t want to hear a thing from any cubs or red sox fans. Being an astros fan is worse, we just don’t get to gripe about it as much because they haven't’t been ingrained in our culture like other teams. Needless to say, the cuz and I are doing what we can to not think about the astros losing tonight."
seriously, albert pujols and david eckstein are like mosquito bites on a knuckle. they bother you enough that it hurts. ugh.
whatever, the astros only need to win one more game, and i don't think oswalt is going to give up any runs tomorrow night. that, and they def woke some bats up against carpenter, and got to him pretty consistently last night, which to me sends out a message that they are going to tear up the first cards pitcher that decides to hang a few curveballs. we'll see. the important thing is that uncle strech called the cuz today and said we both have a ticket to the world series. i'm not sure on what game, or any of the details, but i can inform you that there are flights from l.a. to houston for like $138 roundtrip. needless to say, WHEN the astros go to the world series, the cuz and i are on the first flight to tejas.
so there's a bunch of other stuff going on that i don't really feel like expanding into too much detail in a posting online. chances are, that if i've talked to you in the past few days you've heard from one of several topics:
serious situations in the youth group
p.r. for said situation
p.r. for another (in an ironic way) less serious situation
bulletproof chica
elders
deacons
elders and deacons
mi familia
women's roles in worship
calendar planning
remodeling my office
the growing stack of books i need to be reading right now
my ongoing war with the post office that is starting to get expensive
the need for our church to get a secretary
yeah....
and as bulletproof chica pointed out so well last night, i'm becoming one of those people that gripes about my job. or so it would appear. here's the deal. as much as i talk about this stuff, i recognize that i asked for it. to quote myself from another bolg entry:
'This reminds me of the ocean, and trying to make it out past the waves. some of the smallest waves can knock you back if you're not aware of their power. but you can make it past even the biggest waves by knowing how, by being equipped. it's one of the things that you must learn early or forever be intimidated by the ocean. this scripture does not call us to run and hide. it calls us to equip ourselves with all of the proper tools to combat evil. we are not to assume that we can not be knocked down, but we can trust that with proper trust and knowledge we can combat the waves that would knock us down. i say bring it. bring on whatever. the more we have to face the more we have to lean on God. '
yep, this is one of those times where i think it's a simple matter of putting matt. 5:10 into practice.
i think it's time to switch gears from vent mode to laughter, so i'm going to move on.
i finally got around to redoing my office this weekend, a much bigger task than first anticipated. picture me as a 25 year old tim taylor. fortunately there have been no lost limbs, and zero broken bones, but there def were some great awkward moments. to start off, i have to laugh at the idea of me walking around home depot acting like i know what i am doing. then, i decide to buy a point sprayer, because i am a guy. we buy power tools to make jobs easier. so i pretend like i know what i'm doing with this paint sprayer, and start painting the shelves that run along my back wall a nice glossy black. now i had enough foresight to go ahead and buy some masks, because i know my office is not very well ventilated. the problem occurs when, in an effort to save a few bucks (did i mention i just bought a paint gun?) i buy some cheap (see ineffective) spray masks. the whole night i have fumes shooting right back in my face, to the point that i was coughing up paint later that night. the embarrassing part came when i realized that i had gone to the grocery store and gas station with black paint all over my face. i looked like a coal miner. it's one of those things where you get the feeling everyone is staring at you , and then you go home and look in the mirror and realize why. needless to say, the next day when i was pointing the rest of my room white, i looked like a goth kid and was sure to travel around only at night.
what else have i been laughing at lately....
oh man, i was bored and started looking up random things online (always a great way to pass the time) and here are a couple of websites i'd like to share with everyone:
www.robertgoulet.com - be sure to order your own christmas card
www.worldbeardchampionships.com/Gallery/gallery.html - i'm feeling the urge to get started on mine.
well, speaking of urges, i think i'm going to go play out in the rain or something.
one love, one heart.
"Ugh. I don’t want to hear a thing from any cubs or red sox fans. Being an astros fan is worse, we just don’t get to gripe about it as much because they haven't’t been ingrained in our culture like other teams. Needless to say, the cuz and I are doing what we can to not think about the astros losing tonight."
seriously, albert pujols and david eckstein are like mosquito bites on a knuckle. they bother you enough that it hurts. ugh.
whatever, the astros only need to win one more game, and i don't think oswalt is going to give up any runs tomorrow night. that, and they def woke some bats up against carpenter, and got to him pretty consistently last night, which to me sends out a message that they are going to tear up the first cards pitcher that decides to hang a few curveballs. we'll see. the important thing is that uncle strech called the cuz today and said we both have a ticket to the world series. i'm not sure on what game, or any of the details, but i can inform you that there are flights from l.a. to houston for like $138 roundtrip. needless to say, WHEN the astros go to the world series, the cuz and i are on the first flight to tejas.
so there's a bunch of other stuff going on that i don't really feel like expanding into too much detail in a posting online. chances are, that if i've talked to you in the past few days you've heard from one of several topics:
serious situations in the youth group
p.r. for said situation
p.r. for another (in an ironic way) less serious situation
bulletproof chica
elders
deacons
elders and deacons
mi familia
women's roles in worship
calendar planning
remodeling my office
the growing stack of books i need to be reading right now
my ongoing war with the post office that is starting to get expensive
the need for our church to get a secretary
yeah....
and as bulletproof chica pointed out so well last night, i'm becoming one of those people that gripes about my job. or so it would appear. here's the deal. as much as i talk about this stuff, i recognize that i asked for it. to quote myself from another bolg entry:
'This reminds me of the ocean, and trying to make it out past the waves. some of the smallest waves can knock you back if you're not aware of their power. but you can make it past even the biggest waves by knowing how, by being equipped. it's one of the things that you must learn early or forever be intimidated by the ocean. this scripture does not call us to run and hide. it calls us to equip ourselves with all of the proper tools to combat evil. we are not to assume that we can not be knocked down, but we can trust that with proper trust and knowledge we can combat the waves that would knock us down. i say bring it. bring on whatever. the more we have to face the more we have to lean on God. '
yep, this is one of those times where i think it's a simple matter of putting matt. 5:10 into practice.
i think it's time to switch gears from vent mode to laughter, so i'm going to move on.
i finally got around to redoing my office this weekend, a much bigger task than first anticipated. picture me as a 25 year old tim taylor. fortunately there have been no lost limbs, and zero broken bones, but there def were some great awkward moments. to start off, i have to laugh at the idea of me walking around home depot acting like i know what i am doing. then, i decide to buy a point sprayer, because i am a guy. we buy power tools to make jobs easier. so i pretend like i know what i'm doing with this paint sprayer, and start painting the shelves that run along my back wall a nice glossy black. now i had enough foresight to go ahead and buy some masks, because i know my office is not very well ventilated. the problem occurs when, in an effort to save a few bucks (did i mention i just bought a paint gun?) i buy some cheap (see ineffective) spray masks. the whole night i have fumes shooting right back in my face, to the point that i was coughing up paint later that night. the embarrassing part came when i realized that i had gone to the grocery store and gas station with black paint all over my face. i looked like a coal miner. it's one of those things where you get the feeling everyone is staring at you , and then you go home and look in the mirror and realize why. needless to say, the next day when i was pointing the rest of my room white, i looked like a goth kid and was sure to travel around only at night.
what else have i been laughing at lately....
oh man, i was bored and started looking up random things online (always a great way to pass the time) and here are a couple of websites i'd like to share with everyone:
www.robertgoulet.com - be sure to order your own christmas card
www.worldbeardchampionships.com/Gallery/gallery.html - i'm feeling the urge to get started on mine.
well, speaking of urges, i think i'm going to go play out in the rain or something.
one love, one heart.
10.05.2005
"his half is glass full!" - the cuz
yeah, the cuz says some pretty funny stuff.
this past week i was at the national youth workers convention in sacramento. whoa. that's all i have to say. top tier speakers, awesome seminars, and some of the best christian artists out there. simply amazing. not to mention that i went with a whole crew of youth ministers from socal (9 in all). man what a great week. here are some of the highlights from the convention:
seeing 3500 youth ministers and volunteers in one room. mi amigo merlin made a great observation about why this impressive: at most jobs you work alongside others who are involved with your daily work, and you have a common bond to discuss. in youth ministry you don't really get an opportunity to have someone else who knows exactly everything else that's going on. so to be able to laugh at jokes about youth ministry is a huge thing, kind of a relief of sorts. for me, it was nice to know that i'm not the only one with a messed up office, poor parent communications, and an addiction to lost on weds nights.
bands that played: third day, steven curtis chapman, david crowder band, chris tomlin, shane & shane, starfield, kutless, 4th ave jones, kendall payne, lost and found, and the swift.
renewing my love for road trips with the fellas. oh yeah, and getting to hang out at some great truck stop dives.
a lot of the speakers kept talking about building intimate youth groups. these are guys that are published authors, and leaders of youth ministries of several hundred kids a piece. with that in mind, i was really floored hearing these guys speak, and talking to other youth ministers from large churches about their goals and aspirations. all of these things that they were striving for, were things that i feel are our strong points. here i am looking to them for guidance and ideas, and they keep talking about things that our youth group already does. for example, one guy said he would give anything for his kids to say that they love each other, and just simply give each other a hug. man, if i forget to yell '5 HUGS' at any youth event i might get ran out of town. so this has me re-thinking a lot of what my goals are for the youth group. i threw down a challenge a few weeks ago to double the youth group in a year, and now i'm seriously re-thinking that challenge. this has me in a lot of prayer lately.
it was amazing to me how many people were complaining about their jobs. i love my kiddos. no questions asked, even the ones that are a pain sometimes. there seemed to be this air about some guys that they got into youth ministry to put on laser shows and run sound, and teaching the kids the gospel was a second tier part of the job description. while this may sound negative, it was really re-affirming to me about how i view my work. that, and it was a great reminder that a band, a light show, and a huge stage are not a sign of a good youth group, just a big one.
i'm not the only one who hates lock-ins.
i'm not the only one of my friends that watches lost. i asked the guys if they were in a hurry to get to sacramento, and as soon as dantheman mentioned he wanted to get checked in before lost was on, the other guys all had a look of shock as we all realized we shared yet another common bond. speaking of lost, we are all mad because the commercials said there would be questions answered. not only were no questions answered, but twenty more were raised. ugh. i'll have to tape it tonight.
nine chiefs and no indians make it tough to decide on where to eat every meal for six days. and taking initiative to suggest a place means if said restaurant is lame, it is def your fault. yeah, we had a lot of fun with this.
downtown sacramento was pretty cool. everything was in walking distance. it's fun to be a downtown person every once in a while. some of the guys weren't as excited as i was, but when i explained that it was quicker to walk, than to find a parking space they came around. and, i love wandering around downtowns.
we got to see the governator! the last afternoon we were eating lunch on k street, which runs behind the hyatt where mostof our group was staying, and the schwarzenegger family lives. anyways, we're just chillin, grabbing a bite, when arnold comes walking out of a steakhouse across the way. everyone cheered for him, and he waved at us. pretty cool. the funniest part though, was we had a guy from colorado with us that talked all week about wanting to see the governor, and he was inside getting a refill when it happened. needless to say, we had a good laugh when he didn't believe we saw arnold, and then went running after the gov. not a good idea. we had to tell him to stop or the security guards (just imagine the size of the guys that protect a former mr universe) would prob break him in two. yet another good laugh.
what else...
well, i can't really think of anything else from last weekend. reality has kinda hit now that i'm back in the office. right now i'm working on copying cds of the lectures for the rest of the youth min crew, getting our youth group hoodies done ($20 if anyone wants one), getting a couple of drivers for a youth rally on friday, our jr high camp, merry xmas madness 05, magic mtn, paintball, thanksgiving plans to europe, our spring break college tour, not to mention the five or so kids with identifiable crisis in their lives.
sounds like a lot, but i'm keeping a pretty good mood about me. i had a really good conversation with this chica from quizno's yesterday, and a guy a wal-mart last night, where i really felt like i was doing my part to be an evangelist. feels good to have that focus. and, the quizno's girl had my favorite quote of the day, "you don't look like a youth minister. they're cheesy."
oh yeah, and my sister posted some really amazing pics from her semester at oxford. she def inherited my dad's gif for photography. check em out at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/acuinoxford05/my_photos
one love, one heart.
this past week i was at the national youth workers convention in sacramento. whoa. that's all i have to say. top tier speakers, awesome seminars, and some of the best christian artists out there. simply amazing. not to mention that i went with a whole crew of youth ministers from socal (9 in all). man what a great week. here are some of the highlights from the convention:
seeing 3500 youth ministers and volunteers in one room. mi amigo merlin made a great observation about why this impressive: at most jobs you work alongside others who are involved with your daily work, and you have a common bond to discuss. in youth ministry you don't really get an opportunity to have someone else who knows exactly everything else that's going on. so to be able to laugh at jokes about youth ministry is a huge thing, kind of a relief of sorts. for me, it was nice to know that i'm not the only one with a messed up office, poor parent communications, and an addiction to lost on weds nights.
bands that played: third day, steven curtis chapman, david crowder band, chris tomlin, shane & shane, starfield, kutless, 4th ave jones, kendall payne, lost and found, and the swift.
renewing my love for road trips with the fellas. oh yeah, and getting to hang out at some great truck stop dives.
a lot of the speakers kept talking about building intimate youth groups. these are guys that are published authors, and leaders of youth ministries of several hundred kids a piece. with that in mind, i was really floored hearing these guys speak, and talking to other youth ministers from large churches about their goals and aspirations. all of these things that they were striving for, were things that i feel are our strong points. here i am looking to them for guidance and ideas, and they keep talking about things that our youth group already does. for example, one guy said he would give anything for his kids to say that they love each other, and just simply give each other a hug. man, if i forget to yell '5 HUGS' at any youth event i might get ran out of town. so this has me re-thinking a lot of what my goals are for the youth group. i threw down a challenge a few weeks ago to double the youth group in a year, and now i'm seriously re-thinking that challenge. this has me in a lot of prayer lately.
it was amazing to me how many people were complaining about their jobs. i love my kiddos. no questions asked, even the ones that are a pain sometimes. there seemed to be this air about some guys that they got into youth ministry to put on laser shows and run sound, and teaching the kids the gospel was a second tier part of the job description. while this may sound negative, it was really re-affirming to me about how i view my work. that, and it was a great reminder that a band, a light show, and a huge stage are not a sign of a good youth group, just a big one.
i'm not the only one who hates lock-ins.
i'm not the only one of my friends that watches lost. i asked the guys if they were in a hurry to get to sacramento, and as soon as dantheman mentioned he wanted to get checked in before lost was on, the other guys all had a look of shock as we all realized we shared yet another common bond. speaking of lost, we are all mad because the commercials said there would be questions answered. not only were no questions answered, but twenty more were raised. ugh. i'll have to tape it tonight.
nine chiefs and no indians make it tough to decide on where to eat every meal for six days. and taking initiative to suggest a place means if said restaurant is lame, it is def your fault. yeah, we had a lot of fun with this.
downtown sacramento was pretty cool. everything was in walking distance. it's fun to be a downtown person every once in a while. some of the guys weren't as excited as i was, but when i explained that it was quicker to walk, than to find a parking space they came around. and, i love wandering around downtowns.
we got to see the governator! the last afternoon we were eating lunch on k street, which runs behind the hyatt where mostof our group was staying, and the schwarzenegger family lives. anyways, we're just chillin, grabbing a bite, when arnold comes walking out of a steakhouse across the way. everyone cheered for him, and he waved at us. pretty cool. the funniest part though, was we had a guy from colorado with us that talked all week about wanting to see the governor, and he was inside getting a refill when it happened. needless to say, we had a good laugh when he didn't believe we saw arnold, and then went running after the gov. not a good idea. we had to tell him to stop or the security guards (just imagine the size of the guys that protect a former mr universe) would prob break him in two. yet another good laugh.
what else...
well, i can't really think of anything else from last weekend. reality has kinda hit now that i'm back in the office. right now i'm working on copying cds of the lectures for the rest of the youth min crew, getting our youth group hoodies done ($20 if anyone wants one), getting a couple of drivers for a youth rally on friday, our jr high camp, merry xmas madness 05, magic mtn, paintball, thanksgiving plans to europe, our spring break college tour, not to mention the five or so kids with identifiable crisis in their lives.
sounds like a lot, but i'm keeping a pretty good mood about me. i had a really good conversation with this chica from quizno's yesterday, and a guy a wal-mart last night, where i really felt like i was doing my part to be an evangelist. feels good to have that focus. and, the quizno's girl had my favorite quote of the day, "you don't look like a youth minister. they're cheesy."
oh yeah, and my sister posted some really amazing pics from her semester at oxford. she def inherited my dad's gif for photography. check em out at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/acuinoxford05/my_photos
one love, one heart.
9.21.2005
Lemme show ya something! This is why you never put nitroglycerin in a chain saw. -Fire Marshall Bill
hola blogworld.
so yesterday me and fire marshall bill decided to head down to burbank and see the tonight show firsthand. pretty cool to say the least. anyone who comes to visit the l.a. are should take a day out to be part of a studio audience. it's not a mind blowing experience or anything like that, but it was really cool to see how the show is made. so here's my thoughts/observations on yesterday:
i have an increased respect for jay leno. he lives off of his earnings as a stand up comedian. all of his tonight show money either goes into savings, charity, or his massive car collection. he also wears a denim shirt and jeans everyday to work, and owns over 150 cars. most people change clothes every day and drive the same car to work. i got the impression that jay leno also treats every person equally, wether they are a tv star, some random schmuck, or the guy that does security for the stage. very impressive.
the studio spared no expense to redecorate the tonight show set with one exception, jay leno still has the $35 chair from office max that he has sat in for every show.
the stage for the tonight show is actually really small. the cameras have special lenses that kinda deceive the eye. very hollywood.
tom selleck is very short and he wears his pants up his chest like an old man. sorry to burst your bubble mom, but magnum p.i. prob wears black socks and sandals too.
there was a guy from pittsburgh in front of us in line that had me and fire marshall bill doing our best not to laugh. he starts going off on random stories, really random stories, and ten minutes into the conversation i realize that the window to tell this guy that there is a giant red thing in his teeth has passed. at a certain point, you just have to let that go and not say a thing, otherwise he's going to be really embarrassed, and my chance to enjoy an awkward moment would be over. needless to say i could barely look at the guy after a while and neither could fire marshall bill. had to be there i guess...
after the jay leno show, they asked some us to come watch the carson daly show, which we actually debated, but decided it was better than being in traffic. what a difference carson daly makes. anyways, that show was cool, but much less impressive than the tonight show. i think the biggest difference was the guy that came to warm up the crowd. the jay leno guy was funny, but never condescending, and he never tried to give us some false sense of importance to the show. all he said was, the audience at home will respond how you guys do, so please laugh when you think things are funny, and don't worry if a joke bombs. the carson daly guy was trying to tell us that we were 'an important part of hollywood'. right. and you don't say that to every audience. that, and he was a forty year old guy doing the trl yell every time we were supposed to be 'excited'. i typically don't consider myself cooler than most people, but i def have one guy beat. probably.
so other random people i've run into lately...
i was heading to a b-day party for valleygirl on monday night and i stopped off at the drug store to pick up a card. the couple in front of me were trying to buy a box of top ramen with some fake food stamps. the guy started yelling at the lady behind the register, and i thought he was going to get violent. so i interject my two cents, and comment that the gut shouldn't get mad at the girl just trying to do her job. if you're doing something illegal, don't complain when people don't go for it. 'nuff said. so the guy looks at me and yells, 'so what are you going to do about it?' so i put down a couple of bucks on the counter and tell the lady at the register to put it on my bill. the couple does not even say a word. no thank you. nothing, they just grab the box and head out. oh well, three bucks is a small price to pay to avoid a fight.
so later that night i'm down on sunset blvd for this birthday party. (not something i've ever been able to say before, and i only mention because it will help make the rest of the story make sense.) anyways, i got there an hour early because there was not a sign of traffic, so i decide to walk down sunset to kill some time, and give bulletproof chica a call, cuz it had been a while. so i'm walking down the street, and there's all these little hole-in-the-wall places with no signs that i never realized were there, and all of the sudden this car parks on the other side of the street and a guy in the car starts taking pictures of me. i don't have a clue who he thought i was, but it was unnerving to say the least. i can imagine how that could freak famous people out. not a cool feeling, but funny. needless to say i'll be checking the national enquirer for my pic.
then there's my favorite person of the day, the 'i'm a part of hollywood' guy that name drops like there's no tomorrow. i've ran into a few of these people before, they have a great sense of distorted perception. proximity does not equal celebrity. the very fact that you work in the same building as jay leno, does not make you a celebrity. yes, it's interesting, but if that's the greatest thing you've got going for you, it's time for a reality check. this guy took the cake though, because he wasn't even name dropping a person, but a car. 'Yeah, i was right next to a a brand new lambo, and this guy starts to rev his engine. i'm like, seriously, all i have is a camaro, i'm not gonna race your lamborghini. then, the guy stalls it when the light turns green and i beat him across the intersection. it was awesome'. please allow me to break down my response:
1. i find it ironic that the guy wasn't going to race until after he had won.
2. lamborghini's are impressive machines. no guy will argue that. however, i do think you must actually own one in order to call it a 'lambo'.
3. this guy was asking people that just came to see jay leno to also sit and watch carson daly. he did not fill his quota or the stands.
4. i can understand telling this story being told in the context of a conversation about cars, racing, or even nice cars that you might see around los angeles. i cannot even begin to grasp why this story was told without any prompting whatsoever.
5. everyone in southern california has seen a lamborghini. there are a lot of nice cars here. call it nice weather or whatever, its one of those peripheral benefits that comes with living here. that would be like me bragging to my roommate that i saw a house that cost a million dollars, or i saw disneyland from the freeway, or i know where the ocean is from here.
on to the more serious stuff...
me and the cuz watched 'Hotel Rwanda' last night. frustrating to say the least. obviously the hardest thing about the movie is wondering how a group of people could kill over a million of their fellow countrymen. i hope i never understand that. but something else struck me, why didn't we know about what happened? why didn't the u.s. take any action? the answer is pretty simple, the administration of the time chose to ignore the problem. i think it's ironic that the same people that criticize our involvement in other countries are the same people that allow millions of people to be victims of genocide. then i remember hearing about the 'ethnic cleansing' in romania, and somalia. so excuse me when i say i don't mind our involvement overseas if it means that we are preventing genocide. oh yeah, those are the same people that say it's okay to kill children. why am surprised?
and then today, i found out that most of my extended family, will have to evacuate their homes due to the hurricane heading towards houston. keep mi familia in your prayers.
well, i'm not one to end things on a downer, but it's been a real crazy week between the good and the bad. such is life, no more than we can handle.
one love and one heart.
oh yeah, in response to lindsy's comment on my last post, i did forget to mention the best thing about going to costco, the free samples! good call.
so yesterday me and fire marshall bill decided to head down to burbank and see the tonight show firsthand. pretty cool to say the least. anyone who comes to visit the l.a. are should take a day out to be part of a studio audience. it's not a mind blowing experience or anything like that, but it was really cool to see how the show is made. so here's my thoughts/observations on yesterday:
i have an increased respect for jay leno. he lives off of his earnings as a stand up comedian. all of his tonight show money either goes into savings, charity, or his massive car collection. he also wears a denim shirt and jeans everyday to work, and owns over 150 cars. most people change clothes every day and drive the same car to work. i got the impression that jay leno also treats every person equally, wether they are a tv star, some random schmuck, or the guy that does security for the stage. very impressive.
the studio spared no expense to redecorate the tonight show set with one exception, jay leno still has the $35 chair from office max that he has sat in for every show.
the stage for the tonight show is actually really small. the cameras have special lenses that kinda deceive the eye. very hollywood.
tom selleck is very short and he wears his pants up his chest like an old man. sorry to burst your bubble mom, but magnum p.i. prob wears black socks and sandals too.
there was a guy from pittsburgh in front of us in line that had me and fire marshall bill doing our best not to laugh. he starts going off on random stories, really random stories, and ten minutes into the conversation i realize that the window to tell this guy that there is a giant red thing in his teeth has passed. at a certain point, you just have to let that go and not say a thing, otherwise he's going to be really embarrassed, and my chance to enjoy an awkward moment would be over. needless to say i could barely look at the guy after a while and neither could fire marshall bill. had to be there i guess...
after the jay leno show, they asked some us to come watch the carson daly show, which we actually debated, but decided it was better than being in traffic. what a difference carson daly makes. anyways, that show was cool, but much less impressive than the tonight show. i think the biggest difference was the guy that came to warm up the crowd. the jay leno guy was funny, but never condescending, and he never tried to give us some false sense of importance to the show. all he said was, the audience at home will respond how you guys do, so please laugh when you think things are funny, and don't worry if a joke bombs. the carson daly guy was trying to tell us that we were 'an important part of hollywood'. right. and you don't say that to every audience. that, and he was a forty year old guy doing the trl yell every time we were supposed to be 'excited'. i typically don't consider myself cooler than most people, but i def have one guy beat. probably.
so other random people i've run into lately...
i was heading to a b-day party for valleygirl on monday night and i stopped off at the drug store to pick up a card. the couple in front of me were trying to buy a box of top ramen with some fake food stamps. the guy started yelling at the lady behind the register, and i thought he was going to get violent. so i interject my two cents, and comment that the gut shouldn't get mad at the girl just trying to do her job. if you're doing something illegal, don't complain when people don't go for it. 'nuff said. so the guy looks at me and yells, 'so what are you going to do about it?' so i put down a couple of bucks on the counter and tell the lady at the register to put it on my bill. the couple does not even say a word. no thank you. nothing, they just grab the box and head out. oh well, three bucks is a small price to pay to avoid a fight.
so later that night i'm down on sunset blvd for this birthday party. (not something i've ever been able to say before, and i only mention because it will help make the rest of the story make sense.) anyways, i got there an hour early because there was not a sign of traffic, so i decide to walk down sunset to kill some time, and give bulletproof chica a call, cuz it had been a while. so i'm walking down the street, and there's all these little hole-in-the-wall places with no signs that i never realized were there, and all of the sudden this car parks on the other side of the street and a guy in the car starts taking pictures of me. i don't have a clue who he thought i was, but it was unnerving to say the least. i can imagine how that could freak famous people out. not a cool feeling, but funny. needless to say i'll be checking the national enquirer for my pic.
then there's my favorite person of the day, the 'i'm a part of hollywood' guy that name drops like there's no tomorrow. i've ran into a few of these people before, they have a great sense of distorted perception. proximity does not equal celebrity. the very fact that you work in the same building as jay leno, does not make you a celebrity. yes, it's interesting, but if that's the greatest thing you've got going for you, it's time for a reality check. this guy took the cake though, because he wasn't even name dropping a person, but a car. 'Yeah, i was right next to a a brand new lambo, and this guy starts to rev his engine. i'm like, seriously, all i have is a camaro, i'm not gonna race your lamborghini. then, the guy stalls it when the light turns green and i beat him across the intersection. it was awesome'. please allow me to break down my response:
1. i find it ironic that the guy wasn't going to race until after he had won.
2. lamborghini's are impressive machines. no guy will argue that. however, i do think you must actually own one in order to call it a 'lambo'.
3. this guy was asking people that just came to see jay leno to also sit and watch carson daly. he did not fill his quota or the stands.
4. i can understand telling this story being told in the context of a conversation about cars, racing, or even nice cars that you might see around los angeles. i cannot even begin to grasp why this story was told without any prompting whatsoever.
5. everyone in southern california has seen a lamborghini. there are a lot of nice cars here. call it nice weather or whatever, its one of those peripheral benefits that comes with living here. that would be like me bragging to my roommate that i saw a house that cost a million dollars, or i saw disneyland from the freeway, or i know where the ocean is from here.
on to the more serious stuff...
me and the cuz watched 'Hotel Rwanda' last night. frustrating to say the least. obviously the hardest thing about the movie is wondering how a group of people could kill over a million of their fellow countrymen. i hope i never understand that. but something else struck me, why didn't we know about what happened? why didn't the u.s. take any action? the answer is pretty simple, the administration of the time chose to ignore the problem. i think it's ironic that the same people that criticize our involvement in other countries are the same people that allow millions of people to be victims of genocide. then i remember hearing about the 'ethnic cleansing' in romania, and somalia. so excuse me when i say i don't mind our involvement overseas if it means that we are preventing genocide. oh yeah, those are the same people that say it's okay to kill children. why am surprised?
and then today, i found out that most of my extended family, will have to evacuate their homes due to the hurricane heading towards houston. keep mi familia in your prayers.
well, i'm not one to end things on a downer, but it's been a real crazy week between the good and the bad. such is life, no more than we can handle.
one love and one heart.
oh yeah, in response to lindsy's comment on my last post, i did forget to mention the best thing about going to costco, the free samples! good call.
9.15.2005
They say that the recipe for Sprite is lemon and lime, but I tried to make it at home, there's more to it than that.
kind of a random day, good, but really random. here are some of the things that have crossed my mind today.
why am i listening to bon jovi... again?
if you own a pizza place that happens to be on a street that will be closed for a parade, then no, you will not be able to deliver on that day.
i don't like country music, so i better find another way to categorize nickel creek.
if there is any official function for ministers, there must be a speaker. no speaker, no event.
every speaker must have an introduction.
every introduction must list off the things that qualify them to speak.
we had a luncheon the other day at pepperdine, and the 'host' listed the qualifications of the guy that was going to say the prayer for lunch.
i wish i needed to be introduced. my introduction would be, "speaking to us today is d.j. iverson, he's the youth minister from simi valley. he has a degree in graphic design and he's probably the only one here wearing jeans."
for the first time in a long time i am looking forward to the rainy season.
mountain dew is underrated.
so are hot tamales.
i'm 25 and i have a full time job yet i still enjoy getting care packages from my mom.
we had a dinner three weeks ago here at the church and i left some pots and pans here. we didn't notice until yesterday.
'taming a liger: unexpected spiritual lessons from napoleon dynamite' may be the greatest book i've ever read.
the great gatsby is definitely the worst.
lord of the rings IS better than star wars.
costco (or sam's club for the midwest) is a great place to do some people watching.
who needs five pounds of mayonaise?
what is the best way to send salsa to someone in another country?
the way i feel about 70's music is probably how most teenagers feel about 80's music.
old people always pay in cash.
if the retail value is $80, and you're trying to sell it in a grocery store parking lot for $20, no you are not cutting me a deal, you are trying to sell me stuff i don't need and/or want. and you wearing a suit and tie with running shoes doesn't help either.
well, that's about all i have time to ramble about today. things are pretty nuts around here, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that knows me, or anything about youth ministry.
one love, one heart.
why am i listening to bon jovi... again?
if you own a pizza place that happens to be on a street that will be closed for a parade, then no, you will not be able to deliver on that day.
i don't like country music, so i better find another way to categorize nickel creek.
if there is any official function for ministers, there must be a speaker. no speaker, no event.
every speaker must have an introduction.
every introduction must list off the things that qualify them to speak.
we had a luncheon the other day at pepperdine, and the 'host' listed the qualifications of the guy that was going to say the prayer for lunch.
i wish i needed to be introduced. my introduction would be, "speaking to us today is d.j. iverson, he's the youth minister from simi valley. he has a degree in graphic design and he's probably the only one here wearing jeans."
for the first time in a long time i am looking forward to the rainy season.
mountain dew is underrated.
so are hot tamales.
i'm 25 and i have a full time job yet i still enjoy getting care packages from my mom.
we had a dinner three weeks ago here at the church and i left some pots and pans here. we didn't notice until yesterday.
'taming a liger: unexpected spiritual lessons from napoleon dynamite' may be the greatest book i've ever read.
the great gatsby is definitely the worst.
lord of the rings IS better than star wars.
costco (or sam's club for the midwest) is a great place to do some people watching.
who needs five pounds of mayonaise?
what is the best way to send salsa to someone in another country?
the way i feel about 70's music is probably how most teenagers feel about 80's music.
old people always pay in cash.
if the retail value is $80, and you're trying to sell it in a grocery store parking lot for $20, no you are not cutting me a deal, you are trying to sell me stuff i don't need and/or want. and you wearing a suit and tie with running shoes doesn't help either.
well, that's about all i have time to ramble about today. things are pretty nuts around here, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that knows me, or anything about youth ministry.
one love, one heart.
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