It's been a little while since I've updated here. Meant to get to it on Monday but ran out of time.
Went to a couple of college graduations this past weekend which were surprisingly more enjoyable experiences than I had anticipated, mostly because sitting in one place for three hours while names are read off is pretty much close to hell, but both ceremonies were shorter than expected and I thought funny and interesting.
My friend Shoup graduated from Flagler on Saturday and my friend of 24 years, Jeff, graduated with his MBA from UF on Sunday morning. That really began the sort of surreal moments for me.
I remarked to Jeff and my wife over brunch after the ceremony that it was almost exactly 10 years ago that were in the O'Connell Center with our new B.S. degrees in Industrial Engineering. Sheridan and I had just started dating (about three months) and I actually told her that I loved her for the first time later that same day. I was heading for my job up in Ohio in about two months (Pepperidge Farm), and I thought that Jeff and I would end up being friends over the phone and Internet.
Fast forward 10 years and I am married to Sheridan, have two kids, one of whom now recognizes Jeff as Uncle Jeffy (the other soon will I'm sure, once he can talk), and I have been a youth minister for almost nine years. I am in seminary. I am almost 33 years old. Jeff and I have basically worked together for the past nine years and plan and coordinate the trips that we used to go on when we were in the group. Weird.
So Sunday night rolled around and my friend Cory Britt came over to talk with the youth. Cory is now the pastor of a church across the river from us. I grew up down the street from Cory and in the early part of my life, I pretty much hated the kid. He was a couple of years older than me and kind of ruled the street, being the oldest and all. I had a bad temper and he knew just how to exploit it. One of my favorite games was to go into the backyard and play tether ball while pretending the ball was Cory's face. I'm not proud of it, but our relationship was not always good. Things started changing a few years later when I started attending Cory's youth group (the one I now lead) and I saw that Cory was not the same person. He was nicer, gentler, and friendly. So over the years, we've kept up and Sunday night became surreal moment number 2.
As I watched Cory speak, I marveled that God works such a delicate, intricate web of experiences in our lives, bringing enemies to peace, bringing dreams to an end and starting new ones. God's view of life is so far beyond my own and when I make decisions, they affect so many beyond me. I think I knew this in my head but the idea that my salvation and journey with Christ are part of something much bigger than just me became very evident on Sunday. Good stuff.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Latest Quote of the Day
Read this last night in Entertainment Weekly. An "interview" with Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Question: Name the worst songs ever written
#2 - Butterfly by Crazy Town
"Shame on you Crazy Town for giving crazy people a bad name. At least when crazy people take a crap, they don't record it and make an album out of it."
I just about fell out of my chair when I read that.
Other than that I'm tired and have a paper due in 36 hours that I really, really don't want to write.
Question: Name the worst songs ever written
#2 - Butterfly by Crazy Town
"Shame on you Crazy Town for giving crazy people a bad name. At least when crazy people take a crap, they don't record it and make an album out of it."
I just about fell out of my chair when I read that.
Other than that I'm tired and have a paper due in 36 hours that I really, really don't want to write.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Quote of the Day:
"I just pray that this can be changed. This is not fair for him. It's just not fair."
Deborah Jones, in response to her son, Pacman Jones', one year suspension from the NFL.
Yup, that seems about right. Ten interviews with police and five arrests in two years, the last one resulting from his involvement in a scuffle that left a man paralyzed after being shot. I think it's definitely unfair that he should be held even remotely responsible for his actions. In fact, let's give him a raise, mom. I mean, he's only paid roughly $1.25 million a year, that's rough. I feel terrible for him.
In all honesty, I do feel bad, mostly because this guy is a complete waste of talent. He's brilliant on the field and off the field is surrounded by thugs on one side and family on the other and neither seems interested in helping him see he is the one that must change. I'm glad that the NFL is taking this seriously and dealing with him. Too many athletes just throw their talents down the drain in the pursuit of their own egos. Seriously, Terrell Owens could break all of Jerry Rice's records if he even cared. Pacman Jones could be one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL if he kept out of trouble. Instead, now his team must also pay the price for his actions.
This is why we need community so badly. This is why we need people who will hold us to a higher standard rather than let us waste away in mediocrity. This is why we need a savior to challenge us to live not for ourselves. Easier said than done but I hope Pacman finds his way.
"I just pray that this can be changed. This is not fair for him. It's just not fair."
Deborah Jones, in response to her son, Pacman Jones', one year suspension from the NFL.
Yup, that seems about right. Ten interviews with police and five arrests in two years, the last one resulting from his involvement in a scuffle that left a man paralyzed after being shot. I think it's definitely unfair that he should be held even remotely responsible for his actions. In fact, let's give him a raise, mom. I mean, he's only paid roughly $1.25 million a year, that's rough. I feel terrible for him.
In all honesty, I do feel bad, mostly because this guy is a complete waste of talent. He's brilliant on the field and off the field is surrounded by thugs on one side and family on the other and neither seems interested in helping him see he is the one that must change. I'm glad that the NFL is taking this seriously and dealing with him. Too many athletes just throw their talents down the drain in the pursuit of their own egos. Seriously, Terrell Owens could break all of Jerry Rice's records if he even cared. Pacman Jones could be one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL if he kept out of trouble. Instead, now his team must also pay the price for his actions.
This is why we need community so badly. This is why we need people who will hold us to a higher standard rather than let us waste away in mediocrity. This is why we need a savior to challenge us to live not for ourselves. Easier said than done but I hope Pacman finds his way.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
pre and post Easter updates
It has been a while so I figured I'd keep it confined to just what's happened in the past couple of weeks.
Movies I've Watched:
Blades of Glory - not particularly good. Laughed heartily in a few spots but some of the jokes just kind of missed it. The best scenes were definitely the ones where it seemed that Ferrell was just ad libbing. I'm beginning to think that ole Napoleon Dynamite isn't as funny as we all thought.
The Prestige - Excellent. If you like Christopher Nolan's stuff (especially Memento) you'll love this.
Walk the Line - Pretty good. Good acting, good dialogue, cool seeing the development of Johnny Cash as an artist. One of my favorite parts was seeing this two car caravan moving down the highway and realizing that within those cars were Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and June Carter. That is just amazing to think about. Some of the greatest icons of early rock and roll rolling down some backwoods highway in a chevy shooting the breeze on their way to their next gig.
Books:
Fight Club - good read but I have to say that for only about the second or third time in history (Shawshank Redemption being one of them; "Hope Springs Eternal" I think is the name of the short story), the movie is better than the book. Enjoyed the book but the movie took care of some details better, in my opinion. Chuck Palahniuk has definitely progressed as an author since then. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, it was definitely good, and a quick read.
Most of the other stuff is seminary material that I won't comment on until I am done with this semester.
TV:
Only going to comment on one thing here and that's Lost. How are people still not watching this show? How are people still complaining about it? This season has been very strong and it's just not possible or even a good idea for the writers to reveal major secrets in every single episode. I would rather have the mystery extended a little bit. Not knowing why the Others disappeared is great drama. Not knowing if we can trust Juliette is fun. Not knowing why Locke's dad is on the island gives me good fodder to discuss with friends. I love the journey we're on with this show and hope it continues to be as good as it has.
Trips:
Well SORHeads was great. Only three seniors (Max, Philip, Elizabeth L.) and me and Mindy (our resident SORHead female counselor for the past three years), but we had a good time. Weather was cold so the beach wasn't much of an option but we found other ways to entertain ourselves. A few highlights:
1. Panama City Beach has Dippin' Dots stores. Seriously. It's amazing. 40 flavors and they will mix anything up for you. A little piece of heaven.
2. Throwing a Frisbee on the beach when it is 50 outside is still fun. Philip, Max, and I did this several times over the trip and I had forgotten how much fun that is.
3. When doing Bible Study and the conversation lags a bit, nothing quite peps up the discussion like bringing other religions into the mix. First day was a little slow and then we ended up discussing other religions and Christianity's interaction with them for an hour. Good stuff.
So that's about it. I'm back in town now, getting caught up on stuff. Go Gators, nice national championship game, though, like my friend David, I am a little tired of hearing how amazing Oden was. Yup, it was a great game right up until the end when Ohio State lost. Maybe the Gators just had a great game plan and defended everyone else well. And, though the refs may not have thought so, when your small forward drives the lane, fakes a shot, and dishes to another player, it is not okay for a defender to jump to block the fake shot and land on said small forward's back. That is what we like to call, a foul.
Now I've got my whiny Gator comment out of the way. Talk to you later.
Movies I've Watched:
Blades of Glory - not particularly good. Laughed heartily in a few spots but some of the jokes just kind of missed it. The best scenes were definitely the ones where it seemed that Ferrell was just ad libbing. I'm beginning to think that ole Napoleon Dynamite isn't as funny as we all thought.
The Prestige - Excellent. If you like Christopher Nolan's stuff (especially Memento) you'll love this.
Walk the Line - Pretty good. Good acting, good dialogue, cool seeing the development of Johnny Cash as an artist. One of my favorite parts was seeing this two car caravan moving down the highway and realizing that within those cars were Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and June Carter. That is just amazing to think about. Some of the greatest icons of early rock and roll rolling down some backwoods highway in a chevy shooting the breeze on their way to their next gig.
Books:
Fight Club - good read but I have to say that for only about the second or third time in history (Shawshank Redemption being one of them; "Hope Springs Eternal" I think is the name of the short story), the movie is better than the book. Enjoyed the book but the movie took care of some details better, in my opinion. Chuck Palahniuk has definitely progressed as an author since then. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, it was definitely good, and a quick read.
Most of the other stuff is seminary material that I won't comment on until I am done with this semester.
TV:
Only going to comment on one thing here and that's Lost. How are people still not watching this show? How are people still complaining about it? This season has been very strong and it's just not possible or even a good idea for the writers to reveal major secrets in every single episode. I would rather have the mystery extended a little bit. Not knowing why the Others disappeared is great drama. Not knowing if we can trust Juliette is fun. Not knowing why Locke's dad is on the island gives me good fodder to discuss with friends. I love the journey we're on with this show and hope it continues to be as good as it has.
Trips:
Well SORHeads was great. Only three seniors (Max, Philip, Elizabeth L.) and me and Mindy (our resident SORHead female counselor for the past three years), but we had a good time. Weather was cold so the beach wasn't much of an option but we found other ways to entertain ourselves. A few highlights:
1. Panama City Beach has Dippin' Dots stores. Seriously. It's amazing. 40 flavors and they will mix anything up for you. A little piece of heaven.
2. Throwing a Frisbee on the beach when it is 50 outside is still fun. Philip, Max, and I did this several times over the trip and I had forgotten how much fun that is.
3. When doing Bible Study and the conversation lags a bit, nothing quite peps up the discussion like bringing other religions into the mix. First day was a little slow and then we ended up discussing other religions and Christianity's interaction with them for an hour. Good stuff.
So that's about it. I'm back in town now, getting caught up on stuff. Go Gators, nice national championship game, though, like my friend David, I am a little tired of hearing how amazing Oden was. Yup, it was a great game right up until the end when Ohio State lost. Maybe the Gators just had a great game plan and defended everyone else well. And, though the refs may not have thought so, when your small forward drives the lane, fakes a shot, and dishes to another player, it is not okay for a defender to jump to block the fake shot and land on said small forward's back. That is what we like to call, a foul.
Now I've got my whiny Gator comment out of the way. Talk to you later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
