My Life Lately

What is This!?!

2009-09-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Obama: The Great Bipartisan Unifier

2009-09-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Bush was called one of the most polarizing presidents in our history. When Obama ran for office he promised to be a unifier, to inspire us to collective consensus and make us one nation once again.

At first it didn't look like he was going to make good on this promise. When the stimulus bill was proposed it operated under a very liberal premise. So liberal that some journalist actually said Rush Limbaugh's idea for a stimulus plan was the only "true bipartisan" proposal.

Some Republicans went along with the idea so they wouldn't be seen as "wanting Obama to Fail," but for the most part this was an entirely Democrat bill, pushing the comfort levels of some moderate Democrats.

Now he is a ten month President and he has finally proven good on his promise unifying both parties using universal health care of all things.

An opinion piece on Politico.com suggests that even though Obama has a super-majority in Congress he may still not have the votes to pass health care "reform."

President Barack Obama has successfully raised bipartisan support against health care. He certainly is a great unifier.

More Proof that Ronald Reagan didn't know what he was talking about

2009-08-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Obviously Reagan is not enlightened. First, his speech pattern is way to smooth. Maybe if he had more 'uh's and stutters I could take him more seriously. Maybe if his arguments had more good intentions I would pay attention. Maybe if he had less facts in his argument I would care.

For a real speaker and visionary scroll down to the previous post.

Why We Should Support Obamacare

2009-08-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

When the full glory, skill and sheer divine inspiration of our President is on display it benefits us all to listen. In this video Obama in unmatched eloquence calms our fears about private insurance companies ability to compete against Obamacare.

Every 'uh' and stutter is fills me with audacious hope that only Barack Obama can inspire. Of course we should give health care to the government. As the President so eloquently stated, if the government can screw up a courier service just think of the good they can do with health care.

Asians have super powers

2009-06-11T21:54:00.001-07:00

And the President is...

2009-06-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

President William Howard Taft!

Tone Journeys: The New Pedalboard

2009-05-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

A pedalboard to a guitar player is like a utility belt to Batman. I am now on my journey of reorganizing my “utility belt.”

Some of you know that my tools have outgrown my toolbox. My pedalboard is too small. For those who have seen my rig you have seen that I often hook up one or two more pedals next to the board. It really is sad to see.

The solution: a bigger pedalboard.

My friend Jason found a pedalboard online at Rondo Music It’s not as high quality as my old Pedeltrain, but it was also half as much.

So now I get to go on the exciting tone journey of organizing my chain of effects. When I used to be confined by space I am now able to have the order I have always dreamed about having.

And here it is:

Cry Baby Wah>CS-3>Tube Screamer>Twin Tube>Micro Amp (Boost)>VP Jr.> A Phaser I’m ashamed of>Carbon Copy (Analog Delay)>DL-4

I’ve always wanted to have the Volume Pedal after the distortions and compressions because they create so much hum in the signal.

In the future I would like to replace the DL-4 with a TREX Replica.

Then replace the Tube Screamer with something like the Phantom Drive.

This is a journey and I’m having a whole lot of fun on the way.

Star Trek Fans Are Disapointed With New Movie

2009-05-06T13:10:00.001-07:00

Guess That President

2009-04-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

Back by popular demand. Here are the clues.

1.Gave us the income tax

2.Graduated from Yale

3.Reorganized the structure of Americas changing how Senators were elected

4.First got elected by piggy-backing off of the popularity of the previous President

5.The previous, popular President sabotaged his reelection attempted

Put your guesses in the comments.

Interesting

2009-04-21T11:15:00.001-07:00

I'm In Love

2009-04-21T11:13:00.001-07:00

How Much Money Are We Spending?

2009-04-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

Are We Going In The Right Direction

2009-03-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Even with his 60% approval rating, 56% percent of Americans say we are heading in the wrong direction. Click here to see the polls.

Core Beliefs of a Conservative

2009-03-04T12:41:00.000-08:00

We Conservatives have certain premises we believe in order to have our Code of Conservatism. If you want to be a Conservative you have to accept these beliefs about The People.

1. Everyone has unlimited potential

2. The People can live there lives better than a bureaucrat

3. The People own the country, Government does not

4. The People are more responsible than government

5. When ‘happiness’ is given by Government it is not true happiness

6. When it is pursued by an individual, it can be found

7. We are only entitle to what we earn

8. The People should not be subjected to the Government. The Government
should be subject to The People.

We, The People, have the ability, the drive, and the intelligence to live our lives and make ourselves and the country great. As long as the Government lets us.

Rush's Keynote Speech for CPAC

2009-03-04T12:07:00.001-08:00

This was about an hour and a half so here is part one for the rest click here. This really is amazing and is worth your time.

Mini Thought: Reaching Out

2009-03-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

It is not our aim to make our God more acceptable to the emerging culture. It is our aim to make our emerging culture accept the one true God.

The Things I Assume and More Sound Wisdom (Maybe)

2009-03-03T10:16:00.001-08:00

Sometimes reading Relevant Magazine can feel like watching TMZ and listening to Hillsong United at the same time. You flip through the pages to find DMX is professing God for a second time, next page: different fast ideas (facebook, shopping, etc.), turn the next page and you find out Steve Carrell bought a general store in Massachusetts (his sister-in-law is running the day to day activities), next: you read about how we can save Africa.

It’s like the Christian version of People and Oprah all in one.

Never really knowing what I am going to get with this publication (with the exception of looking trendy and open-minded while I read it), I pick up the latest issue (March_April 2009) not really expecting much (with the exception of the previously mentioned expectation).

I happened upon an article written by Mark Driscoll called “Sound Wisdom.” It interested me because it was short and wasn’t about Africa or celebrities. It started out with a very grabbing anecdote on Driscoll’s daily routine.

Wakes up to an alarm and a BlackBerry chiming, takes a shower with the radio on, changes clothes with the news on. Drives with the radio, works with the computer and BlackBerry chiming, takes a walk with the iPod…this description goes on for about three paragraphs. The point is he realizes he spends the whole day without any silence.

He then tells about how he was convicted of his “addiction to noise” and the importance of “purposeful silence” because “it is often in silence that God is waiting for us.”

As I was reading this I caught myself thinking it was society’s fault. It was our culture that was too noisy and the reason for our lack of prayer and “purposeful silence.” They created the iPod, the car radio, the shower radio, and the cell phone. If it wasn’t for being in this western, prosperous, American culture, I would be a better Christian, more centered and closer to God.

There seemed to be a bit of irony in what I was thinking. I was assuming a lot.

I was assuming that if I was in a third world country away from western noise I would hear God more. The problem with this is that I have been to a third world country and while I was there, I distinctly felt like I couldn’t hear God.

I was assuming that if I was away from the noise, surrounded by silence means I would spend that silence in prayer. I have noticed in my life that just because I am surrounded by silence doesn’t mean I spend that time with God. Sometimes it’s reading, sometimes it’s sleeping, sometimes it just means wandering around bored. Silence (if you look at how I live) doesn’t necessarily equal prayer.

I was assuming that the noise was somehow oppressive, forcing me to listen to it; when the truth is that all the noise has a power button. I just wasn’t pushing it.

Our culture and its advances and accomplishments are not the reason we don’t pray as much as we want to. In fact those advances and accomplishments empower the individual more than ever before. Our culture is the most generous, the hardest working, the most innovative and has done more to spread prosperity to the world than any other.

The noise means we are heard and we can get information easier and better than we ever have in any time in history.

What I was really assuming was that it wasn’t my fault and therefore wasn’t my responsibility. I was assuming that I was merely a product of my environment and because I was assuming that, that is exactly what I became. I was assuming I had no control over an issue I have 100% control over.

Blame is a poison. Whether we are blaming other people, a situation or a culture, what we are really doing is taking the solution (our initiative) and throwing it as far from reach as possible.

Jedidiah needs...the latest Facebook Fad

2009-02-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

The new, most fun thing to do on facebook is to type in "(your name) needs" into google then post it for all of your facebook friends to see. Here is what my name came up with:

Google "(Your name) needs..." and post the first ten hits.

1.Jedidiah needs to turn 1 more or gain 6 more Werewolf points…Jedidiah has no Werewolf underlings…Jedidiah needs to bite some chumps. (All chumps beware)

2. need a recent version of svg-utils. (Huh?)

3. (Jedidiah does not need a) 3600 (because it) has no manual flash mode, so it wouldn't fit Jedidiah's needs. (good to know)

4. More testing on his Bomb Squad Progress (I agree)

5. He loves his head scratched when he realizes what you need from him. He is a young bay paint stallion. (No comment)

6. To meet the needs of its community by provid…(guess we will never know)

7. American congregational leaders should focus on meeting the needs of young adults. (That’s dumb)

8. To drop the weapons and fight with brute force (If I had a nickle...)

9. …additional citations for verification. (So true)

10. …additional citations for verification ( Com’ on, Google, you don’t have to rub it in)

Honorable Mention

The devils daughter needs Jedidiah’s soul. (and people wonder why I’m single)

…to be on the alert for emotional attachments. (done and done)

No Works Required

2009-02-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

I remember being about eight years old as my dad tucked me into bed. I was worried about hell again. I was picking my dad’s brain on how I could avoid such damnation, but I wasn’t satisfied with his answer: believe in the deity, death and resurrection of Christ and you’re set.

This was hard for me to accept. I had previously “given my life to Christ” a couple years earlier at a Carman concert. I’m pretty sure I gave my life to Christ again a couple years later at bible camp. I kept wrestling because it seemed too easy, like cheating on a test.

Maybe there is a remnant of 1940s and 1950s thought? Maybe it is the general influence of some assemblies of regular Baptist denominations, particularly the General Assembly of Regular Baptist. Maybe it’s strict parents; maybe it’s just stereotypes? Whatever it is, it’s pretty easy for us to think of God as nothing more than a giant interstellar task master, and Christianity nothing more than life’s To-Do list. Salvation becomes a question of what we can do to “save” ourselves rather than what God has done to save us.

Than one day, like a personal Great Awakening, we see the light. We realize that God is personal, intimate; we see that working towards salvation is pointless because we aren’t capable of assuring our own salvation.

We see that Christ alone can redeem.

Knowing Christ has not called us to live the same as in our former life, we start a journey of inner self improvement, or of Christ perfecting us. Verses like “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (1 Cor 13:2)” and “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7)" start to ring loudly in our post- “Great Awaking” minds.
An interesting transition happens in our minds. No longer are we focused on works or what we can do to save ourselves, but on our intentions and motivations. Our life becomes not about what we do, but the condition of our heart. But something still seems wrong.

We can still experience a loss of power.

We spend hours in introspection and prayer (or wishing we would spend hours in introspection and prayer and feeling guilty for not doing so). We think to ourselves “if this could just fall into place, if I could just find this elusive enlightenment, then everything would fall into place.”

Perhaps pure motivations and good intentions are just one piece of the puzzle.

Matthew 25 gives us the parable of the talents. I am posting verses 14-27 which makes for a bit of reading, something you have already done. If you are already familiar with the story feel free to skip the narrative.

14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'

21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'

23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

This is one of those stories that I would always try to ignore by telling myself it didn’t apply to me. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to tell myself why it didn’t apply to me in order for me to believe. Now, more than ever, I’m sure it does.

There are three ideas we can take from this parable to help put power back in our lives.

1.The master was looking for real objective and measurable results. So does God. One of the reasons we can suffer a loss of power is that we can get so focus on the relationship and “knowing God” that we become hyper-introspective (which, ironically, takes our eyes off of God). When we force ourselves to look at objective criteria and submit ourselves to it something interesting happens: progress. Objective momentum combined with our relationship with Christ can be a catalyst of personal and interpersonal power. The supernatural becomes harnessed in our daily life.

2.Anyone can produce results. The servant with one talent could have done something as simple as deposited the money so it could accrue interest. This is very simple. Producing for God doesn’t have to be hard. It is what we were made for. The important thing is that we are.

3.It’s about the mission God has given you. Don’t think this is legalism, this is purpose. God has given you a real objective for your life. A result that can be measured. You don’t have to be the servant that produces five more talents to please God. But why not aim for it.

There are two tests in life. Jesus passes the first test of salvation for us, but that is not the only test, and on the second one there is no cheating. It is a test where real objective accomplishments and pure motivations are factored in. I am convinced that we combine these two together we will start to live out the Christian life with a power like we have never known before, even when we don’t feel it.

So what’s the first step? Why not try measuring.

Womanizer

2009-02-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

If you are a Best Buy employee or a fan of Sci-Fi and comic book movies, you will like this.

This Is For My Mom

2009-02-04T14:05:00.001-08:00

The Inaugural Address I Was Hoping For

2009-01-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

You have to love the power of youtube and the internet. I watched this while doing research for my previous post and was surprised, inspired and pretty much blown away. I have always heard that Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest presidents that our country has ever had. Because of the instant nature of modern-day information we can appreciate what this man did for the country. This speech is truly inspiring.

Why Obama’s Inaugural Address Offended Me

2009-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

The first African-American President is a monumental accomplishment, both for African-Americans and the entire country. A country that once created its prosperity from the backs of black slaves has now elected a black man to lead it.

This is truly extraordinary.

Being the first African-American President, his inaugural address will certainly be recorded in the history books. This will be easy to do because much of what he said was American to the core. Lines like, “In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned” have been spoken by presidents from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan.

Then there were a couple lines that no president has ever said (with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter, but no one remembers his speech anyway).

“What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”-President Barack Obama

From first glance this is a unifying statement. Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, we must all give up our pitiful arguments that keep us in the mud and muck of politics and work on making government work.

This would be unifying if he was planning on keeping government the same size. This would be unifying if he was planning on keeping spending the same as it has been. This would be unifying if he was planning on keeping the Bush tax cuts.

It would be unifying if he was planning keeping things the same. Of course, he is not. Instead he is planning on growing government larger, making it more intrusive and invasive than ever before.

Perhaps I am crazy, but because he is already working on monumental government growth I interpret this statement as “it is time to stop arguing about growing government, it is time to grow it.” “You who wish to engage in intellectual debate must zip it.” “You who are shouting out warnings that the ‘sky is falling’ as government is growing must crawl into your suburban homes and shut up.”

On top of this I am now a ‘cynic’ for thinking “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” –President Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981.

The ground has certainly shifted when conservative thought is considered ‘stale’ politics; the ground has shifted when Reaganomics “no longer apply.” The ground has certainly shifted when it is considered un-American to think government isn’t suppose to ‘work’ to find me a ‘job with a decent wage,’ healthcare, and a ‘dignified retirement.’

Or perhaps the ground hasn’t shifted that much.

…And the President is…

2009-01-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

John F. Kennedy! (Imagine applause of hundreds of people so excited that you were right.) Congratulations. You were right (unless of course you were wrong).

Our winners are:

Joanna!

Jill!

Oana (and by default Andrew)!

All right, Italicized Text, tell them what they have won!

You have won the great fulfilling feeling that only being right can bring!

The source is A History of the American People by Paul Johnson.

Guess That President

2009-01-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

Let’s play a game. I’m going to give you the accomplishments of a president. I want you to tell me the identity of this president. Put your guess in the comments section.

The President
1. Born into wealth, what we would call a Trust Fund Baby
2. Family fortune was built on shipbuilding, Hollywood, stock-jobbing, bootleg liquor, and insurance
3. Was put into the Navy by is fathers desire and influence for his political grooming
4. Was ‘plucked’ out of the Navy by the same influence
5. Was called a war hero during campaigns
6. Bought a newspaper to secure its support
7. Bought votes for $50.00 for house race
8. Paid ministers $100.00-500.00 to play down religious views
9. Much of that money came from the mafia
10. During presidential race used fraud to win Texas to the number of 100,000 votes
11. Engaged in mafia executed voter fraud to the number of 450,000 votes
12. His wife was picked by his father
13. His marriage stayed intact because of his father
14. Had frequent affairs with just about anyone who was handy
15. Shared a mistress with a mafia boss

I know what you’re thinking: Jed, this isn’t possible. I assure you my source(s) are credible and will be revealed when the President is revealed.

Let’s play Guess That President!

Leave your guess in the comments section.

Their Big Fat Romanian Wedding: Sunday

2009-01-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

Choosing the Axe

Sunday morning arrived after a refreshing sleep at the Enea’s. Daniel (the Romanian groomsmen whose name was mispronounced during the reception entrance) volunteered to pick me up to drive Agape church and drive me to the airport once the service was done. What a good man.

We arrived at 8:15am to see Utu, a hard-working, detailed oriented, worship-ministry-trooper with a big smile, working on the stage set up. Since I didn’t have any gear with me, he had arranged for me to use his guitar rig.

Utu was the ultimate accommodator. Not only did I use his gear but he brought his two electric guitars for me to choose, a Tele-custom and a Parkwood Hybrid. As I was experimenting with the guitars another gentlemen (one of the vocalist) came in with a mid-80s Fender Strat. And a little later another person (I believe the worship leader) came in with a faded Gibson SG for me to use. Utu then apologized as the man who owned the Les Paul was out of town.

I was like a kid in a candy store…or just me in a guitar store.

I ended up using the Parkwood because Utu’s gear was EQed and set up for that guitar, so it sounded amazing.

Introduction to the Team or An Offer Only Jed Could Refuse

As Utu was showing me how to use his rig he would periodically introduce me to the other team members as they showed up. One of the team members was a vocalist was named Denisah (although the Denisah previously mentioned in the other blogs was a worship leader at Agape this was not her; she was on her way to Hawaii to meet up with her family on vacation; we felt sorry for her).

Realizing that I would have remembered this name Utu told me that half of the girls were named Denisah. At that point a male vocalist I had not met yet yelled from the middle of the auditorium yelled “And half of them are single.”

This was sort of like when a mother makes a joke (or a hint in a jokes clothing) about how if I ever wanted to date/court/pursue/propose-to their daughter she (the mother) wouldn’t mind (whether or not the daughter would mind was never established), but never before has man in front of so many people made me an offer (on behalf of so many people) who was not directly related to or responsible for, made me such an offer. First, I was impressed that this man had the ability to detect such and eligible and strapping young bachelor in the room without even meeting him (yes, I’m arrogant); second, I felt sorry for any single women named Denisah who was present.

A lesser man may have cracked under either the pressure or the temptation of the offer (for those single men who are into brunettes, I suggest you get yourself invited to a Romanian wedding); however, I am an expert on being and staying a bachelor, all of the single women named Denisah are still just that: single.

Playing by Ear

The practice started at 8:30am. The music was contemporary worship music with basic chord changes that we all know and love. It was fortunate for me that it wasn’t anything more complicated than I had encountered before.

Half of the songs were in Romanian. For a musician this is a particular challenge because when you are looking at a chord chart the chords you are suppose to play are written above the words they are suppose to be played with. When the words are in a language you don’t understand, it makes the chord chart useful for finding the key of the song and that’s about it. Every bit of ear training and “faking it” trick that I knew was used on these songs.

It worked. After one of the songs the worship leader turned around and said “you must be half Romanian; you know all these songs.” Because I wanted to seem better than I really was I didn’t deny it. I also wondered if being declared half Romanian made me eligible to date/court/pursue/propose-to any single Romanian women who were not named Denisah.

The Service

Agape Church has a half hour of open prayer starting at 9:00am before every service (practice was a refreshing thirty minutes long). After an edifying time of prayer, worship began. I was a little clumsy getting on stage because it was my first time at Agape and I did not know when to get up.

The worship was very much like any worship you might find in any contemporary American church…except half the songs were in Romanian. And like any other worship team, the members, with the exception of a hand raised, stood still…except me.

I must say, I was pretty mellow. I was in a church and a culture I didn’t know very well so I just played it safe acted very mellow.

When I saw Andrew after their short three day honeymoon, he said that according to his parents I wasn’t as mellow as I thought; however, Andrew’s younger brother, Joey (Joey has visited Andrew in Iowa and has seen me lead worship at Des Moines Fellowship), confirmed that I was very calm that particular Sunday.

A Lost Opportunity

The rest of the story is rather bland because it doesn’t involve any of my Romanian friends. We had to leave early to catch my flight so Daniel drove me to the airport about fifteen minutes before the service was over. When I got there I found out the there was trouble with the connecting flight to Denver and I would have to spend the night in a hotel in Portland.

This was great news. It meant I had another opportunity to spend some time with my newly made Romanian friends. The plan was to get settled in the hotel take a quick nap, get a bite to eat then make the call the latest contacts put into my cell phone.

To this day I wish I regret not setting an alarm.

I woke up at about 8:30pm. Because it was late and I knew people had to wake up for work the next day I decided not to call anyone and instead spent the night with Gregory House and Horatio Caine.

The sleep at the hotel was anything but comfortable.

The Trip Home

I left for Chicago the next day and from there I took a “puddle-jumper” to Des Moines. I’m proud to say I wasn’t even close to puking.

Upon arriving home, I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was just like that but without the Windex.

Final Thoughts

I have to say how honored I am to have been apart of that wedding. Even though there were ten people on each side Andrew and Oana were not short of people to ask to fill that spot. All though I felt at times like a foreigner I never felt unwelcomed. It was truly a privilege for me to have an inside look into their families, churches and culture as well as being apart of their special day.

Their Big Fat Romanian Wedding: Saturday Afternoon

2009-01-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

Getting Away in the Getaway Car

After the wedding ceremony was done there were way too many people in a small lobby area congratulating the couple. Joel, Helena, Ashlynn and I decided to take the CTS (that was the car Joel was driving around) to the reception.

We wondered if the couple wanted to travel in a convoy, but we did not have any chance of reaching them through the crowd. We figured with the relaxed feeling of the wedding we could just leave.

We were discussing whether or not Joel needed to get something to eat (he said he was past the point of hunger and because there was food at the reception he would be fine) when Joel got a call from someone in the wedding party asking about his whereabouts. It turned out they did want to travel in a convoy. If we had known…we probably would have left anyway.

Allow Me This Indulgence

Since we were ahead of everyone and had some time to kill we did what every suburban-twenty-something-cool-people do: we went to Starbucks. This is really only not worthy news because Andrew works at not just any Starbucks, but one of the best Starbucks I have ever been to.

I had already been to a couple of Starbucks in Portland by this time and I am sorry to say they didn’t live up to the Andrew Enea Standards. Every time I would order a tall mocha. Every time it was wrong. Once I think they mislabeled it and I ended up with a hazelnut mocha thing. Very disappointing.

This particular Starbucks got it right. This doesn’t seem like a really big thing (you are probably asking yourself “Why is Jed wasting my time with this?”), but at the time it was. Here I was in a city I didn’t know with people I had just met in a culture where I was very much a foreigner. To drink that familiar tall mocha was like having a little bit of heaven shining down on me.

Thank you for humoring me. On with the reception.

The Next Best Thing to a Convoy

We couldn’t travel together in a triumphant demonstration of class that is a Cadillac Convoy so we decided to do the next best thing: take a picture of the wedding party with all the Cadillacs in a row.

This was difficult because everyone arrived at different times. There was the question of how long can we be parked in the fire lane. And other questions like: Where is the camera? Where are the drivers? Everyone is waiting for us, should we just go in? Where is the camera? Do we really have to do this? It is really cold; can we wait inside while you get everyone together? Everyone went inside so can we just park then? Aren’t we missing a car?

The bride and bridesmaids waited in the lobby while the best man tried to get the cars that did park back in the line. In the time it took for the drivers to walk back to their cars, it was decided that the guests had been waiting too long in the reception area for the wedding party’s entrance and were getting hungry.

When the missing drivers arrived with their once-parked cars, the whole venture had been (wisely) abandoned and they arrived just in time to hear that they had to park their cars again and get in line for the grand entrance. I was smiling the whole time.

My Grand Entrance

The wedding party was in a line behind the doors to the dining area. A gentleman I didn’t know would announce over the intercom the names of couples-first, the bridesmaid then the groomsmen-and the doors would open and the couple would walk in to an applauding audience. All of this was, of course, done in Romanian.

When it was time for Ashlynn and me to enter the announcer read her name than paused,then gave an awkward “…uh…Yedida.” I could not help but appreciate the irony having my name butchered in a room full of people with names I couldn’t pronounce. From that point on the bride referred to me as Yedididah.

I later learned that he actually pronounced it correctly in Romanian.

I also learned that he mispronounced the name of the Romanian groomsman in front of me.

Time to Eat You Girl

The reception was held at the Embassy Suites in a large conference-like room with seating for just under 500 people. All but three tables were taken. The food (mostly Italian provided by the hotel with a couple of Romanian dishes) was served buffet style in the large hallways outside of the dining area.

One of the groomsmen was (and still is) named Utu (pronounced ootsoo). He was one of the groomsmen/drivers and also the worship coordinator for Agape church who Andrew called when he asked me to play guitar on Sunday.

While in line for the buffet, Utu introduced me to the bridesmaid he walked down with, Denisah. This was Denise who introduced herself to me earlier during the photo shoot. After explaining to Utu that we had already met I began picking on Denise for not introducing me with her real name. She told me that her birth certificate stated, in fact, Denise and that Romanian tradition dictated that female names end in ‘uh.’

I then realized that not only was I dressed in pink, but my name, in Romanian, is a girl’s name. I’m currently seeking counseling for a recently developed gender complex.

Greatest Wedding Tradition Ever

The dining finished and there were some warm words spoken about how wonderful the bride and groom were, who is the real best man, and the meaning of Andrew's word “tsshaw.” At this point I had made two observations: 1. No one brought presents 2. Some of the groomsmen were placing envelopes on the tables.

As I was wandering around looking like I didn’t know what was going on, Andrew asked me if I wanted to be useful. He then handed me a plush white box about the size of a square basketball (use your imagination) with a slit in the top. I was to go around collecting envelopes from each table.

I was happy to do this; however, I feel someone who spoke a bit of Romanian would have been better suited for the mission. I would go around collecting checks (if you hadn’t figured out what was going on that was the clue), and there were a lot of them, then an older gentleman, usually a grandparent, would start talking to me in Romanian.

I would then give him a blank stare.

At some point an older lady, usually his wife would say something to him in Romanian, then the gentleman would ask me in English “Are you Romanian?” This happened about three times at least.

The final installment will be coming soon.

As Promised

2009-01-08T12:44:00.001-08:00

Something Different

2009-01-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

Prepare to have your whole outlook of the world turned up-side-down.

My next video will be of a pig flying.

Their Big Fat Romanian Wedding: Saturday Morning

2009-01-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

A Killer Look

Wedding day.

Now I had tried on the tux the day before to make sure it fit, which it did, but when I put it on the day of…looking at it was kind of like visually getting the wind knocked out of you.

The tuxes were brown and pink. Yes, brown and pink. And although I did not give Andrew much crap that weekend, I will never let him forget the humiliation he put me, and nine other men, through. Andrew did not wear anything like the groomsmen did.

You would think with such a feminine color available that the bridesmaids might have worn some,too. Nope. They just had cute, little, normal-looking,dark brown dresses. The bridesmaids all looked great and the groomsmen all looked hideous.

The bride herself made the comment, “Oh look at your shoes; they look like little turds.” Thanks, Andrew.

Photos

The photos for the bride and groom were actually taken Wednesday for the sake of practicality, so the photos that were taken the day of were focused on the wedding party. When you have ten people standing up on each side this is a trick and largely resulted in the Best Man doing a lot of frantic yelling, thankfully, in English.

There was a bit of down time during this photo shoot (by “a bit” I mean “a lot”) so as I was sitting down waiting to be called upon one of the bridesmaids came over and introduced herself. The first words out of her mouth were “Are you American or Romanian?” If only more introductions started that way. She then introduced herself to me as Denise.

Unless you are one of my sisters hoping beyond hopes this is some sign of me falling in love this isn’t very interesting; however, it is important to an event that happened on Sunday.

Romanian Time

One of the groomsmen was Joel (the Kansas license white guy). I had met him over Thanksgiving when he and his wife visited Andrew and Oana. Because we had met before we tended to gravitate toward each other.

The wedding party left the photo shoot a little later than desired. Joel and I, along with the bridesmaids we were walking down with, Helena (Romanian) and Ashlynn (Hawaiian), arrived at the church at 9:52am, eight minutes before the wedding was supposed to start. We were also the only ones among the wedding party who arrived before the wedding was supposed to start.

9:56am Joel, who is a tank commander in the Army and used to everything being fifteen minutes early, was in a difficult position. He didn’t eat breakfast and at this point was starving. Like a good soldier, he did not deviate from course.

10:09am We then learned something about Romanians: they operate on different time paradigm than Americans. Everything is about 15-20 minutes behind “American time” which Americans usually just call real time. 15 minutes after we were supposed to start guests were still showing up and no sense of urgency to get things started was detectable. The wedding started at 10:24am. We would have had plenty of time to grab something to eat.

And They're Off

We were warned that a Romanian wedding could last 2 ½ hours. The wedding starts with us walking down (all ten couples) and everyone standing for Oana who looked as beautiful as a bride should. Then one of the pastors started with the welcome--in Romanian.

At some point he had the congregation sit down. Fortunately for all of us in the wedding party that meant us too. In fact, even the bride and groom got to sit down in antique chairs which I think were brought over from Romania. Everyone got to sit except for any individual who was speaking at the time. Perhaps this is to encourage short sermons.

A young lady got up on stage and started speaking--in Romanian. Then she started speaking in English. I couldn’t believe it. A flicker of hope ran through me. Then it diminished. It was Shakespeare. All I could tell is that it was some sonnet about love, and how strong love was and how much they loved each other, I think.

Then a song…in Romanian. I don’t know what it was about but it seemed epic.

Then Justin leaned over and asked me if I would like him to translate. I accepted. I was so thankful that he did it. It made the ceremony for me. The first message likened the signs God gives us to street signs and he used three streets sign, Stop, One Way and Yield, as points for Andrew and Oana. It was about forty-five minutes long.

Then two more songs, one in Romanian and one in English.

Another message was given about loving God by loving people and for the bride and groom to love each other. This one was about forty-five minutes long.

After that the pastor who gave the welcome came up and gave them some last words of advice before Andrew and Oana gave their vows to one another. After this both Andrew and Oana kneeled facing each other while two pastors laid hands on their heads and prayed over them. I don’t remember if it was in English or Romanian but I do remember there being a sense of real urgency in their prayers. It was a beautiful scene.

Then they stood up, were pronounced man and wife, and the pastor said, “Andrew, I do not think it is a scene; but rather very appropriate for you to kiss your bride.”

Everyone cheered. I should note that they did not cheer as loudly as they do in most American weddings I have been to or have been a part of. I think it was because the ceremony was two hours long.

Apparently, in some Romanian denominations, it is inappropriate for a husband and wife to kiss in public thus the words spoken by the pastor. I am happy to report that Andrew and Oana were quite inappropriate for the rest of the day.

Their Big Fat Romanian Wedding: Friday

2009-01-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

Miniseries

As many of you know I had the privilege of standing up with Andrew at his and Oana’s wedding last weekend. As you have probably already expected I have lots of stories. Instead of telling them over and over again I am going to try to recount the stories as best I can in this blog post.

My flight left Friday morning at 6amish from Des Moines. The plan was to go to Denver for a hour layover, then head to Portland, arriving at about 10:30am Oregon time. This went without a hitch…mostly.

It had been a while sense I had flown so my stomach wasn’t really used to it. So on the way to Denver, I puked. Luckily it was an early flight with very few people on it so I didn’t disturb very many people. There wasn’t anyone sitting next to me.

Now one would think that after this I would be good. My regurgitation would be over.

Wrong.

On the way to Portland I felt awful. I got up to go to the restrooms twice for false alarms. Finally, as we had just entered Oregon, I puked. After going to the restroom to dispose of the bag I returned to my seat seeing that a Good Samaritan had given up there bag and replaced mine. I owe her.

As we were making our final descent…I puked again. Seeing as I didn’t have much for breakfast by this time it was just a little bit of water and dry heaves. To make up for the fact I didn’t have anyone sitting next to me on the last flight I now had one person on each side.

I still pray for them.

As I told Andrew when he picked my up, I didn’t have a puking episode; it was more like a miniseries.

Another Invitation

While riding from the airport, Andrew ask me if I would like to play electric guitar for Agape Church on Sunday (this is Andrews and Oana’s church and the church where the ceremony was held). Because I never pass up a time to play guitar, I said yes.

This is not really exciting right now but is important for other stories later in the post. For now just know that Andrew made some calls and got the ball rolling.

Getaway Cars

Later that day, at about 5pm, we and a bunch of groomsmen, bridesmaids, along with the bride herself went to pick up the Cadillacs. It was determined that it was cheaper to rent five Cadis than two limos (we would have needed at least two to fit the ten bridesmaids and ten groomsmen). Andrew had talked to a person at Enterprise and had it planned it out for groomsmen to drive the cars.

To my surprise I was one of them. On the way there I asked Andrew about my age. I’m twenty-four and you can’t drive a rental until you are twenty five (which will be happening in about 40ish days). Andrew of course had already thought of this and had asked and he had been told that it would be possible with an extra charge.

Andrew was told a lot of things about the rental process. Most of it was wrong.

Because the Cadillacs were “premium cars” I was ineligible to drive one. Also, we thought all the cars could be put on one credit card and that one person would be able to rent all of them. Nope. Each driver had to produce a license as well as a credit card (not a debit card) for to drive a car.

One of the drivers just had a debit on them. One of the drivers had a Kansas-issued temporary license which was just a piece of paper. And another driver had to be rounded up to replace me.

I’m not sure how it all got worked. I do know that I didn’t get to drive a sweet car around, that we found enough drivers, and what should have been a 15 minute trip took an hour, all thanks to someone at Enterprise not having the correct information.

The Rehearsal: So who is here any way?

After the cars were worked out we headed to the rehearsal. Most of this was, of course, done in Romanian.

There was some discussion happen on stage between the bride’s family and a pastor (I think there were three involved with the wedding) and the bride and groom themselves. Justin, Andrew’s older brother lean over and explained the situation.

He explained that there were two basic cultures represented at the wedding, Romanian and American. The Romanian side was split into two basic groups, Baptist (the groom’s side) and Pentecostal (the bride’s side). The Pentecostal side was split into two different parts, one more traditional and conservative than the other.

The discussion was between the two Romanian Pentecostal groups as to which side the bride and groom should stand on. Apparently the more traditional Romanian Pentecostal group (I’m not clear on who represented this group at the wedding) was adamant about the groom on the left and the bride on the right. The other Romanian Pentecostal group (represented by Agape) wanted the groom on the right and the bride on the left. As near as I could tell, Andrew and Oana just wanted to get married.

It was decided to go along with the group Represented by Agape church because the wedding was held at there facility. The groom was on the right, the bride was on the left and I was just fascinated by the whole thing.

The Rehearsal Dinner: How big are cabbage roles?

Over Thanksgiving I was exposed to what we will call cabbage rolls; I don’t remember how to pronounce the real name and even if I did I wouldn’t know how to spell it. Apparently their size is determined by which part of Romania you are from.

So the Romanian groomsman (Daniel, the one with the debit card from “getaway car”) was unsure about what they were while I was diving right in.

When Andrew asked Joel (the only other “American” or perhaps better said Non-Romanian; also the one with the Kansas issued license) how many he had, Joel replied with a polite “three.” Then Andrew asked me to which my answer was “fifteen.”

A Common Enemy...Support from the most unlikely source

2008-10-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

I heard about these people from none other than Rush Limbaugh It seems that there are some Democrats who want to see Obama loose just as much as Republicans. It is very interesting and worth checking out.

Click here to see an unlikely alliance.

Michelle, I couldn’t have said it any better.

2008-10-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

Robin Hood Politics

2008-10-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

It appears to be human nature that when something bad happens someone takes the blame. Someone pays for the crime or injustice that has befallen innocent people. It has happened for thousand of years in human history and will most likely happen for thousands more.

For the most part, in our country this need to have someone pay has been in search of justice, rather than revenge. If someone murders someone else, the murderer is tried, convicted and in most parts of the country put to death. If an executive embezzles his campanies and shareholders money, he is given the appropriate punishment and treated as a leper in the business world.

In all these cases the point of the punishment isn’t so much reactive as much as it is preventive. The reason for such punishment is to send a message and set a standard to a culture that action will not be without consequence. This standard in a culture deters many from even considering a criminal act or injustice.

Election seasons always bring up the subject of justice. This election season is no different. The injustice we are now subject to is the economy and the down turn in the market. The culprits are the rich (although you won’t hear a candidate say that, just that the rich will have to pay there fare share). The victims: us. The payback: lower taxes on the middle class and tax hike on the rich. The rich pay their dues, we get the satisfaction of seeing the rich pay there dues and government gets more of the peoples money to use irresponsibly.

This is suppose to help the middle class and improve the economy. There is just one small problem: with the exception of engaging in a war of getting out of the people’s way, government has never helped the economy. Pumping tax-payer money into a company that has proven to fail ultimately doesn’t help anyone.

It is an interesting thing for a candidate to say “vote for me and I will rob from the rich and give to the poor,” and then claims this will help the economy. Especially when this means an irresponsible government is going to get a pipeline like cash flow and non-producing ci9tizens will receive IV like bribes for there vote, all in the name of helping the middle class.

The government is not without any power in helping the middle class. In fact, the government can do a lot to help the middle class. There is one particular option that does the middle class more good than any other option.

Lowering taxes on the rich.

You read it right. The rich have a habit the middle class generally don’t (we should note that many middle class members adopt this habit don’t find themselves in the middle class for long). They take extra money and turn that money into assets. These assets of the smart thinking Americans become jobs for hard working Americans.
When we lower taxes on the rich, we give them more ammo to hire the middle class, creating more jobs and, by default, more tax-payers.

If you don’t believe me, ask yourself this question: have you ever been hired by a poor person?

Perhaps what we are seeing is not a tax plan that is best for the economy. Perhaps, what we are seeing is a candidate painting his Prince-John-tax-plan as a Robin Hood ideology, exploiting peoples’ natural ‘eye for and eye’ attitude.

Prince John taxes work as well in reality as they did in the Disney movie. As always, real economic relief will come from the American people, not a candidate’s tax hikes.

A quote every Christian should know

2008-10-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

"Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful." -C. S. Lewis, The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment.

The Housing Crisis Explained by Halo 3

2008-10-18T13:16:00.001-07:00

Everyone’s favorite Never-Ending-Researcher has once again supplied me with a internet tid-bit to help us explain the current housing crisis my last post talked about. This is part of the RedVSBlue series on Youtube. I have seen this series before but never with so little shooting. Enjoy.

The American Spirit and Financial Crisis: How We Will Get Through This

2008-10-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

It’s getting crazy. The stock market has become volatile. We now read stories about the Secondary Mortgage Market. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have become house-hold names. Our government is planning an unprecedented “investment” (or takeover) in companies that have bought bad mortgages. Given current conditions and rhetoric it is not easy to stay optimistic.

At a time when it seems difficult to determine the difference between educated experts and chickens running around yelling ‘the sky is falling,’ our real source of hope for our county should not be the billions of dollars the government can print to buy banks, but rather who we are as a people.

This is not the first time our nation has been through financial crisis. This will also not be the last. We have survived much worse than what we are seeing today only to come out of the other side stronger and more prosperous than we were before.

We are Americans. And no matter where our ancestors came from, there are certain characteristics about us that have shown us through tough times, both individually and as a nation.

Here is a short list of those characteristics.

1. Innovation. America has long been the leading the world in innovation. We come up with the technologies then hire other countries to manufacture them cheaper than we could ourselves. We may not have invented the first automobile, but we made it accessible. In 1903 the first flight took place for fifteen seconds. A short 66 years later, we landed on the moon. Innovation is our heritage. I have faith that the iPhone is not our last innovation.

2. Seeking Opportunity. If there is one thing an economic down turn means it is that opportunity is around every corner. Just ask Warren Buffet who is spending millions on GE. Why? Because the stock is cheap. That is opportunity. We look for it in times like this because we know there is more now than ever.

3. Endurance. We didn’t invent the free market system, but if there was ever a society that had mastered it, it’s us. The ups and downs of a market or a business season seem to only surprise people reporting about markets and never the people who operate in them. For them, it is expected just like a snowfall. We recognize that there is something natural about a down turn and that it is not something to be afraid of. It is time to buckle down, do business better than ever, grab any opportunity we can and wait it out.

Just looking at our history and heritage we can see some pretty amazing things about ourselves. Ultimately we don’t rely on our government to put on a cape and mask and swoop in and save us like a damsel in distress. This is the time where we get bit by the radio active spider called the American Spirit. This is the time we realize we are capable of much more than we ever thought.

19 ways to make today better than yesterday

2008-10-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

1. Wake up a little earlier and pray.

2. Read Romans 6.

3. Go to a pet shop and see the puppies.

4. Log on to Facebook and poke any friend you haven’t seen in over a year.

5. Take a walk.

6. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

7. Park in the very last row and enjoy the walk.

8. Whistle.

9. Get a piece of paper and write a purpose, mission or life goal you have. Then write down 4 things you can do this week to accomplish it.

10. Make a face in the mirror every time you visit the restroom.

11. Big lunch; small dinner.

12. Listen more than you talk.

13. Turn off the radio in your car.

14. Seriously, watch Iron Man.

15. Watch the sunrise.

16. Find some live Jazz in your area.

17. Remind yourself why your work is important.

18. Do it better than anyone else.

19. Take a nap.

Iron Man 2 gets a cast upgrade

2008-10-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

My Dad, the never-ending-researcher, has brought to my attention some breaking news about a movie that has been a frequent subject of this blog of late.

This man,
Terrance Howard has opted out of playing Col. Rhodes in Iron Man 2.

So who signed on? This man.

The even more recognizable and credible actor, Don Cheadle has been added to the Iron Man line up. This could be very interesting.

For more info on how this went down, click here.

5 ways to find your inner Tony Stark

2008-10-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

One of the things that separate Tony Stark from other superheroes is that he isn’t a loser. He is confident, rich, funny, and knows what to do in a difficult situation. Stark isn’t so much a character we can relate to as much as a character we want to be like.

This post will be primarily for the legions of loyal male readers; however, the millions of female readers will be able to apply and benefit most of what I have written. I know what all of you are thinking write now, “I’m not a genius,” “I’m not rich,” “I don’t have a really cool car to drive around,” “I can’t be Tony Stark.” Wrong. You have a Tony Stark in you that is just waiting to burst out in all of its glory; you just need to find it. This post will help you on your journey.

1. Run before you can walk. Sometimes we take the easy way when learning something new. This can sell us short. We are often more capable than we think we are. Skip to something more difficult and challenging than you would normally think to try. If you succeed, you know what you are capable of. If you fail, you fail. And you have learned more than you would have otherwise.

2. Have a project you are passionate about. It doesn’t have to be as shiny and sleek as the Stark’s Mark 03, it just has to be meaningful and enjoyable. It has to be something that makes you want to get up early in the morning or stay up late. This project will be an extra motivation for the day as well as a reason to turn off the TV. Not to mention that people who something bigger going on than just there dinner plans are interesting people.

3. Crash your own party. To do this you will have to throw one. You have heard your friends talk about how there is nothing to do. Change that. Throw a party with a certain agenda, maybe movie night with select friends. Rock Star night where everyone dresses like a rock star and you all play guitar hero and sing karaoke. You’re a creative person. Get people together in an enjoyable atmosphere. Think it through and make it a hit.

4. Always look a woman in the eye. If there is one thing Tony Stark does well it’s this. Some women probably make you nervous. Don’t let them. Look them straight in the eye when you are talking to them. Not off to the side, not your cell phone, not any other part of them that is not there eyes. Just watch there eyes and focus on adding to the conversation. Don’t be creepy and unnatural about this, but be intentional.

5. Stand straight up. Ladies, you can do this too. Tony Stark is confident. It is where his humor and daringness comes from. Maybe you don’t have that confidence that comes from being a trust-fund baby genius, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look it. Standing straight up with good posture communicates that you are not afraid to be seen, not afraid of the situation you are walking into, and ready to face anything life has for you. As you walk the walk you might find yourself thinking the thought after awhile.

Iron Man is a very different breed of superhero, because Tony Stark is a very different breed of person. You can be too. Now do it. I hope this post will help you on your journey to finding your inner Tony Stark.

If you can think of any other ways to find your inner Stark, leave a comment.

21 More ways to make today better than yesterday

2008-10-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

1. Prepare for the future.

2. Remember that the future isn’t guaranteed.

3. Now is.

4. Watch Iron Man.

5. Make a charitable donation to Compassion International.

6. Drive 5 miles under the speed limit, exhale, count to six, inhale.

7. Workout.

8. Take a jog with your dog.

9. Say at least three sentences today that use the same rhyming pattern as tip
number 8.

10. Visit a farmers market.

11. Go to Starbucks and as for a toffee almond bar put in the microwave.

12. Only eat half of it.

13. Share it with someone.

14. Go on a picnic.

15. Eat fresh fruit.

16. Pay your bills a week early.

17. Write a silly song/parody.

18. Read a psalm.

19. Buy a worship album.

20. Do a search on ‘Tru Dog.’

21. That thing you’ve been putting off. Finish it. Don’t think about again.

My Beef with Iron Man: Complaints of a Conservative White Male

2008-10-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated by this movie. The ‘why’ is summed up in the scene when Iron Man shoots a dinky little missile from his forearm at a tank and walks away before the tank explodes. Or perhaps in the line “you're a woman! I honestly couldn't have called that. I mean, I would apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.”

Whatever the reason this movie has been one of my favorites of the year. Of course when it finally came out on DVD I bought the one with four hours of special features. And of course I watched it all. In doing so I found the writers had an idea about Tony Stark that I had not seen in the movie and that I think is fundamentally flawed.

The center emotion that drives Tony Stark (according to the movie writers and directors and many of the comic writers) is guilt for producing weapons and profiting from war. I have a beef with this thinking.

My Beef:

1. Making weapons isn’t inherently evil. To pretend like it is doesn’t make sense.

2. Becoming rich isn’t evil. I don’t think Tony Stark would ever start a war just to improve his business. Again, doesn’t connect with me.

3. The right weapons in the right hands is a good thing. This is actually the premise of the entire movie. Remember the scene Stark is opening a new project file which is the prototype for the Iron Man suit. We then hear this reasoning behind keeping it a secret, “I don’t want it to get in the wrong hands, but maybe in mine it could do some good.” If Stark really felt guilty about making weapons he would never have “…given the world it’s greatest one yet.” And don’t get me started on the atrocities that have ended because the right people had the right weapons.

4. There is a better way to tell the story. Instead of a guilt ridden weapons maker we could have character who is enraged by the fact that his father’s legacy has been tainted by letting weapons from his fathers company fall into the hands of the enemy. His father’s company is infiltrated by corruption under his watch; that is a more compelling and logical story. Not to mention is doesn’t bring up the 3 preceding points.

I think it this is a case of half-thought-out pop-culture politics permeating our pop culture movies. It is a shame pop culture isn’t more conservative.

Which X-men are you?

2008-10-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

Many of you know my dad is a never-ending researcher. He is always finding obscure and interesting things online. He suggested that I share with everyone his latest finding and once I saw it I thought of and thought you would like. It is the X-Men personality test. It is filled interesting and insightful question and the results may surprise you. Click the link below and post you results.

For the record: Greg Smith=Cyclops, Jed Smith=Angel.

Click here to take test

8 lessons to learn from Iron Man

2008-10-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

1. Weapons in the right hands are a good thing.

2. Secret identities are over-rated.

3. The heart will go on.

4. Personality is no substitute for purpose.

5. Purpose is no substitute for personality.

6. Hormones are no substitute for companionship.

7. All white male CEOs are either evil or superheroes.

8. Irresponsibility brings regret.

9 Thing God wants us to know about Him

2008-10-02T21:37:00.000-07:00

1. He can not be threatened.

2. He has no darkness.

3. He has designed the highest quality of life in heaven.

4. He feels every pain suffered on earth.

5. He is incorruptible.

6. He holds every authority on earth accountable.

7. Same with you.

8. When we finally see Him, it will overload our senses.

9. His plan is our passion and purpose.

Take control of the Internet

2008-10-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

This has been a theme with the internet for the last year or so. The internet has lots of great content, but is so chaotic and vast that managing it could be a daunting task. Organizing this can be a bumbled mess that usually ends with a mile-long ‘Favorites’ folder. We all know how this ends. Sorting out your recently pulled out hair from you spaghetti.

I have recently discovered and tested the answer to all our cyber-jungle problems. Enter iGoogle: a customized homepage that brings the internet to you in a convenient and manageable format.

iGoogle gets my hardy approval. It is easy to use and takes almost no time to set up. I know have sense of using and bending the internet rather than feeling it is using and bending me to its witshes.

Watch this 50 second video for an idea of what iGoogle is like.

Stonehenge Revealed

2008-09-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

Many remember Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap. Well…he’s back. And he is shining light on the shadow of confusion that has covered Stonehenge for so long.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

This post has been dedicated to Gina Austin.

21 ways to make today better than yesterday

2008-09-30T15:42:00.001-07:00

1. Go to a park and breathe in the fall air.

2. Crank up the music.

3. Sit down with a pen and paper and write down 2 goals for this year.

4. Talk yourself out of complaining.

5. Don’t be afraid to face the facts.

6. When no one is looking, dance.

7. If someone is looking, dance anyway.

8. Tell them to dance.

9. Start something.

10. Go to Google Alerts and type in what you are most passionate about.

11. Start a list of your favorite things.

12. Don’t stop until you have 50 things on the list.

13. Even if you don’t have a turn-table, find and buy your favorite album on
vinyl.

14. Today, do your job better than you ever have before.

15. Speed…just a little.

16. Don’t watch the Youtube video I posted the other day with ‘Lil’ Markie.’

17. Start a season of a TV show on DVD with your significant other. Only watch
it with that person.

18. One word: Chocolate.

19. Learn something.

20. Know your purpose.

21. Write down how God looks at you.

Reasons to be humble

2008-09-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

Could it be? Could it really be? Maybe. There is a video on Youtube that rivals the “Jesus is my friend” video in weirdness. It is of a man named Mark Fox who has/had a ministry doing the voice of a baby named Lil Markie. As near as I can tell most of his work was an anti-abortion/pro-life message.

I hope Christian culture has evolved enough to adopt more effective ways of getting our messages across, perhaps if Lil Markie was a gangster rapper

29 ways to make today yesterday better than today

2008-09-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

1. Go for a run.

2. Say no.

3. Say yes.

4. Don’t go to Starbucks.

5. Read the Proverb for the day.

6. Start any book written by Robert Louis Stevenson.

7. Don’t read the New York Times.

8. Call Home.

9. Invest.

10. Ladies, make yourself look really great.

11. Guys, try taking a shower.

12. Take a tangible step toward your dream.

13. Don’t make an excuse for not doing number 12.

14. Subscribe to a blog about doing what you love to do.

15. Subscribe to this blog.

16. Do more than asked/expected.

17. Look in the mirror and say “Hey Hot Stuff, where did you come from?”

18. Take guitar lessons.

19. Buy a Dave Ramsey book.

20. Change your profile pic.

21. Do a podcast search on something you are really passionate about.

22. Don’t answer the phone.

23. Know what makes you happy.

24. Know what doesn’t.

25. Close your eyes, breath in, count to 12, breath out.

26. Forget the Joneses.

27. Don’t let your pet-peeve peeve you.

28. Don’t drink pop/soda.

29. Refer to the previous mentioned beverage as soda pop.

Toxic Waste on Ebay

2008-09-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Do you ever try a piece of sour candy just to find it isn’t sour? It is a menace to all of us who want a real sour challenge in our mouth.

We stop at a gas station during a road trip. We see a package of sour worms and think to ourselves,”Yeah, some zip in my mouth would hit the spot.” What do we get? Just a split second of sourness then just sugar, sugar and sugar.

Now there is a product on that is solving this problem. It is a sour candy that dares and challenges you to keep it in your mouth for a full 60 seconds. The candy is described as “Hazardously Sour” and is appropriately named “Toxic Waste.”

Click the link below to check it out. This could be one of the weirdest things I have ever seen on Ebay. If you have seen something weirder let me know and put a link as a comment.

Click Here

7 things God wants us to know about Him

2008-09-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

1. God is not insecure about anything.

2. God is just because he is love.

3. Just because our parents did, doesn’t mean God does.

4. God doesn’t let us fellowship with Him based on our works. It is based on His.

5. Our works will not go unrewarded.

6. God wants us to accomplish the mission he has given us.

7. God is not a vending machine.

Is it Fernie Mac?

2008-09-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

I just saw this and laughed.

18 ways to make today better than yesterday

2008-09-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

1. Don’t watch the “Jesus is My Friend” Youtube video.

2. Know your mission and take one small but real step towards accomplishing it.

3. Get a Starbucks

4. Call an old friend

5. Remind yourself why

6. Aim for perfect

7. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t hit perfect

8. Don’t tell yourself the glass is half empty

9. Don’t ignore the half that isn’t filled up

10. See the good in your life

11. Figure out how to get rid of the bad

12. Take a step today to get rid of the bad

13. Go see a movie

14. Go to bed earlier tonight

15. Pay off your debt

16. Go to bed later

17. Two names: Ben and Jerry

18. Go to Youtube and type in “animaniacs.” Start clicking.

Next Phase of Extreme Sports

2008-09-19T21:55:00.001-07:00

Skydiving just isn’t enough. Any guesses why? Well if you guessed it is because there is a lack of really cool them music or there is a lack of cats jumping (thrown) out of airplanes with (out) parachutes, then you would be wrong.

Skydiving isn’t enough because it is not spectator friendly. Unless you go to an IMAX Theater there is no good way to watch skydiving in progress.

Until now.

Meet “Swooping.” Skydivers equipped with smaller parachutes jump out of an airplane at half the altitude of normal skydivers. They jump down low and try to glide parallel to the ground, giving spectators a great view of the action.

What is the action? The competitors are judged on how there dissension, as show in this video.

Cool Pen Trick

2008-09-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

So I’m sitting in an orientation meeting as a new hire at Best Buy. I look over and one of the guys who also just got hired is doing what is in this video.

It was during down time and when he noticed that I was fixated on what he was doing he thought it was because I thought it was weird.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

When We Don't See Eye to Eye

2008-09-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

It is no surprise to any of us that different people have different values. “Whoa, Jed, that’s revolutionary.” Yes, this realization is worthy of mocking; however, this is just the starting point.

I remember being a teenager and realizing some of my Christians friends were more liberal about music or movies than I was. It shocked me that another Christian would have such different values from mine.

The first things that came to my mind were “that isn’t right,” “this is not part of who we (Christians) are,” and “what’s the best way for me to remove the plank so obviously lodged in their eye.”

Of course, if I ever did try to “remove the plank” it was never met with any thanks or gratitude. Either they would try to drop the conversation or they would be confused that it was even an issue or I would be met with more righteous indignation than I had delivered myself. If there were any unbelieving friends among us, they were confused about why there even was an issue and usually thought I was nuts for bringing something like this up.

What I have experienced recently is a social awkwardness when a difference of values is discovered among friends. For example, a group of friends is at a restaurant and one person buys a beer. Of course, he or she has no intention of getting drunk and would think doing so was a sin.

Another person at the table also thinks getting drunk is a sin but has always been taught that you stay as far from it as possible by not consuming alcohol and wonders why this fellow believer whom they respect wouldn’t come to the same conclusion.

Maybe a comment is made, maybe it’s not. Maybe it becomes a point of heated debate, maybe not. Maybe it affects the relationships, maybe not.

Galatians talks about a different collision of values. In one corner you have the circumcised Christians, Jews who witnessed the ministry of Christ, and on the other, you have uncircumcised Christian Gentiles who just heard about it from them.

There is pressure from the Jewish side of Christianity to require the Gentiles to be circumcised. This was probably all sorts of logical thoughts in their minds: “Jesus himself was circumcised,” “The church started out being circumcised, why should it stop with these Gentiles,” “God, Himself, commanded us to be circumcised; this commandment shouldn’t be ignored.”

In Galatians 2, Paul describes the “collision.” I get the sense that it is a heated conversation. Paul calls it hypocrisy (2:13 NIV) and confronts Peter in front of everyone (2:14 NIV). Paul then launches into almost a rant on why we are saved through Christ not the Law.

Here are some points about this story that really interest me:

1. All the political power and credibility was with the circumcised Jews. The people who had walked with Jesus. People who had been persecuted for His name. They were the same race as Jesus and Jesus followed the same Law that they had followed.

2. The Gentiles are relatively new converts. They would be easily susceptible to influence especially when you start throwing around names like Peter.

3. This could have been looked at as an example of the circumcised Jews discipling the Gentiles.

4. Christianity was in such an infant stage that this could have formed a much different church than we see today if Paul had not intervened.

This has raised a question in mind: What part of my Christian values is tradition that doesn’t need to be included when I share Christ and would be worthless to include in discipling a new believer?

I don’t quite know the answer to this but I do know this: Galatians did not sign up for customs and traditions. They signed up for the gospel. It is not traditions that grow the Kingdom of God, it is the Christ.

Cats try to win over the Cat hating crowd

2008-09-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

Cats have always been despised by most sane people. They are stinky and have no affection for anything but themselves and there catnip. They are a menace and as the old saying goes “cats don’t have owners, they have staff.”

Because of this many of us have developed a strong distaste for the feline variety of house pets. We ourselves have come up with sayings like “I love cats, they taste like chicken” and extreme bumper stickers like “Missing your cat? Check my under my tire.”

Cats have been paying attention. They are not happy with there approval ratings. So as an attempt they win the cat hating crowd over they have developed ninja skills. Yes, ninja skills.

This is a smart move by cats if it catches on. If every cat becomes useful by serving there masters with there newly developed ninja skills then perhaps they will win us over. Watch the video and decide for yourself.

Lab Coats, Beakers, and What's Up with Uganda

2008-09-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

What’s Up With the Serious Lack of Posts

I have given up on recording my experience in Uganda. It was a very growing time for me but I have not been on top of getting things written down as much as I would like too. I will be talking about my experiences in Uganda from time to time but for now they are taking an indefinite pause.

What to Expect in the Future

I am embarking on an experiment. For the next two weeks I’m planning on posting something every work day. It will range goings on in my life to observation about relevant and irrelevant topics. One day I could have link to a Youtube video, the next an entire thesis on why conservative principles are good for our economy. One thing is for sure it will fall under the umbrella of “My Life Lately.”

The purpose of this experiment is to see if I can do it. I will have some days busier than others, so will I have the foresight to plan for it. What will I do when I just don’t want to post anything and how will I react. You will be able to witness my endeavor to be a little more disciplined and diligent simply for discipline and diligent sake all for purpose of bringing you something interesting to read.

So sit back, relax, grab popcorn and see what happens. I could fail miserably. I could succeed. I could end up somewhere in between. And you get a front row seat to it all. Boy, you’re a lucky bean.

A Day in Uganda

2008-07-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

My Life Lately

Hello everyone I just got back from spending a week in Boone for an AG Youth camp. It was amazing, the kid’s were amazing, and the pretzels were really amazing. Being at the camp made it hard to work on the second installment of my Adventures in Africa; I apologies for not thinking ahead far enough to prepare one before left. With out any further wordy introduction…here is day one in Uganda.

Adventures in Africa: Day one in Uganda

The Entebbe Airport was small but very clean, gray and reminded me more a multi purpose office building rather than an airport. After going through immigration (I was the first one, just FYI) we waited for our luggage to be unloaded. We spent a while rummaging through the suitcases and boxes looking for our backpacks and boxes of medical supplies. Of course there were a couple of people looking for there luggage longer than others. Ronnie, KK, Josiah, and Joe soon began to realize that there backpacks were not in Uganda with them. After filling out the correct forms with the correct lost-luggage people, we went outside baggage claim to meet the Dr. Larry who was leading the team of doctors we were going to work with. He had brought with him two drivers and two buses, one of which we loaded our luggage and the other ourselves. For the first time we were going to see this country of Uganda we had been preparing to visit for so long.

Our first destination was Kampala to exchange money and get supplies. To get there we had to travel about an hour and 30 minutes on the bus together. One of our team members said that the road to Kampala looked a lot like Brazil. It was very green and lush with jungle like vegetation. There were shops all over the road and almost all of them displayed some sort of Coke sign. Kampala was very developed and very urban. The orphanage we were working in was in a suburb of Kampala called Ceeta (I’m not sure if I am spelling that right) about a 30 minute drive from down town Kampala. We had to take a pretty rough road with pot holes the size of hippos and only one lane to accommodate all traffic.

When we drove up to the orphanage we were very welcomed by the doctors and translators that were already there. The many of the translators and house moms started unloading our packs and supplies for us before we even started. Feeling weird to be served like this, some of us guys politely inserted ourselves into the train of people carrying the luggage. Once that was done we started helping the team tie up mosquito nets around the beds.

We got about three houses done when we decided to call it for the day and get to know the kids. Some of us were throwing (or kicking) balls around, some were playing ring-around-the-rosy type games while others of us had no idea what we were doing and just tried to look like we were spending time with the kids. Something I wasn’t expecting what happened next. A group of about nine kids started to sing songs right there. One of the kids was leading the songs and everyone else followed. In a couple of minutes every orphan was joining in this time of worship. No PA, no instrument, just voices clapping, dancing and drums. I had never experienced anything like it.

My Life Lately

2008-07-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hello one and all. This is Jed, finally bloging after some much needed rest and relaxation. Many of you know that April, May and June was a whirlwind for me with school, missions prep and figuring out what I was going to do this summer. Now that things have leveled off I am hoping that my bloging schedule will become regular once again.

Africa
I went to Uganda as a part of the New Life School of Worship which went under the umbrella of The Mill Missions (The Mill is New Life’s 20s ministry). There were 21 of us with the School of Worship (SOW) and over 200 sent with The Mill all over Africa. The Mill was sending about 25 teams of students and 20s all over Africa, from Egypt, Kenya and a lot of other places I just couldn’t keep track of. The two SOW teams were just one part of this endeavor so it felt like we were a part of a huge army invading Africa. Some of our missions were evangelistic in nature others were humanitarian, but all of us had the mission of creating more worshipers and spreading the love of Christ Jesus to a people who often feel over looked.

For us it started June 2nd, 2:00 pm Colorado time, at the World Prayer Center on the New Life Campus. Upon arriving I was bombarded by the students and there luggage crammed into the WPC courtyard, which for your information echoes like a cave. By 3:00 pm we had loaded up the buses, said good bye to friends and family (harder for some people more than others) and we were on our way to the Denver International Airport, about an hour and a half drive, give or take. Let me tell you getting two hundred people on a plane is an ordeal, and appropriate prelude to what this missions trip would be like. We waited about 2 hours to our luggage checked-in. If it wasn’t for hackisacks and the contorted positions you can make with your face while looking into a digital camera, I don’t know how we would have stayed sane.

The plane ride was smooth and comfortable with the exception of 10 minutes of turbulence right out of Denver. I always seem to break out into a cold sweat whenever I am in one of those situations, but fortunately for the people sitting next to me, there was no puking by my this time. After seeing “Jumper” on a five inch screen and a three hour nap we were at Heathrow London airport. This airport was like the sweet, hi-class mall; however, it lost its charm after a seven hour layover waiting for our flight to Kenya. There is something about the benches of airports, it’s as if they purposely make them uncomfortable so when you get on the plane you will be in the worst mood you can conjure. We flew Kenya Airways (“The Pride of Africa”) to Nairobi Airport where we had a two hour layover just enough to get checked in, brush our teeth and sit down for fifteen minutes before boarding the plane. On this plane I had a Coke and realized something, “Pop here taste amazing.” The view outside of the plane was equally astounding; we could see jungles, deserts with the signature African red dirt, and the Lake Victoria which was as beautiful as an ocean. Within an hour we began our adventures in Uganda.

Back from Africa, but not from the Springs

2008-06-19T11:55:00.001-07:00

Hello one and all. I’m back from Africa and I would like to thank everyone for your prayers and support. Without you this trip wouldn’t have happened so thank you very much. I will be posting blog entries starting Monday with pictures and stories of the trip.

At the moment I am having a difficult time getting back to Iowa. I came back from Africa and noticed something a little fishy. Most likely it needs an alignment and some pins replaced, but I haven’t heard for sure. Hopefully it will be done soon and I will be able to see everyone from back home. See you all then.

Leaving for Uganda

2008-06-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Uganda today. I'm tired and excited all at the same time. In theory, there will be a blog a http://www.themillonline.org/. Be checking for more updates and once I get back I will post stories and experiences.

I'm Going to Uganda

2008-05-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

Uganda Update

I am going to Uganda. We had our 100% deadline last Friday and my team has reached it. Many thanks to our leadership, Matt Vogal and Becca Ham; and of course to all who have supported us both spiritually and financially (that’s you). The preparation for this trip has been such a growing experience so I am anticipating huge things when we get there.

Last Sunday we met with the doctors who we will be helping to administering aid. We took all sorts of supplies from medicine, clothes, to soccer balls and candy, and packed them into duffle bags to take on the airplanes. At that point it became very real to me. We were bringing basic things that I take for granted every day…because they don’t have it. We were going to give clothes to kids who didn’t have any. We would help give medical aid to orphans who only get it when people from other countries fly over and give it to them. For every object we put in a piece of luggage we are going to get give to a kid who may have never received such a gift. We circled around the pile of luggage we made and prayed over it. I didn’t say a thing. I didn’t even close my eyes. I just looked at it, finally realizing what kind of an impact we were going to make over there.

I am honored to be able to this. And I would just like to thank everyone who has sent me money, prayed or given me a word of encouragement. You are a very real participant in the very realrelief we are going to give in Uganda. Thank you.

The two white boxes are filled with $2000.00 worth of medicine.

The Glory of Chance

2008-05-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

My Life Lately: Sharing the Stage with Lincoln Brewster

May 1st Lincoln Brewster played for “Illume,” a local church driven national day of prayer event that took place in Castle Rock. Three friends came with me, Ronnie, Gina, and Leigh on the forty minute trek to Castle Rock. We got there quite early and quite bored when we ran into a friend from the Mill. He was sporting an “Illume” T-shirt and told us they were giving out shirts beside the stage. Ronnie and Leigh were curious so they went to investigate and right before the concert started Ronnie hands me one of the shirts. Not really thinking about it I put it on. Lincoln was amazing both on guitar and as a worship leader. Toward the end he gave an invitation for people to accept Christ (about a hundred people raised there hands), and he encouraged the new believers to get with a “leader” and connect with a church. He started to describe the brown light-bulb shirts the leaders where wearing. He was at a lost to describe the shirts so he started to look around for someone he could bring on stage to model the shirts and he sees me. Of course, I am wearing the shirt and standing right in front of him. He asked me my name and had me come up on stage as an example of what a leader looked like. For about 30 seconds I shared a stage with Lincoln Brewster as told the new believers to go to people with the brown shirts like the one I was wearing. My friends have digital cameras for appendages and had been taking pictures all night, but somehow just didn’t even think to take a picture while I was on stage. What friends I have. I can’t help but think there was one person there who had a master list of all the leaders and looked at me on stage and thought to themselves “who is that person and how did they get a shirt.”

Playing for the Mill, Victory in Jesus, What a Great Looking Bunch

2008-04-26T15:06:00.001-07:00

Playing at the Mill

Hello one and all. I had the privilege of playing electric guitar Friday at The Mill. Desperation was out of town so there was a lack of guitar players for Friday worship. I had expressed interest to Glenn about playing at the Mill so right before he started song writing class he told me he needed someone to play. Mitchell Shift led with Becca Ham. I’ll try to put up some pictures soon, but needless to say I loved it and hope to play again.

What God Has Been Showing Me

The whole idea of moving to another place in the country that I’ve never been before is a little scary. Yesterday, I came to the point where I said “God, I’m not going anywhere without you.” Everything I know and have experienced tells me if I go with him I’ll be more than fine. Yesterday I was holding on to that. Today in my devotions I read Psalms 108. David talks about how “with God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies,” despite surrounding danger. I don’t have tangible enemies, but I do have tangible challenges. I felt like God was telling me he will grant me victory, not just survival. I don’t know what that will look like yet, but I’ve gone from being hesitant to being excited.

Uganda Update

I’m trying to include pictures of our team time last Saturday. It really was a great time and I am very excited about how God will use us in Africa. Financially I am not doing as well as last time. I’m at $1770.00 when I should be at $2200.00. I’m not worried about it. God has a habit of providing. I would like to thank Paul and Cathy Strahan and Dan and Nancy Davis for there contributions. I am always touched when ever I find and envelope in the mail, so thank you very much for giving.

Spinning Brain, Back Packs of Unusual Weight

2008-04-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was one of the busiest weekends of my life. It started Thursday when I had to be at New Life Church to meet with some musicians at 7:30 in the morning. We took the hour journey from Colorado Springs to Denver to lead worship at Colorado Christian University. The worship leaders where Quinn and the Becca Ham while I stuck to my normal shredding duties. After that I stuck around the New Life Worship offices to kill time before the all-worship-ministry-family night. Glenn asked me to fill in on acoustic at the last minute which gave me the opportunity to finally play with Matthew Fallintine lead by Brad Parsley.
The real whirlwind started Friday during the first annual “Church Connect,” which is a chance for School of Worship Students to meet with pastors from all over the country who need worship leaders. From 10:30 am to 5:00 pm was nothing but interviews, conversation and the routines of answering the same questions over and over again. A couple hours later the Mill was rocking it as they always do, followed by an Africa Missions meeting which ended at 11:30.
This wouldn’t have been so bad if they we didn’t where not required to be at a “team-time” for Africa to help us bond and strengthen us for our missions trip. We all when to the Incline, which is a mile-and-a-half of stars at a very high altitude off of Pikes Peak. Our team leader, Matt Vogal, decided it wouldn’t be hard enough for us guys (the girls separated to hike Barr Trail) and had the great idea of putting a hundred fifty pounds of rocks in his back pack and for us all to take turns carrying up the Incline. I was just short of insane. Once we got half way up the back decided it had enough and both straps broke. After that I had to get my scheduled yellow fever shots and diarrhea medication.
This wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t have to be on the New Life campus at 7:00 the next morning for Children’s Church rehearsal. Every other week I play guitar for Children’s Church (3rd -6th grade) some how we always seem to have to arrive earlier for practice every month. It is always fun but at this point I am exhausted. Once church was over I went straight to bed for a four hour nap. My head is still spinning.

Solos, Sweat and Silliness

2008-04-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

My Life Lately

Wednesday I had the privilege of seeing Lincoln Brewster in Castle Rock, a town a half an hour north of Colorado Springs. The show-held at The Rock Church-was both worshipful yet personable. Lincoln Brewster did just as much talking as he did singing making people feel like they really got to know him simply by being in the audience. Towards the middle of the set the band left and it was just him and an acoustic (a cedar top Larrivee, most likely an L model) and he would tell stories about his family and church and use them to lead into songs. The set list was splattered with guitar solos both in songs and in between songs. I think his appeal for Christian guitarists isn’t just his amazing ability but the validity he gives guitar in worship settings.

What God Has Been Showing Me

The Christian life seems to be filled with instant gratification versus long term reward. This is an interesting tension: one feels good now and feels awful later, the other feels awful now and feels great later. Let me give you an example, I am writing this blog when I really should be at the YMCA working out. Writing this just seems more enjoyable than going to the gym to see how fast I can run a mile and a half. I keep thinking of Hebrews 12:2 “…who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This is the ultimate example of putting the greater future ahead of the mediocre now.

Here are three things I keep in mind to help me work toward long term reward rather than instant gratification:

1. Think about the reward of doing it rather than the consequence of not. I always seem to do better when I am motivated by something I want rather than what I’m afraid I’ll end up with.
2. The idea of doing it is always worse than actually doing it. I have noticed that I will think about how bad something is, like running, than when I actually do it I wonder why I made such a big deal about it.
3. Make time for rest. When I am reading a required and boring text I will take small breaks during the reading to check my facebook, play guitar, or challenge my computer to chess.

Uganda Update

What do you do if you want to minister to children you don’t understand? Be goofy. We just started practicing our dramas last Sunday and they serve the sole purpose of getting people stop what they are doing and laugh at us. The dramas are silly, pointless and a whole lot of fun. We are hoping to get footage of us performing them in Uganda so we can post them on blogs and social sites for everyone to see. Practicing these has really made this trip real for me. I really am going to a place where there are no showers to build a huge wall and get really sweaty. I can’t think of a better use of my time.

Solos, Sweat and Silliness

2008-04-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Weather, Worry and Wonder

2008-04-04T06:59:00.000-07:00

My Life Lately

Colorado Springs is Colorado Springs. One of the weirdest things about this place is the weather. One day you can have snow with a high of 15 and two days later it is 65 without a cloud in the sky. This is a semi-regular occurrence that tends to happen once every two weeks. Furthermore, one day can be a schizophrenic as a month might be. It is not uncommon to have a morning of snow, an afternoon of sun (at which point the snow disappears) just to have the evening as cold as Simon Cowell's comments.

What God Has Been Showing Me

It is one thing to learn about faith and trust from the Bible or a preacher, but it is another to put it into practice. For the first time in my life I have no idea what is going to happen next year, where I will be going or what I will be doing exactly. This really bothered me and shook me up a bit. I think you know what I mean. You don't know what will be required of you, what sacrifices you will have to make. It a weird place to be in.

The scripture that has come to mind is one that many people are familiar with: Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Paul gives us a little formula: if we match our worries with consistent thankful prayer our lives will be dictated by His peace not our fears. It is normal to have things to worry about but not to keep them to ourselves. God wants us to tell him our worries and requests and when we do, He will move. For me, this means I am content to serve where ever God will have me serve.

Uganda Update

Let me just say that I am so excited to be able to go to Uganda. As soon as I heard about this trip I felt a sense of urgency about going, like if I didn't I would be missing out on something that would really change my life. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me; I have all of your notes of encouragement taped to my bedroom door so I see them every time I leave my room.

Money for Uganda is not a problem right now. I haven't seen the latest financial update yet but I'm probably at $1600.00-1700.00 which is right on schedule (even a little ahead). I owe special thanks to Richard and Diane Cleveland, David and Audrey Moon, and Bob and Julie Gibson. Your gifts were especially timely and arrived at a time when I was eligible to be cut from the team. Thank you so much.