Brother Joshua

2006-10-09T20:10:00.000-05:00

Won't be long now.
Well, what's up in my exciting world? Just got through comparing home insurance coverages under different policies. I know, the excitement is contagious, keep your distance. Let's see, what else exciting is going on...hmm, well, I'm pretty excited about this new Day-timer I got, has my name on it and everything. I carry the thing anywhere because I'm so proud of it, and I love it; on my 'spare time' I plan the next few weeks down to the minutest details, it's great. I can tell you what time I'm eating lunch on October 29th. Let's see, what else is going on? Hmm, well I'm studying for the National Counselor Exam. I also take that book with my everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I can answer a few sample questions while I'm waiting for my tires to be balanced. One of my daily joys is taking a drive by the site of my new house, so I'll give you a glimpse of that as it was on Friday. Drink .. it.... in. As my roommate just said, I'm becoming a married man right before your very eyes.

Wake up Christians!

2006-08-26T06:09:00.000-05:00

Wow, I was checking out a buddy's blog and came across a friend of his' blog with a link to an activist page, Americans for the Separation of Church and State. It's kind of a mecca of liberal thought. There are links to fight faith based initiatives, and one to report religious discrimination, with the subtitle, "report laws that violate the constitutional separation of church and state." I'm sure he'll read my blog because I posted on his. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree with everything on this site. Show me in the constitution the part labelled 'separation of church and state.' As far as I know, it's people of faith who are protected by the constitution, or more specifically, the Bill of Rights. The government shall make no law restricting the exercise of religious liberty. I can be a Christian anywhere I want. Guess what, this nation was founded on God. It's God who endows us with certain inalienable rights. There is no separating God and government, not on paper or in reality. True, we are not a theocracy; we are a democracy. Everyone counts and is important, but it's not Christians on the offense to infringe on other people's religious rights or practices. Let's unveil this for what it is. Christianity and it's singular vision are not PC. People feel offended or apologetic when someone prays to Jesus in public because it might offend non-Christians. What they don't realize is that if we try to run our country, and eat our food, and enjoy our freedoms without thanking God, it won't be long before we have little to be thankful for. I'm ok with not being politically correct, because I'm not a politician; I'm a Christian.
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer?pagename=advocacy

Here's a Christian activist site: http://www.aclj.org/About/Default.aspx

Seasons

2006-08-14T22:34:00.000-05:00

Well, this is my post for the month, or at least that’s what it seems like. I’ve been extremely busy lately. It’s kind of like the circus. From the spectator’s seat, the show is amazing, the pace is fast, and the performers seem to have the best job in the world. Backstage, however, the performers are scrambling to change costumes, bumping into each other, sweaty, and, believe it or not, have their own problems to deal with when they get off work.

Ingrid and I are both working hard towards our goal of the December wedding. For those who have done this before me, you know what I’m talking about. Not only is the planning and growing together difficult, but the finances become a source of anxiety as both of you push yourselves so hard. It seems like one struggle or endurance race after another. Right now, we are currently in the last leg, hopefully, of her house sell. Before that it was the struggle of getting her moved into a safe, inexpensive, temporary apartment while she was trying to learn a new job. Also, she’s had to move away from her long-time church with little or no time to prepare for the impact emotionally. For me, it’s mostly been a journey of humility, realizing that there’s so much that I need to work on before I can be the husband and father that I desire to be and that I see God calling me to be.

I guess the one necessary principle that runs throughout these events is the need for Christ, my need to trust, and the real need for real power and real peace. Something happened today that seems appropriate. I had just pulled into the driveway and I was pulling the trashbin back from the street to under the carport, when something caught my eyes from under the black, plastic bag where I put all the recyclables. A six or seven inch ‘tail’ was slithering behind the bag. At first I thought iguana because of the coloring and spots, but then I realized that this was the end of a pretty large snake, one that looked poisonous. Its color and markings definitely said ‘stay away’ to me.

I got my camera and was going to take a picture to show my friends, but then it didn’t come out. It sort of just found a crack and tucked itself away, so now it’s not an entertaining piece of conversation, but a real threat. Just now, I was going to run out to my truck and grab a book. I’ve done it a hundred times without thinking about it, barefoot and all, but not now. I have a new awareness of danger and my need to see where I’m going. I need Christ, to make things work, to survive, to simply run out to my truck at night, I need Christ.

2006-06-30T17:14:00.000-05:00

I'm engaged!

The Eagle Has Landed

2006-06-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

Alright, I give; I can't keep claiming to be in a transition all summer. The truth of the matter is that there's very little of what some might consider 'summer.' I know all of my friends who are not employed in the field of education always get a bit peevish (or envious) when I talk about the notion of summer. They're usually like, "summer? what's that?"
Ok, so I get a summer, so sue me. Like I said, though, it's pretty regimented, or maybe I'm just a bit too uptight or getting old. I'm getting up pretty much every day at 7:00, which I admit is really a luxury, but then I'm up and getting ready for school. I'm taking a class at U of H to try and get my LPC (license for professional counselor), so I'm either studying or exercising. In case you didn't know, I did my first triathlon about a month ago or so, and boy, was I unprepared. I did well by my friends' and family's standards, but I'm gonna do another one and so training this summer has taken on a bit of an obsession for me, like run today, swim and bike tomorrow, rest on Thursday, weights on Friday, bike and run Saturday (you get the idea). One good thing, aside from the fun and exercise is that there are so many people that love to do either the running or biking, and so it's been a good way to connect with guys in general.
Well, I'm keeping pretty busy, then, I guess, and tomorrow I'm also going to start my search for a new home.
Well, that's my blog update. Brian called me out on it and so this is for you, Brian. Next time, I'll try to explain why I'm funny in person but not on my blog. ;-)

Transitions

2006-05-06T09:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but life's been busy and full. I'm really pleased at how deep many of my relationships are going. I haven't been quite as active in Paradigm things as I was before, but I think it's just a season of my life thing. I've been dating Ingrid, my girlfriend, now for a little over 5 months, and things are awesome. There are so many facets to a relationship that to me it just never gets old. There's the emotional, the spiritual, the psychological, the friendship, the some times challenging growth spurts, and not to mention how cute she is. Anyway, apart from that, it seems God's placed me in the middle of a storm of change. Jason Bull's been staying with me, and he's getting married in 36! days (I get the daily countdown). Brian Johanneck's leaving Houston. More on that below. In my Sunday evening men's group, out of 8 guys, three are leaving Houston (Tom to North Carolina, Marq to Dallas, and Brian to ?), one just got engaged (congratulations Peter and Kelly), another married TODAY (congratulations, Tom!), another in a very serious relationship, and me selling my house and in a progressing relationship as well. It became pretty apparent that God placed us together at this crucial crossroad in our lives. 'Equip and Send' took on a very literal meaning. The class was a launch pad for the next step. Now I know and believe that God intends for men to go deep together, to ask tough questions, to be real and, yes, even emotional. Weakness is not a sin.
Brian's leaving, and he's been a major part of my life and growth for the past two years. I've actually known him now for almost 4 years exactly. Wow, time flies. We will definitely miss Brian, but all the memories will last a life time. Who knows, maybe he'll come back- they don't know how to make Mexican food up north (past I-20).
I'll be moving in with Bart and Jonathon to take Tom's place in a house around 610 and Stella Link, so I'm super excited about that change of environs. I've been down in either Clear Lake, Pasadena, or Southeast Houston since 1999, so getting up closer to the church and my guy friends will be awesome. I can't wait to get invited to something on a school night! and not have to drive an hour each way to have hang out time. Anyway, it's time to clean out my closet, literally. Bye, now.

Geek Squad

2006-03-14T11:14:00.000-06:00

Alright, now I'll admit I've never really tried very hard to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology. I didn't even get a cell phone until about three years ago. How did I ever survive?! Well, I did, and frankly I kind of hate the need for technology. Take my computer for example. Five years ago, it was exactly what I needed to get on the internet, type, and burn CD's. Now, it's painfully slow, and can't even run the latest Microsoft operating system. What gives?! I'll tell you what gave. All the websites are now ten times as large, and it leaves me watching for minutes as my webpage assembles before my eyes, piece by piece. Anyway, so yeah, I'm in the market for another computer. All my friends have the coolest workstations, flatscreen monitors, superfast CPU's, and neat software. Once again, I just want to get on the internet, download the occasional sermon, make an online purchase or two, and write emails. Oh yeah, I also want to be able to upload and download digital photos in the same day. That's it. So I spoke to Tim a while back about Dell. That seemed to fit my budget. Around five or six hundred bucks for what I need. But then I went and talked to the Geek Squad at Best Buy (that's actually what they call themselves-kind of takes the fun out of saying it myself). Ok, here's what he's got. $599 for a 15" flat screen monitor, a decent ink cartridge printer, and the computer. Ok, I know that says nothing to most of you. Here's the specs (which mean almost nothing to me). AMD Athlon 64 processor, DL DVD + RW/DC-RW drive, 200 GB hard drive, Windows XP Media Center 2005, 8 in 1 media manager. 1024 Ram and 2.2 GHz processing speed. Ok, either you're drooling by now or you've gone to Todd Richard's blog. In either case, tell me what you think (not about my blog-about the computer). Also, feel free to throw in a rant about how technology has or is leading to the demise of real community, relaxation, and morality. Good day!

False Religions, part 2

2006-02-11T08:38:00.000-06:00

This post is a continuation of an earlier post in which I asserted that three factors in the American milieu or fabric make us particularly prone to create false religions, namely, individualism, pragmatism, and pluralism.
Individualism tells us that not only are we completely unique but that our destiny, our purpose, is one that we are most likely to find and accomplish alone. Unlike other collectivistic societies, ours largely holds up models of individuals who "have made it." Benjamin Franklin, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra, Bill Gates, etc. Our society aspires to individual glory.
The second ingredient is pragmatism. This idea holds that an idea or system is only as good as it is useful. For example, a pragmatist would have no use for handwritten letters, when emails get the job done more efficiently. Ideas such as abstinence are only looked to for "concrete" reasons, such as preventing transmission of disease and unplanned preganancies. With modern science and technology, abstinence becomes to the pragmatist 99.9% useless. Morality does not factor into the pragmatist's thinking. You can already see how such a view would dismantle any dogmatic ideology. Indeed, dogmatic has come to take on a negative connotation in our society because after all, ideas should change with the times and anything rigid and fixed is old hat.
Thirdly, pluralism holds that there can be multiple and even contradictory truths, co-truths, as it were. You and I can see God one way, another person may not believe He exists at all, and a third may believe there are multiple gods. Pluralism will give validity to all three simply because they are sincerely believed. This simply makes no sense. Either something is or it isn't. It can't be and not be. Just because someone believes it to be so, does not make it so. This debate calls into question the very existence of objective truth. If a person who is color blind looks at a red wagon, she will not see red at all, but some shade of gray. However, you and I "know" it's red. A pluralist, and a deconstructionist would argue that the truth of the matter depends on the nature of the perceiver. In some sense, yes, Jesus did many miracles in front of the Jews, but they neither saw with their eyes nor understood with their hearts (John 12:40). Does this make Jesus both Messiah and non-Messiah? No! The Truth is. "I am." End of debate.
In the end, when we take individualism, pragmatism, and pluralism and roll them all together in the American politically correct atmosphere, we get a statement that sounds something like this, "Whatever works for you." Whatever (pluralism) works (pragmatism) for you (individualism). It's a false logic, and it's a false religion. As Christians we should not find ourselves saying these words when it comes to the truth about Christ, salvation, or morality.

Second Wind

2006-01-13T05:22:00.000-06:00

"the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Genesis 2:7
Lately, I've been prompted to do a lot of thinking about God's creation of man. Unanswerable questions such as "Why did He create us if He must have also known we'd fall?" "How can something created by God, who is all good, not be completely good or be initially good and then fall?" or "If God created everything, where did sin come from?" Some of you, I can tell, are already flipping the pages of your Bible, and that's fine; that's what I've been doing. Ultimately, in my mind I've come to see the whole of this generation, from Adam to the day when God will dwell among us, as one long love story created with all its ups and downs, twists and turns for one purpose, that we the created might know the love and character of Jesus, our Creator. "For by him all things were created..." Colossians 1:16
The other day as I was getting ready for work, a radio broadcast quoted from John, chapter 20, when Jesus is resurrected. Three times he declares to those that love him "Peace be with you!" (19, 21, 26). He declares this joyously because we have now been reconciled to God. Colossians 1:22, Romans 5:10-11. "And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." John 20:22. From first to last, this story is a story of Him, of His righteousness, of His unquestionable motives and justice. What fortune to be called from the dust to know and spend eternity with such a Creator, a passionate and righteous lover of our very souls. I hope this encourages you and reminds you of our proper place in relation to Almighty God.

Psalms 8:4 "what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

False Religions

2006-01-07T15:35:00.000-06:00

I know the title would suggest that I am going to talk about Scientology, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses, but I'm not. I'm going to talk about 'Christians,' particularly those in America who seem to have the idea that they can make up their own religion. Granted, most of my data is coming from people who are on the whole 'unchurched.' It's more prevalent than you think. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself, go somewhere, anywhere, a coffee shop, a laundromat, a waiting room and just ask people what their take on "the whole thing" (meaning life in general) is. Then, get more specific and ask, "what do you believe about God?" You'll be surprised what you get. The more you ask, the more surprised you'll be.
Of course I thought about it, and I even came up with a couple of factors that I think make Americans more prone to 'make up their own religion.' That is, essentially, what they're doing, because it's part orthodoxy, part new-age spirituality, it's part pop-psychology, etc. Thrown together, it's a unique and ecclectic mix that governs their life, or in many cases, simply gives them justification for doing what they want.
"God's cool with my lifestyle."
"I think, basically, as long as you're nice to others, it will come back to you."
"I believe in the power of positive thinking."
"I don't believe in sin. I say as long as it isn't hurting anyone, it shouldn't matter."
If they would just assent that this hodge-podge isn't Christianity, that would be fine, and I'd not be so up in a bundle, but they don't; they assert that they are in fact, still Christian-more or less. I think three factors make America the perfect environment for hodge-podgism.
One, individualism. Two, pragmatism. Three, pluralism.
I'll follow up on this later.

Visioncasting for Others

2005-12-28T09:24:00.000-06:00

One of the books I'm reading right now, Visioneering, is about the process of establishing and maintaining clear visions for your future. It uses the Biblical example of Nehemias, who was given a vision and a passion to see the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. It's really challenged me to ask myself, "What are things that you have a passion or desire to see accomplished or experienced in your lifetime?" Here's what I came up with:
I'd like to complete a work of literature, whether it be a novel or autobiographical story or whatever. I'd like to be expressive with some musical instrument, preferably a piano or violin, although I'm decent with the guitar and should probably stick with that, but oh well, this is visioncasting. I'd like to be married to a sweet, beautiful and humble woman, the kind that makes me feel honored and trusted. I'd like to have several children and be just an awesome father. I'd like to lie on the beaches of the Mediterranean one more time to experience the culture and distance from home again. I'd wish for health for me, my wife, and children. That's not too much is it? I think too often as Christians we think that it's a sin to imagine a better or different life. It's not-being discontent with what God has provided is a sin, making the most of it isn't.
Another interesting take on the visioncasting concept is the idea that we can be visioncasters for those we love and are close to. I can still remember the time my younger cousin told me, "Everything you do works." Then there's the time that my father told me, "You make friends really easy wherever you go." There's more, but you get the idea. We need positive visions for our lives-that's one aspect of the Bible that keeps me coming back. "Who am I God? Tell me again how I'm a child of the Most High, how I'm righteous in Your sight." We can do this for each other and those who we love. Paint for them a picture of who they could be, and it will become who they are.

"Do not let an unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Eph 4:29

Practice What You Preach?

2005-12-27T09:23:00.000-06:00

This is kind of an embarassment to the Christian community and gives non-believers a reason to blaspheme God. However, in Houston, we've known for quite a while that Joel's "Christianity" was a little off, to say the very least. I'd love to hear what the altercation was about. Any guesses?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1427344&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Back From San Antonio

2005-12-27T08:56:00.000-06:00

Well, everybody, I'm back in the saddle again. It'd been so long I'd actually forgot my login information. Then I remembered it was 'smooth lover'. Just kidding. Well, how was your Christmas time with the family? Mine was awesome, but it was like wading through mud trying to create the Christian environment that I envision for my own family some day. It's hard, if not impossible to change an entire clan of people. After getting a little frustrated, I realized that I would have to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas on my own, and that God would honor that.
Well, I'm back in town now, and I know that many of you are still with family. My encouragement would be to speak truth and love to them. I had one amazing story of how having faith in God's word can make all the difference to the ones we love. It's always hardest to tell those closest what the Bible says about sin. But if you love them, you'll take a deep breath and tell them the truth. Merry Christmas to all Paradigm Peeps and the HFBC family.
On a different note completely, those of you who are interested, I've decided to sign up for the January 15th Houston Half Marathon. Well, I'm still on vacation, so I'm gonna hit the books and "dig for treasure." ( Colossians 2:2-3)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

2005-12-03T18:15:00.000-06:00

I have been extremely blessed to study the Word with a great group of people this last couple of months. We've met weekly in the home of some of our class members. One night in particular stands out because of the Power that was present. After an awesome job of looking at the doctrine behind the imminent return of Jesus Christ, and then going on to a look at how this applies to our lives as modern day, American Christians, we took verse 18 of chapter 4 literally and left an 'open mic' atmosphere for sharing those verses that are near and dear to us, those verses that bouy us up in tough times, and that help us to look towards the time when we will be with the One who called us, saved us, and daily sanctifies us. I tried to record these passages (as well as the person who shared) as they were read aloud, and will present them here. I hope you find Power and encouragement in them as well.
S. Mayoli, Isaiah 43:1-3a
"But now, this is what the Lord says-he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redemmed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior;"
K. Brown, Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord your God is in your midst;
he is a warrior who can deliver.
He takes great delight in you;
he renews you by his love;
he shouts for joy over you.”
S. Ciarella, Ex 33:19
"And the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness54 pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name55 before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”56
J. Castro, Song of Solomon
"My lover spoke to me, saying:
“Arise, my darling;
My beautiful one, come away with me!
2:11 Look! The winter has passed,
the winter rains are over and gone.
2:12 The pomegranates have appeared35 in the land,
the time for pruning and singing36 has come;
the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
2:13 The fig tree has budded,
the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance.
Arise, come away my darling;
my beautiful one, come away with me!”
J. Bull, Ezek 37:1-14
"The hand1 of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed2 me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 37:2 He made me walk all around among them.3 I realized4 there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry. 37:3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.” 37:4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 37:5 This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones: Look, I am about to infuse breath5 into you and you will live. 37:6 I will put tendons6 on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath7 in you and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied – I heard8 a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 37:8 As I watched, I saw9 tendons on them, then muscles appeared,10 and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath11 in them.
37:9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,12 – prophesy, son of man – and say to the breath: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’” 37:10 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.
37:11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ 37:12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel. 37:13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. 37:14 I will place my breath13 in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord – I have spoken and I will act, declares the Lord.’”
J. Wright, Jeremiah 29:11-12
"For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord.19 ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you20 a future filled with hope.21 29:12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer,22 I will hear your prayers.23 "
D. Skipper, Psalm 1:1-3
"How blessed2 is the one3 who does not follow4 the advice5 of the wicked,6
or stand in the pathway7 with sinners,
or sit in the assembly8 of scoffers!9
1:2 Instead10 he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands;11
he meditates on12 his commands13 day and night.
1:3 He is like14 a tree planted by flowing streams;15
it16 yields17 its fruit at the proper time,18
and its leaves never fall off.19
He succeeds in everything he attempts."
G. Leach, Zech 13:9
"Then I will bring the remaining third into the fire;
I will refine them like silver is refined
and will test them like gold is tested.
They will call on my name and I will answer;
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”13
J. Carr, Psalm 139:1-3
"O Lord, you examine me2 and know.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest;3
you are aware of everything I do.4"
T. Holla', Psalm 115:2-3
"Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
115:3 Our God is in heaven!
He does whatever he pleases!4"
L. Johnson, Hosea 2:14-15
"However, in the future I will allure her;56
I will lead57 her back into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her,
and turn the “Valley of Trouble”58 into an “Opportunity59 for Hope.”
There she will sing as she did when she was young,60
when61 she came up from the land of Egypt."

A Week of Thanks

2005-11-21T10:53:00.000-06:00

Well, the past weekend was awesome. Both my good friend Brian and I got to celebrate our birthdays. Aside from the excitement of celebrating who he is and how much we appreciate him, I was humbled by the love I received for my birthday. There is something so encouraging about being celebrated, not flattered, not adored, just celebrated. I came home last night from the Thanksgiving Potluck dinner with gifts and many hugs and kind words ringing in my ears. I'd like to quote C.S. Lewis, because he, I believe says it best. "In a perfect Friendship this Appreciative love is, I think often so great and so firmly based that each member of the circle feels, in his secret heart, humbled before all the rest. Sometimes he wonders what he is doing there among his betters. He is lucky beyond desert to be in such company. " He goes on in his treatment of brotherly love, but I chose the part that I most feel at this time. I feel humbled and wonder how I got to be so ingrained, loved, and appreciated by such an awesome group of people. I thank God for his blessing of church family. It truly grows us in ways that study or prayer alone can never do.
Aside from this great blessing, I also have the obvious fortune to be off from work the entire week (yep!). If none of you have practiced your dance moves in front of a mirror in the past few months, this is just a friendly reminder that they're probably outdated. I think that the "running man" will come back, just watch and see. Aside from lots of time to goof off and celebrate not having to work, I really do get to rest in mind and body, take care of all those little things that pile up into a mountain of tediosity(?). You get to make up new words and shout from a mountain top, err desktop, "I am free!" and mean it. Anyway, got a long list of things to do, so thanks for stopping by-and stay classy.

Zoo trip

2005-11-09T20:43:00.000-06:00

Well, I have to say that God has really been filling my life with great friends and opportunities. Aside from the weekly get togethers and flag football (photos to come), I've gotten to be part of the Houston's First Baptist Summit Ministries Hoedown (I've got photos somewhere), I went repelling, and this Sunday I got to go to the Houston zoo with an awesome group of people. Even more exciting, we got to go with the children from the DePelchin Children's Center on Memorial. The kids were awesome, and the whole time was just a lot of fun. Here's a photo of the group that volunteered. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any picturees of the kiddos. They're all etched in our minds though. Hopefully, after the Christmas season, we'll get to hang with them a little more.

2005-11-09T20:40:00.000-06:00

Ah, what a good group of people.

2005-11-06T18:37:00.000-06:00

This is the cliff in Austin where I went repelling with Stan Kwan and several others. At this point I was still pretty nervous.

MY nAIm Is Billy

2005-10-28T08:55:00.000-05:00

My naim is Billy. I'm a boy. I like to run. I'm so glad I lerned to type. My favorite thing to do is go running with Him. He loves me and calls me Billy, and Bo Bo, and Buddy, and Hey Bud, and we go run. I like it especially in the morning because He doesn't make me wear a leash. I get to run free, and I get to smell, and stop to check my pee-mail, and then I catch up with Him. We go running places I've never smelled, and I hear big dogs barking, so I stay close. I like to have the wind in my face when we run, and that's my favorite time with Him. I used to always get in trouble when we were running because I'd go on the wrong side of poles and fences, and then I'd get choked, and then He'd get mad, and I'd feel bad, because all I want to do is run and hear Him say "Good Billy." Uh, oh, I better go because I don't think he knows that I have a key to the house. B-bye. I'm Billy.

Thirsty

2005-10-18T21:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, so here's the deal. Life's been pretty busy lately, but it's mostly a good kind of busy. I'm enjoying this blog thing even if I only get to check or post like once a week. I feel like I get to communicate with my friends, albeit "virtual" friends. Most of the blogs I read are much deeper than mine will ever be, and maybe that's good. The meat of my life is pretty serious and down to earth. My studies to this point have been very, well, academic, and so I guess when I post I'm looking to let loose, in a computer geek sort of way. Woo-hoo, watch me go!
Ok, but really though, life's good. My mom and I have been having some really meaningful conversations about what it means to be a Christian, so I'm excited about that. In my friends world, I'm finally breaking through that glass and getting to the heart of who my friends really are, both in Christ and in their mind. It's awesome, and I think people are most lovable when they're vulnerable, so I should try that more.
The title, "Thirsty," makes reference to the fact that I've really been drinking up everything in my life right now. From exercise to good food, from my down time and alone time with God to my time with friends, I'm really drinking it in. It's almost like just when I'm dying for alone time, I get it and revel in it, the whole drinking coffee, listening to Sade renditions on 90.9 while I pretend to budget my money, but actually become an online social butterfly. Likewise, when budgeting and eating out gets old, I'm so ready for time in the Word. I'm trying not to be so regimented in my relationship with God. Even though carved out time is good, I want there to be some genuine desire to be with my heavenly Father, and I believe He honors that.
I'll be honest, the only thing I'm not thirsty for lately is getting up every morning to go to work. This usually happens about this time every year. I feel the holidays coming, and all I want to do is wake up when I want, read until I'm hungry, drink coffee, and go shopping. Yep, I love shopping (yeah, I said it). I had to show some major restraint in Foley's today with the new winter clothes coming out. Mmm-hmmm. Cafe mocha, a good book, and a fresh sweata'. Oh yeah. Thirsty is good. I believe we were created for desire, and God is the satisfaction. Drink it in! Josh-wa

Does God have a sense of humor?

2005-10-10T16:34:00.000-05:00

Alright, so here's the deal. Me and a couple of friends (English majors, deal with it) were sitting around quoting movies, as we often do, when I commented, "Wow, wouldn't it be nice if we could memorize scripture as well as we memorize these dumb movies (dumb is in no way a bad thing- some of my favorite movies are extremely dumb)? That caused a brief moment of thought, a couple more seconds of conviction, and then we basically ended with Johnny Depp's rendition of Willie Wonka (putting our upper lip against our gums, of course) and said, "He-he, you're weird."
Since that time I've been been trying to think of ways to make the Bible more a part of our daily conversations, and perhaps even in an enjoyable, fun way. I guess it's the old school teacher in me. In any case, I think one of the major obstacles is that the Bible is not exactly stuffed with light-hearted moments or to a far lesser degree, humor. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if somewhere between Proverbs and Song of Solomon there was a Book of Jokes? Obviously there isn't. Instead there's Ecclesiastes, which does make life "under the sun" seem a little laughable-but it's still a bit broken and ultimately sobering. Actually, verse 4 of chapter 3 says that there is a time for everything, "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." If this is so, how come nothing funny ever happens in the bible? Does God value a sense of humor? If so, how come we see so little of it. If we take the major characters, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, and even Jesus Himself. How come there are no accounts of the times that Jesus and his disciples sat around laughing? Are they there? I know that in our church and especially among my closer friends, we spend the majority of our time laughing and trying to make each other laugh. I have no doubt that that's good. However, the question remains, does God have a sense of humor? We're made in His image, are we not? Someone please prove it to me. I really am desiring to discover more fully the character of our Father in heaven, and also what he would have me to do with my time, both alone and in fellowship.

2005-10-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

Here's me, taking a leap of faith. It's a metaphor, for life. But I really did it.

Metaphors...for life.

2005-10-04T22:18:00.000-05:00

Here's Brian, taking a leap of faith. It's a metaphor, for life. But he really did it.

Mass Exodus

2005-09-22T19:11:00.000-05:00

Well, it's Thursday evening, and I just woke up from a necessary nap. I'm in San Antonio after spending over 20 hours in my truck trying to get out of Houston. It was absolutely spirit breaking. At seven hours into the trip, I wasn't even at Katy, and I considered turning back. It was 2:00 in the morning, and I was getting tired. I called Troy to see if I could still take him up on his offer to weather the storm from his fifth floor loft. No answer. I called Chris Keith; he was heading to Dallas. Best of luck to him. I seriously hope he doesn't have to experience what I did. We inched along all through the night, and then the sun came up, and we inched some more. Then it got hot, and I got worried that I just couldn't make it or that my truck would die from A/C use, so I alternated between A/C and windows. I began to feel extremely grimy, and my dog in the back of the truck couldn't take it, so I was forced to bring him in with me. Praise God, at about noon today, things finally started moving, only to stop later, but finally things got worked out, and I made it in to San Antonio at about 3:30 p.m. My head hurts from lack of sleep, but I'm going to talk to my family a bit before I hit the sack.
Brian's in Chicago, just talked to him, briefly (we got cut off), Borzik and Jean were planning to go to College Station, Chris and Kelly to Dallas, Troy to where his folks are staying, Ed to his parents' place in Northwest Houston, Julie to Austin. Hopefully, we'll all get to come back to our fragile and precarious lives inside the grace of God.

Calm Before the Storm

2005-09-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

Calm Before the Storm

Well, I've tried everything. I tried not to let the storm affect me and to go on with my normal business, but then my school district closed. So I thought about leaving town and getting my home ready before the hurricane. Well, that didn't work so well. Home Depot was out of plywood and there was a line of people waiting for about a hundred yards. Also, no water at HEB, and lines at the gas pump out the wazoo. So, back home I went with nothing really. I tried to ready my house and grab whatever was important, papers, sentimental items, etc., but lo and behold, none of this stuff matters. Part of me would like for nothing more than a complete clean out (part of me). So, I'm packed and ready to go, but then everybody I talk to says "don't even bother- the highways are at a standstill." Hmm, so, I guess I'm not going anywhere, at least not now. So, I thought I'd create a blog, maybe read a book, and take a nap. When I get up, hopefully it will be cooler, and me and Billy (my dog) can head to San Antonio.
Calm before a storm is a metaphor, but right now, it's really happening. If this is the calm, what's the storm going to look like?