never been here before

As of 6:28am this morning, my college roommate Rebekah and her husband Scott are the proud parents of beautiful baby girl Samantha Jean. Congratulations! What I'm listening to: Norah Jones' Feel Like Home

I wanna go to school here .

I watch American Idol. There is something about watching a bunch of people who think they can sing try and fail. And try and succeed. I just can't not watch. It's weird, but I just love it. Yes, my IQ probably drops each time I watch it, but since I don't watch much TV anyway, I consider it my guilty pleasure. It may not be one I'm proud of, but nevertheless it's my vice. Listening to good songs get butchered and bad singers gain notoriety just for being bad. That can't be a good thing, can it? I do, however, hating watching the audition process. The people who are so bad and think they are good on just simply being made fun of by the producers and I take issue with that. It's really sad to watch someone of them, how bad they are and how stupid they make themselves look. (And honestly, there is something really wrong with Paula Abdul judging people's ability to sing.) May I reveal my favorite? Well, that's tough, because they are all even matched thi...

Bejewled How could you not love a game that involves jewelry and blowing things up? What I'm listening to: The "Dee Dah Day" CD mix my friend Shannon gave me. (It's a long story.)

My small group leader asked us all our ages last week. The range for us is 26-34 years old and she has a niece that is struggling - struggling with finding her place and purpose in the world. She's divorced with two kids and she feels she doesn't belong. So our group leader asked our ages because she wanted to know if it was a generational issue. Hmm. I'm always intrigued by people who like to blame things on "generations". Sometimes I think that's simply a cop out. Generations are defined by a number of things - the era you were born and grew up in, in particular. But in recent years - Gen-X and Gen-Y for example, tend to be defined by their attitudes (Typically, you don't see much of the Baby Boomer generation being defined by that). George Barna uses this for generation definition: Elders (born prior to 1946) Baby Boomers (born from 1946-1964) Busters (born from 1965 through 1983) Mosaics (born from 1984 to 2002) I'd never heard the term "Mosai...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks and I have much to write about. For now, I'll start with this. The Armor of God Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of...

I think I found it - the bottom of the barrel for CD mixes. And it is bad. This morning, a man I work with asked me to play a CD he found it in the parking lot (he wanted to hear it first to see whether to keep it and put it in lost and found - he was kidding, of course, if you knew him, you would get it- he's just weird) but the title written on the top said "Crazy Mix #1, which peaked his curiosity. A lot of high school and college kids work in our production department so he was thinking it would be full of hip-hop/rap-type stuff. I’m guessing on many of the artists and song titles, so much of the following list may be wrong, but you’ll get the idea. Here’s what proceeded to come out of my computer: 1.) Roxette "Listen to Your Heart" 2.) O-Town "All or Nothing" 3.) En Vogue "Free Your Mind" 4.) George Michael’s "One More Try" 5.) Gloria Estefan’s "Rhythm is Gonna Get You" 6.) ? probably called "Someone’s Watching Over M...

God doesn’t called the qualified… he qualifies the called. It’s a favorite saying in my current circle of friends and while I appreciate the sentiment, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the attitude of "throwing caution to the wind" because I fear this saying can promote that. So here comes a fundamental question: "How do you know when you’re called?" There is a necessary amount fear that goes along with being called. The fear of not being good enough, the fear of not knowing how it will end up, the fear you are going to really screw it up, the fear that we really have no idea what we are doing. (i.e. faking it). I believe fear is necessary because there is something to be said for a reality check. There is such a thing as righteous fear – in the same sense there is a righteous anger. It’s all about doing the right thing. My pastor in college once told me "Just because you feel something doesn’t mean it right." It is in the same manner we should judge our ...

As we enter Holy Week, I leave you with the amazing words of another... Corrie Ten Boom. It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face. He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggles to rai...

What I'm listening to : The Eames Era's Second EP A Martin D-15. Complete genuine mahogany construction. Herringbone decal rosette. East Indian Rosewood fretboard. I've been drooling over it for months. Sometimes, after a crappy day at work, I'd go into the sound booth at the local music shop and just play. The dark, rich tone is different than every other guitar I've played and I've played 'til my fingers begged for mercy. It's pretty. And I'm in heaven.