Author: Robert

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drawn to me?

for some reasons i always end up in conversations with people who are homeless. tonight i had to go to our local chevron to get some air in my front, driver’s side tire (i go to this chevron because they have free air and water unlike most of the other fuel stations around us). while i was pumping up the tire a heard someone say, “hey, what’s your name?” when i looked up there was a guy that i assumed was homeless looking across my hood at me. i told him my name and and asked his – it was “mack.” well, mack started asking me for directions to highway 61 and the best way to get to la place, louisiana. after, discussing that for a minute or two he asked if i was heading that way. i wasn’t (don’t worry mom i don’t give hitchhikers rides) which he said was good because i shouldn’t pick up hitchhikers anyway. mack then began to tell me the story of why he was trying to get to la place. mack used to work on a ship’s crew. he hit some bad luck and made some poor decisions and life went pretty sour. he’s now trying to straighten things out and has the possibility of a crew job in la place. so we talked while i pumped up my tire and then talked a little longer. i then bought him some coffee and wished him luck. mack went back over to his tree that he had been sitting under when i arrived and sat down in the dark.

i don’t know why but i regularly have conversations with homeless guys in public places. this is fine by me because i like people who just so happen to be homeless – this is why my family and our youth ministry have a strong relationship with the beautiful feet homeless ministry of fort worth, texas. still i seem to have an unusally large amount of interactions with homeless men and women in public places. i think that if i got four other middle-aged, white guys and formed a 5 person caucasian line up for one homeless guy to look at that he would come over and talk to me first 9 out of 10 times. you’ve heard of “animal magnetism?” well i have “homeless magnetism.” maybe i smell different from most other people or i dress ratty? i’m not sure, i just know that i draw homeless people.

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go soxs

i’m not the biggest fan of major league baseball but i do get interested in it when the playoffs arrive. if the detroit tigers aren’t in the play-offs (which they never are anymore) i usually just pull for the st. louis cardinals (whom i love from my time in missouri) or the team that i believe has the greatest chance of beating the atlanta braves, whom i despise (this has a lot to do with ted turner and the whole “america’s team” thing – who elected them?). i rarely care about the american league but that’s not true this year though because the red soxs have won me over. i can not believe they have come back in the alcs from three games behind. the past three games have been incredible, full of suspense and excitement. i mean really, tonight we even had police in riot gear on the field. if major league baseball was always this exciting everyone would watch it. i’m sure fox sports has loved this because i am sure that these games have helped their ratings.

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zombie fun

i’m on the tail end side of a cold today -which basically means that i feel much better than i have the past two days but i still don’t feel that hot. so i’ve basically sat around today, slept, and watched video trailers. i can’t really recommend the movie that i’m going to blog about because i haven’t seen it or read anything about it but i can say that if it is as good as its trailer then it will be a great movie. the movie is shaun of the dead and you can find it’s trailer here. unfortunately, sometimes the trailers are better than the movie – i hate it when that happens.

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why do people hate america? – tony campolo’s “church of fools” sermon

why many people in the world hate america.

first, let me say that i love tony campolo. next, let me add that i also love the ship-of-fools website. so it is obvious that i was thrilled when i found out that tony campolo “preached” a message at the “church of fools” that is put on by ship-of-fools.com. campolo preached the following message “why many people in the world hate america.”

in the message campolo suggests that the main reasons that many non-americans hate america is because we have not lived up to our potential. we once were the country that set the standard and every other nation wanted to be like. we stood for freedom and justice. now, we come across as a big bully who is only concern is cheap products and oil.

makes you wonder about being the “city on a hill” doesn’t it?

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the diner table

i’ve read several places that the only common factor that rhodes scholars have is that they typically have been raised eating with their families at a common table – some have said four times a week. i can’t find research on this so i can’t prove it is true and i’m not sure that being a rhodes scholar is the “end all” of life but i do think this common factor points out how important eating together is. you’ve probably noticed similar statements in other media that you have encountered. if you have watched “super size me” or read the book “fast food nation” then you have read and watched similar comments. the family table is beginning to be recognized as an important part of a healthy lifestyle. here are some of the reasons why:

  • the common table encourages us to eat home made food rather than processed food – home made non-processed food is better for you.
  • the common table encourages social interaction – we live in a society that encourages “get and go” eating that has very little social interaction because it is done so fast.
  • the common table strengthens the family – it’s hard (but not impossible) to separate yourself from your family when you are sitting 18 to 24″ away from them.
  • the common table forces us to look at each other – rather than focusing on a t.v and merely being in the same room with each other.
  • the common table slows down life – an incredibly difficult thing to do in our face paced world.
  • the common table encourages eating less fattening and sugary food.

now i know that basically this blog is read by my parents and the only person they have at home is shirley the demonic cat, but i want to encourage anybody else who might read this thing to commit to eating at a family table – if you’re a teen – ask your parent(s) to do this or decided that you will do this for your kids when you have them, if you’re a college student – maybe you should form a “family group” around you and eat together as much as possible, if you’re a young married person – start regularly eating at a common table now so that it will be a habit for the rest of your life, and finally if you’re my parents – then invite that stupid cat to the diner table and maybe she’ll become somewhat less satanic (this would be a true miracle). in this day and time eating at a common table as a family is not an easy thing. of course, i believe the benefits are worth the effort.

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how different are we?

i so often hear people say that men are rational and women are emotional. i firmly believe that there are differences between men and women – physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual differences. i would agree that the sexes respond to the same events in different ways. yet i really don’t believe that we are all that different and i definitely don’t believe that men are rational. most of the men i know are anything but logical. men are typically every bit as emotional as women – it’s just that those emotions show themselves in manner that are different from women.

why do guys pick the cars that they do? it’s not for rational reasons. just think about it for a second. look at the suv’s, trucks, and sports cars that we men buy and tell me how they are chosen for logical reasons. consider our politics. most of our political decisions are made based on emotional reasons rather than rational. when’s the last time you saw a guy make a rational decision about dating or marrying someone? logic has very little to do with those decisions. no men are just as emotional as women.

now please don’t get me wrong i do believe there are differences in the way that men and women react to things. it’s just that i believe those differences are differences within the same category – emotion – rather than differences in kind – rational versus emotional.

i wonder why we do this? i am beginning to think that it is done to make the decisions of women look worse than the decisions of men. i guess some think that rational decisions must be better than emotional decisions. nope! not in my opinion. i wonder if the whole thing isn’t just an unconscious ploy to belittle the role of a woman in our society.

thank GOD we are not the same. i am very thankful that pam, my wife, calls on me to open jars because i am physically stronger than her, i love the fact that i under spatial aspects better than her, and i appreciate the fact that in some ways she has a better sense of beauty than i do. still when you get down to the center of the matter i’m not so sure we are all that different.

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they’re coming

the incredibles, pixar‘s latest movie, is coming out in 20 days. i love the pixar movies (with the possible exception of monsters inc which i felt was merely a “good” movie, rather than pixar’s usual greatness). i’m very excited about a new pixar movie.

so to celebrate my excitement i figure i will list a few movie moments that i am looking forward to.

  • the lotr – return of the king extended edition dvd comes out december 14.
  • revenge of the sith – star wars episode iii comes our may 19, 2005. truthfully i don’t really expect genius here because lucas has done a terrible job with episodes i & ii but i am looking forward to ending the story and watching the light saber fight between obi wan and annakin.
  • spaceballs 2 comes out in 2006. mel brooks is the greatest. “may the schwartz be with you.”
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blogger

i can’t think of much to blog about write now – either this is because nothing extremely interesting has happened around me recently or because i have “blogger’s block” (the internet equivalent of writer’s block). since, i believe that GOD has made and declared this world “very good” then it has to be full of wonderful things to write about. thus, i must have “blogger’s block” and simply be looking past all the the really noteworthy stuff right now.

i’m not real sure how to get out of “blogger’s block” but i assume that i need to write myself out of it. so here goes. here are some of the things i am presently amazed by:

  • everyone seems to be really passionate about either loving or hating basset hounds.
  • it’s easier to merely think about updating the student ministry web page than it is to actually do it.
  • blockbuster is open till midnight (or later) every night – who needs to rush out and get a movie monday night at 11:47 a.m.?
  • i love the fact that pam, my wife, likes to research out anything that she gets excited about.
  • i miss hero.
  • adam, my oldest son, is now constantly playing the clarinet.
  • the international justice mission is a very cool organization – they are actively involved in fighting for the freedom of “bonded servants.”
  • one life revoltion is another very cool organization – they are actively involved in meeting the needs of those dying from AIDS in zambia.
  • i’ve been praying since august about what our church can do about the landfill in managua, nicaragua. it’s a huge problem, in fact one that i think is to big to fix, but i have a really BIG GOD.
  • for some reason i now possess the ability to “pop” my right ankle at will – i can turn my ankle it just the right direction and it will “pop” at command.

i guess that’s it for now.

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nywc

i went to the national youth workers’ convention in dallas, texas this past weekend and it was great as usual. here are some of the highlights of the weekend:

  • the critical concern course by rob bell – the revolutionary voice – it was quite challenging.
  • mark oestreicher’s middle school seminar – real-world middle school ministry
  • mike pilavachi’s general session – my word this guy is good.
  • the david crowder band leading worship – doesn’t get much better than that
  • spending the weekend with my wife – it definitely doesn’t get much better than that.
  • all the dramas and skits were much better than i figured they would be – i’m typically a drama/comedy snob. they usually seem to be “cheesy” to me. these were most definitely non-cheesy.

it was a great weekend that i learned alot from and throughly enjoyed. i can’t wait to go back.

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puppy love

pam, my wife, loves to research things. it doesn’t really matter what she is researching, she merely loves to research. that’s why when we started talking about getting a new dog sometime after CHRISTmas she immediately started surfing the net for dog information. pam has already looked into most of the different breeds that we have considered bringing into our home. she has looked into spaniels, beagles, terriers, and lastly basset hounds. i’ve wanted a basset hound for years and finally pam has been won over by their charm (well sort of).

  • bassest hounds can be distracted by smells (old or new smells) to the point that they walk away from home and never think to look where they are going.
  • basset hounds will pretend to be asleep when you call them to “preform” tricks but will “wake up” the second you open the refrigerator door.
  • basset hounds are extremely lovable.
  • basset hounds like to sleep on beds and couches – so it appears that these short dogs actually have a great leaping ability.
  • basset hounds are not lazy – in fact they can be pretty active – they’re just laid back.

i think they are the coolest dogs ever and every thing we read about them just seems to reinforce that they are extremely cool/odd and just what we are looking for in a dog.