tonight at the view we celebrated sukkot – the jewish feast of booths. we’ve been dealing with the days of awe. we’ve approached the tradition from the angle of understanding why the forefathers of our faith celebrate as they do, and what parts of those celebrations point to CHRIST. the series ended tonight.
waiting
no apple powerbook as of yet. i only ordered it yesterday so it really shouldn’t be here yet, but i figured i would tell you any how. i didn’t want any one waiting with baited breathe. of course, you might have to hold your breathe for awhile because right now it is not even listed as being shipped until october 6th, which means i won’t get it until around the 8th or 9th.
nothing else to really report today. i did think that tonight’s view, our youth worship service, was quite cool.
start a revolution
the new church budget year is about to begin (friday, october 1st) and this means that i can buy a new laptop. i used to have a laptop that was 4 1/2 years old. it’s was a compaq presario 1200-xl119 and it really worked fine. i would still be using it if it wasn’t for the fact that the power plug-in broke. i tried to have it fix but when they told me it was going to cost $650 i decided it might be time for a new computer. it’s amazing to me that i can buy this small little part for about $10 to $15 but it costs $600 to have it put in. it’s a great, big, stupid world.
the problem with buying a new laptop is that our ministry has now entered the video age. because of this i have to consider video editing when i look at a laptop. this changes the standards for the laptops that i consider. now after a great deal of research i have finally ordered one. it’s an apple powerbook:
- 15″ screen
- 1.33 ghz cpu
- 512 meg ram
- 64 meg ati radeon video
- 80 gig hard drive.
- dvd/cd-rw
since i order an apple i did of course also purchase finalcut express 2. i am very excited about getting my hands on this. this is going to offer me mny more features than pinnacle studio 9 does and i was able to get it for only $99.
right now it should arrive in baton rouge on friday, october 8, 2004. of course, i leave for the national youth worker convention on the 7th so i’ll probably miss it.
metamorphosis
it’s finally happened! about 30 minutes ago i bought an apple powerbook – 15″ screen, 1.33 ghz cpu, 512 meg ram, 64 meg ati video, 80 gig hard drive.
let the “change” begin. apparently after buying a mac i’m supposed to change from the person i am now into an “apple user.” you see everyone i know that has an apple is … shall we say … “different.”
- they treat their macs different from the way that pc owners do.
- they talk about their macs in manners that aren’t quite the same as pc owners do.
- they compute in ways that just aren’t the same as pc owners do.
they walk to the beat of a different cpu and it shows in their lives.
i’m not sure why this happens. maybe it’s the computer equivalent of “short-man’s syndrome.” maybe it’s the fact that windows basically ripped off the mac’s ideas and then made them more popular. maybe it is that the mac really is a better computer than the pc’s are. i don’t really know.
what i do know is that i do not want to become a stereo-type. i wanted a mac because it was going to be best for the needs i have. i did not want to buy into a certain lifestyle. from what i understand it’s going to be hard to keep form developing the “apple user” personality. i’m going to fight against.
ralph waldo emerson once said the following regarding possessions – if i own a cow, the cow owns me.
thankfully he was talking about cows and not apples, so hopefully i should be okay.
being genuine
let me be transparent for a moment – i hate the word transparent, i’m fed up with people saying that they are being real, and i think i’ll puke the next time someone tells me that they are genuine. current catch phrases that’s all they are. they’re the words that are current right now and ministers, speakers, and other various youth worker wannabes say them so they will sound good. but to me they’re basically just words with very little meaning behind them.
the reason i think this is because i actually do have a theory on being “real” – kind of ironic isn’t it. my theory is this – we are most real when we admit how fake we are. we are all pretty much a bunch of posers. i screw up regularly and i want to keep those screw ups as well hidden as possible. even though possibly the best thing that could happen to me would be for you to know each of my sins so that i would no longer have to pretend, that’s not what i want to happen. i want to hide my sin and keep on pretending like i’m perfect. i am one very fake person. in fact, i am so fake that when i begin to become “transparent” i am usually thinking in the back of my mind about how secure in myself i am to let people see my weaknesses. i’m not secure. i’m pathetic.
the good news for me is that i’m not alone. i’m surrounded by pathetic people. people who desperately want to be “real” but don’t know how to because we are so completely fake. in my heart i want to live the life of the velveteen rabbit but in my mind i don’t want to go through all the pain and anguish of getting rid of all the layers of fakeness within my life. what if under all those layers of “fakeness” i find out there’s nothing real in the center – the equivalent of a fake onion, simply made up of layers.
thankfully JESUS loves fake people if only we recognize that we are fake. hypocrites don’t realize that they are posers, hypocrites think that they are “real”. JESUS loves fake people who understand how “unreal” they are. one day JESUS will take all of us “posers” and make us real.
i’m not trying to offer up a cheap, little, sunday-school answer here. i’m not trying to just cover a very difficult problem with the simply phrase “but JESUS will take care of things in the end.” i know life has difficult problems and the answers to these problems aren’t easy. it’s just that there’s not another answer to the problem of how fake we are. if JESUS doesn’t love us as a group of wannabes then we are all basically out of luck. there’s nothing else we can do about it. none of us are real enough to find an answer to our fakitivity (my wife’s word). either JESUS loves us in spite of our fakeness and helps us to become real or we’re doomed to live and die in a world that only pretends to be genuine
so let me be as transparent as i can be – there is nothing transparent about me. i am so fake that i even trick myself into believing that i’m being real. yet there is still hope for me. that hope is found in the only ONE WHO is real.
am i as clear as mud?
the breastplate
tradition has it that st. patrick began his morning everyday by praying the same prayer. it was a prayer for protection and a proclamation of his intent to follow CHRIST throughout that day. i think it is a butt-kicking prayer.
i arise today
through a mighty strength, the invocation of the TRINITY,
through the belief in the threeness,
through confession of the oneness
of the CREATOR of creation.i arise today
through the strength of CHRIST’s birth with HIS baptism,
through the strength of HIS crucifixion with HIS burial,
through the strength of HIS resurrection with HIS ascension,
through the strength of HIS descent for the judgment of doom.i arise today
through the strength of the love of cherubim,
in obedience of angels,
in the service of archangels,
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
in prayers of patriarchs,
in predictions of prophets,
in preaching of apostles,
in faith of confessors,
in innocence of holy virgins,
in deeds of righteous men.i arise today
through the strength of heaven:
light of sun,
radiance of moon,
splendor of fire,
speed of lightning,
swiftness of wind,
depth of sea,
stability of earth,
firmness of rock.i arise today
through GOD’s strength to pilot me:
GOD’s might to uphold me,
GOD’s wisdom to guide me,
GOD’s eye to look before me,
GOD’s ear to hear me,
GOD’s word to speak for me,
GOD’s hand to guard me,
GOD’s way to lie before me,
GOD’s shield to protect me,
GOD’s host to save me
from snares of devils,
from temptations of vices,
from everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear,
alone and in multitude.i summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of pagandom
against false laws of heretics,
against craft of idolatry,
against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.CHRIST to shield me today
against poison, against burning,
against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come to me abundance of reward.
CHRIST with me, CHRIST before me, CHRIST behind me,
CHRIST in me, CHRIST beneath me, CHRIST above me,
CHRIST on my right, CHRIST on my left,
CHRIST when i lie down, CHRIST when i sit down, CHRIST when i arise,
CHRIST in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
CHRIST in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
CHRIST in every eye that sees me,
CHRIST in every ear that hears me.i arise today
through a mighty strength, the invocation of the TRINITY,
through belief in the threeness,
through confession of the oneness,
of the CREATOR of creation.
finally! i’ve changed the look of the blog – at least a little
it’s truly sad that it has taken me this long to learn how to change any part of the style of this blog. it’s been over a year but i am finally beginning to make some sense of how this thing operates. i know for some of you this is no big deal, but for me this is a major victory. i’m just not as much of a computer geek as i once was. yet tonight i was able to change the background on this stupid thing (which now doesn’t match the color scheme of the rest of the page – that will change later), add a sub-title to the top-menu, and change the alignment of my title & sub-title on the top-menu. i’ll work on other changes tomorrow (or maybe the next day).
in celebration of the fact that i have moved a very small step (and i do mean a very small step) back toward the computer geek i once was i would like to announce that i am seriously considering buying a powerbook. just thinking about buying a powerbook is the most exhilarating computer thing i’ve ever done. here are the reasons for possibly buying a powerbook:
- macs are better at video editing than pcs are and i will be doing a fair amount of video editing on the new laptop.
- because of pam’s educational discount the pc and mac prices are roughly equivalent
- mac computers seem to have a longer “shelf-life” than pcs do
- i will not be using or supporting microsoft windows – this is a big plus.
- they’re cool – not a great reason but still a truthful statement concerning the powerbook.
i still haven’t made my final decision on which laptop to get but i’m getting closer. no matter what i buy, pc or mac, i will always be able to say that i once considered buying a mac. i some truly stupid way i have to admit that i feel better about myself for having at least once thought of buying a mac.
made, loved, kept
julian of norwich was an anchoress and a mystic (1340 – 1426). during her “first showing” she saw all that had been “made” as a little object sitting in her hand. it was only about the size of the hazelnut. she was amazed by how fragile it look and bewildered that it could survive. looking upon it she made the following statement:
in this little thing the (“hazelnut of everything that has been ‘made'”) i saw three properties. the first is that GOD made it, the second that GOD loveth it, the third that GOD keepeth it. but what is to me verily the MAKER, the KEEPER, and the LOVER – i cannot tell; for till i am substantially oned to HIM, i may never have full rest nor very bliss: that is to say, till i be so fastened to HIM, that there is right nought that is made betwixt my GOD and me.
God:
- made me
- loves me
- keeps me
i’m not sure that it can get much better than that. now if i could only remember that this is true and live based on it.
a good day
i spent a wonderful day with my family – tossing the football, wrestling with my kids, eating at the table, taking noah to a birthday party, etc. it was a great day.
tiger woods?
miniature golf was not designed to be played by 7 year olds!
i could probably end this blog with that statement but that’s not really any fun so i’ll explain a little.
today i took noah, my youngest, to a friend’s birthday party. it was at celebration station, which is a miniature golf, go-kart, and arcade place that sells over priced cardboard pizza – the perfect bait for 7 year olds. noah is a 7 year old and therefore swallowed the bait “hook, line, and sinker.” we went to the party, met everyone, played some arcade games, and ate bland pizza and cake. the party was great until we reached the point of playing miniature golf.
just imagine eight 7 year olds with small, hard projectiles and weighted clubs.
have you stopped laughing yet? okay i’ll describe the scene then.
this whole event had “warning major disaster” written all over it in big, bold letters. personally i can’t believe that celebration station’s insurance actually allows this to happen. they should have it written into their insurance policy somewhere, “no one 7 year olds or younger is allowed to play miniature golf.” i’m sure this would lower their policy rates and make the whole environment safer for everyone.
the game began with each 7 year old boy lining up at the first hole. this is when they changed from fun little guys to pga wannabes. each 7 year old would get up to the tee and suddenly dream of being in a long distance driving competition. they would pull back their club and let it go. i’m sure they were thinking “swing through the ball.” all i knew was that it was dangerous for the people in front of us. being a good citizen, and not wanting be behind the kids swinging clubs, i went to the front of each course in the hopes of blocking any flying balls. it didn’t take me long to realize that this merely added to the fun. i’m convinced the kids began to aim at me. i ducked, i dodged, i dove. it was quite a work out.
i’m happy to report that we made it through the little adventure without any major injuries. the doctor says that i will probably only have post-traumatic nightmares for a month of so.