Jumpin' Jehosaphat...What is Going On Here?

Great googley moogley...there is something a foot. Apparently there is some mystery birthday surprise going on for me tonight. I do not know what it is. I've been trying to figure it out without prying. Here are the facts as I know them:

1. Other people will be there.
2. We can bring soda but not beer.
3. It requires us to drive, but it's not that far away.
4. We will be having finger foods.

What the Husker Du? I'm bedazzled. No clue over here.

These Questions of Life

Lately I've been asking these questions:
1. Who is God?
2. Where is God?
3. Is God?
4. ...and how do I read the Bible because I don't know if I can be so literal with it as so many people I know?

Growing up in Southern Baptist...somewhat fundamentalist...churches I know what that version of Christianity is. Having been in it for 26 years, I also know that it's something that doesn't attract me. It doesn't stir me. It holds no wonder for me. I simply can't continue to see God on those terms. So having now officially said that's not me, it leaves me as this kind of blank slate. Now I have to find what I do believe. So the questions I listed above are the ones that I keep asking myself. They are the answers that I need to find.

Well...it's the answers that are so elusive to me. I hear about a God that wants a relationship with me, but how do you have a relationship with a being that isn't "here"? I hear that God loves me but sometimes when I read the bible all I see are a lot of rules. But then I have friends who simply overflow with love. They have relationships with a being that isn't really "here". I've been reading books by a guy named Donald Miller. That's the God that I'm looking for. A God that turns the world into the beautiful example of magnificence. A God that isn't a set of rules, that really is about a relationship.

I've seen a snippet of a talk given by Donald Miller where he was talking about spirituality being like a tree planted by a river and how that tree didn't happen overnight. So developing your spiritual self is not a fast food solution. It's not something you can swing by the nearest spiritual store and just purchase. The conditions have to be right and then it takes time. So I've hopefully put myself into a condition to allow this growth. I'm going to start being honest about the questions that I'm asking. I'm also going to start being ok with saying I don't know. Maybe it's not a matter of being able to prove there is a God or that Jesus was who he claimed to be. But simply having faith that it is. Maybe being very fundamentalist about scripture isn't the point. Maybe the point is bigger than that.

So here is where I am. You can read about Jesus standing up against the religious leaders of his time. Jesus publicly denounced the people who used their religion as a way of oppressing people. So now fast forward to today. I look around and I see people who refer to homosexuals as "fags". But just as a way of letting them know that God really doesn't like them. As a way of witnessing to them. This makes no sense. The Jesus that I read about wouldn't have done that. The Jesus that I really want to find stopped the religious leaders from condemning someone like that. It's funny how Christians in our society focus on certain sins like this. How we look at certain ones and say "Yup...God hates you but he really loves you." This is the "god" that I'm moving away from. The one who is a set of rules. The one who cares more about what I do than me. I'm looking for the Jesus who healed a woman when she touched his robe. But that wasn't enough that she was healed. He so needed to connect with her that he stopped in the middle of a crowd just so he could make a personal connection with her. That's who I'm looking for. To be honest...sometimes it's really hard to find him.

Does This Mean I'm Old Now

I'm officially 28 now. Phew...made it through another year. When do I get my cane?

I Don't Trust People Who Smile All The Time

I want your opinion on something. Now, before I tell you what it is, I don't necessarily hold this opinion. It is very much within my being to say something just to be inflammatory. However, I could very much hold this opinion. You'll never know. Here is the statement:

"Never trust people who smile all the time. They are either hiding something or never question the important things in life. Either way it will eventually lead to something bad."

Thoughts?

Word Of The Day:

Pedantic
What does it mean and can you use it in a sentence?

How Could I Forget This

Sunday was the first day Jess and I wore flip flops. If you'll notice I'm in shorts _{(you can tell because I have the hair legs)}. It's a small monument to the coming season. Quick...time to loose some weight.


PS...no one seemed to notice my hidden message in one of my previous posts.

Tentzilla Strikes Again...hopefully

For our wedding Jess and I got a tent. See>>>>

This is no normal tent. This tent slept 5 comfortably last summer. I can stand up inside and stretch. It's dimensions are 17'x10'x7'. It's really intense. We call him Tentzilla. However, Tentzilla hasn't terrified a campground since last June. It's about time he makes a come back. Anyone interested in a group camping trip in the next few months? You can share a tent with us. It has separate rooms.

<<< This is me in front of Tentzilla the first time we ever set him up in my in-laws front yard. I'm 5'11".









ps i turn 28 on thursday. that's so close to 30. i'm kind of feeling old. i graduated high school 10 years ago. where does the time go?

Monday Morning

Oh geez. It's Monday. It's a rough one. After band practice last night (played my SG last night for the first time since getting my Telecaster for those who care about such things) my drummer friend and myself ended up talking past lives, and religion until 11:15. UGH...Don't get me wrong. It was a great conversation. But this morning was rough. I had totally dedicated myself to going back to the gym today. Didn't happen. So I'm here...doing a little reading...listening to my morning radio show (big ups to Tony Maccrini)...and doing some blogging. I guess when I think about it I'm happy that it's Monday morning. Being that time is a continual thing and I couldn't stop it. If I were not in the middle of a Monday morning right now then I probably wouldn't need to know the day of the week. So when I look at it like that, I'm happy that it's Monday morning, as I generally like my life right now.

Here is a random thought that I heard last week:

Humans are the only creatures on the planet that have the need to make a system that marks the passage of time.

Here is a brief description of how oxygen was discovered: (pretty awesome in my opinion)

grow plant in jar. put candle in jar. close lid of jar. light candle with magnifying glass so that it burns off all oxygen. wait some time...come back. relight candle same way. it will light because plant will produce oxygen.

wow.