*Random Post*

Yesterday while I was working on the artwork for the Deep Thought Thursday post I came to realize that you can see no more than three sides of a six-sided box at a time no matter what angle you look at it (Yes, I know you can see more than three sides if you use a mirror Mr./Mrs. Smarty-pants). Anyway, another deep thought came to me. To see the other three sides of the box you have to turn it around and upside down. That is how we have to think to really see God's kingdom. We need to take our thinking and turn it around and upside down.

I heard once of a physically blind man who said it wasn't until he went blind that he could truly see.

There are people in jail who have found Jesus and turned their lives around. Even though they are still locked behind bars they proclaim they have never felt so free.

If you haven't done it yet, go back to this past Wednesday's post and listen to the song by Jars of Clay, it's a good look at how God's kingdom works.

Deep Thought Thursday ~ Entirely?

Last week I talked about how the Bible is a collection of books, story books, poetry books, history books, etc. I also talked about how I believe the entire Bible shouldn't be taken literally. Even Jesus told fictional stories that pointed to the truth. He used cultural references so the stories would stick with the people who heard them so they wouldn't forget. It would be interesting to hear the cultural references he would use today. Even Paul alluded to Greek mythology in some of his writings so the people these writings were intended for could understand it and relate to it.

I believe the entire Bible is the inspired word of God, but I do not believe it is the entire word of God. What do I mean by that? I feel that if we believe every word God said is in the Bible then we are limiting him and sticking him in a box. I'm not trying to downplay the Bible, but God does not belong to the Bible, the Bible belongs to him. He is not a part of the Bible, the Bible is a part of him. Do you understand what I'm saying? There is so much more to God than a small library of 66 books. If everything about God were to be written down on paper, there would not be enough room in the entire universe to hold all those pages.

Just on a side note, I've been referring to God as a "him". But God has no gender, so the reason why we tend to give him one is because it's better than referring to God as "it". I don't think it matters if you refer to God as him or her, take your pick, I just say him probably because I'm a guy. But that's another way we kind of box God in by slapping a gender label on him. I think he was mostly referred to as male in the Bible because of the male dominated society that existed during the different times the different books of the Bible were written. But in Genesis 1:27 it says: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." There are some some verses in the Bible that give God feminine attributes. In Matthew 23:37 it says "...how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings..." Isaiah 66:13 says "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you..." So God uses these words to describe what he is like, not what he is because God is neither male nor female. He is neither, but takes on the attributes of both.

Sorry, that was a long side note but I think it somewhat relates to what I'm talking about. I can't claim to have ever heard the audible voice of God, but I have heard him speak through other people, through their words and their actions. And when I hear God speak through other people it's not like that person all of a sudden starts to levitate off the ground and glow and speak in some language with a bunch of "thee's" and "thou's", it's usually through simple conversation. Sometimes people say things, the simplest things, and I just somehow know it's God speaking through them. Sometimes I'll be thinking and thoughts will just *pop* into my head, things that I know I would never have thought of on my own, and I think God speaks to us in that way as well.

So there is more to God's word than what is written in the Bible, but I also think there is enough information in the Bible to help us live our lives as God intended. It should never be looked at as a rule book or even a guide book because we only look at those kind of books when we need guidance. I think it's a good idea to read the Bible everyday. People do this in different ways. Some people may read an entire book of the Bible in one sitting, and some people may only read a verse or two and spend the day reflecting on it and absorbing it. I think each of us need to find a way that best suits us so we can remember and understand what it says.

Even though I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, not all of it inspires me and I don't think it was meant to. Different sections of the Bible affect different people in different ways. I think that is one reason why there are four different accounts of Jesus's life in there, the four gospels. Each one was written in a different way by different authors to reach different people.

So look for God in other places besides the Bible. Look for him in other people, in music, movies, art, in cities, in the country, in the air, the water. He exists in everything because he created everything. Whatever is beautiful reflects the beauty of God, wherever you find truth, it's God's truth. If we confine him to only a small collection of books, then he just becomes a character in those books.

Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Earthen Vessels

I'm going to talk a little bit about a band called Earthen Vessels...uh, I mean, Jars of Clay. Although if they would have taken 2 Corinthians 4:7 from the King James Version they might have been called Earthen Vessels. They must have taken it from the New International Version or the English Standard Version, but let's take a moment to look at some other possibilities of what Jars of Clay could have been called:

Vessels of Earth (Amplified)
Fragile Clay Jars (New Living Translation)
Brittle Vessels (Wycliffe New Testament)
Pots Made of Earth and Clay (Worldwide English New Testament)
Unadorned Clay Pots (The Message)

Cracked Pots Made of Earth (The Voice)
Vasija de Barro (Biblia en Lenguaje Sencillo)
Vases D'argile (La Bible du Sameur)

Okay, that's enough of that. I had talked briefly about Jars of Clay on Monday and what they are doing with blood:water mission. They are one of the few bands in the so-called Christian music genre that I still listen to because they simply make good music and the lyrics of some of their songs are very inspiring. Most people know them from their hit single "Flood" way back in the mid 90's and they are still going strong today. Even though "Flood" was the #1 single on their debut album, I personally think "Worlds Apart" is the strongest song on that album.

I also enjoyed their 2nd album, titled Much Afraid. I thought the song "Overjoyed" had a very Beatlesque sound to it. The title track "Much Afraid" is an honest song about how we're not perfect and we end up in some dark places sometimes, and how much we need Jesus in those times. I admit that I wasn't really into their 3rd and 4th albums, "If I Left the Zoo" and "The Eleventh Hour". I don't know, they just didn't have the same impact on me as the first two. But then "Who We Are Instead" came out and I thought it was a great album. The song "Faith Enough" is probably my favorite on that one. It's kind of a backwards thinking kind of song, but that's how God's kingdom works, it's backwards from the way we think it should be.The music and lyrics for that song will be at the end of this post.

I haven't picked up any albums since then even though they've released a few of them. But I was listening to the Relevant podcast one day and they had a live studio recording of some songs from their new album and it was great. They played a song called "Headphones". It was about how people have become so disconnected with each other. The first verse starts off like this:

I don't have to hear it if I don't want to
I can drown this out, pull the curtains down on you
It's a heavy world, it's too much for me to care
If I close my eyes it's not there

If you get a chance, download the Relevant podcast on iTunes for free and listen to the one from 4.20.09, it has the Jars of Clay live studio recording on it.

The ice is thin enough for walkin'
The rope is worn enough to climb
Throat is dry enough for talkin'
The world is crumblin', but I know why
The world is crumblin', but I know why

Storm is wild enough for sailing
Bridge is weak enough to cross
This body frail enough for fighting
I'm home enough to know I'm lost
Home enough to know I'm lost

It's just enough to be strong
In the broken places, in the broken places
It's just enough to be strong
Should the world rely on faith tonight

Land unfit enough for planting
Barren enough to conceive
Poor enough to gain the treasure
Enough a cynic to believe
Enough a cynic to believe

Confused enough to know direction
Sun eclipsed enough to shine
Still enough to finally tremble
I See enough to know I'm blind
I See enough to know I'm blind

Should the world rely on faith tonight


Visit the official Jars of Clay website here.

*Random Post*

Today is Gabe's 4th birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABE!!!

Story Time Tuesday ~ WWWE: They Called Me Zorro

I worked at my fourth job for only a few months. It was a third shift factory job for Woolrich Inc. My job title: Fabric Cutter. You know, cutter has a nice ring to it for a job title, but when you put the word fabric in front of it, it loses something. I was given a belt that I had to wear, kind of like tool belt. Its main purpose was to hold the pair of shears we used on the job. All they had left was a left-handed belt (it'll make sense in a moment) so the holster for the shears was on my left side. So when ever I'd take my shears out it looked like I was unsheathing a sword and when I put them away it looked like I was putting a sword back in its sheath. That's why they called me Zorro. It sounds better than Fabric Cutter. If you're curled up under one of those signature red and black Woolrich blankets, there's a slim chance that I cut the fabric for it. Just think of me whenever you use it.

I didn't quite get the respect that someone nicknamed Zorro would typically get though. The people I worked with were, well, I don't want to stereotype them by using a particular word, but if they could relate to the things that Jeff Foxworthy says, they might be one. Man, that was a roundabout way of saying redneck, oops!

I got along pretty well with my co-workers there but there was one guy who seemed to have anger management issues. There are control boxes that hang from above for the cranes we used for picking up the large rolls of fabric and this guy decided one night to swing the crane controls at my head. He missed and I asked him what that was all about and he said he was just joking around and if he really wanted to he would have hit me. I don't know though, the control box came pretty darn close to my head. I let it go, if he would have done it again I probably would have gone to my supervisor about it. It never happened again fortunately.

It was hard getting used to working third shift from 11pm to 7am. One guy had been doing it for over 30 years and he said he still wasn't used to it. I thought it would be a good shift to work because I could do something in the morning after work and then sleep in the afternoon if I wanted to or sleep in the morning and do something in the evening. But it didn't work that way. After work I would unwind by playing a video game and I would usually fall asleep while doing that and take a short power nap and then I would wake up within an hour or less and the TV screen would usually say "Game Over" or "You Died". I wouldn't be tired for the rest of the day, not until it was time to go to work anyway. So one night as I was holding the fabric down on the table my co-worker rolled it out on a table that seemed like it was half the length of a football field. As he rolled it out I decided to put my head down on the fabric until he came back, it was soft. Next thing I know, I look up and my co-worker is standing there looking at me and he said, "Uh, you ready?" I had dozed off for a moment, whoops.

Another night one of my co-workers was using a machine that helps with the fabric cutting process and he asked me to get the oil pan because the machine was going to need an oil change. He sent me to our supervisor to ask him where it was. So I asked him and he told me to ask another person, that person told me to ask another person, then I figured it out, he was playing a prank on me and everyone else knew what was going on. I didn't realize at first that the machine was electric. I felt like such an idiot, but hey it was 2 o'clock in the morning, I was too tired to notice it ran on electric.

Third shift was reeking havoc on my sleep schedule. My weekends were pretty messed up. I'd get off Friday morning at 7am and I'd try to stay up all day and go to bed at a normal time, but then I'd fall asleep around 6pm and wake up on Saturday at 3am. It sucked. What the heck do you do at 3am? Watch infomercials? Blah. Fortunately another place I applied to was hiring and they gave me a call. I'll talk about job #5 next week. ¡Adiós amigos!

Inspiring Minds Monday ~ blood:water

About a month ago I talked about an organization called charity: water. Today I'm going to talk about blood:water mission, another charity organization that addresses the water issues in Africa, and has a colon in their organization's name as well. Adding a colon in the organization's name must be a trend among those who are digging wells in Africa. But that's besides the point.

blood:water mission was started by Dan Haseltine, Charlie Lowell, Matthew Odmark, and Stephen Mason, who also happen to be the members of the band, Jars of Clay. Not only does blood:water mission focus on providing clean water, but they also focus their efforts on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. A big part of removing the HIV/AIDS crisis is to provide Africans with clean water because so many have to travel hours just to find water, and much of that is filthy water that contains the HIV virus.

I think it's great to see a band like Jars of Clay get involved with something like this. They don't just serve God by writing great, inspiring music, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus by serving those in need. I can't speak for Jars of Clay, but I think if they had to choose between performing music and blood:water mission, I believe they would choose the latter.

Dan Haseltine is on the board of directors while the rest of the band is on the advisory board, but they wouldn't be able to do it without the rest of the team which include:

Staff:
Jene Lee Nardella (Executive Director)
Aaron Sands (Administrative Director)
Mendy Myers (Administrative Assistant)
Lauren Hitch (Finance Manager)
Matt Ward (Grassroots Coordinator)
Kellie Lutito (Production Manager)
Victor Huckabee (Brand Design Architect)
Barak Bruerd (Director of Africa Programs)
Pamela Crane (Water Projects Manager)
Click here to learn more about these staff members.

Board of Directors:
Rich Hoops
Collin Brown
Lon Cherry
Reagan Demas
Steven Garber
Cosma Gatere
Brad Gibson
Dan Haseltine
Clydette Powell
Moses Pulei
Joel Wickre
Click here to learn more about members of the board of directors.

Advisory Board:
Charlie Lowell
Hank Habicht
Lindsay Hutter
Matthew Odmark
Stephen Mason
Click here to learn more about the advisory board members

blood:water mission started the 1000 Wells Project in 2004. Since then the organization has grown and now they include a variety of clean water solutions, sanitation, and hygiene training. They've funded health clinics, community health workers, and support groups. The prevention, treatment, and care of HIV/AIDS has happened in many African communities and ailments such as stomach aches, skin diseases, and diarrhea have disappeared.

One person from the Bina community in Kisumu, Kenya said "Since the introduction of a well into our community, our stomach problems have completely disappeared."

Bono of U2 has said, "As a fan, I don't think anyone has had a bigger voice than the activists in Jars of Clay."

Author Don Miller said, "The crisis in Africa is difficult to translate to those of us living in the states. Our hearts do not know where to begin. Of the greatest accomplishments of blood:water mission has been their ability to sort through the chaos to match provision with need. Clean water prevents many diseases that can prove fatal to a person suffering from AIDS. Clean water, then, guards clean blood. The simple gift of a dollar provides invaluable clean water for one African for one year. Our calling, then, is to give from our undeserved provision into their undeserved need. In doing so, we participate in the search and rescue mission God is orchestrating in this fallen world."

I think Don had some good points. It's hard to know what suffering looks like to many of us here in America. I'm not saying people here do not truly suffer, but for many of us the most we ever suffer are our car problems, missing our favorite TV shows, or a fast food restaurant getting our food order wrong because we are so picky about the pickles on our hamburgers.

Don also said our hearts don't know where to begin. When you look at all the problems the world faces and the work it would take to come up with solutions to those problems it becomes overwhelming and we become too discouraged to do anything at all. There is a story my pastor likes to tell and it goes something like this:

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a little boy going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this boy went. As the man approached he could see that there were thousands of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the boy continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the boy he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The boy looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

Put yourself into the shoes of the man and finish this story for yourself. Do you walk away or do you join the little boy and toss some starfish? And if you think making a difference means you have to be financially wealthy then you might need to rethink that. For those of you who are financially wealthy and spend your money on things like a solid gold toilet...

...then you may want to rethink what you do with your money. Help those in need instead of literally flushing your money down the toilet. Love God, love others, and take it one step at a time. Don't try to put the entire world on your plate.

Visit the blood:water mission website here.

Visit the blood:water mission blog here.

Freakin' Funny Friday ~ Movie Day

It's the holiday weekend, and I'll be spending time with friends and family today and I hope you will too. But I don't want to leave you empty handed, so today is going to be a movie day here at Blogity-blah-blah-blog. Basically it's just gonna be some funny YouTube videos. Enjoy!

Here's a couple funny ones from Mediocre Films:

Here is one made by one of my friends while he was in 

Kazakhstan on a mission trip, it's called the last kazakh samurai.

Here are a few more short videos I thought were funny.

This last one is one I made a few years ago. If you've never watched Rocky III or played Mike Tyson's 

Punch Out on the NES you probably won't understand it.

Here's one more, it's not a video, but turn up your 

speakers and click here.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!

Deep Thought Thursday ~ Literally?

Today I would like to talk about a book. This particular book is probably the most controversial, misinterpreted, and misunderstood book in the world. In fact, it's not even a book at all, it's a library of books, but it takes the form of a single book. It's full of stories, both fictional and non-fictional, poetry, songs, genealogies, parables, prophecies, letters written to entire cities, wise sayings, teachings, forthcoming events, and even a book about sex. It's called the Bible, and the word Bible even translates to the word library. So perhaps we should call it "The good library" rather than "The good book". I went to a restaurant in Baltimore's inner harbor called UNO's. They had a book in the center of the table called "The good book". I picked it up and it was full of desserts. It was indeed a good book.

Anyway, there is so much I could talk about concerning the Bible, but I want to focus on the fact that some people take the entire Bible literally, and I don't think it was intended to be taken that way. Of course much of it is to be taken literally; Love God, love all people; do not murder; they're not drunk, it's only 9 in the morning; yadda, yadda, yadda. That kind of stuff is pretty straightforward. But there is a lot of poetry, stories, and analogies in the Bible as well that may not be literal, but they do point to the truth.

Take a look at what it says in Mark 9:43-47:

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.

Geez Louise! Literally?! Honestly, if I were to cut off every body part that caused me to sin then you'd have to throw me in a giant blender and hit purée! There is a popular saying that goes something like this "People should know you are a Christian as soon as you enter a room". Take that saying with the verse above and then imagine people sitting in a waiting room at the ER. A man enters the room. He's missing one hand, only has one eye, no tongue...you get the point. A little girl looks at her mother and says "Mommy, mommy, what's wrong with that guy?" and the mother replies, "Oh, don't worry dear, he's just a Christian. He comes in here all the time, probably cut off another body part." People should know we are followers of Christ because of our love, not because we are missing body parts.

Let's go back to some earlier verses in Mark 9, verses 38-41:

"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.

Even though this man was doing things in Jesus name, he may have done them a little differently than Jesus and his disciples were doing them, but Jesus said it was okay because he was doing it in Jesus's name. This happens too many times in the church. Let's say the people who go to church A do things a little different than the people who go to church B. This makes church B upset because church B thinks that they've got it all figured out, that they are the ones who are absolutely right and that anything different, even slightly different from they way they do things is the wrong way. The people who go to church B need to be a little more open-minded. That's how it is in some churches though. The people think that they have it all figured out, a few hundred or a few thousand people of a congregation think their way is the right way and the rest of the world's population is absolutely wrong because they don't go to the same exact church building they go to. It's ridiculous.

Rob Bell said "If we become too dogmatic or too absolutly sure that our particular view is the only one, then something dangerous happens to the mystery of the divine." You see, it's not about our way, it's about Jesus's way. The problem is that too many people have formed Jesus into what they want him to be. I think we all do that to some degree. Let's get to know the Jesus of the Bible, not the Jesus that Bob or Linda or Fred made up to suit their own selfish needs. (No offense to anyone named Bob, Linda, or Fred, I was just randomly picking names.)

So, I think that's all I'm going to say for now, there's more, but I want to go in a different direction next week. Have a great day, and I literally mean that.

Artsy Fartsy Wednesday ~ Vincent, Get in the Van and Let's Gogh!

So, do I win the award for the cheesiest blog post title ever? Today we'll take a look at Vincent Van Gogh (Ah, yes now you get it), my favorite artist out of all the French Impressionists. I remember the first time I got to see a Van Gogh painting up close at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was one of his famous sunflower paintings (pictured above). I remember learning about the thickness of the paint and how some of his paintings were still drying underneath 50 years after he painted them, and I got to see the thickness of the paint. I also remember learning that he sometimes applied paint onto the canvas straight from the tube and I could see small circular indentations made by the opening of the paint tube. I was able to get such a good look at it and then the security guard said "Back away from the painting, please."

My favorite piece of Van Gogh's work has to be Starry Night.




I like it so much, I had it printed on my credit card, see:




Notice something missing? Yea, I'm not that stupid.




So here's a brief bio on Van Gogh. He was born in 1853. He was the son of a pastor and was brought up in a very religious and cultured place. He was a preacher for a little while but was dismissed for overzealousness. He decided to become an artist instead. He figured he would bring people happiness by creating beauty. His early works were very somber and lacking in color though. His first famous painting was called "The Potato Eaters".




In Paris he met other artists such as Pissarro, Monet, and Gauguin and started dabbling in Impressionism. Van Gogh was a very nervous person and he spent all day painting and all night having conversations which wasn't good for his health. His friends tried to help him but he would have fits of madness and was admitted to the asylum in Saint-Remy. He seemed to be doing better by May of 1890, so he left the asylum but then shot himself two months later and it took him two days to die.




Here are some quotes by Vincent Van Gogh:

"An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow man."

"The diseases that we civilized people labor under most are melancholy and pessimism."

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange."

"We spend our whole lives in unconscious exercise of the art of expressing our thoughts with the help of words."




Here are some facts about Van Gogh:

Probably one of the most well known but untrue facts is that he cut off his entire ear. The fact is he only cut off a small part of his ear lobe while in a fit of epilepsy in which he was holding a razor blade at the time.

He had an older brother who died at birth who was also named Vincent.

He sold only one painting during his lifetime and did not become famous until after his death.

Vincent completed over 900 paintings in the span of ten years.




Last Thursday I included a video from the film "Dreams" by Akira Kurosawa. Dreams is a collection of eight short films. One is called "Crows" and is about Vincent Van Gogh. Martin Scorsese plays Van Gogh, take a look:







Visit the Van Gogh Gallery for more information.

July 2009 Introduction

Two months, wow! I never thought this blog would actually last this long. I usually start something new and then get bored with it, but this blogging thing is different. If you told me a few months ago that I would be a blogger, I would have said "You're crazy!" But look at me now mom, I'm a bloggin' fool!

Ahem...anyway, I started this blog to entertain others who read it, but I've also come to find out that blogging is a good way to take memories and thoughts and put them here so I don't forget them (I guess that's what a blog is for, duh). Sometimes I think of something and then I'll forget it later, so this really helps.

I want the readers of this blog to interact with it. I want comments, constructive criticisms, your thoughts and ideas. I'm hoping to make this blog your blog too. That's why I've set up an e-mail account just for this blog. E-mail me at blogityblog@gmail.com, I've left out the blahs' so you don't have to type so much. Write your own blog post and e-mail it to me. Do you know someone who inspires you, do you have a story, an artist or art form you enjoy, a deep thought, or something funny? Send it to me and I'll make it into a blog post. I'll become the Andy Warhol of the blogging world, I'll just have everyone else do the work for me. Just kidding, you will definitely get the credit for any blog posts you send me.

I want to give some shout outs to some people that I know have been reading this blog: my girlfriend April, Jesse, and Matt (Plural Form rocks!). Some of my friends over at Nobody's Listening, concertpianist, SamyxCracker, MotherUnit, and HatchettMom. Some of the other blogs I enjoy reading and bloggers who have inspired me to write this blog, Jon Acuff (Stuff Christians Like), Jen (Cake Wrecks), Stacy (Stacy from Louisville), and Jason Boyett (Jason Boyett: author of the Pocket Guides). And one more shout out to the podcast, Chicken Pop Pod for allowing me to take an audio clip from one of their podcasts so I could play it below.

I'll give a little background on the clip before you play it. Chicken Pop Pod usually has a segment on their show called "Aw, I Freakin' Remember That" (AIFRT) in which fans of the show can e-mail or call in with something they remember preferrably from the 80's, such as a toy, TV show, or a breakfast cereal and try to stump the hosts of the show. So go ahead and listen to the clip now.





Below is a picture of what I was talking about:



Okay, let's get started with July!