t13 July 30, 2008

Going up early, because I’m sitting here thinking about it…

This week: 13 favorite song lyrics.

1. “You have suffered enough and warred with yourself/It’s time that you won” –”Falling Slowly” by The Swell Season

2. “Now pull these idols out from my heart and praise/Rock of ages, I need Your grace” –”Rock of Ages (When the Day Seems Long)” by Sandra McCracken

3. “Stephen A. Douglas was the great debater/But Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator”–”Decatur, Or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother!” by Sufjan Stevens

4. “And they stretch along this highway like so many martyrs/That hung and burned for loving, shedding light on Caesar’s gardens/They’re passing on a message sent from you to us here in New Mexico”–”New Mexico” by Andrew Osenga

5. “The only pain is to feel nothing at all/How can I hurt when I’m holding you?”–”A Man and a Woman” by U2

6. “I am thinking it’s a sign/That the freckles in our eyes are mirror images/And when we kiss they perfectly collide” –”Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service

7. “It’s just me and the GWB/Asking gee, Nina, what’ll you be?” –”Breathe” from In the Heights

8. “So sing loud for the canyons and soft for the parasites/And squeeze your spouses and children good night/And map out your futures and freeze-dry your food/And look for your reflection on a dime”–”Daisies and Sandalwood” by Steven Delopoulos

9. “I’m trading comfort for human life/And that’s not just murder, it’s suicide/And this too shall be made right” –”This Too Shall Be Made Right” by Derek Webb

10. “She makes the sign of a teaspoon, he makes the sign of a wave/The poor boy changes clothes and puts on aftershave/To compensate for his ordinary shoes” –”Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes” by Paul Simon

11. “We sit here debating the meaning of justice/With self-righteous spin and an upper-caste grin/But we’re still suffocating on quicksand indifference/Where no choice is ever that hard”–”The Innocent’s Corner” by Caedmon’s Call

12. “No guilt in life, no fear in death/This is the power of Christ in me/From life’s first cry to final breath/Jesus commands my destiny” –”In Christ Alone” by Keith and Kristyn Getty

13. “I caught the flu and away I flew/NYC, pediate blue/Dimetap and spinal taps/City maps and hand claps”–”Kingpin” by Wilco

actually, because i love this song a lot… July 28, 2008

Here’s the video for “Bad”. (U2, not Michael Jackson, as cool as the latter is.)

mix tape monday… July 28, 2008

This week: Songs that are older than you.

1. Judy Garland – Get Happy (from Summer Stock, which is a fun movie)
2. The Beatles – Hello, Goodbye (1–by the way, listening to the Beatles is super-annoying when only the left side of your headphones works)
3. Simon and Garfunkel – Cecilia (Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits)
4. The Guess Who – American Woman (American Woman)
5. Johnny Cash – Get Rhythm (Greatest)
6. The Who – Baba O’Riley (Who’s Next)
7. Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock
8. Elton John – Rocket Man (Honky Chateau)
9. Chuck Berry – You Never Can Tell (Pulp Fiction soundtrack)
10. Stevie Wonder – Superstition (Stevie Wonder: The Definitive Collection)
11. Al Green – Let’s Stay Together (Let’s Stay Together)
12. The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) (Turn! Turn! Turn!)
13. Donovan – Catch the Wind (What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid)
14. Bob Dylan – Gates of Eden (Bringing It All Back Home)
15. U2 – Bad (The Unforgettable Fire)
16. The Isley Brothers – Shout (Shout – The RCA Sessions)

(run time: 1 hour 2 minutes)

why so serious? July 27, 2008

1. So, I think I’m the last person in the world to see The Dark Knight…I just went to see it, and HOLY COW. If it’s at all possible for a character to freak me out even more than Anton Chigurrh from No Country for Old Men, it’s definitely the Joker. I have to say, though, the most interesting character for me here was Batman himself, who’s clearly struggling to do the right thing and has to bear most of the brunt of it without snapping completely. He loses his love and his reputation for the sake of the right thing, and I kind of wonder what in the world he’s thinking throughout the movie that he’s not telling us. But yes, go see it. It’s not an easy movie to watch, but it’s not meant to be–there’s a lot in there on human nature and right and wrong.

2. Heaven help me, I signed up at Twitter. There goes any mind I had left…I am kind of intrigued, actually, by what the implications of all these social networking sites are on how we form interpersonal relationships, and in fact how we form intrapersonal relationships, how it affects the way we see ourselves. Well, there’s a potential thesis topic…

3. Oh! I got a car–it’s an older model, but it only had 64,000 miles on it and the guy who sold it to me put new oil and new brakes and rotated the tires for me, which was pretty stellar. The only thing that doesn’t work is the right front speaker (well, and now my key won’t unlock the driver’s side door, but that’s a long story…). And I found an apartment in Austin. And my roommate and I met on Friday in person for the first time, and we hit it off immediately. You’d think that God was faithful to provide or something. (And you know, the funny thing is that even if He didn’t, He’d still be a good God, if only because He has given us Himself. All the other stuff is gravy. Not that gravy is bad, mind you.)

4. *resuming post* It’s Sunday afternoon now (I started writing this last night). Church was beautiful, lunch was hilarious, and I am about to watch a couple of episodes of Lost. Life is good.

things i am trying to remember to pray for. July 26, 2008

a better memory towards God. the faith to come visit my Jordan stones more often.

being able to suffer well, should suffering come (and it will, eventually).

more vulnerability with other people, more intentionality about pursuing relationships, more love for whatever community i should find myself in. not that general love for humanity, but specific love for specific people.

leaving a good legacy behind when i’m gone. life is short; we don’t have much time, guys. we are but a breath.

what about you?

hum. July 24, 2008

Interesting epiphany I had the other night: Okay, you know how we usually hear the story of Joshua and the Jericho walls, and someone always tells us that the Jericho people were sitting around taunting the Israelites like the French dude in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (and see Veggie Tales), and that Israel probably thought it was a stupid and crazy idea. “God, are You sure about this?” “Yes. Now just do it.”

Now, the problem with this is that there is no such indication of any of this in the text. For one thing, Joshua 6:1 tells us that “Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.” In other words, they’ve heard about Israel’s might–and more important, Israel’s God’s might–and they are freaking out. Besides that, the text repeats several times that “The Lord has given the city into your hands.” And, you know, the Bible usually records stuff like people grumbling (see the whole book of Exodus), and guess what? Nothing here. The people of Israel had, at this point, realized that God keeps His promises to His people, and so they just did what He told them to in full confidence that it would happen. And it did.

Their obedience was fueled by faith and trust in the God who’d brought their parents and grandparents out of slavery, who’d fed them, who’d brought them to the promised land. And He then delivered them. No fear. No trepidation–or if there was, it apparently wasn’t important enough for the writer of Joshua to report it.

Now, here’s the question: Why do we interject that skepticism and trepidation, when the text does not? And what does that say about us?

thursday 13 July 24, 2008

This week: I’m not quite sure how to word this–your 13 favorite tactile experiences, 13 things that make your sense of touch happy, your favorite things to feel/touch. Whatever. You get what I mean. Why doesn’t that have a word?

1. Wool yarn.
2. Hugs.
3. Uh, holding hands with people whilst praying.
4. Cotton knit jersey–like, t-shirt fabric.
5. Snuggling under the covers when it’s cold.
6. Putting on lotion after a shower.
7. Fluffy cats or dogs.
8. Cool metal or stone.
9. Warm baths.
10. The way words feel in my mouth when I read something out loud–not necessarily when I’m just talking, but when I’m reading. Can’t explain that.
11. Paper.
12. Taking off my shoes at the end of the day.
13. Rain.

mix tape monday July 21, 2008

This week: Songs that always, always remind you of high school.

1. Blink-182, “Stay Together for the Kids” (Take Off Your Pants and Jacket)
2. No Doubt, “Hey Baby” (Rock Steady)
3. POD, “Alive” (Satellite–or, as one of my classmates interpreted it, “Saddle Up”)
4. Kirk Franklin, “Revolution” (The Nu Nation Project)
5. David Crowder Band, “O Praise Him (All This For a King)” (Illuminate)
6. Nickel Creek, “Reasons Why” (Nickel Creek)
7. Furthermore, “Are You the Walrus?” (Fluorescent Jellyfish)
8. The Juliana Theory, “August In Bethany” (Understand This is a Dream)
9. Vineyard Music, “Lord, You’re Near” (Beautiful)
10. 249 Band, “The Cry of the Church” (Rock the Mic)
11. Something Corporate, “Konstantine” (Songs for Silent Movies)
12. Jars of Clay, “Worlds Apart” (Jars of Clay)
13. Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” (Nimrod)
14. Five Iron Frenzy, “Every New Day” (Our Newest Album Ever)

preach it, brother… July 18, 2008

I found this in The Valley of Vision the other day and it’s a prayer I need to be praying more often. If you would pray it for me, that’d be stellar:

“O merciful God,
When I hear of disagreeable things amongst Christians,
it brings an additional weight and burden on my spirit;
I come to thee in my distress and make lamentable complaint;
Teach me how to take reproofs from friends,
even though I think I do not deserve them;
Use them to make me tenderly afraid of sin,
more jealous over myself,
more concerned to keep heart and life unblameable;
Cause them to help me reflect on my want of spirituality,
to abhor myself,
to look upon myself as unworthy,
and make them beneficial to my soul.
May all thy people know how little, mean, and vile I am,
that they may see I am nothing,
less than nothing,
to be accounted nothing,
that so they may pray for me aright,
and not have the least dependence upon me.
It is sweet to be nothing and have nothing,
and to be fed with crumbs from thy hands.
Blessed be thy name for anything to life brings.
How do poor souls live who have not thee,
or when helpless have no God to go to,
who feel not the constraining force of thy love,
and the sweetness of communion?
O how admirably dost thou captivate the soul,
making all desires and affections centre on thee!
Give me such vivacity in religion,
that I may be able to take all reproofs from other men
as from thy hands,
and glorify thee for them,
from a sense of thy beneficent love
and of my need to have my pride destroyed.”

t13 July 17, 2008

This week: 13 places where you’ve lived.

1. A house with the street number 666…
2. Another house that I vaguely remember.
3. An apartment with a loft (I got the loft, heh).
4. The house I lived in before this one (sorry for being so vague, but, y’know. stalkers).
5. The house I live in now.
6. Oh, wait, I forgot, I lived in a foster home for six months, too.
7. Collins Residence Hall (which I’m trying to forget)
8. Memorial Residence Hall (wahoo)
9. Turner House (i.e., T-Unit)
10. My college apartment.
11. Uh, various hotel rooms…
12. Various dorm rooms at random colleges, too, on mission trips.
13. I don’t live there yet, but whatever apartment I end up moving in to in Austin.