saturday saturday

more to come soon, extra busy this past couple weeks... but a few updates:

-Harper is a total mama's boy.... if he knows Lyndsey is in another room, he just can't relax... and within a few minutes he'll make his way to find her.

-We have new babies in our family all the time (no worries, not us...)! My brother Matt and his wife Amy have a second one on the way... my cousin Nathaniel and his wife just had one up in Chicago-land... and my cousin Devon and his wife are now expecting their second back home near Mt. Vernon. What a huge, awesome family. Yay for babies!

-Speaking of family, it's so great to have such a big family that is so close, even if some of us have moved out of the area. We grew up within 15 miles of each other and during the summers, we would all congregate (all the aunts and all the grandkids... I guess 10 or 11 of us kids) at our grandparents' house every Monday for some good ol' fun havin'. My grandparents live on a farm with plenty of barns and woods and fields and a lake, so we were rarely bored.... I hope to be able to replicate that quality-time-with-family-experience for our children somehow, but it's looking like it will be hard.

-School is flying by... we have three weeks until Thanksgiving break (which the kids get 4 days off that week), and then three more weeks until finals... gonna be Christmas before we know it.

lyrics: "Surely We Can Change" by David Crowder Band

well said, mr. crowder... all too often we like to "pray for change", but not take part in that change at all... just wait for divine intervention to change the world... but it's up to us. i believe that our prayers for change are important, but are only as meaningful as the actions behind them. [lyrics to follow].

------------------------

And the problem is this
We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned
Even when it wasn’t hit

And I don’t know
What to do with a love like that
And I don’t know
How to be a love like that

When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
So we must choose
What our hands will do

Where there is pain
Let there be grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Help them be brave
Where there is misery
Bring expectancy
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Something

And the problem it seems
Is with you and me
Not the Love who came
To repair everything

Where there is pain
Let us bring grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Let us be brave
Where there is misery
Let us bring them relief
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change
Something

Oh, the world’s about to change
The whole world’s about to change

sweet video

If you haven't, you have to check into RelevantTV... it's a great place to see all sorts of great music, much of it that never hits mainstream but is fantastic none the less.

Their feature video this week is Needtobreathe's "Signature of Divine". Over six days, these guys took 3,000 still photos and compiled them to create this video... unbelievable. Gotta check it out...

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/TV/#

People Getting Punched Just Before Eating

I stole this from another blog... I didn't watch SNL whis weekend but I find this kind of stuff hilarious....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxIEjZUw8yg

And some more Digital Shorts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnpNkPCcfBM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRU2gLpBm68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8FxLWJJ0Ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-BmkE3nMhI

small group outing

Here are some pics from our small group's outing to Brussels, IL on Sunday. We drove up the Great River Road, rode the ferry, and ate at historic Wittmond's Hotel. It felt like we were a big family eating dinner at our grandparents. Good times and good food!

The Office quote of the night

so far... and it's only been on 10 minutes.

"It seems that the website has become alive." - Dwight

song i wrote

I had the day off Monday for Columbus day and this is how I spent part of it... these are the lyrics and I put explanations/additional insight in parenthesis.
_________
Title: "Melody Final"

when my time (of relevance)
runs out
nothing left

windows close
winds that blew
find new breath (someone else to use)

now is fine
doing good
is this so bad?


i have song
they can hear
render must (i must 'play'... in the metaphorical sense... do what i can do, i suppose)

there is time (words from on high from here on out)
realize
you are few (those who want to change the world)

go and sing
of a love
of a life

take my eyes
restore
hope will win

watch for me
i am there
they are there (all people.... created in god's image... see Him in them)
--------------

This song was born out of my realization that I only have so much time in this world to make a difference. My "window" of being culturally relevant and a person of influence is constantly closing. Let's face it, there comes an age where we can't really have an influence on those who are driving our culture, right? I need to do the absolute best I can do while I have this chance. For me, that means using music in some way. It means sharing my philosophies about life and church and God and spreading a message of love and hope. Maybe it means working for the church full time?

Harper update

We've had Harper a little over two weeks now, and he's come to life. He still has to warm up to new people, but overall this guy is a super dog. He is Mr. Affectionate 90% of the time... he loves to curl up and rest his head on you somewhere, be it your lap, hand or foot. But he definitely has his moments of mischief (see below). He also loves feet and anything that smell like feet (his favorite are my flip-flops). He hates having a leash on him; we're working on it...

We woke up Sunday morning to find one of our throw pillows by his bed. This particular pillow has a bunch of small wooden beads, about the size of a pencil eraser. Harper had chewed off 31 of them. 31. We found 27. Hopefully he didn't eat the other four, but it's looking like he did... We called the vet, they said he should be fine but to keep an eye out for any vomiting or "straining". He seems fine right now, but he's a little mopey today; I think it's having its affect on him.

Poor guy loses his manhood tomorrow...

the church

I'm really no theologian, and I'm no church historian, but I've been thinking a lot lately about the church and its focus. [when I say church, I'm referring to The Church in general, not any particular church]. For the most part, the church I've always know has been very focused on individual change; repentance within your own heart, changing your ways, personal "salvation", etc. Certainly the concept is important, but I wonder if the church should go about it a little differently.

Shouldn't we be focused less on our individual souls, and more on what kind of A People we are? As in all of us... a group of people. What if our focus shifted from 'me being more like Christ' to 'us being the People of God'? Trying to live as God created us as A People? Can we really live as God created us by our self anyway? We weren't really designed that way, it seems to me.

Now I understand the idea behind this individual focus: that if everyone has internal change, then this will cause systemic change across the board. But does this ever happen? Or do we just kind of think about how proud we are to have changed and kind of gloat about it, whether silently or publicly?

But if we got on board with being the people of God, maybe that would stir people's hearts in a more serious way, causing internal change.

If I'm right, when Paul said things like "repent" (which I've heard many times literally means to 'rethink the way you're thinking'), he was talking to a group of people.

When we are focused on our individual change, it seems to breed a bit of competition; a scoring system for how much each person has changed or lives the way of Jesus. But a group trying to live as Jesus, or as God designed them, now that's a group with a common purpose. That's something that I can see people getting on board with. That's a group of people that is there for one another. I have to believe that bigger things can happen when this type of environment is fostered.

Maybe more on this to come later...

radiohead

Radiohead's new cd "In Rainbows" comes out October 10th. Good band. As a marketing ploy, they are allowing you to pre-order it for whatever amount you want to pay. That's right. I think you can even pay nothing and just pay the like 50 cent transaction fee.

I just paid 1 pound, which after the transaction fee came out to $2.95. Yessssss! Check it out!

http://www.inrainbows.com/Store/Quickindex.html