I am the Chaplain at a small Christian college in the rural Midwest. The scope of my posts tend to be wide and varied. That's awful branding, but I'm not a brand. I'm just a guy named Christian who wants to share my thoughts, interests, and the lessons I'm learning along the way.
Friday Funkfest. A recurring (almost weekly) flurry of quick hits, links, videos and thoughts. Clearly, the best way to waste time at work spend your lunch hour each and (almost) every Friday.
Early this week I posted an interview with the guy who plays Elmo. Well, this interview with Elmo alone is pee-my-pants funny. I would have posted it on the same day, but who has the time to work through 18 minutes of Youtube Elmo in a 24 hr period? Pace yourself. But if you need more, here is another hilarious interview with the little guy.
Voices Outside My Head
Back in high school, Fred Jones was the best basketball player around. He went to Oregon. Got drafted. Has played in the league since then. A cool slice of life story about being a baller in tough economic times.
I think there are more than five red states left. There are at least six. Kansas looks purple-ish from the outside, but the whole deal is about to swing back firmly to the right. My guess is Sam Brownback is our next Gov, and our budget problems will spell doom for a lot of Dems.
If you didn’t check out the micro-sermon at Prayer’s For Blowouts last week, you should peep this one. It’s funny on it’s own, but it also reminded me of one of my favorite preacher videos ever. I don’t think we went to the same seminary.
I thought the President got everything for free. I guess not. That settles it. I don’t want to be President anymore. I need perks, baby. Being the Commissioner of the NBA is a way better deal.
Voices Inside My Head
I’ve been shopping for a car this week. The sales people keep telling me they are willing to “be aggressive” to make a sale right now. I hope that means “lower the price” as opposed to “give you a wedgie until you buy our car”.
Superbowl Sunday. Yes. I’m not down with the big parties. It’s impossible to watch the game and the commercials with a bunch of people trying to talk to you. I’ll be watching the game at the crib with a couple of people. But I will be live tweeting the game , which will also be simulcast on facebook.
I’m getting excited for Baseball season. I feel like we are entering a really nice stretch for the KC Sports scene.
Has anyone else felt like kids are a more terrible 3 than they are a terrible 2?
None of the 13 boys in my class live with both their father and mother. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Four of the boys see their dads with any regularity. The other nine have a relationship that falls somewhere on the continuum between “transient” and “absent”.
Thus, February is one of the most important months of my year. We spend this month going through a bible study about relationships and how to treat women. While we touch on the subject throughout the year, this is the time we hit it hard and intentionally. For boys who don’t see things like husbandry and fatherhood lived out well, it’s a crucial developmental checkpoint.
The month isn’t without it’s giggles, however. Anytime you broach the subject of females up with adolescent boys, you are bound to have some classic moments.
Last night we were talking about where you can go to find quality ladies who are about what the boys are striving to be about. God. Education. Strong character.
The first answer was good: church. The second answer was pretty good: the library. The third answer was long in coming. It was a classic case of “I’m going to raise my hand to answer the question without a thought already in my brain”. Sometimes spontaneity works out. Sometimes it leaves more to be desired.
I call on the kid and he is silent. You can see the wheels turning, but they aren’t making much butter. After he struggles for a few seconds, I’m getting ready to bail him out. There comes a point where you just have to hit the “eject” button before the whole thing goes up in flames. My internal clock is ticking down. 5…4…3..2..
And right before I can play the part of congress and bail the kid out, he conjures up an answer.
The blood bank.
Well, I can give him credit for originality. I’m not sure that the Blood Bank has been suggested as a place to meet women of quality before. But perhaps the kid has a point.
If the woman is donating blood (as opposed to selling plasma), she is clearly generous. Generosity is good. And the blood bank screens you for drug use and STD’s, so if she is a repeat donor she’s at least clear on those fronts. There is even an economical slant to the idea. The blood bank I went to had CNN running. You got free juice and granola bars. That’s a cheap date. Plus, you’re strapped down to that chair for 30 minutes or so. You can get a lot of quality conversation in over 30 minutes. And I’m going to guess that you speak with way more honesty as you get light headed from a lack of blood. That cut’s down on that whole getting past the facade awkwardness that most dates have.
So you heard it here first, folks. If you want to meet the woman (or man) of your dreams, head to your local blood bank. You’ll be doing a good deed and finding love all in one convenient stop.
The Dashiell house came down with the plague last night. Food poisoning as far as I can tell. No sleep. No fluids. Bad news.
The point of grace in the whole ordeal was that Elli didn’t get sick. As bad as things were, that would have made it ten times worse.
So we set a record for TV watching yesterday. Because mommy and daddy had to take turns passing out in the morning before daddy sucked it up and went to work on one hour of sleep and 15 net calories over the course of 14 hours.
Of course, Elli watched a lot of Elmo throughout the day. She thinks he’s real, so I’m counting on you to not tell her what I’m about to reveal to you.
Elmo’s black.
Not just black, but a deep-voiced black man. Who knew? Not me. But this video is very good and will change my view of Elmo forever.
The tradition of Blazers producing horrible raps that I find endearing continues. Amazingly, not as bad as the accompanying guitar performance. It must have worked, though. Rudy’s in the dunk contest. (h/t Amita on Facebook)
If youtube had been around during my college years, there probably would have been hundreds of videos like this staring yours truly. I’m pretty sure I did something similar at a college talent show. Thank goodness there is no record of the performance. (h/t adampaul)
Tim Tebow is back for one last year. Not too shocking, since he wasn’t going in the first round of the draft anyway. The thing that’s hilarious about that video is that he thanks God and gets polite applause from the crowd. But then he says he’s coming back and the crowd goes insane. The band plays. People are screaming. Somewhat ironic that the guy who is renowned for honoring Christ through sport is idolized by Gator Nation. Who needs Jesus when you got Tebow?
Over at Prayers for Blowouts they have a great new featured called the “Micro Sermon“. 100 words of bible and sports with a tidy little lesson. And they are really funny. And I’m jelous I didn’t think of that idea.
Big news last week when Famous Daves BBQ closed downtown. Numerous blog posts and articles in the paper. As far as I’m concerned, it needed to be shut down long ago. That place was dookie. There is this huge FD billboard by my house and every time I pass it I say, “Bleeeeeeeeeeeeech”. Out loud. Regardless of who else is in the car. This is KC, son. BBQ is like Tim Tebow to us out here. Go strong or go home.
This post reminded me of how badly I want to create some kind of Star Wars alter-ego for when I attend Royals games. Any ideas? R2D2 goes well with the color scheme, but I’m a tad on the tallish side. Plus, it would be hard to sit down. Blue Darth? Blue Storm Trooper? Baseball season is soon. I need to get on this. (once again, h/t adampaul)
I keep thinking my subscription to Wired is goign to run out, but they continue to send me issues. I’m not complaining. I like the magazine well enough. I just had too many magazines, so one had to go. And yet, it just keeps returning to give me more technological geeky goodness.
I might get a new car this weekend. Definately by next weekend.
It sounds like Lost is back. Not “back” like “back on tv”. “Back” like “good again so I don’t have to consider bailing”. Should be able to get to it this weekend.
Stacy’s almost down to her final 100-ish days of pregnancy. There’s a good chance that Zachary is going to be a wild child. He is absolutely going nuts in there. Kicking, flipping, dancing. I fear the kid has a lot of his father in him.
We pray a lot at work. Monday through Wed we meet at Noon to do 30 minute Lectio liturgy using the Psalms. On Thursdays we don’t pray as a staff because we have staff meeting in the afternoon. On Fridays we do a slightly different Lectio liturgy, but still using the Psalms. After those 30 min of listening and contemplation we spend some time doing worship through song.
The room that we pray and worship in faces a busy road. There are windows all across the wall that allow us to look out to the road. They aren’t huge windows, and since they are up on the second floor it’s not like people are looking in as we worship. I have found however, that looking out the windows as I sing is a fascinating exercise in the practice of worship.
Some days, the words to the songs are made alive by what I see out the windows. Singing about the creation of God is pretty cool when you are noticing the large old trees across the street, or an amazing cloud formation in the sky. Watching people walk joyfully down the sidewalk together brings alive the idea of harmony and peace.
But other days the words to the songs create dissonance as they mix with the sights of the real world. It’s hard to sing of God’s goodness when you see a bunch of kids fighting on the corner, and you know some of them are packing heat. It’s tough to sing about God’s provision as the house across the street is getting foreclosed on and people are gathering to carry away all of the posessions inside. There is a shalom that is absent when you hear people speaking harshly to each other.
It is through that dissonance that I better understand my calling. Those days when the world is playing out a different picture than the one I’m singing are the ones where I know it is important for me to pretend the Kingdom so that, hopefully, the will of God can be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Have you ever been in a church where you could look outside while you worship? You know. Look at the world you are supposed to be living your faith in. Feeling like the things you are singing and hearing are not contained within the confines of walls, but actually spill out into real life. I don’t think I ever have. I’m sure there are good reasons.
For instance, if you have too much backlight, you can’t see the words on the screen.
Renew and Restore
I watched it twice. It was important for me to watch it live. So important that I actually let Elli watch 90 straight minutes of Veggie Tales. That much TV watching in one day is unheard of, let alone in one sitting. But we made a deal. I told her that she could do whatever she wanted for 90 minutes, as long as Daddy could watch the Inauguration. The only stipulations were that she couldn’t (a) do any irreparable damage, (b) injure herself, (c) burn anything, (d) shave the dog. She pushed back a bit on the dog shaving, so I dropped it from the list of prohibited activities during the negotiation process.
Following my double viewing, I have the following quick-hit thoughts…
Props to GW Bush. Obama ran a campaign that essentially said, “don’t vote for McCain because he is just like Bush and Bush jacked up the entire country”. But Bush showed up yesterday and had a gracious attitude. It sounds as though he and Obama worked well together since the election, and for that he deserves a lot of credit. It sounds as though this transition was way better than the transition from Clinton to Bush eight years ago when the Clinton staff acted like a bunch of dillweeds.
I thought President Obama’s speech was fantastic, though I didn’t fully realize that until the second viewing. In listening to commentators throughout the day, I think President Obama has set the oratory bar a bit too high. A lot of people were talking about how the speech was OK to Good. Look, you don’t wake up and give an “I Have a Dream” speech every day. History has to play out for us to really know how good it was, but I think it was fantastic. It had history. It was hopeful for the future, while at the same time conveying a realism about where we are and the cost it will take for us to get where we need to go. And it was graciously indicting of things the previous administration did not do well. I liked it.
My first viewing was the PBS feed. The second was the CNN feed. With PBS you don’t get as good a picture, but it is way less annoying. On PBS the announcers talk softly and don’t talk over each other. The screen graphics are minimal. They have David Brooks, who I think is the most interesting commentator on TV and right up there with George Will and Leonard Pitts as Op/Ed writers I love to read. With CNN you get a clear picture, but a whole lot of screen and noise pollution. At one point, their “Fact Box” announced something like, “Aretha Franklin sings ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’”. Well, thank you for stating the obvious.
My initial reaction was that the closing prayer was a disaster. I amend that reaction. While Rev Lowery’s closing to the prayer isn’t entirely PC for 2008, but it is a saying that Black churchgoers know well. The closing of that prayer is actually a really good inclusio when you talke into account how the prayer started. That prayer is sprinkled with references and refrains that have been commonplace in Black churches throughout the years. Those who are making impassioned calls of “racism!” need to understand the context of the closing of the prayer as well as the rest of the content in the prayer.
History is providing a wonderful environment for me to do my job this week. I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with budding adolescent black leaders as their country looks into the past and the present. We have had a lot of great discussions since the election, and I’m sure there are many more to come.
The most gratifying conversations have been those we have had with the matriarchs and patriarchs in The Hope Center neighborhood. It has been amazing to ask them questions, and to hear them tell their stories with emotion and passion.
Right before Thanksgiving we had a woman from the neighborhood come speak to our kids following our Thanksgiving dinner. It was a story I’ll never forget.
Miss B. grew up in Little Rock. When she was growing up, her parents taught her to look down whenever she passed a white person on the street. The Emmit Till murder had put everyone on edge and ensured that Blacks would give Whites no excuse to think them “uppity”.
Miss B. was a smart kid. However, her education options were limited when she got to high school age. The only chance she had to continue her education was to attend a school that would teach her the art of housekeeping and domestic servant hood.
Fast forward to 2008. Miss B. has seen a lot. She’s been through a lot. She earned her Doctorate in Education this year in her mid-60′s. She’s telling her story to these young leaders, and they are captivated.
Then we ask her about the election. She starts out with a line that we have heard from many of the older black community members.
“I never thought I’d see this day. On election night we were jumping and crying and laughing. And there are a lot of people who don’t understand why we would react that way. But what you have to understand is that, for people of my generation, our existence has been one of pain and injustice. So for us to actually see something like this happen is a really big deal and we are joyful, but we are reliving a lot of our experience. I’m so happy for you kids that you won’t have the same experience we had. Your experience is one of opportunity and hopefulness.”
It is rare that I get emotional when someone is speaking, but I was really close to tearing up. In my head I know the history of this country. But to hear a person relive it is something totally different.
Then she went off script. She started going around the table and asking the kids what they wanted to be when they grow up. One of my boys had a two-pronged strategy. He told her he either wanted to be a fire fighter or a race car driver.
“Good. I’m glad you want to be a fire fighter. That’s a good job. But a race car driver? That’s a hobby. That’s not a job.”
Then the subject of grades came up. One of the boys mentioned he had mostly A’s and B’s, but one D.
“Good job on the A’s and B’s, but you don’t need to have anything lower than that. The D? That’s just lazy.”
Pretty hardcore. But she can say whatever she wants because she’s a matriarch in the neighborhood. She’s been through a lot, and has proved through her own effort how important education can be.
I’m glad that I get to mentor black boys in an environment where possibilities are being realized right before their very eyes. I’m glad that the people who have come before them are energized to tell their stories and push the boys to new heights. I’m glad that the things happening in the world right now provide a higher bar for them to reach for. I’m glad that they can no longer say it’s impossible for them to become president. I’m glad that when they look at charts of the leaders of this country, there will finally be one who looks like them.
I spent a lot of time on yesterday’s post. It was important to me to really get at some main points in as clear a manner as possible. But even though I spent two days reworking it, it never completely felt right. I never felt it had the simplistic punch to clearly explain where I was going.
This morning, I found the perfect words. They just aren’t my words. They are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I usually spend January reading speeches/sermons/writings from Dr King, not only for my own edification but as research for how to help the boys at The Hope Center grow. I was reading an excerpt from a sermon entitled “The Most Durable Power”, which Dr. King preached in November 1956 when I found the words I was trying to conjure up over the past two days.
Always be sure that you struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons. Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
Dr. King is speaking from a point of disadvantage in the racial struggle for justice in the United States. But project that philosophy onto the struggle in the Middle East right now, and it is a prophetic in-breaking for this day and age. That’s truth.
A larger excerpt of this sermon can be found here.
I learned my lesson the hard way on Monday when I shared the above video. I though it was helpful because it called on both sides of the conflict in Gaza to end the cycle of violence that is going on right now. It raised questions about how the United States should be involved in the conflict in light of the fact that we provide Israel with significant weaponry. In my mind I started asking questions about the role of the United States in this conflict. I started asking questions about what needs to happen for the escalating cycle of violence to pause long enough for some kind of sustainable solution to be found.
I should have posted those questions with the video. I made the assumption that everyone would be asking the same questions. As it turns out, most folks are asking questions about who started the conflict, which side is the “good” side, which wide is the “bad” side. Most of the debate leads down a path toward justifying as much violence as possible, especially reactive and retributive violence. The responses were swift and they were angry.
So time out. Back up. The comment spaces on Facebook are too limited. People move too quickly. One dude commented without even watching the video. (To his credit, he admitted he didn’t watch the video) I move so quickly that I don’t take time to explain why I find a video I’ve linked to interesting.
My bad. Let me rectify my mistake.
If you looking for the answers
Then you gotta ask the questions
-Lauryn Hill in “Forgive them Father”
The conflict we are now witnessing has a long and complicated history. Throughout the years, many players have entered the scene. Some show their motives openly while others are sneaky in their intentions and involvement. There are ethnic, geographic, religious and financial considerations all at play. Achieving any type of ceasefire looks like a difficult prospect with many possible pitfalls.
Ideally, I wish these problems could be solved without force and violence. But I’m a realist. People are going to use force. So what are reasonable uses of force? Just War Theory? Lex Talionis?
And what should the role of the US be in a situation like this? Historically, we have been an ally to Israel. This has taken a lot of different forms. One way we have shown our support is to supply Israel with weaponry. There were strings attached, however. Rep Kucinich is asking questions about whether or not Israel is abiding by the Arms Export control act.
It’s a reasonable question to raise. If the judgment comes back that they are, then that’s the verdict. But there is nothing wrong with posing the question. As an American, I question whether or not we should be an arms supplier. Being as though we are, I think we should always be questioning if those weapons are being used appropriately. Tactically, I disagree that it is appropriate to use fighter jets and cluster bombs in congested urban areas to target specific individuals. Admittedly, these targeted individuals are taking advantage of the situation, but there are more surgical and nuanced ways to pursue militia targets. Show of Force warfare against militia is not efficient nor is it highly effective and it causes too much collateral damage. Since this Show of Force is being executed with weapons supplied by my country, I’m going to ask questions.
We can chase down all our enemies
Bring them to their knees
We can bomb the world to pieces
But we can’t bomb it into peace
Michael Franti
I’m also asking if the path we are on now is a path to peace. As a matter of conscience, it pains me to know that hundreds of civilians have been killed in the last three weeks. If the individuals Israel is pursuing were captured or killed today, where would the situation stand? I contend we would have a large group of people who would be grieving and angry. When people are put in situations of great distress where they suffer great loss, they tend to take desperate measures and overreach. They cause great harm to their opponents, and the cycle of mutual destruction continues. This has been true of both sides throughout this war.
I’m prepared for nothing to be settled for at least two weeks. Israel and Hamas are smart. They know that right now they have a window where America’s scope is limited. Things started getting really bad 7 days before Christmas when the American public would be distracted and politicians would be checking out. Our economy is in the tank. There is a lot on the plate already, and we effectively have two Presidents at once though neither has the ability to act because we are in a transition period. Both sides have sufficient opportunity to beat the snot out of each other with little real pressure from the US, and they know it.
But that doesn’t mean we should stop asking questions. Ask whatever questions you want. As for me, I’m asking how we can come out of this using as little violence as possible. I’m asking where the true peacemakers are in this situation. I’m asking if there is a viable solution for a cease-fire that can lead to a long-term break from cyclical violence. And I’m asking everyone. The US, Israel, Hamas, Egypt, Iran. Go down the list. I’m willing to live in the gray and admit that there is no clear cut “good guys” and “bad guys”. I’m willing to admit that both sides have been victimized at times, and both sides have engaged in actions that were unnecessary. We are all invested in this thing and it’s going to take a group effort with mutual sacrifice to work it out.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
You heard it here first. Elli is going to be a fantastic big sister.
Different kids deal with new siblings in different ways. For instance, when Harmonee was born I was in denial. I didn’t want a sister. I wanted a cat. So I called her “fluffy” and made do the best I could. Cats would be a lot more appealing to me if you could put diapers on them. And if they were cute babies. I digress.
Difficult adjustments are understandable. If you are two or three and an only child, it can be tough to deal with incursion on your territory. Additionally, there is the challenge of developing appropriate expectations.
With Elli, our plan was to delay the grand unveiling as long as possible. A friend read in some magazine that if you start talking about a new sibling too early with your toddler, they can get bored with the idea over the course of the pregnancy. The idea makes sense. If you have been alive for 24 months, it can be hard to wait a little more than 1/3 the current span of your life for something really exciting. It’s hard enough for me to wait 2.5% of my lifespan.
Being the smart kid she is however, Elli was quick to the jive. She was living in a world where it seemed like every woman she sees on a regular basis was pregnant. When she found out that mommy had a baby in her tummy, it was almost expected. We then took the next couple of weeks sorting out that only mommy had a baby in her tummy, and neither daddy nor Elli were with child.
What has amazed me most during these opening months has been Elli’s level of awareness and concern for her little brother. It’s adorable. The only problem is that she is going to be disappointed in his activity level when he experiences emancipation. He will be a lumpy little fellow who will spend all of his time sleeping, drinking and pooping. There is a good chance she will be demanding a few more tricks. Like eating solid foods. The other day she attempted to feed her little brother pretzels through Stacy’s belly button. I had to explain to her that once you are born, belly buttons do nothing more than prove you are not an alien.
Throughout all the educational opportunities, I have been glad that she is caring and perceptive toward her little brother. If Stacy yawns, Elli furrows her brow and states “Zachary’s tired”. If Stacy remarks she needs something to eat, Elli comments that “Zachary’s hungry”. The other day she pretended to powder Stacy’s tummy, because Zachary needed powder on his bottom.
I’m sure we’ll have our adjustment phases. There will be days when we need UN mediation to work out who gets to use the bathroom first or sit in the front seat. But overall, I’m encouraged that Elli is going to be a great big sister.
Renew and Restore
