*I got a new bed for dirt cheap (I've been sleeping on the floor since I got to Abilene)
*A bird flew into my chimney today and then it was flying around my house for like 5 minutes
*I bought a new computer (though it's not here yet)
*I'm writing a music video for one of my friends' bands.
*Jesus and the Hip Hop Prophets is going really well. The School newspaper wrote an article about it. Check it out.
*I have stomach problems, real bad ones and I'm going in for tests and stuff.
There's a lot of good stuff happening lately. I'm just trying not to get lost in it.
If you guys could, please pray for my friends Kenneth and Tripp. Kenneth is going through some pretty difficult family stuff and Tripp had his car windows broken into for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
For those of you who haven't heard Derek Webb before... I invite you to listen to his latest album Mockingbird FOR FREE!!!
FREE DEREK WEBB
This guy is a huge influence into my life, so if that means anything and you haven't heard Derek Webb's music, definitely give him a listen...
Besides, what beats free music?
FREE DEREK WEBB
This guy is a huge influence into my life, so if that means anything and you haven't heard Derek Webb's music, definitely give him a listen...
Besides, what beats free music?
Monday, September 11, 2006
The Abilene Subculture... No, just Culture
I'm thinking about culture tonight. In Abilene, it's a mix of relationships that all lead to marriage and overwhelmingly positive Christianity filled with language that most people won't admit to not understanding (rather they cheer right along, speaking words that they aren't quite sure what they mean). It's all inspired by churches that exist on almost every corner. This sounds a little harsh, let me explain.
I guess what I'm wondering tonight is why interaction between people is so much different in San Antonio with the schools there than in a place like Abilene, TX. And I guess the most nagging of questions is why do I feel like my mindset changes when I go to Abilene. For instance, in San Antonio when I am hanging out with girls my age, I feel fine without the subconscious question lingering in my mind, "Does she want to be my friend so we'll get married?" Yet. When I come to Abilene, I cannot make eye contact with a girl without second guessing her intentions for looking at me... either that or the most awkward and ashamed of questions, "Could I marry this girl?" God only knows how much I hate that this question floats around in my mind because it wasn't until I came to Abilene that I felt the need to be in a relationship. In high school, it was a rare occasion for me to date or even consider a relationship, instead I was just someone who went on making great friendships with people without ever experiencing the boding sense of a pressured relationship. In fact, even now when I am home with those people (specifically girls) I feel no pressure to be anything but their friend. Yet, with girls from Abilene I feel almost like I am in a war that consists of all kinds of spies and double agents... and you can't be too sure who's on who's side. It is nothing against the girls in Abilene, no this is aimed at the culture Abilene has created for itself. A culture that has billboards for hospitals in Abilene that says, "When it Comes to Babies in Abilene, We Rock" and all on the billboard, babies everywhere... just lots and lots of babies, black babies, brown babies, white babies, you name it, babies everywhere.
Also, Abilene is comprised of a huge dose of Christian Subculture. Christianity encountering Culture looks more like "Simon and Godfunkel" than it does "Simon and Garfunkel", or "N'Christ" than "N'Sync", or "Britney Speaks...about JESUS!" than "Britney Spears"... It's not encountering culture, its substituting comfortable things for the things that bother us in what we term as "secular culture." I sat in on some interviews today where some girls were telling why they wanted to be apart of a certain organization, and they used a lot of fancy Christian terms that sounded really nice. Now, I'm not one to say that they aren't true about those girls, or that those girls don't understand what they are saying... But it makes me skeptical when everyone is saying it, almost in the same sense that I am skeptical about getting married because all of a sudden everyone within 5 miles of my house is doing it. All of a sudden, the thing that seemed to be unique seems like a fleeting fad. I am thinking about David, who wrote many beautiful Psalms that we read in our bibles today. Yet, David was a man who had a number of horrible seasons in his life: adultery, murder, people doubting his abilities, betrayal, all mixed with a few death threats. I mean, life wasn't a basket of lemons and sugar all of the time.... instead it was a sort of somber song that sang to David of tragedy and of appreciating God and his anointing in times of sorrow, regret, and loneliness. This is perhaps, why David is one of my favourite people. Because yeah that language is there, but man that guy knew what he was saying because he felt it. It was boiling in his blood, and was purged by ink on a script and now I read it in my room... but I can't reproduce that just by repeating those same words. No, I've got to feel it and I've got to speak it in my soul and spill it from my tongue.
Don't get me wrong, though, because I love Abilene and through this town I've gotten to know so many people. But in Abilene, it is a temptation to be friendly with people and not really their friend... and how to do that is through pressured relationships and misused language.
"Abilene, Abilene,
Prettiest Town I've Ever Seen."
I guess what I'm wondering tonight is why interaction between people is so much different in San Antonio with the schools there than in a place like Abilene, TX. And I guess the most nagging of questions is why do I feel like my mindset changes when I go to Abilene. For instance, in San Antonio when I am hanging out with girls my age, I feel fine without the subconscious question lingering in my mind, "Does she want to be my friend so we'll get married?" Yet. When I come to Abilene, I cannot make eye contact with a girl without second guessing her intentions for looking at me... either that or the most awkward and ashamed of questions, "Could I marry this girl?" God only knows how much I hate that this question floats around in my mind because it wasn't until I came to Abilene that I felt the need to be in a relationship. In high school, it was a rare occasion for me to date or even consider a relationship, instead I was just someone who went on making great friendships with people without ever experiencing the boding sense of a pressured relationship. In fact, even now when I am home with those people (specifically girls) I feel no pressure to be anything but their friend. Yet, with girls from Abilene I feel almost like I am in a war that consists of all kinds of spies and double agents... and you can't be too sure who's on who's side. It is nothing against the girls in Abilene, no this is aimed at the culture Abilene has created for itself. A culture that has billboards for hospitals in Abilene that says, "When it Comes to Babies in Abilene, We Rock" and all on the billboard, babies everywhere... just lots and lots of babies, black babies, brown babies, white babies, you name it, babies everywhere.
Also, Abilene is comprised of a huge dose of Christian Subculture. Christianity encountering Culture looks more like "Simon and Godfunkel" than it does "Simon and Garfunkel", or "N'Christ" than "N'Sync", or "Britney Speaks...about JESUS!" than "Britney Spears"... It's not encountering culture, its substituting comfortable things for the things that bother us in what we term as "secular culture." I sat in on some interviews today where some girls were telling why they wanted to be apart of a certain organization, and they used a lot of fancy Christian terms that sounded really nice. Now, I'm not one to say that they aren't true about those girls, or that those girls don't understand what they are saying... But it makes me skeptical when everyone is saying it, almost in the same sense that I am skeptical about getting married because all of a sudden everyone within 5 miles of my house is doing it. All of a sudden, the thing that seemed to be unique seems like a fleeting fad. I am thinking about David, who wrote many beautiful Psalms that we read in our bibles today. Yet, David was a man who had a number of horrible seasons in his life: adultery, murder, people doubting his abilities, betrayal, all mixed with a few death threats. I mean, life wasn't a basket of lemons and sugar all of the time.... instead it was a sort of somber song that sang to David of tragedy and of appreciating God and his anointing in times of sorrow, regret, and loneliness. This is perhaps, why David is one of my favourite people. Because yeah that language is there, but man that guy knew what he was saying because he felt it. It was boiling in his blood, and was purged by ink on a script and now I read it in my room... but I can't reproduce that just by repeating those same words. No, I've got to feel it and I've got to speak it in my soul and spill it from my tongue.
Don't get me wrong, though, because I love Abilene and through this town I've gotten to know so many people. But in Abilene, it is a temptation to be friendly with people and not really their friend... and how to do that is through pressured relationships and misused language.
"Abilene, Abilene,
Prettiest Town I've Ever Seen."
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Last night I spoke with my friend Grant and he told me of how most people are all just being friendly to one another appeasing each others social needs. It was kind of sad honestly because I think it may be true for some people.
It made me think of this guy I've known who would always tell me he was going to attend this or that or something other of either mine or my friends. Like if one of my friends had a bunch of football games, he would say, "I'll be there," but in all of those he's never shown actually shown up. And honestly that's fine, but I hope what Grant said isn't true about the community I live in as well. I hope that we're all not just appeasing one another's social needs because we think of each other as tools, or idiots who don't have a personality outside of being a social fiend.
I don't think that's why we're made, I think we're made for relationships and I hope we model that everyday... even if we don't intend to be best friends with that person for the rest of our lives, I hope we model to them that people are capable of loving and being honest.
It made me think of this guy I've known who would always tell me he was going to attend this or that or something other of either mine or my friends. Like if one of my friends had a bunch of football games, he would say, "I'll be there," but in all of those he's never shown actually shown up. And honestly that's fine, but I hope what Grant said isn't true about the community I live in as well. I hope that we're all not just appeasing one another's social needs because we think of each other as tools, or idiots who don't have a personality outside of being a social fiend.
I don't think that's why we're made, I think we're made for relationships and I hope we model that everyday... even if we don't intend to be best friends with that person for the rest of our lives, I hope we model to them that people are capable of loving and being honest.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
It all begins tomorrow...
If you have time to pray for me,
please do.
Tomorrow starts 18:38 chapel and "Jesus and the Hip Hop Prophets" and I'm responsible for both of them tomorrow.
Please pray that God would be present at both events and that I wouldn't be afraid to let him work through me.
please do.
Tomorrow starts 18:38 chapel and "Jesus and the Hip Hop Prophets" and I'm responsible for both of them tomorrow.
Please pray that God would be present at both events and that I wouldn't be afraid to let him work through me.
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