ALMOST SPRING POETRY SLAM!

if you're in town, please join us!

I'm in love with the ordinary

Each year, i put one of my fav. Death Cab songs up for New Years Eve, my least fav. holiday (even Boxing Day ranks higher IMO)



But i found that this year, i DO feel different.

actually, everything feels different. 2008 brought some massive changes. Kate and I were politically active, but never before at this level nor this loud and sure about our candidate. The First Black President. awesome!

This year we saw our closest friends give birth to a wonderful baby boy. i entered into the parish setting and felt that this is ABSOLUTELY what i'm supposed to do. i've found some great blogging friends and we're the "Canon" which is just been great to have regular comments to challenge and support.

And the biggest change, Kate and I are expecting. i can't wait to meet this kid! at first we thought it was a boy, but now we're thinking Tom-Boy! Given Kate and the women on my side of the family, this also feels right. What we're hoping for is a BABY!!! All we ask for is a healthy baby and a short labor for Mama, the gender is irrelevant.

I'm gearing up for a trip to Egypt and possibly Thailand in the summer. I've traveled before to Germany, but Egypt will be a whole 'nother ball game. Despite most assumptions, this is NOT a mission trip. we’ll be learning about the culture and history. it’s a two week stay where we learn about the Coptic Christians and Islam, largely, but we do have one synagoge visit scheduled.

the seminary is set on getting us out of our western mindset and show how globalization is a double-edged sword and not everyone thinks and acts like Americans or even Christians for that matter! and Christians don't even act like how we would define "Christian" here.

you can't see the water in which you swim until you're out of it. Germany changed my life and i can't wait to see who i am after Egypt (AE?) i’m excited! i mean, when is the next time i can travel abroad with my best friends? I just hope that Jim, Steve, and I are still friends after this ;-)

Back to Boogie, Kate and I always say we should relish this time, as it's the last "us" time we'll have for awhile. last time we can go out without a baby-sitter. last time we can pull up and go to a movie at the drop of a hat. as this song states, "The world we love forever gone".


sorry for the anime video, just focus on the song ;-)

but we can't wait to be parents. after 9 years of being together, Kate and I are finding a whole new level of our relationship. it's been wonderful.

to quote the song again:

It might seem like a dream, but it's real to me.
Don't it feel like sunshine after all.

May your 2009 be blessed! Happy New Year!

A New Seminary Metaphor

Last year, I wrote a letter to a future seminarian comparing their journey to wine grapes.

When talking to Chris a few weeks ago, he mentioned how easy it is to get overwhelmed here. I stated that there are 3 possible responses to being overwhelmed, I now will say 4:

1. Do Nothing. There's simply too much, best just to sit in class and see what topics are brought up from the readings rather than reading them.
2. Trudge Through It. Might not get to all readings, but cover enough to feel comfortable.
3. Speed Read. Skim all of the materials. You cover all the stuff but the comprehension rate suffers. I'm most guilty of this.
4. Read It All. This means you will sacrifice all community interaction, relationships, and your sleep suffers greatly.

My new metaphor for seminary shows my video game bias as it is particularly violent, but i think it gets the point across. Leadership NOW! peeps will prolly recognize this metaphor (as i have no real original materal, just constantly rehash old stuff ;-)).

Seminary is like a ZOMBIE-INVASION.

There is an outslaught of some-what dangerous looking things heading your way and it's easy to get overwhelmed here. How to survive a zombie-invasion is quite easy. You pick off the ones closest to you and keep aware of where your ammo is. Those who panic and aren't focused will be removed of their brains. Keep your feet moving, only rest when you've check all possible points-of-entry and keep your reloading stations in mind.

If you loose sight of the ammo stations, the profs will point you to sites where you can pick up new weapons. profs are smart enough to know how best to equip you, they won't give you Process Theology weapons if you're a Karl Barth wielder and vice versa.

like i said, rather violent, but shows my age and my addiction to video games and horror movies. RAWK ON!

Lay Your Burdens Down

Blair thought he was clever, he thought he knew my secret. And yes, he got it partly right... I am a cylon and yes I do have a plan. What Blair failed to realize is who else would be a cylon... Yes, you're looking at it... The new Airforce One!! Obama is NOT a socialist, muslim, terrorist be-friend'n human, he's a CYLON! Note the message of hope and love of neighbor and how he never says "gods" but "God" and that God is usually involved with love somehow.

We have tried before but the American public saw right through our disguises. John Kerry and Al Gore were early models, so their stiff, robotic functions were apparent. Not so with the new models.

And time for the other secret... speaking of new models, Lindon Version 2.0 will be downloading in early April. Kate and I have made a hybrid and will be proud parents!!!! We're calling this model "Boogie" because s/he looks like s/he's dancing when they're on the ultrasound (alien pic is from 9/11/08, Kate's currently at 18 weeks). We're not finding out the sex because 1. we already know cause we're Cylons, and we have a plan and 2. there are so few surprises left in the world, we figured we'll hit you with three.. a Cylon President, a Lindon Hybrid and the awesome name of Boogie (we're leaning toward for a boy Landon Lincoln Lindon or for a girl Madison Addison Lindon)

So how's that Blair? Didn't know all the secrets did ya? ;-)

It's Been a Summer

Wow has this summer flown by! Now it's into my fav. time of year, fall! And fall means FOOTBALL! YAY!

So this summer has proved to be quite a busy and fun one. My internship at Trinity Reformed as been going great and I get to give three more sermons before the year is out. Those dates are Sept 21 (sermon title: Jesus is Punk Rock), Nov. 9, and Nov. 30. Exciting times! I've learned a lot so far on the state of the healthcare system in the U.S., how theology can impact and potentially ruin lives, and how warm and loving people can be.

Classes are starting up here in two weeks, so i'm working on the sermons and stuff through advent to get ahead before i'm overwhelmed by my class schedule. I'm taking worship, Paul and the early church, history of Christianity, and a class to prepare us to go to Egypt in January! Lots of crazy stuff coming up.

The coolest thing net-wise is getting to know some kindred spirits here and reconnecting with some that we left behind in Maryland. Dividing by Zero has kept close contact since we've left and that's a huge blessing. John T. and Society VS provide a skewed view of the world that is both helpful and innovative. Confessions of Seminarians and De-Conversion have taught me how to talk with people I might not always agree with, with respect and dignity.

Summer out! Bring on the football and the colorful leaves!

Need to Kill Some Time?

Have y'all seen LOLCatz? If not why not? And now they are revising the Bible. Yes, that's right - now you can read the bible in a whole different way - translated to kitty pidgin. It's BRILLIANT! It's the LOLCAT Bible Translation

I just started with Genesis and it cracked me right up:

1. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat was invisible, and he maded the skiez and da earths, but he did not eated it.

2. The earths wus witout shapez and wus dark and scary and stuffs, and he rode invisible bike over teh waterz.

3. And Ceiling Cat sayz, i can has light, and teh light wuz.

This wonderful creation isn't complete yet, so anyone who might wanna help translating the bible to kitty pidgin, is more than welcome.

They even have a section for Awgooments For Ceiling Cat and Awgooments Not for Ceiling Cat.. here are two for and two against:

Pascal's Wagar
Pascal wus clever kitteh hu wus laik: "I am not knoin if teh Ceiling Cat is reel." Oh noes! But Pascal was thinkin an thinkin, an he wus laik "If I is beleefin in teh Ceiling Cat, and he is reel, I will be gettin cheezburger. But if I has no beleefin in teh Ceiling Cat, and he is reel, I will be getting pwned. If there no Ceiling Cat, no matter anywai. I think I is beleefin in teh Ceiling Cat."

Morals
All teh kittehs are knowing wut is gud and wut is no gud. Cheezburgers be good, and pwnin ur eminies is no gud. How ar we knowing these tings if Ceiling Cat has not tuwd us?! Ceiling Cat tells all teh kittehs wut is gud and wut is no good, so we knows wut to do. In a pewfec wold doowin gud wud be ruwaded bai hapines butt dis aint alwaiys rite cos dis wun tiem ia wus leik "hai hows yu" an he wus leik "GTFO". Dis means dat der mus be moar leif to reewad us wit teh cheezburgerz we deeservs, an dat mus be Ceiling Cat. kaythnxbai.




Awgooment from No Has Cheezburger
If Ceiling Cat wuz reel, He iz gud kitteh nd haz teh powerz to pwn evrywun. But if Ceiling Cat wuz gud kitteh, then He wants all teh kittehs to haz cheezburger. Nd if Ceiling Cat has powerz to pwn evrywun, He haz powerz tu gives all teh kittehs cheezburger. But sum kittehs no has cheezburger. :'( So Ceiling Cat iz not reel.

(Sum n00bs say this iz becoz Ceiling Cat gived us Free Will, and teh reel reason some kittehs no has cheezburger is becoz other kittehs yuze Free Willz tu steel cheezburger and eaten it--not Ceiling Cat's fault! But this splaination not plausibling: everycat knowz that cheezburger iz better than Free Will. kthxbye)

Awgooments frum Eevul in teh Urfs
He, liek, nevr duz anyfing. An der iz lots ov bad fings in wurldz. Liek, I wuz in teh best warm spot on teh rug, but den it moovd, an Iz cood not be in it anymoar. WAI, CEILING CAT, WAI??? WAI YU SO CROOL??? So, him not exist. An teh Ceiling Cat sed tu kill teh Jews, but wez not ded yet! LOLZ! Yu looz!


"I iz in ur bible, messin wit ur faiths"

Waterboard your Friends for Fun and Profit!

this past two weeks have been busy-busy! first my buddy Brian and I plant a garden.. of course we did it all manly and junk with beers, cigars, and punk rawk music! then someone steals my flower pot... so i contemplate on the meaning of life and find meaning it impermeance... then i go to a Washington Capitals game with my buddy Jim and watch them lose to the Flyers... ugh.

so then i return and take Sonny out for a walk and LOW AND BEHOLD!!!! THE FLOWER POT HAS RETURNED! Well this prompts me to spiral into a existential crisis. what does this mean? i prayed and found meaning in the loss and now it's back! does this mean i start preaching a Joel Osteen "pray and get rich" style prosperity gospel? now my suspicions are up and i figure it's an inside job... so i decide to politely question 5 of my closest friends using a technique that the president says isn't torture. You can really have fun with waterboarding!

the problem with this is that all 5 friends confessed to taking the flower pot. it's a small pot, so that doesn't make any sense... and those friends have ceased returning my phone calls...umm... wonder why.

maybe i have a quantum flower pot that blinks in and out of existence. sweet! the moral of all this silliness is that never live close to a friend whose wife likes to "borrow" things when she's a little tipsy. ;-)

i've completed my new testament paper on John 14 (the way, truth and life passage) and found some cool conclusions. I'm finishing my Jewish Scriptures paper on Jonah and will report back on that.. should be fun! Yesterday, Kate, Jim and his theive'n wife (;-)) and I went and saw Barack Obama make a stop at the Lancaster train station on his whistle stop tour. I really hope he gets the nomination. I like his policies and his positive and inspiring speeches. we need change from the same ol' same ol' and i believe he's the candidate to do it.

The LTS Silent Auction is going on this week as well! If you're in the area, please head to the second floor of Mayer Commons and check it out! Thanks to Brian for helping me set it up! RAWK!



This weekend Kate and I are gonna see my family at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to see the Rolex 3 Day Eventing. I LOVE eventing. Same horse has to compete in Dressage (control and precision), Cross Country (endurance and courage) and High Jump (athleticism). It's really quite something to watch. I'm really excited for it.

What are you all up to? What other lessons can i get from the flower pot? how about these flower pots? hope all is well with you dear reader! Blessings!

Pearls before Swine

The Art Guild

I'm creating a new group here at the seminary... the LTS Artist Guild! You can find the blog here...

Here's the Manifesto:

In the spirit of the TH320, Christianity and the Visual Arts we seek to continue to use art as a medium to communicate the transcendent. We seek to awaken the mummified visual circuitry of the Protestant Tradition. Here is how we'll seek to do it:

Each month a theme will be given out and the members of this guild will compose an art work based on this theme. This artwork can be done in any medium and style. At the end of each month the art shall be posted here and discussed.

Pretty cool huh? Very excited to get it up and running!

Happy Decemberween!

Love that Homestarunner!

Remember, Decemberween is inside all of us! So says all the nasty ol' puppets. But it's still not better than your hot cousin.

It's a real statement on what the season has become. Hopefully yours will be filled with friends and family and no one tell'n ya to "Shut up! To one and all o' dang y'all!"

Happy holidays to all!



how cool is that?!

Advent message from: David M. Griebner, Riverside UMC

"During Advent I have chosen to reflect on some gifts you cannot put on a credit card. Today’s message is about the gift of forgiveness. If I had the time I would love to ask each of you a question. Here’s the question: what do you do just because you are a follower of Jesus? What do you do that you really can’t explain to someone except to say, I did that because I love Jesus? It might be some act of kindness, or generosity, or perhaps could it be forgiveness? In many cases forgiveness is one of those things you just can’t explain. The world around us is much more about keeping score; forgiveness is about erasing the score. So I think forgiveness qualifies as something we might do just because we are following the way of Jesus."

Tastes like Liberty

Hey Y'all!

With all this reading from women's Bible commentary and thinking and such, i think i'm forgetting what it means to be a man... so i found this reminder!



happy turkey-ween everybody! remember, don't be a jerky, fry that turkey!

All These Things That I've Done

So we're closing out the first semester of seminary and holy crap, what a start! I've absolutely love it here in seminary. i feel like a squirrel on crack! speaking of which, what would a squirrel preacher look like? i just get excited by the word excited anymore. and no, not in that way you sicko! so what's been happening?!

well first off Jason and Lindsay finally got married! and what a shin-dig! talk about your fancy-schmancy parties. kate and i had a blast and it was great to see all of J&L's friends!

I must say that i equate the first semester to just getting our facts straight. the whole first semester is challenge'n our base assumptions as to what the bible and religion in general mean to us as well as what we expect from both. this is happen'n both inside and outside the classroom. i'm grateful to have this challenge as complexity and change is what i live for.

some new friends include an ex-EMT, a college prof from VT, a couple of cute halloweenies like myself, a earthy-Christian, one heck of a smart library guy who shares kate's and my love of BATTLESTAR, and too many others to mention here. it is very rewarding and i don't want to think of where i'd be without these ppl.

so to sum up my experience in a video, it'd have to be this to demostrate how i feel as i go through these deconstructionalist, post-modern processes with my new friends (and Kate of course!)

CMAs, Scary Stories, and GOBLINS!

So I told my Ma that i don't like today's country and said i wouldn't be watching the CMA's. but kate and i checked it out and then barely turned the channel. we really loved carrie underwood's song "so small" i couldn't find a good copy of the song, but here's a cover.


we also liked Taylor Swift! This song really brought us back to being bf & gf!


so Ma's pretty smart! Although we still can't stand Sugarland.. sounds like the lady swallowed a cat and is try'n unsuccessfully to bring it back up. and the guy who sings "these are my ppl" is boring and i'm not a fan of these types of songs. YAY US! YOU GUYS DON'T KNOW SO QUIT ACT'N LIKE YOU DO type songs suck. so yay for the rest of country music! also Kitchen Nightmares is like TV Crack Goodness!

Here's random videos to recap some past events that i'd like to share:

Here's Kate telling me a scary story for halloween:


Just when you think that getting stairs for your dog is the best invention ever, here comes the trump card!

Kate and i have so much trouble with Zerrag, but since we got the Goblin Steps, all is well in the world!

Dinesta

Not getting much sleep recently due to the papers.. here's what i've started using drugs to help! aaah... drugs.. they're my new god now! (hi Jimmy! :-))



also found here

i however see Denny, a 17ft allosuarus... however that's nothing new. Denny's been chill'n with my since elementry school.. i think he's still dating his high school sweetheart Erin B.!

Excellent time to be a Dorky Democrat!

I try, i really do try to see both sides. I've always said that if McCain ran for office, i'd vote for him. However there seems to be a discrepancy between the man McCain and the candidate McCain. Here's an example of what i mean:



Holy Monkey Turds! A candidate that talks out of both sides of his mouth?! Who'd heard of that? Not in these parts! So that's nothing new, but what really caught my attention was this Washington Post article Kate found. The issue of campaign finance is what drew me to John. Johnny and i would spend long nights over a glass of Pinot Noir and gaze into each others eyes and talk about ending soft money and limiting spending to a socially responsible level. But now i see he's been cheating on me. That night in Morrocco meant nothing to me JOHN! We're over! You hear me! And stop calling me for booty calls between tuesday and thursday! We both know you're just jet setting back to your wife for the "congressional weekend". ass.


In other news, a favorite book of mine is coming to comics!



While a favorite comic is going to HBO!The Preacher is coming to HBO! Okay, God goes away on vacation and the battle between Heaven and Hell rages might be a weak plot... but when you're sixteen and all hormones... man did that sound cool!

And finally to prove that i'm a massive dork, here's a funny little spoof on some game'n platforms that i don't agree with... but it's funny!

Wii Vs. PS3 Commercial

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