Spilt Wine

I am not sure who started it, but there is a game of blog tag going around. Though I tried, I wasn’t able to out run Flatlander on his skateboard. So, now that I am "IT", I will disclose the most private details about my life for the whole world to see/read.

Here are my lists of seven facts about me.

1. I eat salami after dinner almost every night.
2. I shave and brush my teeth while in the shower
3. I check the Dodger’s website everyday to see if there is any recent news
4. I sleep with a pillow over my head
5. I don’t like pork chops
6. I am scared of Catfish
7. Sometimes I like to listen to DC talk (That was a hard one to admit in public.)


Seven of my favorite movies

1. High Fidelity
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Big Fish
4. Star Wars (All of the them)
5. Major League
6. What about Bob
7. Joe vs the Volcano

Seven of my Favorite bands

1. Nirvana
2. Built to Spill
3. Modest Mouse
4. Death Cab for Cutie
5. Pixies
6. Talking Heads
7. REM

Seven of my favorite foods

1. Steak (rib-eye/tri-trip)
2. Spinach or Cheese Raviolis
3. Chow Mien
4. Vietnamese soup
5. Sushi
6. Pepperoni and Olive Pizza
7. Fish Tacos

Seven People to Tag!

1. Russ
2. Will
3. Jason (though I doubt he will play)
4. MGC
5. Tim
6. Scott
7. Bytor

Last night I went on a long walk with a cigar in hand. While on my walk I stopped in the middle of an undeveloped dirt field. I looked up into the dark sky and my attention fixated on an airplan. The complexity of airplanes has always puzzled me. All that weight and all of those people, hundreds of feet in the air, flying at 3, 4,5 hundred miles per hour; how does it do that?While watching the plane my attention moved the stars high above the plane, something even more complex, then I noticed faint clouds, loominated by the moon. At this moment, I realized how complex life is. The universe, planes, the dormant trees and bushes that surrounded me, my emotions, relationships, marriage, church, and life. Everything I am directly or indirectly involved in is complex. The turmoil of the Palestine elections, my friend's battle with cancer, and my job, all so complex.

I read somewhere that some mathematician just discover the largest prime number known to man, another complex feat for mankind. I began to reflect on God. He Himself is extremely complex. His power and glory is far beyond anything I can imagine. Then, there is Jesus, the Son of God, who appears to simplify life for us. As I was standing there in the middle of a dirt field, in awe of the complexity of life, I began to think of the simple things Jesus had said about life. " Love your God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself." The one without sin, cast the first stone." "Live life to the fullest." Take my yoke, for it is light."

I am glad Jesus came and simplified things for us.

"For many years now, I have taken to going to church less and less because I find little there of what I hunger for. It is a sense of the presence of God that I hunger for."
- Frederick Buechner

There is a lot of truth in this statement. I have a lot of friends right now that hunger. I hunger…

Winter Brew Play List

Mammas and Papas- California Dreaming
Bright Eyes- If Winter Ends
Velvet Teen- Naked Girl
Hayden- In September
The Shins- Celebrate Life
Ugly Casanova- Cat Faces
Unknown
Getup Kids- Most Depressing Song
Blue Oyster Cult- Don’t Fear the Reaper
Freddy Johnston- Bad Reputation
Pedro the Lion- Longest Winter
My Drug Hell- Girl at the Bus Stop
Folk Implosion- Fall into November
The Long Winters- Sent of Lime
Built to Spill- Stab
Modest Mouse- World at Large
White Stripes- One More Cup of Coffee
Velvet Underground- Sweet Nothing

If anyone would like a copy of this CD let me know. Flatlander, yours is going in the mail today.

The word/directive “GO” is mentioned approximately 168 times within the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is written 59 times within Matthew it’s self. We know God is always on the move, but what I have been wondering is, how much moving are we suppose to be doing? I tend to want God to come to me and though, He does meet us where we are at, I am wondering if I should be pursuing Him more often than I do? The word/directive “STAY” is only written in the whole New Testament 18 times, which makes me think we are to be going much, much more than we are to be staying.

For those who are reading this blog/thought, this is not about going or staying with a specific church, or ministry. I am thinking much bigger here. I am thinking and wondering along the lines of how much I or one stays within in our comfort zones opposed to going out of them. How much I or we stay within complacency opposed to going out of the redundant.

If anything, "going" a little bit more should prove to proviode some excitment and adventure.

God may I go, just point me in the right direction.

Sitting with friends; laughter and memories dance upon rising cigar smoke. Beer is a familiar taste that numbs the effect of the kryptonite. We all have our weakness and battles, though ours are unlike his and his is just like so many others. What makes superheroes super is their ability to over come their weaknesses. He is overcoming his despite his ongoing exposure to kryptonite. So, that night we celebrated life with laughter and memories that were just barley clearer than the cigar smoke while dancing with rhythmic beers.

While working in my office at home, I heard Gracie whining from the front room. She was pleading with Audrey to talk on the phone. With tears in her eyes she was persistently asking to talk to Nanna, who is Gracie’s maternal grandmother.

"I want to talk to Nanna" Gracie pleaded over and over.

As I walked in the room Audrey tried to redirect Gracie’s non-stop efforts towards me by telling Gracie "Go ask Daddy".

Gracie then turns to me with her big brown eyes filled with tears and says to me "Daddy, I want to talk to Nanna."

"Ok, why can’t she talk to Nanna?"

Which Audrey replied "thanks for backing me up."

Wait….What just happen?…..

While watching American Idol last night, I was thinking that a lot of my favorite singers would not pass the first round of the contest. Can you imagine what Simon would say to someone like Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Kurk Cobian, and every other singer who has made it big, without having a great voice? I kinda felt bad for some of the contestants who tried out and did not advance to the next audition.

I think there should be a show called, “American Idol Reject.” The purpose of the show would be to take those cut from the first round of American Idol and have them compete for a second shot at making it big. The contestants would compete against each other and would get coaching from maybe some well know singers. And at the end of the season, the winner would get a record deal. The winner would also get a bonus if their cd out sold the winner of American Idol.

I would watch a show like that.

"All there is to writing is having ideas. To learn to write is to learn to have ideas."
~Robert Frost


"A great poem is for ages and ages in common and for all degrees and pomplexions and all departments and sects and for a woman as much as a man and a man as much as a woman. A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning."
~Walt Whitman

Everything appears cleaner after a good rain. The streets are dirt free, the sky is bluer, the trees and grass are greener, and the air is crisp to breathe. You can feel the cleanliness of the air in lungs; it’s almost soul cleansing. It seems like you can see forever without the haze of fog or smog blocking your view of the mountains. You forget how beautiful life is sometimes, mainly due to all of the filth, grime, and dirt that attaches it’s self to it. But when the rain comes, it washes the filth away for just long enough for us to appreciate life’s beauty and to experience a sense of renewal.

I think a good cry does the same for the heart.

I have to say, as a wannabe writer, it is frustrating to have a moment like this one I am experiencing right now, and have no creative thought. I mean, if some good back ground music, with a couple of candles burning, a beer, and the window open so you can hear the rain fall outside doesn’t get the old noggin thinking and reflecting, what will?

I think I just realized my problem. Creative writing doesn’t come from the head, that’s fictional writing. Creative writing comes from the heart.

I don’t think I want to call it creative writing any more either. I think it should be called sincere writing.

So, do I have something sincere to say? No…..I wish I did.
But I will sincerely tell you that the rain is nice.

So, I went to the Visalia Youth Pastor Network Meeting yesterday and wow!
If you were to take a picture of all the people in the room and were to ask someone to find the person who doesn’t fit in or belong, the correct answer would be me. The group consists of people that are high energy, highly conservative, and maybe even a little zealous.

During the meeting, they promoted a Roe vs Wade memorial service for later this month. From my understanding, this is a memorial service for the unborn babies, fetuses, embroils or what ever you may want to call them and a call to prayer to have the Roe vs Wade decision over turned.

Maybe as Christians we would do better to spend our time praying for the women and their life circumstances, that which lead to their decision to have an abortion,( ie, promiscuity, adultery, rape, molest, poverty, age/youth, secretiveness, and ect..), rather than praying for aborted babies, and for the over turning of a Court decision? Maybe we should be praying for the healing and restoration for those women who suffer from regret, depression, and guilt after the abortion?

I don’t know, that’s just me….. I am the square peg among the round ones.