weekend

The weekend is coming!!! Unfortunately I have recieved two pastoral messages. I am looking forward to the "expereince" in a resume and ministerial sort of way, but both of them are difficult situations. 1. I will be doing a funeral for a 4 year old on Sunday. 2. I will talk in the near future to a family about their young father's terminal cancer. Kids are 5th grade and younger. Anyway, sorry to bring gloom to the blog.

Happier Notes:
Duke beat Florida State last night to the chants of " up two touchdowns (clap clap clapclapclap) and " FOOT BALL SCHOOL --- FOOTBALLSCHOOL" All of our clapping was in the shape of the gator clap as well.
Enjoy the SuperBowl. I hope Carolina wins cause I live here and I love the Dolphins and hate the rest of the AFC East.

And Finally, 6 Days to Duke V Carolina 1.

Visit Tom's Blog and leave good feedback for him. He is new to the community and is a good guy. We shared a ghetto apartment our senior year at baylor with 4 other goof balls like ourselves. Well tom is not really a goofball, but is great.

let it snow!!!

I am not really a homebody, but sometimes I dont have a choice. The number of days that I have not gone somewhere in my car since we moved into our house in raleigh is like 2. One was yesterday and I dont know the other but I am sure there was one.

But Sunday at 10am it started to snow here in the south thanks to the clashing of a cold front from the north and some moisture from gulf. It snowed on sunday and sleeted sunday night into monday. Monday brought freezing rain and the first day in the house. I escaped to helios only to find my computer crapping out.
Tuesday was the house all day. It was nice but a little boring. The day ended with a veiwing of Keeping the Faith, a movie i recomend you see at least once, and then bed. Today the roads have started to melt and we can get out of the house again.

The kids of the are have missed 3 days of school and Church has been cancelled for tonight. I am spending lots of time on the net today catching up on some things I need to do and soon will be back to reading for classes which I missed this week. The weather was fun, and since I have a Jeep I like to drive in it when I can.

Trouncing over snowbanks and sliding though the icy roads in 4wd makes the 359 days a year that it sucks to drive a jeep all worth it.
Hopefully more will come before the winter ends, but maybe on a wednesday and thursday this time so I wont miss school. I actually like going and hate missing. I have only about 12 weeks left of this stuff and want to get all I can out of it.
peace

Why

I have wanted to ask these questions for a while and I ask them sincerely. I respect your opinions, at least those of you who acknowledge who you really are.
Why does everyone say that they are "over" Dave Matthews?
I know that he is still making music that sound like it did in 1995 but other bands like the dead never changed either.
There is continuity in the sound of any band that last for a long time.
What I really like about his music is the way that he deals with ideas of faith and life. Much of his music deals with
issues of race wrongdoing, and our spiritual lives. Don't drink the water reminds us of white conquest of indians and
african tribes. Another song states "now you are nailing God to a tree and saying FORGIVE ME, FORGIVE ME!!" yeah
like only every day right? Or what abour Grey Street, someone trapped without meaning and purpose.
I could go on but my mission here is not to convince you, but to pose the question, why are we over songs that ask these questions? I guess I am drawn to the words as much if not more that to the "beat."

Why is it cooler to list music on your blog that is new, and forthcoming, and to list people that are not mainstream yet?
I don't really have time to search out new music, so I end up taking advice from others on who I should try. For example: I thought I was on the cutting edge of this outkast thing only to find out that real rap fans have been listening for 10 years.

Is there anything legitimate on top 40 radio anymore?
It seems like I am going to have to hate everything played on my local Clearchannel (the music devil) station if I want to pretent to be a music connisour. I don't like britney, or seanpaul, or christina, or clay, or rueben, or (insert flavor of the week here) but are they bad music or are we just against they because we dont like machine that turned them out? We don't like lots of stuff that comes out of nashville but we accept Dave Crowder and Shaun Groves..

Finally, I think i am done for now. I have put myself in a meloncholy mood writing this but I just wonder why we can get critized for liking music that is just normal? I like Dave Matthews and always will and I dont think anyone should have to apologize for their tastes in music.
A last note: this blog does not come as a respone to the comments on the blog below, thought it may seem that way. I actually have a mental list of topics I want to blog about and this was on my mind during our recent snowstorm. The comments just gave timelyness to the questions.
grace and peace to you all.


ps. if you are intersted in some thought provoking dm songs from this new album, check out save me and gravedigger, stay or leave is my personal favorite though.

Friday

Well it is Friday and I have quite a bit of stuff to do. I have to work at church, meet with a task force leader and our ass. Pastor, David, if he goes to work today. I have to plan a work day which is tomorrow. And then I have a bunch of hours of reading for class next Monday and Tuesday. Therefore, I am at helio's drinking a smoothie and coffee and typing on a blog that no one reads, (don't be offended if you do read, it is just to underscore the procrastination that I am involved in at the moment).
Anyway, I need a "local celebrity" to speak at a Valentines Banquet at church on Feb. 15. This is the kind of thing you should book months in advance which is why I am 4 weeks out trying to do it. If you have any ideas that are feasible, coach K and Dean Smith are probably not options, let me know in the comments section.
ENGLAND
Natalie and I have friends, Greg and Molly Moore who are serving in England as Methodist Ministers for a year. Officially Greg is the minister and Molly works as some school that looks like Hogwarts (I am taking her word for it because I have never seen or spelled hogwarts before). They have pictures of the great country and their travels on their website, check it out.
DUKE
Finally, our beloved basketball team has been on a roll of late. Shooting well and playing Good defense, I hope they can hold out until April. It would be a great season to graduate after.

big game

Watch Duke v Maryland on ESPN tonight at 9 eastern. I will be rushing home from church to catch the 2nd half and to hang out with Natalie and UB too of course. It is a big game and I hope Duke continues the winning streak.

Best Money Spent

I got to spend last weekend snowboarding in the mountains of NC and I have to say that it was one of the best weekends of the winter for me. I really love snowboarding. (I am not really that good, but I can get down the mountain without impailing myself or others and I can get off the lift without creating a human speedbump for those in the chair behind me.) But what a rush: crusing down the mountian, (big hill here out east) cool wind on your face, great view ahead, blowing by the beginners on the intermediate slopes. There are few things like it. I know some people love the beach and get to go there for spring break, but if I had my choice, I would hit the mountains. If you have not snowboarded before, you should try it, especially if you are under the age of 25. I know it takes a day of sittin' on your rear to learn the sport, but 4 years later, the day on my rear has paid for itself over and over again. This trip was some of the best money our youth ministry has spent this year.

Rip 'em tear 'em up give 'em hell DUKE!

I had the priviledge of attending last night's Duke basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. We played NC State, an in town rival, for the early lead in the ACC. It was truly and amazing experience. Being at a Duke home basketball game is one of the most unique and special sporting experiences that anyone can ever experinece.
The building is small, 10,000 people pile in, shoulder to shoulder, and it is two hours of cheering, screaming, joy, and pain. I have been to the olympics (saw Michael Johnson set the World Record in the 200), the Stanley Cup finals, and many other football and baksetball games, and this does not really compare. Certainly seeing world records set and Gold medals won was an amazing expereince, but seeing Duke Beat carolina or trounce State like thy did last night is at least a tie for first in my book.
The dunk you are looking at happend right in front of me, I was third row behind the basket where Duke shot in the second half. I had a great view and like ben's audio adrenaline concert, It is something i will never forget. Everytime I am at a game I feel blessed and wish that all of the people I know and love and even people I dont love could expereince it. Thank you DUKE for great tickets, a great game, and some of the best sporting expereinces of my life.

Finally, if you have read this far, I thought I would let you in on a few of the cheers from last night. You see, the cheering of the fans is amazing and really gets in the head of the other team. Here is a sample of last night's cheers:
1. "If you can't Go to college, Go to state" (this is the staple Duke v State cheer)
2. section 1: "BIG"
Section 2: "HIGH"
section 3: "SCHOOL"
all in unison quickly " BIG HIGH SCHOOL!" this cheer repeats over and over
3. After Marchs Melvin fumbles the ball and turns it over: "YOU cant Dribble" clap clap clapclapclap
4. Various taunts of Julius Hodge, state's best player
5. "OUR HOUSE"
6. "We Want Wake, We Want Wake!"
7. and since no group of Cameron Crazies gets together without sending the Tarheels to "hell", the state cheer evolves into this:
"If you cant go to college go to state,
if you cant go to state go to jail,
if you cant go to jail, go to hell,
go to hell carolina go to hell!!!"

Cameron Crazies, a wild and profane bunch of students. Wish you were there.

pictures from last night

sports news

I couldn't Blog yesterday, but I wanted to congratulate the Baylor Women for winning a game over Texas. I am looking forward to an NCAA tournament bid and maybe I can support them if they get put in the region that plays here in Durham at Cameron Indoor Satdium.
If you are in Waco, you should support our Baylor Womens basketball team. I know many might be able to reflect upon all of the tedious things about womens basketball but...well, just go support them so that we can stay in the bigXII.

Updates

I updated the blog today with some different music I have been listening to and a few of the books I have to read this semester.
I have gotten into reading fiction lately and I really enjoyed Greg Garrett's Cycling. It is not a difficult book to read, but is a fun and sad story about a guy in waco. He is a little bit like the dude. It is a good read with an interesting ending. It probably won't change your world but might keep you from the "evil" tv for a while.

Finally. I am taking a class on the history of missions from america with Grant Wacker. For this class I will have to do a project/paper of about 15-20 pages. The possibilities are endless so long as it pertians to missions. My initial thought is looking at Hollywood's preception of missions through the matrix trilogy. I would entertain your thought on the subject. I know Chris Seay wrote on the matrix already, and many others have as well, but I am not sure if they have dealt with this angle at all. If you know of someplace it has been dealt with, please tell me becuase I don't want to do something that has already been done.
peace to you all

the last second day

Today's title is not because I am sappy or emotional today, I just liked the title of yesterday's blog and thought I would continue.
I am realizing that sometimes, lots of the time I just want to be lazy, like the dude. I like the dude, but he doesnt really exist. I like meaningful work, but sometimes I shy away from that which seems hard. I like the little things in life, Dunkin Donuts coffee, the little time I have with my xBox, real conversations with people i hang out with at church and school, time with Natalie and my dog, and getting interesting things accomplished, BUT, sometimes it is little tasks that overwhelm me and I just keep putting them off. For Example: I am taking about 14 people skiing this weekend. I have to call 3 of them about their personal dimensions for fitting for snowboards. I cant seem to muster up the energy to spend 10 minutes on the phone with them. I have not had time at the right time in the past few days but still, I cant do it. And, as I sit here typing nonsense the guy next to me is intensely studying hebrew, the girl across from me is typing and reseatching and everyone else has a thick book and at least pretending to study. Me, I got up at 9, showered, fed the dog and myself, got DD coffee, came to the reading room and have been checking email, adjusting my fantasy hockey team and blogging now for about 35 minutes. Sure all of this takes time, but I got a book to read. SO, after I finish this blog, I will read Kierkegaard as Religious thinker until about 2pm. THen i will hang with Patrick King and talk about it, then I will go to class with another guy with the last name of king, david king, and we will study about American Missions in history and specifically in China until i Go home to eat dinner and hang with my wife and dog. I will not stay up late tonight if i can help it and will not fall asleep watching tv as is one of my bad habits. OK, 2 more notes below and then i am off.


Kierkegaard

I have been studying some of this guy's works for about 6 months now and he really has some great things to say. I have trouble internalizing it alot, but he always seems to stick stuff in his writing that pushes me into a little bit deeper thought. I recently read this quote of his that I found in the book cited above:
"The doctrine in the established Church and its organization are very good. But the lives, our lives- believe me, they are mediocre."
He was speaking from a 19th century lutheran context in Denmark as a "good lutheran" but it points me to wonder about the way we work our churches and possibly "customize" them for us and for our needs. When we make churches that meet our needs, are we making a church that is mediocre the match our lives? We must never dumb it down to us, but must push our selves up, or better said, let God's grace pull us up into his church.



Basketball

We started Church league basketball in Zebulon last night. the ZBC team has picked up quite a few free agents over the break. We had a smaller team going that had won 4 championships in a row, but due to a fallout over some silly attitude problems, our "Phil Jackson" decided to retire. We had 13 guys last night, resulting in not enough pt to go around. I am going to have a good attitude about it all and hope that I can build some better friendships along the way. I need to not be a baby. Plus, i am dreadfully out of basketball shape. The cardio is there but it seems as though each day I am less and less coordinated. Sucks to get old. anyway congrats to east wake highschooler Heath Brantley who came in for me around the 3 minute mark and had a great steal and bucket as they mounted a 6 point comback with less than 2 minutes to play.

If you have read this whole blog, you are awesome, thanks for putting up with me. If you have skimmed to the end, well you have missed something I am sure.

ps. the bball pic is not of our league, we jump waaaaaay higher than that.

today' dell dj sounds: before these crowded streets, dave matthews

the last first day

Well, Today is my last "first day od school" for a while. I may have others in my future, but it is my last first day of school at Duke University. I have had 8 of these now and it is actually a bit sobering. While I didnt realize it until now, I have been celebrating it well. I woke up late this morning, got dinner in the croc pot, ate breakfast, listened to sports radio for 2 hours while doing this stuff and traveling to campus. Then i exercized for a hour (another first day of something, more to come), and at cosmic cantina in front of the chapel. It has been peaceful and pretty enjoyable.

Today's soundtrack has been: outkast-speakerboxx, maroon 5-songs songs about jane, travis-12 memories, and the vanilla sky soundtrack.

I'm Back

I am not really sure if it matters to anyone but I believe I am back again. I have actually been able to blog for a few days now but one day it was giving me error messages and the other I forgot. Sometimes I feel like I have alot i could blog about while others I feel like I have nothing. But here are a few notes I would like to pass along:
I had my best grades ever last semester despite what UBC carl said about my music choices,
I got the to see the hurricanes win 2-0 over the St. Louis Blues this week which was a great game, we were 15 rows from the glass and the tix were free too.
Duke keeps on winning and the ACC season starts this week for them
and
Over the holiday I involved myself in two tv marathons while at Natalie's parent's house:



The second TV marathon was on a monday and the family joined me in watching Nick and Jessica and NEWLEYWEDS. This show was kinda funny, but really stupid. It was definitely like a train wreck: you know you shouldnt but you cant help but watch.

The first marathon was American Chopper on the day after Christmas:

I actually really liked this show, more for the cool motorcycles than for the moronic, yet creative, son and the lazy bossy dad. Clearly the younger brother, mikey (the guy with glasses and curly hair) is the coolest guy on the show.

I got too much tv watching in over the holidays so I recuperating at home now. I am working on loading music into my computer and digital dj and am trying to find some time to play some SSX3 which my brother got me for Christmas. Thanks Jeff.

That is all for now my friends. peace
aho