Here nor There

Man, I have been slacking off on my blog. Its not that I don’t have anything to write about … I’m just too lazy to sit down and get it on “paper”. Problem is that at the moment I have the motivation but most of the cool things I wanted to write about have slipped my mind. So, here is a couple that I remember.

God has been teaching me a lot about contentment lately. Contentment not only as in accepting where God has placed me right now, but also as in seeing the potential of where he has placed me. I think way to often I want God to introduce me to something new and exciting, and fail to realize all the opportunities he has given me where I am at. Why do I think that I can handle something new and exciting if I can’t even be faithful with what I have been given? No matter where I am at in life there will always be people around me with needs, and I need to practice being faithful with that. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” – Luke 16:10

If you want to be reminded of the depravity of the human race, you should check out the movie Hotel Rwanda. Not only will it leave you amazed at the evil that we are capable of perpetrating against each other, but also the apathy that allows us to sit back and not care. I watch movies like that and my heart is broken for people, and then I stop and wonder why its takes something like that to compel a sense of urgency to share Jesus. Sin may change faces across cultures and across time but the heart problem that condemns us remains constant. I guess what I am saying is that I hate having to be shocked into caring. That’s what apathy does to us. It basically puts us to sleep to what is going on around us.

My older brother Matt has been in town the last couple of days. It’s been pretty cool to be able to spend some time with him. He is an exceptional artist and his latest thing has been doing custom paint jobs on automotive stuff back in Cali. I thought I’d toss up a couple pictures of his wares.

Last but not least, the comeback word of the month is ‘Rad’. Words such as “cool”, “awesome”, “money”, and “sweet” all have their place, but I believe rad has gone through its obligatory hiatus from the slang vocabulary and is due for reintroduction. So as you go through your normal week, look for situations where this great word can be properly applied, such as “Ben, that pink shirt your wearing is rad”, or “Jeff, that Frontside Corkscrew Fakie with a Stale Fish on the Reverse was radical”.

Fun & Games

I got tagged by Jeff, so here's to learning something new about me...

Four jobs you have had in your life:
Porter (car mover) at Spradley Barr Ford
HVAC Installer with three differant companies (Air Comfort, NCA, and Gibson Heathing and Air)
World Class Chef at Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon
Web Developer at Total Benchmark Solution

Four movies you would watch over and over:
Godfather I (Ive actually only seen it once, but I think I could watch it many more times)
Napolean Dynamite
Oceans 11
Pirates of the Carribean

Four places you have lived:
Portland, OR
Salida, CA
Auburn, CA
FoCo CO

Four TV shows you love to watch:
House, probably the best show ever. Dr. House is one of my personal heros.
The Simpsons
Seinfeld
Channel 13 news with Ron Zappollo and Libbey Weaver, stayin' classy

Four places you have been on vacation:
Santa Cruz, CA
Modesto, CA
Yellowstone
Mt. Rushmore

Four websites I visit daily:
Yahoo for news and email
blogspot.com
Im gonna count iTunes music store as a website
development server for work

Four of my favorite foods:
A good ribeye
Cheesecake
Beau Jo's Pizza
Crab Legs & Lobster Tail (Ultimate Feast at Red Lobster rocks)

Four places I would rather be right now:
On a california beach
Snowboarding at Copper, Winter Park, or Steamboat
Fishing the Big T
New Zealand

So, every blogger I know except for Ben and Jaclyn have already been tagged with this one, so smack, you two are tagged.

Mad Shredding

I finally made it up the mountain today to do a little bit of snowboarding. Jeff and I battled the I-70 traffic to make it up to Copper on what turned out to be a beautiful day. The crowds were out en masse but riding the top and back of the mountain and hitting up the singles lines kept us from spending too much time waiting in line. Snowboarding is one of the few things that I will drag myself out of bed pre-sunrise for. Whether its cruising powder through the trees, the rush of dropping off into the copper bowl, or hitting sweet jumps in the kiddie terrain park because I am too chicken to hit the real ones, I can think of no better way to spend a Saturday. Anyway, that’s one day down, and at least seven more to go.

On the way up the mountain we listened to a CD by Derek Webb (of Caedmons Call) called The House Show. This guy is an incredible songwriter and between songs he spends time explaining his thoughts behind the song. One thing he talked about that really struck me was the fact that Christians today are living in fear of being exposed. We are crippled and made ineffective by the sin in our lives that we are so ashamed of we will go to no end to keep it hidden. It’s crazy, because I know how true this has been in my own life. What’s been amazing for me though is to find out that when I allow myself to be transparent before others, I quickly learn that I am not the only one that struggles, and that opens up accountability lines and allows me to pray for others and be prayed for. If we could battle for each other because we really knew each other, I think God could use that in incredible ways in our lives, our churches, and our world.

Most Random Thing Ever

Probably one of the most random things ever in my life happened today. It all started after church, when I got a phone call from my friend Micheal while I was packing up my guitar stuff. He told me I should come out into the parking lot and check out "this sweet ride". Keep in mind my church is a little country church out in the foothills, with a small gravel parking area. The sweet ride turned out to be a very old school red double decker bus from England. An english family at our church bought this bus off of ebay while still living in England, and somehow managed to ship it overseas, and drive it to the mountains of Colorado. It was pretty incredible. The bus still had the advertising on the sides and back from England. Anyway, we got to take a ride (sitting in the top deck of course), and I have to say that I was very impressed with the way the beast of a bus handled on little mountian roads. I wish I would have had my camera. Anyway, I just thought I would share that.