Burly

A good friend of mine (my Best Man, actually) works in the audio-visual industry, and a while ago he started preaching about these cases that his company stores all their equipment in. Like… you know… expensive expensive top-of-the-line multi-thousand-dollar A/V equipment. Then he found out that this company makes flashlights as well, and so he bought a couple (he works in dark crawl spaces a lot too). And so on the next phone call after that, I heard about his new lights. I’ve checked them out, and now I definitely want one too. The company is Pelican.

Quote-Tagging

I came across a quote I really liked, and I want to add it to my ever-growing archive (updated today with a few “Appreciation of Fermented Beverages” gems). The problem is I don’t know just how to categorize or tag it. Here it is, suggestions welcomed:

“Christ was himself but one and lived and died but once; but the Holy Ghost makes of every Christian another Christ, an AfterChrist; lives a million lives in every age…” -Gerard Manley Hopkins

I wish my middle name was Manley (yeah, I know it’s a different spelling, but c’mon…).

Sappy

Ha! You thought I was going to get all mushy on you, didn’t you? Well actually, I was referring to the sticky substance excreted by our photosynthetic friends: sap from trees.

Mondays are my Sabbath. So yesterday Anina and I went for a great mid-day stroll out in some open space on the edge of town (Durango Mountain Park, for you locals). It’s usually not my habit to do so, but I left my cell phone in my pocket when we ventured out from the trailhead. No, I’m not going to give you some goofy excuse that I took it because we were going off-trail but were still within calling range in case of an emergency. Hey, that’s quality B.S. … I’m impressed with myself…

Anyway, while I was climbing a tree, somehow my phone got a good helping of sap smeared on its faceplate. At first I was kinda annoyed when I discovered it upon arriving back at the car. I tried to wipe it off, completely forgetting that this only spreads the sap onto more of the surface as well as my finger. Oops.

So now the front panel of my phone is crusted over with dried tree sap (not sticky anymore, thankfully). And whenever I’m making a call, I can smell the wonderful pine I climbed yesterday. It’s like potpourri for my phone… ooh!… phonepourri.

Just a nice reminder that all our little techno-toys will more than likely never be fully impervious to nature.

2002 Fawnridge Zinfandel

Fawnridge Winery made the Zinfandel and Chardonnay that we had at our wedding. Anina and I kept a few bottles of the Zin because it was just so good, and because it has a custom label made just for us (ok, maybe the sentimental attachment and the label are the primary reasons). For the past year, we’ve had 2 bottles here at the apartment, on display in the kitchen as decoration. The plan was to open one on our anniversary, but I ended up with an intestinal virus woohoo! We had already brought home the bottle of Copolla Shiraz that I blogged about last time. So anyway, I was healthy for Saint Valentine’s Day, and I whipped up some pasta and red sauce with Italian sausage. Of course, that calls for red wine!

I think this may be the oldest bottle I’ve ever had… that sure shows my wine (in)experience, eh? But this zinfandel fulfills the oft-misinterpreted adage about wine getting better with age. In 50 years, it will supposedly taste like vinegar, but at press time, it is primo.

Ecstasy & Bacardi, or Body & Blood?

This was told to Chris Seay, pastor of Ecclesia Church, by a member of his community, during a time when he was burnt out on how crappy things seem…

“Pastor, don’t forget the Kingdom is already here. I used to spend every weekend for the last decade at a club down the road here in [Houston] called Emo’s. And I’d start every Sunday night with a drop of ecstasy on my tongue and I’d wash it down with Bacardi 151. And now I come here on Sunday nights, and I close my night with the Body of Christ on my tongue, and I wash it down with the Blood of Christ. Don’t forget, pastor, the kingdom is here.”

Taken from the August 2006 Catalyst Podcast (archives page here).

This and many other new cool quotations on the recently updated Quotes page. Go there. Absorb.

Internship

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UPDATE 02-19-2008: Our intern search is technically on hold right now, to give us time to sort out all sorts of changes that come with bringing a new Pastor & Head of Staff on board. But if you think that you’re pretty hot stuff and want to ask us to reconsider, by all means, send an email to the address below :-)

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This is not a profound post. Just a plug for the intern search my church is conducting. If you know anyone who might be interested in serving in a youth ministry internship, refer them to me!

PAID YOUTH MINISTRY INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

DURANGO, COLORADO

The First Presbyterian Church of Durango is seeking an emerging leader with a heart for students to fill their Youth Ministry Intern position. 1st Pres. is a 125-year-old church with a congregation exuding Christ’s love. If you’re tired of churches that prioritize programs more than people, this is the church family for you! Durango sits at an elevation of 6,500 feet in southwest Colorado. Our population of roughly 14,000 relatively easy-going people creates a friendly small-town environment. A year-round recreational mecca, Durango lets you pick your poison… skiing, river kayaking, rock-climbing, hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing, fly-fishing, ice-climbing, desert camping, river-tubing, trail-running, peak-bagging… You won’t get bored here if you like to be outside! Our church views this job as a mission to both the students and the intern. We all know that hands-on experience is huge these days when applying for jobs, and we want to give the right intern some intensive ministry leadership experience to carry with them down their career path.

SongSpot

The little widget on the left hand side of the page is my SongSpot, made possible by Sonific. I think it’s great. If you want to put popular music everyone’s heard of on your blog, find something besides Sonific. But if you want to discover all sorts of new artists and music, go there. Use it. Spread it. Fight cultural artistic ignorance.

I’m going to try to swap in a new song every week. So stay tuned, and be educated. :)

Rhythm

Rhythm. I’ve been out of it for a while, as far as blogging goes. I guess the rhythm has actually become silence. But before I wax poetic (<– aren’t non “-ly” adverbs cool?) about how I’ve lapsed into total blogging failure, I’ll just update you on a few things.