wow
I’m not going to write anything on this post. I’m going to post two pictures and label them, and let you talk amongst yourselves.
At this church:
book review vol. two: Irresistible Revolution
I just don’t really know where to start on this one… I totally just happened to come across this book at Barnes over spring break: it had a nice looking cover, and the word “revolution” was in the title, so it caught my eye. I read the intro and the first chapter in the store that day, and walked out with a copy in my hand (which I paid for). I finished this book today and I’ve been looking forward to writing about it on this blog to tell the world about this amazing piece of work. I’m sure most of you have heard me talk about it already, but bear with me… maybe you’ll still get something here.
The Irresistible Revolution is one of the most powerful books I’ve read in a long time, and I haven’t read many books, so that pretty much makes it one of the best ever according to my limited knowledge. It is written by Shane Claiborne, who is just some guy, and the cool thing is that he knows it. He writes very humbly of different events that Jesus has taken him through, and what he’s learned as a result. I’ve found myself describing the theme of this book as a guy who wrote about how he thinks that Jesus actually meant the things He said, and so the guy does his best to be obedient. Another all encompassing theme is summed up in a statement Shane makes in the first part of the book: “stop complaining about how the church is and start becoming the church that you want to see.” (That one is for all you folks who are, for whatever reason, entirely disgusted by the church.)
He talks a lot about loving people who are unloved. People who are poor and homeless get lots of attention in his book (and his life!) as do various relevant issues such as politics and the like. I, as usual, do not feel that I can do this book justice, but I just cannot recommend it highly enough. I was so encouraged, and my eyes were opened a whole lot through reading it. I’m even planning on writing the author a letter, which is a first… so it must be good!
book review vol. one: What’s so Amazing about Grace - Visual Ed.
I woke up today with literally nothing on my agenda (which is a good way to start a day). I did lots of things that will go unmentioned in this post, however one that will receive the attention of the full remainder of this entry is my trip to Barnes and Nobles. I went to the local book seller with the purpose of finding the book pictured above, and reading it in it’s entirety. I did just that.
This is not the original edition of the book you may have heard of that shares the title; it is a variation on the theme: the visual edition. It is basically a concise and visually compelling version of what I imagine the original book is like. I could go in to great detail about what a great book this is, but suffice it to say that it made me cry right there in the Barnes. I was sitting in a circle of chairs with perfect strangers who were reading books on witchcraft and sex, and I was nonchalantly shedding tears because my God’s grace is just so unfair. I think you should take two hours out of your day to visit the local Barnes and read this. Oh, and I took advantage of the book at the store because it costs $15, and I think that’s too much.
by popular demand
Hueco… thanks.
I can tell by the countless number of blog comments, voicemails, and text messages I received while in El Paso that all of my readers, friends, and acquaintances are bursting at the seams to hear about how my climbing trip went. Well, here’s the info you’ve been losing sleep over. Overall, our trip was amazing. We climbed for a total of 5 days (climb three days, rest one, climb two more) and after it was all said and done, we had sent a whole lot of rad problems and our fingers bear the abrasions to prove it. The picture above is of me starting a problem called “Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive.” That’s right, I’m starting it, not falling from it. This was by far the raddest V2 I’ve ever been on in my life. The hardest problem I sent over the week was a V4, while Colby and Mikey both sent a V5 (those stallions). We climbed around 8 hours a day, which not only allowed our muscles and finger pads to wear out, it also put us out in the sun long enough for my little nose to get real red. How someone as white as me forgets to pack sunscreen, the world may never know. On our next to last day at the Tanks, we were bouldering in this phenomenal cave that housed a V6 roof problem. The only inhabitants of the cave were the three of us, and two other, much stronger, climbers. After looking at one of the other occupants of the cave I realized it was professional climber Dave Graham… so we can say we’ve bouldered with Dave Graham, which is pretty dang cool. As is the case with most of my posts, there are many other stories and pictures that go along with this trip, and if you’d like to see them, you know who to call.
Spring Break ‘06… yeah!
Please pardon the fact that there will be no blog updates for this week. I will be in El Paso, bouldering at the world renouned Hueco Tanks (pronounced wa-co t’ank-s). Mikey, Colby, myself, and many other Aggie climbers will take two twelve hour drives, and climb for six days, and then you’ll get your update. Have a nice spring break folks, y’all be safe. I love you.
picsha’s
You readers deserve a blog that is updated more frequently, and since I’ve got little to talk about, I just thought I’d share some pictures and let you comment on them.
inside my mind
Disclaimer: this post probably won’t make you laugh, so if that’s what you’re looking for, scroll down some.
Fire just amazes me. I remember as a kid I would just sit and watch the embers fall below the fire in the fireplace and imagine that they were Indians doing some sort of rain dance (which, if the Indians really were on fire, they’d probably want rain pretty bad). Fire can be used to heat food, a house, whatever you have in your beaker in chemistry lab, and your appendages. It can also prove extremely dangerous when the house that is supposed to be heated by the flame is consumed by it. I have the flame pictured above lit in my room to give it a more user-friendly aroma, and I always blow it out before I leave the house because I fear that it may jump out of the candle and onto my nearby flammable computer. Why on Earth would that happen? I don’t know, but I have some fear of it in me somewhere.
God used fire in a bush to talk to Moses. He also cast Satan and his homeys into the fiery pits of hell when they got prideful. Various persecutors of the Church have used fire to end the lives of followers of Christ who refused to deny their Savior. We use the verb “burn” often, meaning that someone is extremely passionate about something or someone else. There seem to be countless meanings and connotations of the word “fire” and it’s different offspring words (for lack of a better term) like burn, consume, singe, and facemelt.
I think what sparked (no pun intended, I promise) this post was my thinking about how fire can be so cool and useful when used correctly, and how it can be so destructive when used improperly. So no real point to this post, but know that things like that are what go through my head daily.