Reformation Day, 2006
Sure it’s Halloween, but being the supporter of all things less popular, today I’ll be celebrating Reformation Day.
What’s Reformation Day, you ask? Remember Martin Luther? Not Martin Luther King Jr, just plain ol‘ Martin Luther. He was a feisty monk back in the day (1517), who saw a lot of discrepancies between what he read in the Bible and what he saw the church doing. So, like any of us would NEVER do, he wrote out 95 theses and nailed them right on the front doors of the church.
So, how should we go about celebrating such a wonderful day?
Option 1: We could all read what the Bible says about how the Body of Christ should act, write out all the ways that it is currently failing in that area (on papyrus of course), and go up to our local church and post them up on the door by stabbing them with a ketchup-stained knife.
Option 2: We could be relevant to our culture and dress up in a great Halloween costume (preferably as Martin Luther) and then go execute option 1.
Option 3: We could rent the movie, “Luther” to better educate ourselves on the life and story of this man most Christians know very little about, even though he played one of the biggest roles in the church they go to looking the way it does (not Catholic).
Option 4: We could be both relevant to culture and be seen as more of freaks than our culture already sees modern Christians by, again, dressing up like Martin Luther, writing out our modern day thesis, and then making tons of copies of them, and stab them up on each door of the houses our kids will be trick or treating at.
Option 5: I could see what the Bible says about how I should live as a person who claim the name of Christ, note that I’m failing miserably, and stab myself with the proverbial knife on the metaphorical door of my heart. You could do the same.
However you decide to celebrate this glorious day in Protestant History, do it passionately, because that’s how Martin Luther would have done it, dang it. Happy Reformation Day!
done and done.
The date was October 27th, the time 2:00am. I met my goal of tearing a phone book in half. The two halves of a phonebook you see pictured above are the remnants of the very phone book which I tore. Note the Bryan/College Station edition, and the green carpet, which could only be found in Gloria (Lauren Rouse’s living room). Here’s how it went down:
During my late night visit to the Marstellar girls, the conversation inevitably turned to the tearing of phone books. I expressed my anguish of not being able to attempt my monthly goal for lack of available phone books. Lauren briefly left the room, and promptly returned with a handful of phone books. When I say handful, I mean a stack that nearly went from her hands to her shoulders. It was the most beautiful sight I’ve seen since Hayden Hendrick’s Spaghetti Day. I proceeded to attempt to rip one of those books in half, and somehow I was successful (again, see picture above). Upon tearing the book, I recalled that my camera was out in my car, and that we needed to film the feat so as to maximize the amount of entertainment available on my blog (because what I’m going to post on my blog is constantly on the mind). I got the camera, had Lauren film me, and twice I failed to tear a phone book… so the picture will have to suffice for now.
Fear not though, we’ve still got a few days until Reformation Day, so you may well have a video in the near future.
what happened Sunday?
This is a pretty highly anticipated post for “online diary for the masses.” I made the mistake of promising some of my readers (via a series of away messages) an update on my very cool Sunday. I said that when I woke up on Monday, I’d update the blog and share my fun day with everyone. Well it’s late, but here it is.
Look at Skylar. Isn’t she extreme? This picture is for everyone who’s ever said to me, “I’d never imagine you driving that car.” Well would you picture me in Skylar if she had a boat on her head? She did on Sunday! She’s so cool.
Sunday I had to work from 10 to 6. Any other day of the week I would use the verb “got to” as opposed to “had to,” but this being a Sunday, the verb changes. I was pretty upset about having to miss church for this, our last day of formal training. There had been talk all week about a Sunday night moon-lit paddling outing after work. I immediately thought, “I want to go” but then my brain said:
“You don’t have a boat” - REI Staff gets free rentals
“You drive Skylar, she can’t carry a boat” - Adam from work carries a 17 ft. kayak on his Accord
“You aren’t cool enough” - I’m new here, so the people don’t have to know that I’m a poser yet.
As you can see, I ended up going and having a wonderful time on White Rock Lake (see previous post). We sported the night paddle in October, when the air is colder than the water.
Before we loaded up the boat and drove off to the lake, another pretty important event happened (other than Skylar carrying her first boat). I was awarded one of these:
That is a big deal. It’s the highly coveted REI green vest, complete with lots of pockets full of vital information, three pens, and a name badge bearing my REI name (for now), “Derrick.” I hope to have my next name tag say “D.O.” but we’ll see.
white rock lake
I love parks. I have no problem with a percentage of my tax dollars going towards parks and services. I took this picture at my new favorite park in Dallas, White Rock Lake Park. See downtown across the lake? Isn’t it little? Fun huh? Thank you Dallas for building such an escape right in the middle of yourself.
I’m so employed!
Sometimes in life, you just gotta do what you gotta do to make ends meet. That’s why I’ve recently taken another job (other than the beautiful one at REI). That’s right. I’m now officially Chief Jiffy News Correstpondent — something I will certainly add to my existing resume. For my debut news update, click here. (Or right there where it says Jiffy News —->)
I’m so employed!
Sometimes in life, you just gotta do what you gotta do to make ends meet. That’s why I’ve recently taken another job (other than the beautiful one at REI). That’s right. I’m now officially Chief Jiffy News Correstpondent — something I will certainly add to my existing resume. For my debut news update, click here. (Or right there where it says Jiffy News —->)
a proposal for new management
None of us will soon forget where we were when we heard about Judy Blume’s retirement from Jiffy News. I was sitting right here at my computer after waking up around noon from a solid night’s sleep. The death of such a beloved and informative blog does not occur without the world-wide-web community feeling the impact. To add insult to injury, earlier today I clicked the Jiffy News link just for old time’s sake, and the dreaded Error 404 was displayed on my monitor! How are people supposed to get their news? Sure they could watch CNN or read up on the countless long-winded websites that offer such information, but who’s got the time? Well I might.
That’s right. After hours of self-consultation I’ve decided to contact Judy (via this post) and submit to her my application, that I might become a Chief News Correspondent for Jiffy News. I could help write news stories, and she, being the founder and CEO, would have the liberty to edit, erase, or elaborate on anything she so chose. This came as a suggestion from Heather Hendrick herself, queen of popularity and blogging. I think that says something right there. I did modify and add a few things to Heather’s original proposal, which can be read in the comment section of my previous post.
So Judy, what do you think? All I’d need from you is the okay and the password (that way the URL doesn’t have to change, which will save your readership some confusion). I even made a logo in Paint! I’m anxiously awaiting your thoughts.
EMERGENCY!
I came out of blog retirement to present to my readers an unexpected emergency that occurred the other night: I had just blown out a candle that had been burning for 5 hours or so, and by some God-forsaken lapse of judgement I picked up said candle, brought it to my face so as to better smell it, and inadvertently dumped the wax all over myself.
By the grace of God, I wasn’t naked when this happened. My desk, chair, and clothes took the brunt of the burn. Six seconds later the real problem presented itself: Dried wax is now splatter-painted all over my padded desk chair, the crotch of my pants, and one of my Sunday shirts.
This is where you, my readers — my readers who are mothers or someday hope to be — come in to play. I need to learn the best method of getting dried wax out of clothes. My chair is a lost cause. I was able to clean off the desk using my drivers licence. Now I’m facing the battle of the week in my laundry basket’s contents.
So for all you moms whose children have tainted their clothes with Christmas Eve Candlelight Service candles, or the moms whose own clothes have soiled by melted crayons, this is my plea for your guidance. If in fact my clothes are as lost a cause as my chair, I’ll be able to cope, but I’m not going down without a fight.
In regard to my previous post: That was really written in hopes that Judy would read it, feel terrible for ousting everyone’s 6th favorite blog-writer from the web, and return to giving us the news like she did for so many days in the past. Thank you for those who showed love and concern. Right back atcha.
peace
Just minutes ago I read some sobering, yet enlightening news: Jiffy News will cease to exist. Sobering because, though it is a young blog, it’s popularity grew exponentially, and many Internet surfers felt at home there. Enlightening because it made me realize: if the people at Jiffy News can decide to up and quit their job of educating the masses, then I can certainly quit my job of online diary-ing for them. So that’s it. Thank you Judy for the eye-opener. I quit too! Who’s with us?
my worldview
Whoever designed my apartment complex did a pretty good job of making residents feel safe regarding others trying to peek through their windows. My initial thought towards having all of our windows blocked by trees was undoubtedly negative. Not that we would have been able to see far had the trees not been there, but the trees block the sun, which reduces the amount of natural light that is able to enter our rooms.
Over the years I’ve been very wrong about a whole lot of stuff, especially when it comes to first impressions of people, things, or situations. Well this is no exception.
I’ve been blessed with sightings like the one pictured above over and over the past few weeks. I never would have counted myself as a bird watcher, but I’m starting to recognize its appeal. When I can lay on my wonderful bed and simply look right out my window at a cardinal who doesn’t know I’m spying on him (or her… I don’t know birds yet), that’s pretty pure.
This reminds me of when I was in elementary school and junior high. My Aunt Sherry would pick me up from school and take me to her house until my mom got off work. Each year, during our week-long autumn, I remember Sherry always talking about how beautiful the changing leaves were. I’m pretty sure I said they were too, but never really paid much attention to them. Now I could sit and stare at a fall-struck tree for thirty minutes and thoroughly enjoy it.
Events and changes like these are the subtle changes that make me realize the scary fact that I’m growing up.
I’m thankful that my God helps change my entirely screwed up mind and conforms it to look (and think!) like His.
Change is inevitable. That was on the wall in my 7th grade hallway. Whoever put those construction paper letters on the wall knew what they were talking about.