the colors of my life.

blueprints, black ink
white dress, silver ring
red brick and trim.


these are the colors of my life.

question of the day?

this question crossed my mind this morning as i was perusing real estate listings.
'does language have meaning or does meaning have language?'
let your mind play with that one a bit, and maybe post what you come up with.

the liturgy of sport

people often question how the two passions in my life - theology and sport - coincide. as a result i have done a lot of thinking about the integration of sport into the liturgy of the covenant community. here is my thesis:

“Knowing God – having an appropriately awe-filled yet intimate relationship, or partnership with the creator, redeemer of Israel, and sovereign of the universe – is and was the life goal of faithful Jews.” It could easily be added that this is also the life ambition of faithful Christians. As the faithful, we pursue such communion with God via liturgy; that is, by engaging in certain actions with the purpose of drawing us into the presence of God. This paper will then argue that sport is a legitimate liturgical expression by providing a discussion on the definition and history of liturgy and by demonstrating that sport not only adequately satisfies “liturgical criteria” but in fact allows human beings to creatively involve themselves in an act of worship that reaches far beyond the emotional catharsis, existential validation, or intellectual assent that is so often the motive of worship.

i won't bore you with the rest, but i found both an encouraging and stimulating study and hope it has piqued your interest as well.

glory.

I am guilty, as are so many Christians today of missing the theological significance of the “glory” of our God. It seems that it is often construed as nothing more than a sort of greatness that elicits praise and adoration. This, while certainly being true of our God, fails to recognize the manner in which His greatness has been established and proclaimed throughout the Old Testament.
As I come to understand that God’s glory is rooted in who He is as not only a being of great importance but in fact as the Supreme being in the universe I am led to the idea of what it means to “fear the Lord.” The shear awesomeness of God is both dangerous and good at the same time. This is illustrated in Ezekiel when the “glory of the Lord” departs from the temple and later returns.
Further deepening this idea of “glory” is that YHWH has no equal. Indeed, YHWH has no one mortal or divine that can challenge Him. He is without rival in the cosmos. When He is challenged, like when the Philistines placed the ark (representative of His glory) in front of their god Dagon, He exercises His superior power causing Dagon to topple over and bow before Him.
This is the God that we serve; a terrible, powerful, dangerous, jealous God that demands our allegiance and our worship. And yet in the midst of all that “heavy”, “holy”, and “harsh” glory we also come in humble adoration to glory Him who while able to dominate, instead bowed low and was born a babe in a manger and who humbled himself unto an incapacitating death on a cross.

alexander is dead.

alas, alexander the mallard, the faithful heart and soul of my truck is dead.

named after the late alexander fenson, the mallard duck faithfully accompanied me on many cross country journeys. he is still affixed to the dash of the s-10 and has been recorded saying that he will go down with his ship. no has had the heart to persuade him that the s-10 was not a 'ship.'

sometime within the next month the s-10 is slated for the junkyard, barring purchase by another party.

R.I.P. alexander. you will be missed.

a rant.

everyone needs to vent sometimes. sometimes to someone in particular and sometimes to no one at all. this is mine.

the holidays are over and i find myself once again clawing at mud to make enough money to live off of - much less keep up with my student loans. i was hoping i mattered more to *** *** than to be slashed after the holidays, but alas such a hope was not to be realized. not that i blame them. i've been thinking for months that they lose money by staffing too many people. well, the holidays are over and now i'm supposed to live off of one shift a week. i should probably be checking out monster.com instead of blogging. except that then i would only get further depressed by the number of opportunities that i lack education or experience for.

and yet, somehow i have survived since august below the poverty line. who would've guessed? me, a hard working, white, middle class american with a college education living well below what our government considers the poverty line. its almost amusing. and to think that if i was born into a different socio-ethnic group i could be on my way through a graduate program with no expense to myself. or to think that an employer might favor me because i would 'diversify' his company. am i not individual or unique enough as i am? i mean, anyone who knows me can testify that my ideologies and interests are as diverse as the next guys. do you know anyone else who double majored in lifetime fitness and historical theology? i was the first in the history of my school to do so. and yet, here i am struggling to survive.

i am not usually the type for this kind of verbal spillage. but occasionally everyone gets frustrated by reality as it is. but, i must add that through this my church and my family have come through for me when i needed it most. and that is how things should be. and for that i can be exceedingly thankful.

cheers to 2010

in 7 hours and 41 minutes the first decade of the new millennium will come to a close. i am certainly in a different place than i was 10 years ago - or even 1 year ago. my fiance dutifully reminded me that 2010 is the year of our marriage. and for all its hype, i think 2010 is going to be nothing more than a pain to remember to sign on checks.

what 2009 brought me:
1. my love and my bride, steph
2. the opportunity to coach college soccer
3. real life responsibility like i never wanted
4. the second craziest summer of my life
5. 4 different places of employment
6. a deeper care for family
7. a mild obsession with coffee
8. old friends in new places
9. the death of alexander the duck

unfortunately, for the first new years in 8 years i will not be celebrating with alex and company. cheers to you guys. maybe next year for '11. you know thats our year