Entertain Me
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Recently, I've been thinking about my life. In particular, the area of my life dealing with entertainment. As I've been going through the Old Testament and reading about the kings and their servants I couldn't help but to think that I am falsely living like a king. I have subconsciously made my life about me. I obsess over the details of my life: what will I do tomorrow, what am I going to eat for breakfast, what classes am I taking next semester? I fail to obsess over the fact that a loving God has given me breath for today, that God has given me more than enough food to eat already, and that I have the privilege of learning about worship as my major.
I also feel as though I have a jester continuously performing for me to keep me entertained and distracted from my duties. I have television programming at the tip of my fingers where actors and actresses amuse me until I am bored with them. I have a vast music collection at my disposal as well, one that would probably be equal to what some people in other countries make in wages in nearly a decade. Instead, I hold up what I've got to the other kings and queens around me and decide that I am not that bad.
When did my life start crying "entertain me" instead of "may I become less so that You can become more"? Is it the media's fault for selling garbage that tells me that everything is about my personal convenience? Should I just go sell everything I have and give the profit to the poor and needy? How can I dare say that I am bored when I have books on the shelf, a guitar on its stand, and notebooks to write in?
I feel like I am being entertained by ridiculously frivolous things. I need to start living differently...
I also feel as though I have a jester continuously performing for me to keep me entertained and distracted from my duties. I have television programming at the tip of my fingers where actors and actresses amuse me until I am bored with them. I have a vast music collection at my disposal as well, one that would probably be equal to what some people in other countries make in wages in nearly a decade. Instead, I hold up what I've got to the other kings and queens around me and decide that I am not that bad.
When did my life start crying "entertain me" instead of "may I become less so that You can become more"? Is it the media's fault for selling garbage that tells me that everything is about my personal convenience? Should I just go sell everything I have and give the profit to the poor and needy? How can I dare say that I am bored when I have books on the shelf, a guitar on its stand, and notebooks to write in?
I feel like I am being entertained by ridiculously frivolous things. I need to start living differently...
Kettle Corn, Finals, and The Dreaded White Glove
Monday, December 14, 2009
I'm once again sitting at a table at the infamous Jazzman's Cafe in the computer lab. I'm marveling at the stark contrast I'm witnessing now compared to the first day of class. The once eager freshman has been burnt out by the papers and the projects that seem to creep into the syllabus near the end of each semester. The seniors are walking around with coffee in hand trying not to stress too much as they near the end of their college careers. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "D means degree" this week...
The smell is completely different, too. The first day of class is usually perfume and cologne saturated. Now it's more of a pungent "I haven't done my laundry all week because of all these stupid assignments" kind of smell. This is mixed with the free kettle corn that Jerry Jr. has so kindly handed out as a finals gift to us. Is it weird that when it's not finals week, whenever I smell kettle corn, I feel anxiety? I like spring semester's free ice cream policy better. I don't know if I just enjoy searching for the ice cream trucks or if I legitimately like ice cream sandwiched between two pieces of chocolate flavored cardboard.
Finals week is always weird to me. It's strange brew of emotion between stress, relief, and excitement. The stress compounds as projects are due and finals are happening, but the relief of finishing it all is always poking its head out around the corner. The excitement seems to build as each final passes because you're just one less final away from home. The worst thing about finals week at LU though, is white glove check out.
For my friends who don't attend Liberty, we have to clean our rooms for a "white glove inspection" at the end of each semester. This can be more stressful than finals depending on what you've accumulated over the semester. I wish that our dorms came with a drain in the middle of the room so I could just take a pressure hose to the walls and be done with it. But no... white glove makes you clean places you didn't even know existed. Behind the light fixtures in your bathroom, on top of your shower curtain rod, under the window sill... these are all places that apparently will start growing alien fungus if you don't clean it before white glove check out. I'm always surprised at where my RA's can find dirt. Maybe I'll appeal to Liberty housing for the whole drain feature in the dorms...
Semester 5 is almost done... it's going to take all that I've got to not just stop caring. I pray that we can find strength in the Lord these last few days of exams. Run in a way to win the prize.
Have a great Christmas break!
The smell is completely different, too. The first day of class is usually perfume and cologne saturated. Now it's more of a pungent "I haven't done my laundry all week because of all these stupid assignments" kind of smell. This is mixed with the free kettle corn that Jerry Jr. has so kindly handed out as a finals gift to us. Is it weird that when it's not finals week, whenever I smell kettle corn, I feel anxiety? I like spring semester's free ice cream policy better. I don't know if I just enjoy searching for the ice cream trucks or if I legitimately like ice cream sandwiched between two pieces of chocolate flavored cardboard.
Finals week is always weird to me. It's strange brew of emotion between stress, relief, and excitement. The stress compounds as projects are due and finals are happening, but the relief of finishing it all is always poking its head out around the corner. The excitement seems to build as each final passes because you're just one less final away from home. The worst thing about finals week at LU though, is white glove check out.
For my friends who don't attend Liberty, we have to clean our rooms for a "white glove inspection" at the end of each semester. This can be more stressful than finals depending on what you've accumulated over the semester. I wish that our dorms came with a drain in the middle of the room so I could just take a pressure hose to the walls and be done with it. But no... white glove makes you clean places you didn't even know existed. Behind the light fixtures in your bathroom, on top of your shower curtain rod, under the window sill... these are all places that apparently will start growing alien fungus if you don't clean it before white glove check out. I'm always surprised at where my RA's can find dirt. Maybe I'll appeal to Liberty housing for the whole drain feature in the dorms...
Semester 5 is almost done... it's going to take all that I've got to not just stop caring. I pray that we can find strength in the Lord these last few days of exams. Run in a way to win the prize.
Have a great Christmas break!
Job and Jen
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
I've recently been reading the book of Job because Job intrigues me. What intrigues me the most about Job at the beginning of the book is that he's so well rooted in his relationship with God that even though Satan attacked everything he owned and eventually Job himself, he was still going to praise God. The last verse in chapter one says that "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." I've been thinking to myself, "would I be like Job if everything I had was taken away from me? Would it be written down that I did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing?" I want to be this way in my life and I was praying for God to show me how to live my life in a continuous state of worship and then tonight happened.
Tonight we had our monthly ministry team meeting. It's where all of the groups from the Department of Ministry teams get together and worship, check on our progress reports, and also hear from various speakers. Our speakers tonight were Linda and Jen Barrick. I don't know if you know their story, but it deeply impacted me. The Barrick Family was involved in a car crash that should have killed them, but He has chosen to give them all life and they're using it to proclaim of the miracle of what happened and continues to happen in their lives. While I was listening to them talk about the many miracles that took place, I noticed that Jen's life showed this continuous state of worship that I have been wanting and through the testimony of her life God showed me a little bit of what it takes to achieve this. It's about forsaking the confidence I have in myself and getting on my knees daily to ask Him to show me what He wants me to see. While I'm on my knees, it's easier to take after the example that Christ set and wash the feet of those around me. The time I start to see life from the perspective of a servant is the time I will see life more the way it was intended for me to.
So Job and Jen have sparked this desire to change the way I'm living. Both were able to praise the Lord through all the junk that happened to them because they chose to surrender themselves before God before adversity hit. Am I willing to daily hit my knees and allow God to be my eyes for the day? Are you? May we grab hold of His vision for our lives and abandon those things that obstruct our sight of this.
Lord, here I am. I'm on my knees.
Change the way I'm living, please.
Here's my life. It's in Your hands.
My hopes. My dreams. My selfish plans.
Shake me. Break me. Take my shame.
Use it all to lift Your Name.
Set my eyes to gaze on You.
May you be pleased in all I do.
Tonight we had our monthly ministry team meeting. It's where all of the groups from the Department of Ministry teams get together and worship, check on our progress reports, and also hear from various speakers. Our speakers tonight were Linda and Jen Barrick. I don't know if you know their story, but it deeply impacted me. The Barrick Family was involved in a car crash that should have killed them, but He has chosen to give them all life and they're using it to proclaim of the miracle of what happened and continues to happen in their lives. While I was listening to them talk about the many miracles that took place, I noticed that Jen's life showed this continuous state of worship that I have been wanting and through the testimony of her life God showed me a little bit of what it takes to achieve this. It's about forsaking the confidence I have in myself and getting on my knees daily to ask Him to show me what He wants me to see. While I'm on my knees, it's easier to take after the example that Christ set and wash the feet of those around me. The time I start to see life from the perspective of a servant is the time I will see life more the way it was intended for me to.
So Job and Jen have sparked this desire to change the way I'm living. Both were able to praise the Lord through all the junk that happened to them because they chose to surrender themselves before God before adversity hit. Am I willing to daily hit my knees and allow God to be my eyes for the day? Are you? May we grab hold of His vision for our lives and abandon those things that obstruct our sight of this.
Lord, here I am. I'm on my knees.
Change the way I'm living, please.
Here's my life. It's in Your hands.
My hopes. My dreams. My selfish plans.
Shake me. Break me. Take my shame.
Use it all to lift Your Name.
Set my eyes to gaze on You.
May you be pleased in all I do.
C'mon Seattle!
Monday, November 2, 2009
So I've decided that the Seahawks have stopped trying to win. I think they might like being terrible so that there's no expectation for them to perform.
At least my Colorado Av's are doing alright....
I don't know why I posted this.
At least my Colorado Av's are doing alright....
I don't know why I posted this.
Oh, Liberty...
Monday, September 28, 2009
My current setting: Jazzman's Cafe. I'm watching the line of caffeine addicted students file up to the register to order a fix of their favorite beverages. Some look happy (like class just got cancelled or something) and others look dead tired (like me, because I just got rocked by a bio exam and am ready to go to bed.) But something I've realized is that I love to observe what's going on around me up here at the Computer Lab/Jazzman's Cafe and through my "observations" I've noticed a few things that happen each time I come up here...
1.) People are constantly looking around to see if there's someone they know in the area. I can walk into a room and 40 heads immediately pop up from their computers to see if it's one of their friends. (And I'm pretty sure I've already looked up 25 times in the time it took me to write that.)
2.) People who sit on the sofa's rarely ever seem like they're doing work. They may have a book propped open, or a notebook out, but they're almost always just talking with each other... Although, I have seen a couple of guys take up an entire sofa and when they see a cute girl walking by they subtly scoot over. Smooth. Real smooth.
3.) There are 3 noticeable groups of people who use the computers up here. There's one group that isn't really using the computers, but they're just taking up 3 entire tables to have myspace open and be loud, there's the gamer kids who sit at the laptop stations with their headphones on playing World of Warcraft, and there's the kids who are frantic to find a computer so that they can print off an assignment that they had forgotten back at the dorm. (I know there are more groups, but I can always count on at least these 3 whenever I come into the CLAB.)
4.) There's always that guy who's flirting with girls way too loud. Don't be that guy. No one likes you.
5.) Accountability groups. There's ALWAYS accountability groups going on at Jazzman's. "Have you had your quiet time today? Yes? Good! Well lets get get some mocha and talk about boys for the next half hour."
Sidenote: Why do we call daily time with God "quiet time"? I mean, I'm sure that most of the time we're quiet while we reflect on the things we've learned, but what about private worship in which we sing and read scripture aloud?... would that be considered "quiet time"?... what if I listen to Carson Wagner's "Rhapsody in Blue" while I read the Bible? Would that then disqualify my Bible reading for the day, forcing me to read Scripture in silence?
... anyway, I could go on... but I'll spare you. I'm going to go see if there's anyone in this place that I know. K, bye.
1.) People are constantly looking around to see if there's someone they know in the area. I can walk into a room and 40 heads immediately pop up from their computers to see if it's one of their friends. (And I'm pretty sure I've already looked up 25 times in the time it took me to write that.)
2.) People who sit on the sofa's rarely ever seem like they're doing work. They may have a book propped open, or a notebook out, but they're almost always just talking with each other... Although, I have seen a couple of guys take up an entire sofa and when they see a cute girl walking by they subtly scoot over. Smooth. Real smooth.
3.) There are 3 noticeable groups of people who use the computers up here. There's one group that isn't really using the computers, but they're just taking up 3 entire tables to have myspace open and be loud, there's the gamer kids who sit at the laptop stations with their headphones on playing World of Warcraft, and there's the kids who are frantic to find a computer so that they can print off an assignment that they had forgotten back at the dorm. (I know there are more groups, but I can always count on at least these 3 whenever I come into the CLAB.)
4.) There's always that guy who's flirting with girls way too loud. Don't be that guy. No one likes you.
5.) Accountability groups. There's ALWAYS accountability groups going on at Jazzman's. "Have you had your quiet time today? Yes? Good! Well lets get get some mocha and talk about boys for the next half hour."
Sidenote: Why do we call daily time with God "quiet time"? I mean, I'm sure that most of the time we're quiet while we reflect on the things we've learned, but what about private worship in which we sing and read scripture aloud?... would that be considered "quiet time"?... what if I listen to Carson Wagner's "Rhapsody in Blue" while I read the Bible? Would that then disqualify my Bible reading for the day, forcing me to read Scripture in silence?
... anyway, I could go on... but I'll spare you. I'm going to go see if there's anyone in this place that I know. K, bye.
Axe, Freshman, and Girls
Monday, August 24, 2009
Oh yes, the first day back to school. It has a distinct smell that is hard to shake even after it's over. In a sense that smell is literal (the freshman who bathe in it before going to class for the first time with "college girls"), but in a different sense it's almost like a tangible excitement that just permeates the campus. Whether it's upperclassman finding their old friends in the hallways or the freshman looking for t a friend in the hallways, it's just an exciting time to be here.
I'm currently sitting in the laptop section of the computer lab trying to figure out where my classes are. As of now I only have two classes on Monday, a first since I've been at school. Usually by this time I would have already had a class or two, eaten almost two meals and had at least one cup of Jazzman's coffee. I almost don't even know what to do with myself since I've got an hour in between convo and my next class. I guess I could go meet some of those bright eyed freshmen who are wandering around the halls trying to figure out where DeMoss 1113 is.
Or I could just sit here...
This year holds a lot of interesting things for me. For one, I'll be turning 21 in less than a month. Two, I'm trying out a fantasy football league thing for the first time ever. Three, I'm living in a hotel, the one on Odd Fellows Road. I like it so far, and hopefully it stays that way. It's weird 'cause there are girls on the second and third floors. I guess that's not so weird, but I'm so accustomed to Liberty's male dorm thing that I kind of freak out a little when a girl walks down the hall to get to the staircase. I feel like I'm in third grade a lot when there are girls around the dorm and in my mind I'm saying "No! Forbidden!" Maybe I'll get over my fear of girls this year too... or maybe I'll be more frightened. After reading Twilight, I'm not any less scared.
Well, I'm about to go and get some coffee and wake up. Here's to another school year at LU...
I'm currently sitting in the laptop section of the computer lab trying to figure out where my classes are. As of now I only have two classes on Monday, a first since I've been at school. Usually by this time I would have already had a class or two, eaten almost two meals and had at least one cup of Jazzman's coffee. I almost don't even know what to do with myself since I've got an hour in between convo and my next class. I guess I could go meet some of those bright eyed freshmen who are wandering around the halls trying to figure out where DeMoss 1113 is.
Or I could just sit here...
This year holds a lot of interesting things for me. For one, I'll be turning 21 in less than a month. Two, I'm trying out a fantasy football league thing for the first time ever. Three, I'm living in a hotel, the one on Odd Fellows Road. I like it so far, and hopefully it stays that way. It's weird 'cause there are girls on the second and third floors. I guess that's not so weird, but I'm so accustomed to Liberty's male dorm thing that I kind of freak out a little when a girl walks down the hall to get to the staircase. I feel like I'm in third grade a lot when there are girls around the dorm and in my mind I'm saying "No! Forbidden!" Maybe I'll get over my fear of girls this year too... or maybe I'll be more frightened. After reading Twilight, I'm not any less scared.
Well, I'm about to go and get some coffee and wake up. Here's to another school year at LU...
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