Marching to the beat of my own drum?

Hello Again, from my loving Oasis here in Calgary Alberta Canada. I have just finished class for the day and thought i would come down to the sixth floor computer lab and share with you my day's events and thoughts. So i woke up this morning, class wasn't beginning till 10am, so i woke up at 8:30am, and i was still quite tired. So tired in fact that while in the shower i washed my hair with body wash. I don't know if i will be damaged by this in anyway, but my hair doesn't smell all that good now, it's like a combination of Adidas Body Wash with imitation pert plus. I was not impressed.

Right now i just need to say that a certain freshman from last year from america is sitting behind me in the computer lab listening to loud, and obtrusive langauge and making assanine comments. I want to go smack him around, but it wouldn't be very nice. Besides i told Matt Russell that i love people from NUC and if i smacked him, i would be a liar.

So my day continued into the classroom where i continued to learn much from Terry Fach, who is a pastor of a Nazerene Church and just a great guy in general. I have really enjoyed the way the class discussions have not been abstract, the way i thought they would be, but they have been pertinant, and very much connected to our faith and to the body of Christ and so on. Very cool for me!

Terry made several interesting and thought provoking statements today, but only one of them have i chosen to comment on here today. I don't even remember the context in which this statement was said, but it got me thinking for some reason. We've all heard the phrase "Marching to the beat of a differant drummer", but Terry phrased it as "Marching to the beat of my own drum". This idea captivated me for the few seconds that i could allow between note taking. I thought about how much i take pride in being differant then other people. I like to read cutting edge books (although much of what i read is becoming trendy), i like music that is not christian, i don't know, those aren't good examples, but i try to be counter cultural in my thought and actions even if it is sometimes because i like to piss people off. Regardless, i enjoy being differant. (Writing that statement makes me realize what a conformist i actually am! Damn! I hate my conformatism!) Anyway, back to what i was trying to say, I like to be differant for whatever reason, at whatever point in time, i try and not be like everyone else. Anyway, this idea got me thinking about it in relation to my faith. In being a Christian, we are supposed to be like Christ. As we grow and mature, and allow the spirit to mold us, we are changing, becoming like someone else. But it's also more then that, as part of Christ's body (the church) we are as a community of believers supposed to be growing together and moving outward sharing the love of Christ and the truth about Christ. So in some ways, i feel there is an aspect of conformity. We are following someone, we are becoming more like someone, and so on, but this is not a conformity that is forced. We choose to follow Christ, we are compelled by his love, by his grace and forgiveness and so on. As a Christian, we make a choice, so, in so much as we are becoming more like Christ, it is not forced, we choose it. Also, there is part of it that is not conformist. We remain still the unique individuals that Christ made us to be. We don't have to change the details about us that make us who we are. I don't have to stop loving music because now i am like Christ, and maybe Christ didn't like music (i think he did though). Tim Houghton doesn't have to stop expressing himself through taking pictures just because Christ didn't take pictures. You get the idea? We remain individuals and unique despite our desire to conform to the life and love of Christ. Also the teachings of Christ are very much counter-cultural. I hate this saying, but Jesus is the ultimate rebel, ok, maybe not, but Jesus was differant, he didn't keep on with everything just because that's how it had been done for all those years before. Jesus showed us a new way to live, a new way to interact and love other people, and a new way to experiance God. So even though there is an aspect of conformity, there is still more counter-cultural and non-conformist ideas connected with having a relationship with Christ. Well, i hope you weren't waiting for some huge, new revelation, cause i don't have one. Thats pretty much all i wanted to say...

Song of the Day: You wanna hear something wierd? For the last week i have had the stupidist song in my head. Chop Seuy by System of a Down. It's a funny song in that it asks the question "Why'd you leave the ketchup on the table", but it's also a very anti-god/christ/christianity song, with such statements as "Trust in my self righteous sucicde" in referance to Christ, and so on, so it isn't the song of the day, but i figured if i talked about it, it might get out of my head. The actual song of the day is by the wallflowers. I was thinking about the wallflowers recently, and how great they are, and how i associate people with thier music and general existance. Anyway, the song that i am going to hightlight here today is "6th Avenue Heartache". I know it's cliche, though not as cliche as "One Headlight", but it is truly a great song and worth encouraging you to listen to here on my sight. There was a time in my life when i equated this song to be more about relationships, but now i see it as more about a picture of a life, a moment, a situation and then Jakob Dylan just describes and sings it beautifully. (with a little help of course from Adam Duritz) Anyway, it's a great song, and if you have the means and or the desire you should check it out, you can't be disappointed by this song, if you are, you must be drunk, or high, or deaf or something. Anyway's i'm gonna jet, i'm supposed to call Monica, so i guess i will

ps. stay tuned for further developments on this presidant thing. Met with Wendy and Anthony this week. Very interesting...