Just a quick note to say hello

Hello.....

haha, i am sadam funny (so damn). Double funny today. Life rolls along as per usual. Work was especially slow today, embarressingly slow, so embarresing in fact, that as i spoke to a co-worker, i leaned a little too heavily and a display of compact discs and it came crashing down. I felt like a tool.

So if you care about Church, and Ministry you should the last couple of blogs by Jon Kramer, his site is linked on my site, just down on the left, you should be able to find it. Jon made some great observations and made me think and speak, it's pretty easy to get me to think, but to speak, that is a whole differant story.

So, I am listening to the proto-type for the latest mix cd i'm making. I named it the Purgatorial mix. You see, Purgatory is a place (not really) that you go to when judgement finds you neither all that bad or all that great. Anyway, it's this in between state where nothing is wonderful, and nothing is terrible, but you are stuck and there is not much you can do to improve your situation, at least not very quickly. Anyway, that is how i have been describing my life to people. I'm at a place where i can do nothing, but wait for the responces, reactions, and actions of others. I can't do much for my father medically speaking, and it doesn't help for me to worry either cause that only brings me down. I'm working a decent job, though not the job i ultimatly want, thought the job i ultimatly want could be in waiting, but at the time, it's not really up to me. I'm engaged and almost married, but that day can't come fast enough, it's "already but not yet" to quote a fantastic biblical professor and author.

Anyway, some old favorites like Elton John, Ryan Adams, Counting Crows, Matt Good, Elliott Smith, and the Eels. Some newbies like Calexico, Neil Young, Radiohead, Nichole Nyeahordeman, and The Shins. Not that these artists are new to me, but these artists are making Mix CD debuts, or thier second appearance whereas, Matt Good, Elton John, and Ryan Adams have been on more mix cd's then Al Gore, and Al Gore has been on a lot of mix cds.

So mostly, not too much to say obviously. Though I have been making a huge effort to see friends these days as it is becoming more and more clear that my friends and I won't live in the same city forever. So i'm doing everything i can to spend time with those dearest to me, though some have rejected my pleas for companionship (cough....cough...Matt Russell). But i'm not bitter, at least not as Bitter as Alanis Morrisette was on her major label debut "Jagged Little Pill", man that was a little much, but i did like the song, "Head over Feet".

So agreed this is a hodge-podge, an assortment of thoughts and ramblings which will serve no purpose other then releasing some stuff and giving you a look into the tangled cobwebs that is my brains, which incedently have not been splattered against the wall in a horrible robbery attempt, though because i have a hero complex, i have fantasized about foiling a robbery at Christian Publications, which is highly unlikely, but i always look good with two bad guys down and a gun in my hand.

Also, Canada's next top Model and Gilmour Girls are excellent shows. Cara and I watch CNTM every wednesday, and We have season one of Gilmour Girls on DVD, so we are watching that whenever we get a chance. It's all pretty girly, but hey, I can't be all testosterone can I? Unfortunatly, i have a bad feeling like one of the girls on the show that i hate is going to with the model show. I don't like Sisi, Brandi, Andrea, or Tamika. Which leaves me with Alanna, and Alyenia. I have liked Alyenia since day one, but i don't feel like she is going to win. That breaks my little heart. Everyone they have gotten rid of so far is someone that i like. Poopers, thats what i say. ANyway, i think i am going to hit the sack and while so doing partake in a film. So i bid you goodnight, and sweet dreams of Every Rose having it's thorn, and Mesh t-shirts, and Sleemans Honey Brown. mmmmm Sleemans.

Meet Norman the Mormon!

Norman the Mormon is my car. Well, he's the car Cara and I bought. He's a good car, he's served us well, i and i anticipate more of the same. I have been wanting to show him to you for a while, but the opportunity to photograph and uplink the pics has been unpossible till now, so without further ado, i present to you my Car, a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am, Norman the Mormon. (who is named after the gentleman who sold us the car who was a mormon, I am not a mormon, but apperantly my car is, probably so he can have many wives and live in Utah)

You Wretched Mal-Content

So, i have come to abhor blogging. The laste few days i have felt like i have been way to busy living my life to write about it. I really haven't even been that busy, but i find myself wanting to spend less and less time writing about stuff on this blog. Partially because my life has been such a big secret lately. Making quiet plans to go to vancouver, hearing quiet whispers of a future job, and here's the thing, nothing is set in stone (nothing is ever set in stone) and so i don't feel like sharing everything thats going on in my life because, what if it goes belly up, and then i've told you all this stuff that was going to happen and then doesn't. Thats how i feel.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about church. Well, i guess it has to do more with youth ministry and how to connect the youth of the church to the larger body in acts of service and community, and growth. My vision with youth ministry is very multi-generational, i hate the compartmentalization of ministry, youth ministry is seperate from childrens, and adult ministries, and seniors are their own thing, i want our churches to break down those walls and have old learning from young, and the young learning from the old, and the parents involved in the lives of thier kids, while teaching them about growing up, responsibility, and when people don't step up to the plate to do these things other people in the church would. I don't know, it sounds so naive and idealistic, especially when you throw in kids who are from outside the church, but i do believe in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and it's wonderful choice to use the Church as a vessel of this transformation, more and more i want this to happen in community, and see potential for this happening in community, and i wish we could become more like a family of believers then independant life forms who congregate at the same location each sunday. I know family's aren't perfect, and there is conflict in real life, and i think thats impotant, and is also why we have elders and leaders and instruction from scripture on how to be in relationship with one another. To not hold grudges, to work things out amongst yourselves unless a third party becomes neccesary. I don't know, i see so much truth and beauty in the church, but pray for it to be realized in a real and tangible way in my ministry, the ministry that God gives to me.

I've also been doing some thinking about sales. As you know, i work at a retail outlet. Often times i find myslf working in the music department, and people ask me about music, they ask me if i have heard albums, they ask me if i like certain artists or records, and i do my best to be honest with them. Now at the place where i work, there are about 4 or 5 albums that i love. Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama, U2, David Crowder Band, Derek Webb, and anyway, when people ask me about these albums, i almost always convince them to buy it because i love these records and artists, and because my my knowledge, experiance and passion, people see that and can really take my word for something because of how i present it, both in word, but also in deed as i let them listen to the record. This is the reason i can't sell cd's by Third Day, or Mercyme, or Toby Mac, or Underoath, or whatever dingleberry Christian artist is popular this week. I mean, i can literally sell them, like the monetary transaction for goods (not services), but if someone asks me if i like them, i try to be diplomatic, and chalk it up to differant tastes but i can't get excited about a Third Day concert, or a Mercyme CD, or the fact that Underoath was featured on disgusting prime time show "The O.C.". The best (and worst) salesmen are people who can sell something they don't believe in or know nothing about. Thier conciounce allows them to sell something to people, whether they believe it a worthy product or not. I haven't been able to do that, at least not when i comes to something real, i can sling bull pretty well sometimes, but at the end of the day (and first thing in the morning) I come clean...and so should you. I wish William Wallace was here, he would know what to do.

"Son, you're half a bubble off of plumb"

Let's dispense with the pleasentries.

I've decided as a whole, i don't enjoy my current occupation. It's not the people, it's not the pay (well that could use improvement), it's not any of the regular things that people don't like thier job for, i don't enjoy my current occupation because it's so monotonous. I said to someone yesterday, that i may as well be working on an assembly line in a factory for all of the variety that i get at Christian Publications. Also, because of the monotonous nature of my occupation i find ver little intellectual, and or cultural, and or social stimulation, and this, my days go as such. Wake up, clean, go to work, come home, hang out with Cara for a couple of hours (generally doing wedding stuff, or adult stuff like paying bills, buying groceries etc), go to bed. With the little leisure time i have, i try to read (right now i'm reading "the problem of pain" by C. S. Lewis) or sometimes i play video games, last night i actually forced myself to watch a movie. Overall, i am not enjoying my current occupation, but i will stay there, at least through the summer, and come Fall, we'll see where we stand. Ps. Don't tell my boss how unsatisfied i am, if they knew they might just let me go, and i don't really need that to happen at this point.

Today, though is a day off, and i plan to spend it thus, lunch with the associate professor of theology at Canadian Bible College, followed by the viewing of the film "X-Men 3" with my good friend and fellow blogger Troy Dunham. Thats right, we're going to take in a matinee, and yes i have been told to wait until after the credits for some secret thing after X-Men is over.

So, i never actually told you. Cara and I bought a car. A 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. It's pretty sweet, we bought it like three weeks ago, but before the long weekend, and then on the long weekend, Cara and I drove to Vancouver, and suprised the majority of my family with a short but sweet visit.

Then most recently, Cara and I went back to Vermilion for Cara's college grad, and also some pre-marital councelling, and that kind of jazz. We saw family, friends, and generally had a remarkably awesome weekend.

Now, we're back in Calgary, back at work, and maybe if you are lucky, i'll be back at blogging, but the truth is, because of the monotony of my life, particularly my occupation, i find i never have anything worthwhile to say to you. Not like the Kramers who are fixing up a house, or Troy, who is also experiance quite a bit of life change, or Kyle, prior to his oridination process. I have no time for me and my thoughts to process, which means more then likely that strange dreams are going to start up again.

For instance, i dreamt last night that I was in a grand theft auto type scenario, and what was coming at me but a trolly train, and i thought to myself, how cool is that to steal, so i jumped in, threw the conductor off the side, and who do i run into but my old roomate Kier, who was going to offer me some lessons on driving these things, but i decline his offer, so we are driving pretty wildly and dangerously, and then there is a vertical drop at the end of one of the lines, so i steer it in that direction and Kier and I jump off, only to go to Red Robin's to eat food, and by this time, some girl i didn't recognize was with us. Then I started playing with a replica toy train of the one i just crashed, except it could only go in circles, despite the large surrounding track.

Anyway, that's about all i got for today, if you think of a way to inspire me, send it my way, although, the Bob Dylan I'm listening to right now is soothing my soul and giving my soul, heart, mind, earth, wind, and fire some inspiration. So go home and listen to your Bob Dylan records, it will do you a world of good, particularly the album, Nashville Skyline.

ps, i'll post some pictures of my car as soon as i get a chance to take a picture or two. The cars name is "Norman the Mormon"