Tuesday, December 30, 2008


What a great video from Beaker:

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thankgiving?

The Great Tablecloth by Pablo Neruda

When they were called to the table, the tyrants came rushing
with their temporary ladies; it was fine to watch the women pass
like wasps with big bosoms followed by those pale
and unfortunate public tigers.

The peasant in the field ate his poor quota of bread,
he was alone, it was late, he was surrounded by wheat, but he had no more bread;
he ate it with grim teeth, looking at it with hard eyes.

In the blue hour of eating, the infinite hour of the roast,
the poet abandons his lyre, takes up his knife and fork, puts his flask on the table,
and the fishermen attend the little sea of the soup bowl.
Burning potatoes protest among the tongues of oil.
The lamb is gold on its coals and the onion undresses.
It is sad to eat in dinner clothes, like eating in a coffin,
but eating in convents is like eating underground.
Eating alone is a disappointment, but not eating matters more,
is hollow and green, has thorns like a chain of fish hooks
trailing from the heart, clawing at your insides.

Hunger feels like pincers, like the bite of crabs, it burns, burns and has no fire.
Hunger is a cold fire.

Let us sit down soon to eat with all those who haven't eaten;
let us spread great tablecloths, put salt in the lakes of the world,
set up planetary bakeries, tables with strawberries in snow,
and a plate like the moon itself from which we can all eat.

For now I ask no more than the justice of eating.
Mark 5:40-42 ...taking the child's father and mother and those who were with Him, He went in where the little girl was lying. Gripping her by the hand, He said to her, Talitha cumi--which translated is, Little girl, I say to you, arise! And instantly the girl got up and started walking around...


Revelation 3: 1-6 Wake Up!
To the Church in Sardis
"To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.


You have a gift to be so much more in this life. All you have to do is get up, and rise.


Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou
Special thanks to S. Pastis for "Pearls Before Swine"


Friday, November 14, 2008

The Appalachian State Game Day Experience - you wouldn't think football would bring a tear to your eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK0DUU_Hvlg
Ok... so now my wife and I have before us the task of naming our daughter who will arrive abouts April. I don't know if there is any more daunting a task than picking out a name for a child. Our first son Matthew was originally going to be named Boyce after my late uncle, but thanks to Flavor Flav (Yeahhhhhh Boyyyyyzzzz!) it was changed. Now we have to name a daughter. This is difficult because what you name a child is central to their earliest sense of identity. If you don't get it right it could affect you and your child for a lifetime. The naming of a child for me has to have some inspiration behind it... it has to feel right. The Sages say that naming a baby is a statement of her character, her specialness, and her path in life. For at the beginning of life we give a name, and at the end of life a "good name" is all we take with us.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

a journey begins...

This is officially my first entry to my blog. I figured if everyone else could impart their wisdom on the rest of the world, then I needed to throw in my two cents. I will relay the important and not so important thoughts that cross my mind, so that those that read this will have confirmation that I am officially losing my marbles. Maybe in some kind of weird sense this will be therapeutic, or maybe not... who knows?
So first... why "Random Church"? When I was in high school we had a talent show at my church to fundraise for our mission trip. Three of us, along with our Youth Minister formed a "band" to play one song at the dinner... the band- you guessed it - was dubbed "Random Church" by yours truly. But in thinking on that now, I look at the world we live in as a church of God. Yahweh God, not a church of little g god. Regardless of where we are in this spiritual journey that we call life, we are to keep God the center of all we do. So therefore, whether we are in line at the grocery store, or at work, or in our cars on a highway, we are in church. There is a hymn that says- I am the church! You are the church!We are the church together. The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple,the church is not a resting place;the church is a people! So as we interact with the different people in our daily lives, we are all in someways attending a "random church".