finally. justice.
in 2007 KU lived a charmed life going 5-0 in games decided by 8 points or less. it's nice to see that they're experiencing the other side of the story this year.
-ap.
September 13, 2008
September 11, 2008
september 11.
it feels customary to write a 9/11 post of some kind. mainly out of reverence, but also to avoid guilt if the day came and went and i never acknowledged it publicly on this blog that is slowly becoming adam's life in text form.
the feeling i'm left with on this day is a sense of unity once again. in a search for silver lining in such an emotionally devastating event is hard to do, but if there is lining in my eyes it is unity.
i was encouraged by the spectacle of mccain and obama side by side in silence today, and then to see them herded side by side to shake the hands of everyone in attendance at ground zero. obama patted mccain on the back, they smiled in conversation, and i actually sensed for the first time that they were both trying to do what is best for this nation. putting their agendas aside and honoring the families of the individuals lost on september 11. pretty awesome image.
it's unfortunate that the media won't put their agendas aside like the candidates. i did hear one fellow on MSNBC ignore a question regarding the polls in florida to mention the what a great display it was. a nice thing to hear on a day like today.
the sad thing is that tomorrow is 9/12 and it'll be back to bashing the other party, but for a moment it was nice to see that there is washington is all in this together.
-ap.
the feeling i'm left with on this day is a sense of unity once again. in a search for silver lining in such an emotionally devastating event is hard to do, but if there is lining in my eyes it is unity.
i was encouraged by the spectacle of mccain and obama side by side in silence today, and then to see them herded side by side to shake the hands of everyone in attendance at ground zero. obama patted mccain on the back, they smiled in conversation, and i actually sensed for the first time that they were both trying to do what is best for this nation. putting their agendas aside and honoring the families of the individuals lost on september 11. pretty awesome image.
it's unfortunate that the media won't put their agendas aside like the candidates. i did hear one fellow on MSNBC ignore a question regarding the polls in florida to mention the what a great display it was. a nice thing to hear on a day like today.
the sad thing is that tomorrow is 9/12 and it'll be back to bashing the other party, but for a moment it was nice to see that there is washington is all in this together.
-ap.
September 10, 2008
808's and Heartbreak.
i've been toying with adding the "check out these interesting links that i've stumbled upon" gadget to my side bar, but i didn't really think there was a whole lot truly worthy of it until now.
if you'll take a gander...
KANYE WEST IS RELEASING HIS NEW ALBUM DECEMBER 16.
-ap.
if you'll take a gander...
KANYE WEST IS RELEASING HIS NEW ALBUM DECEMBER 16.
-ap.
September 09, 2008
on multi-class ministry.
i love maps.
if you've been a frequenter of my blog for a while now you're aware of the fact that i have a very heavy heart for the upper class*. while they may not have material needs, they still have spiritual needs that are much less likely to be addressed than those of the lower class. what need do they see for Jesus amidst their lucrative lifestyle?
i understand the need for service and love toward the poor and needy, but in terms of evangelism i think it's the upper class that's needy/farther from Jesus. i have two goals then. to serve those in need and to point upper class hearts toward Christ.
so this idea just came to me. what if i aim to do the following...
step 1: live downtown and develop relationships with that community and the ministries aimed there.
step 2: take the students at hillcrest down to those ministries with two purposes: to serve those in need and to install a love for service in the hearts of upper-middle class kids.
step 3: invite students to bring their parents, hopefully installing the same desire to serve in their hearts.
step 4: encourage students and parents to take the message and attitude they've brought to service events back to their schools and offices, respectively.
step 5: repeat until death and look for opportunities to improve/extend the steps.
both goals are fulfilled and everyone's happy and Christ-like.
boom and boom.
obviously step-by-step processes aren't the most effective thing on earth, relationships and timing are crucial to every step. and at any moment it may be necessary to jump backward and review a previous step before proceeding to the next.
but this is what is on my heart today. please comment.
-ap.
September 08, 2008
okay. i'll update.
a few pointers about me that may be interesting to read:
1. i've started apartment hunting for places in kansas city for next summer. yes, it may be a bit premature, but i'm more looking for areas rather than actual apartment complexes. i want to move downtown. like in the city or just outside. i want my suburban mindset to be challenged and i want to be among those in poverty.
2. i've been listening to a lot of bobby bland and al green which is an interesting juxtaposition. the latter sings about love and how great it is and the former sings about how much he's been burned by women and is so bitter about it. i think i lean more toward bobby. i've been offsetting these two with john mayer and ben folds who sing about both and make everything seem more balanced. and akon too.
3. books i'm reading: gone tomorrow: the hidden life of trash, something beautiful for God, and the audacity of hope. i'm farthest in obama's book (almost done with it), and i've just started the other two. i haven't really gained a whole lot of new insight from obama's book but i have confirmed a lot of the thoughts i had about him already. he and i share at least one opinion: there is extreme inequality in this nation and something needs to be done about it.
4. okay, this one isn't about me. aaron rodgers is a stud. i completely understand why the packers wouldn't want brett favre back (although brett favre wasn't too shabby for the jets yesterday). aaron rodgers also looks very much like ryan from the office (season 4).
5. this shirt came in the mail a few days ago:
also, watch kanye's VMA performance: love lockdown.
6. seirra nevada pale ale is officially my favorite beer. it can join ranks with vanilla coke, red bull, white cherry freezoni, and guatemalan coffee as my favorite of a certain beverage type. (soda, energy drinks, slushes, and coffee respectively.)
-ap.
1. i've started apartment hunting for places in kansas city for next summer. yes, it may be a bit premature, but i'm more looking for areas rather than actual apartment complexes. i want to move downtown. like in the city or just outside. i want my suburban mindset to be challenged and i want to be among those in poverty.
2. i've been listening to a lot of bobby bland and al green which is an interesting juxtaposition. the latter sings about love and how great it is and the former sings about how much he's been burned by women and is so bitter about it. i think i lean more toward bobby. i've been offsetting these two with john mayer and ben folds who sing about both and make everything seem more balanced. and akon too.
3. books i'm reading: gone tomorrow: the hidden life of trash, something beautiful for God, and the audacity of hope. i'm farthest in obama's book (almost done with it), and i've just started the other two. i haven't really gained a whole lot of new insight from obama's book but i have confirmed a lot of the thoughts i had about him already. he and i share at least one opinion: there is extreme inequality in this nation and something needs to be done about it.
4. okay, this one isn't about me. aaron rodgers is a stud. i completely understand why the packers wouldn't want brett favre back (although brett favre wasn't too shabby for the jets yesterday). aaron rodgers also looks very much like ryan from the office (season 4).
5. this shirt came in the mail a few days ago:
also, watch kanye's VMA performance: love lockdown.
6. seirra nevada pale ale is officially my favorite beer. it can join ranks with vanilla coke, red bull, white cherry freezoni, and guatemalan coffee as my favorite of a certain beverage type. (soda, energy drinks, slushes, and coffee respectively.)
-ap.
September 05, 2008
the paris plan.
"Barack wants to focus on new technologies to cut foreign-oil dependency, and McCain wants offshore drilling. Well, why don’t we do a hybrid of both candidates’ ideas? We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight, while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars. That way, the offshore drilling carries us until the new technologies kick in, which will then create new jobs and energy independence. Energy crisis solved."
-Paris Hilton
that's hot.
i think we're probably closer to electric cars than we are to off-shore oil though. which means that we're spending extra money on two methods to create energy independence. that doesn't mean i don't support her idea still.
here's what i wish was added though: nuclear power plants. mccain mentioned them last night in his RNC speech, and that excited me. i guess in a moneyless world having all three of these things sounds great, but hello taxes. it's doubtful we'd be able to do all three at once - which would lead me to support nuclear plants and electric vehicles, but not off-shore drilling.
otherwise the RNC came across rather hokey and uncomfortable for me. mostly due to the few fanatic Republicans at the convention who come across somewhat similar to Phelps picketers. okay, maybe not that extreme, but almost that weird. but not nearly as weird as the woman that led the DNC Roll Call. she's gotta be a half-troll.
-ap.
-Paris Hilton
that's hot.
i think we're probably closer to electric cars than we are to off-shore oil though. which means that we're spending extra money on two methods to create energy independence. that doesn't mean i don't support her idea still.
here's what i wish was added though: nuclear power plants. mccain mentioned them last night in his RNC speech, and that excited me. i guess in a moneyless world having all three of these things sounds great, but hello taxes. it's doubtful we'd be able to do all three at once - which would lead me to support nuclear plants and electric vehicles, but not off-shore drilling.
otherwise the RNC came across rather hokey and uncomfortable for me. mostly due to the few fanatic Republicans at the convention who come across somewhat similar to Phelps picketers. okay, maybe not that extreme, but almost that weird. but not nearly as weird as the woman that led the DNC Roll Call. she's gotta be a half-troll.
-ap.
September 03, 2008
mormons.
i think my house has managed to work its way onto some sort of latter day saints' database in manhattan resulting in a fruitful friendship with the mormons over the last two years. we've met with them every couple weeks in streaks over that time asking questions, learning, and solidifying what i believe to be true versus what they do.
there are major discrepancies. huge ones:
different levels of Heaven.
they don't believe in the Trinity.
marriage/family is eternal.
women can only enter the highest realm of Heaven through marriage.
slight variation in text.
infinite grace from a God with no wrath.
on the outside mormons appear very similar to Christians, but the more i reasearch into it, the more i realized just how skewed and obscure what they believe truly is...and how different their Jesus truly is.
i've now had lengthy conversations with 6 different college-aged mormons regarding their faith and what they believe. they seem to be all about fulfilling a list of tasks in order to attain the highest level of heaven (a level that i'm not able to attain unless i accept the book of mormon and follow the ways of Joseph Smith - hereby denying a handful of truths i've believed and continue to believe now.
evidently, when Joseph Smith discovered the "Book of Mormon" he also discovered a list of passages in the original Canon that had been corrupted throughout the 1800 years after Christ - coincidentally it's all the passages that don't directly support the Church of the Latter Day Saints. hm.
their belief in Heaven really irks me. they believe that for all of us to even be on Earth, we've already found favor in God's eyes. we start as spirits with God, and God sends the deserving ones to Earth. Therefore we ALL GO TO HEAVEN once we've made it this far. there is no hell for those who come to Earth, just different levels of Paradise. the celestial (read: those who are mormon) get to be with God again, the terrestrial (where my current status is apparently) have a middle-ground Heaven awaiting us, and the telestial is for those of us who aren't the slightest bit righteous, but who God has infinite grace for and will save anyway*. we can deny Christ and still make it to Heaven. God has no wrath. no judgement. just infinite love and compassion and grace.
anyway. i could go on and on about their tactical antics. they avoid questions they dislike the answer to, and any Scripture that is presented that doesn't support their views is quickly refuted/dodged via Smith's Book o' Biblical Corrections.
i guess i'm just left with a sense of sadness now. that people with enough faith to believe this extensively absurd business aren't going to Heaven. that a lifestyle such as theirs can be utilized running in the wrong direction is disappointing. their hearts are so great too, but their faith is so off. i'm praying for their eyes to be opened to the lies they've believed. the Jesus they serve is not my Jesus. they simply can't be the same.
more info:
mormon.org
EDIT: or read the second comment to this post.
-ap.
* 1 Cor 15:40-41 (KJV) - i consider it a misinterpretation. i dont understand how one warped perspective of one verse can lead to an elaborate hierarchal system like that.
there are major discrepancies. huge ones:
different levels of Heaven.
they don't believe in the Trinity.
marriage/family is eternal.
women can only enter the highest realm of Heaven through marriage.
slight variation in text.
infinite grace from a God with no wrath.
on the outside mormons appear very similar to Christians, but the more i reasearch into it, the more i realized just how skewed and obscure what they believe truly is...and how different their Jesus truly is.
i've now had lengthy conversations with 6 different college-aged mormons regarding their faith and what they believe. they seem to be all about fulfilling a list of tasks in order to attain the highest level of heaven (a level that i'm not able to attain unless i accept the book of mormon and follow the ways of Joseph Smith - hereby denying a handful of truths i've believed and continue to believe now.
evidently, when Joseph Smith discovered the "Book of Mormon" he also discovered a list of passages in the original Canon that had been corrupted throughout the 1800 years after Christ - coincidentally it's all the passages that don't directly support the Church of the Latter Day Saints. hm.
their belief in Heaven really irks me. they believe that for all of us to even be on Earth, we've already found favor in God's eyes. we start as spirits with God, and God sends the deserving ones to Earth. Therefore we ALL GO TO HEAVEN once we've made it this far. there is no hell for those who come to Earth, just different levels of Paradise. the celestial (read: those who are mormon) get to be with God again, the terrestrial (where my current status is apparently) have a middle-ground Heaven awaiting us, and the telestial is for those of us who aren't the slightest bit righteous, but who God has infinite grace for and will save anyway*. we can deny Christ and still make it to Heaven. God has no wrath. no judgement. just infinite love and compassion and grace.
anyway. i could go on and on about their tactical antics. they avoid questions they dislike the answer to, and any Scripture that is presented that doesn't support their views is quickly refuted/dodged via Smith's Book o' Biblical Corrections.
i guess i'm just left with a sense of sadness now. that people with enough faith to believe this extensively absurd business aren't going to Heaven. that a lifestyle such as theirs can be utilized running in the wrong direction is disappointing. their hearts are so great too, but their faith is so off. i'm praying for their eyes to be opened to the lies they've believed. the Jesus they serve is not my Jesus. they simply can't be the same.
more info:
mormon.org
EDIT: or read the second comment to this post.
-ap.
* 1 Cor 15:40-41 (KJV) - i consider it a misinterpretation. i dont understand how one warped perspective of one verse can lead to an elaborate hierarchal system like that.
September 02, 2008
September 01, 2008
eggshell off-white like a dupont finish.
september should be one of the more exciting months of the year. football starts. pennant races are building in suspense. and kansas is provided with simply perfect puffer vest weather.
however, this september - though the weather is indeed perfect - provides me no sporting excitement whatsoever. my teams are all expected to flounder or have already gone under, and i have yet again failed to join a fantasy football league. i don't understand how i've always managed to surround myself with individuals who don't give half a crap about sports once september arrives. but alas, another year.
the good news is that football is still amazing even though the chiefs are not. so sundays and mondays will continue to be ruled by quite a bit of read-while-watching time. which is probably good - reading is something i've really come to enjoy recently. i'm in the middle of obama's book right now; this probably wasn't the best decision. only one of my eight books i ordered online has come in yet, so i've got some catching up to do.
other things to be excited about in september: ben folds, nelly and robin thicke all have cd releases. burn after reading - the latest coen brothers film - comes out in theaters on the 12th too. i'm not sure if the theater in manhattan does midnight showings (probably the only downfall of this town), but nick and i are seeing that movie.
-asap.
however, this september - though the weather is indeed perfect - provides me no sporting excitement whatsoever. my teams are all expected to flounder or have already gone under, and i have yet again failed to join a fantasy football league. i don't understand how i've always managed to surround myself with individuals who don't give half a crap about sports once september arrives. but alas, another year.
the good news is that football is still amazing even though the chiefs are not. so sundays and mondays will continue to be ruled by quite a bit of read-while-watching time. which is probably good - reading is something i've really come to enjoy recently. i'm in the middle of obama's book right now; this probably wasn't the best decision. only one of my eight books i ordered online has come in yet, so i've got some catching up to do.
other things to be excited about in september: ben folds, nelly and robin thicke all have cd releases. burn after reading - the latest coen brothers film - comes out in theaters on the 12th too. i'm not sure if the theater in manhattan does midnight showings (probably the only downfall of this town), but nick and i are seeing that movie.
-asap.
like whom does my future look?
every once in a while i have to sit back and think, "what if youth ministry isn't where i end up?"
here is the progression of what i do next:
1. wet my pants.
2. change my pants.
3. try to figure out what people with sociology degrees actually do.
so i did some detective work. in my research i discovered the following people all have/had sociology degrees: martin luther king jr., ronald reagan, regis philbin, and paul shaffer. this brought a terrific sigh of relief because these are all people i admire. except i continued to dwell on these names and realized the following: reagan double majored in economics too, dr. king obviously continued education and got his doctorate, and paul shaffer has some seriously natural musical abilities.
that leaves regis.
i wouldn't mind being like regis someday. hosting a tv show, hosting a game show (so great), and holding the world record for most time spent on camera (something like 16,000 hours of air time and counting). so that's comforting - that someone with no real direction after graduation can turn out like that.
maybe i'll grow up to be regis philbin someday. that wouldn't be so bad. these fresh pants would look good on camera too.
refreshing bit number two: martin luther king jr's course of action sounds remarkably like mine: socology followed by an interest in ministry (he graduated with an mDiv and then got his PhD in systematic theology). he strikes me as a bit more driven individual than i am - duh - but it still feels good to read. i wouldn't mind being like dr. king someday, that's for sure. talk about something to aspire to...wow. maybe if i start getting excited about school i could somehow achieve something to that 'degree'.
anyway. after discovering this fact about these gentlemen, i've decided to read a biography or two about each of them in order to see if my life does actually parallel theirs in anyway. maybe i'll end up being a slight blend of the two - some sort of on-camera theologian who changes the world and gets assassinated while running some sort of marching game show in alabama...and i'd be half black.
this would be nice. it gives me hope that my life isn't going to be a total failure.
merry september,
-ap.
here is the progression of what i do next:
1. wet my pants.
2. change my pants.
3. try to figure out what people with sociology degrees actually do.
so i did some detective work. in my research i discovered the following people all have/had sociology degrees: martin luther king jr., ronald reagan, regis philbin, and paul shaffer. this brought a terrific sigh of relief because these are all people i admire. except i continued to dwell on these names and realized the following: reagan double majored in economics too, dr. king obviously continued education and got his doctorate, and paul shaffer has some seriously natural musical abilities.
that leaves regis.
i wouldn't mind being like regis someday. hosting a tv show, hosting a game show (so great), and holding the world record for most time spent on camera (something like 16,000 hours of air time and counting). so that's comforting - that someone with no real direction after graduation can turn out like that.
maybe i'll grow up to be regis philbin someday. that wouldn't be so bad. these fresh pants would look good on camera too.
refreshing bit number two: martin luther king jr's course of action sounds remarkably like mine: socology followed by an interest in ministry (he graduated with an mDiv and then got his PhD in systematic theology). he strikes me as a bit more driven individual than i am - duh - but it still feels good to read. i wouldn't mind being like dr. king someday, that's for sure. talk about something to aspire to...wow. maybe if i start getting excited about school i could somehow achieve something to that 'degree'.
anyway. after discovering this fact about these gentlemen, i've decided to read a biography or two about each of them in order to see if my life does actually parallel theirs in anyway. maybe i'll end up being a slight blend of the two - some sort of on-camera theologian who changes the world and gets assassinated while running some sort of marching game show in alabama...and i'd be half black.
this would be nice. it gives me hope that my life isn't going to be a total failure.
merry september,
-ap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)