Waiting

Well, it hasn't been a full month yet, but I thought I would blog while I wait. Wait for what I hear you ask. Well, I'm waiting for first of all Christie to finish reading the newest installment of Harry Potter, so that I can dig into it. I'm trying to be patient, but I have never been great at that. So while I wait, I thought I would write a little something.

My sister sent me an email that was stressing how hard it is to lose weight that was supposed to be funny. I found it both sad and alarming all at once. The email painted a picture of God creating health food, and Satan repeatedly out smarting God with junk food. In the end God creates bypass surgery, and Satan makes HMO's. God is thwarted again.

This email was sad to me because it made sound hopeless that anyone could stay fit because of junk food, sugar, white flour, TV, and crappy insurace. The only thing in that I might say is remotely satanic is insurance (maybe TV, I really hate TV). It is sad to me to think that people might concede whether jokingly or not that being healthy and fit is hopeless. I mean if Satan is outsmarting God then man it must really be hopeless. It is not hopeless people, and I don't think that Satan and God are battling over salad and chocolate. Don't put this problem into another realm of existence. The problem is that we choose to watch TV, and over indulge in the food we like. I'm just as guilty of it as anyone is. Most of this stuff is okay in moderation. Eat a little chocolate with dessert, cut down on the portions you eat, have a piece of fruit for God's sake. I know it is hard to change eating habits, but don't even jokingly try to push this off on a higher power. You have the ability to eat healthier, watch less TV, and get off of your ass and do something.

Now that was the sad part. I was alarmed by the Theology in it. I know that it was a joke but I think this is actually a common problem people have. God and Satan are the subject of the email. In the email, I noticed that God and Satan seemed to be on equal footing. To me it sounded like two dieties, one good, one bad. This is not the teaching of Christianity. No no no. God created Satan remember. God created everything, which means that God is bigger stronger and the only diety, thusly called God. Satan is actually a word that means adversary. It doesn't mean the epitome of evil. "Satan" is anyone who does work against God. I'm trying to disprove the whole Satan thing. I'm just trying to let you guys know what I think. I think that we too often associate things that are our responsibility with Satan. We choose to do that good things and the bad things that we do. This is my belief. Whether God and/or Satan is acting trying to influence us doesn't matter because we are making the choice. And trust me we all choose poorly from time to time. Please whatever you do, DO NOT make Satan another God!

I know this is an over-reaction to this email, but still I feel that these were things that some people really needed to hear. I'm sure that hardly anyone who reads this need to hear it but I thought it worked for a quick rant.

Mark

It's been a Month

Staying true to my pattern, I decided to post. I don't really have a lot to blog about, so I guess I will just update you on this summer thus far. As I said before i am working at the camp part time and church the other part of my time. Both are going pretty well. When we have camps going on I get to take the campers underground in complete darkness, while we climb through tight places. It's great fun. In case you don't understand I get to take the campers caving, which believe it or not I really enjoy. And I having lost a camper yet.

Anyhoozlebee, Summer is going great. I have read some pretty good books (many at the suggestion of my wife). I'm really into Greek mythology right now because of a series of books that Christie had me read called Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It's awesome because Percy finds out that he is the son of a Greek god, which made me want to remember the Greek mythology I learned in High School. Since it is a little fuzzy, I'm reading the Ilyad and the Oddesy to catch up on it.

To end this, I thought I would let the world know my laptop is no more. It died in a tragic cereal accident. It is a little sad, but it was only a computer. It's nothing important just a thing, but it was really convenient to have around. Umm...I guess that's all for me.

Peace, Love and eat your veggies,
Mark

Summering It Up!

 Apparently, I spend something like a month away from blogging then I post like three posts.  Then, I'm gone for another week.  There may be some kind of cycle to this.  If anyone can find a pattern to this, or can make an algorithm out of it then I will be quite impressed.  Maybe this is too complex of a system for that. 

So I finished the semester a few weeks ago, and I am totally summering it up.  That's right, I'm summering it up.   It's a real thing.  This summer I am working as a general laborer at Little Grassy United Methodist Camp, and I'm still working as the youth director at Grace UMC in Carbondale.  The camp is kicking my bottom because I am quite out of shape, and I have to do very physical work out there.  Mostly I weed-eat, or weed-whack (I don't know which way is more accurate, I guess weed-whack).  Youth stuff is still youth stuff.

So really summering it up for me means working.  Hopefully I can squeeze in a round of golf sometime, or something.  Also, I'm playing softball once a week with my Church.  Church league softball is awesome because we claim to be non-competitive, but we totally are.  We just can't take a short stop out to break up a double play (sadness).  I really don't know how else to play, but I'm trying to play without hurting myself or other people. 

One more thing, if anyone would like to buy me a present then go onto amazon.com and look through my wishlist I set up there.  I think you can search for me by name or something.  Well cats, I gotta fly.  I hope ya'll have fun summering it up. 

Peace

Streetlight Manifesto

I recently ventured out and bought a couple of CDs by this band, and let me tell you they are great.  The two that I have are "Everything Goes Numb" and "Keasby Nights."  The band is a fourth wave ska band if that is a real thing.   They have a bit of punk feel to them especially in the lead singers voice, which is a characteristic of the third wave of ska.  What I really like about them is that they use various tempos in each song.  These guys are awesome, and it seems to me that they are trying hard to do their own thing and not let deadlines and record companies get in the way of their music.  So if you get a chance check them out. 

I really don't have a whole lot to say, I just wanted to let you guys know about this band.  Oh, and if you are offended by "bad" language, or you would be listening to music with small children this is not the band for you.  They definitely use profanity in their songs, but I don't mind that as much as others might.  Umm...well this is a very superficial post, but I hope you check Streetlight out and enjoy them as much as I do.  If you don't like them, then you have no taste in music whatsoever. 

Peace

Mark

A month away

I'm not really sure why but I seemed to have taken a month off from writing in this blog. Not that too many people really read this stupid thing, but still I've been away from it for a month with no explanation. I haven't been that busy, and it's not like things haven't happened which I could write about. It seems that I'm lazy. That's right I said it. I'm lazy, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Is laziness a disease or something? Why did I just say I'm not getting any better? Why is it so socially unexceptable to not want to contribute to this screwed up world more than you have to? Of course this blog isn't exactly contributing to the world now is it?

Anyhoo, I think I'm back and maybe I'll actually start writing in this thing again. I'm going to try to be more selective with my laziness.

Peace, Love and eat your veggies,

Mark

A Poem

Here is a poem that I wrote last fall during a hebrew bible class (old testament). We were talking about one of the prophets and this just kind of came out of me. It is loosely based off of a passage, but I'm not really sure which one. Maybe you know.

A Cry for Humanity
My laments fall on deaf ears.
My message is not understood.
My people listen but do not hear.
They nod along but do not understand.

How do I find success in failure?
Where do I see light in darkness?
We shut out God, and fill ourselves with stuff.
We are not satisfied, so we buy more.

My people are not people but stuff.
My people are defined by cars.
They are defined by wars.
Where stuff cannot satisfy maybe death can.

Soon my people will be no more.
Soon my land will not exist.
Soon there will be desolate cities.
Soon there will be peace.

It's a little dark but it is the only poem that I have written that I don't think completely sucks. I don't really write a lot of poetry, so that could be part of it. The only time that I have ever really written poetry is during class when I was supposed to be paying attention. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed it.

Express yourself Folks,

Mark

Out of Body experiences

I feel like I have been ripped from my body. I don't feel like I am really anywhere. It is just that my body is there. I don't have any idea where I am half the time. It is as if I just exist. I don't feel sad or mad or anything. I just feel disconnected. I haven't felt myself lately. This could be because I'm a man from two cities. Driving back and forth to school every week is exhausting, and that is why I don't really feel like I'm anywhere. I almost feel like I am watching myself but is vaguely through my own eyes. I barely feel like I have a control of what is going on around me, not like I ever have. Life is passing by, and I am floating above it not really engaging with it but also not really disengaged. I am there in it but only my body. I am in the middle of an out of body experience. Drifting from place to place. Noticing very little while learning very much. I feel like I must be missing something that helps me to engage with the world around me. I don't have that slight arrogance that I once had. I don't have the feeling that I can realistically change and handle the things that are going on around me. I am still confident that everything will work out well for me and my family, but I don't know that I will have much to do with it.
Maybe this is me realizing that I have to get out of the way and let God do the work. I need to stop just reacting to circumstances and start allowing God to work through me in these circumstances. There are a lot of things that are going to happen of which I have very little control. But there are also things over which I have a lot of control. I need to engage with what's going on around me, coming down out of the clouds, and stop just responding after something happens. But instead reacting and preparing before they happen. I need to look at how things are going and start to engage with the things and change the way I look at them, or change the way things are going to work out. I don't know if any of this makes sense. This is more of a journal entry than anything else, but feel free to leave some comments.

Come down from on high and mingle with the people,

Mark

Snootiness and the poor perceptions

So today my wife and I went to the jewelry store to get her engagement ring fixed (it has a bent prong). We walked in and it was a little busy, which is okay considering that it is Saturday. So we waited at the counter looking at over-priced jewelry hoping someone would acknowledge our presence. Instead, the workers kept walking by us pretending that we didn't even exist. This is quite a blow to my self-esteem. I looked around and noticed that the people who some years under their belt were getting treated well. Also, those who were dressed nicely were getting some help. But Christie and I who are young and don't really like to dress up to go to a freaking mall get the shaft. We get to sit their and be ignored by snooty people who assume that we don't have any money are going to be a complete waste of their time. We don't have a lot of money, but we were willing to spend some money to get this ring fixed. After twenty or thirty minutes of being completely ignored we left. It would have been different if they would have just said as they walked by that someone would be with us in a minute, but no they wouldn't even look at us. It was frickin ridiculous.

I think that people need to be aware that everyone is worth some time and attention. No matter how they look, every person is valuable and should be recognized as such. I hate when people assume they know so much about a person because of the way they look. For instance, my brother told me a story of getting treated poorly while trying to buy a suit. The people working seemed to think that he wasn't worth the time because he wouldn't be able to afford the suit. Paul, my brother, is a doctor and because he wasn't dressed nicely in designer clothes he didn't get treated well. This is total bollocks. People always say that you can't judge a book by it's cover. I think that you can an idea of the book from the cover, but you really don't know it until you read it. People are the same way. Until you talk to someone and get to know who they are a little bit, you can't accurately judge much about them. Except maybe the priority that person puts on fashion. So don't go judging people by the car they drive or the shoes that they wear. Because whether they drive a Jaguar or a run down van they could be really cool people. Talk to people and they might surprise you!!

Stay open kids,
mark

I feel old

On New Year's Eve, I decided to have a lock-in for my middle school youth. I had a good group come in, and we had some fun. The problem is that they made me play soccer and basketball, which I'm all for. The problem is that when we do this in the same night I am sore for the next three days. I'm still a little sore from this night of playing. I remember a time when I would have done that, and got up the next day ready to play some more. Growing older sucks. Maybe I should spend some time at the gym and get into shape, but I really don't know if I'm dedicated enough for that. I know that if I go to the gym that I'm going to over do it, and end too sore the next day to go again. This is because I'm not dedicated enough for this. It was a lot easier in high school when I had coaches yelling at me, and some of the working out was disguised in a game. That's what I really like. Make my exercise hide in something that I really like doing. It's like hiding a pill in a patient's muffin so that they will actually take their medicine. I need to hide my exercise in the muffin of a sweet sweet sport then I will actually do it...

Who am I kidding?! I won't even do that for more than like a week. I'm too lazy.

later peeps,

Mark

I'm such a girl

So Tuesday night my wife and I went to the movies. We went to see "The Holiday." This is maybe the ultimate of chick flicks. I mean it was probably the most chickie movie that I have ever seen, and I liked it. That's right, I liked it a lot actually. It was touching and funny and clever. Just liking this movie may have made me a bit of a girl, but it gets worse. There was a really touching part to the movie that brought tears to my eyes, none rolled, but tears came to my eyes nonetheless. It wasn't even a sad part of the movie, but a happy and touching part. What kind of man cries when the movie is happy? I do. The kind of man that I am is that kind of man. Sure I called myself a girl, but the truth is that any man should feel okay to cry at any time in their lives. We have double standards everywhere in our society, and this is one that is unfair to men. I think that it is time for the world to accept that men have feelings other than lust. We don't just like sports and action, but also like a romance and love. Of course, we suck at it sometimes, but I blame society for this. We aren't allowed to be in touch with those things unless we are gay, which is assinine. Why should just gay guys know something about romance? Anyway, I think I might be just justifying that fact that I cried at a movie that my wife didn't cry at. That's right, she didn't cry. The woman cried for like three hours after "Life as a House," which was really sad, but doesn't shed one single tear when I have the urge to cry at a movie. I think I'm done with this. Feel free to cry, even if it is at what a loser I am.

Later,

Mark

Tis the season!

I was clicking around on the internet a couple of weeks ago and came across this. I was surprised by it, and haven't really been able to get it out of my head since. How very appropriate this is for how the season is really celebrated. I think that children have a better idea of Santa Claus than they do of Jesus being born in a manger in Bethlehem. I'm not saying that we should stop talking about Santa Claus with the kids. I'm not saying that we should stop giving presents and stop watching Christmas movies about Santa Claus. What I am saying is that Christmas is a little too commercial. I like getting presents for my friends and family, and really I don't mind receiving a few gifts. Christmas is about the humble beginnings of Jesus, who went on to do some pretty great things like redeeming us from our sins. It's turned into something that is more about stuff. Jesus was born in a stable. Not in a state of the art hospital. But I think that the humility is gone from Christmas. It's about what we want and what we can buy for other people. I don't think that everyone is like this, but it seems to be more and more prevalent in today's society. Children are about getting more and more, which I think is normal, but now it's not just children who are all about the gimme-gimme's. I think it is time that we stop thinking about ourselves during the holiday season, and start thinking about those who don't have anything. I came across a quote by St. Basil, he was a Cappadocian Theologian from a long time ago. "The bread that you store up belongs to the hungry; the coat that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold that you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor." I think if we keep this in mind Christmas will look a little different.
Peace homies,
Mark
PS-This comic comes from www.tmcm.com and is drawn by Shannon Wheeler.

"Johnny Quest, he thinks we're WHAT!?"

My favorite band for quite some time now has completely changed their style, and it really pisses my off. The Band is Less Than Jake. They used to be a really cool ska band with some punk influence. Now, they sound like pop, which isn't bad if you want to be a pop band. They used to have a great ska sound with trombones and saxophones, it was great. Now it's just guitar, bass, and drums. They went from awesome songs with nonsensical titles, which were about real people in their lives, to "In with the out crowd." What I've heard of the new album is what is pissing me off. I don't care if a band decided to change up their style some, as long as it doesn't suck when they do. This Johnny Quest does think you are sell-outs (Which is a reference to one of their better songs).

Which leads me to a question that I must ask myself. Does everyone have their price? Is everyone just a few dollars, cents, or people from selling-out? I would define selling out as a compromising your own style, thoughts, beliefs, or background for prestige, money, power, or sex. I just threw sex on there on a whim. Is it always a bad thing to sell-out? I think it is bad for anyone to compromise their own values for money, or anything else I mentioned before. If a person makes a change in his/her life, then that person should do it because it betters them emotionally, physically, or mentally. It should not be to gain something at the expense of someone else. Maybe LTJ made an honest change, but I feel they got too poppy and are isolating all of their old fans for younger ones.

Could I sell-out at anytime? I think it is possible. It's scary to say, but I really do. I'm not sure what I would compromise, or for what reward. I don't really want to make a lot of money. Maybe I would sell-out my beliefs for a class, but I think that would only be for the duration of the class. Actually, I don't know that I could do that either, but I guess it is possible. Maybe we are all "sell-outs" at different points in our lives. We all conform at some point. I think it is a question of whether you stay that way, or go back to being the unique individual you have always been. Anyway, this is getting way to self-helpish, so I'm done.

Don't forget to dance,

Mark

Overworked Kids

Kids today have way too much to do. The kids in my youth group are constantly doing something. They have drama stuff. They have soccer on Sundays. They have other sports throughout the week. I don't think there is a day that they don't have something going on. Then, they try to squeeze church into that mix. This is insane.

When I was a kid I played sports and went to church, but the sports didn't happen on Sunday. And practices were always over before Wednesday night church. I mean every night after practice I would go and play basketball with some neighborhood buddies, but I wasn't really pushed in every which direction by the many obligations I had. I only had like two obligation, church and school. What are we teaching these kids today?

I think it is a bad trend that our youth don't know how to rest. They go from one thing to another with very little rest in between. They have after school things and then homework, and sports that are outside of the school. Then some of them have to work, and there is no "me" time in any of this. We are teaching our kids to be overworked business people. Any we are teaching them that soccer is as important as church, or at least it is okay to have things compete with church.

Now, I have my struggles with the church. I really don't like institutions, and I think that sometimes the churches have no idea what God really wants. But I don't think we should be teaching our kids to be cynical about church. Instead, we should let them come to that conclusion on their own. They are plenty smart enough to see the flaws that come from getting a bunch of humans together to decide what God really wants for the world.

I guess my point is: It is no wonder that people grow up without ever figuring out how to rest and relax. We teach people from a very young age that it is something that you are supposed to chance but never catch, like the wind. Man, we like screw stuff up. On top of that we teach them that since you can't rest you might as well try to buy lots of stuff to make up for it. I think that's another topic though. I guess that all for now.

Later homies,

Mark

I want to go back to school!

I'm so tired of doing the same stuff all the time. I know I complain about going to school, and most likely will once I return. But I really want to go back to school. Right now, I'm working part time, and that is really it. I have nothing else pressing to do in my life. I work in the mornings then go back to my apartment, and right now try to get it set up. Normal life is really boring, I think I want to be a student all the time. Not that student life is the easiest and best thing in the world either, but it seems to suit me well. I mean sure it is physically and mentally exhausting, but there is always something that needs to be done. Of course, I will probably just put it off until the last minute. Maybe that's what I miss. In the real world they expect you to plan things before the night before. I don't really know how to do that, or rather I'm not used to doing that.

It's not that my job is particularly hard either. I just have to plan fun things for middle school kids, and carry it out. Nothing hard about that. I mean I think like a middle schooler, so I just plan things for myself. It seems to work out pretty well. My life is boring at the moment, now that the wedding is over. I just need more to do I think. Twenty hours a week will be great once I'm in school, but right now it's boring. Maybe once I'm full time it will be better. Anyway, I guess I'm done. Maybe next time I will have something a little more exciting to write about.

Peace, Love, and eat your veggies
Mark

Sickness and Health

I just got married, and I have been thinking about some of the vows that I took during the ceremony. Most of it is just taking care of each other, and loving each other until death parts us. Well, that well and good, but they didn't tell me how soon it would be before all of these in statements are going to take place. For instance, they didn't warn me that sickness was going to happen shortly after making it to the hotel for the "honeymoon," which was almost non-existent.

We hadn't been to the hotel for more than an hour when my wife starting feeling sick to her stomach. I tried not to take it personally, but I couldn't help thinking that my lousy attempts at pleasing her have literally made her sick to her stomach. With that thought never aired publicly, I convinced myself that it had nothing to do with me. She spent most of the rest of our couple day stay sleeping while I watched tv. It wasn't the best honeymoon ever, but I think it should be something that is discussed before the wedding. The pastor in premartial counseling should have said, "Mark, your wife will most likely get sick on the wedding night, so don't have any plans apart from sleeping." Of course, he wouldn't have known that, but still we should have been warned that sickness is before health in vows for a reason.

I've also been thinking about "for richer or for poorer." I only hope that the for richer comes, so that we can at least get out of debt. I'm content with poor, but poor with no debt hanging over my head would be great. I don't really want all of my poorness be as a direct result of debt. I wish I was smart enough to get some scholarships or something. Anyway, since the sickness has already found us, I hope that the richer comes next. But I don't want to be a millionaire, I just want enough to cover everything and little more for some fun things. Anyway that's all for now. Peace and Love!