"Polishing the brass on the Titanic"

I was informed that I have not posted since Valentines Day. Well, that was good observation, Brad and Ron, thank you.

I'm sitting here in my office trying to think about how youth group should look in a church that is struggling. I made a commit to some people earlier that was a paraphrase from Fight Club (which I forgot to mention to them at the time). I asked them: "Do you ever feel like in your churches that you are polishing the brass on the Titanic?" This question got some laughs and got the answer yes.

I have had this basic conversation with a lot of people, and it is sad that we feel this way about our churches. Does this mean that the whole concept of the Church will be sinking to the deep with the Titanic? Has the church hit rock bottom? I mean there are still some churches that are doing well, but they seem like a minority.

In my church there has been a common question posed to me and just kind of in general a lot lately. How can we get young people in the church? The first answer I hear is a change of worship style. I guess that is way to go about it, and I think it might draw some more people in. I wonder though if style is less of an issue than actually worshiping when we come together. This isn't to say that every church is not worshiping, but I feel that most people don't really feel like anything has changed when they leave a worship service. I know I don't feel anything when I leave my church's worship.

I try to tell people that the young people in the world today value authenticity more than anything else. We want people to honestly say, I don't know. We want people to walk with us through questions without giving answers. You don't need to read Leonard Sweet or any other "post-modern" author to understand this. Just spend a few moments with a young person, and actually listen. We don't want answers. We don't want people to tell us what to do. We want people to walk with us and grow in an authentic relationship. We want to listen and talk, not just be talked to. Sermons don't work for most of us. We need time to discuss it or do something with it. We also want people to dress the way they always do, and not to be uptight when we show up in jeans to church. Authenticity works for dress as well as for relationships.

I know that changing things in a church is really hard to do, but it is also necessary. I also want everyone to realize that just because I'm saying that things should be different doesn't mean that I am comfortable with these changes. I grew up with worship looking a certain way. It is uncomfortable to change even for the young people. Those already in the church struggle with new things until they become more comfortable. This is how we work as humans. We are creatures of habit, and sometime we need to break those habits.

That's enough rambling for now!
Peace
mark

I read the news today, oh boy.

Alright, so today I opened my newspaper and there glaring at me on the front frickin' page is Roger Clemens. Why is this such a big deal? This is maybe front page of the sports section worthy. Yes, I think steroid use in baseball is bad, and that it sets a horrible example for the kids. But it seems ridicules that Roger Clemens is on the front page of the paper. Now, I didn't read the article because I'm sick of hearing about it. Who lied? Is Roger Clemens the greatest pitcher of this era? I don't care about either. Isn't there something more important for Congress to do than listening to two grown men fight over whether one of them cheated in a game or not? I mean the economy isn't great. We are at war. Poverty is still an issue in this country. People are struggling to eat in the US as well as all over the world. Many people are living on the streets. And the list goes on and on, but Congress is wasting time on a frickin' game. Congress is designed to move slowly in passing laws and stuff, so let's slow the system down further by worrying about baseball.

By the way, Roger Clemens was one of my favorite players growing up, and there is no denying that he was a good pitcher. And he looks wicked mean in the front page picture, which seems a little roid-rageish to me. But let's keep this in perspective, this is a man who got paid way too much money to throw a ball, then possibly cheated to continue to throw a ball for entirely too much money. Now, Congress is worried about a guy who threw a ball for a living when there are thousands of people who are doing some horrible things in our own country. Come on Congress there has to be something more important for you to do.

Notice that the title of this post is a line from "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles, if you don't know then go get Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and enjoy!

Peace, love and stay away from the Roids,

Mark

Hugging Homelessness

I know that I have really been slacking about blogging. It's not that I haven't had the time. I think that generally it's when I have the most time on my hands that I do the least. But as soon as I get busy again I try to cram as many things into my day as I can. Due to my lack of posting I'm sure that no body is going to read this, but nonetheless I'm going to write something here.

Thursday was a strange day for me. I woke up not really feeling like moving too much, which isn't uncommon for me. I was hoping to go to school, work out and study (that's right I'm working out again). The problem was I wanted to get to school around 8:00am, but didn't get motivated to go until somewhere around ten o'clock. Wasted my whole morning reading the paper and drinking coffee (actually it was a nice morning).

Then, I get to school finally and I call Shane, who is working out with me. We started working out no big deal, when Shane asked me if I wanted to take some left-over sandwiches he had from a church fund raiser and take them to some homeless people who live down the street from the school. I was completely blown away that Shane, who is extremely uncomfortable with homelessness, would ask me to do this. This was exciting. This is a way better way to use these sandwiches than us eating them.

After we ate lunch that consisted of sandwiches, not the left-over fund raiser sandwiches, we, being Meg, Shane and I, packed up about seven bags. Each bag had two sandwiches, a small bag of chips and a bag of cookies. This is a nice little meal that we hoped would mostly bring some hope to these people who are making the street their home.

With anticipation and a little uncertainty we set off for the overpass to find our objects of benevolence. Once we got there we found actually exactly the same number of people under the overpass as bags we had. The best part was that one person, named Charlie, made us serve everyone else before he would take some food. We went over there and Shane seemed pretty excited about this part. He made his way up the steep slope to where the people where sitting to hand out our little bag of goodies. There was a lady sitting at the bottom of this slope with whom Meg and I conversed for a little while. She said to us that within a couple of weeks that she would be going to jail. I asked her way in a concerned voice, which honestly really was concerned, and she kind of nonchalantly says that she had too much whiskey and got behind the wheel of a car. She said, "I didn't hurt nobody, but the cops stopped me and gave me a what you call it." She eventually came up with the three letters DUI. Then, she asked us to pray for her, so the three seminarian students gathered around her and started to pray. I was kind of elected to lead the prayer, but I didn't really know what to say. I'm not really sure what I prayed, but I think peace and safety crept into it. Then, she hugged each of us a couple of times. I have to say that was the first time I have ever been hugged by a homeless person.

This of course was only the beginning of our adventure. We finally gave the man that was shepherding us to the other people a bag of good. At this point the object of benevolence had become real, living, breathing people with stories to tell and struggles to talk about. Charlie stood next to us and talked with us for the next hour or so, I'm not sure on this because I don't wear a watch. He told us his story which was a little disconnected, but revolved around being in Viet Nam and struggles with his family. At one point in his story he told us that he keeps safe on the street, and to illustrate this point he pulls out a pocket knife opens it while staggering back look ready to fight. This was a little unnerving, but then he smiled and put the knife away. It was a just a prop in his story. The real ministry in all of this came when he said something to the extent that we were letting him get all of this off of his chest. This made it all worthwhile. The really eerie part for me was that Charlie had the same eyes as my dad, and some of his mannerisms were similar to my dad's as well.

This got me thinking about how this can happen to anyone. My dad actually got out of the Navy right before Viet Nam, and after Korea. But I wonder what would have happened to my dad had been in this conflicted. I would like to believe that he would come back and function the same way as he always did, but there is no guarantees of that. So of course, now I'm thinking about all of the people who are in war now. Are they going to be living on the streets by the time they are fifty? How much will these people change as they come back? I know that we have great counseling programs set up for veterans today.

I am not going to go into my more political pacifist rant about the evils of war because we all know that war sucks whether it is justified or not, and in my opinion more often not. I think that we need to be mindful of all of the people fighting in wars, or innocently living where there is war. This is more than Iraq and Afghanistan, but Kenya and others in more Civil Conflict. I urge all of you to pray for peace of mind for those who have seen the horrors of war. Let's love our neighbors and also love our enemies. I believe that this is precisely how we love God.

Peace,

Mark

This post sucks!

I've been away from doing this for so long that I have no idea what to write about. I just wanted everyone to know that I am still alive. I just haven't been thinking much lately, thus nothing to post.

Right now I am sitting in UM Polity, which is a class that I will use very little from since I am not going to be an ordained minister. It is an incredibly boring class that is almost impossible for me to pay attention. This is rough for me.

I don't think that there is much else going on for me. Christie is doing great, so I'm well. I hope everyone is doing amazingly well.

Peace

ma

Thanksgiving!

So I haven't posted in quite a while, so I thought I would write a little something about Thanksgiving. This was always a nice holiday when I would get a day off of school and get to eat too much food. It was a great day. I don't ever remember being very reflective about what I was thankful for though. So with that in mind I thought it seemed fitting to write some words of thanks.

I am thankful for having a wonderful family that supports me through the craziness that is life.

I am thankful for living in the city, despite the high crime rate and old abandoned buildings it really is a nice place to live.

I'm thankful for the being able to express myself using my voice and written words, but I'm sad that so many people are not given this opportunity.

I'm thankful for the idea of church, and a little annoyed at how it is practiced in real life.

I'm thankful for the ideas of those who came before me that make the world a better place and make for some really interesting things to read.

I'm thankful for getting in touch with old friends, and sad that I'm bad about staying in touch with them.

I'm thankful for a triune God who is our perfect example of community.

I'm thankful for farmers, who make my life easier (I don't have a green thumb, thanks mom).

And last but definitely not least, I'm thankful for marrying a wonder woman, and that she love despite all of my shortcomings!

That's all I have for now. What are you thankful for? I hope that you all have a lot to be thankful for.

Shalom,

Mark

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 as paraphrased by the Bristol Hill Youth

Love tried to be tolerant, Love tries to be nice.
Love doesn't show off.
It's not jealous, It's not cocky.
Love in not a jerk.
It's not pushy; it's not hateful or snotty.
It doesn't celebrate mess ups but celebrates honesty.
It puts up with your crap, trusts in you, wants good for you, goes through your crap with you.
Love is always there!

There is only one thing that I would change in this paraphrase, and that is the word tries. Love doesn't try, but love is the embodiment of toleration and niceness. Other than that I think that my youth did an excellent job with this passage. I kind of wish I would have used this in my wedding. Anyhoo, I just thought I would share that with everyone.
Cheers,
mark

Artificial Boundaries!

Yesterday in class the professor Claire Smith said something to the extent of who gives anyone the right to create boundaries. She was talking in a global way about boundaries between countries. This has made me think about other boundaries that are made as well. For instance, we make boundaries between you and me in a number of ways. We can not be honest with each other. We could lash out at each other, or any other defense mechanism can create this boundary. We also create boundaries along gender, class and ethnic lines. We assume that because we are different that the other can never really understand. There might be some truth to that. We really can't completely understand another person until we "walk two moons in their moccasins" (Sharon Creech, "Walk Two Moons" its a book check it out). But I do think that we need to let other people into our world by having a dialogue with them. We need to sit down with someone different from ourselves and talk out what goes on it that person's daily life. Honest sharing and empathetic listening will really go a long way in breaking down these artificial barriers. There is a line in a Less Than Jake song that goes, "Everyone here, hates everyone here for doing the same thing that they do." I wonder if in those dialogues we would find this line to be true.

I also want to talk about another kind of boundary line that is drawn in theology that seems completely artificial. This line is between the doctrines. We have all of these fancy names for the doctrines like eschatology (end times), ecclesiology (church), Theological Anthropology (humanity), Soteriology (salvation), Christology (Jesus), and the list goes on and on. Well, I think that these divisions between the doctrines cannot be understood in Christian thought without understanding the others. Systematic Theologians throughout history have tried to take these doctrines and put them into a neat system. I don't see how that can be done. I don't think that this system would be neat at all. The divisions themselves are not neat. Where does who Jesus the Christ is end and salvation begin? How do we understand humanity without understanding both Jesus and God? The lines between these doctrine are too fuzzy to even really call them separate things. Theology has tried to put God in a box to dissect God, but separating all of these doctrines from each other only serves to weaken God. Theology is really about the organic flow that happens between the doctrines. We can separate all we want but there is an equilibrium that is found it doctrinal theology that is not stagnant at all. Equilibrium occurs by a continuous movement of particles in and out of the system, therefore theology is more about the fuzzy lines between the doctrines then it is about the doctrines themselves. We only have doctrines so that we can organize our thoughts easier, but I feel that this organization is keeping people from understand our God, who is an untamed, wild lion of a God (just ask C.S. Lewis in the Narnia books).

There you go something practical and abstract for your reading please.

Peace,
Mark

A Person's a person no matter how legal!

Although the title of this blog may be copyright infringement, I'm going to do it anyway. For those of you who don't know this is a play off of the moral of "Horton Hears a Who" by Dr. Seuss. If you don't know the book go out and read it today, it's amazing.

I just got out of a chapel service that was about multicultural experiences. It was a pretty good chapel service although I struggled to sing some of the hymns because musically they were beyond me. Really the services centered around a couple of words: Do Not Be Afraid. The hot button issue obviously is immigration. Our sermon was really more of a poem with a great performance by Andy Bryan. This poem was pretty abstract in that it was a series of words more than anything else followed by I don't know. That was followed by do not be afraid. Then, he listed a new series of words and the pattern was continued. I don't think I explained it well, but it was thought provoking.

There were a couple of words that Andy said that made me really think. One of those words was naturalization. Obviously, this means the process of becoming a "naturalized" citizen of the US. I don't think I like that word very much. It is like saying that it is unnatural to be a non-citizen of the United States. I'm sure that is not the intent of the word, but that's what I think of. To me the word means to make natural, who the hell are we to make something or someone natural. Doesn't that fall more into the God realm of creation, not the human realm of creation.

He also listed the words personhood and neighbor more than once. If we are naturalizing people then wouldn't that mean that we are making them a person more fully. We are helping them to be what they are meant be because before that they were not natural. But according to Horton a person is person no matter how small. A person is a neighbor no matter how far. A person is a person no matter how legal. A person is a person no matter how religious. A person is a person no matter how tall. A person is a person no matter how short. A person is a person no matter how black. A person is a person no matter how white. A person is a person no matter how brown. A person is a person no matter how Asian. A person is a person no matter how mean. A person is a person not matter how nice. A person is a person!

I know that that last one is a very cheap definition of personhood, but coupled with all of the rest of my statements I think it makes sense. A person is a neighbor no matter how far. We are called to love our neighbor at least Christians and Jews are. I can't really speak for many other religions. A person is to be loved no matter how legal. Love is about getting to know people and embracing them no matter how different their views are from ours. I know that I struggle with this but as many angels have said throughout our canon of scripture DO NOT BE AFRAID. Do not be afraid to reach out to your neighbor (no matter how far away), and get to know them. What the worst that will happen? They will not reach back to you, and you are left with an ackward conversation. Maybe it could get worse, but that shouldn't keep you from loving them.

I feel like this is getting a little too long, and way too preachy for me. But I wanted to share with all two of my readers what this service made me think about. I hope that it makes you think as well.

Peace
mark

Dreams

It was pointed out to me that it has been more than a month since I had posted on here. So at the request of Ron here is a new post.

Last night I had dream that wasn't at all life changing, but still made me realize something. This dream (it's rare that I remember these things) was basically about me buy a car without even consulting my wife. I don't think that the car was a real model or anything, but I really enjoyed test driving it so I bought it. My wife on the other hand was no where to be found it this dream. Suddenly in the dream I realized what I had done. I woke from the dream trying to figure out how to tell Christie, who controls the finances in the house, that I had indeed bought a new car.

The thing that I realized is that my wife and I are coming increasingly closer to needing to buy a new car. My 1996 Grand Caravan is in bad shape, and I don't know if it is going to hold up much longer. This is nothing surprising or new. But we can't afford to do this anytime soon, yet I am feeling the impending doom of the lovely "Green Bean." That's all I have to say about my literal dream from last night.

I do have another dream that I would like to make public to all of you who might not know yet (I'm not sure that anyone that actually reads this blog doesn't know this already). I would really like to get a Ph.D and teach at a Seminary. I have been toying with this idea for quite awhile now, but recently I have felt less attracted to the local parish and more attracted to abstract thought and expression. This really came about because I read "The Courage to Be" by Paul Tillich this summer, and thought about how much I would like to teach this. My dream is to write and teach something that can make a difference to many people in ministry and people who are interested in Theology. I would really like to make a difference, not by doing ministry in the local church, but by doing ministry with the people who are called to lead the local church.

This is my dream. What's yours? Please be as fanciful as you want.

peace
mark

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.