Sermon: The Unexpected Journey

This last Thursday I had the opportunity to speak at the first weekly meeting of UW – Stouts’ Campus Crusade. It was a lot of fun to get back to Stout and see a bunch of familiar faces, and even more new faces. With everything that has been going on there, I was overwhelmed to see 171 students pack out the lecture hall they were meeting in.

The message I gave was an adaptation of one that i prepared for a preaching competition over at Bethel Seminary. So it was the second time giving the message, and much improved over the first time. If you have a half hour check it out, and please leave me your thoughts and feedback!

Be blessed!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Happy Second Anniversary to us! YAAY!

The last two years have gone by so quickly! Of all the things i could post here, some sweet and enduring things crossed my mind, and then I saw this from one of the best sites on the Internet.

Thank you so much for putting up with such a ridiculous husband. I love you more then i ever thought I could.

(Oh and for the rest of you, I did get her flowers, not just this fabulous post about squirrels and coffee).

Memorization Tips

I’ve long struggled with memorizing scripture (amongst many other things) and came accross this today.

1. A study from the University of Michigan says that going outside and spending a few moments with nature – you know, that thing we’re supposed to take care of (Gen 2:15) – can improve your focus, memory, and attention.
2. At the same time, scientists also say that city life can dull our thinking. “After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control.” This study also suggests that nature can improve the brain’s ability to think.
3. Earlier last year, Nicholas Carr asked the question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” which suggested that our brains are adapting to searching rather than knowing. We can know process lots of little pieces of information, but not large blocks. (The Bible is a large block).

From Don’t Eat the Fruit

It was a bit of a shot to me since I love spending time online, and I am also a city person through and through (not that I don’t mind spending time every now and then in the country). Good stuff!

A couple years ago I also came across this short message by John Piper on how he memorizes scripture (a system of reading it, writing it, re-saying it, and carrying it with you) that I’ve found really helpful.

Hamas Leader's Son Converts to Christianity

Pretty ridiculous story of an insanely brave man, Mosab Hassan Yousef. For those of you who don’t know, leaving the Islamic tradition in strict practicing societies brings the penalty of death (often literally) and at a minimum you will likely never know your family again.

Yousef, 30, said he realized the true nature of Hamas and radical Islam during a stint in an Israeli prison. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and converted to Christianity.

“Islam is not the word of God,” said Yousef. “If you want to be offended it’s your problem. But you know something? Go study. Think for a second that I might be right. So wake up, look at your path, see where you’re going. Are you really going to heaven with 72 virgins after you kill yourself and kill another 20 people?”

FoxNews.com Article

I can’t even imagine going from recruiting and radicalizing youths as Yousef did, to renouncing your past, being disowned by your family, and needing to claim political asylum in a foreign country.

If you’re interested in getting some basic foundation in Islam, or hearing more of his story, there is a great interview I found over at sethskim.com from August 2008 (which is a news interview transcript).

Yousef will be a part of a televised special Tonight at 10pm EST on Fox News called “Escape from Hamas.” It will be re-aired several times I’m sure, check listings for details.

Sickest Violin I've ever heard in a long time, period.

The above video has to be some of the sickest violin playing I’ve ever heard. Over the past few weeks I’ve been meaning to pick up my violin again and would love to be able to rock it like Paul Dateh does here. Mixing my passion for the violin with my love of hip hop. So awesome. He has a bunch more at his website, pauldateh.com, his myspace,  and his youtube channel.

Check it out, or at least listen to part of the mix above. Got some Gnarls Barkley in there near the end.

Importance of Sleeping in and Sleep Strategies

I came across this short list that promotes sleeping in. Love it, and I love sleeping in. To bad courses start up Monday and I’ll again be sitting in those hard wood chairs at 8am. Enjoy the list from wired.

1. You may need more sleep than you think.
   Research by Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Center found that people who slept eight hours and then claimed they were “well rested” actually performed better and were more alert if they slept another two hours. That figures. Until the invention of the light bulb (damn you, Edison!), the average person slumbered 10 hours a night.
2. Night owls are more creative.
   Artists, writers, and coders typically fire on all cylinders by crashing near dawn and awakening at the crack of noon. In one study, “evening people” almost universally slam-dunked a standardized creativity test. Their early-bird brethren struggled for passing scores.
3. Rising early is stressful.
   The stress hormone cortisol peaks in your blood around 7 am. So if you get up then, you may experience tension. Grab some extra Zs! You’ll wake up feeling less like Bert, more like Ernie.

MSNBC also posted an article sometime ago listing 10 strategies for better sleep, I’m interested in trying a few of them as well.

Books I read in 2008

I hope this list ends up being comprehensive but I’m really just looking at my book shelf and trying to remember what I read, if for work or pleasure. Of this list I know there are some books i read in full for different courses in the past year that aren’t here because they were from a library somewhere.  So as best as i could and in no particular order, aside from how they sit on my bookshelves, here it is! Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year!! Hello 2009

A year has come and gone. Of my years of late this one has been rather uneventful. Aside from started up Nineteen05 back in January and starting Seminary in the spring we have just been chugging along. No major trips (only a handful of weddings), and nothing overly dramatic took place.

Don’t believe that I am in anyway complaining about the nature of this past year, it was just a change from the constant movement and happenings of the years leading up to 2008.

• 2007: Got married and graduated in 2007
• 2006: I got engaged, visited Spain, visited Florence, and returned from France
• 2005: I raised support, moved to France, and got to visit Rome
• 2004: I held by last ski event and then resigned from the ski industry
• 2003: I graduated from high school and started my time at UW – Stout
• 2002: I understood that I was loved by God and became a Christian

I’m still working my butt off on nineteen05 to get it to that perfect place I want it to be at but it is takes a while to create anything worth creating (or at least I tell myself that). This upcoming year will hopefully have a bit more excitement to it, we know that we’ll be out in Seattle for a time for my brothers wedding! That and my wife wants to learn how to ski better, and has even alluded that she might want to learn some freestyle stuff from me.

While it was a more subdued year, it was a great year. Here is to you my few loyal blog followers and my seventh year of blogging.