So last weekend Brandon and Lindsey drove through Birmingham on their road trip through the South. I showed them around town and we went to hear  an awesome band called Toro y Moi at this total hipster joint. I like hipsters as much as the next guy and I’ll be the first to say that they really know how to decorate a bathroom. But I can’t get over the non-functionality of a hipster’s wardrobe. That statement alone proves that I’m going to be an awesome old dude. I can’t wait.

This a picture of Brandon and Lindsey, but I want to draw your attention to the dude in the background. He is wearing white pants and loafers…and he clearly didn’t understand that if you are planning on drinking, you pace yourself so as to not pass out on the couch before the band even begins playing. His folly resulted in public shame.  I snapped this pic just in time to capture one of the employees placing an embarrassing note on drunky’s lap.

The next day we loaded up and headed to New Orleans for the weekend. There, we met Jacob and Chris. This completed the trifecta of reuniting me with my two best friends. Jake and I referred to ourselves as The Toastmonkeys back in the day. We thought that name was awesome. Long story…don’t ask. But the Toastmonkeys were back in full force last weekend.

Three and a half days of catching up, making fun of each other and acting like we were all fifteen again followed.  Lindsey was a trooper to keep up and put up with our shenanigans.

We had an awesome crack house right next door to our vacation rental. Jake and Chris considered purchasing it as an investment property.

It was a great weekend and I am one of the luckiest guys on earth to call these suckers my best friends. We don’t see each other as often as we should, but every time we get together, it’s as if we just saw each other last week.

It’s fun to look back and remember getting in trouble at school together, pulling pranks on teachers, playing soccer, falling in love with the same girls at the same time, fighting over those girls, realizing we were  idiots for fighting over girls, getting into more trouble at school, moving away from each other, standing together as each of our brides walked down the aisle, watching each other successfully pursue his dream.

To pals.

Elsewhere, the citizens of Alabama have turned into crazy people. See there’s this religion here and from September to January a vast majority of the people here celebrate this strange marathon of a holy festival. These seemingly normal people run through the streets and in the marketplaces shouting praises to titans of war…things like “Roll Tide” and “War Eagle”. They adorn their chariots and make weekly sacrifices of beer, corn, beans and meat to the gods of pigskin – yet another cultural tradition that I must try to understand and make sense of.

I like this song…it sounds like Fall. And this video makes me laugh.

My bed comforter has really weird lumps in it. I don’t know what this is. Does the Hampton Inn know something the rest of us don’t know? It’s not accidental lumps, they’re all over, they’re all the same size and it makes no sense to me at all. My bed looks like it has swollen lymph nodes.

I’m in Chicago for the week. I’m excited because I get to visit ministries and work sites where students will be doing mission projects while they’re at Student Life camp this week. We will be shooting all over town. But tomorrow I’ll get the chance to see the Astros play the Cubs at Wrigley Field.  That should be awesome. I wonder who will sing “Take me out to the ball game.”

Tonight I am hung up on part of James chapter 4.  It’s heavy and it puts me in check.

Warning Against Worldliness

¹What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions^[a] are^(A) at war within you?^[b]2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³You ask and do not receive, because you ask^(B) wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ^4(C) You adulterous people!^[c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?^(D) Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit^(E) that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶But^(F) he gives more grace. Therefore it says,^(G) “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷Submit yourselves therefore to God.^(H) Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ^8(I) Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.^(J) Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and^(K) purify your hearts,^(L) you double-minded. ^9(M) Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10(N)Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

^11(O) Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.^[d] The one who speaks against a brother or^(P) judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹²There is only^(Q) one lawgiver and^(R) judge, he who is able to save and^(S) to destroy. But^(T) who are you to judge your neighbor?

There’s little room for debate here.  James lays it out explicitly. “You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your own passions. You adulterous people!”

Humbly submit yourself to God and you will receive grace that surpasses all comprehension. Ask God for things that bring glory to his name and honor to his kingdom. Striving to fulfill your own passions leads to short lived contentment (if any).  And we are warned that when we strive for merely our own desires, we will go to unthinkable measures to get what we want.

God give me the tools, resources and skills that best serve your purpose, not mine.  Let my work bring praise to you and glory to your name, not mine.

Three Saints Bay, Alaska - 2010

Let me first say happy father’s day to all you dads out there. I, for one, have an exceptional dad. I consider myself blessed to have a dad who taught me, by example, how to be a real man- a complete man. He taught me all the things a boy should know- how to slide into second base, how to use a pocket knife without cutting my hand off, how to properly defend myself in a fight, but never pick a fight. But dad always had a different approach to just about everything.  When all the other scouts had your normal wedge-shaped pine car racers, dad spent hours redesigning mine to be more aerodynamic with  a rounded nose and more weight in the front which, therefor, made it more gravitationally efficient. Who am I to question the man’s methods? I won second place…losing only to a kid I’m pretty sure cheated by adding more than the regulated weight to his racer.

Dad was also, and continues to be, a servant leader.  He taught me that a true leader is one who rolls up his sleeves and jumps in with both feet and does what’s necessary to get a job done. Whether it’s mowing, converting a garage to bedrooms, teaching classes in another language, sorting beans at a Red Cross kitchen at a refugee camp or leading a church full of people through a study on the different names of Jehova, dad lead by serving first.

Wheeler Peak, New Mexico - 2006

Thanks you, dad.  I may have been too young, too dumb or too stubborn to always see it, but you were and continue to be a fantastic father, role model, pastor and friend. I’ve had some incredible adventures with you, and I am so thankful for everything you have patiently taught me on each of those journeys. It sure beat sitting at home watching cartoons, that’s for sure.

So just over a year ago, my dad, my brother and I went bear hunting.  We took along some cheap cameras to document our trip.  The video quality is low, we didn’t have the luxury of good audio or tripods and when faced with the choice of holding either a gun or a camera, often times the gun won out.  This video is a little something I put together for us to remember the trip.  Watch it if you’d like.

Password: Bears