Catalogue of Things Generally Perceived as Awesome

The Wandering Soul

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. ~Psalm 19:1-3

God is the I AM. He is existence. No matter how far man tries to stray from his reach, we cannot help but retain at least a part of Him in our knowledge. His voice is heard throughout all existence, evidenced by the tendency of man to search for that Higher Element that is needed for fulfillment.


From "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Green Day
My shadows the only one that walks beside me
My shallow hearts the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Till then I walk alone


Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever. KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS. Hallelujah!
Handel's Messiah, written in only 3 weeks, was so moving that King stood up upon hearing the famed "Hallelujah" chorus. As we listened to the chorus in class today, not a single student was restless, as can be the case with other pieces students yawn and sleep through. Every face stared straight ahead. There was an alert rigidity. I, being a Christian, felt my heart leap for joy at the proposition of the "kingdoms of this world" becoming "the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ." (Revelation 19:11) However, I was not the only one aroused in spirit. A girl raised her hand to say that the piece was uplifting and took her mind off her troubles. The fact is, in that room, for Christians and Non, something leapt inside the hearts of everyone at the pulsation of the melody, and the proposition that there is a King ruling over the affairs of men.


Often the lone-dweller waits for favor, mercy of the Measurer, though he unhappy across the seaways long time must stir with his hands the rime-cold sea, tread exile-tracks. ~"The Wanderer"


St. Augustine, the man whose Confessions were as much declaration of praise as admittance of sin. The summary of our existence to Augustine was this: "You stir man to take pleasure in you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

"But you were more inward than my most inward part and higher than the highest element within me."

Good Times

Let's see, my life. I'll pick up with Thursday night. Dad was in town, picked me up at 6 pm so we could eat at Ruby Tuesday's. Then he and I went back to 119 West Laville to crash and catch up in conversation. Then we went to Chi Alpha and he checked that out. He stayed in Baton Rouge that night. I then had to study for a huge Medieval Civ. test. I studied from 11:30 to 5 a.m Friday. I then had to wake up at 7:45 to go to work. Yeah, tiredness indeed. Then after work, went to class, took that test (I hope I did okay, I think so). Then I did a little workout at the REC.

At 5:00 I went to a meeting for the missions team, then to dinner at the Callaways'. Such wonderful and hospitable people. Then Timothee and I went back to his apt. and spontaneously declared we would play Super Mario World. We played for like 4 hours. I'm not going to lie. I got kicks off of the conversation he had with his "GF." He loves it when I refer to them as GF/BF. I went back and slept at my dorm at 1 am and didn't awake till 2:45 p.m. Much needed sleep.

Then back over to Timothee and Zeke's to watch Collateral and eat. Collateral is pretty good b.t.w. High moment of humor: I dish up some food, including some ground beef and corn in a pan. I'm puzzled by this new dish: ground beef and corn mixed. Zeke walks into the kitchen and I ask, "Looks good, but what do you call this dish?" Zeke goes, "Um, well we usually call it ... Tacos." In my defense, I didn't see the taco shells behind me, okay? Timothee and I finished Mario. (Or he just went straight to Bowser and beat him.) I died so many times on the game they threatened to make me do all the dishes!! Good times.

Then to Cafe XA at 7:00 to help set up for the 9:30-1 am gig. Rachel Hebert, Monica Filgo, and then B.A. HOLLOWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (check out the link on the sidebar of the site) played. Great times chatting with folks/music/mocha. Greg and I almost fell off the sofa laughing several times at the lead singer, Chris, who is such a hilarious guy. At one point, he and the other guitarist were play fighting verbally and so Chris ran out and drove around the block in his car (I jumped in with him). Chris definitely knows how to work a crowd, too. I stayed to clean up and didn't get away till 3:00 and now it's 20 minutes of 4:00, so there's my life this weekend.

Good times. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Napoleon Dynamite Interview!!

Okay, this not just the product of boredom. This post is purposeful. You guys have to check out this interview with Napoleon Dynamite himself. This is my most worthwhile audio post ever.

The Rise of Rap ... and other Randomness.

Okay, so this post resulted from boredom of studying.

On Crashing and Burning

The usual connotation of the phrase "crash and burn" is negative. I'd like to tamper with that.
I just got done crashing.
Now I'm going to burn. And I'm looking forward to the burn facet.

Patrick and I were talking for about 2 hours, collapsed in his room, discussing the Christian life. There was no format. We just met to discuss what's going on. What's going on is we're getting weary of seeing our visions die. We mused on why we each had witnessed to people on a long-term basis and seen no lasting change in their lives. Why is the church in the shape it's in? In some ways it was an open-wound "cry session." Just as Apocalypse Now and Platoon were not as much movies as cry sessions to try and sort out the painful aftermath of Vietnam, we took inventory of what God has entrusted to us and if we're seeing that fully put to use.....and what's going on with our fellow warriors. I don't think we got any concrete answers. But something much more sublime than an answer emerged. In the crashing of our emotion and disappointment over the church and what we see around us, there was a camaraderie that took over. There was a uniting of kindred spirits and a metaphysical relating of each other's relationship with Christ to each other.

For this I thank God for my friend, Pat. I love him as he were an older brother. I think that one of the most esoteric things about the body of Christ is simply making an unseen spiritual connection with another person who has been, by the Blood, genetically placed into this new race of people: soldiers of Christ our King.

Coming out of that discussion, I'm ready to burn for God. Now that we're mad as heck at this crap, I'm ready to war. I've got a new reason to persevere.

Saints, I implore you to consider this: Who else can we go to? Who else has the words of eternal life? There is nothing else to do but labor for the King. Let's do this. The return of the King is near. Let's abandon our small ambitions and save the world. Let's ask God to destroy these last vestiges of selfishness.

Join the Echelon

Sometimes I feel like if my walk with God were a piece of art, it wouldn't be a portrait, nor would it be a sculpture. It would lack specificity. It would probably be a mosaic. A combination of feelings, desires, aspirations, pitfalls, and ultimately epic-scale eternal triumph. Lately as I've been praying for my campus and about personal future mission work, I've been spiritually restless. How can I sum up my feelings?

Maybe I can best sum it up in a song. Pillar's "Echelon" oozes the energy I feel when I read Revelation 19 and think of the army of God in these last days. The warfare I feel is so intense...You know it's time for us to step it up
Another level now 'cause we finished warming up
So we rise up elevate to maintain fill up with octane
And fan the flame we regain all the names
The enemy took away
And like a green beret we will lead the way
Into battle so have no fear we will draw near
So that we can persevere like a gondolier
We headed straight to the top nonstop
Set shop at the top of the Rock
You'll feel the aftershock after we rock the spot
Cause you forgot these soldiers won't turn and walk
We take hard knocks come back for more
Cause we're hardcore we fight for the One who died for (you)
And like Saigon we're on the frontlines
And we carry on to the end times

Chorus

Now that it's on, we're out in the front of this marathon
With our armor on, stay strong we drive on (drive on)
Our echelon pressin' on 'til we reach the top
And you know we don't stop (our echelon)
Now that it's on

We're on the enemy's hit list
I'm hopin' you get this
You're takin' a risk when you resist the one who made you exist
Evolutionists we got love for you too but we're breakin' down
Walls seeking out the truth
I'm a soldier in this army of One
Like I told ya the battle's already won
So about face move outta the way I gotta pray for you
And this is how we do

Check this out Chi Alpha Missions Video played at a conference I went to. Basically, our generation was challenged to deny self and take up the cause of preaching the gospel to the unreached and ushering in Christ's return. Interestingly, the video uses bits from the song "Echelon." I Peter 5:8 "Be sober be vigilant," for we're "on the enemy's hit list..."

Music & Mocha

Music and mocha: we'll start this post discussing the former and end it discussing the latter.

Well, since it seems ages since I've posted about music, here are a few new/old favorites that have been gracing my ears in the past couple weeks:
"Alone," Sanctus Real. If I've ever wanted to headbang, it's to the guitars in this song.
"Broken Heart," Falling Up.
"No Second Chances," Whitecross.
"Readyfuels," Anberlin.
"Cornerstone," Day of Fire.
"Far Away," 12 Stones.
"Liquid," Jars of Clay.

Okay, it seems like I've been using the blog as less and less of a journal lately. What can I say? This past week has been filled with the normal rock n' roll college life: praying that God explode in my life and on this campus, catching up on movie watching, class, few little measly hours at work, Chi Alpha, hanging out, partying on, reading the Bible--yearly plan, hanging out at Tollie's to eat spicy Louisiana food, and then there's the events of today (the mocha part I promised to tell you about).

Today after lunch with Zeke, Tollie, James, Scott, and Timothee/Shelley, I did some Bible, laundry, more food, and then an XA scavenger hunt. I ended up driving. We drove around the city of Baton Rouge looking for clues. First we had to go to Baton Rouge High, then the Ag Center on campus, then the state Capitol, then cinema, then the USS Kidd Battleship, then the XA Cafe. It took me Lionel and Amber like over 3 hours cos we had to go cross campus and I didn't know where I was going most of the time. On this occasion, I have a confession to make: it was good to have a woman in charge.....in the backseat.....giving directions (and no I didn't just say that). My poor passengers, I believe they were scared half to death a couple times when Amber was like, "hey turn there!" and I ... turned...batman turn style. Hey, we made it out in one piece! It was loads of fun...and yeah, we...finished.

And then I went to the XAC where our first gig of the semester was being held. I am now a part of the Soda Jerks (as we have dubbed ourselves...old 50s term). Weekends I'm volunteering to work the counter at the Cafe, whilst gigs are going on outside. It becomes a great hangout. People from the bars nearby can stop and observe the music out in the street, then go inside and get a coffee. So I can now mix a mean frappuccino for ya if you stop by. Hot cocoa, tea, and frap lattes if you wish, also. It's loads of fun!! It's fun just talking to people and serving them. It's really a great feeling, just hoping you've brightened someone's night and all that jazz. So yeah, it's late now and I've got church tomorrow.

Oh, and to that list of rock n' roll college activities, I noticed I left off one thing I've been doing.....studying.....um......yes. A lot. ....Maybe. ...Indeed. Ok, so tomorrow I have a date, make that several, with several textbooks.

Submit already!

If you haven't given in and visited Homestar Runner yet, do so already! Gosh! You can become a fan overnight! It happened to me! I now rock an awesome poster of Homestar and Strong Bad on my dorm room wall and have seen all the Strong Bad e-mails. A friend and I tentatively plan on dressing up as Strong Bad and Homestar Runner, respectively, for the Halloween scavenger hunt this fall.

If you don't know what in the world I'm talking about click HERE to see my current personal favorite Strong Bad e-mail, "Sibbie."

Augustine's Confessions

I have barely started reading Confessions, but I am already enthralled! So far it is a fabulous work. I love the double entendre: confessions being both "admittance of wrongdoing" and "declarations of praise".

Who then are you, my God? What, I ask, but God who is Lord? For "who is teh Lord but the Lord," or "who is God but our God," (Psalm 17:32). Most high, utterly good, utterly powerful, most omnipotent, most merciful and most just, deeply hidden yet most intimately present, perfection of both beauty and stregnth, stable and incomprehensible, immutable and yet changing all things, never new, never old, making everything new and "leading" the proud "to be old without their knowledge"; always supporting and filling and protecting, creating and nurturing and bringing to maturity, searching even though to you nothing is lacking: you love without burning, you are jealous in a way that is free of anxiety, you "repent" without the pain of regret, you are wrathful and remain tranquil. You will a change without any change in your design. Your recover what you find, yet have never lost. Never in any need, you rejoice in your gains; you are never avaricious, yet you require interest. We pay you more than you require so as to make you our debtor, yet who has anything which does not belong to you? You pay off debts, though owning nothing to anyone; you cancel debts and incur no loss. But in these words what have I said, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks about you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you becauseu, though loquacious with verbosity, they have nothing to say. (Confessions, 1.4)

Bean Story

Ok ladies and gents, grab yourself a hot cup o' bean and a blanket. Sit back on the couch. Due to public inquiry, once and for all, you shall hear the story of how the Bean became the Bean.

It was a blustery day. The wind howled and chilled to the bones. As I trekked across the landscape to the towering infamous CEBA building on the other side of campus, I could hear the shrieks of the wumpus, a fearsome creature who haunted CEBA with his...hauntingness....okay forget the melodrama.

During my first semester, when I reported to a new campus job in the ISDS Department, my boss figured me for an individual who's always jumping at the chance to do work and in general, an easily excited person. I would ask for tasks to do and she would say, "okay do this you little jumping bean." (Of course, my job is so easy and laid back, that's what one has to do, ask for assignments. Else sit there surf the web and answer the phone.) So as time went on, she just called me "Bean" all the time, and then so did my fellow student workers...word spread around to some of my other friends...and now the legend of the Bean is inspiring folks everywhere.

Jumping Tired Bean

The Bean is tired, folks. He's been doing a lot this week: studying, praying, partying, working, doing Napoleon Dynamite impressions...and it's a 5-day weekend now. Good thing, 'cause I repeat, The Bean is tuckered OUT.

This thing is a beast!

Sorry to post yet another poster after that bunch of them earlier last month, but I had to show you what a monster this U2 Joshua Tree album poster is. It's 5 feet tall and about 3 feet wide! For comparison, that's a phone in the lower right corner and the LOTR poster to the left is your average sized poster.

Rather Gross

Okay, I thought last semester was bad, but this semester, THIS dorm has definitely got a serious ant problem. I just picked up a used bowl in the sink and at least 100 ants were crawling around underneath it. When their source of food particles had been removed they scurried back into the wall cracks. Plus, it's getting really weird sitting here at my desk flicking an ant crawling on my body off every 5 minutes.

Because I always love to close a post with optimism, let me say that the new Coldplay Clocks rintone on my phone is quite posh. You probably know I'm a Coldplay freak. Well if you didn't now you do.

Oh and I'm glad they removed the several squished dead roaches from the changing area adjacent to each shower. After a couple weeks, their insides were almost becoming a part of the floor itself. I know. This is the stuff you don't write home about. That's what blogs are for.

A Sudden Discovery

I was amazed my dad was as easygoing and excited as he was when I called to tell him the news. I just found out earlier today that I will be going on a missions trip with LSU Chi Alpha to Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa May 17-June 2 to work with a local church there to start a campus outreach there and raise a new generation of leaders for Yeshua.