dreams I've had over the last four days...

one. [FRI. NIGHT/SAT. MORN.]
I had borrowed my dad's truck. It's a Ford Ranger 4x4. I took it to the library, only the library had moved itself next to a sports bar off of US-62. My wallet and cell phone were in the truck. After coming out of the library, the truck was missing. I went to the bar next door and ran into an old high school friend, John Butler. The truck was stolen and I was screwed. He said that there had been a string of car thefts in the area.

two. [SAT. NIGHT/SUN. MORN.]
I was on the Apprentice and I was making it pretty far. While participating in the reality show, I realized that I didn't really want to leave my job as a Youth Director, so I tried to lose on purpose. Only Donald Trump pulled a fast one, and during one board room meeting, after which I had remained totally silent, with hopes of losing), Trump looked at me and said "You're Hired!"

The rest of the dream was spent thinking of how I was going to spend all of the money I had won from the Apprentice. I remember deciding to buy a $400,000 house on Lake Erie, @ Lakeside.

three. [SUN. NIGHT/MON. MORN.]
{proof that you should write down one's dreams immediately upon awakening in the morning... I seem to have forgotten Sunday night's dream. But I know it was vivid. It's just not vivid now. If I remember, I will respond in kind, as I know you, the reader, wait with baited breath for my dream.}


four. [MON. NIGHT/TUES. MORN.]
I went to an Arena Football game with some guys that I'm not even friends with, but knew in Junior High. At the game, I ran into some old family friends, and they invited me up to their private box. There was a lot of food and plush chairs. I said "in your face" to the guys who weren't really my friends.

If anyone wishes to interpret my dreams, please do so.

The annual MAY blues

So as a self proclaimed TV sloth, it's come to that time of year where I get all depressed and stuff because my shows have all hit their season finales. What will I do with my time now? I guess I could play with my kid (and soon to be kids) and all.

Allow me to recap the highlights of this year's finales...




Carrie Underwood wins American Idol 2005! The thing is, she really cared about winning. You could sense it. So what will become of her? Does she have the most opportunity to "make" it because of her cross-over appeal between country and pop? Who knows. But I do know that I'm a sucker because my wife and I watch the show. The draw you in and for some dumb reason, I sat through two hours of fluff last night, anxiously anticipating a winner.


LOST
I taped the two hour finale of Lost, so that we could watch AI. The more I watch Lost, the more I love the show. I think it is absolutely one of the most creative shows on television. I can't wait to get Season One on DVD September 6th. I told my wife last night that I planned on watching the entire first season in some sort of 24 hour marathon before Season two begins in the fall.


[EDIT: piece of crap... i had typed a whole bunch more about LOST, 24 & DEADWOOD but somehow it's now gone when I went to fix the font size!}

How I would Fix the Star Wars Prequels

so here is how i'd have done the prequels... scrap the current Episode I and start the thing off with Anikin being at least a teenager. The death of his mother could have been just as powerful if he were that age. merge that storyline into the existing story displayed in Ep. II. Keep Ep. III as it is, except with the changes already noted on this thread - only then, Ep. III would be Ep. II. Then, the new Ep. III would intail a new struggle of hiding the twins (Luke & Leia) and begin to develop a storyline showing how the Rebel Alliance came to be. With that story, things would NOT have to be so predictable. Also, they could have then showed a little back story on Han Solo... maybe even having him cross paths (inadvertantly) with Leia's family or something... or show his earlier run ins with Jabba.


someone should make a new set of trilogies, i think.



by the way, When the showed the Death Star being built at the end of Ep. III why did it take 19 years to build it?



Check out my friend MATT's full reviews of Episodes I-III HERE

Thoughts on Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

so here are some of my thougths on the movie...

first off, i must point out that i went to the 12:01 showing late last Wednesday night @ Tinseltown Cinemark 14 with my friends Gary & Fritz. The hype & anticipation made the movie experience worth it. I arrived at the theatre at around 10 PM. It was showing on 6 screens. I contemplated buying something to drink, but saw that it was gonna cost me $3.25 for a bottle of water. I could get a case of 32 bottles of water for that price at the Sams Club next door. Screw that!

So regarding SW EIII:ROTS, i was entertained. I thought it was the best of the prequels. Sure, it had some horrible diologue and mediocre acting, but the visuals were stunning and it tied up a lot of lose ends.

here are some added thoughts I wrote on a message board:
Let's be honest, dialogue has never been Lucas' strong suit. it should come as no surprise that Episode III had shoddy conversations. rewatch the original trilogy. The dialogue blows, BUT the chemistry between characters makes you forget. That chemistry makes the original story stronger. That chemistry is what has been missing throughout episodes I-III.



now, for all of you harsh critics out there who say it sucked: WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? YOU SAW THE FIRST TWO, DIDN'T YOU? There is only so much you can do to a movie that we already know the ending to. The Star Wars movies have never been the kinds of movies to watch with a critical eye - becuae if we did, we say a lot of crappy things about the entire series.

episode I-III is a back story. Everything was revealed already in episode IV-VI. That alone will leave us all disapointed.

unfortunately, Lucas made a lot of mistakes that can not be reversed (casting Anikin, Jar Jar, lack of chemistry, having a 6 year old fly a space ship in Ep. I, Hayden's hair in Ep. II, etc.)

SPOILERS:

As far as Episode III goes:

1. the reason for Anikin turning to the dark side wasn't believeable enough
2. Hayden and Natalie Portman had ZERO chemistry.
3. How did Padme instantly become 9 months pregnant?
4. Dooku was killed off too early and easily.
5. Grievious was a big metal hack and an all around stupid character.
6. The Jimmy Smits character needed to be in it more... he was one of the most believable roles. He should have had more of a role in an attempted overthrow of Palpatine.
7. Vader should have fought someone in the suite.


regardless of that, I still enjoyed the movie. It brought things full circle. It was another fun experience. Even with its shortcomings, it ranks better than Episode II and far better than Episode I (the biggest mistake of all 6).

We shouldn't have expected more. Fool me once. shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Added thoughts:
Questions:

Why doesn't Obi Wan Kenobi recognize R2-D2 and C-3PO in Episode IV?

Who's bright idea was it to hide Luke Skywalker at the home where Anakin's mother once lived???? And why did he keep his name, SKYWALKER????

i wondered that too. was Vader dumb enough to possibly believe that the baby inside the womb of Padme died with her? Surely the Emperer would have had Vader search the galaxy for a possible child.

another good question:

supposedly only 19 years separate Ep. III & IV. my oh my... Obi-Wan sure does age a lot!!! in ep. IV he looks at least 70, i'd say.

also, Leia looks older than Luke in IV.

lastly, good ole Anikan/Vader looks frightenly old when his helmet gets removed in VI.

no wonder nobody looks at my blog.

it's cuz i don't update enough. i'm such a loser. oh well.

enjoy Jello Pudding Pops.

REVIEW: MAKING SENSE OF CHURCH: chapter three

CHAPTER THREE: TEACHER TO FACILITATOR


Somehow, over the centuries, knowledge has become king. We've effectively said that knowing about God will ultimately help us know God. As a result, we often focused more on the Word than on the Word become flesh. And yet, A.W. Tozer pointed out, God cannot be contained in any object or that object will become our god. Could it be that we've created an idol and have actually begun to worship Christian education or the Bible? - spencer burke

This quote got to me while reading chapter three. [for some interesting discussion on this, read this]

In our search for knowledge, we’ve made things so comfortable that some have rejected that comfortableness. Burkes asks “is it possible that the seeker-sensitive movement has backfired?”

I’ve never been a fan of the “seeker” service. How dumb do we have to make the gospel? Apparently pretty dumb because apparently those seekers are dumb.

Here’s the thing: maybe it’s o.k. that we don’t have all the answers. But mankind is not stupid. Whether I’ve grown up in church or not, I can still find God, without you dumbing it down for me. According to a recent study, people are leaving the church because it is to similar to their everyday lives.

Could it be that one reason people are drawn to God is because of the mystery that surrounds Him? Is that mystery a bad thing? I don’t have to know all the answers, I just have to know Him who gave his life for me.

Later in this chapter, when reverting back to the leadership aspect of the church, Burke reminds us of the encounter between Ghandi and E. Stanley Jones. Ghandi said “I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Burke says “we need to be willing to see ourselves as others see us – no matter how much it hurts.”

Part of this chapter jumps around. There are briefs conversations (from Ooze) about preachign style, alternative worship, and the like.

REVIEW: MAKING SENSE OF CHURCH: chapter two

Making Sense of Church
CHAPTER TWO: TOUR GUIDE TO TRAVELER


This chapter deals mainly with leadership. As part of the book, Burke includes commetns left on the Ooze message board dealing with the topic of each chapter. One comment that stuck with me said this: “Leadership schmedership. Why are Christians so obsessed with leadership? What ever happened to followership or servanthood, the greatest being the least, etc?”

That really got to me. I thought about how I am trying to build up leaders in the youth group in which I lead. I began to think about my goals for them and how we go about developing leaders. I have come to the conclusion that you can’t be a leader of men if you are not (1.) HUMBLE or (2.) EMPATHETIC TO THE NEEDS OF OTHERS. I tell my youth, if you aren’t able to understand what it’s like to ‘walk in another man’s shoes’ then you aren’t ready to be a leader.

Has a right concept of LEADERSHIP been abused in the modern church? Have we placed too much emphasis on “the point person”? Every church needs leadership, but not every church gets it. Some think they have it, but might they be wolves in sheep’s clothing?

Burke goes on to speak a little bit about HONESTY. Honesty is a hard thing to come by in the church. What an odd thing to say, but it is true. If we can’t be honest with ourselves, with God or with others then we can never be the Christ-like leader God may be calling us to be. Until that happens, the church (and the world, frankly) will continue to struggle to meet the needs of those we come in contact with.

In order to become a traveler instead of a tour guide, we must be willing to veer off course, not worrying about taking a wrong step. Wrong steps will come. A traveler is able to love and be loved exactly as they are.

A traveler is:
1. On a journey
2. Learning from you
3. Open to finding new ways to do things
4. Doesn’t have to have it all figured out.

REVIEW: MAKING SENSE OF CHURCH chapter 1

So I wanted my blog to have something useful in it. Now is a good time to start. After all, I've only had a blog for 8 months.

I hope to sparingly give feedback on books I'm reading, music I'm listening to, movies I've seen, as well as share ideas and insights related to worship, youth ministry and anything in between.

The weekend of Easter, my wife and I found this outlet mall in Aurora that had this discount book store. I found a plethora of gems inside. Among the 24 cent CD's there were some good books that I have been anxiosly waiting to start and finish.

Reimagining Spiritual Formation: A Week in the Life of an Experimental Church
by Doug Pagitt {completed last week: review coming soon}

Postmodern Youth Ministry
by Tony Jones

The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups
by Joseph R. Myers

and...
Making Sense of Church: Eavesdropping on Emerging Conversations About God, Community, and Culture
by Spencer Burke
{you can read portions of the book HERE}


Here is the start of my chapter by chapter review of:
MAKING SENSE OF CHURCH
chapter 1 - Reality Check: metaphors for transition
[i guess this is more of my thoughts that have come to the top as a result of reading this book]

One of my primary goals in writing Making Sense of Church is to connect people in the established church with those who are “emerging.” - Spencer Burke

There has been much debate on the thought of "should the church be relevant?" This is a question that I have admittingly flip-flopped on. There was a time a few years ago that I would have said "Heck Yeah!" But a few months ago I began to question myself again. One of the conclusions I came to this time was this: without love, the body of Christ can not be relevant. [more thoughts on this HERE]

Burke points out in this first chapter that being postmodern with our faith only means that we are willing to think long and hard about why we do the things that we do. This goes for the established church and (more importantly) how we live our daily lives. He equivicates a postmodern faith as one that does not attack, but "unwraps".

"Postmodern Christianity ultimately will retain at least one absolute: Jesus Christ."

He goes on to briefly set up the idea of PLAYING BY NEW RULES & EXPLORING NEW IDEAS meaning one must respect the past (learning from those who have gone before: Constatine, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, etc.) but at the same time embrace the future. Sort of a "you can't know where you are going if you don't know were you've been" type mindset.

[more thoughts on MAKING SENSE OF CHURCH and other books, etc. to come]

the weekend that was (a.k.a. why am i blogging this?)

So this past Sunday [Mothers Day] we drove up to my spouces parents home to spend a few days. Here are the various instances of pure happenstance that took place between the hours of 11:45 am Sunday through 10:35 pm Monday.

• My wife's family is infamous for being on what they call "Coffman Time". We arrived shortly before noon hungrily awaiting a nice Mother's Day meal. Lunch came 4 hours later. No bother, though. A ham & cheese sandwhich held me over.
• My father in law was having trouble with his Cub Cadet riding lawn mower. So he purchased this new FERRIS riding mower. This thing can go! It has the coolest steering controls and was/is fun to ride. So he goes out to mow the grass. He got the mower stuck not once, not twice but three times. The first time, it was stuck in a ditch. The mower engine is in the back, and extends about a foot beyond the rear tires and is relatively close to the ground. We got the truck and pulled it out. Later, when mowing along a stream along the back acreage of woods, the mower got stuck in the mud. We were able to get the old Cub Cadet fired up and the Ferris was pulled out with no problem. A marshy area still saturated with water (so much so that ducks had made a nest there) from the winter dethawing was te final resting place for the brand new mower. This time, the Cub Cadet could not get it out. The neighbors tractor did the job, though. The moral of the story: don't mow anything wet with a Ferris.
• After a lovely chicken dinner, we all went out to Cold Stone Creamery. On the way we saw what was the most idiotic driver. She would not leave the left lane of Interstate 90. Her speed varied from 45 to 85. At one point she drove off the road, swerved through the grassy median and back onto the highway, coming inches from hitting another vehicle. I have no idea how she regained control of the car. At one point, as we passed her on the right (ever so carefully) we noticed a young baby in a car seat and another toddler without a seat belt on. How irresponsible! Later, she swerved from one lane to another, repeated by the slamming on of brakes, etc. I only wish I had gotten her plate number, as I would have called it in.
  
• Most of the weekend was spent in front of the computer, trying to fix a computer filled with viruses and pop ups and spy ware.
• On Monday, we enjoyed sitting out in the sun, as Micah (our son) chased Jesse (the dog) all around the yard.
  
• Later we headed out to Verizon Wireless, Starbucks & the Record Den (my fav. record store). Then we stopped by my wife's uncle's house and killed some bees.
• For dinner MONDAY night we had burgers and brats cooked on the grill.

This was a really dumb, pointless post. Amusing to myself and none other none the less.

05.05.05

5 ways to change your world on 5.5.05


SEEK
TRUST
PRAY
LOVE
ENCOURAGE


word.

ch-ch-ch-changes

GUESS WHAT? I changed the look of my blog. Hope you like it. Call it the Extreme Home Makeover edition of Fantastic distraction.

Speaking of changes... the other day, I went to change the laundry (as it is my duty as husband to do laundry in our house - especially since my wife is preggo and shouldn't be doing heavy lifting - and if you've been to our house, we procrastinate and let our laundry pile up until it becomes a mountain. I had just changed the clothes from the washer to the dryer. It was a load of whites. Sometimes I thrown it all in together and take my chances, but today, I had separated the colors. So the whites were in the dryer now. When the buzzer went off 30 minutes later, I went to go and fold but to my dismay, the whites had somehow become greens in the dryer, no less.

My 2 year old son, who likes to color and watch Dora the Exlporer and play with Thomas the Tank Engine had put a green crayon in his pocket.

[the evidence]

This lovely crayon melted in the dryer and turned everything green... socks, boxers, shirts, jeans, etc. I panicked and yelled for my wife. Now I've had a history of laundry issues... ruining numerous pairs of clothing including my wife's favorite pair of overalls and the like. So there I was, waiting to take my punishment for what became known as "The Green Crayon incident". Alas, it wasn't my fault. So I immediately put the blame on my 2 year old and made him scrub all of the clothes by hand. Just kidding. of course.

So thankfully, the illustrious green crayon (or "cran-on" as Micah calls it) was a washable crayon, thanks to grandma, who got 'em for Micah at Easter. After a few washes, all the green was gone.

Funny, though, green chunks of crayon were melted onto the innards of ye old dryer. Did I mention that it's not fun sticking your head in a dryer scrubbing green crayon off? (If I had a cat, I'd like to put it in the dryer... for research purposes, of course.)

Even funnier was the fact that my wife was nervous about placing anything white in the dryer for fear that excess green crayon chunks may have remained, so she let the clothes air dry on the clothes rack. The next morning, I found brown lines from the wooden clothes rack on five of her shirts. I laughed. Thankfully, stain stick got that out, and alas after yet another wash, no green or brown remained.

for my wife's account of this story, click HERE.