cheeses of nazareth

Charles de Gaulle once asked "how can you govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese?"<sup>[1]

i have often asked that same question metephorically of course. i mean - i didn't even know that there were 246 different kinds of cheese. i've heard of the usuals: mozerella, cheddar, colby jack & velvetta. i know that the Beastie Boys once said "like sharp cheddar, my rhymes are better." i know that a college friend of mine once said that he liked cheese more than girls. i know that we called him guoda pits because his white t-shirts had pit stains.

there is definately something powerful about cheese. it is powerful. you put a cube of cheese in front of a man and i dare him to eat just one. cheese is like that addictive passion food disguised as a nutriant that mankind thinks must be added to any and all foods to make said food taste better. i mean what can't cheese be added to? what meal is cheese-vacant?

Breakfast>? how 'bout some cheese in that omlette with a cheese danish on the side.
Lunch>? grilled cheese sounds nice. (my son calls it gorilla cheese).
Super size me food>? cheeseburger? check. cheesy fries? check. nachos and cheese? check. taco with shredded cheese? dobule check.
hors doeuvres>? cheese and crackers.
dinner>? angel hair pasta with parmisian cheese. matter of fact, anything italian must have cheese in it.
dessert>? cheesecake with strawberries.

cheese rules over us like the Lord rules over the earth - only in more subtle ways than even God himself. i've never met a man who didn't believe in the obvious: cheese is good. so is Jesus... only people are stupid and neglect to give him props. i guess he'd be cool in the gang if he had turned goats milk into swiss cheese instead of water into wine. although i hear cheese and wine go good together... too.

and how 'bout dipping things into cheese? what is more fun than that? especially in the comfort of your own home - were double dipping is status quo.

cheese... the other white meat... the manifesto of food connesours world wide.

i hear Sadaam is lactose intolerant. shame... if only he were able to stomach cheese and all of its goodness... Iraq would no doubt be a place of peace and harmony. oh... the power of cheese.</sup>

1. ^ Quoted in Newsweek, October 1, 1962 according to The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (Columbia University Press, 1993 ISBN 0-2310719-4-9 p 345). Numbers besides 246 are often cited in very similar quotes; whether these are misquotes or whether de Gaulle repeated the same quote with different numbers is unclear.

important things to say

it has come to my attention that on occasion i may not have anything important to say. maybe it is because my mind is numb. maybe it is because my body is tired. maybe it is because i've had eggs for dinner two nights in a row. or maybe i do have important things to say - but i choose not to say them. but i guess if i can share with you about my life and the music i listen to, tv shows i view and eggs i eat then maybe i can spew forth important stuff once in a while.

i think the important stuff is all relative anyway. like yesturday, i suffered through the first hour of the movie The Big Kahuna (starring Danny DiVito, Kevin Spacey and this Peter Facinelli guy)... i was bored... feeling like my time had been wasted... then the final 30 minutes happened. here was a movie about 3 guys - trying to sell industrial lubricants (otherwise known as Grease) at a trade convention who spend most of their time in a hotel suite talking. i mean the entire movie takes place in one room. boring, right? yeah... except then it hit me... these men were talking... TALKING? yeah, talking. not about eggs but it could have been. at various points of dialogue, the topic of religion came up. so check this, newbie Bob (Peter Facinelli), during the meet and greet with executives, spends his time talking to this one guy about dogs... dogs, i said. it turns out that this executive who loves dogs is the big wig that Larry & Phil (Spacey & DiVito) were trying to make a sale with. So it is up to Bob to meet up with this guy later - with hopes of making the sale. Bob goes meets and talks to said guy not about industiral lubricant, not about dogs, even. he talks to him about Jesus.

now here's the real dicotomy. Bob returns. Larry gets upset that he didn't make the sale - Bob stands by his own convictions, though. Admirable as it may be, Larry points out that a sale was made - but the sale wasn't grease, it was Jesus. Was Bob being genuine. probably. Did he see that what he did was quite possibly a sales pitch? no. Was it a sales pitch? well that is the question that has me in a quandry.

before i go any further - let me point out this: the fact that i am discussing this (even if only with myself) is good. Discussions are important. communication is key.

so here's my question: how genuine am i if and when i talk about Jesus to others - say others who i may not have a relationship with? is it just a sales pitch? at the end of the movie, after Bob & Larry (not the Veggie Tales guys) have finished a heated discussion in ugliness, Phil (DiVito) pulls Bob aside and talks to him... he said something profound... "If you truly want to get to know someone... ask him about his kids. Ask him about his life.... his goals... his dreams..."

Maybe that aspect is a forgotten aspect of the faith these days. Do we care about the ones we attempt to reach out to? i mean do we truly care? are we willing to take the time to get to know them? i am a big proponant of what i'd call RELATIONAL EVANGELISM. Bringing others to Christ through relationship with them. Through that relationship they can then see rigth into the heart of who i am... my genuineness (or lack there of) laid out bare in front of them... if they see me - truly see me - then they will see Christ...

but the question still lingers inside of me: is there an inapropriate way to bring Jesus to others? if it is just a means to an end? i don't know... i am still searching...

i guess important things are there to be said... each of us has something important to say... somethimes it takes communication about eggs or football or life in general to get them to come out into the freedom of space that inhabits our eyes and ears and hearts and minds.

---

thoughts shared while listening to:
The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole

---



more on MEANS TO AN END. (essays and what not...)

Why the "Means to the end" is more important than the end?

Does The End Justify The Means?

a great day: Saturday.

Saturday is the NFL draft. for some reason, for me the NFL draft is one of the three most anticipated sporting events that i look forward to yearly.

1. The Super Bowl
2. NCAA Basketball tournament
3. NFL Draft

I don't know why i look forward to it with such glee. i have had Apr. 29th marked on my calendar for a while now. The first round generally takes over 4 hours... yet i sit there and watch every minute of it.

Call me crazy... call me a fan... just don't call me during the draft... i'll be busy...

bump

Charlie X was beginning to freak me out... those eyes - it's as if he was always starring at me.


FYI:

i am left handed. many famous people were also left handed.

i really have nothing else to say right now.





goodbye Charlie X.

Charlie X

last nite, while flippantly flipping channels i stumbled across an ond Star Trek episode feature one Charlie X. now, i, myself, am no Star Trek buff or "Trekkie" - but i remember vividly Charlie X.

you see 14 years ago, during my freshman year at Asbury College, my roommate and i, bored one evening, huddled around my 9 inch black and white television to watch an episode of Star Trek... one of my roommate Steve's favorite shows.

it was the infamous Charlie X episode... i have never forgotten Charlie X.

why am i telling you this? i don't know? why does anybody share anything on a blog...

TEN: things to do with the 24 hour stomach flu

10. misplace one's lunch
9. not read
8. lay uncomfortable in a bed
7. sip Ginger Ale, not Sprite
6. get caught up on TV shows missed via the magic of the DVR
5. bake brownies
4. watch Wayne's World on HBO... wonder what made it so magical 14 years ago...
3. pretend you're alive
2. attempt to descipher what each stomach growl really means
1. saltines anyone?

thank you. you've been great. goodnight cleveland.


enjoy MERRIAM-WEBSTER

The Village

while reading the book PRACTITIONERS: Voices from within the Emerging Church this weekend, I was spurred on to view M. Night Shaymalan's The Village. On Easter night, we watched it. I know that a lot of people did not like the movie, I, for one, was not one of them. I enjoyed it. It is not a supsence movie, nor would I say a 'thriller' either. as someone from IMDB said regarding the film: "Brilliantly nuanced, subtle, smart, and expertly played..."




my reaction after viewing THE VILLAGE
What comes to mind?
What or where is my village?
To me, the Village is SAFETY, INNOCENCE, THE WAY THINGS USED TO BE, with HIDDEN SECRETS not forgotten, but ignored.
The Village is avoiding reality. avoiding a "sinful world", thus avoiding the chances to be salt & light.
The Village is taking the easy way out - for the sake of genuine thought that life is supposed to be lived that way.
in the village those with eyes cower in fear and those who have not fear not. The blind see and do and dream and colorize that which is gray.

"how the blind risk, how the blind see love,
how they live beyond fear, and reach
out their hands to succumb to trust..."*

those of us with eyes - are we not seeing? do we not trust?
we stay confined to our village of safety at what gain? at what cost?
We think and feel we are genuinely doing what is right.
no harm in that. but are we missing a kaleidoscope of opportunity?

in Mark 8:22-26 Jesus heals a blind man...

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."
Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village"

Jesus took the man outside of the village. Why?
He asekd "do you see anything?" ANYTHING? a blind man - his sight now restored - what does he see? PEOPLE!
then there is us... the ones with sight.. what do we see? are our eyes and minds numb to that which is around us? PEOPLE! we walk in shopping malls and on sidewalks and we look away or down at the ground. We do not see anything. because seeing makes us uncomfortable.

Jesus took the blind man outside of the sounds and smells of his village... his familiarity... his saftey (even in his blindness). maybe the heartbeat of God and the love of God can only truly be seen when we are outside of our safety zone... a zone that is all too familiar. all to comfortable. so comfortable that our eyes do not see anything at all.

The blind take risks because they have nothing to lose... they are already blind... what will we do? the blind have true faith... and know what it means to trust.
God, may there be a lesson in this for us... for me... for everyone.


*Greg Russinger from the book Practitioners

a day is like a thousand pictures

april 10th, 2006. photography. finding images. being creative.

Thinking Back

ELBOW - scattered black & whites

Been climbing trees I've skinned my knees
My hands are black the sun is going down
She scruffs my hair in the kitchen steam
She's listening to the dream I weaved today
Crosswords through the bathroom door
While someone sings the theme-tune to the news
And my sister buzzes through the room leaving perfume in the air
And that's what triggered this.
I come back here from time to time
I shelter here some days.

A high-back chair. He sits and stares
A thousand yards and whistles
Marching-band (Boom-ching)
Kneeling by and speaking up
He reaches out and I take a
Massive hand. Disjointed tales
That flit between short trousers
And a full dress uniform
And he talks of people ten years
Gone like I've known them all my life
Like scattered black 'n' whites….

1966

i wasn't born yet in 1966. i imagine life was simple then. i imagine it was much the same as today only without portable phones and iPods.

i imagine that teenagers rebeled. they probably chewed lots of gum.

i imagine that there were nerds and dorks and lots of people probably wore glasses with thick black rims. what a wonder contacts are to the world of today.

there were probably a lot more convertable cars. i don't know why, but it seems like a lot of old cars were convertables.

i imagine gasoline was cheap. and Coke came in a bottle. life was probably a lot cooler becuase life was retro before it knew it was retro.

WICR, 88.7, the school radio station of the University of Indianapolis probably played Elvis and the Beatles & Simon & Garfunkel & Bob Dylan. or maybe they played Jazz like they do today.

life was filled with adventure, i am sure. drag racing or toga parties or performing science experiments that would change history were probably the norm.

hamburgers no doubt tasted better. i mean they were new. pizza was probably better too. mom and pop diners ruled while chain restaraunts were relatively new. milkshakes were most definately served with the big metal tin next to the glass.

life was better because hind sight is 20/20. and even though i wasn't there i wish i was. for no other reason than to be around, living in a different culture - to experience what it was like to hear the sounds of rock and roll first. to eat and smell a hamburger on the grill first. to ride with the top down on my way to school, with my pants pegged and my hair greased back.


o.k. so i may be mixing decades but it doesn't matter. i wasn;t there so what do i know?

life was simpler - but if i were there i am sure i would believe it to be complex and cumbersome.

1966. a year. 4 score in the past. maybe truth was more defined then. maybe glasses were better because they were thicker. maybe radio was better because it was AM. and maybe life in Texas was better because AM radio sounds better in Texas.

1966. years removed from JFK's assasination... years away from MLK's. life happened before their eyes... everything was new. what would i give to live in a lifetime like that.

01.02.03.04.05.06

last nite @ exactly 2 minutes and 3 seconds after 1am on april 5th, of '06 i was watching Conan O'Brien.

what were you doing when the clock struck 01:02:03 on 04.05.06?

this afternoon at 1:02:03pm - i plan on eating lunch while watching Stump the Schwab on ESPN Classic.