Lots of activity

In the last few days I've done pushups, gone bowling, played golf, played baseball, gone skateboarding at a super sweet skate park, gone slalom skiing, slalom snowboarding, and ski-jumping, practiced hitting soccer balls with my head, flew like a bird, ridden a bike, gone for a jog, juggled three balls while standing on one, walked across a tightrope, played tennis, rolled down a river in a bubble, and more that I can't remember right now. Having a Wii is kinda fun. Don't worry, I haven't played it nonstop. And I'm really NOT a gamer of any kind. I've never been into Playstation or XBox or any of the other gotta-have-it video game systems. But Wii is definitely different from those.

One note, though: If you ever get the game Wii Fit, be prepared for a computer graphic on your screen to treat you like a moron if you're at all overweight or lack balance, coordination, or reaction time.

I'm an introvert, and so is Professor Bird. So there.

A blog post from New Testament scholar Michael Bird on his introverted nature can be found here. It's rather funny (as are most things I've read from Bird). My favorite part:

"My personality type is INTJ. Basically, this means that I'm a cold hearted book worm with a super-sized intellect in lieu of a sense of empathy. So I don't really care how you feel, but I know when I'm supposed to pretend to care in order to help someone if they need it. I'm task orientated with a capital "T" and if I'm on a mission just show where to bury the bodies of the people who get in my way."

A Christmas guessing game

Elizabeth and I spent much of Christmas playing with a gift wii got from our parents. Wii really enjoyed using this gift with the whole family. This evening wii're very tired from the workout wii got from using it. Wii are planning to use it quite a bit in the future.

First person to guess what it was wii got wins special Jake-points!

Part 4 is here

On this Christmas morning, here is part 4 of A Christmas Story: From the Beginning to the Beginning of the End.

Part 3...

... of the Christmas story can be found here.

Part 2...

...of Kevin DeYoung's Christmas Story.

The camera has arrived.

Today we got a new toy that I will likely play with for every waking moment until classes start again.

And... here's me playing with it.

A Christmas Story

Part 1 of A Christmas Story: From the Beginning to the Beginning of the End by Kevin DeYoung can be found here. It's totally a cliffhanger. I can't wait for part 2 so I can see what happens! Read it to your kids!

P.S. Does anyone ever follow the links I provide and read the posts I suggest? I'm curious because if no one cares, then I'll (try very hard to) stop posting them.

Why Mary?

The following is a very interesting poem from John Piper on the question, "Why did God choose a girl in Galilee to bear Jesus when his birth was to take place in Bethlehem?"

Why did He choose a northern maid
From Nazareth, who had to trade
Her Galilee for Judah just
To get Messiah where He must
Be born? A strange and roundabout
Procedure for a God, no doubt,
Who values His efficiency
And rules the world from sea to sea!
Why not a girl from Bethlehem?
Well half the girls in town would stem
From David's line. And carpenters
Aplenty there could bear the slurs
And gossip on a virgin got
with child, who blushed and said she'd not
Once kissed her man this whole year past.
Why not? Because God's power is vast,
And in one little virgin birth
His sovereign joy and mighty mirth
In saving us from evil bent
Could never, never rest content.
Instead He turned and set His sight
To spangle Rome with all His might;
And took a girl from Galilee
To magnify His sovereignty.
And made the Roman king conspire
With God, to serve a purpose higher
Than he or any in the realm
Could see—a stroke to overwhelm
A few with faith and cause their heart
To know the truth, at least in part,
That, though God loves efficiency
And rules the world from sea to sea,
He does not go from here to there
By shortest routes to save His fare.
He'd rather start in Galilee,
Then pass a law in Rome, you see,
To get the child down south at length,
And magnify His sovereign strength.
God rules the flukes of history
To see that Micah's prophecy
Comes true. Why did He choose a maid
From Nazareth? Perhaps she prayed
That endless mercy might abound
And take the longer way around.
The mighty mercy we adore
As we light advent candle four.

My Life According to Nouveaux

I took the bait.

Nouveaux is my favorite band of all time. They recorded two albums and a total of 22 tracks (two of them aren't songs, but brief little intros... I used one of them). Since there are 19 questions I didn't have a whole lot of extras to choose from. I still think it turned out pretty well. Enjoy!

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "my life according to (band name)"

Pick your Artist: Nouveaux

Are you a male or a female?
"If Only..."

Describe yourself:
"Red, White, Black & Blue"

How do you feel?
"Hurt So Bad"

Describe where you currently live:
"Across the Miles"

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
"Through Heaven's Fields"

Your favorite form of transportation is:
"All That Glitters"

Your best friend is:
"Simply Beautiful"

You and your best friends are:
"We Believe"

What's the weather like?
"Nice"

Favorite time of day:
"Chasing Shadows"

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?
"Maybe Tomorrow" (I tend to procrastinate)

What is life to you?
"Wonder"

Your relationship:
"United We Stand"

Your fear:
"Bridge Across the Water"

What is the best advice you have to give?
"You Breathe" (cuz otherwise, you die)

Thought for the Day:
"Some Things Never Change"

How I would like to die:
"Never See the Day"

My soul's present condition:
"Listen"

My motto:
"Holding My Own"

A random thought

This is finals week for Elizabeth and I. Since my only two classes this semester are on Monday, I really only have finals DAY. I know that this is where the rubber meets the road, and I plan to succeed through hard work and mental toughness.

I wish the Cowboys felt the same way. They're apparently not as clutch as me. This afternoon's game is basically a must-win for the Cowboys if they want to hold on to a good chance of making the playoffs. They're losing by a touchdown in the 4th quarter as I write this.

It's hard having more mental toughness than the team you cheer for. Oh well.

Charitable giving

Saw this on the Mint.com blog. Kinda interesting, I suppose. Sorry that it cuts off on the sides. For the whole thing, click HERE.

budget planner – Mint.com

How to Write a Country Song

I really enjoy most country music. I still found this video pretty hilarious.

IBS (No, it's not that disease you might be thinking of)

Every student at Denver Seminary is required to take a class on the Epistles and Revelation, and every student at Denver Seminary while taking that class must write what's called an Inductive Bible Study. It focuses on a Bible passage (usually 8-12ish verses) and it consists of the following components: Literary context of the passage, Historical-cultural background, Word studies, Grammar studies, Major interpretive problems, Analytical Outline, Interpretive Summary, and Application. Many students dread the "IBS" not because of it's length (15ish pages), but because of the depth and intensity of the work required.

I wrote on 1 Peter 5:1-11. The following is the scoresheet that my professor, Dr. Klein, used to grade my paper. I hope it's big enough for you to read, because I'm trying to brag about how well I did, and if you can't see what scores I received it won't do any good at all (I think if you click on it it'll get bigger).

If anyone's interested in reading my paper (you know, if you're nerdy like that), I'd be happy to let you. (I'll be honest, I've not often been truly proud of papers I've written either in college or seminary, but I really did put the effort into this one, and it was very rewarding not just because of the grade but because of everything I learned about this passage in the process! Hopefully I'll feel this good about my thesis once I write one.)

An important video that I hope you'll watch

I've mentioned Matt Chandler on this blog before, and I've even posted a video (or two?) of him speaking. He pastors a church in Dallas called The Village Church. On Thanksgiving morning Matt had a seizure and was taken to the hospital where doctors found a tumor in his brain. He had surgery this past Friday to remove the tumor. Everything seems to have gone well (Matt's conscious and doing fine), but pathology tests from the tumor aren't back yet.

Matt recorded a video message a couple of days before his surgery last week that I think you all ought to watch. I'd embed the video (because I know that way it's more likely you'll watch it!), but I don't think I can (or at least I can't figure out how to).

So here's the link. Click on it. Watch the video. Pray for the Chandler family. The guy seems pretty amazing. Praise the Lord!

Current events

Tiger Woods hit a fire hydrant. The world couldn't stop talking about it. Now it's come out that he's apparently had an affair. That's too bad. I'll be praying for him and his family. But I won't be reading every Tiger-related headline or seeking to know every bit of gossip I can about the situation.

A couple snuck into a State Dinner at the White House. A couple of weeks ago wouldn't that have sounded like the most ridiculous sentence in the world? Today I read that some of the secret service agents on duty that night might get fired. I should hope so! I mean, I think secret service agents ought to be respected and thanked for what they do, and I don't like it when people get fired... but if they don't DO what they're paid to do and you're their boss why wouldn't you fire them? Football coaches get fired if they don't win games. I would guess that firefighters would get fired (no pun intended) if they failed to put fires out. If your job is to keep uninvited guests out of the White House and they end up shaking hands with the President of the United States, you should probably not have that job anymore.

Funny Guys

My friend Lisa told me I would love Rhett and Link. So I Googled them. Found out that they're the guys who did this video (which you've probably seen before) in which they sing their drive-thru Taco Bell order to the tune of a folk song.

They also sing The Facebook Song which you can watch here:

They have tons more, which you can see by checking out the videos at their website.

Weird "classifieds"

Tonight Jay Leno read some "missed connections" pulled from craigslist.com. I thought he was pulling our legs. He wasn't. Go to craigslist and check out the "missed connections" section. It's where you can post a description of that person you batted eyes at when you were leaving the 7-11 and hope they'll see it and respond to you.

It's hilarious. And also somewhat sad.

Jase and Rachel are visiting...

...and this is the only group photo (so far).

Apologies... it's just another link

Sorry to keep posting just to direct you elsewhere, but I really thought THIS post (again, from Kevin DeYoung) was worth pointing out. It deals a little bit with women and ministry, but not so much in a "this is what I believe" way... more like a "it's an interesting division in the church" way.

At some point I just might stop linking to DeYoung's blog, so it'd be worth your while to subscribe to it on your own. I haven't read his books yet (though I've wanted to quite badly), but he's definitely one of my favorite bloggers.

A couple of things for your perusal

If you CLICK HERE you can read a very good blog post from Kevin DeYoung about gambling. It's kind of long (he quotes extensively from a Christian-perspective article about gambling), but it's well worth the read. It makes me want to blow up Las Vegas (okay, not really).

This video is hilarious. You will think so too if you've ever read or heard about President Obama's reliance on teleprompters for speaking engagements. The Onion is definitely one of my favorite news outlets.

I hope you can follow this post

(Accidentally posted this on my football blog before realizing my mistake!)
I just wrote on facebook that I'm not as smitten with Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz and other best-sellers) as many young Christians are. Here's part of the reason why.

Mark Driscoll's 3 most recent tweets:
1. Is Jesus God or Man? #Basictraining. http://bit.ly/Jesus_God_or_Man http://bit.ly/1JwN75
2. Worship = Adoration +Action. #Basictraining. http://bit.ly/Wrshp_Adoratn_Actn http://bit.ly/3prgw4
3. How to organize a day of silence & solitude. Part 1 http://bit.ly/rOcUS http://bit.ly/2k1mAN

Stuff Christians Like blogger Jon Acuff's 3 most recent tweets:
1.Two words we all start with but lose along the way. New SCL http://bit.ly/1VeX02
2. "You removed my sackcloth & clothed me with joy." God won't replace old clothes with slightly better. He gives new life not upgrades. P30:11
3. It's interesting that twitter scams focus on 2 insecurities. Vanity (Is this you on this?) and intelligence (take this quiz)

John Piper's 3 most recent tweets:
1. Why God withholds (and shows) wrath: "I acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profaned" (Ezek 20:9; Ex 14:17f).
2. Born today 1615, Richard Baxter: "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity."
3. Don't even try. "If one wished to contend with God, one could not answer him once in a thousand times" (Job 9:3).

Donald Miller's most recent tweet:
Watching Bill Gates on csnbc. Wish the pc was a superior computer because bill gates is a better human being than steve jobbs.

Question for you, Mr. Miller: Have you ever met either of these men? What makes one a "better human being" than the other? Since you're the judge, how do I stack up to these guys? You can probably find a youtube video with me in it somewhere, so take a look and get back to me. Thanks.

Dear President Obama,

Watch this video, and then explain to me why you're pro-choice. Then watch an ultrasound during an abortion and explain to me why you're still pro-choice. After watching a baby in the womb try to escape from the instrument of its death, this former Planned Parenthood clinic director quit her job and began speaking out against abortion. Perhaps you, Mr. President, ought to do the same.

ROOT BEER FUN!!

A few weeks back while on campus we ran into our friend, Lisa, who was drinking a brand of root beer I'd never heard of before. I know there's some kinds of pop with which I'm not familiar, but I didn't know there was a whole niche market devoted to manufacturing root beer. I've lived my life drinking Mug, A&W, Dad's, Barq's, and when I get really lucky, IBC. Lisa told me that there are a lot of root beers that are MUCH better than those I listed above, so we decided to hold a root beer party. Lisa shopped around for some lesser-known brands at specialty stores, and Elizabeth and I showed up today to partake of 8 different root beers.

The Lineup. (To the left of the bottles of root beer you can see the shot glasses we used to sample each different drink. I know it looks like the counter of an alcoholic, but I promise, it is ROOT beer.)

A couple of the brands were particularly nasty. The one Lisa is holding is a generic organic brand from a grocery chain. Until I'd tried some of these other, very good, kinds of root beer, I would have just considered it sort of "cheap" tasting. The one I'm holding is sweetened with agave nectar (rather than sugar or honey), and it's GROSS. It tastes really bad. I don't recommend it.

This is another picture of the eight contestants before we began trying them, and again, our shot glasses for sampling. We had a really good time trying out new kinds of root beer. A couple of them are FABULOUS. Better than I ever thought root beer could be (and it's my favorite kind of pop). After the tasting we watched Willy Wonka, because it has a scene involving fizzy lifting drinks... which are sort of like root beer.

That's too bad...

Many of you might not care, but the New York Yankees just won the World Series. That doesn't bother me. In fact, I was sort of rooting for them in this series.

What does bother me is that the designated hitter won the MVP award for the series (Hideki Matsui). Now, there's no doubt that Matsui's hitting was fantastic in the series, and I like the guy just fine. But I am, first of all, opposed to the very idea of the designated hitter, and because of that I don't like that the DH got the highest honor from the series.

If you want to argue with me, I'll totally hear you out. I just think baseball is one of those sports (like basketball) where the players who are in the game ought to play both offense and defense. I hate the idea that American League pitchers don't ever have to bat. That's HALF of the sport. And the DH doesn't ever have to field. That's the other half. Anyway... just wanted to share.

This Just In: Hate Crimes Legislation is Stupid

I hate Redskins fans. And guys who wear mullets. And annoying people who used to come into the store where I worked and say, do, or ask really stupid things. Fortunately, I can attack any of these groups of people without worrying about whether I'll be given a stiffer penalty, because none of those groups of people are mentioned in the hate crimes legislation that President Obama signed the other day. Lucky me! Of course, if I attacked a Redskins fan and then later found out he was gay (or had a mental disability, or was from Djibouti) then I'd be in big trouble, apparently.

My apologies to the parents of Matthew Shepherd, but the idea that we can legislate more severe penalties depending on what a criminal is thinking when he or she commits the crime couldn't be more ludicrous to me. The new hate crimes bill defines hate crimes as attacks which are "based on a person's race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or mental or physical disability." That's great, but doesn't that list seem a little arbitrary? Who decided where the list ends and how did they decide it? What about a person's personality? Or clothing? Or favorite sports team? And how do you enforce it? I mean, if I attack a Hindu because he's Hindu, can't I just say that I did it because he cut me off in traffic? What if "hate" as defined in this bill is one of five reasons someone gets attacked? "I killed that guy because he's obnoxious, he smells funny, he only wears two different shirts in any given week, he's smarter than me... and he's hispanic." Is that a hate crime or not? Can it be counted as 1/5th of a hate crime? Let's say Joe Schmo gets tied to a fence post, has bottles and rocks thrown at his head, gets stripped naked and left for dead. Two weeks later the same thing happens to my brother. Should the criminals in case #2 be punished less than those in case #1 because Joe Schmo is gay? And isn't crime #2 a hate crime too, because after all, my brother has a race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, AND gender identity (and maybe a mental disability... but HAHA, you don't know which brother I'm talking about!)?

If anyone is or would be willing to pretend to be a liberal, I'd appreciate hearing an argument in favor of such a ridiculous notion.

I'm very excited about this.

Ever since, well, just about forever (probably high school) I've wanted a decent leather coat. The problems over the years have been that stores don't sell the coat I'm looking for (button-down with a collar, and long in the torso). Seriously, for some reason zippers are apparently all the rage, because good button-down leather coats are surprisingly tough to come by. Then, if stores did have the "right" coat it cost some ridiculous amount of money in the hundreds. I've never spent more than thirty or forty bucks on a coat, and I really don't ever intend to... but that also means that a decent leather coat is out of the question.

Last year for Christmas my parents-in-law gave me a JCPenney giftcard. Somehow I promptly forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago. Today we went to Penney's with no real agenda. Both Elizabeth and I were on the lookout for anything we thought we could really use that was a good price. As we walked by the men's section I saw it. The coat I've been looking for for years. It was on sale. Elizabeth said she liked it (always the final step in any clothes-buying decision), no, LOVED it. We bought it... with money to spare. In fact, we even picked up a scarf for me to wear with it.

How do I look?

Photography

First it was Joel's fault, because apparently he's the one who chose the camera. Then it was Pam's fault, because she had to tell everyone about it. Then it was Joel's fault again because he provided some specifics. And now, most disappointingly, it's my fault because I can't stop thinking about photography and researching different cameras and picture-taking tips.

In college I took a photography class. It was great. I borrowed a friend's camera. I learned about aperture settings and depth-of-field and shutter speed and how to compose a photo and lots of other very cool stuff. For one semester it was a hobby... for which I got credit. Today I realized that maybe the biggest reason why I enjoy photography so much is because it's a very introverted activity. It can also be somewhat mentally challenging (depending on what/who/why you're taking pictures), and very creative. So I want to take up photography again. But, of course, I need a good camera. Looks like I'm now in saving mode too.

Hey Joel and Pam, when you get your camera, will you invite me over to look at it?

Advertisements

Sometimes while we're driving down the road Elizabeth will turn to me and say, "That billboard really worked on me." Usually what that means is, "Now I'm craving some chicken McNuggets," or some other food equally as tasty and unhealthy. The only time I got a bit nervous was when she said, "That billboard really worked on me," and I looked up to see a billboard advertising "Divorce in a day! Just $500!" I'm pretty sure she was looking at a different billboard (but she has been acting strange lately...).

On my way home from work this afternoon I ended up behind a truck that said, "Dr. Clutch, Your one-stop clutch and transmission shop!" After we'd hit about three stoplights I realized that Dr. Clutch was having a really hard time getting his truck going every time he'd come to a stop. It made me not want to call up Dr. Clutch next time my transmission is having issues.

That's about it.

Driscoll in the Washington Post

Here is an article in the Washington Post by Pastor Mark Driscoll that's worth the few minutes it'll take you to read it.

Another bookstore-related post

Last night I dreamed that I treated bookstore customers the way I've wished I could for two years. I don't think retail and/or customer service is the long-term career for me.

No longer a Bookstore employee

As of today I no longer work at the Denver Seminary Bookstore. This is the first time that's been true since the end of August, 2007. Over my 2+ years at the store I ran into a number of people and situations that I found irritating and/or funny. I've compiled a top ten list for my own amusement, but hopefully it'll amuse one or two of you as well.

*I apologize for the length of this post, and also for my often cynical attitude that tended to be evoked while working this customer-oriented job.

10. We once found that a leather bound NIV Study Bible had been stolen, and the thief had left his/her own leather bound KJV in the stolen Bible's box in its place. I guess if you leave an old Bible when you steal a new one, it doesn't weigh as heavily on the Christian conscience.

9. To the hundreds of you who have asked me over the last couple of years: No, we do not give discounts just because you're a pastor/graduate/parent of a student/Christian/church staffer/missionary/nurse/chaplain/friend of Dr. Blomberg.

8 The bookstore used to offer discounts to faculty, staff, students, and alumni, but a year and a half ago an outside company was brought in to run the store (the store was apparently not making money before the switch, due in part to all the discounts we offered). Still, after a year and a half of not giving those discounts I consistently hear, "But you used to give discounts!" It makes me want to say, "Yeah, and eggs used to cost a dime a dozen, and I used to weigh a lot less. What else happened a long time ago?"

7. In the weeks prior to the beginning of each semester we put barricades (like those used to form lines at the bank or the airport) around our textbook section in order to keep people out while we stock the shelves (another reason is to minimize the students who come in three weeks before classes start in order to right down titles and ISBNs so they can purchase books on Amazon, which isn't a despicable practice, but it's not in the interest of the store to do Amazon's customer service for them). When the barricades are in place there are signs everywhere explaining that we're still stocking the shelves and that people aren't allowed back there, and that if they need a book they can ask the staff and we'll pull anything you need for you. Still, I watched people every day stop at the barricades, read the signs, and then go around the barricades into the text section to see what they needed. (I should also mention that all of the class book lists are also available online.)

6. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've been told that I should extend a discount to someone because they can get their book cheaper on Amazon. If I can get something cheaper across the street, I go across the street. I don't expect the more expensive place to lower its price. Look, it's not my fault that you waited until 5:45 p.m. on the day before your 18-page paper is due to decide that you should probably buy that book that takes two weeks to ship to you from Amazon. That's your own problem.

5. In addition to ignoring barricades and posted signs about the barricades, tons of people ignore other posted notices, such as return policies (which also gets stapled to your receipt, so please do NOT try to convince me that it's my fault you didn't know about the policy).

4. On more than one occasion, after closing the store, shutting down computers, and turning off lights, I had people who would spot me inside the store and call me over to the door, and try desperately to convince me to let them in. One particular time I'd been closed for more than fifteen minutes. The most common story I hear? "But I drove over an hour to get here!" Wow, really? And you didn't check to make sure the store would be open when you arrived? I feel for you. I really do. But it's not possible to re-open the store to sell you a book. The library's next door. Good luck.

3. The store's doors are on an automatic timed locking system. After hearing the doors click locked at closing time I turned off the lights and headed to the back room for some closing procedures. One of the front doors had apparently stuck and not completely closed, because about ten minutes later as I was leaving I walked up to the front of the store to find a gentleman browsing in complete darkness. He told me he "didn't realize" we were closed. It was pitch black. I understand that if the door's open you might step in, but when you see that it's completely dark and you can't even read the titles of the books on the shelf, wouldn't you find someone to at least ask whether or not they're open?

2. One of our entrance doors has a turnable handle, but the handle part of the door stays locked at all times. Still, being on a timer lock, if we're open the door will open when you push on it. Countless times I've been asked, "Are you open? The door is locked," as they walk through the door and into the store. By definition, if a door is locked it doesn't just open so you can walk through it. Promise.

1. This one could technically fit under #5 because it's about ignoring a posted notice, but this one I just couldn't believe, and it deserves it's own number. We were closed for inventory one morning, but those in charge of changing our automatic timer locks had had some communication mix-up, so our doors were unlocked. We set up some of our aforementioned barricades and posted signs on all of the doors that said, "Closed for inventory. Will reopen at 1 p.m." People still came in all morning long. As they did we'd say, "I'm sorry, we're actually closed right now." More often than not the response we got was either, "Well I'm just cutting through," or "Well I just needed to check to see if you have a book I need." This is a graduate school. Do you understand what "closed" means? It means you can't just cut through, and you can't check to see what books we've got. We're CLOSED. My favorite one was when my coworker placed one of the signs on the seam of the double doors out front so that it would be impossible to open the doors without seeing the sign and ripping it in half. Before my coworker made it around to our other entrance a woman went around the barricades and ripped the sign in half as she opened the front door and came in. "I'm sorry, we're closed right now, which is why we had that sign on the door." She responded, "Oh, I WONDERED what that sign was for!" In my head: "Really? Did you really wonder? Well the sign has about eight words on it. There are two lines. You're in graduate school. As a student here you're assigned hundreds of pages of difficult reading every week. If you really wondered about that sign, you likely would have spent the 0.24 seconds to read it. Get out of this store."

Crazy Guys

This afternoon I got this week's Sports Illustrated in the mail. Listed under "What Smart Fans Should Do This Week," they mentioned this website, dudeperfect.com, where this group of college guys apparently spend their free time perfecting ridiculous trick basketball shots, and filming them. So I went to the website. Turns out they really do make some ridiculous trick basketball shots. After watching their videos I clicked "About Us" where I learned that these guys use the money they make from the popularity of their youtube videos to support children through Compassion International. They're a group of Christian guys who remind me what it was like to be in college and end up doing stupid random things that end up being super fun and/or funny. Here's a video to introduce you to these guys, but check out their website and their youtube channel for more.

The lost letter to the Corinthians?

Funny

I thought THIS story about "launch parties" for Windows 7, which is going to be released in a few weeks was hilarious. The parody video at the end made me laugh particularly hard, but I wouldn't recommend watching it with children in the room.

Groovin' with the sharks

I just discovered grooveshark.com, a site which I will be using quite often in the future, I'm sure. It allowed me to quickly and easily create the widget you see in the right-hand column of my blog (if you're reading this in a reader you'll have to come to my blog to check it out) that will play whatever songs I want it to. Right now the three options I've got for you are a few of my current favorites: "Proud of Your Boy" by Clay Aiken (this was originally going to be a song on Disney's animated classic Aladdin but it got dropped when they made Aladdin an orphan, I guess... it can be found on the extra features of the DVD, which I'm not embarrassed to say I own and watch from time to time), "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, and "Rushing Wind" by Keith Green. I would most strongly encourage you to listen to Keith Green. Whenever you can. The guy's amazing.

The more fun part about Grooveshark.com for you would be that you can play any song you want on demand there. So when you're on iTunes and you only get to listen to a 30-second clip of the song and you wish they'd play the whole thing, just go to Grooveshark.com and you can! Cool, huh?

I Don't Like Mondays

The link to Justin Taylor's blog under "Blogs I Read" to the left has changed because his blog is now being hosted at the Gospel Coalition. I'm sure none of you care, but if you read and/or subscribe to Justin's blog (it's fantastic, by the way) then I wanted to make sure you're aware of the switch.

Mondays are kind of tough. I have class from 8-11. During my 15-minute break in the middle of class I go to the "bread shed" on campus where day-old breads and other grocery items are delivered so that seminary students can benefit. I have to put in 2 hours of work at church in order to get the facility set up for a huge Monday night Bible study that uses just about every square inch of the building. Today I was scheduled to work at the bookstore from 1-5:15. When I got off I had about an hour to eat supper, change clothes, speak with my wife for a few minutes for the first time all day, and then get to my other class which meets from 6:30-9:15 pm. One of my favorite things to do on Mondays is read Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" column at SportsIllustrated.com. It's 10:52 p.m. as I write this, and I'm about a third of the way through the column, which I've had pulled up on my computer all day.

It's been a long day.

iTunes stuf

First of all, I can't believe my wife was the only one who commented on my "I have Cowboys-Broncos tickets!" post below. Isn't anyone happy for me?

Second, here's the 10-Question iTunes post. You should all copy the questions to your own blogs. I'm curious. (These questions assume you have an iTunes library... or at least some kind of music library on your computer/mp3 player.)

1. What's your favorite non-musical item in your iTunes library (audiobook, podcast, video, photo, application, etc.)?: I think I've got to say it's my "Marley and Me" audiobook. It provided a lot of entertainment for Elizabeth and I when we drove through Nebraska.

2. Name all the movies/shows for which you have the soundtrack in your iTunes library: A Goofy Movie (a few songs), Mad About You, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Phantom of the Opera, Animaniacs (a few songs), End of the Spear, Moulin Rouge, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Music Man, Titanic, Chicago, Newsies, Gummi Bears, High School Musical 3 (which I've never seen), Across the Universe (which I've never seen), The Lion King, Juno (a few songs), Tarzan (which I've never seen), Cars (a few songs), South Pacific, Grease, Jonah (Veggie Tales), Summer of '66 (high school choir tour stage show in Myrtle Beach), The Preacher's Wife, Sister Act II, Rent, The West Wing. Wow, that's way more than I thought!

3. What's your favorite album in your iTunes library?: Nouveaux, "And This is How I Feel"

4. Artist/band in your iTunes library who you wish would get a new career: Prince

5. Artist/band in your iTunes library who you wish would make a lot more music: Keith Green (but he can't, unfortunately)

6. 21st song (alphabetically) under letter "I" iTunes library: "I Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" by Keith Green

7. 4th artist/band under the letter "C" in your iTunes library: Carman

8. One artist from your iTunes library you'd like to have dinner with: Keith Green (sorry, he's showing up a lot)

9. Five artists/bands you proudly name when people ask what's on your iPod: Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Michael Buble, Garth Brooks, The Proclaimers

10. Five artists/bands you don't tell anyone about, but secretly LOVE to listen to on your iPod: Disney stuff (all of it), Ray Stevens, Mark Knopfler, Carman, B*Witched

There you have it. G'bye!

Something exciting

For a life-long die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan who lives in Denver, there is one particular item that is worth slightly more than gold. A ticket to Invesco Field @ Mile High on October 4th, 2009 when the Broncos host the Cowboys in a week 4 matchup. Guess who's got four of them.

Have a nice day. I know I will.

A phone call

I work at Centennial Covenant Church.

A phone conversation I just had...

Me: Centennial Covenant, this is Jake, how may I help you?
Man on phone: David! Jack Green, how are you?
Me: No, I'm sorry, this is JAKE, did you need to talk to David?
Man: No, I need to talk with Steve.
Me: He's not in yet this morning [sidenote: the office doesn't open until 9am, and rarely is there anyone other than me in the office before that time... and this call was at 8:20], would you like his voicemail?
Man: (pause) Well, um, is David there?
Me: No, he's not in yet either.
Man: (longer pause) Um, I'm sorry, I didn't catch who I'm speaking with.
Me: This is Jake Rohde.
Man: Oh, you're the guy who just started a little while ago.
Me: Yep [sidenote: it was in mid-March).
Man: With the little baby.
Me: Oh, no, you're thinking of Chris Durkin. [another seminary student, friend of mine, has an almost one-year old, and another due in December, started working as an intern here a couple of weeks ago]
Man: Oh, okay. Well, I'm supposed to have a meeting with Steve tonight and I want to make sure he's coming.
Me: Here, let me give you his cell phone number.

Labor Day Rockies game: always a good choice

Rockies 3rd baseman, Ian Stewart, came to bat in the bottom of the 8th inning with the score tied at 3. Elizabeth and I noticed that over the course of the day Stewart had struck out swinging in the 2nd, struck out looking in the 4th, and struck out swinging in the 6th. I said, sarcastically, "Wow, he's having a great day." Elizabeth said, "It looks like he could use a meeting with the hitting coach."

As she was finishing the word "coach," Stewart drove a rocket over the right field fence. A 396-foot homerun that proved to be the winning run.

Guess we were wrong.

GO ROCKIES!

Cartoon Theme Songs

First of all, if you don't follow Kevin DeYoung's blog, you should.

Second of all, today Kevin began a "Battle of Cartoon Theme Songs." He's got a tournament going on between 16 cartoon theme songs, mostly from shows he watched as a kid (which, coincidentally, are shows I watched as a kid). He's got a poll where you vote for the best one and that winner moves on. Check it out here.

This week's four songs are Duck Tales, Chip N Dale, Tailspin, and Gummi Bears. My vote was for Gummi Bears which, until I'm convinced otherwise, is the greatest cartoon theme song EVER. Unfortunately, it looks like Duck Tales is currently in the lead. Go read his blog. If nothing else you can watch some classic cartoon theme songs. Then vote. For Gummi Bears.

Two stories

At church I'm in charge of entering the week's contributions into our computer system. Any checks that are not for the general fund have something written in the memo line that tell me where that money goes. This week at church a brief presentation was given by a pastor from a Kenyan church with whom our church has been partnering for years. The church in Kenya runs an orphanage called the Shangalia Orphanage, but the church has a different name that I can't remember. They meet in a shack on land that they do not own, and they're trying to raise support so that they can purchase the land and the building where they meet. So this week I got a lot of checks labeled "Kenya church project," "Kenya land project," or just "Kenya Church." My favorite was from someone, apparently a bit confused, who wrote, "Shangalia Land." I laughed because it sounds like a fictional fantasy world you'd find in a video game, or near HonnaLee.
(That's the end of this story)

The other night Elizabeth and I went to a Rockies-Giants game at Coors Field. We had free tickets, and we debated skipping out on the game because it was supposed to rain all night long. We decided to go anyway, and fortunately for us the rain stopped right as the game started, and not another drop fell all night long.

The game lasted 5 hours and went 14 innings. The Giants had scored a run in the first inning. The Rockies tied it in the 5th. Then no one scored... for a long time. It was still 1-1 heading into the 14th inning, and by now most of the fans had disappeared from the stadium. After the Giants scored 3 runs in the top half of the inning, another mass exodus of fans left the place pretty sparsely populated. With a 4-1 deficit to overcome, the Rockies loaded the bases. Their pitcher (the 5th or 6th of the night) came to the plate. This guy hadn't had an at-bat all year (and for all I know, never in his professional career). The Giants pitcher walked him on 5 pitches. A run scored. Now the Rockies are down 4-2. Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs was up. He hit a grand slam.

We made fun of all the people that had left the game early.
(That's the end of that story)

Something worth reading

A WONDERFUL blog post from Kevin DeYoung (who has two books out that I desperately want to read).

Things My Teenager Will Not Do on Sunday Mornings:

1. Wear a t-shirt to church that reads, "Most of the people who drive me nuts are in my family."
2. (If I have a girl) Wear shorts that are so short that not even a public school's dress code would allow them.
3. Wear anything grungier than what they wear to school.
4. Skip the service to hang out with friends in the foyer (or anywhere else).
5. Have a cell phone at church.
6. Have an iPod at church.

This list was inspired by some observations I made at church yesterday.

Something to check out

A few weeks ago I blogged about my take on reading Brian McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy. Well, the jist of what I was trying to say regarding not just McLaren's, but many "emergent" or "progressive" evangelical's theology was explained very well in THIS post by Greg Gilbert of the 9 Marks Church Matters blog. It's a bit lengthier than what I said, but it's interesting, true, and well-worth the read!

Some vacation pictures

These pictures are in a somewhat random order, but they're from our recent vacation.

This is Elizabeth with her friend, Jill, who she's known since the third grade. Jill was kind enough to host us while we were in the Twin Cities.

My friend Mike and I at the wedding. I don't think I knew this kiss was coming.

All of the Central College grads who attended the wedding!

The groom and I! Congratulations to Justin, but let's be honest, I look slightly better in a tux than he does.

The head table at the reception.

For some reason, while we were at the QC River Bandits game Gabriel wanted to share his straw with me. So I let him.

Gabriel got to take a ride on the "tractor!" with Elizabeth's dad.

I'm not sure Gabriel knew what to think about laying on a floating bed.

An open letter to Whitey's Ice Cream

Dear Whitey's,

I don't know how you do it, but your ice cream is simply better than any other brand I've ever tasted. For the first twenty-two years of my life I lived in close proximity to a few of your locations and I was able to get it whenever I wanted. Sadly, over time I began to take it for granted. For the last three years I've lived in areas completely devoid of the sweet, tasty, creamy goodness that only you can provide. Not only am I unable to partake, but none of the people who live in my city even know what Whitey's ice cream is! This fact has been terribly difficult to cope with.

On a recent vacation to eastern Iowa I made it clear to my travel partners that one of the things I just HAD to do while I was in town was stop by a Whitey's location for a double-scoop cone of the world's greatest sweet treat (since I'm sure you're wondering, Moose Tracks is the flavor I simply can't live without). My cone was every bit as delicious as I remembered, which only served to deepen the sadness I felt that I cannot get it at home. Please consider the deprived tastebuds of millions of Americans and expand your service to all areas of the country. If you've been looking to expand and you just can't find the right place, let me suggest Denver, Colorado as a great place to start. The people are friendly, and good ice cream is hard to come by.

With all sincerity and hope,

Jake Rohde

Vacation: What a blast.

For the last week and a half Elizabeth and I have been on a fantastic tour of Iowa and southern Minnesota. We first drove to eastern Iowa (very eastern, as in the very last Iowa exit before you cross the Mississippi and are in Illinois) to spend a few days with Elizabeth's parents and some of her extended family. Over those days we were also able to hook up with my brother and sis-in-law and their two little boys (almost two years old, and not quite 3 months). We had an absolutely fabulous time. Other than the scary car accident that my brother and his family were in (don't worry, everyone's okay), everything went swimmingly - including us (we swam one day)! We got to eat out and take some pictures with Elizabeth's family, visit her aunt's garden to pick some home-grown peppers, zucchini, and green beans, go to the zoo, attend a local single-A baseball game, take a swim, eat some Iowa staples (brats, sweet corn), and spend all-too little time with family.

The next leg of our trip took us up to the Twin Cities for a friend's wedding. Elizabeth got to spend time with an old high school friend of hers while I hung out with some old college friends at Justin's bachelor party on Wednesday. Thursday was a somewhat busy day spent picking up tuxes, trying to find our way around the cities, and attending the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Friday was WEDDING DAY! The wedding was absolutely beautiful (one of my favorites, if you're allowed to have favorite weddings?). It included the groom surprising his bride with his own guitar performance of Matthew West's The Day Before You (a song which I happen to LOVE). AND, it included the couple walking up the aisle at the end of the ceremony to the theme song to The West Wing (which makes a surprisingly good wedding walk-out song, in addition to being from the greatest television series of all time). I also got to see and catch up with a good group of college friends whom I already miss!

On the way home we decided to split up our trip a little bit, so we stayed at a cute little hotel in Lincoln, NE on Saturday night and slept in on Sunday morning before finishing up our trip!

Visiting Iowa always makes me remember how much I loved growing up there, and how great of a place I think it is. Some of the special things that we experienced on our trip that we don't get here are listed below.

Whitey's ice cream
Azteca [taco] salad shells

Family

Sweet Corn

Neighborly people (not that Coloradans aren't neighborly, but when my brother and his wife and kids were in a car accident by the side of a country road, no fewer than two dozen passers-by over the next 30 minutes either stopped or slowed to make sure no one was hurt and that help was on the way -- just the kind of thing that I suspect I wouldn't see here in quite the same way)

Lightning bugs

Other things we got to experience on our vacation that were WONDERFUL (except the second thing):

Homemade ice cream

I-80 road construction (it's not fun, but it's inevitable)

Fantastic wedding & seeing friends (including Justin's surprise song, and all of the West Wing thrown in)

A wonderful hostess for us (A friend of Elizabeth's from school growing up provided us with a place to stay in St. Paul and she treated us wonderfully, giving up her bed for us while she slept on the couch, cooking us food, and sending us off on our return journey with a bag packed with travel snacks. Thanks, Jill!)

Not sleeping in the same bed two consecutive nights for a week

So there you have it. Our vacation in a nutshell. Pictures will definitely be forthcoming. We got some good ones!

The Gospel

Below is a video of one of my favorite preachers, Mark Driscoll, on the Gospel. It's only three minutes long, and I don't know if I've ever seen a more complete description of the Gospel given in that amount of time.

For the record, my rough estimation is that somewhere around 50-60% of this would be left out or glazed over if Brian McLaren or Rob Bell were asked to explain the Gospel in three minutes. (I don't want this to sound like an emergent church-bashing post. In reality, as I finished McLaren's book last night, I thought about how a good chunk of it could actually be very useful reading -- and in fact was for me. I would probably even recommend it for certain friends of mine. I just think that there's a dangerous lack of truth in the overall message we seem to hear from such fellows, whom I will likely continue to read and engage with my thoughts.)

So here's the video,

The right NOT to be offended?

Sorry if you're offended by multiple short posts within a few minutes of each other, but I just read a very interesting article by Al Mohler on the culture of offendedness. You ought to check it out and then comment here with your thoughts. I like conversation.

Rickey Henderson: Funny

Rickey Henderson has just been inducted into the Hall of Fame. From another blog I linked to this site which has some classic quotes from Henderson. They're very funny. My favorite, in case you're interested, is #22.

McLaren and me (not quite as catchy as McGee & Me)

I'm nearing the end of reading A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. I've never really written a book review before, and you're kidding yourself if that's what you think this is... but I thought I'd share some first impressions and thoughts about what I've read so far.

I chose to read this particular book on the emergent church because a) I already own it & it's just been sitting on my shelf for more than a year now, and 2) from what I've heard and read it's been touted as the definitive manifesto for today's emergent church (can "definitive" and "emergent church" be together in one sentence and not be an oxymoron?), and so I figured that if I'm going to graduate from an evangelical seminary there might be some people I come across in whatever ministry God points me to who assume I know something about the emergent church and I'd like not to disappoint them. So here we go.

First of all let me say that McLaren is an engaging writer, and it's not at all hard for me to see how he's published a dozen+ books, most of which sell quite well. He has a clear passion to move Christianity beyond liberal vs. conservative bickering, and his viewpoint largely seems to have grown out of a reaction to ultra-right wing conservative fundamentalist Christians who you're likely to see on television a lot (not often being painted in a positive light at all).

As is made clear in McLaren's subtitle (visible in the above picture), his desire is to essentially take the best from all of the pockets of Christianity and mold them into a kind of open-minded, tolerant community of believers who follow the teachings of Jesus. In multiple places throughout the book McLaren tells his audience that it's important to stick to the fundamentals of the faith, which he clearly defines as loving God, and loving your neighbor (with everyone on the planet falling to the "neighbor" category). One of the big problems he has with many Christians today is that they've expanded the fundamentals to include things like the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture, and penal substitutionary atonement. McLaren, however, seems to believe that if we simply love God and love other people then Christianity is much more likely to connect to our postmodern culture, and we will be able to take the world for Christ.

If I were to summarize McLaren's position as I understand it (I'm about 80% of the way through the book) I would say that he believes that following the teachings of Jesus is what's most important (and primarily the love God & others command), and therefore we need to love everyone, be in community with everyone, let the Holy Spirit guide our direction through experience, and be pacifists (or at least pacifist sympathizers with the hope and goal of bringing the world to a place where everyone is a pacifist). On the flip side he would argue that we need to grow out of our in/out theology where there are some who are "in" or "born again" who are going to heaven and everyone else is "out" and therefore going to hell. McLaren relates a story in which his college-age son admits that he's struggling spiritually. He goes on, "Dad, if Christianity is true then nearly everyone I love is going to be tortured in the fires of hell forever. And if it's not true, then life has no meaning. I just wish there were a better option." McLaren tells us that when he heard his son say those things his heart broke as he realized that that is the picture of Christianity his son, and probably most Christians, have. It seems that the goal of this book is largely to correct such thinking.

From what I've learned about the emergent church before and outside of reading this book, McLaren's theology and teachings in A Generous Orthodoxy are very much represtentative of them.

And it's too bad.

Completely lacking from McLaren's theology is anything about the harder parts of the Bible. The only time I have come across the word "atonement" in the whole book is when, as I mentioned above, he is pointing out how conservative evangelicals have broadened the definition of "fundamentals" to include it. I do think McLaren's right about a lot of things: The Christianity that most people see on television which says you must vote republican, fight against gun control laws, homosexuality, and abortion, support wars, and tell all your non-Christian friends that they're going to hell is probably not what Jesus meant when he sent his disciples out as witnesses, but McLaren's theology, I believe, could accurately be described as dangerous, bordering on devastating. The Gospel message is NOT, as McLaren would apparently have you believe, that we can all get along in a God-loving community if we stick to the teachings of Jesus. It's that Jesus was crucified in your place on the cross as a sacrifice for sin and that he rose again the third day, conquering death forever. Why doesn't the emergent church ever want to get into the hard stuff? I'm guessing that in all his books, you'll never hear McLaren talk about the reality of sin and its impact on the human race (unless it's the "sin" of intolerance, which creates an unappealing "in vs. out" mentality).

In fact, it seems to me that if Jesus never was crucified or resurrected or if he never ascended to heaven... McLaren's theology would not be threatened at all. Without the atonement Jesus was still a good teacher who gave us good standards to live by, so let's all focus on those and try to get along.

(When I bring my book to work with me, my coworker will ask, "Is McLaren annoying you yet?" For the first almost half of the book my answer was, "Not really." As it's become clearer and clearer that his bottom line is essentially, "Let's all be nice to each other," my answer has changed. There is real truth, Mr. McLaren.)

To infinity... and BEYOND!

On this, the 40-year anniversary of the day when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Lightyear (I mean Aldrin) became the first humans to walk on the moon, I came across this lovely page which has a whole bunch of photos from before, during, and after the Apollo 11 mission. They are VERY cool, and if you've got a few minutes you should scroll through them.

Green: Probably my third or fourth favorite color.

Not to sound like a planet-hater, but here's a very good article about why you're not necessarily the devil if you think it's okay that there are people who still use fossil fuels.

Albert

I've got to share this because I'm a huge Albert Pujols fan. This article in Sports Illustrated this week is a conversation about whether or not he's the most perfect player baseball has ever seen.

My favorite part of the article: If Pujols repeated his poorest season 11 times he'd be a sure-fire Hall of Famer.

Redbox

For more than a year now Elizabeth and I have "played the system" regarding Redbox movie rentals. Each Monday Redbox would send out a free rental code. What we found out was that Redbox tracks the use of the code by the credit card you scan, so if you have more than one credit card you can use the code for each card. That means that on any given Monday night we would have up to four Redbox movies to watch (which aren't due until the next night at 9 pm, so we could watch some on Tuesday too, if we had the time).

Unfortunately, Redbox must have come to its senses (I wonder how many people only ever used the free rentals and never paid for one, like us) because they have discontinued the free movie Mondays and have replaced them with a free rental code only on the first Monday of each month. So we watched one movie last night and have three more at home that we'll try to fit in before 9 o'clock tonight!

That's my whole story.

A tasty omelet

The other day on a show called "Man vs. Food" I watched a guy try to finish off a 12-egg omelet that was filled with cheese, salsa, chile, and sour cream. He also had to eat a helping of toast and a side of hashbrowns. He didn't make it.

I was inspired, because I LOVE eggs. So I made myself a 5-egg omelet with a bunch of cheese. It looked like this. It tasted fantastic. I might make another one this week sometime.

Skypers

If anyone out there uses Skype at all, you should add me to your contacts (jakerohde), or let me know what your Skype name is so I can add you to mine. I'm not on often, but it'd be nice to be able to converse with you periodically so we can still be friends.

Mom and dad, how come you haven't been on since February? Joel and Pam, do you Skype? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Choosing leftovers

I have a weird wife. I don't think anyone will be surprised to hear that.

An example:

When deciding which leftovers from the fridge she wants to eat, her primary criterion is whether or not she can finish a certain dish off so that the container can be removed from the fridge and washed. So, if we have manicotti, taco soup, and tuna casserole in the fridge she will say to herself something like, "Well, there is really only one serving of manicotti in that pan, so if I eat it then I can wash the pan and open up some space in the refrigerator. There's a lot of taco soup left, and quite a bit of tuna casserole left. I won't be able to finish off either of those. I'll have manicotti."

I have no problem with this organizationally-minded decision-making process. But I think it's funny.

Jackson

Here is a really excellent post about the tragedy of Michael Jackson's death, the culture that helped shape him, and a call to sharing the message of Jesus Christ.

Mark Driscoll and Southern Baptists

Check out this blog post from Tim Ellsworth on the Southern Baptist Convention and some of its attendees being mad at pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle's Mars Hill Church.

Ironically, Driscoll is one of the most theologically conservative preachers I think I've ever listened to. And he does preach the gospel very well. It's a good post. Read it.

Webmaster... but not really

Over the next days, weeks, months, and maybe years I'm going to become the primary caretaker of our church's website. I'm really excited about it. If you're interested, I'd encourage you to take a look at centcov.org and report back to me with your input. For a while now I've thought that it could use some sprucing up, and I've got plenty of ideas. The changes might be extremely slow for awhile. At this point I've been given permission to update information and content on the site, but I have in mind some fairly radical design changes and different strategies to really make it a more useful tool for ministry. I don't know if/when I'll be able to really get going on it and make significant changes, but if you take a look at the site now then over time I'll probably ask you to take a look again... and tell me how you think things are coming!

Scum of the Earth

Last night Elizabeth and I attended Scum of the Earth Church in Denver. This was my fourth visit to Scum, Elizabeth's third. We go occasionally because we have a couple of friends who are pastors there and they often invite us when they are preaching. Actually, that's mostly why we used to go. Now we go largely because we love it.

Scum is a very special church. It's made up of a very ecclectic group of mostly young people. Many of them struggle or have struggled with different kinds of addictions. Many have been hurt by Christians/churches in the past. It's largely a group of people that you probably wouldn't expect to see in your church on a Sunday morning.

Scum meets on Sunday nights in a very old building that was a church a long time ago, but most recently served as the house of an artist in Denver who essentially used the building as his canvas. The walls, railings, stairs and other fixtures are all painted funky colors. In some places there are collages of photos all over the ceilling. The bathrooms have wacky tiles and sea shells and mermaids on the walls. If there was one word to describe the building where Scum meets I think I would choose funky.

Anyway, we've come to really love visiting Scum. I've come to realize that the way a church is between Monday and Saturday really tends to dictate what the church is like on Sunday, and if that's true, then Scum is a vibrant, loving community of people who meet regularly with one another to share burdens and triumphs, to get to know one another, to be released from the bondage of any number of troubles, and to love each other. Pastors at Scum have to raise financial support because the church is comprised largely of low- to no-income people.

Last night my friend Josh Cook gave a talk on "Healthy Single Sexuality." In my opinion, it was on healthy sexuality in general (because it was every bit as relevant for married people as it was for singles). It was a fantastic message. When I'm listening to sermons I tend to look around at the crowd and be curious, seeing who's here and who's sitting where. Last night I realized about 3/4 of the way through Josh's sermon that I hadn't shifted my view from Josh the whole night. I'm not sure I'd even blinked! Maybe that's weird, but it illustrates how captivated I was the whole time.

The church's web site is scumoftheearth.net and Josh's sermon will probably be posted there before long, if you're interested (at least I think they post audio of their sermons on their site).

Just wanted to let you all know that it's a really great church, and we'll probably continue to visit as long as we live in the area.

blogging from church

This is a little weird. I'm blogging from church. But it's okay because I'm not in church. I'm in charge of "working" one Sunday a month at church, which means I show up before anyone else and make sure everything is set up and ready to go. I also answer phones and help people find things and really just be around and available to answer questions and handle crises (like how every couple of months our ceiling will start leaking water, or a toilet will overflow or something).

Anyway, the first service is going on right now, and that means that for about the next 45 minutes I won't really have much to do. So I'm blogging.

Yesterday Elizabeth and I took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. This is one of the three weekends this summer when admission to national parks is FREE so we decided to take advantage! We hiked for a couple hours along a beautiful river that was full of rapids. The turn-around point of our hike was at a place called Calypso Cascades. A huge cascading waterfall that was, simply put, tremendous. We loved it. On the way back down the trail it rained quite a bit, which wasn't particularly fun, but it was still an enjoyable and beautiful trek. After our hike we drove along Trail Ridge Road -- the main road that goes all the way through the park. It's also the highest continuous paved road in the continental U.S. We'd never driven that road before, and it was awesome! I never realized how high 12,000+ feet was. I think the fact that it was a cloudy rainy afternoon even added something to it. For much of the drive we were higher than many of the clouds. The road literally travels along the very top of the mountains. It was like another world up there. Usually when you're driving through the mountains you're still really driving between the mountains, so you still look up to see everything. On Trail Ridge Road, however, the tops of the mountains are pretty much level with you. We were looking down onto a whole bunch of snow and clouds. Anyway, that's about the best I can describe our trip yesterday. Just believe me when I say it was awesome.

So today I'm sore (from the hike) and tired (from a lack of sound sleep the last couple of nights). But I'm excited about the day nonetheless.

A couple of funny stories from our hike (it was a terribly busy trail on probably one of the busiest days of the year):

As we were hiking up the trail we passed a family headed down. The little boy, who couldn't have been older than 5, said, "...yeah, and the sooner we get down, the sooner we can get in the hot tub."

On the way down we passed another family where a little girl (probably 7 or 8) was offering to give her little sister (4 or 5) a piggy-back ride. Her dad said, "No, I don't want you giving her a piggy-back ride while we're on this trail." The older daughter complained, "But you did it." To which the dad replied somewhat irritated, "I'm also 38, and much stronger than you."

Elizabeth? Did I miss any of the funny stories?

Hammertime

Even though I'm extremely introverted, I LOVE people. Why? Because they do stuff like this...

My folks are famous!

My friend Amanda Salmond has been writing about 50 people who have impacted her life. Today's entry was my folks! Go here to read about how mom and dad have affected Amanda's life.

connecting

If anyone's interested, you can now find me at facebook.com/jakerohde.

Also, twitter.com/jakerohdingo.

Also, right here.

facebook usernames

Facebook is going to allow users to create usernames so that you can have an easier individual URL for your profile. In other words, if my username was jakerohde then my profile could be found at something like facebook.com/jakerohde. That service starts tonight at 12:01 a.m. eastern time... and usernames are available on a first come first served basis. So if there's a facebook username you're dying for, you might need to stay up a little later.

And the Winner is...

A Few Good Men

The Princess Bride

Winner: The Princess Bride

An epic matchup, but there's not a movie on the planet that can beat The Princess Bride. And I don't think there ever will be.

There. It's over. You can stop being bored by my blog.

Socks

I got a new pack of socks today because I needed some pretty badly. The pack advertised that it was a "re-sealable bag." I'll be honest. That's not a real hot selling point to me when we're talking about socks. I don't need to re-seal my plastic bag of socks after I've opened it. Maybe there are people out there who need to keep their socks "fresh," but I'm not one of them. Are any of you?

Final Four winners are here

The Final Four matchups are dynamite, but the winners have arrived. Want to know who's competing for the championship? Read on.

(Drama) A Few Good Men

(Family) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Winner: A Few Good Men

I hated to see Wonka go down, but I tend to like Aaron Sorkin-related stuff, and I tend to like courtroom dramas, and I tend to like things that are funny... so A Few Good Men is three for three there.

"You want answers?"

"I think I'm entitled to them."

"You want answers?"

"I want the truth!"

"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

(Comedy) The Princess Bride

(Action) Man on Fire

Winner: The Princess Bride

Well, Man on Fire certainly had a good run, and you'll see when I post my top-to-bottom rankings that while it's pretty high up there, it was definitely the beneficiary of a weak genre. Unfortunately, not a real threat to the masterpiece that is The Princess Bride.

"Good bye, boys! Have fun stormin' the castle!"

"Think it'll work?"

"It'd take a miracle. Buh-bye!"

So here we go. The championship contest is set. Will it be A Few Good Men taking down the 20+ year old classic, or will The Princess Bride overcome the all-star cast and brilliant dialogue of the best court-based movie in the land?

Knock-out

For all of us who hate obnoxious show-off guy.

Round 4 - The Final Four is here!

Hey everyone. We've only got a few contests left in the Movie Madness tournament. This post will take care of all of the round 4 games so you can see who made the Final Four.

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(11) A Few Good Men

Winner: A Few Good Men

The last #1 seed has fallen. It wasn't without a fight, though. As you'll see at the end when I rank all of the movies top to bottom, these two movies are neck and neck. This was a triple overtime 3-pointer-at-the-buzzer kind of win.

"You got Dramamine?"

"Dramamine keeps you cool?"

"No, Dramamine keeps you from throwing up, you get sick when you fly."

"I get sick when I fly because I'm afraid of crashing into a large mountain. I don't think Dramamine will help."

Family

(9) Rudy

(6) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Winner: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

I hate to say this, because I really do love Rudy, but the fact that it made the Elite Eight was really a testament to the weak nature of its side of the division. Willy Wonka gets funnier every time I watch it... and that's more often than I'd care to admit.

"I saw this in a movie once. Guy signed his wife's insurance policy. Then he bumped her off."

"Clever."

Comedy

(4) The Princess Bride

(10) A League of Their Own

Winner: The Princess Bride

And this is where my wife's favorite movie ends its great run. Sorry. The Princess Bride doesn't really have a lot of competition anyway, so no need to fret.

"Which way's my way?"

"Pick up one of those rocks, get behind the boulder. In a few minutes the Man in Black will come running around the bend. The minute his head is in view, HIT IT WITH THE ROCK!"

"My way's not very sportsmanlike."

Action

(9) Man on Fire

(6) The Boondock Saints

Winner: Man on Fire

It's not just the revenge the Creasey carries out that makes me like this movie, but that's part of it. Even though outside of the movies I'm not a fan of vengeance.

"Creasey's art is death. And he's about to paint his masterpiece."

So here you go. Our Final Four matchups are set. Looks like some pretty strong competitors if you ask me!

A Few Good Men

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The Princess Bride

Man on Fire

Stay tuned to see who comes out on top.