absent-minded

I keep forgetting to mention. Ryan P and I hung out a few Saturdays ago. Go check out some of the fun and an awesome photo of Ben Scott-Brandt.

listening to 3 things

I'm listening to Jeremy Larson's new album non-stop.

Listening to Radiohead non-stop. Especially Nude and Videotape.

Also listening to My Body is A Cage from Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. Still.

A little lyrical treat from Jeremy Larson:

[We can run away, we can leave with the sunrise tomorrow
He'll never find you.
We'll make the escape, cuz there's too much at stake just to stay here
And I will be with you.

Just watch for my sign
Through the window you'll climb, then you'll jump down
We'll run to the trees as we swim through the breeze
You are safe now.]

Jeremy plays pretty much all instruments ever created. And records it. And now he sells it.

Brilliant, brillian, brilliant.

on driving:

Its cool when your best friend's finace is a cop and he gives you a speeding pass for New Jersey. Yeah Mark.

Here's my drive from Point Pleasant back to VA......

First NJ...apparently I didn't see anything inspiring in NJ.

Then Delaware...


Then Baltimore...


Then the tunnel...


And then traffic.


Back to NY on the 9th.

Red Bank.

Mindy had a briday shower on Saturday...lots of Italian food...lots of loud Italians. It was awesome.

Today I'm in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Yesterday Mindy and I went into New York. I just want to gush about that city and how incredible I find it and how amazing I feel when I'm there.

We spent the whole day in SoHo and the Lower East Side. I fell in love with the Lower East Side. Amazing there. Its like Eastown times ten on steroids plus richer culture and a touch of class. So really, nothing like Eastown. I'm going to move there one day. I didn't take any photos of the Lower East Side....but here's SoHo:


We had dinner at a fabulous Thai restaurant called Peep. Its on Prince Street. Please go there the next time you are in SoHo. And check out the bathrooms. Holy freak out.

We found Pianos and The Living Room in the Lower East Side. I'm playing at Pianos in two weeks, and now I'm thrilled. Its a super cool place. I would like to thank Mindy for putting up with me, since I dragged her around NY at night to try and find Pianos. At least I knew what street it was on, I just had no idea where the street was. So maybe I stretched the truth about my confidence of knowing where it was....you know Mindy is getting stressed when she starts making you run across every intersection....but we found it, because that's how I do. I always find it. You just have to be willing to wander through Chinatown first.

Before heading back to Penn Station, Mindy and I stopped at a great coffee shop in the Lower East Side. It was a part health food store part coffee shop. There is a studio downstairs, which was pretty great because they were tracking drums and you could hear it and feel it in the floor.

Lets move to the Lower East Side, k? I hate how unaffordable it is in NY. Anyone want to move into a little hole in the wall apartment and split rent? Anyone know how I can get myself into a nice Will & Grace situation? Anyone know where I can just find lots of money to pay for a regular apartment?

Ok well....back to VA. I like it there too.

on Friday night:

I am figuring out what it means to live in the suburbs of DC. And what it means to leave for New Jersey during rush hour in DC.

I left at 6:30pm and was on the phone with Jess. We talked for about 20 minutes, and during the conversation she decided she was going to drive from Grand Rapids to Lansing that night. The trip from GR to her particular destination is a little over 90 miles away. We decided we'd hang up, but she was going to stop and grab dinner and call me back when she got on the road so we could travel together.

An hour and a half later she called me back. During that hour and a half, I went 15 miles and was rear-ended on the Beltway.
Awesome.

She proceeded to tell me that during that hour and a half, she got some dinner, "relaxed", and had already arrived in Lansing.
Again, awesome.

Yes, you read right, I got rear-ended. In 6 lanes of solid traffic on a Friday evening in the dark while it was pouring rain. By a guy driving a pick up truck. Because we were in the middle of the highway it took what felt like 20 minutes but was probably more like 10 minutes to get over to the shoulder of the road where we could finally pull over. Once we did I got out of the car into the pouring rain and ran back to check out the back of my car. He simply rolled his window down and waited for the verdict (thanks for the courtesy of getting out of your car and thanks for the apology). The back of my car looked fine, so I waved him on and said "don't worry about it". When we merged back onto the highway, he passed by me quickly.

Yes, that's right Mr. Pick Up Truck. I forgive you, so you and the shiny christian fish on your tailgate can be on your way.

for derek:

I didn't forget.


Its been raining here for days. Its beginning to really bother me that this coast has been seeing rain for days on end, and the west coast is in desperate need of a little rain, and gets nothing.
Jamie T always says the right thing. He puts words to things the way you wish you could when you can't.

Or maybe, the way I wish I could when I can't.

"Our team was driving back from Miami tonight, and it started to rain. And the rain felt really unfair because we're not the ones who need it. Why is it raining in Florida while California burns? Heck, there's a drought in Georgia, but it's raining in Florida. It should rain in those places.

i think we can all agree that life is hard. Most of the time? I would say yes. Mostly, i'm aware that my heart and mind are fragile. Dangerous places. As we get older, or maybe you already have, we realize our bodies are fragile. They break too. And now we're reminded in these days that look like scenes from a movie, that even our planet is a dangerous place. If it's not one thing, it's another...

i can't say why some people find love when others walk alone, why some feel free when others carry chains. i can't say why some doors open but some stay slammed, why some people seem to have perfect families when others live among the screaming. i don't know why it rained in Florida tonight."

Virginia is for lovers.

Headed to Point Pleasant Beach today for Mindy's bridal shower. I can't believe we live on the same coast. Did you hear that, Mindy? We live on the same coast.

Quick, ask me where we'll be on Sunday.

I'm glad you asked. New York, of course.

Back to VA Monday maybe?

we are not twins.

though sometimes i have to wonder.


seestars.

i don't like war.

I don't want to get political. I don't want to talk about the issues. I just don't like war.

I hate what I see it do to my friends who have gone. I hate what I see it do to my friends who don't know if they'll have to go. I can't read about it without crying.

While shamelessly searching for a friend's hidden blog (you know who you are), I found this blog. I could hardly read it because the screen got blurry through the tears in my eyes. I can't stand it.

I couldn't stand the stories that Josh told about Cliff in Afghanistan. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that while Cliff was being shot at I was wrapped up in blankets sleeping soundly in my bed, or perhaps complaining about the weather change. A day after Josh told me those stories, I got an email from Cliff. I hadn't heard from him for at least a year. It was only a few sentences long....it said this:

"love the tunes. i am utterly impressed.
i have had a crazy couple of months with the war and all but this has really lifted my spirits."

It was this reminder...I can't really describe it except that a sense of determination came over me and I realized that if I am able to use music to offer a little hope to a soldier who comes back from war, even if its only temporary hope, that is the greatest privelege.

In 2005 my old friend Joe wrote a blog that I will never forget. It comes to mind often, and then I go on a google hunt for about 10 minutes before I'm able to find it again. I love this perspective. I definitely read it through different filters than I first did when he wrote it, and I'm sure he'd probably edit it if he were to write it now, but it doesn't matter.

Here it is, I hope you enjoy:

"She asked what I would do now. What, would you just pull out? Do you know what would happen if we just pulled out? That's the idea, isn't it, that bad things happen both ways now? That's why we shouldn't have gone in the first place, I told her, because bad things happen both ways now. And just sit and do nothing? Well not necessarily. But sometimes violence is the only choice. And then: Like if someone was going to shoot your grandmother. why is it always 'your grandmother?' and the only way you could stop them was to kill them. Does he have a gun? He's got a gun. How am I going to kill him if he has a gun? Well you have a gun too. But I don't own a gun. But if you did. Ok. And you could save her by shooting him. I'm not good with guns. Well you could save her. What if I accidentally shot her? Say you had a clear shot at the guy and you could kill him or else he would kill your grandmother. Why does he want to kill my grandmother? I don't know - this guy is going to kill your grandmother. How do I know he's going to kill her? You just do. That seems a little- You just know he's going to kill her. Well that's terrible idea. So would you let your grandmother die? Maybe she has something he wants Look, he's going to kill her unless you kill him. Do you do it? I'm not sure I understand...


Does it disprove pacifism to show that it can't resolve a hypothetical situation created around the sole, necessary premise that someone has to die?

reading RADAR magazine:

"My dad grew up on a farm, but the government took it away to build a highway. When my mom abandoned me the first time she brought me a videogame one day and said she was going out. She didn't come back for two and a half years. When I was 12 or 13 I shot one of my buddies. I killed him. The news said I shot hiom over a Sega game. My lawyer told me I didn't have to plead guilty, but I was devastated and I didn't want a trial. I knew what had happened. I pleaded guilty. It brought my mom and dad back together. My mom was a runaway crack addict, and now she works for an online shoe store. All because I killed my best friend. Her and my dad moved out from the projects to the country, and they go shopping together..." - Spc. Kenneth Eastridge, 506th Infantry, age 20

"We tear each other limb from fucking limb" -Salman Rushdie

"My best friend back home just shot himself. Three days ago. Now I only got one friend left at home who isn't dead or in prison. Just one. Fuck that.... There's nothing hard about the army. It ain't even that dangerous for a lot of us, compared to home. It's not even uncomfortable. You should see where half the people in this platoon grew up. Or fuckin' prison. I've seen bad things in Iraq, but I seen bad shit at home, too." - PFC David Nash, 506th Infantry, age 19

Send our troops apple pie, everybody. Send them porno and big, shrinkwrapped bags of the best weed you have and Oreos.

"I'm reading the Koran. It doesn't say none of that shit about killing infidels and foreigners and all that." -Sgt. Hector Rodriguez, 506th Infantry, 41

roll your windows down.

listen to this. Roll your windows down. Its all behind you.

I didn't know people did things like this:

We pulled into the driveway at about 11pm on Monday night after our 15 hour trek through Michigan, Ohio, Pennslyvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and finally Virginia. We walked to the door, and that's what I found sitting on the porch.

Honestly, people really do things like this. I had no idea. I frequent Ragamuffinsoul.com--the blog of a young-at-heart-goofy-yet-passionate-worship-leader/director who just moved with his family from CA to GA. Someone did something similar for him, and I was seriously blown away that people are that thoughtful. Then I got here last night and behold--people really do things like that. Amazing.

It replaces the feeling that you're moving to a giant metropolitan area where no one knows you exist with the feeling that someone actually knows and even cares that you have arrived. And they know it is your birthday. And you've never met them. Amazing.

Thanks Robbie and Liz.

Fifteen.

Fifteen hours of driving to Northern Virginia.

View Larger Map

i'm sad, lets be honest.

my nose is cold.

my nose is cold, right now, as I type.

I don't have a whole lot to say right now, which is unusual I realize.

So much going through my brain right now, I can't really keep anything straight.

I played a show at Lemonjellos tonight. Its been a while since I've played. I felt frustrated for most of the show...I was struggling to get "there" while I was playing. Here and there I had a few great moments of connecting, but it just didn't feel right. Hm. Must play more.

These last couple of weeks have been incredible. Filled with so much sorrow and pain, and yet still so much joy. Filled with great people. I've met some spectacular new people, and gotten to know a few people a bit better--only to find that they are pretty amazing. I've been able to reconnect with some old friends who have come to my rescue in almost every possible way. Its been beautiful.

I'm going to miss my brother. Now I won't live by either of them. I can't even begin to describe how not ok this is.

This is going to be a bizzare weekend. Trying to see so many people before the car rolls out on Monday morning. I want to see you before I go...I know this is hard to believe, but I'll really answer the phone if you call. Lets hang out. Lets get coffee. Lets have a G&T. Stop by so I can hug and kiss you on the cheek.

Oh, and also come to my birthday party tomorrow night. Bring wine.

up in flames.

"i burn so many bridges that sometimes I can't even see because of all the smoke."

speaking of building and burning bridges...

one of my best friends and I often have the same candid conversation about how we burn bridges all the time. sometimes we don't mean it. sometimes we do. sometimes we know how to prevent it and don't. sometimes we feel like horrible people for it. i think that's why we have that conversation over and over and over. its therapeutic.

reposts...

are lame. i don't care though.

repost II...

I need to repost this. I love this just as much as I did the first time I wrote this....last year. So here it is again. Maybe I'm posting it for you, maybe I'm posting it for me. I'm not sure.

__________________

This is incredible to me. Just two weeks ago I was describing myself as a recovering cynic. I heard this read a couple days ago and it was unbelievably refreshing. Its an excerpt from G.K. Chesterton's book, Orthodoxy .

"The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again!"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.
But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again!" to the sun; and evening, "Do it again!" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all dasies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

we have many layers.

but I would like to get to know you.

in other news...

A few notable events as of late:

+My parent's 31 year anniversary was yesterday. 31. That's seriously a long time.

+I am having a birthday party on Saturday. Are you coming?

+We're premiering NOOMA 018 and 019 tomorrow at Wealthy Street Theatre. Are you coming?

+I'm moving to NoVa in less than a week. Are you coming?

+My Birthday is Monday.

+Today is my last full day in the office at Flannel. Ever. Its sad.

+I have way too much to do to be writing this blog.

xoxox.
j

why its so sad.

I realized today its so sad that the product works. its sad that things fail when the product works.

if things weren't working because of the product, it would be easy to accept.

outside of these four walls, things are perfect. the product is perfect.

how does that occur?

where does the breakdown begin?

and then where does the breakdown end?

when is it preventable, and when is it inevitable?

and how does that happen when the product is perfect?

a general lack of authenticity breeds a general lack of trust, which is the demise of anything.

reality check.

some conflicting ideas that have nothing to do with what I'm talking about, but that have everything to do with it....from Jamie T.:

And maybe the hero's dance is not the run across the burning bridge. Maybe the hero's dance is the pause and the turning to say "This wasn't meant to burn." Maybe the leader is the one who looks back and sees something worth fighting for.

And so begins a better ending. The building back the bridge. Water to the fire. The hardest thing to do is to stick together.

But this is life and so it's real and we have a hundred bridges. One fire keeps raging, the only one you always wanted.

"God, can i fix that one too? It is not too late. We will do it together. It will be the great picture of redemption. It will be the great story of my life."

"No. You need to let that one go."

"But I built that bridge, and I started that fire, and it is the only one I loved."

"No. You need to let that one go. All of that is mine."

its sad because the product is good.

reality check, its the human heart.

i am easily affected.

I am so affected by what I read. Not so much that I believe everything I read. Often times I wish I did, because it would mean that I wasn't so cynical.

The tone of the work is what affects me so deeply. I've been reading quite a bit of John Donne's work lately. I love reading his work in the morning. I had a post written about his Meditation XVII, but for now that just sits in the drafts folder.

I can't get this piece out of my head--its called Nativity. I think it is best read slowly.

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,
Now leaves His well-belov'd imprisonment,
There He hath made Himself to His intent
Weak enough, now into the world to come;
But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room?
Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient,
Stars and wise men will travel to prevent
The effect of Herod's jealous general doom.
Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith's eyes, how He
Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie?
Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pitied by thee?
Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,
With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe.


It is so beautiful. "how He which fills all place, yet none holds Him..."

My favorite phrase of all is "Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go".

This beckons me to love Jesus in a way that I hadn't really considered before. I feel like in Christianity we often view trials in life as places where God will meet us. But this line paints a picture of starting out in safety, and traveling intentionally into exile. And to add proverbial insult to proverbial injury, it begins with a kiss. The kiss symbolizes a strange hybrid of strength and weakness, of authority and of submission, of deep love and of fear, and of union. The dynamic this describes is so different from the picture that has been painted in the past of what it looks like to interact with this person who is God...Jesus.

This poem gives me chills.

school girl

Jess and I went to see Mute Math on Friday night for a birthday-moving-girl's night extravaganza.

I've never been the person who gets there really early so they can be right up near the stage...but on Friday I wanted to be that person. We didn't really get there early, but somehow managed to beat the big rush of people and ended up being right up near the stage in the second row in front of Darren King, the drummer of Mute Math. I've never stood that close for anything. It was so great. I should be superfan more often.

Eisley opened for them--and they did a good job. I hadn't heard too much of their music before, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Its always good to see some girls representing.


I said before that I don't think there is a collective group of men who cause me to question my sense of style the way Mute Math can. Mostly it is because of the bass player, Roy Mitchell Cardenas. I mean, look how cool looking this guy is...fashion, fashion, fashion:Vest. Glasses. Belt. Chain. Hair. Pink. Bass.
Honestly. I feel like any time I see photos or interviews or what not with them, sometimes one of them will have a not so hot fashion day...but I'm pretty sure Roy just looks cool every time.

Let me just say that being right in front of Darren for the show was amazing. He's so crazy talented.

My entire year was made when they played Stall Out. That song keeps me alive sometimes. I didn't really expect them to play it.

Anyway, it was such a fabulous show. Here are a few more shots.






After the show we went outside, and Darren was out in front of the club chatting with people. I don't usually go out of my way to meet the band, but definitely love a chance to introduce myself and say hello. What I don't ever do is get a picture with the band or musician...but thankfully I was with Jess, and she WILL get a picture with the band/musician. Basically, I'm too cool, and I'm glad that she's not. Because we got a picture with Darren. We talked about Jeremy Larson. And I felt like a school girl.

Hello, Darren.

mmm.

I keep reading this poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller called First They Came for the Jews.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

i don't know any phone numbers.

I don't even know my own phone number yet since I changed it two weeks ago.

I just wrote this in an email to a friend this morning:

"Hi. I left my cell phone at home on accident today. Oops. I’m not going home for lunch because Flannel is taking me out today.....SO.....we need to connect to plan for tonight, and I propose you call me on my work phone. I would call you, but because we’re dependent on cell phones I don’t have anyone’s number memorized, including yours. So I don’t know how to get ahold of you or ANY OTHER PERSON IN THE WORLD right now because I don’t have my cell phone. I’m really beginning to see how we set ourselves for disaster by not memorizing phone numbers any more. I’m going to have to consider this."

Wow. I would be totally screwed if my car broke down and my cell battery died. I should really think about what to do to remedy this.

Hm...

Tattoos?

It would be awesome to have a phonebook sleeve. Only it would be unfortunate to be the person whose number ended up on my elbow. I would never call that person.

You are invited...

Come and see the premiere of NOOMA 018 Name, a preview of NOOMA 019 Open, and say hello to the Flannel staff and Rob. NOOMA 018 Name is possibly my new favorite. Its a brilliant film. I think you'll love it.
RSVP by Monday. Click on the invitation below for more details.

honey from the rock.

rabbi lawrence kushner. he just does it for me.

i love this:

"To bring an entire people out into the wilderness where they could meet him. He told them of a promised land but it was never delivered. Not to them. How long do you suppose it remained a secret? Ten years? Twenty years? Thirty years? No one could be that naive. Sooner or later everyone must have understood that this Ancient Only God did not really want them to get there; He only wanted them to be "on their way". (Which is the wilderness. What's your hurry? Where are you going? To the promised land? The other side of the wilderness? You aren't going to live the forty years. Your feet will never splash in the Jordan.)

For you and me life is not going to change.

From oasis to oasis, there will be enough food and water to live.

Modestly.

A tent.

Content.

A pillar of cloud by day.

A chevrolet.

A frame house with a white fence and a mortgage.

A screen door banging shut from children with sneakers and popsicles in summer.

A fire at night to keep the wild beasts away."

an advanced apology...

First, thanks for reading here. Sometimes my insecurity makes me wonder if more than three of you read this, but then I remember that you all are just weird, and I'm more likely to receive voicemails about my blog rather than comments. Whatever suits your fancy. After that I also remember I'm glad that not many people read this, I might regret it.

So, at the risk of losing your attention, I thought I would apologize in advance for the upcoming blogs that I feel I might write.

I've been doing a lot of reading. I have always loved words. I love writing, and I especially love writing lyrics. Well, the written word has been unusually healing and communicative for me lately, and a lot of things I've been reading I REALLY want to share with you. So I'm going to. I realize this could get rather boring, being that large portions of each entry may end up being an excerpt from something I read.

Sorry.

In advance.

family is fun.

green pink green pink green. not planned.
nerdy.
they are kind of ghetto fab.

Will and Elle came to GR this weekend to visit, and we got to meet Elle for the first time. We had quite a bit of fun. I made Oatmeal Fudgies two days in a row. I also "not baked" them. Not funny if you weren't there, I suppose.

Last night we had a small concert amongst ourselves. I played and sang for a while, and made me want to play house shows forever. Eventually a guitar materialized as well, and we laughed and played old songs from high school. I think Michele and Elle had fun for most of it, but they were good sports for the rest. During times like those I remember why I love music as much as I do...somehow time stops, and sometimes even rewinds, but only when the song evokes it. Its magic.

We also quizzed Elle on the difference between the UK and Great Britain and Britain and England and Wales and how people from Scotland are Scottish but are also British and same for people from Wales, only they're Welsh and not Scottish, and why the Prince of England is the Duke of Edinburgh when its in Scotland and why the Princess is the Princess of Wales when she's the Princess of England, and...

Its very confusing. But I want to go there.


buhbye.

sign art

I like living in Eastown for several reasons. Eastown has gusto.

This is the stop sign at the end of our block.


This one is around the corner. A little less moxie on this one.


This is a great one.


Cherry Hill joined the fun. This is my all time favorite sign in GR.


I drive past this sign at least twice a day. I think its so rad.


Dear Eastown,
I will miss you and your hippy heart. Say "hi" to Kava House for me.
Ok, call me.
Bye.

weekend fun

On Saturday I hung around in Holland all day. It was freakin hot. Yeah, freakin.

Coffee with Derek. He rode a scooter to the coffee shop that gets 80+ miles to the gallon. We talked about life and frienship and human relationship and how we're not ok with the fact that our college group of friends disbanded. And how the last time we sat at a table like that was at Cornerstone. Look what I'm wearing. In October! Amazing, I know. Usually it snows two weeks before my birthday. This weather is out of control and I love it.
Jess and I hooked up for a bit, and then later I met back up with Derek and Kendra and we ate dinner on the beach. Dinner on the beach in October is amazing.

I also bought The John Lennon Collection cd from a used music shop called Full Circle. He has my mom's hair style from 1990 in his photo on the album cover.

I sang/played on the music team today in the shed. That was possibly the most fun I've had in a very long time. I realized that with the exception of a few instances when I was living in Annapolis, this was the first time since high school that I've not been the actual worship leader when playing on any given music team. It was so much fun to just be responsible for myself and play. Also: in-ears suck when you're in the round and thousands of people are singing at you (by that I mean in your direction, in stereo). Why would I want to block all of you out? It was much better to ditch at least one of the two.

Today after the 11, Tom said "Doing this makes you not want to leave, doesn't it?" I told him I didn't want to leave Mars anyway, and that's been one of the most difficult aspects of this whole move. Then he said "This is going to be your church as long as you want it to be your church."

Ok, I choose forever.



All we are saying is give peace a chance.

numbers.

I was reading a magazine that I usually put right into the recycle bin when it comes: Outreach Magazine. Let me clarify that this comes to Flannel, not to my residence.

I have always tossed it, because I have a bit of an issue with the word "outreach" and therefore write-off a magazine that calls itself by that name. Not to say the magazine is full of rubbish. I really have no idea. All I know is I don't have an interest in reading it, and no one else here wants to read it either. But today the caption on the cover caught my eye: Confessions of a Megachurch Pastor. I assumed it would involve any of the following: Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, Andy Stanley, Creflo Dollar, Mark Driscoll, and maybe Rob. I thought I'd double check. It was Joel Osteen and some other pastors I am not familiar with. I didn't read that article, but was distracted by a double page spread called "100 Largest US Churches". Part of me is genuinely intrigued, part of me just wants to see Mars and smile, part of me wonders if there are any churches I should know about over in VA, and part of me is throwing up a little in my mouth that I am stopping to read it. I still don't know how I feel about it. Its just weird.

Anyway, for the record, here are some fun facts:

+The church that Joel Osteen pastors is 47,000 people big. I knew it was massive, but didn't know it was that massive. This gives me shallow warm fuzzies to know that the NOOMA podcast beats Joel Osteen's podcast from time to time (because its a competition) for the number one spot in Religion & Spirituality.

+Mars is number 30.

+Most represented States in the top 100: California (22), Texas (16), Florida (6), Georgia (6), Michigan (5), Virginia (5), Illinois (4).

This next fact is really weird to me. I don't know if I hate it or love it, or if I should even feel love or hate towards it. Maybe its just something to be neutral about.

+1,016,926 people make up the total attendance of the 100 Largest US churches.

Weird.

I feel better that while I was writing that last sentence, Joel and Seth stopped to read the same article.

If anything, articles like these always cause me to feel privileged and humbled to be part of Mars in the capacity that I am. I am going to miss you.

ratios.

Two things I have realized:

The difficulty (or, perceived difficulty) of doing the right thing is generally proportionate to the importance of doing the right thing.

The illegibility of my penmanship is directly proportionate to my creativity level.

he gets things done.

and he brings football players to their knees by the dozen.


and he's my dad. he looks pretty cool too.

today he shared this quote with me:

"Fear came knocking at the door. Faith opened the door and no on was there."

mars.

This sunday at Mars, rocking with Kent & Co.

I'm excited because we're playing Vito's Ordination.

So awesome.

I was going to make some kind of joke and say "I guess I graduated from fifty6." But yeah right, fifty6 was the best four years ever.

STOMP.

Kazoos. Hundreds of them.

Christmas sweaters.



No contest, sorry.