Barnesy's at it again!

Oh wow. Dave Barnes makes me laugh every time. He's just hilarious! I know it's the day after Christmas, but I thought I'd share this to continue spreading the Christmas cheer! Enjoy!

Advent Conspiracy

Christmas is in two days, and I'm once again being bombarded with questions from my parents about what I want for Christmas. When I was little I used to get so excited about all of these gifts and fun new things that I wouldn't have to pay for! Then on Christmas eve, the time would arrive to open all the surprises that have been waiting anxiously for me to rescue them from under the Christmas tree. My parents, sister, and I would sit happily in our living room listening to holiday tunes next to the tree and open what we bought for each other. And I would get lots of cool things, I mean all of the things I wanted for the time being. But then I remember afterward, while happy for my family to celebrate with and for the gifts and for the memories, I would sit in my room with all of my stuff and think "is this it until next year?" Although I had everyone I wanted, I was saddened that months of anticipation ended in a short span of a few hours.

But the real meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us to feed the hungry and care for the sick as well as look after the orphans and widows.

Did you know that Americans spend $450 billion on Christmas each year? Yes, I really meant to say billion. Crazy, right?
Did you also know that it would only take $10 billion to provide clean drinking water to everyone on the planet.


Here's a way to give a pretty dang sweet pair of shoes and give a second pair to a child in need. I'm excited to buy a pair of these wicked sweet shoes as well!




Or how about this...here's what anyone can do on their own through an organization called the Mocha Club:

How far can just $7 go in Africa?
SAVE 1 person's life from Malaria.
FEED 1 person for an one month.
EDUCATE 2 children for one school term.
PROVIDE clean water for 7 people for an entire year.

How far does $7 go in America?
Buys 2 mochas from your local coffee shop.
Buys 1 discounted movie at Target that you've probably already seen 5 times.
Buys 1 six-pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager (IF you're 21-years-old of course).
Buys 1 Quizno's toasted sandwich.





Although the big celebration is only two days away, I wanted to just post this and give a couple of ways we can help in a large way for a small price.

Merry Christmas.

Frogs

So I'm back in the States after spending the autumn studying and interning in Brussels, Belgium. Now that I'm done writing on my blog from my adventures, I'll be starting this baby back up. And to celebrate such an occasion, I ran across a poem of I wrote that was published in an anthology of poems when I was 8-years-old. It's horrible but adorable! (See I can rhyme without a problem). Enjoy!

I am a frog I am very green,
Please don't litter when you see me,

My tongue is very long and sticky,
When you litter it is icky,

I am a living creature too,
Please don't make me say boo-hoo-hoo-hoo.




Who knew I was such an environmentalist even before global warming entered the social scene?

Rising buildings for a rising power

I read an insightful article in the New York Times about the new architecture in Beijing that's been built in recent years in preparation for the Olympics. The structures created are absolutely incredible. If you are interested in architecture, history or curious as to see on of the ways this nation flexes its muscles, read this article here. I posted a few of the first paragraphs already just to offer a glimpse.




"BEIJING — If Westerners feel dazed and confused upon exiting the plane at the new international airport terminal here, it’s understandable. It’s not just the grandeur of the space. It’s the inescapable feeling that you’re passing through a portal to another world, one whose fierce embrace of change has left Western nations in the dust." -Nicolai Ouroussoff, New York Times July 13

"The sensation is comparable to the epiphany that Adolf Loos, the Viennese architect, experienced when he stepped off a steamship in New York Harbor more than a century ago. He had crossed a threshold into the future; Europe, he realized, was now culturally obsolete." -NYT July 13

"Critics have incessantly described these high-profile projects as bullish expressions of the nation’s budding global primacy. Yet these buildings are not simply blunt expressions of power. Like the great monuments of 16th-century Rome or 19th-century Paris, China’s new architecture exudes an aura that has as much to do with intellectual ferment as economic clout."-NYT July 13

Fool's Wisdom

So I ran across the newest cover that Phil Wickham posted on YouTube of Malcolm & Alwyn's song "Fool's Wisdom" from 1973. today and yet again another incredible performance by the guy who has become one of my favorite musicians (probably why this is already my second post about him) since the first time my friend Mark introduced me to him about a year ago. His voice is pure and authoritative and the wrongs he writes are full of biblical truth. Anyway, I liked this song so I thought I'd post it for you to enjoy.

America's Got Talent? Neal Boyd most certainly Does!

I've never seen the show America's Got Talent, but I was reading an article in the Missourian yesterday morning and it mentioned a former University of Missouri student who auditioned for the show by singing a portion of the song, "Nessun Dorma." It is from Giacomo Puccini 's opera Turandot. It was an absolutely amazing performance. The emotion before, during, and after the song added even more to this already incredible audition. I've always had an interest in opera ever since singing an opera song or two in my high school choir years, but never really got into that type of music too far, but after hearing this I think I might go out an buy one of Pavarotti's albums or something by him and the other two tenors (known as the Three Tenors.) Time to start searching for some of this fine music. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld2fdY3aNkk

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/06/30/mu-opera-grad-sings-spotlight/

Seeing the beauty of the Creator through creation in our culture

I came across this essay on the Web site today of a church in Portland, Imago Dei Community, and thought it related quite well in a time where God and culture are viewed as two separate entitites. The article examined the dangers of Christians being absent from today's culture or embracing it much too passively. Rather, we must engage the music, arts, and literature of society as a way of seeing the questions that people raise today but, sadly, go unanswered much of the time. We have to see the beauty in the creation that our fellow humans have come up with for what it truly is: A glimpse of the magnificant glory of God.
I was talking with Rob Gaskin, one of the pastors at Karis Community Church here in Columbia, and he said that even graffiti is created in the form of a question. I completely agree. It is an artist expressing themselves through colors. Here are a view quotes from the Imago Dei article. I'd highly recommend reading it completely.



"Somewhere between isolating ourselves from culture on the one end, and passively immersing ourselves in it on the other, is a place of being able to constructively engage and participate as active agents in culture. It is the creative tension of being in the world, while not being of it. Our desire is to help spark conversation on what it looks like to engage culture from within as followers of Christ"



"God’s identity as Redeemer reveals itself in popular culture as God speaks of Himself and reveals His glory through the images, stories, and symbols of popular culture. God can speak to us through Picasso’s Guernica of the suffering He has identified with in the cross of Christ, through Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath of the hope of redemption, through the recent movie Half Nelson of the power of community amidst broken people, through Radiohead’s Idioteque of a voice of grace winding through the chaotic frenzy of a world destroying itself."












"We need not fear pop culture but can enter into it in the Spirit of Christ and our union with him to discern that which is beautiful, pure and true from that which is degrading, abusive and shameful. It is from such a posture within culture, rather than outside of it, that the redemptive voice of Christ can be heard."



http://www.imagodeicommunity.com/worship--beauty/cultural-engagement/cultural-engagement-vision/

Futbol-The only sport I've ever loved

Running down the sidelines, stomping down as a plastic shielded shin slides towards me in hopes to stealing my prized possession. Run some more. The feel of Kelme leather claiming possession of the object everyone wants, but no one will take from me...

Those days have been long gone for three years now.

I still vaguely remember my first soccer team-the Badgers-when I was six years old. We would stumble around the grass in a park near my house as we learned what it meant to kick a ball that would become my pride and joy for the next 11 years. Somehow, that summer a passion was ignited in me that would survive through elementary, middle school, and most of senior high. I played year round for most of those eras of my life, and I've lately been reminiscing about my old passion for the sport. The only sport that's ever been dear to me. Whether that be getting unbelievably close to fist fights on the field or scoring against foreign teams, it's a sport that I never tired of.

I watched the EuroCup 2008 final yesterday afternoon between Germany and Spain (Spain won!!) and I really wish there was someway to get back into the game I used to dream of going pro in. As I listened to the cheers of German and Spainish soccer fanatics in the stands, I wished that the sport had the level of respect it deserves in the United States as it does in ever other country on earth. Maybe living in Europe next semester will give me another taste of the flavor the sport has to offer, but America isn't ready to try.

Viva la Futbol!!!!

Wall-E

I saw the new Disney Pixar movie, Wall-E, last night and it was definitely more than I had expected. I had pictured it to be the standard animated comedy in the realms of "Finding Nemo," "Cars," and "Toy Story." It was, in fact similar in the type of humor and taste, but this also had several societal and environmental messages as well.

Warning...a few semi-spoilers lay ahead (but nothing too harmful):

The movie starts out with Wall-E, a robot who is designed to collect and condense trash, living all by himself on Earth. All the humans have gone away because of the massive amounts of garbage they created but could not clear up on their own had become overwhelming, so they left it to robots, which failed. The entire planet is a desolate wasteland where the only living creature left is a cockroach, which happens to be Wall-E's pet.

Later on, in outer space, it becomes embarrasingly sad to see what has become of the human race. They all live on a space station in another galaxy. It's not that they live in another galaxy that's the problem, but they they have become so incredibly lazy and dependent on technology for everything that they are so fat they they live in hovercraft-like chairs. A hologram television is placed a foot from their face, which acts as their eyes to the rest of the world (or, to be more exact, the space station).

The movie wasn't at all necessarily sad in itself, but rather hilarious. However, as I watched it, in these themes I've pointed out I couldn't help but notice the truth to what they say about society today, especially in America. We are seen as a lazy country that makes messes but doesn't clean them up and view the entire would through what television tells us rather than experiences it for ourselves.

The other day I was at the Royals came and as we left the stadium, all over the place was garbage. Beer cans and beer cases and food wrappers. How hard would it be for people to place them in their cars and to bring home to recycle? To me, it's just sad seeing what our generation has become. Now, I'm only generalizing and I know there are plenty of Earth-loving people alive, but why can't we all be like that?

I loved the movie for it's humor (I just love most disney movies alltogether) and it was a joy to watch. It's a great movie. I'd definitely recommend you see it. These themes really aren't a big part of it at all, it's just stuff I happened to notice.It made me happy to see a fun movie that also had messages to tell it's audience as well. Towards the end, the captain of the ship says to a little plant, which is the only plant that survived on earth over the 700 years they abandoned it: "You just needed someone to look after you, that's all." It's our planet, so let's look after it.

Adventures in downtown Kansas City

For the first time in my life, I hitchhiked.


It's something I have always wanted to do and it worked out finally yesterday in downtown Kansas City. My friend Ryan and I went there early because he had a meeting before we met up with the rest of our group for the Royals vs. Cardinals game that night, and so I figured it'd be a perfect chance to tour a little bit of the city before I had to meet up to go to the stadium. I got dropped off at Crown Center, which is where his meeting was at, and started walking north to try and find Westport or the Plaze, which were the places that my Kansas Citian friends recommended that I check out. After about 5 blocks or so, however, I still had no clue where I was to go. So, I asked two people if they could give me directions as to where to go. They informed me that I needed to get to 43rd street...and I was only on 19th (so in summary, that is no where near close enough for walking distance they said.) After chatting for a little while, they offered to give me a ride to where I was going, and I graciously accepted their offer.
As we walked to their car, it was interested talking with them! I mean, it wasn't any out of the ordinary conversation, but I really enjoy meeting strangers and hearing about their lives and just chatting with people. It seems like in today's society it is taboo to talk with people you don't know. It was good to have a chance to break that norm yesterday. When we got to their car, I got a ride safely to where I was heading: Jerusalem Cafe, but didn't have time to eat so I moved onto my next stop Tea Drops, before meeting up again and checkin' out the only WWI memorial in the country.

Oh yeah...keep in mind I was walking all over with a Chicago Cubs shirt on (luckily I wasn't in St. Louis instead...)

At the game, I surprisingly got more complements than insults for my Cubs shirt. I only got a couple of curse words thrown at me and one dude tried to "accidently" roundhouse kick me after the game. As I was walking up the stairs in the bleachers, this main caught my attention and showed me his chicago cubs tattoo on his leg! That was quite interesting.

After the game we were trying to get out of the parking lot while it was downpouring and hailing some and we saw two police officers arm-in-arm dancing in the rain while directing traffic! It was quite the funny site! As we drove back, there was an awesome lightning storm the whole way home.

Summer Reading

I'm going to be quite ambitious this summer and attempt to read a book a week with one of my roommates and some other people and then some more (hopefully!) And as I already mentioned, true, it's very ambitious, but all of these are books I've been really wanting to read for quite a while or have been recommended by someone or another. Here is the list thusfar. If you are in CoMo this summer and are interested in joining our book a week club, read only a few of them, or just want to come to the weekly discussions, let me or Patrick know!

I'll try remembering to keep updating this with which ones I've read and hope to write my thoughts and reviews on as many of these as I can.

Personal List:
One the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Chronicles: Volume One, by Bob Dylan
Finding Common Ground, by Tim Downs
PostWar: A history of Europe since 1945, by Tony Judt
The Fuel and the Flame, by Steve Shadrach
War of Words, by Paul David Tripp
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Subterraneans, by Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
The New New Journalism, by Robert S. Boynton
Best American Travel Writing 2003
The Irresistable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, by Shane Claiborne

Book A Week (other books yet to be determined):
UnChristian, by David Kinnaman
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Book discussions with Summer Veritas (other books yet to be determined):
Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals, by Shane Claiborne

Polaroid a day

So I stumbled across this Web site the other day and decided I'd share this idea with you. This man took a polaroid photo every day for 18 years of his life. I thought it was a very interested concept, literally creating a "snapshot" of his life for the world to peer into for a moment. And, he doesn't only take photos of happy things, but also of some of the tragedy he suffered through the 18 years as well.



http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15131



I've been thinking alot lately about how life might look like through a pair of eyes that are not my own. It is exhilerating to think of how much activity allows this world to buzz with life at every waking or sleeping moment. I have found great joy in listening to others tell about their thoughts, lives, and past so far this summer as I work to listen more than speak.

And a Pulitzer Prize goes to...Bob Dylan?

Yes. It's true--Bob Dylan was given a Pulitzer Prize last week. Upon learning of this honor given to the folk singer from my home state of Minnesota I definitely agree with the decision and think he is very deserving of such an award. Dylan won a Special Citation, which according to the Pulitzer Prize web site, was given to him based on "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." This couldn't be more true. I had barely ever heard of the guy until a few years ago a record producer said that I remined him of "a young Bob Dylan." Quite confused, I thanked him for what seemed to be a compliment and hurried home to learn a little bit about who he was. Since then I've been hooked on his music. He has had quite a profound influence on how I view music as well as how I look at society today as he often did over 40 years ago, and, of course, how one can be used to affect the other. Although Bob Dylan has been credited by some as one of the inciting the destruction of moral values since the 1960, I believe he has alot of wisdom that has been timeless since before his first performances around Greenwich Village in New York City.
I'm currently reading his first memoir, "Chronicles, Volume One" and am learning even more about the man who has become a music and lyrical influence for my own writing. I know that alot of what he writes about is highly controversial and many of the topics are things that I might not even agree with, but he also has alot of great things that people need to hear in today's world. For example, in what is most likely one of his most famous songs, Dylan sings:

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

A Dylan song might be a call to end war or an analysis of the era's culture, but either way, the words are timeless. They ring as true and as vital to the heartbeat of society today as they did when first sung 44 years ago.

True Love, by Phil Wickham

While traveling from Minnesota back to college in Missouri on New Year's Day this year, I was listening to "True Love," by Phil Wickham. I'd heard the song several times already, but for some reason I finally had the chance to truly pay attention to the world he was singing. Wickham poetically sings the amazing truth of the Gospel, who Jesus is, and His amazing love for us:

"When blood and water hit the ground, walls we couldn't move came crashing down."





Regardless of your beliefs, I encourage you to listen to this song. He is definitely an amazing musican.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstartes his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)