Very Tired=Go to bed at Midnight.

So, I am exhausted. I played golf today and I think it made me really tired. I mean actually played golf. Not just put-put. I played 9 holes with my friends Wayne and Jeff. I learned something not so new…I suck at golf. The holes were mostly par three and Wayne ended up scoring me at about a 6 on most holes. It was nice of him…

My Spanish bible came back today! My friend Kristen didn’t actually take it to the DR with her, and gave it to me today. Apparently, it helped her find verses to give to the Dominican children. Which she did. They liked it. Hurrah! Seriously though…It’s been strange around here without it. It’s probably the one thing I own that is very dear to me. It helps me know the Lord and Spanish better. I like both of those things.

My friend Rick told me about a book sale this weekend. There is supposed to be a warehouse full of books at extremely low prices. 50 cents for a paperback and a dollar for hardback books. I’m going. It’s going to be like being in a candy store. I love browsing for books. You never know what sorts of treasure you might find…

My mom came to Seattle and we went out to lunch at the FiveSpot. It was nice to go somewhere newish (my folks latch on to one place pretty easily) and to be able to have good conversation with my Mom. She’s a neat lady.

I had my one on one with Jage this morning. Always a delight. The man has some good insight. It’s nice to have him there to call me out on things. I really don’t know how much of that I get anymore. In some ways my regular accountabiltiy is JJ Kissinger and this blog. Hard to believe perhaps. But it’s easy to get isolated here in Peer Advisor land. It’s hard to be around often enough for people to know what’s up in your life. So, I guess that’s why I try to be honest with you. You’re some of the only accountability I have. Obviously, I’m not going to tell you everything…but I’m starting to wonder if there’s anyone that I actually could have full-disclosure with.

I saw this YouTube video of a baby getting kicked by a breakdancer…It was funny. Sorry, but I laughed. These things happen. The baby looked like it survived. That probably still makes me sketchy in your eyes. But you watch the video and tell me otherwise. You tell me it wasn’t funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kChDiQVAAE

Well? Okay, maybe that shouldn’t be funny. But it is. Deal with it.

Two in one day

This is the second time today. Nothing really new to report since this afternoon. Just some thoughts.

I was thinking about a few things. One of those things is salvation. My friend Chris Kyle and I talked about it for awhile the other day. He’s a sharp one. He made me think. Everyone is all about (and rightly so) salvation as coming through Christ only. I agree. But what is salvation composed of? Theologically, we learn that salvation is A) Justification and B) Sanctification. The first is done through Christ’s death on the cross. We are therein made pure in the eyes of God. The second is Sanctification, that’s the process of us living into who we already are in God’s eyes. Great you say, what’s the problem? Well, it would seem that sanctification is something I don’t quite grasp.

For one thing, if we need sanctification what does that say about the man who accepts Christ on his deathbed. What about the thief on the cross who only said, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” several hours before he died. Christ told him, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” Bam. Just like that. It seems like God doesn’t care too much about sanctification. Sometimes I think that’s okay. I think it’s really necessary for people to grasp that they are in fact saved by Christ. End of story. Saved. BUT, it’s also necessary that they live that out in their lives. Christianity is more than a set of beliefs that is asserted to, it is mainly an experience with God’s redeeming love that forever changes us (a bit at a time). We need to live that change.

Still. That doesn’t get us any closer to the solution to the intellectual/spiritual quandry I find myself in when I think about this…We need sanctification, but apparently the thief did not. Or at least only needed several hours worth. That’s assuming that one can quantify the amount of sanctification that can take place in a few hours….Which I don’t think we actually can. Maybe the mystery is the point. Maybe we need to know we’re saved and that we need to live it out…but at the same time God can do huge things. For example He can show Himself to whoever He wants, whenever He wants…I guess the thing we have to remember is that as CS Lewis used to say “He’s not a tame lion.” or as Dr. Nienhuis put it in class “Is anything too wonderful for YHWH?”

Different note. A man I know blogged about not knowing what it means to be a Christian anymore. “How do we follow Christ?” He asked. I’m not sure that I have all sorts of answers to his question. But at the moment I am sitting in my room listening to Bill Evans Jazz piano (thanks to Mark Stone) and thinking about the two things together. Jazz piano (as I understand it) is essentially improvisational music played in accordance with certain scales that are in different keys, the point is to make a pimp (for lack of a better word) jazz tune while playing it completely different every time because of the countless variations in tempo and scales that are available. I think that perhaps there I find a semblance of an answer to my friend’s question.

As Christians we enter the faith with a variety of different scales. Different patterns to follow that have been followed before us by those seeking Christ. The scales are there and the goal is the attempt to recreate the best Jazz tune ever played through a human life: the life of Christ. We have this tune to play, but the manner in which we play it is based on the scales we know and the tempo in which we play them. That is to say, that perhaps our faith-walk may be similar to that of others, but it will never be the same (if we’re doing it right). Similar scales, the similar goal, but the goal is the improvisational mastery of the grand tune. So if we ask ourselves the question of how do we follow Christ I guess that perhaps the answer is (following my analogy)that we take what it is we know and we improvise. The nice thing about this sort of living jazz is that we’re never playing alone. The One who wrote the score is helping us along the whole time…He knows how the tune should go, maybe we ought to ask Him…

The Recap: Monday through Today

This is me live from the ASSP office. I’m in a somewhat strange and partly bitter place right now, but we’ll get to that later.

Monday: Class happened. I was there. Paula Green and I went out to dinner and then got icecream. Then we had staff meeting. I got to go out to get cheap food at happyhour menu at Greenlake Bar and Grill. Steak kabobs are tasty. Then I watched the film called Rushmore. It’s a Wes Anderson movie and it is quite awesome. I like it alot. That’s 4/4 for Mr. Anderson’s films. I was on duty so I walked around and chatted with people for awhile whilst making sure they weren’t sexing each other up or anything like that.

Tuesday: I had a wonderful time with friends nearly the whole day. Hightlights: Kile Petersen and I played catch at Discovery Park ushering in the second occurence of “New things in Seattle Day…with Chauncey”…I realized that I’d already been to Discovery Park when we got there. But not the particular part I was in…so new things happened. I saw my friends Stephen Rouner and Nate Staalsbroten in the Student Union Building. It was great to be around them for a bit. Then my floor and Kile had an intramural softball game.

I did well. Surpisingly I caught balls, I hit a home run and got on base during most of my times at bat. I think it helps that Kile and I played catch before. Also that I realized that to hit the ball you need to aim at it with the bat…not just swing and hope you hit it. Nobody ever told me that one…I just figured it out. I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory, but still…I think it would have helped if someone said something. We ended up losing by 1 run and it was sort of my fault again, but hey…We played well and hand a good time.

After dinner I did some homework and spent awhile hanging out with the guys on the floor. I missed them while I was gone at my brother’s wedding. I got really tired then I went to bed.

Today: I went to a group meeting this morning and hashed out a few things, then I went to class and now I’m working.

I think that I’m experiencing some of that “burn out” that people have sometimes. Not too much, not related to my job…but in general. I’m tired of homework, tired of events, tired of having people tell me to “bring my guys” to things. So basically I’m sorta cranky today. I think it’s because I didn’t get enough of that sleep. Or maybe in general I’m just finding myself increasingly tired and jaded by things. Maybe they’re interrelated. I really don’t know.

Otherwise I’m in an interesting place that I’ve never been before. I remain single, yes. However, I think for the first time in a long time (maybe ever) I am okay with myself. I’m not trying to define myself by dating a girl because I’m valuable by myself. It’s nice. It’s nice to know that as a Christian man I am okay as a single person. It is not necessary that I have “a ring by Spring” for a girl. So in essence, I am single and being okay with it. My plan is to not date a girl until she sticks out to me. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but I think I’ll know when that happens. Until then if you’re a girl wondering why I’m not dating you…this is why. Kindly leave the typical SPU “Boys never pursue girls.” statements at home. I’m not playing your game.

The executive VP just asked me to fold an immense stack of thank-you cards (which remind me of the fact that I haven’t written my thank-yous for Christmas yet)…I think That’ll do for today. Sorry it was a bit bitter, but I get that way sometimes.

 

So, in case you want to know…

Howdy. I have returned from my brother’s wedding. It was good. I don’t want to do homework just yet. As such I will summarize day by day.

Thursday: I finalized some paperwork and then hopped in the car with my mom and drove 4 hours to Longbeach, WA. The wedding was to be in Astoria, Oregon. 1/2 an hour from there. My aunt lives in a house about 100 yards from the Pacific Ocean. I haven’t seen the real ocean in years. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I watched the ocean roll in and then hung out with my folks and a friend of the family. Good stuff. I read some Gabriel Garcia Marquez…the man is irritatingly verbose. Especially in Spanish. Maybe we share that in common…I found that long driving trips give me a headache. I am not a fan of headaches. I went to bed early only to be awakened my my mother’s snoring. (I had agreed to sleep on the floor in the same room as my parents, not the best idea.) I moved to the living room and slept the rest of the night. We were to report to the chruch at 9AM the next day.

Friday: After a semi-okay night of sleep I awoke and went to the church. It was locked. There I, my parents, the bride (my brother and groom, and other assorted members of the wedding party waited. We ended up getting coffee while we waited. My sister-in-law is named Kimberly. She seems nice. It was an interesting situation because she was fully invested in wedding details and I never really got a good chance to talk with her. In any case, we moved to the church and then drove to the reception hall and set up. I set up the dancing tent with my dad. Go team Handy!

After that we went to get lunch at Stephanie’s Cabin. I got nachos. They were okay. It was one of those places that your parents latch onto. You know the ones. The ones were they go there more out of habit than out of a desire to eat good food. Yep. That was it. Although, the food was decent and it was free…I really have no room to complain. I fell asleep at the hotel afterwards (I was issued my own hotel room from my parents, complete with TV, shower, and noisy refridgerator) only to be awoken by my friends Zac and Tollie. They’re engaged to be married this coming July and are among my favorite people. They’d just got into the hotel from Bellingham and came to bother me. We were to report back at the church for the rehearsal.

The rehearsal happened. Highlights: A) The flower girl was the most precious child I have seen in a long time. Her name was Abigail and like all first borns she was distraught when she ran out of flowers. She was a delight. B) The wedding coordinator was a stern woman who told me and the bridesmaid named Devon (who was awesome by the way) that we walked “perfectly” down the isle during the time when we were all leaving the altar. Got it? Perfectly. I’ve got what it takes to walk places very well. Other than that the wedding coordinator was somewhat of a wedding nazi. At times it seemed as though we were members of a small highly trained special ops team whose goal was to walk places unnecessarily in an increasingly small amount of time. C) On the whole the wedding party people were easy to get along with and pretty cool. No complaints there. Kimberly managed to stay quite in control despite the obvious stress of “her day”…which it was.

Next came the rehearsal dinner. Bosnian food. So good. Go to Drina Daisy if you’re ever in Astoria. Really. High quality. I ate so much food and sat with my parents, Zac and Tollie, and Zac’s mom Mary. Good times. Then I went swimming in the hotel pool…not quite within a half hour, but no cramps so I’m okay.

The bachelor party was fun. We played video games and prayed for my brother who got tired pretty fast. Understandable. Highlight: My brother accidentally punched me in the face while we were playing Wii Baseball. He was batting and got in my space and I got punched. It was pretty funny. I don’t really remember who won the game. I guess I’ll say that I did. I think getting punched merits it.

Then it was bed time. Wedding at 2. We were to report to the church at 9AM to get ready…

Saturday (D Day): 9AM. Zac and I (we’re both groomsmen) arrive at the church to get ready. Tuxedos are put on. I looked quite good from what I am told and generally acknowledge. Then we took pictures for 4 hours. Groom and Groomsmen. Wedding party. Family and bride and groom. It was a long morning. When the photos finally ended (in the process I found my lack of ability to smile unless I really mean it) we played a quick game of Candy Land (seriously) before the ceremony. Total picture count from what I was told: 500 posed shots. Over 2000 candid shots…probably more.

Wedding time rolled around. Things went really well. Kim and my brother looked very happy. Abigail ran out of flowers again and started to cry. It was vert cute. The pastor gave a very long sermon about the roles of husbands and wives. I dunno if I agree that the role of the wife is just to submit to her husband because of the patriarchal society of the time or because that’s really what God wants. Anyhow, everything was good and we ended up taking pictures afterwards on the altar.

The reception was fun. We “kidnapped” my brother in an effort to give him and Kim some cash to spend on the honeymoon. It worked pretty well. My brother’s friends from the Coast Guard academy were there. They were great people I liked spending time with them. After it was all said and done I realized a few things:

A) The wedding was actually very good.

B) My brother is really happy.

c) The Bride’s sister likes Star Wars alot. That made her more attractive. I don’t have any plans to date her, I just wanted to throw that out there for any ladies that may be reading. It’s okay to be a girl and like Star Wars.

Today: I drove back to Seattle and got lunch with my mom and Mary. When I came back my room was full of newspaper. FULL. I was pretty angry. I had a headache, homework to do, and I had been in a car all day. Some of the guys on the floor were kind enough to help me clean it out. By the time we were done I realized…That was pretty funny. Still, I don’t plan on retaliating. Whoever did it can stew in feeling bad about it if they want. There will be no prank war. Next time, unplug electrical crap when you put 22 garbage bags of paper in my room. Otherwise when the bulding lights on fire, it is your fault.

 

“I love you too, but I’m going to mace you in the face!”

So, I may be making poor choices in shafting myself on sleep. I will most likely regret this in several days when my brother is going to want me to dance the night away with the folks at the wedding. Sigh. Oh well, I think it was worth it.

 I stayed up to watch The Darjeeling Limited. The new Wes Anderson film. Once again through amazing dialogue, soundtrack, and scenery Wes Anderson produced a film that was equal parts well made, entertaining, and satisfying. Man. That was a great film. There’s a scene where one of the characters says, “I love you too, but I’m going to mace you in the face.” Then he does. Man O Man O chevitts did I laugh….My dad says that. Now I do.

I helped my friend/roommate from last year Joel Vanderhoek campaign for ASSP president today in the building. It made me realize something…I know alot of people here. There are some great people in Emerson hall. I’m glad to live here.

I don’t have too much to say. Really, I’m just pretty tired. I’ve got a big weekend ahead of me. Get ready to hear about wedding shenanegins when I get back.

Chauncey was not forged for Softball

Today I played intramural softball for the first time. It was my first time in a baseball diamond since 6th grade. Let’s just say I was not good. Seriously. We lost by a large number. A good portion of the runs scored against us were due to a certain left fielder having a variety of embarassing errors….At one point I tried to throw a ball while falling and hit my own foot. I felt like Smalls from The Sandlot at the beginning of the movie where he’s a chump. The guys on the floor were okay with it, but I know they wanted to win. I sure did. Well, we didn’t win. Mostly it was my fault. I think that’s good for me. It taught me humility in an extremely embarrassing fashion. Kudos to Jesus.

On an interesting side note I realized that I really don’t enjoy sports when I screw up. I think that’s why I have such an animosity towards games like basketball and baseball. I’m always in situations where I have the misfortune to drop the ball because let’s face it: I am not very coordinated in that way. I can catch. I can run. I cannot do both at once. I realized that I’ve never been good at either of these sports. I like the team atmosphere of baseball, but I am a poor fielder and can’t really hit well. I like playing basketball, but people are always saying “Get under the hoop!” Well frick. I want to take a three pointer every now and then. I’m sorry little guys, but in the game of basketball you all become jerks. You want the ball. You want to dribble. You want to take the three-pointers that everyone says “ooooh” about. You know what else? You want the tall guys to just stand under the hoop so when you in your “I’m the best point guard ever who knows everything that there is to know about basketball” way want to pass them the ball you can. Maybe you’re not all like that, but basketball is a shitty sport when you have to just stand under the hoop. Much like football is a shitty sport when you should “Play on the line!” No thank you. I will not throw my body against 400 pound men. That does not sound like a good idea. No. I don’t care if we lose the game.

I got to hear a part of my friend Lindsey Goff’s story today. It was amazing. I almost cried because of how cool the story about her life is. Seriously. I was talking to my wonderful SMC Aaron Bollinger about other people’s stories. I decided that I’d like to think about other people as books. Here’s why. When I read a book I become completely enveloped in the story. The story and the characters in it become a part of me. At the end of reading a book, I am no longer the same person. I am just a little bit different. That’s how it is with people. Each person is like a unique story. When I read that story by getting to know the person, I am changed. Everyone’s story is equally important. We all have something to say to one another that is valuable. Everyone of us.

I’m heading off to Astoria for my brother’s wedding on Thursday morning. I do not know what to expect. Hopefully it will be a good time. I will have to put on happy face, no matter what happens. It’s my brother’s wedding. I either get to be happy or get to pretend to be so. I really don’t want it to be the second one.

I did pushups with some of my friends on the floor today. It was fun. High five guys. You know who you are.

I went to the Seattle Art Museum today. I saw roman art from 150 AD. Wow. That’s a long time ago, the giant statues of imposing Imperial figures made it easy to see how the emperors were successfully hailed as gods by the people of rome. It was cool to walk through history. I also saw modern art. Let’s just say I was less than thrilled. I don’t get it. Maybe I’m obtuse, or maybe I just value art that is pleasing to my eye. Modern art puts me on edge and is not pleasant…Plus I don’t get the point they’re trying to make by looking at black swirly spots or a oddly welded piece of shiny metal. It’s okay that people make it, I just don’t get how people pay money for it.