The Funniest Men Alive

Some of you may know, I am of the belief that the original BBC version of "The Office", is the greatest television show ever made. However, I am also a fan of the American version. It has made its own way now and is very funny, not the original though.

The creators of the original and the American versions are Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant. If you don't know, over the past year they've had the biggest podcast on the planet, landing them in the Guiness book of world records, largely due to their round headed, idiot friend, Karl Pilkington. After the first season of 12 episodes, they follwed with 2 seasons of 6 episodes each. They are of the funniest material you will ever hear. I implore you to purchase them on iTunes or somewhere else on the internet.

For the holiday season they're doing 3 free episodes. One for Halloween, available now on iTunes. One for Thanksgiving, and one for Christmas. Trust me, it's worth your time.

Missed Out

"But it all goes back to how I was raised, I guess. I hadnt gone to church in a long time until I got married, and Ive recently been going again with my wife. And I feel like Ive missed out –I really missed it." Brandon Flowers of the Killers in Paste

I'm continually intrigued by the human heart. There's something about how our past experiences, our families, our "previous" lives, never leave us. As much as we try and change the circumstances and not talk about things, there's this connection with the "longing" we once had as a child, or as a less jaded adult.

Maybe that's the definition of art. Trying to capture the space in our lives we can't define, with a visible or vocal expression of it.

For those of us who do continually search to find what we've "missed out" on, we identify with Brandon and wonder if we missed out on something magnificent. Something way bigger than us.

There, is where we find art.

How many, like Brandon, are much closer to finding the answer of the "grand story" and redemption than we think?

Falling In Line

It has become trendy to talk generationally. Especially in the Church. I'll often hear someone from the pulpit say things like, "The youth of this generation have the opportunity..." Or, "If our generation becomes passionate about God..."

It's interesting, this concept of "generations". So much hope placed on the next one to follow, taking the mantle from the previous and pushing forward to new heights. I'm sure every person would love to be a part of that.

However, this after college, young adult phase that so many of us find ourselves in, is particularly weird. Some of us actually hang out with our parents now...A lot! Life has become real and we've shed the skin of that opinionated, life of the party person we used to know in college, for the get a job, go to the church we like, has dinner with the parents twice a week person. Before you know it, this whole discussion of "generations" just disappears. We fall in line. Buy the car, get the job, go to the big church, fit in, and what do you know... Turn into our parents generation. Especially in the Church.

"Young adult" groups become the bridge into that lifestyle. They become inclusive and filled with cliche. "Could I really bring my friends from college or work to one of these?" All of a sudden we look around and the way we live our lives is really...Old and "churchy".

Remember in college when you lived with people? When the "world" wasn't that far away? In fact, it lived with you. He or she was your roommate. Remember when faith became a little more real to you because it was living itself out in the midst of those who didn't believe what you believe? We actually cared for people. We laughed with them, and we cried with them. Some of us maybe even realized it was bigger than FCA, our floor bible study, or our campus ministry. It was about people's lives. We saw that though others didn't believe, they respected you because you did. And they actually liked you.

And then we graduated.

In the midst of the craziness. The new town. The new job. The new church. Moving back in with the parents. "WHAT!? How'd this happen?" New friends. Loneliness. Why am I back here? "This sucks."

We fall in line.

We take our place as the "next generation" in the Church and watch. We start talking like we never said we would. We live from one "young adult" hang out to the next. And every hope of living in the world and the faith that came alive when we did, goes away. We become that other generation.

What if we did live our lives in the world? What if the next generation, our generation, engaged people's lives like we did in college, when they were crying in our dorm suite. What if our faith flourished because it was devoted to the poor and weak? If we didn't just file into the big church because it's easy and we're busy now with our big new job. A lifestyle that poured into our city. A faith that people used to ask about in the cafeteria, or in the union. They don't ask us anymore, do they? What if it was a lifestyle, not a service project?

It's easy though. We work a lot now. We have nice cars. We go to church and bible study.

Is that it? Is that the "next generation" I hear about?

Are we going to answer the big questions in our community, in our city? Will we engage the problems and pain of those around in the world that surrounds us. Will one Saturday feeding the homeless be our service? Will it make us feel better? Will we fall in? Or will faith be shown by love. A lifestyle of love and rebuilding broken lives, and a broken community. If that's the case, then we're not talking service-projects anymore. We're talking lifestyle.

Will we make our own way?

Or be caught falling in line, hoping that next generation after us won't.

Mayer Creates "Continuum"

AUSTIN SCAGGS -
Rolling Stone 2005

"I'm ready to shake it all up," John Mayer says of his next studio album, Continuum, due in early 2006.
"They are tunes that live on guitar. When it comes out, I may never win a Grammy again, I may never sell a million records again, but the world will get where I'm coming from," he tells Rolling Stone's Smoking Section column. "I'm not afraid to lose it all."

Meanwhile, Mayer has been an in-demand guest for his heroes: He has recorded with Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy for their upcoming albums, and he'll be performing at Bonnaroo on June 10th with Herbie Hancock's reunited Seventies funk-jazz group, the Headhunters. The group will play additional gigs on the 8th in St. Louis, on the 9th in Kettering, Ohio, and on the 11th in Memphis.

Mayer is also preparing to flex his new blues-based outfit, the John Mayer Trio, on the road and on a live disc. "I'm gonna go out in the fall with the trio and just play," he says. "Power-rockin', electric-guitar, in-your-face blues.

Phil's review: I really like John Mayer. Whether you like John Mayer or not. Whether you just can't get "Your Body is a Wonderland" John Mayer out of your head to embrace him. Even if you don't like blues, or music inspired by blues. In today's pop-culture, you've got to admire him for being his own man. I wish I could be my own man more often. How great is the slap in the face opening track of Trio album "Try!", called "Who did you think I was."

*And, if you notice now, listen on any TV show, in any coffee shop/restaurant, you'll hear John Mayer

Another review of Continuum

Psalm 4

One of my assignments this semester at RTS is to journal through the book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible.

This is a recent entry based on the 4th chapter of the book of Psalms:


So many things come to mind when you think of King David. The anointed boy warrior slinging stones at the forehead of a giant. The passionate dancer leading the ark through the city gates. The weeping father, and the merciless murderer. Can one man be so many things?

Through all of the character plot lines shown in the life of David, it’s the pleading heart that wins us. It’s the attribute that won God. How could a man be all those things at once, unless he knew that ultimately, his security was tied up in one thing, the heart of God.

The first verse of Psalm 4 might as well sound like this, “Answer me God! Bring an end to this madness! Give me grace and listen, please.” I’m trying to get past that thought, that sentence, that verse, and I can’t. Is that the “man after my own heart?” Perhaps that could be the very thing, the quality of David that brought such delight to God’s heart.

Part of me wonders if that’s all I ever do. If that’s the only plea I know when I walk in front of God. But maybe that’s where it begins. These Psalms were not David’s trophy pieces. Not his badge of honor, or his fame. They were his heart, wrenched open for the world to see.

He wrestled with the question in vs. 2, “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?” The weight of that indictment haunted the king. It caused him to cry and hope for a nation to know its own story, so easily forgotten. It brought the shame of his life to the light of day. I wonder how long he heard Nathan’s shout, “You are the man!” in his heart.

Enough to break him, and make him weep over his lost son, to long for the house of God, and just rest.

Every time he went to that place. Every time he cried, “give me grace, and listen please,” he slowed down. He breathed deep, and said, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

My heart moves too fast. When I scream, “hear me!” I can’t “sleep in peace”. Life crawls and then it flies, between boredom and paranoia. What if my heart heard, “You are the man!” and I broke. And I slept. And hearing in the distance, “come all you who are weary, and I will give you rest”, my heart would be like that of the great King.

Tangled in deceit, and immaturity.

Lost in plot, and idleness.

What if my heart was like his. Could the song always be like his, “you have filled my heart with joy. (Vs.7)

Two sides of 25

Back in August I turned 25. They say it's the last birthday you look forward to. Not sure about that, but I am sure it's different than the rest. Somehow, someway, everything becomes a little more real and close. The sticker on the mirror that reads, "objects in mirror are closer than they appear", defines 25.

What once were thoughts, ideas, and dreams that seemed still quite far off in my future, now seem to have hurried into the crowded space of the front of my head! I feel like someone woke me up early on a saturday, shook me, and said, "Hey buddy! Uh...jokes over. It's time to get a real life."

I've been feeling very Zach Braff-ish lately, hearing the lyrics of Snow Patrol's "Chocolate" in my stomach:

"This could be the very minute
I'm aware I'm alive
All these places feel like home

With a name I'd never chosen
I can make my first steps
As a child of 25"

Or maybe the "quarter-life crisis" that my buddy John Mayer sings about is just taking its toll. Most of my friends, and the people I go to school with, seem as if they skipped past this whole stage. Married, home owners, and well...married, and 23. Maybe they don't own the "25 coin".

The two sides of 25 bring their benefits. On the one side, I do what I want, when I want, pretty much. Still in that grad-student lifestyle. The freedom and lack of responsibility lets you really appreciate being 25. However, that freedom allows you to think about and analyze the other side of the 25 coin. Almost every part of my life is undefined. Who will I marry? When will I graduate? Do I really want to do what I've spent so much time studying and preparing for? Where will I live?

I hate those questions. They're haunting.

It takes me about 2 hours to fall asleep each night. Mainly due to the fact that I'm trying to answer all those questions. But, then I wake up in the morning. And slowly, I remember that I just have to take care of myself today. Just have to study. Just have to worry about me.

So, if you asked me, "what side of this coin do you want now?"

I think I'll stick with both for a while.

And then maybe flip it.