got more cars than a beach got sand

Been playing a lot of video games lately.

This is a little tad dangerous for me in that it sometimes tends to endanger my efforts in not giving my rage issues a foothold in my life.  But surprisingly enough, I’ve done really well.  Even just last night, playing Call of Duty, I refrained from profanity quite well.  Why are all the best words for certain situations taboo?  Swearing feels so good sometimes, but it really jeopardizes my witness.  And for me, rage = devil words.

So I’m trying.  Really trying.

But something I’ve begun to realize lately is that dealing with anger and rage is only half of the real equation.  I have those guys under control right now; however, I couldn’t exactly call myself a joyful person.  Or rather I’m not an outwardly joyful person.  I’ve got one heck of a pokerface.  Half the time most people have no idea what I’m thinking or feeling because I rarely let it show in my facial expressions.  I think I’m like that because I’ve always been a little self-conscious of my MASSIVE dimples.  Seriously, when I smile, half my mouth disappears into my cheeks.  It’s ridiculous.

As I’ve begun addressing this issue, God has literally been throwing scripture at me.  (No, really.  This morning, my phone went off and the vibration pushed my bible off my desk into the floor, opening it in the process.)  Today I was in Philippians 4, verses 4 and 5.  Check it out sometime.  No, I’m not gonna print it here.  Get your bible out, heathen.  And don’t just skip to verse 6 like everyone else does.

Sidebar:  Todd said something this morning in Staff Morning Prayer that gave my computer of a brain the bluescreen of death:  “You’ll never be an effective minister unless you know the Word.”

Raise your hand if you’re uncomfortable.

End Sidebar

To close on the subject of video games, I was having lunch with our worship leader at Watermark, Josh Carr today and the subject of the new Grand Theft Auto game came up since it came out today.  Our conversation went something like this:

Josh:  So I hear the new Grand Theft Whatever Car game came out today.

Me:  You mean GTA4?

Josh:  Stop talking in hyperlinks.

Me:  Sorry.

Josh:  You gonna buy it?

Me:  Not sure yet.  I’ll probably give in at some point.

Josh:  What a world we live in where we make video games full of sex, violence, drugs, you name it!

Me:  Don’t forget about the hookers.

Josh:  Man, that stuff can be so foul.

-Pause-

In Unison:  But it’s so awesome!

-Pause-

Josh:  Watch it.

Me:  My bad.

Josh Carr went on to have his crappy-yet-bodacious yellow volvo put into the shop yet again.  Matt Stanley worked for another 42 hours before picking up GTA4 while braving the shady Walmart at Central and Spring Valley on his way home from work.  He mostly plays at night.

mostly.

Don’t judge me.

the chick-fil-a project: houston

What is with we believers and Chick-fil-a?

Seriously. It’s incredible. You could almost say Christians like Chick-fil-a just like another particular ethnicity enjoys some fried chicken.

Well, one thing amazing about this business is that every time a new store opens, the first 100 people receive “Free Chick-fil-A For a Year”. What that actually equates to is 52 free combo coupons. A couple of months ago, Mike Shelton and Bode from Student Ministries drove down to Houston to participate in one.

Their journey has since passed into legend.

And since I haven’t had much time to write this weekend, I’ve chosen to share their documented pilgrimage. Me and Eh, Steve (Canadian video guy) are going to join Mike and Bode next week at the new Chick-fil-a opening in Dallas. I’m bringing Rock Band. It’s going to be awesome. But here is their first odyssey.

Homer eat your heart out.

Part 1

Part 2

in the air tonight

I do miss Virginia.

Every time I fly into TRI (which is about once or twice a year) I try to wake up during the descent so I can look out the window and remind myself what mountains look like. I’ve been out west going on 3 years and have gotten used to seeing for miles and miles. Even from my office on the 7th floor, I can walk over to Julie’s desk and easily see the downtown block from 8-9 miles away. While that’s neat and all, I feel kinda…well…

exposed.

So I do miss the mountains, but there’s one thing about Texas that I love: Thunderstorms.

First of all, Texas thunderstorms don’t mess around. When you live in the mountains…storms last for about half an hour max. Out here, they go on for hours. The storm we’re currently experiencing started around 7p and has just started to wind down at 11:30p. And I’m not talking about just hearing thunder from miles off. I’m talking reenactments of Sodom and Gomorrah. The lightning is virtually constant. And with each bolt, the sky is lit on fire. The whole world lights up.

And I do love me some thunder.

Thunder in Virginia is as intimidating as girl-scouts compared to these babies. When the storm is finally on top of you, each roar shakes your apartment just a little. I like to imagine dear, sweet, baby Jesus is just rocking out with his subwoofer. This also gives me precedent to justify my sub at 2am to my neighbors below.

Praise the Baby!

no intelligence allowed

Some guy who helped make A guy who is involved with the Discovery Institute, champions of the Ben Stein documentary Expelled, is about to speak at Watermark today so I figured I’d give you my impressions of the film. I went to see it with my buddy Fitz on Friday (we both had a day off).

I know many people are going to see the movie expecting Ben Stein (of Ferris Bueller fame) to make a case for Creationism. They don’t realize they’re going in with that expectation, but they also don’t realize that there is a difference between arguing for the creation story in Genesis and arguing Intelligent Design.

And they’re going to be disappointed. This film doesn’t even make the latter arguement.

The point of Expelled is to highlight the inconsistency displayed in academia regarding ideas that challenge the accepted status quo, namely how Intelligent Design is not taught alongside the concept of man and animal evolving from a single, ancient ancestor protein, ie “Darwinism”. (Evolution DOES occur. It’s been well documented in many species. But when most people say “evolution” they really mean Darwinism.)

The film excels at this point. Ben Stein is not making the case for ID. He is showing us how violent the academic community becomes at the sheer mention of ID. This is best illustrated by one of his many guests in the film, Richard Dawkins (The God Dillusion). Men like Dawkins believe ID has no place whatsoever in serious debate despite the fact that many brilliant men believe that the intricacies of life, even the smallest human cell, are so complex that there is no possible way they came about by chance. And it’s these latter men who are ever fearful of losing their tenure, credibility, etc. Stein invterviews many of these men who have actually had the worst case scenario occur. They’ve lost their jobs. They’ve been completely discredited. Thus, they can’t get new work. This is the point of the film:

Stein is simply arguing for academic freedom.

My only serious gripe with the movie is with a 20-30 minute section (total run time is about 2 hours) where Stein uses Nazi Germany as an example of Darwinism taken too far. I believe it’s wholly unnecessary and slants the movie away from objectivity. It’s a pretty blatant attempt to demonize the intellectual implications of taking Darwinism to its ultimate conclusions…which, admittedly, I agree are bleak.

You know how Fox News claims to be “fair and balanced?” While I would certainly say they bring balance to news media, I think it’s pretty clear Fox News leans to the right…just as most of their competitors do to the left. I understand what Stein was saying here, but I really think this segment could have been left out entirely and actually result in a more intellectually objective (ie less unnecessarily provocative) film to get us talking.

Stylistically, the film is as good as a documentary can be in my opinion. The soundtrack is great towards the beginning and end, but it does resort to those sleepy tunes that used to tranquilize us in those documentaries from the 70s we were forced to watch in high school. There was a significant portion where Fitz was “providing his own soundtrack” through his nasal cavity.

You need to see this film no matter what side of the coin you’re on. Even if you think Intelligent Design is anything but, Stein makes a very interesting argument. This guy is really sharp.

4 stars.

beat the time

Been meaning to share this for a while.  Can’t remember which friend showed me this a few months ago, but I’ve watched it more times than I care to admit.  I used to love this “show” on Sesame Street and The Count was my favorite character.  And you can’t beat Guy Smiley. For the late Gen-X’ers, enjoy.