Move Over Rhinocerus

I was at the mall today with my magnificent girlfriend and was looking at animal books in Walden Books (they always have great sales/deals every time I go there). I was looking through an encyclopedic volume of the animal kingdom and came upon an animal I'd never heard of before: the pangolin. It quickly became my favorite animal, trumping the mighty rhino. If you know me, it's very hard for me to select a "favorite" anything, especially an animal! There's so much beauty and excellence in God's creation; everything is so unique, creative, and diverse. Every little lizard is a work of art by God. Every tree, every twig, every leaf. Every hip, every femur, every ankle. Every bird, every amphibian, every amoeba. It's mind blowing, really. The amount of wonder that God poured into each individual creation... wow.


So here is a picture of a pangolin. It's like a mixture of an armadillo, a snake, an anteater, and an assistant (watch the video below and you'll know what I mean). Wow, God! It walks on two legs and clasps its hands together as it walks, haha; that's probably my favorite part. And for its size it has the longest tongue of any mammal. It's definitely one of the most distinctive creations on planet earth. Here's the video:



I am amazed at you, God. You definitely looked at the pangolin and said, "It is good."

Poetry

This is a picture of a doggie that I encountered a few weeks ago on State Street on my way to work on the Lafayette Community Skate Park. I had quite a good time driving as this dog yapped and barked at every car that passed and traveled next to his owner's. I took it at a stop light (don't worry, I was stopped at the time).

Last night I went to that "Einstein-inspired" poetry reading. Boy am I glad I didn't have to pay to get in. Besides a hearty portion of swear words, there were no poems about quantum mechanics, energy=mass times the speed of light squared, or time dilation (and I found out that it wasn't really poems inspired by Einstein, it was a reading by A. Van Jordan of some of his poems, and he has written a book called quantum lyrics). So needless to say, I was disappointed. But in the meantime, I wrote my own poem. It's called "Charcoal."

"Charcoal"

Black
Charcoal, black
Darkness, black
Black coats, black

Black cats, red
Red ants, blue
Blue sky, black

Black eyes, black
Black stacks, black
White black?

Eating My Words

Soooooooo, I know I said that I was going to stop blogging/posting, but I thought more about it (the last post was a little spur of the moment) and I've decided that I will continue to post on here as long as I see fitting. This is my telling amendment: I do exercise the authority of this blog, so I can choose what I want to do with it. Also, I have a story I'd like to share for the resurrection of The Think Basket.

I was heading to my 3 pm Religious Studies class and I had with me sixty-five cents, with which I was going to purchase a can of cola (I was aiming for a cherry coke). I went to the vending machines just around the corner from my class room and pulled out my change: two quarters, a nickel, and a dime. Now, it's important to note that there is a machine that vends $1.25 sodas, and another across the way for the sixty-five cent colas. I took my change and mistakingly went to the $1.25 machine, and proceeded to enter my change, unaware of my error. I placed the first quarter in, and it was returned in the change cubby at the bottom of the machine. I checked the quarter and made sure it wasn't a fake, and placed it a second time into the machine. I heard something like the falling of multiple coins this time, and when I looked into the return I spied two quarters! Sweet, I thought, so I grabbed them. That's when I realized that I was at the wrong machine. I felt so silly; luckily no one was behind me.

I walked to the sixty-five cent machine and was surprised to find out that they raised the price on this machine, and maybe campus-wide, to seventy-five cents. And what do you know? Here I am, left my house with sixty-five cents, and came to the machine with ninety cents! Some people might think this is a stretch, but to me this demonstrates God's abundance. I had fifteen cents left over from buying a cola that I was really ten cents short of!

I quite enjoyed that cherry coke, and it was sweet to see God's favor in something like that. I was going to be really bummed if I didn't get something to drink, because although I'm not dependent on high fructose corn syrup it definitely makes power hours go faster when I have something to consume. And on top of that, it's been the first day I can actually skate outside in a while--it was absolutely gorgeous out today. So on top of everything Christ did on the cross for me, this day has been quite excellent. I'm going with my friend Ace to an Einstein-inspired poetry reading later tonight, so I'm looking forward to that as well. What has God done for you lately?

Farewell

You know as well as I do that I am bad about blogging on this. I'm good for a little bit, but then I get caught up in living, and I find that my pseudo life on the internet is really short lived; kind of like a firecracker. It gets lit, there's a lot of expectation, as the fuse gets closer and closer to the explosive powder, then... boom. And as the smoke clears, you realize that was a fairly short-lived five seconds. I fear that subconsciously I'm looking to be commended by my peers for my "insight into the Scriptures" and I've found that it's quite a thrill to get comments from others, even if they are from my fantastic girlfriend. And I don't want to overplay this, but for my own sake, I'm going to refrain from posting on this blog. I already do a lot on facebook, and I can post songs and videos on there much more easily than I can on here--not to mention that many more people traverse my facebook page than my little cubbyhole blog. David Bazan wrote it pretty well when he titled on of his albums "The Only Reason I Feel Secure... Is That I Am Validated By My Peers."

We've all been separated from God, but some of us have been reconnected. It's like the cord that got pulled too much and was yanked out of the socket. But then Jesus plugged us back in. Prophetic electronics. Some of us are blenders, some of us vacuum cleaners, some are night lights, others are radios. Some are floor fans, some are wireless internet hubs, and still others are alarm clocks. There really no end to the diversity of the Body of Christ. God will forever remain more creative than any of us, and that means that the diversity is only going to expand, in terms of where the Church spreads and reaches.

But back to what I was saying: this blog isn't thrilling enough for me to want to continue it. I created it originally for my parents and friends who I don't talk to on a daily basis, so that they could keep up with me and what I'm doing, learning, and thinking. Ironically, I keep many of my thoughts off of this website as I've been caught up in the cutting-edge of actual life beyond the internet. With the popularity of such programs like World of Warcraft and Second Life, I'm taking a stand against the perversion of the internet. I'm not condemning people who regularly blog (in fact my friend Steve maintains a very interesting, artsy, and blunt blog that I enjoy reading: Formula 2911 Blog), and I'm not condemning those who use the internet. The internet is an incredible resource and has without a doubt changed the world forever.

So I think that what I'm trying to say is that I feel that my life becomes increasingly sterile as internet use is increased, and definitely as my subconscious dependence on "facebook browsing" and youtube skate videos goes up. I feel a pressure to be clever and edgy, to be one more blog that bashes the Church but assures others that I do love them. I do love the Church, especially how much potential we have! And maybe that pressure is self-inflicted, but I want to be someone who stands out amongst Christians. Not just for my sake, but for the sake of Jesus--because He's so beautifully amazing, and I have been filled with such gladness and joy (despite the traps of life) that I want others to know how good knowing Him can be. To really enjoy everything God gives me (including but not limited to skateboarding, guitar/piano, and chemistry) to its fullest, because He gives us great gifts!

I actually feel closer to God when I'm skateboarding than in most musical worship services in Church. It's like God has handed me a blank check and everyday I withdraw more and more on His account. The same with guitar, and I won't even get started on chemistry.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you more in real life.

A long time

It's been a while, Blogger.com, but I'm back.

This past weekend I went on a trip to Carmel and Noblesville, IN with some of my skateboarding buddies. I usually end up doing the filming--predominantly because I'm the worst skater there and everyone else is doing way cooler stuff than I could ever do, but also because I always bring my little avi video camera my dad got me (thanks again, dad!).

It's been cool over the past few weeks to assume the role of "filmer" amongst my friends. I enjoy it from occasion to occasion. I don't get to skate as hard as I'd like to most of the time, but I get to serve my brothers in a very substantial way. And I get to edit the videos and help make these guys look great on their boards. It's a subtle way to refocus on others and not be so self-interested with the lens.

I always pray for who I'm filming too. Skateboarding can be very stressful sometimes, and it's easy to slip into a poor attitude when your normal tricks aren't coming easy. The power of prayer was really shown to me this weekend at the Carmel park. I was filming Brad Hill and he was trying this very impressive and large maneuver at the park. After numerous tries he was getting close but wasn't sticking with it. He looked up at me and said those fateful words: "one last try." At this point I had already been praying a little bit, but I turned to God and prayed very fervently that He would help Brad land the trick; not just for Brad, but for God's glory. So I kept praying, and interceding. Brad stepped on his board and swooped towards the obstacle. I waited anxiously to see what would happen all the while trying to keep the shot focused and centered.

What if Brad didn't land it? This wasn't a major faith issue for me, but I strongly wanted all of his hard work to pay off, and I knew that I at least wanted to worship God by seeing such an excellent trick be done in person. But I forget sometimes that worship is also done on our knees, crying out in pain, loss, and despair. Clinging to God for everything He is: true worship of the Almighty Father.

Needless to say, he landed the trick perfectly. It couldn't have been any better. I was amazed, surprisingly, having received exactly what I had asked for and more. He didn't just land it; it was perfect. God is truly good to us and concerned about our daily lives. Now I get to show off Brad's skating on facebook and know that God was wrapped around every ply of that canadian maple.

Texas!

That's what I was looking at right before the unthinkable occurred. It all happened so fast. You might think there was turbulence involved, or maybe someone bumped me since I was sitting in the aisle seat.

Nope. I just spazzed out and my knee bumped the tray table, spilling the cup of wine all over my pants. Here's what it looked like:


I had a good laugh about this. I pushed the "flight attendant" button, and she brought me some club soda and paper towels to clean myself up. The club soda actually worked really well; it got most of the stain out. Then when I got here to Christy's house, Teri washed them for me and got the stain right out.

But now back to the airplane. I was going to sip some of wine and read some of Acts. I did a little of both before the accident. There was a young woman sitting next to me. Being so nosey, I looked over to see what she was reading and I caught the end of a hand-written letter:

"You're a friend, sexy, smart,

Kenan"

She was reading a couple of love letters from someone named Kenan. I was trapped in the moment for a couple of seconds. Here was this woman reading love letters from this guy named Kenan, and here I am reading God's love letter to me. Then I started thinking about "What if God's name was Kenan..." Haha, I won't continue that thought, but it was a cool moment paired with being stained by the blood of Christ, literally.

Turkey Run and Eagle Creek

The vid is from last Sunday after I led worship at Campus House at Purdue; me and some buddies went to Turkey Run for an afternoon of hiking and adventure. This vid, especially, highlights my fondness for finding infrastructure and jumping and twirling off...

Today I went to the skate park and saw more people I knew there than usual. I've been trying to learn this trick for the last week or so, it's a fakie big spin heelflip. Basically, you roll backwards on your board and do a 180˚ ollie with your body, the board does a 360˚ shuv-it as well as a heelflip. It's one of the more technical tricks in skateboarding. I've landed on the board a few times up until this point, but always fell off after a moment or two. Well, today, third try: Boo Yeah! And my friends who have seen me trying it so often were there, they just erupted when I landed it. It was perfect. Caught the board 270 in the air and slid the front wheels on the ground to finish the rotation. It was at least a few feet out of the ramp as well. SOOOOOO much fun. And so rewarding when you put so much work and sweat into a trick and you finally land it. I also learned how to "launch" out of quarter pipes today. I missiled a large roast beef grab third try. I suppose today was third try day...

After a thorough work out at the skate park, I went to Eagle Creek park and spent some time away from the sterilizing, infertile noises of the city and enjoyed some peace and quiet next to the reservoir. I spent a good half hour sitting on a buoyant walkway watching ducks. I observed some new behaviors today, it was quite exciting. They did the usual stand on one leg and pretend to sleep bit, and the whole primming deal, along with the butt shaking. That's my favorite part to be honest, when they shake their butts, haha. I don't know why, it's mesmerizing... Anyways, I saw a good number of the ducks, all female mallards (btw), they would stand on one leg and stretch out their opposite leg and adjacent wing for a few seconds. And also, with the stretching, they would stick their neck straight out to its fullest extent, and then raise their wings up, like open car doors on a Lamborghini or some other fancy car (you know, like how the Delorian's doors opened up in Back to the Future). I tried to communicate with them: I waddled around hunched over, moved my arms like wings, and quacked. I only managed to get some glares from them, haha. They knew... Ducks are just sweet animals. I think sometime soon I'm going to make a duck costume out of cardboard. Be watching for that in the future... There was a hispanic family on the wharf next to me fishing, and as I was leaving the father caught a fish and exclaimed,"got you sucka!" I laughed all the way to my car.

After all that fun, I went to the bird sanctuary and on my way encountered a clan of female deer. I tried to follow them through the woods, but they were skiddish and wouldn't let me get close enough to pet them. I would've petted them all day if they would have let me. They're like the wild dogs of the woods. So I got to the bird sanctuary and I looked down to my right only to see a bumble bee plucking the petals off of a flower, one by one. I'd never seen this before either, it was quite strange. After it finished trimming, it just flew away. Another cool part of this portion of the park is the butterflies. There were monarchs flying around me as I walked down the trail, darting only a few inches in front of my face. It kinda scared me every time they did it; I'm sure the people around me had a good laugh.

Like I said earlier, it was nice to get away from "city." It's wild to think that God created all those things I saw: the ducks, cranes, butterflies, spiders, plants, every thing!