It's Just Wrong

When I was in Texas, someone brought up a term I had never heard before: "glamping". Apparently it's short for "glamour camping".

"For a number of people, their first camping experience often becomes their last, but there is now a camping option growing in popularity. Welcome to the world of glamorous camping, otherwise known as glamping. Organized glamping trips feature all of the exposure to the great outdoors as traditional camping trips, but the amenities found at the campsite far exceed anything most campers have ever experienced.

During a typical glamping trip, for example, the tents are often designed with bright designer colors and materials, not the olive drab canvas tents of yesteryear. These tents can be rigged for electrical power, which means occupants can operate appliances, reading lamps and climate controls. Forget about smelly sleeping bags placed on rocky or insect-infested ground, as well. Those who have gone glamping may sleep on full-size air mattresses, or even regular spring mattresses provided by the outfitters."

[read more] or [see pictures]

I'm usually all about compromise to suit people's needs and keep people happy, but seriously, this is just wrong! If you want to go camping, do it right: Set up a tent, make a campfire, enjoy nature. If you want the amenities of a hotel, go to a hotel. Actually I saw one of these "glamping type" tents in person in Shenandoah last year -- They certainly were nice, but I certainly wouldn't call it camping. I guess that's why they call it glamping.

Change...

Change is inevitable. Just when I get used to the way things are, things change on me, forcing me to stay on my toes and keep my priorities in check. Winston Churchill once said "There is nothing wrong with change, as long as it is change in the right direction." Which leads me to ask, how do you know you're headed in the right direction? Faith and trust. That's the only answer I can come up with to that question.

Unfailing Love by Chris Tomlin
You have my heart
And I am Yours forever
You are my strength
God of grace and power

And everything You hold in Your hand
Still You make time for me
I can't understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love

And You never change God You remain
The Holy One
My unfailing love
Unfailing love

You are my rock
The one I hold on to
You are my song
And I sing for You

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." -- Hebrews 13:8

Attitude

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.” -- Chuck Swindoll

Relational People

I suppose I can't let a Valentine's Day pass by without blogging about something sentimental. I've been reading Donald Miller's book, "Searching For God Knows What". If you've ever read anything by Donald Miller before, you'll understand that I really can't sum up the book, because it's mainly a series of stories, thoughts, witty comments, and pondering, which somehow comes together to make you feel like you've successfully gone on a journey with Donald Miller. Anyways, I'll include a somewhat lengthy clip about this thoughts on Adam and Eve:

"And then I began to wonder about Eve, what the scene might have looked like when she and Adam first met...I noticed Adam and Eve didn't meet right away. Moses said God knew Adam was lonely or incomplete or however you want to say it, but God did not create Eve directly after He stated Adam was lonely. This struck me as funny because a lot of times when I think about life before the Fall, I don't think of people going around lonely. But that thought also comforted me because I realized loneliness in my own life doesn't mean I am a complete screwup, rather that God made me this way. You always picture the perfect human being as somebody who doesn't need anybody, like a guy on a horse out in Colorado or whatever. But here is Adam, the only perfect guy in the world, and he is going around wanting to be with somebody else, needing another person to fulfill a certain emptiness in his life. And as I said, when God saw this, He did not create Eve right away. He did not give Adam what he needed immediately. He waited. He told Adam to name the animals.

Now I had read this a thousand times...but this time, I actually thought about what would be involved in a job as big as naming the animals. In my mind this had been such an effortless action...But could it really have been so effortless? ... If it took John Muir the better portion of his life to realize his theory about the landscape in small Yosemite, I wondered, then, how much longer it must have taken Adam to name the animals in all the earth?...So even if you believe in evolution, that means there were between one million and fifty million species around in the time of the Garden, and Adam, apparently, had to name all of them. And the entire time he was lonely.

I never thought of Adam the same again...This was a man who, despite feeling a certain need for a companion, performed what must have been nearly one hundred years of work, naming and perhaps even categorizing the animals. It would have taken him nearly a year just to name the species of snakes alone. Moses said that Eve didn't give birth to their 3rd child until Adam was well into his hundreds, which means they would have had Cain and Abel some 30 or so years before, which also means either it took Adam more than 100 years to name the animals, or he and Eve didn't conceive for a good long century.

The thing is, when Adam finished naming the animals, after all his work and effort, God put him to sleep, took a rib out of his side, and fashioned a woman. I had read that part a thousand times, too, but I don't think I quite realized how beautiful this moment was. Moses said the whole time Adam was naming the animals, that entire 100 years, he couldn't find a helpmate suitable for him...So here was this guy who was intensely relational, needing other people, and in order to cause him to appreciate the gift of companionship, God had him hang out with chimps for 100 years. It's quite beautiful, really. God directed Adam's steps so that when He created Eve, Adam would have the utmost appreciation, respect, and gratitude.

...And then I thought how very beautiful it was that God made Adam work for so long because there is no way, after 100 years of being alone, looking for somebody whom you could connect with in your soul, that you would take advantage of a woman once you met one. She would be the most precious creation in all the world, and you probably would wake up every morning and look at her and wonder at her beauty, or the gentle, silent way she sleeps.

...For the first time in his life, Adam was seeing a person who was like him, only more beautiful, and smarter in the ways of love and encouragement, and more deliberate in the ways of relationships. He must have thought to himself that she was perfect, and after a few days of just talking and getting to know each other, they must have fallen deeply in love....[After which point, Adam] must have gone on a long walk with God and thanked Him, and I'll bet that was a very beautiful conversation. I'll bet Adam felt loved by God, like he was somebody God was always trying to bless and surprise with amazing experiences, and I'll bet they talked together about how beautiful Eve was and how wonderful it was that the two of them could know her, and I would imagine that Eve felt safe, loved, not used or gawked, but appreciated and admired.

...Considering this couple, and what Adam went through to appreciate Eve to the utmost, I wondered at how beautiful it is that you and I were created to need each other. The romantic need is just the beginning, because we need our families and we need our friends. In this way, we are made in God's image. Certainly God does not need people in the way you and I do, but He feels a joy at being loved, and He feels a joy at delivering love. It is a striking thought to realize that, in paradise, a human is incomplete without a host of other people. We are relational indeed. And this book, the Bible, with all its understanding of the relational needs of humans, was becoming more meaningful to me as I turned the pages. God made me, He knows me, He understands me, and He wants community."

Focus

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3

Fellowship

I've been digging into the topic of Fellowship lately, and it's reminded me how much I like Bonhoeffer's "Life Together" book. Here's an interesting sermon that discusses parts of that book.

Good friends, the Christian community, it turns out, is not about construction our own corner of heaven or our personal image of the promised land over here in Medford. It’s not about coming up with the best ideas and then being as mad as a hatter when things don’t turn out my way. Bonhoeffer knows, and so do we, that having these ideals of a community that we want to construct in our own image, as well-meaning as that image may be, is all about us and not much about God. And so we should be happy when God frustrates our attempts at perfection in our image. We should glad when God lets the community disappoint our best intentions. We should be glad because then we can start about the business of becoming a real Christian community, not some skin-deep version of one.

Will

My friend Brian posted this article about God's will on his blog.

Mother Theresa, on the other hand, once refused a man's request that she pray for him to have clarity. Surprisingly, she responded with, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God."

Peace comes not from knowing what lies ahead, but knowing that God is the same before, during and after whatever it is.

Mice

A great way to combine the dissection skills you learned in high school science class with the techie skills you learned in computer class:

Step by Step instructions to create a Mouse Mouse!
Hacked travel-size (hardware) mouse + taxidermied (wetware) mouse = Mouse Mouse!
Fully functional, and furry!

Warning: this project involves taxidermy, dremels, and sometimes graphic pictures of dead animals. While there are no guts in this tutorial, viewer discretion is still advised.

Football

Sad but true. And hilarious.
Hitler's Aggie Football Rant

Uncle Harold

Harold Charles (Hal) Kieschnick

KIESCHNICK Harold (Hal) Charles Kieschnick, 74, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, died on January 12, 2009 at his home, surrounded by his family. Hal was born in Walburg, Texas on May 18, 1934, to Oscar and Lina (Doering) Kieschnick. He attended Concordia Lutheran College in Austin, Texas, and received a Master of Education Degree from Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois. Hal married Henrietta (Hank; Schmidt) Kieschnick on June 29, 1958 in Jefferson City, Missouri. During their teaching careers, Hal and Hank served as Christian educators at Lutheran elementary schools around the country. Hal was the principal of Lutheran schools in New Orleans, Hinsdale, Ill., and Houston, Texas. In 1976 he was called to direct the "Teaching Assistance Project", where he served more than a dozen Lutheran elementary schools in under-served communities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. He then served as Executive Secretary for Parish Services for the Southern District, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod from 1982-1999. In this position he assisted schools, organized Youth events, and was a mentor to uncounted pastors and teachers in the south and around the country. In retirement Hal served as interim Executive Secretary for Mission Services from 2000-2001. Throughout his career Hal was an advocate for under-served and marginalized communities, seeking to raise educational and spiritual expectations with the love of Jesus. Mr. Kieschnick was an upbeat, gracious man who treated everyone he met with sincere respect. He liked to laugh and was known for his signature greeting of "keep smilin'!" in letters and phone conversations. Hal is survived by his wife of 50 years, Hank (Schmidt) Kieschnick of Baton Rouge. He has three grown children Kathy (Johnson), with her husband Jon Schwartz of Lake Worth, FL., Kevin and his wife Christie (Orth) Kieschnick of New Orleans, and Kurt and his wife Cherri (Graff) Kieschnick of Baton Rouge. He dearly loved all of his 9 grandchildren, Austin (22) and Jacob (18) Johnson, Sophie (6) and Brennan (4) Schwartz, Layne (11) and Renni (8) Kieschnick, and Kade (11), Keller (8), and Kace (3) Kieschnick. He is also survived by 8 siblings Erna, Mel, Leona, Miriam, Doris, Ethel, John, and Darlene, and a number of their spouses, Jane, Ray, Elaine, and Lee. He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Lina Kieschnick, as well as in-law siblings Art Kollmeyer, Victor Kokel, Ardell Kalmbach, and Herb Wottrich. Harold Kieschnick dedicated his life to serving his Lord Jesus Christ by serving people. Family and friends will celebrate the sure promise of resurrection in a service at Trinity Lutheran Church, 10925 Florida Blvd. in Baton Rouge, on Thursday, January 15th at 11:00 a.m. There will be a time of visitation for 2 hours prior in the sanctuary. The family has requested that, in lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent in Hal's name to Baton Rouge Lutheran School Scholarship Fund, (10925 Florida Blvd., BR, LA 70815) LINCNewOrleans, (6230 Paris Ave., NOLA 70122), or the Recruitment and Scholarship fund of the Southern District, LCMS (68446 Tammany Trace Dr., Suite 5, Mandeville, LA 70471). "And these three remain; faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Stars

The thing I loved about being on grandma's farm in Texas was how amazing the stars are. When there's no city lights to drown them out, I could just stare at the stars forever.

David Crowder Band - Stars:
you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright
against the black they look so white
comin down from such a height
to reach me now, reach me now

you should see the moon in the flight
cuttin cross the misty night
softly dancin in sunshine
reflections of this light
reach me now, you reach me now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful again

and you should feel the sun in the spring
comin out after a rain
suddenly all is green
sunshine on everything
i can feel it now, i feel you now

and how could such a thing
shine its light on me
and make everything beautiful

and you should hear the angels sing
all gathered round their king
more beautiful than you could dream
i've been quietly listening
you can hear 'em now, i hear em now

and how could such a king
shine His light on me
and make everything beautiful
and i wanna shine
i wanna be light
i wanna tell you it'll be alright
and i wanna shine and i wanna fly
just to tell you now
it'll be alright, it'll be alright
it'll be alright.

cus i got nothing of my own to give to you
but this light that shines
on me shines on you
and makes everything beautiful, again.
it'll be alright, it'll be alright.

Hats off to you!

Although I never wear them (except for when they're functional in the winter for warmth and the summer for sun), I really do love hats. Check out this super cool hat!!

12 Days of Texas

I was able to take a long break from work and go home to Texas for 12 days this Christmas! I traveled 762 miles around Texas (map, kinda looks like a lasso!). Thankfully I was with my Mom in her Prius, so we had each other's company and saved gasoline (Getting 45 mpg, we used less than 17 gallons. At $1.38/gal average, the whole trip was only $23.37!). It was a blast. Here are some highlights:

DAY 1 - Christmas Eve
Location: Baltimore, MD to Houston, TX
I worked a half-day (and surprisingly got LOTS done! There's no better time to upload new code changes than the day you leave for a long trip...) My flight was an hour delayed 'waiting for aircraft to arrive from Houston', but eventually I left BWI and ended up in H-town, welcoming the warm weather.

DAY 2 - Christmas Day
Location: Houston, TX
Christmas Day was just me and the folks this year. We went to church at Trinity-Klein so I could see their new sanctuary, very nice! Dad went all out making a Turkey dinner （In TX, dinner==lunch, supper==dinner).

DAY 3 - Shopping
Location: Houston, TX
Mom and I went shopping so I could pick up some last minute Christmas gifts that I didn't want to fly with. Dad made great steak tenderloins for supper.

DAY 4 - Big Family Christmas at Grandma's Farm
Location: Walburg, TX
The whole family got together at Grandma's, except for cousin Rachel who's in Argentina. Instead of Aunt Sylvia using Gma's out-of-tune piano, cousin Philip and I played 2 Christmas carols on guitar. We'll have to practice more for next year... I'll also have to do more pickle hunting practice. I won my prelim round and made it into the Championship Pickle Round, but I wasn't successful in defending my title. Cousin Denise ended up being the Pickle Champ. Group photo:



DAY 5 - Immediate Family Christmas
Location: Stephenville, TX
We had our family Christmas at my brother's. The nieces had their first sleepover.

DAY 6 - Brother's House
Location: Stephenville, TX
Yummy BBQ at Hard Eight, where you order right from the pit. I drank LOTS of Dublin Dr. Pepper.



Day 7 - Travel Day
Location: Stephenville, TX to Hurst, TX
Beth and Riley showed us their trail in the woods behind their house. We headed off to Hurst to meet up with my sister again at her house.

Day 8 - New Year's Eve
Location: Hurst, TX
Babysat niece and nephew during the day. Rang in the New Year 2009 Eastern Standard Time with ice cream cake and cheap Wal*Mart champagne.

Day 9 - ICE!
Location: Hurst, TX
Saw the ice sculptures at the Gaylord Texan, 9 degrees inside the building. The sculptures were VERY cool! Went shopping afterwards in 70 degree weather.


Day 10 - Mom Birthday
Location: Hurst, TX
Celebrated Mom's birthday. Thankfully her bday present arrived in the mail JUST in time. Ate at Rev K's favorite Mexican place in Ft. Worth with Tiff and David!

Day 11 - O.K. Ranch
Location: Lincoln, TX
Drove out to my parent's land in the country to help Dad build 2x4 picnic tables, which we got him for Christmas. Turned out looking good! Record high tempatures in the 80s today!! Tried to eat BBQ at the best BBQ joint in all of TX, but they were already out of BBQ. Had good chicken-fried steak at "Granny's" instead.



Day 12 - Parents
Location: Houston, TX
Church at Salem, my folk's church. Also the oldest Lutheran church in Texas, although you wouldn't guess that b/c they are quite contemporary these days. I fixed a bunch of computer stuff for my Dad and helped Mom take down Christmas decorations. Also, ate LOTS of Blue Bell ice cream!

Day 13 - Okay, so it's a baker's dozen of days...
Location: Texas to Maryland
Early early flight back to Maryland. Guess it's back to normal again, at least if you consider MD 'normal'....

Clear the Stage

I pulled out an old Ross King CD the other day. Ross King was the worship leader at Breakaway when I first started attending A&M. Breakaway was a Worship Service held on campus where about 2000 Aggies gathered to worship weekly. Ross King was awesome, and totally impacted my impression of praise music and what it means to worship. His song "Clear the Stage" is really good and impacted me once again while listening to it. Listen to it on YouTube or read the lyrics:

Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze
If that’s the measure You must take to crush the idols
Jerk the pews and all the decorations too
Until the congregation’s few, then have revival
Tell your friends that this is where the party ends
Until you’re broken for your sins you can’t be social
Then seek the Lord and wait for what He has in store
And know that great is your reward and just be hopeful

Cause you can sing all you want to
Yes you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
And don’t get me wrong, worship is more than a song

Take a break from all the plans that you have made
And sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper
Beg Him please to open up His mouth and speak
And pray for real upon your knees until they blister
Shine the light on every corner of your life
Until the pride and lust and lies are in the open
Then read the word and put to test the things you’ve heard
Until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken

Cause you can sing all you want to
Yes you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
And don’t get me wrong, worship is more than a song

Anything I put before my God is an idol
And anything I want with all my heart is an idol
Anything I can’t stop thinking of is an idol
And anything that I give all my love is an idol
We must not worship something that’s not even worth it
Clear the stage and make some space for the One who deserves it

Cause I can sing all I want to
Yes I can sing all I want to
I can sing all I want to
And still get it wrong

And you can sing all you want to
Yes you can sing all you want to
You can sing all you want to
But don’t get me wrong, worship is more than a song

Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze
If that’s the measure You must take to crush the idols

Thankful

I was reacquainted with this song tonight. Read the lyrics. It's great.

You know I ran across an old box of letters
While I was bagging up some clothes for Goodwill
But you Know I had to laugh at the same old struggles
That plagued me then are plaguing me still
I know the road is long from the ground to glory
But a boy can hope he's getting some place
But you see, I'm running from the very clothes I'm wearing
And dressed like this I'm fit for the chase

'Cause no, there is none righteous
Not one who understands
There is none who seek God
No not one, I said no not one

So I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause we're all stillborn and dead in our transgressions
We're shackled up to the sin we hold so dear
So what part can I play in the work of redemption
I can't refuse, I cannot add a thing

'Cause I am just like Lazarus and I can hear your voice
I stand and rub my eyes and walk to You
Because I have no choice

I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
I'm so thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause by grace I have been saved
Through faith that's not my own
It is a gift of God and not by works
Lest anyone should boast

BBQ Saturday

The Saturday before Thanksgiving has been officially designated as "BBQ Saturday". Last year we ventured down to Capital Q in DC for BBQ. This year, we went to Urban BBQ in Silver Spring. Now that we've done it twice, it's a tradition! And a great one at that.

NOTE: You are allowed to eat BBQ any other day as well, but BBQ must be consumed on BBQ Saturday from here on out.

Derek Webb

On how to engage culture

On his live verse

Interview

Jadon Lavik

I bought Jadin Lavik's CD a while back and got addicted to it right away. I picked it up off my shelf a few weeks ago, and now I'm addicted to it again. And I found out that he has a new CD now, with an e-card if you want to check it out!

"Meant to Be"
Look around what could i do
This place is unfamiliar and new
So i try to look beyond what’s right in front of me
Hope to be found how could this be true
Comfort came and left in such a hurry
So then what’s on the other side of this tragedy

You wake up to find that you’re right where supposed to be
Trapped in uncertainty each day’s a mystery
You wake up to find that you’re right where you’re supposed to be
The past is unveiled and you see you’re right where you’re meant to be

Look behind oh how we’ve grown
All the places we’ve been
The places I’ll never never go back again
If I had only known that all was not lost
It always comes around again round again round again
Patiently waiting just waiting

til one day you find that you’re right where supposed to be
Trapped in uncertainty each day’s a mystery
You wake up to find that you’re right where you’re supposed to be
The past is unveiled and you see you’re right where you’re meant to be

Now I see the reasons for all of those seasons wondering just how my life would connect
My life would connect but you knew all along all along

You wake up to find that you’re right where you’re supposed to be
Your heart’s running wild and free each day’s a mystery

You wake up to find that you’re right where you’re supposed to be
Trapped in uncertainty each day’s a mystery
You wake up to find that you’re right where you’re supposed to be
The past is unveiled and you see you’re right where you’re meant to be

Waitin'

I think this song and music video is so sweet:

Waitin' on a Woman

Gotta love Brad Paisley. And Andy Griffith.

Costumes

For Halloween, I wore a shirt that said Canada, a Mexican sombrero, and an American flag lapel pin. Can you guess what I was?