Underground U

looking ahead at 28

2005-11-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

things i think i think about heading to 28

I think I think
1. This year of life will bring a new job and hopefully a new car
2. I will do better at my big days (anniversary, brandi's birthday)
3. David Gray is still the best artist/musician in the world
4. I will get in better shape than I have been for the past 3 years
5. I will Play more frisbee golf
6. I will go to my very first Dallas Cowboys game (cowboys v. skins)
7. I will have a better relationship with my brothers and really cheer for them to do well
8. I will take a vacation with my wife
9. I will participate in the launching of a church
10. I will continue to miss Texas
**bonus: I will think less about coaching football

American Idiot is One Heck of a Show!

2005-10-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Green Day is a fine band. I have always liked what they do. Brain Stew has always been a great rock song. I remember when they played Woodstock '94 and lit the stage on fire before starting a huge mud fight. I like the new album. I get tired of the songs on the radio but when you sit and listen through the whole album you are reminded of one thing: This band has been around a while and that says something about a band's worth.

I took all of those thoughts into the American Idiot tour and was really just blown away. Out of the gate the sold out Gaylord Entertainment Center rocked to American Idiot and just down the line of the album of the same name. I really thought they were going to play the set straight through which would say something about how much they believe in this album as a complete work.

Fortunately for those of us who like them for more than one album, they broke out some of the older material in the middle of the set. They went from a 5 peice band back to the original 3 which was a great move. At their heart, Green Day is and will always be a 3 peice punk band that just rocks. Maria, Longview, She and on the list goes on.

Except for a lot of fan interaction that started to get old this was an amazing show. It opened with a drunk guy in a bunny suit, saw the crowd get hosed with massive water guns, had a mooning by Billy Joe, a band of kids as they joined Green Day on stage, and ended with a bang as the band did We Are The Champions and Good Riddance to an eruption of confetti...

You can't ask for more from a great rock show.....that is the American Idiot tour - A Great Rock Show!

I believe

Katrina

2005-09-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes capturing a moment in time isn't easily done. Its hard to remember things when they just affected you. I remember Sept 11th, OJ, I vaguely remember the challenger, and usually I can remember times of my life based on music. Sometimes life can be like those long boring backseat rides when you were a kid. You know it feels like its a commercial, you just stared out the window, maybe the song you hear is something mellow and acoustic from Paul Simon as you slobber on the window hoping your sibling doesn't cross their line.

Just like any other weekend in life, and just like any other hurricane, Katrina came right up the Gulf Coast and ruined land, lives and so much more. We all watched in horror as it seemed we were watching a newscast from Rwanda or something. We watched people being pulled out of their roof's as the water level raised up into their attics. We saw news stories of people dying while they waited on overpasses, people throwing themselves over the balcony at the Superdome because they couldn't take the smell any longer. I regularly read a column on Monday Mornings and the columnist told the story of a guy who he sat next to on a plane that was a New Orleans police officer who was given a month leave after watching his partner pull out his gun and shoot himself in the head because he couldn't take the people suffering around him any longer.

I think we all cried watching people hurt like that. We watched Americans hurt on CNN, and our big powerful country was brought to its knees by an amazing force of nature. There I was slobbering on the window of the car of life, and from the front seat, I got asked to drive. Several guys that I know had decided to go down and try to help in whatever manner they could. I decided to go and for the first time in my life, I think I got to be unselfish for what seemed like such a short period of time. We went as far south as Hattiesburg, Mississippi but got to help clean and pass out goods to shelters in Clark County including Meridian, Jonestown, Pachula and a couple of other small communities in the county.

It's interesting when you go somewhere that basic human amenities have been taken away. The community really bands together and everyone drops their ego just to help. That's not to say that tensions to flare up because that can certainly happen when you wait in line for gas for two hours, or when people feel you are cheating them, or when you feel like people are cheating the goodwill of others. You basically trust in the idea of all people need help, and if you are alive and able you should be helping.

We got to cut down trees on several older women's homes and clean up their yards. It wasn't wading through water to pull people out of their homes, but the real hero work was done by the people in those communities. They had already pulled down so many trees and freed so many from their collapsing homes. There was very little glory to what we did, our work was like a drop of water in the ocean, but those people needed help and we were there trying. That is a lot better to me than watching life pass by.

As I lived through some of that I couldn't help but think about our country as in pyramid of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Basically the pyramid works bottom up and the theory says that you are unable to achive the next level up without first achieving the level directly under. We start with Physiological needs, then Safety needs, Belongingness and Love needs, as well as Esteem Needs. It is here that that the core of who we are takes shape because these needs allow us to think outside our own small self. One obviously can move past these needs and into understanding, Aesthetic, Self-actualization and into Transcendence but the minute the bottom for are pulled out, your world collapses.

I don't know that this theory is concrete but it makes so much sense in so many ways when you look at New Orleans in the day following the storm. Physiological or shelter needs and safety needs had to be met. People didn't feel safe and started looting for weapons and other goods. Immediately they formed gangs to protect what they had and ultimately this protection made them feel safe.

I think that it is interesting to look at this pyramid in light of New Orleans as an example but how much more so is it to look at it in a Christian perspective according to sin. When you look at the Garden of Eden post-sin, what did God offer? Clothing in the form of leaves. Secondly, Adam and Eve needed to feel safety. They were unsure of what would happen and God told them that he would make a way but with sin came a punishment. He showed them the way through sacrifice. In that coverage of sin, they found belongingness and ultimately esteem....... so goes our life.

I know I can feel so far from God when my foundation gets pulled out. I look for my own way to find hope again, to feel apart of something bigger. God always delivers, but you just have to trust it and not hide in the bushes when you have dropped the ball. I will always be amazed at the provision God gives in times of need. He cares so much for the people who can't fend for themselves. The orphan and the widow come up a lot as a high priority for the New Testament Church. I am just glad I got to help where I could.

Y politics 1

2005-08-12T13:15:00.000-07:00

I would really like to know what I expect out of politicians. So I am going to blog about it. I was never one to really care about politics but so much is wrong with America that it really makes me want to change something. The best way I can do that is to run for politics. Since I hate dressing up, I think I will just pay attention and vote.

Here is what I think so far.

Government, in America, is supposed to serve the people and ultimately our representatives should do what we would like for them to do. So, what do I do as a person from the generation after x really want. What is it I believe Government should do:

The Government should look to secure our borders and keep us safe first and foremost. Support of defense should be strong and our country should be a safe place to live.

We should fight to end real poverty in our country and to give opportunity to those of us who are born without it. Real poverty exists not only in our city streets but in our rural areas. When life is impoverished people get desperate and act out of a different mindset.

Our government should not be handicapped in such a way that they become unable to help religious programs that reach out to the impoverished. We as a community should support all programs that help create a better town, city and country by helping our poorest.

We can most help our poor by being vigil to create a better education system that is available to all (especially the impoverished) and support school systems that are about education. This includes teachers salaries and standards to be raised. We should support kids going to college and look for opportunities to help them get there. We should help education flourish through a lifetime. We should support programs that train workers throughout their lives to help them transition and learn new skills as employees until they retire. Starting strong and staying consistent will help people better their lives for themselves.

Better education means better skilled workers. America isn't a country that exists solely on blue collar jobs of the manufacturing days. We are technology driven and a society that needs to thrive on ideas. Our ideas need to come from companies that are full of skilled employees.

I pause here.....

I need to get to health, social, and many more issues..... more to come.

Review: Alanis Morrisette and Jason Mraz

2005-06-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

"Marking a passage of time isn't something we typically do for ourselves but I highly recommend it" -Alanis Morrisette

The historic Ryman Auditorium played watched as Alanis Morrisette performed her acoustic Jagged Little Pill tour. From the acapella opening of "Your House" to the second encore, she wove in and out of her great songs from Jagged Little Pill, and allowed you to see that while her songs are filled with her own anger, she uses music to deal with her life. The self-professed non-confrontationalist finds her arguments in songs and finds her strength in her powerful vocals.

It seems like I have known her songs my whole life, so it is great to go see them performed live. The first lady of angst is great on stage and explains her songs well. It was a very mixed crowd of people who like her. Its great when an artist draws so many different kinds of people and they come together around these amazing songs that she wrote ten years ago.

Jason Mraz was a great opening act for this show, his ability to draw the crowd in and make you feel like you know this guy and he is just in your living room playing songs for you is very endearing. It also helps that he sings effortlessly and his wit is quick in and out of his songs.

If you liked Jagged Little Pill then, its better now!

Favorite song of the night: Hands Clean - The story behind it makes the song alot more interesting.

At War With Myself (BLJ 3)

2005-06-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

It has become terribly apparent to me through reading several books that I as a christian am truly at war with my own sin nature. Jesus came to heal the sick and reach out to others. If the kingdom of God is reaching out to widow's and orphans, where does that leave me. I am more worried about making sure I like my job than I am about reaching out to others.

I don't feel bad that I am this way, I just know that it is typical. Me, not wanting to be typical wants to be one who reaches out to others and shows them God through a relationship (no matter how good or bad at it that I am) that I have with them. People have to know that I am real and not perfect.

Blue Like Jazz has challenged me to see myself as evil and in much need of grace. I find myself getting vain in my christianity and that isn't healthy ever, so while I don't feel judgemental of others, I know I can be that way and am now challenged to step back and give grace as much as I need it.

I know that God covers all types and he covers me equally. I could be only steps away from being Hitler but today, I have to believe that if I were Hitler, if I were a the biggest little white liar, if I were a murderer, if I were living a gay lifestyle, if I were the columbine killers, I could find God who gives grace equally and amply to all who come asking.

In finding equality in Grace, I believe that you find true peace with your sin and can learn to give away God's amazing gift in absolute humility knowing that the receiver of grace is in as much need of it as you are. I am sorry for my sin, I admit that to God and accept His Grace facedown.

Now that I can receive grace, my life must change to walk in the light - fighting against my sin nature or sin tendencies. Typically giving into sin can no longer be something I do. I must be vigil and ready to fight sin, knowing that in my loss God is my ally.

Blue Like Jazz 2

2005-05-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

Chapters 4-6 pull out the idea that God draws us to him. The idea that we have an internal radar that seems to bring us to God at just the right time. He tells the story of Laura whose dad is a pastor but she is an athiest. She seems to know that God is telling her she needs to accept him, that she has something internal that is drawing her to God.

I believe that we were created to worship and created to have relationship with our creator. It seems obvious that what draws us to him is the emptiness we feel when we don't feel that slot with what is appropriate. I think that we get selfish with our time, our lives, our friends or family and it is at that point when we aren't fulling living in harmony with our body, mind, and spirit. When we find that balance we usually are at the bottom of a valley and its then that we get selfless and let God get in control.

I wish I could find a way to get out of the way of God more.

Kingdom Of Heaven

2005-05-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

I saw the new Orlando Bloom Movie this - Kingdom Of Heaven. While its not a great movie, I left feeling more aware of my faith and more aware of how earth shattering Jesus was to religion.

The story goes like this: A blacksmith has lost his child to sickness and his wife commits suicide over her depression of their loss. The blacksmith is visited by his long-lost father who tells him that he is of noble birth but isn't interested in becoming something he is not. The father needed to make peace with those he had wronged and thus he reaches out to his son.

When the blacksmith decides not to leave his home, his priest (religion) tells him that God is angry with him and that his wife is in hell due to her suicide. The blacksmith kills the priest and is forced to flee his home and catch his father who is headed back to Jerusalem. The father tells the son that in Jerusalem a man is not made honorable by birth, wealth or by family but by his actions of his life alone. That the kingdom of heaven is one of moving forward in life by making good decisions. Decisions to defend the helpless, to place a hierarchy on no one, and to respect all people.

When the good king that keeps the peace dies, an evil king is in line. The royalty of the day want the blacksmith to agree for them to kill the evil heir and marry his wife (the princess) so that he will become king of Jerusalem and defend its people. When he says he will not commit evil for good to occur someone states: one day you will regret that you did a little evil to accomplish a lot of good. This decision is you seeing that this man will not dishonor himself for a little bit of political power but that a real leader leads as God leads and in God's time.

The greedy evil king takes power and sparks a war only to be defeated. When the Muslim troops march on Jerusalem the blacksmith prepares to defend his people and it is then that all men become equals. He eraces bloodlines, faiths, nobility, and slaves and draws all men to a single cause which is to defend the helpless. He gives stature to servants and calls them knights.

They fight for a few days but only to a draw. When the Muslim leader signals that he wants to discuss surrender, the blacksmith draws his advisors to himself. The main priest of Jerusalem tells him to convert to islam and confess later. The blacksmith says, you have just summed up religion in one sentence.

So my point.....

"May he who is without sin cast the first stone" - Jesus

Jesus didn't come to set some free. He came to set all free! This eliminated bloodlines, wealth, gender, and on and on. This made way for all people to have a door direct to the father of creation. Jesus calls on believers to make the world a better place by defending people who cannot defend themselves, to free slaves, to fight religion, to fight falsities and to right wrongs. This is being the salt of the world! This is being light in a dark place.

Everything about Jesus was blasphemy to religion. So today, I want to do more to share this good news with people around me. I want to help people see God for who he is - a real, loving father. I want to be found blasphemous but be found to have real faith.

Blue Like Jazz 1

2005-05-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

The next series of posts will be as I walk through the Blue Like Jazz book by Donald Miller. Its an interesting read. A sort of On The Road look at Christianity.

Finding a Father: It's interesting the comparison that is drawn between your heavenly Father and your Earthly father. I have been listening to Andrew Peterson's christmas album and he has a song about Joseph and how he started out as a normal guy and became one of the noblest people we could ever hope to meet. It makes you think about how Jesus dealt with his father on earth and his father in heaven....

I am going through a time right now trying to define my parents role in my life. As a kid you either grow up thinking the world of your parents or hating every minute they are around. This attitude changes with every voice crack. A problem arises when you become a peer of your parents. You as adult may not get along with them as adults. The problem is that they have been adults for a long time and so there are ways they do things. These life experiences help them make decisions but they aren't perfect and don't always make the best decisions.

The same can be said for God. Sometimes you grow up not liking him so much and sometimes you like him alot. The beauty of God is that he has been an adult forever and always makes good decisions which may not be your strong point. What I love about God is that he is always right where you left him. Our parents can flake out, our friends flake out, and people we trust make bad decisions but when you know God you can count on him. When you look at his span of decisions you can predict what his next decision is. If we could get our decision making process to be like his, wow we would make good decisions - decisions to not sin, to have ultimate faith in him, to trust him always, to rely on him for our needs, to trust his will over ours.

I think the best picture of this decision aligning comes from Jesus in the Garden on the night before. Everything we have would plead to not go through what he was about to go through but he knows that the best decision he can make is to ultimately trust God and trust that God knows what he is doing.

I wish I could do that more....

Plastic Faith

2005-05-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share an interesting thought

-----From RelevantMagazine.com
Just go ahead and place me in the “Pre-Teen Girl” bracket of market segmentation. You see, I have a confession to make—I recently downloaded the brand new Backstreet Boys single. I heart boy bands. In fact, I have a general affinity toward the whole genre of manufactured, shallow pop. Why? I have no idea really. I just know that “I Want It That Way.”My retort is this: Why the backlash against these kinds of bands? The answer, of course, is that they are not a band. They don’t write their own songs. Most of the time, you have to wonder if they even sing their own songs. Groups such as N’Sync, 98 Degrees and the like survive on the backs of junior high students with nothing else to do but call local radio and MTV with requests and spend mom’s money. To anyone else, these artists are not artistic at all.

Instead, they are fake, plastic and nothing but a perpetuation of our image-driven society.The same argument can be, and has been, made against our current Christian culture. The cry of a generation has been against the fake, plastic, image-driven nature of our Christian subculture. The world mocks a religion that looks no different than anyone else, and movies such as Saved can successfully portray the ridiculous ways in which the Church has gone about the Great Commission.Our problem lies in the fact that our values are no different than the world’s. We look the same. In fact, we even strive to look the same. If the world has a type or mold of something—whether it is fashion, music or literature—suddenly the Church is scrambling within its subculture to mimic the product.

Our hope is that our cleaner version of what is out there will be enough to get noticed.But we were never meant to copy the world and make it better. We were never meant to take something that exists and make it moral. Our cleaner versions, moral products or less-offensive music will never save the world. To the world, we just seem fake and trying way too hard to convince the world to live life our way. The only thing that can save the world is Jesus Christ. And the way that Jesus taught His followers to live was counter-culturally.

To bring the kingdom of God to earth is to value things that the world does not value. It means that image doesn’t matter. It means that being relevant to culture falls at the altar of love and sacrifice. It means that we go about things like reconciliation, marriage, handling money and relationships differently than the rest of the population.Ultimately, this means that a lot of us have to stop looking at everyone else and trying to be who they are. This means that a lot of churches need to stop looking to the world to decide on what to teach. This means that we all need to take a close look in the mirror and an even closer look at our Bibles and be willing to mimic the only person who embodied the Gospel. Only then will the world take us seriously … because we will have taken Him seriously.

Review: LCD Soundsystem

2005-05-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

LCD Soundsystem
(self-titled)

Fortunately for all of us, James Murphy, the writer/producer/instrumentalist/programmer for LCD Soundsystem found vinyl at a young age in a boring New Jersey neighborhood. Murphy takes a whole world of punk, dance, trance, funk and rock and builds one magical record. From the album opening purity of hosting a Daft Punk show in a basement, to the self-beratement on “losing my edge,” LCD Soundsystem exudes passion over a musical form that only a vinyl librarian could have.

While the album is diverse and has its musical up’s and down’s you find yourself really listening to the informed lyrics as well as the interesting breaks and beats. Basically you get the sense that even if you are really into music, Murphy knows way more about it than you do but in a way that makes you love what he is doing.
Highlights include: “Daft Punk is Playing at My House,” “Movement,” and “Losing My Edge”.