A hoot.

I said in my previous post that I was hanging out with my brother, and we watched a movie. Said movie was named 'The Ice Pirates'. If you ever get the chance, go to a pawn shop or back alley video store and buy/rent - I recommend buying - The Ice Pirates. It's about the world where it's only prized commodity is Ice and the bad guys (The Templars) have total control over it. Bands of Ice Pirates, led by Robert Ulrich(80s actor...odd thing about this guy, I remember seeing him, but it was never anything I could rememeber), rise up to do what they do naturally; steal and pillage circa the 23rd century by way of 1984. Hilariousness and cheese abound.

It also has Ron Perlman (plays Hellboy, here in one of his first movie roles, whose character is strong, machismo Pirate by day, effeminate, seasoned cook by night), a really awkward and almost non-sequitur love scene (two words, Passion. Storm. Nuff said.), and Bruce Vilanch (this guy):


It was a hoot indeed.

Tally ho!!!

So last night I drove to Ridgway. About 20 miles from Montrose. It's a short jaunt. I drove there to visit my brother and his newly betrothed wife, Annie. Annie was at work for most of the evening, so Justin and I had dinner and watched a movie. It was good and different seeing him.

It's weird seeing my brother in this new light. I realize nothing has changed, save for the ring on his finger. I can't begin to fathom what it must be like to have a person in your life nearly 24/7, but it's an adjustment for family too. I have a sister. My little bro doesn't live in the same house anymore. He has a new place of his own (which is actually a first for him anyways) and a new life to boot.

I am so proud and happy for my new brother and sister-in-law. They look so happy together and have been even before the marriage. They are the kind of couple you root for. They are the ones you know are going to last. And I know Justin. He's not a quitter. Stubborn as the day he was born, the last thing he would allow is an ending to his marriage. Annie is the same as well, only sweeter and less rough around the edges.

Here's to a new life Justin and Annie.

Identity.

One of the issues a blogger deals with is their identity. Just like a tweener arriving at the age of 13, we have to begin to form what and who we are going to display to the world. In my 9000th attempt at a blog, I am encountering this issue.

Am I going to be fun? Contemplative? Whimsical? Goofy? Boring?

All of these words, plus a googleplex more I think through.

Any ideas?

Just kidding. This here in itself is an attempt at internet-image formulation. Feeling people out (if you actually read this, comments appreciated).

I imagine I look a bit like this:
So with time, effort, energy and persistence, I hope to look a little more along the lines of a charmingly handsome, funny, chiseled abs, quarterback for a notable football team.

Wow. I need help.

Thoughts on Retiring.

You ever wonder what it would take to be truly happy?

In my mind, this can only go one of three ways:

1)Yes.
2)No.
3)Only on the weekends.

Addendum: "Ask me in five minutes".

Yet I wonder, should it 'take' anything to make us happy? Truly? Should it occur naturally, or do we create our own happiness? Is our ultimate glee wrapped up in a force beyond our control or is it consumed by what's going on on the inside?

I have a friend in my life right now that believes heavily in the force of karma. This person and I have had many a conversation about this. I think that everything happens for a reason and that their ultimate happiness is wrapped up in its positive return.

This friend believes one must do good. I agree fully, I say. But how can doing something simply because they feel it will make them a better person not simply translate into selfishness?

I have a few people in my life like this. They believe they can get to the end of their life on "good behavior" and then let it be it. No life after, no continuation. No fellowship.

Fellowship and friendship is the way we know there is a God. To what good end would having friends and family and then to be somehow nothing or separated from these people after our death?

I want to know that at the end of my life, that I will see people like my Grandpa Cummings and my Uncle Doug.

Not some black nothing and a fake gold Rolex.

The world is small.

Many of my friends who are in missions full-time or were at some point will agree with this statement:

Missions makes the world smaller.

Obviously it doesn't make the world physically smaller. Come on. Christians would pretty much have a corner on physics if this were true.

I'm talking about how the distance between people is so infinitesimally critical when you are a missionary. Even having been apart from missions for over a year, I still manage to run into people with whom we have a mutual friend, family-member, or person who taught in a school we were in.

Take this person for example:



My fellow Salem Winter DTSers know this person. SHE WAS IN MY HOUSE TONIGHT!!!! She's marrying a good friend of my brothers. My family has been good friends with his family for about 10 years now and we know them primarily through YWAM.

I got to talk to her about what's happened in the time since we last saw each other, what she and her soon-to-be husband are planning on doing, and what's become of the other people that our DTS worked with while in Kampong Cham, Cambodia.

It's true, missions does make the world smaller. Just do a DTS, wait some inordinate amount of time. You will run into someone you met after being separated by distance and time.

Just watch.

Endless possibilities.

I have to do this one quick, as I have work in 30 minutes.

I went camping with my family this weekend, and during one of my conversations with my parents, the subject of what both of us are going to be doing came up. My parents are in the process of selling their house in order to go work with Kathy Carlson. She runs an orphanage for girls rescued from prostitution. It has been a dream of mother to work overseas since 1985. My dad has been following the dream with my mom since 1999. It has been an amazing story of obedience and change that perhaps I'll tell if you ask.

They will be doing a year-long language school, where soon after they will be placed in a ministry in Latin America.

But there is a snag: the house hasn't had any promising buyers. My parents know that the selling of their house will be in God's timing, as their isn't much that they can do beyond praying and advertising the selling of their house.

So my parents will be living in Montrose for as long as it takes to sell the house. Which my parents continue to supply their offer to let me live in the house.

So with that, I will be continuing to save up money to pay off my college student loans (18K+, donations accepted! ;-) ) in order that I may pursue the next phase of my life.

Which at this point, is narrowed down to these three possibilities:
1)Grad school, Youth Pastor
2)Grad school, Marriage and Family Counselor
3)YWAM Staffer

These three items are by no means static and are subject to almost definite change, but this is where I feel God leading me. I have about another year to pray and search God for my next step after June of next year. I really do have a plethora of opportunities. These three choices alone afford me the ability to travel to new places and meet new people. And I'm excited to see which materializes.

And yes, I just used the word plethora.

Podunk.

Creativity.

I hear many friends talking about it. Several of my friends thrive on it and rely on it to get them through the day. For a smaller group of them, they rely on it for a meal ticket.

It is becoming something that I also feel I need to rely on. That I must do the opposite of stagnate. Living in a town such as Montrose, it admittedly becomes a burden. Small towns are life suckers for some people.

And I have no idea why.

I think that certain people may need to leave their small town. I'm just simply pointing out a truth about living in this town. But there are some of those that I graduated from high school with that live here and live happy lives. The majority of them live happier lives than those that have left.

Or at least they are more at peace with their choice to stay.

I have friends that have an allergic psychological reaction when they come here. They freak out and start talking about buying things and leaving the minute they arrive. They feel a certain presence. As if their arrival here signals some sort of change in the atmosphere and they began to feel the need to turn their car around and leave for fear of their life.

This may be a perfectly natural reaction to a life that is carried out in a big city. Big city dwellers often feel like 'there is nothing to do in this town'. It lacks cultural stimulation. I have heard people say this town has no identity. It's a nice place to pass through.

But I propose, it is hardly the above listed things.

This town is a place where life happens. It may not be packaged in a way that is typical, normal or neat, but it is alive. This town is growing and the people that don't like it are the ones that are helping to make it. Families thrive here. The future of our country may rest on the shoulders of those who are discovering the universe in a small town in Southwestern Colorado.

There are no insignificant people. To say that would be selling ourselves and others short.

Adieu.

A lazy Thursday night.

A friend who has since left Montrose asked me a few days ago "You're not going to be lingering in Montrose too long are you?". Those words were interesting to me, and the individual knows this, as my effectiveness should not be seen as moreso simply because I don't live in a city of millions. I have left Montrose on two occasions since I left here in 2001 for a life on my own. And each of those homecomings have been bittersweet.

I have on one hand the loss of friends; many of them have moved away from here and on with their lives. Either that, or they have started a life of their own with a spouse and a few kids to boot.

On the second hand I have learned much about myself, about the world around me that helps me to live a life that is content; independent of my location. I am also surrounded by family and a new heap of friends, from all walks of life. I am so grateful for the many people in my life right now.

There's a saying, many people have heard it I'm sure cheesily quoted in a movie (which the name escapes me right now......) -

- Wherever you go; there you are.

Now I don't know if my context is right (I think this is about two people always being together even when they are apart), but it applies in principle. I am where I need to be. There are no coincidences in this life. It is full of purpose and meaning. I gain purpose in working a job that , to some, might be a dead-end. I gain purpose in sitting in a room full of screaming, antsy teenagers. I gain purpose in putting off my education for a time. I gain humility in living with one's parents at 25 that it most assuredly brings. Humility, brokenness, honesty and love. They each are learned in the previously listed circumstances and through my encounter with each new day.

I say this because I am not in control of my life. My life rests in a place that should be obvious. If not, I apologize for being too vague for you.

Idea for a song?

Someone has to wonder
What happened to my brother
On a desert somewhere far away.

He's taken his time
Finding a home thats alright
Know he doesn't belong where he be.

Now he's broken his shine
Sold himself for a dime
Never wondering if what he is might need change.

And I know that you don't
Want to know how you are
I can see it in your absent stare
Yet I can't help but think
In that simple, slow blink
That you might have found a way out yet.

You are a scream
A metaphorical queen
'A anthem unto herself' the people sing.

Yet she's fooled herself
An imitation of wealth
For a fool thinks and does in their heart.

So she took a vow
To not be who they are
A woman left alone by the world
Should I run that way
For fear of an axe so small?
She don't know enough of love to persist.

Shove your love out the door
Though your aching and sore
Absent minded of the one you adore.

Manufactured in grace
This life you take you can make
An improvement if you just turn around

I love you my friend
But with your heart un-amend
You might find your lonely again