Should I stay or should I go?

So I'm considering switching my blog layout and publishing tool from this current blogger one to WordPress. Check it out and let me know what you, the reader, thinks about it.

Me against me against me

I realized in a new way today just how violent and difficult it is to live out a life which is centered in around the 8 beatitudes of Sermon on the Mount. It is narrow and it is difficult and it is really stinkin' hard.

But in case you're having trouble being 'poor in spirit', Jesus' suggests you give away your money, and then don't tell anybody about it.

I'm wouldn's say I am glad that there's such a battle going on within me, but at least knowing that there is a battle is helpful.

We are called to holiness in this life and then happiness in the age to come, not earthly pleasure now and then redemtion for our wasted years and so lots of fun then.

a3 Jetta Boy

Tonight I'm picking up my old roomate for 4 years, Ben, who now lives in Roseville, California, and is coming to visit for the week.

Ben is an awesome friend. He and I hung out so much over those 4 years that we developed our own sense of humor. On more than one occasion we have made off the cuff joke punchlines durring a conversation where we both say the same comment at the same time, but it was not a 'quote' or an 'inside joke', it was it's own unique phrase.

Ben is a great guy. He moved to Cali a year and a half ago because he met a cute girl out there. Now they're married and are expecting Little Cunnington in the late fall.

Starbucks Culture

The more I drink coffee the more I become aware of the sub-culture that is involved. Then the more I learn about that sub-culture the more I see how much Starbucks has molded it.

Holy Moly, Starbucks is taking over America. Well, maybe not taking over but they are at least telling us what the best way to spend $3.85 on 12 ounces of liquid is..."Tall, Decaf, Cappucino."

Did you know that coffee is the most popular drink in the whole world? 400 Billion cups of coffee are sipped down every year: that's more than 1,000 cups per second. How did one company that originally thought to brew coffee was the consumer's responsibilty end up defining the way we drink our coffee, order our coffee and expect our coffee to taste?

I've been to coffee shops where they get mad if you order a 'grande' instead of a 'medium'; "Don't you know this isn't Starbucks?"

I didn't totally get into the coffee pool until I started traveling with the onething™ team. Starbucks is a high priority when you're living out of a suitcase and not using your own shower. I think I now know the location of every Starbucks in every city we've ever gone to.

Did you know you can tell a lot from someone based on the type of drink they order? You can tell a whole lot. I'm finding out that the real 'purists' order brewed coffee or americanos. And they like them black. I think people who drink black coffee are like people who shop at Costco. Most of us don't do it be we recognize that it's probably way to go and we give respect where it's due, but we just aren't quite to that level yet.

Some Ammusing Facts:

1. My parents didn't allowed to drink coffee until I was 16 years old in fear that it may stunt my growth
2. I'm 5' 8" tall
   
3. I'm the tallest member of my immediate faimily (hmmm....coincidence?)
4. I don't shop at Costco
   

Birthday Gift Roster

1. Two pounds of coffee from Broadway Cafe
2. One pound of coffee from Crowfoot Valley
3. A Krups Burr Grinder (for use with above gifts)
4. Raspberry Jam
   
5. A box of Whoppers
6. Two bags of Mountain Man
7. Dean & Deluca gift certificate
8. Very strange finger painting of a cow in a field
9. A green polo shirt
10. A silver, blue and black stripped tie
11. Clue (the game)
12. Some dough
13. An e-card (the method here is not how I prefer to be wished well, although it would be a fun way to blow out the candles on the cake)
    

25 Years Old

Today is my 25th Birthday.

So far, it's a great day. I'm brewing some coffee sent by my parents from the local rostarie back home, and I'm about to have an english muffin with some homemade rasberry jam.

Today, in an odd way, marks a new chapter for me. When I was in high school my best friend, Jim, and I promised eachother we'd go sky diving before we turned 25. It's now been 7 years since we made that promise, and I'm realising that I'm not who or where nor with the people I thought I'd be.

The first thing is that I don't live back in Castle Rock. If you've been reading on this blog for longer than a day you probably know how much I love Colorado.

Other things that are differnet is that I'm not around the guys I grew up with. Half of them live in California now, only is still back in Colorado.

The third thing different about my life is what I'm doing. I went to college to be a youth minister with expectations of traveling around speaking at youth conferences. Although I'm quite close to that dream while doing the Onething Regionals, it's not quite what I had in mind.

These differences however are not bad. I would say the only thing I really bum about is not living in Colorado, but Anna and I will be moving back one day so I don't mind waiting.

The comrades I have now are some of the most marvelous, amazing men and women of God I can imagine. Obviously they don't replace my childhood buddies, but I have realized that they're not supposed to replace them nor will the friends I have now be replaced when I move back to Colorado.

My job with IHOP is so far from what I thought I'd be doing in ministry for my twenties. I graduated high school with full plans to go into the ministry, but not into one that has kept me so 'hidden.' As I think about what I've been doing with the past 5 years of my life since I moved out here to Kansas City, I am so thankful. I'm thankful for a leadership staff that has discipled me in a Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. I am so glad the Lord has put me in this ministry.

Looking ahead to the next 7 years in my life and thinking about the same three questions, Who, Where, What; I realize that the only one I have control over is none. The only thing I can do between now and then is to daily maintain my relationship with God and to continually grow in meekness and love towards the Word and towards others.

New Gear

So I bought a new snare a few days ago. A Pork Pie 7x13 orange, acrylic snare drum. This was quite a leap from what I've been playing for the last 10 years. 10 years ago I bought a Remo 13x3.5 Mastersound piccolo snare with the profits from the "All American Heros" t-shirt sales, and a few "All American Hepos" because we ran out of 'r's.

My Remo snare has served me faithfully for years. I was constantly getting great comments on how well it sounded, but as the nature of playing drums goes: things end up breaking after time. I did some math to get a rough estimate of how many times I've hit that snare and I figured in the 10 years I've had it I've hit it around 8 Million times! A lot of that goes to the fact I've been playing at IHOP frequently and consistently for almost 5 years now. The reason my snare broke though, is because those 8,000,000 rim shots were all done in the same location on the drum; I always set it up the same way whenever I played it.



The next items on my drumming shopping cart were two new Zildjian Dark Crash Cymbals.

This is an exciting purchase because I haven't had crash cymbals for about 8 months now. That's like a secretary not having a handset for her phone.

There is a very logical and reasonable answer as to why it's been so long since I had cymbals: I decided that since I play so much at IHOP and travel so much with Merchant Band and Onething that I ought to pursue an endorsement. So I worked very hard to put together a press kit to send of to Istanbul Cymbals, hoping they would give me free stuff. I even had a great editor help me out with the content. But unfortunately I never really sent off the press kit and after 6 months of procrastinating I finally drove down the road to guitar center and ended my misery. The good news is if I do get that press kit sent off sometime soon and they accept me then I can just sell my Zildjians on eBay.

Worlds of Fun

Anna took me to Worlds of Fun today with some great friends of ours, Josh and Sarah, as a celebration Josh's and my birthdays this weekend. This was the first time any of us had been to Kansas City's amusement park, and we were all surprised at how much fun we had.

I realized today that I have a mindset towards Kansas City that everything out here is somewhat "less than" or below average compared to other major cities. Throughout the day today I found myself standing in line to go on a roller coaster already expecting it to not be that enjoyable. However, I was pleasantly surprised time and time again today. After riding nearly every roller coaster that had a height limit I re-assessed my stereotype towards Kansas City and have now concluded that although Kansas City will never be Denver, it still can hold it's own. Although this is not true in regards to the road conditions and the quality and speed of construction.