City of Blinding Lights

Gonna go w/ the fam to Manhattan for 4 days in mid-May to celebrate my brother's impending graduation from law school. We have a fair amount of activities already planned, but anyone have any specific recommendations for activities/food that we absolutely should not miss?

It's like a carrot to a hungry man

A conversation that took place last night with Shally after the Warriors beat the Mavericks to earn their first spot in the NBA playoffs since 1994:

Shally: So do the Warriors have any chance in the first round?

Bob: No, not really. They're playing the best team in the league.

S: Well that's kind of sad, isn't it? It's hopeless...

B: See, being a Warriors fan these last 13 years has kind of been like... say you hadn't eaten anything for 13 years. Then, someone gives you a carrot. You'd think it tastes pretty awesome.

Compare that to my fandom of the Spurs (which is not sports bigamy, under the Sports Guy's rules, because I began following the Admiral while he was still in college), who've made the playoffs almost every season since 1989. After a lot of carrots, you get tired of them; they get a little dry. At that point, you want steak... which is like winning the championship.

So, from the Spurs, I've gotten to taste 3 steaks in the last 10 years... but with the Warriors, all us fans are just hungry folks gobbling up carrots, and they taste pretty darn good.

... Hm, the analogy sounded a lot more clever to me when I was saying it then when I'm writing it. Ah well.

The NBA playoffs are here... for the next two months I'm going to be inundated with the drama of almost daily hoops competition. There is almost no first-round matchup that doesn't have some intrigue... time to put ESPN HD to the test!

For perspective, the last time the Warriors made the playoffs (1994):
- The top-grossing films were Forrest Gump, Lion King, and True Lies
- Some musicians on the top of the charts included Ace of Base, the Real McCoy, Janet Jackson, and Nirvana
- Star Trek: The Next Generation concluded, and both ER and Friends premiered
- OJ Simpson... 'nuff said
- Major League Baseball went on strike
- Netscape Navigator 1.0 was released
- Several of the kids in youth group weren't even born yet

Speaking of the youth group, this past weekend's youth retreat went quite well. I think it was important for the youth to hear the message that God's grace is already given to them, and that God sees them as saints (who still sin, but are covered by grace) rather than sinners who need to attain some level of holiness before they'd be accepted by God. I know that was a message I never quite internalized when I attended church during high school.

It was touching to hear testimonies from high schoolers saying that for the first time, they felt like they could worship God even though they might feel like they were too messed up for Him to accept their worship. It's a freeing thing to know we don't have to earn God's love and acceptance. I suspect there are plenty of non-youth in the church who need to hear the very same message. Heck, I forget it and need to be reminded of it often myself.

Back to sports... baseball season has started, and I really don't care much. I exert so much mental energy on the NBA and NFL (for fantasy football) that I really do need to take a break during the summer. So fare thee well, Giants and A's... wake me up if you make it to the playoffs.

24 has had something of an uneven season... at least two significant loose plot ends (Logan and Jack's dad), some pointless characters (Milo and Nadia) and acting that can't quite touch the stellar cast from last season. But, there's some promise for the rest of this one. Jack vs. China!

Lost, on the other hand, has taken quite a turn for the better. It's almost as if the producers realized they couldn't keep coming up with crap because even loyal viewers were losing patience. The last few eps have been genuinely enthralling.

Go Sharks!

Go Warriors!

WE BELIEVE PLAYOFF!

Wednesday funnies - the sequel

Following in the tradition of the previous Wednesday funnies post, a few more laughs to get you over the hump and into the latter half of the week:

They didn't study

Culled from around the web...








Look what a college education can get you



This is why I'm not big on beaches


(Note: Yes, this is a real picture. But it is misleading - the silhouette is actually a bottlenose dolphin).

A different kind of birthday

A little over ten years ago, on Easter Sunday, 1997, I stood up in front of the congregation at Canaan and publicly claimed my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. Even though I had been attending church during my high school years, it never really clicked for me during that time that salvation was a gift to be accepted, rather than a merit badge to be earned. I had gone through high school with the idea that just as I went to school to train my mind, I would go to church to train my soul and conscience. During my first year of college, however, I got a glimpse of and began to understand what fellowship was and who the Bible said Jesus was, and I figured I'd go ahead and get baptized.

I wore a suit. I wrote and read a testimony that included lyrics from the now-old-schoolish praise song "Just the Time (I Want to Know You More)". Pastor Dan dipped his hand into a chalice of water and wet my head (no dunk tank, unfortunately). Friends from Berkeley came down to witness and pledge to keep me accountable to the commitment of faith I had taken.

Ever since then, it's been a wild ride trying to understand this thing called discipleship. The half year after baptism, I went through the worst time of my life where everything I valued fell apart - knowing now that God was breaking down my old self so I could be built back up again. I've read through the Bible a few times and tried to learn how to be a servant leader. I've been able to see some of God's heart for the poor in the inner city of New York and in Mexico. I've had the privilege of leading Bible studies, musical worship, and working with high schoolers. I've been able to serve as a deacon and see what goes on behind-the-scenes of a church. I've struggled with some sins, gained victory over some others, and experienced God's grace throughout everything.

Now, ten years after being baptized, I look back on the path that God's brought me through and I become more convicted of the need for the Gospel on a daily basis. They say that one gauge of growing in spiritual maturity is that you continually realize just how much more wretched you are, and how much more in need of grace. I think I'm seeing this a little bit now, and I need to remind myself of it every day - how joyous it is to know the freedom that comes through grace!

I celebrated my "birthday" on Monday by going to donate blood. I go every 2 months - it's a good habit! - if you want to get started, check out the Stanford Blood Center (get the red out!) or the Red Cross. As I lay there with the warm tube lying against the skin of my arm, the thought came to mind that while I was giving blood in the hope that it would help heal another person from illness, Jesus gave up all his blood to redeem people to himself. The communion that we had taken on Good Friday was basically in remembrance of the divine blood donation that would heal his people from the sickness of sin. Kinda cool.

(Incidentally, if you need extra incentive, you can go to donate blood at Stanford on Mondays and receive an AMC silver voucher - the $5.50 one - as well as a $10 gift certificate to the Sports Basement sporting good store right now!)

The Long Saturday

It's like that long Saturday between your death and the rising day where no one wrote a word, wondered is this the end - "Valleys Fill First", Caedmon's Call

Hopes dashed. Dreams shattered. Crestfallen. Hollow eyes, cotton mouths, and shell-shocked voices.

You can see it on election night at the campaign headquarters of the losing candidate. You can feel it when your favorite sports team snatches defeat from the jaws of victory (most memorable sports moments for me the last few years were Giants vs. Angels in the World Series, and Derek Fisher's 0.4 shot against the Spurs).

This, I think, is probably just a whisper of the state the disciples of Jesus Christ found themselves in over 2000 years ago:

They had just spent 3 years tying their hopes and dreams to a man who they thought would become king.

They had quit jobs, alienated families, and literally had nowhere else to turn and no place to return to.

After seeing their Master leave a trail of blood from a whipping post in Jerusalem, along the Via Dolorosa, and all the way to Golgotha, life probably didn't have much more meaning. There's no real written account of what happened that long Saturday after the brutal execution of Jesus.

Then Sunday came...

LA weekend recap

Last weekend, a bunch of us went down to LA for Andy and Esther's wedding. Karen put up a good recap of everything here.

Coupla observations to add on...

LA driving? May be the greatest deterrent to my ever wanting to live there or spending an extended amount of time there. To wit, Shally and I drove down Friday morning starting at around 9:30, stopped for lunch, and got to the outskirts of LA (5 and 405 interchange) at around 2 pm... then took another 2.5 hrs to go the 30 miles to 605, since we were going to Orange County. Stop and go traffic would be less painful for me if we weren't sitting in a car spewing carbon emissions into the air, but still... 2.5 hrs for 30 miles?

Apparently there was a huge fire in the metropolitan area on Friday - at first we thought it was a depressing cloud of smog (picture courtesy of a poster at the Warriorsworld forums):



I've been to lots of weddings, and helped out with lots of weddings in the following capacities (off the top of my head): worship leader, special music, usher, head usher, gift mover, candlelighter, sound tech, AV tech (reception) - some folks think I should get a business card, heh. This was my first experience as a groomsman and co-best man... first time in a tux and a limo since senior prom (over 10 years ago!).

I've heard plenty of bridesmaids complain about how easy grooms and groomsmen have it on the wedding day. You know what? They're right. While Esther et al were waking up early to do makeup/hair etc, the guys just chilled: slept in, watched some TV, met up around 11 am, got dressed (15 minutes tops... although I had the cuff links on wrong the whole day so the metal was pressing uncomfortably up against my skin, so I probably shouldn't be tooting my own horn here), took some pics... even standing up in front, as much as it took some concentration not to move or sway or whatever, it doesn't compare to having to hold a bouquet of flowers for an hour. Oh yeah, we did one more thing:


We walked by the "largest video game convention on the West Coast" and thought it might be fun to take some pictures inside... we didn't expect the convention folks to put us up on stage and interview Andy about his (and Esther's!) love for video games! Two funny quotes from the interview:

INTERVIEWER: So, when is the wedding?
ANDY: In about 3 hours...
CROWD: It's not too late! Stay here with us!

ANDY: Oh, my fiancee doesn't know I'm here.

Tag-teamed with Byron on a speech at the wedding that I'm sure everyone promptly forgot, but then got to sing this marvelous parody written up by Andrew N (to the tune of "I'll Make Love To You" by Boyz II Men):

(Bob)
Close the tray, then press play
And blow out the candlelight
For tonight is just our night
We're playing video games all through the night...

(Mike P)
RPGs, on my Wii
Girl we'll play them all in time
With your controller and with mine
Here comes level 99, in such little time!

(Chorus)
I'll be Mario, you're my Princess Peach
and I'll hold you tight, baby all through the night
throwing fireballs, eating magic 'shrooms
until I pass out playing next to you...

(Andrew N)
Girl relax, let's go slow
Come and ride my chocobo
'Till we find a whole new world
Just like Shigeru Miyamoto

(Hanlin)
I've been hit, by something strong
I'm gonna need a phoenix down
To revive me from the ground
You've case Cure III on me, now I'll sing it so loud!

(Chorus)

(Byron) - this was awesome
(spoken seductively)
Baby, I've saved a thousand princesses
but none were as fine as you
When I first laid eyes on you
it was game over.. game over man!!

(Chorus 2)
Final Fantasy
that's what you are to me
So I'll hold you tight, baby all through the night
Casting Fire III between you and me
Until we ain't got no more electricity

(Chorus 3)
Final Fantasy
that's what you are to me
So I'll hold you tight, baby all through the night
Casting Fire III between you and me
Until I wake up with you laying next to me

Sunday, visited Evergreen for Sunday service, where Pastor Ken gave some interesting thoughts on the church and how we often plan things out in the opposite manner from what God intends - we figure out what kind of church we want, then who we want church to be for, and then portray the Christ that fits the church, rather than figuring out who Christ really is, and having that inform the mission of the church and finally how the church is structured. Good food for thought and gives me more to pray over with regards to God's vision for Canaan.

Finally, according to Shally and Karen, I drove slower than an 80-year old on highway 5. Hmph.

Best. Commercial. Ever.

This? Looks like so much fun:



EDIT ADD: Danny chimed in to add these clips of grownups doing kid games:





Also, Mike P discovered that the folks at Google Maps (Double True!) have a sense of humor: here.

I can see clearly now the tube is gone

After a few years of staring at one of these:


I am now gladly looking at one of these:


The old axiom that "you don't know what you're missing until you get a taste" (paraphrased) holds true here. I never realized how much eyestrain I was experiencing on the old CRT until I got this thing and realized how much sharper every letter seemed. Now I've gotta see what I can do to get the song that inspired this post's title out of my head...

Here's a mishmash of other thoughts since I haven't written in a while:

- One of my resolutions for this year was to post at least 2x a week. Well, that one went out the window, but I'm still trying to spend time in contemplation of God, life, the church, and the world... and I think He's been teaching me quite a bit. I will endeavor to eventually share some of these thoughts with all three of my readers.

- Speaking of viewing enhancements... our living room is now being graced by an HDTV, just in time for the NBA playoffs. We now have 3 TVs, but only the HDTV has a cable signal coming in - the other two are basically gaming/DVD TVs. Daniel also stashed his XBox360 at our place, so the past two Tuesdays have seen a bunch of guys gleefully chainsawing each other to bits in 2x2 Gears of War.

- This past Sunday playing ball, I couldn't hit a jumper to save my life, but got into a defensive groove of sorts. In the final game I think I blocked 5-6 shots. Reminded me of this good article on shot-blocking from SI.com that I read a few months ago - I suspect Richard would get a kick out of it.

- Recently, Shally and I have begun playing through the first Lego Star Wars game. I'd already played through the sequel with Chris, so we figured we'd start fresh on the first game and figure out the puzzles together. Anyway, all the lightsaber swinging reminded me of two links:

Critique on fighting with lightsabers - written by a sword expert stating some subtle improvements moviemakers could make to sword scenes to make them realistic as well as flashy.

Swordfighting essays - in Japan, we were discussing stuff like a katana user going up against a broadsword or against a rapier. Well, you can check out analyses of those scenarios here and here, respectively.

- Click here to find a good article on the Passion movement, which is now a little over 10 years old. It touches not just on the popularity of the music and of "modern worship" in general, but also gives a good insight into Louie Giglio's vision setting and sticking to it when it would have been tempting to go in other directions. A few excerpts:

"In some ways, Passion has put the words that people are going to say to God into the mouths of an entire generation."

...

Passion's link between worship and missions harks back to evangelical movements like the Moravian Pietists, the continental Europeans from the 18th century who so impressed John Wesley with their fervent prayers and singing. They called for spiritual renewal and promoted worldwide evangelism. When I asked what historical movements inspire him, Giglio mentioned the 19th-century students who organized the Haystack Prayer Meeting and spawned global missions in America.

...

"God may love a well for a village in Africa way more than hearing us sing 'Holy Is the Lord' one more time. That puts meaning behind the $3,000 well," Giglio said. "It's the redeemed making God happy, because we're doing the thing he wants most."

...

"Too long we have preferred theology to passion or passion to theology," Piper said as we talked after his breakout session. "I like Passion and Louie Giglio and have been here 11 years because I believe in the potential to get it together. Most of these students have never heard anyone plead with them to think hard, go deep, get a theology, and jump up and down with David Crowder."

Visual DNA

Taken from Chris' post...:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Third time through...

20He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

Finished the Bible for the third time yesterday - I used a chronological reading schedule for this go-round. Something I observed: yes, it's God's Word, full of wisdom and life-changing truth... but something I discovered this time through is that a lot of it is just darn good reading. There were times that I would think "Eh, just one more chapter" because I wanted to find out what would happen next... even though I ended up being a little late to work in the morning.

Not yet settled on what I'm going to do next (start another go-through, go through a devotional, etc.) but this morning I pulled a book off my shelf that has gotten kind of dusty from disuse these last 6 years and began reading some sections from it. That book? Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. I think I might spend some time reading through the sections on Prayer, the Gospel, grace, and sanctification.