d.c. times

well, i looked for a geocache, but the distances on my gps must've been off. when i got out of the car it looked like the 'cache was about a couple of hundred yards a way, but when i got on the trail and started walking ... that winding trail started to add up to at least half of a mile, and i am out of shape. plus, it wasn't a flat walk. it was up and down hills, and up and down hills. needless to say, i did not get to the 'cache.

i got back to my room and got ready for the game. i met michael about 3:00 and then we headed to springfield where we got on the metro. we had the option of taking the blue line all the way to the stadium station, or transfer from the blue line to the yellow line and then back to the blue line to save some time. we stayed on the blue line and stopped at the arlington cemetary. have you ever seen the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknowns? its a part of living history, in my book. i find it very awesome.

after that we got back on the metro and went to the united game. wow! that was so cool! the united have this section of cheering fans with drums and horns and cheering and jumping. its so cool, it must be like being at a game in europe. the stands of rfk stadium were shaking. if i make it back for business and the united are in town ... i'm going!! the score ended in a 1 - 1 tie, but the refs disallowed a goal because of an offsides that would've put united ahead. in my opinion there was no offsides. the ball came off the post and a united player slammed it into the back of net. bad call. oh yeah, ado had an AWESOME misdirection and faked a fc dallas defender out of his boots. it was cool!

then today i went to church at springfield coc, and they remembered me from wednesday night. it was neat. then i went to quizno's for my first time ever. that sandwich was great! then i walked around best buy for a couple of hours, and bought 2 u2 cd's; joshua tree, and war. then i drove by mclean bible church to get my bearings so i would know how to get there for their evening service. then i went to some stores around the church to waste some time.

i then went to the church to do some reading, and get a snack, and wait for the service to start. the service was like i mentioned in my previous post. i walked away stoked. the guy, todd, talked about the future release of the da vinci code, and how it is a book of lies, and total fiction. i got a neat hand out that will give some great ammunition to fire back at people asking, "what about this? and what about that?" from the book. the singing at the service was great, and i just had a great time. very freshing.

now i am back in my room blogging, and preparing for the week, and watching one of my favorite movies: forrest gump (imagine that, another tom hanks movie. i like tome hanks.).

wow, its been awhile

what makes this kinda funny is the comment from my buddy and friend chris. he left a comment on my last posting asking if i was "still there." i think that is funny, because i think he has posted less than i have lately. however, he's right. i have been slacking.

here's what has been going on lately for me. well, i'm in the d.c. area for business for the next week. one of the good things about being here is that i am planning on going to see the d.c. united play fc dallas at rfk. i am going with a co-worker.

wednesday night was cool. i went to church at the springfield church of Christ. mike cope blogged about it a couple of months ago, and i went to visit them wednesday night, and i plan to be there sunday morning, too. while i was there i think just about every guy i spoke to went to harding university, and some of them said that they thought they might know my cousin's husband (greg), and ryan.

then sunday night i plan on trying to link up with some old friends from arlington. they go to mclean bible church. i have visited with them in the past when i have been in the d.c. area for business. everytime i visit that church i come away stoked. there services are awesome.

what's been up with y'all? i might even try to get in a geocache before i head to d.c.

mantras, pt II

today (in this God soaked moment of life) ...
... i will be incompetent.
... i will be fully present to the person in front of me, and to the Lord over me.
... i will be Christ to others.
... i will see Christ in others.

these are the mantras i like best. here is why:

today (in this God soaked moment of life) ...
... i will be incompetent.

i will not rely on what i think i know. i will rely on what God has given me.

today (in this God soaked moment of life) ...
... i will be fully present to the person in front of me, and to the Lord over me.

almost self evident. don't you think? give the person that is talking to you your attention. give them your time.

today (in this God soaked moment of life) ...
... i will be Christ to others.

we need to be Christ to others. now that one is self evident. we are to show the world who Christ is by living as Christ would live here on this earth, because we may be the only Christ they have seen. now i am not saying that i am Christ, but we are to live as He would.

today (in this God soaked moment of life) ...
... i will see Christ in others.

we are to see Christ in others, because we are to treat others the way we want to be treated, and we are to love them the way we want to be loved.

i just wanted to share these with you. this may sound like a re-run (i've posted on these before), but i wanted to share them again.

mantras

do you know any mantras? do you go by any mantras? here are some that i think are good to go by. let me know what you think they mean, and i will share with you later what i think they mean.

today (in this God soaked moment of life) ...
... i will be incompetent.
... i will be fully present to the person in front of me, and to the Lord over me.
... i will be Christ to others.
... i will see Christ in others.

these are my favorites. btw, i can't think of any others, so that is where you come in. how would you define the mantras above, and what are some mantras that you know?

tradition

... tradition should be allowed to be itself; that is, the living voice of the very human church as it struggles with scripture, sometimes misunderstanding it and sometimes gloriously getting it right.

Taken from: N. T. Wright's

The Last Word, pp. 117ff.

i read this in mike cope's blog this afternoon. i was privileged this morning to precide over one of the greatest traditions that our tribe follows; communion.

i love communion! i think that it is the central act of our worship service, and the honor to lead the congregation in something that Jesus did for His disciples, to me, is awesome!

i remember the first time i took communion. it was minutes after my baptism. i was a little confused by what it was, because i had never partook before, and brother howard (fyi, i don't call people brother or sister so-and-so because i think we are who we are. that is my opinion.) served me. i don't remember his first name, that is what everybody called him, so that's how i remember him.

i also remember taking communion once on a saturday. what do you think about that? it wasn't sunday, and i didn't die from a lightning strike afterwords. come to think of it, Jesus served in on a thursday, if memory serves me right.

the communion i remember was served individually to all those participating. the servers stood at the front of the sanctuary, and we came up one by one from a line formed leading up to them. the server handed me the piece of bread, and looked me in the eye, and handing me the bread, said,

"ken, this is the body of Jesus Christ, broken for you."

tears welled up and fell from my eyes. then another server handed me the wine, and likewise, looked me in the eye, and said,

"ken, this the blood of Jesus Christ shed for the remittence of you sins."

WOW!! what a Savior!! what a tradition!!

we did a communion service similar to this at park row one year, and can you believe it, some people who you would think that would be against it said, " ... that was very nice. why haven't we done that before?"

what are some traditions that you can think of that if they were not done the way remember doing them they would not be legitimate?