this needed to be recorded somewhere

the following is a transcript of tyler's computer analysis of a chip he supposedly found in my shoulder. following that is the transcript of the analysis of his own shoulder chip. be advised that tyler wrote--er, analyzed--everything here.


Bzzzbzbzbzzbzzzbzbzbzdownloadsounds
Erin is weird and silly.
And
she is
a girl.
She likes to make dinners for tyler
and buy him ties
and make him hot chocolate with minty garnishes
bbwwwwxzzzzwarp
eject


bzzzxxzxczxzzx
does not compute
Tyler is too awesome for computer analysis
and he is way cute
robosounds
asd;fahsdfladslfafjd
awarding Tyler 1000000000000000000 computer cool points
Human points to computer points is
1 to .5
and he likes better movies than erin
because she likes jonfen
and her seeing eye bitch
tyler is a more premium dancer and many women want to be carnal with him

birthday love

i'm finding that i don't know much about love... even though i am positive that i have learned so much in the past few years about loving my brothers and sisters and loving the poor, downtrodden, and outcast. i mean, this is the type of love i know best. community love, family love. but i've got to believe that this is only one face of a multifaceted Love.

as he and i strive to love each other, we both acknowledge that we don't know exactly what love is, what love looks like, how love acts, etc. and, realizing this, i was feeling so helpless and confused and lost and overwhelmed....

but when i read over the infamous love chapter in 1 corinthians, i am reminded that "for now, we know in part..., but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.... now we see but a poor reflection, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. now i know in part; then i shall know fully, even as i am fully known."

wow. so maybe it is ok to not have everything figured out. now we know in part what love is, and we do our best to love each other--and somehow that's good enough.

--------------------------

i’m still learning what love is,
when i’m walking close to you,
the best way to hold your hand in mine,
the best way to comfort you.

guess it may
guess it may
guess it may
guess it may,
it may always be this way.
[rosie thomas]

support New Hope Ministries

dearest friends out there in cyberspace (yes, both of you):

As you know, I'm a huge supporter of New Hope Ministries (http://www.newhopeministries-pa.org/index.shtml)

An easy way to help this organization is through a new Yahoo!-powered search engine called GoodSearch.com. GoodSearch will make a donation to New Hope every time you search the internet! It doesn't cost you anything--the money comes from the advertisers and the stores. GoodSearch.com donates half its advertising revenue--about a penny per search--to the charities its users designate. Use it just like any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

So, instead of using Google.com, go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter New Hope Ministries (Mechanicsburg, PA) as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word! The more people who use this site, the more money will go to those who need it.

thanks for your continued support.

happy november

lately i've become very aware of how i try to push my agenda onto other people.

the basis for my judgments is, of course, my own standards and expectations, and i guess i can't help this. BUT it becomes problematic when i assume that what i think is the absolute rule for all people. since when did i become the standard by which everything is measured?

in the end, it comes down to the idea that i think everyone should be just like me--same style, same personality, same interests, same causes, same music, same taste as me, because what i do and say is good and right and perfect. God, i'm such a snot sometimes; help me to realize and live with the diversity in our world.

sometimes i write honestly

often i equate logic with God. as in, "if i've made this decision with the logic that God's given me, then it must be God's will, right?"

i wonder what the ancient Greeks would think....

excerpts from a week's worth of ranting

how do i deal with somebody with whom i fundamentally disagree BUT we both (claim to) love and serve the same God? i'm not thinking about disagreeing over little things, like which song to sing, but bigger things like what is the purpose of worship? what is our purpose, what were we created for, how do we understand Jesus' words?

helped to serve food at a breakfast ministry this morning. it was difficult for me to know that people don't eat every day.

shane claiborne makes a point that we no longer know the poor. sure, we write big checks to important sounding charities, we serve weekly at a soup kitchen, we go on missions trips, but we don't know the poor people of our own hometown. better than giving money would be befriending and listening to the poor. derek webb puts these words in God's mouth: "more than just your cash and coins, i want your time, i want your voice. i want the things you just can't give me." (actually, that entire song is beautiful. and painful, all at the same time.)

BUT at the same time, i don't know how to serve/deal with the poor. in what ways can i best serve them? how can i be faithful to God and to them? by listening? by sharing in life together? by treating them like another person, worthy of love? one of anne lamott's phrases comes to mind: "hey, i'm human, you're human, let's be human together for awhile." i think this concept is beginning to form the core of my philosophy of ministry.

what is the point of Christianity? to win souls? to persuade (or trick) people to accept Jesus so they can go to heaven? is it simply a free ticket to heaven, as dr. crane would say? or is it about more? equality, peace, service, shalom. i've seen too many churches this week that are preaching about a ticket to heaven, and it makes me kinda furious.