the latest

My mom was in northern California for a conference at The Mission, a church in Vacaville this last weekend. (This is Graham Cooke's home church, for those of you who get excited about that!) I guess the conference was really cool and God did some special things, but for me the best part was Sunday when we met half way in San Luis Obispo. This is where my brother and I were both born, but this is only the 2nd time I've been back since we moved away about 24 years ago! It's was really great getting to spend some time with my mom and enjoy the ocean a little. Here's a pic:



It was a great escape from the normal urban city life.

I haven't been writing a lot lately. I don't really know why that is. It might be cause I'm just kinda bored right now and feel like there is nothing worth talking about. There is lots that I should be doing, but I'm kinda, well, not. I mean, with school there is always something you should be reading or studying or writing. But it's not really interesting at all anymore. It's become a bunch of intellectual stuff without no practical application for today, or tomorrow. I guess that's the role the students are supposed to play, but I don't have any where to do that. I'm discovering that is doesn't matter if you have all the right ideas if you don't have anyone to share the ideas with or apply them with. And since I can't really apply this stuff, I am less and less interested in learning anything else. Maybe that's lazy, but I'm done with going through the motions so I look excited and ambitious. That didn't turn out so fulfilling last time either.

Instead, I'm finding things I want to do, but I don't even know how to start. And since I have all the "supposed to" stuff hanging over my head, I don't invest time doing the things I want to do either. Instead I waste it away on random stuff. I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with my life that is exciting and real and I'm passionate about and will help other people... I don't really know what to make of it, so if you got any thoughts, fire!

In the meantime, check out a quote I found during some of my random time-wasting. It's from Aaron Niequist, who was the worship pastor at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI. I really love some of the songs he's written. They are deep and insightful and fresh. He recently stepped away from that position to pursue other dreams, one of which is a new cd. You gotta hear a demo of one of those new songs called "resistance": http://www.myspace.com/aaronniequist. It's really really good! Anyway, check this quote out. It's really sticking with me right now cause I've been thinking a lot about what worship really is.

There are parts of life that make sense and are easy to wrap our arms around. For the other 99%, there is music.
There are parts of God that make sense and are easy to wrap our arms around. For the other 99%, there is worship.
-Aaron Niequist