Cue Intro Music:
“I have a little poem I’d like to read in honor of this occasion, if I may. Spaulding, get your foot off the boat! :
It’s easy to grin
when your ship comes in
and you’ve got the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile
is the man who can smile
when his shorts are too tight in the seat”
…ah-ha-ha-ha. OK, Pookie, do the honors. ”
-Judge Smails
I have been recently looking into planning a trip to Italy and perhaps some of its neighboring countries. With the train systems and the cheap inter-continental flights, Europe can seem like a “small” place, that is easily manuervable. But when I really started to examine it, I realized again how massive it is. How, you cant easily get to Germany via a train thru Switzerland, because of something called the alps.
Picture by John Minton
I was chatting with my friend John and looking at some of his pictures from his trips to Europe. John loves the outdoors and sci-fi/fantasy. So he showed pictures of valleys, and waterfalls, and talked of Tolkien. When he was showing me pictuers of the valley and glaciers near Grindelwald, Gimmelwald and Muerren, I realized, again, that the world is full of beauty. There are popular places in the world to travel to, often because of its beauty. But there are also little towns, little cities, little nooks and crannies that we often don’t think about, that are undisputed beauties. How did God create such a magnificent world. And to also imagine the beauty that we don’t often get to see–underwater–the world amazes me daily.
People travel to parts of the world to see its history, to see its architecture, to see its art–to see the genius of God, the genius of artists, and the inexplicaable feats of building massive strcutres with non-modern equipment. I am often blown away by the overall size of churches, and castles and other buildings across europe, that were built in the 1600’s, without the use of modern equipment such as cranes. Furthermore, this makes me contemplate, what sort of feats of architecture do we erect today? Are we building anything for the pure beauty of it? What will our generation be remembered for? Also, sure there are parts of the east coast that holds “history”, but what will “remain” for future tourists on the west coast? What do we have in america where people travel to “see”, and not just be? What “genius” are we presenting and will be remembered for?
Westminster Abbey
I also find it contemplative, if there is a reason it is a “small” world. I think everyone at one point or another, has been travelling in a remote part of the earth, and have ran into someone they knew. John was describing walking thru that valley, and having one of the best days of his life, and running into the Lees , a couple who he knew. When I was in Europe in 1997 with other students from my college, this happened to me twice during my 6 week jaunt. The first occassion, I was travelling in Florence, walking down the street, and I recognized the sister of a friend of mine. And then an even more random experience, was Andrew and I had just come out of Westminster Abbey in England, and im staring at the ground, looking at the cobblestones as we walk up the road. When then im just staring at someones shoes, and there is silence. I did one of those movie slow pans up, and then surprisingly exclaimed, “Sean Foster!” We had ran into one of our classmates that was not on the trip with us.
I am sure we all have stories like this. It always seems to happen, and the line always used is “its a small world.” Is there a divine reason for this? Perhaps, its a way of God reminding us that we are never alone, and never outside our community? Is there some profound reason that this happens so often? Perhaps it is just that we are more concious and aware when travelling, that we notice these little things more clearly?
Which reminds me (yes, this snide really fits the category of “rambling”) of the freedom of travelling. I had an experience in Europe in 97 that I will never forget, and never be able to duplicate. It was such a free time — not in the money sense, but in the freedom to think, freedom to live. Every day was set in the moment, and my mind and eyes were seeing awe and thought inspiring places. I felt so alive. I was in community and was free to challenge myself and others. It makes me wish I was young again with the freedom from responsibility, where I could just travel around the world, seeing and doing remarkable things, being inspired to interconciousness–yes, I just made up that word, but I think you know exactly what I mean.
| My knee has bothered me for about 2 years now. It started by just feeling “unstable” when I would warm up for sport. It eventually got worse. Finally after one game one night, my knee got really swollen and stiff. So I saw a doctor and stopped playing sport. The doctor at one time told me that I shouldn’t even go for walks, that that was too much impact and stress. I went from playing sport 5-6 days a week, to zero exercise.Eventually I was able to start biking, but that wasn’t the same. After 9 months off and 12 weeks of physical therapy, it still wasn’t better. So we decided on surgery.
I had knee surgery on December 30th. It was an odd experience. I was really worried about having an IV stuck in me. I made sure to look away when that was happening, and keep my eyes off of it at all times. The nurse led me down the hall to the operating room, which was freezing cold, and I laid on the table. I had barely been on the table and I felt this very weird sensation…like my body was lifting from the table, and that my brain was shaking and about to burst. I mentioned aloud “I feel funny” and the doctor from the back of the room said “you’re supposed to feel that way.” The very next second–so it seemed–I was waking up with a nurse moving my hair off my face. I didn’t have the strength to fully open my eyes, so a little at a time I would open one and gage my surroundings. Eventually I was able to overcome the might of my anaesthesia eyelids. I was on crutches, but able to limp around that day. I started theraphy the very next day. Within a day or two I was able to walk. I saw the doctor a week later. Apparently surgery only lasted 30 minutes. It would take me that long just to shave my knee–which is striking by the way. He said that it was good they did the surgery, cause it wouldn’t have healed on its own with time or therapy. The cartilage behind the kneecap was shredded and they needed to smooth it out, as well as do some meniscus repair. I had cartilage chunks floating through my knee joints. He said I may need a similar scope in 10-15 years, but by that time–the way science is going–they will be selling cartilege at Costco. I am still doing therapy now 4 weeks later, and I hope to be able to sport it up again within the next 3 months. Woohoo. |
 Digging On My Cartilage |
 Rough Cartilage Behind The Kneecap |
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 Frayed Cartilage |
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 Loose Cartilage Floating Around My Knee Joint |
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 My ACL |
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 Medial Meniscus |
Andrew Richards is one of my closest friends in the world. If I had to put him in a box (by the way, the phrase “inside/outside the box” has become the antithesis of what that phrase really means) I would call him a “thinker.” I have been blessed over and over by Andrew through his thoughts and his friendship. We established a mantra early on in our college life, but didn’t see it truly manifest itself till we spent 6 weeks gallivanting around Europe. Andrew currently resides with his wife wife and 2 and a half year old son in San Clemente. He spends his days learning, surfing, and mobilizing the church to join with God in His mission of reclaiming, redeeming and restoring (or something like that).
Opening Chords
by Andrew Richards
Have you had this happen: the opening measures of a new song come on and instantly you like it. Why is that? Is it a feeling, an emotion, just pure aesthetic appeal? Or is it deeper – something your soul needs to hear at that moment… something that resonates with the tonality and rhythm of the song? Is it all shaped and informed solely by preference? Or is there something deeper and more universal in music?
Something Hans Christian Anderson has said pops into my mind quite often:
“Where words fail, music speaks.”
We seem to live in a culture of word worship. It seems like we can’t handle silence. Or maybe it’s because it requires too much work to read a person’s non-verbal communication and really connect with their experience, so we settle for their words.
Or more accurately, I settle for my understanding of their words.
How do you truly listen to music? Who truly listens to music? How can we truly listen to each other if we don’t know how to listen to music?
What was the last song that made you cry?
It was about a year ago, I made 3 cds for my friend Josh’s birthday. I made cover artwork using photos that I had taken while in Europe. These are great mixes that I still listen to, and I am really pleased with how the cover art came out.
No, its just Torres, Messi, Ronaldo, Kaka and Xavi–some of the best soccer players in the world. Tho, I could see how you could be confused.
My friend Deyl has had many adventures in house swapping using a website called http://www.homeforexchange.com. If the situation was right and available, it sounds like such a unique practice of trust and faith in mankind, and a great sense of adventure.
A very interesting article in the BBC on Monday January 19th. It is about the process of moving an old president out and moving a new president into the White House.
Until his retirement last year, Gary J Walters was Chief Usher at the White House – involved in six presidential moves and in overall charge of four of them. Here he describes the process.
An interesting quote I read today from Gregg Easterbrook:
In national news, Tuesday is the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States. We’ve been so wrapped up in various forms of financial panic, real or imagined, that some may have lost sight of what a great day this is for America. Regardless of whether Obama ultimately proves to be an outstanding president or an average chief executive or a dud, only in America could this happen. A country whose eternal shame is that it once held slaves elects a black man as its leader, and a black man who came from nothing, entirely self-made. Obama is so appealing because he is the embodiment of the American story — and that story is still in the early chapters. Today every American, even those who exercised their right to oppose Obama, should beam with pride. Until now I felt proudest to be an American on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong put his foot on the moon. I thought then, “No other nation can accomplish such a thing, no other nation can dream so big.” Today I feel prouder, because Obama represents a much grander and more important dream. Today America proves to the world that we meant what we said about freedom and equality.