Bryline

I'm Baaaaaaack!!!!!!

2006-09-07T15:30:00.000-05:00

WOW!!!! It has been forever since I last posted. I'm so sorry to all of you griped me out for not posting. Well, what to say....hmmm.

Oh, I know! Well, I've moved my office from First Assembly of God to a building right across the street from campus. It's a great location. Closer to my mission field, and also closer to Chipotle and Radina's. God love'em all! In the days since, my pressure has gone down a little (it's been way high, getting that checked out next week). Maybe some stress lifting? I don't know.

I will be posting some videos in the near future. Some of them in keeping with my critique of Christian subculture. Once again, lest anybody misundertake me, I am a follower of Christ. However, I am not so proud of a few of the directions some of my brothers and sisters in the Lord have taken. So, as my protest, I'm getting a few jabs in via this blog thingy. Hope you enjoy!

2006-06-06T14:20:00.000-05:00

https://www.donstewartassociation.com/home.htm

Go to this website and tell me what you think. Oh, and sorry I haven't been posting. Life's nuts right now. To make up for it, here are some funnies:

If Oprah married Deepak Chopra, she would be Oprah Chopra.

If Olivia Newton-John married Wayne Newton, divorced him, then married Elton John, she would be Olivia Newton-John Newton John.

If Snoop Doggy Dogg married Winnie the Pooh, he would be...

Let Me Share My Infection...

2006-04-13T10:01:00.000-05:00

I love reading C.S. Lewis. Interestingly, I used to think he was so deep and hard to get into. Well, he is deep in that he thinks deeply. So often people gloss over concepts in faith and never take time to digest the meaning. We swallow in whole bites without chewing, neglecting the thought and care of what the concepts mean in and of themselves and the implications they hold for our existence. Lewis camps out on a concept, pitches a tent, pulls out a shovel, and digs. What happens next (and this is the beaty of Jack), is that he finds ways to show us the depths he's dug and what he's discovered. Yes, I used to think he was too deep. I just never read him enough to know that he was really making so many things so much simpler.

I read this this morning:

Some of you may feel that this is very unlike your own experience. You may say 'I've never had the sense of being helped by an invisible Christ, but I often have been helped by other human beings.' That is rather like the woman in the first war who waid that if there were a bread shortage it would not bother her house because they always ate toast. If there is no bread there will be no toast. If there were no help from Christ, there would be no help from other human beings.... Men are mirrors, or 'carriers' of Christ to other men. Sometimes unconscious carriers. This 'good infection' can be carried by those who have not got it themselves. People who were not Christians themselves helped me to Christianity. But usually it is those who know Him that bring Him to others. That is why the Church, the whole body of Chistians showing Him to one another, is so important.

Some carry the infection, but exhibit no symptoms. I pray I will be wonderfully infected and tremendously contagious. I want no cure.

2006-04-01T13:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry, been working on some big projects, and had Spring Break last week. Here's the latest. Sin soap. It'll wash all yer sins away! This brings me to a question: in what ways does the of Christ "wash away" our sins? I mean...the sins are still there, right? And if we make ourselves behave after salvation then is it not our willpower that takes sins away? I know the positional vs. practical righteousness stuff, but I wonder if some people think that the of Jesus is like soap that "warshes all'em sins down the to'let of the flesh!" Sorry, I'm being facetious. But really. To what extent are we clean from sin in this life? Anybody got any great ideas? I've got my own, but I want to hear from y'all.

2006-03-18T10:40:00.000-06:00

Misty is trying to kill me with health food. The other morning I was planning on having some good ol' toast and butter and jelly. mmmm. What's this? No Jelly? Why, Misty had just beent to the grocery store the day before to stock up. What gives?
"Misty?" I say.
"Yes, Dear?"she says.
"Do we have any jelly?"
"No."
I'm perplexed, but I continue. "Didn't you go to the store yesterday?"
"Yes."
"Did you forget to buy jelly?"
Silence.
I continue, "Did you think to buy jelly?"
"Yes," she says, "I thought about it."
Now, I think I'm getting the picture. "But you didn't buy it?"
"No."
"Why," I say.
"Because it has high fructose corn syrup in it and it's bad for you. I bought honey instead. It's better for you."
Grrrrrrr.
Maybe I should stock up on these Bible Bars. Wheat, barley, raisins, honey, figs, pomegranates, you know, what they ate in the Old Testament. Actually, they left out the roasted bull, goat, and those sweet flakes of wholesome goodness from heaven, Manna. Part of a well-balanced breakfast!

Vote for Jack

2006-03-14T14:26:00.000-06:00

I remember sometime ago, when I was a kid, I saw one of my friends biting his fingernails. I thought to myself, “Hmm, they say that’s a habit. I wonder if I could start biting my nails today and make a habit of it.” I’ve been biting my nails ever since.

Well, I did it again. I began a habit on purpose. It’s “24.”

I’ve heard so much about this program, how compelling it was and how addictive it was. So, having never seen an episode before in my life, what did I do? I instructed my Netflix lackeys to send me the first three discs of season one. So far, we’re into hour five, and we can’t wait to watch hours six and seven tonight.

I love suspense, so does Misty. This program is brilliant suspense. The plot thickens and changes and morphs from episode to episode. It is also refreshing to see a hero (Jack Bauer) do the right thing, regardless of policy and protocol. We need that in our government today. I vote for Jack Bauer for President.

Sadness...

2006-03-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

Misty's dad died last week. A better man than Ralph would be hard to find. He was my mentor, and I will miss him greatly. I love you, Dad.

Don't smoke on earth, or you'll smoke in...

2006-02-27T15:42:00.000-06:00

This goes along with the shot glasses. Yes, Jesus s it when you smoke, but He s it more when you put the ash out on his face. Maybe that's the point, no?

Sorry it has been a while. Been out for several days, may not return for several more. I had an interesting run-in with somebody at church last Wednesday that really illustrates the difference in demographic cultures. As I was leaving to go to XA, I had my laptop, a monitor speaker, and my guitar in my hands. My cap was also wanting to go with me, so with my hands full I place it on my head. Wrong move. An older gentlemen looked at me as I was walking out and said, "Didn't your mom ever tell you to take your hat off in church?" I replied, "My mom never took me to church." I think this caught him off guard, and I must admit I was irritated, but tried to play it off. Then he says. "Show some respect. After all, this is the house of God." Ok, that did it. I walked back to him and said (in a "haha" nice kinda way), "Ok, let's talk theology. This building isn't the house of God. These are [pointing to our bodies]." I'm not sure if he realized how ticked I was, but that's ok. He's normally a great guy. But it just goes to show you that there are CULTURAL differences between generations. Out of respect for his age, I relented and took the cap off. How about you? Does it offend you when somebody wears a hat in a building/church?

2006-02-20T11:55:00.000-06:00

iGod

2006-02-20T10:45:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting addition to Christian culture. It's a lanyard for your iPod shuffle. When you hook the shuffle up to the lanyard, it makes this cross thing. So when you're taking up your cross to follow Jesus, you can groove to the Black Eyed Peas ("...watchya gonna do with all those tunes, all those tunes sittin' in yo' cross...).

Veggie thing on hold for a few days

2006-02-20T10:41:00.000-06:00

I've been at Misty's parents house for the last several days. Her dad has cancer and unless God intervenes he will die very soon. It's been a real challenge. Ralph has been a father for me. He's been a spiritual mentor in addition to so much more. He's been struggling with nausea, so while at the house, we've been eating alot of turkey sandwiches. As such, my vegetarianness was put on hold. While out of the house, I've continued. For instance, last night after church we went out for Thai food. Instead of my usual chicken paad thai or chicken masaman curry, I had tofu. It wasn't too bad.

Belly up to the altar, boys!

2006-02-15T17:16:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long time in-between posts. Misty's dad is in the final stages of his long and fierce fight with cancer. Unless Jesus intervenes, he will not last long. All the more reason to see the futility and silly-ness of some of these Christianese things. Take these shot glasses, for instance. Want your alcoholic brother to see Jesus? Pour him another drink!

Reminds me of a news story I saw the other day about a guy that saw Jesus in his grilled cheese sandwich. He's selling it on ebay.
Keep up the comments. I really enjoy them. If you're wondering, I'm still doing the vegetarian thing. Mostly good. I did have a bite of chicken at an Indian restaurant in Wichita last week. Does that count?

Watch this. That's what I'm talkin' bout!

2006-02-11T11:54:00.000-06:00

Go to this link. Watch this video. Something's brewing.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1357615

We'll have eternity to master the rubik's cube...

2006-02-09T16:33:00.000-06:00

Ok, this is called the "evangicube." Ok, let's get this straight. You're not comfortable initiating a conversation about salvation using the four spiritual laws, Romans road, or even your own personal testimony, but you'll becomfortable going up to somebody with this retarded box/toy and say, "Pardon me, but would you mind if I showed you my new toy about Jesus?" I sure hope somebody from Chi Alpha in Springfield and/or from GPH is reading this, because they actually had these things for sale at our recent conference in Louisville in Jan. Puhleeease don't sell these anymore.

Good days

2006-02-09T16:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a great day in ministry. I was granted what I consider to be the great privilege and honor of speaking at the Sterling College weekly chapel service. It went very well. I will pray regularly for the brethren at work on that campus (you know who you are!). Then last night we had a great evening at Chi Alpha. Good crowd, good discussion. We'll continue that again.

As for my vegetarian-ness, well, it still goes. It's really not so bad. The biggest problem I've had is the inconvenience of it all. It limits where a bruthah can go for some grub. But, I'm kinda feeling better, more energy, etc. I wonder if this is the reason why?

Tuesday we went to a sectional business meeting. Man, talk about WW3! Some new resolutions requiring ministers to tithe (gasp!) and maintain some kind of continuing education requirements (YEEK!). You'd a thought we were suggesting to rewrite scripture. Afterward, Wes, Steve Swanson and I went to ZenZero, a great Thai noodle bar in Lawrence. You know, Lawrence has so many more great restaurants than Manhattan. I was mucho satisfied after my tofu paad thai. I highly recommend it.

The Christian Culture Club

2006-02-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

Ok, I've changed the name of this string of conversation. It's not necessarily what's wrong with Christianity, but what's wrong with Christian culture (subculture?). There's a lot that happens in Christian culture that is not an accurate representation of Christianity. Hence the name change. Here's the latest:

It's called "Wait Wear." It's underwear for the discerning Christian virgin. It says, "Traffic control - Wait for Marriage." Young dude or dudette, do you honestly think that once you and the hottie you're with get down close enough to your skivvies to read the fine print that little sign will stop it from happening?

The Traffic Control sign is to be in your heart, not on your crotch.

Veggies, days 3 and 4

2006-02-04T12:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, so far so good. Yesterday (day 3) I did have a can of campbells bean with bacon soup. For those of you screaming "Ha! You failed!," I did take out the two bacon bits that were floating in the beans before I ate them.

Misty keeps trying to add resolutions to my challenge. First it was just go vegeterian for a month. Now she's trying to restrict fried food and pop. Bad wife. Pretty soon I'll be a kosher vegan if she has her way.

Then she pulls this:

"Hey, let's use our gift certificate for Harry's tonight. Let's go on a date." That's a good thought, except Harry's has the BEST DANG PRIME RIB IN KANSAS!!! I finagled an evening of reprieve, a day of "meat amnesty." That's good, except when we got there, they had raised their price on prime rib to $30. Forget that. We each had a pasta dish and shared. Mine had a few pieces of chicken breast, hers had seafood. So yes, I did have a bit of meat, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And it was with her permission.

Today, day 4, I'm a-ok. I had another Wendy's salad. And an order of french fries. And a large Diet Coke. This isn't so bad...

What's wrong with Christianity

2006-02-02T15:12:00.000-06:00

Ok, ever since I saw a Jesus action figure at Hasting's, I've been wanting to start a collection of things that prove that some elements of Christianity have gone horribly awry. I'll try to post some pictures every now and then.

Take this game, for instance. It's called "Salvation Challenge." Here's what the manufacturer says:

All players start at the Cross and move clockwise round the board in search of salvation. Once you land on Calvary, you throw your hands in the air, slap a red sticker on your forehead, shout "Jesus saved me!" and proceed immediately to the River Jordan for baptism.

Nice. What's next, "The Game of Jabez"?

Billy: Ohhh, great! I landed on Exile Street.

Suzy: Ha, ha! Your territory just decreased by 40%!!

God promises adventure and blessing through the cross, and some of us are at home playing board games.

I'm a vegeterian - Day 2

2006-02-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

Ok. This is my first blogspot post. I used Xanga for a while, but for reasons personal to me, I'm no longer in Xanga land. It's been awhile since I blogged, and honestly I haven't had much to write about. Except now I've got an interesting challenge.

Last week I went to the lab for some work (they took some pee, too... they're insatiable!). My thyroid levels were too low again, and so for the second time in a year, they upped my prescription of synthroid. My triglycerides were sky high again, so I've gotta take Lopid again, and this time my sugar was high (maybe b/c I had yogurt and apples that morning?). So, my wife Misty says, "you oughtta go vegeterian for a month and see if that helps." For some odd reason, I said ok.

People, I'm a corn-fed Kansas boy. My favorite food is a 16 oz. ribeye. I guess I was just tired of doing nothing, and I needed a drastic challenge to see if I could master my flesh in this area. The fact that it is the shortest month in the year helps too.

Day one (yesterday) - I had two slices of leftover pizza for breakfast. They did have hamburger on'em, but that was a couple hours before Misty threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to being a veg. That doesn't count. For lunch, since it was AFTER the challenge, I had a garden salad at Wendy's, low fat ranch dressing...and a small order of fries. Ok, the fries were a splurge, but I swear it was a SMALL fry, maybe 13 fries in it (I gotta maintain some dignity!).

For dinner, after our Chi Alpha gathering, we went to the Pita Pit. I had two Pita's (I'm a big boy), one was falafel and the other babaganoush. Falafel was ok, until the last several bites. I gave the rest to Misty. Babaganoush was good, it's a fav of mine anyway.

Today, leftover pizza...chill out, it just had cheese and olives on it! Then a Dillon's salad for lunch today. So far, so good. I'm not suffering too much. We'll see what happens after a week of romaine overload.