Red Letter Revolution

I saw this over at Targuman and had to repost it.

I’m not much for talking on the phone, and three or four long conversations in a row can eat up 3-4 hours, so I have decided the most efficient way to keep everyone up to date on what is going on with me is to make regular posts to this neglected old horse I call a blog. The title ambitiously implies that I will do this weekly, but as all three of you who read this know, I’m terrible about regular updates. Nonetheless, it is my goal to describe the week to week happenings of Seminary life, provided there is something remotely interesting to report! As most of you know, I originally intended to arrive in sunny California Monday the 15th, but Ike was kind enough to ensure that I would probably face massive delays so I rescheduled my flight for Wednesday the 17th. It has been a strange sort of week, one marked by both the frenetic feelings associated with what was at times a whirlwind schedule, but also marked by mitigating feelings of boredom and social isolation. Since I had to reschedule my flight, I found it necessary to find alternative means of transportation since my original ride giver would be in pre-marital counseling that night. Upon learning of my predicament, a local from the area who I had never met in person offered to give me a ride. I’m not very keen on meeting internet people, in fact I think it is immensely dorky and generally a bad idea. Nonetheless, I was confident that I had conversed enough with the individual through electronic means as to be reasonably certain of the veracity of their identity. So, I hopped on a bus and 30 minutes later was in a red subcompact car on my way to a little whole-in-the-wall Mexican food place. It turned out to be a good decision since I got a ride, a delicious burrito, and a cool friend out of the gamble. After foolishly ordering both a taco AND a burrito, I discovered why my new friend Michelle ordered only a burrito, they were HUGE. I ate my taco then turned to my massive burrito and I am ashamed to say I could not finish it. Hopefully it did not reflect too poorly on me. From there, she took me straight to the car dealership where I had arranged the purchase of a vehicle more appropriate to the economic realities of the area. I waved goodbye to Michelle, then walked into the dealership and began signing all the paperwork. About an hour later, I drove off the lot in a shiny new 2009 black Toyota Prius. It is probably the coolest vehicle I have ever driven, but like a true Texas boy, I miss my truck. Then, I tested out its fancy navigation system and found my way to Trey’s house about 20 miles away. I didn’t see Trey til pretty late that night, but it was still excellent to see him. I crashed on the futon and the day was done. Thursday was largely uneventful, but I did manage to get two important things done: I had In-N-Out and I spoke to my counselor. She was an odd kooky lady, but in a good way. She spent time finding out what my interests were, then went into detail about the professors who shared those interests so I could take classes from people who were interested in the same things. It was a very fruitfal discussion. Friday morning I wake up on Trey’s futon, and get dressed. I drive the half hour to Pasadena, since the PODS people have given me the window of 11am-2pm, and I’m hoping it will be more to the 11am side. Upon arrival, I went to the housing office to get my keys and the clicker that lets me get into the parking area. I walked over to my housing building and look to see if there is anywhere on the street I can put my POD. I saw a spot and went to turn around to park my car in the middle of it. Just then, someone zipped by me and got the spot, and I said some words Seminarians aren’t supposed to say. So, I walk up to my building and notice that parked across the street is an empty moving truck. On my way to the door, I notice there is a man sitting on the back of the truck. This man possesses a really nice beard leading me to conclude that he is a nice guy and trustworthy. The man calls out to me and asks me if I am moving into the building, and after a little conversation, it turns out he is my next door neighbor! He agrees to let me take his spot since he is about to return the rental truck. I then enter my apartment and spend a few minutes repenting my hastily spoken curse words. I hired a moving company to make sure everything went ok with the POD unload, and every 30 minutes I received a call wanting to know if the POD was there yet. It finally arrived and so did the movers, and everything went fine. I then pick up some Dodger tickets, and sit on my couch thinking about how much crap I have to unpack. I do a little unpacking, then take a shower so as to not to subject my new friend Michelle to the smell of my sweat. She arrives a little late, and we go to Dodger stadium. It was a lousy game, but I still had a great time. I did manage to sit in the wrong section though, and so did not hang out with any of the people from my building. I arrive at home tired but content. Saturday was spent making trips to the grocery store, Target, and Ikea. The grocery store was interesting since a lot of the logos were familiar, but the names were different. For example, the grocery store is called Ralphs, but its oval logo and script looked familiar…that’s because Ralphs is the west coast equivalent of Krogers. When I went to buy my beloved Hellmun’s mayo, I discovered identical packaging but with the name Best Foods. I grudgingly purchase the mayo doppleganger, but despite the knowledge that it is identical, I remain suspicious. Only after having a chicken sandwhich, am I reasonably convinced of its trustworthiness. On Sunday morning, I slept in and went to the late service of Michelle’s megachurch (she went to an earlier service). I have to say it was easily the worst worship service I have ever attended. The servide was comprised of poorly thought out rock-pop worship songs belted out by Abercrombie models in such a way as to make corporate worship impossible. I especially was disgusted by the worship leader doing one of those annoying mini-sermons which essentially portrayed Jesus as unconcerned with your sin, and only concerned with giving you a hug. It was terrible, and I was tempted to walk out, but I stayed for the sermon. It was decent, and better than most of what you hear at a megachurch, but tinged with a little prosperity preaching. The church was doing a drive to help people affected or infected by/with HIV/AIDS, which was a ray of light. Michelle invited me to the young adults service which had the rather stupid name Epic Life. I was honestly not expecting much, but found Epic Life to be the opposite of the main service. They were intensely concerned with corporate worship, and several of the songs they chose I had never heard but could follow by the second verse. It was very refreshing and I found the attendees with two exceptions were very friendly and welcoming. I found it an occaision to practice being bold, and it seems to me that others are just as wary at the approach of a stranger as I am of approaching them. Boldness appears to be the secret. Thats probably why Geoff is so good at making friends. Ha! I’ll probably continue to attend Epic Life, but I highly doubt I will go to the main service again. I’m considering it just to see if perhaps it was an off day or something, but I doubt it. Monday was spent unpacking and watching TV thanks to the acquisition of an antennae. At around 7pm, there was a new student welcome party. I walked in, grabbed a cup of joe, saw that it was really lame and had no structure, and walked right back out. I went home and was feeling discouraged about making friends, when I got a knock on my door. It was my community coordinator Dave, and he was letting me know there was an impromptu pot luck happening right now. My Baptist insticts kicked in and I proceeded with expert precision eating other people’s food. It was a fun time and just the little God sent boost I needed. Tuesday was orientation, and I realized during orientation that the majority of the people here are also wondering how they are going to start their social lives from scratch. It was a pretty good orientation, but I skipped the boring sessions. I was especially impressed with the School of Theology panel discussion, and have resolved to take John Goldingay’s and John Thompson’s classes whenever I can! So here we are at today. I’m sitting in the library typing this out since I have yet to acquire internet at home (call me back ATT!). I’m thinking of all of you at Windsor and my family too of course. I’m working on another blog that centers more on my reflections of what happened and less on a play by play so keep an eye out for that.

Post Script: I’m not going to proof read this thing and I already know I switch from past to historical present several times. I’m not going to fix it.

Forgive my ugly feet oh Lord
and the blood upon my tongue
forgive my belt of lies oh Lord
and the bow I’ve left unstrung

Forgive the hedge I’ve trampled
and the white flag I have flown
forgive the dimness of my lamp
and the beating of the stone

Quicken the coal that burns my lips
Quicken the fire that chars my bones
Quicken the oil that wets my hair
Quicken the wound that takes my life

May your wind blow my soul.

*thanks to Doug Jackson for helping to correct my carelessness with the meter