I just heard Stephen Colbert (a Comedy Central news show host) speaking at the White House Press Correspondent's dinner with George Bush in attendance. It’s amazing that a guy can speak the way he did just 10 feet away from the leader of the most powerful nation on earth—stinging satire of what George Bush is all about! It’s a testament both to the greatness of our freedom of speech and the greatness of our contempt for authority in these times. That being said, I happened to agree with some of what he was saying. He makes fun of how stupid and uninformed the average American can be as they support political candidates. He said satirically that he identifies with the president; they both make decisions from the gut. He said, “did you know that there are more nerve endings in your gut than in your head?” How does he know? His gut told him.
Anyway, my gut told me that I needed to make another blog post. My last one was starting to embarrass me. That’s the only reason I make new blog posts now, when the old one becomes so old that it’s unbearable even to its proud creator. Why have a blog then? Well, I suppose I enjoy having a presence online even if it’s only a tiny, stagnant, watering hole in the middle of a desert. Occasionally people stumble upon my blog, though they may refrain from drinking after glancing at the date stamp. Dried algae colors the ground around my pool. But the blog does let people know that I occasionally think something. About once every three months to a year I will think something. The rest of the time my mind is of course completely blank. My gut, on the other hand, is always working.
In addition to six strips of very thick, Winco Foods bacon, my gut today was mulling over that great crusader Ron Paul. Actually what happened was that Peter Roise, a local supporter of Ron Paul in Moscow, called me up to let me know that the Washington caucus is occurring on February 9th. And, as I am one of those few people that hop on the new Palouse superhighway over to Pullman every night, he thought I should know about this.
Now I’ve liked Ron Paul ever since I heard about him. I voted for Allan Keys who had some of the same ideas back in 2000. It’s a shame that the conservative talk show hosts are against him. I heard one host say that half the time Paul sounds crazy and the other half of the time he sounds like Daffy Duck. But originally I when I learned about Paul, I thought, this guy could never be elected, so I became rather taken with Huckabee instead.
There was one YouTube interview in which Tim Russert asked Huckabee about a statement in his book about homosexuals. It seems that Huckabee had lumped Homosexuals into a list with pedophiles in a single sentence in his book. I don’t remember his exact words to Russert, but he didn’t back down. He said there was a difference between pedophilia and homosexuality, but that they are both sin from a Christian perspective. And he also said that when Christians speak about sin they are referring to “missing the mark.” His point being that Christians, like himself, don’t make a distinction between the sinners in the world and the sinless people, we’re all sinners. He seemed to represent the faith well and that’s why I thought he would be a good president. I mean, not that the presidents primary job is to witness to people, but give me a brake! I'm an evangelical here! If we didn't have a Christian president, then I might actually have to look to my Pastor for spiritual leadership. I just had that gut feeling about Huckabee. “There’s just something about him” and he plays the bass guitar.
However, since receiving the phone call from Peter and thinking that perhaps Ron Paul is in this for the long haul, having raised more money than Huckabee, I logged onto Paul's website and watched his January 27 video about how the campaign was going and I have to tell you that that was the first time that Paul spoke to me in the gut. He was so honest in the way he evaluated the success of his campaign. He said that he had no plans of leaving the race until his support died out and that as long as his supporters were enthusiastic, he was in it for the long haul. He had several young people around him in his office as he delivered this message, representing the thousands of young supporters that will listen to it online. He encouraged his idealistic followers, but didn’t lie to them. He said he didn’t know the future. It was great. I was touched. I became a Ron Paul supporter in my gut and not just my head! (Am I jerking any tears out there?)
There’s no question that Ron Paul is the stellar candidate, a real, live, honest politician. A new species, if there ever was one. He has risen out of the primordial goo of politics, not to mention the primordial goo of my blog, and proven evolution true for the first time. Now if we all could just prove the Revolution true! Go Ron Paul!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Saturday, January 05, 2008
I like Mike
Okay, so I know that the ability to play the bass guitar is not necessary for being president, but I just like Mike Huckabee! In fact, I've been on a political binge (I don't consider politics to be normal healthy fair) for the past couple of days, as people have been voting in Iowa. I've listened to all of the youtube clips and other media that you can find on the candidate's websites and, although Ron Paul is the favorite of many of my respected friends, he just seems too shrill to ever be elected president. I've been to a Ralph Nader ralley before and listening to Ron Paul reminds me of being at a Nader ralley.
Huckabee on the other hand is so likeable! Huckabee reminded me of a certain feeling I had as a kid when watching TV at election time, the feeling of excitement that I really, really like a certain candidate and that I think he really could win. That's the feeling that I had listening to Huckabee and I think its all because he's an unashamed Christian.
I love the way he spoke on Meet the Press, defending a quote in his book about homosexuality. Click on the link above.
Huckabee on the other hand is so likeable! Huckabee reminded me of a certain feeling I had as a kid when watching TV at election time, the feeling of excitement that I really, really like a certain candidate and that I think he really could win. That's the feeling that I had listening to Huckabee and I think its all because he's an unashamed Christian.
I love the way he spoke on Meet the Press, defending a quote in his book about homosexuality. Click on the link above.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
A Fated Pair: Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers
Long time since I've posted, but I recently came across the sort of information that begs to be posted on these narcissistic journals called blogs. That's right, info about ME.
I know that my large blog audience has been waiting breathlessly for 11 months for my next post. So it's time to come clean with the real truth about yours truly, El Martbo.
I am an ENFP: An extroverted, introspective, feeling, probing person. Whoa! You say. Extroverted and introspective. That’s a contradiction isn’t it? And feeling and probing? So that mean’s your going to be a dentist, right? Just don’t feel and probe too much in my direction!
Ah, let me allay your fears. You see, in the beginning, when Myers and Briggs created the personalities, they divided the feeling people from the thinking people and they saw that it was pretty good. Then they divided the judging people from the probing, people. (You know, the kind that say, “it’s about the journey,” born liberals, basically.) And they saw that it was maybe okay, but they had their doubts. Then they looked at the perfectly normal person they just hacked to pieces in order to make all the other types and he was dead. But it was too late. Darn, I guess we’ll just have to live with each other now.
The NF part of my personality means that I am an idealist. I was interested to find out that Doug Wilson and Doug Jones, two men that I admire greatly, are also idealists. But they have some key differences from each other. Doug Wilson is an ENFJ, which is basically the perfect personality for being a teacher and pastor. He’s extroverted, but introspective as opposed to “sensing.” That means he prefers to work with words than with tools. He sees the principles behind things and can communicate this principles to others. Now of course, anyone who has heard Doug Wilson speak, knows that he is a extremely thoughtful and rational individual, but he’s not a techno-geek or research-minded, rationalistic person; he’s in the “feeling” category. Finally, he’s a “judging” person as opposed to a “perceiving” person, like myself. The J types are good schedulers. They can really get stuff done, which explains a lot about Doug Wilson. It makes me whish I was a J too! Oh well. Doug Jones is an INFP. In the book, “Please Understand Me II,” which explains the personality types and the philosophy behind them, INFPs are nicknamed “healers.” And I think that moniker applies to Doug Jones pretty well.
One of the traits of my personality is to want to discover things (hopefully good things) about myself and other people and then tell everyone about it. Well, there you have it!
I know that my large blog audience has been waiting breathlessly for 11 months for my next post. So it's time to come clean with the real truth about yours truly, El Martbo.
I am an ENFP: An extroverted, introspective, feeling, probing person. Whoa! You say. Extroverted and introspective. That’s a contradiction isn’t it? And feeling and probing? So that mean’s your going to be a dentist, right? Just don’t feel and probe too much in my direction!
Ah, let me allay your fears. You see, in the beginning, when Myers and Briggs created the personalities, they divided the feeling people from the thinking people and they saw that it was pretty good. Then they divided the judging people from the probing, people. (You know, the kind that say, “it’s about the journey,” born liberals, basically.) And they saw that it was maybe okay, but they had their doubts. Then they looked at the perfectly normal person they just hacked to pieces in order to make all the other types and he was dead. But it was too late. Darn, I guess we’ll just have to live with each other now.
The NF part of my personality means that I am an idealist. I was interested to find out that Doug Wilson and Doug Jones, two men that I admire greatly, are also idealists. But they have some key differences from each other. Doug Wilson is an ENFJ, which is basically the perfect personality for being a teacher and pastor. He’s extroverted, but introspective as opposed to “sensing.” That means he prefers to work with words than with tools. He sees the principles behind things and can communicate this principles to others. Now of course, anyone who has heard Doug Wilson speak, knows that he is a extremely thoughtful and rational individual, but he’s not a techno-geek or research-minded, rationalistic person; he’s in the “feeling” category. Finally, he’s a “judging” person as opposed to a “perceiving” person, like myself. The J types are good schedulers. They can really get stuff done, which explains a lot about Doug Wilson. It makes me whish I was a J too! Oh well. Doug Jones is an INFP. In the book, “Please Understand Me II,” which explains the personality types and the philosophy behind them, INFPs are nicknamed “healers.” And I think that moniker applies to Doug Jones pretty well.
One of the traits of my personality is to want to discover things (hopefully good things) about myself and other people and then tell everyone about it. Well, there you have it!
Monday, January 08, 2007
Jesus, a former Marxist professor and me
My former headmaster, Toby S. (not the Marxist I am refering to in the title!), said this about the legacy of the Reformed Church.
"Our legacy is one of fat theology books and church splits. And of course there are notable exceptions, but generally, it appears we've done a fairly dismal job of putting hands and feet on our (supposed) theology. Our circles are primarily ideologically driven/maintained rather than geographically/parish focused."
That is so true and it is equally true that the most effective ministry (perhaps even the only ministry that is ultimately effective) is personal ministry. Jesus public death on the cross would not have meant a thing if He did not have a personal ministry to the disciples and others in his close circle. Jesus death has significance on all different levels, but if he had just been a hermit before he died, no one would have cared. The significance of his death goes far beyond the legal transaction that took place, the fact that he paid the debt for my sins. It is impossible to serve God without serving those around us.
I know a professor who says that he used to be Marxist, but now when he reads Marxists he can't get past their religion. He's frequently pretty cynical about teaching. He said that he might have trouble arguing with a student who answered one of his essay questions by saying, "Who gives a crap?" Of course the student doesn't have the credibility to say something like that, but this professor does. He said he doesn't get any real satisfaction from his job anymore, that his family gives him happiness now, but not writting for his peers. He made fun of the old professors who still stand around joking about how dumb students are, about how they don't know the basic facts of history, like what decade the Civil War was. "Of course they're dumb!" was his recognition. "Why should they care about Bizmark's rise to power aided by the king and on the backs of the working men?" which was something that he used to care about as a Marxist. The marxists believed that economics influenced culture, which influenced politics. "It was was a beautiful theory," he said, and that must be why he believed in it.
But now this particular professor, in his historiography class, which is a class about methods of historical analyis and writing, says that people who pick any one of those three things (economics, culture or politics) as being preeminant and controlling over the others, make him nervous. I guess I'll have to be careful not to be too precise in my methods! But as a Christian, and one who goes to a church with an optimistic eschatology, I tend to believe that culture is more of a substrata than either economics or politics. In the marketplace people exchange things, in the political arena they fight for things, but as members of a culture we adopt a way of living. Jesus started a culture, a way of living, accompanied by certain beliefs, but primarily a way of living, which has outlasted countless governments and changes in economy. And that culture is built on the foundation of personal ministry, beyond just the ministry to our families, though that is important. Therefore Christians have a historiography, which corresponds with their way of life, and that truly is beautiful! May thy Kingdom come, Lord Jesus!
"Our legacy is one of fat theology books and church splits. And of course there are notable exceptions, but generally, it appears we've done a fairly dismal job of putting hands and feet on our (supposed) theology. Our circles are primarily ideologically driven/maintained rather than geographically/parish focused."
That is so true and it is equally true that the most effective ministry (perhaps even the only ministry that is ultimately effective) is personal ministry. Jesus public death on the cross would not have meant a thing if He did not have a personal ministry to the disciples and others in his close circle. Jesus death has significance on all different levels, but if he had just been a hermit before he died, no one would have cared. The significance of his death goes far beyond the legal transaction that took place, the fact that he paid the debt for my sins. It is impossible to serve God without serving those around us.
I know a professor who says that he used to be Marxist, but now when he reads Marxists he can't get past their religion. He's frequently pretty cynical about teaching. He said that he might have trouble arguing with a student who answered one of his essay questions by saying, "Who gives a crap?" Of course the student doesn't have the credibility to say something like that, but this professor does. He said he doesn't get any real satisfaction from his job anymore, that his family gives him happiness now, but not writting for his peers. He made fun of the old professors who still stand around joking about how dumb students are, about how they don't know the basic facts of history, like what decade the Civil War was. "Of course they're dumb!" was his recognition. "Why should they care about Bizmark's rise to power aided by the king and on the backs of the working men?" which was something that he used to care about as a Marxist. The marxists believed that economics influenced culture, which influenced politics. "It was was a beautiful theory," he said, and that must be why he believed in it.
But now this particular professor, in his historiography class, which is a class about methods of historical analyis and writing, says that people who pick any one of those three things (economics, culture or politics) as being preeminant and controlling over the others, make him nervous. I guess I'll have to be careful not to be too precise in my methods! But as a Christian, and one who goes to a church with an optimistic eschatology, I tend to believe that culture is more of a substrata than either economics or politics. In the marketplace people exchange things, in the political arena they fight for things, but as members of a culture we adopt a way of living. Jesus started a culture, a way of living, accompanied by certain beliefs, but primarily a way of living, which has outlasted countless governments and changes in economy. And that culture is built on the foundation of personal ministry, beyond just the ministry to our families, though that is important. Therefore Christians have a historiography, which corresponds with their way of life, and that truly is beautiful! May thy Kingdom come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Who we are
I love this statement about who we are in the CREC by Chris Schlect:
Check out the rest of the CREC's history here.
We in the CREC are recovering from 20th century fundamentalism and pietism. As pietists, we tried to be relevant to culture and to make a difference, but we learned that the more relevant we tried to become, the more shallow and fragmented, and at last, the less relevant, we became. As fundamentalists, we wanted to hold up the Bible as our standard of truth, but we came to learn that without owning the church as the “pillar and ground of the truth,” a high Bible is no longer a precious Covenant document, but Gnostic emptiness.
God protected us from ourselves. He protected us through all our silly political lobbying, our taste for Contemporary Christian music, and our media-frenzied vision for ministry, even as we neglected the church. He has been kind to show us our folly, and to restore us to our mother. We in the CREC are in love with our creeds and confessions and liturgies and our church government. For our merciful God has rescued us out of the 20th century.
Check out the rest of the CREC's history here.
A New Speaker for the 2007 Trinity Fest
Dr. David Field is going to speak at Trinity Fest this year.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Hesitant mission statements
I've been looking at some of the websites and descriptions of various Christian organizations here at WSU and many of them are very hesitant sounding. Consider this Presbyterian one:
There's nothing wrong with hanging out for Jesus. All ministry must be personal or it is not effective ministry. But lets not start with the assumption that Jesus is irrelivant! Here's another one:
That one doesn't even mention Jesus! I guess it wouldn't though, because it also uses its facility for the meetings of entirely different religions, such as Muslims.
"...a weekly worship service where university students get together to celebrate real life in Jesus Christ through song, prayer, teaching, and hanging out. It’s centered on making Jesus relevant, whether you are a skeptic, sitting on the fence, or actively maturing in your faith."
There's nothing wrong with hanging out for Jesus. All ministry must be personal or it is not effective ministry. But lets not start with the assumption that Jesus is irrelivant! Here's another one:
"...at WSU is an open and accepting Christian community (Koinonia) honoring diversity of persons and opinions, working for reconciliation and the integration of faith and learning for the Washington State University Community.
We are a group of seven Protestant denominations which have covenanted together to provide ministry opportunities to WSU students, faculty and staff.
The Common Ministry is an open and accepting Christian community: we strive to be in ministry with all people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age."
That one doesn't even mention Jesus! I guess it wouldn't though, because it also uses its facility for the meetings of entirely different religions, such as Muslims.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Politics is the opiate of the masses!
Richard John Neuhaus, author of "The Naked Public Square," calls himself a catholic and ecumenical Lutheran. He wrote a book in 1984 that expresses many of the ideas and attitudes towards politics that I have learned since being at Christ Church and so its very interesting to find a few of them in a book that was written long before Leithart wrote "Against Christianity," which is my favorite political treatise besides the New Testament itself. Here is one of those ideas that I hold dear--the idea that a Christian's life gets bigger, not smaller as he watches less of Fox News:
"Largeness of life has little to do with the size of the space engaged. The person watching the evening political news about budget battles in Washington and bloodier battles in Beirut is not necessarily living more largely. Large horizons on life's possibilities might more likely be disclosed by listening to a Mozart concerto or taking the dog for a walk around the neighborhood." Amen to that!
"Largeness of life has little to do with the size of the space engaged. The person watching the evening political news about budget battles in Washington and bloodier battles in Beirut is not necessarily living more largely. Large horizons on life's possibilities might more likely be disclosed by listening to a Mozart concerto or taking the dog for a walk around the neighborhood." Amen to that!
Monday, January 01, 2007
The problem of individualism
A quotation from Doug Wilsons’ blog: “As a pastor, I have spoken many times with men and women who tragically believe that their personal identity is separate and distinct from whatever relationships that they might happen to be in. Individualism has persuaded many of the disastrous doctrine that personal identity is monadic or solitary. This is one of the reasons why we are dealing with an epidemic of divorce—men and women have come to believe they can walk away from marriage without touching or affecting what or who they are as a person.”
This very little light of mine
The Lord gave me a convicting thought yesterday while talking with a friend: When have I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone, not the idea that Christianity should be given more consideration in public life and not that that the Christian Worldview is unjustly targeted, but the Gospel--showing to someone how God’s grace can change their life and "save" them? It's clear that American Christians need to pray to the Lord for opportunities to declare His truth and to help grow His Church.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Contemporary Christian Music
Eric E. from the Nuart Theatre and Campus Christian Ministries here in Moscow recently e-mailed some thoughts in defense of Contemporary Christian Music prior to a concert at the Nuart. I thought I would post them here, because I think they're interesting and agree that sometimes, we at Christ Church are too critical of CCM. While I no longer believe that the contemporary hit parade praise songs should be used in corporate worship, there's no doubt that we can be blessed by all sorts of Christian entertainers. Especially disconcerting are those Christians who would rather go to a Dave Mathew's concert than go here somebody sing about Christ! So thank you Mr. E for your work at CCM and your music! (By the way, Eric has an album, which many people don't know about, called "Lead Me to Life" with his own Christian songs on it that I've really enjoyed.) Here are Eric's comments:
"I have heard from quite a number of people that they are not planning to come to the Bebo Norman/Aaron Schust/Brandon Heath concert on Monday, because they don't like the style of music. I would like to address this briefly.
Let me say that it makes me sad that many people will miss out on something very special, because of slight perceptional problems.
This concert on Monday night will not really have a definable "style". In fact this music isn't about "style" at all. It's not about playing music in such a way as to convince the audience that you really do sound as good as if you were black, Irish, or wearing a powdered wig. It's not about playing inside a pre-defined stylistic box and not coloring outside the lines. Those kind of concerts are wonderful-- I enjoy them-- especially when the musicians really are black, Irish, or wearing a powdered wig. But that is not what Monday night will be.
Monday night's concert at the Nuart is about getting to know three young men, and hearing them put their passion for Christ into poetry. There will be one set of songs each, by three different guys with a six-piece band of Nashville (viz. excellent) musicians. When they wrote these songs, these young men were not trying to ape a style at all. They simply wrote poetry and used whatever sounds came out of their guitar to make the poetry more beautiful. And this concert will be about sharing the personality and Christian walk of these young men, and rejoicing with them in the goodness of God. That rejoicing will result in direct worship in which they will ask you to join. It's not about musical "style" at all.
If people insist on nailing down a style for this show, it would have to be somewhere between "easy rock" and "acoustic rock". Which means it is a style that will be accessible to probably the broadest age-range. It will be very hard not to like the music-- you'll have to work at it.
It is truly a shame when people say they don't like "Christian Contemporary music". They certainly like contemporary music of some sort. If they are Christians, they must like music that praises God. Many times the people who say they don't like Christian Contemporary music, haven't really listened to any in twenty years. Is there current Christian music that is sappy, trite, silly, and poorly played? Of course-- just as there is in EVERY style, even 300 year-old music. Does that mean there is no good modern music that is currently done by Christians? If you think so, you simply haven't been around the block. Christian music is way better than it has ever been, and the quality of the musicianship and technical production is as good as anything out there that is secular. One must simply keep an open mind, just as one must in the world of fine wines and fine food. Feasting involves much more than eating the same few foods until we are too old to taste the difference.
So, I would encourage you to throw caution to the wind, dare to risk your taste buds, and come to the concert at the Nuart at 8pm on Monday night."
"I have heard from quite a number of people that they are not planning to come to the Bebo Norman/Aaron Schust/Brandon Heath concert on Monday, because they don't like the style of music. I would like to address this briefly.
Let me say that it makes me sad that many people will miss out on something very special, because of slight perceptional problems.
This concert on Monday night will not really have a definable "style". In fact this music isn't about "style" at all. It's not about playing music in such a way as to convince the audience that you really do sound as good as if you were black, Irish, or wearing a powdered wig. It's not about playing inside a pre-defined stylistic box and not coloring outside the lines. Those kind of concerts are wonderful-- I enjoy them-- especially when the musicians really are black, Irish, or wearing a powdered wig. But that is not what Monday night will be.
Monday night's concert at the Nuart is about getting to know three young men, and hearing them put their passion for Christ into poetry. There will be one set of songs each, by three different guys with a six-piece band of Nashville (viz. excellent) musicians. When they wrote these songs, these young men were not trying to ape a style at all. They simply wrote poetry and used whatever sounds came out of their guitar to make the poetry more beautiful. And this concert will be about sharing the personality and Christian walk of these young men, and rejoicing with them in the goodness of God. That rejoicing will result in direct worship in which they will ask you to join. It's not about musical "style" at all.
If people insist on nailing down a style for this show, it would have to be somewhere between "easy rock" and "acoustic rock". Which means it is a style that will be accessible to probably the broadest age-range. It will be very hard not to like the music-- you'll have to work at it.
It is truly a shame when people say they don't like "Christian Contemporary music". They certainly like contemporary music of some sort. If they are Christians, they must like music that praises God. Many times the people who say they don't like Christian Contemporary music, haven't really listened to any in twenty years. Is there current Christian music that is sappy, trite, silly, and poorly played? Of course-- just as there is in EVERY style, even 300 year-old music. Does that mean there is no good modern music that is currently done by Christians? If you think so, you simply haven't been around the block. Christian music is way better than it has ever been, and the quality of the musicianship and technical production is as good as anything out there that is secular. One must simply keep an open mind, just as one must in the world of fine wines and fine food. Feasting involves much more than eating the same few foods until we are too old to taste the difference.
So, I would encourage you to throw caution to the wind, dare to risk your taste buds, and come to the concert at the Nuart at 8pm on Monday night."
Monday, June 19, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Virginia Beach
Robby has been putting on a few pounds here in Virginia, what with our team dinners and families feeding us almost every Sunday.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The 2006 Pest Control Gang
Robby Lisenby, Luke Nieuwsma and Jesse Sumpter have joined me in Richmond! Here we are in front of the Richmond WWI veterans memorial and also in downtown Annapolis Maryland before church on Sunday.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Rain day
Dear friends,
Now I remember why I started this blog in the first place. It was a day not unlike today, my first summer selling pest control. Once again I'm 2500 miles away from home and I don't have one Christian friend in this entire city! Normally the nature of my work keeps me from getting restless and thinking too much about home, but today it's raining just enough to keep me off the doors. I can't decide if I want to go knock in the rain or if I should get my oil changed, but I suppose anything is better than sitting in my car. Right now I'm in the Glen Allen public library. Glen Allen is probably the most wealthy suburb of Richmond and where I will be knocking for at least half the summer I'm sure. So far I've done pretty well since I've been out here. I've sold about 90 in the first five weeks. But I've got 15 more weeks to go!
Yesterday I went to a Reformed Presbyterian Church in downtown Richmond, it was a good service, but not quite like the CREC. Next week I'll either go to the CREC church in Lynchburg or the one in Newport News, both are about an hour and a half drive. I also went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts yesterday and saw an Art Nouveau collection with lots of bizzar, fantastic looking furniture and cool lamps made of all different colors of glass. I also saw some Van Gogh paintings, but the most memorable thing was meeting one of the numerous black security guards who told me to look at three different paintings in succession, saying "see if you can find the flaw in that one." I usually couldn't see at first what he was refering to, but sure enough, he would show me where the artist had forgotten to paint a shadow of something, whereas for other objects he had made a shadow, or he showed me how a dogs legs were way too long and he would look like a kangaroo if he tried to stand up. He had practically memorized every detail of the paintings he was required to guard, and this was how he relieved the boardom of the job, just standing around in an art museum. On my way out an older black lady scolded me for not wearing a coat on such a rainy day. "I ought to lay you accross my lap and paddle you," she said in a very low smoker's voice.
I know I rarely if ever post on this blog, but today I could not help but give a shout out to the world. Friends, let me know if you read the post.
Marty
Now I remember why I started this blog in the first place. It was a day not unlike today, my first summer selling pest control. Once again I'm 2500 miles away from home and I don't have one Christian friend in this entire city! Normally the nature of my work keeps me from getting restless and thinking too much about home, but today it's raining just enough to keep me off the doors. I can't decide if I want to go knock in the rain or if I should get my oil changed, but I suppose anything is better than sitting in my car. Right now I'm in the Glen Allen public library. Glen Allen is probably the most wealthy suburb of Richmond and where I will be knocking for at least half the summer I'm sure. So far I've done pretty well since I've been out here. I've sold about 90 in the first five weeks. But I've got 15 more weeks to go!
Yesterday I went to a Reformed Presbyterian Church in downtown Richmond, it was a good service, but not quite like the CREC. Next week I'll either go to the CREC church in Lynchburg or the one in Newport News, both are about an hour and a half drive. I also went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts yesterday and saw an Art Nouveau collection with lots of bizzar, fantastic looking furniture and cool lamps made of all different colors of glass. I also saw some Van Gogh paintings, but the most memorable thing was meeting one of the numerous black security guards who told me to look at three different paintings in succession, saying "see if you can find the flaw in that one." I usually couldn't see at first what he was refering to, but sure enough, he would show me where the artist had forgotten to paint a shadow of something, whereas for other objects he had made a shadow, or he showed me how a dogs legs were way too long and he would look like a kangaroo if he tried to stand up. He had practically memorized every detail of the paintings he was required to guard, and this was how he relieved the boardom of the job, just standing around in an art museum. On my way out an older black lady scolded me for not wearing a coat on such a rainy day. "I ought to lay you accross my lap and paddle you," she said in a very low smoker's voice.
I know I rarely if ever post on this blog, but today I could not help but give a shout out to the world. Friends, let me know if you read the post.
Marty
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Oops! Here's my correct summer address
The first address that I posted was wrong. They decided to put me in a different apartment. So this is my new summer address just outside of Richmond, VA. I just moved in yesterday and got all settled and I'll be here till the middle of August.
2908 Lake Point Dr. #3D
Midlothian VA 23112
Marty
2908 Lake Point Dr. #3D
Midlothian VA 23112
Marty
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Please pray for my mom
My mother, Ruth, is going to receive her first chemo-therapy treatment today. The doctors consider this an essential treatment, even though they removed all the cancer surgically. So please pray that she will make it through all right. My mom is taking all of this really well; she is a heroine of the Christian faith to me, but I just pray that the Lord will continue to free her from cancer. She is currently a youthful looking 62 years old.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Chris and Shey
I just recieved some pictures from Chris and Shey's wedding and this is my favorite. Chris Hoops and I spent last summer knocking doors in Washington D.C. He's a great guy and I'm very happy for him and his new bride. A very beautiful wedding indeed Chris!
Friday, April 07, 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, I've been in Washington DC for a week now. At first it was really cold, absolutely fridged, with a stiff wind. It's the first time I've ever had to knock doors in a long sleeve shirt and pants, but it's warming right up now.
I've got a new phone number, which I will have until the middle of August: 804-248-2274. It's a Richmond number, because I'll be moving down to Richmond at the biginning of May.
Be in touch,
Marty
Well, I've been in Washington DC for a week now. At first it was really cold, absolutely fridged, with a stiff wind. It's the first time I've ever had to knock doors in a long sleeve shirt and pants, but it's warming right up now.
I've got a new phone number, which I will have until the middle of August: 804-248-2274. It's a Richmond number, because I'll be moving down to Richmond at the biginning of May.
Be in touch,
Marty
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