Pages

3.21.2010

The Average Evangelical



I appreciate the people with the gall to produce these kind of commentaries.

(HT: Dan Phillips

Bowery Mission

This past week I was serving with about 15 other college age people at the Bowery Mission in New York City. It was a tremendous time and I hope that this experience will drastically affect my life hereafter.

The Bowery Mission ministers in a number of ways, but the two focal points are their discipleship program and their food service. You can read about the Bowery's history here.

The men in the discipleship program there all have amazing stories to tell. One man who grew up in Guam was sexually abused at a young age and then went on to a life full of drugs and wealth as a successful artist. After a failed suicide attempt he found his way to the Bowery and went through their 6-month discipleship program. He was a great encouragement to us all and presently visits the Bowery often and is living in NYC.

I think I still need time to decompress (we worked relatively hard days in the kitchen and around the mission) and reflect on what I truly learned. It is always life-changing in some manner to have your eyes opened to the suffering, pain, death, sin, and different experiences our fellow man goes through. As I reflect on this short week, I will keep updating with my different thoughts.

Mildly unrelated, but the Bowery is home to the piano that Fanny Crosby wrote the majority of her hymns on.

3.12.2010

101 in 1001

I realize that I am a pretty terrible blogger. Hopefully I will be better in the future and give meaningful, edifying, entertaining content. Likely not all three of those things at once. I'm not that good.

Anyways, my friend Alyse recently posted a list of 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. I enjoyed her post so I figure I would give the same thing a try. Most of these I should be able to complete, but some are simply beyond my control in some regard. The end date is Friday, December 7, 2012. Here we go, in no logical order or categorization:

1. Pass the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam.
2. Move out of my house.
3. Go on a vacation without my family.
4. Get a full time job.
5. Read 50 books. [0/50]
6. Read through the Bible twice. [0/2]
7. Go to a shooting range.
8. Bike 300 miles. [0/300]
9. Blog at least once a week.
10. Go on a date. [0/?]
11. Write 3 songs. [0/3]
12. Re-learn the piano.
13. Shred an epic metal guitar solo.
14. Sing in a choir.
15. Find a church (after I leave my present one).
16. Get my MBA.
17. Buy a camera.
18. Try 5 new foods. [0/5]
19. Buy and read a book that I won’t agree with.
20. Fast for three consecutive days.
21. Pay off all my school debt. [0/100%]
22. Serve in the community.
23. Shovel someone’s driveway randomly.
24. Call 3 non-Christian friends and catch up with them. [0/3]
25. Start sprinting again.
26. Get some new clothes.
27. Buy a wok.
28. Run 10 traffic cones over. [0/10]
29. Make crème brulée.
30. Sell my video games.
31. Buy 2 blazers. [0/2]
32. Grow facial hair for 2+ months.
33. Travel outside the US.
34. Buy more Bible commentaries.
35. Give away 10 books I have read. [0/10]
36. Realize a gain on my stocks.
37. Begin to put away savings monthly.
38. Go camping.
39. Write 3 poems. [0/3]
40. Fill up 2 Moleskine journals. [0/2]
41. Go open-air preaching.
42. Get 1000 visits to my blog. [0/1000]
43. Write 5 letters to my grandparents. [0/5]
44. Visit my sister at college.
45. Go skiing at a big mountain.
46. Roadtrip somewhere.
47. Swim in the ocean.
48. Read more of the Puritans.
49. Get a record player and play the vinyls I have.
50. See another Thrice concert.
51. Dance.
52. Post a video to Youtube.
53. Understand local government better.
54. Visit a state I have never been to before.
55. Go curling.
56. Speak in some formal public venue.
57. Attend 6 concerts. [0/6]
58. Crowd surf.
59. Mosh.
60. Play in a band.
61. Learn to drive standard better.
62. Win a contest.
63. Go fishing.
64. Go 2 days in a row without technology.
65. Go a week without using artificial light.
66. Fix up my bike.
67. Build a bookshelf.
68. Get soaked in a rainstorm.
69. Go golfing.
70. Play tennis.
71. Greet 10 strangers. [0/10]
72. Go to a flea market.
73. Document 5 days in my life through photographs. [0/5]
74. Sleep under the stars.
75. See 10 meteors. [0/10]
76. Memorize Romans 8.
77. Memorize 3 Psalms. [0/3]
78. Read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
79. Floss my teeth more regularly.
80. Clean out my closet and give clothes away.
81. Make sushi.
82. Buy a new computer.
83. Re-read “The Grapes of Wrath”.
84. Read C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy.
85. Have an extended conversation with a homeless man/woman.
86. Eat at 5 new restaurants. [0/5]
87. Visit 3 new cities. [0/3]
88. Eat pho.
89. Try pipe tobacco.
90. Attend a NCAA tournament (conference or national).
91. Write an opinion piece to the local newspaper.
92. Blow something up.
93. Take a picture each day for a month straight and post it to the blog. [0/30]
94. Host a party.
95. See 2 plays. [0/2]
96. Go to the symphony 3 times. [0/3]
97. Donate blood 5 times. [0/5]
98. Write a list of 20 Johnathan Edwards-style “resolutions”. [0/20]
99. Buy and consume delicious Ovaltine.
100. Go without Twitter and Facebook for a month. [0/30]
101. Get engaged. (Ha!)