mel-web

I find great amusement in many little things.  Most people don’t find joy/amusement in the things that I do.  But that’s okay because it’s all subjective.  I happen to find self expression on a vehicle plate amusing.  Inspired by my friend’s new bike plate I went hunting for one of my own.  Check out the whole pile and leave a comment if you find any particularly good and would like to see it become a reality.  Or, if you want you can suggest one.  But you have to first see if it’s available:  Michigan Personalized Plate Creator.  Here’s what friends and I came up with as options (in no particular order)

Above:  It’s a LOLCats thing.  Don’t know lolcats? icanhascheezburger.com 

Above: Imagine getting a plate frame that turned “MICHIGAN” into “Hello, I’m ” so that it looked just like a name tag

Above:  Well, I am, and proud to be on sportbike.

Above:  My online handle, as many know, is some form of “mercury” so naturally, the plate could follow.

Above: Sometimes the simplest is the best.

Above:  Regardless stereotypes… I hear it a lot at stop lights from all sorts.

Above: I a cutie too, not just a biker.  This is the corniest in my opinion.  I’m not inclined to actually have this on my bike, but it was an option.

Leave some comments, k?

So yesterday was Ash Wednesday.  This starts a very important season at church.  I would say more important than Advent (aka: the Christmas season).  Lent is the time leading up to Easter.  Being that Easter is basically the core of Christianity really… I mean, if you’re sharing the story of Easter you’re sharing the story of Christianity.  So what’s so important about the time preceding Easter?

Traditionally Easter was the time that new followers prepared for Baptism and old hands reexamined things.  Baptisms now take place as needed, whenever.  But we still should take time to reflect, study, and grow as followers.  And if you’re not baptized, now is an excellent time to look into changing that.

So one way to examine ourselves and our devotion as well as gain a better understanding of Easter is to give up something for 40 days.  In the past I have given up procrastination, forgetting to read my bible, and a variety of simpler things like chocolate (which, if you don’t know me, is weak because I don’t actually like chocolate).  This year is tough.  I’ve scaled so much of my life back because of the foot injury, low income, and personal devotion to God.  It took forever to come up with something significant to give up.  There is little ‘fluff’ in my life at that moment.  I want to give up something that will remind me daily to keep God in the forefront of my mind.

Several things have crossed my mind: my motorcycle, not living in a disorganized space (my bedroom is a mess, as is my paperwork for 2007), online chatting, booze, and much more.  But nothing seemed to fit my goal: to keep God at the forefront of my mind.  So what can I do?

I’ve given up recreational web surfing.  It’s the only thing I can think of that I do daily that I simply don’t need to do.  It’s rough, but it’s like giving up TV for most people. Wish me luck!

BTW: This does exclude me from all my ‘daily’ sites [ blogs, livejournal, web comics, etc], but is does not stop me from work related web use (duh!), I might even still update this blog, maybe.

I have such a list of things I’m passionate about.  Sometimes I don’t even realize that I’m passionate about something until I’ve flown off the handle about it.  This usually happens when someone else gets me going either by sharing my enthusiasm or have opposition to it.

The things that get us worked up, these passions, these things that we hold dear to us, are what make us different than any other living thing.  No matter how endearing my cat is, and how much I like to personify him, he’s a cat.  He doesn’t get a broken heart or infuriated with me when I take away his favorite toy so that I can wash it.  He just moves on.  Emotionally sterile.  Yes, it was is favorite toy, he does have favorites, but he’s not full of passion about it.

Passion is what gives us that spark in our eye when we talk about our hobbies, our loves, our interests.  I feel so blessed to have passion about so many things.  I’ve even had people (both strangers and friends) tell me how much they enjoy seeing me get passionate about something.  I feel compelled to compile a list of a few things that come to mind that I’m passionate about.  I would love it if you would help me grow my list and share some of your passions in the comments.

A few of mine:

• Worship & Discipleship
• Skiing
• Sportbiking
• Michigan
• Doing things “the right way” the first time
• Taking care of my body
• Pets
• Parenting (though I have no kids, yet)
• Good Friends
• My Partner: Ogg
• Work Ethic

Nothing in that list will fail to get me in an energized debate with someone who takes the opposing stance on the topic.  That’s not to say I’m right, or they’re wrong.  In fact several of those items are very subjective, for instance Parenting.  There are many ways to raise a child.  I have some strong feelings about parental responsibilities that will conflict with other valid methods of child rearing.  Though I’m bound to offend and upset some with this: I don’t find Worship & Discipleship to be subjective.  I don’t “believe” in God as if God were something I’m hoping on being there but am ultimately deeply unsure of.  I accept that God is as much a truth and fact as gravity, carbon, and water.  I can rely on God, eternal life, and all the truth of the bible as much as I can rely on the sun coming up tomorrow.

And there I go again, flying off the handle about my passion for God.  I look forward to seeing passion each day in those around me, even if they’re polar opposite of my passions.

Enjoy life, enjoy being human, enjoy your passions. Express your passions to the world; express your humanity.

Jesus said, and I quote, “I am the way, the truth and the life”.

Three very strong points. All three are at the core of Christian perspective. Jesus is our teacher who gives us the path (aka: way) to true happiness by following His teachings on love and life. In crucification He defeated death so that we’ll always have life, both in Heaven with our Father, and a more fulfilling one here if we follow him. But the truth?

Sure we can say simply that Jesus did not lie. Or that Jesus was, and that is the truth. But truth is something that runs much deeper. And I dare say it’s harder to accept whole truth than a savior and teacher. It’s so easy to make God and/or His son our co-pilot, to have him serve us, fitting Him into our lives as we see fit. It’s so easy to say “God loves me even if I don’t do everything right” and allow that to be our reason for not doing ‘faithy’ things. And although it is true that He is always forgiving our short comings it’s not an excuse to allow us to not even try. We’re commissioned children, made in His image, to follow the teachings of a savior. And yet because we’re known to be imperfect we allow ourselves to be as imperfect as we see fit. I hardly think that’s living up to God’s wishes.

It’s a challenge to convince myself that worship service is for Him and not me. It feels so unnatural to pass on Jesus’ love when I am confronted with people I despise. It’s really hard to accept that everything the bible says is right, and I’m wrong. I don’t want to have to study the bible daily as though it were life sustaining food for my soul. And it’s near impossible for me to talk about God in front of most people. However, life is short. Eternity isn’t. That doesn’t leave me with much time to screw around. Perhaps it’s time I drop the excuses and read up on what it is that God expects of me for real instead of going off hearsay and selfishness. Care to join me?

February is going to be a month I spent learning about God’s expectations of Me and all His kids. Would you like to say the same about your February? Comment.

As many of you know: The rear tire of my bike lost traction in a parking lot, snapped out, and crushed my left foot. What most of you won’t understand is why I still love my bike like I love God and living in a free country.

I am not poetic, nor am I an impressive orator. Without the help of others I could probably never express what it is about being a motorcyclist that I can never, and will never, give up. Lucky for me a stranger by the name of Dave Karlotski did it for me. Please read his story with an open mind and listen to the passion of a fellow rider.

Season of the Bike
by Dave Karlotski

There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle. Cold on a motorcycle is like being beaten with cold hammers while being kicked with cold boots, a bone bruising cold. The wind’s big hands squeeze the heat out of my body and whisk it away; caught in a cold October rain, the drops don’t even feel like water. They feel like shards of bone fallen from the skies of Hell to pock my face. I expect to arrive with my cheeks and forehead streaked with blood, but that’s just an illusion, just the misery of nerves not designed for highway speeds.

Despite this, it’s hard to give up my motorcycle in the fall and I rush to get it on the road again in the spring; lapses of sanity like this are common among motorcyclists. When you let a motorcycle into your life you’re changed forever. The letters “MC” are stamped on your driver’s license right next to your sex and height as if “motorcycle” was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition.

But when warm weather finally does come around all those cold snaps and rainstorms are paid in full because a motorcycle summer is worth any price. A motorcycle is not just a two-wheeled car; the difference between driving a car and climbing onto a motorcycle is the difference between watching TV and actually living your life. We spend all our time sealed in boxes and cars are just the rolling boxes that shuffle us languidly from home-box to work-box to store-box and back, the whole time entombed in stale air, temperature regulated, sound insulated, and smelling of carpets.

On a motorcycle I know I’m alive. When I ride, even the familiar seems strange and glorious. The air has weight and substance as I push through it and its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer. I feel the cool wells of air that pool under trees and the warm spokes of sunlight that fall through them. I can see everything in a sweeping 360 degrees, up, down and around, wider than PanaVision and higher than IMAX and unrestricted by ceiling or dashboard.

Sometimes I even hear music. It’s like hearing phantom telephones in the shower or false doorbells when vacuuming; the pattern-loving brain, seeking signals in the noise, raises acoustic ghosts out of the wind’s roar. But on a motorcycle I hear whole songs: rock ‘n roll, dark orchestras, women’s voices, all hidden in the air and released by speed.

At 30 miles an hour and up, smells become uncannily vivid. All the individual tree-smells and flower-smells and grass-smells flit by like chemical notes in a great plant symphony. Sometimes the smells evoke memories so strongly that it’s as though the past hangs invisible in the air around me, wanting only the most casual of rumbling time machines to unlock it.

A ride on a summer afternoon can border on the rapturous. The sheer volume and variety of stimuli is like a bath for my nervous system, an electrical massage for my brain, a systems check for my soul. It tears smiles out of me: a minute ago I was dour, depressed, apathetic, numb, but now, on two wheels, big, ragged, windy smiles flap against the side of my face, billowing out of me like air from a decompressing plane. Transportation is only a secondary function. A motorcycle is a joy machine. It’s a machine of wonders, a metal bird, a motorized prosthetic. It’s light and dark and shiny and dirty and warm and cold lapping over each other; it’s a conduit of grace, it’s a catalyst for bonding the gritty and the holy.

I still think of myself as a motorcycle amateur, but by now I’ve had a handful of bikes over a half dozen years and slept under my share of bridges. I wouldn’t trade one second of either the good times or the misery. Learning to ride was one of the best things I’ve done.

Cars lie to us and tell us we’re safe, powerful, and in control. The air-conditioning fans murmur empty assurances and whisper, “Sleep, sleep.” Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that’s no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride.

Um.

Wow.  It’s been a long time since I posted anything to my fans.  I really meant to.  I mean I have about 1/2 a dozen posts in my drafts waiting to make it out to you.  I also have a pile of stories to add.

So an update on me:

1. Foot is better, can walk, but not yet 100%

2. I am allowed to ski as soon as I feel comfy.

3. Ruby on Rails is quickly becoming my preferred web development language & framework

4.  Love the new job

5. Agile Development Process seems like a good idea: can’t wait to try it starting next week.

6. Way excited my lil’ sis is coming out to visit next week! w00t!

7. Looking forward to skiing

8. Ogg & I are doing well, and that’s wonderful news.

9. My fish are spawning and I’m attempting to raise the young.

10. Been cooking a lot more now that I can stand on my own. Delicious!

There’s the top 10 highlights on me right now.  I’m going to write a note to myself to keep this blog up a bit better.  See you in a few days.

There are places to go, things to see, and activities to participate in. Some grab my interest, many do not. I have no desire to take up wordcarving, civil war reenactment, or bird watching. But there are things that I really want to try at some point in my life. Most of which I want to share with people I love. So I’m creating this new category called “Things to do”. It could be things I’ve done before and I want to do again. They could be new things to try. They could be fancy out of reach things, but they could also be something I could easily do next week.

I think I’ll start by saying I just ate an amazing apple and it makes me regret not going to the orchard even once this year. I want to go to the orchard and pick apples with friends next fall. Then share fresh cider and warm donuts. Maybe even get some pumpkins and carve them next October.

There are many in Sparta that I’d love to visit, but my favorite is Spicer Orchard in my hometown. Best fruit, awesome market, the best, and I do mean BEST cider ever, not to mention you can watch them make your donuts!

So if next fall we’re looking to hang out and we have no prior plans then we’re going apple picking.

The last revision to this site was to move me away from talking about me and concentrate on my struggles in discipleship.  In reality, that is a big part of who I am, but it’s not all of me.  This site was originally created to get closer with my family and friends.  It was to be interesting and enlightening glimpse of what’s going on with me; in my life, heart, and mind.   I’ve elected to go back to honor that.  Though I still believe my LiveJournal is a much better way for my friends to keep track of what’s up with me, this is a place for my the people dear to my heart: family and closest friends.  Of course that’s not to say unknown people of the public and loose friends are unwelcome.  Because we’re all family in God’s house.

If you enjoy the additional insight into my faith, my family, and my feelings please keep this site in your bookmarks.  I am still going to concentrate on things very personal to me rather than making my blog a newsfeed on the events of my life.   You will still get plenty of doses of “chew on me” and the like, but you’ll also see things like my wishlist come back to the site as well as new categories and a wider variety of thought provoking posts.

Stay tuned for more frequent posts!

I have no words that I use outside of church that I won’t use inside. I can say fuck in church without offending God. After all it was us who decided that fuck is a “bad word” not God. I don’t say it because I have no reason to (unless, of course, I stub my toe). On the other hand I have words I use at church but not in casual conversation.  Shouldn’t my vocab always be bidirectional?

In writing just a few entries I’ve had to correct myself from using ‘church words’. I want to keep these entries casual. They’re all synonyms really, almost, mostly. When I’m in the faith talk mode I think of things in strong, powerful ways. The church words seem to reflect that more. However, they do detract from the down to earth tone here. But there is one word that I in certain instances I can’t help but want to use.

Making Oaths, Commitments, Promises and… Covenants

Many times we make promises, and most of us follow through on them. My S.O. promised to dance with me at a friend’s wedding earlier this month and low and behold he swept me out on to the floor and made my heart melt.

On the flip side promises are often broken too. They’re made lightly and treated so by all parties involved. No harm, no foul.  It’s a natural part of humanity and the culture I’m a part of.

We do also make promises in this life that are so important that we might have signed with blood, or for that matter with our soul. Marriage is one. Commitment to follow Christ is another. There are lots more. These aren’t mere promises though.  These sorts of oaths, these pledges, have special a special name in church vocab.  We call such commitments covenants.

But I’ve never use the word covenant in casual conversation. It’s one of those words that doesn’t cross over from church to day-to-day life.  A covenant can be thought of like and unwritten contract.  But really, isn’t that what a promise is?  But we often treat a promise with far less respect.  Are promise and covenant really synonyms in casual conversation? Is that to say when I make a promise that I haven’t made such and oath or pledge of such magnitude? What if I were more committed in every promise I made?  What would happen if we all took a promise with as much importance as we treated covenants?  What if we treated a promise to a person the same as we treated a promise to God?  How do I treat promises made to me?  How does God treat promises I make to him?

Originally I attributed the following quote to my favorite band dc Talk as they quote it before the song “What if I Stumble”. However, it turns out it’s a quote from the Christian speaker and author Brennan Manning.

The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. This, is what an unbelieving world, simply finds, unbelievable.

He speaks not of all Christians but of a very specific group of us. Those of us who say we’re Christians but do not live like we are. We live as hypocrites, picking and choosing when to behave like Christians.  We choose which neighbors and family we accept.  We claim that church is about us and that we personally don’t need to be there on Sunday.  Why would anyone want to join a faith where the followers don’t follow? Have we set ourselves up to make sharing our faith harder than is possible so that we don’t have to do it? Are we embarrassed about our faith? Are we weak? Do we lack the knowledge about our own faith to give us the courage to live it? Do we simply lack the how-to of living in love and peace? What is it that holds us back from living a Christian life?