The Converted Reader- An Autobiography
I am a reader. I have not always been a reader. But I am not a reader in the sense that Doug is a reader. (Doug) Serven (the RUF campus minister at OU) has
this list of books that he reads that makes you feel like you are a waste of time. I think that all he does is read.
I did not grow up reading at all. Even the books that I was required to read I really didn't read. I insted just peered through the Cliff Notes. Not only did I not read, I made up a book one time for a book report. And if that's not bad enough, I made a 100% on it. But the joke was on me when it came test time. I took the ACT (which is like the SAT) eleven times during high school. I wanted to get a full scholarship to OU, and I only needed a few points higher. I would score in the 98% percentile in Science, 98% in English, and 97% in Math, and 84% in reading.....so what would I do to try to get a better score? You guessed it, more science, English, and math problems and practice tests. I was a finance major at OU, and as you can imagine, we didn't have to read a whole lot, except for the classes that everyone had to take. But something happened my junior year of college. I read
Chosen By God by R.C. Sproul. Then I read
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace by Michael Horton, and before I knew it I was churning out books almost weekly. (Many of you can relate if you went through the 'Introduction to Calvinism/Reformed Theology' Stage). In preparation for the internship that I am currently doing with RUF, I had to read about 15 books, and now I read about 2 or 3 books each month. I still think my reading comprehension is a little lower than I would hope, but hopefully it's getting better.
But my question is this: when you want to jump into reading something for fun, where do you start? I always hear recommendations from people, but how do I know that I will like the book? Usually when I don't like a book, I don't finish it. Should I start with a novel, or a non-fiction or what? Let me know, I am interested to hear some input...
Boots and Paint
I have two main observations from the past two days in my life:
1) Everybody needs a pair of cowboy boots. They don't have to be nice or fancy, but they have to have hard soles (not rubber). There is just something about putting on boots that makes you want to dance, and seemingly makes you dance better. Well, for me at least. I danced for a total of 5 hours last night. Thats not normal.
2) Don't try and paint metal doors with a brush. A friend had me over to his house today to help him get a few things done before trying to sell it and so I was going to paint the inside of his front door. It was a metal door, and I had a brush. It really turned out bad, and I kept thinking that all it needed was another coat of paint. That wasn't the answer. I left amidst a flurry of apologies and offers to come back and sand the paint down and try again. I am usually not a perfectionist, but this really wore me down.
Gonna go to sleep. Peace
When I was a pledge...(as it relates to public worship)
So I was having a flashback today to my freshman year at OU when I was pledging in a fraternity and I was laughing to myself at some of the ridiculous stuff that we did, and that we had done to us. I remember about two weeks into it, I was blindfolded (very common) and put in the back of this guy named Mark's car. He had some crazy stereo system, with like eight 12"s, 17 tweeters, and 2 strobe lights or something like that, and all I remember is that it was UNBELIEVABLY LOUD. He was playing some really pleasing rap melody that was laced with profanity that would shame most construction sites. I had a fellow pledge sitting about 4 inches from me and there was positively no way we could hear each other say anything, much less our pleas for them to turn down the music a few notches. We were led on some crazy drive with about 30 minutes of them trying to disorient us so that we couldn't figure out where we were going, and then we would arrive at our destination, which was usually Wildwood Community Church in Norman (whoever gave the fraternity this privelege should've been more hesitant). We went through some meaningless ritual, that was supposed to teach us about something, and then for some reason, at the end of the night, all the guys started hugging each other and acting like their lives had been changed. Hmmmm....i think i missed something during the ritual. The most exciting thing for me was trying to figure out where we were driving to while blindfolded. I dropped out.
I was thinking about the fraternal days in relation to something in my post yesterday saying "(kind of reminds me of the way that many people do at church services with their eyes closed, you know, just them&God....)" In saying this, I am not condemning people who care to close their eyes while singing, but I do think that it is noteworthy that when God's people gather together for worship on the Lord's day, there is something different than all the other days. Namely, that we are together. Believers, hopefully, spend some time during the week in personal devotional and/or prayer, family worship, or something else. But on this day, we-His body are together worshipping Him, we are one. Whenever all 40 of us or so would gather for pledge meetings, they would ask how many of us there were. Our uniform answer would be "One". Ah hah, maybe our fraternity was Christian!!!!! probably not.
But Paul talks extensively in 1 Corinthians 12 about this very thing. We are one body, with many members and we have all been given gifts to help serve and love one another so that God would be glorified. So why, when we come together on that special Lord's day would we want to come in seclusion, and block out everything else around me, and just have it be God and I. The overwhelming theme of the Bible is the story of the redemption of an entire people (the church) and an entire world at that. It is not just about Jesus saving individuals, it is bigger than that.
When we gather together, we need to love the fact that the old guy singing next to us is completely tone deaf and can't sing a lick. We need to love that sometimes the message is good, and sometimes its, eh, okay. We don't just walk into church with our arms crossed and say "Well, this better be good" and expect some life changing sermon or song line-up that really pushes us into spiritual happiness. We need to repent of the fact that we want church to be about us as individuals. We need to repent of our lack of love for the people around us and appreciate that God has necessarily called us into community with other believers and that we are His body, His temple, He dwells in us, and He is glorified when we gather together. And whether or not we always feel like it, we are ONE. And so for that one day a week, let's take joy that we can come as one and sing and confess and partake of the means of grace, and be the beautiful bride that we are, together!
I promise to share more fraternity stories as they come to mind.
TM'ing, a few thoughts
For those of you who know or don't know, TM'ing is a little something we like to call text messaging. For those who have never heard of text messaging, its an easy way to send a quick few lines without having a full conversation. For those of us who would consider ourselves seasoned veterans, it's an easy way to go through life, without ever having a full conversation, or really any conversation at all. (p.s. this is not okay)
You see, I was talking with my friend Matt yesterday and he was telling me that he is finished TM'ing. The Drink and I converted him from Sprint to Cingular just a week or so ago, and he says that he just can't afford to send TMs anymore. Much to my dismay. I pay for 300 text messages a month, and for the most part, i use them all. Matt suggested to me that text messages are yet another way that we isolate ourselves from those around us, and live in own little secluded bubble. (kind of reminds me of the way that many people do at church services with their eyes closed, you know, just them&God....) I know that for me, its easy to say witty, funny, pleasing things over a series of text messages, but when it comes to real conversation sometimes, I kind of feel like I am a dud. I stumble through my words, having to connect my thoughts with audible sentences, worrying through pauses in the conversation. Maybe its not quite as great as I have thought it to be, maybe multiple hundreds of these a month is too many, maybe I shouldn't get so excited when she ends her text message with :).....
Serven, I humbly submit
After much persistence from D. James Serven, I have decided that it would be in everyone's but my best interest to publish my thoughts online. Many of you who know me, know that I have experienced much, said much, mispoke too much, and for this reason you love to have me tell 'stories'. So, stories, both humorous, and serious will you get. Enjoy. I can't believe i am a blogger. yeep
