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Sunday, October 31, 2010

the beginning of something great

My roommate and I recently decided to start our own series of short youtube films. enjoy.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

some nice bits

Walking to the Sailor's Exchange the other day, I noticed this doorway in an alley by a rather miniature parking lot.  Turning around I also saw a very humble little bug. Both things seemed very loved. I found the Sailor's Exchange closed but was glad to have made the trip.

photos via phone:

Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday Morning Devos from CS


I was checkin my email today and came upon another one of the Monday Morning Devos that Christian Surfers sends me every week. They almost always provide a little uplift to to get things going. I thought the one today was especially awesome, and therefore I really want to share it. Instead of attempting my own painful summarization, I  just copy/pasted the message right here so you could read it. I think its good for everyone, but if you are a surfer its even more noteworthy. enjoy:




HOW JESUS SAVES THE SOUL OF SURFING
Boards do get broken. It should not surprise us. We live in a world where tons of things break: relationships, economies, human bodies, our word. And Jesus came on the scene roughly 2000 years ago and declared “I can fix that.” In John 3:17 he said something to the effect that “I didn’t come to condemn the world, I came to save it.
Simple stated. Jesus saves. Jesus heals broken things. And there are lots of things broken in this world. Things like foam and fiberglass boards, which snap like toothpicks when conditions go extreme. But go beyond things to people. People get broken. People are broken. And all our efforts of patching ourselves up won’t make us right. It won’t make us who we were intended to be. And how do broken people get whole? Jesus must save them. In other words: renew them, restore them and make them new.
When surf clothing companies make heroes of alcoholics and then cast these heroes aside once their contest ratings or photo appeal begin to wane, that is a broken thing. When surfers brought their wave riding to Lagundri Bay in Nias and transformed an island paradise into a drug-infested ghetto, that is broken also. It’s a broken thing when women in surfing can only get ahead if they are sexually and physically stunning. We experience the brokenness of surfing every time there’s a shouting match in the water, then a punch-out on the beach, then slashed tires and expletives written with wax on windshields. We try to justify ourselves by going green, while we burn fuel in jets to get us on our surf vacations, as we burn diesel to power the A/C in the stateroom of our boats so we can sleep comfortably, readying ourselves to ride waves on boards that are made from incredibly toxic materials. There’s something broken in that line of reasoning, that we somehow get a hall pass for our hypocrisy.
The soul of surfing? This is a soul…on the brink of destruction.
But it’s a soul that can get healed. Through Jesus. Through his followers, through those who would choose another path. Perhaps through each of the ideas shared in The Ripple Effect, your path can be different.
So go out and make some waves. Your life always means more than you think it does, when you place your life in the Master of all creation…
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Thursday, October 7, 2010

sweet memories



          I was shuffling through my noggin the other day, and came about a certain memory that made me smile a bit. Discovering old memories is such an important thing to do.

             I must have been like 7 or 8 years old at the time, and for one reason or another I decided I was going to write a letter to God. A prayer hardly seemed sufficient for my purposes, and thankfully my innocent child brain knew that. So I wrote this little letter. I wish I could remember more of the specific details I scribbled in that note because it would have certainly made this moment of nostalgia all the more exciting. I do remember being very casual though. My words were something along the lines of, "Dear God, How are you? How has heaven been going? Please come down and see me when you aren't too busy. Lets hang out." Nothing too intense or witty I guess, just my 7 or 8 year old brain. 
            Some point that week I concluded that the only form of postal service available for delivering my letter to God, was by sending it souring to heaven through the use of a helium balloon. My mom took me to the store to get one the next day. For some strange explanation we had to get a red "Happy Birthday" balloon. I think it may have been because it was the biggest one available and big was necessary. A few hours later after a little scotch tape and some miniature preparation, my letter was firmly attached to the string of the balloon and everything was ready to happen. My Mother and Grandmother came outside to watch me mail the letter to God. I remember letting go of the funny little envelope and then we all watched the parcel slowly make its way up into the clouds. It was a medium cloudy day. Soon all we could see was a tiny spec of it sailing away, like a grain of pepper amidst a bowl of gravy. (that simile works right?)
             Today I know God received my letter. I got His reply.