I am Edmund

I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe again today.

I cried openly. Again.

Here's what struck me most: I am Edmund.

Coming Soon

Hi there,

Coming up with fresh material is sometimes difficult, but I always seem to manage!

The real hard part is when I think of something I know I want to blog about but just can't find the words yet.

This post you are looking at serves as a place-holder of sorts. The link you followed took you here because the actual article is not yet finished. When it is, I will update the link(s). Check back soon, and thanks for reading!

~ cob

OMG! You're doing WHAT!?!??!??!???!!!!???

That's right boys and girls. I've decided (sort of as a Christmas present to Cathy) I'm not taking my laptop with me on vacation. There will be a computer at each place we stay -- so I could check eMail or blog or whatever.

But I've decided that, unless something earth-shattering happens, I'm not going to check eMail which I'm gone. And, I guess if something earth-shattering does happen, I'll have other things to worry about than how cheap Cialis sof-tabs are, how big certain parts of my body could possibly be, how to get rid of male pattern baldness, or even cash in on that $45 million USD waiting for me from my long-lost, recently deceased relative (or reasonable facilime thereof) in Uganda!

I've known this all along, I suppose, but I am struck fresh this morning with the realization that the old computer adage is true: "Garbage in, garbage out" -- that is, what I take in does effect me. I love my spam folder -- it helps keep me from looking at all sorts of bad stuff. But even in my regular inbox -- the everyday worries of everyday life. These can weigh me down.

I'm an amateur at etymology, but isn't "vacation" about "vacating" the premises?! With eMail so readily accessible to just about everyone I know, it is like being in the next room -- it is like I never left! But the whole point of vacating is to pull away; to rest -- to "re-create" as it were.

I can't do that if all of you are in the same room with me! So go on -- get out of here and leave me alone for a week or so!! =O)

Of course, if you really really really need me, I'll have my cell phone. You didn't expect me to go techno-cold-turkey did you?

Peace on earth, and good will to all peoples everywhere -- since God's favor rests on us.

~ Keith

Over the river and through the woods...

At 6 am pacific time tomorrow, we're driving away from our home in Redwood City -- off on a holiday road-trip adventure! Our close friends Brennan & Marie Evans are coming with us. We'll spend Christmas at JoAnn (my sister) & Jim's near Barstow, and then a few days with our old friends Mark & Jody Macallister near Albuquerque. Then Lake Havasu City for New Year's Eve -- and back home on 1/1/06. With the route taking us near Vegas, that's 4 states in less than 10 days!

We'll be available by cell phone, and maybe eMail here and there.

I may do a blog entry from somewhere along the way, and maybe even an audio blog or two from the road.

~ Keith

I heart sayings on t-shirts

OK -- so in May of this year, I was having a normal conversation with a normal person (my friend Marie) about normal things. With no warning, things took a turn for the hilarious, and ever since, my friend and I have been on a journey together -- a quest of sorts.

Throughout our day as we eMail or txt or talk to one another, we pick up on little phrases that would make great t-shirts. Sometimes we see something all on our own, and eMail each other these t-shirt ideas. It's something of an obsession (shhhh -- we don't have a problem though).

Keep in mind we've not actually seen any of these phrases printed on t-shirts. They're just phrases we think would be funny if printed on a t-shirt! Here are some of the best ones we've come up with so far.

(note: You may not think these are funny at all. Then again, you may think these are funny enough to have whatever you are eating or drinking come out your nose. ye be forewarned.)

Here is the one that started it all:

Just rinse it off and make a cobbler


Here are a bunch more:

If my job was to make you happy, they'd have to pay me a lot more!

Joyriding vampires taunt me with hooch

There's no steam, so I don't think the pee is warm

I had to borrow the pooper

I'm too funny to hate

Giant Fiery Marshmallows!

You're just here to confuse me

No matter whether you urinate on yourself or simply do nothing

You'd best not glisten in my bubble!

Maybe you could shave your feet too

The awkward silence rages on while the lemon dies

It's not easy being cheezy

I usually don't get excited about meat

Hopefully I will be normal by tomorrow

Filled with congealed diarrhea

Great minds think alike. I think.

My hands feel crunchy today

Hoodoo: it's what's for lunch

Think you're done pooing? Think again!

I'm definitely not into sniffing

I try not to think of where my doggies' lips have been when I give them kisses

Hard to believe that two weeks from today I'll be eating deliciously juicy ham!

Now that sounds tasty!

My butt has multiple names

Front: Coleslaw gives me gas
Back: I had some for lunch today!

Might as well enjoy it before the white splotches get cow-like

I'm hairy

A nice flip is important to me

Sweet! Free pens!

There's a lot of stuff in hot dogs!

I wash because I phobe

I love the screaming sounds!

Front: Peanuts work too
Back: But the salt dries things out up there!



Had enough? I'm sure we'll come up with more!

~ Keith

Walking in the Rain

I'm leaving for vacation on Friday -- we'll be gone until early January...but I think I'm starting to feel sick. Ugh!

Maybe it is that I haven't slept enough lately. My nutritional intake certainly has been abysmal. I just hope I'm not really getting sick.

But as I sit here and type this, I am cheered somewhat by the fact that my shoulders are still cold -- because I just took a walk in the rain (sans umbrella!). And that always feels nice.

No, walking in the rain without an umbrella (<--- that's pronounced UM-brella, by the way) can't make you sick. Only a germ or a virus can make you sick. A brief walk in the rain also does not lower my immune system's ability to ward off the germs and viri that are out there.

So as my day progresses, here's hoping and praying that I don't spend Christmas vacation feeling like crap as we drive all over the state and into the next and back.

Do you like to walk in the rain?

~ Keith

Hurray for "The Holidays"

I like Thanksgiving. I also like celebrating Christmas, and the start of a New Year. I also like learning about other cultures and traditions. Channukah, Kwanzaa, etc.

So am I the only one who doesn't really mind saying "Happy Holidays" to people?

I mean, sure, I'm a Christian and so for me the signifigance of Christmas is such that this one holiday is at the center of my holiday season. But I know that's not true for everyone.

Me wishing a "Merry Christmas" to people who don't celebrate it is like me saying "Happy Birthday!" to someone when it isn't their birthday -- isn't it? And isn't it rude for me to just assume that everyone I know thinks like I do, and celebrates the same things -- and isn't it even more rude for me to somehow imply they should, by making a big deal of only saying "Merry Christmas", or griping when an employer encourages the use of "Happy Holidays" instead?

And anyway -- aren't "holidays" really just "holy days" and if "holy" means (among other things) "set apart" and "special" then why all the fuss when employers encourage people not to say "Merry Christmas" and instead only "allow" them to say "Happy Holidays" -- isn't that a nicer thing to say anyway -- more inclusive?

Maybe it's just me.

~ Keith

PS -- I guess it isn't just me! For a similar viewpoint, check out Lynlee's post!

I Love Technology...AudioBlogger Rocks!

What is the Church?

This is the first in a series of four questions my friend Wayne recently asked me.

Here’s my short answer: I think church is the people of God

John Wimber cast a tremendous vision for the Vineyard movement (and for the Kingdom of God!) when he said church was a Hospital and a Family and a School and an Army.

I agree but want to re-phrase it to move away from the building mentality.

It is not a Hospital: It is not a place. It is a people. It is a group of Doctors and Nurses who grew up sick and were helped and healed by people who volunteered their time to go help people. So these kids grew up and are now volunteering significant portions of their time and money and energy to work with “Doctors without borders” and go help and heal people who cannot or would not go to a hospital. And when they heal those kids, they also help them meet teachers, so they can grow up to become able to give themselves away to others in a similar way.

It is not a School: It is not a place. It is a people. It is a group of teachers who grew up with learning disabilities. In their youth they were helped immensely by volunteer tutors who came to their communities and taught them not only academic information, but also modeled the principles of impartation. And so now these kids who grew up to be teachers spend significant time and energy to drive into the inner city and out into the rural areas and go wherever they hear about kids who have trouble learning -- they go to the kids, because the kids’ parents and the kids’ themselves think they are too stupid to waste school on them -- so they would never go to school (or maybe they’ve tried and been ridiculed, and vowed never to go back, and to always see them selves as just being stupid.) And as they teach them, they train them not only in academia and the art of impartation -- they also teach them they have a destiny and purpose and can give themselves away to serve others.

It is not an Army. It is not a place. It is a people. It is a group of soldiers who were once POWs. They have were rescued by fellow soldiers. They were then helped and healed and strengthened in a mobile hospital setting. Now strong, they have banded together to “go back in” and rescue other POWs still suffering in captivity. They took very little time off. They did not go back to the States. They “went back in” as soon as they were physically able to. Some really weren’t physically ready, but their heart of compassion (having been a POW until only recently) drives them back into the jungle to look for others to rescue. And when those new POWs are rescued, they make sure they get into the care of healers and helpers and teachers. They make sure those soldiers get strengthened. And then when they are strong enough, those now-rescued POWs are led back into the jungle by the only-a-little-bit-earlier-rescued POWs.

It is not a place. It is a people. It is a Family. But not a Ward & June Cleaver family. Maybe not even a blended-type Brady Bunch or “cheaper by the dozen” family. It is a bunch of orphans who were adopted and given homes and a chance in life. They were given love freely, so now that they are grown up they spend time and energy and money going to orphanages and adopting children. They intentionally budget small in their personal lives, and do not have children “of their own” -- so they can devote significant time and energy into loving kids that no one else wanted. They don’t sit at home or at the office of a non-profit organization they’ve started in order to help the kids -- they don;t sit in that office waiting for the kids to show up. They don’t advertise in the yellow pages or postcards in an attempt to get the orphans to come to their office. They go out to the orphanages. They take the kids they’ve adopted with them and they love the orphanage kids right where they are, even if they cannot bring them home with them (yet) they can love ‘em and give ‘em a family right where they are.

The church is not a Hospital it is Doctors and Nurses. The church is not a School. It is Teachers. The church is not an Army. It is Soldiers. The church is not a traditional family. It is a rag-tag used-to-be-orphans family.

What do you think?

~ Keith

Some Very Good Questions

Recently a friend challenged me by asking me some really good questions. I’ll be posting those questions and my answers here over the next few days. I look forward to hearing your responses -- to the questions themselves, as well as my answers.

~ Keith

Good morning and welcome to my world

Hi there,

Hey look! I have my own blog!

I’ve thought about becoming a blogger for quite some time; about 2 years now, I think. Ever since I saw Chris Monroe’s blog at Paradoxology. At first I wasn’t sure what I would say. Now, two years later, I’m still not sure!

A new friend of mine Keith Giles has a blog called subversive1. Last night I wanted to make a comment to one of his posts, but this prompted Blogger to ask me to become a member. After a few minutes’ hesitation, I took the red pill (or was it the blue pill? I liked that movie but it still makes my head hurt). This morning I began wandering down the rabbit hole, and now you’ve joined me in my warren. If you see Alice, let her know we’re here.

As this is all fairly new to me, I am not sure how often I’ll be posting -- at least at first.

But thanks for stopping by. Drop me an eMail if you like what you see or have any questions. I like questions! I also like rice. And I love grapes!

~ Keith