Josh's Life

Guy's retreat

2006-03-27T20:09:00.000-06:00

The guy's retreat this past weekend was a blast. Amazing, fun and fulfilling... but very very tiring. I won't say much right now about it except...

Dance, elmo, dance.

Zach is dancing

2006-03-24T15:11:00.000-06:00

and it is awesome.

Nobody can dance to pokemon like Zach. watch and learn...

this is the ultimate showdown...

2006-03-23T20:30:00.000-06:00

Hung out w/ the kids after re:find on Wednesday. Warren busted out into the ultimate showdown song. My youth are awesome.

Not sure what exactly God is calling me to do w/ my life, but I know I want to do it well. I know it involves people. I know it involves my intellect. I know it involves putting aside my intellect at times. I just don't know exactly what it looks like to do this.

I signed up for a few youth ministry training things. I look forward to asking a ton of hard questions and seeking hard answers. I hope these days will embolden me to seek a better way of doing what we do.

More to come later...

Rock and/or roll

2006-03-22T14:33:00.000-06:00

I love my mid high praise team. They rock the house!

So I decided it would be good to get back to blogging. What a better way to start than to start posting short videos of my wonderful job!

These kids are awesome. They have a ton of enthusiasm for music and for this group. Can't wait to see what God does through them in the future.

Right now, at my job, I am the acting interim director of Youth Ministry. My job description kind of reads like this - do everything you used to do, and also everything else.

Fun times. I'm gonna try and post to this blog as often as possible. If you still check it, good for you! That took perseverance.

If you're new, go back and read my old posts. then stick around anyway! I might eventually say something worth reading....

Comments

2005-11-22T11:23:00.000-06:00

This is from an article by Len Hjalmarson. Really good article. Talks about the church.

First, significant relationships tend to decline as an organization grows in size. It becomes more and more difficult to connect personally as organizations increase in size and complexity, and thus community itself becomes a rare commodity. Yet the church is first a community, and only incidentally a congregation. When we fail to be a community, we are not truly a church.

I agree in part. I am beginning to wonder if the role of the 'church' is to actually be a community, or if we are to help create communities...

Second, bureaucracy increases as organizations expand, and efficiency and management become the chief concerns.

No argument here.

Third, large groups organize for safety, not vulnerability.

I think this one is big. I think that the larger your group gets, the less connected every one is, you find more and more hidden weakness and faux righteousness. The answer to this could be to never let the big group replace your small community. Don't ever let people think that by participating in the bigger group that they are actually in a community.

There are two types of ministry environment. In one environment a team or teams are formed to assist leaders to develop and implement their vision (purpose). In the second environment a community is formed around a shared sense of passion (belonging). In the team environment success is understood as empowering the group to reach agreed goals. In the community environment success is understood as empowering individuals to belong and to reach their creative potential.

So then... why not have the team environment in place to help bring about the community environment on a smaller scale?

a bright idea...

2005-11-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

Workouts Can Lighten Heavy Hearts - Forbes.com

Interesting.... Guess I need to work out more...

Interesting

2005-11-09T13:38:00.000-06:00

the last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. but the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. the future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. these people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys.
(daniel pink)

Interesting quote... It's funny because my life has followed a similar trend - code and mathematics to interpretation and art. I have moved away from the concrete, finding it lacking in its ability to help me live, and have shifted towards the gray and misty areas of truth. I am finding myself more and more comfortable in the mystery of God.

On the other hand, as I have moved away from concreteness, I have found myself less confident in my rightness (on the large scale at least). I see things more from a human point of view rather than an idealistic one, and that leads, sometimes, to leaving the supernatural out of the equation.

So as I move forward, I guess I need to make sure that I do not leave God behind, but instead keep him in the forefront, as the one being who can really bring about a kingdom of peace. I believe this kingdom to be of God's design, and I believe that we are always inching closer to it, crawling towards zion. Just sometimes we forget that we are.

365 tomorrows » Will To Live

2005-10-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

365 tomorrows » Will To Live

Wow, this story gave me some serious goosebumps. If you spend any time at all reading anything on the internet, you should definitely visit 365tomorrows.com often. Its a new scifi/fantasy short story every day. Amazing. Some of them are so-so. Some of them, like this one, actually move me.

This story could spur some truly interesting discussion... could a test determine our will to live? Should it?

I like the idea. A lot.

Free lunch.

2005-10-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

Services that should be free

Connection to the internet. The next big step for mankind is to have the whole of the human race connected to each other, voluntarily of course. Every person in every village in every nation, poor or rich, smart or not, popular or isolated should have the ABILITY to reach the wealth of information, contacts, outlets of expression, and awareness that the internet offers us. For so long, it has not been a feasible business enterprise to supply that access to those who can’t really pay for it. People have tried the whole free internet thing and it has failed. Google took another free service, searching the web, and made it extremely profitable using AdSense. They could do the same with GoogleNet…

Church. If you think church is free, think again. Church, the way most of you know it, costs a lot of dough to pull off. The spectacle that many churches have become is a big business, with large profit margins and comprehensive business strategies. The smaller churches do the same thing on a much smaller scale, and wish they could do all the neat stuff that the bigger churches can. The older traditional churches are basically like the older traditional businesses… stuck doing the same thing they have been doing and mainting business status quo. If you think church really is free, try getting your congregation to stop tithing. See what happens. Or even better, use all the tithe money to do what Jesus wanted the church to be about – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and oppressed. You are the customer to the church these days, not the sheep. So how do we do free church? Well, I’ve never seen one, but the house church idea seems like free church. Maybe we just pay for teachers, since that seems to be the thing we want our pastors to be best at. Pay for big worship events, since we pay for concerts and stuff. But gather freely. Counsel each other freely. Study the Word of God freely, using your free internet as your resource. And most importantly – freely give.

Education. Education is really not free. Teachers must be paid. But maybe we can find a better way to pay, and a better way to teach. The school system has been basically the same since we invented it. Sit in a classroom, be taught by the expert. Seriously, how many teachers really are experts in their field? We don’t pay them to be, so why should they be? Is that what we need anyway? I don’t have any suggestions for this one, only that things need to change. There has to be a way to equip the next generation of youth to actually contribute to society in progressive and meaningful ways, and still actually make money in the end. Any ideas?

weather.com - Map Navigator - Close-Up Satellite

2005-09-21T20:10:00.000-05:00

weather.com - Map Navigator - Close-Up Satellite

Wow. Well this will be a crazy weekend. My prayers are with all of you. I am leaving for college station later tonight, to try and avoid as much traffic as possible. Good luck to everyone and call me if you need help - 2817331373

Life's a grind

2005-09-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I officially am starting work at It's a grind. I am in way over my head in debt, and I want to be out of it in... well, in 19 months or so. Big day around that time, most likely.

Anywho, I am aggressively attacking my debt, and that takes getting as much income as possible to attack it with. Plus, hey, I love coffee! I'll try and keep everyone updated with how that job is going. Bc I know you all care so much! =)

Today was training... basically learned the specifics. I know all the generals already. Gonna be a fun job!

power-napping - schlafgras

2005-09-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

Very Cool... I want one! This is great, I love napping, and I love weird crazy things like this. Every one, take notice! This is what I want instead of a bed in my room.

On a different note, I will probably start working at It's a grind coffeehouse on weekday mornings to help supplement my efforts to destroy my debt. Come by and get a cup of joe when I start working! I'll be drinking coffee allll day...

LibraryThing!

2005-09-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

LibraryThing!

The coolest thing since sliced bread. This site lets me catalog all my books quickly and easily, tag them for future sorting, and share them with the world. If you see a book on the right that you want to read, just let me know, and I can let you borrow it...

=)

Haxzored | We Like Sheep dot Org

2005-08-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

Awesome! These guys rock.

Nate's site

Filling the void

2005-08-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

FTV2
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

On September 11, we are starting the first of our fall series at Crossfire on Sunday nights. We will be walking along side of Tom's sermon series, "looking for the good life," by speaking to our youth about 'Filling the Void.' The first week we talk about fun and money.

If you read this, tell me what you think about the series title. Does it resonate with you? Does it sound 'churchy?' Too typical? How does the image fit with the theme?

Hopefully I'll be updating this more. Its been too long, I know, and I want to make this an actual habit. Hopefully my new approach to scheduling my week will lend itself to more blogging. Thanks, guys

Need more josh.

2005-06-16T16:01:00.000-05:00

I've just read through the most recent posts, and you would think that I'm pretty lame by the past few posts. And I'm not lame....

I promise.

Not.
Lame.

I am, in fact, very sweaty from working out, and can't type long or the sweatiness will destroy my computer. But just for the record....

Not.
Lame.

Late

2005-06-10T01:01:00.000-05:00

Late
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

It's really late, and we're all a little delirious. chris is writing in pep books with an umbrella. Awesome!

Conges

2005-06-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Conges
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

Jaimie

Cool drawing

2005-06-09T17:21:00.000-05:00

Cool drawing
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

Martha is awesome. she drew me this cool picture! every body is really nice about my birthday this week. rock on.

Um army!

2005-06-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Um army!
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

Um army is awesome! Chris, who i'm doing programming with, is embarrassed to take pictures. I don't know why, he's so hot. ... Yeah. so anyways, gotta go ready. More to come!

Well...

2005-05-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

*Used to be a picture of Warren (half)naked here - now its gone, because Warren got a wee bit embarassed...* end edit 1

0501051759.jpg

2005-05-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

Mickey is in this picture. can you find mickey? comment if you can!

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2005-04-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

I'm at transco tower. this place always reminds me of my beautiful and amazing girlfriend. she gave me an amazing painting that she made for me the time we came here. i love her very much. and it is absolutely gorgeous out here.

I rock.

2005-04-28T16:49:00.000-05:00

just showing off how cool i am to shaun and rachel.

Red Day

2005-04-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight at re:find is red night. Or red day. Whichever you prefer. The point is - Red.

We are starting a series on colors. Red is first. I'm very excited about this, as its really the first time we've tried to engage more than just the ears at this worship service. Could the a good first step in a more progressive or ancient-modern approach to worship on wednesday nights. We'll see how tonight goes.

Reading is fun. Read Eragon yesterday. Mucho entertaining. Bye now.

0423051710.jpg

2005-04-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

Tiny kevin! Hahaha

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2005-04-23T15:52:00.000-05:00

Kevin in a tree

0423051356.jpg

2005-04-23T13:59:00.000-05:00

Crossfire praise team rocking out at pasadena. They are so awesome!

Hat dilemma

2005-04-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

Who is this weirdo? it can't be josh, you are thinking, because that's not his hat. Well, apparently my girlfriend is holding my hat hostage. I will have to settle for wearing this ultra cool aggie hat. It is not broken in yet, but unless i get my real one back it will have to do.

ANOTHER POST, HOLY CRAP!

2005-04-18T16:14:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of retrying the blogging dealy-oh.

Well, I'm at work and I just put the water bottle on the thingy that distributes the water... You know what I'm talking about. My weekend was great - exhausting, but great. Spent all day Friday and Saturday preparing for and doing a men's retreat for 12-15 senior high guys that trusted me enough to give me their friday night. It was fun

Played alot of dodgeball, sang some loud worship, and talked way too much when everybody was half asleep (i've got to work on that)... Overall, a good time was had by everyone.

We also made shirts. My favorite quote was on Mickey's - his creature that he drew said this "Iowa = bleu cheese / boombox"

Randomness is fantastic.

Man I suck

2005-04-18T01:04:00.000-05:00

I am really stinkin bad at blogging.

Quick announcement.

Giant birthday bash for me on June 3rd.

We are celebrating a quarter of a century of Josh.

Yay for me!

More details to follow....

3/14/05 - one month after Vday

2005-03-14T10:11:00.000-06:00

Well, its a monday. Time to get back into the routine again. Had to stumble into the office this morning at 9:45 am.... gee willikers, my job stinks...

One habit I am attempting to endeavor to make a habit is posting my thoughts first thing in the morning, or at least, first coherent thing in the morning. So what are my thoughts, today?

Well, i'll tell ya.

.............

Wow, not much up there today.

Today's word of the day on my lil calendar dealy is legerity. An alert facile quickness of mind and body... not me this morning!

I'll post more later, as the thoughts begin to leak out of my brain...

It's a grind

2005-03-04T19:37:00.000-06:00

Crazy contraption!

0304051612.jpg

2005-03-04T16:13:00.000-06:00

Grilling some steak for sammy.

Church Sign Generator

2005-03-02T17:23:00.000-06:00

This is pretty fun.

Especially if you have some free time, and can come up with some witty and/or clever ideas.

Its pretty fun.

(weakest post ... ever)

chobas!!!

2005-02-28T10:35:00.000-06:00

Chobas is the name of an ancient College Station deity. From time to time at the A&M Wesley Foundation, there would be Chobas worship, and Chobas parties. Chobas is believed to have originated from four individual warlords (Chad, Rob, Thomas, and random roomate). Their combined personalities and histories merged into a more epic mythology (see: history of the man clan) which led to their eventual deification in the form of Chobas.

As the story goes, Chobas was a big strong man who wore shorts all the time, played basketball and was really smart. He conquered some countries and ate some babies. Then, after building a monument unto himself, Chobas dissipated into the night, never to be seen in his true form again.

Someday, they say, Chobas will rise again, and he will strike down all the evil doers. He will raise the sword of leadership, and become Rodimus Prime. He will destroy Unicrom, and set up his capital in Malaysia (for some reason). But that day is not yet here.

Until then, check out this picture that was recently unearthed of the orginal four warlords. You can see the immense power in their eyes, in their easy smirks. Wouldn't want to cross these guys...

bed time....

2005-02-28T00:32:00.000-06:00

Its bed time on sunday night. Jaimie was in town this weekend, so my last memory of the day will be my sleepyhead girlfriend. Nice.

This day was good, as warren so eloquently put it. It was full, but not overflowing with, quality things going on; it was a solid jog through the day. Not a marathon, and not a sprint, it was the kind of day where you feel very tired at the end, but not in the least bit stressed out. I feel a pleasant kind of emptiness at the end of days like this.

Thunder is coming through my window. It doesn't make me sleepy, though. Makes me want to explore... We shall see.

Maybe I'll ride the thunder clouds in my dreams. Take hold of the lightning and rain and make it my own. Sing songs of nature unleashed, as life overflows.

We shall see.

Butterfly in the sky...

2005-02-26T17:48:00.000-06:00

Butterflies are underestimated in their symbolic beauty. There are some butterfly balloons here at the fourth and fifth grade sunday school seder dinner. It's a chance for these kids to experience some of their jewish heritage. at the end they have a passover drama. Brings the redemption into view. pretty neat. the cycle of our faith - the life cycle of the butterfly. good stuff.

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2005-02-25T18:18:00.000-06:00

I'm at jaimie's family's house. we are grilling pizza for jaimie's aunt's birthday. that's jaimie's dad flipping pizza crusts. this is such a cool backyard. i have no backyard... Too bad, so sad.

2/25/05 - we've only just begun...

2005-02-25T08:20:00.000-06:00

literally just got up. Thought i'd try posting "thoughts" when my mind is still spinning from being in REM sleep. Part of me is still trying to fight the golden alligator with a lightsaber in the cheese filled swamp.

What is on my list of life today?
Food
Bank
Work
Jaimie!

That's my plan thus far. Hopefully all the little gaps will be filled in by delightful instances of happy coincidence, or something. Or maybe suddenly it will be easter and I can drink caffeine again. that would be quite yummy.

good morning to you all...

2/24/05 - the megastorm cometh

2005-02-24T13:45:00.000-06:00

This morning, at about 7 am (i know, i know... who actually gets up that early? ... i don't) the megastorm of the millenium hit my little apartment head on. Every few seconds a thunderbolt struck somewhere within my zip code. It was as if the dj in the apartment below had really lost his sense of rhythm and volume control. I mean, this thunder was turned all the way up to eleven, man.

So of course, being the sensible male that I am, I went out on my balcony in my boxers into the cold and windy rainstorm to see what I could discover. The sky was kind of greenish (bad), the rain looked like it wanted to go all horizontal-like (bad), and the trees looked like jello being shaken by... a big... jello-shaker (also bad).

Little backstory is necessary here - since I was younger, I have been deathly afraid of tornadoes. Due to this unnatural fear, I learned alot about them - to protect myself better, of course. I knew that all the stuff I was seeing outside was very indicative of a coming funnel-o-death (as I like to call them), but for some reason unbeknownst to me, I couldn't go back inside. Maybe just ignoring the storm was out of the question. I dunno. But I stood there.

Eventually, I did go back inside. Obviously.

But here's the part that stuck with me: I am pretty small. Nothing like a megastorm to remind you of your frailty. In the midst of all that chaos, order cannot be imposed. You face the storm, the danger and the fear, and for some reason find... peace. An unsettling sort of peace that resonates deeper than the 'sitting-in-the-park-writing-poetry-about-the-sun' sort of peace. Its a resignation to the facts of the universe - a giving in of sorts. Its pretty neat.

I'm trying to ride this peace-nami for as long as it takes me (probably not very far. thanks alot short term memory!). After all, I can't wake up to a megastorm every morning.

2/23/05 - lunch is delish, and it makes quite a dish

2005-02-23T13:13:00.000-06:00

So Jonathan Crenshaw and his friend Troy came over during my lunch break today at work. It's good seeing him again and just goofing off. Johnathan (h or no h... its a mystery) is a former youth of mine who is getting all growed up. He's gonna be a pretty cool man of God when he does.

We are playing halo 2, or at least, I'm watching those guys play halo 2. I personally am sitting at my computer and contemplating whether or not I should post anything to my blog, since I have been so reticent to do so. Or just reticent. either way.

I've been working on implementing this new 'action management system' called Getting things done, from a book of the same name by a guy named David Allen. It's main intent is to get everything out of your head and into a trusted system for keeping track of next actions and projects, so that your mind can focus on the task at hand. It basically means, use a system to keep track of everything, learn to trust that system, then reap the benefits of a mind that is clear and focused on the task at hand, whatever that may be.

I like it, and a bunch of other people do too.

We shall see how it turns out for me... we shall see...

RELEVANT magazine :: GOD.LIFE.PROGRESSIVE CULTURE.

2005-02-15T23:04:00.000-06:00

RELEVANT magazine :: GOD.LIFE.PROGRESSIVE CULTURE.

Wow - great article. Sums up why I'm trying to give certain things up for Lent. And good for anyone else to read who is wavering.

Go Lent Go! Yay Lent Yay!

Eatin

2005-02-11T19:23:00.000-06:00

Dipping sticks... Mmm...

Jaimie!

2005-02-11T16:12:00.000-06:00

Lindsay says that i need to post more. Linesay is jaimie's sister. jaimie is in town this weekend. she is pretty so here is her picture. she is my girlfriend and i love her. She is mad though because i am posting this. It's ok though because no one actually reads this.

Early morning bus ride...

2005-02-05T07:54:00.000-06:00

Well, i got about three hours of sleep last night. i an very tired right now and we still have a long day ahead. Pray for me. i need energy!

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2005-02-04T17:54:00.000-06:00

One hundred and sixty junior high. Whoa.

CrossFire // Jan 30, 2005

2005-01-30T22:41:00.000-06:00

Well, it was a fun afternoon. It was my second official crossfire, my first one knowing that I am gonna be full time. It felt really good, and I felt very relaxed. Even though it was an eventful night on many levels, it also seemed to go rather smoothly.

I gave another talk using Bobo. I was able to do it a little better than I did for the weekend, and I promise that a Bobo blog is forthcoming. I might do a separate page with a Bobo blog, but that might just be too much work.

It was Michael Sime's last night as worship leader. He will be sorely missed. I respect that guy, and I hope we get some time to do our philosopher's walk sometime soon.

I am talking on the phone and having three AIM conversations so I'm out. I'll post more details later.

Bobo and such

2005-01-30T13:33:00.000-06:00

Do I look tired in this picture? Its because I am.

We just finished with Radical Relationships yesterday, and I went home and slept for 12 hours straight. It was awesome. Both the retreat AND the sleeping. The poopy part was that I missed Tommy. Makes me very upset, but it wouldnt have been worth going, as I would have passed out in the parking lot on the way in. I was that tired.

There were 12 of us at the retreat, and we all had fun. We played stupid games like Sardines (see post below) and we worshipped a bunch. I talked about Bobo and his experiences with friends, family and dating. Bobo is a (semi) fictional character that I drew pictures of to help keep the talks moving. He also invented Egypt. (blog forthcoming on Bobo)

Im talking at Crossfire tonight, and am thinking about bringing Bobo along. Well see. For now, I must go and prepare. Good day to you all, and sally forth and such.

Pitch black...

2005-01-28T23:17:00.000-06:00

I an sitting here in complete darkness as i play sardines. I am dominating

*edited for more info* - I had been sitting in the dark in a corner of the church waiting for someone to find me for well over an hour and a half before I finally started whistling to give them a clue. People had come by before that, looked right at my corner, and walked away. I even sent out a text message hint. So the only times people found me were when I gave out clues, like whistling (Michael and David found me) or when we all screamed really loud and stopped. Also, some kids cheated (used a flashlight).

ReFind - Jan 26 // 2005

2005-01-27T13:28:00.000-06:00

ReFind went well last night. We had a smaller group due to the so-called "Tommy" effect, but it was still a good time to be had by all.

The topic was prayer, and I gave out these cool daily prayer cards. Or are they weekly? I dunno. They have a different area to focus your prayer on for each day of the week. Here they are for those of you without a card...

m//depth
t//growth
w//worship
r//leadership
f//vision for future
ss//inspiration+revelation

(those are the days of the week for those of you who are slightly slow =) )

If we join in prayer together over ReFind and focus our prayers on a daily basis, God will be faithful to provide.

If you have no clue what ReFind is, well, I'm sorry.

You're missing out.

Workin...

2005-01-26T16:32:00.000-06:00

For blog
Originally uploaded by RagamuffinAg.

I'm at the work place. Christ UMC.

Tonight is the big meeting where they decide whether or not I get to work here all the time! Yippee! We'll see how it goes.

As you can plainly see, I am a proud member of the cubicle club. I know, youth ministers shouldn't have to work in cubicles. They should be free to roam the streets and fields and play and frolic and never really do work. That's what everybody thinks. But in reality, youth ministers mainly stare at computers and type stuff like emails and blogs. Or so I'm told.

I have a word of the day calendar which is quite fun. Today's word is fortitude, which isn't all that obscure. I hope that I have fortitude though - it means 'strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with COURAGE.' I like that. What adversity am I facing right now, you say? Well, let me tell you:

- My bank decided it didn't want to let me have the 800 bucks from my savings which I deposited in my checking. Something about it being an out of state check. Um, right. I'm working on getting the money from them somehow. Anybody know anything about bank robbery?

- My car got hit by a dog, which is horribly sad in itself, but now my car is all denty and needs fixin - which costs money - which I don't have

- I began my campaign against the bears only to have the first bear I encounter tell me that he and other bears (and I quote) 'just don't care about me.' Stupid bears. I'll drive them to battle someday!

- My arm hurts.

Ok, enough complaining. On a good note:

+Radical relationships is happening after all (it threatened to fold due to lack of youth)
+ re:find is in an hour or two
+ I made cool prayer cards for r:f
+ my headphones are still awesome...

Rock, rock on.

From the car. Dangeresque!

2005-01-26T13:08:00.000-06:00

My first car blog! Yahoo!!

Cool Blogs

2005-01-26T10:44:00.000-06:00

The way of the warrior: My bro's blog

CUMC Youth Blog: email me and ask for permission to post. Everybody join in!

Ramblings of the Captain, and My Etchings: Hammer's and Marcus's thoughts. Funny and deep. or deep and funny. Can't decide on which

Just a thought: My girlfriend's cool sister's blog. Does that make sense?

Terry Storch: Really cool church technology guy. Good stuff, my friends.

Well, that's all for now. I've been immersing myself in Blogland. Good times.

Posting from a phone? Oh my!

2005-01-26T09:42:00.000-06:00

Wow. I'm actually posting this from my phone. How awesome is that? I sure do love technology. I wanna marry it. one thing that isn't as cool is that i don't know how to make a new paragraph. Poopie. ... The ellipsis shall serve as my paragraph marker. ... I'm listening to the old 97's right now. Question is the song. It's nice. I love rhapsody too. Let's me find so much new music. ... So ends the first phone entry. This has mucho potential! peace out.

2005-01-25T22:44:00.000-06:00

Hey, what the heck, i'm doing this!

LAYER ONE:
-- Name: Josh Masterson
-- Birth date: 6/8/80
-- Birthplace: Bryan, TX (whoop!)
-- Current Location: Stafford, TX
-- Eye Color: Hazel
-- Hair Color: Brown
-- Height: 5'10.5"
-- Righty or Lefty: Righty
-- Zodiac Sign: Gemini

LAYER TWO:
-- Your heritage: Italian/Cherokee/Scot
-- The shoes you wore today: Two pairs. Got a new pair of "N's" from J for (real) Graduation!
-- Your weakness: not being in control of something
-- Your fears: not being in control of something
-- Your perfect pizza: Margharita pizza at Alamo Drafthouse while watching Anchorman.
-- Goal you'd like to achieve: Make a big old mark on History.

LAYER THREE:
-- Your most overused phrase on AIM: cool
-- Your thoughts first waking up: NOOOOOO
-- Your best physical feature: My guns.
-- Your bedtime: meh, whenever.
-- Your most missed memory: Mojo.

LAYER FOUR:
-- Pepsi or Coke: Dr. Pepper.
-- McDonald's or Burger King: Read Fast food nation. Neither.
-- Single or group dates: either one, as long as J is there
-- Adidas or Nike: N
-- Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Ice T. He's a rappper.
-- Chocolate or vanilla: Dr. Pepper
-- Cappuccino or coffee: Yes

LAYER FIVE:
-- Smoke: Cigars. awesome.
-- Cuss: only when needed
-- Sing: yes and yes.
-- Take a shower everyday: yes
-- Want to go to college: I, my good friend, am FINISHED with college.
-- Like high school: yes?
-- Want to get married: yuh huh.
-- Believe in yourself: nope
-- Get motion sickness: no
-- Get along with your parent(s): yeah
-- Like thunderstorms: i like being OUTSIDE in thunderstorms.
-- Play an instrument: Guitar, *used to play* French Horn

LAYER SIX:
In the past month...
-- Drank alcohol: at a wedding
-- Smoked: a cigar or two
-- Done a drug: other than coffee? not so much
-- Had Sex: no sir
-- Made Out: yes sir
-- Gone to the mall?: today, even!
-- Been dumped: not that I know of
-- Made homemade cookies: hahahaha
-- Gone skinny dipping: fortunately for the world, no
-- Dyed your hair: my hair lives.
-- Stolen anything: only the hearts of millions!

LAYER SEVEN:
Ever...
-- Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: nope. not that attractive of an idea to me
-- Been caught "doing something": umm... what?
-- Been called a tease: You're a tease!
-- Gotten beat up: no

LAYER EIGHT:
-- Age you hope to be married: 26
-- Numbers and Names of Children: I don't have any yet
-- Describe your Dream Wedding: J
-- How do you want to die: Fighting against immeasurable odds, breaking the back of the enemy as I stand in defiance! I go down slowly, wound by wound, blow by blow as I stem the torrent. I turn the tide. But I do not survive.... Preferably the enemy will be an army of bears. That would rock.
-- Where you want to go to college: I have a DEGREE from Texas A&M
-- What do you want to be when you grow up: bear fighter
-- What country would you most like to visit: Visit - New Zealand // Live - Italy

LAYER NINE:
In a guy/girl..
-- Best eye color? blue (J)
-- Best hair color? blonde (J)
-- Short or long hair: short right now (J)
-- Best weight: healthy (J)
-- Best first date location: Sweet Eugene's House of Java (J)
-- Best first kiss location: Dorm (J)

LAYER TEN:
-- Number of people I could trust with my life: J, Sam, Mom and Dad, Peter (one day)
-- Number of piercings: ouch, no
-- Number of tattoos: 1 someday
-- Number of scars on my body: on the outside, just a few.

Real Focus: Milo's Memories

2005-01-21T11:15:00.000-06:00

Real Focus: Milo's Memories

Really awesome idea.

I'm not sure how this would work itself out exactly here at Christ UMC. or at any other church. But I really like it. The web is an obvious avenue for this sort of thing, but what about something very visual and tangible for visitors, members, and everybody to see when they enter the church.

Maybe have a table where people could write them down, then take handwritten notes, blow them up to poster size and foamboard them. place them in an area where they would be part of the actual atmosphere of the place.

Good stuff....

Crunch Time!

2005-01-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

Crunch Time web Page

Well, its that time of the year again. Time for Crunch time. Five years ago (or something), a bunch of us had a great idea to start a retreat for high school students led by college students. It's a great idea, still is - problem is, those of us who started it are all long gone. The thing about college, you see, is it only lasts a few years. So there's really not too much in the area of continuity for things like retreats. Crunch Time international may never happen after all... Oh well.

I guess one of the reasons I got into youth ministry is because I really dig this sort of thing. Taking a very vague and misshapen idea and transforming it into an actual event that may or may not change someone's life.

I'm about to start prepping for this Radical Relationships weekend for the church I'm working for, and its a pretty neat idea. Only thing is, it's not my idea. So it's not as exciting. Not yet. I'm sure as I lay out all the puzzle pieces and start to try and put them together, I'll get more and more into it. There's nothing like the feeling of seeing something like that come together.

There's nothing worse than seeing it fall apart. I hope crunch time continues to grow. It just seems that every year, there's a new group of people learning from the same mistakes they learn from every year. Maybe I should quit my job and focus solely on making Crunch time really cool. Or maybe not.

Welcome to Flickr!

2005-01-20T15:57:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Flickr!

This is a pretty nifty lil website. My brother and I have spent some time already swapping photos and tagging them. My new goal is to get as many youth as possible to take as many pictures as possible with my camera so that I can put them online to keep a better record of where we've been and where we're going ... visually...

that means... with pictures.

Anyways, it could be fun, could be boring. I'll probably give up on it pretty quickly, but you just never know these days. I might surprise ya! Or not.

First time

2005-01-20T14:00:00.000-06:00

Well, here goes the whole blog thing. I'll give it a shot. Hope I can perservere and write more. I hope to use this like a journal, but I always sucked at those.

Life -

My life so far

Born in June of 1980

Lived in: Bryan, Kossee, Dallas, Plymouth, Beaumont, Fulshear, Houston, College Station, Pampa, and now Sugar Land.

reBorn somewhere along the way

Have been a coffeeshop barista and a minister. Those are my professions of choice.

God has a big plan for me.

No idea what it is yet.

Check back in later for more details.