Thoughts inspired by Byron "Buster" Bluth

So, for those of you who don't know, I go to church with many folks who work in the entertainment business. When I moved to southern California, I, first of all, had no idea that Pasadena was really just another part of LA, and two, that I would become build close relationships with many people in this industry (or "the" industry as it's referred to out here). Tony Hale is one such person. He and I are far from bff but go to church regularly and know each other by name and face/chat from time to time about superficial things. Tony is best known for his role as Buster Bluth on the sadly canceled show Arrested Development. The Tony that I know, however, is an elder at my church and quite active in the church life. Recently, he spoke at Fuller to an audience of wide-eyed, Buster loving students about his faith and career. There are many thoughts that I could share with you regarding this event but what stuck with me was one of the most simple but profound thoughts.

"You must practice the discipline of contentment where you're at. If you don't practice where you're at, you'll never get it where you're going." This was said specifically about the entertainment industry but can easily be applied to all such circumstances. "Once I get cast, I'll be content", "if only my pilate would get picked up...", "Once I get that job...", "Once I'm married..." and countless other situations that we seek contentment in. It's critical, especially in this industry but in life in general, to learn what it means to be content where you are. The future you desire will never fill the holes you feel. This can only be filled with the contentment provided by the Lord's presence in your life in the here and now.

Sorry, this is sort of rambling but it's finals week here and so my brain is mostly shot. You can see Tony in an upcoming role in the independent flick Happythankyoumoreplease.

Big Day...

A Washington, DC high school (Coolidge High School) just appointed a woman to be the head coach of their football team. On Friday, Natalie Randolph will be announced as the first female to head a boys varsity football team in the country.

For those of you who don't know, before working as an athletic trainer at Madeira, I spent most of my college years working in men's athletics (high school boys football and lacrosse, College basketball, pro soccer). I have a pretty good understanding of what its like to be a fly-on-the-wall in the "Old Boy's Club". Football is an especially unfriendly sport to the presence of women. I know female athletic trainers who have been left outside in the hall on trips to the Washington Redskins facilities. As of a few years ago (i don't know the current #), there was only ONE female athletic trainer in the NFL. She is an assistant working for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I don't post this to advocate for a women's lib movement and the break down of all gender walls in all circumstances. There are professional situations where I prefer a woman, as opposed to a man (mostly medical ones). I do, however believe that there are situations where women are just as capable, if not more (depending on the woman) to take on the same roles. I believe that Title IX provided women (like myself) with the opportunity to play sports through college. But I recognize that Title IX has done damage to men's athletic programs across the country (Thanks, football budgets). Therefore, for me, this issue is not Black & White.

Here's the whole WaPo article: Here

Check out the film A Hero For Daisy to find out more about Title IX and Women's Rowing

Also, this makes me think of the 30 Rock episode when Liz flashes back to her high school glory days as a football kicker.

Smile

Yeah... I hate those days too. Well, actually, I love them. When I get up in the morning and I expect everything to be as it was and in its right place and somehow God's plan steps in the way and I end up in Narnia. Sometimes I look around and think "What the crap... Narnia, again?!" but then I relax and just wander till I see the lamp post.

PS- Read A Horse and His Boy, that book changed my life.

Door of Hope

So, this quarter I finally got myself in gear and got involved at a transitional housing community in Pasadena called Door of Hope which I have to say, is providing me with some amazing, life-changing interactions. Door of Hope provides free housing, food, counseling, and life skills training for 8 (two parent) families. Families are given a year to transition through their program and eventually find permanent affordable housing and become financially and emotionally stable. Please check out the website for more details or ways you can support Door of Hope. And now onto the stories...

-I have been helping my friend Kimberly (who works at DoH) schedule people to donate dinner for each night of the week. We have a major influx of volunteers as as result of the Disney "Give-a-Day, Get-a-Day" program. So basically I respond to e-mails of people interested in volunteering and schedule them for a date to bring dinner for our families and then they get a free ticket to Disneyland. This has been quite overwhelming and in one day Kimberly got 400 e-mails. Currently, the calendar is booked solid with a different person providing dinner each night of the week until May 1. Communicating and scheduling volunteers that have a very clear incentive to volunteer has been a great learning experience for me. On the one hand, sometimes people cancel at the last minute and think that the only result will be that they don't get their disney ticket... this makes me sad for humanity. But then, I e-mail a list of "on call" meal donors and frequently will have 4-5 people willing to cook dinner for 30 people the next day... this helps me to remember that there is still good in this world.

I will continue to share stories of my experiences at Door of Hope but to avoid this post being too long, it will have to wait for another time. Please check out the Door of Hope website to learn more.

PS-- I got into the John Exegesis class I was on the waiting list for. I'm super excited about it. Just in case anyone cares.

Remember when I went to school...

So, several folks have asked about my classes this quarter and I realized that I completely forgot to update you all on that aspect of my life. So, here's a quick summary. I'd be happy to elaborate on an individual basis via facebook or e-mail if you'd like.

-Exegetical Method and Practice

This is the class where I learn how to use the Greek that I spent all of the fall quarter learning. We basically look at a specific text and consider the following in order to pull out every little thing from the passage.

-Historical and literary context

-Author and recipient

-Changes made to the manuscripts over the years

-language and use of tenses and specific terms

-Anything else that seems pertinent.

The purpose of exegesis (Ex-Eh-Jesus) is to make conclusions about the text from all of these elements that are hopefully useful in teaching and preaching. It's been pretty fun to look at some familiar texts, look at the original language and discern the purpose behind what's being written.

-The Life of Jesus

This might be my favorite course this quarter. We're looking at the elements of Jesus' life from a historical perspective, jewish perspective and current perspective. What do we know and understand about who Jesus was and what he said/did? How does this fit into the fact that he was a Jewish man living in Palestine in the first century? It's been pretty fun to get into some old Jewish texts that Jesus and his followers would have been familiar with. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Jesus healing a man on the sabbath and getting criticized by the Jewish leaders at the time.

The questions at hand is:

-What is lawful to do on the Sabbath?

-What constitutes work?

-Can one heal on the sabbath?

-What does the Jewish law say?

-Are the temple leaders breaking the sabbath by sacrificing on the sabbath, because this would technically be work for them?

-The conclusion is that Jesus taught that they two greatest commandments are to Love God and love neighbor. If the law comes before mercy, it breaks these commandments.

Reading that might interest you:

-The Meaning of Jesus, Two Visions by Marcus Borg & N.T. Wright

-Familiar Stranger, An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth by Michael J. McClymond

-The Historical Jesus: 5 Views by James K. Belby

Homelessness/Congregations and Community Partnership

I heart this class. We've been studying the issue of homelessness in america since the early '80's when it first became a public issue. Looking at the responses to homelessness over the years, what's worked and what has not worked. How the attitude of the average american has changed over time. Much of what we're reading are governmental grants and programs to help end homelessness. Discussing how the response to homelessness MUST take into account other elements than simply the lack of housing. Substance abuse and mental illness being two of the biggest. This class requires that we have contact hours with homeless in our community so this was the kick in the butt that I needed to get over to a transitional housing community in my neighborhood called Door of Hope. (more to come on Door of Hope at another time, because it is slowly changing my life... watch out).

Readings:

-Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets by John P. Kretzmann

-Walking with the Poor by Bryant Myers (Suzannah... This might be a book for you!)

Please let me know if you're interested in more about these classes, I'd be happy to tell you more.

Tell me, am I right to think...

that there could be nothing better...

... than if this curling team's uniform had a matching sweater.

Enough said.

(NOTE: This posting can also be sung to the tune of chorus of The Postal Service's song, Nothing Better)

In an LA state of mind...

First of all: Sorry for the delay in postings.

And now onto the musings of my mind...

So about a month ago, while driving home from church we drove past a "freshly occurred" car accident. We pulled over to help as best we could. Neither of the drivers were too badly injured but one of them was an older gentleman (late 60's-ish) who was unable to get out of his car because the door was stuck. I hopped in the passenger seat and took a light eval of his injuries and helped control the bleeding from some cuts on his hands and mostly chatted with him until the EMTs, helped him call his wife and exchanged his information with the other driver. I left my new friend, Eddie to the professionals and chatted with this gentleman who lives in the apartment building which the cars ran into. Joshua was prepared with an entire "crash kit" because there are accidents at this intersection so frequently. We left the scene after exchanging facebook information with Joshua and completely forgetting to leave Eddie with my information.

A few days later, Joshua sent me a facebook message because Eddie wanted to get in touch with me and sent me his phone number. I then, completely forgot to call him (because I'm a jerk apparently) A few days ago, Joshua sent me another message because Eddie called him again in hopes of getting in touch with me. So, I finally called him back. He only wanted to express his gratitude for sitting with him and helping him out. He then did something I'm not used to. He asked if I've heard of the Internet Movie Database. He suggested I check out his page just to get an idea of what he'd worked on. It turns out that the gentleman from the accident played the guy with the ugly daughter in A League of Their Own!

The impression I got from Eddie when speaking with him on the phone was that he was a bit surprised that I had no idea who he was. I told him that I was glad I got a chance to meet him as a real person and not as an actor. He also was a bit surprised that I was a seminary student and coming from church when our lives intersected. I have a fair amount of friends working in the entertainment industry but rarely do I run into "celebrities." or should I say... rarely do "celebrities" run into each other right in front of me.