Existential Punk

Mediocrity

i am in Plano, TX with Katryna visiting her parents. Jere (pronounced JERRY) is having prostate surgery tomorrow, so we are here for support. We just got home from her parents church, Reformed Church of Plano. Everyone we met was really nice. Jere is very involved in the youth programs. Anyways, the message was pretty plain and boring except for the following incredibly simple yet deep quote, which the pastor was unable to cite the source:

"Mediocrity is the result of a lazy dreamer"

My soul jumped with excitement when he said this and i thought immediately of how the Christian church of modern times has squelched creativity within its walls. For so long, and still many today do, separate the sacred from the secular. If they do incorporate the arts into church, many times the quality is lacking and often tries to copy, most of the time failing, the secular forms of creativity. My feeling is that a narrow-minded interpretation of the Bible and God's ways inhibit us from dreaming big and thus, producing lackluster results. God encourages us to dream big but our humanity often stifles. We ought to quit trying to copy the world and rather use it as a springboard for our own dreams and creativity. We need to let go of our preconceived ideas and "open" our palms to God and ask God to help us dream BIG!!!!!

The following country song (i am not a huge fan of country music) was played at the end of the service and the words i reprint here because i found it to be an honest song, which so often is lacking in churches and lives of those who follow Christ:

Do It Anyway
by Martina McBride

You can spend your whole life building
something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great but sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray it doesn't always turn out like i think it
should
But i do it anyway . . . i do it anyway

The world's gone crazy it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great but sometimes life ain't good
And when i pray it doesn't always turn out like i think it
should
But i do it anyway . . .  i do it anyways

You can pour your soul out singing
a song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway . . . Yea - sing it anyway

i sing . . . i dream . . . i love . . . OH Anyway

So, i leave you to chew on all these words. Have a wonderful day!

Addendum: HT to Relevant Magazine for this MSNBC.com article "Evangelicals seek 'creators of culture' role".

My eight habits meme

My friend, Daniel, tagged me for an 8 habits meme. So what follows are my 8 habits you may not know about:

1. i talk on the phone sometimes when pooping/peeing.
2. i sometimes use my computer while pooping/peeing.
3. i hate showering everyday and usually don't.
4. i sleep on my side, preferably my right side, as sleeping too long on my back hurts since my back surgery.
5. i LOVE spooning with Katryna.
6. i enjoy washing dishes/loading the dishwasher as it's relaxing to me.
7. I actually enjoy drinking PBR beer, which was my dad's favorite when i was a kid.
8. i enjoy bubble baths with candles lit and a good book.

Now i tag the following to continue the meme: Corey, Headphonaught, Roy, and Alicia.

At peace and full of joy, at last!!!!!!!

There is some news i wish to share on my blog. It is rather personal and will be out on the world wide web for all to read but i am wanting to move in a different direction on my blog and feel transparency is key. Some will read this and be happy while others will be quite negative. I am happy to agree to disagree with people and ask for respectful dialogue. I have heard ALL the arguments and am simply at a place of peace and joy with myself and God for the first time in my life! Here is the letter i sent out recently to friends:

Dear friend,

As you may know, I've been a bit out of touch recently.  I've had a lot of exciting things going on in my life. Mainly, that I've met someone very special, someone I want to share my life with.  I was beginning to believe that perhaps it would never happen; and I'm so happy it has. 

I hope you are looking forward to meeting the love of my life. That perhaps you'll want to know us as a couple, and spend precious time with us.  We plan to spend the rest of our lives together and we'd love you to be a part of that.  Her name is Katryna. She was living in California, and soon we both will live together in Richmond, Virginia. 

I hope you realize how much peace & joy I now have. For years I have struggled with my true desires and my fear.  I was afraid of other peoples' perceptions and opinions. I was concerned that maybe God would not see me as worthy as the next person if I were gay. But after much soul searching, and religious council, I have come to realize God still loves and embraces me just as much as the next person. I think it is a shame that some people have used certain interpretations of scriptures in the Bible in a way that creates fear, homophobia, or hate.  I think their interpretation is taken out of context.  I do not find anything morally wrong with being gay. This has been a long and arduous journey for me to get to this place of self-acceptance and self-love and to be at peace with my Creator.

I wanted to share this news with you because you have been an important person in my life and I want to live an honest life and be open with you. If our relationship is a problem for you, I will accept your decision with courtesy. However, I do not want anyone to preach at me. And both Katryna and I seek to live authentically and with our faith in God. We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you in the near future.

Love,

Adele

Excessive consumerism?

I was recently traveling across country and we stopped in a  McDonald's to grab food, drink, and make use of the "facilities". I walked into the restaurant and saw a huge flat screen tv in the dining room and thought wow! Then to my dismay i saw a smaller one behind plexi-glass in the women's bathroom and it floored me. What the hell do we need this for maybe 20 seconds of hand drying our hands? To me this is consumerism gone overboard! What is so important it can't wait? I told the manager it was a waste of good money but he could not fathom what i was getting at by my thoughts. And, there was not one in the men's restroom according to my dad. So what gives? AND, across the street was a HUGE ASS Starbucks coffee sign! Middle America and consumerism gone wild!