Wine Sale!

Okay,
All of you who faithfully read my blog (judging by the comments on my blog there are not many of you out there) are about to be rewarded. World Market (at least the ones in southern California) is discounting a bunch of wines in order to make room for new stuff. That means there are some crazy deals to be had. Many of the wines are already out of stock, but there are still quite a few wines that normally are a good deal at $17-20 on sale for $6-8 a bottle. I never see these kinds of prices on this high quality of wines. This would be a good time to beef up your cellar for the summer. Happy wine shopping.
Click on the following link to find the nearest store to you: World Market

Tommy Walker Rocks!

My church, Christian Assembly Eagle Rock, just finished celebrating the release of Tommy Walker's newest CD, Break Through. In my opinion, this is the best worship CD that I've ever listened to. This is coming from someone who is often overly critical about worship songs. The majority of the songs are written by Tommy himself, so they won't be known by most people outside the Christian Assembly community. That said, Tommy has written some truely amazing songs that I hope will catch on in congregations around the country. This is a great CD for the car, home, or iPod. Enjoy.

Excited, Nervous, Scared, and Hopeful

Yes!!!...???

I just received an official letter of acceptance from the University of Wales at Bangor for a PhD in the department of Theology and Religious Studies. I have 21 days to accept or decline the offer. I would begin doing my thesis in the area of Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies under the tutelage of Dr. William Kay and Dr. Glenn Balfour in September.

The program would be part-time for the next four years. I would not need to move to the UK; I would just visit once or twice per year for about 2 weeks at a time. In the UK system, PhD degrees do not involve any classes or exams. Your degree is decided solely on the basis of an oral and written presentation of the thesis. This means that the program is much cheaper than a comparable one in the US and requires less time.

This is the big news I've been waiting for, and now I'm nervous about it. More school!? I've already been in school for quite a long time. On the one hand, I know that God does not require any formal education for a person to be effective in ministry. On the other hand, I see the great benefit in thoroughly examining one's faith; a benefit that has not always been recognized by Pentecostals. I asked God to help this not to work out if I wasn't supposed to do it, and it has been anything but "not working out". I don't know what the Lord is preparing me for through all this education, but as Heather and I pray and seek His guidance we're sensing that I should pursue this program in Wales as far as it can go.

Please pray for us as we look to the Lord for wisdom and guidance.

NASCAR

I am a NASCAR fan, but I'm not exactly sure why. If I'm honest, it doesn't really make much sense. I'm from Bend, Oregon (mecca for ski bumbs and retired california golfers). I went to school in Eugene, Oregon (mecca for hippies, hemp clothing, and organic groceries). I played on my high school golf team. I would consider myself an intellectual. I'm pretty good at math. I prefer imports and microbrews to domestic beer. I like foreign-made cars. I care about the environment. I'm skeptical when it comes to mass marketing and commercialism. I'm not all that happy about the war in Iraq. Finally, I like classical music.

I seem to forget all these things about me when it comes to NASCAR. At the race last week I enjoyed the smell of exhaust coming from the cars in front of me getting less than 4 MPG. I wore a red hat with a big #8 on it, bought a Chevy Racing shirt, and considered buying a $8 bottle of Budweiser just because it was Dale, Jr.'s sponsor. I got excited about the fighter jets overhead. I played country music when I tailgated.

There is one thing that makes me not care about this hypocritcal way of life: FAST CARS!

Just thinkin' 'bout bumbper-to-bumper 3-wide 'round turn 4 makes me move into my alter ego.

Watch these videos and maybe you'll get a taste of the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway three weeks ago; I went there with my brother, Allan.

Green Flag Drops at California Speedway



Comin' 'Round Turn 4

The Hospital

Today was my last official day as a hospital chaplain intern at Huntington Memorial Hospital. I got a nifty little certificate and everything. I learned a lot while I was there. Spending time each week with people facing some of the toughest times in their lives gave me a different perspective on my own life. Those things that normally stress me out just don't seem like that big of a deal. I don't take things for granted as much as I used to. Seeing all the people facing sudden life-changing illnesses or death that they were not counting on has helped me remember that my ordered, controlled, pleasant life can easily collapse at any time. It is only by God's grace that it is the way it is.

I was surprised at how open the patients were to discussing spiritual matters. I saw people who were dying of cancer, crippled, depressed, paralyzed, diseased, mentally ill, and nauseated. They all were ready and willing to talk about God, and their relationship with Him. If anything, they were usually frustrated because their families and the rest of the hospital staff were uncomfortable talking about anything spiritual. The hospital has a way of opening up those doors that our culture likes to avoid and keep shut.

The reminder of our own mortality is a wonderful thing. It helps us keep our priorities straight. It reminds us of what is eternal, and what is not. It causes us to push aside all questions but one: why am I here? These past ten weeks I've seen God, by his Holy Spirit, pierce through the darkness and sadness that usually surrounds such a question, and bring light and hope through the power of His love.

I've now experienced the greatest theological tension of all. The sovereign God who holds all of life together is also present with us in our suffering and pain that works against life. I can't resolve the tension. All I can say is, "He is the way, the truth, and the life."

Starbucks vs. Peet's

Welp, I did it again...

I ordered a tall latte' at Starbucks with only one extra shot. It has been probably two months since I last tried one, so I thought to myself, "Surely you're being picky about your expectations for coffee. It can't really be that bad." It was that bad. I don't think hot milk would have tasted any different at all, and that is with an extra shot! I don't even want to think about how a single shot latte' would taste. Is it really too much to ask that a $3.10 latte actually taste somewhat like coffee? It hasn't always been this bad. Their super, hi-tech, fully automated machines are mostly to blame. While these machines certainly make it easy for employees who know nothing about coffee - don't even like the taste of coffee - to make all kinds of customized drinks, they forgot one little piece of the puzzle: taste.

Of course, this is also part of their coffee culture marketing strategy. Now someone who doesn't like the taste of coffee at all can order a tall latte' with an extra shot and actually enjoy it. Nothing has changed in people's tastes in coffee over the past 20 years since the coffee craze began. Rather, companies - of which Starbucks is chief - have learned to market coffee sounding drinks to the masses that really don't like coffee; just the culture that goes along with it. If this Starbucks that I'm sitting in right now is representative of most, my case is easily made. Since I've been sitting here people have ordered a Java-Chip Frappuccino with whip, a Passion-Lemonade Iced Tea, a White Chocolate Mocha with whip, and an iced Caramel-Macchiato with extra caramel.

While both Peet's Coffee & Tea and Starbucks were started by the same two people. One went the way of quality; the other went the way of quantity. Peet's serves more or less the same drinks they did when Alfred Peet opened the store that started it all in 1966. On the other hand, Starbucks has been pruposeful about expansion, quickly changing and adapting its products to reach the maximum number of people possible.

The sad thing is, Starbucks is winning, at least in terms of profitability. Why? Because of convenience. There are about 100 Starbucks for every one Peet's, which means that more often then not, a Starbucks is closer than a Peet's. I'm confronted with this every week when I take my wife out to class at Cal State Northridge on Wednesday nights. I drop her off and then go somewhere to do work. I don't really want to work in the Northridge library because it is dark and closed in, so I go to one of the three Starbucks nearby where I can work as long as I want by a window with my laptop plugged in while sipping a hot beverage. In the case of Peet's, there is always a shortage of seats. I usually have to wait for a seat and then rotate into a seat that is actually close to the one electrical outlet in the entire coffee shop, and there is no Peet's within 30 minutes of Northridge.

The saddest part of the whole thing is that I actually spend more money at Starbucks. While I usually go to Peet's for 3-4 hours at least 2 days a week, I can get their drip coffee because it is actually good, and a small with one refill will be enough for the entire time. The cost is as follows.

1 small cup of coffee = $1.50
1 refill = $.80
2 times/week = $4.60

On the other hand, at Starbucks, there drip coffee is terrible, and I am forced to buy extra shots in espresso drinks to make them actually taste like coffee. I can't get refills on espresso drinks so I usually end up buying 2. The cost of one work session is as follows:

(1 tall latte' + 1 shot = $3.10) * 2 = $6.20

In the end, who is the dumb one really? Starbucks or me?!

My First Blog

Welp, my first blog has been difficult to write. I've had the layout for the site more or less how I wanted it to look for a few weeks now, but I just haven't been able to start writing. I have to do a lot of writing for school, so I'm a little uneasy about committing myself to post a blog regularly. Yet, I think blogging may be a nice break from the heavy theological stuff I'm used to writing about. I'm going to write about me: my life, my thoughts, my problems and my pleasures. On the one hand, it is odd to me that others out there might be interested in the little things I'm doing or thinking in my own little world. On the other hand, I enjoy reading other people's blogs alot so I probably should expect that they will enjoy mine.

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to doing just about anything. I'm the kind of person who would write a rough draft of a blog. However, I'm going to do things a little differently with this blog; I'll try to be more raw and unguarded in my writing. Hopefully you will find something of interest here. If not, you have poor taste. See... I'm being "more raw and unguarded".

Enjoy, ATF