sleepy fritz

sleepy fritz
Originally uploaded by phritz.

I'm enjoying doing nothing... I should try it more often :)

Actually, I've been taking care of my two little cousins a lot too, so that's not easy...

Yeeee Haw!! I'm in Bama

Well, I finally made it back to Alabama. I say finally, but I was last here just four months ago. Seriously though, I much prefer visiting here in the winter. I don't have to deal with taking a shower everytime I step out of the door (it's like normally 100% humidity in the summer). So, winter is nice here. The first thing I saw when I got back was a nice Chik-fil-a. Ah, I so miss Chik-fil-a. My second day here, my grandparents brought to the mother of all buffets (aka fat farms, big butt bonanza, gluttony central)... That's right, the Golden Corral. Now, I'm a big guy... weighing in at 255lbs (115kg for you metrics) and it's simply not an encouraging thing when you walk into a restaurant where there are numerous people that seem to have about twice the mass you do or at least surface area :). Anywho... I'm having a good time so far. I got greeted at the airport by my cousins that I talk so much about and literally found myself at the bottom of a dog pile composed of my two baby girl cousins. Now, if that could only happen to me at Regent ;)... heh heh, just kidding... sort of ;) anydangway, moving on now...
Here's some photos of my cousins (they're photos from summer, but nothing much has changed since then)
Have a Merry Christmas peeps...

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My cousin Brianna showing off her new two front teeth... :)


My sweet little cousin Brittnie getting blasted with the water hose... Brianna looks a little, well.. you know...


This is Brandon... He is a newly budding teenager (aka hormonal weirdo... aka thinks he's all that)

Dilbert on English Degrees

Sorry, I had to post this... click image for full size comic...

scary

I woke up this morning feeling curious about Creflo Dollar Ministries because, for whatever reason, I had a dream about the man last night. So... I woke up and began checking out his credentials because I wasn't convinced that a man that held the title Doctor Creflo Dollar could possibly still think that his teachings were true, just simply because any reputable seminary would not allow you to leave thinking that Jesus was rich.

Anywho... I kept checking and so it comes down to this being "Doctor" Creflo Dollar's educational history. I couldn't find this anywhere on the internet and then I just figured, well, if he's honest... it should be on his biography on his website. And it was, silly me. He received a Bachelors in Educational Therapy from Georgia Tech in 1984 and the "Doctor" title, which I see sported on all his websites and everywhere his name is mentioned, was not even an earned doctorate. Nope, it was an honorary doctorate given to him by Oral Roberts University in 1998. He happens to serve on the Board of Regents at that institution.

Personally, I came out of the prosperity movement. The first church that I went to was a prosperity church and I left after becoming extremely disillussioned with the beliefs of the Word of Faith movement. Reading the things I've read this morning makes me want to go throw up. This man has a personal entourage of "Pastoral Assistants" (aka bodyguards) that escort him everywhere. They even keep people in his congregation from touching or talking to him. Very unapproachable guy, but when you're running a cult then I guess that that is an advisable course of action.

Saved

Well, I would say I just wasted a good solid $5 tonight. I couldn't find anything else to do tonight except to just stop at Blockbuster and pick up a few flicks. Good news is now I get two free movies of them, but it hardly seems worth it when you pay $5 to rent a movie, but anyway... So, I rented Saved because I wanted to see if it had anything particularly profound to say about Christians. It turns out it was more along the lines that I had previously suspected it to be: not particularly profound, just uncreative browbeating of the audience.

Here's a synopsis of the movie taken from another review, I don't feel like typing all that out..

Jenna Malone plays Mary, a member of the Christian Jewels singing group who lives in a Christian House with a Christian Mom (Mary Louise Parker) and goes to a Christian High School. She also has a Christian Boyfriend (Chad Faust), who confesses a Very UnChristian Thing: he's gay. Mary, however, believes that she can save her boyfriend by giving him her virginity. In fact, she believes Jesus has told her to do this. It doesn't work - he gets sent to a deprogramming center and she ends up pregnant. Feeling betrayed by God and her Wholly Holy Friends, she starts hanging out with the few unbelievers at the school, including paraplegic Roland (Macaulay Culkin) and goth Jew Cassandra (Eva Amurri). Meanwhile, the lead singer for the Christian Jewels, Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), begins a campaign of guerilla warfare against Mary, with the goal of getting her kicked out of school. There's also a subplot involving Mary's mother's affair with Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan), and Mary's mutual infatuation with Pastor Skip's son, Patrick (Patrick Fugit). (James Berardinelli 2004)

When I first started watching the movie, I was fully prepared to take whatever criticism the director had to dish out concerning Christians simply because I'm just as bitter sometimes about the stupidity that I see happening, but this movie didn't have very much of a constructive nature to put forward. See the review that I linked to above. He puts it really well I think.

The only thing that really stood out to me in the movie was that there really are people that think most Christian culture is just that out of touch with reality. This movie is basically "Clueless" meets "Jerry Falwell"... Not a pretty combination. So, obviously... not all Christians are like that. Well, what we are extremely guilty of as Christians is believing that everybody who holds the title "Democrat" or "Liberal" (or whatever really that we pre-judge) is somehow a totally senseless fool that is only interested in hating God and loving pleasure. That's only one stereotype, we've got gobs of them. Now, unfortunately, this movie reinforces that notion simply because the message the director portrays is that religious people are all idiots and true salvation is found by just forgetting dogmatics and just loving and accepting each other. The ultimate hippy message. Regardless, we as Christians need to be careful of that. So, that's one thing I left the movie with.

The other was that people are screwed up in general, Christian or not-Christian. Surprise, huh? Yea, I'm telling you, this movie was just that profound. So, I walked away with an overall sense of wanting to be careful about what I think about people and being more thoughtful in that respect. That's about it... Oh, and I should just read the reviews before a movie and save myself the $5...

Good night all... :)

LYLE

Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!

woo hoo

Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!

alright that's enough

Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!
Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!! Lyle is staying!!

ENOUGH

OT extreme...

I know some people in the OT class can relate... :) I just spent the entire day reading the OT. Went from 2 Samuel through 2 Chronicles. I still have an hour left before I take the night off. Maybe I can go ahead a hit Ezra. Fo' reallys yo... if I read "and he did evil in the sight of the Lord" one more time, I'ma gonna scream...

some movies make me emotional...

Tonight is a weird night. Totally strange mix of emotions in my heart. I went to go see Napoleon Dynamite and Garden State at Hollywood Theatres. Of course, Napoleon Dynamite was absolutely hilarious. You know how you watch a movie for the first time and if you wait long enough to watch it again, it's almost like you saw it for the first time again. I guess for me, that's about 4 months. :) Anywho... I think the thing that got me into my current mood was Garden State. It was a great movie I think: full of comedy but not shallow, thoughtful but it didn't make my head hurt. However, it has managed to make me pretty depressed and introverted tonight, which doesn't happen a lot. It's not like I come home from school and just sit think about everything in life that sucks, because I'd be a bit of a brain case then... oh wait, I am... well, anydangday... the movie was what I would describe as a "Breakfast Club"-ish, psycho-babble, find peace in the darkness, and why not get the girl too sort of movie. That doesn't quite sum it all up, because it really was a good movie about being real with yourself and others. Although the movie didn't end on a depressing note, it just stirred up memories and feelings inside me that can't be shut off just because he was yelling into the abyss or because he got Natalie Portman as a girlfriend. That's like busting a dam and trying to stop it with some superglue. So, much like "The Breakfast Club," everybody walks into the sunset and though life is still screwed up and we don't know where to go from here, we accomplished something by letting it all out. It made me feel a little cynical about the modern self-help movement, but I realize that isn't the point of the movie.

You see, this is my problem with one part of the movie's message... It is a classic outworking in my mind of modern psychology. It doesn't give any real answers to life except to say that what everybody really needs to do is just get in touch with their true self and that will be the empowerment they need to live as fully as possible. It's classic Carl Rogers stuff. In the end, that leaves me just as empty honestly. Now, I know that we can all see the sunday school answer coming out: "Jesus!" But here's the deal, I'm well aware that we as Christians still deal with the same things as anyone that doesn't have Christ, but it is a totally different ballgame still. With Christ, I still deal with the same pile of manure, but I have His strength, His Spirit, and His hope... That's a long way from Rogerian Psychotherapy and from the modern day self-help movement. Dr. Phil's got lots of good stuff to say, but empowering the self is not the whole story. It's a salv for a wound that is too big for it to handle. So, that's one annoyance I had with the movie (not that I expected them to pull the God card necessarily, but I'm just complaining about modern psychology and it's removal of God).

Aside from my criticism of the movie, it helps us all understand where people are coming from in this world. It's good to look into the past and deal with the pains that are buried there. It's good to accept others as they are. All things the movie was putting across. Good flick... you should watch it :)

new photo blog at flickr

IMG_4298
Originally uploaded by phritz.

Hey guys... want to see picts I've been taking... check out Phritz's Photos

I'll be posting primarily shaky face shots I collect and any other funny shots :)

Interesting Times Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/opinion/30brooks.html
An interesting NY Times article I read today. Pretty much just makes a point to jab and the Christian Coalition and uplift an unsung hero of Christianity today. Fun read, but you'll have to have an account with NY Times to read it.

I think I'm going to be sick... (edited)

The Holy Land Experience
Christian Museum

I originally had this post in my drafts because I was investigating what "The Holy Land Experience" was... I found that it was a Christian Museum of history and not a theme park. The post that was on here for the last day or so wasn't actually supposed to be there because I had it in my drafts folder, but for some reason it posted. Anywho, I don't want to blast "The Holy Land Experience." I think it's cool that they made a fun Christian Museum. Although, I'm sure it is chock full of Jesus Junk that people can buy, but it's not a totally awful idea.

Now there are tons of other fun things to blast though... check this out...
Bobble Heads for Christ

concealed

I struggled whether to tell what the inspiration was behind this poem, but I don't want to take away from the possibility of it being meaningful to another situation. I'm considering this unfinished for now, because I may add a more happy refrain, or not. We'll see.

concealed
Alone, ignored,
the pains of this world ravage my heart;
Unknown, veiled,
behind this satin cover of dishonesty,
the wounds fester and ooze.

The others smell the stench of death upon me,
as do I,
but instead they perfume and mask death,
as do I.
Maybe the perfume will remove the disease,
And if not, at least I will not offend.

But death has consumed me through ignorance;
And now I no longer smell the perfume.

ice, blood, rain, and limos

The evening proved quite an adventure. I spent most of the day reading about skin diseases (among other things) in Leviticus, eating, and napping in the Regent Atrium. Then retreated to a fun filled evening of Western League Hockey: Vancouver Giants vs. the Portland who knows what... definite fun times, the last time I saw so much fighting, it involved Mike Tyson taking a loving nibble on Evander Holyfield's earlobes. But seriously, these guys had some serious pent up aggression. It seemed like every five minutes there were punches flying. Let's not forget to mention that one got through a sheet of glass within the first 2 minutes of the game. Man, gotta wonder what it might be like to live with guys this war-like. Not so good for the spouses of the Giants, they lost 7-5. Gotta hand it to them, it was a close game.
No worries for Matt Mattoon. Even with this excitement, he manages to drift into other worlds of thought. If you ask me he looks like he must be pondering the meaning of life, the gospel according to hockey, or maybe he's just hungry. You must forgive me for pulling a "Michael Moore" though, I didn't mean to put words into ol' Matt's kisser.

So, it was a kick butt evening of ice and blood... we left the rink and walked in a nice typical Vancouver rain looking for a bus home. We eventually made it to a bus stop on Hastings that literally was about 200 ft long. As we pondered what we were going to do: pass the

time walking around or just wait it out... BOOM... (or more like zip I guess) a white limo pulls around the corner and wants to know if we can give him some money for a lift. We and a couple standing nearby split the limo cost and we leave the line long behind. It was only the second time in my life that I've been in a limo, but it was definite fun times. Look Matt's awake, good boy! Watch out Matt, Tim's getting a little too close there :-P, don't say I didn't warn ya... So... there's the evening... we had a blast... and we didn't get hit with any hockey pucks. The End.

Sorry that not everybody's in the photo... Leanne, Paul, Kaylie, and her friend Rebecca were also part of the evening, but they missed out on the limo run. :(

Film: Wit

Just watched Wit (2001) with Emma Thomson. Directed by Mike Nichols.
This was one of the most emotionally moving movies I've seen since I watched The Passion but in a much different way. The Passion was just a ravaging of my emotions, but this was very gradual till the end. As the movie made it's final crescendo at the end, the whole reality and message of the movie became clear and simply slaps you in the face (at least me). I left with so many different messages that the movie revealed. Very well done, very profound. This movie is a must see.

I want so badly to talk about the messages of the movie, but I wouldn't want to lessen the impact of the movie for you. Here's a basic abstract though: the movie follows the experience of a highly educated doctor of 17th Century literature, specialized in the writings of John Donne, who is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Through the movie, you'll find many references to literature and poetic quotes. So, if you're unfamiliar with the writings of John Donne, you'll get a little education. Specifically, a poem written by Donne called "Death, Be not Proud" is quoted much in the movie. I've included it below. Enjoy.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death thou shalt die.

If you check out the link to the poem, you'll notice that I changed the punctuation on the last line. This has special significance in the movie.

New Announcers

Ah, the US Election is on us. The airwaves are full of our favorite newscasters, keeping us on the edge of our seat with up-to-the-minute updates on the polls. Personally, I think they should bring in a new set of newscasters. If their going for entertainment value, they should at least go all out and bring in some sports announcers instead. It wouldn't change the content of the reports at all since they have all the content of monday night football, but you could bring in a group of people that actually know how to be somewhat exciting. I vote they bring in Tony Bradshaw, John Madden, Deion Sanders... and then just to add a little spice, Charles Barkley.

Maxim

It's bad enough that the Internet is so flooded with pornography. This morning as I was working on my car, they went even farther. My cell phone buzzes and it says I have a text message. I open it up and it is from Maxim offering me to play a game over my cell phone that will reward me with "Maxim Photos" if I get the answers right. That was just so upsetting to me. Now even my cell phone has to become a place for temptation. Well, not much of one, but I think about the men (and women for that matter) that will fall into that temptation. God save our world!

It must be Halloween time...

...I woke up this morning to the sound of my clock radio playing Rob Zombie and a ghost/spirit expert on the radio.

discoverable (and yet not)

I've been reading Augustine's Confessions all day today (literally) and ran across an interesting quote.

"If anyone finds your {referring to God} simultaneity beyond his understanding, it is not for me to explain it. Let him be content to say 'What is this?' (Ex. 16:15). So too let him rejoice and delight in finding you who are beyond discovery rather than fail to find you by supposing you to be discoverable." (trans. Chadwick, p. 8)

It's an interesting thought that sometimes we fail to know our God who is 'beyond discovery' because we assume that we can 'discover' him. I don't think Augustine means to say that we can't find God because in the same sentence he speaks of finding God. What I do think he is referring to is our desire as humans to fully discover God. We want to know everything, just like we want to know everything else. So that we can hold it, touch it, and ultimately control it. Augustine points out that we should rejoice and delight in finding our God of mystery. He is a God not of our own making but simply is.

The difficulty is that many people take this to be a cop-out. The ultimate example of how the Church turns a blind eye to incongruities and contradictions within Christianity. Truth is, there are a great majority of Christians that do that. Perhaps to their discredit, but at the same time maybe to ours (we being modernist thinkers).

I don't want to go off on writing my thoughts about the nature of Truth right now, but it'll suffice to say that we don't know everything and we can't know everything. God falls into that category as well. Christians are uncomfortable (including myself) with the implications that has since we are in such a pluralistic society that would seek to melt our Lord and Savior into a pot with every other convaluted deity that comes around the corner thereby destroying the significance of any of them. As comfy as that is, Truth isn't comfortable to encounter. I feel as if this tension between a God we can "know" and can't "fully know" is quite biblical but doesn't obliterate our God in a swarm of other gods. The parts of our God that are "knowable" are such that they distinguish the Lord from all other psuedo-deity. Plus, it suffices to say that falsehoods and lies are counterfeits of Truth, made specifically to look, act, and taste like, but having different substance than the Truth. I say that because I've had many argue with me that Christianity can't claim to be the one true religion because there are so many other that are similar to it. That doesn't mean anything to me. There are many things that look similar, but they are still different and Christianity isn't the same as any other religion.

I'm done, but just a side note: I believe that other religions contain truths in them. Ultimately, Truth is God and comes from God. Christianity, therefore, doesn't have a corner on the market of Truth.

All of this is bringing up other thoughts in my head about whether somebody might be a Christian and yet call Jesus by a different name. Does that open up the door to "many paths up the same mountain" sort of mentality? Seems to me that there are many paths to God, but they are within the boundaries that he has set and many others are climbing a different mountain altogether. Or they are building a hill out of dirt (which could be said of many Christians). Either way, I'll leave that thought for now and maybe come back to it later.

reading week

i feel like I'm in a manic state in respect to my studies... During classes I'm studying like a mad-man and now that it's "reading week," I can't seem to get myself to study. It's like I need a good dose of Ritalin to get me centered down or sped up since all that is is just a toned down methanphendamine.

Super Size Me II

I'd like to note that I ate a 2/3 lb hamburger today at Bob's Burger & Brew in Bellingham, WA. I'd like to think that shows my ability to take things with a grain of salt, rather than pointing out that it highlights my inability to follow through with good health knowledge. Could you please pass the fructose tomato jelly, I mean... ketchup.

Super Size Me

Just saw Super Size Me

I'd have to say that I'll still eat fast food every once in a while, but when self-control is needed... all I have to do is recall the image of this man (slowly) pounding a supersize double quarter pounder meal and then ralphing it up because he isn't used to eating so much food. Either that or I could just imagine his liver self-destructing after eating McD's for 30 days. That's it... I'm going to go work-out!

in the beginning...

...alex awoke from a great sleep and said, "Let there be a blog for all to waste time reading" and there was and it was alright.