I've been up since 3 A.M.
I think I've slept 5 hours in the last 3 days.
The new Hillsongs album kicks my butt.
Speaking of Hillsongs....I'm back from the Philippines and I'm 30. I was taking a survey online today for Nooma and when it came to age I had to check 30's and I thought wow.
Anyway, the Philippines was a really great trip. I will not lie, it was not my favorite ever. However it taught me a lot, it was a lot of fun, the guys were awesome, it was cool to celebrate my birthday in a different way--in fact I'd been up for quite a while and it wasn't unitl Wilson told me happy birthday that I realized it was. That's wierd. No mid life crisis here.
I read a great book called Ghost Soldiers, the latest Harry Potter book, and almost finished My Life by Clinton. Quite a wierd collection but good nonetheless.
Other randoms of the trip. I preached both sunday's once in a house church of 17 and the next week in a church of 800. I had the best calamari of my life, the finest steak of my life, laughed till it hurt, saw some stuff I'll never forget and realized how blessed I am to have a job where I can have email and phone conversations with my family whenever.
So all in all it was a great trip. I can't say there was some huge insight God taught to only me that you need to hear that will change you forever. I just think it was good for me. I learned a lot about missions, philosophy of those things and my leadership and it was really good. In an amazing act, I actually have pictures. I'll try to post some when I can.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
ESPN and Christ and Church
In my ever ongoing mission of explaining to the world why ESPN is not only amazing but also important to civilization, I came across a facinating interview on the radio last night as I was driving home. The interview was on the Dan Patrick show and the guest was Michael Irvin, a former wide reciever for the Dallas Cowboys. The discussion was on steroids and human growth hormones (HGH).
Quick background: Michael Irvin was a great player but also a cocaine addict. He's different now I guess, very outspoken, arrogant would be an understatement and I guess somewhere in there is a little theology or something.
Basically the discussion was on how these professional athletes today are taking "legal" drugs to succeed. Anything from roids to creatine to HGH to uppers to anti-inflamatory stuff to whatever. Finally, after much discussion on the ethics of it all (if they don't test for it and you do it and "cheat" is it wrong?) DP asked the question that shocked me.
DP: So Michael, if you had to do it over again and you were a 23 year old kid out of college, would you rather have a long mediocre at best career, more of the starving artist type, or would you rather use substances and have a standout career, make a ton of money but be dead at 27?
MI: Be marginal or make a ton of money for my family and be dead at 27?
DP: Yeah, long life or money and early death.
MI: Dead at 27.
DP: Really?
MI: Yeah, I mean not to push some theology or something on you but the Bible says that we're supposed to love our family and provide for them like Christ loves the church. My Bible says Christ died for the church to provide for it so I'd be dead at 27 so my family could have a nice lifestyle rather than force them to starve with me for many, many years.
Regardless of your opinion of sports/ESPN/God, I'm hoping the rough relay of the interview at least causes you to think for a bit. I've tried to figure out how I would have responded to Irvin's answer. Of course I'm a selfish only child too. So in addition to the worthless sports stats and anecdotes I memorized on my drive home I was left with a facinating question and an even more facinating answer. Happy thinking.
P.S. I killed a squirrel driving to the office today. On purpose. I wonder if he was 27...
Quick background: Michael Irvin was a great player but also a cocaine addict. He's different now I guess, very outspoken, arrogant would be an understatement and I guess somewhere in there is a little theology or something.
Basically the discussion was on how these professional athletes today are taking "legal" drugs to succeed. Anything from roids to creatine to HGH to uppers to anti-inflamatory stuff to whatever. Finally, after much discussion on the ethics of it all (if they don't test for it and you do it and "cheat" is it wrong?) DP asked the question that shocked me.
DP: So Michael, if you had to do it over again and you were a 23 year old kid out of college, would you rather have a long mediocre at best career, more of the starving artist type, or would you rather use substances and have a standout career, make a ton of money but be dead at 27?
MI: Be marginal or make a ton of money for my family and be dead at 27?
DP: Yeah, long life or money and early death.
MI: Dead at 27.
DP: Really?
MI: Yeah, I mean not to push some theology or something on you but the Bible says that we're supposed to love our family and provide for them like Christ loves the church. My Bible says Christ died for the church to provide for it so I'd be dead at 27 so my family could have a nice lifestyle rather than force them to starve with me for many, many years.
Regardless of your opinion of sports/ESPN/God, I'm hoping the rough relay of the interview at least causes you to think for a bit. I've tried to figure out how I would have responded to Irvin's answer. Of course I'm a selfish only child too. So in addition to the worthless sports stats and anecdotes I memorized on my drive home I was left with a facinating question and an even more facinating answer. Happy thinking.
P.S. I killed a squirrel driving to the office today. On purpose. I wonder if he was 27...
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
The White Picket Fence and Everything
So today (the day after my lovely wife's birthday) was the big day. We loaded up in the car, headed to the doctors office and with much excitement awaited the news of what our new little one will be. Carter has fluxuated back and forth between a boy or a girl but always the same name-Josh. First the important news, everything looks good, baby is growing and everything is healthy. Due date is still late January which gives us a little over 4 months to decide on a name for our little girl! Yep, we would have been happy either way but we are certainly very, very happy!
I can't say it came as much of a suprise for us. We were pretty convined, however you're always a little nervous. Fortunately the tech only asked Carter what he wanted (today he wanted a boy). You play the mind games of being happy no matter what etc but deep down we were both praying there would be an invasion of pink after the first of the year. So now one list of names is out the window--probably good since nobody spent much time thinking about them anyway.
So late January will be the first girl Gilchrist born to my family in 3 generations. It will also signal the first Gilchrist family with more than one child in 3 generations. And it means we have to buy new everything. Something tells me that part will be a little exciting for the beautiful woman who's lived with 2 boys and a boy dog for the past 3+ years. Now if only she could find some folks who could help her shop.......
I can't say it came as much of a suprise for us. We were pretty convined, however you're always a little nervous. Fortunately the tech only asked Carter what he wanted (today he wanted a boy). You play the mind games of being happy no matter what etc but deep down we were both praying there would be an invasion of pink after the first of the year. So now one list of names is out the window--probably good since nobody spent much time thinking about them anyway.
So late January will be the first girl Gilchrist born to my family in 3 generations. It will also signal the first Gilchrist family with more than one child in 3 generations. And it means we have to buy new everything. Something tells me that part will be a little exciting for the beautiful woman who's lived with 2 boys and a boy dog for the past 3+ years. Now if only she could find some folks who could help her shop.......
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Chaos
Album currently playing: Nothing Left To Lose by Mat Kearney
I find life to be a facinating thing. I'm in a good rut of reading lately which consists of pretty much all biographies with a couple "church" type books sprinkled in. I'm finishing up a great book on JFK that I've had all summer but never dedicated a lot of time to with the exception of poolside on vacation but its been worth the time. I guess what captures me is how life is rarely about order and tranquility because there isn't much and yet none of us really want that. We say we do, yet our sense of drive, ambition, our need to succeed dictates that we are not able to sit back and coast. There may be moments but even in some of those life steps in with variables we can't predict or possibly even control. Those moments though are the things that let us know we're alive and make us grateful for other moments which at the time we weren't happy about. We finally ascend the hill to look back at the valley and though it sucked we're grateful for what we learned and came out of the pit with and yet we see far beyond something more intriguing, something more beautiful, or at least closer to that ultimate destination and so we head out knowing somewhere in our subconscious that there's probably another valley out there. Sometimes we walk waiting for the ground to fall out from under us, sometimes we walk with a confidence we've not known before. Sometimes we expect bad and get good, sometimes we feel invincible only to get leveled out of nowhere. And all the while we watch our friends and those we love go through the same thing. Sometimes our spot on the hill affords us the perspective to see what they're doing, sometimes they're way beyond us and we wonder where the strength, the fortitude, the insight comes from for them to survive. Sometimes those friends give us just the boost we need to survive, sometimes we feel as though the island we're on has never been seen before and there's no one to help.
Sometimes this life I lead now leaves me with the perspective of observer. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty happening in our lives, there's our daily struggles but in the past week Ang and I keep having these little conversations about people we love and what the heck is going on in their part of the journey. I talked for 2 hours with one this morning. It was all good, some of the conversation was sad because of what had to be said in honesty. I've read about or seen the pictures of others experiences and been left wishing there was a way I could be there or could offer a way to go. There are some I've lost contact with and the way they left things makes me afraid for them. There's the visit to a blog to read a maturity in someone I've not seen before and its encouraging and impressive.
While I was in Mexico I had the opportunity 4 different times to swim in the ocean. It was beautiful. Especially since we'd work so hard all day there was something about disengaging from the group, though we'd swim together, something about the way we'd all head out and process what we were living in a communal way as we simultaneously enjoyed nature and life. We'd body surf for a while, then start waiting just for good waves to catch which would lead us to end up often beyond all the breaks maybe a couple hundred yards off shore. We could still touch the ground but mostly just floated over what would eventually become a wave once it got closer to shore. The thing about it was it was so much life, always moving, always changing, sometimes exciting, sometimes a little intimidating, sometimes boring. Each of us would catch different waves, see different things some of us would venture back towards shore and some would swim farther out. Some of us didn't want to get out, some just wanted to get back to shore where you could stop and rest and catch your breath. But the real fun was in the same place as the real danger. Honestly, I can't lie I was a little scared when I first saw the fin of the dolphin above the water. Funny how the most beautiful experience was also a little terrifying. The best part of being at the beach was also in the same position where the worst moments of getting crushed by a wave or drinking more salt water than was healthy happened. And on one of our final days out there those of us in the water saw what those on the shore totally missed--8 dolphins. The came towards us, circled around a couple time and then swam back and forth in front of us in the breaks of the waves. 2 actually swam towards one of the leaders and swam on either side of him close enough he could feel them go by. And it was worth being out there. It was worth the salt in the back of my throat, the sore ear, the scuff on my knee from a nasty wave. It was something I'll never forget. And in the chaos of the ocean I saw, and maybe just me, a metaphor of life. I'm going to assume if you're reading this your a friend of mine so I wish you the best today. I pray your swim is memorable and my encouragement to you is keep your head above water. If you need somebody to help you talk to them. If you're too deep, head back closer to shore but by all means, keep swimming. It will be worth it.
I find life to be a facinating thing. I'm in a good rut of reading lately which consists of pretty much all biographies with a couple "church" type books sprinkled in. I'm finishing up a great book on JFK that I've had all summer but never dedicated a lot of time to with the exception of poolside on vacation but its been worth the time. I guess what captures me is how life is rarely about order and tranquility because there isn't much and yet none of us really want that. We say we do, yet our sense of drive, ambition, our need to succeed dictates that we are not able to sit back and coast. There may be moments but even in some of those life steps in with variables we can't predict or possibly even control. Those moments though are the things that let us know we're alive and make us grateful for other moments which at the time we weren't happy about. We finally ascend the hill to look back at the valley and though it sucked we're grateful for what we learned and came out of the pit with and yet we see far beyond something more intriguing, something more beautiful, or at least closer to that ultimate destination and so we head out knowing somewhere in our subconscious that there's probably another valley out there. Sometimes we walk waiting for the ground to fall out from under us, sometimes we walk with a confidence we've not known before. Sometimes we expect bad and get good, sometimes we feel invincible only to get leveled out of nowhere. And all the while we watch our friends and those we love go through the same thing. Sometimes our spot on the hill affords us the perspective to see what they're doing, sometimes they're way beyond us and we wonder where the strength, the fortitude, the insight comes from for them to survive. Sometimes those friends give us just the boost we need to survive, sometimes we feel as though the island we're on has never been seen before and there's no one to help.
Sometimes this life I lead now leaves me with the perspective of observer. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty happening in our lives, there's our daily struggles but in the past week Ang and I keep having these little conversations about people we love and what the heck is going on in their part of the journey. I talked for 2 hours with one this morning. It was all good, some of the conversation was sad because of what had to be said in honesty. I've read about or seen the pictures of others experiences and been left wishing there was a way I could be there or could offer a way to go. There are some I've lost contact with and the way they left things makes me afraid for them. There's the visit to a blog to read a maturity in someone I've not seen before and its encouraging and impressive.
While I was in Mexico I had the opportunity 4 different times to swim in the ocean. It was beautiful. Especially since we'd work so hard all day there was something about disengaging from the group, though we'd swim together, something about the way we'd all head out and process what we were living in a communal way as we simultaneously enjoyed nature and life. We'd body surf for a while, then start waiting just for good waves to catch which would lead us to end up often beyond all the breaks maybe a couple hundred yards off shore. We could still touch the ground but mostly just floated over what would eventually become a wave once it got closer to shore. The thing about it was it was so much life, always moving, always changing, sometimes exciting, sometimes a little intimidating, sometimes boring. Each of us would catch different waves, see different things some of us would venture back towards shore and some would swim farther out. Some of us didn't want to get out, some just wanted to get back to shore where you could stop and rest and catch your breath. But the real fun was in the same place as the real danger. Honestly, I can't lie I was a little scared when I first saw the fin of the dolphin above the water. Funny how the most beautiful experience was also a little terrifying. The best part of being at the beach was also in the same position where the worst moments of getting crushed by a wave or drinking more salt water than was healthy happened. And on one of our final days out there those of us in the water saw what those on the shore totally missed--8 dolphins. The came towards us, circled around a couple time and then swam back and forth in front of us in the breaks of the waves. 2 actually swam towards one of the leaders and swam on either side of him close enough he could feel them go by. And it was worth being out there. It was worth the salt in the back of my throat, the sore ear, the scuff on my knee from a nasty wave. It was something I'll never forget. And in the chaos of the ocean I saw, and maybe just me, a metaphor of life. I'm going to assume if you're reading this your a friend of mine so I wish you the best today. I pray your swim is memorable and my encouragement to you is keep your head above water. If you need somebody to help you talk to them. If you're too deep, head back closer to shore but by all means, keep swimming. It will be worth it.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Weekend Report
Currently Listening To: Let You Down by Dave Matthews Band
Maybe its the fact that I haven't had a normal weekend at home in about 3 months but this past weekend was amazing. Simply amazing. Here's all the life changing, earth shattering stuff we accomplished this weekend:
Yeah, that's what I mean. We didn't do anything huge and it was very, very nice. We did attempt to work on Ang's car which died at the Y. It is finally back home and we'll work on it this week. Looks like an alternator. Nice. Too bad I am a mechanical moron. Thank goodness for friends. Our trips in to try and get to Ang's car which seemed to always have people parked around it resulting in a complete inability to jump start it did result in 2 wonderful family trips to Starbucks resulting in Cafe con Leche's for us and lemonade or chocolate milk for Carter. Other important big news, we bought 2 new pillows. The one that traveled with me this summer needed to be retired or burned and we were tired of laying our heads on pillows that felt like they had wadded up socks in them.
We also rented some movies--its time to catch up on all the stuff we missed all summer so the 3 selections for the weekend were: Bad News Bears (disappointing, funny but too much language), Inside Man (according to Ang, anything with Denzel is a winner--it was very good) and finally Crash. Yes, we were the 2 people on earth not to see it. To be honest, I really liked it. We both did, and a lot more than we thought we would. It got me to thinking and was well done so all in all, we didn't do too bad. The one movie I'm dying to see still is Syriana which I've heard some amazingly mixed reviews about which makes me want to see it all the more.
Now Playing: Crooked Deep Down by Derek Webb
Last night Carter and I walked down to the movie store to take the movies back. That kid. Good grief. He's getting quite the personality and is so funny at times. He can also test the last nerve occasionally but man do we love him. The big thing I'm working on him about right now is that when we're in public we don't have to talk at the top of our lungs so that everyone in the county here's us. Especially since he repeats himself all the time or says some of the most off the wall stuff. Last night we were watching the Cubs/Cards game (seriously, amazing. That's what makes baseball great) when he went down unprovoked and informed Ang that his head hurt, my head hurt and she needed to make us a bowl of popcorn. Yeah, not sure where it came from but the popcorn was good.
So that was my weekend. Ang is busy working on baby names and though I was a spoilsport last night it was fun to talk about names. At this point, it may mean nothing, but I think we have it down to 5 boys names and 6 girls names. Maybe 7. I can't get her to go for Ebenezer yet. Okay, it's Monday so enjoy.
Maybe its the fact that I haven't had a normal weekend at home in about 3 months but this past weekend was amazing. Simply amazing. Here's all the life changing, earth shattering stuff we accomplished this weekend:
Yeah, that's what I mean. We didn't do anything huge and it was very, very nice. We did attempt to work on Ang's car which died at the Y. It is finally back home and we'll work on it this week. Looks like an alternator. Nice. Too bad I am a mechanical moron. Thank goodness for friends. Our trips in to try and get to Ang's car which seemed to always have people parked around it resulting in a complete inability to jump start it did result in 2 wonderful family trips to Starbucks resulting in Cafe con Leche's for us and lemonade or chocolate milk for Carter. Other important big news, we bought 2 new pillows. The one that traveled with me this summer needed to be retired or burned and we were tired of laying our heads on pillows that felt like they had wadded up socks in them.
We also rented some movies--its time to catch up on all the stuff we missed all summer so the 3 selections for the weekend were: Bad News Bears (disappointing, funny but too much language), Inside Man (according to Ang, anything with Denzel is a winner--it was very good) and finally Crash. Yes, we were the 2 people on earth not to see it. To be honest, I really liked it. We both did, and a lot more than we thought we would. It got me to thinking and was well done so all in all, we didn't do too bad. The one movie I'm dying to see still is Syriana which I've heard some amazingly mixed reviews about which makes me want to see it all the more.
Now Playing: Crooked Deep Down by Derek Webb
Last night Carter and I walked down to the movie store to take the movies back. That kid. Good grief. He's getting quite the personality and is so funny at times. He can also test the last nerve occasionally but man do we love him. The big thing I'm working on him about right now is that when we're in public we don't have to talk at the top of our lungs so that everyone in the county here's us. Especially since he repeats himself all the time or says some of the most off the wall stuff. Last night we were watching the Cubs/Cards game (seriously, amazing. That's what makes baseball great) when he went down unprovoked and informed Ang that his head hurt, my head hurt and she needed to make us a bowl of popcorn. Yeah, not sure where it came from but the popcorn was good.
So that was my weekend. Ang is busy working on baby names and though I was a spoilsport last night it was fun to talk about names. At this point, it may mean nothing, but I think we have it down to 5 boys names and 6 girls names. Maybe 7. I can't get her to go for Ebenezer yet. Okay, it's Monday so enjoy.
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