Forgive me while I…

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

Reminisce.

I recently rediscovered my music from high school.  I had placed it in the trunk of our car from the moment we picked it up the day we moved to Seattle and haven’t looked at it since.  That is, until I got my video Ipod and wanted to completely furnish it.

I think it is true for most people, but the music that I hold must influential in my life is generally the music I listened to in High School.

So this is what I found in my old CD book.

  • 10 Pearl Jam CD’s
  • 4 Creed CD’s
  • 3 311 CD’s
  • The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
  • 6 DC Talk CD’s
  • 3 All Star United CD’s
  • 5 2Pac CD’s
  • Some random worship CD’s
  • 4 Our Lady Peace CD’s
  • 11 Dave Matthews Band CD’s
  • 2 Jewel CD’s
  • The Verve Pipe
  • 3 Live CD’s
  • Bush’s Sixteen Stone CD
  • Will Smith’s Big Willie Style CC
  • Way too many Third Day CD’s

So some of these I’m grateful that I rediscovered them, and others, well, their rediscovery is short and although I digitalized all of them I probably won’t listen to them.  It is just fun to have them complement my over 5200 song collection.

Now to reminisce more….remember ‘mixed tapes?’   Remember the first tape you bought (Petra — On Fire) Remember the first CD you bought? (DC Talk — Free at Last ) Remember the first CD you burned?  (2pac’s Greatest hits)  Remember what song(s) made you realize that there was a whole world beyond Christian music?  (whoop there it is and nirvana).

Man, those were the days, weren’t they?

peace

joel

Dinner prepared for me

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

dessert...yummy

This weekend I had a class, Readings in Christian Spirituality (i.e. Mystics), and when I came home from class on Saturday Brooke had prepared a feast for us to enjoy. For Christmas I bought her a subscription to ‘Cooking Light’ magazine — and man, was this my greatest idea yet. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving because Brooke keeps on trying recipes from it and we get to experiment what what we do and don’t enjoy. This meal was a good one — it consisted of egg noodles, garlic bread, chicken in a red cream sauce with red peppers, and a spinach salad. The meal also came with fresh fruit for dessert. After dinner we cleaned up and watched the latest episode of survivor that we taped (yes, using a VCR) and then went to bed early to catch up on some much needed sleep.

peace

joel

A Trinitarian theology of prayer

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

We must not pray in a way that lacks life, that lacks God’s Spirit (who calls us to pray, teaches us to pray, and makes intercession for us).  True prayer is not in the time, in the will, or in the power of the person praying.  Rather, it is a gift of God that resides in his Spirit.  It is not ours, but it is given to us.  Therefore, it is ours to wait upon the Spirit, to wait for the Spirit to move and breathe in us, and to give us the ability to call upon the Father and give us the power of prevailing with the Father, in the name and through the life of the Son.

Isaac Pennington

peace

joel

Thesis statement heavily revised

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

Here is the new one. For all you people out there who browse my site I would, as always, love your thoughts. They don’t have to be ‘educated’ or ‘academic.’ They just have to be your thoughts.

Thesis statement verion 2.0

Although the Hebraic paradigms of Prophet, Priest, and King have been examined in Protestant thought since the Reformation I claim that the old constructs can no longer completely contain the cultural shift to post modernity and need to be reconstructed using new understandings of power, powerlessness, authority and patriarchy This is true because the emerging generation of church leaders no longer looks at the power, powerlessness (if there was any), and authority of ages past with healthy connotations. This is also true because the old paradigms have been built around patriarchal leadership and as the Church begins to slowly move toward a both/and with gender these paradigms need to be rebuilt to include matriarchal leadership.

peace

joel

Survey of my readers…

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

So I have no idea who reads my blog.  This is both the beauty of blogs as well as the risk of blogs.  Putting written words on the internet for anyone to read is in some senses foolish.  But, in other senses it is the day we live in.  So I’d like to have a survey of my readers — just to see who I intersect with without even knowing it.

If you could comment and leave the following:

1. Name (if you dare)

2. Geographical Location

3. Where I met you

4. Your blog address, if you have one.

Thanks for participating in this endeavor of mine.  A story is only a story if we are aware of the characters.

peace

joel

Chuck Colson on the Religious Right

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

My friend Nate Worden just sent me this article written by Chuck Colson. It is worth a read, for even as one who might be categorized under the ‘religious right’ he is wise to play the role of a prophet.

Article here.

peace

joel

Quote of the Day

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under
“Passion only goes as far as the first obstacle, after that it’s character.”
-somebody, somewhere in proximity of me so I could remember it.
peace
joel

Birthday and Superbowl Weekend

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

This weekend, as the title of this posts suggests, was both my 25th Birthday as well as a the first Superbowl that that Seattle Seahawks were in — which, as we all know, they lost. Some may say they got outplayed, others may say that the MVP award should be the Referees. And still others might say that Jeremy Stevens lost the game for us. But anyway…onto the memory of my 25th birthday. But before I begin I’d like to quote, well, myself — from a year ago.

“who knows where life will bring me? who knows where i will be febraury 4, 2006. I may not be alive. I may have cancer. I may be in perfect health. Heck, if modern medicine doesn’t work i could even be a father.”

What a strange thing to read my words a year later and to reflect on the year. The good news is I am not a father, but I have at least three friends that will be soon and another one that already is. I do not have cancer — at least that I know if. I am alive — and healthier than I was a year ago with a change of diet and more regularly exercising. And, on February 4, 2006 I was snowshowing with ym beautiful and adventerous wife up in Snoqualmie Pass. We borrowed snowshoes from the owners of the bakery I work at and headed up the mountains. It was quite a wonderful experience. For anybody that watches national news you know that it has rained alot more than normal in Seattle this year, but what you may not know is that Vitamin D deficiencies make me crappy, tired, and depressed. Snow, and below freezing weather has a way to lift me temporarily out of the small seasonal depression that I experience.

Brooke and I hiked in about a mile before we got hungry, so we went off the trail a little ways and found a nice nook to eat lunch in. We brought Campbells chunky soup and hot cocoa along with our portable stove. So we sat down in the snow and waited for our soup to heat up. As we sat and ate lunch the snow continued to fall all around us. To see pictures fo here.

After lunch we continued to hike for a couple hours. As we walked back to the car we got excited about coming back later in the week to finish the hike that we started and made plans to return on Thursday — as well as making plans to buy snowshoes at the end of the season. Another hobby — this is dangerous. But at least this one dooesn’t cost $50 for a lift ticket.

Later that night our pastor, friend, and mentor hosted a small gathering of friends to feast over my birthday. Brooke made pulled pork that was made in a Crock Pot, mashed potatoes, cheesecake, and rhubarb pie. Some other friends brought a fantastic salad from Trader Joes, other friends brought me my favorite beer (Biere de Mars from New Belgium Brewing), and still other friends brought me Belgium Beer thinking that I liked any Belgium Beer. Both Beers were fantastic and I made sure to share amongst us all.

As we sat around the table Rob Gillgrist asked me the question, “Joel, do you remember where you met each person that is here?” A question like that is not only a fun question to remember stories, but it is also fun to reminice about. As I recounted my first memories of each person there I counted help but feel blessed at the randomness and obscurity of each first memory. There were people there who I ‘clicked’ with immediately upon meeting. There were people there who I became friends with because we often found ourselves in the same places and just started talking to each other. There were people there who I didn’t get along with, at all, for the first year I knew them and now, a year later, is one of my best friends. There were people there who have changed contexts since I’ve known them — they went from a roommate of my best friend to a husband of another best friend. It was truly an eclectic group of people — and the strangest, yet somehow symbolic of my life, part is that as people walked in the door they had to introduce themselves to each other. Some of my friends had never met each other. And for this being a gathering of those who are closest to me it felt strange/profound that they would have to introduce themselves to each other. I don’t know what these means in the ‘big picture’ but for the immediate context it embodied the word ‘transition.’

Later that night, after winning in the game Cranium, another friend invited me to story again by asking “What were you doing on your 20th birthday?” After I had completely answered that question he asked, “What were you doing on your 15th?” And as if that wasn’t enough memories and enough stories he asked, “What about your 21st?” and “What about your 22nd?” I ended up walking through the last 5 years of my life. I talked about engineering, Mars Hill Bible Church, drinking by myself on my 21st birthday — because I could, sitting at Outback with Brooke on my 20th birthday, hiding a birthday card from Brooke on my 21nd birthday from my current girlfriend because I was scared if she found it, and Brooke and I got to tell our story — the story of divine ridiculousness that brought me to be able to say, “This is my wife, Brooke Gartland (Vandenbrink).”

I truly felt honored and loved on my quarter century birthday. So thank you all who were there, and for those who called, emailed, sent cards, and any other way of communicating to me that you remembered me on my birthday.

Life continues to progress, and much like I asked last year, I will ask this year. What will cause me to cry? What will cause me to laugh? And what will cause me to be angry? In this, my 25th year of life on planet earth.

peace

joel

p.s.  As one of my birthday presents I received a framed, black and white picture of George Clooney and Brad Pitt.  I might possibly be the only male alive that would feel privileged and honored to receive such a gift.  I live in the world of metaphors and Oceans Eleven serves as a mighty fine metaphor for movements.  (more to come later).

Bono and a Prayer Breakfast with the Government

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

Ok, so I am like the 7001 person to post this.  But it is worth it.  For those of you who enjoy Bono you will really enjoy this.  For those of you who are too self-righteous to get on the Bono bandwagon — because it is exactly that, a bandwagon — then check your self-righteousness at the door and listen.  And for those of you who don’t have any experience with Bono’s thought, then this is a good intro.

Click here

peace

joel

p.s.  A birthday blog is in the works, hopefully tonight.

P.S.

Posted by Joel VandenBrink under

P.S.
by Franz Wright

I close my eyes and see
a seagull in the desert,
high, against unbearably blue sky.

There is hope in the past.

I’m writing to you
all the time, I am writing
with both hands,
day and night.



Joel VandenBrink

This site is dedicated to recording one man’s struggles, joys, and everything in between with this thing we call life. It is also a running record of my thoughts as well as a place for those in other places to stay connected.

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