moving and ESV-zing

Today was pretty sweet... with a little help from Jer and Todders we moved Rachel into her new apartment... It's on Aylmer and Charlotte. Yes, that's like ten minutes from my place. SWEET! Misty will also be livin' there next school year. Jer, Rach and I also had supper together at McThirsty's Pint and had a round of pints too, which was a great way to end our moving day bonanza.

Hung out with Rach all night... it's super fun being able to walk her home! Joyous!

The other day I ordered an ESV "journaling" bible from Emmaus. Pretty much it is a regular ESV but with some cool journal like features, like two inches pf margin with ruled lines, cream coloured paper for ease of reading, reading plans and a salvation plan (useful in preaching). I'm excited about having a bible with the purpose of writing in it, as this will enhance my experience with the text, making the study more profitable. The end result is a make-yer-own study bible filled with personal study notes and references. I will be putting this to much use in my Ecclesiological studies. In keeping with tradition, I'll give my current pocket ESV to Rachel so we can study from the same (great) translation. (I gave the previous one to Steve after getting my pocket one).

Speaking of the ESV, I recommend checkin' it out if you haven't already, I have linked to it on the right column. Hopefully it will live up to its name. It combines literal word renderings with readability. That is, it allows readers to judge the context of the original Greek and Hebrew words without being confused by the terrible English grammar that plagues other literal translations. Much love is due to the NASB, but the constant, purposeful grammatical mistakes drive this English student bonkers. I can't deal with it... I find myself correcting its grammar instead of studying its message! So the ESV helps this, Greek/Hebrew style and phrasing, English grammar. Great concept!

So yeah, check it out. The complete text is available at that website, and they also have a store (or you can get the ESV at Emmaus). The basic trade edition is available uber cheap, $3.99! But I would recommend a higher quality edition because it is truly suitable to become your main bible for all your needs. How's that for advertising?! lol, I just really like it!

Thanks again Jer and Todd for helpin' out, many hands make light labour, and Todd, too bad you couldn't do dinner with us but I'm sure there will be other opportunities, preferably with your wife too!

reflections

I am feeling drawn to a study of Ecclesiology (that is, the study of church structure). Mostly I want to look at the positions of Pastor, Elder and Deacon in the New Testament and compare it with how we are (and by "we" I mean my church body) structuring leadership in the church. Ideally I want to chart an effective plan for approaching the church with biblical leadership practices.

I will only be there for four more months, but I would like to make it count. I met with Pastor Norm yesterday and we discussed some of these matters. I offered myself, literally, for "slave labour" (e.g. all the jobs that no one else in the church wants to do that I will have time to do). He has some ideas, we'll see where we go.

After TCF I can't see myself in a teaching position for a while. I'm all "teached out" at the moment. I see this as a season of reflection and personal learning before I can enter into another teaching or discipling role within the body. We'll see how it goes, but the Lord may have other plans as he so often does...

Links Update

I have just updated the formerly outdated links to the right to better reflect where I am at now. Some general notes:

See Also: my other interweb places.

Comrades: Added blogs I frequent, and that are frequently updated.

Music that Doesn't Suck: Not a complete list of my favourite bands, but certainly the ones that I particularly want to support with links for various reasons.

Enjoy the Word of God: BibleGateway is a nice site with translations in various languages including Greek and Hebrew. Blue Letter Bible is a bit more difficult to to use but much more scholarly in its scope. E-Sword is a great, free, downloadable bible tool that is (sigh) unavailable to MacAddicts like myself.

Other Stuff: The Mind Control is Shelby Cinca's personal portfolio of art, photography, writings, and music. This guy is prolific (Frodus, Decahedron, Frantic Mantis, The Cassettes, and solo!) and enigmatic. This site sheds some light and has excellent design. Speaking of design, James Provost is my buddy from way back and is about to graduate from Sheraton College with a degree in Technical Design & Illustration. He has done work for high profile clients including the Toronto Transit Commission. If you need some design done please support him. Examples of his work are on the website. Mark Driscoll is my favourite preacher/theologian.

These are among my most frequented web visits

Ballad in Plain Red

Some fun lyrics to decipher from Mr. Webb:

I’m robbing Peter, I’m paying Paul
I’m changing my name back to Saul
I got to them and you know I’ll get to you
I’m turning shepherds into sheep
And leaders into celebrities
It’s holy sabotage, just look around you

‘Cause everything’s for sale in the 21st Century
And the check is in the mail from the 21st Century

Don’t want the song I want a jingle
I love you Lord but don’t hear a single
And the truth is nearly impossible to rhyme
But I know the songs with all the hooks
And I know some lies that will sell some books
So grab ‘em fast, I’m running outta time
Just keep selling truth in candy bars
On billboards and backs of cars
Truth without context, my favorite of all my crimes

What works versus what’s right
Hey what’s the difference tonight?

Take out the sign, forget the meal
We’ve got a gym and a Ferris wheel
I swear it’s just like the country club down the block
‘Cause you can make your life look good
And you can do what Jesus would
But you’d be surprised what you can do with a heard heart

I think you’ve got trouble in the 21st Century
So welcome to the struggle, it’s the 21st Century
I never thought I’d make it to the 21st Century
Lord, I love the 21st Century

I write these words from the grave
‘Cause it’s the only place that I’m safe
And only the dead are permitted to speak the truth

Derek Webb's "The Ringing Bell"

I pre-ordered Derek Webb's new record "The Ringing Bell" today (as my weekly music purchase). When it does arrive it'll be a pretty sweet package... 96 page colour graphic novel with the cd signed by Webb. His server was so slow last night that I actually had to wait til this morning at 8:00am to order... this means that A LOT of people are pre-ordering the record, that's great! Finally Webb is getting the attention he deserves. It'd be nice to see him in the top ten on Billboard's Heatseeker.... Anyway....

Musically this album is rockin' seriously, this is the most rock 'n' roll record he's ever done. And I mean real rock, the glory days of the 50s-60s. His influences are definitely on his sleeve. I hear the Beatles a lot, and on one song, "A Savior on Parliament Hill" I hear tons of Larry Norman influence, always a good thing.

I'll have to chew the lyrics for a while to get them... but from what I can tell from some interweb perusing, it's a concept record about being a peacemaker. It's certainly not as confrontational as his other stuff, but he's not getting weak he's just getting mature. His message is still bold, just not as blunt.

The album is short clocking in at a mere 30 minutes, but not a second is wasted. This is the tightest record he's done, and where his older, longer albums will have a clunker filler song, this album just doesn't. I'd rather have a killer 30 minute record than an okay 50 minute record, so this is fine. (Although in a perfect world I'd have a killer 50 minute record!)

Overall, as with all Derek's stuff, I can't recommend it enough. This album blows away Mockingbird which got stale by the second half of the record, and it also blows away "I see things upside down." I don't know whether it'll blow out "She Must and Shall Go Free" though. I am die-hard for that record, but this one is certainly more fun to listen to.

I'd say get in on the pre-order 'cause that way you get a signed 96 page graphic novel and an immediate download of the record, but if you don't have a credit card at least go buy it early because the graphic novel is limited edition and will get scarce.

(Favourite lyric: "You can always trust the devil or a politician to be the devil or a politician." LOL)

wrist tattoos

Hey everybody... here's something I don't often do but want to: I'm going to discuss my next (pending) tattoos with you before I get them. Rachel and I spent a portion of this afternoon designing them, and I think that they represent me quite well.

As many of you know I plan to eventually have full sleeves with the themes of life/beginning (left arm) and death/end (right arm). These will continue this design and aim (which began with my Alpha and Omega tattoos). They combine a bit of my geeky qualities with what is probably the most obvious spiritual message yet that I will have tattooed.

They will be located on the underside of each wrist (below my palms). This is the approximate design, but blogger's formatting regulations do not allow for an exact paste, so the size is off. In the actual design the words are much smaller than the emoticons and are centered underneath them. The emoticons themselves are also supposed to be quite larger, but this is they are in the largest text blogger permits:

[>_<]
Philippians 3:8-14

\(^o^)/
Revelation 4:5-11

Now for the explanation. Both of these are Japanese emoticons (there's the geekiness), unlike traditional American emoticons which are sideways, these ones are designed to be read upright like the text. The Bible references are linked to the emoticons in a way that makes them spiritually applicable.

The top (left) one means frustration and is combined with Philippians 3: 8-14. This tattoo is on the "life" arm. This life is filled with the frustration of dealing with our sinful nature. We will never be free from it until our ultimate redemption in Heaven.

The bottom (right) emoticon means "joyfully singing" and goes with Revelation 4:5-11. Death is defeated by the blood of Christ, so his children should have no fear. Death gives way to the perfection of Heaven, where all the Saints will sing the praises of the Lord.

These tattoos taken together are representations of the message of salvation, but also the struggle of seeking holiness. Hopefully they will give me ample opportunity for preaching the gospel. I've noticed that people that I have never seen before are much more comfortable randomly asking me about my tattoos than they normally would be. I have met over 20 random strangers since getting my arm tattoos, and usually I never get more than a minute to talk with them, but in that minute I do get to discuss Christ. These new designs will undoubtedly cause the same reaction.

Please feel free to leave comments and questions. Also: expect a lengthy post on relationships coming soon.

It is over

I am now officially a university graduate, just had my last exam today.

In other news, Derek Webb will be releasing a new album entitled "The Ringing Bell." The first pressing will come with a 96 page(!) graphic novel. You can pre-order this edition of the record here. As an added bonus, when you pre-order the album you will be granted access to download the entire album on MP3. This is quite nice as the album's street date is May 1. So go order it now for $20 and get the cd, the massive graphic novel, and the MP3 downloads!

you got yer eggnog in ma goat's milk!

Warning: preceding information is entirely irrelevant to the meaning of this post.

Listening to: Aphex Twin- 54 cymrv beats Aphex Twin: inspiring and confounding music lovers since 1989!

Lots of good stuff recently. School is almost over so I am in that transitional area where I am not yet working full time and I no longer have classes, aka the University student's 2 week summer... so I am whoring it out like any good 23 year old would.

This week I had lots of fun... impromptu Breakfast with Chris Jardin and Jerry Bolton, applying for the coveted (HA!) position of supervisor at Timmy Ho's, going to the 'Shwa with Bolton, Steven and Rachie (and sorry that Shane couldn't make it). Also some good readin' and a bit of studyin' to keep it all mildly formal.

While in the 'Shwa I picked up a book by Mark Driscoll, who is a mentor of sorts, entitled "Confessions of a Reformission Rev." This basically chronicles the development of the Mars Hill Seattle church. Considering I am a mad fanboy I've heard most of this before in sermons, etc. but it's nice to get it all in one place. Mark is pretty blunt, and the book has already pounded me upside the head like a large brick a couple of times.

Tomorrow is the dreaded Historical Linguistics exam. I hate this lots... mostly because I entirely ignored this class the whole semester.

In other news I am going to purposefully and consciously cut down on the music I buy... I am addicted to buying new music and I spend way too much money on cds. I am going to do this by progressively limiting both my time looking for music and the amount of music I buy. This is officially starting tomorrow, and will begin as a weekly thing (e.g. I am only allowed to look for / purchase music on a weekly basis) which doesn't sound like a lot, but is significant to me.

Also I will try to cut down on cds purchased at a time on trips... so no more buying 8 cds at Sonic Boom in Toronto when I visit it the 4-6 odd times a year. Instead I will make a specific list and stick to it, limiting those trips to only 2-3 cds, which again, would be a lot to others, but to a cd junkie like myself this is a drastic reduction. Hopefully this will have two effects, first, I will have more money for other things because I am spending less, and second, the music I do buy will be of a consistently higher quality because it will be more deliberated upon.

Anyway, that's the news from me! Also, Rachel and I will be at 6 months on Monday, which isn't really all that long, but is still significant. We'll be havin' some nice eats that night.

you know what time it is

It's Friday the 13th, have you seen this man today?

Image Souce: dvdactive

At Rachie's Part Deux

Hey, been at Rachel's house in Dundas since Friday morning, staying til Tuesday night when we'll be takin' the greyhound home together. Here is the lowdown:

On Friday we mostly stuck around at the house then went to a sweet bubble tea cafe called QQ that everyone should go to if they are in Dundas. It's really that good. On Saturday we also mostly stayed at the house and hung out with some of Rachel's quite good friends. Sunday was the family day at Rachel's grandparents' place in Oakville. Well, let me just say that the way to my heart is ribs and imported beer, and guess what we had for dinner! LOL! Very good ribs and some obscure (at least in Canada) British beer. And wine, lots of wine. Nothing says family gathering like a bottle of wine for every 3 people! Today we went out shopping for some electronic joyfulness. Rach got a couple movies, I pulled some stuff I've been looking for... all at the right price too! Here is my list:

CDs:

Counting Crows- Hard Candy
Depeche Mode- The Singles 86>98
Galactic Cowboys- The Horse That Bud Bought
Galactic Cowboys- Let It Go (been looking for this one for about 6 years now!)

DVDs

Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection Volume 1 (Now I have all the box sets, you know what that means! B&B Marathon party!!!)
Napoleon Dynamite (Had to pick it up eventually!)

Tonight and tomorrow will be spent with Misty as she'll be going back to Germany soon. Right now Rach is watching a movie and I'm typing this and listening to some tunes, but we have to go do the dishes soon, so I'll be off. See you all later!

the summer

I AM NOW DONE ALL SESSAYS!!!!!!!

Therefore, time to make a summer reading and etc. list:

to read:

Dennis Lee, yesno
Dennis Lee, Body Music
George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (again)
Brian Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim vol. 3-4
Mark Z. Danielewski, Only Revolutions

That was brief, I'm sure Rach will hit me up with some good stuff

to listen:

Still on the quest for Chemical Brothers singles and Suffering and the Hideous Thieves albums and singles. It also looks like some britpop, Pulp and Blur and currently a lot of Depeche Mode

to watch:

Want to complete my Beavis and Butt-head collection, also wanna get into the Ren and Stimpy boxsets for viewing pleasure.

to do:

Hit up Tronna with Jerry
Go to weddings
Go to Dundas Cactus Fest & Busker Fest
Go to Dundas in general
have lots of fun doing all above things!

That's all!

Dennis Lee

Wow.

The poetry reading tonight was amazing. Laid back yet formal, simple yet enlightening. It also turned out to be the launch party Dennis Lee's new book yesno. This makes me officially the second person to own a copy. Someone beat me to the table!

Cervantes is super classy and provided some free appetizers that were amazing. Dennis read most of his new book and a few from his teen poetry book So Cool to break the ice. About half an hour of reading. He's genuinely a great performer as well. At one point in the evening he randomly sat down at the table where I was directly across from me, which gave me some time to gush praises! He also gave me some writing advice and signed my book "To Noah, Good luck! Dennis Lee"

After he signed it as I was walking away he punched me in the shoulder and said, "Really, good luck with the poetry writing!"

I also drank 3/4 of a litre of amazing red wine. Hello headache! (Good red wine gives me a headache even when I don't get drunk!) Val and Steve Hayes were also in attendance.

Good times... now to finish my sessay!

General updatezing

Argh. Hey everyone... One last essay and then freedom for a while... planning on going to Rachel's for Easter but they scheduled me at work for 3-11 on Saturday even though I requested it off over 5 weeks ago so I need to sort that out so that I can go.

Rachel's birthday surprise went quite well, Misty and Andy showed up a bit lated but that's to be expected when someone's on a plane! They came to church with us and after to Rachel's choir performance which was great! On Sunday I also picked up Beavis and Butt-head: The Mike Judge Collection Volume 2 so now I only need volume 1 and I'll have all the B&B available on dvd. (Thanks Steve for the special edition of the movie!)

Dennis Lee is coming to Peterborough on Wednesday! He'll be reading at Cervantes Restaurant (across from The Only Cafe) at 7:00pm. You should come because he's great!

Well, nothing substantial really, have a good day!