Tuesday, January 09, 2007

What do you do when you are sick?

So, I got sick last night. I was walking home from watching Florida demolish Ohio State with some friends, and something just hit me. Started coughing and then I woke up in a daze today. I slept from 10:30- 3 this afternoon and never recovered. Bad day....felt like a waste of life...also took robitussin pm during the day, this probably contributed to my 5 hour nap...note- read bottle before drinking medicine (that tip was free)

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Highs and Lows...

Let me take you through a little journey of our week

High- Rose Bowl Parade with Dad, Danielle, and Hannah





high- Rose Bowl game with dad and 95,000 of our closest friends. USC dominated. I wore a USC jersey (christmas gift from loving wife) and found a new family who considered me one of their own. I was gettnig high fives from everyone around me and they didn't know I was only a poser.



Low- guys at the end of the Rose Bowl Parade and after the Rose Bowl game with signs and bullhorns yelling God hates sin and repent or perish...(that made me angry)

High- Hannah eating sphagetti (as promised)



High- some really good classes starting up (Culture and Transformation, Missional Church and Leadership, Symbols of the Early Church)

Low- all the work I have to do for all these classes

High- spending time with my wife, baby, and friends out here in California sharing life together

High- 40 Day countdown to Shiloah Nichole's arrival into the world

Low- attrocious basketball being played on Saturday

Lower- Getting pooped on by a bird on the way home from attrocious basketball on Saturday (That's right, a bird pooped on me)

High- talking to my sister about exciting prospects for her future and getting to share life together once I get to Raleigh

Low- wanting to be in Raleigh already

High- getting giftcertificates and tee-shirt for when we get there



High- finally getting a haircut

High- Getting a free expresso maker from a friend, making expresso with friend (very tasty)

Low- Making expresso without friend, coffee exploding all over kitchen

Lower- me on the floor sweeping up expresso grounds

Low- my wife is very pregnant, my wife is very tired, my toddler is very active, we love each other very much, yet pray for us, 34 days!



Low- Tiki barber's last game. Go knights!

That's all the adventures for now

peace

corey

Friday, January 05, 2007

Can you be held accountable for what you do in your sleep?

One discovery I’ve made since being married is pretty common to most people- I’m more of a jerk than I thought I was and yet I have more of a capacity to love than I thought I did

however, one of the times I am a serious jerk, I am wondering if I can be held accountable for, and want to get your insight

Are you held accountable for what you do in your sleep? Because I am seem to do some really aweful things that I am only vaguely aware of or don’t remember at all

take last night for instance

i woke up this morning and danielle says to me- do you remember last night?

I, immediately taken a back, think oh no (previous track record not good when she says that- I have talked in my sleep, yelled in my sleep, hit, elbowed, and scowled in my sleep, told my wife to just get the baby, asked her what the heck she is thinking, mumbled angrily, tossed and turned violently, denied her requests for food as pregnant woman, peeed loudly with the door wide open), so after these things pass quickly through my mind, I am now prepared for the worst and I say, no what did I do?

Now, sometimes I vaguely remember what is going on and with Hannah I have had just plain out bad instances, but this time, no memory

turns out last night, a very loud noise happened right outside our window (we live on a busy street right off the freeway, so not that unusual), danielle asks me to go look and see, I mumble, say why, she urges, then I get up, go to the bathroom (with door open), then on the way back to bed (while she is looking out the window, I tell her (reminder she is 8 months pregnant) to get out of my way on my way back to bed (she was looking out the window on my side of the bed), then I go back to sleep, only remebering going to the bathroom when I wake up

what do you guys think?

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Why I love sphagetti

I'll give you three reasons.

It smears...

It squishes...

It smashes...

That's a three point message right there, baby! pictures to follow....

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Angry...

A couple weeks ago, I did something to myself that made me very angry. I watched TV on Sunday morning. For those of you that don't know, we don't get cable at our apartment and the only channels we get are the basic fuzzy channels that come in through the rabbits ears. Through the fuzz, I got to see the only people who are on TV Sunday mornings, the tele-prophets/evangelists. At first I found myself amused at their messages that mostly focused on picking out bible verses from the stories they are written in and using them to support their arguments, then became pretty shocked at some of the things they were saying (one of them fasted for 21 days and said that God spoked to him about the law of six throughout the bible, which he then found all the places that had anything to do with six to support his case (except 666)), and then I got sad as he made the process of healing and restoration seem like a drug you can buy from the TV and made the sacred scriptures seem like a magic book, and then I got really angry when he said that "today you can activate the law of 6 by giving $$$$$" I got so angry about it that I felt nausious that people get away with this stuff and worse, people actually believe that it comes from God. So, I turned the channel, and I found another guy talking about giving money to his organization so that you will propser.

These kind of things make me so emotional because I think they affect the conversation about Jesus. So many people talk about Jesus in our country and say so many things about him, that it is really hard to know what is true and what isn't. I mean, the Ted Haggard scenario, shows us again that people can say one thing and hide the reality of their lives. I think our generation almost expects leaders to fail us, yet we long for someone we can trust.

I have had several different conversations with people recently that want to believe in God, but don't really know who to trust in the midst of so many voices. As Christians, we can't hide behind absolute truth arguments anymore. I think we need to be honest and authentic about the reality that we really cannot trust anyone 100%. There is something about humans that would rather find a leader to attach to than trust God. Throughout the whole Old Testament, Israel wanted to have a King to be like the other nations while all along God wanted to be their King so that they could be the light of the nations by their very quality of life in harmony with God and the world around them.

At the same time, I think we have to not to take the cop out by going to the other extreme and saying, just trust God. What does that even mean anyway? I don't thing that phrase does the gospel justice. Everything doesn't just happen for a reason. God involves us in the process of creating reasons for others. Reasons to have hope and not despair, reasons to live fully rather than exist, reasons to love rather than protect, reasons to trust and not judge, reasons to give and not just consume. Our passive attitude of just trusting God isn't really trust. Trust is action when it isn't good for you. Trust is humility when someone opposes you. Trust is hope beyond the present chaos we ofte feel in our souls that God can redeem any situation, but that is most definitely going to involve my decisions. The gospel always provides an invitation to turn from our way that seems right to us yet produces an illusion to us to the way of God that produces reality. People who live fully in reality can be trusted, people that are trying to sell you something can be smelt from a mile away.

A life lives following God embraces and lives in full reality of the human experience. A passive, indifferent trust that doesn't change us to the core is not faith in the gospel. That doesn't do the gospel justice. The gospel of Jesus isn't the gospel if it isn't actually changing us in the messy process of real life to produce a new kind of life. Throughout Paul's letter, we see the only apologetics that he refers to are the resurrection of Jesus and the people living radically different lives in union with God through the Spirit. Without the character of Christ being formed in our communities, we don't really have a message that people can trust. i think we need to embrace this responsiblity, while knowing we are always in the process of becoming. We are not God, but God lives in those who believe in Him. The way we treat each other affects others, our decisions to take steps of faith affects others, our character of living affects others.
The one person I know I can trust is Jesus because he always embraces me and is calling me to a more noble life for the sake of other people. I wish our leaders were known for helping people think for themselves about what is truly real and what is illusion rather than trying to give them false hope and assurances.

That's all I got for now

Peace

Corey

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Turkey Dayz



I hope you all had a good thanksgiving. We spent most of the morning purging our closets of things we don't use and wear and then strung up christmas lights around the house before we got together with a bunch of our friends for a big pot-luck. Then, I filled up my belly with the room I made in my closet. It was good times. We've made some really good friends out here. we especially enjoyed hanging out with chris and brandi (architect and teacher) who have recently been coming to our small group. We miss family and friends from the East Coast though. Looking forward to moving back this summer.


This morning, I played in the Mosaic Turkey Bowl with Chris and a bunch of other friends. We had some hard fought games, but came victorious. That's the second Mosaic sports tourney we've come away with the In and Out burger prize, thanks to stellar play by TJ, Evan, and others... Hannah also loved being out there as she loves to pile up the flags and put them on her head...well, maybe I like to do that to her. She really loves to grab the cones and anything else she can and say, "DO DO"


All in all- great time to celebrate and reflect on life. I am incredibly grateful for my family, friends, and life God has given me to live.


Peace


Corey

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Hanging out with the OC and Invisible Children

I did something I probably won't ever do again in my life. Me and a friend went down to a club in LA called the King King for a party to celebrate and raise money for Invisible Children. If you haven't seen the film, you should really check it out. The money you pay for the film goes to helping orphans in Uganda which has been ravaged by civil war for many years now. Kids are always the ones who pay when adults go to war.


Anyway, back to the OC. The blonde actor on that show saw the film and organized a night to raise money for the cause. How am I connected you might ask? One of my good friends at seminary grew up with the producer of Invisible Children so he invited us to come. There were many famous people....and us. And I am one of those people who can't recognize famous people, I just know I've seen them before somewhere. It was an interesting environment to be in to say the least. LA....orphans....pretty people.....poverty.....I think it shows people are longing to make a difference in the world through unconventional means.

Invisible children is doing an amazing job at raising awareness and creating grassrooots solutions in Uganda. In almost every country in Africa, there are many problems because war and AIDS have pervaded many of the places over the last 20 years. Being at fuller has opened my eyes to these realities as some of my neighbors are from Ethiopia and Kenya. I have been learning how little things can go a long way.

One of my friends, Chris and his wife, Andrea, are over there now working in an orphanage and he sent some pictures of one of the wars. They are distrubing, but I think eye opening to the realities that we remain separated from.

Anyway, it was an interesting night seeing the collision of poverty and power in the same place. I'll never forget it. And, I got hit on by a guy. yes, you can laugh at that.

peace

corey

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

hannah getting ready for baby sister


hannah at the fall festival at fuller











2 kinds of animals in the world

We went to the LA zoo this weekend with my mom who was in town visiting and I have to say that place was impressive. It is a non-profit organization that is kept up better than busch gardens. Hannah loves animals. I wonder if she'll be a veterenarian? who knows? However, according to her there are only two kinds of animals in the world, well no, 3- puppas, shish, and neigh neighs. It is really cute watching her call the Tapier a puppa and the llama a neigh neigh.

we had a great time. everyone says that kids grow up so fast, and they are right, but we are savoring every moment of it.

I'll give it another try...

Hello friends and anonymous computer people out there.... I felt rejected by the blog world, but I've recovered and am attempting a comeback. I've reshaped my blogger identity and am looking for some healthy internet conversations about life. But, mostly I am looking forward to staying in touch with my friends while living all the way across the country.

Hope to hear from you all soon

much love

cp