I was worried about my daughter’s musical taste before (see previous posts).  We are talking Hilary Duff, Cheetah Girls, other little girl stuff (Jesse McCartney, gag).  Last night we were shopping for Mommy’s birthday and we were in the car and I had the new Coldplay playing.  It was on "X&Y" from the cd of the same name.  I heard my little girl oohing along with Chris Martin near the end of the song.  So cool!  I skipped Speed of Sound on the same cd and she asked me to go back to the song that had an intro that she then mimicked.  And that’s not all…We were on the way home and she asked me if I thought there might be a radio station that might play the song about the man whose wife dies.  I knew exactly what she was talking about: the song “What Sarah Said” by Death Cab for Cutie.  What a great and vivid description of a family in a hospital waiting room watching a loved one die (it doesn’t sound like it, but it is a beautiful song).  Hey, the tide is turning in the battle for my daughter’s musical taste.

I recently had a falling out with a guy that I have loved like a brother since I moved to Garland.  The falling out was over something stupid.  I tried to call once but I didn’t get through.  I saw him this past weekend at his parent’s house.  We sat next to each other as we ate and pretended that nothing had happened.  On my way out, I called him and I told him how sorry I was about our last meeting.  He said the same thing, and not to worry about it (I have ever since it happened).  We both were under a lot of stress at the time.  With me leaving Texas soon, I would have hated for us to not have reconciled.  I am glad that Providence brought us back together.  I am also glad I mentioned the episode instead of pretending it never happened.  I have loved this guy like a brother and would have hated to never have cleared things up.

Coldplay made their first appearance in Texas in three years and they did not disappoint.  They sounded excellent, not too slick, but displayed a tremendous amount of energy.  The music was combined with a great multi-media display behind the band that enhanced the entire experience.  The set list included: Square One, Politik (where he changed the words of the last stanza to include a plea to stop the hurricane which hit the TX coast about three hours after the concert and canceled their gig in Houston the next night), Yellow, God Put a Smile on Your Face, A Rush of Blood to the Head, Everything’s Not Lost, Speed of Sound, Low, Trouble, White Shadows, and the Scientist.  They slowed things down for a little bit and played a semi-acoustic version of Till Kingdom Come which was dedicated to Chris Martin’s father and written to/for Johnny Cash.  They then did Cash’s Ring of Fire (with a bit of 5 Feet High and Rising).  Martin told a story of how his father had tried to explain to him as a child how cool Johnny Cash was, while Martin thought Phil Collins was cool.  Now, Martin admitted, that Phil Collins is still cool but Johnny Cash is cooler. The semi-acoustic set ended with Don’t Panic.  They finished off the first set with Clocks (probably the song that was done least best) and Talk.  The encore included Swallowed in the Sea, In My Place, and Fix You (which was my least favorite song of the night, sorry Jordan). One treat I noticed was they included two songs I have not seen on set lists of previous shows: Trouble (greatness) and X&Y.  Maybe with the time off on Saturday night they treated us to a little extra, thanks, boys!

I hadn’t been to a real rock concert in years and I forgot the energy that could be felt at a good live event.  No secret here, but I think Coldplay’s days of playing at smaller venues (less than 10,000) are over after this tour.  They are a supergroup that is giving U2 a run for its money as best rock band in the world.  I would like to check out U2 in Dallas in a few weeks, can anybody hook a brother up?  Big thanks to Brandon McLean for inviting me.  I am closer to his dad in age than him but I didn’t feel a bit out of place.  Great time, great show, great band.  This show enhanced my appreciation for the new CD which I was a little lukewarm on (although it is still number three of the three they have put out, Parachutes is my favorite).

Death Cab for Cutie's latest cd, “Plans” is their first release for a major label.  They have one of  indie music fans’ favorite bands for several years.  This follows their best cd to date “Transatlanticism”.  I have to admit I came to like them like a lot of indie music poseurs.  I was turned on to the Postal Service featuring Death Cab’s lead singer Ben Gibbard.  I loved Trans and was looking forward to their new release.  I read a review of the new cd by Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone and he said the cd was quite lacking after track five.  In fact, with money a little short around here, I almost just downloaded the first five tracks and then judged the rest later.  I am glad I did not.  While this cd does not have the rock edge of "Trans", it contains a lot of the broken relationship songs that Death Cab’s fans love.  “Crooked Teeth” and “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” are highlights on the last half of the cd.  Just from the title alone of "Brothers", one can image a couple whose love has grown cold and this title is a great description of their sleeping arrangements.  There are actually a couple of poignant love songs on this release: “I’ll Follow You into the Dark” is a song about a man who would gladly follow his loved one into purgatory (after heaven and hell are filled, good thought, bad theology); and “What Sarah Said” is a song about a man who is watching his loved one slip away in a hospital bed.  The phrase that refrains is “Who’s going to watch you die…”  I will admit that sometimes the songs are a little too high for Gibbard’s voice, but the content of the lyrics and the music as a whole is wonderful.  The cd contains great hooks and good intros that grab you right away.  This is a fantastic release and I recommend it very highly.  I would give it 4 stars out of five.

I was thinking about why I went to Reunion Arena tonight to help feed the evacuees staying in Dallas.  If I am honest with myself, it was not because I am filled with compassion and mercy.  I did it mostly out of a sense of Christian duty.  My new church has amazed me with their response.  I went down there hoping to connect with some of them as well has help people.  I also went out of a sense of guilt.  God has dropped these people on our doorstep, should I just do something besides give money?  I would have felt horrible if I didn’t do something.  There are people helping left and right who are not representing Christ, they just feel the need to help.  How can I just stand on the sidelines?  I think I went to be a part of the scene.  Not that it is a happening place.  But I wanted to see what these people were going through.  I have been to Reunion Arena several times to watch the Mavericks and the Stars play.  It is just surreal seeing all of those cots on the playing surface.  I wanted to be respectful so I didn’t wander around just gawking.  But you couldn’t help but wonder how people were coping.  I had a break so I struck up a conversation with Larry.  He had been at the Superdome and he said it was like something out of a bad movie.  He said the people of Dallas were being really good to him and the conditions weren’t too bad.  He plans on going back.  I hope a lot of people do go back and rebuild that city and make it better than ever.  I prayed for Larry and his family (he thinks he may have some temporary work in Dallas).  Could you imagine having a family, waking up the kids and putting them on a school bus as you are living in Reunion Arena?  I can’t and I saw it close up.  My thanks go to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army for doing such hard, undesirable tasks.  I also want to thank Robert, the point person for Watermark.  It was so well organized and well done.  We had more than enough volunteers as well.  My time at Watermark may be short, but it will be memorable.

This past weekend I experienced a hurt that I haven't felt in a while.  One of my best friends got married this weekend, but the weekend was kind of marred by what I considered an unthoughtful deed.  I never expected something like that to hurt like it did.  I couldn't sleep and woke up in with a sick feeling in my stomach.  However, I went to church and experienced wonderful music (the best since I have been going to this church) and a very powerful and timely message.  It was very timely for me anyway.  I closed the evening at Reunion Arena in Dallas scooping up beans to help the Salvation Army feed evacuees.  My church is so involved that I can't volunteer again for almost two weeks, the response has been so good from my church.  The praise delivered to our Lord Jesus, along with helping someone else (and getting to know church members since we are new at this church) really helped wash away the feelings of isolation, bitterness, betrayal and anger.  I will write more about my trip to Reunion Arena tomorrow.

I have been looking at church websites as I have been looking for a ministry gig.  I find on a lot of church's Statement of Beliefs section that they mention that they believe in a Pre-tribulation rapture.  That means that Jesus is going to return (sort of half way) call his people out of the world and then he will take them to heaven.  Then there will be a seven year period of great suffering and turmoil and then Jesus will return to set up a 1000 year kingdom on earth.  There is so much disagreement with this view.  I just don't think it should be a church's pillar belief.  It is not as important as where a church stands on inspiration of Scripture, baptism, salvation and others.  But it is there, out front on many church's statement of beliefs.  I guess they would not call a pastor who may believe that Jesus will come for his people after the tribulation.  Jesus never promised his church he would not suffer.  He himself had to go through his Passion, why wouldn't his followers.  And besides, you try telling some believers in intensely persecuted areas that they will be spared the tribulation, they may think you are crazy.  Many of them are already going through tribulation type experiences.

Any way, my point is, it is not that important to place it among your church's core beliefs.

I recently learned of a great folk/pop singer/songwriter: Sufjan Stevens (pronounced soof-yan).  His album, Illinois, isgathering great reviews.  There is a song of his on the "Songs from the O.C." compilation called "To Be Alone with You."  I am stunned to think they would use it.  It is actually a song about Jesus.  Perhaps they thought it was a homoerotic love song.  There are lines such as "You gave up a wife and a family...to be alone with me;" and "I'd never known a man who'd loved me."  The other lines make it clear that it is about Jesus, "You gave your body to the lonely...you gave your ghost/To be alone with me...To be alone with me, you went up on that tree."

I described Sufjan Stevens as an artist who's a Christian, but not a Christian artist.  He knew exactly what I meant.  His reply?  My favorite kind of artist (me too).

Some people buy cheap sunglasses because they break them and lose them so easily.  I buy expensive glasses and then I look out for them and take care of them.  Today I lost a pair of sunglasses for the first time in almost 20 years.  In 1992 I bought a pair of Oakley, M-Frame, iridium blue glasses ($130).  I kept them for 13 years and today I dropped them into a wall and could not retrieve them.  Technically, they are not lost because I know where they are.  Heartbreak.  Anyway, they were scratched and the ear pieces were worn away, and I basically used them for landscaping, but I will miss them the next time I am mowing the lawn.

On a side note, how depressing is it when I can't even get Half-Price Books to call me on an application I filled out?

Missouri is cracking down on how "involved" spectators and strippers may be.  I saw this in the Post-Dispatch, where a stripper named  "Peaches" is complaining that this crack down is hurting her livelihood.  I am not commenting here on what she is doing, but her rationale.

"Show me another job that let's me work three days a week, go to school and support my children." 

This is very stupid reasoning.  What if I said selling narcotics the best option for me to support my kids?  What if I said contract killing was the best way for me to keep in school?  What if I said child pornography was the best way to keep a good schedule and support my family?  Find another rationale to support your reasons for stripping, Peaches, your present explanation doesn't cut it.  You like making lots of money in a short time period.  They're not letting guys get handsy with you, and that hurts business.  By the way, some single mothers find a way to support kids and go to school with out stripping.  I love the lawyer representing the strip clubs: "I don't think the government cares one bit about the people in this industry."  Maybe by getting them out of it, it will show that they care.

My latest construction project?  I built a lean-to shelter for an air-compressor.  The guy just pointed to this pile of wooden pallets and scribbled down the instructions and said, have at it.  I connected these two pallets to make this 8X8 roof that was VERY heavy.  I had to attach it to a brick wall and attach some legs.  I was hurrying up because I needed to finish today because I am going out of town tomorrow.  I also wanted to be done by 11:30 because I had a lunch appointment and a meeting with this Baptist Association guy who could possibly point me in the direction of some kind of interim pastoring or supply preaching.  I got it done. don't know how, but it was still standing when I left.  We had to hold it against the wall with a fork lift while I attached it to the wall.  I finished, flew home to change clothes.  I have been working outside that last three days.  The hi temps in Dallas?  Around 102 each day, spending the afternoons in direct sunlight.  Anyway, my meeting with the association guy got canceled.  If you ever go by Pedco Systems on Kingsley and Lincoln Court in South Garland, take a trip around back and look at my shelter.  Then go in and look at the water line I put in.  While your at it, look at my dropped celing in the restroom.  and then stand back and say, "Wow, that's crappy."  Great guys, don't know what they see in me to keep  giving me work, but, thanks Gene and Dan. 

PS - Gene's having his hip replaced tomorrow, so pray for him.

I was working in this machine shop doing odd handy man jobs around the place.  I was trying to run this water line from the water line above the bathroom all the way to the back of the shop on the other side of the shop (over 100 feet).  They wanted it up above the dropped ceiling (at least 18' high).  I am on this 12 foot ladder, trying to run pipe through the rafters at almost 20'.  I am pushing the limits as to how far I can stand on the rungs of the ladder and reach what I am trying to reach.  The ladder is propped up against the wall, so it is not the most stable.  After about a day of failure, I approach the VP of the shop and tell him this is going to work out, I am scared to death up there.  He calmly asks if there is another solution.  I suggest running it along the conduit on the wall.  Not the prettiest, but there are pipes and conduits running all over the shop.  He says o.k.  I am overjoyed, instead of a 12 foot ladder, I am on a 6' ladder.  I am running the pipe along the wall behind all of these lathes.  The floor is kind of oily and slippery.  I get to my last spot where I need to brace the pipe to the wall.  I am on the ladder, drilling in the brace and the ladder starts to slip down the wall, with me on it.  It slides down the wall and hits a conduit with live wires in it.  They come out of the pull box and hit this copper pipe and start popping and sparking.  I jumped off the back of the ladder as it hit the ground.  No harm, but I instinctively reach for the aluminum ladder.  Luckily it was not touching the wires, or that could have been a big problem for me. 

I did finish up and connect it, but, I wonder if I need to be doing this kind of work.  I don't mind working hard and doing/learning new things, but I fear hurting myself.  I haven't been back this week.  (They gave me great freedom).  I have been looking for a job (no luck yet or any prospects, u.p.s.?)  Done some landscaping and oil spot removal as well.

I did get a new car.  A 99 Honda Civic.  They get good reviews and good gas mileage.  I had it detailed (thanks mnash) and on the way home from the detailing, with my spiffy waxed car all clean and shiny, a horrible thunderstorm, so it looked dirty when I got home.  The next day, the battery died.  I replaced it but I need a security code to turn the radio back on.  It will probably cost me 40 bucks because I did not receive a security card with the purchase.  So...and about 80 bucks on to my original price.  it is still a good car.

Hey, fell off the ladder at my new job the other day, more to come on that soon.

I finished the dropped ceiling, and the light that I put up into the ceiling is still up (I feared it would fall right through the tracking, but I was secretly hoping it wouldn't fall until I was gone.)  Was told I did a "helluva job."  (Not really).  Began sweating copper pipe.  I was 18 feet up on this rickety ladder that I was told was not worth using.  I wanted to get on with the job, and it was the only thing available, so...I get up there and this thing is so unsteady.  I make a few connections.  I move the ladder, with this huge acetylene tank and I hear a split and I look down and I see the split.  I'm 18 feet up and I started praying out loud "Lord, please help me get down from this ladder."  I would have started making promises like "I'll promise to go into the ministry if you get me down" but I've already done that.  It is somewhat intimdating being in a work environment with a bunch of men working at big machines and here I am doing manly stuff but secretly not really knowing what I'm doing.  I got down from the ladder, tried some other ways to get up, and they didn't work.  The guy who was lining up my work was gone, so, I knocked off early.  they told me I could come and go as I pleased.  I am surprised at how accomodating they have been to this former preacher boy. 

As a non sequitor, I just heard a song by Elliot Smith on Itunes.  What a shame he ended his life.  He brought so many people joy through his music, but that joy evaded him in life.

I just started this part time job as a handy man at a machine shop.  For those of you who don't know me, I have been a baptist minister for the past six years, so you might guess I am really out of place.  A friend of mine from church's dad runs the place and he is letting me work their as a favor.  I am doing some maintenance work (doing some odd jobs that need to be done, but nobody has the time their to do them).  He showed me around and showed me two jobs that need to be done.  Rehanging a dropped ceiling that someone had fallen through and sweating pipe from a air compressor into the shop.  I had sweat pipe before (7 years ago), so with a little familiarity I knew I could do that.  Dropped celing, never done that before.  So I get there on my first day, what is my first assignment?  The dropped ceiling.  So nervous, whenever I got the chance, i was looking at the other dropped ceilings in the place to get an idea of what needed to be done.  It looks like carp, but I got it done.  The highlight - going to Lowes with the 78 year old caretaker of the place and hearing him let the f-bombs fly.  Both disconcerting and funny.

On to sweating pipe, more to come.