What I'm Reading

I finished Just Do Something the other day. It was most excellent. I will be posting a review sometime soon. In the mean time, I have moved on to The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.


With the subtitle "Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith," Keller explains in his introduction that the book is not only for those coming to the Christian faith for the first time, or even those returning to the Christian faith.

From what I understand, he is writing to me (the "older brother") as much to a seeker (the "younger brother"). The speaker at summer conference this year told me personally it would be "the best book I read this year." So far, I haven't been blown away, but then again I am only in the first chapter. And I think it has potential.

Best Mural Ever

Have you ever seen those cheesy Christian murals of Biblical scenes like David and Goliath or Noah's Ark or some other more popular scene? Well I'm sure you always wondered why they never illustrated that passage from 2 King 2 where Elisha calls the she-bears out from the woods to maul the youths.

My dad calls it the first recorded instance of youth ministry. John Acuff has lamented this fact, and because of his lamentation, the good man Wes Molebash took it upon himself to get the job done. And oh did he:

Google is Good

In a recent Good Magazine article that lists 100 good things (some of which I disagree with. They list Hilary Clinton, for goodness sake) Google was listed as a good thing.

They gave several projects that give us reason to believe Google intends to stand by it's "do no evil" inentions:

Online energy consumption readings for your house and a project attempting to make Renewable energy cheaper than coal (aptly named RE < C), but the one that struck me the most was Project 10^100.

Google took submissions for ideas that would "change the world," and they've been weeding them down since last year. Right now they're at the final 16, some of which are less inspirational than others, but I find it really encouraging that a major company is offering $10 Million to help 5 of these projects.

$10 Million! That isn't enough to solve each one, but that's a huge starting point and hopefully others can find it in their hearts and wallets to give similarly?

Joe Biden On A Potato Gun Rampage

I daggum love The Onion. So funny, so poignant.



"I've told you, you can't give this man anything!" Gold.

Click through if you are using a reader.

Fill In The Blank

What is your sentence? Mine is here.

Let Them Sing It For You

This is a pretty nifty thing: a speech generator that uses the voices and lines of popular artists to compose whatever text you want. It is pretty funny. Check it out.

I used it to say the name of this blog, in addition to a famous quote by Albert Einstein and Hebrews 11:1.

I wonder what some poetry would sound like?

It is listed as a public sound art project. Pretty interesting.

If one of the words you used doesn't work, it offers you a chance to suggest an artist and song that has that word or sound in it. Nifty.

[tip o' the hat to Paste Magazine]

TVR In Fall

Over fall break, while many were headed home to enjoy the company of their families, Joel and I turned our faces to mountains, a departed for a weekend-long adventure at TVR.

Let the record show that the reason I did not go home is that my family was away from Charleston and would not be back until Sunday night, therefore leaving me only 1.5 days to possibly be with them.

It was nice to be at camp for the first time since summer. It was definitely later than I usually go up there. I was hoping to get up there sooner, but, alas, Winthrop had different plans for me.

For anyone who is wondering, fall is the most beautiful time of the year at camp. The lush, full greens you experience during the spring and summer were mottled with a lovely assortment of reds, oranges and yellows, as you can see from Plow Point:


In addition to awesome autumn-ness, there was also snow. That's right. While Joel and I were on Plow Point, there was literally snow flurries coming up the mountain, hitting us in the face. That sucked a little.


Also, I got to hit up Alliance for church on Sunday, even though we didn't get to hear Scott Andrews speak because it was their missions festival this past week. Got a chance to talk to him, and he recommended RTS for seminary, said he took some classes there. Pretty sweet, yo.

All in all, a good weekend. It was fun to hang out with everyone and Joel, seeing as the group was only 9 people. Running the top of the tower was cold. Greg was out because of surgery, but he's back now. I am somewhat anxious to get back up there.

Brainy McJazz-Jazz

I don't know why I gave this post that title, because that title is absolutely ridiculous. So am I. I know why I gave this post that title now.

Moving on: I am still currently writing a paper in the library computer lab. Facebook Farmville girl left a long time ago, but I forgot to mention something: Pandora.

Because my iPod decided it didn't like me and wanted to sleep/die for a while, I started up an account and have been playing around listening to various instrumental stuff so I don't get distracted by the lyrics. Explosions in the Sky was my first hit, then some David Holmes (he did the Ocean's movies soundtracks, for those of you who don't know).

I finally, however, jumped over to the Jazz Genre station. It's pretty bangin'. Plus, I don't know what it is, but there is something about jazz music that makes my soul want to get up and move around--even--dare I say it--DANCE.

That, and it is incredibly stimulating for my brain. Before I switched to the Jazz station, I was averaging a few sentences per 10 minute period. Since switching, I wrote a whole 2 paragraphs in 15 minutes. Ballin', yo.

Fats Waller, Pee Wee Russell, Art Hodes, Louis Armstrong...all great stuff.

Does jazz stimulate you mentally or in your soul?

If not, what type of music or band or song does?

Facebook Farmville Fail

I am currently sitting in the computer lab in the library working on a paper. Upon glancing up from my work, I look across the room to a girl sitting in the computer lab, headphones in, playing Farmville on Facebook. Sometimes I have no difficulty at all remembering why I left that crap.

The Matrix

For a movie about perception of reality, I had not realized how much the movie spoke about destiny. Seriously, the film is filled with it.

I found it interesting that there are several competing "destinies" for Neo. Most obviously, there is the one believed by Morpheus, that Neo is The One, who will be the salvation of mankind from The Matrix. There is also the destiny that the machines have in mind for him. In their consciousness, Neo is an anomaly, a problem who's only ineveitable end is eradication at their hands.

Throughout the story, these two destinies conflict and converse, as Neo himself seeks to find out what he is destined to be, or even if he can or ought to make his own destiny. Neo says that he doesn't believe in fate "because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life," but

"You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

And then there's the part where shortly after being introduced Morpheus says to Neo: "You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I've spent my entire life looking for you." If that's not the gospel, I don't know what is. The only difference is, where Morpheus was looking to Neo for salvation, God is looking to us to give salvation. But the pursuit is definitively his to begin with.

Conversational Hilarities

I don't remember when these quotes were made, but I just found this posts in my drafts. Enjoy.

"Joy: it's just like syphilis."
--Joel/Me

"They weren't Jews, they were pre-Jews! Kind of like a pre-view, except it was a preview of the Jewish people."
--Me, speaking of Abraham and Sarah

We, The Theologians

From the first chapter of his new book, Dug Down Deep. It's not a new concept, but it's one well worth repeating. Reminds me of an A.W. Tozer quote: "The most important thing about a person is what they think about when they think about God." Says Harris: "Theology matters, because if we get it wrong, then our whole life will be wrong."

Bathroom Towel Graffiti

I found this little gem over at Marc Johns' Blog. There are more there for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

One Republic -- "Secrets"

While I have heard of One Republic before, I've never really listened to them. Found this video through Matthew Paul Turner, and thought it was pretty good. The song is catchy too. Enjoy, tell me what you think.

Rooting For A Serial Killer

To tell the truth, I had never even heard of the TV show Dexter before I moved into the Testosterhome and several of my roommates had started watching it. Maybe that was because I had never had the luxury of Showtime as a channel option.

Since that first contact, I have definitely become engrossed. Granted, I have only seen probably 70% of the first two seasons, but I am trying to get around to more. Maybe I'll even catch up with where the show is now?

When I started to get involved in the show, I had to ask myself "Why are you rooting for a serial killer?" It would be easy to play the "he only kills bad people" card, but that's not his goal. Dexter doesn't kill because he wants bad people gone, he kills because he is screwed up and needs to satiate his desire for killing in some semi-socially-acceptable manner.

I have been thinking about this for a while, and a recent Paste article essentially coalesced my thoughts. I like Dexter because he's jacked up in the head. In one sense, I like him because he's more obviously jacked up than I am, but we are both really screwed up and really fallen.

Sure, my brokenness isn't manifested in a life-long systematic murder rampage, but what about a life-long systematic lust binge? Or my repeated instances of pride and anger. Or my ignorance of those in need around me?

I like Dexter (the show) because while it places a semi-psychotic serial killer in the position of protagonist and therefore the position of favor, the show never attempts to glorify, deify or in any way support his killing habits. Dexter himself wonders if he is a monster, if he should bring an end to it, if he can bring an end to it.

I like Dexter, the man, because he shows me a lot of myself. What does an seemingly insurmountable urge inherent in a man's psyche do when it is given full control?

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil is right there. I enjoy what God has decreed as right (his law) in my heart and soul, but I see in my flesh another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that lives in my flesh.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Sound familiar?

This Man Gatsby

I am beginning to realize why The Great Gatsby is considered a classic:

"He smiled understandingly--much more that understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanished--"

--Nick Carraway, pages 52-53

A Reason For Children

There are many reasons why I am anticipating fatherhood, among the list of tax deductions, free labor and impressionable minds is this little gem:

He looks so proud that his son is so defiant of the laws of gravity...and reason.

I imagine he is thinking "look what I made."

These are both shots of Abraham Piper with his offspring. I am definitely going to follow suit with my own.

Says Abraham: "What is it about the human (male?) psyche that makes us completely confident doing things we would never trust others to do?"

Ex Post Facto

I have had the uncomfortable pleasure of being incandescently happy, earnestly hopeful, devout, depressed, irrevocably frustrated and horribly convicted all within the past 18 or so hours.

Serious Skubala

Today on 22 Words, Abraham Piper put up this post:

To believe that all swearing is wrong, you also have to believe that our culture is right.

Social customs define what’s taboo. Therefore, saying taboo language is uniformly sinful implies that our social customs uniformly align with God’s will.

Now I have heard plenty of people getting really ticked on both sides of this argument. There is the fact that Paul used the Greek for shit, skubala in Philippians 3:8. But does that mean God condones or advocates the use of foul language?

I think Abraham brings up a good point here. We cannot disavow all cursing just because it is socially wrong. That would mean that our society has precedence over God's Law, which it doesn't.

By the same merit, we would need to accept the sexual license our culture advocates, and while the church's members have seemingly done that anyway, no one is going to start saying it is an honest, good idea.

I like absolutes, a lot of people do (even though the good postmodernist in them will say they don't), but I do not think that cursing is one place where you can form an absolute. It is definitely a matter of the heart and personal conviction.

I know many times, I am cursing out of anger, with impure intent. Sometimes, I am not. Is one wrong, and the other right?

One person commented on the 22 Words post with this quote: “He who forbids what God allows will soon allow what God forbids.” – R.B. Kuiper. I am not sure how that is exactly applicable, because I know for a fact that God didn't say "Go say whatever f*cking word you want!" or something similar. I suppose he could be referring the passage by Paul I mentioned earlier? I'm not sure.

I think there needs to be some universal dialogue in the church on this matter. More on this topic later.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

This is a really intriguing movie. And not for the fact of Heath Ledger simultaneous presence and absence as the lead role. Because that fact, I think it could be a pioneering move having four different actors playing the same role.

I will admit that as a whole the film looks similar to a couple other films, but I still think I am going to give it a watch.

Written On Their Hearts

I just read a very interesting article over at Paste Magazine. It talks about how John Darnielle, the front man for The Mountain Goats, and his deep struggle with his faith. I first heard about them through fellow Charlestonian Stephen Colbert. To tell the truth, their music was less than impressing, but this article is astounding to hear him talk about his faith.

While I was reading the article, I had Romans 2:15 flashing through my mind. Darnielle is apparently firmly of the belief that there is no god, but he states that "Anyone who says they never doubt is lying. But anyone who’s perfectly happy with there being no force of total love and forgiveness in the universe is also pretty foolish."

He has a firmly Catholic background, prays the rosary, and he loves "going to Hare Krishna temples to chant." His reasoning? "I believe in the spirit of prayer, and the process, and finding some way of acknowledging my own smallness in the infinite." Amen, I do to. "But I think you need to engage beyond technical exercises." Amen, I do to.

I can see him, so close to the truth, just getting ready to step into a big, messy pile of God's grace. I can see definite merit in engaging "beyond technical exercises," what I think he is using to refer to religious practice or organized religion.

We do get too often caught up with the right type of praise and worship, saying the right liturgy, and forget to engage God through the ways he's given us: His Word and prayer. And then we complain about not being able to hear God.

It is intriguing that a man of such staunch beliefs has devoted the entirety of The Mountain Goats new album to the Bible: song titles, narratives, et cetera. Apparently the final track is taken from Ezekiel's account of the end times. I kinda want to hear it.

His ending quote was particularly mind-blowing to me, I'll leave you with it: "There are plenty of people in the Bible who do things for which they shouldn’t be forgiven unless they beg, and they don’t. Yet grace, divine or otherwise, absolves the most monstrous sins. If there is grace."

What do you think?

What I'm Reading

In the spirit of I need to get off my lazy butt and read more if I am going to keep up the pretense of being intellectual, educated and an English major, I am going to read more. And I am going to post what I am reading here.

The book I am currently reading (semi consistently) is Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. The subtitle is "How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc." Pretty fabulous.

I had heard about the book from Josh Harris a few months ago, seeing as he wrote the foreward for it. Which is pretty amazing. You should check it out. So far the book is good stuff, and fairly predictable, but still good.

It's telling me what I need to hear: JUST DO SOMETHING. I'd encourage you to pick it up, though. It's pretty cheap. And worth it.

Culture Diet

In this article, Charlie Brooker talks about the superfluity of literature and entertainment he possesses. And I agree:

"I'm fairly certain I recently passed a rather pathetic tipping point, and now own more unread books and unwatched DVDs than my remaining lifespan will be able to sustain. I can't possibly read all these pages, watch all these movies, before the grim reaper comes knocking. The bastard things are going to outlive me. It's not fair. They can't even breathe."

I have bought 8 new books since the beginning of summer, and I've only read three. And two of them weren't one of the books that I bought.

Summer and Fall Conferences for RUF are a struggle for me: they've got a table of a whole dang lot of literature that I'd like to pick up, and poor little me with the knowledge I have a growing heap of unread-ness on my shelf at home.

About Crime & Punishment, Brooker says, after buying it, "I never read it. A few months ago, having forgotten I already owned a copy, I bought it again. This means I haven't read it twice." While I have yet to do that, it's only a matter of time. I have had someone tell me that I could borrow a book of theirs that I want to read, but instead I go and buy my own copy to not read.

Brooker's idea of the perfect solution for said problem is to obtain a fantastical sort of environment furbished with the technology available around the 1970s. "And every time I think about complaining," he writes "I want a minotaur to punch me in the kidneys and remind me how it was before."

While I cannot deny the comedy in that last statement, I don't know if that is the solution I would prefer. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of times when I wish we just lived in a period where life was...simpler.

Unfortunately, culture is such that once you've had a taste, you will only with great difficulty be able to refrain again forever.

Take the illegal downloading of music: if it had not become so readily available and widespread so quickly, then it would have been fairly easily to implement a system to prevent it.

Now, however, because the world has experienced it, there's no way in hell they're going to let it go. The same could be said for social networking, for iPods, modern art, pornography, et cetera.

That's what I think, but what do you think?

[from The Guardian via Curator]

Horse Hero

Oh, Kris Straub. I have a noted dislike of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but this is a game, I would actually play.

Mostly because there's no way I could or would learn to ride a horse in real life. So it's legitimate to do it in virtual life.

Again Of Derek Webb

I already talked about the show, but I forgot this picture. I have another one on my phone, but we'll see how that goes:


You can't really make it out, but he had two strips of LEDs on either side of him broadcasting an assortment of colors depending on the song. And of course, the kick drum.

Rarities Don't Always Make My Heart Happy

My phone is jacked up somehow. My technologically-astute-and-slightly-idolatrous housemate Joel tells me it's updating it's software. I'm not on the Geek Squad, but something tells me it should be taking 12 hours to do that.

So if you have called or texted me in that time, I'm not a jerk, at least not in this instance, I'm just unable to reply at the moment.

Derek Webb's 'Black Eye' Tour

So, this is a little late, but here goes:

Thursday the 24th of September was a small but momentous occasion for me: the first concert I have been to in quite some time. I remembered why I love to go to them.

The performer was Derek Webb, accompanied by his former Caedmon's Call bandmate Josh Moore (who partnered with him for the album), and the drummer Chris Kimmerer. Having listened to the CD heavily, and knowing it was laced with heavy electronic melodies and beats, I was very interested to see how Derek would go about performing it.

I was not disappointed in the least. He performed the entire album, including his controversial song "What Matters More," in it's full, explicit glory. Having Josh their doing the electronic work live was absolutely amazing, and Chris on the drums just added a powerful, beefed-up sense to the songs.

Derek let Josh and Chris have a break halfway through and performed several requests from his older stuff, including a cover I didn't know existed, of Bob Dylan's "The Times Are A-Changin'"

While I was there I picked up some new music as well.

I particularly enjoyed the use of three bass drums, each being kicked by the three performers during "The Spirit vs. The Kick Drum," a song that (unbeknownst to me) includes the voice of Bert. Derek is apparently being sued over his use of Bert's audio. He said that Sesame Street didn't want to be associated with the kinds of things his CD contained, and "Apparently the letter 'L' on Sesame Street stands for 'Litigation'."

Finally, and almost importantly, one of the coolest parts of the show was the backdrop they had behind Chris on the drums, it displayed an assortment of colors that coincided with the songs.

Blackmail by Creed Bratton

As a good many of you may be aware of, I am a fairly big fan of The Office. I'll admit, I'm a little perturbed by its "trendiness" in the past year or so, but it still makes me laugh, so I'm committed for the foreseeable future.

I stumbled upon the Blackmail Webisode, featuring Creed Bratton. It's pretty funny, although Creed's acting is a little off. One of my favorite things was Andy's statement: "Creed, you are gratuitously creepy." So true.

Watch it and tell me what you think.

Polar War Show

Went to the Polar War show tonight. I say the Polar War show even though they were opening for All Get Out, mostly because I went to see Polar War and not All Get Out.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and quite impressed. Not that I thought they would suck, but I had yet to hear their stuff, and it was excellent. Which equals me, pleasantly surprised.

Even though the room the actual show was in consisted of a single, normal size doorway and about 400 square feet, with about 30 people packed into it, and the acoustics were less than stellar, it was still a pretty well performed show.

Being a longtime friend of Will, it was difficult not to pick up on slight hints of Haze Grey and From Morning On's vocals, but that's not a bad thing by any means. If tonight's show was any indicator, he has definitely progressed and matured far beyond my memory of his role in those bands. His vocals were not polished, not pristine, but instead were an enjoyable full and passionate, laced with a sense of depravity. I can't wait to hear him once they record something.

Nog and Andy's background vocals were daggum amazing. That's a professional term which means WELL DONE. A lot of times background vocals can seem superfluous or unnecessary, but each time they stepped up to the mic, there was a pleasant harmony or cacophony with whatever Will was singing. They also threw in some gang-type vocals, technique I've always loved.

Dave was, naturally, going crazy on the drums. From where I was standing I could only see his arms as he bashed out a pleasant medley of heavy-hitting drums, but it was enough to see the intensity with which he was playing. The drums were another aspect that did not overpower but rather supported the rest of the instruments, a surprising feat for the venue.

I'll admit it was difficult to hear the guitars simple because of the confines of the building, but that's my only criticism about their contribution. I really enjoyed the volume of Nog's bass, and the variety of what he was playing--it wasn't a typical monotonous bass line. I was also unaware that Will played keys as well as guitar, at least in the band--a worthy contribution and again, enjoyable.

Basically, I went because they were friends but I'll be going back because they put on a pretty bangin' show.

The Return

This past weekend was Family Weekend at the prestigious Winthrop University. It was pretty cool to see my parents and little siblings (minus Liz, who I saw last weekend), and have them see my uh, house. I guess little is a bit of a misnomer as well, Jeremy's almost as tall as me, dang it. If he surpasses me in height, you all as my witnesses I will punch something cute, innocent and vulnerable. Currently I'm thinking bunnies or kittens.

Anyways, back to the point of this post: On Saturday night, the entirety of the Schley clan that was in Rock Hill went and saw a DSU event, a performance by the Beatles tribute band The Return.

Now, judging by my last sentence and their website, you will probably roll your eyes and think incredulous, doubtful thoughts as I did. But beware, unbeliever, their performance was a-daggum-mazing. So good, in fact, that my brother and I spent the first 24 minutes [an exact figure] of the show trying to figure out if they were just playing the music and lip-syncing to the original Beatles vocals.

(We finally figured it out on their rendition of "Paperback Writer" during which their harmony was noticeably different than that of the Beatles. Not bad, just not the exact same.)

I'm not going to lie, it was pretty interesting to get the feel of what it would have been like to be at a Beatles show. Sure, there were not hundreds of hormone-driven teen girls inundating the stage, but from what I could tell, they really captured the feel of the Beatles as a group. Right down to their British accents and the exact instruments they play, the same types the Beatles played, according to my dad.

It was also entertaining to watch the middle-aged and up women get into the aisles and start dancing. From "Hold Your Hand" straight on through the last song I heard before we had to go, "Yellow Submarine," it was delightful performance to say the least. I'd recomment going to see them if you ever have the chance.

Oh, Kanye

Just for the record, I'm not a fan of Kanye West as an artist or a person. I don't hate the guy, but I'm not inviting him to any Office/Community/It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Thursdays at the Testosterhome anytime soon. To say the least, I agree with President Obama's analysis of Kanye and his actions at the award ceremony I couldn't care less about.

That being said, the Kanye jokes that have surfaced since his idiotic interjection onstage are pretty dang hilarious. A friend sent me this one, from the quite hilarious site Halolz:


Comedic gold. Plus, it induces reminiscent memories of That Glorious Gaming System that was my first real committed interaction with video games. I still have it, it's at the Testosterhome. I'm thinking some old school Vectorman and Sonic is in order.

Blog Subscriptions

I don't know how you keep up with this blog (if you keep up with this blog), but for my subscriptions, I use Google Reader. It's a pretty bangin' tool, and makes it fairly easy to get all of your subscriptions in one location.

That being said, I have roughly 120 subscriptions, everything from friend's blogs to ministries' blogs, some authors, and several different webcomics. Over the summer, because I couldn't get online every day, I got way behind on my subscriptions. Like 400 unread posts behind.

Yesterday, I took it upon myself during my three hours at work to clear them all out, and I did. At 3:30 yesterday I had zero unread posts.

Now, I get on today and had 26 unread posts. Is that bad? Some people update two or three times a day, so it's a little understandable. But I could easily see blogging becoming as big a hindrance as Facebook was. Bleh.

How do you get your blog posts? Do you think it can be a hassle to keep up with them?

Martin Luther On Fun

Philip Melancthon:
"Today, Martin, you and I will discuss God's governance of the universe,"
Martin Luther:
"No, Philip. Today you and I are going fishing, and we'll leave the governance of the universe to God."

I am very glad that God leaves me to play video games and man the computer lab, write poetry and hammock, enjoy the fellowship of my friends and live, love, laugh while he takes care of the bigger picture.

As a theologically minded control-freak, I constantly want to know what is up when it comes to God's will, direction, and action. But I don't, and since I don't foresee me becoming God anytime in the near eternity, I never will. So I'm going to ride my bike.

What are you glad you can do instead of worrying about God's governance?

[from Jared Wilson via Jason Boyett]