The Apple Church

If you go to my church (and judging by Google Analytics there's about an 80% chance you do), you know that we can safely claim that we are the closest church to Apple HQ. You can see the Infinite Loop 4 and 5 over the fence of the parking lot. Obviously, we have a pretty decent population of Apple employees attending the church. Not only that, but given that we're in Silicon Valley, we're a pretty tech-savvy church.

Or at least we should be.

Not my church.

Surprisingly enough, I'd say that my church's tech-level is "on par". The website is simple, there are no flat-panel TV screens, and even the projectors are a little dull. I actually consider this a good thing. I like the fact that my church doesn't bother itself with purchasing frivolous technology so we can put on a show. But I think we can be better at using our skills.

I've been reading a book about worship lately called "For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts". It's incredible, and I'd highly recommend it. It's really helping me feel better about the purpose of worship, and what constitutes as worship. I think one of my favorite quotes from the book is "Worship cannot be explained in terms of its usefulness. It is not the realm of the useless exactly, but the incapable-of-being-expressed-as-useful." (36). This is a nightmare for engineers, since we're so utilitarian in our thinking. But I think the hardest thing for engineers like me to really come to terms with is that nothing we do for God is useful to Him, yet we still should out of an overflow of our desires to express our hearts to Him.

Art is specifically in this realm of "incapable-of-being-expressed-as-useful", as art serves no immediate purpose, and even after it's created, it usually serves a purpose completely different than was originally intended. However, I think we all know that some of the greatest artwork, architecture, and music of all time was created out of worship.

If you think about it, there's really no reason to have a lavish cathedral, decorations, or music. The most efficient church would be a giant warehouse. Structurally solid, with a decent enough sound system so everyone could hear the message. But I think the reason we have stained glass windows, decorative crosses, and beautiful music is to help us express more than our feeble human bodies can express on their own. A dull warehouse doesn't inspire awe, but kneeling before a giant cross is a great way to actively enter into relationship with God. Or, as the book lists: "Praising, confessing, lamenting, thanking, being convicted, being inspired, being comforted." (55). Those actions are the end-goal of worship. The purpose of a powerful message, a beautiful song, or artistic interpretation of a scene or emotion, is to help you enter into that goal, whatever you heart needs to do in response to God.

What does this have to do with having a bunch of tech-savvy Apple employees attending my church? I believe that as Christians we should be inspired to be on the cutting edge of technological development that encourages people to enter into worship. Apple is the cutting edge of basic technological development. I don't see why the same people who come up with the next awesome yet unnecessary product aren't using that same creativity to worship God. But please, let's not make a Christian version of the iPad.

Michelangelo's "David" was not a Christian version of a sculpture.

It was form and beauty.

The Sistine Chapel's ceiling was not a Christian version of a mural.

It was art and expression.

Is software engineering able to be as artistic and creative as architectural engineering?

Is it possible to make a technological masterpiece?

Anonymity

There's a big brouhaha going on right now because some 11 year old girl posted a Youtube video cussing out some online bullies. I haven't seen it, but apparently it was pathetic enough to get the a certain anonymous online community united against this girl. In a few short hours they found the girl's full name, address, and home phone number and basically made her life (and her parents' lives) miserable. Sometimes I wonder what I'm passionate about, and since I spend a lot of time on the Internet, this is the kind of thing that gets me up-in-arms. Stories like these bring up the question: "Is anonymity on the Internet a good thing?"

Read any discussion online about the legality of anonymity and you'll learn that anyone who regularly docks at  public forums such as Digg are entirely pro-anonymity. They're also "experts" on every subject under the sun (especially law), and incredibly opinionated. Cracked.com recently ran an article about anonymity that, although it's a humor site, was pretty accurate.

In my opinion, there are 4 types of people: People with something to hide, paranoids, people who don't have anything to hide, and people who don't have anything to hide but are sympathetic toward people who do have something to hide.

I figure people who have something to hide really like the anonymity of the Internet. Other than people who do blatantly illegal things, or just socially shunned-upon things, there are also people who think they need the anonymity to be cool. You know...like people who think being an anonymous avatar in a forum turns you from this guy:

Into this guy:

Bad news, guys. Since everyone else is the first guy but thinks they're the second guy, they automatically treat everyone the same way the cool kids treated the nerds in high school. Now that they think they have superiority over everyone else online, they're making up for decades of being picked on by treating everyone else like garbage. Since you can't punch anyone in the face on the Internet (I'm looking at you, Google!), all that matters in order to dominate your peers is intelligence and the ability to argue a point (and use proper grammar while doing it). The Internet is basically an anonymous playground for all the social outcasts to be somebody, and it's effectively built a generation of arrogant intellectual jerks.

I heard an interview with Tenth Avenue North on the radio about their song "Healing Begins". They said something along the lines of "I've always felt like the best thing that could ever happen to someone is if all their past mistakes were broadcast on the 5:00 news. Then they'd have nothing to hide."

There's a lot to hide about on the Internet. I'm not saying that we should publish every site everyone goes to and profile every person, but it would be nice to track down cyberbullies that cause people to commit suicide, destroy peoples' lives, or post disgusting things because they know there will be no repercussions.

A Youth Group Leader's Lament: Group Orders

Recently, Jon Acuff at www.stuffchristianslike.net posted about youth ministers. In it, he said

I think youth ministers have a lifespan that is eight years shorter than the general population due to all the ghetto orange drink and pizza they are forced to consume. And it’s always the kind of pizza where you can’t tell if you’re eating a piece or have just started biting the box. The pizza is thin, covered with a sandpaper like layer of cheese, and crafted with crusts that could kill a man like an aborigine boomerang

It's true. Pizza is the go-to dinner and lunch of choice for all youth-esque group activities. This includes k-5, Jr. High, High School, and College. My theory is that pizza is popular, not because it's every kid's favorite food, but because it's so easy to organize.

Got 20 kids that need to cram down a meal before the <insert church event here> this evening? Call ahead, order 5 large pizzas (make sure to add 1 cheese in case there's the rare Christian Vegetarian in the group), and when the kids arrive they can shuffle in, eat, and get out faster than a S.W.A.T team.

It's the weekend before the mission trip, and we're behind schedule learning our skits! Let all the kids know that although prep is from 9-3 on Saturday, lunch will be provided! What? Chipotle caters? So does Togo's? Too bad! Pizza allows me to do the one thing I like most: not think!

Personally, I'd prefer a ban on pizza. Ever since college, I've sort of lost my appetite for it. In college pizza was convenient. If I had leftovers, I'd have breakfast! Now, I feel like given my status in life, I can safely get by with putting a little more effort into my meals, and sacrificing a bit of my time to eat something that's composed of less than 50% grease.

If businesses want to get in on the rushed youth group market, my suggestion would be for them to develop a group-order menu item. One pizza can be shared by 4 people (or two high school boys, if you're lucky), and you can order a variety so nobody complains. If we can find a way to make, say, burritos the same way, or burgers, or sandwiches, or whatever, I'd switch immediately. I'm looking at you, Chipotle! Invest in some over-sized tortillas! Give us burritos by the slice!

I need a planner!!!

In school, I was never able to keep a planner. In fact, I think if there were a class that required me to use a planner, I would have failed that class. It was harder for me to remember to put things in a planner than it was for me to remember the homework assignments in my head. Now, I think I'm finally giving in. I'm freaking out with how busy I am, and whenever somebody asks me to hang out, my mind immediately says "NOO!!!!!! Too busy!!!!". If I had a planner, I could apply logic to override my brain's immediate reaction. I think if I were to keep it, I would nickname it "my agent" so when someone asks me if I had time to hang out or something I'd be able to say "Let me check with my agent." Sweet.

If I were to keep a planner, maybe I'd be able to do some analysis on how burnt-out I am after a given number of commitments. I'd also be able to see how how much free time I need to schedule every day to keep me sane. Then I'd be able to prune down my life and come up with a nice balance that would allow me to have enough time for me, my friends, and God.

Or maybe it would just be a wasted effort. Let's find out!

Things I Learned by Liking Pop Music

If you knew anything about me in high school and most of college, you'll know that I despised pop music. Or more importantly, any kind of music that other people had heard of. I used to pride myself on listening to bands nobody had even heard of. I was a total music snob. Then, I would introduce my friends to a band and we'd share some sort of inside musical friendship since we were the only two people we knew who listened to that band. At least, that was the way I dreamed it would turn out if my friends had actually become fans the music I shared with them.

I understand that it's important to have a little uniqueness in your repertoire - something that you enjoy because it's music that you really resonate with, and it really doesn't matter if other people like it or not. That's kind of how I feel about the band Downhere. Other people tend to like them, but not enough to buy their CDs. I pre-order every one of their albums. But I've changed now, because I haven't filled my entire collection with bands nobody has heard of.

So, here are my arguments for opening up and just smelling the roses of pop music:

High school dances were boring because I "hated" the music

Back when I started high school (a decade ago...whoah), I used to go to dances with the hopes of making purple with one of the five girls I was interested in at any given moment. This never happened because it turns out that God plays a cruel joke on high school boys when they turn 14, and they lose all confidence in themselves*. So, apart from the one time I had a "girlfriend" at a high school dance, I spent the entire time whining about the crappy music. Secretly I just didn't like it because I didn't know it and everyone else did. While I was standing in the corner wishing that corner was darker and filled with any combination of the 5 or so girls I was gunning for at the time, my friends were having fun without me, singing along with songs I had never heard before and dancing the dance to that song that you would know after having watched the music video on MTV 37 times (this was back when MTV still played music videos!).

Basically, I just didn't like dances because I didn't know the music. The music was actually fun and entertaining, but I didn't like it because everyone was having more fun than me.

*I no longer fault God for this, because it was for my own good.
Steps

I didn't listen to any of those pop groups like Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, O-town, 98 Degrees, or whatever the heck else is equivalent to them...in America. I supplemented by finding similar groups that nobody had heard of because they were from other countries. Yes, for a while I listened to Steps - the result of Britain's version of "Making the Band". Admittedly, I liked it because I thought the female singers were attractive, and I was jealous of the male singers. Plus I was into all that drama stuff and I had just seen Mamma Mia! and Steps did an ABBA medley.

I realize how ridiculous this is. I hated American pop music, but I secretly enjoyed the exact same music because other people didn't listen to it and it wasn't overplayed.

Relevance

Maybe this is a cop-out reason, but I work with highschoolers. Now that I'm more open to popular musical stylings, 2 hour car rides to King City are not just tolerable, but fun! Sure, the song is about brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack, and it probably doesn't teach good messages to high school girls (or boys, I guess), but it's common ground on which to start a relationship.

I learned that in order to build bridges in this world, you need to accept things that other people may deem important if you want to have meaningful relationships with them. I found that the more frivolous things I rejected in life, the more people I rejected with them. Now, the more things I accept, whether they're meaningful or not, the more people I can identify with and build friendships with. Common ground starts relationships, so why reject things people like and miss out on potential relationships?

As Paul says in 1 Cor 9:24b - "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."

What defines you that you hold onto, even if it might alienate people?

Blog of the Week

As a participating member in this vast ocean we call the Blogosphere, I enjoy docking my ship at the ports of other, more talented and popular bloggers. I notice a lot of bloggers write a "Favorite blogs of the week" post of Fridays. But when I run across something in the scurvy seas that really makes me think, or laugh, I'll not only share it with you here, but write a commentary.

This week, I've looked forward to tying up at the dock of Donald Miller's Blog. I think Donald Miller is the perfect blogger, because his books are so personable and candid, he already has that style that makes his readers feel like they're his close friends. He's like a modern-day C.S. Lewis. He even has the same ability to write stories that seem to just simply be stories, but are actually allegories that help us understand God.

This week, Donald has given his dog, Lucy, the reigns of his blog, which basically means Donald is writing his conjecture of what Lucy would say about different times in her life. At first, I didn't like it because it wasn't as personable and I didn't get to hear Donald's insight into life. Then I noticed that Don was painting a portrait of ourselves.

In the blog, Lucy talks about being born into a scary world and how big everything seemed. The room she was born in was the entire world until Donald came along and chose her. Donald took her with him and opened up her world. She describes the feeling of being brought out into a big world and getting to know Don, and wanting to be with him all the time because he's all she has. Then she talks about how scary it is to start making mistakes, like digging up pots and peeing on the carpet, and then being thrown outside. She even talks about self-image, and how simple that is for a dog, and how difficult it seems to be for humans.

I can't really do it justice, so go read the stories for yourself. I think Don hit on something with his ability to put himself in Lucy's, er, paws. He was able to think of himself as something smaller than a human, with fewer ambitions and a limited understanding of the world. It sort of helped me understand my place compared to God. I also learned that in order to write about something you can't understand, you need to find a perspective that isn't your own and see where that takes you.

Things I Like: Lakes

If there's any water-based feature of Northern California I like most, it's lakes. Lakes trump beaches in NorCal because they're actually tolerable. Somehow, snow runoff is warmer than NorCal ocean water. Don't ask me how this is possible.

A great thing about our lakes is that they are quite tame in the bug department, compared to other states and their lakes. When I go to a lake in California, I don't worry about having to fight a mosquito with a baseball bat, and then cleaning up the remains with a shovel.

Also, we have weather like this:

Pretty much all the time during the summer.

Finally, at a lake you can go waterskiing and wakeboarding. I know that's possible at a beach, but it's not nearly as fun with the choppy waves.

All in all, if you were to offer me the choice between a lake house and a beach house in Northern California, I would choose the lake house hands-down. Now, if we were in Southern California, it would be a bit more difficult of a decision.

An Adventure! Don Pedro Lake

Whenever I go on adventures, my goal is to write about them, and thus prove to myself that my life isn't nearly as boring as I think. This generally involves me actually taking my camera with me, which is something I need to practice more. This weekend I went to Don Pedro Lake with the college group for some awesome waterskiing. Lucky for me, other more practiced camera-bringer-alongers went on this adventure with me, so I stole pictures from Facebook to make up for my lack of camera usage.

First, I have to say that this was my first time driving in a real, multiple-hour-long caravan. I also got to bring up the rear The rear position, though not the leader the most heroic position. I was the protector of the middle cars in the caravan. If a car ever disappeared in traffic, my goal was to find it. I would let it know that even though we can't see the caravan anymore, at least you're not alone in your lostness. It also happens to be the best position from which to pelt the other cars in the caravan with biodegradable water balloons. Take that, Ranger Rick.

We got to the lake at around 2:00 on Friday, and got in a boat as fast as possible. After some wakeboarding and tubing, we broke the boat. I think the rudder was about to fall off or something. We idled to a shallow area and held the boat in place as the owner, Chad, worked on it, trying to find a way to make sure the rudder didn't make a break for it to go hang out with the crawdads.

We headed to camp after that, and had a great time of eating and hanging out, followed by some worship and testimonies. Then we slept under the stars. There were a ton, which is awesome because I think the only thing I can see from San Jose is Orion's Belt and the Big Dipper.



The next morning we went out on some jet skis, then the boat again (which now had a much happier rudder) and I got to give slalom skiing a shot. I ate it. A lot. I got up a lot, but couldn't control it. I think I learned more about diving into the water at 30 mph than I did about controlling the slalom ski, but it was still a ton of fun. Then Chad treated his boat like a jet ski and tossed us around until the deck on the back broke. We pulled it off and headed for the patio boat as Chad took the boat in for repairs.

After some food, more jet skiing, and swimming, we were about ready to head in for the day. We tried to pull up the anchor, and then we tried again. And again and again. It was stuck on something, so we maneuvered the boat until we were afraid something would break. Then one guy realized that he could actually move the anchor rope a little bit. So we all helped him and:

Something must be wrong with the sun, because I look really pale.

Yes, we pulled up a tree. Freakin' sweet, I'd say. Turns out the lake rose 75 feet over the past year because of extra rain, and trees that were on land last year were at the bottom of the lake, ready to grab hold of any anchor who dared to drop near them. After feeling totally awesome about ourselves, we headed back to the marina, where our boat died and we had to be pushed to the dock by the people who run the marina.

So, all-in-all, a successful Saturday!

We went to the camp again for another night of food, hanging out, stories and worship.

Sunday morning, we went out on the lake again, but I was badly sunburned so I didn't want to do too much. While we were waiting for a boat to come to shore, a couple strangers came by and asked if anyone would like to come with them in their boat, since they need at least 3 people to waterski legally. I wasn't paying attention and assumed it was one of our boat drivers so I agreed to go along, and asked Tracey if she wanted to come, too. Only then did I realize I had no idea who these people were and I was setting us up for a situation that may result in our faces being put on the back of a milk carton.


But they had a puppy named Cha-cha, so it would have been worth it.

I was constantly scouring the boat for something to use as a weapon in case the couple we were with decided to murder us. In the end, there was no death involved that we know of.


Johnny the Frog may never have made it all the way to shore, however.

We actually had a great time just sitting in the boat with the wind blowing in our faces as we took a tour around parts of the lake we had never been to. It was a beautiful end to an amazing weekend.

Most photos courtesy of Stephen Lee

Things I Like: Charlie Brown and Snoopy

Not too long ago, I went to see a high school perform the musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". It was a fantastic production, but I think it's also the first time I saw the Peanuts gang since I grew up to be able to understand abstract thought. Now I finally understand what makes Charles Schultz a genius - he created Charlie Brown!

Now, this may not sound like an amazing revelation to you, but it is to me after I got to understand Charlie Brown's character. I never noticed that Charlie Brown is bad at everything. That's the charm of his character - he's always searching for some way to prove to himself (and his friends) that he's good at something. The genius of Charles Schultz is that he never lets Charlie Brown succeed at anything! Why? To teach a lesson.

Charlie Brown is always looking for a way to be successful in a worldly sense. As a stark contrast, Snoopy is a dog. As he says: "Yesterday I was a dog. Today I'm a dog. Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There's so little hope for advancement. " The sort-of depressing thing is, Snoopy's awesome at everything! He's Joe Cool! Any time he tries anything, he does exactly what Charlie Brown wants to do.

But Snoopy doesn't care, because he understands he has nothing to prove, and nothing to advance to. He's just a dog, and therefore his status is about as high as it will ever be. Charlie Brown, on the other hand, wants to be amazing at sports, a good student, or smooth with the ladies. These desires of his and Snoopy's successes completely overshadow one fact: that Snoopy is entirely dependent of Charlie Brown for food! And if there's one thing Snoopy wants more than all the fame he already has, it's supper! Snoopy has learned to enjoy the little things, while Charlie Brown is still searching for that little thing to succeed at.

In the end, though, Charlie Brown is finally told that there is one thing he's good at. In fact, it's something he's probably the best at out of all of his friends: he's a good man. Charles Schultz lets us all know that no matter how successful in this world you are, true success is somewhere a lot less noticeable.

Badgers Are Not Beavers.

I found myself in the mall yesterday with my mom and sister. I was looking for a new pair of jeans, and given that I'm awful at scouring shelves for clothes myself, I invited them along. As part of the deal, I allowed them to drag me around the mall as they shopped as well.

It wasn't long after I had found myself a nice pair of jeans that we exited a store involving a lot scented liquids with keywords like "Age defying" and "Revitalizing" and my mom saw a store called The Art of Shaving. She had been doing some research about shaving for Father's Day, when she got my dad a nice shaving brush. Piqued by her new interested in male grooming rituals, she led me into the store to show me all she had learned.

I was fascinated by the complexity of the shaving-cream applicators (also known as "brushes"). It turns out they're quite expensive and made out of the very unique hair of the badger. Long story short, I gave in and bought a set to give it a go, but then I realized something: I have no clue what a badger is. I've seen cartoon badgers (along with mushrooms and snakes), and I understand that their name is a euphemism for annoyance, but I've never actually seen a badger. My sister seemed to confuse them with beavers, but after a brief conversation with my her, we also came to the conclusion that badgers are not, in fact, beavers.


Badgers and beavers are actually quite different. They're not even in the same biological Order as each other.While beavers live in rivers and streams, building dams, badgers live along the plains, digging holes and hunting prairie dogs alongside coyotes. Badgers are weasels. Beavers are rodents.

Badgers have many different styles of hair on them, so more expensive brushes come from different parts of a badger. Apparently badger hair is so fine it can penetrate the pores of one's skin in order to coax up unruly facial hair trying to escape the wrath of the blade. This allows a much closer, less irritating shave.

Anyway, I look forward to using my new shaving cream brush. And now, for your entertainment, a picture of a real badger:



And finally, for another pointless comparison, complete with a yodeling introduction, I bring you Danny Elfman and his cult 80's band, Oingo Boingo:

What's Your Dream 4th of July?

I feel like things are a lot cooler in rural areas of the country. I've have this romantic concept of shooting cans in my backyard that butts up to a forest/lake, and then going "fishing" in traditional American style - with dynamite.




I feel like growing up in the suburbs has severely stunted my growth. I never had the opportunities to hurt myself and my fellow Americans in spectacular ways the way kids from, say, Ohio could (side-note, apparently it is illegal to arrest someone on the 4th of July in Ohio, or on a Sunday for that matter.)

I'm wondering what I can do to finally get those experiences I missed as a child, even though I'm still living in the 'burbs (I feel like I'm having a much less-creepy Michael Jackson moment right now). So, here are some things I'd do on the 4th of July if I could:

• Find a beaten up pickup truck and a semiautomatic weapon. Tie the steering wheel so it's constantly turning right, and put a brick on the gas pedal. Then proceed to take potshots at the truck until it a) blows up, or b) stops running.
• Go fishing, with dynamite.
• Have a BBQ involving "unconventional" methods of cooking meat.
• Shoot stuff.

That's what I would do on the 4th of July if I had access to weaponry/explosives. What would you do?