Last week I was in Kansas City and had the chance to attend Jacob’s Well. I was going back through my notes and this quote jumped out at me again:
The gospel often gets preached as “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” So we wait for this “plan” to kick in and fail to realize that knowing God is the reward.
-Tim Keel
If you’re in the Appleton area come hang out with us at Copper Rock Coffee in downtown Appleton tomorrow night. We’re hosting an event as a benefit/fundraiser for our friend Lisa who is going to Kenya for 3 months to work with HEART. There will be root beer kegs, music from Nate Lenz and Beth Klemme and Tiffany Thompson will be speaking.
I just discovered that today is RSS Awareness Day. If you’re not aware, RSS is how you make reading blogs and many other websites very easy. Instead of looking at lots of different websites everyday you can have the newest content come to you. There are lots free RSS readers out there. I use Google Reader.
So do yourself a favor today and start using RSS. You can read more about it and watch a video with a better explanation on the RSS Day website.
I was listening to the Relevant Podcast today and they interviewed a woman involved with creating a website called Unscrew America. It’s all about taking practical steps like changing your lightbulbs to make a positive impact on the environment.
No matter what you think about environmental issues, check out the site. It’s a really cool interface and fun to play around in.
I’m in Kansas City this week attending the Intuitive Leadership conference with Tim Keel and the Everything Must Change Tour with Brian McLaren.
Tim’s conference ended this morning. It was a small conference but a really great discussion about what leadership looks like in a post-modern world. My notes were very sporadic so I’m just posting a few highlights that jumped out at me. They may or may not make sense without the context they were in.
One of my favorite shows, This American Life, is doing a live event on May 1st. I’m quite excited about this. It’s going to be broadcast to select theaters nationwide (including Appleton and Peoria). I already bought tickets for Megan and I because we’re big fans. If you’ve never listened to This American Life you should go to their website and hear an episode or two. They tell true stories in an absolutely brilliant, funny and engaging way. You really have to hear it to understand how good it is. And I’ll bet money that the live show will be a blast. Get tickets here.
Thanks to my brother for getting me hooked on it. Anyone else going?
I thought it was about time for some new self-portraits. So once again I cleared out a corner in our apartment, set up the lights and spent an afternoon being completely vain and taking pictures of myself. I had and idea in my head for a grittier, more sharpened look than last time. I got pretty close to what I wanted (though you can’t really see the detail in these low-res images) and it didn’t requite much editing which was good. I also made a new header image for my blog with one of these shots. So here’s Dave Crow 2008- now with 100% more beard!
Last year Megan and I got to shoot Evan’s 6 month pictures. Last month we spent another afternoon with Evan and his mom for 18 month pictures. He’s grown into quite the little man. Here’s a preview.
And I’m loving the new gallery feature on WordPress. I’m not sure how it will display in RSS feeds, so click through if it looks weird.
That has become my official position on the presidential election.
We spend lots of time and energy debating over which candidate is the “right” candidate. And maybe some of that is good.
But the truth is that I could do research and make a strong argument for any of the candidates. None of them are stupid. They all have their policies and their ideas on how to solve problems and they all have experts to back up what they’re saying.
Just look at the issue of healthcare. I’m sure if I wanted to spend the time, I could write a compelling argument for Obama’s plan but I could just as easily do that for McCain’s. And who am I to claim that I have any idea what would work best?
Or what about the war in Iraq? Do I really have a clue if we should stay there or if it’s time to pull out? I have no military experience and I barely understand foreign policy. But again, I can find strong arguments for both sides.
Most of the time I feel like political debate is really just a contest of who has memorized more arguments to support their side. I happen to support Obama but it wouldn’t be difficult to win a debate with me on who I should vote for. I’ve done some reading but I really can’t pull out stats on the fly to support my decision.
What you look for, you will find. We’re all basing our opinions on someone else’s reporting. And at the end of the day I’m voting on a hunch.
So let’s all admit that I don’t know and neither do you.
I have to say that so far our Lent commitment hasn’t been terribly difficult for me. In fact, I’ve wondered a few times if I should have given up something else.
But then UW-Oshkosh announced that Ben Folds is coming on April 17. Now if the show was in Milwaukee it wouldn’t tempt me so much. But it’s 20 minutes away!
You have to understand that Ben Folds is one of my all-time favorite musicians. I think he is one of the best song writers of our day. His music is largely what made me interested in playing piano when I was in jr. high/high school. I was lucky enough to have a piano teacher that could figure out songs by ear and then write up music for me and Ben Folds was one of the few people playing pop music on the piano. Remember the song “Brick?” (Technically it’s Ben Folds Five, but it still counts.) I can still play most of that on the piano today because it’s ingrained in my memory from playing it so much.
And Ben Folds is probably the only musician that Megan and I get equally excited about. For the most part we don’t mind each other’s music but there aren’t many bands that we’re both really “into.” But when Ben Folds comes on in the car we both sing along.
4 or 5 years ago, when we were dating long distance, Megan called me at work and said that she was driving up to Milwaukee (a 4 hour drive) with some friends because Ben Folds was playing. I cancelled my other plans for that night and drove down there (2 hours for me) and we enjoyed the concert together. I would say that it was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.
So that is why it is really difficult to hold off buying tickets. If I wait and the show is sold out by Easter I will be quite devastated. It’s tempting to just buy them and then ask for forgiveness later. Terrible thought, I know- but don’t pretend something like that has never gone through your mind.
The worst part is that I know what the right thing to do is. I know there is a lesson about trusting God in this. But I want to wait and learn that lesson later- after I see Ben Folds.
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