Kontakion

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. Well I was hit by it, and this was my first opportunity to do it so here we go. 1. I love long hikes in the fall. 2. I am a Steelers Fan 3. I do the majority of the cooking at home. 4. I married my high school sweetheart (long story) 5. I hate, hate spiders. 6. I collect Tom Clark Gnomes 7. My favorite book of the bible is Ecclesiasties 8. I believe that things of fantasy (ie. gnomes, faries, pixies) are more real than we might suspect. 9. I love reading anything history related. 10. I am an avid rock fan 11. I have a very eclectic theology 12. I still play percussion when I get the opportunity. 13. I love hot tea, any kind 14. I write poetry in my spare time. 15. For the last 4 months I have consistentl...

Sorry I don't have the energy for an "original" title to my blog post. This week has been a chore. Going to the gym is going well, I've been everyday but two, unfortunately Katie has been to the gym less so that's something I'm going to try and be very conscious of this coming week. I've also been doing a better job at personal devotions, I've never been very disciplined in this respect but I'm working on it. This week was tough because of some church related issues. Miss-communication at church and then on top of it some of the people that I got advice from I think mis-understood me as well. If there is one thing I hate its being misunderstood, I always strive to explain myself but in this case I either did it insufficiently or more likely the individual twisted the words anyway. Its been a struggle, and I hope and pray that I will be able to proceed with integrity and grace.

I just felt like posting this time what all is happening here at home. Katie and I have finally joined a gym, which we will start working out together tommorrow at. We have also decided our next shopping trip to go on an augmented South Beach Diet. Katie and I were doing that diet when I was in seminary for a couple of months the first semester but then we got pregnant and that went out the window. We decided to augment it to include some things we will go easy on but won't give up. For example, I drink hot tea, and yes I will use sugar. But other than that we are going to follow basically everything else, we will also be including some breads but of course making sure we are just using whole grains, the fact of the matter is we have a three year old so some food items just can't be wiped out (like the bread, and pasta, mac and cheese is one of the two basic food groups for a three year old, the other is chicken nuggets). Katie and I are both very excited about this, and...

Its now time for my annual book post. Every year that I've had a blog I've done this, post my total number of pages for the year, the averages, and my pics for best books. I don't think I've ever really explained this, but I started this in 2004 after remembering what my high school English teacher said, that we should keep track and notes of the books we read for easy reference. So I put the month read, author, title, pages I read in the book, and a quick word reference as well as occasional notes when I deem necessary. So here goes, 2007 numbers - 11,788 pages for the year 982.33 pages per month 245.58 pages per week 10.23 pages per day 2008 numbers - 12,954 pages for the year 1,079.50 pages per month 268.88 pages per week 38.55 pages per day This is actually the highest amount I've had since 2004, 2004 was the year I graduated from college and started seminary and the page amount that year was 20,626 we'll...

At the end of last week I was able to finish a few more of my church books. One of them being "The Circle of Seasons" by Kimberlee Conway Ireton. This book I felt was an excellent read. In it Kimberlee really stresses what you as an individual can do to commemorate the seasons of the church in your home life. I liked it and actually plan on using some of the ideas for church worship services. Please understand though this book was written more as a personal or family tool not a church worship tool per say. Over all an excellent and easy read.

I just recently finished the book "Sabbath in the City" by Dryan P. Stone and Claire E. Wolfteich and what a refreshing read. It was refreshing because the areas that this book recommends for Pastors in urban areas to work on have been areas that I have already identified in my own life that I need to work on. It was amazing (even though it shouldn't have been) how much I have in common with many of the other pastors that serve in urban parishes. I have been coming to grips with being an urban pastor. That is being a pastor in the third largest city in Pa. I've never shunned urban ministry, but I have never had to identify myself as an urban pastor, its a perspective change. Personally I think this is a must read book. So much so that I believe I will be re-reading it in the near future so that I can be reminded to take a sabbath, and put sabbath practices front and center in my life and ministry. As you can tell I highly recommend this book to anyone, includi...

Well I never do these memes, but I saw this on over at "Art's Strange World" and thought what the heck, I'll give it a shot. Like him I won't tag anyone just let you know how to do it if you feel like it. The idea is that you take your MP3 player and put it on shuffle and use the songs that come up as the answers to the questions, of course this needs to be done no matter how silly it ends up being. I figured it would be something fun and interesting to do especially since I haven't posted about music for quite a while. So here it goes. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY? Guaranteed (Eddie Vedder) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Rest Stop (Matchbox Twenty) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Lost in Hollywood (System of a Down) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE? Underwater Sun (Spongebob, this isn't the artist but I figured you would want to know where it comes from) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Jeremy (Pearl Jam) This is actually kind of disturbing WHAT D...