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Jons_roomate_Tim
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Name: Tim
Location: castro valley, California, United States
Gender: Male
Interests: play guitar and bass, checking my email, falling asleep whilst reading, eating fruit, hymns, talking to people about Jesus and realizing how busy I am and that I need more hobbies.
Expertise: some forms of the musical artistry, sleeping, interior design, women and girls, roomate psychology, eating anything free, talking to people about completly useless subject matter and definitely working out with weights and stuff. Oh, and I could tell you all your problems if you wanted me to.
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
12/4/2003
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| So, if anyone was ever wondering if I am going to post again, go to my new blog and find out. | | |
| - Vienna
In exactly a weeks time I will leave my wonderful house in Castro Valley and travel back to Santa Clarita.
It's been a good Christmas break.
I've read and almost completed a good number of books, watch a DVD
series on the History or Rock, fed my fish, started a new journal,
played a bunch of guitar, led music at church a few times, made a few
meals for the fam, eaten one too many sweets, bought one too many
itunes albums, got my future lined up, and ignored alot of friends.
I've been thinking about faith, deciet, worship, truth, music, ingnorance, and passivity.
The End
"I said you and me we don't have honesty;
The things we don't want to speak." - The Fray
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| - Fly Me To the Moon
It's funny that this week of all weeks I decided I have time to post on
Xanga again. In 2 hours the fourth Christmas Concert starts, and
usually this week marks unfinished work and sleepless nights and
exhausting rehearsals and bad attitudes. I think that isn't
happening because I quit chorale. I show up later, sit around
longer, and don't have rehearsals. I've read more this week than
all of November, and I've even played video games with my roomates a
few times. The only thing I've skipped is my Astronomy class, and
that is only because I stayed up until 2:30 the night before and I knew
I would just fall asleep in the class. I guess that isn't a
legitimate excuse because I fall asleep in that class anyways.
I've studied more for each Astronomy test as the semester progresses,
but my test grades have got progressively worse. The last one was
a fifty-nine percent. I haven't done that bad on a test since
either Spanish 2 in 2000 or Literature with Ms. Houser in 8th
grade. I might have serious problems if I don't really turn on
the turbo for the last test.
I'm passionate about alot of spiritual things, but only in my
head. The way I live often shows no passions at all. I
don't know if this happens to everyone because I've only ever been me,
but I get bored with stuff real quick. Someone told me a couple
nights ago that the Messiah was the most amazing thing they've heard,
and I thought, "Really?" I never had a chance to hear it without
singing it. I tried really hard last night to hear it with new
ears, and it worked 57% or so; anyways I appreciated it way more.
I get sick of snack food especially fast. And lingering smells
are especially atrocious to me. Ugh, and singles too!!!
Whatever happened to an album, folks! Singles are from the
sixties! I got bored with school real quick, and I got
senior-itis in 4th grade. After the first 2 chapters in a book, I
get bored with the writing style and it will be harder to pick
up. I might even do this in friendships, but I am more aware of
that one.
There are a few things I haven't got sick of yet. One of them is
Sigur Ros. Another one of them is my orange hand soap. I
never get sick of hymns, though I might say I do because I want to be
like everybody else and be different. I never get sick of the
breaking of bread, and I never get tired of camp ministry.
I got a bunch-load of itunes $ for my birthday, but I all of a sudden
got in a moral debate with myself about Christian vs. secular
music. I heard a quote from the front of the psalter in the back
of the Geneve Bible that went like this: Put away all ungodly ballads which only lead to the nourishment of vice and the corruption of youth.
I wouldn't whole-heartedly agree with this statement, because as
you can well see from the bottom of my last few posts, I often take
ungodly ballads and draw from them phrases that I deem to be applicable
to some form of Christianity. I have been made to think hard and
long about my own life through secular music. Not to mention that
I enjoy the rhythm, melody and harmony of secular music more than many
of the Christian artists I listen to. But I would agree from my
own life and even more in the lives of others that 'ungodly ballads'
often lead to corruption and vice. It often tempts the listener
to prize the things of the world, value the wrong aspects of character,
and think in a humanistic, self-honoring way. In many ways
secular music puts one inside a secular mind and allows the faulty way
of thinking to be brought into the forefront of the mind.
Is this wrong? No. Is it profitable? It can be, but
if you asked me to read the biography of a pimp or a gangster, I
probably wouldn't want to. What I need to realize is that in
listening to the music of people who often seem harmless and no
different from my moral next door neighbor I am opening my mind to
ungodly thoughts - thoughts without God.
Are there other things that are more profitable than listening to
secular music? Oh, you bet. Pretty much everything the
Bible says to do. Love, serve, listen, learn, pray, etc.
All in all, I don't condemn listening to secular music, but I don't
embrace it as I would reading the Scripture or prayer. I purpose
to approach it with ears of discernment and eyes of watchfulness.
This was especially evident in the Rolling Stones 500 Best albums
coffee table book I recieved for my birthday. I thought, "Would I
put this on my coffee table?" I was ready the articles for the
first 29 albums or so and I realized that they all prized the wrong
things. It definitly wasn't the attitude of despising evil that
Solomon asks of his son in Proverbs 3. I realized that I should
despise the ways of the evil and realize that a guitarist who sold his
soul to the devil or the band that introduced drug-culture or Eastern
Mysticism to the youth of a generation or the bands who scoff at hell
are in the same boat before God that classical musicians are that play
in a spirit of pride or jazz musicians who just play for the fun of it
or for a job and are immoral completely separate from their
music. As if listening to a cd is more dangerous that hanging out
with a non-Chrsitian friend! As if visible sin is worse than
secret sin! The obvious key to honoring God in both is to use
discernment and prize holiness.
In the spirit of the topic and a car conversation, I list my top 25 favorite albums that I have:
1. Switchfoot - Learning to Breathe
2. Audio Adrenaline - Underdog
3. Victor Wooten - A Show Of Hands
4. Muse - Absolution
5. Sigur Ros - ( )
6. Incubus - Morning View
7. Blindside - About a Burning Fire
8. Jeff Buckley - Grace*
9. Weezer - The Blue Album*
10. Keane - Hopes and Fears
11. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
12. Switchfoot - New Way to be Human
13. Blindside - Silence
14. U2 - Joshua Tree*
15. Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear the Most
16. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head*
17. Pax217 - Engage
18. Coldplay - Parachutes
19. The Juliana Theory - Emotion is Dead
20. Audioslave - Audioslave
21. The Juliana Theory - Love
22. The Orange County Supertones - Loud and Clear
23. Pax217 - Pax217
24. Delirious - Glo
25. Jars of Clay - Jars of Clay
*on the Rolling Stones top 500 list - I have other Rolling Stones top 500 albums but they didn't make my list
I'm pretty sure that this list could be re-arranged after I spend my itunes $.
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| - Don't Push
In the spirit of the highly materialistic and indulgent holiday that
reminds me how unthankful I am on other days of the year, I'm thankful
for...
...Christ - May I never give thanks for anything without first
acknowledging that I would have nothing to be thankful for were it not
for his life lived perfect and his death died for me.
...Fairhaven Bible Chapel - I've spent some time this weekend with some
awesome brothers who are an inspiriation to me. Robert Brown,
Bobby Campbell, Jeremy, Bob Bruton, and it's not even Sunday yet!
I really selfishly want the Lord to bring me back there after Masters.
...Itunes - I held out and didn't buy a CD for a year, and my family
bought me alot of Itunes bucks for my birthday. I pretty much
have enough to buy evey cd I really wanted during the year, but I
didn't have to spend any of my precious gas money.
...The Holy Spirit - You know those times when you are right in the
middle of wasting time and you get that twinge in your neck that lets
you know that you shouldn't be doing this? Or when a Jew asks you
to explain why Jesus was the Messiah and you throw up that, "God, don't
let me screw this one up" prayer? Or when you have to talk to a
close friend about the thing you've been avoiding for the last 2
years? Or when you are so doscouraged by your own wickedness that
you can't pray? That's when the Holy Spirit is the best.
Givin the words and all. Hip.
...Small Groups in Glendale - Talk about getting away from the Masters
bubble. We got a Bob Jones grad, 2 Azusa Grads, a Biola Grad, an
Illinois grad, a Glendale City Collegiate, and Vera goes to a graphic
design school in Glendale, and me, a Masters guy and Sam if he
comes. But we all love the Lord and the Bible, and we keep
dishing out our rocks and throwing the bad ones out and it's great.
...My wing - Slight Upper Front. There is no way to describe
it. Maybe I'm a shallow, non-confrontational loser, or maybe the
guys are just awesome, but either way, I am challenged and encouraged
by them and hopefully we all encourage and challenge each other.
From croquet to shotguning to broken sinks to room checks to small
groups, it's legit.
...The Bible - Honestly, where would I (we) be without it. In
hell. Pumps you up when you're down, but smacks you down when
your too high. 'Bone and marrow, sliced' Illuminates the
garbage of the heart, but replaces it with delicacies too wonderful for
this world much less me. Calls me to radical living that is full
of joy and peace in the midst of sin and strife. Holla!
...My van - Probably the coolest thing in creation is the
minivan. Stocked out with double doors, an air compressor, a
broken volume knob, Slurpee stains, 8 seats, and a 22.5 gallon gas
tank, she's ready to go at the drop of a hat. The Vanimal lives!
...Water - water is so cool! Just think about all the different
functions of water: drinking, boiling, swimming, washing,
hydropressure, freezing, cooling, living in it (specifically for fish,
crustaceans, and aquatic mammals), and surprising your roomate with a
cold glass to the face, plus the myriads of uses discovered by other
scientists and the ones they haven't discovered yet. Then think
of all the different places you see water: Oceans, lakes, rivers,
ponds, streams, waterfalls, marshes, puddles, gutters, little fountains
& water art, waves, hurricanes, rain, snow, clouds, fog, hail,
drinking fountains, Sea World, ice sculptures, the dish machine,
toilets, #1 ingredient in most beverages, Placerita Canyon Rd.,
Hurricane Harbor, coffee machines, and Nalgenes (plus a few
more). Then think of all the stuff water can be mixed with.
Coffee, tea, heat, cold, rocks, and friction are a few of the
favorites, but dirt, wind, electronics, carpet, wood, and clothing are
some of the least favorite. Water can make your day (surfing,
kayaking, snowboarding, a bottle after a hot hike or a shower after a
tough day) or screw up your life (New Orleans hurricanes, drowning,
tsunamis, shotgunned in the shower, slip in a puddle, rain out a
baseball game, ruin your solar eclipse party or wedding, put out your
campfire, hypothermia, etc.) If you haven't caught the drift,
then ponder how there is just enough water on earth that we can do all
those things and the awesome system the weather has of recycling it
(evaporation and all that). Then think of how water was created
just right so that it could clean your car but ruin your coffee table,
mix with tea leaves and taste good but mix with soap and or dirt and
taste bad. Think of steam, liquid water, and ice and how
different they are but still the same. And be in awe of God,
because he just made the stuff out of nothing!
I'm also thankful for Master's, Jefe, music, my parents, literature,
Christ's promised return, the ability of my human brain, tea, colors,
Xman, girls for making me appreciate things I would normally skip over,
Dan, sports, food - (how cool is it that our energy comes from stuff
that tastes that good and not grass or dead animals like other species,
or oil like cars), jazz, Todd Johnson, warm stuff when it's cold and
cool stuff when it's hot, 7-11, some aspects of my easy life,
syncopation, both of the Kirbys, photography, analogies, confrontation
and conflict resolved, beauty because we don't deserve it and it
reminds us of God, vacuums, doctors, the hill behind Slight, Mike,
supermarkets, Orange Bang, good scents, Greg, reading and writing,
creativity, F#m#11/A chords resolving to Emaj7/9 chords, the stars,
peanut butter and chocolate mixed, facebook, Batman, my immune system
and my respiratory system (take a deep breath; it feels so good),
In-N-Out burgers, and electric tuners.
I'm not thankful for Satan, demons, sin, my decietful heart, my doubting
mind, my wandering eyes and ears, my disillusioned will, my wrong
intentions, my lack of faith, my selfish desires, and the world.
I should be more thankful for Jesus Christ, chapel, Christmas Concerts,
musical ability, Dr. Plew, what God has done in me, conviction, old
people, the Internet, finances, and good health.
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"Love isn't always free"
"I can see better days!" - The Exit
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| - Over My Head (Cable Car)
Last Thursday I went to the movies for the first time since
Batman Begins. It was right after my one-on-one with Jefe and I
was all pumped up to hang out with a guy who I've been
discipling. I trusted that the movie would be clean and good
because he was going to see it, but it turns out his sister had picked
it, and she's not a believer. The description was innocent enough.
It turned out be the worst movie I've ever seen (or not seen since I
covered my eyes alot) The plot wasn't bad, and a Christian
producer could have taken it and made a good movie of it, but the
unrealistice violence and uneccesary removal of clothing right in front of a camera!, not to mention the skewed worldview, foul language, and mockery of the Christian faith.
I'm not mad at Hollywood, however. I should have researched the
movie, but I didn't. I could have asked questions when I saw it
was rated with an 'R' rating. I should have walked out rather
than covered my eyes to 1) keep my mind from wrong thoughts and 2) be
an example to the young believer who doesn't realize how harmful and
time-wasting watching films can be if it is abused and not filtered
through Scripture.
But I honestly didn't think of doing those things. I may have
decieved myself into thinking that I had not recieved warning calls from the
Spirit, or I may have ignored them and justified it. That is
scary to think about. I remember sitting in the theatre looking
at the upside-down logo on my Koinonia sweatshirt with my hand over my
brow blocking the bared flesh on screen, humming some hymn tune which I
only knew the first two lines of thinking, "How did I get here?"
And the movie went late and I ended up having no conversation about my
spiritual life other than trying to use Scriptural principles to his
sister why even though there are no verses in the Bible that
specifically say, "Don't smoke weed." it is still wrong and is at least
not wise because it wastes money and can be harmful, which isn't very
persuasive to someone who doesn't understand principles from Scripture
and thinks the Bible is a big list of rules instead of a revelation of
God's character. Sure, after the movie I spoke up against it, but
that is about as effective as drinking too much and saying, "Aww, man,
I had too much to drink." You can't exactly change that, buster!
And don't ask what movie it is, because you probably don't know it exists and that is good. It shouldn't exist.
I ended up being depressed until I went to the Friday night Bible Study
at the Kia's and studying (who would have thought this would get me
going) Numbers 1. There are some awesome men from the assemblies
that really know how to use Scripture to form principles. I was
encouraged and I even got to see some NorCal peeps from like 4th grade
or so and from Koinonia.
I love my local body of believers.
I still don't know how to treat my Interpersonal Communication
class. We study the way the world has diced and chopped up the
way we communicate into so many peices that it fills numerous
textbooks. Every chapter I think, "That may be an accurate
observation, but doesn't Scripture say ______? And isn't
Scripture sufficient?" It seems like there have been great
communicators all throughout history without studying it in such a way
that makes every word, question, and intention into a science. We
do this as well with some Christian doctrines and counseling
methods. I'm more and more convinced of the need for the leading
of the Spirit in dealing with people, because like the movie, I
sometimes just forget to do the right thing. I can filter what I
do through Christ's sacrifice, but not through the plethora of
knowledge that I have worked so hard to aquire over the past 17
years. I just don't remember everything! Everything that changes my life is Scripture, and that is
probably true of everyone else who is a believer as well. I've
heard that some professors at the seminary are beginning to have the
opinion that the only think we should study is the Bible. It
seems to fit so many patterns in Scripture, and I have to watch that I
don't dump my classes and do that. On the other hand, I know I
have learned things that are profitable to me, so where's the balance?
Welcome to the scale.
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"Like Kathy Lee needs Regis, that's the way I need Jesus"
"Most of all, we're at war with ourselves"
- Kayne West
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