The World Cup has been a lot of things this year. It has been the first year that I have actually watched and cared about outcomes. It has been a year of nail-biter victories from the Comeback Kids from the USA, only to lose a heartbreaker against Ghana. A year of bad referee calls, favorites losing (England) and crazy talent (Brazil, Argentina). But for me, something I realized while taking a shower (a great place to think...and sing), is that it is a trip down memory lane.
Let me explain. Do you have those moments in life that are permanently nailed down by some event outside of your life? Perhaps it is a song that was playing on your first date, and everytime you hear that song, it takes you back. Perhaps it is your favorite sports team winning the championship on the week you graduated (San Antonio Spurs, 2003). For me, the World Cup brings me back to four years ago, when I was in the town of Ohrid, Macedonia, watching the final game with my closest Miami and Macedonian friends.
My trip to Ohrid was with a Campus Crusade for Christ Summer Project. It was one of those pivotal moments in my life where I had one idea for my life and that idea slowly got turned on its head. It was one of those trips that they make movies about; beautiful international locale, drama and love found (Joel and Caitlin eventually got married), of crazy adventures, naked cliff jumps, growth, pranks, and friendship. And above all, for me, it was a time where God continued to show me what it means to follow Him.
Ohrid is one of the most beautiful places in the world; at least looking back through my rose-colored glasses it is. And it was one of the most influential places in my life. Yet it is in the past. And sometimes the past is hard to look back on. I have come a long way from then and still have a long way to go. Many of those who went are now married, some with kids. Two of us are getting married in the next 4 months (congrats Kimberly...and me:) and everyone is beyond Miami University, some to staff with CCC and others to jobs elsewhere. The relationships I had during that time in Ohrid I thought would be with me for the rest of my life. And they are in some ways. But it isn't what I had imagined.
Jane Armstrong once gave a talk my freshman year of college about how God brings people into your life for a season and may take them out of your life again. For that season, as a soon to be college senior, I didn't have a whole lot of people in my day to day life who knew me deeply. So God brought people into my life to teach me. To challenge me to step out and be willing to take risks. He brought dear friends into my life to teach me what it means to love so much that it brings me to tears. He showed me a little glimpse of His heart for the world and it broke my heart to see those who need Him. There are so many lessons I learned from that trip, so many things that in my weaker moments, I wish I could go back and live there again, with the same people, and experience it over and over again.
I always swore I would go back to Macedonia, to relive those moments. And I hope one day I do make it back. Not to relive those moments, but to be able to see where this grande adventure has taken me and what God has done in my life. To remember not for the purpose of living in the past, but for the purpose of praising God for how he used the past to shape me. I will always love Macedonia... and the World Cup will always bring me back to that time in my life where I would do anything for a palacinki and peach tea.
I am not nearly as die hard as many... but to see the USA score in the 91st minute, powering through getting the short of many calls and coming away with the last minute win was a great example of why Italians call soccer "the beautiful game."
"All I have are the choices I make. And I choose her." I think this movie looks really interesting. Big fan of the two leads. Check out the trailer and let me know what you think.
You really ought to check out a brilliant blog post by Don Chaffer of Waterdeep. It finds connections in the oddest of places and somehow manages to relate The Nicene Creed, the Holy Trinity, heat pumps and Journey. Take a moment, sit back and ponder the truly incredible implications (I don't know what those implications are, but it is a profound read). Check it out HERE or go to http://www.rabbitroom.com/?p=7324#comment-87359.
“In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was very far away and Digory found it hard to decide from what direction is was coming. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.” ~ C.S. Lewis, page 116 of The Magicians Nephew Yes, yes, I know, this is another post about music but this is one that you need to download. That a band would get their name from the page number of a CS Lewis book is the coolest band name idea I have ever heard of and just one of many reasons that Page CXVI is about the coolest worship band I know (and I do know them...well, I have met them many times). Why, you ask?
One: I am not too keen on female lead singers but theirs is one that can sing in a way that makes me soul soar. Even if you don't like Jesus music, you can listen to their music and be impressed at the musical quality. Two: They take ancient hymns and update the music on them. I know this is not a new concept but I think they do it better than most, even better than a lot of the stuff I have heard coming out of Passion worship music. To check out their first album FOR FREE, click on the above banner! Seriously, it has been on rotation in my iPod for the last year and I am still not sick of it. Three: As mentioned before, ow cool is it that the band is named after a page in CS Lewis' book "The Magicians Nephew" (part of the Chronicles of Narnia) where Aslan sings the world into existence. Yes, music has that kind of power.
Their music goal is "the idea of making hymns accessible and known again. They are some of the richest, most meaningful, and moving pieces of music ever written." With their first album, they updated Come Thou Fount, In Christ Alone, My Jesus I Love Thee, When I Survey the Wonderful Cross, Nothing But the Blood, Solid Rock, and Joy... and all that is available to you FREE this week only! Click on any of the links or go to http://www.pagecxvi.com/share. Tell your friends. This is really good stuff. The track list of the new album is
I am getting married this year and so I have some leeway on being a sappy romantic. Let's be honest, those who know me know that I have always been a hopeful romantic, so this shouldn't be any news. I am a sucker for a good love song (Dave Barnes, anyone?) and what my brother said is true: "Once you say 'I love you' to a girl, every love song will change in your mind forever." Well, I am getting married, am still a sucker for a good love song, and a good friend of my fiancee and I sent us this song. Apparently it was used in the finale of Ugly Betty? It is called "Be My Only" and is by a group called FM Radio, made up of Schuyler Fisk and Tim Myers (who I had never heard of before this). Hope you enjoy... and yes, feel free to leave the snarky sarcastic comments. I would probably do the same.
I wrote a review of a book called "Imaginary Jesus" by Matt Mikalatos that was posted to RelevantMagazine today. Check it out at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/books/reviews/21189-imaginary-jesus and let me know what you think. I really enjoyed the book, though it was a madcap adventure that got alternately bizarre and hilarious and then serious and challenging. Well done to rookie author Mikalatos!
The World Cup has been a lot of things this year. It has been the first year that I have actually watched and cared about outcomes. It has been a year of nail-biter victories from the Comeback Kids from the USA, only to lose a heartbreaker against Ghana. A year of bad referee calls, favorites losing (England) and crazy talent (Brazil, Argentina). But for me, something I realized while taking a shower (a great place to think...and sing), is that it is a trip down memory lane.
