CASH

Johnny Cash has been coming up a lot lately. The first time was on the plane last week debating Shasta about whether country music could be good. Conclusion: Johnny Cash is good. Twangy, nasal singing and steel guitars... bad.

Then my good buddy Dan sent this link to an article about Cash in Touchstone magazine.

One of the things I love about Johnny Cash is how in his later life he started stealing various songs and converting them into vehicles for his own messages. So you have him taking Trent Reznor's (Nine Inch Nails) "Hurt" and transforming it from Reznor's meditation on addiction into a reflection on mortality and, ultimately, faith. Here's Reznor's own thoughts on that process.

And here is the video of Cash's version of the song:

meeting doodle #4: I like your crazy party hat

We Were Young

Krista and I are going through old pictures today and we saw this one... just before we went overseas with some of our friends.

Seems like a long time ago now. We miss you guys!

Meeting Doodle #3: The Vine

Meeting Doodle #2

A long week of meetings last week... good meetings, mostly. Some of them were great.

But that doesn't stop the nervous doodling.

Here's one of the three doodles from last week I feel are worthy of sharing at BHR. It's called "WSN FOREVER!"

Radio interview with yours truly

I've been asked to be in a radio interview next week. I'll give you details when I know when it will be broadcast, but someone contacted me to ask if I could talk with them about the "Disarming Questions" article in Discipleship Journal in the Jan/Feb issue.

We're doing the interview next week, and then they'll take a week to edit it and make me sound all smart and stuff. At least I hope so.

And that's the rest of the story.

Sew it has come to this

My daughter A has been learning how to sew from Grandma Maggie. Apparently A whipped up a skirt for herself earlier today. She's made a couple of pillows and another skirt, too. Krista related the following conversation to me tonight:

Krista: I can't sew very well. And your Dad isn't even interested in sewing, he'll probably never learn to sew.

A (horrified): You mean that for the rest of his life he'll have to buy his clothes?

An update on Silence

After World War II there was a sudden surge of quality Christian art and literature in Japan. As the fuedal system collapsed many from the samurai class abandoned their traditional beliefs to follow Christ... in fact, most of the earliest believers following World War II were samurai class. Many of the artists from this time have become some of Japan's most revered 20th century artists. One of the best respected of these was a Catholic novelist named Shusaku Endo.

I've been reading Endo's most famous novel, Silence, this week. It takes place in the 16th century during a time of brutal oppression for the Christians. Father Sebastian Rodrigues hears word that his old teacher, a missionary in Japan for the last thirty years, has abandoned the faith rather than accepting a glorious martyrdom at the hands of the Japanese government. Disturbed by this report, he and two other priests set out on the harrowing journey to a nearly inaccessable Japan, determined to learn the truth.

It is an amazing book. I've just passed the halfway point, and already this book haunts me, and has given me a clearer picture of suffering and persecution, faith and discipline. There are scenes of peace with a strange clarity in the midst of the destruction all around Father Rodrigues, and a Christ who speaks softly in the midst of the apparent silence of God in Japan.

I'm looking forward to the end... I'm going to go read it right now.

Atlantis

A really interesting post about Atlantis showing up in google earth. Check it out.

ALLIGATOR!

My friend Shasta and I were driving by a lake today and we saw an alligator swimming in it. He was trolling along through the center of the lake, his big reptillian tail swishing along behind him.

We decided we needed to take a closer look, so we came back a little later and went on a hunt. We walked along the edge of the lake, but we couldn't find it. There were little bubbles rising every once in a while and Shasta looked for rocks to throw to see if we could get it to rise. I started getting a little creeped out because the thought of a muscular eight-foot lizard rising out of the water and snapping at us can creep a guy out.

We decided to walk around to the other side of the lake. We saw some big weird birds that could barely stay up in the branches of the tree they were roosting in. I figured if they fell in the water we might see some Animal Planet action.

As we were about to give up, we walked along the last bit of the lake and there it was, right up near the edge, its eyes and snout sticking up from the water. I went up to get a good look at it and Shasta started assuring me that it would eat me. She didn't want to throw rocks at it anymore. Our friend says that the distance from its eyes to the tip of its snout in inches equals its length in feet. If that's true it's about twelve feet long. I thought it might be eight feet long, though.

The frightening thing about an alligator, besides the muscles under that scaly armor plating, is the eyes. The gator had a dispassionate look, like it had weighed me and didn't matter if I lived or died, like I might look at a plate of raw meat I was about to put on the grill. I could see the flick of the eyelids sliding over the eyes and back. I could see its heavy jowls under the water. We walked past it and back around the lake.

Shasta said I was too close, but I noticed that I wasn't attacked or harmed in any way. Which would argue that I wasn't too close.

I think we're going to take some friends to see it tomorrow.

Dream Roommates

I had a dream early this morning that I lived in a house with a bunch of guys, and I was getting ready to take a shower and one of the guys got in before me, so I was standing there in my towel just really angry at him. And then the other guys all would steal my turn in the shower and I was getting angrier and angrier until I woke up.

I was still mad. I calmed down and then went back to sleep. Now my roommates had invited a bunch of their friends over for karaoke and I was trying to sleep. I started yelling at them GUYS KNOCK IT OFF but they wouldn't stop and then I woke up again.

Stupid dream roommates.

Fascinating

I found this interesting... a father was concerned about his son playing a first person shooter game, so he told his son he can play the game... but he has to follow the Geneva Conventions.

Read the Dad's write up about it here.

And links to the Geneva Conventions on wikipedia.

Guess Who

My friend Sam sent me a note telling me about a great honor that she and her boyfriend have blessed me with. You may recall the game "GUESS WHO" (pictured at left). In the game, you and your opponent have the same gameboard but can't see each other's cards. You opponent draws a card with a character's face on it and you have to guess which card they hold by asking them questions. "Is it a man or woman? Are they wearing a hat? etc."

Sam and her boyfriend decided that this game wasn't enough fun, so they made their own board with the faces of people they know. Please study the following board and see which of your friends are included. I think you'll like some of the surprising people included in the picture below.

Unfortunately, it's too easy to find out if I am the card chosen in the game, as the player has merely to say, "Is this person a swarthy Greek?" If the answer is yes, it's me... as you can see from the picture to the left. Be sure to leave comments about the people you know in the picture.

At the Univeristy of Portland

I spoke last night at the "Fish" meeting at University of Portland, a Catholic university here in Oregon. It's a student run meeting associated with Campus Crusade and run with the blessing of the university. We had a great time. I was really impressed with the students, who told me their theme for the semester ("a faith worth sharing"), their mission statement ("becoming fishers of men"... thus the name Fish), and the scripture they wanted me to teach from (Acts 10... Cornelius and Peter).

There were about 70 students and they are doing lots and lots of things right... they are friendly, worship-focused, Christ-centered and interested in helping others hear about Christ. They partner naturally with others... they are moving the meeting next week (Ash Wednesday) so that people can go to mass if they like, they are promoting a guy coming to speak at another church this weekend, they had in me from CCC and another couple guys from a Christian Outdoors ministry who were looking for summer staff... and they're planning their own retreat, and they are putting together a team for a "Run for Life" event (and so on and so on).

All in all I was really encouraged. We met a few months back with one of the UP staff, and she told me that at various gatherings of Catholic schools they brag about what a strong, healthy relationship they have with this Inter-denominational organization, Campus Crusade for Christ. And I want to brag about them, too... it is a pleasure to work with the UP staff ministering together to these students. And the school is so generous to the Fish students... even supporting them financially when they go on CCC mission trips and conferences. Amazing.

All that to say... praise God that we can work together and help point one another toward Christ and greater devotion to Him.

And that's all I have to say about that.

A Tardy Valentine Tip For the Men

I have been trying to explain to you gentlemen for some time that a quick way to make some points with the ladies is to watch some version of the movie Pride and Prejudice.

Many of you have not heeded my advice. I'm sure this is because the amount of dedication required to watch a movie that is all about relationships, misunderstandings, slavish devotion, imperiled love and the weird girl getting her man is a little too much for you.

Never fear, a new (slightly edited) version of Pride and Prejudice is now available, which will allow you to dazzle your woman. Now you can read... Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

Note: Please be aware that when your special lady cuddles up against you and asks, honey, what was your favorite moment in Pride and Prejudice? that the correct answer is NOT When Mr. Darcy bit Mr. Wickham in the face. You have been warned!

Doodling In Meetings

I have this unstoppable desire to doodle during meetings. I'm engaged and paying attention, but my hands need something to do while the rest of me is in the meeting.

I was in meetings all last week, and here's my favorite doodle from that time. As near as I can tell this monster is about to go on a first date and he's nervous.

A Little Help Requested from My Minions

I'm working on the research for my Church History report in about a month. I have permission from my professor to study the use of fiction and story by Christian authors to create change in the culture around them and point people toward Christ.

The catch, of course, being that I can't use European or Western authors. Which removes large chunks of the more familiar Christian literature (which is, I am sure, precisely the point).

Here's what I'm working on so far:

I'm going to read
Silence by the famous Japanese Catholic author, Shusaku Endo.

I'll also read Things Fall Apart: A Novel by Chinua Achebe, the "father of modern African writing."

As well as At the Master's Feet by Sadhu Sundar Singh, the famous Indian mystic who converted to Christianity after seeing a vision of Christ. I'll be paying special attention to his parables, and in fact you can read a book that has some samples of his work in Wisdom of the Sadhu, which is available as a pdf for free online. I think you'll find it interesting.

HERE'S THE PROBLEM and why I need your help... as you may have noticed, all three of these authors are from the 20th century. I've been working on finding some pre-20th century, non-western, Christian authors who use fiction, story or narrative in their work. I am certain some of you out there can help, so I am planning to use you as a sort of Monstrous Hive Mind to give me some direction. So leave a comment if you've got a thought... thanks!

Hear Ye Hear Ye

I hereby release all SafeWay checkers from their responsibility to attempt to say my last name when I go through their line.

This applies to people who attempt to disguise their uncertainty about my name's pronunciation by slurring it while dropping their voice and turning away... like so... "Thank you, Mr. Mikulphruggig."

This applies, likewise, to the people who boldly pronounce a mutilated version of name, making certain to catch my eye and dare me to correct them... like so... "Thank you, Mr. Mike-Al-Ay-Toast. Did I say that right?"

This also applies to those who look at the receipt, see my name and say, "Thank you, Mr.... how do you say your name?" STOP ASKING! OBVIOUSLY I DON'T KNOW! It's Greek for crying out loud, and I am an American. Your guess is as good as mine.

In conclusion, from now on feel free to call me "Mr. Matt" or "Mr. Mik" or even to say, "Thank you, sir."

Sincerely,

Mr. Mikellangelottos

Sometimes you can't answer a question as simple as "What's your name?"

My daughter A has this habit of making up words. She likes to call me "Dewey." It originally started as Dad, Daddy, Doody, and eventually became Dewey. Or maybe Dooey. Not sure on the spelling. Anyway, she also likes to say in a sort of singsong chant, "Hi, Dewey, what's your name, Dewey?"

And you think the correct reply would be, "Dewey." But you would be wrong.

The correct response is, "IIIIIIIIIIvvvyyyyyyyy." I can never remember that this is what I am supposed to say. So she has to coach me.

Last week we had a conversation like this:

A: Hi, Dewey, what's your name Dewey?

Me: IIIIIIIIIvvvvvyyyyy.

A: That's right, Dewey! And do you know what Ivy means?

Me: No.

A: It's your name!

Me: Oh!

A: And in English it means a type of plant.

NAMELESS

There's a new website that I think all of you BHR minions will find enjoyable and probably want to join.

It's a project where people are encouraged to leave little notes and bookmarks in publicly accessible books. You know, like library books.

Some of them are pretty funny. Like this note in Lord of the Rings and this one in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Go make your own!