Comments Posted By patty
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oh my god. i love nicholas. i can sort of see him in my mind and imagine what he must be like. i can’t believe that he brought his inventions to AWANA.
and now…enough cooing over nicholas…and on to the broader issue at hand…
you know, from what i understand, many forms of Christianity have a very sanitized (and inacurrate) understanding of the language that is used in the Bible. For instance, I once had a friend of mine that was well educated in biblical studies tell me that most Christians would be shocked to hear a literal translation of some of the language that David uses in the Psalms. Apparently, for it’s time period and context, it was quite harsh- even considered by many to be an equivalent to swearing. I hear things like that and I think, hmmmm…I do think it is a matter of the heart…and my intention in the word. In other words, I can say the most reserved, holy, righteous, rehearsed, sanitized prayer and not mean a word of it. Or, I can use language that many would classify as “bad” and be totally broken before God. Sometimes a curse word is just the most accurate word…and I even think that sometimes the most appropriate place to utilize one is in prayer. Honestly. Not in a gratuitous manner (doing it just to be doing it), but rather when expression makes it necessary, when I am really taking all that I am before God, it is usually pretty intense, and usually manifests itself in some pretty intense language, I guess. This might sound scandelous, but in my weakest, most human moments, sometimes a curse word is the only prayer that I can get out.
And, as far as I am aware, God has never abandoned me there, but rather he always comes to meet me there. So, I guess that means He is not threatened or intimidated by my potty mouth…
» Posted By patty On April 29, 2005 @ 2:47 am
Sensuality is not antithetical to faith
what i dislike the most about many forms of organized christianity is the way it is so finicky about “who is in” and “who is out” and how easily someone that “is in” can become someone that “is out”. moreover, how the christian machine is so willing to “own” a person when that person fits their mold and “disown” the person when that person breaks out of it.
it is an acceptance based on convenience not committment and it drives me nuts.
plus, i happen to be one of the people that, like the author of the article, grins when Bono steps outside the mold.
» Posted By patty On January 30, 2005 @ 1:44 pm
you know, i think it was hunter thompson or thomas pynchon that described the universe as a cosmic game of pool in which god was hitting balls and scattering them about into a chaos that he did not control.
makes an interesting addition to the dice you are referencing…
» Posted By patty On August 6, 2004 @ 2:54 pm
Malcolm in the (not quite) Middle
well…i have been following this thread for a few days now…silently standing in the shadow of the corner…being a cyberflower…just wondering where the conversation would go…and its gone on so long now that perhaps no one will read my little comment here, but regardless, i thought i would share what i have been thinking as i read the dialogue…
when i read conversations like this, i think of the verses that talk about removing the planks from our eyes…you know removing the planks from our own first, then assisting our brothers in removing theirs. there are so many things that i think we forget about planks. mainly, that they obstruct our vision, cause us pain, and need removal.
the second thought that occurs to me is this: do you have any idea how close you have to get to someone in order to remove a plank from their eye? it is a “surgery” that cannot be done from across the room. rather, you have to get as close to the person as a dentist or an optometrist. you have to be comfortable enough with a person to put your face right next to theirs- your eyes peering into theirs- in order to remove it. it’s almost an intimate experience. if you weren’t removing the plank, you would probably otherwise be kissing.
you understand what i mean here? that removing planks requires some serious movement toward one another- when what we tend to do is scatter for the polar corner- choosing sides and shooting flaming arrows at each other’s hearts.
so, what i dislike most about positions like malcolm’s (which, God bless you Malcolm, your passion for God is noteworthy. certainly we could all express our love for Christ more than we do) is that to me, it feels like the cannon fodder from a distant army that is standing far away, closed to communication and conversation. and what i want to say to them is, you probably have something to teach me, and i probably have something to teach you…so let’s start walking toward one another…let’s get comfortable enough with one another and close enough with one another to look each other in the eyes and start removing planks.
well, now. there i have done off and practically written a sermon. i swear…someday i am going to go to seminary.
» Posted By patty On April 29, 2005 @ 1:46 pm
all the evidence that you ever need that i am truly your friend. i waited through the near 10 minute download time to watch your movie.
my two favorite parts were denial and bargaining. denial because of the intensity and bargaining because i thought the uphill battle was an especially accurate portrayal of the experience. also, that shadow shot from under the bridge during Depression was nice.
» Posted By patty On April 26, 2005 @ 2:44 am
i got my first tattoo about a year ago. (there is a picture of it on my blog somewhere.) it was something that i had been thinking about since college and i knew for several years what i wanted to get, and that idea remained consistent- so the decision as to what to put on my body was not whimsical, but actually meticulously pre-meditated.
i got a black and white tattoo of a lilly. it was symbolic of a scripture (matthew 6) that is very meaningful to me and, ultimately it was an expression of faith, hope, and remembrance of certain things about christ- kind of like building an altar was in the OT. i guess it is kind of like a contemporary altar on my body- at least that is the way i think of my tattoo.
i’m currently planning my second; hoping to get in around christmastime this year.
» Posted By patty On October 16, 2004 @ 1:20 pm
rob- i am absolutely laughing out loud right now. i love this post.
it’s been a long week (moving, traveling, etc.) and i must say that a good laugh was just what i needed.
ciao,
patty
» Posted By patty On April 6, 2005 @ 5:31 pm
Your political compass:
Economic Left/Right: -7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.36I’m very close in proximity to Nelson Mandela and the Dahli Lama, on the left side of Libertarianism.
This was very insightful and worthwhile. Thanks for posting it.
» Posted By patty On October 2, 2004 @ 12:35 pm
i know whis was a long time ago- but dammit, its cool.
i built a water slide out of pvc pipe once. it was for a technology project in 7th grade.
ever since then, pvc pipe has held a special place in my heart.
» Posted By patty On August 10, 2004 @ 2:57 am
Auto-dimming mirror upgrade (w/ compass!)
if you were a super hero, we would call you Modification Man.
😉
» Posted By patty On June 15, 2005 @ 12:09 pm
i think its great.
why buy a new razor when you have the skills to repair a perfectly good one?
not to get all ecological and everything (well, ok, maybe just a little), but at least this razor is not filling a dump somewhere…
» Posted By patty On May 21, 2005 @ 2:36 pm
Monkey Poets and Integer Pointers
you’re going to need some caffiene.
(for that all nighter before your pointer final)
» Posted By patty On November 19, 2004 @ 1:35 am
rob these mod things are fun to read. i need to find someone like you in indy who can come and add mods to all my small appliances…a voice activated hair dryer, for instance, would be fabulous. seriously, though, you remind me of McGyver.
this post brought back some fond memories of my 7th grade science fair project in which i built (all by myself) a transistor radio. it was the only time in my life that i have ever soldered anything. and although i actually found the soldering quite relaxing, my little seventh grade heart was quite broken when all i got was static.
:o(
alas, i am not the mod genius that is rob lund…
» Posted By patty On April 9, 2005 @ 3:00 am
that feature on my toyota corolla is the bane of my existence.
wish i had your engineering skills to disable it on my car…unfortunately teaching my car Spanish (the skill that I am good at) will not coax it into keeping the headlights off during broad daylight…sigh.
» Posted By patty On February 19, 2005 @ 3:42 pm
good to know that you are now free to scan your own groceries just for fun.
😉
jftr, i have never heard of a cue cat…you are a rare bird (or at least an engineering one)…
» Posted By patty On February 2, 2005 @ 11:35 pm
interesting. awhile back on the excelsis blogs (like over a year ago) we were discussing at what historical point christianity started divorcing the phiysical and the spiritual to result in the now common chrisitan dychotomy that flesh (physical) is equal to bad and the transcendental (soul, spirit) is equal to good.
apparently, it has not always been the case. i vaguely remember someone referencing that in regard to hebrew tradition, the spiritual and the physical were more integrated- and this integration was an aspect of upright living.
at any rate, this book sounds touching. that poem of craig’s- damn. reminds me of some sonnets that I really like but have a hard time reading because they are so personal and desribe human longing so well.
oh, btw…not sure if it is allegorical or not, but Raina (in English) sounds like the Spanish word reina, which means Queen.
» Posted By patty On August 13, 2004 @ 3:55 am
Rob and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
ever read a book called the pokey little puppy? that was my favorite book when i was a kid. ironically, my dad pulled a “mom” trick and gave it back to me a few years ago after i had mentioned it in a conversation.
dads can be pretty cool, too.
sorry about your string of bad days…
» Posted By patty On March 2, 2005 @ 3:50 am
this is going to sound very mystical of me- but hey- hidden deep inside is a poet…when i read your post it reminded me of that place in romans 3 (keep in mind, i am not big on quoting scripture)…that talks about how god has placed each of us here during a specific time and a specific place. i find it fascinating that i exist, and that i exist now. i find it fascinating that i exist now as opposed to any other time in human history. i exist simultaneously with rob lund and carl v. (whoever carl v. is).
so many factors went in to each of us existing that the fact the we exist is truly amazing. and the fact that we exist at the same time (breathe the same air, share water and space) makes me feel very small- but very small in a way that i feel a part of something very big.
focus on others, indeed. well said.
» Posted By patty On March 13, 2005 @ 5:44 pm
oh…and i am sure that you will rock my little fuchsia world…
😉
» Posted By patty On March 30, 2005 @ 11:52 am
i bet you could get crayola to sponsor your gigs.
fuchsia minutiae sounds like a great suggestion for a new crayon…
i can just see thousands of little fuchsia crayons suspended poetically in the air during your monster ballads…
» Posted By patty On March 30, 2005 @ 11:51 am
in light of god’s diverse creative displays on our own planet, i find that entertaining thoughts about extraterrestrial lifeforms is actually pretty logical.
and btw, gorgeous pictures…including the ones without the flying saucer.
» Posted By patty On October 16, 2004 @ 1:25 pm
so funny. i was busting a gut laughing.
i swear to god himself that i was just thinking the other day about starting to photograph tacky lawn ornaments and make an ongoing collection of them throughout my lifetime. i passed a particularly absurd display in broadripple the other day when the idea came to pass.
» Posted By patty On August 6, 2004 @ 10:59 pm
wow.
if your blog suddenly stops being active on April 16, we’ll know you didn’t make it…that somehow in it’s jenga-esque state, the stack of manuscripts and forms came down like an avalanche upon you when you pulled the W2 out from under the bottom of the pile…
good luck my friend…and, uh, don’t get too jealous when i say that my dandy little return was direct deposited on friday afternoon.
😉
» Posted By patty On February 28, 2005 @ 1:53 am
i fantasize regularly about being amish. i’ve written about this on my blog somewhere.
at minimum once a day my mind creates a scenerio in which i get up from my desk, speechlessly wave good-bye to my coworkers, shed my professional garb, and hitch-hike to an amish settlement. i can see myself churning butter and milking cows. hell, i can even see myself making biscuits and sweeping floors. really strange for someone who identifies with feminism.
sometimes i wonder if the feminism is really an expression of a woman trying to get out- back to who she really is- but can’t because of the mechanical systems of the world that have taken hold.
there is something very freeing about the prospect of abandoning civilization. i wish i could stop flirting with it and actually do it.
» Posted By patty On August 6, 2004 @ 2:50 pm
ok…i feel slightly like an arse. although only slightly. after posting the previous comment, i thought i would scoot over to percolations.net to give those “good ole-boys” a piece of my mind concerning god’s gender, and making wise cracks about the whole rib thing.
which would be when, of course, i promptly discovered that percolations.net is a site run by women that are doing amazing thigns and discussing their legacy, heritage, and hard work.
i apologize for assuming the they were “good ole’boys” (thus qualifying me as 1/2 of an arse.)
next time, i will look before i leap.
😉
although, i stand by my original assertion that #1 under post-skull hardening is mis-categorized.
» Posted By patty On March 13, 2005 @ 6:14 pm
uh, i’m sorry…you accidentally classified God being a “guy” under the post-skull hardening category.
i’ll forgive you for the error…surely it was an oversight…and you intended #1 in the post-skull hardning category to read:
1) Girls. Surely the good ole’ boys over at Percolations.net are mistaken. In my wiser years, I have come to interpret the rib-ectomy as figurative and poetic- an expression of the unity that connects humanity. I have come to appreciate the fact the women are wonderful contributors to scholarship, culture, and athletics. They are not purely domestic creatures and,in fact, we have less of an accurate imaging of God by projecting any biological determination onto His personhood. Girls are wonderful. I love girls.
Don’t worry- I got you covered. I knew that was what you meant.
😉
» Posted By patty On March 13, 2005 @ 5:57 pm
as a child, i hated them. i think i was traumatized early on by the scene from the wizard of oz with the witch flying by dorothy’s window and the house landing on her. i guess in my magical thinking as a kid i extrapolated to think all tornados did that.
as an adult, i do think they are breathtaking (as long as they are on FILM). 🙂
» Posted By patty On June 9, 2005 @ 12:16 pm
i saw the yes men movie awhile back…i absolutely loved it…have them linked on my blog…
» Posted By patty On April 6, 2005 @ 5:32 pm
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
’bout time you saw this movie.
glad you liked it.
» Posted By patty On January 24, 2005 @ 1:57 am
«« Back To Stats Pagei’ve seen both movies, and liked both movies.
the difficult thing about any kind of commentary/critique/controversy is how quickly the conversations landslide into a polarized discussion. for some reason, western logic seems to be to pick a side- make someone bad and someone good. find a villain and find a hero. often without the finger ever pointing at us.
over the last several years, i have learned to purposely try to look at controversial issued as multi-faceted and complex. to me, the problem with documantaries like Columbine and Super SM is that they represent only one extreme. When you present that extreme to a country that is largely not educated to scrutinize information or contemplate complexities, you end up with alot of blind allegience.
i think individuals have responsibility. i think corporations have responsibility. i think institutions have responsibility. doesn’t it take of them exercising responsibility to maintain a holistic, healthful society?
last year i was reading a book by Walter Wink about the powers inherent to institutions. He had this to say about what he terms capitalist heresy:
“Many businesses and corporation executives ignore God’s humanizing purposes, and speak rather of profit as the ‘bottom line.’ But this is a capitalist heresy. According to the eighteenth-century philosopher of capitalism Adam Smith, businesses exist to serve the general welfare. Profit is the means, not the end. It is the reward a business receives for serving the general welfare. When a business fails to serve the general welfare, Smith insisted, it forfeits its right to exist. ”
i found it interesting that one of the founding fathers of capitalism married the free market to corporate responsibility.
finally, as an educator, i am troubled by what i believe to be the intentional mind numbing practices of the public education system- how children are systematically uneducated to become irresponsible consumers. too much profit is tied to public education and too many corporatations have their hooks into children through the doors of America’s schools.
ok. enough. it’s too early in the morning for me to write a dissertation. i’ll need at least another cup of coffee before i can do that.
😉
» Posted By patty On August 17, 2004 @ 12:37 pm