Jul 13 2005

Communicative Abilities & Propensities

Category: Uncategorized — dryvetyme @ 19:57

If you’re anything like me (if that’s even possible), you think a lot. And you do that thinking fairly often. I’ve been told that thinking can get you into trouble because you’ll start questioning things. You’ll start questioning the theology that’s been driven into you by your cultural surroundings and, according to some, that kind of thinking is very bad. And I used to think that too; thus, when I started engaging in such thinking, I became consumed with a fairly large amount of guilt. Needless to say, I wasn’t too healthy spiritually. But I’ve worked through much of that guilt (thanks in part to Finding Faith by Brian McLaren) and I’m glad to say that I enjoy a healthy dose of questioning, doubting, pondering, and such like intellectual pursuits.

I say all of that to say this: Go read the blog of my friend Rick, especially his most recent post. I find his lines of thinking to be refreshing and rather engaging. More than anything else, I’m amazed at his ability to write so frequently, so freely, and with so much depth on a regular basis. I often spend days just chasing around on my favorite blogs and commenting there to even write a post of my own every 2 or 3 days. Rick, on the other hand, typically writes once a day, along with reading through the material of others. His blogrole is much longer than mine, yet I’m sure he gets to most everyone’s on a regular basis. I hope you like what you find there. I do….

Jul 09 2005

Men & Women

Category: Uncategorized — dryvetyme @ 14:57

Yes. Men & Women….

The preeminent topic.
The primary source of debate.
The focal point of so much misunderstanding.

And I, being a single male, am going to attempt to talk about this. “Why is this?” you might ask. “Where do you think you’re going to get the information and experience to actually discourse upon this topic? You’re a single guy!”

Exactly. I’m a single guy, so I feel more than entitled to discuss such a heavy & weighty topic, because, as Derek Webb implies on his The House Show live album, single guys probably talk/think about women more than any other possible group. Continue reading “Men & Women”

Jul 05 2005

How does one celebrate independence?

Category: Uncategorized — dryvetyme @ 19:38

Yes, I wanted to get home and write this last night, but I didn’t. I was too tired to do so after a long day of being with friends and family. So, forgive the lateness of this post.

But how does one celebrate independence? What would a July 4th look like if we identified and discussed what being independent is really about? What conclusions would we come up with? What would such a day look like? Would it look like the celebrations we currently practice?

Let’s take a look at our current practices and different parts of them:
1) Fireworks and lots of them
2) Food and lots of it
3) (Often) Drinking and lots of it
4) Water (as in boats, lakes, and such) and lots of it
5) People and lots of them
6) Family and lots of them

Besides the cursory mention of the Declaration of Independence (and reference to whatever current military conflict our nation is embroiled in overseas), do many people actually talk about what July 4th is all about? (If you do so, that’s great, but are you in the majority?) How many of us even know, outside of even celebrating July 4th, what the day is about? (And no, this won’t be a history lesson today)

I say all that to say this — I probably had the best July 4th yesterday that I’ve had in awhile. Why is that, you might say? It’s most likely because I spent the day with people who are important to me, people who matter in my life. My close friend Carrie would tell you that July 4th is her MOST favorite holiday, not because of what the day commemorates, but because it’s a day to unabashedly spend with your best of friends and family, more so than Thanksgiving, more so than Christmas. And after spending a absolutely great day with my friends and family, I would be inclined to agree with her, though none of us ever talked about the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress, King George III, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or anything else of that nature. We just spent the day together at an Astros’ game, at a late lunch, at the house resting, at a fireworks display, and at a restaurant for dessert afterwards.

Thus, we didn’t celebrate independence; we celebrated friendship and family. Is that so wrong? Again, how does one celebrate a national day of independence? What does that look like? I know that, for me, my visions on that topic have changed. And they’ve changed for the better.

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