Museum of The Rockies

So far, Bozeman, MT gets my seal of approval. The people seem nice, and it ends up they filmed Part of A River Runs Through It at the Presbyterian church here.

I spent part of my afternoon at The Museum of The Rockies. You can see some good dinosaur pics below. I particularly enjoy the hair band dinosaur attacking the "the man" dinosaur. I'd also like to point out that this museum apparently doesn't know about Jesus being a dinosaur rider. I mean, humans didn't live with dinosaurs? Um, hello. Jesus had a pet dinosaur. Those in the know are laughing...everybody se thinks the light mountain air is getting to me. More as Wes and I continue on our adventure.











-- Posted From My iPhone

He's a good guy...He loves the Lord...He's a good guy

I'm sitting at a Panera on a Friday afternoon, attempting to find inspiration for the sermon I'm supposed to preach on Sunday. I just heard a guy, when asked about some other guy, say, "He's a good guy. He loves the Lord. He's a good guy." I've always been intrigued by that description of somebody. He/She loves the Lord. I guess it's just a given that the Lord loves him/her. Which lord? I mean, doesn't everybody love one lord or another? I guess the definite article helps us know that we're talking about Jesus. What kind of love are we talking about? Is this an active kind of love? A social justice-minded kind of love? An "I believe what they say about Jesus" kind of love? A "Jesus is my boyfriend" kind of love? Is loving the Lord what makes him a good guy? Is that the only thing that makes him a good guy? When I was in college, my friend Molly Nahm pointed out that whenever she asked me about guys in my fraternity, with one exception, I would say, "Yeah, he's a Beta, he's a good guy." She wondered about my qualifications for "good guy." I guess I'm wondering about He loves the Lord as an adjective. It seems like some of the guys in Acts would have been said to love the Lord, and it probably meant something different than it does today. Anyway, you never know what you'll hear at a Panera on a Friday afternoon.

Pastoral moments

Sometimes, being a pastor means being busy: Busy preparing lesson plans, busy making copies, busy collecting materials, busy with meetings, busy updating websites, busy, busy, busy. But sometimes, being a pastor means sharing intimate moments with parishioners. This week held more of those intimate moments than the busy moments. Here are two such intimate experiences.

Tuesday: I took a parishioner to lunch. We'll call him Tom. Tom needs a wheelchair to get around, so going to lunch is always takes more time and energy than simply meeting someone for coffee. On this particular day, we went to lunch and then decided to make a visit to another church member who is in a rehab facility following surgery. We'll call him Bob. While we were there, the Bob told a wonderful story of a Sunday, 20 years ago, when he was ushering and felt frantic, and saw Tom wheeling in the door. Bob asked Tom to help pass out bulletins as folks came in the door. As Bob told this party of the story, he got a bit teary-eyed, and Tom finished his sentence by saying, "And I've been doing that ever since." It was a beautiful moment shared between two old friends, and I had the privilege of witnessing it. Bob promptly told us to get out of there because we were making him cry.

Wednesday: Ash Wednesday. It was my turn to impose the ashes on the foreheads of parishioners and say "Remember, you are dust, and to dust you will return." What a profoundly intimate moment that is, to remind every person there of their earthly mortality, while marking them with the sign of the cross...the cross that both reminds us of the crucifixion of Jesus and his eventual resurrection from the dead. Marking people with mortality and hope for an eternity spent with God. That's powerful stuff.

Travelers and "for here"

Despite all of my best efforts to be as eco-friendly as possible, I often find myself stumbling and bumbling. I've become a "publix bag" shopper, and I definitely recycle, and most of the time I drive around with a coffee traveler in my car so as to eliminate the waste caused by those paper cups at the coffee shops. As a side note, I'm currently down two travelers because I've left them places or they've been borrowed and not quite returned. Anyway, I didn't get to The Frothy Monkey with a traveler today, so I ordered my white chocolate skim milk mocha (yeah, I know, pretentious) "for here." Apparently at The Frothy Monkey that means I get to drink it out of a paper cup here at The Frothy Monkey. I swear they have mugs. I've also noticed that sometimes when I order a similar coffee drink at Panera, and give them my traveler to use, the person making the drink makes it in a plastic or paper cup, then pours it into the traveler, and...wait for it...throws the cup away. Oy! Maybe I just need to be more like Mr. Bancroft and just order coffee straight up. Good ole Mr. Bancroft...hip without even knowing it. :)

Proving your birth

I was at Southern Thrift Store in Nashville yesterday, buying a couch for my office, when I looked up and saw a sign announcing a senior citizen's discount. It read, "Discount for Seniors 65 and up with Proof of Birth." Um, isn't the fact that the person is standing there a proof of birth? It could be that the sign used to say Birthday. For now though, it brought me a chuckle.

Week 2, Day 2

Luke 1:5-25, 57-66 & Luke 3:1-20

Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist. I suppose I never took the time to notice that so much of the beginning of Luke's gospel bounces back and forth between Mary/Joseph/Jesus and Elizabeth/Zechariah/John. Clearly, the sees the stories as being related. The devotional guide for today asks: What stories in the Hebrew Bible should Zechariah have remembered when the angel told him he would become a father in his old age? Here are my answers:

• Abraham and Sarah...especially the part where Sarah laughs at the angels of the Lord.
• Jacob and Rachel
  
• Hannah and Samuel-I still hear Jim Forbes calling out, "And Hannah rose!" in that great preacher voice of his.

I find it sad that all of these women felt shameful about their inability to have children...that somehow society looked down on them because they weren't mothers. I know that was a cultural thing, but I think there are similar societal pressures today, and not just for women. Thankfully, I'm not in a church that puts the pressure on me to be married, and my family certainly doesn't. Sure, there are a few of the Moms at church who think that the solution to any situation in my life would be to find a wife (or for them to find one for me), but for the most part, I'm treated a fully formed person even though I'm not married. That's not always the case, though. It's not as if people come right out and say it, but they'll imply that somehow one's life isn't complete unless one is married. I went to some worship services with my friend Mark that were geared to young adults. There was a clear emphasis on finding a mate. Being married with children was held up as the ideal situation for all people: "When you find that special somebody" not if. Somehow, unless you get married, your life is incomplete, or you aren't OK simply being you. Last year, at the Montreat Collegiate Conference, Tony Campolo explicitly challenged all that nonsense and told an auditorium full of college students that the church has had it backwards all these years...that getting married and settling down isn't necessarily the ideal for people of faith...that Paul is pretty clear that remaining single allows you to be faithful to God in ways that the settled down set have difficulty doing. Anyway, while this "injustice" may not be the same as some others in the world, I hope that the church can be a place where we don't hold up any one model of life circumstance as normative.

Week Two, Day 1

Week Two: Expecting the Hope of the Earth

Hymn for the Week: Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art:
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child, and yet a king,
born to reign in us for ever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal Spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all-sufficient merit
raise us to thy glorious throne.

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 85

Day 1: Isaiah 35:10-10 & Isaiah 40:1-11
Both of these passages contain visions of creation being transformed by God, whether it be streams bursting forth in the desert or the blind seeing or rough places being made smooth. I was struck by the vision of the high places being brought low and the low places being lifted up. I'll admit that I'm not so sure I want to see that come to pass. Now, I'm a mid-western boy, so there's something comforting and heart-warming about being able to see the horizon in every direction. I love the look of rolling fields with silos, houses, churches, and various other buildings dotting the landscape. There's a stretch of road in southern part of Illinois on I-57 that takes me to a place of awe everytime I drive through it. But, I'm also a fan of the mountains. There are stretches of I-40 on the way to Montreat, NC from Nashville when one is completely surrounded by mountains, and I feel somehow safe in those places. I'm often reminded of Psalm 139:5: You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. I somehow feel hemmed in by God in those places. I'm not so sure I want everything leveled out into a smooth plain.

With a little nudging from the devotional guide, I was also drawn to the images of fresh water being poured out on parched lands (and people). I have certainly had my dry spells in life, and it seems like each time, God finds different ways to bring water and life into my dry wilderness. Sometimes it's a song that randomly shuffles onto my ipod at just the right moment. Sometimes it's friends who simply sit in the dust with me, and slowly let me sip from their living wells. Sometimes it's the people in the congregation who I'm supposed to be pastoring who end up giving me pastoral care...whether it be a sandwich and a pickle, or cauliflower and bean salad and tea sweetened with sugar and a lemon, or a round of golf, these people have been living water for me.

Week 1, Day 4

Week 1, Day 4
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 & Philippians 1:3-11

There are many Sundays when I use some form of these words from 2 Corinthians in the Assurance of Pardon, and I often wonder if they hold meaning for folks. Do we really think of ourselves as new creations in that moment each week? What about each and every day?

I was particularly struck by 2 Corinthians 5:18 today: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation. The passage goes on to call us ambassadors for Christ. It always makes me sad to hear about studies where the top three things non-Christians say about Christians is that we're judgmental, anti-gay, and hypocritical. I'd say we're not doing the best job as ambassadors if that's the case. I continue to be a firm believer in making every effort to be a reconciler.

Today, as I was at Harpeth, helping with the hanging of the greens, that annual tradition of pulling out the wreaths and various decorations in order to spruce up the church for Advent. I was standing at the front of the church, looking out on the pews, and somebody on the stage right side asked me a question. As my eyes were pulled that way, I noticed that a beam of light was shining right on Mary Smith's old seat. The rest of the pew wasn't lit. None of the other seats in that area were lit. Just Mary Smith's spot. We had just been talking about reserving a couple of rows. For that brief moment, I felt Mary's presence there, watching over us as we decorated the sanctuary. I took a few moments to simply thank God for Mary's presence in my life. I miss that sweet woman. She ministered to me in so many beautiful ways. I hope to be more like Mary when I grow up.

Week 1, Day 3

Day 3
Romans 6:1-11 & Romans 13:11-14

I've been reading the New Living Translation the last few days, mostly because it was the first translation I came across on the shelf at home, but also because I enjoy it's straightforward language from time to time. It translates Paul's me genoita in Greek as "Of course not!" I like that. Of course we don't go on sinning so that grace may abound. That would be ridiculous.

Dying to sin: Do we really? I mean, do we really kill off that part of us that's "prone to wander" as the great hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing puts it? When we consider baptism, we seldom focus on "dying to sin" or "dying with Christ." These are the texts of the Bible that make we wonder if we're missing something by practicing infant baptism. Sure, sure, I know that the sacrament isn't about us, but rather about God. But, I wonder just when it is that we encourage folks in our churches to die with Christ and be "reborn" for new lives. In our focus on continual conversion, do we miss out on an opportunity to pass out the new clothes that Paul talks about in Romans 13:12?

"Clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light."

As for the question in the book: How can we put on the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives? I do think that's a question that needs to be asked everyday. How can we embody Jesus and wear him on our sleeve in such a way that nobody would ever doubt whose team we're on? Here are a few quick possibilities, many of them taken from the minds/mouths of other folks:

• Seek first understand and then to be understood
• Spend enough time with Scripture so that its stories become our framing stories/defining narratives
• Be peacemakers
• Judge not, lest ye be judged
• Live simply so others may simply live

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Day 2...and a half

Wow. I start a discipline for one day and then blow it. In my defense, my parents are in town, and it keeps me busy keeping them busy. Here are my reflections for day 2 and kind of a half. At some point on Friday or Saturday, I'll make up two days' worth.

Day 2
Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9
The devotional guide draws a parallel between these strong words from Isaiah and the Pentecost story...both texts of God bursting onto the earthly scene in a radical way. I think I'm with Annie Dillard on this one. I don't think most of us show up to church actually expecting or even hoping for God to show up in a radical way similar to fire that makes wood burn and water boil.

I also wonder how often most of us church-going folks take the time to truly face our sinfulness. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all say the prayer of confession and know in our brains that we're sinful, but do we echo Isaiah who says, "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags"? Ouch. I'm quite proud of my righteous deeds, thank you very much.

Reflection question: What does Isaiah's image of God as potter say to us about God's continuing work of forming and changing us?
Great question. I love the potter imagery. I like Hands of the Potter by Caedmon's Call, as it explores clay in many forms. In fact, here are the lyrics to serve as the rest of my reflection for day 2:

Lord if i'm the clay
Then i've been left out in the sun
Cracked and dry, like the mud from the sty
Still clinging to the prodigal son

But I'm on my way back home
Yes I'm on my way back home

Into the hands (into the hands)
That made wine (wine) from the water
Into the hands (into the hands)
The hands of the potter

Lord if i'm the clay then
Let your living water flow
Soften up my edges, lord,
So everyone will know

But i'm on my way back home
Yes i'm on my way back home

And Lord, when you listen for the song of my life
Let it be, let it be, a song so sweet
Let it be, let it be, a song so sweet
Let it be...

Lord, if i'm the clay then lay me down
On your spinning wheel
Shape me into something you can fill
With something real

And I'll be on my way back home
Yes i'm on my way back home

Expecting the Unexpected for Advent

In an effort to set aside the Advent season as a time for reflection and preparation for the arrival of "little 8 pound, 6 ounce baby Jesus" I'm committing to blogging every day from now until December 25th. My posts will be focused on an Advent Devotional Guide one of our adult Sunday school classes is studying called Expecting the Unexpected by Blair Gilmer Meeks (For all you church professional types, Blair Meeks has some great resources for Advent, Lent, and general liturgical use).

There's a hymn assigned for each week, which I'll be posting on Mondays, including a link to the Cyber Hymnal, which will play a scaled down midi version of the hymn for you. There's a focus Psalm for each week as well. Then, there are daily Bible readings and reflections. I'll strive to throw out a few of the reflection questions and share my thoughts. As always, I welcome comments, but please leave a name if you aren't already a blogger user.

So, without further explanation, here goes.

Week 1 Expecting Christ's New Creation
Psalm 25:1-10
Hymn: Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending

Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
O come quickly! O come quickly! O come quickly!
Everlasting God, come down!

Day 1 Bible readings: Isaiah 2:1-5 & Isaiah 11:1-10

List the images of peace that caught your attention in the two readings from Isaiah:
As for Isaiah 2, I was struck by the emphasis on learning. People flock from all around to learn God's ways that they may walk in God's paths. And this isn't some heady, intellectual, ethereal lesson. This is one of those classes where you get your hands dirty. This is the art room in workshop rotation, or maybe the "real life application" room (Ruth's Real World at Harpeth). But instead of toilet paper tubes, cereal boxes, and old scraps of fabric, the call goes out for these folks to bring spears, swords, and other weapons of war. Instead of creating Christmas tree ornaments with popsicle sticks, God, the ultimate teacher, will teach the peoples of the world to make plowshares out of those swords and pruning hooks out of those spears. Weapons of war will be used to create the tools of planting and harvest. Learning the ways of the Lord does NOT include war. "Neither shall they learn war any more." Not only will there be peace, but people will quit learning how to do the war thing "just in case."

I want to go to that Sunday school class, but I wonder what I would bring for the art project. I don't have any swords, spears, guns, knives (well, besides the ones I use to eat). What do I own that contributes to war? What do I have that needs to be transformed for planting and harvest? What do I own that contributes to the destruction of God's beautiful creation? What would you bring to that Sunday school class?

Isaiah 11: That is a big bunch of animals all living together on that mountain, and, just as in Where the Wild Things Are, a little child shall lead them. Even the animals have learned the ways of the Lord, the ways of living peaceably with all. And in the midst of all these animals is the one with a spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and fear of the Lord. People look at that mountain and wonder just what the heck is going on. Do our churches look like that holy mountain? Do people look at us and wonder just what the heck is going on? For the most part, I kind of doubt it.

Preaching to the homeless

On Wednesday, I was scheduled to lead the chapel service that takes place for homeless folks before they eat lunch at Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN. Initially, I was going to talk about the call of Jeremiah found in Jeremiah 1:4-10. We're using that on Sunday for a "connect with youth" Sunday, and thought I would try out some of my stuff. Then, about an hour before the service was to begin, I received an e-mail telling me that one of the regular attendees of the chapel service and the free lunch on Wednesdays had been murdered while he slept the night before. Shot in the back of the head.

Needless to say, I didn't talk about Jeremiah. I decided to use Psalm 10, a lament Psalm, that names the pain and suffering of the "have nots" who are oppressed by those who always get/have what they want. I expressed my sorrow at the loss of life, and let the folks at chapel know that I believe in a God who hears our lament, and a God who expects us to be real with our pain, sorrow, doubt, frustration, and even hope. I asked folks to offer up some laments, and then we all responded with the response of "God, You are a revolution!" These are words from a David Crowder Band song called Revolutionary Love.

I'm scheduled to preach at chapel again next week. God only knows what the message will be. I do know that preaching in that context feels completely different than Harpeth. Sure, people are people, but it feels somewhat strange to stand before those folks and speak of matters of faith. Allowing Psalm 10 to do the preaching was the way to go this week. I wonder how the regular preacher does it week after week. Surely he doesn't use the same sermon he preaches on Sunday morning. Or, does he? Anyway, I'm schedule to preach at chapel again next week. God only knows what the message will be.

An Altar in the World: Reverence

I've just begun reading Barbara Brown Taylor's An Altar in the World, a book about various incarnational spiritual practices. This morning I read a chapter about Reverence, in which she describes lying on her back on the deck at her childhood home and watching falling stars. For a few moments, as I sat there sipping my coffee at The Good Cup, I was transported to the lake at Westminster Woods Camp in rural Kansas. I worked there one summer as a camp counselor, and on the few evenings when there were no campers at the camp (and actually a few times when there were), the camp staff would gather late at night by the lake to lie on our backs and watch for shooting stars. The camp was so remote that there was no ambient light to interfere with star gazing. I've never been anywhere since then where so many stars were visible.

BBT writes, "Reverence stands in awe of something--something that dwarfs the self, that allows human beings to sense the full extent of our limits--so that we can begin to see one another more reverently as well." Lying by that lake in rural Kansas gave me the opportunity to experience reverence...reverence for a cosmos that is beyond comprehension, reverence for a God who set the stars in the heavens, reverence for those beautiful souls who joined me by that lake...

I'm not sure I spent much time experience reverence these days. Later in the chapter, BBT points out that we don't really have time (or make time) for such experiences. I find that to be true in my life. I'm hoping to take some time for reverence in the coming weeks as leaves change and temperatures drop.

If I won the lottery...

Last Sunday, the always inquisitive Lucy King (3rd grader at my church) asked me what I would do of if I won the lottery. I told her I would pay off all of my debts, move to a cool neighborhood in Nashville, endow some scholarships, give a lot of money to charities, and definitely quit my job and explore mission opportunities in some random part of the world. She was very upset that I would ever consider leaving Harpeth, but that's not the point of this story.

Lucy went on to say that she would probably buy a PSP, a lot of games, maybe some new clothes and then she would give, "oh, about $500 to the church." I then asked her if she would give any money to other worthy causes, to which she replied, "You know, I think I'd buy toys for homeless children" and then proceeded to walk off with a thoughtful look on her face.

Today, as I was driving to work, I decided to amend my answer. Now it would include an endowment for my local NPR station so that as long as I'm alive, I never have to listen to another 10 days of pledge campaigns. Seriously, I would make it so I never have to hear any more encouragements to donate money on NPR. I often wonder how much local news I'm missing while they tell me how great NPR is for giving me the news and "unique programming."

So, what would you do if you won the lottery?

Recycling and the new NIV

First random question of the day: Why do people throw recyclables in the trash can when there's a recycling bin right next to it?

I'm sitting at Bongo Java, one of the cool locally owned coffee shops in Nashville, and I've watched people do it over and over again. I've walked by the trash can and seen plastic cups in there. I mean, seriously. Why is it so hard? I just don't understand.

Second random question of the day: Why do some evangelicals have such a problem with inclusive language?

The top headline in the Tennessean today was about a new version of the New International Version of the Bible that's scheduled to come out in 2011. The article included interviews with evangelical leaders who were highly offended by Today's New International Version that attempted to be more gender inclusive. Um, why is it OK to blatantly ignore Greek and Hebrew for the sake of easier reading, but not OK to change brothers to brothers and sisters, or mankind to humankind? I don't get that.

So, anyone with good answers to my questions, speak up and let your voice be heard.

Going Green...or yellow

I've been reading a book entitled The Green Book lately. It gives helpful hints for "going green" in various areas of life. Amongst all of the ways I'm trying to be environmentally conscious is the practice of "If it's yellow, let it mellow..." Yes, I'm making an attempt to only flush every other time I "yellow." It sounds like it should be easy, but man, am I like Pavlov's dog. I'll be standing there thinking, "OK, I'm not gonna flush this time" as my hand reaches out and flushes. Who knew going green would be so difficult.

Why I like The Good Cup

Reasons why The Good Cup is my favorite local coffee shop:

Local artists are featured on the walls
There are shelves of books to read and even take home if you'd like
The baristas are involved in The New Monasticism movement
The baristas know I like white chocolate mochas
The music is generally great and just the right volume (this porridge is juuust right)


-- Post From My iPhone

Too long in between posts

As often happens to me in the summer, I become busy with VBS, mission trips, youth conferences, and various other summer activities. I didn't realize I hadn't blogged in two months. Surely I've had good thoughts since then. For now, I simply have a reflection on driving somebody else's car.

This past week, I went on vacation to Myrtle Beach. I spent the week with some wonderful people who showed me wonderful hospitality. On Sunday, I met my travel companion and left my car to sit for the week while we took her car on to the beach. It wasn't until I was back behind the wheel of my Fusion colored Pontiac Vibe that I realized how much I was missing the feel of my own car. I was reminded how much I enjoy driving my car. The white Camry that got us to Myrtle Beach and back was fine, but there's something about sitting behind the wheel of one's own car that's oddly satisfying.

Yup, that's all I've got today. :)

A holiday time

When I was in elementary school at Ridgeway Elementary School in Columbia, MO, I had a music teacher named Celestine Hayes. At the time, I thought Mrs. Hayes was a nut. She would dance around the room and teach us silly songs for every holiday of the year. She had pictures of composers on the wall and made us learn their names. Looking back, I do think she was a nut, but in a good way. She clearly loved music and had a desire to incorporate classical music as well as various ethnic music styles into an elementary school music program that was relegated to the basement across the hall from the gym/cafeteria.

Anyway, one of the songs she taught us was about Cinco de Mayo. The lyrics are as such (look for a video of this song in the near future):
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday time, a holiday time in Mexico
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday time. To the fiesta we'll go, go, go. la la la la la.
Go, go, go. La la la la la.
Go, go go...

As we celebrate the independence of the people of Mexico
We'll be dancing through the streets
While the mariachi trumpets blow

And then you repeat the chorus. Nevermind the fact that Cinco de May isn't really about Mexican Independence (this is actually September 16th). It's a way fun song to sing. For the past few years I've called my sister and left the song on her voicemail on Cinco de Mayo.

This past week, I was at Montreat for the Annual Recreation Workshop. On Cinco de Mayo, I taught the song to many of my friends who were there. Some of them already knew it from having hung out with me on Cinco de Mayo in the past. That evening, we went in search of margaritas, but found out that Black Mountain restaurants don't serve liquor, so we headed to the nearby town of Swannanoa. The first Mexican restaurant we saw looked almost empty, but open, so we went in. We asked if they served maragaritas.

"No, friend. You have to go to La Cocula in Swannanona. Ask for Oscar. He'll take care of you." says the owner, who only has one eye.

"Yup, it's a few miles up the road near the Bojangles," says the older guys with crazy hair who then points us in the right direction with his middle finger...the only finger on that hand.

So, with the directions of the one eyed owner and the one-fingered pirate looking guy, we headed to La Cocula. Upon arrival, we asked for Oscar. We ordered some queso dip and some beer and margaritas. After a little while, we decided we would sing our Cinco de Mayo song. The table of 15 college students next to us loved it so they sang it with us. Before long, the entire restaurant was singing the Cinco de Mayo song.

On the way back to Montreat, we called many people and sang the song for them, either in person or on voicemail. I wish we had taken a video of us singing it to share on the blog, but you might just have to settle for me singing it.

So, all of that is to say, "Thank you Celestine Hayes for inspiring a wonderful evening with good friends (who will remain nameless, because they don't like being mentioned on my blog, but you know who you are :))."

iPods that think

I've read some articles about the phenomenon of thinking that iPods somehow know just what you want to listen to and cue it up from time to time. I had one of those moments today. I recently added an upbeat running mix to the iPod shuffle, and I was coming up on the time in my run when I wanted to listen to it. As Two Step by Dave Matthews Band was wrapping up, I thought, "It's time to shuffle through and find one of the songs on that playlist." The very next song that popped up was the first song on the playlist. Strange.

Also, I'm still pretty convinced that, pound for pound, the 1992 Cavaliers show is one of the most entertaining in DCI history. I just don't get tired of listening to/watching those guys.