Last weekend, my brother and I packed up the car and headed out for Lawrence, Kansas. Ken’s friend Kerry Alexander was going to play guitar and sing with reggae artist Joseph Israel at a local bar there. Apparently, Joseph got Kerry’s CD from a mutual contact, loved the CD, played a song from it in Warsaw, Poland, which wound up on Youtube, which Kerry’s wife happened to find. They got in contact with each other and next thing you know, we’re all going to Lawrence to hear them play it together.
This weekend was a big weekend as far as understanding my brother’s faith - Messianic - a little more. I’ll admit, at first glance I viewed it as a little over the top. Almost all Messianic people have long beards, cover their heads, wear tassels from the shirts (or belt loops, as I recently found out), and observe the Sabbath on Saturday. Almost Jewish you might think, but they believe in Jesus (although that’s not what they call him) so I really can’t quarrel with it.
When I first heard my brother was involved in this faith I kind of poo poo’ed the idea like a phase he was going through, or something he was doing just to be different. The more I get to know about it, the more guilty I feel for not being as faithful as these guys are. Everything they do can be completely backed up with the bible, so how do you argue with that? I think as modern-day contemporary Christians we make our faith a hobby. It’s something we do sometimes in addition to our daily routine, and for a big lot of us it’s something we only do weekly or less than that. These guys are visibly setting themselves apart all the time, making it a lifestyle of faith, which is what I think God had in mind. I don’t think I’m going to become Messianic, but it did open my eyes to the fact that I’ve been the God thing, whenever it’s convenient to me, instead asking Him when He’d like me to do the life thing.
On one major bit of news: Kana is coming to Oklahoma today! You can’t imagine how excited I am! I’ve been waiting for this day for SO long.
I’ve been looking for work for a couple weeks now. Not very intensely, because I don’t want to be working when Kana’s here, but I’m looking nonetheless. Still, I was getting a little frustrated earlier in the week that I hadn’t heard back from anyone. I thought there were a few different companies around town that I would be a perfect fit for, but I guess not. Still, it’s early, I still have a couple leads out there, and I didn’t really want to get a job until after Kana left anyway.
I started thinking, after the frustration, that I should really be enjoying this time. I’ll mostly likely be employed and busy for the rest of my life, and this time of transition is actually kind of nice. Aside from a little boredom, it’s a welcomed break from 5 years of being a government indentured servant.
This is my first attempt at writing a post completely on my iPhone. This device really is quite extraordinary. My phones in Japan were always more sophisticated, but all the features were buried in hard to find places that only a computer hacker could find. One of the reasons I’m such a Apple zealot is because they are able to make great user interfaces to bring technology to almost everyone. Just to make my point a little bit - I consider myself pretty techno-savy and I get pretty excited about this device, on the flip side, my Aunt, someone I don’t consider to techno-savy can use and enjoy her just as easily as I do.
This phone is also a bit of a curse as well. I’ve always felt the tug of the digital leash for a few years now - always caring a cell phone and stopping to check my mail a few times a day. Now with the ability to call, check email and surf the web all in one device I never feel like I’m unreachable. With the built in iPod it seems like I never have a silent moment with my own thoughts. I think that’s another problem with our society: people have cut out all necessary silence I’m their lives. Think about it.
About five years ago I read a book called “future shock” by Alvin Toffler. Although it was written back in the 70’s, he hits the nail on the head talking about human’s inability to cope with rapidly changing society.
oh yeah, hi Nan!
