The best shower I’ve ever taken

This story comes up more often than one would think. So I figured I should write it down.

It goes back to about 16 years ago when I just entered Boy Scouts. The troop I was in thought it would be a good idea to take the new scouts on a caving trip. We were all ready for a new adventure and were completly on board. We even partnered up with the Atlanta Spelunking Club for our trek. We drove a couple hours north of Atlanta on a Saturday morning. We arrived at a State Park and proceeded to a campground. We arrived about noon and decided that we would set up camp after the trip into the cave. So we just grabbed our water bottles, a granola bar, and got outfitted with a harness, headlamp, and a helmet. We’re all feeling pretty psyched at this point. We’re 12 and wearing professional cave exploration gear…who wouldn’t be excited?

So we walk about 15 minutes into dense woods to arrive at a pile of boulders. None of which are stacked high to create the mouth of caves misleadingly placed in TV and movies. There was about a 2.5 foot hole in the ground. One that I would figured was a hole a komodo dragon or bear lived in and would have wisely stayed away from. I wish I would have trusted that instinct.

We dropped into the cave/hole around 11 am. It was the most lit room due to the mouth of the cave letting a little light in. The first cavern was awesome. Stalagmites, stalactites, bats hanging, big rocks to climb on and play on. We were loving it at this point. Next we passed through a skinny passage called “Pancake Squeeze” I had exhale and shimmy to make it through. 4 people couldn’t make it and were sent out of the cave. It was in fact very skinny and angled weird. We traversed more caverns and made our way through some particularly small tunnels. One tunnel in particular was called the worm tube. If I’m remembering correctly, it was about 3 feet in diameter and about 2 fee of that was water. So you basically had to lay on your back to do a crunch for a 150 feet to keep from drowning. Fun for the first 2 minutes. Now is a good time to mention that the cave is a constant wet, chilly 58 degrees. You don’t really get cold as long as you are moving. Take note that half of the trip is 12 year olds like me and the other half is professional spelunkers. We weren’t moving very fast. In fact, some of the guys had hypothermia, some were in shock, some were crying uncontrollably. I was not part of any of the above, but I was scared. A lot. I wanted out, I wanted daylight. I wanted clean water. I wanted the 2 inch thick coat of mud all over my body off of me. I wanted heat. I wanted water, I wanted food. I ate my granola bar early, because we were only supposed to be in the cave for 2-3 hours.

So 8 hours later we reach a cliff. This cliff used to be a tunnel, but an underground river had washed it away. The river was 80 feet below and flowed straight toward the center of the earth.  Very dangerous, and clearly fatal. The professionals decided that we shouldn’t go on. So we traversed the same terrain, in reverse order. It took another 9 hours to get out. We were fatigued, tired, cold, hungry, thirsty, dirty, and just flat out over it. We were in the final cavern where the mouth of the cave let a little light in. It was 3 or 4 in the morning. The only light that was in was from the emergency rescue vehicles flashers. Blue and red danced across the walls and stalagtites. The first crew of rescuers was already in the first cavern looking for us. It was now 14 hours PAST the time we were supposed to be out. The people that got sent back from the pancake squeeze thankfully noted the time.

The kids with hypothermia and that were in shock were taken to the ER. I probably should have gone too, but I just wanted to go home. I called my parents and they knew to expect me at 4:30 in the morning, dirty and broken. I left my gear in the garage and got straight in the shower. Shoes and clothes on. Dirt washed off of me for 30 minutes straight. I hadn’t even started to scrub. I got out of the shower probably an hour later and went right to bed. I woke up and took another shower. I actually took 4 showers that day. All which enormous amounts of dirt would fall off of me in. Dirt penetrated every single part of my body. It was ridiculous. The following Monday was my first normal shower where rivers of mud didn’t pollute my shower floor. That first shower was the best shower I’ve ever taken.

On a lighter note, in that dreaded tunnel, my friend Zach kept yelling at me to stop kicking him in the head. I wasn’t kicking him at all, but instead a bat kept flying into his head. I found this to be the only funny part of the excursion.

Space Shuttles Are Awesome

I remember when I was 3, 4, and 5 years old. We lived in Cocoa Beach, FL on Patrick Air Force Base. A lot of the mission of that base is to support NASA. And it did, I remember watching the shuttle launch several times from my own back yard. Usually early in the morning, before the sun came up. My dad would walk with me to the backyard and we would have a portable radio to listen to mission control broadcasts. It was magic then, and I didn’t even realize what all it took to make it happen. Now that I’m older, somewhat educated, and much more knowledgeable about flight and gov’t contracting, I’m in disbelief that we have been doing this for 30 years. It’s an understatement to say its remarkable. I still want to be an astronaut.

I’m watching the NASA feed online of this final flight and as I’m seeing things I’ve seen many times before, it saddens me to know that this is the last time. I’m sad I didn’t get to see it live one last time. I’m sad our government is allowing a lapse, in which will likely not end in the near future, in our own space endeavors. It saddens me to realize our government doesn’t care about innovating and striving to do the impossible any more. The symbolism of the space shuttle and space travel holds untapped potential that we are giving up on. 6300 patents have been filed as a result of NASA research. That all ends. Russia, China, who else knows will win and be that far ahead in the space race, and what ultimately is the race to be the best country in the world. If you are asking, “Is it a space program that defines you as a country?”, the answer is no. Its not, but its tell tale of status. And the fact that we are bowing out of the race for supremacy is revealing. It’s time for Washington to get it together. Figure out priorities that matter and are successful. As long as we cater to the lowest common denominator, we have no business in space. It saddens me to admit that.

All that being said, I’m ticked. It fuels my fire of wanting to be a politician. It drives me crazy that we elected people to allow this happen. I won’t die satisfied, unless I’ve done my duty as a statesman, patriot, and an usher of progress.

Pray for this mission. Pray that its successful, safe, and convicting to those who canned it.

Another day at the office, another email

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 9:27 AM
To: Manley; Armstrong, Gary M; Ryan; Lentini
Subject: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Patrick

From: Manley,  Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 9:58 AM
To: , Patrick W; Armstrong, Gary M; , Ryan M; Lentini
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

I’m thinking this is a win on both sides.  The letter is gold (see what I did there ) but anyone who attempts to exploit the corrupt frauds at any of these gold exchange companies is okay in my book as well.

Manley

From: Armstrong, Gary M

Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:00 AM
To: Manley; , Patrick W; , Ryan M; Lentini
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

I love that they actually took the time to write that letter. Jeff Aronson had to be cracking up the entire time.

Mark Armstrong

From: Lentini
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:23 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; , Patrick W; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

It’s pretty classic, but I seriously doubt that’s genuine.  Oh wait, it IS on companyish letterhead…

From: Armstrong, Gary M

Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:25 AM
To: Lentini; Manley; , Patrick W; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

It’s on the internet. Trust me its real. So is Cold Fusion and Dark Matter.

Mark Armstrong

From: Patrick W
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:33 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Lentini; Manley; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

They’ve gone full retard:

Patrick

From: Lentini
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:37 AM
To: , Patrick W; Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

You say that, but doesn’t the US have a dolphin-training program?

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:37 AM
To: Lentini; Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

C’mon now, Dolphins are way smarter than sharks!

Patrick

From: Lentini
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:38 AM
To: , Patrick W; Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

They also have to come up for air…. And their teeth, not so sharp.

From: , Patrick W
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:41 AM
To: Lentini; Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Yeah but they can totally do backflips which is clearly the more useful skill.

Dolphin sees shark  -> dolphin does backflip ->shark thinks “Oh F***, that’s some sort of ninja fish” -> shark runs away -> dolphin does celebratory backflip

Patrick

From: Armstrong, Gary M

Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:42 AM
To: , Patrick W; Lentini; Manley; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Not if the sharks have lasers.

Mark Armstrong

From: , Patrick W
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:45 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Lentini; Manley; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Backflip = laser dodge.

It’s like the barrel roll in starfox 64.

Patrick

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:45 AM
To: , Patrick; Lentini; Manley; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

I’m calling BS. Video nao or it didn’t happen.

Mark Armstrong

From: , Patrick W
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:47 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Lentini; Manley; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Can’t link you the video, GDIT won’t allow it.  Rest assured though that the backflipping dolphin in the video that obviously must exist is totally not getting hit by the laser beams fired from the shark that is totally scared of the ninja dolphin.  I’m pretty sure this video was on CNN and in New Scientist so you’ll have to believe me as I have cited 2 sources and the internet never lies (this email being part of the internet, theretofore the truth).

Patrick

From: Manley
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:48 AM
To: , Patrick W; Armstrong, Gary M; Lentini; , Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Here is your blueprint Mark.

Manley

From: , Patrick W
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:51 AM
To: Manley; Armstrong, Gary M; Lentini; Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Eye witness mockup of ninja dolphin, one of the only descriptions available as ninja dolphins typically are backflipping too much to be made out by the human eye.

Patrick

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:55 AM
To: Patrick; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

This guy is on the same team too. He has a dinosaur riding shotgun.

Mark Armstrong

From: Manley
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:58 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Patrick; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

I hate my warcraft days. lol

Manley

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 10:59 AM
To: Manley; Patrick; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

This shark is a ninja too! Backflips all day.

Mark Armstrong

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:02 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

I don’t buy it, that shark is obviously just wearing the ninja mask to try and trick the ninja dolphins into not backflip killing him.

Patrick

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:02 AM
To: , Patrick; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

1. It’s on the internet. 2. Sharks don’t lie.

The cup of truth runneth over on this one friend.

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:04 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

I didn’t want to show this, but here’s a clip of elite dolphin ninja training.  Sharks don’t train like this, and clearly proper training leads to winning:

http://chzgifs.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/dolphins.gif

Patrick

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:05 AM
To: , Patrick; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Dolphin on dolphin violence. Internal conflict is no recipe for success in the war against the Pirate-Ninja, Laser Wielding, Flying, Zombie Shark Army, that’s PNLWFZSA for short.

Mark Armstrong

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:08 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Just hard training, not internal strife.

Patrick

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:09 AM
To: , Patrick; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Call it what you will. I see conflict.

Mark Armstrong

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:22 AM
To: Armstrong, Gary M; Manley, Ronald R; Lentini, Joseph R; Bombara, Ryan M
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

What are the odds that they’ve all blocked our emails yet on the first floor haha

Patrick

From: Manley
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:34 AM
To: Patrick; Armstrong, Gary M; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Check and Mate. lol

Ron

From: Lentini
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:36 AM
To: Manley; Patrick W; Armstrong, Gary M; Ryan

Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Indeed.   And     WOW

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:37 AM
To: Lentini; Manley; Armstrong, Gary M; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

Try to be best
‘Cause you’re only a man
And a man’s gotta learn to take it

Try to believe
Though the going gets rough
That you gotta hang tough to make it

History repeats itself
Try and you’ll succeed

Never doubt that you’re the one
And you can have your dreams!

You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ow-own

Fight ‘til the end
Cause your life will depend
On the strength that you have inside you

Ah you gotta be proud
starin’ out in the cloud
When the odds in the game defy you

Try your best to win them all
and one day time will tell
when you’re the one that’s standing there
you’ll reach the final bell!

You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ho-how-ho-own

INSPIRING GUITAR SOLO

You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you dow-ow-ow-ow-own

Fight ‘til you drop
never stop
can’t give up
Til you reach the top (FIGHT!)
you’re the best in town (FIGHT!)
Listen to that sound
A little bit of all you got
Can never bring you down

You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!

From: Lentini
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:40 AM
To: Patrick; Manley; Armstrong, Gary M; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

You deserve a rick-roll.

From: Armstrong, Gary M
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:09 AM
To: , Patrick; Manley; Lentini; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

After 15 minutes of searching for “Sharks eating dolphins” on google images, I came up with nothing and will admit my defeat. I would like to note though, the shark depicted in that photo, was neither flying, a zombie, laser wielding, and did not have his dinosaur riding shotgun. I’m just sayin’.

Mark Armstrong

From: Patrick
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:37 AM
To: Lentini; Manley; Armstrong, Gary M; Ryan
Subject: RE: small text is small, but this is a huge win

And now we took your lasers.

UPS is now on my list

Dear UPS,

For the record, 500 characters, as provided in your online form, is not enough to describe the quality of your work tonight.

I was supposed to receive a package of great value and urgency today. I tracked the package all day as it was said to be out for delivery. After sitting at home on Friday night waiting with the TV muted, phone in hand, door cracked and listening for the slightest knock, I get a notification at 10:40 that there was a failed attempt to deliver the package at 9:21. This is not true and your delivery driver is lying. Your tracking system is lying to me. Lying to me is the single most offensive thing a business can do. So I called the 1800 number to speak to an agent. I was informed that your distribution center is closed this Saturday and I won’t be able to get my package until Monday. I find it odd that your driver will work until 9:30 on a Friday night and you can’t so much open your distribution center on a day when WORKING PEOPLE DON’T HAVE TO WORK.

As a photographer who had plans to use the lens that was in this delivery, my weekend is now a bust. As a result, I will do everything in my power to keep anybody I know from using UPS. I for one, will only use it when I have to, such as this when a vendor chooses it for me. You have genuinely made me angry and a lifelong FedEx customer.

Seasons

It’s something about the last days of summer when the temperatures finally start to taper off. There is a distinct smell, probably from something the trees are doing that I’m not aware of, that fills my mind memories  of my first day of school and new shoes and backpacks.  The short fall we had has led into a whole other set of smells and thoughts that remind me of last February and the obnoxious snow storm as well as other winters. I’m not starting any types of school, and I have no plans this winter as of yet. But the last few months have been very atypical for me. I haven’t been planning anything really social (outside of Milkshake Mondays) and I’ve spent most of my time trying to keep my schedule clear. I’ve been successful for the most part in that effort and it’s allowed me to reflect more and learn a lot of things about myself. I won’t go into the painstaking details of my shortcomings and failures, but there has been a light shed on a lot of that in my reflections. Trust me, there is a lot.

As the holidays approach, so does stress. Sadly, the holidays are somewhat tainted for me due to broken families and having to split time and trying to satisfy arbitrary commitments to people I barely know. I also don’t care for the forced nature of how the holidays take place now either. It’s hard to just walk into a step family and Christmas is normal. It’s difficult to spend Thanksgiving with a family who always has and probably always will hate the other, now ex, parent. It sucks to be caught in the middle.  It’s been about 10 years since it happened too. More than a third of my life and its still just as awkward as it was the first time.

I’m not writing this to wallow in my sorrows or beg for sympathy or fall into the typical emo blog status. Sure, I’ll get stressed about it and it will cause a series of bad days. But it all leads to me to think that I’m ready for a new season and more importantly keep looking forward. I turned 28 a couple of months ago and I’ll be honest, I’m not where I thought I would be. I thought I would be married by now and live in a house and have bbq’s with neighbors in a suburban neighborhood. I’m no where near that, but I feel like I’m getting closer. I’m starting to want different things. I want to park my car closer to where I live. I want a garage to put tools in.  I want a crockpot and various other kitchenwares that my apt doesn’t have room for. I want a lawn mower and a yard to mow. I want a house I can paint walls in and not have to worry about what color I have to paint it back to in a year. I find myself loving kids more and more by the day. I’ll be honest, I want a wife.  And kids. I think these desires amplify during this season because, with regard to my own broken families, I just want my own. I want my own Christmas. My own Thanksgiving. Somebody to go look at Christmas lights with. Somebody to go people watch in a mall with. Somebody that I know I don’t have to play a part for. Know that I’m not actively in a perpetual search for this because God will deliver whatever I need in due time. Perhaps He already has. I know this. I don’t believe He would put the desires in my heart without fulfilling them.

Our most recent sermon at church was about praising God even in rough times (I think Psalm 43). This is my feeble attempt at just that. No matter how bad my days get, I’m doing my best to keep looking to God. He is good and will keep me on the path that He intends to. I’m just trying to hold on and learn whatever I can.

 

Life Goals

Every once in a while I’ll meet a person with a list of life goals that they are actively trying to complete. I think its interesting to see these as it reveals a lot about that person. I try to be transparent on here while being interesting. I do my best to only provide content I think is worth your time to read. Today will hopefully be no different. I’m going to make a list of things I want to do before I die.

1. Cross an ocean by boat. Not necessarily by sail only though. I enjoy the luxury of an internal combustion engine.

2. Live in another country. Preferably Japan.

3. Learn Hebrew. After going to Israel and hearing people speak about reading the Old Testament in Hebrew, I want to explore this. I’ve heard its remarkable.

4. Pay cash for a new car

5. Own an English Bulldog

6. Live on the beach

7. Scuba dive the Blue Hole in Belize

8. Scuba dive to see all three Christ of The Abyss statues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_of_the_Abyss

9. Get a pilot’s license

10. Get a captain’s license

11. Become proficient with as many firearms as possible

12. Win an election for a seat in Congress

That’s it for now and will likely grow. Stay tuned!

As you can imagine, there were a few things I have already completed that were worthy of this list(Backpacking the Grand Canyon, Meeting a President, Visiting Hawaii, seeing a presidential speech, Moving somewhere I knew nobody, etc).

If you have a list too, I’d love to see it.

Observations

Growing up in the military has its advantages and disadvantages. I won’t get into the nitty gritty of both sides but 2 things you learn are discernment and the value of a good friend.  You meet a ton of people on military bases, nice, mean, insecure, defensive, sad, depressed, hopeless, etc. While I wasn’t completely aware of it as a child, in retrospect its all clear as day. And I dealt with those people the best way I knew how: by trying to be their friend as quickly as possible. Because if they weren’t moving in a few months, I was. You didn’t have long to build up a lasting friendship. In fact, I only remember 1 or 2 people from my childhood I would consider “good friends”. The discernment comes naturally. You learn, mostly subconsciously, whether or not Kid X is going to be your quality friend.

I didn’t have many of those types of friends on the bases growing up. In fact, my first real best friend was Luke Deavers in middle school which I went to thankfully after my dad retired from the Army and we finally settled down (to some extent). Sadly enough, he died just after high school in a car accident. Not the point of this though. What I’m saying is that I know when I have a true and good friend. I know when I don’t. I try to give everybody that chance, and the sad truth is that 5 or 6 have ever made the cut.

I may be calloused or have an inherent nature to not let people get close, but I’m a function of my environment, which was constructed of 3 years segments and constant overturn in my life. I say this because its a sad state to be in. I’m a happy person with a lot of love to give, but to be perfectly honest, its hard for me to pour out love at any given moment for the people that I feel like won’t reciprocate it. Having been burned in my life, abandoned by friends, and not having people see through my facades has not done much for my hope in the human race.

Which therein lies my one of my many shortcomings in my faith in God. I have hope in God. I get my joy from God. But I don’t channel it as well as I should. I shouldn’t judge people to say whether or not they will be a good friend. I should hold pretenses or grudges, but I do. I’ll work on it.

The reason I write on this subject is that lately I’ve felt the effects of less than stable friendships. I’ve witnessed and experienced flakiness that is a lot of friendships. It puts a negative feeling in my head and I guess I’m just venting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling anybody out. I’m not saying anybody specifically is not a good friend. Some have let me down lately though, but for most of my friends, I just haven’t gotten to know them well enough. That is probably my fault for not being more deliberate with my time. I’ll work on it.

In other news, the air conditioning in my apartment is broken and its supposed to be 100 degrees or higher for the next 3 days. Fantastic.

Brain Dump

So this weekend was surprisingly low key but for some reason, I couldn’t put my mind to ease. I think the new season has something to do with it. I know for me, warmer weather changes my attitude.

First things first. The girls vs. guys thing is as hot as its ever been in my life. Single girls expressing frustration with guys not asking them out and single guys complaining that there aren’t any girls.  This seems to be prevalent especially in Christian circles. It’s completely valid and absolutely ridiculous at the same time. To treat these things as simple gender flaws is foolish. I can give you a reason why I do or don’t like a girl and why I have or haven’t asked them out. Every single girl I’ve ever met. There is a good chance I’ll never tell you though.

For the most part, girls put off a vibe that they aren’t interested. Its that simple. Language, tact, reactions to me…all simple things…all are extremely revealing. I’ve only gotten a good vibe from a few girls in DC and only one or two were ideal in my mind for one reason or another.  Needless to say, they didn’t work out either with or without actual dates.

The problem isn’t going away, but I’m choosing to ignore it from this day forward. If you’re frustrated that I won’t ask you out, tell me.

Moving along. Heather Z. spoke to a topic that could not have been timed more perfectly. There is drama in my social circles. There are 2 people involved. They have issues to work out…by themselves. This business of taking sides is clown shoes. Stop it. Don’t take sides, offer counsel as needed. Don’t spread rumors, don’t speak to anything you know nothing about. Don’t ruin a perfectly good scene with middle school crap. If you aren’t party a or party b, you should wash your hands of it and mind your own business.

I don’t like it. I don’t like liars. I don’t like untrustworthy people. I don’t like unnecessary drama. Lesson to be learned: There is no such thing as a secret in such a tight woven community.

The Israel Trip

It was 9:40 pm when we finally landed back at Dulles International. Since I was on Israel time and managed to only sleep a couple of hours on the plane, it had effectively been 24 hours of no sleep. I was still running on adrenaline and the company of my travel mates. As I made the initial calls to my family to let them know I was alive and well, the questions started to come in. How was it? What was your favorite? What was your first time out of the country like? In an effort to answer the immediate questions, and some of the other ones that may not have been asked yet, I’m going to blog my trip.

I was worried about waiting 4 days to do this, but the flurry of pictures going up on facebook are nice to relive the trip by.We landed on Friday afternoon in Tel Aviv. Ben Gurion International Airport is a seemingly common airport, but it is quite different once inside. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is everywhere and will ask you for a passport in a heartbeat as well as a slew of questions to go with. I encountered this very thing. In passport control, I was asked why I was in Israel, where I was going, if I was going to see anybody, give anybody any gifts, if I had any friends or family to visit and who I was with. I answered all the questions as instructed, except for one. I mentioned we were going to Bethlehem…which is in Palestinian Territory. The girl asked why I was going there, why I didn’t know my exact itinerary, and who I was going to see. All I knew is that we were seeing the Church of The Nativity, so I told her that’s all I knew. She stamped my passport and gave me a ticket to hand to another IDF guard at a gate. So I did, and he asked me to step aside for additional questioning. Same questions, except this time he tried to get me to slip up. He would ask something like “You’re from Philadelphia right?” I told him I was coming from DC via Heathrow. He asked who I was with and if I saw any of my group now. Thankfully, Lisa and Sonia were walking through at that moment, they came over and vouched and I was let go. Thankfully. Very unnerving to be questioned by people holding machine guns…welcome to Israel.  We got our bags and loaded a bus.

We stayed at a convent a quarter mile outside the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem. After setting our bags down, getting some food and a brief orientation, we walked down to the Western Wall/Wailing Wall. It was Shabbat so we couldn’t take photos yet and Hassidic Jews in full garb were everywhere. It was somewhat overwhelming as I had no idea what anything meant yet. I could tell these people were very intent on whatever they were doing and spoke Hebrew. To approach the wall, men have to cover their heads. I was given a yamaka to wear. A first for me.

The next day we spent touring the Old City of Jerusalem, we started at the Mount of Olives. We were given a macro view of Jerusalem and our guide pointed out a few things. The Field of Blood, The Upper Room, The Dome of the Rock, The Church of Mary Magdalene, Dominus Flevit, Church of All Nations, Al Aqsa Mosque, Church of The Holy Sepulchre, the graves on the Mount of Olives and the Golden Gate into the Old City. This was especially memorable, because Sarah Chilcote and I actually led our group in some songs…on the Mount of Olives. A pinnacle of any praise and worship leader. We then walked over to Dominus Flevit, where Jesus wept for the city. We proceeded down to the Garden of Gethsemane. This was particularly nice because our guide seemed to know everybody in the city and we actually had a section of the garden to ourselves among a unusually busy day on the mountain. His bargaining tool was a pack of Werther’s…go figure. More on our guide later. After that we walked through the Church of All Nations and proceeded to the Lion’s Gate into Jerusalem. We walked the Via Dolorosa and then went into the Church of The Holy Sepulchre. We stood outside to regroup and our guide told us  a little about it. Some people elected to not go in due the insane amount of people there. They were wise. I went in though. I saw the stone Jesus was supposedly annointed on after being taken down off the cross. I saw the room the church had built over Jesus’s supposed tomb. The line was 3 hours long and we had 30 minutes. It was beautifully decorated as well as the rest of the church. The sad thing is that the keys to it are actually held by Muslims and causing a very harsh divide within it that allows for some sad things. One that we saw was a modern aluminum ladder that was being used to change light bulbs…20 years ago. They won’t take it out because of politics and differences among denominations. After growing tired of not having any personal space, I left. Saddened by what I had just seen. People were clinging to the earthly things in the church like God himself was in them. He isn’t, that’s what Christianity is all about….death and resurrection. I digress. We then walked over to the Garden Tomb. The other supposed site of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. To me, this site is a million percent more believable. It was outside the city walls, it was a hill that actually looked like a skull, and the tomb was much more convincing. Not to mention that it was a developed part of the city. The likely site that the cross was erected on is now a bus station. The tomb itself was small and rectangular. Our guide explained the body was probably laid in a corner that could be seen from outside. I was expecting to have some sort of revelation or spiritual connection here. I didn’t though. The sign on the door pretty much summed up all of the Old City for me. “He is not here, for He is risen.” Jesus came to earth, walked on it, suffered on it, taught on it, and lived as human. He died in a way that saved mankind and returned to Heaven. The 30-35 years He spent here served a purpose and it was remarkable beyond words. But we celebrate the resurrection which means, this stuff is history. If He was still in the tomb, Christianity wouldn’t be what it is. Sorry for the preaching, I’ll get back to my tourism.

After that, we ate dinner and had a debrief on the day. We woke up the next morning and went to Bethlehem to go to church. It was a Christian Evangelical church in Arabic. Like I mentioned before, this was in Palestinian territory. Needless to say, it was pretty surreal to go to church in Palestine, in the place Jesus was born, hearing a service completely in Arabic (we had a translator). After that we went to the Church of The Nativity. This was an interesting church. The entrance was about 4 feet tall causing everybody to have to duck to get in. This was to keep crusaders out who were on horses. Forgive me for not knowing dates for all this stuff. Once again, the line was long to see the actual supposed site of the manger, so we didn’t wait and moved along.  From here we split up, half of us went to an orphanage and half of us went to a UN Refugee Camp for Palestinians. I went to the orphanage. We got a tour of it, heard some stories, how it operated, and why the girls were there. Their parents had given up rights for various reasons surrounding the conflict that existed between Palestine and Israel. Some girls lived 10 minutes from their parents and will never see them again because of the wall separating the two lands. I’m not trying to project politics yet, as a human, this was sad regardless of politics. After that we all returned to the convent and ate dinner.

Monday  morning, we woke up at 3 am and drove to Masada. We climbed a mountain, literally, to see the ruins of Herod and the rebels. One of my favorite sites we saw the entire trip. One item I should mention is the synagogue on the mountain. It is one of the 5 oldest synagogues in the world dating back to 4th century BC. I’ll be glad to tell you more about this if you want.  I could write a book on this alone though. We spent about 5 hours there and left at 9 am. It made for an extremely early day. After, we made our way to the Dead Sea and went for a swim, which was nuts. I could float on my stomach and keep my face, arms and legs out of the water. I could stand up in 4 feet of water and not be able to touch the bottom. The water felt weird, tasted awful, and burned your eyes like fire. Totally worth it though. Very cool experience. We made our way to Qumran next which is where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. I was expecting more here, but basically you watch a pretty non religious video, walk out and see a mikveh and some holes in the side of the mountain where the scrolls were found.  A mikveh is the bath they used 2000 years ago to purify themselves before entering a synagogue. We’d seen a million by then. After this we drove to Jericho and saw the Mount of Good and Evil and the Zacchaeus tree.

Before I go on, let me explain what it is like passing through the checkpoints the divide Palestine and Israel. You usually pull into a line that moves very slowly. There are signs that say what you are going through and that photography is prohibited. Since we were on a bus, 2-3  IDF soldiers would get on and treat us differently every time. The first time we went through, it was a guy and a girl. The guy said “Shalom” and said he needed a favor. It was the girl soldiers birthday and he wanted us to sing to her. So we did and we were on our way. No problems. Another time, three very stone faced seemingly convicted soldiers got on and wanted passports for every person on there while another soldier checked our cargo bays. Mind you they all carry machine guns look angry. It’s a very unsettling experience when they aren’t nice. We made it through all of ours with no problems though.

On Tuesday we spent more time touring Jerusalem. We saw the Pools of Bethesda and the accompanying cathedral. We saw the Temple Mount, the Dome of The Rock, the Al Aqsa mosque, and the Western Wall again but now we were able to take photos. I want to talk about the Temple Mount though. This is the epicenter of all conflict in the country. 3 major religions in the world all have a reason to celebrate and fight over this area. Ironically, it is the most peaceful part of the city. The dome is beautiful and the plaza is remarkable. We saw a piece of the plaza where it is believed the Ark of The Covenant spent 60 years. Kind of cool. We also saw the Golden Gate to Jerusalem which is the gate Jesus walked through on Palm Sunday. There is another corner where Jesus was betrayed the second time.  We spent the rest of that day volunteering back at the orphanage and refugee camp. We spent some time working with the girls on their English as well as played games and jump rope with them. It was a good day actually. They warmed up to us and latched on to the girls like they were best friends for life. It never ceases to amaze me how some things transcend countries and cultures. Little kids love attention no matter the differences  or location.  And adults are always touched by this.  Later in the afternoon we toured the refugee camp.This is a place for Palestinians displaced by the war in 1948. They are allowed to leave, but if they do, they can never come back. It’s a slum, the infrastructure is poor, buildings are dilapidated and poverty is abundant.

This is where I’ll start to get political. I’ll let you know where to skip to if you don’t care to read this.

Most Israelis  honor this area as a Palestinian Territory, but some don’t like it. This camp is searched randomly, ransacked, and purposely cut off from resources like water and electricity. That is not to say the Palestinians are the only victim here. Both sides of this conflict play dirty, very dirty. The people we talked to wanted to co exist with Israel, under one nation and law. They said they were non violent activists and wanted to work positively to a solution. Mind you, one had been in prison for 2 years for throwing a molotav cocktail at IDF soldiers. It didn’t bode well for his “non-violent” approach.  Extremist Palestinians have been known to fire rockets at Israelis and Israelis have been known to put a hole in a wall when searching instead of using a front door. Extremists on both sides ruin the majority. Not unlike the USA, the media sensationalizes and glorifies the radicals in either spectrum leaving out the majority that doesn’t want blood and chaos. Not all Palestinians are terrorists, not all Israelis want to extinguish Palestine.

The bottom line I walked away with here is that both sides of the conflict need hope, grace, and compassion. No politician will give that to them, only Jesus can. So there you have it, Vote for Jesus.

End Political Rant.

On Wednesday, we spent driving around Jerusalem looking at the dividing wall and learning about the Israeli side of the conflict. We got to view a couple of the settlements that Israel builds and some of the Palestinian neighborhoods that were affected by them. We also drove by the Pools of Siloam and Hezekiah’s Tunnel. This day sort of fell on tired ears and minds. We had experienced a lot by this point and most of us were a little burnt out on it.

On Thursday we drove up to the Sea of Galilee to see Nazareth. On the way we stopped at Caesarea. This was a city established on the Mediterranean Sea by Herod complete with a hippodrome and a ancient Roman amphitheatre. We Jai Ho’d there too. When we got to Nazareth, we quickly learned that it’s a very modern city that is bustling with activity. There is a huge cathedral there that is just about the only thing that indicates Jesus’s presence.

Then we camped. Camping seemed like just what we needed. A calm sea to enjoy, a sleep campfire, a guitar, good grilled food, and good friends. We got all that, and a lot more. About 8 pm as we were finishing up dinner, other people started arriving at the campsite. There were probably about 20 cars that showed up in an hour. A techno party had started down the beach, hookahs came out…that weren’t prepared with legal substances, liquor bottles started ending up on the floor. More loud music started from the cars. This all continued to grow until about 4 am. We finally fell asleep among the chaos and woke up to a peaceful beach that was being cleaned up by a park employee.

The next day we went to Mt. Carmel and saw where Elijah challenged the other prophets (and won). We ate lunch a Lebanese restaurant and ate hummus and falafel. Which is what we ate most of the time there and none of us minded.

We then drove down to see Capernaum. This was easily my second, and almost favorite thing we saw on the trip. We saw Simon’s house where the man was lowered through the roof for Jesus to help. We saw the synagogue that Jesus preached in a lot of his life. Very cool to be there too. Think about standing at the spot MLK gave his I have a dream speech at and multiply it by eleventy. That’s how awesome this was.

After that we went for a boat ride/tour on the Sea of Galilee. This part of the story gets a little surreal. Nobody walked on water or anything, but its awesome nonetheless. It starts out pretty expectedly, our guide tells us about some cities in the mountains, points out Capernaum, the Church of Multiplication where Jesus turned the 5 fish and 2 loaves into many to feed 5000, Tiberius, etc. After about 20 minutes of this he says he’ll be quiet and let us enjoy the ride. We’re all just sort of enjoying the downtime on the water. Then music comes on the loudspeakers on the boat. Mind you, the driver is Jewish, the crew is Jewish, and we are likely some of the only Christians in a 100 mile radius. What comes on the speakers? Chris Tomlin. We all think this is funny, but enjoyable. 2 songs into it, the driver asks if we want a fishing demonstration. We were all for it and he explained the net, how to throw it, etc. He throws it in twice and doesn’t catch anything. So of course, we all laugh and say “try the other side”. He does and he caught a fish. Never underestimate the lessons Jesus taught. It only gets better from there. After the fishing demonstration, the driver asks us if we want to hear Israeli music. We all say sure. The guy gets a microphone and sings it himself. You have to realize this guy looks like Vin Diesel, rocks a tight v neck black t shirt, with low rise tight designer jeans and black leather shoes with aviator sunglasses. You can totally tell this guy wants to be a singer for a living and the boat is just a day job. Hilarious. He sings a couple of songs and then asks us if we like dancing. Amanda Giobbi and Adrienne Ingrum were on the trip, so it was an easy question. They learned an Israeli folk dance and then they Jai Ho’d. Then we sang gospel hymns into the microphone and had a full on dance party. We even got 2 of the 8 people in the other group to dance. Quite epic and extremely surreal.

Then we camped again, same story. Drugs, alcohol, parties, yelling, hallucinating, general debauchery. On Saturday morning, several people were baptized in the Sea of Galilee and about another 8 of us were baptized in the Jordan River. This was a remarkable experience for me and a time of recommissioning. I’m readying myself to be a better leader in my church and community. I’ll tell you more on that if you want to hear it. This post is already ridiculously long. We came back through Jericho and ate lunch and finally ended up back in Jerusalem. We ate dinner and spent some final time wandering the city. Dave, Joe, Steve, Ed and I found a friendly Jewish man to explain some of the rituals they were performing and we actually got a lecture complete with handouts and flow charts. Quite weird actually. We went back to the cathedral we were staying at that night. I repacked my bags and slept for 3 hours before waking up to get to the airport for a 7 am flight. We left Tel Aviv on time and had a 3 hour layover in London. Joe and a few other friend at a Wagamama in Terminal 5 of Heathrow. Once on the plane for our last leg, the captain came on and told us the volcano in Iceland was acting up and caused a 2 hour ground delay and we were also rerouted up over Greenland, making a 6.5 hour flight a 9.5 hour. We made it home safely though, obviously, and I’m finally finding the time to document this trip 5 days later. I hope you enjoyed it.

Feel free to ask any questions about any of this in comments or through email.

Shalom!

Usually when a sermon is about me, I don’t like it…not this time

But not this time. My church is currently doing a series on miracles. It is all been great so far and it has been a very powerful series, but not one I felt I could apply to my life yet. I feel like miracles happen a lot more often than we realize, but we fail to acknowledge that it is a miracle. Often, miracles are thought of as birth of children, healing of a terminal disease, surviving a crash, or something else inhuman. It’s funny how one event can change that perspective though.

Yesterday I was one of the last 3 people to leave church and the last 3 of us decided to try a secret burrito place (more on that at the end). The place wasn’t open so we walked to a sandwich shop a couple blocks away. After we ate, my friends sort of looked at me intently and said “We also wanted to tell you that on the way here, we felt led to help you out with your mission trip…and we just donated $2000 toward it.”

I was literally speechless for maybe the 2nd or 3rd time in my life. I had no idea how to comprehend this. I’d never experienced that kind of generosity so selflessly and plainly. I’m probably not that good at receiving that sort of gesture, because  it has never really happened to me before. I tried to muster up words that would even begin to describe my gratitude. I think I stammered out “Thank you so much, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. I don’t know what to say…”. They responded with that I don’t need to say anything and they have been touched by my commitment to the trip and recent changes in my life. They hope that this trip will further my progress and reinforce it.
I know that it will. Because God has his hand all over this one, He has from the start. I felt called to this trip. Reasons are to still be determined, but my hope and prayer is and always has been that God will reveal Himself to me in a way I’ve never experienced on this trip.  And after this weekend, I’ve realized the fact of the matter is that He has been answering that prayer all along. I haven’t been oblivious to it, but it is easier to associate it with the larger scale experiences…like when a friend just gives you two grand. I know that He wants me to go, I know that He wants to show me something, reveal something to me, and change me. Everything since last fall has led me to believe that in the form of encouragement from friends, financial blessings, and verses in the Bible. The one particular verse that has really kept me in line is 2 Timothy 3:12 -

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

My persecution came from my family. My dad was pretty explicit in the fact that he did not want me to go the Middle East. My sister even warned me to a point that made me feel like she didn’t want me to go either. But I knew that it was indication that I was pursuing a greater calling. I sought clarity on this for a long time and the 2 Timothy verse kept coming back to me. God was speaking to me. Clearly. Talking to the leader of our trip, he assured me all along that if I was supposed to go, it would happen. With this last weekend’s event, it all became that much clearer. I’m supposed to go, I am going, and it will be one of the most memorable 11 days of my life.

I have had revelations over the last few months (see previous blog post), I’ve had transformations of my mind and attitude, change in habits, change in behavior and thought process. It is all culminating to something huge. However, in the last 6 month personal renaissance, the last few weeks were kind of a slump in this change honestly. No regression, just stagnancy. I felt like I had plateaued. It changed on Sunday though. Church was especially meaningful with a sermon on Balaam’s Donkey. Then I went to the lunch I’ll never forget followed by a short but intense final meeting for our trip. I finished out my day at catacombs and all 4 events made for an intense day of building up hope. I got excited for a lot of things.

First of all, to know that you have friends that can channel God’s miracles is an incredible piece of knowledge that brings comfort and awe at the same time. When you can see an act of God and His divinity in something so apparent, it inspires an abundance of feelings and emotions that are difficult to put into words. Basically I feel blessed, lucky, overwhelmed, joy, affirmation, unworthy, and most of all thankful. I know they were giving to God and God was giving to me. For us to be involved in Godly a transaction is truly remarkable.

Second of all, to know that you are allowing God to use you for his purposes is rewarding. It feels good. To know that you are doing what God wants you to do makes you feel like nothing else. I like to think that everything I do is part of His plan for me, but when it is unmistakable, it is different.

Third of all, our trip is on April 29th. As of today, that means it is 10 days away. I’m going to the streets where Jesus walked, talked, taught, healed, preached, died, and rose again. I’ll see the chaos that is Israel and Palestine, I’ll talk to people with broken spirits, misguided beliefs, and prejudice against me and all that I stand for. I can’t wait. More persecution means I’m something right. God will bless me on this trip and long after as a result.

Now about that secret burrito place. It is called the Well Dressed Burrito and it consists of 2 signs and a solid windowless black door. There are no windows and no other signs than the one that says “Well Dressed Burrito” with a penguin on it. It is located in an alley between 19th St.  and 20^th St. NW DC. It is only open on M-F and Saturdays, not Sundays as we learned the hard way. People say it is the best burrito in the world and the lines can reach around the block during lunch hours. I’ll be back when it is open. I’ll let you know how it is.