Song of the Week 3-31-12

They played this song at the end of the NeedToBreathe concert. It's got a good beat.

Saturday : Endings

Let it be known this will be my last N.O. posting for Spring Break.

We got up and ate breakfast at 9:30. I had a cinnamon roll. It was delicious.

Its hard to think that for spring break we drove for six days, and worked for five. A little silly if you ask me.

The bonding in the car, however, is not silly. I love the team. I LOVE the team. Not in the mushy love sort of way but in the family kind of way. I feel like I can live life with these people.

I forgot to finish this yesterday so ill finish it now. We're currently driving through Iowa and should be home in a few hours.

All I see are fields and wind turbines.

Yesterday we had a good drive from Tennessee to Iowa. We had a rap battle between both vans. The van I was in won! The battle took place outside a Mcdonalds in Iowa City.

After that it wasn't much longer until the hotel. We got there early enough before the pool closed so we just hung out there and chatted. Then we played a game in the lobby until about one in the morning.

I'm still processing what happened in New Orleans. So much information in so little time takes me awhile to process. I'm still thinking of ways to implement what I learned into my community.

The windmills of Iowa are spinning.

I guess as long as there is wind those turbines will keep spinning and as long as there is air in my lungs I will keep living.

But how then shall I live?
What should I do with my time?
Where am I called?

And as we keep traveling down the roads of Iowa so to do I travel down the road of life. What is passed is behind me and the direction ahead is the only thing I control.

Iowa can teach lessons of endings, of beginnings, and everything in-between.

Picture : the Mcdonalds theme in Iowa where the rap battle took place.

Friday : Humbled

On Friday I did the same work that I did on Thursday except for a shorter amount of time.

I did not do much. Most of it was cleaning up for the group next week.

For lunch was gumbo. Basically shrimp and sausage and rice with other miscellaneous ingredients.

I played basketball with some people from the team and smaller kids. That was a lot of fun.

When we got back the team cleaned and packed up and loaded the cars. We then got a tour of the lower ninth ward, the area that you can still see the effect of hurricane Katrina.

It was a humbling experience, one that made me feel very blessed to have the house that I do and live in the location I am in.

Around the lower ninth ward you can see houses with X's on them. This was the marking they made after searching the houses after Katrina. In one corner was the date, another was the organization, another was how many bodies or animals they found. It's a symbol that causes a silence amongst a crowd.

It is interesting, the power behind a symbol after you learn the context.

After that we dropped off the guys that gave us the tour, Jolly and Joe, who I had gotten to know throughout the week.

Then we hit the road.

Then we hit traffic.

Eventually we made it to Memphis, Tennessee. Well, actually a little north of Memphis because I made the mistake of booking the hotel without looking at the specific location.

Then we slept.

I'm writing this on Saturday, so now ill write that on another blog.

Song of the Week 3-24-12

When this posts I'll be coming back to Minnesota.

Thursday : Smiles

Today I did some easier work. I put in the outside tracks for a future drop ceiling.

It was downpouring today, which again meant no challenge circle. I was looking forward to that but it just didn't happen. It was two years ago where I broke out and lived life during challenge circle. It was where I sang falsetto that "all people are sinful" and made everyone do the spider-man dance. But that was not happening this year.

So I drew semi-straight lines nine feet above the floor, using a pencil and level, and screwed in some nuts to hold those runners for the drop ceiling. I learned my lesson from the day before and did pilot holes, which made things go smoother for me. So that's what I did today.

It rained pretty much all day. It's currently thunderstorming.

Immediately after that some of us went to a thrift store near by. There were some funny clothes there for cheap. I tried on a very weird pajama thing and got my picture taken. Other people got other cool clothes including an orange jumpsuit, belly shirt, and fish shirt.

We had free time again today. We.weren't sure what to do so we hopped in the van and got ice cream again. The other teams that were working with us also came. We took funny pictures of ourselves. By funny, I mean pictures that I can't describe what we did other than it being so great. We shared lots of laughs.

After that the puddles were huge along the curbs of New Orleans. Two of the girls decided to walk through the puddles. Then two of the boys, after changing, decided to dive through the puddles. Then others joined, then I joined. Then we played football.

It was a good moment of life. Holding onto those moments of spontanious stupid fun is worth getting muddy and soaking wet and getting a gash on my ankle. I had so much fun running through the grass then diving into a puddle and sliding across the yard.

We had to clean the showers afterwards because of the grass and water we brought in; a small price to pay for the fun that occurred.

And that was my moment; something of a highpoint for Spring Break. It was a connection of people coming together to do something fun and crazy and I embraced it.

I wish I smiled more. I admire people who always are smiling about something. Its such a pleasant feeling. I mean, I am smiling while writing this right now. I feel like its the smiling people that do the spontanious things first.

I got scrapes and blisters on my hands and feet, I feel dirty, sweaty, and that my acne is about to act up, but I am still laughing, smiling, and having a blast.

Its the people around you that make life what it is; not booze or drugs or woman. That's one problem with Bourbon street; the right people aren't there to make genuine fun.

The night ended in me friend requesting the team from Wisconsin.

We leave tomorrow. There was talk of our team still meeting together weekly after the trip.

There was an appreciation said about how great the people here are.

The progress of our work can be clearly seen throughout the building.

My goal is to bring what I've learned and embrace that into what I have left in college; and maybe beyond.

But we hit the road tomorrow after doing a half day of work. Now off to bed.

Picture: my spot in the kitchen tonight. Using someones charger again. Not sure whose it is.

Wednesday : Manhood

Today it rained, which means no blight busting (yard work) and no challenge circle (awana). Both sad.

Instead I worked inside the new church building. I was supposed to work on paint crew but got quickly switched to another team.

I got to tear down an old door frame and put up a new frame for a window. I've had experience in neither of these so I was pretty bad at it. I used a crowbar, hammer, and power drills.

Tearing stuff down is a lot more fun than building something up.

I got to swing at that door frame with all I had and eventually it gave way and crumbled. With a little help from others of course. The steel from the door frame was put on the side of the building for a guy to take later so he could make some money.

Then we had to build a frame for a window. This involved cutting stuff and drilling stuff. I was no good at drilling through metal studs and tracks.

I felt so demasculated.

I either applied too much pressure or went too fast on the drill. I could never find the right touch. The worst was when I had to screw something in an awkward position and couldn't get enough power on the drill. I felt so weak, so unmanly, because the guy who was in charge of us, Scott, could do it all with ease.

I got frustrated. I couldn't do the simple task of screwing in a screw with a power drill. I mean, come on,  I'm 22. Shouldn't my brain be good at this by now? Shouldn't my muscles be able to do this? I had to.walk away a couple of times out of frustration.

So yeah, I was down, but looking back now I feel accomplished. I mean, not everybody does that in their lifetime. So yeah, I felt like I lost my manhood, then regained it.

So that's what I did all day today. 

We had a long lunch. The rain was so hard that the power went out so we played Ninja. It's a fun game.

We had southern cooking tonight. Rice and beans. It was hot! I didn't mind it though.

After dinner we went to the French Quarter again. We walked a bit in the rain. I also had beignets again from Cafe du Monde. Also walked down Bourbon street again.

Now I'm sitting in the kitchen wearing my "I <3 N.O." shirt, stealing power from someones charger because my phone is out of battery, and waiting for laundry to be done.

My night owl-ness can not be broken.

Tuesday : The Power of Powerade

Another day of blight busting. Cleaning up empty an empty lot is not easy work. I mowed the lawn today which means running over three foot high weeds or bushes or trash. Its quite the process. I had a good mower though.

If you ever need to do blight busting, get a John Deere.

I had a little run in with a cockroach last night. It scurried by me pretty quick. I didn't kill it because I had socks on. Those things are scary. There about as long as my pinky and as wide as my thumb.

Anyways, while we were out working a man in a suit came to our truck with a bag. He got us all a powerade. I had a pink lemonade powerade. It was good, better than the gallons of water I had been drinking before.

He said he just saw us and wanted to thank us for helping out the community. I've never really done that for anyone.

Yesterday a guy named Kevin randomly stopped by and started helping us clean up for an hour or so. As he was walking away I ran up to him and gave him a water bottle. I never really do that either.

Some give time. Some give powerade.

New Orleans is so chillaxed. Time doesn't really matter. If they say they will be there in an hour, it will be an hour and fifteen minutes because they were talking to people and that made them late and its alright for everyone.

We also got a surprise today. When we were still working on the lot the city of New Orleans came by with a bobcat and big mowers; the kind you sit in. They were going to finish it up for us. That was nice of them.

So we finished a little early, went back to the new church and help them tear down.

Then we learned Challenge Circle was cancelled due to the forecasted rain. Challenge Circle is where we play with kids after school in a style similar to Awana.

So we got a little break today. Usually, its go-go-go but since the cancellation, we get free time. I took a nice shower, and had some time to journal about my day.

Ah almost forgot. Yesterday when we to the French Quarter I had to parellel park and I did it in a poetic fashion. Only took me one time and it was awesome.

Now I wait for dinner. And probably a nap.

A little update since dinner. The team went down to Creole Creamery. Basically an its an ice cream shop. It was good stuff.

I saw something pretty cool after we got back. Someone on the team got an unintentional shot to a "sensitive area" and was down for the count. Laying on the sidewalk we all sat around waiting for him. Then someone laid down next to him and said, "this is compassion." It was a funny, interesting gesture but it made so. much. sense. Then we all laid down on the ground. Showing him compassion. Isn't that a thing of beauty?

God has a sense of humor that can show his Kingdom.
After that we played Bowls which is a mixture of catch phrase and charades. We laughed a lot, enough to make someone almost pee their pants.

Getting used to going to bed sweaty. See ya'll tomorrow!

Monday : Trash and Bourbon

It's only Monday?!?!

Legs and knees are sore. My accent is getting pretty decent though. When someone asks, "how you doing?" you don't reply with "good" but with "alright." Just a small sampling of what's up in the south.

Today was day one, or the day we get our sea legs. The church we partner with bought a new building and is in the process of remodeling it to suit their needs. So we'll be doing a lot of work there this week.

Today I did blight busters; a.k.a cleaning up lots; a.k.a yard work. I'm not a big fan of yard work but it's a mission trip and I shouldn't complain, I knew what I was getting into.

Me, along with four others cleaned up half of one lot. A lot that the Bethel team cleaned up last year. There was trash, lots of trash. There was your usual trash, like beer bottles and wrappers but also random trash like a slipper, blowdryer, and the top cover of deodorant sticks. How do those things become trash in a lot?

I thought of each piece of trash as a different story. Each a memory of someone, somewhere that threw their trash out into that lot. I thought of good stories and bad stories. Like, someone finally decided to stop smoking and threw out the whole carton of cigarettes. Or, someone got really drunk, drank a whole bunch of beer, and threw the bottles out of their car in anger at people.

Each piece of trash has a story and we all leave pieces of trash places.

After blight busting was a prayer walk. We went to a nearby park and walked around talking to people on their porch or front lawn. That's how people interact in New Orleans. They sit on their porch and talk to whoever passes by. We prayed as a group for a couple of people.

After the prayer walk was dinner. Before dinner I took a shower. It was good. I ate dinner merrily.

After dinner we just hung out. I sat the whole time, giving my knees a good break from weed whipping and raking up weeds.

After that we got a mini-sermon from the head pastor, John. He talked about the history of the church and the surrounding community. He talked about how if we want to serve the community we have to be in the community. It was more about living out your faith than just talking about it. It was about reaching out to those in need in your community.

After that, we went to the French Quarter. We stopped at Cafe du Monde. Its this place near the river that serves basically glorified doughnuts with a lot of powdered sugar.

We then walked down Bourbon street. The famous-for-all-the-wrong-reasons street. Basically a lot of bars, music, and beer which means a lot of drunk people and people looking to party. It also has some "gentleman club" areas where woman are basically degraded to objects.

Bourbon street is interesting. It's collision of tourism hot spot and "hell on earth." The "hell on earth" may be a little exaggerated but that's the only way I can describe it. I saw children on the street with their parents, which I find a little strange.

Now it's time to sleep. For tomorrow is Tuesday. It supposedly might rain for the rest of the week, which stinks, but oh well.

Sunday : Basketball

We arrived at the Yellow House. Safely and without getting lost.

We went to a church in the morning. We must've stuck out because we had people walk up to us and ask where we are from. We even got a shout out in the morning announcements. It was pretty interesting church; very passionate in their worship style. I definitely realized how reserved I was.

The message was pretty normal to me. It was not the on-fire preacher that shouts a lot and sweats five minutes into his speech.

It was more like a message I was used to seeing back home.

We got to the Yellow House, a sight of comfort after staying in a sketchy hotel(in my opinion), and hung out for awhile. While tossing around the football outside I forgot what it was like to sweat standing in the sun.

Other teams arrived. One from Alabama, another from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Pretty sweet to have another northern team with us.

Then it was orientation, which included a prayer concert. It involves singing and clapping and praying out loud and silently. Prayer is cool because you can do it in many unconventional ways.

After orientation was dinner. We ate at Voodoo BBQ. I got briscuit. It was okay. I didn't try the sauce, which was a mistake.

Then I played basketball. Man, am I bad at basketball. I made some baskets, but after airballing a couple in a row its hard not to get down on yourself.

Was I sent to N.O. just to play basketball? I dunno. Did I have fun? Yeah, but ask me tomorrow after I wake up at 7am if it was worth it.

I believe in the little things. Meaning, I believe the little things can make a big impact, even without realizing it. Yes, I got sweaty and scraped my elbow and yes, my legs will be sore tomorrow. But will it make an impact? That's to be decided.

Tomorrow is work day number one. Who knows how that will go.

I haven't made huge realizations if N.O. is different than it was two years ago. It's a different perspective being a team leader. I have other tasks other than just being there. I'm a little overwhelmed with all this information.

But now I am sitting here in the Yellow House kitchen alone just writing a blog on my phone. I love it, although it would be nice having another person journaling with me.

I wonder if I turn off all the lights when I'm done with this blog?

Sunday : Traveling

Driving through Iowa is tough.

Missouri is kind of like Iowa but more humid and some hills.

Arkansas is similar.

Tennessee has some life.

Mississippi has a cursive "welcome to" sign.

This is life on the road. Traveling down to New Orleans gives you a lot of time to think about what you're doing. Why am I going there for spring break? Why not stay home?

The lines of the highway keep going by. Progress is sweeping under my feet.

Am I excited for New Orleans? Yes, so excited, so ready, but not prepared.

The team is awesome.  So willing to serve and open with each other.

Its weird. Introducing yourself to another. Its like you can be whoever you wanna be. You've spearfished? Me too, five years ago in the Amazon with my dog. Also, I've gotten shot.

How do we stay true to ourselves? How do we show who we really are? Does it come through with time?

What a weird social thing. I kind of enjoy it.

So far its been a lot of driving and some bathroom/gas breaks.

I got initiated into the hotel world. Never have I been responsible for checking people into a hotel. That's been interesting.

Currently I'm sitting in a hotel room wrapped up in a blanket. When the air conditioner goes on I start to freeze but when it turns off it gets pretty humid.

Today is Sunday. The plan is to go visit a church and drive to the French Quarter. The French Quarter should be fun to see, being the day after St. Patrick's day and all. Then we drive a little bit more to the yellow house. Which is where we're staying. A long day for sure.

Song of the Week 3-17-12

When this posts I'll be somewhere south of Minnesota. I like the first half, the second is okay. I like the music and vocal stuff. Not sure about the lyrics because I haven't listened to it enough.

Oh Don...

"Right before you die,
you'll realize this whole
life was about loving people...
And you watched too much television."
-Donald Miller

N.O. Calls

Spring Break is calling me. Spring Break means New Orleans, not for vacation, but for the pleasure of serving people and communities.

My prayer lately is to be open and willing. To cut loose from the commonalities of the bubble of my institution and have God break free and live through me or:

Prepare me to love. Break down my walls. Shine through me. Live through me.
Prepare. Break. Shine. Live.

I want God to work through me. I want to leave my identity at the doorstep.

I want to die to myself, so I can have new life through Him.

New Orleans is calling. The humidity. The people. The culture.

I will answer.

Song of the Week 3-10-12

Orginal
I can't embed it. Just click here.


Autotuned


If you believe in yourself, you will know how to ride a bike.