Finito

I have nothing left to do as an undergraduate student. It is complete.



It was actually somewhat unsatisfying, the last question on my last exam was a stumper so I didn't do that well on that part, but the rest of the exam I think I rocked it.

Lord, thank you for the blessing of education and for carrying me to the end. I love you Lord. May I be able to be a good steward of the gifts you give, and may this degree bless your name. I love You, Lord!

Get 'em, Akeem

I have this friend from my days in Wallace Hall named Akeem. He's a tall, deep thinking guy, and he really loves the Lord. I don't really know how I met him, he works really hard on his schoolwork and kind of keeps to himself. Here's the thing that kind of sets Akeem apart: every Saturday, technically Friday sundown through Saturday sundown, he takes a Sabbath. A full on, do nothing but read the Bible, Jew-esque Sabbath. He said it's something his family started back in Davenport.

Akeem's obviously got strong convictions. He has his Jesus space, and he's willing to sacrifice for it. The thing that makes me scratch my head a little bit is that he isn't in any sort of Christian community. I'm kind of the only Christian he knows at Iowa State, which is kind of sad. I challenged him on this, partly because he would benefit from being plugged into the body, and largely because the body would greatly benefit from having him. But since I'm his only Christian brother here, I was the one that he called up to share his new conviction:

Share the word.

He said it was burning on him, that all his private study couldn't end there but needed to go forth. I said, yep. I'm in. We have had trouble meeting up because he doesn't have a cell phone, but we finally intersected on Tuesday afternoon. So we headed to the MU, not entirely sure what it would look like. We walked in, surveyed the food court for a moment, and then Akeem said simply said "let's go." Haha, he went.

"Hey you guys got a minute?" he boldly asked this table of three trendy looking guys who are finishing up their french fries. Not my first choice of people to share with, these guys seem really self assured and comfortable. But Akeem is on fire. The guys look up from the fries and are like, "yeah, sure, what's going on?" So Akeem just gives it to them. A full gospel presentation, talking for about 2 minutes about how Jesus was born 2000 years ago and died for their sins and rose again from the grave.

I'll admit, I was somewhat squirming. Akeem's style wasn't smooth or deft or pleasant. Not that it was unpleasant. It was just straightforward. Very straight. Very forward. His tone was really good, I gotta mention that. Not forceful, but confident that these words have power. His altar call at the end wasn't to pray a prayer or anything, but mostly to get plugged in to a ministry, Salt or Cru or something. Which is kind of ironic since he's never been to any of those ministries.

Of the three guys there was still one that looked like he was mostly listening. He said he used to teach confirmation class back home, and had been to Salt a couple times. The other guys said they were catholic, lutheran, something like that. Akeem told them they were on the right track, and then moved on to the next table.

More confession time, I felt really awkward. With Akeem's style, I didn't have to say anything, but I should probably look confident and receptive to what he's saying. And I'm not convinced I was giving a vibe of confidence or unity with his words. Lord, have mercy.

After a second table, I told Akeem I could better serve our team as the prayer support, since I wasn't really needed to say anything. Give the air support while he's the boots on the ground. He agreed. So I pulled out Isaiah 42 and journaled and prayed up and down that place, while Akeem kept going table to table with his 2-3 minute commercial for Jesus. It worked pretty well from there. I prayed through every verse of the chapter and then some. Akeem was soon out of sight around the corner. The moment I felt like I should end the prayer Akeem showed right back up, saying "that's all of it." I believed him.

What was most compelling about Akeem and his sharing style was that this guy has no fear of man whatsoever. And an obvious love for the word and for Christ. But seriously, he didn't care what people thought or if there was awkwardness. He marched right in and said his piece. Then marched on.

Now a brief snippet of what I would change. I won't say much because, well, he had the guts to do it. First, a more obvious love for the people. It sounded a little like a commercial. Second, a little more creativity. He was walking out 1 Corinthians 2:2 -- For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Akeem's delivery just started with "Two thousand years ago Jesus came to the earth, both God and man." True. Just, not an instant audience connector. All in all though, I'm proud of my boy Akeem and compelled by his example. Hopefully I get up the guts one of these days to just ask for a table's attention and just preach the word.

Lord may you use the efforts of Akeem and I today to change hearts and impact lives. It's but a few loaves and a couple fish, but Lord you can multiply it. May you bless Akeem and give him true fellowship. May you make us into powerful witnesses for your Name.

The best song ever for today

I'm something of a worship music connoisseur, always looking for new stuff. I never realized this until I went to India last summer and the rest of my travel companions didn't recognize any of the worship music CDs I brought. I dunno what it is, but I can just stay on the internet finding new worship music and new artists and listening to them for hours. Like Psalm 96 says, "Sing to the LORD a new song." Acutally that phrase or a slight variation of it is repeated 6 times in the Bible. Nifty!

Artist of the day: Brian and Jenn Johnson
Song: "A Little Longer"
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=90954097

Well, it says Brian and Jenn but technically it's just Jenn Johnson and her piano. So compelling. It starts somber enough, a minor key and and some wistful vocals. The beginning is okay I guess. But the part where my heart just melts before God is where she transitions, by saying "Then I hear you saying to me...". And the song reveals what it is that God has laid on her heart. Should it be any surprise that this is the most powerful and gripping part of the song?

I want this song to be a picture of my walk with God. You can just feel the intimacy with Him oozing from her voice and from the piano. She knows Him. And He knows her. And they love each other. It's so freeing, too, she doesn't define her walk by the straining or striving or what she does. "You don't have to do a thing, just simply be with me" is what Jesus whispers.

What a mystery it is to be your child, Lord. Help me not to find my identity in doing but in just being. Help me find the time and space to just clear distractions. I want to just be able to sit on Daddy's lap. Just a little longer.

“Why does Texas Stadium have a hole in its roof? So God can watch the team play.”

Sorry for the multiple football posts in one night, but this one had to be noted. I was multi-tasking between CE 453 final exam study and Sunday Night Football, Cowboys and Giants. Cowboys locked up the exciting yet low scoring game, which was extra special because it was the last ever game in Texas Stadium. Some call it the Wrigley Field of football. Partly because it's old and weathered, partly because it's a gravitous place of legendary football.

The old saying goes that Texas Stadium had a hole put in the roof so that "God could watch the games on Sunday." Well of course we know that God is just as present in the player's mouthguards as He is in the sky directly above the half dome. One of the best verses on God's omniprescence is Jeremiah 23:23-24 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.

Now if Texas Stadium has been the most legendary stadium in the NFL, the most highly esteemed spot in that stadium would be the center of the star. Cowboys logo, 50 yard line. It's been recognized as the most sacred place in football in years past, observe:

And tonight, the last game to be played at Texas Stadium, was no different. Terrance Newman sealed the game with an interception with under a minute left in the game, ran to the center of the field, and kissed the star. And they say their's no honor or respect in the game these days.

But here's the most beautiful snapshot that I'll be taking away from the historic last game. I even came across it by chance. The nbc.com stream of the game lets you choose from 5 different views when you watch. After the game was over, one of the cameras, not the one you would actually see at home, stayed on a group of about 15 players who once again gathered at the Star. A few Cowboys, a few Giants, a few coaches and trainers. And they all kneeled right there, on the sacred ground of the football gods, and prayed to the One True God in Heaven. Giving the real honor where honor is due.

On this last nostalgic night of Texas Stadium football, the cameras faded out with the final picture of the Cowboys' Star as one counter to the whole culture of professional sports and our flashy culture. It was a picture of surrender, of remembrance, and of deference to the God who is the real One deserving of our applause, deserving of our second-effort, deserving of our game-planning.

It lines up just perfect with what Jesus was all about. He went into a barn, made it his VIP landing strip. He walked up to some fishermen, made them his Senior Vice Presidents that would eventually take his vision global. He walked up to the pious religious know-it-alls, made them a dumbfounded laughingstock. He walked up to an executioner's device, made it the symbol of his movement.

Thank you Lord, for always flipping things on their ear. You are so creative and unpredictable and unfathomable. I praise you that you are the Lord of the back alley asphalt and the Lord of the star in Texas Stadium. May we remember you even in the most unlikely of places.

Defensive backs have the coolest names

I was just watching my Cowboys play the Giants on the wonderful NBC.com live stream of Sunday night football. It's come in really handy this semester, as I always seem to be stuck in a computer lab after Freshmen Group gets out.

Here's the big observation of the night. If you want your kid to have a chance at being an NFL defensive back, give him a really cool name. This revelation hit me like a rock after I saw the Giants RW McQuarters make a couple plays. He is one of many DBs who have names with that certain ring to it. Don't believe me? Look at this list:

RW McQuarters
Champ Bailey
Shawn Springs
Ty Law
Troy Polamalu
Asante Samuel
Deltha O'Neal
DeAngelo Hall
Pacman Jones

Okay, that last one is just a nickname, but hopefully you see the trend. Most of these are pro-bowl caliber guys, too, I'm not scouring the nfl.com database or anything. Wide recievers play a similar position, yet they just aren't as striking:

Chad Johnson
Donald Driver
Steve Smith
Calvin Johnson

*Yawn*. Just not much to it. I played wide reciever, so maybe that was my problem all along: my name is too flashy. Lance Allgood, sounds like it should belong in the DB list. Just think how good I could have been if I had switched to Defensive Back. But if I was going to succeed and still be a wide reciever, I needed to change my name to Michael Smith.

When I played at Central College it was all true too. Observe:

Our best cornerback:
Guy Dierikx

Our best reciever:
Josh Smith

Based on my research, we should have been able to figure out who would be who on day one. If only I had figured it out sooner!

Sparks are flying, Holy Ghost style

Tonight was the last regular Freshmen Group of the semester. It was a good time, this semester went really fast. Sometime I'll do some first semester FG reflections. But tonight I gotta write down the little episode of what happened afterward.

So I was on my way to Town Engineering Building to finish the project of a lifetime. Writing this blog post is actually slightly inhibiting me to get to the finish line of that project, but it's worth it. I'm trucking along in the cold with my backpack. But on the road right there between Hoover and town is a little logjam of quiet commotion. Iowa State Parking Division truck with it's lights on, and then two car with there hoods up and jumper cables. Ugh, bad time for a battery to die. It's a cold night. I'm late to the project, so I keep trucking down the sidewalk. But then,
a
tug.

Lord, them? Now?
If you want to have a life characterized by miracles and helping people and bringing the kingdom, yes you need to go now. When do you think those opportunities are going to come, on your day off? Now go pray for the battery.
That's more or less what God said in the time of about a quarter of a second. I dunno, it's weird how God talks to me sometimes, it's like a scroll that's all wrapped up and handed into my brain, and I think it all at once. Okay, maybe that was a bad way to describe it, let me try again. It's like my thoughts are really really really quick for a moment. But not quick or twitchy or fast. More just like, how you can look at a word and just know it, right? When you're reading? You don't have to sound it out, like "okay, the D makes a 'duh' sound and the O makes a "oh" sound and the G makes a 'guh' sound" but you just comprehend it at once, "dog." So it's kind of like that, but instead of with a word it's with a sentence or two. Like the italicized portion above. Note that's not a word for word, I don't know that I could generate a word for word, but it was close. I have a couple moment argument with God, but I know He's right so I shuffle back to them awkwardly.

There was a parking guy, a filipino couple (the flag hanging from the rear-view mirror clued me into the specifics), and a blonde guy with a part in his hair all hovering around. From what I could tell of their dialogue, nothing was working. They had been messing with the battery and the cables, but the parking guy was trudging back to his ISU DPS batmobile to try something else. I'm still chilling on the sidewalk, a few feet away, trying to do my best distance stare, the "oh hmm I'm peeking in from a distance and I'm interested but not going to just barge in and engage you first, so I hope you notice me" stare. They caught on, and we made some small talk.

"Oh, you gonna have to tow it?" "I hope not, but nothing's working" "yadda yadda"
I'm trying to stall yet build a little repor, because I know I just need to drop the weirdo prophet Jesus man card in a second. But God, this is still weird... You know what to do, c'mon Lance... So I just dive in, enough small talk.

"Hey, this might sound a little weird, but... I feel like God really wants me to pray for your car that it would work and stuff."
They're response was generally positive, I couldn't sum up all of them at once for the nuances of how they reacted to me bringing up God and prayer out of nowhere but it sure seemed to be all green lights. They were open to try anything, since their other things initially didn't have any success.

"So would that be okay if I like prayed for your car? I know it's weird but I feel like that's what God wants me to do, I mean he loves you guys and he wants to show that he even cares about the little things and getting you guys out of the cold." No I want to say that I said that last part eloquently and looking into their eyes with all compassion, but nah the words just kinda tumbled out and I looked at the ground.

"Well sure, I'm catholic man so you know..." The filipino guy spoke up. "Yeah go for it."

I'm looking at the car, wondering, okay, God, what does this look like praying for an inanimate object like this. Well, the battery was the problem and it had all the cables attached to it, so it seemed like a good place to start. I took one glove off and put my bare hand on the battery.

"Dear Jesus, I pray that you would come and ...." I don't really have any recollection of what I prayed specifically. Something about how much Jesus loves them again. I do remember saying "... in Jesus' name, amen." but feeling like I had missed something so quickly throwing in a "your kingdom come, your will be done. Amen." Hopefully these guys weren't on an Amen quota, because I used two in the same prayer.

Well, I felt mostly satisfied with the prayer and just satisfied in my spirit, not like scared but not fireworks on the inside either. The woman spoke and said, "well, guess we should try it again now" "Yeah why not" was the consensus. She prodded the blonde guy with a part in his hair and he went toward the driver's door. I'm pretty sure blondie is a believer, I might have seen him at Fish dinner before, but I know for sure that the faith and confidence he had as he walked toward the door that yeah, he's a believer.

I'm standing back on the sidewalk, and as the parking division guys says "Let er rip" I feel this quick ripple like "hey, you should be nervous about how this is going to turn out why aren't you still praying silently" but I just as quickly somehow answer back "nah I'm content." It was weird, I almost didn't care. But in a good way, I'm pretty sure. No, I know in a good way. There was no striving or reaching or disbelief it was just... satisfied faith, I guess. Not sure what that phrase means but satisfied faith is my answer.

All that argument again took place in about a quarter of a second before the guy turned the key in the ignition.
SKEOW!
A giant spark shot out of the red terminal, and a little one out of the black terminal on the battery.
But, the engine didn't turn over or start. Again, I somehow just didn't care or get phased on the inside, just that it was kind of loud and a really big spark.

"Hey, we got a spark now, it'll start charging." Okay, good news. I'm glad parking division guy said that, because I don't really know car batteries or how to read the situation. Even though it didn't suddenly roar to life and sound like a Dodge Viper, it had happened. It had changed. Jesus answered. "We'll let it charge for like 5 minutes and it should be good."

So I'm back near the sidewalk, blondy's getting out of the car. And for whatever reason, I just give them a "Okay, awesome, well I gotta get going to a project so I'll see you later" And they give a goodbye as I turn my back to them and march on.

Now, in retrospect, I don't know why I fled the scene so fast. It would have been really great to stay and use the platform for the message, "Hey, this just goes to show, guys, that Jesus cares even about the little details of your life and he loves you so much. I think that just like the car battery sparked to life Jesus wants to come and cause you to spark to new life through Him." All things that would have been good to say. But, I marched away. Praising and thanking God, of course, but not turning back to look at all. I pray and trust that the blonde guy will use the platform and the space for a message, pointing them even more to Christ. If nothing else, I pray that they remember my prayer or the name Jesus and associate that name with the fact their car starts.

Lord, thanks for the opportunity and for not letting me walk on by. I love you Lord. May this be the start of something more. I want to be trustworthy with the little things, so that You can trust me with the big things. And may you continue to minister to those 4 people. Lord I don't know what they saw in the whole situation but I pray that they would be drawn to You more and give You the Glory you deserve. Thank you Jesus.
And may you continue to send sparks into our lives. Amen.

Realness

So my boy Nick was able to come out to Ames for a Salt Co last night. Oh, Nick, what a guy. He's a good friend from the Central days. We've been connecting a little more lately, kind of because we're both in the phase of graduating but not really moving on. But hey, it's because we're doing ministry, come one! We're not just playing video games in momma's basement... anyway sorry I got defensive.

Well Nick made the drive up from Pella to Ames for the sole purpose of catching a Salt Company service. It was cool to hear his outside perspective, always something that's hard to grasp when you've been in the mix and keeping focused on just this place, as is usually the case. What he said was almost a touch insulting, but nah it was cool. He's been doing the Pella/Central College thing for awhile now, so one of the first things he said was "Man, I want to sometime go and do ministry at a bigger place like this, the people are a lot more real."

Okay, cool thing to share, we can stamp that on our ministry now, "we're real." Yeah! But wait, Nick doesn't actually know anyone at Salt, he mingled with people for like 5 minutes before worship started, how could he have a deep conversation and dig up life issues and encounter our "realness" like that? Well, he didn't. That's the funny thing. He was mostly just judging off appearances.

Not a bad thing, mind you. He's been in the white-picket fence, painted on smile, perfect Utopian world of Pella for some time now. Things aren't very "real" there, at all. Sometimes sickeningly so. I guess one of my first internal reactions to his comment was "HEY are you saying we're gritty and unnerving, putting off a vibe of brokenness?" but now I am mostly thanking God that I have been rescued from the Pella homogeneity. And yes, I'm praising God for our gritty unnerving vibe of brokenness, too.

It makes sense that Nick would make that observation. He's never been one to yield to the "tulip and a smile" culture that tries to swallow Central. He's got a really cool testimony, too, that I got to observe large parts of. That'll be a story for another day. But in the mean time, praise God that, at least on the surface, we are Real here at Salt. But as Mark was teaching last night, Lord may you continue making us are REALER selves, the ones that are regenerated by Jesus's blood and indwelt by His Spirit. Thank you Lord. May you continue transforming us into shinier image bearers.

Pilgrimage

Psalm 84 is soooooo good. You might know it from the worship song "Better is One Day in your Courts" or whatever the title actually is. The heart of it all that strikes me today is in verse 5, where it says "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage."

There were several stirring preachers at the Urbana conference a couple New Years Eves ago. One stuck with me, Brenda Salter-McNeil, who said "be careful where you settle, because where you settle is where you die." She was talking about Abraham's dad. Now, anybody who has had a little Bible teaching can rattle off that Abraham is the dad of Issac who is the dad of Jacob, the 3 guys we call the patriarchs. The family who God used to invade the world with His love. We all got that one down, yadda yadda.

Now, the big Quiz question: Who was Abraham's dad?

If you said Terah, give your self a thousand Bible bonus points. Great jorb. Here's the summation of Terah's life that is basically all we know, from Genesis 11:31-- "Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran." Where you settle is where you die. He set out for Canaan. But he got to Haran and said, "meh, good enough for now." Made himself comfortable. Chilled.

I guess from this God could probably see that this dude didn't have the fortitude to be the father of many nations, didn't have the faith to receive and walk in what God was doing. Not like he was a bad guy, I mean he obviously did something right in raising Abraham.

So back to the Psalms verse. "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage." Set their hearts. That's the opposite of settling, setting your heart on pilgrimage. Committing to the journey. And it's obvious from the rest of this psalm what the destinatin of the journey is--the very DWELLING PLACE of the LORD OF HEAVEN. You will not reach it while you live. But you can seek it and search for it and bring it here. But you can't settle. What does it take to be a holy pilgrim for God? To be an Abraham and not a Terah?

just
**keep
***going
**and
****keep
*****going
*****and
********don't
*************settle
******************for
***************************anything
*****************************************other
*******************************************than
********************************************************HIM


Lord, that is my prayer. That myself and those around me may set ourselves on pilgrimage for your very Dwelling Place, that we will not stop striving til we look you full in the face and bow before your gaze and kiss your feet and worship in exaltation of Your Name and bask in Your glory. Instill it in us, God. We don't want to settle. We want YOU.

He really is that good, all the time

So let me tell you just how good God is. This is story number 1,564,345,267,234 of all time regarding His goodness, but hey I know we haven't fully expressed it yet so gotta keep going. Here's the deal:

I had a huge stretch of schoolwork staring at me for the next two weeks. Huge. Should be expected, since this is the last little lump I gotta swallow before graduating (Dec 20 what what!). Huge project, slightly smaller project, huge test, another assignment, I was sweating. Told the amazingly wonderful FG staff about it as we prayed during our Monday meeting. Staying to pray with them made me a touch late for class. I finally showed up, just in time to hear the professor CANCEL the test that was coming for us in four days. Straight up canceled. Said he'll put some of it on the final, but don't worry about it. Thank you Lord. Cut my workload almost in half. He's good, I just exhaled the stress that had been building up and inhaled his sweetness.

Situation number two: finances a little low this month. Saw the account balance last night. I'm not in trouble, I have a paycheck from last month that I still haven't picked up. Problem was, it was looking like I needed to pay my rent before the late penalty kicks in, and also I had sent a check in the mail that would be processing. So, it was looking like a collision that would overdraw my account if I paid my rent and the mailed check both before picking up my paycheck. I was sweating, because the mailed check was kind of important, and had to do with Jesus in a way so I wanted to represent Him well.

How many of you know that He will take care of the Glory of His Name, when you trust Him?

The real estate company called me up and said that I had credit in my account. They had mentioned it a couple months ago, but I had still been keeping up with my rent payments. "But this time, sir, would you like me to just rip up this check? You have almost a month and a half credited to your account already." Yes ma'am. Rip away.

So I went and checked my account balance online, praising God. And wouldn't you know it, that other mailed out check somehow had already been processed really quickly like a week ago and I hadn't even caught it showing up on my balance because I didn't think it would be ready. So, two huge charges that I thought would overdraw me, neither one do I need to worry about a single bit.

He really is that good. He really is.

Bill Johnson is a smart man of God

Just listened to this sermon by Bill Johnson out of Redding. The guy is pretty incredible. I don't care if you agree with him or his friends or his haircut or whatever, the guy loves Jesus and is gifted to teach the Bible.

Here was the nugget that turned my brain inside out:

"Fruitfullness comes out of Rest
and
Warfare comes out of Romance"

Wow.

It was just one of those things that looked me in the eye when I heard it and I instantly knew, "that is right and true and profound and lovely and would simplify things if I just understand it because I don't think that I do understand it now."

But why do we grow soybeans in Iowa? Because we don't like to rest the land, and corn year after year makes the land unfruitful.
Why do guys get in fights? Over girls. Helen of Troy, the face that sailed a thousand ships, or something like that.

So, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rest and get belligerent by means of some Divine Romance....

Keep yo love locked down, yo love lockdown

I don't know why I like rap. I can't place where it started. I think with DC Talk's Nu Thang that my parents had on a tape of the Top 10 Dove artists or something. If you remember Nu Thang, I tip my hat. My parents were worried and wouldn't let Molly and I listen to it, and they were pretty sure it was put on that worship tape by accident. They have since loosened their views on what inspired music looks like.

Anyway, that's a tangent, just to say that I like rap. One summer I had a job where I worked until 5 and supper at home wasn't ready until about 5:45. So in the post-work, pre-supper brain-dead zone, I would watch 106 & Park on BET pretty much everyday. It's the video countdown show for the rap videos on BET. I'm not going to pretend like I'm proud of that summer, it just happened. I wouldn't really endorse BET anymore, I dunno I haven't watched it in awhile.

Okay, so one day they had this guy named Kanye West on to talk about his new video. He was brand new on the scene, I think "All Falls Down" had just come out, his first video. No wait, "Thru the Wire" was his first... anyway, he was new. People just knew him as Jay-Z's beatmaker, some techie knob-turner who they unchained from the soundboard, let him make his own album since he keeps whining about it. Then, funny thing, it shot to the top. Whoa.

So he's on BET introducing this new video. Jesus Walks. And he's got like 2 or 3 different versions of the video available. One was kind of a standard, gospel choir, inner city church, Kanye pretending to be the pastor theme. It was good, moving song. Then there was the controversial one. Uh oh. They showed this one last, Kanye talked about how it was his favorite but people told him to make others because it was too heavy. Well, I'll describe it fast and maybe put a link, maybe not. I'll decide after this here description. Children 12 and under plus nursing mothers may exit the blog ... now...

The video has several different storylines running through it. Prisoners digging. Drug dealers getting caught by the border patrol. And this guy chopping wood and sanding stuff. You don't really know what the chopping wood guy is doing. Until like the climax of the song, when he puts on his white hood. KKK style. And the wood is in a cross, which he lights on fire. Then it falls over, he catches it and carries it, catching his whole robe on fire. Then as he's up in flames as this firey, almost demonic symbol of hate, he drops the cross, and the rain clouds that had been gather suddenly gush forth and wash this guy, as he's taking off his robes and soaking it in, having a "come to Jesus" moment. It's moving, I had tears in my eyes. Okay, I already described the controversial parts, so I'll go ahead and link to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFKPd_TRVC8

So on that BET countdown show where this debuted, Kanye talked about the video afterward. He described the rain falling on the guy at the end as a baptism type of scene, washing the guy clean. Kanye said that was what the whole song was about, how none of us are too far away from mercy, Jesus can walk right into our mess. Whoa. And this comes right in the middle of 106 & Park? I was blown away. Jesus, look what you were doing! I went out and bought the album (edited version of course) from Wal*Mart later that night. I was blown away. JE SUS WALKS! Well, Jesus walked on water I guess walking on BET couldn't be that much harder. I was pretty sure that Kanye was going to start a revival and lead everyone who had ever listened to rap to Christ. Beautiful.

Then of course I gave the album a full listen. Jesus Walks, track 7. Get 'Em High, track 9. Yep that song was about you guessed it, drugs. I gradually fluttered back down to earth. I stayed a Kanye fan and tried to keep the faith, hey he was making some good music, better than other stuff out there. The first song release on his next album, Diamonds, has a reference to God in it. So did the songs Never Let You Down and Heard 'Em Say. But scouring his lyrics for a Holy visitation meant you had to push through a lot of references to girls and drugs and money and the usual rap fare. Nuts. Thought we had something, Big K. Thought we had something.

His popularity skyrocketed, though. He decided not to let Jesus walk in, but he went on the cover of Rolling Stone with a crown of thornes. Hmm. The next albums opened huge. I think mostly because of the void in the music scene. There was flat out no one else being creative. And Kanye was, if nothing else, creative. Hip hop violins? Bringing in the guy from Coldplay? Pretty cool. His ego got HUGE. But I think that might finally be getting leveled out. Exhibit A: 808s and Heartbreak. His new album.

That's what this post was supposed to be about from the beginning, sorry for my longwindedness. Kanye put out a new album last week. The last two that he made I rushed to the store and bought pretty soon after. This one, nah uh. As I said before he's creative, and yeah, that shows up on the new joint. He's got no qualms about flipping up his style. Problem is his, *ahem, talent.

Over break my dad and I were watching Conan O'Brian and saw Kanye come on and get interviewed and perform a song. My dad captured it well, that KWest seemed like a different duck. Kind of awkward. Add that with his new style, this slower, gritty computerized drum machine and a voice synthesizer, with Kanye trying to sing. Trying. He's not very good. He admitted it to Conan. He also admitted that the heart he was wearing on his breast pocket was made of legos. Hmm.

My dad mostly captured it. He's still the techie guy, a knob turner, that accidently wandered up to the mice. He's at his prime in the booth, but on stage? Not his gifting. I don't say it to be mean. All of us want to be rockstars, right? But it's not really in the cards.

Molly and I gave the Kanye album a listen, a free trial deal online. I seemed like something that one of your friends would make in his basement, and then you would listen to it all and look for good things to say to your friend, but really, it was a challenge to not hit "skip track" on most songs. It's really sad and contemplative, which I guess is still groundbreaking for a rap album. Just not something I'd like to listen to again.

Miss you, Kanye. Thought we could have had something when you did Jesus Walks. But I guess walking the straight and narrow wouldn't have taken you to the top. He's still waiting. He hasn't walked away just yet. Maybe, here, at this low point, you might be ready to find Him again.

Sea Admiral Cory Smith

So I got a text from Ma Boiiii Cory Smith the other day. It really blessed me, a little heartfelt message that you probably wouldn't get if I posted it. So just imagine a long time friend that you haven't seen in over 6 months saying something really heartfelt that just makes you praise God. Yeah, whatever you imagined, it was just about exactly like that.

The crazy thing is that Cory, friend of mine since first grade or so, has a girlfriend. Kind of a serious girlfriend. Now, that may seem like just a general comment on life, not newsworthy. But you are SO wrong if you think this is anything less than earth-shattering, the-apocalypse-is-on-us, "wait, is that a typo" type of news. Cory is an amazing guy and a great friend. But boyfriend material? Uh, well, let me tell some stories....

In High School Cory had this million candle-watt flashlight (is candle-watt the right unit? is a million even a big number for that? sorry, that's the engineer in me talking about an unfamiliar dimensional analysis). And he assembled a little crew, calling them the IACG. This was a random group, the members came and went, it was never official. But Cory was certainly the ring leader. Because of course, he is the only one who could come up with something like the
INVOLUNTARY
ABSTINENCE
CONTROL
GROUP

That's right, we would cruise around Muscatine to all the possible make-out spots with the million candle watt flashlight on high alert for any... loiterers? (for lack of a better term). In all my time riding with him, I don't think we ever found any cars with steamy windows. Probably for the better. I did hear about the time he caught a mutual friend parked with his girlfriend (nothing was actually happening [yet?]) and a car chase ensued, Cory narrowly evading the maroon Santa Fe driver that I won't name here. This car chase is second only to the famous Muscatine Mall "The Fast and the Gay" car chase of '04 instigated by Josiah Street. Epic. Both times, Cory and the nimble little Buick narrowly escaped with their lives. Seriously, this should probably be made into a movie...

Hopefully you're getting the picture of Cory a little bit here. A legend among those who know him. Just another guy with a size 8 head to those who don't. [Note: average head size is around 7.25] The saga continues:

During daytime hours, the IACG would morph into a different kind of Public Service: The Happy Smile Patrol. Again this involved Cory's Buick cruising the streets of Muscatine rocking Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys or Huey Lewis and the News. But this time we would have windows down to be able to assist any passers by, giving them encouragement and such. We would yell things like "HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY" "NICE WEATHER ISN'T IT" and my personal favorite "I LIKE GOLF." The all-caps is hopefully conveying the urgency and power with which we proclaim the message. Loud and proud, possibly in a way that some might percieve it to be angry. But we at the Happy Smile Patrol take our job seriously, the message needs to get out there to the people. Oh, who am I kidding, we annoyed joggers and moms pushing strollers like no one before or since.

So this is the legacy of Cory Smith. Up to this point the loves of his life were the St. Louis Cardinals, ice hockey, and the poker game Guts--or more specifically, the hand Jack-Six and it's power to win every game of Guts.
Enter Sam.
The girl.
I hope she's a brave one.
She probably doesn't know about IACG. She would probably throw things at the Happy Smile Patrol. But for all the descriptions of Sam that I've heard so far, she seems like the PERFECT match for Cory. It's kind of unreal. I've yet to meet her, but she sounds amazing. I know that Cory has gone head over heels for her. It's pretty cool to see happen, even though I'm seeing it from quite the distance.

And now a twist of seriousness, of which the likes IACG and HSP have little capacity to combat. Sam is in amazing health, she's like a three-sport college athlete, or at least I know for sure that she's on the women's hockey team at her school. But in a routine physical a month or so ago, they caught the beginning stages of leukemia.

Lord, come. We need you God!

It's been cool to see how Cory's responding. This goofball is suddenly becoming, by the grace of God, a rock of refuge for this girl. He's there for her, even though he's got to be at his Navy base most of the time several miles away.

So please be praying for Sam. If she's as amazing as the rumors, I know she can beat this. Especially with the help of the Glorious One, Jesus Christ. He's been making this whole story glorious from the beginning.

The whole point of this post I guess was to say, I miss you Cory and I'm excited to see you and meet the lady here over the holidays. IACG 4eva, baby!

I think I'm really going to blog now

Yeah, blogs are kind of a cool idea. I made this one in August. It's the end of November. I think I'm going to start using it now. Nifty. Not a huge newsflash, just, well, yeah. Kind of a New Year's resolution, just coming a month early.

Location Location Locashun

Raise your hand if you're excited about Freshmen Group on Monday at 7p in Hoover 2055. Yeah, me too! Actually my fond memories of this room are sitting in the very top right corner with Kris-with-a-K, head spinning as Professor Sturges blew through 51statics example problems in 50 minutes. Also today in our 6am (yikes) Acts Bible study, we talked about this passage where Stephen references Isaiah 66, which says

--This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?--


So will Hoover 2055 be His resting place? Can we just put up a reservation with Iowa State and assume that it simultaneously made a reservation in the heavenly realms with the Most High that he will show up?


This summer I was in India, where most of the people are Hindu. We were mostly in the big city, but one time we got to go to this tiny town called Basi, where my friend Amit lived. He took us around and showed us basically the whole town in one afternoon. The primary school, the secondary school, his dad's mustard oil factory. And we also saw several temples. They say India has 330 million gods. Probably a pretty accurate statement. We went to this one temple of the hero of Basi, I don't even remember the god's name, but some thousand years ago he had done something and the people of Basi were really grateful so they would sometimes ring the bell at 3:00 and bow and then eat crackers.

Anyway, the point is that they believed the god was actually, like, there. More than anywhere else. This is the essence of a temple, it's a place people can go into the prescence of a god.

Yahweh, the Most High God of the Bible used to operate in a similar fashion. There was first a portable tabernacle, and then a glorious temple built in Jerusalem. Okay, we know that God is omnipresent, that's part of who he is. But there are places that are more.... full.... of God. Like when the temple was still here. Both Exodus and 1 Kings talk about when the tabernacle/temple opened for the first time, and the Glory of God descended in a cloud and filled the place so that no one could even get in. If you could name the MOST HOLY spot in all of the physical world, it was that patch of ground in the Middle East.

But what about today? The temple was torn down in 70 AD. Are we left with any holy ground? I think, no, I KNOW that Hoover 2055 can be a very holy place. This is how:

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"
1 Corinthians 3:16

What Paul's saying here is that the special place where the fullness of Yahweh's Holy Prescence rests is in His people. If you are looking for the place more full of God than any other place in all the material world, look no farther than the gathering of His people. That's where God himself rests in a unique way.

So come on over to Hoover 2055 on Monday night. Let's approach the Most Holy Place with confidence. He wants His Fullness to rest on each of us.

Yelling FREE FOOD is fun

So you've probably heard about the Freshmen Group Kickoff that went down last Sunday night. It melted faces from awesomeness. There were these finger-lickin good BBQ sandwiches. I think we got them from Fareway. Which is good, because we almost got them from this place:



And that probably wouldn't have gotten us quite the feedback we were looking for, although it would have turned heads. I had to sit through this seminar called SafeFood so that our organization would be certified to serve food on campus. They warned us about germs and bacteria and sanitization. But they never warned us about cannibalization....

The newest first post ever!

What's going on everybody. Lance here, your friendly neighborhood Freshmen Group intern. Thanks for stopping by the Freshmen Group blog. I guess I should clarify what this is. Because it is, basically, about Freshmen Group, the highs, the lows, the flows, the blows. But it's not meant to be a journalistic endeavor. You're getting it from my admittedly skewed lens. I won't always just give announcements, but thoughts and stories and whatever else. What I had for dinner, probably, if I'm like any other blogger out there. Good times. Welp, I'll catch you, my readers, on the flipside!