The INN

I had the honor and priviledge to play at the INN last night. The INN is a college ministry here in Bellingham that I used to play at a couple of years ago. I played only one song, “Give Us Clean Hands” by charlie hall, as an illustration for my friend Willow’s talk. She is an amazing friend and speaker, plus some of the jokes she uses are mine, so that’s an extra bonus.
Sometimes I really miss playing at the INN, because of the intimacy of the worshippers. The vibe of worship that occurs in that place and the feeling and knowledge of God’s presence is outstanding; something that at times is indescribable.
As Lance Fisher led worship last night, I closed my eyes and just listened to the voices of students who were genuinely hungry for God. I have to close my eyes or else I will focus only on guitars and mistakes-and there were alot of them last night. It’s funny though, because though the music wasn’t great, the thought that God can still use it is very humbling to me.
I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to leading worship, but I do have expectations. This is why I get humbled sometimes, because sometimes I wonder if God uses the words of the song to speak to people and not the rhythms or vice versa. But for me, when I was first contemplating becoming a Christian, I remember the first time I was drawn into worship by a songs chord progression and then the words. So really where is the middle ground here? Do we strive for the polished perfection of the mega church’s worship style or the honest imperfections of the smaller church. I know that I prefer both. Sometimes I feel more comfortable worshipping with just my guitar then I do with a band, but there are other times when I would love to just have my friends on stage with me in community and helping to lead them and a congregation into worshipping God.

Thoughts?
r to the izzo

South Beach Diet

So Cynthia and I started the south beach diet yesterday. I bid you farewell Deli Chicken from Haggen you were always there for me. Goodbye McDonalds, I will miss our roadtrips where I ate and drove. And Asian Buffet, I will miss you most of all, but I must bid you adieu.
This whole thing isn’t a fad thing. My doctor recommended that I go on it as I am 30 pounds overweight of my Body Mass Index blabitty blah blah blah. I wanted a second opinion, but the computer never lies I guess. You’re supposed to lose up to 15 pounds in the first two weeks. I’d post pictures of me holding newspapers in my boxers, but I don’t have the technology.
Now the problem is trying to get my eating habits into check. See, the neat thing about this “diet” is that it isn’t about the good or bad carbs, but eating the right carbs. (<–That’s their slogan) All it really entails is cutting your portions down and eating some good stuff. I still get 5 meals a day, so it’s not like I’m starving. It’s funny though, because I think about how “hungry” I am and then I think about how most people aren’t even eating today, or I’m complaining about how I hate that I don’t get to eat as much as I’d like to as I’m watching a commercial from world vision, telling us that we can feed a village for “the price of a latte”…I’m a real dick. Yeah I said it.

ron

Listening to the relaxing sounds of the fan on the PC and the air conditioner.

I Love You?

This weekend I spent some time just reading through Ephesians. I thought that it was really interesting to read through it and find what Paul is trying to say. I think that throughout the Bible you find that the Basis of Christianity isn’t based upon not smoking or not doing drugs, it’s not based on what ministries you serve in, and it’s not based on how long you pray or if you can rattle off scriptures to answer peoples problems. Throughout the Bible we see that our faith is based on love. We are called to love each other and people beyond our circles of friends. Though sometimes Paul’s letters seem to be “preachy” at times, we can see that what he is really trying to say is do everything out of love. We also see this theme throughout the Bible with scriptures such as “Love the Lord with all your heart – Love your neighbor as yourself”, “For God so loved the world…” “Do this to the least of these…”, the scriptures seem to be endless. So why do we miss out on this love? Why don’t we give it out? Is it too hard to do – almost impossible? Sometimes this concept seems to be very hippie-esque, but really we need to think about this.
It’s probably easier for people to give money to charity than actually invite their neighbor over for dinner, bake a cake, or even say hello. How many of your neighbors do you know and actually communicate with when you see them (this means beyond, “hey how ya’ doin? Fine. Good! Welp, see ya later!)? I’ve got a neighbor that plays guitar, loves his xbox, and has a big screen tv. Why am I not hanging out with him more? I smell guerilla mission work coming on.

ron

CD I’m listening to-Wyclef Jean “Two sides to da book” and “The preachers son”. Wyclef is pretty cheesy at times when he is rapping, but the guy is an outstanding producer.

Who’s With Me?!?

Here is my plan and thoughts for the new church that is on the horizon:

-I think church should only have sexy people in it. We have churches that are available to so many different cultures, what about the sexy culture (Mega-Supermodel-Church)? They should be modestly dressed as not to make a brother or sister stumble though.

-I think that we should have reclining chairs in the “sanctuary” with Bladder buster sized cup holders.

-I think we should pay a toll when leaving the church or have a direct withdrawal system set up, then the tithe is taken care of.

-What if we teamed with True Love Waits ministries and Trojan Condoms, combined forces and produced Condoms for Christians with Verses from Song of Songs printed on the side of the condom? This is how we can pay for our reclining chairs!

-Why do we have announcements? Can you imagine Jesus giving announcements before he starts talking to people – “Just a quick reminder, after I talk to you about something you won’t get until later, we will have a potluck over by where Simon Peter is standing in the back; also, later we will be taking an offering and if you are new, please, you are my guest, just let the basket go by”.

-Is it me, or is interpretive dance just plain wierd?

-If there was a mega supermodel church, I think it should only be modestly dressed women who are sexy, because I wouldn’t want my wife looking at sexy modestly dressed men.

-What if the worship music consisted of only a D.J., a percussionist, a bass player, and an acoustic guitar player/vocalist?

-What if the worship music consisted of only an accordian, tuba, and an acoustic guitar/vocalist?

-I think that for Christmas service, anyone wearing Santa Claus hats should be pointed out and ridiculed. Same goes for people who wear bunny ears in Easter Services. Seeker or not, that person who was ridiculed will come back anyways, because it’s a sexy church.

Do you have anything to add?

brownie

Some Random Thoughts and Advice:

I’ve been having wierd dreams about my grandpa lately…he died a little over a year ago, but lately he’s been showing up. No conversations of any kind, it’s as if he never left.

BEWARE: I was clicking the “next blog” button and all of a sudden a bunch of nudies come up on screen. Watch out for the porno blogs. Sometimes I hate the first amendment.

If it’s in the fridge and it still smells good and looks the same…it’s probably alright to eat it

I had the wierdest dream about my job at cornwall the other day. They told me that they had no room for me to work there anymore and I had to prepare to look at moving in hopes of finding another job as a music director/pastor somewhere else.

I saw a story about Alanis Morissette (sp?). It was very well done and interesting. I’m going to put my guitar aside for two weeks and just journal. Then I’ll come back to my guitar and journal and write songs out of it. I got this idea from Alanis. She is a very interesting person once the media shows her in a non hippie/man hater light.

I was walking around walmart while I waited for my oil change and I read the South Beach Diet. It’s a pretty easy thought: Eat healthy, don’t starve yourself or deprive yourself of certain foods. Simply take things out and eventually reintroduce them into your diet in different and more healthy forms. If you deprive yourself and only eat meat or some other fad diet, then when you go away from that diet you will eventually gain all of your weight back. There has got to be some kind of spiritual parallel there.

I love lamp.

Vonzell should win American Idol, but Carrie Underwood or Bo Bice probably will. Carrie has an excellent singing voice, but the personality of a tree. Bo Bice is good at both singing and working the crowd, but Vonzel has incredible stage presence and singing capabilities which she has continued to improve these last few weeks. I don’t know any of them personally, so that opinion on Carries personality is out of line…sorry if you’re a fan.

O’Doyle Rules

Thinking of recording a CD and calling it ron pie

rahn

CD I am listen to as of today: Los Fancy Ladz. My friends hip hop act. Very funny stuff talking about all the things that matter in life: Revenge, mountain dew, circuses, and aliens.

There Is No Such Thing As Original Thought

I recently lent my Season 4 of the Simpsons to my Pastor to see one of my favorite episodes where Homer stops going to church and starts his own religion because God came to him in a dream and told him that it was okay. My wife was surprised that I lent it out to him because the Simpsons are so liberal at times, but I stood by my thought that they are the most culturally and theologically relevant television show on t.v.. Even more so than Touched by an Angel and Seventh Heaven! <– that’s a joke.
She asked if I ever tell people that I got this thought from professors and instructors, and to this I reply no. Unfortuntaely there is no such thing as original thought, or at least it’s getting harder and harder to be original. I find that most people I talk to on campus are just barfing up random facts that they learned in class and it reminds me a lot of that scene in Good Will Hunting when he calls the guy out in the bar with the facts that he’s spitting out. I’ve even read books where a theologian said the same thing another theologian said, almost to the word, and never cited the other.
Maybe it’s getting to the point where we wait and see who is going to say something that is going to blow people out of the water so much that we declare him the Anti Christ and then later on in history people will look at him as a true theologian; somebody like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth or Paul Tillich. I wonder if we’ll even recognize somebody as a theologian if they shake the tree of Christianity too much. It will be interesting to see.

out goes the brown kid

CD: Jimi Hendrix “Blues”. I watched a DVD of Eric Claptons Blues Fest in Texas, and I was wondering what it would have been like if Jimi Hendrix would have been there. Would he be the super star that he is today, or would he come out as a guy like Joe Walsh where people only really remember his two “big” songs, but is an amazing guitarist at the same time.

Lemonade-That Cool Refreshing Drink

One of my all time favorite TV shows was and is News Radio. Unfortunately, once Phil Hartman was killed, it went down hill. A quote I got from the show which I love is this:

Dave: Bill, have you ever heard, “if life gives you lemons make lemonade”?
Bill: Well let me ask you this Dave- Have you ever heard, “if life gives you lemons throw them back in the face of the guy who gave you the lemons, because you asked for oranges in the first place”?

I give guitar lessons to a guy in my church who reminded me to make lemonade. He is an amazing testimony of God’s healing and working in and through people and showing others the Power that God holds. This guy has a past that many people cringe upon hearing: just the trials that he has gone through and continues to go through and where he is today is so powerful to me. Sometimes I feel guilty taking this guys money for lessons, because I feel like I get more out of it than he does. He’s there to learn basic chord progressions and shapes, but while he feels that he is learning, he’s the one who is actually teaching.
I learn things from him about life and coping with what God gives you in it. This is a guy who has made a lot of lemonade, and continues to make lemonade. It’s funny how ministry changes from teaching and shepherding to listening and learning in a matter of seconds.

ron

In my CD player: Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Though it’s not looking too good for him in the courts, you can always count on some of the best production on any of MJ’s albums.

I Am The Smartest Man Alive!

I got my grades back from Trinity and I got an A- in my Old Testament class. This was a tough one, but I am excited for it. I wish I still got money for A’s. Did that deal ever come onto the table for you? I used to get $5.00 for every A from my parents, but I never saw a single cent because I wasn’t one to get A’s in school…except in music class – wait, I never got my money! I’m going to call my mom right now because I’ve got at least $20 coming my way.

ron

Save the Kittens

There is a church, the XXX church, that is so funny and yet it is almost uncomfortable. It is a church that helps men and women who deal with pornography addictions amongst other things. I love this idea. I think that this church is very cool, in the sense that they are willing to say, “Hey, this is a problem in our world and our church and we need accountability to fix it”. Some of their shirts and stuff are pretty funny: “Everytime you masturbate, God kills a kitten” (Not totally sure, but I don’t think this is theologically correct) or “Jesus Loves Porn Stars”. I wonder what would happen if we showed up at church with these shirts on?
You’ll probably hear more about this church within the next few months, because they are starting a program called Porn Sunday. This is a service that will address the pornography issue and is being supported by some pretty big churches like Willow Creek in Chicago. It would be interesting to go to that service and read the “comment cards” afterwards.

seacrest out

Currently in CD Player: The Elements known as Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Do You Even Know Me???

Here is a Quiz to find out if you even know me…are you my friend?