I Bake

for you to moo...

they're here, ladies and gentlemen. eat your hearts out. or go get your own. or download them on itunes. or something.

Rethinking the Role of the Church

"So I would lay down as a basic proposition that the primary task of the Church is not to educate man, is not to heal him physically or psychologically, it is not to make him happy. I will go further; it is not even to make him good. These are things that accompany salvation; and when the Church performs her true task she does incidentally educate men and give them knowledge and information, she does bring them happiness, she does make them good and better than they were. But my point is that those are not her primary objectives. Her primary purpose is not any of these; it is rather to put man into the right relationship with God, to reconcile man to God....It has come into the Church and it is influencing the thinking of many in the Church - this notion that the business of the Church is to make people happy, or to integrate their lives, or to relieve their circumstances and improve their conditions. My whole case is that to do that is just to palliate the symptoms, to give temporary ease, and that it does not get beyond that." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 30

Church Update

I turned in my application today to join the church I fell in love with.

Saddle up your horses. The adventure begins with commitment.

Quote from the Files of Donald Fortson

"He who takes himself for a master becomes himself the disciple of a fool." - Bernard of Clairveaux

Misc

item #1: despite my love for bush, i think this is hilarious - "Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush that three Brazilian soliders were killed in Iraq today. To everyone's amazement, all the color ran from Bush's face, then he collapsed on his desk, head in his hands, visibly shaken, almost whimpering. Then he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, 'Just exactly how many is a brazillion?'" (thank you, funny2).

item #2: how worried should i be about this mold growing above my roommate's door? like, should i be calling daily to try to get them to come fix it?

Lo and Behold!

Ashley and me, the auditioners from Uptown Church

Ok, this is from the line out front. We had to show up sometime between 5 and 6 in the morning to get in line... and wait. We were out there until 8ish. It was a LONG time, and Charleston is so freakin' humid that we were all pretty nasty by the time we made it inside. Thankfully, we were lucky ducks - the A/C was going full-throttle inside the coliseum.

Ashley, Julie, and me (Julie came as Ashley's tag-along)

We had registered already, and when we registered they gave us tickets with seat numbers on them. So once we got inside on Saturday, we split up to find our seats. the concession stands were open all day, which was good because when the day starts at like 4, you are hungry for lunch at like 10 am. Anyway, where we sat was what determined our audition order, but first came all the group things and announcements. We had to sing our group song ("Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas) about 10 times, some a cappella, some with the music, once with jumping during the chorus. It was a good way to keep in mind that American Idol is first and foremost a television show, and only secondarily (very secondarily) a talent show. Which is fine.


There were an awful lot of folks there. Supposedly there were somewhere between over 8,000 and over 9,000 people who auditioned. The coliseum seats 14,000, and we certainly were concentrated, as you can see by comparing this picture with the one below it.


This was the basic set up. Thirteen, then twelve (they cut one) tables and booths were lined up like this. When your section was "on deck," you filed down to the floor and were divided into groups of four. Each group of four was sent to a line in front of one of the booths, and you got called up one by one to sing. The judges put up a hand when they wanted you to stop, and they usually gave you between 15 and 30 seconds, though I saw more and less done. Sometimes they stopped you after 5 seconds. Sometimes they asked you to sing another song. Or two. And then sent you home. Very rarely they sent you on. And the fact that there were people singing all around you definitely wasn't helpful to your performance - singing under plenty of pressure.

Leonard, Holly, Maddie, and me

This was my group of four. None of us made it past the first round. People with my level of talent were a dime a dozen - from a human perspective, it was sheer luck -} which judge(s) you got, what they were told to look for, when you hit them in the LONG line of folks, what you picked to sing, whether your smile annoyed them, how outrageous you were, etc. It was fun though, and I'm really glad I did it. I might even do it again... :-)

Auditions

hey y'all! well, we didn't get our wish - i didn't make it to the second round. the judge did let me get through about 30 seconds of "he's a tramp," which counts for something since she had no problem shutting people up pretty quick. to be honest, i'm not sure she was allowed to let people through at all. there were supposed to be two judges at each table, but there was only one at ours. and she hadn't let anyone through for at least an hour. and she was in a generally bad mood.

i had intended to give you the full play by play, with pictures, but blogger won't let me upload pictures right now. so you'll have to wait.

hopefully it won't be long.

it was worth it, though - i enjoyed the experience, and though it was thoroughly exhausting, i'm glad i did it.

And the Verdict Is...

we're going with he's a tramp and there's your trouble. :)

this is so weird.

i'll let y'all know how it went when i get back. i'll take good notes. : )

So

i haven't decided yet what i'm singing. some possibilities are the following: he's a tramp, there's your trouble, some days you gotta dance, findin' a good man, landslide, the first cut is the deepest, and leave the pieces. the decision is mostly dependent on the opinion of my friend sarah. and whim.

i thought i'd fill y'all in on my fall schedule. the real semester starts in about a week and a half, and i'm really excited about my slieu of classes. and that will probably be evident in my posting very shortly, so you'd best be apprised of what exactly i'll be rambling about.

Mondays 1-4 Greek II (Dr. Mike Kruger is my favorite professor so far, and i get to take him twice this fall)
Tuesdays 8-12 Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies (Dr. Douglas Kelly)
6-9 Gospels (Dr. Kruger again)
Wednesday 8:30-10:30 Intro to Preaching (Dr. Richard Belcher)
Thursday 6-9 History of Christianity I (Dr. Donald Fortson)

then during the week of fall break, i'm taking this lovely week-long class called The History of Philosophy and Christian Thought, being taught by RTS-Orlando professor Dr. John Frame. doesn't that sound like wayyyyyy too much fun to be legal?

This Is Me, Announcing Here First

as far as public forums go, for you faithful readers (all two of you) deserve to hear it here first.

i am trying out for american idol. next weekend. in charleston.

get excited.

watch this

it's hilarious

I'm Sick

like missed class yesterday, went to the doctor, hacking like a smoker, super-congested, z-pack for 5 days, having trouble hearing, headachey, gross sick. i don't recommend it. in fact, i recommend avoiding it if possible. it's MIZ-ER-A-BULL. yelch.

i found out today that a miracle is occurring: my mother is reading harry potter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is unbelievable. she freaked when i read the first one last christmas or summer or whenever it was.... but now she's reading them, i guess to see what she thinks. her biggest issue with them so far has been the lying i think. but we'll see what her verdict is after she finishes the last 3 (she's on book 4 right now).

speaking of book 7 (sorta), i loved it. L-O-V-E-D - the wish i was a songwriter so i could write a song about how much i loved it kind. it was beautiful. the overall plot, the coherence and continuity of the story, the love and selflessness, the personal growth, the sacrifice, the appreciation of the gravity of hard things, the war between good and evil, the complexity of the human soul, the responsibility of each individual for his or her choices, the importance of standing strong against evil even when there's no reasonable hope of victory, the power of friendship, the strength that is garnered from accountability and togetherness, the fact that there are plenty of things worse than death... this was good stuff, folks. i'm not saying we should pass it out to every 9-12 year old kid, or that it doesn't have its issues, because it does. i'm all into being careful about what your kids read - and KNOWING what they read is kinda an important part of that, as is knowing your kid. but i do think that rowling has offered here a lot of truth and meaningful value - a heck of a lot more than you would find in the vast majority of tv shows, movies, and books in general, let alone produced for that age range.

one great thing about the psychology of the harry potter books is that it's not fairytale-like. no one is idealized in the series - no one is perfectly admirable or worthy of utter emulation. it works the same way with people - heck, it works the same way with theologians!!!

the big debate for the characters in the deathly hallows is one of taking sides: will they side with good or evil? there is no middle ground - there is no sitting on the sidelines and watching - you have to pick. if you don't, you're as good as evil (don't think about that too hard because it's a horrible sentence). funny how we don't treat our SIN, which is waging war against us from within our own BODIES, this way........

A Post a Day Keeps Micah... from Logging Complaints

me and my sister at my friend emily and cousin wade's wedding (yes, the couple i set up). i'm the short one in this picture.