theisaacfix's Xanga

venting about society

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:26:24 GMT

Every once and a while a little thing within our economic system will tick me off. Today it's service charges.

I'm getting ready to move so I called the Electric company to transfer service.
In order to do this they need a $130 deposit...I'm ok with this. They spread it out over 3 months and once you've paid your bill for 6 months in a row you get it back.
I had to pay $44 dollars of that deposit today...the fastest option was to go to lo-bills and pay in person.
So I got in my car and headed over to Lo Bills
I get there and they inform me that there will be a $2 service charge. (Ok I guess I'll take the hit)
I go to pay with my Debit Card and the lady gets upset with me and says, "we only accept cash or check, no credit or debit cards"...her attitude bothered me. But I wasn't going to make a big deal about it since there was a nearby ATM machine.

So I walk up to the ATM machine and there's a note saying that there will be a $2.50 charge to get cash. This is where I decided out of principle, to drive to my bank and use the ATM machine there to avoid the $2.50 charge.

So I drove to my bank and put my card in the machine, and it gave me an error message and took my card. What the heck. I'm just getting electricity for my house and trying to avoid service charges.

I came back home and began to wonder how much of my money is directed to service charges? I'm sure within a given year I spend at least $100 in little $1.50 fees.

Then all of this triggered a thought...How many of the things do I do in my life that I believe to be necessary or good, but in the midst of doing them, find that there is something taxing about it. There's a hidden "service charge" if you will. Last week I took a personal retreat at the Catholic retreat center. I find that once every three months I need a whole day to collect myself. To find all the pieces of my being that got broken and scattered.

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I've lost the drive to maintain this blog...but overall life is good. I couldn't ask for more. I'll be going to Mississippi this week to help with some hurricane relief and I'm looking forward to that.

I'll be getting licensed so that I can perform my first wedding (that's weird for me to think about)...but it won't be a bad gig to have every once in a while.
I'll be preaching again in May and I'm excited about that.

My First Sermon

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:28:17 GMT

So this past Sunday I gave my first sermon. It was a tag-team deal with Jana, our Family and Children's Ministries Coordinator. If you interested in hearing what I had to say click the link and give it a listen.

The Water Into Wine Project

Keepin it Real

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 01:49:38 GMT

I've been really enjoying some Mason Jennings lately. I like this song.

Keepin it Real

It was bound to happen and it happened today
Life turned to us to say "i'm about to go your way"
And it's a simple situation now that we became us
There ain't no rust on the happiness bus
And it's wednesday, thursday, my day, friday
Saturday, sunday, all the rest are fun days
From now on until the very end
Never gonna spend another day without you again
Here's the proof, i'm telling the truth and it's
Oh yes, my oh my, the earth shakes when you walk by
It's a fairy tale that we made true
I can't believe that i found you
And it's oh yes, my oh my
People turn and look when we walk by
It's a big fat love we feel in our hearts
We're keepin it, keepin it, keepin it real
Now the sun is going down over our troubled times
We can free our minds and leave it all behind and
It's a common stipulation that there ain't no hope
But there's a tire swing baby on the end of our rope
And it's wednesday, thursday, my day, friday
Saturday, sunday, all the rest are fun days
From now on until the very end
Never gonna spend another day without you again
Here's the proof, i'm telling the truth and it's
Oh yes, my oh my, the earth shakes when you walk by
It's a fairy tale that we made true
I can't believe that i found you
And it's oh yes, my oh my
People turn and look when we walk by
It's a big fat love we feel in our hearts
We're keepin it, keepin it, keepin it real

I'm so fickle

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:25:28 GMT

I'm so quick to criticize and dismiss.

I just bought the new switchfoot album. I'd have to say I did not have high hopes for the album. It's different, but it's really good. Jon is just a great lyricist, that's all there is to it. I like the vibe of the album. I've determined that I still hold their first two albums way above anything else they've done...but that probably has more to do with the point in my life where I was discovering the richness of music and they gave me something that was different from what I had been exposed to (which wasn't much at that point in my life).

Although time will have to tell with this one. I told a friend recently that as much as I was dissapointed with their last album I would still buy this next one and be excited about it...but it would probably find it's way to the bottom of the cd pile after a few weeks. We shall see.

Who wants to go with me?

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:43:13 GMT

I really want to go to this conference. Who wants to come?

http://www.isntshebeautiful.org/

Air Stars

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:02:50 GMT

This week I've been listening to Air and Stars a bit. And I felt like sharing this with the world because it's fun to say "I'm listening to air" or "i'm listening to stars". That's all.

i love mondays

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:33:51 GMT

Some Reflection on Joshua and leadership.

This afternoon I read Joshua 1-4.

The story starts with the Israelites finally making some progress toward the promised land after 40 years of wandering around in the desert to kill off "the doubters". Joshua sends some spies in, they meet Rahab, she saves their life, the spies get back and report that everyone in Jericho is pretty freaked out because Jehova has proven His power over the gods of other nations...OK

When it's actually time to cross the Jordan river, Joshua sends the Levites to lead the people since they can carry the Presence of the Lord (aka Ark of the Covenant).

"Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground."

I read this and thought. This is really what leadership is about, taking the first step and then waiting patiently while everyone else crosses over. We don't see the priests running over to Jericho to play their horns (random thought that popped into my head: What if God had them play kazoo's to bring the walls down...that'd be sweet - ok, Isaac, stay on track). The underlying thing I'm hitting as I reflect on this passage is that while I'm bombarded with leadership material (how to help people take the next step, be a courageous leader, how to be cool and relevant leadership, etc.) I think sometimes it's ok to just stand in the Presence of God while everyone else is passing by.

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In other news, I realize I've been slacking in keeping this thing up to date. But I'm ok with that. I've been spending more time reading and thinking and processing life.

I love autumn!

I ran a 5k in 25.13 minutes a few weeks ago (this is a personal best esp. since I've never run a 5k)...the Indy Mini-marathon may be next, we'll see.

In the past month i've read (or am in the process of reading):
The Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
reUnderstanding Prayer by Kyle Lake
Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Dear Church by Sarah Cunningham
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Finally got to spend a day in the studio to make progress on the EP

Had The Jar's 2nd year anniversary (can't believe I've been living in Indiana for 6 years now!)
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So that's the update. Thanks to all of you who have sent me encouraging emails, comments, posts, phone calls, etc. It's always a pleasure to be living life with you.

a prayer

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 15:02:19 GMT

"God, I hold fast to You right now for who You are, knowing full well that at this very moment You are not like me and I am not like You. Right now, my thoughts are not Your thoughts, my ways are not entirely Your ways, my values are not entirely Your values. But, God, I still cling to You, and I approach my future amid this inevitable conflict of interests between Your ways and Your thoughts and my ways and my thoughts. And when Your ways and Your thoughts conflict with mine, I will strive to be the one who changes."

- from [re]Understanding Prayer

Where is God?

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:52:16 GMT

The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made. (Psalm 145:9)

Yesterday I had lunch downtown after looking into some details related to getting people involved in community and what it means to live life together. I needed a refill and went up to the register to ask "May I have a refill?"

"Would that make you happy?" asked the restaurant owner.

I smiled and said, "absolutely."

She went on to tell me that she loves working downtown and serving her customers. She has another restaurant that is open on Sunday afternoons in the mall and she told me how much it bothers her that people go there afer church and don't smile or treat her with respect and often leave a big mess. She said it seems like they look down on her because she is serving them.

How backward, I thought.

"Well I sure do appreciate this refill and the joy that you take in serving" I said.

I sat down and thought about what had just happened. As I was doing this two women walked in with 2 girls and 2 boys (all about high school aged). All 4 of them were mentally handicapped. I watched the restaurant owner speak with kindness and compassion to these individuals. I watched the two women talk to them and listen to them. They laughed with them and didn't judge what they said. Or snap at them with "that's not really the way the world is."

At one point the girl confined to a wheelchair said "i saw my boyfriend today".

"Really? what does he look like" asked her teacher

"He's white and has hair" - at this point she began laughing and both teachers with her.

This display of love and compassion hit me rather deeply. I felt as if this is exactly what love is suppose to look like.

They entered her world and laughed with her. Took pleasure in the things she took pleasure in. And, above all, showed her love and compassion.

God is everything good and everything love and I feel priviledged to have caught a glimpse of what that looks like.

behindthename

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:24:04 GMT

So this is interesting...I went to behindthename.com and looked up my name. Here is the public opinion of the name "Isaac". What I find ironic is that "serious" is a fairly popular association over "comedic". Considering my name means "he laughs" i feel a bit responsible for shaping this juxtoposition of my name and it's association.

Good Name	81%	19%	Bad Name
Masculine	97%	3%	Feminine
Classic	89%	11%	Modern
Mature	66%	34%	Youthful
Formal	70%	30%	Informal
Upperclass	69%	31%	Common
Urban	31%	69%	Natural
Wholesome	81%	19%	Devious
Strong	86%	14%	Delicate
Refined	78%	22%	Rough
Strange	59%	41%	Boring
Simple	64%	36%	Complex
Serious	81%	19%	Comedic
Nerdy	66%	34%	Unintellectual