Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2007, thursday, february, this, 01, january, 2006, on, great, argument, 22, 15, 25, friday, 19, tuesday, august, monday, july, 10, about, me, blogs, frequent, helpful, insightful, websites, previous, posts, archives, nyquil, sick, as, dog, place, in, world, half, year, away, coming, soon, uncertain, future, fantasy,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (225), and (123), that (68), you (51), this (36), for (32), what (31), all (27), not (25), was (24), are (22), more (22), from (21), but (21), have (21), god (21), about (20), with (19), like (19), out (18), when (17), church (17), world (16), some (16), had (16), been (15), can (14), them (14), good (14), very (13), just (13), get (13), back (12), they (12), will (12), work (12), were (12), then (11), our (11), time (11), 2006 (10), grey (10), reading (10), read (10), his (10), has (10), christian (10), there (10), don (10), #nyquil (9), owl (9), know (9), many (9), books (9), how (9), few (9), reigns (9), going (8), posted (8), book (8), wife (8), say (8), one (8), glory (8), 2007 (7), comments (7), think (7), than (7), who (7), only (7), actually (7), most (7), seems (7), mean (7), continue (7), into (7), myself (7), something (7), away (6), your (6), way (6), which (6), sometimes (6), people (6), through (6), average (6), ever (6), other (6), where (6), make (6), these (6), before (6), king (6), see (6), tell (6), else (6), stuff (6), february (5), 2005 (5), jesus (5), place (5), after (5), come (5), still (5), feel (5), well (5), changed (5), faith (5), almost (5), alone (5), part (5), though (5), both (5), why (5), sleep (5), weeks (5), week (5), let (5), want (5), much (5), again (5), started (5), made (5), trying (5), song (5), churches (5), down (5), january (4), may (4), fantasy (4), future (4), coming (4), sick (4), truly (4), those (4), got (4), big (4), now (4), stories (4), point (4), conversation (4), perhaps (4), hope (4), also (4), first (4), two (4), years (4), evil (4), dark (4), making (4), little (4), darkness (4), beautiful (4), great (4), her (4), does (4), things (4), children (4), anyone (4), him (4), last (4), any (4), eyes (4), room (4), because (4), next (4), believe (4), really (4), too (4), home (4), best (4), over (4), even (4), thursday (4), singing (4), every (4), here (4), majority (4), love (4), hallelujah (4), vodka (4), hit (3), august (3), soon (3), half (3), year (3), complete (3), own (3), level (3), lord (3), rings (3), give (3), creation (3), end (3), their (3), being (3), once (3), himself (3), share (3), places (3), ago (3), west (3), life (3), need (3), fionavar (3), worlds (3), each (3), new (3), everything (3), she (3), north (3), christians (3), suffering (3), care (3), easy (3), night (3), truth (3), enough (3), job (3), instead (3), three (3), tower (3), finally (3), anything (3), statement (3), heart (3), real (3), since (3), find (3), culture (3), off (3), such (3), line (3), fall (3), would (3), hour (3), makes (3), scotland (3), cold (3), months (3), day (3), could (3), pray (3), thing (3), feels (3), christianity (3), irish (3), talk (3), third (3), lives (3), business (3), hand (3), minority (3), aren (3), hate (3), powers (3), friend (3), theological (3), minutes (3), short (3), argument (3), free (2), july (2), december (2), hiatus (2), uncertain (2), dog (2), previous (2), posts (2), post (2), secret (2), scott (2), cindy (2), blogs (2), dan (2), canada (2), thoughts (2), finished (2), huge (2), although (2), middle (2), age (2), comic (2), today (2), basis (2), enjoy (2), around (2), guy (2), pajamas (2), picture (2), screen (2), pretty (2), characters (2), impacted (2), least (2), call (2), picked (2), premise (2), war (2), against (2), yeah (2), deeper (2), author (2), kay (2), worked (2), tolkien (2), fan (2), tapestry (2), classics (2), students (2), play (2), story (2), rice (2), questioning (2), air (2), safe (2), keep (2), question (2), questions (2), face (2), especially (2), american (2), insane (2), writing (2), answers (2), run (2), rest (2), realize (2), important (2), whatever (2), lestat (2), understand (2), body (2), takes (2), didn (2), expect (2), man (2), ultimate (2), rising (2), stairs (2), top (2), without (2), always (2), christ (2), subject (2), painful (2), won (2), vampire (2), sure (2), blogging (2), moment (2), done (2), yet (2), might (2), hard (2), blog (2), explain (2), same (2), shoot (2), filled (2), arrogance (2), words (2), internet (2), decision (2), fact (2), phone (2), reason (2), schedule (2), increasingly (2), days (2), wondering (2), either (2), schooling (2), stopped (2), growing (2), limited (2), needed (2), country (2), times (2), came (2), change (2), support (2), missed (2), completely (2), felt (2), friends (2), moved (2), write (2), shall (2), thanks (2), along (2), mood (2), went (2), ancient (2), cathedrals (2), walk (2), longer (2), left (2), empty (2), forget (2), emerging (2), folks (2), mountains (2), claiming (2), offends (2), spend (2), money (2), poor (2), itself (2), music (2), feeling (2), faithful (2), doing (2), speaker (2), tend (2), awake (2), used (2), countries (2), area (2), called (2), already (2), facts (2), ones (2), spot (2), alot (2), mistakes (2), believers (2), gathered (2), word (2), midnight (2), leaves (2), serious (2), colds (2), tea (2), gone (2), however (2), asleep (2), lay (2), decided (2), vick (2), effect (2), depending (2), alaskan (2), amusing (2), sum (2), profound (2), copy (2), isn (2), upright (2), utter (2), must (2), talking (2), bed (2), counters, june, april, march, november, october, september, archives, explained, baaaad, blogger, wikipedia, emergent, resonate, celtic, prayers, liturgies, carmina, gadelica, helpful, insightful, websites, mcknight, brother, maynard, swandive, wanderer, jordon, cooper, maryellen, bryan, robbymac, jamie, arpin, ricci, frequent, view, profile, month, returning, blogosphere, plenty, manitoba, location, name, conclusion, anyway, rather, hear, figure, somehow, misled, past, sorry, nerd, nor, necessarily, surprise, slide, shocking, fewer, history, earth, thirds, grown, adults, collect, reader, contemplated, using, batman, relationship, joker, thesis, social, psychology, knows, married, puts, foibles, shockingly, wore, star, trek, said, wedding, deal, unpleasentness, formative, themes, honestly, sharing, hopes, ensue, nerds, cameradarie, standard, definitions, diet, doubts, identical, army, ugly, critters, humans, elf, creatures, elves, sail, become, tired, prepared, glance, border, plagerism, course, dig, gavriel, winnipegger, christopher, editing, silmarillion, pays, homage, including, white, novel, five, university, toronto, taken, another, reflected, similarities, mythological, lotr, norse, mythology, comes, appreciate, value, consequently, ours, final, outcome, far, certain, paints, sovergienty, depiction, weaver, creator, spins, writes, masterfully, drawing, caring, various, threads, tales, grand, sad, bittersweet, exploration, verses, urge, check, mentioned, anne, while, recent, heights, earlier, novels, likely, publishes, honesty, refreshing, breath, ruthlessness, open, walls, relentless, onslaught, terrible, spiritual, adventures, meanderings, main, addresses, toughest, race, cases, afraid, answer, pain, despair, suffer, truely, postulated, confused, uncaring, trusted, forced, evaluate, preconcieved, notions, protective, coating, often, infects, worry, wrap, problems, removed, haven, genuinely, unflinchingly, cookie, cutter, helped, handle, throw, reminds, stephan, penultimate, seven, couple, forcing, spread, devouring, gluttonous, spree, chapter, spite, warnings, leave, iconic, vastness, creates, tie, larger, unmatched, modern, alway, draw, gunslinger, chase, black, showdown, crimson, close, field, red, roses, climb, yourself, thankya, affected, ruin, intend, die, possible, witnessing, redemption, father, callahan, power, holding, forces, better, bizarrly, innocent, unless, tet, memnoch, devil, chronicles, tapastry, monday, fits, non, wired, lifestyle, finding, difficult, site, tuesday, poop, chevy, friday, passed, should, account, frustrated, medium, mouth, offensive, stupid, hurting, self, importance, sending, standing, personalized, soapbox, guess, thinking, break, calculated, entirely, perfectly, cell, land, connection, silly, taking, dragged, became, distant, spending, evenings, weekends, usualy, pushing, percieved, failures, introspect, addition, becoming, busier, master, degree, combined, hectic, semester, member, proximity, biggest, factor, driving, sunday, population, unfamiliar, hunting, success, midst, opportunity, arose, backpacked, wet, experiencing, flooding, scale, hadn, frigid, trains, freezing, later, refused, drawn, relying, systems, track, try, committing, fit, backed, set, aside, prayer, logged, net, touch, catch, ted, haggard, storm, swept, sadness, happened, ready, look, contribute, weekly, readers, laundry, unread, piece, unfinished, buisness, begin, six, update, mid, return, waited, smitty, player, horror, warning, rambling, asked, edinburgh, morning, episcopalian, chance, catholic, ruins, worship, source, art, philosophy, areas, inhabits, old, skeletons, lifeless, bodies, converted, different, uses, pubs, community, halls, case, east, indian, restaurant, town, america, commercial, democratic, exist, steal, members, plug, reasons, interest, useless, bookstores, depress, shit, literature, needs, crap, told, feed, help, visit, imprisoned, host, deny, established, official, movement, conferences, clubs, membership, fees, workshops, videos, artwork, match, evangelicalism, expressions, seem, sensationalized, garbage, large, include, rich, true, incompetant, unreal, brings, keeps, quitting, join, buddhist, temple, obviously, usually, complain, log, listening, missionary, africa, asia, pay, attention, quite, interesting, sober, hours, unkink, van, ride, across, zoning, managed, jerk, phrase, blinked, sat, straighter, did, fortunately, explaining, tendancy, developed, refer, window, underdeveloped, minimizes, wealthy, owner, labourer, right, human, thrust, map, behind, thunderstruck, intellectual, known, stating, glaringly, obvious, continued, bottom, begun, exists, apart, unimportant, center, stuck, hands, pockets, bounced, poorly, containing, glee, learn, learned, valuble, western, portion, small, greater, gives, peace, continually, greed, pride, wrong, reminded, corinth, messed, dysfuntional, family, despite, differences, skin, reminder, everyone, religious, beginning, ending, thank, video, clip, hopefully, works, embedding, lyrics, follow, inspiring, newsboys, redeemed, african, plain, forgiven, drowning, amazon, rain, asian, holy, fire, tribe, tongue, nation, born, grateful, choir, rise, four, winds, caught, heavenly, sound, praises, echo, towers, underground, songs, sung, dawn, meant, persist, bells, rung, thousand, steeples, none, truer, tremble, heard, cause, drown, single, sing, shape, germs, near, dear, christmas, weekend, engaging, wrangling, living, wind, howls, outside, promising, treacherous, staying, sleeping, spare, hash, unpleasant, devices, head, bless, looking, bringing, kleenex, nodding, sympathetically, bemoaned, situations, sympathy, revealed, stay, further, extend, burden, weakened, constitutions, upstairs, led, wanted, bloody, ourselves, theology, aggressive, weakness, spring, jugular, except, vulnerable, lost, wounded, chatting, evening, arrived, gut, vein, gold, flow, miscommunication, misunderstanding, affirmation, continuing, getting, knockin, morons, between, sits, bottle, solemn, promise, awesome, kicks, symptoms, long, tosses, marvelous, inducers, whole, take, pints, ten, stomach, popular, bible, college, toss, dose, shot, pure, vile, medical, purposes, notice, label, warns, alcohol, increase, drowsiness, counting, vague, dreamlike, state, leading, outbursts, retrospect, never, liked, awakened, semi, hallucinations, twilight, zone, ish, continues, tick, golden, passing, beliefs, nail, creed, agree, says, statements, rubbing, watery, indicated, waves, skeleton, dead, someone, testament, trust, quiet, moments, looked, seen, sitting, swaying, slightly, breeze, starting, coherency, speaks, ask, suddenly, bursts, brilliant, clarity, mind, heavens, opened, glimpse, firmament, sense, cry, kidding, epiphany, inadequate, changing, altering, entered, brain, stand, warm, wave, washes, grip, edge, couch, shaking, struggle, remain, split, crazy, second, blue, death, front, computer, balance, unnerving, experience, calm, rub, tonight, nods, goodnight, intense, remember, affecting, awful, nobody, russians, calling, wait, potatoes, miss, lying, consciousness, expensive, commodity, remembered, undressed, soft, wherever, alive, illumine, low, raise, height, assert, eternal, providence, justify, ways, men, john, milton,

Text of the page (random words):
g to an episcopalian church to pray alone i also got a chance to pray in ancient catholic cathedrals and walk through the ruins of other more ancient places of worship since these places were made the world has moved on no longer is the church the source of the art the culture and the philosophy of the areas it inhabits some of these churches old as they were were left empty grey skeletons of lifeless bodies other had been converted for different uses pubs community halls and in one case the best east indian restaurant in town in north america our churches are more commercial more democratic is that a good thing it sometimes feels like churches exist to steal members of other churches plug them in and forget about them this is one of the reasons the emerging church is of such interest to folks like me but at the same time it all feels so useless christian bookstores depress the shit out of me mountains of literature all of it claiming to be the next big thing the book you need to get to know god the book that every good real christian needs whatever it offends me i sometimes think it offends god we spend more money on crap like that then we do on the things jesus told us to do feed the poor help the sick visit the imprisoned i spend more money on books in a year than i do almost anything else the ec now has a host of books some of them very good i won t deny that and now established itself as an official movement complete with conferences how s it going over there cindy book clubs and membership fees soon we ll have emerging christian music workshops music videos artwork and everything else to match the rest of evangelicalism why does most expressions of christianity in the west seem like sensationalized garbage i get the feeling that in the west christians are by and large and i include myself in this too rich to be faithful sometimes i think that if this north american christianity is true christianity then god is either incompetant unreal or insane so what brings me out of this mood what keeps me from quitting my job and going to join a buddhist temple in the mountains obviously i m still here and i usually don t just complain and then log off what am i still doing here a few weeks ago i was listening to an irish missionary talk about churches in africa and asia i was doing my best to pay attention because the speaker was actually quite interesting as the irish tend to be even when sober but i was going on about 4 hours of sleep and trying to unkink my back after an 11 hour van ride across the country i was zoning in and out but managed to jerk awake at a phrase the speaker used in the majority world i blinked and sat up straighter what did that mean fortunately he was just explaining what it was we have a tendancy in developed countries to refer to this area as the third world or the 10 40 window or underdeveloped countries or something that minimizes them what we don t realize is that the average christian lives in this area the average christian is not wealthy he is poor the average christian is not a business owner he is a labourer the average christian lives right where the average human being lives and he thrust his hand at the map behind him here in the so called third world i was thunderstruck on an intellectual level i had already known the facts he was stating but some deeper truth was making itself glaringly obvious to me he continued don t you see we are the minority in the world we aren t the ones on top we re the ones on the bottom the so called third world is the majority which is why some people have begun to call it the majority world and with it the majority church exists apart from us we are the minority church not unimportant just not the center of it all he stuck his hands in his pockets and bounced up and down on the spot poorly containing his glee and we ve got alot to learn from them i re learned something valuble from this the western church is not the only church we are a portion a small minority of what makes up the greater body of christ in the world and you know what that actually gives me alot of peace about the mistakes that we continually make mistakes of greed of pride and arrogance they are still wrong and i hate them but i am reminded that we are not alone we are corinth a messed up dysfuntional family but there s many more believers out there and despite our differences of culture and skin they pray for us and are a reminder that jesus came for everyone not just the religious we aren t the beginning and ending of the church thank god for that i want to share a video clip with you and hopefully it works first time embedding something like this but the lyrics follow i find this inspiring and perhaps you will too thanks for reading it s good to be back newsboys he reigns it s the song of the redeemed rising from the african plain it s the song of the forgiven drowning out the amazon rain the song of asian believers filled with god s holy fire it s every tribe every tongue every nation a love song born of a grateful choir it s all god s children singing glory glory hallelujah he reigns he reigns it s all god s children singing glory glory hallelujah he reigns he reigns let it rise about the four winds caught up in the heavenly sound let praises echo from the towers of cathedrals to the faithful gathered underground of all the songs sung from the dawn of creation some were meant to persist of all the bells rung from a thousand steeples none rings truer than this and all the powers of darkness tremble at what they ve just heard cause all the powers of darkness can t drown out a single word when all god s children sing out glory glory hallelujah he reigns he reigns all god s people singing glory glory hallelujah he reigns he reigns continue reading posted by grey owl at 11 11 a m 6 comments thursday january 25 2007 half a year away it s hard to believe how much time has really passed since i posted my last blog i feel as though i should explain myself give an account of where i ve been and what i ve been up to at the same time i find myself frustrated again by the medium and culture of blogging it s just way too easy to shoot one s mouth off to be offensive and stupid and not care who you may be hurting it s too easy to be filled with self importance and arrogance when you re sending your words out to the world standing on your very own personalized soapbox i guess i had started to get a little sick of it all which started me thinking about this break as always though there was more to it our new home has not internet this was a calculated decision made almost entirely by the fact that we had a perfectly good cell phone and as such no reason to get a land line what get an internet connection without a phone line seems silly really so that was part of the decision my work schedule changed taking up more of my free time as the fall dragged on i became increasingly distant from the people in my life sometimes spending more time at work than at home in a week i worked evenings and weekends and not because i had more work than usualy it was because i was pushing myself trying hard to make up for some percieved failures i had made and trying not to give myself much time to introspect in addition to work becoming busier i also started work on my master s degree part time only but combined with a work schedule more hectic than i d ever had before it made for a semester of all work and no play i didn t see my wife for days at a time and i was wondering if either my job or my schooling would have to go we stopped going to church my wife and i stopped going to a church that i d been a member at for almost 10 years proximity was the biggest factor driving almost an hour to church makes sunday feel more like work for me especially when the church population is growing increasingly unfamiliar we ve been church hunting ever since with limited success in the midst of all of this we needed to get away we needed to get away from work home all of it and an opportunity arose scotland for two weeks we backpacked around scotland in the middle of december a cold and wet country at the best of times scotland was experiencing flooding on a scale they hadn t see in over 50 years it was frigid and even the trains were freezing it was the most beautiful place i ve ever been i ll tell you more about it later when i came back things started to change i refused to get drawn back into 60 hour weeks instead relying on my support systems to get back on track my wife and i picked a church to try and we re committing to it for a few months to see how we fit in i backed off in my schooling and set aside more time for prayer then one day i logged on to the net and started to read i had been out of touch no way i could catch up on all of the posts i missed i had completely missed the ted haggard storm that swept the christian blogs and i felt no sadness at that much had happened but i felt like i may be ready to come back i don t know what that will look like but i hope to contribute on a weekly basis some of my thoughts even if most of my friends and readers have moved on it will be good to air my laundry again good to say what is on my heart perhaps it will go unread but then again who do we write for there is one piece of unfinished buisness for me and then i shall begin to tell you of the last six months expect an update mid week if you care to return and to those who waited thanks it s good to be back continue reading posted by grey owl at 1 23 p m 9 comments friday january 19 2007 coming soon grey owl s coming back and he just might poop on your chevy more to come continue reading posted by grey owl at 2 31 p m 2 comments tuesday august 01 2006 uncertain future not sure if blogging fits into my non wired lifestyle at the moment finding it difficult to get the stuff done i need to let alone the stuff i want to what does this mean for this site not sure yet more next week continue reading posted by grey owl at 4 25 p m 3 comments monday july 10 2006 on fantasy you re going to come to this conclusion anyway and i think i d rather you hear it from me than figure it out on your own and think that somehow i misled you in the past if you still feel that way when you re finished reading this then i am well and truly sorry i am a huge nerd it s not a secret nor necessarily a surprise to those who know me although the level to which i sometimes slide can be shocking to some many people like the lord of the rings fewer can give you a history of middle earth from creation through to the end of the thirds age many grown adults collect and read comic books the average age of today s comic book reader is in their 30 s but not many have ever contemplated using batman s relationship with the joker as a basis for a future thesis in social psychology god only knows how i got married like this but my wife actually puts up with my foibles and most shockingly seems to enjoy being around me for a guy who once wore star trek pajamas and had a picture of himself in said pajamas on the big screen at his wedding this is a pretty big deal so now that the unpleasentness is out of the way i d like to share with you some of the books that have been formative for me by that i mean that they have through their stories characters and themes have impacted me to the point that i can honestly say i have been changed through them i m sharing this in the hopes that some conversation will ensue and perhaps other nerds will feel some hope and cameradarie also i d like to point out a few places where my faith has been impacted by book that are at least not by standard definitions christian the fionavar tapastry some people call it diet lord of the rings i had my doubts about it when i first picked it up almost two years ago i mean the premise seems pretty identical evil dark lord making war with his army of very very ugly critters against the humans and elf like creatures oh yeah and the elves sail into the west when they become tired of life to a place prepared for them alone at first glance it seems to border on plagerism of course you just need to dig a little deeper the author guy gavriel kay a winnipegger actually worked with christopher tolkien on editing the silmarillion he s a huge tolkien fan and the premise of the fionavar tapestry pays homage to many fantasy classics including t h white s once and future king in the novel five university students from toronto are taken into another world to fionavar the first world from which all other worlds come this is reflected in the many similarities the book has to our fantasy and mythological classics like lotr and norse mythology each of the students comes to appreciate and value a part of this new world and consequently ours as well and each of them play a part in the war against the darkness though the final outcome is far from certain the story paints a beautiful picture of sovergienty in the depiction of the weaver the creator god that spins the stories of all the worlds into the tapestry and kay writes masterfully drawing you in to caring about the various threads that make up his story like all great tales it is both grand and sad a bittersweet exploration of good verses evil it s a very real book i urge you to check it out the vampire chronicles as mentioned in a previous post i am an anne rice fan while her most recent work does not hit the heights that some of her earlier novels i will likely read everything that she publishes there is an honesty in questioning and a refreshing breath of air in her ruthlessness when you open the vampire lestat no safe church walls keep out the relentless onslaught of that terrible question why through the spiritual adventures and meanderings of the main characters rice addresses so many of the toughest questions that we as a race have had to face and are in some cases especially as north american christians afraid to answer pain suffering despair why do we suffer from these things does god truely care about his suffering children or as postulated in memnoch the devil is god actually confused uncaring or insane is god to be trusted reading these books forced me to evaluate my preconcieved notions with the protective coating that so often infects christian writing don t worry all the questions have easy answers and we ll wrap up all the problems before the end so you can sleep at night removed the only safe haven for anyone to run to is to god genuinely unflinchingly to rest in him and not our cookie cutter answers it also helped me realize one ever important truth god is big enough to handle whatever questioning we can throw at him lestat reminds me a little of job and a little of me the dark tower stephan king s penultimate work i finished book seven only a couple of weeks ago forcing myself to spread them out instead of devouring them in a three week gluttonous spree if you ve ever read them and read the last chapter in spite of king s warnings to leave it ...