Dam*it, we need more community

Myself, 58yr old man Len, 34 yr old Tim, 26 yr old Ben, and fellow 23 yr old Tommy gathered together for an evening of beer tasting, story telling, encouragement, and toilet plunging. I think that maybe, just maybe, that was a glimpse of heaven.



(not us or anyone we know)

A hindrance

One of the worst feelings in the world is knowing that you made Jesus look incredibly unattractive. That you made others look at Christianity and say "if that's what Jesus is about, no thank you." That your actions further hardened someone's heart toward the gospel. There's a lot of guilt that comes with that. But it hit me that instead of us Christians trying to look more like Jesus, we should look more like people who need Jesus. Instead of having a 'What Would Jesus Do' attitude, it should be more like 'What has Jesus done.' (thanks Dwebb) I hope I never get in the way of Jesus' message again. But it's bound to happen so long as I interact with people. Praise God that he is sovereign and still somehow uses broken, messed up people.


Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

How Small Is Earth?

This will change your life. Or not. Recently, I watched this without the sound...not very life changing.

I want compromise, not war

One thing (yeah probably the only thing) I've never understood about women is the demand for the toilet seat to be put down. I could understand women preferring to not have to put the seat down themselves when they do their thing. And I would gladly serve and honor their request by keeping the seat down. However, the fact that this request makes their big top 10 complaints list, doesn't make sense. And here's my main reason why this is an unneccessary, counter-productive, you-don't-really-have-a-good-point complaint:

It would make more sense to demand the lid be up so you don't get splattered sprinklings of male urine on the toilet seat. If the toilet seat gets kept in the upright position, you'll at least have a clean one when it comes time to sit on it. If you demand they put it down, you run a great risk of getting a dirty one. And most guys unfortunately, will not clean up after themselves if the lid remains down. So basically by you demanding we put the toilet seat down you're saying "I'd rather have the seat down and possibly have to wipe your urine off of it than have the seat up and have to touch it to pull it down."

In light of this, I would recommend a more accurate complaint. Instead of writing notes, making signs, getting tattoos that say "Please Put the Seat Down", I think a wiser, more effective message would be "Please lift the seat up, then urinate, then put it back down for us. Thank you guys for being so awesome and manly."

(you forget about our chain-cutting tools)

Simon says v. Jesus says

Past two days, I've watched all 4 hours of American Idol
I've played 4 hours of poker
I've listened to 4 sermons
I've eaten 4 bowls of cereal (wait, that was today)
My car has 4 tires

But anyways, back to American Idol. I realized something that made me very sad. All the people that really really suck, that are made fun of, that the television show exploits because they really are hilariously awful....every single one of those people are a little off mentally. Have you noticed? They're not normal people. They're a bit messed up in the head. They're people who probably have few friends and are socially naive. And we just affirm to them what society has told them most of their life: "you suck" and "you are different...different in a bad way." But since they're not completely retarded, we're allowed to make fun of them. We excuse it by saying they need to be brought down to earth and shown reality. That's like dunking on a 4 yr old in a game of basketball so he stops thinking he's the best. Just some observations.

Davis Family News: Winter Season edition

Davis Family News story 1:
My brother Peter got pulled over yesterday for excessive dancing (he was listening to Andrew W.K.). I was so proud.

and that's pretty much it

Banananana

I'm tired of people coming up to me and saying "Martin, but you don't like bananas!" I'm finally going to put the rumors to rest.

Proof I like bananas:

1)

2) My favorite dessert: Banana Pudding

My favorite carbohydrated item: Banana Nut Bread

3) My urine is often yellow.

Two paragraphs: hell, heaven

When hanging out with people, I so often feel like I have to perform for them. Not entertain neccessarily, but atleast bring something to the table; at least be funnier, wiser, or more interesting than the average person present in the hangout group. Here's what I've noticed: regardless of whether I'm successful at that or not, I end up hating life more in the longrun. If I'm successful, I'm temporarily feel good because I've come one step closer to satisfying my craving for people to like me, but I need it just the same the next time. If I fail, I get this 'woe is me' attitude because I feel like God has robbed me somehow of glory that I'm due. The only times I really enjoy other people's company is not when I'm succeeding at performing, but when I'm not even conscious of how I'm doing at all. (I've noticed that mostly happens around family and friends from back home. I think that's why we value them so much...because we often don't have to impress them for them to care about us.)

(i'm not so sure how related this next paragraph is, but here it is nonetheless)
I think deeply understanding the Gospel is the only hope of fixing myself and how people relate to each other in general. This is how the church is Biblically supposed to look and function. Being friends with people who we wouldn't normally be friends with. Caring about people without us having to get something out of it. Loving being in the other person's presence just because they're family. Giving up almost anything to ease the other person's pain. Not being so consumed with promoting self. And of course, we wouldn't have to perform for people to deem us worthy and valuable. No wonder the Scripture talks about this type of Biblical community being essential to life. But because of our sin and the walls we put up, maybe we won't really see this happen this side of heaven.

My friend wants to know if you will marry him

I realized something about myself this week. My two favorite things in the world to talk about are:

1) the implications of the Gospel of Jesus

2) hypothetically bad marriage proposals

Don't Waste Your Life

"Maybe you don’t care very much whether you make a lasting difference for the sake of something great. You just want people to like you. If people would just like being around you, you’d be satisfied. Or if you could just have a good job w/ a good wife, and a couple of good kids and a few good friends, a fun retirement, and a quick easy death, and no hell, --if you could have all that (even w/o God)--you’d be satisfied. That is a tragedy in the making. A wasted life. " - John Piper

According to this, most of the people in evangelical churches (dare I say Redeemer Pres, Christ Community Church, Carriage Lane Pres.) are wasting their life, myself included.

What's that? You demand more Celtic Woman on Martin's Blog??? I submit