One of the internal battles I’ve fought over the years has been over the necessity of coffee in my life. I was drinking it like a back-alley crack addict a few years ago, 4 or 5 hits before lunch, until I realized my problem (awareness is the first step) and decided to cut it out of my life. After a couple months of headaches and strange coping techniques (tea???) I successfully quit and began to feel okay with it.

Then, two years later, I just up and started drinking it again one morning at school. The smell of it finally got to me or something. Reminded me of all the good times we once had… So, after our two year break, coffee and I were back together. We just had one of those on-again-off again relationships you know? But we’ve both matured and grown into ourselves since then and we really know what we want this time around. Point is, it made me realize the degree to which coffee has played a part in my life, and a lot of people’s lives. We’ve been going strong since b t w. I’m even considered a “regular” at a local coffee house.

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I’ve often considered the relationship between coffee and churches, or the church to be more specific. Seems to me that every time we gather, coffee is there. I can’t help but imagine the early church sitting around with a new letter from Paul and a fresh pot of Galilee’s best dark roast. I bet it was even served with dessert after the last supper. (too soon?)

Regardless of my mildly inappropriate joking, coffee certainly plays a significant role in the church and my question has always been whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Finally this morning I think I’ve come to a conclusion. Coffee is a community oriented experience. Yes it can be enjoyed alone, but it is so much better shared. Whether you’re sitting down deep in conversation with a friend or driving in to work with your carpool, coffee is there and it somehow enhances human interaction. The amount of times I’ve heard “let’s go out and grab a coffee sometime…” It seems to me that coffee is more than a drink, it represents a deeper human need for relationship.

Rather than resist this, churches need to make efforts to embrace this experience as a way to build community. Serve the stuff, provide a place to sit, sip and chat, and even allow people to bring their coffee into the service with them. I know this isn’t life-changing, thought-provoking revelation but sometimes a practical thought can transform into a much more profound realization. The church is community; what are you doing to encourage that?

I realize that my blogging of late (past 6 months) has been mostly uninteresting, uninspiring, and most likely unuseful…? unusable? Useless.

I can’t say I’ve got any real good reason for it. Maybe I’ve really just been trying to hone my skills and limit all my intelligence to the 140 characters I’m allowed in Twitter. Or perhaps I’ve been training myself as the world’s most efficient Wikipedia browser. Mostly though I’ve kind of just been doing as opposed to writing about doing. I’ve heard experience is the best teacher and I guess I’ve been doing a lot of significant learning over the past little while. Youth ministry has never been so clear of a calling to me as it has been of late. Love is a strong word but I love what I do. Anyways, innovations are stockpiling and ideas are flying all over the place and I’m sure I will be back at this blog soon enough with some crazy new plans but until then, here’s some more of my hobby in graphic design as it works itself out around here.

I had this photo of Alex that I thought he kind of looked like he was dying in.

Anyways, I let my imagination take me the rest of the way…

When the Zombie Apocalypse comes at least he’s still sort of fashionable.

This is why I have always loved Conan O’Brien.

I never thought I’d say it, but Jimmy Fallon may have actually changed my mind about him. His show is everything a late night talk show for this generation should be. Great guests, funny ideas for segments, amazing music*, he even utilizes Twitter to talk with his fans. He also gets an added bonus just for being involved in a process that finally removed Leno from network television. After years of turning me off with everything he was involved in, it seems Jimmy Fallon has finally won me over. That, perhaps, may be his greatest achievement of all.

Check out Late Night with Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 12:35 on NBC.

*Anyone who can get the Roots as their permanent house band deserves some respect.

** Disclaimer: For the record I never actually said that I enjoy his show. I’ve actually only watched it once. I guess my point is that his show seems to be cooL in every way that it should be. Although now that I think about it, that’s always been Jimmy Fallon’s downfall. Lots of hype but just doesn’t fulfill in the long run. We’ll see how he survives the test of time. I’m not about to start watching or anything, but I still dig the concept.
I’m really only mostly impressed by the Roots.

I’m wondering if anyone else finds it comforting that there will always be a book to read.

I’ve turned browsing Chapters into a sort of therapy session, the end result of which is a sort of calming effect. I’m obviously never going to read the all the books that have been written and will probably miss out on some great ones; but that doesn’t seem to worry me. Instead, I have discovered a great pleasure in simply looking at books and slowly searching for a good one. It’s a feeling that I don’t have to worry about losing either because people will always write books.
I get a similar feeling going into HMV and looking through cds; though browsing music usually makes me anticipate certain releases which takes away from the zen-like state I’m aiming for. Books seem to do it for me. There’s no rush, no waiting for a new arrival, no sense of urgency or regret. I can take my time, sip my Starbucks, and stumble across good finds in a somewhat accidental way.* I especially like going to different Chapters locations and getting an even deeper sense of loss in the book stacks. It’s quite nice.
I was recently told by a doctor that the best way to deal with anxiety is to try to find a calming exercise. What’s yours?

On a completely separate thought, I wondered today how I would feel if I died before Lost resolved itself. I think it might be the first question out of my mouth when I’m reunited with someone who lived long enough to see the end.

*I was able to find Marvel Zombies: Dead Zone and Scott Pilgrim 3 last time.

I caught myself thinking the other day how awesome life is during your mid-twenties. You’re no longer a teenager and, let’s be honest, those years sucked. But your’re also not yet thirty and I can’t imagine any more doomed feeling than actually being thirty.
I believe I may have possibly come to the pinnacle of my life’s existence. I’m newly married, I enjoy my job, I can still appreciate being active, I don’t own a home or have any kids to support, and retirement/old age is years away.
Obviously I’m exaggerating slightly but it did cross my mind that I might be at the best it’s ever going to get. I subsequently then began to dread the fact that it’s only going to get worse and every year will take me further away from this period of bliss. This turned my moment of sheer happiness into an anxiety ridden precipice of despair. All I could think about was the fear of losing my twenties.

So I guess the Jedi were right all along, posession leads to loss. It’s better to appreciate life as it comes rather than try to hold on to something that will inevitably end.

I’m currently struggling to live my life without my blackberry. It was fried during a software update last Monday afternoon. I’m convinved the PC I was using at the time is to blame. As a result of this horrific event, I’ve been forced to live my life outside of my usual means of connectivity. I have to check my emails by going online and signing in to gmail, I have none of my contacts stored in the loner phone they gave me so I have no real way of calling anyone, my voice mail seems to be disconnected, and I can’t get Miley Cyrus’s Twitter updates as frequently as I like. I might as well be trapped in Northern Canada in an ice fishing shack.

Today, as a result of this, I took a bus into Stouffville on faith that someone would be around to drive me to the church. As it turns out, nobody was available. I then made the 6.9 km trek, heavy laptop bag in tow, to the church from my dining spot in downtown Stouffville. I got some exercise and I had the company of Chuck Klosterman IV on my ipod but I can’t help but feel this could all have been avoided if I had my phone. Telus, I hate you for making me wait 5-10 business days and giving me no clearer or reassuring advice than that.

Since I feel proud of myself though for actually getting to work, I thought I would chronicle my journey with google maps.

The funniest thing to me is that it’s only a 9 minute drive by car. I think it took me an hour and 10 minutes.

It’s been about a year since I last posted anything here. I’ve been meeting all my blogging needs over at Springvale Youth Dot Com and more recently through my new love, Twitter. I recently stumbled back over here after shamefully neglecting it for so long and thought that maybe I would use this a bit more often. In the process I gave the blog a facelift, something a bit more new and bright, hopefully it’s enjoyed.

Here’s a shout out to something awesome!

Mac has done it again. This time with software that allows you to catalog, browse, and keep track of your books, movies, music, and games. It’s called Delicious Library and after using it for less than a day, I’m hooked. Yes I am aware that this is not a new program, but for someone who has finally made the switch from the dank and gloomy world of PC, it’s a breath of fresh air.

It costs $40 and its well worth the coin. I’ve already scanned most of my movies and books as well as my 5 X-Box 360 Games (I’m waiting for a good chunk of time to start on my CDs).

Sounds cooL already right?

That’s not even all of it. One of the best features is that it allows you to scan the bar codes of your stuff using the isight on your computer where it will then locate the product on Amazon and get all the information on the product for you.

It also has a feature that allows you drag the items to people in your Mac address book and keep track of who you lend it to and when to get it back. For someone who consistently forgets who he lends stuff do, its much needed. No more losing DVDs for me!

As of right now it’s strictly Mac based, though I’m sure they make similar programs for those dreadful Windows PCS.

Anyways, yet another good reason to get a Mac.