In Memory of John Spencer

West Wing won't be the same without Leo Thomas McGarry. Go rent The Rock this weekend and check out Mr. Spencer's epic role as FBI Director James Womack. Why blog this? I recently used a story from his West Wing character in a sermon:

A guy is walking along at night at falls into a hole.

A priest walks by and the guy shouts out "Hey Father, can you help me out down here?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and keeps walking.

Then a doctor walks by and the guy shouts out "Hey Doc, can you give me a hand?" The doctor writes out a prescription, throws it in the hole and goes on his way.

Then a friend walks by and the guy shouts "Hey friend, can you help you out down here." "Sure," the friend says and jumps into the hole himself. "What are you crazy, now we are both stuck down here."

"Yeah, I know," says the friend, "but I've been down here before and I know the way out."

Please don't break!

I took this picture myself while parasailing this year in Puerto Vallarta! That little speck at the end of the line is the boat that pulled me!

In Memory of Pat Morita

Another icon for us children of the 80's passed away recently.
Wax on, Mr Miyagi!

Moment of silence for Skitch Henderson

For all of you who ever wondered where I got my camp name-here he is! Google him to find out about a really cool old guy.

August Sunset in Newport, OR.

Road Trip!

Stuart, Connor, Zach, Emily, Ryan, Emily, Ali, Jojo, Claire, Evan, Nicole, Bonnie, Blake, me and Jon at Warm Beach Camp in Washington, November 13, 2005.

Whistling in the Dark

I stole the title for this weblog from a book of the same name by Frederick Buechner. Here is what he says regarding it:

"I think of faith as a kind of whistling in the dark because, in much the same way, it helps to give us courage and to hold the shadows at bay. To whistle in the dark isn't to pretend that the dark doesn't sometimes scare the living daylights out of us. Instead, I think, it's to demonstrate, if only to ourselves, that not even the dark can quite overcome our trust in the ultimate triumph of the Living Light. Hence the title."

I am not entirely sure what I hope for regarding this blog. It is definitely an experiment. How will I know if it succeeded? How will I know if it was worth the time? What will I say to my boss the first time he walks in and sees me working on it? I guess I would be really happy if these writings did any of the following things:

1. Made it known to all who read that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life and is the One for whom I live.
2. Reminded you (or shared with you for the first time) how much God loves you and how deeply He desires to be in relationship with you.
3. Convinced you that Sports Night is the best show you never watched and is totally worth a 3 month subscription to Netflix.
4. Proved to you, in case you had any doubt, that Portland is PHENOMENALLY weird!
5. Reminded you that young adolescents are not just the future of the world and hope of the church, but are also totally fun to hang out with and not nearly as scary as you might think.

At the time of this typing I am sitting in my office at Mountain Park Church in Lake Oswego, OR listening to Chris Rice and waiting for snow.