Sunday, October 16, 2005

Sorry to those eager for the honeymoon update - had another thought I wanted to capture, but I will get back to that eventually.

Really interesting sermon this morning at Grace Covenant Church (will try to add a link to it later). Bear with this, and substitute any omni-entity you believe in, or just life, for God if you wish. Preacher-man said bad attitudes come from bad theology. Basically, if I believe in a god who does things for me but doesn't have to and maybe doesn't want to (since I surely would rather not serve others without compensation), I'm not going to trust God, so I'm going to push for more while He feels like giving and live in fear of what happens if/when that stops. I'm also going to make plans to make sure I'm covered whatever He decides. This is what Israel was doing immediately after it left Egypt when it grumbled that there wasn't enough food and water, and that they were better off under the Egyptians where their physical needs were better met. It cost them access to Canaan, which was better suited to their needs. He went through several examples of people making decisions to supplicate their own fear rather than God's will, but that might be more than is needed here.

So the flip-side - what about a god who has already given more to each of us than any of us can return? As a Christian, this is eternal grace, his Spirit and Word, and sending a piece of divinity to die a painful, humiliating physical death. Nothing against our efforts - He just has more to give and has done so. In this case, there is no reason to doubt his continued love and generosity given such ample evidence, which frees us to learn and choose to obey his will because there is no cause for fear. That's freedom.

Not trying to convert anyone, but I've been asked before why I would participate in what is frequently a fear-based religion. I believe the fear is instituted more by human components of the religion than the divine, and have a confident faith that God will forgive me if I'm wrong about this, as I'm probably wrong about so many things. Whatever you believe, I hope you have a similar freedom in the choices in your life.

Once again, the preacher said it much better than I did (although I could probably store it in a database and retrieve it much more efficiently), so I'll try to find a link if anyone's interested.
posted by Unknown 7:39 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, October 08, 2005

So people have asked me about the wedding and honeymoon. Here's my recollections (for me as much as for y'all, so sorry if it's too long).

Pre-Wedding: Family all got along (whew).

I enjoyed 12 Days of Wedding (1-12 flowers each day for Wife, usually from random folks - was amusing how no one would let me pay them back for the bouquet), and Wife made me 12 very cool/amusing bookmarks the day of the wedding. Twas much fun for wedding presents.

Chris was a stoic and persevering Best Man. Came to a gathering of Wife's family that Thursday night along with Vaden - much appreciated having them there. Then Chris drove with me on Friday from our house to an East Austin florist to Barton Creek mall to Oak Hill to Round Rock back to home, all before the rehearsal.

Rehearsal was good - possibly my favorite visual image is as we were rehearsing the bridesmaid's walking down the aisle, Andrew opened his arms wide and his wife Whitney ran into them. My words might not convey how cool that was, but I enjoyed it.

Then 4 stops looking for Shout Wipes (sp?) on the way to the rehearsal dinner since the delayed 7-flower bouquet had gotten pollen all over Wife's white dress. oops. As to the rehearsal dinner, well, Dad knows how to throw a party. The food was good, but the parmesan chicken was especially amazing - I recommend it for all and sundry who have opportunities to visit Shoreline Grill. We've developed a few pictures from the disposable cameras that night, and the main thing that's confirmed is that my cousin's 6-year-old son Joseph is a camera-seeking ham. Also got to see the bats that night for the first time, so I think I'm finally an official Austinite.

From there on to Dart Bowl for a chance to hang out with all of our friends. That was fun. Some really good pictures from Kim, including one of my all-time favorites of Wife (of course, Wife was gloating after getting a strike, but we'll look past that). Wife and bridal party left after one game, so of course she missed me getting a turkey and tying the highest score of the night (only 149, but still). We have photographic evidence.

Wedding: Gotta say, it was the most fun and relaxed group of groomsmen I've ever been around (apparently the photographer worried we wouldn't be ready in time). I'll take credit for picking well. And, since I'd complained of having no football to watch like I've usually done when I've been Best Man, Best Man Chris bought me the 2005 Rose Bowl DVD so we could watch one of the best 4th quarters ever.

Oh, yeah, and then the wedding. I got to stand kind of in a corner while the rest of the wedding party took their place, and it was so great looking out over the guests - all the family and friends in one place. Then Wife turned the corner at the back of the church, and the lump in my throat came much closer to producing tears than almost any other time.

Minister Craig was more nervous than we were, I think. Kinda forgot to tell everyone to be seated until he was reminded after the homily. And I remember thinking it was good, but the main thing I remember being up there is looking at Wife the whole time, and it got better with each minute. Brother-In-Law Andrew did a great job performing Green Eyes.

One thing I wanted to note for my own posterity is the vows (still haven't seen the videotape, but since none of the audience could hear them due to microphone problems, wanted to capture them). We wrote our own: I, Husband/Wife, take you, Wife/Husband, to be my wife/husband. I promise that in our life together, I will carry you when I can, lean on you when I must, and always stride forward, partners, into the best lives we could hope for: in God, in each other, in love.

The post-ceremony pictures went really quickly (Jay Brittain of StudioJ was all-around great in his photography and all the little customer service pieces of the job that made it easier on us), and we got in our Rolls Royce Phantom limo (1st best I think we managed of the weddings I've been to: Best Limo) to go to the club.

Got there, and it took no time for the club's event manager to annoy us yet again, trying to shape the reception in her view of what it should be. After telling her for at least the third time that the DJ was in charge (he was awesome, too - his advice on the schedule of the event really paid off, and he handled the club's staff so that we didn't have to), we got to make our entrance, where we found 2 Coke Slurpees at our table, courtesy of Brian Winkelmann. If you don't know how important Coke Slurpees are to us, well, then yay that I've got new readers!

Dinner was OK - it was good to get around and talk to people although I wish I could have spent a lot more time with everyone. I could have the chronology messed up in my mind, but I believe what came next was the toasts. Father-In-Law Lyle was great, Maid of Honor Anita did really good, and Second-Cousin-In-Law Jim did a good one too. Then came Best Man Chris. We're talking a 5-minute standup routine that skewered me from more directions than Rhett Bomar will be sacked today (and even made fun of Laura a time or two - very daring but well-executed). I'm not aware anyone has it on tape or a transcript - if so, please let me know and I'll post it. 2nd Best - Best Best-Man Toast.

Then came The Dance. Yes, it deserves capital letters as we had secretly taken dance lessons, and I can foxtrot like a mad dog. Well, at least to a specific song. And with a specific partner. And in a specific sequence of steps. Still, I've never caught so many people by surprise before, and I was glad to finally be good enough to match Wife's more natural dance skills.

So then more dancing and talking to folks and getting to eat the cake we'd cut - mmm I enjoyed the cake. Then singing Eyes of Texas (immediately before which Wife and other inconsiderate Yankees could be heard singing I've Been Working On the Railroad - ironic as she's the current Longhorn of the family). And that pretty much wrapped up the evening.

Honeymoon on Cape Cod will have to wait for another time, as this is pretty freakin long already. But want to pay some attention to a topic that some may have noticed has gotten short shrift here - Wife. I enjoyed all the fun and the surprises and the people of that weekend, but what comes to mind when I think of it is her face, her smile, the fun I've had meeting her, getting to know her, proposing to her, planning a wedding and a life together, and how radiant she was that weekend. The wedding could've been a National Lampoon movie or the most perfect, elegant Disneyworld Princess celebration, and it wouldn't have mattered. Everything before this is the stories, the anecdotes, lots of great things, but she is my life, and I couldn't be happier.
posted by Unknown 8:42 AM | 0 comments

Yes, it's Al Gore, and yes, there's some very political comments in here, but there's also some interesting analysis on the evolution of media from print to television. I'd like to hear anyone's response: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/100605A.shtml#
posted by Unknown 8:39 AM | 0 comments