BOO!

pumpkins - BOO!, originally uploaded by krisde.

Happy Halloween. :)

help, someone? (and no, i'm not bothering to ask obama or mccain)

the presidential election is one week away. pretty hard to believe. and i am becoming convinced that none of the political candidates for any party deserve my vote. i am unconvinced that any of them have the "kingdom values" that i have. so it becomes a decision of either aligning myself with a candidate with whom i dislike but dislike slightly less than the other candidates, or aligning myself with the only person to share my values, Jesus. if anyone has a convincing argument on why i should align myself and give my vote to another messed up human being who will, like every president before and to come, mess up our country and world more, feel free to share. i just feel like rebelling and not voting for unworthy candidates.
if it's about choosing the lesser of two evils, tell me, why even bother choosing an evil, albeit lesser? seriously now. i am on the fence about even voting in this election.
i'm also reading an interesting book, Jesus for President, which I am sure is not helping my undecided-voterness.

what iraqis are saying.

Leading up to the presidential election in 2004, I read a lot of various blogs about the war in Iraq. There was an American journalist who kept a blog as he followed around a squadron in Baghdad, there were the angry and angst-ridden Iraqis who produced diatribes day in and out on the political situation, and there were reasoned arguments (pro-America and con-America) and observations made by other Iraqi citizens. It was a big melting pot of those both informing and opining.

One blog I always came back to time and time again, Iraq the Model.

Recently, I've been revisiting their stuff. It's interesting to say the least, to read the opinions of Iraqis. Here's their latest installment.

Ordinary Radicals

Last night, I had the opportunity to view an interesting independent documentary film at the Kentucky Theater called The Ordinary Radicals.

It is unfortunate that they are giving so few viewings of this film, but if you have the chance to see it, I would highly recommend it. I felt that most of the people watching the film who heard about it were not necessarily the ones who should and needed to see this film. The ones who should see this film would be the professing Christians who would get a little disturbed or uncomfortable about the challenges inherent in the documentary's content, or the non-believers who have been put off by the church/Christianity in general or more specifically the hypocrisy therein (or even hypocrisy in me), or thirdly those who perhaps have just become disillusioned/disconnected with their own faith. (If you suspect I have you in mind as you read this, you're right - I do.) Yet for people who want to aspire to be such ordinary radicals and are trying to put their "hands to work and hearts to God," this film was also an encouragement and inspiration in its own right. (I speak personally.) This film, as the director said, would perhaps be a good film to watch alongside of the movie Religulous. I have not yet seen that film, but it appears that two non-Christians find two different angles of showing people of faith. The director posited, however, that his documentary was much more removed in a "google earth" kind of way, not pushing a certain idea, premise, or conclusion.

Some of the most compelling aspects of this project were that, 1, the people behind the film consist of a professing Roman Catholic, a professing Evangelical, and a non-believer. To see how they all dove into a vision for their community (the simple way in Philly/Kensington), together, and for becoming ordinary radicals is encouraging to me. 2, it is fascinating that the director, Jamie, is not a believer, yet feels completely at home with evangelicals and wanted to bring his experiences with them to the screen. This brought up many interesting questions for us both in the Q&A session with him as well as afterwards, at one of our favorite establishments, Common Grounds -- namely, if you take Christ out of this movement, would there be any difference? In the end we had a sort of "yes and no" kind of answer...

If you have thoughts on the role of social justice and caring for people body and soul and the role of the body of Christ, I'd love to hear them. If you have thoughts about this documentary if you've been able to see it, I'd also love to hear them. If you want to see the documentary but are unable to, let me know because I know some people who might be getting a copy you could watch.

Check out the website, linked above, and the trailer, HERE.

You can also check out the site for the book that forms a center to the whole film, Jesus For President, HERE.

forgetfulness?

I've been asked a few times by different folks if it is hard to drive now that I'm back from Belarus. My reply is usually, no, not really. But I have discovered I am a bit more forgetful and scatter-brained, which could make for poorer driving... I have been known to decide mentally to go one route while driving, then totally miss the street or ramp I was supposed to get on, only realizing it moments or even minutes later, thereby heading in the wrong direction and having to figure out a way to change my route. Or I have just been in one of those "head in the clouds" kind of fogs at other times. Perfect example was a few nights ago. I drive home, pick up Trevor from visitor parking, and we both come to my apartment building, park the car, we get out and go inside. Trevor later leaves in his car back at visitor parking, and I stay in for the night. The next morning I get in the car, while taking a call on my cell. I mentally think, wow, the sun is really bright this morning. My car is so light! So I think, I must have left the sun roof shade open to let the sunlight in through the window in my roof.... but after I hang up, I look up, and no... I had not left the shade open, I had left the sunroof window itself open! All freaking night. And when I got in my car, it was raining. Yes, my console and seats were starting to get wet. What is bizarre, to me, about this situation was that not only did *I* not notice in my head in the clouds kind of state the night before, but neither did Trevor... two of us, completely oblivious to the fact that I was leaving my sunroof open all night long. I just wonder if this forgetfulness, unobservant nature of late has anything to do with my culture adjustments? Or am I just growing forgetful with age? (I am, after all, way past the quarter of a century mark) Hmm.

doctrine / relationship

"I think God gives us our doctrine [our ideas about God] to see if theology will take the place of relationships with people."

"'Anything you can believe, I can believe better' is the mentality we get into."
-Trevor Durbin

Trevor + I talked about community on one of our recent long drives together. I jotted down these comments he spoke because they resonated with me as profound truth. The reason divisions exist in the church is the belief that one church has doctrine and practice "right" and another "wrong." Or perhaps, one place has it "good" but another church has it "better." We may all admit that we have brothers and sisters in Christ outside of our denomination, but there's a reason we've chosen the church home we have. Do we subconsciously pass judgment on anyone else - another brother or sister - in a different church? I know it doesn't always happen, but I think it can definitely be there. Do we leave room for the preferences of others or do we claim that a difference of opinion (on such "non essential" matters) actually becomes essential, needing to be identical to our own? This can apply to doctrinal beliefs or practice of faith, worship services or music or...

Then the bigger question: what happens to our relationships with other people? Will we show them love and acceptance, and as Justin McRoberts has sung "meet [them] at the cross"? Or will we isolate them from ourselves and "our" community (whether physically or just mentally separating them from ourselves), forgetting that we are also flawed?

Thoughts?

Godfather.

In our string of movie watches, we've recently watched Rebel Without a Cause, The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather, and The Godfather, Part II.

Now, I hear Part III of The Godfather is not worth watching, so I'm not necessarily going to rent it unless someone would recommend it. As for the first two Godfather movies, both were very good and yet excessively long. It appeared to me that the first was more of a traditional, gunning down kind of Mafia flick, whereas the second was much more vindictive, insidious, two-faced kind of conflict. We always spotted when oranges would pop up in the movie, knowing that shortly after someone was going to die. (I was unaware of this connection before Trevor mentioned it... they appear A LOT in the second movie.)

We had an interesting discussion after Rebel, wondering, why is he without a cause? To me, he seemed to be the only character without an agenda, he was just having to react to his surroundings.

We have The Grapes of Wrath on hand... I'm hoping the movie is better than the book... I had to read that book twice and the first time, as an 8th grader, was painful enough to sort of scar me for a while from reading any more Steinbeck. I have subsequently read Of Mice and Men, and I hear that East of Eden is good, but it hasn't exactly topped my must-read list...

lessons in seeing.

lessons in seeing., originally uploaded by krisde.

i've been enjoying playing with blurring shots intentionally.

i've also been enjoying a new photographic subject -- other photographers. I like to watch others at work for a shot, to see how they see things, what grabs their eye... and inevitably my eye is grabbed by the one behind the lens... ((it also helps when the one behind the lens is your fiance...))

this shot is perhaps my favorite from my labor day trip to DC - the intentional blur, the silhouette of the photographer, shot at night before a brightly lit edifice of brick and mortar towering over corrupt politicians and innocent children at play alike...

red glow.

red glow., originally uploaded by krisde.

@ the washington monument in DC at dusk.

splash.

, originally uploaded by krisde.

check out photos from the national botanical gardens over at my flickr page!

falling.

, originally uploaded by krisde.

bright orange.

, originally uploaded by krisde.