I'm trying to import this damn thing to WordPress. Not going so well.

Don't Swallow Your Gum!!

Some quotes from the story...

Several weeks ago, I purchased a fairly large quantity of Dubble Bubble for my daughter's gum ball machine. The amount of gum I acquired was directly proportional to my own developed taste for the product, since it resembled crack cocaine in addictiveness. After originally buying the pre-filled gum ball machine, I'd proceeded to consume almost the entire contents in just a few short days...

Alas, I was destined for trouble. After consuming such a vast quantity of bubble gum, certain bodily processes started to become strange. My bowel movements rotated from frequent to nearly constipated for several days. For the life of me, I couldn't predict at what point the need to crap would attack. When I did plop down to plop, both the defecation process and the subsequent wiping would seem almost...

Sticky.

This went on for another day or two. It was only then that an event occurred that would change my philosophy on gum swallowing forever.

I can't use the hand razor I shave my face with, certainly; would I be able to shear my whiskers every morning while knowing where it had been? That microglobs of poo-gum were being ground into my cheeks and neck?

No, certainly not! I do, however, have a small beard trimmer that might do the job. It was only a few dollars at Wal-Mart, after all; I can burn it when I'm done. Alrighty then, pants off, left leg up on the sink, offending mass of bubble gum presented comfortably, mirror positioned on the floor to help me aim. Okay, razor on, let's do this thing!

DEAR SWEET ZOMBIE IT'S STUCK!

I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

I have a lot of stuff bouncing around in my head that I want to get out somewhere, but I don't have patience enough to "blog it" all out right now.

Blah...

Me on Halo 2.

Redesign...

I've decided to redesign the page; everything is redone, but still in my own personal style. The layout is based wholly on the Paaseiland design by Martijn ten Napel. I've moved some stuff around, tweaked some colors and added my own personal favorite piece of God's creation - the human skull.

Leave some feedback, let me know what you think.

Peace.

This weekend Carrie and I rented Hotel Rwanda with our free trial of NetFlix. It was a powerful and convicting movie - how comfortable and selfish we are in our American bubble, how for a million lives we weren't willing to send troops to protect them.

And then the quotes I get from people when they're told what the movie is about. It makes me sick, for real.

Oh, I'd rather watch a movie that will make me laugh.

Just because you're excited about missions, it doesn't mean everyone else has to be.

In the movie Don Cheadle's character Paul Rusesabagina says this to the people that he has given refuge to as they're about to call their friends overseas that might be able to rally support to save them:

There will be no rescue, no intervention for us. We can only save ourselves. Many of you know influential people abroad, you must call these people. You must tell them what will happen to us... say goodbye. But when you say goodbye, say it as if you are reaching through the phone and holding their hand. Let them know that if they let go of that hand, you will die. We must shame them into sending help.

It's sick how true that is!

The next day we had a missionary at church who shared this account from Amy Carmichael, a personal heroine of mine: (warning - long)

The tom-toms thumped straight on through the night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked and I saw as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy sword and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked but saw no bottom--only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled; and great shadowed, shrouded hollows and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding onto her dress; she was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step; it trod air. She was over and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over.

Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters--all were blind, stone blind. All made straight for the precipice edge. There were shrieks, as they suddenly knew themselves falling and a tossing up of helpless arms catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly and fell without a sound.

Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground. And I could not call; though I strained and tried only a whisper would come. Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals, but the intervals were far too great. There were great wide unguarded gaps between and over these gaps the people fell in their blindness quite unwarned. And the green grass seemed blood red to me and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.

Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned towards the gulf. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their numbers started up and wanted to go do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. 'Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go. You haven't finished your daisy chains yet. It would be really selfish,' they said, 'to leave us to finish the work alone.'

There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out. But they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of the edge. Once a girl stood alone in her place waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called, reminded her that her furlough was due. She must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for a while. But no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell like a waterfall of souls.

Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf. It clung convulsively and it called, but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back at her gap thought she heard the little one cry. She sprang up and wanted to go, at which they reproved her reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere. The gap would be well taken care of they knew, and then they sang a hymn.

Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts rung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me for I knew what it was--the cry of the blood. Then thundered a voice, the voice of the Lord, and He said, 'What has thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.'

The tom-toms still beat heavily. The darkness still shuddered and shivered about me. I heard the yells of the devil dancers and the weird, wild shriek of the devil-possessed just outside the gate. What does it matter after all? It has gone on for years. It will go on for years. I make such a fuss about it. God forgive us. God arouse us. Shame us out of our callousness, shame out of our sin.

We do need to be shamed out of our callousedness. The quotes in response to the movie were said in a church!

But, now what? What do we do?

I suggest checking out www.InternationalFundForRwanda.org. A million people died because they were taller, had longer noses or because they didn't think that those people deserved to die. Hotel Rwanda was not a piece of fiction, but should have been... shame on us.

So I check my email this morning (okay, it was 1 in the afternoon) and I see this email, a reply to the last post:

George Nemeth said... Sorry you think Cleveland is so hellish. It's really a great town. If you come back ever, let me know. Come Back Sometime, Jayson

Of course, I was required by law to visit the entry he's referred to... on which I read:

Chris Miller thinks there’s gonna be a fight, but after a good night’s sleep I’m not as surly. Jayson Whepley refers to Cleveland as hell and Ohio as hellish. (Is that an allusion to Dante’s Inferno?) I’m sure a married campus minister who’s into rock climbing and disc golf from Western PA who came to town to see a standup comedian in Lakewood, and had nachos @ Alice Cooperstown might get that impression.
So here’s my proposal. If Jayson comes back to Cleveland anytime soon, I propose we take him some places that aren’t so hellish. Disc Golfing at the Park in Euclid? The handful of rock wall gyms around town? He’s a coffee lover - there’s any number of independent coffee shops in town.
Brewed Fresh Daily » Come back sometime, Jayson

I also checked out the link about someone fighting me and read:

Cleveland is Hell? HELL? Ohio is Hellish? Good grief, man. Them’s fightin’ words.
Unquiet Desperation » eWhelp: Cleveland is hell

Maybe I'm a little harsh on Ohio and Clevo... I was obliged to respond - here's the text of my response to George...

Okay, I don’t often admit it, but I dislike Cleveland less than I let on - though I have had some pretty bad things happen to me many times that I’ve been in the city (if you count Euclid). Carjacking, being 20 feet from someone puncturing a can of pepper spray, One Life Crew… those are the ones that top the list.

I am willing to admit that last night was a very enjoyable time - I mean, you really can’t beat Brian Regan live followed by a good beer. That combined with my wife’s last birthday (maybe two years ago) at the Clevo Art Museum may have evened out the scales.

I’m always willing to meet new people and be proven wrong even if dissing Clevo and Ohio in general has just been a part of my personal repitoir (I am certain that is spelled wrong) for a while now - though I have always said that individual people from Ohio or Clevo are exceptions. To clarify, there are some things that probably won’t be overcome - like the fact that
I’m a Steelers fan.

I’d love to take you up on your offer… next time I’m in the area.

Peace,
Jayson

Let's see how well this goes, I have no qualms of moving West Virginia into #1. And, yes, "them's fightin words!"

perception

If your eyes follow the movement of the rotating pink dot, you will only see one color, pink. However, if you stare at the black “+” in the center, the moving dot turns to green. Now, concentrate on the black “+” in the center of the picture. After a short period, all the pink dots will slowly disappear, and you will only see a green dot rotating. It’s amazing how our brain works. There really is no green dot, and the pink ones really don’t disappear. This should be proof enough, we don’t always see what we think we see.

It works, and it's really odd. Head over to Dave's blog by following the link up top and try it... odd.

The Veritas Forum

I came across this in an email from Crusade's Director of communications.

The Veritas Forum program encourages university students to set up an ongoing forum on campus where topics that surround spirituality are discussed. Here is a list of some of the general subject matter that is discussed on the website.

Arts, Atheism, Authority of Scripture, Beauty, Big Bang, Business, C.S. Lewis, Career/Vocation, Catholicism, Christianity, Communication, Creation, Death, Depression, Dostoevsky, Drama/Theatre, Economics, Education, Engineering & Technology, Environmental Studies & Natural Resources, Ethics, Evangelicalism, Evil, Evolution, Existence of God, Faith, Feminism, Gender/Body, Government & Public Policy, Health Sciences, History, Hope, Humanities, Humanity, Hypocrisy, Identity, Islam, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jesus, Law, Lord of the Rings, Love/Relationships, Materialism, Media, Movies/Film, Music, Natural Sciences & Math, Naturalism, Origins, Pain/Suffering, Pluralism, Politics, Pop Culture, Pornography, Post Modernism, Poverty, Power, Relativism, Religion/Multi-Faith, Resurrection, Salvation, Science, Sin, Social Justice, Social Sciences, Theism, Theology & Religious Studies, Tolstoy, Truth, University/Scholarship, Violence, War, Worldview

As you can see, not all of the subjects are something you'd find in a church or "Bible study" setting. There are scores of MP3s to download and great resources for beginning one of your own.

Here are some MP3s:
Donald Miller - Rethinking Relationships
Dick Keyes - Where is Freedom in a Pluralistic Society
Susan Drake - Faith and Environmental Public Policy
Serrin Foster - The Feminist Case Against Abortion
Antonye Holyde - Truth in Art
Os Guinness - Can We Create a Community Safe for Diversity
Jim Wallis - Why The Right Gets It Wrong and The Left Doesn't Get It
Ben Patterson - Does Anyone Really Know What Time Is?

Check it out.