25 Facts About Me

This little exercise is making its way across my corner of Facebook. It took a while to type, so I thought I would post it here too.

1. I spent 6 weeks backpacking around Israel when I was 16 (still amazed that my parents let me do that). While there I was baptized in the Jordan River and attended a sunrise service at the Garden Tomb Easter morning.

2. While in Israel, a Bedouin chief took me and a friend on a camel safari into the Negev desert. On the second day (we spent the night camped under the open sky around a fire), some army officials came in a jeep to get the chief because they needed his tracking skills (How they found us in the middle of the desert I have no idea). In broken English, the chief assured us that the camels knew the way home. I was pretty sure we were going to bake and die. However, about 6 hours later, we arrived back at the kibbutz.

3. I lived at Last Days Ministries (Keith Green's place) for 6 months when I was 18.

4. While at Last Days, the building I was in was hit by a tornado. I didn't realize it was a tornado at the time, I just knew the ceiling, walls, and floor were caving in and rattling like crazy. I was an invincible 18 year old who didn't know enough to be scared.

5. Due to years of bible quizzing as a teen, I can quote most of the New Testament. I have always found it interesting that over the years the epistles stayed with me whereas story books like Acts pretty much went bye-bye. Weird how the brain works.

6. I grew up listening to Rush Limbaugh and I was a dittohead. I saw him on his Rush to Excellence tour in Detroit. Now I can hardly listen to his rabid ideological shtick.

7. I shook hands with President Regan in 1984.

8. I am lucky to be here, I can think of at least 6 times in my life when I probably should have died.

9. I recently appeared in the play Peter Pan with my daughter. I have decided I really like community theater.

10. I moved out to Utah 5 years ago after living in Michigan for 35 years. I love living out West!!

11. If a movie has great dialogue, I do not think there is a limit to how many times I can happily enjoy watching it.

12. I believe good books need to be read multiple times.

13. I have probably read "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis at least a dozen times.

14. I believe most strong religious and political views are rooted in a need to be right. I believe there is amazing freedom in recognizing and uprooting this need.

15. I blog regularly, though in college I would drop and change classes if I could find a class that graded by tests rather than papers. I hated writing.

16. One of my favorite things to do is to sit in a coffee house with friends and discuss theology and philosophy.

17. I have over 6000 comic books bagged, boarded, and boxed in my basement.

18. My two children have been my greatest teachers.

19. Aside from the whole impending death thing, I am enjoying growing older.

20. I had an apartment and lived in Nashville for one day when I was in my early twenties. I wonder where my life would be now if I had stayed.

21. I hate watching televised sports. If am sure for me, hell would be a place where there was nothing on the TV and radio aside from sports coverage.

22. My favorite CD of all time is "Strength" by the Violet Burning. The best circumstance under which to listen to it is with my friends Brook, Lori, and Marianne, in an apartment lit with candles and incense. My twenties were great.

23. I think it is a shame that smoking is bad for you. There are few things I enjoy more than a clove. Moving to Utah has added years to my life since they don't sell cloves here.

24. I am a Universalist Christian. In short, that means I believe that everyone is/will be reconciled to God. I think 1 Cor. 13 is not a passage about romantic love... it is a passage about God. God is patient, God is Kind, God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails.

25. Since becoming a Universalist, I find I enjoy people a lot more. I suspect this is because head counting who is and is not getting into heaven has the consequence of distancing oneself from people.

26. I think time with friends and family is the most important thing in the world. It is a shame that so many sacrifice this time because "Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes - working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need." (Quote courtesy of Fight Club, one of the greatest movies of all time).

27. My longest stint of consciousness occurred during a party at my friend Brook's house. I believe that party lasted for days! He has been my best friend ever since!

28. I have difficulty with list numeration.