It's too cramped and crazy...
It's been ages since I've gone grocery shopping with my mom. When I was little, I LOVED going to the grocery store... I'm not really sure why, but it must have seemed like a really exciting place. Maybe it was all the cool colors, nice people, and strange smells. I went the most around the time I learned to read, so maybe it was because I loved reading all the signs and cartons... I remember occasionally begging my mom for a box of oreos or a bag of gummyworms. Puppy dog face cranked to eleven.
The grocery store has since lost its romance--at least some of it anyway.
Somehow, the grocery store has managed to marry some of my biggest pet peeves:
1. The inability to find what I'm looking for. (see also: ...in the quantity I'm looking for. "I don't need three gallons of cottage cheese!")
2. Relying on the speed and efficiency of a multitude of sluggish, all around lethargic, or OCD-ADHD people to dictate my own speed and efficiency... It's like when I'm driving: If I'm in a hurry, I always get behind the two grandmas who both decide to go exactly 38 mph in both lanes of the highway. [I just need to get to the bologna! Can I somehow get to it while you two sort out which of the seven-million different combinations of cheese you're going to take home to your family?]
On the OCD-ADHD side of that, I was in the chips-n-pop aisle picking out some snacks when a lady in her early thirties set about getting her family's favorites with all the gusto and speed of Michael Phelps and a formula-1 racecar rolled into one. My encounter was practically a scene from loony tunes.
I'd look left
then look right
My arm would slowly reach for the coveted bag of chips, and
WOOSH "--scuse me!"
I recoiled away from the rack as the enthused housewife rushed past me.
Tentatively, I begin to reach again.
VOOM "-orry!"
Now mildly annoyed, I lunge forward for the bag! surely she wouldn't have that much time to turn around.
KA-CHOW! "I'm so sorry!"
I think she broke the sound barrier that time... Thankfully, she finally rounded the corner into the next aisle and I was left to retrieve my chips in peace.
On a slightly different note, the entire visit made me wonder what it would be like to be a third-world family visiting a Giant Eagle or Shop n' Save for the first time. They'd probably fill up their cart before they left produce. Imagine, if you will, having to grow ALL of your own food. Now, after years if relying on your own toil, you are taken to a place where you can grab a seemingly infinite amount of the best ingredients. Some of these ingredients would even be disproportionately large compared with what you're used to.
It would probably be more than a little awkward.
How good do we have it?
-Wes
"(instrumental)"
Coldplay... Postcards From Far Away
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Insomnia in the 1st Century BC
"Oh Mary,
Why did you leave to be with Elizabeth? What has happened? Did the Romans take you for their own, and so now you are ashamed? Mary, we are betrothed to be married... In the eyes of God, we are husband and wife... But what am I to do? The child you bear is not mine. I loved you. I built a house for our family while you were away. I have striven to cast myself as an upright man before the Lord and before His people. How am I supposed to believe you?
HOW?!!?!!!
An Angel. you say an angel came and told you of this child... That the Holy Spirit would manifest the messiah... the very son... of God... in your womb. The God who spoke to Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, and even Adam... The God whose justice and wrath wiped away Sodom and Gomorrah. The God whose love and mercy delivered his chosen people into the promised land even after they fell away. The God whose holy presence inspires fear in the highest and purist of priests. I am a Carpenter! I don't know the Torah, I don't know the books of the prophets.... You are the daughter of a farmer... A farmer who can barely pay his taxes due to Caesar!
At any moment, even tonight as I lay awake... they could stone you and this "messiah" to death in the streets. You would be called a blasphemer and an adulteress.
I asked your father for your hand because I believed in your propriety and virtue. Look where that got me! If I claim the child, everything I've built my life on will be shattered. Our neighbors will hate us. We will be shunned at temple. My eldest son will not be of my flesh and blood... I face an heir worse than Ishmael!!! But Mary... if I divorce you... Your family will be destroyed. You could be killed. The baby who grows inside you may never see the light of day.
If he is the promised Messiah... I would be condemning all of Israel. If he is the Messiah... could I really kill him?
I am not fit to be the father of a King. A conqueror; a savior... God himself...
You say you have broken no vow... You say that no man has touched you... You say......You say......You Sa----....."
And so, Joseph fell asleep. In his dreams, an angel came to him and gave him release from his fears and anxieties. But in reality, Joseph was human. He must have had his doubts, even after the angel visited.
Mary and Joseph did the hardest thing...
-Wes
Veni, Veni Emmanuel.
Why did you leave to be with Elizabeth? What has happened? Did the Romans take you for their own, and so now you are ashamed? Mary, we are betrothed to be married... In the eyes of God, we are husband and wife... But what am I to do? The child you bear is not mine. I loved you. I built a house for our family while you were away. I have striven to cast myself as an upright man before the Lord and before His people. How am I supposed to believe you?
HOW?!!?!!!
An Angel. you say an angel came and told you of this child... That the Holy Spirit would manifest the messiah... the very son... of God... in your womb. The God who spoke to Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, and even Adam... The God whose justice and wrath wiped away Sodom and Gomorrah. The God whose love and mercy delivered his chosen people into the promised land even after they fell away. The God whose holy presence inspires fear in the highest and purist of priests. I am a Carpenter! I don't know the Torah, I don't know the books of the prophets.... You are the daughter of a farmer... A farmer who can barely pay his taxes due to Caesar!
At any moment, even tonight as I lay awake... they could stone you and this "messiah" to death in the streets. You would be called a blasphemer and an adulteress.
I asked your father for your hand because I believed in your propriety and virtue. Look where that got me! If I claim the child, everything I've built my life on will be shattered. Our neighbors will hate us. We will be shunned at temple. My eldest son will not be of my flesh and blood... I face an heir worse than Ishmael!!! But Mary... if I divorce you... Your family will be destroyed. You could be killed. The baby who grows inside you may never see the light of day.
If he is the promised Messiah... I would be condemning all of Israel. If he is the Messiah... could I really kill him?
I am not fit to be the father of a King. A conqueror; a savior... God himself...
You say you have broken no vow... You say that no man has touched you... You say......You say......You Sa----....."
And so, Joseph fell asleep. In his dreams, an angel came to him and gave him release from his fears and anxieties. But in reality, Joseph was human. He must have had his doubts, even after the angel visited.
Mary and Joseph did the hardest thing...
-Wes
Veni, Veni Emmanuel.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Blogging from the pod. And the bed.
So, I'm laying in bed, wondering why my stomach hurts... Then realize that I didn't eat dinner. Wait, I didn't have lunch either. All I did was eat some pepperoni roll at about 10 this morning. Crap. So that's why I have a bellyache. I'll be at work at 8 tomorrow. Wake up at 0630. Snap. Goodnight.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
No One Probably Reads This Anymore, But...
The sunset over my house tonight was quite literally red, white, and blue... I wanted to take a picture, but I guess I'll just have to save the memory.
If Obama wins... man...
I'm scared.
Love,
Wes
"Hold on everybody,
Hold on to your Life,
Hold on to your families,
Ain't it good to be alive..."
-Safe at home, by Joe Grushecky
(P.S. Almost 'happy adulthood' to me)
If Obama wins... man...
I'm scared.
Love,
Wes
"Hold on everybody,
Hold on to your Life,
Hold on to your families,
Ain't it good to be alive..."
-Safe at home, by Joe Grushecky
(P.S. Almost 'happy adulthood' to me)
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, July 07, 2008
The State Of Love
(A little back-story: It’s summer… I don’t have to write well for anything. So, this was a little project that I picked up to prove to myself that I could still write the way I learned in AP English. The first section is from June 28th, I picked it up again today and finished it. Let me know if you enjoyed the writing style.)
Every so often, we hear some terribly important address that sums up the state of the free world. Things like gas prices, the exchange rate of the dollar, the looming “recession” manage to make the highlights. On a smaller scale, if you go to church on Sunday morning—Saturday night in my case—or if you listen to Rush, Michael Savage, or some similarly conceited conservative pundit, you have doubtlessly heard about the ‘less significant’ ailments of today’s culture. These bigmouthed, microphone equipped men rave about the evils of political corruption, corruption in the mainstream media, corruption in schools, and if you’re lucky they might even talk about the crabgrass that’s corrupting your backyard.
There’s something similar about all the messages that are being tossed around the nation. There‘s one uniting talking point that the conservative media cannot divorce. This terrible, terrible misconception pervades our headlines and perforates our ears its honey-coated ego-satisfying spin: It is the concept that it that the biggest problems in the world are large scale. Rush Limbaugh can spend a whole hour yelling about abortion, homosexual governors, and liberals, but he—like many other commentators—misses the point. I beg, ardently, to differ.
Let me plead with you. Let me try to convince you that there is something bigger than gas prices, global warming, or illegal immigrants. Let me tell you about the war that’s ravishing every single person all around the world. From the old man in Tibet who will die tomorrow to the unwanted American baby who was conceived yesterday: No one is unaffected. I’m talking about the conflict that has owned mankind since Eve bit the apple. I’m talking about the cause of all problems in the world today. This is my ‘State Of Love Address.’
Today has been filled with examples of what love isn’t:
Love isn’t the worn, teal minivan parked next to the “gentlemen’s club.”
“Love is patient” Love waits on the Lord to blossom, it’s too delicate and wondrous to be found in a brothel.
Love isn’t “making out” in the back of a van in 9th grade.
“Love does not insist on it’s own way” like passion does.
Love isn’t sexual desire for someone of the same gender.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the Truth.”
“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. For now we see in a mirror dimly… Now we know in part; in eternity we shall know fully… So now abide in faith, hope and love; but remember that the greatest of these three is love.”
Every day seems to burst with examples of how sin has taken beautiful, pure, almost supernatural human passion and twisted, and contorted, and mutated it into lustful self-destruction.
For the past several weeks, the #1 selling song on iTunes has been “I kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry. Yeah—you read that right—KATY Perry. I was disgusted by the sin that the song implies. This week, I got curious about why the song remained #1 even after a phenomenal album from Coldplay should have eclipsed it. Tonight, I finally sat down and listened to the song via YouTube.
I was stunned.
Musically, I think it’s a pop masterpiece. The beat is addicting, and Perry’s surreptitious voice drives the song very well. It left me stunned to the point of desperation—How could someone with such talent and such an amazing voice devote her abilities to perversion and lies? Here are some samples from the lyric sheet: The tagline is obviously “I kissed a girl, and I liked it.” But other samples include, “It felt so wrong; it felt so right” “…my experimental game, it’s human nature.”
Yeah… Human nature… She got that bit right, but later she says something that typifies the song as just another part of humanity’s struggle to find what we all call ‘love.’ Katy says, “[it’s] Too good to deny it. ‘Ain’t no big deal; it’s innocent.”
I suppose this is the one line that justifies the whole song in Ms. Perry’s eyes. “It’s innocent…”
How can you be more misguided?
Why can’t she see the light of Jesus shining down? Why can’t she turn her voice to give glory to the one who truly loves her?
Love is not kissing a girl and liking it.
Love is not what the hearts of this world are seeking after.
True. Love. Is. Eternal.
Love is from God. No matter how hard this world tries, we will never come close to the true, joyous, inebriating, rapturous, beautiful, illuminating, delivering, bountiful, boundless, elating, constant love that God feels for us. (phew… I think John Piper may be rubbing off on me…)
Now, how can what’s wrong with the world be made right?
Only we Christians can change the State of Love. We hold the key to ultimate joy and satisfaction… Yet all too often we either clutch that key tight to our chest, believing in its power but afraid to share it with anyone else. Sometimes we smoothly tuck it into our back pocket or purse so we can just go about life as if we never had it.
Here comes the part where I plead with you and with my own heart: Share the Gospel. Hold that key out to anyone who would reach out, anyone who would repent, anyone who the Holy Spirit leads to you.
Know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8 gives some great perspective on all this. :-)
-Wes
“It started out with a feeling, which then grew into a hope, which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word. And then that word grew louder and louder ‘till it was a battlecry.”-The Call by Regina Spektor
Every so often, we hear some terribly important address that sums up the state of the free world. Things like gas prices, the exchange rate of the dollar, the looming “recession” manage to make the highlights. On a smaller scale, if you go to church on Sunday morning—Saturday night in my case—or if you listen to Rush, Michael Savage, or some similarly conceited conservative pundit, you have doubtlessly heard about the ‘less significant’ ailments of today’s culture. These bigmouthed, microphone equipped men rave about the evils of political corruption, corruption in the mainstream media, corruption in schools, and if you’re lucky they might even talk about the crabgrass that’s corrupting your backyard.
There’s something similar about all the messages that are being tossed around the nation. There‘s one uniting talking point that the conservative media cannot divorce. This terrible, terrible misconception pervades our headlines and perforates our ears its honey-coated ego-satisfying spin: It is the concept that it that the biggest problems in the world are large scale. Rush Limbaugh can spend a whole hour yelling about abortion, homosexual governors, and liberals, but he—like many other commentators—misses the point. I beg, ardently, to differ.
Let me plead with you. Let me try to convince you that there is something bigger than gas prices, global warming, or illegal immigrants. Let me tell you about the war that’s ravishing every single person all around the world. From the old man in Tibet who will die tomorrow to the unwanted American baby who was conceived yesterday: No one is unaffected. I’m talking about the conflict that has owned mankind since Eve bit the apple. I’m talking about the cause of all problems in the world today. This is my ‘State Of Love Address.’
Today has been filled with examples of what love isn’t:
Love isn’t the worn, teal minivan parked next to the “gentlemen’s club.”
“Love is patient” Love waits on the Lord to blossom, it’s too delicate and wondrous to be found in a brothel.
Love isn’t “making out” in the back of a van in 9th grade.
“Love does not insist on it’s own way” like passion does.
Love isn’t sexual desire for someone of the same gender.
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the Truth.”
“If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. For now we see in a mirror dimly… Now we know in part; in eternity we shall know fully… So now abide in faith, hope and love; but remember that the greatest of these three is love.”
Every day seems to burst with examples of how sin has taken beautiful, pure, almost supernatural human passion and twisted, and contorted, and mutated it into lustful self-destruction.
For the past several weeks, the #1 selling song on iTunes has been “I kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry. Yeah—you read that right—KATY Perry. I was disgusted by the sin that the song implies. This week, I got curious about why the song remained #1 even after a phenomenal album from Coldplay should have eclipsed it. Tonight, I finally sat down and listened to the song via YouTube.
I was stunned.
Musically, I think it’s a pop masterpiece. The beat is addicting, and Perry’s surreptitious voice drives the song very well. It left me stunned to the point of desperation—How could someone with such talent and such an amazing voice devote her abilities to perversion and lies? Here are some samples from the lyric sheet: The tagline is obviously “I kissed a girl, and I liked it.” But other samples include, “It felt so wrong; it felt so right” “…my experimental game, it’s human nature.”
Yeah… Human nature… She got that bit right, but later she says something that typifies the song as just another part of humanity’s struggle to find what we all call ‘love.’ Katy says, “[it’s] Too good to deny it. ‘Ain’t no big deal; it’s innocent.”
I suppose this is the one line that justifies the whole song in Ms. Perry’s eyes. “It’s innocent…”
How can you be more misguided?
Why can’t she see the light of Jesus shining down? Why can’t she turn her voice to give glory to the one who truly loves her?
Love is not kissing a girl and liking it.
Love is not what the hearts of this world are seeking after.
True. Love. Is. Eternal.
Love is from God. No matter how hard this world tries, we will never come close to the true, joyous, inebriating, rapturous, beautiful, illuminating, delivering, bountiful, boundless, elating, constant love that God feels for us. (phew… I think John Piper may be rubbing off on me…)
Now, how can what’s wrong with the world be made right?
Only we Christians can change the State of Love. We hold the key to ultimate joy and satisfaction… Yet all too often we either clutch that key tight to our chest, believing in its power but afraid to share it with anyone else. Sometimes we smoothly tuck it into our back pocket or purse so we can just go about life as if we never had it.
Here comes the part where I plead with you and with my own heart: Share the Gospel. Hold that key out to anyone who would reach out, anyone who would repent, anyone who the Holy Spirit leads to you.
Know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8 gives some great perspective on all this. :-)
-Wes
“It started out with a feeling, which then grew into a hope, which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word. And then that word grew louder and louder ‘till it was a battlecry.”-The Call by Regina Spektor
Thursday, May 29, 2008
So...
In the past 8 days, I have:
1. Hosted a mother and son from Texas
2. Driven said duo to all of the battlefields and monuments in the tri-county area... literally.
3. Driven 4 hours to Kettanning for an AP Party and 5 hours to the airport and home.
4. Learned to swing dance and had an absolute BLAST.
5. Taken upwards of 330 pictures
6. Worked on a roof for an ungodly amount of time and hence:
7. Darkened my skin tone by about three full shades
8. Made a Facebook page that won't get disabled
9. Prayed with a dear friend who received Christ (so awesome)
10. Biked in Mingo with some other friends and bit the asphalt a little
11. Found out the exact time when I'm going to test for my blackbelt (8:00 AM, June 21)
12. Had some of the best sourdough bread EVAR.
I will gladly elaborate on any of these events for you if you want. :-P
Love,
-Wes
"Let's waste time, chasing cars.
If I lay here... If I just lay here...
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
-Snow Patrol
1. Hosted a mother and son from Texas
2. Driven said duo to all of the battlefields and monuments in the tri-county area... literally.
3. Driven 4 hours to Kettanning for an AP Party and 5 hours to the airport and home.
4. Learned to swing dance and had an absolute BLAST.
5. Taken upwards of 330 pictures
6. Worked on a roof for an ungodly amount of time and hence:
7. Darkened my skin tone by about three full shades
8. Made a Facebook page that won't get disabled
9. Prayed with a dear friend who received Christ (so awesome)
10. Biked in Mingo with some other friends and bit the asphalt a little
11. Found out the exact time when I'm going to test for my blackbelt (8:00 AM, June 21)
12. Had some of the best sourdough bread EVAR.
I will gladly elaborate on any of these events for you if you want. :-P
Love,
-Wes
"Let's waste time, chasing cars.
If I lay here... If I just lay here...
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
-Snow Patrol
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