The Station

Motorcycle Madness

My friend, Dan, got a motorcycle on Wednesday. He brought it over this afternoon at let me take it for a couple spins around my neighborhood. It was awesome. I was kinda surprised at how well I remembered my skills. The only mistake I made was accidentally sounding the horn when I meant to hit the turn signal. Beep!
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Gesundheit!

Why do we say, "God bless you," after a sneeze? I'm not sure of the real reason, but I do know the reasoning offered by one of the nuns at my grade school.

She stated that, in biblical times, people were so weak and frail that a sneeze would often kill them. Thus, the blessing was offered in hopes that the person would not die.

I wonder if the nuns really believed all the crazy things they told us. Perhaps they just enjoyed the amusement of testing the limits of a seven-year-old's naiveness.
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Wait, This Isn't A Water Slide!

When I was about five years old, my parents took me to a children's museum. I think this happened on a trip to St. Louis. Anyway, I remember there was a large slide from the third level to the ground floor. I remember going down and then climbing the stairs to ride it again and again. Unfortunately for me, the last ride ended in a splash. Apparently, the kid that went down ahead of me had peed his pants and a small puddle had formed at the base of the chute.
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If You Can Imagine It, It Probably Exists

My life is now significantly more awesome. I was just sitting at my computer and a thought ran across my mind: "I wonder if there are any Christian motorcycle clubs." Apparently, there are, and a few have a large national following! They go on charity rides and share the gospel message with other bikers (which I'm sure is a unique experience considering the camaraderie among bikers).

My desire for a motorcycle was greatly elevated upon receiving my license last year, but this drives it through the roof. What is really curious is that, for the last few months, I've had the feeling that God wants me to get a motorcycle. Well, that just seemed ridiculous, so I ignored it. Now it makes lots of sense. Isn't Jesus a character?
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On The School Front

My senior design project is wrapping up. For something that was as simple as gluing bolts to concrete, my team came up with plenty to talk about. Yes, that's the one thing I really learned at U of I - how to make your job look intensely crucial and complex, no matter how trivial it really is. I wonder what it's like to have a real project. It's a good thing I already have a job, I'd be too embarrassed to mention the project in an interview. At least it made for an easy semester.

In other school news, Richard Herman was unanimously elected chancellor of the university. He's the fellow that wrote that awesome speech for the Illini celebration at the stadium a few weeks ago.

Finally, I have a killer test Thursday night. Please pray for me.
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Good Dreams Always End

Last night, I dreamed that my neighbor knocked on my door to point out that a tornado was nearby. Sure enough, I saw a massive funnel thoroughly destroying the University of Illinois. I relished in the dual ecstasies of witnessing my first tornado and the object of my deepest loathing being obliterated. Then, I woke up and realized that I still had to go to class.

I wish there was a way to force the fruition of this nocturnal notion. Maybe I should invent a tornado magnet and place it on campus.

Note: I do not wish for anyone to be injured by said tornado or subsequent university annihilation. Instead, I wish for all the students and faculty to be on vacation on a remote island drinking fruit smoothies and riding ponies.
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Cookie Monster Is Important To Me

The Shawshank Redemption is the greatest movie, ever. I've known this for a while now, but just felt the need to say it again.

Riding my bike tonight, I caught the aroma of Dunkin' Doughnuts a few blocks away. Too bad I don't have a car, else I could go to the 24 hour drive-up window. No tasty treat for Brian.

Thursday night was the Navigators' Love At First Sight evening. That's the one night each year that we go out on campus and evangelize random strangers. Personally, I believe there are more effective ways to tell people about God's wonderful gift of His Son, but I agreed to do this because the idea scared me silly. Allow me an explanation.

First, I realized that the reason I don't want to do this (along with the reasons I don't want to pray, read my bible, or wake up early for church) is because the devil doesn't want me to do these things and thus grow in my relationship with God. So, I've started to make a point of doing spiritually challenging things just to strengthen myself and to spite the devil. Devil spite - that's some good spite. Second, I realize that doing this will bring confidence in other things such as giving a presentation at work, etc. Third, doing scary things is fun because it makes life a whole lot less boring. May I never be comfortable in my walk with God!

Sadly, the least important reason was to tell people about Jesus. Yes, I understand the focus of evangelism is supposed to be the person you're talking to, but I confess this was not the case for me. In any case, Philipians 1:18 applies. I'll just return to telling people about Jesus in my own way, but I'm glad I did this, too. I should add that some good did come of it. Matt and I had an awesome hour-long conversation with a couple guys outside a coffee shop. They didn't accept Jesus or anything, but we got them thinking about some things. Come to think of it, it wasn't scary at all. Maybe I should try something else. Hmm, I think it's time for a ride on a roller coaster. Yeah, a lap on the The Boss should do it, that contraption always makes me pee my pants.
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Addendum

By the way, I think those Colorado photos are absolutely terrible. The color and saturation are completely unacceptable. I just can't stand the low quality of film processing companies these days. Perhaps they just assume that anyone still using film doesn't care about image quality. Actually, it may not be their fault, it may be due to a poor batch of film.

Whatever the case, I'm done with film. Not because digital is inherently better, but it gives me control of what happens both before and after the shutter snaps. Yes, it will all be under my control. I love control. Control!

ARGHHH!!! I'm so freaking angry about those pictures, especially since other people were so anxious to see them. Anyone want to cheer me up by buying me one of these?
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Something New

Check out the photos from my spring break trip to Colorado with the Navigators!
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You Didn't Let Us Down, You Lifted Us Up!

On Tuesday, I went to the rally for the basketball team at the stadium. I was very impressd with the speech from Chancellor Richard Herman. I found a video of the speech and transcribed it. Read it - it's excellent.

Richard Herman
Interim Chancellor of the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois
Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL
4/5/05

What a ride! What a joy! What a privilege! What a blessing it has been for me to be a fan of these young men, of this coach, of this team, and of all of you, who, like me, whistled, screamed, moaned, cheered, prayed, cried, and then finally stood quietly last night for a frozen moment. Not sad that we had come up a few points short of our ultimate ambition, but sad for knowing that these young men, this coach, this team, might wrongly believe they had let us down. Not true! Not true! Never true! Never, ever true!

These men have given us a season in the sun. Right now we are still so close to that light we might believe this amazing year was about a game called basketball, about percentages from beyond the arc, points in the paint, smothering defense, the three guard offense, the bigs. Right now we are still so close to the light we might mistakenly believe this year was about winning and losing. These guys, these comrades, know it wasn't.

A long, long time ago, in a simpler time, they used to say, "it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." And that's exactly right - it was how they played the game! Fifteen passes in thirty-five seconds at Northwestern - that's how they played the game. Dee calling Deron the best point guard in the nation - that's how they played the game. Deron not caring that his own scoring would drop so he could shut down Salim Stoudamire - that's how they played the game. Luther, with almost no fanfare, leading his teammates in scoring - that's how they played the game. James and Jack, Rich and Nick, Warren and Shaun, never getting the national respect they deserve and not giving a damn about it - that's how they played the game. And Roger, his finger pointed ever skyward to the Almighty - that's how these young men played the game, and that's why it was not only a game.

What you and I and people around the country and even Dick finally came to realize in the last days was that these boys were playing not just to win but for the pure joy of doing their best every day for each other and for a cause bigger than any one of them. When I saw Dee dive out of bounds at Purdue, save the ball to James, who dove to get the ball to Deron, who passed to Luther for a slam dunk, I knew I was seeing not a game but the fruit of people pursuing perfection for the joy of perfection.

So when our season in the sun is more distant, when Deron, Dee, Luther, and all the other guys are grey-haired and returning to cheer and cry for a new Illinois team, I hope we'll all remember this from our amazing ride: doing the best you can do, achieving for the joy of it, not for awards or money or fame, doing your best for one another, for your family and friends, for your community and country, for a worthy cause - this is the secret of life. That's what this team knew, and that's what they taught us. It's how they played the game that wasn't a game. So thank you, men, from every one of us to every one of you. You didn't let us down, you lifted us up! You taught us how to play the game!

Ha! Look At This!

This arrived in the mail today:

If I had made a list of goals to accomplish while at college, being invited to a sorority crush party would have been one of them. I can't attend, but this does add to the feeling of having had a genuine college experience.
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A Trip To The Greenhouse

On Easter, I suggested that the family visit the greenhouse in nearby New Lenox to see the spring flower show. The flowers were beautiful, and they made a great backdrop for a family photo. Anyway, upon pulling into the parking lot, my sister reminded me of something humorous.

When I was about seven and Jen about five, our parents drove us to the greenhouse. There, they dressed us up as Joseph and Mary and posed us in the garden with one of Jen's dolls which was made to look like baby Jesus. They snapped a photo or two, which I think was reproduced and mailed with Christmas cards the following December. Good grief, it was ridiculous. I can't wait to do the same to my kids.
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Rest In Peace, John Paul

A New Holiday

Happy National Atheists Day!!!

The fool says in his heart, "there is no God." Psalm 14:1
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