Blog-time again

I had another lovely weekend. I got to hang out with folks from work on Friday evening, and then Saturday was Greg's slightly late birthday party, and in the evening I had fun at Claremont, and then Sunday was nice and relaxing and I went with Josiah and Bart to see the new Bond film.

Where to start?

I hear the very beginning is a good place to start. About ten of us went to El Toritos after work on Friday - it'd been a long time since I just sat around a table with people having margaritas. One of them brought a friend, and since we were seated at the end of the rectangular table, I got to meet this new person. It brought into sharper relief the degree of introversion amongst my friends - she was definitely an extrovert and we traded questions back and forth - it's not often I really get grilled about who I am (besides maybe just stuff about work).

Anyhow, one of her questions was, "so, do you meditate?" My rather clumsy answer was, "well, I'm Christian, so I pray, which I guess is similar." I'm curious as to how my readers would answer that, though.
I kept thinking about the similarities and differences there. I mean, I know prayer and meditation have many differences, the chief one being that one is directed to God, and the other is just inward. But I think it's kinda silly that to most Americans, "prayer" connotes this rather formulaic and powerless thing, while "meditation" is this deep spiritual experience that really lets you get in touch with yourself and in touch with reality. Obviously, to me and hopefully to you, too, prayer is where that truly happens - where I get reminded of the reality of God and see myself rightly. It doesn't involve going into some sort of trance, and may or may not have incense or repeated phrases, which is nice, because it means that even while I'm at work, say, I can talk to Jesus while I'm cleaning glassware, and it's a refreshing time. But I really want to fight this stereotype that monks from Japan or China or Tibet have these super-spiritual experiences and uber-holy lifestyles, while Christians just have wordy and shallow prayers where nothing really happens.
And of course, the footnote to this discussion is that yes, such a stereotype does exist, no, it is not true of real prayer, but also yes, it does represent a major failing of "American Christianity" that so many of our prayers are mainly meaningless, unspiritual, and done without appropriate deference to the fact that, in prayer, you are TALKING WITH GOD.

On an entirely different note, Greg is 25! He was born to be in his mid-twenties, or so he says. :-) It was a fun celebration on Saturday; it was a large crowd that went to see "Little Miss Sunshine" with him and hang out before and afterwards. I got to see Brian and Michy, Lexie, Thomas, David D, and many others.
On Sunday evening, Bart and Josiah and I went to see Casino Royale. I'm not sure what I was expecting... but it was good. I was worried that it might be stupid like the last few Bond movies, but it wasn't. I'll admit this new guy they have playing Bond is not a "pretty-boy" sort of debonair... but he's definitely believable as Bond. Plus: Aston Martins!

My family is coming down to SoCal for Thanksgiving! I am excited about that. It'll be good.
I have much to be thankful for, as always.


To close: Caedmon's Call rocks!

"Sometimes I fear maybe I'm not chosen
You've hardened my heart like Pharaoh
And that would explain why life is so hard for me.

And I am sad that Esau hated
Crying against what's fated
Saying father please, is there any left for me

(chorus)
Cast down my doubts, please prove me wrong
'Cause these demons can be so headstrong
Make my walls fall, please prove me wrong
'Cause this resentment's been building
Burn them up with your fire so strong
If you can before I baal, please prove me wrong.

I fear maybe this is all just a game
Our friends and our families all play too -
Harness the young and give some comfort to the old

Don't let my doubts prove true
Draw me close and hold me near to you
Keep me still until the day you...
Cast down my doubts, please prove me wrong"

Derek Webb has done some music on his own, now, but vintage Caedmon's Call will always be close to my heart. :-)