August 28th, 2008 | link
Ironically, I found this will listening to a lecture on the Enlightenment era.
August 28th, 2008 | link
Pier 70 on the Puget Sound is right behind school. I walk back there almost every day to smell the ocean.
August 27th, 2008 | link
In 7th grade my teacher, Mrs. Brown, gave us an assignment on the subject of teamwork. She handed out a story, however all of the S’s in the text were replaced with X’s, ie, “Xally xells xea xhells by the xea xhore.” We were asked to write what we learned from it on an index card. As others volunteered their answers with deep meaning, I slowly slumped down in my chair.
“Huong, can you share what you learned from the story?”
I hesitated.
“Huong?”
“The S on your keyboard doesn’t work.”
That was my answer. The class roared with laughter.
———————————–
Huong Nguyen is a photographer in New York City.
100 Words are shorts that I’ve asked my friends to write on various subjects. They are intended to be small windows into how they view the world and experience reality. The only instructions they are given are a.) a one-word subject on which to write and b.) that the short must be exactly 100 words. How they interpret the subject and the form in which the 100 words are produced is up to them.
Lessons Learned in a Year
August 26th, 2008 | link
I’ve been at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle for one year as of this week.
Every day I take the bus to school from my house in Capital Hill. The #8 bus is the most direct bus, but I started taking the #11 because it goes right through downtown and drops me off in the Public Market. I love walking through the Market, smelling the ocean and the fish and being able to buy fresh fruit all year round. The Public Market is also interesting because, while it’s a huge tourist attraction, it’s also where locals shop daily.
Two things I feel like I’ve learned on this walks to school last year:
Walking through the Market has taught me to rub shoulders with the rest of humanity.
&
Seattle’s weather forces me to deal with my emotions.
These walks in the last week have given me time to think about my first year at MHGS. This last year has been one of the most terrible years of my life. This last year has been one of the most beautiful years of my life. It has forced me to rub shoulders with humanity and it has forced me to deal with my emotions.
In the last year I left my home, family, and friends in the Midwest and moved to Seattle, had my laptop, iPod, camera, lenses, wallet, and mobile phone stolen, been held up at gunpoint and hit in the head with a gun (then had to pick out the guy from a lineup at the police station), started dating a girl whom I love and who loves me (Hi Kenz!!1!), started going to Wits End (our church) and found authentic community and conversation, wrote papers, read books, walked in the rain, drank more coffee than is healthy, and have become completely ok with run-on sentences, as of right now.
I have learned that you can’t get to Sunday without going through Friday.
I have learned that each individual’s story plays into his or her experience of God and of reality.
I have learned how important it is to be environmentally aware and active.
I have learned that it matters how I treat the earth and treat my body.
I have learned to see more Both/&’s and fewer Either/Or’s.
I have learned that good wine is really, really important.
I have learned that I can go into other people’s stories only as far as I’m willing to go into my own.
I have learned that my doubt validates my faith.
I have learned that when I live into my questions I typically find myself living into the answers.
I have learned that silence can be deafening.
I have learned that it is possible for the Bible to get in the way of Jesus.
I have learned that it is possible to put myself in the way of Jesus.
And I have learned that there is no bad weather, only bad clothing.
August 25th, 2008 | link
Why did you choose to accept the invitation?
Somebody calls you and asks you to pray, you do.
Donald Miller, who is giving the closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention, after Cameron Strang (CEO of RELEVANT MEDIA GROUP) accepted then turned down the invitation
quote from Christianity Today
August 25th, 2008 | link
Renewal breakthrough leads to institutionalization leads to renewal breakthrough leads to…
Dr. Craig Barnes, from our discussion on movements in the church
