the story i find myself in

yep - texans vs BUCS!!! 7pm CST. see you there...

Posted by ashdown at 8/31/2006 04:24:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

from everything belongs - rohr "the following of Jesus is not a 'salvation scheme' or a means of creating social order, as much as it is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world.' mmmmm. yummy.

Posted by ashdown at 8/30/2006 10:10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so today we had a cellist play with us (diedre von emerson) at the 11o5 service. so great!! i am glad we have a cellist in our mix now. and we finally added an electric guitar player on a regular basis as well. needless to say - the band is growing!! now more pressure on me for arranging and such - i am excited to hear the recording of this morning to get some ideas. also, i was asked back to lead at the venue on sept 22nd. should be cool - i am going to see if i can get the cellist and my violinist to come out for the event. should be great... if you are in houston - mark your calendar.

Posted by ashdown at 8/27/2006 04:20:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so today i am reading more of rohr's Everything Belongs and he began talking about something that mr john at robinson talks about in Honest to God as well. as westerners we have developed this poor understanding that God is 'out there'. when in fact he is not. God is all and is in all. rohr goes on to say that because we think God is 'out there' - that is why we have "raped the earth, why we have such poor understanding of our bodies, our economy, and our health. That's why we live such distraught and divided lives. What is worse is that Jesus came precisely to put it all together." (p.118) wow. great thoughts. that jesus came to put it all together. i love that phrase...it reminds me of ephesians 1:9-10 where paul writes that jesus is bringing all things together. great great stuff. if only we communicated this more and could grasp that God is all and is in all. we might be living in a very different place...any thoughts?

Posted by ashdown at 8/26/2006 01:44:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so as expected - the movie was good - but no where near the book. do yourself a favor and read the book. spectacular stuff.

Posted by ashdown at 8/22/2006 09:35:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so i am a dork, i know. since i loved extremely loud and incredibly close so much - i picked up Everything Is Illuminated on sat and just finished it today. seriously foer is a spectacular writer - if you are looking for a good read these books are so great. and we rented the movie that was made from everything is illuminated and will watch it tonight. i will let ya know how it stacks up to the book.

Posted by ashdown at 8/21/2006 04:32:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so we were awakened by some huge thuder and mad rain this morning. i love rain in the morning. esp when it has been like 145 degrees out...then we headed to amanda's school for a pancake bfast!! yum!!! now she is working on stuff for next week and i am chillin at taft - enjoying a smooth hazelnut lattle and chillin. life is beautiful.

Posted by ashdown at 8/19/2006 11:22:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so i just now finished it. what an amazing read. i think this is the only book i have read in two sittings. i dont think i have felt so alive reading something i a long time. my soul resonated with so much in this book. the emotions are so real you can touch them and the way the story is written is so beautiful. seriously read this book. seriously.

Posted by ashdown at 8/18/2006 01:22:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so thanks to our piano player, melanie lux, from the 11o5 service and the movie amadeus my new fav genre of music is classical. and melanie gave me this piece by samuel barber called - adagio for strings. oh my. you must hear this piece. it moves me everytime i hear it. so do yourself a favor and download it form itunes or go to your local library and listen to it. you will be better off.

Posted by ashdown at 8/18/2006 10:04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so i just started reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and it is wonderful. our good friend nikki reccomended it so i went and picked it up and i can't put it down. my first sitting with it i read over 100 pages. seriously - an amazing story that anyone can relate to. man i love a good story...pick it up if you are looking for something or even if you aren't...

Posted by ashdown at 8/17/2006 09:56:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so ya know that camp that was coming up this weekend...well it got cancelled. kinda crazy that i just found out today - but oh well. i was really looking forward to it. hopefully they will call back for another day. we shall see.

Posted by ashdown at 8/15/2006 03:20:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

we have watched two films this weekend that i highly recommed all of you see. they are: and wow. please watch these fims. so very good. i think the most impactful thing of these two films was the conclusion of the corporation - michael moore is talking and poses the question "why would the big corporations even let me make these films that so blatenly bash them?" and he believes their answer is that no one will do anything about it. they will see the film and not change a thing. they (corporations) are doing a good enough job to make you believe your part wont count and your contribution will not matter. and then mr. moore ends with a charge to all of us to go and do something. and he believes people will be changed and act changed after seeing this film. i know i will. and to take it a step further - dont we do the same thing with our belief systems? we see pain, poor and marginalized people - and our faith calls - no demands that we do something about it, yet we turn a deaf ear - blame it on something else. interesting. it's like bono said this weekend at the summit - "if you are a christian you have no option in reaching out and helping the poor and needy." lord give us the strength and courage to uphold all that is true and beautiful in this world and to stand up to the call of christ.

Posted by ashdown at 8/12/2006 08:36:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

was my first day of work here at fpc. crazy...time has flown by. i am backstage working as a stage manager today for the willow leadership summit. today shouldnt be all that bad - we have bono, jim collins and patrick lencioni - should be some good stuff. if only it werent 7.15am right now...

Posted by ashdown at 8/11/2006 07:14:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

yep - 11 months today!! i am married to the most wonderful person in the world...

Posted by ashdown at 8/10/2006 05:43:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

yes it is almost done. after our little fiasco with the hard drive on friday, i am back at andrew's place finishing up the live mix. we are currently bouncing everything to disc right now - so in a few hours i should have it up. let me know if you'd be interested in a copy - i will hook you up.

Posted by ashdown at 8/09/2006 02:39:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

yep it's that time again.... Apple - Mac OS X - Leopard Sneak Peek cant wait to see what else comes out of this!!!

Posted by ashdown at 8/07/2006 05:20:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

yep - got my new hard drive in today and now i am begining the process of seeing what i forgot to backup. ha! already seems to be running smoother. sweet.

Posted by ashdown at 8/05/2006 08:07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

and i am finally going to bed. still have about 700mb of pics to back up in the morning. or afternoon - we shall see. my genuis bar appt is at 1pm - so i guess i will have to be up by then. good night / good morning...i think i can see the sun coming up. awesome...

Posted by ashdown at 8/05/2006 05:04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

my hard drive is dead. yep. got the guys at the genius bar to finally diagnose the problem. my first clue was this error message: The volume ash needs to be repaired. volume needs repair. never good. so tonight i am desperatly trying to back-up the hard drive of everything important. say a prayer for me. oh yea - and tomorrow when i take my cpu back to the mall - it is tax free weekend. awesome. hope i find a parking spot...

Posted by ashdown at 8/04/2006 08:43:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

yep - it will be my first time leading at a camp in the houston area. should be great! when i lead at The Venue on monday a guy came up to me and asked if i'd be interested in leading at their camp - of course i said yes - and now it is official: for more info go here. i wonder if they called dan and got my band name...

Posted by ashdown at 8/03/2006 06:58:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

so i am reading everything belongs this morning and mr rohr gives us this sweet little tid bit about jesus' parables - read along (from p.43): "ultimatley, all Jesus' parables are of the kingdom. the kingdom he describes is an alternative to sleepwalking. he points to a way of seeing beyond cultural hypnosis. we have to really hear a parable so our false and ordinary view of reality is undermined, or at least relativized and called into question. the parables of the kingdom are almost always subversive with regard to conventional thinking and so-called common sense." man i love this imagery. the kingdom being an alternative to sleepwalking. my buddy mike has been all up in this 'awakening' imagery for a while - so props to him - but reading this now for some reason just resonated deep within me. and seeing beyond cultural hypnosis and having our ordinary view of life undermined. wow - we need to be calling our people to this. really opening their eyes to the words of Jesus and what they truely mean... ok - back to the book - probably more to come...

Posted by ashdown at 8/02/2006 09:18:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

so last night was a little bit of a bummer. the sound system wasnt working all that well - my guitar kept cutting in and out - lame. and nobody was really paying attention - oh well. better luck next time. the worship time went well - it was a great venue and cool people.

Posted by ashdown at 8/01/2006 09:59:00 PM | Permalink | Comments