if you can read this, you're literate

this past sunday i tried out confession.

it's the new 18-32 year old's group starting up at riverside.

it's still in its infancy, but i hope they don't change this aspect of it...

prayer.

all we're doing right now is sitting in the sanctuary, darkened, with awesome worship music (i.e. hillsong united), and some scripture scrolling slowly on the overhead screens.

jr (the new head of this ministry) said at the beginning of it that he wanted just 45 minutes of prayer. he directed us just to sit there and pray and read and listen.

all this soaking in the spirit.

and he made a good point... b/c when do we ever take just 45 minutes to sit and pray?

i know i haven't done that for a LONG time. it's usually just a quick, "don't let me die... i'm riding my motorcycle to work today."

there were people walking around praying, there were actually people at an ALTAR praying, there were people looking up praying...

i haven't been in an environment like this in a really long time...

and i'm kind of surprise to say it, but i missed it.

Posted by erichapman at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments

i think i've encountered more extreme personalities this past month than i have in the past year.

have you ever met someone who is defensive to the point they're offensive?

these are the people who call meetings to improve things, but when it comes right down to it, they just want you to go along with them.

they're everywhere. work, church, school, the bathroom at the movie theater... (that's the guy who takes the middle stall instead of going to one end or the other.)*

they may even ask you things like, "what can i do better?" or, "what do you propose?"

which makes you feel just comfortable enough to speak up and think, "ok, this is good. we're working together."

WRONG

that's a loaded question. i've found that when someone asks you that, they've already got their retorts lined up in their defensive mind.

the only way i've come up with to deal with these people is just keeping quiet. if you argue, they just argue back until they're the one firing all the shots.

that's defensive to the point of being offensive.



*there's a man law that you can't pee next to another man. it can get a little complex, so i'll spare the details.

Posted by erichapman at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

there's something that rob bell said when i saw him in chicago that keeps coming back to me.

it was about the size of everything.

scientists have calculated the largest item in the universe to be about 10 to the 27th power (he didn't mention what unit i.e. cubic inches, cubic feet, etc.)

and these same scientists have calculated the smallest thing to be about 10 to the negative 26th power.

so we've got this...

10 to the -26th<-------->10 to the 27th

the REALLY significant figure in this is where humans fall into this range.

we're right at about 1

so that changes the diagram to look like this...

10 to the -26<----humans---->10 to the 27th.

we're right in the middle.

making us, humans, the center of the universe.

so that means all these people that were proved wrong by newton way back when might have been more right than we realize.

people used to say the earth was the center of the universe and the sun (and every other star) rotates around us. and if you said any different, you were a heretic and could be punished.

newton proved (but kept it relatively quiet) through mathematic equations that we are actually in a rotation around the sun.

that would mean we AREN'T what the universe is rotating around... even though we now might be the exact middle of it.

Posted by erichapman at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments

ok, i'm not going to first shift when i said.

i just found out today... it'll be an extra week.

august 7 is my first day on a normal shift.

so... i'll just have to hold off on being friends with anyone for another week.

after that, let my social life begin!

Posted by erichapman at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

i'm goin' to first shift!

i've spent almost a year and a half on second shift (2:30 - 11 PM), and i'm tired of it.

i took a sideways move to go to day shift and now i'll be getting OFF work at 2:30 instead of just starting it.

i had to take a bit of a cut in pay, but if you're reading this, it means you're worth it.

i actually get to have a life now, and join in when my friends do something.

get hold of me sometime if there's some hanging out to do!

i start my new hours july 31st. hope to see you soon!

Posted by erichapman at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments

call it a public service announcement:

i won't be at nexus anymore.

most of the people who have read this blog have been people i know from nexus so that's why it's being communicated here.

i don't mind talking about it, so if you're just curious and want to ask, go ahead, but i don't think blogging all the fine points was the right forum to use.

it was nice while it lasted, and i hope to see all you nexusers around.

Posted by erichapman at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments

this weekend i got to go bike riding again. finally.

not motorbike... mountain bike. i used to go all the time when i was on first shift, and now i just don't for some reason... i'll just file that under laziness.

i got a little lost in jubilee. i've never been there before and i thought 2 hours would be enough to get lost and find my way again.

that was cutting it close.

the funniest thing was that there were horses out and i spooked them.

there was a dip in the trail and i came up on some horses so i slowed down. but when i was going down the dip, they were on their way up and i hit some water and then hit my brakes.

ever heard wet brakes on a bicycle? it's like a squealing honk.

apparently that REALLY scares horses, cuz they neighed, reared back, and took off.

the two girls that were riding them started yelling "whoa!" but they still ran about 20 yards.

that last thing i heard was a girl yell, "MY HAT!" and that was it.

i thought i'd round the corner and find two bodies with broken necks on the ground.

they weren't. the two horses were facing me and when i came around the corner with one cowboy hat in my hand, the horses freaked and took off AGAIN! luckily they turned around and ran away from me.

so the next time i approached the horses i laid my bike down around the corner and walked up to the riders with one of their hats in my hand i asked, "does the bike scare the horses?" the one girl said, "yeah, they're not used to them." the other girl just gave me the stink eye.

i appologized and the hatless one said it was ok. i told them i'd just go back, but that's when the stink eye girl spoke up and said, "no, you don't have to, you can just wait there for a while." so that's what i did.

i made it up to the horse camp as they were hitching their horses and they kind of freaked a little bit again... but not too bad.

that's when i noticed the other horses around. none of them were spooked by my bicycle. but at one camp site there was a motorcycle.

so, apparently my pedal bike is MUCH scarier than a big v-twin.

stupid horses.

Posted by erichapman at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

i've been secretly hoping dashboard confessional's new cd would be as awemazing (that's awesome combined with amazing) as the first couple albums.

here's what i think went wrong on this particular cd.

they left the emphasis off of carrabba.

this guy IS (or at least WAS) d/c. now it feels like with this cd they've overshadowed him with the music.

there's a semi-haunting song with a piano and violin. it's good... but where are the belting notes that runs emo kids' eyeliner???

carrabba put lyrics together like puzzle pieces. and to drown that out with overproduced ditties is a huge disappointment.

i'll still listen to it until it grows on me (like any cd), but i'll still always love swiss army romance the most.

Posted by erichapman at 1:42 AM | Permalink | Comments

i figured out where those mystery underwear came from.

unfortunately, it raises almost more questions than the answer.

i told my g'ma the story from the previous post, and she stopped me midway through.

SHE put them in my truck!!!

i parked my truck in her driveway overnight one night last week, and she was outside and noticed a black piece of cloth on the ground next to my truck.

so, she thought it was a rag i used to wash my truck and threw the dirty pair in the bed of my truck!

she didn't notice the poo stains on them??? what the heck, g'ma???? sheesh!

the really funny thing was when i told her it wasn't a washing rag, she said, "well i was wondering where that came from... it was just sitting on the ground next to your truck by the gas tank.... OH! that seems fishy!"

apparently my g'ma thinks someone was trying to blow up my truck with an old pair of poopy underpants.

and i'm pretty sure she wasn't even smoking anything.

Posted by erichapman at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

i'm realizing these days how much i need to carry a digital camera with me at all times.

here's the story...

sarah came to work tonight so we could go eat together.

we took her car and she asked where we were going. i felt like la gondola and she asked where that was so i jokingly told her it was 30 miles away. (it's maybe 3)

so, we got to la gondola and she said she had a surprise for me... but it was in the trunk.

as soon as she popped the trunk, to my surprise out pops our good pals jeff and becky! they rode from work to la gondola back there!

which explains why sarah looked so shocked to hear that i wanted to go 30 miles away for lunch. our friends would have suffocated!

after we got back from lunch, sarah dropped me off at my truck so i could park closer. [on a friday, every second counts.]

i looked in the back of my truck and noticed a black piece of cloth.

at first glance, i thought some of our clothes came out of our bags on the way back from chicago this weekend, but upon closer examination i found out they were a ripped up pair of underwear.

neither one of ours, i might add!

the nastiest part... the area that covers the 'taint,' [if you don't know, don't ask] was browned.

ewww...

so somebody used my truck as a waste disposal for their nasty old, ripped up underpants.

after i got back to work, someone asked me if that was my girlfriend out there and why she was talking into her trunk.

i just told him it was people.

Posted by erichapman at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments

here are some pictures of chicago that i didn't take.

the chicago skyline. look... big buildings!

the taste of chicago. look... tents blocking the streets and big buildings!

the taste was pretty sweet. way too many people, but a southern comfort tent. totally worthwhile. but probably not worth the $6.50 i paid (actually sarah paid) for one little frozen drink and a plastic cup that will probably lose the graphics on the side when i finally get around to washing it.

ever had fried goat? know what a battered banana bit is? have you seen 3 different kinds of corn on the cob? if you answered yes, then you've probably been to the taste.

the cubs got spanked by the white sox. i wish i could have seen that, but the tickets were way overpriced. and we all knew that would happen anyway, right? didn't we? yeah, we did.then...

then... what else was there??? OH! the apple store! that was cool...

all of this, and we stayed right downtown on michigan ave. with our pal erica mcmillen. just down from the bean at millennium park... but i can't get anymore pictures to upload so i'll just call this post quits.

Posted by erichapman at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

here's step by step (mostly) of how much transportation we did this weekend. (the journey to downtown chicago to see rob bell)

first off, let me say this: i've hardly ever ridden a bus, and the only time i've been on a train was probably 15 years ago to denver and back.

this weekend, i spent more time in a moving vehicle other than a car than i have in my whole life.

ok, so first off, we left pekin in my truck bound for joliet.

that was an experience by itself. you can't just buy tickets at any old window at a train station apparently... and the one we needed was closed. did you know you could buy tickets ON the train? we didn't.

so it was 5 bucks to get from joliet to a downtown chicago train station.

from there, we get off the metra, and onto the blue line. which i thought was a subway. but it goes above ground, too.

apparently every form of public transportation in chicago uses the same passes. these cards that you use like a debit card. you put a certain dollar amount on them, and then every time you ride a bus or a train, it deducts the cost from that amount.

when you want to go somewhere, don't you just get in your car and go there?

well not in chicago. you have to plot out your trip... walk to a train station, get on a train, get off the train at a certain stop, take a bus to another stop, and then walk another few blocks to get where you want to go. provided the bus stops. ours didn't and took us about three blocks out of our way.

alright, so we get off our 2nd train ride of the day and walk past logan square auditorium about 8 times. we were pretty early so it didn't matter.

we go see rob bell (see previous post) and then it's another train ride as close to erica's apartment as we can get.

the next day, it's a walk to get breakfast, a bus ride at the nearest corner to the shedd aquarium, then another bus ride to the taste of chicago, then a walk back to erica's apartment.

on our way back to the metra to leave, we walked to the apple store, and then took a cab to the metra which took us back to joliet and then drove home.

all this, and the next afternoon i woke up and drove to indiana with eli to get fireworks.

more detail on the events of the day in the next post...

p.s. the picture in this post is the "map" they give you in every car of the subway cars. if you can figure them out, then you're a step ahead of me b/c i just had everyone else read it for me. i was confused to say the least. how do drunk people navigate there???

Posted by erichapman at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

did you notice my post a few back that was really short and just said i was going to see rob bell?

well, i did.

and here's what i thought of it.

first off, chicago's insane. (that's a whole 'nother post inandofitself)

it totally isn't what you'd think a pastor's tour would be.

there was a full bar. (mr. bell told us we'd need to visit the bar to wrap our brains around one thought he shared with us.)

he had a full stage's width of a whitboard. and he filled it all.

he made a joke about cats being evil.

and he learned us some physics, and most of it on a sub-atomic level.

there was so much good info that they'll need to come out with a cd or dvd.

i also got interviewed by someone at the new york times. i told him i hated the news and that we'd all be better off watching a horror flick instead of the nightly news.

ok, now to post about how crazy chicago is...

p.s. i totally ripped that picture off dave crow's livejournal.

Posted by erichapman at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments