New Mexico and More.

As my avid readers know, I left for Red River, NM on Sunday, July 27. Daniel Clark and I made the 13 hour drive up through west Texas and headed north to the Rocky Mountains. We arrived at the Clark family "Bear Cave" where and prepared for our week. We spent Monday shopping and cooking.

Tuesday was the big day. We woke up at 4am and headed out for Wheeler Peak before sunrise. By 10am we reached the roof of New Mexico, at 13,161 feet. Our total trip took about 7 hours.

The rest of the week was spent lazing around, watching movies like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Casino Royale. I took my first ever trip via 4 wheeler down Fourth of July Canyon.

After a day of rest, we spent the remainder of our week taking short hikes around the town. We headed out Friday morning for DFW, where Daniel's parents took us out on the boat and I had dinner with Perry and Amy Bolton.

I finally made it back to SA at 2:30 in the morning to this gift from my roommates on my bedroom wall..

Off to New Mexico

I'm taking a week off and hiding in Red River New Mexico. I've never been, but I hear it looks something like this:

I'm planning on not answering my phone, email or facebook, and only writing in a paper journal.

See ya in a week!

A lot of Batman

I've watched a lot of Batman in the last 24 hours. It began with Batman: Gotham Knight, a series of interlocking animated shorts that take place in between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, a la The Animatrix.

The cartoon are fun, and delve into some things the movie doesn't have time to. You get to see what has happened to Arkham Asylum and The Scarecrow, meet a few of the cops featured in the new film, and even get introduced to some larger than life characters that wouldn't do well in a live action film.

I went from there the 1943 movie serial Batman.

This Saturday matinee travesty features Batman and Robin as government agents who fight against a mob led by a "shifty eyed jap." With on screen racism that must have provided the inspiration for Mickey Rooney's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's and fight sequences that make Adam West look like a ninja, it's too bad this film ever had to surface.

Finally, the day culminated watching Batman Begins with friends, and experiencing all that is The Dark Knight in the theatre.

That might seem like a lot of Batman to you, but I'm already planning my next Batman Party. This one will take a week, and will incorporate 1966's Batman: The Movie, Tim Burton's masterpiece, and of course, my childhood favorite, Batman: The Animated Series.

You're invited.

Leaving and entering the building

I haven't blogged much this past week due to the huge events at Journey Fellowship.

Sunday morning began with a special event called "The Church Has Left the Building." Hundreds of Journeyers participated in service projects and servant evangelism projects throughout the Northeast corner of San Antonio. Armed with squeegees, trash bags, toilet brushes and some pretty sweet t-shirts, we were able to show God's love in a practical way throughout our community. Two huge parks were cleaned up, a local non-profit was given a facelift, dozens of cars got cheap gas and clean windshields, cars were washed, toilets were cleaned, and thirsty people were given water.

On Sunday evening, about 800 people arrived at Journey Fellowship to celebrate. First, we celebrated a new facility God has given us. The Blue Bonnet Dance Hall, after 3 decades country music stars, rodeos and beer, has now been transformed into Journey's new worship space. Soft earth tones, couches, rustic crosses and dozens of candles, create a comfortable yet worshipful environment for long time Christians and people who don't like church.

After celebrating our new facility, we also comissioned our new Senior Minister Randy Frazee. Randy, who wrote a book called "The Connecting Church," has been a teacher at Willow Creek for the past few years. He'll take the helm for all of the Oak Hills Church while Max Lucado will continue to write and preach for many months out of the year. The evening ended with Randy leading us through the story of Gideon, and encouraging us to take on great challenges. "When they say no way, we say Yahweh!"

Preparing for all of this over the past few weeks has been quite a task. I am rellishing a much needed day off today. Then tomorrow, it's back to the hard work. Being in people's lives, helping them follow Jesus, and calling out to those who don't him.

Why They Hate Us

I made the choice to watch the firework display at a local Air Force Base here in San Antonio. Beyond the tired "Proud to Be an American," and the classic John Phillps Suza, the most popular song, heard twice in the course of the overly long demonstration, was Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

Now, I am glad to live in America. I'd take our constitution and our 200 year tradition of peaceful exchange of power over what's going on in say, Zimbabwe right now, any day. Thankfulness is one thing. Pride may even have it's place. But I don't have to wonder why Europe hates us and radical Muslims want to wipe us out when I hear the lyrics:

Ohhh Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you'll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way

I would hate us too.

Fun with Rehash

I've spent a lot of time complaining about the lack of cultural opportunities in San Antonio. That's why I tried REALLY HARD to go see tonight's screening of Oscar Nominated Shorts. I got there to find out it had sold out this afternoon. Apparently, there are a lot of old people in San Antonio that also listen to NPR, who, unlike me, plan ahead of time.

So, instead of Peter and the Wolf, I ended up watching yet another summer action blockbuster, the wonderful rehash Wanted. Take three parts Matrix, one part Star Wars, and throw in a little Spider-Man for flavor, and you get Wanted. This "young boy discovers he has super powers" action drama is driven by special effects that make the Wachowski Brothers wish they could be dead and spinning in their graves.

The high point of the film is Angelina, who continues to suffer from being too pretty to be recognized as the actress she could be. I've gone out of my way to avoid her past action flicks, but as a supporting character, she adds a kind of classiness the film that Trinity could never pull off.

My favorite moment of the movie is the climax of the monologue, ripped almost directly from the first Spiderman movie. However, unlike the self importance that even the webslinger can't avoid, this monologue makes it clear that Wanted just meant to be fun.

And that it is.