this is the second video in the lent series(one a day through easter sunday):

we’re entering holy week….the highest holy days in the christian faith when we focus on the last week of jesus’ life before his death and resurrection. we start off with his jubilant entry into jerusalem, celebrate with the last supper and communion before we descend into his betrayal, trial, torture, crucifixion and death. usually, stories that end in death….end. but the story was not over yet. this was only friday…..sunday was coming.

for the next week, i’ll be posting a video a day to retell the story. these videos were made by leo chen, a bsg fan, videographer and movie maker in my church.

the inevitable has happened. in the early morn as theresa was trying to save my ipod with another battery transplant, the fragile connection points to the motherboard ripped off rendering my u2 ipod dead.

its not the end of the world. my pops taught me that any problem that you can solve with money(even if its a lot of money)is not a real problem. the real problems of life cannot be solved with money.

but i am sad that my traveling companion in this city and on my world tours is now gone. i was hoping to bring it to korea with me but………….

a few years ago, i watched a movie with q that scared the bejeezus out of both of us. that movie was election with matthew broderick and reece witherspoon. without ruining the (entire)plot, in the movie one poor decision negates…wipes out…cancels out a lifetime of right choices and good decisions. one of the highly respected characters in the movie does something out of character and loses his(whole)life as he knows it. he becomes a pariah. and it happens in a second.
immediately, q and i declared that we would never allow sexual sin to infiltrate our lives to destroy our ministries, work and futures.

but pride does funny things to you. power does funny things to you. money does funny things to you. you let things creep in. you think you are invulnerable. you think you are an emperor god. and you join emperor clubs.

but sometimes, someone comes along and does something that reminds you of vows you forgot……waking you up…forcing you to rethink a decision…..making you dodge a bullet…..a catharsis and you change your mind.

i am not innocent. i am not pure. this could have been me. my boy harvey says that given the right(wrong)circumstances, anybody can commit any sin anywhere. maybe.

i imagine what my life would be like if my sins were in print and broadcast on tv…….

the parents of teens in my youth groups used to dismiss my assertion that more kids die driving to the mall than walking around the city. in fact, my city is not even in the top 100 most dangerous cities in america. this is more astounding if you attempted to name 100 cities in america.

so some parents raged against taking kids into the inner cities to serve the poor and then proceeded to give keys to their teens so they can go somewhere safe, like the mall.

i always thought that giving keys to a 16 year old was bad policy. nearly all my teens driving at 16 got into accidents. (nearly)ALL. so what can you expect when you get into a car with a teen? i expect trouble.

this is from msnbc:

Half kids who died in crashes had teen drivers

Two thirds of young passengers also weren’t wearing seat belts, study says

CHICAGO - Car crashes are the leading cause of death for tweens and teens, and a new study outlines some of the most dangerous circumstances: Riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads.

These were the three biggest risk factors contributing to car crash deaths for passengers aged 8 to 17, the study found.

While young drivers have higher chances of dying, the six-year study focused on nearly 10,000 children passengers who were killed in car crashes. More than half — 54 percent — were riding with a teen driver. Drivers younger than 16 were the most dangerous.

Also, more than three-quarters of the fatal crashes occurred on roads with speed limits higher than 45 mph, and nearly two-thirds of the young passengers were not wearing seat belts, the researchers found.

Other dangerous circumstances for young passengers included drivers who’d been drinking alcohol, male teen drivers, and driving on weekends.

The message for parents is simple and sobering: Don’t let your teen ride with a teen driver who has less than a year’s experience driving. Insist on seat belts. And practice ways teens can resist peer pressure to ride with other teens, said Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the study’s lead author.

“Knowing the risks can help parents and teens make smart decisions about which rides are safe, and which ones are off limits,” said Winston, the founder of the hospital’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

The researchers examined national data on serious car crashes including those resulting in death between 2000 and 2005. During that time, 2.5 million children aged 8 to 17 were involved in crashes and 9,807 died.

Risk of death is double if driver is a teen
The risk of death for kids riding with drivers aged 16 to 19 was at least double that of those riding with drivers aged 25 and older. There were about two deaths per 1,000 crashes for young passengers with 25-plus drivers, versus more than four deaths in the younger group.

The study, conducted with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., appears in the March edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. State Farm funded the research.

Recent federal data indicate that the percentage of U.S. 16-year-olds with driver’s licenses has fallen since 1998 (from roughly 44 percent to about 30 percent), during a time when restrictions on teen driving generally increased.

But no states have all the restrictions recommended by State Farm, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Philadelphia hospital.

For example, they say the minimum age for a learner’s permits should be 16. But nine states grant them to 14-year-olds and at least 30 others give them to 15-year-olds. Also, the groups say drivers younger than 18 should not be allowed to have more than one teen passenger without adult supervision, but only 34 states have that restriction, according to data provided by the hospital and State Farm.

Rosie Jermakian, a Bethesda, Md., 16-year-old, said the study results hit home, particularly because of a recent spate of teen car crashes in the Washington, D.C. area, including one that involved a friend. Rosie’s stepmother does research at the Philadelphia hospital but was not involved in the study.

“Teen drivers don’t always think,” said Rosie, who has a learner’s permit and hopes to get her license soon. “Sometimes they think they’re just in this little bubble where they can’t get hurt and they don’t really think of the consequences.”

DUH!

it is rare that i get to finish a video game. the days of unlimited hours of free time are past me. but over 4 months, which is an eternity for a video game beating, i beat zack and wiki for the wii! this was primarily a puzzle game where you are given different objects to be used innovatively in assorted scenarios. for example, you can use an umbrella as a parachute or flip it over and use the hook end to grab a latch just out of reach. some of the puzzles are mind numbingly hard while others are quick aha-s! but they are all for the most part very satisfying. there are a few that are cheap feeling….as in you feel cheated.

theresa and i beat rayman’s raving rabbits last year but with a lot of help from jeremy and steff. before that, i think i beat mario 64! which is over 10 years ago. i remember the good old days with my friend phil beating the mega man x games…all three of them. we were waiting to move to maryland and just killing time. we beat the first one in little under a week. our schedule: wake up, eat lunch, play until dinner, eat some more, play until the wee hours, repeat.

currently i’m playing endless ocean….a deep sea diving game. just explore and catalog. and also super mario galaxy. it’ll take me a year to beat that at the rate i go. my boy, brandon just beat it in little less than 2 weeks?

as announced, indie act and agapeshack favorite, arcade fire performed free shows in ohio in support of obama. but the 3 shows could not generate the votes needed to get obama a victory there. this is not a surprise since as beloved as arcade fire is….they are an indie act! during the days running up to ohio and texas, hillary countered by bringing out ted danson(from cheers for the older set)and eva longoria(from desperate housewives for the everybody set) to generate buzz and support. the moral of the story is longoria beats arcade fire. hollywood beats indie.

the story has come full circle for me here because in 2007, i was looking for a ticket to an arcade fire concert outside radio city music hall and was offered one for free! it was an orchestra ticket and since arcade fire encourages rushing the stage, there was a chance to be real close! all i had to do was answer a question….who are you going to vote for, for president in 2008? in highly liberal democratic nyc, i knew the answer(obama). but i answered my conscience and said something else. the guy sneered at me and offered the ticket to a (supposed)obama supporter. a few months later, i was in texas in the front row of an arcade fire show without having to pretend to vote for obama.

oh well…..at least we/I got some nice concert footage from cleveland. here are the three most relevant songs from those concerts for the election:

rebellion(lies)….i have no recollection, senator…….

intervention….for governor bush…..

wake up(i was crying lie a little girl in texas when they came back out and encored with this….with full band version only, of course)

the best part of the job is going over to celebrate new births. here is caleb benjamin soo.

i get to be with people during the best parts of their lives…and the most important times of their lives: weddings, graduations, births, baptisms, wrestling over career, school and moves…..and funerals which are the hardest part of the job. and at vision, we’ve felt the full range of emotions this winter. we are growing up.

look at that hair!!!….this is less than a week old! 5 days! no joke!

what was a joke that has started becoming reality is naming rights. i’ve encouraged people looking for biblical names for their kids to go with joseph. in the new testament, there are only 2 people specifically called out as good: joseph of arimithea and barnabas! not even jesus! better than jesus! better than ezra! and of course you know….barnabas is not barnabas’ real name….barnabas is a nickname….barnabas’ real name: joseph

so i started offering $100 for sons to be named joseph. if you name 2 sons joseph, you get the $100 for the first and $1000 for the second. a third son named joseph, i’ll pay for your therapy.

but dan and jess gave their son a middle name of benjamin which is also my middle name. everyone especially my jewish neighbors thought i had such a biblical name with joseph benjamin, the two beloved sons of israel….but in reality, my great grandfather’s name was joseph and my parents liked benjamin franklin. wah wah. but still a good name for a future minister.

so i think i’m going to offer $50 for middle name benjamin. $50, $500 for two sons with benjamin as their middle name.

but what to do with my friend who is considering the name joseph barnabas? joseph joseph…….

i might have to change my vote! maybe my boy kyuboem is right!

not pictured in the above arcade fire lineup is my favorite violinist, marika anthony shaw, part of the traveling entourage. at af shows, we usually wind up just in front of her. she’s just as nuts as the rest of the band…i love it! doesn’t look like she’ll be in ohio this weekend but go see arcade fire for free anyway(david)!