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The weekend was amazing. I was inspired and I was tired which usually means I’m capable of shedding a tear at any great improv scene, Olympic back story, or joke about Bernie Mac dying prematurely dying while Dane Cook continues to thrive…and I did. I miss the laughter, creativity, and Joe’s pizza already.

On the first day in New York we toured around Chelsea, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Central Park and more. Some how we ended up getting tickets to David Letterman and all laughed at Kiefer Sutherland’s time in jail and Rumor Willis’s attempt at acting.  Mostly, we spent the rest of the time searching for the best food in NY.

The improv at the Del Close Marathon was remarkable. It is hard to fully explain how mind-blowing it all was. Yes, there were a few stars from TV and film (including Brooke Shields making a guest appearance my last night) but mainly it was about a group of artists coming together to laugh with and at each other and work to take long form improv comedy back to its roots and to the next level.

The festival was in honor of Del Close, the founding father of long form improv comedy. For anyone who ever saw a show of mine, I do short form. Long form is when you get one suggestion at the beginning of a show and do scenes based on that for the whole show, sometimes over an hour. When done well, this is my favorite kind. If not done well, it can be a long hour. We experience many of both of these kind of shows over the weekend and loved every minute of it.

The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre was the focal point of the festival, but three other venues were filled with teams from all over the US sharing their craft. Even the press conference to get the whole thing started made me well up a little when Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh (the founding members of UCB along with Amy Poehler) stood up and spoke to a new reformation in improv comedy that got back to focusing on the funny. They even compared their new declarations to Luther’s 95 Thesis. You would recognize all these guys from bit parts in various movies and TV shows, but this festival wasn’t about being famous, it was about being funny. These guys brought it right and made me fall in love with improv all over again.

Thank you to UCB, thank you to New York, and thank you the most to the Brewsters for making me laugh harder than anyone else and making it possible for me to even be there.

When I tell friends that I have never been to New York I usually get a surprised response. Traveling doing improv with 321 provided the opportunity to hit most major cities in the US and frequent flyer miles helped me get to over 20 different countries, but never the Big Apple. I’m sure I’ve been through the airport and I did get a little lost while driving from Boston to DC (never, ever think that would be a fun way to see the East Coast), but have not stepped foot in the state other than that, until today.

I’m in New York to meet my good friends the Brewsters for three days of improv magic. Johnny got in to the Del Close Improv Marathon as a performer and invited me along for the ride. The best improv’ers from all over the United States will perform on one of four different stages from Friday afternoon to after midnight on Sunday in non-stop, 24 hours a day improv shows. There will be people from Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, Colbert Report, Daily Show and surprise guests from film, television and improv powerhouses like Second City, UCB, The Groundlings, Improv Olympic and more. Some of the people I’m most excited about seeing aren’t famous outside of the improv world, but are some of the most amazing performers you could ever see. Because Johnny is one of those amazing performers, we have back stage passes to mingle with all the crews. I can’t think of a better way to spend my first weekend in New York.

“Many cry to the Lord to avoid losses or to acquire riches, for the safety of their friends or the security of their homes,.. yes, even for mere physical health. ALAS, it is easy to want things from God and not to want God himself; as though the gift could ever be preferable to the giver.”
Augustine

“I have begun my Christian walk looking for Jesus and have continued this journey in my search for the Church.”
Edith Humphrey
Awaiting the Redemption of Our Body

If you don’t already know, I am a sucker for buttons. Specifically, I collect political buttons and a button from places I have been. I have original buttons for Kennedy, Eisenhower, Nixon, Regan, both Bush’s, Clinton, and more. (I have also now drifted into collecting Disney pins… and yes, I do have a lanyard.) I have sold a bunch of them, but still have a few hundred. I love me some buttons.

With the election coming up I have been keeping my eyes open for an opportunity to collect a few more. Happy Day!! Obama is giving them out on his site if you would like one… for free!!! I love him even more. I will also be contributing so I can get multiple kinds. Get a piece of history and join the cause. Even if you aren’t going to vote for him it is free!! (But vote for him.)

I recently attempted to write a children’s curriculum for Life in Abundance that teaches American kids about life in Africa. I had no idea where to start and how it would turn out, but I felt like it was something needed and might be a way to raise funds for the amazing work LIA does in Africa. (plus, it ended up doubling as something I could turn in for school.) After reading the book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, I wanted it to contain three elements- Education, Prayer, and Response.

So with that in mind I went to task writing a kid’s missions curriculum based on the Good Samaritan that would contain those three elements. The lessons teach kids about who our “neighbors” are in Africa through lessons on neighborhood, school, health, and family. Each lesson hits on these areas, involves a prayer element and the week ends with a big celebration.

The kids get a coin box with the story of Hussein Jamal, a young boy who lost his whole family to malaria at the age of eight. He used to be a street kid in Ethiopia, but now has his own business after LIA helped him through the Merkato Street Kids program. He was given a place to live, clothes, education, tutoring, life skills, discipleship, work skills, and even a micro-loan to start his own shoe repair business. The box is used for the response element of the curriculum to collect change to raise funds to help kids just like Hussein. With some help from the Rule 29 design team, we turned this small idea into a legit thing that I think has the potential to change lives on both sides of the world.

Recently, my friend Sara used it at her VBS. (Deanna, they also used Power Lab) She asked us to come down on Friday and receive the check and help celebrate what the kids had done. Just by simply collecting change in their boxes these kids raised $1300. That is enough to pay for 50 kids to go to school for a year and feed 200 kids for a month through LIA programs. It was fun to see it all come to life and see the kids respond by helping their neighbors across the world. It was also incredibly humbling to see the impact of this little idea on these kids and see how much they are going to be helping their neighbors in Africa. A couple other churches have already signed up to use it and I can’t wait to see what happens.
If you are interested, you can download the first lesson here- lia-lesson1_neighbor.pdf to check it out or you can just contact me and I’ll send a whole set out to you.

For my birthday, my brother got me Season Two of MacGyver. I forgot how much I loved this show until I started humming along with the theme song. In the first episode alone there were trash can looking robots shooting lasers, references to old wounds left from Nam, a computer that started thinking on its own and took over the compound, and gadgets created from watches, parts from phones and newspaper. I almost jumped out of my seat every time MacGyver said, “I need paper” or “Hand me those matches.” I knew that some kind of life saving gadget was coming soon and not a single hair in his finely crafted mullet would get out of place.

So many lessons to be learned from Mac (That’s what his good friends call him) that could be applicable for today. His ingenuity and creativity stood as a representative model for post-Vietnam ideology that mind and heart often trump might. He disarmed and overtook those in positions of power by using their weapons against them, all while only carrying a Swiss-Army knife himself. Instead of buying newer and better things he used his knowledge of history and science to create tools that could stop bombs and trick cameras. He was a friend and a lover and he made mullets look good. We need MacGyver today and I am glad I have a full season to show my why.

My last post has been at the top of the pile for way too long. It was left alone not out of pride, but out of recovery. It was a rough last quarter. Finishing up way too many classes and catching up on all the work on my thesis and classes I lost when my computers failed left me fairly empty on most levels. I kind of took a break from doing too much writing, or thinking for that matter. But I am back, with little vengeance, but I am back.

To get things started again I will steal from two friends and pass on some tidbits that I found helpful and fun. The first comes from my good friends at Rule 29. They recommended StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon is a social network dedicated to helping you discover new web sites based on your interest. When you create your account you will be asked to choose a number of categories based on interest. Let’s say you love science, cooking, politics and fun online games. After that is set each time you hit the Stumble button you will be looking at a fresh new site based on your interests. From there you can mark it as a like or dislike, email the link to a friend, or even connect with other members who liked sites that you enjoy as well! Beyond that you can even submit sites that you enjoy to be a part of the Stumble Upon Network.

The second one comes from my good friend Jon Wren, Stuff Christians Like. This link is the top 31. They are not only dead on, but they kill me. My personal favorite is #20, because I did think Psalty the Songbook was the Michael Jordan of VBS.

Of the site, the author says, “I want to be honest and upfront and hopefully a little funny about the issues the church and Christians struggle with sometimes. I want to say, ‘Whoa, whoa, please don’t judge me or God by Christian radio.’ I want to admit the times we’ve dropped the ball on issues or ideas that people called to love their neighbor should have knocked out of the park. I want to blow up misconceptions and preconceptions about what it means to be a Christian.”

So, there you have it. I have officially landed back on the blogging horse. Well, actually, instead of a blogging horse it’s really a little more like a blogging slow-moving-donkey-painted-like-a-zebra-to-take-pictures-with-tourists-in-Tijuana. But, at this point I’ll take whatever gets me back in the saddle.

It’s a little hard to believe I’m done.  Two years of intense study in scripture, culture, history and theology and I have my MaT.  There is much reflection still to be done and the learning will go on the rest of my life, but it still feels good to be finished for now.

I was incredibly humbled by having my family and Rachel’s parents come down to celebrate with me.  I even got a little emotional thinking of all my friends who showed up for the open house afterwards.  I am beyond blessed to have such amazing support.

I am in the midst of packing up and heading to Fullerton to my new place of residence with the Rozencranz’s.  I start teaching Communications and Leadership at Hope International University in August and will still be working part-time for Life in Abundance.

More to share later, but for now I am recovering from my usual post-finals sickness.

Everyone in my family is fairly artistic in some way. We all sing, are comfortable on stage, some play guitar, some are crafty. But my brother Ben is kind of head and shoulders above the rest of us when it comes to art. He can carve, paint, sculpt, draw, and is creative beyond belief. But, it is his latest project that has blown me away.

For Christmas this year he decided to make us all personalized sweatshirts. He designed one for each of us based on things we love or parts of our personality that remind him of us. They are made with bleach. Mine was a sweatshirt with the names of God in Hebrew on one side and the names of God in Greek on the other. It is quite possibly my favorite gift I have ever received.

Since then he has been practicing and taken the art to a whole new level. Here are just a few of his “pieces.” Every one is made by hand and every one is original.

Kyle in his Mortal Combat
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Bethany’s Blossom Sweatshirt
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Jesse’s version of Pablo Picasso’s The Old Guitarist (Maybe my fav)
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The Trekkie

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Pandas in Bamboo

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Pandas in Bamboo close

He’s so good he makes me a little sick. I love them all and I love him.

Update: Ben has started selling these. If you are interested, leave a comment and I’ll get you his e-mail. Each design is unique, hand made and takes a good deal of time. But since he is just getting started he is looking at $35 for the design and then extra for the sweatshirt. It has to be of a certain quality to take the bleach, but you can get it to him or he can get them for $35. Makes a great gift!! Get them before he gets famous!! (I have no problem pushing my brother.)

The delegates have been counted, the marathon Democratic nomination process is coming to a close, the first African American to win the backing from a major party is ready for the next phase.  He has asked us to believe, he has told us that we can, and now he has shown us the way… with a fist bump.  Not high five, not a chest bump, but it was a gentle and authentic pounding of fists between husband and wife that ushered in a new era of politics. (Plus a little pat on the butt)

A fist bump seems so innocuous, but it symbolizes a new way of thinking, a new way of moving forward.  It is graceful, humble and of the everyman.  It is hip and now, it is silly and playful.  It is short and sweet, it is alternative and inclusive.  It is youthful and transcendent, it is familiar and fun.  It is a great alternative to Al and Tipper Gore’s way-too-long nationally televised liplock or Bill and Hillary Clinton, in swimsuits, cavorting on a Virgin Islands beach.  It is Barack Obama and now Barack is ours.

My hope from the beginning was an Obama/Edwards ticket, I just thought Obama would be vice.  I don’t know if Edwards would take the offer with his wife’s health, but here’s hoping.

The next few months will be a wild sprint to the finish.  We are seeing history unfold in new and exciting ways.  Walls are being torn down and rules are being changed.  No matter what happens, it will be fun to watch.  I think we will look back on this bumping of fists and know that with one simple act an entire system was turned on its head and the world we have come to accept has been changed forever.