What is that to you?

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Posted 11 Apr 2007 — by nick
Category Jesus, Light, Ministry, Scripture, Spirituality

After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”

“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.

Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”

“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.

A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

“I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”

Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”

Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”
~ John 21:15-22

Awhile back I downloaded a message Rob Bell gave at his Church – this passage the focus. He talks throughout about how in John’s Gospel we see this petty rivalry between John and Peter. John refers to himself as ‘The disciple Jesus loved’, he explains that he ran faster than Peter and arrived at Jesus’ empty tomb first, points out how Peter denies Jesus 3 times, to name a few.

I went to Easter Mass with my Dad when I was home and the priest referenced the passage of John running faster than Peter to the empty tomb only he painted it in the light of John’s young age and put some spin to the effect of John’s youth made him less wise than St. Peter – hinting at worth and spiritual maturity being greater in the older, wiser St. Peter.

So much comparison – measuring one man against another.

The challenging part of this passage comes when Jesus says “What is that to you?” He gives Peter a purpose, tells him what his life is meant for and alludes to how he’s going to die, but Peter is more concerned with what John gets. “What about him?”

This is the comparison game – what steals my joy and my peace – and “the disciple Jesus loved” and the disciple Jesus builds his church on are playing it. It is so far ingrained in my humanity it twists even the simplest things in life. I compare my stuff, my progress at work, my spirituality, how effective I am at teaching and leading, how I pray, how much I read my Bible, how smart I sound, how smart I am, how fast I run, how far I run, what I look like, how much money I make, how much money I give away, how many people read this blog, I’m sure I could type for the rest of the night and still have more to list.

The point is Jesus has given me a purpose (some might call it a calling but that’s too churchy sounding), I shouldn’t be concerned with what everyone else gets. Living like that is being content, it is being comfortable in your own skin, it is being who God made you to be.

He’s given each of us a purpose – we shouldn’t be asking “what about him?” because Jesus’ answer is “What is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

New Product From Google :)

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Posted 02 Apr 2007 — by nick
Category Fun, News, Technology

Just in case you didn’t catch this on Google today: they are offering a free broadband service in your home now. All you need to do is contact them to receive a free kit – complete with a wireless router, spool of Fiber Optic Cable and Installation CD. They are calling it TiSP. Here is a sample from the FAQs:

Is this offering a tiered service? How does Google’s position on Net Neutrality effect TiSP?
Although we understand that there’s a lot of crap on the web, we also believe strongly in providing equal opportunity access to all our users. While we won’t limit your surfing choices, we do offer three levels of TiSP service:

Trickle The #2 Royal Flush

Download speed (max)

8 Mbps
(10X basic DSL)

16 Mbps
(20X basic DSL)

32 Mbps
(40X basic DSL)

Upload speed (max)

2 Mbps

4 Mbps

8 Mbps

Price

Free

$9.95/mo.

$24.95/mo.
Actual speeds will vary, depending on network traffic and sewer line conditions. Users with low-flow toilets may simultaneously experience a saving-the-environment glow and slower-data-speed blues.

Apparently installation is simple. You attach a weight to the end of the fiber and flush it down your Toilet, letting the spool roll out. Then you connect the other end of the fiber to your TiSP wireless router and one of their Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) hooks up your fiber to an Internet access node.

Ah… happy April 1st.

VW: Ze German Engineering

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Posted 28 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Fun, Technology, Volkswagen


Well I did it. After 8 months of searching, pondering and saving I bought a car. I had long since decided to buy a Volkswagen for their reliability and attention to detail – as one sales guy told me “there is a high correlation between engineers and Volkswagens.”

About a month ago I visited my dealer to talk to Brooks, my third sales guy – I didn’t really get along with the previous two. I had long ago decided I wanted a black, two door, manual rabbit which was suprisingly hard to find. Brooks was pretty accomodating, he didn’t have what I wanted on the lot and instead of trying to get me to buy something else or change my preferences on color, etc he began searching other dealers to make a trade for my car. About a week later he called me and said he found one.

She was leaving the line in Wolfsburg, Germany and would be in the USA on the March 22 and ready for me to check out shortly after that. A couple weeks past. On Monday, Brooks called me and said she arrived and was being unwrapped – she would be ready for pick up at 4:00. So exciting! I met up with Brooks at the dealer around 4:00 after work and we looked over the car, went through the necessary paper work, haggled over add-on packages, APR, etc. and at 6:15 I drove my new rabbit off the lot with just 12 miles on it. 🙂

I’m taking suggestions for names, keep in mind she is a girl (of course).

More Free Caffeine

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Posted 19 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category coffee, Fun, News

Free Iced Coffee from Dunkin Donuts Wednesday March 21, 2007. (Press Release)
Well last week’s free Starbucks helped get me through the week – with the official change of seasons this week and free iced coffee from DD, I’d say getting through this week won’t be so tough either.

Just for fun: calculate your daily caffeine intake. See if you beat me I’m between 580 and 725mg / day. “OK. THAT’S ENOUGH”

Playing in the Sand

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Posted 14 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Blogs, Creation, Fun, Jesus

I’m being really productive this morning 🙂

It all started when I was reading JK’s recent post and then jumped over to his flickr sets – this dude has shot some pretty cool pictures. Once there I noticed a picture of a time I had almost all together forgotten.
A group of us from i-life were headed to Mexico to build homes for families in need about 3 years ago. One morning on our journey down we stopped off at White Sands National Park – I think simply to be kids again. The picture is of Ben Chase, Matt Dobsch, and Me (from left to right). We are jumping off the edge of a sand dune. Funtimes.

mmmm… Coffee

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Posted 14 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category coffee, Fun

Just a quick post for all my fellow caffeine junkies out there:


Many thanks to the NCSA branch of Coffee Club for bring this to my attention.

Being A Kid Again

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Posted 09 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Uncategorized

Today begins Engineering Open House 2007 at The University of Illinois – think of it like a Nerd Carnival. It never seemed to amaze me throughout my undergrad how the entire engineering campus simply shuts down for the day in order to entertain and dazzle the hordes of high school and college students that roam the campus during this event. Competitions, Project displays, Interactive models, Cooperate recruiters, Live music, Rube Goldberg Machines, Food, and Colorful sign-age – all typical staples of EOH. This is the premier event for engineers – we get to be kids again, ohhing and ahhing at the genius, wonder and creativity of humanity.

As I wandered north campus this afternoon and saw old friends showcasing their skillz and ingenuity I felt a strong pull to join the ranks of academia again.

“Why not just go back and get your masters, that professor would sponsor you…”
“The homework and late nights weren’t so bad, you miss em you know?”
“Working is so normal and boring, you do the same thing day in and day out…”

But alas, I navigated back to my desk and returned to work – I guess you need to grow up at some point.

"Close your eyes, Open your heart"

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Posted 08 Mar 2007 — by nick
Category Fun, Movies

At some point I’m gonna need to sit down and write thoughts on a lot of the films I’ve watched recently, well the good ones at least:

This week I watched The Science of Sleep with a couple of friends. It takes a lot these days to really draw me into a story, to allow me to turn off my brain – this film did it. The story is painfully true to how awkward life can feel, at least my life. In an uncanny way it captures the feeling of being trapped by growing up. The movie has an almost music-video-ish feel to it, especially during the dream sequences. If you’ve not seen this film you should.

Putting The World Back Together

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Posted 19 Feb 2007 — by nick
Category Jesus, Light, News, Social Justice, Spirituality, Videos

I’ve been listening to a provocatively titled teaching series by Rob Bell lately – Jesus Wants to Save Christians – given last fall at his church Mars Hill. I downloaded it then and it has since become unavailable online in order to make room for more recent teachings. While listening this weekend I heard Rob describe his Church as

“Counter cultural insurgency who actually believes the world can be put back together because we think that’s what Jesus has in mind.”

I find this description delightful – it pulled to the front of my mind the University of Illinois Board of Trustees decision last week to end the tradition of Chief Illiniwek. While the Board of Trustees doesn’t serve as a group of Jesus followers we can still celebrate the putting-back-togetherness of the world in such instances of social justice. Part of seeing the world put back together involves hearing the voice of the marginalized, fighting for equality and righting the wronged.

This decision is no doubt controversial – the debate has been raging for decades. Prior to arriving on campus in ’01 I had decided to reside on the “anti-chief” side of the issue (how we refer to those not supportive of Chief Illiniwek). I attribute the heartache and sensitivity to this issue to a work God did in my heart on a missions trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the summer of ’01. This is the location of the Oglala Sioux Nation whom the University received a set of Chief Regalia from and argues that it is in part honoring in the Chief’s Tradition. A recent quote from the Native American House at the University of Illinois in reference to the January 17, 2007 Oglala Sioux Resolution concerning Chief Illiniwek speaks to the level of “honor” these people feel:

There can be no misreading of the Oglala Sioux Resolution—those to whom the Lakota regalia belongs and whom the Board of Trustees claims to be honoring have clearly requested that the performance and charade of “chief illiniwek” end.

Just one month later they found their request granted. Further thoughts and press releases form the NAH on this issue can be found here.

Simply put I find it hard to follow Jesus and support the oppression and degradation of another people group and I believe it naive to claim the Chief an honoring symbol of a living -breathing people. I don’t believe this issue stops with Chief Illiniwek, how about the Spartans, the Fighting Irish?

Do you have thoughts on the issue, I’d love to hear them? Never seen the Chief dance: click here

News from Lake Wobegon

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Posted 16 Feb 2007 — by nick
Category Fun, Podcasts, Poetry, Technology


Many thanks to Beno for bringing this to my attention: The great story teller Garrison Keillor finally available on iTunes. Listening to GK serves as a reminder of his mastery of comedy and story. Check out A Prairie Home Companion – the APM radio show he anchors and source of the podcast. The segment on iTunes is “News From Lake Wobegon” – a standard segment of each APHC installment.

Occasionally I listen to The Writers Almanac by GK, another production of American Public Media. It highlights a poem each day and gives history on literary figures.

“That’s the news from Lake Wobegon where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.”

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