Muddy Hymnal

We found your name across the chapel door
Carved in cursive with a table fork
Muddy hymnals and some boot marks where you'd been
The shaking preacher told the captain's man
The righteous suffer in a fallen land
Then pulled the shade to keep the crowd from peeking in

We found your children by the tavern door
With wooden buttons and an apple core
Playing house and telling everyone you'd drowned
The begging choir told the captain's man
We all assume the worst the best we can
And for a round or two they gladly drag you down

We found you sleeping by your lover's stone
A ream of paper and a telephone
A broken bow across a long lost violin
Your lover's angel told the captain's man
It never ends the way we had it planned
And kissed her palm and placed it on your dreaming head

- Iron and Wine from The Creek Drank the Cradle

Hutto History

Just in case you wanted to know a little bit more about the wonderful town i am teaching in...

Historically, Hutto Texas was not really established until 1876 when the International & Great Northern Railroad passed through land owned by one James Emory Hutto and the fledgling town was named for him. The railroad officials designated the stop Hutto Station and the town of Hutto was born. James Hutto was born in Alabama on June 8, 1824; he came to Texas in 1847 and moved his family into Williamson County in 1855. A slave, Adam Orgain, was actually the first person to live in the immediate Hutto vicinity having been placed out on the black land prairie by his owner to watch after the cattle and livestock holdings. It was in 1876 that James Hutto sold fifty acres to the Texas Land Company of New York for a town site and railroad right of way. Hutto had become a wealthy cattleman in Williamson County; however, in 1885 he left Hutto and moved to Waco and entered the hardware business. Other early settlers in the area were the Carpenter, Davis, Evans, Farley, Goodwin, Highsmith, Johnson, Magle, Payne, Saul, Weight, Womack, and Wright families. Other people living in Hutto during the 1890s included the Armstrong’s, the Dahlberg’s, M.B. Kennedy, the Hugh Kimbro family, William McCutcheon, Green Randolph, J.B. Ross, and the Tisdale's. Soon a great many more people, primarily Swedish and German immigrants came to this area to farm and ranch and begin their new lives in America.
According to local legend, it was in 1915 that a circus train stopped in Hutto Texas at the depot to take on passengers, pick up and deliver mail and possibly take on water and fuel for the steam locomotive. The circus train workers also would have taken this opportunity to care for their animals. At some point during this historic layover, the hippo got out of the railcar and made its way to the nearby Cottonwood Creek. This caused much consternation for the circus workers. Local farmers and merchants watched the commotion in amusement and with interest as unsuccessful efforts were made to extricate the hippopotamus from the muddy waters of Cottonwood Creek. It is said that the Depot Agent, who at that time would have been Hal Farley, Jr., telegraphed the communities of Taylor and Round Rock that were eight miles to the east and west of Hutto to the effect of: “STOP TRAINS, HIPPO LOOSE IN HUTTO”. After much effort the hippo was prodded from the mud and water that resembled its natural habitat and was reloaded back onto the train car. Soon afterward the Hutto School adopted the hippopotamus as its mascot and as early as 1923 the hippo appeared on official Hutto High School graduation announcements.
There are other stories about the beginnings of the unique Hutto mascot as follows: The big Swedish and German boys of Hutto were playing their smaller foes in football and the visiting coach is said to have stated “we can’t beat those boys, they’re big as hippos”. Another story, also based on gridiron lore, was that the Hutto football team in the early twenties had no real jerseys and used feed sacks as their uniforms. The opposing coach allegedly said that the football team looked like a bunch of hippos in their make shift outfits.

- taken from Wikipedia

Up The Wolves

there's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet
no matter where you live
there'll all ways be a few things maybe several things
that your gonna find really difficult to forgive

there's gonna come a day when you'll feel better
you'll rise up easy on that dayand float from branch to branch
lighter than the air
just when that day is comming who can say
who can say

your mothers have been absent
ever since we founded Rome
but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home

we're gonna comandeer the local airwaves
to tell the neighbors what's going on
and they shake their headsand wag their boney fingers
in all the wrong directions
and by daybreak we'll be gone

i'm gonna get myself in fighting trim
scope out every angle of unfair advantage
i'm gonna bribe the officals
i'm gonna kill all the judges
it's gonna take you people years
to recover from all of the damage

our mothers have all been absent
ever since we founded Rome
but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home!

-The Mountain Goats from The Sunset Tree

The New Classroom

Well here it is, the new classroom. i have officially been given an educational domain to rule as i see fit. The first week has been good. Most of the time has been spent getting to know my students and trying to get the hang of lesson planning. My desk is the rather unorganized looking one on the left in front of the Hendrix, Beatles, and Lord of the Rings posters. Julia, the woman i work with in the room is responsible for the plants, the sweet 30+ year old lava lamp, and the pink poodle. i couldn't have asked for a better c0-worker. Without her my first week would have been much more hectic. This semester i am teaching social skills, math, english, health/p.e., science, and psychology. i am hoping that at the end of the semester my students will have learned something. Everyday is getting a little easier and God has been faithful in providing me with what i need from day to day.

The things that pregnancy brings

My dear sweet Katie, why can't you sleep? Katie has not been throwing up but she has been suffering from a nice case of insomnia. Overall she has been dealing with this pretty well, i just wish she could get a good night's rest. When she can't sleep she will get up for fifteen to twenty minutes and do something before trying to go back to sleep. This usually involves turning on the computer and playing her favorite online game Bounce Out. Her high score is something rediculous like 250,000 whereas i have only managed to eek out a high score of 75,000 or so. Every once in a while i will come in and look over her shoulder to help her find the next move but most of the time she is doing moves i wouldn't see if i looked at the screen for an hour. The last couple nights have been better and she has been less tired the following day. This is good because we are both gearing up to start back to school. Tonight she told me i should be working on my classroom but i have no idea yet what to do. I already got a little fridge and am working on getting a coffee maker...what else could i possibly need? Well, i guess things for the walls and other classroom decorations as well as things to do when the kids arrive would be a good idea...i guess i have a lot of work left to do before school starts.

Prayer to St. Thomas the Apostle

O Glorious Saint Thomas, your grief for Jesus was such that it would not let you believe he had risen unless you actuall saw him and touched his wounds. But your love for Jesus was equally great and it led you to give up your life for him. Pray for us that we may grieve for our sins which were the cause of Christ's sufferings. Help us to spend ourselves in his service and so earn the title of "blessed" which Jesus applied to those who would believe in him without seeing him. Amen.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

It's alright to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's alright to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's alright to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus; and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters in life. At points, he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew, and through this, throw him off base. Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But with him, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother. Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to church meetings--an ecclesiastical gathering--and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the casual root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that these men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the day of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?".

That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" "If I do no stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

-Martin Luther King Jr. (taken from The Promised Land Speech)

My Enemies Are Men Like Me

i have come to give you life
and to show you how to live it
i have come to make things right
to heal their ears and show you how to forgive them

because i would rather die
i would rather die
i would rather die
than to take your life

how can i kill the ones i’m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it’s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me

peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution

when justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
the ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor

-Derek Webb (from the album Mockingbird)

Reading In My Free Time

As a sucker for a good Space Opera i picked this book up after it was recommend by George R. R. Martin on his website. It is the firt part of the Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. Williams spins a great tale with this book. Space battles, political dealing, royal balls, there is a little bit of everything in the book and the two subsequent volumes look promising as well. So much for my crappy book review...if you like SciFi this is definately one you should pick up.

Contemplating God

i've been reading Thomas Merton's book Ascent To Truth and i came across a passage that opened my eyes to the limited way i view God. As a bit of background info the book is about Christian Mysticism; specifically The Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross. It is a difficult yet at the same time wonderful read that i would highly recommend. Anyway, Merton writes that our perceptions of God are limited to our perceptions of the world around us. When we hear someone say that "God is love" our understanding of this statement is limited by our understanding love as a construct. Merton says that our human perception of love is nothing but a poor reflection of what love truly is as it is found in God. To try to understand "God is love" through our human understanding of love is to make a huge error. The "love" that is found in God is far beyond our understanding or perception, it is the perfect, ideal "love" towards which we should strive everyday. This same principle applies to any other characteristic of God like justice, peace, or forgiveness. In addition, in God love is justice which is also forgiveness. When I try to understand how this can be i'm always baffled, but then again God's ways are higher than my ways. All this reminded me of a passage from C.S. Lewis where he wrote that whenever he prayed he always prayed "to God, not as I know you, but as you know yourself to be." It has been a humbling experience contemplating all of this but i hope and pray that through it i will come to a deeper understanding of God, myself, and my faith.

On My IPOD
Shapes And Sizes - Shapes and Sizes
Alexi Murdoc - Time Without Consequence
Hundred Hands - Her Accent Was Excellent
White Whale - WWI
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years

It's funny what you remember

when i was in first grade we were signing yearbooks out on the playground. a girl in my class came up to me and said her older brother wanted me to sign his book. well he didn't have a book but rather a sheet of paper and i didn't have any good place to sign the paper except on the blacktop. as i started to sign my name my pencil broke through the paper making a hole. when i handed it back his sister said that i could have found a better place than the blacktop to sign my name. i still feel bad all these years later...why is that?

On My IPOD
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Sandra McCracken - Gypsy Flat Road
Q And Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep
Oh No! Oh My! - Oh No! Oh My!

what's a vegetarian to do?

Katie and i at Rudys last month. thanks to my friend Stew who came out from California and took this picture. just a note, Rudys is one of the most vegetarian unfriendly places you can find to eat but what do you expect from a place that has a sign outside which reads "Real People Eat Meat." i was forced to eat potato salad and cold slaw...oh well.

On My Ipod
Architecture In Helsinki - Fingers Crossed
Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
Nobody & Mystic Chords Of Memory - Tree Colored See
Danielson - Ships
David Thomas Broughton - The Complete Guide To Insufficiency

why am i not sleeping

sometimes things come at you so fast that you have no way of fully processing them until much later. my mother told me that it wasn't until years after my grandfather's death that she saw my father cry. sometimes it is the smallest things that will trigger those long repressed memories to bubble to the surface of your conscience. so much has been happening to me lately that i wonder what things i am internalizing and which will haunt me later. there is a part of me that has does not want to be father and yet another part that wants nothing more than to look into the mirror and to see his face. maybe it is only the negative aspects of my father that i fear because he is without a doubt the most incredible man that i know. i would not have traded being raised by him for anything in the world. what negative parts of myself do i fear? when i look in the mirror who is it that is looking back at me? will i be a good father? am i ready? something inside me says that i am and that scares me shitless. there is so much that i need and want to do. i have no idea how a child will change that. i have to stop staying up so late and thinking. i need some sleep.