Screamers Are Divas. (But I Wish I Would Have Taken More Pictures)

It began early one morning, a clear day with an exciting destination. I-35 was quickly passing by under the wheels of my "Ferrari Civic".I was on my way to Durango CO, Via Shawnee OK -- on my way to adventure and more importantly, on my way to be reunited with friends and make new ones along the way.Delaying my trip slightly; before I had left that morning, I had gone by a Professor's office to discuss with him how I could have possibly gotten a "C" in my 1 hour Rock Climbing PE class. That failed attempt at diplomacy and/or any sort of grade adjustment

cast a bit of gloom upon the drive up to Shawnee, as I considered what course of action to take next. But as I saw a sign for the "Arbuckle Mountains" (immediately thought of Nick Arbuckle) and another sign with a picture of a lion or something and proclaiming; "exotic wild-life preserve", I began to regain excitement for what was occurring. I was ACTUALLY doing this!

After meeting up with my pal Cody and getting introduced to his posse (Dalton, Joe, Emily, Sydney, Brad, Mary and some others?) we headed off for concert shinanigins in Tulsa. Underoath, August Burns Red, and Emery all collaborated for a pretty fantanstic* show. For my readers' sake, here is my two days in Oklahoma in fast-forward:

Happy, Cody, New Friends, Straight Hair, Long Hair, Burnt Hair, Police, FREEZING, Loud, Legit, Hanging with the Band, Whataburger,Walmart, May Palace, Worrying about snow storms, Call of Duty Modern Warfare II, Freezing, High School Basketball, Taco Bell,Starbucks, Cruising, Staying up Late with Thomas, Getting up early to head to Colorado.

Colorado or bust. This must have been my motto as I drove, talked on the phone, and listened to random talk shows on the radio about cattle and farming for 13 hours that day. So, I was quite worried about the fact that it had been snowing all day in Durango, and I had absolutely no legit winter driving experience. But sure enough, I drove in through the vortex of a snow storm!! Thank God for the lack of slideage.

Finally, at I made my way through the familiar yet different winter wonderland that is Durango, Colorado. Little did I know that because of car trouble I would both stay longer and leave poorer than I expected.


It was great to see friends from last summer! First I stopped by Durango Joes and saw Jenny and Kathryn and got some PEPPERMINT hot chocolate, then I continued on to Riley, Nate, Chas, and Evan's Apartment where i was graciously hosted for the next week or so. Oh yeah, and got to hang out with pretty much er'body from camp who lives in the area was able to come by for at least a few minutes that night. (with the exception of a few people.) 
Then next ten days summed up in no particular order:

Pizza Party with: ~Riley, Evan, Summer, Cassie, Emily, Kristy, Jonathan, Sam, 

Sam, Cody, Rusty, Jenny, and the Brothers minus Amy. 

Church @ First B of Durango! where I saw Pastor Jeff Dobesh, Emma Harmon, and Susan Harmon and the Millers as well!

Sledding #1 with Sam, Emily, Cassie, and Jonathan= One broken wrist for Cassie.


Lots of driving around town with Jonathan


Lots of Call of Duty with Chas and Jonathan


Watching Riley play lots of MLB on 360


Sledding #2 with Jenny, Amy, Stephanie, Kathryn, and Kat followed by soup, deliciousness, getting stuck in the driveway for half an hour, and Valle Cito.


Surprise visit at the Credit Union to visit Emily

Nini's with Jonathan, Sam, Cassie, Summer, Sam, and Emily.

Hanging out with ma friensss

Tommyboy with Sam, Cassie and Emily (without Jonathan, oops)


Steamworks: with a BUNCH of people. including Malcom, Justin, and Natalie for the first time. 


Silverton with Jenny (Brown Bear Cafe?) We saw a Bald Eagle AND an Elk!


Messing with peoples minds in the double tree hotel elevator? click this



Errands with Jonathan


Dinner at the Helvoigts (twice)


LOTR Marathon at Tim and Marci's (where I saw Joy and Abigail)



Cassies graduation and party at the camp (where I saw Gabe and a wild turkey, and like 25 elk on the way home)


Calling Cody Yount on speaker with Jonathan every few hours



PAYING 500 DOLLARS TO FIX MY CAR.


Sushi with Jenny, Stephanie, Natalie and Jeremy and East by Southwest



Sleeping with Osa (black lab) every night on the couch.


Serious Texas BBQ several times

Mr Beans Vacation with Jenny, Stephanie, Amy and others



Taking Sam to the Airport


Making Queso and Guacamole with Jonathan, Emily, and Cassie


Driving in AND out in a snowstorm? Check! (Seeing an upside down Suburu on the way home? check)


Having one of the best Christmas breaks ever? CHECK!

Thanks guys, for putting up with Tobin the Futon/Couch Surfer. I had a BLAST and was happy to see friends and to make new ones along the way.

Oh yeah, Racing the storm to Texas was interesting too... oh well, another day.

The Beauty of Brokenness

When I watch people worship, I find that there is one major attribute which is attractive to me. Attractive might not be the right word… Perhaps Admirable is a better choice of words.

Tonight I was at a certain worship concert (Casting Crowns, and Matt Redman) and I stopped singing for a few minutes to look around at people who were worshipping all across the arena. Several different types of people caught my eye as I scanned the crowd. At first glance, the audience was pretty uniform, but gradually, slight differences began to stand out to me.

The first type of worshiper that stood out to me was a type that I am going to label “The Bouncing Y Worshiper”. This type of worshiper moves around quite a bit and has his hands up in the air a lot. Not very much encouragement is needed to convince this worshiper to jump up and down with the beat of the music. Musical dynamics act as his conductor, pleading for more complicated or exaggerated movement at the song’s climax. he appears very zealous and excited. I wish I had that kind of enthusiasm.

The second type of worshiper I noticed was a variation of the “Bouncing Y Worshiper”. The main difference is the slight lack of excited motion. I would probably call these folks “Plain Ole Y Worshipers” This “specimen” of worshiper makes up the majority of worshipers, and has a wide variety of members. I would probably fall into this category much of the time.

As I sat getting caught up in marveling/being distracted by people’s different styles and personalities, I began to notice a few worshipers who couldn’t really be labeled conventionally:

One tiny figure on the very top row of the arena captured my attention. I watched intently at the far off silhouette of a man. I couldn’t tell from the black shadow what he looked like, and perhaps this was best, because the longer I watched, the more this shape embodied a sort of model worshiper for me. He stood off by himself, not front and center, or in a place where ulterior motives could get in the way of his conversation with God - -Being a student at a Christian University, where “Spiritual” people are looked up to by many, it is easy to want to take short-cuts to wide-spread respect by letting others know how Christian-like one can act during times of corporate worship. This pure example of sincerity and genuineness to the father brought goose bumps to my skin. I watched as he would lower his arms to wipe the tears from his face occasionally, without ceasing his love-song to God.

I noted one last worshiper. This worshiper was actually two worshipers, a middle-aged husband and wife. They stood together, eyes glistening and one hand raised in worship, the other gripping their spouse’s free hand. It made me imagine different trials they had endured together, being torn apart a little bit at a time by the things of this world, yet continually repaired by the Father.

Authenticity is attractive, no matter what type of worshiper one is. Oh yeah, I decided to use “admirable”. Authenticity is Admirable.