It started simply enough. Tess and I had invited most—if not all—of our seminary friends over to celebrate my 25th birthday. Our apartment wasn't huge. We were mostly going to sit around and talk and snack. Maybe an hour before party time I had a thought. The party needed some background music to add even more life to the atmosphere. So I opened Spotify to make my ultimate playlist. I looked up albums I loved from artists I loved and added only my favorite song from each of those albums. Soon I had 100 songs, more than enough to cover our entire party. Party Mix was born.
It seemed like that would pretty much be the end. After all, I like to listen to albums when I work or when I drive. I enjoy listening to a single artist for a while, and I tend to think of albums almost like stories. I want to hear the whole story, even if some pieces of it are weaker than others. And yet, I understand the appeal of the playlist. You get the best of the best with no filler. Shuffling gets you the (theoretical, at least) randomness of listening to the radio without getting songs you don't like or certain songs too often. And so, without a radio station that I really liked, I found myself turning to Party Mix when I didn't know what album I wanted or when I only needed a few songs at a time.
It eventually grew into something bigger. After about fifteen months, I had a thought: What if I went further and pulled in the best songs off the rest of the albums I loved from the artists I loved? What if I made Party Mix bigger, better, and even more ready to party? I did a deep dive, scouring albums and artists I hadn't thought of the first time around and searching out albums that had come out since I created Party Mix. By the time I resurfaced, Party Mix had swelled to about 200 songs and become Party Mix 2.0.
It didn't stop there. Party Mix became a living, breathing playlist. I relistened to albums and decided there were a handful of songs I liked better than the ones I had originally put on the playlist. I kept on discovering new artists. Old beloved artists put out new albums. Party Mix 2.0 gave way to Party Mix 2.1. I still listen to albums quite a bit when I'm working or playing cards or driving long distances with Tess available to queue up new music from my phone after an album ends. But I find myself being drawn more and more to Party Mix. With well over 200 songs, every listening experience is different, and every song makes me think, "I love this song!" It doesn't get much better than that. Long live Party Mix.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Monday, March 25, 2019
#123 Good and Maybe Not So Good
Over the weekend our youth group participated in World Renew's FASTForward program. Along with fasting for 30 hours, we went around town doing a food drive for our local food bank. After doing the food drive three years in a row, I've noticed a couple of things.
First, lots of people are willing to participate in the food drive. I would say most of the people who answer the door go back into their house and dig up some food to donate, even if they had no idea we were coming. That's the kind of thing that makes you feel pretty good about your neighbors.
Second, lots of people seem to use the food drive as a way to get rid of food that they're never going to eat. Some people will mention that they don't like some item of food that they're donating. Others hand over things that just give the impression they've been sitting on the shelf for a while. That's the kind of thing that makes you feel less good about your neighbors.
What are you going to do? We humans tend to be a mixed bag. Giving away something you don't really like seems better to me than not giving anything away, even if giving away something you really enjoy seems much nobler yet. In the end, we do also collect a lot of food that is broadly appealing. And who knows, maybe those "reject" items will find their way into the hands of someone who genuinely would enjoy eating them. I hope so at least.
Grace and peace,
BMH
First, lots of people are willing to participate in the food drive. I would say most of the people who answer the door go back into their house and dig up some food to donate, even if they had no idea we were coming. That's the kind of thing that makes you feel pretty good about your neighbors.
Second, lots of people seem to use the food drive as a way to get rid of food that they're never going to eat. Some people will mention that they don't like some item of food that they're donating. Others hand over things that just give the impression they've been sitting on the shelf for a while. That's the kind of thing that makes you feel less good about your neighbors.
What are you going to do? We humans tend to be a mixed bag. Giving away something you don't really like seems better to me than not giving anything away, even if giving away something you really enjoy seems much nobler yet. In the end, we do also collect a lot of food that is broadly appealing. And who knows, maybe those "reject" items will find their way into the hands of someone who genuinely would enjoy eating them. I hope so at least.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, March 18, 2019
#122 Affirmation
A couple weeks ago I spent two days meeting with a group of pastors. We met to talk about how we can better function in our regional groups of churches, and those discussions were good. However, for me, the best part was the informal pastor-to-pastor conversations we had outside of our meetings.
Sometimes as I go about my job I feel like a very strange person. There aren't any other full-time employees at our church. Most of the people I talk to aren't pastors, so their work experiences are often very different than mine. Not a lot of other people make visits at nursing homes and hospitals for their jobs. Not too many others have Bible study and prayer as key parts of their employment. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about how Kanawha Christian Reformed Church can be a better church. I wouldn't say the other members of the church are unconcerned with that, but they have more additional concerns than I do.
So sometimes it's great to talk to other pastors. Talking to others who do similar work and think about similar things makes me feel like I'm not totally out of my mind. At this gathering I was the youngest and least experienced pastor in the room. The other pastors were very encouraging. They were quick to let me know when they thought I was asking the right questions or forming the right habits. They offered helpful tips from their own experiences. I came away feeling very affirmed and refreshed. Even if the rest of the meeting hadn't gone well, that would've made the whole trip worth it.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Sometimes as I go about my job I feel like a very strange person. There aren't any other full-time employees at our church. Most of the people I talk to aren't pastors, so their work experiences are often very different than mine. Not a lot of other people make visits at nursing homes and hospitals for their jobs. Not too many others have Bible study and prayer as key parts of their employment. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about how Kanawha Christian Reformed Church can be a better church. I wouldn't say the other members of the church are unconcerned with that, but they have more additional concerns than I do.
So sometimes it's great to talk to other pastors. Talking to others who do similar work and think about similar things makes me feel like I'm not totally out of my mind. At this gathering I was the youngest and least experienced pastor in the room. The other pastors were very encouraging. They were quick to let me know when they thought I was asking the right questions or forming the right habits. They offered helpful tips from their own experiences. I came away feeling very affirmed and refreshed. Even if the rest of the meeting hadn't gone well, that would've made the whole trip worth it.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, March 4, 2019
#121 The World According to Lanie
Lanie and I have had some interesting conversations lately.
Last week Monday I was watching Lanie while Tess was at work at the library.
Lanie: Mama?
Me: Mom's at work, Lanie. Remember? Does Mama work?
Lanie: No no.
Me: Do you think Daddy works?
Lanie: Yep yep!
Me: What do you think Mom's doing if she's not working? Do you think she's shopping?
Lanie: Oh yep!
Lanie and I often go down to the basement. When we do, she likes to pull all the cards out of my wallet. One day last week she decided to set all my cards on a ledge at the top of the basement stairs.
Lanie: [Looks at me. Points downstairs.]
Me: Do you want Daddy to go downstairs?
Lanie: Yep yep!
Me: But you're upstairs. I want to stay by you. I don't want to go downstairs by myself.
Lanie: [Returns to playing.]
Lanie: [Walks downstairs and waits for me to follow.]
Lanie: [Motions for me to sit on the couch downstairs.]
Lanie: [Begins walking back upstairs.]
Me: Are you leaving me?
Lanie: Yep!
Me: Can I come with you?
Lanie: No no.
Me: Are you trying to get rid of Daddy?
Lanie: Yep yep!
Well, she may want to ditch me and may not think Tess works, but at least Lanie's honest.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Last week Monday I was watching Lanie while Tess was at work at the library.
Lanie: Mama?
Me: Mom's at work, Lanie. Remember? Does Mama work?
Lanie: No no.
Me: Do you think Daddy works?
Lanie: Yep yep!
Me: What do you think Mom's doing if she's not working? Do you think she's shopping?
Lanie: Oh yep!
Lanie and I often go down to the basement. When we do, she likes to pull all the cards out of my wallet. One day last week she decided to set all my cards on a ledge at the top of the basement stairs.
Lanie: [Looks at me. Points downstairs.]
Me: Do you want Daddy to go downstairs?
Lanie: Yep yep!
Me: But you're upstairs. I want to stay by you. I don't want to go downstairs by myself.
Lanie: [Returns to playing.]
Lanie: [Walks downstairs and waits for me to follow.]
Lanie: [Motions for me to sit on the couch downstairs.]
Lanie: [Begins walking back upstairs.]
Me: Are you leaving me?
Lanie: Yep!
Me: Can I come with you?
Lanie: No no.
Me: Are you trying to get rid of Daddy?
Lanie: Yep yep!
Well, she may want to ditch me and may not think Tess works, but at least Lanie's honest.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, February 25, 2019
#120 Snowpocalypse
Holing up at home through a blizzard here in Iowa has got me thinking about my college days. Here's the story of my all-time favorite run:
Back in February 2011 Snowpocalypse hit Chicagoland. I don't remember how much snow we got anymore, but it was enough to shut Trinity Christian College down the next day. Tuesday afternoon the snow was falling hard, so hard that my coach canceled track practice. (Pretty sure this storm was the only time practice was canceled in my career.) But that year I was living with my teammates, my best friends, my boys, and we couldn't pass up the adventure of running in this blizzard. So Clark, Kunz, Kyle, Lindy, and myself laced up our shoes and went out. As we hit the parking lot, Joey, our assistant coach and former captain pulled in, jumped out of his car, and joined us. The beginning of the run was not the kind of adventure we were hoping for. The wind was pelting us with snow and we were crawling alongside traffic on the side of some roads. But then we hit our target: a golf course tucked into the suburban neighborhoods. We dashed through the snow and circled around a flag. There was a lot of yelling, some sort of Braveheart-type speech was made, and then we fanned out to sprint across the golf course, screaming and celebrating. Suddenly Lindy disappeared, swallowed up by the snow after stumbling into a hidden sand trap. He popped up to the roar of our laughter. At the end of the golf course we entered a park and looped around Pleasure Lake before taking a back way home to Trinity. All told we put in 9 miles that day. It was slow. It was dangerous. We had quite a few running adventures in college, but running was never as fun as it was that day. Thanks, Snowpocalypse.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Back in February 2011 Snowpocalypse hit Chicagoland. I don't remember how much snow we got anymore, but it was enough to shut Trinity Christian College down the next day. Tuesday afternoon the snow was falling hard, so hard that my coach canceled track practice. (Pretty sure this storm was the only time practice was canceled in my career.) But that year I was living with my teammates, my best friends, my boys, and we couldn't pass up the adventure of running in this blizzard. So Clark, Kunz, Kyle, Lindy, and myself laced up our shoes and went out. As we hit the parking lot, Joey, our assistant coach and former captain pulled in, jumped out of his car, and joined us. The beginning of the run was not the kind of adventure we were hoping for. The wind was pelting us with snow and we were crawling alongside traffic on the side of some roads. But then we hit our target: a golf course tucked into the suburban neighborhoods. We dashed through the snow and circled around a flag. There was a lot of yelling, some sort of Braveheart-type speech was made, and then we fanned out to sprint across the golf course, screaming and celebrating. Suddenly Lindy disappeared, swallowed up by the snow after stumbling into a hidden sand trap. He popped up to the roar of our laughter. At the end of the golf course we entered a park and looped around Pleasure Lake before taking a back way home to Trinity. All told we put in 9 miles that day. It was slow. It was dangerous. We had quite a few running adventures in college, but running was never as fun as it was that day. Thanks, Snowpocalypse.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, February 18, 2019
#119 Adventure Is Out There!
If you know me, you probably know that I'm a big Superman fan. If we could somehow make a pie chart of the types of knowledge in my head, I think Superman knowledge would be the second or third largest slice. When I want to unwind at the end of the day I read Superman comics. I've blogged in the past about being a member of the Superman Homepage, and I check the headlines there daily.
I think most people I know find my enthusiasm for all things Superman to be a bit strange. Tess rolls her eyes at me once in a while, but she's generally pretty supportive or at least tolerant. My mom is still hoping I'll grow out of this someday. Others just give me the "it's-not-for-me-but-whatever-floats-your-boat" vibe.
So this week I'd like to try to explain why I love Superman. (I don't really like to use the word "love" here, but I think it gets the point across to most people.) I could talk about a lot of things here: how cool it is that Superman can fly, how much I enjoy that Superman is consistently and unapologetically a force for good, how great it is that Superman is a symbol of protecting the weak and fighting against discrimination and prejudice, how interesting I find Superman's dual human-alien nature as an (admittedly quite imperfect) imitation of Christ's human and divine natures, how Superman's twin concerns for truth and justice echo much of what God is concerned about in the Old Testament prophets.
But this is already getting sort of long, so I'll focus on one thing that I think might be the main thing: I love Superman because Superman stories are about adventure. At the risk of stating the obvious, Superman can do pretty much anything. That's what I enjoy about the character. Superman can bust small-time crooks and take down criminal organizations. He can battle supervillains and fight alien invaders. That kind of stuff is interesting and fun, but Superman does other things, too. He can rescue people from natural disasters and help individuals with everyday problems. He can travel through space and time to encounter an endless amount of creative situations and characters. I would argue that you could write loads of great Superman stories without ever truly having a villain. I would read hundreds of pages of Superman just discovering cool new things. I would watch a full-length movie that was nothing but Superman flying around and pulling people out of floods and fires and falls. When I was a little kid I wanted adventure. I found great enjoyment in closing my eyes and imagining the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could. I love Superman because he has adventure, because he does the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could think of (and quite a few things I wouldn't come up with on my own). And if that's strange, I'm okay with that.
Grace and peace,
BMH
I think most people I know find my enthusiasm for all things Superman to be a bit strange. Tess rolls her eyes at me once in a while, but she's generally pretty supportive or at least tolerant. My mom is still hoping I'll grow out of this someday. Others just give me the "it's-not-for-me-but-whatever-floats-your-boat" vibe.
So this week I'd like to try to explain why I love Superman. (I don't really like to use the word "love" here, but I think it gets the point across to most people.) I could talk about a lot of things here: how cool it is that Superman can fly, how much I enjoy that Superman is consistently and unapologetically a force for good, how great it is that Superman is a symbol of protecting the weak and fighting against discrimination and prejudice, how interesting I find Superman's dual human-alien nature as an (admittedly quite imperfect) imitation of Christ's human and divine natures, how Superman's twin concerns for truth and justice echo much of what God is concerned about in the Old Testament prophets.
But this is already getting sort of long, so I'll focus on one thing that I think might be the main thing: I love Superman because Superman stories are about adventure. At the risk of stating the obvious, Superman can do pretty much anything. That's what I enjoy about the character. Superman can bust small-time crooks and take down criminal organizations. He can battle supervillains and fight alien invaders. That kind of stuff is interesting and fun, but Superman does other things, too. He can rescue people from natural disasters and help individuals with everyday problems. He can travel through space and time to encounter an endless amount of creative situations and characters. I would argue that you could write loads of great Superman stories without ever truly having a villain. I would read hundreds of pages of Superman just discovering cool new things. I would watch a full-length movie that was nothing but Superman flying around and pulling people out of floods and fires and falls. When I was a little kid I wanted adventure. I found great enjoyment in closing my eyes and imagining the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could. I love Superman because he has adventure, because he does the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could think of (and quite a few things I wouldn't come up with on my own). And if that's strange, I'm okay with that.
Grace and peace,
BMH
Monday, February 11, 2019
#118 Brian the Giant Hamster
This morning I ran on my treadmill. I HATE running on the treadmill. But I have one because some church members wanted to get rid of theirs, and they offered it to me. It was a lovely gift. I'm really grateful that they thought of me. Road conditions are pretty dangerous in Kanawha through much of the winter, so running outside isn't a good option. I'm really blessed to have the opportunity to run safely indoors in my own home. And lately I think I've been a little more stressed than normal, so exercise is good.
So this morning I talked myself into a run. It was brutal. Running and running and running without going anywhere makes me feel like an overgrown hamster. I hate it. I've got things set up so I can watch TV while I run, but it only helps so much. The run still seems to last forever. I miss the wind on my face, the slowly changing scenery. The whir of the belt and the echo of my footfalls burrow too deep in my brain. With about a mile to go, I'm losing it. I've got to slow down the pace. I stumble through the rest of the run. I'm sweaty; I'm thirsty; I'm beat. It's almost enough to make me wonder why I do this. But then that good old feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment sets in. Treadmill running is horrible, but it's still running, so I guess it's worth it. [Sigh.] I better prepare myself to get into hamster mode again.
Grace and peace,
BMH
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