Pat Sokoll gave an amazing, stirring, and challenging… challenge… to the Rock leaders last tuesday.

An hour before it was supposed to start, I was charged with figuring out how to record it. So I gathered my laptop, Firepod, and the Rock’s Shure wireless lapel mic, thinking I would be just fine. I’d plug the wireless lapel mic into the Firepod, plug the Firepod into my laptop, and record with a sweet little program called Audacity. It’s been done a hundred times.

Well I get there and realize that I don’t have Audacity on my laptop, so, scramblng to figure out what app to use to record the message, I land on Garageband (the only audio recording app i have on my laptop.)

Either because I had some settings wrong, or due to the limitations of Garageband, it stopped recording somewhere in the middle of Pat’s message. Because I was deeply enthralled by what he was saying, I didn’t notice this. I’m not sure how much I missed. But I have a chunk at the beginning and a chunk at the end recorded.

My apologies to everyone involved in the Epic program, or anyone hoping to catch what Pat had to say via mp3. I’m working on piecing it together, but it’s not the whole thing.

The moral of the story is two-fold: 1) Physically COME to all of the Epic teachings and take good notes. 2) Pay attention to what you’re doing when you are charged with recording something.

I daydream a lot.

One recurrent daydream is about is what it would like be if there were still a warrior class in our culture. A class that was charged with the duty of protecting the society, enforcing justice, guarding, defending, etc. It is a class that existed for thousands of years in nearly every society, but with the advent of firearms and modern warfare, has pretty much disappeared. This class was generally set apart from the rest of society by the fact that they wore swords. A very visible sign of their station, charge, purpose, authority and responsibility.

Part of me believes that some men (and possibly women) are born warriors. They have it in their blood the same way someone is born and artist, musician, poet, engineer, politician, etc. There is, however, no way for a born warrior to express their birthright, except maybe in sports, possibly in the military and law enforcement.

What would it be like, in our society, if there were still a warrior class, that still wore swords?

If you didn’t already know, I think that deep down I was meant to be a warrior. I was thinking how odd it would be if I were allowed to/expected to/charged with wearing, and when necessary, weilding a sword. It’s especially odd to think of this in the context of sitting in a meeting about a Web application you are developing, wearing a sword, expected to pull it out and use it if necessary.

It also occurs to me how infrequently it is necessary to use a sword in our culture. Even if people wore them, it would be very rare to need it. (Unless you want to argue that the presence of weaponry increases violence.)

Would my skill with the blade fade over time through disuse? It would if I didn’t train. Would my proficiency in battle fade over time? It would if I did not regularly go to battle. Warriors become fat, lazy, and undisciplined in times of peace if they are not constanly preparing themselves, drilling, training, studying. If swords are not properly maintained, they will rust, dull, and stick inside the scabbard, making it very difficult to draw when it is actually needed, losing the edge of speed you need in combat.

The fact is, if you are a Christian, you are a warrior, you are in a battle, you have a sword, and you need to use it. If you do not, it will rust and dull and stick inside the scabbard and you will lose in battle. You need to train, drill, study, and go to battle regularly. You need to fight instead of flee, engage instead of retreat; or you will become fat, lazy, and undisciplined.

I am currently feeling fat, lazy, and undisciplined, but have recently been awoken to that fact. I intend to do something about.

Of course I speak in metaphors that point to a spiritual truth, but the spiritual realm is just as real and active and integral to our lives as the physical one.

I’m thinking of adding my “Amazing Web Site-ings” (see off to the right…) to the main section of my blog. This would mean more frequent posts, but would also mean more very short, trivial, fun, and interesting links added to PlanetRock, etc, rather than having to come to my site to see them.

I only post things that are really (in my opinion) really worth looking at. Funny articles, stories, pictures, and videos.

Any opinions one way or the other?

I have just upgraded the MovableType software that NotOurHome lives on. This means changes in many possible things, not the least of which is the way things look when you log in. I’m not sure the extent of the changes, or if everything still works, so if you run into any problems, let me know.

Along with this change comes 2 things:

1. A whole slough of much better looking styles to choose from.
2. I’m going to solicit another round of donations (which I haven’t done in years!). If you could pitch in $5-$10 (or more) bucks, that would really really help Russ and I keep things up and running. The easiest way to do this would be to hand me or Russ cash. The second easiest way would be to donate through paypal with this handy button:

With each donation, I will install a new style of your choosing for you.

Enjoy!

Go vote for them now!!. Like RIGHT NOW. Just do it.

Current results: (From the MSN page, at time of posting)

Who should be MSN Music’s July artist of the month? Vote for your favorite.

1. Nelly Furtado – 22%
2. Frankie J. – 1%
3. Busta Rhymes – 2%
4. Neil Young – 4%
5. David Crowder Band – 71%

191761 responses, Not scientifically valid, results updated every minute.