???Church???
I just came from Imago Dei after leaving in the middle of the service. I can't help but be critical of how we conduct out worship in "community" form. Imago constantly brags about the church community but what is Sunday morning. The congregations starts out by singing songs that were pre-picked out by a "worship" team that may or may not have anything to do with the current situations/struggles/growth that the people in the church may be having. Why not go to my room by myself and play some worship music of my own....how would that be any different? Then we are asked to sit down and face the front in our rows of cold hard benches. Then the "leader" stands in front...this is a man that the people have deemed capable of consistently teaching 1000+- individual lives. Why couldn't I read one of the thousands of Christian books each with their own topics to teach and instruct me while sitting at home? Then the rest of the week I can spend my time hanging out with friends and family and going about my activities.
I have spent roughly 6 months, 24 hours a day in similar Christian services in my 21 years of life. I can come close to guessing what the preacher/teacher is going to be talking about once he has informed us of the passage. I'm not sure if I'm just missing the concept of community in modern churches or does it really not exists. I think I have roughly the same amount of community in my college. Something seems wrong.

Today was my dads 56th birthday! Life seems to be going by so quickly.
Dan and I woke up early and left for Trout Lake from Portland at 6:30AM. We joined the rest of the Holcomb/Cook family for some breakfast and laughs. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Depression
Life seems too hard to figure out at times. Events are unfolding in the world that are so ironic that my mind has trouble processing them. Currently there are hundreds of people dying from a hurricane off the southern cost of the US while elsewhere tourists are sunbathing, sipping on cocktails. 852 million people are going to wake up tomorrow hungry (http://www.bread.org/hungerbasics/international.html). At the same time I work at a party as a valet and spend three hours throwing away wasted food for a man rich enough to feed 800 friends expensive seafood. Two nights ago I was at work and my friend, who has cerebral palsy, stopped by to chat for a while. I reached in his backpack to grab something for him and noticed some medicine needed to perform an enema. Just 10 minutes before I was complaining to myself because my feet were tired from standing while my friend has no idea what it is like to stand let alone have properly functioning bowels. My brother Dan spends his time working to help out orphans and widows in Uganda and Southern Sudan most of who struggle from one of many wars in Africa. Meanwhile I shop at Wal-Mart, drive an SUV, live in a big house and live a "western" life that helps aid in the wars around the world.
Most of the time I’m completely confused at how I’m supposed to live my life in light of what is going on around me. So I struggle on to gain the refreshing perspective that although humanity continues to make mistakes my creator is actively desiring to renew and love all.