Why is life so dramatic for kids today? Seriously, I have no idea. Maybe we need to bring Nancy Reagan back to remind the kids to "D.A.R.E. to say NO" to drugs. Maybe we need to give Oprah and Dr. Phil more air time to help us help ourselves. Maybe we need watch more PAX and "Touched By An Angel" instead of "American Idol" (i.e. America's Next Golden Calf). Maybe we need to turn the radio down and turn our parents up. Maybe we need to stop looking at magazines that only make us feel ugly and poor. Maybe we should hug people with reckless abandon (side-hugging when coed). Maybe we need to learn at school instead of trying to be cool at school. Maybe we should care less about what people think and more about who people are. Maybe we need to replace MTV with Nick at Night. Maybe we should go to church because we want to and not because we usually do. Maybe we should spend more time with our families who'll be with us for the rest of our lives instead of fake flakey wannabe BFFs who are here today and gone tomorrow. Maybe we need to give and not expect anything in return. Maybe we should pray like we actually believe that we'll get what we pray for. Maybe we could start being the salt and light (just a note, I recently found out that salt is a representation of God's purity... think about it). Maybe we should be more like Christ and less like a crisis. Maybe we need to use the word "love" less when referring to things and more when referring to people. Maybe we should stop telling random boyfriends and girlfriends we love them when we don't even tell our families that. Maybe we can change the world through kindness, or die trying. Maybe we need to stop fronting, running game, running away from who we truly are. Maybe we should be okay with being imperfect, and give God some room to perfect us. Maybe you're not like everybody else. Maybe you weren't meant to be. Maybe we just need to be us so that people can just be them. Maybe I'm sick and tired of all the pretending that people do to impress other people who are pretending to impress other people who are... Maybe if "cool" was a person I'd punch it in the face because cool is the most damaging concept young people have ever been introduced to. Maybe I want to see you guys be who you were meant to be, and not care about the consequences. Maybe I want you guys to take the high road, the narrow path, the road less travelled, have hope unravelled. Maybe you are the only hope that people have today of knowing who Jesus Christ is. Maybe God has saved your existence for such a time as this. Maybe the world wasn't ready for the talents and abilities that you and only you possess, until now. Maybe you will save the day. Maybe you will save everyday. Maybe we should stop worshipping people and start worshipping God. Maybe we need to guard our hearts with our heads and our hands. Maybe the only One truly worthy of our love gets it the least. Maybe we need to hunger and thrist for His Word. Maybe we should fast to remind us. Maybe we could start a movement that would not only preach the acts of Christ, but live the message that he taught. Maybe it would grow and grow as people gave and gave and no one would worry about my show or your show and it would be bliss from now until the grave. Maybe the unfiltered, unadulterated message of love is all that people have been missing from their lives. Maybe we could live the greatest lives imaginable. Maybe they could be better than anything our imaginations could conjour up. Maybe our lives would be fairytales. Maybe they already are.

In that case, I guess you can call me Peter Pan. But I'd rather be called a Christian.

Love you guys. You mean more to me than a really large bag of gold.

Here's a confession, I've got a writing mistress. Yes, it's true. I've been cheating on xanga (not with myspace you junkies), but with something a little more serious. I've been working on a super top secret book. Yes sir. I was actually working on another book before this one, but it didn't feel up to snuff. I knew I could do better so I've shelved that one and started over. The second book is a lot better, it almost writes itself. Don't hold your breath though. It may take awhile to get it finished. I don't know about you guys but I'm more of a mood writer. I need to be compelled to write. I need to feel something to write something. It kinda sucks because I end up writing during the weirdest times. Anyway, that's why I haven't really been on xanga all that much.

Okay, the Back To School Bash was amazing. And I know that it was because you guys stepped up. You got your A game on. I saw so many of you guys talking to new people, I was almost in tears. The way you've got to look at it is this: When you invest time into visitors and new people at church, you've got to think to yourself, could this person be what we've been missing, could they be the next Karah, Meg, Cory, Tanner, Brook, Hunter, Jesse, Adam, Felix, Sussan, Barbi, Mandi, Marian, Kerry, Liz, etc.? It's just this easy kids: It's all about the relationships you guys form with the new people that gets the new people to stick and then they become old people and then they develop relationships with new people. And so on. It really is a good system. I'm not gonna lie, God knows what he's doing. The question is do we? Well, I think we've got a good idea. I know I'm hard on a lot of you guys, but know that I do it out of love, I do it to see you guys be who you were meant to be, created to be, to be who God longs for you to be.

I was once a new kid at church. All of us were. If it wasn't for my now best friend Dave who talked to me when I walked into that Sunday school classroom when I was 5, who knows where I'd be now.

It's just that easy. You are the Church.

Oh xanga, to know you is to love you, and to love you is to leave you, and to leave you is the best way to create a distance that only makes the heart grow fonder. So life's been crazy since I've gotten back from Europe. I haven't gone through any of the 15,000 pictures I took there for a couple of reasons: 1) There are 15,000 of them; 2) It will all seem but a fond, far off memory; 3) I've been busy as all get out; 4) I'm secretly wondering if I should hide away all my photographic work and then compile secret exhibits and then when I die, I'll have the exhibits run all over the world under cool names like "Urban Jungles" and "Linens, and Tie-Girls, and Beers, Oh My," and things like that. You know, just to be one of those underappreciated artists that was ahead of his time and could only be appreciated in the future. Thank you Van Gogh. 5) I still haven't done the Chicago pictures yet; 6) I bought a really sweet WWII computer game at the thrift store for $1.98 and it's a rendition of my favorite board game and I can't stop playing it; 7) It's still summer outside. Whatever. I'll get to them when I get to them.

What else? School's starting back up for you kiddos. That's pretty sweet. Here's my take, you don't have to like education per se, but you should love learning. That's the key, it's not all about the grades, it's about knowing. You guys have access to information at such a young age that the world would never have thought possible a few hundred years ago. For instance, Lenardo Di Vinci is widely held as a genius, an extravagant mix of artist and innovator, thinker and theologian, blah, blah, blah. BUT what is not widely regarded is that he didn't possess many of the math skills available to any common 5th grader today. To truly appreciate your education, you must understand what is available to you. The knowledge of worlds and words, kingdoms and phylums, peoples and places that have risen and fallen. So much is out there for you to take hold of. Again, let us look at how far we have come. It was not but a few hundred years ago when it was thought improper for women to be "educated." Ladies, it wasn't socially acceptable for you to know the quadratic formula, to study Plato, to ponder upon punnet squares. You were expected to sit there and be pretty, and keep a home. None of which I slight, but you've got access to so much more now. Knowledge is the one thing that the world cannot take away from you. Learning is not just investing into your future, it's investing into your forever. It's almost laughable that you guys would allow something as trite as teachers to keep you from learning. You are more brilliant right now than some of the smartest people throughout history have ever been. Start this school year off right. Yearn to learn. Expand your mind. I'm telling you, you'll surprise yourself. No excuses, no regrets.

Another thing about Leonardo Di Vinci, what he lacked in our modern day sciences he made up for in curiosity, experimentation, and determination. He never quit, he wouldn't be stopped, he couldn't be stopped. Be more than you are by being less of who you are. Less of us and more of Him. None of us and all of Him. Works every time.

Dang, there's so much to update I don't know where to begin. Let's see... I'm back in the States now. That's pretty sweet. I'm not gonna lie, America is the best country in the universe. Period.

It's Kerry Egeler's 16th Birthday today!!! That's pretty sweet.

The Chicago trip was freakin' amazing. It wasn't as heavy on the ministry side as the Hollywood trip, but hey, sometimes you just can't find a transgender prostitute to share the love of Christ with. Tough, deal with it kids.

Day 1 - Team building was awesome. Burying you kids in the sand and then watching the storm roll in was a personal highlight. I know, I'm a sick puppy. The disability challenge was pretty fun... to watch. But you guys held it down like gangstas and got the job done. Even if Kerry was impossible to bring back because he was always fighting to get away. Obstacle course? Hunter is an Army of One. And he's still my favorite animal. Foot washing ceremony/commissioning service was tizzight. Go Keira (she loves feet)!

Day 2 - Museum Day! Yeah, it was the best ever. I think I'll have my next birthday party at the Museum of Science and Industry. It'll be a blast. Like a 12-gauge to the eye hole. Okay, so I know all you kids thought it blew chunks and I was probably the only one who enjoyed it. And I won't lie, meeting Nico (my host from Amsterdam) was a huge bonus. But shopping and Navy Pier saved the day. Navy Pier is an obvious highlight of the entire trip. Man, just standing out on the Pier with Kerry playing guitar and watching you kids sing praises to your Father was really moving. So moving in fact that we got complete strangers to stop and sing with us.

Day 3 - Who wants to fast lunch? You guys, that's who. It was awesome to see you guys sacrifice your meal to help keep your focus on the service that night and the people we would minister to GUTS style. And fasting was a pretty big sacrifice after the insanely intense game of "Steal The Go-Go Juice" (our version of Steal the Bacon). Mad props to Jennifer Yesseler for being very gazelle-like. What do you get when you take a stage, add two chairs, a Mexican, and an Asian? A GYC trust fall that's higher than a rich 15 year old white suburban kid after school. ... ... Service that night was awesome. Great job to my b-boy crew who represented the T-town like "Jigga What?" I think Hunter and Adrian's midgit stole the show. Hart Attack dropped the Word like it was hot. And then you guys got to pray for the kids there. A great day.

Day 4 - Food pantry. You guys stepped it up here. It was very touching to see you guys go all out to serve the poor and the homeless. Whether it was serving food, handing out clothes, or just talking to people and expressing a genuine concern, you guys made me very proud. White Sox vs. Red Sox. No comment.

Day 5 - Evangelistic training probably caught most of you off guard like an old man in a speedo. Sure, Mormons, Muslims, and people who just don't care can be tough to share with, but they need to hear the message too. Hopefully you guys left frustrated enough to stoke a fire inside of you. It is absolutely imperative that you guys know what you believe. Your faith is your own, it must be real, it must be something you can share. And that's what you did at Grant Park while handing out waters. Dinner with mom was amazing. Her team cooked up a storm. She's one of a kind that woman is. Words can't begin to express the appreciation. It was crazy to see how everyone had grown up from my old church days. It was even crazier that you guys from GUTS were there with me, at my old church. My old church, my new church, THE Church. I like it. I like it a lot.

You kids are great. Let us lead lives without excuse. Keep on truckin'.

Berlin, Germany:

U2 ROCKED MY FACE OFF!!! Literally this concert was one of the best experiences of my life. I don't know what worship in heaven is like, but my version has U2 front and center. I still get chills thinking about it. Where to begin... so the concert was held at the Olympic Stadium where the Hitlerympics took place back in the good ole WWII days. This place was completely renovated to host the upcoming 2006 World Cup in Germany. So I'm walking up to the stadium a good two and a half hours before the show and I see the Olympic rings in all their faded glory. They're suspended between two towers and are right smack dab in the middle of the entrance. Fans are already lined up waiting to enter the heavenly gates and I'm beginning to get chills.

The gates open and we go through a pretty rigorous screening process to get in: bags are checked, people are patted down (pretty ones for longer, ugly ones not for so long), jackets removed, etc. I'm a little nervous by the time I get up to the screening spot because I've got my sizeable digital camera with me and they've been playing an announcement that said "The use of any recording devices or professional digital photographic equipment is strictly prohibited." Gulp. I magically get my camera through without being noticed. This I considered an act of God; a miracle somewhere between the plague of frogs that fell upon Egypt and South Korea making it into the semi-finals in the last World Cup. Just as a side note, South Korea has got some serious soccer game. Right now, they're ranked 20th in the world. Germany is 21. Uh-oh. Oh yeah, don't mind Park Ji-Sung's move to Manchester United. Maybe you've heard of them. Anyway, back to U2.

So I get a pretty sweet spot on the floor a bit right of center. Not terribly close, but close enough. I sit among what must have been every smoker in Berlin because I was up in smoke Cheech & Chong style. Then it started to drizzle, then rain, then kept raining. I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a problem. Miraculously (see above), by the time U2 was up, the weather was perfect, the day completely changed. The opening opening band was the Kaiser Chiefs, they weren't too bad. Then came Snow Patrol! Yes! I didn't even know they were opening for U2 at this concert, and then bam, there they were, telling jokes that nobody in all of Berlin understood except for me and other English-speaking tourists at the concert. Great open.

Then they left the stage and the entire stadium waited for U2... and kept waiting. The wait seemed an eternity, like an eternal marriage ceremony that prevents consummation. The agony. After several chants, several crowd waves, and about an HOUR, Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry took their spots. All sins were forgiven. What happens from here on out I can only recall in a dream-like daze. If you have a nature CD, you may want to put it on.

They rocked, they rolled, they had it all. Seriously, without bias or pretense, U2 is the best band in the universe. Period. They talked politics, religious tolerance, dedicated a song to London (Running To Stand Still), and easily worked the crowd into a frothy lather with each hit song.

I was expecting them to go through their How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb set and then work into crowd favorites. I was wrong. They interspersed their new stuff with the old stuff, you never knew what to expect. But everytime that classic guitar rift from Edge came blaring out or the crazy drumline from Larry, the crowd lost it. I lost it, all of it. Smiles upon smiles. I couldn't have prayed for a better set to be played by my fave band. They did Sunday Bloody Sunday, One, With Or Without You, Beautiful Day, Bullet The Blue Sky and countless other mindblowing hits. I'm still in a state of delirium. When they first did Vertigo (they also closed with it), instead of counting in Spanish, "Uno, dos, tres, catorce," he counted in German which totally cracked me up. That Bono, what will he think of next. When he started singing Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own I almost cried. Seriously, it was moving. It's about his dad who passed away a few years ago if you didn't know. So much emotion, so much energy, it was utter bliss. Then the music stopped, and then they left.

But they came back to do an additional set. It rocked. And then they left, again.

But they came back again. I was really beside myself with their second return. It was awesome. They did some of their Zoo TV tour stuff. And rightly they should have since they've got such a rich history in Berlin. The Zoo TV Tour was actually inspired by Berlin. Berlin's got a subway line literally called U2 that runs through the Zoo Station. Ironic and clever. Anyway, Bono also used to live in Berlin. And other miscellaneous facts.

The stage and light show was just as amazing. It added so much to the experience. Sometimes I would just look around and see all the faces glowing in radiant shades of blue, red, yellow, white, and green as they soaked every ounce of U2 up. And then I had a thought. U2 almost gave up on music completely back in their earlier days (around their October album) because Bono, Edge, and Larry were having some spiritual convictions (most seriously the Edge) about whether they were doing the most good through music versus something else. Adam really wasn't too much of a factor in this process since he wasn't/isn't really as religious as the others, if at all. Anywho, they decided to press on with music after much debate and personal struggle and WHAM! you've got the largest international band in the world. People were taking in everything Bono had to say. He was talking about starving kids in Africa, preventable diseases, love and tolerance ("COEXIST," where the C was an Islamic crescent moon, the X a Jewish star, and the T a Christian cross), he had a captive audience and he didn't miss the opportunity. U2 was actually a band that was literally trying to save the world. I revelled in this thought.

I'm sure Bono and I will meet one day. Him with an S on his chest and me with mine. We'll be flying around the world with our capes blowing in the wind discussing politics, life, love, and the mysteries of God. Yeah, that'll be pretty sweet. If you have a talent or a hunger to change the world, maybe you can join us. We've always got room for one more.

Okay, so I really didn't talk at all about Berlin. It was great. Read a book. I'LL BE BACK IN TULSA IN 4 DAYS!!! Cannot wait to see all of you guys. You're amazing.

EDIT: Set List... still buzzing...

Vertigo
I Will Follow
Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
All I Want is You
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running to Standstill
Pride in the Name of Love
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Zoo Station
The Fly
With or Without You

All Because of You
Yahweh
Vertigo