The To Do List to DESTROY ALL TO DO LISTS!!!

SKIP TO THE BOLD TOWARDS THE BOTTOM IF YOU ARE SHORT OF TIME


The To Do List to DESTROY ALL TO DO LISTS!!!

Now that I am done with school... finally... after 17 years... I am able to do the things I have always wanted to do/learn... And learning from the example of JD, it is best to write down your goals, prioritize them, review them (weekly-monthly-annually), and put them into action. So over the last few months I have made a running list of things I want to accomplish while I am still living - if God so grants.

MATT'S LIFE "TO DO" LIST: (unprioritized, stream-of-consciousness-style)
-learn how to tell a good story
-learn how to tell a good joke
-take public speaking/social confidence classes
-take finance/economic classes
-compliment others more
-make life goals list and post on wall in room
-get better at remembering birthdays
-revisit places I have visited via pictures and research the culture/history of those destinations (I hate saying I have been to London and then have little to say/remember about it)
-review medical illnesses and treatments
-make a video portfolio of my work
-be organized with my weekly, monthly, yearly goals
-read the various Taking Sides books and come to a definitive stance on various issues
-read Karl Marx & Ayn Rand
-learn drums, piano, and guitar (with the intent of joining a band, becoming famous, selling out, and realizing that I was happier when I was unknown and with few friends)
-write songs - lyrically and musically -write/create a professional screenplay/film (short & feature length) -create a feature length documentary -master my videography skills -create a board game -create a children's book
-study physics and engineering (with the intent of answering the question I ask myself infrequently, "Could I have been an engineer instead?")
-learn outdoor survival (outdoors and not in the my house with a copy of "To Build a Fire")
-learn basic car mechanics & repair (so I am not the sucker who gets his "modulating coil" fixed every check-up)
-learn more about government and politics
-act in a short film (that makes it into a film festival... become famous... and realize I was happier before strangers knew me)
-take acting/improve classes
-build a bike
-speak Spanish fluently, then a third useful language (one that will help me when English is no longer the dominate language of the world. Mandarin? Arabic? Suggestions?)
-gain a general knowledge of beers, wines, and liquors (...so when I am in a bar I don't always order "a Screwdriver" because that is the ONLY mixed drink I know the name of, or knowing what "Wells" means, or knowing the difference between dirt cheap wine and a fine wine.)
-make a running "Life Lessons Learned" list
-live in a foreign country for 6 months or more -learn a brief history of the world -read literature classics -keep a journal (I guess blogs count, eh?) -document more of my times with friends on video/pictures -do scrapbooking?
-adopt a kid
-create a non-profit service organization of some sort
-do extensive research on the Bible, Jesus, Paul & the early church, and various aspects of Christianity (I think some people call this field of research "Apologetics")


IF SHORT OF TIME, START HERE:
The last bullet is what I am tackling first in my "Life 'To Do' List". I feel it is the most important (yet MOST intensive - some people spend their whole adult lives studying this). My goal is to write a report (a research paper?) on my findings (not so much for me, but to also share with people) . I have already done some reading on this topic from the books by Lee Strobel - "A Case for Christ" and "A Case for Faith". And I felt both books were very helpful, yet surface-skimming and biased. The thing that bothered me was how I felt his books was fairly one-sided, never interviewing the leaders from the opposite side of the fence (leading Atheists/Agnostics and their claims).
SO... What I am ASKING of YOU is...

WHAT BOOKS HAVE YOU READ/HEARD OF THAT WERE GOOD, IN-DEPTH BOOKS ON THE TOPICS OF THE BIBLE, CHRIST, PAUL'S LIFE, THE EARLY CHURCH, ETC...?
(note: I am interested in books from both sides of the issue: Christian Researchers & Atheist/Agnostic Researchers)

Here is a list of the books I already own:
-Burridge, Richard A. & Gould, G. "Jesus Now and Then".
-Strobel, Lee. "A Case for Faith" & "A Case For Faith".
-McDowell, Josh. "The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict - Vol 1 & 2"
-Remsberg, John E. "The Christ: A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidence of His Existence".
-Martin, Michael. "The Case Against Christianity".
-Hitchens, Christopher. "The Portable Atheist".

WHAT SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE?

Guarda Austin Raro!

This last week’s mention-ables…

Dating the church…
-Since moving to Austin, I have been looking for churches. I have been recommended about a handful of churches in Austin. Also, I have checked out Yelp.com (a great resource for citizen reviews of anything in most major cities… I highly suggest it) for churches in Austin.

This week, I checked out two of the recommended churches. I was pretty impressed with one of them - Austin Stone. It reminds me a lot of Four Oaks in Tallahassee. It’s a church with a large college and young adult congregation that meets in a high school. Chris Tomlin was one of the founders of the church before moving to Atlanta this last year.

You can tell his influence in the church because they have a “rockin” worship band - minus the cheesy songs and smoke and lights. They also have the typical trendy things of a young church (which, honestly, strike my interest) - well-edited videos, artsy graphics, and a young “hip” pastor.

There are 2 things that I particularly like about the church:
1) An apologetics/reasons for faith course
This Sunday I sat in on the apologetics course and contributed to the discussion of the week - Why do people trust and why don’t they trust the Bible? I really enjoyed the topic because this is something I have always been interested in since college. I hope to go to the rest of the meetings for further discussion.

2) Urban outreach
Since the church is buying land and building a church in the poor, Hispanic St. Johns Community, the church has adopted a service-oriented focus.

That is sort of their slogan for this period of building and transition. They figured they need to reach out to the poor, mostly Hispanic community of St. Johns before they move there. In so doing, the church has started a variety of programs to reach out to this community - like after-school tutoring for Reagan High (which is in danger of being closed due to poor academic performance), living among the community, volunteering in health clinics, and family support programs.

Here is a video of a couple in the church and their honest hardships living in the St. John's Community:

www.vimeo.com/1868693

The whole St. Johns outreach movement was kicked off this weekend with the Hope Fest. My friend Lindsey, who helped organize the Fest, suggested for me to sign up to volunteer. So this last Saturday I did blood pressures and helped interpret Spanish for the Hispanic visitors to the festival. It was a lot of fun… “?Te quiero chequear tu presion?”

Also, by the end of the day, I had made a friend with a guy named Alberto. Through talking, he revealed that he’s been digging ditches in Austin for the last year and has not seen his family in Mexico for 2 years. At the end of our conversation, he said he wanted to meet up sometime to practice his English and my Spanish. I hope he calls me back. He said he knew the location of a “buen restaurante chino”.


Practicar hace perfecto!
I really enjoy Austin for its high number of Hispanics and opportunities to learn Spanish. This last week I went to two different Spanish conversation groups. One was at UT and the other at the downtown Public Library. The UT group consisted of mainly college students that were Spanish majors. It was a good group but a big one of 8 people. But since we only met for an hour and it being our first meeting - we didn’t do a lot of talking. We are going to the museum this week to see some famous Latin American exhibit. The Library group consisted of mainly people in their 50s to 60s. I enjoyed this group because it was interesting to hear about the lives of 50+ year olds (which I usually find it hard to communicate with). Lonnie, a stoke broker (I think), talked about his gripes about the current economy and how the government is handling (or mishandling) the economy. How do you say Libertarian in Spanish?

There are also two or three different homeless shelters for Hispanics in my neighborhood. If I have time, I hope to get involved somehow. If I get involved with these shelters, I will be working on the front lines of the Immigration issue. Often these shelters house and care for the fatigued, fresh-from-the-border illegal immigrants from Mexico. Kind of exciting.

Making friends…
I have been more daring in the last couple days in trying to meet people. I figured I have to be more proactive in the friends department. On Saturday at the Hope Festival, I met Andrea, a fellow nurse at the blood pressures table, who invited me to the Austin End-of-Ramadan Festival. From their, I met a guy named Clay, a Muslim-ophile like Andrea (due to their recent trips to the Middle East). And they had great Schwirmas (Schwirma is a fun word to say and a delicious food to eat. Its like a Middle Eastern burrito). The purpose of the festival was to share with the Austin community what Ramadan and the Islamic faith is truly about... Jump Houses, cotton candy, snow cones and Schwirmas! Not terrorism and hate. Then from their, I was invited to a UT Football/St. Johns Community Outreach Party where I met some other people.

Then today at church, I overheard someone talk about indoor soccer. I made a comment to them expressing my love for indoor soccer. After about 5 minutes and a phone call, I was on their indoor soccer team. We played a game tonight and won 8-4. At first, when I heard it was a co-ed team, I was a little hesitant (because 8 times out of 10 girls aren’t that good and make co-ed soccer games a chore). But actually all four girls on the team had played club or collegiate ball at some time. All the players on the team were really good. At the end of the game, I had two assists and felt like I had proved myself to the team.