Chris Poch

I saw David Crowder Band and Third Day in concert last night at Liberty University. Both bands did an excellent job, but I’m not used to seeing Crowder as an opening act. I’ve seen Crowder play four times since October 2004, and every time, he was the main performer except for this time. I guess that Crowder is still not a big name, even though I think that he’s one of the best musicians alive, and his songs are widely used in churches. I don’t think that Crowder does as well live on his rock stuff, which is largely what his current album is. He’s a great worship leader, so I prefer seeing him when he’s leading worship as opposed to performing or when he’s touring with a mostly worship album.

Third Day did a better than expected job as the headline act. I have to admit, I’ve never really gotten into their music. I would have preferred to have Third Day open for Crowder, but I think Third Day has more name recognition, since their music tends to get picked up on the God stations. Third Day has an amazing keyoard player, and he toured with a Hammond organ. Makes me want to get a Hammond and start rocking out on it. I may have to get the new Third Day album yet.

It’s been a while since I did a three things post, so here you go for your random Wednesday morning enjoyment.

Three things you may not have known about me:

1. I’m ambidextrous.
2. I am an INTJ.
3. My high school issued me an official fake ID card.

Busy weekend here. Friday evening was the annual homegroup guys make the girls dinner and affirm that they’re good people, even though largely single people night. Cory (grad student cory, not roommate Cory) cooked spaghetti with meat sauce, chocolate covered strawberries, angel’s food cake toppings, and attempted to cook fried ice cream.

The fried ice cream was classic. By classic, I mean it set off the Slusher fire alarm. Cory burnt one serving of fried ice cream when his plastic spoon he was using melted in the boiling oil. We got the ice cream out, and didn’t notice much smoke, but we opened all the windows. A few minutes later, the oil was still smoking a little, so we gave up and took it outside. We propped the doors open and fanned the smoke detectors. The smoke was mostly gone and we were breathing easy that we hadn’t set off the alarm when it went off. Now, this was more than five minutes after the oil had been outside. Makes me feel real good about the quality of the dorm fire alarms. Thankfully, the poiice weren’t mad at us and we can call this valentine’s Dinner “unforgettable”.

I took Saturday and Sunday off from work. It snowed most of that time, and I enjoyed a quiet day around the house and a lot of fun boarding and sledding on the golf course. Throw some movies, staying in bed until afternoon, and other fun in there and you have a relaxing weekend. I’m enjoying not having that much work this semester! The only downside to the weekend was that my car is going to need a new tailight cover.

Best to worst, judged based on the quality of their espresso and their standard drip coffee:

1. Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea
2. Easy Chair Coffee
3. Starbucks
4. Bollo’s
5. Deet’s Place

Mill Mountain
Easily the best coffee shop in Blacksburg. All the coffee they brew is roasted fresh in the store, and then brewed the next day. They offer several blends of coffee in the shop each day, lots of espresso drinks, sandwiches, and ice cream. The Mill Mountain Blend, which they always have brewed, is easily my all time favorite coffee. I buy fresh roasted coffee from Mill Mountain for home brewing, and will continue to order from them once I move out of the area. Their cappuccinos and mochas are spectacular, and their sandwiches are good, if a bit pricey. If coffee isn’t your thing, they also brew and sell loose leaf tea. I’ve enjoyed brewing their loose leaf teas at home, especially the slightly minty herbal Monk’s Prayer for reflective times and their Oolong for with Chinese food. Note that the shop in Blacksburg isn’t fully affiliated with the shops near Roanoke, but the menus are very similar and I highly recommend any of their locations that I’ve been to.

Easy Chair Coffee
Located in University Mall outside the Math Emporium, this coffee shop gets a strong business from VT students dreading their looming Math Emporium assignments. Easy Chair Coffee has great drinks that have made my time in the Math Empo much less painful. I don’t frequent this shop, because it is not convenient to my house, but if Mill Mountain were to pull out of Blacksburg, I might have to become a regular here.

Starbucks
I know that I’m going to get flamed for this comment, but their coffee isn’t that bad. When the only Starbucks in town was across the street from Easy Chair, I only went to Starbucks before going to the adjacent Five Guys to pick up something cold to make up for the lack of milkshakes at the otherwise amazing Five Guys. Starbucks doesn’t have amazing coffee, but they helped raise the bar of what people expect in a coffee cup. They were also the first chain to refuse to use the horrible tasting robusta beans. That said, Starbucks has switched their locations to automatic espresso machines. The decrease in the quality of their cappuccinos and (more importantly) their peppermint mochas around Christmas has caused me to avoid them if I’m looking for espresso. I’ve yet to visit their newest Blacksburg location, even though it’s now the closest coffee shop to my house. One major downside to going to Starbucks: I always feel like a corporate whore or a sellout when I go there.

Bollo’s
I know a lot of people who like to frequent Bollo’s. It’s the local artsy-type coffee shop. I enjoy their atmosphere, but their coffee is horrendous. I got a medium cappuccino there the other day (which is 12 oz there – yuck!) on my way back from campus and thought to myself after several sips “I wish I had walked the extra block to the Starbucks.” Coming from me, that’s saying a lot. If you must go to Bollo’s, be warned of the small sizes and know that I’ve found the iced latte to be tolerable on a hot summer day. Unlike their coffee, Bollo’s has amazing baked goods. I think their small bakery is probably the best one in town. I highly recommend the oat fudge bars, although they tend to be small and expensive in the shop.

Deet’s Place
The on campus coffee shop and ice cream parlor. I intended to make Deet’s fourth on my list and Bollo’s fifth, but I had a cup of coffee in Deet’s this afternoon that was so foul tasting, I couldn’t finish it. The help is clueless about coffee, the coffee is very bitter, the espresso machine is automatic, and the help still manages to screw the drinks up. The baked goods here are usually good, and they have a nice selection of loose leaf teas. If you must go here, I recommend trying their herbal peppermint tea. Actually, try any tea before you even consider a cup of coffee. Also note that the giant roasting machine in the front of the main room is there for decoration purposes only.

Not reviewed:
Java Junction
Daily Grind
Cinnabon – I haven’t had coffee here in several years, but I remember them making my drinks wrong on several occasions. I don’t feel a need to go back.
More Than Coffee – I love the calzones here, but I’ve never actually had coffee and don’t really think of them as a coffee shop

Out of the area:
Caribou Coffee – I’ve started going here for espresso when I’m back home. Most locations use automatic machines, but the quality of their brews seems better than Starbucks (plus, I don’t feel like a sellout going here).
Greenberry’s – Excellent coffee with several locations around the DC area. Too bad there’s not one near my parents.
Probably would be second on the above list if they were in the Blacksburg area.

I want to highlight an excellent essay by Brian of Zealous Endeavor on surrendering all areas of our lives to God. He writes:

As we begin to take seriously this life to which we are called, we must surrender wholly to His will, to His leading, to His Word, and to His commands. We must know that it is only by the grace we have received through the cross that we are able to approach Him and seek after Him wholeheartedly. It is “in Him that we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28). In Him, and by His power, our surrender leads to His name being glorified. There is no greater calling than this, to glorify God through our complete submission, and to make His name known by the simple testimony of His work in our lives.

Ever since picking up Zealous Endeavor through a comment on the 268 blog after Passion 06, I’ve been blessed by Brian’s essays that he shares there. I think that “Wholly Surrendered” is especially well written, and encourage you to check out the full essay.

I wrote this post several weeks ago, but never actually posted it. The blog has been silent for a while, so I figured I’d go ahead and post it. Watch for a more substantial post in the next few days.

I recently finished reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I had previously read The Purpose driven Church, Warren’s book on church structure and purpose. In The Purpose Driven Life, Warren covers an introduction to why we’re here on earth, and then discusses in greater detail five purposes for our lives:

1. “Love God with all your heart”: You were planned for God’s pleasure, so your purpose is to love God through worship.
2. “Love your neighbor as yourself”: You were shaped for serving, so your purpose is to show love for others through ministry.
3. “Go and make disciples”: You were made for a mission, so your purpose is to share God’s message through evangelism.
4. “baptize them into . . .”: You were formed for God’s family, so your purpose is to idenify with his church through fellowship.
5. “teach them to do all things . . .”: You were created to become like Christ, so your purpose is to grow to maturity through discipleship.

(Warren 306)

The book is designed to be used as a 40 day personal devotional, with reflection questions and verses to remember at the end of each of the 40 mini chapters. I thought the book was well put together, and despite Warren’s Southern Baptist background, I agreed with nearly everything he had to say, and where I disagreed, it was always something trivial. This book would be an excellent choice for a new believer or someone who is interested in understanding what it really means to be a Christian. I thought it was a good summary of how to live a life that pleases God.

The more that I look around me, the more I’m amazed by all the awesome things that God is doing on this campus, and all around the country and the world in my generation. I’m not only seeing more and more young leaders accept Christ, but I’m also seeing a passion in this generation to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. I keep running into people who I knew years ago who have now entered the Kingdom of God. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing” (Matthew 11:12 NIV). How visible that truth is today!

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 ESV)

Notice that 11 people made an impact on the world that was so radical that it changed the course of history. I recently came across this quote that I think describes things well: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it’s the only thing that ever has” (Margaret Mead). Let’s be the change that this world needs so badly.

It was over 60 degrees here today, so Justin, Jason, Tim, and myself jumped in the car and went up to Wind Rock for sunset. We were coming back for a game night, so we didn’t have time to have a campfire and make s’mores, but it was still a great trip, even though the sunset wasn’t perfect.

Homegroup game night was fun–I played Cranium, and learned a new game called Kims that’s good for a crowd.

It’s been an interesting last few days. Wednesday, I drove up to Lexington, VA for traffic court. A reckless driving ticket, which I initially thought was a criminal charge, ended up becoming a plain speeding ticket during the trial. I was very thankful–I got a fine, and it looks like my license will only have four points total on it. I’m very glad about that, and I’ve driven 3500+ miles with much more caution since then.

One of the amusing things about the hearing was that the judge didn’t seem to like the cop. The cop was not at all polite to me when he stopped me. Even with two hearing aids, I had to repeat everything I said at least twice to him as well. The judge seemed to be purposely picking on the judge’s bad hearing. He spoke very softly, and on several occasions made comments that made the cop look like an idiot–especially during the first case, which was criminal reckless driving (trucker hit eight cars). I also think part of my ticket reduction may have been to spite the cop. Works for me.

On my way home from Lexington, I stopped off in Roanoke for a little shopping, since I had already missed all my classes for the day. I discovered that Dick’s Sporting Goods is more like a Cabella’s, and less like a Sports Authority. In other words, they didn’t have a single ski rack, let alone a pair of skis or a snowboard in the store. Lots of golf clubs and hunting gear, though. I also peeked in Circuit City, Lifeway, and the Valley View mall. I was wearing a suit, so I didn’t do as much shopping as I would have liked to, but at least I got a good soft pretzel from Auntie Anne’s. I hadn’t had one in at least 3 years! Mmmmm!

I got some work done Wednesday afternoon, experienced the second homegroup of the year, and went on the lifegroup tour. Speaking of lifegroups, I know where I’m going now. Only thing that could change it is if one of the other lifegroups is only threeish people.

I also had several long online conversations Wednesday night. At one point, I had five active conversations going, which is more than I like to have going. The only ones that were at all memorable though were with Tim, Michael, and Zack. Okay, I admit the Zack conversation was seven messages total, but it caused a more than two hour phone call on Thursday. I got in bed around 4am, which was not ideal, but given all the things that were going on last night, it was easily the right choice to stay up.

Thursday was not what I was expecting. I had my alarm set for 9:30, since my first class was at 11. However, I woke up around 8:30, and after several minutes, decided trying to go back to sleep would not work. The first thing that I felt when I woke up was that I should be praying on my knees. I rarely kneel when I’m praying. I got up and used the close to an hour remaining before the alarm went off to pray. I had three things that I just kept thinking of, and I prayed about all of them.

Thursday afternoon, I called Zack. I had a list of several questions for him and several things I wanted him to know. Every time I talk to Zack, I learn of something that I’ve been blessed to see happen here that had been prayed about for years in the past. I’m extremely thankful for the seeds planted on this campus by past leaders, and I hope that I’m able to plant spiritual seeds that will sprout in the future. It sounds like Zack has some amazing seminary courses this semester, and fortunately, seminary is not what he feared it could be. Some of his professors are well known–I read a report last week that one of then had written!

Other things worth an honorable mention over the past few days: getting beat down while wrestling Justin several times over, using Michael as a body shield against Justin, and duct tape!

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post titled “God is not safe, but He is good.” Now, Michael over at You Can Know God has a similar post titled “Dangerous Encounters with Christ.” It’s a very well written post, and I think he’s right on, especially in our self-centered America. A brief quote:

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of people pray something like this in a church gathering or a worship service: “God…we don’t want to just meet together, we want an encounter with you.”

I think the problem with a prayer like that is that there are a lot of people, no, probably most people DO want to just meet together and are NOT really interested in an encounter with God at all.