The End's Not Near, It's Here*

The time has come for my new blog/website!

Here is the address.  Click it to proceed.

www.nathanbhughes.com

Thanks for your patience!

*This is the title of the final episode of the O.C., but also a song by The New Year that was later covered by Band of Horses.

i should be in better shape

while watching prison break tonight, i realized that i should start working out.  because if i ever have to escape from prison for a crime i didn't commit, i'll need to be able to run for a long time...

ps: i'm still working on my new site...hopefully it'll be up by the end of the month

in honor of the king

read this:

i will never celebrate this day the same.

iron

wine

top se7en (or 12): revisited

my buddy josh sent me an email a couple days ago asking me and some friends to send him our top twelve tracks of the past year.  in an effort to bring about more cooperation i thought i'd post the rules here to get more people involved.

the rules:

1. the song had to have been released in 2007

2. one song per artist/band (this will make it more interesting)

while the standard procedure is to rank the songs in order of "best-ness", please make an effort to rank your songs creatively.  think of it as your personal soundtrack of the year.  if you want to and some comments feel free.  out of the thousands of songs that we've heard this year a little perspective on what makes particular song stand out is important.

please email me the list by Friday 1/11 at: nhughes (at) josiahventure (dot) com.

after they are in josh will compile the songs and i'll post them here.

Under Construction

Warning! Men at Work

well, actually there is only one man at work (me).  

i'm currently:

messing around with my blog/thinking of moving to a different platform/thinking of starting a photo only blog/wondering what to do next/wanting to podcast/etc/atd

please be patient.

top se7en moments of oh-se7en

|seven: blazers, niners, and giants...oh my!|

oh-se7en marked the first time that i've seen all three of my favorite sports teams play in the same year! living in czech makes it tough to watch sports at all, so to be able to attend these games was such a blessing.  it was extra special considering i got to see barry bonds' final game as a giant (and maybe ever) with my dad.

|six: concerts|

oh-se7en also marked the year of the concert for me.  without sports in czech, music and photography have become that much more important to me.  czech also isn't a hub for the type of music that i like, so i had to travel (chicago, portland, and london respectively) to see some concerts, but it was well worth it.  the new pornographers (name taken from a jimmy swaggart comment: rock and roll is the new pornography) are fabulous live.  it was also great to see some up and coming british bands at nme's indie rock fest as well as new band, grand archives, in portland.

|five: tat|

it means, 'i have redeemed you' in hebrew.  i've wanted to get the word redeemed on my wrist for over two years, so it was quite a great experience to finally get it.  and it totally didn't hurt as bad as everyone said it would...

|four: weddings and engagements|

it is amazing that despite of how i look people continue to ask me to be in their weddings! it was awesome to be the best man in jared, one of my old disciples, and jordan's wedding as well as being second best (!) man in daddio's wedding.

also, a few weeks ago, my best friend proposed to tereza.  joe and i have walked through a lot of life together and have spent endless hours discussing girls.  i am so thrilled for them and am excited to see how God uses them to advance His Kingdom!!

|three: inner city chicago|

one of the highlights of my time to the states was being able to spend two hours at an inner-city christian school in chicago.  i got the opportunity to speak to third-sixth graders about life as a missionary.  it was so much fun to share with them, hear their questions, as well as play games.  one of the kids even rapped for me!

as i drove away praying, i realized what a significant impact my time there could've had. kristen, the teacher, told me before hand that these kids have very few male role models and most of them have no concept of education past high school.  for me to be there and to have fun with them, share about my life could've had a serious impact on the lives of these young boys and girls.  to think that God could've used my time there to inspire some of these kids to go to college or even if God were to use me to get these kids thinking about missions is truly humbling.

|two: passion07|

i opened the new year in hotlanta for passion07.  i had always heard great things and loved the music, but my time there was exceptional.  from hanging out with ondra, representing jv in the mission mobilization area, meeting young men and women passionate about serving Christ, worshipping with 20,000 people, talks from john piper and francis chan, and just participating in the entire global awareness area.

it was a brilliant way to start the year!

|one: 50!|

before the summer started i felt that God was calling me to pray that fifty students would come to know Christ this summer.  that number may not sound like a lot in american terms, but considering we had twelve the summer before, it was a huge step of faith to pray for that big of number.  i guess i knew God could do it, but as camp after camp went by and more and more students began to begin relationships with the living God, i began to realize that it really was possible.

now, upon final count (which is always a difficult task), we had 48 students who we could count.  i really believe that God was calling me to pray for 50, so i am choosing to believe that somewhere in the counting we missed 2 students!