Nate Houge

11November2007

bike pics

Posted by nate under: bike.

my single speed rescued from my neighbors garbage (i got rid of the green paint and 9 of the gears… and 1/3 of the handlebars 

 here’s the pedicab i made with jesse (he did all the welding)

and here’s my mother in laws bike after i found some antlers in their garage this summer:

and now i have to figure out how to get the car in the garage this winter…

7November2007

redemption

Posted by nate under: music.

If the church is about God€™s redeeming work in the world what does it look like?  When it comes to interacting with culture who€™s redeeming who?  I think of this mostly in the realm of the arts.  On one hand the church should be associated with the brightest and best right?  We want excellence in our worship.  At least that€™s what I€™ve always been told and believed.  And I still agree with the basic principle €“ God deserves our best, thank you Cain for teaching us.  I think the biggest common example is the Church€™s role as a proponent of the arts during the renaissance.  But what I wonder now is, how many little church€™s supported little artists that made little impact on our art history books but at the time were key to the congregation€™s worship life?  How often did a church find a nobody artist and participate in a redemptive work?  Because if this happened then €“ heck even if it didn€™t €“ it needs to happen now.  I think about all the modern praise and worship cd€™s out there and the gluttonous industry it fuels and question how it glorifies God.  Luther said what makes a Christian shoemaker isn€™t that he puts crosses on his shoes, but that he makes excellent shoes.  So much of the €˜christian€™ music I hear these days would aptly be described as crappy shoes with big effing crosses on them.  But little churches are putting together praise bands with the best of intentions and the grandest of hopes that putting on a pair of payless shoes will bring in the lost and unshod. 
And how does it play out when the Church is out in the world?  When a church makes a presence known outside their walls do they seek the lost in cool bars serving surly and fat tire or do they find the bud lite dives?  Now I don€™t want to equate redemption with making something cool.  People that drink Chamomile need redeeming too.  But what bugs me is seeing a church using cool destinations as a way of legitimizing their (the church€™s) existence.  The same can be said for how the Church utilizes musicians.  Do we hire excellent musicians that could care less about the church or do we get the high school hack guitarist that shows up every Sunday morning.  Either choice is a redemptive work right?  So maybe the question becomes is the Church€™s role one of nurture or endorsement? And ultimately who gives a rat€™s behind?  Well I give my rat sized behind willingly, because I€™m tired of talking about being counter culture and never countering culture.
Maybe sometimes the most excellent thing we can do is to fail miserably.  To be associated with losers and to be caught drinking miller high life.  Maybe I should worry less about other€™s redemption and spend more time in fear and trembling concerning my own.  Nah, there€™s no fun in that.

7November2007

3 wheels, 2 kids, 1 dad

Posted by nate under: bike.

if my digital camera worked this would be so much more interesting.

 Before moving back to St. Paul I had a chance to work on a 3 wheel pedi-cab contraption with my friend Jesse.  It started when I found a BMX frame and 2 sets of wheels on the side of the road outside of Fergus Falls with a free sign on them.  Free is good.  Except for haircuts.  And so I squeezed it into the backseat with Lydia and we took it home.  I got a bunch of pictures of various 3 wheel bikes off this here internet and went over to Jesse€™s house €“ home of scrap metal, industrial tools, and welding rods.  Over the course of the next few weeks we€™d get together on the off night and work on it a bit.  Or at least go fishing and talk about working on it.  Anyways, the day before we moved we finally got it done.  To try it out Jesse got his wife and I took them for a ride up and down the highway.  It was about 11pm, no clouds, full moon.  A downright beautiful night.  Jesse€™s comment was, €œNate, this would be more romantic if you weren€™t breathing so hard down our necks.€  Note to self, bring Altoids next time.
After the initial ride we decided the seat tube was too short so Jesse made a new one, but I didn€™t have a chance to put it on until last Thursday.  Generally speaking Thursday€™s are long parenting days for me, Jodi€™s out of the house by 7:30am, hopefully is home for a few hours in the afternoon, and then off to night class and gets back around 9:45pm.  So last Thursday Jodi got home around 3 and I headed out to the garage for a little nate time.  Half an hour later I had the seat on, the brakes adjusted, and chain tensioned.  Now all I needed was kids!  So, much to Jodi€™s surprise, I ran in the house looking for Lydia and her friend to see if they wanted a ride.  For the next 2 ½ hours I gave rides around the block to a half dozen kids and it was great.  Until Jodi stuck her head out back and called us in for supper because she had to get going.  At which point I kicked myself.  I totally squandered what would€™ve been 3 kid free hours.  I spent the next four hours deciding whether or not it was worth it.  Survey says, Worth It.