Flip the Tape Deck

My Recent Trip to Tijuana

2012-01-31T17:30:00.000-08:00

This was the "bridge to mexico." They didn't check our passports, id's, baggage, nothing! Just... bienvenidos come on in!

This is the orphanage compound that we spent most of our time at. This kids love to hoop.

This was probably my favorite moment of the trip. It was right in the middle of our longest day of experiencing the suffering in Tijuana. We came back from the "dump" and some kids were helping the cook make dinner. I asked if I could help and they taught me the proper Mexican way to roll out a perfectly round Tortilla. My last tortilla was definitely a lot better than my first but I was no where near the perfection the locals were turning out every three to my one tortilla.

This was the meal I helped make. Actually, "helping" might not be the best word choice since it implies I some how aided or quickened the process of making dinner.

We played an epic soccer game in the Mexican mountains against the kids that live in an orphanage there. We lost badly, but like the tortillas it was one of those cool moments where I felt like I was diving into the Mexican culture by playing soccer on a dirt field and a perfect setting in the mountains.

This community is built on what was once a garbage dump.

The dump was shut down years ago and they covered the trash in dirt. The entire mountain and valley in this picture is literally a trash pile covered in dirt that people have made their homes on.

At the bottom of this valley was a river that was full of trash. I was reminded of the River of Life promised in Revelation to appear in the new Jerusalem to be an eternal source for the living water of Christ. I long for Jesus to come back and fill this river with water.

As you know, all the injustices of this world can be traced back to Disney. I thought it appropriate to record the obvious source of the suffering in the dump.

Aaron touching the Pacific Ocean for the first time

Every night we snuck out of the compound and headed to a corner six blocks away that was serving up the best tacos I have ever had! It is pretty obvious from the expressions of Larry and I that we were pretty excited about these tacos. The best part was the fact that one taco was only one dollar!

Ocean Beach California

2012-01-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

The Training School recently took a week long trip to San Diego and Tijuana.

Conclusions from the trip: 1. Four years of Spanish and I can only ask people who their favorite soccer player is.

2. I love Cali and would not mind at all living there one day. "Ocean Beach Christian Church" has a nice ring to it..eh?

3. The human spirit is incredibly resilient and creative in the face of poverty and suffering.

4. Sex trafficking is seriously fucked up and I am really struggling with why God allows this to happen.

5. I really really love Cali.

Here are some pictures from our short stop in San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood. More pics from Tijuana to come soon.

Ocean Beach is an awesome community full of local surfers and vagabonds that have travelled all the way across the country for the promise of sleeping on the beach next to a bonfire ablaze with Christmas trees that were dug out of a dumpster.

I had forgotten how refreshing and rejuvenating the sun, sand, and waves are.

Some how Ocean Beach has remained a haven for those of us who hate the "man" and corporations. There were no big businesses, hotels, resorts, chain restaurants, and the homes were literally surf shacks sitting on five million dollar lots.

We watched the sun set one night. Did you know when you watch the sun set on the Pacific coast you can see a green flash when the last rays of the sun disappear under the horizon? I thought I might have some sort of little flash that evening.

Some of us stopped into the Hummingbird Coffee Shop to load up on some of this molecule to keep us going. The coffee shop was split right down the middle. On one side was a coffee shop the other was a fed ex store.

Toronto's Sanctuary Church

2011-12-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about the Training School so far has been our visits to Sanctuary Church in Toronto. Maybe you have read the book God in the Alley? If not, I recommend it!

The church is the most tangible expression of the Kingdom of God on earth that I have ever experienced. Truly all are welcome and all are free to act however in the safe space Sanctuary creates. They truly emoby their name and become a sanctuary for people who are marginalized and ignored by just about everyone else, including me.

Because Sanctuary has been so formational to me, I wanted to share with you a few articles written by someone who has imbedded himself in the Sanctuary community, is living out of his car and on the streets, and is writing about his experiences. I got to walk with him for two weekends while in Toronto debating fun stuff like journalistic objectivity versus subjectivity and exploring though conversations why in the world this guy would want to live on these cold jaded streets for a month straight!

Here are the links to the articles Stephen was written and that have been published through a not-for profit out of Carmel called World Next Door:

Article One:
http://www.worldnextdoor.org/2011/12/a-motley-crew-of-christians/#comments
Article Two:
http://www.worldnextdoor.org/2011/12/that’s-god-that’s-god-that’s-god-–-part-i/#

Images of Jesus

2011-12-06T21:42:00.001-08:00

In light of Christmas (specifically christmas shopping) coming up and the Occupy Movement that has been gaining momentum the past two months; these images of Jesus seem rather relevant and provocative:

Some Recent Quotes

2011-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent quotes we have been wrestling with in the training school:

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why he allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when he could do something about it."

"Well why don't you ask him?"

"Because I am afraid he would ask me the same question."

Christ has no body on earth but yours

No hands but yours

Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out,

Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good

And yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.

-Teresa of Avila

The greatest hermeneutic of the gospel is a community that seeks to live it.

-Larry Mitchell

Back in the Game

2011-12-01T05:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging much at all lately. Which is super odd to me since I am processing, learning, and experiencing more than I probably have in any other season of my life. The Training School has afforded me all types of new experiences and space to live in community with people. So I should have tons of thoughts, ideas, and questions to share all the time, and I definitely do! Yet, my blog says otherwise. My theory is that so much of what we do is so hard to quantify into blog posts let alone conversations when someone makes the mistake of asking me how Training School is going.

I think I will try to be a little more intentional about processing and sharing my thoughts and experiences through the blog from here on out.

I think I will start now:

Just two weekend ago some of us from the Training School made a trek up to Toronto. It is amazing how formational a quick weekend trip can be when you go with the intentions of walking together in intimate community and go with open eyes and hands for what the streets have to offer.

What I learned:

1. I don't walk much.

I was physically sore from walking wherever we went in the city.

2. I don't live below the surface very often.

Walking with friends that want to have conversations that revolve around meaningful, emotional, and spiritual concepts for basically three days straight causes me to be emotionally and physically drained. My lack of stamina for such conversations led me to deduce I don't live below the surface very often.

3. I am a communist.

Just Kidding, about that one. But we did stumble into a park that was being occupied by people in support of the Occupy Wallstreet movement. It was pretty awesome to walk around and interact with the diverse group of people that had committed all kinds of time, energy, and money towards the movement.

The protesters were occupying St. James Park for five weeks in the heart of downtown Toronto before they were evicted.

They occupiers had literally created their own little community equipped with a kitchen, first aid tent, general assembly, and even a library full of more than a 1,000 books.

This guy was cool. He came up with this idea of setting up portable tables for dialogue. Aren't conversations, debates, and arguments better around a table where people know each other's names and aren't posturing at one another??

We just happened to be there on a day that they marched throughout the city. There were probably only about 100 permanent tents in St. James Park but nearly 5,000 people turned out for their march through the city.

Where I've Been & Where I'm Going

2011-10-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

What a journey I have been on since I graduated from Butler University last spring! I just recently started working part time for Young Life Carmel and I am also embarking on a journey with my Church that I will explain later.

My senior year at Butler was a season of transition as I wrestled with what would come after graduation. I was accepted into a graduate program in theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York City but was also feeling God tug on my heart to stay in Indianapolis for one more year. As I prayed and had conversations with friends, family, and mentors I felt that it was not the right time to take the financial leap into graduate school.

Above is Union. It sits on on the upper east side of Manhattan right next to Columbia and Harlem.

This summer I spent a month volunteering at Timberwolf Lake in Michigan as a Work Crew Boss. The Work Crew is comprised of around forty high school kids that have volunteered a month of their lives to live and serve at a Young Life camp. As a work crew boss, my role was to lead a group of six Work Crew kids in our daily physical labor but also (and more importantly) I was leading the group in all spiritual matters. In other words, I was disciplining, mentoring the high school kids that had come to serve for a month. The experience afforded me amazing opportunities to grow as a leader and in my individual relationship with Christ.

One of the best jobs the Work Crew has is to welcome the busses that are dropping of hundreds of high school kids about ready to have the best week of their life and maybe here the Gospel for the first time.

I was the Outdoor Crew Boss and these were the six guys and girls I worked with daily. I learned so much from their willingness to serve and dig deeper in their relationships with Christ.

This is us on one of our nights off. We threw the junk in our lives that was holding us back from following Jesus into the fire, sang songs, and drank root beer.

While graduate school seemed to be the most prestigious option for my life, I felt God pulling me towards a different path for the year ahead. After many conversations I decided to commit to a year long journey with Common Ground Christian Church called the Kingdom Living Training School.

Do not be deceived by the title. It is not really a school, and I am not really being “trained” in anything. It is a journey with a group of 15 other people that have committed to intentionally walking with Jesus for the next year.

Practically this looks like three classes a week from 9am to 12 where we sit in a classroom and are lead in conversation by our teacher and guide Larry Mitchell. We also take five or six vision trips to places like Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Tijuana. There is no curriculum only our guide and the direction the spirit leads the community in conversation with each other, with questions, with people we run into on our long walks through the city, with books, and with God.

It is so clear to me now that God lead me to the Training School for so many different reasons. In fact, God reveals something new to me every day. The best way I know how to describe the training school is a very intentional time in your life where you make space for God to really get into the cracks and crevices of your life that you have kept hidden from yourself and God. It is a period of refining that is sparked by the intentionally of the group and the community we are trying to live into.

This is the group on top of the hostel we stayed in overlooking the Toronto. Which is the 5th largest city in North America and one of (if not the most) diverse cities in the world.

We walk everywhere! And because we walk every where we are constantly in communication with each other, with the city, and with the people that line the streets of the city.

We ate like this for the whole week. On the ground, in the middle of the city, sharing, tearing bread with our hands, and always sitting in a circle.

The whole group!

Outside of the Training School I was hoping to find someway to make money to pay bills, eat, pay for the training school, and save a little for graduate school. I was really hoping to do this by finding a job that I am passionate about and that would provide good experience in ministry and non-for profit work.

I was blessed to be offered a part time Young Life staff position with Carmel (the area I have been leading at the past four years.) It has been such a blessing to work on staff in Carmel. I get to work alongside my best friends and already have a solid base of relationships with high school kids to work from.

Part time Young life staff means I am doing all of the same things I did as a volunteer leader but also taking on administrative, organizational, and non-profit management roles to create space for other volunteer leaders to build relationships with high school students.

So far my time on Young Life staff has been an absolute blast! There is some really amazing momentum and excitement right now stirring in Carmel Young Life. God is doing some amazing things in kids lives and setting this leadership team up to meet hundreds of new kids that maybe have never heard the good and true news of the Gospel.

Every month we have a Thanksgiving dinner potluck style. We probably had close to sixty kids show up to eat and have community with us.

This was "Double Dog Dare you Club" Jake was Moonrock and I was Danger.

Campaigners so far this year has been amazing! It reminds me of how badly kids want to dig deep, ask hard questions, and wrestle with stuff that matters. Nothing gets me more excited than sitting in a circle with young people and wrestling with matters of the heart.

Wow. This is a lot. I hope you made it all the way through to the end or at least looked at all of the pictures! In the future my updates wont be near as long, there has just been a ton of transition these past couple of months that I wanted people to be updated on.

I am looking for financial support for Young Life so if you are interested in partnering with me in my mission in Carmel you can email me at brodsky.david.peace@gmail.com. If nothing else, please partner with me in praying for me. Here are some specific areas that need prayer:

1. My time in the Training School.

2. Carmel Young Life- that we would be a ministry that is both wide and deep!

3. That God would provide a part time job outside of YL so I could have more money to save up for school.

Shalom

Whose Song are you Singing?

2011-10-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Monday night at Campaigners we talked about being YOURself. We wrestled with questions like: whose song are we singing? Who wrote the script we are playing?

In the Training School we have been discussing what it means to be apart of God's sweeping story. I do not want to sing a song I selfishly desire up and I definitely don't want to sing a song just because people have gone before me and achieved some sort of "success" by singing some generic song. I want to sing the song the creator of the universe that loves me relentlessly has specifically and uniquely for me.

I waited patiently for the LORD;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the LORD

and put their trust in him.

-Psalm 40

Are you a Trader?

2011-09-17T17:09:00.001-07:00

I am a trader!

Kirk Cousins Big Ten Kickoff Speech

2011-09-16T10:46:00.001-07:00

Rooting for Michigan State to win the Big Ten because of this speech:

Jesus is a Friend of Mine

2011-09-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Any words of mine would diminish the amazingness of this video. so just enjoy.

The Parable of the Sower

2011-09-08T12:06:00.001-07:00

I have recently been contemplating and wrestling with my understanding of Christ centered community. Today, I read the parable of the sower in Mark 4. It goes like this:

Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.

This time reading through the story I couldn't help but think about how much stock, time, and effort the Church and Christianity at large puts into "planting seeds" or telling people about the good news of the Gospel. This is no doubt something that should be pursued relentlessly by Christ followers. But if this story teaches us anything, isn't it that you can plant the seed (or the good news) in the hearts of people but if the soil (community) they live in is not a rich soil prepared for the seed, it will never grow or temporarily sprout up only to wither and die.

I propose that the Church needs to be spending equal time relentlessly creating a community (rich soil) as we do the spreading and planting seeds in the hearts of people who have yet to hear or accept the good news of the Gospel. In so many ways the Church always does this. But a bible study, Church service, or a quiet time is not really the full extent of community Christ calls us to. No, a rich soil that a seed can take root in, grow, and flourish in is something much more than those things. I am not sure exactly how to describe this sort of rich soil, I am only suggesting that we need to spend equal time creating space and community for people to be invited into as we do planting seeds of the good news in people.

A Story

2011-09-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Today a fellow pilgrim in the Training School told us that the skin doctor has found some conspicous spots on her back that ended up being cancerous. She is in the process of waiting to hear how seriousness this cancer will be. It could very well be nothing at all but it also could be a serious game changer in her life.

I told her this story about when I was in a similar situation:

Four years ago when I was a Freshmen at Butler I went to the orthopedic doctor that I had grown close to over the years of ACL injuries, broken collarbones, pinkys, toes, etc. For a about a year I had had an aching pain in my knee that I thought must have been something like a torn meniscus. I ignored it for a really long time and the pain would come and go. Eventually it hurt too bad to ignore and I went to see the Doc. He took and x-ray and saw that a pretty good size tumor was making its home on my lower femur bone in the knee the knee joint. Being a good orthopedic doctor and realizing that I was 19 and at the prime age for osteosarcoma he started to bombard me with a ton of questions and worries. I had no idea and my mom (a nurse) wasn't there to explain to me the magnitude of what could possibly be growing in my knee. I felt fine and therefore thought there couldn't be anything significantly wrong with me. I told my mom and played down the seriousness of it but the Doctor said the next step was for me to go to get an MRI.

A few days later, my mom called me and told me that various radiologist and my doctor believed that the tumor was in fact ostersarcoma and that I needed to move fast to see a specialist, get it removes, and get a biopsy to find out for sure if it was malignant or just a random tumor. Either way, they dropped the bomb on me.... Cancer. I immediately began to realize that if this was cancer that life would be drastically different. That I would probably not be going back to school, that I would go through kemo, lose my hair, maybe lose my leg, and worse case scenario maybe even die.

There was five days in between this news and going to see a specialist that would give me a better idea of what was going on in my knee. Needless to say it was some of the craziest most bizarre five days of my life. I was scared and didn't want to lose my the grand life I had been living. Yet, I knew that more than anything God was putting this in my life for some divine reason, even though I had no freaking idea what that may be.

At that point, I had read the scriptures enough to know what Paul's perspective on suffering was. I began to live into this scripture and ponder that maybe instead of dreading this I should be looking forward to the opportunity to grow into a more Christ like person, to suffer like Christ, to show others how much God has done in me, to the point that I would rejoice and be joyful in my potential sufferings.

Five days later I went to the doctor with my girlfriend, parents, and uncle with a very bizarre perception. I had become excited and was looking forward to the opportunity to follow Christ more deeply and to become more like Christ through the suffering's that lied ahead. My parents, girlfriend, and uncle were terrified and I was stoic ready to walk down this road the Lord and laid in front of me.

The specialist looked at the x-ray and MRI and (metahporically) lit the prior report on fire and told me that those other Doctor's were silly and that he was 98 percent sure all that was growing in me was a benign cyst. Everyone else wept tears of joy while I felt extremely disappointed. The only way I could describe the feeling would be similar to what one feels when you have to miss out on a ridiculously awesome part all your best friends will be at. The Lord seriously did so much to me those five days that I couldn't help but look forward to this time of trial and suffering that I would come to know the Lord better. And now I would be getting this experience that would ignite all of these changes.

For many years, I had no idea why God had done this to me. Then one day, as I was telling this story, it hit me and I realized that I could never have been excited about such immense suffering if I was not connected to God through Jesus. It doesn't make and worldly sense that one would be excited for cancer. Therefore, I was given a sense that God was putting this in my life to reaffirm his connection with me, for him and I to know that I was no longer wandering lost, no longer half way in following Christ, but all the way in and fully committed to his will and narrative for me.

The Journey I'm On

2011-09-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

This year I have embarked on a somewhat crazy and ambiguous journey. I have committed the next nine months to being a part of the Kingdom Living Training School at Common Ground Christian Church (the Church I have worshipped at all four years at Butler.) The training school is impossible to describe but nevertheless here is my attempt that will fall terribly short of encompassing or grasping what the Training School is, has been so far, and will be for the next nine months:

The training school is a commitment to be apart of a community chasing after similar dreams of Christ centered community, of living deeper into our walks with Christ, and desiring to live into our call as a people of mission. Practically this looks like 3 classes every week from 9am to 12 where we sit in a classroom and are taught and lead in conversation by our fearless leader, teacher, madman of a guide Larry. We also take five or so vision trips to places like Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Tijuana. There is no curriculum only our guide and the direction the spirit leads the community in conversation with each other, with questions, with people we run into on our long walks through the city, with books, and with God.

Why? Why am have I jumped into this ambiguous madness of a journey or pilgrimage? To love people better. Not to gain any more wisdom, theological understanding concerning God or community, but to live out what I have been reading and talking about for the past eight years in a very intentional way with others who are also longing to makes dreams a reality and turn theories into praxis.

I am super excited to see where this river flows and to hang on tight for what is sure to be a crazy ass ride through some dangerous and challenging places.

A Reflection, Four Years of Young Life

2011-05-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have come to understand that in every Christian’s journey there is one fundamental change that we all experience that is more monumental than any other area of growth. This is the move from always wandering what I can get out of church, young life, vocation, and even people to wandering what I can give. Essentially the transformation is from a selfish and narcissistic consumer to a self-less, others focused person who wanders: how can I serve others? what do I have to offer to this group? Rather than only being concerned with what you can consume from church or wandering in what ways others can serve my interests.

For me, Carmel Young Life has been the medium God has used to transform me from a person who was constantly self-focused and concerned with what young life or other people can do for me to a person who finds real and full life in being self-less and serving. For the past four years Young Life and the relationships I have had with Carmel kids have been the most important thing in my life. More important than my own family, college grades, friends, my social life, or internships. As a young life leader you are almost obligatorily forced into being self-less. Otherwise, you are going to be a pretty crappy leader. High school kids deserve consistency and persistence in a way in which is only achieved through them being the number one priority in a leader’s life.

Through this “obligatory selflessness,” these past four years have been monumentally transformative and solidified to me that life is fully lived when we are not concerned about “me,” but consumed with the constant battle to turn away from my own selfishness and find a full and adventurous life loving selflessly. Jesus says in John 15, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Through Carmel Young Life I have actualized this in my life, but I have also realized how I still have a life time of struggle ahead of me to truly embody the selfless love Jesus calls us to.

Gosh! I could go on and on about how my experience in Young Life has transformed me into a more confident person, a better communicator and leader, a more articulate Christian, and even a better future father and husband. What is more important than how I am different is the ways in which God has impacted and transformed lives through me simply just showing up in guy’s lives. I will try to incapsulate in a few sentences how God has transformed a handful of lives through me.

I have spent the past four years building relationships and pouring myself into only a handful of guys. When I started out on this journey my hopes for their lives were simple and few. First, I hoped and prayed that God would move in their hearts so that they might know the truth of the Gospel; that God became man in Jesus to die and rise again so that God might restore our relationship and we could experience eternal life in the next life but mostly in this life.

My second priority was helping them realize following Christ is not only about the personal relationship with God but about taking part in God’s sweeping story to restore and redeem this broken and suffering world. Following Christ in not just about quiet times and going to Church but about taking part in God’s massive restoration project that is this world.

Finally, what I have spent countless hours praying they might realize through conversations is what it means to means to be a “man of God.” One of my favorite moments as a young life leader was at the end of a week of a crazy co-ed Wilderness trip. One of the guys that had been on our trip and that I had been challenging all week to serve and love the girls in our group well, stood up during the part of club when the kids were given an opportunity to share what they had learned after a week on the trail and said, “I have learned this week that men (myself included) are called to love women as Christ loved the Church.” All of the girls awed and the guys sneered while my eyes welled up with the proudest and most joyous tears my eyes have ever produced. To think that a seventeen year only kid would know this monumental and gospel truth at such a young age!

There have been so many other moments like this that have helped realize most of my goals I sat out to accomplish with these guys have come to fruition. Not at all by anything I have done other than showing up consistently and allowing the grace of God to work through me. I share with you these goals only to express to you the ways in which God has worked in the live of a number of Carmel high school kids in the past four years.

My Systematic Theology: Heaven

2011-05-17T14:10:00.001-07:00

The modern Christian view of heaven is quite construed. Where is heaven? Is it out beyond the stars in some distant galaxy?

It is highly unlikely that one day an astronomer scanning the universe with a giant telescope will ever come across a distant galaxy full of puffy clouds and the righteous drinking pina coladas in “paradise.” Therefore, if heaven is not a “place” then what is it?

It is my understanding, that heaven is in fact not a place but a state between man and God and creation and God. Sin corrupts the sate of God’s relationship with man and creation causing a broken relationship between both of these with God. It is thus God’s main purpose since the fall of man represented in Genesis to restore his relationship with man and creation. This comes to complete fruition in Revelation when John describes heaven breaking in to our present sinfully laced reality to wipe away tears, end suffering, erase pain, and do away with sin. Thus it is my understanding the heaven is not necessarily a specific place (although I don’t discount this possibility) but a state of perfect union between man and God and God and creation.

In this light, Jesus' confusing and seemingly paradoxical claims in the Gospel about heaven and the coming the kingdom makes sense. Jesus says in the Gospels that heaven is now, I am heaven, and that heaven is yet to come at the end of times. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross and the grace one receives through faith, one can experience heaven (as I have described it) on earth, before, death in this present reality. Yet, as long as sin persists in this reality one can never fully experience an unadulterated relationship with God. That is why heaven is also yet to come.

It is my understanding of the Biblical text that at the “end of times” God will enact a process in which “heaven” or the New Jerusalem will break into our present evil and sinful world to fully restore creation and man to God. Everyone that has professed faith in Jesus Christ (including the dead, that are in some state that I do not fully understand) will rise from the dead and experience this new reality, free of sin, evil, and suffering. A new reality that is in fact the heaven we have been longing for and trying to figure out how to describe.

The Modernist

2011-04-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

The following poem I wrote for my creative writing class is inspired by my modern poetry class.

The Modernist

Poetry is the highest form of

everything.

How could one understand the world any other way?

Only poetry.

Religion?

What nonsense.

While, I have respect for the spiritual

and even the mystical in this world,

look around!

and see nothing.

Nothing except

tears and blood

Surely you can see

that there is nothing to see.

Nothing is at hand.

Nothing is to come.

Fine, not religion

but science is supreme you say?

My friend,

Not everything can be reduced to:

Data

facts

hypothesis

trends

studies

cases

statistics

analysis

knowledge.

Poetry is supreme.

Knowledge is endless.

It lives in a realm that data

and statistics fail to encapsulate.

Imagination by definition is endless.

Science cannot study the imagination with

data, facts, and analysis

that eventually stop.

Poetry,

the only form that can present the endless.

Becoming Gardeners, N.T. Wright

2011-03-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here is an exert from a recent N.T. Wright book I read. I love that God never really provides answers about how to follow him. He just says, "Follow me." For example, we are left to find some sort of balance between spiritual discipline and knowing the God is the only force that can transform us to be more like Christ.

"The key is this: the "fruit of the spirit" does not grow automatically. The nine varieties of fruit do not suddenly appear just because some one has believed in Jesus, has prayed for God's spirit, and has then sat back and waited for "fruit" to arrive. Oh, there may well be strong and sudden initial signs that fruit is on the way. Many new Christians, particularly when sudden conversion has meant a dramatic turning away from a lifestyle full of the "works of the flesh," report their own astonishment at the desire that springs up within them to love, to forgive, to be gentle, to be pure. Where you ask, has all this come from? I didn't use to be like this. That is a wonderful thing, a sure sign of the Spirit's working.
But this doesn't mean it's all downhill from there. These are the blossoms; to get the fruit you have to learn to be a gardener. You have to discover how to tend and prune, how to irrigate the field, how to keep birds and squirrels away. you have to watch for blight and mold, cut away ivy and other parasites that suck the life out of the tree, and make sure the young trunk can stand firm in strong winds. Only then will fruity.

and then later...
"Christian, virtue is the gift of God and the result of the person of faith making conscious decisions to cultivate this way of life and these habits of heart and mind. In technical language, these things are both "infused" and "acquired," though the way we "acquire" them is itself, in that same language, "infused.' We are here, as so often theology, at the borders of language, because we are trying to talk at the same time about "something God does" and "something humans do" as if God were simply another character like ourselves."

-N.T. Wright, After you Believe

Leather Man

2011-03-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

I cant remember how I came across this on the internet but I did.

The leatherman was a famous vagabond that was known for his handmade suits made of leather. The identity of this man along with why he lived the way he did remains a mystery. He traveled a 365 mile circuit between Connectuit and the Hudson river living in caves and whatever else he could find along the way. He stopped into towns that he was passing through and as you can imagine the legend grew. So odd right? There is now an effort to dig up his grave and examine the body in the hopes of unearthing the mystery behind this man. Also there is an effort to thwart the attempts to dig up the leather man. Read more here: http://leavetheleathermanalone.com/ Also in general just check out wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherman_(vagabond)

For whatever reason I was so intrigued by this man and was inspired to write this poem for my creative writing class:

Leather Man

Off the road amongst the Connecticut trees

A rusty old man sits in a dripping cave.

Fragments of his life and travels

tattooed on the cave’s walls

the emotions of such fragments

chiseled into his heart.

drip...drip.......drip

He hammered his eyes open and shut; hoping,

praying when he opened up his eyes he might be somewhere

warmer, drier, but most of all

somewhere more forgiving.

drip...drip......drip

N.T. on the Book of John

2011-03-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have been on a N.T. Wright binge. Within the past month I have read the following N.T. Wright books: After You Believe, Evil and the Justice of God, Scripture and the Authority of God, and I have dabbled in his 700 page work The Resurrection of the Son of God.

I am not 'bragging,' only mentioning these as recommended reading!

I picked up his book Following Jesus: Biblical Reflection on Discipleship (also, so far, very much worth your time).

Two semesters ago I took a class on the book of John that explored the complexities and uniqueness of the book compared to the other synoptic gospels. I think a lot of times (at least in my case) we are attracted to the book of John on a personal level because of these differences. Yet, on a scholarly level you cant help but be left confused at the complexities and uniqueness of the Gospel of John. Hence, why I love how N.T. Wright phrases his relationship with John:

"I said then, and its still true, that I feel about John like I feel about my wife; I love her very much but I wouldn't claim to understand her." -N.T. Wright

I went to the woods...

2011-03-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Came across this on on a blog today and had to share it. It is the from the very beginning of the transcendentalist and poet Thoreau's Walden.

Not a Bucket List

2011-03-07T13:05:00.000-08:00

I was browsing through an old journal and came across a bucket list I made this summer. Since then, I have grown to not really be a fan of buckets lists, as they might create a false measuring stick to measure your life's joy or 'success.' Cynicalness aside, it is still fun to dream about places you want to go, mountains you want to climb, women you want to kiss, etc.

That being said, here is my bucket list from this summer. I am not sure if if made a bucket list today that ALL of the same things would be on it or not. Nevertheless, in no particular order:

Climb Mt. Everest, K2, Mt. Mckinley,

Go to Yosemite, Sequoia, Mammoth, Muir Forest,

Hike All of the A.T., Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Coast Trail

Go To Vancouver

Hike the Pacific Coast Trail

Through hike the smokies

Write a book

Write a book on Christian Paradoxes

Get a Phd in Conflict Transformation (write the dissertation on Jesus, Peace, and Conflict)

Go Skydiving

Own a Jeep

Write Poetry for the rest of my life

Marry the most beautiful women in the world

Take my children hiking

Hike in Yellowstone

Live in Boise, Idaho

See a moose and a mountain lion in the wild

Go to Israel

Learn Hebrew

Be the first half Jewish president

Go to New Zealand

Read Lord of the Rings

Read my children Narnia Chronicles

Tell the women I marry she is the most beautiful women in the world every day of my life.

If I have a daughter, tell her to never settle, and be an example to her of how a man ought to love her.

Be in a bar confrontation and break the bottle over the edge of the bar and defend myself with the remaining jagged half.

Bring down the corrupt evil capitalistic system in America

Live in a town where I can ride a horse to the grocery store and bank

Wrestle a bear

Be a college professor

Colonel Mustard

2011-03-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

Because I can, and because I think it will force me to write with more intention I am going to post some of my poems I write for class on my blog. I am in a creative writing poetry class this semester that writes about a poem a week. I am also in a upper level poetry class that is surveying the modern poets, i.e. Eliot, Yeats, Stevens, etc. Basically everyone that is way over my head.

I was intrigued by poetry and wanted to find out more about the process while reading great poets because of the unique way they interpret the world and express themselves. If a poem is going to be any good the poet would have had to thought deeply, uniquely, creatively and intentionally about what it is they are writing on. (If you will excuse the following over generalization.) People do not think deeply anymore. Hence, why I wanted to learn more about poetry as a medium for interpreting the world and expressing myself.

Here is the first poem I wrote worth posting. It was inspired by this summer and the nights my friends and I would sneak up the top of the surrounding mountain at camp. The poem is in the poetic form Ghazal.

Colonel Mustard

We stole the mustard colored truck, named the Colonel

and drove up to the clearing on top of the mountain tonight.

Orange and purple in the twilight sky

had just been swallowed up by the darkness tonight.

The dry dirt road was steep to the top,

and was lined with cracks, crevices, and holes tonight.

The colonel, so old, I struggled to find the gears,

while my friends bounced and jumbled to and fro in the bed of the truck tonight.

Our last quest to the top.

A summer full of nights like tonight.

We dangled our legs over the edge of the colonel

and as usuall the dry and warm air moved with a breeze and graced over us tonight.

From memory, I recited one of David’s hymns:

‘for you are always with me, you hold my right hand’ tonight.

‘A falling star,’ she yelled

I returned, ‘that’s the seventh tonight.’

Time stretched on and he sang:

‘oh its such a shame for us to part’ tonight.

Down the mountain we rolled, like an eighth falling star.

yes, such a shame for us to part tonight.

‘David’, said the Colonel, ‘Yes?’ I replied

‘Never forget the grace of that breeze you felt tonight.’

Kings and Queens and Poets

2011-03-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

I came across these pictures on Tumblr and was really drawn to them:

N.T. Wright on Scripture

2011-02-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

A quote from N.T. Wrights book Justification on reading scripture:

"If you read your own question into the text, and try to get an answer from it, when the text itself is talking about something else, you run the risk not only of hearing only the echo of your own voice rather than the word of God but also of missing the key point that the text was actually eager to tell you, and which you have brushed aside in your relentless quest for your own meaning."

Don't Turn Back

2011-02-23T04:12:00.000-08:00

One day Saint Francis and Brother Leo were walking down the road. Noticing that Leo was depressed, Francis turned and asked: "Leo, do you know what it means to be pure of heart?"

"Of course. It means to have no sins, faults or weaknesses to reproach myself for."

"Ah," said Francis, "now I understand why you're sad. We will always have something to reproach ourselves for."

"Right," said Leo. "That's why I despair of ever arriving at purity of heart."

"Leo, listen carefully to me. Don't be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire him. Rejoice that he is what he is--your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Savior. That, little brother, is what it means to be pure of heart. And once you've turned to Jesus, don't turn back and look at yourself."

Source:
Lion and Lamb: the Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Brennan Manning

Peter Rollins on Identity

2011-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

Peter Rollins is (in my humble opinion) one of the most important Christian voices right now in relating Christianity and its implications to society TODAY.

Check his take on identity concerning Christianity in today's world.

Fake Empire

2011-01-19T03:18:00.000-08:00

I think this video explains itself.

The Second Bill of Rights?

2011-01-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

It is quite a shame that so many prophets of social change die before they are able to implement their ideas or die before they see them take form. To name a few: MLK, JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and in this case Franklin D. Roosevelt.

I sure never heard about the proposed second bill of rights that FDR recommended right before he died during the hundreds of times we discussed the depression and WWII in elementary, middle, and high school.

Here is a list of the rights outlined by FDR in the above speech that he hoped to make a reality the war had ended. He says, "All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being."

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

This era that we are living in frightfully resembles that time leading up to and during the depression. I hope and pray for a revolution of sorts that overthrows the systems in America that continue to widen the gap between the wealthy few and the many impoverished.

Is Capitalism a Sin?

2011-01-11T08:43:00.000-08:00

I have watched so many movies this winter break that I literally have lost count. I am talking maybe between 20-30 movies. I know pitiful right? My mom bought me an ipad for Christmas and I have started a free month of Netflix and I've been watching a bunch of documentaries that I have found extremely engaging and worthwhile.

I recommend all of these:

"Restrepo", "Tapped", "Food Inc.", and "Capitalism a Love Story"

In Capitalism a Love Story Michael Moore asks the same question to three different priests that has been haunting me: "Is capitalism a sin?". All three of these priests responded with a fervent YES that capitalism is inherently sinful and evil.

This is something that I have pondered before and am still wrestling with in my mind to figure out. There will be more about this question later because I have drawn no conclusions, have really only wrestled with this in my own mind, and I want to have more conversations with people way wiser than I before I draw conclusions.

Movies you Need to See

2010-12-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

I love movies and I have a friend Doug who has seen so few movies that it is very concerning. So I made him a list of movies that I believe he NEEDS to see. Some are old and some are new. Some are personal favorites and some are all time classics.

Here it is:

Dead Poets Society

Gone Baby Gone

The Departed

The Godfather I & II

Shawshank Redemption

Lawrence of Arabia

Back to the Future

Braveheart

Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Slumdog Millionaire

Stand by Me

V for Vendetta

The Princess Bride

Mystic River

No Country for Old Men

Philadelphia

The Searchers

The French Connection

Goodfellas

Schindler's List

Die Hard

Patton

The Battle of the Buldge

Kelly's Heroes

West Side Story

Jerry Maguire

Bridge Over the River Kwai

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Dead Man Walking

The Dirty Dozen

Gangs of New York

My Christmas Break to do List

2010-12-13T10:33:00.001-08:00

Instead of writing my last paper of the semester I think I will share with you my Christmas to do list (complete with pictures to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing) that I will hopefully accomplish over break.

1. Natalie Portman has my heart. I really want to see her new movie Black Swan.
2. In my humble opinion, it is not Christmas until this movie is viewed.
3. I have been reading this book for awhile and am determined to finish it over break.
4. Probably the movie I am most excited for is the Cohen brothers remake of a John Wayne classic. Josh Brolin is one of my favorite actors these last few years and obviously Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges aren't bad either.
5. Would love to see this, especially in 3d.
6. Most days I am not a Mark Wahlberg fan at all, but this might just be the role he was born to play, since, he himself has a really great story of rising to success. Anyone who loses that much weight as Christian Bale did for this role is clearly taking his job seriously and sure to deliver. Plus everyone loves a rag to riches, nobody to somebody, down and out, to the top boxing story! Isn't that what Christmas is really all about?

7. Go to the Hofbrauhaus House in Newport. It is a really great place to drink beer.

8. My body is falling apart and I am out of shape like I have never been in my whole life. After being really lethargic and catching up on sleep, I plan on starting up Insanity and getting my heart healthy again.
9. Finish my application for Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
10. Finish my application to Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
11. Continue reading Irresistible Revolution and posting on a discussion group with my young life guys.

The Future of Youth Ministry

2010-12-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

This semester I had my peace studies senior seminar on youth, violence, and peacebuilding. Overall the class was an enjoyable experience and I learned a ton concerning youth and their capacity to be agents of peace, victims to injustice, and even instigators of violence. My research paper focused on the relationship of youth's faith and their agency to become positive forces for social change. Instead of posting all 15 pages of that boring paper I have here an op-ed that is more of an opinion piece derived from my research I entitled the Future of Youth Ministry.

enjoy, and I would love to hear your thoughts.

The Future of Youth Ministry

Let me introduce myself as a Christian, at least I think so. I am always perplexed when I hear people ask the question: when or why did you choose to become a Christian? I don't remember anyone ever laying out choices in front of me. My parents never asked if I would like to seek enlightenment through the Buddhist path. Nor did they ever consider if I would be more excited to go to temple on Saturday rather than to a Sunday Catholic mass. Only to fall asleep, doodle and color on the program, or when I got into my teenage years to sit there and ponder the blatant contradictions and startling hypocrisy.

Yet here I am today, 21 years old trying to read the Bible and pray daily, I have chosen internships at churches and non-for profits over other corporate opportunities, spent my summers at ministry camps, and spend almost 15 hours a week hanging out with high school kids. My heroes are people I am sure you have never heard of; N.T. Wright, William Stringfellow, the Niebuhr brothers, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dorothy Day and Shane Claiborne.

So how did this happen? I could tell you the sappy details of the years of my life that I spent searching for an identity, chasing after avenues to find meaning and purpose, and most of all longing to feel fully alive. But you have heard all those fluffy conversion stories before. The short story is that I did not make a "choice" to become a Christian but ran into the God of the Gospels when people in my life kept showing up and loving me like I had never been loved before.

But as a religious studies major and peace studies minor conversion is not what I am interested in exploring. What I am intrigued to understand on a scholarly and personal level is the connections so many, including myself, have made to intertwine faith and social engagement. Since this connection occurred, my life has been built around a few passions: youth, the academic study of religion, and a passion for combating injustice.

The following is a recommendation for the future of ministry based on my personal story, my experience working with youth in various faith-based communities, and scholarly research concerning youth agency for positive social change and capacity for genuine interaction with their faith.

I set out to understand the dichotomy between youth that are consistently marginalized and therefore never able to fully participate in shaping and changing their context, alongside the connection between youth's faith experience and how they engage socially and politically. Youth are the recipients of the context they live in and are not considered participants in creating and changing the social or political landscape they find themselves in.

In a faith setting, there is a general sense that children and youth are incapable of having a genuine, legitimate, or significant faith experience compared to adults. As well, youth are generally not considered to have the agency to be peace builders or forces for positive social change. Frankly, in religious settings youth are only thought to offer the community an example of “blind faith.” While in the political and social realm, youth are not active participants in creating and changing the structures and systems that often oppress and marginalize them.

Both of these unfounded notions dictate the methodology of how faith-based communities, faith-based non-for profits, ministries, or churches engage youth. These communities that work with youth in the hopes of transforming youth’s lives according to Christian principles have no problem initially attracting youth. What they are failing at is successfully creating a sustainable relationship with a faith community and personal transformation that lasts past the initial emotional response.

This is because youth are longing and yearning for something more than the narrow and personalized Christianity they are recipients of. In her article Subversive Spirituality in Youth Ministry at the Margins, Susanna Johnson says, “...the theological framework of faith based organizing is a socially engaged spirituality shaped by a biblical foundation, and eschatological orientation, and a political responsibility.” By “eschatological orientation” she is suggesting that youth are longing for their faith not to be a spirituality solely emotional and personal, but rather she suggests youth’s faith becomes significant, long lasting, and socially and politically focused when they find themselves in a community that is horizontally interpreting the Bible and living out future hopes and promises for a just and peaceful world in the present.

Susanna Johnson, other scholars of youth ministry, and myself agree that contrary to popular understanding, youth have the capacity to interact with their faith in a meaningful and creative way. They also are able to draw on it as a tool to understand injustice in the world and for their faith to become a source of motivation for actively creating a more just and peaceful society.

This is my story. My Christian faith had always been a very personalized and narrow experience that was more focused on trying to become a better person than anything else. As I began to ponder the social and political implications of what I was reading in the gospels, I was able to see that my faith had so much more to do with combating political injustice, asking questions about where my food and clothes come from, rejecting violence justified by national narratives, and working to equalize the drastic inequalities in the world than simply being a good person.

Through various media outlets, the internet, all forms of social media youth are constantly being made aware of the stark inequalities, injustices, and the suffering in today’s world. Hence, why more than ever youth possess an urgency and yearning to transform the world into a more just society. The raping and destroying of the Earth has been brought to light because of the climate change controversy and has been discussed over many dinner tables and even implemented into the education of youth kindergarten through college. This serves as an example of how injustice, suffering, violence, and environmental issues are in the forefront of the minds of youth.

I have often suggested that youth are prophets because they are marginalized like most prophets are and maybe more than anyone else are capable of witnessing, interpreting, and drawing conclusions about suffering, violence, and injustice. Their voices for change cry out but are often stifled by social institutions and religious hierarchy that perpetuate the status quo.

The future of youth ministry depends on faith-based community’s ability to intertwine the two realities I have identified. Youth not only have agency to be positive forces for social change but are yearning to feel alive by doing so and they long to interact with their faith in a meaningful way free of hierarchy that expects them to only accept dogma. If youth ministry is able to create platforms and communities that allow youth to connect their faith with the responsibility to engage socially and politically to create more just and peaceful societies, youth ministry will be successful in transforming the individual and the community as a whole to look more like the life and community laid out by Jesus in the Gospels.

A Rant Inspired by a Eli Wiesel Quote

2010-12-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

I have posted this quote before, but I am using it for a paper I am writing and have been reminded on how much I love it. Eli Wiesel knows the reality of the evil in this world more than anyone and remains faithful. In my often very comfortable world I am not forced to deal with life in a meaningful, deep, or "below the surface," fashion.

I think this why I am so drawn to communities that are ridden with injustices and visibly oppressed. Unless you become completely numb to your context you have to ask questions and are forced to reconcile the way you think about God with the pain and suffering that is upon you or others in your context. You do not have to dig through layers of separation, meaningless stuff, and layers of comfort to get to the real rub of life. I forget. I forget that the majority of the world does not live in the same physical and economic comfort or peace that I am blessed to live in. Blessed? but.. are the poor the blessed? So often we thank God for the comforts his provides us; food, clothes, friends, family, a house, money to pay the bills. But are those who are not guaranteed the formerly mentioned on a daily basis the blessed ones? In their need is space to rely on God, to see God tangible move, and ultimately more opportunity to know better their creator. Which I have often thought is the ultimate goal of following Christ.

But. Few would disagree with me here (or maybe they would and please do). But it is hard to disagree with the empirical evidence in the Gospels that what I am saying is not something at all profound or new but a simple truth that I stole form some guy names Jesus (like we say in young life some guy...).

So what happens, why do I not live in to this reality more? Serious mental justification gymnastics.

Rather than following Jesus into the uncomfortable we use Jesus to justify what is comfortable.

Shoot. I was just going to share a quote and I haven't even done that yet. I am not even sure if this has relevance to where my rant ended up but it was what the original spark of this conversation I decided to have with myself and then share with you.

Who says that the essential question has an answer? The essence of man is to be a question, and the essence of a question is to be without an answer?

But to say, "What is God? What is the World? What is my friend?" is to say that I have someone to talk to, someone to ask a question of.

The DEPTH, the meaning, the very SALT of man is his constant desire to ask the question ever deeper within himself, to feel ever more INTIMATELY the existence of an unknowable answer.

Eli Wiesel, The Town Beyond The Wall

I Believe

2010-11-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

I found this great book that is a collection of short writings, essays, and letters from religious leaders that address issues of peace and non-violence. From Thomas Merton and Martin Luther King jr. to Thich Nhat Hanh, Bonhoeffer, Gandhi, etc. all have incredible insight concerning the relationship between God, society, man, violence, and peace.

A section from this book entitled I Believe is what I wanted to share with you. I read with a pretty critical eye most days anyways, but I especially had my critical eyes focused when I came across this piece called I Believe. Yet, I found that my theology agrees with almost every line of this poem of sorts. It is really long, so I highlighted that lines that really stuck out to me.

Enjoy.

I Believe

I believe in God

I believe in Jesus Christ

I believe in Man.

I believe in God as the infinite power which is the reason for my being.

I believe in Jesus Christ as major revelation of God.

I believe in man as the house of GOd, created in his image.

I believe that my finite person is incapable of ever comprehending the infinite, yet God reveals himself to me daily through myself and relations with others, through the lives of men and women throughout history, and ultimately through the life of Christ.

I believe that through Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth, God reveals to me the life I should live.

I believe God lives within me and all of mankind.

I believe the basis of life is love: love on oneself, love of one's neighbor, as as Christ has said, love of one's enemies.

I believe we are meant to live in harmony.

I believe that when we seek this harmony with the motivations of love, we glorify God as he has commanded.

I believe in the basic law of God: Thou shall not kill.

I believe in the basic law of God: Thou shall have no other gods before me.

I believe that since God lives within each of us and all of us, the service of man is the service of God; therefore the destruction of man is the profaning of God.

I believe in non-violence as witnessed by the life of Christ.

I believe the laws of man must become secondary when they conflict with the natural laws of God.

I believe life must be a witness.

I believe this witness must be total, a commitment of all one's talents to the glory of God.

I believe this witness must work to overcome national, racial, economic, political, and cultural divisions to unite mankind in peace.

I believe the way of God is the way witnessed by Christ which is the way of peace.

I believe peace is found through its pursuit.

I believe God is revealed through the pursuit of peace.

I believe to search for the revelations of God is to work to know God.

I believe to seek God is to know God.

I believe God reveals himself through revelations of the soul.

I believe the soul is revealed through the process of the search for it.

I believe the search takes many individual and collective forms.

I believe it is found in the development of creativity which is within all of us, which we must work to free for the collective use in the service of man, is again the revelation of God.

I believe it is most found in the service of my fellow man as witnessed by the life of Christ, the man closest to God.

I believe just as Christ's life is a witness to the laws of God, my life must be a witness to my search of him through my service to man.

I believe therefore that I could not kill another man nor could i in good conscience serve or involve myself in any system, nor support in any way, the creation or continuation of any process which seeks to or results in the killing (I would add suffering) of another man.

-Perry Muckerheidi

Spurgeon Quote

2010-11-28T12:01:00.001-08:00

I forgot how much I love Charles Spurgeon. In the bulletin at this morning's service this quote was offered in the front as a source of reflection. Enjoy.

"It has been said that "the proper study of mankind is man." I believe it is equally true that... the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father. IT is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned it its infinity. But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. And, while humbling and expanding. this subject is eminently consolatory. 0h, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.

-Charles Spurgeon.

Church w/ Tim Keller

2010-11-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

I am the only when left of my family staying with my aunt in NYC. I stayed behind to visit Union Theological Seminary on monday and fly home monday afternoon. I decided to go to Church this morning and the only Church or pastor that I am familiar with in NYC is that of Tim Keller's. He probably falls under the category of a minor Christian celebrity because of the many popular books he has written. Most notably, The Reason for God and The Prodigal God. The name of the Church is Redeemer Presbyterian and the congregation has 6,000 thousand members. The church has a unique way of gathering in that there are many locations (not churches but auditoriums and other halls) that Tim Keller makes his way around to through the day and gives the sermon at each. The service I went to must have had 2,000 very diverse people packed into a college auditorium. It was as solid classical service outlined by an old school liturgy but capped off with a enlightening sermon from Tim Keller. The sermon was entitled To Know the Living God and here are some high lights that I took from it:

God is knowable. Therefore, what is it to be in fellowship with God? or to know God or to walk with God?

Knowing God is a heart experience but not pure mysticism. There is an objective body of truth that can not be ignored, i.e. the Bible and the clear commands and clear overarching themes that dictate the Christian life. Hence, you can not create your own God from a feeling or whatever else that does not come from or align with this body of objective truth.

What does it look like to be in fellowship with God? The following are the six different aspects Keller offered as to know if you are walking with God:

1. To know God is to delight in his presence. You know you have really experienced God's presence when you cant stand living in the absence of that presence.

2. Intimate 2 way communication or exchange.

Prayer - you know you are not in fellowship with God if you treat him as an ATM.

Word- you know you are in fellowship with God if you are reading the word and asking questions and learning in a way in which lead you to adore God more, repent, etc. Are you reading the word and learning about yourself, God, and the world?

3. When you are in relationship with a person they influence your life and you lose certain freedoms. Therefore when you are in fellowship with God there is a loss of freedom but also a gain of a different more joyous and eternal freedom.

Probably the most accurate way of knowing if you are walking with God is if God is messing up your life.

4. You love and desire Christian community

5. Anybody who knows God wants others to really know God.

6. Organic growth from the inside.

"Only in New York"

2010-11-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

"Only in New York"... is a phrase that I have grown accustom to through the years. I have come to new york at least once a year since I was a baby to visit family. I have been blessed with the contrast of experiencing "normal" and "conservative" life in the midwest with the fast passed, unusual, liberal lifestyle one experiences daily in the city.

"Only in New York" is a phrase used when one sees something so outrageous and so unusual that it could only happen in new york city. These are instances that most New Yorkers walk right by without stopping or maybe even acknowledging the unusual/weird event. The most you might see is a double take, a shake of the head, or a smile, but they never stop or veer of course.

I had one of these moments this week that stopped us and elicited the response, "only in New York." As my family was walking down the stairs to take the subway home from time square after a broadway show, we witnessed an usual scene on the platform. A very tall,lean, and muscular black man had his shirt off seemingly working out. He was big enough and ripped enough to pass for a professional athlete, yet he was working out on a subway platform. He had work out bands and was using the tiled stone pillars as an anchor point for familiar exercises. While also using benches that people wait for the subway on to elevate his feet to do push ups. The only reasonable explanation was that this man could no longer afford his gym membership.. or had come to the conclusion that the could get just as good of a work out on the subway platform then at an overly priced LA Fitness. This guy might be on to something because well... he was ripped!

"Only in New York" would anyone think of doing what this man was doing and "only in New York" would most people simply walk by without even giving this man a double take.

Plastic Bags Parody

2010-11-19T09:16:00.001-08:00

It is kind of a parody in itself that plastic bags have not been banned completely. They are so blatantly a terrible thing for the environment that it I challenge anyone to contest why they should stay in use. This is a cool cool video:

My Immovables, Advice to College Seniors

2010-11-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the "future." A new season of life is approaching and it has had me analyzing and pondering my life. I have been asking myself these questions (that hopefully every one asks them self often, but especially all my fellow seniors.):

When and doing what do I feel the most alive?

Are there times when I say to my self, "yes, this is what I was created to do"?

What wakes me up in the morning?

What injustice bigger then myself just grinds my gears?

What am I passionate about?

etc.

I've been having conversations, asking these questions, and visiting places. I refuse to be stressed, anxious, to do pro's and con's list, to take tests, to look over job listings, etc. What I have been focusing on figuring out what the "immovables" of my life are. What is it that is in my essence that I want to be about? Because thats what I want to do, how I get there and the details of what some "job" or grad school look like are just not that important. I want to be tapping into and living out of what is uniquely me.

My immovables so far:

Ministry, faith based non-for profit, or teaching are really the only fields I can see myself in.

I want to be in a diverse community.

I want to be in an urban environment.

I want to be in the middle of the brokenness of this world. Especially, brokenness that is a result of the evil systems of this world, i.e. poverty, homelessness, addiction, etc.

I want to teach high school and college kids one day. Not immediately but I want to be hired not because I have a ph.d from Harvard but because I have invaluable real life experience.

I want to connect the youth of the wealthy "burbs" with a Jesus who will burst their conception of a Christianity that only sits around in a circle and talks about masturbation.

Those are my immovables. I think this is a good first step (really the only step I know to do). I am willing to bet that 99% of college seniors in America are not thinking about this process like I am. But this is the only way I know how.

I am not suggesting that every college senior should choose a path of "ministry" or to move into the city and hang out with poor people.

I learned a long time ago to avoid doing anything I just have to do because I have to. Surely, you have heard your parents say "you just have to work for a few years, get some money under you and then do all this humanitarian stuff". Nahh, mom, nahh Dad. I dont think so. The fact that we feel like we HAVE to go to college to be successful is a myth of its own and was forced upon us since we walked through the doors of our first day of elementary school.

Don't just do something to do it, to be comfortable, because it is a good start.

Don't just do something for a little while that will be miserable, but will give you six figures a year. While in the back of your mind you are waiting for the day you can quit and do what you really want.

Gosh what an injustice. My advice to college seniors is to search for what makes you feel most alive. Find and note those moments that you stop and say..."yes, this is life, I do not want to be any where else, this is what I was created to do." Figure out what it is about those moments that elicits that reaction and let that dictate your future. Not job security, comfortability, what you are good at, or what you parents think will be a "good" and "successful" future.

And. If when you figure this out begin presently to let it dictate your life. Not waiting for some arbitrary graduation date that we have been programed to expect, plan, and wait for the last 16 years of our education.

Seeing Jesus

2010-11-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

“Seeing Jesus is a discipline of stillness. If, I really want to see him. I’ll need to avoid being consumed by always trying to do things in his name, and I’ll need to be motionless, intent on beholding what is in front of me.”

—

Greg Paul

Tolstoy on Christianity

2010-11-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

I have probably sounded like a Marxist lately. This wont help.

This is a quote from a Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy or Leo Tolstoy. I found this in a book that is a collection of different religious voices for peace. I am not an expert of ole' Leo, but I am pretty sure in his later years that he denounces Christianity, probably for the contradictions in the faith he identifies here. Either way, this is a cool quote.

Enjoy

"This pervasion was accomplished long ago in the time of that scoundrel the emperor Constantine, who for doing it was enrolled among the saints. All subsequent governments, especially our Russian government, do their utmost to preserve this perverted understanding, and not to allow the people to see the real meaning of Christianity; because having seen the real meaning of Christianity, the people would perceive that the governments, with their taxes, soldiers, prisons, gallows, and false priests, are not only the pillars of Christianity they profess to be, but are its greatest enemy." -Leo Tolstoy

Dorothy Day Quotes

2010-11-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of quotes from my main lady Dorothy Day. She was an activist, a writer, a catholic, and never swayed from calling herself a Christian anarchist. Anarchy gets a bad wrap in America because we believe in a big government with a lot of control. But it actually is something a lot different than the common misconception of a society in pure chaos. Anyways, thats besides the point. Enjoy these quotes from an innovative and faithful lady.

“To be a follower of Jesus, one would certainty not seek after authority, or look for political office. It is thrust upon one by ability and recognition of that ability by others, as it was in the case of St. Peter. St. Abros, Dius XII and so on.”

“The social order which depends on profits which does not consider the nature of man’s needs, as to living space, food and work, is a bad social order, and we must work to make that a kind of order in which it is easier for man to do good.”

Life as a House

2010-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

I watched the movie Life as a House for the second time this weekend. This go around my attention was drawn more to how broken and down right f'ed up the character's lives were. Sexual brokenness, addiction, unloving fathers, illness, crappy marriages, homosexuality, etc plagued the lives of the different characters. One man's realization of his brokenness and his quest to redeem his life through building a house, transformed his life and everyone around him. By inviting others into the process of redeeming his brokenness others were changed, grew, and became new.

Is this not what we do as followers of Christ? As readers of the Gospel we are acutely aware of how broken and incomplete

this world is. We also know just how shattered the individual can become in this broken world. So really ... are Christians anything more than people that have a more realistic view on ourselves and this world that we live in and know someone (God) that is in the process (with or without us) of redeeming and reconciling the brokenness of the entire creation? With humility, hope, and patience we enter into a relationship with the creator who is redeeming the world. Knowing that while working to redeem this world alongside God that God will in fact redeem us, and by working on our own brokenness we will also join in the process of redeeming creation. Kind a vis versa or paradox concept.

Last night, we celebrated and remembered Jon and Annie Houghton's house they have lived in for the past 6 or 7 years. Unlike other people, their lives were not their own, the house was not their own, their family even was not their own, food, couch, tv, etc was not their own. And because they were aware of their brokenness and knew the creator that was redeeming them they invited literally thousands of young people to come into their home ask questions, laugh, cry, and pray all in the hopes that they themselves would be offering a safe place or a sanctuary for young kids to come to move forward and out of their brokenness. Praise God for their willingness to sacrifice privacy, comfort, and quiet for all some many lives to be transformed.

A house is never just a house. It is not inherently anything. The people living in that house get to decide what it becomes. And how powerful of a thing for a family to realize that their house has the potential to become a direct tool for ministry. To offer a place for questions to be raised, maybe answered, for hope to be created, and for love and grace to be poured out on those that walk through the door.

A few year ago I wrote this piece during my internships as a community organizer in urban Indianapolis. Also called Life as a House, but with a different perspective.

Our Western Conception of God

2010-10-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

Today in Buddhism class, we watched a movie on Zen Buddhist "hermits" or ascetics who live in the mountains FAR away from society. They live off only what they need and read and meditate when they are not farming or doing other necessary work to sustain life. They all live completely alone.

I do not know what came over me, but I took a scrap sheet of paper and just started writing. This is what came out: (these are just thoughts, not formed ideas or conclusions by any means)

Maybe, our conception of God as a "being" or any other contained force is just way off.

Almost every religion has this idea that we are all of the earth and will one day return to the earth. Also, almost every religion I have studies is more concerned with what is under the surface. Ideas like desire, meaning, purpose, substance, intention, etc. are all central religious themes.

In the west, we think of God as a contained being that has a home. Heaven or something. But when we talk about and describe God, we use language that beckons transcendence, omnipotence, and more simply; that God is everywhere all at once.

I think, eastern religions have a better, and more logical way to describe God.

Scientifically, we know that heaven is not just beyond Earth's atmosphere, In fact, it is no where to be found so far. (granted we have and never will search every square inch of the universe). But more importantly, do we really think that heaven and God are contained in some space anywhere? I think, in the west we think like that and even talk like we believe that sometimes. Theologically and scientifically, we can throw out the idea that heaven or "where god dwells" is a physical contained space that we will ever be able to see.

God is everywhere? How is this possible unless God is either IN everything, a PART of everything, or God actually IS everything. I suppose, that God could also be in the space in between everything invisible to us.

I don't know.

But any person that uses a conception or rhetoric that makes God out to be trancendent, omnipotent, or all at once everywhere, and uses any other conception or rhetoric that confines God to any sport of space or describes God as a confined being; is in error.

I have no answers.

But just as Eli Wiesel would say, there is just a big question mark hanging over my head.

These are just thoughts. Not meant to persuade anyone but merely to vent what rambles in my mind.

Taking the Bible Literally

2010-10-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

How to read the Bible? Is a question not so easily answered. One approach is to read the Bible "literally" and well...I do not really know what that means.

The dictionary on my computer defines the word "literal": Taking words in their usual or most basic sense without allegory or methephor. Also literal implies free of exaggeration or distortion.

"This is what taking the bible literally in that sense would mean: A literal reading of the Bible means reinstitution of slavery coupled with the understanding that the slave master has the right to beat his slave without mercy since "the slave is his money" (Exodus 21:21). Children who strike or curse a parent are to be executed (Exodus 21: 15, 17). Those who pay homage to another god "shall be utterly destroyed" (Exodus 22:20). Menstruating women are to be considered unclean (Leviticus 15:19-32). The blind the lame, those with mutilated faces, those who are hunchbacks or dwarfs and those with itching diseases or scabs or crushed testicles cannot become priests (Leviticus 15:19-32). And "if the spirit of jealousy" comes upon a man, the high priest can order the jealous man's wife to drink the "water of bitterness". If she dies, it is proof of her guilt, if she survives, of her innocence (Numbers 5:11-31). Women, throughout the Bible, are subservient to men, often without legal rights, and men are free to sell their daughters into sexual bondage (Exodus 21:7-11)."

-Chris Hedges, American Fascists

Not to mention Jesus call to love our enemies, The ant-Jewish tone of the Gospel, The crazy crazy book of Revelation. The epistles often confusing view of women and slaves. and well...etc.

Is there no way to read the Bible than "literally", as so many right winged conservative christians profess they do?

Story of Stuff and Jesus

2010-10-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

What does Jesus have to do with anything political, social, or economic? If you haven't watched this video you freaken need to click it and not move for 20 minutes.

This is what I know: systems either hurt or help people. And Jesus cares about hurting people.

If you do watch this video listen to how Annie Leonard asserts how the systems we live under hurts people, it tells them they are worthless, and it exploits them. Jesus and the Gospels have everything to do with these matters.

Enjoy.

Sharing your Faith

2010-10-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Pen Gillette, of Pen and Teller, raises some really interesting questions about sharing and not sharing your faith.

The 'Suppression' of Homosexuals, Joel Burns

2010-10-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have often noted (to myself mostly) that the oppression of homosexuals is a unique form of oppression. As a society, and especially in the mid-west, we are still trying to figure out what we think about the morality of homosexuality. In general we refuse to talk about issues of sexuality in any sort of forum that is unbiased and free of political agenda or religious fervor.

Directly or indirectly young gay men and women are forced to keep any and all feelings of homosexuality inside. This is otherwise known as the "closet".

Hence, why in my mind, the oppression of homosexuals is more of a suppression.

This is just so dangerous. Everything about our society that creates a need for the closet has to change. That doesn't mean that you have to agree that homosexuality is "right" or not a sin but it does mean that you hate with all your might any rhetoric, tone, or method that might make a young teenager hang himself in his back yard because "what he feels" is wrong without ever being able to discuss it openly and freely to figure out just what it is that he is feeling.

What conservative right winged evangelicals who openly and loudly call homosexuality evil, wrong, and sin need to stop and think deeply about is how their rhetoric and methods are creating a climate that says bullying is okay and causing young people to think of themselves as evil and wrong. When in fact the very Bible that so many look to to become so confident that homosexuality is a sin says that we are ALL created in the image of God, that Jesus died and was resurrected as a display of how much he loves ALL of humanity, and that each of us (young and old) have the potential and capacity be awesome, even Christ like.

So think hard, think hard about any sort of rhetoric and methodology of preaching that creates bullying of young homosexuals and a climate that makes young people first turn inside and hide, and then eventually escape completely by taking their own lives.

I am only 21, how could I all ready have such a complicated issue like homosexuality figured out to the point that I can deem it with absolute certainty evil and a sin?

But what I do know with the up most certainty from the bottom of my heart is that creating and perpetuating a society that suppresses young people to the point that they are committing suicide at an alarming rate is absolutely positively evil and a sin.

All of these comments were inspired by this clip. This guys is a courageous and brave man to risk his political career to stand up to a terrible climate of suppression plaguing are American society.

And here is great article by Jim Wallis (modern day prophet to some, heretic to others) on his take on bullying and homosexuality.

Soccer Commentating

2010-10-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have always admired the way English broadcasters announce futbol games. I have often noted how (compared to dull American commentators like my least favorite Chris Collinsoworth) their use or poetic prose and an arsenal of grammar (that never makes it into the daily english of an average american) makes it just so much more enjoyable to listen to.

Maybe it is just that they are English and say bloody hell, brilliant, etc... OR maybe it is them making up for a game that is just as exciting as other sports but just not for ever minute of the ninety it is played. Maybe it is a combination of both.

Nevertheless

I want to expand my grammar and comment on the daily happenings of life like this guy here.

Gordan Drops 26

2010-10-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Gordan dropped 26 points on the Lakers the other night in a pre-season game.

I also came across this picture that captures one of my favorite moments in last years tournament. I remember being terribly nervous for this game thinking how terrible it would be to go out in the first round. Who knew we would find ourselves playing for the national championship?

This is seriously probably the sickest CLEAN come from behind breakaway block I have ever seen.

Bobby Kennedy on Peace.

2010-10-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

"God has given us a complicated world in which we sometimes choose between peace and goodness. The only place to find true peace is inside ourselves. It is a product of faith and surrender to God."

-Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Why do the Awesome Die Young?

2010-10-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Why does everybody who is freaken way ahead of their time, prophetic, and really out to change the world get killed (always mysteriously and never without conspiracy)?

MKL, Tupac, JFK, Malcolm X, Bobby Kennedy, etc. I am sure there are hundreds of others I am forgetting.

Anyways have some words of wisdom from one of these folks.

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly, process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, and quietly building new structures."

-John F. Kennedy Jr.

(Repost) Collusion

2010-10-07T17:56:00.001-07:00

Many moons ago I posted this on my blog. I post it again here to remind myself that well... I suck. I tell myself every day not to let myself be controlled by things out of my control and better yet not to create or invite conflict. But I do it all the time.

Here is what I posted a long time ago:

Here is a new word for everyone to learn and put into practice...

Collusion:

A conflict where the parties are inviting the very things they're fighting against.

See the word conflict in its essence is "passive", it is something that happens to us. Conflict for example, may be in result of a simple misunderstanding.

On the other hand,

The conflicts that I have noticed in my life have overwhelmingly not been conflict at all, and instead I have invited the very thing that I find myself frustrated with, fighting against, or arguing at.

Step back from your life and see what you find of the conflicts in your life. Are they conflicts or really collusion?

Doesn't the solution for conflict totally change when we look at it in this light?

Gangs/Tupac Video... Prophetic?

2010-10-04T13:04:00.001-07:00

I am taking a senior seminar on Peace, Violence, and Youth. It has been facinating and engaging so far but this week we were assigned to read the book A World of Gangs by John M. Hagedorn. This may be the most interesting and intriguing book I have read in my 3.25 years at Butler. Urban life is terribly interesting to me and the Hagedron does an awesome job of showing the history of gangs, the current state of gangs, and defining what exactly is a gang. He touches on everything from the Irish gang that created in the Chicago Dailey polotical machine to current African American gangs and how they are influenced by hip hop. If you have work in urban setting this would be an invaluable resource or at least you would find it really interesting.

Anyways it reminded me of this video I saw this summer of an interview with Tupac. It is amazing to me how well spoken, articulate, and wise he is on all matters having to do with well... Politics. If you are using the running definition of politics that is the study of who gets what, when, and where.

He is borderline prophetic.

The Jesus Prayer

2010-09-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

I am in a "training and equipping" class at Common Ground Christian Church that I am really excited about. The guy who teaches and leads the class is like my hero. I want to be just like him when I grow up: long hair, simple, radical, faithful, and wise.

Anyways, here is a prayer that he shared with us that I thought was just really awesome. I am trying to memorize it and thought that blogging it might aid my efforts. I am sure there will be more to come from this class...

The Jesus Prayer

Father Almighty,

Make of Heaven and earth

Set up your Kingdom in our midst.

Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God:

Have mercy on me a sinner

Holy Spirit, breath of the living God

Renew me and the world.

Posture

2010-09-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Ever have those words that just ring your head all through out the day? week? or in my case the weekend?

This weekend was the Young Life Raceway Region Leader Summit that never fails at being an absolute blast. Full of random dance parties, singing Miley Cyrus, singing awesome worship, being around awesome awesome people, and trying to understand our relationship with God better so that we might be able to love kids better.

The weekend was all of that, the people were great, I learned a lot, and I was re-focused and re-motivated as a young life leader.

But back to that word. The word that haunted my thoughts all week was "posture". It is no secret (that if you know me) I struggle deeply with issues of pride, arrogance, and authority. God has been teaching me and humbling me a lot in that area over the summer and into the school year as well. Yet still, it is no doubt a constant struggle to stand before God humbled and to not constantly think that I am better than others.

I kept asking myself what is that posture I take before God in prayer but also all through out the day? Do I stand humbled knowing that his way is unimaginably better than the way I could choose?

Do I enter into hard conversations with friends in a posture of humility that I may actually be the wrong? OR do I walk in with a posture that says I am right and there is nothing you can do about it?

Yeah.

I think more times than not my posture is not the one of humility that I desire it to be.

so here is some lyrics from my new favorite band that I often come back to when having this conversation with myself...

Seal my heart and break my pride

I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide

Align my heart, my body, my mind

To face what I've done and do my time

Itchy Feet

2010-09-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

I have what Chris Mccandless (Into the Wild guy) calls "itchy feet". Better characterized as the urge to go, to run away, escape responsibility, to explore, a longing for adventure, and to escape from any form of authority.

I have been day dreaming about packing up my pack,grabbing my boots and sleeping bag and just taking off. Leaving no note but just disappearing...

I have it all planned out in my head:

First I would hitch hike all the way to Maine and hop on the Appalachian trail and hike all the way to Georgia. Four to six months after I was done with that I would hitch hike to Nevada and hike the Continental divide trail all the way trough colorado and wyoming to Canada. Six months later I would hitch hike all the way to vancouver and hike the West Coast trail (my ultimate dream trail right now). A few weeks later I would ho

p on the Pacific crest trail and hike all t

he way down the coast into Mexico.

So lets see... 5 + 6 + 1 + 3 = 15 months.

probably best that I keep dreaming.

dream about it, talk about it, DO it.

some pictures of the places I want to go and maps of the trails....

Morning Perspective

2010-09-06T04:03:00.000-07:00

This summer I read "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in hopes that I would gather a better vision for community. Although, I do not actually know if the book helped in the way I was hoping for it did drop on me many sweet nuggets of solid truth like what I will soon be sharing with you.

The sacraments in a sense "spiritualize" or make sacred ordinary events in our life (i.e. marriage, adulthood, etc.). Bonhoeffer in way, spiritualized the morning for me by changing my perspective and giving it theological significance.

Enough said. ..

"For Christians the beginning of the day should not be burdened and oppressed with besetting concerns for the day's work. At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it. All the darkness and distraction of the dreams of night retreat before the clear light of Jesus Christ and his wakening Word. All unrest, all impurity, all care and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, at the beginning of the day let all distraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our while life belongs. 'Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light' (ephesians 5:14)."

Quote from G.K. Chesterton

2010-08-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

I recently just finished a book by G.K. Chesterton called Orthodoxy. It is basically a testimony/his reasons for rational believing in Christianity. It is deep, eloquent, philosophical, and mostly way over my head.

Here is a passage from near the end of the book where he is responding to people who think of Jesus as being passive and un-exciting.

"Instead of looking at books and pictures about the New Testament I looked at the New Testament. There I found an account, not in the least of a person with his hair parted in the middle or his hands clasped in appeal, but of an extraordinary being with lips of thunder and acts of lurid decision, flinging down tables, casting out devils, passing with the wild secrecy of the wind from mountain isolation to a sort of dreadful demagogy; a being who often acted like an angry god-- and always like a God. Christ has a literary style of his own, not to be found, I think, elsewhere; it consists of an almost furious us of the "a fortiori" (I have no idea what that is). His "so much more" is piled upon another like castle upon castle in the clouds. The diction used about christ has been, perhaps wisely, sweet and submissive. But the diction used by Christ is quite curiously gigantesque; it is full of camels leaping through needles and mountains hurled into the sea." ....."The one explanation of the Gospel language that does explain it, is that it is the survey of one who from some supernatural height beholds some more startling synthesis." -G.K. Chesterton

Fear

2010-08-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember I have been absolutely terrified of snakes. I have no idea where this irrational fear of mine comes. I was also a huge Indiana Jones fan growing up and wanted to be just like him. And every big Indiana fans know that his one and only fear is snakes (accurately shown in the clip).

I love to hike and when I do hike one of the only things that I am afraid of are snakes. I choose the path depending on where I believe the least snakes will be and watch where I put every foot in order to avoid snakes at all cost. In fact my irrational fear controls how I hike.

Is this not like all other legitimate fears that we let control our lives? We may be scared to die, scared to be uncomfortable, being broke, or of allowing God to take utter control of your life. I would be willing to beat that everyone has some fear that controls our lives and interferes with us trusting in God completely.

What is your fear that is in the back of your mind that keeps you from running through the trails of life freely, not peeking behind corners and cautiously taking baby steps to avoid what it is that you are afraid of?

Many years ago I had a vision while having an amazing and pure worship experience of a snake slithering into my mind. All of a sudden a cloaked man came with a staff and crushed the head of the snake. I spent the rest of the night holding Jesus' hand in one of the most pure worship experiences I have ever heard.

At the time I had not been introduced to the Genesis 3 verse about a future savior crushing the head of the serpent. But when I made the connection i realized there is nothing to be fearful of, Jesus rules victoriously and no tangible or spiritual evil can cause me harm.

I was reminded of this constantly as I hiked the hills around the Oak's camp that are infested with all kinds of snakes.

Summer Lessons

2010-08-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

Will I ever get to a point where I trust God's sovereign, good, and loving hand over my life? I do not know! But It never fails to be incredibly humbling to come out the other end of an experience knowing exactly that God had you right where he wanted you the whole time.

I had a million reasons to wonder why I chose to go to the Oaks summer camp. i.e. (I was surrounded by many christian school kids, people that had been Christian's their whole lives, differences of theologies, difference of methods of sharing the Gospel, etc...)

But man o man did I grow to love the people that I was in fellowship and service with every day for 6 weeks.

A few in particular I know I will be good friends with for a long time. I have to be.. I am indebted into the way they spoke into my life and changed me.

Cali Summer

2010-07-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

4 weeks ago I had never driven a boat before in my life. I now have probably driven a boat in 4 weeks more than most boat owners have for years combined.

I would like to say that I have become a pretty skill full boat driver. Then again there is not much to it: throttle down and turn the wheel towards where you want the boat to go.

We have two boats. The backup boat I named Lou Ellen (displayed in picture). She is 21 years old. The other boat that has been broken for most of the summer I named Penelope was made in 1962!

Here at the Oaks they like to take the idea of God being a redemptive God really literally and use old broken stuff hoping that God will make it new.

Pyramid lake is beautiful... The first time I went there I said to myself, "I mean....I guess I will be able to spend every day here this summer."

Why Young Life is Great

2010-07-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love being a young life leader. I was telling one of my friends here at this Oak's camp about my young life trip and how the kids on it are into all kinds of stuff that would be considered unchristian (i.e. smoking pot, messing around with girls, etc.) I was telling her that these are the kids that were on the trip and that were also SO willing to sit around in a circle and talk about Jesus, what it means to be a man of God, and what life to the full looks like. She stopped me and asked how it is that these kids come on a trip like Wilderness and are willing to talk about Jesus with us and are interested in all things I listed above and more?

This stopped me in my tracks only to help me realize that what she thought was crazy is exactly what makes Young Life is soooo great. Thank God for a ministry for shipwrecked souls like myself that were totally consumed with selfish desires but so badly was interested in hearing more about Jesus from these crazy Young Life leaders that just would not leave me alone.

How blessed I am to get to enter into the lives of so many lives and not do anything but point to Jesus Christ as the redeemer, reconciler, creator, and mender of all things.

Life Together (in the morning)

2010-07-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

I love staying up late but I love waking up early to meet God in the quiet of the morning even more.

I recently began a "Life Together" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is a classic on christian community that I have been wanting to read for awhile now. This particular quote is about the morning in which he encourages Christian communities to wake early to worship and meet God in the breaking of the new day.

Embrace rather than endure the new days that come...

"For Christians the beginning of the day should not be burdened and oppressed with besetting concerns for the day's work. At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it. All the darkness and distraction of the dreams of night retreat before the clear light of Jesus Christ and his wakening Word. All unrest, all impurity, all care and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, at the beginning of the day let all the distraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our whole life belongs.."Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give theh light" (Eph.5:14).

Book Review: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

2010-07-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

This a book that every American should read. It is important to realize that this books is not fiction but a revealing tail of one man's life that gives insight into America's perpetuation of the empire of global capitalism.

In many ways John Perkins asserts that slavery and imperialism have taken on a new face. That face being large corporations, America, and private organizations giving out loans to developing countries that they can never pay back. The developing countries people, governments, and industries are then under the control of the wealthy and powerful individuals and countries that loaned the money in the first place.

It is an honest reflection on the REALITY of how America has interacted with the world for the past 40 years. And statistics prove that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened since 40 years ago. Hence, Perkin's confessions are a confession to his involvement in widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

He had been writing the book on and off for awhile but in the wake of 9-11, filled with guilt and a conscience telling him to confess how his life and EHM lead directly to the disaster of 9-11 he finally finished his story.

It reads like a spy novel laced with an unadulterated depiction of America's involvement in global capitalism for the last forty years. Everything from George H. Bush's invasion of Panama to loans given to Indonesia to forever keep them in debt to America.

The Strategy of Jesus

2010-07-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

A good friend introduced me to this quote from Elton Trueblood. It is what I long for, what I spend so much of the day dreaming about. Deep down in my heart these are the words that I have not been able to express:

The Strategy of Jesus

There is no person in history who has impacted all of mankind more than Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus was deeply concerned for the continuation of his redemptive work after the close of his earthly existence, and his chosen method was a formation of a small band of committed friends. He did not form an army, establish a headquarters, or even write a book. What he did was collect a few very common men and women, inspire them with the sense of the spirit and vision, and build their lives into an intensive fellowship of affection, worship, and work.

One of the truly shocking passages of the gospel is that in which Jesus indicated that there is absolutely no substitute for the tiny, loving, caring, reconciling society. If this fails, he suggests, all is a failure; there is no other way. He told the little bedraggled fellowship that they were actually the salt of the earth and that if this salt should fail there would be no adequate preservation at all. He was staking it all on one throw.

What we need is not intellectual theorizing or even preaching, but a demonstration. One of the most powerful ways of turning people's loyalty to Christ is by loving others with the great love of God. We cannot revive faith by argument, but we might catch the imagination of puzzled men and women by an exhibition of a fellowship so intensely alive that every thoughtful person would be forced to respect it.

If there should emerge in our day such a fellowship, wholly without being artificial and free form the dead hand of importance. A society of genuine loving friends, set free from self-seeking struggle for personal prestige and from all unreality, would be something unutterably priceless and powerful. A wise person would travel any distance to join it.

(excerpts from Elton Trueblood)

Skid Row Experience

2010-06-18T16:30:00.001-07:00

This is us on our way to "Skid Row" an infamous part of LA that is where thousands of people who are down and out because of poverty, mental illness, or addictions congregate. There are churches and community centers that provide free meals and programs on literally every street corner. I am not sure what came first, the people looking for help or the community centers.

Either way I have seen poverty, addiction, and mental illness many times in small doses but skid row was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The streets are filled with

people who are thin and worn down from addictions, there are people who when you look into their eyes you can instantly tell they are mentally ill or hopeless. I was extremely discouraged as I walked these streets and talked with the people who did not get to go home to a warm bed at night. These words echoed in my head:

This is not how God dreamed the world to be and The poor will always be with you

I was giving my self a history lesson and came to the conclusion that there has always been a class, race, or group of people that have been pushed to the side by greed and abused by the systems we humans create.I thought to myself: "If God does not want this to end than I want know part with God."But I have searched the scriptures (especially the prophets and the Gospels) enough to know that God hates poverty, mental illness, and addictions more than I could ever imagine.

I also refuse to blame anything of what I saw on a fictious Satan character that tempts and controls our world. I believe full heartedly that the broken world I saw this week was a product of my sinful heart. My sinful heart combined with your sinful heart, and all of the sinful hearts that have ever and currently walk this earth culminates into the evil of this world.

As failed, fallen, and sinful people we have created systems like capitalism, American democracy (that I assure you is not democracy), corporations, social security/welfare, or many of the other systems, that are nothing more than outlets for our sinful hearts.

Capitalism, (how America does capitalism) is wrong and God hates it. I can not be convinced otherwise. This week I got a tiny tiny tiny look into the hearts and eyes of the people's lives that are directly affected by the systems we create with our sinful hearts. Every single second of the day, from now until eternity, God looks into the eyes and hearts of those I only got a glimpse of and sees the hurt, brokenness, and hopelessness in ways that I will never be able to wrap my mind around.

Thank God for the power of the resurrection. Ephesians says that the same power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that we now possess. I am convinced that the only place to find hope when we get down deep into the brokenness of this world is this power that we now are vehicles of to bring into this world.

Redemption, transformation, reconciliation, and Shalom in a way in which I can never fully imagine happens to each of us that let God into our hearts. And God is not just concerned with our souls but with the very world we live in that causes his children that he died for to suffer.

I would not have been transformed by God's grace if it was not for being broken into a million pieces as I stood in the shadow of the cross and was scorched by my sin. In the cracks of this broken world are the seeds for Jesus to do his work to redeem, transform, and reconcile this world.

Sin is the root of evil and the root of evil is the dehumanization of our fellow humans. If we looked into the hearts and eyes of people like God does to see their beauty, potential, hope, and capacities for love in the midst of their outward and inward brokenness we could not let the world exist in the way in which it does.

I pray a big prayer that God would do a work in every Christian trapped in complacency and comfort and break their hearts for how our God's heart breaks. Because if you do not want to face the realities of this world for what they are and dive into the brokenness than do not label yourself a Christian.

A Week in the City

2010-06-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

I have never been to Los Angeles before or even Cali for that matter. This past week I spent a week of training with World Impact Ministries experiencing the dynamic, diverse, and interesting city that LA is. I will tell the story of my experience through a few pictures I took.

They do not have trees like this in the midwest. I remember when I was looking at colleges I wanted to go to a school with a different culture, food, people, and different trees than what I was use to in the midwest. LA has many many things that run contrast to the environment but one thing that sticks out more than others is the unique trees amongst a very urban environment.

I learned and played more card games in my 6 days in LA than my entire life combined. Euchre, hearts, kemps, and dirty pirate hooker to name a few.

So many hours spent in a car ride waiting on traffic or lost. I was cramped, hot, and car sick a lot this week.

We spent 3 days of our trip at a park in South Central playing sports with kids, doing arts and crafts, and telling them about Jesus. I was in a my first and hopefully my LAST Bible drama. The kids were precious and such a joy to be around. They climbed all over us and begged us to throw them in the air. Often their parents would sip "kool aid" on a bench or drop them off and not even be to concerned for there where abouts or how high these crazy white kids were throwing their kids in the air. I buried a couple needles with my foot into the ground that we played soccer in while stray dogs, drunk people, and homeless people slept in the park. The dynamics and contradictions were extremely interesting.

Amongst all that was so disconcerting was such hope, joy, and potential in all of the kids we were given the blessing and honor to hang out with.

Cali Hiking

2010-06-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from a hike I went on today. There are some pretty nice short trails around the camp that offer some good views.

I have been at the Oaks now for about 48 hours. I have enjoyed almost everyone that I have met here so far.

I thought that coming to cali I would get away from all that IS the midwest and not only experience new places but new people. So far though, the majority of the people minus a handful of people, people that I work mostly with our from the midwest.

So in many ways I came here thinking I would be a minority as a midwestern, in fact it is quite the opposite. I am a minority in other ways though. For example almost everyone that is in college, minus

maybe 3 or 4, goes to a Christian

school (i.e. Taylor, Cederville, and other Bible or Christian schools in Cali). So as a religious studies major from a secular school I have some different perspectives and ways of thinking about the bible, ministry, god, religion etc than probably most of the people from Christian schools. I guess I do not have to much to base this one just yet, and I am working off of stereotypes and over generalizations but never the less I am a minority.

I am also a minority because (it seems) that most people are also all kids that grew up in the Church and that were youth group kids. This is not my story and my background with young life is mostly what has carried my faith journey.

I had a hunch that this would be the type of people that I interacted with here and is a lot of the reason that I thought it would be a good growing experience. To get outside of doing ministry inside young life. I say all of this when I have had very few "spiritual experiences" with people or the group yet and I have not witnessed how the Gospel will be preached to the kids here. Basically I have nothing yet to form any opinions but as usual I am jumping to conclusions prematurely.

I pray that I God will shatter stereotypes and generalizations that may inhibit my experience here.

Summer Begins

2010-06-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hopefully one of the many beautiful views I will see at the camp I am working at this summer...

Yo! I am so ready for summer to BEGIN for me. Granted I have been done with school since April 29 and havent done a lick of work since then, summer has yet to begun for me. I have been in limbo this last month trying to work out my summer plans.

Summer plans are always hard because I am stubborn and dont want to just work at a diaper factory making money. I want to do something that is:

meaningful

for the kingdom

will allow me to become closer to Jesus

is something that is good "experience" for whatever future I pursue

that pays

and most importantly that is fun!

A lot of things fell through. Either I didnt get the position, it was to expensive because of travel, or they just wouldnt hire me!

What did work out, was a chance to work at a summer camp in California that ministers to Los Angeles by building relationships with the diverse urban poor of the city. Kids ranging from elementary to high school get to spend a week at a beautiful camp in California.

My job will not to work directly with the kids but to be a boat driver. And maybe some other stuff (I'm not really sure yet).

Either way I am very excited and I will blog about my experiences there as they come.

If you are interested here is the website to the camp:

and here is the website of the ministry that works at the camp: