My wife is out of town at what was supposed to be a wedding but turned into a fun girls weekend away due to some issues with the US consulate and a visa for the groom. So Sarah is in Connecticut and I'm batching it for the weekend.
But I got a call yesterday from a school that I had previously turned down due the course load they wanted me to teach and the compensation they were offering. So I met with the principal and they actually offered me less work and more money than before so we're praying about it but it looks like a good deal and it keeps me from driving down to Escondido everyday which is exactly 50 miles there and then 50 miles back everyday.
So I'll probably end up working there starting the end of August which is good but still means I am scrambling for work in the meantime but its okay.
-Adam
June 19, 2008
June 12, 2008
Thursday...
So I just got done mowing grass with my brother in-law and realized that I have been some what remiss in writing, its not that I have nothing to say but that most of what I have been learning is about doing.
Faith perfected through actions.
Its been an interesting and sometimes difficult couple of months for us. Most of my time has been taken up in looking for a job, since I lost my job about two months ago. I haven't found anything permanent yet, but have supplemented our family income through a lot of random odd jobs mostly involving some sort of physical labor. Which means I've got listening of different messages done and had lots of time to sit and think/pray.
Things I learned...
Walk in my gifting... When troubles come its easy to pull back from things and "wait and see" and really that's sin. Not to say that you shouldn't put some energy into providing for your family, just remember who you are and walk in that identity as best you can.
Remember my priorities... I got offered a job that progressively the conditions changed for the worse. At first it was full time, then fifty to sixty hours, then six days a week, oh yeah and they were going to nights for the next 4 months so I would have been working from 8 pm to 6 am seeing my wife for only 2-3 hours a day. And there were some who couldn't believe it wouldn't take it because it would have been so much money and i didn't have a job at the time. But I made a vow to my wife when we got married to do certain things that take more three hours to accomplish. She's a priority in my life.
Trying to reconcile relationships doesn't always work... But it doenst mean you shouldn't try.
Honor is a language rarely spoken... even in our Church circles. We forget the power of our words and when we rob people of honor, we acknowledge that and go back and restore that that honor to them. And if we see someone dishonored, and recognize it, then we ought to go and address those things.
Don't use pocket knives when you are tired... Which is why i now have an nice scar on my hand about 3/4 of an inch long and about 3/4 of an inch deep.
Family is important and I look foward to having our little family for a long time...
So tomorrow I have my third interview with Light and Life school in Escondido. We'll see what happens. The pastor has an integrated view of using the school to reach out and minister to families in addition to providing a Christian education to the students. If i get it, I'll commute for now, but who knows what the future will bring.
-Adam
Faith perfected through actions.
Its been an interesting and sometimes difficult couple of months for us. Most of my time has been taken up in looking for a job, since I lost my job about two months ago. I haven't found anything permanent yet, but have supplemented our family income through a lot of random odd jobs mostly involving some sort of physical labor. Which means I've got listening of different messages done and had lots of time to sit and think/pray.
Things I learned...
Walk in my gifting... When troubles come its easy to pull back from things and "wait and see" and really that's sin. Not to say that you shouldn't put some energy into providing for your family, just remember who you are and walk in that identity as best you can.
Remember my priorities... I got offered a job that progressively the conditions changed for the worse. At first it was full time, then fifty to sixty hours, then six days a week, oh yeah and they were going to nights for the next 4 months so I would have been working from 8 pm to 6 am seeing my wife for only 2-3 hours a day. And there were some who couldn't believe it wouldn't take it because it would have been so much money and i didn't have a job at the time. But I made a vow to my wife when we got married to do certain things that take more three hours to accomplish. She's a priority in my life.
Trying to reconcile relationships doesn't always work... But it doenst mean you shouldn't try.
Honor is a language rarely spoken... even in our Church circles. We forget the power of our words and when we rob people of honor, we acknowledge that and go back and restore that that honor to them. And if we see someone dishonored, and recognize it, then we ought to go and address those things.
Don't use pocket knives when you are tired... Which is why i now have an nice scar on my hand about 3/4 of an inch long and about 3/4 of an inch deep.
Family is important and I look foward to having our little family for a long time...
So tomorrow I have my third interview with Light and Life school in Escondido. We'll see what happens. The pastor has an integrated view of using the school to reach out and minister to families in addition to providing a Christian education to the students. If i get it, I'll commute for now, but who knows what the future will bring.
-Adam
March 10, 2008
Cars and Fridgadares
So on Friday I went home early from work, cause there really wasn't any thing left to do and decided to work on my car a bit changing out my brake pads and re-installing the factory stereo so i could jam to some tunes while I was cruising around.
So when I went to take off the passenger tire this is what i was greeted by...
So thank God it didn't like blow up on me some where. Theres a chunk of rubber missing and it is worn through the reinforcing wires under the tread.
Thats it.
I'm working on some other stuff but it's not ready yet :)
So when I went to take off the passenger tire this is what i was greeted by...
So thank God it didn't like blow up on me some where. Theres a chunk of rubber missing and it is worn through the reinforcing wires under the tread.
Thats it.
I'm working on some other stuff but it's not ready yet :)
March 3, 2008
Man Camp
So following in the footsteps of the last few posts and the hope that the thought of a the week doesnt become a reality ("Awarness without change is worse than ignorance") I have been dealing with these issues of brokeness in my life.
In the last blog I addressed some issues with competance that I am working through. Most of them come from past experiences and while I still need to deal with my own hurts and injuries, this weekend these issues bubbled to the surface.
I went to man camp this weekend. Okay every body who didnt ride up in our car called it Men's Retreat, but by the end of the weekend we got a few others to call it that too. But unbeknownst to me, my step-dad also came up for the weekend. Okay well, Im 26 almost 27, I havent lived at home in 6 years, Im married and really, I have almost nothing of a relationship with him other than saying hi and seeing him at family events.
I came up with some younger guys and saw some guys there from other churches that I'm friends with so I didn't see him much. But then came along some "church" time where we got together as churches to talk about what we were learning/ dealing with over the weekend. He made some comments that were pretty mean, which I tried to ignore, but they really hurt. And I though, wow okay, maybe im just oversensitive right now, but 5 of the other six people took me aside in some way or another and asked if I was okay.
I think the one that was really eye opening for me was when one older guy came up and said, I couldn't figure out why he was being so mean to you till I realized you were his step son. He knew we were related but had forgotten because, as he said, he "couldn't even see any sort of relationship between us" and how if he had been up at camp with his son he would have been buddy-buddy running around and at least trying to do stuff together. So needless to say I was saddend. But it wasn't untill Buzzy got up and started reading "On God's Fridge" did I start crying.
God as the Dad I never had who hung up every thing I did on the fridge as a feeling of Joy and Pride over who I am and the life that I was living.
My hopes, my dreams, my heart, my passions, everything that wraps up who I am, held to the fridge with little colored magnets, excited about everything Im doing, and have yet still to do, celebrated at his kid, in all the glory of my twenty six years.
February 26, 2008
A Glimpse of Jesus
My wife and I recently started going to this 8-week marriage study at our church. Don't worry, our marraige isn't on the rocks or anything, we just would like to learn some good tools to keep us from ever getting to that point.
Anyways, I've been thinking about something that our pastor drew on a white board which I will try to recreate here.
He said from your same sex parent you get your sense of competency, from you opposite sex parent you get a sense of worth and from both of them you get your sense of belonging. We all probably have wounds in at least one of those areas if not all three. But in my particular case, I grew up with a mostly absent father, which means that to some extent I was missing out on a healthy helping of a sense of competency.
Now realize I’m not blaming my father or any thing for issues that I have. Rather I’m just opening a window on my though processes through the last couple of weeks as I've sought to root out some unhealth and to find healing for old wounds that I didn't realize were there.
My particular thought on that Tuesday night was, okay so dad wasn't around, I didn’t get this supposed dose of competency that I was supposed to get as a kid, but what are the normal compensation factors for that lack in a persons life and more specifically, in my own life.
I’m not sure what the normal ones are, but in my case, it’s a drive to be competent. At anything. It’s made me smart, cause I studied hard and read a lot of books. It made me good at a lot of weird things because I was always striving
But behind all of those outer doings, there has been an inner struggle over shame. I feel ashamed when something doesn’t work out or I can’t figure something out. There’s a feeling that if I just did “it” a little better some one might take notice of me and say something about it. Not that “it” was ever a fixed thing; just simply what ever I had happened to put my hands to that day. School was a perfect place for that. I excelled, I stood out, I got words of affirmation, and how God was going to do great things through me.
I realize that even though I'm seeing it more clearly, it has been about a two year process to get to this point, and the details aren’t important for this discussion but I ended up being in a place where as long as I was keeping up with and exceeding what I had previously done, I was praised, especially in ministry. And I found a lot of acceptance of my competence. As long as I kept up.
I think that’s maybe what hurts the most. When I stopped rushing headlong into the fray, almost every one else passed me by, gone on to take care of other things. Some of these relationships have been restored; others are coming around, and others still I have little hope for but in God’s power.
And its not like I’ve been healed from these feelings of shame. They are still there, I recognize them, some times they get me down, and I don’t always know what to do about them. I was supposed to be somebody, right? Did I, like the wayward son, squander away my inheritance? Did I miss some opportunity or do something wrong? And when I'm faced with not even being able to provide real well for my family, these feelings intensify.
In the last couple of months I have faced more rejection than I really care to think about with the job situation. Most people might get sad that they didn’t get a job or what ever. To me it feels like a personal rejection of who I am. I’ve always gotten jobs I’ve wanted. They fall in my lap. People desire me or at least my skill set to be apart of things they are doing. Maybe this is why I'm going through this, because its time to move on from this place.
I wrote last time about brokenness, God only moving when people were broken, and my wife asked me if I was broken yet, I had no answer because I wasn’t sure what I needed to be broken from.
It’s prideful self-confidence that masks itself through nonchalantness.
It leads to self-reliance and impatience to wait on the lord.
It leads to planning and scheming and trying to guess how to be ready for whatever life throws my way.
The key to brokenness as I see it is the careful application of truth to my life through the Word of God, implanted by the Spirit so that I might actually accept the Father’s love and acceptance without the feeling I must earn His respect, before He calls me son.
A Glimse of Jesus is a book I have started reading. He calls Jesus "the stranger to self-hatred" and calls us to be the same, to acknowledge our weaknesses and yet still walk in the truth of our position as sons of God.
Anyways, I've been thinking about something that our pastor drew on a white board which I will try to recreate here.
He said from your same sex parent you get your sense of competency, from you opposite sex parent you get a sense of worth and from both of them you get your sense of belonging. We all probably have wounds in at least one of those areas if not all three. But in my particular case, I grew up with a mostly absent father, which means that to some extent I was missing out on a healthy helping of a sense of competency.
Now realize I’m not blaming my father or any thing for issues that I have. Rather I’m just opening a window on my though processes through the last couple of weeks as I've sought to root out some unhealth and to find healing for old wounds that I didn't realize were there.
My particular thought on that Tuesday night was, okay so dad wasn't around, I didn’t get this supposed dose of competency that I was supposed to get as a kid, but what are the normal compensation factors for that lack in a persons life and more specifically, in my own life.
I’m not sure what the normal ones are, but in my case, it’s a drive to be competent. At anything. It’s made me smart, cause I studied hard and read a lot of books. It made me good at a lot of weird things because I was always striving
But behind all of those outer doings, there has been an inner struggle over shame. I feel ashamed when something doesn’t work out or I can’t figure something out. There’s a feeling that if I just did “it” a little better some one might take notice of me and say something about it. Not that “it” was ever a fixed thing; just simply what ever I had happened to put my hands to that day. School was a perfect place for that. I excelled, I stood out, I got words of affirmation, and how God was going to do great things through me.
I realize that even though I'm seeing it more clearly, it has been about a two year process to get to this point, and the details aren’t important for this discussion but I ended up being in a place where as long as I was keeping up with and exceeding what I had previously done, I was praised, especially in ministry. And I found a lot of acceptance of my competence. As long as I kept up.
I think that’s maybe what hurts the most. When I stopped rushing headlong into the fray, almost every one else passed me by, gone on to take care of other things. Some of these relationships have been restored; others are coming around, and others still I have little hope for but in God’s power.
And its not like I’ve been healed from these feelings of shame. They are still there, I recognize them, some times they get me down, and I don’t always know what to do about them. I was supposed to be somebody, right? Did I, like the wayward son, squander away my inheritance? Did I miss some opportunity or do something wrong? And when I'm faced with not even being able to provide real well for my family, these feelings intensify.
In the last couple of months I have faced more rejection than I really care to think about with the job situation. Most people might get sad that they didn’t get a job or what ever. To me it feels like a personal rejection of who I am. I’ve always gotten jobs I’ve wanted. They fall in my lap. People desire me or at least my skill set to be apart of things they are doing. Maybe this is why I'm going through this, because its time to move on from this place.
I wrote last time about brokenness, God only moving when people were broken, and my wife asked me if I was broken yet, I had no answer because I wasn’t sure what I needed to be broken from.
It’s prideful self-confidence that masks itself through nonchalantness.
It leads to self-reliance and impatience to wait on the lord.
It leads to planning and scheming and trying to guess how to be ready for whatever life throws my way.
The key to brokenness as I see it is the careful application of truth to my life through the Word of God, implanted by the Spirit so that I might actually accept the Father’s love and acceptance without the feeling I must earn His respect, before He calls me son.
A Glimse of Jesus is a book I have started reading. He calls Jesus "the stranger to self-hatred" and calls us to be the same, to acknowledge our weaknesses and yet still walk in the truth of our position as sons of God.
January 11, 2008
“Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones…”
I was reading through the first couple of chapters of Exodus, where the Israelites are becoming more and more oppressed by pharaoh and the Egyptians. What were they doing? It seems they were making brinks and building cities. I’m not sure I follow Pharaoh’s reasoning in scripture, but he gets afraid at the copious numbers of Israelites in the land, that they might side with the enemies of Egypt in some future war, and decides to work them hard, get rid of the male children and put slave masters over them. So the people get oppressed and cry out to God. So God snaps his fingers and smotes the Egyptians right? Not quite. During this time a baby gets born, and through a set of unforeseen circumstances becomes Pharaoh’s daughter’s adopted child. Moses lives the Egyptian equivalent of the high life and pretty much is either ignorant to or indifferent to the plight of his people. At some point in his adult hood he gets caught killing an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite and flees the country. He marries, has children, and then God appears to Moses in a burning bush, 40 years after his escape from Egypt. After leaving Egypt, the people wandered in the wilderness for 40 more years and then Moses dies at the ripe old age of 120 just before the people cross into the Promised Land. (Just a side note, during the wilderness wanderings they had to, on average, bury eighty-two people a day- thanks Tony)
So it was early and I had to think about it but that makes Moses about 80 years old when he goes down to Egypt to set free the Israelites. And unless I missed something, the oppression that the people were crying out to God about had been going on some time before that. So for at least 80 years, but probably more, the people languished in despair.
“Then the LORD told him, "You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own good and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey-the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. 9 The cries of the people of Israel have reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians have oppressed them with heavy tasks. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."” Exodus 3:7-10
I imagine my self in the same situation. I’ve forgotten about my people, their needs their struggles or at least ignored them long enough for it them to become nothing more than a passing thought. I have a wife, I am on good terms with the in-laws, and even have some kids and sheep and land. I’m comfortable. Then God comes along and says, “I have heard their cries for deliverance”. What? Now you’ve heard their cries? Now, when I’m comfortable? I’m eighty, I’m supposed to be traveling around in an RV and collecting souvenirs from around the Sinai. Seriously God, go pick on someone else.
I’ve always heard the story of Moses conversation with God taught as, Moses was reluctant because he really wasn’t skilled or he was shy or humble. I think he was lazy. God please, please, please send any one else. And then he gave all these excuses why someone else should do it. Finally God gets mad and sends Aaron the Levite (wait how does Moses know who his Levite brother is)
But why does God wait eighty-plus years to bring his people out of captivity…
This is the question I kept coming back to in my head.
But first skip ahead a little bit. (Past the part about God going to kill Moses cause his son wasn’t circumcised, weird stuff but I have a thought about it for my next post)
Moses talks to pharaoh and pharaoh decides to make it harder on the Israelites not easier- didn’t we all see that one coming. And does Moses get thanked for trying to help them. Yeah right, they get their ropes in a knot. Then Moses cries out to God and God says that he is still going to help them (This is a short paraphrase of a chapter of Dialog)
Then Moses goes to the people and again tells them what God said
Chapter 6, Verse 9
Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
And when I think back to question about why does God wait so long, it seems like at this point he has waited too long. The people have been broken by their slavery. Not just in bondage. Bondage implies oppression, and oppression often brings hope for the future, hope for release and hope for change. But the Israelites were broken.
I have all these biblical themes running through my head
Stories of Exile and Oppression by Babylon, Greece, and Rome
The waiting and the longing for a deliverer in times of trouble
The hope of a coming Messiah to establish Israel for good
And I even think, yes that gives me hope, God is going to come through; he’s done it before and he’ll do it again. And so I hold on to that last scrap of hope. But I think even that misses the mark.
I think God waits till people are broken to fix them.
It seems wrong, like God is almost a bad guy, and I guess I will have to untangle all my thoughts about it over the next couple of days, but I couldn’t escape my own thoughts.
God waits till people are broken to fix them.
God waits till I am broken to fix me.
So it was early and I had to think about it but that makes Moses about 80 years old when he goes down to Egypt to set free the Israelites. And unless I missed something, the oppression that the people were crying out to God about had been going on some time before that. So for at least 80 years, but probably more, the people languished in despair.
“Then the LORD told him, "You can be sure I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries for deliverance from their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own good and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey-the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live. 9 The cries of the people of Israel have reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians have oppressed them with heavy tasks. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."” Exodus 3:7-10
I imagine my self in the same situation. I’ve forgotten about my people, their needs their struggles or at least ignored them long enough for it them to become nothing more than a passing thought. I have a wife, I am on good terms with the in-laws, and even have some kids and sheep and land. I’m comfortable. Then God comes along and says, “I have heard their cries for deliverance”. What? Now you’ve heard their cries? Now, when I’m comfortable? I’m eighty, I’m supposed to be traveling around in an RV and collecting souvenirs from around the Sinai. Seriously God, go pick on someone else.
I’ve always heard the story of Moses conversation with God taught as, Moses was reluctant because he really wasn’t skilled or he was shy or humble. I think he was lazy. God please, please, please send any one else. And then he gave all these excuses why someone else should do it. Finally God gets mad and sends Aaron the Levite (wait how does Moses know who his Levite brother is)
But why does God wait eighty-plus years to bring his people out of captivity…
This is the question I kept coming back to in my head.
But first skip ahead a little bit. (Past the part about God going to kill Moses cause his son wasn’t circumcised, weird stuff but I have a thought about it for my next post)
Moses talks to pharaoh and pharaoh decides to make it harder on the Israelites not easier- didn’t we all see that one coming. And does Moses get thanked for trying to help them. Yeah right, they get their ropes in a knot. Then Moses cries out to God and God says that he is still going to help them (This is a short paraphrase of a chapter of Dialog)
Then Moses goes to the people and again tells them what God said
Chapter 6, Verse 9
Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
And when I think back to question about why does God wait so long, it seems like at this point he has waited too long. The people have been broken by their slavery. Not just in bondage. Bondage implies oppression, and oppression often brings hope for the future, hope for release and hope for change. But the Israelites were broken.
I have all these biblical themes running through my head
Stories of Exile and Oppression by Babylon, Greece, and Rome
The waiting and the longing for a deliverer in times of trouble
The hope of a coming Messiah to establish Israel for good
And I even think, yes that gives me hope, God is going to come through; he’s done it before and he’ll do it again. And so I hold on to that last scrap of hope. But I think even that misses the mark.
I think God waits till people are broken to fix them.
It seems wrong, like God is almost a bad guy, and I guess I will have to untangle all my thoughts about it over the next couple of days, but I couldn’t escape my own thoughts.
God waits till people are broken to fix them.
God waits till I am broken to fix me.
January 2, 2008
Kenya
I remember my first night at the hospital. I had taken all the classes, learned the medicine and the only thing that I had left to do was actually put what I had learned into practice. I was 20 years old and for about the first hour of my shift I was pretty dumbfounded. I walked around looking, but not saying much. Blood, contusions, brokenbones, coughing, crying, moans. All of these thing were going on and I was slightly overwelmed. I rember the first thing that I did, I cleaned up the floor under a lady who had been shot. It wasnt the glamorus thing it was kinda gross, here i was with all my Emegency Medical Training and I was cleaning the floor. But it got me moving. It got me doing something and by the end of the night I had worked with all sorts of patients, drug addicts, criminals from the jail, done CPR 3 times and a bunch of other things.
And right now Im feeling that sorta dumfounded feeling again. As alot of you know I have been looking for work for the last few months. I applied for a job at ELI that seems like a great fit for me and Im eager to start, where I would, among other things, be a sort of short term missions team pastor helping with training and tending to thier needs spititually to prepare them for going to Africa and to encorage them and help them through the spiritual issues they might have at their return. I have already interviewed with the staff but have yet to interview with Don since he is in Africa.
The issue is that over night Kenya has erupted in violence. Churches have burned and the media is using terms like "ethnic cleansing". The last report I heard on Don is that they are trying to get him and his family out of the country, but that their centers in Kenya are becoming refugee camps for people who are excaping the violence, some with only the clothes on their back. If you are reading this please pray for peace in Kenya. Im not sure what else they might need from us. I have emailed the US office of ELI to see if they have physical needs. Im sure they will need money to rebuild that which was lost and to buy food since in times of unrest, the cost of everything goes up.
Here's ELI's Blog to read about what they are facing incountry.
http://empoweringlives.blogspot.com/
Here's another missionary's blog in kenya that highlights some detailed descriptions of what is actually happening in Kenya since the government closed down the news in or out of the country. http://www.dlipparelli.blogspot.com/
And right now Im feeling that sorta dumfounded feeling again. As alot of you know I have been looking for work for the last few months. I applied for a job at ELI that seems like a great fit for me and Im eager to start, where I would, among other things, be a sort of short term missions team pastor helping with training and tending to thier needs spititually to prepare them for going to Africa and to encorage them and help them through the spiritual issues they might have at their return. I have already interviewed with the staff but have yet to interview with Don since he is in Africa.
The issue is that over night Kenya has erupted in violence. Churches have burned and the media is using terms like "ethnic cleansing". The last report I heard on Don is that they are trying to get him and his family out of the country, but that their centers in Kenya are becoming refugee camps for people who are excaping the violence, some with only the clothes on their back. If you are reading this please pray for peace in Kenya. Im not sure what else they might need from us. I have emailed the US office of ELI to see if they have physical needs. Im sure they will need money to rebuild that which was lost and to buy food since in times of unrest, the cost of everything goes up.
Here's ELI's Blog to read about what they are facing incountry.
http://empoweringlives.blogspot.com/
Here's another missionary's blog in kenya that highlights some detailed descriptions of what is actually happening in Kenya since the government closed down the news in or out of the country. http://www.dlipparelli.blogspot.com/
October 23, 2007
Some thoughts from last week.
Started out feeling just plain with out hope. I guess it was the culmination of alot of things, but really it comes out of my love and hope for the Church to take her rightful place in the world instead of piddling away Her time and energies on things that neither help Her, nor the rest of the world around her.
I've been thinking and studying "spiritual gifts" as they relate to the church. My first introduction to the concept of spiritual gifts came from a guy named Dave Snow. He gave us these little questionnaires to fill out and from that we were to figure out our spiritual gifts. I still didn't have much of a concept of what they were talking about and accordingly I'm not sure that the test had any relevance to what my spiritual gifts actually were (I took the test again after a couple of years though and got what I consider a fair but rather general explanation of my spiritual gifts.
Spiritual gifts are given by God, to the Church, to bless the world.
Blessings and cursings are a biblical concept. In Genesis Abe is given the promise of God that his proceeding generations would be a blessing unto all nations. Israel was meant to carry Gods promises and blessings unto the whole world, a task which they had little success in. The Christian converts were also meant to carry that same message of blessing and hope. But like the nation of Israel we also fall short of the Goal of blessing the whole world- we often fall short of even blessing those people around us whom we care about the most.
I see this and wonder, "God, what can be done? What hope can there be when the Church doesn't even get that theres hope to be found?"
Maybe this is redundancy from my last post, but we have engaged a sort of Christianity that misinterprets the application of repentance. We even have the meaning down, but a self centered application leaves too much unsaid, undone and un-changed.
I learned in Student Venture the etymology and the process of repentance. First of all, "repent" as it is translated from Greek is a military marching term equivalent to our "about face." it goes like this. Step one, stop what you are doing. Step two, turn 180 degrees. Step three, strike out in the opposite direction. Too often I applied that process specifically and narrowly to certain parts of my life, leaving those which I though were Okay or Well Enough alone. I fought to end lust and a struggle with masturbation and pornography. I fought to end my quickness to anger. I fought to end procrastination and laziness. I go to God expecting a surgeon and he stands there as a mortician. I'd like him to cut out the bad, keep the good, and stich me back up with out leaving too much of a scar. He'd like to see me die to my self and become a new creation.
Too often I sit around planing the course, ringing my hands together while looking at the obstacles, judging the people who don't see it my way, threatening to leave them behind when I set out, figuring that all along they were wrong in their plans, their thoughts and their actions. And when nothing changes, I begin to dream of moving to far off places where "things will be different" and where the Church is healthy, and I will feel fuller while giving less.
And in all my commotion I find it hard to start- there is a plan- there is a place in the history of the Church in which we all fit, a place in the body of Christ into which we are all a part. Its time to start showing people where they fit, who Christ has created us to be, setting us apart before all time giving us our hearts and desires, so that once we have died to our selves, he could come in and show us those same dreams and hopes we once had for our lives were now to be fulfilled in His way and in His time.
I am setting out into a new season of doing. I pray that what I have learned in the last year as my wife and set out to regain some of what we had lost in our Christian faith, and returned to the basics of our calling as Christians to the world: blessing one another, sharing our meals, our home and our lives openly and without guile, seeking to teach what we know, and learn what we don't. But now I'm feeling this need that more need to engage in this both harder and simpler way. I have a month and a bit before my wife and I's one year is up. When I left working with the Well, I thought it might only be for a month or two. But when my now wife but then girlfriend got engaged we decide to take a year off from leading things to build a healthy platform of success beneath us. I feel like we have come along way in that and will continue to work on it, but we are both sensing the need to move forward in being the people who Christ called us to be.
I'm not sure what that looks like exactly yet. I'm looking forward to November when my wife and I will be heading up to Oregon to see the Bravenecs. From the sound of it, their church has tried to embrace the idea of being in community with one another and I am looking forward to talking about it with Willy.
I'm also reading three books right now that are moving and sculpting all these things about which I have been thinking about, the first is about John Westley's Class Meetings in which the author discusses practical application of biblical theology and applies it to small group meetings. The second is The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis, which is a fictional account of the correspondence between two demons about a christian they are tempting. It is making me realize that I commit more sins than I could have guessed, and called them virtues. And the third book is called The Importance of Being Foolish by Brenning Manning. Many people talk about choosing the "good" over choosing the "best. Manning's book calls those people out, saying the "good" is really the wrong, and to repent and reclaim the heart of God for the poor, the widowed and the disenfranchised. It is the first book in a long time that has ignited a sort of fire in my belly.
Also this week I struggled with what I felt was a broken relationship and committed a sin of gossip (and un unkind words) and trying to bring people to my side. Luckily enough this friend of mine called me out and said go deal with it, so I went and dealt with it. That's as far as it went, but my hopelessness was causing me to lash out in frustration instead of dealing with things in an appropriate manor. If you think this is weird that I put this confession of sin on here, then I would agree with you, however I also think that one of John Wesley's small group questions is amazing and will encourage growth as I seek both to answer it honestly and seek honest answers from others so that we might confront sin instead of entertaining it and keeping it secret: "What sin has befallen you this week?"
So with an exhortation I leave you- Be a blessing to those around you. Bring blessings and not curses where ever you go. It takes energy to be a blessing. I bless you with the strength that God so richly provides to take blessings with you as you go on your journeys.
I've been thinking and studying "spiritual gifts" as they relate to the church. My first introduction to the concept of spiritual gifts came from a guy named Dave Snow. He gave us these little questionnaires to fill out and from that we were to figure out our spiritual gifts. I still didn't have much of a concept of what they were talking about and accordingly I'm not sure that the test had any relevance to what my spiritual gifts actually were (I took the test again after a couple of years though and got what I consider a fair but rather general explanation of my spiritual gifts.
Spiritual gifts are given by God, to the Church, to bless the world.
Blessings and cursings are a biblical concept. In Genesis Abe is given the promise of God that his proceeding generations would be a blessing unto all nations. Israel was meant to carry Gods promises and blessings unto the whole world, a task which they had little success in. The Christian converts were also meant to carry that same message of blessing and hope. But like the nation of Israel we also fall short of the Goal of blessing the whole world- we often fall short of even blessing those people around us whom we care about the most.
I see this and wonder, "God, what can be done? What hope can there be when the Church doesn't even get that theres hope to be found?"
Maybe this is redundancy from my last post, but we have engaged a sort of Christianity that misinterprets the application of repentance. We even have the meaning down, but a self centered application leaves too much unsaid, undone and un-changed.
I learned in Student Venture the etymology and the process of repentance. First of all, "repent" as it is translated from Greek is a military marching term equivalent to our "about face." it goes like this. Step one, stop what you are doing. Step two, turn 180 degrees. Step three, strike out in the opposite direction. Too often I applied that process specifically and narrowly to certain parts of my life, leaving those which I though were Okay or Well Enough alone. I fought to end lust and a struggle with masturbation and pornography. I fought to end my quickness to anger. I fought to end procrastination and laziness. I go to God expecting a surgeon and he stands there as a mortician. I'd like him to cut out the bad, keep the good, and stich me back up with out leaving too much of a scar. He'd like to see me die to my self and become a new creation.
Too often I sit around planing the course, ringing my hands together while looking at the obstacles, judging the people who don't see it my way, threatening to leave them behind when I set out, figuring that all along they were wrong in their plans, their thoughts and their actions. And when nothing changes, I begin to dream of moving to far off places where "things will be different" and where the Church is healthy, and I will feel fuller while giving less.
And in all my commotion I find it hard to start- there is a plan- there is a place in the history of the Church in which we all fit, a place in the body of Christ into which we are all a part. Its time to start showing people where they fit, who Christ has created us to be, setting us apart before all time giving us our hearts and desires, so that once we have died to our selves, he could come in and show us those same dreams and hopes we once had for our lives were now to be fulfilled in His way and in His time.
I am setting out into a new season of doing. I pray that what I have learned in the last year as my wife and set out to regain some of what we had lost in our Christian faith, and returned to the basics of our calling as Christians to the world: blessing one another, sharing our meals, our home and our lives openly and without guile, seeking to teach what we know, and learn what we don't. But now I'm feeling this need that more need to engage in this both harder and simpler way. I have a month and a bit before my wife and I's one year is up. When I left working with the Well, I thought it might only be for a month or two. But when my now wife but then girlfriend got engaged we decide to take a year off from leading things to build a healthy platform of success beneath us. I feel like we have come along way in that and will continue to work on it, but we are both sensing the need to move forward in being the people who Christ called us to be.
I'm not sure what that looks like exactly yet. I'm looking forward to November when my wife and I will be heading up to Oregon to see the Bravenecs. From the sound of it, their church has tried to embrace the idea of being in community with one another and I am looking forward to talking about it with Willy.
I'm also reading three books right now that are moving and sculpting all these things about which I have been thinking about, the first is about John Westley's Class Meetings in which the author discusses practical application of biblical theology and applies it to small group meetings. The second is The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis, which is a fictional account of the correspondence between two demons about a christian they are tempting. It is making me realize that I commit more sins than I could have guessed, and called them virtues. And the third book is called The Importance of Being Foolish by Brenning Manning. Many people talk about choosing the "good" over choosing the "best. Manning's book calls those people out, saying the "good" is really the wrong, and to repent and reclaim the heart of God for the poor, the widowed and the disenfranchised. It is the first book in a long time that has ignited a sort of fire in my belly.
Also this week I struggled with what I felt was a broken relationship and committed a sin of gossip (and un unkind words) and trying to bring people to my side. Luckily enough this friend of mine called me out and said go deal with it, so I went and dealt with it. That's as far as it went, but my hopelessness was causing me to lash out in frustration instead of dealing with things in an appropriate manor. If you think this is weird that I put this confession of sin on here, then I would agree with you, however I also think that one of John Wesley's small group questions is amazing and will encourage growth as I seek both to answer it honestly and seek honest answers from others so that we might confront sin instead of entertaining it and keeping it secret: "What sin has befallen you this week?"
So with an exhortation I leave you- Be a blessing to those around you. Bring blessings and not curses where ever you go. It takes energy to be a blessing. I bless you with the strength that God so richly provides to take blessings with you as you go on your journeys.
October 3, 2007
Page 1
I've got this idea from a strange book that I once read. In the book a higher echelon demon was sending letters to a lower demon who was trying to convert and circumvent a young christian who had his normal virtues and vices. While this book has a rather spurious plot line the basic point of the story was about all the things that we fail to recognize as sin or detrimental to our christian faith. One point that Jack Lewis makes in his book is in relation to church life. Keep in mind that these are demons talking, so the language takes a little thinking about.
“One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess is a spectral which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately that is quite invisible to these humans.”
The very words burn in my heart and head. And I think, Great? Terrible? Spread through time and space? And I, much like that younger demon's subject have trouble seeing the Church thus and instead focus on the shortcomings of the people who make up the Church, misguided and blinded by the actions of others.
I have been thinking as of late about the narrative continuum that is the story of the Church “spread out through time and space”. It started with the revelation of God to those whom he would call His people. These stories were recorded in the Old testament, stories of God’s interaction with man. These stories teach us about the character and nature whose name was recorded as four letters. These letters with the addition of some vowels have given us God’s name as Jehovah or Yahweh. God spoke with the prophets giving them a way to live so that the people might join into life with Him. In and of them selves they were unable to stay the course that the prophets spoke of, though they also spoke of a future hope for the people that one day they would be free.
Then one day a man appeared who claimed he was God, that he had come to fulfill the hope that had been spoken for. “The The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” He was killed as a heretic, but was soon proven to be who he said he was when he was seen walking around after his very public death. Soon after a change was seen in his followers, allowing them to perform miracles and, as the prophets of the old testament prophesied, to join in life with God. Over the next two thousand years, these followers continued to seek God, learning more about Him and how to be in life with him.
Which leads us to today. We often seek God, but we insist on asking questions like what should I do about my job? Should I marry this girl or that guy? How can I get out of debt? Why is there evil in the world? Should I be a Calvinist? What church should I go to? While these are all good questions, I think a better one, a question that is more in line with the heart of God is this, what is to be our role in the history of the Church?
But to speak of the history of the church one must assume a role much more grand than that of an average American christian. Much in the same way that Christ turned fishermen and tax collectors into missionaries and Evangelists. Somehow we have taken the term Christian and associated it with “good people” who pay their taxes (give to Cesar what is Cesar’s) don’t speed (obey the laws of the land) don’t cheat on their wives (don’t commit adultery) don’t cuss (let no unwholesome word come from your mouth) don’t drink or smoke (your body is a temple). But God calls us to do good not just be good. For those same people who follow all these supposed rules of the church, walk by homeless people on the street, drive by those broken down on the road, we lock our doors to keep out the hungry, and we close our hospitals to those who are dieing. Friends, the heart of God is for widows and orphans, the poor, the blind, the sick. His heart is for healing our lands. There's this story in Mathew 25 that quite frankly doesn’t fit into any theology I was ever taught in church and scares the bejebers out of me
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? 40 And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. 41 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 44 Then they also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you? 45 Then he will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
I have been told all my life that the salvation of God is offered freely and all I have to do is accept it, that there's nothing that I can do to earn my salvation. The problem with that statement is that it is incomplete and stems from a misunderstanding of what salvation actually is. We tend to think of ourselves as free moral entities who have the right to self determination. But some times I don’t feel very free. Oh yes I have some sort of limited movement in my life like a dog on a leash or an electron circling its atom. I have a limited range but ultimately I am tied to a path that was not set by my own actions. Salvation is what God promised was to come, the ability to leave that set path, and to become more like God, joining into His sort of life. Salvation then as I understand it is about trading one kind of life, for another. But rarely do we find this sort of salvation being proclaimed from the pulpit. Because engaging in this different sort of life is going to put us at odds with the world and those that love it.
“One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess is a spectral which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately that is quite invisible to these humans.”
The very words burn in my heart and head. And I think, Great? Terrible? Spread through time and space? And I, much like that younger demon's subject have trouble seeing the Church thus and instead focus on the shortcomings of the people who make up the Church, misguided and blinded by the actions of others.
I have been thinking as of late about the narrative continuum that is the story of the Church “spread out through time and space”. It started with the revelation of God to those whom he would call His people. These stories were recorded in the Old testament, stories of God’s interaction with man. These stories teach us about the character and nature whose name was recorded as four letters. These letters with the addition of some vowels have given us God’s name as Jehovah or Yahweh. God spoke with the prophets giving them a way to live so that the people might join into life with Him. In and of them selves they were unable to stay the course that the prophets spoke of, though they also spoke of a future hope for the people that one day they would be free.
Then one day a man appeared who claimed he was God, that he had come to fulfill the hope that had been spoken for. “The The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” He was killed as a heretic, but was soon proven to be who he said he was when he was seen walking around after his very public death. Soon after a change was seen in his followers, allowing them to perform miracles and, as the prophets of the old testament prophesied, to join in life with God. Over the next two thousand years, these followers continued to seek God, learning more about Him and how to be in life with him.
Which leads us to today. We often seek God, but we insist on asking questions like what should I do about my job? Should I marry this girl or that guy? How can I get out of debt? Why is there evil in the world? Should I be a Calvinist? What church should I go to? While these are all good questions, I think a better one, a question that is more in line with the heart of God is this, what is to be our role in the history of the Church?
But to speak of the history of the church one must assume a role much more grand than that of an average American christian. Much in the same way that Christ turned fishermen and tax collectors into missionaries and Evangelists. Somehow we have taken the term Christian and associated it with “good people” who pay their taxes (give to Cesar what is Cesar’s) don’t speed (obey the laws of the land) don’t cheat on their wives (don’t commit adultery) don’t cuss (let no unwholesome word come from your mouth) don’t drink or smoke (your body is a temple). But God calls us to do good not just be good. For those same people who follow all these supposed rules of the church, walk by homeless people on the street, drive by those broken down on the road, we lock our doors to keep out the hungry, and we close our hospitals to those who are dieing. Friends, the heart of God is for widows and orphans, the poor, the blind, the sick. His heart is for healing our lands. There's this story in Mathew 25 that quite frankly doesn’t fit into any theology I was ever taught in church and scares the bejebers out of me
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? 40 And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. 41 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 44 Then they also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you? 45 Then he will answer them, saying, Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
I have been told all my life that the salvation of God is offered freely and all I have to do is accept it, that there's nothing that I can do to earn my salvation. The problem with that statement is that it is incomplete and stems from a misunderstanding of what salvation actually is. We tend to think of ourselves as free moral entities who have the right to self determination. But some times I don’t feel very free. Oh yes I have some sort of limited movement in my life like a dog on a leash or an electron circling its atom. I have a limited range but ultimately I am tied to a path that was not set by my own actions. Salvation is what God promised was to come, the ability to leave that set path, and to become more like God, joining into His sort of life. Salvation then as I understand it is about trading one kind of life, for another. But rarely do we find this sort of salvation being proclaimed from the pulpit. Because engaging in this different sort of life is going to put us at odds with the world and those that love it.
September 29, 2007
.struggles.
Its funny, my hours got cut back this week, and I'm not even feeling worried about it. In fact I often forget about it till I get a call or an email from someone who has just heard or has some new lead. I dont really see this as a bad thing. I see it as God, after giving me ample time on my own, kicking my own butt, which sometimes I am desperatly in need of.
I sat with God on friday and just wrote down bullet points of what i was thinking and feeling.
I love the Church, the people in the Church, and Im discoraged by the state of the Bride.
So I'll be fleshing out some of these ideas and thoughts of my 6 pages of bullet points over the next couple of weeks (since as Alison pointed out, I now have more time to do these things.)
Talk to all yall soon.
Adam
I sat with God on friday and just wrote down bullet points of what i was thinking and feeling.
I love the Church, the people in the Church, and Im discoraged by the state of the Bride.
So I'll be fleshing out some of these ideas and thoughts of my 6 pages of bullet points over the next couple of weeks (since as Alison pointed out, I now have more time to do these things.)
Talk to all yall soon.
Adam
The Church and the Third Place
One of the wonderings about the third place.
"Should the church become peoples Third Place?
That is, does the church need to be the safe place that people go.
Some say yes, its a place of fellowship and community
Others say no, its not the place that needs to be inviting, its the people (who
really are the church)"
The Church and the Third Place.
Our church used to be a “mobil” church, that is, we rented a space to have Sunday morning services and every week we drove our little truck full of goodies to our improvized santuary, unloaded and set up the sound equipment, had service then packed it up again after we were finished. I used to help set up the sound most Sunday mornings which means we got there at around 7 am for a 9:30 service. It was great. People bonded over their “suffering” each week to turn a school audtorium into a place to come meet God. Having a mobil church is probably the closest thing to being part of the persecuted church that you can get in Amercia. I don’t say that to trivialize the sufferings of the persecuted church but rather just to say that mutual suffering, real or percieved, creates a bond that is hard to make otherwise. People band together over suffering.
So in all this moving about the church started renting a place off of 4 Corners in Elsinore. It wasn’t big, 30’ by 80’, nor very nice, it had concrete floors with old flooring glue on it and leaked when it rained. However it did have location going for it. Not only was it located within walking distance of mine and several other of the leaders, it was located with in walking distance of a lot of the students homes. There was a lot to do as far as building and painting the youth room and eventually it became a place where your could almost always find someone “hanging out” either having a small bible study, working on a message, reading a book, or even playing “butts up” (a rather painful game played with a tennis ball, requireing more dexterity and speed than I could muster.) The point is, that for many of the youth and the leaders, our youth building became our Third Place (see the previous blog).
And then our church moved to a building that we had built and we had a larger room with carpet, a sound board and some hansil and grettle sort of storage closets. At first we were like, woo were so excited, but then as the newness factor wore off we started to realize that we had, for what ever reason, lost a lot of that feeling. People didn’t just stop by anymore and hang out. We had schedules and things to do and stuff to acomplish.
Was it just the change of place, or was it the change of pace?
I mean its true, we lost a place that was solely our own. Which means we couldn’t just use it for whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. We now had to check a schedule and use the places that werent being used. But I don’t think the feeling of a third place is baised as much on location as it is baised on what you feel in a location. And feelings are a mixture of relationships and memories and current events.
As Christians, we often go to church, but have a hard time inviting people into our church. I think a portion of that is a level of uncomfortableness with church, due to our memories, current events in our lives and the relationships with those arround us.
We have lost our focus on the message of Grace.
We have lost our focus on hospitalyity which is a demonstration of grace.
We think the church ought to be doing it for us. The church should be providing a place of grace and hospitality right? Except we forget that we are to be the church. Where is your hospitality? Where is mine? I have forgoten that grace is the central message and hospitality is the one of the outward manifestations of grace. But what is grace? What do we mean by hospitality? More to come…
"Should the church become peoples Third Place?
That is, does the church need to be the safe place that people go.
Some say yes, its a place of fellowship and community
Others say no, its not the place that needs to be inviting, its the people (who
really are the church)"
The Church and the Third Place.
Our church used to be a “mobil” church, that is, we rented a space to have Sunday morning services and every week we drove our little truck full of goodies to our improvized santuary, unloaded and set up the sound equipment, had service then packed it up again after we were finished. I used to help set up the sound most Sunday mornings which means we got there at around 7 am for a 9:30 service. It was great. People bonded over their “suffering” each week to turn a school audtorium into a place to come meet God. Having a mobil church is probably the closest thing to being part of the persecuted church that you can get in Amercia. I don’t say that to trivialize the sufferings of the persecuted church but rather just to say that mutual suffering, real or percieved, creates a bond that is hard to make otherwise. People band together over suffering.
So in all this moving about the church started renting a place off of 4 Corners in Elsinore. It wasn’t big, 30’ by 80’, nor very nice, it had concrete floors with old flooring glue on it and leaked when it rained. However it did have location going for it. Not only was it located within walking distance of mine and several other of the leaders, it was located with in walking distance of a lot of the students homes. There was a lot to do as far as building and painting the youth room and eventually it became a place where your could almost always find someone “hanging out” either having a small bible study, working on a message, reading a book, or even playing “butts up” (a rather painful game played with a tennis ball, requireing more dexterity and speed than I could muster.) The point is, that for many of the youth and the leaders, our youth building became our Third Place (see the previous blog).
And then our church moved to a building that we had built and we had a larger room with carpet, a sound board and some hansil and grettle sort of storage closets. At first we were like, woo were so excited, but then as the newness factor wore off we started to realize that we had, for what ever reason, lost a lot of that feeling. People didn’t just stop by anymore and hang out. We had schedules and things to do and stuff to acomplish.
Was it just the change of place, or was it the change of pace?
I mean its true, we lost a place that was solely our own. Which means we couldn’t just use it for whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. We now had to check a schedule and use the places that werent being used. But I don’t think the feeling of a third place is baised as much on location as it is baised on what you feel in a location. And feelings are a mixture of relationships and memories and current events.
As Christians, we often go to church, but have a hard time inviting people into our church. I think a portion of that is a level of uncomfortableness with church, due to our memories, current events in our lives and the relationships with those arround us.
We have lost our focus on the message of Grace.
We have lost our focus on hospitalyity which is a demonstration of grace.
We think the church ought to be doing it for us. The church should be providing a place of grace and hospitality right? Except we forget that we are to be the church. Where is your hospitality? Where is mine? I have forgoten that grace is the central message and hospitality is the one of the outward manifestations of grace. But what is grace? What do we mean by hospitality? More to come…
August 28, 2007
Mumbo Jumbo and The Third Place
Ive got all these things that I want to write about right now and they all seemed to be stuck together and tangled like the cables behind my computer. Perhaps if i pull at the easiest one, the others will begin their long journey from thought to screen.
The first and easiest something i have been thinking about has to do with a little know place where Christians have traded in their crack pipes for something slightly less nefarious. My wife worked here for a while wearing a sorta Christmas elf looking green apron and serving their meth substitute in venti cups with pithy statements on them. Yes your neighbor hood Starbucks. Don't get me wrong, i like and drink coffee, but I have so many issues about drinking a big mack, fries and a coke blended into a frappichino (I'm not even kidding, go check out the nutritional facts)
But I wasn't really thinking about that. I was thinking about a conversation I had with my wife about smoothies and dating. We signed up for this date night at church. You read a book separately, answer some questions, then go on a date and discuss what you thought, or your questions or what ever. Its fairly good and guided, and each week there is a specific topic of discussion ranging from communication, involvement, parenting, growing old, sex, household chores, and spiritual connection. But seeing how it started at 7 o'clock on a Saturday, we didn't usually have time to go after the meeting on our date so we would go before. We cruised over to this little shopping center near the church to coffee from the Bucks. But I decided i wanted a Smoothie instead. But since the smoothie place has no chairs in it, i wondered if we could sit in Starbucks and drink it and talk. So i asked Sarah if it was okay, seeing as how she worked there and all. She said yes. Are you sure?
Yeah the want to be your Third Place.
Huh? Whats that supposed to mean. She went on to tell me that it is Starbucks corporate policy to allow anyone and everyone to come in, use their place, their electricity, their bathrooms, to eat and drink food from other restaurants, to have meetings and conduct business, and to stay for as long as you want, with out spending a dime because they would like to become your Third Place. See almost every one has a First Place. A place you call home where you go to sleep, where you eat. Its your house, your home, your abode and domicile. Your second place is your work. Where you sit and make money and get stuff done. But your third place... that's what Starbucks wants to be, the place you go to hang out, meet friends, chill. Perhaps the owners watched a little too much cheers in their life. Starbucks prides itself in its regulars, they even have a whole series of commercials where the drink looses its fancy Italian name and is called by the person ordering it (its not a triple venti latte with Cinnamon and soy milk, its simply an Eddie) So the next couple of posts on this blog will be about my thoughts on the "Third Place"
The first and easiest something i have been thinking about has to do with a little know place where Christians have traded in their crack pipes for something slightly less nefarious. My wife worked here for a while wearing a sorta Christmas elf looking green apron and serving their meth substitute in venti cups with pithy statements on them. Yes your neighbor hood Starbucks. Don't get me wrong, i like and drink coffee, but I have so many issues about drinking a big mack, fries and a coke blended into a frappichino (I'm not even kidding, go check out the nutritional facts)
But I wasn't really thinking about that. I was thinking about a conversation I had with my wife about smoothies and dating. We signed up for this date night at church. You read a book separately, answer some questions, then go on a date and discuss what you thought, or your questions or what ever. Its fairly good and guided, and each week there is a specific topic of discussion ranging from communication, involvement, parenting, growing old, sex, household chores, and spiritual connection. But seeing how it started at 7 o'clock on a Saturday, we didn't usually have time to go after the meeting on our date so we would go before. We cruised over to this little shopping center near the church to coffee from the Bucks. But I decided i wanted a Smoothie instead. But since the smoothie place has no chairs in it, i wondered if we could sit in Starbucks and drink it and talk. So i asked Sarah if it was okay, seeing as how she worked there and all. She said yes. Are you sure?
Yeah the want to be your Third Place.
Huh? Whats that supposed to mean. She went on to tell me that it is Starbucks corporate policy to allow anyone and everyone to come in, use their place, their electricity, their bathrooms, to eat and drink food from other restaurants, to have meetings and conduct business, and to stay for as long as you want, with out spending a dime because they would like to become your Third Place. See almost every one has a First Place. A place you call home where you go to sleep, where you eat. Its your house, your home, your abode and domicile. Your second place is your work. Where you sit and make money and get stuff done. But your third place... that's what Starbucks wants to be, the place you go to hang out, meet friends, chill. Perhaps the owners watched a little too much cheers in their life. Starbucks prides itself in its regulars, they even have a whole series of commercials where the drink looses its fancy Italian name and is called by the person ordering it (its not a triple venti latte with Cinnamon and soy milk, its simply an Eddie) So the next couple of posts on this blog will be about my thoughts on the "Third Place"
June 27, 2007
Anniversaries
Today is my one-year anniversary of dating my wife. Its also her birthday which apparently in the eyes of some other guys I know, was a smart move since I only need to remember one date instead of two. I don’t see that as a bonus yet, but maybe when Im old and senile it will be nice.
I always thought that there would be things that I could learn being married that I couldn’t as a single man. And you know what? I probably was right. I was driving in the car with my wife to church on Sunday (yawn…It was way to early to be up, but we had to be their for choir) She looks over and sleepily says “You’re a good husband.” See, we had just had a big night out for her birthday, I had gotten up and made breakfast, brewed her some tea for church and ironed her outfit for church. But just two nights before we’d gotten into it over what now seems stupid but at the time seemed like a big deal. Had she simply just forgotten all that? I think I would rather say “I’m learning to be a good husband”
I never had thought of myself as selfish, nor has anyone ever called me that, not even my wife in the most heated of arguments. (Yes in two months we’ve had heated arguments. Hey give us a break we’re still learning how to communicate with each other) But the reality is, that I have seen more selfishness that I didn’t even know was there. My this, my way to do that, my needs, my time, my house. Ultimately its my space: the nitch that I had carved out in my life that I thought of as mine. It is no longer mine, its ours. Our life our future. God help me to rid myself of selfishish ambition and run the race well.
I always thought that there would be things that I could learn being married that I couldn’t as a single man. And you know what? I probably was right. I was driving in the car with my wife to church on Sunday (yawn…It was way to early to be up, but we had to be their for choir) She looks over and sleepily says “You’re a good husband.” See, we had just had a big night out for her birthday, I had gotten up and made breakfast, brewed her some tea for church and ironed her outfit for church. But just two nights before we’d gotten into it over what now seems stupid but at the time seemed like a big deal. Had she simply just forgotten all that? I think I would rather say “I’m learning to be a good husband”
I never had thought of myself as selfish, nor has anyone ever called me that, not even my wife in the most heated of arguments. (Yes in two months we’ve had heated arguments. Hey give us a break we’re still learning how to communicate with each other) But the reality is, that I have seen more selfishness that I didn’t even know was there. My this, my way to do that, my needs, my time, my house. Ultimately its my space: the nitch that I had carved out in my life that I thought of as mine. It is no longer mine, its ours. Our life our future. God help me to rid myself of selfishish ambition and run the race well.
June 8, 2007
Spinning the world.
Or at least a small part of it.
Its amazing to me how much a bit of change a has the ability to energize.
...
Its amazing to me how much a bit of change a has the ability to energize.
...
June 7, 2007
Sailing
My boat seems adrift amid the sea of life.
I have untied from the dock, pushed out into water and let the wind and waves push me to and fro. The sounds and smells of the salty ocean bring to mind memories of pickles and fish as the waves lap gently against the side of the boat. Where to next. Without a map and preset course i have set out to find a new contry to belong to. Its seems frantic when the name of your destination is unknown however there is time to prepare for our land as ther is no land yet in sight. Which way to go? Any way seems okay since i have no idea how long the journey is in any direction, save the one I came from. Will i, like Chesterton, seek out new adventures only to discover landing in my own backyard, and even more supprising, find that there were new adventures to be had even there?
Run up the spiniacer, its time to start moving along Adam.
I have untied from the dock, pushed out into water and let the wind and waves push me to and fro. The sounds and smells of the salty ocean bring to mind memories of pickles and fish as the waves lap gently against the side of the boat. Where to next. Without a map and preset course i have set out to find a new contry to belong to. Its seems frantic when the name of your destination is unknown however there is time to prepare for our land as ther is no land yet in sight. Which way to go? Any way seems okay since i have no idea how long the journey is in any direction, save the one I came from. Will i, like Chesterton, seek out new adventures only to discover landing in my own backyard, and even more supprising, find that there were new adventures to be had even there?
Run up the spiniacer, its time to start moving along Adam.
April 28, 2007
Wedding Days
Man how much life changes in a year. A year ago I was faintly interested in this girl who I talked to over the internet because she was living in Russia at the time. We talked alot, and come to find out, it meant alot to her, the long nights on Ichat and the emails back and forth when our schedules didnt match well. It was about this time when we both started (unbeknownst to each other) thinking, "Hey this might work out here." She came back, we started dating, and bada bing, bada boom, here we are and now today the two of us have decied to make our connection a perminant one, at least for this life. So today I marry and join my life to my beautiful bride, and together we will explore the mysteries of God, how our relationship is to be like Christ's to the church, how two become one, and how we become stronger and better together.
More to come I'm sure...
More to come I'm sure...
April 28th...
Man how much life changes in a year. A year ago I was faintly interested in this girl who I talked to over the internet because she was living in Russia at the time. We talked alot, and come to find out, it meant alot to her, the long nights on Ichat and the emails back and forth when our schedules didnt match well. It was about this time when we both started (unbeknownst to each other) thinking, "Hey this might work out here." She came back, we started dating, and bada bing, bada boom, here we are and now today the two of us have decied to make our connection a perminant one, at least for this life. So today I marry and join my life to my beautiful bride, and together we will explore the mysteries of God, how our relationship is to be like Christ's to the church, how two become one, and how we become stronger and better together.
More to come I'm sure...
More to come I'm sure...
February 15, 2007
December 15, 2006
And on the seventh day... rest.
Rest.
"and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD"
"and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD"
Then there was evening and morning. The sixth day.
Okay so today I feel better. It was wierd. I heard of those 24 hour bugs, even made them up in highschool so I wouldnt have to go, but never have I experienced one. Went to Peppertree tonight. The kids put on a little production as a way to thank us for helping them and doing the Christmas gift thing for them on Saturday.
First time in along time that I really felt appreciated by someone I was ministering to. I get thanks from people I am (was?) in ministry with but rarely do people who you serve thank you. I dont think Im living for that. I could pick much "better" ministries to be apart of to be confirmed and affirmed in. It was just... nice.
Is it wrong to look for encouragement? I dont know. Some would call it living for people (instead of God) or being a man-pleaser, both of which I have struggled with and still sometimes struggle with. One of my teachers posed the question "If you had to pick a herisey to follow which would you pick?" Easy. Im would fall in the camp of the "Social Gospel", putting heaven on the back burner and taking care of people now. Helping them out of where they are at.
Let me say on the record. I am not a Social Gospelist. I just have leanings, just like any other christian arround.
But encouragement from the body, is biblical, called for by God, and sometimes very needed for strenght to continue.
First time in along time that I really felt appreciated by someone I was ministering to. I get thanks from people I am (was?) in ministry with but rarely do people who you serve thank you. I dont think Im living for that. I could pick much "better" ministries to be apart of to be confirmed and affirmed in. It was just... nice.
Is it wrong to look for encouragement? I dont know. Some would call it living for people (instead of God) or being a man-pleaser, both of which I have struggled with and still sometimes struggle with. One of my teachers posed the question "If you had to pick a herisey to follow which would you pick?" Easy. Im would fall in the camp of the "Social Gospel", putting heaven on the back burner and taking care of people now. Helping them out of where they are at.
Let me say on the record. I am not a Social Gospelist. I just have leanings, just like any other christian arround.
But encouragement from the body, is biblical, called for by God, and sometimes very needed for strenght to continue.
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