Hello all!
: All my millions of readers who have been faithful even when I have been faithless and apathetic in my blogging capabilities.
A lot is going on right now.
Things stewing inside my head:
I have had the most difficult semester of my life this year academically...it always feels like I'm scraping by. Eight hours of sleep a night is a rarity.
This December I am going to the Chicago area to check out the Wheaton College graduate program in Clinical Psychology and look at an art school with ma'lady.
My roomate is leaving next semester for Washington D.C.
I have to figure out what I am going to write my thesis on next semester. Two whole semesters to research a phenomena! Woohoo! I am a geek!
Thinking more about my calling. Very interested in working with the underclass in psychological endeavors.
Thinking about selling my guitar and buying a hammered dulcimer and a banjo. (How shallow.)
BUT:
One of the most spiritually significant things I have been involved in this semester has been working with lovecanton through a bible study (Move Group) we have started on campus. We are holding Bible studies *and* going into Canton to serve. We have participated in several clean-up days so far and it has been very eye-opening into the nature of poverty in Canton. It has been beautiful to see the Church at work. Rivertree, Malone, Refuge of Hope, and Multidevelopment Services in Canton have come together to enact some real change in our community.
I am thankful that God has been teaching me about service this semester.
If you would like anymore info, check out lovecanton.com
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Where has my Culture Gone?
How do I define myself as a white male of the midwest?
What does my culture look like?
These are questions on my mind, and ensuing blogs will address this topic.
For now, I'm off to class...
I know, what an intellectual tease.
I've been told.
What does my culture look like?
These are questions on my mind, and ensuing blogs will address this topic.
For now, I'm off to class...
I know, what an intellectual tease.
I've been told.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Required Reading
Yesterday, in Bible study, we were reviewing the passage of James that advises us that we should look at trials and temptations and say, "Oh look--what pure joy this is!"
This is what I love about the Bible. Really messed up people who are being called to really high standards. It's humorous actually. The stark impossibility of such a premise forces us into the arms of a God who can use us in ways we never thought possible.
Anyhow, one of the things I find in my life is that it is very easy to equate "suffering" with "studying." Its an alliterative thing and its not all that unreasonable of a connection...yet somehow it is one of the most ridiculous assertions I have made.
Suffering, true suffering, has rarely ever touched me. It has barely darkened the doorstep, but it has never touched me. I have grown up as a pastor's son watching people's lives fall apart.
Drug abuse. Rape. Divorce. Adultery. Egoism.
Sometimes, I feel like I'm in one of those action movies where everything is blowing up. The plot is coming to a culmination and the main actor is just kind of mozying through a street and everything is in slow-mo. Shards and shrapnel are flying everywhere. People are running.
Yet, somehow the actor remains untouched.
That's how I feel sometimes.
And because of that, I feel two things: 1. gratitude 2. obligation
1.
I am so lucky to live in a clean, albeit lackinginaesthetics, dorm that is safe.
I have well-educated friends I can chat with about all kinds of subjects.
Hunger for me is solved (kind of) by a trip to Taco Bell.
The labor required of me is that I read, and manage my time well.
This is not suffering, this is a privelege.
2.
I pray that God will not let me live my life within the confines of that false construct we call "safety."
I want to help those in need, even if I get bruised up along the way.
I need to remain hypervigilant about the injustice that is suffered in the world today, and actively look for ways to combat it.
To whom much has been given, much has been required.
That's where I'm at right now.
This is what I love about the Bible. Really messed up people who are being called to really high standards. It's humorous actually. The stark impossibility of such a premise forces us into the arms of a God who can use us in ways we never thought possible.
Anyhow, one of the things I find in my life is that it is very easy to equate "suffering" with "studying." Its an alliterative thing and its not all that unreasonable of a connection...yet somehow it is one of the most ridiculous assertions I have made.
Suffering, true suffering, has rarely ever touched me. It has barely darkened the doorstep, but it has never touched me. I have grown up as a pastor's son watching people's lives fall apart.
Drug abuse. Rape. Divorce. Adultery. Egoism.
Sometimes, I feel like I'm in one of those action movies where everything is blowing up. The plot is coming to a culmination and the main actor is just kind of mozying through a street and everything is in slow-mo. Shards and shrapnel are flying everywhere. People are running.
Yet, somehow the actor remains untouched.
That's how I feel sometimes.
And because of that, I feel two things: 1. gratitude 2. obligation
1.
I am so lucky to live in a clean, albeit lackinginaesthetics, dorm that is safe.
I have well-educated friends I can chat with about all kinds of subjects.
Hunger for me is solved (kind of) by a trip to Taco Bell.
The labor required of me is that I read, and manage my time well.
This is not suffering, this is a privelege.
2.
I pray that God will not let me live my life within the confines of that false construct we call "safety."
I want to help those in need, even if I get bruised up along the way.
I need to remain hypervigilant about the injustice that is suffered in the world today, and actively look for ways to combat it.
To whom much has been given, much has been required.
That's where I'm at right now.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Spot On
This weekend, I watched the much talked-about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Great movie. Kaleioscopically shot around a rustic poem. What more could one ask for? Cerebral and funky.
The thing I liked about it most, though, was the relational aspects of the movie. The blue hair and broken ice, the disintegrating bookshelves and crumbling houses...all of these fed into the main point:
Relationships are imperfect and yet they are the most important thing we have been given in this life. I think the reason this film struck me was that I am very interested into entering a field in which you "piece together" people lives again. Most of the time I find that appealing, but sometimes when I think about it, I wince at the impossibility.
This movie was one of the most beautiful depictions of broken people attempting to put their lives back together...I can only hope to experience things like this in my professional life.
And if I do, believe me, I will make an artsy film about it and make boo-koo bucks so I can retire and laze about on some deserted island in the Carribean.
Great movie. Kaleioscopically shot around a rustic poem. What more could one ask for? Cerebral and funky.
The thing I liked about it most, though, was the relational aspects of the movie. The blue hair and broken ice, the disintegrating bookshelves and crumbling houses...all of these fed into the main point:
Relationships are imperfect and yet they are the most important thing we have been given in this life. I think the reason this film struck me was that I am very interested into entering a field in which you "piece together" people lives again. Most of the time I find that appealing, but sometimes when I think about it, I wince at the impossibility.
This movie was one of the most beautiful depictions of broken people attempting to put their lives back together...I can only hope to experience things like this in my professional life.
And if I do, believe me, I will make an artsy film about it and make boo-koo bucks so I can retire and laze about on some deserted island in the Carribean.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Follow the Leader
They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him. (Mark 16:64-65 NIV)
Last night, I decided to stay up and watch Barack Obama give his acceptance speech. The crowd was electric in Chicago. And in New York. And Washington. One commentator noted that the atmosphere was like New Year's Day.
Barack came out to give his speech, poised and polished as always. The crowd hung on his every word.
And can you only imagine the security around him? The podium was noticeably bigger at this speech than others...maybe it was bullet-proof?
Well, the ironic part was that I was reading my Bible at the same time. And I don't know what that says about me...maybe streamlining a little much?
I was reading the part where Jesus, a great leader, is brought before a crowd. But on this night it was a tough crowd.
The members of the Sanhedrin were hanging on his every word, but with a very different motive. They were shuffling the laws in their minds and checking their made-up facts because they didn't want him causing any more trouble. In fact, they wanted them dead.
Jesus didn't say much to them, but what he did say-regarding his Messiahship/divine nature--they didn't want to here. And so they condemned him--beat him, spit on him, and sent him to death on a cross.
And Jesus didn't flinch. He humbled himself to the point of death as everyone abandoned him.
At his point of victory, there was not the roar of a crowd ringing in his ears. There were not people flashing photographs and chanting his name.
At the point of his victory, there were nails through his hands and ankles. There was blood on his brow, and there was the weight of the sin of the universe on his shoulders.
All this to say, the irony of last night reminded me that my true leader was not accepted in his time. He was slain on a cross, beaten, and abandoned by his best friends.
His acceptance speech was a gasp that still rings in my ears: It is finished.
Thank you Jesus for leading us unto salvation and a redeemed world.
Last night, I decided to stay up and watch Barack Obama give his acceptance speech. The crowd was electric in Chicago. And in New York. And Washington. One commentator noted that the atmosphere was like New Year's Day.
Barack came out to give his speech, poised and polished as always. The crowd hung on his every word.
And can you only imagine the security around him? The podium was noticeably bigger at this speech than others...maybe it was bullet-proof?
Well, the ironic part was that I was reading my Bible at the same time. And I don't know what that says about me...maybe streamlining a little much?
I was reading the part where Jesus, a great leader, is brought before a crowd. But on this night it was a tough crowd.
The members of the Sanhedrin were hanging on his every word, but with a very different motive. They were shuffling the laws in their minds and checking their made-up facts because they didn't want him causing any more trouble. In fact, they wanted them dead.
Jesus didn't say much to them, but what he did say-regarding his Messiahship/divine nature--they didn't want to here. And so they condemned him--beat him, spit on him, and sent him to death on a cross.
And Jesus didn't flinch. He humbled himself to the point of death as everyone abandoned him.
At his point of victory, there was not the roar of a crowd ringing in his ears. There were not people flashing photographs and chanting his name.
At the point of his victory, there were nails through his hands and ankles. There was blood on his brow, and there was the weight of the sin of the universe on his shoulders.
All this to say, the irony of last night reminded me that my true leader was not accepted in his time. He was slain on a cross, beaten, and abandoned by his best friends.
His acceptance speech was a gasp that still rings in my ears: It is finished.
Thank you Jesus for leading us unto salvation and a redeemed world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)