I think we like to soften Jesus. We like to take his commands and make them optional, turn his "when you" statements to "if you"
But Jesus doesn't say if you pray, if you fast, if you give to the needy. Those things aren't optional, he just clarifies how to do them well. (see Matthew 6)
Friday, January 23, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
juststopandthink.com
"Right now you and I are standing on a giant ball that's spinning at a thousand miles an hour. Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? The fact that we're flying around this ball of fire that is about a million times our size. We're flying around this thing at 67,000 miles an hour, and we go, eh its just another day." Francis Chan
Monday, January 5, 2009
A New Year ...
It is a new year. Newer still because I have graduated with my bachlors in art - perhaps an unimpressive degree but it marks a transition in life none the less.
The holidays where good in spite of all of the working and running around. It was good to take a go at compromising on Christmas traditions with Chris, it was very good to have different people in and out of my house all of the time. And even though I kind of resented it sometimes, it was good to be working.
In this transitional time I want to read more and listen more. To take walks for the sake of walking. To be ok with being alone and to actually return phone calls. I want to pursue photography without being bound up by my fears and to trust God with this whole weird engagement thing.
Call them resolutions if you want (although I won't) but I do want to be intentional with my time, especially in a phase of life where it would be very easy to just get by and have nothing to show for these years when the mythical future morphs into the annoyingly unavoidable present.
The holidays where good in spite of all of the working and running around. It was good to take a go at compromising on Christmas traditions with Chris, it was very good to have different people in and out of my house all of the time. And even though I kind of resented it sometimes, it was good to be working.
In this transitional time I want to read more and listen more. To take walks for the sake of walking. To be ok with being alone and to actually return phone calls. I want to pursue photography without being bound up by my fears and to trust God with this whole weird engagement thing.
Call them resolutions if you want (although I won't) but I do want to be intentional with my time, especially in a phase of life where it would be very easy to just get by and have nothing to show for these years when the mythical future morphs into the annoyingly unavoidable present.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
90 to the third with
90 to the third with easy access. 9 to the third with access. 1 to third without any access. This is why it is good to go.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Some thoughts on Mark 5:25-34
“[the woman] had suffered much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse” –Mark 5:26 esv
This year our cell groups in Cru are going through the book of Mark and last week we were in Mark 5 (it has been slow and interrupted progress) and as we were talk verse 26 stood out so much.
This is in the introduction to the account of a woman who had “a discharge of blood for twelve years” – in other words she spent 12 years being ritually impure and suffering all of the unpleasant jank of having ones menstrual cycle in a world before sanitary napkins. This is an account that has always evoked a pretty vivid response from me, perhaps because this woman is one of the healings that I can most relate to. Lets be honest I wouldn’t begin to know what it is like to be paralyzed, or blind, or leprous, or possessed by a demon that caused me to throw myself into fire … I have an overactive imagination so I can definitely conjure up what any of those conditions would be like but this is a woman whose condition I have brushed up against in the tiniest way (although I think a good case could be made that I don’t have any more ability to practically empathize with her – it at least feels that I do and for better or worse feelings are a big part of my perceptions)
Verse 26 had never really struck a deep cord before, I had always just considered it to be a way of clarifying that this was no small ailment that any healer could address. While that may be true, I also think this woman is a picture of how we try to deal with jank in our lives. We try to fix it ourselves – or at least I know I do.
I wonder how much extra hurt and hardship we bring upon ourselves because we go to people to fix our problems instead of just taking them to the one who can and desires to heal us and make us whole. Unlike this woman we don’t have to wait for Jesus to walk through our town.
Jesus has completed his walking ministry and now he makes himself touchable to all. It isn’t that God will zap away all of our physical ailments – that just isn’t biblical (turn back to Mark 4:35-37 and observe that it was by obedience to Jesus that the disciples found themselves in the middle of a “great windstorm”) but I think that God desperately desires to heal our hearts, to make us whole, to make us clean and holy.
The other thing I think this interchange teaches us is that, I don’t think God is content to let us be healed in the shadows. Jesus made a point to stop and have the woman come forward, which must have been so hard for her.
First of all she was a woman, whose very condition rendered her “unclean”, if she had a husband he would not have been legally able to touch her in any way for the past 12 years. Yet in spite of being a woman, and being unclean, she reaches out to touch a famous, male teacher without any sort of consent.
Second she had to publicly admit something that would have been so shameful – even now in a much more open society it is awkward and even scandalous to talk about menstruation in mixed company (which might be why a surprisingly high number of people I talked to never realized what sort of bleeding had gone on unabated the 12 years). Add to that the label of unclean and a society that blamed any hardship in your life as punishment from God against your sin and honestly I would have had a lot of trouble saying.
Yet Christ would not have called her out to shame or terrify her, in fact he sends her away with a commendation – so maybe this is an indication of how we should respond to the ways we have experienced the healing only God can give.
It is so awesome how God can reveal new lessons no matter how many times I have seen the same material – I keep realizing that what I understood before were like trees walking while people were actually in front of me …
This year our cell groups in Cru are going through the book of Mark and last week we were in Mark 5 (it has been slow and interrupted progress) and as we were talk verse 26 stood out so much.
This is in the introduction to the account of a woman who had “a discharge of blood for twelve years” – in other words she spent 12 years being ritually impure and suffering all of the unpleasant jank of having ones menstrual cycle in a world before sanitary napkins. This is an account that has always evoked a pretty vivid response from me, perhaps because this woman is one of the healings that I can most relate to. Lets be honest I wouldn’t begin to know what it is like to be paralyzed, or blind, or leprous, or possessed by a demon that caused me to throw myself into fire … I have an overactive imagination so I can definitely conjure up what any of those conditions would be like but this is a woman whose condition I have brushed up against in the tiniest way (although I think a good case could be made that I don’t have any more ability to practically empathize with her – it at least feels that I do and for better or worse feelings are a big part of my perceptions)
Verse 26 had never really struck a deep cord before, I had always just considered it to be a way of clarifying that this was no small ailment that any healer could address. While that may be true, I also think this woman is a picture of how we try to deal with jank in our lives. We try to fix it ourselves – or at least I know I do.
I wonder how much extra hurt and hardship we bring upon ourselves because we go to people to fix our problems instead of just taking them to the one who can and desires to heal us and make us whole. Unlike this woman we don’t have to wait for Jesus to walk through our town.
Jesus has completed his walking ministry and now he makes himself touchable to all. It isn’t that God will zap away all of our physical ailments – that just isn’t biblical (turn back to Mark 4:35-37 and observe that it was by obedience to Jesus that the disciples found themselves in the middle of a “great windstorm”) but I think that God desperately desires to heal our hearts, to make us whole, to make us clean and holy.
The other thing I think this interchange teaches us is that, I don’t think God is content to let us be healed in the shadows. Jesus made a point to stop and have the woman come forward, which must have been so hard for her.
First of all she was a woman, whose very condition rendered her “unclean”, if she had a husband he would not have been legally able to touch her in any way for the past 12 years. Yet in spite of being a woman, and being unclean, she reaches out to touch a famous, male teacher without any sort of consent.
Second she had to publicly admit something that would have been so shameful – even now in a much more open society it is awkward and even scandalous to talk about menstruation in mixed company (which might be why a surprisingly high number of people I talked to never realized what sort of bleeding had gone on unabated the 12 years). Add to that the label of unclean and a society that blamed any hardship in your life as punishment from God against your sin and honestly I would have had a lot of trouble saying.
Yet Christ would not have called her out to shame or terrify her, in fact he sends her away with a commendation – so maybe this is an indication of how we should respond to the ways we have experienced the healing only God can give.
It is so awesome how God can reveal new lessons no matter how many times I have seen the same material – I keep realizing that what I understood before were like trees walking while people were actually in front of me …
Saturday, November 1, 2008
October Reflections ....
It has been a crazy month (like usual) and I thought I would take a few moments to share some of what happened ...
FALL RETREAT
The very first weekend of October was spent at a somewhat local camp with a bunch of Cru kids for our fall retreat. It was an awesome opportunity to get to know some of the fabulous freshmen who have been getting involved.
The speaker, Dave Patchin, taught on Colossians and it was just really straightforward but awesome stuff about the practicalities of living for Christ. I think the most personally impactful thing he spoke on was when he was talking about 3:13-14 and he talked about the importance of waiting for God to start the work and then jumping on the bandwagon - i.e. we don't have to be the ones fixing people even if we are an influential tool in how God goes about addressing things in their life.
ART CRIT
One of the two classes I have to take this semester is my intensive writing class, art critisim. Although sometimes I feel that it perpetuates the snobbishness that it is really easy for artists to fall into, I definately feel that it has been an area leading to a lot of growth for me. I am realizing that I am a very global thinker and the structure of the class is one that lets me make the broad connections between things like how art can change a place for the better, how rehumanization can happen, and how God's love for the world can be expressed in powerful ways through art ... this happens in snippets all over the place, but one thing that really brought this to the forefront for me was watching a film about an artist in Detriot who has literally transformed his nieghborhood through these crazy pieces of art he has made. Already I feel the Heidelberg Project meanadering around in my head, looking for a point to break out an apply.
SAVANNAH
Was a really great week, hard sometimes but great. Of course seeing Courtney was wonderful beyond all reason, but it was also good to get yet another taste of what my life may look like if I am able to go on staff with CCC like Chris and I are planning (even if it is not at SCAD).
STARBUCKS
I still absolutely love my job. Some days it is harder than others and I am definately still trying to figure a lot of things out. I love my co-workers, all of them really even though I may have some pretty substaintailly different worldviews. I am just incredibly thankful to have the job and work environment I have (even when I don't always feel like being there)
METRO
The once monthly metros are almost always a highlight - in part because it is a chance to see Kelly Lee (who has been one of my deepest friends since coming from from East Asia over a year ago). This month one of the staff kids talked about the importance of discipleship and what that looks like. Although it was stuff I have been exposed to before, refreshers are always nice.
HALLOWEEN
This is the first holiday since starting at starbucks. Since halloween has not really been a big deal to me in a long time (I haven't celebrated it in years) I didn't think I would mind working ... well less than half-way through my shift I was really bummed about being at work versus being with my friends (which doesn't really boad well for Thanksgiving and Christmas which I also have to work). I was totally blown away with happiness when a huge group of my friends moved their party literally to me (even though I still had to be working so I couldn't do much more than exchange a few quick words periodically). It made me feel super valued.
All in all it was a good month ....
FALL RETREAT
The very first weekend of October was spent at a somewhat local camp with a bunch of Cru kids for our fall retreat. It was an awesome opportunity to get to know some of the fabulous freshmen who have been getting involved.
The speaker, Dave Patchin, taught on Colossians and it was just really straightforward but awesome stuff about the practicalities of living for Christ. I think the most personally impactful thing he spoke on was when he was talking about 3:13-14 and he talked about the importance of waiting for God to start the work and then jumping on the bandwagon - i.e. we don't have to be the ones fixing people even if we are an influential tool in how God goes about addressing things in their life.
ART CRIT
One of the two classes I have to take this semester is my intensive writing class, art critisim. Although sometimes I feel that it perpetuates the snobbishness that it is really easy for artists to fall into, I definately feel that it has been an area leading to a lot of growth for me. I am realizing that I am a very global thinker and the structure of the class is one that lets me make the broad connections between things like how art can change a place for the better, how rehumanization can happen, and how God's love for the world can be expressed in powerful ways through art ... this happens in snippets all over the place, but one thing that really brought this to the forefront for me was watching a film about an artist in Detriot who has literally transformed his nieghborhood through these crazy pieces of art he has made. Already I feel the Heidelberg Project meanadering around in my head, looking for a point to break out an apply.
SAVANNAH
Was a really great week, hard sometimes but great. Of course seeing Courtney was wonderful beyond all reason, but it was also good to get yet another taste of what my life may look like if I am able to go on staff with CCC like Chris and I are planning (even if it is not at SCAD).
STARBUCKS
I still absolutely love my job. Some days it is harder than others and I am definately still trying to figure a lot of things out. I love my co-workers, all of them really even though I may have some pretty substaintailly different worldviews. I am just incredibly thankful to have the job and work environment I have (even when I don't always feel like being there)
METRO
The once monthly metros are almost always a highlight - in part because it is a chance to see Kelly Lee (who has been one of my deepest friends since coming from from East Asia over a year ago). This month one of the staff kids talked about the importance of discipleship and what that looks like. Although it was stuff I have been exposed to before, refreshers are always nice.
HALLOWEEN
This is the first holiday since starting at starbucks. Since halloween has not really been a big deal to me in a long time (I haven't celebrated it in years) I didn't think I would mind working ... well less than half-way through my shift I was really bummed about being at work versus being with my friends (which doesn't really boad well for Thanksgiving and Christmas which I also have to work). I was totally blown away with happiness when a huge group of my friends moved their party literally to me (even though I still had to be working so I couldn't do much more than exchange a few quick words periodically). It made me feel super valued.
All in all it was a good month ....
Monday, October 20, 2008
Life of Late
The time in Savannah wasn't precisely what I was expecting (but really who knows where my silly expectations come from anyway) but it was good - and Bonnie informs me that we accomplished the goals of the trip.
On the last day I had some time alone in one of the multitude of squares which downtown Savannah boasts and I got a really cool idea about a possible tweaking to Soularium.
Carlee and I shared at Manchester on Sunday. I was a little sad that not many of the college kids were there but it was good and the Pastor who was visiting knew some of the research and development people who had helped take soularium out of tribecca. That was cool and unexpected.
I have been in a weird, not circumstance related, place sporadically since NY and I would totally appreciate prayers about it. Really that I not be so bound to my emotions in general i.e. that I not let my feelings entirely dictate my actions.
On the last day I had some time alone in one of the multitude of squares which downtown Savannah boasts and I got a really cool idea about a possible tweaking to Soularium.
Carlee and I shared at Manchester on Sunday. I was a little sad that not many of the college kids were there but it was good and the Pastor who was visiting knew some of the research and development people who had helped take soularium out of tribecca. That was cool and unexpected.
I have been in a weird, not circumstance related, place sporadically since NY and I would totally appreciate prayers about it. Really that I not be so bound to my emotions in general i.e. that I not let my feelings entirely dictate my actions.
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