Baby Steps

Humanism

2012-01-21T10:56:00.000-06:00

Why do we do mission work? Is it because of the Great Commission? In Matthew 28, Christ instructed us to "go and make disciples of all nations." We listened to him and that is why we have missionaries, right?

Most Christians will tell you we do mission work because there are people in the world who have never heard about Jesus and, therefore, we need to tell them in order for them to be saved. Paul Washer says the end result is that we honor the Great Commission to save the souls of people. The end result is not about glorifying Christ.

Humanism is defined as "any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values, and dignity predominate." It sounds like humanism may have infiltrated our motives for obeying Christ's Great Commission.

Maybe this is not the worst thing that could happen. The apostle Paul says, "But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice." (Phil. 1:18) Still, it is a slow slipping away from a Christ-centered way of thinking to a man-centered way of thinking.

Jesus' instructions as to why we should "go and make disciples" was because "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [Him]." He doesn't say we should do it to save the souls of men. He simply instructs us to do so because He is God and everything is His.

We would be wise to watch our motives closely, lest we begin to focus on humanity and distort our reasons for obeying Christ.

Prayer Priorities

2012-01-15T01:06:00.004-06:00

Why is it that our prayer meetings and requests often sound like something from a medical convention? We get together and everyone knows someone who is sick with a strange disease. And so, we pray. It only seems natural that we ask God and thank God for the things that are meaningful to us.

However, prayer is also a window to our priorities. If we look through that window and examine our prayers, we see that health and safety are a very high priority to us. The more we pray about one thing, the higher a priority it is to us. I do believe persistent and continual prayer is a good thing but we must never let it be about us.

After going through some extended sickness last year, I realized I am not entitled to my health. Somewhere along the way, we all get swept up in our antiseptic culture, and without even realizing it, we soon believe we deserve a long and healthy life. Then, God is in the wrong when He takes that away from someone. We lose sight of "your will be done on earth" and humanly think "my will be done on earth." We see it backwards and go to God only when we need something from Him; as if He works on our terms.

Plain and simple, our prayer should not be prioritized by requests for health and safety when it means sacrificing prayers for the advancement of God's kingdom.

My friend Tim says it is a dangerous prayer to ask God to "use me today." We're scared of how God might use us because, deep down we know He will pull us out of our comfort zone. It is so much easier to promise God the near future. "God, I'll give you ALL my time and efforts as soon as I get through this busy season." It is different when it is immediate. "God, use me today." Then, there is no place for us to hide.

Often, my prayer time is cut short because of my schedule. So many things to do, so little time. I need to ask myself, "Is my schedule cutting into my prayer time or is my prayer time cutting into my schedule?" It is all about priorities. Your schedule or your time with God?

Sometimes the easiest way to prioritize is when you are facing life-or-death situations.

John Piper says this, "Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie for the mission of the Church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world."*

*Let the Nations be Glad

Listen to an audio sermon about prayer meetings here

Amidst a Humbling Circumstance

2012-01-06T12:27:00.001-06:00

When I arrived in Wisconsin a few months ago, I knew I needed a job- pronto. I had loan payments like sharks, nipping at my toes. Each day, I was applying to four or five places of employment and, despite having a college education, I knew no jobs were beneath me. I needed to work. Low and behold, Walmart called me about my application almost immediately. I went in for an interview and, after a second interview, I signed the paperwork and became an employee.

However, for two weeks, I heard nothing about my ensuing first day of work. As I waited, I began to question my decision to work at Walmart. Internally, I heard whispers saying I was better than Walmart and shouldn't lower myself to its level. Satan was whispering pride but, the more I thought about it, the more I saw that God always teaches me valuable things when I am willing to take a servant's lowly position.

"Humbling" is the best word to describe the period of waiting to work at Walmart. I wasn't waiting for a prestigious job that utilized my college degree. Instead, I was waiting for a job that would pay minimum wage.

Over the course of my life, I have had seventeen different jobs and almost all of them have been different and taught me different skills. I love variety and learning new things because it makes me feel capable of many things, as if I am becoming a Jack-of-all-trades. With Walmart, however, I figured there was nothing for me to gain by working there.

That is when I read James 1: 9-11, "Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position."

I took that as confirmation that God would teach me valuable things in my walk with Him during my time as a lowly Sales Associate. I might not learn valuable job skills but maybe I would learn a thing or two about humility. Besides, my life is not about the job I get, it is about serving Christ. I could start my job at Walmart confident and full of pride in God and his ability, not mine. God will certainly do things through me and my job at Walmart.

And so, like most jobs, I come in every day and hear people spreading rumors, complaining about customers, swearing, and talking about the idols with which they fill their lives. Amidst a humbling circumstance, I ask God to let me see my own faults; to see my own gossip, my own unnecessary complaining, my own swearing, and my own idols that steal from my walk with Christ. I am not above this job; I am not above these people. We are all broken. We all need Christ.

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

Road Trip

2011-12-02T18:13:00.001-06:00

Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge

Big Sur Coast, CA

Death Valley National Park

Grand Canyon

Gas $ in CA

Zion National Park


Crater Lake (Click to see whole image)

Schedule

2011-11-12T21:30:00.000-06:00

When I come back home to Wisconsin, I have a lot of different things to do. I would rather not do many of those things but I know I should, so, I make a schedule to hold myself to accomplishing them.

This past week, a friend at our ministry group mentioned that schedules only exist for the things that need to happen. He said that the things we enjoy tend to happen naturally. We find time for things we enjoy without scheduling them. He even wondered if maybe that is why "church" is always on Sunday morning- so we can keep in our schedule.

I think he is right. "Church" has become something we do, or go to, on Sunday mornings. It fits into our schedules. We have to remember to do it. It isn't something that happens naturally.

Why must we schedule church? Why isn't church happening naturally?

We seldom do something other than "church" on Sunday mornings because we realize that church is something we need. We need the fulfillment, fellowship, and growth that we receive at church services. We would feel a tinge of guilt if we miss the only opportunity for that. We have scheduled church for Sunday mornings and, because of that, it never really happens any other time.

When I come back to Wisconsin, I have lots of things to do. I schedule the necessary things but something else always happens. Somehow, naturally, I end up hanging out with my friend Tim. Tim and I talk about what God is teaching us, sometimes we read scripture or pray together. Isn't that church too?

Do we care enough to take church out of the schedule and let it happen throughout the week? If so, we need to pursue God more emphatically. We need fellowship and accountability- that is why the collective body of believers is the church, not some building or thing we do on Sunday mornings.

Transitions and Travels

2011-11-10T12:09:00.000-06:00

So I haven't written in a while. I haven't had much time to stop and think. Well, I take that back; driving 3,200 miles gave me plenty of time to think. However, living in a car and crashing at friends' houses didn't allow for much writing. To be honest, traveling is quite taxing on me mentally.

Kayla and I left Mt. Rainier just in time to see the snow begin to fall once again. It seemed like only a month or two before the snow had finally stopped falling from the previous winter. Winter certainly has dominion over Mt. Rainier, controlling it 9 to 10 months of the year.

Looking back on the summer, things started off bad and only got worse. When the 30 feet of snow on the ground finally disappeared by mid-August, things did start to come back around though. I can honestly say I came to enjoy living in Paradise after the weather allowed "Paradise" to be worthy of its name. Flowers popped up everywhere as if to take the mountain back by force. But it was no longer than the blink of an eye, when, I went for a hike amongst the wildflowers and was bombarded by a winter storm. Purple pedals curled back into a bud, as if moving backwards through time, just to hide from the cold. Through the sheets of rain, I could make out the silhouette of a lone marmot crying a warning on a nearby hillside. Visibility was dropping. The sun set deep behind the clouds and pelting mix of rain and hail. I hurried my pace. The rain and hail turned to snow.

Soon, I stood proudly atop a rocky mountain vista, drenched in my raincoat. I felt the storm's fierce ice punch of wind as it struck me and almost knocked me over, but I reacted quickly and took it as a shot of adrenaline down the trail. I couldn't see twenty feet in front of me but I was running. A snow-covered trail quickly became my racetrack in a sprint against daylight. I took shelter from the wind behind a cliff and regained my breath. Continuing down, I broke through the snow. Arrogantly, I stopped to turn around. My breath was stolen again as I beheld the revelation of soft blue sky from behind the menacing clouds. The bristly blades of snow cut through the air above me on wings of ferocious wind. Through streaks of bright sunlight, the flakes appeared sharp and dynamic as one could imagine. The sky was an orchestra of illumination.

If I had to rank National Parks by the times I gasped in amazement or simply stopped, looked up and said, "Wow," then Mt. Rainier would be my favorite. God continually displayed such wondrous views that I often couldn't help but gaze in awe. His power and beauty were clearly evident at Mt. Rainier and it made praising Him easy.

What wasn't easy was upholding our job commitment and staying until the very end. The regional managers stopped by and commented at how impressed they were by this year's staff and our staying power. They said that only one or two employees honor their commitment and actually stay until the very end. This year, however, we seemed to have a record number of people who actually value the word they gave.

From there, we proceeded to Portland, the Oregon coast, the tree covered mountains of Oregon, Crater Lake National Park, through the Redwood highway, HWY 1 down the California coast, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Big Sur, Death Valley, the strip at Las Vegas, Zion Canyon, Grand Canyon, over the Rocky Mountains, and down to the flatlands of Kansas.

A week later I hopped on a midnight train and a thousand miles later, here I am, back home in Wisconsin.

Hints and Aromas

2011-09-25T23:19:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we Christians are so blunt in our evangelical approach that we turn people away. If we confront someone boldly, we are offering them the food of Christ. However, many people do not think they are hungry. Telling them they are hungry or that they need food will only upset them. They will often counter react by telling themselves they are not hungry for something more. But, if we act in a loving way that is so radical, we will offer an aroma of Christ. If people see our continuous actions of love, they will begin to smell the aroma of Christ: they will begin to grow hungry. If people realize they are hungry, they will be naturally drawn to food.

Another way of thinking about this is with hints and commands. If a man and woman are sitting together in a room with an open window and the woman says she is cold, she is hinting that the window should be closed. In most cases, she must ask/command the man to shut the window if she wants him to close it. However, if the man loves the woman, he will be attuned to what she says. He will pick up on cues that she puts out and, if he cares about her when she says she is cold, he will shut the window that is letting in cold air. All she must do is hint towards the window being closed and he will close the window. In a sense, through love, the man has ears to hear. Only in love will he hear and understand.

So, if we love Christ, we will be attuned to His spirit. If we love Christ, we will have ears to hear. If we love Christ, we will pick up on hints that he gives through His spirit; we will, not only hear, but also listen.

Remember that God did not speak to Elijah in the strong wind, an earthquake, or a fierce fire but in the still small voice. (1 Kings) God’s voice is often a hint, not a command.

I remember a note my ex-girlfriend once gave me. It was hand written and expressed a lot of things but the only thing about it I still remember was the most subtle hint I found in the note. In writing the note, she had carefully traced over certain letters to give those letters a slightly emboldened look. While reading the note, I grabbed a pen and scratched down the emboldened letters on a sheet and gazed in wonder at what the word meant. I quickly hopped online and did a search. The word was Katallasso, a Greek word meaning reconciliation.

As Christians- ones who follow Christ- we should speak with hints and give off the fragrance of food. We should emulate Jesus with our actions. Last night, a girl from China asked me to write her a goodbye note. I started by writing about my fond memories of times we shared over the summer. As I was writing, I stalled and began retracing the letter “J.” God brought back to mind the hint my ex-girlfriend gave to me a long time ago. God was whispering to me to hint of Him.

In the end, I didn’t write that she needed Jesus in order to be saved from eternal damnation. I emboldened various letters in my note, spelling out “Jesus loves you.” The subtext is there for my friend to find. I trust and pray that God will give her eyes to see. I trust that, as she looks back on our interactions, she will see the love of Christ in my actions as an aroma that makes her hungry for something more.

(Some people question as to whether a hint or aroma is enough, or if more is demanded from us. For me, it comes down to trust. I have trust that God will move in that person's life. I scattered some seed, only God can bring life to that seed. There is only so much I can do before I get in the way or mess things up. There needs to be more of God and less of me.)

* The idea of hints and aromas comes from Peter Rollin's book How (Not) to Speak of God

Cessation of a Summer

2011-09-10T22:25:00.001-05:00

During a Bible study our Ministry group was leading last week, we discussed Luke 9. The final verse of the chapter struck me with force.

"Jesus replied, 'No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'"

As we talked about what Jesus meant, I couldn't help but sit in silence and apply it directly to my current situation. It happens every summer; I get bogged down with responsibilities and start lagging during the dog days of summer. This summer, it was in mid-July when I hit a wall and yearned for freedom- or at least a vacation. I planned a 24 hour trip to Portland to see an old friend. It was a fun trip but not long enough so I planned a long weekend trip to Seattle.

The weekend in Seattle was fun, maybe too much fun. I didn't want to go back to Paradise. When I returned, I looked longing on the time I had spent in Portland and Seattle. I was tired of working for this company and wished I could be somewhere else.

The most challenging thing about this summer, besides learning to continually sacrifice my desires to better serve Christ and further the ministry, has been working for the company. The company has been a constant point of frustration that adds stress and anxiety to all the workers- driving some to madness or alcohol and driving others to a breaking point where they spontaneously quit. We have had so many people come and go that we classify employees by the month they arrive. We often joke about the very few who remain from the beginning of the season (May) as being like the great-grandparent generation. June employees are old folk grandparents. July employees are the parent generation, composed entirely of replacements (only here because others quit). August and September employees (yes, we are weekly getting new employees even in Sept) are the young-lings, wide-eyed and optimistic.

Now that the wildflowers have sprung and most of the snow is disappearing, Paradise is becoming a better place. I am staying positive and assuring myself I can make it through the season, fulfilling my responsibilities to the company and the ministry.

I intend to stay until the very end, even if most of the others employees do not. God shared with me that my actions had the ability to say something powerful to my supervisors and coworkers. All I had to do was put my head down and work hard, focusing on the task in front of me. What a statement it would be if the ministry staff are the only employees who honor their contract and stay until the end!

I had put my hand to the plow back in May. Somewhere in July and August I looked back- even while my hand was on the plow. I was unfit to help lead the ministry while my head was turned. It is now late into August and I realize how much time and energy I wasted looking behind me. Now, as I look forward, I will push forward. The plow is in my hand.

October 7, here I come!

Sacrifice of a Summer

2011-08-30T10:44:00.001-05:00

Remembering that God brought Kayla and I here, I can hold onto the belief that God has a reason for us to be at Paradise.

In James 4, it says “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

Weep. Mourn. Let your laughter be turned to mourning. Joy, to gloom. We live in a culture that wants to laugh. Our culture says we should laugh and take things easy. Often, we over indulge in laughter and happiness. If we live life too comfortably, we forget how painful it is to be uncomfortable. If we live life too comfortably, we forget how great it is to be comforted.

It’s almost backwards, isn’t it? We spend our lives pursuing comfort and happiness but, when we sacrifice what we do have, we are comforted.

In Luk e 9 it says, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”

Spending the past 3 summers in National Parks, I've done a fair amount of hiking. One thing I have learned is that the longer you spend on one hike, the more you will appreciate the view it gives. You can appreciate the view from the side of the road, but I guarantee you will appreciate the view more if you hike hike five hours to see it. So it is with sacrifice. The more you give of yourself and the more you sacrifice, the more joy you will have.

The devil wants you to think this is backwards. He’s got most people thinking that it is. My friend and fellow ministry volunteer Josh said this, "When Jesus speaks, it is backwards to our human thinking but, once we hear it, we find it undeniably true." Many of the things Jesus says do sound backwards. Repay evil with good? Love your enemies? To save your life, you must lose it? It sounds backwards until you live it out.

Our ways are not to be the ways of this world. We should seem backwards to those around us.

James 4:10 ends with this: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Here is more backward logic: In order to be lifted up, we must fall to our knees and humble ourselves. We must go down in order to come up. The message translation puts it like this: “The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”

I want you to imagine yourself as the person Jesus is warning in Luke 6. The woes are to you and me.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people exclude you and insult you, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

Compared to rest of the world, middle class Americans are rich. That means, we have already received our comfort and consolation. Middle class Americans are never with accessible food. We are full and soon we shall be hungry. Middle class American have a good life. We laugh now, but we shall mourn in heaven when we realize the lives of others we could have touched. We will weep when we think about how selfishly we spent our resources when we could have helped bring others to Jesus. Middle class Americans work hard. We are upstanding citizens. Our neighbors speak highly of us. Yet, we are false prophets when we live the lie of the American Dream.

This summer, responsibilities for this ministry seem to be very demanding and require a larger sacrifice from me than what I am used to. I often found myself wanting to forsake my responsibilities and my perceived image as a Christian in order to stay up late hanging out, drinking, or doing other things besides preparing for the ministry. I could have lied to myself, saying I was building positive relationships in the process, but I felt God was calling me to be careful not to mislead others or discredit the ministry (2 Cor. 6:3).

Luke 14:33 says, “So, whoever of you that doesn’t forsake all that he has, he cannot be my disciple."

We need to forsake everything that we have. We need to forsake buying that new vehicle. We need to forsake buying that next thing for ourselves. We came into this world with no possessions and we are leaving with no possessions. We need to forsake our hopes and dreams of a comfortable life. Yes, we even need to forsake our American pursuit of happiness.

Sometimes it is helpful to hear familiar ideas put into different words. The Message paraphrase of Jesus' blessings and woes is called Give Away Your Life.

"You're blessed when you've lost it all.
God's kingdom is there for the finding.
You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
Then you're ready for the Messianic meal.
You're blessed when the tears flow freely.

Joy comes with the morning."

"But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
What you have is all you'll ever get.
And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long.
And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games.
There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it."

When working for Christ, sometimes the hard work and sacrifice makes me hungry, sometimes it makes me cry, sometimes it makes my coworkers exclude me, BUT, I am doing it for Christ and I know that he will satisfy me, he will make me laugh, and he will never forsake me. I am sacrificing my time and myself this summer because I know it is not about me; it is not about whether I have fun or not, it is about whether others meet Christ through me. For that, I try to sacrifice every moment I can. Moment by moment, I am sacrificing my summer.

Awakening of a Summer

2011-08-25T00:35:00.001-05:00

When it comes to hearing God's call, it is sometimes difficult deciphering whether God is calling us to a place, or if we are calling ourselves to that place.

Regardless, I arrived here at Mt. Rainier and made a priorities list for the summer. My number one priority was to God: walking with him and helping lead others to him through the ministry.

There were 30 foot mounds of snow lying on the ground then. June and July came but the snow piles still lingered here at Paradise. Very slowly since then, the landscape has been revealing itself to me. Rivers appear and become audible. Small trees once buried now stand tall. Snow drifts disappear and change into boulders and young trees. Hills take shape and color the earth with the budding wildflowers. In the same way, God has been slowly revealing this summer to me.

Things have not been easy. At times, I wanted to give up. The company treats us (employees) poorly and the winter weather began to wear me down simply because it was winter in June and July. Paradise, I assured myself, was a misnomer. The Pacific Northwest proved itself true to its notorious reputation for cloudy weather. The lack of sunshine drained my patience until one specific evening, Kayla and I found ourselves arguing.

"You were the one who wanted to come here."

"What do you mean? You suggested it to me!"

"No, you picked here. I wanted to go to Crater Lake."

"I didn't pick here, I wanted to go to Zion or Yosemite."

The argument didn't go anywhere but in circles. Our efforts only convinced ourselves into a state exhaustion. However, the exhaustion built a nest of silence where God's silent voice tucked in close between us. We both realized that, if she didn't choose to come here and he didn't choose to come here, God must have chose for us to be here.

When life in Paradise was becoming complicated and difficult, it was a simple answer that God offered in his perfect timing: God brought us here.

I hold onto the belief that God has a reason for bringing us here.
.

Living with Waldo

2011-08-18T20:13:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered what kind of life Waldo leads?

I live with Waldo. His habits are strange. I will often see him standing or sitting in weird places around Paradise. No matter where I see him, he is always wearing the same sweater and always takes his backpack with him. He even has the round, black-framed glasses.

I do wonder what a guy like Waldo believes. He seems like a searcher; someone always looking. He has a Bible, but I’ve never seen him open it; almost like it is one of the items that you must help Waldo find along the way.

I haven’t seen him do much of anything, really. I’ve never seen him brush his teeth, never seen him go to take a shower, never seen him use an alarm clock. He just seems to wake up and float out of the room.

My other roommate knocked on the bathroom door and, when no one answered, he opened the door to find Waldo standing in the shower completely naked. Seemingly normal, except for the fact that the water wasn’t running.

There is always something about Waldo that is just mysterious.

He has yoga books, claims to have a black belt in karate, watches a lot of televangelists and takes extensive notes.

Waldo isn’t a man of many words. I’ve had two conversations with him and one of them he kept talking and talking like I had awoken a conversational beast within him. Maybe he is on some sort of jinx and cannot speak until someone speaks to him first. He did offer some insight into his life, telling me that he likes to “just sit and put time and place together.”

It’s true. I often see him staring listlessly off into the distant mountains like he is painstakingly trying to put time and place together instead of living in the moment. I fear life is passing him by. I’ve never seen him trying to befriend anyone and the times I invite him to come to our worship services or Bible study I get a positive response but he never shows.

He hangs a list on the wall of “Mindful Affirmations” that are very spiritual- ideas from the Christian faith mixed and clouded with other ideas.

Maybe I shouldn’t wonder what kind of life Waldo leads, because I think it is safe to assume he travels a lot and mostly lives out of his well-used backpack. Instead, I should ask, ‘what should I do if I found Waldo and felt like his life needed direction?’

Solitude, Not Privacy

2011-07-31T01:46:00.000-05:00

"Get out of here! Get out! Get out! Go away! Go away! Get out!" the little boy yelled as he shooed and kicked the earth at me. Dust and small rocks flew in the air, pattering against the side of my pants.

Tonight, I was walking through Cougar Rock campground, letting people know about our worship services and inviting them to join. Snow-covered mountain peaks rose above the pine trees, creating a beautiful backdrop for a campground flowing with life. There was a frenzy of activity among the campers. Families went about making dinner, playing games with friends, and sitting around campfires. Children scurried about, chasing chipmunks and exploring the forest, making friends with others along the way. I thought about how much better life would be if we lived in communities like these; if we lived by simpler means. If we always lived in tents, that is, if we didn't have big houses to hide in, we would be more apt to get to know our neighbors. If we didn't have flat screen TVs and comfortable Lazy Boy furniture we would be more apt to go out and engage with others.

I was thinking about all of this because most people seem genuinely interested when I take the time to approach them, ask them how they are doing and invite them to our services. A lot of people are struck with such profound curiosity when I walk up to their tents or RVs that I have their absolute attention. Some people are appreciative and some are simply respectful, just saying "thank you." Most of time, they welcome me into their campsite as I approach. They are happy and pleasant because they are on vacation.

However, other people are offended by my presence. They stare at me in disbelief simply because I walk up to their picnic table to talk to them. They look at me like I just shot their cat with a shotgun. These people tend to hold onto their standard levels of privacy and personal space. By walking up to their campsite, I am breaking the barrier of their personal space. Once in a while, someone will make a rude or disrespectful comment. Other times, the dog will do their job. They let their dog bark loudly and constantly while I inform them about our services. One time in Acadia, I approached a campsite as an unleashed dog ran at me barking. The dog, then, proceeded to bite my foot as I tried to talk.

Tonight was even stranger than being bitten by an unleashed dog. I approached a family with a campsite tucked away behind some trees. I introduced myself and a small boy, no older than fours years, came running toward me. He was yelling something but I couldn't tell what. I began informing them about the evening Ranger programs as the boy ran up in front of me. I could hear him now.

"Get off my bow! Get off! Get out!" he yelled. I looked down at him and he was motioning with his hand for me to leave. I paused to look up at his parents so I could see how they were reacting. If the parents supported the boy in wanting me to leave, I would leave. If the parents stopped their child and scolded him for being rude, I would stay. I expected the parents to stop their child and teach him basic manners about respecting people.

Throughout my awkward pause of assessing the situation, the boy continued yelling at me, "Get out! Get out! Get out!" Seeing the parents make no effort to stop their child from yelling at me left me baffled because they looked slightly interested in what I was saying. And so, I continued speaking, informing them about our worship service. I invited them to the service before pausing again to look down at the boy. He was still shooing me with a dramatic wave of both his arms. Only now, he had took to kicking the earth at me. Dust and small rocks flew in the air, pattering against the side of my pants. "Get out of here! Get out! Get out! Go away! Go away! Get out!" the boy continued.

I finished informing them about the services and extending them an invitation. I told them to "have a good night" and I turned to leave. The parents replied with a halfhearted "Thank you. You too." The small boy, still yelling, followed me down from the campsite. He kicked and yelled and, as I looked back over my shoulder, I thought I saw a smirk of satisfaction come across his face when I arrived at the road- the edge of their campsite.

I walked away befuddled and bemused by the situation. So many things had just happened; so many dynamics I will never understand.

While walking away, I thought about how most dogs react the same way when I approach the family campsite. The dog will run up to me barking, thinking of me as an invader to his family and the family's personal space. In the same way, the boy took me as an invasion of his personal/family space. I was an unwanted additive in his idealistically self-centered world. I was taking up his time and I was taking of his space, therefore, I must leave. The most bewildering aspect to me was why his parents allowed him to act in such a way. Hopefully, the boy was not learning how to go about life from his dog; acting on animal instinct.

In the same way, I am often no better than my animal instinct. When I begin to get stressed out or tired, I want to get away from other people. I want to be alone. I see others as an invasion of my personal space and I don't want them to break my personal space barrier.

The problem is that, in these instances, I don't strive for solitude, I strive for privacy. I want to get away from it all but I do it for selfish reasons. I want time for myself when I really need time away from myself. What I really need is time with God.

Solitude is just that: resting in God's presence. It is sitting in quietness of sound and quietness of mind. No external sounds that distract and no internal thoughts that distract. Solitude is waiting in God with stillness. Privacy, on the other hand, is time when I selfishly pursue what I want. I get upset when people invade my privacy; when people break into my personal space. I may not tell people, "Get out of here! Get out! Go away! Go away! Get out!" but I sometimes think along those same lines.

Next time I get upset and want to spend my time in privacy, I will, hopefully, remember the little boy kicking and screaming, "Get out! Go away!" and think of how childish I am acting. Hopefully, then, I will be able to realize what I really need is time with God, not time with myself. Solitude, not privacy.

The Difference Between Life and Death

2011-07-20T01:19:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago, an employee went missing after going on a solo hike. As soon as I heard the news, my mind started racing with questions. Kayla and I were a couple of the last people to see Steve. He had ridden the employee shuttle with us that morning but decided to hike a different trail than us.

The next day he didn't show up for work. He had spent the night alone in the snow and bitter cold; still lost somewhere on the icy mountain. My manager approached me and asked me what I knew about his whereabouts. I told him where he said he was going to be hiking that day. I must have told 3 or 4 people, each on different occasions, what he had said before his hike. Soon, I was on the phone with a Ranger preparing a search and rescue crew. I began to realize the importance of my spoken words. If I would have chosen to not speak about what Steve had told us before his hike, I would impede the process of finding him and possibly prevent a successful rescue. It could make the difference between life and death. I never would have chosen to not speak in such a situation, but the power of my words left an imprint.

The Greek word “rhema” is often translated into English as “word.” In English, the word “word” can mean spoken or written. However, rhema means an utterance or a spoken word.

The Greek word Rhema is used in Ephesians 6, the Armor of God. In verse 17, Paul describes the final article of the Armor of God: the sword of the spirit. Paul uses the word rhema to describe the sword of the spirit as the word of God. Modern translations leave out the nuanced meaning to this verse. Most translations say something like “take…the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” However, the verse should read, “take…the sword of the spirit, which is the spoken word of God.”

The spoken word of God is our sword. This means we need to speak it. Knowing God’s word comes first but we need to speak it if we want to attack. Otherwise, the sword is sitting in its sheath.

Have you ever noticed that every article in the Armor of God is defensive? That is, every article except the sword of the spirit. The sword of the spirit is the only offensive weapon we have against the devil.

We need to realize that this little word “rhema” means we need to speak up. We need to raise our voices. We need to overflow from the fullness of our hearts out of mouths. (Matt. 6:45)

This past year I felt a lot spiritual oppression from demonic forces. I knew I had the authority to command those demonic forces to leave solely through the name of Jesus Christ.

As soon as I spoke those words out loud, the demonic forces left immediately. I guess you could say, I learned firsthand the power of Jesus’ spoken name.

When I think about the book of Acts; when I think about Peter, John, and even Paul I think about people who were bold as they could be in their faith.

Maybe these days we are too worried about being politically correct. We don’t want to offend anyone. We don’t want to turn anyone off to Christianity. So we sit quietly and tell ourselves we will slowly win them over with our quiet actions.

The great thing about Jesus was that everywhere he went he upset things. He offended the Hebrew way of life. He stumped those who wanted to corner him into a trap. He made people angry because they were convicted of their sins. Jesus was sinless; he was better than them and they couldn’t handle it. Everywhere Jesus went, he spoke about the Father. Everywhere he went he was preaching and teaching people. He was using spoken words.

If Jesus was around today, living in our community, I’m not sure he would be as warmly welcomed among Christians as we think. Wouldn’t he preach to us? Wouldn’t his words convict us of our sins? Yes, we would probably feel dirty in the presence of his brightness, but we would probably live better lives too.

So it should be with us; if we love those around us shouldn’t we lovingly point them in the right direction? Maybe that means an uncomfortable situation. Maybe that means offending someone. But, if you truly love someone, don’t you want what is best for them? If you do, you should want them walking in the right direction.

Just the other day, Kayla and I had to sit down and have a conversation with a fellow ACMNP volunteer. The ministry team was growing in concern about her actions and we decided to speak up. The conversation we had with her was difficult and uncomfortable but we did it because we care about her and where her actions were taking her.

Next time you feel the holy spirit leading you to speak to someone, do not quench the spirit. Speak. Speak boldly. This is not the time to be humble. This is not the time to be quiet. Don’t worry about the repercussions of offending someone when God demands your voice.

The words I spoke to my manager and the Ranger about Steve were powerful. Those words helped save his life. The search and rescue mission was a success because the rescue team looked in the right location. They found Steve alive after two nights out on the mountain. He suffered a broken rib, a twisted ankle, and hypothermia.

Last weekend I visited a friend and he happened to have a metal sword lying in his backyard. He picked it up and handed it to me. My first thought was how it was longer and heavier than I expected. My friend, then, made a comment about men battling to the death with swords. It was odd to think that this was happening up until not very long ago. I imagined men running and yelling into battle; the clashing of force between two swords swung by strong men, each hoping to kill the other. Their swords being the only things in the way between life and death.

Swords hold power. Sometimes they hold the power of life or death. So it is with the spoken word. We each hold a sword. We have the opportunity to swing and protect ourselves from demons. We also have the opportunity swing and protect others. We can save people from an eternal death simply by speaking into their lives.

Pull the sword of the spirit out of its sheath.

Speak the word of God for it is your sword. Speak strongly against evil like you are swinging a sword to save your life and the lives of those around you. Don't let the devil fool you into thinking we are not at war. Shout at the devil. Raise your voice. This is war.

From Dust to Dust

2011-06-30T14:47:00.001-05:00

This past week, an employee passed away. His name was Mike and the few conversations I had with him really made me genuinely appreciate him. He was a person you could come to and talk about anything without feeling uncomfortable. He was often playing pool or hanging around with others. One night, Mike and I talked around the pool table for close to an hour. One thing I remember from our conversation that night was how the morale in the kitchen was really low. He told me he was trying to improve things by just smiling at people as they worked. He spoke about the positive effects of something as simple as a smile and how he hoped it would lead to the kitchen being a better place. Mike was a Sue Chef in the kitchen and seemed to care about being a positive leader for his coworkers.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking over the course of this week about life and death. Our lives can end so quickly. Mike was a young man and now he is gone. 

A few of us on the ministry team talked with the Human Resources Manager and decided to hold a memorial service in remembrance of Mike. None of us know whether Mike was a believer or not.

However, he was interested in our Christian ministry and asked how things went. The day before he died he told me the mountain looked gorgeous in the beautiful weather and that, hopefully the weather would great for the worship service tomorrow.

The weather on the day that Mike died was beautiful. 

I put the following together to display at his memorial service…  

In Genesis 1:26 it says,

“So God created mankind in his own image, 
in the image of God he created them; 
male and female he created them.”

These verses say, not only that God created us, but that he created us in his own image. And yet, Genesis 2:7 says, 

“The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground”

This verse says we are made from dust of the ground; cheap, easy to find dust lying on the ground. This brings to mind the song by the band Kansas, Dust in the Wind.                         

“All we are is dust in the wind.”

Scientists have analyzed the chemical components of the body to determine what elements could theoretically be extracted and what their current monetary value might be. The answer some say is as little as 1 dollar. The value of a person’s body based solely on its components is only one hundred pennies.

From dust we were created and, in Psalms 90, Moses talks with God about death, saying:

“You [God] turn people back to dust, 
   saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

From dust God made us and, when we die, God tells us to return to dust.

It can be depressing to think about ourselves as nothing more than dust. We were created from dust and we will return to dust. Yet, somewhere in between coming from dust and returning to dust, there is this amazing thing called life.

There are times when our breath is taken away by moments of sheer beauty as well as moments of sadness. There are tears cried in joy as well as in pain. There is laughter and there is sorrow.

For a limited time only, we all possess the breath of life, given as a gift from God. 

Later, in Psalms 90, Moses says,

“Teach us to number our days, 
   that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Currently, it is popular to glean wisdom from the knowledge of our short lives and say, like many current bands and singers are saying, we must live like we are dying. To live everyday like it could be our last.

If you ask a person what they would do if they knew they only had a month to live, they would probably tell you they would go skydiving, or they would finally go see the places they’ve always wanted to see, or they would profess their love those around them. 

God reminds us with the death of someone near to us like Mike that our lives are fragile and short. The breath of life can be snatched from us and we will return to the dust of the ground in an instant.

If we are to live like we are dying, we should spend today (the only day we might have left) to think about our life and what happens after we die. Will we have life for eternity or life for a short time only before we turn to dust?

Romans 6:23 says, 

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Accepting Jesus as Lord is like accepting a gift from God. It is the only way to eternal life. We must then repent from our sins. Otherwise, the wages of our sins, no matter how small or few they are, is death.

Slapped in the Face

2011-06-26T01:20:00.001-05:00

Living in a National Park I tend to see a lot of people camping. There are many different kinds of campers, ranging from the backpacker to the RV owner. One person camps with only what he can carry on his back and the other lugs around a second home on four or more wheels. I never thought much about RVs until a few months ago.

I remember coming back from Sudan and people were asking me if I experienced "culture shock" when I arrived in Sudan. Culture shock kind of feels like a slap across the face. It hits you hard and makes you realize the difference between the way you and other people live. I honestly did not experience culture shock when I went to Sudan- or any other country for that matter- because I go in with an open mind. I am never sure what to expect so I open myself up to whatever culture is like.

The funny thing about culture shock for me is that I do always experience it when I arrive back in the United States. I come back thinking I know everything about life and culture here in the US. I am shocked when things seem different than how I remember them.

I remember coming back to Grand Rapids after several months in Nicaragua and riding my bike through a nice part of town. It was a sunny day in May when I saw the immaculately manicured lawns of fresh green grass laying out spaciously in front of mansions. I stopped my bike and planted my feet on the ground. I thought about the shacks of rotten wood people called their homes that I had seen just days prior. I thought about the mud and dirt around people's homes. Most Nicaraguans had barely enough money to buy food, let alone spend anything on maintaining something as frivolous as grass. Grass? Are we really worried about having green grass? Is that something that we even bother to think about?

The nice thing about culture shock is that, even though it hits like a slap in the face, it usually gives you a good perspective on life. The slap will usually knock some sense into you.

Coming back from Sudan, I immediately noticed our freeway system. There were only one or two other cars on an eight lane freeway. We had four lanes to choose from while we headed in one direction and the riding was smooth and fast. Just a day earlier I was riding in a rickety van on streets of clay, mud, and gravel. The roads were not only bumpy and rough, but were overflowing with life. People were walking to and fro in large numbers while still others rode bicycles around potholes. We, riding the van to the airport, could only get up to twenty mph before we had to slow down for bumps in the road or pedestrians. Now, I was riding back from the airport in the US and could do eighty mph without a real bump or pedestrian in sight.

Later on, I was driving across Indiana when two extended cab, long bed, dually trucks drove past me while they were pulling camping trailers as long as semi trailers. I was slapped in the face then and there. A few days earlier I was hanging out with families who are living in huts with straw roofs and mud walls. Now, I looked in my rear-view mirror as two trucks hauled thousands of pounds of their second homes down the road simply so they could enjoy a weekend in a different location, away from their first home. The financial aspect of the situation not only slapped me in the face but also blew my mind. We waste so much disposable income on pursuing more comfort but never towards comforting others who truly need it.

We don't need everything our culture tells us we need. We barely need anything our culture says we need. We don't need green grass to keep others thinking our life, like our lawn, is well kept and clean cut. We don't need a second home. We don't even need most of what is in our first home. We don't need a cushy bank account to keep us from having to trust in God. We don't need a 401K and retirement plan to travel the country in an RV. For our sake and God's, we could do without.

Today, as I strolled through the campgrounds and invited campers to our worship services, I was reminded of how I was slapped in the face only a few months ago. I was reminded of how I am starting to go numb once again to the excess we have and the indulgence we engage in. I was reminded and knew I had to say something, lest I forget forever what I once felt so violently slap me in the face.

Bingo

2011-06-13T00:19:00.000-05:00

Bingo- what a satisfying word.

Moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, the epicenter of the Christian Reformed Church and home of many people with Dutch heritage, I learned of a game people like to play. The game is called Dutch Bingo and the idea is for you and a stranger to start searching for common ground and naming names until, "Bingo"- you find someone you both know. Little did I know, I had already been making common connections by growing up with a family of Dutch heritage and attending a Christian Reformed Church. Since moving away from Grand Rapids, I've played the game with strangers all the way from Maine to Nicaragua.

Just the other day, I played the game of Dutch Bingo with a stranger staying at the lodge where I work. However, I am finding a similar game being played among my coworkers here in Mt. Rainier National Park. It starts when two employees meet. Introductions open the door to questions about employment: "Have you worked here before? Is this your first seasonal job? Have you worked in other parks?" Since many of the employees in National Parks have done similar jobs in other parks, there follows a search for common ground (a certain park or area) and common connections (former coworkers). You would be surprised at how often two people can find common ground or a common connection. Jackson Hole seems to be an epicenter for seasonal workers, and since I worked there, I am often able to find a common connection.

Something about finding people, places, or things in common helps break the ice with strangers to begin building relationships. The trump card of these weird forms of Bingo is a man named Jesus. On my first day of work I worked with a guy named Zack. When we found out that we both knew Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all the walls blocking the initial building of our relationship fell down. There was suddenly a connection so deep between us that all else seemed irrelevant. Immediately, we were brothers. Bingo.

No Soap, No Silverware, Just Trust

2011-05-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

While in Sudan, two times I found myself at a restaurant wishing I was eating back at our Sudanese kitchen. Most of the food we ate at our kitchen was basic and unpleasant but it was safe, nonetheless. Rather, at the two restaurants, safety was not something I felt covering me like a warm blanket. Both times we ate out at a restaurant I felt vulnerable, each in different ways.

The second time, we went into the city market and found a busy little grill. There was a cooked chicken sitting on display. Flies buzzed about the chicken. The market streets were busy. People buzzed about like flies. There were a few people working the grill as the African sun began to hang low in the western sky. We talked with the cooks long enough for them to understand we wanted to eat. Openings in the tin shack walls provided a doorway to tables inside. I took one last look at the hazy horizon before stepping inside. It had been a beautiful evening as the smog and dust of the horizon smeared the hot orange glow of the sun.

Inside the restaurant shack we found a small table with plastic chairs. We sat down. There was a television perched on a tilting shelf in the corner. The TV was emitting a humming noise almost as loud as the actual movie playing. Because there are no TV stations in South Sudan, the TV was hooked up to a DVD player which ran a movie straight out of the 80's. It was unclear whether the movie was made in the U.S. or Japan. There was Karate and there was Kung Fu but everyone was Caucasian.

The movie was so painfully awful that I stood up to go get a soda. I opened up the freezer on the dirt floor to grab an orange Fanta. The label was written in Arabic. Since the city had no electricity, the restaurant bought time to plug in their freezer into a generator. Unfortunately, the generator only runs for a few hours each day so the soda never gets cold. Once in a while, a person can get lucky if he or she is willing to dig to the bottom. I dug through the sodas in search of a cold one. I didn't get lucky that night.

I sat back down at the table and we ordered our food when a boy came to our table. Come to think of it, we never actually had a menu to order from. We just tried to say that we wanted a chicken like the one we saw on display. The boy looked confused so he brought us a dish of what was on the grill. It wasn't chicken. I think it was pork but it came with little pita bread tortillas. We eventually convinced the boy to bring us some chicken as well.

When the chicken arrived, I looked for the silverware. None to be found. I looked around at the other tables. No silverware. Everyone was eating with their hands. It was obvious that the four of us, Americans, were all thinking about silverware. Just then, the boy handed us a bowl of water. The three others must have been through this before because they knew what to do; rinse their hands. Dipping our hands in the bowl and rubbing them together might have washed a little dirt off but we had spent the entire day in the village, greeting strangers, and working in the dirt. I hadn't washed all the dirt off my hands in 24 hours. We all knew the water bowl was insufficient cleansing but it was all we had.

The prayer that followed to bless the food to our bodies was prayed in the most literal sense. Pat explicitly prayed that we would not get sick from the food. It was a simple request and a simple prayer. We didn't hesitate to eat with our hands after the concluding, "amen." We all had faith God heard our prayer. God allowed us to eat boldly even when all logic said we should get sick. I took the little pita bread and used it like a oven mitt to pick up and eat the meat. It was delicious.

After finishing our meal and leaving the restaurant, we walked away from the lights of the market into the darkness of the village. There were no street lights and no starlight. The darkness was thick and full. People walking all around us became noticeable only by the sound of footsteps. When a motorcycle or truck came down the road, pedestrians appeared in front of us, staggered in layers of silhouettes. The shadows of all the people started long and swung away from the headlights as the cars passed by. I thought about the meal I had just eaten and wondered if I had just ingested something to make me sick. I considered it a good sign when I did not vomit immediately after eating.

I decided it boiled down to a simple prayer offered in faith. We had no soap, no silverware, but we had trust that God would keep us from getting sick. We believed he would protect us- and he did. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Life in a Marshmallow

2011-05-27T00:05:00.000-05:00

My supervisors will say, "Welcome to Paradise!" when you walk in through the front doors of the lodge where I work. It's thirty-four degrees and snowing with snow drifts surrounding like canyon walls, reaching from ten to thirty feet tall. To me, that's hardly "Paradise." It is more like living in a floating marshmallow, somewhere in a cloud. It's cold up here in a cloud and everything is white. We are like ants that carve tunnels to get from point A to point B. The peak of Mt Rainier scrapes a hole in the sky as weather systems pass by, resulting in near constant rain or snow.

For the past month, the workers have been snow-blowing the snow off the roads and piling it up. The pathways dug between buildings are like silent vacuums, absent of all sound. To tell a warm day from a cold one, all you have to do is listen. If it is a warm day, the sound of rushing water is everywhere as is runs out from the snow walls and spills into the parking lots, roads, and pathways. I was taught in geology class that the earth is made up of the core, the mantle, and the crust but geologists forgot to mention the layer of snow the encapsulates the earth surrounding Mt. Rainier.

The peak- being 9,000 feet above our lodge- holds immeasurable amounts of snow for melting. Many claim this is the snow capitol of world and, this year it almost reached the highest level of snowfall on record, so the amount of snow is no joke.

I went for a snowshoe hike outside of the dorm and it consisted of climbing a wall of snow till I was standing a snowbank that was taller than the two-story building next to me.

I wake up in the morning confused as to what time it is because my window is completely blocked from the light of day by snow.

When I do arrive at work, I spend a surprising amount my time catching mountain critters that try and escape the snow outside. I can't blame them. In three days of work, I caught a bird in the stairwell and a chipmunk in the hallway. There are four foxes that walk up to people in the parking lot and beg for food. Two ravens provide entertainment by dog-fighting in the sky and then dropping out of the sky like stones on tourists and their improperly disposed garbage. In the dorms, there are ghost mice who we do not see or hear, but we know they are there. They steal our food no matter if it is lying uncovered on the ground or hanging inside a backpack and wrapped in plastic.

The mountain is an active volcano. I originally thought it was dormant but it releases large amounts of steam, heat, and sulfuric gases resulting in melted tunnels and ravines buried in the snow, hidden from climbers. Ever year people fall in and never come out.

Maybe this place isn't anything like living in a floating marshmallow in a cloud. It is a harsh and dangerous chunk of wilderness. If the hidden ravines don't get you, the mountain lions, hypothermia, frost bite, and blinding blizzard conditions will.

This area was originally called Paradise by the first Europeans that sought a place to get away from the city but, in the month of May, it is surely not worthy of its name.

What an Eloquent Speech

2011-05-23T10:46:00.000-05:00

We live in a time where beauty and eloquence are highly desired. We enjoy an eloquent speaker like we enjoy a beautiful actress/actor. Eloquent speakers are persuasive and convincing even if they do not speak the truth. They do their job well. They are masters of rhetoric.

Moses was not one of these people.

God called Moses to speak to Pharaoh about letting the Isrealites go but God did not call Moses to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. We don't hear much of Moses' rhetoric persuading Pharaoh to let his people go. Pharaoh lets the Isrealites go because of God's power.

You could almost place Paul's message to the Corinthians in Exodus 4 as a message from Moses to the Isrealites. "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power."¹

But Moses never says that, instead, he is completely convinced that he must do all the work- that it must be his human wisdom, not God's power. You can hear it in his excuses, "'Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.'"²

Moses doesn't say, "Pardon your servant, Lord. I am incapable of speaking." Instead, he says he has "never been eloquent" and that he is "slow of speech and tongue." Moses is capable of speaking, he just needs to choose to do it- and God will take care of the rest.

God doesn't really care about Moses' lack of eloquence, he sends Moses anyway saying, "I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Moses still doesn't get the picture that he is not doing the hard work. God flat out tells Moses that he "will help you speak and teach you what to say" and Moses responds, "Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else."

Now if you look back at 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul says, "When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling."

Moses was capable of speaking just like you and I are capable of doing his work. The question is, will we do it or will we make up excuses?

Often times, I worry about little things instead of just trusting in God when it comes to doing his will. In fact, I often make excuses just like Moses did, but excuses are not cool with God. After Moses asks the Lord to send someone else- after his final excuse, Exodus 4 says, "Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses."

Fear isn't the best motivation but I would rather NOT have the Lord's anger burn against me.

¹1 Cor. 2:1-5
²Ex. 4:10-14

Machine Gun Men

2011-05-16T14:16:00.000-05:00

While in Sudan, two times I found myself at a restaurant wishing I was eating back at our Sudanese kitchen. Most of the food we ate at our kitchen was basic and unpleasant but it was safe, nonetheless. Rather, at the two restaurants, safety was not something I felt covering me like a warm blanket. Both times we ate out at a restaurant I felt vulnerable, each in different ways.

The first time we ate out was at a "hotel." We had met a woman who was having a grand opening of her restaurant and she invited us to the grand opening. We decided to come and help celebrate. The weird thing was that she called her restaurant a "hotel" even though there were no bedrooms. The "hotel" was just one room made of concrete walls and a tin roof. Apparently, in Sudan, a hotel is supposed to be a fancy type of restaurant.

So there we were, sitting at a table behind the restaurant, next to a small lake. Down below our table was nothing but darkness. It was night and there was no electricity- save that of the "hotel" generator- so we could not see the lake beyond our table. We could only see our table and the people hanging around; yet, anyone from any direction could see us sitting at our table. Exposed is the one word I would use to describe our table's position. We were visible from every direction. Suddenly, I remembered we had been personally directed to this table, to this very exposed table. I began seeing lots of men walking around with machine guns. One man with a machine gun sat down at the table next to us. Another man with a machine gun started talking to the person grilling our food. What if we were being set-up? We hadn't really known the owner for more than a couple days. Why are there so many men with machine guns? Questions looming in my head brought dark clouds of fear.

Another man with a machine gun came and sat at the table behind us. They seemed to be surrounding us, slowly, as to not raise our suspicion. But I was ready and alert to these things. My fellow comrades sat and talked amongst themselves. I couldn't join in on the pleasant conversation. All I could do was notice the many eyes watching us. Our food was brought over to our table. Grilled goat meat. I was famished from a long day in the sun but internally I debated whether I should even partake. Sanitation isn't a big deal in Africa like it is in the U.S., even for a fancy restaurant that can afford to call itself a "hotel." There was a fair chance we could get sick even if people were not conspiring against us.

I grabbed a toothpick and poked a prime piece of the goat meat. The fact that it was grilled added a familiar charred flavor and made it go down easily. As I ate, I was on high alert to the actions of the men with machine guns, keenly aware of their every move. If one crossed his legs, I knew: I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

As we continued to sit and talk at the table, I thought about my comrades and their ability to relax in the very situation that was making me on edge. My heightened sense of awareness and looking at possibilities went to the worst case scenario. In some situations, this might have been helpful but, instead, all it did was fill me with fear. I let my imagination get the best of me.

In reality, the lack of police in that community allows the door to open up for things to get out of hand unless some sense of authority is present. The machine gun men were probably hired security to deter things from going awry. Either way, it takes a little while to get comfortable with strangers roaming around you who are carrying machine guns. It takes a while because you realize you are not in control; you are at their mercy. The only thing you can do is trust in God that they do not want to hurt you.

Situations like this are opportunities for fear to take hold. Fear only has as much power as you let it. If you let it control you, it will. If you know it is fear and confront it head on, it has no power to control you. In my case, I simply had to switch my overactive imagination to OFF.

NOW That's What I Call Church! Vol. 2

2011-05-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

~"What if you grew up on a desert island with nothing but the Bible to read? Imagine being rescued after twenty years and then attending a typical evangelical church. Chances are you'd be shocked..." ~ Francis Chan ~

I've come across a few believers over the last two years who are disillusioned with church worship. They have given up on corporate worship (which I don't agree with) because of the hierarchical design of the church: the pastor as the active head of the church, the functioning clergy somewhere in the middle, and the passive laity at the bottom. Just because we split from the Catholic Church during the Reformation doesn't mean we are worshiping flawlessly.

The disillusioned friends I made on my travels allow their faith to suffer when they abandon corporate worship. They do not receive encouragement and accountability from a community of believers. Regardless, they have found one truth: that their relationship with Jesus does not require an intermediary (other than Jesus); they know they do not have to listen to a preacher in order to grow as a believer.

Having an intermediary between you and your Savior can be a hindrance. It can discourage a personal studying of the Word as a way of growing closer. When we read the Word, we apply it to our lives in a deeply sticky and personal way. If we start to rely on an intermediary too much, we view Sunday mornings as our time of spiritual growing instead of viewing every moment of our lives as a time to grow.

I've noticed how often people will talk fondly of their pastor's ability to preach. When I first noticed this, wheels starting turning in my head: "Sure do hear that a lot," I thought. Then, I began thinking that quite often churches grow because of a great preacher (that is, one who is great at preaching). There are, of course, other reasons why churches grow but people love to hear a great sermon. In fact, people often choose which church they will attend based on the preacher and his/her ability to preach. I believe that people feel they need to have a great preacher because the pastor feeds them their weekly meal. They need to grow by the preacher's Sunday morning message because it is all the food they are going to get for the week.

Let's be honest, how many of us actually have time in our busy lives to pursue heartfelt and genuine scripture study and devotion on our own time? Our work-centric culture doesn't allow it. The only options we have are to be spiritually malnourished, constantly burnt-out, or counter-cultural. If you choose the counter-cultural option, you will need to de-prioritize your job or find a less demanding job so you can pursue your passion of following Christ whole-heartedly.

After I yelled, "Burn the churches!" I talked about this idea and told my friends sarcastically, "You may have a great preacher who preaches great sermons, and that's all fine and dandy. Good for you. Ya know what though? I have a crappy preacher who gives boring sermons but at least I'm growing strong! I'm spiritually growing on my own and spiritually growing with friends." As soon as I said, "I have a crappy preacher," my friends started laughing at what I was saying even though I was trying to get them to seriously consider people's over-emphasis on a preacher's weekly sermon. (Any preachers I know reading this, please understand that I was speaking hypothetically about me having a crappy preacher)

Also, having one pastor as the leader of a congregation places the perceived responsibility of the spiritual health of numerous people on one believer. I used the word perceived because, ultimately, it is NOT the sole responsibility of the pastor to maintain the laity's spiritual health, it is each individual's own responsibility and it is the collective group of believers' (the church: the body) responsibility to each other. Each person is accountable with one another in a community of believers.

I do not think one believer should be responsible for the spiritual health of many when we all could do our part. Many hands make light work, right? In the same way, many friends make light responsibility... at least when it comes to accountability. What I mean is this: it is easy to hold each other accountable if we all are active participants in each others' spiritual lives.

Another huge reason why we should reform the church and dethrone the position of the pastor is because he/she is seen as a professional who is required a salary.

Let me break that into two parts: professional and salary.

Professional- We view pastors as specialists in Christianity like we view doctors as specialists in a specific medical area. The problem is, we put pastors on a pedestal and, in doing so, learn to accept everything he/she says without testing it. 1 John 4:1 says, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Most likely, a pastor is not a false prophet but it is possible. The Bible also says, "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness" (2 Cor. 11:14). Basically, we need to be aware of Satan and false teachers. We also need to remember our pastors are fallen people just like us; they are capable of making mistakes too.

Salary- Basically, I do not think we should pay pastors in the same way we pay a doctor- or like we pay everyone else in secular society for that matter. In fact, I'm not too sure we should employ pastors at all. The Jewish priests used to work at a trade in order to earn a living, and in turn, not place a financial burden on those participating under that priest.

1 Corinthians 12 and 14 say a bit about "church worship." "Church" being the body of believers and "worship" being how the believers each brought something to the table. Check out 1 Corinthians 14:26, "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."

Throughout history, we have grown to idolize control to the point where we fear chaos. We think that anything that is not controlled or lead by someone will fall apart. However, if we all participate, each can do his or her part of leading simply by contributing. We need to encourage those who seldom contribute to contribute more and those who contribute too much to contribute less so that it is more even and opportune for others.

No longer is the stress and responsibility of everyone's spiritual health falling on one believer; it is dispersed among everyone so that we may all be accountable.

No longer are we spending a major amount of our tithes on just one person in the church. We are capable of spending all the money for the sake of showing others Christ's love, first among fellow believers and, then those outside the church.

No longer will we have to sit in a pew, facing one or a few people who are standing on a stage, and call it worship. If we use our various gifts from the Holy Spirit as the glue, we can all participate in worship and, in turn, fill the gap between clergy and laity.

~ ~ ~

When I yelled, "Burn the churches! Burn 'em all to the ground!" last week I only meant it metaphorically. Through affliction and suffering, the church is being refined by fire. It is through this fire we see the impurities of the church. I long for the church to be different; for the things we created to be burned away so that Christ might be worshiped more fully. I long for the church to be free of its worldly pollution and free from the financial burdens of one, full-time, heavily burdened person and instead be filled with accountable, intelligent, encouraging, and passionate believers.

NOW That's What I Call Church! Vol. 1

2011-05-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

"Burn the churches! Burn 'em all to the ground!"

Ironically, I was yelling this inside a church building where I had just engaged in corporate worship.

~"When people suggest significant changes in some of the hallowed practices, cries of 'heretic' can be heard from all directions." ~ George Barna ~

While attending church at the Copper Mountain Chapel, I was privileged to hear all of the church news and announcements. During one session of announcements, I heard a member say they had raised over 20,000 dollars towards buying a condominium and intended to house visiting pastors. The condo they were looking at purchasing costs 300,000 dollars. The next week, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti and they church held a meeting of what to do regarding help for Haiti. A church leader mentioned that only church members could participate in deciding what to do. I sat in silence as I screamed internally. Why not scratch the idea of buying a $300,000 condo and spend the money where it counts? Or at least send the $20,000 they had saved for the condo? The congregation had an ample amount of believers who were gifted at speaking and I'm sure they could survive (and flourish) without relying on visiting pastors.

The believers at Copper Mountain are lucky enough to have a chapel building that is owned and paid for by the secular resort company. This allows the congregation to focus their monies on other causes. Sadly, they are choosing to spend it on another building (a condo). As believers around the world, imagine how much more helping we could do if we did not have to spend our monies on costs that were mainly directed towards a building.

As sacrilegious as it sounds, the church building is not important. Our bodies are where Christ dwells. (The early believers had no concept of a sacred building. It was not until Constantine that Christians could even meet in public.)

We believers should give up meeting in expensive-to-upkeep buildings; where our tithes are funding electrical, heating, cooling, and maintenance costs.

These buildings also allow us to compartmentalize our lives by giving us time to put on a facade as we drive to a separate location. When we arrive, we are joyful people, free of problems; we are not showing the true life we lead. We are hiding behind a mask of smiles and "I'm doing great!"s.

On the other end, inviting other believers into our homes adds a whole new dimension to a community of believers. It downplays compartmentalization, whereas going to a specific building ("church") allows people to prevent others from ever knowing them in their genuine life environment. A person's home is more warm and inviting which allows people to open up and engage in community with each other.

Currently, we seldom look for God in everything because we are so used to finding Him in church on Sundays. However, meeting in homes implores an everyday faith.

Currently, we seldom remember how to act in love. We can start acting in love by getting involved in others' lives. We can start acting in love by inviting others into our homes. When we lovingly invite others into our homes we will begin to act like an actual family of believers. Believers will be united in the love of Christ if they meet in each others homes much like a family who lives in a home is united in love.

~ ~ ~

Close Encounters and Short Change

2011-04-30T14:07:00.000-05:00

Paul Washer is a very challenging Christian speaker who often tells a story to his audience about why he is late showing up to the event. He tells the audience he got a flat tire, tried changing the tire when one of his lug nuts flew out in the highway and, when he walked out on the highway to get it, he had an encounter with an oncoming 30-ton logging truck.

People never believe Paul- and rightfully so- because he wouldn't be standing there talking to them if that really happened. Paul admits he is lying because it is impossible to have an encounter with something as large as a 30-ton logging truck and not be changed. In the same way, we often say we've had an encounter with Jesus Christ when we ask him to be part of our lives, and yet, our lives do not permanently change.

Like Paul Washer, we are liars to others and to ourselves when we say we had an encounter with Jesus Christ and our lives are no different. Is our God not bigger than a 30-ton logging truck? Shouldn't an encounter with Him change us at least as much, if not more?

Or how about Francis Chan? He tells of an imaginary encounter with God, where God gave him the supernatural ability to play basketball. People would expect to see an amazing improvement in his jump shot, defense, and speed on the court if it was a legitimate encounter with God. If people did not see the change, they would question the validity of the encounter with God.

"Churchgoers all across the nation say the Holy Spirit has entered them. They claim that God has given them a supernatural ability to follow Christ, put their sins to death, and serve the church... Yet, when those outside the church see no difference in our lives, they begin to to question our integrity, our sanity, or even worse, our God. And who can blame them?" (Forgotten God, 33)

After hearing these stories of close encounters with God, I cannot help but think of my own life. It is so easy in a culture cushioned with comfort to not deny ourselves and completely follow Christ. Why give Christ our everything when we can have the best of both worlds? We change our lives a little bit here and there, but ultimately, our change falls short of living completely for Him. We are short-changing Jesus what He deserves: our complete dedication.

"Jesus Christ suffered a grueling death so that I could have the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit. How dare I take this for granted" (Forgotten God, 111)

Communion of Saints

2011-04-28T20:11:00.000-05:00

I didn't think much of it at the time, but I went to Africa with three others who were all members of the Lutheran church. I was the odd man out being a member of the Christian Reformed Church. After a day or two, we started getting together for evening devotions and praise. I flipped through the hymnal they handed me and realized I didn't know any of the hymns. "Oh, great," I thought to myself, "I hate singing songs I don't know."

Eventually, this sparked a conversation about the many differences in worshiping God through song.

Some like traditional hymns and others like contemporary worship songs but most people fall somewhere in the middle, liking songs from both of the categories.

With hymns and traditional worship, the people singing are joined together with the saints of old. It is the fulfilling of "communion of saints" in the sense that the saints are believers who have passed on. By singing, one joins in worship with all those singing and all those who have sung that very song in the years gone by. It unites worshipers together in a way that time and even death cannot impede.

On the other hand, with contemporary worship music, people are joining in with their current brothers and sisters- who are still alive on this earth- to praise God. There is still a fulfilling of "communion of saints" in the sense that the believers worshiping here on earth are saints. By singing, one joins in worship with all those who are presently singing the song as worship.

Contemporary worship music is an active and creative praise of God. The songs we write and sing are current psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that we, specifically, lift up to God. The songs are a genuine outpouring from our hearts.

Believers Singing and Dancing in Sudan

For me, less is more. With some traditional hymns, it is very hard to sing genuinely when there are so many words for me to focus on. The simplicity of most contemporary worship songs allow me to focus on lifting the words up to God like a prayer. I become less worried about what the next verse says and more concerned about praising Him.

When it comes down to it, both traditional hymns and contemporary worship songs offer communion of saints and both are ways to bring praise to our God. Just remember, the important thing is to "speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Eph. 5:19-20

Gray Area Actions

2011-04-25T00:36:00.000-05:00

Fear is a big topic. Almost too often we are told fear is a bad thing to have in our lives. We are taught fear is a hindrance to us and we should be fearless. Why, then, does scripture so frequently talk about fearing God?

Some Christians are quick to skip over fear and move straight to grace or love. It is as if Christians consider fear of God irrelevant because "God is love." "For God so loved the world he gave His one and only son..." God becomes a teddy bear. Love, love, love. Grace, grace, grace. It is all bright and happy, but it often leads to complacency.

If I believe God is love and that is all there is to Him, am I wise?

No. On three different occasions, the Bible says, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge/wisdom"? Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, and Proverbs 9:10 all say this. If there is one thing I know about Hebrew writing style, it is that repetition signifies importance. Saying something three times means it is a big deal.

Not only is God love, He is so much more. He is the creator of everything we understand and everything yet to be discovered or understood. He is a grand mystery. If we wish to even begin understanding God and his mysteriousness, we should start by fearing Him.

Some theologians will tell you the church is like a pendulum that swings slowly between underscoring God's grace and underscoring God's holiness. God's grace emphasizes His love and our freedom but God's holiness emphasizes His power, majesty, and in turn, demands our reverence and fear.

In 2 Timothy 4, Paul warns Timothy that people will begin to choose teachers according to what everyone wants to hear. The preachers will preach to scratch the people's itching ears even if it compromises the truth.

I do believe this is happening today. Churches these days love to talk about our freedom in Christ. Yes, we have been set free from our sins, but God demands so much more from us than what we are currently giving Him. He demands our everything. So, in a sense, we are not free. (Rom. 6:18) If we are truly saved, we will be taken captive by conviction and a compelling of the spirit of Jesus. (Rom 8:1-11)

I hope our church will not become a product of a culture that idealizes attractiveness. I hope we will not become a church focused solely on growth in numbers and appearing attractive to outsiders. We are often so focused on pulling in new believers we compromise the whole truth. For example, grace is an attractive topic. Love is also attractive. People want to hear about these things and I do believe they should be preached. At the same time, the fear of God should also be taught. We will be held accountable for every single thing we do. We do have to stop sinning. We do have to take God seriously. God is not a teddy bear.

If the church is supposed to swing like a pendulum between holiness and grace, I would say it is too often stuck preaching grace. Grace and love are baby food. We always need them because we always screw up. However, once a believer knows about God's grace and love, the church better teach him/her about God's holiness. This is very important because, if you truly love someone, you want what is best for them. If the church is truly looking out for one another, there better be warnings, rebuking, and admonishing going on.

One way this is seen is through discipline. Hebrews 12:4-10 says, "The Lord disciplines those He loves." "If you do not undergo discipline, you are not legitimate." "God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness."

Ultimately, there are things I can do with my time that are fine. I could go watch a half decent movie when I have some free time and there would be nothing wrong with that per se. But these are what I call grey area actions. They are things not necessarily bad for you but they are also not necessarily making you or anyone else better. In a sense, gray area actions will destroy you. Gray area actions are almost always distractions. They take away from your precious little time here on earth. They might be fun and lighthearted but remember we have a lot of work to do.

We live in the information age. We are surrounded by knowledge, and with that comes knowledge of problems, pain, and things that need Jesus. Because we live in a world where travel is easy and knowledge of sin is inescapable we are held more accountable for the actions we do carry out. Therefore, our gray area actions become worth a lot more but we know a lot of sin and we choose not to fight against it.

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." James 4:17

If you are like me, I am most often attacked spiritually in a subtle way. The devil, in stealth mode, tries to fly in under my radar. Thoughts sneak into my head and they are very convincing, "You can read the Bible later. Don't worry, its not going anywhere- it will be there in a few hours." Or "You can live for Christ in the long term, you don't have to live for Him right now. You don't have to do that right now, you can do it later." Suddenly, we push God and His priorities back just to allow a gray area activity take His place.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is." Ephesians 5:16

On Spiritual Warfare

2011-04-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

I fully believe the more you pursue God, the more Satan's minions will attack you. They might be attacking you right now, telling you that you have better things to do with your time than to read this...

I've been thinking a lot about spiritual warfare these days. In The Bondage Breaker, I read this quote: "It is not a sin to be under [spiritual] attack. You may be doing something right. In fact, if you are not experiencing some spiritual opposition to your ministry, there is good chance that Satan doesn't see you as a threat to his plans."

Think about your own life, do you feel attacked on a regular basis?

Satan doesn't want you getting in the way. Are your actions threatening to him and his cause?

I came home from Africa sick, and since doctors could not find out what was wrong, I started to assume the worst. I decided to step up my game because God could be calling me home very soon. Also, I feel I have been attacked spiritually more frequently than ever. I may suddenly have a hard time focusing on scripture. Lies will start popping into my head. I have awoke in the night overcome with anxiety and panic. Very often I became depressed for no reason.

But, at the same time, God kept leading me to Ephesians 6- the Armor of God. It was as if God was equipping me for battle. There I was, sitting on a couch about to start reading the Bible when a fly suddenly started buzzing around and interrupting my silence. I turned to see where it was but I could not find it. It sounded like a big old fly and it kept bumping into something. Every ten seconds it would start buzzing again. When it started again I would stop reading to look for it but I never could find it. Minutes of this went by I and started to wonder if it was all in my head. I started to wonder if I was crazy until I realized what was happening. I was being distracted from reading the Bible. There was a plan behind this. Satan was using a measly fly to defeat me! All he had to do was buzz loudly and keep hidden so that I remained distracted.

Besides the fly, it was such a calm evening and everything was pleasant. However, bullets were whizzing by my head and I didn't even know it. I was on the battlefield being attacked and God threw me a weapon. God threw me Ephesians 6. If you are a solider out on a battlefield, you better be familiar with your weapon, right? In the same way, you better start getting very familiar with God's word.

Why?

God's word is the only offensive weapon listed in the Armor of God. That means God's word is the only thing we have to fight back against spiritual attacks.

Preach the word! Be ready in and out of season. (2 Tim. 4)

Hope For the Next Life

2011-04-21T16:58:00.001-05:00

We pulled up to the church on a motorcycle. A plume of red dust followed us from the road and enveloped us from behind. Hopping off the bike, we were greeted by hundreds of eyes. By the look of things to me, the service either had yet to start or was already over. Dozens upon dozens of people were gathered outside the church building. Everyone was already outside- or so I thought.

I had been summoned by a pastor friend while staying in Sudan to come and photograph his in-laws' wedding. As we walked towards the church building, I could see that the service was not over. The woven grass roof stretched down from the top of the church building to just a few feet off the ground, allowing me to see there were lots of people inside. I ducked my head to get under the grass roof and crouched inside. I looked up from the mud floor to see over a hundred people filling every inch of every bench. The service was in full swing.

Looking around I realized the people outside were outside only because there was no room left inside the church building.

I was prodded to go to the front of the building and take photos. Hesitantly at first and more confidently with each step, I moved forward down the aisle. The church floor was hard-packed dirt. Despite my efforts to avoid being conspicuous, almost every eye turned from the preacher and stuck like a magnet to my figure. I bent down to one knee and snapped a few photos of the couple up front.

I felt bad because I was some tall white kid taking pictures. My skin, my clothes, and my camera were different. I was, in the most real sense, a distraction.

Afterward, the people stood up and soon I was surrounded by strangers. Some greeted me with smiles, some stared at me, and others went about their own way. I felt like a celebrity as my pastor friend wiggled through the crowd to get to me. He brought me to his in-laws and asked me to take their photo outside. After a few shots, he wanted a photo of the entire family. They began rounding up their next of kin and, after their efforts, random kids started adding themselves into the family. The kids walked into the front row of the family and the less bold simply stood on the edges and leaned inward. I debated about whether or not to include the kids in the photo. Maybe they just wanted to be in a photo but what if they are family members?

No sooner had I finished taking the family photo before other people were escorting me through the crowds to their families. There were adults laughing and cheering. The kids studied my every move, hoping to be noticed or, better yet, photographed. Finally, my pastor friend grabbed me and told me we should leave. His tone expressed urgent concern for me. I smiled and waved to the people around me before turning to walk away. It was then the pastor told me it is a dream for most Sudanese to have a photographer at their weddings. He told me that, simply by coming and taking photos I had bumped his status way up.

As we rode back on the motorcycle I thought about life in Sudan. Tin shacks whizzed by and I studied street life. The people did not have much; they were, by most economical standards, poor. The road was dry clay, cracked from the unrelentingly hot African sun. Sunscreen, mobilized from sweat, mixed on my forehead and bled into my eyes. I tried to blink it out. An oncoming truck drew up clouds of dust from the earth. My face was moist from sweat as we drove into the cloud of dust. When we came out of the other end, tiny specks of clay clung to our sweat, masking our faces in a layer of orange grit. Since there were no mirrors anywhere to be found, I can only assume we looked liked Oompa-Loompas.

There we were, two Oompa-Loompas on a motorcycle, moving through space and time and all could I think about was hope. Hope for the people of Sudan. I had seen churches in Sudan flooded with people every Sunday morning. The church buildings were humble but they were brimming with people.

Because of the situation in southern Sudan, many people have little hope for this life but the hope they do have flies in the face of their poverty. They are highly optimistic of their newfound independence but they are surrounded by such sadness. Many are overcome with joy when it comes to knowing they have salvation in Jesus. Salvation offers them new life.

For the believers in southern Sudan, their hope is not for this life; their hope is for the next.

Transient

2011-04-18T23:16:00.001-05:00

"We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us. Even while the earth sleeps we travel. We are seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and in our heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered" - Kahlil Gibran

For two years I have been working seasonally, going from job to job and location to location. As a result, I have been living (more or less) paycheck to paycheck. I feel like a wanderer, beginning no day where another day has ended.

The things I have learned on my travels are numerous.

I've made friends from all sorts of different walks of life...

I’ve worked with people from Taiwan, Serbia, Poland, Jamaica, Sudan, and Korea…

I’ve even learned a little bit of their languages…

I’ve chatted with lapsed Catholics, Universal Unitarians, Buddhists, Seventh Day Adventists, Agnostics, and Atheists…

I've lived and worked with a generation hungry for something deeper than what they know. A generation of spiritual people who don't know where to look. Like Paul to the Athenians, I tried to introduce them to the God they worship but know about.

I've had to relearn how to trust in God every 6 months or so...

I've seen natural wonders and driven thousands of miles without cruise control...

I've wandered airports and sometimes forgot what city I was in...

I've had a lot of fun and had a lot of opportunities to take great photos...

I've attempted to quench my thirst for adventure and explored many lands...

Isn't it funny that, when you are a kid, you think that life will get better when you get older? When you are a kid, the world is your oyster. Everywhere you go is an adventure full of new and exciting things that captivate your imagination. As you grow older, you lose that ability to see everything as an enthralling adventure and life starts to seem like an empty journey from one day to the next. When life spits you out as an adult in the working world, there is not much left to grip you with adventure. In the end, you look longing on the past and wish to go back to the days of innocence.

Straight out of college I was charged up and ready for something new. Signing up with the ministry gave me purpose to move forward. I hit the ground running and made the most of every situation that short summer in Grand Teton National Park.

Not everything in these past two years has been great.

I've missed family reunions...

I've missed weddings and celebrations...

I've missed funerals and last good-byes...

I've let friendships slip between my fingers...

I wanted community so badly when I moved to Copper Mountain Ski Resort. I wanted to have people come together but I didn't necessarily love those around me like I could have. Deitrach Bonhoeffer once said, "The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around him will create community."

Spring quickly moved into summer and I felt like I was sidestepping through life. I was moving, but not exactly sure in which direction. Cultural ideas of identity are so strongly tied to occupation that, even now, I sometimes feel like my life is going nowhere because I don't have a regular job. I am made to believe that I walk aimlessly. I am taught by culture to be frustrated with who I am and what I am not doing vocationally.

One of my Serbian coworkers admitted to me that he did not think I ever slept in my room. He thought I slept wherever; he said, "I thought you slept on that bench every night like a gypsy." I had to laugh when I heard him say that. A gypsy, is that what I have become? Am I just a nomad wandering through life?

I do sometimes wonder if this is where God even wants me to be. I do sometimes wonder if I am living as He would have me live. Ultimately, this is where I am so it must be where God had intended me to be. Wherever I am, I am a servant of God. In the words of Mother Teresa, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

Questioning Reality

2011-04-07T15:20:00.001-05:00

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about reality.

I wandered outside today and sat in the grass next to our family dog. She was laying quietly and so I decided to just soak in the sun next to her. I laid down, closed my eyes, and began to focus on the warmth of sunshine. My mind drifted towards the idea of reality.

I thought about the reality around me in an immediate, physical context. In that reality, Queen (our dog) was laying next to me and it was a warm spring day. The birds were chirping and squirrels were running around with fresh spring energy.

Not knowing what I am sick with has been very difficult. It often seems to me that it would be less difficult if I knew what was causing the problem so then I could focus on the steps toward recovery. Not knowing what is making me dizzy allows for fears to creep into my head. Fears like that of a disease progressing to a terminal degree. If I have a terminal illness, is reality what the doctors' say? If the doctors say I only have months or weeks to live- that the illness is always fatal- is that what is going to happen? Is that reality?

Maybe I would pray for healing but the "reality" of the situation- what the doctors say- sinks in and I don't pray for healing anymore. I might think about what the doctors say and then say, "Let's be real here, I won't get better if I have a certain disease" or "Jesus could heal me but, in reality...."

I opened my eyes after a few minutes on the grass. Something was amiss. Turning to my left and to my right, I looked but could not find Queen. She had silently disappeared. It was still a warm spring day, birds were still chirping, and squirrels were still running around, but Queen was not there like I had thought. Ultimately, my perception of the immediate reality around me was wrong.

Isn't that so like us as humans- to think we always know reality?

I might have to live with this dizziness as a thorn in my flesh. God may use it for the rest of my life.

But the reality of this is that I am dying. It's true. I do only have a limited and short amount of time on this earth. We all do. We are all dying. Each day is one less day in our future and one more day in our past. It is a step in the direction of our own death. I hate to rain on your parade but it is true.

This sickness has given me a new-found sense of urgency to live for God.

Sometimes reality as we perceive it is not ultimate reality. The ultimate reality is that- even though our earthly death is nearer each day- life does not have to end after death. In that there is a peace from God that conquers all fear.

Open Door Policy

2011-04-05T10:44:00.001-05:00

While spending time with some brothers and sisters last night, my friend Tim brought up a devotional that talked about an "open door policy." This is the idea that we tend to assume only God opens door in front of us. In all honesty, the devil could open doors in front of us too. In the New Testament, there is often a theme of prayer, fasting, or testing the spirit in order to discern things like these.

God's timing is amazing because I believe my last post might come across as condoning the open door policy. In discerning where God wants us to go, it is very important to have an active and on-going communication with God. I am a strong believer this should physically manifest itself in our lives by waiting in silence, kneeling in prayer, fasting, searching the scriptures, and talking with other believers- among other things.

From Fear to Love

2011-04-03T22:45:00.002-05:00

Living in a "poor"village in rural Nicaragua

I always wondered whether Christ would send me to Africa or some poverty-stricken country. I did not want to go. I used to wonder whether God would make me a missionary. I FEARED it would happen to me.

Then, I went to Nicaragua. Life in poverty was thrown upon me for a short time and I realized I kind of liked things about it. I actually liked what I had originally feared. Somewhere in the simplicity, the people had something no one back home had. Living in uncomfortable and "unsafe" conditions forced me to see things differently. It forced me out my comfort zone and made me realize I had nothing to FEAR because God was with me. Slowly, I have been trying to loosen my grip of control over my life and give it up to Christ. Correspondingly, I am being used more for His will.

I used to think I would be content spending my life in prayer and reading the Word but, the more I tried it, the more I felt God telling me to go and be with people. I was comfortable dedicating my life to Him in solitude but the Holy Spirit convicted me and was whispering for me to act- to get to know people and just be with them. I am still struggling to act for Him and explicitly share with others about Him but I am getting there. At times I would still rather just sit and learn more about Christ but He keeps putting opportunities in my life.

God and I have this funny relationship where, at times, I start reading books about Him and He tells me to stop. It is not that God does not want me to learn more about Him, it is just that God tells me what I know is enough. My knowledge is sufficient to witness to others. I am not inadequate to do God's work. I am not incapable of serving the poor.

Hanging out with Phillip- one of the happiest people I've ever met- in Sudan

It is when I am living for Him, especially with those we might consider poor, that I find how much I LOVE where I am and what I am doing. Where there was once FEAR, now, there is LOVE.

Sometime during the past 3 or 4 years, I decided I would go whenever God put an opportunity in front of me. I have not gone out of my way to find these trips but God has a way of lining things up. Mission trips can be so stretching. It is so extremely difficult to be torn out of your comfort zone. But the rewards are greater: to see things clearly; to see what really matters in life, to learn how to trust God in everything, to see that all our comforts are simply distracting us from what is important.

For Americans, it might be difficult to process the idea that there can be joy in life without financial security. Many of the people that changed my life on these trips lived everyday with a joy that is seldom seen here in the States. Those people did not have financial security, and yet, they did not live life with FEAR but with LOVE.

To not go on these trips when God places them in front of me is like me telling God I do not trust Him. So, when He calls, I will go. Continually, I will learn that I need not fear but only love.

Half Full or Half Empty?

2011-03-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

There is a question about a glass being half empty or half full and, supposedly, how you see it defines whether you are a pessimist or optimist. I feel like I have to take in other factors to determine my outlook on a situation. For instance, if someone just poured the cup completely full and then drank until half, the glass is half empty. However, if a person only filled the glass to half way, it would be half full. Ultimately, it depends on whether the glass is filling up or draining down.

Jesus says all who come to him can drink and never be thirsty. I come to him and hand him my cup. He fills it up but, as soon as I drink it, my body reacts and I can't help but spit and gag up the water. Thankfully, I know I need the water so I continue to hold out my cup. Christ is the optimist in me because he is always filling my cup.

Canyons

2011-03-29T23:38:00.001-05:00

I stumbled down a path one evening thinking I knew where I was going. The gritty earth led my feet. I did not read the sky. Red rocks brought me down. I kept walking. I have been walking through canyons of deep sadness since. Some parts of the canyons are dark and I cannot see a way out. I fooled myself into thinking there would be an easy way out. There isn't. But I keep walking. The dust grinds in my teeth. The canyon walls surround me now. I am at their mercy. They look down on me but their plan for me is veiled. Every once in a while I come to a vantage point. If the clouds pull back I can see a little clearer and taste the air above. Last night I had a moment like this; I could see out of the canyon for a bit. I saw a friend who is walking down a similar canyon. It was then that God whispered to me that I don't have to go through this alone; that I'm not meant to get through this on my own.

It has been close to five weeks now.

It is so easy for me to believe I can always recover from sickness. My default is to expect recovery. I am lying to myself when I think my health is entitled. I am lying to myself when I think I am entitled to 70-odd years of precious life. At my best times I am patient- waiting in the Lord and accepting peace from knowing my life is in His hands- and at my worst times I question why God withholds healing from me. The time between is long and arduous but everyday I move forward. Everyday that I am able to walk is a gift.

And so I endure. I wedge myself through the canyon walls when they become tight. I climb the walls when they allow. I haven't reached the top of the canyon but I will keep trying. Everyday I will walk, or climb, or crawl. One day I hope to emerge. I am slowly learning to peacefully accept my lot even if I never make it out.

The Lighter Side of Insanity

2011-03-24T17:15:00.000-05:00

So I've been waiting to write anything about my trip to Sudan until my lightheadedness went away. I have been waiting for almost a month now. Today, however, I feel surprisingly optimistic (yet still lightheaded); maybe it is because the sun is shining outside. Anyway, the past month has been one of the hardest times of my life.
I've been trying all sorts of remedies to get better and even the doctors cannot figure out what is wrong with me. Every moment of the day is a battle to stay positive; a battle I often lose. The past few days I feel like I have been giving up hope of ever getting better.
Often times I feel trapped. I can't get my head out of this fog for even a minute so my entire reality begins to feel like a cage that I am stuck inside. The fear is slowly creeping into my subconscious and giving me nightmares. I've dreamed I was in a coma- trying to wake up was impossible- so I laid in bed asleep thinking I had literally entered into a coma. Dreams of dying never seemed so pleasant after that dream.
I read about detoxing my body and even implemented some aspects of it. One website was all about keeping a positive attitude so I've been watching lighthearted movies keep my mind off all of this. In one of the movies I watched, a character was asked how long ago he had lost his mind. The character responded, "About three months. I woke up one morning married to a pineapple...an ugly pineapple. But I love her."
I hope I don't wake up tomorrow morning cuddled next to pineapple.

Homesick

2011-03-19T00:13:00.000-05:00

Do you ever get the sinking feeling in your gut when you miss home? Well, here I am at home, standing in my bedroom- the very epicenter of my earthly home- and yet I am overwhelmed with the gut feeling of being homesick. I guess that means my home is no longer where I thought it was.

Not Your Typical Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T01:17:00.001-06:00

A group of young adults from church and I went to an assisted living place for a polka dance. Prior to arriving we were encouraged to talk, dance, and witness with the elderly people there. The event holds extensive meaning for me in that it represents how I felt about witnessing to people. We walked through the doors and things were weighing heavily on my mind. Ok....First, I have to get to know the people here. Then I have to hold a conversation with them. Then, in that conversation, I have to sneak Jesus into it somehow so I can witness to them.

As we approached the disco ball and the dance floor, the others walked up to complete strangers and were dancing polka dances with happy people in walkers and wheelchairs within seconds. My jaw hit the floor. I was a wallflower growing lonelier by the second. My peers walked off and found others to share a polka dance with.

I've been thinking about witnessing lately; it is a lot to think about. You have to bring it up without being pushy yet still stand firm in telling someone there is only one way to salvation; one right and wrong. You have to know someone well enough to earn any of his or her respect and then tell him/her what you believe. All in all, it's heavy. It's a large burden to carry. Or so I thought.

Man, was I wrong. Sometimes all you have to do is show up. Sometimes all you have to do is put yourself in the right place.

I walked over to a lady sitting by herself. I had no idea to how to introduce myself to an elderly lady at a polka dance in an assisted living home. The polka music was loud; loud enough so no one would have to use hearing aids. I told her my name and she told me hers. Oh great, how am I supposed to talk to this lady when I can hardly hear what she is saying? Viola? Nice to meet you. Would you like to dance? How do I polka dance? She tells me she would like to dance and begins to struggle to stand. I don't know what I'm doing here, what if she falls? We begin taking steps together, hand in hand. The steps we take are baby steps: shaky and unsure. Suddenly the words come and conversation is natural even if dancing is not.

There I was tipping back and forth to polka music with Viola, an elderly lady living in assisted living quarters; not your typical Valentine's Day.

It was a great night talking with Viola and other wonderful people.

Below is what I think about witnessing. It is less to worry about- sometimes I am paralyzed by all the things I should say or how to bring it up. If you are terrible at verbally witnessing to others like I am, it is encouraging to know that you can simply say to someone:

If God is real, He'll let you know. If you are searching and if you give Jesus a chance, He'll speak to you.
Here's the thing though: He usually speaks with a quiet whisper or a prick of your heart or through an emptiness inside.
Jesus is like pancakes, he fills your emptiness.

Or maybe you can listen for the Holy Spirit's prodding to approach someone. You don't know why the Holy Spirit wants you to talk to that someone but just ask that person in a very nonchalant way, "Are you doing alright?" or "How is everything?" or "How are you?" Sometimes it's the tone that gets to the core of someone.

The thing is that witnessing is so very simple. I never knew that before. I always thought I had to do so much. I don't. But I do have to do something. God will do the speaking. You only have to start the conversation. Don't drop the ball by not saying anything; say something simple and put the ball in God's court. God is real and He will speak to that person.

Losing my Religion

2011-02-11T13:26:00.002-06:00

We gather together every Sunday. We arrive properly dressed. We sit next to our friends and family and yet, we focus our attention on a screen. We become happy and upset while staring at the screen.

I followed the Packers with religious devotion this past year and so it only seemed fitting to attend the return celebration in Green Bay after the Super Bowl. I thought it would be the proper ending to the season. While standing in the midst of 56,000 cheeseheads I wondered how many of these screaming fans were aching for something more; for something to fill the void of emptiness in their lives. A Super Bowl victory temporarily covers that void for many people, but standing there in the blistering cold (negative temperatures with wind chill degrees) I began thinking about all the effort I put into making there.

Yes, I think I made football my religion this past fall and winter. I would like to say football was co-religion with Christianity but Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters."

If 56,000 people can come together from hundreds of miles away within two days notice just to enthusiastically praise a sports team then why can't Christians get this excited every Easter?

(fans on there way up to Lambeau Field)

As for me, I think I might take this next year off from football so I can lose my religion for the sake of wholeheartedly pursuing the other.

Knowledge Talks, Wisdom Listens

2011-02-10T14:48:00.000-06:00

I've noticed a trend at some coffee shops of giving customers a little sticker with an adage or thoughtful quip on it along their coffee. I don't go to coffee shops as frequent as some but I went once and was given a sticker that said, "Knowledge talks, wisdom listens."

Perhaps there is nothing this saying is more true with than prayer.

I've heard people complain that God doesn't speak to us as easily as He did in Biblical times. I think we all talk to God but how often do we just come to God and sit before Him in silence? Maybe we don't hear God speaking to us because we don't listen enough.

Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament wrote this, "Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool." (Eccl. 5:2)

All Along

2011-02-07T23:25:00.000-06:00

Before Abraham died an old man; before Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son; before Abraham was even promised a son; before Abraham even made a covenant with God; and before Abram even became Abraham he was counted as righteous before God because he had FAITH and trusted in God.

What does that tell us? All along- even before Jesus came to this earth- it has been faith that is ultimately important not any rules we try to keep. Gal. 3:6

Sooner or Later

2011-02-04T11:56:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about marriage a lot lately. Many of my peers have been getting married. Sometimes I feel young and adventurous and other times I feel like I would like to settling down. I've always wondered, when is the right time to get married in one's life?

In college, I made a video with a friend that was for a campus discussion on sexuality and identity (It's Complicated). The idea was to discuss what it means to be a Christian and yet have a sexual identity as an individual. We interviewed a psychology professor at our Christian college and also local Christian Reformed church pastor. The views were conflicting with each other.

The psychology professor said the trend in culture is to get married too soon in our lives (as of 2007, the average marriage age is 27.5 for men and 25.6 for women). She raised the point that the frontal lobe is not completely developed until a person's mid-twenties and that most people change during this time. She explained to us that people often want different things as their brain reaches final stages of development and so many people want something/someone else after they are already married.

The question my psychology professor then raised was, "How then are we supposed to express ourselves as sexual beings if we shouldn't get married until a little later in our lives?"

On the other hand, the pastor said that the trend in our culture is to get married too late in our lives. He raised the point that many people put off getting married because they are dating someone and want to make sure he/she is the right one. While dating, a couple is faced with their sexuality and finding a way to express it. It becomes easier to express their sexuality together and so the obvious happens before getting married. The pastor said that many couples live like this and think it is okay because it is under the radar. The truth is that God is not limited to this vision.

The pastor said that two people have a positive (and God pleasing) outlet for their sexuality when joined together in marriage.

I've had two years to process these viewpoints. I respected the psychology professor's view as much as I respected the pastor's view. I didn't lose sleep over the two opinions because I assumed they were both personal opinions; both true in their own relative nature.

I finally decided that the answer was not relative- that their is an absolute right and wrong answer.

The truth has to do with giving up: we must give up the obsession of control. In pursuing the "right one," it easy to discard a good person when we think there is perfect person out there for us. When we realize marriage is not about the perfect one, that it is about making it work and giving of self, we can have a successful marriage.

I did my research and found that the average marriage age for a woman in 1900 was 22. The average age went up slowly until, from 1980 to 1990, the average age jumped up 2 whole years. However, the divorce rate also spiked, reaching its highest rate in history, during the 1980's and into the 1990's. It appears that there is some connection between marriage age and divorce rate; that, as marriage age goes up so does the divorce rate. Even though we now marry later in our lives (and supposedly have a fully developed frontal lobe), we marry with the wrong view and often fail to make the marriage succeed.

Many people look at marriage as a way to become happy. Finding "the one" will make them happy for the rest of their life. Then, after marriage for a given amount of time, he/she finds no more happiness and looks elsewhere or gives up.

C. S. Lewis provides an analogy to the proper view of marriage that fits here. Lewis said that you don’t get married to become happy, but rather to make the other person happy. Your own happiness is a by-product, a consequence, of maintaining the proper end. If, by contrast, you get married simply in order to make yourself happy, your true happiness is made that much more unlikely.

In the end, we must remember that marriage is not first-most to provide personal benefit. Society convinces us to get married later because we are pursuing self-interests through marriage. Marriage is not about self-interests though.

In case you are wondering, the pastor we interviewed had the right answer, saying that we need to get married sooner in our relationships rather than later and, from there, learn to make things work as we go- with God's help of course.

Repetitious Jesus

2011-01-31T15:31:00.000-06:00

This morning I sat down and starting working my way through the Gospel of Luke. The first thing I noticed was that the Gospel of Luke was longer than I expected or remembered. The second thing I noticed was that Jesus said a lot of things but He emphasized some things more than others by repeating it in different situations to different people.

Many of us know what Jesus said. We've heard it all before but, reading an entire gospel in one or two sitting will open up your eyes to what Jesus said on a whole new level. Most likely, if you read it slowly and prayerfully, the Holy Spirit will bring you peace, wisdom, and conviction.

I never realized how many times Jesus firmly warns us of our possessions, our money, our homes, and even our families as being a hindrance that we should be glad to leave behind for Him. It would seem excessive repetition was probably to emphasize the relevance of single a point. Personally, I believe we could stand to make ourselves poorer financially. The more money a person has, the more he or she is at a spiritual disadvantage.

Chances are, this is old news to you. There is probably nothing I can say you haven't already heard about Jesus, but I guarantee the Holy Spirit will show you something new if you read through an entire Gospel thoughtfully.

Fat Lazy Christians

2011-01-24T17:17:00.001-06:00

The Church today is full of fat, lazy Christians.

It is an offensive description of Christians but I wonder, is it possible to say that in a loving way? The purpose behind it is not to insult but only to motivate. Maybe it will get us off our butts. Maybe it will break our complacency.

FAT because we've been accumulating Godly wisdom for so long. We go to church, we have devotions, and we have Christian friends who encourage us. Yet, we seldom get up and get some spiritual exercise.

LAZY because we don't really witness to anyone. We are unwilling to move. We don't go out of our way to serve the poor but would rather just learn more about Christ and His life than actually live it out. "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." (Matt 25)

It is time for us to lace up our spiritual shoes and go get some exercise. It is time to move.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER:

I was talking with a friend last week about the church. We were not talking about a specific building or congregation but people who attend church services and call themselves believers. Of course, fat lazy Christians included both of us. Speaking for myself: I attend church services and call myself a believer but I'm probably as spiritually fat as anybody. I am also just as guilty as the next when it comes to being spiritually lazy and not living out my faith in loving actions towards others.
Again, this idea is meant in love. My friend and I want others who claim Christ to pursue Him with their everything and sometimes, when you love someone, you have to motivate him or her to change for his or her own benefit. Writing this will help motivate me (and hold me more accountable) to get some spiritual exercise as well.

Killing of Self

2011-01-24T17:16:00.000-06:00

I know a girl who went to Haiti and when she came back she spoke about how we are to die to self. The only problem with this is verse is that it is sometimes translated into a passive sense. She had pointed out that we could stand to think about this verse as an active way of killing of our self (that is, our selfish desire of course).

I'll Stand

2011-01-22T13:18:00.001-06:00

"Due to military conflict and threat of terrorism against Western interests, a U.S. Department of the State consular warning currently advises against all travel to Sudan. Other governments concur. Terrorist organizations have specifically called for attacks against Western interests in Sudan."

This is what I read while waiting for the nurse to administer my inoculations for the trip.

Over the past few weeks I have been preparing for Sudan in various ways. The second nurse to give me a shot told me how dangerous it was in Sudan and the danger factor has always kept her from going to Africa. I responded by saying I was not going for myself. I was going for God and my trust was Him. She was not comfortable with my response so she changed the subject.

Next, the man handling my prescription malaria pills said "It raises my blood pressure just handling these pills; the pills of someone going to Sudan." It was my dad who picked up my malaria pills and spoke with the man who said that. The prescription man then told my dad, "Tell him to keep his head down" as my dad was leaving the store with my pills.

Of course, I've done my research on the situation in Sudan. I know it is dangerous. Western influence is strongly opposed and there is persecution of Christians there. There is always the chance I will not come back.

As I thought about the warnings people were giving me, I was not getting scared and I was not going to change my plans. In Genesis 15, it says, "the word of the LORD came to Abram." Notice it does not say, 'God spoke to Abram.' The word of the Lord came to Abram. I would not say I heard God audibly say something to me, but I felt a stirring as God brought words to me: "Are you willing to die for me if that is what I require?"

Suddenly, it was real. I might very well be put in a situation that required my life.

Later that night I realized how, when I was growing up, I always feared death and war. If there was anything I never wanted to be, it was a solider. I would have ran to another country had a draft been issued and I was called to war. I was never willing to die for my country; I was never willing to die for freedom. As far as my nationality goes, I am a coward.

Is it any different to be a solider for Christ?

I realized that if God required me to die for His sake I would. Literally. I am not a coward to die for my faith; to die for my Savior. I would die because I am not able to deny Jesus.

When I go to Sudan, I will be in His hands. There, in His hands, I will stand. If I die, I die for the one who already died for me.

"Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell can ever pluck me from His hands, till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand."

This song is by Adam Young, the guy from Owl City. I found it on his blog: Owl City Blog

View From Above

2011-01-18T17:14:00.001-06:00

The view from above is a view from every perspective: yours, hers, theirs, mine. God sees what a person is going through and understands the choices he or she makes. All-encompassing empathy.

Think back in your life about the worst thing you have ever done. Think about the thing you feel most guilty about-whatever makes you cringe in your past. Chances are, you wish you never did that thing.

The view from above is God watching you do that very thing. God saw you do that not only on the day you did it but way back before the world was even in existence. God was floating around in the midst of nothingness and He knew about you and the rotten thing you would do. But, guess what, He still went ahead and chose you as one of His children. He still wants to be with you and teach you the depths of His love.

View From Above 2

2011-01-18T17:11:00.004-06:00

The view from above is the same view a parent has: looking down on the child with love. However, the child looks up and see things from a different perspective. Sometimes the child only sees only a reason to fear punishment. When children do something wrong they fear their parents. They will run and hide to escape the wrath they expect from their parents.

If you are a parent and your child does something wrong then you do not want them to feel so guilty that they run away from home just to avoid punishment. Instead, you want your child to come to you regardless of what he or she did wrong. Chances are, you still love your child so much and would hate to see him/her run away. In the same way, God wants you to run to Him regardless of what you did. He misses you so much and just wants to love on you-to show you He still cares for you even though you did something wrong.

God, as the perfect parent, wants us to run to Him when we sin; not to run from Him and not to sulk in guilt or dwell on self-defeat. Get up and go to Him and you will see He isn't mad at you like you thought. He is glad just to be with you.

The view from above is a view of love. It is God seeing the beauty in every person on earth and wanting to have a relationship with him/her.

MOVE.

2011-01-14T16:37:00.006-06:00

MOVE is the theme...no, it is the number one purpose and driving mission we are discussing as a group of believers in a young adult ministry group, here in my hometown.

As a young Christian we go into defensive mode: we focus on trying to not fall back into our old ways of sin. But, as we grow, we end up staying there in defense for too long.

We need to switch into offense when we are walking with Christ. Sports aficionados always claim the best defense is a good offense. We need to get up off our butts and move. The Great Commission was more than just a suggestion (Check out the verses).

Does your spiritual input far exceed your spiritual output? Are you a storehouse of Godly wisdom and yet afraid to share it? What would happen if you began to share with others? There is no need to be afraid because God is going to be with you when you decide to speak to someone about Christ (he even says so in the Great Commission).

Thank you to Tim Sandberg for many of these thought-provoking ideas.

2011-01-14T15:29:00.003-06:00

As The Night Sky Rises...

On Tithing

2011-01-05T10:58:00.001-06:00

C.S Lewis said, "I'm afraid biblical charity is more than merely giving away that which we could afford to do without anyway."

Seems like C.S. Lewis is saying we are supposed to give until it hurts- not to be financially safe and sound. This goes against the natural tendency we have as humans to earn a better life for ourselves. As Americans (and most other modern countries as well), we have a comfortable life and I don't think we need to provide ourselves with a more comfortable ("better") life. A better life will come, not with more money, but with a modest amount. The more money we have saved up for ourselves, the harder it is to have faith in God to provide. Would you rather provide for yourself or experience trust on a deeper level?

"There is no legalistic point at which we can say, 'Yes, I have given enough. The rest of my money is mine to use with as I like.' All of our money is God's money. Let us give till it hurts."(How Much Should We Give...)

Blogging

2010-12-31T09:11:00.000-06:00

I blog because I need to write. Sometimes I tell myself I don't have to write and my life seems to suffer. Writing is therapeutic and relaxing for me but, ultimately, it helps me sort out what I'm thinking about. It helps me to flesh out ideas in my head and figure out what I actually believe about things. Blogging gives me a way to do that. I write on a blog so others can read what I'm thinking about, and in turn, hold me accountable to keep writing. If I write on paper with a pen I might not ever look at what I wrote again but having a digital copy means I can share it with others or use it for other things.

Can't Stop Talking!

2010-12-29T14:35:00.000-06:00

I was recently reading a book and it was one of those books you can read and not really draw anything from it because you've read other books on the topic before. Anyway, I read a book that mentioned if a person really cares about something and is passionate about it, he or she will tend to talk about it a lot. "Duh, that is common sense," I thought to myself when I first read it.

I finished the book and moved on with my life, unchanged. Since then, I've been thinking a lot about what the book said. Am I that passionate about Christ that I talk about Him with others? I looked up the paragraph in the book and it was referencing Peter and John when they were brought before the Sanhedrin.

They were facing possible persecution for preaching Christ but they said, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Bam! Peter and John preached boldly, but not only that, they stood their ground in front their prosecutors. When the Sanhedrin saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, the Sanhedrin were astonished. The Sanhedrin took note that Peter and John had been with Jesus and they were willing to die if that was to be the consequence for their continued preaching about Christ.

Check it out: Acts 4: 1-22
Are you talking to others about Jesus Christ? Maybe you need to reignite your passion for Him in order to be more motivated?

Identity in American Culture

2010-12-27T15:15:00.003-06:00

We are so obsessed with work in American culture that the first thing we ask to start a conversation with a stranger is, "What do you do?"

If you are on the answering side of this question, you imply that you have figured out a major part of our identity by answering.

American society wants us to work- to contribute and move society forward- and American culture wants us to work a lot- 40 plus hours a week. When we work a lot, we naturally begin to adopt what we are doing into our identity. It only makes sense that we derive our identity largely from what we spend our time doing. (i.e. I spend my time writing, therefore, I am a writer. I spend my time building things, therefore, I am a builder.)

As a result, we stop spending any time thinking about who we are because we already answered that question with a job. We simply assume our identity from our job and never spend any more time looking any deeper.

We should look deeper at who we are as people aside from our job. Try defining your identity without mentioning where you work. (I often avoid answering the question "What do you do?" when I meet people).

A few weeks ago I volunteered at a homeless shelter and, before the doors opened, we were told to get to know the guests but not to use the conversational questions we would typically use. That got me thinking, "Jesus hung out and talked to the poor a lot. He befriended them and related to them. Jesus would not have been able to get to know those people by asking them what they do for a living when it was obvious they did not have a job."

Jesus was a carpenter but when you think of Jesus, carpenter is probably not the first identity you give him. You probably think of him as Savior, or as the son of God.

Since we naturally begin to adopt what we spend our doing into our identity, we should spend our time serving others.

We are called, as Christians, to live like Christ and that entails so much more than making a living for ourselves. We are to pursue him in all we do- at work and everywhere else. Our identity needs to be more than what we do for a living, it needs to be what we do in our free time. Are you someone who pursues Christ first? If a person wants to make "Christian" their primary identity, pursuing him should be first and foremost. Christ will know us by the fruit we bear.

John 5:5-8

Sick Cycle

2010-12-14T18:53:00.002-06:00

It is harder to worship God now more than ever. 

It is harder than ever before to live for Christ.

 It is harder to pursue Him now than it was when Christians suffered persecution. Now that people are not threatened to die for their faith many have chosen to keep their faith but pursue it so pathetically and lazily that it is of no purpose beside personal salvation. Others pursue faith through organized religion emphatically but are always left empty. 

The difficulty of pursuing Christ now has nothing to do with freedom of religion but has to do with our surroundings. We are surrounded by black holes. These black holes suck up our time, our income, and eventually our faith. The black holes in our lives are things. There are so many things for us to want to have and want to do that all of our time is vacuumed away. We work in order to buy things or we work in order to pay for ourselves to do things. It is a sick cycle. We tell ourselves we will stop the cycle as soon as we get/do that last thing. We even go far enough to promise ourselves that it will all end after the next thing. But it doesn’t. 

We need to outsmart ourselves and simply stop before we get the next thing. We need to outsmart ourselves by just stopping right now and straightening our lives out. 

Instead of getting the next thing, ask yourself if you can be content with what you have now? 

When I got home this fall I started piling my things together so that I could get rid of them. A stronger man might have organized his things enough to sell them but I just wanted the things gone. So I started making trips to Goodwill, local thrift stores, and the recycling center. I did this instead of looking for a job because I knew it was more important.    

I realize that some people might feel like deliberately deciding to not get a job would be jumping off track but I knew I needed otherwise. Society is a big bad beast. It wants us to believe we are worthless unless we are contributing to it. In reality, we are just feeding the beast that is killing us. We work long so we can afford to drown ourselves in distractions. 

In the end, we have no time. When was the last time you had free time? 

If there is anyone who is reading this, please STOP right now and take the time to reexamine your life. Where are you headed? Don’t tell yourself you’ll examine your life later because you won’t ever make it to the time when everything stops and you have free time. 

Take your mind off things of this earth and set them on things that are above. 

-Colossians 3:2

Inspiration Tank

2010-12-01T19:54:00.000-06:00

Anne Lamont says that writer’s block is a misleading name. It is not a matter of being impeded by a block, but rather, it is like being empty and drained of inspiration.

The thing about nature is that it is a place of renewal. Whether you are into writing, drawing, painting, singing, or even reading the forest is a great place to start. In its silence a person will once again be filled with inspiration.

Typically quiet river beds come to life after a rain and suddenly the entire forest sings the tune of rushing water. It echoes through green trees as the leaves drop fresh droplets of rain. Witnessing this begins to fill my empty tank of inspiration.

A tricking brook interrupts my path as I walk. I stop to enjoy the fresh scent of rain. Looking up to my left, a cloud of fog lingers in the trees but everywhere else is as clear as can be. The air is always still in the fog, as if to hide ghosts in its presence. A gentle wind eventually blows the fog away and rain droplets that were once content perched upon green leaves now plummet to the forest floor.

The green surrounding me becomes green with new life, shining a vigorous green that can only be seen when freshly watered. I begin walking downhill and the river has overflowed onto the trail. Pulsating waves move down the slanted slabs of rock. I hear the soft cooing of a mourning dove and it brings peace to the forest as well as to my ears, signaling all is well here. I hear no stream except the one beneath my feet. The rocks are more slippery now, yes, and my socks occasionally get wet, but in solitude I suddenly become aware of just how quiet everything is.

Hiking further and further down until the scent of trees disappears, overtaken by the aroma of the approaching sea. Its salty scent is like no other. The warm air pockets in the trees of the forest spill out into the ocean and are replaced by a cool sea breeze. Soon the trickling of the river fades out into the sound of the surf pounding rocks and waves crashing into rocks. In these places, my senses are awakened. Unlike the civilization I typically experience, my brain is stimulated by silence and the small number of noises. It is hear I come to rid my fill my inspiration tank.

Phyiscal Manifestations of the Spiritual

2010-11-29T17:43:00.001-06:00

We often think about our spirituality as some mystical intangible thing in our lives. I mean, spirituality deals with our soul and physically what exactly is the soul? Anyway, we need to actively manifest our spirituality in physical ways. When you receive a blessing you need to physically hold out your hands. To make yourself humbled for God you need to physically drop to your knees.

We need to actively live out our faith and it starts in worship. Hold out your arms and open your hands to receive the Holy Spirit. The action shows your willingness to accept what God wants to give you. If you do not open yourself, how can you receive what God wants to give you? Stop caring what other people will think.

James 4:10 (NIV) says, “Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Or in the Message translation, “Get down on your knees before the master and He will get you on your feet."

Again, this shows a physical aspect to our spiritual lives. Physically pursue Christ by dropping to your knees. The physical action is humbling in itself.

Roused from Laziness

2010-11-26T11:54:00.000-06:00

I have always wondered- especially over the past year- why it sometimes seems like God is not near me. God seems to allow me to dwell in the depths of His presence some moments but other moments, when I seek Him, God seems more elusive. God’s presence comes in ebbs and flows. He hides Himself from us, the very people who seek Him, in order to rouse us from spiritual laziness and cause us to pursue Him. When His presence is elusive we are to pursue Him. In those times, He is rousing us from our spiritual laziness to come and worship Him.

ReLearning Faith

2010-11-19T00:56:00.000-06:00

When is faith used in the church? Yes, we have faith that Jesus is Lord and will come again, but do we ever practice faith in our lives? The truth is we don't ever use faith in our lives. If we are smart, we save our money so that we can provide for the future, but by doing so, we have insulated ourselves from having to ever rely on faith. For instance, I never have to wonder, "how am I going to find shelter this evening?" because I have money saved up for occasions like that. I have a savings account so I don't have to rely on faith providing a way. Indirectly, I have told faith that it is unnecessary for the practical aspect of my life; that if I work enough and plan ahead I can provide for myself. As a result, I never actually pray to God for legitimate needs.The prayers I offer are almost always wants (I would survive without those prayers being answered) not needs.

But what if you stopped adding money to your savings account? Eventually, faith would become a necessary facet of your life when the money ran out. Say I stopped saving money, would I be crazy? Would you think I am crazy? From society's perspective yes, I would be considered crazy. But Jesus was often considered crazy. He spent all his time with the low-lifes. He didn't really have a home and there is no evidence he had any money stashed up. Even after Jesus, the first generation of Christians didn't have money either. Acts 2:44-47 says, "All the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need." Or how about the story of the rich man (Luke 18:18-20)? I believe this is the most applicable (and challenging) section of scripture to our society. We have such great riches and we walk away from Jesus because we cannot break our connect to such comforts. We hope the parable of the rich man is not true. That if we just love Jesus it will be enough.

I don't have a job right now. My monthly loan payments keep me from having any savings and there is no end in sight to the payments. I am feeling called to Africa to help a friend and her ministry there. It will be out of my own pocket. I'm giving away many of my things. I am attempting to relearn faith and what it means to rely on the Lord.

A Bittersweet Goodbye

2010-11-06T16:59:00.003-05:00

Colors changing from green to red

Jesup Path boardwalk as leaves fall to the ground

An overlook on the Homan Path Trail

My favorite place in the park: atop the South Bubble Mountain looking out over Jordan Pond

A cruise ship floats into Frenchman's Bay

The sun sets as a cruise ship approaches Bar Harbor

A dead log lays next to some blueberry bushes

The view of Acadia from McFarland Mountain (a mountain we climbed without a trail)

The Duck Brook Bridge (tallest bridge in the park)

View from the Edge of Beech Mountain Cliffs

Summer Recollections

2010-11-06T16:42:00.001-05:00

Well, my summer seasonal job is over and, when I look back July and August, I can only really see it as one big jumbled mess. Each day busy and they all seemed to blur into one another. It was on one of those days in the middle of all the blurriness that I can recall the specific events of one day. That day was sunny. I was standing out in the parking lot directing people to our overflow parking when a French speaking lady approached me and asked where she could bring her and her friends' bikes. I told her where the bike rack was and pointed in the right direction, but in her broken English she told me she was high and had to go to the hospital. She said we would need to hold the bikes for an unknown amount of time. I walked a few of the bikes behind the building and stashed the bikes in a fenced in area.

I came back and walked a few more bikes for the lady before going to talk to my supervisor. An ambulance had already been called. My supervisor told me the Canadian lady I had spoken with was biking with her friends and decided to eat some mushrooms. One of the bikers apparently thought he knew for certain which mushrooms were safe to eat and which were not. The man was obviously wrong.

One from the group had decided not to eat the mushrooms and had helped guide the others to our lawn. I followed the lady to the lawn where I saw the four bikers on the grass. A Park Ranger was already there assisting them. They looked to be in rough shape. One of the bikers was sitting up but completely hunch over as if he was asleep. Another was on his hands and knees trying to throw up but not succeeding in the least. The other two were laying flat on the grass. I wondered to myself whether those two were even alive anymore. Just then, one of them rolled over and looked up. His face was purple and seemingly strained with agony. He looked like he might be dying. I asked the Ranger if there was anything I could do. He told me to get some water, which I did. After that, the only one who was not drugged asked me to get some ice in a towel. As soon as I returned with the ice the ambulance had arrived and the paramedics began to help. I told the Rangers where they could find me if they needed anything before returning to my post. The ambulance took them away and I never found out if they live or died that day.

Raven Cache

2010-10-15T17:34:00.001-05:00

I am currently reading a book entitled, “The Mind of the Raven” and I am constantly rediscovering how fascinating these birds are.

For instance, ravens in the wild will store their food when they have a surplus. They create little caches where they can come later- after the original food source has been exhausted- and eat. They do this to hide their food source from competition that will find the obvious and open food source.

Merlin, a young raven rescued after a storm and raised by a family in California, spends his time caching as well. However, since Merlin constantly has a can of dog food in his cage and because he eats whenever his owners eat, he does not have to devote any time or energy to food caching for survival like his wild brothers and sisters do. Instead he spends his time and energy caching useless things like woodchips and other trinkets.

Most human beings, when given a steady source of food, will not waste their time and energy pursuing sources of food but will, instead, waste their time and energy caching their own little trinkets (TVs, movies, music, clothes, and even books) in their homes.

When Merlin dies he will not be able to use his woodchips and trinkets. It will be the same for us.

I recently started giving some of my things away. The first things to go were my DVDs. I am watching a few of them one last time before giving them away. I just figured I might as well break my attachment to my trinkets sooner rather than later. There is an initial state of remorse, where I feel like I made a wrong decision. During this stage I want to actively pursue the retrieval of my DVDs, but eventually, I am moving into a state of freedom where I feel released from my possessions.

Tryanny of Choice

2010-10-01T20:15:00.002-05:00

There was a time when location was a form of tyranny over people. In other words, we were once limited to what we could do by our location. We were forced to live out most of our lives within a set geographical location. We would go to school in a local area, marry someone from a local area, get a job in a local area, and spend the rest of ours lives in that area. Now, because of technology, transportation, and globalization in general those limits from location have been downplayed. In fact, the tyranny of location is less like tyranny and more like a mere suggestion. However, what has replaced location and its sovereignty is choice. When we are flooded by options and decisions, we succumb to tyranny of choice.

We can travel across the globe in hours and talk with people across the globe instantaneously. Now, with a limited amount of time at each of our disposals, we must choose where we will live, where we will travel, who we will communicate with. With the world at our hands choice becomes a tyrant and there are a whole new set of problems emerging. For instance, indecision is an obvious problem resulting from tyranny of choice, but also things like "TiVo guilt." TiVo guilt is when a person feels guilty for all the shows he or she has recorded on their TiVo but does not have time to watch them all.

I know I experience this same problem even without TiVo. On my Amazon.com account, I have a back-stock of books I want to read, but I don't get to read them all. Sometimes I purchase a book but do not read it before moving onto another book. The first book sits on my shelf gathering dust and staring at me. It talks to my mind, asking why I have not read it. I feel guilty because I spent the money to purchase it but have not read it.

Another thing falling under the tyranny of choice is "shuffle karma." My friend here at the Jordan Pond House defined shuffle karma to me as the belief that if a person lets his or her Mp3 player play songs randomly it will play good songs for the majority of the time, whereas, if a person sets his or her Mp3 player on shuffle but skips through songs in order to choose a good song, he or she will rarely find a good song. Shuffle karma's downside is that when we assume control we hold ourselves to higher standards; we want to make the absolute best decision. It is the same in life: when a person has control of choice, he or she usually tries to pick the best of all the choices.

The problem here is that the person is in the wrong frame of mind. When someone is looking for a good song, he or she is looking for a song that meets his or her personal standard of "good," so, when looking to find a song on shuffle, a person skips through songs on their Mp3 player but rarely find something that holds the level of quality they are looking for; they are rarely satisfied because their standards are raised. However, when one lets the Mp3 player shuffle songs on its own, he or she is taken out of control and relieved of choice, and therefore, forced to simply listen.

In the end, I have found that most people look for the good music in each song when they let the Mp3 player shuffle its own songs. When people let their Mp3 player do its own thing, they learn to appreciate the good music in (almost) every song. What it all boils down to is that when we don't have to make a choice, choice itself is removed from its tyranny over us.

I once read a book that said God is often silent when we ask for help on a decision because it does not ultimately matter (The keyword being "sometimes." I am not suggesting that all of our decisions do not matter to God). The truth is that God will work His will through whichever choice we make.

If we do not worry about some choices- if we just let the Mp3 player shuffle the songs at random- we are relieved of the tyranny of choice and free to look for the good in life and the good in each present moment just like we would look for the good in each song we hear. God will be there to support us and He will work His will through our life regardless of the decision (except for blatant and outright decisions against God). So just let the Mp3 player shuffle the songs on its own; your job is to look for the good music in each song. In life, don't fret and lose sleep when God is going to be there through the decisions you make; your job is to live and love God in each present moment that you are given.

Ten-Minute-Water

2010-09-27T16:01:00.033-05:00

Whenever I feel the air get restless in late summer I know fall is arriving. The stagnant heat of August suddenly flips to cold gusts of wind. The wind blows through trees and sucks away their chlorophyll. If the wind continues to wisp away the green of the trees, their colors become subdued and fade into a dull yellow.

It was a typical day during this time of changing seasons when I found myself and my friend Tim at the busiest beach in Acadia. There were a hundred other days this summer with better weather when we could have gone to the beach but, never the less, there we were standing where millions of miles of ocean met the sand at our toes. The sun was generating a fair amount of heat but most of it was being swept away by the cool air coming in off the ocean.

The beach, being a tourist hot spot, was full of people from all walks of life. There were, however, few people who were at the beach for the purpose for swimming. Those people are not without reason; the waters of Maine boast to be the coldest of the continental U.S. In addition to that, hurricane Ian was looming somewhere many miles out. Despite Ian's distance, his effect was still seen that day by all who were at the beach. For Tim and I, his effect was felt that day on the beach.

(The beach on a calm day)

We changed into our suits and waded out into the water. The water on the coast of Maine is a deep and dark color because it carries so much plant life. Plant life thrives in the ocean when water temperatures are low. Currents from the Arctic flow south along the coast of Canada and Maine before shifting out to the middle of the Atlantic. They call it Ten-Minute-Water because that is how long it takes to get hypothermia when a person is submerged. Knowing this information led me to believe I was not going to be able to be in the water for more than 3 seconds, but 3 seconds came and went.

As we waded out further we felt the power of the waves coming in. Tim was swept off his feet and washed onto the beach. His muscles had contracted from the cold and he pulled a few of them. Luckily, those pulled muscles weren't in his legs so he got up and out of the water. I followed suit.

I was content with my first endeavor out into the waters of the Arctic but, as Tim's muscles warmed up, we ventured out for a second dip. We ran out into the water screaming like mad men. The waves that Ian was throwing at us pummeled us and tried to knock us over. We waded out a distance and then swam a few strokes before letting a few waves carry us back in.

After being washed onto the beach, I ran out of the water and immediately wrapped myself in a towel, trying to regain the heat lost in a minute or so of swimming. Because our core body temperature were lowered we decided to go for a jog. Tim and I talked as we jogged and ultimately decided to go for one last dip in the Atlantic. We decided it was best if we were near the large crowd of tourists who were watching the waves so that we could show them how it is done. Up to this point, the only people daring enough to touch the water were a few tourists who briefly and barely graced the water with their toes. There were some surfers being battered by the waves but they were wearing wetsuits, so we didn't think they counted. It was time to show everyone what it meant to be a man.

We approached the crowd and confidently strode into the water. As if we were walking to our graves, we could feel the gaze of those behind us on the beach. As we waded out into the ocean, the surf calmed for a minute or so. Moving into deeper water that was up to our necks, we could see the horizon. Then, several seconds later, we saw the waves begin to rise like giants off the water in front of us. The water pulled itself back as it drew more and more water from our feet in order to stand like a tower before us. The wave crashed and slammed into our chests and then passed us. The water began pulling back out to sea again as another wave gathered and drew near. This time, when the wave hit, I did not get hit in the chest. It had towered over my head moments before crashing. I was engulfed and pushed over onto my back. My feet had been lifted off the ground. The wave did what it needed to do and its power began to dissolve as it brought me back to the beach. I laid out flat and flexible so that I did not hit the sand hard. I gradually washed up onto the beach and then, being as passive as possible, was pulled back out into the crash zone of the next wave. I was tossed and turned a few more times before deciding to quit.

As I walked out of the water I saw Tim still being hit by the waves. I found my towel easily because there were no other towels around. Everyone else was there to observe but not to swim. Tim was walking out of the water as I noticed a person out of the corner of my eye; it was a middle aged woman. She simply approached me and said, "I just have to ask; where are you from?" I realized a few seconds after responding that never before in my life had I been so proud to say that I was from Wisconsin.

Ranger Danger 2

2010-09-18T20:23:00.012-05:00

I arrived back from a visit with my mother one evening. It was a little after ten when I got out of the car. I locked the doors to the car and gazed up into the sky. It was a clear night and the stars were shining brightly between the bristly tree tops.

I greeted one of my roommates on the way back to the dorm and he quickly engaged me in conversation. During our dialogue he mentioned a distant echo of music. Sure enough, there was noise passing through the pine trees that was distinctly loud despite being quieted by the distance. It sounded like there were ten thousand trees between us and a rock concert. Intermittently, someone yelling in excitement was added to the echo of music making its way to our ears.

To say the least, we were intrigued. There we were in the middle of a National Park, surrounded by forest when it was seemingly obvious that somewhere through that vast forest was coming loud music and a large group of people enjoying it. It would have been less intriguing if Acadia National Park allowed camping in the land anywhere near us, but they don't. Therefore, it was extremely unlikely that anyone was playing music from a campsite. Not only that, but the music was so loud it had to have been professional equipment (not something you could get at Best Buy or Circuit City).

I was proven correct a half hour later when I found myself wandering through the paths of the forest and listened as I got closer to a man talking on a microphone. This had to be something big, something professional. Without a map I simply used my ear to guide me in any direction the sound came from. I made mental notes at each turn, recording the path I was taking in my mind.

Two of my roommates had wandered out into the darkness minutes before me and abandoned any paths. They cut through the trees in search of the music and, hopefully, a good time.

I had originally been lying in bed when my roommates left, but I was soon overcome by the curiosity of such a strange occurrence. Listening to the faint music moving through the trees and coming into my window, I sat up out of bed and eventually walked outside.

Occasionally, I looked up through the trees and saw the same stars as I had seen from the parking lot; bristly pine and fur trees silhouetted by the dark blue sky spattered with stars. There were no big cities around so a rock concert or a club throwing an outdoor party were out of the question. Still, I continued on. At several points, I was certain I knew where the music was coming from but after arriving at those locations, I discovered the music was always further than I thought. I came to other points when the music was so distinct and crisp I could swear I would stumble out of the forest into a crowd at any moment. But the wind changed and it suddenly sounded as if the music was bouncing off the mountain.

I was beginning to grow disheartened.

It was when I came to a sign that said I was entering private property that I stopped for a moment. Craning my neck once more to look to the sky, I close my eyes and tried to imagine where the music was coming from. It must be a private party. I could see it now: millionaires lived in these parts. They summered in cottages on the coast for a few months of the year. That would explain the professional sound equipment. I imagined for a bit longer and saw in my mind a large cottage, complete with a huge deck that held speakers the size of large furniture. The voices were rowdy and the music was current. Consequently, I imagined kids having a party at their parents' cottage. The person on the microphone started talking as the song ended and I listened closely. I still could not make out most of what was being said.

I had turned off my light long ago and, because of that, my eyes were well adjusted to the darkness. Still listening intently I decided it was all too far away and I would turn around. Then, as I was walking back in the darkness, I thought my eyes began to play tricks on me. I could see light growing in the distance. I had been walking on a carriage road where cars are prohibited and I could swear that I saw a car coming closer, although it was perpendicular to the path I was on. Soon enough, the headlights turned towards me and it was undeniable that I was actually looking at an oncoming car on a road where cars are prohibited.

My first though was, "Probably a ranger" and then, "They are going to assume I'm some rebel rouser up to no good just like before."

As they pulled up to me I could see it was a ranger in his SUV. In fact, there were two of them inside and when they rolled down the window I made the first move by explaining why I was out there. I let out a sigh of relief because they didn't raise there suspicions but seemed to empathize with my curiosity. They explained that they were out there looking to find the music too. I offered my advice as to where I thought it was coming from but they seemed to disregard my opinion. They rolled up their window and drove away into the forest. I don't know if the rangers ever found the party that night or if there actually was a party at all. Maybe the trees like to play loud music and party every once in a while, just as long as no one can find them; they remain locked somewhere deep in the forests of Acadia.

Ranger Danger

2010-09-10T20:09:00.003-05:00

Like so many days and nights here on the coast of Maine, the air is thick with fog. It was a night like this when I walked out of the dorm. My phone was in my hand and my hoodie hung well over my head, shadowing my face in darkness. I walked thirty or so steps down a path and stopped in my tracks at the first intersection of paths. I sank into contemplation about whether it was too late to make a call or not.

As I stood there in the intersection of paths, I drank in the moist air around me. Noise was faint- muffled and distant from the layer of fog encapsulating. The fog clung to my breath as I exhaled. I had no need to look left or right because there was nothing but fog in every direction. It stole the darkness from the night and left a hazy and silent gray between me and everything but the dorm behind me. From the dorm shot a beam of light into the fog much like a lighthouse.

A few seconds passed.

Out of the listless moving molecules of moisture passing through the air cut the sound of metal clanking. The sound of objects on a Ranger's belt coupled with the sound of boots was unmistakable. The steps were slow, heavy with caution, and I knew who was approaching me from behind.

I listened longer. The seconds lingered.

I turned. Slow footsteps now matched the cautious movements the ranger's profile silhouetted and moving towards me. I could not see his face but I could sense his leering. He was completely dark. The light from the dorm lamp was reaching out in my direction; its depth was visible, but the ranger's depth was not. In contrast to the light, it was as if the ranger was flat and completely devoid of light. He was still walking towards me, hands near his hips, like a cowboy waiting to draw his revolver.

After another moment, words were spoken from the absence of light and thrown in my direction. His alertness was obvious and unavoidable for the first 30 seconds of our conversation. We talked for ten or fifteen minutes about everything and anything, but the very beginning of the conversation consisted of me trying to bring down his extremely high level of apprehension. At any moment in those first tense moments of our conversation he was ready to pull something off his belt with the slightest abrupt movement on my part. He was desperately trying to figure out why some kid with a mo-hawk and a hoodie was standing out in the darkness, seemingly doing nothing but conceiving evil.

I don't think his anxious nerves were put to rest until I told him that I was a part of A Christian Ministry in the National Parks.

Anyway, we eventually parted ways and he continued to lurk around the dorms, going out of his way to hopefully find us doing something wrong.

He didn't find us doing anything wrong that evening and eventually slipped away into the fog from where he came but I know he still waits, lurking around the dorm and waiting for us to do anything wrong. Hiding in the trees and peering into our rooms, searching for something to do because nothing else ever happens in this park at night.

Soap

2010-09-01T19:53:00.002-05:00

Earlier this summer, my girlfriend told me about this thing called soap. You may have heard about it or even tried it before. But to me, it was something new.

Most people take the time to shower and stay clean on a regular basis. Other people look for the quick fix by simply covering themselves with cologne and perfume, trying to mask the smell. But it does not work. The smell of cologne and perfume, mixed with sweat and body order makes a strange and unpleasant smell. Almost always, the smell of a person’s unwashed body is noticeable-even over cologne or perfume.

In American culture, we expect cleanliness and good hygiene among one another. Most people would not show up for a job interview after going two weeks without showering or bathing. Socially, we are held responsible to not smell bad.

How come then, internally, we allow ourselves to go days and weeks without showering. We figure we can hide the dirt and people won’t notice. We tell ourselves to quickly sweep our dirt under the rug. Then, we go to church every week and mask the putrid smell of what is going on inside of us. For many Christians, going to church is using perfume and cologne to mask the stench. It is like saying, “Hey, look at me! I am at Church. I am singing loudly! I am smiling and I am happy! I don’t stink.” Hoping people won’t notice that we do stink. And then we leave Church and go back to our separate world where we get dirty again.

Guess what - we still stink, we still need to shower.

We need to wash ourselves, inside and out.

The SOAP I was originally talking about-the soap my girlfriend just introduced to me this summer is a way of cleaning myself internally. It is a way of asking Jesus to clean me spiritually so that I do not stink.
It goes like this:

Step 1: Scripture –otherwise abbreviated as “S”

Read a chapter of the Bible (try working your way through a book of the bible you have always wanted to look into.) and pick out one verse to study at more in depth.

Pray before you actually start reading. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak through the word. Don’t rush through this process. Enjoy reading the chapter like you would enjoy a warm bubble bath or a hot shower to relax.
Allow the Holy Spirit time to speak through God’s word. Slow yourself down and dwell on some of the verses.

Try reading the chapter in different translations and versions.
Then go back and pick out one or a few specific key verses in the chapter. The verses could be something you feel God is speaking to you through or the verses might simply be interesting to you. Either way, pick out a verse from that chapter.

Step 2: Observation-otherwise abbreviated as “O”

After you have picked out a specific verse of the chapter, write it out. You might have to write a few sentences before or after the specific verse to give it some context. Either way, spend some more time thinking about the verse and what it means. Use prayer as an interlude to your thoughts. Then, simply write out what you observed about the verse or verses.

Step 3: Application- otherwise abbreviated as “A”

Take the verse that you picked out and take your observation about it and ask, “how does this apply to my life?”

Many times for me, this is the trickiest step because the key verse might not always be directly applicable; or, if it is applicable, it might not seem applicable right away. Use prayer as an interlude to your thoughts again. Use prayer as an interlude to your thoughts until your thoughts and your prayers are intertwined. When you write out an application of the scripture verse to your life, you can move to...

Step 4: Prayer-otherwise abbreviated as “P”

Prayer is the final capstone to the cleansing process. It is like the towel that dries you off after you are all clean. Write out a prayer that is based off of the verse and what the Holy Spirit has spoken to you. Then, after you are finished writing out the prayer: pray it out loud. Try getting down on your knees and talking with God about what you just studied.

This process of spiritual cleansing, otherwise abbreviated as S.O.A.P., is a way of bringing ourselves back to God’s word for more. It is not a way of cleansing ourselves but a way of being cleansed. When we pray and humbly come before the Lord, we can ask to be cleansed and forgiven of our sins. The process of SOAP simply keeps us in the right frame of mind. In fact, if we can do it on a regular basis, SOAP can help keep us in a right relationship with God. No longer will we have to go to church and use church like a perfume of cologne because we will have already been cleaned.

Life...For the Birds

2010-08-23T20:24:00.001-05:00

I always thought the parable of the mustard seed was poetic and inspiring but never really understood what Jesus said when he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” The parable of the yeast was just as vague to me as the mustard seed. The fact that we don’t work with mustard seeds and yeast everyday like the people in Jesus’ day did makes the parable hard to interpret for current readers.

I was reading a book this past week called Jesus for President. The authors dug into the context of Jesus’ parables and uncovered some extended meaning in Jesus speaking-meaning that we would miss because of our cultural differences. That got me thinking. When Jesus was comparing the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed he was saying many different things.

First off, the mustard seed was commonly understood as being the smallest of seeds, and yet, the plant is perennial and would continue to grow. When Jesus said, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like,” he was saying that it was going to start off small but grow; that it is going to continue to grow until it infiltrates all areas of the world.

Secondly- this is also why Jesus tied the mustard seed and the yeast parables together- Yeast and mustard are both very contagious. A little bit of yeast will spread, working its way through a lot of dough. Mustard plants expand and grow the same way vines grow into other plants. In fact, Jewish law forbade mustard plants from being planted in gardens because they would grow and expand into other plants in the garden. What Jesus was saying was that the Kingdom of heaven is going to be contagious; that it will spread and continue to spread through people.

Thirdly, a little mustard seed will grow into a large, large plant (about the size of a small tree). And when the bushes are big enough to be considered trees, birds are able to nest inside the trees. Some think that the tree Jesus was referring to was based out of Daniel 4:20, when Daniel interpreted a dream for the king. In the king’s dream the tree that grew was a place where animals can find rest and birds can nest.

But the mustard bushes do not grow large enough to nest the huge and glorious birds of the sky. They can hold just the average and the everyday bird. In fact, Jesus used the word “fowl” to describe the birds that would nest in the mustard bushes; the types of birds that ate carcasses; the lowly birds.

And so, Jesus was saying the mustard plant is a place where the fowl birds can rest and the small birds can nest. Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is a place where the sinners can rest and those who are humble can nest. Unfortunately, there is no room for the glory accompanied with the eagle under the mustard plant. Only the lowly can live here. If the eagle wants to stay, she must lose her own glory. Unfortunately, there is no room for the person who is proud of his life. There is no room for the glory accompanied with the proud man.

Fourthly, the great thing about mustard is that it is strong. It is compact in size but large in potency and, when mustard is crushed, its potency is released. The smell and taste is very powerful, especially for its size. And a mustard seed, like other seeds, is only one seed unless it falls and dies-then it becomes many seeds. Only if a seed dies can it bring life.

And so, Jesus also tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed in that, if we are crushed, we will show the world the strength of our faith. Someone persecuted for his/her faith will reveal the power of their faith by their willingness to die for it.

In American culture and much of the modern world where tolerance towards religion is growing and even being protected, most Christians are not being persecuted in large ways. I think that, because we are not required to suffer for Christ, we often forget that Christ also tells us we should lose our life for Him. It is too easy to not change our lives when we are a Christian but to simply add “Christian” to our identity and to never radically change our lives.

But, if we are birds and small animals living under the shelter of the mustard plant, our living space is of modest size. There is no room for whoever considers himself a Christian but does not show it. Our daily agenda should be to be more Christ-like; to show His love to others. The one who lives his daily life with Himself and his family as foremost in his mind, leaving Christ in a close second place will not be enough. Only those who have given their lives to follow Him in everything can live under the shelter of the mustard plant.

We can’t build the kingdom of Heaven and we can’t grow the mustard seed but we can plant it and we can water it. God will do the growing. The mustard seed will grow into a plant and, if we are birds that live under the shelter of the mustard plant, we must ask ourselves if we are small humble birds or if we are the glorious masters of the sky? Are we the lowly fowls or the majestic eagles? If we are indeed the small and lowly birds, God will use us to grow the kingdom from being very small to very large. Other birds will see us and see how we live with love under the plant. They will want to experience what we are experiencing; they will want to experience God’s love.

We must live in community with every lowly bird who is under the shelter of the mustard plant. We must treat each other like family. It will be contagious. Loving others and sharing all that we have with each other under the plant- giving our neighbors a twig to build their nest, a worm to feed their chicks-sharing everything we have. But not only are we to share everything with those living under the mustard plant with us, we must also share all that we have with those who are not under the plant. We must welcome the fowl birds, the ones that society does not accept anywhere else. We must welcome the glorious eagles too, but warn them that staying under the mustard plant will require them giving up their own glory for the sake of glory of the one who grows the mustard plant.

Under the shelter of mustard plant, our niche is very broad. We have all sorts of different birds but we all have something in common: we understand the one who grows the mustard plant is the one we worship. Everything we do must be a reflection of that worship.

So, the next time you hear small birds chirping and see them flying through the sky, think about the bushes and trees they live in. Think about the tiny mustard seed that grows into a tree and how those small birds can find shelter in mustard trees just like we find shelter in Christ’s kingdom. When you see a vulture or raven, think about how the lowly birds-the unclean birds that eat carcasses- are like sinners who are rejected by society. Yet, they too can live under the mustard tree. The mustard tree is what binds them all together. In the same way, the mustard tree is what binds us all together as believers.

In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus tells us the Kingdom of Heaven provides shelter. It is our duty to water the mustard plant so that the shelter might grow for all the weary birds. If we truly live out our faith, our lives will be contagious and infectious. If the love we share is from Christ, we will be watering the plant and the kingdom can grow.

Reach out to those who are not yet under the shelter of the mustard tree. If you are opposed, remember the strength of the mustard seed; when it is crushed, it shows its potency. If you give your life for your faith, you will fall to the ground planting many more seeds.

Jesus was once a persecuted mustard seed. He showed his potency by falling to the ground and dying. In his death he brought life. We too are seeds. If we fall to the ground for Christ, we will bring life for the Kingdom.

For the rest of your days here, I invite you to lose your life. Fall to the ground in humbleness and plant your life as a seed. From there God will do the growing.

A Few Photos

2010-08-11T19:26:00.003-05:00

The Bubbles at sunset in front of Jordan Pond

Plant life deep in the forest. A dead tree trunk becomes life for other plants.

A small boat floats in the bay at high tide.

Out on the Atlantic, a Humpback whale surfaces for air.

Surf pounds the coast of Acadia in twilight.

Champ looks up at a lighthouse.

Prayer is Toxic to Worry

2010-08-01T10:01:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday, when I was seating guests and busing tables on the outside patio for work, the sun was shining brightly. The air was not too hot and occasionally there would be a gust of wind. But, around 2 o’ clock the weather started to change. The soft puffy clouds that were once white had now turned a dark shade of gray. The gusts of wind became more frequent and it looked like rain in the distance. The supervisors began discussing where to seat people if it did start to rain. Looking out at the sky, the rain seemed inevitable.

There was faint thundering in the clouds above and I made a comment to a coworker that the weather was starting to look nasty. She responded so calmly that she sounded as if she wanted the storm to come. She told me everything would turn to chaos. Indeed, I had heard stories from last year when a storm comes and everything does turn to chaos, but her answer struck me as too gentle for the approaching situation.

The wind grew stronger and I was still seating people outside when everything went dark. I looked up and the sun had been completely covered in a black cloud. I turned to look out over the pond and, drawing nearer every second was a dark wall of rain.

Within a few seconds everyone had abandoned their table and was making a mad dash for the doors to get inside. The doors became packed with people who did not know where to go. I tried moving things inside and escorting guests to tables but it was no use. There was no space to move. Suddenly, every guest began asking me where to sit. It was obvious there would not be enough tables for everyone who was sitting outside to sit inside. I tried to help people but was instructed to close the umbrellas before they blew away. I ran out into the pounding rain and closed the umbrellas as the wind continued to blow with force. When I came back inside, a group of people I had originally given an outside table asked me where they could go. I told them to go upstairs and find a table.

The first problem was that everyone else was going upstairs to look for a table too. When I got upstairs, none of the tables were set and there were no chairs. I ran back outside and began carrying chairs out of the storm and to the tables upstairs. It had become a complete free for all. Servers were running to every section of the building, trying to find their tables from earlier and deliver their food they had ordered outside. Groups were separated and occupying every inch of open space. My coworkers and supervisors were yelling on the radio in my earpiece, trying to organize things and figure it out. There was no structure, no method, no organization to coping with the situation and, my first reaction was to be a little upset with the supervisors for not having a Plan B ready; it had seemed apparent even earlier that it would rain but no measures were taken ahead of time. I didn’t know exactly what I had to do next but there were plenty of things to do. Once I started working towards the solution I was at ease with the situation. I had embraced the chaos. Being anxious was not going to help me at all.

Looking back, the whole situation leading up to the chaos from the rainstorm was making me anxious. It was the devil’s strongest attempt to make me anxious at work. You see, the past two weeks I have been coming into work with an attitude of prayer and petition with God. I have been asking for peace at work. Prior to last week, every day I worked in the restaurant made me anxious. Dealing with so many people and having to be so efficient left me feeling anxious because there was-I thought-no room for error. However, this week I have just been praying for God to give me peace, and, every day at work I have been put in a new situation where I am tested. The situation just begs for me to be anxious and sometimes I do fall into anxiousness for a short bit, but God has constantly been pulling me up out of it and giving me peace

The weird thing is that I don’t understand this peace I suddenly feel given. I know myself and I know how I tend to get anxious when I am pushed at work. In all likeliness I should be anxious, but Philippians 4:7 says, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Did you catch that? God’s peace transcends all understanding- even my understanding of myself and my anxiousness.

At first I thought it was apathy that made me at ease but it was not. I still wanted to do things right and do them the best I could; I simply knew nothing would get better through anxiousness. Later in the day Thursday I tried encouraging others at work to not be anxious even though the task at hand seemed so pressing. I also started cheerfully asking my coworkers how they were doing and attempted to be as friendly and positive as possible. I wasn’t giddy and I wasn’t happy for personal reasons but I felt a gentleness inside me that came from somewhere else.

All of this week, the Lord has been revealing these verses to me as I was praying. As I asked the Lord for peace, He has been slowly giving it to me.

As you go about your daily life this week, do not fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers. Let God know your concerns and before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It truly is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
(The Message, Philippians 4:4-7)

The Story of it... (Part 1)

2010-07-27T19:40:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday night we had our evening service atop Cadillac Mountain as the sun was beginning to set. Since there is a road up to the top many people come to watch the sunset each night. Several of the past Sunday nights had been rainy or foggy but this Sunday evening was especially beautiful. The air was cool but not too cold, the sky was clear but not too clear. The clouds and sun inter-played with warm colors, displaying a memorable sunset. Several dozen people began sitting down on the side of the mountain, watching the sunset. Another dozen people were sitting down to join us as we began our worship service.

We started off, as we always do, with a Call to Worship and moved into our first worship song when a woman walked up to us and interjected herself. She started by saying, “I just wanted to say…” This led me to believe she was just going to make a passing comment about our service and then walk away which she did not.

She was quite passionate in saying that we were offending her and that we had no right to be there conducting the service. She paused for a moment and I thought she had finished her passing comment. Meanwhile, we tried to keep the song going. I was standing in front helping lead the song. I looked at the woman while singing and thought she was finished but she wasn’t. She seemed to have only begun with her speech now. She continued on, growing more furious each second with our singing. She was seething with anger and told us how we were ruining everyone’s experience and that we needed to leave. Champ (a fellow ACMNP volunteer) quickly and quietly walked up to her while the rest of us continued leading the song. Her verbal assault wasn’t going to stop that easily. She started yelling in Champ’s face. The rest of us tried to keep singing "How Great Thou Art". Some people stopped singing and stared at this lady. Others sang louder, as if to show we would not be silenced. Champ stood next to her and simply asked, “What would you like us to do?” The woman was on a mission to shut us up and continued yelling that we needed to leave. She thought of more reasons of why we needed to leave and proceeded to scream them at Champ and the rest of us. People around heard this lady yelling at us, and, although I didn’t take the time to look all around, I can only imagine every single person watching the sunset was now watching what was happening with us.

Then, the most amazing thing happened, people who saw this whole thing happening- people who were not even participating in our service initially- started coming up to us and joining us. They stood strong next to us through our verbal persecution. Their presence was the same as angels to us. The woman grew blue in the face from yelling at us and eventually walked away. We finished singing the song and no one knew quite how to handle the next few seconds. There was a moment of silent where we tried to collect ourselves before Champ turned and looked to me and said, “I think we should go ahead and move.” I nodded and picked up the cross. We instructed those worshiping with us to come with us a little bit down the mountain. It didn’t feel like we were backing away, we were just turning the other cheek.

The rest of the service was emotional for some. It was the first time many of us had been outright and angrily assaulted for our faith. However, when we set up a hundred yards away and continued with the service, there was something present among us that was not before. Suddenly, everyone participating in our service felt as close as a brother; as if we could have all gathered in a circle and shared our darkest secrets with no fear. We were united by our experience and nothing could tear us apart.

Strangers who admittedly did not profess the same faith as us approached us and apologized for the way we were treated. Some assured us we reacted in the most decent fashion, and I was told later that the woman walked away fuming, still insulting us while others tried to defend us.

Hal and Ellen are leaders in our ministry program this summer and, although they were not there that evening, they told us they have never experienced anything like that in their 15 years with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. I can't say I have ever experienced anything quite like it either. There are always a few people who tell me very politely and subtly that they are not interested when I am inviting them to a service but, besides being bit by someone's dog while inviting them, I have never had to suffer for my faith.

The Politics of it...(Part 2)

2010-07-27T16:55:00.004-05:00

I shared the story with the Acadia National Park Service Superintendent and a Park Ranger a few days ago and it sparked a conversation about how the founding fathers wrote the Constitution with the separation of church and state but not the separation of God and state. Hence, the fact that "In God We Trust" is never removed from our currency.

People like the woman that yelled at us at our service seem to assume that any practicing of religious freedom on government or public property is a bad thing. To her, I would imagine it betrays separation of church and state. The truth is we have a protected right to be there as well as a legal permit which we had legally obtained and even had with us.

Separation of church and state in our Constitution was written to prevent the same distortion of religion that happened with the Catholic church throughout Europe in the middle ages from happening here. Our founding fathers also did not want the church becoming the dominant power force behind our government because Europe showed us it led to corruption of government and corruption of church. Our founding fathers wanted freedom and democracy in our government, which isn't achieved when a church controls the government, but is also not achieved when only select men have all the power. When certain men are given all power it will inevitably lead to corruption. That is why we need everyone (democracy) to hold things in check and hold people accountable.Thus, the power is spread out in everyone.

However, our democracy will only sustain itself as much as the societal morals allow it to. Advancing entertainment seems to be leading to the obsession of personal distraction-an addiction to escapism. With extended interaction and repeated experience with amoralism in the media, our boundaries will be pushed. Shock value will not be shocking unless it pushes further. As a result, morals are pushed downward. As morals decline in a society where the people are in charge of the government, the morals behind the government will also decline.

This is what the founding founders did not want because it was exactly what was happening in Europe.

Late at night I lie in bed and wonder where this country is going. What would our founding fathers think if they knew people in our age where trying to twist their words, turning the Constitution into something it is not? What would they think if they saw how, slowly, our country is becoming exactly like Europe when it was set up to be different? What would they think if they saw the removal of God from everything? As time goes on, it seems that we are letting God slip from our government and I can only hope that more and more people do not begin to misinterpret the Constitution. The day that everyone thinks like this woman: the day that everyone thinks freely practicing religion in a public setting is in direct violation of separation of church and state is the day that our government has forgotten where it came from and why it even exists in the first place.

All of this simply goes to show humans can never achieve something forever. I have no doubt whatsoever that America will fall. It bothers me when people idealize America as a perfect place with perfect freedoms. We humans will ruin this country. It cannot stay like this forever. That is not to say we should not fight to uphold things, but we must be careful not to place our longing for community in patriotism when it belongs with our believers in Christ. As much as a country can unite us, it can never unite us like our faith can. I can speak from firsthand experience about that.

Smoothing Out

2010-07-22T21:53:00.001-05:00

So Obama was a no show. Here’s the thing: the Jordan Pond House was designed for large window seating. Almost every seat looks out at four surrounding mountains which makes the Pond House a Secret Service nightmare.

It was probably a good thing the President never showed because the National Park Service was closing everything off so that he could have some solitude on vacation. However, the NPS would close areas off for a whole day. Anywhere the President and his family thought they might go during the given day would be closed off until they visited it. While I worked at the Information Desk over the course of the President’s stay I had many disgusted people yelling because wherever it was they wanted to go was closed and, therefore, their vacation was ruined. Some of them even got mad at me and my coworkers. We serve thousands of people in a day and I can’t imagine how many upset people would have complained had the President actually showed up here. I probably would have had to have deal with a full blown riot.

So, now, even though the President has left, the island is still as crowded as ever. I’ve gotten past any sort of stress resulting from my job. Today, the wait for a table was an hour during the busiest time of day. I was seating people left and right but it didn’t faze me.

Kids keep asking how tall I am. I am 6 foot 4 inches and used to play in the NBA. Then I quit to work at the Jordan Pond House.

Things with the ministry are smoothing out. We decided to split our group in half and each half does a service at a different campground. We are getting an understanding of each other and how we can work together. Responsibility has begun to even out among us as well. Finally, we have been having some cooperative weather as well as a fair number of turnouts for our service. Several of these people express their gratitude to us for leading these services (one couple even made us greeting cards of the pictures they had taken while in the park), but I am thankful for them; it is very encouraging when people show up to worship with us. Without them, we would not have a service. Best of all, we are having a decent amount of coworkers show up for our services; some of them even as regular attenders.