As I am writing this, I am sitting in a coffee shop looking out the window.
Outside, a train is passing by through the town center. Old fashioned, yet classy. I wish I could take a picture and show you all, because between the snow, thin dark trees, old fashioned train station, and setting sun, it looks awesome. Just awesome.
Why am I talking about a train?
This train has been going by for at least the last 30 minutes.
Oh, it's gone now...
Anyway. That was a LONG train. And it wasn't even going slow. 30 minutes of one train passing. Wow.
What on earth does that have to do with anything, and why am I babbling on about a very long train?
I've been thinking about time. Eternity. Continuum. (No, not the John Mayer album.)
I love a good ending. A solid ending that ties up all the loose ends. It doesn't necessarily have to be a happy ending per se, just one that really closes the book, so to speak. The lights dim, the credits roll, that's it.
I hate it when things drag on...and on...and on... And before you know you've just sat through all 4 hours of 'Gods and Generals' and you want to throw yourself out of the theater, screaming, 'WHY?!'
Sorry. Personal childhood trauma. I love movies typically, but Gods and Generals is an exception.
Back on topic. (Oh look, the train is back now! Both my train of thought and the afore-mentioned train.)
I like solid endings. I like conclusions.
So, I get kind of baffled at the promise of Eternity in Heaven after the Second Coming.
Part of me is like, 'What am I going to DO for eternity???'
Honestly, the idea of dying doesn't scare me. You live life, credits roll, the end. I sometimes find the idea of eternity more perplexing.
Eternity is a concept completely beyond our grasp. As fallen humans, we cannot comprehend what eternity actually means. In our world, we think in time. We think linearly.
So, there's not an end. It just keeps going.
That's one of the things I find some fascinating about God- We will have an ETERNITY with him and we will never learn everything there is to know about Him. We will have an ETERNITY with Him and never get tired of it. In fact, we're going to love it.
Which confuses me, since I barely made it through a 4 hour documentary without screaming in frustration and boredom.
Me? I'm never going to get bored? I'm not only going to be satisfied, but constantly in a state of amazement and excitement?
There's a saying that says 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' But that's not how it's going to work with God. To say 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' is so very linear in thinking, so very human.
But in a world where time will not exist in the sense we think of it, and in a world where we will be constantly captivated by God, that doesn't apply.
Kind of mind-boggling, huh?
Not only will we never suffer again when He returns, we will never be BORED again.
It's like being a goldfish. Memory span of 3 seconds, so constantly seeing everything for the first time. Every time a goldfish sees something, it's technically the first time that goldfish has ever seen it.
I'm not saying we'll be reduced to the mental capacity of goldfish. Far from it.
But the fact that we will be able to be surprised and awed for an Eternity is...
Wow.
That's big.
That's exciting.
That sounds like a real adventure.
So does that mean there is no conclusion? Does that mean that there is no real 'stopping place'? No, human reincarnation isn't real. But the Bible promises that God's people will exist with Him in Eternity.
Eternity isn't just a place, it's a way.
They will exist with Him IN His eternity, as offered to us as a gift. It's a way. It's a form of existence. Unending, I guess.
AND, to top it off, God's people will exists with Him in ETERNITY. It's a place too. We are going to be in the same place as God, our Father, our King.
We are going to be in the same place as Him, and we'll be with Him in that place forever.
There is no more death, therefore there is no more 'the end'.
The Roman philosopher Athanacius referred to the death as 'the great offense' against God's creation. "Death was undoing what God had made." Death, the introduction of linear time into Creation.
So God will be pulling out the ending.
Christians so commonly refer to the Second Coming as a kind of finale, a kind of end. But the truth is, it's the real beginning. It's when life will ACTUALLY start. When things will be the way they are supposed to be, and they'll stay that way.
I admit, the idea of Eternity baffles me. Confuses me. Almost worries me, even.
But God has asked me to attend, and I'm in absolutely no position to say 'no' to an invitation from the creator of the universe itself. When God calls, we go.
This linear world will eventually end. Not to sound like a doomsday prophet, but we only have until then to decide whether or not we will take His invitation and be willing to join him.
In the words of CS Lewis, 'Christianity, if true, is of every importance, and if false, of no importance. What it cannot be is moderately important.'
This is something you have to make a decision on. This can't be put off until later. This will be THE MOST important choice of your life.
In the words of the band Reilly, 'We are running on limited time, sleep-walking half our lives.'
In the words of Jack Shephard from LOST, 'If we don't live together, we're going to die alone.'
This is an encouragement-
Seek truth. If you are looking for answers, dig. You will find them. Rather, He will find you. Matters of the soul can't be put off for a later date.
You have an open invitation from your Father who loves you to join Him. All you have to do is ask Him into Your life.
It sounds cheesy, but it's the best decision I ever made. Or He made for me. (We can have a debate about predestination in Eternity.)
Christmas is soon. The Christimas story is pivotal because it is about the introduction of Eternity into a linear world, a collision between forms of existence and power.
Much love to you all, brothers and sisters. God bless, and merry Christmas. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tcRlHY-3Q
Friday, December 17, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Do Not Leave Baggage Unattended
I've been thinking about love a lot lately.
A million things spring to mind from the word love. It's one of those rare words that maintains its power and feeling throughout generations.
American culture is obsessed with love.
Most people would argue that these days it's actually sex, not love. I disagree. Our culture is obsessed with love to the point where it has become twisted and perverted out of the definition of the real thing.
People will take love wherever they can find it these days. Digging under what many call a sex-obsessed culture is just a world yearning for belonging and connection with other people.
A connection so surgically severed through the Fall.
The Bible is all about love.
Of course, you've heard that a thousand times. So that has probably lost its meaning at this point.
My girlfriend and I split up recently. Like all break-ups, it was not pleasant. I'll be the first to admit that I was not entirely blameless. However, the whole fiasco got me thinking about relationships and love.
(Admittedly, this was my first serious relationship, so I hesitate greatly to say I was 'in love'. I do know for sure I cared about this person a great deal.)
A few good friends of mine recently expressed a concern they had about myself. They told me they felt I tried too hard to make other people happy, despite the personal cost. This is something I felt was completely unfounded, since I am an admittedly selfish, arrogant person. These confrontations often wound up in very heated discussion. At one point, a friend was trying to give me advice and I was so caught up in the moment of the discussion I said exactly what I was feeling.
The funny thing about arguments with friends is they often function as incredible mirrors. They really do help you realize something about yourself you've never even admitted before.
The situation that had led to the end of my relationship with my girlfriend was very confusing and convoluted. It felt like lots of people were involved in something that should've just been between us two.
So, after the break-up, I'm having this argument with a friend who is trying to give me advice. And I blurted out something, in my anger, along the lines of:
"Why does it matter what I want? I just want these other people to be happy!"
My friend instantly showed me what I had said by repeating it verbatim. And it hit me like a hammer.
The Bible calls for selfless, sacrificial love in serving your brothers and sisters, doesn't it? The complete denial of one's self for the benefit of others.
But at the same time, in my attempts at that kind of love for others, I had successfully hurt some of the people I cared most about. In ignoring my own feelings and lying to myself to make others happy, I had pulled them and myself into a situation which would inevitably end with someone getting hurt.
Motive: To make everyone else happy.
Means: Complete denial of my own feelings.
Goal: To make everyone happy.
This ended badly.
So, what I'm wrestling with right now is this:
In attempting the kind of selfless love we as Christians are called to, I ended up lying to and hurting people I care about. Right?
But at the same time, I gave up everything for people I care about so they could be happy. I was loving them, wasn't I? There was no benefit for me in the situation. In fact, it caused me more grief and frustration than was ever necessary.
Where does loving others selflessly become self-denial?
Where did the good intention turn into something worse?
More importantly, DID it ever turn from good intention into something worse?
Did I do anything wrong?
Did I do anything right?
It seems there is a fine line between selflessness and self-deprecating.
I'm going to expound a little on this:
The Bible teaches that we are to love others before ourselves. However, it also teaches that any man who hates himself is incapable of actually GIVING love to others. This is often a case used with those who self-harm; if you can't learn to love yourself as a valuable child of God, you can't learn to love others in return.
Selflessness calls for us to be willing to lay down everything for God, despite our feelings. Emotions are fickle, so we are called to trust the word of the Bible as logical reason for actions.
We should always choose God's word over what we feel.
But what if, in trying to do so, we hurt those around us?
I'm in no way calling for us to trust our emotions over the Gospel.
We were created as beings of both logic and emotion; humans are both scientific and spiritual. This is something many people have trouble finding balance in. Some Christians weigh in on the side of science, saying emotion is just brain chemistry. This is where we get the very logical people. The other side of that coin is the lover, the person who puts more value in emotion and feeling than in science and logic.
It's tough to find the proper balance.
To quote the band Anberlin, 'There is no mathematics in love and loss.'
While I am moving on and have sufficiently closed the book on this chapter of my life, I continue to wonder about my actions. Did I do the right thing and handle the situation in a way pleasing to God? Did I do the wrong thing and handle it all wrong? Sometimes the best of intentions have the worst of consequences.
Am I dwelling on the issue? Maybe. But I do feel this is something that merits very careful meditation on the subject.
As I talked with another friend after everything went downhill, I told him I felt like I was a time-bomb. That no matter how hard I tried to do the right thing and honor God, I hurt at least one person in the process.
He proceeded to call me on my moronic ranting. He said something to the affect of:
"That's ridiculous. If you spend your life staying away from people, how are you doing what God has called you to do? How are you being in the world but not of it?"
It's great to have friends who are comfortable enough with you to call you on your crap.
As Christians in a sinful world, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we hurt those around us when doing the right thing. It's easy to assume that retreating from the situation will be the best for all others involved.
But when we try to pull away, we hurt those people we care about. Why?
Because in this fallen world, everyone is looking for love. Everyone is looking for acceptance.
The church is a community. We NEED other people around us to support us. We need our families, our friends.
By considering cutting off ties with people who needed me just because I was scared I would mess up again (and I indefinitely will at some point), I was not loving selflessly. In fact, not only was I denying these people love, I was causing them hurt because they didn't understand the retreat.
People need other people. We need to be there for each other. It's how humans manage to get by in this fallen world. People not only provide someone to lean on for others, they also serve as a reminder there is a hope we all hold on to.
I continue to search for the balance between selfless love and self-deprecation. I continue to wonder if love is about ignoring everything you feel to make others happy, or if that is really love at all.
Is it fair to others to completely ignore everything else you feel just to show them love and kindness? Or is this, in effect, lying to them?
Where does trying to be selfless become unfair?
I continue to wonder this while I move on, not because I'm dwelling, but because it is something that merits deep thought.
Tell me what you think, brothers and sisters.
A million things spring to mind from the word love. It's one of those rare words that maintains its power and feeling throughout generations.
American culture is obsessed with love.
Most people would argue that these days it's actually sex, not love. I disagree. Our culture is obsessed with love to the point where it has become twisted and perverted out of the definition of the real thing.
People will take love wherever they can find it these days. Digging under what many call a sex-obsessed culture is just a world yearning for belonging and connection with other people.
A connection so surgically severed through the Fall.
The Bible is all about love.
Of course, you've heard that a thousand times. So that has probably lost its meaning at this point.
My girlfriend and I split up recently. Like all break-ups, it was not pleasant. I'll be the first to admit that I was not entirely blameless. However, the whole fiasco got me thinking about relationships and love.
(Admittedly, this was my first serious relationship, so I hesitate greatly to say I was 'in love'. I do know for sure I cared about this person a great deal.)
A few good friends of mine recently expressed a concern they had about myself. They told me they felt I tried too hard to make other people happy, despite the personal cost. This is something I felt was completely unfounded, since I am an admittedly selfish, arrogant person. These confrontations often wound up in very heated discussion. At one point, a friend was trying to give me advice and I was so caught up in the moment of the discussion I said exactly what I was feeling.
The funny thing about arguments with friends is they often function as incredible mirrors. They really do help you realize something about yourself you've never even admitted before.
The situation that had led to the end of my relationship with my girlfriend was very confusing and convoluted. It felt like lots of people were involved in something that should've just been between us two.
So, after the break-up, I'm having this argument with a friend who is trying to give me advice. And I blurted out something, in my anger, along the lines of:
"Why does it matter what I want? I just want these other people to be happy!"
My friend instantly showed me what I had said by repeating it verbatim. And it hit me like a hammer.
The Bible calls for selfless, sacrificial love in serving your brothers and sisters, doesn't it? The complete denial of one's self for the benefit of others.
But at the same time, in my attempts at that kind of love for others, I had successfully hurt some of the people I cared most about. In ignoring my own feelings and lying to myself to make others happy, I had pulled them and myself into a situation which would inevitably end with someone getting hurt.
Motive: To make everyone else happy.
Means: Complete denial of my own feelings.
Goal: To make everyone happy.
This ended badly.
So, what I'm wrestling with right now is this:
In attempting the kind of selfless love we as Christians are called to, I ended up lying to and hurting people I care about. Right?
But at the same time, I gave up everything for people I care about so they could be happy. I was loving them, wasn't I? There was no benefit for me in the situation. In fact, it caused me more grief and frustration than was ever necessary.
Where does loving others selflessly become self-denial?
Where did the good intention turn into something worse?
More importantly, DID it ever turn from good intention into something worse?
Did I do anything wrong?
Did I do anything right?
It seems there is a fine line between selflessness and self-deprecating.
I'm going to expound a little on this:
The Bible teaches that we are to love others before ourselves. However, it also teaches that any man who hates himself is incapable of actually GIVING love to others. This is often a case used with those who self-harm; if you can't learn to love yourself as a valuable child of God, you can't learn to love others in return.
Selflessness calls for us to be willing to lay down everything for God, despite our feelings. Emotions are fickle, so we are called to trust the word of the Bible as logical reason for actions.
We should always choose God's word over what we feel.
But what if, in trying to do so, we hurt those around us?
I'm in no way calling for us to trust our emotions over the Gospel.
We were created as beings of both logic and emotion; humans are both scientific and spiritual. This is something many people have trouble finding balance in. Some Christians weigh in on the side of science, saying emotion is just brain chemistry. This is where we get the very logical people. The other side of that coin is the lover, the person who puts more value in emotion and feeling than in science and logic.
It's tough to find the proper balance.
To quote the band Anberlin, 'There is no mathematics in love and loss.'
While I am moving on and have sufficiently closed the book on this chapter of my life, I continue to wonder about my actions. Did I do the right thing and handle the situation in a way pleasing to God? Did I do the wrong thing and handle it all wrong? Sometimes the best of intentions have the worst of consequences.
Am I dwelling on the issue? Maybe. But I do feel this is something that merits very careful meditation on the subject.
As I talked with another friend after everything went downhill, I told him I felt like I was a time-bomb. That no matter how hard I tried to do the right thing and honor God, I hurt at least one person in the process.
He proceeded to call me on my moronic ranting. He said something to the affect of:
"That's ridiculous. If you spend your life staying away from people, how are you doing what God has called you to do? How are you being in the world but not of it?"
It's great to have friends who are comfortable enough with you to call you on your crap.
As Christians in a sinful world, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we hurt those around us when doing the right thing. It's easy to assume that retreating from the situation will be the best for all others involved.
But when we try to pull away, we hurt those people we care about. Why?
Because in this fallen world, everyone is looking for love. Everyone is looking for acceptance.
The church is a community. We NEED other people around us to support us. We need our families, our friends.
By considering cutting off ties with people who needed me just because I was scared I would mess up again (and I indefinitely will at some point), I was not loving selflessly. In fact, not only was I denying these people love, I was causing them hurt because they didn't understand the retreat.
People need other people. We need to be there for each other. It's how humans manage to get by in this fallen world. People not only provide someone to lean on for others, they also serve as a reminder there is a hope we all hold on to.
I continue to search for the balance between selfless love and self-deprecation. I continue to wonder if love is about ignoring everything you feel to make others happy, or if that is really love at all.
Is it fair to others to completely ignore everything else you feel just to show them love and kindness? Or is this, in effect, lying to them?
Where does trying to be selfless become unfair?
I continue to wonder this while I move on, not because I'm dwelling, but because it is something that merits deep thought.
Tell me what you think, brothers and sisters.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Finding Your Niche
I think that the thing everyone wants most in life is to find their place. The spot where they fit.
I'm not talking about fitting in or anything. I'm talking about finding and then leading the kind of life that satisfies.
Unfortunately, nothing on this huge, blue marble will ever satisfy. Ever. It may provide some slight satisfaction, but it does not provide ultimate satisfaction.
Again, I have to make a distinction: happiness and satisfaction.
What I'm talking about when I say satisfaction is just knowing that you are in the right place. If you know you are on the right path and are where you are supposed to be, it doesn't matter what kind of hardship or storms come- even if you are unhappy, you know you are in your place.
Your niche.
Your 'home', so to speak.
As I enter my final years of High School, people continually ask me where I want to go to college and what I want to major/minor in. Every time, I have to give a rather noncommital answer because, at this junction, I'm not sure where to go.
And they always respond the same way. "...Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Which translates to, "This kid has no goals? No dreams? No motivation? He's in trouble."
It's not that I don't have dreams and things I aspire to. It's not that I don't have things I would like to accomplish before I die. I've got my 'Bucket List' so to speak.
People always expect you to choose a career path and then let your career define the rest of your lifestyle.
For instance, I had a Bible teacher who was also a musician. I knew another teacher who was write novels outside of his job.
When people hear that someone has a multi-faceted life, it tends to amaze them.
So when people take the time to genuinely listen to me about what I might want to do, they always use that response. "...Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Mainly because all my ideas on what I wish to do with my life conflict with each other. Majorly.
How does one combine a comic book artist, a teacher, a pastor, a writer, a screenwriter and director, a musician, a veterinarian, an artist/photographer, a zoologist, and a psychologist/psychological profiler?
I've been thinking a lot about this lately.
It always seems to come down to two lists:
'What I Want' OR 'What God Wants For Me'
They tend to be really different.
Here's how you start:
1) Get a piece of paper.
2) Write down every possible career option you are interested in and leave some space between each one.
3) When you've done that, write a brief sentence explaining how this could be beneficial/helpful/enjoyable/whatever.
4) Read over your list.
5) This is the important one: Crumple up that list and throw it in the trash.
Exercise in futility, huh?
God has a plan for everyone. A predestination. It's all mapped out. However, as humans, we DO have a free will.
So maybe, instead of trying to lay out our life plans, we just need to start preparing. Training. Getting ready.
Be knowledgeable. Understand the world and the realities around us, and learn to live truly as an awakened Christian in society. Wake up and be ready.
Jesus uses the metaphor for the Second Coming of a 'thief in the night'. He tells us to be ready, because we don't know the day or the hour.
In Exodus, during the first Passover with Moses and the Israelites, they ate with their cloaks tucked into their belts. They made food that could be easily transported and didn't need to be carefully attended- unleavened bread. They stayed in huge groups sharing this meal, WAITING.
It was like a runner at his mark, waiting for the shot. Every fiber of his being is focused intently on his goal- mind, body, soul. Their cloaks were tucked in. They were ready to move. Ready to pack up and go.
Remember in Matthew 19, when the man comes to talk to Jesus about how to get eternal life? Jesus tells him to sell all his earthly possessions and follow Him. The man doesn't do it.
How about in Matthew 8:18-22? A guy comes up to Jesus and says, "I will follow you, just let me bury my dad." Jesus says (direct quote here):" Let the dead bury their own dead."
When I first heard that story, I thought Jesus was being kind of harsh. I mean, the guy just wants to bury his dad. What's so wrong about that? But sacrifice- REAL sacrifice- is the name of the game here, guys.
It all comes down to:
How much are you willing to give up?
In the Bible, when we are called to give up our lives for Christ, it isn't always a metaphor. There are real sacrifices that have to be made, but they shouldn't matter to you in comparison to Christ.
America is a culture steeped in greed and possessions.
You are defined by what you own.
Your nice house. Your nice car. Your taste in furniture. Your taste in music. What you can afford to eat. Money. Money. Money. Things. Things. Things.
I recently saw the movie 'Up In The Air' (George Clooney, 2010). In it, Clooney plays a man who spends 95% of his life on board planes and away from his apartment. He works for a company that hires out workers to other companies to fire people. He gets paid to fire people for other companies.
He has his life down to a science. He takes only what he needs, and discards all the rest- ESPECIALLY anything that might 'burden' him with a personal connection.
In multiple scenes, we watch him pack his small, black, rolling suitcase with what can only be defined as skill. Everything has its place. Take only necessities.
In one of the scenes of the movie, he is giving a lecture to other people like him, trying to explain how to cope with this kind of life. He tells everyone to imagine a backpack?
Got it yet? Once you have it envisioned, we move on.
He says to put EVERYTHING you own in it. This backpack is like one of those bottomless backpacks that can hold everything in old Loony Tunes cartoons. The backpack just gets bigger and bigger, but it never breaks!
He tells them to put EVERYTHING in there. House. Couch. iPod. Photos. Desk. Phone. Coffee table you bought. Computer. All of it.
Then, he jokes with them, telling them to try to walk. It's impossible.
Now he continues in his metaphor to include people and relationships- put them inside the bag too. That's where he and I are going to diverge for now.
So, you, a Christian on planet Earth, have all these things in your backpack. Only your material possessions. Not your relationships, none of that. Just what you OWN. Think of how much stuff that is.
Try tucking in your cloaks and running with all that.
Let's reconnect with the movie:
At the end of the scene, he tells his audience they need to burn their backpacks. Get rid of everything holding you back.
For the Christian- particularly an American Christian, I think- this holds great applicability. I'm not talking about the 'burn-your-connections-to-people-part'.
I'm ONLY talking about the 'burn-your-connections-to-possessions'.
(Let me clarify quickly: DO NOT go light anything on fire, please.)
My family worries about money a lot, which is something I've never really worried about that much. It's just money, it's just stuff. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.
How many of you/your parents freak out when there's a car accident? How many of you/your parents would freak out if someone broke into your house and stole EVERYTHING YOU OWN?
If I were standing at the front of a classroom right now, I imagine I'd see lots of hands up.
Let's take a pause for a second to connect some dots, since I know this is a long one:
1) I started talking about finding your 'place' in the world.
2) Suddenly, I switched to talking about possessions and greed and money.
So, you're looking for your place and trying to define yourself. You define yourself with what you own and your appearance.
How many of us, if our houses burned down, would just shrug and say: 'Stuff happens.'
Maybe that's what we all need to learn to do!
Our over-attachment to material things is lulling us into a sleep so deep we have begun to lose connection with the single most important thing in our world: God Himself. We are practically comatose.
When Jesus sends out The Twelve in Matthew 10:9-10, he says:
"Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or staff; for the worker is worth his keep."
Jesus said in the Beatitudes that we should not worry because our Heavenly Father WILL PROVIDE FOR US.
Maybe we need to learn to let go of EVERYTHING and stop trying to define our lives. After all, if we gave our lives to God, and God has a destiny for us, won't He guide us to our place?
Maybe I just need to see where life- and by life, I mean my predestined life, ergo God- takes me instead of worrying about what my career will be. Maybe, if we stick to our own plans, we are building our own walls to keep us from getting to our place, so to speak.
So the next time something happens- a car accident, the house has to be fixed, a new medicine has to be bought- STOP THINKING IN TERMS OF COST. It's a necessity, so there's no point in being upset about it. You can't control it. It's out of your hands. Why worry about it? God will provide, always.
People- my friends, my family, everyone- matter to me, yes. In fact, almost everyone in my life matters more to me than they actually know. But if my laptop suddenly shut down and went completely dead, it's no big deal. If my iPod was stolen, it's no big deal. If my dog, whom I absolutely adore and love, was hit by a car...as sad as that is, it's nothing to get in the way of the pursuit of God. We have to learn to be willing to lose everything in order to gain the only thing we need.
It's not bad to have possessions, and it's not bad to like things. But you also have to be able to detach from them. They can't stop your life from moving.
To quote Switchfoot, 'We were meant to live for so much more!'
Maybe I'm a hypocrite. Maybe tomorrow, our house will burn down and I will have lost everything and I'll cry about it for days- maybe weeks. It's always easier to preach about something that hasn't happened yet, haha.
The only way we can find our niche- find satisfaction- is by giving up everything. Not in just the physical sense, but by learning to detach from earthly things knowing that we have been given something FAR GREATER: eternal life in Christ when this world ends.
We know we're in the right place when we are freed from the need to control things, in my opinion. By giving up control and accepting that things will happen, we will gain satisfaction.
Not happiness necessarily, but satisfaction- knowing we are in the RIGHT PLACE.
So tuck in your cloaks people, and be prepared. We've got to be ready for when God calls on us.
I'll wrap it up with one of my favorite quotes:
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo. Stepping out your front door. You step out into the world, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you'll be swept off to."
Be ready. Who knows, tomorrow you might be called to hop on a plane to Madagascar.
I'm not talking about fitting in or anything. I'm talking about finding and then leading the kind of life that satisfies.
Unfortunately, nothing on this huge, blue marble will ever satisfy. Ever. It may provide some slight satisfaction, but it does not provide ultimate satisfaction.
Again, I have to make a distinction: happiness and satisfaction.
What I'm talking about when I say satisfaction is just knowing that you are in the right place. If you know you are on the right path and are where you are supposed to be, it doesn't matter what kind of hardship or storms come- even if you are unhappy, you know you are in your place.
Your niche.
Your 'home', so to speak.
As I enter my final years of High School, people continually ask me where I want to go to college and what I want to major/minor in. Every time, I have to give a rather noncommital answer because, at this junction, I'm not sure where to go.
And they always respond the same way. "...Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Which translates to, "This kid has no goals? No dreams? No motivation? He's in trouble."
It's not that I don't have dreams and things I aspire to. It's not that I don't have things I would like to accomplish before I die. I've got my 'Bucket List' so to speak.
People always expect you to choose a career path and then let your career define the rest of your lifestyle.
For instance, I had a Bible teacher who was also a musician. I knew another teacher who was write novels outside of his job.
When people hear that someone has a multi-faceted life, it tends to amaze them.
So when people take the time to genuinely listen to me about what I might want to do, they always use that response. "...Well, I'm sure you'll figure something out."
Mainly because all my ideas on what I wish to do with my life conflict with each other. Majorly.
How does one combine a comic book artist, a teacher, a pastor, a writer, a screenwriter and director, a musician, a veterinarian, an artist/photographer, a zoologist, and a psychologist/psychological profiler?
I've been thinking a lot about this lately.
It always seems to come down to two lists:
'What I Want' OR 'What God Wants For Me'
They tend to be really different.
Here's how you start:
1) Get a piece of paper.
2) Write down every possible career option you are interested in and leave some space between each one.
3) When you've done that, write a brief sentence explaining how this could be beneficial/helpful/enjoyable/whatever.
4) Read over your list.
5) This is the important one: Crumple up that list and throw it in the trash.
Exercise in futility, huh?
God has a plan for everyone. A predestination. It's all mapped out. However, as humans, we DO have a free will.
So maybe, instead of trying to lay out our life plans, we just need to start preparing. Training. Getting ready.
Be knowledgeable. Understand the world and the realities around us, and learn to live truly as an awakened Christian in society. Wake up and be ready.
Jesus uses the metaphor for the Second Coming of a 'thief in the night'. He tells us to be ready, because we don't know the day or the hour.
In Exodus, during the first Passover with Moses and the Israelites, they ate with their cloaks tucked into their belts. They made food that could be easily transported and didn't need to be carefully attended- unleavened bread. They stayed in huge groups sharing this meal, WAITING.
It was like a runner at his mark, waiting for the shot. Every fiber of his being is focused intently on his goal- mind, body, soul. Their cloaks were tucked in. They were ready to move. Ready to pack up and go.
Remember in Matthew 19, when the man comes to talk to Jesus about how to get eternal life? Jesus tells him to sell all his earthly possessions and follow Him. The man doesn't do it.
How about in Matthew 8:18-22? A guy comes up to Jesus and says, "I will follow you, just let me bury my dad." Jesus says (direct quote here):" Let the dead bury their own dead."
When I first heard that story, I thought Jesus was being kind of harsh. I mean, the guy just wants to bury his dad. What's so wrong about that? But sacrifice- REAL sacrifice- is the name of the game here, guys.
It all comes down to:
How much are you willing to give up?
In the Bible, when we are called to give up our lives for Christ, it isn't always a metaphor. There are real sacrifices that have to be made, but they shouldn't matter to you in comparison to Christ.
America is a culture steeped in greed and possessions.
You are defined by what you own.
Your nice house. Your nice car. Your taste in furniture. Your taste in music. What you can afford to eat. Money. Money. Money. Things. Things. Things.
I recently saw the movie 'Up In The Air' (George Clooney, 2010). In it, Clooney plays a man who spends 95% of his life on board planes and away from his apartment. He works for a company that hires out workers to other companies to fire people. He gets paid to fire people for other companies.
He has his life down to a science. He takes only what he needs, and discards all the rest- ESPECIALLY anything that might 'burden' him with a personal connection.
In multiple scenes, we watch him pack his small, black, rolling suitcase with what can only be defined as skill. Everything has its place. Take only necessities.
In one of the scenes of the movie, he is giving a lecture to other people like him, trying to explain how to cope with this kind of life. He tells everyone to imagine a backpack?
Got it yet? Once you have it envisioned, we move on.
He says to put EVERYTHING you own in it. This backpack is like one of those bottomless backpacks that can hold everything in old Loony Tunes cartoons. The backpack just gets bigger and bigger, but it never breaks!
He tells them to put EVERYTHING in there. House. Couch. iPod. Photos. Desk. Phone. Coffee table you bought. Computer. All of it.
Then, he jokes with them, telling them to try to walk. It's impossible.
Now he continues in his metaphor to include people and relationships- put them inside the bag too. That's where he and I are going to diverge for now.
So, you, a Christian on planet Earth, have all these things in your backpack. Only your material possessions. Not your relationships, none of that. Just what you OWN. Think of how much stuff that is.
Try tucking in your cloaks and running with all that.
Let's reconnect with the movie:
At the end of the scene, he tells his audience they need to burn their backpacks. Get rid of everything holding you back.
For the Christian- particularly an American Christian, I think- this holds great applicability. I'm not talking about the 'burn-your-connections-to-people-part'.
I'm ONLY talking about the 'burn-your-connections-to-possessions'.
(Let me clarify quickly: DO NOT go light anything on fire, please.)
My family worries about money a lot, which is something I've never really worried about that much. It's just money, it's just stuff. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.
How many of you/your parents freak out when there's a car accident? How many of you/your parents would freak out if someone broke into your house and stole EVERYTHING YOU OWN?
If I were standing at the front of a classroom right now, I imagine I'd see lots of hands up.
Let's take a pause for a second to connect some dots, since I know this is a long one:
1) I started talking about finding your 'place' in the world.
2) Suddenly, I switched to talking about possessions and greed and money.
So, you're looking for your place and trying to define yourself. You define yourself with what you own and your appearance.
How many of us, if our houses burned down, would just shrug and say: 'Stuff happens.'
Maybe that's what we all need to learn to do!
Our over-attachment to material things is lulling us into a sleep so deep we have begun to lose connection with the single most important thing in our world: God Himself. We are practically comatose.
When Jesus sends out The Twelve in Matthew 10:9-10, he says:
"Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or staff; for the worker is worth his keep."
Jesus said in the Beatitudes that we should not worry because our Heavenly Father WILL PROVIDE FOR US.
Maybe we need to learn to let go of EVERYTHING and stop trying to define our lives. After all, if we gave our lives to God, and God has a destiny for us, won't He guide us to our place?
Maybe I just need to see where life- and by life, I mean my predestined life, ergo God- takes me instead of worrying about what my career will be. Maybe, if we stick to our own plans, we are building our own walls to keep us from getting to our place, so to speak.
So the next time something happens- a car accident, the house has to be fixed, a new medicine has to be bought- STOP THINKING IN TERMS OF COST. It's a necessity, so there's no point in being upset about it. You can't control it. It's out of your hands. Why worry about it? God will provide, always.
People- my friends, my family, everyone- matter to me, yes. In fact, almost everyone in my life matters more to me than they actually know. But if my laptop suddenly shut down and went completely dead, it's no big deal. If my iPod was stolen, it's no big deal. If my dog, whom I absolutely adore and love, was hit by a car...as sad as that is, it's nothing to get in the way of the pursuit of God. We have to learn to be willing to lose everything in order to gain the only thing we need.
It's not bad to have possessions, and it's not bad to like things. But you also have to be able to detach from them. They can't stop your life from moving.
To quote Switchfoot, 'We were meant to live for so much more!'
Maybe I'm a hypocrite. Maybe tomorrow, our house will burn down and I will have lost everything and I'll cry about it for days- maybe weeks. It's always easier to preach about something that hasn't happened yet, haha.
The only way we can find our niche- find satisfaction- is by giving up everything. Not in just the physical sense, but by learning to detach from earthly things knowing that we have been given something FAR GREATER: eternal life in Christ when this world ends.
We know we're in the right place when we are freed from the need to control things, in my opinion. By giving up control and accepting that things will happen, we will gain satisfaction.
Not happiness necessarily, but satisfaction- knowing we are in the RIGHT PLACE.
So tuck in your cloaks people, and be prepared. We've got to be ready for when God calls on us.
I'll wrap it up with one of my favorite quotes:
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo. Stepping out your front door. You step out into the world, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you'll be swept off to."
Be ready. Who knows, tomorrow you might be called to hop on a plane to Madagascar.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Teenagers
Teens today are under more pressure than ever.
Yeah, it's a cliched statement and one that is used every generation, but it's true. Teenagers today have to deal with much more than what they used to.
I guess this entry is kind of coming as a result of the 'finally-done-with-finals'feeling.
See, I can't tell you how many times my parents have been amazed at how much homework I have to do for classes in one night. And I'm in the dumb classes. I'm not someone who is in all AP courses, so the work load isn't from there.
Let's break down this education crisis:
America's schools are ranking pretty low these days, especially in high school graduations. Because America is being compared to countries like Japan an regularly being told they aren't making the cut, the American education system has made a dramatic leap forward in an attempt to 'catch up'. Their solution, essentially, has been 'work harder, faster, producing better results'. It's a flame burning so hot it can't sustain itself.
As American education boards are pressured into returning America to its 'rightful' status on the education totem pole, a chain reaction occurs.
1. The officials in the government see the 'score board' with other countries.
2. They frantically try to develop all kinds of programs to 'increase productivity'.
3. These programs are formed into laws/regulations for the state.
4. Once these laws/regulations are passed, the head of the school board starts to sweat
5. Mr. Head-of-School-Board stresses out, urging teachers to alter curriculum.
6. Teachers, worried about being good educators, attempt to make alterations.
7. This results in dramatic increases in work for the students.
8. And the students grades start to slip as they can't keep up with the 'demand'.
9. The parents see the falling grades, and having inherited the stress from up top...
10. They begin to pressure kids. Urging them, pushing them too hard.
11. Kids begin to have break downs.
As parents begin to lay on the pressure (which, admittedly, comes from a decent place- a desire for their child to succeed), something changes.
Want becomes need. The relationship breaks down. Teenage rebellion begins, and the cycle continues. It's a vicious two-edged sword.
The other day, one of the first days after school had ended, my mom asked me to go with her to go run some errands. Seeing as they were simple errands like mailing letters, I saw no need and got exasperated. I'd been dealing all year with people NEEDING things from me. As my parents got more stressed during the tight economy, I began to feel somewhat neglected and used only as 'free labor' in the house.
Anyway, I had had a frustrating day (how selfish does that sound?)when she asked this, and I complained and complained. And complained. And I told her I really didn't want to. And I practically started a fight over it.
Finally, I snapped, 'What do you need ME for?!'
My mom looked really upset for a second and just said, 'I wanted to spend some time with you is all.'
I felt like the worst person in the world. See, I had gotten so used to people NEEDING things from me, EXPECTING things from me, that I had just gotten to the point where I only saw people as what they expected of me.
After all the pressure that I had been under lately to do well in school, finish up work, prepare for my sister returning home, and helping around the house, it was just too much. I mean, it was like my head was going to explode. There was just too much to deal with.
So, when I realized that I wasn't needed, but WANTED, it caught me off guard.
Being 'wanted' and 'needed' are two VERY different things.
'Need' seems to imply a selfishness. Even on TV in those goofy, overly-dramatic romance shows, when a person said 'I need you' it was all about them, not you. But being told you are wanted and accepted where you are is something vastly separate.
My generation has gotten to the point where we only feel 'needed', not wanted. This is no one's fault intentionally. It is the atmosphere that has been created. We only feel that we are 'required' to meet certain expectations.
If someone asked you, right now, 'what do your parents want you to do?', you could come up with a million answers.
- Get good grades.
- Help out at home.
- Manage time effectively 100% of the time.
- Etc.
And that's just because of what atmosphere has been cultivated in America. As children get older, there's something that happens where we begin to feel like our parents see us as nothing more than hindrances and inconveniences. We try to sort of stay out of the way, lay low.
It's all this pressure that is breaking up families and ruining relationships between parents and children.
But here's the worst part: it doesn't end there. As our parents pressure us and we begin to feel like we just have to meet every expectation, we begin to feel UNWANTED. Not in the abandoned sort of way, but in a pervasive feeling that encourages us to 'lay low and not be a bother'.
And as teens let that attitude sink in, something else sinks in.
Teens begin to feel unimportant and insignificant. This feeling encourages acting out. We begin to feel like nothing we do matters.
And THAT is how you get the apathetic teenager of today.
At one point in Ethics during the year, one of the kids in my class said something along the lines of (and I paraphrase here):
"I mean, come on guys, what are the chances anyone here is going to actually do something that matters?"
When I heard that, that just killed me. It wasn't laziness or anything on our part that had made us feel this way. It was what the world had beaten into us.
I like John Mayer a lot. I think he's a terrific artist, mainly because he can play guitar insanely well. But a lot of times, I don't agree with his messages in his songs.
How about 'Waiting On The World To Change'?
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood.
They say we stand for nothin' and
There's no way we ever could.
Now we see everything that's goin' wrong
With the world and those who lead it.
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it.
So we keep waiting.
Waiting on the world to change.
It's not that we don't care
We just know that the fight ain't fair.
So we keep waiting.
Waiting on the world to change.
John Mayer hits the nail on the head, and I think he does it unintentionally. This is how teenagers have come to feel, evidenced by what my class mate said.
Multiple times this week on Facebook, I've seen posts from upset friends about how their families are telling them they aren't 'doing it right' or 'doing it well enough'. Their parents are unintentionally telling them they are worthless failures, because they are not succeeding in what they 'need' to do.
This is leading to a generation of apathetic, self-loathing Christian teens. If teens can't understand how a relationship with a parent is supposed to work, how can they even begin to understand the love in their relationship with the Father himself?
No parent actually wants to upset or pressure their child. Parents just want what is best. But as American culture tries to stay 'the best' at everything, this pressure is going to lead to the self-destructive behavior we see today, the rebellion.
Joss Whedon unintentionally blasts a hole in Atheistic world views in one of the lines from his show Angel. Angel, after having dealt with what was essentially an existential crisis, says:
"I guess I finally just realized that nothing we do matters."
"Well, don't you have a cheery outlook on life?"
"Let me finish. I guess, what I'm trying to say is...if there is no higher power, no higher calling...no grand plan...If nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do. The smallest act of kindness can have such an impact on someone's life."
Back to the quote from my classmate.
So, if none of us will ever accomplish anything in actuality, then the only things that matter about our lives are what we do.
I am in no way implying my friend was coming from an Athiestic view. In fact, I have no doubt in my mind she is a Christian. But the world has done such a thorough job through this 'pressure method' at teaching us we don't matter.
I wanted to talk to her later on. I've always been a big believer that everyone God has chosen has a big destiny. Not big in the sense that we understand big, but big.
The metaphor for actions is usually the cliche one about dropping a stone into a pond.
I think, that since everything is predestined (obviously, I'm a Calvinist, haha), it's like dumping one of those massive, plastic jugs filled with spare change into a pond. Billions of individual coins striking the water and sending out waves in circular patterns. Since the coins will mostly hit the water at the same time, the ripples begin to collide, forming new waves that spread farther.
All from one coin.
If you don't get the metaphor...Fine, I guess I'll go into it. The pond is the physical, fallen world. Each coin is a person. When that person enters the world and begins making choices or doing ANYTHING, it affects other people and their actions.
My point is: Everyone affects everyone.
The Apostle Paul talked about the body of Christ being made up of many parts, none more valuable than the others. It's SO true. That's how actions work in this world. And that's what makes life life.
The pressure, the strain that teenagers feel (remember that from WAY earlier in the entry?) is transmitted in the exact same way. And very quickly, we forget we are 'wanted' and loved and begin to feel only 'needed'.
"I just wanted to spend some time with you." See? We're all people, and we all want to be wanted. We don't want to only be needed, though there is a place for that. That's the crazy confusing thing about God. That's why he's called the Father. He doesn't NEED us, he WANTS us. He wants what is best for us, like a parent, so He gave us the Bible. But he pursues us! We don't pursue him.
All about that imagery of the church being God's bride, that he is courting and 'wooing' her.
Teenagers are an amazingly powerful force, which is why I think Satan tries to separate us from our parents. Our passion and drive, when not being beaten away by the pressures of society, make us a deadly weapon. If parents and teens could get rid of this pressure, this feeling of expectations, it would be incredible how the world would change. I'm not saying abolish the Fifth Commandment at all.
What I'm saying, I guess, is keep the respect and the real responsibility and get rid of all this cultural junk that is separating you from your parents.
It would be a WASD entry without a superhero reference, so here we go: Parents and teens are like the Wonder Twins. Now, I've never really liked the Wonder Twins, but that's not the point. Separate, they do much more harm than good. Together, they are a powerful, unionized force that is capable of bringing great change.
Hey, teenagers got the '70s goin'. Just think of what would happen if teenagers and adults worked together?
God bless.
PS- I really hope that made sense in some form or another. It's late and I'm tired.
Yeah, it's a cliched statement and one that is used every generation, but it's true. Teenagers today have to deal with much more than what they used to.
I guess this entry is kind of coming as a result of the 'finally-done-with-finals'feeling.
See, I can't tell you how many times my parents have been amazed at how much homework I have to do for classes in one night. And I'm in the dumb classes. I'm not someone who is in all AP courses, so the work load isn't from there.
Let's break down this education crisis:
America's schools are ranking pretty low these days, especially in high school graduations. Because America is being compared to countries like Japan an regularly being told they aren't making the cut, the American education system has made a dramatic leap forward in an attempt to 'catch up'. Their solution, essentially, has been 'work harder, faster, producing better results'. It's a flame burning so hot it can't sustain itself.
As American education boards are pressured into returning America to its 'rightful' status on the education totem pole, a chain reaction occurs.
1. The officials in the government see the 'score board' with other countries.
2. They frantically try to develop all kinds of programs to 'increase productivity'.
3. These programs are formed into laws/regulations for the state.
4. Once these laws/regulations are passed, the head of the school board starts to sweat
5. Mr. Head-of-School-Board stresses out, urging teachers to alter curriculum.
6. Teachers, worried about being good educators, attempt to make alterations.
7. This results in dramatic increases in work for the students.
8. And the students grades start to slip as they can't keep up with the 'demand'.
9. The parents see the falling grades, and having inherited the stress from up top...
10. They begin to pressure kids. Urging them, pushing them too hard.
11. Kids begin to have break downs.
As parents begin to lay on the pressure (which, admittedly, comes from a decent place- a desire for their child to succeed), something changes.
Want becomes need. The relationship breaks down. Teenage rebellion begins, and the cycle continues. It's a vicious two-edged sword.
The other day, one of the first days after school had ended, my mom asked me to go with her to go run some errands. Seeing as they were simple errands like mailing letters, I saw no need and got exasperated. I'd been dealing all year with people NEEDING things from me. As my parents got more stressed during the tight economy, I began to feel somewhat neglected and used only as 'free labor' in the house.
Anyway, I had had a frustrating day (how selfish does that sound?)when she asked this, and I complained and complained. And complained. And I told her I really didn't want to. And I practically started a fight over it.
Finally, I snapped, 'What do you need ME for?!'
My mom looked really upset for a second and just said, 'I wanted to spend some time with you is all.'
I felt like the worst person in the world. See, I had gotten so used to people NEEDING things from me, EXPECTING things from me, that I had just gotten to the point where I only saw people as what they expected of me.
After all the pressure that I had been under lately to do well in school, finish up work, prepare for my sister returning home, and helping around the house, it was just too much. I mean, it was like my head was going to explode. There was just too much to deal with.
So, when I realized that I wasn't needed, but WANTED, it caught me off guard.
Being 'wanted' and 'needed' are two VERY different things.
'Need' seems to imply a selfishness. Even on TV in those goofy, overly-dramatic romance shows, when a person said 'I need you' it was all about them, not you. But being told you are wanted and accepted where you are is something vastly separate.
My generation has gotten to the point where we only feel 'needed', not wanted. This is no one's fault intentionally. It is the atmosphere that has been created. We only feel that we are 'required' to meet certain expectations.
If someone asked you, right now, 'what do your parents want you to do?', you could come up with a million answers.
- Get good grades.
- Help out at home.
- Manage time effectively 100% of the time.
- Etc.
And that's just because of what atmosphere has been cultivated in America. As children get older, there's something that happens where we begin to feel like our parents see us as nothing more than hindrances and inconveniences. We try to sort of stay out of the way, lay low.
It's all this pressure that is breaking up families and ruining relationships between parents and children.
But here's the worst part: it doesn't end there. As our parents pressure us and we begin to feel like we just have to meet every expectation, we begin to feel UNWANTED. Not in the abandoned sort of way, but in a pervasive feeling that encourages us to 'lay low and not be a bother'.
And as teens let that attitude sink in, something else sinks in.
Teens begin to feel unimportant and insignificant. This feeling encourages acting out. We begin to feel like nothing we do matters.
And THAT is how you get the apathetic teenager of today.
At one point in Ethics during the year, one of the kids in my class said something along the lines of (and I paraphrase here):
"I mean, come on guys, what are the chances anyone here is going to actually do something that matters?"
When I heard that, that just killed me. It wasn't laziness or anything on our part that had made us feel this way. It was what the world had beaten into us.
I like John Mayer a lot. I think he's a terrific artist, mainly because he can play guitar insanely well. But a lot of times, I don't agree with his messages in his songs.
How about 'Waiting On The World To Change'?
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood.
They say we stand for nothin' and
There's no way we ever could.
Now we see everything that's goin' wrong
With the world and those who lead it.
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it.
So we keep waiting.
Waiting on the world to change.
It's not that we don't care
We just know that the fight ain't fair.
So we keep waiting.
Waiting on the world to change.
John Mayer hits the nail on the head, and I think he does it unintentionally. This is how teenagers have come to feel, evidenced by what my class mate said.
Multiple times this week on Facebook, I've seen posts from upset friends about how their families are telling them they aren't 'doing it right' or 'doing it well enough'. Their parents are unintentionally telling them they are worthless failures, because they are not succeeding in what they 'need' to do.
This is leading to a generation of apathetic, self-loathing Christian teens. If teens can't understand how a relationship with a parent is supposed to work, how can they even begin to understand the love in their relationship with the Father himself?
No parent actually wants to upset or pressure their child. Parents just want what is best. But as American culture tries to stay 'the best' at everything, this pressure is going to lead to the self-destructive behavior we see today, the rebellion.
Joss Whedon unintentionally blasts a hole in Atheistic world views in one of the lines from his show Angel. Angel, after having dealt with what was essentially an existential crisis, says:
"I guess I finally just realized that nothing we do matters."
"Well, don't you have a cheery outlook on life?"
"Let me finish. I guess, what I'm trying to say is...if there is no higher power, no higher calling...no grand plan...If nothing we do matters, then the only thing that matters is what we do. The smallest act of kindness can have such an impact on someone's life."
Back to the quote from my classmate.
So, if none of us will ever accomplish anything in actuality, then the only things that matter about our lives are what we do.
I am in no way implying my friend was coming from an Athiestic view. In fact, I have no doubt in my mind she is a Christian. But the world has done such a thorough job through this 'pressure method' at teaching us we don't matter.
I wanted to talk to her later on. I've always been a big believer that everyone God has chosen has a big destiny. Not big in the sense that we understand big, but big.
The metaphor for actions is usually the cliche one about dropping a stone into a pond.
I think, that since everything is predestined (obviously, I'm a Calvinist, haha), it's like dumping one of those massive, plastic jugs filled with spare change into a pond. Billions of individual coins striking the water and sending out waves in circular patterns. Since the coins will mostly hit the water at the same time, the ripples begin to collide, forming new waves that spread farther.
All from one coin.
If you don't get the metaphor...Fine, I guess I'll go into it. The pond is the physical, fallen world. Each coin is a person. When that person enters the world and begins making choices or doing ANYTHING, it affects other people and their actions.
My point is: Everyone affects everyone.
The Apostle Paul talked about the body of Christ being made up of many parts, none more valuable than the others. It's SO true. That's how actions work in this world. And that's what makes life life.
The pressure, the strain that teenagers feel (remember that from WAY earlier in the entry?) is transmitted in the exact same way. And very quickly, we forget we are 'wanted' and loved and begin to feel only 'needed'.
"I just wanted to spend some time with you." See? We're all people, and we all want to be wanted. We don't want to only be needed, though there is a place for that. That's the crazy confusing thing about God. That's why he's called the Father. He doesn't NEED us, he WANTS us. He wants what is best for us, like a parent, so He gave us the Bible. But he pursues us! We don't pursue him.
All about that imagery of the church being God's bride, that he is courting and 'wooing' her.
Teenagers are an amazingly powerful force, which is why I think Satan tries to separate us from our parents. Our passion and drive, when not being beaten away by the pressures of society, make us a deadly weapon. If parents and teens could get rid of this pressure, this feeling of expectations, it would be incredible how the world would change. I'm not saying abolish the Fifth Commandment at all.
What I'm saying, I guess, is keep the respect and the real responsibility and get rid of all this cultural junk that is separating you from your parents.
It would be a WASD entry without a superhero reference, so here we go: Parents and teens are like the Wonder Twins. Now, I've never really liked the Wonder Twins, but that's not the point. Separate, they do much more harm than good. Together, they are a powerful, unionized force that is capable of bringing great change.
Hey, teenagers got the '70s goin'. Just think of what would happen if teenagers and adults worked together?
God bless.
PS- I really hope that made sense in some form or another. It's late and I'm tired.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Monster!
*If I were a monster, would you wince when you looked at me? If I were a freak, would you stare? If I were leper, would you say, 'Unclean!'? And if I was lost, would you help me get free?* -Monster, The Almost
"I've always felt like there was this darkness inside of me just fighting to get out."- Davis Bloome, Smallville
I had a dream once that really freaked me out. It was through my eyes, but I was watching it like I was on the outside as well. It was this dream where, I guess, I was evil. One of the worst nightmares I've ever had. I don't like to think about it much, but I make myself every once in a while.
Anyway, the worst part about the dream was that it followed the typical routine of my day. So, I watched 'me' go through a school day/weekend without any conscience. Then, when I went BACK to sleep, I had a dream of a 30 year old me being hunted by the FBI. Definitely not a restful night of sleep. It felt so logical, so... realistic.
Very realistic. It didn't have that quality of bizarre-ness that usually accompanies dreaming. It all seemed very possible.
When I woke up, I thought about it a lot. I asked myself, 'What would I do if I could get away with it? What if I didn't care about God or any form of morals? What would it be like to go through a day without any inhibition, following only my own selfish whims?'
I realized that if there were no repercussions, I would have done almost everything in my dream.
And that scared the hell out of me.
When I say 'no repercussions', I don't just mean not caring about following the Bible. Because we all have an inherent system of Ethics imbued in our souls. Let me explain.
God created the world, right?
And when He created it, He made it perfect. Without sin. Meaning we started as perfect.
So, since we are made in God's image, we are imbued with an inherent sense of right-and-wrong that we feel even when we are very young. We get mad when someone breaks the rules, because that's wrong. We don't know WHY we get mad, but we do.
So, humans started as pure and good, but sin has contaminated so thoroughly this physical realm that we are born sinful AND born into sin.
So, here's my point:
Sin is alien. Sin is foreign. It shouldn't be.
Imagine two beakers. One is full of water. The other is full of a chemical. Now, imagine pouring the beaker of chemicals into the glass of water. Watch as the chemicals react negatively with the water, and the water is overtaken and transformed into something dangerous and wrong. It becomes an entirely new substance, no longer water at all. It USED to be water, but it's not now.
The chemical disperses so thoroughly within the water that it mixes completely. The new liquid in the glass isn't water or chemical. It's NOT a hybrid. It's something new that has been created by the introduction of something foreign. Like oil and water.
In this metaphor, water is our essence. The chemical is sin.
Our sin transforms us into something ugly. Something WRONG. We are NOT what we are supposed to be.
I don't think it's a stretch to say we will be almost entirely different when all things are made new. Because our sin, this constant tug-of-war between what remains of our perfect nature and the sin nature that contaminates dictates our personalities in this world.
The band RED very accurately hits this idea on the head with their song 'Fight Inside'.
*Enemy, familiar friend.
My beginning and my end.
Knowing truth.
Whispering lies.
And it hurts again.
What I feel.
What I try.
Words I say.
Words I hide.
All the pain, I want it to end.
But I want it again.
And it finds me.
The fight inside is raging in me again.*
They also accurately portray this idea in their song 'Death of Me', in which they sing about Christians being their own worst enemies. Check out the music video:
Joss Whedon, in his show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, created the most metaphorical version of vampires for his story. In Buffy, a vampire is a demon that takes the place of the human soul within a person, effectively destroying that soul. Sinful essence in a body representing normalcy.
To be even more metaphorical, Joss created the character Angel- a vampire who has had his soul restored to him. He is tormented by guilt and desperately trying to atone for his actions when he was controlled by the demon. Now, Angel is just a good guy with unfortunate dietary constraints and a non-beating heart.
The points is, we all have incredible potential for evil and incredible potential for good.
So what is it that holds us back from acting on every sinful whim?
It's that little voice inside our heads, right?
That voice is what remains of our original perfect nature crying out to us. The voice is trying to explain that things are not right.
But that voice can't defeat sin if all we do is act on it.
See, we need to accept Christ. Accepting Christ equips us with the weapons to fight back against this sin nature. If we try to do the right thing and do not seek Christ or follow His methods, we will fall to our sinful nature. That's how the world works.
Fortunately, Christ doesn't just give us the tools to do so after we accept Him. He jumps in and fights the battle for us, protecting us while simultaneously battling the darkness within our own souls.
Skillet, with their album 'Awake', accurately portrays these two aspects of spiritual conflict with the first two songs on their album. The second song on the album should be listened to first. It's the song 'Monster'. Then, go back to the first song and listen to the song 'Hero'.
Obviously, this is a popular theme with Christian musicians.
Ted Dekker is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of his 'short stories' of sorts he posted on his blog I found particularly relevant:
"I always wondered why babies cry when I walk by, and now I know. I am a beast.
You ask me how I know. You see, I was walking through a beautiful forest on a Sunday afternoon stroll when a horrible snort sounded in the bushes to my right. I whirled and came face to face with an enormous hairy boar with two red eyes and long bloodied tusks.
I couldn’t move. But when the boar charged I managed to uproot my feet and run. Through the brush, over rocks, leaping ditches—I don’t remember because panic had shut down my mind.
Blind with that terror, I ran straight into a small canyon and pulled up hard at the base of a cliff. I could hear the beast’s snorting behind and I knew that my back would be pierced by those tusks. When I spun to face it, the boar slid to a glaring stop, a ferocious sight that turned me to ice.
It grunted once and charged, and I lost my mind to fear. I screamed bloody murder and threw myself directly for it, perhaps with a desperate hope it would turn and flee.
It did not flee. It took me head on.
But instead of smashing into those bloodied tusks, I crashed into mirrored glass that shattered and fell to the ground. I stood panting. The boar was gone. The only blood was on my forearms, where the mirror had cut me.
So you see, that is how I know that I am a beast."
---Ted Dekker, 'The Boar'
We all have potential for evil. Each and every one of us could have been Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. We see murderers, thieves, and rapists on TV and seperate ourselves from them. We say, 'They are worse than us. Below us.'
We all could be that person. For those of us who aren't, it's by the amazing grace of God.
No murderer is born a murderer, and no rapist is born a rapist. They are born just like you and me. But something in their life happened that pushed their conscience away entirely. Under different circumstances, that could have been anyone. It's like some kind of sick, twisted equation:
Broken world + sin nature of humans x circumstance= result.
We've all got this monster inside of us. Christians are no exception. That's the tricky thing about free will- it provides both the potential for amazing good or great evil. Yet God gave it to us anyway.
This is why God is incredible- because His love is UNCONDITIONAL. He loves all He has created, no matter what. God only hates sins- he does not hate sinners. God doesn't hate gays- he hates the sin of homosexuality that these people struggle with. God doesn't hate 'whores'- he hates the insecurity and fear that leads a girl to such actions.
People are not their sin. There are no 'gays'. There are people who struggle with homosexuality. There are no 'whores'. There are people who struggle with self-esteem. Their are no 'emos'. There are people who suffer with depression and self-loathing.
The call of the Christian- and consequently, one of the biggest challenges- is to look at people and see beyond their sin. Hate their actions, not them.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say here, but I have one last quote that will wrap it up:
"Pity? It is a pity the ring ever came to him (Gollum) at all. Gollum loves and hates the ring, as he loves and hates himself. Do not be too quick to offer up death in judgment, Frodo."- Gandalf
God bless.
"I've always felt like there was this darkness inside of me just fighting to get out."- Davis Bloome, Smallville
I had a dream once that really freaked me out. It was through my eyes, but I was watching it like I was on the outside as well. It was this dream where, I guess, I was evil. One of the worst nightmares I've ever had. I don't like to think about it much, but I make myself every once in a while.
Anyway, the worst part about the dream was that it followed the typical routine of my day. So, I watched 'me' go through a school day/weekend without any conscience. Then, when I went BACK to sleep, I had a dream of a 30 year old me being hunted by the FBI. Definitely not a restful night of sleep. It felt so logical, so... realistic.
Very realistic. It didn't have that quality of bizarre-ness that usually accompanies dreaming. It all seemed very possible.
When I woke up, I thought about it a lot. I asked myself, 'What would I do if I could get away with it? What if I didn't care about God or any form of morals? What would it be like to go through a day without any inhibition, following only my own selfish whims?'
I realized that if there were no repercussions, I would have done almost everything in my dream.
And that scared the hell out of me.
When I say 'no repercussions', I don't just mean not caring about following the Bible. Because we all have an inherent system of Ethics imbued in our souls. Let me explain.
God created the world, right?
And when He created it, He made it perfect. Without sin. Meaning we started as perfect.
So, since we are made in God's image, we are imbued with an inherent sense of right-and-wrong that we feel even when we are very young. We get mad when someone breaks the rules, because that's wrong. We don't know WHY we get mad, but we do.
So, humans started as pure and good, but sin has contaminated so thoroughly this physical realm that we are born sinful AND born into sin.
So, here's my point:
Sin is alien. Sin is foreign. It shouldn't be.
Imagine two beakers. One is full of water. The other is full of a chemical. Now, imagine pouring the beaker of chemicals into the glass of water. Watch as the chemicals react negatively with the water, and the water is overtaken and transformed into something dangerous and wrong. It becomes an entirely new substance, no longer water at all. It USED to be water, but it's not now.
The chemical disperses so thoroughly within the water that it mixes completely. The new liquid in the glass isn't water or chemical. It's NOT a hybrid. It's something new that has been created by the introduction of something foreign. Like oil and water.
In this metaphor, water is our essence. The chemical is sin.
Our sin transforms us into something ugly. Something WRONG. We are NOT what we are supposed to be.
I don't think it's a stretch to say we will be almost entirely different when all things are made new. Because our sin, this constant tug-of-war between what remains of our perfect nature and the sin nature that contaminates dictates our personalities in this world.
The band RED very accurately hits this idea on the head with their song 'Fight Inside'.
*Enemy, familiar friend.
My beginning and my end.
Knowing truth.
Whispering lies.
And it hurts again.
What I feel.
What I try.
Words I say.
Words I hide.
All the pain, I want it to end.
But I want it again.
And it finds me.
The fight inside is raging in me again.*
They also accurately portray this idea in their song 'Death of Me', in which they sing about Christians being their own worst enemies. Check out the music video:
Joss Whedon, in his show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, created the most metaphorical version of vampires for his story. In Buffy, a vampire is a demon that takes the place of the human soul within a person, effectively destroying that soul. Sinful essence in a body representing normalcy.
To be even more metaphorical, Joss created the character Angel- a vampire who has had his soul restored to him. He is tormented by guilt and desperately trying to atone for his actions when he was controlled by the demon. Now, Angel is just a good guy with unfortunate dietary constraints and a non-beating heart.
The points is, we all have incredible potential for evil and incredible potential for good.
So what is it that holds us back from acting on every sinful whim?
It's that little voice inside our heads, right?
That voice is what remains of our original perfect nature crying out to us. The voice is trying to explain that things are not right.
But that voice can't defeat sin if all we do is act on it.
See, we need to accept Christ. Accepting Christ equips us with the weapons to fight back against this sin nature. If we try to do the right thing and do not seek Christ or follow His methods, we will fall to our sinful nature. That's how the world works.
Fortunately, Christ doesn't just give us the tools to do so after we accept Him. He jumps in and fights the battle for us, protecting us while simultaneously battling the darkness within our own souls.
Skillet, with their album 'Awake', accurately portrays these two aspects of spiritual conflict with the first two songs on their album. The second song on the album should be listened to first. It's the song 'Monster'. Then, go back to the first song and listen to the song 'Hero'.
Obviously, this is a popular theme with Christian musicians.
Ted Dekker is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of his 'short stories' of sorts he posted on his blog I found particularly relevant:
"I always wondered why babies cry when I walk by, and now I know. I am a beast.
You ask me how I know. You see, I was walking through a beautiful forest on a Sunday afternoon stroll when a horrible snort sounded in the bushes to my right. I whirled and came face to face with an enormous hairy boar with two red eyes and long bloodied tusks.
I couldn’t move. But when the boar charged I managed to uproot my feet and run. Through the brush, over rocks, leaping ditches—I don’t remember because panic had shut down my mind.
Blind with that terror, I ran straight into a small canyon and pulled up hard at the base of a cliff. I could hear the beast’s snorting behind and I knew that my back would be pierced by those tusks. When I spun to face it, the boar slid to a glaring stop, a ferocious sight that turned me to ice.
It grunted once and charged, and I lost my mind to fear. I screamed bloody murder and threw myself directly for it, perhaps with a desperate hope it would turn and flee.
It did not flee. It took me head on.
But instead of smashing into those bloodied tusks, I crashed into mirrored glass that shattered and fell to the ground. I stood panting. The boar was gone. The only blood was on my forearms, where the mirror had cut me.
So you see, that is how I know that I am a beast."
---Ted Dekker, 'The Boar'
We all have potential for evil. Each and every one of us could have been Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. We see murderers, thieves, and rapists on TV and seperate ourselves from them. We say, 'They are worse than us. Below us.'
We all could be that person. For those of us who aren't, it's by the amazing grace of God.
No murderer is born a murderer, and no rapist is born a rapist. They are born just like you and me. But something in their life happened that pushed their conscience away entirely. Under different circumstances, that could have been anyone. It's like some kind of sick, twisted equation:
Broken world + sin nature of humans x circumstance= result.
We've all got this monster inside of us. Christians are no exception. That's the tricky thing about free will- it provides both the potential for amazing good or great evil. Yet God gave it to us anyway.
This is why God is incredible- because His love is UNCONDITIONAL. He loves all He has created, no matter what. God only hates sins- he does not hate sinners. God doesn't hate gays- he hates the sin of homosexuality that these people struggle with. God doesn't hate 'whores'- he hates the insecurity and fear that leads a girl to such actions.
People are not their sin. There are no 'gays'. There are people who struggle with homosexuality. There are no 'whores'. There are people who struggle with self-esteem. Their are no 'emos'. There are people who suffer with depression and self-loathing.
The call of the Christian- and consequently, one of the biggest challenges- is to look at people and see beyond their sin. Hate their actions, not them.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say here, but I have one last quote that will wrap it up:
"Pity? It is a pity the ring ever came to him (Gollum) at all. Gollum loves and hates the ring, as he loves and hates himself. Do not be too quick to offer up death in judgment, Frodo."- Gandalf
God bless.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The American Dream
One of my teachers once said to my class:
"Why are you guys here in this class today?"
Everyone responded, "'Cause we have to be."
"Why?" he asked.
"So we can graduate," everyone agreed.
"Why do you want to graduate?"
"So we can go to college."
"Why do you want to go to college?"
"So we can graduate and get a good job."
"Why do you want a good job?"
"So we can... umm...ya know."
He summed it up in a way that really spoke to me. He said that the reason we want this is 'because society and our American culture has taught us this is what you must do so that in the end you can have a white-picket fence life with a beautiful wife, two kids, and a dog'. Granted, I'm paraphrasing from memory, but he did use the picket fence line.
He then told us that we shouldn't let our grade in his class control our life in his class. He wanted us to learn, or at least participate, even if we ended up not getting a good grade. He said that even if we failed the class, it wasn't the end of the world.
How very Dead-Poet's-Society-Mister-Keeting.
Moving on. Lately, I've been insanely busy with work from both Sophmore year and make-up work from Freshman year. And I've just asked myself, 'what's the point? What do I want to do with my life?'
Toby Mac, in his song Lose My Soul, says:
"Why are you guys here in this class today?"
Everyone responded, "'Cause we have to be."
"Why?" he asked.
"So we can graduate," everyone agreed.
"Why do you want to graduate?"
"So we can go to college."
"Why do you want to go to college?"
"So we can graduate and get a good job."
"Why do you want a good job?"
"So we can... umm...ya know."
He summed it up in a way that really spoke to me. He said that the reason we want this is 'because society and our American culture has taught us this is what you must do so that in the end you can have a white-picket fence life with a beautiful wife, two kids, and a dog'. Granted, I'm paraphrasing from memory, but he did use the picket fence line.
He then told us that we shouldn't let our grade in his class control our life in his class. He wanted us to learn, or at least participate, even if we ended up not getting a good grade. He said that even if we failed the class, it wasn't the end of the world.
How very Dead-Poet's-Society-Mister-Keeting.
Moving on. Lately, I've been insanely busy with work from both Sophmore year and make-up work from Freshman year. And I've just asked myself, 'what's the point? What do I want to do with my life?'
Toby Mac, in his song Lose My Soul, says:
*Yeah, I wanna be a daddy who's in the mix.
I wanna be a husband who stays legit.
I pray I'll be an artist who rises above
the road that is wide and filled with self love.*
I wanna be a husband who stays legit.
I pray I'll be an artist who rises above
the road that is wide and filled with self love.*
I've been thinking about college. And I just feel like... I need to be OUT THERE. IN the world, not studying away so that I can be happy. Many people will say that in order to be able to actually contribute and help the world you need to have the knowledge and skill of a college degree; it's a common consensus that you must be 'well-rounded' in order to help change the world.
I agree, it's important to be well-rounded and knowledgeable.
But...Every time I think about going to college, I get this feeling it's going to lead me inevitably to the place I do not want to be.
I do not want to be the guy who settles down so he can live his life with his family, only looking after my families' and my own interest. There's this part of me that feels like if I conform to the American dream idea, I won't have any lasting impact on the world. I'll have an impact on people, but not the world.
In Switchfoot's song American Dream, they say:
I agree, it's important to be well-rounded and knowledgeable.
But...Every time I think about going to college, I get this feeling it's going to lead me inevitably to the place I do not want to be.
I do not want to be the guy who settles down so he can live his life with his family, only looking after my families' and my own interest. There's this part of me that feels like if I conform to the American dream idea, I won't have any lasting impact on the world. I'll have an impact on people, but not the world.
In Switchfoot's song American Dream, they say:
*This ain't my 'American Dream'.
I want to live and die
For bigger things.
I'm tired of fighting for just me!
This ain't MY 'American Dream'.*
I want to live and die
For bigger things.
I'm tired of fighting for just me!
This ain't MY 'American Dream'.*
I want to spread the Gospel and the word of Jesus. I want to help people! So, in thinking about my future, I've been thinking about careers:
My gift is in art. I want to glorify God with the gift He has given me. But I feel like I won't help spread His message if I become a comic book artist or work with PIXAR or another animation company. Could I have an impact on the life of others?
My other main gift is in writing- I have a passion for telling stories. This has also lead to screen-play writing and an interest in directing within the movie industry. I want to write books, directs films, help out with them, act, etc. Story is SUCH a powerful thing, especially today.
I love music- more specifically, singing. I'm not boasting when I say that I'm a decent singer. Musicians are the philosophers of today and Christian musicians have an incredible reach within our community to encourage other Christians to take action.
I want to protect people and save people. I could never be a doctor- but I've considered (and, yes, this is weird) the job of FBI profiler/psychologist. If I can help enforce our culture's laws (many of which are based on the 10 Commandments!), I want to! The human psyche and mind fascinates me. Maybe a prosecutor. I don't know.
After going through the things I have with an anxiety disorder and severe OCD, I want to help others who have dealt with that. I want to be a counselor. I want to help people who are hurting because I've felt that way.
I want to be a missionary of my own. I want to hitch-hike across America with nothing but a bag of a few necessities and the desire to deliver God's word. I want to have an experience like Don Miller when he lived for months within a homeless community among hippies. I want a REAL experience like that.
So, do you see all of those desires and emotions? And everyone else is just like me. Everyone has these feelings. I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I'll pursue art, maybe I'll pursue writing, maybe I'll pursue the criminal justice fields, maybe I pursue psychiatry. Maybe I'll go to Seminary and become a pastor.
But here is where the main point of this entry starts:
Thousands of people died in the earthquakes in Haiti. All around America, Christians are praying and the country is sending help in the form of the National Guard.
Here's my question: Why haven't we all bought plane tickets down to Haiti to help find people amongst the rubble? Why have we shaken our heads and said, 'That's a horrible tragedy. We should help!' and done nothing ourselves.
Yeah, yeah, regulations and laws of our culture.
I'm worried that if I go to college for the betterment of my future, I will lose this feeling, this yearning. I'm worried if I pursue my own interests instead of trying to help people, I will not be doing what I have been called to do as a Christian.
If you had asked me a few months ago what I wanted out of life, I would have told you:
House with a white picket fence, a wife, a job that makes good money that I enjoy, and two kids and a dog.
If you ask me now, I'd say:
I don't know.
I don't want to squander my artistic ability by ignoring it. It's a wonderful gift God has given me, and I should use it to honor Him! But if I end up working at one of my possible 'dream jobs', animating for comic books and publishing my own stuff, how will I contribute? The only thing people will see is my art. They might say, 'Wow, that's cool art.' But have I conveyed anything about God?
I guess, in the end, I'm torn between the careers I selfishly want to pursue and the careers I want to seek because I want to help the world.
In Smallville, (Let me guess: You just rolled your eyes because I'm making ANOTHER Smallville reference.) when Oliver Queen reveals to Lois Lane that he is the Green Arrow and then leaves her, he explains his reasoning thusly:
"There are more important things in this world than me and what I want...or what I love."
I find that quote so moving, because it just hits the note I'm trying to hit perfectly.
As the body of Christ, everyone is needed. Everyone is as important as everyone else. The body cannot function without hands. Ya know? So I understand that every job is needed, every occupation. But I just don't know what body part I fit in yet.
This may sound silly, but please don't laugh when I say what I'm about to say:
I want to be a superhero.
Not a spandex-wearing dude, no. I want to be someone who is making a major difference in the world without selling my soul to the views of any country's politics. I want the power to make a difference- whether by protecting people, sharing with them in their pain, or spreading the word of God.
Don't get me wrong: I still want what everyone wants- a loving family, a nice life with enough money not to have to worry, etc.
Obviously, I can't do any of this on my own. I need God to work through me. But I don't want to end my life knowing that the only people who will remember me in history are my friends and family. This isn't a hunger for greed or recognition- I just need to make a difference in the world somehow by using my gifts and my passions.
God put us on Earth for a reason. He will use His followers no matter what. But I don't want to waste my life worrying about grades in high school when there are people out there who are hurting and need love. The same applies for my thoughts on college, and then having a job later. Who cares about what your high-school diploma says? I need to interact and get to know my classmates and love them. I believe in working hard, but I refuse to allow school to influence my self-image. It's about how I interact with people, not about how well-written my essay on 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' was. I gave it my best. There's nothing else to say. My attention CANNOT be consumed by school, or I will lose my self to our culture's views and eventually lose my soul and individuality.
John the Baptist is one of my heroes. He's the guy who ate honey and grasshoppers while wearing a camel hair tunic. He was probably unshaven and hairy. And he stood in the middle of the streets and in the waters screaming God's message, proclaiming it loudly.
Lots of people will say you can't spread God's word without a 'proper education'. While I have the utmost respect for the educational system, especially Seminary. But when we're spreading the gospel, I think God is controlling what we say. God is using us as puppets in those moments. My friend Glen wrote a fantastic note on Facebook about his experience with this which I could not have endorsed more. He hit the nail on the head.
If you think you need to be smart or 'well-rounded' to help spread the Gospel, consider this: the disciples, and eventually the Apostles- lots of them started as fisherman. Not Pharisees. Not famous, intelligent teachers. They caught fish for a living. They were believers and understood their faith, but they weren't as 'well-rounded' as the Pharisees. They were rough around the edges.
In the Old Testament, there's the story of Balaam (spell check me on that one...) and his donkey. His donkey talks to him about God. A donkey is explaining the most important thing in the world to a human being.
David danced naked in the streets for God. If I did that, people would turn up their noses and say I was 'uncivilized'. Maybe that's what we need! David Crowder, in his song 'I Will Dance', asks his concert crowd to make a joyful noise and a loud noise. In the exact quote: "Not just a little itty-bitty quiet noise- a LOUD noise."
I don't care if I'm super-knowledgeable and well-rounded. I just want to be used to make a difference.
My gift is in art. I want to glorify God with the gift He has given me. But I feel like I won't help spread His message if I become a comic book artist or work with PIXAR or another animation company. Could I have an impact on the life of others?
My other main gift is in writing- I have a passion for telling stories. This has also lead to screen-play writing and an interest in directing within the movie industry. I want to write books, directs films, help out with them, act, etc. Story is SUCH a powerful thing, especially today.
I love music- more specifically, singing. I'm not boasting when I say that I'm a decent singer. Musicians are the philosophers of today and Christian musicians have an incredible reach within our community to encourage other Christians to take action.
I want to protect people and save people. I could never be a doctor- but I've considered (and, yes, this is weird) the job of FBI profiler/psychologist. If I can help enforce our culture's laws (many of which are based on the 10 Commandments!), I want to! The human psyche and mind fascinates me. Maybe a prosecutor. I don't know.
After going through the things I have with an anxiety disorder and severe OCD, I want to help others who have dealt with that. I want to be a counselor. I want to help people who are hurting because I've felt that way.
I want to be a missionary of my own. I want to hitch-hike across America with nothing but a bag of a few necessities and the desire to deliver God's word. I want to have an experience like Don Miller when he lived for months within a homeless community among hippies. I want a REAL experience like that.
So, do you see all of those desires and emotions? And everyone else is just like me. Everyone has these feelings. I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I'll pursue art, maybe I'll pursue writing, maybe I'll pursue the criminal justice fields, maybe I pursue psychiatry. Maybe I'll go to Seminary and become a pastor.
But here is where the main point of this entry starts:
Thousands of people died in the earthquakes in Haiti. All around America, Christians are praying and the country is sending help in the form of the National Guard.
Here's my question: Why haven't we all bought plane tickets down to Haiti to help find people amongst the rubble? Why have we shaken our heads and said, 'That's a horrible tragedy. We should help!' and done nothing ourselves.
Yeah, yeah, regulations and laws of our culture.
I'm worried that if I go to college for the betterment of my future, I will lose this feeling, this yearning. I'm worried if I pursue my own interests instead of trying to help people, I will not be doing what I have been called to do as a Christian.
If you had asked me a few months ago what I wanted out of life, I would have told you:
House with a white picket fence, a wife, a job that makes good money that I enjoy, and two kids and a dog.
If you ask me now, I'd say:
I don't know.
I don't want to squander my artistic ability by ignoring it. It's a wonderful gift God has given me, and I should use it to honor Him! But if I end up working at one of my possible 'dream jobs', animating for comic books and publishing my own stuff, how will I contribute? The only thing people will see is my art. They might say, 'Wow, that's cool art.' But have I conveyed anything about God?
I guess, in the end, I'm torn between the careers I selfishly want to pursue and the careers I want to seek because I want to help the world.
In Smallville, (Let me guess: You just rolled your eyes because I'm making ANOTHER Smallville reference.) when Oliver Queen reveals to Lois Lane that he is the Green Arrow and then leaves her, he explains his reasoning thusly:
"There are more important things in this world than me and what I want...or what I love."
I find that quote so moving, because it just hits the note I'm trying to hit perfectly.
As the body of Christ, everyone is needed. Everyone is as important as everyone else. The body cannot function without hands. Ya know? So I understand that every job is needed, every occupation. But I just don't know what body part I fit in yet.
This may sound silly, but please don't laugh when I say what I'm about to say:
I want to be a superhero.
Not a spandex-wearing dude, no. I want to be someone who is making a major difference in the world without selling my soul to the views of any country's politics. I want the power to make a difference- whether by protecting people, sharing with them in their pain, or spreading the word of God.
Don't get me wrong: I still want what everyone wants- a loving family, a nice life with enough money not to have to worry, etc.
Obviously, I can't do any of this on my own. I need God to work through me. But I don't want to end my life knowing that the only people who will remember me in history are my friends and family. This isn't a hunger for greed or recognition- I just need to make a difference in the world somehow by using my gifts and my passions.
God put us on Earth for a reason. He will use His followers no matter what. But I don't want to waste my life worrying about grades in high school when there are people out there who are hurting and need love. The same applies for my thoughts on college, and then having a job later. Who cares about what your high-school diploma says? I need to interact and get to know my classmates and love them. I believe in working hard, but I refuse to allow school to influence my self-image. It's about how I interact with people, not about how well-written my essay on 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' was. I gave it my best. There's nothing else to say. My attention CANNOT be consumed by school, or I will lose my self to our culture's views and eventually lose my soul and individuality.
John the Baptist is one of my heroes. He's the guy who ate honey and grasshoppers while wearing a camel hair tunic. He was probably unshaven and hairy. And he stood in the middle of the streets and in the waters screaming God's message, proclaiming it loudly.
Lots of people will say you can't spread God's word without a 'proper education'. While I have the utmost respect for the educational system, especially Seminary. But when we're spreading the gospel, I think God is controlling what we say. God is using us as puppets in those moments. My friend Glen wrote a fantastic note on Facebook about his experience with this which I could not have endorsed more. He hit the nail on the head.
If you think you need to be smart or 'well-rounded' to help spread the Gospel, consider this: the disciples, and eventually the Apostles- lots of them started as fisherman. Not Pharisees. Not famous, intelligent teachers. They caught fish for a living. They were believers and understood their faith, but they weren't as 'well-rounded' as the Pharisees. They were rough around the edges.
In the Old Testament, there's the story of Balaam (spell check me on that one...) and his donkey. His donkey talks to him about God. A donkey is explaining the most important thing in the world to a human being.
David danced naked in the streets for God. If I did that, people would turn up their noses and say I was 'uncivilized'. Maybe that's what we need! David Crowder, in his song 'I Will Dance', asks his concert crowd to make a joyful noise and a loud noise. In the exact quote: "Not just a little itty-bitty quiet noise- a LOUD noise."
I don't care if I'm super-knowledgeable and well-rounded. I just want to be used to make a difference.
*If you want to live life loud,
Throw your hands up!
If you want to scream and shout-
Let me hear ya!*
Throw your hands up!
If you want to scream and shout-
Let me hear ya!*
-Hawk Nelson
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Armor of God
"'In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might beware my power- Green Lantern's light!"- The Corps OathOne of the most well-known super heroes of the DC Comics universe is Green Lantern. Who is Green Lantern? Let me fill all of you non-nerds now.
The Green Lantern isn't one superhero. There's an entire Corps called (surprise, surprise) The Green Lantern Corps. Around the entire galaxy, the Guardians of the Universe select beings who display extreme will-power to be members of the Corps. The person receives a ring, takes the oath, and then becomes a Green Lantern. Using the ring, the Green Lantern channels their will power to make stuff with their mind.
So yeah. Anyway. Green Lantern. What's this got to do with anything?
A'ight. Well, in Ephesians 6:11-17, it says to put on the full armor of God. The fulls verse says:
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."
So, when we're saved by God, we've been given all the tools necessary to combat evil. However, we are not battling evil- God is. Here's what I mean:
In the Green Lantern story, the rings of power get their abilities to channel willpower from the Master Power Battery guarded by the spirit Ion. The weapons (the rings of power) were created by a force INFINITELY more powerful than the Green Lanterns. These weapons were then bestowed on the chosen warriors. The chosen warriors use this weapon to channel both their own will and the energy of the Master Power Battery.
It's kind of like the Bible, isn't it? I mean, God gave us His son for salvation and then gave us the Bible as well, which was also a weapon. God protects us and fights for us, but He also fights along side us. I might not be making my point well... Uh...
Anyway, in Green Lantern, the Lantern's are weak against the 'yellow impurity'. The yellow impurity (AKA Parallax) is known as the living embodiment of fear and doubt. The reason the Lantern's are weak to the color yellow is because if they allow fear/doubt to enter their 'constructs' (the things they make with their rings), they are vulnerable. I thought this was kind of like doubting God.
See, if we trust in God fully we are told we can move mountains. Says so in the Bible. Anyone with faith 'as small as a mustard seed' could move mountains.
The rings are basically the most powerful weapon in the DC Universe, stemming from possibly the ultimate power at the center. But when the Lantern's start forgetting about where their gifts- their rings- come from and believe that they are the source of their own power, they become susceptible to fear and doubt. And when fear and doubt enters the mind of a Lantern, they are officially vulnerable to the bad guys, who have figured out how to tap into the power of fear. They're called (surprise surprise) Yellow Lanterns.
Anyway, I'm thinking that doubt follows arrogance once we forget God is at the center. God was the source of the Apostle's miracles, and God is the source for our everyday strength. Without the gifts He has given us, we're nothing. At all. Seriously.
I guess in the end I'm making two points (albeit rather poorly):
1) God is the source of our 'power' (spiritual gifts, evangelizing) and is working through us. We aren't channeling God. God is using us!
2) Doubt and fear are natural, but they're pointless. They aren't a weakness, they are what create weaknesses.
See, this devo didn't have as much of a point now as it will, 'cause my next big devotions are gonna be based on the power of story. My primary examples are gonna be comic book characters, so I'll be using comics to make most of my points.
The Green Lantern isn't one superhero. There's an entire Corps called (surprise, surprise) The Green Lantern Corps. Around the entire galaxy, the Guardians of the Universe select beings who display extreme will-power to be members of the Corps. The person receives a ring, takes the oath, and then becomes a Green Lantern. Using the ring, the Green Lantern channels their will power to make stuff with their mind.
So yeah. Anyway. Green Lantern. What's this got to do with anything?
A'ight. Well, in Ephesians 6:11-17, it says to put on the full armor of God. The fulls verse says:
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."
So, when we're saved by God, we've been given all the tools necessary to combat evil. However, we are not battling evil- God is. Here's what I mean:
In the Green Lantern story, the rings of power get their abilities to channel willpower from the Master Power Battery guarded by the spirit Ion. The weapons (the rings of power) were created by a force INFINITELY more powerful than the Green Lanterns. These weapons were then bestowed on the chosen warriors. The chosen warriors use this weapon to channel both their own will and the energy of the Master Power Battery.
It's kind of like the Bible, isn't it? I mean, God gave us His son for salvation and then gave us the Bible as well, which was also a weapon. God protects us and fights for us, but He also fights along side us. I might not be making my point well... Uh...
Anyway, in Green Lantern, the Lantern's are weak against the 'yellow impurity'. The yellow impurity (AKA Parallax) is known as the living embodiment of fear and doubt. The reason the Lantern's are weak to the color yellow is because if they allow fear/doubt to enter their 'constructs' (the things they make with their rings), they are vulnerable. I thought this was kind of like doubting God.
See, if we trust in God fully we are told we can move mountains. Says so in the Bible. Anyone with faith 'as small as a mustard seed' could move mountains.
The rings are basically the most powerful weapon in the DC Universe, stemming from possibly the ultimate power at the center. But when the Lantern's start forgetting about where their gifts- their rings- come from and believe that they are the source of their own power, they become susceptible to fear and doubt. And when fear and doubt enters the mind of a Lantern, they are officially vulnerable to the bad guys, who have figured out how to tap into the power of fear. They're called (surprise surprise) Yellow Lanterns.
Anyway, I'm thinking that doubt follows arrogance once we forget God is at the center. God was the source of the Apostle's miracles, and God is the source for our everyday strength. Without the gifts He has given us, we're nothing. At all. Seriously.
I guess in the end I'm making two points (albeit rather poorly):
1) God is the source of our 'power' (spiritual gifts, evangelizing) and is working through us. We aren't channeling God. God is using us!
2) Doubt and fear are natural, but they're pointless. They aren't a weakness, they are what create weaknesses.
See, this devo didn't have as much of a point now as it will, 'cause my next big devotions are gonna be based on the power of story. My primary examples are gonna be comic book characters, so I'll be using comics to make most of my points.
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