Tonight at work, a doctoral student, Yalin Xin, came up to the counter with an older Chinese man. He told me he was giving him a tour of campus and wanted to introduce me to Pastor Peter Xu (pronounced "shu"). I shook his hand and tried to remember why I recognized that name. That's when I realized who he was. Pastor Xu is the founder of an Evangelical movement in China that meets in house churches. I first heard of him in my Church History class where we were assigned to read Back To Jerusalem. This is a man who underwent a great deal of persecution for what he believes even spending three years in a Chinese prison. As soon as I realized who I was meeting, I asked them to stay at the counter for a minute so I could go get Doris, one of my coworkers in the library. Doris was in my Church History class and I knew that she had done a fair amount of reading about the Back To Jerusalem movement. She was even more excited than I was. We got to spend 20 or 30 minutes talking with him while Yalin translated for is. It was quite an experience to meet someone who was so humble and actually wanted to take pictures with us. I thought I should be the one breaking out the camera. :-) Anywho, before long we started to have other people coming into the library and it was time to get back to work, but not before Pastor Xu prayed with us. It too was an amazing experience. His prayer was not a "canned" prayer, but was something truly heartfelt. I wish we could have spent more time with him, but I needed to get back to work and Pastor Xu wanted to look through all the books we had for sale to see if there was anything he'd like to buy.
It was a great way to sort of wrap up my very stressful and busy week. This week had really taken a toll on me and I was really starting to think that I was crazy for still being in school. But then I look at Pastor Xu. A man who has little formal theological training and speaks very little English, but has a faith deeper than I can imagine; and who even now was buying books that I had barely even glanced at. He is still striving to expand his education, and here I am complaining because I had a couple of small assignments and a test this week. I realized that I have been given an opportunity that many will never have. I need to be thanking God every day for this education He has provided for me and I must do my best not to waste it. Well, that's enough rambling for one night!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Death and Facebook
People sometimes think I'm a bit cold hearted or morbid when it comes to death. The reason is that my parents never sheltered me from death. I've been to more funerals than I can count. Most of them were for people I either didn't know or didn't know well. I was just there to run the sound and help out as needed setting up chairs and tables for the dinner afterwards. I will admit that I do enjoy the dinners after funerals. The food is usually awesome and it's a good chance to see people I might not have seen in quite a while. Plus, it's a good ministry to those who don't have a church home and may not be Christians. Because I've been around so many, I've even had ideas of what I'd like done at my funeral if I were to die suddenly by getting hit by a Mack truck. I also know that if I were to know my last meal were coming I'd want a milkshake from Fair Oaks Dairy. Ok, so this is a bit morbid, but death is a part of life and you can't escape it. Social network sites make it particularly hard to escape the death of a loved one.
I've had a Facebook account now for somewhere around a year now. It's something I got only grudgingly and mostly because my sister kept harassing me to do it. Part of the motivation was that I knew I would be moving soon and figured it would be a good way to keep in touch with friends since many of them were on FB already. Facebook has a feature where it looks at your profile and friends list and makes suggestions of other people you may know. Initially, almost all of my friends on FB were from Northside so it started guessing other people from NS that I might know. One of those was Rodney, one of my closest friends. This creeped me out a bit because Lil' Rod had died almost 2 years before I signed up for FB. One of his sisters keeps up with his account so that people can still friend him so I would see others I knew becoming FB friends with him.
The weird thing is that they weren't becoming friends with him, but with his account. After almost a year, I finally friended Rodney and let me tell you, it's kind of weird. People still tag him in old pictures they post, people still write notes on his wall, in some ways he still seems to be alive. It's kind of like visiting a grave or making something in memory of a person, but far more interactive and social. This was the only experience I'd had with something like this until quite recently.
About a month ago, two of our international students at Asbury died tragically in a car wreck. I didn't know the passenger, but I did know the driver, Charles. Charles and his wife, Elizabeth, often came to the library in the evenings for a little while to use the computers or to borrow a projector to watch movies on the weekend. Over the course of the school year, I got to know them a bit better. Charles friended me on Facebook and I got to see pictures from their wedding and trips to India. He even started playing a game on FB called Farmtown and I would help him out and he'd work on my farm (I know, it's cheesy, but it's like a social version of SimFarm). He'd sometimes e-mail me tech questions which I rarely knew the answer too but would find out for him. He even invited me and a few others over for a game night, but I couldn't attend because of work. The car accident happened just 2 days before their planned game night. It also happened about 12 hours after I had last talked with him and played on FarmTown with him. It was a shock to say the least. But then the most amazing thing happened.
People were writing all kinds of notes on his wall. The seminary put a place on their forums where people could write notes for his relatives and for Liz but very few people did. Instead, they posted them to his Facebook. And so did Liz. It was very eerie. Grieving that has traditionally been done in private was done in public by many people. Even now, a month later, people are still posting to his wall.
In many ways, Facebook has made it possible for us to keep the memories of loved ones more alive than ever before. But it also seems to prolong the grieving process, at least for me. I've lost other friends before, but a few months after the funeral the memories started to fade. With Facebook, it seems almost like those individuals are still alive and I have to remind myself that while they still live in heaven, I can never again see them here on earth. That just seems to make the loss feel fresh all over again.
Whether for better or for worse, Facebook has certainly changed the dynamics of grieving the loss of a loved one. I already have two friends on FB who cannot respond to me any longer. Let's pray that they're the only two like that for a long time!
I've had a Facebook account now for somewhere around a year now. It's something I got only grudgingly and mostly because my sister kept harassing me to do it. Part of the motivation was that I knew I would be moving soon and figured it would be a good way to keep in touch with friends since many of them were on FB already. Facebook has a feature where it looks at your profile and friends list and makes suggestions of other people you may know. Initially, almost all of my friends on FB were from Northside so it started guessing other people from NS that I might know. One of those was Rodney, one of my closest friends. This creeped me out a bit because Lil' Rod had died almost 2 years before I signed up for FB. One of his sisters keeps up with his account so that people can still friend him so I would see others I knew becoming FB friends with him.
The weird thing is that they weren't becoming friends with him, but with his account. After almost a year, I finally friended Rodney and let me tell you, it's kind of weird. People still tag him in old pictures they post, people still write notes on his wall, in some ways he still seems to be alive. It's kind of like visiting a grave or making something in memory of a person, but far more interactive and social. This was the only experience I'd had with something like this until quite recently.
About a month ago, two of our international students at Asbury died tragically in a car wreck. I didn't know the passenger, but I did know the driver, Charles. Charles and his wife, Elizabeth, often came to the library in the evenings for a little while to use the computers or to borrow a projector to watch movies on the weekend. Over the course of the school year, I got to know them a bit better. Charles friended me on Facebook and I got to see pictures from their wedding and trips to India. He even started playing a game on FB called Farmtown and I would help him out and he'd work on my farm (I know, it's cheesy, but it's like a social version of SimFarm). He'd sometimes e-mail me tech questions which I rarely knew the answer too but would find out for him. He even invited me and a few others over for a game night, but I couldn't attend because of work. The car accident happened just 2 days before their planned game night. It also happened about 12 hours after I had last talked with him and played on FarmTown with him. It was a shock to say the least. But then the most amazing thing happened.
People were writing all kinds of notes on his wall. The seminary put a place on their forums where people could write notes for his relatives and for Liz but very few people did. Instead, they posted them to his Facebook. And so did Liz. It was very eerie. Grieving that has traditionally been done in private was done in public by many people. Even now, a month later, people are still posting to his wall.
In many ways, Facebook has made it possible for us to keep the memories of loved ones more alive than ever before. But it also seems to prolong the grieving process, at least for me. I've lost other friends before, but a few months after the funeral the memories started to fade. With Facebook, it seems almost like those individuals are still alive and I have to remind myself that while they still live in heaven, I can never again see them here on earth. That just seems to make the loss feel fresh all over again.
Whether for better or for worse, Facebook has certainly changed the dynamics of grieving the loss of a loved one. I already have two friends on FB who cannot respond to me any longer. Let's pray that they're the only two like that for a long time!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Ichthus 2009
This weekend, the little town of Wilmore, KY hosted the Ichthus Festival. This festival brought in roughly 20,000 people over the span of three days. This just blows my mind because Wilmore's total population is around 6,000 most of the year. I'd heard of Ichthus, but I'd never had the opportunity to attend since it's about 800 miles from Jacksonville. Luckily for me, I'm spending my summer working at the seminary so I had the opportunity to volunteer. Volunteering is a great way to see the festival since 9 hours of your time gets you and a friend $119 wristbands good for the weekend.
I was initially going to volunteer as an Alter Minister. Alter Ministers are the people who sit and pray with those either after an alter call, or if someone just wanders up to one of the prayer tents. This didn't sound totally up my ally, but I figured that I should be able to handle this since I'm in seminary and they work hard to recruit seminarians for the job. One of my good friends from the dorm, Tom, has volunteered that past several years with Ichthus, so I asked him if he'd done it and asked what he thought of it. He said it was an interesting experience, but that last year he worked as a Stage Chaplain. He went on to say that working as a Stage Chaplain was an amazing experience and he wished he could do it again this year (which was not possible since he's doing his CPE in Indiana). He explained that Stage Chaplains are there to minister thru prayer at each stage, and that they're particularly there for the bands and crew. He told me a couple of stories and really piqued my interest in it. But, there were only 14 Stage Chaplains last year and I figured it'd be impossible for me to do that. But while arranging this might have been impossible for me to do, nothing is impossible for God.
A couple of week later, another friend of mine, Brent, asked me while we were at work if I'd like to be a Chaplain. One of his friends is the Head Chaplain, and he was short several people. This is because this year was Ihcthus' 40th anniversary and they had decided to have 7 stages instead of 4. Brent and I talked about it, and I told him to sign me up!
A few days later, I went to a training session. That training session left me with a sense of great inadequacy. This little voice in my head kept telling me there was no way I could possibly fill this role. I was a mere first year Seminary student with a long way to go, no experience, and some issues in my life that would have to stop me from doing this. As I talked with Tom a little bit about what the role would entail, he encouraged me that I could do this job and it would be a lot of fun.
Boy was Tom ever right. I worked all day today as the Chaplain at Indie Stage #1. I was initially pretty bummed about this assignment. Whoever was working the Main Stage got to meet and pray with groups like Kutless, Skillet, and Delirious. Some of these groups were paid as much as $70,000 to play a show and many are extremely famous in the Christian community. Those on the Indie stage, however, were not getting paid big bucks to play. Almost all are practically unknown, and many actually paid to play there. I was thinking, "Awww man, some of the Chaplains are hanging with famous people, and I'm hanging out with nobodys." Last night, God pointed out to me that these groups loved Him too and wanted nothing more than to play some great music for some people and share the love and gifts God had given them.
As I prepared to go to work today, I was praying for God to use me to touch some lives. What a selfish prayer for he knew that's not what I needed.
You see, I've been really doubting my call. Most of my friends are extremely confidant that they know exactly what God's called them to. Many of them have scholarships, and many more seem to have a confidence I just can't seem to find. Today really turned that around for me.
When I first arrived at Ichthus, I set out to locate my boss, Robert. He wasn't around, but I was early so I decided to go explore some more. Within a few seconds, he and Lisa, another Chaplain, "stumbled" upon me. They gave me some instructions, got me my badge, clipboard, and meal tickets (that's right, they PAID for my food today!). The prayed over me and then took me to my stage. I spent about 5 minutes wandering around feeling pretty lost and then decided to introduce myself to the crew. After all, I was going to be there all day and so were they so we might as well meet. Plus, I was hoping they'd let me pray for them. While the engineer declined, Chuck, one of the roadies showed me around and started chatting with me. Chuck told me that he and the other roadie/stage tech Kyle were from Ohio and a part of a Christian rehab group recovering from addictions. Chuck was a blessing and a half! He always had a smile, would chat with anyone, and immensely helpful answering my questions. I started walking around at introducing myself as the stage chaplain and told everyone to get me if they needed anything, especially prayer since that was the primary focus of my job. The first band I met was a group named Forerunner. The lead singer, Ryan, started chatting with me and asked where I'm from. Turns out he's also originally from Florida, and that he recently recieved his M.Div from Wesley Biblical Seminary and is ordained. He then told me that another guy also had his M.Div and ordination, and that the other two were Licensed Local Pastors and working on their M.Divs. Talk about an intimidating bunch. Here they are working in a church, playing all over the place, and I'm supposed to be there for THEM?! Thankfully, they were all super friendly and encouraging. While they were unloading, the first act came up and started to get ready to play. They were older and just didn't seem like they were going to be good musicians. Before they started their set, the asked me up on stage and I prayed a short prayer with them all the while feelign very out of place. Once again, I was wrong. Casper, the lead singer, was an AMAZING guitarist. Seriously, he was good! After they were done, Casper came up to me, gave me a hug, and thanked me for praying with them and being there for them. I was not ready for that. It gave me confidence that maybe I was where I was supposed to be that day. They may have only had a few people there to watch, but they touched me not through their music, but through their interaction with me.
As the day progressed, this seemed to happen again and again. Every single group blessed me in some way, and they continued to give me confidence. Later, I got to chat with a couple of other Chaplains, and they mentioned that on the bigger stages they only got a few seconds with each group. I, on the other hand, got to spend a lot of time with some of the groups. Each one showed me somethign special and really encouraged me that just maybe I was on the right track.
I know that God must have known exactly what I needed at this point in my life. While I'm still unsure of where God will take me, or what he wants me to do, I'm positive I'm on the right track. Today reminded me of several things.
The first is the power of prayer. While I may not feel that my prayers were any good, or very effective, I know that God heard them and used them in ways I cannot immagine.
The second is that ministry is not about doing things. It's about building relationships with people. Had I been on a bigger stage with a tighter schedule, bigger named bands, and more people, I wouldn't have expereinced what I needed. The extended interaction with some of these groups really gave me a new expereince.
The third thing I that I do not need to worry about where God will place me. He may give me an opportunity far outside my comfort zone much like today, but that his plans are always going to be better than mine.
Wow! That was really long and rambling. I just needed to get this down before I forgot or the "high" wore off.
I was initially going to volunteer as an Alter Minister. Alter Ministers are the people who sit and pray with those either after an alter call, or if someone just wanders up to one of the prayer tents. This didn't sound totally up my ally, but I figured that I should be able to handle this since I'm in seminary and they work hard to recruit seminarians for the job. One of my good friends from the dorm, Tom, has volunteered that past several years with Ichthus, so I asked him if he'd done it and asked what he thought of it. He said it was an interesting experience, but that last year he worked as a Stage Chaplain. He went on to say that working as a Stage Chaplain was an amazing experience and he wished he could do it again this year (which was not possible since he's doing his CPE in Indiana). He explained that Stage Chaplains are there to minister thru prayer at each stage, and that they're particularly there for the bands and crew. He told me a couple of stories and really piqued my interest in it. But, there were only 14 Stage Chaplains last year and I figured it'd be impossible for me to do that. But while arranging this might have been impossible for me to do, nothing is impossible for God.
A couple of week later, another friend of mine, Brent, asked me while we were at work if I'd like to be a Chaplain. One of his friends is the Head Chaplain, and he was short several people. This is because this year was Ihcthus' 40th anniversary and they had decided to have 7 stages instead of 4. Brent and I talked about it, and I told him to sign me up!
A few days later, I went to a training session. That training session left me with a sense of great inadequacy. This little voice in my head kept telling me there was no way I could possibly fill this role. I was a mere first year Seminary student with a long way to go, no experience, and some issues in my life that would have to stop me from doing this. As I talked with Tom a little bit about what the role would entail, he encouraged me that I could do this job and it would be a lot of fun.
Boy was Tom ever right. I worked all day today as the Chaplain at Indie Stage #1. I was initially pretty bummed about this assignment. Whoever was working the Main Stage got to meet and pray with groups like Kutless, Skillet, and Delirious. Some of these groups were paid as much as $70,000 to play a show and many are extremely famous in the Christian community. Those on the Indie stage, however, were not getting paid big bucks to play. Almost all are practically unknown, and many actually paid to play there. I was thinking, "Awww man, some of the Chaplains are hanging with famous people, and I'm hanging out with nobodys." Last night, God pointed out to me that these groups loved Him too and wanted nothing more than to play some great music for some people and share the love and gifts God had given them.
As I prepared to go to work today, I was praying for God to use me to touch some lives. What a selfish prayer for he knew that's not what I needed.
You see, I've been really doubting my call. Most of my friends are extremely confidant that they know exactly what God's called them to. Many of them have scholarships, and many more seem to have a confidence I just can't seem to find. Today really turned that around for me.
When I first arrived at Ichthus, I set out to locate my boss, Robert. He wasn't around, but I was early so I decided to go explore some more. Within a few seconds, he and Lisa, another Chaplain, "stumbled" upon me. They gave me some instructions, got me my badge, clipboard, and meal tickets (that's right, they PAID for my food today!). The prayed over me and then took me to my stage. I spent about 5 minutes wandering around feeling pretty lost and then decided to introduce myself to the crew. After all, I was going to be there all day and so were they so we might as well meet. Plus, I was hoping they'd let me pray for them. While the engineer declined, Chuck, one of the roadies showed me around and started chatting with me. Chuck told me that he and the other roadie/stage tech Kyle were from Ohio and a part of a Christian rehab group recovering from addictions. Chuck was a blessing and a half! He always had a smile, would chat with anyone, and immensely helpful answering my questions. I started walking around at introducing myself as the stage chaplain and told everyone to get me if they needed anything, especially prayer since that was the primary focus of my job. The first band I met was a group named Forerunner. The lead singer, Ryan, started chatting with me and asked where I'm from. Turns out he's also originally from Florida, and that he recently recieved his M.Div from Wesley Biblical Seminary and is ordained. He then told me that another guy also had his M.Div and ordination, and that the other two were Licensed Local Pastors and working on their M.Divs. Talk about an intimidating bunch. Here they are working in a church, playing all over the place, and I'm supposed to be there for THEM?! Thankfully, they were all super friendly and encouraging. While they were unloading, the first act came up and started to get ready to play. They were older and just didn't seem like they were going to be good musicians. Before they started their set, the asked me up on stage and I prayed a short prayer with them all the while feelign very out of place. Once again, I was wrong. Casper, the lead singer, was an AMAZING guitarist. Seriously, he was good! After they were done, Casper came up to me, gave me a hug, and thanked me for praying with them and being there for them. I was not ready for that. It gave me confidence that maybe I was where I was supposed to be that day. They may have only had a few people there to watch, but they touched me not through their music, but through their interaction with me.
As the day progressed, this seemed to happen again and again. Every single group blessed me in some way, and they continued to give me confidence. Later, I got to chat with a couple of other Chaplains, and they mentioned that on the bigger stages they only got a few seconds with each group. I, on the other hand, got to spend a lot of time with some of the groups. Each one showed me somethign special and really encouraged me that just maybe I was on the right track.
I know that God must have known exactly what I needed at this point in my life. While I'm still unsure of where God will take me, or what he wants me to do, I'm positive I'm on the right track. Today reminded me of several things.
The first is the power of prayer. While I may not feel that my prayers were any good, or very effective, I know that God heard them and used them in ways I cannot immagine.
The second is that ministry is not about doing things. It's about building relationships with people. Had I been on a bigger stage with a tighter schedule, bigger named bands, and more people, I wouldn't have expereinced what I needed. The extended interaction with some of these groups really gave me a new expereince.
The third thing I that I do not need to worry about where God will place me. He may give me an opportunity far outside my comfort zone much like today, but that his plans are always going to be better than mine.
Wow! That was really long and rambling. I just needed to get this down before I forgot or the "high" wore off.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
I Want...
One thing I really like about musicals is that it's quite easy to figure out what the main character's primary goals are. The reason it's so easy is because must musicals use a plot device called an "I Want" song. It usually occurs fairly early on in the musical and is sung by the lead character (after all the song IS about what they want). Whenever I'm listening to a musical that I'm not familiar with, I pay special attention to the I Want song.
I've been listening to the soundtrack from Shrek The Musical, and it seems to contain several such songs in there. There's one for Fiona (I Know It's Today), one for Shrek (Who I'd Be), there's kind of one for Donkey (Don't Let Me Go), and one for Lord Farquad (What's Up Duloc). From these songs, we learn that Fiona wants to be rescued from a tower by her prince and future husband to be, Shrek wants to be a hero who gets the girl, Donkey wants a friend, and Lord Farquad wants a perfect utopia (think The Giver). See how much we can learn from an I want song?
The text Dad used for his sermon today is Mark 10:35-45. This is where James and John ask Jesus if one can sit on His right and one on His left when He comes into glory. It's pretty easy to figure out what James and John wanted, and they were not afraid to ask for it. Dad ended his sermon by asking us what we would ask for. Since then, I've been wondering what my I want song would be. I really feel called to missions, and I really want to do that. But I also really like just about any form of art involving glass. And don't forget music! It'd be awesome to be a good arranger. Oh! And chemistry is really interesting too. So my answer is that I don't really know. What would be your I Want song? If only life were as simple as a musical...
I've been listening to the soundtrack from Shrek The Musical, and it seems to contain several such songs in there. There's one for Fiona (I Know It's Today), one for Shrek (Who I'd Be), there's kind of one for Donkey (Don't Let Me Go), and one for Lord Farquad (What's Up Duloc). From these songs, we learn that Fiona wants to be rescued from a tower by her prince and future husband to be, Shrek wants to be a hero who gets the girl, Donkey wants a friend, and Lord Farquad wants a perfect utopia (think The Giver). See how much we can learn from an I want song?
The text Dad used for his sermon today is Mark 10:35-45. This is where James and John ask Jesus if one can sit on His right and one on His left when He comes into glory. It's pretty easy to figure out what James and John wanted, and they were not afraid to ask for it. Dad ended his sermon by asking us what we would ask for. Since then, I've been wondering what my I want song would be. I really feel called to missions, and I really want to do that. But I also really like just about any form of art involving glass. And don't forget music! It'd be awesome to be a good arranger. Oh! And chemistry is really interesting too. So my answer is that I don't really know. What would be your I Want song? If only life were as simple as a musical...
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Music
In my first VOM (Vocation of Ministry) class, Dr. Marmon had us do some different association exercises where she would give us a topic such as "What is important to you" and have us jot down everything that came to mind. Then she pointed out that music is very important to most people and proceeded to have us spend about 60 seconds writing down our favorite songs. She then asked us to see if there were any unifying themes in what we just wrote down. The first thing I noticed is that I really like music that is in a time signature of 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8. I also seem to really like music in minor keys. So if a song is in a minor key and in 6/8, I'll probably like it. The next thing I noticed is that I like Celtic music, especially celtic music that fits the above pattern. this led me to the conclusion that this was a rather useless excerciese. But it really wasn't.
For the past three and a half weeks, I've been paying more attention to what kind of music I listen to. I've also been looking back over the list of songs I had jotted down, and I've found something else. I really am drawn to songs about love. But they're not just songs about love, they're songs about God's love for us and our love for Him. One of my favorite songs of all time, Life For Love, is by Enter The Haggis, which is a decidedly non-Christian group. So I've been thinking about why I like this song. It talks about giving your life for love, and one of my favorite lines is, "Arms stretched to catch the next horizon..." What does this remind you of? Hmm...let's see, you in the back, what's that you said? It sounds like something Jesus did for us? You are correct!
I know that the song is not written to talk about the Incarnation, and that it only really fits if you take certain lines out of context. I'm ok with that. I still really like the song. So what are some of the other "love" songs I jotted down? My next two favorites are "The Church" and "Lover" from Derek Webb's CD She Must and Shall Go Free, which is probably in my list of top ten favorite CD's of all time. I think the reason I love songs like this is because it reminds me of God's love for us. When I'm feeling really stressed or I find myself questioning why in the world I ever decided to go BACK to school, I listen to these songs for a reminder.
So I guess Dr. Marmon was right. We can learn a lot about ourselves from looking at what music we listen too. Give it a try, you might be surprised at what you learn.
For the past three and a half weeks, I've been paying more attention to what kind of music I listen to. I've also been looking back over the list of songs I had jotted down, and I've found something else. I really am drawn to songs about love. But they're not just songs about love, they're songs about God's love for us and our love for Him. One of my favorite songs of all time, Life For Love, is by Enter The Haggis, which is a decidedly non-Christian group. So I've been thinking about why I like this song. It talks about giving your life for love, and one of my favorite lines is, "Arms stretched to catch the next horizon..." What does this remind you of? Hmm...let's see, you in the back, what's that you said? It sounds like something Jesus did for us? You are correct!
I know that the song is not written to talk about the Incarnation, and that it only really fits if you take certain lines out of context. I'm ok with that. I still really like the song. So what are some of the other "love" songs I jotted down? My next two favorites are "The Church" and "Lover" from Derek Webb's CD She Must and Shall Go Free, which is probably in my list of top ten favorite CD's of all time. I think the reason I love songs like this is because it reminds me of God's love for us. When I'm feeling really stressed or I find myself questioning why in the world I ever decided to go BACK to school, I listen to these songs for a reminder.
So I guess Dr. Marmon was right. We can learn a lot about ourselves from looking at what music we listen too. Give it a try, you might be surprised at what you learn.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Wild At Heart
About a year ago, the college age guys at Northside read and discussed Wild At Heart by John Eldridge. In the book, he talks about how all guys are hardwired with three major desires; adventure, battle, and to win the beauty. Now I can believe this for two reasons. First, I'm a guy. Second, every guy I've ever met seems to express these desires at some point, even the biggest pacifist at some point seems to want adventure and battle, even if it's just sword fighting with those cardboard tubes leftover from wrapping paper.
Now some guys actually like musicals, and I'm one of them. I'm ok with it. Shrek the Musical is a fairly new musical to Broadway. So new, in fact, that the cast recording won't be released until the end of the month. BUT, thanks to the wonders of youtube and the internet, I've seen and heard most of the major songs. Brian d'arcy James, the man who plays Shrek, was on the Today Show recently and sang one of the songs, "Who I'd be." I promise I'm going somwhere with this. In the song, Shrek expresses those three desires that Eldridge talks about in his book. You can tell from the lyrics that the lyricist was probably a man, and it was. Anywho, I kind of lost my train of thought...
oh! Check out the video. The actual singing starts at about 1:50.
While there's a lot more to Wild at Heart than just those three desires, they're a big part of it, and this song seems to capture them well. Now back to writing that paper that's due in 9 hours...
Now some guys actually like musicals, and I'm one of them. I'm ok with it. Shrek the Musical is a fairly new musical to Broadway. So new, in fact, that the cast recording won't be released until the end of the month. BUT, thanks to the wonders of youtube and the internet, I've seen and heard most of the major songs. Brian d'arcy James, the man who plays Shrek, was on the Today Show recently and sang one of the songs, "Who I'd be." I promise I'm going somwhere with this. In the song, Shrek expresses those three desires that Eldridge talks about in his book. You can tell from the lyrics that the lyricist was probably a man, and it was. Anywho, I kind of lost my train of thought...
oh! Check out the video. The actual singing starts at about 1:50.
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While there's a lot more to Wild at Heart than just those three desires, they're a big part of it, and this song seems to capture them well. Now back to writing that paper that's due in 9 hours...
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Chapel
Here at Asbury, we have chapel on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 11:00. We're not required to attend them, but I went to virtually all of the Tuesday and Thursday chapels during the fall semester. The only reason I skipped Wednesdays was because I wanted to eat before work, and the only time for that during chapel. Anywho, I was quite proud of myself for making it to the majority of the main chapel services and couldn't imagine skipping them unless there were extenuating circumstances.
Now fast forward to the Spring term. I just finished my third week of classes, and I've been to chapel a total of two, count them TWO, times. What's happened to me?! I have classes at 8 AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and I generally go back to my room and take a nap after them. I justify this by the fact that I work until midnight on Mondays, and I'm up late on Tuesdays and Wednesdays working on assignments and reading for the next day. But is this really fair? Chapels provide more than just a chance to worship as a community for an hour. Generally, we have really good preachers or speakers who come in. Granted, many of the speakers this semester have been professors at the Seminary, but they're still REALLY good. Additionally, I've yet to attend a chapel service where I didn't learn at least something.
I think there are two main reasons why I've been missing chapel, and they go hand in hand. One is laziness. For me to go to chapel, I have to get back up out of bed and trudge a couple of hundred yards to Estes Chapel. But is this really that much work? I mean, I do that for class, work, and especially food. Why can't I do it for God? The second reason goes hand in hand with this: procrastination. The reason I'm up past midnight during the first part of the week is because I've put off assignments until just a night or two before they're due. If I'd work on them later in the week when I have more free time, I wouldn't be so tired and I'd actually be more motivated to go to chapel.
This week, I've been thinking about what I could give up for Lent. To be perfectly honest I've not really wanted to give anything up (which I know isn't an excuse), but I'm going to try something different. I'm making kind of a Lenten resolution this season. I'm going to start going to chapel at least twice a week instead of sleeping that extra 45 minutes. Actually, I guess I am giving up a little sleep. Next I'll have to give up procrastinating, but I'll do that later...
Now fast forward to the Spring term. I just finished my third week of classes, and I've been to chapel a total of two, count them TWO, times. What's happened to me?! I have classes at 8 AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and I generally go back to my room and take a nap after them. I justify this by the fact that I work until midnight on Mondays, and I'm up late on Tuesdays and Wednesdays working on assignments and reading for the next day. But is this really fair? Chapels provide more than just a chance to worship as a community for an hour. Generally, we have really good preachers or speakers who come in. Granted, many of the speakers this semester have been professors at the Seminary, but they're still REALLY good. Additionally, I've yet to attend a chapel service where I didn't learn at least something.
I think there are two main reasons why I've been missing chapel, and they go hand in hand. One is laziness. For me to go to chapel, I have to get back up out of bed and trudge a couple of hundred yards to Estes Chapel. But is this really that much work? I mean, I do that for class, work, and especially food. Why can't I do it for God? The second reason goes hand in hand with this: procrastination. The reason I'm up past midnight during the first part of the week is because I've put off assignments until just a night or two before they're due. If I'd work on them later in the week when I have more free time, I wouldn't be so tired and I'd actually be more motivated to go to chapel.
This week, I've been thinking about what I could give up for Lent. To be perfectly honest I've not really wanted to give anything up (which I know isn't an excuse), but I'm going to try something different. I'm making kind of a Lenten resolution this season. I'm going to start going to chapel at least twice a week instead of sleeping that extra 45 minutes. Actually, I guess I am giving up a little sleep. Next I'll have to give up procrastinating, but I'll do that later...
Monday, February 23, 2009
Brian The Calvinist
Last night, I went to help at Room in the Inn (RINI). If you don't know what that is, check them out at http://www.roomintheinn.net/. Anywho, I had the pleasure last night of eating with Brian the Calvinist. The reason for this name is that when my small group from a class did our Kingdom Project, we worked with RINI. Most of the dozen or so guys there that night quickly discovered that we were a bunch of seminary students. As a side note, one other volunteer, and one homeless man somehow missed that my roommate and I were students and thought we were homeless. Back to Brian.
Brian is a Calvinist while all of us are Wesleyan. These means that Brian believes in predestination while the rest of us do not and he was quite eager to debate theology with us. I passed those discussions off onto others and spent the rest of the night avoiding Brian so that I wouldn't be dragged into the debate. I had been back several times before last night, and the times that I saw Brian, I avoided him and talked and ate with those who I was more comfortable with.
Last night, I realized that while other people were sitting NEAR him, they were not eating WITH him. I figured now that I've got a bit better handle on theology, I was ready to eat with him. Instead of debating theological issues however, Brian just wanted to talk. We told some jokes, then he asked about Dr. Kalas, our president. Apparently Brian has had the chance to hear him preach and even talk with him afterwards. He holds Dr. Kalas in high esteem. As I talked with Brian, I realised that we have far more in common than I ever would have thought. We were both born in Kentucky, we've both been fortunate to travel quite a bit on the east coast, and most importantly, we're both Christians. We've both also made mistakes in our lives. It just so happens that Brian's have led him to be homeless and mine have led to seminary. Brian is very eager to learn about God, but he's been turned off to church after quite a few negative experiences there for various reasons. I also felt ashamed as I talked to Brian because I realize how much I've always taken for granted.
From where I sit, I can see 4 different Bibles in 4 different translations, and I have a 5th in my car. Brian, on the other hand, has a small New Testament--you know the ones, many places give them out for free--that is quite beat up and well read. Every time I've seen Brian sitting at the table before we eat, that's what he's reading. While is interpretation may not always be up to "Seminary Standards," it's heartfelt and he spends quite a bit of time thinking about it. Here I am taking my education for granted at times, and he's never even had the chance to finish college. God used Brian to show me just how blessed I've been in my education and I should guard against taking it for granted or cheapening it. Also, I should be careful not to judge others after just a few seconds of hearing them talk. There is a lot that can be learned, even from those many would look down on.
On a similar note, as the men came in Saturday night, the women who had cooked started serving them. From the time the first man walked in until the last was at least 5 minutes. During this time, every man sat there with a plate of warm, and very delicious, food in front of him. Not one man touched their meal until we had prayed, even though they had come in from very cold, snowing evening. Most them also had not eaten since probably 7 or 8 hours. I was humbled to realize that I would have started shoving food in my mouth as soon as it was put in front of me rather than waiting several minutes so that everyone could sit down together, and more importantly thank God for what He had given us.
It's amazing they education you get spending a bit of time with those different from us...
Brian is a Calvinist while all of us are Wesleyan. These means that Brian believes in predestination while the rest of us do not and he was quite eager to debate theology with us. I passed those discussions off onto others and spent the rest of the night avoiding Brian so that I wouldn't be dragged into the debate. I had been back several times before last night, and the times that I saw Brian, I avoided him and talked and ate with those who I was more comfortable with.
Last night, I realized that while other people were sitting NEAR him, they were not eating WITH him. I figured now that I've got a bit better handle on theology, I was ready to eat with him. Instead of debating theological issues however, Brian just wanted to talk. We told some jokes, then he asked about Dr. Kalas, our president. Apparently Brian has had the chance to hear him preach and even talk with him afterwards. He holds Dr. Kalas in high esteem. As I talked with Brian, I realised that we have far more in common than I ever would have thought. We were both born in Kentucky, we've both been fortunate to travel quite a bit on the east coast, and most importantly, we're both Christians. We've both also made mistakes in our lives. It just so happens that Brian's have led him to be homeless and mine have led to seminary. Brian is very eager to learn about God, but he's been turned off to church after quite a few negative experiences there for various reasons. I also felt ashamed as I talked to Brian because I realize how much I've always taken for granted.
From where I sit, I can see 4 different Bibles in 4 different translations, and I have a 5th in my car. Brian, on the other hand, has a small New Testament--you know the ones, many places give them out for free--that is quite beat up and well read. Every time I've seen Brian sitting at the table before we eat, that's what he's reading. While is interpretation may not always be up to "Seminary Standards," it's heartfelt and he spends quite a bit of time thinking about it. Here I am taking my education for granted at times, and he's never even had the chance to finish college. God used Brian to show me just how blessed I've been in my education and I should guard against taking it for granted or cheapening it. Also, I should be careful not to judge others after just a few seconds of hearing them talk. There is a lot that can be learned, even from those many would look down on.
On a similar note, as the men came in Saturday night, the women who had cooked started serving them. From the time the first man walked in until the last was at least 5 minutes. During this time, every man sat there with a plate of warm, and very delicious, food in front of him. Not one man touched their meal until we had prayed, even though they had come in from very cold, snowing evening. Most them also had not eaten since probably 7 or 8 hours. I was humbled to realize that I would have started shoving food in my mouth as soon as it was put in front of me rather than waiting several minutes so that everyone could sit down together, and more importantly thank God for what He had given us.
It's amazing they education you get spending a bit of time with those different from us...
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