The Clay Has Something to Say

Changes

2011-05-05T12:59:00.000-06:00

I’ve been off this blog thing for quite some time now. A few things have changed.

Probably my favorite change is that blogger.com (the lovely host site) keeps statistics on viewership and traffic for the blog. Sweet!

Since blogger.com has been keeping statistics (I’m not sure when that date is):

I’ve had 1,407 page views.

The views have come from the USA, Canada, India, UK, South Korea, Brazil, Japan, Ukraine, Australia, and Singapore.

The top referring site is www.google.com or some other international variation of .com.

What’s really cool?

If you search “cool bumper sticker” using Google’s image search, a picture featured in one of my posts comes up as number 6! (I can’t take credit for creating the image, however.)

I honestly think I might spend some time trying to get it to number 1. Anyone wanna help?

I’ve also married, moved from a floating, ever-traveling home to Denver, CO, and been to Disney World, but statistics! Come on! How exciting!

Great Mercy

2011-05-02T15:40:00.000-06:00

Perhaps God, whose mercy is great, can extend mercy even beyond the finality of death?

Or does God’s great mercy extend only to that which is contained in a human’s lifespan?

Consider 2 Samuel 24.

To summarize:
God ‘causes’ David to take a census of Israel and Judah. David enacts on this ‘causing’ and takes a census then feels guilty for doing it. He tells God he has sinned and asks for forgiveness. God sends Gad, a prophet. (Almost like God in disguise. “Wait, who are you?” “Go . . . um, Gad.”) Gad, from God, tells David, from Jesse, you have three punishments to choose from. Whichever you choose, God inflicts on you. One, famine. Three years. Two, running from your enemies. Three months. Three, plague. Three days.

David realizes he’s in trouble, but he does recognize he has some control over his fate. He responds: “I’m in a desperate situation, but let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.” So, God, great in mercy, sends the plague for three days; 70,000 people died. I guess God chose for David?

Meanwhile, while God’s angel was doing His bidding inflicting plague, the angel arrived at Jerusalem. God ‘relented’ and told the angel to, “Stop!” Immediately the angel joined David who, on Gad’s, or God’s, orders was currently building an altar at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

David had a dispute with Araunah who, noticing David was king, wanted to give David the materials to build the altar. (He was also cool with David building the altar on his threshing floor too.) David wanted to have to pay for the materials and the use of the threshing floor. He’s king and so gets what he wants. He paid 50 pieces of silver.

This is apparently where the angel came in and David noticed, as one notices angels just showing up, and pleas with God, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep – what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.” David gave up his offering to God and God answered his prayer.

What a strange story.

I, for one, struggle to see God’s great mercy on display here. It seems God was behind this whole thing and David was just the pawn getting all the blame. God’s the bully, the mob boss; David’s hitting kids at the flag pole, whacking knee caps and dumping bodies. God was angry at Israel, God caused David to take the census, God caused David to feel guilty, God killed 70,000 people with a plague, and David is running around trying to make sense of it all. Great mercy indeed.

If we take the later of the two questions posed above as the extent of God’s great mercy, in this context and the context of the world around us, God’s mercy is neither great nor very merciful.

However, if we remove the limits placed on God’s great mercy, the limits of the human experience, the life we live and know, the lifespan of humanity, God’s great mercy suddenly becomes great. God’s great mercy suddenly becomes merciful.

David appealed to God’s great mercy. How was David shown mercy in that situation? How were the 70,000 who died from the plague shown mercy in that situation? It’s not evident immediately, but we’re given assurance from David and multiple other sources (Nehemiah 9:19, 27, 31; Psalm 119:156; 1 Peter 1:3 to name some) that His mercy is great. How? Where? When? Perhaps it is beyond our experience now to see how, where, and when?

I take great hope in God’s great mercy as I think many who proclaim some version of the Christian faith (actually, I’m sure many who proclaim some version of the Judeo-Christian God). I also take great hope that His great mercy is beyond what I see in front of me; death, disease, destruction, war, etc.

In light of recent events, in light of past events, and in light of future events, I hope we continue to plea for and give ourselves into God’s great mercy for the very reason that it goes and acts beyond what we experience, what we have experienced, and what we will experience.

Poland Invades My Space

2009-03-15T16:47:00.000-06:00

I love and loath awkward situations. I like to do things that make me uncomfortable because I like to see how I react, but once I’ve made myself uncomfortable, I like a little comfort to get be back on the ground. However, it seems frequently when I do find myself in an uncomfortable situation, there is no way back to comfortable, but rather only one path towards more discomfort. Speaking in relative terms, let’s look at a finite example.

Today I was given the opportunity to participate in a church service for people living on the street. Not something I’m unfamiliar with considering I’ve done it at least 3 times in Vancouver; twice having to give the message for the service. However, these past visits to such churches have not been opportunities to develop relationships, but rather opportunities to serve. Now, during this service in The Hague, I’ve was given the opportunity to develop a relationship with a man from Poland who is looking for a job while living on the street.

The situation was funny. I was sitting at a table with 4 Polish men, none of which spoke much English. They spoke Polish (obviously), Russian, Czech, some German, some Dutch, but very little English; I only speak English. I was thinking to myself why God would have put me in this situation. There are so many more qualified people back on the ship to be in this situation. There are people who speak English and Russian, English and German, or English and Dutch, but He had to choose to use the one who only spoke English.

Then another Polish gentleman sat down at our table. He had spent some time in England, so his English was quite good and he and I got to talking. He’s really focused on getting a job, making some money, and getting back up on his feet. In one sense, I’m pulling for him. He seems like a nice guy who deserves a break. But in the other sense, I know that even if he gets this break, he won’t be satisfied. The pursuit of money is not the pursuit of happiness; it really only leads to more disappointment. Only something infallibly faithful can be ultimately satisfying. Money has no ability to be faithful or not, it’s an object. Ourselves and others, who handle this money, are completely fallible and therefore are unfaithful and ultimately disappointing. God, being holy, perfect, and alive is the only one who can fill this void. So unless he finds this truth, he’ll be disappointed. It’s a sad predicament.

But, as my statement about being uncomfortable said earlier, my discomfort in trying to strike up a meaningful conversation with this man was followed up by actually connecting with this guy, inviting him to the ship, him saying he’d like to come, and him inviting me to visit the shelter he hangs around for a cup of coffee. With God you can never just get a little uncomfortable, that just becomes your comfort level and He’s not interesting in see you comfortable; at least He’s not interested in seeing me comfortable. So, He’s pushes the envelope a little more.

I suppose I just need to trust that God could and actually might do something with this situation; if not in the gentleman’s life, my own. And that’s probably what I’m most frightened of, seeing something change in my own life. Something needing to change existing implies something in my life slipping out of my control which implies I don’t have control over my life which implies blah, blah, blah. Basically, there are always going to be things wrong in my life. It won’t be perfect under my control because I can’t see in all directions at all times. Something’s bound to blindside me. Therefore, I really have no control, and so something else has control or there’s no control at all. I believe the former, but not always. This situation could help me in coming closer to always. Pray for it.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

2009-02-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

There’s something you should know. There are people walking around this world who just look lost. They tend to sit and stare, raise ridiculous questions, and just down-right act differently than you and me. Well, different than you; I happen to be one of them. We are those who think, like, more than normal. Who think without even thinking. Who tend to spoil the moment with their overactive realism. This is a confession of one such hyperactive cranium so that we may better understand each other as brothers and sisters in God’s family.

Those of us who tend to be on the more intellectual side seem to have very dangerous minds. If I could shrink you down Fantastic Voyage style and let you travel around in my brain, you’d see it rarely stops; I think it takes Christmas off. That’s the dangerous thing of it though, it never stops. We’re always thinking.

What are we thinking about? Everything! Have you ever thought as to why birds can fly and you cannot? Why dinosaurs are now extinct? Why God exists in three persons, one of them being 100% human, but is one god? Have you ever thought of these things all at the same time? This is the horrible life I and countless others are forced to suffer through. (Please RSVP to my pity party c/o clayton.zylstra@gbaships.org.)

One such consequence to this overactive intellect is the deprivation of hope. Given enough time to think through something, I can convince myself of anything about that something. When this happens, due to my human nature, I tend to rule out hope. Hope to me, in my most desperate hour, is a failure to see reality as it stands. If I have hope my sick grandmother will be healed, I fail to see the situation as it stands; her body is frail and she has to go sometime. If I hope that salvation will someday come to the world, I fail to see the brokenness of humanity and the sheer astronomical impossibility for everyone in the world to come to one agreement about who Jesus was and is; there are some people who love to disagree.

However, there is hope. Consider Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind.” I tend to find loving God with all my heart and soul quite simple (when you have very little of either, all of it isn’t that much). But I struggle to love God will my entire mind as evidenced with the depressing paragraph preceding this one. However, there are some of you who have no difficulty loving God with your mind (this is not to say you don’t have one as was implied by my finding simplicity in loving God with my heart and soul), but struggle with loving will all heart or soul. You can help me. You can help us. We can help you.

Luckily God made us all different; different because He put us in a community to depend on each other to lift up our weaknesses. You are to show us brainiacs how to love with our mind and we are to show you romantics how to give God your heart and we all need to show the spiritual wanderers how to love God with their souls. You are to remind us realists there is hope.

So, if you see someone sitting alone, staring off to nowhere, it might be tempting to just leave them alone, but it would be real encouraging to just walk by and say, “Don’t worry, there is hope.”

Communication Breakdown

2009-02-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

I don’t talk to God. Well, I talk toward God I think. I tell Him what I want, where I’m struggling, but it feels like I give it to him in voicemail format.

“Hey God, it’s me Clayton. Just calling to let you know I still feel anxious about the future. I realize I’m supposed to trust you and all, but I’m finding it difficult. My mind just won’t let up on this future thing. Do you think you could get me some peace of mind? I’d appreciate it. Well, hope to talk to you soon.”

I’m fairly certain God listens to his voicemails, but it seems a pretty crappy way to communicate with a heavenly father figure.

I feel like God is at a party and he’s talking with someone else and I’m just trying to politely wait my turn to ask him a quick favor. Both parties, God and the other guy, glance over and acknowledge I’m there. They both know that what I have to say won’t take any time at all, but they keep talking anyway. Then I grow impatient and I leave. I jump on the computer after getting home and shoot God a quick email.

“Hey God,

Saw you at the party tonight and I wanted to ask you a quick question, but it seemed you were a bit occupied. I’m just feeling a little bit anxious about the future. I realize I’m supposed to trust you, but my mind won’t stop focusing on the future. I was wondering if I could get a little peace of mind? That’d be cool.

Well, thanks for reading.

Clayton”

God reads his email, but I feel my heavenly father figure should be a bit more accessible.

I think I’m struggling with communicating. How often or how many different ways can you tell someone you’d just like a little peace of mind before you actually get it? Perhaps the failure is on my end. In fact, that’s highly likely, but what do I do about it?

My mind won’t let me in to fix it so I figured I’d go to the supplier. Seems as though I’ve been on hold a while. I keep hearing that I’m a valued customer and I keep getting thanked for my patience, but I really just want to hang up. I’ll just get someone on the other end that doesn’t speak English or doesn’t have an answer so they send me to another operator. They’ll probably tell me just to read the manual. I’ve been reading the manual, that’s how I’ve discovered I have a problem, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of a solution.

Maybe I’ll try calling God again. Nuts, voicemail.

Of Minor Prophets and Dreams that Coincide

2009-01-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Something rocketed me from my sleep this past evening. Well, maybe not rocketed; that might be an exaggeration. I woke up; that’s about it. But something woke me up and that’s the point.

I don’t think I’ve ever had God speak to me through a dream before. I thought that was reserved for Bible characters and people looking to use God to pursue their own personal agenda, but I think I had a good talking to in this past dream. It’s what woke me up in fact. I didn’t pop straight up like a jack-in-the-box or anything like in the movies and scream some nonsensical phrase, but rather my eyes open and I immediately felt convicted. Before the dream, first some background.

Lately I’ve had my desires in the wrong order. Desiring God was well behind the lead. There was a conscious decision to rectify this hierarchy of desire, but my mind would not let go of the old system. I get in these moods or stages or what-have-you’s where I know the right thing to do, but I cannot get my mind to make the switch. It takes some sort of shake up to get things straight again and this one was no exception.

The dream started out with the object of my desire ending up in someone else’s possession. The remainder of the dream was spent with me getting extremely jealous as I had to witness this person do all the things I wished I could do, but could not. Then I woke up. Not too exciting, but extremely poignant.

Immediately, at somewhere between 3 and 5 am, I was convicted of my idolatry. I knew this jealousy is what God feels when His desire, us, chooses to be with someone else, somewhere else. This jealousy, I believe, is best demonstrated in the book of Hosea.

Recently I’ve been reading through the Minor Prophets. Partly because they are short and I can get through a book in one read, but also because I have not read them very much and I was looking for some new perspective on God and His character. Hosea has to be one of my favorite books. The story goes, roughly, that God calls on Hosea to marry a prostitute to represent the relationship God, then, currently had with Israel. (Think of God asking a modern pastor to do that today; how would that go down? Something tells me this pastor would no longer be a pastor.) Throughout the book Hosea’s wife runs off and he has to buy her back. How often do we run off on God only to have Him buy us back time and time again? God’s jealousy is demonstrated with Him breaking all the things Israel would put in His place. Never has an idol of Israel outlived the wrath of God.

In my dream I felt extreme jealousy and God has this same jealousy for us when we create substitute gods. I’ve since asked for forgiveness and since struggled to change the mindset to desire God first and foremost, but it’s getting there.

5 Things (Now complete with author's commentary!)

2009-01-10T16:08:00.000-07:00

2009 and The Clay present:

Goals (Or a List of Things to Do)

1. Want God. In this case you can always get what you want.
2. Do more math. I'm forgetting things that cost me a lot of money to get.
3. Write more blogs. Let's be honest, I suck.
4. Pursue deeper relationships. A goal with fine intentions, but difficult to measure success.
5. Open for suggestion. What do you think I should do?

The Giving of Thanks

2008-11-27T15:21:00.001-07:00

What I’m thankful for: A list

Food – I like to eat.

Friends – I like them.

Grace – I make mistakes. Grace helps.

Creativity – Life would be quite boring without it.

Life – How else could we use our creativity without life?

Math – Whenever I need an absolute, I can always add two and two and get four.

Love – Simple enough to enjoy, complex enough to have to work at.

The ocean – It regulates our weather and has fish in it. The original multi-tasker.

Diversity – It shows how big God really is.

God – He’s all right.

Jesus – He’s all right too.

The Holy Spirit – Just because I don’t want it to feel left out. Also, it’s all right as well.

Glacial erosion – It looks really pretty.

The internet – It brings me closer to things that are far away. Also, it brings Dinosaur Comics.

The End

The Forgetful Church: An Update

2008-11-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

There are two major differences between my last little experiment concerning prophecy and this one. One being that this venture is in a language I am unfamiliar with. Thus, it much more difficult for me to draw conclusions about what I see since I don’t know what people are talking about. And the second is that I have many more responsibilities here on the ship that can get in the way of me actually fulfilling my objectives than compared to back home; hence the somewhat delayed update.

After several false starts and booked up Sunday mornings, I finally was able to get out to the Sct. Nicolai Kirke (the church out in the center of town). The Sunday I had chosen also happened to be one I was not allowed to leave the ship; not allowed to leave, that is, unless I found a person to fill my stand-by watch keeper role while I was ashore. I found someone, informed the authorities, and headed out on foot at 9:25 am.

At 9:30 am the church bells began to ring. They began to ring and I had just crossed the street to head into town. I must have left closer to 9:27. At any rate, I was late. I began to feel as though I was back in school and as I was walking to class, the bell began to ring. My reaction is one of, “Oh crap! The bell’s ringing,” and, also like in school, not to walk any faster.

As I got to the door of the church, the bells stopped. Good timing I guess. I stepped inside because it was bitter cold out. The “lobby”, for the lack of a better term, was empty. Obviously, all the people were already inside doing whatever it is Danish people do in church. I decided to wait and see if anyone else would arrive late. I wasn’t terribly late, just 3 or 4 minutes, and someone else would have to be late as well.

Turns out there was. A lady strolled in with a stroller complete with child and I saw a tremendous opportunity. She couldn’t handle the door to the sanctuary by herself; not with child stroller in hand. I’d go and hold it open for her, then I could slip in behind. Awesome.

I did this. I opened the door, she said, “Tak (thank you)”, and I looked inside. Completely empty. Not a single person besides the lady, the child, and me. This could be awkward I thought. Turns out it wasn’t entirely; the service didn’t actually start at 9:30 like I thought. The church only opened its doors at 9:30; the service was at 10. Lucky me, half hour early. I exchanged uneasiness with the person handing out the Danish hymnals (I not speaking Danish and she thinking I spoke Danish) and looked for a seat. (So many to choose from!)

Turns out this is not your normal seat looking routine either. The pews were situated in a fashion I had never seen before. There were 4 columns of them and in each row was a door leading to a booth of some kind. One bench was facing the front and the other the back. These were the pews, little booths with doors. It was like being in a restaurant minus the table; you might even be able to get a good supply of communion wine if you were good.

This type of seating allowed for some good observing. One observation I made was that of the children in the audience. They all sat with their respective adult chaperones (although I did find out at the end that there was a designated toy area in the back of the church for the little ones. Guess where I’ll be next week?) and the most peculiar behavior. It looked so familiar to me. In fact it almost looked like either I was imitating them or they were imitating me. They looked like they had no idea what was going on. The service was in Danish; I had no idea what was going on. Any small distraction immediately caught their eye and the same went for me. It was nice to be reacting to things on a 4 year old level again.

The children were again involved at a later point in the service. There was a child’s baptism and the minister called all the young children to the front to watch; they were of course accompanied by their parents. This was also interesting to observe. With all the tradition in the church up until this point, it seemed strange that the children would be involved in such a way. I guess it shows the church places particular importance on children.

One thing that happed during the service was a lot of, what seemed like, standing up and sitting down. Seeing how I couldn’t understand any words that were spoken, I couldn’t really catch why we would stand up when we did, and we only sat down when the minister gently moved his hands in a downward motion near his midsection. I tried to gauge if it was for songs or prayers or what, but one song we’d be sitting and then the next we’d stand. He’d be talking and in the middle we’d all stand up, then, still in the middle, sit back down. No rhyme or reason that I could detect. Maybe it was to keep people awake?

Overall it was a good first experience. I wasn’t completely shunned or mistaken as a tourist barging in on their religious ceremony. I even felt a little welcomed with my awkward exchange when I first entered the sanctuary. The pipe organ and choir accompanying the whole service was awesome. The minister would say something and the choir and organ would respond musically and then the minister would keep on going. It made for a pretty cool and interesting atmosphere.

Tune in for thoughts on this coming Sunday’s service where I brave the sub-zero (Celsius) temperatures and see if a church built in the 13^th century has a satisfactory heating system.

The Forgetful Church: An Intro

2008-10-26T14:56:00.001-06:00

Europe is known for a few things. One thing that usually comes to mind is old churches. Well, Køge, Denmark is no exception. In the center of town is a very old church. It’s said it was built in the 1300’s. According to the all knowing source of Wikipedia, its tower doubled as Denmark’s first lighthouse in the 1500’s. Imagine that, a church literally being light to the community.

However, it seems that at some point the church in Denmark, Europe really, lost its glow. I’m not sure if church history here is so deep that people just wanted a break or what, but the church is dying. More and more people have decided that God no longer plays a pivotal role in their lives.

What does it mean, “the church is dying?” I think it’s worth investigating. I actually, come to think of it, don’t really care for this terminology. A church dying? Doesn’t that imply that at some point it will be dead? How can the church die? Here’s how I see it. The church is the “physicalization” (I made up a word, I know) of Jesus. It’s His bride. In a sense, it’s under His ownership. So how can it die? Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the church has lost its identity. It’s forgotten it’s the bride of Christ. It has forgotten it’s “physicalizationism” (this is just getting worse). So, the church here in Europe has just forgotten who it is.

This church in Denmark, this very old one in the center of town, is very hard to miss. We can see its tower from the ship. Wherever you go in town, you can see the tower. It is how I know which way I’m going when I walk somewhere new. If you go into any small western/central European village, this will likely be the case; a large church that designates direction for disoriented tourists. So, it’s easy to dismiss these buildings as actual representations of Jesus. After all aren’t they just historical markers or cultural hotspots? I believe no.

Therefore, I feel I have been asked to be a part of this church here in Køge. I’ve asked around the ship and all the people who’ve gone there for service have said that the building is very nice and the service is in Danish. One even said it was the most catholic protestant service he’d ever been to. So my part in this church will be simple, to observe and to pray. To observe what a church that’s lost its identity looks like and to pray that it finds it again. I plan to go every Sunday morning that I have free and to walk around it and pray whenever I’m in town on free time. I plan, of course, to document what I discover not only to inform, but also to see how God works in this.

Somehow I thought just coming on this ship would be my crazy adventure for God these next two years, but obviously I was wrong. Yet again God asks me to do something that is completely uncomfortable, that may have absolutely no visible fruit for my labor, and makes me completely dependent on God for purpose. Should be fun.

The Language Barrier: Converting from English to Engine Room

2008-10-21T16:08:00.000-06:00

It’s been a weird day. As of this point, I have been in “training” mode for two months and I still have about a month left. That’s three months of training for a twenty-four month commitment. That is, for every eight months of commitment, one month of training. What’s weird though is that there are very few left from the original group with whom I joined the ship that are still in “training” mode. About 90% have already settled into their jobs and I along with a few others still have to train.

This realization hit me today; that I was still in training after already two months away. I have to admit it was very discouraging. I started to doubt my ability to even be here. I thought with all that college education and world experience (I’ll wait for the laughter to stop), I’d adjust easily into this new life. I guess I’m human.

See, it’s the engine room that requires all this extra training. There is a load of information that we have to cover in a short period of time and it is quite overwhelming at times. But what’s more overwhelming is the fact that you have to see everyone else on the ship hard at work while you are sitting around and studying. It gives me a desire to do a really bang-up job once I get to the engine room on a full time basis (I’ve been there and worked there, just not without a training purpose behind it), but it is difficult to see that end.

One of the things that I was sad and grateful for at the same time before coming here was the fact that I didn’t have to adapt to a new language. The language on the ship is English. Granted it’s some strange combination of UK English, American English, Australian English, and ship English (you know; port, starboard, that sort of stuff), but it’s English. I felt sad, for one, for the people who do have to adapt to English. I can’t imagine changing location, culture, and language all at once. I felt grateful because I don’t have to go through that stress of learning a new language; or do I?

See not that my training sufferings are in any way equal to those suffering from language barrier but I’m kind of learning a new language as well. The engine room is a new language and I’m still smack dab in the middle of learning it. Like any language training there’s classroom learning and then there is leaning by emersion. I think to be encouraged I have to think of this time as overcoming my language barrier.

I know of folks living overseas in different culture who have been there for years and still have language issues. They are still studying language and I’m complaining about two months of learning. The problem I often have is that my expectations far out reach that of those that actually exist in reality. I expect no mistakes, no problems, no barriers. That is never the case. There are always mistakes, there are always problems, there are always barriers. So, I just have to accept that there is this barrier of engine room “language” that I have to overcome and that this training is the way I have to overcome it. Simple as that.

It’s not so simple actually. There are still my fellow shipmates who walk by our training who are working and I still feel guilty for not working.

God's Prep Work: Or How What I Spent All of My Childhood Doing Finally Payed Off

2008-10-13T13:52:00.000-06:00

Hindsight is 20/20 right? Then how come after looking back I still can’t figure this one out? See, last evening it was revealed to me that I was being prepared this particular evening since the age of eight. Let me paint you the picture.

A bit of background. Our weeks here on the ship are fairly structured. We work five days a week. We get one day off, and we get one day designated as an “experience day.” Experience days, as of now, consist of training for ministry and a bit of practical application. Well, yesterday was my experience day for the week.

I was designated for a team from the ship to go to Copenhagen to do what was classified as “street evangelism.” For me, this is not comfortable. In fact, there are times where I absolutely despise “street evangelism.” For those of you unfamiliar with the term or the activities associated with the term, it consists of Christians out on the street handing out “literature” to unsuspecting passer-bys. I recognize God’s sovereignty in that He can use anything for the advancement of His kingdom. I just wish He would phase that particular practice out.

This event was no different. We were given “literature” to hand out and I optimistically took four pieces out of a possible much more than four. There was a table set up along the street with coffee to hand out to people as they walked. (Street, in this case, means paved walking area. In fact, there were very little cars in this part of Copenhagen.) I should mentioned that we were given the liberty to do whatever we liked as far as “outreach” goes, but we were encouraged to stick around the table to see if we could strike up any conversations. I chose not to stick around.

I mentioned to my team that I was interested in just walking around the area and praying. Three other were interested as well so two of us went one way and two the other. My partner in prayer and I walked not by five minutes to find what would occupy the rest of our night and for what God was preparing me for the last sixteen years.

There before us, sitting in an open square, were several white tables. Surrounding these tables were a series of flood lights pointing toward the tables. Between these lights and the tables were all kinds of people. People from Copenhagen, people from Spain, people from Italy, and people from the United States. Keeping these people occupied, sitting on the tables, were piles and piles of white Lego bricks.

I’m not going to lie to you friends, I’m not going to fabricate the truth, I was pretty darned excited. Without asking or seeking the reason behind the square converted play pin, I immediately began to build.

A woman standing, building next to me with two children was talking with someone across the table in Danish. Perhaps she was inquiring as to why all the Legos? Her conversation finished and I asked if she spoke English. I then asked why the Legos. She told me and before long we were having a conversation. I was talking with a woman on the street of Copenhagen. The whole point of the exercise that evening, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the medium of Lego.

As you can see, this was clearly a divine appointment. And as you can see I am completely flabbergasted as to how much preparation God puts into His kingdom work. With God’s sovereignty, He can use a tacky Christian track handed out by a very bold Christian person, but He can also use someone’s favorite childhood toy to strike up a conversation between two people in the middle of Copenhagen, Denmark. I hope He uses the later, or even better, both.

A Short Note From The Clay

My apologies to you faithful readers who've had to spend a month reading the archives. I was hoping to post more often, but neither time, nor words have allowed me to accomplish that. Please feel free to chastise me for not posting. It may be a motivating factor.

Speaking Words of Wisdom, Let It Be.

2008-09-14T12:17:00.000-06:00

Ship life has come. The bunks are small. The people are diverse. The energy and emotional levels live at extremes. Times like these one wants a little godly wisdom to keep him grounded. I’ve been reading some A.W. Tozer along with someone else I can’t remember (the book is in my cabin and that requires going up and down four flights of stairs) and I wrote down some quotes that have become relevant to me these last few weeks.

From A.W. Tozer:

How good it would be if we could learn that God is easy to live with.

We’re here to be worshippers first and workers second. (Very relevant for ship life since work can get in the way of worship very easily.)

An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives al of Himself as fully as if there were no others. (I like infinity.)

A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. This is man’s greatest tragedy, God’s heaviest grief.

Five vows to make and keep:
1. Deal with sin thoroughly.
2. Never own anything – get rid of the sense of possessing.
3. Never defend yourself.
4. Never pass anything on about anybody else that will hurt them.
5. Never accept any glory.
Remember that these vows are not something you write in the back of your Bible and forget. They have got to be written in your own blood.

From the other guy:

There is only one requirement for enjoying God’s grace: being broke . . . and knowing it.

That’s it for now.

Live from Amsterdam . . . it's any ol' night really

2008-08-20T02:58:00.000-06:00

So, I’m in the Netherlands now. (See map in side bar.) Prior to meeting up with OM for the beginning of my training, I spent two days in glorious Amsterdam. Some might be a little frightened by a young, single, Christian male traveling alone in Amsterdam (too many temptations), but I’m here to dispel some of the myth that is Amsterdam.

Amsterdam was founded by fisherman living along the Amstel River in the early 13^th Century. (Source: Wikipedia. Take it with a grain of salt.) It is thought that the fisherman dammed the Amstel before it met the IJ, the bay/lake that is considered now Amsterdam’s waterfront. This created a natural harbor which fisherman would then take advantage of. Since then, you could say, Amsterdam has continued to think outside of the box.

Yes, prostitution is legal. Yes, soft drugs such as marijuana are legal and sold openly. However, not everyone participates in these activities. Prostitution tends to be geared toward the tourists. While walking through the Red Light District, I saw more tourists than natives. The soft drugs are mostly sold in open air, private markets (which attract tourists as well) or in Coffeeshops. It’s not available in the grocery store. (I went in one and no marijuana. So, I bought a sandwich.) So, in a sense these industries are under control.

Now, this is not to say these industries should be praised or even tolerated. It still hard to fathom someone needing fulfillment and thinking their only option is selling their body or seeking out casual sexual experiences. Or someone needing relief from pain and sorrow so much that they feel their only release is a chemically (or naturally) induced high. But, it is important to remember that it’s not the actions of sex or smoking or taking drugs that are immoral, but rather the dependence on them for identity and fulfillment. People pop pills for pain relief all time knowing full well it is a temporary relief and as soon as the pain is gone, the pill is no longer needed. People have participated in appropriate sexual relationships and understand it’s a pleasurable gift from God. So, the substances are not to blame, but rather the lies that people believe that they need the substances.

With all that out of way, here’s my experience with Amsterdam.

I was able to do a lot of walking while in Amsterdam. One thing I like to praise about European cities is the ease in the ability to walk them. One thing that struck me while walking Amsterdam is its gross fulfillment of all stereotypes Dutch. It reminded me of Disneyland in that if Disneyland were to have a Dutchland added to one of their theme parks, it would look exactly like Amsterdam only cleaner. Not cleaner in the sense that there wouldn’t be prostitution or drugs (we all know Disney is not high in the morals department), but rather the streets would be swept and the canals wouldn’t be brown. I honestly didn’t think the Dutch could look that Dutch. I’m surprised there weren’t more wooden shoes walking around. (There weren’t any walking, but there were large novelty ones sitting on the sidewalks.)

Walking through the Red Light District as a single male alone was an experience. I was witness to some different tactics in trying to get me to commit to an expensive romp in the hay. (A bit distasteful, but it’s all I got.) The girls would set up behind a glass door with, that’s right, red lights and would sit on a stool in their underwear waiting for a customer to approach them. I would walk by the window and usually be looking straight ahead. The girl would catch on to this and put her high heeled shoe on the glass and tap it with the peg of the heel. This of course would draw my attention and I’d look over. She’d then suggestively move her finger in the “come over here” motion. I’d then shake my head in the “no thanks I’m not interested” manner and walk on. She’d then bang her heal again and give a more suggestive “no really, come over here” finger move. Then I’d just glance over and roll my eyes in a “you’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously?” kind of motion and the dance would be over; only to continue with the next girl. Needless to say, it was quite tiring.

So, Amsterdam is quite an interesting place to say the least. I was able to ride a bike through town a little while and yes, everyone does ride a bike. In fact, everyone rides the same bike. They all have the same shape, style of handle bars, and the same locking mechanism. For a city that embraces variety and diversity, they all have a lot of similarities in their modes of transportation.

I’d like to come back some day, spend a little more time visiting the museums, actually seeing the sights with friends rather than by myself, eating dinner with friends instead of by myself. Basically, I’d like to come back when I’m not by myself.

A Bit from My Mind

2008-07-21T11:50:00.000-06:00

Let me tell you what’s been on my mind lately. Recently I’ve come to the knowledge that several people with whom I have or have had varying relationships with have fallen on some hard times. Their relationships with God have all been on the decline which, in my mind, has led to the poor decisions that they’ve made that brought them to their predicament. Granted, there were other circumstances at play that also led to the difficulties, but the positions in which they find themselves can be directly tied with the decisions they’ve made as a result of those other circumstances. This knowledge of their predicaments has bugged the hell out of me.

I have found varying degrees of guilt festering in my mind along with anger and sorrow. The idea of people I know or have known suffering really makes me sick. For one, I look back on the time I was able to spend with these people and realize all the opportunities wasted that I had to strengthen the relationship that might have led to better decisions from these people in the future. I look back on the times when I thought the person’s decisions problematic for the future and neglected to say anything. These things weigh heavy on my mind.

I struggle now with what my response is to these situations. Some of the people I have not talked to in several years and I fear what the reaction might be if I attempt communication. Others, our relationship has never been one that’s open to struggles and triumphs, but rather a casual friendship; still, I feel I can do something. Also, I’ve been struggling with the limited time I have to be available to these people. I am scheduled to leave for service with OM August 16^th which is a little under one month away. I have moving to do, people to see, and loose ends to tie up, where am I going to find the time and energy to concern myself with these people?

Then there’s God trying to teach me a lesson in all of this. Jesus says in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” It’s God’s want, desire, passion, whatever overly used descriptive word you want to use, to see lost people come back to Him. Not lost as in they haven’t spoken the secret password of “Jesus, I’m a sinner” and come to “salvation”, but rather, lost in the sense that they’ve, with words or with actions, told God, “I’d rather you be dead,” and gone off to do their own thing. Lost in the sense that the shepherd has left the other 99 sheep to go and find the one that ran off into the woods. It’s something almost poetic God seeking the lost; not formulaic where we pray and God takes us in.

I’ve taken this lesson and I’ve taken these people that have been on my mind to God and said, “Well God, you want them back, and I want them back. What is it we can do to get this done?” In this question, I again struggled with guilt (Maybe if you did a little more, they wouldn’t have run off in the first place?), anger (God, why did you let them run off in the first place?), and sorrow (I really miss them. I wish they wouldn’t have run off in the first place.), and I’ve struggled with my limited ability to physically do anything. However, in this question, God has given me the answer; prayer.

Cue the cheesy music, cue the “Oh come on’s”; I realize how clichéd that sounds, but that’s the answer. God wants those people back and I want those people back with Him as well. But, I’m not the one who is capable of bringing these people back. I’m not even responsible for bringing these people back, God is. If I want to be involved in this rescue, as it were, my first investment is to bring to God my desire to see these people returned. Partition on their behalf how much I’d like to see them come back to right relationship with God, and things will start moving.

Quite often our response to situations where we want to see God work is, “All right, what where should I set up; what should I do?” looking for some role to play physically. But really, we need to step back and allow God to do the work; letting Him know how much we’d like to see the work done. Then, further along in the process, a position might open up where God will allow us to take part. After investing in prayer, I believe, we’ll easily be able to step into that position.

All of this to say, I am now fervently invested in bringing these people back to God. He and I have been in conversation quite frequently about these people and I look forward to seeing what role I might be able to play in the future.

Report: Both Hitler and Mussolini Experiencing a Cold Front

2008-07-09T14:14:00.000-06:00

Somewhere deep beneath the earth’s surface now lives a giant frozen wasteland. It seems hell has frozen over and I have taken interest in a pair of political candidates. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have struck me as interesting and it’s making things a bit difficult. Allow me to explain.

See, about a month ago I had the genius idea of getting to know each of the new American presidential candidates a little better. I was growing apathetic toward all the sound bites and political bickering I was hearing on the news, so I went to my local library and proceeded to check out books written by each of the candidates. I fell upon Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope and John McCain’s Faith of My Fathers. I then proceeded to read both of them simultaneously as to gain a better perspective on each of the men who I am to choose who will potentially become the next leader of my country.

The idea seemed innocent enough. I would gain more knowledge on each of the men which would in turn better inform my decision on who to vote for in the coming November elections. Whether it was the books I had chosen or the men who wrote them, I’m unsure, but nevertheless after reading both books, I feel less able to choose now than before I had read the books.

It seems that both Barack Obama and John McCain are very interesting people. Mr. Obama has very ambitious ideas and high hopes for the future of America as was spelled out in his book and Mr. McCain has a very long family history of influence in America (both for good and bad, but more for good it seems) and wishes to continue that influence (for good I’m assuming) as President. After reading these books I couldn't help but think what good people these men really are.

That’s the problem I now have. After reading these books and learning about these men, I can’t help but see them as people. Before, people in politics, for me, always represented ideas. Ideas that I could easily agree with or disagree with without much thought or concern for the impact they would have on me and the people around me. Politicians never seemed human to me. They were more like statues in a museum representing an ancient culture. These statues represent real people that lived at one time, but when you see them in a museum you can’t help but think of the time period they represent rather than the people they represent.

However, now when I look at the election coming up in November, I have to choose between two people (two really good people in my opinion) rather than two ideas. It makes the whole decision a little more difficult. I see the winning candidate being really joyous of his victory and I can even feel some of that joy with him, but I also see the losing candidate being really heart-broken about all the hard work and dedication amounting to essentially nothing and I can feel some of that heart-brokenness.

What’s really troubling though is that I should have been thinking like this all along. When it comes to people, thinking of them as people always beats not thinking of them as people. I think this exercise really helped solidify that idea in me. I’d recommend it.

Hope Springs Eternal

2008-07-02T13:28:00.000-06:00

I enjoy flying by the seat of my pants. My overly analytical brain tends to overheat in the process of planning; then blows a gasket in the analysis of the potential success of those plans. So, I find it much more comfortable to plan as little as possible so as to keep any little brain functionality I already have.

This past week is a fine example. I took a trip out to eastern Tennessee to visit some friends and do some hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains with my friend Ben. Before arriving in TN, the hike was planned out as far as we both agreed to go hiking in the Smoky Mountains. After I arrived and after some much needed sleep, food, and Nintendo Wii time, Ben and I sat down to pick a route to follow. We both wanted to follow part of the Appalachian Trail (AT); so, we found a route that met that criterion. We found out we needed reservations on some of the campsites on the AT so we did that, and our trip was planned.

Upon arriving at our campsite the first night, it had become abundantly clear that we had left out one crucial aspect in the planning of our route. The very key to life, what scientists are searching for on Mars, the element of water.

See, in planning hikes in the Cascades where I’m used to hiking, the idea of water does not cross your mind. Snow is year round, so rivers and creeks are usually running at some capacity and lakes are rarely dry. However, in the Appalachians, the water situation is different. Rivers and creeks are dependent on springs which are dependent on ground water which in turn is dependent on rain fall. The southern states are currently experiencing drought. The creek that was supposed to be about a mile and a half from our campsite was dry. We had no water source for our first night of the hike. The day of hiking prior to our stop for the night was warm and quite an uphill battle, so we were thirsty. We had to conserve what water we had left since we were unsure where the next place to get water would be.

The next day there could be no hot breakfast as we were still in conservation mode. We each had a liter of water to get us to the next campsite, Double Spring Gap, where we hoped one of the springs was producing. This portion of the hike would take us on the AT and over Siler’s Bald. Bald meant an uphill climb, higher elevation, and no trees which spells disaster when it comes to dehydration and you are already low on water.

Signs of dehydration were already setting in before we reached the AT; headaches, nausea, and muscle cramps, and still no sign of water.

We reached the AT and within one mile of our entrance, we came across another pair of hikers; a young couple. We exchanged hellos and I asked where they had stayed the previous night. They said Siler’s Bald Shelter, to which both Ben and I asked if there was any water. They said there was a trickle, but not much. That was good enough for us. That’s more water than we’d seen in at least 12 hours (not counting the water we were seeing in our dreams).

Now, when it comes to human anatomy and the ability of the human body to do certain things or whatnot, I know very little. That being said, I feel as though I’ve experienced the physical effects of hope on the human body. Before Ben and I met this couple on the trail, dehydration was rather rampant. After they told us there was water not three miles away, I felt slightly energized. The headache I had? Well it didn’t go away, but I was slightly number to its pain. The nausea I was experiencing? It was still there, but I felt I could endure it. The cramps I was getting in my legs? I found a way to walk where they didn’t bother me. How do I account for this?

Well, hope is a good thing. People say, “Don’t get your hopes up.” Why not? People can do some pretty courageous things fueled solely on hope. People get these kicks of adrenaline and all of a sudden they’re lifting cars. All this from the hope of saving whomever is trapped under the car. It seems what I’ve learned from this whole experience is that hope is a powerful thing. One of my major ambitions for the next two years is to be able to offer people hope. What’s truly exciting is to be able to witness what this hope stirs in people.

The Lord Our Healer Part II: God Does Some Healin'

2008-06-11T17:59:00.000-06:00

Previously on The Clay Has Something to Say . . .

I’ve been thinking recently about healing. People getting sick, people getting well, that sort of thing . . .

Now, if you’ve ever seen footage of Harry Caray leaning out of the press box at Wrigley field leading the North Chicago crowd in a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch at a Cubs game, then you have a pretty good mental picture as to what the lead pastor of this particular church sounded and acted like. (If you’ve only seen Will Ferrell’s portrayal of Harry Caray on SNL, you’ve got a pretty good mental picture as well, and a pretty hilarious one at that.) . . .

"I didn’t know there was a bomb! How was I to know there was a bomb?" yelled Tony in desperation. He was trying to buy some time. See, he knew there was a bomb. How could he not? He planted it. Now he was just waiting. Waiting for the little red, digital numbers to find their way to zero . . . or five; he could never remember if the timer ran up or down. But, when it reached zero, or five it would all be over . . .

Now, it should be understood that the room wasn’t full of people on stretchers, people with missing limbs looking for them to be reattached, but rather people with aches and pains looking for relief, older people looking for relief from different ailments . . .

"We the jury finds the defendant . . . guilty!"
Gasps filled the room; they just pushed the stagnate, humid air out of their way and set up camp. Obviously the verdict wasn’t a surprise to anyone, but everyone was just so excited to show they could act surprised, they couldn’t help but be a little shocked. How could they pass up the opportunity . . .

Healing = a smearing of oil on the forehead (anoint the sick with oil can be found in the Bible somewhere) + putting hands on the afflicted area (this would prove a problem if the ailment were prostate cancer or breast cancer or something) + shouting ‘hallelujah’ at the top of your lungs whenever you feel so inclined (shouting ‘Jesus’ at the top of your lungs would also suffice) + shouting some tongue-like language also at the top of your lungs (Imagine Harry Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on Novocain) + More yelling of anything that comes to mind (‘Look how loud I can yell!’) . . .

So, that leads me to the question: what does healing look like? Can it look like what I saw that Sunday night? Does it look like something different?

And now The Lord Our Healer Part II

Jehovah Rapha: The Lord Our Healer. That’s what the little slip of paper they handed me had written on it, and I was supposed to think about what that meant. What it was supposed to mean in the greater context of God and what it was supposed to mean in the greater context of myself.

The story is that during a mission trip to Vancouver my team and I were welcomed to worship our God with the YWAM staff. One part of the "activities" we were participating in was that we were each given names of God and asked to sit and think, ponder on what those names reveal to us about God. Being one who likes a good thinking exercise, I thought it was a good idea. I received the name Jehovah Rapha: The Lord Our Healer. Now, being the smart, alert, recent college graduate that I am, I had completely forgotten that I had scheduled myself to go to a healing service in two weeks. So, I thought nothing of the name and proceeded to write down whatever thoughts came to mind.

I asked the question "What is the role of a healer?" The obvious answer would be to heal the sick; I went with that one. I then asked "Who are the sick?" A better question with a less obvious answer to it. I concluded that we are all sick in a way be it spiritually or physically. Some have physical ailments that they would like healed, but all of us have some spiritual sickness that we need to get taken care of. Then I asked the most difficult question of the exercise "Are all who are sick healed and if not, does that make God a poor healer?"

Ultimately, this is a question that many people struggle with (including myself) in one way or another. It boils down into the question "If God is good and all-powerful, why do people suffer?" To attempt to answer that here would certainly leave some wanting a more sufficient answer (including myself); so, I’ll just focus on the healing aspect of the question.

Where I had my "ah-ha" moment was when I was focusing on the English translation of the name I was given. Now, I have no idea where this translation came from or the accuracy of the translation, but nevertheless it’s what I had. The translation is The Lord Our Healer. The emphasis and important aspect I focused on was 'our.' The Lord Our Healer is a very personal name in that it’s what a group of people who were healed by God would call God. It’s only natural is it not? If someone heals you, would you not refer to them as a healer? Therefore, The Lord Our Healer, Jehovah Rapha does not refer to God as a healer who will heal all people, but rather the source of healing for those who have been healed.

The Lord Our Healer only reveals that God has healed; never does it claim that He will heal everyone. This fails to answer the question of why God would heal some and not all, but I cannot answer why for God just like I cannot answer why for anyone other than myself. Either God is a sadist (possible) or God has a pretty darn good reason not to heal someone (also possible).

It was about a week before the healing service that I finally put two and two together; I finally realized that I had already prepped myself for the service with the little thinking exercise in Vancouver. So, going into the service, I looked into how I could reconcile the name The Lord Our Healer with the healing that I was going to witness.

After thinking it through and considering what I’ve seen, what I’ve experienced, and what I know, I’ve come to this conclusion. God heals people both spiritually and physically. I’ve witnessed spiritual healing in myself and in people I hang around with. I’ve heard witnesses to physical healing from people whose word I trust. What I witnessed on that Sunday night may have been healing and it may have not been healing. People who were sick may get better or they may not. What I believe my reaction to Jehovah Rapha should be is that He has healed in the past and I can only hope He will again in the future.

The passage I was given where the name The Lord Our Healer was taken is Exodus 15:26. The context of this passage is that Israel has just been miraculously led out of Egypt and has just miraculously crossed the Red Sea to escape the repercussions of miraculously escaping from Egypt. Prior to verse 26 in chapter 15 both Moses and his sister Miriam have given beautiful songs of praise to God for His saving His people from the Egyptians. Now, when we come to verse 26, Israel has started their tour of the desert and they’ve been without water for three days. They come across a pool of water, but it’s bitter with minerals and cannot be consumed. Moses cries out to God (probably because he’s thirsty) and God shows him a stick to throw into the water to make it drinkable. Then God tells the Israelites this:

He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do
what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all
his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the
Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

-Exodus 15:26

What’s essential about healing is that it does not matter what it looks like. God heals different people in different ways. However, what does matter is what the person who was healed looks like afterward. Israel had not changed and would not change even after God would continue to deliver them again and again from situations where there appeared to be no hope. Our ability to believe that God is a healer depends on the ability of others to act like they’ve been healed once they’ve been healed.

Guess what. We have been healed! Should it not completely change the way you view and express life? If you recovered from a heart attack, would you not be completely grateful for a second opportunity and completely overhaul your diet and exercise routine as to prevent another one from happening? If you we to just go back to sitting on a couch and stuffing yourself with cheetos and coca-cola, we’d start to doubt if you even had a heart attack at all. God has healed us from our spiritual infirmity and our lack of enthusiasm and lack acknowledgement of that healing is causing others to doubt that God can heal at all. So, let’s acknowledge Jehovah Rapha and allow others to know there’s hope that He might heal again.

The Lord Our Healer Part I: Harry Caray Sings a Song

2008-06-05T11:34:00.000-06:00

This post is like an episode of Seinfeld. Like Seinfeld is a show about nothing, this is a post in which about the subject I know absolutely nothing. I’ve been thinking recently about healing. People getting sick, people getting well, that sort of thing. I hear stories about people who know people who have some miraculous experience and I don’t know what to think about it. Obviously, I’m happy for whoever got better; I’m happy for whoever told the story, but I never know what to feel after that point. Most of the time part of me thinks the miraculous gets a little too much emphasis in the story (I know that sound heretical, but it’s honest). Here I stand; someone who claims a supernatural God yet who cannot find it in himself to believe the supernatural healing. So, I decided to pay a visit to my good friends the charismatic church; witness myself a real healing service, and I did.

For those of us who are not exposed to this sort of thing on a regular basis, we have a preconceived notion as to how the whole process works. We see a man standing in front of a large crowd with a line-up of people in front of him waiting to be smacked in the head, fall down, to be picked back up again, and to be healed. Essentially, this is not what happed at this particular healing service.

The service was held on a Sunday evening in a small sanctuary with approximately 30-40 people present. There was a box of tissue in every Bible rack on the back of every pew in the sanctuary. If you’re preparing to use that much tissue at one time during a service, you’ve got more than the Holy Spirit moving through you (try a few million microscopic bacterium). Guess what else was in the Bible rack along with the tissue. If you guessed a Bible, you’d be wrong. There wasn’t a single Bible in the back of any pew. They’d all been replaced by tissue boxes. I guess when people started blowing their noses and wiping their brows with Psalms and Proverbs, the church got the hint that tissue was a little more of a commodity than God’s word. (Just for the record, I’m not saying every church needs to have Bibles in the back of their pews; I’m not even saying churches need to have pews. But, I found it peculiar that where Bibles usually are, there were tissues.)

The service started out like any North American church service would start, with upbeat, somewhat repetitive praise music. Now, if you’ve ever seen footage of Harry Caray leaning out of the press box at Wrigley field leading the North Chicago crowd in a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch at a Cubs game, then you have a pretty good mental picture as to what the lead pastor of this particular church sounded and acted like. (If you’ve only seen Will Ferrell’s portrayal of Harry Caray on SNL, you’ve got a pretty good mental picture as well, and a pretty hilarious one at that.) Honestly, if you gave the guy a pair of big, black rimmed glasses and stood what little hair he had up on its end, you couldn’t tell the two apart. So, at least that was entertaining and if I lost it in laughter, I’d have plenty of tissue.

After the mandatory, Spirit-lead praise music, some guy came up to preach. He wasn’t Harry Caray and, to my knowledge, he wasn’t someone who regularly attended the church (made me wonder why they didn’t ask me to preach), but rather some guy who, since he kept asking if he’d told this or that particular story before (no you haven’t! Just move on! (It wasn’t annoying or anything)), I can only assume had been to this church to speak before. He talked about John 5 and the man who would wait by a pool that was sporadically stirred by the angels; when it was stirred, the first one in was healed. His point was that the man was good in his desire to be healed, but his method was a little off. Instead of seeking for the pool to heal him, he should have been seeking Jesus. Now, I agree that Jesus can heal people (it’s mentioned a few times in various texts), but if someone doesn’t know that Jesus can heal, why would that person seek him out to be healed? This then tied in of course to everyone who was at the service to be healed. It was used as an encouragement to say you’re in the right place.

Now, it should be understood that the room wasn’t full of people on stretchers, people with missing limbs looking for them to be reattached, but rather people with aches and pains looking for relief, older people looking for relief from different ailments. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to see any blind people see or deaf people hear or lame people walk. So, after the preacher quit his preaching (It should be noted that the preacher was looking for healing as well. He had pain in his shoulder.), people were invited up front to be prayed for by the pastors and elders of the church that were present. This is where the show took off.

I had never found the formula for healing in all my Biblical studies (this is not to say there were or are a lot of them, that is Biblical studies, but there were some), but apparently it goes a little something like this. Healing = a smearing of oil on the forehead (anoint the sick with oil can be found in the Bible somewhere) + putting hands on the afflicted area (this would prove a problem if the ailment were prostate cancer or breast cancer or something) + shouting ‘hallelujah’ at the top of your lungs whenever you feel so inclined (shouting ‘Jesus’ at the top of your lungs would also suffice) + shouting some tongue-like language also at the top of your lungs (Imagine Harry Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on Novocain) + More yelling of anything that comes to mind (‘Look how loud I can yell!’). Calling upon God for the removal of the ‘spirit of infirmity’ is a popular method as well. What is a ‘spirit of infirmity’? In all seriousness, is it suppose to be some kind of demon? At any rate, this is what healing looked like for this particular healing service. And despite all the obvious distractions, the band continued to jam through the whole thing. As if all the shouting and the yelling weren’t enough, there was a little background music in case it ever got awkwardly quiet.

To be completely honest (and you know when I do that, there’s going to be trouble), after attending the healing service, I had no idea what the hell I had just done. Is this what healing is? What really gets me is that this event that just took place would never leave the walls of the church. No one who acted like they did in the service would act like that around other people they know. No one’s down on his knees with his hands over someone’s foot yelling at the ‘spirit of infirmity’ to get out. If they are, people think they’re mentally deranged and they throw change at them. So, that leads me to the question: what does healing look like? Can it look like what I saw that Sunday night? Does it look like something different?

To Be Continued . . .

A Weekend in Review

2008-05-30T14:03:00.000-06:00

This past Memorial Day weekend I and my sister had the privilege of taking 5 incredible young people up to Vancouver, B.C. for a weekend of urban mission work.

So what did we do? In one and a half words: a lot.

Friday, 23 May 2008:
The drive from Monroe, WA to Vancouver, BC was beautiful as always and due to $4.00/gal gas prices, devoid of traffic. In fact, we waited a mere 15 minute at the border compared to 30+ last year. Who said high gas prices is always a bad thing?

The actual act of crossing the border was easy. It makes you feel like anyone could do it; given they have the proper documentation of course.

We arrived at our host church, Hope Reformed Church, in good time and there were chips, salsa, and YWAM staff awaiting our arrival.

Saturday, 24 May 2008:
The day started off with . . . breakfast, what else, but after breakfast we participated in a community clean-up in the neighborhood around the YWAM offices. The clean-up was put on by local residences and we were privileged to be able to help YWAM and their neighbors clean-up some trash. It never ceases to amaze me the reaction people have when we say we came up from the States to pick up trash in Vancouver. “Why would you do that?” they’d ask.

After the clean-up we started our downtown plunge. The downtown plunge consists of two parts: the downtown eastside and downtown proper.

Downtown eastside happens first. It’s the poorest postal code in all of Canada. Needless to say, there is a lot of need in downtown eastside. If you’re homeless, you likely live in downtown eastside. If you’re a drug addict, you likely hangout in downtown eastside. If you are a prostitute or are looking for a prostitute, you likely go to downtown eastside.

We empted our pockets of cash, cell phones, cameras, and any other worldly possession you can fit into a pocket and headed into the heart of downtown eastside. Our goal was to gain a better understanding on what if feels like to be homeless, helpless, impoverish. Also a part of downtown eastside is Chinatown. Another goal was to gain a better understanding on the fact that other cultures do exist outside our own. Be that Chinese or homelessness.

A crucial and enjoyable part of the first half of downtown plunge is sitting down and having lunch with someone who may not have a lunch. Each team (that is, a group of about 3 or 4) has sack lunches for themselves and an extra lunch to share with someone else. The goal is to actually sit down and have lunch with someone. Gaining an opportunity to hear their story and maybe share yours.

This can be a difficult task. How do you choose just one person to have lunch with? There are so many who could use a lunch. Also, it’s difficult to actually sit down with the person and eat with them rather than just give them the lunch and walk away. The team I was a part of had difficulty with this one. We met a lady who asked us for some change and we said we didn’t have any, but we had a lunch if she was interested. She said she’d love a lunch. So, we asked her if she had 10 minutes or so to sit down and eat with us. She had her arms full of bed sheets and what not and said that she had to go and meet her husband, who she was not living with currently, and drop this stuff off. So, not really wanting to tell her she couldn’t have lunch unless she sat down with us to eat it, we gave her the lunch and she was on her way.

We then sat down on the corner to eat our lunches and not 5 minutes later she came back with her arms empty. We asked her how the lunch was and she said she had given it to her husband. She asked us if we had another one. We didn’t really have an extra one, but I offered her mine and asked, again, if she like to take 10 minutes and sit down with us. She said she couldn’t, but would like the other lunch. We gave it to her and she told us to not get into drugs because “this is where you’ll end up.” She told us she was Catholic and I told her there’s nothing wrong with that. Then she walked off.

We learned a lot about the lady even though we didn’t actually sit down with her, but it would have been nice to hear more. The other team that was wandering about had a little more success in that department and learned that the lady they shared their lunch with lived with the Hells Angels and Chuck Norris, smoked crack with the little Korean lady who was out in the park collecting recyclables, was the smartest person in the world and in order to cope, had to do drugs, and had the spirit of her dead twin living inside of her. Despite all of this, the team said she was a really nice lady, and I believe them. It’s easy for us to judge others based on their appearances thinking that if they’re homeless or into drugs, they can’t possibly be nice people. When, in reality, appearance has nothing to do with it. It only takes a conversation with someone for you to find this out.

The second half of downtown plunge takes place in downtown Vancouver proper; where all the ritzy hotels and boutiques are located. This area of downtown is a mere 2 blocks from downtown eastside; it’s quite a contrast.

One of the activities which we participated in this was to sit outside a store front for 15 minutes; as if we were looking for spare change. We were to gauge the reaction we got while we sat there. I can tell you people’s eyes gazed over us a bunch. People would walk up to the corner to cross the street. Their eyes would wander about behind them, look down and notice us, and then they’d look back across the street. It was as if we were just a part of the scenery.

Dinner was Ethiopian food. If you’ve never had Ethiopian food, you need to have Ethiopian food. Basically, it’s a giant pancake type thing covered with different kinds of meat, veggies, and lintels and you eat it with your hands! It’s a fantastic experience.

After dinner, we went back to downtown eastside to participate in Street Church. Street Church is basically a feeding program with a little chapel service thrown in. Our team was responsible for helping serve food and put on the chapel service. We did a fantastic job if I do say so myself. The atmosphere of Street Church is really like nothing else. People line up for food; some sit down to listen to the service, but mostly people just get back in line for more food. There’s usually a heckler present, and in past experiences he was a swearing heckler. Needless to say, this can be an intimidating audience to put on a chapel service for, but the kids who did it did a wonderful job.

Sunday, 25 May 2008:
After the church service at our host church (that is 1 hour and 15 minutes of service and 45 minutes of coffee and cookies), we made our way out to Surry, B.C. to a Union Gospel Mission low income housing complex to do some yard work. The weather was hot (85° F, 29° C) and there was a lot of grass, but there were no complaints. We raked, we mowed, we swept, we sweat, and we blessed people. We had residents coming out of their homes asking us what it was we were doing and why we were doing it. One man even went out to the store, at his own expense, and bought us bottled juice and chocolate bars.

Dinner was Indian food. If you’ve never had Indian food, you need to have Indian food. Basically if you get nothing else, get the Nan. Nan is the best bread you will ever put into your mouth. Some would argue that communion bread would fulfill this role, I’d disagree; as far as taste is concerned, Nan wins all the way.

After dinner, with Indian food sitting heavy in our stomachs, a difficult topic sat heavy on our hearts. It was time to learn about the sex industry that, unfortunately, Vancouver is well known for. This subject flared tempers and numbed our senses as we sat and thought of all the people trapped in this industry; whether they provide services or consume them.

The goal of the evening was to pray. Pray for the industry, pray for those trapped in the industry, pray for those who are trapped into thinking they need the industry to be happy. However, we didn’t just pray within the walls of the YWAM base or our host church, but rather we went out to where prostitution was known to happen during the time that it did happen and we walked the blocks and prayed.

Another part of the prayer walk is a random act of kindness. Each team is given a rose to give to someone they see while they are praying as a symbol of God’s love for them. It may be difficult to see the impact a rose can have on a person, but if you are on the corner selling yourself, someone coming up to you and telling you you’re loved is not easily forgotten.

The team I was a part of tried to give our rose out several times. The girls we saw on the corners were no longer there when we came back to attempt to give them the rose. A little disheartening, especially since we knew why they were no longer at the corner. Then, toward the end of the evening, there was a girl standing on the corner next to our car. Two girls on the team went over to her to give her the rose and, without looking up at them, she said, “Don’t give it to me.” See, YWAM sends out tons of teams to do this outreach and so, some of the girls know what the rose is for and why strange teenagers are approaching them.

We walked around the block and prayed for her. Obviously, something was lying heavy on her heart if she knew what we were doing and didn’t want any part of it. We place the rose on a random car windshield after being unsuccessful with giving the rose to a person and made our way back to our car. We waited there for the other team to get back from their prayer walk. As the other team arrived, the girl who had rejected the rose earlier came out of the alley that our car was parked next to with a man. The girl walked through our group and the man had to unlock his bicycle which was stored next to our car before he could go his own way.

I can’t imagine either of these people being able to walk away without thinking about what they had just done. The girl knew who we were and what we were doing and what we were hoping she wouldn’t do, and she had just done it; now she had to face us again. The man knew we knew what he had just done, and had to sit and unlock his bike amongst us. This is where the Holy Spirit pulls on hearts and we just let Him do it; absolutely no judgment. In this situation, it would have been so easy to cast judgment on these people, but in order to show compassion one has to refrain. Christ cast no judgment on the woman caught in adultery, but rather forgave her of her sins.

We returned to our host church where there were brownies, cookies, hot chocolate, and YWAM staff awaiting us. Our hearts were still heavy, especially after what we had just spent 45 minutes witnessing and praying for. We were able to share the feelings we were having and reconcile those with how God feels about the situation. Then we spent more time in prayer; 15 solid minutes of silence broken only by the occasional plea to God for justice and reconciliation.

Monday, 26 May 2006:
Our final day in Vancouver was spent first worshiping with the YWAM staff. We sang some songs then we were each given a name of God and asked to meditate on it. It’s humbling to think of God being so big He needs that many names just to help explain a fraction of who He is. We were then given the meaning behind our own names and asked to pray that we would be able to live up to the name God has given us.

After worship we went and ate Pho, a Vietnamese beef and noodle soup. If you’ve never had Pho, you need to have Pho. It’s probably the best soup you’ll ever let run down your chin.

With yet another full stomach, we parted ways with Vancouver. The car ride home was quiet as everyone reflected on what God had taught them over the weekend. Actually, that’s not true. It was quiet, but everyone was sleeping since the weekend was so action packed. (You didn’t see me mention sleeping once in the post.) Needless to say, God did teach us a lot over the weekend, and I’m guessing everyone is reflecting on it right now, or they’re still asleep.

Note: All pictures are stolen from the internet. Please be advised.

Baseball and Swashbucklers: A Demonstration of Perfect Love

2008-05-13T13:32:00.000-06:00

A brisk walk in the park brought about a humbling thought. My capacity to love others is squarely dependent on how much I allow God to love others through me.

I was walking the asphalt loop that circumnavigates the two baseball fields in the park not 2 blocks from my house when I caught eye of a father and his two sons. The father could not have been older than mid-thirties and his two sons could not have been older than 6 and 4 respectively. The father had his baseball glove with him and consequently so did the 6 year old; they were playing catch. The 4 year old was not one to be out occupied, so he had with him a plastic, red-handled pirate sword with which he was playing. He was perfectly content with swinging the sword at the air and making lunges into non-existent, fellow swashbucklers while his father and his older brother engaged in a game of catch.

The game of catch was going as well as you’d expect with an adult and a 6 year old. The father having to short arm all his throws to keep the velocity down and the 6 year old, while displaying quite an affluent arm, wildly hurled the ball in either direction of his father; it looked like a good time. The 4 year old looked like he was having a good time as well. He was stabbing everything he could get his little eyes on. Then he caught eye of his dad. In his little mind, dad was wearing a fancy three-point hat with a big feather, an eye patch, and he had a parrot perched on his shoulder; there’s no room in this town for both someone who looks like this and someone with a red-handled pirate sword. He proceeded to go after dad; he took a swing.

Now, dad had a choice to make. He was currently engaging his 6 year old son in a game of catch, but that engagement was about to be usurped by a young 4 year old swashbuckler with a red-handled sword. If he chose to ignore his 4 year old, he might not take much notice, but he might be hurt. If he chose to ignore his game of catch with his 6 year old, he might not notice too much either, but he also might be a little hurt. The father was demonstrating perfectly that we as humans cannot be in two places at once.

Now, I am 100% positive the father loved both of his sons equally. However, he could not demonstrate that love, at this time, to both of them in the way that he wished. That is, he could not both sword fight with his 4 year old and play catch with his 6 year old at the same time. His capacity to love his sons was limited. This is not to say he did not love both of his sons at this point, but rather he was limited.

God is not limited; this is the humbling thought that came to me while this all was unfolding in front of me. I am limited, but God is not. God can love everybody, God can demonstrate love for everybody all at once, and I cannot. Therefore, In order to demonstrate love to people in greatest capacity, I need to rely on God. My love is limited, God’s is infinite.

The 4 year old took a swing at dad and dad was able to maneuver in such a way in which he avoided the fatal blow to his knee caps. Not one to give up easily, the 4 year old chased after dad, but dad’s legs were a bit too long for the pursuit to be successful. The 4 year old gave it his best, but the fence was a much easier opponent, so he pursued after it. The father was able to go back to his game of catch with his 6 year old and he looked un-phased by the pause in action.

If one generally wants to love others as Christ loved us, one has to trust while he or she is occupied with one person, love is being demonstrated to others without one’s direct help. One question that constantly comes to my mind is how I can spend my time with people here in America when there are people who need God’s love demonstrated to them in so many other places. Cyclones and earthquakes are destroying families and devastating lives in other parts of the world; wouldn’t my help be better off there? But the second I say that I have to say that people here in America need God’s love demonstrated to them. Alcoholism and divorce are destroying families and devastating lives here; my help is needed here as well. The only way I can live with myself knowing that I cannot be love to everyone at once is a faith that God is demonstrating His love to all people everywhere.

The father made the decision to engage his younger son knowing that he could still impact his older son. He realized that despite not directly being with his older son, his older son would still know love. Despite my inability to love everyone all at once, people will still have the opportunity to know love. God’s love demonstrated through me can have a direct impact on those around me or an indirect impact on anyone anywhere in the world. God is pretty big when it comes to love.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us . . .”
- 1 John 4:16-17

Jumping into Pride. Watch for Lions.

2008-05-09T14:45:00.000-06:00

Something I find interesting about our human condition are the things in which we take pride. There are things in which we should legitimately be proud and things in which we should take no pride at all. It’s great to be proud of a child scoring a goal in his or her first soccer game, or getting an A on a term paper, but it’s not great to be proud of causing a rift between yourself and a friend, or being stubborn about some issue you should probably bend on.

It’s refreshing, almost inspiring, to see pride expressed in a correct situation. I was sitting in on my sister’s graduation ceremony and there were a few ROTC graduates that were being honored. The graduate would march up on stage in full uniform to be recognized. Accompanying them were the graduate’s parents. What was interesting was that it was the parents’ responsibility to apply the badges for lieutenant on the ROTC graduates uniform. The graduate would stand completely at attention while his or her parents would apply the badges. Then, the graduate would be allowed to be at ease and huge and thank his or her parents. What was touching to see and think about was how proud the graduate’s parents were. You could see it in their faces. When they gave their child a hug, they were all smiles. When they pinned on the lieutenant stripes, they were all smiles. It was a really beautiful thing.

However, on the opposite side, seeing pride expressed in situations in which it is completely inappropriate is rather difficult to sit through. When you experience someone who is arrogant or who is constantly bragging about accomplishments, you just want to punch them in the neck.

Something God is changing in my life right now is my appreciation for being around people. I used to find the company of others rather unnecessary. I was fine on my own. In fact, some people’s presence just flat out annoyed me. It was not too long ago I was sharing a room with someone I had just met for a meeting we were both attending. He was a nice guy, but he just got on my nerves in not too much time. I really just wanted to be myself and he was always around. But now, I find I can tolerate, wait, actually appreciate more and more the presence of others. This may seem like a non issue for some of you, but for me this is huge. God is really doing a work here.

What’s interesting about the whole situation is that I have this sort of pride about my independence. I’m rather proud of my Marlboro Man mentality. It seems macho, it seems American, it seems it’s my personality, but the more I search into what God wants for human life, the more I find people are involved. God cares about people; therefore, I have to care about people since I care about God. So, the more I care about God, the more I’m starting to care about people.

Now what’s difficult about this whole thing is the pride thing. I’m very proud of my independence remember. So, if I start caring more about people, it’s going to start showing. And if it starts showing, people are going to ask me, “What’s going on?” Then comes the hard part; the breaking of the pride to say, “I care.”

This all may seem a bit trivial to some of you, but you have to understand, all our lives we’re told our personalities are from God. This is true to a point, but they also are under the influence of sin, so there are going to be aspects of them that are not so hot. This little fact is often neglected. Thus, a development of an attachment to our personalities; a pride of sort in who you are. Now you can see how difficult it can be to weed out these nasty aspects of your personality. They’ve been apart of me for so long; I’ve grown some what attached.

It’s interesting isn’t it, how we can take pride in the silliest things?

Community: Some Thoughts

2008-05-08T11:52:00.000-06:00

*Precursor: This is a compiling of my thoughts over the last few weeks. It's kind of cohesive in that they all revolve around the idea of community, but really there is no flow to them. What I'm looking for here is feedback on these thoughts. Do they appear accurate, obtainable, etc?
End Precursor*

It’s Saturday. The weather outside is 65 plus degrees Fahrenheit. There was a time in our American, human history where this meant the threat of a baseball going through one’s window was on an orange alert; the probability was rather high. Now, with a beautiful Saturday afternoon in our midst, the only sound we’ll hear knocking against our windows are misguided flies thinking they’ve found open passages to the insides of our houses. We like to place the blame of this newly acknowledged phenomenon squarely on the invention of video games; some of us go as far as to place it on the invention of the television. I feel this blame is undeserved; the root of the problem is much deeper.

Recently I’ve given a lot of thought to the idea of community. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what it means exactly, what purpose it serves, what, if any, benefits it has, and, consequently, what, if any, downsides it has. In the past I’ve conducted experiments on myself to see if I could expand or narrow my idea of what the “Christian Community” looks like. I attended services and seminars hosted by Christians whom with on everything I don’t necessarily agree. I’ve proposed another of those experiments to try shed more light onto that same question. However, I’m uncertain I’ll be able to answer that question by the end of that experiment either.

Coming up in a couple of months I’ll be leaving the secure soil of the United States to join a ship operated by Operation Mobilization for two years to be a resource to local churches all around the world. I’ll be joining a very unique community of people from all around the world with one commonality; a love for Jesus and a love for people. With this experience I’m sure I’ll gain much more insight into the question of community. I look forward to this learning experience very much. But, again, I don’t think I’ll have the question solved after the two years are up.

The reason, I think, that we don’t see kids out in the neighborhoods playing baseball or whatever with each other, the reason we don’t see families barbequing with each other, the reason we don’t see people generally hanging out with each other is because of this issue of community. I believe we’ve lost the sense of what it is and we are struggling to find out what it is again.

As a kid growing up on a cul-de-sac in Monroe, WA, I was rarely bored. The only times I was bored, I can think, was when I was by myself. To solve this problem, I’d just call up my friend Triston who lived down the street and we’d do something together. We’d ride bikes, we’d climb trees, we’d play out in the soccer field separating our houses, whatever; we’d find something to do. If Triston wasn’t available, I’d just go outside and there would be some kids from the neighborhood doing something.

See, I think we need community in our lives; we admit it every day. Every time we say we are bored or we think we need something to do is our admission to missing community. When a kid says he or she is bored, it is not that they have nothing to do; it is that they don’t have anyone to do anything with, or rather, they don’t want to do anything with the people that are around them. They’re both rejecting the community they are in and admitting to missing community all together.

Now, obviously I don’t have any research to prove this hypothesis, but I think it makes sense at least. I can see it in my own life as well. Whenever I feel bored, I’m always wishing I had someone to do something with. I usually chalk it up to being lonely, desiring to have a partner in which to share things. But the reality is, even if I had someone like that, I’d still feel bored. I’m not really a part of any community. I go to a church (ironically called Monroe Community Chapel), but I’m never really around these people outside Sunday morning. I got to work, but I’m never really around these people outside a professional atmosphere. I live in a neighborhood, but I never really see my neighbors. I know people, I have friends, but I have to make appointments to see them and go out of my way to visit them. So, whenever I’m bored, I’m always wishing I lived closer to my friends or I had relationships with people I go to church with or work with in which I could just drop by and hang out. But that isn’t how we operate.

As is apparent by now, I’m just relaying thoughts at this point. I don’t really have a conclusion to draw to. My goal in the next couple of years is to gain more and more insight into what community really means and what it really looks like. I have ideas, but I need to see if they play out in reality. I find I have an innate gift of being able to come up with great theories, but their connection to reality is hit or miss. So, we’ll see what comes out of this thinking experiment. If there are any thoughts on the subject out there, feel free to share them here or with me in person; I’ll be willing to listen.

A Time for Healing (Or B-B-B-Benny and the Jetsssssssssssss)

2008-04-30T16:45:00.000-06:00

So, I had an idea. I drive by a church near my house every day that is a bit on the charismatic side. In fact, according to a big, blue banner, they hold a healing service every month on the first Sunday of the month. I’ve never driven by on that particular Sunday to see how packed out the house would be, but I imagine someone’s got to show up. I thought I’d show up.

So, continuing on the theme of me putting myself in potentially awkward church situations, I plan on attending the healing service at the church by my house in Shoreline the month of June 2008. I plan on being an observer; I plan on being a skeptic; I plan on having an open mind. If anyone would like to come with me and participate in the observing, the skepticism, the open-mindedness, or even to get some healing, feel free. Just let me know that you are interested and we’ll go.

The service will be June 1st at 6:30p if the big, blue banner is correct. So, mark your calendars!

A Radical Proposal.

2008-04-22T13:36:00.000-06:00

Here’s a test. Read this article. If you’ve already read it, read it again. What was your reaction?

Do you side with the church?
Do you side with those who find it controversial?

Who’s correct in this situation? The church has a right to free speech just like the rest of us. It’s too bad they chose to use it in this manner, but the freedom is there. What if the situation were different? What if the sign had something nasty to say about McCain? Would the press be all in a fit about it then?

I propose something radical. I propose that regardless of who is right and who is wrong in this situation, regardless of who did what and what the reaction is when asked to retract the action, the response should be the same. Love. Love I say.

Here’s the thing. Regardless if you worship God on Sunday or if you sacrifice to Satan on Wednesday night, you’re going to do something wrong at some point in your life and you are going to have a hard time admitting it. The problem is that the reaction of, “Oh the Church, up to their old tricks again,” or, “Oh the liberal media, up to their old tricks again,” gets us to the exact spot we are at right now; separated and hating each other.

If you are fed up with people hating each other, if you are sick of seeing the Church butt heads with everyone else in the media, perhaps it’s time we have a new reaction to controversy. Perhaps, instead of, “Oh you just don’t understand,” we react with love for those who cause controversy. We react with love for those who stir it up. Perhaps then, we might not get the constant butting of heads we are so used to.

Perhaps it’s time we start taking the initiative on this. Instead of condemning the church who posted a crappy billboard, pray for that church that they might see where they went wrong. Instead of condemning the media for focusing on its own liberal agenda, pray that the media will see the harm in only covering one side of the story. It’s time to take initiative.

Now, this is not to say we will see immediate results from this radical change of reaction, but rather the opposite will likely be true. We may never see results in your lifetime. However, we can sleep well at night knowing that your reaction was the correct one; one that was exemplified by a man who was no stranger to controversy. Jesus died for the Pharisees along with the Tax collectors; the extremely religious and the extremely sinful. What greater love has a man for his brother than to lay down his life for him? What greater love has a man for his enemy than to lay down his life for his enemy?

Bumper Stickers Round Three: A Pursuit

2008-02-26T15:44:00.001-07:00

It seems as though bumper stickers have now taken over my life. Before I started writing about them, I hardly noticed or paid any attention to them. Now, after two such posts following the bumper sticker theme, I can’t help but write another one. This one however, is a little different.

It started with, what else, a car. My car to be exact. I was in it and I was driving it. I was driving it on the freeway on my way home from work. I was in traffic so the other cars were all unusually close. Like, five or six feet apart. You can’t leave too much room or you’ll have to give way to the perpetual lane changer than like to roam the streets between the hours of rush and rush.

I was no less than five feet from a red Jeep Cherokee listening to the news, so I wasn’t really paying much attention to my comrade’s rear end. But my eyes glanced across its bumper and my mind read, “Blah, blah, Jesus, blah, blah.”
Insert double take here.
“Jesus,” I exclaimed. “I know that guy.” So, I had to read what the sticker said.

It was at this realization that I was reminded by the perpetual lane changer merging in front of me that I had left too much space between me and the bumper sticker. I’d lost it. Well, almost lost it. I flipped on my left blinker, which is basically useless since the rear blinker light is burned out, dropped into fourth gear, and jammed on the gas to make a pass. A high speed pursuit was under way.

The pass was unsuccessful; remember this was during rush hour. The Jeep was able to get two car lengths up and made a move into the left lane. I was behind. I jumped back over to the right, hoping to ride some of the luck the Jeep had, but nothing. Both lanes were doing the same speed and I was still two lengths down. Then the Jeep made a move for the car pool lane. How could it? There was just the driver, no passenger; as far as I knew. I made a jump back to the left and contemplated breaking the law along with the Jeep. There were no cops along this stretch and I had a straight shot to gain the lost ground I needed on the Jeep to read the bumper sticker and get out of the HOV lane as soon as possible.

I opted not to break the law; too many potential 864-HERO (correction: it's actually 764-HERO) callers out there for my comfort. So, I looked to find a way through the congestion to catch this Jeep before my upcoming exit. I darted back to the right lane and again to the right where there was a bit of space and I hit the gas. I came around a corner and I saw nothing but tail lights. A state patrol officer had someone pulled over on the right shoulder and it was holding back the general flow. Then a semi truck came up on my left and I lost sight of the Jeep. Man! Twelve seconds in the HOV lane and I would have had it, but no. Honest Clayton had to opt toward the law and was stuck in traffic ticket traffic. My exit approached and I left with my head held low.

Now, all this started with a mere glimpse of the name “Jesus.” Something was said about Him and I had to know what it was. Imagine if you will that this was always our reaction when we encounter Jesus. His name, His work, His love, whatever it was that we encountered, we instantly went into a pursuit of Jesus.

Wait, shouldn’t it always be like that? Isn’t Jesus supposed to be so irresistible, so necessary, that when we encounter Him we cannot help but drop everything and follow Him? Uh, yeah. Well, it isn’t is it? Why not? What’s getting in the way?

Is it an HOV lane? We have an opportunity to find out more about Jesus, but the risk is too much. If I do that, I’ll get into trouble. Well, wouldn’t Jesus be worth getting into a little trouble? It seemed that way for people who lost there lives following Him.

The point I’m getting to is there are people who literally risked everything to pursue Jesus; they we completely willing to take on a high speed pursuit for truth. And yet there are those who are afraid they’ll have to take a financial hit if they follow Jesus, they’ll have to take a hit in social status if they follow Jesus, they’ll lose street cred, or whatever.

One of my favorite movie scenes is a scene in Bullitt where Steve McQueen’s character, Frank Bullitt, is chasing after alleged killers of a witness that was in his care. Not only is this the original car chase scene (Like, all the other ones after have copied this one), and not only does it feature a pair or really sweet-ass cars (the new mustang is based off of the one Frank Bullitt drives) that sound amazing on film, but it also demonstrates how far Bullitt was willing to pursue and discover truth. I feel if we aren’t willing to get into a high speed chase for Jesus, we shouldn’t call ourselves His followers.

“But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
-Matthew 7:14

Things and the Things We Make of Them: A Retraction.

2008-02-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

In regard to my last post, I’d like to print a retraction. A retraction to the statement that “I’ve never cared for bumper stickers.” It’s not that all of a sudden I care for bumper stickers. No, I actually still don’t care for them. But rather, I spotted one today that I actually took a fancy to; one that actually took the subject matter for which it was commenting on and summed it up quite nicely.

The sticker said, “The best things in life are not things.” Simple, concise, yet really deep. (As opposed to the sticker I saw that said, “Honk if you hate people.”) So, let’s think about that for a minute shall we? The best things in life are not things. Why do you think that would be?

Well, for one thing, things cease to be after a certain amount of time passes. So, if one equates “the best” with longevity, then certainly things would not be considered “the best.” But, ultimately it comes down to what you define as “the best.”

Some definitions of “the best” used in society today (as speculated and not proven by the clay):

The best – whatever brings happiness personally at the particular time in question.
Example: That cheeseburger was the best.

The best – something that brings happiness to as many people as possible.
Example: That concert was absolutely the best.

The best – someone or something that wins frequent first place prizes.
Example: Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi is the best hotdog eater ever to eat hotdogs.

The best – the most efficient path or product at doing a particular job or task.
Example: The best way home is to take Interstate 5.

As you can see, the definition of “the best” varies quite a bit. So, in the context of “The best things in life aren’t things,” what “the best” are we referring to? Cheeseburgers? Hotdog eaters? Interstates? Here’s where I think the statement is so brilliant. It takes the understood definitions of “the best” and forces you throw them out when it says the best isn’t things.

Ultimately, things were not meant to be the dominating force in our lives. I’m just going to say that. We were not meant to collect and collect until we die. We were not meant to gather a certain amount of things and sit on them until we die. Things are not what life was meant to be about. Things are nice, yes. They can be very fulfilling at times. I find that when I go hiking, having things make the trips far more enjoyable than if I did not. Hiking boots, backpack, water bottle, socks, pants, etc. all make the outdoor experience very pleasant. But, I could easily spend countless amounts of time and money collecting these hiking things and not enjoy a single one of them. Why? Because all I’m focused on is collecting this stuff rather than using it for the purpose it was intended for; to aid me in enjoying the outdoors.

See, things are essentially tools when you boil it all down. They are meant to help you enjoy life. Life is beyond things. If you live for things, you miss the point; you give out false credit.

Now, this all may be easy to agree with. Sure, it easy to see the superficiality of living life dedicated to things. However, check yourself. Are there earbuds coming out of your ears that you’d be willing to part with? Is there a car in your driveway that you just can’t live without? Are there stacks of DVDs or scores of television channels that you feel are essential to your day to day comings and goings? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with these things, but what’s wrong is our dependence on them; our need to have them in order to feel good.

For example, yesterday being Valentine’s Day a lot of things were exchanged. Also, a lot of things, recently, have been deemed necessary to have a successful February 14th. Chocolate, champagne, boyfriend or girlfriend, dinner reservations, romantic meal, romantic movie, romantic music, romantic card, all of these things are not bad, but certainly we can see the success of a single day does not depend on the existence of such things. I felt my day was quite successful with a frozen pizza, the Ramones, old episodes of The Simpsons, and eventually the movie Capote. I felt that I was able to reflect on how I loved the people around me as well as the people I would come across in the near and distant future quite successfully while munching on a Tony’s Pepperoni pizza.

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, when things take over our lives, people are no longer a priority. In fact, people seem to get in the way of our acquiring more things. This is fundamentally wrong. People should be our priority. Jesus didn’t say, “Love your things like yourself,” but rather, “Love your neighbor.” A neighbor carries a distinct quality that separates itself from things. That is, that a neighbor is alive. A neighbor is alive like you are alive; in the human fashion of being alive. So, people take a priority over things.

This is a difficult lesson to take to practice. Things have been practically wired into our thinking from day 1 and it’s going to take a serious re-wiring to get people in front of things. I’m not speaking from the other side either, I have to same wiring everyone else does. I have earbuds in my ears right now that I think are pretty fundamental in my enjoyment of the day. That’s wrong. But, it just shows I have some work to do.

Dumb, Dumber, Dubya: How an Assumption Can Make an Ass Out of You and Me.

2008-02-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve never cared for bumper stickers. I find that the issues they represent are 99.9979632% of the time larger, deeper, and more complex than the slogans strapped to automobiles’ rear ends represent. (Although, I’ll admit it would be pretty cool to have a bumper sticker that said, “I’m smarter than your honor student,” or “My other car is another car.”) However, one thing bumper stickers can do is tell you a lot about the owner and operator of the 3 second-slogan-mobile.

For instance, while I was driving to work today there was another car on the road. This other car was a typical Seattle car; small, probably energy efficient in some way or another, contained a political bumper sticker, and had the right blinker stuck on for about 4 blocks. The ironic thing was that the car with a right turn blinker on in the left turn lane had a sticker referencing the intelligence of a, one, current president of a particular country, the United States. It stated, “Dumb, Dumber, Dubya.” Clever I suppose, although alliterations are probably the easiest bit of humor to come up with in my opinion. (Hence, my writings usually have an adequate amount of alliterations all about.)

This bit of irony got me thinking. Is this person aware of everyone’s ability to be dumb now and then? Granted some are more gifted with the ability than others, but still everyone is dumb at some point in their life. So, why do we assume then that our leaders or, more generally, everyone that isn’t our self are immune to making mistakes? It’s like there’s this pedestal and we’re putting people up on it.

Here’s the problem. False assumptions lead to false conclusions. If I start assuming everyone around me isn’t going to make some sort of mistake at some point, then I start expecting perfection out of them. The second they make that mistake, I’m disappointed. If I start assuming everyone around me isn’t going to make a mistake and I, then, make a mistake myself, I look like a fool. I assume no mistakes, I conclude perfection. Perfection is broken, and my conclusion proves false.

Second, where does forgiveness live in a world of perfection? If I assume no mistakes and someone makes a mistake, is it easier or harder for me to forgive that person for their mistake? They broke my expectations. Of course I’m going to find it hard to forgive that person. However, if I assume the correct assumption that is that people will make mistakes, when the mistake comes it’s easier for me to forgive.

Now, you may be asking, “What about people who make mistakes and don’t admit to them? I mean, doesn’t that make them a jerk or something?” Yes. Yes it does. But that doesn’t mean we cannot forgive them. I believe Jesus said, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” I mean they killed the Son of God and didn’t know it. How jerky is that? But Jesus forgave anyway. If Jesus carried the attitude that these people were incapable of doing such a thing, He might have been a little more pissed off when it happened, but He knew they were capable of such atrocities and was willing to forgive in spite of them.

So, are people capable of being dumb? Absolutely. Are they responsible for their dumbness? Absolutely. Are we as followers of the Great Forgiver expected to forgive? Absolutely. Why is that? Because we can be dumb ourselves, and while we were being dumb, Christ forgave us.

The Church and Its New Adultery: AKA Faith and Politics.

2008-01-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

The race is on. Obama vs. Clinton vs. Edwards vs. Others and Romney vs. Huckabee vs. McCain vs. Giuliani vs. Others. The race for the next President of the United States of America. You’d have to be a penguin living in farthest reaches of Antarctica not to know this is going on. Even then, look out for the Democrats; one of them might come down to kiss you because you’re supposed to be melting and all. Some of us are reveling in this; seeing our 200 plus year old democratic process in action. Some of us are just waiting for them to write dictatorship into the constitution so we don’t have to go through this song and dance every four years. Candidates are spending record amounts of money on campaigns promising fiscal responsibility; flying around in private jets promoting tougher standards on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s difficult to find a side that isn’t all promises and little to no action. Then there’s the fact that I’m a white, middle-classed, Christian male and I’ve already been told with whom I’m suppose to side.

That’s right. Faith and politics is the topic I’ve chosen to tackle this post; the most quintessential taboo subject in the history of all communication. Feathers could be ruffled, toes could be stepped on, feelings could turn uncomfortable; you’ve been warned.

So, what role does my faith and your faith play in our politics? Is it a prominent player; leading the team in points, rebounds, and assists? Or does it sit on the bench; waiting to be called on to fetch water and towels and such? If I’m a Christian, should I only vote for Christians? If I’m a Christian should I not vote for members of another faith when there’s a Christian on the ballot?

Well, for those who do claim a faith, you know it really is inseparable from the rest of your life. The decisions you make stem from what you believe and what you believe stems from the decisions you make. (Yeah, it’s weird.) So to say, “Hey! Put your faith aside!” when it comes to the area of politics is essentially impossible. Then, if you’re a star player, your faith becomes a star player. If you’re a benchwarmer, then your faith becomes a benchwarmer. Plain and simple; you are not detached from your beliefs, nor are your beliefs detached from you.

Now that the detachment of faith from ourselves is established as impossible (be it in very few and probably unconvincing words), the question can really be asked. That is, what role should faith play in politics? I recently read a few things regarding this question. (Hence, why it’s a topic I’m currently writing about. I suppose if I were reading about ducks, I would write about ducks. Maybe I should read more about ducks? Ducks seem to be a far less offensive topic.) One specifically being an opinion article found in U.S.A. Today. The article was entitled “A Plea to Evangelicals – From an Evangelical.” The author, according to U.S.A. Today, a “Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, and author of The Future of Faith in American Politics,” set out to argue that Evangelical conservatives seem to be bringing to the public a form of Christianity that the public may or may not be asking for. I agreed with his argument. Let me highlight a few of his points.

Conservative evangelicalism has become synonymous with Christianity and vice versa. If someone what’s to know where Christians stand on issues, rather than ask the Christians they know, they can look to a conservative evangelical for all the info. According to the author of the article, this is a dangerous position for Christianity to be in.

"Our reputation is at stake, our voice in the culture, and the health of our
religious communities. If the most vocal evangelicals get this wrong, it damages
all evangelicals — all religious believers, really. I am not just talking
about a bit of embarrassment in polite company. If there are people who reject
God or the church, Christianity or religiously inspired moral values because of
what conservative evangelical political activists do, this is disastrous from a
Christian point of view. There are many such people. Here we are at the very
heart of our religious mission, and it is getting fouled up by our
politics."

How has this come about you may ask? He answers. It seems, for the past 20 plus years, Christianity has married itself to the Republican Party. It’s true. Now, I’m no theological expert, but I remember reading somewhere that the Church is Christ’s bride. How can the bride of Christ be married to anything other that Christ itself without committing adultery? It can’t.

"Once any group of Christians gives itself away so completely to a political
party, it ceases to be the church. The church becomes a branch office of the
group's political party of choice — The First Republican Church in
America. This is the root problem, and it leads to all the other specific
mistakes that follow: using the church (or parachurch organizations) and its
considerable resources for direct or veiled candidate endorsements, political
strategizing, dissemination of essentially partisan "voter guides," and
get-out-the-vote efforts. A whole lot more than tax status is threatened when
churches go over so completely to the business of secular politics."

So instead of doing Christ’s work, God’s work, we are doing the work of man.

“Specifically for Christians, we (should) know that the mission of the church is
to be Christ's faithful people, and to do its core work of preaching, teaching
and serving our neighbors. If it is true (as we boldly believe) that the church
is the central location for the work God is doing to redeem the world, then our
focus should be on the church's work, not the state's. As one aspect of our
God-inspired love for our neighbor, we can ask the state and its leaders to do
justice, protect life and advance the common good. We can do this in many quite
constructive ways, from scholarly work to declarations of principles to activism
on specific issues.
But we dare not identify the work of any state, any
political party or any politician with the work of God or the task of the
church. Every time we do so we end up embarrassing ourselves, enraging the
neighbors we are called to love, deepening the culture wars and damaging our own
mission.”

Now, this is not to say that if you are a Christian, or even broader, if you are affiliated with any religious organization, that you cannot claim yourself to a specific political party. This is also not to say that one’s involvement in politics, if the person is religious, should be on a very limited basis. Absolutely not. The danger lies in the Church affiliating itself with anything other than Christ. Thus, as members of this Church (if you proclaim Christ, you are a member), we should first and foremost be affiliating ourselves with Christ.

Where you stand politically may not be the same as your brother or sister in Christ standing right next to you worshiping on a Sunday morning. That’s okay. God created us all uniquely (Interesting isn’t it? How we can all be unique and yet all be of the image of God who is one. Yeah, it’s weird.) and it should just flow naturally from that that we’d think uniquely as well. Unity in the body is not called to be over political issues, but over Christ.

Now, that wasn’t so bad was it? If it was, let me know. The way I like to work and write is by suggestion. So, if there’s something you’d like to hear my thoughts on or you’d like me to experience and write about, let me know that too. I rarely say no to a challenge, so all suggestions are welcome.

2008: A Goal Odyssey

2008-01-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

Goals for 2008

As presented by Clayton Zylstra.

1. Continue looking for opportunities to exercise.

2. Consciously become less wasteful. That means eating the heels of a loaf of bread. That means recycling whenever possible. That means not making unnecessary trips in my car. That means not buying things unless I need them; unfortunately the definition of need will probably fluctuate throughout the year.

3. Become a better overall influence to everyone I come in contact with; physical contact or cyber contact. This goes along with being less wasteful; you know, not wasting opportunities and such. This means having others’ joys, concerns, well-beings before my own, always. This means when I can help someone, I help them. This means when someone doesn’t want my help, I don’t force my help on them. This means if someone doesn’t want to see me anymore, I don’t see them. This means if someone wants to see me more, I see them. This means if someone wants to talk about things I don’t want to hear about, I listen.

4. Climb Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams before I leave with Operation Mobilization.

5. Spend an entire month where I buy 0 food. I’d like to see how well I eat without spending money. Hopefully I don’t die.

6. Not die. (I can’t make any guarantees.)

7. Sport a beard of length less than a half an inch and of length 3 inches all in the same month.

8. I won’t have a girlfriend for at least 2 years; I’d like to be satisfied with that fact.

9. Find a deodorant that actually works on me. Not that I smell, but I sweat.

10. Thank a little person.

I shall see how well I met these in 12 months.

How the Clay fared in 2007 (Or a list of goals followed by slightly unhumorous, witty remarks.)

2007-12-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

Last year about this time I made a post on the myspace that made known my goals for the upcoming year. I suppose you’re curious how those went, no? Well, if you are read on; I’ll fill you in! Here’s the original post:

I have a few goals for this year that I'd like to make public.
1. Cliché:
exercise. (Anyone want to play soccer?)
2. Write a joke that's actually
funny. (I can write the non-funny variety very well now.)
3. Put said
joke into an act or a sitcom or a movie or a combination of all three.
4. Buy
a suit or two.
5. Climb a mountain I haven't climbed before. (That
shouldn't be too hard.)
6. Gain weight and then lose it only to gain it back
again.
7. Shave either less than 6 times or more than 12.
8. Come up with
2 more goals so that I have 10 for the year.
9. Put off said goal to pursue
other passions such as watching television shows I've already seen 3
times.
10. Pet a lion. (This one might be a little difficult.)

So, here’s how I did.

1. Cliché: exercise. (Anyone want to play soccer?)
Well, I played soccer this year more than I did the previous year. Mostly in the summer though. We played every Tuesday with the youth group the entire summer. I was surprised, not only were we able to play soccer and people not complain, but that we were able to play it every week and no one complained. At the end of the summer you could actually see improvement in kids in how they played.

I also played soccer for the company I work for’s team. The first couple of weeks was great because I got to play in the field, but about 3 weeks in we didn’t have a goalie; so, guess who played. Me. The first week sucked; I let by, I think, 7 goals. But by the second half of that game I was getting the hang of it again. Then, it got a little more enjoyable. I was able to make some pretty spectacular saves if you ask me and I even stopped 2 penalty kicks.

I’ve also recently taken up running every now and again. It’s only a mile or so every other day, but it’s something to help keep in shape. Also, I played a lot of NBA Street Vol. 3 on the PS2. That should count for something besides just being a nerd.

2. Write a joke that’s actually funny. (I can write the non-funny variety very well now.)
So, this one was banking on the idea that I would give open mic night at the Comedy Underground another go sometime this year. I never did. Thus, I never really wrote any jokes. Well, that may not be entirely true.

I came up with a popsicle stick joke one day before youth group on a Tuesday night and proceeded, during a point of transition from game to worship, to tell said joke in a sort of a shy, introverted caricature. It went off okay; I think it was the caricature more than the joke, but a laugh’s a laugh.

3. Put said joke into an act or a sitcom or a movie or a combination of all three.
Obviously, since I didn’t really write anything, I didn’t put in into anything. So, stamp a failure on this one.

4. Buy a suit or two.
The idea here was to possibly own a suit for the first time in my life. I’ve graduated from college, I work in an office, it’s time I learn how to tie a tie. I never did. I just continued to spend my money on cheap thrift store polos and button down shirts and I never forked anything out for a tie. But honestly, I have my diploma and I still have my job, so what do I need a tie for anyway?

5. Climb a mountain I haven't climbed before. (That shouldn't be too hard.)
The goal here was to climb Mt. Adams with out actually explicitly saying I’d like to climb Mt. Adams. Sort of put out there that I’d like to climb a mountain that I haven’t climbed before and hope it was Adams, but if it wasn’t, I could climb another one and still say I met my goal. I proceeded to climb 0 mountains this year. I did, however, hike in places I’ve never hiked before.

I hiked the Redwood coast in California which was fun. It was there I hiked in the dark by headlamp for the first time. I bought a headlamp the week before I left. Good thing. It was also the first time I’ve hiked next to an ocean. That hike was full of firsts. I wanted to try and hike bare foot there for a while, but that didn’t happen.

I also backpacked on the eastern side of the Cascades for the first time this past summer. It was the first time I had to deal with mosquitoes in a serious manner on a backpacking trip. It was the first time I hiked with people I had never really met until we started the hike. (Seriously, I had met one person in the party 3 times before, two others once before, another the day of the hike, and another was my pediatrician when I was a kid. So, I had met him, but I didn’t really know him.)

So, lots of first in hiking, but no new mountains.

6. Gain weight and then lose it only to gain it back again.
I’ve actually gained close to 30-40 pounds this year. This is someone who gained about 30 pounds all through high school, but some how managed to grow 5 inches. I’m pretty sure that 30-40 pounds has fluctuated over the year. So, it’s safe to say I gained weight, then lost it, and then gained it back again. Way to go me!

7. Shave either less than 6 times or more than 12.
This one was a popular one. People asked me continually through out the year how I was progressing on this goal. Well, I have the results. I started the 2007 with a full beard and I am ending 2007 with a full beard. I shaved the beard off completely only once. I trimmed the beard a mere 4 times. So, if you include trimming in the category of shaving, I shaved a total of 5 times. If you look closely, you notice that 5 is less than 6 and therefore, I completed this goal with vengeance. On a side note, I only cut my hair 3 times this year as well. Just FYI.

8. Come up with 2 more goals so that I have 10 for the year.
If you read carefully, you’ll see that I completed this goal in the original post. How clever am I?

9. Put off said goal to pursue other passions such as watching television shows I've already seen 3 times.
I can say that I am the proud owner of all 9 seasons of Seinfeld and I am also proud owner of 7 seasons of The Simpsons. Needless to say, I’ve seen a lot of episodes of television shows I’ve already seen. When it comes to wasting time, I know how to do it in style. Did I also mention I spent a fair amount of time playing NBA Street Vol. 3 for the PS2? Also, a successful waste of time.

10. Pet a lion. (This one might be a little difficult.)
I don’t think I need to mention what happened in San Francisco on Christmas Day, do I? It’s a good thing I didn’t fulfill this goal. It could have proven deadly. On the plus side though, I did get Planet Earth for Christmas and there are lots of pretty lions on that program. I can at least watch them in fantastic sub-HD quality.

That’s how I fared in the year 2007. Here’s hoping your year was a success and that 2008 finds you well as well. Next post will be my goals for 2008 which shall prove more difficult and potentially more fantastic. Stay tuned.

Prophecy Day 19 and the Gripping Conclusion: The Gripping Conclusion.

2007-12-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

On Friday, December 14th, 2007, my adventures in Bible prophecy came to a close. I was hoping, because of this, to impart upon you precious readers some sort of eternal wisdom that would create in you a desire to follow all your dreams and what not. Something along the lines of “a penny saved is a penny earned,” or “early to bed and early to rise makes a man (or woman) healthy, wealthy, and wise,” or “eat your vegetables, they’re good for you.” But alas, I have no juicy tidbits of tantalizing knowledge for you to nosh. No amazing climactic conclusion took place; no spectacular, life altering revelation. All I offer is a humble confession that I am a sinner who needs Jesus.

Friday, December 14th, 2007: The Spectacular, Fantastic Second Coming of Jesus.
The speaker gave these words on this night: “If you remember one thing, remember this: Jesus wants to be our savior and Jesus wants to be our Lord.” I think this is true. Why else would He have come to earth, served, and died? However, I think it’s deeper than just savior and Lord. That is, those are just terms we throw on to a situation we don’t completely understand. Sure the terms fit, but I don’t think it’s complete. It’s like a puzzle piece fitting into a hole that’s a little too big for it. Sure the piece works there, but it doesn’t quite cover it.

See, God had a purpose when He set out to create man in His own image. A purpose of creating something that He could love and that in turn could love Him back. Think of the movie Pinocchio. Ghepetto made a puppet. Now, bear in mind it wasn’t Gheppeto’s intention that the puppet be a real boy, but he did desire some companionship that he could love and in turn love him back; notice that Figaro, the cat, didn’t fulfill this role. Cats. Am I right? Well, Pinocchio came to life and Ghepetto was thrilled. He sent Pinocchio to school where he met the neighborhood toughs and ended up getting into some trouble. Ghepetto finds out and goes out looking for his precious Pinocchio; his one companion whom he loves and wants back. Ghepetto finds Pinocchio and Pinocchio recants of his previous behavior. This recantation transforms Pinocchio into what Ghepetto really wanted; a real boy, a real companion; really.

Parallel that with our story as humans. God creates us with an intention, we defile that intention, God pursues us to get us back, we recant of our previous defilement, and we are transformed into God’s original intention. A difference between us and Pinocchio is that we continue to screw up; we continue to run off to Pleasure Island and make jackasses out of ourselves. And, in turn, God continues to pursue after us and we continue to repent and we are continually made into God’s original intention.

So, here’s the thing, I don’t really get this whole second coming thing. I know Jesus promised to come back (John 14:1-3) and I tend to believe everything else He said, but this one strikes me as odd. I guess I see people being born every day, thus more people to rebel against God, to break that original intention. So, it seems that whenever Jesus decides to pay earth a visit again, someone is going to get screwed. Someone is likely going to be on the verge of repentance when the final trumpets sounds, right? Or is God’s timing so perfect, that there’s a precise moment in the future where all that will repent have repented? I suppose that’s the definition of perfect timing. He did start time after all, and he expressed an interest in stopping it once or twice, so I guess He’s got a handle on it. I guess that’s why we say God has perfect timing, He invented the stuff.

I cannot say I have a firmer grasp on Christ’s return after attending this session either. All that was talked about was how glorious a day it will be. I agree; how great will it be to see your savior come to take you with Him? How spectacular a scene to see Jesus bursting in like Robin Hood rescuing Maid Marian from the evil clutches of Prince John? I imagine him giving out a swashbuckling “Ha-Ha!” when he enters earth’s atmosphere for a second time. However, I cannot help but think how utterly crappy that day will be for everyone else. Will I feel sorry for those whom Jesus could not take back with Him? Will He feel sorry for all of those whom He could not take with Him? Will there be any last, “Oh my God, I’ve been completely on the wrong track; Jesus take me with you,” repentings that will be validated at the last minute?

Wednesday, December 19, 2007: A Conclusion.
So what have I learned? The Church does not have the answers to our questions. The Bible does not have the answers to our questions. (I’m thinking of just leaving this as a puzzle and letting you figure out why I would say that. But I’ll just give you the answer.) God has the answers to our questions. The Church does not have solutions to our problems. The Bible does not have solutions to our problems. God has the solutions to our problems. I think one of the reasons I have a problem with loving the Church is that I expect it to be God. When I expect it to be God and it fails to meet expectations; I get angry, I stop loving.

I think when we say the Church is the body Christ and when we say the Bible is the word of God that we have to mean that they are representations of those things. And we have to accept that calling them representations takes away no power from them that they previously possessed. I repeat, no power is taken away by calling the Church and the Bible representations of the body of Christ and God’s word respectively. The Church is not perfect; it’s comprised of human beings. But the body of Christ is perfect. Can the Church be the body of Christ? No. Can the Church represent the body of Christ? Absolutely, that’s what it is called to do.

8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the
earth.
-Acts 1:8 (NIV)

It would be like someone asking me to take them to see President Abe Lincoln. Never mind how I know Honest Abe or if I know Honest Abe, but the something thinks I can complete this task for them. But instead of revealing my secrets and exposing my connections, I bring this someone to Mt. Rushmore.
“Look, there’s President Abraham Lincoln,” I’d say.
And they’d reply, “But that’s just his head.”
The portrait of Abe Lincoln on Mt. Rushmore is merely meant to be a representation of the former president. It’s just like the Church. It’s merely meant to be a representation of the body of Christ.

So, in order to love the Church, I’m going to have to change my expectation. What, then, should my expectation be? I’m glad I asked. I expect to find sinners. Sinners who understand they are sinners. Sinners who understand that it is only by the grace of God that Jesus came and saved their sorry asses. Sinners who realize the problems they face are the same problems the people of the world face and the only reason the problems they face aren’t problems anymore is Jesus. This is what I expect of the Church. Since the Church consists of people and people are sinners, this is not a false expectation. This is how I love the Church: realize I am a sinner who needs Jesus.

Prophecy Days 16-18: All Good Things Must Come to an End . . . Next Time.

2007-12-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here it is; the last night of “Discovering Bible Prophecy” 2007. Tonight, the band will take its encore, the crowd will call for more, and I’ll quietly slip out the back hoping to go unnoticed. It feels like the last day of school. On one hand you’re glad it’s all over and done with, but on the other hand, you’re going to miss having something to do; a routine. Nevertheless, I’ll be both sad and relieved tonight as I see for the last time those pastel pictures of Jesus with different kinds of animals seeking His love. I never really go to know the zookeeper side of Jesus; I bet he gave extra rations to all in His care when He could. Made sure the Penguins had a slide in their exhibit. Made sure the Lions had a good view of the Zebras just to tickle their hunting bone once in a while. Jesus would have made a good zookeeper I’m sure. But enough about zoos and Zebras, let’s get to prophecy shall we?

Friday December 7, 2007: The U.S.: The Last Great Nation in Bible Prophecy.
This night’s session was not entirely about the good ol’ U.S. of A. No, there was some good ol’ Bible teachin’ too; about the Holy Spirit. If you remember way back at the beginning of this thing, I described the sessions being broken up into three parts: one being Bible teachin’, another song singin’, and the other being prophecy preachin’. So the U.S. came up in the prophecy preachin’ portion of this night’s session.

The speaker talked on who the Holy Spirit is and what role it plays in our lives; pretty entry level stuff. He mentioned the Holy Spirit is there to help us do what’s right; to follow God’s commandments. This led me to a question. If it were actually possible to see thoughts in one’s head and someone peered into mine, one would see a pretty consistent concentration of math problems, Seinfeld quotes, and questions about God. I guess also, since I am male and I’m suppose to think about sex every nine seconds, some thoughts on sex would be mixed in there as well, but we’ll stick with the main three. The question I was led to was concerning what the Holy Spirit can and cannot lead one to. For example, the church that is holding this seminar believes firmly that obeying God’s commandments means celebrated the Bible Sabbath; Saturday. However, there are churches just as Spirit filled that do not believe that. Can both be from the same Spirit? Is one group worshiping God incorrectly, or are both groups following the leading of the Holy Spirit?

I wish I had a definitive answer for you. I wish I had a definitive answer for myself. I feel if I try to formulate an answer, whatever I come up with will just be wishful thinking. I want the answer to be that both groups are of the same Spirit. God just has different dealing with different people, which is true. But, if you expand this idea too far you run into the issue of every idea contributed to God or the Holy Spirit being acceptable. Someone could say snake handling in church is a necessary part of worship since it says in Mark that it is a sign of the Holy Spirit. One could literally start justifying every religious or non-religious practice with contributing it to a conviction of the Holy Spirit. That’s dangerous since there are religious and non-religious practices that are contrary to God’s character.

Well, perhaps it’s on a case by case basis? If the practice does not contradict the character of God, then it’s possible it could be a prompting of the Holy Spirit. But, there are differing opinions on what constitutes attributes of the character of God. One could then say that the characteristics in the Bible about God are the exhaustive list. However, there are differing interpretations on what constitutes a characteristic of God in the Bible. (Does God only love sinners? Does God only hate sinners? Does God both love and hate sinners? Does God hate the sin, but love the sinner? Does God eat ham?) So, all this to say, I wish I could come up with a definitive answer for you, but I cannot. Maybe you can come up with a definitive answer for you and me?

This concludes the Bible teachin’ portion of our program. Now time for some special music brought to you by the Woodstock Music Festival. That’s right, Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. This ought to get you in the mood for talking about the great ol’ U.S. of A. If you have it, play it now. If you’d like to listen to a more contemporary or traditional version, you may do that as well.

Everyone patrioticized? Good.

Now, don’t take my overly sarcastic and somewhat disrespectful tone the wrong way. I love the country in which I grew up and currently reside. I just happen to love other countries as well. I think this country has some very good things going for it; it also has some not so good things going for it as well. No country is perfect because countries are run by men (and women) and no man (nor woman) is perfect. Now, with that said, and please keep it in mind because I don’t want to be blacklisted for being a communist or something, let’s look at what was said about the U.S. being the last great nation in Bible prophecy.

The idea that the U.S. is the last great nation in Bible prophecy spurs from a passage in Revelation. I don’t remember which one because I didn’t write it down. Frankly, I found that point irrelevant. Whatever passage it was, in my mind, it was taken out of context or read into a bit too far. I would go as far to say that every line was read between and every word was dissected to fit the conclusion. The reason I propose this argument is that the SDA church was founded in the U.S. So, naturally, the founders would have a fondness to the country in which they reside as I have a fondness for the country in which I reside. In then seems natural that they would try and include themselves in their interpretations. Now, certainly this is complete speculation and this claim can never be proven without written confession from the SDA founders that this was the case. From a statistical standpoint, this is only one improvable theory among many, mainly infinitely many, and thus highly unlikely, if not impossible, to be true. However, hearing the passage being read and listening to the explanations of the interpretations, I was not convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. (Some might say I’m a stubborn individual who couldn’t be convinced it was raining even if I was standing outside soaking wet. I would agree, but nevertheless.)

During the presentation I was reminded again of humanity’s, Christian’s ability to distort and pervert the truth of God’s truth to support our own ideas and pseudo truths. All I could do was sit and pray for forgiveness. It was like watching a film of every instance I’d ever wronged someone. How could you not be affected? It would be like a murder, who knows they’ve murdered, watching a film about a bunch of murders. They can help but feel sympathetic I would think. That is, if they felt resentful for what they did in the past. Here I was, feeling resentful for my distorting the truth, and I was sitting, watching people all around my do the exact same thing. It hurt. I couldn’t help but sympathize. I couldn’t help but plead to God for their forgiveness. I couldn’t help but plead to the Bridegroom to forgive His Bride of prostituting itself to the powers of the world rather than being faithful to His power.

Sunday December 9, 2007: How to Increase Your Happiness in Marriage (and Relationships).
If you think the answer is don’t eat pig and go to church on Saturday, then you’re wrong. Surprised? So was I. Guess what the answer is. Go on, guess. Love. That’s right, love. Love one another. Forgive one another. Be kind to one another. Respect one another. Treat others as you’d like to be treated. This is the key to happiness in marriage and relationships. How cool is that? No twisting of texts, no manipulations of manuscripts, just plain reading the Bible.

11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No
one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love
is made complete in us.
-1 John 4:11-12

If we love one another, God makes His love in us complete. We then have the complete love of God in our bellies, how can our relationships fail?

This topic also gave rise to the opportunity for the church to show its lighthearted side. The staples of all stand-up comedy are relationships and the differences between men and women. If you don’t have “men don’t put down the toilet seat” joke somewhere in your act, you aren’t going anywhere. It’s was good to see these people could have some fun.

Monday December 10, 2007: The Unpardonable Sin.
Fun time’s over now. It’s time to get serious. Time to talk about where God’s forgiveness cannot cover. Time to talk about the unpardonable sin.

Unfortunately, the idea of an unpardonable sin was used somewhat as a scare tactic. Like on the news when they say, “Disease is ravaging the area. Find out if it’s near you at 11.”
“A killer rapist is on the loose in the greater city area. Find out if he’s outside your house at 6:30.”
“People will die. Find out if it’s you tomorrow morning at 6am.”
But once arriving at the session, everyone was reassured that by attending that night’s session they were assuring themselves not to be committing the unpardonable sin. Good news I guess.

The sin the speaker was referring to was that of a continual rejection of the promptings of the Holy Spirit to fall in line with God’s will. That is, continually saying “no” to God. Essentially, if you keep rejecting God’s redemption, He cannot extend His redemption to you. Makes sense.

Something that also makes sense is that this would be the point in the seminar that the decision cards would be handed out. If anyone was feeling a prompting from the Holy Spirit, after hearing what happens if you ignore it, one would want to respond right away.

This gesture I really appreciated. Usually the decision card comes out on a daily or nightly basis. The preacher tries to get everyone’s emotions up. Soft, Nordstrom lounge style piano music is playing to stir up all the touchy-feely, warm fuzzies from the depths of the audience’s souls. Christ is proclaimed to be the savior of YOUR sin and you burst into tears. Cry out to God that you have failed Him (how could you fail someone who evokes such pretty piano music?) and immediately accept Christ as Lord. God be praised! (I apologize for the slightly over exaggerated rendition of a salvation service, but it’s for a point.) Contrast that with this seminar. Not once was I directly asked if I wanted Jesus as my savior. This particular night of the decision card I wasn’t directly asked, nor was anyone else. Rather, we were asked to reflect on all that we learned from the previous sessions about what it means to obey God and follow His commandments. Then, we were to consider a decision. Rather than appeal to our emotions, they appealed to our rationale. I appreciated it.

A Conclusion . . . of Sorts . . . Again.
Tonight’s session (Friday’s) is the last session for the seminar. However, on the back of my decision card I felt obligated to express to the church my appreciation for allowing me to explore this realm of God’s Kingdom. I wrote this letter:

Dear Church,

It’s been an honor to lean God’s truths with you these
past few weeks. It’s encouraging to see a body of believers so wholly
committed to following God’s calling for them. May God count your
obedience as righteousness as He did for Abraham. God has revealed to me
many new aspects of His Bride because of this seminar. Keep following
God’s call no matter how difficult the road.

Love in Christ,
Clayton Zylstra

I feel I have leaned something, if not a lot of things from attending this seminar. Certainly one thing that stands out is that like the Church, I share the same brokenness that keeps me separated for God’s will; to be with Him. What ever awful thing the Church has done in the name of Jesus, I’ve also done to some extent. I share in its brokenness and for that reason I should have a love for it. We’re struggling through the redemptive process together.

There’s more I’ve taken away from this and I’ll reflect on that in the next post. So stay tuned.

Prophecy Days 13-15: Prophecy vs The Pythagorean Theorem.

2007-12-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

I like anecdotes. I especially like anecdotes when I get the “oh, I know where they’re going with this” thought half way through. Then I get to just sit back and watch the speaker struggle as they try and remember all the details and keep all the names and places straight. All the while I’m thinking, “I know what you’re getting at. Just make your point and get on with it.” Then the anecdote ends and I sit ready for the next point with one half of the room who had the same thoughts I did while the other half of the room say, “What the heck was that all about? I though Jimmy was the one who was trying to get gas, not the one who was actually getting gas. Didn’t he say this took place in town here? How did we get across the state?” Anecdotes.

The speaker on Friday night had an interesting anecdote illustrating the ease of mistaking true churches from false one. He was in college and he was friends with a set of identical twins. One was rooming in the dormitory he stayed in and the other was living in another dorm house. At this particular college, you ate in your dorm’s cafeteria for your meals. There wasn’t one campus cafeteria, but one cafeteria in each dormitory. It was dinner time and the speaker and some of his friends were going to get food in the cafeteria. Simple enough. The one identical twin that lived in that particular dorm was not going to get dinner with them because he had a date; I think his name was Gary. Larry, his twin brother, showed up or was hanging around decided to get dinner also. But instead of going back to his dorm, he just grabbed Gary’s ID and decided to eat at this dorm, the one that Gary stayed in.

They all got to the cafeteria and got their food and sat down next to one of Gary’s suitemates. Someone who was suppose to know Gary pretty well. So, he, the suitemate, started talking to Larry, thinking it was Gary. Larry had to play along since he didn’t want to leave the cafeteria, so he did. Larry started talking about, well, himself, that is, Larry saying how great Larry was and so on, but the suitemate thought he was Gary. Anyway, the speaker was telling us the audience how humorous the situation became and that the suitemate never knew he was talking to Larry and not Gary. So in a sense, that’s how churches are. Distinguishing between two different ones can be like distinguishing between two identical twins. Obviously they are different churches, but they look so similar.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting anecdote and I was able to see where he was going with it when he introduced a set of identical twins. So I sat back and watched the speaker struggle to get the details straight and the audience struggle to follow what was being presented and I had a good time with it. Here are some of the highlights/lowlights of the two sessions from this past weekend.

Friday Day 13: Why So Many Churches? How Can You Tell the True from the False?
In the words of Charlton Heston via Phil Hartman (again with the Charlton Heston), “Oh. My. God.” At this session I fell apart. This is the first session I’d been to where I got physically angry during the session. This was not because of what was presented, but rather a pet peeve of mine that came up. The situation where people who shouldn’t do any talking because they are an audience member, a participant, decide it’s okay to do some talking. They just pipe up and start speaking one-on-one with the speaker. Sharing some personal testimony vaguely matching the subject thinking their insight will some how convince everyone (even though they’re not physically directing their words to everyone, but to the speaker; speaking barely loud enough for he or she to hear them) that what the speaker is talking on is life changing and should be adhered to immediately. It’s a pet peeve.

This particular event described above happened on Friday night and it hadn’t happened before. I contribute this phenomenon to the guided audience participation that took place before the main talk. (This type of participation I am okay with. It’s encouraged and controlled by the speaker, so one person doesn’t spend the whole time rambling.) The activity we were challenged with was to look in the book of Acts and find characteristics of the early church. I thought this a healthy and interesting activity.

I found it so interesting that I participated. I found and shared this verse:

32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his
possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
-Acts 4:32
(NIV)

The speaker was a fan of this verse. He feels, and I agree, that this doesn’t go on enough in Church. He stated that there is no reason anyone should ever be in need if they belong to a church. I agree. I would even take it as far as to say that there is no reason anyone in a community in which a church belongs should ever be in need, but that’s just me.

The reason for the exercise was to help define what is a ‘true’ church. It would make sense, as paraphrased from the speaker, to join a church like that of Jesus and the apostles. It would make sense that the church of Jesus and the apostles would be a ‘true’ church. This is all fine and well, but the trouble comes when you start to define what the church of Jesus and the apostles was. Essentially, in the talk that followed the audience participation activity, it was said that the ‘true’ church is the SDA church. It is true since it obeys all of God’s commands, mainly worshiping on the true Sabbath. Remember, God’s commands here mean the Ten Commandments.

It was this point, the keeping of the correct Sabbath that an inquisitive member of the audience, someone who I hadn’t seen at any of the other sessions, asked the question where in the Bible it says that the Church needs to keep the Saturday Sabbath. This question was answered in a previous session, but the speaker was kind enough to answer the question anyway. Then a different, overly ambitious audience member decided it was time for personal share time. They shared some testimony about how their life changed because of their decision to join the SDA church and proceeded to talk for a good 2 or 3 minutes before the speaker finally said, in kinder words, “All right, you need to shut up.”

This is where it becomes interesting. No fights broke out or anything; no one stormed out cursing God or the church. No, this little tiff illustrated a point of conversation others and I had at a meeting of Birds of the Air (a Bible study) the night before. It also happened that two of the members of Birds were with me at the session that night, Miriam and Ricky (Dan was there too, but he doesn’t attend Birds). The text we discussed was this:

17I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put
obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep
away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own
appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I
want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
-Romans 16: 17-19 (NIV)

Ricky brought up that C.S. Lewis calls this “Jesus and . . .” Jesus and alcohol. Jesus and homosexuality. Jesus and the Sabbath. This person who felt obligated to share their story had Jesus and the Sabbath on their mind. The speaker was presenting Jesus and the Sabbath as the true church. These sessions have been a bunch of ‘Jesus and’s. When in actually the true Church is just Jesus.

Sunday Day 14: How to Have Financial Security.

19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.
22"The eye is the lamp of the body.
If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes
are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you
is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24"No one can
serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at
the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who
of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his
splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass
of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying,
'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For
the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you
need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its
own.
-Matthew 6:19-34 (NIV)

This is a big chunk of what Jesus taught his disciples on money. This entire passage wasn’t used Sunday night, but verses were taken from it. In particular verse 21 and a paraphrase of verses 28-30. The speaker asked a question at the beginning of his talk if it would be nice if we all had just a little more money. He said, “Wouldn’t you like to have a little bit more money? I know I would.” Sure, who wouldn’t right? Then I read what Jesus said in verses 25-34 and I say, “Well, maybe not.”

Money is a solution to all those questions asked in verse 31 correct? When I ask, “What shall I eat?” I answer, “Why don’t I go buy groceries.” When I ask, “What shall I drink?” I answer, “Why don’t I go buy something to drink or turn on the faucet that controls the water that I pay for.” When I ask, “What shall I wear?” I answer, “Why don’t I go to Value Village and buy some slightly used clothing.” It seems if I seek after money, I’ll be given these things. That’s logical. However, Jesus does not say if you seek after money these things will be given to you, but rather if you seek after His Kingdom and His righteousness, these things will be given to you.
Well, maybe money is apart of His Kingdom and His righteousness?

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
-Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of
righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
-Matthew 5:10 (NIV)

It seems to me that financial security is far from His Kingdom. At any rate, I feel this is evidence of the American dream, obtaining financial security, creeping into the message of Jesus. It’s fine to be rich, but it’s also fine to be poor. To me God wanting His people to be well off financially is a promise that’s just not there.

It was interesting in that the speaker used the example of the Old Testament patriarchs as examples to show that God want His people to be wealthy; they were all wealthy. However, it seems the speaker missed one New Testament character that sits above the Old Testament patriarchs; Jesus. Jesus was homeless. He looked inside fish’s mouths to pay the temple tax. He took 7 loaves of bread and 2 fish from a kid to feed his friend. Here is someone who was not wealthy. Here is someone whom we are commanded to follow if we are to find God. I have a hard time saying God wants me to be rich or financially secure if He Himself lived a life of poverty compared to how I live right now.

On Wednesday of this week, the place of my employment held a meeting about our benefits package. It being the end of the year, it’s nice to see what changes have taken place and what our options are for benefits. Needless to say, we have a pretty good package: health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, and 401k to name but a few benefits. With the 401k option, there is a person who works as a financial planner that is available for consultation free of charge for employees of the company. He was asked to come in and present at the meeting and give a brief summary of what’s available for investment for our 401k plan, what his suggestions are for investing, and what the economy looks like for investing in the coming year; basically, from an investing standpoint, how to become financially secure for the future. This proved to me true my speculations on Jesus’ view of money. If a man, or woman, defines him or herself by money, there’s no certainty who you define yourself as now will be the same person down the line. If you define yourself by being a house owner, a flood could come out of no where and take that away from you; you’ve lost your defining quality. If you define yourself as being a car owner, you could get in an accident and total that car; you’ve lost your defining quality. If you define yourself by being a lover of, a follower of God, God was and is and always will be; you cannot lose your defining quality. If God were to want us to be financially secure, He would be saying, “Go ahead and put your security in something besides me. It’s okay.” Why would he say that? God is a jealous God who wants no other God’s before Him. Saying go ahead and replace me with money would completely contradict that statement; that command.

It’s natural to want to be financially secure. There are circumstances where if one just had a little more cash, one could save a whole lot of heartbreak. But, in that same circumstance, God can save one a whole lot of heartbreak by remembering the promise that if you seek after His Kingdom and His righteousness, these things will be given to you.

Wednesday Day 15: Prophets: True or False?
One thing that’s for certain that I’ve found in this seminar, my ability to tune out church when I want to has not lessened since I was a kid. It was stated in an earlier post that the sessions are divided up into three parts; one being a faced paced Bible study looking at a particular topic and finding scriptures that support it. This evening’s study was on diet and I’d heard it before and wasn’t convinced. So I tuned it out. In an effort to find truth, I proceeded to prove the Pythagorean Theorem (I used proof #4) in my notes. It’s not that difficult; one strategically drawn picture and four lines and you have it. Truth right there on my paper. Something of which I can be certain.

This session was about the characteristics and importance of God’s prophets. What makes a prophet? What role do prophets play? Are prophets important today? Those were the questions addressed.

I was always under the impression that a prophet, or someone with the gift of prophesy was someone who could portray truth. Truth is only from God; therefore, prophets are only from God. I’m not sure where I heard that (probably in church I would assume), but I can’t seem to align that definition with any I find in an internet search. (My favorite: In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Prophets, also known as Wormhole Aliens, are non-corporeal beings who inhabit the artificially constructed Bajoran wormhole which connects a distant point in the Gamma Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant, near the planet of Bajor and the space station Deep Space Nine. From wikipedia.org.) If my definition were true, then I’d be a prophet for constructing a math proof in my notes. I think my definition might be a bit too broad.

Here are 7 characteristics of a true prophet according to Wednesday night’s session:

1. The Bible is the sole rule of faith.
2. Predictions are 100% true.
3. Fruits are Christ-like.
4. Goes into trance with eyes open.
5. No strength while in vision.
6. No breath while in vision.
7. While in vision God strengthens.

I was with this definition until number 4. Literally it came out of left field. It was said in the same manner in which 1-3 were said and with just as much conviction.
“Fruits are Christ-like. That’s important. Also, goes into trance with their eyes open. That’s important.”
“Wait, what? Trance?”
It turns out that characteristics 4-7 are characteristics exemplified individually by select prophets in the Bible. Not all of the prophets had all 7 of these characteristics, but all prophets had some.

It seems to me that characteristics 1-3 are important for all prophets and that characteristics 4-7 not so much. If a prophet only had characteristics, say, 4 and 5, I’d be skeptical of the truthfulness of their message. But I’m a skeptic.

This session continued the theme of the SDA church tooting its own horn. The speaker mentioned the SDA church was a church of prophecy since it understood prophecy, it taught prophecy, and had prophets in its midst. I was unclear what the Biblical basis for a church of prophecy was; I’m unsure it was ever given.

A Conclusion . . . To Some Extent.
However, my goal in this project was not to collect dirt by which I could bash the Church. That was already my natural inclination. No, I wanted to collect reasons for which to love the Church; love in the way I am commanded to. So, what is there to love here? I’ve been told I don’t belong to the true church, I’ve been told God wants me to have monies, and I’ve been told prophets experience trances. Not much to cling to there; at least not at the surface.

In this entire seminar, the goal has been stated many times: To teach us how to discover the Bible ourselves. One could argue the effectiveness that this seminar has on this goal, but nonetheless, it is a goal I agree with. It is a goal I think should be that of the Church. It is a goal in which I can love the Church for. I would rephrase the goal a little bit and say the Church should teach us how to discover God ourselves. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Not the Bible is the way and so on.

The Church wants to bring people to God; the Church wants to love its neighbor as itself. It just gets caught up in some extraneous things that are getting in the way. God said to love Him and we will obey His commandments; not to obey His commandments in order to love Him. If I had a wife that I loved (that’s not to say I have a wife and don’t love her, but rather that I don’t have a wife), giving her flowers, taking out the trash, and kissing her on the cheek wouldn’t cause me to love her. Rather, loving her would cause me to buy her flowers, take out the trash, and kiss her on the cheek. God is no different.

The sessions are coming closer to an end, so if you’d like to attend, let me know.