loving Jesus, loving people

a story and an afterthought

2008-04-06T11:37:00.001-07:00

approximately two weeks ago myself and L.U.K.E (which stands for Logarithmic Ululating Knight-Errant, but we call luke for short) were wandering through some magical woods in search of an old war bunker on joseph whidbey island when we found a wooden and moss-covered crate filled with old 16mm films in their cannisters. we were intrigued by the find and wondered aloud if we knew anyone with an old projector. we concluded that we should take a few of the films just because they look cool and we could use the cannisters as some sort of nifty container for something - perhaps tobacco or night crawlers, or gun powder. we ventured further in search of the war bunker perched atop some magnificent cliffs with a stunning view of the ocean and coast line. sadly, after maneuvering through briers and weeds and a couple of back yards we found the large hole where the bunker used to sit. apparently enemies finally attacked over sixty years after the actual war and destroyed the bunker. thankfully the bunker had not been in use since august of 1945.

so we circled back around to grab some film cannisters when my flashlight’s beam caught glimpse of a mysterious box. "wait what is this" it said..."let’s take a closer look." so we did and it turned out to be an EIKI RT-0 16mm projector. L.U.K.E and i were quite pleased. we snatched up the projector and films and headed to fort isaac ebey to meet up with JUSTEN (whose name signifies his being his mother’s tenth child...when she discovered her pregnancy she exclaimed "please god, jus ten - i can’t afford no more"). we took EIKI into the men’s room at the camp ground and cleaned it up as best we could. of course we wanted to know if EIKI worked - we would have asked him, but he is japanese. EIKI did and does in fact work...he just needed and new bulb. so i ordered two bulbs and we have been gloriously viewing old 16mm educational school films. oh it is wonderful. we also have "the bride of frankenstein" in spanish and a savage jacques custeau film. EIKI is pretty much our new best robot friend; he is quite likeable and quickly becomes the center of attention in any social setting. i posted some pictures of EIKI on here, so you can check ’em out. with all this old film watching, i wonder...

if my life were a 16mm movie currently being projected through the window of my apartment and onto the building next door, would i invite some friends over to sit out on my miniature balcony, puff on a pipe, and all enjoy the film together? or would i find it hopelessly boring and find something better to do? sometimes i think it would be quite dull, lacking most of the available colors of life and living and instead would merely be shaded here and there. but the thing is, i have great desire for colorful life, full and overflowing with most of the combinations the primary colors can produce, i just frequently fail to act on these desires. instead, i often settle for the mundane. for the day to day work, home, eat, t.v., sleep, repeat. like a john prine cd with a scratch, repeating one of his terribly sad lyrics...such as "there’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes; jesus christ died for nothing i suppose."

i want life. i want beauty. i want adventure and purpose. i want to find myself in situations where i can say "bring me the horizon" and be filled with excitement as to what that may entail. i want love and community. and i want the commitment and energy to be a creator of these things. a builder of the kind of life that makes my wee little heart flutter. there is good news: God is love and love is real (so says a beautiful mewithoutyou lyric - and i believe it). this gives me hope. hope that on that magical day when i load a reel onto our EIKI to play for a small to medium-sized group of friends and my life is what is somehow being projected, that love and life and purpose will ooze down the wall. and we will laugh and sing and dance and celebrate. we will collectively go create some beauty of our own, perhaps. there is beauty in life.

P.S. 1. if you have or know anyone who has old 16mm films that they don’t need, then let me know, because i would love to give them a home.
2. i embellished a little on the story of how we found the projector...all the major parts are real, but luke’s name is not actually an acronym, nor is justin’s.
3. the projector’s name, EIKI, literally means "projector" in japanese. so i guess we have a projector named projector. but EIKI sounds cooler, so we’ll stick with that for now.

2008-01-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

"yes, of course it is a great idea to leave the hiking trail and climb up to that mountain peak way up there to get a beautiful view of the bay and of the rest of monkey island." i thought, confidently. so myself, three australians, and a canadian began the ascent. the view was like liquid pretty eyedrops, inspiring a sense of WOW. "oh look there are some cute monkeys, wow they are so close. let's take some pictures." snap, snap, giggle, giggle..."what a good time we are having." (due to being chased by monkeys in india, jody thinks in his head that we should head down the mountain because monkeys can be bad news, but says nothing out loud to his friends). "oh crap, the monkeys have descended upon the backpacks of two of the australians (they left the bags about twenty feet down from where we were.) hey, monkeys, get away from those bags!" but the monkeys in vietnam do not speak english, apparently. they looked at us and snarled, so we decided to go ahead and let the devil-monkey continue to go through the backpack. the australian girl just looks on in two parts horror and one part humor. "there go my underwear, oh and he has my camera now...that's gone. and there is my pouch with all my money in it, please don't take it and run." she is apparently trying to communicate with devilmonkey telepathically, but the monkeys in vietnam do not speak telepathish either. the australian dude wonders aloud if it be a good idea to throw a rock over behind devilmonkey to try to distract it and cause it to run away. maybe we say. so he tries it - devilmonkey did not see him throw it, but when it hears the rock land, it immediately charges us with a look of satan on his face. all of us at the same time seem to whisper "shit, we're gonna die." to complicate things, there is a 2 to 300 foot drop directly behind us - seeing as we climbed to the very peak of this rock. we back up as much as possible while devilmonkey is about an inch from the three australians' feet, still with the satan look and making biting motions like he is going to have a toe sandwich for lunch. luckily, devilmonkey turns and heads back down to the bag to continue looking for the pack of oreos that he is after. a friend of ours is coming up to try to help us, but devilmonkey charges him, slaps him in the head and bites him on the arm (bringing a small amount of blood). he eventually finds and eats the oreos - which makes him thirsty and he bites open the girl's water bottle and drinks his fill.

we were trapped on the mountain peak for about 20 minutes until we were saved by the oreos - providing devilmonkey with a sugary snack and apparently appeasing his hunger for flesh. the monkeys left and we scurried down the mountain as quickly as possible, all of us shaking a little with fear. we meet our guide back on the hiking trail and he goes up to get the rest of the girl's stuff that was strewn about. i ask if he wants a stick or something, and he says no, he doesn't need one...the monkeys aren't dangerous. i guess he was fluent in the devil-monkey dialect, or something, because they surely seemed dangerous to us. afterwards, we were all very relieved and learned a valuable lesson...don't hike up to mountain peaks in places that have monkey in the title.

this all took place in the majestic ha long bay which is about 4 hours from hanoi and boasts a smackyouintheface 2,000 islands. they are all pretty small and rocky and mountainous and being on a boat sailing among them is quite lovely. we were on a three day, two night tour of ha long bay where we got to stay the night on a boat, go kayaking through a water cave, eat some good food, sing karaoke, visit cat ba island, jump from the top of the boat into the water and swim and visit the ominous monkey island which from now on will include the word "devil" at the beginning in my mind. we had a really nice time and had some really cool folks from australia, canada, ireland, and one girl from roanoke, virginia (about 1.5 hours from where i'm from) with us. it was beautiful and we got some savory photos while there.

it was nice to go back to hanoi, i haven't been there in about 3 years, and the girls had never been there. hanoi continues to grow and have more stores and restaurants and shops catering to tourists/travelers. and KFC continues to be the only western restaurant i saw there, but in the last 3 years the number of them throughout vietnam have at least doubled if not more. we got to meet up with a good friend of mine and courtney's that lives in hanoi - it was very nice to see her again after a year or so of her absence. she is enjoying hanoi very much and is currently learning language and making friends.

after 3 days in hanoi, we flew to saigon - in the south. saigon was quite warm with temperatures in the mid 80's...we wanted to go to a beach one of the days we were there, but never got around to it. we mostly just hung out in saigon and walked around and bought a few more gifts for people and i visited some of the temples in the cholon district (which is pronounced cho-lon by the vietnamese, but of course we call it colon...you really have no choice in a situation such as that. who can resist calling a place colon? nobody.) the girls got their nails done in preparation to come back to the states. a couple of the girls got some more spa/girl stuff done to them - things that i don't know or understand, but things that girls enjoy for whatever reason. and then our time drew to a close. we went out to have a couple of drinks at a bar for our last night together on the trip and then i came back to bed to get 3 hours of sleep before the taxi would come steal us from our world tour and deposit us at the airport. the girls elected to stay up all night to try to get their sleep schedules lined up with what it would be like in the states, i hope it worked for them.

now we are in maryland visiting courtney's aunt, there is snow on the ground and there is freezing in the air - it's only in the 30's here and much colder at night. so we spent the summer in seattle (about three months), then had 3 more months of summer for our trip, and now we are on the east coast in the freezing cold. it is kind of wierd. we will head down to virginia tomorrow to visit with my family. courtney will head back to whidbey island on the 15th and i will fly back on the 23rd to spend christmas with her family and new years back in seattle. look forward to seeing as many of you as possible as soon as possible. love you all, and thanks for journeying with us around the world. perhaps you can join us next time? we would like that very much!

peace of christ be with you all,
jody
and the rapturous returning renegade raptors

and as an update since i forgot to post this blog on here, we are now back in seattle after a lovely holiday with family. we are looking for jobs and are in the process of unpacking everything back into our apartment. hope you are all well.

the thai person says: sawasdii krup (and that means hello)

2007-11-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

thailand, wonderful thailand. the name means land of the free - thailand has never been occupied by another country and is apparently (and rightly so) happy about this fact. (in actuality the name thai refers to a people group that lived in the area formerly known as Siam, but the word thai if pronounced differently means "free" so people are happy to claim it). bangkok, the capital of thailand, has the worlds longest place name at 163 letters...its full name is: Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilok- phopnopparatrajatha niburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphi- marnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit. which means: "The great city of angels, the supreme unconqueralble land of the great immortal divinity, the royal capital of nine noble gems, the pleasant city, with plenty of grand royal palaces, and divine paradises for the reincarnated deity, given by Indra and created by the god of crafting."

we stayed just outside of bangkok proper at the same place that i stayed with teams every year that i have been to thailand before, across the street from ramkamhaeng song - one of the campuses of the world's largest universities with over 500,000 students enrolled. we were also staying near my friends ben and kayte musselman (and their new bundle of chub called darci). it had been almost 2 years since we had seen them, so it was very nice to spend some time reuniting and having one continuous 10-day-long party with small hiatuses where we would sleep and regroup and prepare for the next day. day one saw us making our way downtown to look around and hang out. we had dinner at the biyoke sky hotel which is bangkok's tallest building at 85 stories, we also got to go out on the rotating observation deck to get a 360 degree look at bankok's skyline at night. after this we went down to kho san road to get a hotel for the night so we could get up the next morning to brave the waters of the pirhana-infested JJ market, which is so big that it is quite possible for one to get lost for weeks in its interiors. day two was market meandering followed by dinner and a return back to our home neighborhood. day three was the day we embarked on a journey to kho chang island which is about 5 hours south of bangkok.

the island was beautiful, of course, as are all the islands in thailand. we stayed in a bungalo on the white sands beach where we could walk out our front door, down the steps and literally be in the ocean - we had to walk through water to get to the steps the led up to our bungalo...it was fabulous. we did beach/ocean stuff for the 2.68 days that we were there - we played frisbee, layed in the sun, swam, fought some sharks (and won), got thai massages, ate, and us of the dude gender competed at various coconut-throwing competitions or feats of strength as we called it. it was a blast. ben befriended a dog named ralphie who hung around us sporadically throughout our time on the island - and we were all sad to see ralphie chasing after the taxi when we were leaving, leaving, leaving him behind. back to bangkok for a good night's sleep and resting for the next day which was thanksgiving. kayte fixed a delicious thanksgiving meal and we all had a wonderful day together celebrating friendship and community and all that we were thankful for (we did not celebrate the pilgrims making friends with the native americans when they were hungry and needed food only to kill them in the following months and years). the theme of thanksgiving was "classy" so we all dressed up - me and ben complete with tuxedo shirts and steps shaved into the sides of our heads..it was beautiful and so classy - and afterwards we took prom pictures.

the next day we had to go get visas for vietnam - this was friday which was the last day the embassy was open before we left for hanoi. we dropped our passports off and then went to see some of Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopno- pparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsak- kattiyavisanukamprasit's famous temples which are beautiful. i had to hop on a tuk tuk to head back to the embassy to pick up our passports before 4:30, so i left at 3:45ish while the girls headed to one last temple. this was friday so there was much traffic, lots of it, everywhere we turned there was more. about half way through the trip i began to worry franticall that we were not going to make it to the embassy before its 4:30 closing time. i kept showing the tuk tuk driver my watch so he knew how long we had...he kept apologizing for all the traffic and reassuring me that he would go as fast as he could. 10 minutes left before closing...then 5 minutes...then 2 minutes...and then it was 4:30 and we still weren't at the embassy, i felt like i was gonna throw up...we would have to wait till monday to pick up our visa-laden passports which means we would miss our flight on sunday to hanoi and have to buy another ticket. we finally got to the embassy and i lept out of the tuk tuk, ran across traffic, bounded through the first door of the embassy and then pushed open the mirrored interior door, not knowing if the embassy was closed yet. word to your mother, it was still open. i walked up to the window, asked for the passports and then asked the clock what time it was, to which he replied "4:35 you lucky, procrastinating fool" - they say clocks don't lie and time proves things or something like that...boy ain't it the truth. so i got 'em and headed down to the tattoo parlor to meet the girls. everyone got tattoos. and by everyone i mean three of the five of us...but i won't tell you which three just yet.

saturday was a holiday in thailand where everyone thanks God for the rice harves by floating little lilly-pad-like bundles of flowers with a lit candle out into a lake. we went to ram song campus to mingle with thousands of thai folks taking part in the festivities. it was really beautiful and we all had a great time. we went back to the musselman't house afterwards to hang out one last time before we flew out the next day at 8am. courtney and i stayed until 3am or so and then caught a taxi back to where we were staying. of course, being the procrastinators that we are, we still had to pack everything up. we did so, set our alarm and then layed down to sleep at 4:05am. the alarm yelled at us "wake up, it is 5am and you have to go catch a taxi to the airport, besides, you have already slept a whole 50 minutes." so we woke up and caught a taxi to the airport and flew to hanoi. we are now in hanoi and it is wonderful. although it was really sad to leave thailand...we weren't there nearly long enough, and it is always really sad to leave good friends. the girls all got to know my friends ben and kayte and their little baby, and there were two other people from jersey staying with ben and kayte that we all got to know and love and subsequently miss now that we have left - diane and lou. so good morning vietnam, thank you for having us for the next 10 days before we fly back to the usa. i guess there will be one last update after our time in vietnam, and then we will be home in the flesh to tell you all about our trip in person, complete with photographs (thousands of them) to go along with our multimedia descriptions of our trip! love you all and look forward to seeing you soon (some of you sooner than others, but all hopefully relatively soon).

peace of christ be with you,
lovejody
and the pagoda princesses of pork (and in the case of rose and courtney - tofu-based fake pork)

fare thee well india, we will miss you dearly

2007-11-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

seeing as benares was our favorite city in india, it was sad to trudge down to the main road from the ganga to catch a rickshaw to the train station and board the vehicle that would carry us out, out, out through the night to arrive not much after the pink sunrise in the pink city of jaipur. so called the pink city due to the pinkness of the buildings in the old city...in the early 19th century (i think) the prince of whales was visiting the city of jaipur and in preparation, jaipur's leaders had the city painted completely pink. and now building owners are required to maintain the pinkness of every facade in the old quarter.

the pinkness of the city was stunning, i think that every major urban center in the world should have its own color...san francisco already has the GG bridge that is red, so maybe the rest of the city could be red. seattle is called the emerald city, so maybe it could be green. all colors of the spectrum could be utilized to bring a little more color to the world. we arrived in jaipur during diwali (india and nepal's festival of lights) so almost everything in jaipur was closed in observance of teh holiday. diwali signifies the victory of light over darkness in each individual and is one of india and nepal's most dinosaur-like holidays (and by dinosaur-like, i mean major). the first night we hired a rickshaw to take us around to see everyone out and about in their new clothes walking around looking at the light decorations everywhere, setting off fireworks and having a good time of celebration. all this activity along with the city's pinkness was quite nice.

the next day we went and saw some more of jaipur's beauty in the form of the hawa majal, which was a big pink structure with lattice over the windows so wealthy veiled women could look down on the street without being seen. then we saw the water fort which is a fort out in the middle of a lake...only accessible by boat, but we just viewed it from land. and lastly we saw the amazing amber fort with beautiful decorative architecture and design; we probably spent 3-4 hours looking around and taking pictures there (can't wait to show you). on the way up to the amber fort i was carrying some samosa's that i had purchased for a little snack when a lanky black monkey with white fur and a four foot long prehensile tail made it clear that he wanted some of my snack as well. i tried to communicate to him politely that i did not want to give him any samosa but he would have none of it...i continued to try to walk away from her, but she continued to follow at my heals - staring intently at the samosas i was carrying. finally an indian man came to my rescue and gently drove the monkey away, i was very grateful...luckily for about fifty onlookers, this whole ordeal took place in a large courtyard area, so they all got a good laugh at the whole thing.

after two and a half days in jaipur we boarded a 6am train for agra so we could go see mrs. majal. that is why people go to agra...there are a couple of other "attractions" which i feel bad for, because it must be hard living in the same city as mrs. majal. she is a jealous woman and commands international attention with her stunning beauty. stunning. just like all the pictures you've seen of the taj, but way better. we stayed on the compound of the taj for a few hours and took about jillion pictures, and our camera smiled at each one (as did mrs. majal...she is maybe the most photogenic thing my camera has ever seen). it was funny to see that the entrance fee for indians to the taj majal was 20 rupees which is about fifty cents u.s. while the entrance fee for foreigners was 750 rupees which is almost 20 usd. as a conselation, though, we did get a free twenty ounce bottle of water with our ticket.

then we were back in delhi to do some last minute shopping for souvenirs and such. luck or fate would have it that we were spotted by lijo, our friend and fiancee of sarah, so we were able to spend a few hours with them and sarah's mom, sister, and a friend of theirs. so great to see them once more. we said our goodbye's and then the next day trudged out to the taxi that carried us to the airport so we could board the vehicle that would take us from india. what a marvelous place and how she will be missed...and how we must certainly return again! we are now in thailand which is so great...i like it here so much. we will be here til sunday and then we are off to vietnam!

hope you are all well and i will write again sooner than last time to let you all know about our time in thailand. oh the joys that await you!

lovejody,
and the juggernauts

juggernaut- any literal or metaphorical force regarded as unstoppable that will crush all in its path.

the latest in hair fashion...the kathman do!

2007-11-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

i can't help but think that there should be a new hairstyle that becomes a worldwide craze called the kathman do. perhaps in the front it could be mountainous like the himilayas and it's foothills that surround the katmandu valley...the ones we had to spend ten miserable hours traversing in a cramped bus. the ones with roads that are so full of bumps and potholes that in a reversal of roles, pavement has become the minority and the leprous lack of pavement has run rampant. (these roads are what made the bus-ride so unsavory and painful...just when we would be dozing off to sleep - boom - we are wakened by a huge thud and startled as we have been thrown into the little nepali man beside us...having to apologize for just head-butting him.) i do believe i physically heard the weeping of shock-absorbers throughout our time in nepal...they are beaten and abused regularly and cry out in resistance to their torturous journeys.

perhaps the rear of the kathman do could be a rushing of waves of hair down the back of the head, slamming into the shoulders creating the wonderful rapids that are perfect for rafting. much like the rivers rushing down from the snow-capped himilayas that provides nepal with hydroelectric power...even though electricity is kind of hit and miss in nepal with frequent black-outs and a large market for candles. like the white water about three hours outside of kathmandu that we rafted down on monday...all five of us plus a guide plus a river guide. it was quite fun, even though the gnarliest rapid still wasn't that gnarly. we rafted for about an hour and a half, got good and soaked, stopped and had lunch on the river bank, and then rafted for about an hour and a half more and then headed home (yes it was on the same bumpy roads, but this time we were in a van rather than a bus, so we could maneuver around most of the bumps with ease and agility).

the sides of the kathman do could be kind of messy and crowded with peaks here and there in the shapes of pagoda-temples...just like the city of kathmandu itself. it was really crowded with bad traffic everywhere you try to go. the sad thing with that is there seems to be no emission regulation, so along with the weeping of shock absorbers we could hear the desperate screams coming from the ozone directly above kmd..."i'm dying, someone help me please! i can't breathe, i am most certainly being choked by the emphyzema-ridden vehicles with their black, cancerous breath. i can't make it much longer." anytime we went anywhere by road, we had to cover our mouths and nose with our scarves in order to breathe (we got the idea from the nepali people who do the same when anywhere near the roads). there were tons of people everywhere and the city is full of shops, street vendors, and temples - mostly in the pagoda style. these pagodas were beautiful with an ancient mystique that made them quite appealing to stare at for good amounts of time.

while we were in kathmandu we were reading in the newspapers about the government meetings going on daily trying to come to an agreement on the ruling of the country. sadly, according to several of the people we talked with, the government in nepal isn't really interested in helping the people of nepal, but is only interested in procuring power and wealth for itself. there were many recognizable problems in the country that could be remedied if the government would just take the time and money to fix them. and much like the people of the nepali government and all other humans on earth - i, too am often selfish and self-serving at the expense of others. i often look out for myself and fail to serve others or look out for their well-being. jehovah, help us in our times of greed and selfishness, help us to be generous and concerned with the welfare of others.

we are now back in india...we opted to fly instead of facing the miserable, neck damaging, bus ride of death and doom and all things bad. our necks thanked us when we arrived safely back in varanasi, my neck just thanked me again even as i write this. we leave varanasi tonight by sleeper train to go to jaipur (the pink city) for a few days, then back to delhi (after a quick visit to mr. mahal, first name taj) and then we fly over to bangkok, thairannasaurusrexland, to boogey down with the musselmans and the thai people. can't wait. i love you very much, tonight before you sleep, try to think of me so i can visit you in your dreams. maybe i'll be a jodysaur, or a beavercorn or something even more magical. write me and let me know how it works out.peace be with and in you,

lovejodyand the badgerettes

namaste from kathmandu

2007-11-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

oh indiana, you are such an un-noteworthy sate, yet if you merely remove your last two letters you become a marvelous and enchanting land full of wonders and beauty half way around the world. mother india, thank you for gracing us with permission to enter your home and rome about. even though we are now in nepal for a week.
we arrived in delhi a while ago (time kind of bends together into one un-differentiating blob, so i cannot tell you exactly how long ago it was) and spent three delhicious days in the main bazaar which is a large market full of shops that carry the brightest, most beautiful goods you can picture. it was a little bit of a trial to get a taxi from the airport to a hotel - the taximan wasn't completely forthcoming in the information he offered us, and eventually dropped us off 30 min or so from the place we wanted to be. we just got a room for that night and went to the main bazaar the next day and got a room...for 2 bucks a night per person. the hotel was filled with lovely nepali men that were so nice and helpful with all our needs.

after three days we hopped a train for varanasi which was long (about 15 hours) but it was a sleeper so we all had beds. varanasi! i believe should undergo a spelling change so as to include an exclaimation point at the end of the city's name, you know, to give people a better idea of the magnificence of this city. located along the ganges river, which is literally worshiped, varanasi! is great place full of people that make you want to halt any plans to leave the area. we stayed in an area that was full of silk shops, clothes-makers, temples, monkeys, chai shops, stray cows, the ganges, goats, and more. we saw an area where people are cremated at the bank of the ganges and then have their ashes scattered into its innards - this is in order to secure direct passage to nirvana. those who cannot afford to be cremated, and those who ritually cannot be burned (holy men, children, pregnant women, the leprous, and those who died from a cobra bite) are blessed and tied to a stone and buried in the stomach of mama ganga. we saw many funeral pyres, and the huge house that the owner of the cremation area lives in, seeing as he makes tons of money because of the high price of cremating a loved one in his area. we took a boat ride at dawn which will be a memory frequently retrieved and reveled in. cavan, rose, and kathryn met an indian woman who took them into her home and served them meals and taught them about india (and india's vibrant culture) and adopted them into her family for three days or so - it was so cool for them! they had a blast.

courtney and i were able to meet up with our friend sarah (who worked with us in san francisco) who lives in varanasi, and meet her fiance who was a wonderful man named lijo. sarah is marvelous and was so hospitable while we were there, it is sad that we may not see her again for a while, but it is happy that we know she will be a friend forever and we will get to see her again. she will be getting married later this month.
after banaras (alternate name of varanasi (varanasi is the brittish name)) we took a 10 hour bus ride across bumpy terrain through the north indian countryside to the nepal border and then another 10 hour bus ride to kathmandu. that bus trip may have been the most uncomfortable thing i have ever done in my entire life, but it was worth it to see this magnificent city. i can't wait to show you picture, they will be on here when we get back to the states. i won't write much about kathmandu yet, because we've only been here 3 days. i will write more in a week or two.

love and miss you all, and we hope you are well and loving life. we are...

lovejody
and the beardless brood of bearded bohemians

peace from egypt

2007-10-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

as salaam alaikum or "peace be unto you" is the way egyptians and most all arabic speakers worldwide greet one another and i think it is beautiful. as you notice i almost always end emails and letters with "peace be with you", which is also the way arabic speakers say goodbye to one another. a convesation is began by wishing peace unto each other and when the conversation ends, you again wish peace unto the person - so beautiful and important to keep in mind. i often get so concerned with the unimportant things and forget to try to be at peace in all things. if we can all aim to be full of peace then maybe the result could be whirrled peas. mmmm....whirrled peas.

egypt was marvelous, and was definitely my favorite part of the trip so far. a friend of mine who lives in amstedam has a friend who has lived in cairo for 6 years or so, and we were very blessed to be able to be in contact with her. she helped us in so many ways...we had a taxi waiting for us at the airport, a hotel arranged for us and a tour guide at our service! it was perfect.

ahmed (our tour guide/friend/most pleasant, friendly, helpful guy ever) greeted us at the airport and took us straight to the hotel in downtown cairo. we arrived at around 4:45 or so which is significant because we arived during the holy month of ramadan. during ramadan, all practicing muslims fast from dawn to dusk - which means no food or water from 5am to 5pm...then form 5pm til 7pm there is a huge feast of celebration in homes, in the streets, in restaurants, in cars. then at 7pm everyone hits the streets and walk around and window shop and hang out on the streets...dining together and smoking shisha at the coffee shops. we definitely visited a few coffee shops and had some shay (tea) and smoked some shisha (tobacco out of a water pipe). there was such an excitement and energy in the air the whole time we were there. then a week after we arrived, ramadan ended and there followed a three day holiday celebration which was like the daily celebrations but tenfold. stores closed, families got together to feast and celebrate each other, people went on holiday to other parts of egypt, etc. it was so special to be in egypt during ramadan and during the celebration afterwards.

the egyptian people were very nice and kind and friendly and helpful, they were great and many of them befriended us right away. our tour guide ahmed treated us like family right away from the airport and every time we saw him afterwards. on the last night we took him, kerie (our egyptian contact) and our friend natalie (who also lives in cairo and is fiends with kerrie) out for dinner and to a coffee shop afterwards. during coffee, ahmed shared with me his desire for people to know that egyptians are good people and the problem in their country right now is that the president who has been in power for 25 years or so, and the government isn't distributing wealth very well at all. there has been huge inflation, but income has remained the same. basically the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, and there is an ever-widening gap in between. it is becoming harder for people to make a living, which then robs them of hope a lot of times. please pray for egypt and the people living there and especially the president and government, that change could happen and people could live well.

we saw the pyramids in giza - they were pyramidish. i guess it was cool to see such ancient structures that are so omnipresent in history books. they were pretty awesome when you consider what it would have taken to build them....you know with each block weighing somewhere around more than a ton and they didn't have cranes or any wussy crap like that. the highlight, though, as far as things we saw, was camping in the desert! it was phenomenal. we will show you pictures when we get back. it was something like being in god's lungs. close your eyes and think about it. sand dunes, barren land, complete silence except for the wind, no traffic, no other people, no houses...just you, you friends, the tour guides, your campsite, and the stars. it was fabulous...and the sunset was magnificent. so great!

anyway, i'll close now even though i would love to write more. we are in delhi, india right now. we made it safely and have a hotel in the middle of the main bazaar - it's really cool. we'll update soon. write back, it is nice to have correspondence while we travel. love you all, and once again:

peace be with you,
lovejody
(and the nomadic caravan of cavewomen)

yassu from the greek island of aegina

2007-10-11T10:04:00.001-07:00

hello again,

i am sitting now at our hotel on a greek island that is about an hour from athens by boat, if i look out the window to my left, there is a beautiful panorama of this island's rocky coast and a sea filled with sail boats and fishing boats, it is stunning.

i last wrote you from paris which was wonderful. courtney and i trained down to avignon in southern france for a little time to ourselves. we began the journey by going to the wrong train station in paris, thus missing our scheduled train and were told all the other trains were full for the day. that was at 11am, lucky for us a train opened up at 4pm, so we waited in the station for a while and then headed to the southern city of marseilles, which was not avignon. so at 9pm we had to wait for another train to avignon (about 45 min from marseilles). we finally arrived at our hotel and relaxed. avignon was a nice little city with a palace thing where the popes used to live until they moved to italy (or wherever they moved to after avignon). the downtown area was protected by a castle-looking wall and there was a river on the other side of downtown. we had a great time all except for courtney coming down with the flu or something similar. we then met up with rest of our troup in barcelona.

i have been to spain before, but not to barcelona. the hostel we stayed at was about an hour from the train station we first arrived at, but we eventually found it. barcelona is full of rad architecture from a guy named antonio gaudi (you can see some of his work here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudi). it was all really pretty. there was also a big festival going on in barcelona while we were there, so we walked around the center area of the city to many different booths and such. sadly, some of us were pretty sick in barcelona so we did a lot of resting and early sleeping. it was a really cool city, though, and the people were very nice. we were then off to the airport to fly to italy. due to the metro schedule, we had to go to the airport the night before we flew and spend the night in the airport to fly out the next morning at 6am.

we arrived safely in rome and boarded a train bound for napoli. two days were spent in napoli where we explored the city of pompeii (you know, the city that was destroyed by the volcano - mr. vesuvius) it was expensive to enter the city, so we just walked around the outside of it for a little while. then we trained into downtown napoli to try to find some castles. there were two we were aiming for, we got totally lost but eventually found one of the glorious castles after dark (with much help from the very friendly napolians which may or may not be what people from napoli are actually called). we walked around some more and then headed back to the hostel to check on the sick and resting courtney who had pretty much slept all day. she was still sick and sleeping when we arrived at 10ish. pizza in napoli was 3 euro for a medium/large sized pizza, it was grand. we got some meds for courtney and headed to roma the next day.

rome was rome. i have been there twice before...courtney once, and the other girls never. we saw the sights which were the same and ate some really good food! the pizza in rome is marvelous. it was kind of fun to stay in a hostel that i had stayed in 5 years ago and eat at some of the same places. we also had lots of gelatto - molto bene (very good).

we flew to athens and made our way to the hostel we were to spend two nights in. greek food is good, lots of meat, but we were able to find some veggie dishes to suit us. 40% of greece's population lives in athens...it is large and in charge. we saw the acropolis and the agora. the view from the acropolis was wonderful...not only were you standing on ancient ruins that are so known, but we could see for miles in every direction. lots of photos were captured and are now being held hostage digitally on our digital machine guncameras. they are all safe luckily...you will see them alive and well when we return to home base.

and now we are relaxing on a beautiful island that is so nice and full of great people. the staff here at the hotel are all family, and we totally feel like we are there family guests...they are great. we went snorkeling this morning which was rad. no exotic coral and stuff, but it was still beautiful. i did not venture far because i am scared of the ocean. i was sure that at any moment jaws him or herself was going to come and rip me to pieces. i am safe for now, but we are going again after while. the water is blue from afar and clear up close. we are staying near a little beach town with restaurants right on the beach and stunning views hither and thither.

tomorrow we fly to cairo! wow. we are in egypt for 10 days and then off to india for a whole month of craziness. we will update again soon. love you all, and you should certainly drop everything and come join us for a portion of our trip.

peace be with you,
lovejody
(and the traveling circus monkeys)

update of our trip around the world

2007-09-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

hello everyone,
i hope you are well and loving life.   i write to you
now from an amazing flat in paris that the sister in
law of one of the girls traveling with us has let us
stay in for free and have the whole thing to
ourselves!  paris is wonderful. 

the trip thus far has been amazing as we have been
spoiled everwhere we have been.  we got to stay for
almost free in amsterdam with our really good friends
melissa and moses.  they were wonderful hosts and were
so hospitable.  they showed us around the city, shared
meals with us in their apartment, and were generally
wonderful and loving.  amsterdam was very nice...lots
of people from many different countries, canals
winding through the city (which we got to travel
through on a friend's boat), good food and dance music
resonating in every nook and cranny throughout the
city.  we learned that the electronic music there is
some of the best in the world.  mel and moses were
perfect and really got our trip off to a great start.

next was a trip down to southern germany to stay with
a friend of mine from dts in san fran...samy's family
opened up there home to us and treated us like family,
complete with home-cooked german meals and delightful
conversation.  samy and his brother took us around
their village, the nearest city, and to a couple of
old towns complete with castles and other rad
architecture.  we tried vegan german sausage, good
german beer, and some german brandy.  samy then came
with us to paris which has been a blast. 

paris is so nice, the french language and architecture
so beautiful, the french people so pleasant and
helpful.  notre dame was great, the louvre was
magnificent, and the eiffel tower stunning.  courtney
and i leave tomorrow for avignon which is in southern
france on the way to barcelona.  it should be really
nice.

we love and miss you all, and we'll update again
before too long. 

peace of christ be with you all!
lovejody

some thoughts from c.s. lewis

2007-07-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

"Though all salvation is through Jesus, we need not conclude that He cannot save those who have not explicitly accepted Him in this life."

On the radio he announced: "We do know that no [one] can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved through Him."

In the children’s Narnia series, the lion Aslan is Lewis’s Christ-figure. In The Last Battle deceivers say: "[The god] Tash and Aslan are only two different names for You Know Who." Later they use the hybrid or compound name Tashlan to make their point. At the end of this last book in the Narnia series one of the outsiders, a Calorman named Emeth (which is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for "truth"), who has been a life-long worshiper of Tash, approaches Aslan. To this Tash-server Aslan says, "Son, thou art welcome." Emeth counters, "I am no son of Thine but a servant of Tash." Aslan rejoins: "All the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me." This is a clear indicator that for Lewis the non Christ-worshiper may be received into heaven.

Similarly, in another fictional setting, Jane Studdock, an unbeliever, says to Ransom the Pendragon: "I know nothing of Maleldil [the Christ-figure]. But I place myself in obedience to you." To her acknowledgment Ransom replies:
It is enough for the present. This is the courtesy of Deep Heaven that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you know. It will not be for always. He is very jealous. He will have you for no one but Himself in the end. But for tonight, it is enough.

Lewis said: "I couldn’t believe that 999 religions were completely false and the remaining one true." Similarly he stated: "We are not pronouncing all other religions to be totally false, but rather saying that in Christ whatever is true in all religions is consummated and perfected."

Kathryn Lindskoog wrote: "Lewis expressed hope that many true seekers like Akhenaton and Plato, who never had a chance to find Christ in this life, will find Him in the next one."

reconciling the bones of my pinky and othe stuff

2007-04-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

my pinky is broken and it sucks. i was playing dodge ball for the fourth time in my life and the ball hit my pinky really awkwardly (have you ever noticed what an awkward word "awkward" is?) and it shattered from the joint down to the knuckle. i had to have surgery to put three screws and three pins in there. i did not have insurance, but luckily the hospital is going to write it off as charity for me. otherwise i would still have a mangled pinky.

also, i have been thinking some lately about what i should be doing in life as a follower of christ. i think that jesus came for two fundamental purposes: to reconcile humans to God and to bring peace. so what should i be about? i should be about reconciliation and peace and love. i should try to live this in all aspects of my life including my marriage, at school, at my job, with my friends, etc. i think i should be a person of reconciliation instead of a person of division. when i am told i should have enemies or have the opportunity to have an enemy, i should be about reconciliation with whatever potential enemy. when the opportunity arises for me to be angry and take part in a conflict, here is the opportunity for me to be open to peace. when someone is hateful to me, or when i feel like being hateful to someone else, here is the opportunity for me to love.

jesus came to reconcile people (including me) to God, how then can i now be actively reconciled to God? by being a man of reconciliation myself. how can i actively recieve the peace of christ? by being a man of peace myself. how can i actively receive God's unconditional love? by loving others unconditionally.
my pinky makes it hard to type.

love wins over violence

2007-02-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

most assailants work from a definite set of expectations about how the victim will respond, says nonviolence theorist Angie O’Gorman, and they need the victim to act as a victim. a response of violence, hostility, panic, or helplessness reinforces the assailant’s expectations. It confirms his self-confidence and sense of control. provoking a sense of wonder, by contrast, tends to diffuse hostility.

"angie o'gorman describes being awakened one night by a man kicking open the door to her bedroom. the house was empty. the phone was downstairs. he was somewhat verbally abusive as he walked over to my bed. i could not find his eyes in the darkness but could see the outline of his form. as i lay there, feeling a fear and vulnerability i had never before experienced, several thoughts ran through my head - all in a matter of seconds. the first was the uselessness of screaming. the second was the fallacy of thinking safety depends on having a gun hidden under you pillow. somehow i could not imagine this man standing patiently while reached under my pillow for my gun. the third thought, i believe, saved my life. i realized with a certain clarity that either he and i made it through this situation safely - together - or we would both be damaged. our safety was connected. if he raped me, i would be hurt both physically and emotional. if he raped me he would be hurt as well. if he went to prison, the damage would be greater. that thought disarmed me. it freed me from my own desire to lash out and at the same time from my own paralysis. It did not free me from feelings of fear but from fear’s control over my ability to respond. I found myself acting out of a concern for both our safety which caused me to react with a certain firmness but with surprisingly little hostility in my voice.
I asked him what time it was. He answered. That was a good sign. I commented that his watch and the clock on my night table had different times. His said 2:30, mine said 2:45. I had just set mine. I hoped his watch wasn’t broken. When had he last set it? He answered. I answered. The time seemed endless. When the atmosphere began to calm a little, I asked him how he had gotten into the house. He’d broken through the glass in the back door. I told him that presented me with a problem as I did not have the money to buy a new glass. He talked about some financial difficulties of his own. We talked until we were no longer strangers and I felt it was safe to ask him to leave. He didn’t want to; said he had no place to go. Knowing I did not have the physical power to force him out, I told him firmly but respectfully, as equal to equal, I would give him a clean set of sheets but he would have to make his own bed downstairs. He went downstairs and I sat up in bed wide awake and shaking for the rest of the night. The next morning we ate breakfast together and he left.”

“by treating her intruder as a human being, o’gorman caught him off guard. Conversation defused his violence. Through the effects of prayer, meditation, training in nonviolence, and the experience of lesser kinds of assault, she had been able to allow a context for conversion to emerge. Such a response could come to her because she had been rehearsing nonviolence beforehand.”
(from "the powers that be" - an amazing book!)

love wins over violence.

interesting essay by a guy called andrew baker

2007-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

1. The state

The state presupposes that people cannot live together without coercion. People are evil (or at least potentially so), according to the state, and need to have limits put upon them from the outside. The evil that some people might do must be held in check for the common good of all people.

Not only this but the existence of the state presupposes something further: that the state's main purpose is not to create people who are capable of living together without such coercion. The purpose of the state is to foster people who coerce each other to live in certain ways. The state is not interested in making people less dependent upon it. It is not interested in creating people who are capable of living without it - that would be suicidal for the state. The state is interested in employing those who are willing to do the coercion.

2. Christianity

The main purpose of the church is to witness to its Savior Jesus Christ. It is to be a witness of his love for men and therefore a witness to God's purpose for humanity. This purpose is that men live together without coercion, in love for one another and for God.

The church is under no laws or compulsion to live this way. The church's only motivation to live as such witnesses is the love each follower of Christ has for Jesus. Any rules set forth by the church are "rules" not unbendable laws. They are meant to help the community of believers live as witnesses to Jesus in a world of temptation and war. The Christian is free. He is not under coercion to love his neighbor or God.

3. There can be no mixing of the State and Church

The State, whose main purpose is to force others to live within strict boundaries or be punished for transgression of those boundaries, is not the church. And conversely, the church, whose only purpose is to witness to God's love in Jesus Christ, is not the state. The state is based upon coercion; the gospel is based upon love. The state is based on law; the gospel is based upon freedom. The state is based upon power; the gospel is based upon weakness.

The Christian cannot accept the state. It is based upon everything the gospel is opposed too. Indeed it is directly counter to the most fundamental convictions of the Gospel: That Christians are to convert and teach men to live together without coercion and thus without the state. Christians thus mandated can never accept power, because it is based upon such coercion from it's inception (with Cain in Genesis 4), and is not interested in men living together without coercion.

4. Christians only option therefore is Anarchism

Therefore, since the task of the Christian is in direct conflict with power in any form, especially the state a Christian cannot be a Communist, Socialist, Republican, Democrat, etc., but must be an anarchist. Anarchy is "nonviolent repudiation of authority." As a political option it is the only option that allows Christians to remain faithful to their calling of converting men to live peacefully together without domination.

Shane Claiborne: Mad Jesus Skilz (Applied Pacifism Isn't Passive)

2007-01-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about the ethos of violence that is spreading like a disease through our world. I just read that TV violence is at a record high, with an average of 13 incidents of violence every hour. News headlines tell of the murders down in New Orleans. Homicides here in Philly and Camden have been happening almost every day. And of course there is Iraq.

I just told a group of graduate students I would like to see them do a study comparing the ethos of violence globally with the violence on the streets here in the U.S. Remember how the Columbine shooting happened on the same day that the Clinton-led U.S. bombed Kosovo most intensively? It's hard to imagine that these recent murders and school shootings are somehow separate from the current escalation of violence by our government. After all, we are wrestling against principalities and powers. These are not just lofty thoughts to ponder, but they are realities that sometimes hit pretty close to home. The only incidents of violence I have experienced in the last 10 years of living here in the inner city have been since the Iraq war. One of them was about a week ago. I am including a little account of it here, mostly because I am really proud of my friend Cassim and how he handled the situation. I think he has some things to teach those who continue to trust in the myth of redemptive violence.

Cassim and I were walking to the post office, a walk I take several times a week. It's on the "other side of the tracks" in a neighborhood called Port Richmond, where lots of folks say they want to move to get out of Kensington, where we live. In fact, most locals call Kensington "the Badlands." But I always warn folks to be careful with that, lest they think "nothing good can come out of Kensington." After all, that's exactly what folks said about Nazareth, Jesus' neighborhood. God seems to have a special knack for showing up in the Badlands. After all, there are really good kids here, like Cassim. Cassim is one of the gentle kids, one I hope to never see lose his innocence and trust, or his heart grow hard. He likes cooking with us, gardening, getting beat at Othello - even cleaning the house or doing homework. I've always thought it funny and out-of-character that he is in a boxing club run by some Christians around the corner from us. Christian boxing ... hmm.

Cassim is 11 and his mom doesn't let him out a lot, so you can imagine that when we got jumped I was caught a little off-guard. We were walking down the narrow side street, and some teenaged guys started following behind. You could just feel the mischief brewing, and it grew from two young men to four and then eight, until there was a little mob of sorts. They started calling out some names, throwing rocks and sticks, trying to stir up trouble.

It's always hard on the spot like that to know exactly what Jesus would do. I told Cassim, "Let's go say hi." He looked at me skeptically. We turned back and walked towards them (knowing full well that if we had run we may have made it to the post office). "Hey, I'm Shane. And this is my friend Cassim. We live around the corner," I said with my hand out. They weren't really sure what to do with that. A couple of them shook my hand and introduced themselves. Others snickered. One or two refused the handshake. We said, "Nice to meet you guys," and headed on our walk.

With the wind taken out of their sail a bit, they regrouped, and then continued to build momentum towards a violent brawl. They ran after us, throwing some rocks and bottles, and I noticed two of them now carried a couple of broomsticks from the trash. We picked up the pace a bit, and then I looked at Cassim and said, "No, don't run." We turned back, and before we knew it, one of them clocked Cassim on the side of the head with a stick. I said firmly, "Why would you do that? We haven't done anything to hurt you." They laughed. Then they started hitting me with the broomstick until it broke over my back. At this point I decided to bust out a can of holy anger. I looked them in the eyes and said as forcefully as I could, "You are created in the image of God ... every single one of you. And you were made for something better than this. Cassim and I are followers of Jesus and we do not fight, but we will love you no matter what you do to us." That wasn't exactly what they expected or hoped for. They looked at each other, startled a bit ... for the first time, they were completely quiet. And then they scurried off in every direction.

I'll never forget what Cassim said afterwords. "Shane, why am I taking boxing lessons?" We laughed at the irony of it, having just experienced a prime chance to implement his mad skilz. I asked Cassim frankly what he thought would have happened if he had chosen to fight. "It would have been ugly," he said. "They might have been bloody and we probably would have been real bloody." No one would have left any nicer, that was for sure.

I asked Cassim if he thought Jesus was happy with how we acted. He thought about it, and then nodded with a smile. I told him that, honestly, I wasn't sure exactly what Jesus would have done if he were in our place … but there are two things I know Jesus would not have done. He would not have fought. And he would not have run. I told him Jesus may have thought of something else, or he may have done something weird to throw them off, as he often seems to do – like drawing in the dirt with his finger (or writing on the road with sidewalk chalk, "you are better than this"), or maybe pulling a coin out of a fish's mouth (or pulling a piece of candy out of a pigeon's mouth). But I think Jesus was happy with how we acted, and that we were good representatives – good witnesses – of Christ to them. Cassim agreed, and then we prayed for them together. And finally, as he was leaving, Cassim reminded me that each of those boys has to go to bed thinking about what they did that day, and so did we.

I'm not sure about those other boys, but Cassim and I both slept well that night … and woke up a little sore but happy the next morning. Hopefully Cassim's mom will let him come out of the house.

"I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. But they asked, and rightly so, what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today – my own government."

- Martin Luther King Jr., in " A Time to Break the Silence," delivered April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church, New York City.

Will you speak out against the nuclear weapons build-up?

2007-01-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

From Faithful Security

As religious Americans, we stand up for peace. We also feel called to protect human life and care for creation. When we hear that the U.S. wants to get back in the nuclear weapons business, we must share the reasons why the U.S. needs to break faith with nuclear weapons - once and for all.

The Department of Energy recently released a Notice of Intent for the massive renovation of the nuclear weapons complex. Under the DOE's plan, "Complex 2030," the U.S. would have the ability to produce up to 125 nuclear weapons per year – a level comparable to what we had during the Cold War.

The Complex 2030 plan is:

Hazardous to creation. Under Complex 2030, DOE proposes a Consolidated Plutonium Production Center which would include a bomb plant capable of producing up to 125 plutonium pits (bomb core) per year. Plutonium pit production creates a threat to public health and to creation. The US is planning to proceed with a major overhaul of the US nuclear weapons complex, when they have yet to clean up the mess from past production of nuclear weapons.
Poor stewardship. The renovation of the nuclear weapons complex is expected to cost upwards of $150 billion dollars. It is immoral to spend our resources on unnecessary weapons when there are so many other human needs left unmet.
Hypocritical. North Korea has just tested a nuclear weapon, and Iran is pursuing a nuclear program. By building up its nuclear arsenal right now, the U.S. is advocating the hypocritical "Do as I say, not as I do" policy.
Unnecessary. In addition to posing a huge threat to human life, nuclear weapons are a Cold War relic and are strategically useless. We should partner with other nations to eliminate nuclear weapons—not build more!

It's not every day that the U.S. government invites us to tell them exactly what we think of the nuclear weapons complex. But now you have a chance to tell officials from the Department of Energy that instead of building up nuclear arsenals, we need to break faith with nuclear weapons.

Submit a comment to the Department of Energy through the online form at Faithful Security's website:

http://ga3.org/campaign/complex2030/idbdxxi2l5k6n6w

peace be with you,
lovejody

saddam has been hanged, what a sad day

2006-12-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

saddam has been found guilty of great evils and has been punished by being hanged. it is right that he was found guilty and he deserved to be punished but how sad that a beautiful human being that jesus died for and loves with all of his heart who was alive a day ago is now dead. i think jesus is very sad. saddam did many evil things and killed many people, but the days of eye for eye and tooth for tooth are over - so says jesus. i don't think it is right to take a life to punish someone for taking a life. i don't think any human being or group of human beings has the right to take the life of another human being - any human being. god made people and they are of infinite worth to him, we cannot devalue life by taking it. punishing people for wrong doing is just, and should be enforced, but capital punishment should not exist.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Mt. 5:38-45

let us mourn the passing of a human being and pray for his family. let us not rejoice in the taking of a life - any life for any reason. let us love enemies and bless those who curse. let us not live eye for eye and tooth for tooth.

however i want to say that i do not judge iraq in any way for the decision they made regarding saddam - it is their country and they have their beliefs and laws, so they totally had all authority to make the decision they did.

any thoughts?

Jesus was a heretic...according to current christianity

2006-12-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' MT 25:31-40

these verses are very beautiful...when we care for the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and invite in strangers we are actually doing these things for Jesus. God's presence is in people and we can find Jesus in everyone - not just "christians". but another note of point on this passage is that it is talking about the final judgment - when Jesus comes again. it says all people will be separated with the "sheep" going to the kingdom prepared since the creation of the world and the "goats" not getting to go.

but what does Jesus say is the basis of this judgment? being born again? going to church? having correct, orthodox theology? being a good person? not using cuss words? being the correct denomination? nope, he doesn't say any of these things - he says that the basis of this judgment at the end of time will be whether or not we cared for the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, invited in strangers, clothed those who don't have clothes, cared for the sick, and visited those in prison. those who do these things, Jesus says that they will go to the place prepared for them. those who do not do these things, the verse goes on to say, Jesus will say "depart from me you who are cursed."

God incarnate seems to have a very different idea of what it means to have a relationship with him and to be "saved". he doesn't say here that those who have said the sinner's prayer, pray regularly, have regular quiet times, fast, go to church, try to convert others, join full-time professional ministry, observe proper church manners, talk religiously, are baptized, refrain from saying shit, damn, fuck, bastard, god damnit, etc. will go to heaven. these activities aren't bad, necessarily, but perhaps a lot of the things that have been emphasized in christianity don't actually matter as much to God as we pretend they do.

perhaps God is more interested in us loving people unconditionally to show them His love instead of us living by rules and regulations. perhaps God is more interested in us blessing and serving others instead of judging their sin. perhaps he is more interested in us being in tune with his plans, instead of us acting like we are good christians. perhaps "salvation" could include others besides those who have prayed the sinner's prayer, or even those who haven't heard of Jesus.

i don't want to be christian anymore

2006-11-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

i find it hard to have a desire to identify myself as a christian these days. the term carries with it so many negative connotations that i don't feel comfortable being associated with. back in the day there were God's people, and then Jesus showed up and people began to follow him. after christ there was a revolutionary group of followers of Christ that shared life, food, money, stories, community. a counter-cultural revolutionarily loving group that followed what Jesus taught. then not to long after, Christianity became the state religion of the roman empire. Christianity became associated with empire instead of the revolutionary Christ. The Christian God got tied into roman politics and lost its flavor, its salt. it became just another world power with ambitions to take over, to dominate, to go to war, to be wealthy etc. this was not the message of Christ, it was pretty much the antithesis of Christ's teachings on life and the kingdom of God. Christianity was just another world power at war with the other two major world powers trying to be THE world power. mistreatment of "infidels", crusades, power-hungry leaders, etc. i can't identify with any of this and it is pretty sickening.

fast forward to today. what is christianity at large known for? the same damn things! we have a "christian" president that is at war with the world, we have the "christian" republican party that caters to the rich and powerful and want to see them even more rich and more powerful, we have many christians that think it is better to kill our enemies than love them, we have tons of super rich megachurches that don't seem to be doing much of anything that resembles the first church, christianity is still just another world power with ambitions to acquire more power. this is still completely at odds with what Jesus taught. Christians are not known (as a whole) for being loving, accepting, followers of what Jesus taught. i can't identify with any of this either and i also find it pretty sickening. i don't want to call myself a christian, for i do not agree with much of what it signifies.

however, the problem with the body of Christ as a whole is the same problem with my body as a whole. we are fallen and in need of grace. i am so judgemental and uncompassionate and unloving. i don't know much of anything. i do what i know to be wrong. it is very easy for me to point out the problems with God's body here on earth and yet fail to be a part of the solution. i easily make others the scapegoat for problems that i get pissed off about being in my life. the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth begins with my heart, my mind, will, emotions and choices. then when this vessel is full of God it can overflow and possibly work for the good of all of humanity.

God help me! if i, jody, were a religion, i am pretty sure that all those who belonged to the religion would be very upset with the way it was carried out. people would be pretty disillusioned with Jodianity.

at home in the emerald city

2006-10-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

courtney and i are now living in seattle in a cute one bedroom apartment near the u-district. we couldn't find anything at first and were starting to get discouraged, but we happened to drive by a basement apartment with a covered driveway. we have started school at shoreling community college, which is about a 15 minute drive from us, so not too bad. courtney is doing her prerequisites for the nursing program there. i'm taking sociology, history and english. i am thinking about doing something in the vein of community development, we may both transfer to the university of washington some time in the future. courtney has been working temporarily at the U bookstore as a cashier, she is hoping to get a higher-paying job with more hours, prolly something to do with serving coffee. i am looking for a job right now. i hope to find something soon, for rent is due soon. i love the seattle area! it is really nice up here and we have some really nice friends already. if you know anyone in the seattle area, let us know. we would like to be able to go to school and work and still be able to hang out with people and do some mininstry. i would love everyone who reads this to come visit us! we'll try to send out an email sometime with our new address, if you want our address let me know and i will give it to you....for five dollars, just kidding. i hope you are all well.

i likey

2006-09-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

BEING AN OXYMORON,
by Tony Campolo

A few months ago I was a guest on Steven Colbert’s popular television show, THE COLBERT REPORT. He introduced me as an evangelical who is liberal on social issues. Then he added, “He’s a living oxymoron!”

Sadly, his words reflect the way evangelicals are regularly perceived. Here in the United States, evangelical Christians have become so married to the Right wing of the Republican Party that it is hard for those outside our faith community to imagine that a significant minority of evangelicals have socially liberal politics. Yet over its history, evangelical Christianity has championed some of our country’s most progressive social movements. Charles Finney, the dominant evangelist of the 19th century, was a major player in the anti-slavery movement, and his revivals provided much of the impetus for the women’s suffrage movement of that era. Back in those days, evangelicals pulled their churches out of mainline denominations not because the denominations were too socially liberal on the race issue, but because they were not liberal enough. William Jennings Bryan of Scopes Trial fame, the darling of early 20th century evangelicals, was a pacifist who opposed America’s involvement in war. I gladly take my place in his train.

The word “liberal” has become a political label of ill-repute among many evangelicals. But if by social liberal you mean someone who believes America should guarantee medical coverage for all of its citizens; fund the public schools in poor urban and rural communities at the same level as those in rich suburban neighborhoods; be committed to progressive environmental policies; give more than four-tenths of one percent of its federal budget to help the poor of other countries; and give up its militaristic adventurism — then I embrace the label with enthusiasm.

I’m one of those pro-life Christians who is convinced that the outrageous number of abortions each year is more due to right-wing economic policies than to Roe v. Wade. In a society where many poor women must work outside the home at a ridiculously low minimum wage just to survive, yet have no access to daycare for their children, we should not be surprised if they seek abortion when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. Yet many of the Religious Right Christians who share my pro-life sentiments tend to oppose enacting legislation that would enable poor women to give birth and keep their children. No wonder one of our critics says, “Evangelicals are people who believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth.” Too often it seems as if we care about protecting the unborn, but we’re not willing to provide for the born.

Recently, an African-American preacher in Philadelphia joined forces with the Religious Right and the White House when he spoke out against the nomination of “activist” judges to the Supreme Court who would interpret the law beyond what the framers of the Constitution intended. I wondered if this preacher thought about all the advances for minority peoples that were the fruit of activist judges. Liberal judges are the ones who integrated public schools with their 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Activist judges are the ones who obliterated policies that had allowed for racial discrimination in real estate sales, employment, and education. In reality, almost all of the progressive rulings that decimated Jim Crow went well beyond the intensions of the framers of the Constitution, many of whom owned slaves. Oh, how quickly people forget!

There are those on the Religious Right who argue that caring for the poor and needy is solely the responsibility of the church, and should not be funded with taxpayers’ money. Yet it is clear in Scripture that God holds governments responsible for playing a significant role in providing such care. Consider the words of the prophet Isaiah who warned: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless” (Isa. 10:1-2).

Also, Jesus declared that the day would come when nations would be judged by how they cared for the poor: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (Matthew 25:31-32).

Allow me to add to my advocacy for certain liberal social policies a commitment to fiscal conservatism. This present government, so supported by most evangelicals, has mortgaged the future of our children and our children’s children. This is a consequence of funding the war in Iraq and giving gigantic tax breaks to the richest people in our country, as well as to huge corporations such as price-gouging oil companies. Our national debt increases by close to $2 billion each week, with the People’s Republic of China being the major party picking up our loans. The communists will not have to bury us, as Khrushchev had hoped: Soon they will own us.

It has been said that the difference between a politician and a statesman is that the politician looks to the next election while the statesman looks to the next generation. Given that assessment, when it comes to the national debt we have an absence of statesmen down there in Washington.

The Bible speaks more about justice than it does about anything else — except for love. But in the end, justice is nothing more than love turned into social policies. It is my own commitment to justice, inadequate though it might be, that makes me the kind of person I am. To that end this evangelical is more than willing to be labeled a social liberal, even if it does make me a living oxymoron.

the biggest road trip of my life

2006-08-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

tomorrow my wife and i will begin a 4,250 mile road trip beginning in charlottesville virginia and ending in seattle washington. we have spent the summer with my family and friends here in va and will now head out to my wife's neck of the woods to live and attend school for the next few years. and we will be driving on vegetable oil the whole way (hopefully). our '82 mercedes has gone strong for 2,500 miles on veggie oil and will soon feel the challenge of almost double that.

we are stopping along the way from va to wa to visit friends in different parts of the country, including a wedding in san francisco. we are both excited and a little nervous and sad and happy and a lot of emotions all at once. please pray that we will make it to seattle safely, both physically and emotionally. that we will have a smooth transition. and that our car will last the full way, that we will be able to find restaurants with good quality used veggie oil. open road, here we come.

the good of technology?

2006-08-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

is technology doing the world any good? i suppose this to be a silly question, and the answer is probably yes - very much good. however, it seems to me that now days technology isn't so much about making the world better or helping people, but more about making money. it seems to be about creating more crap for people to feel comfortable or entertained. or at least to have the illusions thereof. it seems to be about making machines that will kill large numbers of human beings, or animals, or the earth.

if "technology" and the push for new and innovative ideas could be (and/or would have been) fueled not by greed, self delusion, will to power, etc., but by the desire to help the world as a whole - all of creation, gosh what a different world this could be. what if people's motives were the good of others, of everyone. what if i lived that in my own life?

the subversive revolution of following christ

2006-07-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

i think our lives and every aspect of them are to give glory to God, and when we live lives to this end, it is better for God, the world, ourselves. the question becomes how do i live a life that brings glory to God? there are some obvious answers that come from scripture; worship God, love others, help the poor. but what about the details of our lives; the daily routine? how can we glorify God in our sleeping habits, morning routine, job, social life, entertainment, how we unwind, how we interact with others? does God want to be glorified in these parts of our lives, or does he not really care and just wish us to behave/live however we want? i think he does care. not in a legalistic or religious kind of way, where we are living by strict rules and such. more in a living kind of way where we are considering our lives and how we lead them and compare them to how jesus would be if he were in our shoes.

with this however comes many hard questions, but i think they are good questions. does God desire most of all for me to be happy and/or comfortable? if you think yes, then to what extent and at whose expense? does God desire the happiness/comfort of one individual, group, state, or country over another? if not, then i think it would be important for me to live a life and enjoy it, but not at the expense of others. does my dependence on a gasoline for my vehicle, or any other petroleum products ensure that others elsewhere will feel the effects of war to "protect america's way of life"? is this congruent with what Jesus desires? do i turn the other cheek when angered or offended as Jesus taught? if i desired to dress fashionably, is it at the expense of sweat shops in other countries? is this glorifying to God? does the food i purchase help support an unjust system that takes advantage of farmers in poor countries? do the taxes i pay help to pay for weapons, war, the killing of other human beings? is this what Jesus desires? does my lifestyle as a whole help or hurt the people of the world, the poor of the world, other countries, my own country, the environment etc.?

these are some daunting questions. it seems that no one could live a perfectly sustainable lifestyle. it appears that we are all dependent on corrupt systems in some way or another. i guess the question is how can reduce the dependence? how can we live more sustainable lifestyles? not by living by the american dream, that is sure. but i think if we considered how to live a whole life that glorified God, we could just be on the path of living more harmoniously with our habitat and neighbors (both human and not). what a crazy, scary, and amazing path this seems to be.

PAPA Festival...

2006-06-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

my wife and i just got back from the P.A.P.A. (People Against Poverty and Apathy) Festival near knoxville tennessee. what an amazing weekend it was. a convergence of 500+ people from around the country who work with the poor, advocate for those who are forgotten, live in intentional christian communities, or who are at least interested in these things. how beautiful and full of love our times were together.

the event included many learning times including both ideas/lessons/interaction and hands on creation times where practical skills were taught such as vegetable gardening, sewing, bicycle maintenance, canning, etc. there were also some really good bands that performed for us including mewithoutyou and psalters, both of which are amazing - as were all of the bands.

we really enjoyed meeting new people and talking with folks who really have a heart for people and to be the church in new, creative, and very exciting ways daily. a breath of fresh air indeed. excitement is growing in my belly to live in an intentional christian community and live out the life of jesus as best i (we) can. love, love, love...

p.s. you can prolly read about the p.a.p.a. fest on the simple way's website, their link is in the link section on the right.

goups of friends meeting together and loving

2006-05-23T19:20:00.000-07:00

what if every church in the world sold the building and property they owned and gave the money to the poor? what if we then proceeded to meet in each other's homes or communes or outdoors and shared meals and quality time together rather than a sunday routine that is mostly inwardly focused? what if we threw structure out the window and shared life with one another without pastors or elders or deacons or the presbytery etc.? what if when we met it was equal parts blessing God, encouraging each other personally, and being outwardly focused?

i think way more people would feel comfortable with "coming to church", because then it wouldn't be "coming to church" at all, it would be gathering together as friends and family sharing love and friendship and meals and talking about how we can bless others and show love to them. i would feel way more comfortable with hanging out with people this way vs. the current model of meeting together in "church".

i don't feel like i fit in at church. nor do i have much motivation to attend church. i can't say that i really like church. i want to love people more.

wait a minute mister post man

2006-05-14T17:02:00.001-07:00

i am a mail man. i deliver the mail door to door and it is alright.

a new snowglobe

2006-04-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

i find it kind of a peculiar thing moving from a place where i lived in an intentional christian community to a place where there are few that my wife and i know at all. back in the commonwealth of virginia where there are approximately two people left in town that i know (besides my family). i feel a good bit odd and out of place relationally, both with people and with God. i believe i had some funny little notion that i would move back to virginia and we would find friends, or that perhaps some friends would ever so perfectly fall into our living room and all would be well. that is not how it has worked out. we pretty much just sit around the house, occasionally visiting with family or the three people we know here.

to some extent we both relied on what was familiar and easy in san francisco. we both worked for a christian non-profit and lived with 25 other strong, committed, lovely people. it was quite easy to not have to worry about building relationship with others or with God. inside the snow-globe of san francisco, it was all easy...relating with God was part of our job, and our community wasn't chosen by us. we were all just there and good friends. now, outside the snow-globe, i struggle with being able to create community and to be strongly committed to God. if i rely on the same level of effort/ non-effort i am used to from before, then nothing really happens. my wife and i just sit around the house and speak of our boredom, lack of friends, and desire to pursue more than just sitting around a talking about these things.

i have been thinking some about community, i want to meet more people, or maybe i just want more people to meet and be interested in me without any effort on my part. i want to experience friendship and community, but the heart of this is being an initiator of community. being open and loving to people. i don't want to be passive in loving and accepting others, i want to be active. and i think that community with people and with God are inseperably intertwined. perhaps they are similar, one being a central part of the other. perhaps this, perhaps that.

good documentary

2006-04-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

i watched the documentary entitled "the corporation" the other day and it was really interesting. it explores a lot of the consequences of our dependence upon corporations - both worldwide and nationally. i would recommend this video to anyone and everyone... watch it and let's talk.

how would jesus budget?

2006-03-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

hey, i think everyone should go HERE and consider taking action concerning president bush's budget proposal. it seems to me that the president's budget proposal does not reflect a concern for those in most need. as a follower of christ i agree with the thought of budgets being moral documents and that they should reflect the best interest of all people. i think budgets (a nation's budget, a church's budget, or a family's budget) should reflect a morality based on the teachings of the bible/Jesus. maybe one of the primary concerns of budgets should be how to love our neighbors as ourselves, both nationally and internationally. the bible has some strong words to those who neglect the poor, immigrants, widows, and children. i definitely need to consider this more in my life and with me and my wife's budget. how would Jesus budget the provisions in my life? how would Jesus budget our nation's spending? i don't think his focus would be internal, or merely external to the point of who we're at war with.

i have a wife now...

2006-03-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

and her name is courtney. we were successfully married on february 11 and successfully proceeded to travel to costa rica for our 8 day honeymoon. it was fabulous, very beautiful and really hot. we are in the seattle area currently and are moving to virginia on march 13 to live and work and visit with my family and friends for the next six months. we will then be attending school in the seattle area. and also, when we move back out to seattle in late august, we are wanting to live communally in a small house or large apartment or townhome or something similar. so if you live or will be living in the seattle area and are interested in living comunally, then let me know. and also, i am reading an amazing book right now about community and love entitled "the irresistable revolution" by shane claiborne.

lovejody

passivity vs. passion

2006-02-03T06:35:00.000-08:00

i am currently reading "the name of the rose" by umberto eco. there is one part where a couple of the characters are having a discussion and there was a portion that really stuck out to me, that i have been thinking about some.

"what i meant was that there is little difference between the ardor of the seraphim and the ardor of lucifer, because they are always born from an extreme igniting of the will."

"oh, there is a difference, and i know it. You mean that between desiring good and desiring evil there is a brief step, because it is always a matter of directing the will. this is true. but the difference lies in the object, and the object is clearly recognizable. God on this side, and the devil on that."

when scripture speaks about having life in the spirit and letting the holy spirit guide us, i think that this is part of what is implied. our will is a very strong thing. it is also very important. so important that God has limited himself in order that we will have free will and be able to choose love.

so this will that resides within us can either be dominated by the holy spirit or by sin. this being the eternal conflict - to have our mind will and emotions turn from the sin it is born into and turn to God. the thing is, with our will seemingly so strong, it can be an awesome thing when it is desiring and pursuing God and the things that are on God's heart. but it can be an awful thing when we are dominated by the flesh and pursue sin with the same ardor with which we are called to pursue God. but it seems to be a small step from pursuing God with the fullness of our will, to pursuing the things of lucifer.

part of the problem for me i think, is my tendency towards passivity.

passive- acted upon by some external force, agency, etc.
2. submitting without resistance.

i tend to sit back and allow myself to be acted upon, rather than being the one doing the acting. and with this comes the 'being acted upon by sin and tending to submit without resistance.' it is vital to be active and passionate in the pursuing of God. it is vital to be passionate in our love for him. i think passivity in our walk with God could be similar to the luke-warmness that is spoken against in revelation.

watch this...

2006-01-30T17:48:00.000-08:00

Darfur: Lives Destroyed

delicious words from donald miller

2006-01-26T19:50:00.001-08:00

"I’ve been watching documentaries about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. The surprise, running through my head, has been the difficulty he encountered as a leader in the civil rights movement. What to me seems obvious, to a country seemed ridiculous, that all people are created equal, and have unalienable rights. At the time, the words of our own constitution, just as the words of scripture, lay silent in the background, oppressed by desires to believe we were right, to believe we were better, desperate to find a difference in "other people" no matter how ridiculous the logic. The genius of the American system lay in checks and balances, in the idea that man, unchecked, will lean toward evil. Our founding fathers knew this, and knew that freedom would only come when people in power were kept in check. It is that system that Martin Luther King used to change America. He pushed truth against the prejudice, and when the prejudice bit back, he proved truth was good and right, because it had the moral authority to turn the other cheek, and in time, create peace where there had been violence, and unity where there had been division. I am reminded again, as I watch these documentaries and think about the struggle that took place in this country, how good for the world the methods and messages of Christ are, and how strikingly different this message is from a conquering mentality employed by the church of old, by religious systems all over the world, and by financial interests when salivating from the mouth of some corporations who neglect individual responsibility by hiding inside a monstrous construct.

In changing a social landscape, Jesus did not employ common sense, He employed sacrifice, even to the point of death, both for Him and for His many apostles and members of the early church. The true Christian legacy, then, is distinct from a Constantinian religion. Ours is a legacy of non-violence, which assumes one lose doing the right thing rather than win doing the wrong. We might laugh at the insignificance of one moral victory, but a million moral victories cannot be ignored. King, following Christ, proved this to be true.

There have been points of light, as it were. Jim and Elizabeth Elliot showed us the power of turning the other cheek, and revolutionized an entire tribe, cutting the homicide rate by more than 80%. The question may be, what does non-violent resistance look like in the information age? Perhaps we can turn to Bono, whose ONE campaign now boasts a larger enrollment than that of the National Rifle Association. Millions of lives will be saved by a Rock Star, who used a microphone and a handful of anthems instead of a gun.

I think we change the hearts and minds of America’s citizens the same way Christ has changed our hearts; with a persistent commitment to what is good and right and true, and without lifting a finger against us. Can you imagine, early in your Christian maturity, Jesus showing as little patience with you as the religious right shows against their supposed foes? I, for one, would have never made it. Save His patience, I am lost.

King was not popular, even amongst his own people. Many wanted to fight. They wanted to lift a fist out of pride and a desire for vengeance. But somebody who knows the truth knows also you cannot build God’s kingdom with Satan’s methodology.

So for the church, in the face of the crisis in Africa, in the face of our disastrous union with western economic imperialism, and in the face of apathy about the revolutionary message of the gospel of Jesus, I am reminded that when making progressive changes, we do so in kindness, in love, and with relentless forgiveness, not because we are right, but because there is a right. And in Martin Luther King we see our methodology matters as much as our message, because the two cannot be separated."

quoted in full from donald miller's blog

what if...

2006-01-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

what if in the year 1850 a dictator rose up and took over the whole world and decided to burn all the bibles. this dictator also decides to reconstruct the bible to take a new slant on things according to what this dictator thought was truth. this dictator then has every believer brainwashed to the point of no longer remembering what the bible used to say; or maybe he just kills all believers. then he teaches his new religion as truth and it spreads rapidly and soon becomes the majority's view of who God is and how to live in this world and the meaning of life. the dictator then gets overthrown and things go back to relative normality.

fast forward to right now.

what if right now, all of current christianity with its worldview, practices, beliefs, philosophies, etc. stemmed back from this dictator's thoughts? what if all current doctrine was based off of the change that occurred in 1850, and none of us knew? we just did what our parents did, this church generation just followed what the previous generation did, traditions handed down from 1850 till today.

would we all have it wrong and be destined for hell? would God understand that things had been changed so long ago and we currently had no way of knowing? would God understand that we are living up to the truth we have (even though it is not what God taught originally, and didn't include Jesus) with pure motives, and therefore not judge us guilty of false doctrine? i wonder...

maybe God is more secular than his people

2006-01-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

recent ponderings have led me to think that God is more secular than his followers are. i have tended to think that relationship with God is a religious thing that includes many different ways to seem spiritual. i think christian spirituality is much more down to earth and founded in relationships between people. love God, love people, period. it seems that other things that have come to be a part of christianity or "churchianity" are superfluous. there seems to have been far more damage than good when people have tried to interpret "be in the world but not of it" and apply that to their lives. it doesn't seem that Jesus would have held the position of "us (righteous ones)" vs. "them (everyone else)".

it seems to me that christian spirituality is a very real, practical, loving, inclusive, down to earth thing that is to be enjoyed all the time, in any and all environments. it is not reserved for certain buildings, certain situations, certain people, or for certain actions and rules. and.......

let them eat guns?

2005-12-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

The recently released 2005 yearbook from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reviews armament, disarmament, and international security. At its release a spokesperson for the institute said, “Today’s world cannot be secure without security for all, yet the events of the past few years have done little to bring global solutions closer.”

World military expenditure exceeded $1 trillion in 2004. The United States accounted for 47 percent of this spending.

$238 billion. Appropriations for the “war on terror” for 2003–05, which exceeded the combined military spending of the entire developing world in 2004 ($214 billion).

$236 billion. The combined arms sales of the top 100 companies in 2003. The top five companies accounted for 44 percent of this total.

$2.5 billion per year: The external funding required by 47 countries with the lowest primary school completion rates in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education.

$2.4 billion per year: The cost to halve the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

(quoted from January issue of sojourners)

christless, i mean christmas

2005-12-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

this funny little time of year called christmas is now over. i was able to be home with my family this christmas for the first time in 4 years or so, and that was an amazing blessing. i love that christmas is a time where family comes together to love each other and enjoy one another's company. that we feast and share about our lives, and generally experience joy. i love these aspects of christmas however there are other aspects that i do not love.

i think it is funny that christians tend to not celebrate halloween but are all for christmas, yet i think they are both equally "pagan". granted that christmas has the claim of celebrating the birth of jesus the christ, so that is one non-pagan point in the red and green corner. but isn't every sunday a celebration of the life of jesus? i think it is or at least is meant to be, so why do we need a specified "pagan" holiday to do this? on one hand i think it is a good thing to have a designated time where we celebrate the birth of christ as well as easter to celebrate the resurrection. but on the other hand i don't like them; that is, the forms they have now taken.

if we are going to celebrate christmas, let us celebrate it in a family setting with the gifts of one another's company, rather than wrapped boxes. let us gather and share stories and encourage one another; let us love and exhort one another instead of going into debt. let us make donations to a dying world rather than buying things for people who do not need these things. let us celebrate in a real way rather than a commercialized, unfocused way.

the birth of jesus can be celebrated each sunday. life and family can be celebrated daily. why only highlight these things on a specific day, once per year. why celebrate with trees and satan i mean santa and debt and waste, which have nothing to do with christmas (except for the social norm that has developed over the years).

christmas is bogus, it is now a celebration of a deadly consumerism that is killing the world. i will celebrate next christmas with a large burning santa claus on my front lawn while me and my family dance around the fire with spears and a wild look in our eyes. and of course we will be wearing loin cloths and peeing on santa's ashes. if you would like to join me, just send me a message.

jesus, "have a very merry un-birthday" (to quote alice in wonderland)

manny in pakistan

2005-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

my good friend manny just got back from pakistan, where he was helping with earthquake relief. He wrote the following:

"I recently spent two weeks in Pakistan working with an organization called PAI. We were doing earth quake relief. Sounds cool huh?
Well let me tell you! We worked in the Alay valley where before the earth quake not even a pakistani christian would have ventured. Not even mitlitary went there before. It is a region in the North Western Frontier Terretories of Pakistan. The Pastunes who live there are an unreached people group. We built shelters for the people high up in the mountanis. We were the first and in most places the only NGO (non governement organisation) that went there. The roads were dangerous sometimes not even passable by foot, there were daily after shocks and thousands of people in need.
The people have been handed tents and blankets but the winter is coming and with 6 feet of snow a tent is not going to be enouhg to survive. We spent 9 days in the mountains carrying our materials sometimes more than 2 hours up steep mountanis. The temperatures at night were freezing at daytime it was warm. It was a privilege to be there, a big one. I was able to pray with and for people that have never been in contact with westerners. I was able to blow their minds to show them a different kind of westerner one that cares for them one that helps them. The only other NGO that was there was PPA a Pakistani Organisation they drove up there in their nice Offroad vehicles took pictures made shure they didnt get their nice shoes dirty and drove back down. Then they sent Helicopters costing 12000 dollars a flight to drop off CGI Sheets(tin sheets) for the people; that was all they did.
We were able to build 80 shelters; there live 12000 people in the area. There is still teams up there but at the most we are hoping to build 150 shelters that is by far not enough. But one thing I know will last is our prayers and the 150 families with a warm shelter for the winter. They will not forget and they will remember when we blessed the shelter after we built it.

I could write a few pages about that there is much I didnt write just know I am grateful to have had the opportunity to meet the Pastunes I wasnt able to communicate with them they didnt speak english but I was able to pray for them. God was right there everytime I prayed his heart for the people up there is huge I cant describe it.

God opened the doors for us to go PRAY and ask God if this might be his will for you to go there (At this point only Men or couples if the woman is ok with staying home prety much all day, every day). The door is wide open it might close though, dont miss the opportunity."

Awesome, Manny saw an opportunity that was hugely on God's heart, and went for it. You rock, Manny.

love life

2005-12-02T10:51:00.000-08:00

I think that neither rules nor laws can make someone righteous, or transform a culture or people group. I am reading God's politics right now and a point was brought up that frequently conservatives want to attack abortion as the single issue they stand for. It seems that instead of formulating solutions to teenage and unwanted pregnancies, persons have more of a desire to legislate laws. Laws will not make this country righteous or more Godly. If you want to be pro-life, do so by all means; but first be consistent.

A consistent pro-life stance would be concerned with all issues of life being taken, including the death penalty, war, the starving and poor, euthanasia, etc. Being pro-life is not a single issue ordeal, but includes many facets. Second, I think that the resources put into lobbying to make laws and rules to try to forc a christian morality onto the country, could be put into formulating solutions to problems people face. Why not put effort into helping end poverty and reconstructing poor neighborhoods in order to help curb the amount of abortions taking place. Why not put effort into educating youth, and the population as a whole in order to curb abortion. Why not put effort in examining the biblical perspective of a consistent life ethic all across the board; including death penalty and war.

How do we as christians live out Christ's commands to love our enemies, and to bless those who curse us, in this day and age? How can we share the love that God has for all people in our lives and the things we choose to stand for or against? I wonder if Jesus were around today, would he be pushing to legislate laws to force the population to "live by christian standards and practices"? Or would he be speaking out against the "Pharisees" who were doing so?

more thoughts on theodicy

2005-11-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

It seems easy to blindly state that God is omnipotent without considering the implications of such a statement. Not that it is wrong to say that God is omnipotent, I do think that he is all-powerful, but has limited himself in power for now. With the creation of humans, he gave them dominion over the earth - to rule and reign and be caretakers, this is the point where he gave over some of his power. He limited himself when he gave authority to humans, who in turn handed over authority to Satan when they sinned. I think that when Jesus came to earth and conquered death, that was the victory. God is victorious, but the struggle is not over. I suppose the struggle will not be over until the second coming of Christ, at which point there will be total victory.

As for right now, we are in the in-between stage of Christ's victory through his death and resurrection, and the full victory at the end of time. And in this time, God's power is limited on earth. God has chosen to work through people on earth, so in a very real way, I think that we partner with God to see his kingdom come and will be done. If people do not act in partnership with God to be about the things that are on his heart, then they will not get done. We pray for God to move in a situation - be it a disaster, or a impoverished country or situation, a tyrannical government, or your mother's health, and I think that God answers these prayers and accomplishes their content through people. Our prayers are part of that partnership as well. Some smart, devout, Godly man once said that God does nothing except in answer to believing prayer. C.S. Lewis says that life is not like a play where everything is in place and we are coaxing God to change certain things, but it's like a play where every prayer that every believer either prayed or didn't pray, and every action and inaction of everyone ever has already been taken into account and this is the result.

I do not know what all I think about this, my thoughts are kind of cluttered on the subject. But I do think that we have a responsibility to act, to partner with God to get things done. The world's problems can't be relegated to a mystical/spiritual place where we don't take responsibility for them. We can't just claim that God is all powerful so all we will do is pray from time to time for certain things. We have faith in God and our prayers to him and we also work to see it manifest. I think God is doing all he can right now to see evil eradicated and His will come to be. If God is not doing all he can right now, then why not? And if he is and this is the best he's been able to do, then I think we must conclude that his power is currently limited. Whaddya think?

headed back to virginia

2005-11-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

My time in San Francisco has drawn to a close. After four years of working on staff with YWAM San Fran, I felt that God was leading me to move on to a new chapter of the story. Right now I am in Seattle visiting my fiancée, I will be here through Thanksgiving and will then travel back to my home in Charlottesville, VA. I’m gonna be looking for a job as soon as I can, so I can begin to save money towards my marriage to Courtney. It’s going to be pretty strange working a “regular” job after working in an inner city ministry in SF for the last four years. Courtney and I get married February 11, 2006 on Whidbey Island in Washington. We’ll stay in the Seattle area through the beginning of March, so we can finish up the lease on her current apartment. After our lease runs out in Washington, we’ll both move to Charlottesville to get jobs and just chill out and be married for around 5 months. We are looking at beginning school again in fall 2006, so we’ll look at coming out to Seattle again for Courtney to continue, and me to begin learning at shoreline community college. She is studying to become a RN and eventually a midwife, to be used over seas. I am still unsure as to what I will be studying, but I am looking forward to it. I am interested in studying history, sociology (both domestic and foreign), and I hear that there’s a program of central Asian studies at UW, so I will look in to that at some point. Beyond these interests, I am not sure what all I will study, but I will be thinking and praying about it over this next 8 months. This whole transition is going to be quite new, as I have been in San Francisco since high school, and now I am 23. I also think it is going to be quite good. I am looking forward to this new and exciting time in my life. I'll keep you posted on what's going on.

the theodicy problem

2005-10-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Is God in total control of all that goes on in the world? If you think that he is does it follow that in his omnipotence God is in control of all the evil and horrible things that go on in the world? If you do not think that he is in total control, does it follow that he is not omnipotent? If he is limited in power, what are some of the reasons for this limitation? If he is in total control, what are some of the reasons for the evil he is in control of?

I think it's interesting to examine this, I was reading recently and some of my beliefs on the subject were challenged in a good way. For a long time I have dismissed the issue and rested content on the fact that I had a satisfactory answer, but I don't think I did. I think there is more to ponder.

the insignificant commision?

2005-10-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Why should we build or plant a church building within 50 miles of another church when there are still entire countries with no significant Christian presence? Why do we continue to build new churches and have new congregations in this country when there are people groups in the world that have less than one chance in a lifetime (on average) to hear the gospel presented to them. The average U.S. national has over 26,000 chances.

Out of every $10,000 given to world missions, $1 goes to the unreached of the world. $7,000 never leaves the parish where it was collected. Why?

1 in 4,000 Christians will become a foreign missionary. 1 in 96,000 will become a missionary to Hindu peoples. 1 in 500,000 will become missionaries to Muslim peoples. Why do so few go? Why do we focus so much on trivial matters, and forget about millions of people dying without a chance to hear the Gospel presented to them in a way they can understand?

Does the Great Commision not apply today? Do we really think that people in America are that much more important than the rest of the world? Is our own personal comfort more important than people?

What are some of your thoughts?

some words from thomas

2005-10-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. You have to doubt and reject everything else in order to believe firmly in Christ, and after you have begun to believe, your faith itself must be tested and purified. Christianity is not merely a set of forgone conclusions. Faith tends to be defeated by the burning presence of God in mystery, and seeks refuge from him, flying to comfortable social forms and safe convictions in which purification is no longer an inner battle but a matter of outward gesture."

- Thomas Merton

(my fiancee sent me this quote)

I think it was mentioned on here recently, or maybe I read it somewhere, that questions/questioning is more important than answers. I don't want to accept social forms or safe convictions in order to flee the mystery of our creator. I look forward to a life of perpetual questions and conversations with God about life.

some words from tony

2005-10-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

I'm reading "Speaking my Mind" by Tony Campolo, he relays the following: While on Harvard's campus, I asked one of the professors why the folks there were so negative toward evangelicals. The professor answered, "Imagine yourself at lunch. Seated at the table with you is the leader of the gay-lesbian task force, an ardent feminist, and an angry neo-Marxist African-American. You propose playing a game in which each of them is to respond to a word with the first word that comes into their minds. You say, 'evangelical.' How do you think each will respond?" I said, "Given those three people, I suppose I would hear them say things like 'bigot,' 'homophobe,' 'male-chauvinist,' and 'reactionary.'" The professor then asked, "Now, to these same three, you say the name 'Jesus.' What reactions will you get to that?" I said softly, "Caring, understanding, forgiving, kind, empathetic..." "Does it bother you, Tony, that the name of Jesus elicits a completely opposite reaction from the name 'evangelical'?"

That does bother me. However, when I explained how bothered I was to a fellow evangelical, he said, " I really don't care what people like that think about us!"

This little passage struck me, why do some tend to view evangelicals in this light? How do I perpetuate this view, and how can I make a difference. Tony makes some further comments, I will probably write about them later. I really like this book.

enjoying my Kentucky roots

2005-10-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I attended the "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" here in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park. It was really nice, we had a great time and saw some amazing talent. There were probably over 20,000 people there (although I

am really poor at estimating numbers of things, so it could have been a way different number than that)all having a good time and enjoying the old school sounds of various bluegrass bands and strings groups. The highlights of the day were: seeing Dolly Parton, she is quite the entertainer, a group called Ricky Scaggs and Kentucky Thunder, they were amazing and the group of us that were dancing during his set was out of control, and a group called the Hot Buttered Rum String Band, they were pretty young and from the bay area, and their tour bus ran on greasel (which is a conversion of diesel engines to run on used vegetable oil) which was really cool. It was a really fun day, and it was free to top it off. I encourage you all to give bluegrass music a chance.

secular prophets

2005-10-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm reading Ellul's "The Subversion of Christianity", and I recently read an interesting tidbit. When non-Christians attack Christianity or when we see anything or anyone that is critical towards it, this is an opportunity to think and consider the truth in what they are saying. It is not so much a time to recite an apologetic for Christianity, or become defensive, but to sympathize with what's being said and the person saying it. A time to consider why they would have the objections they do, and what we can do about it. If we are to be known as the most radically loving group on the planet, when someone says something different, we should take it to heart and try to see how we are falling short.

I do think, though, that it is important to have dialogue with people who have doubts, and to help them with some of the questions they have about faith in Christ. If someone is at a place of not thinking Christianity is plausible or reasonable, then vital insight can be offered to help them to at least be at a place that they could intelligently consider faith in Christ, and not merely dismiss it as myth. I guess the point is just that not all who are critical of Christianity are bias and against it, a lot of them have great things to say and prophetic challenges to our faith that we might never hear in a church. I also think that some share God's heart for things and people and the world more so than believers. This should never be.

holy sheet!

2005-09-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

In the excellent movie "i heart huckabees", one of the existential detectives starts to explain the universe to the main character. He takes out a sheet, unfolds it, and drapes it across both of his hands. The sheet represents the whole universe, it is one infinite sheet, all the same. He makes one bump in the sheet, say this is you, and this other bump is me, and over here, this bump is the Eiffel tower. Yet all three bumps are still sheet. His point is that we are all inter-connected; made of the same stuff.

I have been thinking recently about people. God loves all people equally and unconditionally. He has an equal and unconditional desire to have relationship with every person. Jesus Christ died for every person ever to exist, to redeem us all equally. Every person has the same "worth" to God. (some would say he paid the same price for each one of us) So I've been thinking that the big sheet analogy can be applied to people, maybe slightly altered.

We are the Body of Christ, so this is the big, all-encompassing sheet. This bump here is me, that bump over there is you, and that bump over there is Okonkwo somewhere in Africa. We are all different, yet all part of the same body. We have different shapes, sizes, tendencies, backgrounds, etc., but are in essence the same. Both followers of Christ, and those who aren't. Thinking in this was has helped me in trying to love my neighbor as myself. It has helped me to see more of the amazing worth in every human being. It helps me to have more compassion for my sisters and brothers who are suffering world wide, starving and dying. It helps in the endless endeavor of being less prideful and self-focused and more servant-hearted and others-focused. I think...

Gospel

2005-09-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Mr. Dallas Willard writes that the main gospel message is not the forgiveness of sins, but the availability of God's kingdom to all. Jesus came proclaiming the availability of the kingdom to all people formerly seen as unclean or "out of the fold". The beatitudes are not a list of "what to be's", it is announcing the blessedness of all people for the kingdom of God is now available to them. I think that if we place most of the emphasis of the Gospel on forgiveness of sin, then this can easily lead to the proclamation of "these" sinners and "those" sinners. Rather than the actuality of the fact that we are all equally condemned by the law, and all equally offered the kingdom of God through Christ.

In a sense we are all the same, all human beings. We are all equally incapable of saving ourselves, we are all equally sinful, and have equally fallen short of the Glory of God. We are all equally redeemed by Christ (some do not yet know this, that it is free to accept), God's kingdom is equally available to us all, Jesus died for and loves us all equally. Yet, in the face of this, I tend to categorize 'these' and 'those' people, with differing levels of value. I think a healthier view for me to have would be "we"; everyone on earth is a "we". We fallen humanity, we dependent on Christ. These are some preliminary thoughts, more to come soon.

I'm sad, and also i like people...

2005-08-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

My fiancee is moving up to seattle this weekend, I am staying here in san francisco. I am sad. She's going to be starting school, eventually to become a midwife to be used in the mission field. We are going to be apart till we're married next february, only seeing each other every few months. I am sad.

I am reminded that our walk through life is always supposed to include community. I still have community where I live and work in San Francisco, so this is a very good thing. God has existed for eternity in triune nature, exibiting perfect love and community. We are to reflect this I think. We do not merely try to feel more loved, we are to actually love others. Not to mention that if anyone is left to themselves, what an incomplete picture of God we would have. We all bring a piece to the infinitely large jigsaw puzzle that is the image of God manifest (minus our fallen parts of course). Personal piety is never to displace communal love and oneness. Too often I look in mirrors when I should be sharing my life with others, and looking into them.

in reference to a tag from hugo

2005-08-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

List ten songs that you are currently digging. It does not matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they are no good, but they must be songs you are really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they are listening to.

1. copeland - every song from "beneath medecine tree"
2. enter the worship cirle's "chair and microphone vol. 1" - every song
3. derek webb - "i repent"
4. bright eyes - every song from "lifted"
5. death cab for cutie - every song from "transatlanticism"
6. mewithoutyou - "catch for us the foxes"
7. the chariot - "the company, the comfort, and the grave"
8. norma jean - "disconnecktie"
9. chuck brodsky - "keep up the neighborhood"
10. rosie thomas - "wedding day"

that's it, everyone i know in the blogworld has already been tagged. i hope you enjoy.

Christian Agnosticism

2005-08-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

I've kinda been wondering lately about questions we have and things we don't understand about God. How much of these questions are for us to ponder and formulate solutions, and how much is to be left in the "I don't know" category? I think that to a certain degree Christians embrace a certain level of "Christian agnosticism" about issues that are beyond our comprehension and seem to have little scriptural illumination. Is this a necessary thing? We, in our finite minds have no way of knowing some portions of God's character and ways. So in these instances do we adopt the Christian Agnosticism and say we don't and can't know? Or do we formulate to the best of "our" ability an answer that will satisfy?

If we just say we don't and can't know, is this a copout? Is it a satisfactory answer, or can we be accused of assigning the good things to God and letting everything else fall into the "God's ways are mysterious" category?

I know that we do have revelation about God's character in scripture, so we do know that He is love, good, powerful, redeeming, etc. But there are portions of the infinite too great for our comprehension. At which points do we accept ambiguity, and at which points do we strive for clarity? At which points do we push for an answer, and at which points do we claim that we can't know?

At which points in trying to understand the mind of God do we subject Him to our own finite judgments? Can we subject God to our judgments of what makes sense to us, or what seems just to us, or right, or fair? Consider Job. The monologues that go on in that book are interesting, and all seem to be kinda misplaced, because no one in the book, except God, knows what is going on "behind the scenes". And God questions them all at the end kind of sarcastically -"Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?" (jb38:2) "Do you still want to argue with the almighty? You are God's critic, but do you have the answers?" (jb40:2) In a sense He says, "I am God, you are not". What do you think?

Let's shape history eh?

2005-08-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

Future generations will read about our times in their history classes. Like it or not, we are making history whether it be by our action or our inaction. If Jesus Christ lived in our houses, wore our clothes, had our occupations, etc. how would he engage and impact our world? What would be on his heart, and what would he do about it?

In thinking about God, I don't want relegate the subject of life to the hypothetical. I read once that any theology (any thinking about God) must be Christ-centered. Christ was the image of God, the Word of God, the revelation of God in human form to us. So if we think of God outside of these terms, then we are thinking incorrectly about God and/or life.

And likewise, if our thinking and consideration of life is not Christ-centered, then we are thinking incorrectly about life. And further, if our participation in life doesn't have Christ as its center, then it is incomplete. Christ was not a philosopher or theologian, he did not merely have good ideas. But He engaged his culture in word and action in such a way that our world 2000 something years later has yet to shake.

Granted, we are not God in human form. But each of us have a life to live, and amazing potential to shape history in powerful ways. So I want to take Jesus Christ, the son of God, the smartest person to ever live, seriously as the very center of my thinking about God, and life. I want to hold His life up as the example of pursuing that which is on God's heart. I want to extend the perfect love of the triune God to this world, to the best of God's ability through me.

Biblical Morality?

2005-08-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

"The revelation of God in Jesus Christ is against morality. Not only is it honestly impossible to derive a moral system from the gospels and the epistles, but further, the main keys in the gospel-the proclamation of grace, the declaration of pardon, and the opening up of life to freedom-are the direct opposite of morality. For they imply that all conduct, including that of the devout, or the most moral, is wholly engulfed in sin...

In the Gospels Jesus...gives as his own commandment 'Follow me,' not a list of things to do or not to do. He shows us fully what it means to be a free person with no morality, but simply obeying the ever-new word of God as it flashes forth...[We are free to love.] Love, which cannot be regulated, categorized, or analyzed in principles or commands, takes the place of law. The relationship with others is not one of duty but of love."
-Jacques Ellul

It seems to me that the teachings of Jesus were opposed conformity to the rules of right conduct. If we take what we read in the New Testament as a prescribed set of rules for right behavior, do we not miss the whole message therein? I think it describes what life in the spirit is like, rather than telling us how to act. The fruits of the spirit would not be fruits of the spirit if they were merely a list of things we should try to be. Loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, etc.

"The N.T. is not about ethical behavior, it's about a radical new way of living. It is about life lived in surrendered union to God through faith in Jesus Christ. The holiness we're called to can never be achieved through behavior. It has to be received by grace. Jesus' ministry and the whole N.T. undermine our ethics and religion in order to position us to humbly receive this empowering and life-transforming grace."
-Gregory Boyd

the knowledge of good and evil

2005-07-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

i am currently reading a book called repenting of religion that has brought up many interesting ideas. it mainly talks about turning from judgment to the love of God. one of the central concepts of the book is the nature of the fall. the original sin was taking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. why? why did God not want us to have the knowledge of good and evil? shouldn't we know good and evil so that we can have an idea about both what and what not to do?

"the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was God's prohibition against humans overstepping their proper domain...at the center of the beautiful existence God wills for us is the humble recognition that we are not God and thus must leave to God what God wills to keep for himself, namely, the knowledge of good and evil...in God's plan, he alone would know good and evil. as creator, God alone has the right and the ability to define good and evil. things are good or evil insofar as they align with or oppose God's will, not our will. when God administers judgment (knowing good and evil) it serves God's purpose of inviting agents into his love. (he judges out of perfect love) when humans try to do this, however, it tends to facilitate death for ourselves and others. God alone knows each human heart...what we shall find is that, as has been the case with almost all religions throughout history, the Christian religion has to a significant extent become the defender and promoter of the fall rather than the proclaimer of the Good News that alone can free us from the fall. as with most religions, it has set itself up as the guardian of the knowledge of good and evil rather than the example of how to transcend the knowledge of good and evil by living in love."

this is so interesting to me. God did not want us to have the knowledge of good and evil because he alone is to judge people. we were to live in love for everyone, and discern "good and bad" through pursuing God's will and our intimate friendship with him. that which is according to God's will = good, that which is not = bad. now we have the forbidden knowledge and rather than loving everyone, we set ourselves up as guardians of this knowledge. i don't think this is God's will, he wills for us to love indiscriminately and universally as he does, and to communicate the Good News through this love, not through our judgments. (Jn 13:34-35)

the divine anti-formula

2005-07-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

God is not a problem to be solved, but a vast wonder to be enjoyed. life is not a formula to be administered, but an adventure to be lived. i think i sometimes try to "solve" God more than enjoying and experiencing his wonder. God as a problem to be solved is probably easier for us to manage, and safer for us to believe in, but this is not God. a vast wonder to increasingly get to know and learn about, something of a mystery to experience.

life as a formula is safer than life as an adventure to live. i tend to find the best, safest formula and try to apply it to my life. this way i take the easier road of finding this or that formula that worked well for this or that person, or that someone may suggest. thus i steer clear of personal responsibility in a sense, for i just try other formulas, rather than living my own life according to my own volition and relationship with God.

but everyone's relationship with God is subjective to that person and God. one person's system of doing things or "formula" for life won't be the best for everyone else. God is so vast that it is impossible for one person or group of people to have his full truth. thus we have however many thousand denominations. this group of people relate to God more conservatively, this group more liberally. this group more charismatically, this group more traditionally. i think all christian denominations have some truth, and some places where they get it wrong. but there is grace. "whoever is not against us is for us" jesus told the disciples. i wonder how far this is to be applied? none the less, i think God desires an authentic pursuit of him relative to the differing portions of himself he has placed in each one of us; some teachers, some prophets, some apostles, some men, some women, etc.

is religion formula? is denomination formula?

relationship vs. religion

2005-07-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that you brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother: then come and offer your gift." (mt5:23)

This "therefore" comes right after Jesus has adjusted the old testament law of "don't murder" to "don't be angry with your brother or call him a stupid bastard". He says here that if you are presenting your offering, which was one of the holiest moments in the life of the faithful, and you remember your brother has something against you, leave the "holiest moment in your religion" and go be reconciled to your brother. Leave the holy, religious ritual to make things right with people.

I love the emphasis Jesus places on people and relationships over religion, or religious practices/rituals, or church services, or personal piety. We are loved with a perfect triune love and he calls us to expand this love to include everyone. "It is impossible to ascribe ultimate worth to God, while refusing to ascribe worth to those whom God ascribes worth (which is everyone)."

jesus calls men, not to a new religion, but to life.

2005-07-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

-dietrich bonhoeffer

concerning love

2005-07-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

you know, i speak a lot of the word love. i read about it, and then have a hard time showing it. i have spent a lot of time reading big books, devotional books, books on theology, the bible, yet i still find it hard to love everyone as jesus does. i have been thinking some about this lately and am starting to see more and more that life is about love. when jesus was on earth, the things he denounced most were those "scribes and pharisees and teachers of the law" i.e. the religious leaders. i feel that for a long time i had ordered my life in such a way as to be included in those that jesus spoke against. not that it is bad to study theology or philosophy, or other books, for i know there is great worth in these endeavors. but in my case at least, i found that it was easier to retreat away from people and spend my time studying than to interact with and love them. if you look at jesus life on earth, he was extremely others-focused; he did retreat sometimes to have personal times with his father, but he was primarily concerned with others and leaves that as his example to us. "an expert in the religious law asked 'which is the greatest commandment?' you must love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. this is the first and greatest, the second is like the first; love your neighbor as yourself. all the other commandments can be summed up by these two. (mt22:35-39) powerful. we are to love God first and then love people with his love, we love God and as we are filled with his love, then we have a resevior to love others out of. we can do just about anything in life, but if we don't have love it is meaningless.(1cor13:1-3) the cure for lack of love, is to love more, and to receive God's love. the goal of christianity is not proper theology (although theology in a sense is the train tracks upon which our acitons ride) but to love.

some of my life

2005-07-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

i was born in whitesburg kentucky to a coal miner father who was 21 and a mother who was 18. they were divorced when i was two and we moved to west virginia where my grandparents lived. i lived in the very south of w.v. with my dad, stepmom, step bro and step sis, until i was 14. my stepmom got a job at the university of virginia, so we loaded up the truck and we moved to charlottesville va, where i spent my highschool years. my mom and grandparents all still live in w.v. when i was young i went to church when i visited my mom, because her mom was a christian and went to church all the time. neither my mom or dad were followers of christ while i was growing up, so the only church i went to was when i would go with my "momaw" as i call her. i figured that God existed and that being a christian was the thing to do, but i didn't feel i was ready to actually commit my life to him. then we moved, and i thought about God even less. the highschool rebellion period lasted till i was sixteen at which point i was an avid rollerblader and liked to risk my health and well being doing stunts with all my friends. that summer after i turned 16 i fell and broke my arm pretty seriously and was unable to skate for a while. at this point i started thinking more about God. i had been attending a church off and on merely because my girlfriend at the time was made to go with her parents, so i would go and hang out with her. after breaking my arm, something changed and i decided to be more serious with my relationship with God (i.e. have one). during my senior year i heard of a christian missionary organization called youth with a mission (ywam) where i could go and spend three months getting to know God better and doing ministry with the homeless and prostitutes in downtown san francisco and two months overseas in thailand and vietnam doing missions work with local christians. i participated in this school and felt that i should join staff in san francisco afterwards and that is what i did. i have lived in sf for almost four years working with training schools and traveling overseas to italy, thailand, vietnam and a couple others. it's been amazing and i am sad to leave this november, but that is what i will do, to move back to VA and prepare to be married next february. ultimately i want to live somewhere other than the u.s. doing missions in a muslim country. we'll see.

a blog of my very own

2005-07-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

welcome to my blog. it feels nice to have a place to post some thoughts, questions, life in general, etc. everyone feel free to comment and talk with me. i'm happy to be here, and i am happy you are here.