Lately, I feel I've been surrounded by death. And it's certainly not the first time, nor is it the first time I've experienced death at a young age. As I entered into ministering and befriending people in the inner-city of Houston and Honduras, I knew I would likely experience a tragedy. There's nothing that can prepare anyone for this. Death, this time, feels different. This time it's way too personal. Yet there are some things that give me solace, specifically a song.
Dealing with my grandmother's death was doable, even the face of dealing with a difficult tonsillectomy. I've had a lot of peace in her passing due to her long suffering from Alzheimer's. It was hard to see many in my family, who did know her really well, upset at the funeral; in fact, it was the first time I had see some of them cry. What I wasn't prepared for came next.
Some of you may know I went to Honduras last Christmas, and was able to participate in Christmas celebration with Breaking Chains Homeless Ministry (where my girlfriend works) on a beach island in the Pacific. This celebration required 40 or so sponsors. I decided to sponsor 17 year old, Jose de la Cruz, whose story you can read here: http://livingoutmyfaith.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/in-need-of-healing/. I'll never forget the joy I saw in his face as he opened his presents and got new shoes. I'll never understand how powerful and right that moment on that beach felt, and the gratefulness he showed to me.
I'll also never forget the moment I was told that he and another BC Honduras boy had been shot to death Sunday night. The punch in the stomach it was, and the way life felt so unfair. I must begin to heal at some point, but his young death is not right, it's not how his story should end. And because of that fact, I find peace in this song.
1 Thess. 4:16-For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Hope Lives Across the Street
Well it certainly has been too long since I have posted last. The demands of Spring Break events, Garage Sale, and schoolwork have dominated my time. Another most stressful event was moving this past month from where I lived 20 minutes away to a literal 178 steps away from Impact. I call this house I rent, "The Peach House," which can be seen below.
I have some dreams for the Peach House; that it can be a place where the people of Impact and the surrounding neighborhood can find a person to pray with or share their problems with. A place where kids can be tutored and brownies can be eaten. A place where prayer, and video games can happen in the same room.
All of this is intentional, I have heard much talk about reaching the people in our neighborhood and I decided that the best way was to be a good neighbor. It has been awkward at first, but I have met some people. People like Hope who lives across the street and has an inordinate amount of cats that she feeds. But maybe, just maybe through being a neighbor, and showing love when I can, Hope will realize there is a church around the corner who is there to love her.
Also, the toilet, tire, and now recently tub garden has begun! We have gathered up things that have lost their purpose and turned them into planters for beans, tomatoes, peppers, and other veggies.
We've also begun to compost the unused scraps from the kitchen and the Distribution Center to recycle them into good soil that can be used for our garden and others' gardens. There is a lot of things to be excited about around here!
Grace & Peace to you all!
I have some dreams for the Peach House; that it can be a place where the people of Impact and the surrounding neighborhood can find a person to pray with or share their problems with. A place where kids can be tutored and brownies can be eaten. A place where prayer, and video games can happen in the same room.
All of this is intentional, I have heard much talk about reaching the people in our neighborhood and I decided that the best way was to be a good neighbor. It has been awkward at first, but I have met some people. People like Hope who lives across the street and has an inordinate amount of cats that she feeds. But maybe, just maybe through being a neighbor, and showing love when I can, Hope will realize there is a church around the corner who is there to love her.
Also, the toilet, tire, and now recently tub garden has begun! We have gathered up things that have lost their purpose and turned them into planters for beans, tomatoes, peppers, and other veggies.
We've also begun to compost the unused scraps from the kitchen and the Distribution Center to recycle them into good soil that can be used for our garden and others' gardens. There is a lot of things to be excited about around here!
Grace & Peace to you all!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
I Don't Want to be a Bad Storyteller Part 3: Our Story
I could tell you that I wanted so long to post this 3rd part to build up your anticipation, but I'd be lying. It's been a busy time for me lately and will get even busier soon. So without further ado I left the last post hanging with a question, what's my story? The better question is what's my story in relation to my context here at Impact? How are our stories interacting with each?
Impact has been around a little longer than I've been alive and now I feel like it is on the cusp or at the climax you could say of its story. For a long time Impact has been really good at reaching the poor and marginalized of the community, but now our neighborhood has changed and will continue to change. Slowly over the last 10 years town homes that sell for over $250,000 have popped up all through the neighborhood. In these homes live young professional types who want to live closer to downtown rather than driving in for work. Eventually, all of this neighborhood will consist of this population.
This group of people is not one that Impact has had a lot of success in reaching in the past, and to some people of Impact they are fine with not reaching these people. I am not. I think that Impact should be a church for all people, no matter their situation; rich, poor, black, white, latino, homeless, young, old, everyone should be a part of this community.
There's been a lot of dreaming lately about how to reach this demographic of our community. Lots of ideas have been thrown around, and I want to share one of mine. A garden. You would be surprised how many people are into gardening in Houston, the big thing is community gardening. So with my high school kids we have been looking at places and ways to do this. And the beautiful part is that we want to do it with things from the communities we live in and bring in the thrown away toilets and tires and put soil in them and let them be a part of creating life. To me that's such a redemptive and restorative image.
Most importantly, I need to take hold of being a person who seeks to reach this group, because I am in that age bracket, I understand them better than most of the staff here I hope. So I'm writing a part of my story here, and I have to take hold of it. And that's scary sometimes. This garden may fail. But I will not fail. Because I am going to continue to serve a God that never fails. And that may mean writing the story in a different way, and I'm ok with that.
Impact has been around a little longer than I've been alive and now I feel like it is on the cusp or at the climax you could say of its story. For a long time Impact has been really good at reaching the poor and marginalized of the community, but now our neighborhood has changed and will continue to change. Slowly over the last 10 years town homes that sell for over $250,000 have popped up all through the neighborhood. In these homes live young professional types who want to live closer to downtown rather than driving in for work. Eventually, all of this neighborhood will consist of this population.
This group of people is not one that Impact has had a lot of success in reaching in the past, and to some people of Impact they are fine with not reaching these people. I am not. I think that Impact should be a church for all people, no matter their situation; rich, poor, black, white, latino, homeless, young, old, everyone should be a part of this community.
There's been a lot of dreaming lately about how to reach this demographic of our community. Lots of ideas have been thrown around, and I want to share one of mine. A garden. You would be surprised how many people are into gardening in Houston, the big thing is community gardening. So with my high school kids we have been looking at places and ways to do this. And the beautiful part is that we want to do it with things from the communities we live in and bring in the thrown away toilets and tires and put soil in them and let them be a part of creating life. To me that's such a redemptive and restorative image. Most importantly, I need to take hold of being a person who seeks to reach this group, because I am in that age bracket, I understand them better than most of the staff here I hope. So I'm writing a part of my story here, and I have to take hold of it. And that's scary sometimes. This garden may fail. But I will not fail. Because I am going to continue to serve a God that never fails. And that may mean writing the story in a different way, and I'm ok with that.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
I Don't Want to Be a Bad Storyteller! Part 2: The Story
When I was a freshman in college, I decided that I would read the Bible from cover to cover slowly and methodically. Lots of times I would take any questions that popped up in those readings to Chris Benjamin and we would discuss the intricacies of the text. The more I read, the more the entirety of the Bible looked like a story of divine and mortal characters interacting. There's lots of stories within this large collection of books, but it's all centered on the love story of God with His creation.
It starts with a garden. A garden where everything is ok, where life abounds. God hangs out with the humans in this garden. Life is good. In reality, it doesn't get much better than this, who doesn't want to hang out with God all day? I also think we neglect this first part of this story in our churches today, we don't talk a lot about how things were in the garden rather we talk more about what comes next.
The Fall, that fateful tale of a serpent tempting and mankind making the wrong choice of going against what God said, and that ill attempt to try to be like God. If this is a movie, this is the sad part where things seem like they're going to go south. A lot of our theology and conversations take place Genesis 3 and onward which is the next part of this narrative. We're more concerned with the Fall of man rather than how things were originally created.
Then we see different kings and prophets come on to the scene of the story and the different things they do, some good and some bad, and we see God's workings with them and through them. Yet it's still not right, it's not redemptive enough. Then the divine invades the earth it created, and Jesus comes onto the scene. This is the part in the movie, where hope arrives, this is when a hero shows up with resolve. Jesus lived and worked and showed what the life God wants us to looks like. He served, He healed, and He loved the people He created. Then He dies, and as the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. But this part of the story does not end here...
He rose up. Jesus has redeemed death into life. He charges the church with His work as He leaves the Earth and ascends to Heaven and we are a partners in restoring the world back to the way it should be.
I outline this story of creation, despair, redemptive hope, and restoration to ask a question. As a person who has partnered with Jesus is restoring this world back to the way it should be, what's your story in all this? We all have our little mini-stories that we're writing with our lives, how does that story emit the power of Christ that shines in us? These are thoughts about the big story that we're a part of. In part 3, I'll try to answer these questions for myself.
It starts with a garden. A garden where everything is ok, where life abounds. God hangs out with the humans in this garden. Life is good. In reality, it doesn't get much better than this, who doesn't want to hang out with God all day? I also think we neglect this first part of this story in our churches today, we don't talk a lot about how things were in the garden rather we talk more about what comes next.
The Fall, that fateful tale of a serpent tempting and mankind making the wrong choice of going against what God said, and that ill attempt to try to be like God. If this is a movie, this is the sad part where things seem like they're going to go south. A lot of our theology and conversations take place Genesis 3 and onward which is the next part of this narrative. We're more concerned with the Fall of man rather than how things were originally created.
Then we see different kings and prophets come on to the scene of the story and the different things they do, some good and some bad, and we see God's workings with them and through them. Yet it's still not right, it's not redemptive enough. Then the divine invades the earth it created, and Jesus comes onto the scene. This is the part in the movie, where hope arrives, this is when a hero shows up with resolve. Jesus lived and worked and showed what the life God wants us to looks like. He served, He healed, and He loved the people He created. Then He dies, and as the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. But this part of the story does not end here...
He rose up. Jesus has redeemed death into life. He charges the church with His work as He leaves the Earth and ascends to Heaven and we are a partners in restoring the world back to the way it should be.
I outline this story of creation, despair, redemptive hope, and restoration to ask a question. As a person who has partnered with Jesus is restoring this world back to the way it should be, what's your story in all this? We all have our little mini-stories that we're writing with our lives, how does that story emit the power of Christ that shines in us? These are thoughts about the big story that we're a part of. In part 3, I'll try to answer these questions for myself.
Friday, January 13, 2012
I Don't Want to be a Bad Storyteller! Part 1: A Prequel to The Story
As I mentioned in my last post I've done some traveling as of late, starting with Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There I got to work alongside my beautiful and fantastic girlfriend as she seeks to alleviate and change the poverty situation in so many lives in Honduras. Her efforts include tutoring and mentoring students as director of the Shine program that seeks to bring kids out of poverty through education. She also works with a group of soulful people in the Breaking Chains Homeless Ministry. This ministry provides a shelter for over 40 people that includes families and teenagers. While there, I got to be a part of taking this whole group of people three hours out of town to a beautiful beach (Many of whom had never been to the beach or out of Tegucigalpa), and celebrate Christmas with presents and wonderful food.
I journeyed back to the States, and immediately turned around and went to Daytona Beach, Florida (Which has an inordinate amount of tattooing among its people, especially neck tattoos) to attend the National Conference on Youth Ministries. I heard many speakers, but the one that stuck out the most was Donald Miller. Many of you probably recognize his name from his bestseller "Blue Like Jazz." In his talk, he spoke a lot about the movie that was made over that book and his role in it, along with the art of storytelling.
Storytelling is something that I have been working on getting better at for a few years now. It is an artform that I find riveting. Miller pointed out the elements of a story; which are setting, conflict, climax, and resolution. Every story has a setting, a long part at the beginning which identifies the characters, what they want in the story, the atmosphere of the story, and the beginning details of the plot. Eventually, every story encounters a conflict, there's no escaping it. The real issue when the conflict arises is what the characters in the story do with the conflict.
Some characters shy away when conflict comes, but the truly amazing characters push through the conflict to reach what they want. Can you imagine William Wallace in "Braveheart" just going home after the English kill his wife? Of course not! That would be the worst movie ever. What happens with the conflict decides whether the story is climatic or anti-climatic. And what part the characters of the story play in that climax. After the climax, the highest point of the story, comes the resolution. Now the resolution is the part of the story where everything comes together. This is where the couple rides off into the sunset, where the boxer wins the match, the good guys win, and everyone goes home happy.
So, here we sit as people who are writing their story, everyday, one day at a time. The questions I've been asking are, What's my story? What's the story of Impact? What story can my sweet girlfriend write in Honduras? And how does the story of the Gospel fit into all of this? I don't know the answers to all of these, so I guess I'll keep exploring.
I journeyed back to the States, and immediately turned around and went to Daytona Beach, Florida (Which has an inordinate amount of tattooing among its people, especially neck tattoos) to attend the National Conference on Youth Ministries. I heard many speakers, but the one that stuck out the most was Donald Miller. Many of you probably recognize his name from his bestseller "Blue Like Jazz." In his talk, he spoke a lot about the movie that was made over that book and his role in it, along with the art of storytelling.
Storytelling is something that I have been working on getting better at for a few years now. It is an artform that I find riveting. Miller pointed out the elements of a story; which are setting, conflict, climax, and resolution. Every story has a setting, a long part at the beginning which identifies the characters, what they want in the story, the atmosphere of the story, and the beginning details of the plot. Eventually, every story encounters a conflict, there's no escaping it. The real issue when the conflict arises is what the characters in the story do with the conflict.
Some characters shy away when conflict comes, but the truly amazing characters push through the conflict to reach what they want. Can you imagine William Wallace in "Braveheart" just going home after the English kill his wife? Of course not! That would be the worst movie ever. What happens with the conflict decides whether the story is climatic or anti-climatic. And what part the characters of the story play in that climax. After the climax, the highest point of the story, comes the resolution. Now the resolution is the part of the story where everything comes together. This is where the couple rides off into the sunset, where the boxer wins the match, the good guys win, and everyone goes home happy.
So, here we sit as people who are writing their story, everyday, one day at a time. The questions I've been asking are, What's my story? What's the story of Impact? What story can my sweet girlfriend write in Honduras? And how does the story of the Gospel fit into all of this? I don't know the answers to all of these, so I guess I'll keep exploring.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Christmas Break Is Over
As many of you probably have noticed, I've been off on some adventures in Honduras and Florida. I'll be posting some reflections on my travels in the coming week. My time in Honduras was amazing and you can see some of my adventures at Breaking Chains Homeless Ministry's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/BCHonduras.
In Florida, I was blessed to listen to many great speakers and teachers at the National Conference on Youth Ministries. I got to hear the likes of Chris Seidman, David Fraze, and Donald Miller. They enlightened me to new ways of thinking about things in youth ministry and church as a whole. Donald Miller especially blew my mind and I will go into his thoughts more in depth soon. So for now I leave you the trailer to his particularly compelling book, "Blue Like Jazz," I'm not sure when the movie actually comes out. I got to be a beta-tester with all the other ministers, I enjoyed it and found it inspiring.
Grace & Peace to you all!
In Florida, I was blessed to listen to many great speakers and teachers at the National Conference on Youth Ministries. I got to hear the likes of Chris Seidman, David Fraze, and Donald Miller. They enlightened me to new ways of thinking about things in youth ministry and church as a whole. Donald Miller especially blew my mind and I will go into his thoughts more in depth soon. So for now I leave you the trailer to his particularly compelling book, "Blue Like Jazz," I'm not sure when the movie actually comes out. I got to be a beta-tester with all the other ministers, I enjoyed it and found it inspiring.
Grace & Peace to you all!
Monday, December 12, 2011
The War on Christmas and St. Nicolas of Myra
I'm trying to make sure I get a post up here every about every two weeks. I remember the words of the wise Dr. Siburt at the beginning of my class this semester, he said "Ministers don't last very long when they spend more time on their blogs than with their people." Now I have two to keep up with, one that only ACU students can see, sorry non-ACU students! Nevertheless here's another Christmas observation.
Every year around this time of year, I begin to hear all of the cries about what has been dubbed as the "War on Christmas." I've always been puzzled by this idea. I've heard the stories about nativity scenes not being allowed on government property, and not being able to say Merry Christmas. I don't particularly care for nativity scenes, but if they should be anywhere it's in front of churches. I'm all for separation of church and state, and looking at history confirms that for me. To my knowledge it's not illegal to say Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays is fine with me. In some ways, it is more Christian in its inclusion and respect of others and their beliefs. Also, when the first Pilgrims came here they banned Christmas, it wasn't till later we got it back (Pesky Puritans).
I do want to point out something that is unsettling to I've noticed this holiday season. And it's in this commercial.
When we were younger Santa was the one who gave good things to the kids who were good, and bad things to the kids who were bad. He was always watching so you had that pressure on you the whole year (who am I kidding, no kid really thought about that until late November). Plus he stuck down your chimney at night, which was a little weird. But in essence, Santa is comparison to God. And the statement I see in this commercial is "We don't need you Santa, we're advanced consumers who can take care of and bless ourselves, how bout the dog?"
This unsettles me. I see it all the time in this society that is becoming increasingly consumeristic. We don't need help, we can solve our problems with money or our own ingenuity. In essence, there is becoming less room for God. I thought about this when I was teaching my 4th grade boys about the rich young ruler and how it is hard for the rich to get into heaven. They don't need God when they can take care of things themselves.
I'll end with the story of the original St. Nicolas. He was born in Turkey and committed his life to the church at an early age and was the Bishop of Myra. He sold all of his family's wealth and gave it to the poor. When good Old St. Nicholas heard about three girls that were to be sold into slavery by their father he went and threw three bags of gold from the church's treasury into their house. Supposedly, they land in stockings by the fire, which is how we get stockings by the fire on Christmas. And that's the St. Nick I want. That's the St. Nick that everyone should want. And that's the God I want. The God who pays people's ransoms from slavery no matter the cost. The God who empties out His storehouses for His people. And is so committed to paying their ransom that He sends His Son and is willing to put Him on a cross to buy our freedom. Because we need His gifts, most of all the gift of Jesus. That's what we remember on Christmas.
Every year around this time of year, I begin to hear all of the cries about what has been dubbed as the "War on Christmas." I've always been puzzled by this idea. I've heard the stories about nativity scenes not being allowed on government property, and not being able to say Merry Christmas. I don't particularly care for nativity scenes, but if they should be anywhere it's in front of churches. I'm all for separation of church and state, and looking at history confirms that for me. To my knowledge it's not illegal to say Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays is fine with me. In some ways, it is more Christian in its inclusion and respect of others and their beliefs. Also, when the first Pilgrims came here they banned Christmas, it wasn't till later we got it back (Pesky Puritans).
I do want to point out something that is unsettling to I've noticed this holiday season. And it's in this commercial.
When we were younger Santa was the one who gave good things to the kids who were good, and bad things to the kids who were bad. He was always watching so you had that pressure on you the whole year (who am I kidding, no kid really thought about that until late November). Plus he stuck down your chimney at night, which was a little weird. But in essence, Santa is comparison to God. And the statement I see in this commercial is "We don't need you Santa, we're advanced consumers who can take care of and bless ourselves, how bout the dog?"
This unsettles me. I see it all the time in this society that is becoming increasingly consumeristic. We don't need help, we can solve our problems with money or our own ingenuity. In essence, there is becoming less room for God. I thought about this when I was teaching my 4th grade boys about the rich young ruler and how it is hard for the rich to get into heaven. They don't need God when they can take care of things themselves.
I'll end with the story of the original St. Nicolas. He was born in Turkey and committed his life to the church at an early age and was the Bishop of Myra. He sold all of his family's wealth and gave it to the poor. When good Old St. Nicholas heard about three girls that were to be sold into slavery by their father he went and threw three bags of gold from the church's treasury into their house. Supposedly, they land in stockings by the fire, which is how we get stockings by the fire on Christmas. And that's the St. Nick I want. That's the St. Nick that everyone should want. And that's the God I want. The God who pays people's ransoms from slavery no matter the cost. The God who empties out His storehouses for His people. And is so committed to paying their ransom that He sends His Son and is willing to put Him on a cross to buy our freedom. Because we need His gifts, most of all the gift of Jesus. That's what we remember on Christmas.
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