YOLO

Yes, I did.  I just used an intensely pop culture reference as a blog post title. But there is some truth in that little phrase "You Only Live Once."

   Today, I was reminded of the small impacts that people can have in other's lives.  For me, there is a person that I don't get to speak to regularly, but he consistently brightens my day.  Dave Stafford is our UPS driver at the factory.  He brightens my day with a smile and wave like clockwork.  We can't talk because he is behind the glass, but it is still encouraging.  Granted, I am good friends with his son, and we see each other at church and I go to his house on occasion, so we do have a relationship outside of this daily greeting.  Dave's role in my life is small, especially in regards to my job, but his impact in greater than he realizes.  

   I was contemplating the brevity of life today.  This year, I have been to three unexpected funerals.  Three lives that were ended before I deemed that they should've.  These three men impacted many different people, based on their ages and spheres of influence.  Less than two years ago, my 21-year-old cousin Thor was killed in a car accident.  The list could go on.  None of these people knew that their time here was up. 

  Allow me to meld these two ideas of Dave's UPS stops at the factory and untimely deaths.  There are two things that you don't know: 

1. The Impact you can have on people via the little things.

2.  The Time you have to live on this planet.  

  This is my challenge to myself: live like it is the last day I have and show love to everyone.  Ideally, it means sharing the Gospel with my actions and words.  Am I always good at that? Not at all, but it's the goal.  

 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 

making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:16-17

You Only Live Once (at least in this life).

Cooperation of the Old and New Testaments, Exhibit A

  This weekend I was encouraged to spend some time in Romans 12.  The speaker wanted us to look at the first several verses.  The big themes of the message were living sacrifices and everyone doing their part in the body of Christ.  

Having that in mind, I was reading Psalm 51 this morning and ran into an interesting pair of verses (16 & 17). 

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; 

A broken and a 

contrite heart 

O God, You will not despise.

I reread Romans 12:1 

 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Paul has just demonstrated the kind of sacrifice that God is pleased by: Our Bodies!  This goes hand-in-hand with David's idea in Psalm 51, it is the heart that matters, not the bull on the altar.  (No pun intended)  

  The message of the Bible hasn't changed.  God still looks at the heart.  He longs for man's devotion not his pompous show.  That was a key element to Jesus' message: The Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup, but not the inside.  Sound familiar? 

   In conclusion, our worship is about doing a church service rightly or a sacrifice.  Our worship is presenting ourselves to the Lord, with a broken heart. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrY1-gPM0KY

Perspectives of Cleanliness

  These days, I am studying a lot about cultural differences, and how they affect morality and evangelism.   Each people group has a certain way to look at the world, and that molds the things that they do.  Jim Storti would say that a person's behaviors are direct results of their values, beliefs, and assumptions about the universe.*
   Naturally, since everyone has differing values, beliefs, and assumptions, everyone's behaviors diverge from everyone else's.  So, two cultures coming together can lead to interesting interactions as quick condemnations can come flying from both sides, especially when morality and religion are mixed in.

   I found an illustration of this today while cleaning a mirror.  I was using Windex to clean my parents bathroom mirror.  I was about done when a thought crossed my mind, "I wonder if Mom and Dad will think that this is clean?"  In my opinion, it was a clean mirror.  But, I figured that I need to see it how my folks would see it.  But, how could I gain their point of view? I can't enter their minds to determine how they interpret the cleanness of a looking glass.  So, I did the best that I could to see through their eyes: I flexed my knees a little, bringing my eye level to about 6 feet above the ground.  Aha! Now, I was seeing the mirror like my Dad does.  I bent my knees a little more, and Tada! I had Mom's perspective too!  As a result, I could see streaks that I could've never seen at my normal height.  The ultimate consequence was that the mirror got cleaner.

  The application to communication is simple (simple not easy): look at the world through the other person's eyes.  Granted, when crossing cultures is involved, the difficulty is exponentially increased, but the principle remains the same.  Keep on bending your knees, and that will lead to a posture of prayer, which is the most important ingredient.  Prayer is closely followed by education. (I knew to make myself shorter to see the the world like my parents, but recognizing the distinctions between cultures can take a lot of bookwork and talking to experts).

   Once your perspective has been changed, then accurate evaluations can be made.*  Only then can effective ministry happen.




Resources:
*Figuring Foreigners Out by Jim Storti
ICS 365 Intercultural Ministry taught by Dr. Tom Stalter
Google images

Call Me Lazy, or Crazy

I have realized that college takes a lot of work.  But I have realized that no matter your intentions, finishing produces the same results: a diploma.
  I will warn you, this blog is going to sound like a lot of complaining. And maybe it is, but bear with me. I feel like I put forth a good amount of work to get through college, and I also pay an arm and a leg for a Christian Liberal Arts College.  I feel like I get hit with a double whammy: lots of work and a ton of college debt.
  In my travels, I have encountered semi-socailist nations that have free college for everyone.  Now, in these countries the workload is very heavy, and I believe it should be.  But why do I have to work so hard for something I am paying for? 
  On the other hand, my mom said, "You don't appreciate what you don't work for."  I completely agree.  I'll appreciate it more everyday I pay back loans, right? (This blog is beginning to feel like buyer's remorse for college.)
  The crux of this post is this: I should be the receiving services if I am the consumer, correct?  Now, I realize that quality education is indeed a service provided.  Homework, however, is not a service.  I feel like a only a fool would say, "Hey, let me pay you a boatload of money, and then I will destroy myself to meet the requirements that you impose upon me."  It's like paying a contractor to build your house, then doing all of the work yourself...
  So, on the I'm-just-joking side, I don't feel like I need to work to receive an education because I am paying for it.
  On the I'm-dead-serious side, colleges (especially private Christian colleges) should be working pretty dang hard to get and keep students.  I don't think that catering to their every want and need is the answer, but from a business perspective, that makes a lot of sense.

In the end, this is just my own stupidity written on the Internet.  But, something is wrong with our system, college is way too expensive.

It's Not Always the Big Deal

 Recently I have been confronted with a cultural trend that I haven't really realized or understood because I have grown up with it.  For now, I'm going to call it the "Quick-Fix-All Cultural Trend."
  I spoke a few weeks ago with some missionaries from France, and we discussed, in part, relational evangelism*.  Loving to give safe, smart-sounding responses, I piped into the conversation saying, "And that's the kind of evangelism that never goes out of style." I was quickly correct as my missionary friends told me, "But oh, it has."  They proceeded to inform/remind me of the Billy Graham crusades and other televangelists who focus on evangelizing the masses.  To say that this is wrong would be silly, but ineffective would be perhaps a better term.
  I was reminded of a small group time in Argentina where our leader took a poll to see how the different members had met the Lord.  Out of about 13 people, one was saved as the result of preaching evangelist.  Everyone else was lead to the Lord by friends or family members.  In case you weren't paying attention, that's relational evangelism.
This topic has been on my mind since beginning college and it sticks out to me that I have seen it exemplified on a couple other continents.

  Obviously, that's just one small part of this whole cultural decay.
I ran across another piece this afternoon while reading Money, Greed, and God by Jay W. Richards.  He was addressing the ineffectiveness of the welfare system in America.  One of the biggest problems with it is the "blanket doctrine."  I made that one up, I'm referring to a type of welfare that is managed by the federal government that needs a magic formula that solves everyone's problems.  It's the only plausible M.O. for a national organization of any type. False. Grass roots government and private charities are better equipped to handle the specific needs of specific areas, simply because they have to first-hand knowledge of the problems and solutions.  

  But, how do they relate?  Helping out poor people and sharing the Gospel are best done by the people closest to the situation.  In general, people who care, do the most effective work.  This is why, in my opinion, big government welfare programs and televangelists are not the answer.  And these are only two out of countless examples of our "Quick-Fix-All" schemes.   


*Will's quick definition: evangelism that focuses on building connections and friendships that after time (sometimes a long time) lead to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

  For my more dedicated readers, please excuse the fact that I haven't posted since May.  For everyone else, thanks for reading.

Winding down

  It's hard to believe that my time in France is coming to an end.  I'm watching the sand run right through the hourglass.  In all honesty, the memories have been many and the regrets few.  And the great thing is that I still have 2 weeks to enjoy.
  Recently, we've been spending our time with our church friends. We get together several times a week to eat, play volleyball, or just spend time together.  Last Thursday we had a church outing for the Grace Brethren churches in France.  There were about 5 churches represented and about 150 people (I actually just made that up, I have no idea how many people were there).  The young people went down the night before so that we would have time to set up and practice music.  It's always awesome to play with talented people.  Needless to say, it was an excellent time of fellowship and worship.  Elizabeth and I had the privilege of meeting the missionary couple that will be the "Missionaries in Residence" at Grace next year.  An older couple named the Hoberts who have been in France for over thirty years and are very dynamic people.  This event was held at the Château de St. Albain which belongs to the GB church, and it is also where our French Professor, Jacqueline Schram, grew up.  I also spent a large portion of the afternoon playing soccer with the young people.  So, it was a special experience for Elizabeth and I on many levels.
 
   And as if there wasn't enough excitement, Elizabeth's sister, Natalie came on Saturday to spend a week here in Dijon.  We both went to Paris to get her, and had a great time seeing a little of Paris before our train headed back.   Also this week, we have the bulk of our exams, so if we don't seem to be connected to the cyber world, don't be scared.
 

Go South, Young Man

As some of you may have heard (or seen on Facebook,) my girlfriend Elizabeth and I went to Spain for a sort of "long-weekend."  I had wanted to go see the Heldenbrands, not to mention wanting to see Spain.  The cheapest way we could find to get from Dijon to Málaga was the bus.

  Lots of people warned us that the bus ride would be long and cramped. So, we checked into flying...  But, the wallet is mightier than comfort, and the cheaper method of transportation prevailed.  (Not to mention that the bus was very hassle free.)

Liz and I above Málaga and the port. 

We spent the next three days hanging out with the family and seeing the sites of Málaga. We tasted some of the local products like olives, cheese, ham, and fish.  But, we especially enjoyed the atmosphere of an American family, something that we really missed.  It was fun discussing the NFL draft with Derrick (and find that he was much more up to date than I was.) Of course we talked about all sorts of things, but there was seldom a conversation in which my Dad was not brought up.  

The Heldendbrands and I by the sea. 

 
Unfortunately, it rained everyday that we were there.  Everyone we talked to expressed remorse for the weather, saying that it wasn't typical.  However, no one apologized because it had been the driest winter that Spain had had in seventy years.  We were still able to have a clear day (Monday) to visit the old city, see a fort from the time of the Moorish Occupation, and even dip our feet in the Mediterranean Sea.

 Before we knew it, Tuesday morning had arrived, and we headed back to France.  Elizabeth agrees with me that it was well worth the long trip.