Top Five Moments in 2014 for the Advancement of Humanness

#5 Cuba.  The atrocities of any government that forbid its people from access to liberties fundamentally integral to humanness should not go unnoticed or without implications.  Certainly the government of Cuba in the past and the present should be held accountable for its actions, which led the government of the United States to enact a 55-year longstanding embargo.  President Obama’s administration began to turn the tide at the conclusion of 2014 with steps toward reinstating diplomatic relations with the island nation.  The government of Cuba should ultimately be held accountable for the limited ability of the Cuban people to advance in the modern era, but the international community also holds opportunities for humanity to advance itself for the better of all mankind, regardless of the presence of communism.  Improving diplomatic relations with Cuba and potentially limiting the effects or eliminating the embargo completely will enable Cubans to contribute to the advancement of humanity for the island and for the world.

#4 Pope Francis. Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been known as Pope Francis for almost two years now and during that time has also come to be known as ’the people’s pope.’  He has foregone much of the pomp and circumstance of the papacy having chosen to live simply, cross barriers no other pope in recent history has willingly crossed, and actively demonstrated a faith rooted in doctrine and service.  For the second year in a row prior to Easter, Pope Francis defied church tradition and custom by washing the feet of women and Muslims among those of elderly and disabled men.  By breaking the Vatican’s own regulations on foot washing two years in a row it is apparent Pope Francis cares more about the Gospel than church tradition and regulations, which is a giant leap forward for the Catholic Church and presumably for all Christians.  Protestants may not answer to and contribute to the Catholic Church, but the reception of Christianity in the modern world is undoubtedly impacted by the actions of this simple Jesus-loving servant.  Pope Francis has set a precedent of humanness before religiosity as the Church continues to respond and adapt to the great struggles of this present age.

#3 Coast to Coast; Border to Border.  This year I had the privilege of traveling across the country both for work and pleasure.  I have always enjoyed traveling and even with this year’s adventures I feel the itch to leave the boundaries of the United States, having not left its land for over a year.  In 2014, I traveled from Boston to San Francisco, Bemidji to Ft. Lauderdale, and even a little trip to Sioux Falls.  Although air travel is quite an advance for humanity, that has been commercialized for decades.  The great advance for humanity regarding travel, borders, and coastlines is the executive order for immigration reform.  This coupled with ongoing changes in the EU among other coalitions supports the advancement of humanity economically and socially.  No systematic process of immigration process is perfect and the legality by which these reforms come to be should be examined.  Nonetheless, even with the challenges of immigration reform, it continues to be in the best interest of humanity to legally allow peoples without significant hindrance to contribute to and benefit from societies that enhance the well-being of mankind through education, employment, and equal opportunities under the law.

#2 Serial.  From the renowned staff of This American Life, Ira Glass, and WBEZ, this twelve-episode podcast made its debut as the number one podcast…in the world with the most podcast downloads, ever.  Radio programming, storytelling, and public radio hits are not new, but the way this story was told was fascinatingly beautiful.  Raw reporting, unfolding as it was told, listeners did not know how long the series would last, what would come of the story - and neither did the producers.  That made this story gripping following the account of a convicted murderer, the witnesses, the accomplices, the legal accounts, the lies.  This hit broadcast has secured a second season - and in true Serial fashion, the producers do not even know what the story will be next time.  Whatever the story will be, Serial has invigorated storytelling through the historical means of radio production in a modern era of gadgets, streaming, and mobile device apps.  Bridging the gap and recapturing the art of storytelling without a set script invites the next advances in our generation’s willingness to engage with telling the stories of others in a beautiful example of humanness.

#1 Malaysia Airlines 370.  The disappearance of MH370 is tragic.  The presumptive death of 239 individuals on a commercial flight is devastating and quite the opposite of an advance for humanity.  Unfortunately this tragedy does have implications for how humanity views itself in relation to created objects and even creation itself.  Without trivializing this humanitarian tragedy, there is an advance for humanity in the premise of this occurrence.  In the year 2014, scientific reasoning, testing, and data analysis could not account for and locate a commercial plane weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds and the 239 missing persons onboard.  The premise that humanity cannot explain all occurrences in the present day is an advance in an era of scientific discovery that seeks to explain occurrences millions of years ago.  The advance for mankind is not one of acknowledging the incompleteness of scientific discovery but of celebrating the humanness of humanity.  In part, to be human is to lack complete knowledge, perfect power, and omnipresence.  The tragedy of MH370, like so many other inexplainable and unrepeatable occurrences, reminds us of the reality of humanness.

Inside and Out

Since I was a child, I admired nature.  The first manifestation of this admiration was a fascination with the weather.  Surely meteorology would be my choice career through the lens of this young boy from the Midwest.  Seasonal transitions and volatility between weather extremes captivated my intrigue in the natural order.  This coupled with my family's career and active participation in forestry assuredly mandated a future of canvasing the earth.

Neither meteorology or forestry would call me to study and so the beauty of nature became pastime admiration, and not passively so.

When I chose to study business, I acknowledged the reality of most likely spending at least 40 hours a week for the next 45 years of my life inside an office.  I did not, however, understand the implications.

Worship requires intent, active acknowledgment.  More often than not, my intent on being outside is worshipful, so much so that I spend most of this time in solitude.  Sure I value time spent with friends and selfishly getting a little sun to darken the winter's grip on my skin...but to be outside is for me to meet the Creator, to see, experience, feel, taste, and participate in the natural order, and for me this is best done alone.

I take many walks and occasionally run.  I sit and read in the grass.  I enjoy fishing, boating, biking, and kayaking. But 8am-5pm, I sit at a desk.  I wouldn't have it any other way; being present is far too important to wish I was somewhere else.  And so I'm learning to live where...and who...I am, inside and out.

aestate in alterutra dividit

As summer draws to an end, my time in Upland has been blessed with many adventures near and far through the arts, travel, and professional development.


lectionem
Blood of Victory - Alan Furst
New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today's Church - Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
The Story of Lucy Gault - William Trevor
The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions - Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright
Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - Eric Metaxas
C.S. Lewis - A Life - Alister McGrath

excubia
Only God Forgives
Pulp Fiction
Silver Linings Playbook
Django Unchained
Safe Haven
Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State
Blue Valentine
Immortals
Band of Brothers
Warrior
The Lincoln Lawyer
Drive
Blue Like Jazz

peregrinari
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Maryland
Michigan
Minnesota
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
West Virginia
Wisconsin

congressus
National Small College Enrollment Conference
North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professionals Annual Conference
Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit

Messy Beginnings

A short conceptual reflection on my time as an undergraduate student at Taylor University.

Holistic education at Taylor University is promoted through a liberal arts study of the parts of a cell nucleus, financial ratios, and coiling clay pots.  Corporately, through various disciplines, we learn to train the physical through spiritual lenses and how to live together in the Kingdom.  Life in the residence hall the past year has been the pinnacle of my holistic Taylor education.  I have seen and embraced authentic discipleship relationships in the face of grief, idols, and conflict.  Community gets messy when your room is a place for the confession of sin; when a friend dies and space is cultivated for grief and tough questions; when pride gets in the way of forgiveness and relationships are severed.  Our mess looks different and still remarkably similar.

Many of us have chosen to live in our mess rather than conceal or repress its presence.  This makes the reality of messiness beautiful.  The value of Taylor's community is transformative because together we pick up the towel, with our mess in sight, and willingly acknowledge the need for restoration.  Through incarnational relationships, we live the reality of Christ's sacrifice and redemption.  We wash one another's dirty feet.  Our pursuit of intentional community, global engagement, and relentless discovery has holistically laid a foundation for life in the Kingdom. 

We are His witnesses molded by the integration of faith and learning to 'turn our hearts and live to the process of maturing in Christ.'  When we embrace living within messiness we see with opened eyes as He redeems for His glory what is imperfect - making the mess less messy.

Through our families, professions, and service we continue to witness to His redemptive work until the day we are fully redeemed.  The context continues to change each day with new messy beginnings as we transition amidst our work as servant leaders marked with a passion to minister Christ's redemptive love and truth to a world in need.  Yet we live with the assurance our God goes before us providing strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Africa to Asia: Cultivating Community

January 5, 2013, 8:45p.m., Macau: As I am now only two full days into this journey, I realize my inherent need for discipleship community; a community of people committed to transparency and a willingness to succumb to the Lord's changing, molding grace rooted in love.

During the trip to Asia, I was among a group of fairly unacquainted individuals.  It is no secret that I value relationships of depth with intentional investment, and so a three-week journey at surface level would not make for a personally positive relational experience.  Although unintentional, at the onset of the trip I was able to assess potential opportunities for encouraging community investment.  On the fifth day while waiting an hour for a bus, I became engaged in an extremely meaningful conversation with one team member.  Learning his story leading up to and at Taylor, what he valued, cared for, and desired led me to respect this young man and be grateful for the origination of meaningful friendship.

Conversations at meals were frequently developmental to the making of a new community.  Sharing ideas and stories, asking tough questions, and displaying emotions cultivated a body of individuals previously unbeknownst.  Opportunities arose throughout the trip to engage in conversations with several team members.  Each uniquely meaningful as authenticity, vulnerability, honesty, sincerity, grace and love were personified.

The experience of being a part of a new community was not only refreshing but inspiring.  I am encouraged by the team members I traveled with for demonstrating many blessings, seeing many skills and gifts, and taking an invested interest in how stories are unfolding in the Kingdom.

Perhaps this experience most taught me that my own failings do not preclude the cultivation of community.  One student shared with me that he appreciates that I deeply interact with situations and communicate "profound" thoughts.  I admit the words he spoke sounded nice, but surely if my wretched soul should be so fully exposed, would not all respect be dismissed?  I do hope I continue to express freely that where there is any good in my being it is not I but the Lord for I am nothing good of my own accord. 

This lesson transforms my understanding of the establishment of community:  relationships rooted in honesty to the self and others expose shared brokenness and celebrate the presence of Christ's redemptive work.

Africa to Asia: Uncertain Moments

I tend to be fairly cognizant of my surroundings and in most instances prefer knowledge to enable me with the ability to control my interaction with such surroundings.  It must come with the passport: traveling relinquishes control.

There were several instances in Africa and Asia that demanded I recognize my lack of control.  I was held-up entering Kenya due to customs, feared entering mainland China, and interacted with the natural environment that seemed to possess the power to finish my days.

Friends Elle Wightman, Mark & Audrey Statler, boat guide Peter

December 17, 2012, 5:04p.m., Naivasha, Kenya: Our [hippo] boat guide was Peter.  He was a bit older, but was quiet and wise like my father.  I felt safe going on this adventure with him.  We went near the shoreline and were able to see several hippos.  Whenever Peter saw a hippo he got closer so we could take pictures.  At first it was a tad nerve-wracking knowing that hippos do attack and kill boaters, but Peter was an expert.

The exhilarating moments of seeing and hearing a hippo rise from the water certainly made the adventure worth the minor stress.  As if the hippo boat ride extravaganza was not enough, a game drive at the Nairobi National Park a few days later certainly exceeded my expectations.  We began the drive before 6:00a.m., hoping that by doing so we would see wildlife.  And wildlife we saw...

December 20, 2012, 4:00p.m., Nairobi: I was closer to death today more than any day thus far on my Kenyan adventures...within fifteen minutes we crossed paths with a rhino that had a very pointed horn.  Quickly the rhino began chasing our vehicle...within seconds we could hear it huffing as we decided to speed away from our perceived dangerous predicament...The vehicle became lodged deep in the mud and there was no way out but to push - which required us to get out of the car in the Nairobi National Park with hundreds of dangerous creatures.

Despite moments of frustration, uncertainty actually led to moments of dependence on the Spirit and the fellowship of friends, which brought great joy.  This reminds me of the Israelites as they wandered in the desert, relying on the Spirit of God going before them and providing insight to the community leaders.  Too quickly the Israelites pleaded to make their own way, to maintain control, in a foreign land.  The amenities of my travels were certainly incomparable to those of the Israelites, yet I sought independence despite my ignorance and limited perspective.

Gongbei Port of Entry, Zhuhai, China

While I was waiting at immigration control to be admitted to mainland China for the first time, I was surprisingly anxious.  The thought of entering this unknown governmental and cultural nation with stories of persecution did not seem appealing in the moment.  I decided, somewhat unconsciously, to relinquish control: I stood alongside fellow believers and hummed "Holy Spirit, you are welcome here, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere."  It was one of the more peaceful moments of my adventures.

While waiting in the Ft. Wayne International Airport December 13, I wrote: I fail to trust Him when I am not in control, which ironically is all of the time.  And from the Beijing International Airport on January 23, I reminded myself that from the African plains to the Great Wall of China, I have seen His handiwork and declare Great is Thy Faithfulness.

In the midst of great uncertainty, the certainty of my uncertainty demands my submission to the One who is greater and has remained faithful.

Africa to Asia: Malls to Slums

Since enrolling three years ago at Taylor University, I knew the opportunity to travel to Asia for an international business study tour would be available during January of my senior year.  But a leisure vacation to Africa during Christmastime was an opportunity I could not forgo.  Kenya is home to my friends Mark and Audrey Statler who teach and live at Rosslyn Academy, an international Christian school in Nairobi.

Although the purposes of my visits differed, both provided a glimpse of global business and economic diversity.  The Kibera slum of Nairobi is the largest urban slum in Africa and sits within minutes of westernized malls, restaurants, and homes.  It is no secret that this sort of economic divide is a global reality.

December 19, 2012, 10:01a.m., Nairobi: We went along the exterior of Kibera, Nairobi's slum.  I felt scared, maybe terrified in this place.  Was I fearful of poverty?  Of instability?  Of being the minority?

If answers exist to my questions, I know them not.  The agony of the unknown produces fear. Economic insecurity is no exception.  The lack of clean water, adequate shelter, and consistent income are realities I have never known.  In the midst of that reality though, there are people living moral, ethical, and opportunistic lives.  Perhaps they know this better than I.

Within days of visiting the third-world, developing-nation of Kenya, I took part in one of the fastest-growing economies of the world.  The rapidly transitioning economy of China consists of economic diversity that seems to challenge communism's aim.

A visit to Janes Lock Company, which produces door locks for Brinks sold in Walmart, Ace Hardware, and Home Depot, gave me a glimpse of Chinese manufacturing.  The facilities and infrastructure reminded me of the Industrial Revolution.  The company employs 1,500 workers who live on site and are allowed to go home, often in rural China, one week per year during the Chinese New Year.  Starting wages: USD $30 per month.

January 10, 2013, 2:30p.m. Doumen, China: Since workers are paid by piece production they are permitted to work whenever possible to increase productivity and thus increase wages.  I know as an American consumer lower labor costs mean a lower final goods cost, but I have a deeper and more meaningful appreciation for products "Made in China."  I have seen the hands and faces of thousands of human beings, people, with souls, producing goods.

Equipping people with the resources of business and the values of personhood demonstrated through the Church engenders the opportunity to develop communities.  Humanness inspires a wealth of opportunity where economic circumstance would hinder development.  The walls and chains of economic divide crumble under the weight of human potential.  Resources benefit growth, but the Redeemer, through His people, changes lives both in malls and slums.

Africa to Asia: Global Church

December 16, 2012, 10:30a.m., Nairobi: What a blessing to worship with Kenyan brothers and sisters this morning!  The church is a permanent tent facility located just down the road from Rosslyn (Academy) and the US Embassy housing.  I have never felt as though church may be a dangerous place until today.  Military security guards welcomed us onto the church grounds.

As a Christian in the United States, I have grown up hearing the stories of the global church.  These stories frequently caused me anguish, and rightly so, considering the persecution of believers, a need for theological training resources, mass spiritual revivals, and miraculous healings.  In my mind, these stories did not unify my fellowship with the global church but distance its reality.

Friend Tommy Decker and Tour Guide Eve

While in southern China, our group was blessed to have a hospitable tour guide, Eve, who planned our business and recreational visits.  Eve, a 23-year-old woman, works for a high-ranking Communist Party official.  Days before leaving, she communicated that she did not believe anything although her mother was a devout Buddhist.  Regardless of the nature of our visit, the presence of the Spirit in our lives had positively impacted her.

At the conclusion of our time, Eve expressed her gratitude for our kindness and cried as she said goodbye to us.  The reality of the global church became visibly evident. The grace and inclusiveness of the Spirit's presence has led to tears of joy in my life as well.

Church services in Macau and Hong Kong were Westernized and met freely.  An Australian pastor in Hong Kong led the call to the identification and abandonment of idols and the cultivation of real faith based on the character of God.  In Macau, an American minister challenged the small congregation of thirty people to "learn, accept, share, and remember what the Lord is teaching us through communion with us and our fellowship with others."  I have heard the same verses, songs, and prayers before, on the other side of the world.  I was not merely a visitor in these congregations, but a member of the collective global church.

Haidian Fellowship Church, Beijing

And despite my preconceived notions of governmental restrictions, the global church was publicly visible in Beijing.  The Three-Self Patriotic Movement, the only state-sanctioned Protestant church of China, has led to the development of hundreds of congregations throughout mainland China.  Despite affiliation with the government, the service we attended was akin to a typical American service: prayer in the name of Jesus, a theologically-sound sermon, and songs proclaiming "Christ alone."

Conversations with unregistered, underground, church members revealed such illegal gatherings were rooted in a fundamental belief in the separation of church and state and freedom from censorship.  Persecution of such illegal practices are dependent upon regional enforcement policies.  Whether in state-sanctioned gatherings or behind closed doors, the church in China recognizes a need for Christian education, which is a part of my story, a story within the global church.

January 22, 2013, 10:52p.m., Beijing International Airport: The global church has both expanded through this trip as I more fully understand the growth of the church in China, and it has shrunk as I consider the proximity of church issues and contact, even connecting Taylor to the people of China.  This brings me great joy in regard to how the Lord is at work worldwide.

Today, the stories of the global church take on a new light as I consider the notion that the church in China and the church in Kenya hear the stories of the church in the West just as I hear the stories of the church in China and the church in Kenya.  My story also carries the message of grace, redemption, and healing amidst a broken, messy world.  The interconnectedness of the global church truly does traverse borders, oceans, and languages with the universal message of Truth.

Africa to Asia: World Tour

A whirlwind journey has led me from Upland to the streets of Nairobi, Indianapolis, Columbus, Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, back to the snowy cornfields of Taylor University.

I have seen, tasted, felt, heard, and smelled life on three continents, five countries, and in four languages spending 34 of the past 45 days overseas.  Today the world is smaller.

While in Zhuhai, China, I had the opportunity to visit with hundreds of primary school age children.  Some students knew more English than others, but the universality of a game of basketball, smile, laugh, or hug humanized the unknowns of linguistic communication.

St. Francis of Assisi is described as having "discerned the hidden things of Creation with the eye of the heart."  Through this lens, surely the heart of and for man minimizes the magnitude and depth of the Earth.  From Africa to Asia, I realize that the differences of culture have enlightened the realities of humanity in a small world.

January 4, 2013, 8:52p.m., Macau: Many people live among the land I now trek and it is my prayer that I may see the world in small ways through their eyes so I may understand, in some minimal way, their interaction with their Maker.  He has stored hidden treasures and what a joy to see how He has utilized those gifts across many borders and waters.

Through stories, pictures, tears, laughs, and praises, I invite you to join me on this world tour as I reflect on small glimpses of His wonderful creation proclaiming How Great Thou Art and Great Is Thy Faithfulness.

the Church is Messy

Editor's Note: This is an excerpted adaptation of an assignment submitted in reflection of J.R. Briggs' presentation "Church: Good, Bad and Ugly."

Healthy personal involvement within the Church leads to communal involvement in which a community of believers share life together in Jesus Christ.  As Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated in Life Together, "Christian brotherhood is not an ideal that we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate."

Healthy personal involvement in the Church results in communal participation in the reality of living in, with, through, and for Jesus Christ.  Bonhoeffer adds, "...love of others is wholly dependent upon the truth in Christ."  Nonparticipation in community is a sentiment of the inability to love; that is, not living in Christ.  Healthy personal involvement in a church, therefore, leads to a life of selfless loving. "Community and church are really messy.  Community is not the absence of conflict - it is the presence of Jesus when it [conflict] exists," Briggs notes.

Practically, healthy personal involvement in the church cultivates renewal and redemption through committed relationships rooted in Christ and demonstrated by means of acts of service, discipleship, and the integration of Biblical teaching and daily living.

The local congregation becomes vitally necessary for the fulfillment of a life within Christian community as believers unite for the present implementation of the kingdom.  The Church "bears and represents Jesus, who is the hope of the world," as Briggs addressed, which demands our active engagement in fulfilling its mission.

O Gracious Light

I delight in the beauty, the simplicity of sunsets.  Ever since my days of youth at the lake house in Minnesota, I have celebrated the intricacies of nature's design in the setting of the sun, signaling an end of day, the beginning of night, the hope for tomorrow.

Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth: The Lord is his name.  Amos 5:8

The salvific work of Christ has borne light out of the darkness of sinfulness so that man may dwell in His presence.  And yet, in the darkness, in the midst of depravity, suffering, wandering, and doubt, the Lord has discipled.

The act of succumbing to sleep is among the most humble acts of surrender.  And it is done daily.  A loss of conscious control, a quieting of the mind, heart, and body.  Yet, during nightfall, in this darkness, the soul awakens.

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; my heart teaches me, night after night.  I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not fall.  Psalm 16:7-8

I must daily be willing to sleep, to rest, in the Lord amidst the darkness.  For if I shall fail to do so, my restless soul will struggle to survive as I am assailed on all sides.  In fact, when I am plagued in darkness, I shall actively seek submission in His rest.

C.S. Lewis offers this: I answer that suffering is not good in itself.  What is good in any painful experience is, for the sufferer, his submission to the will of God, and, for the spectators, the compassion aroused and the acts of mercy to which it leads. The Problem of Pain

And so, the setting of the sun, the darkness of tribulations, the bleakness of the unknown, shall not overcome me as I choose to rest, finding joy in submission with my pained, tired body.  Shall I not remember that this too shall pass; that the holy, gracious light of the Lord will arise just as surely as the sun shall rise in the morn?

O gracious light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.  Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer of The Episcopal Church

A Life of Death

Growing up seems paradoxical.  It is a thought that has plagued me for some time.  A fuller knowledge of life leads to a fuller knowledge of death.  Logically, to know light is to know darkness; to know fulfillment is to know hunger; to know joy is to know sorrow.

To know life is to know death.  To live, is to die.

The psalmist writes, "yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."  The apostle Paul proclaims, "I die every day."

This is not unique to my circumstances; as we live more, we experience more death, physically and spiritually.

Christian community is built upon death.  Death to selfishness and isolationism.  Death to sinfulness and control.  As we share life in community, we also share death.  Gracefully though, our joy is not rooted in death, but in life through death.  "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

As we live more fully in Christian community, we experience more death.  As we age, we are more keenly aware of physical death through the deaths of friends and acquaintances.  But greater still, we daily direct our eyes toward graceful salvation from what is broken, sinful, and burdened - dying to ourselves - that we may gain Christ and the life that He brings.

And this brings me great joy for to share life together is to share death together, which shall bring life.

(Vulnerable) Social Media

No explanation is necessary regarding the definition and prevalence of, or dependability on social media.  Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, MySpace, Google + all have a place for use and may even be a mechanism for good.

My qualm is not with social media, although thorough discussion regarding reliance is valuable, but those who use it.  Actually, I am fearful of Christians who use social media.  Indeed, I fear myself even now.

For some reason, social media engenders a willingness to portray thoughts, ideas, emotions, sarcasm, and beliefs, whether well-established or not, that one is not necessarily willing to express through non-social media means.  In other words, transparency in 'real-life' and transparency through social media are not aligned.

As one who greatly values discipleship and community, this is deeply troubling.  I learn far too much about my friends, mostly acquaintances if I am honest, through social media: the annoying details of what they ate for dinner, where they are on vacation, and what they do every hour of the day.  For some reason we like to share that information.  This information does not concern me as much as the fact that I learn political affiliations, theological convictions and beliefs, dreams, emotions, painful realities, heartbreak and joy via a tweet, status update, picture update.  I learn these pieces of information on a computer screen.

I rarely so willingly and vulnerably hear these statements in 'real-life.'

This came to my attention on Wednesday night during the television presidential candidate debate.  In the hours that followed the event, it was difficult to discern between status updates of disciples and those who are not a part of the Body

Many people within the Body use social media as a means of expressing opinions, particularly political, via social media.  However, is it possible to have honest, loving, dialoging conversations through social media as you embody Christ?  If the words we choose to type are not the same words we are willing to speak, we fail those we live with and those we minister to every day.

If social media is the means through which we convey what we are not willing to share in community, then we should fear the repercussions of status updates that may deter those from knowing the Risen Lord, for indeed if such conversations are not within the Body, how much less they are among those who seek. 

Perhaps Christian use of social media would make more sense if such conversations were prevalently conveyed authentically, vulnerably, intentionally, and lovingly in 'real-life.'  I am not willing to permanently make a statement via social media that I am not willing to address with my Family of disciples who are the hands and feet of the holy, just, loving Lord.  By God's grace, I have thus far adhered to this conviction.

Vulnerable community can extend through the use of social media, but surely when we are gathered together, living together, sharing life together, the sharing of our ideas finds greater meaning.

A Burden of Brokenness

For fifty minutes three days a week, I sit among a body of over two thousand people.  Broken people.

That's our state, our predicament: brokenness.  Sin has permeated our being, our thoughts, our actions, and our very existence.  Brokenness has many faces.  But we have adapted to conceal its presence.

Walk into a room of people and you may not notice brokenness is lurking in the shadows.  Earlier this week, three testimonies were shared in chapel; three stories of brokenness: death, failure, insecurity.  I was overcome by the brokenness I knew to be concealed behind masks of security and invulnerability among two thousand people who shared similarly unique stories of brokenness.

The weight of the burden of two thousand broken people seems too much to bear at times.  Indeed it is too much.  Tears crept down my face for quite some time as I contemplated the weight of brokenness in community.

Despite the presence of brokenness, when accepted as reality, it is purposed for mending.  It is in the acceptance of brokenness that restoration is possible.  So it is with the believer, whose brokenness finds healing by His grace.

The stories of a community expound the burden of brokenness and magnify the significance and power of healing grace, mercy and love.

A Story

Stories shape languages, cultures, histories, and evade time.  They have meaning, context, lessons, and some contain truth.  Love, war, struggle and redemption permeate the stories that are passed on from one to another.

Through the course of living in Christian community, it has become fairly evident how important stories are to the propagation of truth.  Scripturally speaking, the Bible not only contains stories but gives us a glimpse of the story - the story that shapes the past, present and future.  Relationally, stories open doors, seed compassion, and develop community.

My story is but a miniscule part of that story.

A friend of mine recently told me about a snippet of his story.  He said he feared that if he shared this part of his story with others in our community he would be defined by, remembered for, and perhaps judged accordingly based on a singular portion of his story.  This, I said, is detrimental to authentic community.

If we choose to leave out, repress, or avoid a portion of a story, the whole meaning of the story cannot be known, the larger context is jeopardized, and it seems selfish.  Consciously neglecting part of a story gives more authority than is due to actions, behaviors, words, and thoughts.  It is only in the context of the story that these parts find healing redemption.

Vulnerability is not an easy task and should not be taken lightly.  Our stories need not be published in memoirs, pronounced via public confession, or flippantly conversed.  But in authentic community, our stories must be shared.  Bits and pieces at a time, but never consciously abandoned.

This week, I told my friend that it is not the things within our stories that define us.  Perhaps they shall at times earthly and societally.  But it is not the story in and of itself that defines us.  What defines us is the purpose of our stories, part of the story: ultimately to glorify the One from whom the story has come.

I oftentimes neglect authenticity, honesty and vulnerability with myself, let alone others.  Sometimes I do not want myself to know my story.  It seems easier that way.  And then there are times like this week when I realize that it is vital, necessary, and prudent that I live in community with myself, my Lord, and those whom I live with so that I may holistically become a part of the story.

Prideful Humility

I must admit I aspire to greatness - to be someone, to accomplish feats that are praised, to change lives.  Perhaps this last greatness is most supreme in my mind.  I want to be remembered, to be known, for positively impacting lives.  Praise be that I know of this to be a profound weakness - for that is what it is - a hindrance of my ability to worship not myself but my Lord.  Indeed it is said I shall lose more and more of myself in order that I might gain the Lord, and so it is, that although I aspire for greatness, I want nothing if not to make Him greater and me lesser.  I fear this temptation will always haunt me.  Oh may I never be in that place for I fear I would serve myself and not my Master.

A Reckless Love: A Legacy

Editor's Note: This is the seventh of a reflective series entitled "A Reckless Love."

From time to time, I begin to contemplate what I have done within this realm that I may be remembered when my existence in this place ceases.  Personal, professional, academic, or relational aspirations lead me to create that of which I want to be known.

Assuredly, I want to be known by what I was able to do for Christ that changed a life, inspired belief, or challenged disillusioned thinking.  It's a trap of accomplishment and task oriented adoration and self-worth.  Ultimately, this philosophy creates meaning and purpose through what I do for the Lord; finding significance through and in myself.

What is worse is that I know that this is inherently contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Indeed it is by grace through faith and not the result of works for surely such a salvation would lead to boasting.  And yet, these very tasks can be inherently good - altogether beneficial for the teaching, edification, and exhortation of the Body.

It is quite unfortunate that our task-oriented and personal accomplishment driven society publishes and demands accolades for good deeds - and the Church is no exception.  However, this misfortune has clearly resulted in the realization that this inadequacy exists.  For this I am grateful.

I could be known by what I do for the Lord, those I love, or society as a whole.  Or I could be known by the Lord how I live with Him.  The latter must become a reality.

For much of the past three months, I have cherished the thoughts of what Josh was able to accomplish during his far too short ministering life.  It is with joy, however, that I abandon all of these thoughts for the knowledge and reality that Josh Larkin was and is known by and lives with the Lord, which far surpasses all that he was able to do for the Kingdom.  This is remarkable considering all that he was and has been able to do.

There is no legacy adequate enough; there is only the remembrance to be known by and to live with the Lord . A legacy of nothing but Christ, of Him crucified and resurrected, is demanded for His sake and glory.

Legacy has been a reoccurring thought in my mind for two years since the death of my dear friend Janet and the more recent death of Josh.  Skye Jethani's "With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God" helped me to finally actualize my thoughts of this eternal concept.

A Reckless Love: Seven Months

Editor's Note: This is the sixth of a reflective series entitled "A Reckless Love."


Josh quickly became an intentional, meaningful, challenging, and caring friend.  We only really knew each other for seven months.  A miniscule amount of time in eternity.


From day one of those seven months though, we both were intentional to share life together.  One night this winter before going to bed, I left a note on Josh's desk.  I remember searching for a scrap piece of paper to leave a few words of encouragement.  


He may have intentionally sought meaningful relationships, but he rarely purposefully organized his desk.  Sometimes the means do not matter.  I found a receipt; it was sufficient.


I do not recall my exact words, but the message written on the back of a nasty Taco Bell receipt was along the lines: "what you did today matters - and He is proud of you - and I am so honored to be a part of what He is doing in your life - praying for you tonight."


Seven months.  Certainly a short time.  But a time that matters.


It reminds me of Jesus' incarnated time of ministry.  Sometimes I think I imagine Jesus came out of the womb and began preaching.  Historically, of course, we know that not to be true.  His time of ministry was maybe a few years.  A relatively short time in eternity.


Jesus commanded us to love as He loved us.  An indisputably intentional, eternally existing love.  Whether I knew Josh Larkin for seven months, seven years, or seven decades, he changed my life because he recognized that love requires intentionality.


Since April 4, I have been more intentional with the men of Sammy II and those I love.  If it was not for those seven months with Josh, I do not know if I could thoughtfully love others amidst his death and that of two additional students within the past seven months.


Seven months may be miniscule in the scheme of eternity, but it is all the time the Lord needed to impress a profound example of reckless love in my life.

A Reckless Love: Righteous Anger

Editor's Note: This is the fifth of a reflective series entitled "A Reckless Love."


I am rarely legitimately angry.  I think I have been conditioned to be this way.  Molded to believe that anger is inappropriate, unnecessary, and maybe even sinful.

It is hard to conjure memories of Josh when he was angry.  With only eight months of a close, intimate friendship, there are only a few moments I remember him angry.  Usually, his anger was due to some social injustice or maltreatment of someone he knew.

As I have grieved the death of my dear friend for two months to the day, there have been several moments that I have been quite angry.  Angry at Josh for his senselessness that has resulted in immense pain for those he and I love.  Angry with people for moments of insensitivity and disrespect.  Angry at the Lord for permitting Josh's death in such a manner, in such a place.  Angry for the pain of the men with whom I have shared many tears.  Angry at myself for not and perhaps being unable to do anything, to help anyone, to worship amidst suffering.

Unfortunately, the list continues.

From what I know of the Lord, He too is angry; at the presence of sin, with faithlessness, on behalf of others, and on and on.  He is angry because He loves us.

I would not be angry had I not deeply loved Josh Larkin.

For some time, I believed my anger to be unnecessary and maybe sinful.  Has not the Lord promised victory?  Have I not experienced His works?  What shall I therefore be angry about in His presence?  It is true that the Lord has promised and accomplished victory.  It is also true that I am angry.  I shall not dismiss one truth with another.

A very real danger exists that anger may lead to sinfulness, yet I pray that my anger continues to lead me to broken humility, that I may be molded and shaped by the righteous anger of the Lord leading to love.

I know now why Josh was angry amidst the presence of social injustices, hurtful gossip, intimidation, and persecution of others through words or deed.  He was angry because he recklessly loved.

A Reckless Love: Tough Questions

Editor's Note: This is the fourth of a reflective series entitled "A Reckless Love."

Josh asked tough questions.  I remember him asking me why I cared so much about academic achievement.  He pressed me until the conversation ended in a confession of idolatry.

Undoubtedly, Josh possessed a desire to learn.  To learn from the wise, about others, and the joys and simplicities of life.  But learning was not an end.  Rather, learning was the means by which he would be better equipped to practically live a faithful life of worship, ministry, and service to the Lord.

And there has been much learning in the past seven weeks despite questions left unanswered.

The Lord commissioned the prophet Isaiah to comfort the people of Jerusalem.  Much like Job, Isaiah responds to God that the mortal suffering and warfare of life is overwhelmingly in demand of answers.

Tough question: "why God?"

If this question is not asked in good faith, I question the sincerity of humility.  Nonetheless, the Lord's answer is to the question, "where?": tell the people, "Behold your God" (Isaiah 40:9).

Since the day that Josh died, many of my questions have been "why".  I have chosen to acknowledge and struggle with these questions repeatedly, but I have been reminded that I must cherish and savor the Lord's faithful presence.  Ultimately, His meeting with me and others in remarkable ways during the past seven weeks seems to dismiss the power of my questions.  He has met me, here, in my humble brokenness and that alone appears to suffice for the inadequacies my questions propose.

Josh Larkin challenged me to live recklessly entrenched in authenticity.  And sometimes that means asking tough questions.  Tough questions of myself, the men I live with, my beloved friends and peers, and my Lord.

And not tough questions for the sake of questioning.  But questions with answers, and other times left unanswered, that lead to the Cross, to a changed life.