March 4 – Day 63 – Fictional
I’ve got nothing of substance to write about the progress I’ve made in my project. Hence, I’ll turn to fiction and write a short piece here for the heck of it. So there.
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March 3rd – Day 62 – Baptism
I tried to find the post where I talked about this on the blog, but I have no idea where it went. This comes up as I talked about baptism at a recent junior high large group session and my brain pulled this memory from the back of the vault.
A year or so ago I was at another church up in Longmont doing some children’s ministry work with my 15+ year mentor. We got to know a young lady (I’ll call her Jessica) who was always so excited to serve on Sunday mornings’ with us. She would sing, she would greet fellow kids and she would run the tech booth if she could. She had such a heart for having fun and getting others to enjoy Sunday school right along with her I grew to love and treasure moments with her every Saturday night I made the hour long drive down I-25.
We introduced a baptism class so parents and their children could go through what baptism was and what it meant and why we as Christians’ did it. At the end of the class (a few weeks long) the families were allowed to decide if they wanted get baptized. Throughout the entire process it was repeated, discipled and explained every way possible about how much a choice it is in getting baptized. It’s not a requirement at any certain age and it’s not something we’ll judge you for in any way. You get the information. You make the decision.
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Draw the Line?
*updated 12/20/2009 @9:30pm* I’ll blog more about this in this space by Monday afternoon but I wanted to open up the gates to see what people think of this article titled “Evangelical church opens doors fully to gays”.
Thoughts?
If you look down in comments you’ll find two amazing Men of God who lay the case out pretty effectively. Scott Roche (spiritualtramp) and Jason Ackerman (jasonmonster) are two fairly well balanced Christian men of whom I’ve had the honor to work on a few things with and as far as I can tell, they know what they’re talking about.
The bottom line is quotes and ideas that both Scott and Jason point out. This one got me (and Scott) going. “I just didn’t feel God would tell a person to deny a big part of who they are and to keep it a secret.” When you sign up to be a Christian (as the name implies – CHRIST-like) you’re setting yourself apart from the world of sin. Mind you, we’re going to sin everyday but the focus of being a Christian is to work against that part of our humanity. We strive to be Christ in everything we do and if we’re going to even break even on that agreement we’re going to have some rules about what is cool and what is not cool.
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Day 11.5 – Numbers 9:4-5, 9-12 – “Never Forget”
God’s a funny character. At least, for us humans. Our frame of reference for The Big Guy is finite. There’s not much for us to base our understanding of him aside from what we have in the Bible. Oh and the millions of theologians and the books they wrote. Maybe finite plus one is more appropriate. You see, we’ve managed to make God a whole bunch of things. I’m no theologian and I’ve got no manner of books, manuscripts or religious idea named after me but I think I’m a good authority on Who God Is. At least for me.
See, this is the tricky part of this whole discussion because your relationship (and mine and his and hers and theirs) is deeply personal. I’m not really able to judge, tell or otherwise pontificate on God and your life because that’s nobody’s job but you. So if I start talking about what God is or isn’t I could be making judgments based on my finite plus one resources.
Day 2 – Genesis 32:22-32 – WrestleMania
The devotional book I’m using is this one here. I totally just grabbed it out of a pile. So much for prayful consideration! Today’s topic is labeled “Wrestling In the Night.” It tells of Jacob and the evening he spends wrestling a man/angel/God. It isn’t stated for fact (where is the bibliography from all these years ago…seriously!) that Jacob did indeed wrestle God but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest it. If it was God, he played Jacob a bit. He let him win until he used GodKungFu to disable him on a pressure point.
God allowed Jacob to flex his humanity but then quickly gave him a back of the head slap to remind him that yes indeed God is still God in these Old Testament parts. The part of this verse and the accompanying materials that caught my eye was where it talks about sitting quietly before God and taking in the wild atmosphere. As New Age-ey as that sounds (get thee behind me SAATAAN!) focusing on The Lord does take some pretty unique and what some would call eccentric steps.
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NaBloWriMo Day 20 – NaNoWriMo Prep
Today was supposed to be politics, but I’m pretty fed up with the whole political chess board right now. I think if I tried to quantify my frustration I’d probably have another stroke (this is a joke…nobody wants another stroke) or end up throwing myself into a padded room with locks and a custom fit jacket.
I’ve also discovered that I primarily enjoy fictional writing. It’s taken less then twenty days of National Blog Writing Month but I figured it out. I’m just not that into blogging anymore. I obviously have things to say but most of the time it’s not worth trying to put the small voice out there. I’d probably write more about politics and religion but I feel as if both arenas have been overrun and fouled beyond recognition. Any kind of courteous discourse has been left at the edge of the field that has now become a battleground 0f ideology, theology and political theory. The lines between the two subjects seems to blur, twist and turn at times into something that is both terrifying and fascinating.
Couple that with the “devils advocate” perspective I’ve taken on Christianity and you’ve really not going to get anywhere with what you’ve got bouncing around in your head. I think given some time and maturing I can get these ideas fertilized and marinated into something that resembles a strong steak worthy of a few awards.
All this to say that I’ve found that nurturing my novel writing side has begun to take root within my heart and soul. Come November I’ll be writing a novel through the entire month. I may not survive. I may end up going crazy or wandering around 16th street mall telling everyone Hilary Clinton is a lizard intent on killing us all (*cough* balloon boys dad is crazy *cough*) but dang it I will have written a novel by the end of November.
It is my destiny.
Returning
Well hello everyone out there on the internets. It’s been a while since I sat down to write something of substance that qualifies as a “post”. I blame vacation for the last two week but the other months? I have no idea. I could blame writers block or my busy as a bee life. I could. But I won’t. I’ll be honest.
I’ve lost my rhythm. I’m not sure how but it’s gone. I know there’s plenty to write but my focus has been on other things. Things that mattered for a little while but didn’t have the same payoff as writing does in my life. I’ve got my priorities mixed up and now that I’ve thrown all 52 cards are in the air I’ve got a chance to pick it all up again.
I’ve got to get back to exercising. My weight ballooned before I went on vacation and I didn’t help matters over the two week period as I traveled, ate and traveled. There was more eating in there as well if you haven’t guessed. I’ll be blogging about that struggle as well.
The other is my faith. I need to focus back on God again and my relationship with Him. I’ll detail this more in future blog posts as I get back in His Word.
I also need to get out more. I need to find someone to spend time with. I’m on the “Eharmony Plan” and working through that is interesting. I’ve already been knocked out of a round 1 and threw myself back in to Round 2. We’ll see how that goes.
All in all I need to push myself. With God, with my body and with this place. I have to start owning my future and all that it entails.
More to certainly come on this.
Angst and Agony
Authors note: I’ve decided to do some writing about my work in youth ministries. This is part one in an ongoing series where I’ll talk about issues facing the kids of today from my perspective and give some thoughts on where we might go from here. Feel free to comment, complain or otherwise give your thoughts. -aaron
If I asked you to name the chief complaints you had about the youth of today I have the good sense to know the list would go on and on and on into infinity. It seems no matter what generation you live in, what year it is or what country you live in the youth are always regarded in a negative light for enumerable reasons. Truth is I’d probably agree with you on most if not all of the litany of lists you’d present.
The truth is the youth of today (and by proxy the future of tomorrow) are troubled by more than any group of teenagers that have come before. If you don’t believe me try the following experiment. Volunteer at a nearby church, youth center or other assorted group for a period of a month for just one day a week. Watch. Observe. Listen. Repeat.
I’m a people watcher and in that I observe. I listen. I might even eavesdrop. I watch people’s eyes. I peer behind the eyes in hopes of seeing the raw emotion that lies just beyond the horizon. In those moments from afar you can sometimes see a flash of the life being lived.
I can guarantee you that that world view you’ve occupied for so long will slowly begin to change as you spend more time with them.
Rediscovering Religion
Blogger’s note: You might want to read this one first in which it talks about how this relates a bit to my stroke.
Over six months ago I found myself dumbstruck with what can only be described as bubbling rage and simmering annoyance. I found myself a victim of what I can only imagine was church politics raging out of control. I’m still unsure as to what all led to the events that I cannot describe but I can say I found myself seriously questioning God’s flock and those that moved with it.
In that time since I have stayed away from Church as a whole, unable to trust those within. Unwilling even to try it out again, to seek out the Faith that my father led me in discovering at the tender age of three. The Faith that had led me through my elementary years in Oregon learning in the shadow of the charismatic Foursquare Denomination. The Faith that saved me from depression, anger, rage and even suicidal tendencies in the midst of a tumultuous three years of Junior High School. It is a Faith that had given me hope throughout High School in the face of Columbine and then September 11th.
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