I Missed You

After one week of camping, two nights in Dallas, and three nights at Jerry Hill's casa, Shari and I are finally done moving. It was made official last night when we set up our TiVo. TiVo has spoiled me to a new level, and I realized this when I didn't have it for two whole weeks.

For one, we had to bend over backwards just to catch the final episodes of season two of Lost. It was hard, but we got it done. On top of that, we had to watch commercials. What the crap is that about!? I haven't had to watch commercials for months. I don't like them - especially in my post-TiVo world. Without TiVo, you can't just sit down and watch an episode of King of the Hill in 15-20 minutes. It takes an entire half hour. It's just not something I have time for. TiVo shrinks TV time, and makes the time you do spend watching TV worthwhile.

TiVo is one of mankind's greatest inventions. Hands down. I'm glad I have it back.

Not a lot to say...

Since I just don't have a lot to say today, here's a quote by Brian McLaren in Adventures in Missing the Point.

How are we supposed to be in the world without being conformed to it? There are two hints suggested in the next sentences of Jesus' prayer:

Hint one: "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
Sanctify means make holy or special, or set apart. Jesus is saying that his followers are protected not by isolation, but by identity. Their very identity as disciples means they understand themselves to be set apart, called to a special and holy purpose. They have received the truth of God's message, and this truth has become for them a call to a higher, deeper, richer, more purposeful life....

Mustard is SO Much Better Than Mayo

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed....

This is a scraggly, ugly, and surprisingly small plant. If you were a farmer back in Jesus's day, the mustard plant would be a huge nuisance because it was hard to get them out of your crop(assuming you were trying to grow something else). Why would Jesus have used this analogy to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. In Eugene Peterson's translation of the Bible, he changes this parable from a mustard tree to a pine tree. That would seem to make more sense. After all, the pine tree is big and majestic, but a mustard plant? Really?

Better Than Pie

As my good friend Cruz-Control says, "Two hours of Lost this Wednesday! That's like... better than pie." I am uber-pumped about this season's last episode. Supposedly, this is going to be the biggest cliff-hanger ever on a TV show. I'm sure it's going to drive me nuts for about three months. I have never been this much into a TV show. These writers are genious, the acting is superb, and consequently, I can't stop wondering about what the heck is going on with this show. Rock on, LOST.

Summers Always Rock

Here's the cover of our summer calendar for our youth ministry. I thought it was pretty cool. We're doing all kinds of fun stuff this summer.

We're going to Piney Woods Camp for church camp with James Darby and the Justin Cofield Band.

We're doing some mission work around Waco, going tubing at the Guadalupe River (always fun), and going to KLTY's Celebrate Freedom. We're also having a lock-in, a pool party, and going to a concert.

Plus, every Wednesday at "The Break" is something different. We go have fun somewhere around Waco. Sunday night we have our worship service, and Sunday morning is the same as usual.

It promises to be a great summer.
God bless and much love...

Dear Anonymous,

Last week I received a letter. On the surface it looks like a compliment, but deep down I wonder if this person (and I'm pretty sure he/she did) had a mean spirit when writing this letter. The letter is anonymous, which only adds to my suspicions since this person did not have the guts to "compliment" me to my face.

A little background info. is required before you read this letter... I am a youth minister at my conservative southern baptist church. I, of course, am far from conservative southern baptist. As far as my beliefs go, I'm really not a hardcore baptist at all. The most important thing in understanding this letter, though, is that I don't really dress up for church all that much. Part of it is that I simply don't have a lot of nice clothes. I just got out of college and got married, so I'm not going to go spend tons of money on clothes. Another part of it is that I don't think it's all that necessary to dress really nice at church. We're there to worship and meet together - not impress each other with our wardrobe (or so I thought). The thing is - I have about three pair of nice pants, some of which don't fit right. So, often times, I will resort to cargo pants. When I wear my cargo pants, I generally don't tuck shirts in out of choice of style. Anywho, we have a lot of elderly at our church, which I love. Most of them are kind, sweet, giving, loving, supportive, complimentary, Christ-like people. But there are a few who make all elderly look bad. They think that church has to be done their way, like when they were kids. When something changes they absolutely make a huge fuss. That's enough background.

Since this person wasn't so kind as to give their name, I will write a response to them. Hopefully, they might come across it and realize that their letter may not have been so helpful. If not, oh well.

Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your compliment. There are a few things, though, that are troublesome about this letter. As a brother or sister in Christ, I'm not sure that you're catching the point of why we have church. Here's why I think so:

1) You say that "we are so quick to criticize our young people." In other words, I think you mean - "Yes, I have judged you." Why have you judged me? From the context of your letter it seems that you have judged me because I am young, and I don't tuck my shirts in sometimes. Since I know you have judged and criticized me, I really don't want to know what you have thought. Is it really bad? Have you thought of me as less of a person for the above reasons? I hope this isn't true.

2) You say that "we" have criticized. I assume you are referring to the elderly in our church. By this, do you mean that all elderly in our church criticize young people? I hope not. If that's true, I want to leave: Now. Please don't make such generalizations because it's scary to me. Just be honest and say that "I" have criticized young people.

3) "They will follow you in more ways than you can think." Are you honestly saying that my kids will follow me based on the fact that I have my shirt tucked in? My goal is to teach them to follow Jesus, not necessarily teach them how to dress. If you want me to teach them how to be ultra-conservative baptists and good dressers, then I am not your man. You should get me fired right now because I am failing miserably. I am very confused by this statement. I don't see how it applies to my job at all.

I have a hard time believing that this letter is a sincere compliment. If you really have an issue with the way I dress, just come talk to me face to face. I will be happy to discuss it with you. When I was hired, they gave me no guidelines on how to dress with one exception: no flip-flops on Sunday morning. I have never broken the flip-flop rule. Again, if you honestly believe that the way we (young people) dress at church is telling of our relationship with Christ, you are sadly missing the point of church, my friend. This letter, though I'm sure you meant otherwise, was hardly a compliment. It was more disheartening than anything. Why can't we just be a family? Why is our dress so important? I hope this response was helpful.

In Christ,
Marc

P.S.
Please don't send anymore anonymous letters. Just come talk to me.

My response is over now. If I am way out of line here, somebody send a comment my way. I really want to know what everybody out there thinks... Much love.

The Dogs of War

So last night was interesting. Shari (my wife) and I are camping for a week because we're in between apartment leases, so we have three or four ice chests outside our camper. At about 12:30 a.m., we hear what we think are two people rummaging around our stuff. It sounded just like people walking around - I swear. Shari was absolutely terrified. I was skeptical, but at the same time, I wondered, "Who in their right mind would go through somebody's campsite this early in the night and be so loud?" I picked up a knife close by just in case somebody barged in, and I waited. The noises went away after about 20 minutes or so, and Shari and I had enough confidence to turn on the lights. I figured we were fine, but Shari wanted me to call the police, so I did. We waited a little longer, but we did not go outside until the police showed up. Nothing was missing except the meat in our coolers. It definitely wasn't raccoons - I've seen and heard the workings of raccoons before. Dogs. Stupid dogs. After the cops left, I felt absolutely ridiculous. Here I was, just waiting for some crazy to barge into our camper and hold us hostage, and my kitchen knife was supposed to stop him. It turns out that all I had to do was walk outside and scare the dogs away.

This little event got me thinking. I've been reading a lot of stuff about pacifism lately, and for the most part, I am convinced. Christians are called to be peacemakers and lead lives of nonviolence. BUT - what if somebody barges into your home and there is a legitimate threat against your family. I know I won't even hesitate - I will kill, or at least critically injure that person. To me, it is much more justifiable to harm the criminal than to allow your family to be harmed in any way. If I really love my family, I'm going to protect them. I'll do whatever it takes.

With that example, it's also important to note the difference between pacifism and pasivism. Being passive means that you just let things slide. For example, not going outside to scare the dogs away. A pacifist, on the other hand, takes action. A pacifist, like this guy or this guy, fights - he just does so nonviolently. So, what does a pacifist do in the situation mentioned above? How does he protect his family? Is it okay for a pacifist to kill in this situation?

Here's what I think: I think that pacifism, in this case, is irrelevant. If you look at the early Christians, they advocated nonviolence in direct response to persecution. Even when the Roman Empire would kill and torture Christians, the Christians would respond with nonviolence in order to show the love and mercy of Christ and to show that Christ was indeed truth. Even in the face of death, followers of Christ remained faithful. I believe that we, as Christians, are supposed to remain loyal to Christ and Christ alone. But I don't think the same scenario applies to situation above. The dog invading my camper is not attacking my belief in Christ, he just wants to hurt my family, and I am obligated to protect them - because I LOVE them.

To take this argument further (although I'm not even sure about what my argument really is at this point), what if this same type of situation could be applied on a larger scale? How do Christians respond when people are persecuting other people? Do we just give them food? That's not enough. Sometimes, I think that force may be necessary to adequately destroy social injustice. If you've seen Invisible Children (which you should) you know that the kids in Northern Uganda are having a rough time. They are being killed and abducted by the rebel army. If we want to adequately help these kids, then I think that force is the only answer. There are some nasty people out there who won't respond to grace. Tough love, in some cases, is necessary.

At the same time, I do not think that war among nation-states is justifiable for the Christian to be involved in. Nations have their own interests, and they ask citizens to die for their causes. Nations ask for loyal citizens to die and kill for them. To me, this is putting the nation over and above God. We are called to serve Christ, not America. We are called to love, not to hate. The book of Revelation, when properly understood, warns against the nation that exalts itself above God. Christians must not bow down to the nation-state. We must serve Christ, and Christ only. Just war, understood by most modern Americans, is completely bogus. We tend to think that if you mess with America, we can blow you up, and we think that God is behind us because we stand for democracy. Well guess what? God is not an American. God rules over the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now. We need to follow Jesus, not American ideals of democracy.

In regards to pacifism or just war or whatever other terminology you want to use, I would call myself, as Dr. Steve Sadler puts it, a near pacifist. I think we are called to live nonviolently, but at the same time, I am not going to say that there is absolutely no circumstance in which the Christian should use force. So, when the dogs of war come tramping on your ice coolers, what are you going to do?

My Will Has Been Shaken

Thanks to Cruz-Control and this post by Shaun Groves I have decided to create a blogger account. Apparently it's about ten times better than xanga, so I'm going to check it out and see what happens. But, don't worry, I'll still keep my xanga account, I just won't blog on it.

Here's to blogger...