Fight! Fight! Fight! (in a schoolyard chant)

because now i'm the most inconsistant blogger in the world, i'm vowing to try to write more frequently. its been a crazy semester.

i'm reading a really good book by frank mcCourt. its his story growing up in sad, impoverished ireland. so good. so aweful. very sad. but i like it and want to punch him for being able to write so much better than i can but he's old and its not good to punch older guys. so i just read.

i have this friend who plays a college sport. and this friend i have told me today that one of her teamates was getting picked on by this girl down the hall so they all met at the lake to fight. now, i'm not a guy who condones fighting... but there's a point to this story. so they get to the lake and the entire team is on one side and all the other girl's friends are on the other... the two girls fight and there's no clear winner and they all go their separate ways.

when the teamate gets in the car with her team she tearfully asks, "did i do okay?" and they all embrace her and tell her how good a fighter she is and how she stood up for herself blah blah blah... but they also tell her they are proud of her. she beams. she had the respect and pride of her team. she won.

again, i don't think fighting is good. bad actually. but i think belonging is wonderful, and some of us will fight to do it. we'll rally around each other because the entire team is there watching. we'll scrap and claw to belong, to be a part, to have community.

i wonder what community would be like in our college ministry is we ALL felt like we were fighting (peacefully) for something grand. if one of us was in trouble would we rally around them and tell them how great they are doing and how much we believe in them? why do we let each other flounder and begin to sink rather than cheering them on and hugging their neck when the trial is over? in galatians we're told to carry one anothers burdons, that doing so actually fulfills Christ's law. his 2nd most important of them all...

easter clothes

we got back from our trip to saipan this weekend. it went really well. i can't talk about details of the trip online because of international problems, but if you'd like to hear about it please give me a call. i loved it.

easter has of course steered most of my thinking toward the ressurection. because i'm the worst missionary ever, i missed the sunrise serivce here and thus missed church on easter sunday. easter sunday. the day everyone and their pets go to church and the college missionary misses. i'm rediculous.

but i've been thinking...

when peter went to the tomb what did he find? the grave clothes. i thought about this all day and didn't really have a reason. it was just stuck in my brain. and then i thought of Jesus telling lazerus to come out of the tomb where he was laying. Jesus tells the people to "unbind him." or literally, take the grave clothes off the man. i've been struck with the grave clothes the past week.

i wonder if many of us walk around with the grave clothes on. Paul tells us to "clothe yourselves with christ" and to "put on" such attributes as righteousness and gentleness and patience. what an intresting way to tell us how to live. we are to clothe ourselves with the life and way and heart of Jesus. some of us need to be unbound. we need to take off the grave clothes. we need to wear righteousness.

Jesus being alive should encourage us to be the same. don't just act alive. be alive. wear aliveness. don't just act compassionate. be compassionate. wear compassion like a coat. i know this may sound strange and its still being worked out in my brain, but its all i've been thinking about this easter.

enjoy your new easter clothes.

the life of the party

i haven't written in a while because my mac is injured at the moment. i spilled an entire cup of coffee into the computer. INTO the computer. its not pleased.

the other day i was in the gym with my good friend andrew for our daily workout. and when i say workout i really mean being at the gym laughing like crazy at whatever jokes and commentary we can throw at each other. honestly we laugh most of the time we're supposed to be lifting. well this particular time i laughed hard enough to almost drop weight on my head and fell off the bench. this of course drew a little attention from other gym patrons, but they didn't think it was as funny as we did. they looked at me like i was stupid. and they're right i'm sure, but i got to thinking. is there a rule about laughing or smiling in the gym? do we have to hold looks of intensity or can we genuinely enjoy the few hours we're there?

and then i started thinking about the life of Jesus and all the parties he went to. he ate and drank enough for the religious leaders to accuse him of being a drunk and a glutton (that makes me laugh by the way). when people came to Jesus, they threw him a party, and he enjoyed it. matthew becomes a jesus follower and invites all his buddies over to the house to meet Jesus. i think this was because Jesus was a joy to be around.

Jesus was a joy to be around.

i love thinking about that simple statement. he smiled. he laughed. he gave high fives and used puns in his stories and chased kids around and hugged people. we are supposed to live the same joyful lives. it should be said of us that we are a joy to be arond. people should like our company, not run from it. why is it that sometimes christians are the most serious, unfunny, stern-faced individuals in a crowd? why can't we be the most exciting?

now i don't know that we should be dancing on tables next time we go out to eat, but maybe you can chase your kids or tell a joke or throw a party just because. maybe we can grin a lot and be the kind of people who get invited over to dinner. maybe we can be like the Jesus who was a true joy to be around.

communities of forgiveness

i remember some good times in college. i feel like one of those almost old guys who talks about his college experience and roomates more than anyone wants to hear. but i can't help it. i had a great time and even better roomates. as good a guys as they all were, sometimes 5 guys in a 3 bedroom apartment got to be a little much. there were a few disagreements, and a few of those turned into heated discussions... and a rare few turned into near brawls. i think in 2 years there was only one physical fight (me and kirk).

one things that always made me thankful was the forgiveness given to each other in the apartment. my roomates weren't like the typical guys who would scream at each other and then never talk about the arguement again. they actually asked for each others' forgiveness. we would sit down over wings and hash it out. and that forgiveness was contagious.

when we would hear two guys fixing problems they had with each other, it would loosen the tension in the house. it would put everyone at ease. but it would also set a standard for how to do community.

maybe when we forgive it rubs off on others. my friend kirk wonders if Paul telling the church "whoever you forgive i forgive" tells a bit of the story of community forgiveness. maybe forgiveness is contagious. kirk asked the question, "are we creating a culture of forgiveness? maybe another question might be, is my ability to forgive expanding others' ability to forgive?" and i think its a question worth asking. how does your forgiveness, or the lack there of, affect those around you?

they wrote it in their songs

forgiving is hard. its not implanted in us to give it or ask for it or be impressed by it. i remember fighting with lakyn, my little sister, when we were young; we would always have to apologize if we were caught fighting by our parents. i made her cry way more than my parents knew by the way. but i also remember it being just as hard to give forgiveness than to say i was sorry. Lakyn was ready to forgive, but me, i gave lip service to the word through gritted teeth and plans stewing in my vengful little brain as to how to get my cute little sister back for whatever she did.

Jesus was such a disciplined forgiver that it was a part of his character. God, when proclaiming his name to moses says, "the LORD, the LORD... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..." It was a part of his name, an attribute of his divinity, a description of his self. i'm always intrigued by how many psalms are devoted to forgiveness. they wrote it in their songs. what a beautiful picture...

i wonder whats written in our songs? i wonder if our lives sing of revenge or mercy? do we sing out grudges or love? do we beat the drum reminding everyone where they've wronged us or do we play the strings of forgiveness? what do you sing?

forgiveness is releasing someone to rebuild whats broken. and much of the time its hard. its hard to repair things, but its such a beautiful song.