The BK lounge!

This week I am stuck in a tortuous 7 hour a day class. In fact, yes, I am writing this while the professor is lecturing. So take that. Anyway, we have an hour break everyday, and I needed to call my sister, so I went to Burger King really quick. As I was there, the lady at the counter just looked at me. Did not smile, did not greet me, did nothing to try to make my visit enjoyable. I placed my order and grabbed my DP and took my seat.
As I did so, I noticed there was a young child in a carseat on top of a table. I thought it strange, but walked past to my seat. Then I noticed the woman who took my order came out from behind the counter and tended to the child for a few minutes before going back to work. I was annoyed when she took my order, and somewhat broken when I picked it up ten minutes later. This poor woman, was working at a very much less than desirable job, and she had to take her child with her. Whether it was because of a father that had left her, a father that could not take the baby to work, family that was unable to help, what this told me was that this poor woman was all alone with this child. It makes me very sad that conditions like this exist in our world. But I know that we as a church can help, we can eventually make a difference and try to bring God's kingdom. To help ensure that this woman would know her child was well taken care of, and not have to take it to Burger King with her.

Happy New Year!

I love New Years. I only have one chance in 365 to post on that day, so even though I have nothing to say, I am here. I hope 2008 is better than 2007 and I believe already it will be, since I will get done with this demon I call seminary. I am praying for some change, mostly in me, in this year, and I am hopeful that some things necessary to our future community will happen.

I love New Years because you choose who you hang out with and who you see that day, other holidays are chosen for you mostly. I love my life, and I am looking forward to growing closer to my lord...

Signs of Life

The smell is that of something that is rarely used. The dusty, old smell of a library, or maybe an attic. Once in the sanctuary, I notice that there are signs that this is used, though not necessarily loved or cared for. The hardwood floor has places that are clearly faded by the sun. The pews are only really long enough for four or five people at the most. The arches are large, but clearly the church that worships under them is small. The hymnals are well worn, but the voices lack excitement or feeling. There are no bibles to be found.
I worshiped with Robin at her old church this weekend, and the places struck a lot of sadness in me. What was, presumably, once a thriving body of faith was now a place that people go because they have always gone. Sadly, this is the state of our entire church in the United States. It is a dying shell.

But, here and there, you can see signs of life. This is the great testimony of the Holy Spirit. Even in places dried by years of apathy and rote worship, God finds a way to break through and infect some with the mustard seed of his kingdom. He found me in such a place. He found my wife. I dream of a day when people can say of our church in the United States that it is thriving, that it is authentic and truly alive in the Spirit of the Lord. This, I feel, is what I am called to do, to try to be a part of a community of faith that is like many, but very unlike the majority here, a community that is living and active. Come soon Lord Jesus, come soon Holy Spirit, come soon God the Father, come and let us help you bring your kingdom in.

Boomer Sooner

I rarely post on a whim here, so here goes.
My wife's folks got me tickets to the Big 12 championship this past weekend, and let me tell you, it was AWESOME. Grant and I drove down to San Antonio after camping Friday night with some friends. We were both tired, but we woke up quite a bit when we got on the bus of the park and drive and noticed we were the only sooners on the bus. Surrounded by obnoxious Tiger fans was fun, we did some jawing and decided that they had never watched football before.

When we got to the game, it was 75% Sooner fans, so right away it felt like home. Our seats were in the nosebleed section, but really, there wasn't a bad view in the house, a great stadium. The game was close early on, with a 14-14 halftime tie. Then the Sooners started to dominate. The final score ended up 38-17, good guys. My prediction was 42-24 good guys, so they exceeded it by some. What a great game, what a great season, but we were really close to having a chance to win it all, too bad we had a couple choke games... but that is why sport is so great. Anyway, great game, great atmosphere, great result.

BOOMER SOONER!

what are we against, what are we for?

I get so furious with Christians. I was just now on facebook, that wonderful waste of time, and there is a group called "boycott the Golden Compass." I was thinking about our church in america. When I tell people I am a Christian, immediately I am asked if I hate gay people, or they make a joke about Harry Potter or they tell me about someone they know that couldn't go to church anymore because they were not liked at church. I see lines of people that show up in droves to protest abortions, or to protest gay marriage. I hear reports on the news of Christians that will not let their children go to such and such, or to listen to such and such, and I just wonder all the time, why do they only know us by what we are against?
Shouldn't it be that people would know us by what we are for? Didn't Jesus say that they would know us by our love, shouldn't people think when they hear that you are a Christian think, those people are really about helping people, those people are for love, those people do a lot of good? That is in no way to say we are a people of mere moralism, but as of now, we are only a negative people, only seeking to let everyone know what they shouldn't do. Isn't there a better way? I think so. I think sometimes we need to learn to pick our battles, that is just common sense, something else severely lacking in our nation.
What can we do? We have a lot of work to do, we must get going and start showing the world what we are for, and that is human rights, the love of our neighbor, and taking care of God's world.

Entitlement

I think probably one of the most destructive attitudes in the United States today is that of entitlement. You cannot walk down the street without running into someone that thinks they deserve better than what they have. We cannot abide to live in less than luxury, so we spend more money than we have on cars, clothes and furnishings. We live in a way that cannot possibly be supported, and we think that all of this is everyone's fault but our own.
I have to wonder what that attitude says to God. What does that attitude say to those who live on less than a dollar a day? What does that attitude say to our parents and grandparents who sacrificed so much so that we could live such trite lives? We live completely stressed out because we buy things that we can't pay for, then we get used to that lifestyle and have to buy more crap we can't afford and we are caught in an ever deepening trench of debt and greed. It has to end somewhere. If we don't get our crap together, if we don't realize that we are not entitled to live like those shallow imitations of humanity we see on tv, we are destined to get exactly what we want. We will sacrifice friendship, family, good health, integrity; all at the altar of getting what they have. We will give away our humanity simply to have whatever we want now, and it just is not worth it. I hope people will wake up soon, realize they don't need everything at the store, they don't need a new BMW, people have survived, even thrived on much less. Maybe we will all be a lot better if our country goes broke, at least then we will be able to focus on what really matters.

Going Home

50th and Barnes. Penn. MacArthur. 23rd and Drexel. 36th and May. I used to know these streets. I used to drive them and walk them daily. In fact, it was rare for me to be anywhere but them. They used to be home.
The first year of college I would go there and it was still home. I would travel those streets like I was just there yesterday. The storefronts were familiar, the phone rang off the hook with people wanting to hang out. Everything there was home then. Things began to change, gradually. "Home" got more fuzzy. I couldn't remember the streets as well, people didn't call as much, no one knew if I came home, something, at some point, changed.
Now home is Forrester, Martin Luther King Drive, Lakeshore. I am not an integral part of any community, but merely a nameless face in the crowd most days. Everything has changed. I don't go home to Oklahoma City anymore, I go visit family, and a couple friends. I still consider myself an Okie, because it is almost unbearable to consider myself a Texan, but in reality, my prime years have all come in Texas. I graduated college, will soon, God willing, graduate seminary, I was married here. I preached my first sermon, and ate at P.F. Changs for the first time here. My wife is a Texan, so there is a certain affinity there, soon we will both be Colorado(-ans?). Things change, and that is a hard realization, but I feel very fortunate to have a few people in my life that, though they change and grow and mature, will be there.
I realize that instead of identifying myself by Barnes, or Lakeshore, or Forrester, or Austin, I can identify myself with Robin, and Grant, and Abby and Ginnie and Roberta and Desiree and Tyler, Erin and Bethany, Chris and Casey. People are what matters and what is comfortable, what is lovely and worth living for. I am so blessed to have been the places I have been, but those places only matter because of the people there. Soon the places I know now will be the past, but I can pray and hope that the people I love will still be where I am and that will make it home.