Transcendence

I've watched two very different football games in the last 24 hours. I'm writing this before the UT/UO (yes, it is the University of Oklahoma. They go by OU because they can't spell) game ends because if it goes south, I'll spew vitriol and that's not the point.

Last night we had the Westbury Christian homecoming game against Lutheran North. Unfortunately for the festivities, we got trounced 40-12. The men played hard, but between injuries and academic issues, we were just undermanned. It was a valiant effort. What struck me is that the outcome of the game seemed to not really affect the demeanor of the crowd and the student body. At the Chocolate Bash afterwards, there was a palpable sense of excitement, even though the guys were disappointed. We had a fantastic crowd, the kids were playing around and talking, the faculty stayed up past 10 o'clock for once (and didn't complain too loudly)...it was a great time. We knew that there was something more important in life than the outcome of a football game, even if it's the homecoming game.

On the second drive during the Texas game today, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, an amazing QB, Christian, and friend to Colt McCoy (the UT quarterback and his biggest rival), was hurt again. In the first game of the season he hurt his shoulder, and worked extremely hard to get himself back into shape to play this game. My initial reaction? To clap my hands and cheer. And I can guarantee I wasn't the only one.

What is wrong with us? Why is an injury to a young man with a bright future cause for celebration?

We spend a lot of time as Christians talking about being in the world, not of the world. However, we feel like there are certain areas that we can discard that motto...sports, business, the movies we watch, whatever it might be. I can pray for someone with cancer, but if a rival blows his knee out and ruins his career and future? Bust out the foam fingers! I can give 15% at church, but if an opportunity comes to abuse something to make bigger profits? I can give 18% now! Don't lust, except when its a movie with an attractive young actress? Let's see it twice!

I appreciate Westbury for teaching me about transcendence. There are certain things that just aren't as important as we make them out to be.

Now if you'll excuse me, Colt McCoy just threw a pick. I need to go pray.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Mark 8:36

Sacrifice

We've reached the second Passover in my OT class. It's been a year since the awesome and awful power of God freed the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt through the plague of the Firstborn son, and the Israelites are called to reflect on everything they've endured (which includes, but is not limited to: starvation, dehydration, death, plagues, idol worship, war) and where God has led them.

In Numbers, there is a discussion between Moses and a few of the Hebrews about the Passover and a small problem they have: they're unclean. They have come into contact with a dead body and will not be ceremonially able to observe the Passover until after the appointed time. God declares that they are to observe it a month later, but otherwise change nothing. A few verses later, a warning is fired off against people who ARE able to observe the Passover, but choose not to do so. It is decreed that they will be cut off from the community (bad) but also will bear the consequences of their sins (way way worse) due to their indiscretions.

This led to a discussion of sacrifice in one of my classes. We talked about the perfection required in the animals and how God needed something perfect in order to redeem the sin we have committed against him.

I can't imagine a world in which every thing I did wrong required a different sacrifice, and because of that, I thank God for the perfect sacrifice to free us from the bondage of sin and God's wrath: His Son. Without flaw, without imperfection, and without guilt--the only thing capable of bringing me back to God's side, a horrible death so that I might have life.

Thanks Jesus...we owe You.

"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah 53:12

Flow

It is a comforting fact that after 2 years of Biology stuff, I was incredibly bored and burned out, but after two years of Bible, I'm still fascinated by the way that God has moved in our lives and in our history to perform His miracles and enact His plan.

Writing my first real paper in over 10 months has gotten me a little bit skittish...I feel dumb, I feel like I've forgotten more than I remember, and most of all I feel inadequate. However, as far back as I can remember (we're talking 2nd grade here), all of my best work has come from a single spark or idea, whether it was poetry or papers or essays or even Minutes for Frats. There'd be one idea that ended up unleashing a flow of ideas and work. The one idea for this paper is how Jeffersonian politics motivated and shaped the foundations of the Churches of Christ. And while that sounds boring to you readers, it fascinates me...which will hopefully lead to some great revelations about our history as well as myself.

Even though I know how this is going to work out--because I have what, 17 years of results to back it up?--it's still unnerving to not have a concrete plan all the time. And that's what has motivated me in my Bible classes at WCS...every verse, every word, every story is an intricate, passionate telling of God's great plan for us. Stories that I've always heard out of context (yay for youth ministry...) now fit perfectly into the tapestry of God's vision for us and assume a whole new vibrant life. Nothing is wasted, nothing is extra...its the best story ever told.

And it all started with a single spark of love.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17

Void

I feel this overwhelming urge (the Spirit's prodding?) to write something here, but I have no idea what. The last week and a half has been a disastrous combination of OT, Acts, dress code, school policy, Abilene, the Ft. Worth Stockyards, Midland, moving, teaching James, making new friends, setting up a classroom...and the chaos hasn't even started yet. That'd be tomorrow morning at 7:15. In the words of Jason Allen--yippee!!

It's fitting that I just got to Galatians in my overview of the year. Paul spends most of the book arguing for his competency and authority, and that's about how I feel right now. I had mothers ask me where else I had taught, I had students that don't speak much English, and I had people ask me seeming basic questions about the Bible.

I feel like I'm behind the proverbial eight-ball...but I have NO idea who's holding the cue. Part of me knows that every move I make is being watched by everyone and his or her dog, but I know I'm up for the task. Part of me feels like the pressure is self-inflicted--I have 105 students and the Word of God as a textbook--but I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

So here I sit, less than 24 hours from the start of a grand, new, completely God-led adventure, and I have no idea what to say.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

Pinball Wizard

So let's recap the last year or so:

August '08--Abby moved to Houston. I asked her parents for permission to marry her. They said no. I convinced them.

October '08--Proposed to Abby.

December '08--Unknowingly finished my last full semester at ACU

January '09--Moved to Houston, started work at Grace Crossing

February '09--Turned 24

May '09--Got married/got new job at Westbury/found new apartment by Galleria

July '09--Started moving into new apartment while attempting to finish summer

August '09--Started new job at Westbury


So...needless to say, I've bounced around a bit. I've been begging for a break, a bit of consistency, and when I mention that I can't wait for the school year to start so I can finally calm down, most teachers laugh at me. Not sure what that's all about.

I do know that in spite of the chaos and the seemingly breakneck nature of my last solar revolution, God has control over me and my life and is directing me to where He wants me to go. He won't give me more than I can handle without giving me a way out...namely my wife and prayer. He provides always.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want." Psalm 23:1

Hematophobia

Friday night at church we had a game and movie night, which had more to do with games than movies, but whatever.  There was a phenomenal turn out from both parents and kids alike, and I think everyone had a blast.  We also had our fair share of excitement and injury, which seem to go hand in hand with youth ministry.

During a basketball game that I can only assume was mind-blowingly epic, Gabriel O'Neale went up for a shot and somehow managed to relocate Brandon Boos' nose all over his face.  Tremendous amount of blood. Like, I'm not sure how he was still up and walking. 

Anyways, after he realized his life force was slowly (or not so slowly) leaking all over himself, he went inside to clean up.  In his wake was left two door handles, a sink faucet, and a paper towel dispenser covered in the red stuff. I mean COVERED. Being the biology major (and sane adult) that I am, I immediately went to attempt to locate some bleach for cleaning purposes.  Blood doesn't clean up so well with wet paper towels, as it falls under the bio-waste category.  I was met with a bizarre reaction from the other adults though...mockery.  They claimed I was grossed out by blood, afraid of blood, that Brandon didn't have any blood-borne diseases so who cares, etc.  I cleaned it up anyways, then whooped up in Bananagrams, irritated but not enough to care.

Tonight, however, we had worship time where we took communion.  As I drained my Dixie cup and thought about Jesus' blood, I noticed the inside of the cup was stained red and I flashed back to Brandon.  One thought stuck in my mind.

Since when did (the) blood cease to be a big deal?

In second grade I got hit in the head with a rock and thought I had gone blind because I had so much blood running down my face.  My sister saw me and proceeded to have a minor heart attack, as did my parents.  My cousins would faint if someone got a paper cut. In horror movies, blood was a reason to freak out beyond all realms of sanity.  But if a kid starts leaving bloody fingerprints all over our new(ish) youth room? Nothing to sneeze at.

Thanks to shows like ER and Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy and what-have-you, we no longer care about blood. It doesn't affect us like it used to.  The same can sadly be said about Jesus' blood.  Thanks to the Gospel of prosperity and an increased focus on missions and giving the Word to those who otherwise would never hear it (one of those is good, one bad. You decide) we've lost touch with how freaking amazing the idea of the cleansing power of Christ's blood is.  I'm in no way saying that missions are bad, but we always have to remember what is at the core of that desire to spread His love--that I once was sinful, lost, and doomed to an eternity in Hell, separate from God, and then an amazing sacrifice happened, blood was shed, and now I am free and eternally loved.

So yeah...blood is a big deal, whether from Brandon's nose or from my Savior.  One needs to be cleaned, the other does the cleansing.  

Pretty incredible for a biohazard.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"  Romans 5:8-10

Refreeze

The image of a meltdown is popular.  Whether its the girl with overactive emotions losing it and crying for hours and hours or a two-year old deciding something just isn't right and screaming at the top of his or her tiny lungs or Bob Knight throwing furniture across the court mid-tirade, we see people lose it and in the midst of their primal displays, we feel empathy.  A little amusement, some annoyance depending on the setting, but usually empathy.  We've all been there, at wit's end, ready to scream/cry/break/throw/punch or whatever verb fits your personality.

Within the next 25 days (sweet mercy...25 days...) I will put on the first retreat I've ever planned from scratch, teach 15 junior high boys about sex, finish planning a wedding, participate in that wedding, find a job for next year, find a place to live, finish up a couple of papers, and whatever else is going on that I (of course) have momentarily forgotten about.  I'm going to be under a world of stress with everyone I've really ever known watching.  Sweet.  In the immortal words of basicinstructions.net, "Heat, pressure and time...three things that make a diamond. And also, good waffles."

The fun thing is that we all seem to treat these meltdowns as world ending events.  We will NEVER recover from the disasters we currently find ourselves in. I will NEVER get these projects done. This will NEVER work.

Ha.

As far as I can tell, I've survived all the crises I've faced in my life.  Sometimes, nay, usually I even do it with flying colors.  God lets us linger in the crucible because it purifies us.  As we often talk about, when things are going well, we forget Him and assume we're doing it all ourselves.  When things get rough...we suddenly need God to help us. As if He hasn't been there all along.

So yeah, I might meltdown here in the coming weeks.  But God will freeze me back.

He always does.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; 
       he turned to me and heard my cry.

 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, 
       out of the mud and mire; 
       he set my feet on a rock 
       and gave me a firm place to stand.

 He put a new song in my mouth, 
       a hymn of praise to our God. 
       Many will see and fear 
       and put their trust in the LORD.

 Blessed is the man 
       who makes the LORD his trust, 
       who does not look to the proud, 
       to those who turn aside to false gods.

 Many, O LORD my God, 
       are the wonders you have done. 
       The things you planned for us 
       no one can recount to you; 
       were I to speak and tell of them, 
       they would be too many to declare."

Psalm 40:1-5 (Read the whole thing...it's amazing.)