well...

Wow, it's been over two months. I just browsed all the posts I missed reading since my move back to Montgomery. I'm now an assistant volleyball coach... I never would have even thought this a possibility until it happened. Of course, my main responsibility is the strength and conditioning side of things, but I'm becoming more and more a student of the game.

It's been a little strange coming back to a place I lived for a few years before... I'm a little different, the place is a little different, everyone's life - shocker - kept moving right along while I was gone, so they're a little different, too. I guess I've been so engrossed in the new job I haven't taken much time to explore and fully reconnect. What began as a conscious effort to be more intentional about starting again here and not jumping back into old routines has turned into allowing myself to focus almost solely on long days at the "office" (this encompassing the weight room, Tori's and my shared office, the gym, and Faulkner in general).

Here's to a more concerted effort at balance and reinvesting in meaningful ways...

Simple things... like a bike pump.

I watched this video at this blog today (and this site has lots of good stuff... I recommend adding it to your blog-roll) and it reminded me of an experience I had in Zimbabwe about 3 years ago. I give you permission to leave to watch the video and come back...

Long story short... I was part of a group that spend 10 days in Zimbabwe doing some survey work regarding future work our church would like to partner with there. This was early in the spiral of economic crisis that is the reality in that country. Anyway, whatever big plans and hopes I had for the trip, I was humbled when we made a visit to a school near Chivero. We took some soccer balls and a couple of pumps to be divided between a secondary school and a primary school along with some crayons and other such things. The teachers and students were ELATED. Huge smiles, jumping, clapping... The teachers had recently taught a lesson about crayons but had none to show the children (who had never even seen any). The primary school said they had a pump for balls and such but it had broken a while back and they didn't have any needles, anyway. The sheer joy that was spread by these simple things is hard to express with words. Now they had some crayons, some new soccer balls (so they didn't have to kick around some balled up trash), and a hand pump with needles.... this called for celebration!

Here's to remembering that what we might think of as small and insignificant can go a long way in bringing joy to our friends and neighbors (here and elsewhere). And, thanks to the video I shared above, for showing, again, how a single hand pump can bring about community in simple ways and be a blessing...

Have a great weekend!

mine, mine, mine...

Several things I've read lately and some thoughts today made me think of those seagulls in Finding Nemo. (Follow the link for a refresher.) So much in Christianity, especially American Protestant forms, has become so individualized. Our language, our songs, our programs... it's all about me. My savior. My God. My salvation. My walk with God. My needs. My wants. My desires. Mine, mine, mine...

While I don't think we need to, in some way, fully recover that sense of nationalistic identity of the people of Israel (though, some kind of try that by marrying faith to American patriotism... a bit more than unsettling, for me), I have felt strongly for several years now that we don't think collectively or communally nearly enough. The Kingdom of God is not about me (though it is). It's not my story (again, though it is). Why do we think so much focus is placed on the community of faith throughout the gospels and the letters? Community is essential for healthy expression of gifts and ministry, for healthy accountability, for healthy discernment, for healthy study, for healthy direction as we all partake in the journey, in Kingdom life.

Have I mastered this idea of not internalizing and/or individualizing everything down to my own situation? Of course not... I don't know of many (any?) who have really experienced or understand what it's like to truly live with their mind more slanted toward their immediate Christian community, the larger work of God in their part of the world and/or globally than their own situation and what God can/will/won't do for them personally. I remember in a Bible class not all that long ago I spent a few weeks trying to help some college students think about this. It's hard to get your head around... but it sure helps if you have a community that's willing to try to live it out and learn it together. I think that's the point.

Don't get me wrong... it's clear that God made us all unique, gifts us in various ways, and calls some to the forefront and others to less glamorous roles (see Romans 12, 1 Cor. 12, etc.). And we all have unique struggles, hurts, joys, trials, etc. But all of that is intended to be lived out, dealt with, celebrated within the community of faith. And the community of faith lives out this Kingdom life for the benefit of the world.

Here's to turning our "me" into "we" and our "mine, mine, mine" into something along the lines of "ours, ours, ours" or, better, "His, His, His."

where everybody knows your name...

I was reading this blog just a moment ago and it made me think of the older and ever so popular show Cheers! The above mentioned blogged raises the question, "If your church left the neighborhood, would anybody notice?" A question I think we should all ask of our faith communities.

The TV show Cheers! was part of my regular viewing habits through much of my life. It was (is?) one of those shows that most everyone connected with. The theme song pretty much summed up the heart of that connection, I think (this is from memory)...

"Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name. And they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name."

Okay, I had to check a lyrics site to clear up one part, but it's amazing that I could type all but two words without much effort! Not only do those words and that tune take me back... they stir something deep inside me. A longing that I think is in everyone... to be accepted, loved, and known.

The blog I referenced posed the question to several churches, large and small... and (I think you probably already figured it was where they were going) the feeling is that many churches would have to honestly answer, "No, the people around here probably wouldn't notice."

Sometimes I think those of us that frequent churches, in our own search for "Cheers! Gone Jesus," get too caught up in our own longings for that experience (when really, we already have it... at least much more than many who haven't heard good news in a long time...) that we don't seek to BE that experience for the people in close proximity to our places of worship, our homes, ourselves.

Hope the thoughts spur you to give someone a "Norm!" moment today!

how far is too far...

So, I was going through my ritual of checking job sites, email, facebook, and got around to checking my blog-roll, which is usually quite enjoyable. Brian McLaren often has good things to share or points his readers to other blogs/sites of interest. I followed a link from one of his recent posts to this blog which expresses lament over the recent "pew poll" about torture that has gotten a lot of attention. While most of the blog/prayer resonated with me (I think we should think and pray long and hard about how/if we think of/justify the use of torture in light of our faith and the example of Jesus), the end of the prayer included a sentiment that bothered me deeply in other ways:

"There are times when a church so badly misunderstands what it means to be church that it must be repudiated as fundamentally ungodly, fundamentally a negation of true Christianity. This has sometimes been called a status confessionis moment — a situation where the basic integrity of the gospel and the core witness of the church are at stake. Jesus, I believe this is one such moment.

Any church — congregation, parachurch organization, denomination, or group of individual Christians — that supports torture has violated its confessed allegiance to you and can no longer be considered part of your true church. Let them be anathema."

The church I've been a part of for a few months now had a related conversation in our study yesterday morning about how we "in-group" or "out-group" people based on the ideas/thoughts/beliefs/values/etc. they hold. We're willing to label someone as non-Christian pretty quickly over many things that (may) have little or nothing to do with following Jesus. I think the above mentioned poll and the blog referenced that is a response to that are directly related to that conversation.

Does holding the position or opposing the position that our government should have policies that allow those involved in national security matters to torture people for information affirm or negate my decision to follow Christ? Obviously, some will (and have) said, "Yes," and others, "No." Is this only a political issue? Only a moral issue? These are not easy questions.

It's impossible to get inside the heads of all the Christians who took this poll and hear (much less, understand) where they're coming from and how they came to their conclusions. While I feel that our government and various agencies can go too far in the name of national security, I also believe that we, as Christians, can go too far in our response to those that, after much (or little) thought come out on the opposite side of an issue.

Again, these are not easy questions... but I do hope that they lead us to much prayer and reflection and an ever-increasing trust that the Spirit will guide us toward all truth and closer to the heart of God.

Merton...

I've read a good bit of Thomas Merton's work in the past few months. His The Seven Storey Mountain, while a bit of a chore, was intriguing as he told the story of his becoming a monk. I'm currently reading (re-reading parts) of his Thoughts in Solitude. I came across these words this morning...

“A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions. The activity proper to man is not purely mental because man is not just a disembodied mind. Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. It is only by making our knowledge part of ourselves, through action, that we enter into the reality that is signified by concepts…

Living is not thinking. Thought is formed and guided by objective reality outside us. Living is the constant adjustment of thought to life and life to thought in such a way that we are always growing, always experiencing new things in the old and old things in the new. Thus life is always new.”

I think this touches on the source of much of my frustration from the past few years. I feel that most of my life, faith (my faith, the faith of the circles I've run in) has been so focused on what some have called "beliefism." I'm continuing to find that it's hard to shift out of that mode and into a more lively, active faith where beliefs are formed by action and action by belief.

This relates in some ways to my current profession... the world of exercise/strength and conditioning/athletic performance is full of ideas and theories, some good, some bad, some neither. The reality of it, though, is that you have to be about the actual execution of plans and ideas to see if they actually work... a cycle of shaping action by thought and thought by action naturally occurs if you really care what results from your time and effort. Seems this attitude would better serve our faith and lead to a healthier perspective.

fca...

So, I've turned in my last paper... I'd like to believe that it's the last paper I'll ever have to write, but the last few years won't allow me to give it that degree of finality. I mean, so far, I've always ended up back in school... who knows? A Ph.D could be down the road... sigh. Anyway...

Tomorrow, I'm speaking at the last FCA meeting of the school year at Lawrence County High School in Moulton, AL. The football coach there was the first coach I worked with as an assistant for two seasons in Montgomery. My twin is the guidance counselor there and I have numerous friends that are alumni. Of course, it was/is a rival school to my alma mater, Hatton High School. I'm thinking I'll be taking my letterman jacket to use as part of an illustration... should be fun. I know I'm getting older when I struggle a bit to know what's best to share with a group of high school students. I'm sure it will be a good experience regardless... even from simply getting to spend a night at my parents' home, see the nieces, one sister, my brother-in-law, and some friends I don't get to see often. And maybe God will use something I share to jog something inside a few athletes... that would be cool, too.

Hope you're all well out there... no news on the job front here, but hoping for some development soon.