A Night with DC

In case you were wondering, I haven't completely forgotten.

Schoolwork has been exceptionally busy the past few weeks. That, coupled with various other changes in life, haven't really allowed much time for public reflection. But the world moves on at a rapid pace, and I continually realize that without intentional times of reflection, life will simply pass me by. Every experiences yields a thousand opportunities for reflection and consideration. Too bad there are a thousand experiences.

A group of us went to a David Crowder Band concert on Sunday. Smack dab in the middle of Bible-belt Lancaster, PA, the sold-out concert attracted an audience of youth groups, families, grandparents, children, and even a few plain-dress Mennonites (or some form of Amish). What is it, I wondered, about David Crowder's signature blend of electro-pop-dance-rock-anthemic worship music that draws such crowds? And as with all such Christian concerts, I wondered where the glory would be given -- to the performers who write music explicitly praising the God of all heaven, or to the subject of the praise, God himself.

To be sure, David Crowder and friends put on a kickin' concert. Their equipment and gadgetry alone is enough to gawk at for hours as each instrumentalist spent nearly as much time fiddling with laptops and synthesizers as playing their usual instruments. There were songs to dance to, jokes to laugh at, fists to pump, guitar solos to applaud, and even hands to raise in worship. For such a talented group, I wonder sometimes where that fine line falls between a sold-out show to applaud the songwriting skills of a goofy-goteed rockstar and a house packed with Christ-followers eager to worship God. Do we flock to David Crowder (and like artists) to glorify David Crowder or glorify God?

Or, can we bring God praise by appreciating the undeniable skills that God has blessed David Crowder with, particularly when he is using those skills to glorify God to the best of his ability?

In other news, I'm launching a full-scale investigation of the will of God for my life. Actually, I'm really just wondering what God's will is for his people everywhere. So far, all I know is that it's for something radical, and it definitely looks a lot different than what the world wants from me.

More on that later.

Okay, it's back to the books.
Love.

So What?

You might have notice that it's been a while since my last post. I sure have.

In my defense, I've been fairly busy. It's definitely a "good" kind of busy, but, then again, can any busyness that diverts my attention from my loyal readers be of any good at all? Doubtful.

Anyways, how are you? If you are reading this and haven't talked to me directly in a while (I'm lookin at you, grandparents, aunts, and uncles), please send me an email. I'd love to hear from you!

Life is good. I suppose I always say that, but then I suppose it's always true. Many recent activities, including studying the flaws and issues plaguing modern society (Sociology 101, Mass Media & Society) have certainly afforded me a new appreciation for my present situation. More specifically, I'm continually floored by God's blessings to me.

Why me? I might ask. My life, as it stands currently, is overflowing with potential. I have resources to study nearly anywhere in the world, devote as much time to leisure as I desire, and spend hours deliberating over my future.

For so many, their futures are decided before they are even born.

But I suppose mine was too, then. I was born into a world saturated in opportunities. If something impairs my pursuit of happiness, away with it! Thanks to a comfortable financial cushion and a devoted network of 'encouragers', I can do nearly anything I set my mind to.

So what about the rest of the world? By far the majority, their circumstances leave them helpless to do anything but live one day to the next. They may set their minds to all they can ever imagine, but for many this is futile.

I don't mean to be cynical, and I don't mean to generalize at all. But as I sit here on the 'precipice of potential' with a world before me waiting to be encountered and conquered, I can't help but feel sorry for all those left behind, for no fault of their own.

I find, then, that this awareness of my bountiful blessings leaves me with an incredible responsibility. I believe that we are to do our best to serve God wherever he places us on Earth. Whether it is in Grantham, PA or the slums of Mumbai, God's people are to live as Christ-like as possible. So then what do the Christians in Grantham, PA, with the world at their fingertips, do for the saved (and unsaved) in the slums, whose influence in the world seems to reach no further than their immediate surroundings?

With great power comes great responsibility. Thanks, Spiderman. Spidey uses his powers, that naturally set him apart and above his neighbours, to help those in need. And let us not forget that there is such great power in the name of Jesus as well. Perhaps not web-slinging, wall-crawling powers, but powers of a more spiritual, eternal nature.

So what do we do with our power?

Climb the corporate ladder? Get rich? Hide behind white picket fences until Sunday morning?

I can't help but feel like we have a greater purpose. Something that drives us to live radically. We are united with the Creator of the universe, soveriegn over all things. Shouldn't that set us apart?

That's all for late night rambling. Austin is back so now I can go to sleep.
Peace,
jmb

Tuesday Talk

I like writing in public places. Or just sitting in public places, for that matter, in a position where I can observe. It's fun to watch the interactions of large groups or the dynamics of an intimate conversation between close friends. Like right now in the Union.

It helps me get more work done too. I might even say the quiet rhythm of students coming and going and the gentle din of conversation are soothing. When your mind is contemplating things far beyond your own little world, the visual distraction of people embracing the present is quite comforting.

I had the wonderful privilege of volunteering twice last week. At Bethesda Men's Shelter I helped with the soup line and met a few very interesting people. Then the next day I went back into Harrisburg to help teach ESL. Both experiences were incredible for so many reasons, and also only the firsts of many similar opportunities.

There was a remarkable young man at Bethesda who I had the immense privilege of chatting with for 20 minutes over steaming chili and pre-packaged sandwiches. If every conversation I had in a day was as inspiring as that one, I don't think I could handle it. After hitting "rock bottom" only a month ago, the man found his way to the shelter where he accepted Christ within a couple days.

With a grin that didn't disappear for the entire duration of our talk, he told me all about where he'd been and where he's come. Interestingly, he barely spoke at all about his life before being saved, as if it didn't even matter in light of the hope he had know found. And what hope and joy he has! "It's so beautiful," he muttered between mouthfuls.

As expected, it got me thinking. It is beautiful. Why do we forget that so easily? God is beautiful. Creation is beautiful. The story of our redemption is as beautiful as it gets. My new friend knows this. He shows it. So should I. This guy really isn't that different from me. Despite the fact that he's been in and out of prison multiple times, been caught up with all sorts of substances I couldn't even recognize, and now lives in a men's shelter, we serve the same God and have been saved from the same certain death.

That's the body of Christ for you -- bringing the most unlikely of acquaintances together in the most glorious and eternal unity.

I'm off to help with ESL again tonight. It's interesting how I go to teach but intend to learn. Because that really is where you learn: in the world beyond your own. In the eyes of a capitalist society, these people we work with don't have much to offer, but in God's eyes (and consequently the eyes of his followers) they have so much worth.

There's a world out there in need of God's love. As I was reminded during an evening service I help with on Sunday, there is always more love to be shown. We will never fill our quota, and thank God he won't either. Let's not be satisfied.

JMB

p.s. I'm published!
p.s.s. It'll get better. You have to start somewhere.

Untitled

The tiny town of Grantham, PA is once again coming to life. Students and teachers alike are bustling about with greater activity, already feeling the weight of deadlines and obligations. Classes are becoming interesting but not yet overwhelming. Best of all, extracurricular activities are getting underway.

Let me just say that I love extracurriculars. Between the recent opportunities fair and ice cream social for community service, I’ve signed up for more than I can remember. It’s unfortunate, really, how obtrusive classes become when there are so many other valuable options for our time. . . This year I’ll be doing the following things on a somewhat regular basis: writing for the school paper (The Swinging Bridge), working again for Phonathon, leading common chapels, working a few hours a week doing set-up and tear-down for chapel, helping with an evening church start-up on campus, volunteering with an ESL program in Harrisburg, and being a casual member of Psych club and Human Rights Awareness group. Now, I don’t say any of that to boast, but to inform you so you can be excited with me. It’s going to be a good year. I know it. And right now I’ve still had plenty of time for tossing Frisbees in the sunny September air.

I’m also looking forward to some of my classes. Mass Media and Society is exactly what it sounds like, but we’ve already had some good discussions and read some really thought-provoking articles. Principles of Sociology, although it starts at 8 AM, is also really fascinating already. Between the two of them, I’ve already been forced to think a lot about societal trends and norms; what defines them and how do they impact us?

Here’s a thought. Is truth ever defined by culture? So many things that we in the West take as common sense fact are not seen the same way around the world. For instance, let’s take a look at romantic love. It’s a completely different concept for us than it is for a lot of the world. We stress finding your true “soulmate” and fighting for love at all costs. We decry arranged marriages and weep for women with such bleak destinies; if only they could experience the freedom we have – a freedom that all are yearning for. The reality is, however, that millions of young women are married off every year to men much older than them, often as nothing more than transactions for business partnerships. As our jaws drop and our fists clench ready to defend the cause of these oppressed women, we need to remember that it was in this exact cultural context that our Bible was written.

All I’m saying is that often I feel like we need to distance ourselves from our own cultural understandings – a difficult task if we’ve never known anything different. Many people see aranged marriage as the ultimate injustice; how could anyone find happiness in such circumstances!? In our minds, in our understanding of truth, arranged marriage is bad. It impairs our pursuit of happiness. Well, millions of women do live in such circumstances and, dare I say, they probably aren’t completely miserable.

On another note, we had a discussion in Mass Media yesterday about different forms of technology. The conversation rapidly declined into another debate about the iPhone versus Blackberry. As I sat between the heated exchange with my trusty stone age phone in hand, I just couldn’t help but think, It doesn’t matter!

Honestly, I find it very interesting how these pieces of technology that were mere prototypes in a lab only a few years ago are now seen as necessary. Do we forget that for the last, oh, 6000 years of human history nobody even had email? The horror! And yet civilization trudged on, fueled by a few clever thinkers in a population of dejected citizens yearning for the day that they would be able to check their email on the go. Thank goodness for those inventors who shook off the shackles of their technological ignorance to strive for that glorious light at the end of a dark tunnel, that day when we could bring Facebook with us in our pockets. Oh, how miserable they must have been.

It’s quite relieving, actually, to not be caught up in the technology race. Well, actually I suppose we’re all in it to some degree. Let’s just not let it consume us. Especially as Christians.

I played in chapel this morning for the first time. It went really well. I got to play a djembe for this fun African-style song we did, and then just sand and played for the others. One interesting thing, though, I had a ton of people approach me throughout the rest of the day to say, “Good job this morning!” To be honest, that makes me a little uncomfortable. I’d rather hear them say, “Thanks for leading us in worship,” or something to that effect. The last thing I want to do up there is make a praiseworthy “performance.” Oh well. What can you do.

You’ll hear from me again soon. I promise.

jmb

Reflections on the Past and Future

Dear world,

Summaries are a difficult thing. Especially when, say, you encounter a friend you haven't seen in three months and your first verbal exchange is, "How was your summer?" Similar to pre-summer interactions with home friends, post-summer interactions with college friends must also be crudely reduced. I've found a simple "incredible" to be a sufficient (and truthful) response to such questions. Life, as it should be, is a daily whirlwind of challenge, growth, experience, and change, not something that can be aptly recapitulated in a brief word. The complexity of a human mind and soul is so deep that we can often barely understand ourselves, so think for a moment about the vastness of a God that can see and understand billions of minds simultaneously. ... Phew, this is getting deep.

I've been longing for the chance to write here for a while now. It's my arena for exploring the world around me and making sense of change external and internal. As always, I'm very grateful that you are reading this; I don't pretend to have anything new or profound to say, but I hope you can learn from what I've been learning. So now, as I sit in a new chair at a new desk in a new room in a new building on the same campus for the start of a new year, I'm going to write some more sounds of settling. (Clever, eh?)

The past summer was spent in part working at North Toronto Christian School and then back at camp. Throughout it all, as I always hope, I learned a lot. My responsibilities at NTCS were as diverse as possible. In any given day I might lead junior praise time in the gym, help the Junior Kindergarten class with paper mache, take the grade 2s out for extended recess, teach grade 6 gym, spend a couple hours cutting grass, collect and move garbage, mark standardized tests, and end the day selling popsicles. But I loved (nearly) every minute of it.

I returned to Camp Ke-Mon-Oya for my fourth summer as a counsellor. It was definitely the best so far. There is little I can say now to do justice to such an experience, but I can say that what really made it great was seeing God work in, around and through me. I went into the summer with strong resolutions to be devoted to the Word and prayer even in the midst of such a busy and tiring evironment. With that as a central focus, I was hoping I would find myself with more energy motivation to really impact the kids' lives. Ultimately, I wanted to be more selfless, and in hindsight I really felt like I was empowered to be just that.

Cabin devotions are every afternoon. Some quick math tells me that I've led nearly 80 since I became a counsellor. Some quick remembering shows me that very few of those have been as effective as they could have been. I was really struck this year (much thanks to Tyler for this) by how important it really is to share the Gospel. In my knowledge of God and his plan of salvation I hold the greatest gift the world could ask for and only truth it needs. How can I keep from sharing such a thing everywhere I go? Additionally, I get campers every week who have never heard the Gospel message and who do not come from Godly homes. What an opportunity! So I began to share the Gospel (as well as I can) to all my campers, young and old. Long story short, I saw three 10-year olds (two from non-Christian homes) commit their lives to Jesus and 8 or 9 teenagers really delve into the Scriptures and explore their faith like they never had before.

The latter example saw me scrambling for answers to some really tough questions, but it also showed me that God desires those kids' hearts more than I can even understand. So often we find ourselves acting ashamed of the Gospel, not because we don't believe its message, but because we simply don't know what to say. Well, let us never forget that we are not alone, especially when we are sharing God's truth. He wants to speak through us and He does. I actually found myself learning just from the things that were coming out of my mouth in my discussions with some of my older cabins. One powerful example concerns a 15-year old that I had for two weeks. His only sister is a third-year philosophy student at U of T who completely renounced her faith last year and has since been harrassing him nearly non-stop for the family faith that he still clings to. In the midst of our discussions, God prompted me to share the story of Stephen martyred for his faith, where I stumbled across Acts 6:8. "But they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke." We were both encouraged and reminded that we are not defending an empty faith or textbook list of arguments, but that the God of Heaven and Earth is on our side, empowering us with wisdom and a Spirit that cannot be defeated.

So from the riding lawnmower to raising 15-year old believers, I'd say I had my share of memorable experiences. And if a summer (or any amount of time for that matter) can be judged by what you learn and experience, then I'd say this was a good one. You could even say, "incredible."

All of this concluded, then, only a week ago. Since then, I've moved countries once again, exchanged one set of companions for another, and embarked once again on another life-changing journey through my sophomore year.

All the growth and learning I've experienced lately has got me asking, "Now what?" Everything I learn about God and the challenges I endure will be evidenced only by visible growth and change. My biggest question, then, is what does the life of a college sophomore on fire for God look like? The life of a Christian anywhere must be markedly different from the world surrounding, but even on a campus full of believers, there must be a difference between those who profess faith and those who live a faith that is alive. My faith is alive, because the God I have faith in is very much alive.

I watched a Paul Washer sermon the other day on being a man of God. As Christian men of God, he said, we are not made to live like other men. We are conquerors who must not rest while there remains a place that God is not worshipped. We were not made to sit in front of a television set. We were not made for passions of the world. We are to have a singular passion for Christ, and being made into his image.

I'll be listening to (and reflecting on) many more sermons in the next few weeks probably. It's going to be a good weekend, reuiniting with old friends and observing the freshmen in all their awkwardness, huddling together for social comfort and scouting every crowd for potential new friends. Oh, how I remember the day.

Anyways, I should move on to other things now. I've been working on this more or less all afternoon, constantly interrupted by a steady stream of new arrivals with vans ready to be unloaded and arms to be embraced. As always, there is much more to be said and much more to learn. I pray for time for both.

Be blessed, all.
jmb

Still Joshing

Greetings, oft-neglected realm of the blog.

I've been putting this off for too long. To be honest, I've thought about writing a new post nearly every day for a couple of weeks now, but I just haven't made time for it. Not that I've had a lot of time, though. Well, I have had a lot of time, but it's been filled with work at North Toronto Christian School, time with Katrina and family, church commitments, catching up with old friends and trying to stay in touch with new new ones, etc.

Writing this blog feels different now. The incredible blur of growth and experience that was my first year has come and gone. I can't help but wonder if the readers that frequented this page to glean insight into a life unfolding will still stop by for a peek. Will those who loved to "read the sounds of settling" still humour the profound and petty musings of an adolescent mind?

Perhaps. Not to worry, though, because I write here as much for my own enjoyment as anyone else's. As usual, I've had plenty of shockingly insightful thoughts lately but my own selfishness has prevented the world at large from benefiting. Ha.. just kidding, but I do miss writing here, my personal repository of thought. Oh well. Enough of the regretful ramblings.

Life is grand. It was tough to adjust to life back at home at first. After a year of gaining independence and growing spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and a few other "ally's", it was a strange feeling to slip right back into the same routine I left. I drive to "work" with Emily and Sam, spend the day at the same school surrounded by many people I grew up with, come home to the same evening routine and dinner, then go to bed and do it all over again. Obviously there are a few major differences, but I sometimes feel conflicted trying to frantically "prove" to the world that I've changed, I really have! I feel like my perspectives, concerning both my faith and just life in general, have been enriched and widened in so many ways and it's discouraging to feel like it never happened.

That's all for now. Regardless of whether or not anybody reads this, I'll likely write another post soon. I have a lot of thoughts on facebook I've been meaning to "publish." It's fun to organize your thoughts in a public forum like this. It's encouraging to think that people care about your thoughts.

Oh. One thing quick. I changed my major from Communications to Psychology (Bachelor of Science). I'm just way more interested in people and why we do what we do than I ever was in Communication Theory.

Thanks for everything!
jmb

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

Tomorrow it all ends.
The first year of the craziest adventure of my life comes to a close.
Am I sad? Definitely.
Am I eager to be home and greet all that awaits me there? Absolutely.

Thanks for bearing with me through it all. My time for reflection will be unfortunately brief this summer, but I'm sure I'll have plenty to say at some point.

Necesito estudiar para mi examen final de espanol. (That probably wasn't even correct.)

See you on the other side!
God bless you all,
jmb