Photo Essay

Dearest world,

Here's a visual glimpse into my life... if the words just aren't cutting it.

This was our first major project for Design for Journalism. We were supposed to document a week in our lives in pictures, then edit and string all the images together to tell some sort of coherent story.

I'm not much of a photographer (I had to borrow a camera for this), but it was actually a lot of fun.
Enjoi,
jmb

check out 'the week.'

Snow and Stories

I opened up BBC World News online this afternoon and read the headline, "Snowstorm Paralyses U.S. East Coast." The article covered crippling damage that's been inflicted in major cities, including D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. I also received numerous messages from friends and family back home inquiring about my experience (and safety) smack dab in the middle of all the calamity. There have been several deaths, power outages, and a whole lot of car accidents.

So what has my experience been? Well, to be honest, it hasn't been all that dramatic. I watched a foot of snow pile up outside my window, I saw a few cars slip a little on the street below, I took some cool pictures, I had some snow spray in my face and in my jacket, I got my socks wet walking to lunch. Yup. That's about it.

So if someone were to ask me directly, "You're in Philadelphia. What's it like? Is everyone alright?" I would honestly have to reply, "Um, yeah. Actually, it's not so bad."

Because that's my experience. That's my perspective. That's my story.

But it's not really true. Or, at least, it's not completely true.

I have a class on Wednesday nights called EcoUrban Footprints of Post-Metropolis Life: Examining an Integral Relationship of Natural and Social Ecologies in Urban Environments. No, I don't know what it means either. I doubt even the instructor knows. But regardless, we watched a fascinating lecture last class by an African author named Chimamanda Adichie about "the danger of a single story."

How often do we think we know everything? Or perhaps we don't think we know everything, we just don't bother to learn anymore, to dig any deeper. In this lecture, which I would highly encourage you to watch in its entirety, Adichie explains her experiences as an African woman and successful author in America -- the prejudices she endures and the misconceptions she deals with daily.

Her tone is gentle and even humorous, but her message is strong and sharp: don't be blinded by the single story. Do not think that your personal experiences or observations -- with people, countries, ideas, cultures -- have given you a full understanding. For instance, when Adichie moved from Nigeria to the U.S. for university, her classmates knew only the American story of Africa. They were shocked beyond belief to learn she grew up in a house, not a hut, was part of a city, not a tribe, and listened to Mariah Carey ... on a CD, no less.

I'm challenging myself to think the same way here in Philadelphia. Every person I encounter, whether they are homeless on the street or sitting next to me in class, has a story. And it's a story worth hearing, because these are people worth loving.

This storm is bad, but my eyes only tell me a portion of the truth. Likewise, that guy begging for money looks like a mess. His eyes are puffy, his clothes are dirty, and his face is scruffy. And the story I've been told about guys like this is that they're total bums who will use my spare pennies for drugs. But what else is going on here? What's his story?

I'm trying my best to learn new stories this semester. I've already learned a few, through troubled teens at tutoring and clients over at LIFT, and I'm greatly anticipating my furthered understanding of things I used to think I knew.

What it comes down to, I believe, is this. God's creation is too complex to be understood by a single story. There's always something more. Another perspective. Another story to be told. We can never see it all, and we never will. But God does. And praise Him for that. So let's try to see the world the way God sees it.

From Philly: A Quick Update

Greetings, good folk!

A lengthier report I would love to provide, but a succinct summation will have to suffice. I will confess that I feel a tad self-indulgent posting such detailed accounts of my activities and ambitions with the expectation that people will take time out of busy schedules to read them. But, I guess I don't feel that bad because I'm doing it anyway... ;)

It's been a wonderful two weeks since I first arrived in the city of brotherly love. I've been enjoying the luxuries of little accumulated schoolwork and few nagging commitments, though I'm getting anxious for more to do. That said, in addition to the ever-present excitements of exploration and the thrills of navigating a new school, I have these things upcoming...

I'll be hosting some Messiah chums on their J-term break this weekend.

A tutoring ministry at a church across the street is beginning next week, and I'll be there Tuesday and Friday evenings.

I'm going to help lead some of the worship at our weekly community gatherings (aka. chapel).

I'm contributing some articles for the Broad Street Journal, MCPC's* student paper.

I'm looking forward to church at Epiphany Fellowship again this week. It's a really neat place, with incredible music, a young congregation (ha not that that is any indication of a good church, it just helps us belong), and a really solid pastor who consistently delivers refreshingly biblical teaching. Apparently this pastor, Eric Mason, speaks with such respected Reformed preachers as as John Piper. I believe it.

And lastly, and probably most exciting..ly, there's this program called LIFT down the street from here that I might be volunteering a few hours with each week. It's an organization that partners homeless and low-income folks in the area with students from Temple. We work with them to provide services and help them find jobs, housing, etc. Needless to say, it sounds awesome.

Last lastly, classes are great.

As always, thanks for reading! Your prayers and concerns are greatly appreciated. Know that I'm praying for you too.
jmb

p.s. Here's something that really spoke to me today. Let us not forget what we're working for!

* MCPC = Messiah College Philadelphia Campus

Intro to Philly Time

There are too many "producers" out there for a little guy like me to contend with. It's way too easy for one to become a very invested "consumer" of opinions and information and quite quickly forget why one ever bothered to produce one's own content. But alas, here I go again. Thank you to the few of you that convince me I have something worthwhile to say.

I'm treated tonight to the steady whoosh of cars whizzing past, the shrill choir of sirens distant and near, and the discordant hollers of excited frat boys. It's an unfamiliar neighbourhood in a city different from and far from home. And yet, this place is home for the next few months. Welcome to North Philadelphia.

Something about leaving all that's comfortable for a new place leaves you exhausted -- mentally, physically, emotionally -- but oh so excited. It's the overwhelming new sights, sounds and smells; the fascinating people you meet for the first (and last) time; the swelling sense of accomplishment you gain as this strange place becomes a little more of who you are.

So that's where I'm at. I'm spending the spring semester of my sophomore year studying at Messiah's Philadelphia Campus. Philly is comparable in size to Toronto, but I'm quickly discovering how incredibly different it is. The "Jane & Finch" area of Toronto is reputed as a neighbourhood rife with crime and danger, the no-go-zone in the minds of suburban kids across the GTA. Well, now I've been supplanted into the middle of a city with its fair share of "Jane & Finches" and I can't wait for all that's in store.

The tranquility of Grantham is long gone for now. I'll be sure to face plenty of challenges along with everything else this semester, but you grow the most when you're uncomfortable. So bring it on.

I have plenty more I could say now, but I'll save all of that for future musings. So stay tuned!
God is good, all the time.
jmb

Why So Silent?

It's another busy day in Grantham. Rainy too. And dark. And chilly. But it is also a blessed day, don't you think? Simply because it is. I like to think of every moment as a gift. Every breath that I breathe, in and out non-stop since I was born, is really quite a privilege.

The world is a painful place. People suffer and people die. All the time. Turn on the news for a matter of minutes and you'll be exposed to more sadness and tragedy than one could possibly deal with. The BBC One-Minute World News is a prime example. It helps me to watch at the peak of my preoccupation -- with homework, errands, planning, email, work. As the dismal montage of misfortune and disaster streams across my screen with characteristic newsroom indifference, suddenly that pressing assignment doesn't seem so stressful. As I watch violent protests and floods, maybe work tonight won't be so bad after all.

Depressing? Certainly. Reality? Unfortunately.

So what? Well, this is somehow connected to my absence from the blogosphere this past semester. Let me explain.

People talk. Images flash. News comes in. People talk more. As a chapel speaker said boldly, though ironically, during a recent message, "I'm tired of all the talk." He was a Yale academic and director of some world missions research program. His message was excellent, but I especially appreciated his acknowledgment that when tragedy hits and uncertainty arises, the favoured response is to talk. Especially in Christian culture, but I feel it's a universal condition.

In my negligence of my own blog, I've become a fairly regular reader of a number of other blogs, from the New York Times, to Christian leaders, to professors. Everywhere I click, someone else has an incredibly insightful, intriguing opinion. A critique of the church here. An opinion on current events there. Maybe even a plan for changing the world somewhere. I love reading these inspiring posts, and I love engaging in the discussion that follows.

However, I've simultaneously been studying much more about society in the world at large. I've been listening to sermons on suffering as well, trying to make sense of the God I strive to know, a God of love and compassion and justice, and the horrible injustice that occurs all the time. Just a second ago someone died alone and forgotten. And another.

So where are God's followers during all of this? I just hope we're not missing our chance to take the Gospel to a world that needs its healing power because we're too busy reading about how we should be doing more.

Is the correct Christian response to talk ... or maybe to act? Obviously, in this information age a persuasive post or convicting message can go a long way to stir people's hearts. But, as Jesus himself pointed out, we're judged on how we live, not what we say.

So that's why I've been slow to blog recently. Well, that and I just haven't had as much free time. But I am simply trying to discover how my life can count for something in the world. If each moment is a gift, do I spend the available ones writing about what I should do, or just doing it?

So the obvious question now that I'm replacing all that cheap talk with heroic radical action, then, is: How many lives have I saved? How much hunger have I alleviated? To put it simply, what have I done for the least of these?

Well, you've got me there. You'll also notice how there are probably more question marks than periods in this post. That's because I'm not pretending to speak with any real authority. I'm just a seeker who has found the greatest Truth and the Eternal Way ... but I'm seeking further nonetheless.

Thanks for being here!
jmb

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