International Justice Mission does good things (& so does IT!)

International Justice Mission (IJM) is an organization that does good work fighting injustice - specifically human trafficking. Faith and I support their work, and even had the special treat of visiting their offices in DC last summer. We wholeheartedly recommend them as a quality organization to support. If you are looking for ways to contribute to the global fight against trafficking, consider IJM.

I should also plug my own organization - International Teams. IT does great work among refugees and is also fighting against slavery and human trafficking around the globe. They've been organizing an event called Ride for Refuge for several years designed to raise awareness and support. It has been a smashing success. Click on the link above if you'd like to learn more and perhaps participate. They have scheduled rides this year in the Chicago area, Grand Rapids, Oklahoma city, and seemingly all of Canada (like 17 locations!). So especially for you americans, don't let the canuks do all of the serving! They can have the hockey gold medal - but don't let them do everything when it comes to ending injustice :-)

Life as a boat: Do you feel seaworthy?

So, in some ways, it's been a tough year for me. The purpose of this post is not to catalogue why, rather it is more to document some thoughts I've been processing as a result.

But first, I'm going to post some more boat pictures, because, well, that is what I do. Take a look at these before and after shots.

THEN

When we moved here more than 2 1/2 years ago, this boat was one of the more aesthetically -pleasing little boats anchored in our neighborhood along the ria (my first boats post and an explanation of the ria can be found here). For good reason it was one of my favorite subjects to photograph in those early days of exploration.

NOW

Clearly, time has not been too good for this poor boat. Surely if one word could describe its existence for the last 2 1/2 years that word would be 'neglect.'

You can see that the boat was once brightly painted, but now it's defining color is the mucky brown-green that you see. Parts of the boat are missing and have simply washed away. Clearly, the poor little guy is not seaworthy anymore. The constant rhythm of tides coming in and out has been harsh.

So what does this have to do with having a hard year? During a recent conference I sat in on a 1-hour session on 'Soul Care.' My main purpose in doing so was to grow as a team leader, but by the end of the hour I was left asking myself if I was at least a little emotionally exhausted. That conference was a month ago, and I finally had the time today to sit down and process through that hour of my life. What came out in my journal was a jumble of questions, images, and ideas. And it came out a little like this.

At times life seems like it is a rickety boat, packed so full of people and goods that it's hardly afloat. There are places the water leaks in. In other places waves that are not even all that big splash over the sides. The boat may have a destination, but it doesn't move all that fast, or all that well. It is difficult to turn, and at the same time hard to keep on a straight course. The wind and the waves continually work against it. On good days, the sun is a welcome blessing. On others it feels like a hardship that can't be escaped. We keep all of our energy and attention focused on keeping the boat afloat and on course. We bail water constantly and we're always struggling to keep it moving in the right direction.

Kinda dark, isn't it? Perhaps a little harsh? Where's the joy? Where's the hope? Where's the redemption? The happy ending? I'm a Christian after all - where's the victorious living in that?

My whole life I've been taught, if not told, (and I think I still believe this to a point) that if we stop worrying so much about keeping the boat afloat and moving in the right direction, and seek more of Jesus - if we strengthen our relationship and connection with him - that the other stuff takes care of itself. Or it magically gets better. We are to be a joy-filled people, are we not? Maybe no pastors, sunday school teachers, or youth leaders ever directly said so, but isn't this what we more or less believe and propagate with unspoken messages in our churches? That the Christian life should be a struggle-free life because Jesus is now the captain of our ship.

The thing is, and I think most of us know this in our heads, Jesus never promised easy living. In fact I'm pretty sure he generally predicts more hard times than good ones for his followers - at least for our time here on earth. I'm reminded of the image of Jesus as the odd lifeguard - the one who swims out to save the drowning girl, but instead drowns with her, comes back to life three days later, and walks of the beach saying everything is fine while the girl remains dead. It's a strange image, but his plan seems to be not the way most of us would use divine power. What's he all about? Why doesn't his plan always make sense to us?

I think we really like the idea that Jesus is going to fix the boat - plug the holes, give it a fresh bit of paint, make it bigger, more comfortable, and then steer us to safety. Most of us realize we need help, and wouldn't it be great if Jesus could fix everything just like that! I'm not downplaying the power of life-change that Jesus and the Holy Spirit can work in a person. It can and should be dramatic at times. But the reality is someday each one of our boats is going to sink. It might be overwhelmed by the waves, it might be dashed against the rocks, it might simply slip quietly beneath the surface. Put simply, we are all going to die. Many or most of us will feel overcome by life - at least once.

The other reality here is that Jesus mostly promises to be with us in our suffering, not to remove it. I suspect that we're slower to teach and talk about suffering than we ought to be in our churches and communities of faith. Sure, we're not bad about talking about the suffering of others - the further removed we are from those who are suffering the easier it is to talk about. But to talk about our suffering - mine, yours - that's pretty intimate, and it doesn't feel very victorious. But I'm becoming increasingly convinced that we need to get better at this both individually and collectively. Dramatic life-change is real, and we need to be asking for it, talking about it with each other, and telling others about it. But it's not the only thing. The struggle of life in our fallen world is also real. We all experience it - even Christians. And the fact that Jesus is right there with us through the dark or hard times is just as much a miracle as the dramatically changed life, and that too is worthy of our sermons, prayers, and conversations.

Both the world and Jesus (see: Jesus, thoughts on pharisees) have little use for a people who pretend to have it all together because they worship the right way or have the right religion. What Jesus and the world are both looking for are real people, genuine in their witness and faith to who Jesus is, and to the difference he makes in our lives - including his presence during the times we feel lost at sea.

So, how seaworthy do you feel right now?

She, shis, and shim

Totally stealing this off of someone else's blog because it's that good.

One of the side-effects of learning Spanish over the last 2 1/2 years, and spending a lot of time with folks who know little english, is that I've come to the full realization how ridiculous the english language actually is - especially when it comes to spelling. Now my wife will tell you I'm not much of an accomplished speller, but it took taking the effort to learn Spanish to realize why. Anyhow, whoever wrote this poem did a great job pointing out how impossible learning to spell english must feel like.

THE POEM
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

Xacabeo 2010 and La Fuente en Ligonde

2010 is the next holy year for the Camino, which occurs when St. James' birthday falls on a Sunday. It is a special year with a special name, the Xacobeo. Among other things, there is a special door in the cathedral in Santiago that is only open during these holy years. All that to say, it's a unique time, and the numbers of pilgrims explode during these years.

In case you didn't know 2010 is right around the corner, and I was just notified of these two videos posted by the Xacabeo organization. The first is simply beautiful. It's like a moving-picture wordless photo essay that captures some of the magic and mystery that many pilgrims are searching for on the camino. It is cool to watch, but I must say that it feels way more relaxing than I remember my short camino.

The second video is of La Fuente del Peregrino in Ligonde - this is one of two evangelical/protestant hostels that we know of on the camino. It is owned and run by Agape - the Spanish branch of Campus Crusade for Christ. We had the pleasure of visiting the hostel with the kids in September to see the albergue and meet some of the staff that organize the ministry there. It is a very neat place that they have, and our vision for a hostel in Santiago is very similar to what they are already doing in Ligonde.

Would you hike this?

El Caminito del Rey. I believe that is translated as "The Crazy Way." Just kidding - it's actually translated "The King's little pathway." At any rate, this is a pretty amazing video. This has really nothing to do at all with the Camino that ends in Santiago. Except perhaps that they both are in Spain, and share the word 'Camino.'

If you want to learn more you can here at Wikipedia.

So it's been 4 months...

Ok - great way to keep readers coming right? Blog once every 4 months. We had a busy summer, highlighted by a successful 10 week visit to the states. It's not that I don't have stuff to blog about. It's just I havn't been taking the time to do so.

Like for instance, I could blog about how today is the 8 year anniversary of 9/11. I could review my memories of the day and try to come up with a serious, solemn, appropriate, and thoughtful comment about it. But I think that's both beyond me today, and being done in far better ways by people far more talented than I am.

I did drop the all-important recommendation below for Owl City today.

At any rate, it's my intention to be a more proactive blogger. I'm in a couple of good books that should give more fodder.

Stay tuned!

Buy this album

C'mon. You won't regret it!

Just go on out to iTunes and click buy. This is one of my favorite finds of the last several years. I havn't enjoyed a discovery like this since Hem, or maybe Sufjan.

Simply put, this is happy music. It's joyful. It's playful. It puts you in a good mood, and makes you want to dance like a 3 year old.

You can watch a video here (for some reason, Youtube removed the embed option).

I discovered Owl City (just one guy from MN, actually - some city) via iTunes song of the week - by far the best lead iTunes has ever given me.

Would Jesus make a good lifeguard?

About a month ago I was musing about things Jesus says that don't sound like he would say them.

In general, I've been rediscovering how hard, challenging, confusing, and seemingly random Jesus can be.  Because of this I've started to read Robert Farrar Capon's book Kingdom, Grace, Judgment:  Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus.  I'm only a few chapters in, but it is promising to be a really good and thought provoking book. 

He had this to say about the Jesus presented in the Bible: 

The New Testament proclaims an unlikely Savior.  The work of Jesus in his incarnation, life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension makes no worldly sense at all.  The portrait the Gospels paint is that of a lifeguard who leaps into the surf, swims to the drowning girl, and then, instead of doing a cross-chest carry, drowns with her, revives three days later, and walks off the beach with assurances that everything including the apparently still-dead girl, is hunky-dory. 

What a great way to explain how upside-down God's plan seems to us.

Jon Troast redefines the "Intimate Show."

Our friend Jon Troast (he's almost family - I think we need to coin a term for 'my cousin's brother-in-law) is doing something that is adventurous, enterprising, and just plain cool.  

See, Jon is a musician who does most of his concerts in living rooms.  For $100 dollars you can have Jon give a one hour concert in your living room and invite some of your friends (or people you'd like to become your friends!).  That in and of itself is pretty cool.  But right now, he's doing 100 concerts in 100 days as he drives around the country.  You can get a sample of how it might look by watching this bit from youtube:

I've found 6 of these 8-or-so minute montages of his tour on youtube.  You can also check out his website here, or his myspace page...

My parents and sister hosted Jon for a concert last year, and they enjoyed it.  We couldn't make it for obvious reasons.  My personal two cents is that this is a really fantastic experience, and a great way for folks to come together and enjoy the magic of music and community together.  I wish him the best of luck.  If you are looking for something unique to do with your friends, check him out.  You can contact him through his site above.  I'm not aware that he has any plans for a European tour, but if he does, he'd have a stop in La Coruña.  

Oh yeah, his music's pretty good too :-)  You can sample it as he's giving away a free download every week on his site.  If you are interested you can find his 5 albums on iTunes, among other retailers.  

Pilgrim Life

A friend sent me a link to a blog that contained this video.  In addition to watching the video, read the blog for a different take (two friends hiked: one made the video, the other wrote the blog).  It's a nice concise description of the camino experience.

I have only walked 6 days myself - but watching and reading this certainly excites me to walk the whole thing someday (I just made the observation to Faith that it will likely not be until we're into our late 40's or 50's before we'll get to hike the whole thing together).  

While it is a nice window into the pilgrim experience, I hope that you find it a reminder that it is not necessary to walk the camino to live life as a pilgrim.  Life is a journey - slow down and enjoy it.

Inspired Biking

Color me impressed!

Magical Exhibition

Wednesday nite Faith and I had the privilege of attending the inaugural night of a friend's art exhibit. Our friend from church, Luis Guillermo Guerra Aguilera (Lucho for short), is a talented watercolor painter. Originally from Chile, he has been living in Galicia for a number of years, painting primarily in and around one of our favorite spots - Finisterre (Fisterra in Gallego - translated 'end of the earth'). The event was held in a very fancy social club in Coruña. We enjoyed the chance to get dressed up and go out without the kids. The night consisted of a short but mesmerizing concert by a accordion player. We then heard several people speak, including a friend who helped him coordinate the event, one of the club members who knows Lucho and helped organize the event with the club, a short blessing from the pastor of our church, Roberto, and then some words from the artist himself. After that we had about an hour to mix, nibble on some appetizers, drink a little champagne, and most rewardingly, take in some 40 or more of Lucho's paintings. We've known him for most of our time here, and seen just a few small samples of his work. It was a blessing to see his talent on display. I also really enjoyed hearing him as the artist give praise to the Lord. It was a fun and refreshing night.

If you read Spanish, you can read a short interview with him in a local paper.

We did take a handful of pictures as well. If you click on the slideshow below, you can view them in larger formats on the picasa website, as well as see my comments.

That doesn't sound like Jesus...

"In the middle of the last century the British writer C.S. Lewis got it shockingly right:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left this open to us. He did not intend to.

In other words, Jesus will not be domesticated. But people still try. There seems to be something about this man for everybody. So we pick and choose in a way that shows he is on our side. All over the world, having Jesus on your side is a good thing. But not the original, undomesticated, unadjusted Jesus. Just the revised Jesus that fits our religion or political platform or lifestyle."

This quote is from John Piper's book Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. It caught my attention as I had been thinking and experiencing this theme recently as I read through Mark. After thousands of years of Christians reading the gospels collectively, and for the countless times I've read or heard the gospel stories over my own life, Jesus still remains surprising and catches us (and me) off guard. Have you ever read something in the gospels and thought, "That doesn't sound like something Jesus would say."? When that happens, it's an indication of how we are relating to Jesus. Too often I've been in the boat of trying to fit Jesus into my worldview rather than trying to adjust my worldview to Jesus. May Jesus continue to surprise us all.

Everything is possible

I love it when I encounter something in the Bible I havn't recognized or considered before.  I was reading in Mark chapter 9 today when I was really struck by a voice that just resonated as familiar to me.  

Setting the stage a little, Jesus was returning from the Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John to discover the other disciples in the midst of a crowd arguing with the teachers of the law.  (Side note: we are told that "as soon as" the crowd recognized Jesus they were "overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him."  Nobody seems to ignite a response like Jesus.)  At the center of it all was a father who brought his demon possessed boy and asked the disciples to throw it out.  They couldn't, and this verbal melee ensued, attracting the attention of a growing crowd.  You can almost hear Jesus sigh and roll his eyes as he says "Oh unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you?  How long shall I put up with you?"  It struck me today how publicly he expressed his frustration with the disciples.  He sounds like an exasperated parent or teacher.  In my imagination this is directed mostly at the disciples, but it certainly could have applied to the entire crowd.  

Jesus asks for the boy and learns from the father that since childhood the demon has been throwing the boy to the ground with convulsions, gnashing of teeth, foaming at the mouth, and he becomes rigid.  What is more, the father says the demon frequently throws the boy into fire and water trying to kill him.  Can you imagine how tired and frustrated the father must have felt in the situation?  He must have felt exhausted, helpless, and hopeless.  Perhaps not completely hopeless, for he had come to the disciples looking for some relief.  But even that resulted in yet another disappointment when they could not do anything for his son, and instead, an argument broke out with the teachers of the law.  

This is the situation that Jesus walks into, and the father says to Jesus, "If you can do anything, take pity on us, and help us."  I find it interesting that in his exasperation, the request is not only to heal the son, but to help "us."  Because the suffering is not the son's alone.  Jesus' response is one that I think I would often expect from the one who created the universe, but I don't feel like we often see in Jesus.  He repeats back to the father what he had said, "If you can?"  In our culture you expect that to be spoken with incredulousness, or perhaps some mocking.  If you can??  Ha!  You don't believe I can??  I won't pretend to know what was going through Jesus' mind.  But I know that I am tempted to respond with some self-righteous defensive lecture when my ability is questioned.  But whatever prompted Jesus to repeat that phrase, he continues simply saying "everything is possible for him who believes."  

It's the father's response that sounded so familiar and hit so close to home.  His response is immediate and instantaneous, as well as desperate, eager, and contradictory.  "I do believe; help me with my unbelief!"  He does believe, he desires to believe, he so badly needs to believe.  But he needs help to get there too.  I'm pretty sure this is where so many of us often find ourselves.  In places of need, with hope and fear, faith and doubt, wanting help, and needing Jesus to show up and help us to even make healing possible.  

 I know for me it is easy at times to feel small and helpless, overwhelmed either by circumstances, or a task before me.  I know in my head God is able to do all, and be all we need.  But that knowledge is always within a context of hope and fear, and faith and doubt.  Like the father, I somehow can both believe and yet need help to get over my unbelief.  

It's interesting that the bible never follows up to share with us how the father responded to Jesus casting out the demon (if you didn't suspect this ended with Jesus casting out the demon, you can rest easy now).  That omission allowed me to take some time and reflect on my own response to Jesus bridging the gap between the two of us to act in my own life. 

Thank you Jesus that your love, faith, and power are all greater than my own shortcomings.  Continue to grow my faith to help me overcome my unbelief and strengthen my belief.  Thank you for caring.  Thank you for being involved.  All I could ever hope to become is totally dependent on you.  

Carefully laughter please!!

I discovered the website engrish.com via a friend last week.  It is hands down one of the funniest things I've come across in a while.  They simply post pictures of poorly translated signs from asia (mostly China and Japan).  Faith is slightly offended yet still laughs when she sees these.  I understand her skittishness, but she understands that they are also hilarious.  This site brought some much-needed tears of laughter to me.  I hope you enjoy it too.  The best ones are found through the link Most Popular Engrish - although there are sure to be gems found all throughout the site. 

A year in pictures

At the end of 2007 I enjoyed very much creating a review of our year using pictures.  I started the same project again at the end of 2008, but am only now finishing it.  Many of these pictures have found their way into other blog postings, and most, if not all, are on facebook.  But I hope you enjoy seeing them here, in the context of a year in our life.  

Indestructible Joy

Consider joy for a moment.  How much joy do you have in your life?  How many people do you know would describe you as joyful?  I imagine that many people are like me - I have moments of joy for sure, and in general live satisfied with the moment.  I'm not sure how much joy I would say I experience on a daily basis, and I'm not sure anyone would describe me to someone who doesn't know me as joyful.  I find that it is far easier me to understand, access, and live in the peace that Christ gives than in the joy we are to have when Christ lives in us.  It's a them I've visited at various times in my life.  I'm not great at answers - the only one I can come up with is that in the end, I still need more of Jesus.  

Today's musings were prompted by a chapter in the book Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper.  I read the chapter today about indestructible joy, and I want to share some of his insights. 

"Salvation is not mainly for the forgiveness of sins, but mainly the fellowship of Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:9).  Forgiveness gets everything out of the way so this can happen.  If this fellowship is not all-satisfying, there is no great salvation.  If Christ is gloomy, or even calmly stoical, eternity will be a long, long sigh."

This simple thought struck me because for much of my young christian life I imagined heaven as not being all that exciting of a place.  It wasn't until I experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in communal repentance and worship during a revival that I finally understood the purpose of eternity with Christ.  

Piper made some other points about how from eternity Jesus has been the mirror of God's infinite mirth and about Jesus being the happiest being in the universe.  This is not often the way that we think of Jesus - and I think this is true of Christians as much as those who don't claim Jesus.  He then points out how this joy was not some pie in the sky joy that ignores the pain and suffering that exists in our world.  Jesus was, after all, "a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief" according to Isaiah.  Piper states that "Indomitable joy does not mean there is only joy."  Jesus was complex, but not confused, and that "There were divergent notes in the music of his soul, but the result was a symphony."  

It's been a long time since I've connected with a pre-written prayer, but the prayer Piper wrote at the end of this chapter was pertinent enough to me, I'd like to copy the prayer in it's entirety for the benefit of others.  

"Father, it is a great comfort to us that you and your son are never glib and never gloomy.  We delight in the truth that you can be infinitely happy without being callous to our pain.  We stand in wonder that the light of Jesus' joy makes a rainbow in the tears on his face.  We long to be like this.  We want to be strong and unshakable in the joy of our faith.  But we don't want to be oblivious to the grievousness of our own sin or the pain of other people's distress.  O God, fulfill in us the purpose of your Son in promising that his joy would be in us and that our joy would be full.  Make the fruit of the Spirit - joy - flourish in our lives.  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad in you.  Waken our slumbering souls from the sleep of listlessness.  Take away the lukewarmness of our hearts.  Fan the flame  of zeal for the glory of your name.  May Christ so dwell in our hearts with his indestructible joy that day by day we are conformed more and more to his glad image.  And so may we be a place of refuge and eternal refreshment for a hopeless, joy-seeking world of people who do not know they are starved for the glory of gladness of God in Jesus Christ.  In his name we pray, amen."

So clearly I'm either too busy or too lazy to try and post something that might actually be thoughtful.  So if you come to my blog for deep stuff, you might be disappointed.  However, if you like to see cool videos and hear cool new music, this post's for you. 

I made my annual post-christmas iTunes binge, and one of my new discoveries is a guy/band that goes by the name City and Colour.  And really, don't we all like to add superfluous vowels to our words and call it British?  

I don't often share music videos as I'm not often impressed by them.  But I really was impressed by this one.  The song is also one of the best ones on a good album.  Enjoy.

Sleeping Sickness

Star Wars as you've never seen it

It's been a while since I've posted a silly video.  This one was too funny to pass up.  Enjoy.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

"You have been king of my glory, won't be my prince of peace"

Phil Keaggy is one of my (many) favorite artists and musicians. And not because I listen to him every day (I don't), and not because I try to see every possible concert I can (also don't). It is because every time I DO listen to his music, and every time I DO see him in concert, it is special. There is nothing like listing to true musical genius.

The last time I saw Phil in concert was some years ago at an intimate show at my brother's church. He closed the show out with one of Rich Mullin's (many) best songs - Hold Me Jesus. Rich is also one of my (many) favorite artists and musicians. Tragically, he died in a car accident some years ago. Phil's version was warm, magical, and unforgettable. I still harbor hopes that it will make an appearance in one of Phils future studio recordings.

This is why I was excited to discover this on YouTube today: