Running

Thank you to the Healthy Body Project on Facebook for this mental image.

As I was jogging last night, this picture kept popping into my head. That's it. Nothing special or spiritual behind it. I thought I would just share a smile today. Toodles!

Jordan

One year ago today, I was here.

I can't believe that it's been a full year since I went to Jordan. I remember most of it like it was yesterday. My favorite memories include:

• Seeing my friends and their daughters for the first time in a year. They were a big part of my life during my first semester in New Orleans. I still miss them. 
• Walking around the shopping area of Amman and people watching.
• Going to Petra. It was stinking hot and I just wanted to collapse and give up near the end of the day, but it was an adventure that I don't regret. Expect for the handsy horse guy. I wish I had kicked him. 
• Standing at the top of Mount Nebo and channeling my inner-Moses. Reading about the end of Moses' life will never be the same. 
• Taking pictures of the sunset from the roof of the apartment building we were staying at during the evening call to prayer.

I loved Jordan and feel like I might be going back there someday. I just hope it's soon.

Beyond Joy

My friend V was baptized tonight! 

V coming out of the water.

V stepping out with the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face.

I met V when I started working for a coffee shop in New Orleans. Our first day working together was kind of rough. Looking back, I probably deserved all the means glares and brisk words she threw at me. But we got along after that. I started praying for V not long after I met her. I had a feeling that God had something in store for her and didn't want to get in the way of that. Even after I got a new job, I kept going to the coffee shop on Sundays to talk to V for a few minutes.

After Easter, I started attending a new church. One Sunday I mentioned to V that I was coming to the coffee shop earlier on Sundays because I changed churches. As I was sitting there doing my homework, she asked about the details. Turns out that she had been thinking about how she needed to start taking her daughter to church. My church's night schedule worked out for her and she promised she would come check it out.

The first night that she came we were meeting in a yoga studio that had air-conditioning problems. Summer in New Orleans is not pleasant without cool air constantly being blown on you. As I sat there V's first night at church in seven years, I knew for sure she was never going to come back. I was committed to the church and I was having a hard time convincing myself to return until they had AC again. I braced myself for her to tell me that she hated it and would never return. But she came back the next Sunday. And the Sunday after that. And then she started asking questions. And then she joined a community group. And then she professed Jesus as Lord. And tonight she got baptized.

V is a new person. Talking to her even feels different than it did a month ago. And it is all God's doing. As I told someone tonight, God is the one who had it out for her. All I did was pray and tell her what time to show up for church.

Pray for V as she starts her new life in Christ. 

Happy (Belated) Anniversary

My parents have been married 30 years this year! 

Today, we are talking about our families of origin in class. Sitting there listening to everyone, I realized how lucky I am to have two wonderful parents. Here are some things I appreciate about them:

• They promised my sister and I very early that they would never get divorced, and they stuck to that promise.
• They made sure that we spent time together as a family. Looking back, those discussion of the dinner table and family vacations have been some of my favorite memories.
• They have both gone above and beyond their parental duties to make sure that I succeed in life.
• They loved me unconditionally, even when I wasn't very loveable (a.k.a. the teenage years). 
• They instilled many traits that I value today: humility, loyalty, confidence, and a sense of humor, just to name a few.

Mom and Dad, I love you and I wish you another wonderful 30 years.

Fantasy vs. Imagination

This week I have been taking a class on worship from a leadership perspective. We've covered everything from how to pray in public to major musical movements of the past two centuries. Even though I've been dreading this class all summer, I have to say that it has been one of my favorite classes in seminary thus far. Since I've been going to this class all day everyday for a week, I think I'll be unpacking all the information I've heard for the next year. At least.

Today, we talked a little about the difference between fantasy and imagination. Maybe I'm not a deep enough thinker, but I've never really sat down to think about the difference. Fantasy is personal. It's what I want for me. The world we live in is good at encouraging and fulfilling fantasies. Cities like Las Vegas base their economy on the human need to fulfill fantasy. Not all fantasies are bad. They can help set goals at times, but a person that spends too much time daydreaming fantasies becomes narcissistic and is generally not a pleasant person to be around.

Imagination, on the other hand, has to do more with society. We imagine how we want things to be, how they should be, how they can be. Imagination put to the test becomes reality. Someone imagined the light bulb and now I can stay up until all hours of the night reading for school (or, more likely, watching TV).

This is the kicker though: not all imagination is good either. There is carnal and sacred imagination. Carnal imagination says something like this: "I will experience as wide of a variety of situations as I can in order to take in every stimulus possible, then I will see what comes out." The problem is that carnal imagination can ultimately lead to the destruction and distortion of beauty. If you've ever walked through an art gallery and seen images that struck you as not quite right, you'll understand what I'm saying. If you've studied the Holocaust, you've seen the very real results of someone's carnal imagination on a global scale.

Sacred imagination, on the other hand, says "I will take in things that are beautiful and good, the things that Jesus would like, and see what happens." This kind of imagination leads to paintings you want to stare at all day, music that moves you to tears, books that you can't seem to put down, and the best solution to problems. The things that come out are things that Jesus would like.

My point? I was sitting there in class wondering about my sacred imagination. If I immersed myself in those things that are beautiful, that honor Christ, whether it be books, music, or that after-school program down the street, what would come out? What solutions to problems would God plant in my imagination?

Understand this: I don't want to turn a blind eye, in the name of focusing on beauty, to the very real problems that surround me. That would be escapism, which is a plague among Christians and ticks God off. But what if we made an effort to take in beautiful things and spend some time with the One who made beauty itself? What divine things would come out?

The Life Lived

What does living life to its fullest mean? I have a sneaking suspicion that it looks different for everyone. Tonight what I've been contemplating is what it looks like for me. Does it mean traveling the world, seeing all the beautiful sights and never really rooting myself in one place? Or does it mean settling down and raising a family, investing my life in a very intimate way in someone else's? Does it even have to be a either/or?

For my parents, for my sister, it looks like the second option. Not that they don't enjoy traveling and experiencing new things, but they are very much grounded in their respective areas, grounded in their own groups of friends. They have definite goals and a clear(ish) picture of how to get there. And I pray and ask if that is where my life is heading, but I don't get an answer. I get a big nothing. Or I get a big "Wait." I like to be prepared. I want to know what life lived to the fullest means for me and feel like I'm going to miss out on it if I don't know what it is ahead of time.

I know that I won't. God has always been too faithful for that to happen. But that doesn't stop the need to know. To search it out. To wonder if my actions are leading to that life well-lived.

Just a passing thought.

Saturday Nothing

I just finished writing a book critique on The Last Word by N.T. Wright. It's a small book that packs a big punch. There's not a page in that book that failed to give me something to think about. To spare you the pain of hearing me try to digest everything here, I'll give you the bottom line. Wright understands the Bible as a story that God works through in order to bring about the redemption of the world. It's a five-act play of creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, and the church, with a special sneak peek for a new play that's starting when this one is over.

The climax of our current story came in the fourth act, Jesus. The climax came during the three day period we're observing right now. Yesterday was Good Friday. Some call it Dark Friday. I choose not to. I call it good because of my favorite bit of imagery: the tearing of the veil in the Temple. God tore the veil because he wanted everyone to have unlimited access to him, not just one priest one day a year. Friday was good because God is now truly with us in every way.

Today is Saturday. My friend Josh has a blog called Saturday Nothing. The title comes from this very day. The day that nothing happened. Jesus was still in the tomb. The disciples were still distraught and trying to figure out what they were going to do now that their Messiah was gone. In my mind, today is the dark day. Today was the day where everything had changed but nobody knew it yet. Hope postponed.

Tomorrow is Resurrection Day. The day when every Christian should not be able to stop smiling. It's the day we found out the story has shifted. A new act has begun. Life will never be the same again.