I've become convinced that there is a story in and behind everything. People become who they are through their experiences in life, and experiences are just stories. Books are written because a story that changed someone so much that they just had to write about it. I guess you could say that's why I'm writing this blog, and why Henri Nouwen wrote "Returning to the Prodigal Son."
I recently finished this book. I planned on reading it throughout this Lent season, because it was a book about homecoming. I figured it was fitting. But I honestly just couldn't wait all Lent season to finish this book. I finished it within a week. The book takes the story of the prodigal son, a parable that Jesus told when questioned on why he associated with the sinners and tax collectors, and the magnificent illustration of this parable that Rembrandt painted, and fleshes it out into three main points: the prodigal son, the elder son, and the father. I hope to be able to concisely explain what he had to say while adding some of my own input into this book. This blog is probably more for me than any reader, but I hope you can get something out of it too.
First, Nouwen delves into what the youngest son represents in the parable. The youngest son represents all those who leave home to find worth, value, and satisfaction outside of need for God. We all have done this in one way or the other, and some have done it more blatantly than others. For instance, we've all heard of those family members or friends who, at one point, were alcoholics or drug abusers or murderers or put in jail for some other reason that is so highly looked down upon. This is essentially what the youngest son in the story did. However, after wasting his life away for so long, he realized that it only brought upon pain and sorrow (when he goes to work at a pig farm). Suddenly, the son realizes that if he could go back home and simply be considered a servant, he would be better off than he was at present. Many people who fall so far away from God realize their need for it in an extremely pure sense and run back to God wholeheartedly, hoping for some kind of second chance. As the story finishes, the father not only accepts the son, but he accepts him back as a son and does so with great festivities, giving the son so much more than he could ever dream of deserving.
The younger son is considered to be the center of the story, and the eldest son is commonly looked over. However, there are many elder sons in this world. The elder son stays home and technically does all of the right things. But here in lies the mystery. Somehow it seems to be harder to accept the Love of God when you stay home. You continually do the right thing, and then when the ones who haven't done the right things return, they get so much more at once than you think you have ever received, and you fill yourself with resentment. Toward the end of this parable, the father says to the eldest son, "Everything I have is yours." This is a promise that Christians receive, and have trouble accepting. We can take full advantage of this opportunity and so often deny it because we feel that God is calling us to live a good life without His help. This is simply not true. If we realize that we are just as broken as the prodigal sons, we will realize that we have no chance of living the right life without letting God take full control of our lives. See, the issue is not loving God, but letting God love you. At the end of the story, the son is asked to come in and join the party, and it is never revealed whether or not he does. This, I believe, is because that decision is left up to us in life. Our stories coincide with this story more than we can imagine.
But the true main character is the father. The only reason this story is so capturing, so intriguing, so whole is because the father has an unreal love. A supernatural love. He puts up with so much frustration and rejection from both of his sons, and never lashes back. This father is clearly the God figure of the story. God always accepts, always redeems, always puts on parties that are bigger than the subject of the party deserves. In the story, Jesus tells of how the father ran out to the prodigal son when he came home and how when the eldest son wouldn't come inside he went out to attempt to convince the eldest to come in and join the party. Not only does God love us unconditionally, but he WANTS to love us unconditionally. So badly, in fact, that he runs to us, pleads with us, begs us to accept what He offers. He doesn't have to, but he does. This love, like I said earlier, is harder than we think to accept. Think about it, no one else in the world can even come close to loving you that much. It's so different and so outside of us that we literally have to lose control of ourselves to accept that kind of love. We have to be willing to give up our sins, our way of life, and stop desiring for simply a servanthood under God, and accept the full dignity of a sonship under God. This is what the Father offers us, and we have to work towards accepting it.
Although these three points can define our position and God's position in the story of life, there is still one more issue to be discussed. It is simply what our calling as God's people is to be. If you didn't know, sons have fathers. A fathers job is to train up his child. Specifically, his father is to set an example to the son of how to be a father. God has given us an example through the Word (Jesus, the Bible, the Holy Spirit), in order for us to become fathers as well. We need to both accept God's love as well as give God's love. Of course, this is not possible without the help of God, but it's something that we should always be working towards. In my opinion, this should be our number one goal in life. We don't have to have all the answers to the philosophical questions, or the theological questions, or the political or sociological or apologetic or any other question that could be asked. The answers to those are irrelevant without the Love of God. If our focus is not to accept God's love and to give God's love, than we've lost sight of who God is. God is love. And we're called to become fathers after realizing that we are sons.
In short, I really suggest that you go and read the story of the prodigal son, then find an image of Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son", and finally go find a copy of Henri Nouwen's "Returning to the Prodigal Son". Realize that God's love is for everyone, and to overtake everyone.
I hope your day is going great!
Much love,
Sam
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Folk Music
These days there are three major genres of music: Classical, Pop... and the least famous- Folk. All three of these music genres have their pros and cons. I'll take a second to explain:
Classical music does this thing to people where they go into a different world. It's literally meditation music. It does great things and it's been proven to breed smarter people if you listen to it. Funny how that happens. Classical is an extremely individualistic genre of music. The composers didn't focus so much on their situations as they did their actual emotions. Their compositions weren't written based on their situation but more the emotion that evolved out of the situation itself. Which is one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, Classical music has withstood so much time. Unfortunately, the fact that it's so individualistic and intellectual means that it sometimes creates an unhealthy egotism within the "classical stiffs" community. Nevertheless, I still highly advocate for listening to Classical music.
Secondly, there is the infamous Pop music. This style is more straightforward than all three of them. Most people point out the cliche cons of this music. It's shallow lyrically, musically, stylistically, and emotionally. Sure, those may apply. However, there's some good to it. Let's face it, pop music today will be what defines our culture tomorrow. That in itself may not be a good thing, but I do believe having such a defined style of music to describe a culture is a good thing. We look back on the 60s and 70s and their pop music talked about peace a lot. Funny how the Hippy movement came out of that time period. Pop music is naked. It isn't hiding anything. It's open and honest about the ideals of a culture. I hope that gives you incentive to make steps toward changing the ideals of our culture. But enough of my agenda ;)
Lastly, there is the genre of Folk music. This could be categorized under pop as well, but there are differences that make Folk and Pop two different genres. I'll be honest, I favor this genre over the other two. Folk music began long long ago when people would gather around a campfire and sing songs about the hardships and the joy that they were experiencing as a group. Keyword: Group. This music is not individualistic. It expresses ideals of a group, society, or culture. Sounds like Pop, right? The difference is- Folk music has a way of bringing people together that Pop music can't accomplish. I guess I haven't necessarily figured that distinction out yet, but it's a trend that I've noticed. Which is why Folk music has existed for such a long time and Pop music hasn't. Of course, Folk music has it's flaws as well. It's musicality is not always the most complex, it doesn't always provide the imagery that Classical music can provide, and so on. There are pros and cons alike in this genre as well.
So why do I favor Folk over all the other genres? It really all brings me back to one of my favorite things about music. Experiencing it with people. As a musician, the best feeling in the world is playing music for people. No, it's experiencing it with them. I'm just on a different end of the experience. Folk music has the mystery of pulling people together. It always appeals to the young and old and doesn't stop until it's made a mark in everyones' spirit.
This explanation of these three genres is brief and incomplete for two reasons, 1. A proper explanation would be extremely long and more importantly 2. I haven't experienced, thought out, or heard enough music to give the proper explanation. These are my thoughts, they're all I really have at this point. Keep listening.
Classical music does this thing to people where they go into a different world. It's literally meditation music. It does great things and it's been proven to breed smarter people if you listen to it. Funny how that happens. Classical is an extremely individualistic genre of music. The composers didn't focus so much on their situations as they did their actual emotions. Their compositions weren't written based on their situation but more the emotion that evolved out of the situation itself. Which is one of the main reasons why, in my opinion, Classical music has withstood so much time. Unfortunately, the fact that it's so individualistic and intellectual means that it sometimes creates an unhealthy egotism within the "classical stiffs" community. Nevertheless, I still highly advocate for listening to Classical music.
Secondly, there is the infamous Pop music. This style is more straightforward than all three of them. Most people point out the cliche cons of this music. It's shallow lyrically, musically, stylistically, and emotionally. Sure, those may apply. However, there's some good to it. Let's face it, pop music today will be what defines our culture tomorrow. That in itself may not be a good thing, but I do believe having such a defined style of music to describe a culture is a good thing. We look back on the 60s and 70s and their pop music talked about peace a lot. Funny how the Hippy movement came out of that time period. Pop music is naked. It isn't hiding anything. It's open and honest about the ideals of a culture. I hope that gives you incentive to make steps toward changing the ideals of our culture. But enough of my agenda ;)
Lastly, there is the genre of Folk music. This could be categorized under pop as well, but there are differences that make Folk and Pop two different genres. I'll be honest, I favor this genre over the other two. Folk music began long long ago when people would gather around a campfire and sing songs about the hardships and the joy that they were experiencing as a group. Keyword: Group. This music is not individualistic. It expresses ideals of a group, society, or culture. Sounds like Pop, right? The difference is- Folk music has a way of bringing people together that Pop music can't accomplish. I guess I haven't necessarily figured that distinction out yet, but it's a trend that I've noticed. Which is why Folk music has existed for such a long time and Pop music hasn't. Of course, Folk music has it's flaws as well. It's musicality is not always the most complex, it doesn't always provide the imagery that Classical music can provide, and so on. There are pros and cons alike in this genre as well.
So why do I favor Folk over all the other genres? It really all brings me back to one of my favorite things about music. Experiencing it with people. As a musician, the best feeling in the world is playing music for people. No, it's experiencing it with them. I'm just on a different end of the experience. Folk music has the mystery of pulling people together. It always appeals to the young and old and doesn't stop until it's made a mark in everyones' spirit.
This explanation of these three genres is brief and incomplete for two reasons, 1. A proper explanation would be extremely long and more importantly 2. I haven't experienced, thought out, or heard enough music to give the proper explanation. These are my thoughts, they're all I really have at this point. Keep listening.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
The Big Picture
I think one of the best things someone can do for themselves is to take a step back and look at the big picture. Too often we get caught up in little insignificant situations that can ultimately alter our character or perspective in an unhealthy way. Of course, it's not just as simple as 'taking a step back'. There's a lot to it. But it seems like the journey we walk through in life has a few spots that arise in which we're granted the chance to easily look at things from a big picture. I like to think that the New Year is a good place to look at things from a big picture. It helps us think of the year ahead of us and the year behind us and count our blessings and look at what needs to be fixed.
So at this point, a question may become relevant. What's the point in looking big picture? Well I think there are a couple reasons. First of all, the big picture is not the little picture. Although life is complicated and is filled with little things that add up to a lot, sometimes people begin to think that those little things are everything... Literally. This doesn't just happen as a child or a teenager, but is something that is written over all stages of life. Adults get caught up in the way their lawns or houses looks. Teenagers get caught up with probably the dumbest stuff. Trust me, I know from being one. I constantly get caught up with little drama within relationships or arguments that stem from school or something of the sort. For children, they are constantly thinking of things little picture because mostly everything is little picture for them. They're too young to see things from a bigger perspective. But the point of all of this is that if we constantly get stuck in the little things, we'll never get to the big things. Our impact becomes bigger if we can think bigger. There are countless examples of people who grow up after high school and don't make lives for themselves because they were too caught up in the little insignificant things of their past experiences. Sometimes we just need to move on. And looking at the big picture can help with that.
The view just posed is a very antagonistic view with probably many flaws in it, but I wanted to bring it to attention because noticing what is big picture and what is small picture is, in my opinion, important. But to raise a point that I think is more relevant is this: God thinks big picture. I'm not talking a year big or even a decade big, I'm saying He thinks your whole life big. He thinks the whole story of humanity big. If we are to believe that we as humans need to understand God and know Him, then it would make sense to be able to gain a small- very small at that- portion of the way he thinks within perspective to a time frame. Sometimes our decisions need to be based on what's good for something that will happen ten years down the road, or maybe it will never be good for us but it will be good for someone else. Also, when we ask God for something, it may not come for an extremely long time. Waiting and patience is virtue because God thinks big picture. He can see the whole map and we only see a small province. To capture this is to be okay with the way things are. After all, godliness with contentedness is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). Gaining God's perspective is monumental. But it could take a lifetime. I wouldn't know, because I just started.
To condense this thought, I challenge you to take advantage of this new year and count your blessings. Be thankful for all that you have. It's your time to be retrospective. Continue to appreciate the little things and realize they're all for the bigger plan that is for the greater good. Don't forget to realize that your life isn't perfect and that there's things that need to be changed, but it's also extremely important to keep positive perspective. This whole post has been about perspective with regard to a time frame. But perspective with regard to positivity versus negativity is a whole other story. That's for another time. For now, realize that God has gifted all of us. We all have something to be thankful for. In the big scheme of things, we're just another person that has a role in the Creator's story of humanity. You have the choice to play a good part. And taking a step back and looking at your part can help you determine the outcome of your role.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Ordinary
It's been wayyy too long since I've blogged. But sometimes my complete lack of inspiration prohibits me for fear I have nothing worth saying. However, today I feel the need to say something. So here I go.
On the way to Springfield, Ohio today, I was listening to a sermon by a preacher from Mars Hill Bible Church. Mars Hill is a church in Michigan which was lead by Rob Bell until he recently announced he was leaving. This message wasn't given by Rob, though. It was one of his teaching pastors. The man was preaching on 1 John 5:11. The hour long message was extremely detailed and explored the ideas of water and blood used in the Bible and how they relate to God. The conclusion was that blood represented suffering and hardships and even death and water represented life and rebirth. For instance, Jesus' ministry began with his being baptized in water and ended with being tortured and bloodily crucified on the cross. This trend shows up all over the Bible.
Of course, the guy didn't just talk the whole time about these trends. He had to make a point somewhere about how it pertains to humanity today in any way. Besides, what's history without a present purpose today? The guy's point was that life and death, happiness and suffering are all part of our lives and the life of Jesus. Suffering. Pain. Confusion... Reality. All of these are incorporated in a humans life. Every human. Even Jesus. The guy talked about how at one point, Mary and Joseph had to teach Jesus, the Son of God, what 2+2 equaled. He didn't just have that figured out.
You see, as humans today, we're always looking for the super-real. We hate reality. Who can blame us when bombs are falling, consumerism is buzzing all through the world, and the only thing we know how to talk about anymore is the presidential election? We don't like embracing the fact that Jesus was fully human. This influence began with the heresy of Gnosticism in the early church that believed Jesus was not actually a man but a spirit that looked to be a man. Of course, Christians today don't really go that far, but they seem to desire it.
So to get to the point. The reality of suffering and pain and all that bad stuff needs to be embraced by God's people, because it can bring us closer to Him. We need to realize that it's going to happen but embrace it and trust that God is looking after us. Most of this pops up in the every day, ordinary life where we stub our toes, get bad grades, get laid off. All of this is sad, but it isn't the point of life. Those things shouldn't define who we are. If we embrace the everyday life and realize Who we're following and why we're following Him, I'm sure we'll be more understanding when crap hits the fan.
Life happens. And we decide how we perceive it. After all, the way we look at life is the way our life is determined. Sometimes we may not choose for bad things to happen, but we do choose how to react. Next time something frustrating happens, question whether it's worth freaking out about and realize that there's a God who cares about you and wants the best for you. You live and you learn. Jesus did.
On the way to Springfield, Ohio today, I was listening to a sermon by a preacher from Mars Hill Bible Church. Mars Hill is a church in Michigan which was lead by Rob Bell until he recently announced he was leaving. This message wasn't given by Rob, though. It was one of his teaching pastors. The man was preaching on 1 John 5:11. The hour long message was extremely detailed and explored the ideas of water and blood used in the Bible and how they relate to God. The conclusion was that blood represented suffering and hardships and even death and water represented life and rebirth. For instance, Jesus' ministry began with his being baptized in water and ended with being tortured and bloodily crucified on the cross. This trend shows up all over the Bible.
Of course, the guy didn't just talk the whole time about these trends. He had to make a point somewhere about how it pertains to humanity today in any way. Besides, what's history without a present purpose today? The guy's point was that life and death, happiness and suffering are all part of our lives and the life of Jesus. Suffering. Pain. Confusion... Reality. All of these are incorporated in a humans life. Every human. Even Jesus. The guy talked about how at one point, Mary and Joseph had to teach Jesus, the Son of God, what 2+2 equaled. He didn't just have that figured out.
You see, as humans today, we're always looking for the super-real. We hate reality. Who can blame us when bombs are falling, consumerism is buzzing all through the world, and the only thing we know how to talk about anymore is the presidential election? We don't like embracing the fact that Jesus was fully human. This influence began with the heresy of Gnosticism in the early church that believed Jesus was not actually a man but a spirit that looked to be a man. Of course, Christians today don't really go that far, but they seem to desire it.
So to get to the point. The reality of suffering and pain and all that bad stuff needs to be embraced by God's people, because it can bring us closer to Him. We need to realize that it's going to happen but embrace it and trust that God is looking after us. Most of this pops up in the every day, ordinary life where we stub our toes, get bad grades, get laid off. All of this is sad, but it isn't the point of life. Those things shouldn't define who we are. If we embrace the everyday life and realize Who we're following and why we're following Him, I'm sure we'll be more understanding when crap hits the fan.
Life happens. And we decide how we perceive it. After all, the way we look at life is the way our life is determined. Sometimes we may not choose for bad things to happen, but we do choose how to react. Next time something frustrating happens, question whether it's worth freaking out about and realize that there's a God who cares about you and wants the best for you. You live and you learn. Jesus did.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Life As I Never Thought I'd Know It.
Music defines a lot of things, right? Moods, expressions, and messages. I always listen to music whenever I write a new blog. I listen to a lot, play a lot, analyze a lot. It's a big part of me.
This past weekend Caleb, my brother, and I's band, Prima Luce, played our first show as a band. We had our best friends from Georgia fly in to play with us. Our lifelong friend opened the show with his band, Land&Sea. We played it at the place that's changed me more than anywhere else, The Avenue at Ginghamsburg Church. Doesn't get much better than that. The whole thing went perfectly.
While I was playing I was thinking about what I thought about the audience. It was different because I am usually the audience. I gained a new perspective that night though. I think more of the people listening as just being a part of the experience. No matter if you're playing or listening, you're taking part in the art that's being displayed at the time. That's why band's appreciate their fans so much. Experiencing art is always better with people who understand. Fan's usually understand part of the music; it's why they listen to it.
To put it simply, I'm ready to play more, write more, and listen more.
While all of that was going on, I was deciding who to write a speech on for competition this year. Sure enough, it ended up being a musician. Potentially one of the best of last century. John Lennon. I've always loved The Beatles but was never obsessed with one in particular. Caleb, on the other, has always loved John Lennon. This was my chance to get to know The Beatles and John Lennon more.
I'm getting somewhere, I promise. But before I make my point- another example. I'm taking a Western Cultural History class in school these days. We're studying fine arts, and how to define "good" art and "bad" art. One of the books we're reading is State of The Arts by Veith. I'll admit, I don't agree with most of what he has to say. But there's a lot of good that's come out of me reading it. It challenges me to not only know why I disagree, but create firm opinions of what I do agree with.
Now, to the point. All of this adds up to ideas about art. It changes people. It changes beliefs and opinions. I'm learning things most people don't know about the artists themselves. John Lennon's really interesting, you should go look up some Bio's of him and get to know his personality more. I guess if someone asked me right now what I was learning I'd have to say that it's the idea that art is everywhere, art is in all of us, and we should use it. We can use it for so much good. I want my music to change people. If it's so bad that people realize what good music is because they contrast it, then so be it (but I really hope that doesn't happen).
I'll close with a quick idea about art: Art is an expression. Because of this, it's always portraying a message. So the point of art is the message being portrayed. It's a way to connect with the message. Look for the message, if it's portrayed well to you, then it's good art. If not, it's probably bad. But only to you. Remember, you have a different perspective than other people. Be open. Be cool.
This past weekend Caleb, my brother, and I's band, Prima Luce, played our first show as a band. We had our best friends from Georgia fly in to play with us. Our lifelong friend opened the show with his band, Land&Sea. We played it at the place that's changed me more than anywhere else, The Avenue at Ginghamsburg Church. Doesn't get much better than that. The whole thing went perfectly.
While I was playing I was thinking about what I thought about the audience. It was different because I am usually the audience. I gained a new perspective that night though. I think more of the people listening as just being a part of the experience. No matter if you're playing or listening, you're taking part in the art that's being displayed at the time. That's why band's appreciate their fans so much. Experiencing art is always better with people who understand. Fan's usually understand part of the music; it's why they listen to it.
To put it simply, I'm ready to play more, write more, and listen more.
While all of that was going on, I was deciding who to write a speech on for competition this year. Sure enough, it ended up being a musician. Potentially one of the best of last century. John Lennon. I've always loved The Beatles but was never obsessed with one in particular. Caleb, on the other, has always loved John Lennon. This was my chance to get to know The Beatles and John Lennon more.
I'm getting somewhere, I promise. But before I make my point- another example. I'm taking a Western Cultural History class in school these days. We're studying fine arts, and how to define "good" art and "bad" art. One of the books we're reading is State of The Arts by Veith. I'll admit, I don't agree with most of what he has to say. But there's a lot of good that's come out of me reading it. It challenges me to not only know why I disagree, but create firm opinions of what I do agree with.
Now, to the point. All of this adds up to ideas about art. It changes people. It changes beliefs and opinions. I'm learning things most people don't know about the artists themselves. John Lennon's really interesting, you should go look up some Bio's of him and get to know his personality more. I guess if someone asked me right now what I was learning I'd have to say that it's the idea that art is everywhere, art is in all of us, and we should use it. We can use it for so much good. I want my music to change people. If it's so bad that people realize what good music is because they contrast it, then so be it (but I really hope that doesn't happen).
I'll close with a quick idea about art: Art is an expression. Because of this, it's always portraying a message. So the point of art is the message being portrayed. It's a way to connect with the message. Look for the message, if it's portrayed well to you, then it's good art. If not, it's probably bad. But only to you. Remember, you have a different perspective than other people. Be open. Be cool.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Thoughts On Faith
Faith is one of those things that's so simple, yet so hard for the human mind to fully understand. Or maybe that's just me.
I'm reading a book right now called Untamed By Alan Hirsch. He's a pastor at a church with his wife and they wrote this book to bring about the idea of Untamed Discipleship. A lot of the talk throughout the book discusses how Jesus lead a life that was extremely unorthodox and, in ways, crazy. For us to be true disciples (which translates to a student or apprentice), we need to work toward following a life after our Teacher. This is key, because when you're listening to a teacher, you're supposed to do what they say because they know what's right. Even when you have no idea what's going on.
One year in school I took a Logic class. One of our assignments over Winter Break was to memorize all of these logical processes. At the time, I had no idea what i was memorizing. It was a bunch of p's and q's and signs that I didn't even recognize. But since it was an assignment, I memorized them. Later on in the year, I started applying the logical processes to my work and it helped so much that I had taken the time to memorize the logical processes earlier in the year.
I'll take this back now to the idea of faith. I guess the best way to describe faith is following something when you don't understand. In school, you may follow a teacher, even if you don't understand, because you have faith that the teacher is educated. The question is, why is it so easy to have faith in your teacher? Usually we believe everything they say. Unless, of course, they're dealing with scientific or political content. But to answer the question, I'd say it's usually because having faith in a teacher usually doesn't cost us much, or sometimes anything. Teacher's have to go to school to teach, so we know they're educated. And we've all grown up believing that listening to a teacher in school is just what you do until you're 18. Because of this we rarely question the way that it is run. But when we read the Bible and listen to Jesus say things like, "Love your enemy" (Matthew 5:44) or to go to the ends of the earth to tell people of Jesus (Matthew 28:19) we get scared because of the price we'd have to pay to actually live that out. In Hebrews 11 we read that faith was clearly what pulled Abraham, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Jacob, Esau, and Rahab all were blessed. It was because they had faith and followed what God commanded them to do.
All of this makes me think about what would happen if we just did things more often. Even stuff that isn't plainly commanded in the Bible. What if instead of denying someone to hang out because you just didn't want to, you accepted. We're lazy sometimes, and apathetic and because of that the world isn't the place it should be. If we really want to be disciples, we have to be untamed, we have to live outside of the box that the world has created for us. It seems like we almost have to convince ourselves that we have to be crazier than really needed in order to pull us out of the hole we're in. Overshoot to hit the target because it's so far away. Go crazy. Be crazy. And do what you preach.
I'm reading a book right now called Untamed By Alan Hirsch. He's a pastor at a church with his wife and they wrote this book to bring about the idea of Untamed Discipleship. A lot of the talk throughout the book discusses how Jesus lead a life that was extremely unorthodox and, in ways, crazy. For us to be true disciples (which translates to a student or apprentice), we need to work toward following a life after our Teacher. This is key, because when you're listening to a teacher, you're supposed to do what they say because they know what's right. Even when you have no idea what's going on.
One year in school I took a Logic class. One of our assignments over Winter Break was to memorize all of these logical processes. At the time, I had no idea what i was memorizing. It was a bunch of p's and q's and signs that I didn't even recognize. But since it was an assignment, I memorized them. Later on in the year, I started applying the logical processes to my work and it helped so much that I had taken the time to memorize the logical processes earlier in the year.
I'll take this back now to the idea of faith. I guess the best way to describe faith is following something when you don't understand. In school, you may follow a teacher, even if you don't understand, because you have faith that the teacher is educated. The question is, why is it so easy to have faith in your teacher? Usually we believe everything they say. Unless, of course, they're dealing with scientific or political content. But to answer the question, I'd say it's usually because having faith in a teacher usually doesn't cost us much, or sometimes anything. Teacher's have to go to school to teach, so we know they're educated. And we've all grown up believing that listening to a teacher in school is just what you do until you're 18. Because of this we rarely question the way that it is run. But when we read the Bible and listen to Jesus say things like, "Love your enemy" (Matthew 5:44) or to go to the ends of the earth to tell people of Jesus (Matthew 28:19) we get scared because of the price we'd have to pay to actually live that out. In Hebrews 11 we read that faith was clearly what pulled Abraham, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Jacob, Esau, and Rahab all were blessed. It was because they had faith and followed what God commanded them to do.
All of this makes me think about what would happen if we just did things more often. Even stuff that isn't plainly commanded in the Bible. What if instead of denying someone to hang out because you just didn't want to, you accepted. We're lazy sometimes, and apathetic and because of that the world isn't the place it should be. If we really want to be disciples, we have to be untamed, we have to live outside of the box that the world has created for us. It seems like we almost have to convince ourselves that we have to be crazier than really needed in order to pull us out of the hole we're in. Overshoot to hit the target because it's so far away. Go crazy. Be crazy. And do what you preach.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
School Year Resolution
So I've decided that this school year I'm going to do my best to blog at least once a week. A "School Year Resolution" if you will. I'm excited. Lately I spend probably too much time on the addicting stumbleupon.com. I think a few blogs may be surrounded by ideas that grow from things I find on the website. Also, I'll just talk about life and what I'm learning. I'm stoked.
Peace
Peace
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