He sat on a hill,
Watching as the city
shut down.
Traffic lights stop their
green
yellow
red
exchange
and begin another night
of blinking.
He can't get rid of
the sorrow.
His heart aches for the broken,
the homeless,
the beaten,
the lost...
He thinks of the girl
who knows no father's love.
He thinks of the boy
who chases cocaine's release.
He cries out at God in his soul,
"What are you going to do?
Why are you silent?
How can you watch this?"
No voice booms from the sky,
no burning bush,
no still whisper...
Just a heartbreak.
Deep and immense.
He feels the heart of God.
A quiet voice in his soul speaks,
"Don't you think I know?
Don't I feel the pain of my children?
This is my heartache.
Can you bear it?"
The man buckles under the weight,
the pressure,
the pain
of the broken heart of God.
As he sobs he hears his voice
echoing back,
his soul questioning itself.
"What are you going to do?
Why are you silent?
How can you watch this?"
Friday, July 16, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Summer Book Reviews
Well, in addition to teaching, planning/leading trips, going to devos, planning youth parties, and all the other crazy adventures of a youth internship, I have found time in the summer to consume a few books. A quick list:
Searching for God Knows What- Donald Miller
Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry- Doug Fields
Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Audio)- Rob Bell and Don Golden
Velvet Elvis (Audio)- Rob Bell
Contemplative Youth Ministry- Mark Yaconelli
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day- Billy Collins
Nevada- Joshua Porter
The Know-It-All- A. J. Jacobs
Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara- Ernesto Guevara
I've done pretty well, I think, considering the busy-ness of the summer. Now, I'll give my thoughts...
Searching for God Knows What: An interesting book. I won't say that it was my favorite. The author did share a lot of his own personal struggle with faith, but his discussion of stories from the Bible was a bit limited. I'd still recommend it as a good read. It will provoke some thought.
Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry: This book was given to me by Evan (the Bossman). Despite the author being a goober, it was a helpful book. Since I am not a full time minister, a lot of the advice wasn't immediately applicable. I am glad to have been introduced to some of the various stresses and issues of early youth ministry so that I can look ahead.
Jesus Wants to Save Christians and Velvet Elvis: I lump these together because Rob Bell's work tends to have the same effect all the time and it is never old. He takes passages of scripture that I know and applies a new and fascinating meaning to them. He is also not afraid to challenge those parts of our faith that seem to have been hijacked by our culture and twisted away from the original intent of Jesus. He always leaves me analyzing my faith and stretching further and deeper.
Contemplative Youth Ministry: Another Evan pick. I loved this book. My dad's reaction to the title is what makes this book so great. I told him the name of the book and he replied, "Isn't that an oxymoron?" He was joking, of course. However, many people DO view youth ministry that way and that was one of the main thrusts of this book. The author seeks to see youth become more than Christian teens, he wants to guide them to be true Christ-followers. Thus, the job of a youth minister is not to baby-sit and entertain, but to try to practice the presence of Christ that others might come to know him fully.
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day: Just a book of poetry compiled by my favorite poet. I haven't been writing as much poetry as I used to write, but reading it has given me a lot to enjoy and to learn. Now, I have not actually read each poem in the book yet, but I have spent enough time with it for it to earn a place in this entry.
Nevada: A strange, somewhat gruesome, and very thought provoking book. The book is written as a piecing together of many different journal entries, news reports, police logs, etc. Some of the writings are from the perspective of mentally challenged or diseased people. The author does a great job of capturing a unique identity in each entry. The book itself is about Satan coming to earth and leading a revolution. He gives many speeches that expose many of the attitudes and behaviors of our culture that go against God's purpose for our lives. A warning: this book contains very graphic and wicked violence.
The Know-It-All: The best book I've read since The Year of Living Biblically, written by the same author. This book is the record of his experience reading through the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. A. J. Jacobs is hilarious and insightful. He is socially awkward and not afraid to show it. His failed attempts to apply his newfound knowledge remind me of the Friends episode where Joey buys the V section of the encyclopaedia and tries to bring up Mt. Vesuvius in conversation. Also, he peppers the book with enough random facts that you feel like you've joined him for part of the work.
Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara: Don't worry, I'm not turning into one of those Manifesto-quoting, Communism supporting, Che-shirt wearing weirdos. I watched The Motorcycle Diaries with some friends a few weeks ago and got interested in this controversial figure of history. After reading these excerpts from his diaries, I cannot say that I admire him more or less. The writing consisted of a lot of description of battles and tactical decisions with not much mention of motivation and beliefs. I can admire his decision to leave behind studying medicine to devote himself to a cause he believed in. He was not afraid to stand up (even in the UN) and declare what he believed. I will not say that I agree completely with his ideals and I will never say I agree with his methods (or the methods of those who opposed him), but I can admire the loyalty of such a charismatic leader to his cause.
It has been a good reading summer, but I think my brain needs a nice non-thought-provoking fiction.
Searching for God Knows What- Donald Miller
Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry- Doug Fields
Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Audio)- Rob Bell and Don Golden
Velvet Elvis (Audio)- Rob Bell
Contemplative Youth Ministry- Mark Yaconelli
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day- Billy Collins
Nevada- Joshua Porter
The Know-It-All- A. J. Jacobs
Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara- Ernesto Guevara
I've done pretty well, I think, considering the busy-ness of the summer. Now, I'll give my thoughts...
Searching for God Knows What: An interesting book. I won't say that it was my favorite. The author did share a lot of his own personal struggle with faith, but his discussion of stories from the Bible was a bit limited. I'd still recommend it as a good read. It will provoke some thought.
Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry: This book was given to me by Evan (the Bossman). Despite the author being a goober, it was a helpful book. Since I am not a full time minister, a lot of the advice wasn't immediately applicable. I am glad to have been introduced to some of the various stresses and issues of early youth ministry so that I can look ahead.
Jesus Wants to Save Christians and Velvet Elvis: I lump these together because Rob Bell's work tends to have the same effect all the time and it is never old. He takes passages of scripture that I know and applies a new and fascinating meaning to them. He is also not afraid to challenge those parts of our faith that seem to have been hijacked by our culture and twisted away from the original intent of Jesus. He always leaves me analyzing my faith and stretching further and deeper.
Contemplative Youth Ministry: Another Evan pick. I loved this book. My dad's reaction to the title is what makes this book so great. I told him the name of the book and he replied, "Isn't that an oxymoron?" He was joking, of course. However, many people DO view youth ministry that way and that was one of the main thrusts of this book. The author seeks to see youth become more than Christian teens, he wants to guide them to be true Christ-followers. Thus, the job of a youth minister is not to baby-sit and entertain, but to try to practice the presence of Christ that others might come to know him fully.
180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day: Just a book of poetry compiled by my favorite poet. I haven't been writing as much poetry as I used to write, but reading it has given me a lot to enjoy and to learn. Now, I have not actually read each poem in the book yet, but I have spent enough time with it for it to earn a place in this entry.
Nevada: A strange, somewhat gruesome, and very thought provoking book. The book is written as a piecing together of many different journal entries, news reports, police logs, etc. Some of the writings are from the perspective of mentally challenged or diseased people. The author does a great job of capturing a unique identity in each entry. The book itself is about Satan coming to earth and leading a revolution. He gives many speeches that expose many of the attitudes and behaviors of our culture that go against God's purpose for our lives. A warning: this book contains very graphic and wicked violence.
The Know-It-All: The best book I've read since The Year of Living Biblically, written by the same author. This book is the record of his experience reading through the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica. A. J. Jacobs is hilarious and insightful. He is socially awkward and not afraid to show it. His failed attempts to apply his newfound knowledge remind me of the Friends episode where Joey buys the V section of the encyclopaedia and tries to bring up Mt. Vesuvius in conversation. Also, he peppers the book with enough random facts that you feel like you've joined him for part of the work.
Che: The Diaries of Ernesto Che Guevara: Don't worry, I'm not turning into one of those Manifesto-quoting, Communism supporting, Che-shirt wearing weirdos. I watched The Motorcycle Diaries with some friends a few weeks ago and got interested in this controversial figure of history. After reading these excerpts from his diaries, I cannot say that I admire him more or less. The writing consisted of a lot of description of battles and tactical decisions with not much mention of motivation and beliefs. I can admire his decision to leave behind studying medicine to devote himself to a cause he believed in. He was not afraid to stand up (even in the UN) and declare what he believed. I will not say that I agree completely with his ideals and I will never say I agree with his methods (or the methods of those who opposed him), but I can admire the loyalty of such a charismatic leader to his cause.
It has been a good reading summer, but I think my brain needs a nice non-thought-provoking fiction.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Leave No Pterodactyls
One of the mottos of Wilderness Trek is “Leave No Trace”. During orientation before our week of camping and mountain climbing, one of the guides was talking about this motto. She asked if we knew what LNT stood for and gave us the hint that it was not “Leave No Pterodactyls”. I guess she didn’t do so well on her tough spelling tests in the dinosaur unit at school as a kid.
Anyway, I had a lot of opportunities to think about that motto throughout the week. The idea is to make it seem as if no one had ever been on the trail that week. It’s not such an easy job. For a group of twenty people to go anyone unnoticed would be difficult, but especially when you are headed into an area where only animals live. There’s bound to be a trace, but we try.
As one of the men with us pointed out, our lives are supposed to be the opposite. The people we
encounter are supposed to feel God.
But it’s so easy to go unnoticed.
Just as it’s easy to pull up some grass and drop a candy wrapper on the mountain, it’s so simple to pass through the world without disturbing anything.
It’s easy to be quiet.
It’s easy to blend.
However, our volume has the same effect in both cases. The whole mountain of animals knew where we were simply by our laughing and singing (and groaning in pain). Yet, the world only notices less of
God the louder we shout.
It’s easy to be quiet.
It’s also easy to scream.
What’s hard is letting the world see you for all that you are.
What’s hard is being broken for the sake of the broken.
What’s hard is letting God leave a trace.
So the time has come for each of us to stop covering up the trail that He blazes. Let the rocks do the crying out. Our job is not to shout, but to come down off the mountain and let God’s love do the talking.
Anyway, I had a lot of opportunities to think about that motto throughout the week. The idea is to make it seem as if no one had ever been on the trail that week. It’s not such an easy job. For a group of twenty people to go anyone unnoticed would be difficult, but especially when you are headed into an area where only animals live. There’s bound to be a trace, but we try.
As one of the men with us pointed out, our lives are supposed to be the opposite. The people we
encounter are supposed to feel God.
But it’s so easy to go unnoticed.
Just as it’s easy to pull up some grass and drop a candy wrapper on the mountain, it’s so simple to pass through the world without disturbing anything.
It’s easy to be quiet.
It’s easy to blend.
However, our volume has the same effect in both cases. The whole mountain of animals knew where we were simply by our laughing and singing (and groaning in pain). Yet, the world only notices less of
God the louder we shout.
It’s easy to be quiet.
It’s also easy to scream.
What’s hard is letting the world see you for all that you are.
What’s hard is being broken for the sake of the broken.
What’s hard is letting God leave a trace.
So the time has come for each of us to stop covering up the trail that He blazes. Let the rocks do the crying out. Our job is not to shout, but to come down off the mountain and let God’s love do the talking.
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