short

This one is going to be short-- (walker and ashley)

Last night was pretty awesome if you ever get the chance to watch "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" watch it. I am not even going to attempt to explain it but it is on par with Garden State.

Today was pretty too. Krista is home with me so that is cool. We went over to the Hub and she met Kev. for the first time. Haha looks like I'm going to end up wearing my Logos5 polo around Houghton for the day because she completed the bet I never thought she would haha. Ask me about it...its funny.

Other than that just looking forward to Fuel in the morning it appears like its going to be awesome and the sabres are up 2-0 in the first period!

about that

Last night my roommate crushed me in racquetball ;(

Today was really good. My intro to Christ class was extremely interesting. The proff. showed "This is Solid State" in class. He showed us the Norma Jeane (spelling?) music video. They are a christian hard-core group. He did so to pose the question of todays apologetics (loosely translated into telling others about Christ) in a way that they will listen and understand. He asked us how far is to far. Is there a place for Christian death metal. Obviously starting a music debate wasn't his point, proffs are tricky like that. It was interesting to have answers ranging from 'Christian' bands shouldn't tour with secular bands or play at secular venues to more power too those that can reach people for Christ. The purpose of the music isn't to sell music to Christians but rather to bring others to Christ that normally wouldn't even listen. Lets face it MercyMe and Casting Crowns aren't really stepping out on a limb to reach todays teenage subcultures where as P.O.D., Norma Jeane, Underoath, Blindside and many others are.

I took a break from Donald Miller to muse over the following stuff as well as it was 54 degrees out and I spent time outside and walking around campus just because I know it is going to snow next week.

On the point how far is to far I thought about The Hub. It is my churches youth center. Walking into it on a Friday night (highschool open night) can be a very scary place. You will often see and hear things that have no place in a church. Our youth group was a whole lot different before The Hub. It was a smaller tight nit group of students who were in almost all aspects normal Christian kids. New people came and came to Christ but it wasn't a scary place for a Christian to be. It was more of a safe haven, comfortable place for a Christian student to go and be normal. It gave the Christians some place to hang out with each other. Now the mission field is the youth group. It is no longer that tight nit group of Christians who are normal and keep to themselves. Walking in on a typical night you find all kinds of people including ones wearing dog-collars and everything else. There are fights and things get vandalized (I would like to note there is adult leadership and security to keep everyone safe and they do a great job).

So which is more valuable--how far is to far

I have heard rumors and that is what they are rumors (I would like to clearly state that they are rumors and I did not get this from hanging out with the church staff and if they aren't true I am just using it to illustrate a point anyway) that some parents are afraid to send there kids to the Hub because of the people that hang out there. So good Christian parents don't want to there kids coming and other Christian students have fallen away. Are we missing the point? Isn't Christianity not only about living in relationship with Christ but also furthering his Kingdom. Didn't Christ eat with tax collectors and prostitutes. Paul before coming an apostle killed and persecuted people. Simon Peter was rejected by other Rabies but chosen by Jesus. What is the greatest commandment--the first is this Love the lord your God with all your heart and the second is love your neighbor as yourself.

My ultimate conclusion is that comfortable Christians all over the world (myself included) need to suck it up and get out there and show Christ with love, not in a condemning non-Christian way. I am the worst offender of this. All last year most friday nights I hid in my office. I was upset that there was no longer a visible core. I think a lot of the reason that happened is because no one in the group that called themselves true Christians caught the vision of the Hub and Christ. We failed. We should have been vivid ambassadors of Christ and should have been known as the ones who were accepting and loving of the people coming in. That is just my personal thought. I got so frustrated when that girl said Christian bands shouldn't tour with non-christian ones. Why wasn't I upset with myself all last year for being a scared weak Christian (if you could call me a Christian).

Conclusion: Someone needs to reach out to these people and ministries that do this may not appear to be the best from the outside. They key is what they do on the inside. Are kids coming to Christ? Do kids feel safe? Do they have people that love them? Do they feel accepted first?

Two really cool cutting edge ministries that are going places and furthering the missions field are Enemy Opposition and The Hub . The Hub link is on the right and EO can be found at www.enemyoppostion.com

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

My lava lamp is cold

It is uncomfortably cold in my room and maintenance can't figure out why....

Moving On:
Yesterday/this morning was pretty okay. Finally got to play racquetball and catch up with people. I had my first 3M class Metaphysics, Morality, and Mind it is probably going to be challenging but I think I am going to like it. I also went to my first real class with Airhart he pretty much is scary but although my GPA will probably suffer I think its going to be good. He is super sarcastic which is really funny because that is what I am used to from home. Most people don't know what to do but I think he is really funny. Nothing else of consequence really happened. Had lots of laughs playing racquetball with the girls. "Did you just say it is probably an escaped convict?" Oh yeah and I bombed my speech, not really but I didn't like it.

So the chapter today was "Life Boat Theory--How to Kill Your Neighbor" I love how Donald Miller takes things that most people don't think about and gives meaning to them. For example I have spent my life playing sports, being a good student, working to gain money, trying to be right and wanting to look better. Why? An MXPX lyric comes to mind on this topic as well "Excuse me but you don't know me and I sure don't know you neither." Why do I go around in life trying to impress not only the people I know but those I don't know its not like they care. Does anyone really care that I can fold 30 pizza boxes in a minute?

He makes the analogy that life is like a lifeboat and we are all trying to be the one not kicked out when someone needs to go. How do we do this...we try to make our case by putting value on our life by doing things like playing sports etc. The thing is these accomplishments don't make us feel good for long. We need gods love. Without it we are like plants in the sun we die. Without God we are all in the lifeboat but with him we should be like the alien from before and not understand the jockeying for position in life.

It is all well and good that he points this all out and it sounds super peachy. Let me be a realist here and venture off on a limb and say that I know God loves me but I still jockey for position everyday. I know it wasn't part of God's plan before the fall and his love is meant to sustain us and we should get our value from God. I personally find that very hard to do and I know for a fact others stink at this too. Maybe there is some hope that I will learn and continue learning to put my value in God.

butt freaken cold

I don't exactly know why but my room is freezing. Currently I think it is warmer outside which leads me to say that I hate NY. It is just a tease. It is 46 out currently and it will probably snow tomorrow. Last night was kinda a disappointment. I think I did more reading last night than I did all last semester. The racquetball courts were full with a line so I played ping-pong with my roommate. Another sport I suck at. HaHa. Dinner was awesome tho, and I woke up to a really sweet message. My intro to Christ proff isn't as scary as people made him out to be I think its going to be a great class.

Adam, Eve, and the Alien--How the fall makes you feel---Chapter 7

Donald Miller starts the chapter off with a compelling alien analogy. He points out what he thinks an alien would think if they came to our world and they didn't have the incompleteness from the fall. Would they be able to figure out our media clamoring for who is better? Don't we just understand humans are humans. Why do we need others to make us happy.

For the remainder of the chapter he talks about a dork from middle school named pete and the social classes in middle school. At one point he says this:

"A child learns early there is a fashionable and an unfashionable in the world, and ugly and a pretty, a valued and an unvalued. Where this system comes from, God only nows, but it is rarely questioned, and though completely illogical and agreed upon by a possession. It isn't something taught to us by our parents; it is something that comes naturally, as though a radioactive kinda of tragedy happened, screwing up our souls. Adulterated or policed, the system can grow to something more civilized, but no less dominant as a drive of nature. In youth the system is obvious. If you want to learn the operating system to which humans are subjected, step into a classroom of preteen students and listen to the dialogue."

That is so true. Just step into a high-school or a business at lunch time. That will tell you the social classes of this age, what people value and how they get there importance. For me, thank God it got better since middle school. There is still a clamoring for social status but I don't really care. I suppose I do but not as much as I used to. It is weird to think that the hell of middle school is caused by the fall and people needing to get there value from other people. Do you think the dorks in middle school would understand if it were explained to them? I wonder what the world would be like if everyone were created equal. What if there wasn't freak, geek, popular, prep, jock, nerd, Christian and so on? What is the cost of living in a fallen world? Just some thoughts.

First Day Back

Well...woke up at oh 6:30 this morning (not by choice but i wont go into that)...so that was an incredible start to the day because I am such a morning person. Then I get to my first class and the proff is pysco and says exams may be slightly traumatic. Tried to transfer and they wouldn't let me. I at least switched it from 8:00 to 10:00 so that might help a little bit. Other than that all it wasn't to bad.

Searching for God Knows What, "Children of Chernobyl" was certainly interesting. It talked alot about war and September 11th. He was mostly (I think) saying that the war is wrong rather war in general sucks and has many casualties. I agree with him completely but I also have to say hey our troops over there and we need to support them even if we don't support the war. I have a few really good friends in Iraq and my boyfriend is in the army so I fully support our troops. But anyway back to the point of the book...

He made an interesting point that we tend to think of Adam and Eve as making one terminal act of betrayal. Really, he says, it is relational. They weren't satisfied with what God gave them. Sound Familiar? We are incomplete without our relationship with God . He also goes on to talk about spiritual warfare and how in a way the war in heaven is the war to explain all wars. Overall a pretty good chapter but, for me, lacking the practicality of his previous chapters.


Shawn


Nick-Currently serving in Iraq.

I don't care if you support Bush or the war but the reality is our troops...fathers, brothers, mothers, friends...are still serving for us.

hm.

Today, so far, has been a ridiculously good day. Woke up at noon which is my favorite pass time. Got up checked my email only to find that I got the sound job at school. My prof. cut a class from 17 to 5 and I am one of the 5 so that is cool. My friend Walker also got the job. Its a really great opportunity because it includes a class in which I will get to learn more about sound including pro-tools (all your CD's are edited on this). So after that I went up to Wally World and bought a racquetball racquet which is exciting. Nothing like a sport where one point is to hit a ball as hard as you can against a wall.

I continued reading Donald Millers "Searching for God Knows What" Again today. Chapter 4 is "Naked--Why Nudity is the point"

In this chapter he unpacked the creation/fall story in an interesting way. I'm not sure if I agree with his theology or how he reads into things but none the less it was really interesting and makes sense. He starts off by saying that Adam was really a lonely man because he wanted a partner. This is interesting in an of itself because because the Garden of Eden was perfect and Adam was still lonely. This reminds us that we are not eternally screwed up because we long for relationships. He then went on to say that Adam had to wait on God because he didn't get Eve at first. He was told to name the animals which probably took a very very long time. He goes on to then say that Adam must have been truly grateful and in love with Eve. That part was cool. Beyond that he said this.

"So if people were wired so that something outside himself told him who he was (God before the Fall) and if God presence was giving him the feeling of fulfillment, when that relationship was broken, man would be pining other people to tell him that he was good, right with the world, and eternally secure."

I find that really intriguing. It kinda shows why humans are the way they are. Why we seek approval from people others rather than God etc. It also makes me happy to know I'm not nuts!! (okay maybe I am but not in that way at least).

Indeed there were a lot of ugly sweaters at that party!! So much fun except the Sabres lost. Always good to hang out with the crew.

The night (or at least my night) definitely took an interesting turn when I received a call from Shawn (not Willis). I guess we are going to give 'us' one more chance. Its definitely not going to be easy with him being in Maryland and all but we are both willing to give it a final shot. So I guess we will see where it goes from here.

So this morning definitely went to Fuel super early after being up so late last night. It went really well minus the projectors dying but hey roll with the punches right? Johns message was really good and reminded me about how Christians are called to be servants. That is always good to get reminded of.

The kicker this morning however was Pastor Gregs message. He always seems to fit so much into 20 min. I don't know what it is but every time recently I here a sermon or something it really smacks me in the face. He went through Mark 8:34-38 basically about denying ourselves picking up our cross and following Christ. He asked a few tough questions.

What is the most important thing in your life?

What are you doing with your life? (Are you trying to please Christ or yourself?)

How far are you planning ahead?

Who's approval are you seeking?

Is the focus of your life self or Jesus?

That whole section was really hard to hear. I don't have the right answers to those questions. Actually, I have the really wrong answers. For me it really brought Donald Millers 2nd Chapter full Circle. We are living with this underlying want to be accepted, or at least I am. So it comes back to what am I living for.... a career, people I look up to, my future?

So yeah that was interesting. I definitely had one note worthy conversation today after church. I was talking to Dan the middle school pastor at my church. I have this memory of him and my internship of him being really sarcastic and mean. (not that I didn't deserve every second of it) He was super nice to me the whole time I was home so I went over to him to thank him. This is the ensuing conversation.

Me: "Thanks for being so nice to me since I have been home. I never remember you being so nice, thanks." Dan: "Yeah maybe I got nicer or you became less of a spaz since you went to college and tick me off less" Me: I just don't know what to say to that. Funny

Back to Houghton tomorrow.