Education

I wish I had lived a 100 years ago. Then I could make a more knowledgable judgment on the state of education today and not sound too ignorant. For I am about to state something not too friendly about some professors who walk the earth these days.

Higher-education is digging its own grave. "Academia" is dishing out her cherished graduation gown, not for commencement, but for a hanging. Her own. A tough pill to swallow, certainly. But professors all over the world, [I imagine] are in the process of making themselves irrelevant. And there is none to blame but one's self. How so? The plague. An epidemic sweeping over those who place trust in the ever-elusive "scholarly society" or phd's. The disease's symptoms are "political-correctness" and "unbiased-ness."

I call it cowardice and self-preservation.

People were once respected for being barbarians who say what they mean and mean what they say. Not any more. Now morons look up to other insecure morons who refuse to tread on anybody's toes. Oh! it's for the sake of 'peace and harmony', they say. Professors who read and regurgitate whatever piece of literature written by persons recognized by Mother Academia. Another elusive creature. What kind of person sacrifices the pursuit of Truth for self-pride? A coward. There's no other way to describe it. I mean, why do we need professors who merely state facts and statistics and numbers? If that's what we need, a book will be sufficient. Or a machine. Or a robot. What happened to the wisdom that one life could offer?!

We need more barbarians passionate enough of what they believe in, yet broken enough to learn from others.

Had a God Moment

I don't know how you feel but for me living in Christ and in the reality of God's Kingdom is tough. There's no doubt about it. It's hard to imagine how different my life would be if God hadn't made contact with me about 5-6 years ago. I was listening to U2 the other day. The classic song: "With or Without You." What was Bono singing about? Could it be a who? Who can't Bono live without? Or who can't Bono live with?

But who cares what he thinks. This is my blog, so it only matters what I think. Jesus. It's Jesus. I cannot live without Jesus. He is the air that I breathe, the bread that I eat, the blood that gives me life, my joy and fulfillment, and my God. Yet the opposite is also true. I cannot live with Jesus. To share in His life is to share in His suffering and His death. Death to my flesh. Death to everything I ever thought was reality. I cannot wish to go to heaven, and not want to die. Amen to that Mr. Crowder.

It's tough and it's problematic and it's arduous, but. I will not have it. Any. Other. Way.

Church

Church attendance was a maximum of 5 last weekend. It was Labor Day weekend, so hardly surprising. I thoroughly enjoyed it. No, serious. It's much easier to say whatever you have in mind in the presence of a smaller group. I didn't even have to reach for my anti-stutter pills. I was thinking maybe we should just shut the doors once we have five of the faithful flock. Then maybe we can start providing refreshments like steak and fresh mineral water from France. It isn't too expensive to provide hospitality for five people. No, it ain't. Then maybe we can sit in a circle, talk about our lives, share "prayer requests" aka gossip, argue about Revelations, and talk more about our feelings, plan our next Holy Spirit revival and praying for all the sad "unfruitful" churches in town. Which conveniently happens to be every other church save ours. Wonderful.

 

I was serious about being comfortable in a small group though. That's probably a mindset I should change, because we've got lots of work to do. All of us. Seven thousand students around campus who have yet to find the cross. Much to do. Many to love.

Hari Jadi 

Isn't it crazy the literal Malay translation for birthday is Day of Becoming?

Just wanted to make a shout out to my beautiful companion Meg. You were stunning in that red dress. Thank you for a romance-ful and tasty lunch. Food just tastes better with you around.

The Christian Party

Redemption Means More Partying. This article here raised up another issue that I have long tried to deal with. I hope you would read it; but if you don't, I think the gist of it is that Jesus followers are supposed to be a celebrative community. More than that, Mr. Bradley seems to imply that true redemption causes more than internalized celebration (or: the much used Christian "F" word- fellowship) but should bring in or attract the 'yet to be redeemed. '

Truly my first impulse would be to agree with this idea. I mean, "good news for us has to be good news for people around us too" right?Heaven is, after all, they eternal party forevermore; so why not start practising for it? Something that sounds so good and yet so convicting has to be true! It has to be. Right? Then I surprised even myself; there emerged a little bump called doubt. Not that I desire to be a wet blanket but I truly am struggling with this. I start feeling defensive whenever people say that Christians are just really boring people. Could they be right? Well, yes. Generally and honestly speaking, Christians have a hard time being celebrative. (can you tell i'm trying to be politically correct here?) I know - because let's face it: I myself am a boring person! (Why else would I get defensive?) I wished I wasn't boring. I wished we would be "cooler." I am working toward it, but I don't wish to fake it out either. You know?

So here are some questions that I want you to help me with: Does redemption really mean more partying? What counts as "partying"? Is it possible to have joy, and not party? If a Christian isn't partying, does it mean he isn't really a Christian? Is it another one of those things a follower of Christ has to learn how to do? How about keeping a missional mindset? How do we balance being a soldier in a war of light and darkness?

Church

With Pearl Jam on the playlist on Sunday, we changed the routine this week in Houts/Hosey Church. We set out to serve our schoolmates in a practical way by taking out their trash and offering to vacuum their rooms. After that, we got together to watch a Nooma film. I'm quite proud of the church. No one sat out or whined about having to do gross things like that. Which is quite amazing considering some have never done it before. Imagine having to knock on a stranger's door and risk disturbing his or her evening nap. Or barging in with a loud dust-sucker while he's wanting to read some Plato. It's tough putting yourself out there like that. And this isn't like a mission trip at all, really. We can do whatever we want during mission trips, and never have to worry about seeing their faces again. But this is CMSU; it's Warrensburg and the church peeps are likely to bump into so-and-so at some point in the future. Mark my words, you will see them again.

I am praying that you will see them ; that God will bring them to us again and again and again, until we can't help but befriend each other. And when those times come, we, the church, will not shrink in shame or discomfort or embarrassment of our actions, but will remember Jesus the ultimate servant, who though being in very nature God, submitted his rights and his life to save those who despised Him and killed Him.

That's a short update. Thanks for you all who are praying.

Fourth Floor Coffeehouse

Sept 20th, 8:30pm

4th Floor Hosey Lounge

Wow

We're now University of Central Missouri.

know what I noticed about myself today?

I'm a freak. I have a really tough time waiting to get to know people deeply and thoroughly. Although at times that attribute may come in handy, I'm afraid it might potentially be my downfall as well. Like many other things, it must be held steady; it must be made to keep its balance and equilibrium. Perhaps I am too comfortable with intimacy. Perhaps I lack patience. Both are highly probable.

Relator

Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people-in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends-but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk-you might be taken advantage of-but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

Snapshots

Carson is wired

Finally we have some news about the church coffee house which has been ages ago. Here's Carson's blog about the night. He is quite right, the generosity I see flowing from the lives of my friends is shockingly sweet. Now the question is : How long will this last? It's way too easy to plan "stand-alone events" and consider them successes. Will we be as excited about it if we took out trash week-in and week-out for others? What if the mid-term exams come, and the church is packed down with homework and study? Must we still give of our prayers, time, money or energy?

Of course not. We never have to do anything. It's never an imperative for us to do anything just because our leaders tell us to.

We are like Christ when our love for others is unconditional. The cross was never forced on Jesus; He embraced it willfully and violently. The real deal. We want to be a people who have a lifestyle of servanthood ingrained in them, who walk the campus in humility; speaking for the truth, but most of all, living it. I have heard some people define "worship" this way: our response to God. It is utter simplicity... however, un-lacking in truth. What shall we make of it? God has acted through Jesus. The foundations of Universe shaken by the might of a wooden beam. Creation groans in wait and expectation for our response to that. Our response. Mine and yours.

 

Campus Church of Houts/Hosey

5 PM

1st Houts Lounge