Fire Arcade

The most influential people in my life in regard to music are my sister and my brother. I remember when I was in sixth grade stealing the new The Offspring CD from Kent who had originally stolen it from Ashley. Kent introduced me to Nirvana and Bush which became formative to what I have listened to the past decade or more. I love Smashing Pumpkins, Live, and Our Lady Peace. My sister and my brother moved on from that stage, it feels like, but I kept it strong.

I like "harder stuff" acknowledging all things relative. I have always liked listening to music that pumped me up making me feel that I had to overcome something. I love Chevelle (another group my brother introduced to me) and Breaking Benjamin.

Dating Susan I have grown an appreciation and a liking for her stuff, which I feel like is basically my music unplugged with slightly more optimistic lyrics. I don't know what it is. Maybe I am getting older and more reflective. Maybe I am not angry. Maybe I am not imagining shooting the game winning goal anymore with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in the background. But whatever it is I am enjoying more and more slower music. I hate to label it but to leave it to "slower music" is a bit too general. Arcade Fire (whom I called, Fire Arcade, until I bought the CD) is a good example of what I find myself enjoying more and more. So, is Sufjan Stevens and Modest Mouse. What I like about it is that it feels that I am in a movie. Most likely an independent movie because they usually have independent music. I like anything that feels like it is a song that could be played at the resolution of a movie. All the conflict has been resolved. The credits are about to roll and there is a sense of completion. I like that feeling and this music brings me there.

I wish I could speak more technically about music like my brother or brother-in-law. I get the benefit of it all being somewhat a mystery. I am always too late to discover anything. Arcade Fire has been out for a good while now and I am just now "discovering" them after someone recommended them and my sister confirmed the recommendation. My boy, Jamie, just recently told me about Sleeping At Last, who is blessing me more and more, but they too have been around for some time. So to those who have gems and want to share in their wealth of "conflict resolving music", please share.

I recommend the music video of Wake Up by Arcade Fire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEKC5pyOKFU

The guy on the snare is my favorite! He looks like Napoleon Dynamite

I must add, as a recent development, my appreciation for rap. At this present moment I am not sure if I can give it a stronger word than “appreciation” but I must acknowledge this advancement and give credit to my boy, Matt Baker. Never before was anyone able to break down what is put into a rap song and show how artistic they truly are. Never thought I would see the day that I would confess such an appreciation.

Ode to NCAA Football 2006

I am in seminary. We don’t have cable and I have not played video games since I last hung out with my old roommate, Matty (Painter not Baker, though ironic that they both have professions for last names). Being in seminary I have no time but to read, go to school, and go to work. This blog is dedicated to that beautiful season of my life when all of life revolved around the amazing college football game, NCAA Football 2006.

My roommate Chad Langston had an Xbox and it all started where he and I would play occasional games against each other. Chad knows a lot about football. I know some but in comparison to Chad I know nothing. He would get irritated when I beat him because though I knew less then he did, I at least knew how to play video games and exploit the computer. Video games don’t require great info on the subject to be good at them. (I know nothing about being a marine or aliens but it didn’t stop me from dominating in Halo).

I had this other friend, Christopher Rogers (we called him “little big head” mostly because he was little and had a literal and figurative big head). He loved competition and loved competing against anyone and everyone. Chris could get beat in one-on-one basketball twenty games in a row and ask for another. He was good at NCAA Football, though. Probably the best among us. There was no one who could exploit the game better than he could.

Christopher saw us playing the video game one time and suggested that we make a Dynasty. We would each pick a one star program and build that program up. It was awesome. We (when I say we I mean mostly Chad the Purist) came up with rules for us to follow to be fair, such as “if a game is started no matter the outcome it has to be finished.” Christopher picked San Jose St., Chad went a little closer to home with Troy, and I picked the Owls of Florida Atlantic.

Then there was ole Matty. I think I should probably dedicate a whole blog to Matty. He would stay most hours in his room playing a serious computer game that was like another life in cyber space. In this game they had their own characters, own names, jobs, missions, characteristics, and what have you. There was even a way to make money in this game. Unbelievable. I caught Matty one time fishing on his video game so he could get some fish and sell them. He told me that he broke his fishing pole (on the computer game mind you) but not to worry (I wasn’t) because he was able to sell it back for about the same price he bought it for (I was relieved).

In the second season Chad convinced Matty to join us in the social event of playing college football. Matty picked Hawii. He acted like he didn’t care at first but my boy got into it yelling at the screen.

We were dedicated playing over five to six season that wonderful fall at Auburn. All of our players had names and we treated them either with great love or great contempt depending on how they performed for us. Players who had been with our programs all four years were pretty dear to us. I still remember Cameron Barclay, one of my first recruits who eventually blossomed into an incredible linebacker. Chad said he probably never made the NFL but was probably in a European League. Not cool. Chad accused Christopher and me of running dirty programs (video game mind you). That was probably true for Christopher who was under NCAA investigations.

The game consumed us. We would go to Subway and sit there talking about potential recruits and tough games coming up as if it were our profession. It got serious. I remember Chad came in my room with this horrible look on his face. I asked him what happened, to which he went into great detail that his starting running back broke a rib and would be out for several weeks. I was truly concerned and consoled him that his season would still be salvageable. In the end we were not too dissimilar from Matty with his video game fishing pole.

It was great though and I look back as that being some of the most fun I had at college. Great times with great friends talking great trash. FAU will always have a special place in my heart. Whenever I get with the guys we always talk about all of our experiences in college, playing volleyball until three, literal fights in our rooms, watching horrible movies that our other roommate Greg would pick out, though the funniest stories come out of our time playing NCAA Football 2006.

I am in a different season now and I am thankful. I would trade no season for the season I am in right now with my beautiful wife, Susan. It just makes me smile thinking of sitting in our living room with all the guys rooting against the guy who was playing at that very moment. This blog is dedicated to Chad, Little Big Head, and Matty and to the very game that united us to such an unbreakable bond. Here is to NCAA 2006. May you rest in peace.

Grace and Peace

I grew up hearing the Gospel message my whole life. It was a piece of knowledge that would allow me to fit in with the Christian culture I had been raised in. It’s not that I did not believe it but it was that I had not experienced it personally. I had heard that all I had to do was believe, but there were these other things I heard more that overshadowed the freedom of faith alone. These other things were works, or actions I had to perform to have the identity of Christian.

I tried really hard not to curse. I tried harder not to dislike my siblings. When I was younger I had told my sister I hated her to which she responded that I could not hate her and love Jesus. This seemed a serious thing. A thing I could not achieve. I was a liar. I was disobedient to my parents. I cheated on tests. No matter how hard I tried I could not be very good for very long. All of a sudden before I knew it Church did not have good news but only bad.

I could accept that there was a Higher Being. I knew Him to be God, and not one of many, but the Only. I knew Him to be good and to be powerful and the more I learned about Him the more terrified I was because I knew how bad I was in comparison. I knew there was something broken in me and I couldn’t heal myself. I knew good and bad and despite my very best efforts I chose bad all too often and good not enough. Because of this belief in a Higher Being I knew it was against Him that all my bad works were committed. This was all very bad for me that I just thought it best not to believe…

It was bad until it was revealed to me that that same Higher Being, who was called God, who was good and powerful, was the very One who became Man and died on a tree in order that I would not have to pay the penalty for the bad I had done. This is when I experienced the Gospel. It wasn’t just a piece of information anymore, but it was my very life. This crazy idea of the Resurrection from Death to Life made sense to me finally because I felt that He had done it within me. I felt peace for the first time. This peace came from the grace of God shown to a sinner who did not deserve anything good.

I still struggle and I still feel my brokenness, but God is slowly but surely making me more into His image of Holiness. He makes me whole. Works or actions are no longer my identity but the Gospel. It has consumed every part of me and from the overflow of His Grace and Peace, I am able to serve, love, and have hope in a real and sincere way.

Grace and Peace. This was a greeting exclusive to Christians in the Apostle Paul’s day. Grace was said for the work of God done in the believer and Peace was said for the effect that God’s work had on the believer. In essence it was the Good News that each believer lived. The Gospel was so prevalent and fresh that it was the very thing that was spoken upon their first encounter with another believer. I pray all can have that same Grace and Peace.

For more information visit: http://www.viewthestory.com/viewer/?c=1423

A Journey Three Weeks In

I have been married for a little over three weeks. I am no seasoned veteran on the subject by any stretch but it is always interesting to get a perspective from a guy still green thrown into the thick of it.

I don’t mean to use a war analogy with marriage. Marriage is awesome and very unlike war. At least this is my experience thus far.

Four weeks ago I had no category to put “marriage” in. Before this, marriage always seemed like a destination that I was trying to reach as if it would be the pinnacle, even the crux of my life. In many ways it has been one of the most defining events in my life. I know it will always be.

What I had found, however, when I had reached this “destination” is that we were not stopping. I found that marriage is not a destination at all but a journey. We are always moving and with that movement we are called to grow.

I am loving marriage and all the nuances that go with it. I love referring to Susan as my wife or “Mrs. Michael.” I love being referred by other people as “The Michaels.” I love cooking together while listening to music. I love playing with the ring that is on my finger. Gives me something to fiddle with and reminds me that I am blessed beyond what I deserve.

I love being able to go somewhere together and go home together. And then wake up together. I just love being together.

Though many things have changed I feel that nothing has been lost in the transition from single to married. If anything there has been more of an enhancement if you will, with one basic illustration being that my best friend became even better.

Marriage is beautiful. I hope this is a reflection of my marriage now, but I say it with confidence because it is true in spite of me; it is a mystery that represents the true beauty of Christ and His Beloved, the Church. This is an axiom, a fixed truth that challenges and gives hope that beauty can always be found despite the road we find ourselves on in whatever weather we journey.

Though marriage is not a place of destination it is a beautiful sign describing the place we do in fact want to go. I am happy to walk towards there now with my beloved enjoying the scenery along the way together.

Tree of Life

I was reading Genesis chapters one through three for my Old Testament class yesterday and I find myself more amazed that I can read something a thousand times and still find something new. The story of creation I had to learn in Spanish when I arrived in South America. I didn’t know any Spanish at the time and they were just sounds to me. Later as I learned Spanish the story eventually made sense to me. I learned it in Quechua as well, and in all of this translating, memorizing, growing up with it as a preacher's kid, I knew no other story better than this one. Yet, God still uses it to show me new things each time around.

The thing that stood out to me this time around was God put man in the garden and said he could eat of every tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Everything else was fair game. I have no idea how long Adam and Eve enjoyed the divine bliss of perfection in the Garden of Eden before they messed up and ate of that tree but somehow they chose not to eat of the Tree of Life. Considering the only tree prohibited was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil I believe it safe to say that they could have eaten of this Tree of Life, but they chose not to. We have evidence that they never ate of this tree because God is recorded saying after the fall, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” It goes on to say that “God placed the Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

What made the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so appealing over the Tree of Life? Well, we see how the Serpent deceived the woman. He promises to the woman, “You will be like God.” It was then that the fruit became appealing to the woman. She wanted to become God instead of wanting to have Life.

The choice is the same to us. We have both options before us: to be our own god or to choose Christ who is Life.

Chesterton in his wonderful book, Orthodoxy, says, “Every act of will is an act of self-limitation. To desire action is to desire limitation. In that sense every act is self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else.”

We cannot choose to worship God and ourselves. By choosing one to worship we reject the other. Our choice reflects our true desire: to become like god or to have life. God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because He had something better to offer them. It is the same with us. He wants us to choose Him, to choose Life for that is far better than any other choice.

When Adam and Eve sinned it made our position before God hostile. Christ died to kill that hostility so that we could have Life. We see the resolution of the redemption of man when Christ opens up again the Tree of Life. In one of the most beautiful scenes painted in the Bible, John writes,

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lmap brought the middle of the street of the city; also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the helaing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship Him.”
- Revelation 22: 1-3

Good News

Many of you were with me from the beginning when I started working with the Quechua. Our first trip we went to a small village called Quchumi where we left because the whole town was drunk. We went back and were able to work a day with the mayor only to be asked to leave the next day because the people did not want us there. The second time in two days we were at the point of wiping the dust off our feet but before we left an elderly woman asked us to come back to work with her husband and she would cook us good food. This was enough hope to bring us back.

Many months later we returned with that promise though never to find that sweet elderly woman. We stayed in this small hut and worked with several different people in the community. Working like dogs those couple of weeks, we woke up every day not knowing if we were going to get food or work and even dreading the food and work we would receive. In the last week of that trip we met a man named, Celadonio, of whom we nicknamed “Don”. Ironically we had never met the owner of that small hut where we stayed and it turned out to be Don who became our “Man of Peace”.

The next trip my partner, Andrew, told the parable of the lost sheep to which Don said he felt like the lost sheep. It was clear to us that we had a place to start the work with a man who was interested in the stories. We came back months later to start the stories of the Bible and the two weeks we were there we face much spiritual warfare, losing Don’s confidence and almost losing our place to stay. We were at the point of wiping the dust off our feet but once again God gave us enough hope to continue on. We thought we had a different man to tell the stories of the Bible.

Returning for my last trip we thought we would do the stories with that different man of the community and just use Don for our place to stay and to work and to eat. That man never showed up much to our discouragement but Don asked if we could teach him the stories. It was all the Holy Spirit working in His heart. From that point on he had a burning desire to learn the stories of God’s redemption of man. We got to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was the last story I told (leaving on a high note, eh?) Then I left to come back to the states.

The work was continued through the most incredible men of God. My Colombian partner, Efrain, and Javier from Peru and Roberto from Argentina, also Jonathan from the states kept telling the stories getting to the death and resurrection of Christ. They have worked so very hard this year to see these people hear the Good News of Christ. Facing many a trial and tribulation they have not given up and it has been my greatest joy to hear of their work and sacrifice. God has blessed them as well. On this last trip the last story told was Pentecost to which Don said he wanted to get baptized! All to the praise and glory of our King!

There have been so many obstacles along the way including but not limited to being asked to leave on more than one occasion, having no food, no work, working too much, being in danger by the political climate, lack of funding, lack of interest, sickness, warring within and without; it has been a long road. I am thankful for every step because it bears His mark that only He could have done any of it. I left greeting this promise from afar, the promise that God was not done with Quchumi yet.

The Quechua culture in Quchumi is much like the pagan cultures back during the time of the New Testament where the gods were angry and had to be appeased. The Good News was that Christ had killed the hostility between man and God, and that man could be loved by God who is love. In the postmodern culture it is almost like we have to give bad news (that of our sinfulness before a Holy God) before the Gospel (dying to our sin so we can live in Him) can be Good News.

I share this Good News with everyone because everyone that has read this blog and prayed, God used to bring this man to His throne of grace. Thank you for your prayers. He is our joy and our salvation and He is doing a work above and beyond anything we could ever imagine. Christ is our Good News. In Him we have life and our joy and there is nothing else that satisfies. I praise Him for the miracle He is doing in Quchumi and with Don.

Please continue to pray for the work done there and pray for Efrain, Javier, and Roberto. None of this work could have been possible without the exceptional work from our bosses, Trent and Kay, with their vision and commitment to the Gospel being spread. God willing there will be more to be baptized on this following trip, more added to the Kingdom, and more to tell the Good News of Christ, our hope, our life, and our joy.

Praise God from whom on blessings flow, praise Him creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy, Ghost. Amen.

The Beard of Aaron

My promise in the last post was that I would write something masculine like killing a bear with my bare hands or what not. I can only say that if it happens in this post it will be only for metaphorical purposes. I did, however, have to drown two pigs on the Fourth of July in Bolivia last summer, but that is a different story.

This post has been in my mind for some time and though I had briefly touched on it in the post, “Savages” I wanted to unpack this a bit more. Speaking for guys here (though I am sure the connection is the same with women as well and “sisterhood” can be applied every time the word “brotherhood” is used) there is this need for camaraderie, for brotherhood. This brotherhood has usually been forged most inexorably through the fires of battle and conflict. Men have this almost unexplainable bond of unity because of trials and tribulations.

And though this bond is clearly seen in war it is something even more profound within the Body of Christ. There is still that forging of souls through the baptism of fire and tribulation, but because of the unity in Christ the saints have an eternal bond formed in the heavens. This brotherhood is necessary to our survival on this side of Heaven. Even Solomon who lacked not one thing said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” The Christian life is not one to be lived alone. The men of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne during World War II found their greatest motivation to fight was to not let their fellow soldiers down. They fought to keep each other alive. How are we, who fight against the spiritual forces of evil, expected to survive without each other?

We must put into practice what the Teacher says: “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him- a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Psalm 133 says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!” I thought this a funny text because of the imagery of Aaron, who must have had a significantly thick beard, drenched with copious amounts of oil. In the Old Testament, Moses had to pour oil on the priests, primarily Aaron, to sanctify and consecrate them for service. God has called us to sanctification, to become more like Him, and this says that dwelling in unity with our brothers helps sanctify us. We must grow which will only happen by being challenged and encouraged by those walking the same path to the same destination.

It is sad that it is such a rare thing to find. King Solomon found it a difficult thing as he says, “One man among a thousand I found.” Usually the greatest things are the rarest and need to be sought and fought for. I encourage those who bear the name of brother to seek that unity. I am most blessed with the greatest brothers and sisters in Christ who love me, and challenge me, and bring me all the closer to the throne of Christ. It is pleasant and good, like oil down the beard, down the beard of Aaron.