Nashville Halfthon

The rumors are true. I made it. 1hour 55min and 15 secs.
This was one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life, but i love it. I finished the Last 3 miles with eddie george, (retired titans running back) for the non sports fan. Dono if i'll be doing a full anytime soon but i am thinking about a triathlon.

Heres some photos:

New York! New York!

After a grueling bus ride through the night, last Wednesday, we arrived in New York City in the early hours of the morning. Irritable and tired I saw my first view of the city as we arrived at the Met. The Met is huge, no serious it's HUGE. I was impressed by the overall size and mass of the work that is there. I completely missed the modern wing, not sure how that happen. But, I was able to sit in the statue hall and sketch for a bit. When the renaissance painters were learning to draw and paint in the classical manner they would draw statues instead of people. They said it gave a better image of perfection, I think they just preferred it because they didn't move. But either way I loved it.
Friday we hit the galleries in Chelsea, I saw some really amazing art. Some of the pictures are from those galleries. And yes that is Condi and Oprah together in the painting.
After going to about 20 galleries we went to the MoMA. Admission is free on Friday nights, so it was swamped with people and not very enjoyable. But the day did wrap up well, I got to have dinner with my friend Sharon.
Saturday we got to the island and went to Greenwich Village, and went to my favorite bakery. MAGNOLIA BAKERY! I got two cupcakes, and I was unbelievably happy. Then after my lunch of cupcakes we hit the subway and headed to Shea Stadium to catch a Mets Game. The Mets suck, but it was fun. New York fans like to cuss and yell, and so do I. After the Mets terrible loss to the Nationals I headed back into Manhattan to meet Walt, Cory, and Shelly. Walt knew about this cool market in the slaughter house district of Chelsea. We were feeling a bit sore so Walt and Shelly lead us in some freestyle yoga in the market. After the market we ate dinner at this amazing Korean restaurant uptown. Which was by far the best meal of the trip. During dinner conversation I talked about Asbury, how Wes is doing, and life in general. I began to explain how much I enjoyed this New York trip with the school, and how the only real rules of the trip were DON'T BE LATE. How the trip worked was the bus would drop us off in the morning at a set sight then pick us up there at the same spot that night. But the bus couldn't park or wait on us, we were either there on time or we were left. So back to dinner. As we finished eating I had about 25 min. to go 40 blocks uptown to catch the bus. So I left and got on the subway, with the full intent of catching the bus on time.

Well I didn't. I was 3 minutes late getting to the bus stop and it was a couple blocks away and couldn't turn around. So I let the language fly for a moment then collected my thoughts and called a professor on the bus. I'm not sure what happen on the bus there was an argument between the driver and the Profs and it was going to be easiest if I just stayed and caught up with the group in Brooklyn the next day. So I hung up the phone and had the overwhelming sense of excitement flow over me. It was truly a "Catcher in the Rye" moment. I was here in Manhattan for an entire night with the freedom to go anywhere!! But then I remembered I really did need to figure out where I was going to sleep. So I called Walt when they got off the subway and asked if I could stay at his apartment in Brooklyn. He said it was cool and I headed that way. But while on the subway I had a real since of what it must have felt like to be homeless in New York. If I hadn't gotten a hold of someone I would have had to sleep on the subway or find a church or sleep in the park. But for a moment, I was without a direction. So I finally reached Brooklyn and made it to Walt's apartment. We made cookies and looked at artwork and listen to music for a couple hours then went to bed. It was a good night. The next morning I awoke to find that my only real connection to the group, my cell phone was dead. Which presented a whole new set of problems. But I had an odd calm and really felt like I would find the group again. So I went to lunch with Cory, Shelly, Walt, and Travis a friend of Cory’s from grad school. On the way there we got hit with a downpour of rain. Through a mixed line of phone calls I found out were the group would be in the afternoon. So it all worked out. I caught up with the group and made it home to tell my tale.


I love New York.

Update and ramble.

Been busy and neglected the blog.

But I've developed a boyhood crush on Brandi Carlile, her music is pretty good but it's not as timeless and well written as I wished it could be. Check it out and see how it fits you, i'll be posting more soon. I go to New York City this week and am bringing the camera and sketchbook. Happy Easter, He is Risen!

Keep checking in I have been doing a lot of artwork and should have stuff posted soon.

Fight or Flight... Or is there more?

Before this posting takes off I want to state that: We are Diverse members of one body and it is expected that there will be disagreements.

An underlying voice (or stomping footsteps) have raised up an opposition to Wednesdays Chapel about Christian Pacifistic. And I Wish to not leave this undiscussed.

I engage theology at the systematic and academic level, then brake it down to the relational level. To not just memorized scripture but interpreted it and looked into culture and said how can I make since of this. Taking that step may be very defining difference that separates my thought from mainstream faith. But this is not a new idea. This has been done for centuries, when you look at scripture, there are those that look at systematically theology, understand it and allow it to become real. So real that one such guy, Jesus, comes along and starts birthing new ideas counter to his surrounding religion and governing culture. These ideas are so radical that it quickly moves beyond talk and becomes crucifixion, it becomes REAL.

Many would say the challenge of our generation is to translate the bible to a postmodern culture. But in fact the text is far more postmodern than modern. By that i mean less linear. The challenge is to stop breaking it down into formulas and steps, and truly embrace the meaning behind the text. Theology is mysterious, it has loose ends, it is to be discussed and lived out.

Our theology must move from our head and hearts and into our hands, and causes us to love people, unlovable people. If the proof of the spirit is never seen there, played out in the way we love people, then it is no value to us. At one point our theology must become ethics, if it doesn't our theology is of no value to us.

This is a continual process of calling the church back saying this is happening? Does scripture say this?

And In these times questions arise like: Is there ever a time when violence can be justified? in other words should the united states, a "christian nation" if you want to call it that, be in this war or any war.

First, AMERICA IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION. This is not a Theocracy, it is a Democracy. This is not a christian nation, and it should not surprise us when the actions of our nation do not align with the bible. America is NOT the new Israel. We are NOT God's chosen political people on the earth, we are NOT Gods chosen political nation on the earth caring out his will punishing people and dealing out his wrath and judgement. SO DO WE FIGHT? There is a huge difference between biblical ethic of nonviolence and doing nothing. The question is not do we fight but do we or don't we kill. Do I fight, absolutely, but do I kill? That's where the conversation begins. My citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven. For me, it is not in my faculty of thought, that I am given by God under the authority of scripture to use violence as a means of transformation. Violence is not one of my resources. THE GREATEST THING I CAN DO, IS TO DO WHAT CHRIST DID on my behalf and not be violent but step infront of the cross and be nailed down.

Is it ethical for our country to go to war? mabey. But what war, not this war. Again we are not the new Israel. If America is really interested in a humanitarian war we sure killed a lot of people to do it. And if we truly were on a humanitarian mission there are about 30 other countries we would have gone into first. But for war there are no easy answers, war is rarely black and white. It shocked me that there was so much opposition to a man stepping up and say what about peace? The fact that it Is perceived as a scandalous, unpatriotic, unbiblical idea, worries me. What is interesting is that thousands and thousands of christians follow the prince of peace. My question is are you following the Jesus Christ of scripture, or the Jesus Christ Poster Boy of the American Dream.I get a bit weary when I am titled a liberal, when I am looking at the bible as a fundamentalist.
New Testament wise, it is very difficult for me to defend the idea that it's ok to kill the aggressor. Here is why, non of the apostles or Christ did it. They all just died. They all gave up their lives. And they were in an atmosphere much more vicious then we currently find ourselves in. They were in active opposition to Jewish Leaders and Roman Government.


Many times when pacifism is presented as an option, the sinerio of "What if someone comes into your house and has a gun to your head, what do you do then?"

And I think that is a very extreme example. I am not sure when we as christians decide what is right or wrong based on the most difficult cinerio, but that is what is being presented. But even in that situation I believe it is up to the Christian to come up with a creative alternative to violence. This situation comes down to faithfulness over success. This is a really hard thing. For personal success, i should grab the gun and kill then. But that is not what the bible calls us to. We are called to be concerned with faithfulness instead of personal success. Within this academic year we heard the son of Jim Elliott speak in chapel and say how his father did this exact thing. The very exact thing I am talking about now. He chose a nonviolent alternative and was killed. His story is one of faithfulness and to the kingdom. AND I DIDN'T SEE ANY STUDENTS DARE WALK OUT ON HIM. Even though his message was pacifism.

How do we as Christians pursue peace in a situation in the future, preemptive peace. Go into africa and aid these countries, before it become a situation down the road where terrorism reaches these ravished countries, and we did nothing. Nothing. We spent our time and money on war. When we know that it is less expensive to go in now and love these people then to deign them attention and fight them in war. To care for the lives of these people, then in 15 years we are dealing with the orphans of those now who we didn't care for. Lets not give people more reasons to hate the west. Instead lets give them reason to see the priorities of christ and the church.

In the US there are 160 peace studies programs, only 1 is at a christian university. Peace studies vastly need to be integrated into the curriculum at schools like Asbury. It is essential for the success of peace. When governments around the world say, how do we bring peace or stop this war, they look to the christians for peace. For we are the ones who know the most about it, we are the most educated, we are the ones who intrinsically understand why people fight in the first place. And we are the ones who can calm people down and bring peace to regions.

We are diverse people in one body, some will not agree with me, but that is expected. POST YOUR THOUGHTS LET US UNDERSTAND THIS WORLD TOGETHER AS ONE BODY.

Psalm 23 in the snow

When I am still my warmth no longer comes from my effort.
I must faithfully sacrifice what my instincts deny, to

to take up my cross?

But i will be cold, my hand will go numb holding the cross naked before this world..

I am the Good Shepherd. There is nothing you need.

But i want..

I will bed you down in lush pastures.

But i am naked..

No, my light clothes you.
A father loves his children and you are mine.
Grow warm in my light, let your soul thrive in my light,
for the shadows deceive and lay waste to thee.

Grow in the light.





[Also if your an asbury friend checkout this weeks Collegian paper, Katie Payne wrote a fantastic article about visual liturgy and the church, it also ends with my story of sorts.]

From Chiapas with love

Dear VE readers, I apologize for my tardiness on this post, take 5 points off my total grade for this post and lets move on.

We are going to use our imaginations for a second, and go deep into the past, all the way back to January 5th. It's a stretch but stay with me.

This story begins on the flight out of Houston to Mexico on January 5th. I start here solely because I love the exhilaration and freedom of traveling. And for various reasons that was all I was expecting from this trip, a great adventure. I had not been fasting or in prayer or in what I felt was a great need for some divine awakening. But when you are intentional about putting yourself into situations of service for the Lord you will find him when you least expect.
From my previous post, I made it pretty obvious that I am in love with adventure and travel. And I found it on this trip, but I also found something more, something not quite expected. Yeah yeah, this sounds like just another mission trip story with the emotional high that is soon forgotten (that was your voice reader). But don’t worry; this is not one of those stories, I hope.

Let me give you some geography of where we went. Mexico is split up into states just like America. And we flew into the state of Tabasco (yes, like the hot sauce), and then drove forever to get to the compound in the state of Chiapas. Chiapas is very mountainous and mildly temperate, about 70 degrees most days. Ok, now you have an idea of where we are let me tell you the three shimmering moments (in chronological order) that made this trip all it's own.

Moment 1: It was actually the first thing we did when we woke up the day after arriving, we went to a church service at the "Iglesia Sobre Larocaar", which I think means church on the rock.. But I am not sure. I actually remembered to bring my moleskin notebook to the service so I could get the original feeling of the service. Let me preface by giving you a visual of how the church is set up. When you walk under the arched doorway you are presented with two sections of seats, much like a wedding. But instead of bride/groom we are segregated by gender, Men on the left and Women on the right. This is what I recorded about my experience in worship there, which was in a Mayan Indian Dialect, not Spanish (so I had no idea what they were singing).

Rejoice, Rejoice, resounds from the ground up.
Undirected I find an open bench on the seventh row.
As my eyes adjust to the indoor lighting my ears also adjust to the volume of the music. Holy tunes are being belted from the ceiling high speakers that seem to present an audio advertisement for the church saying, "It's Sunday and there is something joyous going on up here, don’t miss out". And sure enough within minutes the benches are full. As the praise band steps onto stage and begins to lead songs, a very interesting thing begins to happen. Around 20 girls from the congregation come before the stage and begin to move to some Mexican choreographed dance. Not really understanding the worship song, I willfully clap along and dance to the same beat as the "blue pants man" to my right. The "blue pants man" was the only person on my row, (he is the guy in the picture I drew) he was around 50 yrs of age and had bright blue pants. Quickly I realized every member of the church was creating their own person rhythm whilst clapping. Unintentionally I got extremely frustrated and searched for a common beat. My efforts were fruitless, these people were free clappers and I was not going to change that. I realized my childish frustration when I looked at blue pants man and realized he got it. Worship, not rhythm.


Moment 2: Moment two happen on the path up to the church we were helping build in the mountains. It came unexpectedly as well. It came at a moment when my pride, quite literally came crashing down the mountain. It all came about because I allowed, "Weight-Room-Mike" to mentally take over and hall a 40 pound paint bucket up the mountain, initially by myself. (John Eldridge would be proud). In the mist of my triumphant "Man Moment" I was hit with a combination of altitude and unrelenting inner drive and collapsed. I wore myself to the limit of exhaustion. And in the mist of my head spinning in circles I got this beautiful image of Christ lifting his splintered cross up Calgary Hill and when it became to much for his broken body to bear and Simon helped carry his burden. In the haze of my delirium Trea and Ryan came up the path behind me, with a similar look of distress on their faces. We all realized that we could not make it if we each carried buckets we would have to give off two and collectively carry one between the three of us. My inner monolog was unwillingly admitting my pride and realizing that in this moment it is community and others I have to fall too. Needless to say, we got the top and I shared a communal victory between the three of us, instead of three singular defeats.

Moment 3: Moment tres, hit me hard. It was deep, insightful and again totally unexpected. It began It’s working on the last night of devotions and worship. We were sitting as a group in candlelight (the power had gone out) discussing plans for the future and were life would possibly take us. When we were asked to blow out the candles and clear our mind of all distractions. A bit unsure of what was to happen, I hesitantly disconnected my mind of all distractions. Then we were asked to imagine ourselves as old men/women in a setting in the future. Within seconds I was flooded with a graphic visual of myself as a wrinkly old man sitting in the back of a maroon painted café. The cafe had an enormous barrel arched sealing with windows that filled the room with sunlight. As my mind began to move out from my body and look at my features of my body I focused on my face. It was weathered and tanned, smile lines and wrinkles encompassed my whole face. As my mental camera panned to the rest of the sunlit cafe I saw many friends and joyous faces eating and talking loudly about their daily adventures. When I opened my eyes, I had an overwhelming presence that I had actually had a glimpse into my distant future. This some-what vision of mine had no real momentary directions, so without any deeper pondering I headed to bed. I really felt like that was the end of that story, that I had just had a beautiful image of my possible future. Which was cool. But on our way to the airport the next day we stopped at a church (I forgot the name of the town), where the missionary who had set the location of our church. As I found out later he had actually built over 200 churches, much like the one we had built in the time he had been there. But as he walked in to meet us, he began shaking our hands and thanked us for our service. This is now the pinnacle of moment three right here: he was the face I had seen the night before in my dream, every wrinkle was identical to the old man me. Very weird I know, this has never happen to me before. So I was to say the least intrigued to find out why I had seen this face the night before. As I came to find out, he had the most incredible and adventurous story I had ever heard. He had come to Mexico when he was 47; he at that point was pastoring a church in the U.S. somewhere. On his first visit he had this overwhelming calling to come and build churches in this area of Mexico. So he went back to his home church and asked if they would financially support him there. They said no, your crazy. He was crazy; he quit working at the church and for two years went back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico. When he was in the states he would cut hair and save his money to finance the church he was working on in Mexico. In two years he had finished it. From the completion of that first church to now he had built over 200+ churches, and had seen the country of Mexico embrace the gospel like he had never seen. More than his physical accomplishment, what I really noticed about him was his overwhelming joy for life. This man exuded love with every conversation and handshake he made. I am at a lack of words to explain the Christ-like presence he had about him. So in curiosity we wanted to know how he had done all these great things and why he was so joyous about life. I am second hand quoting these comments so forgive me, but his two comments were:
"Be in prayer continually, and be bold, God does not reward a lazy Christian".



I have to say the lasting affects of those two comments have enabled me to really experience true joy. Joy like we read comes from a life of prayer and service for the lord.

On the move...

Every year around the holidays we get to come home to our families, get fat on cookies, and mingle with those we only see for seasonal occasions. I love to mingle. I am a mingler. A conversation hunter. I look forward to holiday conversations all year. With the typical: how is school? how are grades? who are you dating now? what do you want to do with your life? Which are all valid, open ended questions. Typically i answer with some outlandish career no one could actually do or say something creatively close to the truth. But this year I really searched deep to answer the question of "What do you plan to do your life..." Typically I would answer, be a time-traveler, Televangelist, or backup dancer in a rap video. Or just a Time Traveling Backup Dancer for a Televangelist. But for some reason the first grade career searching question of "What would you do with a million dollars" was ringing in my head this break. Consequently the answer you gave was the career you should pursue. I never really have had a practical answer to this question. So I thought long and hard what do I really enjoy, and from my first plane ride to California when I was four-ish, I realized I love to travel. If I had a million dollars I would travel the world. So let the mingling begin...

here is my line up of the next few months:

Jan 5-13 going to Chiapas, Mexico to build a church,
Feb 2-3 going to Indiana to Snowboard,
Feb 14th going to Washington D.C. for 21st b-day,
April 12- 16 going to NYC to see the city and art,
May 11-23 going to Israel with mom to visit the holy land,
June 1-19 Alaska to work in at a missionary radio station,
July going to Arizona for cousins wedding,