Archive for June, 2007

My beef with blogs -or- E-Gossip

Published
by
Justin
on June 29, 2007
in Missional Church
. 4 Comments

I don’t know how long or positive this post will end up being…I’m in a weird mood, but trust myself enough at this moment to continue writing.

When I started blogging a couple of years ago I only started doing it because I wanted an outlet to communicate…I was going through culture shock and felt misunderstood a lot so I turned to the world of blogging to have a space of my own to process my dreams, frustrations, hopes, and life ‘out-loud’. I really didn’t plan on trying to ‘get into it’ and still really haven’t…I write like once a week…not like some who write even a couple times a day!

But over the years I have progressed and now I read more on the ‘blogosphere’ than ever. I have even downloaded a program to help me quickly read through the 60 or so blogs that I want to keep up with. Honestly, this is information overload and I end up feeling the way I do after a big party, church-service, or conference…I made a lot of connections, but never really felt like I got to know, or be known, by anyone.

But as I spent more time looking around on blogs I’ve seen something that doesn’t sit right with me…I am publicizing my beef. Here it is:

I can’t stand it when people write critical or judgmental posts about other individuals.

In my experience, it seems like nothing good can come out of even the most ’sweet’ of public rebukes outside of real relationships. I have read posts where pastors trash on other pastors, or where Christians go off on other Christians, or theologians on theologians…This is the electronic form of talking bad about ‘the church down the street’ from our own little digital pulpits. (That’s what blogs are you know.)

After dealing with a moment of embarrassment on behalf of my brothers and sisters, I ask myself,

“What would somebody unfamiliar to this situation think of the Kingdom of God by reading this?”

I think that it was Jesus (John 17) who said that people will know that He was sent by God and people would understand the love of God has for them through unity amongst His followers

…oops, sorry Jesus.

Instead of just shouting at the problem I want to be be part of the solution…Here are the questions that I’m asking myself now…(followed by a sarcastic response)

How can my blog better encourage the Kingdom value of unity? (I could start a new blog that polices the blogosphere for perps…and then write a critical post on their critical post…that would fix things!)

What is going on in my heart when I want to publicize a hurtful word about another follower of Jesus? (Who cares…it’s only truth according to me that matters.)

Bottom line: Do I care more about myself than living rightly as a follower of Jesus? (Uhm…I can love myself as much as I love Jesus and be ok…Jesus chose me…so why can’t I?)

Posting a criticism of a person on a blog is a waste of time. Unless there is some act of God, it won’t produce anything resembling a restored relationship…meaning…if you trash somebody on your blog it will just make for an awkward moment in Heaven…so get over it…

or

…If it’s really from God, and you really have God’s best for another person have the guts to go and talk face to face about something instead of thinking that you are ’speaking for God’ from behind your laptop drinking a cappuccino at your local café. If this were how prophets in the Old Testaments delivered their messages then they probably wouldn’t have been running for their lives as much…I’m sure they envy us from Heaven.

Lastly…if you try and trash me or this article on your blog I will unleash the powers of E-gossip like you wouldn’t believe…i know technorati, so I’m watching you.

In a perfect world, (I am an idealist when I’m at my best) each of our own lives would be so satisfying and preoccupied with the things of Jesus around us that we would have no need to look elsewhere for stories.

That croissant?…No that one

Published
by
Justin
on June 24, 2007
in Paris and other French Oddities
. 1 Comment

I don’t know if anybody else will find this amusing or not…maybe if you’ve been to France and experienced a real ‘boulangerie’…

Today I made a baggette and croissant run before home group. There was a man in front of me was looking into the case where all the croissants are displayed and he told the woman that he wanted a specific croissant that he saw…

She stretched out through the case pointing at them, “This one?”

He replied, “Not that one, this one here.”

She said, “This one?”…again.

He replied, “No the one in the front.”

Keep in mind, they all look beautiful!…and the same.

Then she finally found his award winning croissant. The truth is that when you take one bite of these things all of the flaky goodness explodes everywhere and the croissant immediately loses it’s original beauty.

What I’m saying is that it makes no difference, but he demanded to have this specific croissant. He had a croissant crush. He was ‘enbreaduated’ with it.

But you have to respect a guy who knows his croissants. A specialist…well I think that all French are bread specialists.

So if you come to France…take your time in the boulangerie. Pick a winner because they all have their subtle nuances that can make or break your croissant experience.

I got yelled at

Published
by
Justin
on June 22, 2007
in Paris and other French Oddities
. 1 Comment

This event actually happened a few days ago, but I am just now emotionally stable enough to write about with a sense of humor!

We were with some friends visiting from the States and they were checking into the apartment that they were renting. While they were doing their thing Jen, Maisie, our friend Sue, and I were waiting outside on the sidewalk.

There was a big long metal barrier in the street next to the sidewalk that about 60 bikes were locked to. The rack was about 30 meters long and was in a pretty odd place. As we were standing out there I heard a lady making kind of a whining/complaining sound down near the end of the rack…almost a noise that a kid would make if they were grumpy about something.

I looked up and saw that the woman was actually blind and seemed completely disorientated. She would go to step off the curb and walk right into a bike…turn around and step up the curb and walk toward the building until she hit it with her guide stick.

This must have been so frustrating and I had to do something. I ran down to her and in my best French said,

“Excuse me madame. Can I help you?”

She mumbled something to me and then tried to step off the curb again. I said,

“There a lot of bicycles here. Can I help you walk?”

She mumbled again and stepped off of the curb into the bicycles. My heart really hurt for her and this was probably both humiliating and disorientating. I said again,

“Madame there are bicycles here. Can I help you?”

Apparently my best French wasn’t good enough. She yelled at me,

“Listen!”

And slapped the ground with her guide stick.

At this point another young French guy, who may have known her, ran up and spoke with her. She was very upset and I was getting there too…partly for her, but partly because she was so sharp with me when I was trying to help her!

As the young man led her away he said,

“It’s ok. He’s English”

I’m glad that he saw I was trying to help and I thanked him for saving me from a near beat down. I did have to work hard to fight back feelings of frustration towards her…it’s ridiculous I know…but I hate that even in times when I am trying to help somebody out it gets pointed out that I am a foreigner and all the pent up feelings of being an ‘étranger’ in a bizarre place come up. It’s weird to try to do something right and then end up feeling so wrong!

Oh well…Jen helped remind me that I was trying to do a good thing and that the lady was probably just really frustrated and took it out on me. I know she’s right…as usual. I pray more and more that I will be able to see people the way God does, and not be such a sponge of other peoples issues…ahh learning. Good times.

The Game

Published
by
Justin
on June 18, 2007
in To Think About...
. 1 Comment

I first saw the movie ‘The Game’ when it came out in 1997, but there wasn’t much to choose from at the video store tonight so I picked it up again. Michael Douglas plays a character name Nicholas Van Orten, an investment banker who has grown up to be rich, cut-throat, self-absorded, and lonely.

His ‘less-together’ brother Conrad, played by Sean Penn, shows up with a special gift that Nicholas reluctantly pursues. This ‘gift’ is an experience that that sends Nicholas on a wild and confusing ride that shakes him from all the things that he once thought were so important and brings him face to face with who he really is…in essence the gift that Nicholas receives is brokenness.

Brokenness is a gift who’s value is only fully realized once it’s over. But when we see it for what it is, brokenness has the greatest potential to lead us to gratitude, and gratitude to maturity.

May each one of us, when feeling broken and tired, remember James 1

Consider it a gift (pure joy), my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Noise

Published
by
Justin
on June 18, 2007
in Missional Church, Movements and Paris and other French Oddities
. 1 Comment

This summer’s video about life, church-planting, and redemption in Paris.

My First Father’s Day…

Published
by
Justin
on June 17, 2007
in Head to Fingers
. 2 Comments

I have decided I like Father’s Day better than my birthday.

Here’s why…

Everybody has a birthday. Every year on my birthday I spend the whole day trying to convince myself that I should feel special…because I exist just like everybody else. Birthdays are days that we celebrate our existence.

But Father’s day is different…I feel like today I get to celebrate my contribution!

I look at Maisie and see that I have brought a precious little life into the world and that I am contributing to the growth and (hopefully) the betterment of the human race. I feel like this is what it means to be human…to contribute, not just to exist.

This is why I am excited about my first Father’s Day.

Where does this come from?

Published
by
Justin
on June 16, 2007
in To Think About...
. 1 Comment

Last night Jen and I watched the movie “Fast Food Nation”. When we rented the movie we thought it was a comedy…but it wasn’t really a comedy at all…and there was certainly not much to laugh about.*

At the end of the movie Jen and I were both feeling really heavy. I know that movies have a way of manipulating ones senses as most of life isn’t set to music, strategic camera angles, or perfect lighting. But this movie really got me thinking things about our culture, lifestyle, and choices that I’ve always been comfortable not thinking. And more importantly it made me think about the effect my life choices end up having on other people.

When I eat piece of pizza, or buy a t-shirt I don’t often think of the places and people that exist to make my life conveniences a reality to me. The truth is that in our culture today we are so out of touch with the origins of the products we consume. Most people don’t farm their food, butcher their meat, sew their clothes, or harvest their beans for their daily cup of coffee…but we all consume things like this, and in our age we can’t escape this reality.

But I wonder…What ends up happening in our souls because of this disconnection? How is our view of the world around us distorted because of the acceptance of this type of consumerism? Are there things that we can do prevent our depersonalization decline?

I’m reading a book right now called “Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places” by Eugene Peterson. This is what he says,

…I don’t want to be just a consumer. I don’t even want to be predominantly a consumer. To be reduced to a consumer is to leave out most of what I am, of what makes me me. To be treated as a consumer is to be reduced to being used by another or reduced to a product for someone else’s use. It makes little difference whether the using is in a generous or selfish cause, it is reduction. Widespread consumerism results in extensive depersonalization. And every time depersonalization moves in, life leaks out.

The essence of the Christian mission and message is that God loves relationships and wants them to be right. He wants our relationship with Him to be right. He wants our relationship with our own soul to be right. He wants our relationships with the world (by this I mean people) around us to be right. I just feel like something in me is saying, “That’s not right” when I know that other people are being de-humanized, de-relationalized, and de-valued because of my choices to consume and maintain the quality of life that I feel like I have a right to.

I think it’s fair to say that luxuries we give money for, others give life for.

I want to return to ‘the matrix’ or ‘la la land’ and pretend that I never had this burden (in essence, commit the sin of forgetfulness), life would be easier if I could go on enjoying my freedom at another’s expense. But I hope the question, “Where does this come from?” will haunt my mind and push me to continue to desire to make the world look a little bit more like the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus prayed would come to earth.

*Another surprise of this film was the sexuality in it. So please be aware of this. You can read the book that it was adapted from instead!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Published
by
Justin
on June 11, 2007
in I Love Technology
. 2 Comments

This is a pretty cool site…and I’m stoked I look like a couple of super-models…awesome. And I look like ‘The Juice’ apparently…which was my nick-name for a short time in college.

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.