A few years ago, while on one of our longer stays in the US I bought a mug from Ikea that I really liked. I used it every morning for over a year and it became a part of my routine. I packed it in my suitcase when we moved to Barcelona in 2009. Shortly after our move, one fateful morning, I dropped the mug whilst trying to escape the fog that follows me around before coffee (yes, a real addict). I was without this trusty companion for the first time in years.

So I did what any normal human being would do when they break an inanimate, replaceable object: I bought another one.

This one was a big beautiful, more artsy looking, mug from Starbucks. It was also a huge mug and only made my coffee intake in the morning more intense. (With a downside of the coffee at the bottom of the mug ending up cold.) During our first 2 years in Barcelona I used this mug every morning. In truth most mornings during our first two years were pretty tough. It saw me through some tough times for sure…It’s dark blue tones were maybe a bit too appropriate for my emotional state though.

But just like two years before, one fateful morning this mug too took the plunge to the tile floor and ended it’s reign over my delicious morning coffee. It seemed like things were happening in slow motion as the mug slipped from my wet hands to the dry floor. This mug represented more to me than just an inanimate object…this mug was an icon of a chapter of my life; the most challenging and difficult chapter of my life.

So Jen and Maisie went out and bought me a new mug…a cheery yellow mug. Maybe it’s a prophetic sign of the good to come, or in the way that we’ve found the sun through the intense shaded of blue. But regardless, I really like it. It’s smaller…so that will maybe help me cut back on my problem.

But through this reflection I’ve realized that I’ve had one mug for each of the past three chapters of life:

Preparing for Barcelona -> Settling in Barcelona -> ???? in Barcelona

I am hopeful that the chapter marked by my yellow mug will be about:

New Beginnings, Further Growth, Living well in Community, Strong Faith and Love, and Stepping into Giftedness.

Am I the only one with distinct chapters in life? Anyone else have obscure, random, inanimate markers of these times?

I originally wrote this post a couple of days ago, but it got deleted for nerd reasons I won’t go into. But here’s my second try…

I just read the article above and a line in it hit me,

“If you can’t suffer,” Johan says, “what good are you?”

We just got back from our annual Christian Associates conference called connect. This year, our main sessions were taught by other church-planters within CA. The main text we were being taught was Hebrews 11. As each of my friends taught through this, one theme resounded from the lives of the people of faith in Hebrews: their faith lead each of them to some sort of significant suffering that resulted in their character being developed. Because of who they became through their suffering they were able to live lives of faith that made a difference in the world around them…and subsequently be considered by the writer of Hebrews some of the most noteworthy followers of God in history.

I like to ride my bikes. I like to work on my bikes. I use my bikes to get around town faster or take my daughter to school on. Basically, I use them for convenience. But I really don’t set out on my bike to suffer because I’m not competing for anything like the Columbian young men in the story, or like the riders in the Tour de France.

I watched the Tour de France a lot this year…mostly because of my newfound passion for bikes (which is evident in my last three posts). In the stages in the mountains I couldn’t get over the effort that there were exerting. They were riding 100′s of miles within a few days in incredible heat, altitude, and mental strain. For a rider in the Tour, winning a leg is pretty remarkable. Winning the whole thing is incredible. But the agony on their faces proves that they must suffer to get there. They are suffering for a prize.

In the story of Johan above, it’s not just him suffering on a bike. His mom has opened a new business, his parents sold their home, his dad is working construction as an older man. They are suffering together…but not just for the sake of suffering or riding a bike. They are suffering and sacrificing because they hope that cycling will take them out of the poverty they were living in.

This reminds me of a line in the Bible: (Hebrews 12:2)

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

It’s clear to me that there is something significant with suffering in the Christian journey. I think that there is a transformation that takes place within in us that enables us to become the type of people that God can use to join him in his good intentions on earth.

I think that the quote rings true:

“If you can’t suffer, what good are you?”

I think that I need to come to terms with something spiritually. Am I a casual bike rider when it comes to suffering? Do I just want faith for convenience? Or do I want to ride like I’m competing for a prize? (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) Do I want to push on in the face of difficulty? (2 Corinthians 4:7-10) Do I believe that partnership and relationship with God is worth it? (Philippians 3:7-14)

I think I do…

I also think that it’s worth receiving the criticism that praying for things that only benefit ourselves or our desires is selfish…I don’t think this because I don’t believe that God answers small prayers. I say this because I think that it’s worth us really being thoughtful about what we pray for. I would hope that my prayers more reflect what God desires on earth, not the way that they may reflect my desires on earth…

Enjoy…(tongue in cheek)

Without a prayer | Psychology Today

I want to write in part because I don’t want to start on the 80+ emails in my inbox and party because I just want to prove to all 3 of you out there that I can still write on my blog.

Last week we had got the chance to go to Madrid and to a conference just outside of the city for 4 days. Along with another CA friend, we drove the 6-7 hours through the north of Spain to get there. I was happy to take the long way because in the 2.5 years we lived in France, we barely saw anything outside of Paris. And, to my delight, the drive was beautiful: mountains, mesas, castles, villages, snow, cherry trees, fields, canyons, Montserrat…Spain is a diverse place.

While in Madrid I went out with a few CA guys to a burger place (obsession) in Malasaña (a really cool neighborhood where our friends the Krulls live). That night we got into a pretty significant and lengthy conversation with two girls about Jesus, the church, and their experience growing up in a catholic environment. While Spain might be diverse geographically, the story of a control, shame, and guilt heavy religion is all too common. There is a lot more to the story, but in the end we were able to communicate that following Jesus isn’t about following a tradition or a set of laws that put you either in or out of the group going to heaven. It was an honor to being able to say to them that following Jesus is about waking up everyday, doing our best to hear God’s voice, to follow Jesus, and to live the way He would if he were alive today (aka Jesus living through us). I hope a light bulb went on for them…I hope that in some way the shame, guilt, and oppression of their past experience with Church went away and they could be freed to see Jesus for who He is…and to no longer see him as a dying man hanging on a crucifix who started a religion that made them feel bad about themselves.

I had another conversation a couple of weeks ago with a Catalan guy and after I told him what I am doing here, he immediately said, “You have a very hard job.”

He’s right. We do have a hard job, but it’s not an impossible one. There is a hunger for spirituality here and there are people that are open to Jesus when we free Him from stereotypes, painful religion, oppressive human control, and the non-relevant traditions of men. It is the Jesus who has been resurrected into life, defeating sin and shame, empowering us with wisdom, grace, and truth that I want to follow. I want to follow a man who has been freed so that I can be free. I think many others in Spain want the same thing….

- St. Augustine of Hippo

Thanks to my friend Tim Bower for posting this earlier.

The early followers of Jesus called Him Lord in light of the Roman emperor’s command that he himself was Lord. In a sense, saying Jesus was Lord, was telling Caesar, “You are not Lord.” Saying that Jesus is Lord is not a phrase that we use to give Jesus another title. The phrase is a movement from ‘the competing Lords of our culture’ to a faith in Jesus as Lord. I believe that it is in this movement from one thing of ‘lordship’ to following Jesus as Lord that we find our meaning, hope, grace, and redemption.

I just got done finished reading excerpts for Chris Wright’s final address at the Third Lausanne Congress on world evangelisation. You can read it here if you want to.** I am both convicted and encouraged by what his points were. He said ‘Christians had lost their integrity and succumbed to the idolatry of power and pride, popularity and success, and wealth and greed.’ His last part on unity is also a crucial point.

Here are some quotes I ‘liked’:

“To be obsessed, or even concerned at all, about status, office, power, in the Christian Church and in Christian work, is in sheer disobedience to Christ and the Bible. And it destroys the very thing that we seek to accomplished. We are called back, in repentance, to humility.”

“The tragedy is that so many Christian leaders, including mission leaders, fail these tests [of power, popularity and wealth] at precisely the point Jesus overcame them.”

“The whole church pays the cost of their failure in the lost integrity and credibility. And so when we even dare to point the finger of criticism at the sin of the world we are told bluntly and rightly ‘clean up your own backyard’.”

I felt like this was the same message that I left the Thinklings event with. What leg do we have to stand on when we tell the world around us they need to follow Jesus when we don’t ourselves? I have a feeling that we’re living in a time where it is communicated that it is more important to be good Christian (go to church, read your Bible, be moral, tithe, etc) than it is to actually follow Jesus (redeem people, reject power, enter into suffering, etc). I think it is time that we as a collective Church start taking more seriously the reality that majority of the Bible was written to God’s own people who were not appropriately following Him. Personally, I would rather have Jesus tell me, “I know you followed me with your whole heart.” than to have say, “I know you worked hard to be a good Christian.”

Ok…off to get started cleaning my own backyard…or terrace seeing as I don’t have a backyard.

***You can also watch the talk online here: Integrity – Confronting Idols | A Conversa Global Lausanne

A Different Kind of Christian Demonstration at Gay Pride | TimSchraeder.com

Reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel. Reconciliation between once-opposed enemies is truly good news for all people. (What the angels spoke of to the shepherds in Luke’s gospel)

Even as a kid we are taught to say we are sorry. Even if we believe that we are 100% right, we were taught to learn that there must be something that we need to apologize for. That we at least have 1% of the problem to own…but honestly only arrogant people would claim a measly 1%!

Being able to say sorry first is a humble expression to move towards the issue or the people. I think that what our brothers in Chicago did is a great example of moving toward an issue that needs reconciliation.

May God give us all the courage to reconcile the ‘wars’ that wage in our lives. When we do, we model His movement towards us as humanity. When we don’t, we miss out…We miss out on the Gospel coming alive in our lives.

When you think of reconciling an issue in your life, what comes to mind? What issues might have you been too afraid of to move towards?

May God’s grace be with you as move towards these things…

Tonight is the story of two train rides that have a sobering similarity.

On my way out to practice it was rush hour. There were hundreds of people out and the train was packed. There was no chance of finding of seat so I stood with backpack squeezed in between my ankles, certainly too cramped for me to wear the backpack! I had to hold the bar up above my head to keep my balance. This reminded me of my days in Paris when I’d ride the metro there at around 5:30pm! I love riding trains like this, unless it’s all four of us and we have a stroller and two kids that are getting smushed! The diversity of the people here is remarkable. Each person with a past, a story, a place they are coming from, the experiences of their day. Who knows where they are going…what their home is like. Most people are riding by themselves and sharing nothing other than a seat with the person sitting next to them. All that to say, the metro was packed with people from everywhere…and when you stop to really look at other people, you can’t help but be touched by their humanity and really wonder who they are…at least for me.

My ride home from training was much different. When I walked down to the track there was only one other person waiting for a train. I walked down the platform to the back of the train because I knew that the exit where I would get off was down there. I had my headphones on so I couldn’t really hear anything, but in that particular station there is always the smell of oily railroad ties…I kind of like that smell. I sat there smelling the smell, hearing my music, and looking for the train with virtually no other sign of life in the station. It would have made for a cool photo shoot spot. When the train came into the station I walked up to the door that stopped in front of me. I pushed the green button to open the door and I got on the train. This time, instead of ‘standing room only’ I had the pick of every seat in my car. I was alone. It was almost creepy…especially with my headphones on not being able to tell if anyone else really was on there with me. I looked over my shoulder a few time (as I often do in my neighborhood) to see if anyone was there because in situations like that, I don’t like surprises (not saying that the trains are dangerous at all in Barcelona…just saying I like to know if someone is behind me!) As we pulled into the Arc de Triumph station I stood up and looked around at all the empty chairs and realized something.

“Statistically speaking, there are probably just as many people on this empty train that follow Jesus as the crowded train that I rode on the way to practice early tonight: one…me”

I’ve probably said this 50 times at gatherings in the US…the reality in Europe is that when I ride the bus or the metro there is a high chance that I am the only Jesus follower on that bus or metro. It’s really a huge contrast to the places that I’ve lived before.

But tonight it was different for me to experience that reality like this. Being alone physically really heightened the truth that I am often very alone spiritually.

I guess there are two points to me processing this: one is to remind myself of the vacuum that exists here. I really believe that following Jesus is the hope for this life and the next…and it kills me that so many go through life never knowing the God who is Love…the love that brings grace, redemption, wholeness, peace…

The second thought that comes to mind is the story Paul when he was in Corinth and felt very alone. God reminded him that He had ‘many people’ in that city and that God himself was with Paul (Acts 18). I know that there are two kinds of people that God has here: one being other people that follow Jesus already (we’re trying to meet and connect with these people now), but the other being people that are seeking God…that God has already begun working in their lives and they just need someone to walk with them on the road. This is why we’ve come here…to trust God that we’ll be lead to these people and that they will with experience Jesus through us…and even better, taste and see for themselves that Jesus is who he claimed to be and that becoming ‘a learner’ of Jesus does bring the Life that Jesus said it would.

The beauty of living in the middle of a city (and sometimes difficulty) is that I just can’t escape human contact. I am constantly reminded of my smallness, my weakness, while swimming in this sea of life. I’m grateful for how this teaches me humility. I am also humbled by the work we have chosen to embrace…living out the Kingdom of God in a place like this seems small…like a mustard seed, or a bit of yeast, or something…but we look with anticipation to what is to come. I’m loving this lesson that I learned on the train…

BBC News – Racist abuse against Balotelli feared at Inter-Juve tie

The truth is that Europe is the first place in the world that is making (has made) the transition to being truly multi-cultural…or maybe synchronistic is a better word. Sure, there can be a case that the United States was first many hundred years ago, but even then it didn’t have the mix of religious, deep cultural, and ethnic synchronism that is at the core of how Europe’s modern culture is being formed. Europeans that may want to keep their countries or regions truly mono-cultural have already lost the fight. There is no end in sight for the shifting landscape of Europe as east, west, north, and south merge together here.

The ugly attitude (and words) of the fans in the article above is representative of this dying breed of people who hold onto the idea that Italians, Spanish, or French could maintain a historic hold on their image. This idea is no longer. People are going to have to live with the reality that a black man is as Italian as they are. And as time goes on all Europeans will have to live with the fact that what makes someone European or not will have nothing to do with their family history.

]]> http://urbanidealist.com/2009/12/06/a-scene-of-racism-in-modern-europe/feed/ 0