The Brazilian Embassy of Chicago Approves of Joy and I

Our visas will be here tomorrow!  How exciting!  Joy and I have been attending The Salvage Yard church in Minneapolis.  This church used to be called “the hard-core bible study” but has grown in the last year to a church of about 150 college and inner city young adults.  It’s a ministry connected with Steiger International.  It’s raw, it’s messy but it’s a community built on Jesus.  That last sentence probably doesn’t need a ‘but’ because Jesus communities are always messy.  

Joy and I love the rawness of the church and the authentic passion of the congregation.  And many of our friends that we met in Brazil last year go there, so it’s great to see them.  Joy and I have been preparing our lives to leave for a month; our practical lives and spiritual lives.  I feel like we about to strap ourselves into a large and intense rollercoaster that we have never been on before.  Traveling to dangerous and dirty bars and clubs to proclaim the name of Jesus will certainly bring unexpected turns and dips and rises.  You know that anxious, nervous, excited feeling you get before going on a new ride?  Yep, I got that!

tragic and beautiful

and while we yet were sinners, christ died for us. he did not leave us alone. he stepped into our condition to bring us back to god. to bring us back to what was intended. the divine, bearing all depravity. the most horrific of collisions. the most tragic and beautiful. the breaking is glorious and loud. we have won. it might not feel like it. you might not can see it just yet. but the reality of our situation is that rescue is present. every second of life is spent in the very presence of god. there is not a second of human history that he has not been present. majesty is here. and it is coming. finally. just be quiet. and wait.

David Crowder

The Lark Ascending

The Lark Ascending
He rises and begins to round,
He drops the silver chain or sound,
Of many links without a break,
In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake...

For singing till his heaven fills,
`Tis love of earth that he instils,
And ever winging up and up,
Our valley is his golden cup
And he the wine which overflows
To lift us with him as he goes....

Till lost on his aerial rings
In light, and then the fancy sings.

George Meredith

Academic Christianity

Today I hung out with Jeremy at Bethel Sem.

Alexandria, home away from home

I am up in Alexandria tonight.  My sister and her boyfriend Tyler are here.  Man, I love those guys.  And I certainly love Opa and Omi (my grandparents).  Joy and I spent the day with them today eating, talking, laughing, hanging out, playing with their new mini-van, building a railing for some stairs in their garage, talking about going on their pontoon but not actually going, going to a Branson-type show (with really horrible sound -  static, feedback – I could hardly stand it), watching OLD home videos and just being together!  I love that!  All in one day!

It was really fun watching Opa laugh really hard at a video of my sister and my cousin Scott when they were really young.  Hilarious video of them pushing each other around in one of those little cars.  

Well, it’s late.  I need to sleep.  

On my mind:  I want to be on constant, unified mission with Joy – like even when we are up here! I think that’s why we’re excited for Brazil.  Lord please provide!!  Also, I need to make a final decision on my talk for Sunday.

Can I share something?

Can I share something with you? So I was reading this great British historians book on Jesus and I came across a great section on how Jesus was not just doing something completely out of the ordinary. I mean, dying on a cross and resurrecting is pretty rare but a close study of Jesus will show you that he was actually following a model. Actually several models. Jesus actually copies people when he does his ministry. Its not all original. Have you ever heard this before or thought about it?

Here’s what I mean. Jesus is considered a prophet and called a prophet by people around him, his own followers and even himself. In fact, this historian, NT Wright in his book Jesus and the victory of God, says that it “seems the most secure point at which to ground our study of Jesus’ public career.” Ok big deal… but actually its really cool.

Check this out. Jesus models prophets… even strange ones like Micaiah ben Imlach in 1 Kings 22:17 when He calls them ‘leaderless sheep.’ He models Ezekiel when he predicts that God’s glory will leave the temple Ez 10:1-5/Matthew 23:38. Like Jeremiah he risks being called a traitor to Israel’s desire to rule a nation and says that he is the true spokesman for God. Jesus acts like Jonah when he predicts imminent judgement on Ninevah. Jesus even overtly points to Jonah in Luke 11:29-32. He acts like Elijah and Elisha as pointed out by Wright many different times.

SO what again? Well, Jesus considered his ministry simply a continuation – and bringing to a climax – all that God was doing in the Old Testament. It reminds me of Seinfeld where all the stories come together in the end no matter how detached they are. There always seems to be this GREAT divide between the old testament and the new, but God is continuing to work in the same fashion throughout history – just more significantly through Jesus.

I thought that was interesting.

Go to Bed, It's 2:43

I think Tuesday is keeping me up. Teetering on the edge of the fall has me leaning as far back as possible so that I can stay in the summer some how. Its inevitable that Tuesday is coming (actually is already here) and I gotta face the fact that fall is in motion. But, I blog now - even though I have tried to journal my life many times and failed over and over again - and maybe blogging will keep the peace of the summer going during the fall. That remains to be seen considering the pattern of my life. I can get the ball rolling, I just can't keep it rolling.

Alright, night!

Oh I have been dying to write this. Stuart Briscoe said in a sermon I heard recently, "I constantly hear people talking about whats going on in this ministry and that church and with this new book and this new idea and that new philosophy and this new emphasis to reaching people... but RARELY, RARELY do I hear people actually, literally, really talking about Jesus." .... wow, writing it out makes that statement hit me all over again.

So... Jesus... I sense that He is using the mess I have made to work His way out. Joy and I going to Brazil in the fall has been a vehicle for an amazing amount of healing. He is using it! He is using US! That's joy right there! True joy! We are still in need of resources to go on this trip, but I think Jesus is challenging us to pray harder, do all that we possibly can and trust that He will provide the rest. I trust that He will provide the rest! He's done it before!

(I am realizing that I am not a great writer. Maybe I'll get better if I can do this more often.)

Ok, night