DIVE 2007

This weekend was a weekend of weekends... not the, but a. It was memorable, fun, exciting, interesting, engaging, uplifting, and challenging.

Not everything was great. Not everything was bad. More good than bad. Of course, what is good? What is bad?

Some highlights!
1. SENIOR MEN WON THE LIP SYNC- and i was johnny cash...!
2. I got to know some more of the guys in my group
3. The small-group times (mine and others, from what I hear) went well
4. Our group- from 6th to 12th- all acted right (with the exception of a few 8th and 9th grade boys)
5. Worship was great- I actually opened up to a song, for once (hard to explain...)
6. Good times with friends...!
7. Good last retreat.
8. Lots of great pictures!

Some lowlights.
1. Lip sync was hard and painful for some people- some senior guys, some girls, and the junior guys
2. People might have walked away with a bad impression of our students
3. The speaker wasn't there on Saturday, and even though we watched a video of him teaching, he wasn't that compelling (surprisingly enough, since he told us to lead compelling lives)
4. The small group times were torturous sometimes in silence... i almost cried and almost got mad at people for not participating...
5. No dramas- at least, not that many dramas that made sense...
6. Seems thing disjointed for the weekend...
7. Lots of talk of reading the Bible and going on mission trips, but not much on how to live the Word out
8. Sad, cause its my last retreat... :

anyway, i learned. i grew. and God was at work.

farewell

ev

I'm so sick

I've been out of school and church and life in general since Monday afternoon. I came home, collapsed on the couch, and rested all evening. Tuesday, I almost went to school, but just couldn't bear it. Wednesday, I almost went, but was coughing too much. Thursday, I almost went, but I was really out of it. Friday, I don't know...

I've done pretty much nothing but sleep and watch TV... Reading and writing and studying are just too much right now... but when I get back to it all, everything is going to be really hard.

Gosh- life is estranged... whatever that means...

bye

Are we robots?

It's time for a rant on a soapbox!!!

Who here is tired of words that mean nothing coming from people that don't even know why they're saying them...

"Good job"
"Have a good day"
"Good to see you"
"Hope you're doing good"
"Are you okay?"
"Hey, that was great"
"Hey, you're really nice"

Nothing wrong with compliments and encouragements- but sometimes I wonder- "WHAT ARE THEY REALLY THINKING?"

We walk by people in the hallway and we ask them if they're doing okay... We want them to reply:
a. "Ok"
b. "Good"
c. "Great"
d. "Alright"
e. "I'm not feeling so good, but other than that, I'm good"
f. "Bad day, but it's okay"
g. "I just failed a test, but I'm alright"

Any of these responses do not require any more time of us. We don't have to spend time and talk to them and help them... we just want to keep walking... we don't want to have to get involved... most often, when a person chooses "d" as their answer, inside they're thinking:
"I HATE LIFE! I HAVE NO FRIENDS! DOES ANYBODY EVEN THINK ABOUT ME? TODAY IS THE PITS! I WANT TO GO HOME AND GO TO SLEEP AND DREAM ABOUT A BETTER LIFE!"

But that's how we all like it- superficial salutations and "friendly" greetings... what can we do instead, after all? What can we do when we're feeling bad and we know someone is going to pop the "You OK?" question...
a. Not say anything to anyone
b. Scream out our inside feelings
c. Tell people we'll talk to them later
d. Ignore their question and trudge by
e. Summarize the badness in our life
f. Tell them not to worry about it, it's okay, we'll get through it

WHAT CHOICES DO WE HAVE?!?! we are all so isolated and alone... we don't reach out and aren't reached out to. what can we do?

i don't know... i just know i'm tired and sick and i'm going to bed. night.

When our altars and leaders and monuments become idols

In our life, we:
Worship God
Follow God
Remember God

Worship- Through this, we come to the "altars" of life and worship him: whether through service, music, learning, church, etc.
But what happens when the "way" we worship becomes the "what" we worship? When we worship the means to worship? When our worship is turned to the worship itself? When we worship worship?

Follow- We follow God, but to do this, we often must follow Christian leaders- pastors, teachers, parents, writers, speakers, musicians, leaders, etc.
But what happens when we stop following the leader to get closer to God but simply follow the leader to get closer to the leader? What happens when we turn their words into Holy Scrip and their actions into holy deeds? What happens when we push them onto God's throne and treat them thus?

Remember- We remember God, and often this is done through monuments: remembering what He has done in our life, what He did in the Bible, the items that remind us, the memories, etc.
But what happens when we begin to worship our fantasy of our relationship with God? What happens when that perfect closeness to God, that specific time, becomes God? What happens when we put God aside and focus on our concepts and images and ideas and memories of God?

Just a thought...

I sometimes wonder the meaning of the actions I say and the words I do

Now, you might think I meant the "words" I say and the "actions" I do, but I pulled a switcheroo on you...

What actions come out of the things I say?

When I say certain things, how do they affect people?
When I say certain things, what image do they present of me?
When I say certain things, what do those words do to me?
When I say certain things, how is my life changed?

What words come out of my actions?

Do I proclaim the gospel with my actions?
Do I speak encouraging words with my actions?
Do I state certain beliefs in my actions?
Do I lie with my actions?

And the meaning...
Why do I do what I say and say what I do? Why do I do what I do and say what I say?

Are my CREEDS/STATEMENTS/DECLARATIONS/GOSPELS/WORDS in line with my ACTIONS/DEEDS/DOINGS/LIFE?

Internet Pop-Up Games/Ads/FreeGiveAways

You know those games that let you:
a. shoot a bird
b. slap Donald trump
c. shoot a bird at Donald Trump

They always have some ad, saying:
a. "WIN A FREE XBOX!"
b. "GET FREE TICKETS TO BLACK EYED PEAS!"
c. "WIN A FREE BOX OF BLACK EYED PEAS!"

Well, usually, the stuff they offer sounds cooler... so you think, "Oh yeah, it's this easy? Cool! Let's do it!"
So you jump in and play and then a pop-up window comes and says you need to fill out some forms... give out some info... apply... pay money... give over your credit card number... etc. etc. etc... you were promised the prize without telling you all about the work- you heard about the good but not about the bad...

It's like that in Christianity...

We advertise Jesus as a calculator that solves all problems or an ointment that heals all rashes...
We tell everyone the good, but don't share the bad...
THE GOOD: Jesus Christ, grace, love, forgiveness, peace, life, promise, hope, Holy Spirit, fellowship, encouragement, strength, a relationship with God, redemption, salvation
THE BAD/HARD: perseverance, faith, prayer, Bible study, trust, evangelism, righteousness, holiness, Christ-likeness, obedience, following God, listening to the Holy Spirit, forgiving others, loving others, sin, Satan, persecution, temptation, struggles, judging

We tell everyone that Jesus Christ offers a new life, His burden is light, His yoke is easy, He gives water of life, He provides every need, will forgive every sin, help you in every trial... then when they're hooked, we let them find out for themselves how hard everything is. Then they:
a. struggle with it by themselves
b. get frustrated and stop following Christ
c. find people who share the problems they have but take years to actually understand eachother and the struggles they share...

What should we do instead? "Follow Jesus! He brings life and rejection by everyone! Follow Jesus!"

Well, it sounds weird, but Jesus did it, didn't He?
"The path is narrow"
"People will persecute you"
"I bring fire to the earth"
"In this world You will have trouble"

Jesus let everyone know what they were getting into. He gave people chances to turn away, even encouraging others to leave sometimes... he was upfront about what following Him meant... are we?
not really- we just mention the good, and leave out the bad...
now, we shouldn't become pessimistic, and focus on the bad, but we need to look at the whole picture... "When You follow Christ, you will get this, this will happen, you will encounter this..."

Jesus sometimes presented the Bad Meat Sandwich- He would say something good, then something bad, then something good as a promise through the bad... examples?

John 16:33b- "...In me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Matthew 5:11-12- "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

(I'm not saying that He did it all the time, but we see it a few times...)

We need to be sure to present the the truth, whole and complete... we shouldn't trick people into Christianity without letting them know what they're getting into. Jesus did it. So should we.

Fun things to be done

I was going to go and hang out with some friends today and I was trying to think of fun things to do, but couldn't come up with anything that didn't cost alot, require a good amount of travel, or was pretty boring... here are some ideas of places that should be opened

1. Gameplex- People come in and play board games!!!
2. Have huge gymnasiums for playing tag
3. A labyrynth
4. An art place that supplied you with stuff and you could make stuff
5. Something like that above, but with more metal and plastic and wood and stuff that lasts
6. A music recording studio where you can record bad music for cheapness
7. Places where you can come and make graffitti
8. Places like in Pinnochio where you can break a whole bunch of stuff
9. Go to the dump and search for cool stuff
10. Create an obstacle course with differing heights
11. Have huge fields to create battles and wars and junk and have picnics
12. A place where you can take shaving cream and shampoo and make a mess of yourself for fun
13. Something like in Harriet the Spy, where the woman's backyard was so weird but cool
14. Go and pick up trash on the side of the road!!!
15. Go door to door and do weird stuff
16. Have a lunch in the middle of a sidewalk or on the side of the road
17. Make a huge pile of junk- rocks, sticks, whatever, and put a huge flag on the top of it
18. Dress up in weird clothes and walk around and do stuff
19. A building filled with trampolines and pads so you can jump around everywhere and not get hurt
20. A river that's just a pool, but really really long, like one of those rivers at a water park, but have it stretch down for a long time and bring in plants and rocks so it's kind of real
21. A huge anciet castle or fortress for people to explore
22. A place where you can film your own movies for a low price
23. A whole bunch of mud
24. A place to watch old movies while playing pool and stuff
25. A huge old building to play hide and seek and other games in
26. I'm out of stuff
27. That's it
28. Bye