 | Current mood:  refreshed The other day my wife and ventured into the inner loop of Houston, an area we really enjoy but rarely get to explore. It goes without saying that a stop into Cactus records was part of our outing, which very unfortunately is closing it's doors after 30 years in Houston. This was a great store with a great enviroment and the best selection that I've found in Houston of good music, vinyl, and film. Needless to say, I was rather upset to walk in and find it for the most part empty. But before leaving we picked up some Bob Dylan, Muse, Beck - Sea Change (i'm in love with this album), Jewel - pieces of me, and Radiant (a band out of Dallas, played a lot with Eisley *in the Moss Eisley days* and Midlake). all that to say... Today as I was doing the routine checking of the e-mail, bank account, fantasy team, and maybe a quick glance at cnn.com I noticed a statement on the front of Jewel's CD cover. (who, i just found out, left the 9 to 5 world and moved into her van to pursue music. she decided to be homless in order to pursue her dreams. I think it worked out pretty well for her.) Down in the bottom of the cover there is a statement, "what we call human nature in actuality is human habit" Now, i'm a believer in the concept of human nature. I think we are desperately selfish and self-seeking when left to our own desires. We can see this in every single 2 and 3 year old, that's "mine" comes so easily out of there mouth it's almost something to be admired. We see this in our culture and the lengths people will go for wealth, success and spotlight. you probably even see it pop up in your day to day life as well. it's there, we can't get away from it. "what we call human nature in actuality is human habit" Now, i'm not speaking for Jewel or even proposing this is what she meant or where she was going with this quote. But I find it interesting that Jesus often talked about new life and a different way of life. Then his followers who came and wrote after Jesus would say the same thing, calling people to come and join them in this new way of living, a way that is full of compassion, mercy, justice, love, peace, and even an equal playing field of community. a life oppossed to that of the self-seeking one we have known. And what is really interesting, is that it is often taught almost as if saying, "hey look you have known one way of living, but look where it leads, what if we try this new way of living; showing mercy, loving one another, and pursuing justice. Just began to do this. Jesus has taught and provided the example, so go ahead and develop some new habits." What if some of things we long for come down to us taking the time to change our habits. Tolstoy said, "everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves." "what we call human nature in actuality is human habit" here's to new habits... |
Monday, April 27, 2009
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| Current mood:  hopeful I want to just put very embryonic thoughts up for grabs here. So here goes the argument in the rawest form possible. Ok, I was recently speaking with a doctor who was telling me that ADD and Austism are becoming epidemics among young people today. I asked him what was the main factor behind this and his response was, "parenting". Upon further explanation, he stated parents play a huge role in the development of children and children with good parenting can and do overcome many of the initial hinderances of ADD and Austism at an early age. I have a friend who teaches autistic children who are non-verbal and very "behind" for their age and disability and they almost all come from broken homes where the mother/father is struggling to make ends meet. The doctor truly believes if there situation was better at home, the disability would be less severe. (NOTE: this is not a blanket statement and there are other factors in this specific example such as poverty, which we also need to become more responsible with our spoils from capitialism) Single parent families are increasing drastically and starting at much younger ages. Now these children, the future generations of our world, are growing up in less than perfect situations. Two consenting adults now breaks down to one "in over their head" adult. Having a child drastically changes your lifestyle, so now this parent has a much harder road to finding a complimentary job and continuing education. He/She consented for pleasure and bailed on the responsibility. Do I think that two parent families are better in all cases, not necessarily and even no in some cases, but I think you can agree that this is not an ideal situation for a child's development. However, I do think it is part of the design of this world for two parent families. I don't know how many of you have friends in the school district, but teachers are getting burned out and quitting their jobs like crazy. Many citing they can't handle the students anymore. That, b/c so many home lifes are so crazy, despite their best efforts, they can't reach the student. They would have to quit their job and devote their lives to this family to really make a difference. I personally think we are heading for a crisis in our schools and education and more than likely a desperate shortage for quality teachers who care. Where does this leave our future generation? With freedom comes responsibility. If there are truly these social outcomes to the act of sex, b/c sex is linked to procreation, then we must become accountable for what we do with our bodies. If a sexual act cause a child to be born and live a childhood that does not foster his develpment and then is put in a classroom where the child does not flurish and disrupts and this affects other kids and teachers, then I think we can no longer say that "sex is none of your business" and " we are consenting adults". Yeah you are both consenting on the fact that you really like the pleasure of sex, but you have no concern for the responsibility of procreation. I'm sorry abortion as an answer falls short as well, since abortion involves human life, feelings and pysche. We have all bought into the fact that sex is mere pleasure and is the pinnacle and defining moment of our relationships, but I think we must get rid of this mentality and view sex as procreation and be thankful that the Creator designed this incredible gift of creating life to be involved with much pleasure. It is a gift with a design and we abuse these sorts of things all the time. (just watch the news and tell me we as humans don't do this) This is very limited and much easier to articulate in person. But perhaps it will get us thinking Feel free to comment. |
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| some of you may recognize this lyric from a recent Ben Harper song. It was the perfect words to describe what I was feeling and thinking. It's the trap of being right. Objective, in a very subjective world. We all long to be validated, we all long to be accepted, we all long to be right. one dimensional fool in a three-dimensional world. one of the things I have been discovering about Jesus lately is that he was continually asked questions, questions he could have easily answered and spelled out, but instead he sort of dodged the question. He would give an answer, but it was never the answer the questioner was looking for. It's like Jesus was saying, "look, I know what you want, you want to own the correct answer in an easy form that you can share with others and cause them to stand before you in awe. I'm not going to give you that, but I will point you in the right direction." I used get to get pissed at this aspect of the gospels, for if Jesus is who he says he is, then he could written the message of salvation with the stars for all to see. But after rethinking this a little, I now greatly appreciate what Jesus was doing. He was pointing me in the right direction, allowing me to see it and then live towards it. To begin to position myself to receive it and all that it means for living. Jesus wanted us and them to live, to walk, and to love in the manner that was established in the beginning, when He created the world and said "it was good". An example comes from John 6 after Jesus feeds the 5000, the people follow him and he says, "look you are only following because I filled your bellies. You shouldn't just look for food that spoils, but look for the food that gives you eternal life that the Son of Man will give with God's blessing." So they ask, "well ok, what must we do that God requires." Jesus: "the work of God is this, Believe in the one He sent." So they say, "well prove it. Our forefathers ate manna, bread in the desert." So Jesus says, "well that wasn't moses who gave them that bread, it is God who gives the true bread from heaven that leads to eternal life." They say, "Give us this bread today and forever! We'll eat it, we will do whatever you want, just give us that bread! (I imagine they are getting pretty excited about taking a slice of this bread and eating it in a literal sense. they just say him turn a few loaves into many.) In typical Jesus fashion, he says, "Well I am the bread of life," This sort of angers them, and some start complaining, "look man, we know how you where born, how can you say you are the bread that came down from heaven" Jesus takes it one step further and says, "if you want eternal life then you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood." What just happened. They essentially ask, "What does God wants us to do, what must we do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus answers, "eat my flesh and drink my blood" Jesus, in my opinion, is pointing them past being right, past knowing what we must do, past thinking what are the basic truths that I can sign off on and then tell others they must sign off on to have what I have, and points us to live, live life to fullest, live a life that he describes throughout the gospels. Feed the poor, clothe the naked, stamp out injustice, love your enemy. Become one, be known by Me, know Me, walk with humility, deal with other fairly, put others needs before your needs. I feel we as christians have become one dimensional. We feel we hold the basic truths of life and those on the outside are wrong and must come to us and tell us, "you are right, and I want what you have". Jesus didn't give us straight answers b/c he knows we want validation, power, and prestige. (See religious right and their political agenda and the same can be said of many other things) He knew our potential to pervert this very precious gift. See Jesus was there in the beginning, he understands the created order of this world and his incarnation, words and life on earth point us to that. The christianity of Jesus was not a formula for self-help or for my own gain, but a call for direct action in the world we live. As christians we are invited to be those who point towards good, point towards God moving in this world, to "eat the flesh and drink the blood" of Jesus, which is kind of a description for a relationship, a knowing of each other, a patterning of lifestyles around the words of Jesus. Here is a segment from an interview with Donald Miller, "I believe in absolute truth, probably not in the same way the modern, traditional, evangelical believes in truth. I believe in absolute truth the way Jesus defined it. When he is asked what is truth, Jesus says, "I am". See Christ understands that this is a very complicated issue and what you are trying to get is an answer, so that you can feel right. I'm not going to give that answer, you need to trust me." Jesus is really quite poetic. We have taken his "eat my flesh and drink my blood" (three dimensional) and said the gospel is these 4 absolutely true ideas, do you or do you not agree with them.(one dimensional) G.K. Chesterton says, "it is the mathmatician who goes mad, not the poet. Because the mathmaticians tries to build a bridge across the infinite, and the poet can swim in the sea." |
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| In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and He said, "It is good". It was the way it was intended to be. God was intentional in His creation. there must be a created order to everything. It makes sense, I feel the effects of it everyday. There is this idea of God being distant and a non-factor in this world. I personally don't think this is true, but let's indulge it for a second. If there is truly a created order and God is distant, there still remains a created order. So if there is this order, then we have a choice. You have cried out to God, but have you ever been complicit in the answering of your prayer. You pray for health and wellness, but you eat fast food at 10pm and give yourself 5 hours for sleep. It will catch up to you and that is God's fault? See it doesn't make sense to blame God, not if the scriptures are true. Notice, if this is true, that God has a created order for the world that was established when the world was formed, then the old and new testaments of the bible can be seen as literature and history of God pointing His people toward this order. If this is true, then Jesus' life and commands have nothing to do with religious rules and mandates, but everything to do with pointing the way towards a true/new reality, the reality of the way things were created to be. Maybe that is the life Jesus talked about. It is a life of action, movement, love, intellect, foolishness. We have lost the art of moderation. We move through life to the rhythms of the market. We sacrifice greater good for profit. We separate life into "spiritual" and "non-spiritual" never realizing the collision of these two worlds around us. "When we gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain." It's not God's fault. He believes in us. He trusted us to shape human history and the world we lived/live in. "I believe there's more than wishful thinking, standing outside your door. I believe in one day we wake to find we are more than setting suns." |
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
To move or not to move?
All this talk of community, living on compounds, sharing life together is more than I can handle.
I'm feeling the need to either move or move on. sounds harsh but it's not meant to be.
The Bender's are at a bit of a crossroads. We could potentially move at the end of the summer, if some cards lined up right. However, this would not be an easy decision. In fact, it would be a very illogical decision. Houston is sucking some of our roots into her ground. We have a home which would be hard to sell, two good jobs, Morgan's 2 jobs promise her the world and often deliver and don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, my school is paid for as long as I'm here, etc, etc.
The point is, it would take a lot of sacrifice to pack up and move. In spite of the circumstance, the Bender's are feeling a little crazy and wouldn't mind saying to hell with all that and heading to be near you. When we think about having kids, it's an easy decision. We want to be near friends. We want to raise your kids, we want you to raise our kids. one big happy family.
So, here's the question: are we really doin' it? If we do what would this look like?
It's easy for Morgan and I to feel we would be sacrificing a lot of good things to move to Round Rock and get stuck in some crap job. And we would be left wondering, "why did we leave Houston again?" We get to see each other a lot and I know our friendships will continue to grow if we stay here, but I guess I'm just wondering is there really something behind all of our talk.
If we moved, would you be up for doing something crazy?