JUNE 2007 PRAYER LETTER

Here (finally!) is my latest prayer letter, the at-least-intended-to-be-monthly update I send out to supporters of the ministry I work with in Morgantown. Just click the picture to view it large in a new page!


Unfortunately you can't click the links I referenced within the image of the prayer letter, but I've included them here if you want to check them out:

H2O Morgantown Live Podcast Site
Billy's Blog

symbiosis

This is a photo from the recent New York City trip Sarah and I took with some friends. It's of Bryant Park in Manhattan.

The reason I'm blogging on it is because to me, it represents an image of the potentially beautiful and symbiotic relationship mankind could have with nature. Sure, there's still a hustle and bustle here, an industry, with people going to and from work, passing through the trees. But there's also an extreme sense of peace, as some people are just enjoying the green space, relaxing under the branches, letting the breezes pass over them. There's even a Reading Room, a café-like setting with tables and chairs and bookshelves, where you can check out a book for the amount of time you're going to sit there and read.

The scene of Bryant Park is startling as you round the corner from walking down street after street of tall building after tall building. All of a sudden you see tall trees instead, gently swaying, people and animals running on grass, a large fountain with its soothing tones of mildly splashing water. We who had been walking for a while were drawn to it instantly, like a moth to the flame, and a grand sense of delight overcame me as we ascended the stone steps and entered in.

There are several well-done parks like this in New York, Central Park of course being the mother of them all. And I'm extremely glad the city planners allowed for such a wonderful break from all the 'brick and mortar.' On the other hand, though, seeing it also caused a small sadness in me, like that of someone seeing some little object at home that instantly fills them with the memory of a lost loved one.

The sadness was simply from realizing how truly little green like this there is in the city compared to how very much stone there is. There's a greatness to the city, to the achievement of man, but there's a far greater beauty in the creation God has made. I often think about the way things were 'supposed to be' had we not wandered so far away from our Creator. How wonderful the garden of Eden must have been! What would have Adam and Eve and their huge family have done, have built, had they not been cast out? Would cities have been raised anyway, with God smiling on and blessing our endeavors? Would they have been different than the cities we see around the world now? I don't know. It is certainly evident that God had put in us the desire to build, to make, to 'sub-create' as Tolkien puts it. But what would our creations have been like had we not broken our relationship with Him?

I'll blog more on cities soon, as I'm becoming increasingly interested in them...

majesty

My friend Adam Zakowski (featured proudly here in front of beautiful West Virginia mountains) is working this summer in the Monongahela National Forest in southern WV for the U.S. Forest Service. He's on 'trail crew,' meaning he gets to up and down and every other which way on the trails of this national treasure, making sure they're clear and in top shape for people coming from all over to experience supreme silence and solitude.

We did a message series at h2o this spring called 'Rhythm' and one of the messages was on the importance of silence and solitude being a regular rhythm in one's life. In America especially, we get into rhythms of constant activity; our minds and bodies rarely have the chance to rest and let saturate the things they encounter throughout the week. God knew we would need this pattern, and so when he created everything he gave us the example of resting on the seventh day, and told us later that we should do the same (just in case you're wondering, God doesn't rest anymore according to Psalm 121:3-4, but we are commanded to in Exodus 20:8-11). So each week, it would truly do us all good to take an entire day off and enjoy Him! And even the rhythm of each day calls for a little silence and solitude.

Anyway, looking at these pictures Adam sent me makes me envious of his opportunity this summer. He's definitely working hard, doing a lot of physical labor, but he gets to enjoy sheer beauty that has been barely touched by man, and he gets to live simply for a few months. I think when he comes back to Morgantown he'll be better equipped to let the rhythms God intended for us be a regular part of who he is, and maybe he can help the rest of us here see the majesty of God being who He wants to be in our lives so that we can be who we were really meant to be in Him.

Bernd

Bernd Nullmeyer is my good friend from Germany. We met last summer when he came to visit his friend Heiko who was studying here at WVU in Morgantown (who has graduated as far as I know!). Bernd stayed for almost 3 months and really enjoyed our community at h2o; he even considered staying here if possible! He went back to his hometown of Bremen, Germany, however, and though I and others missed him a lot, he feels confident that God has him there for a reason, and so do I.

He loves Morgantown, WV, USA enough though to have come back twice for a few weeks each time! He came in November and is here again now for his third visit. He is really one of the most joyful people I've met, and it is truly inspiring being around him. Plus he's a GREAT guitar player and, being a lover of music myself, we've had many impromptu jams (and a few planned ones as well, which resulted in the collaboration Of Things to Come).

Bernd has been teaching me a lot about the power of God in the life of the believer each time he visits, and he's got some amazing stories of a 'revival' of sorts in Germany that has seen the true Kingdom of God advanced in the hearts of many. He talks about how they not only 'share their faith' with others, but that they 'impart life' TO others. It's made me think a lot about what the Christian faith is all about. It's not just about gathering knowledge from the Bible. It's about USING that knowledge to truly LIVE, the kind of lives God meant for us. The Kingdom of God should be so present in our lives that people sense, in their spirit, the deepest part of them, that we have something they can't help but desire, something they somehow know they've been waiting for all their lives.

I hope to continue learning from Bernd, but also to continue using what God has already given me, the God who has 'blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ' (Ephesians 1:3).

bob the dog

This is Bob the Dog, the awesome companion of my brother Christopher and his wife Alice in Knoxville, TN.

This picture was taken at my brother Duncan and my wife Sarah's joint birthday party, which we were so glad that Christopher and Alice and their dogs (the other one's Ellie, I think that's the right spelling) could attend.

Bob is an amazingly human dog, as I think this photo captures. I had one of his toys in my hand to get him to look at the camera, but his masters were off to my right giving him instructions as well. As you can see, he was torn as far as which way to direct his attention. He's hilarious.

Anyway, I hope my brother and his wife eventually live closer to us, and this dog is as much a part of that longing as they are (just kidding - sort of).

old (not necessarily in age) friends

My mom (in the middle) recently turned the big 5-0, and her loving and scheming husband Drew planned her a great surprise party (as he did on her 40th) which included many old friends coming, unbeknownst to her, to celebrate.

The two you see here with her are quite amazing people, both in my mom's life and in mine. The lady is Linda Roberts, and she was my first crush. I was just a little blond-haired (not curly, interestingly) boy, and Linda was on staff at First Baptist church in Elkins, WV. I was so enthralled with her that I used to just walk into her office and stare at her from in front of her desk. She remembers that my eyes just barely could be seen over the edge. She has been a close friend of the family all these years and every time we get to see her I love that her twinkly-eyed smile has remained the same.

The gentleman is Cyril Johnston, the pastor who baptized me. In fact, both he and Linda were on staff with mom (she was the youth director) at First Baptist when we Kings were kids. Cyril was born in Ireland and moved to the U.S. when he was 12. He became a preacher but I always wonder why he didn't become a professional singer (actually, he does have a few recordings that are great!) because he sings in probably the most soulful and heartfelt manner that I know. He bellows out old hymns, and every time I hear him sing it takes me instantly back to those days that are on the edge of my earliest memories.

Anyway, I guess this picture represents somewhat of a First Baptist staff reunion. It also represents some of the most influential people in my young, formative years.

APRIL 2007 PRAYER LETTER

Hello! Here's my current prayer letter for supporters of the ministry here in Morgantown. Just click on each picture to read it (it's 2 pages)!

Tech Tragedy

The worst shooting in modern U.S. history is what they're calling it.

I know there are probably millions of bloggers covering this story with more insight and information than I have, and I don't want to necessarily clog up the Internet bandwith with more of the same. But I felt I needed to say something.

I got to know several Tech students last summer at a Leadership Training program in Wilmington, NC. Since then I've kept in touch with several through Facebook and e-mail. They are the coolest, funnest group of people you could ever wish to meet. The first thing I thought when I heard about the shootings is, 'I hope it's not one of them.' So far none of their names have appeared on any lists that I've seen, but I'm sure that among them, they knew someone who was killed, and what has happened there will have repercussions on their lives for years to come.

The question that always rises to the top when something like this happens, when people are left speechless and can barely utter the single word, is "Why?" There will be much research done into that South Korean English major's life; authorities will try to paint a picture for the public that offers some kind of reasoning, something that we can wrap our heads around if not fully understand. They will cite social factors, upbringing, cultural differences, and personality disorders. They will try to put together a composite that will explain in some way why he deviated from the 'norm.'

This makes me ask: What is the norm? What's normal? I guess, at the least, you could say it's normal NOT to kill 32 people for little apparent reason. It's normal to let others go on living, even if you have personal problems. But aren't personal problems normal as well? Don't people say encouraging things to people going through troubles, things like: 'Don't worry; EVERYBODY feels this way at some point in their lives'? But those people USUALLY struggle through and DON'T bring a gun to a dorm and class building and start shooting students and teachers. Those people, hopefully, go on to make better choices and surround themselves with others making better choices. They stay accountable to trusted friends.

But there are several things becoming 'normal' in this country that I believe are just as alarming as what happened at Virginia Tech. Things like abortion. There are thousands of babies killed every year. And yet there are groups out there fighting, really fighting, to make sure women will always have that choice. There are car wrecks that claim astounding numbers of lives every month, either as a result of some sleep-deprived worker or from somebody who somehow missed the whole Designated Driver campaign of the 1980s. And yet any corner you turn in a college town on a 'weekend' night (which includes the evening of any day except Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) you find people advocating, if not by words but by actions, the complete and total freedom and RIGHT even of ANY adult (not necessarily of the age of 21) to drink as much alcohol as they like and to just clean up the mess later, not considering the consequences that mess may have. It seems to me that it's becoming normal to encourage a person to live however they want, to live for the benefit of themselves, to make whatever choices give them the most pleasure.

There are patterns of 'normalcy' arising that have to do with abuses of freedom in this country. Yes, I believe in the freedom that many people have fought and died for, the freedom that we enjoy today. I don't want anyone to be forced to do anything. But I desperately want to encourage people to do things that promote life instead of death. And I want people to understand that there are concrete connections between the choices each of us make everyday and how much life is promoted in this world.

Maybe that South Korean student tried to make a friend his freshman year and that person decided not to befriend. Maybe he tried to join a community of some kind and was rejected for whatever reason. I'm not blaming that person or community for what happened. But I'm trying to help us see that, if we're all willing to give a little time, as we look around at the people we pass everyday, we can have a positive influence on somebody's life. Maybe you or I can be the reason somebody in the future decides to not buy that gun, to not let that anger build up with no outlet, to not go on living as a loner even though it might be easier to.

In this country it is NOT 'normal' to be friendly to strangers. It is NOT normal to live your life for the benefit of others. Let's deviate from the norm together.