MINISTRY UPDATE | SEP 2011

An update on my and Sarah's ministry adventures on WVU's campus! For those who support what we do with finances, with prayer, and with love. [Click the pic to read.]

lab rats & change

Being in a clinical drug study (like I am right now) shows you a lot about people. And yourself. Which makes sense 'cause you're a person, too.

One of the most notable items of note so far is people's handling of change. There are two distinct groups in here: we volunteers ("lab rats") and the clinical staff team ("evil scientists"--just kidding, they're pretty nice scientists. Plus, no one calls us "lab rats," I just thought it sounded dramatic). For the staff, the environment here is the opposite of change--routine. In fact, it's the most time-exact, repetitive, controlled kind of routine I've ever seen, and it has need to be since they're trying to measure the minute difference between the only element of change introduced into the whole shebang: a generic drug's journey through the blood stream vs. a name brand's.

For we volunteers, the environment here is an abrupt upheaval from "normalcy." We can't go outside for about 40 hours (I'm looking longingly out the window at Rt. 705 and Van Voorhis). We have to wear hospital scrubs the whole time. We have to wake up at the butt crack of dawn--literally; when I woke up this morning I was surprised to look toward the east and see an enormous butt in the sky. I always wondered why they called it the butt crack of dawn! For the entire first morning we have to sit up, not cross our feet, drink no water and visit no bathroom (unless it's an emergency). Blood gets taken from our bodies at a dizzying rate. We have so much time there's not enough books or Internet-ready devices to fill it all (hence my recent increased blogging rate).

These two groups represent to me the two ends of the spectrum for the way we deal with change in life. I've met people who are so afraid of change and so addicted to custom that they absolutely lose it if traffic makes them 5 minutes behind schedule. They want a quiet, regular life. Who can blame them? And I've met people who are so terrified of sitting still and so thrilled with sailing on that they go nuts if there's not some new travel plan each weekend. They want a spontaneous, adventurous life. Who can blame them?

Which are you?

Just kidding: that question is invalid. Life is not a dichotomy. There's a whole range in between. I rather fancy myself in the middle, perhaps a bit more on the side requiring some shifting scenery.

But I still crave my still moments, days, and weeks, and I actually need them to keep myself healthy...and ready for unexpected change.

verbosity

Humans are verbose.

Much of life is little conversations. Conversations over coffee, over lunch, over dinner. Philosophical musing on a porch, rocking or swinging lazily. Mandatory work meeting conversation. Conversations about co-workers... with other co-workers. Chit-chat while waiting for a bus with someone. Admonishment from one's own life experience when observing another one's imminent poor decision. Sports talk. Money talk. Church talk. Family talk. Nerd speak (one of which I'm particularly fond).

Life has moments without spoken words, moments of silence. Even then, there's often a conversation going on in one's own mind: 'What am I going to wear today?' 'What do I want to eat?' 'He always looks at me the weirdest way.' 'I miss my grandpa.' Reflection is wonderful, but it's still a conversation of sorts. Blogging itself fills the world with more words.

Very little of life (it seems to me) consists in pure action. Digging a hole for a fence post, perhaps. Fixing the plumbing (though that often is accompanied by curses under one's breath). A firefighter running out of a burning house with a little girl in his arms.

I wonder what it would be like if we could infuse a little more pure silence into our routines? I'm not necessarily referring to traditional views of meditation. I guess I simply mean... listening. Stopping. Ceasing. Being still. Looking for a circumstance that requires no words. That goes deeper than words, mere constructs, 'place holders,' can properly express. Discovering something new, something indefinable, unutterable. 'The thing itself' as Bonhoeffer (or Kant) would say.

I wonder...

email signature

Check out my new email signature. Ahhhhhhh yeah.

(I'm posting it here so it will create a URL for it so my Gmail can upload it for my signature when I do email online. Silly Gmail for not allowing an upload from my computer!)

Ahhhhhhh yeah.

Young Life: WV

Sarah and I are truly graced by the steadfastness and heartfelt passion of our colleagues working in Young Life throughout this great state. We met yesterday with as many area directors and other W. Va. staff who could make it to a gathering to plan and pray in Holcomb, WV (yeah, I didn't know it existed either--in between Craigsville and Richwood) atop a serene mountain with a view men probably have literally killed for. (The current owner of the house we met in was a gracious host and a gentle elderly man who, I'm sure, merely paid for the view.)

To get completely jazzed and semi-updated on the mighty hand of God through Young Life in West Virginia, follow our state director Scott Berg @scottbergylwv (go easy on him, he's new to Twitter; plus he works more than he tweets, which is a good thing).

memory

Trying to memorize this. John Piper told me to. (He's hard to refuse.)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 2 Peter 1:3-15

MINISTRY UPDATE | APR 2011

Sorry I've been so terrible about keeping up this blog lately! Here's my latest UPDATE/PRAYER LETTER, specifically to inform the amazing donors and adults on my and Sarah's ministry team.

Sign the petition. Save the LRA strategy.

Hey friends! I’ve been asked by the amazing team at RESOLVE (good buddy org of Invisible Children) to get some more friends to sign the petition, which, along with a 1-minute video explaining the situation, can be be found here: http://goo.gl/xW3Dn

Basically, at the end of 2010, we celebrated the release of the first ever U.S. strategy to see an end to LRA violence in the DR Congo and Central African Republic among other countries. (The "LRA" is the "Lord's Resistance Army" that has been active for almost 25 years in several of the most remote nations in Africa, killing, raping, and abducting at will. See my most recent post for Invisible Children's event this April that will help make sure this war won't go past its 25th year.) But now, the hope of seeing concrete action that can save lives is in jeopardy. Congress is threatening to cut the money needed to implement the LRA strategy from the U.S. budget, the very strategy Congress required the President to create.

Thanks for signing the petition! Pass this on to three friends you think might like to sign it.

Sign the petition. Save the LRA strategy. from The Resolve on Vimeo.