Some Writings

I took down the "hit counter" and people have stopped leaving comments as often. This means I have no way of knowing how many people are actually reading this. But I will keep posting on the internet like a man shouting the the woods or radio waves bouncing off asteroids in deep space. Then years later I can look back on everything I've done and at least be able to say "Well...that was a lot of words."

Speaking of lots of words. I realize that most people aren't interested in my writings. In fact I would bet that over 99% of the world is completely unaware of me entirely. But if you managed to make it to this blog, there is the small assumption that you may be interested in reading what I have to write. That, or you are married to me.

Regardless, here is something you may or may not want to read. I have begun working on what Hugh White once called "my files." I can't say that I am writing a book becuase that would have a coherrent purpose, there would be a goal in mind, and I would be annoyed with myself for being the kind of person who says he's writing a book when in all reality, little writing is being done.

It would be more accurate to say that sometimes I pull out a notebook and write some stuff. By sometimes, I mean hardly ever. But it does happen. In fact, that what this blog is actually for. I found a place to organize the random little things I call thoughts, and a chance to write them down without the need to try to organize them into a unified structure. The hope is that one day, I could take some of the thoughts from this blog and string them together in a way that doesn't resemble the incomprehensible ramblings of the typical emerging adult. Well anyway, I have begun to do that just a teeny weeny bit in the form of "my files." AKA--the crap I write.

SO, when I actually get around to writing a legit "thing" I may start posting a link to a google doc here on my blog. You could read them, save them, delete them, not read them, or laugh at them. It's your perogative.

Here's a link to something I started

INTRO

In it, I do use the word "book" but it's because I didn't have a better word to use.

Also, apparently I was published in the ACSD magazine this June. I found out about it last week. I guess we are not printing those any more. I was waiting for it to show up in my mailbox and it never did. If my boss hadn't noticed it I probably would have gone the rest of my life wondering if it had ever gotten published, or if ACSD was playing a prank on me.

Normally I wouldn't draw attention to this, but again, you came all the way here to my blog, I guess you like to read my writing.

My article

Reading the Gospel

So here's a thought. I know that we've all talked about this idea in church. About how the Jewish people in Jesus' time really misunderstood him. They thought he was the chosen one who was going to overthrow the Romans and lead an enslaved people to freedom and power. And they were right. He was (and is). But totally not in the way they thought he was. I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know. But this is cool.

This week I was reading my Bible and I finished the last book of the O.T. Malachi. Malachi talks about how Jesus will rise with healing in his wings to restore the people. It's the prophecy. Then Matthew starts off with visions, angels, and a star in the sky. Try reading the Gospels like you know the background, but not the ending. It's a pretty epic story. It's like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or...The story of Moses. But with a crazy, surprise, twist ending. It's intense. Try reading it that way, it's pretty cool.

The Plans I have

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

Anyone ever head this wonderful verse from Jeremiah 29 before? It actually is a wonderful verse, as it demonstrates God's faithfulness to Israel. One of my favorite professors*, Phil Collins, says that this is one of the most misquoted verses in the entire Bible. Today when I was talking with one of my students, I got some better perspective on why.

If you read the verse in context you see that God basically says "stay put in Babylonian captivity, settle down, plant a garden, get married, and settle in for the long haul because you aren't going anywhere for at least 70 years. So why don't you just be faithful and do the best you can with what you have.

In case you didn't know, Americans are obsessed with the idea of individualism, and the idea of instant gratification. We love it. That's why we have personalized little devices that carry all our favorite music, we are positive that everyone wants to read our facebook pages (and our blogs) and we can customize everything from our academic majors to our drink at starbucks. All of which is available on the internet instantly.

So God tells his people, as a nation, to stay faithful and wait. Pass the faith onto future generations, because this generation is going to live in captivity. We have taken this as individuals to mean "God is going to lead me to some awesome calling, and after a tough ride, I am going to experience something great. This verse promises me that he has a happy plan just for me."

Notice how, in the case of Israel, God TOTALLY keeps his promises, delivers on what he says he will do, and remains faithful to a people who do not deserve it. God is the real deal, and no one is calling that into question. He really did have a plan for the Israelites, and it came true. And yet, the majority of people who originally heard this prophecy probably died slaving away in Babylonian captivity.

I know that we give the Israelites a hard time for turning their backs on God. I'm not sure how they responded to this, but I know how we would respond in today's America. Not positively.

I believe in God and his plan. I really do. But I would not be surprised not only if His plan looked different than mine (which we seem to understand) but also that it might not even look like anything that resembles a "plan" in my understanding of the word. God's ways are higher than my ways, his thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and I think that his plans might just be higher than my plans. Qualitatively as well as quantitatively.


*I just said ONE of my favorites, I still have room in my heart for Tim.

notches

Hello everyone in blogger land. Thanks for coming.

Two things.

1) I feel like I am not able to blog as much as I would like to these days because having a job and a wife makes makes me a little more busy than being a single grad student. So if you are getting frustrated with checking my blog three times a day (which I know you do)and not seeing any updates, I would suggest that you actually subscribe to this blog and You'll receive updates as I post.

2) I think I am going to try writing a "choose your own adventure novel" with the help of volunteers. So if any of you would like to help, please let me know.

And now for my brief thought on pride.

I one tried to come up with a list of things I would do to become more humble. The list ended up being to long and I couldn't remember to do all of it. So I'm going to try to start over with one thing at a time. So, here's my first idea.

Rejoice over small embarrassments. In my new job, I get to opportunity to screw up on a fairly frequent basis. Not that things are going terribly wrong, but just that there are plenty of things that I could be doing better. And when I make mistakes, and people notice, my first instinct is to try explain it in such a way that I come out looking alright. I think this is a fairly normal reaction, but it's a reaction based on avoiding embarrassment.

I know that everyone probably does this to one extent or another, but what if instead, I was able to take every embarrassment as a learning opportunity? Everyone* likes to see an arrogant jerk taken down a couple of notches. But what if I liked to see myself taken down a notch, not because I'm a glutton for punishment, but because little embarrassment that are out of my control remind me I don't control people's perceptions of myself. I think being down a few notches is a good place to be, so I should rejoice when I get that opportunity.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall, so I'll be excited to take little falls.

*or at least me

C.S. Lewis is Dead

This probably isn't news to any of you, but I've got a point to make here.

Sometimes I wonder, “what should I be doing in this life?” It seems I’ve accomplished all of my major goals. I went to Taylor, I married a women from Taylor, and I saw the buckeyes win a national championship. I’m not really sure if there is much else.

I could write a book. That’s something that I think about a lot. Although, it turns out that that would be a lot of work. Sometimes people encourage me to do it, but once you really think about what that entails...dang. Next time you think you or some one else should write a book, sit down and start doing it. It’s not very fun. I now because I’ve tried several times.

The reason i bring that up specifically is because for a pseudo-intellectual like me, becoming a writer (or better yet, a traveling inspirational speaker) is the finest thing I can think of. That’s why C.S. Lewis is my hero. Good ol’ Clive was the best in the world at taking important, abstract concepts about God and putting them into terms that people of average intellect could understand and appreciate. I wish I could be him.

But to paraphrase another author (whose name escapes me right now) When I get to heaven, Got won’t ask me “why weren’t you C.S. Lewis?” He will ask me “why were you not Steve?”
God loved C.S. Lewis. But I don’t think that he loved him because of his books. I doubt that the God of the universe was terribly impressed with Lewis’ apologetics. So what chance do I have? In the end, Lewis died and went to heaven, and was welcomed in warmly with love not because he was the greatest theologian of the century, but because he was a child of God.

Those are the same credentials that I have. And the odd thing is, even though I’m not going to have the same level of influence, or leave the same kind of legacy as Lewis did, I’m going to wind up just like him. Welcomed into heaven by the Father who loves me...just because I am his child.