Current obsession

Thank you, Stephen Colbert.

Welcome to the planet

Warning: this might ruin "Dare you to move" by Switchfoot for you.

I just have to share.

On Wednesday, me and a couple of the soon-to-be sophomore gals drove around to pass out cookies to some of our friends. In the middle of the trip, my ipod battery died, so we were forced to listen to a cd. After blasting "This is home" off the Prince Caspian soundtrack, we moved on to a full Switchfoot album--The Beautiful Letdown.

And when "Dare you to move" came on, Sarah said enthusiastically, "I want to sing this to my child when I give birth!"

To which Kelsey and I just started cracking up.

Then this morning, the song played again, and I couldn't help but picture Sarah singing "Welcome to existence" as her child was being handed to her by the doctor. lol

Father's day and chocolate pudding

We are going through a series where we are "Unpacking" Oswald Chambers' devotions, usually by letting the students spend some time discussing them amongst themselves. I came across the November 5th devotion, and felt like that was the one I wanted to share with the group.

So we read through it together, and then in groups of five, I let the students talk about it s'more. The devotion was about the "long, long trail" that God will lead us through. He writes that God will lead us in directions where we do not "know exactly why God is taking us that way, that would make us spiritual prigs." (Prigs is a wonderful word which you should look up) In the end though, we'll come to an "A-ha!" moment where we realize that God has been preparing us for great things all along.

Afterward, I told my story which included the loss of my cousin when I was really young, and how that led to the opening for Mark to be adopted as my brother. Before I shared my story, I realized that I had spent most of last week thinking of myself. Not like any of this is really new, but most of the time it's overwhelming, and the point is I wasn't thinking about these students. So I decided to pray, and ask for major help. In fact, just an hour before I shouted at God saying, "I can't do this without you!" (I was outside, so it didn't feel that loud). In my prayer at this moment, I prayed for at least one student to resonate with my story; to hear how God is faithful, and can use the sufferings in this life to prepare us for moments we couldn't even fathom.

Yesterday was also Father's day, and I remembered one student had lost his father within the past few years. Sure enough, the student came up to me after the service to say thanks. With tears in his eyes, he said that he was really wanting to trust that the loss of his father would mean something to him.

Talk about something that will take your breath away.

In the evening was Fusion, in which we had a very small group show up. We watched Louie Giglio's Indescribable talk from a few years back, and I think it was helpful because every age could learn from it. Louie talks about how big our God really is, and thus how awesome it is for Him to include us in the story. Our group gathered together afterward to discuss some of this, when one student piped in,

"I just think of it as chocolate pudding."

I hope the look on your face is as priceless as the ones in the rest of the circle :). He explained that chocolate pudding = God's love, and that there's an abundance of chocolate pudding that God is delighted to share with us. It covers us. "And it's delicious!"

This reminded me of my friend from college who thought similarly with 1 John 3:1. She said it was like she was swimming in a pool of chocolate that was God's love. I'm cool with this imagery as long as it's dark chocolate. Preferably Ghiradelli's.

Mike Yaconelli lives?

Ever since I got here, there have been Michael Yaconelli spottings. For those of you who don't know, the real M.Y. passed away several years ago. I even got to witness his final sermon at a South Carolina Youth Specialties conference. He talked about the ride with Christ being something radical. He was often talking about the radical:

“What is the deal with Christian colleges, anyway? Shouldn’t they be graduating students who are revolutionary, anti-institutional, anti-cultural extremists? Isn’t anyone else upset that most of our Christian colleges are graduating compliant, materialistic, irrelevant students who don’t have a radical bone in their bodies? Who will push the envelope in the generations to come?”

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"Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives. "

But I'm telling you, I keep seeing him. He walks around my neighborhood, usually carrying a bag of groceries. Just the other day, I realized I hadn't seen him in awhile. I checked my rearview mirror for any cars as I was leaving King Soopers. Mr. Yaconelli was RIGHT THERE!!

Obviously it couldn't be him, but it would be rather radical if it were, eh? I keep trying to catch him on camera somehow.. One of these days you'll understand!

Pizza and the job offer

I was picked up from SFO about an hour and a half after the scheduled time. There was a problem with air traffic control, which translates, the clouds were too low and so instead of utilizing two runways (an international airport that only has two runways?), they used one. This also translates into a half hour nap in a standstill plane, and pure enjoyment of He's Just Not That Into You. There, I said it.

Since we were in the city however, the youth pastor for WCPres said we should eat there. So I got to see the famous sites. Alcatraz. Golden Gate bridge. Sea lions (pictures to come). Coit Tower. Trans America building (the pointy one). We ate at a pizza joint on Pier 39. My only sadness, is I didn't take enough pictures of everything I saw. After all, the city, as I described to someone who asked what I thought of the place, is fascinating.

The buildings, the signs for places (again, I wish I took a picture of a sign outside of a children's park to add to my collection on fb--"No loitering where children congregate." Oh? So children hold church meetings at the monkey bars now?), the people. All yes, fascinating. And who doesn't love the prospect of parallel parking on a 75 degree slope?

At Walnut Creek, we toured the church as well as some of the town. The good news is how close everything is.. very little driving would be involved. For one, the church owns two of the apartment buildings next to the church which share parking space. Talk about smart! They also offer the apartments at a lower rate to encourage the 20s-30s age range involvement within the church.

Dinner was at a pizza place. The youth leader had forgotten that we were going here when we picked lunch. Thankfully I could order something else. Here I met a couple of the parents, as well as I believe the Junior High guy and his wife. (Small world: his wife worked for Young Life at my high school's main rival.)

Went to the home I was staying at; a couple phone calls; sleep.

Church was a talk on the end of the Peter's speech at Pentecost. The idea was that on our own, we are headed for danger, but Christ (whom we crucified), is already here to free us. The glimpse into next week's talk about the church made me a little sad that I would miss out. Then came youth group, where the youth leader continued a series on David. It was at the point of David and Bathsheba losing their son, but at the same time, restoring the relationship with God through Solomon (which means peace).

Then lunch. More pizza. haha. I had chosen a variety all this time, so it really wasn't a big deal. Just funny. Got to meet a few more of the students before heading back home for a nap. When I awoke it was pretty much time for "Open Door," which is the ministry geared toward my age bracket. This time was refreshing and basically by the end (after worship, talk, post-dinner hang out time), I had a prospective roommate (if I come), and a friend who wants to make me eggplant stew.

And by the very end, I had a job offer.

More lessons in cinema

I noticed that I had commented on the movie Lars and the Real Girl at the start of this blog journey, but have yet to comment on (m)any movies since. In part, not watching movies very often is due to a miniscule budget, but also because I haven't quite been moved by a movie in awhile. No, that is not completely true. There was Changeling, and (despite the many criticisms I might receive) Star Trek.

Without further ado..

The first comment will be on an oldie, but a goodie. The Sandlot was on tv this Sunday, but I only watched one scene. The part where Benny teaches Smalls how to catch and throw; the part where no one else on the already-formed team of eight wants Smalls to complete the picture, but Benny argues for his sake. He comments on the weaknesses of all the players, but how they're still,

"Part of the team, right? Then how come he don't get to be?"

I recently listened to a Mosaic sermon about the Beatitudes. Erwin McManus says something along the lines of not necessarily picking the best people for your team, but seeking the best in people. I felt like this scene illustrates that best. And I'm in the midst of reading James where it basically says (aka Sharayah translation), "Wait a minute, isn't it the rich who are exploiting you? They are the ones dragging you to court! God doesn't want favoritism toward the rich in the church--He picks the down and out for a reason!"

He sees the best in people, just like He sees the best in us and wants to use us!

Movie 2:

I finally saw Motorcycle Diaries tonight with my foreign flick friend, Lexie. The movie is based on the two journals kept by Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado as they journey throughout Latin America. Obviously, we recognize ole Che on the many tshirts and window decals throughout the world (I refer to a cheap knockoff I saw in Russia where a tshirt had a picture of one of Russia's famous cartoon wearing the beret decorated with the star. Underneath was "Che-boorashka," the name of the cartoon character.)

My boyfriend told me about another shirt that had Che's face on it, with the line, "Capitalism paid for this shirt" below. I also just Google searched and found one with, "Communism killed 100 million people and all I got was this lousy tshirt."

All this to say, if what is depicted in the movie is accurate (is it ever? can we even trust wikipedia these days??), maybe there's a little bit of sympathy on Fuser's part. He saw people losing their homes, jobs and ultimately lives because of capitalism. Who wouldn't want to fight against that?

I'm not saying communism is the answer.

I just remember the many other Latin American films I watched last year in a college course, and I realized that North America often takes advantage of South American workers. See Love, Women and Flowers. The article about the Colombian film, ironically, written by my professor.

It was also moving to see this young man serve in the leper colony. Perhaps the best moments of the film.

And finally...Atonement. I appreciated this one more this time, because I noticed those little film nuances that pull the whole story together. Silly things like the score's abruptness within scenes, the use of light and the clicking of the typewriter. Nonsense to most people.

But I'm a sucker for a good story, and I love the way this one pulls you in from the beginning. I love the way it destroys your heart at the end--a true testament to how works can never give us clean hands (remembering the moment where Briney viciously scrubs away).

Fear

The first stop on the mission trip to Denver included the most interesting conversation of the weekend. It was with a guy named Ricky, 31, African American. He had lived on the streets of Baltimore and Denver for several years, and was now taking part in a program at Denver Rescue Mission which helped to educate homeless people in practical and spiritual ways.

Before he delved into his life story, he and I chatted about basketball for about half an hour. I get carried away with sports a lot, but this had more to do with the run the Nuggets had this year, and the flaws that we saw in the team. Not that we weren't rooting for them. And both of us used to play, so it made the conversation all the easier.

Then he opened up. When you listen to people, that trust is built and you don't even have to ask. Though for some it takes a long time of listening, he just went. The stories of living on the streets near Baltimore; the story of his daughter who is actually doing quite successfully in school.

The most interesting was his present condition.

"I've never been more afraid in my life," he said. "Living on the streets, I knew what to expect. I would do stupid things, I would get arrested. I would be set free. I would do more stupid things. It was often a matter of survival, but at least I knew what was coming.

"With God, it's a different story. The things I read about Him, and some of the things He calls us to, is scary. Especially if God is as real as what was written about Him, I've never been more afraid in my life."

Like I said, this stuck with me for the rest of the weekend (May 28th-June 2). Have I ever been remotely afraid of what God may call me to? At times, I know I can answer yes to this question. But for the most part I would say that I have enjoyed being very comfortable with my call to youth ministry. I've rarely questioned whether there was more He was asking of me.

But take it a step further, as in, stop looking to myself, it's even scarier. Do we understand how big our God really is? I'm certain we could never know, at least not on earth. And even in heaven, is it possible that He could withhold some of His power from us then? He is that Holy. That Big.

The things He has done--calmed the storm, healed the deaf, dumb and blind, walked on water--we so casually read about. You guys!!!

HE CALMED A STORM!!!!
HE HEALED THE SICK (EVEN RAISED A FRIEND FROM THE DEAD)!!!!
HE WALKED ON WATER!!!!

Do you get it? Do you see why Ricky is so scared?