Summer '09 begins

These last weeks have not fit a mold. I attended People of Praise South Bend's summer camp for a week. It was my 2nd year of camp as an adult, and it was similar yet very different from last year. See my photos for a glimpse of the week. I won't provide an exhaustive rundown of the week, apart from my excitement that my team of unlikely winners WON tournament tuesday and I don't think I've ever won so much! I'll post the list of all the people that were on my team soon. Here is a little sharing that I read at our last branch meeting:

I had a blast with the 15 5th graders. I had the same boys last year, so it was a great chance to see what a year had done to each of them. For the most part they had become stronger and more confident. Helping me out was Mike Wacker from the brotherhood, as well as Dominic Raciti, John Feeks, and Patrick Couch.

There are plenty of stories about each of the boys stepping up and becoming even stronger this week, and about my counselors responding to our needs without hesitation. But I wanted to share about our evening prayertime on Wednesday night.

Each night of the week, we gathered together in one end of the cabin, and reflected on the day. As you can imagine, it was often hard to have only one person speaking at a time, as eager as they all were to qualify the events of the day; every day at camp is totally different from every other day! Then we would try to discuss struggles of the day, and lay hands on guys who wanted to be healed of specific things.

On Wednesday night, Mike told the boys that everything we do is a decision to be in Jesus' camp, or to not be. If you want to be in Jesus' camp, we can pray with you right now for that to happen. Who wants to do that? Immediately a couple boys said, "I do.". Then we all layed hands on and prayed over each boy individually. Ultimately about eight boys asked for that. The five counselors, all present despite it being late enough to be staff social time, took turns in leading the prayer for each boy.

I just wanted to honor and thank the 4 other guys for their courage and strength in loving our group of boys! It was a huge blessing for me to get to be a part of it, and the 5th graders have had a new opportunity to respond to God's love! Praise God!

Immediately after camp, I trekked down to Charlotte via the south shore train, CTA blue line, and O'Hare, to witness my niece Ella Grace's baptism! It was my first chance to meet her and I'm so excited to know her! Took some pictures there too.

Then these last couple weeks it has been really the first hit of summerish weather, and I have been eating it up. Increased running, slalom skied with my mom, and lots of time with friends including visitors Mike & Jess, and Josh, in town from Cali & Shreveport. I'm just now getting over some burn from a long sunny afternoon on a Lake Michigan beach on Sunday. The day before, I went on a Pentecost Seminar in the branch here, and am so grateful that I was able to share in the experience with many friends, both in the PoP and otherwise! Summer camp's slogan was, "Led by the Spirit", and this verse was also at the heart of the seminar:

Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. - Romans 8:14-17

focus

cloud as far as the eye can see
what do they mean to me
how can they always be
oh so free

look up at the sky will you
take a moment and drink
the scene flowing around you
in something far more than ink

i take my moment, i realign my thoughts
with a simple glance upward, the face changes
the brow unfurrows, the eyes widen
the combat stance opens

what are we here?
am i even here?
there is something great at work here
as i gaze at everything not here

the clouds they dance on
swirling about, repainting themselves
on a canvas of atmosphere
arrayed all around us

widen your perspective
open your eyes
love what we've been given
and seek to know him more and more

Innocence leads to broken jaw

This is a story from my friend K. If you know who I'm talking about, please don't use his name in the comments or I'll have to delete them. If you'd like to know who it is, feel free to email me and ask.

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http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090520/NEWS01/905200314

Major facts are just wrong:

Both men eventually pulled into the Speedway gas station at Edison and South Bend Avenue, police said, and about 30 seconds later a third vehicle, a black Dodge, pulled in as well, blocking the victim from leaving.

Intending to apologize, the victim exited his vehicle, police said. He was met by the driver of the SUV, who punched him several times in the mouth, knocking him unconscious.

I had my seatbelt on the whole time, and I wasn't punched by the SUV driver. I was sucker punched by his buddy from the second car while I was paying attention to the driver of the suv who was walking around yelling.

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This all happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. Thankfully, K had a buddy in the car, D, who was able to accompany him to the Medpoint. I know I am not the only one whose first reaction was strong anger toward the men that decided to treat K that way. I could just picture K being compliant and trying to rectify the situation of him cutting someone off, and what he got in return for it. I am proud of him for making that effort in the first place. I admire that he didn't just shrug off his mistake and keep going. I wish I could say that I have EVER responded like that! But when he did respond like that, he is taken advantage of. I just hope that K does not lose his compassion for fellow drivers. More caution will be necessary, but not less love!

Indy Mini '09

Friday at 5:55pm I left work and drove over to Sheila, Sarah, & Liz's house, where 8 of us gathered to load into a couple of cars and drive to Indianapolis. Along the way, I made numerous last-minute calls to arrange substitutes for the youth soccer program Saturday morning in South Bend. I also had a few phone calls with J-T and Ryan in Indy as they attempted to pickup required packets for each of us before 9pm. It turns out Kinkos will not let you print out a page containing 8 photocopied drivers licenses, two of which were from my Dad & his co-worker Darrell in Muncie, who gave us their own registrations to the sold out race. We were all going to run or watch the Indy Mini Marathon & 5k.

We made it to the triangle, the People of Praise members living together on the north side of Indy near IUPUI. Liz, Sheila, & Allesha were dropped off with Trish at the women's household and Pete G, Pete T, Ricky, Kyle, & I walked across the street to an empty house. J-T & Ryan are hard workers, yet had made their home available, which was perfect for us to all go upstairs and roll out our sleeping bags in some common space together. It was about a mile and a half away from the race activities happening on the south side of IUPUI. 35,000 people register for the half marathon, 4,000 for the 5k. Liz & Trish dropped us off nearby, and we all squeezed into our "corrals" where the organizers have attempted to roughly line us up in massive groups based on how fast we've guessed we'll run it. After the gun went off, the tide of runners slowly crept forward. Some from our group made it over the start line 2 minutes later. Others (myself included) came by at 12 minutes, and still more went by at 35 minutes. Quite the procession!

It was an amazing race, with countless bands of all types lining the streets. I was never more than a few feet away from other runners. Jam packed. You'd better like other people if you run this race. David Z ran with my Dad's registration, and even though he started a good 10 minutes before me, I ended up crossing the finish line only a good 9 minutes & 50 seconds after him. In other words, I beat him by 10 seconds! Too bad our separation in corrals meant we didn't actually run together! Too bad he didn't actually train. ;-) I had started w/ Pete T, and he beat me by a few minutes. I ended up running it in 1 hr, 46 minutes, 46 seconds, for an 8 min 9 second mile pace.

We all gathered at a designated meeting spot afterward, and more POP'ers were there who had run or had come to see us. We reminisced in the experience and got to catch up with physically distant friends. Then we walked back to the houses, taking our sweet time on exhausted legs. Trish "threw together" a chicken salad lunch for us, and then we eventually made it to the canal walkway downtown for another leisurely walk with a pit stop for gelato in the middle. Then we drove to the Indy branch community center, which I actually hadn't been to before even though it's been in use for a few years. It's a beautiful facility, and it was being used for Jenny Sergio's graduation party. I don't really know her but it was a great opportunity to see all of her loved ones honoring her and congratulating her. Though originally from SB, she had lived in household with an Indy family for years, and many sharings testified to God hard at work through her presence in the branch. The biggest one being that her household went through a terrifying cancer ordeal and Jenny sacrificed her time and energy to love the family in many tangible ways.

We all were exhausted for the drive home. In my car, Sheila proved to be the best liar when we played "2 truths and a lie". :-P Though it is a game of deception, it's also a fun way to get to know people, if you allow it to lead to more conversation about the things you say.

Marcus & Bekah Nayo!

This weekend 2 friends of mine in the People of Praise got married. Marcus is originally from Togo, Africa, and Bekah is from around here. Marcus has been here for less than a year, after having lived in NYC for awhile. He is in my men's group, and I have enjoyed getting to know him since he's been here. For posterity, here is what I shared with him at his bachelor party. I always have to write stuff like this down, because I cannot think when I'm in front of people. Someday I'll be able to. But for now, I have this stuff written down which makes it easy to save too. It's kinda ironic because you'll only get to see this stuff until I get good enough at it that I don't need to write it.

Marcus, if your family were here with us tonight, what would they say? Would they allow you to stay here, or would they try to bring you back home? Would they understand what sort of life you have chosen to live here? What stories would they tell us about you?

I want to tell you how excited I am that I can call you my brother. I don't know very much about your family yet, but I do wonder what your family is like. They helped make you who you are, and you are an incredibly strong man and also one of the most peaceful men I know. That is what makes me wonder what they're like. It also makes me so excited to be growing in friendship with you!

All of us here are your brothers, and we are eager to share our lives with you. God has great plans for our brotherhood! Together, as his sons, we will stretch ourselves, and depend on one another, and depend on Him.

I am amazed at how much you stretched yourself to leave your home, leave what is familiar to you, and come here to Indiana to be with your wife. I am amazed that you would enter so openly into her life, out of a true and genuine love for her. Your example of love and sacrifice is a perfect model for me to learn from. The way that you live shows me the way that Jesus lives, and I want to thank you for that.

Marcus, may God bless you and be your strength! May He bind you and Bekah into one and shine forth into the world more brightly through you! I can't wait to know you more and more!

Why do you twitter?

Why do I?

There is the useful reason: I enjoy knowing what my friends are up to, what's on their minds, and twitter lowers the technological barrier to that. The converse is true, and so I quickly hammer out a snapshot of my state of being, putting no thought into it.

Then there is the vain reason: I am interested in eliciting some specific perception from my friends. I have even a broader scope: I can elicit a perception from the readers of my blog, and from my 400+ facebook contacts. In other words, I use it as a sort of platform, but when I try to stick to the "What are you doing?" question, it is a platform thats all about me.

Then there is the lazy reason: This manifests itself rather as a form of loneliness. My thoughts swirl about me, and I recognize my need for friendship. I want to reach out and open myself to other people; in fact I need to. Everything I say on twitter is something that really belongs in my everyday conversation, and the frequency and time in which they take place indicates a void in my social existence.

These are just a few directions that twitter can go in.

It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. - Henry David Thoreau

As glorious as Twitter may be, it is still dreadfully insufficient. Some thoughts I want to convey that are more than 140 characters, and I squelch them because they don't command the audience that Twitter can.

We need a conversation-ready tool similar to Twitter but which can handle full posts. Maybe I will go against my no-linking in Twitter rule and add my blog post links to Twitter every time I post.

All this really is, though, is me procrastinating tonight while I sit at the office on our first night of 60-hour work weeks hitting up some good ol' extreme programming. Believe it or not, I enjoy it. Just wish I could get other stuff done during that time too.

Some qualities of Jesus from Luke 4:38-44

- knows what to do
- sure of himself
- knows his boundaries, limitations
- what matters to him is effort
- prays in deserted places because he is so entirely devoted to those around him
- he is not above inconveniences/distractions
- he is a brother before a healer
- people come to him to feel better, not to be holy

Last night's work

So let's see. I'm here in the Allendale [pdf] neighborhood of Shreveport, Louisiana, spending the week with about 22 others. Jeremy & I are on the clock working for One:Ten 40 hours, but we've been able to enter into much of the life going on here.

Last night was a date night for the married couples, and the rest of us men did some work together. We ate dinner with the women quick and then all split up to go and pray alone for a half hour prior to going out. The objective was to talk with our Father about what sort of word we ought to bring to men in the neighborhood. We gathered together briefly to share what we had each arrived at in prayer, and then we struck out in 3 groups of 2-3, planning to meet back up in 1 hour. We got to speak to children, young men, middle-aged men, and a man with 8 grandkids. Everyone that I encountered had already had exposure to my group of friends who lives here, and have lived here for the past 6 years, in the heart of this stunted community. Up and down the streets were budding relationships that my friends were nourishing, and a variety of home repair projects testifying to a full-bodied love for them. I had three opportunities to pray with men for specific needs they had, and I really enjoyed experiencing Brian interacting with them, as he had lived here prior but was now on a return visit. We gathered back together to debrief and tell stories, followed by the guys who had lived here giving the rest of us a more clear picture of what relationships and community looks like here.

We take so much for granted. Not only do we take our opportunities and our belongings and our skills and our friendships for granted, but what has been most striking is how we take our hunger for community for granted. This hunger has been fostered in us from the beginning, and it bears so much fruit. But for many people, it can't be characterized simply as something they don't experience. It's also something they don't consciously desire.

How do you work with that? How does our Father work with that in us?

My son, treat yourself well, according to your means, and present worthy offerings to the Lord. Remember that death will not delay, and the decree of Hades has not been shown to you. Do good to a friend before you die, and reach out and give to him as much as you can. - Sirach 14:11-13

This Hour

A couple weeks ago, David gave those of us at our office morning prayer a fresh idea on how to think about the Lord's Prayer. He asked us how much thought we've put into the "our" and "we" parts of it. When you pray the Lord's Prayer together with a group, try thinking of yourselves really as one body instead of individuals. When one of us trespasses, we all do. When one of us forgives, we all do. As a body, we accept responsibility for one another. What we do affects those around us. We suffer for the sake of one another, and we rejoice too with each other. Do you consider that as you are praying the Lord's Prayer?

On a separate note, I have a very small prayer, from part of the Lord's Prayer, that I use with varying frequency day to day. It is often the case that even though I know the right thing to do with my time, I am lazy or undisciplined or exhibitive of any number of the vices. It can be overwhelming to consider the vast distance between what I'm doing or have done, and what I ought to be doing or have done. One solution that I use, that follows the "baby steps" mentality, is to adjust the "Give us this day" portion of the Lord's Prayer, and pray instead for "This [smallest unit of time for which I need help or courage or stamina]". That usually means "this hour". I don't particularly pray the whole prayer, I just pray those two words, and they often help to dispel my sloth. It's sort of like the burst of energy you get in the last mile of a race. But it's also a prayer.