Maybe It was Hypocritical of Me to Finish College

    I was hesitant to go to college at first. It’s a lot of money for a piece of paper.  diplomaAs Will Hunting would say, “you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on an education you coulda’ picked up for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.” For a while it seemed to me that trusting in pieces of paper was a lack of faith on my part; not trusting in God’s provision for me.  Eventually I came to the conclusion that I had been afforded the opportunity to go to college, an opportunity the majority of the world could only dream of. In this world a degree would give me the opportunity to play a role that could have a positive impact on a great many people, and so I decided to go to college.

Once at college though, I continued to question the value of a college degree, not just for myself, but for others too. It seemed like there where a lot of women that were at college in hopes of meeting the man of their dreams and then becoming homemakers for the rest of their lives (Honestly, this was probably more the stereotype then it was a reality). I think being a homemaker is a wonderful decision, but it does make me question the spending of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper. I’m not saying folks shouldn’t learn and educate themselves, but you could easily audit all the classes for pennies in comparison. I was already questioning the paper, and so it was easy for me to point the finger at folk’s getting bachelors and masters without any real desire to utilize that resource.

And then there is me.  I don’t really need the degree that I have. No doubt the education has been valuable, and I’ve probably had more job opportunity and security because of it, but I still question it.  I’m also at a place now where I never plan on moving up any sort of corporate ladder, or play any role where a degree will give me some kind of upper hand. From now on the value of all that money to pay for this expensive piece of paper will be to bolster my own pride and ego whenever I have the opportunity to say that I’m a college graduate (Wheaton College).

I can’t help but acknowledge the evidence that my choice to go to college has benefited me primarily in being more dependent on my own security rather then God, and also to bolster my own ego. That sure sounds like a hypocrite.

2007: The Year of the Baby

Whether you run by the solar calendar, lunar, or school calendar, it seems like each year often surrounds or is highlighted by a particular event. At the young age that I am, many of those years have been centered primarily around that year in school. More recently though it has been large events like Marriage, AmeriCorps, Graduating College, Moving to Nashville, and Living in Community. Now, as 2007 rolls around our lives are taking a dramatic turn that will forever change us: Mindy and I are having a baby.

I think for many this is not new news, hopefully it is not (if it is, I’m sorry!). I haven’t written much about it on here or elsewhere; I think mostly because the reality of it hasn’t quite set in yet. Well, one way or the other, 2007 is the year of the baby, so I’m starting to embrace it. I’m thrilled beyond belief at the opportunity to be a father.

I’m going to start writing quite a bit more about my thoughts about being a parent, and particularly ideas I have for instilling morals and values in my children. I’m hoping these post will be a lot more interactive as I know there are a number of parent’s who currently read my blog, and I’m really hoping to gain some wisdom from you in this area.

Look forward to more posts about pregnancy, babies and parenting here at Trying to Follow.

Cotton’s Land: Disgraceful Treatment

Kevin Barbieux, known as TheHomelessGuy, has in the past year done a bit of video documenting in addition to his current blog.

The Video Post below is of Burnell Cotton who “is homeless and lives on the streets. He tells of being pelted with eggs by roving groups of non-homeless people.”

If you liked this post you can watch more of Burnell Cotton, and other Videos Kevin’s posted over at youtube.

Because it really is all about you

Quick question for you. Hoping you can answer below:

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Since many of my readers are subscribed in some way (and if not look on the right sidebar now!) I want to make sure your satisfied with what your getting. I don’t want to break your expectations and start posting too much a day.

I’m also making some other changes to the archive, and adding a Conversation page to encourage more interaction between readers. If you have other ideas to make it better let me know (add a forum, layout comments differently, integrating the podcast).

Okay, sorry for the quick update note. Thanks for taking the time to answer that survey.

The Perversion of Our Clothing

One of my dear friends and Housemates, Josh, wrote a excellent post yesterday about Fashion. He went out on a limb and compared it to pornography in it’s perversion. Basically, pornography is perversion of sex, but do we pervert other things?

It is a commonly accepted idea that the human body needs 3 things to survive: food, water & shelter. To eat, drink and be clothed are all very natural and healthy things, much like sex (in it’s proper use) is. We have a word for people who pervert the need for hunger: glutton. We have a word for people who pervert the need for drink: drunkard. We also have a word for people who pervert the need for shelter: fashionable.

And then he really get’s to the heart of things:

the average American household spends about $2000 a year in clothing. The reason? We’re not buying clothes so that we are protected from the elements, but rather to impress our peers.

Perversion doesn’t get much clearer than this. Clothes were originally designed to cover our nakedness and then later to protect us from the elements. We’ve taken this basic need and perverted it. To me, this is possibly even a worse kind of perversion than pornography, because shelter is a basic need for life. No one (although some young men may try to argue it to their would-be lovers) has ever died from not having sex. But countless people die everyday from lack of shelter.

Read the rest…

What’s amazing about reading Josh’s thoughts on this, is that they are not said in a bubble, or into cyberspace were there is no real accountability. Josh shares his thought’s amongst a community that he eats and breathes with. A community that will be encouraged and challenged by what he said and will be eager to both encourage him and be encouraged to live out the convictions we’ve come to in following Christ.
Be strong, brother.

You really have to go read Josh’s entire post.

Guestrooms for Jesus

Guestrooms for JesusI’ve probably mentioned this before, and if you haven’t heard it from me, hopefully you’ve had someone in your life who was crazy enough to say it.
In most cities (every one that I’ve actually seen the statistics compared), there are more abandoned housing units then there are homeless. That is to say specifically, there is enough housing for everyone. Of course, the red tape of our society usually prevents this solution from becoming a reality.
Also, in most cities, even if we are extremely conservative with our statistics, there appears to be many Bible-believing church-attending “Christians.” And of those Christians, even with conservative estimates, I would guess there are many more empty “guest bedrooms” in those homes then there are homeless out on the streets.

Even with this reality, we have plenty of excuses as to why my correlation (The “Christians” [who are supposed to practice hospitality, see Romans 12] with Empty Guest Bedrooms : Homeless Ratio) simply is not appropriate or feasible.
“Many homeless have mental conditions, that would make it unsafe for my family.”
“Most homeless have drug and alcohol problems which would put my families lives in danger.”
“And God calls us to protect our family and be wise” [sidenote: Can someone please show me where in the Bible it say that to “protect” our family is a top priority?]

LAME EXCUSES!
We have within our means the ability to radically live out the Christian calling of caring for the needy and practicing hospitality, and we are content to pass off some lame excuse.
Here’s why it’s lame. Keeping your family (and the people on the street) safe is a wonderful thing, really it is. Mental conditions should be treated, drug and alcohol problems should be controlled, nobody should be hurting or threatening anybody; but what does that have to do with opening your home to someone else?

Let me just cut to the chase. You are to be validated in your concerns. But, now it’s time to problem solve and find a solution for bringing together your desire for the well-being of all, and your calling to radically follow Christ.
If people (including many Christians) can spend thousands of dollars solving the problems of remodeling their outdated bathroom, or upgrading to a state of the art kitchen, then I think we can also put our minds and money to creating homes that can accommodate those who need a place to stay.

Maybe you put an outside door on the guest room and a regular locked door into the house. Or you remodel the office or the space above the garage to have not only a bedroom but a bathroom and a small kitchenette.  Use your imagination, you could go more elaborate or more practical, but look to solve problems rather then make excuses.

Maybe for some it means downsizing their home till it accommodates the basic needs for their immediate family and they then use the freed up additional wealth and resources to contribute to a community that is meeting the needs of the homeless.

Stop making lame excuses that justify your apathy to following Christ call. Instead have some fun and remodel your house (and in doing so open yourself to following Christ in ways you’ve never considered before)!

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Lame Excuses Probably Won’t Get You in Either

I might be the only one, but Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats freaks me out sometimes. I’m a Christian, I don’t really shy away from that, and as such I believe there is an afterlife, like some form of Heaven and Hell (though probably not quite in the way we’re typically describing it).  As you might know most Christian’s also believe that your eternal destiny is not something you earn by racking up a certain number of goody points above and beyond your dirty little secrets, I agree with that too (specific details are probably for another time).

Jesus’ parable, from what I can see is the most straightforward, and longest, passage specifically talking about the afterlife that I see in the Bible. And if I may paraphrase, Jesus basically says, “Feed the Poor or Go to Hell.”

What has struck me recently is how many terribly lame excuses I make as to why I am not doing that. My excuses seem to run directly parallel to those who say in the parable, “When did we see you hungry…” and quite frankly that scares me.  I think I’ll probably go into some examples in other posts, but for now I’m sure you can come up with a handful of your own that you’ve likely made in the last few days.

The crazy thing about it is that, we’ve some how surrounded ourselves with people who are perfectly content with our excuses. We don’t have people around us we will call us out, challenge us, and rebuke us for such pitiful attempts at justification.

“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”

Digg My Podcast Please

This is for the more tech savvy folks. If you have a digg account please take a moment to hop over and digg my podcast:
Thoughts on the Journey

They just opened the podcasting section and I figure if I get a couple digg’s more people we’ll actually see my podcast and have the chance to check it out.

We’ll see.

Thanks.

Year in Review: First words of 2006

A fun way I’ve seen folks look back over the past year is to post the first sentence of their first post from each month of the past year. I figure it’s worth doing so here is mine. (Please click through the links and leave comments. I’d love to renew some old topics, especially with so many new readers).