Itsara

Those of you who neurotically check this site (it’s okay, I check the stats for this site multiple times a day – I’m pretty sure I can beat you for neuroses ;-) probably have noticed the minor changes I’m constantly making to things. I’ve made a few more, but there were two in particular I wanted to draw your attention to:

1. The “Estimated Departure Date” has been on the sidebar here for a while, but today I updated it as we are definitely not leaving in January. I will still be the worship pastor at Coast in January, so we’ll still be here. Also, keep in mind that “Definitely” really means “If God doesn’t throw us any curve balls.”
2. I’ve added a spot on the sidebar for friends with their own blogs, now that I know of three of them (and I’d be happy to add more). Shannon’s blog for her trip to Bolivia was already over there. I’ve added Ray’s blog that I’ve linked to in the past – he’s got lots of cool pictures from his travels, so check it out. And yesterday I discovered that Tracey has her own blog as well, so hopefully linking to it will encourage her to keep posting – she’s a thinker, that one. Actually, all these guys are thinkers with good ideas. Check them out.

That’s all for now. Next week I’ll get more specific on some of our plans that, so far, I have only touched on briefly. Oh, and if you ever have any suggestions or annoyances or questions or comments, feel free to tell me about them. Otherwise I’ll just do my own thing and you’ll deal with it ;-)

Update (Halloween morning): My friend (and new sound technician), James, has told me about his page too (I’m not too surprised that he has one, actually ;-). I’ve read a few posts, and it’s actually pretty cool to see his walk with God and his thoughts on it.

I keep finding myself praying about the purpose of this weblog. It sounds stupid now that I say it, but I feel like I’ve wanted a place like this to voice my theological thoughts for so long and now I’m not sure what to do with it. Or rather (I’ve realized), I know what I want to do with it, but when it comes right down to it I want to do what God wants to do with it. (more…)

As part of our trip to Thailand this past summer, half of our team traveled to a refugee camp near Mae Sot on the Thai-Burmese border and stayed there for a few days. During their time there they taught Bible studies, sang with the people, played with the children, prayed for them, and generally built relationships with them.

The thing is, these people are refugees because of a political and military situation that is kept extremely quiet. I’d heard of the troubles in Sudan, and Tears of the Sun had enlightened me to ethnic cleansing in Nigeria, and obviously I knew about Iraq and Afghanistan. But it surprised me to hear the stories our team members told us about these people living just outside of Burma, running from a conflict I had never heard of. (more…)

UPDATE (10/22, 1 pm): If you think this idea is interesting, Ray takes it even farther.

A Bible study on Matthew 6 turned into a philosophical discussion on life, security, and the pursuit of happiness. I wanted to get some of it out here before it slipped from my mind. If this ends up more like stream of consciousness than a refined essay, I apologize.

One thing about me is that I have a lot of theories. Contrary to popular opinion, I do not make these theories up out of thin air – each one of my theories is based on some evidence. Today’s theory is that civilization is largely (if not primarily) driven by a desire for a security that cannot be achieved. (more…)

For those interested in weblogs, social networks, and sociology. My friend Erik Sudderth (a.k.a. Mr. Stochastic Fantastic) sent me a link to an interesting study done on social networks and weblogs specifically:

A persistent theme among people writing about the social aspects of weblogging is to note (and usually lament) the rise of an A-list, a small set of webloggers who account for a majority of the traffic in the weblog world. This complaint follows a common pattern…. A new social system starts, and seems delightfully free of the elitism and cliquishness of the existing systems. Then, as the new system grows, problems of scale set in…. Not everyone gets to be heard. Some core group seems more connected than the rest of us, and so on.

Prior to recent theoretical work on social networks, the usual explanations invoked individual behaviors: some members of the community had sold out, the spirit of the early days was being diluted by the newcomers, et cetera. We now know that these explanations are wrong, or at least beside the point. What matters is this: Diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality.

It’s interesting to me how this applies to nearly any social system. He also makes some interesting conclusions on where high, medium, and low-traffic blogs will likely end up in term of purpose. Check out the entire article if that sounds interesting.

I’ve got two links and a blog-related devotion for you, so think fast.

A Week in Bolivia
Shannon, our friend in Bolivia, has posted some happenings and thoughts on this past week in Bolivia. It’s interesting to be sure (I think she’s a philosopher in the making), but the reason I’m passing it on to you is this one:

“Oct. 7, Thursday: I went to a local orphanage run by the catholic church to volunteer in the nursery for three hours. I was reminded as to why I am here and why I want to work with children who are in need of a family. I suppose I should add that the conditions while sanitary and in no way cruel are still quite heartbreaking due to the lack of workers and thereby a lack of stimulation or personal contact with each child.”

Jesus said it well enough: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Child’s Play 2004
The gamers among you may already be aware of this. Last year, Penny Arcade started an annual charity drive called Child’s Play to get toys and other goodies donated to kids at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. What began as an effort to use their influence for good, and to counteract the negative attention the media has given to gamers, ended up raising over $250,000 in cash and toys – all of which was given directly to the Children’s Hospital.

This year, they’re going bigger with donation lists for Children’s Hospitals in Seattle, Oakland, San Diego, Houston, and Washington DC. Again, God’s got it said: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

Ordinary People
My Dad sends out his own weblog, or e-log I guess, to us kids with stories from his own life and devotions that strike him as meaningful. It’s really interesting to see just how much of who I am has come from my father and from his father (and occasionally from his father!). Anyway, reading today’s devotion, it struck me that weblogging is doing exactly what this devotion calls for. I used to be against blogs as I thought they were meaningless or inane, like the thousands of people who would put their Winamp Generated PlayLists online for reasons I could not understand. I still don’t like blogs of the “here’s my life in small, boring doses” variety, but I’m beginning to understand the purposes behind the other ones.

Minor disclaimer: Because of lack of formatting, I wasn’t sure where the devotional ended and Dad’s comments began. Just so you know.

Ordinary People
Read: Deuteronomy 4:5-14
Take heed to yourself, . . . lest you forget the things your eyes have seen
. . . . And teach them to your children. -Deuteronomy 4:9
Bible In One Year: Isaiah 45-46; 1 Thessalonians 3

David Isay, a radio producer, says that in a culture inundated with the
stories of celebrities, we need to hear the recorded voices of ordinary
people, because their lives and contributions are no less important. Isay is
a driving force behind StoryCorps, “a national project to instruct and
inspire people to record each other’s stories in sound.”
It’s a great concept, especially for Christians. Think what it would mean
for your great-great-grandchildren to hear and see you telling the story of
your life-describing the people and events that shaped you and sharing what
Christ means to you.
Just before God’s people entered the Promised Land, Moses told them: “Only
take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the
things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the
days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren”
(Deuteronomy 4:9).
That same responsibility of face-to-face communication is still ours. Yet we
have the unusual opportunity of leaving a message for future generations.
Begin recording your own uniquely important story. Or help a friend or
relative record theirs. There is great value in the stories of ordinary
people who know and love the Lord. -David McCasland
Life’s truest heroes never carve their name
On marble columns built for their acclaim;
They build instead a legacy that springs
From faithful service to the King of kings. -Gustafson
A life lived for God leaves a lasting legacy.

I promised a related post to the talent theory, so here goes.

I tried to make the point that persistence and practice are often the only things lacking when we try to do something that is difficult for us. I know for myself I will often give up when something gets hard, which is exactly the opposite of what I need to do if I want to continue doing that thing.

Jesus made this point as well: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Finally, we get to my real point, which is not really my point but rather that of Rich Nathan, pastor of the Columbus Vineyard. My friend Ray sent this to me, and I thought it was really pertinent. Even if you think the talent theory is total nonsense, I think you can agree with this: (more…)

This post is not for those with a low tolerance for the works of the Holy Spirit.

We just got back from Coast’s leadership retreat. The last two years (at least), a friend of Pastor Jamie’s named Robin (Robyn? Robbin? Bob?) came to minister to us. Robin’s a prophet. There’s no way to sugar-coat that and I don’t want to. This guy hears from the Lord and tells people what God tells him to say to them.

He doesn’t give “repent or be smoten” stuff – at least not when I’ve seen him in action – but usually very encouraging stuff. In fact, some common themes I’ve heard him say to people are things like “You’ve always longed for God to speak to you” and “Something new is coming.”

I realize those sound vague and like they could apply to anybody. Remember that I’m just mentioning the common themes, which are common because they apply to a lot of people. But when he started talking to a specific person, and he would talk about the kind of person they were (from God’s point of view), and what was going to happen, suddenly his words were frighteningly specific and straight to the heart of the person he was speaking to.

For the moment, I’m not going to defend him anymore than that. One, because I don’t know if I even need to defend him to my readers, and two, because that’s not the point of this post.

One of the words he had for Cindy and me was exactly what I think we needed to hear God say to us. He said, “Don’t check out yet.” He said that we need to remain involved while we’re still here because God still has plans for us and big things to do before we go. I know I needed to hear that as I was struggling with a form of senioritis (where I stop caring about what I’m doing because I know I won’t be doing it much longer) and wondering if we shouldn’t just leave right now.

I’m really glad to know that we are supposed to stay here for now, and I needed to be told to stay involved spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Otherwise I run the risk of not caring about either of my jobs (particularly dangerous for worship) and avoiding relationships out of fear. Doubts and fears are dangerous things, and I’m glad God’s in the business of cutting through them.

There has been an interesting discussion in the comments of the last post. And I’ve learned that the weblog is not a very good forum for debate (at least not between me and others) – the reason being that it is an uneven platform. Rather it is actually a soapbox, from which one can make comments on what the poster says, but ultimately the speaker on the soapbox has the last and loudest word. I don’t like debating in that kind of artifical strength so I’ll try to avoid it (if I can).

So let me back off from the full-blown generalized theory and instead clarify my own personal experience, and you can make what you will from my own experience.

I have been playing piano for about 20 years, but I haven’t gotten any better in the last 12-15 years. When I did get better for those first 5-7 years, I was practicing nearly everyday. I began to doubt myself when I got frustrated because “I couldn’t do it” and then saw a friend who could play really well. I thought I could never be as good as he was (even though my teacher tried to tell me that he had just been playing longer and practiced more), and I lost heart. I stopped practicing and eventually quit because I thought I didn’t have the same kind of talent that my friend had and that I would never be as good as he was.

Likewise, I have been drawing for my whole life (27 years now, though I doubt I was drawing anything except drool paintings for the first few). Until the last month, my drawing has always been at about the same quality (i.e. bad). For my whole life, I watched people like my brother draw and wondered how they were so good at it – thinking it was some innate talent that I didn’t have and (therefore) would never have. Then, as I said in the last post, I began to actually try to learn how to draw and discovered that with lots of practice and a little teaching I can actually get better at it.

My hope is that someone will read this and try something they thought they could never do (but always wanted to do) and discover that they were wrong. I haven’t yet met a person of talent that hasn’t gotten there through hours of practice. In fact, everyone I ask says that they aren’t talented, but that they simply practice and care about what they do.

I hope I’ve managed to cull my own conclusions from this post (though I’m sure I implied them). Today I think I’m going to play some guitar and sketch some people. Ten years ago, if you told me that’s what I was going to do, I would’ve laughed at you.

“This is your life. Are you who you want to be?”

I’m beginning to think that the commonly-held belief that talent is innate is actually a myth. Until very recently, I believed that there were certain things that I was inherently not good at. I believed that some people were naturally gifted at certain things and others weren’t. I believed that if I was not gifted at something then I would never be gifted at it and should not waste my time trying to do it. Then I tried to learn how to draw.

Drawing is an area that perpetuates this myth perhaps more than any other. There is a definite perception that some people can draw and others can’t and that is the way it will always be. After two weeks of trying to draw faces, I am convinced now that I can learn how to do it. Moreso, I believe that I could get really good at it if I wanted to. (more…)