Ragamuffin Ramblings

For those of you who don't have a Facebook account but would love to meet the guys on my hall, these pictures are for you... enjoy!

Peter Pollet

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Ben Dawson

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Bill Tobias

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Jordan Stratton

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Dave North

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Zach Shaner
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Hans Gehman
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Nate Greenway

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Jin Kim

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Nate Potratz

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Tim Goodman

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James Guthrie

Don't worry... there are many more guys on my hall to meet! I'll post some more pictures when they "become available."

"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." -Matthew 25:40

This past weekend a few buddies and I went into downtown Lexington on the spur of the moment. Originally intent on having some private praise and worship, we ended up buying some food and giving it to some homeless people in Phoenix Park. Doesn't sound like much, does it? I mean, what difference can a sandwich, some bananas, and an Ale-8 make? More than I could have known...

Enter Scott, a middle-aged man down on his luck and heading to jail in the next week. A few of us sat down with him and struck up a conversation about anything and everything. Honestly, I have to admit that I was very uncomfortable for the first few minutes. Will he really be willing to talk with us, and what should I say? I've never conversed with a homeless man before. What's going to happen here?

Well, it turned out that Scott was the most talkative of us all. He kept reminding us what great guys we were to take time out of our day to come give him some food. "Lots of other kids your age are out here (indicating some local bars) partying it up." And he gave us invaluable insight into the dangers of addiction. But that's not all we gained. No, there was more.

The only phrase that pops into my head is, "The taste of God was good." I walked away from that park feeling refreshed, renewed, and regenerated. Something inside me clicked. Who are "the least of these"? The hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, the lonely, the downtrodden. By serving Scott, we served Christ, and got a tiny glimpse of what genuine, selfless service to an Almighty God looks like. And if we can somehow grasp that concept, we will hear the voice of our Lord speaking softly, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." By serving God in this place, a far country, we are made certain of the inheritance of our eternal home.

My new college life has been a rollercoaster of change lately. This song (one of my personal favorites of all time) describes my feelings exactly while alluding to the Israelites' forty year banishment into the desert. Change is necessary sometimes, but it is rarely easy. That's how we grow. Anyway, here it is: Painting Pictures of Egypt by Sara Groves.

I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend
It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable when you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect but I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey but then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
Cause the future seems so hard and I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I"ve learned
And those roads closed off to me while my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom but now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise and the things I know

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
Cause the future seems so hard and I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me cannot hold the things I"ve learned
And those roads closed off to me while my back was turned

If it comes too quick I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

I said I'd never do it. Never. Who needs a camera on their cell phone anyway? I mean, seriously people, a phone is for communication, not for picture taking! So I purchased the only Motorola flip phone on the market that did not have a camera. And I was pleased with it... until I discovered that this archaic gadget would lose reception indoors and hold a charge for a maximum of eight hours. So I gave in, but not willingly. After scouring the internet for any decent flip phone that didn't have a camera and discovering that such a device didn't exist, I ended up buying a Motorola KRZR. And this phone works great. I can even sheepishly admit that I have used the camera feature on my phone often. Hmmm... not everything new is a bad thing...

Mowing the lawn. It's never really been a joyful thing to do, but every two weeks or so, there I am behind our twenty-six year old lawn mower, plowing along. Wait a minute! Did you just say "twenty-six years"?! Yes, it's true. My father purchased this lawn mower the year Ronald Reagan became our fortieth president. Yeah, it's that old. In fact, it's so old that just a few weeks ago, it died. Now, let's get one thing straight: I hate mowing the lawn. However, after using that mower for two years, I was familiar with it and was very opposed to any new mower that would come along. Today, I put our new lawn mower to the test and... I was amazed at its speed. It works better than our twenty-six year old clunker. Hmmm... not everything new is a bad thing...

It's all Daniel's fault. I never wanted a Facebook, and I have said for months that I will never get one. Never. But then I discovered that a Facebook page had been conveniently created for me. Great, now what do I do? There are already around thirty "friends" signed up on this page, and they're all excited that I have a Facebook. And to top it off, I have no way to ever contact these friends other than Facebook. Ahh... once again pop culture has backed me into a corner by providing no other alternative. So, I'm gonna give a shot. But don't worry, I won't be buying an iPhone or selling all my possessions to raise money for the (RED) campaign anytime soon. Let's see what Facebook has to offer for now. Hmmm... not everything new is a bad thing...

It hit me as I stared at my bottle of Mountain Dew. The number... zero. Technically, it's not really a number because it doesn't represent an actual value. It signifies nothing really. But not the nothing you're thinking of right now. Confused yet? You see, you're imagining nothing as an empty room or a guy with holes in his pockets. But zero is much more than that... or actually much less. An empty room is still a room, and it follows all the laws of science like gravity and all those other ones I've forgotten since high school. The same is true for the pockets. So, those examples can't quite clarify the concept of zero because something with the quantity zero is really nothing at all to begin with.

But despite all my attempts to belittle zero, it continues to hold tremendous power to stymie change. Let me explain. Now, not all of us are math wizards, but most of us (I hope) can perform a few simple operations of arithmetic. Addition for example. If you add zero to the number four, you're left with... four! Big surprise... but it goes to show that zero didn't help the number four change at all. The same goes for subtraction: four minus zero equals four again. But let's get a little more tricky. What about multiplication? Well, if you multiply four by zero, you've lost it all! And dividing four by zero arrives at the same answer. The addition and subtraction of zero accomplished nothing, and multiplication and division actually reduced our initial number. When you put zero into something, nothing changes, and most often, things get worse.

By now, you've either stopped reading or you're on the brink because of my ramblings. Do I even have a point? Yes, I do. Last night, several hundred students from my church's youth group held a worship service to celebrate and remember their fond memories from this year's summer camp. As I absorbed the atmosphere around me, I began to realize that this room I was sitting in was brimming over with joy. Not just happiness... joy. Godly joy. What Scripture calls "the joy of the LORD." These students had been touched by the hands of God, molded into more mature, effective servant leaders, and directed to the center of His will. It's like nothing I've ever witnessed before. I'm probably not even doing it justice because of my poor writing skills, but I could sense that each and every one of these kids had grown in their faith to some degree. As the youth choir sang a multilingual worship song, I felt a void in my heart that I have been ignoring for some time now. I've made my life too busy for joy. I've invested in nourishing my mind instead of my soul. I've blocked out the Creator of the universe from leading me, and it's taken its toll.

When you put zero into something, nothing changes, and most often, things get worse. In God's kingdom, the simplest of faiths can trump the soundest of minds. I've given God nothing for so long, justifying my behavior by convincing myself that I'll get to my faith... later. If you're reading this, maybe you're right here with me, or you've been here before. It's about time we all stopped serving two masters, or serving the wrong one entirely. Looking back, I view this period in my life with genuine heartache. I only wish I could go back and change it all, but that's just not possible. And that's just not what God wants. It's been painful, but God has taught me through my desertion of Him. And I pass this along to you: If we are able to keep our eyes upon Jesus, the "author and perfecter of our faith," we can live our lives in the center of his will with zero regrets.

If you read my previous post about music (or even if you didn't) you should read these posts. Both of them are very thoughtful. Give them a look.

The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Lame
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19313280/
Deep and Wide
http://www.andrewosenga.com/blog/2007/07/24/deep-and-wide/#comments

Music can be compelling, unique, or downright awful. Or... can it? What determines if music is essentially "good" or "bad?" (Just a quick note: Those quotation marks are to pacify any disagreeing readers' strong opinions.) If I decide to purposefully play my guitar with only two strings instead of the typical six, or drum on pots and pans instead of drums, is my music still "good?" How about an entire album of kazoo playing?

Often I drive home from work in the evenings to the tune of artists like Andrew Peterson, Caedmon's Call, and Derek Webb. Their albums offer something more substantive than the typical, overrated pop music pervading the airwaves today. "Good" music paints pictures, illustrates truth, and carries with it a significance yet undiscovered by most. I long for the times when I can get stuck at a railroad crossing just as a "good" song begins to play. A sense of fulfillment comes over me when a "good" song finishes just as I pull into the driveway of my house. Can "bad" music do that? I don't think so.

Now, I know what you skeptics are thinking. "Art should be judged subjectively... Who are you to say what music is 'good' or 'bad?'" My response to that argument would be to ask a simple question: How would you determine what music is "good" or "bad?" Most likely, your response would be that every individual makes that determination for themselves... i.e. music that's "good" for me may not be "good" for you. But that means that no music is "good" or "bad"... it's all just out there in musicland somewhere waiting to be categorized by someone's individual opinions. My kazoo playing is musically equal with a Beethoven symphony. But if I decide that mine is better, then it is... for me, at least. This flawed thinking cannot serve to judge music with a critical eye.

I'll end with this. I know that we all like different styles of music, and that's great. But some music is just plain "good" and some is just plain "bad." That doesn't mean we all have to like the same music, but we should all make an effort to recognize "good" music when we see it.