Pizza = Love

I just spent the last 10 minutes trying to come up with some witty opening to this post to no avail. It is 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday night/ Thursday morning and my creative juices are not flowing freely. With that in mind, I'll jump straight into my thought process for the past couple of weeks.

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Two weeks ago the Soul Force Equality Ride made an appearance on our campus. For those of you who are not familiar with this group of people, this is my understanding of who they are (if I am in any way wrong in my understanding and description please let me know). The Equality Ride consists of approximately 50 individuals who believe in the Biblical acceptance of homosexuality and have taken it upon themselves to go to 32 Christian colleges and universities to promote discussion about the connection between faith and religion and gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and trans-gender lifestyles. One of their stops on their tour across the U.S. was here at Liberty University. I remember the last time they tried to come on campus a couple of years ago. After being banned from campus for violating the terms of the allowance on campus from the previous time, a few of the them were arrested for trespassing and the rest were forced to stay just in front of the entrance of University Boulevard.

That was then.

I'm not second-guessing or questioning the decision to ban Soul Force from campus at that time. This time around 5 of them were allowed on campus to donate books to the library and talk to students while the rest waited on the sidewalk (town property) just off-campus. There were no major hiccups. No arrests to speak of. No serious arguments with students for the most part. That is not what has frustrated me for the last couple of weeks. Instead, what has bothered me is the general reaction to hearing about Soul Force's presence on campus. With fall break starting and 3/4 of the campus leaving for the long weekend, many Liberty students didn't realize that Soul Force even existed, never mind the fact that they were in our library. However, almost every time I mentioned it or explained it to someone on campus I got a startled look from them as if to say "wait... gay people? here? at Liberty? ...and they allowed this??" First of all, let me say that I have absolutely no idea if the people on the Equality Ride are themselves gay, lesbian, bi, or trans-gender. It would not surprise me if at least some were, but I did not have the opportunity to talk to them while they were here because I was at work the whole day. However, this look was an almost universal response to hearing who Soul Force was and that they were on campus. I know of one individual who was particularly irate that Liberty University would allow homosexual supporters on campus.

How close minded have we gotten?!

I'm not saying that I agree with homosexuality. I don't. I absolutely don't. What I'm saying is that Christians in the United States have closed their minds to everything not Christian to the extent that not only are they separate from the secular world, but they are scared of it! They think that to brush shoulders with a person of a different denomination is possible heresy, never mind brushing shoulders with someone from a different religion. I'm obviously exaggerating a little bit, but the principle is still true. We often view homosexuality as some strange and contagious disease that we must avoid contact with at all costs. We're scared of what we don't understand or are not a part of.

How dare we allow homosexuals on our campus? How dare you call yourself a Christian while you refuse to reach out to people desperate for the love and acceptance of God. The Christian church in the U.S. has been so remiss in properly addressing the issues of homosexuality or atheism. We so often treat these people as an enemy to be destroyed. We forget that Jesus died to save each one of them. We talk about the homosexual agenda. What about the agenda of the American church? To get sweet sound systems? To get state-of-the-art sanctuaries and youth rooms? To beat our record number of salvations in a year? What about God's agenda? What about God's glory? I think that one of the things that glorifies God the most is His love exemplified in our lives. This doesn't come about by quoting John 13:35 and giving each other a hug after church. It comes about by Christians waking up and talking to these people as individuals and human beings.

Homosexuality does not define their entire being. Not everything they do is related to the homosexual lifestyle. Yes he is gay. Get over it! Please don't accuse me of supporting homosexuality. All I am saying is that we often get hung up on labels. In reality I am just as sinful as someone practicing homosexuality. The difference is that everytime a Christian talks to me it's not always about the most obvious area of weakness or sin in my life according to them. So why is it that we constantly want to talk homosexuals about homosexuality? I refuse to believe that this label is what defines these individuals. God doesn't see a label. God sees past the open wounds of their sin and my sin and sees the son or daughter he created.

This rant has gone on longer than I intended. It's now 2:40 in the morning and I have to get up in 5 or so hours to go to class but I want to leave you with a few thoughts in summation.

After Soul Force left Lynchburg I had an idea that I wish I had thought of earlier. What if while these 50 or so individuals were sitting around just off campus, 20 or 30 LU students walked over with some drinks or some pizza and just sat down with them. What if we just hung out together a little while and talked about anything except homosexuality. There is a time and a place for that discussion. For now we are called to be the expression of God's love. Sometimes that expression is through splitting a pizza with someone. God loves me so much and I am so, so thankful for that. But, God forbid, that I ever forget that God loves gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals, trans-genders just as much as he loves me.

Jesus thought so much of those struggling with homosexuality that he died for them. The least I can do is buy them a pizza and ask about their day.

-Jeremy

...something crazy...

So i'm sitting in a coffee shop...with jeremy...not at all a new setting.

In fact, this is such a common occurance that the owner called us citizens today. So maybe that's new, Jeremy and I are now full-fledged citizens of the "Republic of the Drowsy Poet." Although I don't think it's a republic at all...and I sure hope we don't have to pay taxes.

Funny thing, you can be in the most ordinary of settings and become a seemingly entire new person.

I think that might have happened to me.


I got offered a position in Alaska that would have paid a ton of money, and I just decided to turn it down on the grounds that it would have put me in a possibly compromising spiritual environment. I can remember last summer up there, I negated who I was...to my own shame. I didn't completely screw up, but I definitely put myself on a gradual decline towards that end.

Anyway, it took a couple good friends and my awesome mother to bring me down to earth and to realize that tens of thousands of dollars is not worth selling out.

I'm not fully convinced yet...still kind of wrestling with myself...but I know what I have to do...here I stand, I can do no other...

and while the setting is not going to change for quite awhile, I feel new.


-andrew

Me, God, and James Blunt

Today I had… an experience, something that only happens a few times in an individual’s life. Seemingly random or by chance, this experience forever carves itself into your brain. What was it you may ask? Well, let me tell you a story:

There once was a guy (a.k.a. me) walking down a crowded hallway. Deep in thought as he pushed through the mass of human beings all apparently headed in the opposite direction, the world around him passed by in a blur. Suddenly, as he dodged an awkward looking couple, he felt someone’s eyes on him. Snapping himself back to reality he glanced over to his left to see a beautiful girl staring at him as she walked in his direction. But not only was she looking at him, she was smiling at him. The moment he looked at her their eyes locked, completely numbing every muscle in his body. It was an awkward but incredibly awesome moment. It only last an instant and she had walked by him, leaving him with the haunting voice James Blunt singing “You’re Beautiful” in his head. Soon the call of a nearby friend woke him from his stupor. But something about that strange encounter will stick with him forever.

True story. Ok. I might have over-dramatized it a little, but you get the picture: walking down the Demoss Hallway here at Liberty University, I locked eyes with a pretty girl, that sent me spinning for a minute. Sounds pathetic right? But let me explain. This wasn’t a romantic occurrence. There was no music playing in the background, no dim lighting, no flowers to be found, and no running towards each other in slow motion. It was over in less than 2 seconds flat. The thing that felt so oddly euphoric and at the same time exposing to me was the fact that she looked me in the eyes. There is something incredibly personal about looking into another person’s eyes. A well known proverb says, “The eyes are a window to the soul.” I don’t know if that could be said any better. When a person looks directly into your eyes you feel exposed and vulnerable. It feels as if all of your secrets, everything you don’t want that person to know is visible when they stare into your eyes. Maybe what unnerved me about my encounter with this girl is that she was also smiling. I felt totally exposed but at the same time I felt completely at peace, because she seemed to like what she saw. Now in reality I understand that she most likely didn’t think any of this and I’m sure has no clue that I even exist. But think about a time when you’ve experienced something similar or at least picture yourself in my shoes. It’s somewhat attractive isn’t it? The idea of someone looking you straight in the eyes, seeing all your faults and failures, and smiling at you anyways. It’s also frightening. You’re apprehensive about whether or not they’ll crack a smile or whether lips will tense in a frown of disapproval. Think about it.

Now think about God. Think about how holy God is. He is the mighty God. There is no other. He is perfect, the essence of love, the author of life, and the Savior of the world. That same God looks into your life, into your eyes, and smiles. He sees your mistakes, he sees your screw ups, he knows everything about you, and he still loves you. Not only does he love you, he genuinely likes you. You are his creation, he takes pride in you. This smile that he gives us is not one that condones our shortcomings. He is not alright with sin. It simply says, “I know you inside and out and I still like what I see. I still like you. Let me show you how to live. Let me show you where true and intimate love is found, let me show you how to be completely satisfied. Why? Because I love you. Because I like you.” Let God look in your eyes. Let Him sift through the trash in your life to find the life that he created and the person that he genuinely likes. It’ll change your life. I promise you.

-jeremy

Stood up

I wonder that if we skip church God thinks that we stood Him up.

Now, I don’t think you can take that entirely…I mean the church is there for the body to corporately worship and be taught about God. So maybe it’s more accurate to say that skipping church is like trying to walk when your butt cheek has fallen asleep.

I kind of got stood up today. It was just a friend and I’m not worried or bitter about it at all, it’s just kind of a fact.

I stood up my Greek class on Friday. Well, I slept through my alarm…but I saw my professor in ministry convo right after class got done.

It was weird.

The first time you see someone after you stand them up or they stand you up, it’s just weird.

My Greek professor was really surprised to see me and even said, “What the heck are you doing here son? I thought for sure that since you weren’t in my class that you were on your death bed!” Well, he said that with his hands…it was during the music part and he was in a different section, nevertheless…

It was weird.

I have a friend who doesn’t go to school with me, and we’ve hung out once or twice in the past, but it’s just weird. It’s kind of one of those relationships where you say you’re going to hang out a lot, but you never actually do. You do so much talking about hanging out that whenever you do hang out, well…

It’s just weird.

So I skipped church today. Well, I slept through my alarm. I think one of the hardest parts of being a Christian, is rebounding from standing God up. It could be a prayer, or Bible reading, or church…something we know we should have done that we didn’t do.

And then things get weird with God.

How can we possibly even begin to love God like He loves us? How can we possibly even begin to be faithful to someone who is so faithful to us? We can’t.

We mess up a lot. When you think about it, the world is filled with screwed up misfits—that’s just who we are—and for those of us who are owned by God, we seem to let Him down an awful lot.

We live with conditions all around us. No one seems to want to love anyone as they are completely. I don’t at least. And so it seems impossible to imagine a God who loves us when we stand Him up.

But He does.

Things don’t have to be weird.

Today is a new day…

Our Life: A Rubik's Cube

Today was Christmas and this year we did things a little differently. This year Hannah and Melody both had to work today; Hannah from 7am to 7pm and Melody from 4:30 to 7:00. So, in order to have Christmas morning with Hannah, we all got up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am to open our stockings. Most of the things were the traditional things we always get in our stockings: orange (don’t ask me why – I don’t know), a random picture frame, a devotional, socks, etc.). This year, however, me and my brother-in-law, Jared, both got Rubik’s cubes.

Waking up at 5:30 like little kids on Christmas morning does something to you. I’m really not sure what it is. I just know that it has to do something to you. Because for the past 4 months I have been surrounded by guys who for some reason love to walk around with Rubik’s cubes, but until this morning I’ve never been really interested in solving one myself. That quickly changed as I inhaled my coffee this morning. After Hannah left to go to work everyone else went back to bed for a few more hours of precious sleep. Well, everyone except for Jared and me. While my parents and sisters were back in bed dreaming of sugar plumbs (or whatever they dream about on Christmas morning), me and Jared were at war with a guy named Rubik and his stupid little cube. We twisted and pushed and rotated those little cubes only to realize that after two hours we had gotten nowhere. Finally we looked it up online. That helped a little, but it still took us the entire day to finish less than half and we currently have no idea what to do next.

As I was driving back from dropping Melody off at work today, I felt like my life was kind of like a Rubik’s cube that I keep trying to solve. Rubik’s cubes come solved; you have to mess up the cubes in order to start the puzzle/game/whatever. Thus, we know that it can be solved, it can be made perfectly symmetrical and color-coded. But once we mess up those cubes it’s a totally different monster. We know it’s theoretically possible, we’ve even seen it solved, but while we’re wrestling with the colors the only thought in our head is, “This is absolutely, totally, completely impossible.” But we could hand it to somebody that has learned how to solve the puzzle and they could fix it on the spot for you. That is why I feel like my life is similar to a Rubik’s cube. When God made human beings, he made us perfect, without sin. But our pride got in the way and we blew it. Ever since I can remember I have wrestled with sin in my life. I know that it is theoretically possible to live a life of perfection. After all, Jesus did. But it seems like all I’m doing is just messing up the cubes of my life more and more. Just when I think I’ve got a whole side of my life figured out, I move a cube and upset the whole puzzle of life. The reason for this: I don’t know how to solve the Rubik’s cube of life. I’m not even able to look up cheats for it online. God, on the other hand, knows a thing or two about life and living. After all, creating life was His idea in the first place. My point is, life is about whose hands you are allowing to control and move you: yours or God’s.

Another thing about Rubik’s cubes: it usually has to get more confusing and more mixed up before it comes together for good. Well, it’s confusing and frustrating to people like me who have no idea what they are doing. To those that have mastered the cube, it isn’t confusing at all. They move each cube and row with a specific purpose. The untrained observer (or participant) sees mayhem and chaos, but the trained eye sees his plan working beautifully to accomplish his goal. There are times in our lives when we feel like everything is working out the way we want it to and then all of the sudden something shifts, everything changes, and we’re left pulling out our hair trying to figure out why things went bad. We need to look at the big picture. God is molding and shaping our lives, shifting things around, rotating people and places until we are finally sanctified before His throne. It will most likely get messy before it looks pretty. But that’s the beauty of it. Stop spinning the cube of your life and hand it over to God, I’m pretty sure He knows what He’s doing.

-Jeremy

the meaning of surrender

I'm tired. It's been a long week and getting behind in my classes doesn't help at all. But today I've been thinking about something I just can't get off my mind. And so instead of diagramming verses for my commentary on 2 Peter 1, I'm writing this little note.This morning in church we sang a song called "Lead Me to the Cross," a song that I've loved since the first time I've heard it. It's a beautiful song of surrender, dedication, and of remembering Christ's love and sacrifice for us. This morning as the song was played, instead of singing along, I sat and listened to everyone else sing. At times this is more powerful and meaningful to me then singing until I'm hoarse. But as I was listening and watching the thousand or so people around me singing, some with hands raised, others with their eyes closed, it struck me: do we really know what we're singing? The chorus of the song reads:

Lead me to the Cross where your love poured out
Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself, I belong to You
O lead me,
Lead me to the Cross.

This sounds awesome right? I mean isn't this what being a Christian is all about? Yea. It is. But I don't think we fully understand the weight of these words some times, myself included."Bring me to my knees..." This isn't referring to a kneeling at the altar. Think about it in terms of war. When one nation brings another nation to its knees it means that it is totally and utterly incapable of moving unless the conquering nation allows it to. I get a picture in my head of someone holding a gun or a knife to someones head or throat as they are kneeling in total surrender. That is what we're asking for. When we sing songs like this we're asking God to take our legs out from under us. Without our legs we can't move, we can't run away, WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING.

Surrender isn't pleasant, and it's definitely not easy. In my life, right now, I'm at a time a where it feels like God has answered my prayer to be brought to my knees. I'm used to doing what I want and going where I want. But right now that's not an option. I've been talking to close friends about how I'm trying to give everything over to God, how I don't want to keep it inside of me, but I'm not even sure how to do that. The past week or two haven't been easy. They've actually been pretty difficult. Feels like God is saying to me, "Look, I let you do things your way for a little while, and you know that it didn't really work. Now it's my turn. Just wait and see what I'm going to do in and through your life." And honestly, that's possibly the scariest thing I've ever thought about. I like being in control. I also don't like admitting I'm wrong. But surrender is the act of admitting defeat. I don't know anybody that enjoys being wrong. And if you do, there's something wrong with you.

I'll finish with a story that a lot of you have probably heard. Michelangelo was once asked, in reference to a sculpture of an angel that he created, how he could see take a block of stone and create such a masterpiece. In response he said it was simple: all you have to do is take away everything in that block that doesn't look like an angel. If you know even the slightest bit about sculpture you know that it involves hammering and, essentially, cutting off chunks of rock. That is what total surrender means for us. It means that we give up the playing of our games and our attempts at hiding different areas of our life from and God and allow him to take away everything that doesn't look like Christ.

It's not pleasant.

It's not easy.

But it is totally necessary and totally worth it.

-jeremy

Jesse, Keeper of Hens, Part 2 -- Jeremy's Story

What I'm about to write about is top secret. Nobody is supposed to know about it. Why disclose such top secret information you might ask? The answer is simple: I think it's funny.

The Proposal
A few days ago I was walking down the hallway on the second floor of dorm M26 at Liberty University when I ran into my friend Jesse Henning (i.e. keeper of hens). You might remember him from a post that Andrew wrote a few days ago. Being done with classes for the day and in the mood for a little relaxing competition I asked him if he was in the mood for being beaten in a friendly game of disc golf. Jesse, not one to turn down a challenge, quickly responded in the affirmative and issuing a similar challenge of his own. We were all ready to head out when we realized that neither one of us had a car. Not to worry, Jesse's roommate Daryl didn't have a problem loaning his car out to us on one condition: Jeremy drives.

Ok, pause here. Although this stipulation of Daryl might seem a little prejudice against Jesse, it was made with good reason. That reason being that Daryl's car has a standard transmission and Jesse had never driven a stick-shift out of a parking lot before.

The Stealing of the Keys
We are now heading down to the parking lot to pick up the car that I'm supposed to drive. As we walk I notice that Jesse hasn't handed me Daryl's keys yet. Figuring that his thoughts were simply elsewhere I just let it go for the moment. Little did I know how wrong I was. Not only was Jesse's mind not wandering, he was actually scheming about ride ahead. As we approached the car we both turned towards that driver's side. Thinking awkwardly that maybe he was going to open the door for me, I kept my mouth shut. As the car drew closer I noticed that Jesse seemed to be walking faster. "Man, he really can't wait to open that door for me... that's weird and more than a little queer," I thought. All of the sudden it dawned on me: Jesse is holding onto the keys because (scary music here) HE WANTS TO DRIVE!!!!!!

The Ride
To be honest I wasn't that nervous when Jesse first climbed into the driver's seat. I mean how bad could it be? It's only a stick. Right? He quickly proved me wrong. The key is put into the ignition, the clutch pushed in, the engine turns over: we're ready to go.

Attempt #1: He puts it in reverse and proceeds to ease off the clutch. The engine shudders uncontrollably and then promptly fails.
Attempt #2-5: The car again shakes like a pre-pubescent boy talking to a girl for the first time (or Andrew whenever he talks to girls). Again the engine cuts short leaving an awkward silence in the car (similar to the result of Andrew talking to girls).

Another pause here. Between Jesse's first and fifth attempts he managed to allow the car to roll dangerously close to the car parked directly in front of us. And when I say "dangerously close" I mean literally 6 inches. Ok, play ball.

Attempt #6: The first five tries failing miserably, I was noticeably doubtful of the success of a sixth try. Jesse, not to be beaten, laughs nervously and says "Wouldn't it be funny if I hit the car in front of us?" (Word to the wise: when in Jesse's shoes NEVER say that to your passenger). And then, with a pealing of rubber (and more than little releasing of my bladder) we were off and in business.

The rest of the ride to and from Peaks View Park consisted of a series of stalls and obscene gestures from the people stuck behind us. At one time I literally called up my mom to tell her how much I loved her and how to divide my possessions up after I had left this world... she didn't pick up. The whole time however Jesse kept shifting and grinding the gears with all the talent of teenage girl. Long story short we made it back to campus in one piece and with only a little smoke coming from the engine.

This story got me to thinking about our life as Christians. How many people are just like Jesse's driving when it comes to making decisions and just living? I think many times we end up making decisions in life without consulting the wisest Being ever, Jesus Christ. We know what we want to do and are determined to do it our way. As noble as these intentions and goals may be, we often haven't the slightest clue of how to go about them, and yet we still push on blindly, grinding the gears as we go. All the while, Jesus is looking on from the passenger seat, waiting for us to realize our weakness and inability to make the right choices on our own. He's just waiting for us to hand the keys over to Him and let Him take control. Jesus should not be our co-pilot. He wants to be, and rightfully should be, the only pilot of our lives. On our own we'll ruin the transmission of our life.

So which seat are you in?

-Jeremy