wonders and reflections in God's presence

I love a good storm.  I remember being at camp one summer and actually watching a storm approach across a field like a curtain of rain until it surrounded us, and then confidently passed by.  I am the type who likes to watch a storm from the window or even beneath the roof of our patio … to feel the wind, to see the lightning display, to hear the rumble of the thunder, to smell the freshness of the air, to catch a splash of the raindrops as they pelt against the concrete … particularly when Baytown and most of Texas is experiencing such a severe drought, the longing for a good storm is palpable.

Sometimes, though, storms are so severe that they don’t just refresh, they tear up and wash away trees, homes, businesses, roads … sometimes the storms change our landscapes and our lives for good.

The tornados of the midwest, the tsunami of Japan … these have irreparably changed the lives of millions.  I told the story this morning about the tornado on prom night in Hoisington, Kansas, in 2001.  You can listen to the story here.  After the storm, the youth of Hoisington, the NPR broadcast reported, began to believe that the tornado made choices … to destroy one house and leave another standing; to rip a roof off the kitchen and leave the pitcher of lemonade untouched on the table … like the tornado had a mind and will to choose certain families to protect and other to destroy.

I guess we always look for reason or fault when it comes to the storms of our lives, but the truth is that everyone experiences storms of some kind at some time that have such an impact their lives will never be the same again.  The storms are wet and uncomfortable and highly inconvenient; they strip away the things that are important to us; and they often demand that we recognize our dependency on others and on God.

In Rob Bell’s Nooma video, Rain, he tells the story of getting caught in a storm while taking a morning walk with his infant son.  The child was afraid and crying, but he kept saying, “it’s okay, buddy, we’re going to make it, Dad knows they way home.”

Some have a mistaken idea that if we’re good, if we believe, if we follow Christ, that God will keep the storms away … but we know, don’t we, what happens when there’s no rain?  There is a devastating drought … and God loves us through the storm.

I suggested in the small group material for Synod Youth Workshop, that the groups may end with a blessing straight from the Nooma video:

The best moment of the SYW so far … when showing the video clip from Aladdin, the whole room of High Schoolers and their adult sponsors and small group leaders burst into song, singing along with “A Whole New World.”  I added the clip to the worship service just after the assurance of forgiveness in which I wrote, “In Christ it’s a whole new world … we’re whole new people … our old lives are gone, an our new lives have begun.”  As soon as they saw the image of Aladdin on the screen you could hear an audible breath … something like a sigh of delight.

I chose that clip because of the question, “do you trust me?”  and talked about how we decide who and when to trust.  We think we should trust based on intellectual reasoning, but that’s not what was going through Jasmin’s mind.  We might base our trust on past experience with someone, but mostly we trust because of the relationship we desire and the decision to enter into a whole new realm of possibilities.

When we trust in Christ we are putting our faith in the hope and promise of new life … the possibility of what can be and what God can do with us, for us and through us.

This week is one in which we place our trust in this community and expect that God will show up and heal, forgive, build up, strengthen and enlighten us.  This week is one that offers the possibility to be changed, to be loved, to be made whole, to be encouraged and to be challenged.  Let it be so.

Each staff member had an "angry bird" app designed for them ... love the stole!

Today is the first day of Synod Youth Workshop, Synod of the Sun, at the University of Tulsa.  Frankly, while others have been anticipating this week with great joy and nostalgia, I have been afraid of it for nearly a year.  I was asked last summer if I’d be the keynote and “theme enabler” for this event; it seemed like something I should say yes to.  Mike Cole had been at SYW for years as a small group leader and keynoter.  I figured it was my pastoral duty … but, really, youth work again after all these years?  God, don’t you know that I’ve become and old fart?  I mean, I don’t have the stamina for a weeklong conference … and what if the kids think I’m “uncool” … what if my keynotes are not good enough?  what if I’m boring?  Besides … despite years of directing youth camps and doing youth work … I am an introvert who really doesn’t like the camp/conference experience which is typically geared for extroverts.  Not to mention the bad camp experience I had while a teenager myself … nope … I didn’t want to come … but I followed my sense of call (and duty) and said, “sure, I’d love to!”

Ironic, then, isn’t it that over the year, the youth planning team and I discerned the theme for the week as “iTrust: there’s an app for that”.  I had to practice what I was planning to preach … and trust that God would use me, and take care of me.  So, yes, to @angliberian, I, too am struggling with trust and control right now.  Aren’t most of us?

Today’s keynote, which was basically an introduction to the week’s theme went well.  I told about myself, and Dwayne’s and my decision to take up motorcycling a few years ago.  I told about my accident and how at the moment I was rolling through the air, I was as at peace as ever … knowing that God would make it all fine in the end.  I spoke about having faith like a child … knowing that our parent God, Abba, would provide and watch out for us.

I was watching the broadcast of “Freedom over Texas” when I realized I was actually loving and hating the music I was hearing. I began listening to country music over six years ago when I was preparing to play the role of Noleta in Sordid Lives. I wanted to immerse myself in the Texas twang … Hoping my New York accent wouldn’t show too much during the production. The music, dialect, and culture of country music was perfect for Noleta … and I got to like it.

But at the same time I loathed it. I would dance to the music in my car, sing and shout with the radio … but only when I was alone … Enjoying the songs of Carrie Underwood or Phil McGraw was a vice for me … Something I kept in the closet (or, in this case, the car) or the privacy of my iPod.

Here are the five reasons I love and hate country music:

1) I can sing along and harmonize to just about every song, even songs I don’t know or are hearing for the first time. I love singing along in the car, letting the music take me away … But … It also means the words and chord progressions are predictable and repetitive. They lack imagination and are formulaic.

2) The men are macho. I love watching and hearing the men sing. I admit, there’s a real turn-on here. The ruggedness, the stoic emotions, the passion, the humor of the men are appealing, no doubt … But … Truth be told it’s only a fleeting thing for me … Frankly I don’t think your tractor’s sexy or want to go for a ride in your pick-up no matter how high it is.

3) and the women are hot. There’s a part of me, too, that, loves the passion of the women … Carrie Underwood’s “Next Time He Cheats” can really get me fired up .. In a good way (well, Dwayne might not think so). But … The misogyny in many of these songs can be very disturbing … Not in the violent ways of some rap songs, but in the ways they patronize, objectify, or romanticize women. “I don’t know what she said, but I sure liked the way that she said it.” 

4) They sing about having fun. Who doesn’t want to have fun, go on vacation, be out with friends, dance, sing, and let your hair down. And they sing about being real. No pretending to be something you’re not, no secrets, no pretensions … And I’m there! No hoity-toity living for me. I’m a real woman … But, let’s admit it … No matter how I might secretly crave it, I’m no redneck girl! tequila doesn’t make my clothes fall off. And I don’t want to save water and drink beer. In fact, the glorification of tequila, beer, etc. is problematic … Seeing a young girl sitting on (presumably) her father’s shoulders at the concert in Eleanor Tinsley Park shouting, “drink more beer” was disturbing.

5) They make the world simple. There seems to be a bunch of songs now with the longing or yearning for simplicity … We got too complicated … I like the old and out-dated way of life. We know, don’t we, that God is great, Beer is good, and people are crazy. It’s an okay escape, but the world is certainly not as stereotypical or black and white or right and wrong as country music suggests. Real life is gray, complicated, intricate, intelligent, and worth living …

Real life and real people are paradoxical. Maybe that’s why the very music and lyrics that make me belt in my car, and touch my “baser” sensibilities, are the same that make my feminist, culturally sensitive, spiritual self cringe … And as much as I want to deny it, there is a part if me that will turn the radio dial to Country even long after we move out of Texas.

I realized I hadn’t posted anything on this blog for … hmmm … close to three years!  Well, since I’m in the process of moving to New Jersey, I thought I’d start updating … maybe, maybe not.

I know a lot of my friends out there are using macs. I have been on a PC since the beginning of time … or at least close to the beginning of time.  We started on a TI in 1983 … yeah, I know, that’s way before most of my online friends were born.

Anyway, I think the time has come to make the switch, but I’m not sure how easy it will be or what I’ll really gain.  I asked Santa for a mac … mostly because of the cute mac guy and the coolness factor I admit.  And, I am somewhat embarrassed that all the image-driven commercials are having an effect on me. But I’m so fed up with the slowness of my laptops and their more than occasional desire to reboot despite what I say.

So … tell me … is it worth it?  Or does Apple just have a different set of frustrations?