Europe thus far (some highlights).

I’m currently sitting in my hotel room in Liberec, Czech Republic where we’ve been attending a conference for the past number of days. Prior to being here, we were in the north of France (Lille and Calais) for a few days. Tomorrow we’re heading to Paris and potentially back up to Lille/Calais depending on how things go in Paris. Here’s a few highlights of the trip so far:

- The Canadian government seems to think that the Roma (traveling Romanians of Indian descent i.e. Gypsy’s) are not a persecuted people in Europe. I would beg to differ. Since last August, the Roma have essentially been driven out of Lille by the local government. The city went to the trouble (time and money) of putting up large cement barriers along many of the places where the Roma had been living. Wouldn’t that time and money be better spent doing something productive and beneficial for the Roma? We did find one Roma camp that told us of nightly harassment from police. These are honest folk who have families and don’t deserve to be treated the way that they do.

- There is an organization in Lille that has provided some more permanent housing for a few Roma. Our good friend Elias and his family are living in one of the more permanent trailers which is actually quite nice and livable as it has running water.

- Spending time with the Roma is one of my favourite things to do in France. They are such a hospitable people, inviting you into their caravans and giving you what little food and tea they have. This reminds me of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians where he speaks of the Macedonians, who although they were extremely poor were quick to practice generosity. Playing soccer with the kids was another highlight. Simple simple simple.

- In Calais there are many refugees from the middle-east living in ‘the jungle’ and trying to get across to the UK. We met a young boy, only 15, named Abdullah who took us into the jungle (after we crossed a 6 lane highway!) and offered us water. We spent the next 2 hours or so listening to the stories of folks, mainly men, who had fled countries such as Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iran.

- This morning I walked into town here in Liberec and met a 35 year old man named Ali. I was just sitting on a bench when he approached me and asked if I knew where an internet cafe was. I said I didn’t and to my surprise he sat down anyway. We began to talk and I found out he was from Morocco but was living in Prague working at his fathers restaurant. As we spoke, knowing that Morocco was predominantly Muslim, I asked Ali if he prayed. His response was, “No. I drink beer and have sex.” To which I responded, “Cool. I drink beer, have sex and pray.” He then offered to buy me a beer (@ 11am on Sunday morning). Of course, I could not refuse this gift and so for the first time in my life I had 2 pints of beer before noon on a Sunday morning. I love Church. For the next hour and a half we shared about our lives and our families, our hopes and our dreams and at the end, as we parted ways, Ali was gracious enough to allow me to pray for him and his 6 year old daughter. It was only about a 20 second prayer, but I’m believing that through that God is working and maybe this is one step along the way for Ali. We exchanged contact info and I truly felt a connection with Ali. Pray for him and his daughter, Miriam, who he doesn’t see often as she lives with his ex-wife.

- The GEM conference has been great. It’s cool hearing the stories of folks who are living all across Europe doing what they believe God wants them to do.

That’s about it for now. I’ll have pictures when we return to Canada and hopefully some more updates along the way. Thanks so much for your prayers, keep it coming.

On ambition, possessions and perspective.

Ambition is held in high regard in North America, as perhaps it should be. Parents encourage their children to work hard in school so that they can get into a good college/university with the hopes that a good education will open doors in the future in terms of attaining a well paying job. Then of course, once you get into a good job the idea is that you can provide well for your family and enjoy the many things that one can experience in life.

The thinking then, is that if you work hard then you’ll be successful in terms of income and can live well. And so some people work very hard in order to attain a certain standard of living. In this case, others can be seen as potential competitors for the finite goods that are out there. Therefore, not only do we work hard but we try to work harder than others as to attain more goods than others and secure for us and our families a better life. If you view others as competitors then you will obviously be slower to freely give to others. I used to play basketball in college and if we were way ahead of the other team then our coaches would urge us to slow down a bit as not to embarrass the other team (giving was ok, since there was no danger of our competitors ever catching up to us). However, if the game was close, and competitive, then you would never think of slowing down for the sake of your opponent, because you are both competing for the same thing. Often we look at life the same way. There are only a finite amount of goods available and so life is like a competitive sport where we compete for the same goods. Therefore, one works hard, and only gives to others if they themselves have a comfortable lead.

However, how might a Creator God fit into this scenario? Were we made to compete with one another? Is it truly by our own hard work that we receive?

If you believe that God created all things then it seems impossible to answer ‘yes’ to any of those questions. If God created all things and all people, then we are not competitors, we are one. In addition, if God created all things and everything we have is from God, then all of our possessions are not actually ‘our’ possessions, they are God’s. “Well I came from a poor family and worked hard in school and have worked hard at my job and so I deserve all that I have due to my hard work and ambition!” one might say. But who gave you the ability to work hard? God did. In fact, it is only by God’s generosity that you or I can exist. Should God decide to stop giving we would cease to exist because God is always giving, He is a pure giver. Therefore, although hard work and dedication are good things, it is *not* by your hard work and ambition that you receive. Rather, you receive because God gives.

Assuming that it is by God’s generosity that we receive and not by our own hard work, then it is safe to say that our possession are not *our* possessions, rather, they are gifts from God. And if we were not created to compete with one another then the gifts that God has given us are not only for us to enjoy. Sure, God gives so that we can live and enjoy life, however, to think that God’s giving ends with us is a lie. God’s giving is like a river that flows, not like a lake that wells up and collects water. Therefore, we are not the end destination of God’s gifts. God gives to us so that we can enjoy but *also* so that we can in turn be givers like God is.

To be truly human is to reflect the God in whose image we are made. Anything less than that is to be less than human (which of course, we are for the moment). However, despite the fact that we live less than human lives part of knowing and following Christ is allowing God to transform you back into a fully human person. And so as God transforms us into His likeness, we better reflect and anticipate God’s future reality when all of creation will be restored and made right. It can then be said, that since God is a giver, we cannot be fully human unless God transforms us into givers and not just receivers.

One of the issues that I see poisoning the Western Church today is that we’re very good at receiving and fairly poor at giving. And so Jesus says that it is hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. However, since we in the West are rich, this is a verse we tend not to take very seriously, yet, Jesus took it seriously. Take for example the rich young ruler that was unable to follow Christ because he was unable to detach himself from his possessions. We have much in the West and so much is expected from us. Our bank accounts and homes may be full and yet, unless we are being shaped into givers, we are not blessed but cursed.

God generously gives and so all we have is from God and, therefore, is God’s. We receive much, not because of our ambition or hard work, but because God is generous and so we ought not see others as competitors. Instead, as Miroslav Volf put it, we should see others as the intended recipients of God’s gifts. Therefore, to hold on to our possessions and treat them as ‘our’ possessions is to fall short of what it means to be a human being that is made in God’s image.

This is good news to the poor, but terrible news to the wealthy who view their wealth as the result of their own hard work.

The Basic Goodness of Humanity.

As Miroslav Volf puts it, even though we are all sinners from head to toe, none of us is a sinner through and through, with nothing good remaining in us. As sinners, we are still God’s good creatures (He said so, remember?). To use an old Reformation analogy, think of water and ink. “Water is the good creation, ink is sin, and the sinner is a glass of water with a few drops of ink. All the water in the glass is tainted, but it’s still mostly water, not ink,” (Volf, Free of Charge, 98). Similarly, we are all marred by sin and none of us represent the true humanity as we were created to. However, we are still ultimately God’s good creation.

When you look at folks whom you see as having more ink than you do, never forget in whose image they are made.

Grace and peace.

Do decisions make grace merited?

These are just some really rough thoughts on the relationship between grace and the acceptance of such grace. Like I said, these are rough thoughts, so you may disagree but don’t hold me totally accountable because all of my eggs aren’t in this basket. Just thought I’d throw it out there for some feedback and discussion.

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To begin, God is God and we are not. This means many things, but to put it incredibly simply, we’re different, God and us. God creates for example. We can’t purely create because we simply use what we have available to us already, things and abilities that God has given us.

Not only does God create but He also gives. When God gives he doesn’t do so in the manner that we humans give. Often when we give gifts to people we expect something in return. Well, it turns out, that’s no gift at all, it’s more of a contract (I’ll give you a present on your birthday so long as you give me one back on mine). However, God gives purely. He’s a pure giver. God doesn’t give with the expectation that we’ll give him something in return because, not only would that cease to be a gift but everything we have has already been given to us by God. So to “give” to God would mean we’re giving back to God something that He already gave us which is non-sensical since it’s God’s to begin with (also, wouldn’t it be insulting to return the same gift to the giver?). “Well I’ll work hard at my job so I can make lots of money and support Missionaries and God will be pleased.” God may or may not be pleased, I don’t know, but what I do know is that it’s by God’s grace that you have your job and talents and abilities. Hell, it’s only by God’s generosity that you’re even breathing right now and have life.

Now I’m not saying there aren’t appropriate responses to God’s grace, I suppose I’m just saying that there’s nothing we can give to God that’s he is in need of. And if God doesn’t need anything that we can give Him, then there’s nothing we can give to him that could ever coax him to give us something in return. As humans, made in God’s image, we respond to God’s grace. But doesn’t a response presuppose that you’ve been given something in the first place?

Christians generally hold to the belief that in order to be saved we must “confess with our mouths” or “accept Jesus”. Whether or not this is true, we often talk about these types of things as if it is our ‘acceptance’ that saves us. But it can’t be that way. It’s not my cognitive acceptance of Jesus that saves me, it’s Jesus that saves me. And we’ve already seen that there’s nothing we can give to God that would ever put him in a place where he owes us anything in return. Therefore, salvation isn’t something that we coax God into giving us by ‘accepting Jesus’, salvation is something different. Something that God accomplishes (read: has accomplished) and gives.

We can’t earn salvation, and if salvation requires anything, even if simply an ‘acceptance’, then it puts us in a place where we have to do something (accept) in order to be saved.

Instead, what if salvation is something that God accomplishes (has accomplished) and gives. You can’t earn it. You can’t do anything to deserve it over anyone else. This isn’t to say that there aren’t appropriate responses to God’s grace, because there are. But those are responses, in other words, they come after the gift is already given.

Thoughts?

Grace and peace.

Thursday.

Here’s a post well worth the read. Don’t just read it though, pray and meditate on the scriptures so as to allow them to transform our lives together.

Happy belated Birthday Canada. Last night Christina, Katelyn and I watched ‘One Week’ which is essentially an ode to all things Candiana. Great soundtrack and landscape.

Finally, some candy for your ears:

Over The Hills and Far Away.

The Rain Song.

Star Spangled Banner courtesy of Jimi.

Stuff.

Madoff gets 150 years. Greed runs through us all.

Shaq to the Cavs and Carter to the Magic? Crazy.

Some of you know that we’ve been waiting on some government cheese for the last couple months (EI). Well it finally went through, now we can pay some rent. Yeah!

I’ve lost an entire layer of skin since coming back from South Carolina, dang.

Christina and I are settling into our new neighbourhood more and more. Yesterday was the big Pride Parade so it was pretty cool to see so many people out and about. The parade wasn’t as lewd as I thought it might be which was a nice surprise. Also, kudos to the city of Toronto. Yonge Street was an absolute mess last evening. Garbage just everywhere. However, the city had folks out working throughout the night and this morning Yonge was spotless. Nice.

I’m heading over to Europe from August 1-22. I need to raise some funds so I’ll be posting a seperate write up on that with more info for anyone that might want to help me out with that.

Whelp, time to jump on that bike and do some more exploring. Oh, also, Christina is getting loads of shifts at her job and had an interview last week for a full time position, so we’re hoping that works out for her!

Recent goings-on.

Christina and I, along with a couple other friends, just got back from South Carolina. We were originally headed for Virginia Beach but due to bad weather we made a last minute adjustment to our route and headed a little further south. I drove directly there, through the night, all 15 hours. The surprising thing was, I wasn’t even tired. Anyways, we camped out in Myrtle Beach so that was pretty fun. The beach was nice, however it was a little hot for my liking. In triple diget heat, even sunscreen doesn’t work! The highlight for me was surfing. On the Saturday morning we headed to a little town south of Myrtle Beach called Garden City and found a dope little surf shop where we got connected with a lesson. The waves were only 2-3 feet but it was fun to learn none-the-less.

We’re also starting to get a little more connected in various communities here in the city. We hung out with some people our age from church last night, so it was cool to meet some more people. Also, I’m hoping to get involved in another community close by, more on that later.

It’s Pride Week here in Toronto. It’s something I used to always hear about from the suburbs but living on the outskirts of the homosexual community here in the city provides a different perspective. We’re looking forward to hanging out during the big parade on Sunday and meeting new people. There’s something about the parade that makes me feel uncomfortable, to be honest. I’ve always seen the parade as scantily clad men squirting people with water guns. Maybe that’s generalization but I’m being honest, and generally, that’s what I’ve seen on news splices. I’m hoping that being there this year will change my perspective. I also feel like, because of our proximity, I’d like to be more connected with the homosexual community here in the city, so hopefully we make some new friends.

That’s about all for now. I haven’t written much in the way of theology lately, maybe that’s because we’ve been too busy trying to discover our new community. Oh, and we’ve been watching lot’s of Lost lately, we’re about midway through season 3. Good stuff. John just blew up the submarine, that was cool. I still don’t really know what’s up with the others yet, or that black smoke monster, whatever it is. So many questions!

PEACE!

This and that.

I’m currently sitting in a small locally-owned coffee shop on George St. in Peterborough. We arrived here yesterday because Christina is taking a non-violent restraint course @ the local college. I’ve been to Peterborough once before, and that was for a basketball game, so I didn’t see much of the city. Peterborough is pretty dang sweet though. George St. is a tight little place littered with local shops and restaurants. Last night Christina and I had a pint in a place called Hot Belly Mama’s. They brew 4 or 5 of their own beers on site. I had a pint of their Seasonal Ale and their dark ale that is named after Oscar Wilde. Both were delicious. Between all of the local enterprise, the community feel and the proximity to the Trent-Severn waterway, Peterborough strikes me as a pretty sweet place to reside (plus, as I drove past the GE headquarters I was pretty sure I recognized it from Tommy Boy; I believe it was the scene for Big Tom’s factory).

Recently I’ve taken up running again. I used to play soccer when I was a bit younger and because of that I developed a pretty decent stamina that got me into running. Anyways, it’s been a while since I was anything of a committed runner, but I went for a run the other day and discovered that apparently you can loose your fitness (I went out for a 3.8 km* run, and found that I only lasted about 3km before I was ready to K.O.). It also looks like I’m going to be heading out to Prague/Paris/Lille again this August. It doesn’t look like Christina is going to be able to make which sucks, but distance makes the heart grow fonder, isn’t that what they say? We’re going on a little road trip this coming week. We’re driving down to Virginia Beach with Kate and Jordan for a little camping/surfing extravaganza. We’re camping out at First Landing State Park and Jordan and I will both be trying to learn how to surf for the first time. Just a couple days on the beach! Hmm, what else is new? I started reading Chesterton’s ‘Orthodoxy’ the other day and am seeing what I’ve been missing. One of my favourite quotes thus far is “I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.” Christina has been applying to a bunch of job opportunities and is hoping to score something full-time in the near future. Also, one more note about personal accomplishments, we’ve really only used the car thus far for Christina to get to work in Newmarket. We’ve been walking everywhere (I’ve also been biking). We haven’t even had to use the TTC yet, crazy. Oh, one more thing, on Thursday night I saw the fastest man in the world run the 100m live! I peeked through the fence instead of paying the $150 for a ticket.

Anyways, that aside, here’s a bunch of stuff I found online that I thought was interesting:

Humingbirds are faster than jets.

Banksy is so dope. His story is pretty cool rising from being a graffiti artist on the streets of Bristol and being chased by the cops and city council to taking over the Bristol museum! Here’s the video.

Congrat’s English!

Hooliganism and keepin’ it in the fam.

Whelp, see ya.

*Thanks to mapmyrun.com!

On post-internet living.

The internet hasn’t always been around, you know that right? There was, believe it or not, at one point in time, no such thing existing as this “internet”. What the hell did everyone do? No online poker. No internet dating. No internet shopping. No games. Wow. People must have had to actually play poker, actually date, actually shop, and actually play games. Weird.

Since moving Christina and I have had no internet. And, interestingly enough, it’s been amazing. We are already spending more time together. Usually, in the evenings after a day at work Christina would just want to relax and watch TV which would mean that I would head over to the computer and play settlers because, damn, you know I can’t handle the Bachelorette. Those would be our evenings. TV. Internet. No actual meaningful interaction. But tonight was different. Christina came home from a day of work and since we don’t have cable, and we don’t have the internet, we sat down and had a real meal with each other. Then we went for a lovely walk down to Queen’s Park where there was an international drum festival on. We hung out in a park with a bunch of hippies for a while. Then we headed westward and continued on our walk around our new digs. Now, she’s watching an episode of Lost (we rented season 1, amazing), and I’m down at Starbucks checking the email and facebook. You know how it is.

See, that’s the sweet thing. We have 2 hours of free internet a day down at Starbucks. This means if we ever do need to check the internet every few days or so, we can run down here and do it for free.

So that’s that. If  you want a better relationship with people, a better actual relationship with people, and not just a romantic relationship, any kind of relationship, then take some time away from the screen. Because the interent hasn’t always been around, you know that right?

Arrived.

We’ve arrived! I remember a couple months ago when we found out we got an apartment @ Yonge/Charles in Toronto. Now, it’s the day after and I’m sitting in a coffee shop across the road using their free internet. Yesterday was the big move. Shout outs and thanks to Nathan, Matt, Ryan, Katelyn and our parents for picking up trucks and helping us move. The day went super smooth, besides getting a parking ticket, dang city. Thankfully, most of our getting around will be by self-propulsion (i.e. walking and biking). Our neighbourhood is sweet. Just south of Bloor on Yonge, everything is right there and there is loads of people which is cool. We just have a small 1 bdrm and I’ll put some pictures up when we get our internet sorted out. Another bonus about our place, about a 10 minute walk to my college, nice! Anyways, just a little shout to let you know we’ve arrived. Now I’m going to hop on my bike and head down to MEC. PEACE!