no really; jamie oliver is just that.
if you haven't followed jamie oliver over the last several years he has been on a crusade to change the way children eat in schools. he recently had the opportunity to give a TED talk about his passions. i hope you will take the 22 min. to watch the talk.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
love
i realized as soon as the idea crystallized in my head that this was going to be cliche for the month of february...but there is no turning back at this point.
our little band of community that meets at our house every wednesday night (for about the past 4 years) has been talking about love the last several weeks. we have been talking about the way in which we show love to others in particular. and to be very specific, we have been chewing on the idea that we show love through action and how that changes us as individuals and hopefully as a community. it has been great and insightful conversation. we have been open and vulnerable with one another and shared deep examples of things going on in our own lives that are challenging us to show love. because love isn't always easy.
so i put it to my few faithful readers: how do you show love? and how does love change you?
our little band of community that meets at our house every wednesday night (for about the past 4 years) has been talking about love the last several weeks. we have been talking about the way in which we show love to others in particular. and to be very specific, we have been chewing on the idea that we show love through action and how that changes us as individuals and hopefully as a community. it has been great and insightful conversation. we have been open and vulnerable with one another and shared deep examples of things going on in our own lives that are challenging us to show love. because love isn't always easy.
so i put it to my few faithful readers: how do you show love? and how does love change you?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
waiting for it
a couple of administrative things to take care of first.
1. you should read jon acuff's blog. at stuff christians like there is much hilarity, but what is so attractive to me is the honesty which seems to shine through in jon's writing. he has written a book...so i recommend that you buy it and read it. i am willing to bet you will laugh while reading. a lot. i don't know jon, although it would be cool if i did, because he seems like a cool guy, but i think more people should read his stuff.
2. an update on my running progress: i have been running a lot and will run a 5k this weekend. more details to follow about that after the weekend.
on to other matters:
i am out of a job at the end of may. this, in some ways, has been looming over me and gives me some pause, at least daily, at this point. way back in august i was able to compartmentalize this without much thought, because...well...it was august and not february. but now it is february and i have few, if any, prospects. while diligently trying to look, enduring many questions about this on an almost daily basis, and generally beginning to despise talking about this fact, i have found that i feel less and less positive about the whole job-hunting prospect as days seem to tick by as though they were seconds.
to be sure, people try to be reassuring to you. i can list a litany of responses given to you, but let a few suffice: "you are so talented, i am sure something will come up for you," or "i would keep you around if i were in charge," or maybe my favorite in the bunch - "you just have to have faith that the right thing will come along."
all of these things are generally accepted by me with a smile and a nod...and a whole lot of internal screaming. at some point you decide, "if i were really as talented as people tell me i am, i should be the head talent scout of all talent scouts." through this i have noticed that our culture is one of niceties. we want desperately for people to feel good about things and ignore the fear, emptiness, and frustration that comes from the vantage point of comfort and luxury of an already assured place. and the last mentioned response simply chafes against my own theology that faith does not get you hired. to be fair, there is nothing inherently wrong with the statement. it assumes that my or anyone's getting hired is a matter of faithfulness and obedience in which i am objectified as an automaton. i digress.
all of this is not to elicit a response of pity from anyone, but rather to point out that our culture is excellent at filling appropriately silent space with words of false assurance. you can note a similar phenomenon when tragedy strikes those close to us. words are used in an attempt to fill a chasm of grief, shock, and confusion, and most of the time those words are pithy. perhaps presence alone is more resounding than words. this is definitely a concept i can literally feel myself learning.
so, i am out of a job at the end of may and the prospects are slim. i have genuine fear about what i am going to do and how things are going to end up. in moments of self doubt i question the paths of life that have led me to this point, or at times whether or not my theological stance is hindering a more comfortable existence right now. what i have learned most though is that neither of these things changes your prospect for a job or allays your fears. what does allay my fears is hope. hope is assurance in the unseen. it is paradoxical by nature, and it resides in a presence of family and friends who hopefully know what to say and what not to say.
1. you should read jon acuff's blog. at stuff christians like there is much hilarity, but what is so attractive to me is the honesty which seems to shine through in jon's writing. he has written a book...so i recommend that you buy it and read it. i am willing to bet you will laugh while reading. a lot. i don't know jon, although it would be cool if i did, because he seems like a cool guy, but i think more people should read his stuff.
2. an update on my running progress: i have been running a lot and will run a 5k this weekend. more details to follow about that after the weekend.
on to other matters:
i am out of a job at the end of may. this, in some ways, has been looming over me and gives me some pause, at least daily, at this point. way back in august i was able to compartmentalize this without much thought, because...well...it was august and not february. but now it is february and i have few, if any, prospects. while diligently trying to look, enduring many questions about this on an almost daily basis, and generally beginning to despise talking about this fact, i have found that i feel less and less positive about the whole job-hunting prospect as days seem to tick by as though they were seconds.
to be sure, people try to be reassuring to you. i can list a litany of responses given to you, but let a few suffice: "you are so talented, i am sure something will come up for you," or "i would keep you around if i were in charge," or maybe my favorite in the bunch - "you just have to have faith that the right thing will come along."
all of these things are generally accepted by me with a smile and a nod...and a whole lot of internal screaming. at some point you decide, "if i were really as talented as people tell me i am, i should be the head talent scout of all talent scouts." through this i have noticed that our culture is one of niceties. we want desperately for people to feel good about things and ignore the fear, emptiness, and frustration that comes from the vantage point of comfort and luxury of an already assured place. and the last mentioned response simply chafes against my own theology that faith does not get you hired. to be fair, there is nothing inherently wrong with the statement. it assumes that my or anyone's getting hired is a matter of faithfulness and obedience in which i am objectified as an automaton. i digress.
all of this is not to elicit a response of pity from anyone, but rather to point out that our culture is excellent at filling appropriately silent space with words of false assurance. you can note a similar phenomenon when tragedy strikes those close to us. words are used in an attempt to fill a chasm of grief, shock, and confusion, and most of the time those words are pithy. perhaps presence alone is more resounding than words. this is definitely a concept i can literally feel myself learning.
so, i am out of a job at the end of may and the prospects are slim. i have genuine fear about what i am going to do and how things are going to end up. in moments of self doubt i question the paths of life that have led me to this point, or at times whether or not my theological stance is hindering a more comfortable existence right now. what i have learned most though is that neither of these things changes your prospect for a job or allays your fears. what does allay my fears is hope. hope is assurance in the unseen. it is paradoxical by nature, and it resides in a presence of family and friends who hopefully know what to say and what not to say.
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