.: shawn, are you okay? :.

In the middle of reading my crazy thick book, I took a break and did some blog surfing. One of my favorites (which gets updated far less than mine, if you can believe that) offered me this painful video... which had me wincing and busting up at the exact same time (which is quite a feat for a man of my size). As a way of prefacing this, you've got your silly videos (ex. Dutch Boy), you've got your embarrassing videos (ex. Star Wars Boy), and you've got your down-right "ouch... that HAD to have hurt!" videos. This one goes under the final category!

Don't say I didn't warn you!

A Classic Recovery

.: hittin the eastside :.

I had the chance to hang with some friends from Regent over in Leavenworth this weekend. Had a great time - did some reading, some playing, some video games, some poker, and... (drum roll) some rock climbing. And by rock climbing, I mean I belayed two of my buddies for a couple of good size climbs. I failed to find the courage to blaze my own path up the side of those boulders. Just cannot seem to find the sort of desire to have that kind of adventure in excess beyond my desire to continue to be alive and non-paralyzed... but watching my buddies risk life and limb was pretty cool. The weather was pretty nice. We hit the town up on Sunday and managed to create some great memories that will link the five of us together for a lifetime... or at least until we get super old and forget all about it. But that's not for another twenty or thirty years! (LOL).


The Leavenworth Crew...

Belaying was so wild to me because I literally held those two guy's lives in my hands based upon the gear I was wearing and the grips my climbing buddy (Ryan) had taught me. It lends itself to serve as quite a strong sermon illustration! But the best thing was the lack of pressure placed on me to join them in the climb. Maybe it's just me but it drives me nuts when someone pushes and pushes for me to do something that I have absolutely no desire to do. But beyond that, I admit that I do appreciate a touch of encouragement to try something new. Maybe next time... there is always next time!


Ryan and I hitting the rocks at Leavenworth...

.: comfort :.

I heard this morning an incredible portion of a sermon from one of my favorite preachers and Regent professors, Darrell Johnson. I would like to share it with you, and possibly discuss it through posting comments;

"Things are not only as they seem. There is more to reality, more to the present moment, more to the flow of history, than we can know with our unaided intellect and emotions. There is a God. A living God. A good God. A faithful God. A powerful God. A reigning God. An ever-present God. An ever-attentant God. There is never a time when this God is not good. There is never a time when this God is not faithful. There is never a time when this God is not powerful. There is never a time when the God of the Bible is not on the throne of the universe. There is never a time when the God who comes to us in Jesus is not present. There is never a time when the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not attentive to us and our needs. Do not be afraid. Things are not only as they seem."

.: my deepness comes in waves :.

This past week, I have been more of a sort of guy instead of a sort of guy. By that, I mean that I have found myself working more on my "side project" blog since I have been in a different sort of mood this past week.

I have been beginning (or rather, rebeginning) some good new habits... and have been making some good decisions that have been a while in the actual making. Being home again seems different this time. For one thing, we are in a totally different house now (which was really wild because I helped the Riley's move into their house a little bit - oooh, the memories!). Secondly, I have my audio course hanging over my head, so I am way too busy to get into "trouble". But beyond that, I feel like I am just on a new leg of my journey called "life". A change in living situation... a change in approach to life... a change in habits... a change in interests... a change in friends... a change in desires... and certainly, a major change in feeling like life as I know and experience it will forever remain the same. I am realizing... I can choose to make a change. Things don't have to be how they are... and in reality, I am beginning to figure out that things are not (always) as they seem. All that to say that I hope that I leave certain elements of my past year at Regent back at that place, to be forgotten forever as far as I am concerned.

Heading east of the mountains tomorrow to hang with Regent friends in Leavenworth. I will try and write some over there, but it may be pretty low-tech over there... so this may be it for the rest of the week.

.: aaallllll done :.

As of 11:57 AM today, I am done for the Winter term at Regent! (insert Hallejulah chorus)

This morning, I took what could easily be the hardest test so far of my seminary career... and even worse, it was only for my New Testament Foundations class. I studied the most that I have ever studied in my lifetime (elementary years on up through college) for what was going to be 40% of my grade. Yes, yes... it could have been worse. But there is only so much stuff a brain can process and retain. I had to know...

* How we came into possession of the NT text
* The "criteria of canonicity" (in relation to the formation of the NT canon)
* The purpose of Synoptic source criticism
* The Two-Document Hypothesis
* Reasons for positing the "Q" source
* The cultural and social worlds of the NT
* Sources for and features of the "Judaisms" of the intertestamental period
* Interactions with certain pericopes in the Synoptic Gospels (dealing with Matthew's redaction of Mark)
* The main themes of the Synoptic Gospels and John
* The quest of the Historical Jesus scholars
* Pseudonymity in relation to the NT letters
* The Old vs. New Perspective on the Apostle Paul
* The main themes, occasions, and situations of the letters of Paul
* The main themes, occasions, and situations of the "General Letters"

We had to have a running knowledge of all of that stuff, which makes for a much more difficult final. One thing I realized... I am such a better "multiple choice / guess" guy than I am a "2-3 page essay" guy! I have been studying nonstop since last Thursday out of fear that the prof would ask something that I happen to pass over during my 12 weeks in his class. But praise God... it is all over! I have a couple more days up here in Vancouver and than I head home to begin my summer job at WA, and then off to CA in June. I can't believe another semester has come and gone, but it is sooo nice to finally be done with this term. Please accept this post as my thanks for all of you who prayed me through all of the "ups and downs" of this past year.

Here's to a great summer and much, much harder classes next year!

.: contemporary exodus :.

It breaks my heart that the younger generations have abandoned the Church in such a wide scale exodus. People that I have grown up rubbing elbows have come to that same place with me (wherever that place specifically is) and as I have chosen to remain, they have chosen to leave (for reasons that I honestly cannot disagree with). And what breaks my heart is the fact that they cannot see how much we need them (and maybe that is the result of older generations not making that crystal clear in light of their experiencing a total loss of grip of control upon the churches that they attend, case and point being traditional worship services). Those people have something incredible to offer the church, but they have left in droves, choosing other venues to make their presence felt. And we as the Body of Christ suffer for it.

And maybe it begins by changing the reality, that being that those who hate the hypocrisy (though in all fairness, they forego realizing their own) of the Christian community have quit on the Church as they know it. My desire would be that they remain, and that the true hypocrites (those who have no intention of changing in light of what Christ wants to do) would abandon the Church - that they would leave in droves. The Church needs a cleansing, no doubt about that! But we need the people hungry for a change to remain where they are in order that their passion and deeply rooted visions to impact the places that they attend.

There are plenty of angles here that we could deal with. The angle that the Church is and will always be just that; a place of failing people, people who cannot quit their hypocrisy (we all have the same reality of sinfulness that we wrestle with), people who say one thing and do another thing. So it's not as if there are just a large group of people doing it - we all struggle to be what Christ wants us to be as His people. Or the angle that people may just be using the above excuse as nothing less than that; an excuse. An excuse to leave their fellowships with what feels like justification. The reality is that God isn't done just yet with what we know as the Church today.

And that is just it! If we don't have those people involved in the process, we are going to miss out and suffer for their absence in terms of the Church's identity, goal, leadership, worship, and participation in the sacraments. Even as I write those last words, a part of me cries out about those being so far from what younger people see as important, even fundamental to life and reality. But I am realizing that such cries come from the same aged perspective that we have all accept as being what will always be. That is just it! We are needed in those places that we have left in order to play a major role in the shaping and shifting of those elements of the Kingdom of God that He is bringing about through "faith communities" throughout the world.

I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say that this is reality of the Western world only - that it is only in our part of the world that young people have given up on the Church. And I don't think it's too far of a stretch to suggest that our leaving may contain selfish reasons that lie beyond our siding with Christ's perspective of His Body, but rather choosing to side with ourselves. But beyond lies the opportunity to us to step up and fill the roles left vacant because of our lack of interest and vision for what is to come. I certainly don't speak from a fear that the Church as we know it will ever cease to exist, for Christ tells us that not even the powers of Hell will be able to overcome it. The Church will continue to exist, praise God! But its public presence within the world is changing, moving from old cathedrals into living rooms... from chapels to strip malls. And the invitation stands for us to come carry the torch of where the Church is headed in the near future. We need to invest ourselves, even if it begins by moving beyond ourselves and our own desires for how things must be (we play a role, not "the" role). The invitation stands: come offer who you are in the context of something greater than we could ever imagine! Come and offer your gifts and abilities in honor of One greater than ourselves! We desperately need your voice, your vision, your talents, your influence, and your leadership at a time such as this.

.: the life of center stage :.

I felt it again last night; that deep sense that young people just do not care one bit about what the Church has to offer them nowadays. I had been looking at the website for a local rock band (Common Heroes) in which a friend of mine plays, and as my mind began to wander, I started to ask what the place of those types of peoples would be in the Church... and I simply drew a blank. Sure, they may see it as being the "right thing to do" (to go to church as they always have), but their heart is for the stage and what is happeneing there every weekend. They see the "message" going out through a different medium. And to be honest, they seem to be speaking to our generation and the ones before it in a way that I, as a preacher, simply cannot touch. People my age don't hear the truth in pulpits and pews - they hear it in clubs, in concerts, in raves, in malls, in bars, and in pubs. These are the places seen as carrying the greatest weight and bearing witness to the deepest realities of our modern day society. Anything that a pastor would say would certainly be heard (if they haven't chosen to fully abandon the Church just yet), but those people care more about the lyrics of their favorite song by their favorite artist. What is our role as pastors to be in that? Do we even still carry a voice with those people, the ones who stand next in line to shape our culture, society, and even our world?

I know of a couple pastors throughout the US who are actually finding great success in their style of communication. And the common theme is that they simply open up the Scriptures and invite the people into it, to look at it, to journey through it, to search it out for what it might (does) have to offer. They don't have liturgy, or rather, if they do have it, it is offered in a fresh and new way... almost as a sort of new experience to try (which is a package that tends to always be successful in our postmodern culture). They don't have three point outlines, but rather they offer what they see (typically with the plain eye), stuff that anyone could get from first glance, but they are in fact offering people in a powerful way that first glance. They are giving people new lens, even new eyes, with which to view the Word.

But such pastors, and such churches, are few and far between.

.: evening dream :.

Tonight we had the most amazing sunset take over the sky of downtown Vancouver. Here is one of the photos I managed to snap before it disappeared. Man, I love digital cameras!!!


A breathtaking view of creation...

.: the home stretch :.

I have officially begun my last week for the Winter term here at Regent. I would love to gain your sympathy by saying that I am overwhelmed with work... but the truth is, I am not. I have 4 papers to turn in this week, all of which I am polishing up and printing out today. After that, all I have left is a final for "New Testament Foundations" next Wednesday, and an audio course for "Systematic Theology" (which isn't due for another three months, but there is more than enough to keep me busy even after my formal classes are complete). This term has flown by, and as always, it is sad to be moving into another season away from friends that I enjoy so much. But I am excited for this summer and all that it entails!

.: a word of warning :.

He is going to come at you.

He is going to come at you with everything he's got.
So be aware...
For your Enemy prowls about like a roaring lion...
Looking for your downfall.
He wants to ruin everything that the Father has done, is doing, and will do in your life.
So be prepared...
For he is crafty and creative...
Inventing ways for you to mistrust the heart of your Heavenly Father.

And if he succeeds, so much will be lost.
Not just in the future, but even for today.
If he continues to win...
If he continues to progress in rooting sin and shame deep into your heart...
And if you continue to abide by his plans for your life...
It will cost you...
More than you would want to pay if you truly could consider things for what they are.