escapingbabylon.com

It’s totally a representation of the state of my life right now. My brain has all these half thoughts, and halfway done directions. I’m not particularly sure why I should be stressed at the moment, it’s summer after all, but I am. That being said, I expect it to blow over soon (by the end of next week at the latest, possibly by the end of church tomorrow).

Anyway, here’s a semi random compilation of thoughts, some of which are from the various posts that I have in draft.

Flobots are an awesome band. Interestingly enough, their musical makeup is similar to that of 4th Avenue Jones, another of my favorites. They have a rare combination of musicianship and message that is rare, but that I admire greatly. They are also coming to town in August and I believe I’m going to try to make it there. I would love folks to come with me.

I want to continue my series of indefinite length, which is basically me exploring and attempting to explain my theological/philosophical etc point of view. Right now I am, poetically enough, torn between heaven and earth. This is to say, the ideas of looking towards heaven and eternity, and seeking justice on earth can sometimes seem to be opposed, but are both huge parts of Christianity and my own faith. Anyway, I’m not sure which one to go to next (or really if anyone cares). So if you have a preference, let me know.

I’m going to be heading to Trinidad for 10 days pretty soon. I’ll try to take a billion pictures and post a trip summary when I get back.

There are days when celibacy does not look unappealing.

Right now however, sleep isn’t looking unappealing either. Goodnight.

Play Budget Hero

It’s interesting. Give it a shot. Post comments

Sometimes I look at my personal theology, and I think it’s a very strange thing. For example, I easily find myself rejecting the idea of using God and Christianity as a means for gain. There’s always a part of me that cringes when someone implies that one should tithe and give offerings as a means to be blessed. That same part cringes when someone puts forward the idea that getting out of hell should be one’s motivation to follow Jesus.

It’s strange, because I do believe that God’s promises to provide for His followers also extends financially. I also believe that following Jesus will keep you out of hell. But for some reason, in my mind these are side effects, not the thing to be chased after.

So if neither temporal blessing nor eternal security is the thing, then what is? For me (and I’m under no illusions that this may be universal) the thing is rightness, the thing is the ever-elusive shalom. I think the greatest thing, and honestly the thing that motivates me to continue is the desire to be joined/connected/in right relationship with God, and with God’s work.

It’s sad how little I’ve posted recently. It doesn’t help that soon after I do post it seems the database that underlies WordPress seems to go down. I have a couple of drafts sitting there that need to be done, but I don’t think they are going to.

Truth is, I’m not sure if I want to keep this blog going in it’s current form. Part of me thinks that it may be a good idea to split these out into a ministry blog, a personal blog and potentially an art blog.

The problem is that I’m not sure what people want to read. Do you want to read more personal life stuff, musings on ministry and the world, or would you rather see more art?

A friend of mine has a blog called Vicarious Narcissism. It’s a brilliant title (and a pretty brilliant blog too) that keeps bringing me back to the question of why I have this blog. It’s been said that the act of blogging is giving in to the delusion that people care what you have to say. At the moment, I’m not sure what to say that people will care about.

Well to make this blog not completely about whining, I’ll give you a brief life update. I still haven’t told work if I am going to stay. I still greatly dislike being here on an H1-B visa, and the question is whether my calling thus far means staying here in an uncertain place with an uncertain future, if it means that I can do the ministry I love.

I’m also 95% sure about going to seminary. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the seminary is co-operating. At some point when I have a better picture of the situation I’ll say more about that.