Coincidences

A Night-Time Collect
"Visit this place, O Lord, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy; let your holy angels dwell with me to preserve me in peace; and let your blessing be upon me always; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen"

Phos Hilaron
"Hail Gladdening Light of his Pure Glory Poured,
Who is the immortal Father, Heavenly, Blest,
Holiest of Holies, Jesus Christ Our Lord!

Now we are come to the sun's hour of rest
The lights in the evening 'round us shine
we hymn the Father, Sun, and Holy Spirit Divine

Worthiest art thou, at all times be sung, with undefiled tongue
Son of our God, giver of life, alone!
Therefore, in all the world they glories, Lord, thine own."

These snippets of prayer and poetry were written on the backs of two 3" X 5" cards that I found while checking the Science Building on the Calvin College Campus during my building tour for Campus Safety. I sometimes find things that people have forgotten or left behind as I am walking around at night (I often work third shift), but they are often things that are relatively dull or things that should not be removed, like backpacks, magazines, etc... I also like to stop and read the many posters and bits of newspaper articles posted on the walls of the various academic buildings I walk through. During my relatively unexciting building tours (nighttime is so often more boring than scary when it comes to walking through buildings), I try to keep my mind occupied, which is why I often stop at the various bulletin boards and read whatever happens to catch my interest. It gives me a bit of brain-food to chew on as I walk about. If nothing happens to arouse my curiousity enough for me to stop and read for a bit, I try to think about other things. As a Christian, that takes the form of focusing my thoughts on God and simply contemplating what He has done for me or passages from the Bible. That is why it was a pleasent surprise to find the aforementioned cards. I have no idea who they were written by(although judging by the handwriting I am fairly certain that whoever wrote them must be female), nor do I have any idea how they happened to fall where they did. Perhaps they simply fell out of some young woman's backpack as she hurried off to class. I do believe that there are no coincidences, so I do not suppose it would be too much to say that God worked things in such a way that I should find these encouraging words on a night when I was in sore need of some encouragement to uplift my weary mind and body as was quite tired. Perhaps this served as a small reminder that God is looking out for me, even when I forget that he does.

Cool...Clear...Clean...Water!

Sprinklers. They are all over Calvin's campus, and they make navigating the sidewalks around Calvin College at night quite interesting. These sprinklers are on for at least two hours, and there are quite a few of them and they put out quite a bit of water. Some of the sprinklers spray water half on the road and half on the grass. In short, only about fifty-percent of the water that most of the sprinklers spray lands on the grass. The other half ends up someplace else, such as a sidewalk, road, or building. This seems rather inefficient to me, and a real waste of water. Not only that, but the sprinklers come on every day, even when it is raining.
Watching (and sometimes avoiding), the sprinklers got me to thinking; what if Calvin chose to run the sprinklers only every other day of the week, starting with Monday? That is four days that the sprinklers would run. Think of the money that Calvin could save in a year on their water bill if they did that. So I was thinking; why not use the money that could be saved on the water bill, and send it to some organization like blood water mission that creates clean water sources for poor communities in Africa? Isn't it more important to give a cup of clean cold water to someone in the name of Christ than to keep the grass in our yards green? How much is green grass really worth to Calvin (and Americans in general)? I think I could live with brown grass if I knew that someone else had access to something I take for granted every day; namely, clean water.

Churches that hurt us

So after much thought, I decided to return to writing my blog after a long absence. I suppose I was questioning my motives for starting the blog in the first place. Was I doing it to whine, vent, moan and complain, or was I really posting my thoughts online? I think that I was doing more of the former than the latter, which was why I took a sabbatical (if you can call it that). I suppose that my model for intelligent posting (and far less whining), was Tait Chamberlin. This young man, whom I count as one of my friends, is currently in England, seeing the sights and improving his writing abilities. He is bound to write something groundbreaking and original, I am sure. His blogging was always a pleasure to read, thoughtfully put together, and insightfully written. If I can write half as well as he, I will be pleased.
Well, I am back again, and I have some new things to write about. I am meeting with the pastor of Madison to talk with him about some things that I have wanted to talk to a pastor about for a long time; namely, why is it that the people who say that their job is to minister to the saints end up hurting them instead? I have witnessed this in my own church experience more than once, and it has caused me to lose quite a bit of faith in church leadership. It baffles me how a person can spend several years in a seminary, doing nothing but study God's word in great detail, supposedly becoming better equipped to communicate the truth of the Gospel to people become some of the most arrogent and egotistical people I have ever known. I think the infamous reputation of pastor's kids (PK's) proves my point. One would think that the children of those who seem to "know" so much about grace would have some of the most stable home lives. Yet time and time again, the stereotype of the rebellious PK is shown to be true. Some might say that I am being too harsh on Church Leaders, but does it not say in scripture that much more will be expected from pastors and teachers? What are Christians supposed to expect from their leaders? I do not think that humbleness and a servant's heart are too much to expect.
May God have mercy on us all.

Man Proposes and God Disposes

So where am I right now? A good question indeed, because I don't really know. Naturally, my body is in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the campus of Calvin College, trying desperately to graduate and leave the womb-like insularity of College for a life of my own, with the woman I love and am currently engaged to be married to. However, God has seen it fit to somehow turn my life upside down, and cause me to wonder exactly what in the world he is trying to do with me. I am currently experiencing a great deal of frustration due to the fact that all of my credits are not falling neatly into place, as well as attempting to figure out a way to graduate this semester and what it is exactly God wants me to do with my life (I thought I used to have this all figured out. Ha-ha, silly me!). It has come to my attention that this cannot happen with a major in East Asian Studies. It may, however, be accomplished by doing a self-designed major, which would basically consist of the credits and classes I have completed up until now. This is not so bad. After all, possible places of employment do not look at what kind of a major you have graduated with, they look at the fact that you actually have a piece of paper that says you have jumped through the hoops society has told you must jump through, as well as looking at whatever meager skills one may have acquired by the four-year circus that is College.
Of course I believe in expanding and developing the mind and the pursuit of higher knowledge, but there must be a better (and cheaper) way of achieving greater degrees of knowledge. Ironically enough, I think I will probably enjoy all of my classes this semester. My teachers seem to be actual human beings (instead of what most professors asssume, which is that they are the font of all knowledge), and actually personable, approachable human beings at that. I wonder if God is enjoying a wry smile at this paradox of frustration and enjoyment that I am experiencing right now.

It tears

So what is this thing called truth and the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding? Why is it so important that we seek it out, rather than agree with everyone and everything? Is it purposeless to think, stand, fall, or otherwise fight to see what is right? When it seems everything around you feels wrong, is it yourself just making it all into a giant demon so that you can remain in the protection of your own opinions, or is it something more? Is there the possibility that the majority does not dictate what is right or true? What really is the purpose of theology and doctrine if all it seems to produce is arguments and divisions? Can we historically negate at will what we want in Scripture when we find something that may be contrary to our thinking? Do we believe the Bible is divinely inspired and infallible, or do we say it was written by men, therefore we have to read behind their male chauvinism to find the real meaning, or is their something more to it than that? Historical context is certainly important to gain a fuller knowledge and understanding of the mind-set of the writers of scripture, but do we use it as a weapon to fit our own concise little ideologies? How is the gospel practiced inconsistently in my own life and the life of the Church, yet still practiced? How can Christ reign in our mortal bodies when we must still fight against the desires of our heart that would try to dethrone Him? I mean our own sinful nature here. It makes no sense to me and confuses me to the point of frustration.
Why? Why do I analyze the way I do? Why can I not just agree with everything and everyone and stop thinking so much? The author of Eccleisiastes was right; knowledge certainly does bring grief.

Woefully Absent

Yes, that phrase would describe my posting on this blog. I suppose with the rush of the holidays, that came like a north wind through a house with no windows, as well as my return from Japan and readjustment to America and the time difference, things went by faster than I could control. Overall, God has been gracious and provided for me, and I have no complaints. It was such a joy to be with family and friends over the holidays, although it was somewhat difficult to feel the holiday cheer at times because of the aforementioned conditions. Christmastime was, however, a much needed break and respite from the busy and frentic pace that was mylife at JCMU. Now I am back at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Am I glad to be back at Calvin? Yes and No. I am glad to be back because it means I am now only a fifteen minute drive away from Sarah, and I am also back with the many friends I missed while I was in Japan. The negative side to being back at Calvin is the Developing a Christian Mind class that I have to take. It is ridiculously spoon-fed to students as though we were all little children back in sunday school, which is exactly what the class reminds me of. The material almost feels insulting to my intelligence. The content of the course and the concepts it present, are concepts I have grown up with in a family built on faith in Christ. I believe that the principles in DCM are ones that are very elementary in nature, and I think it is safe to venture that most of the students of Calvin think the same way, if they do any thinking at all, since most of them come from at least nominally Christian homes and schools. The fact that a majority of the students here come from families with a good deal of money is also detrimental to their understanding of what the real world is like. Money can be a great insulater from dealing with the harsh realities of life. Thus, if you have no concept of what the real world is like, if you have only ever gone to Christian schools of your life and been insulated in a Christian community that prefers to keep their hands tucked deep inside their coat pockets, so as not to dirty them with the dirt of unsaved people, you will not be properly equipped to "engage the world from a Christian point of view"(to use Calvin's terminology). Perhaps I am making too harsh of an assesment, as well as over-generalizing, but there is something that bothers me about much of Calvin's ideology that I still cannot put my finger on. Even though I have only actually had one day of this class, I am already sick of it. I weary of Calvin's forced Christian thought and vacillating theology. I suppose I should be thankful that I am at a Christian school that is not hostile to the beliefs I hold dear. Although sometimes I wonder if that is such a good thing. While it provides a certain security and relief from the kind of hostility I experienced at JCMU, is it altogether too insulating? Classes like DCM make me wonder about that times. The method by which the class is taught makes it feel as though the college and professors are acting as though they are our parents, and we are merely ignorant children who must be taught the basics once again about what it means to be Christians. I think the writer of Hebrews had a thing or two to say about that in Chapter five of that specific book of the Bible, but I digress. In essence, I am tired of feeling patronized. If young Christians are to properly and intelligently engage the world from a Biblical standpoint(which this so-called DCM course claims to do), we need to be challenged to think, rather than have all of our thinking done for us. May God have mercy on us all.

Back to Nagoya, my first Japanese home!

considering that I still have more homework to do, and it is already 10pm here, this post will be short. I am definitely ready for this semester to be OVER! Yeah, I have learned a lot, and yeah I have had good times and bad, but right now, it seems as though the three weeks left are an eternity! I will be spending the weekend in Nagoya, visiting the Missionaries and Japanese friends that I made when I was there two years ago. I consider Nagoya my Japanese home, since it was the place where I first experienced living in Japan. Even my Japanese accent and some of my idiosynchrosies are Nagoyan. Thus, I consider myself to be something of a Nagoyan when I am in Japan, just like I think of myself as a West Virginian when I am in America. Of course, I will always and forever retain my Americanness, no matter how much I adapt to whatever situation I am in, but in terms of a Japanese home base, Nagoya is it. I have many fond memories there. It will also be a welcome reprieve from many of the students here, whom I have come to dislike, due to bad attitudes about learning Japanese, and just bad attitudes in general. I guess the saying is true, familiarity does indeed breed contempt. It is somewhat of a cruel irony when one prefers doing homework to being around other students, yet I find that the solace of my room is more welcome than the company of the other students here, which is where I am off to now, to finish what homework I have left in order to receive a much needed slumber.