Have you ever heard the song "Speak For Me" by Jaci Velasquez? Consider some of thse lyrics:
What have I to offer to a world in need
Yet for some unknown reason
You have chosen me
Lord, you've set my journey
You've prepared the way
Still I'm desperate for the words to say
All I am is willing
All I have is in your hands
Speak for me, this my plea
Say the words I can't express
Sing for me, a heavenly melody
that the people will be blessed
Speak for me
This coming Sunday I am supposed to speak for a Church Youth group about Justice, and I seem to have lost my words. I am visiting Tommy at Walnut Creek, and his youth group will start their journey to learn about God's Justice this Sunday. He ordered the "Justice Mission" ciriculum for his kids [as any good youth minister should] and will doing an introduction to the study this week. It is my job to introduce the basics of God's Justice. What is it? Why should we care? Why don't we normally care? I usually have so much to say on the subject but as of now, have almost nothing.
I am on a breif 4 day vacation from Law School and couldn't be happier about gettiing to spend time with him here. But I will tell you one thing, I am absolutely exhausted. My brain is completely toasted. In order to avoid studying for my Crim Law Midterm on Tuesday, or even work on my lesson for Sunday morning, I have been cleaning Tommy's office. [And as those of you who have seen it know, it's not as if it didn't need it...u know?] So compeltely toasted am I that I am not sure how to communicate the wrenching in my heart I feel for God's love of the oppressed.
How do you even start? Do I start with startling statistics? A quote that strikes people's hearstrings? Do I ask them where thier shirts come from? None of these seem to be appropriate. It seems almost wrong to communicate what I truly believe to be a theological concept by tugging on people's heartstrings to get them to listen. Perhaps that's all one can do though.
What verses am I supposed touse? The Psalmic Triad? The charge of Isaiah? The True Fasting Doctrine? THERE IS JUST SO MUCH...
But God will come and sit beside me and the spirit will give me the words if I could just be still and remember HIm. That's it, the memory of God. That's the key. I know now where to begin...
Friday, October 07, 2005
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Adam
Perhaps not all know of the story of the discovery of my faith; my "faith story". I was raised in the Church of Christ, and was baptized very young on June 10th, 1996, at the age of 12. It's not that I wasn't a faithful Christian, but that I hadn't yet discovered what that which was to make my faith my own.
I remember when I was a senior in high school. I knew I wanted my major to be International Relations. I knew I had a passion for those in other countries who were suffering. I had just completed my 1 year internship with a local attorney, and for my senior capstone had authored legislation for the United Nations creating a court to try Diplomatic crimes, thus abolishing the traditional understanding of diplomatic immunity. My parents quizzed me carefully before I left home to make sure that I was choosing the right major. I was. But I didn't know why...
Freshman year at ACU, I was alone and confused. I still hadn't found the manifestation of my choice to something about the state of the world. I met a boy, his name was Jason Mida. He was my first college debate partner, a senior, and the president of the Student Government [The Students' Association - SA]. I didn't want anything to do with ACU's social life in any way shape or form. It wasn't until he introduced me to IJM, that made the difference. That's another story for another time. But IJM and God's call to seek His justice as per the suffering of the world made my faith my own.
I always wondered what it would be like to change someon'e's life forever. Would I be able to tell?
I met this wonderful young man here at Pepperdine. He's an undergraduate from Passedina. I must confess I do not know much about him, and yet, I know enough. Let me tell you the story.
I met Adam at debate practice the first week of school. And alhtough I knew he was on my team and part of my small section [parli/limited prep/CA], I will admit that at subsequent team meetings I - sorry for the pun - didn't know him from Adam. But all that was soon to change. Some three or four weeks ago, our parli debaters had their first tournament. My compatriat coach for my small section, Gavin, was already at the tournament so it would be my job to drive the kids up for the weekend. Adam was the first one to show up at the meeing area, and the first one to put his stuff in the car, and the last one of my kids I will ever forget. While waiting for the other kiddos to show up, Adam began to ask me questions about why I decided to go to Law School in the first place. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to hear all about it After assuring me he did, I breifly told him about the calling God has placed in my heart to rescue the oppressed and protect the weak and the helpless. ***Now, let's just take a break from this story to say that I often try to exercise a measure of self-control when talking about my thoughts on God's concept of Justice. I recognize that most people simply don't want to hear about, at least not to the degree I'm willing to tell them about it. I feel the twinge of in my heart to comment on so many everyday statements I hear [such as "I'm starving" - no you're not: children in Africa are though...], and yet I try to restain myself. I loud and constant gong soon becomes white noise thereby ceasing to sound the alarm when danger approaches. But for Adam, this small tidbit wasn't enough. He wanted to know more. *** Although I certainly didn't ignore the rest of my charges, as Adam rode shot-gun to the tournament, we talked of Justice. After I checked them all in and fed them, and went to my room [FINALLY, AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF DEBATE MY OWN ROOM!!! HECK YES!!!!], soon there was a knock at the door. Adam was there, wanting to know more.
And of course, I was ready and willing to tell him more. He walked out of my hotel room that night with a copy of Gary Haugen's book "Terrify No More," a puzzled look and a thirsty spirit. It had begun.
Adam and I stayed up talking just this past Tuesday night from 9:30-1:00 am. And when finally we realized what time it was we were both awed. It seemed so strange that we could talk for so long so effortlessly. The only answer I have for that is: It's a God Thing.
Adam and I have talked multiple times since that night, about God's Justice and other things. I know that Adam's favorite colors growing up [and still] are pink and red. He's half Mexican [on his mom's side - his dad is Italian] and grew up here. His extended family lives in Brownsville believe it or not. He is a triple major in Philosophy, Communication, and Political Science. He loves C.S. Lewis, and Southern cookin'. He could listen to Al Green & Lionel Richie forever. His mom is Catholic, and his dad was disciple of Christ. He's never seen Office Space or House, never kissed a girl, and never been to Africa. He is most afraid of: getting Alzhiemers or some other dehibilitating disease. He loves to read, but never read Kafka. He is intrigued by the South, and thinks that my accent is quote "distinguished" [I have an accent...what do y'all think?] He thinks that the most attractive thing in the opposite sex [and about himself] is Chkristianity. After all, he says, what else matters? What else indeed Adam...
It is in this spirit I think, that we seem to get along so well. He is just like me - mixed blood and raised in a culture of mixed signals. But like me as well, Adam seems to have put all that and the identity crises that arise therein behind him in search of a greater identity: the one he has in Christ. So I wonder, why is it that he so readily grasped onto the concept of Biblical Justice we talked about?
I found out on Tuesday night that somewhat like me, Adam has a passion for the oppressed and the afllicted. It turns out that without knowledge of another way to manifest this passion, he almost joined the peace corps. After his parents "talked him out of it" he relinquished that had simply yet to find that which God has chosen for his calling. When he heard about IJM, he said, he just knew. He was finally able to put a name on a calling; a goal to a purpose, a destination for his journey. So much so in fact, he called home and told his parents about what he had learned, and what he could do and would do for those he had longed so desperatly to help for so long.
"I know dark clouds will gather round me. I know my way is rough and steep. But golden fields lay out before me, where God's redeemed shall ever sleep."
These words from ZOE's woeful "I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger" are what landed it at the number two spot on my iTunes mix "My Justice Quest Vol. 1". I have carefully become aware of how difficult it is to have a different world view. It isolates me and my thoughts from the pervasive ebb of society's pop culture flow. It is sometimes lonely. The week and a half before we graduated from ACU, one of my dearest friends, Layne Rouse, and I were talking late in a car after having seen a moview that poignantly reminded us of "Justice". Somehow the conversation got around to what we would be and what we would do. Eventually we both came the realization that my vocational choice could cost me my life, and very likely would. "I know you'll always call when you leave the country, and when you come home again. But I also know that one day the calls will stop." And yet, somehow I feel oddly at peace. Giving up my fear of death and secuirty and even of bugs and a world without Sonic to God pulls me so close into Him, that there is no safer place I could be. Facing danger and uncertainty by the terms of the world is certainty of purpose and life in God. This is my meaning for "he who shall gain his life wil lose it". So be it. The eye of the storm is always the most beautiful
And yet, I do not wish to say that God intended for us to be creatures without community. That is simply not true. The ever popular creed of the "deer-blind" Christian, that "I don't need a Church body or fellowship, God and I got this covered" will not suffice. As i listend to Adam's words I felt comforted the same way a weary traveler does when, whilst resting at a crossroads in the dark, he realizes that the ominous figure in the distance is not a threatening nightmare, or even worse, a person who's gaze he wil not catch, but another weary traveler looking also for the same unmarked path.
God is amazing. There really is not much else to say on the subject. Still, there is so much more.
The memory of God.
I remember when I was a senior in high school. I knew I wanted my major to be International Relations. I knew I had a passion for those in other countries who were suffering. I had just completed my 1 year internship with a local attorney, and for my senior capstone had authored legislation for the United Nations creating a court to try Diplomatic crimes, thus abolishing the traditional understanding of diplomatic immunity. My parents quizzed me carefully before I left home to make sure that I was choosing the right major. I was. But I didn't know why...
Freshman year at ACU, I was alone and confused. I still hadn't found the manifestation of my choice to something about the state of the world. I met a boy, his name was Jason Mida. He was my first college debate partner, a senior, and the president of the Student Government [The Students' Association - SA]. I didn't want anything to do with ACU's social life in any way shape or form. It wasn't until he introduced me to IJM, that made the difference. That's another story for another time. But IJM and God's call to seek His justice as per the suffering of the world made my faith my own.
I always wondered what it would be like to change someon'e's life forever. Would I be able to tell?
I met this wonderful young man here at Pepperdine. He's an undergraduate from Passedina. I must confess I do not know much about him, and yet, I know enough. Let me tell you the story.
I met Adam at debate practice the first week of school. And alhtough I knew he was on my team and part of my small section [parli/limited prep/CA], I will admit that at subsequent team meetings I - sorry for the pun - didn't know him from Adam. But all that was soon to change. Some three or four weeks ago, our parli debaters had their first tournament. My compatriat coach for my small section, Gavin, was already at the tournament so it would be my job to drive the kids up for the weekend. Adam was the first one to show up at the meeing area, and the first one to put his stuff in the car, and the last one of my kids I will ever forget. While waiting for the other kiddos to show up, Adam began to ask me questions about why I decided to go to Law School in the first place. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to hear all about it After assuring me he did, I breifly told him about the calling God has placed in my heart to rescue the oppressed and protect the weak and the helpless. ***Now, let's just take a break from this story to say that I often try to exercise a measure of self-control when talking about my thoughts on God's concept of Justice. I recognize that most people simply don't want to hear about, at least not to the degree I'm willing to tell them about it. I feel the twinge of in my heart to comment on so many everyday statements I hear [such as "I'm starving" - no you're not: children in Africa are though...], and yet I try to restain myself. I loud and constant gong soon becomes white noise thereby ceasing to sound the alarm when danger approaches. But for Adam, this small tidbit wasn't enough. He wanted to know more. *** Although I certainly didn't ignore the rest of my charges, as Adam rode shot-gun to the tournament, we talked of Justice. After I checked them all in and fed them, and went to my room [FINALLY, AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF DEBATE MY OWN ROOM!!! HECK YES!!!!], soon there was a knock at the door. Adam was there, wanting to know more.
And of course, I was ready and willing to tell him more. He walked out of my hotel room that night with a copy of Gary Haugen's book "Terrify No More," a puzzled look and a thirsty spirit. It had begun.
Adam and I stayed up talking just this past Tuesday night from 9:30-1:00 am. And when finally we realized what time it was we were both awed. It seemed so strange that we could talk for so long so effortlessly. The only answer I have for that is: It's a God Thing.
Adam and I have talked multiple times since that night, about God's Justice and other things. I know that Adam's favorite colors growing up [and still] are pink and red. He's half Mexican [on his mom's side - his dad is Italian] and grew up here. His extended family lives in Brownsville believe it or not. He is a triple major in Philosophy, Communication, and Political Science. He loves C.S. Lewis, and Southern cookin'. He could listen to Al Green & Lionel Richie forever. His mom is Catholic, and his dad was disciple of Christ. He's never seen Office Space or House, never kissed a girl, and never been to Africa. He is most afraid of: getting Alzhiemers or some other dehibilitating disease. He loves to read, but never read Kafka. He is intrigued by the South, and thinks that my accent is quote "distinguished" [I have an accent...what do y'all think?] He thinks that the most attractive thing in the opposite sex [and about himself] is Chkristianity. After all, he says, what else matters? What else indeed Adam...
It is in this spirit I think, that we seem to get along so well. He is just like me - mixed blood and raised in a culture of mixed signals. But like me as well, Adam seems to have put all that and the identity crises that arise therein behind him in search of a greater identity: the one he has in Christ. So I wonder, why is it that he so readily grasped onto the concept of Biblical Justice we talked about?
I found out on Tuesday night that somewhat like me, Adam has a passion for the oppressed and the afllicted. It turns out that without knowledge of another way to manifest this passion, he almost joined the peace corps. After his parents "talked him out of it" he relinquished that had simply yet to find that which God has chosen for his calling. When he heard about IJM, he said, he just knew. He was finally able to put a name on a calling; a goal to a purpose, a destination for his journey. So much so in fact, he called home and told his parents about what he had learned, and what he could do and would do for those he had longed so desperatly to help for so long.
"I know dark clouds will gather round me. I know my way is rough and steep. But golden fields lay out before me, where God's redeemed shall ever sleep."
These words from ZOE's woeful "I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger" are what landed it at the number two spot on my iTunes mix "My Justice Quest Vol. 1". I have carefully become aware of how difficult it is to have a different world view. It isolates me and my thoughts from the pervasive ebb of society's pop culture flow. It is sometimes lonely. The week and a half before we graduated from ACU, one of my dearest friends, Layne Rouse, and I were talking late in a car after having seen a moview that poignantly reminded us of "Justice". Somehow the conversation got around to what we would be and what we would do. Eventually we both came the realization that my vocational choice could cost me my life, and very likely would. "I know you'll always call when you leave the country, and when you come home again. But I also know that one day the calls will stop." And yet, somehow I feel oddly at peace. Giving up my fear of death and secuirty and even of bugs and a world without Sonic to God pulls me so close into Him, that there is no safer place I could be. Facing danger and uncertainty by the terms of the world is certainty of purpose and life in God. This is my meaning for "he who shall gain his life wil lose it". So be it. The eye of the storm is always the most beautiful
And yet, I do not wish to say that God intended for us to be creatures without community. That is simply not true. The ever popular creed of the "deer-blind" Christian, that "I don't need a Church body or fellowship, God and I got this covered" will not suffice. As i listend to Adam's words I felt comforted the same way a weary traveler does when, whilst resting at a crossroads in the dark, he realizes that the ominous figure in the distance is not a threatening nightmare, or even worse, a person who's gaze he wil not catch, but another weary traveler looking also for the same unmarked path.
God is amazing. There really is not much else to say on the subject. Still, there is so much more.
The memory of God.
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