The Legacy

Last year when I was home for christmas, my mom pulled out several old bibles that had belonged to my grandparents so that we could pick one out and keep it for sentimental reasons. The one that I selected was a raggedy old Scofield Referance Edition. It had an antique look to it which I thought was cool, so I put it in a ziplock bag since it was in fragile condition and brought it home where it has been sitting collecting dust. The other night I was searching through my bookshelf looking for something to read and the bible in the plastic bag caught my eye, so I pulled it out of the ziplock and started thumbing through it. Time and use have left thier mark. The spine is broken , the pages are yellowed and crumbling, and scotch tape can be found throughout trying unsuccessfully to hold everything together.

The bible is a 1917 edition KJV and has my grandmas maiden name and my grandpas name inside the front cover. As I carefully flipped through the pages and saw the time faded notes and markings it really prompted me to reflect on the role they had played in my life, both directly and indirectly. My grandma passed away when I was pretty young, about second or third grade. Although I have many great memories of her I did not have the chance to grow up with her around. My grandpa died of a stroke when I was 18 so I had the privilage of having him in my life for a longer time.

Anyways, the whole process got me thinking about legacy. Last sunday I was talking to someone visiting my church who worked with an organization called Life Choices. The founders of Life Choices are the aunt and uncle of Rachal Scott, one of the thirteen that was killed at Columbine. Her faith and compassion in life has become the foundation of a movement that has impacted thousands and thousands even in her death. That is legacy. If you don't know her story, you should do a quick search online and check it out because its powerful. My grandparents left a legacy too, one the was passed onto their children, and one they are in the process of passing on to everyone they come into contact with. Its not a legacy of physical riches or possessions, or of status and position. Its a legacy of a life lived in the pursuit of God, which was made evident in their love and compassion for people around them. Its a legacy that has and will continue to impact people forever.

I like to think of legacy as the momentum of a lifes testimony. The testimony of a life lived for Christ moves with such weight that it is carried here on earth far beyond death. If I were to die tomorrow, what would people remember me for? I like to think that someday far from now when I am long gone, the friends of my friends and the children of my children will somehow be impacted by the choices I made in my life. I have been passed on a heritage, what happens to it is up to me.

My State

Coloradoans are definitely a different breed of people. When I think about the attributes of a typical Colorado person, the picture that comes to mind is a person who is successful, adventurous, active, intelligent, and "open minded". No other place in the county will you find a group of people that are as concerned about health and fitness, enjoying the outdoors, and just living the good life in general. Spiritually speaking, the people of this state also have a very distinct perspective compared to what I've seen and heard of other places. Words like skeptical, distrust, and even resentfulness and contempt are terms that come to mind when I think of the typical perception of Christianity. This is not a new revelation to me, its something that I have observed and kind of gotten used to in my time here. However, it has been reiterated to me several times lately as I have seen somewhat disappointing results with ministry attempts. The church I go to had about 25 students from Texas up in the Fort Collins area to help out with some things going on at the church and in the community. On monday they spent the evening in my neighborhood attempting to do work projects at houses throughout the neighborhood. On Sunday I spent awhile going door to door trying to get people signed up to have any type of work done at their house. After about 20 houses, and 20 polite "no thank you"s, I thought maybe just having the kids go door to door with specific jobs might be a better tactic. The jobs were simple things like window cleaning, garage cleaning, power washing, and yard work, and it was all free. We were just trying to show God's love in a really practical way as well as letting people in the neighborhood know that myself and my roommates were hear and available to help people out in any capacity they needed. After an hour and a half and probably about 100 homes, the team had washed windows at two homes, mowed two lawns, and power washed two houses. That’s just crazy to me! If someone came to my door wanting to clean my garage for me, I would be on that in a heartbeat! Talking with Scott, the youth leader of the team, he mentioned a house that they mowed for where the guy just couldn’t' wrap his mind around the fact that they were doing this with no strings attached. Why is it that people are so mistrusting of Christians? I always like to blame the televangelists and the wackos from Jonesboro who destroy peoples trust in Christians and get plenty of TV time to do it. However, while its easy to blame the problems on the people who are doing all the wrong things, the real problem is the lack of people doing the right things. I strongly believe that if the people of the Church were impacting those in their sphere of influence, not through door-to-door evangelism or letters to the editor, but by living a changed life that cannot help but cause those around them to see God's love, attitudes and hearts would be changed. I'll be the first to admit that I am guilty of being complacent. Before monday, most of my neighbors probably didn’t even know I went to church. I just know that something is going to have to change in order for us to earn the trust of and reach those around us.

Where did it go?

Wow, I cannot believe it is already june. It amazes me how the older I get the quicker time seems to fly by. When I was a kid it seemed like everything was in slow motion, with year after year lazily dragging by. Now its like I can hardly blink without a month flying by. We live in such a fast paced society that has taught us that no matter where you are at in life, you could always be somewhere better. We tend to spend so much time focusing on the future that we forget to enjoy the moment that we have been given. For me, whether its the weekend, or next payday, or vactions, or whatever, I tend to get buried in what I have coming up. None of those things are bad things and there is dfinitely not anything wrong with planning ahead, I just need to learn to take life one day at a time and enjoy what God has given me now. I love the book of Ecclesiates. Solomon was a man that understood life. He had everything; wealth, stature, and wisdom, but also understood that they were meaningless in themselves.

2:10-11
I denied myself nothing me eyes desired. I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart too delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

3:12-13
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.

I need to learn to find satisfaction in what God has given me today. Its not always easy see the joy in whatever circumstances I am in, but I know it will be hard to look back and wonder where the time went when my satisfaction is found not in whats happening around me but in the God who has placed me where I am.

People

There are two things we take with us when we leave this world. Our relationship with God and our relationship with people. Thats a pretty simple statement, one I've heard many times before, but it always seems to hit me at times when I have had a week like this last week. My uncle passed away last friday, and that was pretty tough. He had been pretty sick for awhile, and as of recent the outlook hadnt been good, but nobody was prepared for it to happen so soon. A week ago today I was sitting in his hospital room talking to him. Talking about how excited he was to be able to go back home and see his grandkids and be with his family in his own home. Two days later he was gone. I am extremely grateful for the last few months that we've had the opportunity to spend alot of time together, but it just makes it that much harder as well. We forget how frail and temporary we are, but when we are reminded, it is amazing how fast we realize whats really important. We are not promised tomorrow, but what we do with today can affect eternity. Thats pretty sobering when I think about how I spend alot of my time. Anyway, I could go on but its late and I'm tired so I'll stop. I just want to be able to have this here as a reminder for myself.

Losing My Religion

Today being Ash Wednesday, out of curiosity Jeff and I decided to hit up Saint Josephs Catholic Church for thier Ash Wednesday mass. I've never attended any kind of catholic service before so it was a very interesting experience. From the moment I walked in I was out of my element. Everybody there seemed to know the procedure. They knew exactly when it was time to speak, when it was time to kneel, when it was time to cross their chest, etc. We just kind of hung out and observed. I am certain that there are many catholics who really believe the gospel, and have had thier lives transformed by it, but just watching people I am also sure that there are a bunch who were there just because that was where they were supposed to be on Ash Wednesday. They sure knew what to say, and what to do, but really they we're caught up in symbolic, religious expressions that held no meaning. That is what happens when you depend on the power of man to play a role in salavation. Things get fake in a hurry. I'm pretty sure we suffer the same problem in "our church" as well, maybe not as explicitly, but we still do it. I'm as guilty as any of going through the motions sometimes because thats what I am supposed to do. Tradition and symbolism are great as long as thier sole purpose is to direct our attention to God, but the problem is humans are creatures of habit and we tend to forget why we do things and focus on the fact that we are supposed to be doing them. But anyway, the whole purpose of this day is to be a day of penitence; a day where we show remorse and regret for our sin. It sure doesnt do any good if we spend one day a year being remorseful for our sin, but I think its a good reminder of something we should be doing constantly. Godly sorrow brings repentance ...

I am glad I went. Catholic churches are just really cool to me. I love stained glass, I love the solemn reverant feel I get when I go in, and I think all the symbolic stuff they have is cool, just not as an object of worship. Oh, and the lady who put the ash cross on my forhead forgot what she was supposed to say halfway through and had to start over. We both started laughing during what was supposed to be a pretty solem moment. I thought that was funny. Being involved in the mass was a little awkward at times but even in that setting God convicted me of things in my life. Losing my Religion, not only the title of an R.E.M. song but also my commitment to not hold onto anything besides the gospel of Jesus Christ, nothing else matters.

On kind of a whole seperate note, Scientology is one of those most wack religions I have ever heard of. I've always known they were kind of on the crazy side just listening to Tom Cruise in some of his intervews, but I started reading this article in Rolling Stone about them and I am pretty astounded. Here is a little excerpt:

They assert that 75 million years ago, an evil galactic warlord named Xenu controlled 76 planets in this corner of the galaxy, each of which was severly overpopulated. To solve this problem, Xenu rounded up 13.5 trillion beings and then flew them to earth, where they were dumped into volcanoes around the globe and vaporized with bombs. This scattered their radioactive souls, or Thetans, until they were caught up in electric traps set up around the atmosphere and "implanted" with a number of false ideas - including the concepts of God, Christ, and organized religion
Inside Scientology, Rolling Stone, March 2006

I don't even know what to say to that. Everything about the religion is hush hush. You have to be a trusted member who signs legal contracts before they let you know all the secrets. Certian files have to be read in locked rooms and transported in locked briefcases, its just weird. The founder, L. Ron Hubbard, was a science fiction writer. How else would they come up with some of this stuff? By the way, L. Ron Hubbard is dead now.

This post is dedicated to Jaclyn, Ben, and Dana

I apologize for not writing anything in the last month. I won't even try to make any exuses or anything. Overall, february was a pretty laid back month. There has been plenty of fun and exciting stuff going on, but I'm pretty sure that some of the happenings of the last several months have skewed my perspective on what is "eventful". I guess overall it has been nice to have things relatively calm. Anyway, although I don't really have anything deep or compelling to say, here is a couple of recent happenings.

My poor dog is pretty pitiful right now. She gashed her foot on piece of gutter in the back yard while playing with a neighbors dog.
In a few short seconds she went from this:

to this


Man, it's a pain. Not only is it pretty expensive to take a dog to emergency vet hospital in the middle of the night, but i have to give her medicine she hates at certain times during the day, have to keep her bandage fresh, have to wrap her foot in plastic every time she goes outside so it doesnt get wet, have to keep her quiet, etc. Anyone who knows Indy knows she hates to keep quiet. Everytime I leave I have to put that stupid cone collar on her so she can't mess with her foot. She hates that too. The sad part is because of where the cut is at, it's gonna take a long time to heal. It's going to be a long month or so...

On a lighter note, I got a package in the mail from the fam for V-day just cause they are cool like that and feel sorry for me because I don't have a girlfriend. Anyway, the package was a box of authentic turkish delight, from Turkey and all. Its really not bad, but of all the things that Edmund could've asked the witch for, i don't think its first choice worthy. Its pretty much just a lump of sugar coated in powdered sugar. I can handle about one and then I need a break. Regardless, it made my day getting it in the mail, so thanks Mom, Joy, and William.



Turkish Delight
(It's my favorite thing) It's my favorite thing
Turkish Delight
(All I want to do) What I wouldn't do, what I wouldn't do
Turkish Delight
(It's my favorite thing) It gets me every time
Turkish Delight
(All I want to do) What I wouldn't give, what I wouldn't give
(What I wouldn't do for her?)
Turkish Delight - David Crowder Band

For Nurt's birthday we were able to go up to winter park on a friday night and crash in a sweet condo the Parrots had rented for the weekend. It is so nice being able to wake up at 7 in the morning and be ten minutes from the mountian instead of the usual 5:30 AM with a 3+ hour drive depending on traffic. It was probably the absolute coldest day I have ever boarded. I thought my face was gonna fall off. We still had alot of fun though and got to catch a little of Kyser and Kohl competing with Team Summit. There was a couple other fun boarding trips as well. I got to go up with my brother Matt while he was out here. He's pretty much a crazy natural born snowboarder. Iv'e also heard Dana is getting getting pretty good as well, she's talking like olympics in 2010 and crazy stuff like that (-; While we are on the subject of boarding, Jeff and I did some night long boarding last weekend in a neighborhood by the foothills. It's a blast! We need to do it more often. Its alot like snowboarding except the frictional coefficient between asphalt and skin is a little higher than that of snow and skin. I don't even remember what frictional coefficient really means but I felt cool saying it and I'm sure you got the point.

My little bro Anthony and his wife Clara closed on a house in Spokane, WA this week so congratulations to them. Rumour has it that they are planning a trip out to CA at the end of april so I will get to fly out there for a few days and meet the nephew! And speaking of California, June's surfing road trip to Cali is a little too far away for me to be this excited about it. Maybe its just the fact that it was 70 degree's yesterday, but my brain is thinking it should be summer time and I should find a beach. We have our beach campsite all reserved for the week of june 24th through the 29th and its gonna be flippin incredible.

Well, I think that's that. Pretty shallow post, but sometimes it is fun to be shallow. You should try it sometime.

Here nor There

Man, I have been slacking off on my blog. Its not that I don’t have anything to write about … I’m just too lazy to sit down and get it on “paper”. Problem is that at the moment I have the motivation but most of the cool things I wanted to write about have slipped my mind. So, here is a couple that I remember.

God has been teaching me a lot about contentment lately. Contentment not only as in accepting where God has placed me right now, but also as in seeing the potential of where he has placed me. I think way to often I want God to introduce me to something new and exciting, and fail to realize all the opportunities he has given me where I am at. Why do I think that I can handle something new and exciting if I can’t even be faithful with what I have been given? No matter where I am at in life there will always be people around me with needs, and I need to practice being faithful with that. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” – Luke 16:10

If you want to be reminded of the depravity of the human race, you should check out the movie Hotel Rwanda. Not only will it leave you amazed at the evil that we are capable of perpetrating against each other, but also the apathy that allows us to sit back and not care. I watch movies like that and my heart is broken for people, and then I stop and wonder why its takes something like that to compel a sense of urgency to share Jesus. Sin may change faces across cultures and across time but the heart problem that condemns us remains constant. I guess what I am saying is that I hate having to be shocked into caring. That’s what apathy does to us. It basically puts us to sleep to what is going on around us.

My older brother Matt has been in town the last couple of days. It’s been pretty cool to be able to spend some time with him. He is an exceptional artist and his latest thing has been doing custom paint jobs on automotive stuff back in Cali. I thought I’d toss up a couple pictures of his wares.

Last but not least, the comeback word of the month is ‘Rad’. Words such as “cool”, “awesome”, “money”, and “sweet” all have their place, but I believe rad has gone through its obligatory hiatus from the slang vocabulary and is due for reintroduction. So as you go through your normal week, look for situations where this great word can be properly applied, such as “Ben, that pink shirt your wearing is rad”, or “Jeff, that Frontside Corkscrew Fakie with a Stale Fish on the Reverse was radical”.