A Lesson in Holiness: Father Emilio ‘Meelo’ Sandoz, S.J., Ph.D.

Posted on May 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

The story of Emilio Sandoz, the fictional Jesuit priest of Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow, has a lesson to teach us about holiness.   Now, I have yet to read Children of God, the sequel to The Sparrow; regardless, I believe the lesson still stands.   And if you have not yet read The Sparrow, and whether you like science-fiction or not, it is an excellent book which will both challenge you and move you. I highly recommend this book!

In a previous post, At the Edge of Science and Theology: ‘Cosmic Speculative Theology‘, I wrote about the possibility of intelligent life on other planets and what that might mean for Christianity; Mary Doria Russell does a great job of exploring this concept in The Sparrow. Father Sandoz, along with a few friends, find life on the planet Rakhat in the Alpha Centauri system of our galaxy; he and a group of Jesuit missionaries are able to go to Rakhat. The reader experiences the positive of what holiness truly is – love for God and love for neighbor. And while these are not human beings, the Runa and Jana’ata are another species of God’s intelligent creatures; the Jesuits show them the great love that they deserve.

But in the negative of what holiness is – a lack of sin – we are forced to face perhaps our most difficult challenge in practicing the positive of what holiness is – love. I don’t mean ‘negative’ in a way that has a bad connotation; I mean ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ simply in terms of what holiness is and is not. It is just the plus side of thinking – love – and the minus side of thinking – not sinning.

Nonetheless, events happen on Rakhat which haunt Emilio to the point where he can barely speak of them. These events are so horrendous that they cause Emilio to struggle with overwhelming and crippling amounts of both shame and guilt.

When he returns to Earth, he becomes an outcast because of the public’s perception of what happened on Rakhat.

I belong to a denomination called The Church of the Nazarene, part of the Wesleyan-Arminian branch of protestant Christianity; we have a strong focus on holiness.   We discuss theological doctrines like ‘Christian Perfection’ and ‘Entire Sanctification’; these are the ideas that, through God’s power in the Son and the Spirit, we are filled with God’s love so much that it is as if there is no more for sin!   It is a sound doctrine, but there is a very strong focus on avoiding sin or even any perception of sin.

The great temptation and danger is to only think of holiness in terms of what it is not – not sinning – rather than what it is – fully living in God’s love! And when we only think in terms of what it is not, then we miss what it is!   Inevitably, we must ask: what will we do when we are confronted with sin, whether it is in ourselves or in another’s life?

If we see sin, or even the perception of sin, in another’s life, then distance and separate ourselves from the person and offer nothing but sharp words, we miss the opportunity to show and live the positive of what holiness is – love. If we run from our own sin within us and don’t deal with it in the right way, criticizing ourselves and becoming our own worst enemy, it can weigh us down to the point that we are crippled with overwhelming guilt and shame.

Either way, we forget three of God’s most basic qualities in holiness: grace, forgiveness, and compassion.   We lose sight of Matthew 6:12: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

With news of the events on Rakhat, there was the idea among Earth’s people, and even many of Emilio’s colleagues in the Society of Jesus, that Emilio must have done something horrible and sinful. In the pursuit of holiness to the point of self-righteousness, there was little grace shown to Emilio. There was a strong initial tendency to focus on the negative of holiness – not sinning – rather than a demonstration of the positive of holiness – love.

We should always be willing to understand circumstances and do the right thing in the midst of a bad situation; this is being faithful to God. But it should not be to the point where we miss the opportunity to demonstrate love with grace, forgiveness, and compassion. To love, no matter what (and it really, really, REALLY means no matter what!), is our most basic obligation as Christians; it is what separates a true Christian from the rest of the world. In the pursuit of holiness, Christian perfection, and entire sanctification, a disposition towards love, to include grace, forgiveness, and compassion, is where we must lean to first.

Christ, our example in holiness, came to offer grace, forgiveness, and compassion to the demon-possessed man running wild, the woman at the well who had been already been with so many men, the woman accused of adultery and about to be stoned, the man who struggled to believe, and the tax collector who stole and cheated so many people out of money. Christ came to this world to offer grace, forgiveness, and compassion to even the criminals and the depraved hanging on the crosses next to him on Calvary.

Christ came to offer his love to the people that the fictional Emilio Sandoz represents – the misunderstood, the broken, and the ones struggling with crippling guilt and shame. And Christ came even to offer love to the people who would jump to conclusions and judgment about Emilio.

Christ came for you and for me. Christ came for the sinners.

Christ was beaten, suffered, and died.   He slowly and painfully suffocated to death while hanging on a cross in one of the world’s most barbaric forms of execution. He came so that through this atoning sacrifice, we, the sinners, might finally be reconciled to God.

Christ came so that you and I, absolutely broken people, yet still God’s loved and created beings, might have hope in true life and love of God through the risen, living Christ. Christ came so that you and I can learn and live the positive of what holiness really is – love.

Christ came so that you and I, in being a positive example of Christ’s holiness, can show God’s love to the depraved, the criminals, the adulterers, the demon-possessed, the thieves, the frauds, the unbelieving, and the liars.

Christ died for the ones who sinned against him, the ones who beat him, clamored for his crucifixion, sentenced him to death, nailed him to a cross, spit on him and mocked him as they watched him die so that – yes – even they could receive God’s love and be a part of Christ’s family.

As I mentioned before, perhaps our most difficult challenge in holiness is not necessarily practicing the negative – not sinning  - but practicing the positive – love.   Christ died for all; are we willing to show the type of love that Christ showed to all?

Father Emilio ‘Meelo’ Sandoz, S.J., Ph.D. offers us a challenging reminder to focus on what holiness is. And the lesson? With Christ as our example, and by the power of the Spirit of God working within us, the positive of what holiness is – love, to include grace, forgiveness, and compassion – is something that we must live out towards one another every day, no matter what, and no matter whom.

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“The Babbling Brutes of Babel”

Posted on May 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Babbling Brutes of Babel
by Eric Verbovszky

I hear there is a fable
of the babbling brutes of Babel.

They forgot they were told to scatter,
so in Mesopotamia, they gathered.

They said, “Let’s build a city!
And a tower that’s in no way mini!”

Mixing the mortar, firing the bricks,
they really thought they were slick.

But there was one who was Godly;
he saw that their work wasn’t shoddy.

Though, seeing their hearts misplaced,
he finally judged this case.

Sowing people all over the earth,
new tribes and new tongues were birthed.

Given so many opportunities to learn,
our neighbor’s love, we can earn.

Humanity was forced to be given a lift,
but we finally made use of God’s gift.

And, of the babbling brutes of Babel?
Their little project was decisively tabled.

*This is a poem I wrote based on Genesis 11:1-9; although pride is one factor to consider, it is not the motivating factor for God to scatter the people as it is often preached about. Rather, the people defied God’s command to spread out over the earth and make use of God’s gift of creation (Gen. 1:28, 9:1,7). Moreover, God had already seen the evil that occurred in sinful hearts opposed to God; it got so bad, in fact, that God wiped the earth clean with a flood and simply started over with Noah and his family!

Scattering the people was an act of God’s prevenient grace, stopping a unified people with hearts bent toward evil, selfishness, and idolatry.   Finally, diverse people groups with different languages, while keeping sinful people separate and perhaps providing checks and balances to greater evil, also gives us opportunities to learn how to more deeply love one another by getting to know so many of God’s communities around the world.   God loves variety! This is demonstrated in the creation account; giving humanity languages is another example of God’s beauty in diversity!

Babel, meaning ‘Gate of God’ and nothing to do with confusion, could potentially be the earliest city of Babylon. If it is, it is probably buried under at least 5,000 years of Babylonian history. Archaeological excavations to find this early and unfinished foundation would be incredibly difficult.   Noah’s descendants most likely migrated to Mesopotamia after traveling around the Ararat mountains in and around eastern Turkey, settling in what they called the plain of Shinar before God scattered them.

Sumerian ziggurat engineering resembles the building techniques discussed in Genesis 11:1-9.   Noah’s ancestors may be the very first Sumerians or even their predecessors.   The earliest Gilgamesh accounts, which include stories of Utnapishtim who closely resembles Noah, appear during the 4th millenium B.C. with the early Sumerians.   Noah’s descendants would have carried his story with them as they settled there; this story would have merged with Sumerian culture and the Gilgamesh Epic through history.

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At the Edge of Science and Theology: ‘Cosmic Speculative Theology’

Posted on April 19, 2013 | 1 Comment

Just about a year ago, I read C.S. Lewis’ classic books known as ‘The Space Trilogy.’   Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength are, without a doubt, essential reading and some of his best work.   While they can be considered Christian science fiction, Lewis makes some truly great theological points.   And granted, while they are written from the scientific perspective of a mid-20th century knowledge of the universe, Lewis provides the very beginnings of a foundation for our own future theological understanding of life outside earth.   Not only did he begin to speculate on the theological implications of worlds outside our own planet in ‘The Space Trilogy,’ but he also raised similar questions in several of his short stories and in an unfinished work titled The Dark Tower.

Today, and in the decades and centuries to come, our knowledge of the universe will turn from what we once thought was simply science fiction into a very tangible reality.   CNN just recently featured an article stating that there are at least five known planets that could potentially allow for life to exist: Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f, Kepler-69c, Kepler-22b, and Gliese-581g.   The number of these ‘earth’-like planets will only increase as technology improves; a more in-depth list of potential life-sustaining planets can be found here.   With these discoveries, the probability that we will not only discover planets that allow for basic life, but also for intelligent life, will increase as well.   It could definitely be the case that there are other planets out there with human-like creatures with similar cognitive capabilities!

That is exciting news!   But it also means that we are not at the center of the ‘intelligent-life’ universe.   Centuries ago, Galileo challenged a common assumption of the Church; today, and in the decades and centuries to come, we as the Church might need to come to grips with the possibility that God created other intelligent life-forms which inhabit many other beautiful, lush, life-filled planets in our universe.   Perhaps these creatures live on one of the Kepler planets listed above; perhaps they don’t.   But perhaps they also live on one not yet discovered.   Scripture explains the story of God and humanity on earth; it is silent on the story of God and possible intelligent life on other planets.   However, it does discuss the story of creation and God; the universe is God’s creation.   But how God has interacted with other possible intelligent life on other planets, we honestly don’t really know.

If we believe that God is the God of the universe, and if we believe that God’s actions have cosmic implications, then at the point in the future when we discover another intelligent form of life in the universe, and we have not allowed for that possibility, we will be asking ourselves many, many, many tough questions.   Those will be questions that we could be thinking about now.   It’s better to be prepared for the future rather than end up decades or centuries behind; lagging behind is a place where the Church has often unfortunately been.

If our theology doesn’t account for at least the possibility of other intelligent life forms and the ability to begin to understand their context in God’s story, there is the potential for a lot of negative and unwanted consequences.   In the past, unneeded and unnecessary pain and death has resulted from not properly anticipating and wrestling with the theological and ethical questions of discovering the new ‘world’ on our own planet (i.e. the discovery of the Americas and the horrible treatment of indigenous peoples); we have the opportunity to avoid those same mistakes as Christians today.   Entirely new dimensions of both ethics and missions could be opened!

Since we only know what we know about the possibility of life on other planets, and we don’t know what we don’t know (and what we don’t know is a lot more than what we know – and I know – these are obvious statements), I have started to call this area, located at the edge of both science and theology, ‘Cosmic Speculative Theology.’

Paul writes in Romans 8:22 “…that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.”   The universe, other planets, and other intelligent forms of life are included in ‘the whole creation.’   Questions to consider are: how might sin affect alien life forms, alien creations, and alien worlds? What could ‘fallenness’ look like for alien creations living on worlds that have different systems of physics and laws of nature?   I don’t think Paul, as a first century Jew, was even remotely thinking about these types of questions; nonetheless, they are questions that we, as 21st century followers of Christ, should probably begin to think about.

C.S. Lewis suggests in ‘The Space Trilogy’ that it is just earth that is affected by original sin; we could call this ‘The Silent Planet Theory.’   Could there be a ripple effect, almost a shockwave, that diminishes in strength as it extends out from earth, the focal point of original sin and the center of the breaking of creation?   And if so, would planets that are farther away from earth be less affected by original sin than our own planet?   We could call this ‘The Ripple Effect Theory.’

If we ever came into contact with intelligent life from other planets, would our own sinfulness and selfishness completely destroy their world in the way that it ravages our own earth?   We have been conditioned by Hollywood to believe that aliens are evil; but what if we, in our sinful state, are the evil ones who will destroy other planets when we finally interact with them, and in that sense spread the effects and consequences of original sin to worlds that have not had to deal with it?   Again, Lewis suggests these ideas in ‘The Space Trilogy.’

Or what if the damaging shockwave sent out from the moment of original sin remained equally strong the entire time, and other other intelligent life is just as sinful and selfish as we are apart from Christ?   This could be called ‘The Dark Tower Theory,’ based on Lewis’ unfinished work.

I tend to think that in some way, the entire universe is affected by the compounding effects of sin and original sin.   However, we don’t know exactly how and to what extent sin has affected other worlds.   Until we learn more in the decades and centuries to come about other planets, we can only speculate; this area of theology could today be called ‘Cosmic Speculative Hamartiology.’

And what could the work of Christ mean for other worlds and creations in the universe?   Paul alludes to the point that it is through Christ that all of the creation is saved and redeemed.   Christ’s life, death, and resurrection most likely have implications and consequences for the universe that are completely beyond our knowledge.   This could be called ‘Cosmic Speculative Soteriology‘ or ‘Cosmic Speculative Christology.’

The questions and the list of areas to think about goes on; you get the idea.   Nonetheless, all these areas are connected.   And still, while I label them as ‘speculative’ for now, and even though we don’t know the answers today, it is still an important area to consider.   Centuries or millenia from now, after a lot of study, and if Christ has not yet returned, we might finally be able remove the word ‘speculative’ from these areas.

I am well aware that for many people, the ideas I am discussing will not even be thought of as relevant or critical to theology today, or for that matter, ever.   I am also sure that a lot of people will read this post and immediately dismiss it.   Some will consider it to be controversial.   It’s okay.   I understand why it would be dismissed or controversial; I’m at the complete edge of both science and theology with these thoughts.   But if life on other planets is a legitimate possibility, which it is, then these questions are legitimate theological areas we need to start to think about.

For those who do not think this is important to think about at all, just give it a century or two (but probably less); it will be staring the Church directly in the face by then.   And of course, we may also end up discovering that there is no other intelligent life on other planets; although, I find that idea to be highly unlikely.   And like I mentioned before, this is one area where we as the Church don’t want to be caught completely off guard in, especially if the discovery of intelligent life is only a decade or two away!

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Thoughts on Easter: “Spiritual but not Religious”

Posted on March 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

A large number of people label themselves as “spiritual but not religious.”   I can understand this viewpoint; for some it is because of bad experiences with a major world religion, such as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam.   For others, it is not necessarily because of a previous experience, but just that they are skeptical of the idea of “organized religion.”   Still, some may want to explore different religions before jumping into one; it is dipping one’s feet into the water before fully diving in.   In any case, and no matter what category a person falls under, the individuals who consider themselves “spiritual but not religious” recognize that there is something more to life than simply going after common and vain pursuits such as money and power.

However, the label “spiritual but not religious” is misleading; it implies that there is also a group of people who are “not spiritual and not religious.”   To be honest, I do not think it is even possible to be “not spiritual.”   The idea that one could not have a spiritual self at all, or that one could completely destroy or kill one’s spiritual self, does not make any sense.

The spirit is a characteristic of the physical body.   It’s like saying one is one; it simply is.   If you’ve read my previous post, “He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion,” you’ll get a better idea of where I am coming from in stating this.   God created us; God breathed life into us, giving us a spirit.   In this life, the body and the spirit are inseparable.   They are intertwined into one existence – the human being.   What happens to the spirit after death, we do not know exactly (check out N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope); we have many ideas though.   Although, as a minister in Christianity, I believe that at the end of this sinful age there will be a resurrection of the dead and our spirit will return to our body through God’s power; we will live as one existence of the intertwined and inseparable physical and spiritual human being – the way God designed us to be – in a new eternal creation free from the bondage of death.   This is what is supported by Christian scripture and thousands of years of tradition.

There is no one who is “not spiritual.”   It is impossible.   We are all spiritual beings.   Granted, different people may deny or accept the reality of their spirituality on different levels, in effect, respectively, either suffocating or cultivating who they are.   But we are all spiritual on some level.   And as we become more in tune with ourselves, we realize that there is much more to life than simply the pursuit of vain items and materialism.   We begin to realize the importance of the connections that exist within this world.

Jesus summarized it as he echoed the Jewish Shema of Deuteronomy 6: “Jesus answered, ‘The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:29-31).

A few weeks ago in one of my classes at the U.S. Army Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course, one of my Chaplain instructors gave us his thoughts on a definition of spirituality: it is a person connecting with the four c’s – the creator, the community, the conscience, and the creation.   Even if it is at a very basic level, we are all making these connections; we are becoming more in tune to the bigger picture of life.   And as a Christian, I believe God made each one of us to have a role in this bigger picture; God created us to be people who are not selfish individuals, but selfless people who are always recognizing the connections we have.

Religion is a vital tool in developing this spirituality.   Through religion, we cultivate and grow these connections and relationships.   And perhaps most importantly, we learn to first develop our connection with God so that we can better develop our connections with the community, the conscience, and the creation.   On our own, it is impossible to cultivate these connections.   But through a connection with God, and with God working in us and changing our hearts, our other connections will grow into something we never believed was possible.

Christianity is based on the person of Jesus Christ; this religion is centered on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.   Through Christ, we can experience the amazing love of God in his grace, forgiveness, and mercy, despite all that we have done wrong in life.   Through Christ, we can become connected with God.   And through that connection with God, we can learn to truly love one another.   We can begin to understand ourselves, how we fit into the bigger picture of life, and be free from vain pursuits.

During this Easter season, I pray that no matter where we are on our spiritual journeys, whether we are struggling to take the very first step or have already been traveling for a thousand miles, we will begin to see the ultimate form of spirituality as a relationship with Christ.   I pray that we will use the tools that thousands of years of the Christian tradition have given us to develop our connections with the creator, the community, the conscience, and the creation.   I pray that we will explore and reflect on different aspects of what it means to be a Christian in whatever context we find ourselves in today.   I pray that we will begin to learn how to worship God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.   And I pray that we learn to love our neighbors in the same way that we love ourselves.

This week is Holy Week in western Christianity. Soon our brothers and sisters in eastern Christiany will also be celebrating these Holy days of the Christian calendar.  Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday – this week is the pinnacle event of Christianity.   The significance of these days for our lives is the culmination of what it means to know ourselves and recognize our spirituality.   The life, death, and resurrection of the Christ and the Messiah is the sum of what our connections to the creator, the community, the conscience, and the creation mean in each of our lives.

Happy Easter.   Christ has risen.   Let us celebrate.

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“He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion.”

Posted on March 21, 2013 | 1 Comment

The relatively recent Newsboys single, “God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)” has new meaning for me tonight.   The simple words of the chorus, “God’s not dead; he’s surely alive. He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion,” have a deeply profound meaning for every single human being on this planet.

Tonight I had an amazing experience; I could even qualify it as a religious experience.   I want to give you fair warning though – once you learn the details of this experience, you may not think of it as amazing or religious at all, but fairly gruesome and morbid.   That is okay!   To each their own, right?   But I encourage you to continue reading anyway.

I have been finishing the Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course with the U.S. Army over the past several weeks (CH-BOLC Class 13-001 Hooah!); as part of our training we visited a local medical school and had the chance to look at, touch, and examine cadavers; these are people who have donated their deceased bodies to the school to be used for science.   We talked with medical professors and students, learning about all of the incredible systems of the human body.   But here is what you may think is morbid – I held a human brain in my hands.   I held a human heart.   I held a lung.   I held many other various parts of the body, like a leg and a stomach and a head.

I know – it may make some people queasy.   It may make you reading this right now queasy.   I was nervous that I might get queasy before I walked in to the room with the cadavers.

But I didn’t get queasy.   In fact, the entire time I was there, I could not help but think to myself that the human body is absolutely amazing.   It has extremely complex systems that all work together cohesively.   Muscles are interconnected all over the body.   The lungs, the heart, the airway, the esophagus, and who knows what other parts (I am by no means a medical doctor), were all packed tightly together inside the ribcage like pieces of well integrated and almost woven puzzle, protected by bones and muscle.   The stomach and other organs were right underneath it.

There is the spine protecting a sensitive power cord leading down the back, pulling and sending information from all over the body back and forth to the brain, all within fractions of fractions of fractions of milliseconds.   Then there is the brain, which doctors are constantly learning about more and more, which is basically a living computer more powerful and more complex than any other information system in the world.   Even inside the skull, it is protected by a “tough mother” (quite literally dura mater) which is perhaps some of the strongest material on the planet.

All of this, together, forms who we are as self-aware, living, breathing, moving, intelligent, creative, emotional, spiritual, and every other adjective that you could insert, human beings.

And as I listened to the doctors, professors, and medical students, I realized just how much of an absolute miracle the human body is.   Whether perfected by God over millions of years or created in a single day, there can be no argument that its creation was guided by the hand of a powerful, intelligent, and loving God.

But that is just a description of a lifeless human body being examined by students!   Somehow life itself once pulsed throughout that body.   Somehow that heart got its very own self-sustaining electrical current that makes it pump blood through the body every day.   Somehow that brain received a consciousness making the person aware of who they are and what they are doing in life.   Self-awareness and everything that comes with it – this characteristic is only true of the human being.   That simple fact makes us realize that there is something more to us; there is something to the idea that the human is possibly the culmination of the creation and that we have great responsibilities as that pinnacle being.

But what brought consciousness to us?   What made us aware of who we are?   What changed the human from a lifeless body in the dust to a living, breathing, moving, intelligent, emotional, spiritual, and every other adjective that you could insert, human being?   And what separated us from every other magnificent animal which is out there roaming the earth?

Genesis 2:7 gives us an answer: “…then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”

God has breathed life into every single one of us.   Every human that has ever walked the ground, they have been alive and known who they were because of the breath of God, sustaining them in life.   God’s Spirit gives us life.   God’s Spirit, breathed into every single one of us, and whether we want to recognize it or deny it, is the only reason we are living, breathing, moving, intelligent, creative, emotional, spiritual, and every other adjective that you could insert, human beings.   God’s Spirit is the reason we are self-aware and the reason God has given us this great responsibility as the culmination of creation.   God’s Spirit is the reason why our hearts beat every day, pumping blood through our bodies so that we can walk, run, laugh, breathe, talk, write, play music, and just share life with one another.

God created us in his image.   It’s an image of God himself: love.   We are sustained in life and in love only by his Spirit.   Apart from his Spirit we are dying creatures.   In his Spirit, we learn to truly live as we were created to be.   This gives us a clue that to love one another is a critical element of life itself, an essential piece of understanding the meaning of life.

Unfortunately, each one of us will die.   It’s simply the result of the overwhelming amount of separation there is from God, our sustainer, in the world; there’s nothing we can do to stop ourselves from dying.   It’s just the way it is.

But I want to share some hope with you as you finish reading this short article: one day, at the end of this age, God will once again breathe life into our bodies.   We will be raised from the dead, and upon God examining the condition of our hearts, God will permit us to live in an eternal paradise of a new creation, free from any kind of death, and with Christ as our King.   God will draw our physical bodies together once again from whatever state of decay they may be in, whether they are buried in the ground, cremated into ashes, or even if they are cadavers donated to a medical school so students can learn and advance in scientific knowledge, and then God will breathe life into us once again.   We will awaken into true life with God.

Today, you are alive (duh, right?)!   God’s breath is in you right now!   God’s Spirit is in you, whether you accept it or whether you vehemently deny it; God is within you, causing your heart to beat, your brain to think, and your thoughts to consider these very words that I have written.   It is something to rejoice in!   It is something to truly be in awe of!   It is a reason to love others and love God with everything that you are!

So as I conclude my thoughts, I leave you once more with the words to the chorus of the recent Newsboys song:

“God’s not dead; he’s surely alive.
He’s living on the inside, roaring like a lion.”

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24 Hours on the Water: Part Deux

Posted on March 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

On June 21 to 22, 2012, from 7 p.m. to 7 p.m., I will be back at Marsh Creek State Park paddling my kayak for Safe Harbor of Chester County, a local homeless shelter in West Chester, PA!   Last year I paddled 80 miles in  21 hours and 30 minutes, and thanks to everyone who donated money, raised about $1600 for Safe Harbor.   This event will also be sponsored by the West Chester Church of the Nazarene.

This year my goal is to paddle 100 miles in this 24 hour period while raising even more money for Safe Harbor.   But I REALLY need your help!

What can you do?

1) Tell people about the event!   Use word-of-mouth and social media.   Ask local businesses to hang up a flyer, advertise this event, and get involved.   Call the local radio stations and news channels and tell them about what’s happening.

2) Give a donation to Safe Harbor!   You can make a donation here.   There will be a link available soon where you can mark that your donation is in response to this event and the number of miles I’ve paddled.

3) Grab a canoe, kayak, or stand-up paddleboard (SUP) and join me out on the lake!   It doesn’t have to be for all 24 hours – but it would be great to see you out there for even a half hour or an hour.   Sunset and sunrise on the first days of summer are great experiences while sitting on the water.

I hope to see you out there and have your help in making this event an awesome success for Safe Harbor of Chester County!   Your much needed support can make a huge difference in helping to fight poverty in the local community.

Any questions can be emailed to me at currentsofcompassion@gmail.com.

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tele-pictionary

Posted on February 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

Who ate my chicken? No one knows why we eat turkey at Thanksgiving. An Indian is asking a pilgrim about Thanksgiving? An Indian meets a pilgrim and asks about a big feast to give thanks. The X-Men attacked Batman and Superman. Batman and Robin are beginning to question why the trolls are attacking them. Superman married a bird and the bird gave birth to kittens. Superman (after degrading his costume) is a therapist to a crazy cat-man in a church. The snack that smiles back…goldfish. I love me some goldfish. I love fishing off the dock. The angry cat dances in front of the burning boat. The catman sang aboard the burning ship. The cat’s meow. My mother wears a bad toupee. A kid is mortified when he sees a scary lady’s…mouth/teeth. A giant girl is chasing a sad little boy. Imma eat you for breaking my daughter’s heart. Somebody barfed on my tilt-a-whirl. Someone screamed at my giant jawbreaker. One guy gets candy. Other guy is mad. Give me my lollipop! Two kittens sleeping in a box. Two sleeping cats are in a bed dreaming of candy. I’m ignoring you now. The goldfish ate the bear. A giant goldfish is eating a miniature sized bear with sharp nails. A giant goldfish stares at a baby bird. Two dogs are sleeping waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. Two dogs are barking at Santa’s Christmas tree. Santa, gimme all you got. Giant Santa, you’re two months late. Harry Potter fights the zombie bunnies. Harry Potter killed the rabbit. I thought it would be cool to decapitate the Easter Bunny. A man stabs a bunny with a sword. We’re just two lost souls living in a fish bowl. The fairly odd parents tricked me! Shut up, you stupid baby! A lady is overwhelmed when she sees her baby needs to be changed. The library was closed during the tornado ripping through town. The tornado is coming and the store is closed. There is a tornado outside of the abandoned convenience store. Release the kracken! The killer monster squid is killing my enemies boat #yolo #awesome #pirates. A guy is sailing the sea when a giant worm tries to eat him. Loch Ness monster attacks innocent faceless man. Save the whales! Two people are lost at sea. A boy doesn’t know the alphabet nor does his friend. I hate working as a clown. Ouch! That hurt! He took my jumprope. I can’t jumprope; I hate you. The alien gave birth to a human and the umbilical cord is still attached. The beach has a lot of turtles. Turtles go to the ocean. The tortoise is slow. The turtle is vomiting on the track and he also in last place. A woman was really mad because she forgot to put on her blue shoes for her wedding. Girl is mad pastor loves Jesus more than her. Is this the red cross? I think that’s a hospital but I’m not entirely sure. Dumbledore is eating ice cream with Harry Potter. Harry Potter and Dumbledore eat ice cream together. Harry Potter loves eating ice cream; it cures his emotional distress. I eat my cereal with two spoons at once. The ice cream truck ran out of ice cream. Protesting against school! No more school! Two people are attempting to burn a school down. The Jersey Shore cast enjoys the occasional poetry reading. An alien has an identity crisis. An alien is having a mid-life crisis in a coffin as his king tries to figure out a way to help him. An alien wakes up from a coma and the king is confused.

Someone barfed on my ferris wheel.

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