The New Deal

Since this blog has been created to keep people posted on my current plans and thoughts, and since I'd already posted once on some of my thoughts, I thought I'd post what my current state is when it comes to plans.

Last week at Scum of the Earth Denver I meet two young fellows named Ben and Gary who had travel to Denver form Florida to spend some time living homeless in Denver. It just so turns out that both of them will be driving to Kansas City for a free conference called 1-thing at the International House of Prayer (IHOP), and they invited Marcus and I along. And after we asked them what their plans were for Christmas they said they didn't have any yet. So long story short, the two young men will be spending Christmas with my family in Colorado Springs, and then we will head East to Kansas City.

We've heard that lots of people come to this conference from all over the country, and that if we hold up a sign with our destination on it, we will be sure to get a ride to whatever destination we need.

So these are the plans. 

Blessings

John

finding G-d outside the church (hopefully a trend that will continue)

This last sunday a good friend of mine and I took a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee between the sunday morning college group at First Pres. Colorado Springs, and "big church." We took a minute to enjoy the sunshine in Acacia Park will enjoying our cups of coffee and found a small group of people from a hispanic church handing out free pizza and free jackets for the snowy winters in Colorado. 

We sat for a minute watching the group of teens attempt to share the "good news" of freedom in the gospel through miming, and had a familiar conversation of how we had wished that our understanding of "church" was more holistic. Perhaps church could be more than just the collective worshiping happening inside sanctuaries all over the world that morning, and perhaps it could be more than the few people out "serving" in the community. "Why can't church be defined equally as sitting here sharing coffee and maybe even a cigarette?"

"HERETICS!" we joked. "If you don't have your MDiv, or preach inside a sanctuary you better dare not joke that you could be spreading the gospel!"

Not that our life-long struggle of redefining our understanding of G-d hadn't brought us to this place before, but it was a good reminder of the necessity to continue to question these stereotypes.

But obviously G-d decided that this message needed to be reiterated this morning because the story kept going.

A few minutes later a 52 year old black guy came up to us and asked us if we wanted some pizza.

"Maybe in a minute, but thanks," we replied.

"It's alright. We all just out here sharing, you know."

"Alright."

"You know I'm just a street poet and a creekside preacher, and I'm just tryin to share the wealth. Everyday I walk from here to Denver, and down to Pueblo, preaching the good news."

"Can we hear one of your pieces?"

"Sure! Hold on just a sec."

He went and grabbed his bag of belongings, along with the jacket and pants he had just received from the Mimes. And pulled out a notebook.

"This is my friends Eulogy. He died from a heroin overdose a little while ago. And while this is about addiction, it doesn't matter if it's heroin or peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches, you'll get this." He went on to share.

When he finished we took a minute to take it in and thanked him for sharing.

"You know," he replied,"the reason this is the good news, is because it reaches you where you're at. That how everything we preach should be. It should reach people where they're at. Don't share down. Don't share up. Share with people on their level."

Preach it!

"I share the good news through everything I do. Even if those guys I drank a fifth with last night down by the creek, don't remember a single word I read to them from the bible, the truth is they all got up this morning and thanked me for sharing with them. That's the Gospel. That's the good news."

For some reason I guess my friend and I were supposed to listen to this guy that morning instead of being there for the first few minutes of church. It was good to be in the presence of someone speaking on my level.

He left us saying his name was Ghost. And if we ever encountered a Ghost, that we wouldn't have to be afraid anymore, because we had just met one and understood him.

more to come soon

the beginnings of a long journey

I returned to Colorado Springs about a week and-a-half ago after finishing my last few days in Seattle for a while. 

I've decided to take a little bit of time away from "higher education" in order to further my education in another facet.

This is a potentially temporal step taken after having wrestled with a number of questions for quite some time now.

I've decided to take a break in light of having sought for direction from G-d in what my next steps should be. After having asked my self questions like "has my time here (in school) come to an end?" and "how do I be sure to live in light of what I believe G-d is calling me to, rather than what seems most natural?" I have come to an understanding of an uncanny peace in making this decision.

After having spent countless amounts of time in prayer with the community surrounding me I have found that this step is the best step for me to take, in my search for living in light of G-d's will. 

I want to begin this blog by saying that I want to hold all of the steps and decisions in such a way as to acknowledge my fallibility and my ability to completely misunderstand what G-d is trying to tell me. Also I want to say that in my struggle to understand my place, I want to hold all of my decisions and steps in such a way that I leave room for G-d to use all of these steps to further His kingdom. This comes from the understanding that even when I take a step in the wrong direction, G-d has the ability to redeem even my smallest mistakes and short-comings.

Throughout the entirety of this blog I pray that all of my words and actions might be a reflection of where I have come in my attempts to "Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven."

thanks for taking the time to read this, and there will be more to come soon.