Book Report

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated this in a while but I've been pretty busy with school and work here and I haven't had a lot of free time. Here is a book report I wrote last week on a book called "Longing for God" so I hope you enjoy it and it gives a little bit of a sense of what I'm doing here at ACU. It's not academic but it's a good representation of what we've been generally learning about in Spiritual Formation.

This book is about the ways that different kinds of people from different walks of life have sought after God. Christians throughout the centuries have desired to become more intimate with their creator and savior, desired to increase their knowledge of him and desired to lead the kind of life that he wants them to live. Just as there are different kinds of people there are multiple journeys or paths to God. This book highlights 7 of these and gives three or four examples of great Christians who have sought God along these paths. Many of these paths co-mingle with each other and none of them are mutually exclusive. The one thing that all these paths have in common with each other is that everyone on each of them, regardless of class, age, or walk of life, has a longing for God. This book aims to help people who have this longing but do not know how to pursue it by giving them concrete examples of some of the great Christian thinkers and writers that have gone on before.

The seven paths identified in this book are: The right ordering of our love for God, the spiritual life as journey, the recovery of knowledge of God lost in the fall, intimacy with Jesus Christ, the right ordering of our experiences with God, action and contemplation, and divine ascent. As pointed out above none of these paths are exclusive. It would be impossible to recover knowledge of God lost in the fall and not begin to become more intimate with Jesus. All of these paths borrow and take from each other but the emphasis of each one is different from the others. In each of these paths there are three or four examples of Christians who longed for God in this manner. Each chapter has a brief synopsis of their work and then a couple pages of reflection by the authors on their teachings which are followed by a short prayer inspired by the person.

This book tries to make relevant many of the great Christian thinkers and authors who have impacted the life of the church and other Christians in so many ways. Many of these thinkers may be known to lay people but they might have no knowledge of them other than their name. Thinkers like Augustine, John Wesley, Calvin, and St. John of the Cross have relevant messages for people today but too often people consider them unapproachable and distant. This book attempts to take their most important thoughts on how to order one’s life and pursue God and distill them into easily understandable and readable chapters. The book does this very well and the reflections by Foster and Beebe at the end of each chapter are also well written. In them they try and make the author’s thoughts and theories more applicable by showing how their own lives have been shaped and molded by them as well. Foster and Beebe also offer critique and criticism of some authors by showing that although they had many good things to say they are still human as well and fallible just like the rest of humanity.

Although the book entails all seven pathways to God it does not stop there. It also offers three appendixes which address relevant issues of Christian spiritual formation that were not addressed in the main chapters or the introduction or conclusion. These include pre-Christian influences on spirituality, women and spirituality, and the contribution of the Orthodox Church and Eastern Spirituality. These are also helpful as they seek to clarify different issues not presented in the book itself in the form of history and other examples.

Path one presents the journey to God as the process of organizing love into the correct order. The great thinkers of this path include Origen and Augustine. In this path seekers attempt to draw closer to God by ridding our lives of things that we love more than God and by exalting God to his proper place within our lives. This thought is incredibly important because it addresses one of the greatest sins and temptations of humanity, that of idolatry. Only by ordering our love and making sure that we place God above all others can we begin to grow and draw close to him.

Path two sees the spiritual life as that of a journey. This path presents our life not as a series of steps that we can simply do, but as something that we must journey through. Although all the paths have this aspect within them this is the path that sees the journey itself as the means to drawing closer to God. This path attempts to recognize that every choice and decision that one makes in life takes one towards one’s destination--hopefully toward God. This path is especially helpful for those that face big questions about life, themselves and situations they will face in life.

Path three tries to recover knowledge of God that has been lost in the fall. It is only through recovering this knowledge that people will be able to draw close to God and to really know what right is, what the truth is and to know our Creator. This is knowledge that humanity had before the fall and sin entered the world, and this path seeks to regain this knowledge to aid people in their spiritual life.

The fourth path sees Jesus Christ as the primary way that we long for God and become spiritually formed. Although the other paths would be loath to renounce that intimacy with Christ is important, this path sees it as the primary way to spiritual formation. Those who find this path appealing try to embody Christ in his struggles and his being in the world. The highest form of spirituality is not the cloistered monk or apophatic prayer but engagement with Christ in ministry to the world

The fifth path sees religious experience as the primary way to knowledge of God. In this view, although scripture, reason, and the church play a discerning role, religious experience can provide actual knowledge of God. This path seeks to engage God in a way that is both real to the soul and real to the body in religious experience. This path of spiritual formation puts the most emphasis on feeling the direct presence of God and letting him form oneself through these experiences.

Path six tries to view the world in a balance between action and contemplation. It tries not to put too much emphasis on actions and human effort nor does it put too much emphasis on contemplation and apophatic knowing of God. It sees these two extremes as both sides of the same coin. The world needs both Mary and Martha and it is for the Christian to learn to experience God through both of these ways.

Finally, the seventh path views spiritual formation as that of divine ascent. This path closely resembles the path of the journey. It could be described as climbing a mountain. Sometimes pilgrims need to stop, they become weak and wonder if they can go on. It is after these periods of doubt and emptiness that the pilgrim can climb over the next rise and see a whole new landscape and beauty of God that he has never imagined.

Each of these seven paths holds something of value to pilgrims journeying towards God. Different people approach God in different ways and at different times. It is likely one of these paths will appeal to a reader more strongly than others based on their circumstances in life and their attitude toward spiritual formation. None of these are more correct than the others and all lead us to God. Foster and Beebe’s work provides modern Christians with easily accessible examples of all seven of these spiritual paths and an easy point to jump into the waters of spiritual life and begin the journey of spiritual formation. An excellent read that will surely open the door to the spiritual life for those intimidated by it or simply searching for a place to begin.

Birthday

Well, it was my birthday on Saturday. I want to say thank you to all of you who made it such a wonderful day. Thank you to Julie for calling, for Mom and Dad for all the books and the new shirts. Thank you to Laura who tried to call to wish me a happy birthday but couldn’t reach me. Sorry Laura, I dropped my phone in the dishwater and it didn’t start working till late in the evening (I’m at work right now but I’ll try and call you tomorrow, Tuesday). Thank you to the Garrets who had me over for lunch the next day and who had a cake and a card for me.

Most of all thank you to Janille. Thank you for the wonderful package you sent. For the cookies (they’re so good!!!), the card, my new belt, and for completing my Harry Potter collection with Tales of Beedle the Bard. For those of you who haven’t seen it I will try to describe the card. Janille made a wonderful ‘virtual party’ for me. The card had several pictures of my friends printed off a computer with party hats glued onto their heads. Each picture had a caption. The one with Jason yelling something was him singing happy birthday. Mykal did the cooking and so had a picture of him in the apron. Dusty was popping out of a closet to surprise me and so his picture was him making a weird face. Finally there was a picture of both of us and a special birthday message for me. Thank you so much Sweetheart it was wonderful!!

Thank you to all my friends, my family, and to Janille for making my birthday such a wonderful day. I was approaching it this year with a little bit of trepidation because it would be the first one I’ve celebrated alone. Thank you to everyone for making it so much better than I was expecting. I love you all.

Adventures Living Alone

It is been a while since I have had a post about me and my life so I thought this week I would give everyone an update. I have been living in my little house for about 2 months now. For anyone who has not seen it I have a living area with a small kitchen in the corner, a bedroom, a bath, and a closet. It is very cozy and I absolutely LOVE it. After living with roommates for the last 4 years of my life living on my own is an amazing blessing and reduces the amount of stress considerably. I cannot describe how much I enjoy cleaning up after ONLY myself. I know this might be hard to believe for some of the female members of my family but I actually do try and keep it fairly neat.

I have also acquired a futon, a couple of lamps, a rug, and a small coffee table. My living area now consists of more than a TV, my weight bench, and small kitchen table. It is really turning out to look quite homey and it is a very ‘comfortable’ room. I have not really done anything with my kitchen since I moved in. One of the interesting things that is both depressing in some ways, inspiring in others, and I think is gradually teaching me about myself is cooking alone. I am trying to compose my thoughts on this subject and hopefully will have a blog post about it in a couple weeks. I am still in the market for an office chair but I am hoping Office Max or Walmart might have some back to school sales closer to the start of the semester.

Over the last couples of months I have gotten into the basic routine of general living on my own. Outside the basic routine of simply cooking, cleaning, and going to work I have had the added joy and experience of dealing with, you guessed it, bills. Formerly an apartment dweller, whose rent included all utilities, this has been a bit new. When I was first setting up many of my utility accounts, electric, water, and internet, everyone but the water company did not believe I actually existed. Having never had a credit card, or a credit report, both the electric company and the internet company did not believe I was actually a real person. I had to fax numerous documents to both before they would even consider me for service. On top of that I found out yesterday that the electric company had switched account numbers on me after the first month. I had been paying my bill to the wrong account number!! There were late fees, the accumulation of 2 ½ months of electric bill, and the question of where all my money had gone. After spending almost an hour on hold, talking with a general customer service person and an account specialist I got the situation sorted out.

Today I am heading down to San Antonio to see Janille, celebrate the 4th of July, and have a long weekend with some great company. I have not forgotten about my promise for the 10 most ridiculous lines ever heard in a country song so maybe that will happen next week. I have also been thinking about a lot of other stuff lately so my 7 or 8 readers might be in for several posts not entirely about me over the next couple of weeks. I hope this post keeps you satisfied until something more exciting than boiling over my pasta happens to me >.<. Many thanks to Laura for mentioning me on her blog. I do not know if I will be able to live up to the praise she gave me but I will try.

An Interesting Paradox and its Resolution

As I’ve gone through the Horace and Dott Coffman collection at work a large amount of time has been spent dealing with weddings and funerals. As I mentioned in my last blog post Horace either officiated or provided music for over 1600 weddings and 2200 funerals. Now, many people might think that the funerals, along with the accompanying obituaries, would be very depressing to read through. After all, what could be more depressing than realizing how many people, in just the Church of Christ in Lubbock, have died. The weddings, some might assume, would be very inspirational for this is a time of joy and happiness for those who are participating. I’ll admit this was my first reaction, especially as I sorted through hundreds of funerals.

As I continued in my work an interesting change has occurred in my feelings towards these two different events. No longer did I view the weddings as a release from the dour work of filing obituaries. No longer did I dread the next folder with the title “Funerals Performed in 19--.” Instead it was the weddings that inspired a strange melancholy.

My thinking, as my worked progressed, turned from thinking of the weddings a joyous union of two people into the perpetual question “Did John Smith and Jane Doe make it?” I know it’s extremely pessimistic of me but for some reason I couldn’t help but feel that every marriage I came across had ended in some sort of disaster. The funerals inspired a sense of hope. Within the pages of funeral programs, obituaries, and Horace’s notes were inspirational stories about lifelong Christians. Here were men and women who had remained faithful to God and served the church for decades. Here were men and women who had been married for 50, 60, and even 70 years. Here were inspirational stories about love, perseverance, faithfulness, joy in the face of suffering and thanksgiving at the passing of loved ones.

This was an interesting paradox, at least for me, because I knew that the wedding was a joyous occasion and despite my pessimistic misanthropy some, maybe even a majority, of these marriages had survived, prospered and even continue to thrive to this day. My general attitude toward the weddings changed yesterday when I made a pretty incredible discovery.

As I was going through another folder of wedding programs and notes I came across one that stopped me in my tracks. I had found the program for the marriage of a Ms. Diane Clutter and a Larry Stephens. Here was a wedding that I had first hand knowledge of! That I had grown up knowing and that has been a model of love, faithfulness, and charity every day of my life. I didn’t wonder if Diane Clutter and Larry Stephens had made it I KNEW. Despite the divorce rate, the broken homes we see around us, the single moms, abortions, and inconsiderate and insensitive people on both sides God has always and still raises up among us men and women to serve him and to be examples to younger generations. I’m so proud to say that two of these people are my parents.

It is my prayer that I too might be one of these people some day. That I might live as an example to others and that some day I might enter the Kingdom and hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

The CRS

I haven’t done an in depth post on what I actually do to fill up my time here in Abilene during the day so I felt that this would be an appropriate topic. As I’m sure all of you know I work in the ACU Library in the Center for Restoration Studies. Although I guess the description of what I do, preparing collections of personal materials for research and display, might sound somewhat impressive the actuality of it is quite a bit more humble. Quite simply I categorize things, when no inherent order is found, and box them.

Right now I am working on the Horace Coffman Collection. For those of you that don’t know Horace Coffman was the longest serving minister in a single Church of Christ. His ministry at the Broadway Church of Christ lasted 53 years and the number of lives he touched is simply uncountable. While there he officiated over 1600 weddings and over 2000 funerals. His records, personal files and personal papers that were donated to the ACU Library are, in a word, extensive. The collection, when I began working on it, was about 60-70% complete and yet the shear amount of material that still has to be gone through is enormous.

Looking through this material has been a window into the past for me and in many ways it has shown me where the church as well as American culture has come from. Reading an article to a graduating class, out of a newspaper not by Horace Coffman, from the 1960’s reads like something out of an Ayn Rand novel. In my perception that church has come a long way, at least in some of the literature put out, over the past several decades. Not only do I believe the church is more grace filled and tolerant but I think that it is also more accessible to the layman and the outsider as well.

Despite these positive changes, at least in my mind, there have also been moments of sadness for me. As I’ve read through this literature I believe the church has also lost some great aspects of itself. Probably the biggest one is simply the strength of our A Cappella music. Although in many ways I believe that the church has moved forward in some regards on this topic, not viewing it as a salvation issue, I am sad to say that a negative aspect of this has been a lack of interest in A Cappella music in general outside of worship. Horace Coffman directed many of the Broadway Church choirs in weekly performances at retirement homes and at countless numbers of weddings and funerals. Singing classes, choir practices and other ways in which musical gifts could be utilized were under his direction and I think that that is slowly dieing in the Church of Christ.

Although there are moments of both thanksgiving and sadness as I read this material I must say that the experience is very enjoyable. Despite the fact that in many aspects it is tedious, time consuming and sometimes progress doesn’t seem to be made I have really enjoyed my time so far in the CRS. Although my current work does not take me into the stacks of rare books ACU has centuries old Bibles, the first Spanish protestant Bible, collectible literature and much more. The stacks in the back of the CRS are what I always thought a library SHOULD look like. I am reminded more of the library we see Gandalf searching for information in the first LoTR movie than the ultra modern, sleek and fancy Starbucks and Learning Commons that is only one hundred feet away in another room. The stacks seem to ‘leak’ knowledge and if you are willing to work hard, research and spend time with the material I believe you will be richly rewarded. I look forward to spending many more hours back there learning while I work.

Next Week - The 10 most ridiculous lines I've heard in Country songs

Life of Pi

Time for a new style of blog post. This one won’t be much about me, even though things are going well here. Here’s a review/analysis of a book I just finished reading.

Life of Pi is a fun and interesting book. Although set in the real world the book definitely has a taste of fantasy in it. The story follows the journey of one Indian boy, Pi Patel, as he tries to make it to Canada. In the beginning of the story he is shipwrecked while he is traveling on a boat full of zoo animals and ends up in a life raft with a full grown tiger. The story chronicles how he survives.

Although the story was certainly fascinating some of the most intriguing parts of the book, for me, were the authors takes on religion. Having just finished a paper on religious pluralism for philosophy I found the books take on the subject interesting food for thought. The main character is a practicing Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. The rationale used to justify the position is fairly typical for this kind of discussion but the sections of the book dedicated to his search for God were intriguing, perplexing and thought provoking.

I’ll try not to spoil the ending for anyone who wants to read the book, it’s a twist, but there is some really fascinating symbolism. Although an elementary school kid could read the book and understand it there is quite a bit in the book that requires more than a cursory walk through. The book is quite graphic as well in some of its descriptions of survival on the raft and the interactions between Pi and the tiger. It’s an exciting read, filled with action, humor and parts to make you think. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new read and trying stay up with current American literature. The book is already being studied in colleges and high schools and will likely earn a permanent place there.

Sorry for the new style if you didn’t like it. I’ll try to have a post about myself next week to update everyone on what’s going on.

Graduation and Happenings Since Then

Well, 4 years after I graduated from High School I did it again. This time with my B.A. in Political Science from Abilene Christian University. I also minored in Bible. The last four years were fun and educational. I learned a lot about myself, life, and political science. I apologize for not having a new blog for a couple weeks but I finally got internet at my place and so now I should resume more regularly.

I enjoyed having everyone come down and be at my graduation. I was especially surprised when Julie told me she’d be here since she had to come all the way from Bolivia. I had a lot of fun with everyone and was very thankful for all the help Mom and Dad gave me as I moved into my new place. I’ve started working at the Center for Restoration Studies in the Library. It’s actually kind of cool. There are some boring aspects, like vertical filing for hours…, but being able to hold and look at bibles made in the 1500’s is pretty cool. For Josh and Julie, ACU has the first ever protestant Spanish bible made in 1602. There are many different collections and it’s pretty easy to get lost trying to find something in the back. I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of the summer has in store for me there. My xbox360 is getting fixed up as I write this so hopefully I’ll have it back sometime next week. Rusty, I look forward to slaughtering you online J. I have several ideas for blog posts over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned. Now that I have internet I should be back to my original schedule.

Admission

So, for those of you who don't know, I had applied to the Graduate School of Theology here at ACU. I had hoped to pursue my M. Div. and perhaps my M.A. after my undergraduate studies here. I had signed a lease a new place to live next year, gotten a job, secured a GA position at the school.... All that has been missing has been my actual admission into the grad school and a scholarship that would make it possible for me to go. I know that seems kind of backwards and it is. If I had it to do over again I definitely would have started on this process sooner.

Praise be to God, the final piece arrived yesterday. I have been admitted with an 80% scholarship and the possibility of increasing it if I do well. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for me and who have counselled me as I've tried to figure out what to do after my undergrad work. I'm so thankful to all of you and I don't think this would have been possible without you.

Flying Kites

On Saturday Janille and I headed out for a date and an afternoon of fun. Over the last 3 years I had been under the somewhat accurate impression that Abilene was in the middle of nowhere Texas and that there was nothing to do here. Over the last semester I’ve discovered that this is not necessarily the case. While Abilene is a small town there are a number of activities, organizations, and opportunities to have some good times. One of these happens to be the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature. Although it’s not very big it’s free and when you’re in college that’s a big bonus. They feature 3 or 4 artists/writers a year and have an excellent display. The featured artist when we went was Ashley Bryan. He has illustrated several books of African poetry, African American folk tales, and several picture books. We spent more than an hour looking through the exhibits and the store. Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of the museum itself but we might go back to see their other exhibits so stay tuned.

Looking at picture books is hungry work so, having finished with the museum, we went to a local park in Abilene where had a picnic lunch we had prepared that morning. It was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful, warm, and the sky was clear. Janille’s mom had also given us 2 kites over Easter weekend and we had those with us as well. I can’t remember if I have ever flown a kite before but if I had it was a long time ago. It was a lot of fun. While we were there we met a couple kids who asked if they could play with the kites too. We said “of course!” and spent the next hour or so playing with them. We finished off the day by heading down to Coldstone and having some ice-cream and finished up season 3 of lost.



Although I’m still convinced there isn’t too much to do here in Abilene, and I’m trying to space my date ideas out a little bit, I’ve found that there actually is culture, fun, and enjoyment to be had in this small Texas town. Of course having someone to do it all with helps immensely and that was definitely the greatest part of the whole day.

Easter Weekend

Over last weekend Janille and I headed down to San Antonio. Ironically we got to spend more time there over a one day break than we did over the entire week of Spring Break. We headed down Thursday afternoon after we got out of school and arrived after about a 4 hour drive. That night we watched “Marley and Me”, which I had never seen, but is the only dog movie Janille likes. If you haven’t seen it I heartily recommend it. It is a fun family flick and Owen Wilson breaks out of his normal typecast role very effectively. My initial impression, from previews I had seen, was that the film was going to primarily be about the dog. Although Marley is a main character the real star of the film is Wilson and Aniston’s relationship and marriage. The dog provides the background for showcasing a genuine and real relationship which the two actors pull of beautifully. Be warned, it is a tear jerker, and Janille and I discovered which one of us is the crier. Hint: it’s not her.


Friday morning we went to the biggest mall I have ever been to. La Cantera is a huge outdoor shopping center in San Antonio that really reminded me of Village Market, for those who’ve traveled to Nairobi. Although we went the last time we were in San Antonio they had just opened a huge new Barnes and Noble. We spent several hours wandering around the store. Highlights included reading “Yertle the Turtle”, my favorite Dr. Seuss story, to each other and spending a large amount of time in the children’s book section. I tried to get Janille interested in the Sci-fi section but the cute drawings, soft pastels, and funny stories were just to much for the spaceships, aliens, and magical forces to handle. After Barnes and Noble we ate lunch at a restaurant called Jim’s that I can best describe as a southern Denny’s. We also attempted to go to RBC Music but it was unfortunately closed for Easter Weekend. We ended up just going home and watching some episodes of Lost. (We’re in the middle of Season 3 so we’re catching up Laura!)

Saturday was our date day. In the morning we went to the McNay, an art museum in San Antonio. It was a lot of fun. Although looking at the art was enjoyable my favorite part was taking pictures on the grounds. They have a beautiful set of grounds with statues, a fountain, sculptures, and a gazebo. Although I’ve included pictures you don’t get a real good sense of it simply because we had no third party to photograph us. After the McNay we went to the English Tea Shoppe and had High Tea to culminate the day. That evening we went to dinner with Janille’s mother and grandparents which was a lot of fun.









Sunday morning began with church. Afterwards we ate lunch with Janille’s mom, grandparents, and 2 aunts and uncles and their families. We ate at Bill Millers which I can only describe as fast food Bar-b-que. After that we went back to her grandparents house and had an Easter egg hunt. We had 2 hunts, one where we, the adults hid the eggs and the kids hunted, and another where the kids hid the eggs and we hunted. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards yours truly was designated to help split up the candy between all the kids. I think Janille’s aunt wanted to “see him in action”. After all this was done we went home, packed, and drove back to Abilene. All in all it was a great trip, lots of fun, and a bunch of good memories. I’ve included some of my favorite photos.







Starting the Easter Egg hunt.

First Post

They say 60-80% of blogs are abandoned within one month. Not only that, but 66% of the blogs out there have not been updated in over two months. After debating with myself for over 6 months about the usefulness, legitimacy, problems and possibilities of a blog I have decided to start one. I feel the need to begin with both an apology and an explanation for the blog and myself. This itself is a trend with bloggers as over 70% of blogs begin with either an apology or an explanation of the blog. After finally deciding to start one this was my first argument with myself, whether to follow the herd, or just jump in. After much debate I have decided that it is necessary and proper to begin in this manner.

This blog is primarily for my friends and family. It will consist of posts mostly about my personal and academic life. I’ve always felt that having a blog was a little bit pretentious since it seems to assume that people actually want to read what I’m writing. This is an apology to those who read this blog as I am not a professional writer and I make no airs about any supposed writing ability. This is an apology for assuming that what I have to say is meaningful to anybody but myself.

This blog will hopefully be updated at least bi-weekly if not weekly. I hope to have a blog post every week based on happenings to me and books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, and my current academic pursuits. I’m going to try and avoid political issues as my primary topics. This will be a little interesting for me as a political science major. Once again this blog is primarily an outlet for me and a way for some family members and friends, who don’t have facebook, to keep up with my life. Thank you to whomever finished reading this first post. I am looking forward to my little experiment.