newsletter: issue 3 - year one and beyond

Hot off the presses, here is Issue 3 of my newsletter!

July 23, 2014 marked the first day of my second year of service as a missionary. It’s cliché to say, but also true, that the year flew by, and it’s hard to imagine now that I only have about 9 months left before I finish! Although, 9 months is a lot of time, and I look forward to continuing to grow and finishing strong. Before too much more time flies by, here is a little update on my life and times! ...

I hope you'll download the full newsletter and read on. If you'd like this to arrive in your inbox or mailbox, please send me a note and I'll get you signed up. Also, consider passing this along to some young adult you know who might be interested in mission service.

Thanks for your support in many ways, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Prayer requests:

• Big praise and joy that I've finally started some medicine which is helping my back to recover from my bout with spinal arthritis!
• Continued guidance on where God would have me go and what God would have me do next.
• Healing for those affected by Ebola, and creation of a strong healthcare infrastructure in West African Nations which will help prevent disease outbreaks in the future.

reblogged: challenge accepted

First appearing on Nov 15, 2014, this is guest blog I wrote for The Book of Fellows, the blog for United Methodists Young Adult Missionaries. Check it out and see what my peers are up to and thinking about!

Over November 7-9, 2014, a few of us Young Adult Missionaries traveled to Denver, CO for Imagine What’s NEXT. Through music, messages, conversations, and fun, this UMC gathering gave college students, and folks from agencies and organizations, time and space to connect, worship, and consider opportunities for service and vocation.

On Saturday evening, we were issued the $5 Challenge. As we departed for dinner and evening worship downtown, the organizers gave each participant $5 cash. We were not to keep this, but to use it to make the biggest impact possible in downtown Denver. They gave a number of ideas like buying a package of socks to give away, treating someone to dinner, or buying a bus pass for someone. They encouraged us to take pictures of our experiences and post them on social media with the hashtag “#5challenge.”

As for the missionaries, the gears in our minds were spinning. Personally, I had just given a talk earlier in the day, and one of my points was an old standard at Church and Society: we often fail to make the distinction between acts of charity – temporary assistance for urgent needs – and justice – lasting transformation aimed at God’s Kingdom. God calls us to both through our lives of faith (Micah 6:8, Matt 23:23), but we often focus our ministries on charity. For us, the $5 Challenge was to think and act outside the box and do something a little closer to justice.

An idea budded and blossomed during break time: what if we bought sidewalk chalk and wrote messages of inspiration, encouragement, advocacy, and awareness on the streets of Denver? We ran with it. After dinner, we fortunately came upon an office supplies store 5 minutes before close (yes, we were those annoying customers). Six of us went in and spent $3 on 3 packs of chalk. We hit the streets.

Before our eyes, the results multiplied like fishes and loaves blessed by God. People read our notes as they walked by, some engaging us in conversation. Some people wanted to write words of wisdom and inspiration for themselves, so we gave them chalk to take with them on their own journeys. We tagged each of our notes “#NEXT14″ so that socially-networked passers-by might go online and see what else we were up to at the conference.
 

I like to think that people’s lives were changed, even just a little, by our “street tweets” – that someone would know that Christians carry messages of hope as well as challenge – that another might grow in their awareness that all people are valuable and treasured – that yet another would come to realize we were created to be alive and vital. A few strategic and beautiful words, bathed in the power of the Spirit, have the power to transform lives forever.

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’ –Luke 19:39-40

back in action + creative

 

Welp, it's been almost 3 months since my last blog post. Oops. So much for posts every Wednesday. It has been good to take some sabbath from the blog, and I've also had some pretty major life events in the mean time which have distracted me a bit.

In August, I moved from the Capitol Hill neighborhood to an amazing group house with 5 other Christian young adults in Petworth. We live in "intentional community" - we take turns cooking for the whole house, share all our groceries and food, split up house chores fairly systematically, pray together before meals, and generally enjoy life together. It's actually a lot like living with great family.

I've struggled with severe back pain, which kept me from going to work for about 3 weeks in September. The doctors diagnosed me with axial/ankylosing spondylitis, or spinal arthritis, which could lead to spinal fusion if left unchecked. This is chronic, and is likely a complication of another condition I have called ulcerative colitis, or inflammation of the large intestine. Both are inflammation and immune system related. My pain level is much decreased after a course of steroids, I'm back to work, and I hope to start some longer-term treatment with medicine soon. My roommates have been extremely supportive as they have surrounded me with care and food!

Near the end of September, I started to recover and felt well enough to go to New York City for US-2 midterms, which is the halfway-through-the-missionary-program time of gathering, reflection, equipping, and sending. I had a blast hanging out with my sisters in mission again. And yes - I'm the only male US-2 in my class.

Through The District Church, I've also started a small group book study with a friend. The group is based around Dallas Willard's book "Hearing God." We're all about listening for God's voice and guidance through forming a closer relationship with God as we discern our various callings in life. We also spend time just enjoying each others' company and eating snacks. Let me know if you think you'd like to join us!

Finally, I'm coming to the realization that I've only got 9 months left as a US-2. Just 9 months! The natural question is: what comes next? I'm still quite interested in engineering and think about it almost daily. My work as a US-2 has sharpened my understanding about the many struggles humanity faces, and how Christians have a general calling toward ending those struggles. There are a number of ways I see to integrate the two worlds of engineering and faith-based justice, and I've enjoyed the opportunity to explore those intersections.

Over the next weeks and months, I'm going to share more about these and all of the other things I'm thinking about and experiencing. I just wanted to take a moment to catch up and summarize. I hope to be back in action on at least a semi-regular basis going forward.

I also want to introduce a new feature of my blog. I think I'll just call them "creative" posts. I discovered that one of my great joys in life is doing work with my hands - manual dexterity - tactile thinking and learning and processing. I actually do some artsy things on occasion, like drawing, writing, poetry, alternative prayer styles, cooking, and I might even try my hand at brewing beer at some point. I've kept many of these things tucked away, but I plan on sharing more of them.

One type of drawing I like to do is graffiti-style sketches. Below is one I did on Sunday while I took some sabbath time.

Prayer requests:

• That I am released from or can make peace with the pain I experience with the spinal arthritis
• Continued guidance on finding a fulfilling vocation when I finish the US-2 program
• Relief for our may friends, brothers, and sisters in West Africa who struggle with Ebola

training memories: beets and kale

This is guest blog I wrote for The Book of Fellows, the blog for United Methodists Young Adult Missionaries. Check it out and see what my peers are up to and thinking about! The image below is an original digital collage created by searching Google for images of "beets and kale" and taking a screenshot of the result.

Nearly one year ago, I started training as a missionary. I was in the process of passing off, dumping off, and shrugging off 6 years of grad school and entering into something completely new.

During training, I entered into relationship and covenant with 28 other amazing young adults who are committed to serving God and all people. We spent 3 weeks together where we bonded over many things. One of them was food.

Much of our training took place at Stony Point Center, a retreat center in New York. Stony Point has an organic farm, and a good amount of the food they served for meals came from the farm.

As farming goes, certain crops become ripe and ready at particular points in time. For us, two staples were beets and kale. On our first day, we savored all of the ripe food, plucked from the earth hours earlier, cooked, and delivered to our dinner plates. With food that fresh, I swear you could taste the sunshine it bathed in as it grew. Over the next few days, there was plenty more, and also prepared differently for variety. “Beets and kale again? Yes please!”

By the end of training, we were pseudo-prophets, predicting what vegetable duo would be served to us that day. We groaned, both because our taste buds longed for something different and because someone told another bad beets and kale joke. We beatboxed, not using the phonetics “boots and cats,” but instead “beets and kale.” These common vegetables became legendary.

Near the end of our training, we reflected on the entire experience. As much as we remembered about justice, spiritual health, living in community, and many others, we could not shake “beets and kale” from our minds. It went on the summary list.

In an epiphany moment, I tied it back to my own story. I had been living a beets and kale kind of life. I plugged away at the same old thing day after day, not really loving it and not really sure where it was taking me. The chance to serve as a missionary changed everything. I got to leave that old life behind and go on an exciting journey that God called me to.

July is a mad season for Generation Transformation Young Adult Missionaries in the UMC. My missionary class closed year one and enters year two of service, the class before us finished their term, and the new class of missionaries was recently trained and commissioned in the Philippines.

In this season, how will we choose to leave behind the ordinary, the mundane, and the everyday beets and kale in exchange for the abundant life promised to us by Christ? Can we leave behind everything we want in order to follow the One who promised everything we need?

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Mark 1:16-18 NRSV

year 2, day 1

One year ago today, I was a wide-eyed, hopeful candidate for mission service on my way to New York City to begin training to become a young adult missionary. I was walking away from six years of grad school. I had two engineering journal papers sitting on desks of editors, waiting to be approved. I still had a year left on my lease at my apartment and was hoping and praying for a subletter. I just had last meetings for ice cream, drinks, bike rides, and dinner with some of my greatest friends. I met brand new people and made connections. I had lots of conversations about wrapping things up, handing things off, and staying in touch.

I had never experienced such a feeling of living in the moment. There was no planning. All the plans had been made, and then was the time to execute. I had to fully trust in the Spirit to stay afloat.

I had no idea what I would encounter in the next three weeks during training. My brothers and sisters in mission, along with their hopes, dreams, experiences, and callings. The issues of justice, those hard and heavy topics that I never learned about in school. The leaders, going to bed later and getting up earlier than any of us to guide us through our transition. The city. The bagels with schmear. The farm. The fleas. The beets and kale. The complaining. The unity. The worship.

And then we were commissioned, sent as missionaries far and wide as agents of transformation who would be transformed in the process.

Things fell into place. I was able to sublease my apartment. I cleaned out and gave away lots of stuff. I packed up and moved home briefly. I finally found an apartment in DC, and I moved in a week later. I got down to business.

During my first several months, I felt myself grow a lot in many ways. I had a lot of responsibility due to some transitions in the director of my placement, which I loved. I learned more and more about all of the hidden craziness (both good and bad) going on in our world, and came to greater understanding of my own privilege and ways that others are privileged over me (the latter, admittedly, are fewer). Finding ways to keep in touch with people in far away places became even more of a priority for me. I started playing Frisbee on the National Mall.

It’s been a wild and amazing ride.

That brings me to today, the halfway point. I have 364 more days to live this life before my term is officially completed. Recently, I feel like I’ve plateaued in a lot of ways. I’ve now heard all of our regular speakers for the Seminar Program, though we are recruiting more. I’ve settled into the day-to-day planning and follow-up activities of our work. I’m not feeling as challenged as I was before. I’m hoping to come up with some new ways to stretch and grow, and I know listening to God is going to be key to that.

I’m also looking to the future. The biggest question still remains: what is God calling me to? Engineering? Ministry? Education? Seminary? Something else?

I don't have a nice bow to put on the end of this post, so I'll leave it here.

Prayer Requests:

• As I begin my second and final year of mission service, that God would speak to me, and that I would have ears to listen to God and all the things that God has placed in me.
• For my brothers and sisters in mission, that those who have been in transition would find peace and that we all would be renewed, ready to finish the race.
• For my family, who are dealing with health problems.

my most important question: what am i doing here?

On June 22, I got the honor of sharing part of my call story and a question that I've wrestled with at The District Church. Every year, TDC has a sermon series called My Most Important Question where people from the congregation are invited to share a question that they have dealt with or continue to deal with. I love the spirit of this series - it gives people an opportunity to tell their stories, celebrating the fact that the faith journey is not an easy journey and that our questions, our messy experiences, and our intimate encounters with God and people are critical to that journey.

In the audio below, Pastor Justin gives an intro to the series, and then three of us share our stories in sequence. I'm the second speaker, between my friends Laurie and Bethany. My part starts around 17 min 45 sec and lasts about 10 minutes, but you're welcome to listen to the other two, who also had great things to say!

Laurie spoke about her struggle of seeking approval, especially from her mother, but not finding it. She asks, "Do they not notice me?" My talk hinges around my moment of consciousness, when I realized that getting my Ph.D. in engineering wasn't where I was called to be. In that moment, I asked "What am I doing here?" Bethany describes her tough years with a bad marriage and divorce, along with the additional fear of the stigma the church may put on divorced people, as she asks, "Where is joy in my trials?"

Take a listen, and I hope you are blessed!

when did we stop playing?

How would you define imagination? When I asked my seminar participants this today, they used some of these words and phrases: Visioning. Dreams. Transcendent humor. Even Spongebob.

I followed that up by reading the creation story, Genesis 1:1 – 2:4, from the Message version of the Bible. While it’s really not what you want to use for serious Bible study or exegesis, I really like to pull out the Message once in a while for its fresh, earthy, and non-academic language. Through the scripture, it’s fun to watch, in your mind’s eye, the creation story unfold as God’s divine imagination becomes a reality. I like to think of God as an engineer (big surprise, right?). God imagined the universe, designed it, and then built it – speaking it into existence.

I can remember being young and climbing all over a fallen tree with my friends and my brother, pretending the tree was a spaceship. We’d land on alien planets, fire the lasers, and gather “crystals” (aka, bottles and jars we found in the dirt, filled with creek water) to power the ship. We would run around in the woods and play all day on those warm, summer days until it got dark and our parents made us come inside.

When I was visiting the Seminar Program in New York City last fall, one of the speakers, a theater guy, asked us to pretend we were in all kinds of interesting situations: walking through honey, hurrying somewhere on the coldest day of the year, on your way to your first date with the girl/guy of your dreams. At the end of all this, he asked a question that hit me like a ton of bricks.

When did we stop playing?

Whoa. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I/we haven’t completely stopped playing, but it really isn’t something that happens on a daily basis. I remember a few weeks ago, a few friends and I were hanging out, and we pulled out some Nerf guns (sorry pacifists) and ran around the house marking each other in good fun! For others, playing looks like finding creative ways to make running a mile more challenging.

This kind of playing is all good fun (depending on who you are) and can be a needed escape from reality, but others still have found more humanitarian ways to play and exercise imagination. At Capitol Hill UMC, we have begun a sermon series promoting the UMC Imagine No Malaria campaign. It’s all about visioning and moving toward a world where malaria, a disease that claims a life every 60 seconds, is no longer a reality. We want to eradicate it worldwide, just like we did in the US in the 1950s. Simple preventative measures, such as a $10 bed net, along with education on how and why to use it, can protect a family from malaria-carrying mosquitoes while they sleep, the time when people are most vulnerable to bites and subsequent infections. Think about ways you might get involved in this, or something else that inspires your passion and sparks your imagination.

As I write this, I come to this thought: aren’t the times we feel most alive also the times when we are playing, brainstorming, and letting our imaginations soar? I hope you get a chance to get outside and play today.