Complaining / contentment

My new years resolution this year is to avoid complaining. Complaining about our circumstances, or people in our lives is a direct insult to God's goodness, who has blessed us out of abundance. The idea was spawned by St. Benedict's strict ruling against complainers in monastic life:

Under no circumstances should complaining be tolerated, no matter what the reason. Anyone found complaining should be subjected to most severe punishment.
-Ch. 34, Rule of Saint Benedict

Indeed, we've all heard the whiny teenager who sounds like a spoiled brat even though their parents continually pour into them. How much more shall we whine when God continually pours into us?

But, God's also been teaching me this new year that avoiding complaining is treating the symptom, not the disease. The disease that I suffer from chronically is discontentment. No matter how many skills I have, friends I make, papers I write, Toys in the garage, I always long for more, think about how life would be better if I just had _______. Life is soo good, and being content with what i have should be a key aspect to my worship of Christ. That doesn't mean I don't hold great Hope in what God has in store for the future, but my Hope isn't in my future but God's glory.
and thats about all i've got to say about.
-mike

Belize!

I'm back from Belize! It was an amazing time. We were down there with the Word at Work working on the foundation for a community library in the valley of peace. I really enjoyed making friends in Belize, and am really planning on trying to make another trip down there either this summer or next winter to follow up on a lot of the relationships we have down there, as well as see the finished library!

The construction was hard work, but it was great to work alongside the locals and it was really fun learning a thing or two about concrete construction from the foremen down there. In the afternoons, we would usually swim in the river or pool, and drink a belikin and talk about the day. On the weekend, we went to a coffee plantation in the mountains where we jumped off of a secluded waterfall and hiked in the jungle. We also did a full moon horseback ride where a bonfire awaited us, and had a great new-years eve party with a regge DJ and lots of locals to dance with.

The end of the trip was spend on a secluded island in the Caribbean, where we had time to snorkel, relax, and decompress from our time in Belize before returning to the states. The island was beyond description, like something out of a postcard. I am also extremely thankful for the others from Boulder (Randy, Danelle, Andrew, and Kevin) that went and the way we bonded on the trip. Enjoy the pictures!!
-mike

Sin

I was getting breakfast with a friend who's really intelligent, and kind of new to the idea's of Christianity. He asked the question "Doesn't it kind of seem like a big excuse, i mean Christ dying for your sins so you're no longer responsible"

The answer is no.

Even though our sins are forgiven, they have very real and devastating consequences. They hurt us and the ones that we love. Sin must be nipped at the bud, and stopped at its earliest sign before it can corrupt. As the Lord said to Cain "Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

So often, I personally have a very complacent attitude towards sin in my own life. I've seen the very real effects of sin not stopped, and the gospel takes on new meaning for me when it warns so strictly of the consequences of sin.

God hates sin. If we are to Love God, we must hate sin to. We should grieve sin in our world, but more importantly we should grieve sin in our Church. It is important however, that we Love sinners, for we all have fallen short of the Glory.

Caught Sleeping

This past weekend there was an attack by Satan, and i was cought sleeping.

It reminds me of a couple things. We need to be intentional about EVERYTHING we do. We need to hold each other accountable, and constantly be looking out for the spiritual needs of each other and our churches.

Christ's bride isn't you, its the church. Our spiritually isn't individualistic, its corporate.

attacks can come at any time, so be ready.

One of my fav. poems

One of my favorite poems is "As I walked out one evening" by W.H. Auden. On first reading the poem, it sounds pretty depressing, but my favorite thing about the poem is the realization that humanly we can't love as well as we think we can. But, we do the best we can. here's my favorite part:

O look, look in the mirror,
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.

O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.

-mike

Christany Jargon and Beauty in small things

My buddy kyle called me out/encouraged me to a)post on my blog more and b) keep up with the photo a day thing, which i started gun-ho last week with one photo and then abandoned. The biggest problem is sometimes I can't wrap my mind around how to capture all the beauty I see, but kyle encouraged saying thats the trick of the whole thing, you've just gotta take some extra time and try. With that being said, there's two more photos up on the photo-a day site.

This weekend has been beautiful. The leaves are all in full gold and red splendor. I Had a great time yesterday biking some of the magnolia trails with a study group of guys. Except a day-ending injury for Andrew, it was a fantastic ride. "The enchanted forest" is one of my favorite little sections of trail up there now.

Church was really good today, Kirk had a great sermon. He talked about how even little things are Holy to God. It made me think a little of the photo-a day project. He encouraged us to take some extra time and enjoy life, enjoy a cup a coffee or your lunch, or a glass of wine. He also really encouraged us to read and know scripture, so we can really tell when people say things when they're true. the whole sermon was based off of Jemimah 29. If you want to listen to it, you can on the church's website.

He also said something about false prophecy that made me think a little bit. I might go on a rabbit trail here, so bear with me... or don't, whatever. All the time people are talking like "God told me to do this" and "I felt like the spirit was leading me to do this." I don't want to say the spirit doesn't move in us and God doesn't speak to us, but I do feel like we should take extreme caution saying God told us something, and its not just what we want, or what we thought. Sometimes i think of the commandment in exodus 20:7 "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name." Sometimes I wonder if when we use God's name, if we're not using it to empower our words or choices instead of really glorifying Him. Or maybe we just want to sound "holier." Anyhow, thats that thought, now on cyberspace. Be careful when using christiany jargon.

"whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
-1 cor 10:31

Photo-a-day

My friend Matt had a great idea to take a photo a day and post it online. The idea is simple, just take a photo a day. The exercise is to help you think "how can i capture this beauty, share it with others." Some people are incredibly gifted at this, I haven't thought seriously about photography since high school. I'm hoping I get some good pictures. Anyhow... My photo-a-day album is going to be online Here.

I'm also going to put a little sideshow on my webpage (which needs updating).

Also, Because I'm such a super-amateur at photography, I'd really appreciate comments on photos, what you like, what you didn't like, what I could do better (either in taking the photo, or post processing). I have a copy of Photoshop at school, so i might try to get into that a little bit...
peace!
mike