come on baby light my fire.

this evening i was reminded that some things will never really change. their appearance may morph, but fires are fires.

the garage apartment neighbors invited melissa for s'mores as she got to her home tonight. they were cooking them around their new fire pit (which is pretty sweet - it's similar to the linked picture). this is amazing because the couple has tended to be a bit shy and closed-off most times in passing. however, i have been reminded of late that fire brings people together.

whether camping or in the backyard or in the living room, the warmth of a fire touches a part of our soul. it reaches deep down and pulls out of us our basic desires for community. at fires people gather, they sit and think silently and aloud, they tell stories, cook and eat food, laugh, drink, stare, and share common ground.

we talked about movies, and music, chickens, trees, personal stories, cats, restaurants, austin. nothing too deep. it was great fun. truly a spark that may ignite a great friendship between us, maybe not - but it was still a wonderful hour and a half. all because they invited and mel said yes. a simple invitation. a sharing of a flame.

so much joy from taking wood, burning it, sitting around and staring at fire. more than likely, i shall puchase a similar pit soon. so - this is an open, future invite to come and commune at the fire.

BEE.

Bees get a bad wrap due to their stingers, but really – they’re just trying to do their jobs. We can really learn from them. Come to find out, they truly live in community. They familiarize themselves with their surroundings three weeks after thier birth. The entire purpose of the worker bees is to fly from the hive and pollinate (nice “buzz”word – oh, the puns) flowers for the good of the hive. They actively engage their world and come back to the hive for rejuvenation and strength and to report their findings in the outside world by doing a little dance to point other bees to the good nectar. They point other bees to places that are good for food and help the entire community.

Though we are not bees, in a call to BE Christ to our world, we can learn a lot from the insects. They live and work together in harmony. They engage and transform their world as part of a system that is greater than themselves. They dance (something we should all do more often). They reproduce, creating disciple-making bees (it’s a stretch, but that’s ok). They enjoy their daily task because that is what God created them to do.

Learn. Engage. Live. Pollinate. Commune.

BEE.

rolling on the river...

“In my two days in that town I never heard an unkind word or criticism of anyone. The love, unity and fellowship I saw there are only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am quite prepared for God to perform miracles in the twentieth century.”
- visitor to Yugoslavia, upon seeing the results of teens loving each other

The river yesterday was close to arctic in the morning. Yet, an entire day of tubing awaited our group. We jumped in and began our journey down the Comal River together. Smiles, splashing, jokes, surfing the tube, just chillin’ out in God’s creation. Twas a wonderful time to be perfectly honest. I caught some good rays (maybe a bit too many seeing as I aloe-vera’d about 8 times last night), talked to many a student and leader, enjoyed a most excellent turkey sandwich for lunch, and drove back worn out. At the end of the day, this was one of the best times we’ve had together all summer.

As I read this quote this morning from Celtic Daily Prayer, It reminded me of our time yesterday. As a community of “tuber’s” we were able to have a total unity of the Spirit. Seemed to me that tubin’ was one of the greatest fellowships we’d had all summer. New people meeting each other while floating, giving kind words to the passersby, checking up on each others’ lives – all while “wasting” time on the river.

Based on the definition of church I’ve come to love – church as the “called out ones.” We definitely had church yesterday. We floated as a body of believers with unity in the Spirit. It wasn’t just another HS event. Rather it was people who love the Lord interacting, living, sharing with each like the first century Christians. We are the body of Christ. Amidst the world, anyone could pick us out on the river. I don’t think anyone stopped smiling the entire time, we had more fun on that river as Christians than anyone who is not a Christian.

Why can’t this happen everyday? In our homes, schools, sports teams. Why won’t we step up and live like Christ at all times? Many times we just won’t accept the fact that we are the body of Christ – which gives us the courage to do so. Band together with friends who desire to live for more than this world has to offer. Ask your non-Christian friends to float the river and just talk to them about their lives. Don’t just invite them to church. Understand that you can ask them to float the river and encourage them in Christ right there on the water with your very life. Be Christ to them in all areas of your life. Just Be. They world will understand.

If people were to catch a vision of Christ to transform their world, I have no doubt that, as was the case in Yugoslavia, many would come to know Christ, the churches would be filled with people everyday, miracles would be rampant, and a country would never BE the same way again.

I've been bitten.

Sometimes the web won’t come. The end of the line. The freedom and joy has become monotony and duty. What once was a pursuit of passion has become the folly of mortals following after the wild insanity of a falsified reality.

Spiderman caught me in the web tonight. Peter’s humanity shown through his spider costume. He became a real character for me. Struggling to define himself in a world where definition is in the suit you wear and not the (super - in this case "spider") man underneath. Somewhere along the line, he became so caught in the web of do-gooding and self-denial that he forgot why he began in the first place.

Peter had a higher calling. He wasn’t a fluke of nature. His future was determined when the spider forever changed his life. From then on he was a new man. A different kind of man. Even though he attempts to do too much in an effort to validate his own worth, he can not deny his calling to fight on behalf of society.

The web's malfunction wasn’t the problem, Peter’s mindset was. He lost “focus” on his real calling. He had become so distracted by trying to please people that he had lost his own pleasure, he had forgotten that he enjoyed helping people; that his helplessness in the death of Uncle Ben did not have to happen to those around him. Peter is Spiderman, Spiderman is Peter. There’s no separating them. Spiderman is part of his identity - they are seamlessly interwoven. He had merely lost the focus he needed to fulfil his life's calling.

Only when Peter realizes this is he able to fully admit his true love for Mary Jane. She knew he wasn’t giving her his full heart, he had to be himself to love her correctly. In the end, he finds himself. He finds a Peter whose only duty is to use the talent he’s been given for the good of others. Holding it in for himself is nothing short of cheating. MJ catches hold of it too. She just wanted his honesty.

We can not change who we are in Christ. We can not pretend to be something we are not. For those saved by Christ, we live a double life if we do not fully embody the life of Christ to all people at all times. We become confused when we try to segment our lives in different ways. When we try to live for ourselves at times and for Christ at others, we become confused at the core of who we are.

Yet – when we live in all aspects according to the Spirit, we become full and complete. Working for the good of everyone around us as well as ourselves is not a duty, it is our passion and delight. When we take seriously God’s commands to love God with all of our lives we find that to live is Christ and to die is gain. We find our being in him and our death greater than all else.

Until this is realized, loving others, loving God and being content with who we are in Christ will not jive. Peter is in the Spiderman costume because it is who he is on the inside, not who he becomes when he puts of the suit.

I am in Christ all the time, not because of the good deeds of religious life, but because I am a new creation in Christ from the inside out, created to do good works which he prepared in advance for me to do.

Whole-life discipleship requires commitment, practice and sacrifice. Whole-life discipleship yields joy, freedom, and change.