and they're back

exercising their First Amendment right not to take showers.

fire in the hole!

There's smoke billowing from the sewer. How does this happen?

am I house-sitting, ...

... or is Ebony Wissa-sitting?

thanks, occupy

For ruining the park for everyone! That'll teach em! Wait... what are we teaching, again? And, to whom?

itty bitty coffee

Perfect for staying awake through class and napping after class.

pacing

If you look closely, you'll notice we are behind a "pacing vehicle" on the connector. also, the speedometer reads "0." this is a great pace for downtown, don't ya think?

it rips my heart apart...

...to be so far from the baby i love so much. i seriously can't stand it. think about her instead of sleeping, studying, whatever else i should be doing. constantly go over and over my budget in my mind trying somehow to squeeze out the money to visit. i hate this. i hate it to tears. hurting tears.
-mo

fighting friendlies

love this boy.

froyo

Free froyo with Pam! A good day.

thank them for serving!

Click this banner and write a letter. Deadline: Friday, October 28.

tuition at work

Really? Buzz Card needs a truck?

bad Christians

During a seminar at school this week, Lily and I were professionally attentive, as usual. As we passed notes back and forth, an interestingly involved and spiritual conversation arose. She asked me why all Christians do not obey Biblical principles. Somewhat hesitantly, I wrote and explained the phrase "bad Christians." I hesitated because, really, all of us are "bad," and some of us are Christians. Logically, it follows that all Christians are "bad Christians."

I walked to my car thinking about my use of the adjective bad to describe a subset of Christians. As I thought, I concluded these two words are a beautiful summary of so much of the hope that Jesus offers. In a world where so much of who we are is defined by what we do, God's unfailing, unconditional love is an anomaly. He loves without condition, and He forgives on only one condition: that I accept it. Because my Christian identity depends not on who I am nor on what I do but solely on who God is and what He does, I can, in fact, be both bad and a Christian.
Whew!
-mo

{Of course, a good Christian's goal, although he may never attain it, is not to be bad (see 1 Peter 1.14-15).}

Occupy

whom are these ppl punishing? I'm confused about the link between their message - which I find interesting and somewhat compelling - and their method - which I find confusing and somewhat absurd.

but no cigar

prof says "close." lol.

exit here

awesome...

...does not adequately describe today in the life of mo.

woke up late this morning, took a late shower, stopped for a late breakfast on the way to arriving late for Rooted (sunday school).

walked into Rooted to find my youth shooting their own version of MJ's Thriller video. hysterical. played a few serves of ping pong with some of the boys, then settled in to study the word of God. as noted in a previous post, today's topic was choices, tackled using the story of Jacob's stealing Esau's blessing (Genesis 27). as usual, we started by reading through the story and recapping its events. then, we moved into discussion of what God had to say to us through this passage this morning. that's when the awesome happened.

first, a little background: for two and a half years, my coworkers and i have prayed that our youth would know God and His word. Even the few whose parents attend church have demonstrated impressively little knowledge of the Bible, so i began in Rooted to teach through the stories of the Bible, the stories i have always taken for granted, having been taught them since my days in the church nursery. the going has been very slow and often discouraging. i have several times tweaked my style while always striving to remain true to the goal of teaching God's word just for what it has to say, very little fluff or commentary, allowing God to speak for Himself. often, i have felt no one was listening. today, God proved that feeling wrong.

everything we have been praying for and working for with our youth in Rooted happened today. as we discussed Jacob's story and its application to our lives, the students (all middle schoolers, almost all from un-churched families) began, without prompting, to quote other scripture and to reference other Bible stories that were relevant to today's topic. i sat speechless and in awe as God spoke through and to His youth.

why am i surprised when God does God-sized things? that's just what He does. over and over. but, as an unworthy vessel being used in His master plan, i will never cease to be amazed at what He does.

Rooted ended when, before i even asked, one of the youth raised his hand and asked, "can i pray?" my "of course!" was followed by one of the most beautiful, most sincere prayers ever to have been uttered in that room.

nope... awesome just doesn't cut it.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (eph 3.20-21)
-mo

Pounce in the park

cute.

new desk

I work in here now.

high calling

I really like the following leader prep devotion from my Sunday school lesson for tomorrow. From Simply Youth Ministry's LIVE: Books of the Bible study. I hope this speaks to you like it did to me. An encouraging, convicting, amazing Gentle Whisper.
-mo

Read Genesis 27:1-14, 30-35, 41-45.

Jacob is one of the more fascinating yet confusing characters in Scripture. His life is full of twists and turns. He makes decisions that seem selfish or even deceitful. Yet God stays faithful to his covenant with Abraham to make a great nation, and that covenant goes squarely through Jacob. Jacob’s life story provides one reminder after another that God’s ways are different than ours! It’s simply challenging to always understand how and why God chooses to deal with Jacob the way he does.

This lesson focuses on a terrible decision Jacob made—a decision that was encouraged and assisted by his mother, Rebekah. God had already told Rebekah that the promise given to Abraham would pass through Jacob (the younger brother) not Esau (Genesis 25:23). Knowing this, Rebekah sees an opportunity to force God’s promise by fooling her aged and half-blind husband, Isaac. Jacob foolishly agrees with only a mild protest—one that is based more on getting caught not on the morality of the situation (Genesis 27:11-12).
What we see in Genesis 27 is an example of making a choice based on an outcome that is seemingly in line with God’s will. God had made Rebekah a promise. She and Jacob were simply acting in order to bring about that promise—right? The only problem is that the decision itself was wrong. Before we judge Rebekah and Jacob, of course, we must understand how common this thinking is.

Teenagers live this reality all the time. They tell white lies because they think they are protecting a friend. They gossip knowing it will get back to the individual, when they should simply go to him or her personally. They speed to get somewhere on time. They cheat to pass a test. They demonstrate the same behavior in a million different ways each day. And let’s be honest: Adults do this, too.

The problem with this, of course, is that we are called to be holy, to live righteously. We are called to live as Christ himself lived. First Peter 1:15-16 says this: But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” God wants us to do what is right in every circumstance. We are called to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-15), to stand out in the world as people who live differently. The decisions we make—the big ones and the little ones, the public ones and the private ones—reveal to the world that we are Christ-followers. Choosing what is right is in our spiritual DNA.