Don't Be a Tourist

After doing a little bit of world traveling, I've started to wonder how someone can actually experience a city, town, or country.  If I went to a province in China, and I only stay in one part, how can I have really known the heart of China?

As I'm writing this, I am in Bogota, Colombia, and we have just returned from a flea market.  As we sat on the curb of the street, we talked about what it means to experience a city. Thanks to Camilia, Marcela, Caroline, Jay, and Liliana for helping me make this list.  Here are some of the things we talked about to really experience a city.

- Eat in Hole-in-the-Wall Places.  Whether these are street vendors or small cafes, eat the local food as much as possible.  It might give you heart burn sometimes, but you are already across the world, live adventurously.

- Find the Local Music, and dance your heart out.  Music reflects the heart of the city, so find what locals listen to, and join in the dancing.  You are already going to stand out in most of the world, so just go ahead and commit.

- Walk Alone.  Always having a translator or guide will dampen your ability to actually look at where you are.  Wander around a market and try out those four words you know.  The worst that can happen is that you will be robbed and murdered in broad daylight...but hasn't that always been the worst that could happen?  Stop thinking about the worst thing that can happen...it'll make you a crazy person who has no fun.

- Learn the Language.  Culture and language are inseparable.  Learn as much of the local language as you can before arriving, and then spend the entire trip absorbing as much as you can.  Insisting that other people learn your language and then making no effort to learn theirs is not an option. If you don't care about other people's languages, you probably don't care very much about other people - and I've found that life is much better when you care about other people.

- Avoid the Tourist Traps.  Sometimes you rely should go to them anyway, but remember that it is not really seeing the heart of the city.  You are seeing what everybody sees, not what the locals see.

- Travel the City/Country.  Broaden your view of  the City or Country by traveling the highlands, swamplands, coastlines, and skylines.

- Learn the Geography.  It helps your understanding of a city to know where you are and the different parts of the city.

- Go to a Market.  Wander and browse the places where the locals shop.  Avoid the malls and chain restaurants.

- Don't Only Stay in the Rich Part of Town.  A lot of people are poor or middle class.  If you stay where the money is, you will experience money culture, not local culture.  Money culture is the same world round.

- Learn the Local Politics.  You don't have to start rioting in the streets with locals over fair trade, but you should learn about what makes the government tick.

- Finally, travel with an open mind and go to learn and experience, not just to take pictures.  Pictures can often take the place of experiences and give the illusion of having had an experience.  Try not taking a picture, but instead, spend five minutes absorbing the image, rather than snapping a picture and moving on without being moved at all.

Discipleship is Gardening

Jesus said that Christians are supposed to "make disciples of all nations."  I've thought a lot about what this means, to make disciples, and I think it goes far beyond just sharing the gospel or sharing our testimony.

In Mathew 13 Jesus told a parable of someone throwing seeds around on the ground.  He said that some fell on a sidewalk and the birds pecked up the seeds.  He said some seeds fell on some rocks where some dirt had gathered, and the seeds took root right away, but because there was no real soil and the plants died as soon as the hot sun hit them.  He said some fell in side a patch of thorns and as soon as the plants grew, the thorns crowded around and choked them to death.  Finally, he said that some fell on good ground and that seed made a crop that gave back a massive amount of food.

The disciples, Jesus' disciples, didn't understand what he was talking about.  To be honest, even after hearing Jesus' explanation, I didn't understand what he was talking about.

He went on to explain it by saying that the person who hears the gospel and doesn't understand it is like the seed that fell on the sidewalk - Satan comes along and snatches it away before anything can really happen.  The seed that falls on the shallow soil on the rock is like the person who gets excited and all fired up when they hear the gospel, but because they have no depth to their understanding, fall away as soon as it gets hot out.  The seed that falls in the thorn patch is someone who hears the gospel and tries to grow, but because of the cares of the world and worries that they have, let the Truth be choked out.  Finally, the seed that has depth and good soil and no weeds or rocks are like someone who receives the gospel and produces fruit because of it.

For the longest time, I thought this meant "well, you win some and you lose some, but share the gospel with everyone.  It might not stick to everyone, but that's the way the seeds fall."  To some extent this might be true, but I think it was overemphasized with me because of my history in street evangelism and open air preaching.

Sharing the gospel is throwing the seed, but discipleship is gardening.  Gardening starts long before the seeds are planted.  Gardening loosens up the soil and gets those rocks out.  Gardening is guarding against birds that snatch seeds.  Gardening is pulling those thorns out.  All of this is so that when that seed is planted it lands in good soil.

Discipleship begins long before the seed of the gospel takes root, because discipleship is preparing the ground.  Don't ignore the important and messy part of the gospel that prepares people's hearts.

Guest Post - Jordan Powell

Do What You Want to Be

My mom saw the picture of Emma Stone on my computer background. “Who is it?” she asked.

            “Emma Stone,” I said.

            “That's just a name, but who is it?”

            “An actress.” I replied.  Satisfied with this answer, my mom went back to what she was doing.

            Have you ever wondered why literally everyone resorts to the question, “What do you do?” It is the most universal small talk question there is (right next to, “Are you a student?” But that really only goes for people of a certain age). It doesn't matter if it is a social gathering or a business networking event, everybody has asked someone what he or she does.

            There is a reason people resort to this question. You might think they do it because it is easy and they can't think of anything else to say. Well, they probably do, but I think there is another reason.

            Will Durant, in summarizing words from Aristotle, said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” If you consistently program web applications, day in and day out, then you are a programmer. Thus, when people ask you what you do, they aren't just being trite. They're trying to figure out who you are.

            You do exist apart from your actions, don't get me wrong. Each person has an inner life, a soul, thoughts and dreams and character that is so much more than merely an inner concomitant of exterior activity. What you do is not the final word on who you are ontologically.

            But your actions can and do sculpt your inner character. In many of today's modern church services, anything smacking of ritual is downplayed or tossed aside; but maybe there is something to rituals. Perhaps posture in worship affects the attitude more than we know. Perhaps kneeling during prayer can help to mold an inner reality. I like to think of everything God has given us as tools that can be used for good or ill. Ritual is a tool that may certainly be abused, but I'm not sure I'm ready to remove it from my toolbox just yet.

            Here is another way externals can be internalized: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor. 15:33)

            The people you surround yourself with influence the actions you take on a regular basis, and you are what you consistently do. You may have great character at first, but as friends and acquaintances exert peer pressure on you, external actions – whether actually yours or yours by proxy – bleed into your internal life.

            This is why the old strategy of “fake it until you make it” works. The inner life rises to the challenge spelled out by your actions, however empty those actions may feel at first.

            If you act like a writer, eventually you will think like a writer. The daily discipline of putting words on paper will begin to erode away your lack of confidence. The mental routine of wracking your brain for the best way to say what you want to say will begin to organize your mind around potential stories, blog posts, or scripts as you encounter life.

            Every now and then I play back a certain kind of situation in my mind like a movie, just to keep myself scared. Not really scared, just ready – ready for the day some hotshot bigwig says to me, “So, you're a writer.” Actually, the scenario is mostly just that: a hotshot bigwig being interested in my writing, in my computer programming, or whatever I happen to be concerned about at the moment. The hotshot bigwig asks me: “What have you written?” I feel like I should have a prepared response or some backlog of stupendous work to whip out proudly and show him – this is my mental movie and I make the calls, so I really should be able to pull out a showstopper – but that's not how the movie plays out. Instead of wowing the guy, I choke. I realize with a sudden panic that, despite billing myself as a writer, I don't have much to show someone who asks.

            That usually scares me enough to do a little writing.

            Who do you want to be? Are you taking the steps to become that person? If you walk the walk, the talk will take care of itself later. Keep a careful eye on the situations you put yourself into and the company you keep.

            You may need more education or specialized training to fully take on the mantle of who you want to be, but if I had to guess, I would say you probably have enough information to take the next step. You problem isn't lack of information. It's lack of consistent action.

            Go ahead and do what you want to be.

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Jordan Powell is not just found as a guest blogger here - you can access and enjoy his personal blog here.  His blend of casual an philosophical will make you think about the things you often do, but never question.