Something Fantastic and Trivial

Did you know, that if you took those old root ends of green onions, put them in a cup of water, they would grow again?  They do.  The tallest one has been in there about a week and a half.

Here is why I think that is amazing.

We chopped it up, used the green onion to season rice, and plopped the root ends into water.  This plant took air, sunlight, and water and has transformed those three things back into an onion!  Anyone who farms or gardens is probably rolling their eyes at this point, wondering what the big deal is.  Here's the big deal: this thing is sitting there, calmly and fantastically recreating itself.  It knows it's an onion, and it knows that given the simple conditions of water, air, and sun, it can clone itself just so your rice can be seasoned again.

This thing sits in dirt, and it has done something that I couldn't imagine doing in all of history.  Imagine amputees sticking their severed limbs in a bucket of water, sitting in the sun, calmly growing their limbs back? 

I almost think that this is a more pure form of "renewable energy" that everyone clamors about.  Maybe if we payed more attention to the renewable energy source that has been sustaining us all these years, rather than finding a renewable energy source that can sustain our rapidly growing technological obsessions, we would find what we're looking for.  

My Favorite Place in Jacksonville

I like to write about things that I love.  This is about my favorite coffee shop in Jacksonville.  It’s a little place called “Sippers Coffee House.”  If you are a local to Jacksonville, or even if you just make it to town every once in a while, you need to stop by this place – you will fall in love with it.  This is the Yelp rating on it.

It is a quaint little shop on the corner of a small little island of other little shops.  There is an old stereo against the wall that is always playing the old songs of the 40’s - 60's.  Right now, as I sit in the small study booth they have, a big band is playing on the radio and it’s riffing off a light jazz melody. 

There are two old wooden pews against one wall with a couch and two comfy chairs with a lamp between them.  In one corner, there is a piano with the cover up, keys exposed, tempting anyone to sit down and play.  There is a TV that is always on silent, and almost always has old black and white movies playing. 

On the way to the bathrooms, you’ll notice a rack with white boxes stacked up that say “Fresh Vegetables” on the side.  Sippers doubles as a pickup location for the Veggie Bin, a service you can sign up for that allows you to buy in season, fresh vegetables from local farmers.  From what I gather, you never quite know what’s going to be in the box – just that it was grown locally, some are certified as strictly organic, and that they are the veggies that are in season.

As part of the décor, there is an old coffee grinder that is actually identical to the one my family used when I was growing up.  Until just now, I didn't realize how odd it was that we used something this antique to grind our coffee beans each morning, but I also love that we did. 

There is a world map on the wall with probably two hundred pins stuck in various places around the globe.  There is a small box of pins and you are encouraged to pin anywhere in the world you have been. 

So far, I have said nothing about the coffee, bagels, pastries, tea, iced smoothies, free wifi, home made cookies, or even their cold chicken salad sandwiches which are really top notch, because they are only one part of the reason I love Sippers. 

My favorite thing about Sippers is a recent addition.  The bookshelf against one wall will now be a community library, where you can grab books you want to read and put books you don’t use.  I love this idea, not only because it was my suggestion (though they had been meaning to do something like it for a while), but because it gives me one more reason to stop by and spend an afternoon. 

On Faces

I find it interesting, and a little hilarious, that I cannot see my own face without outside help.  

I remember the first time I really realized the significance of not being able to see my own face. I was at Summit Ministries in Dayton, Tennessee, the summer of 2007. The topic my small group was discussing somehow went way off track, and we ended up talking about bathrooms for some reason. My small group leader mentioned that he might go in the bathroom, simply to see if he had any foreign objects on his face. As the discussion went on, my mind stayed with that off-handed comment. 

Bare with this little tangent for a moment.  My small group leader needed to use an outside source (the mirror) to see if there was anything that didn't belong on one of the most distinct things about him (his face). Surely, if there was one part of our bodies that it would make sense for us to be able to see, it would be our face. 

But here we are, our over-developed acne, the bit of mayonnaise and the running mascara, all out of our view. Surely we are unaware of these hideous blemishes which shout their presence to all who have eyes. Because we are unaware, we do nothing about them. They stay there, for all the world to see; as we continue on in our self-confidence, unaware that anything is wrong. 

The reason that I found this off-handed comment so interesting is what it might reflect about our human nature. Is it possible that the most distinct features and the characteristics by which others know us are hidden from our view without the help of an outside source to see them?  If the most obvious thing about us also happens to be our biggest blind spot, then we most certainly need to be in community with other people.   

There is no doubt in my mind that we were created to be in community - to need other people to function as a whole person.  

In the first chapter of James, the author uses this example when talking about being a doer of the word, and not just a hearer. It says: 
“…he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.” 

Rest: Our Response to The Beautiful

If insomnia were a character quality, I would be venerated on the spot. 

I do feel fortunate, though, that my particular flavor of insomnia only strikes when I have some kind of idea which I am excited to flesh out.  This means that as far as long, lonely nights go, mine are fairly productive.  Insomnia is my response to the curious.

Sleep is an interesting idea, spiritually speaking.  We are no doubt familiar with the concept of rest and how that is something God wants us to do – no doubt, for our own good.  Those two must not be exclusively the same since one can have a restless sleep and a restful experience while fully awake.

This reminds me of an experience Caroline and I had in a museum in St Augustine.  We were wandering around the city, with nothing in particular to do, and we poked our heads into a small art museum.  I cannot tell you why, because art has so rarely affected me in any significant way, but Caroline and I were moved to silence by this art.  We stayed in this small shop for close to two hours, looking at each piece by an artist I cannot now recall.  Two hours we marveled in the face of the beautiful.  When we walked out of that small shop, and were reborn into the street of St. Augustine, I took a deep breath of the hot afternoon air, and felt like I had just woken up from a long and restful sleep. 

One of my favorite words is “insatiable,” because it has a driving sense of internal thirst for something.  I often feel this driving thirst, and I think it is this thirst that keeps me awake at nights.  It is my curiosity monkey that will not leave me alone.  But when we walked out of that museum, we were satiated – full and content.

To rest is to relax every muscle in your mind and come to rest in the eye of a storm, momentarily knowing that it is okay. 

I think rest is our response to the beautiful.  This may be why God gave us beautiful Sunday afternoons to take a picnic somewhere, or sit at the beach, or walk in the woods.  I think He likes it when we experience rest as a response to His beauty.  Our greatest rest, of course, comes gradually, as we see more and more of Him.   

That Nameless Quality

It would seem that after all the study of what character is and how it should be cultivated, every possible character quality would have a definite name.  But I have one to add that I have yet to find a name for.

I have breakfast with a group of men every Tuesday morning at 6:00am.  Each of these men are significantly older than I am - almost any one of them could be my father.  One of the reasons I need this time for my own growth as a person, is that each of them has this nameless quality that sits on the tip of my tongue, but avoids being pinned down with a single word.  

Let me describe it.

There seems to be a kind of restedness that comes with living a long and full life - A kind of settled wisdom.  It is the kind of settled wisdom that comes from having spent many years walking with God and having been forgiven of many faults and having seen provision in many ways, having been very, very wrong and still loved in spite of it.  It's the kind of calmness that says "I've seen this before...yeah...it's gonna be okay."  It's the peace that comes with experience.  It's the assurance that comes with having seen a lot.  

It's like anxiety and worry have given way to faith and peace.  If there is a word for this, I do not know it.  But this realization tells me that language is running as fast as it can to keep up with the depths of our pursuit of God, and that it is not doing well.  

Maybe it's best that it doesn't have a name.  Maybe, like the character quality itself, it is best to be experienced, rather than discussed.  Maybe language will always fall short of the depths of the human soul.  If so, that gives me great hope for the human soul.

Thoughts on Jesus and my Heart

*This idea, and most of its development, is due to Quinten Miller, in a conversation we had over breakfast this morning. 

  

The Christian idea that Jesus lives in your heart has always troubled me.  I know that it is meant to be poetic, and representative, and spiritually speaking, but still, it has always sat funny in my mind.  Allow me to be a bit critical for a moment – it has always seemed that if Jesus could fit in my heart, he is a very small Jesus, because my heart seems like a small place.  When I imagine the scene of Jesus moving into my heart, I imagine it looks something like this.

Me: “Hi Jesus, come on in…oh, you didn’t need to wipe your feet, but thanks anyway.  Woah, it got pretty cramped in here, didn’t it?  Lemme just…no, well if you…yeah, I’ll stand here and put my arm liiiike this…so then you have room to sit down on that corner right there.  There.  Comfortable?  No?  Sorry about that.  Can I get you something to drink?  Oh, I can’t quite get to the sink…oh, you brought living water?  That was nice of you.  Well.  This is….cozy…..*long pause*…..so…..you’re here for eternity huh?  …know any games?

To really understand the poetics of what happens when the idea of Jesus living inside us, we need to broaden our understanding of what our internal selves are.  Imagine the space you are in right now.  Move out to the building you are in and imagine the whole aerial view.  Picture the city block.  Move out again to the side of town.  Move out again the whole city with its surrounding cities.  Move out again to the view of the state as a whole.  The country.  The hemisphere.  The world.  Move out again to the solar system.  The galaxy.  You can’t even make out the speck that is the world you live on at this point.  Move out again where our galaxy is a small part within the surrounding galaxies, and further and further out. 

This is not simply an exercise in the grandiose or the awe inspiring or the sublime.  Come back to the room you are occupying right now.  Zoom in on your chest cavity.  Zoom in again on your lungs and internal organs.  Zoom in to the fluid that surrounds and maintains the environment that keeps you breathing without any conscious thought on your part.  Zoom in again on the droplets of fluid that keep you alive.  Zoom in again on the molecules that comprise that drop, and the smaller elements that comprise those molecules.  Even closer at the atoms that make up those elements. 

There is an infinity in both directions – outward and inward.  Socially speaking, we could give our lives and energies to developing the external infinity, the impact we can have on others or the affect we can have on the world.  We can put up a front of caring or empathy or a façade of love, and neglect the infinity that is our internal selves.  How many pastors or ministers have given their lives to ministry, only to wreck their marriages and compromise their integrity?  What good is it to give your life for a cause, when you have neglected the infinite inward self that makes up your soul? 

I now have a new understanding of what it means for Jesus to be inside my heart.  Here is what it looks like:

Fog is rolling in from somewhere in front of me.  It is quiet and dark where I’m standing.  I take one step and the sound of my foot goes out into the darkness and seems to never stop.  There are no markers for me to get my bearings, and there is so little light I can hardly see past the fog that my breath makes.  It’s cold.  I shout.  Jesus is supposed to be here somewhere.  I wave my hands around in a circle trying to feel for anything.  Suddenly, Jesus is next to me.

Jesus: “Hi Stephen.”

Me: “Hello Jesus.”

Jesus: “Do you know what I want to do in here?”

Me: “Live, I guess?  There’s more room in here I think, you’re welcome to set up camp wherever you like…”

Jesus: “Live?  Yeah, sure, we’re going to live, but what I’m really looking forward to, is turning everything you see into something.”

Me: “What are you going to turn it into?”

Jesus: “A garden.” 

Question Everything

Warning: This idea has the potential to be abused by the people who simply want support for their unhealthy, bias rebellion. This is not what I am advocating. This idea of questioning what we naturally assume is simply a technique which should be used in moderation and in a spirit of truth. Dear rebellious heart, I do not side with you or support your rebellion; I simply want those who blindly follow what the person ahead of them to wonder if they know where they’re going. This is not to incite rebellion; it is to inspire thought. There is a severe shortage of those who think; there is never a shortage of those who rebel. Please think.

This is based on the premise that there is a truth to be known; that truth can be attained. Granted, this idea of an attainable truth is not very popular in our humanistic, postmodern society, but I believe that if you search for truth, it can be found. I believe that our God is a God of order and design; that He has not set us adrift in the sea of blind luck and chance. I believe that our God has His hand in our world and is directing our world in a particular way. Matthew 6:25-26 says

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

I believe that since our God is at work in our world, and that since our God is a God or design and order, we can see that design and order in His creation. Since we can see the design and order in the physical world, I believe we should be able to see the same design and order in the spiritual world as well.

I don’t know where you are right now as you read these words, but I can be fairly certain that you are in a physical location (ie. Your bed, a desk, couch, bath tub, outside…etc). So since I am sure that you are in a physical location, let’s do an exercise to illustrate what I mean. In a minute, I want you to look up from this note and look for, and note everything in the room that is red (if there is nothing in the room that is red, then pick a different color). Ready? Go.

(Seriously…why are you still reading? Just bear with me and try it.)

How did it go? Did you find stuff that was red? In the room I’m sitting in (I wrote this in the dorms at CIU) I can see the red gauge on the heater, the red light blinking on the smoke detector, the red light on my radio, some red letters on a bag of sugar, a red calendar and a warning label on a wire. Now think about it: without looking up, how many things in the room could you name from your search that are blue? Because you weren’t looking for things that were blue, you may find it difficult to recall from memory things in the room that are a different color than the one you were looking for.
What am I trying to say here? The point is that you found what you were looking for. You set out with a goal of something to find, and you found it. But you also didn’t find something else. Not only did you find something, you didn’t find something too. You set out to find red, and you found it. You did not set out to find yellow, and you (probably) didn’t find it. This is an encouragement and a warning.

If you set out to find truth, you will find what you’re looking for. This is true unless you either have a distorted concept of what red looks like, or there are no red things in the room you are currently in. The distorted color problem can be solved by fixing your idea of what red looks like. The lack of red objects in a room can solve itself by changing your physical location.

In a larger sense, if you set out to find out the truth about a bigger subject than colors, you will find it, provided you don’t have a distorted idea of what that truth looks like or from where you are, you simply can’t see the truth. The distorted truth problem can be solved by fixing your idea of what that truth (objective truth, not subjective truth) looks like. The inability to see that truth can be solved by changing your perspective.

That is the encouragement. The warning is that if you set out to find a particular color, you will find it, but that may be all you find. Better to enter a struggle for truth without our own ideas of what answer we’re looking for. This is the difference between Inductive reasoning and Deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is looking for the facts (colors) which support your pre-conceived conclusion (red). Inductive reasoning is looking for the conclusion, based off of the facts. I believe we need to use Inductive reasoning in our struggle for truth. If you look at a room and search for only red, you will find it. Unfortunately, you will miss all of the other colors in the room. Please don’t make this mistake in your quest for truth on a higher level. The consequences of using deductive reasoning in our search for colors are very minimal. However, as we raise the importance of the situation, we raise the possible benefit of the right answer and the possible risk of the wrong answer.

I take this long to introduce my technique for searching for truth, because this idea is dangerous. It can be abused, often is, but it doesn’t have to be.

Question everything:

If I question a situation, a fact, an idea or anything that can be questioned, I will come to one of two conclusions (assuming I weigh the situation correctly).

1) I would discover that what I am questioning was true the entire time
2) I will discover that what I’m questioning is false


If I were to question whether or not the chair I want to sit in is truly strong enough to hold me, I would come to one of two conclusions.

If I discover that what I thought was true, is true, then my level of faith in that truth after questioning will be far greater after, than before.

If I discover that what I thought was true, is actually false, then I have come to my senses and am now wiser than I was before (assuming I’m not too stubborn to accept truth for what it is, and I’m not trying to find facts to support my belief, rather than letting my belief be formed around the facts).

This idea has the potential of great good, but power always has the potential to be abused. This is why I take this long to present this idea. Please search for truth, with a spirit of truth. Search for truth with the understanding that what you think you know may be wrong. Search for truth with the understanding that what you assume may be the most dangerous thing you believe. C. S. Lewis said, and I agree, ““The most dangerous ideas in society are not the ones that are being argued, but the ones that are assumed.” It’s the ideas and beliefs that we simply assume are true, because we’ve always thought they were true. I have no qualms in questioning the foundations of my presuppositions--for if they're true, they can handle the questioning, but if they're false, why keep holding them?