Michigan Recap

So to resume where the rest of the vacation recap left off.. We spent a great week or so with my parents in Mt. Pleasant and got to hang out with my sisters and parents which always proves interesting.. One of the fun things we did was I made my sister and her friend do a fake portrait session with me.. Here is one of my faves from that. My little sister Leah. looking totally rockstar…

Also during our stay there we took a couple of trips.. First to Michigan State along with Leah, and Liz’s sister Jenny who will be following in the proud footsteps of their siblings (us) at the greatest university in the state.. We walked all over campus and showed them around and stopped at the ever famous MSU Dairy Store where they make their own ice cream from the dairy research done on campus.. Our second trip was with the whole Barz family and we went to Grand Haven/Grand Rapids..

We did one day at PJ Hofmaster park between Grand Haven and Petoskey (photo of the gals on the beach) and then the following morning we went to Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville and heard an awesome message in a new series called “God is Green.” To check out what its all about see Dr. Matthew Sleeth’s book called “Serve God, Save the Planet.”

Liz and I were fortunate enough to celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks twice once at a phenomenal show in Bay City with friend Noah and Sarah and the second time in Lansing with the Doby family. Here is Liz w/ her family checking out the sweet fireworks in Lansing.

After a couple more days with the Dobys we headed back to Lansing for the weekend to stay with our friends Vicki and Deej. They have been some of the closest people to us from our days at Michigan State and it is always a joy to hang out with them. One of my highlights from the weekend was getting to go fishing on Saturday and catch a bunch of bass particularly with Deej because he is such a knowledgeable fisherman and was the person who got me interested in bass fishing. Also, Roxy had some new friends to play with during the time with Vicki and Deej.. They have two black labs Cooper and Chief who by the end of three days were fast friends.

Our last leg of vacation took us to Kokomo, IN where we were attending the wedding of one of Liz’s college roommates Kim. They had a beautiful ceremony and a rockin‘ reception afterwards and we had a blast seeing all of Liz’s friends from college there after a year of everyone being spread across the globe.

One of the pictures from the wedding…

And now back to regular life… School starts again in less than 2 weeks…

Canada Invades

Nothing special in this post… Just over 24 hrs. until takeoff. If you get the chance chekck out this weeks message from Rob Bell and the folks at Mars Hill. It is a very interesting look at the “third way of Jesus” in response to injustice and violence. If nothing else listen to it for the funny analogy of the US being invaded and occupied by Canada… Great stuff..
Peace and Blessings

Holidays and Giving

During the holiday season I know it is traditional for many people to be a bit more generous than they usually are. This is something that in the past I would have applauded and thought of as a great act of charity and blessing. Now don’t get me wrong, I think giving in any scale is better than not giving at all but in the past few weeks there have been a number of things that have caught my attention and made me think about giving.

The first was an airing of 20/20 where Jon Stossel looked at people who give in various income brackets as well as how the US stacks up against other nations in terms of giving. To read the stories check out the links. The second was this past weekend’s message at Mars Hill. Rob continued the series “Calling All Peacemakers” by looking at the cost of war and the enormity of wealth that is concentrated in America compared to the relative costs of some basic needs around the world such as clean water, basic education, hunger, and consumption. It was staggering to hear the depth of Americas spending not only on war and defense but for things like Christmas. One thing that almost disturbed me was this; the estimated cost of providing basic water and sanitation needs for everyone on the planet that is in need is around $9 billion.. which is the same amount of money that people in the US spent shopping on Black Friday (the day after thanksgiving). Coincidently, there was an article today about Malaria deaths in Africa today on CNN that went fittingly with the message.
I bring these things up not because I am free from responsibility in my consumerist lifestyle because I like “stuff” as much as anyone else but because it is important that things like this are brought to light. The challenge in knowing things like this is that if we want to take Jesus seriously than we need to not only know what is happening but also do something about it. So let the spirt of holiday generosity stir in us long after the decorations are packed away so that we may do our part to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide shelter for the homeless, and bring justice to the oppressed.

Jesus Wants to Save . . .

Over the last two months the folks over at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI (see mhbcmi.org) have been doing a series called Jesus Wants to Save Christians . . . and wow talk about transformative. These messages have been really developing the intuitions and leadings I have been feeling of late. I have to say that the teachings of Rob Bell and others at Mars have been a major shift in perspective. The major series of teachings before that was all about how God hears the cry of the oppressed and that the cry starts a proscess of redemption and justice for those who are being oppressed. One of the major points was that although the personal message of redemption and repentance from sin is essential to new life in Christ and to bringing the Kingdom to pass but when sin escalates from the personal to the structural there becomes a new need for the gospel that is social and global. It is the Billy Graham message as well as the Martin Luther King Jr. message. When sin moves from the personal to the structural the messae of repent and be saved has less power and meaning. To explain further, to a child in war-torn parts of Africa who witnesses the murder and destruction of life and property and all that they know. To preach him a message of repent and be forgiven doesnt seem very adequate. What would be more relevant is a message that the sin pervaded upon them is larger than personal sin, it is structural and that there needs to be a moral opposition to the problem.
Talk about a wakeup call, I have really been faced with the inconsistencies in my own mindset about these kinds of issues, particularly as it relates to more local issues like US poverty and homelessness. I have more often than not been guilty of little compassion and even less convition that these issues are greater than personal choices. Granted in some cases there are individual issues at work but there are definately structures that hamper the progress of eliminating poverty and homelessness in our own country. May God grant us the vision to be purveyors of justice in our lives, homes, communities and beyond.