Finito

I have nothing left to do as an undergraduate student. It is complete.



It was actually somewhat unsatisfying, the last question on my last exam was a stumper so I didn't do that well on that part, but the rest of the exam I think I rocked it.

Lord, thank you for the blessing of education and for carrying me to the end. I love you Lord. May I be able to be a good steward of the gifts you give, and may this degree bless your name. I love You, Lord!

Get 'em, Akeem

I have this friend from my days in Wallace Hall named Akeem. He's a tall, deep thinking guy, and he really loves the Lord. I don't really know how I met him, he works really hard on his schoolwork and kind of keeps to himself. Here's the thing that kind of sets Akeem apart: every Saturday, technically Friday sundown through Saturday sundown, he takes a Sabbath. A full on, do nothing but read the Bible, Jew-esque Sabbath. He said it's something his family started back in Davenport.

Akeem's obviously got strong convictions. He has his Jesus space, and he's willing to sacrifice for it. The thing that makes me scratch my head a little bit is that he isn't in any sort of Christian community. I'm kind of the only Christian he knows at Iowa State, which is kind of sad. I challenged him on this, partly because he would benefit from being plugged into the body, and largely because the body would greatly benefit from having him. But since I'm his only Christian brother here, I was the one that he called up to share his new conviction:

Share the word.

He said it was burning on him, that all his private study couldn't end there but needed to go forth. I said, yep. I'm in. We have had trouble meeting up because he doesn't have a cell phone, but we finally intersected on Tuesday afternoon. So we headed to the MU, not entirely sure what it would look like. We walked in, surveyed the food court for a moment, and then Akeem said simply said "let's go." Haha, he went.

"Hey you guys got a minute?" he boldly asked this table of three trendy looking guys who are finishing up their french fries. Not my first choice of people to share with, these guys seem really self assured and comfortable. But Akeem is on fire. The guys look up from the fries and are like, "yeah, sure, what's going on?" So Akeem just gives it to them. A full gospel presentation, talking for about 2 minutes about how Jesus was born 2000 years ago and died for their sins and rose again from the grave.

I'll admit, I was somewhat squirming. Akeem's style wasn't smooth or deft or pleasant. Not that it was unpleasant. It was just straightforward. Very straight. Very forward. His tone was really good, I gotta mention that. Not forceful, but confident that these words have power. His altar call at the end wasn't to pray a prayer or anything, but mostly to get plugged in to a ministry, Salt or Cru or something. Which is kind of ironic since he's never been to any of those ministries.

Of the three guys there was still one that looked like he was mostly listening. He said he used to teach confirmation class back home, and had been to Salt a couple times. The other guys said they were catholic, lutheran, something like that. Akeem told them they were on the right track, and then moved on to the next table.

More confession time, I felt really awkward. With Akeem's style, I didn't have to say anything, but I should probably look confident and receptive to what he's saying. And I'm not convinced I was giving a vibe of confidence or unity with his words. Lord, have mercy.

After a second table, I told Akeem I could better serve our team as the prayer support, since I wasn't really needed to say anything. Give the air support while he's the boots on the ground. He agreed. So I pulled out Isaiah 42 and journaled and prayed up and down that place, while Akeem kept going table to table with his 2-3 minute commercial for Jesus. It worked pretty well from there. I prayed through every verse of the chapter and then some. Akeem was soon out of sight around the corner. The moment I felt like I should end the prayer Akeem showed right back up, saying "that's all of it." I believed him.

What was most compelling about Akeem and his sharing style was that this guy has no fear of man whatsoever. And an obvious love for the word and for Christ. But seriously, he didn't care what people thought or if there was awkwardness. He marched right in and said his piece. Then marched on.

Now a brief snippet of what I would change. I won't say much because, well, he had the guts to do it. First, a more obvious love for the people. It sounded a little like a commercial. Second, a little more creativity. He was walking out 1 Corinthians 2:2 -- For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Akeem's delivery just started with "Two thousand years ago Jesus came to the earth, both God and man." True. Just, not an instant audience connector. All in all though, I'm proud of my boy Akeem and compelled by his example. Hopefully I get up the guts one of these days to just ask for a table's attention and just preach the word.

Lord may you use the efforts of Akeem and I today to change hearts and impact lives. It's but a few loaves and a couple fish, but Lord you can multiply it. May you bless Akeem and give him true fellowship. May you make us into powerful witnesses for your Name.

The best song ever for today

I'm something of a worship music connoisseur, always looking for new stuff. I never realized this until I went to India last summer and the rest of my travel companions didn't recognize any of the worship music CDs I brought. I dunno what it is, but I can just stay on the internet finding new worship music and new artists and listening to them for hours. Like Psalm 96 says, "Sing to the LORD a new song." Acutally that phrase or a slight variation of it is repeated 6 times in the Bible. Nifty!

Artist of the day: Brian and Jenn Johnson
Song: "A Little Longer"
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=90954097

Well, it says Brian and Jenn but technically it's just Jenn Johnson and her piano. So compelling. It starts somber enough, a minor key and and some wistful vocals. The beginning is okay I guess. But the part where my heart just melts before God is where she transitions, by saying "Then I hear you saying to me...". And the song reveals what it is that God has laid on her heart. Should it be any surprise that this is the most powerful and gripping part of the song?

I want this song to be a picture of my walk with God. You can just feel the intimacy with Him oozing from her voice and from the piano. She knows Him. And He knows her. And they love each other. It's so freeing, too, she doesn't define her walk by the straining or striving or what she does. "You don't have to do a thing, just simply be with me" is what Jesus whispers.

What a mystery it is to be your child, Lord. Help me not to find my identity in doing but in just being. Help me find the time and space to just clear distractions. I want to just be able to sit on Daddy's lap. Just a little longer.

“Why does Texas Stadium have a hole in its roof? So God can watch the team play.”

Sorry for the multiple football posts in one night, but this one had to be noted. I was multi-tasking between CE 453 final exam study and Sunday Night Football, Cowboys and Giants. Cowboys locked up the exciting yet low scoring game, which was extra special because it was the last ever game in Texas Stadium. Some call it the Wrigley Field of football. Partly because it's old and weathered, partly because it's a gravitous place of legendary football.

The old saying goes that Texas Stadium had a hole put in the roof so that "God could watch the games on Sunday." Well of course we know that God is just as present in the player's mouthguards as He is in the sky directly above the half dome. One of the best verses on God's omniprescence is Jeremiah 23:23-24 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.

Now if Texas Stadium has been the most legendary stadium in the NFL, the most highly esteemed spot in that stadium would be the center of the star. Cowboys logo, 50 yard line. It's been recognized as the most sacred place in football in years past, observe:

And tonight, the last game to be played at Texas Stadium, was no different. Terrance Newman sealed the game with an interception with under a minute left in the game, ran to the center of the field, and kissed the star. And they say their's no honor or respect in the game these days.

But here's the most beautiful snapshot that I'll be taking away from the historic last game. I even came across it by chance. The nbc.com stream of the game lets you choose from 5 different views when you watch. After the game was over, one of the cameras, not the one you would actually see at home, stayed on a group of about 15 players who once again gathered at the Star. A few Cowboys, a few Giants, a few coaches and trainers. And they all kneeled right there, on the sacred ground of the football gods, and prayed to the One True God in Heaven. Giving the real honor where honor is due.

On this last nostalgic night of Texas Stadium football, the cameras faded out with the final picture of the Cowboys' Star as one counter to the whole culture of professional sports and our flashy culture. It was a picture of surrender, of remembrance, and of deference to the God who is the real One deserving of our applause, deserving of our second-effort, deserving of our game-planning.

It lines up just perfect with what Jesus was all about. He went into a barn, made it his VIP landing strip. He walked up to some fishermen, made them his Senior Vice Presidents that would eventually take his vision global. He walked up to the pious religious know-it-alls, made them a dumbfounded laughingstock. He walked up to an executioner's device, made it the symbol of his movement.

Thank you Lord, for always flipping things on their ear. You are so creative and unpredictable and unfathomable. I praise you that you are the Lord of the back alley asphalt and the Lord of the star in Texas Stadium. May we remember you even in the most unlikely of places.

Defensive backs have the coolest names

I was just watching my Cowboys play the Giants on the wonderful NBC.com live stream of Sunday night football. It's come in really handy this semester, as I always seem to be stuck in a computer lab after Freshmen Group gets out.

Here's the big observation of the night. If you want your kid to have a chance at being an NFL defensive back, give him a really cool name. This revelation hit me like a rock after I saw the Giants RW McQuarters make a couple plays. He is one of many DBs who have names with that certain ring to it. Don't believe me? Look at this list:

RW McQuarters
Champ Bailey
Shawn Springs
Ty Law
Troy Polamalu
Asante Samuel
Deltha O'Neal
DeAngelo Hall
Pacman Jones

Okay, that last one is just a nickname, but hopefully you see the trend. Most of these are pro-bowl caliber guys, too, I'm not scouring the nfl.com database or anything. Wide recievers play a similar position, yet they just aren't as striking:

Chad Johnson
Donald Driver
Steve Smith
Calvin Johnson

*Yawn*. Just not much to it. I played wide reciever, so maybe that was my problem all along: my name is too flashy. Lance Allgood, sounds like it should belong in the DB list. Just think how good I could have been if I had switched to Defensive Back. But if I was going to succeed and still be a wide reciever, I needed to change my name to Michael Smith.

When I played at Central College it was all true too. Observe:

Our best cornerback:
Guy Dierikx

Our best reciever:
Josh Smith

Based on my research, we should have been able to figure out who would be who on day one. If only I had figured it out sooner!

Sparks are flying, Holy Ghost style

Tonight was the last regular Freshmen Group of the semester. It was a good time, this semester went really fast. Sometime I'll do some first semester FG reflections. But tonight I gotta write down the little episode of what happened afterward.

So I was on my way to Town Engineering Building to finish the project of a lifetime. Writing this blog post is actually slightly inhibiting me to get to the finish line of that project, but it's worth it. I'm trucking along in the cold with my backpack. But on the road right there between Hoover and town is a little logjam of quiet commotion. Iowa State Parking Division truck with it's lights on, and then two car with there hoods up and jumper cables. Ugh, bad time for a battery to die. It's a cold night. I'm late to the project, so I keep trucking down the sidewalk. But then,
a
tug.

Lord, them? Now?
If you want to have a life characterized by miracles and helping people and bringing the kingdom, yes you need to go now. When do you think those opportunities are going to come, on your day off? Now go pray for the battery.
That's more or less what God said in the time of about a quarter of a second. I dunno, it's weird how God talks to me sometimes, it's like a scroll that's all wrapped up and handed into my brain, and I think it all at once. Okay, maybe that was a bad way to describe it, let me try again. It's like my thoughts are really really really quick for a moment. But not quick or twitchy or fast. More just like, how you can look at a word and just know it, right? When you're reading? You don't have to sound it out, like "okay, the D makes a 'duh' sound and the O makes a "oh" sound and the G makes a 'guh' sound" but you just comprehend it at once, "dog." So it's kind of like that, but instead of with a word it's with a sentence or two. Like the italicized portion above. Note that's not a word for word, I don't know that I could generate a word for word, but it was close. I have a couple moment argument with God, but I know He's right so I shuffle back to them awkwardly.

There was a parking guy, a filipino couple (the flag hanging from the rear-view mirror clued me into the specifics), and a blonde guy with a part in his hair all hovering around. From what I could tell of their dialogue, nothing was working. They had been messing with the battery and the cables, but the parking guy was trudging back to his ISU DPS batmobile to try something else. I'm still chilling on the sidewalk, a few feet away, trying to do my best distance stare, the "oh hmm I'm peeking in from a distance and I'm interested but not going to just barge in and engage you first, so I hope you notice me" stare. They caught on, and we made some small talk.

"Oh, you gonna have to tow it?" "I hope not, but nothing's working" "yadda yadda"
I'm trying to stall yet build a little repor, because I know I just need to drop the weirdo prophet Jesus man card in a second. But God, this is still weird... You know what to do, c'mon Lance... So I just dive in, enough small talk.

"Hey, this might sound a little weird, but... I feel like God really wants me to pray for your car that it would work and stuff."
They're response was generally positive, I couldn't sum up all of them at once for the nuances of how they reacted to me bringing up God and prayer out of nowhere but it sure seemed to be all green lights. They were open to try anything, since their other things initially didn't have any success.

"So would that be okay if I like prayed for your car? I know it's weird but I feel like that's what God wants me to do, I mean he loves you guys and he wants to show that he even cares about the little things and getting you guys out of the cold." No I want to say that I said that last part eloquently and looking into their eyes with all compassion, but nah the words just kinda tumbled out and I looked at the ground.

"Well sure, I'm catholic man so you know..." The filipino guy spoke up. "Yeah go for it."

I'm looking at the car, wondering, okay, God, what does this look like praying for an inanimate object like this. Well, the battery was the problem and it had all the cables attached to it, so it seemed like a good place to start. I took one glove off and put my bare hand on the battery.

"Dear Jesus, I pray that you would come and ...." I don't really have any recollection of what I prayed specifically. Something about how much Jesus loves them again. I do remember saying "... in Jesus' name, amen." but feeling like I had missed something so quickly throwing in a "your kingdom come, your will be done. Amen." Hopefully these guys weren't on an Amen quota, because I used two in the same prayer.

Well, I felt mostly satisfied with the prayer and just satisfied in my spirit, not like scared but not fireworks on the inside either. The woman spoke and said, "well, guess we should try it again now" "Yeah why not" was the consensus. She prodded the blonde guy with a part in his hair and he went toward the driver's door. I'm pretty sure blondie is a believer, I might have seen him at Fish dinner before, but I know for sure that the faith and confidence he had as he walked toward the door that yeah, he's a believer.

I'm standing back on the sidewalk, and as the parking division guys says "Let er rip" I feel this quick ripple like "hey, you should be nervous about how this is going to turn out why aren't you still praying silently" but I just as quickly somehow answer back "nah I'm content." It was weird, I almost didn't care. But in a good way, I'm pretty sure. No, I know in a good way. There was no striving or reaching or disbelief it was just... satisfied faith, I guess. Not sure what that phrase means but satisfied faith is my answer.

All that argument again took place in about a quarter of a second before the guy turned the key in the ignition.
SKEOW!
A giant spark shot out of the red terminal, and a little one out of the black terminal on the battery.
But, the engine didn't turn over or start. Again, I somehow just didn't care or get phased on the inside, just that it was kind of loud and a really big spark.

"Hey, we got a spark now, it'll start charging." Okay, good news. I'm glad parking division guy said that, because I don't really know car batteries or how to read the situation. Even though it didn't suddenly roar to life and sound like a Dodge Viper, it had happened. It had changed. Jesus answered. "We'll let it charge for like 5 minutes and it should be good."

So I'm back near the sidewalk, blondy's getting out of the car. And for whatever reason, I just give them a "Okay, awesome, well I gotta get going to a project so I'll see you later" And they give a goodbye as I turn my back to them and march on.

Now, in retrospect, I don't know why I fled the scene so fast. It would have been really great to stay and use the platform for the message, "Hey, this just goes to show, guys, that Jesus cares even about the little details of your life and he loves you so much. I think that just like the car battery sparked to life Jesus wants to come and cause you to spark to new life through Him." All things that would have been good to say. But, I marched away. Praising and thanking God, of course, but not turning back to look at all. I pray and trust that the blonde guy will use the platform and the space for a message, pointing them even more to Christ. If nothing else, I pray that they remember my prayer or the name Jesus and associate that name with the fact their car starts.

Lord, thanks for the opportunity and for not letting me walk on by. I love you Lord. May this be the start of something more. I want to be trustworthy with the little things, so that You can trust me with the big things. And may you continue to minister to those 4 people. Lord I don't know what they saw in the whole situation but I pray that they would be drawn to You more and give You the Glory you deserve. Thank you Jesus.
And may you continue to send sparks into our lives. Amen.

Realness

So my boy Nick was able to come out to Ames for a Salt Co last night. Oh, Nick, what a guy. He's a good friend from the Central days. We've been connecting a little more lately, kind of because we're both in the phase of graduating but not really moving on. But hey, it's because we're doing ministry, come one! We're not just playing video games in momma's basement... anyway sorry I got defensive.

Well Nick made the drive up from Pella to Ames for the sole purpose of catching a Salt Company service. It was cool to hear his outside perspective, always something that's hard to grasp when you've been in the mix and keeping focused on just this place, as is usually the case. What he said was almost a touch insulting, but nah it was cool. He's been doing the Pella/Central College thing for awhile now, so one of the first things he said was "Man, I want to sometime go and do ministry at a bigger place like this, the people are a lot more real."

Okay, cool thing to share, we can stamp that on our ministry now, "we're real." Yeah! But wait, Nick doesn't actually know anyone at Salt, he mingled with people for like 5 minutes before worship started, how could he have a deep conversation and dig up life issues and encounter our "realness" like that? Well, he didn't. That's the funny thing. He was mostly just judging off appearances.

Not a bad thing, mind you. He's been in the white-picket fence, painted on smile, perfect Utopian world of Pella for some time now. Things aren't very "real" there, at all. Sometimes sickeningly so. I guess one of my first internal reactions to his comment was "HEY are you saying we're gritty and unnerving, putting off a vibe of brokenness?" but now I am mostly thanking God that I have been rescued from the Pella homogeneity. And yes, I'm praising God for our gritty unnerving vibe of brokenness, too.

It makes sense that Nick would make that observation. He's never been one to yield to the "tulip and a smile" culture that tries to swallow Central. He's got a really cool testimony, too, that I got to observe large parts of. That'll be a story for another day. But in the mean time, praise God that, at least on the surface, we are Real here at Salt. But as Mark was teaching last night, Lord may you continue making us are REALER selves, the ones that are regenerated by Jesus's blood and indwelt by His Spirit. Thank you Lord. May you continue transforming us into shinier image bearers.

Pilgrimage

Psalm 84 is soooooo good. You might know it from the worship song "Better is One Day in your Courts" or whatever the title actually is. The heart of it all that strikes me today is in verse 5, where it says "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage."

There were several stirring preachers at the Urbana conference a couple New Years Eves ago. One stuck with me, Brenda Salter-McNeil, who said "be careful where you settle, because where you settle is where you die." She was talking about Abraham's dad. Now, anybody who has had a little Bible teaching can rattle off that Abraham is the dad of Issac who is the dad of Jacob, the 3 guys we call the patriarchs. The family who God used to invade the world with His love. We all got that one down, yadda yadda.

Now, the big Quiz question: Who was Abraham's dad?

If you said Terah, give your self a thousand Bible bonus points. Great jorb. Here's the summation of Terah's life that is basically all we know, from Genesis 11:31-- "Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran." Where you settle is where you die. He set out for Canaan. But he got to Haran and said, "meh, good enough for now." Made himself comfortable. Chilled.

I guess from this God could probably see that this dude didn't have the fortitude to be the father of many nations, didn't have the faith to receive and walk in what God was doing. Not like he was a bad guy, I mean he obviously did something right in raising Abraham.

So back to the Psalms verse. "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage." Set their hearts. That's the opposite of settling, setting your heart on pilgrimage. Committing to the journey. And it's obvious from the rest of this psalm what the destinatin of the journey is--the very DWELLING PLACE of the LORD OF HEAVEN. You will not reach it while you live. But you can seek it and search for it and bring it here. But you can't settle. What does it take to be a holy pilgrim for God? To be an Abraham and not a Terah?

just
**keep
***going
**and
****keep
*****going
*****and
********don't
*************settle
******************for
***************************anything
*****************************************other
*******************************************than
********************************************************HIM


Lord, that is my prayer. That myself and those around me may set ourselves on pilgrimage for your very Dwelling Place, that we will not stop striving til we look you full in the face and bow before your gaze and kiss your feet and worship in exaltation of Your Name and bask in Your glory. Instill it in us, God. We don't want to settle. We want YOU.

He really is that good, all the time

So let me tell you just how good God is. This is story number 1,564,345,267,234 of all time regarding His goodness, but hey I know we haven't fully expressed it yet so gotta keep going. Here's the deal:

I had a huge stretch of schoolwork staring at me for the next two weeks. Huge. Should be expected, since this is the last little lump I gotta swallow before graduating (Dec 20 what what!). Huge project, slightly smaller project, huge test, another assignment, I was sweating. Told the amazingly wonderful FG staff about it as we prayed during our Monday meeting. Staying to pray with them made me a touch late for class. I finally showed up, just in time to hear the professor CANCEL the test that was coming for us in four days. Straight up canceled. Said he'll put some of it on the final, but don't worry about it. Thank you Lord. Cut my workload almost in half. He's good, I just exhaled the stress that had been building up and inhaled his sweetness.

Situation number two: finances a little low this month. Saw the account balance last night. I'm not in trouble, I have a paycheck from last month that I still haven't picked up. Problem was, it was looking like I needed to pay my rent before the late penalty kicks in, and also I had sent a check in the mail that would be processing. So, it was looking like a collision that would overdraw my account if I paid my rent and the mailed check both before picking up my paycheck. I was sweating, because the mailed check was kind of important, and had to do with Jesus in a way so I wanted to represent Him well.

How many of you know that He will take care of the Glory of His Name, when you trust Him?

The real estate company called me up and said that I had credit in my account. They had mentioned it a couple months ago, but I had still been keeping up with my rent payments. "But this time, sir, would you like me to just rip up this check? You have almost a month and a half credited to your account already." Yes ma'am. Rip away.

So I went and checked my account balance online, praising God. And wouldn't you know it, that other mailed out check somehow had already been processed really quickly like a week ago and I hadn't even caught it showing up on my balance because I didn't think it would be ready. So, two huge charges that I thought would overdraw me, neither one do I need to worry about a single bit.

He really is that good. He really is.

Bill Johnson is a smart man of God

Just listened to this sermon by Bill Johnson out of Redding. The guy is pretty incredible. I don't care if you agree with him or his friends or his haircut or whatever, the guy loves Jesus and is gifted to teach the Bible.

Here was the nugget that turned my brain inside out:

"Fruitfullness comes out of Rest
and
Warfare comes out of Romance"

Wow.

It was just one of those things that looked me in the eye when I heard it and I instantly knew, "that is right and true and profound and lovely and would simplify things if I just understand it because I don't think that I do understand it now."

But why do we grow soybeans in Iowa? Because we don't like to rest the land, and corn year after year makes the land unfruitful.
Why do guys get in fights? Over girls. Helen of Troy, the face that sailed a thousand ships, or something like that.

So, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rest and get belligerent by means of some Divine Romance....