gotta feel SOMEthing

I've been noticing things that lead me to believe that maybe our culture is getting a little numb. Numb to the point that we have to do more and more to just feeeeeel SOMEthing. Be more extreme, more hardcore, more MORE just so that it pokes our callouses enough to at least make somebody notice.

Examples:
Used to be that people got excited about Mountain Dew, it was the big caffeine pick-me-up.
Now? There are a hundred different kinds of energy drinks, Monster and Red Bull and Nos. They are getting ridiculous. Caffiene isn't enough, now we need it's big angry brother, taurine. My dad sees people in the hospital emergency room who have had too many energy drinks. No joke.

Used to be that people got excited about Stone Cold Steve Austin and Goldberg. These mammoth men created violence within the scripted confines of WWE and WCW.
Now? Mixed Martial Arts, the Octagon, people beating each other up with blood and submission holds and broken limbs. Chuck Liddell is the real life Chuck Norris.

Used to be that people got excited about the latest punk band or ska outfit. Concert goers would skank around the dance floor in a light mosh, looking something like a person bumper car skating rink.
Now? Hardcore. Thrashcore. Screamo. Shriek louder, hit the bass drum faster, and crunch the guitars more maliciously. People dance by throwing fists and roundhouse kicks. It actually looks pretty cool when they get wound up and those punches and kicks beat the airspace. Just hope there aren't any faces in that same airspace.

Just some observations. The world has changed even from when I was in high school. I'm not bemoaning the world, saying "it's all going to pot! This next generation sucks!" I'm just wondering what's next.
Mountain Dew to Monster to Adrenaline IV's?
WWE to MMA to Prison inmate deathmatch?
Punk to hardcore to.... chainsaws and jackhammers on stage?

Wisdom seems to tell me that it can only go so far. When is the ending point where we can't get any more extreme? I know time usually goes in cycles, getting more hardcore would probably be followed by a general pacification. However, my observations here were mostly based on high school males, it's not like all of society is in the thrill culture, or even the Monster Energy Drinks culture. Where do all these kids go from here? Skydiving?

Last questions: has this filtered over into the culture of Christianity? It's not that the Church should have lots of sleepless nights over what the christian subculture is drinking to start the day or watching on prime time TV. These things don't necessarily have direct consequences on holiness and maturity in Christ. But it does mean that men's retreats include paintball and mountain hikes and shooting real guns within the church.

If only being more hardcore meant sharing the gospel with more people and dealing more radically with sin......

Renewal of all things

In the last post, when I brought out the Habbakuk 3:2 verse, I did a search of the word "renew" to bring it up. As I perused the other verses produced in the search, I came across Matthew 19:28. A slightly obscure verse where Jesus is talking to his disciples about their place in his kingdom. It says- Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

One of those interesting things that puts a picture in your mind of Peter at the pearly gates and whatnot. But here's the part that caught my eye:

at the renewal of all things

Doesn't that just sound beautiful? All things are going to be renewed. Our relationships. The economy (lolz). Darfur. Our d r e a m s. All the rough burrs and smudges and ink blots that have accumulated over the years. Renewed. Washed away. Ahhh, thinking about it just makes me want to lean back and close my eyes and smile at Him. Who, you ask?

the Son of Man who sits on his glorious throne

Him. The one who was responsible for all that renewing on all those things. Author and perfector. Kickstarter and like-new-er. Craftsman and polisher. Jesus.

Demographic for revival

Today, 4 out of 5 students who attended church in high school do not attend church in college.

Also, 4 out of 5 students drink alcohol in college. I'm not trying to say that BEER IS THE DEVIL, I acknowledge that there is a healthy way to drink and enjoy the God-created pleasures of alcohol. Problem is, half of college drinkers "engage in heavy episodic consumption," aka binge drinking. Getting wasted. Not something that helps them reflect God's image.

Jimmy, the average All-American boy stepping on campus for the first time this fall, will stop going to church and start going to house parties. That is the general slope of college society today, the path of least resistance.

Has that always been the case? There was a day, when George Washington Carver went to Iowa State University, that half of all the campus was in some sort of Bible study. Half.

That is 1 out of 2.

Fifty percent.

The glass was half full.

It is possible to reclaim and surpass this. I know it is, Lord. Come and shake the earth. Lord, it looks less like leaving the 99 to find the 1 lost sheep, but more like leaving the 1 to find the 99 lost sheep. But it is doable, Lord. You are the God of all of time and space, all statistics and people. You care deeply about each 19 year old kid who is puking on a sidewalk somewhere, simply because that's the way of life he has strolled into.

Half the campus. That's 13,000 souls. It is not too large a thing. The arm of the Lord is not too short to save. Renew it in our day, Lord.
Habbakuk 3:2-LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

ANTHEM, aka, I love my boss

Thursday night was ANTHEM. It was simply ridiculous. Two services of 600 people each just singing their guts out to the Most High Lord of Heaven.

Jesus, why is it that when we give all that we have to you and worship you to the uttermost, it all just turns around and fills us with joy and life? We're trying to lift you up and bless you, and you turn right back around and just pour it out on us. Crazy.

I was on the video team for this Anthem, as I have been for the last three. Thre's a bit of a difference between helping produce the worship event and just showing up and being part of the worship event. Not that one is better than the other. Just different. I remember when I was running the camera on stage left, all up in Bobby's grill with the guitar solos and then getting awesome shots of Ryan as he's singing with the crazy lights shining around him, and in my head I'm just screaming JESUS YOU REIGN!!!! It's fun. But different.

I did make it that much sweeter when they did a 3 song encore. I had already set down my camera in a safe place and taken off the headset when the band came out.
*Sidenote: They didn't really make the crowd work for the encore, like many bands do at concerts I've been too. It was more of a meet each other half way thing. Half of the crowd was sticking around saying "one more song" and half of the band was at the back edge of the stage, with their expression saying "can we play one more? Yeah?" Which is probably good to not be uppity about encores, since this is technically a "worship event" and not a "concert." Ok, sidenote over...
I got to be in the front and center of the crowd amongst the crazy sweating people for the encore, which was amazing. The band did "To Know You More" which is quickly becoming a favorite song.

Then, the moment: The song crescendos. Mark is rocking out on stage center, and we lock eyes. One thought is in my head at that moment: STAGE DIVE. I'm standing next to Jase Rohde and Ben Jensen, who are both strapping young men, we can do this! I can tell Mark and I are on the same wavelength. To make it all clear, I gesture with my arms in the air like a dad in a pool beckoning his 6 year old son who's on the pool deck. Mark's eyes get wide, the song is blaring. Mark takes a step back and crouches like a skater about to drop into the half-pipe. Three bounding steps forward, and
yyyyyyeeeeaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!
jumps into our arms. Ben, Jase and I caught him, but the girls standing directly behind us kind of ran away. Luckily Mike Easton jumped underneath Mark's body. Mark did a good half turn in the air like any good stage diver would, although he kind of piked up into a ball, probably because he saw the people running away. But we caught him, bottom line. It was awesome. The people to our right were on board, so Mark floated that way until we tossed him back up onto the stage, unscathed.

And that, in a nutshell, is why I love my boss. Well, that and the fact that he loves Jesus and follows Him everyday with the same intensity as a stage dive. Praise God.

Lance's Responsible Grown-Up Scoreboard

I think I'm going to do a little miniseries of posts here on my blog.  I call it "Lance's Responsible Grown-Up Scoreboard."  I'm 23, I'm over a semester out of college, I'm in the real world.  But I live across the street from a college campus and I have a job that includes "dodgeball" in its main duties.  So it's time for the tale of the tape.  This week's score so far on the RGUSB:

Played dodgeball for several hours on Sunday night: -1

Bought a car with my money that I will actually own on the title: +1

Financed the car through my parents: -0.5

Bought the car from my aunt for really cheap: -0.5

Shopped around for car insurance policies, got a good deal with State Farm: +1

Painted my face and fought the mid-evil club with 30 guys, Braveheart style: -1

There you have it, the mid-week tally on the Responsi-meter is (-1).  That's okay, I estimate that in months past I've been hanging out near a (-3).  The general way that I feel the Responsi-meter scorecard turns out:

(-5): You need to throw away the comic books and graduate from middle school

(0): Well balanced, fun loving, hard working, vibrant life

(+5): You need to loosen your necktie and stop yelling at little kids telling them to get a job

Okay, well this new research method is untested, yet promising.  I'll keep you posted!

Resurrection Explosion

Is Jesus really that good? Could it be possible? RESOUNDING YES.

Jesus, look what happened at our Easter celebration. The Freshmen Group Easter experience was pretty cool, you really showed up. I had a lot of harebrained ideas cooked up, and the amazing co-workers that you blessed me with let me try and follow through with them.

First off, God, you showed up in the Xenos performance. It was amazing to see over 20 students, 90% of them Asian, doing a dance routine to Holy hip-hop. I know some of them don't even follow you yet, and they were helping us to celebrate your resurrection. It was really cool, Lord, I know your kingdom is going to have lots of dancing going on.

And Jesus, thank you for showing up in the worship music. I was scared, everyone was out of town and we didn't have a drummer, but in the end it didn't even really matter. We were able to sing the desires of our hearts to you.

Lord, thank you for carrying me through the message. Lord I thank you for the words that you passed over my tongue. May anything I said that was not of you be forgotten already, and may the things that were of you penetrate into the deepest places.

God, thank you for using the coconut. It's such a striking picture of your death, burial, and resurrection. Lord I could tell you were using it to speak to people. Thank you for B&L who taught it to me, and your followers across India who use it to draw near to your heart. And God, thank you for keeping me from hurting myself with the hammer, I know it would have been pretty gripping if I had a bloody thumb to help people enter in to your crucifixion, but I thank you that it still worked.

Jesus I could tell that you were really drawing near to people in the communion time. Wow. Now that I think about it, I didn't actually get a chance to partake of it. Hmm. Well Jesus, you still were working in everyone there, and me for sure, so I thank you for that.

Lord, the cardboard boxes were amazing. What a passionate picture of the way that we raise from the grave alongside you. God I pray that people were touched by it.

God, you are amazing. That's all I can say. Look what you did. Thank you for helping me from getting in the way. I loooooooove you, Jesus.

Blazing Saddles

Last night was my second time at a gay bar.

I'm not really sure what to say. I could type up an in-depth case study of each of the people I met and the social constructs that come to life in this sub-culture of middle America. But I don't want to turn these people into lab rats. That's a big part of why I went, to stop the de-humanization. These are people.

More full reason of why I went: Last week the Iowa Supreme Court made some weird out of the blue ruling that gay marriage is now allowed in Iowa. Random, and I don't really agree with it. But what's worse: I was called from an unknown number on my cell and left a recorded message that there would be a protest on the steps of the capital building. The message was vague, but from the language I'd guess that the protest had a christian bend to it. I'm not even going to capitalize christian in this context.

How many protests did Jesus start? Well, a couple where HE was the object of the crowd's hate.

How many protests did Jesus diffuse? Well, a couple where he defended the women caught in adultery or the people's duty to pay taxes to Rome.

One of the striking titles given Jesus was "a friend of sinners." I can imagine it being said venomously, people sneering and hissing the "s" on sinners with all the derision they could muster. Today it more just sounds funny to say "friend of sinners." Although it was a spiteful loaded word in the conservative Jewish culture, we don't really hear it ring in our ears today. I would propose this new translation: Jesus, friend of homos.

And this brings us back to the purpose of going to Blazing Saddles: let some people know that they are not the scum of the earth, that they are not the worse skid mark ever streaked across the landscape, that they are people and that we, well, I, don't hate them.

Right, it is a sin. So is lust for the opposite sex. So is greed. So is gluttony. Why doesn't anyone picket Old Country Buffet?

Jesus's words remain the same. Go and sin no more. But if we are going to see this life, this history as a war and a great struggle for the hearts and minds of all people to win them back to the One True Lord of Heaven and Earth who rules them all by His Word, we need to be careful to NOT shoot the HOSTAGES. Shoot the real enemy.

So my brave scared friends and I played a game of pool with two guys who frequent the bar. They work in downtown Des Moines. Both probably around 30. They enjoy their careers. They were going back to small town western Iowa for the Easter holiday, to see one of the guy's father and then his mother. And they were kind of nervous, because although the parents know everything that's going on in their son's life, the mother has still yet to meet her son's significant other. Stressful and meaningful for any couple.

I'll be praying for them. One of the guys gave me his email, hopefully we'll be able to talk some more about his thoughts on spiritual things. He knew a lot of Bible verses. He also knew a lot of Hindu and Rastafarian philosophy. He was perplexed that he doesn't see Christians doing "greater things than these" like Jesus said in John 14:12. When asked what he, personally, thought of Jesus, he replied:

"I would love to sit down and have a cup of tea with the guy. Jesus is fascinating."