New life, New blog.

This is a habit I have.

I am now located here.

Cheers.

Something like my take on feminism.

But You Are a Girl

“Veronica, you are running from your calling. You are running because where God has placed you, it is easier to run than it is to be who God has called you to be.”

This bomb was dropped on me in a coffee with my home church pastor the summer after my junior year. The context was this: we were talking about my semester, especially what had been life giving for me. That previous spring I had gotten the opportunity to speak at a youth retreat and that had been the obvious pinnacle of my semester. In fact, when I think about that weekend, it stands out not only as the highlight of that semester, but as the best days of my life thus far. I surely do not need to tell most students reading this that there is something indescribably satisfying about listening to God and doing exactly what He tells you, no holds barred, without looking back.

But Joey was right; I was holding back.

What did I do, confronted with this obvious truth? Well, I cried. But then, I began to pray. I began to wrestle with my identity that I had allowed to become squelched by some of the naysayers I had encountered in the last 3 years.

Because the real truth is this: my heart is the heart of a preacher. I feel most alive when I am teaching. The Spirit has always communicated to me in words—especially words for other people. I cannot help it. I know that this is what I was born to do.

Unfortunately I think the working version of Romans 12:6-8 which a large portion of the church has adopted probably says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith… if it is teaching, then teach… if it is to lead, do it diligently (unless, of course, you are a woman).”

Now, I understand that in this article I refer mostly to my own experience, an act which is exceedingly Wesleyan for a Baptist campus. And I am not asking you to rewrite your entire theology to accommodate the presence of women in ministry. (Well, I would like that, but this is not the proper forum.) But I am asking you to consider this: why, in a place where I am theoretically surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ, had it become easier for me to be disobedient than obedient? Why was I running from my calling?

Of course, I am the only one to blame for my own fear and for my part I have solemnly pledged to follow God into whatever he asks, wherever it may be, unapologetic for how he has made me, all the days of my life—luckily, surrounded by grace for the times I will inevitably fall.

This is what I am asking: please remember that every theoretical discussion will ultimately involve real people, real lives, and real ministries. Perhaps we can all lay off our need to be right all the time in order to encourage those around us to live out their call as God has revealed it to them. Are we not all the children of God? After all, I am convinced that “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

With that said, I want to challenge you, my fellow Bison. Is it more important to prove that your theology is correct or to encourage those around you? There is a time and a place for every conversation, but conversations about how someone might be wrong about their calling should happen only in relationship. We speak against things, pretending that we are trying to love. But if we are honest with ourselves, I think we would see that most often we are protecting our own pride.

So I say, let us first consider how we might spur one another on toward love and good deeds. This, I believe, is our great calling as the body of Christ.

Feminism?

I'm just not even sure what to do with this.

SB oleven, baby.

My spring break was better than yours. I'll prove it. Quick highlights:

1. Two new states.
2. In-n-out burger
3. Sunrise at Grand Canyon
4. Canal Swimming
5. Mission Beach
6. Lajolla Cove
7. Salvation Mountain
8. Eight bffs.

New Mexico

Arizona

Salvation Mountain

Canyon

Mission Beach

Lajolla Cove

Sea Lions!

My loves.

Best senior trip a girl could ask for. Find the rest of the pics on the FB.

Peace.

There Will Never be a Savior on Capital Hill

This week's Bison article:

I saw an interesting post on facebook last week. (Ok, busted. I get all of my news from facebook and twitter.) A student posted a concern about Christianity being tied to one political party. What struck me as interesting, however, was the first response. After a pretty generic statement that neither political party has a monopoly on biblical principles, the very first response was something to the effect of, “Well, I am pro-life.”

Of course, it has long frustrated me that this is oftentimes the only issue which many evangelical Christians consider when voting. But it reminded me of other things I have heard recently—namely, the idea that a certain U.S. Representative was something to the effect of, “God’s representative.”

Now, the representative in question is definitely a Christian and a man I respect. But when it comes down to how he votes, he votes much more like a republican than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that. Especially considering the district which he represents, it is both unsurprising and appropriate that he would vote nearly always with the majority of the Republican Party.

But, “God’s representative?” That’s a weighty statement to make. And I’ve been thinking, what exactly would God’s representative look like?

Let’s start with the obvious: God would be pro-life. But I think that God’s version of pro-life would be more complicated than focusing only on abortion. After all, God cares about the life of unborn children, but also their impoverished mothers. I’m sure that God would really care about the quality of life for poor people throughout the nation—after all in Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount the poor who are blessed are not the poor in spirit but simply “the poor.”

Another group which sticks out as being close to the heart of God is resident aliens. God really loves and sympathizes with people who are outside their homeland. That is what he called Abraham to be and that is what he has called all Christians to be. So he would probably be really excited about fixing our broken immigration policy. I’m sure that he’d be more welcoming than most. God’s greatest complaint against Israel was that they disregarded the “widows, orphans, and resident aliens.”

Speaking of orphans, God would probably really want to reform adoption and foster care laws. Suffering innocents are a people whose cries he always hears—think Hagar and Ishmael. Not only would this be on his platform, but it would probably be top priority. I don’t know that I’ve EVER heard ANYONE campaign on this issue, but to me it seems incredibly important.

This is just the beginning. I could talk about God’s command that we care for the environment and how his representative would probably not want us raping the earth for oil—wherever we may please. I could mention that God’s representative would probably not be too friendly towards big business, since, it is generally the rich who are the exploiters (James 2). But I think that I’ve made my point.

The common denominator is that God is the voice for the voiceless. As Christians, we should be the first to defend the rights of the minority. We worship the father of the fatherless—the one with a heart for those who cannot care for themselves. Anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus should not steal power from those whom the world casts aside.

But instead we have formed the “moral majority” and decided that we have the numbers to prove we are always right and everyone else can just deal with it.

This is a sad state indeed. Our attitude looks much more like the world than anything reflective of the kingdom of God. THIS, we do in Jesus' name.

It is no wonder that in Amos, God said he didn't even want to hear our worship any more. Our behavior is a mockery of his heart for the oppressed.

But, really, is this a platform on which anyone could be elected? Probably not. The wisdom of God is foolishness to the world. Where does that leave us? It leaves us dreaming inspired kingdom dreams and personally working to empower the powerless. I think of people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Theresa who dedicated their lives to the people for whom God’s heart cries out.

And while I dream and pray for the Spirit to infuse my dreams with Kingdom realities, I do not expect to find a savior on capital hill.

Honor Everyone, Love the Brotherhood.

This week's bison article:

The title for this article comes from the words in 1 Peter that I couldn’t help but think after hearing about the latest fight between Rob Bell and an assortment of other Christian leaders.

For those of you who don’t know what’s going on, the basic story is this: Rob Bell is coming out with a new book at the end of this month called Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. The book doesn’t come out until March 29, but already a publisher’s blip and a video in which Bell discusses the content have got people going crazy.

For those of you who don’t tweet, (I honestly don’t know why I end up writing about twitter so much these days.) twitter will always display ten “trending topics” which are the things that the most people are talking about at that moment. You can see them for your country or for the world. Well, on Saturday night, Rob Bell was a trending topic worldwide.

WORLDWIDE.

To say the least, that’s impressive.

But if you look at the content of those tweets, it is terribly frustrating. John Piper said simply, “Farewell Rob Bell.” and linked a blog post which discussed Bell’s new “universalism.”

I watched the video that everyone is upset about. Does Bell ask some very hard relevant questions? Yes. Does he ask them in a manner that might point that he’s leading a direction that might push against the limits of orthodoxy? Yes. But ultimately, he doesn’t say anything. He asks some questions and says, “These are important questions, so I wrote about them in my next book.”

So maybe in his book Rob Bell is going to be a universalist. But if he isn’t, there are a lot of prominent Christian leaders that owe him a fat apology.

Ultimately, I think that this is Bell just being himself. He likes to push people’s buttons and make them think. Honestly, I can’t believe everyone is so surprised. And really, this is one of the best marketing strategies I’ve seen in a long time. People who love him were already going to buy the book. Now, so will people who hate him and people who just want to see what all the noise is about (myself included). The fastest way to sell books is to make people angry. Congratulations, Rob Bell. If you aren’t already rich, you are about to be.

So my biggest concern is not with the book—because frankly, no one has read it yet so no one knows what it is going to say. But it is very upsetting to me the flagrant dismissal given so flippantly by people who are so prominent within the church.

Some people say that it is uncool to talk about God’s wrath. I disagree. I say that a deep search into God’s love and the meaning that gives to the fact that all people are not believers is a much harder subject to wrestle with in modern Christianity. Why is it orthodox to explore God’s wrath and not his love? And why is it that as soon as someone starts asking hard questions in order to find truth with regards to God’s love, Christians begin to crucify him?

I’m not saying Rob Bell is right—like I said, I haven’t read the book. I don’t know what it says yet and neither does anyone else. But can I say that I have integrated my faith and learning if I’m ready to attack him based on the idea of what he might say in a book I haven’t read yet? And does it love the brotherhood to dismiss him so simply, readily, and hatefully? Even if, as Piper seems to think, Bell’s theology places him outside the Christian community (again, we haven’t read the book yet!) we are still called to honor him. Honor does not include hate and slander. These behaviors are unacceptable always for those who follow Christ.

At times like this, I am amazed that we think anyone outside the community would want to become a Christian. Look at how we treat each other, let alone those outside! It’s ridiculous. One blogger referenced 2 Cor. 11:14-15, which says, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

We are so ready to be right that as soon as someone questions our ideas we attack them, holding nothing back. Christians are judging Bell too harshly and too quickly. As people who are dedicated to becoming thinking followers of Christ, I pray that this campus will reject this behavior and raise up leaders who deal with one another in peace, love, and grace.

This is one of the CRAZIEST things I've ever heard.

If you've got an hour to listen to a radio show, this is worth the time. It's the story of Lucy-- a chimp raised as a human.

Yes.

Thanks NPR.

This is what happens when you don't leave the house:

I'm a, I'm a, a diva.

P.S. Happy belated Anna Howard Shaw day.

I need you.

Well kids, I need a little help.

I'm looking for something to do this summer. I'm open to pretty much any suggestions. But I've already committed to a week in Jamaica in January. (It's not vaca, so calm down.)

Further, I've decided that I'm going to start a new blog when I move to Ft. Worth and it's actually going to be decent. But, it needs a good title. I'm also open to suggestions. It's going to be about navigating adulthood, my theological education, etc. Let me know if the Spirit enlightens you with any zingers.

Also, votes: is it worth it to donate plasma when you're in a bit of a money bind?


-- These are just a few of the questions in my life lately. Ha.

Valley Maker

So I heard about this from Anna, via Ben. This guy made a folk album about Genesis for his senior thesis and it is phenomenal. You can get the whole album at valleymaker.com for $5. Here's my fave:

Enjoy! :)

Look out for our awesome snowpocalypse boredom video next post... or you can find it on facebook right now.  Ha.

I think I've finally done it.

Recently, I think I decided on my top five favorite movies of all time. They are as follows (in no particular order):

1. Amelie

  

2. Moulin Rouge

3. Stranger than Fiction

4. Love Actually

5. Garden State

Honorable mentions: The Village, Little Miss Sunshine, Armageddon, Mean Girls, A Beautiful Mind.

Thoughts? Yours?

Poetry

At the Smithville Methodist Church-- by: Stephen Dunn

It was supposed to be Arts & Crafts for a week, 
but when she came home 
with the "Jesus Saves" button, we knew what art 
was up, what ancient craft. 

She liked her little friends. She liked the songs 
they sang when they weren't 
twisting and folding paper into dolls. 
What could be so bad? 

Jesus had been a good man, and putting faith 
in good men was what 
we had to do to stay this side of cynicism, 
that other sadness. 

OK, we said, One week. But when she came home 
singing "Jesus loves me, 
the Bible tells me so," it was time to talk. 
Could we say Jesus 

doesn't love you? Could I tell her the Bible 
is a great book certain people use 
to make you feel bad? We sent her back 
without a word. 

It had been so long since we believed, so long 
since we needed Jesus 
as our nemesis and friend, that we thought he was 
sufficiently dead, 

that our children would think of him like Lincoln 
or Thomas Jefferson. 
Soon it became clear to us: you can't teach disbelief 
to a child, 

only wonderful stories, and we hadn't a story 
nearly as good. 
On parents' night there were the Arts & Crafts 
all spread out 

like appetizers. Then we took our seats 
in the church 
and the children sang a song about the Ark, 
and Hallelujah 

and one in which they had to jump up and down 
for Jesus. 
I can't remember ever feeling so uncertain 
about what's comic, what's serious. 

Evolution is magical but devoid of heroes. 
You can't say to your child 
"Evolution loves you." The story stinks 
of extinction and nothing 

exciting happens for centuries. I didn't have 
a wonderful story for my child 
and she was beaming. All the way home in the car 
she sang the songs, 

occasionally standing up for Jesus. 
There was nothing to do 
but drive, ride it out, sing along 
in silence.