Limiting Our Input

We live in a society where we obsess over knowledge. With the click of a couple buttons we can find out the price and times of a movie in a foreign country that our grandparents may not have even known existed.

Knowledge is a god it seems. We learn for the sake of knowing more than other people. I know people who don’t know things but hate to look as if they are naive concerning any topic, so they talk with such a sense of confidence that people believe that they are an expert on the issue. In a year, the average child will watch 20,000 commercials. One of my professors said that we see at least 10,000 advertisements in a single day. This includes t-shirts, commercials on TV or radio, Spotify commercials, Facebook ads, computer logos, etc. There are so many newspapers that come out in a day, we have like 6 different airings of news in a day. YouTube claims that every minute 60 hours of video are uploaded – that’s an hour every second.

Where does it end? At what point have we consumed enough information in a day that we are content? How many TED videos? How many blogs/newspapers/books do we have to read?

There is no possible way that we can ever catch up with all of the information that is readily available to us. I’m not condemning any of this, it all serves some sort of benefit. It just seems that our greatest love is now information. I brought close to 200 books to school with me – I cannot say that I am not guilty. I have to admit though that my Google Reader hasn’t been used in a good while. Last time I checked I had over 300 unread blogs. Twitter seems to have replaced Google Reader, if it’s important enough of an article to tweet I’ll read it. I do it this way because I can’t keep up. I think it’s for the better that I have chosen to approach it this way.

When we have no filter on our media inputs we find ourselves attempting to read everything in front of us. The problem with this is we put other things off. I found myself attempting to keep up with Desiring God and Gospel Coalition blogs yet I wasn’t reading my Bible. This isn’t a trade off that I should be content with. If we do not limit our inputs we begin to find ourselves spending more and more time gathering information and less and less time doing what we need to. Are you too busy reading blogs or watching YouTube videos to have dinner or coffee with a friend?

I find this as a tension given that I love reading – I am also in a Master’s program where I have no choice. The thing that helps is that it allows me to become an expert on one topic. We attempt to become informed on everything instead of becoming experts on one thing. I can’t help but think it’s dangerous. It seems that there is far too much information coming at us than we can keep up with, yet it seems to we insist on trying. I’m not condemning the media; I just wonder how much influence this crave for information has on us.

What are you limits? Do you have any sort of filter? Where do you stop?

How Dare Me?

Blogging for the sake of blogging. That might be exactly what happens today. I keep telling myself I should blog.

I need it.

Like an addict needs a hit, I am back for some sort of relief.

My mind today has jumped through several different options for what to write today. I can’t settle on anything. I feel like I have hit a strangely overwhelming writers block. I haven’t finished writing a song in months – I have the music for several running around in my brain, but words are far from me. The frantic feeling of not being able to write seems to have a lot of my current feelings covered lately. I pine to write – but I either feel like George Lucas where I just want to edit the crap out of everything I have ever written making it worse off, or I feel like a groundhog when I finally see my shadow, or inspiration, I run away from it for another  6 weeks. Both of those are pretty weak metaphors I know – It proves my point through right?

It’s not just writing.

I’m struggling to find a job. I have had one interview and I’m supposed to have another but I am waiting on them to reschedule it – I should hear from them Monday. I miss not having a church. The easiest way to find a job is through networking – it’s hard to network when the only community that you have is also unemployed. Money is starting to get short. I am quickly watching the number of meals that I have in my meal plan diminish.

The worst part is that the biggest problem here is that it all comes down to a lack of faith in God. In Psalm 2, God tells the Psalmist to ask and He will give the nations over. We have a big God, and for some strange reason we fail to believe that he is bigger than our smallest problems.

In Psalm 50, God describes his authority over creation. He states that every beast of the forest is his, he owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He clothes the lilies, the feeds the ravens. He states that we are much more important than them. Yet we have the audacity to lack faith.

How dare we?

How dare me?

Why Seminary?

Lately, I have been asked why seminary? What do you want to do with that? I have struggled over this a lot in the past couple months – not on why I want to do it, but on how to phrase it. I was even asked it yesterday. The problem is that I can very easily identify why I want to work in the Church. The problem is that no one has that sort of time. Well I was reading Ephesians 4 a few weeks ago and it began to stir in me for a better way to sum up my ministry.

¹¹ And he [Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

A couple months ago a friend of mine launched a website that introduced the idea of “the better man.” It posed the question: what is the better man? It perplexed me, haunted every thought I have of what it means to be the better man.

I have seen a lot of bad pastors. I have seen pastors who do not fulfill what Paul describes above. Pastors are brought about to protect, lead and build up the body of Christ. I have seen a lot of bad pastors. We need better pastors.

There’s an old saying that states, “as the men go, so goes the church.” There is a lot in the passage above. I’m still dissecting and digesting a lot of it. However, one thing that Paul states is that the goal of those in ministry is to build the church up until we all achieve “the unity of the faith and the knowledge of Christ, to mature manhood…”Mature manhood is then defined as the measure of the stature to the fullness of Christ. Further I have seen a lot of bad men. We need better men. We need better pastors shepherding better men.

As the men go, so goes the Church.

The brings about another question. Where are the men?

I’ll let you answer that.

 

So why seminary?

I want to be a better pastor to better men.

I Found Christ in a Car Crash

I haven’t really made this public knowledge, but I got in a car crash in the beginning of December. It was inconvenient but everything was okay. However, God was clearly over this accident. The person whom I was involved in the accident with was extremely gracious. I immediately and relentlessly apologized, he calmly said I know. It sucks. He didn’t lose his head.

As I was looking at my insurance information, there is a list of things to do when you get in an accident. Halfway down the list my insurance card says, “Don’t admit fault.” I kind of screwed this one up – the very first thing I did was admit fault. It was my fault. I ran the light. Even if it was not, the thing I know about what it means to be a man is to take responsibility. Jesus took responsibility for things that were not his fault – I cannot chose to not take responsibility for something that is my fault. However, greater than that as a man of God, I must take responsibility for things that were not my fault as well. When I am married I am to take responsibility for my wife and children. When I am helping my sister out and fulfilling my role as Uncle Brian, I am responsible for Brianna, Patrick and James (and Brandon in February) even though they are not my kids, even though their faults are not mine I am responsible.

My insurance company was extremely helpful on the issue, however I do not like that advice. I understand that there is such thing as comparative negligence – both drivers share some fault for being on the road. I understand that the weather conditions of that day play some role, but I am responsible for that incident. During my adjustment claim, I took complete responsibility. It was my fault, I could not sit by and not take that upon my shoulders.

This car accident gets more and more interesting. We needed to sell the car before I headed off to Missouri, where I am now until I leave in January for grad school in Kentucky. Getting in an accident makes it much easier to sell, we were able to have pick-a-part pick it up and get money on the spot for it. I expected them to pick the car up the following day or two days later, when I called they showed up shortly after. It will make it inconvenient for my Mom to drive while she comes back to California for a month to start off the semester at CBU, but we no longer have to look for a buyer in that short period of time, we do not have to deal with the DMV stuff anymore that we previously would have dealt with. Sure, I have less money from my car than I would have liked but I have seen God provide during this move more than I ever thought possible, he’s got it taken care of. It sounds weird to say that I feel as if this car crash was very God guided. To be honest, it sounds as if I am over spiritualizing the issue, however, I cannot believe for one second that it is anything less. It all worked out too well for God not to have been behind it.

I wasn’t hurt. He wasn’t hurt. Insurance took care of the issue in a week. Pick-A-Part bought the car without any hold ups. The wife of the couple that my Mom is staying with during her month return to California works at CBU so her getting to work isn’t an issue.

During this move across the country I have begun to understand more and more that as Paul writes in Romans that God truly takes care of those who love him according to his purpose. This move has clearly been an example of God’s providence.

Flags

I began reading a book this week.  At the beginning of one chapter the writer states that at one point he asked his pastor about his consideration of going into the ministry – which he did, he’s a Southern M.Div grad actually – this was the pastors response:

“If you go into the ministry, ‘stick a proverbial flag in the ground’ and don’t look back. There will come tough times when you’ll doubt if you made the right decision. And it’s then you’ll reflect back to see that flag as the place and time you declared your commitment to God. No matter how hard life and ministry get, that flag is a declaration of your commitment.”

I have been thinking a lot this week about what that flag might be. I am sure that it is going to exist in many different capacities that all come back to one main point. The writer uses Psalm 101 to explain what might have been a flag in the ground for David.

I have been thinking to myself, “What will be those things that I look back and think this is why I am in the ministry?” I haven’t completed my thoughts on the issue yet. It’s going to be one of those things that I am finding I will need to spent some time alone thinking about.

One part of this answer is very clear and very specific for me. I have seen a lot of bad pastors.  I will admit that I want to, by the grace of God, be a better pastor. I want to be a better pastor to better men. I have witnessed too many examples of selfish boys masquerading as men of God than I would like to. I do not think that there is anything that sickens me more than this.

I was listening to a sermon lately by Mark Driscoll in which he begins his sermon by letting his congregation know that there was a couple who were recently married and as awesome as that is there is something greater in that – there was a little girl who out of this got a father. That’s amazing! This week I heard a story of the opposite, a mother told her children that her and their father were getting divorced, and the youngest responds with, “My daddy lied to me.” Words cannot express how I felt when I heard that.

How often do we see marriages in which widows, or single mom’s remarry and are able to give their children a wonderful man of God as a father? Now contrast that with how often we see men walk out on their families? I hate that I have seen more of the former.

There are a great deal of things that I feel are leading me into career ministry, however hoping to see a congregation where the marriage statistic is flipped – where more children are gaining fathers than losing them. A congregation where more males are men of God than the alternative.

I want to be a better pastor to better men.

I want to be a pastor who is pointing men towards Christ so that they might become more and more like him. I have to do the same. This is just a glimpse.

Why I Would Not Make a Good Vampire

1. I don’t sparkle.

Alanah requested/demanded that I write one of 8 or so blog posts before the end of the month. So this is my first attempt at answering one of her questions.

After the first answer, I am considering any and all vampire lore that is related to Twilight as non-cannon, therefore I am disregarding any vampiric qualities that were introduced by Stephanie Meyer.

I would not make a good vampire for several reasons. The first of these is that garlic is a very strong staple in my diet. I use garlic in most things that I cook – vampires and garlic do not mix.

In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I am not sure which one, or even which season (I bet you didn’t see that reference coming). There is a dialogue between Buffy and a vampire at some point that goes something like this:

Buffy: Oh my God!

Vampire: Not my God.

Sure this could be the one atheist vampire of the bunch, but it almost seems safe to infer that this would not be the case. That whole cross thing would cause a problem. I do my best to cling to the cross of Christ. I would be in a constant state of burning. The Cross of Jesus Christ, and the substitutionary atonement that is paired with it are central parts of my life. They have this thing about holy water too, they aren’t too fond of it. Sure, I’m not either, but I am not sure I would burn if it hit me.

In Medieval European werewolf folklore one of the cures for lycanthropy was conversion to Christianity – therefore I may have made a better werewolf for a while – obviously I would not be one now.

I do not want to be on that side of the crossbow. I kind of dig them. All I can think of right now is Castlevania I really don’t want to be the vampire in the castle.

I’m not much of a night owl. Most nights I am in bed by 10. This is completely contrary to vampire lifestyles. Also Football and baseball air during the day.

I am super down with the idea of sleeping in a coffin. However, a vampires’ coffins must contain dirt from their homeland. I would only allow that dirt to be from the infield of Wrigley Field – I’m not sure that will be possible.

I could very easily get over that whole drinking blood thing – it’s a little gross but there are people in the world who eat tripe. The problem would lie in blood inevitably get on my hands – I don’t like having dirty hands for an extended period of time.

I have no issues with bats, so that’s okay. However, I am not sure that I could actually be a bat, mostly because I am batman, and he is no such thing.

Finally, I’m not as cool as Bela Lugosi – pictured above.

I Hate Writing

I definitely just made 2 lists to post for tonight’s blog and then deleted it.

The first list was “things that I don’t like that everyone thinks I should like.” A couple of my favorites on that list were: Mumford and Sons, The Beatles, arguing theology. I also made a list of things I love, among my favorites there were: Polar Bears, Andrew Hochradel, Helvetica, and not responding to text messages.

One of the things that I listed as something that I currently do not like is blogging. All day long I have considered different ideas for a blog. I toyed with the idea of writing about one of the X-Men episodes that I watched today. I considered writing another post about the Theology in Horror films. (I have an idea for tomorrow’s blog, that I was going to write today but didn’t – it came from this site.) I even posted on twitter for someone to tell me what to write about – these things were included in my second list.

However, I finally figured it out.

As I listed about I have had such anxiety over blogging lately. It has had much less to do with the anxiety that I wrote about at the beginning of the month, but a lot to do with me as a person. Lately, I just haven’t wanted to write, or even really read for that matter. In previous months of blogging, I often had my blog started by about half way through my day. I think that has happened once this month. It’s been rough, I haven’t wanted to think about it. The funny part about this is that I think I was the first person to ask on twitter about November Blog Fest.

I feel a little like Martin Luther right now. Before Luther’s conversion, before he began to really learn who God is, he had a quote:

Love God? I hate him.

Luther’s knowledge of God had very little to do with God’s grace or God’s love, and a whole lot to do with God’s wrath and God’s judgment. It was as if someone had taken a photo torn it in half and told Luther that half that he had was the entire picture. This quote was spoken some time during the period that he was living in the Monastery. Luther soon after learned more. Luther’s hatred of God was centered in his misunderstanding of God.

I feel like that with writing right now. This has nothing to do with writing being an idol, or a god in my life, but just that I feel that I hate writing because we are not on the same page, (pun unintended.) I wrote a little about this last night – I used to love writing – somewhere I still do. However, right now I hate it.

To be honest, it doesn’t have the release that it normally does. None of the blogs that I have written this month have really felt like they have meant much, I do not have the same feeling as I did last year when I wrote posts like “Someone Died For You To Have Your Bible“, nor have I experienced the fun that I did when I wrote my “Zombie Escape Plan” in May.

Sure my first couple posts this month I feel were pretty solid. I’m not sure what happened, but since then I hate writing. I honestly hope this isn’t long term.

Maybe we’re just fighting. Maybe we just need a break. I feel like I’m kicking her out after Wednesday though.

I need a break.

I have decided after November Blog Fest to take a bit of an extended leave from writing. I have noticed these past couple weeks that I haven’t had much to write about – it might be because I am not in school and so reading and learning have taken a different form but it has left me feeling very different about my writing. I have realized there are a lot of things that I need to work on. I am going to finish the month, and I may blog about something around Christmas, but my consistency will greatly drop from normal after that. I plan to be blogging again no later than the end of my first semester of Seminary. I will do my best to try to update during the semester but we’ll see how that turns out.

I write a lot. I always have. However, it is always changing in the way that I write. For a while it was short stories, then poetry, then songs, then blogs. I have been wanting to return to those other mediums lately – maybe not the poetry. Maybe blogging less will turn into me finally editing that short story I finished this summer – Cordes isn’t alone in putting off much needed writing.

It seems that a lot of people petered out this month in November Blog Fest. They don’t owe anything to any of us – they have that ability. The weird thing is on several occasions I have considered stopping blogging this month. The problem is that I feel like I owe it to myself – it’s a pride issue. I feel like quality has gone down – my blogs have been written 15 minutes before midnight to make a deadline – they haven’t been well thought out. I finished NBF last year, EDM earlier this year and so one more November Blog Fest I can make it. It seems like a silly reason though.

I’ve on several occasions considered giving up blogging entirely throughout the past year or so. Lately, it just hasn’t come easy. Last night’s blog was painful to write. I had done some research, and I knew what I was talking about, I ended up writing it on my phone starting at 11:00 at a friends house, I posted it at like 12:30. The words didn’t come easy like they often do.

Writing is a very strong part of me. It comes to fruition in different ways throughout my life, but it’s still important.

I some times fear that I have lost the purpose for writing. I began this blog as a way to worship, sometimes I wonder if I have turned into a form of subtle self glorification. I need to refocus. I need to be humbled once again.

OH! Also I leave for Missouri a month from today. I’m there until Jan 27, then I leave for KY. So I start Grad School in 2 months. Um crazy!

I’ll be blogging tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday – then who knows when again.

Baptists and Bourbon

People often credit baptists for intolerance and hating alcohol. When it comes down to it this is completely contrary to baptist history. One man can be credited for adding to the opposite of both of these.

Elijah Craig is most well known as the inventor of bourbon. He may or may not have actually invented bourbon, but many people credit it to him. The Elijah Craig distillery, no relation just named in his honor, states that the distillery where he made his whiskey caught fire and he used the burned barrels and thus bourbon was born. I’m a big fan of the Elijah Craig bourbon made by Heaven Hill distillery.

Elijah Craig’s name is usually proceeded by the letters Rev. Yep, he was also a baptist pastor. Yes, there seems that there is a huge irony in that.

However, his most important accomplishment was not his invention of bourbon. He was a pastor around the early days of the United States. He was arrested for being a baptist. He lived in Virginia/Kentucky where it was mostly Presbyterian and there was huge opposition towards baptists at this time. Thus this explains the crime he was charged for. During his time in prison he continued to preach through the window of his cell. During this time James Madison, later to be US president. It was through this occurrence that Madison was introduced to the idea of freedom of Religion. Craig was a significant influence on the Bill of Rights and thus was able to have a significant influence on the idea of freedom of Religion in America. Baptists fought pretty hard for the freedom of religion in America. There’s a lot more to his history than this – I’m still researching but I have become fascinated with Craig lately and seeing the realness of Christians.

All this being said that a Baptist can be blamed for two of my favorite things. I find it funny because of how often people accuse baptists of the opposite. I hear people making baptist jokes all of the time, which is fine, it’s just funny how little people know about historical events before making assumptions. I have said this before but I love Church History. It’s exciting to see what in the world God has been doing since the Bible was penned.

Salting the Wound

We live in a world that communicates through the form of insult. Typically, we don’t think much of it. Usually it’s some form of playful banter, very little of the insults we pass in general conversation are intended to sting. It is not uncommon among friends for me to hear something along the lines of, “Stop being a little baby.” or a less censored version. It doesn’t mean anything – or does it? It’s not supposed to. However, at some point you hit a nerve, you begin pouring salt on wounds.

The problem is that when a person becomes offended, or when it is taken too far there is this unspoken idea that this person can’t say stop, they have to endure it. I have had far too many experiences where I have been offended and have to just take it. The problem is that in most cases it doesn’t seem wanted. Sure, it’s always followed up with something along the lines of “You know we’re just picking on you because we love you.” To some extent that sort of banter is great. At some point it goes way too far. Example: the next time you choose to call someone a “bastard” or “son of a bitch” consider their relationship with their parents. It may sting a little more than you think. Yes, some people may be over analytical – is it there fault? No! It’s yours for being mean.

Today, Alanah, Ed and myself began work on the previously mentioned Christmas project. We did this at a park – it was a beautiful day out, so why not. The only fear was being “those people” who are playing music in public. During this time, this 16 year old kid felt the need to heckle us. I’m not sure anyone else heard him. What in the world compelled him to do that? He doesn’t know any of us, he has no idea what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and he wasn’t there long enough to listen to anything before I heard him yell, “your band sucks.” I just ignored him, but really why do we bother with things like this? It wasn’t offensive, because it’s irrelevant. That’s the issue – it’s irrelevant.

This is one of those times, where I am not using ‘we’ to mean only Brian Morris. It’s a common thing. We have a tendency to degrade people. Usually it is to make ourselves feel better. In some cases it’s friends, in others it’s the crazy lady in front of us at the store using 15 coupons, who has no control of her children and is horrible dressed, other times it’s people on the free way – you get the point.

We live in a very postmodern world. The postmodern idea pretty much infers that words have no meaning – it’s all relative, words only have meaning in the way that you take them. Author intent is irrelevant. Our society may claim that we believe this, but we don’t. Words have meaning. I cannot go around telling people whatever I want without it having repercussions. Example: If I decide to tell Eddie that I thought his art sucked, it would be hurtful. I would also be wrong. He has several pieces on his blog – check it out. If I told Sean, that his blogging was sub-par, which it’s not, it would just be uncalled for. If I did the same with Alanah and her musical, I once again would be wrong, but it also is deconstructive. It doesn’t really matter who the person is words can hurt. Why not be constructive? Why not build, instead of destroy?

Sarcasm is dangerous. I know my past relationship with sarcasm. I’m in the future too. When my parents were married, most of their communication was through sarcasm. You cannot imagine how damaging this was for both of them, as well as for myself, and I would dare say my sister. Our words have meaning.

Why not be nicer? Because really comments that read, “Your blog sucks!” do not help anyone – neither the writer nor the reader. People like the commenter less and less, and the receiver finds that the comment means more to them than it should. I know, I am the over analyzer. I am the person who thinks about what you’ve said – sometimes I take it a little more to heart than I should.

Let’s be better?

(Yes, I did use part of this blog to plug other November Blog Festers blogs – so what?)