Finding Innocence America

For seven years now, I have joined a group of friends during the last week of July to participate in RAGBRAI. The (Des Moines) Registrer's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa is a bike ride for 10,000 people. The ride lasts for seven days and covers between 400-500 miles. Iowa towns receive a nice economic impact, and the riders get to experience what I have now realized as "Innocence America". The event is hard to describe, but most of the 10,000 riders travel in teams with team busses and vehicles that support the riders by scouting out camping spots and hauling luggage to the overnight towns. The riders begin their morning at their leisure, but for most this mean beginning their pedalling between 5:30-7:30. Along the way, there are designated towns every 8-15 miles that are prepared for the surge in population. These towns provide food, water, entertainment, places to rest, and most importantly they give the soul of their community to the event, and this is truly the special piece of the event. Rural America shows how welcoming, open, and giving that people are at the core. They create an environment that is innocent and pure and reeks with the sense of community that we long for as Christians. It isn't rare to have families opening their homes for people to camp, rest, share a glass of lemonade, or just lift their spirits. The residents of Iowa pour to the edge of their property to watch the parade of 10,000 bikes zoom past their houses and farms. There are signs and multiple generations of families that sit waving to all that pass. As a rider, you have an opportunity to talk and be with riders from every state in the union and many other countries. These conversations aren't about status or career, but they are the simple conversation that fill the morning trips to rural coffee shop. They are about the weather, the beauty of the countryside, family, and the joy of not being plugged into our media IV. In the evenings, the final town of the day takes on a carnival feel with food and music. The music is local bands that vary in quality and the food is local and it is awesome. The cattlemen and the pork producer provide great ribeye sandwiches and pulled pork. The farmers have tremendous sweet corn, and each local church and organization bake some of the best pies in the world. For food people, this is heaven. Well, maybe not heaven, but it is a piece of how innocent, gentle, and caring that our America can be. Many people can't take a week to check out and experience RAGBRAI, but changing our routine while immersed in natural beauty with caring people should be a part of our Christrian journey as it allows us to have new perspective and time for reflection. Explore the possibility of unplugging and searching for the innocence of America. National Geography Adventurer calls RAGBRAI the seventh best American Adventure, and the website www.ragbrai.org keys you into the pictures of the this year's event. The pictures do truly speak 1000 words about the event. I'll be there in 2010, and if your ready to experience the innocence, there is room on the bus for you too.

-Bob Dillon... Dr. Bob Dillon

Parenting Page: "Reruns"

At age 52, so many of my days blur together into a vague repetition of moments I've already experienced. Sometimes I can't quite put my finger on when or where they've happened before. But this week the déjà vu has been anything but vague. With frightening clarity I've been watching the rerun of a bad television show I saw years ago but never figured out how to erase.

It started out on Monday when I was holding a 4-year old on my lap at work. I won't go into her history, but it sucks. She'd been crying all morning because the impending visit with her 19-year-old mom had been cancelled. Mom had run away from the group home where she lived, and somehow her little girl had found out she was gone. After sobbing for over an hour and feeling very desperate and hopeless, she looked up at me and said, "Will you look for my mom on your way home?" It was one of those moments when I wanted to ask God what the hell he was thinking, and why do kids have to go through such nightmares before they can even recite the alphabet. But I knew, even as I was contemplating the outcome of such a meeting with the Almighty, that it wasn't just this little girl with the tear-soaked shirt that made me feel physically sick and emotionally exhausted. It was the show in my head that keeps playing over and over again.

When you get screwed by your parents, you never get over it. I know, because I'm a therapist, and I've gotten screwed. People in our lives are so unpredictable. It's a wonder we love anyone, but we do. And sometimes things go terribly wrong. The last time I spoke to my brother, he told me to "get over it." That was in 2004.

So, back to my rerun. After work Monday I went out with a friend I had wanted to get to know better. She told me all about her trip to see her parents and how happy she was that they have been so supportive of her. Then, the inevitable question, "So, tell me about your parents. Are they in town?" I politely told her that they didn't live in St. Louis, and quickly changed the subject. We'll go there another day, a day when I haven’t already used up my emotional quota.

The rest of this week has not gone much better. Episode after episode plays in my head as I helplessly search for the delete button. The boundaries between reruns and the feature presentation become confused. It’s like going to see a movie at the theatre and being sucked into the previews at the beginning. Only my previews are trailers of old movies and the images they leave behind keep me from focusing on the movie I came to watch.

This morning I sat on the back porch for my usual time of meditation before heading out to work. The Almighty had been watching and listening all week and decided it was time to speak up. Even though I had cancelled my appointment with him, he wanted to meet with me. And he always gets his way. As I opened the book I've been reading by Henri Nouwen, there it was. Henri thinks he wrote page 17, but I'm quite sure when he wrote it 30 years ago he had a co-author who was thinking of me. It talked about how, inside all of us, are a lion and a lamb. The lamb is the vulnerable part of us that needs nurturing, affection, support. The lion is the confident part of ourselves that can take action and be assertive. But the lamb needs to learn to make friends with the lion so that they can lie down together. That’s my problem. I haven’t made friends with the lamb. I see it as the enemy. But really it’s my vulnerability, my pain that I am fighting, my need for God that I am denying.

I hate my reruns. But I need to make friends with them. To not allow them to be bigger than they are. After all, they are only reruns. As such, they will play again. Maybe tonight, maybe in a month. But I am living in the Feature Presentation, and my screenwriter is amazing.

-Carolyn

Music Monday is back: Pop Poetry, v2

You Found Me

I found God
On the corner of First and Amistad
Where the west
Was all but won
All alone
Smoking his last cigarette
I said, "Where you been?"
He said, "Ask anything".

Where were you
When everything was falling apart?
All my days
Were spent by the telephone
It never rang
And all I needed was a call
It never came
To the corner of First and Amistad

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

In the end
Everyone ends up alone
Losing her
The only one who's ever known
Who I am
Who I'm not, who I wanna be
No way to know
How long she will be next to me

Early morning
The city breaks
I've been callin'
For years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
Ya never send me no letters
You got some kinda nerve
Taking all my world

This song by The Fray grabbed me the first time that I heard it. I've always liked The Fray, but it was the lyrics that really got my attention. While listening I thought to myself, "Is he talking about God? He is, and he's mad. Oh, he's kind of letting God have it. Is that okay?"

Is it okay to give God a piece of my mind; to let him know when I feel like he's totally let me down and just left me? Do I have the right to ask God why? I felt a little uncomfortable listening to the lyrics. I think it was hitting too close to home. When I started to think about it I realized that this man, Isaac Slade, is certainly not the first to shake his fist at God and ask why. Here are some examples:

King David, called by God, "A man after my own heart," Acts 22:13
Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? - Psalm 10:1

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest. - Psalm 22:1,2

Job, called by God, "a blameless and upright man," Job 2
How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me your mark?
Why have I become a burden to you? - Job 7:19,20
Jeremiah, a prophet of God
Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came;

for a time of healing, but behold, terror. - Jeremiah 14:19

These examples merely scratch the surface of people in the Bible who question the Lord. When I think about it, Isaac Slade might be more free in his relationship to God than I am. Hmmmm...

Not really a comforting thought

shoot

We are once again working on the blog, its purpose, etc.

In the meantime, comment on what you would like to see that hasn't been there. And, if you can be nice... tell us what you have not liked.

In the meantime check out Donald Miller's Blog

Or Andy Crouch's Website where I (Matt Blazer) regularly steal thoughts and ideas: it's called "Culture Making"

And finally, some really cool music with a great back story

A Brainwashed Parent/Wife

I'm having a hard time focusing on what needs to be done right now. I'm finding myself distracted by little cleaning/organizing projects. I know exactly what is going on in my head - I'm trying to gain control, no matter how small. Why? Because I can't control the big things. I can't control the economy and how it's affecting us, I can't control my husband and for sure can't control my kids. So cleaning and organizing a couple of dresser drawers feels great right now. Although I know it's not the answer.

What I do know is that what goes in comes out, of my head that is. If I fill it with all the negatives that are going on right now, with all the self-induced feelings of depravity that I'm feeling from our budget cuts, with all the "I deserve's" that are running through my head on a daily basis now-I'm going to feel rotten and act like a jerk.

Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." And man — there are SO many things I that are worthy of praise in my life, but because of the place I've been stuck I've been dwelling on the things that I have been lacking.

This is where brainwashing needs to happen for me. Instead of organizing drawers, I need to be in His Word, spend time practicing gratitude and focusing on God's promises for me. Along with that, not spending so much time absorbed in the newest CB2 catalog or shopping blogs I frequent on a regular basis — these habits surely do not help my feelings of depravity.

Is there an area of your life where you need some brainwashing? If so, what does that look like for you?

-Jill Peel

Battlestar Galactica… the Final Frontier

Battlestar Galactica… the Final Frontier

If you are as big of a sci-fi nerd as I am, the title of this blog post probably made you slightly uneasy. Blatantly co-mingling two different cultural phenomenons’ in a single headline is blasphemy to many. To this nerd, it’s all the same. Yes, I like sci-fi. I’ve loved anything to do with space and the alternate realities that are so imaginatively portrayed in movies as palatable as Star Wars to shows as courageous as Babylon 5 or Firefly. One of my favorite television series of all time recently came to its pre-destined 4-year finale. No, this is not the campy one season 70’s television show starring Dirk Benedict (aka Face Man from the A-Team). I’m talking about the Sci-Fi channels original re-invention that began in 2004 and ended in 2009. I must admit, I was skeptical to say the least. If you watch the mini-series, which kicks the whole show to life, there is a lot going on, it’s a bit confusing, and it leaves you somewhat desperately hanging. As the show proceeds, the character development, plot twists and the exploration of deep philosophical morays about fighting for the survival of a race, being homeless (planet-less no less), establishment of government, factions of religion and cultural struggles - all take what many see at first glance as a campy sci-fi show, and creates a brilliant story.

While this show really deserves about 12 individual blog-posts by itself, for now, I wanted to explore one of the show’s largest criticisms. I have recently read several blog-posts from the science fiction, television and journalistic elite taking issue with some of the subtle (or not so subtle) use of biblical allegory that the show uses. It is certainly clear that the show borrows elements of biblical truth in its exploration of religion and culture of the Capricans (native human beings on the show). For instance, like the 12 disciples, there are 12 Cylons who each have a special trait or gift, they all have a common purpose and when they are together they have a greater intensity for that purpose. There are also the Greek vs. Roman exploration of a one God, vs. multiple gods. My personal favorite though was a dialogue between two of the Cylons (a creation speaking to its creator about the woes of being designed or given the ability to feel and to hurt and to suffer and to feel limitation). It was a powerful dialogue in one of the last 5 episodes of the show that did a great job of asking many of the questions that we all ask. Many of the critical community think any kind of biblical overtones are cheap or just a crutch for not being inventive at story-telling, yet the mass critical acclaim and highest ratings for a Sci-Fi show ever would suggest that even today, biblical truth in any medium is not a detractor. If anything, it helps serve a larger purpose of engaging a watcher into a story that asks the same questions that the bible addressed thousands and thousands of years ago.

I think the plain and simple fact here is that the Bible transcends culture, time, place, ethnicity and medium. So often we (as the Christian Community) have tried to create our own avenues for sharing God’s truth thru false or underwhelming stories. Why not (like Paul in Athens) use the ones that are so prevalent in our culture already? The more we separate the sacred from the secular, the more we miss an opportunity to have a shared experience with someone who might never set foot in a church. Lets continue to look for examples around us in our culture to help us actively engage with those who might not share the same worldview as us.

So go on out and buy that “What would Gaius Baltar do?” T-shirt and hang out at the next Star Trek convention. Besides picking up chicks, you might just bring home a convert in the process.

“So Say We All”

- Josh Hogan

Pop Poetry, v1

If you're a self professed music snob like myself, you would not think the words pop and poetry belong in the same sentence. Really, it's more of an oxymoron.

However, I've found myself listening to pop on the radio a lot recently, and I've been surprised by what I've heard in the lyrics. A lot of the songs have deep spiritual truths in them. I don't know if the writers of these songs intended on their lyrics addressing the spiritual, but they definitely do. I have many examples but I'm going to keep it to one song per post, hence the v1.

My first example is a song by the band Parachute. The lyrics are below. Imagine if he weren't singing about a girlfriend here.

God is love. All love is a gift from God. Whether the writer realizes it or not, he understands the love story between us and God.

Parachute VA
She Is Love lyrics

I've been beaten down, I've been kicked around,
But she takes it all for me.
And I lost my faith, in my darkest days,
But she makes me want to believe.

They call her love, love, love, love, love.
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
She's all I need.

Well I had my ways, they were all in vain,
But she waited patiently.
It was all the same, all my pride and shame,
And she put me on my feet.

They call her love, love, love, love, love.
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
She is love, and she is all I need.

Cause when that world slows down, dear.
And when those stars burn out, here.
Oh she'll be there, yes she'll be there,
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
They call her love, love, love, love, love.
She is love, and she is all I need,
She is love, and she is all I need,
She is love, and she is all I need.

To watch the music video on You Tube click HERE

- Natalie Wilson