#12

Thy will

Stings like a colony of bees,

your wrenching words

tear the fat off my bones,

and make me frail,

an infant desperate for

the warmth of Mother.

Thy will?

Surely this cannot involve

my good, but instead (I pray)

full life, a bottomless cup,

the nostalgic good

that makes even the bitterest

old man weep with reckless joy.

So please, let loose the wasps, too,

my bloodied flesh is Yours,

as Yours was mine.

Thy will.

#11 Photo from Libya

A photo from the Libyan revolution last year.  I am taking a course on the Modern Middle East, and I have come across a bunch of photos in my research. 

#10 Criticism

There was a time in my life when I was Daniel King, "America's Accountability Partner."  I was arrogant and thought I was intelligent merely by the fact that I saw injustices and flaws in the culture I was raised in.  But it doesn't take a really good thinker to recognize our culture's shortcomings.  Seriously, there are things that are wrong in every single circle of life, especially Christian circles.  The "cultural Christianity" of this country has really done more damage than it has exposure of the gospel.

Before I get too far into this, I must make one crucial statement: criticism is necessary for growth and for change.  I am an especially critical person, particularly of the church and its failures and realities.  However, we must be willing to give and take criticism as Christians in a flawed church.  But we must do it in a way that reveals the nature our true Church... that is where I get derailed.  I continually see this pattern in my own life and in the people around me: criticism...  bitterness...  division...  What a deadly cycle!

There is an old saying which can be useful for me when my spirit becomes critical: "You got a better idea?"  I think we could all employ this saying more often.   You see, if you're going to judge or criticize, you need to have a better idea-- in this case a more biblical or more gospel-centered or more Jesus-oriented idea, however you want to say it.  So let's keep this in mind when we are in Christian circles (churches or other groups), and we get critical.  Criticism is necessary and good, but it can be used to divide and isolate people.

We really ought to take everything in life with a tub of humility... a great big tub.  Great churches, programs, music, and sermons-- all that stuff is really great.  But humble people are better.  Humble people spread the gospel.  Humble people demonstrate God's love.  Humble people make disciples of all nations.  Great ministry is truly inseparable from humility.  So here's step one to harnessing the critic inside you.  And this is where I end because I am definitely not there yet... 

Peace and love and girl scout cookie season!

~dk~

Inspired by Matthew 20:26

#9 Alive and Unfixed

Dear Sun, Sun alive and unfixed
They once believed you were a star
Men of holy hearts at least, thought so
But Your light faded from them long ago.

Now that same light makes the darkest corridors
Blush like spring lovers,
Grasp like june roots
A love made rhythmic by faint leaves falling.

I know You are not just the center
But the essence, the timeless, the densest color perceived.
As you transform, with countless rays of light
And beg to blind us with each sweet peek.

Oh You.  You are not just the star
Which holds in tender balance these fragments of life.
You are the Great Interceptor of frozen space
The alive and unfixed Sun who is senseless grace.

#8 Digital-Age Slaves

  "When I look at culture, I see we have so many gifts given to us that allow us to be lazy. I've heard it said that any culture that makes ease its goal has already begun its demise—I can't think of any nation where this would be more relevant than my own. The United States has become the culture of comfort—growth, strength and beauty are not things that come from comfort. They are refined qualities that are brought to the surface often by pain or trial. … All of us, myself included, have a tendency to be caught up in hype. But the Gospel is about being humble to the point where you're willing to pick up your cross and daily pursue a communion with this gracious God who loves the world." 

—Jon Foreman

It is no surprise to me that Jon Foreman is about to become the spokesperson for the concept which I named my blog after and have been kicking around for a while now.  Foreman is the closest thing to a theologian/sociologist that surfing has ever produced, and I have always appreciated his raw, genuine approach to understanding the gospel in a culture saturated with false ideas.  It is without further adieu that I will try to explain my thoughts about what it means to be a digital-age slave which I put in italics for dramatic purposes only.

Foreman could not have stated my ideas any better.  Are we not a nation built from our early years on the ideals of the pursuit of happiness?  This is the concept in a nutshell.  From the Enlightenment, thinkers like Montesquieu and Locke were causing a scene by radically challenging the ways in which ordinary folks looked at the world.  Our country is psychologically rooted in the radical language of liberty and equality (at least for white wealthy men).  It was Locke, after all, who first claimed all men had a right to "life, liberty, and property."  Our American founders, however, made a radical change of their own by altering that language to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  This rhetoric is littered throughout American history and continues into today-- the ideology of freedom shows up in our movies, our literature, and our actions, as it has permeated the very soul of the American conscience.  Unsurprisingly, this pursuit of happiness had a scathing affair with an eternal villain known through many disguises of wealth, status, success, beauty, strength, and opportunity.   In this way, the pursuit of happiness gave birth to comfort: a generation of disgruntled children I fondly refer to as digital-age slaves. 

I am fully convinced that comfort is the most significant challenge my generation faces not only to general satisfaction in life but more importantly to spiritual growth.  We are incredibly swayed by the seductive call of comfort.  We idolize it as a facet of our Enlightened American identity, tantalized so powerfully that we begin to believe it is an unalienable right.  Don't I have the right to comfort?!  I am entitled to an easy life of pursuing my own happiness my own way!  I am entitled to the pursuit of my own dreams, to following my heart!  Don't I deserve it?

Do you see how it works?  We are slaves to the digital-age, too lazy to think deeply, too apathetic to change.  We are content with our Hollywood, our video games, our Facebook, our text messaging, our blogs...  Our digital-age Christianity allows us to download any book or sermon or verse or worship song by any means in any place in thousands of deceitful pixels.  But we are still unsatisfied when after the 5000th sermon on podcast, the result is the same: we are no closer to Jesus.  Our screens have not brought Him to our communities in a video message.  Because sitting in our beds tearing through the pages of the latest Christian best-seller or raising our hands as the band pounds out another huge bridge with triumphant melodies and flawless musicianship, we have sacrificed nothing!  It has costed us nothing!  We wait and wait and talk and talk, and we expect everything to land in our laps like comfort does in our American mind.

Spiritual growth doesn't come easy.  In fact, it is the opposite-- it costs everything!  Don't get me wrong: there is absolutely nothing we can possibly do to earn Jesus.  His unwarranted grace is beyond anything even remotely comprehensible by the feeble human understanding--  He has chosen to issue us free, free sweet grace.  Salvation!  He has saved us despite the fact that we are owed death and Hell forever for the wickedness that we do.  He has also given us life and the opportunity for a fulfilling, meaningful one at that.  But unlike everything we have been taught by our American ideology, we are not entitled to it.  God owes us nothing, yet he chooses to give us everything.

That leads us to the challenge.  Are we ready to lay down our lives for the gospel?  Are we ready to deny comfort and pursue God's endlessly satisfying call for our lives?  Brothers and sisters, we are missing out not only on life's fulfilling moments, but also God's most splendid mysteries.  Being a disciple of Jesus costs our entire lives-- look at his own followers.  They forfeited any opportunities for material prosperity or security, and instead relied on a humble carpenter from Nazareth.  Oh, how many times have I chosen the more comfortable, safer, easier option when in truth, I will find God dancing in the difficult ones, begging me to follow Him as He reveals to me the wildly untamed and relentlessly beautiful things He has in store.

Jesus says some truly radical things to his followers in Luke 9:
Verse 58- "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his lead."
Verse 60- "Leave the dead to bury their own dead.  But as for you, go, proclaim the kingdom of God."
It costs everything… it costs your status, it costs your wealth, it costs your comfort, it costs safety, it costs your family, it costs your own ambitions…  But it is worth it to give your life to Christ.
Matthew 10:38- "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

We are owed nothing Christians, but we are given everything.  And we must give our lives away in order to grow with Jesus.  I pray that our generation continues to resist the tendency to be lazy, safe, and comfortable, but more importantly I pray that we continually to allow God to reshape us into something he can use to bring about his wild plan for redemption.  I think we are digital-age slaves, but I know that God is offering us freedom.  Let's go do it.  Let's work hard in life and pray for God to give us difficult things to do for his kingdom.  It is a scary prayer.  It is uncomfortable and unsafe…  But as for me, I will not be a made a slave to comfort.  

Ending Reflections: I'm probably rambling again.  Maybe you don't struggle with idolizing comfort like I do, but I have a feeling that at least a few American Christians have been struggling in their faith because, like me, they have been told their whole lives that they are entitled to what they have.  My real struggle is not a desire to hold on to my material wealth, but rather a fear of losing the securities that I believe I am entitled to.  If you are like me, you are afraid that God's plan may include pain, loss, humility, meekness, no glory, no recognition...  But it probably will do all of those things at some point.  And it is good.  It is wild and unsafe and uncomfortable, but also hopeful, peaceful, and satisfying to serve the Lord.  And if you are like me, satisfaction, peace, and hope are the root of your desires anyway.  Make sense?  Probably not... Ok good.  Just keep fighting.  And give your life away.  And if you have the time, pray for me too.  This is probably the biggest hindrance I have to following Jesus fully. 


~dk~

#7 Pet Peeves in Epic Movies

 
My history teacher raised a valid point today in class.  Well, he raises many good points every day, but this one was especially relative to the wide world of Hollywood today.  When asked about Hollywood's portrayal of the crusades in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, my professor sighed and shared a few ideas about the problems he had with the film.  He then sarcastically remarked that the most accurate crusade-era film is Disney's hippie-influenced cartoon Robin Hood.  Lastly he followed that up by sharing a pet peeve of his with all epic and historical movies in general: nearly every one of them has a sex scene (or implied one) the night before a turning point or huge battle.  What the heck, right?  I totally understand his frustrations on a historical level and personal level.  For one thing, these historical figures are probably not as sexually active as Hollywood desires them to have been.  Romance, particularly in the Middle Ages and before, is hardly Hollywood worthy.  Marriage, after all, was generally arranged for money and status purposes more likely than love.  And as seen in Kingdom of Heaven, Troy, 300 countless other recently-produced epics, these guys are probably not having rampant sex before some of the most critical moments in their lives.  Women are far away from all things related to battle in the these time periods.  

It got me thinking about historical film in general.  Now that I have studied some history stuff and interacted with professors who have to constantly debunk Hollywood-born myths about history, I find myself irritated at the Hollywood drama stuff which often clouds the way I understand historical events.  I mean, just the other day, I watched Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (a really disturbing movie for one thing), which ends with our man character Mayan guy seeing Spanish ships landing in the new world.  No, Mel...  You have it wrong.  You could have done the entire movie and based it upon the Aztecs and been OK...  but you just chose to go ahead with it.  Shame on you!  And your movie-maker friends too.  Seriously, Ridley Scott... you end Gladiator by indicating Rome is about to become a republic again in A.D. 180.  I say, do your homework.  I realize that you have to heavily dramatize the events to sell movie tickets-- that's acceptable.  But do a little research first and at least get the big picture stuff right.  And keep the sex out.  That leaves an obvious late 21st century handprint on any movie you make.

#6 Educating

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904265504576568351324914730.html

Interesting article on the need for history education.  I am a history major, so this gives me hope that I won't grow up and be jobless living in my parents' metaphorical basement.