No Arms, No Legs, No Worries

And you keep on concentrating on the things that you wish you had or the things that you wish you didn't have, and you sort of forget what you do have.

When I first watched this video this morning, I thought to myself, "I'm so thankful I'm not like that guy." After letting everything sink in, I now realize how selfish and conceited that thought truly was. Yes, I am thankful that I have arms and legs, but I am jealous that I do not have Nick's attitude or outlook on life.

I like to think of myself as a fairly optimistic person, but in reality, what has happened in my life to warrant a negative attitude?

I grew up in Suburbia. The worst thing that happens there is the drive-thru at Starbucks backs up too far and blocks the front row of parking spaces. The only time I ever saw the "projects" in my city was when I was lost, and we got out of there as quickly as possible - that's why I'm still alive.

What fascinates me about Nick's attitude is that his "handicap" gives his life meaning, and he uses that to encourage others. His message is not about guilt - I have no arms and legs, so be thankful for what you have. Instead, he knows that he is beautiful just the way he is, and he encourages others to adopt that mindset.

Revival of the American Dream

We were at the baggage claim, standing back, watching everyone attack the front of the conveyor belt to retrieve their bags. "Look at this," he said. "Look at these people. They're all so hungry to fetch their own two big bags of luggage, but nobody cares about that little old lady over there who is struggling with just her one. Ha. That's life for ya."

"This book looks pretty cool," I said as I picked up a copy of Adam Shepherd's book Scratch Beginnings off the recommended reading table at David Kidd. It wasn't a typical case of judging a book by its cover but more by its subtitle - Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream. I picked it up, read the summary on the back cover, and bought it. Thanks, Davis Kidd, for the recommendation.

I highly recommend that you pick up this book, but I will give you a quick overview to bring some context to this post. Adam Shepherd graduated from Merrimack College in Massachusetts in 2006 with his BBA in Management. After reading Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed, Shepherd disagreed with her negative perception about the hopelessness of America's working class, so he set out to disprove her theory. With $25, and empty duffel bag, and the clothes on his back, he went to Charleston, South Carolina, to live the American Dream and create his own rags to riches story.

After traveling to Los Angeles last week and seeing the madness that we like to call "baggage claim" at LAX, I knew exactly what the quote above was talking about, but I had never even thought to compare it to the way life is. At baggage claim, there are several types of people: everyday travelers, who are numb to their environment to the point that finding their luggage is a mindless task; the people that pick up seventeen different bags before they know which one is theirs; the families where one spouse wrestles the children off the conveyor belt while the other spouse jockeys for position to grab the Hello Kitty bag; the driver who looks for his client's luggage; and the weaker folks who packed entirely too much for their arms to carry.

In each case, every person is focused on his/her own luggage. "That's life for ya."

It makes sense. In our lives, 9 times out of 10, when the heat is on, we're focused on our needs and the needs of our loved ones. Forget strangers. Someone else can look after them. It's not my job. This book was an eye-opener for me, because it made me realize how selfish I really am, despite my own self image as being charitable and compassionate to people in need.

There are some people out there that simply need help. Those are like the weaker people who can't get their own bag off the conveyor belt. No matter how hard they try, they will never be able to defy the forces of gravity and momentum as they are dragged around the baggage carousel. In my job in direct sales, I meet people like this everyday. No matter how hard they work, they truly are victims of circumstance and are unable to improve their standard of living without assistance (usually in the form of welfare).

Then there are the people who are just too lazy or distracted to get their own luggage. These people are my least favorite in life, but I feel like I am called to love them even more. While some people are victims of circumstances, there are others who just call themselves victims on account of their own laziness. Adam Shepherd ran into a lot of these types of people throughout the course of his journey. The mindset is a lot like this: "Why should I go get a job when I can get paid to sit here on my couch." This attitude lights a fire in me.

The lower class in America is stuck in a rut, and according to Shepherd's book, there are three types of people.

Those who make things happen.
Those who watch things happen.
Those who sit back, scratch their heads, and wonder, "What in the hell just happened."

After reading this book, I am torn between two conflicting sides. The competitor in me tells me that they should figure it out themselves, get a job, and improve their circumstances. The compassionate one in me, which also comes from my Christian upbringing, tells me that I need to help these people.

For a political turn: whose responsibility should it be to help those who really need it? Mine. Ours. But our tax dollars should not do the work for us.

Easter Eve?

In the Christian faith, we basically have two "high-profile" holidays, Christmas and Easter, both of which were set up to commemorate the two most important points in Christ's presence here on earth. Christmas was set up to remember Jesus' birth with presents, trees, lights, and eggnog. Easter was established to honor Jesus' death with chocolate bunnies, eggs (interesting that eggs are referenced in both holidays), and jelly beans.

Typically, Christian churches will pull out all the stops on for Christmas with a special Christmas program where all the moms jockey for position to get their sons and daughters cast as Joseph and Mary, and one lucky mom will receive the highest honor of having her newborn son cast as the baby Jesus. I wonder how many "baby Jesus" end up to be hoodlums in their teenage years?

Then there's Easter. To bring a great focus to Jesus death, Christians have established a "Holy Week." It starts off the Sunday before Passover with Palm Sunday. Then we have Maundy Thursday, which is also the day of Passover in the Jewish faith. Next, we have Good Friday, which is the day of Jesus' crucifixion. And of course, Holy Week is brought to a great end with Easter Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are just ignored in this Holy Week. We ran out of cool names.

Saturday acts as an intermission. Nothing happened on Saturday. Jesus was in the tomb. God didn't do anything. Nothing happened.

That's why Saturday is so important.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Until his crucifixion, Jesus has thousands of followers and opponents. He was doing ministry as God's Son, the Chosen One, the Messiah, for about three years. People knew him. People saw him. People were healed by him. Then he died. He was gone. Now what? This isn't what the Torah said would happen. Our "Messiah" is dead. We've been following this guy for three years, and now he's dead.

This is what Saturday looked like.

Then on Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus was back. People saw him. He was hanging out with the apostles again. The Messiah has risen. The prophecy has been fulfilled. This is the Christ. That's what Sunday looked like. A few weeks later, Jesus left again to sit at the right hand of God. Jesus wasn't there anymore, but God's Spirit descended from Heaven in Acts 2 to guide the way until Jesus' next return.

If you've ever felt the emptiness of a breakup, been punched in the face by divorce, or abandoned at the Grand Canyon, multiply that hollow feeling by one million. That's what Saturday felt like following his death. Our Savior is dead. He's not coming back. He lied to us. How would your faith have looked on Saturday? The great thing about the Christian faith is just that - faith.

As Hebrews says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Saturday was the day where a line was drawn in the sand. He's gone, but do you still believe? Are you certain? Today, we find ourselves in the same situation. Waiting. Hoping. Yet still certain of what we do not see.

Three Days, Six States, 2,315 Miles

Twelve guys and I decided that it would be a good idea to go on a road trip through the Midwest the weekend before final exams. Even though we spent approximately thirty-eight hours on the road between 1:00 pm Friday and 10:00 am Monday, I consider this trip a success. I slept on the floor of a church in Wichita, Kansas, got a milkshake from Braum's, bought banana bread from an Amish family in Missouri, played a baseball game where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed, slept on the cold cement basement floor at some stranger's house in Illinois, watched Derek Lee hit a grand slam in the Cubs' victory over the Marlins at Wrigley Field, took my picture beside the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and ate four burgers from White Castle. The only thing I regret is the last one.

One of my goals in life is watch a baseball game at every major league stadium, so when the idea of going to watch the Cubs play Wrigley Field was presented to me, I jumped at the opportunity. We decided to take a detour through Dyersville, Iowa, to the set of the movie Field of Dreams before driving to Chicago. I felt like a child on his way to the toy store as we got within a few miles of the field. I started playing baseball in second grade, and I have loved the game ever since. As a baseball fan, one can't help but also love the movie The Field of Dreams, so being able to play a game there will forever be one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Wrigley Field, built in 1914, is the ninth major league ballpark where I have attended a game, so I have twenty-one remaining. Even though I am not a Cubs fan, I could not help but cheer when Derek Lee hit his grand slam to put the Cubs up 6-2 or when the Cubs held the Marlins to scoring just one run with the bases loaded and only one out. The game was sold out, and by the roar of the crowd as the Cubs' right fielder made a diving catch for the third out in the top of the ninth inning, you could tell that there was not an empty seat in the house.

I returned to Abilene to face two final exams, a group presentation, and a three page paper - my last week as a college student. I took the exams, gave the presentation, and wrote my paper, so I am now finished with college. Some would call me a "young professional," others might call me a "grown up." I don't know how I feel about either one of those titles.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have really enjoyed the time I spent with my friends, and we lived moment as if it were the last time we would ever see each other. There's something special about that mindset - I didn't take my friends or anything else for granted. Life is better that way.

Twittering Christianity

Last Sunday afternoon, Max Lucado, famous Christian writer and former preacher at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, sent out a Twitter tweet to the world that he was on his way to a river baptism service. As one of Max's followers on Twitter, I always enjoy his spiritual messages that are summed up in less that 140 characters, but I was especially fascinated by this tweet. A river baptism service? I didn't know we still did those. Immediately, my mind bounced to the scene in O, Brother, Where Art Thou? when George Clooney and his fellow escaped convicts are interrupted by hundreds of people dressed in white robes singing "As I Went down to the River to Pray."

When I think of baptisms, I typically think of those that happen only in the church. When I was baptized, my church was under construction, so we didn't have a "normal" baptistry. I was baptized in a glorified bathtub, but it counted. The thought of river baptisms sounds old school, but it also intrigues me.

Sunday night, Max sent out a follow-up tweet: "We spent 2 hours in the river. 257 baptisms! Glorious!" For those of you keeping score at home, 257 is a pretty spectacular number for two reasons. First, 257 people had their sins washed away in one day. That just shows the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of those people. Second, that is just a huge number. It might take some churches four years to have that many baptisms. While no one really "keeps score" based on the number of baptisms that they have, I am amazed that something like that happened.

Max also tweeted that Bruce Bowen, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs, was down at the river baptizing people. I have heard a lot of great thing about Bowen as a strong Christian leader, a philanthropist, and a role model to young kids, but I was quite impressed that he was a part of the action last Sunday. Typically, we assume that professional athletes are egocentric millionaires that act like children when things don't go their way, but Bowen took a break from the NBA play-off atmosphere to impact the lives of hundreds of people down at that river.

The popularity of Twitter over the past four months has been astounding, and it is also pretty cool to see celebrities like Shaq, Ashton Kutcher, Barry Zitto, Lance Armstrong, and Max Lucado using it as a way to connect with non-celebrities. While Max may not consider himself a celebrity, his tweet last week was read by thousands of people. Max does write about some random things he does during the day, and with posts like the ones regarding the river baptism, he is able to use Twitter as a way to connect Christianity and culture.

Breakfast on Beech Street

This morning, I joined 15 volunteers to serve breakfast to 40 people from the Abilene community. Waking up at 5:00 am was definitely a struggle, but three hours later, I know that it was worth it. I might need some coffee to make it through the day, though.

Breakfast of Beech Street (BOBS) is a ministry of 5 churches here in town that serves approximately 12,000 breakfasts each year. For five days a week, volunteers from these churches and the community prepare breakfast and sack lunches for anyone who is hungry and needs some food. I first assumed that this ministry was just for homeless people, but the majority of people that got breakfast this morning were not homeless. They were just hungry and were not able to make breakfast for themselves at home. There are not any applications to fill out to make sure that each person actually needs food. There are no strict guidelines saying that only certain people can eat or that each person only gets one omelet. We make breakfast, people come, and they eat until it is gone (today we had some leftovers, though).

I do find it fascinating that BOBS serves out 12,000 breakfasts each year to people here in Abilene, but I am especially pleased that this is done through the work of 5 churches...of different denominations...working together...for a greater purpose. Episcopal. Methodist. Disciples of Christ. Church of Christ. Presbyterian. For centuries Christians from different denominations have argued about whose doctrine is correct, and we have strayed from the massage of the Gospel.

Mark 10:45 says, "For even the Son of Man [Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." This verse points out two important truths of the Gospel. First, the part about the ransom refers to our salvation that comes through Christ's death and resurrection (See Easter post below). Second, Christ came to serve others, not to be served. The Gospel of Christ is not about doctrine and denominations. It is about serving those in our communities. Churches do a great job of spiritually edifying believers on Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays, but people often forget that the role of the church is also to equip believers to go out and serve others and meet their needs - not our needs.

BOBS ministry is to spread the Gospel by feeding people, saying "Good morning," sharing conversations, and shaking hands. Yes, there was a prayer for the food at the beginning, and the meal was served in the kitchen of a church, but that was the only "churchy" thing about it. I worked in the kitchen and loaded plates with toast and omelets. I greeted people as they passed through the line, but I didn't say anything about becoming a Christian. I didn't hand out a tract of the five steps of conversion. I didn't share a testimonial of my faith. I just gave food to people that needed it. Jesus fed people, too. Lot's of them. Read this to learn more.

Happy Easter

Easter is only a few days away, and that means I will be hunting eggs filled with money and candy very soon. Truth: I am almost 22 years old and still hunt Easter eggs every year. Yes, I will go to Easter service at my church, and I will enjoy a nice Easter lunch with my family, but it seems like this "holiday" has lost its meaning somehow. Just like Christmas. The two major holidays out of the entire year that have been set apart for Christians to celebrate the Gospel have become secular.

For those of you not familiar with the story, Good Friday is the anniversary of Jesus' crucifixion for proclaiming to be the Savior/Messiah that was sent by God to the world. Three days later, Jesus was raised back to life. Easter is the celebration of his resurrection. In Spanish, Easter is called "Pascua" (PAH-skwah), which is literally translated to mean "Passover," not Easter. There's your fun fact for the day.

Going back to the Old Testament when God's chosen people, the Hebrews, were in Egyptian captivity, God sent plagues against the Egyptians so that they would let the Hebrews out of slavery. The last plague sent was that all of the firstborn children were to be killed in the night by the spirit of God unless the door to a family's house was marked with lamb's blood. At the sight of this blood, the spirit would PASSOVER the house, and those inside would be spared. Because of this, Passover is widely celebrated by Jews, but Christians tend to put the focus of the holy week on the resurrection day (Easter). [Thought: Why don't more Christians celebrate Passover, too? The first Christians were Jews.] Easter Sunday always follows Passover because Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection occurred while he was in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.

I write this history lesson to give a better picture of what Easter is really for. It is great to take a break from work and school and spend time with the family, but I feel like at the dinner table on Sunday or at some point in the day, someone should mention the significance of this holiday. For Christians, the true purpose of this holiday is to represent Jesus' resurrection, which brings salvation to those who believe in him. But there is much more to this holiday.

I feel like the purpose of this holiday could also be to simply take a scheduled pause in our lives and spend time with our families. Honestly, we can celebrate the resurrection whenever we want. Easter is special because of what people do on it. This will be my 21st Easter, and I have only spent two Easters away from my family. Easter Sunday of my senior year of high school was spent in Hong Kong. Easter Sunday of my sophomore year of college was spent at a children's home in Montevideo, Uruguay. If I was in the US, I would have most definitely gone home for the weekend to spend Easter with my family. Sunday will be a special day because I will eat some great home cooking, and I will hunt eggs with my sister and cousin. But I will do it with my family. Celebrating the resurrection is important to me, but spending time with my family is important, too.