a peaceable place

Community

2009-03-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm still reading tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom. I came across another great quote from Morrie that I wanted to share. It's about community. As I get towards the end of the book, which is the end of Morrie's life, nearly everything he says regards the need for community.

-"In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?"
His voice dropped to a whisper. "But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."-

I think this is pretty special. It seems simple and many of you might be saying "duh!". But when I read this, I thought about my life; where I've been, where I am, and where I'm headed. None of it would have happened, none of it's happening, and none of it will happen, without the help of others.

Most of us don't like to be dependant on others. We take pride in doing things ourselves. We feel a sense of acomplishment when we can say, "I did this all on my own!" But I think we need to change. There are so many people in this world that would love to help and so many that need our help! Even asking someone for help when you don't really need it can be a help to the person who is doing the helping, because you are including them.

Community. Morrie knows it well, and is teaching me, page by page.

Grace

2009-03-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

It's interesting when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a certain 'thing' pops up over and over again. Currently, grace is that 'thing'. Here's a few things I've read recently that I've really enjoyed.

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggresive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life - a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.
Romans 5:18-20 The Message

In The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis, Lewis writes, "Grace substitutes a full, childlike and delighted acceptance of our need, a joy in total dependence. The good man is sorry for the sins which have increased his need. He is not entirely sorry for the fresh need they have produced."

I wish I was writing this on tuesday

2009-02-28T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is a piece from a book that I think is the best book I've ever read. It's about a man's relationship with his dying professor. Here is one of their conversations. I wanted to post this because this dying man, Morrie, thinks so clearly! He knows truth and it flows freely from his mouth.

-One afternoon, I am complaining about the confusion of my age, what is expected of me versus what I want for myself.
"Have I told you about the tension of opposites?" he says.
The tension of opposites?
"Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even though you know you should never take anything for granted."
A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle."
Sounds like a wrestling match, I say.
"A wrestling match." He laughs. "Yes, you could describe life that way."
So which side wins? I ask.
"Which side wins?"
He smiles at me, the crinkled eyes, the crooked teeth.
"Love wins, Love always wins."-

tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

biblical metaphors

2009-01-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

I've found recently that I really love biblical metaphors. Such as Jesus being "the bread of life" and "the light of the world". Recently I've been really inspired/attracted/amazed by the latter. I have a quote by MLK Jr. a few posts down that I absolutely love and I want to talk a little about that again today. The very last part of it..."darkness cannot put out darkness, only light can do that". I shared about this at Adsideo the other day and I want write about it too.

Adsideo had a Hat.Sock.Glove.Give the other day and I noticed while walking around, all the people we helped were huddled up next to a building or doorway. This is usually where you will find the homeless population, but the thing of it was, it was a gorgeous sunny day! Now, it was still very cold and windy so that is why they were huddled up. But when you think about the end piece of that quote (darkness cannot put out darkness), and then you see these homeless friends, in a state of darkness, standing in literal darkness, and then you step into a spot of sun beaming through the buildings, and feel how warm, fresh, bright, comforting and peaceful this amazing light is, it makes sense that indeed, "Darkness cannot put out darkness, only light can do that".

Jesus is that light. Not the light from the sun, but the light that will heal us, that will fill us, that will guide us, and will never leave us. So, you could say, "Darkness cannot put out darkness, only Jesus can do that".

The cool thing is that since we're filled with the spirit, we too understand and posses that light. So when we see our friends huddled up in a state of darkness and in literal darkness, we can put it out.

some things I've been thinking about...

2009-01-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

Today I thought of a quote, that I've never heard before so I'm going to claim it. It goes like this: "When we're young we need adults around to help us mature, and when we're old we need kids around to keep us young." - Wade H. Johnson

Something like that anyway, I need to work on the wording.

But here's another thought..."God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" - Genesis 1:27. So, when we die to ourselves and empty all of our baggage and junk and stuff, what's left over? God's image? I think so. God created us in His image for a reason, and it wasn't so we could cover it up with junk. Let's dump that junk and reveal the image of God. Sound good?

I remember when...

2008-11-08T08:46:00.001-08:00

I remember when I was a lot younger (maybe 9 or 10) a man that seemed to have it all together, at my old church, confessed something in front of everyone. What he confessed absolutely shocked me, and I felt embarrassed for him. He confessed that he had been just following routine, and hadn't really known Jesus.

I just remembered this last night, while listening to a few different Gentleman at the church I go to now, talk about their struggle to understand love, to have trust, and to leave behind their past. It was so beautiful to see their transparency, their confessions, their vulnerability, and their need to be loved.

When I thought about it, the difference in these two stories had to be because of one of two things. It was either my maturity or it was the group of believers. It's also possible it was a combination of the two.

However, I think of the pastor's youngest son, who is only 9 years old. Last night, he didn't feel shocked or embarrassed for these men that shared their lives. Why was it that I felt this way when I was young.

I think the answer is that when I was young, the body of believers I was around was very traditional. So traditional in fact that pain and sorrow was only shared if it was a medical problem. When this man shared that he had been living a lie, that he was a Christian poser, and that he had recognized the real Jesus, the people around me were shocked and embarrassed because to them, and me at the time, he must have been the only person in the whole church that wasn't living a good solid, read your bible every night, go to church on Sunday, shake 30 people's hands and tell them how great you're doing, Christian life.

I'm really glad I'm where I am now. I'm glad that the body of believers I'm in community with doesn't assume everyone's living the "ideal" Christian life, because nobody is. We all have our addictions of some sort, and it's all sin. We are sinners, we don't have to pretend we're not. We are supposed to join along side of one another and comfort one another and learn from one another. As a great man recently said, "It's not perfect, but it's good."

today i've decided

2008-11-06T15:49:00.000-08:00

that I'm way too lazy! Man, there is so much more I could do in a day than I actually do. Well, I am choosing not to be lazy from here on out. I will always be doing something productive (which includes rest because that's productive for my body to help me be productive).

i figured I'd blog today...

2008-11-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm sitting at work, in a patient's room. I floated to a different unit, because my regular one is nearly empty. I'm a sitter today, for a man who is a deaf, mute. He's 71 years old and was hit by a train while walking along the tracks. It's amazing he lived.
I figured I'd blog today about this experience. This is my second time having a deaf patient, but my first time spending the entire 12 hour shift with a deaf patient. Quite frankly, it's amazing. This man cannot hear or speak, and I cannot sign. He also cannot read very well. For about an hour in the morning a sign language interpreter came by and taught me about 10 signs. An hour after she left I could only remember four: Pain, Bathroom, drink and thank you.
So back to the 'amazing' aspect of this.
The amazing part isn't that we can still communicate despite not being able to hear and not being able to sign.
The amazing part isn't that as soon as he begins to get aggitated I know he's going to pee and I can get him the urinal before a drop spills on his sheets.
The amazing part isn't that I can figure out by watching ESPN with him that he likes football better than any other sport.

The amazing part is the silence

Something about this experience makes me wonder if God made a mistake by giving us mouths, he had to of known what we'd do with them. Not to say that some people don't do a lot of good with theirs'. But there is something beautiful about the silence. Not silence when we're alone, thats to be expected: silence with others. Even though it can be frustrating, and it has been at times today, it is satisfying when you finally break through and figure out what the other is trying to say.

MLK Jr.

2008-09-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

"Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder.

Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth.

Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate.

Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that."

I sat here for probably 20 minutes trying to think of something to say that would add to this quote, to let you know how it makes me feel. But anything I thought to say wouldn't hold the truth and power that this quote already contains. So I'm turning the tables a bit. What does this quote mean to you?

man oh man

2008-06-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought the gathering couldn't be anymore amazing and beautiful, it was. To see Jesus in everyone and everything is simply wonderful.

here's mine...

2008-06-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

If anybody hasn't seen Chris's blog recently he did some top ten lists. I'm going to do some also, but only top 5.

Top Five Movies (maybe
5)The Cure
4)High Fidelity (the reason I'm doing top 5)
3)Stand By Me
2)Magnolia
1)The Royal Tenenbaums

Top Five Things I Wish I had, personally...(peace on earth is not an option here)
5)a beach house in Winchester Bay, OR
4)a car that gets good gas mileage
3)an iMac
2)a digital SLR camera
1)a sunny day

that's all for now

simpleness?

2008-05-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

This was inspired by the phrase "keep it simple" that Chad mentioned in his last blog...

When we left middle school, to go to high school, do you remember thinking back about how simple middle school was? But when we were in middle school, we were terrified of high school because we couldn't imagine anything much harder. Then when we graduated high school the same thing takes place; we look back and realize how simple it was. We thought it was such a big deal when we were there, in the midst of it, but once we were passed it, it was really, almost nothing. I haven't graduated college yet, but I can see a trend here.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm kinda reaching a point in my life, where I'm beyond this life, so to speak. I know that sounds weird but I guess I have just realized how simple this life of ours was meant to be, and I can really see the bigger picture. God's creation was meant to be simple. When it was conflicted with sin God sent his Son to make it simple once again. A verse that has influenced this thought is Colossians 1:16. It says that everything was created by God, and for God

This passage is clear, to the point and simple

...and awesome

not too much to say...

2008-05-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

.just that I really appreciate everyones' blogs! I get so excited when people post new stuff.

update on some stuff in my life...

Elizabeth and I have two months, six days until our wedding

we already have a cat, if you didn't know, and we just re-named it Jammies (as in pajamas)

I finish my CNA training in a week.

I'm really broke right now but since I'm almost done with the CNA course I'll be working again soon.

There is a couple apartments that Elizabeth is going to go look at on Wednesday that would be perfect for us...!!!!!!

The Edge

2008-04-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time a young lad was born without a belly button. In its place was a golden screw. All the doctors told his mother that there was nothing they could do. He would have to live with it.

The years passed, and they were hard for the boy, as everyone who saw the screw made fun of him. Then one day, when he was fully grown, a mysterious stranger saw his belly and told him of a swami in Tibet who could get rid of the screw for him. The man was thrilled. They next day he took his life savings and bought a ticket to Tibet.

After several days of climbing up steep cliffs, he came upon a huge monastery. The swami knew exactly why he had come. He told the man to sleep in the highest tower of the monastery and the following day when he awoke, the screw would have been removed.

That night the man went to the room and fell asleep. While he slept, a purple fog floated in through an open window bearing in its mist a golden screwdriver. In just moments, the screwdriver removed the screw and disappeared out of the window.

The next morning when he woke, the man saw the golden screw laing on the pillow next to him. Reaching down, he felt his navel. The screw was gone! Jubilant, he leaped out of bed and his butt fell off.

made some...

2008-04-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

changes. I changed the colors and the picture. I added the text. I'm still messing with it, but I have to stop now to work on some homework. Before I go, I'll give a quick update...

Elizabeth went to Baker city with Chanelle yesterday, but she comes back tomorrow, yes! I'm really looking forward to dodgeball tonight, my good buddy Jeff (ramseagull) Ramsey is coming with me so it will be a good time...It's amazing how many things a person can find to do when they really need to do their homework...crud.

CHAD! I was looking back at my old livejournal blog to get some ideas for colors for this blog and I was reading a few entries and I found one from April 17, 2006 and here is a little piece from it..."My friend Chad Bryan turned 21. I was the first person to tackle him after he wasn't a minor anymore. We had a pretty good time."
Seriously? I tackled you? I have no memory of this...do you?

Good Ds

2008-04-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

ooooh baaaby, yesterday was a real good day getting up to about 78 degrees. It was a great day for hitting a golf ball, so that's exactly what Ted, Chad, Travis and I did. Following up on my last post, Good Ds are also kinda mysteries b/c you never know what kinda fun you'll find when it is nice out. Now, it's off to church followed by something good, I'm sure. Later gators.

p.s. this nice weather also calls for a page layout/color/picture change...

Coming Soon

mystery...

2008-04-09T01:16:00.000-07:00

Mystery is awesome. I love it. Jesus is a mystery. Elizabeth is a mystery. Relationships in general are mysteries. That's why they're so good. And those Goosebumps books were also pretty good ,back in the day. Anybody else got any good mysteries? Come oooooooon.

just stay with me...

2008-04-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

This might be a bit of a stretch...

I'm a big NBA fan and trailblazer fan. Recently, Portland's best player, Brandon Roy, has missed about 5 games with a groin and hip injury. I watch every single game, and these last five games I just haven't really enjoyed watching that much. I was trying to figure it out for a while and finally did; It's the absence of Brandon Roy that completely changes the tempo, excitement, and poise of the game. He's their leader, he's their play maker, he brings control to the court, the other guys trust him. The blazer's have only won, one of the games during the five Roy has missed. They somewhat seem lost without him. Basically, the team is not capable of playing as well, without Brandon Roy, as they are with him. The funny thing is, I knew all of this! I guess I just didn't think about it right away because I was just so used to Roy's ability and what he brings to the team, that it didn't stick out to me as amazing anymore, it was just normal for him to take over a game and lead the team to a win.

I was thinking about this in relation to my relationship with Christ. It's really not that far off! Jesus brings numerous things to my life. I'm not going to list them all; I just want to emphasize how important it is to me that He is a part of my life. If I think about my life as a team, and Jesus as the best player on my team, I am lost without Him! I want Him getting the ball every possession, and when a timeout is called, I want Him calling the next play. After the game is over, I'm giving all the credit to Him, and telling everyone how we couldn't have done it without Him. Then, when I go and play with other people, I can mimic the things I've seen Jesus do and other people will know that I have learned from Him, and they will see how great it has made me, and they too may want to learn from Him. Radical.

So now I'm thinking of the communities we are each a part of, as teams. My friends here in Portland we are part of a team, friends at NNU, you guys are part of a team! Let us always make sure Jesus is leading the way and is the focal point of our play, so that we don't become boring and unproductive. Encourage your team mates by what Jesus has taught you, and continue to always play just as Jesus has taught us. Don't let your relationship with Jesus become normal.

~kinda cheesy but you get the point.

p.s. It would be seriously so sweet to play some basketball with Jesus. I bet he was, and is, and forever will be pretty athletic.

home from namps, to the Euge

2008-03-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Got home from nampa yesterday and drove down to eugene with elizabeth to hang out with my sister. It's been really a great time so far. Yesterday, when we arrived, we went to dinner at Cosmo's Pizza with my sister's boyfriend, Charles, which was really good. Then we watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium which I fell asleep almost through the entire movie, but Elizabeth said it was pretty good.

Then today we slept in and then went to the Duck Stop, where my sister is a barista. We got some coffee and came back to her apartment and watched Once. When she got off work we went and painted some things at Brush-Fire. Elizabeth and I painted a sugar jar and Karlin painted a flower pot. Then we came back and my sister and elizabeth made some vegetarian biscuits and gravy, and it was so yum. Now me and elizabeth are heading back home.

heading home

2008-03-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today's my last full day in Namps. It's been a blast getting to be here and hang out with my good friends. Though I'm sad to leave these peeps, I'm really excited to get home and see my best friend, Elizabeth, because I've really missed her, and she's beautiful!

Here's the run down on what I've been up to...

Drove here with Chris and Reed on Monday.
Went to Wendy's with the Red, and then taco bell with reed, chris and kylee, then watched a movie that was too long.
Slept alright...
Woke up and started watching a movie but turned it off to get some bacon, egg and cheese biscuits at McDonald's. (breakfast is the only thing I will get there)
Went to the Dex with Reed and Chris at lunch time and got to see, Matt, Dax, Jared, Ian, Joey, Tommy, Joe, etc...
Went to the Rec. Center to play basketball with Tommy, Matt and Chris.
Came back, took a shower and took a nap while watching the Royal Tenenbaum's, which really is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Went to Outback for dinner with the Red, Chris and Ryan Cork.
Finished the Royal Tenenbaum's
Went to the library to see Roland, but also saw Brittan and Trenton
Went to see Bieds, Nate, Seth and Blaine, hung out and talked to those guys for a good while.
Tried to impress Jesse Hyslop with some chemistry knowledge, but of course he was not impressed and only looked up from his computer game once when we were talking.
Went to sleep and slept a lot better than the first night.
Woke up early and went to breakfast with Chris and Kenton. Kenton was going to pay for it but someone picked up our tab. It was awesome.
Went to Chapel, went to the Flying M with chris, reed and kylee. Caleb was working.
Went to the Dex and saw Zach
Currently at the Apt. blogging with reed and about to help Chris memorize his play lines.
Later tonight is TimeOut and a good guy, Alex, is speaking.

Dialogue from the best moment of the entire trip...

Chris: "Hey Caleb, guess what I had for breakfast this morning"
Caleb: "Umm..., ..., ..., should I know this?"
Chris: "Bran hotcakes."
Caleb: (Caleb steps back, lifting his head high) "oomph"

where did Saturday go?

2008-03-16T00:34:00.000-07:00

So, I've been working on Saturdays now for 9 months. I've missed two Saturdays in that time, one when I was sick and one for my Grandma's funeral. What I'm trying to say here is, I have no idea what the heck Saturday is anymore. When I think back to pre-nine months ago I remember sleeping in, getting up, staying lazy, or doing something fun. Now, it's get up at 6:45, leave the house at 7:30, start work at 8, get off at 4:30. Basically working on Saturday's sucks. Not only is your Saturday gone, but your Friday night is gone also. I'm in bed Friday nights at like 11:00! Oh brother... The good news here is that right about the time Elizabeth and I get married, I won't have to work Saturdays anymore and I will have a real weekend for a change! Some of my favorite Saturday memories are of waking up early to go fishing or hunting, or just out to breakfast. The best thing about waking up early and going to breakfast when I was younger was that afterwards I, when my dad and I came home, would go back to sleep, or help him wash the car.

explanation

2008-03-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

When I decided to make a blog it was just for the reason of keeping journal, more or less. I decided on the title, "a piece of the community" because it explains who I am. I am a part, a portion, a fragment, a piece, just like everyone else.
A piece of what?
I am a piece of a neighborhood, a body, a populace, a community, just like everyone else. To realize that you are a piece of the community is important because than you can become a relevant, piece of the community. As a follower of Christ I have found it absolutely beautiful to be a piece of the community. It's what we're called to do as His Body and I've really been able to realize this as of late.

The command to put others before yourself seems pretty straight forward. So why don't we do it more often? I've began contemplating this in the last couple weeks and it's been beautiful. Before I started thinking about this I was a guy who would help others, but make sure I wasn't getting in over my head, meaning, I would look out for myself, making sure the act of helping others didn't consume me, so I would still have time for myself. I want to change and give myself completely to others, not looking out for myself, but allowing God to look after me. I think it starts with faith that the Lord will protect you and use you, then you can truly help people.

Well I need to sleep, gotta work in 6 hours.

p.s. I think I just realized while writing this that I would really love to be a missionary.

the way things should be?

2008-03-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

So I'm at school right now in nutrition class and learning about numerous benefits to coffee and caffeine. It's pretty impressive actually; reduces risk of Parkinson's disease, relieves headaches, helps the body burn fat, blunts the perception of pain, increases endurance, etc...

So this is my first post. I'm not sure what kinds of things I'm going to write on here, I'll probably just use it for things I'm thinking about and things I've been doing, like everyone else.

This first post I will use to explain the book I'm going to write, someday. This book is going to be somewhat like a Chicken Soup for the Soul. It's going to contain stories from people that tell "perfect experiences" or experiences they had that made them feel really good, and maybe made them say something like, "man, this is how things should be." For example, at the rescue mission a month ago, two girls from church Amanda and Joanna sat down next to an older (probably 60's) homeless man who was wearing a hat. Joanna has pink hair and this guy noticed it. "Does your friend dye her hair?" he said to Amanda. "Oh, nope! It's natural," joked Amanda. "Oh, well I dye mine," he stated. Now, Elizabeth and I were sitting right behind this guy and though he was wearing a hat we could see that his hair was dark brown and gray around the back and sides. "Really? Amanda replied, what color do you dye it?" The man said, "red." As Amanda and Joanna were kind of laughing and just going along with it the man proceeded to remove his hat showing that he did indeed dye his hair and it was very red, on the top. "OH WOW! YOU REALLY DO!" shouted Amanda, and the three of them started to laugh.

It was awesome, and so unexpected! Here is an older guy who I thought maybe wouldn't understand why people dye their hair or might think it was stupid, then revealed he died his too. Everyone had a big smile on their face and felt good afterwards.

This is the type of story I'm looking for for my book. I have a couple other stories too that I will use, but I would like to have 365 different stories by different people. If you have any and would like to have them in the book you can send 'em to me. wjohnson@pdx.edu

Thanks guys.