Two guys and a little red truck(from my journal 09-20-05)

I had the privilege the other day to have the top to my jeep off. If you have never experienced this you really should. It's almost feels like you are flying. Granted, I have never flown (like superman) but if I had, I am sure it would have felt very similar to riding in my jeep with the top down. Anyhow, I was driving and I noticed a truck to my left. For the record, I am very much a people watcher, not stalker, just watcher. People are just very intriguing to me! This truck caught my eye, no that anything was exceptional about the truck, it was a red, ordinary, compact, pickup truck. I like so many other people, have the predisposition to look into the next car whenever I pull beside one. So I looked over into this little red truck and I am quite intrigued by what I see. I don't know if most people would have been as intrigued as I was, but I was very intrigued. In the little red truck I saw a driver and a passenger, not that out of the ordinary I know. The driver was a white male, around the age of 70, I would guess. The passenger was a black male around the age of 70. My interest was peaked by these two men. I did not know where they were coming from, but I did know that seeing them together in that little red truck made me very happy. I think this had such a profound affect on me because it is not something I see everyday. Yes I see older white males and older black males, but rarely, very rarely do I ever see them together. It was pretty stinkin' cool to see them together. It reminded me that things can and do get better. These two men, who were raised in a time of high racial tension, found some way to look past the outside appearance, to the heart of each other. What they found was something that transcends color, they found a person. I wondered what their story was, I wondered how they became friends, I wondered how they got past their social do's and don'ts. To say that I was intrigued would be a major understatement. I was floored, in a time where segregation and racism reigned supreme, these two gentleman were able to look past all of that. Even today at times we can feel the ugly head of bigotry rising up ,but these two fellas, reminded me that there is hope. Hope that we can look past a person's outside appearance and not just see a color, or money, but their heart and see them for who they really are. Hope that what our fore fathers wrote about, can be a reality in our day and time. Yes, a fleeting moment in traffic became a lot more, it became an ah ha moment. A moment where I realized that I am a part of the change I desire to see in the world and so are those two gentleman. What a very important lesson learned from two guys in a little red truck...

Rainy days...

So I have come to realize something. I really like rainy days. Let me explain myself. Because I am sure that the majority of the population does not share my enthusiasm for rainy days. I like the fact that rainy days cause you to slow down a bit. If you are anything like me, you are constantly running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. By the way, why is that the illustration that we gravitate to when we explain how crazy we are? Anyhow, the rain makes us drive slower as to avoid bumping into the cars around us. Also the rain brings new life and allows life to grow and florish! Another thing the rain does, is it causes us to appreciate the sun. Think about that statement, it cause us to appreciate the Sun! That is crazy cool. Because the rainy days in our lives causes the same outcome. Whenever my life spins out of control and the rain falls, I have to realize that the sun is going to shine again and it causes me to appreciate the Son! Rainy days are not fun, but they are neccessary for us to realize how good the Son is. If I can remeber that, I think that I would live differently, so I have decided to welcome the rain, no matter how heavy or inconvienient, bring on the rain.


Much love,
Nick

No prostitutes allowed...

I was reading a book the other day. I know, I am so cutting edge. Anyhow, the book is entitled Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I am rather enjoying the book, because it gives me a lot to think about. I don't always like to read people that think just like me, I like to read people that will give me something to think about. Let me add, that Shane Claiborne very much so causes me to think. So I am reading and he tells of a conversation that he and one of his hippie friends has and here is how he sets it up and tells of what happened with their interaction: "I have this old hippie friend who loves Jesus and smokes a lot of weed, and he's always trying to get under my skin and stir up a debate, especially when I have innocent young Christians visiting with me. (The problem is that he knows the Bible better than most of them do.) One day, he said to me, 'Jesus never talked to a prostitute.' I immediately went on the offensive:'Oh sure he did,' and whipped out my sword of the Spirit and got ready to spar. The he just calmly looked me in the eye and said, 'Listen, Jesus never talked to a prostitute because he didn't see a prostitute, he just saw a child of God he was madly in love with.' I lost the debate that night."
Something about that story just echoed in my spirit. What if i saw people as Christ sees them and not as the sin or their shortcomings. I think the world is crying out to be loved where they are and not for what they do. If we as followers of Christ could live this way, I think we would shine as we have been called to shine. So let us not look at people based on what they do, but on who they are, and they are loved by our Heavenly Father. So instead of us picking up judgment, let us pick up grace, instead of holding up condemnation, let us hold up Love. A challenge indeed, but worth it all the same!

Drop kick or grace?

So I am watching ESPN the other night, yes, a very manly thing to do, because I am known as a man's man. Okay, not really, but I do have some manly tendencies. Anyhow, I am watching ESPN, they are going through the previous nights' highlights. So there is a recap that catches my attention, it was recapping the game of a major league baseball game. The batter was up and the umpire signaled to the centerfielder that he was ejected from the game because he was stealing signs. Nevertheless, the centerfielder was not at all happy about the call, so he proceded to sprint from centerfield to home plate and he was going to let the umpire have it. What happened next made me a little upset, he was so angry that he let every explitive fly known to man and he tried to grab the umpire and cause him so bodily harm. The reason I was so upset is I know that there are kids watching this athlete and taking cues from him on what it means to be an athlete. I did not want this guy to be the example. I wanted to drop kick him! Then I had a very sobering moment. I asked myself this question, is that how God feels about me? Let me have a really honest moment, a lot of the time I do not represent the name of Christ very well. I am the represenative of Christ in this world, whoever calls themself a Christian is! I wonder if Christ ever wants to drop kick me. I know that sounds like a very awkward question, but think about it, if you died on a cross so that people could have the opportunity to live for you, and they took that sacrafice and lived however they wanted, it would bother you. I learned something from watching ESPN, I am not living for my own gain, but for the renown of Jesus Christ, that is a pretty big deal! I should live my life in such away that people know whom I am living for. See, the really splendid thing about living for the Lord is when I stumble and deserve a drop kick, he gives me grace and because of that grave I will get up and run this race with endurance!

Suffering from squirrel syndrome...

I don't know about you, but I am suffering from something called squirrel syndrome. Let me explain, have you ever seen a squirrel cross a street? It is quite a site. Squirrels start crossing so confidently, until a car comes or something startles them. Once that happpens it's as if they have forgotten what they are doing or where they are going. Back and forth they dart across traffic, and the sad part about this is some lose their life. Others just go back to where they started not daring to try and cross again, and then there are those that keep running to the other side. Those are the ones that are resillent. But my faith and my walk with Christ is a lot like that. I will be walking on my journey towards Christ and a car comes, which can take on many forms: sin, tragedy, dissappointment, you name it. It gets me off my course and I run back to things that are comfortable, forgetting about the journey I am on. I follow christ and then my own way and then Christ and so on and so forth. The sad thing is some people don't get pass this point, they live their life in the mediocre or their sin leads them down a path that requires their life for payment. Even though I do suffer from this squirrel syndrome, I wan to be one of the ones that makes to the other side, I wan to be a follower of Christ that finishes the race. Even though there are times I lose my way, I want to finish the race and finish well. Maybe at the end of this race I can say I overcame my squirrel syndrome.


Much love,
Nick

Jesus in a little red truck...

Today i was driving from a coffee shop in town to my office and i turned on a road that had a lot of construction and road work going on and my first thought was "oh great" how long is this going to take to get to my destination? I happened to get behind a little red truck. I did not think much of this truck until we started hitting some road construction spots that had flagmen(to all the ladies of the world, the reason in which I call them flagmen is because I did not see any women, just saying.) and I noticed that the driver of this truck proceeded to wave at the flagman. I was a bit taken back by this gesture. Because in my head i was beginning to get frustrated, but this guy in front of me was waving at all of the flagmen in which we passed. I watched intently as he waved at everyone that looked in his direction and who he passed. Then something very surprising began to happen, the flagmen and road workers began to wave back at him. I could not believe what i was seeing on this Monday morning commute. So i found myself do something that caught me off guard. I began waving to them as well, and they waved back at me. Crazy, and what also caught me by surprise was how my attitude began to change drastically. Now I saw this gentlemen on the side of the road as people and not just beings that are impending my progress to work. Then it hit me, isn't that what being the light is all about? Aren't we called to shine our lights in the darkest of situation and it doesn't get much more dark than a M0nday morning commute. So to whoever that gentleman was in that little red truck, thank you for stepping into my path this morning and allowing me a reminder of what my role is to play in this world. In my head, you were Jesus in a little red truck, because you stepped into a very bleak situation and shined. My prayer is that I may shine as well.

From pollen to honey...

It is amazing to me how easily i get distracted. But i have learned that sometimes in those distractions, I can learn a lot. Which recently, a distraction was able to teach me a very valuable lesson.

The other day i was doing one of my man choirs, if you are not sure what a man chore is, it is a choir that you can do, without screwing it up and usually it is given to you by your wife. Anyhow, I was walking my pup and I noticed a bee buzzing around as my pup took care of her pup business. i noticed how the bee flew from one flower to another collecting pollen for it's hive. It did this just by landing on a flower and going to another one. I am not sure if it had any idea about the impact of it's actions. We are a lot like that. Each day we come in contact with people and walk into situations where we are either going to make those better or wreck them. What if we were like that bee, that because of our nature, we made the world a better place. We have an opportunity everyday to plant seeds of faithfulness in the lives of people. My prayer is that we will live life that way. I don't know about you, but I desire to make the world a better place. Besides, that is what we are called to do, ¹³"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."-Matthew 5:13