Provision for the Flesh

This is something that we have a very hard time with in North America. Not to downplay its hold it has on humanity as a whole, but we've taken this one to an art form. What I mean is our various modes of entertainment. We have TV shows and Video games that allow us to fantasize about the darker parts of our nature. For a while I watched the show Dexter. It was a short while, but in that short time it was more of an obsession. I watched an entire season in less than 2 days. I started having dreams where I was a serial killer. What bothered me the most is that it didn't bother me.

There are tons of other ways we make provision for the flesh. For me playing video games opened all sorts of doors to pornography, violent thoughts, and all sorts of sinful desires that humanity is prone to. I had to give up video games, specifically MMOs that were wreaking havoc in my heart, mind, soul, body, my whole life. But did I truly entirely give them up? In my free time just an hour ago I was playing a small little online game from Kongregate.com called Mastermind where you are an evil mastermind bent on conquering and destroying the Earth. It is a little strategy game, and yet why was I even playing it? I can't give a clear answer to that. Really it just comes down to given in to the passions of the flesh and giving a few inches in an area where I know I should not give any ground. I am thankful to God for the massive progress I've made in these areas, but the battle is not over and each day it is being fought in new ways.

One thing I've noticed is when I begin to connect with Jesus and his will, things like these fade into the background where I don't even understand why I would give them any serious thought. When I am worshiping my King I do not wish I was at home playing some online game. The thought of games or TV shows or anything like that never even enters my mind. Its entirely a non-issue. But its not just about the worship music, but rather connecting on some real level with my Lord which changes from moment to moment. Sometimes I can be listening to the best worship music in the world and be preoccupied with some vulgar thought. Its not about the act itself but in my state of mind and connection with God. If I could give you a formula for how this could happen consistently I would. But there is no such formula. I just pray I can keep my life centered on Christ as much as I can and flee from the areas where I have given provision for the flesh in the past.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason

Assimilation & Dissimilation

In Phonology (the branch of linguistics concerned with sound patterns) there are processes known as assimilation and dissimilation. Assimilation is the process by which one sound becomes in some way more alike a nearby sound. As a basic example, in English with nasals(m, n, ng) sounds immediately preceding stops(p, b, t, d, k, g) the nasals will assimilate to the same place of articulation of the stop. That is, with p or b, it will be an m, t or d an n, or k and g, ng. Just try saying humgry instead of hungry, or hunble instead of humble. It will feel incredibly awkward to you to say them that way. Dissimilation is similar except in reverse, sounds become less alike in some way usually in order to more easily distinguish them apart. This is most prominent between vowels to help people hear articulation differences that may be difficult to perceive. Appropriately I think, assimilation is far more common than dissimilation. I say that because I see these same kinds of patterns in people, especially myself.

Most people seek to conform to their environments. Though not everyone necessarily wants to completely blend in, most people to a degree want to fit in and be like everyone else. They don't need to stand out and be different for the sake of being distinguishable from others. They are content to ignore and be ignored by the majority of the world's population. They want to be the same, not different. Then there are a few who are different. Maybe not because of some inherent quality but because of their desire to stand out as such. I am one of those people. I encourage in myself those qualities that seem dissimilar from the majority of the population. I do not want to be the same as others. If I have too many people agreeing with my point of view I tend to reevaluate it and examine whether what I think or believe is truly worth holding. I even dress a bit differently. I enjoy activities that are usually uncommon. I stand out in the crowd. I am an introvert that is loud. I am a man who doesn't want to be noticed, but can't allow myself to blend in. Even within this broader category I've labeled here I want to further differentiate myself even from this group. Most of these people I would imagine are content to be different in one or only a few areas that distinguish them from others. In Phonology it is called minimizing features. You only name the fewest number of features that are relevant to sufficiently distinguish a sound or group of sounds from all others. But I am not like this. You would think I'd be content to be the only (fill in the blank with some unique quality, skill, trait, etc.) around or at least in my group of friends, but I am not. I must be different in a myriad of ways. I have to be better, faster, or at least do things in a different way than you do or I feel like I'm copying people. I don't just stop at one or even a few qualities that make me different from others, I keep going. I be as different as I can be without compromising my core beliefs. I don't know if this is the way I was created to be, or if it was some subconscious decision I made, but this is what I'm like. When I came to CanIL it was a rather strange experience for me because in no other place have I ever had so much in common with other people. It has truly turned me into even stranger of a person. The way I dress, talk, interact, everything has become even more eccentric because of my need to dissimilate. And this might become a problem as I go out onto the mission field for Christ. Maybe what I'll need to be is someone who blends in and doesn't make a splash. I like to make a splash too much. Maybe what I'll have to learn is to be drastically different than the Jason I've always been and dissimilate from who I was in the past to be effective for Christ. But I'm not concerned, for I know it is Christ's work, not mine and I am only a tool. I'll just be the best tool I can be. And for now it looks a lot different than all the other tools lying around.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason

Day of Rest

This morning I really really didn't want to get up. I see this as a problem. I'm a morning person, and even though I normally get up at 5:30, this morning was a really tough one for me. That means I didn't really have all that good of a day of rest. If my day of rest is actually restful, I am always ready to go Monday morning. For me, I'm starting to put some of my personality together in this respect to understanding. Although I am a very gregarious person, I am an introvert. All that really means is that social interaction is a drain for me rather than how I recover. This means staying longer after church to talk, going out for lunch with people, hanging out and fellowshipping, are all energy draining activities for me. And I've been very social recently. Actually, I find it kind of funny that last weekend I felt was more restful than this weekend even though I went on two large hikes on Saturday and Sunday. I still woke up ready to go on Monday. But this weekend where all I did on Sunday was spend time with friends after church, I wanted to lie in bed and never get up. I put this all out there to say I need to spend a little more time on Sundays doing nothing. In our overexerted culture that seems like a terrible waste of time, but if I were to just sit around and think, pray, and spend time in the word I think I would be much better off. We're all different and recover in different ways, so these are only applicable to me, but maybe you also need to figure out how you recover from life best and start implementing a more effective day of Rest.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason

Luke Warm Universe

Anyone who has any semblance of education in Physics is familiar with the concept of Heat Death. This is the theory that states the universe has its ultimate end in the balanced state of no thermodynamic free energy. It means nothing can be moving or exerting force. When a body exerts force or uses energy it is taking a set amount of energy available and using it in two ways. Either it is doing some kind of work, or it is released in heat, which is useless energy. Eventually all of the free energy will dissipate based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics, namely the conservation of mass and energy in the universe, and that any system tends toward thermodynamic equilibrium, or entropy. I was thinking about this concept and Revelation as pertains the Laodicean church. I reflected on the current trend towards postmodernity and the general acceptance of all beliefs and ways of life. All of these to me look a lot like a tendency towards heat death in the spiritual realm. Now I'm not going to develop any long analogies or theories, but just want to point out they are oddly similar in many ways. Even our personal lives act in a similar way. If you are a Christian, you likely remember the passion with which you served, loved, worshiped, and followed Christ at the first. Do you still have the full force of that passion? Most don't. I pray every single day for God to give me more passion for Him and His Word, because I know without the infusion of His Spirit, life, and energy I cannot sustain anything. Because in the physical universe we occupy, unless something comes in from the outside and changes us and our situation, we are heading towards a long slow heat death.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason

Consumerism

I was running this morning and for the first mile I decided to go barefoot. After that I put on my pair of Vibram FiveFingers. The ones I run in are the Bikila model which got me thinking about the company and their designs and products. Every once in a while there is a new model, sometimes much more different than others, sometimes not quite so much. When the Women's Bikila has an upgrade, it becomes the Women's Bikila LS, but you can still get the original. That started me thinking how in a Western Economy more products equals better company. So instead of simply upgrading the design of a shoe, we end up with more versions of it to give people choices. Because we love choices. I started to despise consumerism in North America and how it plays out in our lives. I think I despise it so much because I see it in myself as well. Even while I was running and thinking negatively about consumerism I was thinking how nice it would be to have a pair of KSO Trek or Treksport. As I realized this I became disgusted with myself. I like to call myself a minimalist in many areas of my life, but the closet near our door is halfway full of my shoes. I've got maybe 3 or 4 pair of running shoes in there, a pair of dress shoes, two pairs of vibrams, a pair of sandals, and who knows what else. I've got almost as many shoes as the average woman. To be fair though, the newest pair of shoes I have are my Bikilas which were a present from my parents for Christmas and after that my KSOs are newest at a year and a half or so. Beyond that all of my shoes are 2 years old or older and I don't intend to be buying shoes anytime soon. But still I think about what I would do if someone offered me another pair of Vibrams and I have to admit I wouldn't turn down the offer. There is a small stronghold of consumerism and materialism in my heart and no matter how hard I try I can't stamp it out. Its a battle only Christ can win within me. My final few thoughts were about a commercial on a local Christian radio station about mobile banking. It describes a family going for a nice walk, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and their kids. Mrs. Robinson sees a hammock that would be great for Mr. Robinson's birthday coming up. She looks in her checkbook and realizes the account doesn't have enough in it. So she gets on her phone and using her new mobile banking makes a transfer and everyone is happy. It saddens me that our culture is so based on instant gratification, which is a large part of our consumerism. We see what we like and we must have it now, sometimes by whatever means necessary including loans and such to get something really nice for ourselves. God has put something that mitigates this in my own life, running, which has no concept of instant gratification. It is a highly delayed gratification, which I am grateful for. But it is only a mitigator. It is not the solution. My only hope and solution is in Christ who is able to change me and make me new. I'm glad I don't need a new pair of Vibrams, and won't be buying any anytime soon. In fact I think I'll slowly make the transition to complete barefoot running over the next year or so. We'll see.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason

Attitude

I've recently been giving some thought to various doctrines about Spiritual gifts and gifts in general. We all have a certain attitude towards them. With the Brethren church which my roommate Cheddy attends, they believe in the cessation of gifts, that is no speaking in tongues, prophetic word, dreams, visions, etc. Some churches esteem certain gifts like tongues and even say if you don't speak in tongues you are not truly a Christian (a heavenly tongue, as opposed to the tongues of men). Most are somewhere in between. I grew up in a United Methodist Church and I have somewhat of a skepticism towards some of the spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues. It is something that I have had to keep an eye on, especially at The King's Centre where I attend church here in Canada. It is a church with Pentecostal roots and I often hear people speaking in tongues during worship or prayer. Ultimately my point isn't so much about tongues, but our attitudes towards our own gifts and callings and the gifts and callings of others.

Someone recently said, "Bible Translators are kind of like the rock stars of missionaries." This statement is loaded with the attitudes people and churches hold towards certain gifts and callings. We have certain assumptions about missionaries in general like they're more spiritual and closer to God and so forth than the people who remain behind. I also heard someone recently say, "One of the things people are always surprised about going out onto the mission field. They are expecting the older missionaries to be more spiritual and holy than they are, but then they arrive and find out that they're just people too." Ultimately it comes down to each person has certain assumptions about gifts and callings concerning how well people are being obedient to God. The missionary is almost always considered to be more obedient to God than the person who gives or the person who does prison ministry, or even the lady down the street who watches neighbors kids while they're at work. But obedience to God is not dependent on the task. We are not more spiritual or holy if we are preachers or missionaries than any other gift or calling. What determines obedience is whether we do what we are asked or not. Someone who becomes a missionary but was asked to lead a prayer group during youth group is being disobedient. Likewise, someone who makes coffee for the teachers at a public school each morning before taking their spot at the administration desk is being obedient if that is what they've been asked to do. So all I'm really saying is be aware of your assumptions. Don't assume someone is less spiritual or obedient to God because they aren't doing the "super-spiritual" things we are expecting to see from obedient servants of God.

For His Glorious Name,
Jason