Disclaimer: This is not meant to offend anyone who planned or participated in the "Amazing Grace" flash mob today. I completely respect everyone involved and the hearts and intentions behind the event.
Today I participated in an "Amazing Grace" flash mob on the plaza. The only thing is that it wasn't really a flash mob. By definition (well, at least according to Wikipedia), people in a flash mob are supposed to suddenly appear, perform and then disperse. But this flash mob did just the opposite: a group of people assembled in a circle at the beginning, then kind of dispersed for the performance, and then came back together in a circle.
I had my share of laughs with a couple friends because we felt a little ridiculous as we sang with printed-out lyrics next to the rest of the group. And really, it only felt ridiculous because I came into it with this "flash mob" mentality since that's what it was called on Facebook. I would say the "flash mob" achieved it's purpose -- a group of believers assembled on the plaza and sang "Amazing Grace" for passers-by to hear, it was kind of fun, it led to fellowship with friends afterward, and I'm sure some people who witnessed the "flash mob" discussed it among friends. Let's just not call it a flash mob, because that's not what I think it was.
All that said, I regret this attitude. Because I got so caught up in the "This isn't a flash mob!" mentality and worrying so much that people would think we failed once again at trying to "Christianize" something (that's it's own can of worms) that I sang along with the rest of the crowd and didn't pay attention to a word I said. And as a result, I missed out on the real reason for the "flash mob": showing love for my King.
To end on a positive note, here's an "Amazing Grace" flash mob done at Walmart that I found on YouTube. Very touching.
Yesterday, what my house would jokingly call "the hobo shed" (this old shed attached to our fence next to our garage) became a literal hobo shed.
The night before was very cold and windy, and yesterday wasn't any better. As a result, my housemate Lizzy found a homeless man with his dog hiding out in our shed, trying to keep himself warm. After calling her dad, we listened to his recommendation to ask a guy friend to come over and help us approach the homeless man.
Our friend Corey came over, and he went out to the shed with him. We talked with him for a little while. He said he was just trying to keep warm and would leave by noon; he didn't want the cops called on him. It had been a long winter -- he couldn't find a job, only had $310 left, and it was very cold. He had come from Boulder and needed to rest, was tired of shelters, and he offered us marijuana, saying he just wanted to show us what he was high on.
We asked him to open the door so we could grab something from the shed. As he did, his dog Jewel came out, immediately rubbing up against my legs, trying to keep warm. I kneeled down and embraced the shivering dog as Corey did almost all of the talking. Corey offered to take him out to get Taco Bell or a hot drink at Wild Boar. The man declined, saying he didn't need anything and just wanted to rest, but he eventually accepted Corey's offer to buy the food and bring it back to him. We asked if there was anything else we could do to help him, told him about the Open Door Mission in Fort Collins, and Lizzy ran inside to get a sleeping bag and gave it to him.
This morning, we found a cardboard note on the door handle of the shed:
"Not 6' under, 6" under. Not feet. No coffin, no cover. RIP. 2 possible human, young face, 1 dog maybe more."
A little cryptic, right? Corey and two more guy friends, Nick and Nate, came over to look at the note and join my housemate Genevieve and I in taking a look around the shed and our backyard. They found another note on the fence that basically said the same thing in much fewer words. After digging around the shed for a bit (I was half-amused/half-impressed that the boys were taking the detective stuff seriously, suspecting all kinds of crime scenes) we decided the notes probably weren't a big deal -- my housemates and I probably aren't in any danger, and we hoped the man was safe. Arms around each other, we prayed for God's provision for this man, his safety and the safety of my housemates.
God used this unusual experience (at least, unusual for me) to show me a few things. One is the importance of homeless shelters, especially shelters like the Union Gospel Mission's Hope Place in Seattle (which I actually had the chance to volunteer with last spring break) that help rehabilitate those who are alcoholics or drug addicts so they can break the cycle of addiction and then break the cycle of homelessness. I have done food and evangelism outreaches to the homeless with a few friends before, and there is a place for that, but I felt so helpless when I could not offer them something substantial, something that will help them long-term. Shelters specialize in that; so if you want to serve the homeless, I recommend doing it through a shelter or organization such as Open Door Mission.
Keep an eye out for the homeless. Be careful for your safety, but also be full of care for them.
Take a walk through Old Town and you will see that local art is the life of Fort Collins, from the colorfully-painted pianos to the new art galleries around town. However, most people today look for information online; and with so many corporate search engines, websites and directories, the local perspective has minimal presence and representation.
“A lot of the sites come from a top-down model,” said Jenni Pedersen, co-founder of Local Easel, a local art search engine. “For example, a corporate website can be stationed in Seattle, and then decide to come into a city, claiming it knows it well just because it can find 50 percent of the city’s information. But you can’t find the holes in the walls, the locals’ perspective, the true valuable content.”
A “Cutting Edge” Solution
Local Easel LLC was created as a response to this problem. A subsidiary of Aspenware Internet Solutions, Inc., Local Easel was founded in November 2011 by Jenni Pedersen and her father Richard Pedersen, who is also the founder of Aspenware.
Jenni Pedersen described Local Easel as “cutting edge” due to its ability to be part of the local community and get the locals’ perspective – information that is compiled into a comprehensive search engine that a global site such as Google, Foursquare or TripAdvisor isn’t able to grasp because they don’t have the focus of one niche, said Pedersen.
Local Easel co-founder Jenni Pedersen shows the search engine site at the company's launch party on Feb. 3. Photo by Richard Pedersen.
Using grassroots marketing techniques, Local Easel seeks to achieve 100 percent coverage of local art in Fort Collins. The organic dimension Local Easel has allows it to bridge the gap and unite each artist and art gallery on an equal playing field, giving every artist and gallery the chance to be represented the way they want to be represented, said Pedersen.
Local Easel’s strategy is to go into the community from the ground level – engaging with it, building trust and learning the locals’ perspective from the locals themselves. After gaining an understanding of the art community, Local Easel is then able to accurately represent the local art community, said Pedersen.
“One of the greatest things about Local Easel is through its individual profiles and collections for artists,” said Coleen Cosner, owner of Coco Artist Studio. “It helps to put a name to the face and the art. I feel that so many times conversations play out along the lines of, ‘Oh, I think I know that artist but have never met them. I know the name but not the face. I saw a great piece but not sure who the artist is, etcetera.’”
A Thriving Art Community
While many local artists and art galleries already have web presence, Local Easel’s goal is to become a hub and resource for those websites and the art represented by them. The ultimate vision is to get the local community to artists’ and galleries’ sites, increase search engine results, engage local art patrons and turn Fort Collins into a thriving art community and art destination, said Pedersen.
“[Local Easel’s] direct involvement is wonderful for us,” said Daniel Ibanez, an artist and educator working with Rendition Gallery. “They’re going to kind of plaster their page with information about our artists – some young, some old, some established, some not so established – and ultimately do the work of getting the word out so that the creative curious can be here and know about what’s going on.”
The sign out front Local Easel's launch party on Feb. 3. The launch party was hosted by Opiate Gallery. Photo by Jenni Pedersen.
Many of the artists in Fort Collins don’t participate in the same social networks, and as a result some artists live next door to each other and aren’t aware of it. There hasn’t been a strong network of local artists, and Local Easel seeks to change that. By creating an easy-to-use platform with a very accessible navigation system, Local Easel facilitates the communication that needs to happen on a daily basis between artists, said Ibanez.
“Local Easel is helping to bring the community of artists together,” Cosner said. “The community seems to be more intimate through this new project.”
In the future, Local Easel hopes to work with local art communities in other cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Charleston.
My friend Laura published this simple blog post, Sky Writing, about seven months ago. I interpreted it as God's everyday skywriting, and I remember being fascinated by this concept.
Everyday, God brings out this canvas of sky, and He declares His majesty, drawing clouds, painting the dawn and dusk, each stroke a writing in the sky: "I AM."
I AM God. I AM your Creator. I AM your Father. I AM your Savior. Know Me.
Without intending to, I've been taking pictures of the sky everyday. I cherish these daily love notes.
I will admit this: one of my weaknesses is my inability to commit. To books I'm reading, to new crafts, to songs I'm writing, to conversations, and sometimes to people.
I know I'm not the only one, and that's why I don't normally think it's a big deal. But this could lead to several disasters in the near and far future, for myself and for this generation as a whole.
One such disaster is the inability to live in the present. So focused on the future -- on new adventures, on the next big thing -- this generation of twentysomethings has a hard time committing to the now.
As college students, we get hung up on the fact that we'll only be around four years -- we church-hop the whole way through, we don't engage with the off-campus community, and we jump from relationship to relationship because we're convinced our post-graduation plans will separate us anyway.
As graduates, we settle for a particular job in a particular location, but we don't expect it to last long; we're just killing time until we get the job we really wanted in the first place in the city we've always wanted to live.
RELEVANT Magazine posted a blog about two weeks ago, calling this dilemma The Great Escapism. Read it. I couldn't have said it better myself.
If we are to make the most of each day God has given us, we need to stop focusing so much on dreaming about and making plans for the future and start seeing the opportunities surrounding us now.
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. -- Psalm 118:24
I stumbled upon the article, "Jesus is Not Your Valentine," from Relevant Magazine yesterday, and in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I was drawn to it.
For the sake of intriguing many Christians (I can't tell you how many friends updated their Facebook status with "Jesus is my valentine!" yesterday) into seeing what it has to say, it's a rather effective title. But I have to argue that there is nothing wrong with saying Jesus is your valentine.
The message of the article is very true: our relationship with Jesus should not be brought down to the level of a "petty high school relationship" based on feelings (heck, any relationship -- it doesn't really matter how old you are these days) because our love for Him should not waiver with our feelings. And His love for us never changes, period.
But who said that valentines are always based on emotions? Who says someone is only your valentine for one day? My parents were each other's "valentines" yesterday, and they've been together 21 years and intend to fulfill their vows to the very end. There's nothing petty about that.
The very definition of "Valentine" is a sweetheart chosen or greeted on this day . That doesn't mean you choose or greet them only on that day.
Jesus is your lover, and if you so choose to use the term "Valentine" on Valentine's Day, then go ahead. Just know your intentions behind it, and know that He's going to keep loving you -- and you ought to do the same -- when the roses have wilted and all the chocolate is gone.
I met God at Wild Boar today -- coming in from the soft snow, I found a small table in a corner looking out the window. Normally I like studying to the sound of other chatting college students and chill music playing overhead, but this time I decided to pull out the headphones and plug in some of my favorite worship tunes.
Hot chocolate in hand, I stared out the window, watching the snow fall while listening to "All Creatures of Our God and King" by David Crowder Band, my heart in worshipful prayer. I spent about an hour reading Genesis, praying, and just closing my eyes and letting the words of the music sink in. And somewhere in the midst of listening to "Soon" by Hillsong United, "Beauty" and "Centuries" by Aaron Strumpel (very talented singer-songwriter from Fort Collins), and reading 2 Timothy 2 for my Bible study, I was hit with a pain of longing I don't feel very often.
It was a pain of really missing my Heavenly Father. Which is weird because what I miss of Him -- His visible, physical, tangible presence -- is something I've never had to begin with, so how can I miss it? But I do. It's this innate feeling, something faint, as if I was there in the Garden of Eden when everything fell apart. It's a shared memory of mankind, a longing, a "missing," that runs in our veins, in our very being. And I really miss God, to the point of tears sometimes. And then I know what I long for is nothing this world can give me, nothing man can give me -- I want the Creator, I desire His heart. In the very pit of my stomach, I crave more of Him.
So why is it so hard sometimes for me to spend time with Him? Shouldn't I be clinging to whatever I can have of Him? Taking whatever I can get for now? But then I think about some long-distance relationships/friendships -- sometimes we can miss someone so much, but when they're away, we get distracted by the things we can see, and we begin to pull away from the person we can't see anymore.
I want to miss God more, that I spend more time with Him, content with what He's given me of Him right now, and eagerly looking forward to His returning.
"Though I have not seen Him, my heart knows Him well." --Hillsong United
I stumbled across this news article tonight about Kylie Bisutti, a former Victoria's Secret model. It's crazy to think she's about my age, this young woman who has the same faith I have, but who has been living life on a completely different side of the spectrum -- or so many Christians would think.
It reminds me of the whole "I'd rather have a Proverbs 31 woman than a Victoria's Secret model" topic, which I commented on last week. Here is this woman who has faith in Jesus, but was a Victoria's Secret model at the same time. I'm not condoning her initial decision to be a VS model, but that faith was there. Did being a VS model make her a Proverbs 31 woman? No. Does not being a VS model now make her a Proverbs 31 woman? No.
The Proverbs 31 woman is not real. This former Victoria's Secret model is real, and was no less so when she was still a Victoria's Secret model.
[Looking back on my previous post about the whole Proverbs 31 Woman/Victoria's Secret Model topic, I realize that it might come across that I am anti-Live31. I'm not. I just don't like the slogan that accompanies it, the comparison to a VS model. That's mostly what I think is unhealthy; I don't believe it's the best or necessary approach. As far as Live31 goes, I don't have much against it -- as long as we remember not to measure ourselves by the literal Proverbs 31 woman and remember that Christ is the real standard, not this wife of noble character that no one can find (see Proverbs 31:10).)]
We can't categorize this young woman no more than we can categorize any woman. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, she is a woman living in light of God's grace every day, learning more of His heart and what He desires for her. Additionally, she is a woman who is absolutely beautiful on the outside -- and by the standards of this world -- as well as a woman pursuing God, which makes her beautiful on the inside. So it looks like Kylie fits both "standards" of the Proverbs 31 woman/Victoria's Secret model comparison.
I'm happy for her and the decision she's made -- she's got more conviction than so many of us.
For her interview on Good Morning America, watch here.
I was looking through my old Facebook notes, and I stumbled upon this one:
I was a relatively wise kid when I wrote this. Or maybe things were just going my way.
It's strange to think of where I am now, a little more than three years later. Lately, I've been tired, and wondering when that day will come when I finally rest in the arms of my Father and hear Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Part of me just wants to give up, to be done.
So now, am I really living? Or am I just trying to get through?
It's unfortunate that in the midst of all my joy of the present and excitement for the future, that joy and excitement can be overwhelmed by the insecurities of today and the fears of tomorrow.
Three years ago I thought I would know where I'd be headed by now. But I am only more uncertain about the future now that my last graduation is approaching in a little more than three months. And that is okay. It's alright to not know. It's alright to feel weak.
God has given me much peace through this simple verse:
"There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." (Deuteronomy 1:31)
He is carrying me, and He is carrying you -- the whole way, until we've reached our place of rest.
I found this blog as I sat down to write this, and it also gave me peace in such a simple way. Through everything Tiffany has to say to the college graduate, there is one consistent theme, one thing that remains the same: Abiding in God.
When we are told to persevere, to press on, we aren't told to go it alone. In fact, I think a part of perseverance is forcing ourselves to stay in God's arms, no matter how restless we get. So if you want to know what perseverance looks like:
