who is he?

Since coming to Amsterdam, I believe I have lost some of my naivety. In regards to how I view others, the world I live in, and also how I think of my faith, as well as how I explain it. When interacting with guests, or more frequently with our cleaners, there is one disagreement that always comes up regardless if the issue at hand is purpose, the origin of life, drug use, forgiveness, grace, church history, conspiracy theories, or love. That is whether Jesus is the Son of God or not..

Everyone has their assumption or bias or presupposition or opinion on this. At least for me, I use to have this idea that people don't want to talk about God or faith or the divinity of Christ and therefore it was easier for me to rationalize in my mind why I should just leave it alone. But I am finding that people actually are interested and are willing to discuss this stuff, which is cool.

Anyway, back to the whole ''exactly who or even what is this Jesus guy" question. We can debate theology, interpretation, or the best 'style' of worship but the thing we should be most concerned with is whether Jesus is the Son of God and if so how do we communicate that truth to others.

Listen to what CS Lewis has to say about the ultimate question..

"I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

Wow. Well said Mr. Lewis.

So what do you think?
No, I mean what do you believe?

This is a question we cannot unfortunately push to the side or ignore. If Jesus actually is who he claimed to be, then making a decision for ourselves on where we stand is at the very least worth considering.

Want some more food for thought? Check out this article.

Movement

A couple nights ago, we had an open mic night at the hostel. Like most Chinese food, this is the kind of thing that can be very good or something that you could have gone without. On this particular night, despite very little preparation, it worked. It flowed. Staff members and guests alike took turns singing, rapping, and joking for three hours. In the simplest of terms, our open mic night was a group of people who were excited about sharing with others something they enjoy. There was no light show, or a script pre written by the MC, or lineup. All there was were people. People just sitting around being honest and transparent with each other through music and words.

Music, tunes, a good beat, whatever you want to call it has an effect on us. It moves us. I think God can have a similar 'moving' effect on us. I think God uses things we enjoy to move us towards him even if we do not recognize it is he who is doing the moving. This is what I felt on that night, and that is why I love being at the hostel. We are about community, relationship..and so is God.

God moves and is active, and it was so humbling to see him move us towards him on that evening through some music.

stuff

A friend of mine showed me this short documentary, which is basically about stuff. Have you ever wondered where stuff goes when we toss in the trash can, or what impact our massive amounts of consumption has on other people and our planet? This documentary addresses these questions and a few more.

Someone once said, "How you treat creation reflects how you feel about the creator." Wow, what a humbling statement. I hope you take a few moments to watch this film. Just follow the link..

The Story of Stuff

life

small world

It is always comical when phrases that are overused truly become a reality. We have all heard the "it is a small world" one. Well this became especially true for me in the last week or so. Not long ago, I received a phone call at my home here in Amsterdam which really caught me off guard to begin with. When I answered it, I heard a semi familiar voice on the other end. It turned out to be a good friend from my home city in America. This person has played a significant role in the youth group in the church that I grew up in and I have not talked to him in quite awhile. He was in Amsterdam on business, discovered I was here also and wanted to get together. We ended up meeting at church the next morning. How cool is it that my first church experience in Amsterdam was spent with several new friends and an old one.

Late last night at the hostel, staff and guests gathered together in the cafe for a time of prayer. There was a young woman across the circle that I immediately recognized, however I could not think of how I knew her. We struck up a conversation and eventually discovered that we both worked at Kanakuk Colorado (a summer camp in America) three years ago. She happened to be passing through the city and was staying at the hostel.

It is a small world. Being reunited with these two friends here in Amsterdam forced me to have an internal discussion about coincidence and appointment. Although it would be easy to write off this experience as a coincidence, I cannot help but think of it as more like an appointment. An appointment to reunite, share, discuss, encourage, pray, and reflect. It truly was refreshing to have such an encounter, especially since I have only been here just over a week.

What appointments have you had recently?

new places, new faces

When I first learned that I would be coming to Amsterdam, I was thrilled because I knew I would have many new experiences. Within four days of arriving, this has already become absolutely true.

During my short time here so far I have..

developed excellent power walking skills,
been to a church service near the Red Light District,
acquired a strong liking towards stroupwaffles,
learned how to say the Dutch alphabet,
participated in worship with people from six different continents,
discovered the joy of daily being in a hostel surrounded by people on a journey, like myself,
and have been reminded of how fruitful living in true community with others can be.

Each of these unique experiences has a unique story..and I have only been here four days. I am already beginning to understand how wonderful this opportunity of service is, and I look forward to the days ahead. Though I am still slightly suffering from 'jet lag', my spirit is energized and I feel alive. I am excited about sharing with you specific stories of encouragement, joy, heartache, and revelation.

maji news

Well, it has been just about six months since Maji was launched with the goal of raising funds for Charity:Water and telling people about the global water situation. During that time, through the sales of our t-shirts and the generous donations of many people, we were able to raise enough money to build two wells through Charity:Water. Sometimes it can be easy to look around at our world and only see the bad stuff. But the success Maji has experienced reminds me that although there are indeed plenty of bad stuff, there is also plenty of exciting stories about progress and change. I truly believe that lives have been changed due to the work of Maji and ultimately, Charity:Water and all of their partners on the ground. So thank you to everyone who joined us in the fight against injustice by buying a shirt, donating money, time, or resources, or simply telling a friend about the one billion people in our world who do not have access to safe, clean water.

Beginning this summer, Maji is going to take on a different role. We will no longer be selling t-shirts, which in the past has been our focus. Instead Maji will exist as an advocacy group, continuing to inform people about the work of Charity:Water and of the global water situation as a whole. Our website will still be up and running, and we hope that people will use it to educate themselves about the impacts of not having access to safe, clean water.

At the core, Maji is a movement that exists because people learned about an injustice and decided to take action to eliminate it. My hope is that that spirit will live on. It is only when enough people take a stand against oppression, poverty, and injustice that freedom will be experienced by all.