Results tagged “Editorial”

"Beginning to think is beginning to be undermined."

Certainly an apt description of how I feel these days. Calling everything into question leaves one with very little solid ground, philosophically. I'm not prepared to embark upon Descartes' quest for an ultimate foundational point. Frankly I don't have the background for that sort of thing, but it is the unenviable truth that any search for "Truth"--whatever it is that word means--or understanding is bound to result in a lot of intellectual apple carts being overturned. To extend the metaphor--perhaps past its usefulness--those overturned carts are often full of apples we had not noticed were rotten or full of worms. So it is not an entirely fruitless endeavor. Fruitless. Haha.

Jill, Elizabeth, Brittany, and I brought up the notion that romance as we see in the movies had seriously corrupted how we see romance in real life. With a few exceptions, no man in real life has ever come close to our expectations. While boys I've come across are sweet, they have no thought processes remotely close to what boys in the movies have. Or "have". Because you know some woman writer somewhere came up with this sticky sweet sap that men in movies throw up in girls' faces.

And it has gotten so bad that if a movie actually portrays a relationship like you would see in real life, I am so critical about it that I end up being mad at it. (see 500 Days of Summer. Apparently very realistic, but all I could see was that I was mad at Zoey Deschanel, however a very very sweet cute movie :D )

Jake Burton is doing mission work this summer in Jamaica. He graduated this past Spring and graduated with a ministry degree.

I have the hardest time starting a writing project, as I do now. Maybe it is because I don't really think too much about what I am going to write before hand, and I just sit and share what's been going on. This leads me to two possibilities for my current place living in Jamaica. The first is that I just "word vomit" the emotions and feelings that are swimming inside of me. Often these thoughts come out as honest but often beyond understanding for the normal reader. I suppose these are the thoughts I would share to a counselor if I had one, but I am not really sure to look for one in Jamaica, ha. The second course that I can take is just a factual review of the days I have been through here. This would conclude more like a journal of my activities saying, "Monday, I did this and I saw that."

The problem in this is that often neither of these options really tell you what is really going on. I would love to fluff things up, and tell you of the amazing experiences I have had with God revealing himself to my heart and opening doors for ministry here in Jamaica. I would love to tell you that God is changing me and making me more patient, loving, compassionate, and bold. But often I find here that I have become more aware of my weaknesses than my strengths.

"We don't need faith."

Ouch. Those words stung, somehow more than the crappy shower water at the water park had earlier that day. They stung b/c I know they are true.
It's tragic really. We've (christians) lost our need for faith. We don't need faith. Think about it to yourself-what do we ever do that requires real faith? We're in control of every aspect of our lives. When do we ever step away from what we know, adventure past the outcomes we expect, and rely on nothing but God to get us through? When do we put ourselves in situations we are unsure of, scared of even, and rely on faith?

You may have seen Seth on previous Editorial Features. He is a senior at Lipscomb and a ministry major. He is actively involved in campus life and is a role model to many. This editorial was taken from his blog, which you can access here.

While I was in Africa, I caught several glimpses of true community. I saw what it can look like when people look after the needs of each other before the needs of themselves. It didn't take long to witness this. On our way to the Village of Hope from the airport, it began to rain, and it began to flashflood. We were in a bus, so we were affected much less than the people that were driving around in small cars, especially taxi drivers. As the waters rose, it did not take long for the waters to reach the doors of smaller vehicles. Once that happened, traffic stopped. It did not matter that our vehicle could handle the floods. The smaller vehicles could not, so we stood still.

As we sat in our bus, dry, we witnessed men and women coming to each other's aid. People jumped out of their cars to begin directing traffic as they fought against time to move all of the vehicles before water destroyed them. For the cars that could not move in the water, people got out in pushed. People that did not know each other helped each other because that is what they knew to be right. With the help of several men directing traffic, we were even able to turn our bus around in the bumper to bumper traffic.

How is a Christian supposed to act in this world? When one observes, even superficially, the current state of affairs around the globe, it is almost paralyzing. The evil around us seems in a perpetual influx and at times poverty, injustice, and immorality are so rampant that it appears that there is nothing one can do. To think critically almost seems to be too much - after all, if you can't trust the figurative Wal-Mart's, CNN's, or the (literal) American government, who can you trust? A relative of mine said, in response to a critical statement made towards big corporations, that, "you can't think like that or you'll end up having to analyze everything around you." It's true: if we begin the deconstruction process of question the social norms and constructs, ideologies we have most likely been taught from birth, then it seems that there is no plausible end. Yet I would argue that thinking critically is the job of a Christian; more accurately, we are called to live as Jesus, which requires a degree of resistance and a speaking of the truth. In a world of increasing globalization (which I do not see as positive), injustices perpetrated half a world away have potential ramifications for us. We--the church, G-d's body, the Bride of Christ, --are called to be a light, or witness, to the nations, and I feel that there are some very concrete ways of doing this, a few of which I will give my more recent thoughts on.

Ben Pedigo is a graduate of Lipscomb. He has a degree in ministry and was heavily involved in Campus Life and Campus Ministry at Lipscomb.

You never really know something until it hits you.

Think about that.

Someone can tell you about the most beautiful sunset they have ever seen, and you can paint a picture in your mind that stuns you. But you can never know its true beauty until the pale orange of the sun gleams across your eyes or the little heat it still is putting off grazes your skin.

Someone can tell you what the ocean is like. The crashing waves, the sand between your toes, the foam washing up over your pale feet. But you can never know the power and the majesty of the ocean until you feel its roar in your chest and see the waves roll and crash before your eyes.

And the same goes for the peace and mercy of God.

We grow up and we inheret the religion of our parents. The capacity in which others understood the gospel first, thats how we take in the Good News. We read books and listen to speakers, we grasp concept and discuss them at starbucks. We write (maybe meaningless) notes and blogs about just how God has reapired our broken lives.

But we never really know the true gospel until we feel it.