My phone, my life, and my culture.

I live in a college town and attend a university filled with college students. That said, the device created by Motorola in the 1970s that quickly went global in the early 1990s is ingrained in the culture all around me. It is a handy device that I use daily to keep my life going at a quick non-stop pace at every hour of everyday. I am a part of the cell phone generation.
It is a machine that is used for good and evil. It helps you connect with people, but not those around you. It helps you create moments in the future, but never be fully apart of one. I'm not the first to speak against the excessive use of the mobile phone but this past week I've felt a growing sickness within me by seeing its extremity.
The presence of a phone in everyone's hands at all times is destroying the human ability to interact with people face to face with other people and moment to moment with the world around them. My roommate recently said: "Eye contact is a lost art."

This past weekend I went to a Switchfoot concert and afterward Jon Foreman played a few songs for an after show. Now there are over a hundred videos of him playing songs during after shows on Youtube already, but still we see this. This is the only picture I took (yes, with my phone) out of a disgust for what I was seeing. It looks like a politician and the press, not a musician and a group of fans.
Why are we so addicted to documentation of moments and not living them for ourselves? Why do we just let them slip by without living them out? My favorite is the guy way in the back filming like his video will actually be worth watching later. It hurts me inside because we miss out so much on moments and with people when we really just care about what other people somewhere else may think about what we're doing, where we are, and what they think of us. Like there's a global audience you have to appeal to. Or maybe it's that we desire people to care about what we're putting out there and want them to approve of everything, this deep set desire to be a celebrity of your own life.
Often times I feel like, generally, people are always afraid of missing out, so we check our phones. What's happening next? Something I had to learn a long time ago was this: "No matter where you are, you're missing out on something." And that's a good thing, because people not with you are missing out on whatever you're doing too! But I may add another line: "If you're discontent with where you are, you're missing out altogether."
We are so wrapped up with these ideas that we always need to be on the go! Life is always so busy because we can make it full of all the things all the time! We never take a moment to sit and just be. If we ever are just sitting, it's because we're waiting for the next thing. The bus to stop, class to start, someone to show up. And where are we? On the phone. Instagram, twitter, you name it.

What makes me sick the most is how much of it I see in myself. My phone and I are attached at the hip. I know it better than I know a lot of the people I interact with daily. My constant companion. If I don't feel its weight in my pocket I feel off balance and out of nature. This frightens me. What have I done? Today I walked out on the excuse for a front porch (which is tiny, front porches have been done away with too because no one interacts in a neighborhood anymore) without my phone as the sun was setting and I felt like I was breathing for the first time all day. I need to settle down, quit caring so much about what's going on "out there" and look around at what's right here. There's a beauty to the unseen, a quality in secrecy and unknown of an unadulterated moment of undocumented, un-broadcasted, focused moment of simplicity. No matter where you are you're missing out on something. Be where you are, you wont miss out on what matters.

Here's a video that puts it better than I ever could.

Breakaway and the Broken

Breakaway Ministries is an on-campus organization at Texas A&M University that meets every Tuesday night to worship God and study the Bible. Over the years it has grown in popularity and size among the student body.
I am a huge fan of Breakaway, I'm actually wearing a Breakaway shirt right now. I would attend before I was even in college. It is an amazing ministry and I know it has changed the world for Christ in more ways than anyone may ever know.

I see this photo of thousands of students at my school campus studying the Bible and worshiping God and all I can think is "go!" Go out there to those who have no idea what love looks like. Go and let them know there is hope for the hurting soul! Imagine the impact of each of these lives photographed if they each told one person about Christ? Imagine if they took they time to get to know one person that didn't know Him and walked along side Him. It's beautiful to gather together in praise but what is it for if you don't go out in work? Instead of a show, let there be a flood of righteousness and evangelism. How hard can it be?
Texas A&M, you have been blessed. Lets go bless the world. We have enjoyed the comforts of a nurturing Christian bubble and now it's time to shine. We are called to go. Lets change the world.

Live a little.

3) If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

I think a lot of it goes back to the last question. We are afraid of stepping out and failing. We do what is expected of us and not what we really want in fear of rejection. We like a lot of things but say “in another life I would...” when really it’s feasible in your own life.

I like the show Once Upon A Time a lot but one thing that bothers me the most is that everyone has this understanding that there’s nothing they can do to change their own lives and they have to get magic to do it for them and is sucks every time. Thankfully life isn’t actually like that. You can actually be yourself and oddly enough, people like it when you’re yourself. Go give it a shot! Life is short.

With the life I have left, I’m going to do what I enjoy. I am going to know people, love them, I’m going to learn, even when it’s hard and I’m going to travel, see what I can before I can’t move anymore. And after that? That’s when the real living starts.

Safe or Significant

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?

Hopefully we can all agree on this one, but I may be wrong. D.L. Moody once said:

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter.” I couldn't have said it better myself. See it's easy to play it safe and never fail at anything, but then you've never really lived have you? "To live would be an awfully big adventure" are some of the closing lines of one of my favorite films, Hook. To live is to make mistakes, fail, recover, succeed perhaps, but that's not guaranteed.

And who's to say failure is a bad thing? It's really where we grow. That's the nature of this world. If you work out, your muscles are torn down so they develop into strength. So it is by failure that we grow to be better than before. I think of Edison: "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." It is by perseverance that we have significant lives. Think of Frodo and the One Ring compared to the rest of the hobbits of Hobbiton, he is the Hobbit that Elves in great halls would sing of for generations. He lived a dangerous life and because he never gave up he was significant. Significant lives are never safe, but safe lives are never significant. Don't trade what is possible for what is comfortable.

Now some things may simply be failure for some. William Wallace did die, but his bravery liberated Scotland. Realistically speaking, it was because Wallace was not afraid to die that his memory and historical impact will never die. He could have stayed in his village and lived a safe life, but he knew and understood what was possible.

I think of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and their fellow missionaries in Ecuador. Did they fail? Well, they were killed by the people they came to save. Doesn't sound like a winning situation. Nevertheless, because of the risk they took in going, knowing the dangers, thousands of people have heard the truth of Jesus Christ. That is a huge win for something that really matters.

Always be willing to fail, because "to live would be an awfully big adventure".

50 Questions and Age

I've been challenged by one of my very best friends to complete a challenge. I am going to post every day for the next fifty days and answer one question in each. Simple enough. This was inspired by another blog and if you want to see all the question you can go check it out.
So here's question number one!

1. How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

As I started this blog post, Pandora thought it would be appropriate to play Blink 182's "What's My Age Again?" Good on ya Pandora.

Whenever people ask me how old I am I normally ask them to guess. The average age offered is 25. Maybe they're just trying to flatter me though....

This question sort of makes me laugh because for the past few years I can count three different groups of friends that have referred to me as an old man. One of these groups is actually in a separate country. When I was a sophomore in high school one girl said I was an old man even then. Don't ask me, ask them. It might be my diction.

I am 20 years old, as far as I know, but I have always been something of an "old soul". I like to think I have enough experience and exposer for an old man in some areas. I also like to stay home in my robe and read a book while drinking tea and smoking a pipe instead of going out dancing.

I think if I could choose how old I was right now without losing the days between I would be 23. Seems a young, able, mature, respectable age. Like you might have your life together a bit more. Nevertheless, we know how all those 13 going on 30 situations worked out so I'm not wishing on my lucky stars.

Summery Summary: SpeakOut

I'm not the first to say this, but the greatest conclusion you ever come to is that of your personal perception of the person of Jesus Christ. Lately, within the past few months, I have been brought back to the importance of the gospel. How important is it? More than anything. This is mind, why don't we share it?
This summer I went back to Slovakia, the country I consider to be my home. I have a lot to say about it, more than I can manage in one blog post, so here's a quick summary. I wrote a news letter for people who were aware of the trip and I wanted to share it with you.

Hello friends!

     I am back in the US of A! Flights, trains, speaking Slovak, and the use of passports are all over for the time being. I've seen old friends, I've made new ones. I've laughed, cried, and made many many memories this summer in Slovakia. Now, I am currently sitting in my favorite coffee shop and thinking back on it all.

     God has worked in beautiful ways this summer! Yes, He has worked through me: I led worship for the team and led tutor groups of unbelieving campers. But more than that, I have seen Him work in and through others in ways that blow my mind still. Others led me to see just how much God cares for Slovakia.

     There was a group of twelve Slovak volunteers that had formerly been a handful of the campers in years past. This year they stepped up in maturity to invest in the ministry just as much as the rest of us. I have never been more encouraged in my life as when I saw the love for the Lord these young believers have. It was an honor to work with young Slovaks that cared about making an eternal impact. We were all there to fill a role in sharing the gospel to nonbelievers— to the campers. 

     Some of the most amazing moments I had this summer were in modest situations much like the one I am in now, sitting, drinking coffee, and talking about Jesus. I had six Slovak high schoolers as my personal campers this summer. Four of these young men, from the day I met them, rejected God as either real or relevant. All of them are wonderfully kind but unwilling to accept Christ. Over the course of the week, between frisbee, swimming, and card games, I would share the Gospel as we drank coffee or Kofola, every Slovak's favorite soda. Many of them had no basic understanding of the gospel to begin with. Over the week, step by step, they came to understand what I believed and who Christ is.

     One guy in particular comes to mind: Jozef (or Joseph, in English). He is a 17 year old atheist from Košice, Slovakia. He had never understood the gospel of Jesus Christ before coming to SpeakOut. On the last day, after a week of exposure, we sat at a café drinking espresso and talked about what was holding him back from accepting. I could see the cogs turning in his head and with so much understanding he said he just needed more time. I couldn't ask anymore of him. I had seen him go from just living life for the fun of it to understanding how significant this decision was.

     I wanted to write and thank you for your prayer and support throughout this summer! You have no idea of the extent of your partnership's impact on this summer in Slovakia—only God knows— and I can't thank you enough for all your faithfulness.

     Please continue in prayer for these Slovaks. Pray that while they are in school this semester being followed up by SpeakOut staff that they would come to know Christ and grow in Him. Some, like Jozef, are so close! Also, pray in thankfulness for the 40 who did receive Jesus this summer, and that they would continue in faithfulness.

     The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!

Passport and identity.

Call me "expatriate",
Third culture kid is the term,
Little did I know it would put my personality in a third world state,
A foreign native
I'm a living, breathing paradox,
Born on Texas soil,
Raised to sing of the maroon and white
And I will, proud as any.
Ale každý deň stále necítim American,
And for those of you unfamiliar with slavic dialects:
It means I don't fit in.
See, I am an expatriate,
A person who lives outside their native country,
But now I'm confused,
Where am I an expatriate?
It's the stamps in my passport that define me,
More than the seal on the cover
Or the name and number in the front.

I've wondered this earth,
I've climbed Tratra mountains,
Breathed the wind of endless savannah plains,
Tasted the saltiest oceans, cried at the sight of the clearest nights
I knew travel before I knew words,
I realized I'm the smallest unit of the most complex masterpiece
God has blessed this diverse universe with
People, places, sights and smells
One can never define in thousand pages,

Red dirt, red sunsets of a hundred horizons
is just as much a part of me as the blood in my veins,
Oh call me "expatriate",
"Alien" will do,
To where? Anywhere. Everywhere!
I'm at home in the world as much as I'm not,
I belong beyond the clear dark sky,
Sure I've got numbers that a make me a country's,
But man existed before border and boundaries,
My ID is not my idea of an identity,
You'll find me where I have tobacco to smoke,
At last I will identify with the the old German baroque:
"On land, on sea, at home, abroad, I puff my pipe and think of God."