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satellite4140
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Interests: God, people who like adventure, storytellers, good stories about amazing people, old stuff like windmills/castles/cabins/covered bridges/farms, concerts, spain, kracow, people of all races, sports espeically football, and learning.
Expertise: talking too much and not trusting Jesus more.
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Member Since:
8/25/2004
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It's 6:38 am and I just back from Rome. I took a night train last night so I haven't slept for about 24 hours. It seems days like this of travel are full of different thoughts and segments of thinking. Alot of time to sit and think the life through. It seems the end of the day is the best for me to reflect cause I normally learn something new during the day.
Rome is interesting. Two days ago we went to the Sistine Chapel, Vactican and St Peter's Cathedral. The most interesting part of the entire trip was when we were in St. Peter's Cathedral. In the middle is this huge altar surruounded by four statues of people who saw Jesus go to the cross. A statue of the Roman centurion which said "Truly this is the son of God," really made me think about this guy coming to Christ when he put his spear in Christ's side and water and blood came out. I thought the guy who poked Jesus side and then believed were two different men. The statue was huge and white. We had a tour guide who told us that above this statue inside of this banister(which was about 25 feet high) was part of the spear that they poked Jesus with. I wanted to know how they knew it really was the spear. How do you know?
Next was Veronica's statue, I don't remember much of what the lady said about Veronica's statue except that above Veronica's statue was one of the nails they nailed Jesus to the cross with and pieces of the actual cross. I was still looking at the statue of the Roman centuruion until I heard her say that. I again wondered, how do you know if that really was it?
On the other side of the altar was Helen who apparently wiped the face of Jesus, which I don't remember reading in the Bible either, but I normally assume I know more about the Bible than I actually do. Again I was staring at the huge statues until she said that Helen wiped Jesus face with a piece of cloth. The statue showed her holding a sheet out as if she were going to wipe his face. The tour guide lady said there had been some debate over which exact cloth it was they wiped Jesus face with. I thought of the archeologists who spent their entire careers researching these facts about if it was or was not the piece of cloth they wiped Jesus face with. Did it matter that much? Or did it matter that they lived out the commands of Christ.
My favorite statue was Andrew. This statue was big and white and so detailed like the other three and it was Andrew with a cross. I don't remember much about what the lady said about Andrew but I remember his face and it was looking up at the sky in an intense expression. I don't think Andrew had an artifact above him. I think the image of a man looking up at the sky is sort of religious in a way that makes you want to be like the guy who the artist depicted. You want to have an experience with God as this guy who is a statue is. Or at least that's the funny think about the staute of Andrew because I don't remember anything about him or his story. But the statue was so amazing. I think that is one of the amazing things about the Catholic church is that they have such amazing art such as these stautes. It shows us images of what these people might have looked like. I do believe the Catholic church have lead people astray due to the emotional appeal of some of these things, like so overwhelmed by the hugeness of this church and the amazing art. St. Peter's Cathedral has the biggest dome I believe of any church in the world. It's huge. Anyone could enjoy this art with faith and without any faith.
I truly enjoyed the statues of these people, namely people that I had never really thought about in person. It's like sometimes you read about the Roman centurion, but you never think about what he actually looked like or how he acted. These statues give a bit of insight, a visual. I wonder why we today in our society and church do not have the same work ethic that some of those artists had. You got to have talent and work ethic to complete works like that.
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel was amazing. But as I was looking at it I wondered how so many people could look at this chapel and not think about it. Maybe it is possible to look at something with a detached sense of judgement and not engage with the actual content of what is happening. You could stare at this ceiling and analzye what is happening it for a like a year, trying to see what Michealngelo was trying to say. Within the Sistine Chapel there are of course probably not all the biblical consistency that we would wish or might think. We can't think art of biblical things are biblical truth. We've seen the whole world make that mistake with the Divinci Code for the last 5 years. A painting is not what the bible says. However, we are dealing in the Sistine Chapel with real biblical things. Espeically the Last Judgement "wall" which is literally the rapture, Jesus coming back. As I was standing there looking at all this stuff among people of so many different languages and social classes(mostly well off) I wondered if anyone was praying to Jesus or engaging or in some way coming to the reality of what was before their eyes. One of the craziest things about the Last Judgement wall in the Sistine Chapel is that it might be the closest thing we ever get to see of Jesus coming back. I don't know how tall it is, but it definately shows people going to hell and people getting into heaven. I tried to think of how myself and other people can pass our eyes over these things and engage in some way with is on the wall and ceiling. Engage enough maybe to even change the way you think about God. I couldn't take any pictures when I was in there cause you can't. Which is more effective images of something on a wall or hearing something spoken? I prayed for a little while that for all the people walking through the chapel that they would acutally be changed and think about heaven and hell. I prayed that they would be moved to change their lives on seeing all these things on the wall. For the atheists to believe in Jesus Christ cause they looked at Micheangelo's painting. Praying for all the people who walk through St. Peter's Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel is a good thing, so many people are wowed by but does it change your life or is just good tourism? Maybe a checklist beside the Grand Canyon and the Effiel Tower, we were there for about 20 minutes and then we left. Going to see things like this, with so many people around you all wanting to see can really make you rush. If I could go back I would spend another day in Rome at the Sistine Chapel and the Cathedral.
(I wanted to put a link here to the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, but Xanga won't let me. It's easy to find through a serach engine. The same goes for the statues of the four. It' entitled the octagon.)
Ceaser and Paul
Yesterday morning Jeremy and I went to the Forum Walk which is main street of Roman ruins. Paul and Peter walked through here. I saw so many Americans here even one kid whistling "Dixie." The ruins were kind of a downer because in places you were like "What was this piece of rock?" But I had this travel guide thing and I realized that Julius Ceaser had walked in the garden I looked at and beside that is where he was stabbed and burned. Right here is where all those philsophers and people like Cicero talked and discussed. (I still didn't figure out where the Areopogius was). In one place I could stand and see where Ceaser died and stone's throw away was a building where Paul and Peter were in prision. When you are doing any type of tourism you have to use your imagination a little bit or it will all be really boring. Jeremy and I were talking about what Paul might have been wanting to say as he walked through the streets with such a high social class system and high philsophy.
I didn't take that many pictures when I was there. I journaled a bit when I was there instead to see what I thought about all that stuff. I wrote about what Paul and Peter would think about all this. What would they think about the Catholic church and all the people walking through the churches? It's almost they got what they wanted when the Roman empire fell, when we became more of a Christian soicety, but is the Vatican really a victory for Christianity, are those huge buildings representations of God? Paul himself said that it is written on our hearts in 2 Corinthians, like people are the actual things we can see Jesus in. We can "read" a person and see Christ in Him, not in letter. What would Peter say, what kind of emotions or speeches or sermons would he give after seeing what the church is today? Yet I don't think it's untraceable to see what they would say, or even what God thinks about all this stuff. We do have the Bible and we can see what God has to say about all this stuff in His word.
Regardless, the art is beautiful and I want to pray that people who go there will see Jesus in all that stuff and worship God there instead of just observe without any participation. There's so much to see. I'll leave it at that.
Nate
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| I got the prayer list today for the prayer list for everybody working at Snowbird this summer. I went through the list and smiled when I saw some people's names. I am really happy about this summer at Snowbird even though I am not going to be there. It excites me to see people's names and espeically to see that people I have worked with in the past will be working with my brother. It's funny how small things give you joy, like possibilites of people being friends.
Tonight we are going to have a Kofala party at my house. Kofala is Slovakia's Coke. It was made during the communist reign and has a more subtle taste than Coke, not as sweet, not as burn the back of your throat taste. I enjoy having parties, and for me it seems you just make up a good reason to get together with some Slovaks and invite them over to have some fellowship. My friend Petio and I decided that Kofala was a good enough reason to have a party. I've realized that doing missionary work in the city requires planning and making events for people to come and hang out, espeically on the weekends.
Here's a poem I read off of piper's website. it's really long and i didnt read all of it, but the second stanza is good.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/NarrativePoems/ByDate/1384_For_Noel_On_Our_25th_Wedding_Anniversary/
Here's another article off of ESPN.com about Greg Oden and Tim Duncan. Great article
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2818858&sportCat=ncb
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Welp, I gave that book to my friend Micheal, that is the book about television. I meet with university students in the afternoons talking to them about Jesus. Micheal told me last week that he didn't believe in God anymore. He is a skeptic of what I am doing, being a missionary. He said "I would like to be your friend, but I don't want you to try to persuade me anymore." "Is it possible to be my friend and not try to persuade me?" He sat back and gave me this funny look, kind of serious look. Micheal asks a question and then sits back and gives you the crazy look in his eyes. I told him that it would be difficult for me to have a friendship with him and seperate myself from my worldview. I am a Christian and it would be pretty weird if I didn't trully say what was going on in my life, like if I censored myself when I was around him from talking about Jesus. So I told him no, I can't not try to persuade him, that is to accept Christ. I was like "you obviuosly feel strongly about politics, if somebody says something you don't believe in, a person wants to discuss why or why not they think this idea is not true." I don't remember if Micheal agreed with me or not, but when you believe in something you don't just censor yourself from talking about it. I think what Micheal is afraid of is the insistence of any belief on another person without thier approval. Micheal wants something that is impartial. He thinks I am impartial by trying to persuade people to believe. When something is true, real and great do people consider if it is impartial or not?
Tough questions, I'm having a brain overload.
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| Tuesday March 14, 2007
5:15pm
Yesterday I talked to a guy named Lucas. We went for a walk into town and sat down on a park bench. We looked at Psalms 115, espeically verse 3, the verse where it says "God does whatever he pleases." We compared what it looks like for a sinless God to do whatever he pleases to sinful man doing whatever he pleases. We had a great conversation and I was encouraged talking to him. The one thing I won't forget Lucas telling me is "You have to be broken for people." He told me about how Paul was broken for the people, how Paul loved people and wanted them to know Jesus. Paul was broken for people and his heart was very big because of Jesus. Lucas and I walked back to campus where I met Seth.
7pm
I met Seth in a room full of students who are showing a film. This guy named Victor invited us who's the leader of the activist on campus. Victor and his friends are always sitting in the grass around campus or sitting around talking. There's another guy named Mato who has dreds. Victor wanted us to come to the film because it was about America. The name of this one is called "Anarchy in America." We watched along with about 20 other Slovaks. This documentary was made in the 80's and talked about anarchy throughout history. Some parts were funny like this one guy from Ameirca who kept talking about how he goes to England and breaks all the laws cause he's an American and Americans don't have any rules to follow they just do what they want. The film even had a part on how the rodeo is an "expression" of rugged individualism, and at this part I was smiling cause I kept thinking about Snowbird. We were hoping there would be a bit of discussion, but there was none. Afterward I talked to Martin and Victor and Psalm 115 and how God has no authority, he is the authority. This verse fits right into the discussion about why man could or could not handle anarchy in society. Victor said "It comes down to the question whether man is inherently good or evil." Yup. If God is good and free to do what he pleases(as Psalm 115 states) then he can do no wrong. If man is inherently bad and free do to what he pleases then well he can do wrong and will do wrong things. Not a hard concept to grasp, we just have to realize what great news it is to know God can only do good and just things as he pleases. The guys gave Seth a free copy of this DVD.
8:59pm
I visit a guy named Steven for about 20 minutes.
9:15pm
Seth and I walk to the train station it's like a 20 minute walk.
9:47pm
We buy a soft drink and a sandwich at a gas station and eat in on the way. The sandwich(called a bagettea) is actually very good and the drink is called Vinea which is a version of Ginger Ale, except better. Slovaks have good softdrinks.
9:59pm
Train takes off and we ride back to Kosice, the city we live in. Presov is the university we spend most of our time, and it's like a 45 minute train ride.
10:45pm
We are walking back from the train station and two guys approached us. Seth started talking to them and I was a little skeptical. They wanted us to show them to a bar that sold beer at a cheap price. We agreed to show them where some places were, but we didn't know where any cheap beer was. I said something like "I get filled up with God, the Holy Spirit." The guy kinda looked at me and then said "I haven't believed in God since I was ten years old. That's when my mother died." I was suprised for him to tell me the reason he didn't believe so quickly. We stopped in the street continued talking. He said when his mother died the priest said "Jesus took her away" and ever since the guy(who's name is Paul) didn't believe. For a minute there I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to just say something. He continued on about how nobody was going to take care of him, he had to take care of himself and he couldn't trust anybody. I told him that we have to trust that God is good no matter what happens. He said he had to go. Seth asked him if he could pray for him. Seth prayed for him on the street there and then we parted ways. It's funny how easy it is to talk to people looking for beer about God as opposed to other people. They seem open as anyone.
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| In an interview with Mark Driscoll in Relevant Magazine, he answered the following questions as follows:
What trends in church and worship styles do you see? Are they positive or negative?
"I'll be happy when we have more than just prom songsg to Jesus sung by some effeminate guy on an acousticu gutair offered as mainstream worship music. Right now most worship music is still coming from the top down through such things as Christian radio and record labels. But the trend today in alot of churches is wrigingi your own music to refelct your culture anc community, and I pray this trend of music from the bottom up continues."
What is a negative tendency of this generation as it relates to the faith?
"This generation can be a bunch of idealists getting together in small groups to complain about megachurches and the religious right rather than doinig something."
What postitive tendency do you see in this generation?
"I see a resurging intrest in culture and viewing the United States as a mission field, which are very encouraging trends desperately needed."
What do you see as the greatest challenge for young Christians in the next 10 years?
"There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types (want) to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the pefect pari of shoes. In Relvelation, Jesus is a pride fighter with a tatto down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity."
What and how do you feel Christians can have the most impact on culture?
"Christians need to get upstream to have the influence to change what culture is made of. What I mean by that is, culture is like a river, and most Christians are a downstream bunch who tend to complain about the junk that flows down to them on TV, in movies, in politics. To change things, we need to stop just fishing junk out of the river of culture and get upstream where all the junk is being thrown in and sent downstream to the masses. The key is to get wise Christians upstream running record labels, TV stations, businesses and other places to be a force for good, like Joseph and Daniel."
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