Jon Huckins

New Blog!

2010-11-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

The new site/blog is up and running at: http://jonhuckins.net. Please help me pass the word!

I will no longer be adding content to this blog, but will continue to offer family/ministry updates at: http://thehuckins.blogspot.com

Cheers!

Off With the Old and In With the New

2010-11-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

Boy oh boy...so this writing vacation extended a bit more than a month:) But there is a reason! A few things have happened in the past couple months (which we have posted @ http://thehuckins.blogspot.com/):

We had our baby Ruby!
Moved into our new place in Golden Hill
Started class back at Fuller Seminary
Taught at the National Youth Workers Convention
Diving deep into our new role within NieuCommunities
Had lots of time with family after Ruby's arrival

And...thanks to the good folks at Creative Fuel Studio's have been working on launching a new blog/website. The crew @ Creative Fuel did amazing work and I am stoked to launch this baby in the next week or so. Check out their website as they are top notch in the areas of social media, branding, web-design and marketing (and much more).

Keep an eye peeled for the new site!

Writing Vacation

2010-08-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

I love to write. I find it a great medium for introspection and processing. Further, I believe it is helpful for me to do some of that writing in community (i.e. blogging, etc...) as it often stimulates a dialog that draws attention to mutual experiences/insights.

With that said, writing isn't beneficial to me when I write out of obligation or if it keeps me from putting my full attention towards something more important. As you probably know, Janny and I are in the middle of a move, raising funds as missionaries, nearing the end of a long pregnancy, I am continuing my Master's work, REALLY close to publishing a book that has taken ALOT of attention, meeting/getting to know our new co-workers/community and prepping for a few speaking engagements. All great stuff and I am loving it, but it doesn't leave much time for thoughtful writing!

Because my life is currently so far from a vacation, over the next month I will take a writing vacation. I will probably not post on my personal blog, youth specialties blog or write any articles for the monthly youth specialties publication. I'm looking forward getting back into a rhythm of life that will allow me to write a bit more, but for now, please follow along with the latest in our growing family's life on our website/blog: North of the Border

We really want/need you walking along with us in this new endeavor!!

Some REALLY BIG News for Jon, Jan, Harry and Baby H

2010-08-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

After a year of conversations and mutual "interviewing," Janny and I have made the life changing decision to go on staff (as Pastors/Missionaries) with NieuCommunities, a collective within Church Resource Ministries. NieuCommunities mission: 1. develop Church leaders by offering an intensive 1-year apprenticeship (accredited by many Seminaries...including mine!) and 2. community development (what they would call "Mission") by embodying Jesus in the often forgotten parts of society (half way homes, refugee popluation, homeless, etc...) After 6 years in youth ministry and 2 years teaching public school, we are extremely hopeful and enlivened by this new page in our story. We hope to be apart of this organization and group of people for a long time as we are inspired by their heart to live out the Church, serve the community and invite all towards God's Kingdom.

While NieuCommunities has faith communities around the world, there is currently only one in the United States. It is centered in the neighborhood of Golden Hill, between the city of San Diego and the Mexican border. After 20+ years on the Central Coast, we will be packing our bags and moving our family (our baby girl is due September 17th!) from Santa Cruz on August 15th. There is lots to share, but I will expand on that as things more forward.

For now, we are working hard at inviting others into participation in our story and its role within God's mission. Please check out our new blog/website that explains much more: North of the Border

We are extremely thankful for all that have chosen to support and advance our story over the years and are greatly looking forward to each relationship continuing and growing.

Luche Libre and Nose Hair

2010-07-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a silly piece I wrote for Youth Specialties as I reflect on my good old days as an intern for Chip Johnson and the experiences I was able to share with the interns that were on staff with us at Harbor Chapel. Honoring Interns

Israel Diaries # 7: Samaria and West Bank

2010-07-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Just because we are back in Santa Cruz doesn't mean we have stopped processing our time in Israel and Palestine. In fact, our time shattered and expanded our worldview is such a way that will force us to continue processing and wrestling through the experiences and stories for along time to come. Our time in Israel concluded with two especially insightful experiences in Samaria and in the West Bank cities of Bethany and Bethlehem.

Samaria has been off limits for most tourist in recent years due to extended unrest. Much of the unrest stems from a region that is isolated politically, religiously and socially from Israel and much of the surrounding region. The Samaritans history of being the "black sheep" goes back all the way to the 8th century B.C. when Assyria captured Israel's Northern Kingdom and intermarried with some of the existing Samaritan population. Israel then viewed Samaritans as "half breeds," which makes Jesus special attention towards them that much more revolutionary. After standing on Mt. Gerizim (where Samaritans believe God tested Abraham) we were welcomed with a huge smile by one of their current priests. He proceeded to share with us the story of the Samaritans and their role within the Biblical Story. It was fascinating as he spoke with conviction and respect of the varying religious beliefs represented. There are currently around 750 practicing Samaritans worldwide, which is a huge increase after numerous violent attempts to drive them to extinction. While they only hold the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) as authoritative, he assured us that they are on Facebook...brilliant!

Finally, Jan and I(and a few of our friends from Jerusalem Univ.) were invited to spend the day with our friends Milad and Minar in their home towns of Bethany and Bethlehem in the West Bank. They are Arab Palestinian Christians who have chosen to offer the hope of Jesus to their community under the weight of political, social and religious oppression. With the course being focused on the historical and geographical settings of the Bible, I came in expecting to be awed by sites that were/are central to the Biblical Story that I have studied for so long. While there were certainly times when that was the case, the times I was most in awe was in seeing the Biblical Story alive in the people today...It was in the hearts and lives of Milad and Minar that we most clearly experienced the Kingdom of God on earth. Whether in singing with 80+ Palestinian kids in the couple's non-profit(focused on Peace and Reconciliation in Palestine), eating a huge home cooked meal at their parents home in Bethlehem, using their last portion of clean water after 12 days of Israeli withheld rations or watching Milad harassed at "the Wall" (which is twice as tall and exponentially longer than the Berlin Wall) while we waltzed on by, it was an experience that cut to the very fabric of our souls. It was living in the tension of hope and internal(at times external) tears that we stepped into a story that we can't help but tell over and over and over. It is a story I will explore(and be sure to share) more thoroughly in an article that will be published next month on youthspecialties.com.

For now, we are so grateful to all of our new friends who remain in the Middle East and chose to adopted a posture of invitation so that we may be made more whole in our quest to be fully enlivened by the living Mission of God that stretches to all corners of Creation.

Shalom Haverim (companions)

Youth Ministry in Israel and Palestine

2010-07-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a blog I wrote today for Youth Specialties:

Snapshot of Youth Ministry in Israel and Palestine

Israel Diaries # 6: Galilee

2010-07-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

Shalom from the Land Between!

Well, we have fallen hopelessly behind in our blogging, which would have been impossible to keep up at the pace of this course. The class has come to an end (seemed to go SO fast!), but we are able to stick around for a few days and take a few deep breaths before flying home and starting a whole new phase of our lives(more info on that upcoming). There are many conversations, experiences (been to and studied 50+ ancient/modern sites around the country) and cultural insights to share, but for now here are some snapshots from our trip to Galilee...the central location of Jesus' life and teaching.

View from the front porch of our Kibbutz on the east shore of Galilee overlooking Tiberias (capital of Herod Atipas during Jesus adult life). A kibbutz is basically a communal farm. Many now have opened lodging areas for tourist/locals to vacation as a way to stimulate income. It was BY FAR our favorite place we stayed in Israel.

In Caesarea Maritima("by the sea") where Herod Agrippa died and where Paul was imprisoned. It is actually a beautiful resort area where we got to have Janny's favorite Lemonana drink!

We drove to the very north part of Israel and were able to look into Lebanon and Syria. Israel is still technically "at war" with both. The green is Israel, the brown in distance is Lebanon.

Standing in front of the pagan altars in Caesarea Philippi. This was one of the theological highlights for me as I have studied the cultural/physical location a lot in the past. This is where Peter affirms Jesus as Messiah(Matt 16). Much affirmed what I had studied. The gods Pan and Nemesis were worshiped through the offering of sacrifices at this site. Nemesis is the god of the underworld and this site in the 1st century context would have been known as the gates of Hades (see Jesus' reference in Matt. 16).

On the Mount of the Beatitudes in north Galilee where Jesus gave Sermon on the Mount. It was especially powerful as I was able to give the class devotional, while standing this hill overlooking the lake.

Janny taking a rest on the streets of Capernaum. Seeing Peter's home, which would have served as one of the first home churches and picturing Jesus walking the streets(it is thought that he lived his adult life here) was incredible.

We got to take a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee!

There is MUCH more to share, but that will have to wait for Israel Diaries # 7!

Israel Diaries # 5: Rooftop Conversations, Mineral Mud and Galilee

2010-06-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all that are following along with Janny and I on facebook and here on my blog. It has been great sharing the memories and experiences.

This has arguably been one of the most intense classes I have ever taken in any context. I just finished my second exam (only one more to go!) this afternoon after putting in around 50 hours of lecture/study/field study in the past 6 days. Janny (and the baby!) and I were able to rest yesterday back at our hotel in Jerusalem and tomorrow we shove off for a 4 day trip to Galilee. We are REALLY looking forward to this leg of the trip. We will visit 17 different significant locations, which are highlighted by Caesarea, Nazareth, Bethsaida, Sea of Galilee (apparently we will be staying right on the water) Capernaum and Sepphoris. Will be taking plenty of notes/pics to share.

Our time in the Negev was amazing. We stayed in youth hostel in Arad, about 20 minutes from the Dead Sea. Walking up the Roman Ramp to Masada was a stunning scene. Jewish Zealots held Masada until 73AD (3 years after Jerusalem had fallen) and the Romans built the ramp for 3 years in an effort to take the city.

Floating and "exfoliating" in the Dead Sea was Janny's highlight of the whole trip to date. All the girls in the group followed her around like a mother hen as she covered herself (and yes, I might have followed suite:)) in the mineral rich Dead Sea mud and floated at the lowest place on earth.

Walking through the community and caves of Qumran could have been my highlight of the trip so far. Having studied the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance, it was surreal to be sifting through the same caves that held these scrolls for almost 2000 years. Gosh, I could talk/share about these for hours, but I'll stop there...

As I have mentioned a couple times, we are doing our best to develop our understanding of the tension that exists between Palestine and Israel. Standing on the roof of our hotel around 11pm, I had one of the most insightful and painful conversations of my life. One of our Palestinian friends who works at our hotel, also has a child on the way and lives with his wife on the other side of the Mt. of Olives in the West Bank. Not long ago it would only take him 10 minutes to get to work in Jerusalem, now (after multiple security check points) it takes him 45. His wife is only allowed outside of "the walls" twice a year for Christmas and Easter. In the afternoons, he works with local teenagers promoting reconciliation and peacemaking. Often speaking with tears streaming down his cheeks as we looked over Jerusalem, he shared his story(some are paraphrased):
"I don't want to change your mind, I am only one man. I just want you to hear our story."
"I am a Christian, I love Jesus, but I am treated like a terrorist."
"I try not to be angry when I see Americans praying for their meal, while you forget the oppression of those of us right here. Thankfully I have the love of Jesus in my heart."
"You can't oppress a whole nation over the terrorist acts of a few."
"The Berlin Wall was 3 meters high, this wall is 8 meters. Our oppression only builds hatred and terror."
"I will never leave, but I don't see how there will ever be peace."
"Don't feel sorry for me. With my wife and child, I am very happy."

Israel Diaries # 4: Southern Israel Near Beersheba

2010-06-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

We are on a 3 day field trip to Southern Israel where we are going to a bunch of biblical sites that include the Elah Valley(where David and Goliath met), Beersheba, the Dead Sea, the Zin Winderness (where YHWH provided manna and quail to the Israelites) and much more...it is supper hot, but amazing. Only have a few minutes of internet, so here are a couple pics:

Janny wandering the Philistine hill/city of Azekah that overlooks the Elah Valley

Jon inside the caves at Maresha. Members of the early church would get thrown to the lions and get put in these caves to live for the rest of their days.

Israel Diaries # 3: Few Pics and Off to the Dead Sea

2010-06-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we have finally cracked the code to our camera and have downloaded our pics from our recent adventures. We had the last day and a half off of school, which gave us much needed time to rest and catch up on other responsibilities (for some reason the responsibilities of home didn't leave us when we flew away!). Class continues to be very intense as we are studying everything from soil types, to topography to architecture to dates/locations of events. With all that said, it is fascinating and we feel as though we are getting a comprehensive understanding. The experience is already creating so much fresh insight into the Story of Scripture that we have study for so long.

We continue to approach our time in a spirit of sensitivity towards towards the Israel/Palenstine tension. Primarily, we are seeking to hear the stories of the individuals behind what we hear in our fear driven media of the West. We are gaining lots of great insight and are looking forward to sharing a meal with a Christian couple from Palestine this coming weekend.

Tomorrow morning we head out for a 3 day field study to the Dead Sea region where we will staying in a nearby town and visiting a half of a dozen other significant sites.

Let's see if I can add a few pics:

Coming out of a 30 minute underground journey through Hezekiah's Tunnel that was built 2700 years ago.

Our professor Dr. Mullins at the Pool Siloam where Jesus healed the blind man with mud. Dr. Mullins got his PHD from Hebrew University and lived in Jerusalem for 20 years. He's brilliant.

Western Wailing Wall

Janny riding like Mary on the route that Jesus road into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

Jon with Ahmed and Esau who own a shoe store in the West Bank. They were some of the nicest fellas we have met on this trip as they shared their personal orange juice with Janny and I as we tried on shoes. Their story was incredible.

I would post more from the Temple Mount, Bethlehem, etc...but this internet connection is way to slow. Shalom from Jerusalem!

Israel Diaries # 2: Busted Cameras and Holy Pilgrimmage

2010-06-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Our folks hooked us up with a sweet camera as a combined bday present for Janny and I this year. With our travels and the baby on the way, we figured it was time to replace the duck tape ridden version we have been using. Unfortunately, we have either not figured out how to properly use the new one OR there is something wrong with it. We have a ton of sweet pics, but are unable to get them onto our computer. I was hoping to mainly post pics and only say a few words...not happening. Hopefully we can find a "techy" in our class tomorrow.

As I last mentioned, the class is really involved, but it is allowing us to explore the country academically and physically. Our professor has his PHD from the local Hebrew University and is an American citizen who lived her for 20 years. He is brilliant and has some great perspective. Is also quite devotional at times. We have really connected with our classmates (who range from 19 to 60 years old) as we go out to local restaurants and cafe's most every night to watch the World Cup. It is HUGE over here.

Today we visited Bethlehem, Herodian, Garden(Orchard) of Gethsemane and the Mt. of Olives. Over the past few days we have stayed in Jerusalem and done extensive study and exploration of the Old City of Jerusalem (Hezekiah's Tunnel, Temple Mount, the Upper Room, Calvary, Jesus' Tomb, David's Palace, etc...) Stunning stuff.

Our professor said something profound that struck both of us in a similar way. He spoke of the Western minds' desire for accuracy, data and information in visiting these sites (questions like: how sure can we be that this is REALLY the place that...happened?) He went on to say that the religious of the Middle East (specifically Israel) don't seek data, but instead they worship and remember. As we travel these grounds and ask the hard questions based on thorough scholarship, it is shocking how many places can't be confirmed as 100% accurate locations of the original event/structure. The point isn't accuracy, the point is worship. Such is the posture we hope to adopt moving forward.

Hopefully we get the camera fixed!

10 Books in 10 Weeks

2010-06-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

Our Israel class is in full swing and I have quickly been made aware why I am getting 6 units of grad credit for this 3 week class! 10 hour days with about 4 hours of lecture and 5+ hours of field study. Super tuckered out, but super fun experience. It has been so fun to share with Janny as well. For some reason, we are having issues with our camera, so I am taking a pause in our Israel Diaries and giving a top 10 list that is really only a top 3 list. This last quarter, I read the following books for my seminary classes. Some were great, some were OK. After the top 3, they are in no particular order:

1. Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat
Offers some of the best commentary on the idols of rationality and pluralism within Modernity and Postmodernity. Also, their words on Christians embodying a social alternative to Empire through succession, community, liberation and suffering brought me to tears.
2. The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder
Yoder offers a careful exegesis of the teachings of Jesus and argues (although in an extremely humble posture) that Jesus offers a relevant ethic that is to be embodied today. As a pacifist who wrote this in the early 70's, his words are all the more powerful and challenging.
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
What's for dinner? That question is constantly asked before sitting at the dinner table. What's in dinner and where did it come from? Those are questions that rarely get asked, but whose answers must be examined. I read this for a paper I wrote on Food Justice and it called into questions the justice that is/isn't found in our industrial food complex.

Rounding out the final 7 I have (in no particular order):

4. Kingdom Ethics by Glen Stassen and David Gushee
5. God's Politics by Jim Wallis
6. Missional Renaissance by Reggie Mcneal
7. Personal Faith, Public Policy by Harry Jackson and Tony Perkins
8. The Future of Faith in American Politics by David Gushee
9. The Culturally Savvy Christian by Dick Staub
10. The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

Bonus Read
Artist, Citizens, Philosophers: Seeking the Peace of the City (still in progress)

Israel Diaries # 1: World Cup and Maccabee Lager

2010-06-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Picture of Old City Jerusalem from the window of our hotel

Well, this is the stuff that makes Janny and I come to life. This is our 3rd day in Jerusalem after about 24 hours of travel and a 10 hour time change. Our favorite part of traveling is learning and embracing new culture(at least new to us!). Travel forces us into a posture of humility and intrigue as we have to feel our way through the new setting by trail and error. This has definitely been true of our first few days in Israel.

The main reason we are here is to study at Jerusalem University College for a 3.5 week graduate course. I have FINALLY finished about 30 hours of pre-work and so we were able to rest and get a taste of the city for these first few days. We check into the school today.

The hotel we have been staying in (we are now moving to campus housing) is a 0 star and is packed with other low budget travelers from across the globe. We have already traveled with, exchanged email addresses and watched the World Cup with people from England, Holland, Costa Rica, Switzerland and a bunch of locals. Although the facilities are modest (to say the least!), we have an incredible view of the Old City and the Mt. of Olives...and it came with free breakfast! Nothing like hummus and tomatoes @ 7am. It is located in the Arabic part of town and the guys that run the place are super friendly and accommodating. We were told not to stay in this part of town, but we have really enjoyed getting into the rhythms of this culture. Most are Muslim and we can hear the prayers 3 or 4 times a day that are amplified through the streets. They exhibit so much devotion, it is quite admirable.

There is an upper lounge at the top of our hotel where we can watch the World Cup games. Super fun. I offered to get some Hebrew Lager for myself and our English friend David and quickly realized that Muslim's don't drink alcohol, so we had to leave the area. We ended up finding some Hebrew beer call Maccabee Lager(LOVE the history! If you're not familiar with the Maccabee's influence in the Jewish story, click here) and enjoyed the USA vs England match. Janny had this guy on his heals with her strategic smack talk. We just liked to hear him fire back comments in his English accent.

We have been able to walk the Old City streets and are excited to be moving to our new hotel which is actually inside the city walls. Our favorite meal has quickly become falafel and Turkish(or Arabic) coffee. We will share more about the city and some of the sites next time.

Any tips or insight, please feel free to throw it in the comments. We should have internet pretty consistently.

Cheers and Shalom from Israel!

Off To The Homeland

2010-06-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

So these past few weeks have been absolutely nutso in the world of Jon, Jan and Harry. Well, not so much for Harry.

Janny has been busting her tail to finish up her school year with the 4th graders she has been teaching, moving us out of our little house up in Mt. Hermon and working some weekends as an esthetician. She had her last day with the 4th graders yesterday and she was honored in front of the whole school for her work and influence she has had on the kids. I am SUPER proud of her and that school really lucked out on a quality teacher!

I have been in a mad scramble to finish finals, fill up and empty out UHAUL trucks, writing for YS(lastest article was published yesterday:)and completed my time teaching adult education. Been crazy, but we can both see the end in site and it has been great stuff.

Now we are turning our sites towards Israel! We leave Wednesday morning and will be studying at Jerusalem University College. It is a 6 credit graduate course that focuses on Geographical Settings of the Bible. Honestly, with the chaos of life we have barely been able to get excited, but now it is sinking in...and it is awesome! We will be living 1 block from the Wailing Wall and will have a day of lectures followed by 1-3 day field trips through the actual locations that were discussed in the lecture. There will be LOTS of pictures and new insights. I will be blogging and posting pictures of our experiences often.

We are not overly concerned, but unless you live in a cave, you have heard of the "flotilla incident" this past week. It has stimulated some unrest and it will be interesting to see how it plays out in our time over there. Please pray that we can model peace and hope as we wander through a region that has been plagued with anything but.

Christian Zionism

2010-05-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple years I have given more attention to the social, religions and political realities of present day Israel. Both Israel and Palestine have experienced so much fear, brokenness and anger. I can't imagine living and raising my children in such a hostile climate that so often seems to be on the brink of war. Who is "right" in this conflict and how does my ideology and theological understanding bring fuel or peace to such conflict? As Jan and I prepare to walk the streets and see the site's of ancient and modern Israel, we have to ask these questions and hopefully bring attention to a possible resolution.

Tony Campolo is one of the most inspiring theologians, activists and social commentators of my generation. His spirited and Spirit-led words often bring me to repentance before our Creator. See his thoughts/experiences on this topic:

Christian Zionism: Theology that Legitimates Oppression

Youth Specialities and Israel

2010-05-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

The count down is on! Janny and I will be flying to Israel on June 9th and spending over a month studying at Jerusalem University College. We will be staying just off campus in married housing, which is about 1/2 block from the Wailing Wall. It has been incredible seeing this fall into place and we are pinching ourselves at this opportunity to physically walk through the Story. I will share more about this trip soon.

Also, I have found writing to be a great outlet and platform for dialog over the past couple years. I have been working with Youth Specialties over the past year on my book, which has been demanding and tedious at times, but overall a rich experience. Just this past week, I was invited to be a regular blogger on the YS webpage and a contributing author in their monthly articles(basically an online magazine). I am really grateful for this opportunity to share some stories/insight, while connecting and learning from others along the way. It has been fun and challenging to continue to try to work and live into what I am most passionate about as things are often ambiguous and culturally "unorthodox." I don't think Janny and I plan on being "normal" anytime soon:)

Sorrow, Suffering and the Story of God

2010-05-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to share among our former church family at Harbor Chapel Community Church. Janny and I hadn’t been there for a service since we completed our time on staff there almost a year and half ago. It was super fun to catch up with so many people that we care so deeply about and unbelievable to have so much love showered upon us we exchanged hugs. Honestly, it was quite humbling to be so loved by such a quality group of folks.

Jim York left the topic open to whatever we (Doyle Fikes partnered with me in the teaching by sharing a powerful family story of suffering) felt led. It was clearly going to be the most painful topic in light of the events of this past year, but with Janny’s insightful suggestion, we chose the topic of Sorrow, Suffering and Grief. Having been surrounded by my students’ stories of sorrow/suffering and culminating in the loss of our first child in October, there is no other reality that is more central to our current life story. Being able to share our pain and encourage others to fully embrace theirs was a liberating and somber experience. Suffering is central to the Story of God and if we simply shrug off the sacred time of grieving for some form of cheap/fake “happy thoughts,” then we have forgotten our story as individuals and forgotten the Story of God we are to participate in today.

Friends/family at Harbor Chapel, thanks for not fast forwarding through the suffering, but instead sharing in the pain with us. Your stories were raw, painful and tragic…in is that honesty that we are caused to remember the Story…and in the midst of sobbing, experience hope.

Listen to the talk here: (Doyle Fikes starts the talk and I pick it up @ minute 17)

It Has a Name!

2010-05-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

The publishing crew and myself have finally finalized the name for my book: Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling: Creating Fictional Stories that Illuminate the Message of Jesus

Thoughts? Because maybe by “finalized” it means I could still propose to get it changed…or maybe not, only one way to find out.

The release date has been set for July 16th, BUT it seems that the art department (which is the stage it is in right now) has had some staff transitions that could lead to pushing the release back…I know what your thinking, “Thank goodness, I was worried Jon’s book was going to cut into Rick Warren’s sales.” Yes, this book will surely shake the publishing world. Whether it is a 1.2 or a 8.0 quake depends on……..yes, you.

I will be speaking on this topic at the National Youth Workers Convention is San Diego in September: Seminar on Book Topic

Book Review: The Forgotten Ways

2010-04-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Alan Hirsch has been one of the most shaping authors in my exploration and challenge to embody the church. I can remember having my ecclesial (study of the church) bubble burst into pieces when I first read his and Michael Frosts work, The Shaping of Things to Come about 5 years ago. The Forgotten Ways picks up the conversation of viewing and living out the church as a missional representation of a missional God. Through the incarnation, it is clear that God is seeking his people by entering their world, not by simply standing static in waiting for his people to find him.

Throughout the book, Hirsch's primary hope is to communicate tangible ways in which the church of the West can rediscover the amazing power that lies within us as is fueled by the Holy Spirit. The mDNA(missionalDNA)that is embedded in each Christian has the potential to activate our Apostolic Genius that will transform the stactic, institutionalized church models (that began with Constantine when he adopted Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire) into dynamic, missional movements. Looking at the examples of the Early Church and the current Chinese Church, Hirsch makes it clear that the "organic" church, established outside the boundaries of institution, is forced to unleash its Apostolic Genius and leads towards authenticity and multiplication. The missional leader is central to creating an atmosphere that allows other Christians to uncover and live out their mDNA. Hirsch describes the apostolic leader as the "custodian of Apostolic Genius and the gospel itself" as they impart and embed the mDNA in their communities(153). They do this by both pioneering new physical forms of church planting and by integrating sound theological, apostolic doctrine. Understanding that Jesus is Lord, Apostolic Genius is unleashed through disciple making, missional-incarnation impulse, apostolic environment, organic systems and communitas.

While this is a very insightful and somewhat academic look at the missional church as the face of a missional God, I find that the missional church is best articulated through practice/embodiment, not by definition and verbal explanation. In any case, that doesn't take away from the importance of this work as it is a great read and practical tool for the missional leader. It offers plenty of "nuggets" to wrestle through and to implement, whether an institutional church that is working to transition to a more missional model or a leader who is hoping to pioneer a new(or Hirsch would argue "ancient") vision of the Church.

Blog Format...For Now

2010-04-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

I've grown to appreciate blogs that carry one or two themes throughout their content. It seems to offer continuity and movement. My blog has had anything but continuity since its conception a couple years ago. The topics/ideas have been more like paint that hits the wall after swinging the brush in a circle. Not a bad way to go I suppose, but FOR NOW I am going to focus on three themes:

1. Book Reviews and Class Reflections (on my Grad School topics of Theology & Ethics)

2. Kingdom Stories: Processing of stories that in some way illumine the Kingdom of God

3. Family Updates: With both Janny and I working in the public school, considering a move out the area for school and/or non-profit employment, our upcoming summer studying in Israel, my book being released in July and the status of our disabled little dog Harry, we have plenty to share.

Upcoming: Book reviews on The Politics of Jesus by John Yoder and The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

Stories of My Heroes

2010-04-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

I love baseball and the San Francisco Giants...I probably give them more attention than I should. Many would consider sports stars their heroes. Based on the amount of time I have given some sports, I could be one of those folks...this of course isn't a great place to offer "hero" status based on the level of consumption, greed and abundance(in MANY areas) this supports and encourages our culture to aspire to.

With all that being said, I believe I have located my true heroes. As I have mentioned, I am currently teaching Adult Education at North County High School. My students are the ones that fell through the cracks of our educational system and have now built up the courage to try finish what they started...some of my students started their High School education almost 20 years ago. Some were just slackers through HS, but most either have been in prison, had some form of learning disability or were forced to work in the fields to help their parents make rent. A couple of their stories in the past few weeks that have broken and inspired me:

The young man who acknowledged his addiction to REALLY hard drugs and spent the last few weeks in rehab. He is now back in class, but lacking any motivation and sleeps constantly. I talked to his sobbing mom yesterday as he admitted a relapse...

The young woman whose attendance was terrible because she had to work in the fields with her father everyday. 3 months ago she found out her dad had cancer and he died a month later...she promised him she would graduate, so she is now highly motivated and only works in the fields when we don't have class

The young man who has a learning disability and parents recently died. He has somehow mustered the courage to stay in school and I just got to sign his diploma! He was just accepted into a education/work program in Utah.

The three young woman who have recently gotten pregnant and chosen to carry their babies to term and continue to work with me on finishing their HS diploma program.

I could keep on going...these are my heroes and I get to share in their story everyday.

A Few Pics From Vancouver

2010-04-03T11:55:00.001-07:00

Olympic Fever

Scrambling to get in pic before the timer goes off and before it falls from the post it was teetering on

Our friends from Nieucommunities gave us an anniversary gift and sent us off on a ferry to Bowen Island for the day

Store front on "The Drive" near the Nieucommunities location

Enthronement of Jesus

2010-04-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

My New Testament Professor and friend Daniel Kirk had an article published in Christianity Today on the topic of Resurrection. Good stuff: A Resurrection That Matters

Dr. Kirk has also taken the time to sift through some the theological/historical aspects of my book that is taking shape. Very grateful for his insights and partnership in participating in the Kingdom.

Family Update: From the Beach to the Redwoods

2010-03-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well...Landing back in the U.S. last night from a trip up to Vancouver symbolized the temporary landing of Janny and I in a few ways. Here is a bullet point version of the past month or so:
- Still working through the miscarriage of our first child (named Haven) and trying to muster up the courage, amid lots of fear and anxiety, to start again.
- Decided to study in Israel this summer @ Jerusalem University College! Fits perfectly into my Master's program @ Fuller and Janny will audit the class right along side. We are in the application/detail portion of the process, but things look good.
- In an effort to live more simply and free ourselves up to study in Israel and possibly go on board with a non-profit, we have moved from our little cottage by the beach in Santa Cruz, up to a little studio in the redwoods of Mt. Hermon.
- I continue to teach Adult Education @ North County H.S. and am coaching the H.S. golf team. I will be speaking at Harbor Chapel(our former church community) in May, Mount Hermon this summer and at the National Youth Workers Convention this fall. My book is taking form (art,editing,proofreading, etc...) and is projected to be released on July 16th. Also, I finished another quarter of studies @ Fuller this past Friday. Officially completed my Hebrew language requirements! Shalom.
- Between two spa's, lots of subbing and our recent move, Janny has been working her little tail off. She subbed for a 4th grade class a couple weeks ago and the school fell in love with her. They offered her a full time position (at least through the end of this school year) teaching 4th grade. She has a love/wanna pull out her hair kind-of relationship with the kids as they have enough energy to fuel a large city. No clue how she does it, but she is super motivated and cares for them alot.
- We have continued to be in dialog with a non-profit called Nieucommunities about the possibility of partnering with them. Janny and I got to spend this past weekend with the community at their site in Vancouver, Canada. Great people, with a hopeful vision for mission, church and mentorship in the way of Jesus.

Old Memories and New Hope

2010-03-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

It is weird how something as material as an old pick-up truck can stir up so many memories and nostalgia. A few weeks ago, Janny and I sold my '96 Chevy S10. I owned it for almost 10 years! Janny and I have our 5th wedding anniversary coming up on March 19th and it has been 10 years since we started dating. In other words, this crazy old, broken down most of the time truck is filled with memories. Road trips all over the state, tear filled airport drop offs when Janny lived over sees for a semester, camping trips when we didn't have a tent so we slept in the back...on and on and on. Cheers to the old beast!

Also, last night my buddy Allen went with me to hang out with our friends at the homeless shelter. Before we started serving the meal I saw Lyle and was able to catch up with him for a bit. I asked if there was anything new going on and between bites he looked up at me and said, "I got a job!" It was so fun to see his excitement. He said that it was not only helping him financially, but it was helping him mentally and emotionally. His eyes were filled with hope. Cheers to Lyle and some new hope!

Kingdom Inhabitants: Part 3

2010-03-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure if Lyle remembered my name or even our conversations. After turning down my lunch offer by not showing up at the taqueria a few weeks earlier, I had assumed to have only been a blip on his radar. Of course, why would I have been anything else? I was just another privileged white guy who drove a functioning car, slept in a warm bed, had a constant life companion(Janny...and Harry) and only worried about eating LESS food, not finding ANY food. I came to find out that these were assumptions of some of the ways I would view the "privileged" if I were in Lyle's shoes...he is much more mature than I.

Every Sunday at about 3:30pm I show up at the shelter and hang around with my new friends. Al the Chef stands outside the kitchen among all the folks lining up for the meal and smokes his pipe(tobacco!)with a smirk of pride at having finished cooking a meal for 200 people. He doesn't talk much, but with a Sherlock Holmes-like pipe...there is no need for words. Every once in awhile I will bring mine and stoically stand next to him. I feel like a 4 year old trying to imitate my father reading the paper with coffee in hand, but instead of coffee mug I am using a sippy cup and reading an Elmo picture book.

Although at times it feels like a burden to commit this time to hang out with my new friends, once I am there I can't imagine missing out. After standing next to Al the Chef like his little padawan, I milled through the crowd of tooth missing, 7 layer wearing, long beard toting Inhabitants of the Kingdom. Through the crowd I saw my friend Lyle. He saw me right away and counter to my assumptions, it didn't take him long to remember our conversations. In fact, one of the first things he said was, "you invited me to lunch!" We got to catch up for the next 15 minutes before I went back into the kitchen to take my post in the food line.

Every week I learn new names and hear new stories. My intentions are to be the embodiment of Jesus to my friends(Matt. 5:48), but in reality I have the opportunity to smile into Jesus' face with each passing tray of stew.

Kingdom Inhabitants: Part 2

2010-02-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

Janny and I were coming home late and had to stop at a gas station near our house in Santa Cruz. As I pumped gas, a gentleman with a covetous beard rode up to me on his bike and asked for some money. I offered to buy him some food, so with a muffin and warm coffee now in his hands we began a rich conversation. He told me his name was Lyle and that he had lost his job in construction, which resulted in him being homeless for over a year. He shared about his past travels and relationships with hope and nostalgia, but would then come back to the somber reality of sleeping under a tarp night after night. After about 10 minutes, I said goodbye and he left me with a hearty smile of gratitude.

Challenged and inspired by my renewed understanding of the Kingdom of God and its "unlikely" inhabitants(which I spoke of in my last post), I tried to live my daily life with an open eye to the face of Jesus as seen through the poor. With this said, I had the opportunity to share a meal and conversation with a variety of folks, but I kept running into Lyle. A few weeks after our initial conversation and at the same gas station, Lyle and I were able to share an extensive conversation over a cup of coffee. I had grown to admire his resolve and optimism in the midst of a painful story. Needing to get home, I asked if we could continue over lunch the next day at a local taqueria. I told him there was no pressure, but that I would be there at 12pm either way. I understood, but sitting at a table in the taqueria anxious to continue our conversation, was disappointed when he never showed up.

Towards the end of last year, I started volunteering @ the Homeless Service Center; which has a food pantry, homeless family housing and serves up to 400 meals everyday. Not knowing exactly what was needed, my friend Michael and I decided to just show up and offer our help in any capacity. With dozens of homeless folks milling around the dining area, I connected with a full time volunteer named Rick. His first response was a combination of confusion and gratitude at my willingness to serve. Rick was homeless and now is able to live in an apartment on campus as compensation for his working full time for the center. After floating around and sharing conversation with my new friends for an hour, I was introduced to “Al the Chef” who wasted no time equipping me with a hair net, plastic gloves and instructions in how to run the food line. For the next couple of hours, Michael and I had the unforgettable honor of serving each one of the 100+ faces of Jesus a warm meal, accompanied by a heaping portion of love articulated through our huge grins.

It became clear that this would be the only meal of the day for many of our new friends. For that reason alone, this meal/place symbolized life. It wasn’t only the nourishment of the food, but the warmth and care that our friends desired. There weren’t many volunteers, but each one treated the homeless folks with dignity, love and mutual respect. As I witnessed these dynamics and served each meal with a smile, the humanity of each person was being realized. If even for only a short time, we were all equals without the dividing lines of society. Heaven was crashing into earth and the Kingdom of God was at hand.

Which leads me back to my friend Lyle...

Kingdom Inhabitants: Part 1

2010-02-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

This is a very insightful video that I had watched before, but that Nathan George reminded me of. Click here to watch.

This is "kinda" a follow up from Red Can post...

I recently listened to a great sermon on finances from Nathan George, founder of Trade as One. He began by asking how many of us had had a shower in the last week. He said that those of us who had are rich and that 4 of the 6 billion people on earth hadn't been so fortunate. I got up late for work yesterday and didn't get my DAILY shower. I felt gross all day and my hair was kinda sticking up like Alfalfa...

Last semester I took a class @ Fuller Seminary titled, Jesus and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. My professor, Daniel Kirk(who wrote this book)had us read PLENTY of commentary on the Synoptic Gospels(Matt., Mark, Luke)outside of class, but in his lectures he never picked one up. He read straight out of the Greek Bible and translated to us as naturally as I read the english versions. The humanity of Jesus came alive and the Kingdom He inaugurated took a hauntingly (maybe I'll explain why I use that word later) tangible form. So much of the WORDS and DEEDS of Jesus centered around His interaction and justice for the "least of these (Matt. 25)." Jesus' face was illumined in the face of the stranger, the hungry, the prisoner and the homeless. Yes, Jesus spent alot of time preaching this Kingdom to the wealthy and highly religious, but He embodied this Kingdom through His deeds and interactions with those who inhabited it...the poor(Luke 6).

I can live a life with multiple degrees of separation from these inhabitants of the Kingdom of God. I sleep in a warm bed with a heating blanket, they sleep under a tarp with a newspaper. I eat fresh produce, they eat my leftovers. My possessions rest in cabinets and closets, theirs rests on their backs. It's a strange tension...should I feel bad for having what I do. No, I think I should feel thankful, but in order to be fully thankful, I am finding I must have an understanding and heart for those who don't. Not just a "oh that sucks for them" kind of understanding, but a "how can I learn from your story and be part of its healing" understanding. As I mentioned in my "Red Can" post, I believe it is often my "blessings" in the form of material excess that sometimes keep me from full participation in the Kingdom of God(Matt.19:24)...

So by serving, learning from and hanging out with these Kingdom Inhabitants, does the Gospel Jesus came to proclaim through WORD and DEED come to life?

This is what Dr. Kirk challenged me to unpack and what leads me to my friend Lyle...

Relevant or Peculiar?

2010-02-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

Hmmm...This is an interesting article about a Super Bowl advertisement contest that a California mega church may win. I have really appreciated what the pastor of this church has said and written (I have carried his teaching Bible around for a day after he forgot it on stage @ a local festival, before hand delivering it), but I'm not sure what kind of faith we are working to represent in this one. Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

As Shaine Claiborne would say(and I paraphrase), "Jesus didn't call Christians to be relevant...He called them to be peculiar."

How I'm Related to The Man in Black

2010-01-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

I am planning on continuing my thoughts/story from the last post, but am throwing in a quick infomercial.

Yesterday I was assigned a developmental editor for my book. This is the person who steers the content of my work in the same direction. If my writing were a river, he makes sure it leads to one lake, not 14 different ones. His name is Dave Urbanski and is the Senior Developmental Editor @ Youth Specialties...now owned by Zondervan. He wrote The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash.

I think I might change my name to Sue. (Sorry, reference for Johnny fans only. Google it!)

The Red Can

2010-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of a scrooge when it comes to the Christmas season. I won't get into the specifics, but some of the central themes of Christmas in our culture give me more indigestion than cheer. Forgive me.

One of my primary indigestion inducing locations is the shopping mall. A couple months ago I was walking the aisles and taking it all in. The setting was quite beautiful, but the idea behind the setting wasn't. I just can't kick the thought of our frantic consumption resting on the shoulders and worn hands of the often oppressed woman and children who make the majority of the items being sold. It would be one thing if our consumption brought us peace and hope, but based on the focused faces, glazed eyes and speed walking, it didn't seem to. I find myself in that very same posture quite often.

As we strolled along, I heard something. It was a faint sound amid the Christmas music, crying babies and noise from the nearby food court. It was as if the sound was designed to shake each of us out of our product induced daze and consider something more. Something outside of our hurried shopping lists. It was the bell that we have all heard hundreds of times. Holding the bell was an older fella with a homely smile and Santa hat. Next to him was the familiar Red Can. His smile was contagious to anyone who chose to acknowledge. So is his cause. It is just that there is such a struggle to snap out of our "daze" when we are surrounded by so many things that are counter to this cause. At the same time, when we do embrace and participate in this Cause, we begin to see this same setting not with critical eyes (as I so often struggle), but with eyes of invitation to something better. It is often in the homely smile that we see the One who invites us to turn from systemic hopelessness to renewed justice.

Which leads to my next post...

Whispers

2010-01-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

-Signing away all of my rights...ahh hem, I mean my book contract-

Well, well, well...having three weeks off of work and school was incredible. Super needed for Janny and I. Here is a snapshot of some of the festivities:

-Mini Road Trip Vacation for 4 days
-Family Christmas Festivities...Really good time with fam. Also, VERY difficult in light of our recent loss.
-House sat at a BEAUTIFUL house in Santa Cruz mountains for a week, while I was able to work on my book manuscript
-Few days at home
-GREAT trip down to San Diego to connect with new friends that are part of Nieucommunities. We have taken the last 13 months to simply process the past, live in the present and listen for the future...this may have been a whisper of the future.
-Janny got a sweet job in the spa industry as an esthetician! With all of her experience, she had 3 different employers fighter over her. I'm very proud:)
-Seminary and work started back up
-I turned in my book manuscript!! Quite a vulnerable feeling, but a good one none the less. Now a group of editors/proofreaders/designers jump in and give me a lot of feedback that is going to be REALLY fun to hear I'm sure:) Release date = August, 2010.

Thoughts/reflections of experiences will have to come in a later post. Cheers to 2010!

Looking

2009-12-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

With deadlines creeping up and expectations increasing, I stare at my computer as I attempt to offer my limited wisdom and experience through the medium of writing. I am brought to my knees:

May your kingdom come, your will be done. May your dream unfold today and may I participate with you in bringing about that dream on earth as it is in heaven. As I sit in the cover of the massive redwoods that illuminate and hold your glory in and among me, may I rest. May I experience the Shalom of your restoration and may I live that Shalom today. As I serve my hurting friends a warm meal and see their smile, I see your face. As I breath in the crisp mountain air, I embody your renewal. As I listen...........silence..........stillness.......I hear your voice in Creation. Thank you for the reality of your presence.
It can be so obvious, but yet I feel so blind. So far away. I have no inspiration. No motivation. I listen, but am distracted. I am hopeful, but hurting. I am seeing, but not believing.

May my soul come alive and may my fingers tell the story.

Papers, Books and Companions

2009-12-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

A deep sigh of relief and accomplishment has taken me over after finishing my first semester of graduate school. Although overshadowed by the pain of losing our first child, it was an incredible time of learning, conversation and growth. It is a ton of work, but I love it. In fact, I have just decided to change my emphasis to Christian Ethics. Still a Master of Arts in Theology, but the ethics emphasis will focus on justice, poverty, creation care and peacemaking. It is an incredible feeling to study and participate in the issues I am most passionate.

Now that my last paper has been submitted until classes start up again in January, I will have time to put into re-reading/editing my manuscript of a book I have been working on for the past couple of years. Yes, I have FINALLY signed the contract and through Youth Specialties, Zondervan will be publish my book! It will actually come out (at least initially) as an ebook, which has all the same elements of a hard copy book(including a cover, art, etc...) but is 100% digital. Should be interesting to see how it all works out, but for now I have a 176 page manuscript to submit by Jan. 1. There goes any holiday downtime:)

Thanks again for all the love and support offered to Janny and I through this whole mess the past couple of months. We would love to forget the pain/grief, but know that it will be part of us forever. Although we still have bad days/hours, we often experience hope and peace.

Shalom Haverim(companions)

Baby H

2009-11-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Until about 4 weeks ago, I had never really experienced loss. My mom went through breast cancer, but is now stronger than ever. I was too young to really feel the pain of losing 3 of my 4 grandparents. I suppose I should be grateful for that.

You don't think anything is going to go wrong when you are in your 5th month of pregnancy. I was feeling more anxious about the delivery than Janny was, but neither of us were worried about not having the chance to at least meet our baby. By your 5th month, you are told that you are "in the clear" and by then everyone(and their mothers) know that you are pregnant. For some reason, our baby had a different story to tell. We are doing our best not to try to figure out what that story may be or why we are the ones to tell it, but we have experienced bits and pieces of it in the midst of the thick fog of grief.

- Janny and I got to experience the intense love of a parent for 5 incredible months. A love that we still have today and one that wasn't fully realized until the moment we found out that Baby H's heart had stopped beating. It was our child and we will always love it as its parents.
- This whole thing probably could have either driven Janny I apart or woven us closer together. It has done the latter and we are so grateful.
- We have realized more than ever, the love of our friends and family. Sometimes we find ourselves feeling guilty because we don't have the capacity to send out a thank you note or return phone calls, but we know that is not the expectation of those that have reached out to us anyway. Thanks SO much for simply being present with us through this mess. It is knowing that you are with us in the pain that offers the most support.
- We know that this sucks. It hurts. It is confusing. It makes us think we did something wrong. It makes trying again really scary. It makes us aware of how precious life is. Right now, we need to live in that pain to fully experience the grief and move forward to the hope. We aren't there yet, but we know it will come and that little Baby H wouldn't want us to miss a moment of living life in exactly the way God created us to live it

Not Quite a Master...But Definitely a Father!

2009-10-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

Oh man, it has been a LONG time since I have dabbled in the blogosphere. Not that I haven't wanted to keep this updated (although I honestly haven't had much desire), it is that most every waking hour I now have my nose in one of the books in the picture. It is a ton of work, but SWEET! First time in my life that I have been totally over my head in school work, but loving (almost!) every minute of it.

So, with the confusingly endless support of my wife, I am now working at my Master's full time at Fuller Theological Seminary. Between memorizing Hebrew, reading way more books than I will probably finish and some really good conversations, I am also working as a permanent, part time Adult Education Teacher. It is pretty much the best job I could have dreamed of for this stage of life. Very much engaging with students I am honored to know, while having almost ZERO discipline issues and leaving myself time most every afternoon to study/prepare for my evening and weekend classes at Fuller. More on that later...

What makes my wife's support even more confusingly endless is the fact that we are..........pregnant!! Yep, that is the big news. We have been passing the word slowly(forgive me if this is the first time you have heard this) as Janny just entered her 5th month. In fact, we went for a check up with our midwife last week and got to hear the heartbeat. I'm pretty sure my heartbeat about stopped when I heard that little one ticking along. So excited! We are looking forward to taking it along with us in the wild "life's" ride we have chosen. May not be a wealthy or "normal" life, but it is going to experience all kinds of cultures, ways of life and LOTS of love as we do our best to live out the Kingdom of God. I don't think it knows what it's in for. Of course, neither do we!

Loud Silence

2009-08-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

I went away for 24 hours a couple weeks ago with some close friends to spend an extended time in prayer, silence and fasting. Needed to do some listening. Good time. Actually, it was a great time. Something stuck out to me though, as we backpacked a few miles over pretty rough terrain to find a secluded place to camp for the night.

Before we started walking down the trail, we made the commitment to walk in silence in an effort to be fully present and open to simply exist in that time and place. It was awesome, but weird. Don't know if you have ever spent an hour walking within 5 feet of close friends without ever saying a word to each other. Strange. Then my mind kicks in. As I walk, I'm not distracted by stimulating conversation, so I am left with my own thoughts. Good, but distracting in and of themselves.

Instead of soaking in the sounds of the wind, birds and critters that envelop me in this surreal slice of God's Creation, what am I thinking about??! Yep, how freaking hot it is outside and that I should have carried a sheet instead of a huge sleeping back in my backpack. I continue by picturing how great it is going to be when we finally get to our destination, take off our shoes, sit in a lawn chair and have some conversation. It becomes all about "then" and nothing about "now."

Somehow in my mind's frantic dialog, I was able to stumble upon some redeeming insight while still out on the trail. How often do I live for the "ideal" or "dream" of the future and miss out of the dream of today? Does God only speak to me or use me in powerful ways when I finally get "there" or is he fully expecting me to be present and participate now? Man...I feel as though I have had this wrist slapping insight SO many times, but I keep coming back to it. A life lived to the full is not about waiting/preparing for the future. It is about being fully present in the now.

As I wrestled with this on the trail, I began to have the eyes to see the Life of Creation inhaling and exhaling through the wind blowing through the trees. Creation was alive, connected, moving forward and I was standing right in the middle of it, while being invited to be part of the action.

I write this on a Sunday night gearing up for another week teaching History at a continuation High School. Tough kids, with unreal stories. It is easy for me to already be dreaming of Friday afternoon when the bell rings. That is a sin. God, please allow me to soak in and live out your Dream when that bell rings tomorrow morning and every moment that follows.

Which Dream??

2009-08-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Janny and I getting awful "NASCAR" for the night up at Mt. Hermon

About a year ago Janny and I had some unsettling stuff going on in our souls. Hard to discern, but strong enough to know we needed to do some good 'ol fashion soul searchin'. Did I just use two slang apostrophe's in that sentence? Odd. Anywho, I am pretty sure the unsettlin' stuff was God's Dream knocking on our soul's imagination.

Now, we have not mastered living out God's Dream by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems that every time we do take some strides in that direction it doesn't look anything like the American Dream.

God's Dream is REALLY hard to explain. It doesn't seem to fit inside the 2 sentence allotment given at the beginning of a conversation. For example, my life in two sentences: "Married, with dog and living in a one bedroom house in Santa Cruz and not going to a church. Recently turned down full time employment, with benefits, to substitute teach, finish writing a book and go to a (REALLY) expensive grad school to study theology(VERY practical)." Not too "Dreamy" maybe? Even embarrassing to say at times??

If given a few more sentences I would say: "Janny and I have never felt more connected to each other, God and those around us than we have since we started listening/living towards God's Dream He has put on our souls. For us, living out that Dream hasn't allowed us to live the "practical/secure" lives that are so tempting, but has FREED us to live out the practical/secure vision of Jesus in our lives. We love sharing our home and conversation with close friends/neighbors, we were super blessed to have experienced life with our friends at Mt. Hermon this summer and we are completely open to participating in the Kingdom of God whatever that may look like. For now that involves teaching high school history for a few months before starting my Master's in Theology full time at Fuller Seminary, while considering initiating the gathering of the church on our patio for a meal, conversation and shared commitment. These are the things that make our heart beat really fast and in pursuing that, the bills have been paid. Apparently God takes care of His children, so it has been sweet since I stopped worrying so much about that. It's super scary, but super fun."

I am hoping this is a slice of God's Dream being played out in our lives...it sure feels like it is!!

Living out the unexpected

2009-08-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

I wasn't really interested in taking a job at Mount Hermon. Jan and I had just stepped away from institutional Christianity after leaving our Youth Pastor post and were fully enjoying living out the church in the everyday. A freedom and connection we have never experienced as a couple or in our connection with God. We were very grateful for our past experiences/relationships that were formed from our past church contexts, but quite content with living out a new reality. After a couple emails from respected friends who thought the Staff Pastor position at Mount Hermon would be a good fit, I dragged myself (more or less to appease my friends and my curiosity) into an interview that changed everything.

It was MUCH more a conversation than an interview, between myself and would-be boss Danny Wallen. After a couple hours of mutual sharing, there was very little doubt that I would be spending my summer in this role. With the role revolving around teaching and shepherding of the summer staff, I couldn't have imagined a better fit. Little did I know that the highlight would soon become the lifelong relationships that Janny and I have been able to establish.

We have been blown away by the transparency and shared stages of life that we have encountered. I can honestly say that it was one of the last places I would expect to come into connection with so many Jesus followers who were/are asking hard questions about what it looks like to live out the church. As is often the case, Janny and I feel as though the mutual sharing of our stories, between us as the rest of the staff, has done more "ministering" to us than we have "ministered" to them.

It is now coming to the end of summer and the farewells are bearing down on us, but it is with more anticipation at what God is doing than in reflection of what He has done. We are sad and excited to see one of our closest couple friends, Jesse and Katie Rice(check out his new book! http://www.amazon.com/Church-Facebook-Generation-Redefining-Community/dp/1434765342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249685122&sr=8-1) move up to Portland, but their VERY similar story to ours has been incredible to share in this summer.

I have alot more to write (mainly because I am so bad at updating this thing), but I will stop for now and put in some pics from the past few weeks of Huckins' festivity!

Our Family in Capitola

My Good Buddy Allen and I Conquered the Mighty Wharf to Wharf

Some of the Mount Hermon Staff at our Dirty Convicts game on the Boardwalk

Matrimony and Stuff

2009-07-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

I've never loved the wedding idea. I mean, I wasn't anti-wedding or anything, but never did I count down the days towards the next ceremony. As seems to be a common occurrence at this stage of our lives, Janny and I have been involved in a bunch of weddings this summer. In fact, I have even had the opportunity to officiate a friends' wedding this summer and am in the same role in another one in a couple weeks. With nuptials surrounding me like like the Redwoods I was sitting under on Monday, I can't help but feel a little love for the wedding.

Our wedding was sweet. Sweet like cool or killer or fun. Probably sweet like cotton candy too, but I don't really like cotton candy. It was a big ol' lunker of a party. Unfortunately there wasn't any tasty brews on tap(other than punch), but it was a good time. I remember standing at the front of the aisle waiting for my bride to come towards me. I'm not much of a crier(I'm trying to get better at that!), but I was sobbing my eyes out. At first reflection, I think it was because I was so overwhelmed with love for Janny(or just ALOT of sexual tension). The more I think about it, I believe I WAS overwhelmed with love for Janny...as I still am today. But I was also overwhelmed by the love and support of all the people that were there. We are in our fifth year for marriage now and I realize more than ever that those folks weren't just there to partner with us in our wedding ceremony. They were acknowledging their partnership with us in our marriage...in the everyday, for the rest of our days.

That's what a wedding is right? It is a celebration not of one day, but of all the dynamic days ahead. It makes the wedding celebration alot more sweet when approached with this mentality. I love partnering with my friends in their marriage like I have had the opportunity to do lately. It is the celebration of selflessness, oneness, friendship, etc...So, instead of getting bummed out about how much money we spend on weddings and how much time/energy goes into them, I am loving just jumping in and celebrating all that is going on. There is something sacred and I would be missing out if I wasn't aware of that.

Cheers!!

Fenway, Beaches and Redwoods

2009-06-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot going on in the past month or so. Much of it has been really great stuff that has involved quality community, new experiences/locations and just a little bit of chaos. With that said, I haven't had much motivation to write(blog) for some reason...Maybe so much to process I didn't know where to start.

In the past month I was able to go to a family reunion in Kentucky, celebrate my birthday with the fam, go to Janny's graduation in Connecticut, walk the streets of Boston, go down to the San Luis Obispo area to spend some time with my family and spend lots of time in contemplation under the cover of our Santa Cruz Redwoods. Here are a few pics:

In the midst of all the travel, I finished up my time teaching science at the local middle school and started in my Staff Pastor position at Mt. Hermon. The jobs overlapped for about a week, which was absolutely nutso, but both employers offered alot of grace. I am now about a month into my position at Mt. Hermon and both Janny and I are embracing/being embraced by some quality community. I will have some more coming on that soon.

For now, while this travel and different work contexts can be exhausting at times, I am finding that these dynamics/settings are some of the most real and rich for me to experience God. I am wired to see God most clearly when I am in the humble posture of a student, which is the posture that is required of me in travel and transition. I want to work through and live out that realization some more...hmmm.

What are you doing??

2009-05-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

More than any other time in my life, I get asked the question, "What are you doing these days." I don't blame anyone that asks that question, because in large part, I have intentionally fallen off the grid of most of my past involvements. I am no longer a youth pastor, Janny and I moved up to Santa Cruz, we don't "attend" a church, etc...With that being said, I thought I would offer a bit of a personal update for anyone who may be interested.

As you may know based on previous posts and/or personal conversations, I have been trying to move forward in a posture of humility and awareness of my God designed soul more than ever before. Hard to quantify what that may look like and their isn't much language to describe its details, but I think that's what I'm finding makes it so divine. I am beginning to discover what contexts burn the heck out of me and lead towards oppression/depression and am being open to ones that seem more in line with how/what I was created be.

I committed this Spring semester to be a living experiment. I have left the "known" for the "unknown" to some degree. After resigning from Harbor Chapel in January, I had opportunity to jump into other Youth Pastor positions that probably would have afforded me more security in terms of finances and reputation, but I knew that it was not the spot for me at this stage of my life. Instead, I committed the semester to being a substitute teacher and high school golf coach, while at the same time applying for local non-profit jobs in Santa Cruz that might fit my interests. My good friend and LONG time sub, Steve Boutry, offered the profound insight that "substitute teaching is like earning a Master's Degree in human nature." Well put. It is NOT glamorous, often inconsistent and when people ask what I'm doing it isn't rare to be looked at like I've gone off the deep end.

A couple months into teaching the different class everyday gig, I was offered a Long Term position teaching 7/8th grade science at a local Middle School until the end of the school year. Although science is by far my weakest subject, I figured for the sake of getting the most accurate data for my experiment, I had better take it(like my scientific language??). It has been terrible, awesome, overwhelming and incredibly insightful all at once. Not to my surprise, I enjoy the lunch break conversations with the kids that wander into my class WAY more than the discipline, grading and parent stuff that frequents most elements of the position. I also took on the Head Golf coach position at a local high school this spring. It was a great experience as a whole, other than the REALLY long days and endless driving. I built some solid relationships and we actually played much better than expected.

As this phase of the experiment comes to a close, I'm fairly certain it has served its purpose as giving me a realistic look at the life of a public school teacher. It is a great place to live out the church and invite others towards God's story through my life, but I'm not sure whether it is the context I'm going to commit to 100% at this point.

While somewhat hesitant at first, I am now very excited about my next "experiment." I was recently offered and have now accepted the position of Summer Staff Pastor at Mt. Hermon this summer. I had already committed to speak a couple weeks up there as I have done in recent years, but will now be on as a full time staff through the end of the summer months. I am a pastor to the staff and will be doing almost 100% the things I am most passionate about; teaching and shepherding/listening/counseling. While hesitant to get back into an "institutional" setting, I have found my responsibilities won't involve what has disenchanted me so much in the past. Of course, it will be a challenge at times, but I am hopeful it will be healing and that I will be an active participant in living out and inviting others towards a life lived in the Kingdom. We will see!

The Midas Touch

2009-04-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

I listen to alot of Giants games. That being said, I love this time of year when I can listen to a ballgame just about everyday if I am able. As I listen, I find myself often getting the catchy marketing slogans that are inserted between innings or a pitching change stuck in my head. Some are for Autozone, Speedy Oil Change and Tune-Up, Midas, etc...I was driving down Ocean St. here in Santa Cruz the other day and saw a sign in front of a Midas for an oil change for $19.95. Not a bad bargain and of course having heard the "Midas Touch" jingle a few times, I was inclined to check it out(don't I sound like a pawn of corporate marketing!). I went in about 9am this morning assuming it would be a quick one. No no no no...hour and half later I finally got out of there.

I am always intrigued by the magazines/newspapers sitting in these type waiting rooms. I started with the newspaper. One article caught my eye. It was discussing some recent U.S. religious statistics. This was the main point of the article and the stats: over the course of the average "religious" person's life in America, they change religions and/or denominations at an incredibly high rate. It specifically talked about the rate at which protestants "walked away" from their inherited religion. The main reason, their stats argued, was not due to science disproving the reality of God, but the judgmental/hypocritical examples they had seen and experienced within Christianity. And for a variety of other reasons, they had become disenchanted by this version of Christianity. Interesting article.

My oil change was over the 1 hour point by now and I continued to peruse the magazine options. Between a few on Brad and Jenn locking eye's on some red carpet, I saw a magazine with the bold headline, "How Jesus Can Save Your Career." I was hooked, so I picked it up and had a read. This article described a growing trend of church goers whose main goal in attending was learning how a faith in Jesus could bring about financial wealth and security in a time of economic downturn. I can understand these people's fear and I can also understand the desire to cure the fear by putting my faith in something bigger than myself. Here is the kicker...the article continues by telling of this "wealthy, Prius driving" demographic going to a church where the "rock star" pastor takes the stage holding a staff with a money symbol adorning the top. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the pastor said some great things and it sounds like he did reference some good resources, but to me the "money" conversation needs to be elevated to a higher level if we are to truly follow/model the teachings of our Savior, Jesus. Rather than preaching a model of strategic accumulation of money that leads to comfort and sustained excess in this time of economic downturn, shouldn't we more closely be looking at/living out Jesus teachings of giving away our possessions and self sacrifice for the good of others?

Maybe this disconnect between Jesus teachings and our "church" teachings has something to do with this disenchantment from those that have at some point aligned themselves with Christianity. If for no one else, I know this realization proves to be a challenge for me. Does my life preach strategic financial accumulation or obedient giving and self sacrifice? I have along way to go...

Blog Freeze

2009-04-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

So I have been running from an honest update on this blog for some time now. Reading the blog of my great friend Chip, has stirred me to action. Some use the "blog" as a platform to inform others of the latest life happenings, some use it as a public journal of personal thoughts/exploration, others may use it as a place to sound tough on issues they are passionate enough to write alot about, while often taking much less effort to turn the words into actions, etc...I probably have used it for all of those things. Further, most blogs I have read end with some kind of conclusion that gives the impression that the writer has mastered the issue(s) at hand and can come off a bit arrogant. I have probably done some of that too.

I am typically a "glass half full" kind of guy. Not lately. Things have been a tough go, while lacking many of the positive experiences and/or insights I mentioned above. Something I am realizing more and more everyday is that I am a product of a paradigm/culture that doesn't very well embrace the reality of simply "being" who we are without having some kind of positive spin to it. Especially those that find themselves in religious leadership positions. If I don't have some positive news, life experience or insight then why share it? Well, I am finding that this may be the most important time to share. I can often relate to the pain of real life in a much more profound way than I can relate to anothers' success. Not that I am saying we shouldn't celebrate and throw a party as a result of anothers success. We should. But I also want to be with others in the pain of the everyday in the same way that I need those closest to me to partner/share in mine.

These past few months have been full of relational tension, confusion, frustration/anger, hopelessness, passivity and depression. It is not necessarily the events of these past couple months that have led to this, but the illumination of past hurt that has surfaced. Not just ways that I have been wronged, but ways that I have wronged myself through unrealistic expectations. I feel as though I am going through a detox from this culture of "assumed/expected daily euphoria" that I had bought into and moving towards one of transparency, humility and service.

I have a pretty good idea what to blame for this extended time of introspection and revelation. Like never before, Janny and I have experienced a peace in our souls that affirms that we are uncovering and partnering in the Kingdom of God in a real way. It hasn't come in the form of going to a church service or speaking/sharing only the ways God has "worked" in our lives. It has been through an acknowledgment of the ways He is "working" and asking us to better identify with those that may not have it all together...like ourselves. I'm not saying this peace has made it all easy or at times even felt worth while. But I have to assume that if God wants us to invite others into His Kingdom that raises up the weak, poor, hurting, broken...we must be able to relate. I must get a more true understanding of who I am in light of this Way of love and share with others in the midst of chaos.

I'll save our latest life happenings(teaching, coaching, church, etc...) for the next blog. For now, I have thawed the Blog Freeze with some good old fashion honesty.

Has NOT forgotten about this blog!!

2009-03-31T22:06:00.001-07:00

Drawing Dragons

2009-03-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

After walking into the Kindergarten class Jan was working in the other day, I immediately realized I was not cut out for elementary school teaching assignments. Yesterday, I taught elementary all day long...
We are not exactly in a place to get picky about what jobs are available, so when I heard that there was no middle school or high school jobs available, I bit the ugly bullet and took the elementary job.
I was what is called a "rover" in the substitute teaching biz, which basically means I cover a bunch of different classes for about 45 minutes each throughout the day. I subbed for 9 different classes. Couldn't help but laugh at different contexts I found myself in over the course of the day. I covered a variety of classes from Kindergarten to 6th grade.

A couple of my favorites/most memorable were:

1. The little boy that wouldn't stop turning his Lego creation's into machine's guns and running around the room like Rambo no matter how many times I told him guns were bad.
2. The little kindergarten girl who believed with all of her being that it was her job to tell me how the "Real" teacher runs the classroom. Including who and how to discipline.
3. The sixth grade boy who during "Sustained Silent Reading" chose the profound tutorial called "Drawing Dragons." Yes, a step by step reading(with illustrations of course) on how to properly draw your everyday dragon.
4. The little guy who couldn't help but tell me why every color of his jelly fish, which he had just finished making out of a coffee filter and water color paints, had so much purple in it.
5. Finally, playing heads up 7-up, pictionary and musical chairs with my last class of the day which had only about 11 kids of whom all spoke only a few words of English.

Some cute kids...but I STILL am not cut out to teach elementary kids.

Eyes from a Bike

2009-03-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

sun is creeping in an out like and eel under its shelter. not hot, not cold there isn't a better time to go for a ride. grabbing my "man purse" and throwing it over my shoulder i jump on my bike. fishing pole in one hand, the other focused
on keeping me going in the right direction. the neighborhood is still, on this Saturday afternoon. a car pass in the same way that the wind passes through my short hair. breathing in long breaths acknowledging the Kavod of my Creator. stress
forgotten from the suffering that was selling our Honda and hope streaming in at the thought of time alone followed by a night of connection with those that are closest to me.
slowling cruising on my cruiser, it seems that everyone has been injected with the drug of relaxation and peace. front porches full of husband and wife, friendly conversation and quiet gazes at the sky. there is so much to see when i allow my life
to slow down for a few minutes. it is as though others are looking for opportunities to smile and show their kindness as everyone of my "hello's" was quickly returned with a wave or a "how you doing" accompanied by a gracious smirk.
riding down the jetty like a gymnast on a balance beam, endless sailboats to my left and afternoon strollers on the beach to my right. parking my bike above the jagged jetty rocks i traverse down to the waters edge and toss out my line with the hope of
catching dinner, but content to simply be in the setting i find myself apart of.
i feel my weight hit the bottom of the channel and i slowing work my jig back to my feet. occasionally a sail boat makes its way back into the safety of harbor, while fewer boats begin their voyage to sea. today, the sea is safe for the kayaker and the cruise ship as its surface looks like the glass table that my computer now rests on. no fish my first few casts, but i'm not disappointed. a mother and her duckling play in the water in front of me as they skim across the surface of the water on their hull shaped bellies. no doubt that the Creators plan is actively unfolding today. i walk my bike back up the jetty and chain it up against the "heavy waves" sign and step onto the beach to try my luck casting over the lightly rolling surf.
a tourist takes a picture of me standing with my rod in hand and line in the water...i give an awkward acknowledgment of her action. after a few casts with no luck i think i have hooked the monster...nope, it is apparently the largest clump of seaweed in the old seas' history. my line snaps. apparently i am done fishing for the day and i walk back to my bike with a care free feeling. awkwardly climbing up a few rocks, while avoiding a two early evening lovers chatting/flirting nearby i unlock my bike and head back up the jetty towards home.

Los Ninos

2009-02-19T07:49:00.001-08:00

So everyday for the past few weeks I have found myself teaching in the classroom for either middle school, high school or continuation school students. Of course, I am substitute teaching, so there is a very different mindset from the students when they walk into class and don't see their regular teacher around. I remember the feeling and the thoughts when I would turn the corner, look into class and see a sub standing their looking a like seal about to be thrown into a shark tank. We would eat them alive. Now I am the seal and it is a unique experience.

Janny and I are both doing this as more or less an experiment. We are both considering going back to get a teaching credential/master degree, but thought this would give us a good picture of what teaching might be like. I don't think it's that great a sample because of the seal/shark dynamic that exists, but it has allowed me to wrestle with the stories of these students. As I have mentioned in detail in previous posts, Jan and I are on a mission to use all of our energy towards BEING the church and avoiding the temptation to use our energy to "put on" church once or twice a week as we have often felt obligated to do. With that mentality, I can't help but think of the stories that lie behind everyone one of these insecure, hyper active and attention seeking teenagers. This is new territory for me and it puts me out of my comfort zone, which is leading/forcing me to some new insights that I had never wrestled with before.

Between earning the students attention, sending some to the participle's office, dodging paper airplanes and sometimes wanting to run out of the room screaming, I am trying to keep in mind their stories. As I have some conversation with them, I am blown away by what they have endured and are currently enduring. Majority with broken homes, many with learning disabilities that they are too fearful to acknowledge, constant verbal abuse and all with a hopeless yearning for popularity and acceptance. Although I often receive my 6am phone call assignment with a poor attitude, I know I am in a place to live out Jesus and be the Church in more ways that I often think I am capable. I'm on a mission, but it is a lot harder and not near as pretty as I had originally imagined.

quality fellas

2009-02-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

The past month or so has been a pretty tough one for me. While I have great peace about our recent decisions that have us living in Santa Cruz, teaching in the public school classroom everyday and working intentionally towards living out "the Church" to the community around us, I have been going through a rather brutal detox from past life/church/school rhythms. My tendency is to try to stifle or ignore my depressed thoughts, but I'm finding that a symptom of the very system I'm am trying to recover from. It is amazing the new, fresh, difficult, angering and very enlightening perspective I am gaining when I embrace the realities of my past and present through these eyes. Very important.

With that being said, this past weekend I had two of my best buddies in town for a few hours each. Between rich conversation with Ryan Mcrae on Saturday and my long time mentor Chip Johnson on Sunday, I came out very encouraged and hopeful. Not hopeful in a "well that was an insightful month of detox and now it's time to move on" kind of way. But a hope that is centered in embracing and growing in and through these uncomfortable and vocationally confused times. For me, it is in these times of wrestling through the good and bad with those that are closest to me, that the Kingdom of God is more visible and present than ever.

Thanks fellas...jonny

Changes in Scenery

2009-01-31T22:40:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been eventful to say the least. With about 1 week left of time in Europe, we got news that my Grams was really sick. She was in the hospital with double neomonia and a bad heart condition. When we heard this, we made a bunch of phone calls that turned into LONG conversations with airlines, insurance and ticket brokers. After a few days and a schedule that's new priority was "get home to grams," we stuck around the Frankfurt Airport to see if we could catch a flight. This is when it got ugly...but humorous. Over the course of 48 hours we were unsuccessful on 3 stand by flights and decided that we needed to save money and didn't want to stay too far from the airport. So what did we do?? Yes, we paid to simply sleep in our rental car in the parking garage of the Frankfurt Airport. It was about 12 degrees outside and after hanging a bunch of my clothes in the windows and waking up every 30 minutes to turn the heater on, we got arguably the worst night sleep in human history. See pics below...

The next morning we actually got the first flight back to San Francisco and after a short time back home in Santa Cruz, we packed up our car and headed down south to San Luis Obispo to see grams. By the time we got there, she had fought her way back to some better health, although still very weak and tired. It was great to get/give some hugs and kisses.

From there we were able to keep heading south down to North Hollywood and spend the night at my bro-in-law Jason's place. It was great to be with him, especially since he is leaving to move to Kansas City tomorrow. We soaked in our time together...

The next afternoon Janny and I drove up the mountain to Big Bear where I was speaking at a Junior High Winter Camp for the weekend. The weather was terrible on the way up(of course driving our Honda with no chains!), but once we got there, it ended up being a beautiful weekend. We were hooked up with a small cabin in the snow and had a great time connecting with students and counselors. Getting back in that context defintely sturred up some memories of all the years we had with our kids at Harbor Chapel. At the same time, watching all that the youth pastors did and were responsible for gave us great peace about our decision to step away from that role/context.

On the way back up north we stopped and gave grams some more love and now we are back in Santa Cruz trying to figure out what life will look like. We are both subbing and I will be coaching a local H.S. golf team starting in a couple weeks. Should be interesting!!

Computer Issues

2009-01-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

We have some fun pictures and stories to add, but haven't had the ability because our computer with all of our pics has decided to no longer charge and when it does it overheats. Quality machine. We will get it back soon and give an update. It has been an eventful week or so!

More Travel Pics

2009-01-17T06:03:00.000-08:00

Hello all!!

Since our last post we have been the island of Malta, Barcelona and then flew up to Germany where we rented a little car we call Hanz. Pretty funny seeing us drive around in the smallest car in history on the autobahn, with ice and snow all around us. We are now in the town of Heidelberg...Pretty amazing. We ran into a little hostel with a REALLY friendly owner names Martin. Fun talking to him about life, politics and a little about religion. He has a big group from Azuza Pacific coming next week to stay with him for 3 months. Random. Here are some pics.

Janny and I on a lunch boat ride on the Nile in Egypt.

Overlooking the Island of Malta. We were able to go to the shelter where Paul stayed after his shipwreck there.

Playing some cards with our new friends Dan and Monica

Trying to stay warm on a famous bridge in Heidelberg, Germany

Walk Through the Bible

2009-01-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

Wow...We haven't had any internet access for a week now and we are currently in a small cafe on the side street of the VERY chaotic Alexandria, Egypt. The past week has been full of unbelievable sites, experiences and conversations. We don't have much time, so we will give a picture tour rather than a written tour. We will write more later, but since our last post we have been to and experienced: Rome, Corinth and Athens(Greece), Ephasus(Turkey), Cairo and Alexandria(Egypt).

At Vatican City just after the Pope came out and held a Mass for the Three Kings holiday.

In Ancient Corinth where Paul spent alot of time. This is in front of the Temple of Apollos.

Standing on Mars Hill where Paul preached next to the Acropolis in Athens.

Standing on street in front of the ancient Library in Ephasus where Paul once walked.

Janny and I on a camel in Cairo overlooking the Pyramids and the Spinxs

Montserrat, Spain

2009-01-04T02:13:00.000-08:00

This will be a quick one as we are packing up a our backpacks and have to catch a train in a few minutes.

We are up in the mountains of Spain in a small town called Montserrat (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montserrat). It is known for its monastery that sits atop the cliffs overlooking the town. It is a small town of about two thousand people and we are staying in the one an only hostel in town. It is a beautiful place. Fog is thick and laying low in the mountains that surround us. There is a river that runs right through the middle of town and the poeple are very friendly. We just finished our breakfast of coffee, juice and crossant that comes with each night of staying here. Good stuff.

Our first night here, while searching for hot water for our cup of noodles we were eating for dinner, we ran into some new friends name David and Juan. They are brothers that were thilled to meet Californian´s. Through our language barrier, we used lots of hand motions and laughed for a couple hours. They want us to teach them how to surf and they made fun of our crappy Spanish skills.

Yesterday we took a cable car up the cliffs to the monastery. Jan was not a big fan of the bouncing, suspended and rusty tin can of a cable car! I wasn´t in love with it myself...It is a couple thousand feet high and it was freezing cold, but full of life and interesting history. There are 80 monks that live there. We brought up a bottle of wine and bread to have for lunch between audio tours that we went on. Incredible art and construction. For the most part, it all had to be rebuilt after WWII.

We still are having some trouble with jet lag...I was reading and writing at 3am. Not easy to wake up once I finally fell asleep.
After two nights up here we are going to catch a train back to Barcelona to continue the adventure. Hope you all are doing well!

Jon and Jan

Trip Update

2009-01-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well...we are officially traveling once again and we love it. After about 22 hours of flights and busses. We made it to Barcelona, Spain. It was beautiful. Tons of energy and lights in the city for the new year. Of course, we were pretty tired once we got here, so I think we slept through most of the action and woke up before it all got going again. Kinda nice actually.

We love the new perspectives we gain while traveling. We have already had 2 rich conversations that stick out to me. One was with our hostel manager named Fernando. He actually studied in Fresno of all places. Really nice fella, who was really accomodating.

Last night while drinking some REALLY good Sangria on Las Ramblas(barcelona´s most popular street), we invited a gentleman who was selling roses to sit with us. His name was Justice(in English) and was from Pakistan. The conversation started by me declining the option to buy his flowers and he politely asked, ¨Are you another mean American? Why is the world so mad at you?¨ That led to a long conversation on a variety of issues. He was a very humble and understanding man with a very different story than our own. Hard to imagine all he has been through. Ironic his name was Justice.

We are now up in the mountain town of Montserrat outside of Barcelona. Beautiful area, with lots of cool air, rivers and huge mountains.

Hope all are well!

Seeing the World

2008-12-28T23:33:00.000-08:00

Welp, today was my last official day of responsibilities at Harbor Chapel. It was a somber, sad, exciting and hopeful day all in one. Wierd. It will take weeks, no probably months, to process my transition out of this role that has been central to my life for the past 6 years(w/SVCC and Harbor). Janny has her last day at Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley tomorrow and then we have a few open weeks of no responsibilities or work! It will be an important time for us to slow down and process the past and prepare for the future. Especially in evaluating how our vocations are going to connect with our work/careers. Looks like a teaching credential/master's degree is leading the pack for me, while we are still very interested in starting or working at a local non-profit. We will see.

For now...We are going to continue to pursue what has been so formative to our perspectives and relational growth with each other...Traveling!! We found some ridiculous travel deals and will be leaving on Wednesday for Europe and the Middle East. I am really looking forward to stops in Ephesus, Corinth, Malta(where Paul was shipwrecked if I remember correctly) and Egypt. We are also going to spend a few days driving through Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

I will do my best to get some pics up of our travels as soon as I can. Hope all of your friend/family gatherings have been relationally rich and hopefully not to disruptive to the digestive system!

My Old Roomy

2008-12-23T00:40:00.000-08:00

My old roomy and one of my best buddies, Ryan Mcrae, just left tonight after hanging out with us this weekend. It was a GREAT time. I didn't think anyone could love our little, cripple dog Harry more than Jan and I...I may have been wrong. Our couch held two males this weekend. Ryan and....Harry. Inseparable.

Jan and I are at a crazy spot in our lives right now. Weird, exciting, scary and hopeful all at the same time. The things we have spent 90% of our time being part of are all now ending: My work at Harbor Chapel in one week, Jan's work at Bernardus Lodge in one week, and we both FINALLY got our Bachelor's degree's finished in the past month. Now we contemplate Master's, credentials, neither or both. For now, we just look forward to getting our barrings and soaking in/learning our new community here in Santa Cruz. We are excited to experiment in new ways of living out community, church, service, work and lots of fun! Of course, it seems they are all connected anyway.

With most of our responsibilities wrapping up in the next week and no commitments until my next speaking engagement in the end of January, we are going to do some more traveling! We have found that traveling is something we greatly value for a variety of reasons. Especially since we are still holding out on kids! We will keep you all filled in on what we end up doing.

A Night of Reflection

2008-12-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

Pic of Annual Broomball Trip

Last night was a night that Jan and I won't forget for the rest of our lives. As most of you know, we are stepping away from our role as Youth Pastor at Harbor Chapel as of Dec. 31. We have been part of that community for the past 4 years and last night they threw an incredible appreciation dinner for us. Not only did they serve one of my all time favorite meals, Lobster Bisque, but we were showered with some serious love.

It is easy for me to feel like I could have done a better job in my time at Harbor. Whether that means spending more time with students or leading in a different direction, etc...Last night, as student after student took the mic and shared memories of our time together, I was blown away by how much God has used what I often feel was so little. I rarely cry, not that I am proud of that, but since crying in my wedding ceremony(take that however you want!), I can only remember crying once. Last night, I couldn't keep it together. Jan and I were both a crying mess and at the end of night when we were handed the mic, I just about lost it. I squeaked out a few words that sounded like the voice of a 6th grader. Humbling, but very real.

As I reflect on it now, I realize that is exactly how it should have gone. Our time in this community was not marked by words...it was marked by action and relationships. No words needed.

Settling In

2008-11-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

I will get some pics on the way soon, but Jan, Harry(our little dog) and I have officially made the move to Santa Cruz. We have really been wrestling with where to put down roots and begin to be better at integrating all aspects of life towards God's present Kingdom. Through much prayer, social research and vision for our specific role in participating in God's mission, we have wound up here in S.C.

We have been searching for a LITTLE place for about 2 months now and it has been miserable. Lots of hope, followed by lots of disappointment. This last week we stumbled onto a little one bedroom house with a sweet patio in Seabright. It is right between Capitola and Downtown Santa Cruz.

I just went for a bike ride with Harry in the warm sun and could hear the sea lions as we are only about 6 blocks from the beach. We are feeling VERY blessed and hopeful at what is in store for us here.

We wrap up our time at Harbor Chapel this next month, which is a very emotional transition as we have 4 years of memories and relationships there, and set our eyes on being the church right here in our new community. What that is going to look like is still to be seen, but we are looking forward to experiencing everything along the way.

Hooked Up

2008-11-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

So lately I have been waking up in the mornings and looking at the ceiling which is only about 19 inches above my face. It is only 19 inches above my face because for the last year Jan and I have been living in a SMALL master bedroom of a home with 3 other people. Because the room is so small, I had to build a "loft" that is about 7 feet off the ground, so we could fit a couch underneath and have somewhere to sit. Anyway, it is easy to feel like we are lacking, poor or even get into the mentality of "things will be ok when we get this/that."

Back to waking up at looking at the ceiling. Lately as I lay in bed and prepare for my day I have been filled with gratitude. How many people wake up in a warm bed with a ceiling over their head? How many fewer people get out of their bed(or climb down a ladder in our case) and take a warm shower? How many people walk to their kitchen and CHOOSE what to have for breakfast? We are hooked up and I am very grateful. As my friend Mark Scandrette discussed recently, we are surrounded by a culture that embraces a mentality of scarcity or "we don't have enough." We are worried that we don't have this and we need to get that, rather than being grateful for what we already have been given.

Interesting that after God hooked up the Israelites with Manna that He told them to put some in a jar and keep it to look at so they wouldn't forget how well God had provided for them. I need to more often remember the Manna and not get so caught up with attaining the golden calf.

Quote of the Day

2008-10-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is a great prayer in any situation, but especially in light of the worlds current social and economic chaos:

O Lord, open my eyes that I may see the needs of others; open my ears that I may hear their cries; open my heart so that they need not be without succor; let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong, nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich ... And so open my eyes and my ears that I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.

- Alan Paton

Traveling in Old Cars

2008-10-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

So, I have been waiting to post this blog until I downloaded some pics from our recent road trip, but I never seem to have the camera and my computer in the same spot at the same time. Oh well...

If there is a problem that could happen to a car, it happens to our cars. Janny and I(thankfully!) have AAA roadside assistance and between the two of us we get 8 calls a year. Our policy is about 8 months into the year and we have used 7 of our 8 calls. Anyway, most of the issues are with my old beater truck(we we were sharing for environmental, financial reasons), so we thought we would buy an old beater car that would complement the truck. We now have a 19 year old Honda Accord. It got in an accident about 10 years ago, so it is missing the side paneling and the keys often get stuck in the ignition, but this baby is running like a champ!

A couple weeks ago Jan and I decided to go on a road trip to have a couple days by ourselves and then head down south to visit a bunch of family and friends. It was a great trip...We got to sit under a tree for a couple days and read, just the two of us. Then we got to see new babies, Grandma's, friends and other fam. Good stuff. We drove over a 1000 miles in our 19 year old friend...other than one dead battery, no issues...amazing.

2 days after we got home we had to drive out to Sacramento for a speaking opportunity I had at the National Youth Workers Convention for a few days. It also was a sweet trip and full of insightful perspective and conversation. And yes...the car drove like a stallion.

Cheers to 19 year old beaters!!

Life Transitions

2008-09-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Pic From Our High School Rafting Trip Last Month

I know quite a few you that read this blog are part of our community at Harbor Chapel, so in case you didn't get this letter that we sent out, I have included it here. This is a snapshot into our current thinking and future...

Dear Harbor Chapel Family,

A couple of months ago I was telling our students a story about Jan and I going up to San Francisco to watch a Giants game. Barry Zito was pitching and the fans were going nuts with every pitch. If he did well everyone would cheer. If he did badly, everyone would boo. There was great passion in each one of these fans (myself included!).

As I began to think more about that, I couldn’t help but think about how each one of us is called to participate in the mission of God. Looking at the beautiful, often confusing and extremely engaging story of God that is told through the Bible, it quickly becomes evident that each of us is part of the story whether we like it or not. What is amazing about God’s story is that it is told through the lives of His people. God doesn’t just write out long lectures or essays about how to live in connection with Him, He uses people all through history to show that looks like. There are over 1,000 first names in the Bible. God’s story is told through His people. Everyone is part of God’s story, but He wants more…He is inviting each one of us to be participants in His story. The story didn’t end with the last word in Revelation. It continues to be told through our lives today. God is inviting each one of us out of the bleachers and onto the field. We were not designed to simply read, watch or applaud God’s story of redemption and reconciliation, we are to jump right into the middle of it. That is where God can best use us to advance His Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”

More than ever before in our lives, Jan and I have been able to participate in God’s story through our time here at Harbor Chapel. As we quickly approach 4 years of being part of this community, we can’t help but reflect on all the ways we have been able to see, feel and experience the God of this Biblical story that is continuing to unfold today. We have seen, felt and experienced God through our relationships with each one of you. As most of us know, the church is not something we do. It is who we are. This is why we have loved to serve here at Harbor Chapel. It is not about “doing” church perfectly by playing all the right songs, or playing the best games, or having the best looking wall paper. It is about wrestling with life’s good and bad, sad and hopeful, confusing and assuring experiences that we run into everyday as a community of Jesus followers. We are not called to go to church, we are called to be the church and I have been able to see evidence of the people of Harbor Chapel “being” the church through encountering the reality of God in and through our people. Whether pounding nails with our students on the roof of a home in Mexico, seeing the huge grin of our men after catching a big trout at Hume Lake or encouraging a parent who is begging for advice on how in the world to raise their teenager, the face of God has continually been revealed to us in these years.

When Jan and I first started here at Harbor Chapel, we committed to the role of Youth Pastor for the next 3 years of our lives. This was a great decision. In fact, it was such a great decision that we were offered and accepted the opportunity to continue in this role for another year. That brings us to December 31 of this year. We were again honored with the opportunity to continue in this role for a few more years, but knew that we had a lot of praying, thinking and conversation ahead of us before we could make that decision. Our number one priority in this decision was evaluating how we can best participate in God’s mission for the world based on our God given heart and desires individually and ultimately on our partnership as husband and wife. After MUCH soul searching and vision casting for the future, we have decided not to renew our commitment as Youth Pastor. Although it was one of the hardest decisions of our young marriage, we both have great peace about this decision.

Since I was 19 years old, I have been employed full time as a youth minister. It is less of a job and much more of a lifestyle. While it has been great, as well as very difficult at times, it is a role that we need to step away from for a time. We see this as less of a resignation and more of a passing of the leadership baton. Jan and I may be leading the youth ministry, but more than that, we are two of the partners who have chosen to serve and love our students. Our youth staff is a dynamic and committed group of individuals who have taken on the responsibility of inviting our students into partnership with God in His mission through their being a daily example of Jesus. This youth ministry wasn’t designed to revolve around Jon and Jan, it was designed to revolve around Jesus and around a shared commitment to follow Jesus, while inviting our students to do the same. Our prayer is for that to continue and we are confident that it will.

Jan and I have been offered the opportunity to partner in starting a church and non-profit organization in inner city Oakland that would serve the poor and marginalized of that community. It would be in partnership with two couples whose friendships we greatly value. With that being said, we have decided to pass on that opportunity as well (at least for the immediate future) with our main priority being one that focuses on getting me through school. In January I will go back to school full time to finish my Master’s Degree. I will also work part time and continue to accept speaking engagements at youth camps and conferences. In addition, I am going to spend an extended time working on getting my recently written book published. All the while Jan is planning to work full time in her current role as an esthetician (Skin care for those of you that don’t know what that word means!! I didn’t!!). She has excelled in this career and become well known in her field throughout Monterey County. Jan loves to serve and care for people in this setting.

More than anything, Jan and I hope to model lives that are centered in the Way of Jesus. We hope to be the church with those around us and be willing to serve and love ALL of God’s people in new and creative ways. We are thrilled at this life vocation of following Jesus in ALL of life. Jan and I believe that this affects every aspect of our lives from how we treat others, to where we spend our money, to what we eat, to how we treat God’s creation. God wants everything and we hope to do our best to offer it to Him.

While we don’t know the exact physical location we will end up at this point, we know that Harbor Chapel is our family and it always will be. We are profoundly connected to this community and hope to continue to share and partner in life together with you even if we are not physically present very often. We look forward to sharing our stories and insights and hearing yours!

This is not an “ugly break-up” because of some in-house issue or disagreement. In fact, I consider Pastor Jim one of my closest friends and the board, specifically Doyle Fikes and Keith Barber, have been nothing but supportive through this whole process. We are very grateful that these relationships are so healthy, so we can spend these next few months in celebration of a great partnership and in preparation for the future of our student ministries. Jan and I are greatly looking forward to welcoming and partnering with the Youth Pastor God has in store for this AMAZING group of students!!

Your Family and Friends,

Jon and Jan Huckins

"O'Doyle Rules!"

2008-09-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

If anyone has seen the movie Billy Madison with Adam Sandler, they understand the title of this post. My time up at Mt. Hermon these past couple weeks was a great experience. Although at times very tiring (A few different sessions I was teaching with a fever and snot filled nose) and mentally/spiritually draining, it was a very fulfilling experience.

Back to the "O'Doyle Rules" quote from Billy Madison...In the movie the O'Doyle boys are the bullies of the local school who are about twice of the size of the other kids and whose faces are filled with zits. I tried to hang out with the students as much as possible in my time up there. One of the kids was the exact personification of an O'Doyle boy. All week long he would sock me in the shoulder or dig his chin into my back. At one poing when we were all playing water polo he nearly drown me...he was just screwing around and always had a smile on his face, but I was getting pretty annoyed. It was obvious he was a really insecure kid that was just extremely socially awkward.

The last day of the week that he was up there, I saw him in tears sitting on a bench with his counselor. I was later able to hook up with his couselor and hear a bit more of his story. It was a pretty tough one, but he was now sharing it people that cared. The "meat head/bully" front he was putting on was being broken down.

Although I often have different philosophical thoughts and opinions in regards to summer camps, I couldn't help but acknowledge some of the ways God was made evident in my time up there. The counselors modeled service and humility like I had rarely seen in my life. I was the "speaker" who was supposed to have it all together, but in alot of ways I feel that God did most of the speaking to me.

Coffee, Junior Highers and Parking

2008-08-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

I will soon be in my third local coffee shop of the morning.

This next week I have the opportunity to participate in one my favorite and most fulfilling aspects of my "job." I will be once again speaking at a week long Junior High camp up at Mount Hermon. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I am a bit disenchanted by most traditional summer camp structures, but my partnership with Mt. Hermon over the years has brought about great hope and encouragement. I really appreciate their understanding of the Gospel and the importance they put on sharing a faith that is more about a daily decision to be an active participate in the Mission of God and less about a one time, decision that can often be lacking authenticity(often because of the setting we create around that decision time).

Anyway, this is the point in my preparation where I have a million ideas, but very little idea of how they are going to all fit together. On top of that, my parking limit runs out every two hours, hence my coming arrival at my third coffee shop. I think I will stick with a water and lemon at the next one...

Unclefest 08

2008-08-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

I knew I was excited to be an Uncle for the first time, but this whole deal has been way more incredible that I imagined. My little niece Maddie was born last Wednesday. I complain that the 26 hour wait in the hospital was brutal, but I guess it was worse for Heather...

Endless waiting with papa Tom...His birthing equipment on his head...

Pregame encouragement kiss from bro to sis...

Aunt Janny soaking it in...

Uncle Jon spearing little Maddie with his mean beard...

Confused Vocation

2008-07-21T10:49:00.001-07:00

Interesting how there are times/experiences that really suck the life out of you. This past week has been one of those times. It has been a week full of confrontation, REALLY difficult conversations and at times I just felt like I was getting emotionally/spiritually beat up. I haven't yet been able to articulate why these events have happened. Maybe I will never know. There are plenty of worse instances that could have come my way, but I can't help but wonder if they are simply "bound" to happen, or if I have found myself in a spot that I can't win? Hmmm...

This is an insightful quote that I recently read from Parker Palmer in his book Let Your Life Speak. It is a book that wrestles with the idea of vocation. Not just a career, but truly examining the life vocation that God instilled in each one of us from the day we were created. Here is the quote, "As often happens on the spiritual journey, we have arrived at the heart of a paradox: each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up. All we need to do is stop pounding on the door that just closed, turn around - which puts the door behind us - and welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to our souls. The door that closed kept us from entering a room, but what now lies before us is the rest of reality."

Somehow is the midst of all this crap, I have to be grateful. It is these times that force me to a level of introspection and contemplation that I often overlook. I also find great support and encouragement from those that I am closest with. For now, I pray for discernment in this life of vocation that God has called me to stumble down.

Jesus for President

2008-07-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the opportunity to go up to San Francisco with some friends to check out the Jesus for President tour that Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw are leading. Having read most of the book and hearing Shane speak at different venues numerous times, I was pretty stoked to check it out. After a late start and lots of traffic, we walked into San Francisco's Grace Cathedral about 40 minutes late, but we definitely were not too late.

Their sharing, based on their recently published book Jesus for President: A Book to Provoke the Christian Political Imagination, was a type of hopeful protest. I would argue it was prophetic in many of the same ways that the ancient Biblical prophets mourned, cried and offered hope to the empires of the day that were blinding people from the love of God and the coming life of Jesus. They painted clear and powerful pictures of what a revolutionary Jesus truly was within the context of the Roman Empire and discussed His role in bringing about a Kingdom that was much greater than the ruling Roman Empire...one that was not greater because of its brute force, military strength, material possession or social status, but one that would turn the other cheek, serve the poor and oppressed and set their swords down for acts of love and kindness.

After a 4th of July weekend that was filled with patriotism directed towards the greatness of one country, I have been wrestling with Christians (myself included) beings so willing to pledge their allegiance to ideals and actions that are often so blatantly counter to Jesus teachings and way of life. Didn't Jesus come to save the WHOLE world? If that is the case, shouldn't we be singing "God bless the WORLD," not just "God bless America?" I believe it is bordering on idolatry and I don't want to subconsciously grow numb to where I put my hope. Do I put my hope in America to change the world? Or do I more appropriately put my hope in Jesus and His people to change the world? Jesus did say something about serving two masters didn't He?

All that to say, it's not that I'm anti America, it's that I'm anti a nationalism that blurs and distorts my commitment to Jesus and my pursuit to live in His ways. There are alot of great things about this land we live in and I am grateful. At the same time, I am not willing to fall into a way of thinking or acting that reflects more of my nationalism that my Christianity.

Good Quote from Shane: "The Kingdom question for us is not how are we going to vote on November 4th, it is how are we going to live on Nov. 3rd and Nov. 5th? Voting is something to we do every day with our lives...who are we pledging allegiance to every single day?"

This is a good clip to check out on the topic: http://youtube.com/watch?v=SfLdVazh33E

Bridge of Hope

2008-06-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a while...Things have been a bit hectic and in fact I am on a 5 day trip with our High School students right now. I hope this isn't a sign of some unhealthy and chaotic rhythm's creeping back into my life. Need to keep that in check...

So, this trip we are on right now... I have had this burning passion/vision for a "summer camp" without many of the usual "campy" characteristics. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great things that happen at camp and many authentic people that run them, I just have a hard time with a week that is often set up to climax on the "alter call night." It is almost as though it is one big show/entertainment with the hopes of logging a few more conversions to a post camp email update. I hope that doesn't sound as sarcastic I it looks. There is often preaching about repenting from a lifestyle that doesn't honor God or His Creation, while being fed sloppy joe's and corn syrup "drink." It can just feel disconnected.

This week Larry and I have done our best to set up an experience that takes into account ALL of life as an act of worship and repentance. This includes everything from what we are eating(lots of raw and local food), to how we entertain, to how we serve, to how we interact with each other, to how we view ourselves, all with the hopes of pointing us/connecting us to the God who beautifully put this composition together.

We obviously don't have all this figured out, but there was an encouraging experience that gave some affirmation that we may be on the right track.

One of the first days of this experience, we participated in the Bridge of Hope. It is an organization that works through a nursing home that is designed for the elderly and the disabled. Primarily the mentally disabled. It is a beautiful place, with incredibly beautiful people that we had the opportunity to hang out with for a while.

As I sat and had a long conversation with a sweet lady named Sharon who had recently gone through back surgery, while at the same time undergoing dialysis, I experienced a moment that felt as though heaven was crashing into earth. I soaked in her story, from family history to spiritual beliefs and looked around at our students interacting and fully participating in these precious people's lives right along side of me. At first the students were a bit scared and overwhelmed, but they tentatively began to ask names, shake hands and even give hugs. The people who lived in this home are a forgotten people. Many of them had families, but most of the families had abandoned them once they became disabled. This is a place where I could imagine Jesus would have chosen to hang out...

As I soaked in the scene I was on the edge of tears. When we serve these people, we are serving Jesus(Matt. 25:40). These students got to see Jesus first hand and I would have to imagine that these down and out folks were able to see Jesus right back through the smiles and hugs of these students.

Anyway, I am greatly encouraged to see where this "experiment" in a new way of living is headed. I am humbled and hopeful to be part of it.

Post Hibernation

2008-05-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

There is a long standing joke between me and my good buddy Chip Johnson. We both love sunshine, shorts, sandals and long summer days. Every spring around day light savings we say that "it is finally time to come out of hibernation." It is like the whole winter we are just hunkered down, much like my little dog harry in front of the fireplace, waiting for life to once again begin. It is like a hypothetical re-birth if you will...I will(As my sis Wendy would add). That being said, hibernation is over and it is time for sunshine, shorts, sandals and long summer days.

Apparently, this "re-birth" phenomenon is passing through the systems of my family and friends like a dried apricot. It seems that as soon there was word of sunshine and summer everyone decided to have a kid, get married or graduate from something. In the next month or so Jan and I will be attending or participating in a few weddings, what seems to be about 97 graduations and will be called Aunt Jan and Uncle Jon in the garbled baby language of our soon to be niece Maddie(hope I spelled that right).

All that to say, this may be a busy, but a very hopeful time. Lots of "re-birth" and quite literal birth. Along with our share of awkward conversations with random acquaintances, I'm sure there will be some rich sharing of life and stories of the past and future. Lots of hopeful smiles and new friendships. Soon, birth and re-birth may have a whole new meaning to me.

Cheers to the Post Hibernation Season!!

Living in the Tension

2008-05-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

It was just about 11 days ago that I was standing on the deck of our ship leaving Croatia with a gentleman named Charles having a friendly conversation. He worked on the ship as a bartender and was able to cut out of work for a few minutes to come see the beautiful Islands we were in the process of sailing by. Jan took off to get ready for dinner and I turned and asked him if he had ever been to this part of the world before. He looked back at me with a huge grin and said that he hadn't and mentioned that his home was in India. I was immediately intrigued, as I know very little about the country, other than any media bias I have picked up from the news. I asked him a bunch of questions ranging from his family life in India to the working conditions he was living under on the ship. He shared with me that his mother worked in Iraq as a maid to support his family while he was growing up. She only was able to come home every 2 years, so he was forced to raise himself and take care of his alcoholic father. I was touched by his story, while being fascinated that all throughout his retelling he had a very joyful expression, full of peace and gratitude. It was as though he was able to experience moments like these sailing through the islands of Croatia with a perspective that was far richer than most because of what he had seen in his life.

Further along in our conversation, he asked me what I did for a job. I told him that I am pastor and he immediately told me that he was also a Christian. Because of my limited knowledge of India and its culture, I was surprised to hear this. He went on to explain that there are a lot of Christians in his country as a result of Portuguese missionaries that populated their land long ago. This led to further conversation about India's history and led all the way up to the powerful, non-violent influence of Ghandi and his legacy there. That was nearly the only name and story that I recognized in our discussion. I was humbled and even a bit embarrassed by the limited international history that I had to offer. Even though he knew the detailed history of India, a substantial amount about English, Russian and American history, he was gracious with my ignorance. I asked him how he knew so much about so many countries and he simply said he was taught most of it in school and his country held international history as a core value.

I'm not here to slam our American educational system, but I do question our(my) willingness to objectively hear the detailed story of the counties that co-inhabit the earth. We live in a culture that breeds the "us VS them" mentality and it creates a toxic disconnect with people that God has called each of us to love.

In my travels these past few months, I have been surrounded and blessed by conversations much like that of the one I had with my Indian friend Charles off the coast of Croatia. I am so grateful for these friends that have humbly and willingly taught me a perspective that is much more rich and whole than I previously held. I hope that I have also been used in some way to help shape the perspective of those I have come in contact with.

To say the least, this has been a fertile learning experience saturated with the presence of God in all these places and people. That being said, I now step back into "reality" at home and am faced with the task of re-entering a culture and context that can tend to be one sided and blind to the issues of the world. I am having a hard time. I hope to be a critical, yet hopeful voice, without being a cynical one. This is the beautiful tension in which I(we) must live. I am FAR from having all the answers and these "revelations" aren't new to me as I feel that I have been wrestling with them for years, but I now feel more passionate about bringing them to light and into reality today.

Conversation VS Debate

2008-04-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

Jan and I went for the Titanic shot...We had a good laugh...

This is a journal that I wrote of an thought provoking experience I had while sailing across the Atlantic a few weeks ago. Thought it fit with the last story about "Speaker's Corner."

Ironic that my title is one of debate, when I am prepared to make a point against it. Just a reason for further conversation I suppose.

As I sit trying to work on my book proposal that I need to finish sooner than later, I am consumed by a conversation that is transpiring right behind me.

My wife is constantly catching me tuning into the conversations of those around us when we are at a meal or sitting in a public setting. There is some inherited curiosity that I simply can’t resist from time to time. I don’t like to think of myself as a nosy person who has to be part of everyone’s “business,” but I guess I figure if one is to talk loud enough in a public setting that I can hear them they are giving me the go ahead to listen in. Anyway, not an attribute that I am proud of…

I am sitting in a lounge of a cruise looking at one of the most breath taking views I could ask for. I am in a chair that looks right over the bow of the ship and all I can see if a vast expanse of dark blue water, a multi colored late afternoon sky and lightly dusted clouds. Incredible.

There are two older folks sitting behind me with the apparent intention of playing some from of bridge or cribbage. One is about a 55 year old male and the other a 70ish female. It is evident through their conversation that they are not in a relationship, but recent acquaintances.

There conversation begins to take an interesting turn when I hear the guy describe his role of being a teacher of Christian Apologetics. In fact, I can honestly say, until I heard those words I wasn’t listening to a thing they were saying. From this point on in their conversation, it becomes very one sided.

It is obvious that they have different believes on science, history, evolution, etc…The gentleman begins about a 30 minute rant about his accurate “Christian” understandings of the world and the inaccurate belief systems of the rest of the world. His arguments are almost delivered in a sarcastic and condescending way. It was obvious that he had this “talk” prepared as he went from one point to the next. As can be imagined he was overpowering her with his canned intellect and left her with very little to say or argue back. It was as though her posture went from an interested participant to a defensive and discouraged opponent. As the conversation continued my heart began to break.

The gentleman’s arguments where very convincing and he even was using scripture from time to time to make a point. At one point he paraphrased the passage in I Peter 3, that says Christians should be prepared to have an answer for everything. It is very apparent that he has spent a lot of time doing his best have ALL the answers.

I am a proponent of sharing my faith with others through conversation. A mutual dialog that isn’t centered on intellect or convincing argument, but rather on the sharing of stories and experiences that form our view and/or relationship with Jesus. I’m not saying this is the ONLY way to share with others, but forcing data onto a confused or unwanting person doesn’t seem to be what Jesus meant when He told us told us to share the Good News.

What really discouraged me was finding out that this woman who was taking this “Apologetics data beating” was a women that my wife and I had had some great interactions with earlier in the week. In fact we were planning on sharing a meal together with her and her husband later in the week. Hearing this “conversation” she was having, I can’t help but imagine that she will be more closed off than ever from the transformational and highly relational message of Jesus.

Hopefully I am wrong, but can’t help but vent some frustration towards “my own” in our willingness to self righteously offer data rather than simply share a life lived with Jesus through healthy and very mutual conversation. Maybe we can learn from this and begin to love people towards the Kingdom in new and creative ways in a hopeful/inviting posture rather than one of intellectual defense.

Speaker's Corner

2008-04-20T16:22:00.001-07:00

So Jan and I are staying in London right now with some friends. We are a bit worn out from all the cold and rain, but it is a beautiful city and today actually got a little bit of sun. The sights and history are incredible, but there was one spot that really caught my attention.

There is a park in the middle of town that has one area designated as the "Speaker's Corner." When we first drove by it(in our huge and cheesy open air tourist bus...) I thought it was an area for politicians to come and give their sh peel on their proposed policy. After all, there is an election coming up here on May 1st. Anyway, after driving by I found out that it was a place where ANYONE was welcome to come, stand on a ladder or box of some kind and just let loose. They could talk about any topic to anyone who was willing to listen. This intrigued me...

We continued to tour the city, but intentionally came back to this Speaker's Corner to hear what it was all about. There we hundreds of people all crowded around various speakers who were getting fired up on issues of war, religion and philosophy. It was quite interesting to note that the overwhelming majority of the discussions were that of Muslim VS Christianity. There would be a Muslim on one ladder going to town and a Christian a few yards away going to town. For the most part, there was plenty of space offered in the middle of the speeches for public dialog. Someone in the crowd would shout out a disagreement with the speaker and then they would begin to discuss their disagreement in front of the masses. Others would join in and the discussion continued...

Occasionally there would be a more heated dialog that would take place that was a bit out of control and led to strong words, but in general this was very rare. On one hand it was very saddening to realize how many areas we can figure out to disagree with each other and allow that to lead to relational disconnect. On the other it was really encouraging to see a group of people not only culturally "allowed" to speak in such raw ways, but willing to discuss and process in such a raw way. I would have to imagine when Jesus was a kid speaking in the "temple courts" it has to be with some kind of open dialog much like this. How far we have come from this healthy dialog in most of our cultures!

Anyway, as I stood intrigued by one of the speakers who was doing his best to disprove the existence of the Divine Trinity, a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what I believed. I began to share with him of my love for Jesus and my resolve to do my best to live out His ways on a day to day basis. I also mentioned that I didn't necessarily relate with many of the "Christians" who have chosen to preach a message far from what I see as Jesus teachings and have to some degree given us a really bad name. I asked him of his believes and he mentioned that he was a Muslim. He had a sweet beard, much more impressive than mine...

We began about a half hour conversation on the teachings of Jesus, the letters of Paul in the New Testement, the Mosaic Law, I even got to share a little bit on one of my favorite Hebrew words "Echad" in relation to the divine Oneness of Jesus and God...He was a very humble man, with many great things to say and during our discussion quite a few people came and went to listen in. Much of what he had to say had to deal with Pauline writing being inaccurate to the teachings of Jesus. He mentioned that if it weren't for the books that Paul wrote, Christianity and Islam would be very similar. Much had to do with Paul's interpretation of Grace apart from the Law. We shared back and forth and as we were talking I came to realize that we could learn alot from each other, but trying to convince each other was not going to get us anywhere. I explained to him that our conversation was great, but a debate was not what we needed. We shared what we believed and what we were most passionate about and respectfully listened. After acknowledging our mutual respect for each other we shook hands, thanked each other for the conversation and went on our ways. It was beautiful. A small piece of heaven on earth in my perspective. Maybe if we create more contexts like this, there would be more communication and understanding and less hatred and violence...

Picture: This is a picture Jan apparently took during our conversation

On the Road That Leads to the Next Country and To Fresh Perspective

2008-04-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

In traveling with my wife Jan for the past 3 months, I have been able to read some insightful books, have some profound conversations (with people from all over the world) and experience some life altering events. I hope this can be a place where I am able to process a few things and have some conversation/dialog with others that may be willing to wrestle with some of the same realities that I find myself in. That being said, I am a bit of a skeptical "blogger" as I have seen many that seem to be nothing more than a cyber platform for self approval... please keep me accountable to avoid that.

This is the first time I have ever, not only been oversees, but been removed from work, school, buddies, family, etc...for an extended amount of time. It has been quite an adjustment, but very insightful at the same time. To wake up in the morning and know that all that is required of me is to love my wife and check out the world is an incredibly freeing feeling. A mindset that has been FAR from reality in our first few years of marriage. Although I must admit that I have been very unhealthy in my inability to embrace this mentality and it has taken much accountability from Jan to allow me to begin to release the anxiety, stress and speed of the life that I was living. Now, having been in that mindset for a few months, it is not hard to identify some of the toxic patterns and rhythms that I have been living in back at home. At the same time, I don't intend on returning home (I can't help but think of the good intentioned first year college student who comes home for the summer and is ready to change the world, but has no idea where to start) and turning everyone's TV's into flower boxes, while chanting "hand me a hammer, because I have all of life nailed!" Interesting tension to live in...one that knows change is needed, but also knows that change must come about out of a spirit of humility, a sensitivity to the well being of others and to that of the Spirit. In fact, it is a tension that reminds me of the prophet Jeremiah who was so aware of the changes that needed to be made by the people of Israel, but was forced to get exceedingly creative in how to articulate that message to the people. A book that I recently finished called Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggeman gives some great commentary on that tension...worth the time of another post at some point.

Over the past 3 months I have had extended conversations with a WIDE variety of folks. We lived next to a 54 year old Canadian gentleman for a month in Costa Rica and we would play cribbage most every morning and evening. We would share a good laugh, talk American politics(not an area I am too well versed), process the death of his wife just 3 years earlier and even got to teach him to surf. I connected with a guy on our cruise ship who was in his late 20's and had just been kidnapped(and now released) in Brazil a few months ago while shooting a documentary. He was now traveling with his girlfriend with a whole new perspective on life, which led to some great conversation and shared experience. Jan and I shared a train cabin with an elderly Italian couple and two young Italian men. We heard their perspectives on "the U.S." Presidential campaigns(which everyone follows closely in Europe because we tend to have a HUGE impact on global conflict), learned a few Italian words and Jan even gave the older woman a back and neck massage because she was in terrible pain...it was beautiful! That led to an extended conversation with a Colonel in the U.S. Army who is stationed in Stockholm, who offered a very objective look at the foreign perception of the U.S. and their military endeavors. And the list goes on and on and on...

I am really grateful for these people, experiences and conversations. I suppose it is now my responsibility to wade through so much of what I have taken in and begin to discern how that may affect so much of what I have viewed as "normal" back home. Again, my greatest challenge is to move forward out of a spirit of humility, love for those around me and a sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit...We will see how it goes!

Picture: My buddy Brian and me in Costa Rica and Jan and I at the Colosseum in Rome