Tag: desert

  • The desert & cultural exegesis

    Later this afternoon I’ll join 70 high school students and 20 other adults for the Encounter Men’s Retreat.

    This is my second year doing the retreat so this year I have a better idea of what to expect.

    • Intense, respectful content that asks young men to lean into practical realities of walking with Jesus.
    • A large scale, rustic communal experience. No running water, no bathrooms, no cell service, no tents.
    • Moving and setting up a completely self-contained 3 day retreat– built with lots of muscle power and big boy toys.
    • Massive, burning man-style bonfires. (Last year U.S. Border Patrol stopped by– big.)
    • Guns, lots of them. (Used in a very safe, secure, proper way)
    • Explosions, lots of them. Fireworks, explosives, and pretty much anything else that will blow up.
    • Seemingly unlimited paintball, bouldering, and combinations of bouldering & paintball.
    • Lots and lots of meat, potatoes, etc. No crepes or powdered sugar or quiche. 
    • An extremely memorable weekend for all the guys who go.

    No doubt there are parts of that list which absolutely resonate with you and other parts that make your skin crawl. Trust me, I’m totally with you.

    If you know me very well at all you know my convictions on gun control. I’m not just a little anti-gun, I actually think it’s morally wrong for Christians to have guns for self-protection. So the idea of taking a bunch of guys to the desert and shooting off a bunch of ammo is really, really hard for me to swallow.

    Cultural Exegesis

    So, why do I go? If I’m not a big fan of putting a 12 gauge in the hands of 14 year old… why not just bow out? Why support and give 3 days of your life to something that might feel wonky? 

    Because the men’s desert trip works. It’s an example of looking at the culture you are called to reach, reading it properly, and connecting the dots between something that happens in culture and impacting people’s lives.

    And while it I’m not comfortable with parts of it I’m fully aware of these three facts.

    1. East County San Diego dudes go to the desert, blow stuff up, shoot guns, and eat meat. It’s something east county people do for fun. 
    2. God does significant things in people’s lives in the desert. Do a word study on that… there’s a correlation in the Bible between time in the desert and movements of God. 
    3. Reaching young men for Christ is sacred. My opinion, comfort level, and personal preferences are not sacred. 
    What are things that you’re doing at the intersection of your culture & ministering to adolescents? 

  • Desert Man Trip

    I’ve been around a few types of “manly men” in my lifetime.

    1. Dude’s who hang out at country clubs, play sophisticated sports, and have sophisticated tastes.
    2. Dude’s who smoke big cigars, enjoy fine beverages, and gamble big bucks. (Either gambling or on business deals)
    3. Dude’s who shot guns, kill things, and could live for months self-sustained from things in their garage.
    Not a good place to sit

    I wouldn’t consider myself firmly in any of those camps. And I’d hardly consider myself a manly man. I’m more of a floater man who likes all of those things but never enough to go all in.

    This past weekend I spent 3 days with group #3 while serving at the Encounter mens retreat. All told there were 57 young and fully grown men in the desert for 3 days of playing hard, eating good, and playing with fire. (Bonfires, flame-throwers, explosions, shooting range, paintball, and more explosions.)

    As we were packing up I told Brian… “This is clearly the most red neck thing I’ve ever done.” I’m a city slicker whose idea of country boy is a bike rack on his car. I’m not really a big fan of guns– much less teaching young men how to shoot them. There was lots of irony in that I spent the last three years in an urban high school ministry trying to show young men that loving Jesus meant putting guns down (gangs) and now we were going to do just the opposite.

    I had convinced myself to come into the weekend with an open mind. I have huge respect for Brian- a top 5 nominee for the brightest youth ministry veteran I’ve ever rubbed shoulders with. On top of that Encounter is a ministry to high school students in East County of San Diego. (For those not familiar with San Diego, anything east of La Mesa is referred to as “East County.” East County San Diego bears more reflection on ranching than it does big city. If we go 10 miles from our house you quickly get into horse, cactus, and big pick-up truck people.)

    This kind of trip made me nervous from a city slicker perspective but was completely culturally relevant to the young men Encounter ministers to.

    To the desert

    Getting stuck on the way in

    We drove out to Ocotillo and quickly got off paved roads and into the back country. (Map) Just getting back to the canyon was an adventure. We got there about 30 minutes before it got dark and quickly established camp. You can’t even call this area a campsite as it was completely undeveloped. (No electricity, no cell services, no water, no toilets… just a cool canyon in the desert.)

    It’s all about the content

    In reality, while this trip is über manly man it really is a youth group retreat about calling these young men to follow Christ. Our culture does it’s best to emasculate young men and treat them like boys. This was a wake up call for them that becoming a man is up to them. We are ready to look at them as men… maybe the first time they were told that?

    The content for the weekend was wrapped up around this central thought: You are dangerous and you can use that danger for good or evil. Topically, we reenforced that with lessons (and sweet object lessons!) about danger, their mouth, sexual purity, their choices, and perspective. It was a great chance for them to wrestle with the reality of their personal decisions.

    It’s all about being hands on

    Where is Starbucks?
    Where is Starbucks?

    We live in a world where we are in community only when we choose to be in community. Moreover, we can walk away from anything that makes us uncomfortable. While that is safe and lawsuit conscious it is leading to the neurosis of a generation.

    God never intended us to be lone wolves, the enemy did. (Look at Genesis 3, it’s always been a divide and conquer strategy) Satan builds strongholds as we delve further and further into isolation. We don’t think our actions have consequences. We want to talk about blowing things up but not the people who are harmed. We want to say nasty things to other people through a video game. We want to look at pornography and pretend that doesn’t hurt anyone. We want to focus on our friends and not our community. On and on, culture pushes us into being alone while God calls us to something more complete.

    Isolation is the enemy of communion. Jesus’ call for communion was never a call for individuals to come to Jesus as individuals on their own terms. That’s a perversion of our individualistic culture. Faith that lasts is almost never “just Jesus and me.” Our culture lies about that, our church culture lies about that, and youth ministry (too often) preaches that.

    Sharing communion in community under the hoppa

    So 57 men of all ages went to the desert for an encounter with Jesus. To be communal, to live in commune, and to commune with their Creator.

    My prayer is that as we shot, burned, and blew things up that those were symbols of the battle against the enemy. Three days per year of communion is not enough. I hope that for some of those young men they walk in communion with one another, in rejection of individualism, for the rest of their lives.

  • Irrigation

    We live in sunny Southern California. And while it is amazing to have 300+ days of sunshine per year it comes at a cost. Namely, we live in a coastal desert and have water restrictions.

    Thankfully, we are able to have a vibrant garden by using some smart water techniques.

    Where we are

    Back in January, when we first planted our garden, we bought a basic drip irrigation kit from Drip Depot. This kit came with everything we needed to get started. We had enough of the big tubing to run from our water spikket all the way around our yard. It also included enough of the smaller tubing and fittings to run water directly to every plant.

    Basic Garden Kit from Drip Depot

    This was great at first. But as the occasional showers of February – April came to a screeching halt and things dried up, we quickly found out that we weren’t able to distribute water like we needed to. Some plants were drowning while others were drying out. This was especially evident in our herb area. Everything was dying.

    So with each water cycle I kept an eye on what needed less water and what needed more water. I swapped out dripper and finally found a match for each plant to thrive.

    My next challenge was determining how often to water. I wanted an easy answer that I could program into my life. For some reason 12 minutes has become the magic number. And, in general, I lay down 12 minutes of water every other day. But I also adapt this to the weather conditions. A little hotter, I’ll wait 1.5 days between waterings. A little cooler or especially humid, I’ll go 2.5 days.

    Next steps

    Expansion: We have two more garden areas we’d like to expand to. If we’re able to do those expansions, one I will be able to add onto our existing system while the other is further away and I’d want to larger crops, so it’ll require its own irrigation system. Our neighbor also waters our fruit trees and I’d like to expand our system to be able to do that easier, as well.

    Timers: Our summer vacations revealed a new problem for this new gardening family. I drove 40 minutes each way every other day to water the garden. That hardly seemed “green” to me. So I’m looking at adding some timers to the system to help.

    Rain barrels: We don’t get a lot of rain in San Diego. But when we have our rainy season it’d be awesome to capture some for hand watering over the summer.

    Experiments: We have a few areas of our property that are difficult to get water to. I’d like to try a few ollas there to see how that would work. I have a feeling that it would work especially well for some types of vegetables and not so well for others. But, since we’d be expanding into areas not currently gardened, any yield would be awesome.

    Some pictures of our irrigation in action

  • What You Water Grows

    photo

    I took this picture in my backyard this morning. It illustrates this thought perfectly. In the middle is our healthy orange tree, to it’s left is a healthy grapefruit tree, if you could see more you’d see another orange tree, a couple peach trees, a mandarin, and lemon tree. And everything else is dirt.

    Being a Midwest boy now living in an coastal arid climate I’ve been fascinated by this simple principle: What you water grows. The rest of our backyard is dirt or dead, dried up weeds. Where I grew up this same effect would be impossible. Weekly rains would ensure that the dirt would become covered in in vegetation. But in our climate, if you don’t water an area… nothing will grow.

    In your life, what you water grows

    Followers of Jesus know this to be true in matters of the heart as well. Jesus said  this, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.We know that God’s written word is living water to our souls.” Practically speaking, those who spend time contemplating and meditating on Scripture grow– while those who do not, don’t grow. Later Jesus taught his followers why they needed to stay connected to the vine. [fellow believers] “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” The vine is the source of water and nutrients… stay connected to the vine and you live. Disconnect and you die.

    Are you watering the right things?

    In an arid climate water is a precious commodity. Here in San Diego we live under water restrictions as our fresh water isn’t natural to the area. It is all pumped in from other places! (We have a rainy season [Winter] and a dry season. [Spring, Summer, Fall]) We all have to make choices with the water that we have… what will we allow to grow and what will we allow to die? The same is true in our lives. Professionally, we know we can’t do it all… so what will we give water and see thrive and what will we not water and see die? In our families, we must chose things to water and things to dry out. In our ministries, we must chose which programs and people to water and which to allow to not grow or even willow. Individual believers chose, do I want to be connected to the vine… the source of nutrients and water… or do I want my faith to die by not connecting with other Christians?

    This water thing is pretty deep. After all, the Mediterranean climate is a coastal desert as well. It all ties into the parable of the talents as well, doesn’t it? We’re all given things to manage. And part of being a good manager is deciding what to water and what to let die. You can’t do it all! Chose wisely and water the right things.

  • Fast Tuesday update

    Two weeks into lent, fasting is going great.

    The first week was great. I felt fantastic. It was a time to slow down and walk with God through Scripture and stuff. Plus, I didn’t feel like ending the fast after 24 hours so I kept it going until late afternoon. It was awesome!

    Week two was almost the opposite. I never felt good. My mind was very cloudy all day. The day felt like it spun out of control. And I was hungry all day long. I’m not a “fasting expert,” but I’ve done plenty of one-day fasts and yesterday was my most bizarre. Yesterday was pure discipline. No joy in it at all.

    Two weeks and two different experiences. I suppose that is to be expected. Thinking of Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert… I’m sure there were days that were good and bad as well.

    I’m looking forward to next weeks fast.

  • Desert Pictures

    dsc_0487

    Today we took a trip to the desert. You can see Paul showing off here. (Megan took this picture.) You can see the rest by following this link.

  • Fast Tuesday, Temptation

    fast_tuesdayA full week into Lent, today marks my first Fast Tuesday. Not sure if “pumped” is the right word to use for entering a period of fasting, but I am prepared to enter this season of preparation.

    I woke up thinking about this passage:

    Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

    The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

    Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.”

    The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”

    Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

    The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
    ” ‘He will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you carefully;
    they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

    Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

    When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Luke 4

    Lent is deeply rooted in the 40 days fast Jesus observed in the desert as he prepared for his earthly ministry. I think it’s amazing how many times I’ve come into Lent and missed the meta-narrative of what Lent was preparing me for. Lent is a 40 day fast of preparation of the observance of Easter… duh, right? Wrong! There was a two-fold point to Jesus’ 40 days of preparation, wasn’t there?

    Point one: Pay the penalty of sin with death, making a way for man-kind to have a relationship with God. (Bringing the Gospel message to us individually)

    Point two: Open the door for all believers to act as agents of God’s mercy, regardless of earthly decension. Previously, this belonged only to the tribe of Aaron. (Bringing the Gospel message to the whole earth.)

    Lent isn’t meant to just prepare me for Easter. It’s also to remind me to continually prepare for my lifelong ministry as a believer. Conversely, my role as someone called to “professional ministry” is to not only call people to the cross, but to prepare and encourage God’s people to act as agents of the Cross wherever they go.

    So Jesus went to the desert to fast and prepare for his ministry. And while fasting the devil tempted him along three lines a Messiah would be tempted. I’m a pretty self-reflective guy… and I don’t think the temptations I face are anything like those. But let me share some of the tempatations I wrestle with as a ministry leader.

    The temptation to attack. Part of that giftedness is a strong sense of what ought to happen in just about any organization I’m exposed to. (Schools, libraries, sports teams, churches, work, families, game shows, and even organizations I’m not tied to, just curious about.) The temptation is stop trying to gently reform and just nail 95 Theses to the wall and walk away. There is a big difference between pushing something to get better and being rude. And while being a jerk is often times more effective at fixing things it hardly reflects a Gospel-driven approach. So I feel constantly tempted to say things in ways that aren’t helpful, blog about things in an attacking manner, etc.

    The temptation to invest in the wrong things. Anyone who knows me knows that I struggle deeply with balance. I tend to fall in love with something to the point where things get out-of-whack… thus messing up the thing because of a lack of balance. For example. There were about 2 years in Romeo where things were very balanced. Home life was great, work life was great, and working with the golf team helped me keep both in check while somehow making both better at the same time. Then, I allowed a pressure from work to push me out of helping with the golf team. That was my centering activity and from that point on life spun further and further out of control. Had I just stood up to that pressure and resisted the temptation to allow myself out of balance, who knows what would have happened? I need to resist that temptation continually as it comes.

    The temptation to lead instead of serve. I don’t know if I’m the only one who notices this, but a lot of church leaders have a jacked up view of leadership. They lead with ego, talent, and brute force. Unfortunately for them, Jesus called us to lead by serving others. (see John 13) I have to admit, it’s a huge temptation to try to lead things in the way I see church leaders being successful! I want to ram-rod my will on others all the time. But as we see in the Gospels and the early church in Acts… Jesus’ ministry came to conquer the hearts of mankind. You can’t conquer a persons heart by force… in case you didn’t know, that doesn’t work.