Living Among Creation

This week we were challenged to see the creation that constantly surrounds us. Not just the nature, or the people, but the creations that have been made by the people and nature surrounding us. That probably makes no sense, does it? Let me put it this way: All week long I have been surrounded by a church, a community, that has a very distinct culture. When walking through the Garnett Church of Christ office you will probably see a LOT of coffee cups laying around here and there, and a bunch of hippy looking people walking around barefoot with no makeup, and chaco tans on their feet. We don't sit in chairs the normal way, at least not when we're talking to each other casually, and different music can be heard as you pass by each office. Beth's office has the sounds of Waterdeep overflowing through her doors, while our pator, Greg, has some kind of odd tribal sounding Asian music. This at least has been my observation, I haven't asked him about his music choices, nor do I plan to, I just sit on the floor in the middle room, and marvel at the sounds all around me.
A culture has been created at Garnett that tells me that it's okay to kick off my chacos and sit sideways in my chair. The culture has been made by a certain, unique group of people that surround me every day. God created the world to have a certain majestic culture, and he created us to create more, to add to his creation with our own unique personalities. No matter how "unartistic" someone may think they are, I swear they probably don't realize that every day they make something or someone feel a certain way.
I have a friend named Kylie, she is my hero, and every time she walks through the room, no matter how chill of a mood I am in, I automatically get phyched. She walks with a little bounce in her step, and talks louder, and laughs more frequently than is necessary, but the way everyone changes when she is around shows how Kylie creates a mood everywhere she goes. When Kylie is around, everyone is free to snort when they laugh, and make strange noises when something bad happens. She brings joy to everyone in any situation. She is an artist, she creates.
The creation that surrounds me, rather often, usually goes unnoticed. Sometimes its hard to be struck by something when you see it everyday. This week, I decided to let myself get culture shock everywhere I went. I actually listened to the music playing over the speakers at Starbucks, and actually saw the people I look at almost every day. I payed attention to the details of an environment, the colors people wore in a movie, the cracks in the pavement as I walked through the park, and you know what's funny? Everything became more beautiful to me.
Creation is a part of the story that I feel many overlook. But to me, it's the most beautiful aspect of the Christian culture. I've always had an odd fascination with creation. My family has encouraged me to create, and to move since I was tiny. I grew up making up games on the trampoline, and running around the neighborhood pretending to be someone I'm not. Neither of these bits from my childhood can be hung in a frame, or pasted in a scrapbook, but it is a creation that I will never forget. My God did that.
He created something too big, and too beautiful to be put in a frame. He spent days creating a perfect creation. He didn't look at the world at the end of the sixth day and say, "Well, It's alright... I guess." No. He was proud. He said, "This is good." He was proud of his creation, and wanted to be a part of it.
Many marvel over the fact that God walked with Adam in the Garden. They can't imagine what it must be like for Adam, but what I'm wondering is how must God have felt. He was walking alongside his most beautiful and perfect creation. I hope, one day, I can know what that feels like.
Creation, it's something God didn't keep to himself. He gave us the ability to create. The ability to imagine something to be the way we think it ought to be. So why don't we all let ourselves loose to create something that we can be proud of. Something that we can look at and say, "Man, this is good."

I wills... :)

Here's my list of "I wills" for the year (yes, they are somewhat vague):
I will...
1. Be open and encouraging
2. Be okay with failure
3. Take correction with a smile
4. NOT get discouraged
5. Do my work, and do it well
6. Be thankful
7. NOT shut down when things get hard
8. Pray continuously
9. Do well in my classes, and not freak out
10. Grow closer to Christ and do everything I can to actively prepare for my future
11. Not let my relationships with friends and family slip away
12. Work hard
13. Be moldable

Site Search

Today Cody, the other Link Year student, and I had the pleasure of spending the day in the car. We drove to about 15 different sites to talk to the Volunteer Coordinators at each site. It was a grueling experience, to be completely honest. We bonded through our exhaustion and frustration, all day long. I have to admit, though, that my favorite part of the day was asking the person we talked to if we could take a picture with them. To which we received many crazy and confused faces, and lots of awkward giggles. Each time it went about like this: "Thank you so much for your help, oh, I know this is kinda weird, but can I take a picture with you?" "You're so wel-- uh, wait, you want a picture with me?" "Yeah, I know its kinda silly, we just need a little proof that we came to see you today." "Oh, then, uh, yeah, sure, lets stand in front of this strange monument, that proves that this is where you are" "oh, yeah! Okay, awesome, thank you so much."
A couple of the ladies volunteered someone else in the office to jump in the picture to take thier place, and once, maybe twice, they were so excited about taking a picture with us they could barely stand it. The reactions to our questions were hilarious. It made my day every time.
Today definitely challenged the both of us with being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I swear, I am the most awkward person on the phone that ever existed. Lots of rambling, so much so, that I could almost hear the people rolling thier eyes and making annoyed faces. Before I hung up the phone each time I almost felt the need to formally apologize for my phone talking inadequacy. I was horrible at it, but it was funny for Cody at least.
Speaking of Cody, his driving skills could use a little work. Dear Cody is a little unpracticed in driving downtown, so we spent a lot of time driving in circles, and gritting our teath as we tested out Codys anti-lock break system. It was.. awesome? I feared for my life just a little bit.
What I'm getting at, is that today was tough, exhausting, and a little awkward most of the time, but fun, in some crazy definition of the word.

Day One-- The Start

Today was the first official day of Tulsa Link Year. Going into this, I had no clue what to expect, and frankly, I am still clueless. Today, if anything, just made me more anxious about the next 9 months. I don't really know what's coming to me, but I do know that this is what God has asked me to do.

Chris King, our fearless leader, opened up our orientation this morning with the question "How might this meeting Change Tulsa or the World?" I sat there in a still silence for a few minutes as I continued to roll the question around in my head. I couldn't come up with a decent answer for the life of me, and definitely didn't just want to spit out some random drivel, so I sat, and thought. Eventually, I decided I just didn't understand exactly what the question was asking. I was okay with that for a timme, but as the day went on, this question seemed to follow me around.

At around noon we found ourselves sitting next to what once was a fountain next to Tulsa's City Hall. As I sat down and clumsily kicked off my chacos the question rang in my mind. "How might this meeting change Tulsa or the World?" I came to the near conclusion that maybe this meeting would lead to inspiration, or maybe just a little push from behind that would somehow reach someone... someday. I'm sorry to inform you, I'm not an optimist, my friends. What I soon came to realize, though, is that our meeting may simply be the start, the gathering, of a few people who over the next months would be city or world changers. This day would be remembered as the beginning of sommething great. The start of something better than we could ever imagine.

Every influential group in the history of man had to have a Day One. There was a beginning, at some point, where a group of people came together for the first time. I feel like today was that day. Today was the start of something good, the start of a passion, a love for a city, a state, a country, a world.