|
Tension Treatises
Search
Recent Comments
Most Commented Posts
Categories
Archives
|
Central American Missions
02/01/07 - 11:06:34 am Categories: PersonalMy wife and I are looking at agencies to explore serving in Central America with. Any recommendations?
ACLU Fighting My, A Middle-Class, White, Male, Cause?!?
12/15/06 - 04:49:47 pm Categories: MarriageAs many know I am hyphenating my name as my wife did. Yet, in the state of CA you are unable to do so as the male in the relationship without a fee of $320, a hearing before the court and without advertising the name for 4 weeks in a local newspaper, which will cost about $60 more dollars. Unreal. Usually it is the woman who gets screwed out of equality. This time it is me.
But the ACLU of So. Cal is fighting for people in my predicament. I have not changed the name yet due to the time of year and the name that is on my plane tickets - I can't change the name until after I travel or I will have too much hassle.
I'm not the hugest ACLU fan. Often I find them unbalanced, but I'll take their action on this one.
The article prints the comment of the male in the couple interview:
A hyphenated name is a cop-out. A family to be a family, should all have the same name.
Now I do not agree in entirety with Mr. soon-to-be Bijon (if the ACLU wins), because I will have a hyphenated name, but it will match my wife's last name. Also I know others who do not share it exactly, which I don't particularly like, but I would in no way classify them as not being a family.
A Little Heartbroken
This week I've had a few meetings regarding CNI. They have been important meetings with well-meaning, knowledgeable people. Regarding CNI, here is what they had to say.
The business model needs to have a niche in order to find people to fund it. People do not understand the impact of a networking organization and without a tangible product or service to put dollars to, nobody will be willing to sponsor it.
Churches do not even understand the need to network. Most time will be spent just trying to convince them of the need, let alone getting pastors willing to collaborate with each other.
Try focusing on one issue and prototype church involvement in that, getting other churches on board.
Thank you to my friends who have advised me. I appreciate their insight, but I am left heartbroken. Not so much for CNI, that is a mechanism for realizing the Kingdom. I'm more heartbroken for the Church as it refuses to see the impact of partnership and thus local ministry and services remains virtually pathetic and minutely effective.
There are so many churches in a city, and if they would spend some valuable time coordinating more than just ministerial associations - basically social clubs for shallow connections among pastors (stated from a pastor himself) - and take their time developing resources that the local community needs, things can happen on a grand scale.
If Churches would stop fighting and come together to effect the local community things can happen on a grand scale. We spend resources attracting people, mostly people from other churches - attracting them to our doctrines and individual programs. We compete for tithes and all the while we neglect the community around us.
Churches are to be beacons of hope and salvation among a community. I wrote in a poem that steeples are flag poles marking ground of individuality. They should in fact be marking places of rest of rejuvenation of safety for the oppressed, weary and heavy-laden. Alas they become autonomous, fairly ineffective buildings that some congregate to.
Now I know that most of this rant is pessimistic - like I said, I am heartbroken for the Church. Bruised by its callousness. But the aim is to get over myself and actively engage again, either by pushing CNI through or other means to get churches to be effective transforming agents. I am reminded to pray for the Church and I am reminded to view my doctrinally and politically diverse brother or sister as a partner in the kingdom.
Please join me in prayer for the Church.
What Would I Collect...
11/27/06 - 01:03:52 pm Categories: Personal...if money was no option.
Posted on Willzhead, was the question what three things would you collect if money was no option.
I would collect:
1. Books - lots of books - original manuscripts or early prints of late 1800's and early 1900's authors, and also books and essays penned by William Temple.
2. Bicycles - all sorts for all functions
3. Photos of people I interacted with - if money was no option, then I would collect the photos of many travels and stories of people in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, India among many other places.
Inspirer
11/14/06 - 05:41:20 pm Categories: PersonalApparently I'm an inspirer. I hope that it is true for CNI's sake.
What do you think? Is it true...be honest.
|
You Are An ENFP
|
The Inspirer
You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.
You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules.
Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.
You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller!
You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.
|
Get Hosted
Mindfulmission hosts this blog and I think does a fantastic job. If you were thinking of upgrading your blog from the generic kind or if you don't yet have one give him a shout. He'd like to design and possibly host for you.
The Bus Ride
10/10/06 - 04:12:22 pm Categories: PersonalI took the bus today for work. It was a pretty enjoyable experience overall. Due to some time constraints I'm not taking the bus all the way back home, but hitching a ride 3/4 of the way and catching the bus from there. Overall I spend half the amount of money by riding the bus, but I spend three times the amount of time. I can see that carpooling is a more effective method, when shared by 3 or 4 people, saving both money and time.
It was nice to read on the bus, but it became very crowded and the thuggish character next to me certainly claimed his space (though he got on the bus after I did) cramming me into the wall. This became a difficult position to read in, so I stopped. But I got a good 30 pages down.
Mass transportation is a great thing. I wish that Los Angeles had a better system. I certainly wish the Metro went to work. The straight shot would certainly decrease my time commuting and the space in a Metro car allows for better opportunity to read.
Back from the Wedding
10/05/06 - 12:16:45 pm Categories: MarriageI previously wrote blogs about engagement. Not too many as engagement is a pretty busy time. You can no longer look forward to those from me as I will only be able to blog about married life. More to come in the future.
The wedding was great, with our friends and family incredibly supportive of us. Aside from an attack on my bowels, the honeymoon was fantastic. I highly recommend Puerto Vallarta and while there zip-lining through the canopy of the rain forest.
Married blog to look forward to:
- Changing your legal name as a male - social scam against "liberals"
Projects almost done!!!
For those of you who have been tracking with my last week of duties prior to the wedding, things are going swimmingly. I wasn't worried that they'd fail, I just want to get them done, and they are getting done.
I've learned however that you will never quite be finished until the day of. But when you get some of the heavy details out of the way, you can have fun with the last little details. The wedding will happen whether there is a spelling mistake or not or whether there is one slight wrinkle in the shirt.
So I'm still busy, but am going into Saturday a happy, excited guy.
Influences
09/19/06 - 11:23:01 am Categories: PersonalMany people on the blogsphere have been posting recently about their influences. I too will join the trend.
Personal influences have been the work of Pastor Kevin Phillips, former rector for St Timothy's Episcopal Church in Mt. View, CA. Pastor Dale Winslow of Foothill Community Church, Azusa, CA. And the late Dr. Gerald Wilson, professor at Azusa Pacific University. All of their compassion and unique views of ministry have helped me. Mostly from them, I gain a sense of freedom in taking initiatives and risk and pressing forward.
Less personal, are the works of William Temple, though I do not share all of his views, I appreciate his attempts and his ecumenical, restorative focus.
Leonardo Boff has written some great things, Miroslav Volf is up there as well. I was impressed early on by C.S. Lewis.
Shane Claiborne is a challenging inspiration and though I did not find Irresistible Revolution to be the best book, many components have stuck deep within me.
The host of this blog has deeply influenced my engagement with social and political issues far more intelligently than I used to be.
The very soon-to-be Mrs. Tension Treatises has also been an amazing influence in the way I look at practical ministry again and how to incorporate the ministered as leaders of the ministry - her influence in this area has especially been with children.
Death March
In church yesterday, my pastor discussed discipleship as a death march. Reading from Mark, a disciple will be hoisting their own cross-beam onto their shoulders. They will be marching it out, processing to their death. And it is here that they enter into the abundance of eternal life (which, as the pastor put it, can also be experienced prior to death - family, friends, etc.).
Mr & future Mrs. Tension Treatises were used in an analogy to this death march. On Saturday, the future Mrs. Tension Treatises processes to her death as I wait to receive my own. It is a death to all else. We make a vow to forsake all others. We commit ourselves to each other.
And we get the abundance of a life of companionship, joy and stretching. We lose some aspects of life, some freedom to gain a much wider arena of freedom.
On Saturday, I will await my bride happily pronouncing my death. I choose to forsake all others and live a life committed to her.
So romantic as it is not - upon wishing me a happy marriage, wish me a fulfilling death. I know that on Saturday a tear will form, but a tear of joy. And will smile on the face of death.
5 Days Left
Only 5 days left!
The home-stretch as they say. What remains to be done on my end:
3 projects on the apartment requested by the future Mrs. Tension Treatises
Press groomsmans' shirts
Finalize set list for DJ
Acquire sound equipment
Produce and print programs
Wrap gifts
Pack for honeymoon
So you know...not a lot - oh did I mention that all this needs to be done by Wednesday night!
But its coming along and it will get done. Gotta sacrifice a couple of bike rides, sacrifice a couple of coveted lunch breaks to take care of things. But then I'm off on Thursday morning with my best man and his fiance to make the 8 hour trek to meet my beautiful fiance at her family farm where two days later we get married.
Less than 2 Weeks
It has been a while since I have written about engagement. Invitations, address collecting, moving into new places, calling people, and trying to cultivate a solid heart for an upcoming marriage really take a good amount of time and effort.
And it is all worth it.
I have found engagement to be more awesome than dating, but very intentional. I find very little freedom from the mentality of making sure the wedding is together and make sure the marriage begins on a good foot after all the fun ceremonies end and we are faced with life. Personally I want that life to be one of happiness. It can get a bit tiring to go over addresses again and again.
Overall, the engagment thing is cool. Things have changed dramatically in the way I view the future Mrs. Tention Treatises. She is no longer just a girl friend who I ponder doing life with. She is the girl that I am inevitably going to do life with.
So for the record -
Premarital classes - passed well
Wedding planning - wrapping up the little details
Marriage prep - doing well and open to lots of new experiences.
What the...
09/11/06 - 11:20:53 am Categories: PersonalHell! I said when my alarm in my car went off this morning. A normal infraction, commonly occuring among car alarm owners. Click your button and off it goes. Quick surprise - quick fix. But I'm not a car alarm owner...well sort of.
So two years ago I disabled my car alarm by wiggling this pathetic little toggle switch next to my stearing wheel. It went off at 2am every night and I was sick of it. So off it went.
I had not really thought about it since.
I found my clicker at work the other day. I almost chucked it.
Then this morning, I opened my door and was blasted, and my clicker was 20 miles away at work, where I thought I would never really need it again and didn't feel like cluttering my car any further.
So that was my What the Hell moment for the day. Kind of funny after the fact...now I just hope I can disable it again or that my clicker battery works when I get back to my car this evening.
9/11 - 5 Years ago I was
Five years ago, I woke ready for class, early on in the semester. I turned on the TV to see a special report. A plan had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center.
Aside from the bomb planted years before in the garage of the WTC, I knew nothing about this building(s). I would never have picked it out in a skyline unless somebody said, "Its the tall ones".
I had no mistake about it this time five years ago. And then something else happened - a second plane flew right into the second tower.
So where I was this time, on that infamous, disasterous day - heading to a silent, emotionally drained classroom. Class was canceled and we just say watching the news. Class ended, nothing changed and then on my way back, the towers collapsed.
God - please bless those who were effected by the atrocities in NYC. Thank you for the heroes that emerged, and I pray for the dispicable who wreak havoc. I pray for the end of terrorism and injustice. I pray for peace. I pray for wisdom for every and all governments on both sides of the terror race. I pray for forgiveness to be implanted in the hearts of so many in the world and pray that you would continue to work in my own.
Its Makeover time
Its make-over time for me. New blog design thanks to my host, Mindful Mission. (If you are interested in starting a blog site, he is willing to host).
Well, I'm not just being made over on my blog. I've started to wear t-shirts more (rather than polos) because the almost Mrs. Tension Treatises likes t-shirts. I'll be getting a haircut, but this is just a trim...nothing new...yet (I always threaten the mohawk, but never have the guts to do it).
My residence is new and it is getting made over fairly regularly, putting in a bed frame and such. It has a long way to go, but we're getting there.
I am beginning work on a new career path - see the CNI link for more details - pending I get the funding for it.
And as I mentioned above - I'm getting married. A make-over, rather overhaul to the soul which necessitates a drilling rig to tap into the reserve of humble-ness deep within. Drilling continues, and I expect to be humbled greatly over the next many years of my life.
So with that said, as it has been the last few months, expect sporatic posting for the next 2 months. I expect some days will be very heave - 3-5 posts a day for me and then some long durations of no posting - Probably from September 21st-October 3rd.
Hope you enjoy the new look!
Irony Between Life & Ideals
08/17/06 - 11:39:48 am Categories: PersonalIt is probably cliche to say the least to notice the ironic nature of living with ideals. Rather, it is more the project of living and how it conflicts with ideals.
This post stems from the experience of two friends and my own. All of us are currently polluting our ideals by making a living in the occupations that we currently hold.
CASE 1 - Friend A spends many an evening with me over a beer discussing the inappropriate use of funds globally. He writes lyrics discussing to many songs that highlight his disdain for consumerism (until he recently changed the lyrics, three of his songs had a reference to spending life away at the mall). Yet despite the distaste of the high class, he works at a high end restaurant. He makes good money in tips and it allows him to pursue his music career and education.
CASE 2 - Friend B reads books upon books about social inequality. One arena that encourages, either passively or actively, social inequality is education. Specifically the amount of money spent on tutoring and private school education, so that the rich kids can get better placement in top notch, expensive schools. This friend is a tutor for standardized placement testing. He is directly involved in promoting a system that he finds fault with. I can attest that he loves education and the academy, but it is skewed against the poor. Yet, gotta work to eat.
CASE 3 - I want to encourage the Church in greater discipleship (notably, I need to be a better disciple myself) and greater fullness of realizing God's mission (please note that the other two cases above also wish the same thing). But I work in an organization that is at best deficient in encouraging community and discipleship. To be sure I don't think that the organization is malicious, and many great, passionate, caring people work here, whom I enjoy working with, but the model is less relational in practice then it could be. Its focus is still bent on making converts rather than disciples. But I have to work to help pay for the education that will prepare me to engage churches in promoting discipleship and service throughout the world.
I in no way want to slight ideals. I find them very important to spur us on. But the ideal usually conflicts with the practice of life. Maybe I'm too focussed on being balanced. Maybe I really can make it and complete the project of life by living to strict idealistic standards. As of now, I am pretty content with my life and residing in the irony between living and idealizing.
Books
08/16/06 - 02:40:02 pm Categories: PersonalI stole this from Willzhead, but I thought it was good so I would post my own.
1. One book that changed your life:
Exclusion & Embrace - Miroslav Volf
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Ordinary People - Judith Guest
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
4. One book that made you laugh:
Life of Pi (I know that it is a repeat, but its true)
5. One book that made you cry:
A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken
6. One book you wish had been written:
The Genius of the Muckrackers
7. One book you wish had never been written:
The First 90 Days of Marriage - Eric and Leslie Ludy
8. One book you’re currently reading:
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society - Lesslie Newbigin
10. One book you’d like to to write:
Running Systematic Theology Through Reconciliation Mill (Hopefully to begin in 4-5 years)
Look For: Upcoming Poetry of the Past
In the move consolodation, I found a bunch of old poetry poorly archived in folders. These need to by typed on my computer and when I do, if I find any worth the embarrassment, I'll post them.
Moving
Yesterday marked another move - my 7th since graduating college in 2003. That is quite a lot of moving. Over the many moves I've consolidated items and chucked unnecessary or cumbersome ones. I've given away couches, end tables and entertainment systems, depending on their ability to fit in my new place. Now the future Mrs. Tension Treatises and I need to start furnishing.
Our new place is a pretty small one-bedroom, which leaves for some creative furnishing. I do think it will help us to live our lives of simplicity.
I stayed there last night and woke up feeling like I was in a dorm. It is an indoor apartment, which for California is rather odd. I got up, faced the disheveled everything in the middle of the living room, ate two cold pieces of pizza over the sink so as not to get pizza sauce on the new white rug (plates are in some box, somewhere), and headed out the door. I feel like the ultimate bachelor, which is a step in the wrong direction since I'm heading quickly toward a life of partnership.
Luckily the bachelor pad will be organized over the course of the next couple of weeks. My fiance is fantastic, helping me move a lot of the things and we have started to plan, discuss, and reel our thoughts about how to set our place up.
Moving...oh how I don't enjoy moving...but I do enjoy settling in and look forward to the new life to come.
Been Too Long
07/17/06 - 09:01:27 am Categories: PersonalHas it really been almost 3 weeks since I've posted last?
Yes it has. Super busy, so I don't expect too many frequent posts to come. Here's the low down of what I'm doing:
- Work is at its high point.
- Wedding invitations are at the printers finally.
- Grooms clothes chosen but not yet bought.
- Had some encouraging meetings for the non-profit I'm working on starting.
- Read about 5 books since the last post - Life of Pi is phenomenal.
- Written about 6-10 pages of my novels (started yet another one, making the count at 5).
- Consuming as often as possible the banana chocoloate-chip low fat coffee cake at Starbucks (which I fear will be discontinued soon).
That's pretty much it.
Busy busy busy
06/21/06 - 12:21:28 am Categories: PersonalSo I have a lot to catch up on here huh?
- Christianity and Social Order chapter summary
- Reformission Rev chapter summary and review
- Engagement planning update
- Ordinary People review
- Network Institute progress
- Network Institute plan link
But tonight will not be the night, and I doubt tomorrow will be the day either. Tension Treatises is not down or even inactive...just too active. Lots of projects to work on, busy work schedule, wedding planning and just enjoying the few days I have left with my fiance before she goes to Kenya for a month. Hopefully soon I will be back more frequently...hopefully soon.
Confessions of a Reformission Rev...
06/15/06 - 12:44:16 am Categories: PersonalI will attempt to resume my chapter reviews of Driscoll's book tomorrow or this weekend, though I may be out of touch with internet for a while.
Awesome Lady
06/08/06 - 12:00:20 pm Categories: PersonalSo I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank the future Mrs. Tension Treatises.
She planned a great b-day for me yesterday, which is usually pretty difficult for mid-work-week birthdays.
She covered all the bases and then some. She got in biking, coffee, games (cross-words), dinner and a movie. It was great.
This woman knows me soooo well. I am a very lucky guy.
25 Year Joke
06/07/06 - 10:25:42 am Categories: PersonalIn the early Bay Area morning 25 years ago, God played a joke on the world. That joke is still causing him to laugh and the world to suffer. Maybe sometime soon he'll change the punchline to do the world some good...until then...he just laughs on...and all the world has this blog now to show for it.
|
|
Hosted by
the mindful mission
Friends
Syndication
Credits
|
Permalink
