Previous post's comments

Hey folks,
More posts on there way; in the meantime, the last post had a couple comments with really interesting questions and insights. They're worth checking out!

Thoughts on Poverty

Time flies! I haven't been dry on ideas to write about, but I have been pretty lazy about actually getting them down on paper/blog...

In my not so lazy moments I've been doing a little bit of leisure reading: "Energy Services for the Millennium Development Goals," a 116 page UN report addressing energy needs and approaches for developing countries. It really is fascinating. Last week I began to delve into it during my flight to CU Boulder, where I checked out their Environmental Engineering for Developing Communities program. These things said, lately I've been thinking about what it means to provide help for a developing country. How can we help them? What do developing communities really need? What does "poverty" or "third world" even mean? I have more questions than I have answers, so please, share your thoughts!!

I'll introduce my thoughts with a story. When I was in Nigeria two years ago, my friend and I met a pastor whose wife just gave birth to their son. He was radiant, and we began to talk about family and life in Nigeria and America. I commented on how wonderfully genuine the families were in Nigeria, and how its friendliness made it such a beautiful place. He agreed, but admitted that Nigeria was nothing like the grandeur of New York City, in which he dreamed of living. My friend and I looked at each other with skepticism... is it really worth sacrificing a beautiful culture for independent, impersonal skyscrapers?

Everyone is familiar with the basic third world needs: food, clean water, medicines, etc. Seems straight forward, right? But when you look into it, there is a lot more than meets the eye. Agriculture can be improved with machines, education and economies can be improved through electricity and computers with internet, and communication through cell phones. These improvements enable women to work and children to go to school. Infrastructure can be installed and buildings built, and the list of possible improvements goes on. These can all be very good, but I do question the motivations and the aims of these developments, both as a means of challenging my own convictions as well as ensuring the best for these communities. The big question I'm asking is, "what is our end goal?" What would the world look like if tomorrow all the objectives were achieved and everything was "developed" to a sufficient point so as no one was in poverty? Here are my meager ramblings:

#1 The UN report focuses on moving communities from poverty to the first rung of competitive global economics, which means training professionals, creating small businesses, and introducing modern technology. Should every world culture have computers? Can poverty only be eliminated through a globalized economy? Should all women in all cultures work? Should electricity and agricultural machines that help increase productivity also introduce developing communities to electronic entertainments, reliance on oil, specialization, and the replacement of human labor with technology? Our goal is not to "westernize" these cultures, but how do we develop communities without just making them more like us? Where do we draw the line between aid and assimilation?

#2 On a more philosophical note, perhaps my question poses no real answer. Not because it is impossible to meet the objectives set out by the UN and eradicate poverty, but because the definition of poverty will always change over time. The global poverty scale is measured by monetary value per day (extreme poverty equals less than $1/day USD). Of course, this must be relative to the rest of the world's living standard. What used to be the norm is now considered poverty. In the future, will those with land line phones, bulky slow computers, and gasoline powered cars be poor? There must be some distinction between cultural poverty and subsistence poverty.

#3 Is it accurate to define poverty by monetary value alone? I think that money is just one factor, albeit a major one, that affects poverty; but at the core, it should not define it. Money is merely a tool by which we reach more fundamental needs: nourishment, safety, freedom, and fulfillment, for example. While these are more difficult to quantify, I think they need to be considered in order to properly address poverty. In a general sense, I would define poverty as anything that oppresses people from meeting these goals, whether it's monetary, social, political, emotional, mental, or spiritual. For example, Nigeria has been ranked the friendliest country in the world, yet America's divorce rate can't boast the same accolade. From my own personal experiences, and many others, those with less are usually more thankful and of all things, generous, than those with more. From this point of view, poverty is all around us. Which leads me to my last thought...

#4 The gospel. I'm finding more and more that all throughout the Bible poverty is viewed by this holistic perspective. Yes, the gospel is about spiritual freedom, but at its core it is also a social and physical message. It's about feeding the poor, caring for orphans and widows, and sheltering the homeless. Moreover, it calls us to serve the broken-hearted, to live in an interdependent, accountable community, to care for the environment, to commit to sacrificial love, and to heal the sick. And these are not just practices that Christians are supposed to do; they are the change, restoration, and reconciliation that define the Christian faith. And so I think the Bible has a lot to say about poverty, about getting rid of oppression. And I think it's a good place to start laying a foundation for how to address poverty.

All that said, there are still a lot of questions, and a lot of room for interpretation. Here are my thoughts. What are yours?

Life in the Fast Lane

I thought I'd share a few points that pastor Greg at Bethany Covenant Church made this morning, because they're pretty pertinent to my life and to our society. He talked about the difference between a fast life and an urgent life. With fast-food restaurants, microwaves, and even speed limits, I think we can all agree that we live in a fast-paced society. In our routines, we go from one thing to another, sometimes non-stop, trying to pack in as much as we can in one day. Even if our routines aren't very busy, I think our fetish for fast is lived out through our attitudes as we're accustomed to instant gratification and impatient with delay or unnecessary changes in plan. As I settle into my new job, I've found myself impatient with traffic and really slow computers. At work I want to get as much done as possible as fast I possibly can so that after work I have more time to do as much as I possibly can, just as fast, before I have to go to bed and repeat the whole process.

And we call this efficiency.

The point of this post (and this morning's sermon) is not just to point out our fast-paced culture and encourage us to slow down, although that would be a good place to start; it's really about what we sacrifice in the fast lane, that is, urgency. Jesus did a lot of amazing stuff, but he was not running around tirelessly preaching, teaching, and healing as many people as he possibly could. He did not say that the Kingdom of God will come the more you do and the faster you do it. He said, the Kingdom is here, in our midst, in our hearts (Luke 17:20-22), and the question is, how do we respond? Jonah took forever to deliver God's message to Nineveh, and when he finally uttered the eight words of prophecy recorded in the Bible, the response of the Ninevites was immediacy: they "called urgently on God" (Jonah 3). Urgency... it is a matter of perspective, disposition to the gospel, and attitude; it is not a matter a speed.

I want to clarify that I do not think that business and efficiency, in their true sense, are inherently bad things. However, they easily foster the "fast life," which refers to that attitude. overwhelmingness, or that almost insatiable drive to squeeze more out of the day. The fast life is a life driven by the fear and lack of faith that God has provided more than enough for you to do and not nearly enough time to do it. Greg wrapped up the morning with a quote from his high school and college basketball years: "The better you are at a sport, the slower the game." Perhaps, the same applies spiritually. As we grow closer to God, life slows down but becomes much more urgent.

The First Day

Today I started the first day of my job, and with that, I realized that I haven't posted on here for quite some time due to the craziness of finishing my last semester of school. But don't fret! With the 9-5 job comes free evenings and weekends, which means I intend on posting more frequently than I have been. In the meantime, I want to give you a quick run down of what's happened and how I got to where I am now!

Last semester I started looking for jobs with the expectation of being out of Cleveland. Thus, I went to the Case Career Fair not expecting much either. Low and behold, I stumbled upon a fantastic company called Contained Energy that does renewable fuel cell research, which is right up my alley. Moreover, they are a small, very hands-on (everything from design, fabrication, and testing), and cutting-edge technology group. It was a perfect fit, so I couldn't turn it down... which puts me here in Cleveland.

The second really cool thing is that I needed a new apartment, off campus, but I didn't want to come home alone, bum around, and give up on my heart for ministry to the needy and to young adults. So, I started praying and asking others to pray for a guy roommate who had the same idea as me. A week and half later, I met Drew, a guy who just came back from Africa and was in the same situation as me. This past Monday we moved into a place near downtown, and we can't wait to get settled in and keep doing outreach to the people in Cleveland and on college campuses!

Well, that's my update; I tried to keep it brief. More to come later... so check back now and then and don't be shy to post a reply!

later gaters... kg

Awe

I remember a speaker last year say that there are something like a dozen emotions that humans experience, and the one least experienced is awe. Awe. I don't quite know where I'm going with this post because it's hard to describe, but I think 'Awe' sums it up. This past week, I've been overwhelmed by a sense of awe, mainly through my classes as we study nature.

Unlike previous semesters where we just took notes and regurgitated formulas, we're delving into topics that don't have known solutions; they still fluster scientists and engineers. I look back in history at how scientists encountered and solved problems that today seem trivial, yet here we are with a plethora of our own questions, the answers somehow all linked together beautifully to describe the universe. I am in awe at how amazingly intricate, complex, and yet simple nature is. I am in awe by the depth of nature.

By my senior year, we've practically run out of variables to use. We've called upon the English and Greek alphabet, using capital and lower case letters, subscripts and superscripts, and still we joke in class that we'll need to switch to the Hebrew alphabet soon. This is especially true in my Flight Dynamics class. Every day he introduces new variables, new quantities that detail a requirement that must be met for flight. I paused yesterday after class and realized what a miracle it is that an airplane can even fly. Moreover, nature goes about its course - birds fly, gravity keeps us planted, we breath in and out - without ever knowing all the details.

Naturally, more questions come to mind. How trustworthy are our instincts? Is the pursuit of knowledge the only way to understand truth? I'll leave the philosophy open to discussion :-P

Rafting footage (and carnage?)

For all you crazy outdoor fans out there, or for those who'd rather just watch from their seat... here's a youtube video of one of my favorite rapids, Seidel's Suckhole, that we "successfully" navigated this past May during raft training. By "we" I mean the trainees first run without instructors, and by "successfully" I mean four of the five runs either flipped or ejected half the crew. (Unfortunately, the video isn't of us, but it was taken two days after we were there, at the same water level/volume)

Blog vs. Facebook

Just a quick request to throw out there. Since my blog is also fed to Facebook, I tend to get comments on there rather than here, which is great, but some people don't have access to Facebook :( If you could, try and post your comment, big or small, on the BLOG, so that we can keep the conversation in one central location and available for everyone to read!

If you've already posted a comment on Facebook, feel free to copy/paste it to the blog. Thanks!!!

Oh, the places we [can] go...

I'm sitting in Algebra, a tea house in Little Italy just down the road from my apartment, sipping Fijian Tea and browsing through the seemingly endless possibilities of internships, grad schools, NGOs, and volunteer work there is on the world wide web. I suppose it doesn't help that my search is literally a "world wide" search as I'm open to traveling and looking for work in a developing country. Not that I'm overwhelmed, it's actually kinda fun, but throughout this perusing my mind's had a chance to wander a bit and think...

I think there's almost something... not good? ... about having too many choices and moreover, having the opportunity/freedom to choose anything, or sometimes everything, we want. I'm thankful that I'm blessed and I'm grateful for the freedoms that most of the world will never know. But is this the end goal of freedom? Is freedom giving us whatever we want, with endless possibilities?

I remember reading a book last year called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, and by his account, historically, Christians didn't ask what God's will was for their vocation until Martin Luther introduced it during the Reformation. Today that's one of the biggest questions for Christian's my age... everyone's searching to find what God wants them to do for the rest of their life, or at least for the next step. But what about back in the day when subsistence "restricted" people's freedoms. Raising cattle, farming, carrying on the family trade were all standard. The majority of history has lived with very little other opportunity.

So while I believe that with greater freedom comes much greater responsibility, and with new opportunities comes new facets for God's will to be lived out, I guess I also believe that we can really overthink our lives. As my ole youth pastor said, God's will is more about who we are than what we do. Or as a monk once wrote (don't ask...) about the mountain of decision: "If you'll take my advice, you'll drop the questions and go right up the mountain." It's actually comforting; it takes faith and it takes guts.

Go East Young Man, Go East

On Saturday I was driving home from Cleveland and saw something I normally don't see: the sunset... in my review mirror.

I've always dreamt of just going, following the sun as it sets. I started this summer as a rafting guide on the intrepid white water of Colorado. With a backpack, duffel bag, bike, and greyhound ticket in hand, I headed West to new terrain and new adventures. But for some reasons that were clear, and for others that I have yet to understand, I found myself going East, going home.

Home. Family. Friends. Rolling green hills with an early morning mist that fills the valley, hovers above the water, and, when the golden sun shines through, looks like a painting of heaven's gates. There is a season for everything; sometimes it is boundless exploration. Sometimes plans change. Sometimes, it is home.

When Bathroom Stalls and Churches Collide

I've always found the toilet to be an inspirational place, and I know I'm not alone in saying that. So not too long ago I was in Avon, CO sitting on the hot seat in the public bathroom of a Wal-Mart, admiring the surroundings: the graffiti, the writing, the drawings that I'm sure we're all (at least the guys) familiar seeing on stall walls. Maybe admiring isn't the right word. My first impression is, "ugh, how stupid," but after my disgust wears off, I start thinking about how prevalent these thoughts, images, stereotypes, and mindsets are in our culture, and it's really sad. I think it reveals a lot of insight into the disrespect, depravity, and neediness of humanity. The graffiti is evidence of a disregard, or at least an ignorance, of true Eros, Phila, and Agape love as well as real community. The historic and natural response of the church has been to shun these stall-graffitiers (metaphorically speaking) in reaction to that initial disgust. But instead of turning our heads in disgust, I think the church needs to take a good look at those stalls and soak it in until the disgust wears off and we can respond with compassion.

I'm imagining what it would look like for a church to be made up of those stall graffitiers. Don't get me wrong here, I am not saying that current church goers are even close to perfection; I bet churchies (church goers) even graffiti on stalls. What I'm getting at is not so much about behavior but more about the current attitude that outsiders have toward the church as well as the disposition of the church toward outsiders. Much of the world stereotypes churchies as goody-two-shoes, placing an unfit and weighty expectation for churchies to be perfect. This stereotype does two things: it sets up the church for failure, resulting in reproaches of hypocrisy, and it distances outsiders from the church. Furthermore, to an extent, I think the church has taken on this burden, and in expecting itself to be perfect, fronts a mask of "having it all together" in fear that otherwise, they would be considered a fraud. Ironically, this furthers separation between the world and the church and undermines community. In other words, right now, those graffitiers don't feel welcomed into the church, and if they were, the world would scream hypocrisy.

But what if it was the other way around?

What if it was normal for the vulgar, the imperfect, the rich, the poor, the perverts, the successful, the drop-outs to attend a church in which, because of a real interdependent vulnerable community, they realize that they don't need to have it all together, and that this is the very reason for grace!? What if the world saw the church as a place to meet their needs for love and community instead of how their sins fail to compare to the piety of today's masquerading church goers? What if church was a place of unconditional love: for people of every race, class, background, and clique, worshiping an amazing God who calls us into a relationship with Him and with each other?

Envision this. Is it biblical? What would it look like? How do we do it? I don't have all the answers to these three questions, so I wanna hear thoughts! I know there may be some objections. I understand that the church should be an example... a pure bride to Christ, working to reflect the beauty of the kingdom of God. So, the church should not accept sin, but at the same time should not be unapproachable and unwelcoming. I realize Paul talks about removing someone who is sinning from the community (1 Corinthians 5:5) and not to associate with purposeful sinners who claim to be Christians (1 Corinthians 5:11), but what’s the context and can these verses be reconciled with the type of church described here? I look forward to your thoughts!

Good Ole Country Music!!!

My good friend Catie Smith spent some time in good ole Missouri, and didn't have much of a choice but to listen to some good ole country music (which she abhors). So Catie wrote the lyrics to a song that makes fun of country music, and when she shared them with me, I figured I should put the song to some music... some country music. So to the right, under "The Sweet Spot" section, check out those good ole "nose congested vocals" with three repeating chords of guitar and harmonica!

p.s. Thanks to Audacity, a free download that's like having an awesome home recording studio!

I was cleaning my room when...

Last week I was going through my closet, cleaning out random junk and rearranging the good stuff so that it's now somewhat organized. If you're anything like me, when you go through your old piles, you find all sorts of things that were formally lost or forgotten, like the matching pants to my pajama-like suit I bought in Nigeria, or old high school science experiments, pictures, or notes to/from that crush you had way back when (No, I'm not sharing one of those). Well, in one of my folders I found a piece of paper with some words of advice I'd heard from a couple friends at camp a few years back... you know, those good inspiring phrases that you figured you should probably write down and then stash somewhere in vain hopes of finding it again. Well, I found it, and I've been thinking about these three things over the last couple days and thought I'd share them:

1. Training vs. Trying: In a lot of areas of life we go about just trying to obtain something. We can put forth a ton of effort trying to reach a goal, make a relationship work, connect with God, or get good grades. These aren't bad things, but I think we often have the wrong attitude or an ineffective perspective. Instead of trying, I'm training, I'm growing and learning, and I know I'll make mistakes along the way. It's a broader look at things. So the question I asked myself today was, "What am I training for?"Instead of trying to get good grades, I'm training to be the best engineer I can be; instead of trying to reach God, I'm training to become more like Him. I'm training to be a husband - in wisdom, purity, and leadership. I'm training for after college - understanding my career interests, my passions, and my goals. What are you training for?
2. Preparing vs. Planning: In our fast paced, instant American culture, we want everything planned ahead perfectly, whether it's figuring out every detail of our life, our business, or the next event that we're organizing. And sometimes it's like I'm living one big to-do list life. Having short and long term goals, to-do lists, or direction in life can be great and necessary things, and I don't think this advice means to be any less driven or motivated to aim high and work toward goals. However, I think there's a certain element of mystery and faith in our plans that's healthy, that keeps us flexible, not set in our ways, thinking outside the box, adventurous. Furthermore, I think we could afford to shift our focus more from planning out our life to preparing for life (developing our attitude, character, skills, etc), with the understanding that things may not always go as expected. The two are not mutually exclusive; you can plan and prepare, it's just that sometimes I need to step back from all the details, trust that things will work out, and live each moment as a way of being thankful for the present and preparing for the future. Check out the song "Faith My Eyes" by Caedmon's Call and Proverbs 16:9.
   
3. Living Offensively vs. Defensively: To live defensively is to live with an attitude of "what if." It's dominated by the circumstances and by what other's do and think. To live offensively is to be motivated by love rather than fear (1 John). It's not held back by "what ifs," but decides through wisdom and trust in God.
   

Ughh... politics.

Well, the big election is coming up pretty fast so I figured I should do some research on the top two: McCain and Obama. It's kinda surprising that this is my first real post because I really don't like politics. When I think of politics I'm reminded of a quote that my dad has in his office at work: "A committee takes hours to put into minutes what can be done in seconds." Especially after working with NASA last year I experienced first hand the craziness of bureaucracies and some of the politics involved.

Anyhow, I've posted my excel list comparing McCain and Obama side by side on the right side of this page under "The Sweet Spot" section. Just click on "Compare the Candidates." At the bottom of the spreadsheet I included my references, and anything in blue is my own comment. I only included the issues that were of real interest to me. They are not in any particular order, although there's definitely certain issues that I'm more concerned about than others on the list. Particularly, the environment and renewables (including reduction of foreign dependence) is high on my list. Also, our foreign policy: how we treat other countries and the global issues that we choose to address (like poverty and the Millennium Development Goals). Not only will this help diplomatic relations, but it fights terrorism peacefully, protects our country, and I believe it's just the right, sensible, and inexcusable thing to do. And yeah, I kinda left out health care cuz it's so confusing to me. If anyone can ever find an easy way to explain what's going on with that, let me know! haha.

The only other thing to note right now is that it was interesting going through the candidate's websites. A common complaint about Obama is that he is too vague about how to address the problems. But so far, I've found it to be the opposite; McCain's website describes a lot of promises and hopes, but lacks specifics, whereas Obama's website outlines his plans as well as his goals quite clearly.

Again, I'd love to hear feedback. Please fill in any blanks I'm missing on the spreadsheet or correct anything wrong or unclear. And comment what you think is important. I hope it all makes sense... I wrote it in note form, initially thinking I'd be the only one reading it. So if you're not sure what something means, ask me or google it!

The beginning!!!

Hey Everyone! Thanks for checking out my new blog! I'm excited! I've been meaning to set up something like this for awhile now with the intent of sharing ideas, questions, insights, or just randomness and having other people reply with their thoughts. The point is not to be a journal, where I write and you read, but more of an thoughtful conversation, where we build on ideas and include various perspectives.

This means sharing your ideas is soo important! A lot of my posts may be about the Christian faith or at least come from a Christian perspective because it's what I believe and it affects how I approach matters. If you have a different religious background, still post your thoughts, please! Approaching a matter from different angles will give us a well rounded and thorough look at it. We'd probably learn less if everyone had the same view. Although, I will say that the point is to respectfully discuss thoughts, including different perspectives, not to get sidetracked by unnecessary/unrelated arguments about the perspectives themselves.

Oh, and if there are ways I can make the blog better over time (content or technical stuff, i.e. font size, color...) just let me know! Cool, and thanks!