I posted earlier this month about my decision to take money I was going to put towards satisfying my want to get a Nintendo Wii and giving it instead to those who needed through a donation of $500 to Heifer International. I had an interesting turn of events today at work that made me think back to that decision. I've been working for a company in town called ByteSpeed since August building computers. I'm there part-time and work anywhere from 8-24 hours a week, so my role is fairly limited. Today as the clock inched closer to 5 p.m., I got called into the office of my manager. This had never happened before, so I was a little apprehensive. I sit down and get the news that I'll be receiving a Christmas bonus to the tune of $500. The exact same amount I donated to Heifer International. To quote the teacher from The Incredibles, "Coincidence?! I think not!"

Give and you shall receive I suppose. After I got my bonus I thought, "Hey, I could use this money and actually get the Wii now." But I'm still not going to. Because I don't need it. Instead, I think I'll keep giving, receiving, and giving some more. That sounds like a good plan to me.

I also got some not-so-great news at work today too. My boss is a guard member and he just got called up. He'll be leaving work next Friday and he'll eventually wind up in Afghanistan for close to two years. I hate this war. I hate that it's killing "enemies" and our troops overseas. I hate that families won't have their loved ones around for the holidays (or ever again).

Pray for him and his family. Please. Thank you.

And, G-d, wherever You are in this mess we've made of Your creation, please guide us back towards You. I don't want us to wander blindly anymore.

Once again I am reminded. . .

Worrying accomplishes nothing. I am also reminded there generally is little reason to worry in the first place.

Case in point,

1. Wallet. I always seem to misplace my wallet. Not a good thing. Today was one of those days. I went into the registrar's office to pick up my transcript. They needed a photo ID. No problem, I have my. . .crap. I don't have my wallet. Did I bring that to school with me today? Did I put it in my pocket and did it fall out? Did somebody come across it and use my credit cards? Am I royally screwed? I come home later today and look in the back pocket of the jeans I last wore. Usually that's good enough and the mystery of the missing wallet is solved. But it wasn't there. A million thoughts want to run through my head about the horrible possibilities that might come about if I lost my wallet on campus today but all I can think is, "Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Crap." And so it goes until I look at my computer desk and see a little piece of leather sitting below a flyer. Wallet in possession. Sweet. Why was I worried again?

2. Homework. I hate homework. With a burning passion. Especially when it's a huge paper and I have no idea how I'm supposed to come at it, what to include in it, or how long it's supposed to be. I wind up writing 19 pages in about three days. Most of which were written the day/night/morning before it was due. I have no idea if I've done it right or not. All I know is that I can still get an A in this class if I manage to get a 60% or above on it. I'm hopeful, but not holding my breath. I hand it in and am thankful for it to be done and over with. The longest paper of my college career is done and over with. We got the papers back today and I'm freaking out about how well (or poorly) I did on it. I get the paper back and immediately flip to the back page. Honestly, who reads the comments they get on their papers first? I look below the line of text that has general comments about the paper and see a glorious and completely unsuspected figure:

100

I stare at the number some more, thinking my eyes are playing tricks on me. But, no, the comments affirm that he thought my paper was really good. Nice.

Once again, worry for nothing.

As my wonderful Friend Jesus said, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:27&34)

Reflections of a Wii-less Jake

Yesterday was the launch of the Nintendo Wii. Saturday I loaned a tent to a few of my friends who had decided to camp out in front of Best Buy so they could get one the day it was available. I also went out and hung out with them for a few hours on Saturday. Sunday came, they got their systems and invited me over so I could play. I was more than happy to oblige. We played tennis, baseball, Madden, bowling and some other games. It was a good time. And I'm still glad that I made the decision not to get one. Because it wasn't the new way to play games, or the shiny new system, or the cool controller that made yesterday fun. It was the people. It was hanging out with my brothers in Christ and talking and laughing with them that made yesterday a good day.

And I think I needed to learn that lesson. Because we've been told implicitly throughout our lives here on Earth (and especially in this western culture) that money buys things, which bring us happiness. But I was just as happy sitting outside in the cold, freezing weather talking with my friends about life, politics, and what have you as I was playing virtual tennis with them. I actually think I was more happy just hanging out. Things aren't important. The quality of the food we eat isn't that important. The size of our TV doesn't matter. How we dress, where we live, what we drive, what we have. . .it's all secondary. The things that matter most are the people we choose to share our lives and our loves with.

So, looking back, was it a hard decision not to get one? Yeah. (Sadly.) Do I regret it? Not one bit. I don't need a next-generation console to help me enjoy those around me. I just need those people. And they don't cost any money.

Derek Hess strikes again



From his site: "'Republichrist' - Pen and ink, acrylic on paper - available at the 'Please God, Save Us From Your Followers' show December 15th, 2006 at the 1300 Gallery, Cleveland America."

Thoughts? Comments? Stinging remarks?

The Virgin Myth

As a member of the Christian community I'm exposed to a lot of the sexual purity rhetoric. "Don't have sex before you're married." "Porn is bad." "Your virginity is a gift you can only give once." And on and on. Let me say before you shoot me that I'm not saying these sayings are necessarily bad (okay, maybe the last one, but I'll get to that later). Sexual purity is most definitely a good thing and I strive--and fail almost daily--to keep myself as pure as possible. "Without a hint" right? That's the goal. And because of this, the Christian community at large has advocated abstinence-only sex education and organized rallies crying out to youth to take abstinence pledges so they remain virgins until their wedding night. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Except for all this rhetoric about virginity isn't based on Jesus' teachings.

Bang. Shocker, right? Let me explain.

First and foremost, virginity as it's discussed today is a purely man-made idea. The current discussion of virginity makes no mention of redemption. All of the talk about virginity says it's one shot deal and you're done for the rest of your life. Jesus doesn't deal with us in that way. If He did we'd all have a one-way ticket straight to hell. But Christ forgives. Christ heals. Christ washes sin away. And us talking about virginity outside of the mindset of Grace causes more hurt to those who "are no longer virgins" than it does to help protect from hurt.

That said, let's look at Matthew 5:28, shall we? But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. I think we as a community of believers are really reluctant to embrace the full scope of that passage. Every single time we lust, we have sex. Jesus made no distinction between lust and sex. He also made no distinction between anger and murder. He showed us the seriousness of our thoughts. Not only do they lead to action, they are on the same par as action. So. . .in reality, none of us--not a single one of us--is a virgin on our wedding night.

But that's not the end of the discussion, either. Because, as I said earlier, Christ washes sin away. We have to talk about this in regards to His grace. Virginity is a gift gained and lost every year, every month, down to every day and every hour in a lot of cases. Due to how Christ forgives us and washes us of sin we are able to redeem ourselves from our sexual indiscretions.

None are virgins. But through Jesus we can gain that back if we only ask. That's just how it is. Amazingly beautiful and simple, isn't it? That's how He works. We would do well to remember it.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to imply that we should go out and have all the earthly sex we want before we're married. I'm just trying to bring the focus onto how destitute we really are and how forgiving He truly is.

I'm going nuts

Too. Much. Homework.

Um. . .crap. I'm screwed.

I want a Nintendo Wii (Spectrum edition)

Well, I decided that I'd rewrite my last post and submit it to The Spectrum. If they decide to keep running articles from this guy who won't stop talking about Jesus the article should run either Tuesday or Friday. I now submit this for your reading pleasure. . .

"For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last few months and have no idea what the Nintendo Wii is, let me enlighten you. This next generation console from Nintendo will hit stores on November 19. It’s not the graphical powerhouse like the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3, but it is affordable. The system itself is only $250. The Wii’s main draw, however, is its revolutionary controller. It’s a motion sensitive remote. You aim it like a pointer at the screen and it recognizes where you’re pointing. I get positively giddy thinking about playing sword-fighting games where I’m actually using the controller like a sword. Yes, I am a nerd. I’ve accepted that. Now I feel I can move on. Last week one of my friends and I were geeking out about the Wii and arranging plans for camping out in front of Best Buy so we could get our hands on one at launch. At that point I realized how much I wanted to get one and also decided that I’m not going to.

You see, this world has enough people seeking to satisfy their wants. American culture pretty much demands we go out and spend, spend, spend until our heart’s content. Advertisements and the culture of consumerism have led us to hold onto this false belief that buying stuff is going to make us happy, content, and complete. So right here and right now I’m taking a stand and ending this cycle. I refuse to fall into this mindset that buying what I want will make me happy. So I took the money I planned to spend satisfying my want for a Nintendo Wii—about $500 estimated—and I gave it to those who truly need. I donated my Wii fund to an organization called Heifer International. They’re pretty cool people and I dig what they’re doing. With the donations they receive, they give away livestock like heifers, water buffalos, and llamas. Yeah, they give people free llamas. How awesome is that?

At first, it may not seem like much, but in America we’re pretty blind to the state of the rest of the world. More than half of the world’s population, over three billion people, lives on less than $2 a day. The result is desperate poverty worldwide. And we turn a blind eye to the 10 children that die every minute from not having enough food to eat. Meanwhile, we sit here complaining about how we’re just poor college students, when in reality we’re some of the richest people in the world. And from those who have been given much, much is expected in return. So let’s wake up, people. We are those who have been given much. Having thousands of dollars in loans and little money is no excuse not to give from what we do have. I’m reminded of the story in one of the Gospels where a poor woman comes to the temple and puts two small coins in the offering box while a rich man donates much more. Jesus said the old woman was more justified. She didn’t give more. She gave what she had. That’s us, folks. We may not have the most money in American society, but we’re expected to give from what we do have. And one of the easiest ways to find money to give back is by cutting out things we don’t need. We don’t need the latest, greatest cell phone. We don’t need the snazziest-looking car. We don’t need the Nintendo Wii. So let’s give to those who do need."