Fire & Ice

Camp is always leaves me feeling the same way.

I never go there to do the same things as most people. Shortly after Nate and I actually arrived at camp and had spent a little time hanging out with Kiel (I've MISSED him!) and Kris (I've missed her too, but it hasn't been since last May), we figured out housing and then started working.

Which is why STAFF come, right? We're there to help. To love on the campers (237 kids and youth staffers!), give them breakfast, keep the bathrooms from becoming a disaster, and so on.

Or, in some cases, hang out with them. I did that too. And those moments are some of the coolest.

In the sweltering heat of summer, the crisp cool of fall, or the icy cold of winter, I always come home from camp refreshed. I'm tired, as always. But so glad I went.

It was worth it. I hope the other campers and staff felt the same way.

Reading through the Bible REALLY fast!

I sometimes wonder, "What am I really doing with this thing?! I'm not THAT interesting of a person. Why anyone would want to read any of what I write personally is a mystery."

But I digress. I never know where it will take me because (like life), little surprises come up. Like the other day when Nate Storvik pitched the idea to me to read through the whole Bible. In about three months. The goal is to read through it completely before staff training begins at Center Lake.

In other instances, if I was still a full-time student at Hope, or busily teaching my own students, I'd feel afraid or turn down this endeavor. I'd doom myself to failure before I ever started. But this time, for whatever reason, I'm incredibly excited about this reading project. I wanted to do it as soon as Nate mentioned it. Because I want to grow from this. I want to be closer to God. I want to know Him more. I NEED know Him better.

The verse that hit me for some reason from today's reading (they're big-Genesis 1-11) was when God was talking with Cain after he had murdered Abel. I've read the story before but the verse hit home. In Genesis 4:6-7, God challenged Cain:

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (ESV)

Cain could do better. He could still do better to please God. With the help from the Lord of Heaven, not all would be lost, even for someone like Cain.

Being accepted by God with His help sounds pretty awesome to me.

New blog!

Moving blog entries yourself is a pain. It doesn't have me at all excited to move myself someday when I'm moving for real to a new place on my own when I'm teaching. It's going to be a whole bunch of not fun.

But this was worth it. As happy as I was with Xanga (and still trying to get used to this new formatting and such), I think it was time to move on, though I was glad to take them with me. And so here we go with a new blog.

Musings of a Mad Piano Man. Let it begin.

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Love Your Neighbor, Hope College

I read an article recently that disappoints me. Even after being a Hope College graduate for a year and a half, and knowing less and less students at the institution every year, life and the overall pulse at the place hasn't changed a great deal.

The article basically was over the huge flap by this guy named Dustin Lance Black, who was the screenwriter for a film called Milk, a gay rights film. The man wanted to film a new movie in Holland and had even settled in the area and had scheduled to screen the film until administration stopped it in its tracks, setting off (big surprise) a extremely vocal reaction by students and in the community. It later screened and Black met with the dean at a local theater.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Neither side is right in this instance. Black should have gotten to know the Holland and Hope College areas better before he decided it was the right place. Knowing what a place looks like is a far cry from what it's actually like in terms of personality if you're attacking a topic such as homosexuality, as evidenced by what happened. It was a colossally stupid move to film in west Michigan and all its conservatism if you think no one is going to care if you make a movie about homosexual activism. And based on what the dean said, it's yet more bad publicity for the college.

But the more I think about it, the institution did it wrong, too (if that's indeed what happened). To agree to screen but then backpedal IS wrong. Either you say, "No thanks. We're not interested." or "Name the time and place." Realizing after you agree that you're going to offend the major lines of credit is wrong, even though that is often reality. Hope, especially as a private and Christian institution, has a free (and moral obligation) to maintain Biblical standards and must do so. And while I'm glad that they aren't backing down at least in defining what the institution's official stance is on homosexuality, so to speak, they're running into major problems with their execution. To exist in a culture of fear and even outright animosity is not the way to live. It's not what the Bible teaches and as Christians (a little Christ, a shadow of Him, I suppose), we're supposed to love our neighbors, not hate them (Matthew 22:37-40).

Come on, Hope College. Your stance is fine, but do a better job in love. Cut the "you people" accusations. And as for Mr. Black... PLEASE use your brain.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Jobs and Playing

As I sit here writing (and enjoying the fact that I'm blogging on a more regular basis again, regardless of who reads or doesn't read it), I have a number of thoughts bubbling in my head.

I'm eagerly anticipating sending off a REAL job application to an institution here in town. Like the kind doing what I want to do-teaching music to young bright minds. That sounds like so much fun to me that I can barely contain my excitement at just the thought of printing a résumé, cover letter, application, having references together, packing it up in an envelope, putting the postage on it, and sending it away and having someone even think about all that. It gets to be a drag after a short time (especially if you have to do it lots of times), but there's a certain sense of exhilaration the first time you're doing it for real. Especially now that I'm really starting to get that restless feeling of wanting to teach MY students. MY kids.

The second thought I had spinning around had to do with practice tonight. Bob had mentioned with a certain degree of irony I think on Sunday how strange or ironic that the youth are leading music on the very first Sunday of Advent and on Communion Sunday. I personally don't understand why there is a certain taboo with Advent, Communion, or why the youth would be "banned" from playing on any particular day if needed or the calendar was arranged so. If we played and sang to the Lord, with joy, as skillfully as we can (and don't sell the youth at our church short-it sounded great tonight), why isn't THAT really good enough? Isn't that what worship through music really is?

I really don't understand it myself.

Monday, 23 November 2009

DON'T PUNISH EDUCATION!

I want to be a teacher. And it's been a dream of mine for a long time.

Right now I'm working on becoming one again and hopefully that'll happen. But I've been reminded how current events rarely seem to be in favor of teachers. There's always plenty of demands placed on them, like lesson planning, grading, conferences, and all the needs of the students that aren't always so obvious, such as when parents aren't there and they rely on a teacher they trust for guidance. It seems like the work never ends.

And one of the most obvious points is how glaringly low pay has stayed for teachers. Despite costs of living continuing to increase, pay for teachers just isn't going up and with school districts everywhere having to make sacrifices, teachers are never paid well. The one potent counterweight is that teachers have great benefits.

But now Congress would love to tax the daylights out of them in order to raise money for the public health plan. How on Earth is this the right option in a recession, especially in states (like Michigan) where school districts are facing record-setting losses and trying to shield students from the losses year after year?

Monday, 23 November 2009

I come home. I go away. I return. I am thankful.

It seems I'm finally home for at least a bit of a longer stretch of time. For a while, I felt like all I ever was doing was spending my weeks doing my thing at home prepping for the weekend and weekends were spent going to camp. Or Holland. Or in one instance, both, which isn't that bad.

I really like seeing my friends and reconnecting with them. I believe that I have some of the greatest friends that I could ask for, and that has been reaffirmed in the past three weekends. I've developed a closer relationship with some of my camp friends as we've studied discipleship together in a Bible study and thought about the persecuted church during the month of November (and in the process, at least personally, developed a greater sense of perspective on thankfulness, especially when we celebrate being thankful for all the things we DO have with one of the biggest feast days of the year). I find a certain sense of irony in that, but I'll reserve my thoughts on that for another post, hopefully.

Staff Reunion was shorter this year, but I think Nate and I made the exact right move in going down to Grand Rapids afterward and then to Holland on Sunday morning. I'm always glad to be at Engedi for church because it's like another church family along with Cornerstone (and now Temple Hill), but this last experience at Engedi now a week ago was special. The service was a baptismal service and Nate and I witnessed something that I think very few people have ever seen. As usual, a number of people had planned on getting baptized, some with extremely powerful testimonies. But perhaps the most interesting was something that no one had necessarily intended, yet God knew all along would happen. It was an impromptu baptism. This gentleman that I didn't even know of came, said he was at home and had this realization that he knew a church was doing baptisms and that he needed to be baptized that morning. And so he went to Engedi and asked to be baptized. The part that brought me, well, joy was the fact that some of the men didn't turn him away because of church policies and Brian didn't either (though he did ask him in front of everyone the same questions about if he knew Jesus died for Him and if he was a Christian and if he wanted to make the public statement of being a new creation and living for Him). And just like with its own close members, the congregation erupted in celebration.

And then there was The Gathering. Shane Claiborne was brought in to speak at Hope College during The Gathering, which was the biggest reason Nate and I stopped in Holland instead of going straight home and meeting Leah and Jessica at Hope. And it was worth it. For all the controversy that supposedly surrounds this man, what he talked about a week ago didn't seem that wrong to me. Shane Claiborne talked about how he lives in a tough neighborhood in Philadelphia and reach out to the kids. How he gets sad when one of them gets hurt, or worse, dies. How he wanted to serve alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta. And how he keeps a soldier's dogtags, a piece of detonated bomb casing, and bullet casing in his pocket to remember to pray for the suffering. If the American churches are upset because Shane Claiborne wants to pray for those that need help and are hurting or confused and want to know Jesus, then they're getting angry at the wrong person.

While I was at The Gathering on the 15th and this past weekend, I was also reminded of why I loved spending four years at Hope College so much. I jokingly tell high school kids that I know that Hope is one of the best colleges on the planet. But this is one reason why I loved it so much. While I was in Dimnent Chapel waiting with N-Sto and company, I saw Trygve Johnson & Josh Banner talking and I just wanted to talk and say hey mostly because it's hard to catch them and actually TALK. But then when they asked how I was doing, I was honest and said that job stuff is hard and a little discouraging. And instead of being simply sympathetic, Trygve pulled me in and said, "Tyler, let me pray for you. Right now." And we did for something like 5 minutes. That meant a lot. Instead of being one of several thousand alums he's sent off now in his time, it matters to Trygve how I'm REALLY doing even beyond my four years at Hope. To be known and then forgotten is absolutely heartbreaking, but not so at Hope. Not only have I felt like I was SOMEONE with a story rather than just a face, but to know that I have a Dean of the Chapel that would pray for me because I'm discouraged about wanting to teach and can't find the right job yet means so much.

And this past weekend playing for Nate & Caitlin's wedding meant two things. First, I had the pleasure once again of getting to play music for two more of my friends from school on the day when they celebrate the bond of marriage together. That's lots of fun in and of itself, although I always wonder a little if the music will come together and if the music I pick will be okay (thankfully Caitlin & Nate both liked it!). Better yet, it was a time to reunite with TONS of my closest friends from Hope, which is my other favorite part of weddings when they involve my friends from college. It's yet another excuse to hold gigantic parties with way too many people and act silly together. Who knew you could stuff 10 people in a photo booth?! And did I mention I saw BEN at the same iHOP where we did Bible Studs iHOP runs?!

Yes, I'm thankful to be home for a little while. But I'm thankful for four years spent at Hope College, even if it cost money, for the good influences it has had on me. God taught me a lot there through EVERYTHING. And I'm thankful for all the relationship I have there. Gosh, I miss them all so much. I just get to see them and enjoy them for awhile and then I say good-bye again. And I am thankful for music too.

Currently This Is Our God By Hillsong Desert Song see related