Crowds

"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever Amen." Revelation 7:9-12

A couple weeks ago, Dr. Gary Ott, who is without a doubt the smartest, most accomplished person I know, was giving a report at church of his recent trip to east Russia. He had gone to visit Rod and Margi Powell and brought back a report of the work there. That region is particularly interesting because of the sheer number of people groups residing in a small area - most of them unreached. If you ever have an opportunity to hear Rod speak, you'll hear him talk about the prophecy in Revelation 7:9 that someone from every single people group on Earth will bow before Jesus. You will also hear of the large number of people groups which have never heard the Gospel. It is at this intersection where they serve so faithfully in an increasingly unstable part of the world.

I always love hearing Rod (and in this case Dr. Ott) talk about this because it's such an amazingly powerful promise. And it's always coupled with a story of someone he recently saw experience God and His Word for the first time - and being the first person ever of that ethnicity to do so. Such an awesome privilege! And while I don't want to diminish the importance of the prophecy that people from every people group will be present in Heaven, something else amazed me this time.

Read the first half of verse 9 again. "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues" It isn't just that we see representatives from every single people group before the throne, we see a "great multitude which no one could count." Stop. Think about that.

What's the largest crowd you can imagine? Personally, the largest crowd I've been in front of is about 25,000 at Creation. At one of the Luis Palau festivals, I've been in a crowd with 80,000 other people. My favorite concert DVD, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle features a crowd of 160,000 people. According to Guinness, the largest turnout I could find was the 10 million people who show up to watch the Tour de France over its three week run. That's a lot of people.

I did a quick Bible search looking for the largest crowd recorded. In the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles 21:5 gives us the 1.1 million men of Israel who were battle ready. In the New Testament, Revelation 9:16 speaks of the armies of the horsemen as being 200 million strong. Revelation 5:11 speaks of a throng of angles numbering "thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand." If you're keeping score, that's several hundred million. What do all those crowds have in common? They were all numbered. But back in Revelation 7:9, we're given a glimpse at a crowd so much larger than any of these that it can't even be counted. We're told in verse 14 that these are the souls who have come out of the Great Tribulation - not even all of those who are present in Heaven.

So what does this mean? Be encouraged. I know the feeling of spending time sharing with people, only to see very little response. It's frustrating and demotivating. Some people go an entire lifetime without ever seeing a single person come to Christ as a direct result of their ministry. That does not mean that God is not working. Quite the contrary. We have a very clear promise that God in His grace is saving people from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. And if that wasn't enough, the crowd of our brothers and sisters in Heaven will be so great that they cannot even be numbered.

Intense

Puns are almost never funny, but sometimes they take on a life of their own. My friend Justin has developed a habit of responding to anyone claiming something to be "intense" with "just like camping." What started as a stupid pun about tents, became a normal part of vocabulary. The analogy grew to include other things in tents, such as the circus. It got to the point where instead of saying something was intense, I would describe it as being like camping. This, of course, was funny. My roommate Joe would regularly engage in these jokes. But I had no idea how funny the joke really was until today.

We were all at a Memorial Day BBQ enjoying a beautiful yard, wonderful food, and a fierce game of bocce ball. One particularly close toss elicited a "this round is intense" comment from the people watching. This, of course, required the now obligatory "like camping" response. Someone also threw out a follow-up "or the circus." Cory, roommate of Justin, added a new one of "those windshield repair places in the parking lot." This thoroughly confused Joe as to why something so stupid would be considered "intense." He disagreed with this statement, arguing that while he could see camping as an intense activity, and the circus was obviously intense, a windshield repair station clearly had nothing in common with those. At this point he asked, for future reference, how one could determine if something met the requirements of being intense enough to be mentioned. After a long pause and a stare I realized this wasn't a joke. He actually completely missed the running pun for the last three months and assumed it was just an inside joke. My rather cautious reply was "ummmm, it takes place in a tent." About a second later when this realization dawned on poor Joe, the look on his face was priceless. Unfortunately for him, the look on everyone else’s' face was pure hysteria. Thanks for the hardest laugh I've had in a while!

1 Thessalonians 5:25

"Brethren, pray for us." And by "us" I mean "me." Without getting into too much detail, I'm going through some personal hardship and have to make some very difficult decisions. Please pray for wisdom, strength and resolve to do what must be done. Thank you.

Couches

We now have couches! Actually, a couch and a loveseat. Our first pieces of furniture. And, of course, obtaining them was quite an adventure. They came from Dustin's old roommate who was moving and needing to get rid of them. We've been trying to pick them up for some time, but haven't been able to secure a truck at any of the right times. We needed to get them on Saturday, though, because they were needed as bedding (more on that later). Desperate, we called everyone we know with a truck, and finally found someone who was available to loan theirs out. William.

To say William's truck is old and beat up would be an understatement. It's an old Toyota from the 70s or 80s, we really don't know. Yellow with a rusted out bed. No power steering and a carburetor that just didn't want the poor thing to start. Brakes that howled at the very thought of you stopping. Hopefully you get the idea. Joe took the brave job of driving, and we eventually made it to the place. The couches were loaded in with minimal destruction to the house, and we threw a tarp over them because it was raining. But we didn't have any rope. The thought was to tuck the tarp under the couches and their weight would told the tarp on. This was a flawed assumption. A couple miles down the road, the tarp is flapping in the wind. We pull off and re-tuck it. Another mile and it's off again. This time as we're fixing it, someone pulls up behind us and asks if we have a tan couch under there. Yes, we do. "Oh, well your cushions are back on Walker." Joe runs off to retrieve our cushions about a 1/4 mile away in the middle of the road. Without fail, the entire way home, that blasted tarp came off every couple miles. We stopped almost 10 times driving across town to fix that thing. No matter what different technique we tried, it didn't make a difference. So if you're moving anything with a tarp, remember ropes!

A Few of My Favorite Things

The other day as I was walking through Lloyd Center on the east side, heading to the food court to try and justify my use of their parking lot, I saw one of my favorite ads in the window. A couple months ago, Lenscrafters, the glasses place, started airing these ads which promised a "30 day unconditional happiness guarantee." Nowhere in the ad were glasses mentioned. No conditions were stipulated. If you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't even know what the ad was for. All you would know is that if you go to Lenscrafters, you'll be guaranteed happiness for 30 days. Unconditionally. Amazing. They've since changed the ad to include references to glasses, but as I walked past their store, they had a giant banner in the window proclaiming the availability of 30 days of unconditional happiness. I really need to stop in there one of these times. Finally arriving at the food court, I overheard a larger gentleman at the bakery order a salad. "Good for you," I thought to myself. Salad is a good move. Then, much to my amazement, he proceeded to order six cookies. I wish I could describe the manner in which he ordered those cookies in a written medium. The closest I can get is to say that he was in a wild frenzy. I'm not so sure the salad is going to balance those out for you, buddy. Only in America.....

The One That Doesn't Make Sense

Hey everyone. Sorry for not updating in a while. I know you all are constantly checking for new posts, waiting with eager anticipation for the next window into my life. So here you go. Anyone watch Friends? I don't really, but I seem to have seen all the ones that people talk about. One of my old roommates had them on DVD, so every once in a while I'd see a couple they were watching. But anyway, there's this one where Phoebe's smoke detector won't stop going off. This is that story.

I came home late Thursday night and found Joe still awake. We started talking, and I was rather annoyed by a single beep emanating from somewhere every minute or so. He said it had been going off all night, and I was determined to make it stop. I started with the smoke detector in the hallway outside the kitchen. We're constantly having to press the quiet button on this one because the slightest little thing sets it off. Literally, you pre-heat the oven, and opening the door - with nothing in there - will set the thing off. It's nuts.

So I'm on a stool fiddling with that one, and I hear the beep, but not in my ear as it should be. It sounds like it's coming from down the hall. So I head to Jonny and Dustin's room where Dustin is sleeping, and am pressing the button as I hear the beep from somewhere else. At this point we don't know where it's coming from, so we spread out manning each smoke detector in the house. Turns out it was the one in Joe's room all along. Thing is, there's no reason for it to be beeping. It's hardwired in to the electrical system, so it doesn't have a battery to die. I remove it from the ceiling and find out that it does, in fact, have a battery for backup purposes. I remove it, assuming it's low and it's just letting us know. As it's sitting on my desk not plugged in and without a battery, it beeps again. This doesn't make sense. There is no power going into this smoke detector. There is nothing enabling it to beep. But it won't stop. Even when it's completely taken apart on my desk, it's still beeping. Just like that episode of Friends.

Cliffhangers 2

Not again! I started watching 24 about halfway through this season purely for the social interaction. Everyone I know gathers at someone's house each Monday evening to watch this show. So I started going. I'm not terribly thrilled with 24. It's full of technical impossibilities and a general ignorance with the way things really work. But then again, so is most all of TV. And 24 really hooks you in. Each episode ends in a total cliffhanger. If you're not familiar with 24, it's a "real time" show. Each one hour episode represents one hour in a day. Each season represents one 24 hour day. Each season stands alone - there's no connection between them (or so I've been told). And they're very careful to end each episode at the worst possible place to force you to watch next week's. But tonight was the 2 hour season finale, so all our unanswered questions were, well, answered. And there was a pretty good resolution. But then, with 2 minutes left in the show, they start a new plot line! All the nerve! You can't have major events go down with 2 minutes left in the season, then expect us to be happy until January when you pick it up again. Uncool!

Blogging the Bible

My homepage is MSN. I like the splattering of information on every topic imaginable. I'm usually only there for as long as it takes me to type in the address of the place I'm going, but every once in a while, something catches my eye. Today, under the ever-popular "Who was Mary Magdalene Really" banner, I saw a link named "Blogging the Bible." Basically, this Jewish writer for Slate realized he didn't know what was really in the Bible, and that he should read it. Obviously, he's approaching it with some degree of skepticism. But I still find it fascinating to read someone's thoughts as they encounter God's Word. I think it will be really interesting to see what happens when he gets into the New Testament. Anyway, if you're interested, his blog is here.

Relativity (or The Curse of Being Goal-Oriented)

Be ye forewarned, this is a long, late-night post. Coherency of thought not guaranteed.

I was thinking about relativity today. And don't worry, no physics discussion this time. More of how we perceive the passage of time. I was driving back from the beach yesterday with a car full of sleeping passengers, meaning I spent a lot of time looking out the window. And it reminded me of when I was a kid on road trips. I remember long drives to Colorado, particularly during the boring Wyoming stretch, looking at the Rocky Mountains in the distance stirred the boredom - it looked like we were barely moving. But looking at the tall strands of whatever was growing in those fields right next to the road made it look like we were really moving. Same thing yesterday. Looking into the distance at the mountains, we were crawling along. Looking at the trees lining the highway, we were cruising along at 75 mph. This is obviously not a new observation.

At the same time I was pondering where I was going in life. My plans, my dreams, and what was keeping me from getting there. Because I'm incredibly deep and thoughtful (or more likely some neuron misfired), these lines of thought intersected resulting in this analogy. I noticed a similarity between the way the scenery moves by and the way my life is passing. It's all in where you're looking. At the end of the day, I'm usually left feeling like when I'm looking at that first row of trees by the road: we're really moving. Weeks and months can feel like that sometimes too.

But I tend to be a big picture person, so I spend a lot of my time looking back at those mountain ranges. And sometimes I get frustrated because it doesn't seem like things are moving anywhere. I look down at my speedometer and am clearly going fast, but when I look at what things I'd like to have done/passed, I get a different story. I know the solution is to not spend so much time gazing out the windows and judging life that way. Instead I should be focusing on the stretch of road right in front of me and let the speedometer be the only true indication of the rate at which things are moving. (you know, a little Proverbs 4:25) I know I need to develop more patience and diligence in my life. Contentment with what I'm doing now and not obsession over where I would like to be.

Sooner or later you hit one of those mountains off in the distance. You're there, and you start your climb up. If you've ever climbed a mountain (or even a big hill), you've had this happen: it always looks more direct than it ends up being. It looks so simple - just straight up. But in reality there's dozens of ups and downs, twists and turns. What looked like a single mountain ended up being a bunch of foothills and a big mountain. But you finally get to the top of the pass and see that little green "summit" sign on the side of the road right before you start the downhill. That mountain is over. From this vantage point, you can clearly see the next mountain. It's as deceitful as the last one, riddled with switchbacks and illusions of an easy climb. But every once in a while you are greeted with an even worse sight. Sometimes you do see the road leading up the next mountain, or at least part of it. You see all the foothills you have to pass, you see the treacherous turns with no guard rails, and you see that as you move deeper into the mountain range, each subsequent mountain is quite a bit larger than the last.

This describes where I am now. That last mountain of getting a degree was a pain. It should have been a lot more straightforward than it was. It should have been done a year ago. But now it is. And from the top of this mountain, I clearly see the next, probably named something like Staff Mountain. I think a lot of people break down or are eaten by bears on their way up its slopes. At this point I only see the foothill named New Staff Training, but I'm sure there are plenty more. And the road named Support Raising looks to be the meanest stretch of road I've ever seen. I long to reach the top of that mountain, but I find myself wondering if I can make it. Actually, I know I can't. And honestly, that scares me a little. I know people travel this road all the time. I know when I reach that next mountain I'll look back on this one and laugh. But that's big picture me talking again. The same me who about this time decides to stop looking at the difficult road ahead and instead look off to the side again. Now it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere.....

I need to be looking somewhere else.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3

Help, Please

Ok, so here's the deal. New Staff Training is going to end up costing almost $4,000. The vast majority of that will be charged to my account and paid for later once I start raising support (in August). The only part I have to come up with in advance is $500 for my plane ticket. The last time I tried this Internet donation thing (Katrina) it was hugely successful, so I thought I would give it another shot. If you're able, I would really appreciate your help. I'm not using the Crusade online donation thing, or running this money through them, so it's not tax deductible. The reason is that in the Crusade system, I buy the ticket up front and get reimbursed later. But I don't have the $500 in advance, so that's not going to work. Thanks in advance for your prayers and support!

Anyone, Anyone?

Bueller? Ok, so I need a picture of me. I don't have any. I'm always the one behind the camera. But I'm doing a lot of stuff now that's asking for a picture of me. So if anyone has any good ones they'd like to share, pass them along. Or if you know someone who might want to take one. Otherwise, my roommates and I will probably come up with something a little more....humorous....than these forms are intending.

Public Transportation 2

Just a quickie because someone scheduled a meeting very early tomorrow morning. So I rode the MAX again today because it's just so convenient! And so much more air conditioned than my car is currently! I had a seat this time, so I was able to avoid any unwanted bodily contact. What intrigued me on this particular occasion was a guy standing in the "joint" section of the train. He was standing there, rocking out to his boombox. Yeah. In the age of iPods, even a Discman, this guy was all about the old school. Cause what's the point of listening to music if everyone around you can't enjoy it too?

Cliffhangers

My favorite TV show has let me down. Last night the one hour season finale of Scrubs ended with a "to be continued...." NOOOOOO! You should not be allowed to do that! Making people wait 3-4 months for the conclusion is just mean.

Happy Mothers' Day?

Hopefully the fact that it's Mothers' Day doesn't surprise anyone. So this one goes out to Mom. I know you don't read this. I know you really don't use the Internet. I know this is because your computer isn't exactly working right now - your computer that you hate to use. And I know this is because I haven't fixed it yet. BUT, I do love you and wish you a very happy Mother's Day. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I know nothing about your life has been easy, especially raising two kids. You made a lot of sacrifices for us that I'm grateful for, even if I don't always show it. I really do admire and respect you.

After lunch today, my mom and I stopped by her mom's to visit. I hadn't been to see her since she took a turn in her health. She's not able to live in the same place as before because they're not equipped to deal with her declining health. So she had to be moved to a much more depressing care facility. It saddened me just walking into the room and seeing her on the bed with various tubes plugged in her. When she saw me she got just about the saddest face I've ever seen. See, my grandmother is a very strong, proud woman. She's accomplished a lot in the last 88 years. Besides weathering all the twists and turns of history (war, depression, etc.) she raised 6 kids and has outlived her husband by over 10 years now. She's beaten cancer and other diseases on multiple occasions. There have been several times I've thought she was on her last leg, but every time she comes out swinging. The woman is crazy resilient.

And she's proud of it, which can make things difficult. She went to college at a time when women didn't really do that sort of thing - and earned her master's in psychology, nonetheless. I remember as a kid and during the couple years we lived with her, "fun" was me playing the word games in Reader's Digest with her. Or playing Scrabble. And, yes, we'd need a dictionary handy. Later on we'd watch Jeopardy and yell out the answers. She always had copies of Newsweek and Popular Science lying around. And if she ever heard you say that you didn't know what something was, she'd order you to consult her unabridged collegiate dictionary and report back. I learned to love that 6" thick monstrosity which now lives on one of my shelves. She was the type of person always learning, never content.

But all this learning and experience made her a difficult person sometimes. She was always right (which must be where I get it from). There was no other way than her's. This really became problematic as her health required that people start doing things for her - things which could never be done "right." There would be a lot of arguments - the kind no one wins. I know the Bible says that before God everyone will be silenced. I used to joke that if there would be anyone in the world who would still try to argue with the Almighty, she would be the only one brazen enough to do it.

But going back to when we saw each other, her face fell. I think it was because she was thinking over the exact same things I was. All these memories of her being strong and proud. And now she's on a bed with machines to help her live. A man comes in every couple hours to check her vitals and diaper. It was one thing to have her kids in there visiting with her. But I think that my seeing her was humiliation she would have rather done without. Don't worry, Grandma, I won't remember you like this.

Public Transportation

There's a lot of things I should be doing right now. I should be in bed. I could also be replying to emails, doing more research for work, or even blogging about things that have happened here over the last couple of days. But I'm not going to. No, I'm going to blog about something totally inconsequential. Spending a large portion of my time in the downtown area of Portland, I'm faced with a huge transportation headache. It only takes me 20-30 minutes to get wherever it is I'm going, but parking ranges anywhere from 15 minutes to $8.

To combat the expense and hassle of downtown parking, I've been experimenting with various modes of public transportation. Today I rode the MAX (above ground subway). I've been driving to Portland, but parking a little ways away from where I want to be - somewhere free to park and inside the "Fare-less Square" for public transportation - then riding the MAX in. You get an interesting group when you don't charge anything. It was packed. Not normal for it to be this full on a normal day. All the seats were taken and the aisles were full of people standing. I managed to slide in and lean against a wall near the door. In front of me was a dirty guy with his (I'm assuming) girlfriend. They were engaged in an activity somewhere between making out and foreplay. Not a problem if he wasn't so loud. At every stop, even though the train was clearly full, he'd yell at people on the platform to "squeeze on in!" - much to the dismay of those of us already on the train. I was left with a stocky gentleman standing immediately in front of me (remember, back to a wall). Whenever the train would change in speed, he would slam up against me - not that there was anywhere for either of us to move to. Bam. And because of his size he couldn't exactly return to a self-supporting stance quickly. Whump. As he rested on my chest I wanted so badly to take a breath (after the impact knocked the wind out of me), but was unable to inflate my lungs under the pressure.

Then there was the time I rode the bus. This was my first real experience with the bus here. I've ridden the MAX tons of times, but never needed the bus. There's a stop right by my apartment that goes right where I need to be. So I gave it a shot. Armed with my giant Sennheiser headphones to cancel out noise and serve as a "do not disturb" sign (friends who frequent the bus have warned me to avoiding conversation), I was ready for the hour-long ride downtown. What I wasn't ready for was what happened at the Tigard transit center. As the driver closed the doors to move out, a guy was running towards us. So he waited and opened the doors again. The guy gets on and shows a transfer slip, but the driver informs him that it's expired. This displeases the guy. They start to argue about it. A lot. The driver orders the guy off the bus. The guy doesn't want to leave. More yelling. At this point the 5 men on the bus are on "high alert" not knowing what this guy is going to do next. Then he assaults the driver.

Legal Tangent: He did not hit the driver. He took a step in and pulled his fist
back in such a manner so as to punch the driver. Contrary to popular believe
assault is not the act of physically harming another person. It's the threat of
violence. Battery is the actual commission of a violent act. At least according
to Oregon law.

At this point the 5 of us are on our feet gently reminding him of what's going to happen if he messes with our driver (thus delaying our trip). It doesn't end with him getting a ride on the bus (unless it's a prison bus - oooooh, snap!). Anyway, I think I might just drive for a little while. It's so much more uneventful.

Where is my roommate? I don't want to wait up much longer! Told you I was writing about totally random things.