The Desert Stooge

The Beauty of God

2011-03-04T17:18:00.001-07:00

Taken in from a certain perspective, death is an ugly thing. The pain, separation, and grief that comes with death is not a fun thing to witness or experience. Recently, I attended two funerals for the parents/grandparents of good friends of mine. It's hard to watch people you care about in such emotional pain, knowing there's not much you can do about it except give them a shoulder to cry on if they need it. The process of death can be ugly. Often there's physical pain involved. Sometimes it can be even brutal and gruesome. Death can be an ugly thing.

Birth can be an ugly thing as well, again, when taken in from a certain perspective. The physical aspects of birth are not particularly pleasant. There's a lot of blood. It's kind of a disgusting process. There's so much pain involved in child-birth it can get unbearable to watch. As I was standing next to my wife while she gave birth to our son, the pain that was evident on her face was excruciatingly hard for me to watch.

Life can, obviously, be an ugly thing. There are things in this world that cause us to cringe; things that bring out the ugliness in us as humans.

Death. Birth. Life. They can all be ugly things.

Yet, death can be a beautiful thing. For a follower and disciple of Christ, death is going home. It's an end to pain. It's an end to sadness and the ugliness of life. Birth is a beautiful thing. It's the beginning of a brand new life in this world. It causes joy, hope, and love to well up inside those who experience it. Life, can be a beautiful thing. The experiences of a lifetime, coupled with the joy of living with those who love God and love us, bring beauty into our lives like nothing else in this world can. The beauty of a sunset; the thrill of a ballgame; the peace of a quiet lake; these all bring beauty into our lives.

So perspective, gained from what influences we choose to allow into our lives, be it good, holy and Godly, or sinful and wrong, is what determines how we see existence. God created the world simply to be. When taken in from His perspective, He saw that "it was good." We simply exist. But when we live for God and His purposes, we can become beautiful. Death is. Birth is. Life is. It's all a part of existence. If our perspective dictates that one of these is ugly, we can't simply cut it out of existence. We all experience death. We all experience birth (at least in some form, even if it's simply that we were born at one point). We all live life in some capacity. The thing that we can control and change, is our perspective. Do I look at the world and existence through the lens of pain, sin and simple worldliness? Or do I look at the world through the lens of Christ and what He has done for us on the cross; through the lens of His love for me and the world He has created?

The beauty of existence can only come from God. It's a part of who He is. Pure beauty can be defined by God. Once we pass the threshold of death, push through the ugliness that comes from various aspects of our existence, we can see the full beauty of heaven and the grace, love and peace that God has planned for us.

Death. Birth. Life. They can be ugly things. But when looked at from the right perspective, we can get a glimpse of the beauty of God.

Kids these days...

2011-02-21T13:57:00.001-07:00

I was cleaning up in the children's area at church the other day, and found the following note inscribed on the dry-erase wall:

Dear Zoe, How are you doing im in first grade and i just farted My teacher never goes to the bathroom and she acts so cool But shes not My whole class is my friend's some are and some ar'nt and i just farted again the boys think im stupid i think they are but i just tease them so school is fun to me but picture day is better the best part is lunch your friend Carly

It's always fun to be reminded that there is a time of life when we don't necessarily care about correct "social protocol" or how we are perceived by others. Sometimes it's just good to know that farting is just as much a part of life as school or teasing the boys in class.

I'm pumped to be a dad. It's exciting to now be an essential part of someone's development. But probably more than that, I'm looking forward to all the goofy and unexpected comments or actions that will take place in the Locke household over the next couple of decades or so. Life is cool.

Priorities

2010-01-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

I suffer from a lack of perspective. I suspect I'm not the only American, or Christian who does so.

I like Conan O'Brien. He's funny, puts on a good show, and NBC looks like they're going to force him out. Now, I'm not a big TV watcher, and I realize that this is just a surface-level, entertainment thing. It's really not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. But it has never-the-less captured my attention, so I've been following the story.

So this morning, I jumped on the interwebs and looked for the next act in this unfolding drama. I posted the "Coco" picture on my facebook profile and joined his fan group. And it wasn't until just a few minutes ago that I stumbled across a link about something happening in Haiti.

Because I was overly concerned with where Conan might end up in a few months I missed that there was a massive 7.0 earthquake that hit Haiti early this morning. Had I been paying attention, I would have seen all of the news and links pointing towards the devastation and heartache that has occurred there over the last 24 hours or so.

Parts of the new computer I'm building came in the mail and were waiting for me when I got into work this morning. I was super excited and opened all the boxes to look at everything, even though I don't have all the stuff and so I can't put anything together until tomorrow or so. I sit here and look at the new computer case I bought and I'm ashamed to think that as I'm excited for this new toy, there are thousands of people whose lives have been completely destroyed and they don't have a home to go back to, much less a computer from which they could send an email to a loved one letting them know that they're still alive. In the minutes that it took me to open the packaging, hundreds of people died under rubble, because there weren't enough unharmed people to dig through the wreckage to find them.

It happens throughout the world, everyday. I sit in my air-conditioned/heated office, very comfortable in my desk chair, drink a Dr. Pepper and people in other parts of the world die from hunger or dehydration or disease or exposure to the elements.

Is it wrong of me to live the way I do when so much of the world is hurting? Is it hypocritical, to sit here and write my little blog that no one will read and at the same time think about how I'd really like some brownies right now?

I don't know. I do know that God places us in certain situations for specific purposes. I know that I'm here working at Broadway Christian Church because He has called me here. I know that I lose focus very easily on what He has told us in His word is important and right. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti.I will pray that God will protect those who need His protection and comfort those who need His comfort. But here's where I get all twisted up in my brain and I get all befuddled. What do I do? As a follower of Christ, what is my response to what happened in Haiti? Earthquakes happen all the time. Death and destruction happens all the time. We know this; it's the result of a fallen and sinful world. Is it my responsibility to give money, aid, or whatever ever time I come across something like this?

God has told us: "Then Jesus came to them. He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So you must go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And you can be sure that I am always with you, to the very end."

Our job as followers of Christ isn't simply to show compassion on people. It isn't to give lots of money, or even rebuild all kinds of houses and communities. Our job, the task that was given to us when Jesus left the earth to prepare us a home in heaven, is to bring as many people into His family as we possibly can. It isn't about humanitarian deeds we do. It isn't about government policies we stand up in protest against. It isn't even how many people come through the doors of our church buildings. It's about living our lives in such a way that the people who we come in contact with will see the light of Christ in our lives and choose to live for Him in turn.

I suffer from a lack of perspective. God has blessed me richly beyond anything I could imagine. And I get so focused on the blessings I've been given, I miss opportunities to serve the Great Master.

Lord, give me eyes to see your mission field. Help me to see the opportunities You place before me to shine Your light. Through all the hurting and destruction of this world, give me the courage and discipline to teach others about You wherever I am, wherever I go. Teach me to love as You have me. Teach me to live as You would have me live. Teach me to sacrifice as You have sacrificed for me.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/01/13/world/americas/1247466526751/massive-earthquake-hits-haiti.html

A Limerick

2009-11-23T20:41:00.002-07:00

There once was a fellow named Brett
He decided he'd like to defect
To a team that once loathed
The way he was clothed
And now they all give him respect.

It's becoming harder and harder for me to dislike him, but I've made a commitment. It'll take more than an MVP/career season to like one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

And we're done.

2009-11-06T02:38:00.000-07:00

I've now installed Windows 7, hopefully for the last time. I'm now also using Google Chrome as my web browser. I've been using for only 10 minutes so far, but already I like it way better than IE or Firefox. It also makes me feel cool and non-Microsofty.

Windows is installing updates . . .

2009-11-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

Bleh. I'm about done with Windows. I had pre-ordered Windows 7, and was excited about installing it on my laptop as soon as it got here. Well. It has now been 2+ weeks, and I still have yet to fully install it. In fact, this post is being written with Windows Vista. Part of the problem I'm running into, is that I put some new memory in my laptop that doesn't seem to be very friendly with the rest of the machine. I've had to restore, re-install, upgrade, and update both Vista and Windows 7 multiple times.

Hopefully this is the final time, and I'll have it all fixed nice and pretty. I've restored my laptop back to its out-of-box state (Windows Vista) and I'm now waiting for the Vista updates to finish installing so I can move on to upgrading to Windows 7. I probably didn't need to do any of the Vista updates, but I wanted to make sure I had all the most recent drivers and such.

Anyway, I guess all that is to say, I'm wasting time waiting for Windows to finish updating. I thought I might as well write a blog, since that's what I seem to be doing now a days.

Maybe I'll just go to Linux and forget this whole Windows poopiness. . .

2009-11-02T23:00:00.001-07:00

Update...

I went and saw my friend at the store today. We talked for a bit and I gave him a Bible and some info about church. We'll see what comes of it.

And you shall be My witnesses . . .

2009-10-30T17:20:00.003-07:00

I was in a retail store earlier today buying some things for church. The salesman helping me was very friendly (as most salesmen are) and was making small talk. Naturally one of the first things he asked me was what I was buying the stuff for, and I proceeded to tell him it was for a children's area at church, and that I was the children's pastor there. He said something along the lines of, "Oh, that's cool. I actually have three kids of my own." I asked him how old they were and he told me (10, 5, and 2.5). I then thought to myself, "Self, buck up. Here's a good chance to share that Jesus person you're always talking about on Sundays."

So I asked him, "Do you go to church anywhere?"

He answered, "No, not right now."

I thought, "Ah ha! And now for the hook!"

I said, "Oh you should come check out Broadway, it's pretty cool. We have services on Sunday and stuff on Tuesday nights."

At the time it sounded great. Surely, through my eloquent phraseology and persuasive dialogue he will give his life to Christ.

I'm ashamed to admit that's about the extent of our conversation. I didn't have one of my business cards with me (he gave me one of his). I didn't tell him what times the services were. In fact, I didn't even say as much as a "God bless you" when I left. As I drove away, the first thoughts I had were good ones. I had done a good job, had said what I needed to. But the more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became.

Is this what my faith means to me? A timid and mumbled attempt to invite someone to a Sunday service? Is that what Christ meant when He said, "Go into all the world..."?

I realize that God can do amazing things with very little (lunch anyone?). But I'm pretty sure God's going to have to pick up a lot of slack for me on this one. Maybe I'll have a follow up to this. I've decided I'm going to go back later and (hopefully) give him a business card and some stuff about Broadway. Let's hope I'll even be so bold as to *gasp* pray with him or something.

Lord God, I pray that you would make me bold. That I would willingly and unashamedly speak your name, and tell of your love.

Flash memory

2009-10-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is my new 8 gig usb flash drive. Yup, it's that small. Crazy technology.

2009-10-20T16:23:00.001-07:00

So, I'm trying out this new feature on my blog. I sent this from my phone. Maybe I'll post more often this way...

A Better Day :)

2008-12-15T14:15:00.003-07:00

This is how I asked Jessica to marry me. It happened yesterday at church. :)

A Good Day.

2008-11-28T23:58:00.004-07:00

Today was a good day. That's not to say that other days have been inherently bad. And really today wasn't all that much better than many other days, since most days seem to be pretty good in general. However, perhaps today was particularly more bloggable than some.

I started out by sleeping in, which in my opinion is a good way to start any day, good or bad. Once I woke up I played some Warcraft III with my roommate Austin and with another friend, Scotty, who showed up later. After a few rounds against the evil minions of Computers 1-3, Mark came over and we went to lunch at the mall. Despite my aversion to large crowds, hanging out with a few good friends on a beautiful day wasn't as bad as I probably let on. I got a new comic book. We played some more WC3. In the evening, my girlfriend Jessica came over and we watched some tv, she read a while, and in general we just enjoyed each others company. Late tonight I played Halo with my good friend Darrin, who is now in Indianapolis. To cap it all off, I am now blogging about my whole experience, of which (as you know if you have read my previous post) I have been wanting to do more.

So yes, a good day. Though for those who are slightly less nerdy than I, I would venture to guess that today would not have been quite so enjoyable.

Turning a new page . . .

2008-11-23T23:09:00.002-07:00

I've decided to start blogging more frequently. Seeing as my last post was over 6 months ago, I figure there should be plenty to write about. So I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm going to write a blog every week. And if that doesn't work, I'll write one every month. And if that doesn't work, I'll write one every so often. And if that doesn't work, I'm not going to blog anymore. So, prepare yourself to be blogged. Or just wait until I realize I'm too lazy to blog. :)

On Cats and Hospitals

2008-05-30T07:19:00.003-07:00

On general principle, I don't really dislike cats. The two kittens Austin and I have now are actually pretty fun in a lot of ways. However, when I'm lying peacefully in my bed, minding my own business and I suddenly feel my ankles pierced by tiny claws and a few teeth, there's a part of me that wants to "accidentally" spasm my leg and send the little turd flying across the room. I am not a violent or mean person though, so I refrained from doing so.

Hospitals on the other hand, make me crabby most of the time. They usually smell weird. They're often hard to navigate and easy to get lost in. And more often than not, there's a creepy looking old person at the front desk, who when you ask for directions on where to go, or if such and such person has been admitted yet, they give you a sour look which implies that you should know better and young whipper-snappers in their day had better manners than to interrupt them with ridiculous questions.

I'm glad that I'm a children's pastor and not a senior's pastor. It limits my time in hospitals to the more non-boring areas, and there's usually some fun books to read. Either that or one of those table toys with the thick wires that you slide the big wooden beads around on.

A Blog . . . (of sorts)

2008-03-17T20:48:00.002-07:00

I haven't kept up with this blog very well, I realize. So here is a blog, to appease the mass of adoring fans which hassle me daily, crying out for guidance.

(That last line was in sarcasm, for those of you who missed it.)

I like Fozzy Bear

2008-03-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas

2007-12-18T14:52:00.001-07:00

I always knew they existed!

2007-12-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

At least on some level...

A text from Tony

2007-11-17T00:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight I met a new person. Though I probably won't ever meet him again, it was fun and exciting. I got a text from a number I didn't recognize and this is how our text conversation went:

Random #: What's up
Me: Who's this?
Random #: Tony
Tony: Hi
Me: who? Tony the Tiger?
Tony: no tony gambino
Me: dude! What's up?
Tony: Who the **** is this?
Me: Now, now. There's no reason to use that kind of language. And I believe you sent me a text first
Tony: Im not being mean sorry so who is this in a nice way
Me: This is dan locke. I'm a children's pastor.
Tony: Sorry dan i must have text you by mistake
Me: No prob. Have a magnificent evening

So there it is, word for word. Except for the bad word. I didn't want to post that. It was bad.
I hope Tony really did have a magnificent evening. Maybe he'll text me tomorrow and tell me how it went...

Driving and taking pictures at the same time is not wise

2007-10-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

So you know those thin white jet stream cloud things that ariplanes leave in the sky? I saw a really cool one on my way home from work yesterday. It made it look like the airplane had flown straight into the sun. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out very well. It also hurt my eyes to look at.
I saw a UFO landing on south mountain too, but that picture didn't really turn out either. So I guess mostly my pictures didn't turn out, but I did get some pretty cool cloud pictures. Incidentally, you shouldn't take pictures while you drive, it's kind of dangerous. And which is why this picture is all jiggly. I was taking a picture of the clouds instead of paying attention to the brake lights of the car in front of me.
I don't think the driver behind me appreciated my picture taking skills very much.

On heeleys and teddy grahams

2007-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my friends give me weird looks when I order a chocolate milk at a restaurant, or I wear the crown from Burger King, or I sit down to watch the Toy Story movies back to back. I have a box of Teddy Grahams sitting on my desk in front of me. My roommate would probably shake his head and sigh if he saw that right now. Why? I suspect it's because most people will expect you to like certain things, and dislike others, once you become a certain age. A 24 year old guy isn't supposed to enjoy sitting through a children's movie at the theater. A college graduate isn't supposed to like wearing his heeleys in Wal-Mart. But I do. Maybe it's because I don't like the fact that I'm growing up, but again, I suspect that it's simple because these are things that I like to do. I guess most people resign themselves to the fact that they will have to fit the mold of an adult sooner or later, and so deny themselves the little pleasures that make life enjoyable. Hooray for milk and cookies! Huzzah for Candyland and Cap'n Crunch! Hey presto for goldfish and tootsie rolls! I guess that's why I'm a children's pastor.

I love what i do!

2007-10-08T13:34:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I was in charge of the Jr. High lock-in, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing Jr. High ministry. It's what I would be doing if I wasn't doing children's ministry. But God showed me again this weekend that He has indeed, without a doubt, wired me to be a children's pastor. It isn't that I'm bad at other things. It isn't even that I don't enjoy other things. It's just God saying, "I've created you to be a children's pastor. That's how I've put you together." Sometimes it isn't always that clear. I know there was a time in my life, in fact just less than a year ago, where I would have said, "I have no idea what God wants me to do." But one of the cool things about God is that when we rely on Him, and trust in His judgment to show us what to do, we never have to worry about that stuff. He's got it under control. And if He doesn't want to blast it across the sky (which incidentally, He usually doesn't) we have to be ok with that, and keep our eyes open for the little things that God will show us, that clue us in to what He's got in store. I find that extremely comforting. I know that I don't have to worry about missing a huge message that God has shouted down to me straight from the pearly gates, as trumpets sound and a heavenly chorus proclaims the majesty of the Creator. He hasn't chosen to reveal Himself, and His plan for me, in that way. He knows that I miss things a lot, and it takes a few tries before I notice anything. So He's just sent me a bunch of ordinary, simple messages. I'm sure it's different for different people. That's another part of what makes God so cool. He knows each of us so well, that He'll tailor make His messages to fit. It's just another indicator of just how much He loves each and every one of us.