Putting IT into Words

2010-02-23

Questioning Jesus

True North Church, where I serve, is working through a series entitled Questioning Jesus*. Essentially Jon, the pastor I serve with, was curious one day about how many, and what type of questions Jesus asked in the gospels.
So we took his list and decided to lead the church through some of the questions.
What I've found interesting, is that each question opens up hundreds of questions within me. Questions for Jesus. Questions for the author of the text. Questions for the disciples or the ones who respond to Jesus' question/s.

So, this coming Sunday I will exploring with the church the question Jesus asks the Twelve after the crowds and larger circle of disciples leave in response to the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6); "Are you also going to leave?"

Here are some of my questions as I try to map out the ebb and flow of the message:
- with what tone did Jesus ask this questions? was it a pity-filled, whoa-is-me, everyone left me kinda question? was it an angry how-dare-they-leave-me question daring the final twelve to leave too? or some other tone?
- what does it mean to "eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood" by which Jesus say we have eternal life?
- what does it mean that John's would include this conversation, which the other gospels ignore, yet exclude any Eucharist presentation in the four chapters dedicated to the last supper; & what does it mean that John excludes Peter's great confession, and does the confession to Jesus' question in John 6:67 compare?
- what specifically seperates the Twelve from the disciples that left? both groups saw the feeding of the 5000; i assume only the twelve were on the boat and saw Jesus walk on water and calm the sea. Is that why Peter answers the way he does?
- why does Judas remain with Jesus at this point? surely he could have snuck out at this time.
- how do I interact with this text and this question?

I'd love to hear any of your thoughts and questions.

* I like the tension in this title that suggests maybe we are the ones questioning Jesus, only to realize that Jesus had some questions of us.

2010-02-21

Telephone Prophet

A few weeks back I was making all the necessary phone calls that come with moving into a new place. The electric company. The water company. And most importantly the cable company.

A gentleman named Greg answered. What followed is perhaps one of the greatest conversations I have ever had. Here is that conversation*:

Greg: "Time Warner Company, how can I help you?"

Me: "Hi, how are you today?"

Greg: "I'm good thank you, how are you?"

Me: "Great."

Greg: "How can I help you today?"

Me: "I need some internet and cable."

Greg: "Were you interested in the bundle which includes phone, cable and internet?"

Me: "Who has a home phone these days?"

Greg lays out the details and ask for my all my information. While he waits for me to gather my new NC bank account info Greg attempts some small talk.

Greg: "So what do you do in North Carolina?"

Me: "I just joined a church in the Raleigh area as a youth pastor?"

Greg: "Oh that's great. I'm a pastor here in Atlanta at the Almighty God is our Rock and Holy Everlasting Father and Redeemer Church**"

Me: "Outstanding."

This is where the conversations goes askew.

Greg: "Are you married?"

Me: "Nope."

Greg: "Um"

Pause

Greg: "Do you believe in prophecy?"

Pause

Me: "Um."

Pause

Me: "Sure. Uh-h. I don't have that gift, but I certainly wouldn't deny that God uses prophecy."

Greg: "Well Trevor are you ready to be prophesied over?"

I was really ready for some cable, Lost started that week, but who wouldn't want to see where this was going?

Me: "Um. Sure."

Greg: "March 5th.

Me: "March 5th?"

Greg: "March 5th. On March 5th you will know the woman you will marry."

Me: "March 5th"

Greg: "Yes March 5th. Also on March 5th you'll meet the people who will publish your books"

Suddenly I was worried that I had to write a book by March 5th.

Me: "Wow"

Greg: "Do you write? Have you thought about writing books?"

Me: "Um. I've written a few things."

Like school papers, e-mails, and stuff on this blog.

Greg: "Now this may not all happen on March 5th, but you'll know the person that will eventually lead to this end."

Me: "Okay. I better circle that date on my calendar.

In my head I'm wondering how this man is not getting chewed out, or that he was going to get chewed out, because the previous recording informed me that this phone call could be recorded for quality control.

Greg: "And don't just take my word for it. You need to read 1 Corinthians and see that I am approved. Double check with what God's Word says so that you can know what's true."

Me: "Okay".

Greg: "Um. Can you hold on for a minute?"

Me: "Sure."

Then Greg was gone for about a minute. I was certain that some supervisor was reaming him out, because despite the brief dialogue I've shared above it had to be at least 10 minutes of prophesying. The Greg came back on the phone.

Greg: "Did you want the bundle today Mr. Harrison?"

Me: "Um. No, just the cable and internet."

Greg went on to finish the process of getting me my service without once mentioning this prophecy. Nevertheless as we finished up I said thank you to him, and reiterated that I would be circling March 5th on my calendar.

I've been trying to make a list of places to avoid and places to hang out, you know, so that I can influence this prophecy. Because if I can narrow the pool of women I know on March 5th to women who are rich and beautiful, well, good for me.

Avoid: Wal-Mart, daycare schools

Hang Out: country clubs, beauty pageants

What places would you add to these list?

* As best as I can remember the conversation. I'm sure I'm embellishing bits and pieces, but for the most part what you read is the gist of the conversation.

** I can't remember the name of his church, but there was a lot of words in it's title.

2010-02-16

Learning to Cope

I don't particularly have any stress right now. But I'm ready for when I do.

Toy Story 3-D

Who else is looking forward to this movie?
Toy Story is still my favorite Pixar movie.

Toy Story 3 Trailer 2 in HD

Trailer Park Movies MySpace Video

2010-02-15

Actors & Directors

Vanity Fair published Annie Leibovitz's recent photo shoot with directors and their actors from 11 of this past year's most compelling movies. I really enjoy these type of photo series. Here are the photos:

Pedro Almodovar & Penelope Cruz

Broken Embraces

Kathryn Bigelow & Jeremy Renner
The Hurt Locker

Scott Cooper & Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart

Lee Daniels, Mo 'Nique & Gabourey Sidibe

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Nora Ephron & Meryl Streep

Julie & Julia

Tom Ford, Colin Firth & Julianne Moore

A Single Man

Peter Jackson & Saoirse Ronan

The Lovely Bones

James Cameron with his Fusion 3-D camera

Avatar

Todd Philips, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms & Bradley Cooper

The Hangover

Lone Scherfig & Carey Mulligan

An Education

Quentin Tarantino & Christoph Waltz

Inglorious Basterds

Kenya Recap #3

Before leaving for Kenya I tried to intentionally not do much research or investigating of the history, terrain, politics, or culture. I wanted to go without any opinions and try and let Kenya speak for itself.
Having grown up a military brat and had the fortune of traveling to numerous locations outside the United States I've come to appreciate that not everyone lives like me, or looks like me, or thinks like me, or should become like me.
So as we traveled around and saw homes that we wouldn't even consider living in here I didn't think it a horrible thing. It might be altogether easier to maintain and appreciate a home not so large.
Seeing people just sitting on the side of the road, or walking down the road, doing apparently nothing in the middle of the day, although seemingly unproductive, did not really bother me. It might actually be a comfortable pace at life.
Nor did the awful roads, that made almost all travel in Kenya difficult, seem to stir some emotions in me.
Obviously the health care in Kenya needs work.
As well as the school systems; every child should have the right to an education. Knowing that some children's families couldn't afford to send their child to a school or had to keep their children home during certain times of the harvest was kind of a struggle.
Yes, there are some major hurdles in Kenya that need to dealt with as the nation continues to evolve as a developing country. But I understand that takes time. In no way did those challenges make me pity Kenyans.
Only the lack of healthy drinking water frustrated me and angered me.

The two photos above were taken with my arm hanging out the window. The dirt road and small bridge you see in the second photos may be the best stretch of road we experienced through the four/five hour drive through the Kerio Valley.

Several times throughout the drive we would pass a bridge like this, usually though there were several driving obstacles as we crossed over, including rocks, logs, potholes and divets. Sometimes we had to navigate through a herd of cattle or goats. Occasionally we would slow down for the Kenyan walking down the road, or doing their laundry in the water to get out of the way.
Just in case you didn't get that; cattle, laundry and bathing were frequent activites in the same water, that would be gathered by children and women in old buckets, and boiled for the daily water rations.

One of the Kenya missionaries we met was Samuel "Kep" Elolia. Kip, who was born in the valley, is considered a hero among the villages in the valley, largely, because he made it out. Today Kip serves both the churches in the valley with his leadership and at Emmanuel School of Religion in Tennessee.
After a water filtration system was installed at one of the villages, Kip was teaching the people about the importance of clean healthy drinking water. According to Kip's story, one man took a sip and quickly spit back out the water in disgust. He then poured out all the filtered water from the bottle and walked down to the creek, brown from the clay soil, and proceeded to fill the bottle up. Taking a sip again, the man expressed that this was the water he enjoyed.

I understand that even in some countries on our continent it's unwise to drink the water from a facet. But certainly I've never seen someone from our boarding nations pour out clean water and replace it with dirty ditch water. Nobody should live like that.

Even in Nairobi, the capital city and possible the most developed city in Kenya, on occasion we saw Kenya gathering water from the ditch along a main road. That's just not right.

Hopefully this isn't news to anyone in America. It seems lately that the injustice and inequalities in our world are being exposed and addressed, even by common like me and you. And I'm grateful that the church has stepped up to help address this problem, not only in Africa, but where ever we see it.
I'd like to be a part of that solution.

I don't think there should be any place in the world, where the healthiest beverage choice is a Coca-Cola.

That's my biggest concern and frustration. Have you been to Kenya/Africa? What's your greatest concern?

2010-02-10

Google Buzz

Who's using Google Buzz?
What? You don't know what that is. Here's a video to help explain:

Feel free to follow me. Not sure how you find people, but try my e-mail address: tsharrisonis@gmail.com

Kenya Recap #2

One of my favorite parts of the trip to Kenya was a brief visit to the Imani Workshop in Eldoret.I think I refer to pretty much all elements of the trip as brief. We packed a lot into the few days we were actually in Kenya.

The Imani Workshop is a place where Kenyans with HIV/AIDS can learn a skill set and then be able to have a source of income. There was several different types of skills to be learned; jewelry making, pottery, making paper, sewing, etc. It was an impressive outfit.

We were late arriving at Imani after our ride's car was having issues. It took us about half a mile of pushing to jump start it.

Once we arrived I gave a brief devotion. I cut short some of my thoughts because we were already late, and when we did arrive one of the women there was really "hammering the Word". As I spoke I couldn't tell if I was really communicating. And when I was done I felt like I had disappointed then for not going longer. But then again that's the emotional roller coaster I always feel when I speak.

After a group prayer we were given a tour of the place and of each skill. We thought it was awesome to watch the women roll Oprah magazine strips into jewelery pieces. They also made their own clay and had a kiln on site to create pottery pieces. I was able to help make a piece of papyrus paper than would end up in a journal. But I was only allowed to make one piece of paper because I was completely throwing off their daily quota.

I think it was one of my favorite places on the trip since we were able to really see life change. Skills were being taught and learned that were radically rescuing people from a lifestyle of despair. No longer were these beautiful men and women living as a victim of AIDS, but just living life with AIDS.

The Imani Workshop works with some aspect of Indiana University to distribute their products. I'm sure if you scour the interweb you can find a way to work with them and sell their products in your store.

After our visit at Imani we took some bicycle taxis back into town. This was actually a really comfortable way to travel, until we hit traffic and were dodging matatus (van taxis).

2010-02-09

Kenya Recap #1

I haven't been very disciplined with my blogging lately. But I know I need to do some recapping of my recent Kenya trip. So I am going to over the next few days post some photos and thoughts about the trip.
Here's a very brief outline of our trip which I'll share more about over the next few days.

Feb. 19th
Leave Raleigh in the afternoon.
Fly to Newark and then Amsterdam.
Feb. 20th
Arrive in Amsterdam and depart for Nairobi.
Pick up at the airport by our host missionary Chatty Daniels.
Stay the night in Nairobi at a youth hostel.
Feb. 21st
Relaxed morning in Nairobi.
Travel to Eldoret.
Feb. 22nd
Spend morning in Eldoret purchasing supplies and arranging transportation.
Visit the Imani Workship were some with AIDS are taught craft skills.
Travel to Tot in the Kerio Valley.
Feb. 23rd
Exploring the area around Tot, am the first white man some Pokot goat herders have ever seen.
Visit the future home and compound where Chatty will live.
Meeting with pastors and elders from the valley.
Feb. 24th
Church in a neighboring village. Some worshippers walk up to 3 miles to join us for church.
Leave Tot and return to Eldoret.
Feb. 25th
Leave Eldoret and return to Nairobi.
Stay the night at the youth hostel.
Feb 26th.
Visit a market for souvenirs.
Visit the Walking Safari Park in Nairobi.
Drive to and around Kibera, a large slum in Nairobi.
Dinner at Carnivore.
Head to airport for flight to London
Feb 27th
London to Washington D.C.
D.C. to Raleigh.

2010-02-06

AFI Top 100 Movies

It's time to update my list of the American Film Institue's Top 100 Movies of all time. I've been making some head way on seeing all 100 movies, but still have some work to do.
As a reminder: there is actually two different list. AFI originally made their list in 1998 and then updated their list in 2007. I am working through both list at the same time.
The titles in red text are the movies I have seen.
A few of these films I have on DVD and just haven't watched yet. And with the TCM 31 Days of Oscars having started for this year I expect to see several more over the next month.

1998 List
1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Lawrence of Arabia
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. The Graduate
8. On the Waterfront
9. Schindler’s List
10. Singin’ in the Rain
11. It’s a Wonderful Life
12. Sunset Boulevard
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai
14. Some Like it Hot
15. Star Wars
16. All About Eve
17. The African Queen
18. Psycho
19. Chinatown
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
21. The Grapes of Wrath
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey
23. The Maltese Falcon
24. Raging Bull
25. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
26. Dr. Strangelove
27. Bonnie and Clyde
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
31. Annie Hall
32. The Godfather Part II
33. High Noon
34. To Kill a Mockingbird
35. It Happened One Night
36. Midnight Cowboy
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. Double Indemnity
39. Doctor Zhivago
40. North by Northwest
41. West Side Story
42. Rear Window
43. King Kong
44. The Birth of a Nation
45. A Street Car Named Desire
46. A Clockwork Orange
47. Taxi Driver
48. Jaws
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
51. The Philadelphia Story
52. From Here to Eternity
53. Amadeus
54. All Quiet on the Western Front
55. The Sound of Music
56. MASH
57. The Third Man
58. Fantasia
59. Rebel Without a Cause
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark
61. Vertigo
62. Tootsie
63. Stagecoach
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
65. The Silence of the Lambs
66. Network
67. The Manchurian Candidate
68. An American in Paris
69. Shane
70. The French Connection
71. Forrest Gump
72. Ben-Hur
73. Wuthering Heights
74. The Gold Rush
75. Dances with Wolves
76. City Lights
77. American Graffiti
78. Rocky
79. The Deer Hunter
80. The Wild Bunch
81. Modern Times
82. Giant
83. Platoon
84. Fargo
85. Duck Soup
86. Mutiny on the Bounty
87. Frankenstein
88. Easy Rider
89. Patton
90. The Jazz Singer
91. My Fair Lady
92. A Place in the Sun
93. The Apartment
94. Goodfellas
95. Pulp Fiction
96. The Searchers
97. Bringing Up Baby
98. Unforgiven
99. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy
2007 List
1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18 The General
19 One the Waterfront
20. It’s a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like It Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
25. To Kill A Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
27. High Noon
28. All About Eve
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. The Godfather Part. II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
35. Annie Hall
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde
43. Midnight Cowboy
44. The Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story
52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunter
54. MASH
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws
57. Rocky
58. The Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan’s Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. The African Queen
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange
71. Saving Private Ryan
72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. The Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Hear of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President’s Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
83. Titanic
84: Easy Rider
85. A Night at the Opera
86. Platoon
87. 12 Angry Men
88. Bringing Up Baby
89. The Sixth Sense
90. Swing Time
91. Sophie’s Choice
92. Goodfellas
93. The French Connection
94. Pulp Fiction
95. The Last Picture Show
96. Do the Right Thing
97. Blade Runner
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Toy Story
100. Ben-Hur

Superbowl Prediction

What's your Superbowl prediction?
Colts or Saints?

I'm going to go on record saying the Colts will win the Superbowl this year.

2010-01-30

Snow Day Ramblings

It's snowing in North Carolina today. Actually it's been snowing quite a bit across the nation. I haven't seen snow in seven years. I think it snowed twice while I lived in So. Texas, but it had melted before I woke up.
I just woke from too long of a nap to receive a text relaying the cancelling of my church's service tomorrow. This disappoints me for two reason: (1) I'm excited about meeting people and being apart of the worship of this community, and (2) another day of hanging out with myself isn't all that appealing.
It's still another couple of days until I get my cable and internet hooked up, and until then my interaction with the outside world is largely limited to what my phone can do. Which is actually quite a bit, it's just all tiny. I don't think I'd have done well as an early American settler. That's something from my recent trip to Kenya (which I'll have more thoughts and photos on, once I resolve that internet issue previously mentioned) that I was thinking about. As we journeyed around the country I couldn't help but notice seeing all these people just hanging out sitting, or laying, on the side of the road. Many were walking to and from places, or selling goods, but often times they were just sitting. Maybe they were watching their goat flocks or waiting for a friend, i don't know.
As we drove to the airport to depart Nairobi we took a wrong turn and encountered two men sitting on somekind of concrete structure, in the middle of the night, apparently in the middle of nothing. Why were they there? What were they doing? Did they have nothing else or nowhere else they'd rather be?

2010-01-18

Here I Come

Tomorrow afternoon we begin I'our trip to Kenya.

I'm sorry for not having blogged much recently. I'm still getting settled here in North Carolina, and have decided to wait until I return from Africa to get my cable and internet set up. And for some reason I don't post much from my phone.

Before heading to the airport tomorrow I'll be calling AT&T to set up my international data plan. So I should continue to Twitter, for those you who follow me on that.

I'll be back to full time blogging soon.

2010-01-11

Moving Day!

I haven't been writing anything lately as I was packing and preparing for my move to North Carolina. But after months (or years) of waiting for this day it is finally here.

It's a little after 4:00 in the morning and I have a couple of little chores to do here at the home I have shared with my sister for the past year, but then I'm on the road.

The U-Haul is loaded down and the snacks are packed.

Time to drive.