2 weeks in the OC
I’ve landed in the OC. Orange County, California. Will be here until 6/12 with random family matters and other things. I’ll be at Newsong’s Leadership Conference on 6/10-11. Would love to meetup with you if you can make your way over to Westminster before 6/10. Drop me a line via email or cell 202-494-3449 to coordinate date/time and place, or just to chat.
And, the next 2 weeks, or 2 months, or so, will be quite a ride of changes. My full-time job is amidst yet-to-be-determined transitions, as Dr. Eugene Habecker, American Bible Society’s president, is leaving his post by the end of summer.
connections real and virtual
Conversations are life for me, and had a number of them with people here at The Vine. And, even a few of them are bloggers: Ray Levesque (Salmon House), Kami Rice (The Coffeehouse Journals), Nancy Chan. Ray and his wife Liz are doing a phenomenal work with New Gatherings, connecting those Native Americans (aka those in First Nations cultures) who are following God in the way of Jesus; and for them, it is not helpful to be known as Christians. And I’m told, the Christian label and the Messianic Jew label are also not helpful for that community of Jesus followers.
Hyperlinks are worth a few more brownie points than mention of names, in the commodity of search engine page rankings. So, while I’m somewhat grateful for John Musick (of Bluer) for mentioning my being a part of a podcast with him, and mentioning my URL even, it’d be worth so much more if he would have hyperlinked me.
blogging from on high
I’m hailing from Vail, Colorado, this Memorial Day weekend, participating in a conversation about faith and culture. It’s called The Vine, a national gathering going on for 6 years now. Something I’d wanted to be a part of for years; this is the first time I’d been able to get it onto my schedule and make the trip. Good conversations, or at least, conversation starters. There’s a wide range of young professionals from many vocations and industries, Christian traditions, and around the country. I’ve had to drink pints of water to slowly get acclimated to the mile-high altitude; and shortness of breath is not conducive to enjoying more conversations.
The Vine has masterfully provided a framework for a variety of voices to be presented and represented in a safe place– every attendee comes as a presenter. The theme this year is Called to Relationships: being the City of God. I’m weighing in with 2 presentations titled, Virtually Incarnational: Relationships over the Internet, and Becoming a Multiracial Church. (These are mere 3 to 5 minutes briefs; manage your expectations accordingly.) The former I’ll type up from my raw notes from my Treo 600; the latter are a re-packaging of my previous blog entries on the multiracial church.
As an aside, I had thought of titling this entry, My Roommate was Andy Crouch. But I refrained, for lacking a creative bent to make it into a compelling read. Fictional fabrication and embellishment is not my forte’. For the record, he is a great roommate and an excellent conversationalist.
bored. busy. alive.
2 of the most popular answers I hear to the question “How are you?” - besides the default “fine” - is “I’m bored.” or “I’m busy.” I’ve used it myself on occasion, tho’ usually I stay away from these trite phrases. I prefer to be more descriptive.
“Bored” was true of the first 30-some years of my life. Growing up in a small town of 20,000 (Winchester, Virginia) my hangout gang of high school buddies lamented sarcastically about life in “Funchester” and what little we had to do when everything closed by 9:00pm, not there was that much more to do before then. And this was in the early 80s, the days before the Internet, before DVDs. Cable and VCR movies was just beginning to get popular. Cruising (driving a car around town) was the popular thing to do, besides the movies or strolling the mall. Now in 2005, I still often get an IM (instant message) from someone saying they’re bored. We’ve got more entertainment options, and people still suffer from boredom. Perhaps it’s a sign of being under-challenged or under-engaged; one’s gifts and interests and capacities are not being used.
“Busy” has characterized my life in the past 6 years or so, working 2 jobs for most of that time, even now, and yet giving pretty good attention to my family. They can attest to how well (or not well) I’m doing in that department. So with a very full daily schedule, I kept active and engaged, and having the 2 jobs breaks up the monotony and rountine of just 1 job. I do better with variety and change. I don’t do well when I have idle time on my hands, occasionally bordering on self-destruction.
Work (career, job) had previously been a means of cash flow and being responsible.
About 2 years ago, I was awakened to the notion that work and career can actually connect with my personal interests, desires, skills, capacities, and values. What I’m doing now does have some connection, but a total connection is still elusive for me. I’ve never been able to connect my abilities with my passions. What I wish I could be was to be a stand up comedian. That’s my one joke, thank you very much, you’ve been a great audience!
With a background in technology and theology, I’ve been skimming a number of business related books, magazines, and blogs during the past year, and it’s been fascinating to learn how things actually work in the real world. I still love theories and ideas, but without a conversational partner, and my lack of desire to be a teacher or professor, what could I do. Most people, in my life experience, don’t care about ideas or philosophy or theology; most are interested in the daily here and now.
People’s opinions aside, I have to decide how to live, coram deo, or to be more theologically correct, how God wants me to live. Or, to become who God created me to be.
I was asked today about my dream or agenda for my life. I can honestly say that I don’t have one. I’m doing a lot of things by most measures, but that doesn’t really matter to me. I just want to have friends and family to enjoy. But I’m not allowed to just have that; pressures around me say that I have to do something or accomplish something. I can’t squander my talents and gifts. And, confidence alludes me too. Sometimes I wonder if that’s really the x-factor about doing life. Kinda funny I’d be having these serious reflections, again, after several career changes already, including a decade long stint in seminary and pastoring. Maybe it’s the age 40 around the corner next summer. I sure don’t want to be “busy” the rest of my life.
A book I’ll be reading soon is Tom Paterson’s out-of-print book, Living The Life You Were Meant To Live. And then by end of June, I’ll be working through a LifePlan consultation with CRM’s Craig Chong.
And with a more focused life, I may be able to answer, not that I’m bored, or that I’m busy, but that I’m alive! Life has never been better, in the face of challenges and opportunties, energized by knowing that God’s been up to something even when I’ve yet to figure it out.
Asian youth ministry - special event
I think I need to ask for help more often. I’m shouldering too much by myself. The next 3 weeks will be good for me, to be on the road, changing my routine, putting on my road warrior gear, and lining up meetups with people.
[1] I need help spreading the word for an upcoming event this November — I’m organizing an Asian American Youthworkers Forum, sponsored by L2 Foundation. I need help finding experienced Asian American youth pastors and/or youth directors, who are (or have) ministering to middle school and/or high school students. Please spread the word on this Call for Presenters to someone that you know personally who is (or has) serving in this way, and introduce that person to me via email, if you feel appropriate, so I can follow-up personally. (While I know a number of youth leaders, I don’t know everyone. While I’m finding increasing numbers of Asian Americans ministering in non-Asian contexts, this Forum’s focus is to share experiences for ministering in an Asian American youth context.)
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