apologies for laziness, sloth and sheer lack of neglect in the blogging world. i simply haven't mustered the gumption to sit myself down to write a quality post. interesting and ironic to me, especially since i have felt the need for an outlet for words.
i just got back from a massive conference called spring harvest. spanned out over 6 weeks, over 50,000 people attend spring harvest in two different locations on the english coasts (one west, one east). i was assigned to the 11-14s venue called Distinctive at Minehead Week Dos. Led by Mark Massey, the week was a good time of connecting with kids, praying for them, talking through issues in their lives. it was really good to see God do big things in some pretty serious situations. It's interesting to me how simple it is to ask that God take control of a situation and then to actually believe that what you ask is going to happen. That is a gap that has narrowed itself for me in the past months. The Holy Spirit is doing infinitely more things than we give him credit for. We simply need to keep communication lines open, both to and from Him.
Over-analyzation of myself is something that I am working on leaving behind. There is no need for me to extraneously dissect everything that I do. I think this idea might be linked with Acts 17:28 thru living, moving and being in Jesus.
In other news, I'd like to share what I am listening to, reading and intaking. First, I picked up a Kurt Cobain biography called Heavier than Heaven. Written by rock journalist Charles Cross, it covers the scope of Cobain's rise from anonymity in western Washington to his multiple English tours and excessive heroin addiction. The writing is sub-par, with foreshadowing ending most chapters that fails to be tied up later in the book. The length and depth to which Cobain used drugs to escape the pain that his childhood and parents' divorce caused him is enormous. The constant presence of suicide within his extended family obviously gave him access to a choice he should not have taken. It's really too bad. I like Nirvana.
In podcast news, I have been consistently listening to This American Life and Real Time with Bill Maher. These have been consistent choices in my listening diet for a while now. This American Life, if you haven't yet listened to it, is a phenomenal topical program aired by WBEZ in Chicago that covers various subjects unique to American life. The format is such that usually 2-4 different stories are told on the subject, all of them true. My favorites are Episode 102: Road Trip! and Episode 344: The Competition, one for purely enjoyment reasons and the other for the truth that's found in the stories. Check it on iTunes if you'd like. It's free. Real Time with Bill Maher is simply my liberal American politics fix each week. I'm young, I have a heart, therefore I tend to think liberally. I know it will probably change, even to the point of apathy towards politics later on in life but, at the moment, I love listening to Maher's perspective that often contradicts my own. I often come away understanding what I think better because of his ideas.
I have been itching for some new music so I picked up Rolling Stone and NME at WH Smith's this afternoon, along with a British GQ. I should give an update within the next couple days of what I think of their selections of musical acts.
Otherwise, life is good. The Angels are sitting atop the AL West standings with Oakland at 9-6, my fantasy baseball team is 2-0 and there is sunshine in England most days. Love to you and yours.
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j.wiebe
16 April 2008
03 April 2008
12 March 2008
thank god for the wittenburg door
if you have any interest in faith and politics, i suggest the wittenburg door.
i find it quite amusing. i just found this little nugget of pure comic gold.
the context of this is who the blogger will vote for. he decides on the funniest candidate.....
'We need a president who can stare into the face of adversity with a wink and a bad joke. Like Davey Crockett, John McCain could probably win a grinning contest with a grizzly bear.'
genius.
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j.wiebe
i find it quite amusing. i just found this little nugget of pure comic gold.
the context of this is who the blogger will vote for. he decides on the funniest candidate.....
'We need a president who can stare into the face of adversity with a wink and a bad joke. Like Davey Crockett, John McCain could probably win a grinning contest with a grizzly bear.'
genius.
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j.wiebe
04 March 2008
22 February 2008
the beginning
in all honesty, i hadn't really felt like i was supposed to be in england until tonight. the first month has been a constant re-evaluation of what i am here for, who i am, and why. thats a weird way to start. lets back up.....
the last months of my time in the united states were weird to say the least. i moved back home. i broke up with my girlfriend. i got fired from a job i loved. i worked at starbucks (which is enough to make any period of time awkward, ugly, and humbling). the expectation of england mainly consisted of a very connecting time spent with kids that desperately needed any sort of love. i had heard stories of what young people were like, how they caused trouble, how they were disrespectful, how they used drink, drugs and sex in a carefree way. maybe i didnt spend enough time in prayer coming in or really evaluating the commitment i was making. the bottom line is i know why i am here. i feel it in my soul. its to tell those youth that they matter, that they are valued, that they are loved by God.
they are important to him. and it was evident tonight.
currently, we, and, by we, i mean the hope team, are pairing up with the nomad crew. they are a group who travel the uk with a soccer cage, getting to know kids through sport. they set up at schools and playgrounds and the locals flock to it. as the english would say, our country is football crazy.
as part of their programme, they do a friday night event where the kids are invited to a competition of sorts. its really similar to any sort of camp game show/skit night/variety deal you have seen. during lunchtime, sarah, the leader of nomad, asked me if i would like to give the talk. to be completely honest, i have been reluctant to dive headfirst into my work here. maybe its the pain of the end of the last job that was quite similar or its that i am acclimating myself, i'm not sure. i said yes anyway and went to sit in a cafe to work on the talk a wee bit.
the problem was i couldn't focus. i started to get some things down on paper, mainly about introducing the idea of equality. that there is no behavior that makes God love us more or less and transitioning that into how we treat other people. i tried hard to think of examples. i racked my brain for anecdotes in my life. i even laid out an outline on the sheet of paper.
i ended up playing tetris on my iPod and listening to david crowder for 3 hours. it was the best preparation i could have had.
it was the best preparation because i listened to God. i really listened to Him. Instead of trying to put together something that would make sense to kids, i figured they get talked at enough so i should talk with them. so when it came to my turn, i sat down in a rocking chair and had everyone sit down around me. it was like story time with the american.
(side note: having an american accent is an automatic in with british kids. the fact that someone very different is there speaking to them goes a long way. i played off of this by doing a bit of a funny british/american accent game, where i would ask for words and would say them in both a british and american accents. they were in stitches.)
as i winded down, i knew the thing that i needed to say was that God loved them. That they were important to God. That they had value to God. as I went into this section, there were 2 older boys that were joking and giggling. it wasn't a large distraction but definitely a nuisance to the few people around them. i looked over to them and said, 'out of all the things that you have heard about yourself in the world, the most important thing is that you are loved by God.' they kept talking. i looked them in the eye and said, 'thats important, isn't it?' one boy smirked and said, 'yeah it is...' quite flippantly. And in that moment, the Holy Spirit shut my mouth. I kept looking at the boy and his eyes. I don't know his name. I couldn't say a word. The mood got extremely intense. It wasn't even about him disrupting me or being rude....it was that the Holy Spirit had cut to the root of his life and in that space of time, his whole life was wide open, at least to me. by interrupting me, he was doing the same thing that he did with his pain: hide it from others, joke about it, anything he could do to not confront it. i put the microphone back to my lips, looked straight at him and said, 'your important to God and He cares about you.'
i don't even remember what i said the rest of the talk. it was wrapped up in about 2 minutes. i think i prayed a bit about realizing that God loved us and letting that love into our lives. to be honest, it didn't matter. i was there to tell that boy he mattered. that he was important. that he was utterly loved.
i hope there are others like him. i know there are. i just need to listen more.
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j.wiebe
the last months of my time in the united states were weird to say the least. i moved back home. i broke up with my girlfriend. i got fired from a job i loved. i worked at starbucks (which is enough to make any period of time awkward, ugly, and humbling). the expectation of england mainly consisted of a very connecting time spent with kids that desperately needed any sort of love. i had heard stories of what young people were like, how they caused trouble, how they were disrespectful, how they used drink, drugs and sex in a carefree way. maybe i didnt spend enough time in prayer coming in or really evaluating the commitment i was making. the bottom line is i know why i am here. i feel it in my soul. its to tell those youth that they matter, that they are valued, that they are loved by God.
they are important to him. and it was evident tonight.
currently, we, and, by we, i mean the hope team, are pairing up with the nomad crew. they are a group who travel the uk with a soccer cage, getting to know kids through sport. they set up at schools and playgrounds and the locals flock to it. as the english would say, our country is football crazy.
as part of their programme, they do a friday night event where the kids are invited to a competition of sorts. its really similar to any sort of camp game show/skit night/variety deal you have seen. during lunchtime, sarah, the leader of nomad, asked me if i would like to give the talk. to be completely honest, i have been reluctant to dive headfirst into my work here. maybe its the pain of the end of the last job that was quite similar or its that i am acclimating myself, i'm not sure. i said yes anyway and went to sit in a cafe to work on the talk a wee bit.
the problem was i couldn't focus. i started to get some things down on paper, mainly about introducing the idea of equality. that there is no behavior that makes God love us more or less and transitioning that into how we treat other people. i tried hard to think of examples. i racked my brain for anecdotes in my life. i even laid out an outline on the sheet of paper.
i ended up playing tetris on my iPod and listening to david crowder for 3 hours. it was the best preparation i could have had.
it was the best preparation because i listened to God. i really listened to Him. Instead of trying to put together something that would make sense to kids, i figured they get talked at enough so i should talk with them. so when it came to my turn, i sat down in a rocking chair and had everyone sit down around me. it was like story time with the american.
(side note: having an american accent is an automatic in with british kids. the fact that someone very different is there speaking to them goes a long way. i played off of this by doing a bit of a funny british/american accent game, where i would ask for words and would say them in both a british and american accents. they were in stitches.)
as i winded down, i knew the thing that i needed to say was that God loved them. That they were important to God. That they had value to God. as I went into this section, there were 2 older boys that were joking and giggling. it wasn't a large distraction but definitely a nuisance to the few people around them. i looked over to them and said, 'out of all the things that you have heard about yourself in the world, the most important thing is that you are loved by God.' they kept talking. i looked them in the eye and said, 'thats important, isn't it?' one boy smirked and said, 'yeah it is...' quite flippantly. And in that moment, the Holy Spirit shut my mouth. I kept looking at the boy and his eyes. I don't know his name. I couldn't say a word. The mood got extremely intense. It wasn't even about him disrupting me or being rude....it was that the Holy Spirit had cut to the root of his life and in that space of time, his whole life was wide open, at least to me. by interrupting me, he was doing the same thing that he did with his pain: hide it from others, joke about it, anything he could do to not confront it. i put the microphone back to my lips, looked straight at him and said, 'your important to God and He cares about you.'
i don't even remember what i said the rest of the talk. it was wrapped up in about 2 minutes. i think i prayed a bit about realizing that God loved us and letting that love into our lives. to be honest, it didn't matter. i was there to tell that boy he mattered. that he was important. that he was utterly loved.
i hope there are others like him. i know there are. i just need to listen more.
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j.wiebe
13 February 2008
jimmy boy
'Theologically, these 20-somethings are abandoning a worldview that reduces the gospel of Jesus Christ to an afterlife-oriented, fire-insurance, salvation pitch. These are Matthew 25, Luke 4, and “Sermon on the Mount” Christians. They really believe that the kingdom of God represents God’s best hopes and dreams for this present age, not only for the life to come.'-Jim Wallis
count me in.
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j.wiebe
count me in.
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j.wiebe
10 February 2008
08 February 2008
british friends
for the yfc website, we did a bit of a photo shoot this morning with george, pete, and i. these are the results.
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j.wiebe
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j.wiebe
06 February 2008
telling me
right now, words are harder for me. photos are easier for me to tell my story.
this was my afternoon yesterday. i took photos of churches in ashby-de-la-zouch.
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j.wiebe
this was my afternoon yesterday. i took photos of churches in ashby-de-la-zouch.
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j.wiebe
01 February 2008
st pauls 2
this made me feel like my knowledge and intellect stumbles out of the gate when it comes to religion and history.
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