King and the Kingdom (fc)

The Martin Luther King holiday has become, for me, one of the most significant days of the year in a way I still don't fully understand.  Ben Nockles and I participated in the silent march this morning down 23rd street in OKC.  Why?  I would be overwhelmed to begin to answer that question, suffice it to say that I think Jesus wanted me to be there- standing more for a people and a person than an ideology.  Here is an excerpt from something I wrote years ago on this day...

Dr. King preached a message of hope rooted in the person of Jesus and the reality of His Kingdom.  The Scripture he most often quoted was from Amos chapter 5 verse 32.

Amos 5:24  ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

The context of this verse is the unlikely prophet Amos, son of a shepherd, speaking about God’s anger over the way his people are treating the oppressed among them. 

Amos 2:7  ⁷ They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed

Amos 5:14-15  ¹⁴ Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.  ¹⁵ Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.

Amos 5:21  ²¹ "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Amos 5:23   ²³ Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures we see a pattern.  Despite God’s blessings his people turn from him in their hearts even though they continue to practice religion.  Evidence that their hearts have turned is almost always systematic sin, injustice and indifference toward the vulnerable- the poor, the children, the hungry, the sick, the outcast.  So God would raise up a prophet to speak two things- judgment…and hope.  And the hope was always that one day God would restore justice and righteousness.  

King knew the source of the problem was not the government or the white majority but the human heart.

 The more I observed the tragedies of history and man’s shameful inclination to choose the low road, the more I came to see the depths and strength of sin…the glaring reality of collective evil 

(from Pilgrimmage to Nonviolence)

But he also knew where hope was found.  In the beginning of the Civil Rights movement King stood up and said the craziest thing.  

Those of us who live in the twentieth century are privileged to live in one of the most momentous periods of human history.  It is an exciting age filled with hope…

I am convinc4ed that the universe is under the control of a loving purpose and that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship. (from Pilgrimage to Nonviolence)

The bible reveals for us the end of the story.  In Isaiah 60 we see it as the redeemed nations, cultures, economic structures coming into the Holy City.  In Revelation 21 it is also a city, where every tribe, tongue, color, and nation are united in joyful worship of their king and redeemer.  When we talk about the final chapters of the story we offer incredible hope. 

Martin Luther King Jr. looks eerily to me like an Old Testament prophet.  He called for people everywhere to stand for justice and he offered hope by painting a picture of a future Kingdom of righteousness.

King was motivated by a personal encounter with a living God. His message was a message of hope in the present and future of the Kingdom of God.   His method was nonviolence rooted in the ethics of Jesus and His Kingdom.

The Power of Affirmation (fb)

At 7:30 this morning I witnessed the most amazing thing.  Six kids walked in front of a room full of people and the audience went wild.  The honorees were the six "students of the month" (a guy and a gal from each grade) at Sequoyah Middle School.  The audience was the entire faculty.  Each student was introduced individually and received immediate, raucous applause/shouting/whistling.  Then the students and their parents were recognized as a group and received a 30 second standing ovation from the entire faculty and administration.

Think back to Jr. High for a minute.  I don't know about your experience but for me it was rough.  It was a time of insecurity, independence, and filled with a sense of invisibility.  At my school if you went to see a faculty member or administrator it was in the hallway and they were holding a paddle with holes and a name like "the enforcer."

Now imagine yourself standing in front of your JH faculty and they are standing, smiling, whistling, and clapping for you.  How would that have impacted you in 8th grade?

All of us are motivated by the same three things:  affirmation, belonging, and meaning.  At the time in your life when it is hardest to find those things my son received a strong sense of all of them in the most surprising way this morning.

Here's to more affirmation and standing ovations at all ages for all people.  Here's to the hope that an event that is rare on this earth is available to all people, times ten at the moment we see Jesus face-to-face.  Here's to Sequoyah Middle School and all of its faculty and administration for doing it right and the sincere dream that such an experience becomes reality for all kids.

Molasses Butter and other goodies from OK Horticulture (fb)

Had a wonderful (and wonderfully surreal) day on Friday at the 2010 Oklahoma Horticulture Industries Show in Tulsa.  I have a genuine excitement about the growing "sustainable agriculture" movement (slow food, locally grown, farm to table, buy fresh buy local, organic farming, etc.) in Oklahoma.  Hopefully Carlton Landing Farm will be the "belle" of that ball one day.  I can also envision the Eufaula/McAlester area as a major agritourism destination.  Why does all of this matter to me?

"Sustainability" is a good thing- it's good for our bodies, communities, and lifestyle
"Boutique" anything is so "third-wave" I just love seeing the future breakthrough in the present
Oklahoma can be a leader in this global movement, particularly in agriculture/ agritourism
It is a major value component and ammenity of Carlton Landing
Sustainable agriculture resonates with the hearts of young people in a very significant way.
I am a very food-focused person :)

Some menus are worth passing on.  Doug Walton at the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture did an awesome job coordinating with local farmers to put together one hec of an amazing lunch.  Did I enjoy the presentation on growing better tomatoes?  Sure.  Was lunch my favorite part of the day?  Absolutely!

Country (fb)

Listening to Lady Antebellum radio on Pandora before church this morning thinking "country is really good right now."

In 1980 I was hooked on "KAEZ, "Easy" 107.7" in OKC - The Gap Band, Midnight Star, the Dazz Band and other R&B bands.  Then a friend gave me a tape of Hank Williams Jr.'s Greatest Hits and I immediately fell in love with country music.  To this day I don't know why I wore that homemade tape out and memorized every song.  It's not like I could relate to "I live to love Texas wo-o-men" or "I'd love to spit some Beech Nut in that dude's eye."  I think it was the authenticity, the celebration of simple things in simple places, the stories and the pictures.  When I discovered George Strait I had found Shangri La.  I still remember seeing Alabama at the Myriad in downtown OKC and feeling obliged to take off my hat during "My Home's in Alabama" with a sense that I was on holy ground.

Since those days I've made life-changing discoveries like James Taylor, Damien Rice, Boston, Rich Mullins, Switchfoot, David Wilcox and Blue Merle.   But mostly I've just enjoyed a huge variety of music, influenced by the places and people we've hung out with through the various seasons of life.  In the last season I made the wonderful discoveries of emo and indie-rock (thanks to Blake, Joel, Judson).  But through the years I just keep finding "home" in country music.  Why?  Maybe it's...

The stories- country music is about storytelling- and it particularly celebrates the seasons of life.  You get cradle to grave including the fun of childhood, young love, parenthood, and death.  I swear I've heard that story in a hundred songs.

The pictures- country music is full of images of things I like to look at- fields and lakes and streams and tractors and bass boats and kind faces and pickup trucks and barns and dance halls and bars and farms and guitars.

The sounds- I just like the sounds of country music.  Isolate any sound and it's just nice to me.  The voice, the acoustic guitar, the fiddle, the steel guitar, the piano - just drop everything else out and if you could only hear the steel guitar it would be sweet.

Anyways- I think maybe that's why I like it.  That, plus the fact that it reminds me of driving around in Dana's old brown truck or dancing with Stacy at the Diamond Ballroom or a hundred other memories that are attached to country music.  And I just wanted to say that I think it goes through seasons and right now it's good.  Evidence?  Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, and still...George Strait.

Dreaming of Journeys and Africa (fb)

How does the Holy Spirit participate in the 1/3 of our lives we spend sleeping?  Like most of us, I don't remember much of my dreams.  But I had this dream three nights ago.  It seemed to last forever and the details were vivid.  I wish now that I could remember every moment in the detail with which it occurred, but I keep thinking about the things I do recall.  Check it out...

Stacy, Jake, Emily, and I were on a long journey.  Everything felt very futuristic, very "sci-fi."  I was aware that Africa had become the center of the world's attention in the way that America had been in a previous era.  I was also aware that we were journeying to a specific country but that we wouldn't learn which country until further along in our journey.   The trip was not like I would imagine it being in reality where you get on an airplane in OKC, connect in Dallas and Paris and "pow" you're in Africa.  We were in some places that looked like airports but we were also in cities.  I remember one city felt like Santa Fe and another that was built on top of a mountain with beautiful forests sloping down on all sides.  I remember being in an airport kind of a place and the "waiters" knew my love of coffee and they were so excited for me to try all of these different coffees that they were roasting, grinding, and brewing.  Everything was so fun, nothing seemed stressful, we were just enjoying the trip.  At some point we became aware that we were heading to Sierra Leone- which we were happy about.  I never had a sense of the purpose of the journey but a real peace that the world had dramatically changed and we were experiencing that new world in a way that I can only describe as "thriving."

So that's it- be it the Lord or the turkey sandwiches- I had a dream that is sticking with me longer than they usually do.  What do we do with our dreams?  Do we interpret them?  Preserve them?  Share them? What do we do with our dreams?

Life and death and Kennedys (fb)

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.- Jesus

Judy Kennedy died this weekend, on the eve of the day when a whole year becomes knew.  Maybe you don't know her, I've known her and her family most of my life.  She was diagnosed with terminal cancer several years ago.  If I could describe Judy in one word it would be "solid."  She knew hospitality and she knew how to serve people.  People like being around people like that.  But yesterday I was able to watch a video that Judy left for friends and family.  When our finiteness goes from "out there" to "right here" you do things like that.  Judy told us this, and I paraphrase- "Jesus is real and because of that I don't fear death and I am assured that not only is there purpose in my death but there has been great purpose in my life."  


One of the defining moments of my personal spiritual journey happened about 25 years ago.  I was sitting in a church service and the preacher invited people who wanted to begin a relationship with Jesus to come to the front of the church.  Judy's husband Bill was a deacon in our church.  A deacon means that you are recognized as a leader, an example for others to follow in the way you live your life.  When the preacher gave the invitation Bill Kennedy got out of his seat and walked down the aisle with tears rolling down his cheeks.  I didn't understand.  He explained that he had been religious for years but had never really surrendered his life to Jesus Christ.  A few days later I saw him baptized.  I still remember him going into the water in his white V-neck t-shirt.  It was absolutely beautiful.  


Do you know what baptism is?  Death.  And it's a humbling death.  Even the physical act of it is humbling and embarrassing- to be in front of spiritual family and God, with nothing but a Hanes V-neck and some swim trunks- acting out a death and resurrection as a symbol of... new life.  


The Kennedys continue to model for us the truth that, in the place Jesus called His Kingdom- the place that is more real than anything else- death leads to life multiplied.  Physical death, death to pride, death of a dream, death of relationships...if you know Jesus death is the door to life.  


Do you know what attracts me to Bill and Judy Kennedy?...humility.  People weren't attracted to Jesus because he was a great leader or because he was handsome or because he knew the right people- people were attracted to His humility.  The same humility that brought Jesus to earth and to a cross (Phil 2) is the same humility I saw in Bill as he walked the aisle, went into the water, and the same humility I saw in Judy as she fought cancer all the way to the grave.


Humility to death to LIFE

An Often Annotated "Best Of" 2009 (fb)

BOOKS

Francis Fukuyama   The End of History and the Last Man

I have wanted to read this book for years.  If a person can get the gist of End of History and Sam Huntington's Clash of Civilizations you'd have a pretty good understanding of what's happening in the world, why it's happening, and where it might be going.

Jacqueline Novogratz  The Blue Sweater

A beautiful story by a pioneer in the empowerment of women through social entrepreneurship.  There are plenty of thinkers, I want to hear from the doers- this book filled me with hope.

Bible: The Gospels and Acts 

My focus this year was on the relationship of Jesus and the Father in the Gospels and the relationship of the Church and the Holy Spirit in Acts.  This book just keeps getting better.

Clay Shirkey  Here Comes Everybody

I have an ongoing fascination with movements- this book is as good as any if you want to understand how communications technology is changing EVERYTHING

Andres Duany  Suburban Nation

Written by the father of "new urbanism," and the man who designed Carlton Landing.  There are a bunch of holes in "new urbanism" but generally, "I'm in!"

Cory Doctorow  Little Brother

If Shirkey is too heady, here is a fun novel about the same subject- the bonus is that it is written from the perspective of a teenager so it's an insightful look into the culture of the next generation

Peter Block  Community:  The Structure of Belonging

Evidence that the secular community often understands and applies the biblical principles of community building better than the Church.  

Robert Lupton  Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life

Here's a Christian who gets it and has been doing it.  The new manual for Christian community transformation.  All of my urban transformation friends were talking about this book this year (and Amy Newberry got to have breakfast with him!)

Jonathon Kozol  Amazing Grace

 Another book that I wanted to read for years.  It is a graphic description of life in the worst neighborhood in the country in the mid-90's from the perspective of the people who live there.  Now my friends the Biddys and the Pattersons both live near the area about which this book was written (Washington Heights and Harlem).  This book made me love people more.

Henry Drummond  The City Without a Church

This may end up being on my "top 10" all-time list.  A beautiful, concise, biblical argument for city transformation as a major expression of "Kingdom come."  

MOVIES

Last Chance Harvey w/ Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson

The last of about six movies I saw on planes to and from China.  I had forgotten how moving it is to see amazing actors tell a great story.  I was moved by this piece of art. 

The Blind Side

Yes- I cried all through it- it's the racial deal for me.

Avatar

Another piece of art that moved me not by the story or acting but by the sheer technology of it.  IMAX 3D may be the only "in theatre" movies I see in the future.

War Dance

Again, it's the racial thing.  Reality and hope.

Saints and Soldiers

Surprised me- a great film about leadership, community, and mission.

Good Hair

Again... 

THEMES

Humility

In America you are defined not by your family name, your gender, class or caste- you are defined by your vocation.  I started 2009 carrying five business cards, fumbling through the question "what do you do? a.k.a. what are you worth?".  I am a man who loves Jesus and I am a family man.  Sometimes I get to build communities.  At the end of '09 I'm really content with that.

Community Building

What do Church, New Urbanism, Sustainable Agriculture, Social Entrepreneurship, empowering women, and Young Life have in common?  Community building.

City Transformation through Church

Relationships with young Church leaders is a treasure the Lord let me continue to invest in '09.  Tim Ulrich, Ben Nockles, Brad and Mirella Watson, Eric Mixon, Graham Ripple and many others were ongoing joy, then I was blessed with new ones like the Bandys, Eddie Coates, Matt Lowery, Ray Sanders and the Newberrys- I could cry right now I feel so outrageously privileged.

Social Entrepreneurship

It's really happening and it's called Bloom.  Neil Boyd, David Ridgeway, Su Crawford and Kami Humphreys are world-changers and I get to hang with them.  80,000 women will be empowered in the next 7 years- Lagos here we come!

Racism

I used to believe that Islam was the greatest barrier to "Kingdom come" in our generation but it's not, it's racism- that's the bugger bear.  Racial reconciliation isn't "a" thing, it's "the" thing and it is definitely the fire that continues to grow in my heart.

Transition

Dave Helm says the journey is the destination- right on.  Was my heart softer toward God and toward people in 2009 than it was in 2008?  Yep.

Family

Time with Stacy and the kids is my treasure of 2009.  We made up for some lost time in the most fun ways- family became "lightweight, low-maintenance" again- love it.

PANDORA STATIONS

Rich Mullins Radio

The Weepies Radio

Nickel Creek Radio

Flowy Alt-Pop (based on the We Are Scientists song After Hours from the Nick & Nora’s  Infinite Playlist soundtrack)

Death Cab for Cutie Radio

TECHNOLOGIES

Iphone

If you don't think this is the best tech tool you've ever had it means you don't have one yet.  It is the tech hub of my schedule, networks, and critical information.  It "saved" me many times this year.

Garmin 305

Became my go-to gadget for training.  Like most gadgets, you just have to take the time to know how to make it work for you.

Evernote

I love organizational tools- this one is awesome- once again- if you know how to use it.

 PLACES

Carlton Landing

I was against this place when I first heard of it- now I feel so honored to help build it.  It will be the most special place in Oklahoma- at least for the people who spend time there.  It will be a place of vision, healing, connection, and community.

The Grove Park Inn and Asheville

Has become our "Lost Valley Ranch" of the east- the place that feels like home.  I could spend lots of time in Asheville given the time and mulah.

Low Country South Carolina

Has our favorite food, architecture, culture, and now many of our favorite people (Breens and Cockrams).

Lake Arcadia- Edmond

Discovered mountain-biking this year with Jake.  Also discovered trail running so this has become a special place.

China

 Finally- and it didn't disappoint.  Now I get it.

Year of Africa and Pacific Northwest to come?

 Will it be 2010 for Africa?  Which country?  Countries?  And what about the Pac Northwest esp Portland?  I'm connected at the heart to the Watsons, so it's inevitable that wherever they are will be a special place for me.

SONGS

This year I wasn't drawn to that touch-feely indie-folky emo crap (which I love:)), it was the year of the anthem- what Stacy calls "ooo-shaka" songs

I Run to You  Lady Antebellum

Fans  Kings of Leon

I Gotta Feeling  The Black Eyed Peas

I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight  U2

I Want to Know You  Phillip Rice

How He Loves David Crowder

Viva La Vida  Coldplay

Revelation Song  Kari Jobe

Breathe on Me Todd Fields

Favorite of the year, right up there with some of Charlie Hall's songs as an all-time favorite that says a lot about what I want to be about.  Forever, you are the God of my story, write every line for your glory, breathe on me