Jun 06 2013
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You want to smell like me?

Top 10 all-time favorite smells (no particular order):

  1. Beach (especially in the rain)
  2. Brownies baking
  3. Freshly cut grass
  4. Outboard engines (I know, I’m weird, but there’s something about gasoline and salt water)
  5. Gardenias
  6. Book stores
  7. Inside of new shoes
  8. Indie music stores (something about vinyl and incense)
  9. Photography chemicals (probably explains a lot about me)
  10. Coffee

Smell is the sense that is most connected to memory. The olfactory bulb is part of the brain’s limbic system, which is closely associated with memory. The first time we encounter a scent, our brain can immediately recall it the next time we catch a whiff. Sometimes, scent can remind us of an emotion, like how you might feel when you smell funnel cakes at the fair.

Scent can remind you of people. For me, when I smell ‘new car smell’ along with cool a/c, it reminds me of Saturday mornings. My grandparents used to drive by our house on the way to the book store each weekend. They would pull in the driveway and talk to my Dad and I while we were working in the yard. (Well, Dad was working in the yard, I was probably just playing basketball). Sometimes we would just lean against the windows of the car and talk. Other times, they would offer for us to crawl in the back seat of their Lincoln Town Car and cool off a while. I certainly miss those days and miss my grandparents immensely.

Scent can remind of us places. Whenever I smell car exhaust, it reminds me of a certain mega city in East Asia that I frequent. It’s filled with cabs and buses. Somehow, I don’t hate the smell.

Remember this gem? There’s no greater pitchman than 7’7″ former center for the Washington Bullets, Gheorghe Muresan.

Aside from cabbage, what should we smell like if we are trying to be authentic in our faith?

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 says:

14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

Incense and perfumes were often burned in triumphal procession. The burning was to celebrate victory or rejoice events that recently happened. As disciples, we should smell as sweet to God as the incense.

As disciples, we can judge our effectiveness based on the fruit of our efforts. Is our scent sweet and refreshing, or foul and rotten? I have to strive every day to have my life be an ‘aroma’ that reminds people of God. I want people to smell the proximity of the Holy Spirit when they are in my presence. As verse 14 describes, our job as believers is to ‘spread everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.’ The way we do this is to share His love with others. Our fragrance will be classified as ‘sweet’ based on our obedience to God’s commands, not by people’s (non-believer’s) reactions to us.

Incense and candles are nothing more than temporary objects. They are sacrificial in nature. We set them on fire and as they get consumed, we are left with a wonderful smell. Eventually, they burn down to nothing but ash or a messy bunch of wax. As God chooses to use my gifts, talents and passions (the stuff he gave me anyway), I hope that it can leave others with a wonderful scent.

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Jun 05 2013
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Preposition proposition

How many of you dreaded doing these in elementary school?

diagram_sentence_060513

I’m a sick and twisted kind of geek and actually enjoyed diagramming sentences.  I’ve always believed that everything had a place and there was a place for everything.  I liked finding a place for every part of a sentence and understanding their function.  I was especially good at identifying the prepositions in sentences (Mrs. Lessard would be so proud).

I remember learning the tips on identifying prepositions.  We used to think of things that could be done with a dog and a box.  A dog could be in the box, around the box, near the box, on the box or run through the box.  I’ve seen plenty of other ways of remembering prepositions, including this one that just makes me want dessert.

Prepositions_060513

The function of a prepositional phrase is to modify nouns and verbs while indicating the relationships between subjects and verbs.  I think about how my relationship with Christ looks as if it were a prepositional phrase.

Am I truly living in Christ, with Christ, near Christ?  Prepositional phrases have the ability of adding incremental elements of color and description to sentences.  For writers, it’s important for them to understand the impact of the usage in order for them to make the right choices.  Likewise, we should be able to diagram our lives as Christ followers so we can see if we are adding the same type of emphasis.

For example, are you living life among the lost? If so, maybe you need to step out of your silo surrounded by other Christians.

Are you living opposite of God’s will in your life? If so, maybe praying for focus is in your future.

Are you sharing the result of your life since following Christ?  If not, maybe you should practice writing out your testimony and presenting it clearly and concisely.

Have you considered how Christ defeated death after crucifixion and burial? or how he forgave us despite our sins? or how the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us? or how empty our lives might be without God’s mercy?

In order to grow spiritually, I need to constantly be evaluating where I stand in relation to Christ.  In order for me to modify Christ as a preposition modifies a noun, I need to bring something to the table.  The preposition provides detail or context.  My life needs to provide a strong witness that accentuates Christ and gives Him glory.

Sentences kinda have it easy.  The words are always the words.  Words don’t change.  Words don’t sin.  Words don’t rebel.  Words are consistent.  I am not.  Even in all my effort to modify Christ, I fail and fall short.  Just as diagramming might helps a writer figure out how to craft a wonderful sentence, I need to have the same assessment so I can craft a wonderful life as a disciple.

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Jun 04 2013
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I Spy Something Jesus-y

Photography is precious to me. 

Creating something beautiful results in an amazing feeling.  It makes you feel alive.  It makes you feel proud to have actually made something.

Photography is also an incredible form of worship.  What better way of honoring God than by capturing moments in time that He created?  Photography is not possible without light.  After all, photography is fundamentally the studying and capturing of light.  Even at night, in what would typically be called ‘pitch black’, with a long enough shutter, you can still capture some light.  Eventually, light prevails.

Our culture is filled with darkness.  Finding those moments, those emotions, those fleeting sunsets is a way to preserve beauty, hope and light.

On a trip several years ago, I was on traveling underground on a tunnel car in a foreign city.  The tunnel was filled with lights and there were a couple of those inflatable-wavy-arm things that sit outside cell phone stores and car lots.

I braced my camera against my body while resting it on a handrail because of the low light and shot periodically as we moved along.  As I walked back above ground, I noticed this image:

ImageI froze in my tracks and immediately zoomed in on my display screen.  Now, I’m not saying I captured the Virgin Mary on my grilled cheese, but check out that upper left corner.

As to not skew the response, I showed the image to some friends and asked what they saw.  Everyone said “Jesus with a crown of thorns.”  Here’s a side-by-side rotated comparison.Image

Now, do I actually believe that God said, “I declare the image of my son to appear in this camera!”  No, of course not.  But, I do think that it’s awesome to have captured something that reminds me Jesus is the King to those people and is a light in a dark, dark place.

Greater things are yet to come in that city.

 

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Jun 03 2013
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Doubt kinda sucks. (A poem)

Ok.  Here I go.  I’m off.
And I won’t back down.
I won’t back down.
I can’t back down.

There is no way that
I’m going to back down.
But, I might back down.

I should back down.
I’m gonna back down.

I turn around
Around and around
and a voice makes sound

Turn that smile upside-down
back into a frown
And always look down

Look down, take cover
go underground

That calling you’re following,
isn’t right for you
You’re fine right here,
here in your wallowing.

And there’s that voice.

Oh, a different voice.
A whisper, a shout.

Wake up.

Wake up!

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Jun 02 2013
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Happy Facebook Explosion Day to Me

Birthdays are great. They are time with family and friends. A time for guiltless binging on desserts. A time filled with anxiety in keeping up with all the people making your Facebook feed explode.

Interesting fact. As of this writing, 30% less people commented on my Facebook wall this year than last year. I suppose that’s part of getting old, or moving, or that it’s a Sunday.

This was a day of songs. First was from my family.

My day started with getting the annual birthday song telephone call from Mom, this time immediately after I got out of the shower. After finishing my song, she asked if she could talk to Rylan, to which I replied ‘please let me put on pants first.’

Rylan was standing in the hall singing to me as well and bouncing with excitement to show me the Mickey Mouse Happy Birthday card he “colored” for me. This was followed up by receiving the present Elizabeth knows I can always find use for, an iTunes gift card.

Next, my Sunday school class sang to me before our lesson, shortly after I ate a Dunkin’ Donut because ‘it’s my birthday and I can.’

My last song came at dinner with some sweet friends from South Carolina who made time out of their vacation to spend time with us. I followed dinner with two scoops of ice cream wedged between two massive brownies, once again because ‘it’s my birthday and I can.’

Image

Of all the sweet things I enjoyed today, there was none better than hearing the prayers of a child. Rylan gave thanks for daddy and mommy and Bailey (and even for himself). He also gave thanks for Mickey and Donald and the playground.

After I tucked him in and turned out the light, he turned to me and said, “Happy birthday, daddy.” This is the cutest kid who ever walked the Earth. Or Mars. Take that, three-eyed Martian toddlers.

As wonderful as this day was for me, an imperfect human father, I can only think what God must feel when His children turn from their sin and give their lives to him. We pray without ceasing for the day when our children might make the decision to follow Christ as their savior. Only then will I know that I’ll hear the sweet, sweet words from my children for eternity.

I love my little buddy and baby girl so much. I’d gladly accept any pain or suffering so they wouldn’t have to. It will be years, maybe decades before they know and understand that I’d easily give my life for theirs.

Maybe by the time they are old enough to realize those emotions, people will just ‘think’ their birthday wishes to you directly from their head to yours. Technology just better not try to substitute my brownies & ice cream.

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