New Year's Resolution

I've never been good at New Year's resolutions. The one year I actually sat down and wrote them out, I lost the sheet I wrote them on and forgot what they all were. So this really isn't my thing. But, after I found out that I would have to miss the Avett Brothers show on New Year's Eve in Asheville, I figured I'd get a chance to see them again in 2011 and all would be well, and then I started to think even more - I live just a few hours away from cities like Birmingham, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Dallas, and Atlanta and most of my favorite bands frequently play in those cities. I also have friends in almost all of those cities that I don't see all too often and would like to see more. THEN I realized my class schedule was entirely Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with no Monday or Friday classes so there would be plenty of opportunities to visit these cities to visit people and go to shows. So, for me, hopefully 2011 will be the year of the concert for me. This list will probably grow in length because these are all the people I can come up with offhand. In 2011, I want to see:

Jimmy Eat World (February 19, Oxford)
The Avett Brothers (April 16, Dallas)
Mumford & Sons
Old Crow Medicine Show
Yonder Mountain String Band
NEEDTOBREATHE
The Dirty Guv'nahs
Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
Wild Sweet Orange

Again...this list isn't definitive, but I want to see as many concerts as possible this year. I've already got tickets to Jimmy Eat World and The Avett Brothers, so it'll be interesting to see how many of these work out.

Happy New Year
-chanchan

Hey! Unto You a Child is Born!

Today, as I was taking a shower, Drew and Ellie Holcomb's cover of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" came on and naturally, being a Christmas song, I sang along. As I was singing along, a line in the song that I've sung a million times in my life really hit me in a way it never has before. It's the line "peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled." And it hit me what it was saying. God, the creator of everything that has ever been or ever will be and everything we have seen and haven't...and sinners, me, who is selfish, lustful, arrogant, lazy...every other negative thing you can probably come up with...reconciled. The song rang especially true today, especially after I made a fool of myself yet again.

But then I started thinking of Christmas songs in general. And I mean...Christmas songs that are actually Christmas songs. The ones that proclaim the coming of Christ. While there are a lot of good ones that don't have anything to do Christ, those don't really make me stop and think. And after thinking about it, it makes me kinda sad that we don't sing these songs year round. They proclaim truths that we constantly need to be reminded of.

I mean, think about it. "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" is one of them. "Joy to the World!" talks about earth receiving her king and hearts preparing him room. And one of the sucky parts about growing up Southern Baptist is that we either don't sing hymns anymore or skip out the third stanza of hymns, and just now am I seeing the third stanza of "Joy to the World." It goes like this:

No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found
Far as, far as, the curse is found

Whoa! That is phenomenal...the truth proclaimed here is just amazing. I mean, I really can't even put my thoughts into words right now. Think about this wicked, evil, screwed up world we live in. Shoot, think about yourself, and the crap in your own life. And here, with the coming of the Savior, the blessings flow as far as the curse of sin is found. Which is everywhere.

More than that, though..."O Come O Come Emmanuel." That one's pretty heavy. It proclaims a lot of the different names of Jesus, starting off with "Emmanuel" - God with us. Which kinda goes back to the theme of "Hark the Herald" - God dwelt among sinners. God...dwelt...among...sinners.

Think about "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - one of my all time favorites. It tells tells the story of the coming of Christ, and then encourages believers with "tidings of comfort and joy." Because that is the ultimate comfort - realizing that:

For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray

There's no other comfort in this entire world. That blows my mind.

And this - the poem that "O Holy Night" is based on...

Midnight, Christians, it is the solemn hour,
When God-man descended to us
To erase the stain of original sin
And to end the wrath of His Father.
The entire world thrills with hope
On this night that gives it a Savior.

People kneel down, wait for your deliverance.
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, here is the Redeemer!

The ardent light of our Faith,
Guides us all to the cradle of the infant,
As in ancient times a brilliant star
Guiding the Oriental kings.
The King of Kings was born in a humble manger;
O mighty ones of today, proud of your grandeur,

It is to your pride that God preaches.
Bow your heads before the Redeemer!
Bow your heads before the Redeemer!

The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave,
Love unites those that iron had chained.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude,
For all of us He is born, He suffers and dies.

People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer!

Man. I didn't even know that before I started doing a little research to write this. I mean...I'm speechless.

And there are more. Think about "Away in a Manger" or "Silent Night." Obviously there's Handel's "Messiah" and the "For Unto us a Child is Born" movement. The list goes on.

So I guess I am writing this just to encourage anyone who may be reading this to really think about the words to the songs you sing this Christmas. Realize that these are praise songs - songs that proclaim the birth of our Savior. It really blew my mind to sit down and think about it today. Listen to them, think about them, reflect on them...but don't just sing them because they're "seasonal" or whatever.

Finally, I can't ever experience this time of year without thinking of the glorious time I got to spend as Ralph Herdman in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and how much fun that was. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is when Gladys runs in, as the angel, and yells "HEY! UNTO YOU A CHILD IS BORN!"

Because ultimately, that's the message of Christmas. A series of events that would forever change everything. And it all started with that proclamation.

Merry Christmas!
-chanchan

Don't Be An Idiot

This post is mostly meant to psych me up for the next seven days.

Sometimes I reflect on advice people have given me. Some of this is good advice and some of this is bad advice. They both tend to be comical at times, but the truth underneath it is undeniable. I honestly can't recall the worst advice anyone ever gave me, but when I think about the best advice anyone has ever given me, I think back to the summer of 2007 when I served on Summer Staff at Malibu in Egmont, British Columbia. That's where Kristin Barwick told me "Don't be a idiot." (Yes, she said "don't be a idiot" not "an idiot") And as I sit here staring finals down, knowing myself, these words ring incredibly true.

Don't be an idiot.

What spurred this post is irrelevant. The thing I have to remember about these next 7 days is that I really do, truly, honestly believe that I am where God has me in life. Yeah, finals will be tough, yeah, I did a great deal of procrastinating during the semester, and yeah, I've probably made it a little bit more difficult than it needs to be, but it's still doable. But in this time, I can't be an idiot. Yes, I would probably rather play video games or watch TV. Yes, I would probably rather read some of the books I've bought lately NOT for school. Yes, I would probably rather spend time with my friends or playing outside with the dogs. Yes, I would probably rather be doing anything right now but studying. But it's a week. One week. One week where I know what needs to get done, one week to finish strong.

Don't be an idiot.

Yes, I tend to get worked up/freaked out/upset about little things that people probably shouldn't get worked up/freaked out/upset about. This is not the time for that. Situations will work themselves out.

But the biggest part about "don't be an idiot," to me, right now, is that at times like this I typically tend to not trust God at all. I mean, that's where the freak out stuff comes from. Because I think the way I want things to happen is the way they SHOULD happen, and then when they don't work out that way (or work out that way as quickly as I'd like them to) I lose my mind. Which is why this extends beyond finals and into every aspect of my life. So, when I think about the best way that "don't be an idiot" applies to my life, it just speaks to the idea that I would trust in myself, the neurotic, sometimes-lazy, frequent jerk who is quick to speak and maybe quicker to anger over the sovereign God who sees and knows all, who intimately knows me in ways I don't know myself, who planned this very moment and sees my life 5, 10, 15, and 50 years down the road. The God who knows my wife already, knows what my kids will look like, knows the next car I'll get, knows all of the things I have pent up inside me that may never see the light of day but loves me anyway. And the God who, for some reason, called me to this very time.

So why do I worry? It reminds me of Jon Foreman's song "Your Love is Strong" - Why do I worry? Why do I freak out? God knows what I need...and he's promised to give it to me. I can stand on that promise, knowing it won't always be easy, but knowing that God is good. And he has a plan through all of this.

Don't be an idiot.

Until next time,
-chanchan

PS - listening to Gillian Welch's "Revival" - fan-freaking-tastic album. Love it.

Redemption...or...something

I'm a sports fan. This shouldn't come as a shocking revelation to anyone that knows me, but in case it does serve as a shocking revelation to anyone, I'm just laying it out there. I love sports, particularly basketball and football. I dabble a little in baseball and will occasionally watch golf if the storylines are compelling behind whatever tournament is on. A little while back, I asked myself "why?" Why do I like sports so much? Why am I perfectly content with spending an entire Saturday and an entire Sunday doing nothing but watching football? Why am I willing to drive 2 and a half hours to Oxford to watch a 2 hour basketball game and drive 2 and a half hours back home in the same day? And the thing is, I really don't have an answer. Part of it is because I grew up playing sports. From September to July every year, I spent my time playing basketball then moving on to baseball. I was never really a stand out at anything, but I just liked playing.

But for the last couple of years, my interest in sports piqued to a whole new level. When I think back over the last few years, as it pertains to sports, there have been a couple of incredibly compelling stories. To me, Josh Hamilton's story is probably the best story in all of sports. There are a lot of good ones to choose from, and a lot of stories that resonate with me (I mean, come on. I practically WAS Rudy for my high school basketball team. But being one of the worst players on a Mississippi private school basketball team doesn't hold the same appeal as being a walk on for one of the most storied programs in college football) but the story of Josh Hamilton is incredible. Here you have a guy who literally had everything at his disposal. He was one of the top baseball players in his draft class and was considered a once in a lifetime talent. Then he got hooked on drugs and was literally homeless for a little while, then came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, cleaned his life up, and now is one of the best players in Major League Baseball. On top of that, he's not perfect. So many times we hold these guys (athletes, singers, actors, pastors, whatever...) to a standard no one except for Christ himself could uphold. But when he does screw up, he admits it. And he isn't ashamed to talk about Christ through all of it.

But why does that story touch me in such a way? Simple: redemption. And it's not just about sports. I've never met the guy, but I'm sure Josh Hamilton would tell you that if you took the baseball, the money, the fame, and all that away, as long as he still had Christ he'd be fine. But the redemptive aspect of his story rings true in all of us. We WANT a guy like that to succeed, because it gives us hope in our own lives.

It's the same reason we love the story of the Prodigal Son. We've all been there - maybe it wasn't drugs. Maybe it was sex. Pornography. Alcohol. Depression. Broken relationships. We've all been there - hopeless, lost, and past the point of "trying harder." We've reached the point where we've given up all hope and understood the weight of our own brokenness and come to the realization that there's nothing we can do about it.

The beauty about that situation for Christians is that we realize there never was anything we could do about it. It's not about whether or not we can pull ourselves back up by our bootstraps, but it's about what Christ did on the cross for us. We can't exactly explain it, but it comes down to what Josh Hamilton said about his own story - "It's a God thing." The Prodigal Son remembered his father's goodness and knew that even his servants ate and lived better than he was. He knew he wasn't worthy to be called his father's son anymore, but knew his father to be a compassionate man and hoped for the chance.

So, yeah, we want that story to be true. We want those things to happen, because they give us hope. As much as I love seminary, I get caught up in it a lot of times and forget those times when things seemed hopeless and only Christ would be my way out. I like the thought of being able to sound smart and theologize this and rationalize that so much that I often forget that it's not about being smarter or theologizing or rationalizing. It's about faith - faith in God, faith in Christ - and trusting in him and him alone. I think one of the most profound statements in the Bible is in the story of the blind man in John 9. Jesus heals the guy, giving him sight for the first time. When the Pharisees got a hold of him and questioned him about it, they asked if Jesus was a sinner. The blind man responded in John 9:25 saying "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see."

I don't know. Maybe this whole thing is a stretch. Maybe finals and papers have fried my brain in such a way that literally anything would make sense right now (wouldn't be the first time...) but seeing stories of redemption like that awaken something in me. Something I want and need to believe is true. And something that I know is true.

-chanchan