Thirsty

Thou that hast giv'n so much to me, Give one thing more, a grateful heart. See how thy beggar works on thee By art. He makes thy gifts occasion more, And sayes, If he in this be crost, All thou has giv'n him heretofore Is lost. But thou didst reckon, when at first Thy word our hearts and hands did crave, What it would come to at the worst To save. Perpetuall knockings at thy doore, Tears sullying thy transparent rooms, Gift upon gift, much would have more, And comes. This notwithstanding, thou wentst on, And didst allow us all our noise: Nay, thou has made a sigh and groan Thy joyes. Not that thou has not still above Much better tunes, than groans can make; But that these countrey-aires thy love Did take. Wherefore I crie, and crie again; And in no quiet canst thou be, Till I a thankfull heart obtain Of thee: Not thankfull, when it pleaseth me; As if thy blessings had spare dayes: But such a heart, whose pulse may be Thy praise. - George Herbert, (1633) was...

(from the Nov '08 issue of Magnificat ) This litany is a meditation on what some of the saints have spoken or written. As we listen to these saints, we pray for a deeper personal participation in their sanctity. This litany represents only a small sampling of the vast communion of saints (the selection is limited due to space constraints). Feel free to add your favorites to it. One option is to sing the litany and it's response. R: (Saint's name), pray for us. Holy Mary, Mother of God: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." R. Saint Gabriel the Archangel: "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." R. Saint Joseph: [pause in reverent silence] R. Saint John the Baptist: "Jesus must increase; I must decrease." R. Saint Peter: "Lord, you know that I love you." R. Saint Paul: "We had accepted within ourselves the sentence of death, that we might trust not in ourselves but i...

I'm torn between using twitter frequently enough to timeline what I'm doing, and posting here on the blog to flesh out more details. Oh well. This weekend has been packed enough to warrant a blog post I think. Friday evening, Don & Jackie Shuler invited me over to Middlebury for dinner along w/ Todd and Sara. We had a wonderful dinner followed by my first chance to play Settlers of Cattan with them, except that I had to tear myself away halfway into it. It was very relaxing and enjoyable to spend a few hours with some longtime friends. Then I headed over to Elkhart where Allesha was hosting a bonfire at her parents' house, and even though I got there about 2.5 hrs late, there was still a full circle of about 15 people gathered around a massive fire. It lasted an hour longer and then I headed home w/ Dan to get some sleep before the big day. Saturday morning, Dan & I walked through our neighborhood to get to the Montessori School where the Fall Frolic was ...

Today my co-worker made a lifelong commitment to the Christian community that I belong to. There were hundreds of us present to witness it, and those who had already made the commitment were invited to stand and join in while eight people, Jeremy included, recited what exactly they were agreeing to. For more information about it, see the "covenant" section of People of Praise . The timeline follows along with typical religious communities - you go through a trial period for usually 4-7 years where you are exploring life in the community and deciding how much you like it. If eventually you decide you're fully on board, in light of a multitude of experiences of it, then you make a lifelong commitment to it. Of course you may choose later to change your mind, but you are saying that at this point, you intend for it to be lifelong. This is exciting. Someday I expect I'll be doing the same thing. God is renewing his creation more each day, and the People of Praise w...

Here's an extended tweet. Don called me on to more blogging, so I suppose I'll do it now while I have time. I'm alone at my parents' lake cabin, having just said goodbye to the last of the friends that came to hang out with me this weekend. There were up to 11 of us at one point, and most of us went to SJC around the same time. Some of us are married, some are dating, some are single. We did these sorts of gatherings more frequently a couple years ago and earlier, but life happened and I wasn't setting aside time to plan and do this. The weekend had already started Friday evening with a birthday party for Sheila at the Brewer's, fireworks at the POP community center, and meeting for drinks/snacks at a local restaurant afterwards. I probably caused it to adjourn a bit early since I wanted to get home to pack and be on the road by midnight, heading for Crooked Lake. I didn't make it there till about 1:30, and Theresa from Cincinnati was making the ni...

I'm reading a small book called The Uganda Blessing by Gus Zuehlke... We drove to Fort Portal, which is 250 miles west of Kampala, with Bishop Robert. On the way, we stopped at an upscale hotel and restaurant for lunch. After lunch, as we walked back to our SUV, we heard a man singing in the bar. The only words to the song wer, "I'm so lonely." He went on repeating that for five minutes. I was reminded of something Father John Dunne, CSC, once wrote about an African love song which has only three words; "I walk alone." Dunne speaks of the problem of loneliness which has become acute in our time. We have emerged as individuals, but have lost a sense of relatedness with others. We spend all our time and energy making sure that what we do is our own choice, our decision. This is too often accomplished at the cost of spending time and energy relating to others. In Uganda, one senses that peoples' sense of relatedness is still strong, but the lonelin...

Size matters, in both directions. Intimate conversation as a group is difficult with larger areas. Perhaps sections, or split areas? Friendship, closeness, and passion all increase when we have shared work. Call and ask if we can come over to places. Invite ourselves over. It's a way of kickstarting the mutual service and shared work. Anytime I have a need or a lonely spot in my schedule, I should consider people in my area as family. Express a need, as minor as it is! Not necessarily post-worthy, but fresh in my mind from a gathering we had this evening.

I'm not sure how best to recap. I want to capture as much as possible, without losing your attention due to the length. I believe the memory of this camp would be very valuable to many different sorts of people. Sunday, I arrived in the morning, had an all staff meeting, and got the 4th grade boys (13 of them this year) cabin ready to go. I would be the head counselor, with James and Mike B assisting, and Caleb and Mike C as my junior counselors. These four guys, ranging from high school to grad-school age, brought more skill and energy to my group than I could ever ask for. As campers arrived early afternoon, we got them unpacked and situated, and then down to the lake for swim tests. The basic layout for a day of camp was: - wake up the boys at 7:30, give them 20 minutes of quiet time to get situated and read from their bible if they'd like. then clean the cabin and get ready for flags - flag raising, with the whole camp - 3rd graders through 7th graders, with a nearly...

Last night, Sheila and Laura G hosted a pasta dinner in order to help a few of us carbo-load prior to the Sunburst races this morning in South Bend. What a blessing that was, as well as the opportunity to watch a recording of the Gaudet home on Extreme Home Makeover. What an incredible home, and ability of the team to highlight the passions and struggles of the Gaudet family! This morning I caught a few of us before the race for well-wishes, and then we lingered after our respective races to wait for everyone to get in. The finale was the incredible sight of Sarah H finishing her first ever half-marathon! The weather was beautiful, if humid, and it has remained incredible today. I'm discovering more and more that whenever the seasons change, I personally feel a fresh awareness of the wonderful experiences that life is, a gift from God. Another thing I'm discovering more and more, is that running is the great equalizer. It is a rather individualistic sport, which while ...

In the last couple years, I've read three novel/biographies about some recent-day Christians who've brought their faith into physically demanding missionary work. I first read Chasing the Dragon , followed immediately by The Cross and the Switchblade , and I just recently finished Bruchko . I had been putting off reading Bruchko, but when David Zimmel referred extensively to it during the high school boys retreat I helped with, I decided to finally take the plunge. I had been hearing not-so-glowing thoughts about it from Kyle, so I figured I would quell my curiousity on multiple levels. Bruchko is a keeper. I say that primarily due to the wide variety of readers I think it can be appealing to. It's not long and rambling, but it does jump back and forth in time, giving you more picture to work with without losing your attention. Bruce takes a very honest, critical look at various points of contact that Christianity had with his life, but the ongoing theme is his desire ...

Tagged by Jim ! Thusly, I tag August , Eric , Todd , Jackie , and Mark-Alan ! Supposedly you're not allowed to spend more than 26 minutes working on this too. a. antagonistic at times b. butterfingers in basketball c. crowdfright d. dastardly e. enthusiastic f. far-fetched thoughts g. good listener h. happy usually i. independent to a fault j. juxtapose-crazy k. killer sarcasm l. lofty, impossible standards m. meddling n. nifty o. only 1 person at a time, please! p. prideful q. quiet r. runner s. street-smart t. timid u. undisciplined v. voiceless w. wary x. excel novice y. yam-lover (and ALL other foods too!) z. zoologist at heart

Souls eager to arrive at union with God must accept, without excusing themselves, every correction or rebuke, even if not wholly deserved, and even if wholly unjust. It takes great humility to find oneself unjustly condemned and be silent, and to do this is to imitate the Lord, who set us free from all our sins. - Teresa of Avila

Don't really have much to post, well I suppose I do, lots of cool stuff is happening lately. Lots of youth ministry ranging from kindergarten through 9th grade boys... good stuff at work... weather is inducing more running... lots of opportunities for me to further nourish relationships with friends and family. But what I'm interested in posting is a bit of information about the current Pope. I've recently realized how much the Pope speaks to the world. He has something to say to everyone. I have no doubt that he could have an intense conversation with you, and draw out and illuminate the image of God that you were born with. He has been in the U.S. this week, and I'm most amazed at the depth of content that he prepared and reflected on during each of his various visits. Below are his speeches verbatim, from just this trip: Press Conference Aboard Papal Flight - "I Go to the United States With Joy" Pontiff's Address at White House - "Faith Shed...

Noah and Maria are married! I'm very happy for them. I grew up with Noah and went to school with him through 8th grade, but then different high schools, and different cities for college and beyond, but we have both made the effort to stay connected. Below is the toast that I wrote and then read at the reception. I figured it appropriate to let everyone not there too, a little bit about them. When I think of Noah, here are a few things that I think of: I think of being treated like one of the family whenever I came over to play. Getting into trouble together. Growing up together. Learning together. Ok, you want specifics. Did you know that when you press steel wool onto a 9-volt battery, it burst into flames? Noah and I discovered that together, nearly burning down the Koontz shed in the process. Did you know that in the Koontz household, computer time was dished out to the kids - far more than the TV, and years before the computer was the common tool it is today? Noah and...

One of the precursors to Spring is the excited anticipation of runners who begin making ambitious plans for the warm weather, before it has even returned. I am one of the guilty many. Though it certainly seems that I have more runners around me than I did last year. More of my friends are interested in running, more are taking the step from "not running", to "jogging", to "running", than before. I have also become aware of my decline in fitness since leaving Chicago. The Davids (Salmon & Zimmel) told me about the Grand Island Trail Marathon awhile back, and I've since scrounged up a solid commitment from a few other guys to register to run it! There is also growing interest from a few more folks to join us in driving up there and do the 10 kilometer run that accompanies it. I think so far we've got 7 or 8 people signed up total. To quote the website, "The marathon filled by early May last year and the 10Km filled by late June,...

Not sure how often I will do this, but I'd like to try something called " fisking ," though what I actually produce will usually be a poor example of it. I would rather get my thoughts out, in a broken form, than miss getting them out there while I wait for the opportunity to more clearly articulate them. My first one is based on an article that I encountered in my Del.icio.us network (that links to my own bookmarks, but I'm referring to a bookmark somebody else in my network posted.) The article is: How to Respond to Conservatives , and my response to it is: The first half of this document is basic conversation/debate tactics. It makes the claim that conservatives are emotional and unreasonable, even though you could easily swap in a person with any ideology for that. They are attacks on the person, not the topic. They highlight the flow of the conversation over the content. The problem is he slides in content: i.e., diverting a pro-lifer by saying "by...

Interesting thing I'm discovering about myself: I grew up thinking it was a selfish thing to say, "I want to be a saint." That probably sounds absurd. All Christians aspire to sainthood, and even non-Christians know that it's something important to us. I grew up thinking it would be an amazing gift from God to be a saint, but would honestly feel ashamed ever expressing a desire to be a saint. Pretty crazy! I realize now that what I saw in sainthood was miracles and eternal life and joy and comfort and good food and being "better than everyone else." What I see now is a life of poverty, humility, and humiliations. An ardent desire for God's unity and peace and justice, so ardent that you would daily lay down your life for it. As this understanding grows, I'm beginning to realize how good it is even to desire sainthood. To be Christ here today. Who wants to be a saint?

This week I have been in a neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, called Allendale. A few years ago a few young men in the People of Praise did some research and praying for where God would like for them to spend their energy and help usher in his kingdom. They settled on Allendale, one of the poorest places in the country, and there has been an ever-increasing presence here, being and bringing Jesus Christ to a struggling people. Just a few pages with snippets of the Allendale work are here , here , here . As an inadequate summary of the week, I'm just going to briefly describe the pattern of life, and what I did each day beyond the pattern. All of the local full-time employees of One:Ten , except me, are members of the new Work College in South Bend. It's a collection of undergrads, recent grads, an older single, and a largish family, that share a large part of their life together, meeting together for most dinners, praying together, learning together, playing together,...

I had the chance to attend Muncie's Festival of Lessons and Carols along with Pete Gaffney. My mom, Beth, was one of the readers. Below is what she read and shared. I stole it, with her permission. From Isaiah Chapter 9 : "The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulders dominion rests. They name him wonder-counselor, mighty god, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." The words of Isaiah are powerful. When we read them, we feel his confidence and knowledge of God. Those words sound so direct. How can one not see that this promised messiah is fleshed out in the life of Jesus? Why cannot the whole world see it? Why cannot the Jews see it? Many of you here know that I grew up Jewish, in an observant Jewish home. To understand the Jewish viewpoint, you must remember that the Jews were expecting the Messiah to be a powerful, good king. They were expecting a person of God's choice to ri...

I've been taking more pictures lately. Jennifer instigated it when she suggested that One:Ten should start it's own 365 on Flickr as a way of sharing more of our life with those outside the office. So we now have a One:Ten pool on Flickr which anyone can subscribe to if they don't already subscribe to those of the individual members. I'm sure there will be vast dry spells, but anyone can help us by giving us ideas for what they'd like to see. The photography continued into a road trip I took last weekend with a few from the local young adults group. We went to visit Dan who is an actor and was playing in A Christmal Carol with a few different parts. We managed to take quite a few pictures there. It was a huge blessing to get some much time with everyone who came.. so much time provides cement for relationships. Earlier this week I drove down to Indy with a couple friends, Dan from my men's group and Michael. Wanting to fully experience it as much as ...