Changing Communities

As people mature, they typically find themselves in new communities. One such change is going away to begin college. Another change is leaving college after graduation. At college, I talked to fellow Philosophy and Religion majors about the great things we were studying. My professors treated me as an equal in their classes or offices. Being able to relate my studies with other people was very exciting for me, but now it is different. I personally get just as excited while reading a good book, but not everyone around me is interested in the same things. My community has changed.

I have been applying for a job, and I assumed my "college degree" would help me get the job. But that is not necessarily true. My college degree on the wall does not help me during the oral interview. Just because I can talk about Kant's categorical imperative or Kierkegaard's teleological suspension of the ethical does not mean I can necessarily do well during the interview process. In college, each class was about giving me specific knowledge about a particular subject, but the overall goal of college goes beyond that. Hopefully, college gives us the skills and confidence to speak and reason effectively whether in an interview process or talking to our friends about where our lives seem to be taking us. We cannot allow ourselves to revel in the roles of our former communities; we must begin the search of understanding ourselves in our new communities. As our communities change, we must change as well.
dr

This Summer

I have been busy since my last post, which is why I have not posted in awhile. This summer I am a Youth Minister Interim at Midway Baptist Church in Midway, Kentucky. I am excited about this opportunity. This coming Sunday I will taking the youth to Passport in North Carolina. Here is just a little post to reveal what I am doing this summer.
dr

What role does charity have in our culture?

After visiting Camden, New Jersey for a week, I have realized that giving money to a charitable organization or church is not enough to assist those in poverty. It is very easy for me to give money to the starving and easy for those starving to accept it for a nice meal. It is easy to take a homeless man to a shelter for night as well. But my life cannot change by seeing a homeless man for a mere moment. I can live in the American society that continues to expand the gap between the rich and poor thinking that my charitable acts please God, but these acts only clear my own conscience away from making real sacrifices. I can feel sorry for the homeless but that feeling subsides in the comfort of my nice warm house. For some God calls them to live in places like Camden, New Jersey with those in poverty feeling their pain and sorrowing and seeking to show them hope in God. For others God calls us to recognize what impact we are actually able to accomplish through our actions. It is tragedy to believe that by going on a mission trip to the most dangerous city in America for a week I will be able to change the lives of those people living there from day to day. Our role was to assist Urban Promise Ministries in janitorial and repair work, so they may be better equipped to assist those living in the poverty stricken areas of Camden when no one else cares to even listen to them. So many times our charitable contributions are more about clearing our own conscience than actually helping those in need. To have a lasting impact on those in need around us, we must make our lives vulnerable to those, which is more difficult than writing a check. When we suffer as they suffer in the turmoil of our society, then we are able to show God's love to the world.
dr

Dogma and Praxis

As people lean towards a post-modern mindset, is there any room for dogma? It seems that people would rather believe in one extreme or the other, but must they be mutually exclusive? I derive my understanding of praxis first from my understanding of dogma, but then you may claim that the only way to express our dogma is through our praxis. So, our praxis must be first before our dogma. I wonder if we want to claim that praxis is more important than dogma, how do we know what the correct praxis is? Well you may claim that we live it out, but it seems best that dogma would be the most fitted to guide our praxis. In Mere Christianity, Lewis describes the Christian doctrine as a map of the ocean. Yes, the experience as we sit on the beach and hear the waves is more real and inspiring than reading a map, but we need the map to navigate ourselves through the ocean. Also, the map is a collection of people's own experiences of the ocean throughout time. As more people traveled the ocean, they outlined the land masses of the different continents. One would need a map (and compass) to travel from England to the Africa, or this person may end up in America as the ocean seems like a vast endless collection of water. We may be traveling around within the praxis of the world, but we also need dogma to help us get through it. Praxis and dogma is not mutually exclusive; our dogma is derived from the praxis of those before us; therefore, we cannot claim that our praxis is separate from the dogma of time that is before us. We cannot even claim that is is better but only a better continuation of the truth that has be given to us throughout history. I am not trying to replace the emphasis of our understanding of truth only through dogma instead of praxis, i am merely showing both must be a vital aspect as we seek to understand the world that is before us.
dr

Finding Our Vocation

As a recent graduate of Georgetown College, I have been blessed to be in an environment that challenges me to discover my vocation. I have learned that it is not something that I will find but something I do, which is never complete. As I live out my life, I live out my vocation. Finding our vocation is ordering our lives in a fashion that fosters an understanding in which the needs of the world and the desires of our heart and mind intersect. But I have come to another understanding about this quest. I am fortunate to be in a social class that allows me to seek my vocation. I can challenge every person I meet to begin thinking about what their vocation is, but many are not in the position to ask such questions. It is very unfortunate that many people cannot reflect upon their gifts and desires to pursue those. Some may be stuck in a job they do not like, but it pays the bills. Since I am on this side of beginning my career, I am able to direct my career and life towards my vocation. But it is very important to not limit our vocation to our career, but to our way of life. If my vocation is to inspire children but I am stuck behind a desk from day to day, I can still find many children's lives to connect mine with throughout my community. As I hope to always ask how my life reaches out to the needs of the world, I hope to remember how blessed I am even to ask this question. Maybe our vocations should seek to help others begin the quest of vocation in their own lives despite any job they many find themselves in.
dr

The Art of Comunication

Communication is one of the most essential components to any relationship, but it can also be the hardest. Many times we assume that the other person communicates the same way we do because it is so easy for us. Our own style of communication is beneficial and works for us, so we assume it would be beneficial and work for everyone else as well. The act of communication becomes complicated when the very way we think and talk about our ideas come against the way the one we are talking to expresses their own ideas. So many times our own choice of words may or may not represent what we are trying to express. When I become confused at what point the person is trying to get across, I try to scrutinize and analyze their words seeking the meaning of those words. But this may portray that someone must fully understand all the implications of the words one chooses to use before they speak them. Because we cannot fully know what our words may imply to another person this becomes an impossible task. My very act of analyzing a person's words may actually cause that person not to express them because I am not listening to their words to understand them but I may only be listening for a chance to prove them wrong. Even if this is not the goal of this type of communication, this is what this communication style may imply. Then my approach to communication does not enhance but hinder it. When I am not seeking to prove the person wrong but merely wanting to listen, my focus on the actual use of words may also distract me from what the person is actually saying. As we live our lives in many different relationships it is not necessarily important to merely understand the other person's perspective but also how our own perspective becomes translated within the other person's ideas and beliefs. The difficult task of constructive communication makes our relationships very complicated but also very rewarding, so it will always be very favorable towards the growth of our relationships.
dr

My First Post

Many of my friends have their own blogs, so I decided to join the fun. While I have not decided what to actually write on my own blog, I am excited about the possibillities that are before me.
dr