Song of the South

I have to admit that the past few days have been a real test for me. We have had a grueling time getting set up for camp and the arrival of the rest of our staff. There have been countless boxes to move up and down floors and a pretty drastic adjustment to humidity that has been a challenge. Couple this with the fact that being away from Shannon and Owen Ray for the summer has started to sink in a bit and I have to be honest and say that I am a bit weary.

It is times when you are completely "worn slap out" that I think God teaches you about the vastness of His strength. You simply think that that the overall daunting nature of the task is too much to be overcome. However, these are the times where God really gets to come in and save the day. It reminds me of Paul words concerning his cryptic "thorn in the flesh" that was given to him by God to keep Him humble. Whatever it was, it left Paul feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. What is God's reply to Paul's plea for help? He says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."(2 Corinthians 12:9)

I believe that when we recognize this then God opens doors for us to truly thrive. God will never completely overwork us without giving us a time for renewal. As strange as it sounds, I feel like this summer is the beginning of a renewal and revival period in my life. I think a large part of this stems from simply being in the South and all that comes from that.

I have to preface quickly by stating that Texans generally draw a distinction from the "South" and believe we are our own distinctive region. There definitely are differences, but the food and open-arm fellowship are, for the most part, pretty congruent.

I had a chance to get out on my own a bit today and went out for lunch. Andrew (our worship leader) recommended a place down the road called "J. Rodgers BBQ and Soul Food." I went down there and while it was a pretty quaint place, it really re-energized me. The food (and BBQ) was fantastic. I had some great cabbage and dirty rice with some tender brisket and ribs and washed it all down with a huge glass of diabetes-causing sweet tea. The people around me were all "salt of the earth" type folks. To top it off, on the way out my radio was playing "Song of the South" by Alabama. It really made me feel at home.

For some odd reason when I read of Abraham going to Canaan (the future "Promised Land") I think of the South. I realize the logical inconsistently here, but it just seems to me like Canaan must of had some sort of "down home" feel to it. To an extent, I do feel like I am much closer to home here. Perhaps I'll take time to revel in my weakness so that God can be proven to be strong while I mend up here at home.

I love you all so very much...

Multiplication by Division

I find myself tonight in a nice little suite on the outskirts of Birmingham. It has been a long day of travel that has taken me from Ontario, California to Nashville, Tennessee where I picked up a van and drove down through a lot of rain to Birmingham. So yeah, I'm pretty exhausted so that gives me free reign to write a disjointed post if I feel like it :)

I want to talk a bit about unity in Christianity (or the lack there of). I won't end up doing this topic justice with the time allotted but I have seen this as a consistent issue among Christians for as long as I have been one myself.

I am a big fan of the book of John. Closely followed by Matthew, it is my favorite of the Gospels. Jesus' deity and compassion really seems to pour forth from the book. I love John's description of Jesus in Chapter One of the Divine Logos who tabernacled Himself in flesh and dwelt among men. John 15 is incredible as Jesus breaks down that relationship of us as wild grapevines grafted into the taproot of Jesus. However, lately (the past few years) I have been intrigued by John 17, which happens to contain the longest prayers of Jesus. He begins by praying for Himself and then His disciples. However, I want us to look at the portion where He prays for all other believers:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." (John 17:20-26)

Can we possibly fathom the significance of the statement in bold? Jesus is stating that our unity as believers is evidence to the world about His claim as Messiah. No wonder Christianity (especially in America) is marginalized at best. Whether or not it is a fair assumption (and I think it is), we are known more for what we oppose than what we are actually for or are supposed to be about. It is actually too much to attempt to write a post that includes all the thing that we oppose.

If you doubt this, let's do a little critical thinking. Is America being transformed by our unity and love for one another? I would say no. As Christians, do we spend more money and energy complaining about situations than actually being the hands and feet of Christ? How about we look at it like this - on any given day why are there more Christians sitting around drinking coffee and griping about how many people are sapping the country dry on welfare than there are Christians tirelessly working at soup kitchens and salvation army's to clothe and feed the poor? I'm not trying to be so down on this, but I think we need to see the problem here.

There isn't enough space here to track the disjunction and fracturing of Christendom, but it seems to be happening exponentially. Ever since the Protestant Reformation (which I believe was a very necessary schism), we consistently divide over just about any issue we can.

High Church vs. Low Church... we must divide.

Reformed vs. Arminianism... we must divide.

Premillenialism vs. Amillenialism... we must divide.

Closed Communion vs. Open Communion... we must divide.

Convention allegiance vs. Local Autonomy... we must divide.

"Traditional" hymns vs. "Contemporary" worship... we must divide.

Blue carpet vs. Green Carpet... we must divide.

Chairs vs. Pews... you get the point...

At some point we find ourselves alienated from the Body and alone... The (C)hurch then becomes a box of isolated and useless spare parts that are unable to convince the World that it all fits together and makes sense. I have heard too many Christians here lately say that they have no problem disfellowshipping with other believers over minor tertiary issues. Perhaps I am naive, but I find this to be quite sad. Perhaps in another post we can discuss how wide we can safely go as believers.

I think it is easy to look at the situation of disunity in the Body and feel pretty hopeless. However, John 17:26 brings me great hope: (Caution: Reformed theology at work here) "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." So, in the end, I rest in the fact that while are doing a horrible job at bonding together with the love of Christ, it is still Christ that compels people to believe so that His love can grow within each of us. Praise be to God who saves!

Well, time to finally go to bed so I can get up and head to Mobile in the morning. I love you all so very much...

Inaugural Ramblings

Greetings to you, bored reader, for you have found my new blog. I say "new" because I used to blog quite frequently up until a few short years ago. However, busyness and church politics (not HDBC politics if any of you High Desert people are reading) forced me to take an extended leave. Ceasing to blog actually took a bit of a toll on me as it I love to dialogue on topics (especially those of a theological/metaphysical nature) and it was cheap therapy for me. I've tried to start up again a few times but I never really got back into the groove of it. However, I'm hoping to give it my best shot this time around...

Since most people who would be reading this blog know me pretty well, I will skip a formal introduction and long life story. As I go along I will probably end up telling you way too much about myself as it is and end up scaring you away.

As for my life right now, I am finding myself in an interesting transition period. I have spent the past 6+ years of my life in vocational youth ministry. While it has had its ups and downs, it has been a ride that has brought me much joy. I still love every one of my "kids" and pray and hope for Christ to reign in their life. However, as of yesterday, I find myself now (at the ripe-old age of 25) formally retired from student ministry. I still love and respect the profession/ministry, but I find myself lacking in the skill-sets to succeed as God has given me other desires that have led me to take steps to obey Him.

So now I am currently sitting in a mostly empty house. My beautiful bride, Shannon, is currently asleep on an air mattress where our bed used to be and my 10 month old son, Owen Ray, is taking up temporary residence in a pack n' play in place of his crib. In two days I will be leaving these two focal points of my life to be a camp pastor for M-Fuge camps at the University of Mobile in Alabama.

Transition like this rarely comes without a flurry of confused emotions. I just finished up pouring into a youth group for the past 26 months and growing to deeply love and care for the youth and the church as a whole. It has not been the smoothest ride at times, but I leave with both a full and heavy heart. There are so many people who have been instrumental in keeping me sane and in check for the past two years and while I feel blessed to have known them, it is so hard to step away. I haven't had a chance to fully grieve this loss yet, but I feel it coming soon. Couple that with the fact that I have leave my family for the summer and you have a nice recipe for a nervous breakdown, but God has really been pushing me to trust Him lately and that seems like a pretty smart thing to do...

Along with these bittersweet feelings come a brisk sense of anticipation. While I have found myself in some pretty eclectic situations in ministry (everything from leading MUSIC (yikes) for VBS to speaking in front of hundreds of people to teaching young kids in India), I find myself stepping into a new venture as a camp pastor. For six weeks I will get a chance to share the Gospel and challenge several hundred kids while serving on a team with about twenty other people. This is such a scary and exhilarating opportunity for me and I really cannot believe how quickly God has opened this door for me. On top of this, God is opening up a path for us to move to Fort Worth so I can attend SWBTS and become a covenant member at my all-time favorite podcast church, The Village.

(Note: I have to start condensing things now because I'm writing too much for this to be my first into post).

Anyway, this is an incredibly amazing and frightening time for me and I cannot wait to get started. My heart still aches from current losses, but I look ahead to a fresh start. Lamentations 3:21-24 come to mind: "Yet this I call to mind, and therefore have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him."

Anyway, I need to wrap up this initial post so here are a few final points of what to expect:

1) I am pretty self-deprecating and I love that I am that way (wrap your mind around that one :)
2) I try to keep things light when talking about heavy subjects. Hopefully this will be by far the most boring post I will write.
3) I love dialogue so feel free to subscribe and comment away.
4) If you are interested in reading my old blogs, they can be found at www.xanga.com/muddsmith (However, I've hopefully done a lot of growing up since then).

With all that said, I am finally going to head to bed. I love you all so very much...