Study: Vessels: Salt (2008)

this piece is part of a new series i am working on in conjunction with the "light" series from the same section in matthew. for a long time i was never really sure what "you are the salt of the earth" [matthew 5:13] meant. and i'd be egotistical to say that i understand it all now, but I am slowly starting to understand. this series, along with the light series, are to explore the implications of these two important "you are" statements that Jesus makes about His people.

this piece was also accepted to be shown at the 2008 CCDA conference in miami (october 22-26) as part of a show surrounding the conference theme of "shalom." it will be displayed with the works of many other artists from around the country (and maybe even the continent!)

things got really crazy toward the end of the summer and i feel like i'm just now catching up (finally!) at the beginning of august, john came for a visit! it was so good (and relaxing) to have him here for the weekend. the youthworks staff left to go back to their normal lives, but i followed them up to pittsburgh to help with the end of summer retreat and hang out with jess and belinda (area and regional directors over west virginia) before they went off on their new adventures as well. right after that, i drove over to canton to visit for a day and came back home to logan. i wasn't even here for a week before i got a late-night phone call from alissa that hayden carter (one of the boys from the small group i co-led in murfreesboro, and a friend as close as a little brother) had died suddenly in a car wreck. the next morning i drove down there to spend the week with friends and family. after the weekend of the funeral, alissa came up to visit for a few days. this last week was the first in a while i might describe as "normal" (maybe... if there is such a thing!)
in the midst of all of this chaos (including many hard days and hard nights) God has been so faithful. one night last week i felt like i should give up on just about everything, maybe move somewhere else and not tell anybody where. it was awful. but from every broken seed, God brings beautiful growth; and the next day, He blew new breath into me and showed me part of His vision for logan.
so, right now, i'm working on the details of an arts-based summer camp/workshop (or to avoid the community-center fiasco, lets just call it a "thing"!) to provide under-served students in logan with an outlet for all the awful things our society has thrown onto them. i believe that the arts are healing (they have been for me, and many others i know); and that, as God is the Creator, we also, being made in His image, are to be creators and not destroyers. (it's good for you, try it!) as usual, i really don't know what this is going to look like. but, i'm trying to get in contact with some people who are doing similar things around the country to get some basics down. please pray that God would continue to speak about His desires for logan and the students here. please pray that He would send workers when the time is right (and, of course, funds...). and PLEASE keep praying for hayden's family and friends.

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the skies have been beautiful here lately; these photos are from thursday...

a whole lot has been happening, and it's all been wonderful. God is so great, and He's been choosing to show me that over and over since i got here. some of you got an e-mail about the building previously mentioned in this post. i met with the owners on friday, and they showed me around the inside (which, honestly didn't have much to show because the building is just two huge empty rooms right on top of each other. which, although not entirely interesting, is just perfect for a community center!). they had the power turned off while it's vacant so these are the only pictures i could get of the first floor (the top floor has no windows, so there were no pictures to be taken...notice the hot pink paint job!)

the owners were really nice and even though they had told me there was another person looking at the building, they seemed more interested in helping me than selling it to him to start a clothing store (previous incarnations of this building have included a theater, a bingo hall, and a retail store). the building is 9000 sqare feet total (two 45' by 100' rooms) and everything seems to be in good shape; it has separate commercial air conditioning for each floor (top floor is brand new), it has drop ceilings already to aid with energy conservation and efficiency, it's asbestos free (vinyl floor tiles), and it appears to be very structurally sound (all steel and concrete consturction, no cracks as far as i could see). this is way earlier than i expected to be thinking about obtaining a building. in fact, a lot of the programming and other planning questions are still up in the air, but God has opened up this door now, so i am walking through it.

but, as i said, everything is moving very quickly. and as i've been thinking about it, i continue to wonder who's will is being enacted. this hit me really hard on monday, so this week i have effectually "started over." what i mean is, i have felt the need to really strip all the stigma and labels and descriptions off of this vision God has given me (which never really did a great job at describing what i could feel in my heart) and to try and repaint the vision with more adequate words. because, what has happened (or what i feel like has happened) is that i've been using these words ("community center," "youth center," etc.) to try and describe what God has told me to do because i honestly don't know the right words to use to fully describe it. so, in the process, this has clouded, cluttered, and (quite possibly) high-jacked the pure, original vision that God gave. it's like when we use the words "awesome," "wonderful," "great," or "amazing" to try and describe God after we've just used them to describe a taco, a vacation, a movie, or whatever. we use them because we know what they mean and we feel a little bit of that, to a greater scale, when we experience God. but they will never be able to fully describe God. and, i think, when we do this, we take away some of His majesty by removing His indescribable-ness from our minds (though we have little choice besides not saying anything at all!). in this same way, i feel like i've sold His vision for me a little short by placing unfair walls around it with the words i have used. so, i am praying for clarity and for words to be able to share the wonder i feel in my heart with all of you, and to even be able to understand it enough to know where to start. please join me in praying! pray that we would not quench the wonder of God's plans for us with the barriers of our own minds. pray that there would be hope for the youth in a place that sometimes seems without hope. pray that our hearts would truly understand that our minds could never understand the wholeness of God. just pray! and we will see His will be done!

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after my first round of meetings, things are looking really good. God is so faithful in bringing to completion the work He has started in us [philippians 1:6]! after the meeting with the family resource network (a group that basically compiles information about other organizations and make that information available to families in need of assistance) i sat and talked with the director, shannon meade, for quite a while. we dreamed about solutions for the youth of our community and discussed some opportunities for them to both serve and be served at the same time. it was great to see her heart for logan, and get some input from someone who has lived here for much longer than me. the p.i.e.c.e.s. meeting (a group that focuses on drug abuse prevention) was a lot more formal. things were being reviewed, passed and voted on, but it was so great to see that there are people in logan county who are concerned about their neighbors, these issues and doing their best to affect their community in a positive way. p.i.e.c.e.s. was interesting also because it is a group of both Christians and non-Christians united for a common goal (although there is a pastor's meeting beforehand). it really is a beautiful thing, but it's sad to see people who don't even know God caring more for their family, friends and neighbors than the Christians around them often do [luke 10:25-37]. i've been talking and meeting with lots of people and have even more coming up.
i think i'm about ready to write up a solid plan and a mission statement, as most conversations are revealing similar needs, so i was researching some from similar organizations across the country today.
it still is and will always be a big part of my job to dream, and i like that. if you'd like to join in, feel free!
this year, kids' club has been especially full of older kids; some even appear to be as old as sophomores or juniors in high school. it breaks my heart to know why they're there, but i'm glad they are. emily loves them.
we had our Bible study and prayer meetings today at the church, and both went for almost 2 hours. one of the biggest strengths of the body here at new covenant is that they are truly prayer warriors. i'm learning a lot about expectant and passionate prayer just by being around. the meeting tonight was extraordinary.
in other news, someone on the hill was moving out today and they were trying to bring this huge 24 or 26 foot u-haul up the hill. it took a few tries but we were able to help them make the turn with minimal damage to the truck and the street. on the return trip, however, the street was not so lucky... whoops!

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the freedom festival was this weekend (july 3-5) in downtown logan. there was a lot going on.

there were talent shows, live music, and a magic show (in true arrested development form) on the main stage by the courthouse

there were all kinds of booths selling all kinds of things lining the streets

there were puppets teaching us two very important lessons:
1) lessons are nice, but money is better (buy a dvd!)(at least they told the kids it was okay if their parents said "no"), and...

...2) it's okay to take candy from weird looking strangers as long as they're crazy

there was a parade, which i like because they are, of course, really the only time you can feel good about eating candy off the ground (hey, it's always better than crazy strangers, right?)

(me enjoying said candy)

tyler was there!

there was a booth selling realistic looking fake cigarettes to small children (3 for $1). i actually thought, along with all those around me, some kid was smoking a real one from a short distance (tan filters, glowing red ends, and they really blow smoke...). probably an unneccesary precaution by the cigarette companies in the state with the 3rd highest percentage of smoking adults in the nation. (thanks to the one and only maria roberts for modeling them for me.)

there was a "tigers of the world show" where a crocadile-hunter-esque man made sad-looking tigers do things they didn't want to do. this is the cage where they performed. i wasn't too excited about it, so i didn't watch. apparently he almost got eaten. i wonder if that's why... hmm...

and there were crazy spinny carnival rides. the guy in the black shirt looked like he was going to loose it as soon as the ride started. it was sad watching him spin helplessly in circles. i must admit i used to love these things in middle school, now i generally try to avoid them.

it was nice to know that i live here now as i wandered through the streets. i saw lots of teenagers and just kept wishing i had a place to invite them. it was good to remember that once the summer's over, i'll still be here because of them. i'm so anxious to get things going, i've got to keep myself in check. as i was telling john on the phone yesterday, i've always got to be sure i'm preparing the way for God's kingdom and not my own. especially when i want something really bad, like an awesome building on the corner of stratton and dingess.

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tonight was pretty crazy. it was the last night of the freedom festival here in logan (more on that later...) and three of the staff from the youthworks site in lincoln county came down to hang out with the logan staff for the night. one of them is this guy, alex. we were all hanging out by the crazy nausea-inducing spinny rides that no carnival/festival would be complete without; and he asked me my story, so i told him as we walked over to the gas station to get some regularly-priced refreshments. on the way up to the church to watch the fireworks, i asked him about his, and boy did he tell me. both of our stories start very similarly, but the turning point is different. in mine, God used a recurring dream to call me to Him. in his, God gave him a vision. he continued to tell me all the things God had brought him through, all the temptations and trials, mistakes and mess-ups, to the point where he finally could surrender his life completely over to Jesus. and, he continued to tell me about his adventures with the Holy Spirit since that day. God has given him a wonderful gift of prophetic knowledge. he told me after the story that when he met me he saw that God was going to do great things through me here, and saw the love of God shining through me as i spoke to some teens downtown tonight. he said they were so attracted to Jesus in me. and he said he knew God was going to bless my ministry here in logan and the number 20 popped in his head. i've known and believed all of this, but after these first few weeks of feeling kind of task-less, i needed to hear it again. i could feel the Spirit flowing through me as he spoke these words to me, and He refreshed me. we were talking the whole time the fireworks were going off. God is so amazing.

my first community meeting is wednesday at 10:30. pray for me. it's going to be awesome.

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something to ponder on the 4th of july

who is your Lord? who is your Savior? who is your Redeemer?
to whom do you belong?

God or Caesar?

- [exodus 20:3]
- [1 corinthians 6:19-20]

- [matthew 6:24]

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