Review and Reflection: Unbroken

As I mentioned in my last post, Jamie and I have a tradition of going to the movie theater in the winter time, and we look for movies specifically that move us, that stir us, that cause us to think deeply about this world we live in, our purpose in it, and how we can help it be better. We watch movies that help us reflect, to set our intentions, and to become a better version of ourselves as well.

And this past winter, we discovered the story of WWII Veteran Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was an Olympic athlete, a Japanese WWII prison camp survivor, and a deeply committed Christian. And this winter, Angelina Jolie told a portion of his story in the movie Unbroken. Unbroken is also a book, and I am sure it is a great one, but I have not read it yet.

Jamie and I had done some reading about Louis Zamperini before watching the movie. His life was amazing, and the movie only carried the viewer through a small portion of it. Zamperini, after the events of the movie, became a deeply committed Christian, and worked to be reconciled and to forgive his captors after his faith was re-ignited at a Billy Graham crusade in 1949.

As I watched the movie with Jamie, there were several points I found myself in tears. There's something about taking in a story of a person who perseveres, who overcomes, and who refuses to give up that ignites a spark deep inside.  Our world needs good stories like Louie Zamperini's. Our world needs you and I to also begin living a better story.

Would I recommend this movie to you? Absolutely! But, I must warn you. The pain that this man went through, and that was portrayed on the screen is pretty overwhelming. But maybe, in getting a glimpse of this man's story, you will find yourself more ready to engage in the trials that emerge in your own life, maybe you'll find yourself pushing your limits and refusing to quit, maybe you will find yourself more able to be reconciled to others. I sure hope so. The world will be better if more of us dig in our heels and refuse to give up when the going gets tough.

May we all grow in our resolve to do the right thing and to never quit!

Nuru International 2010 Annual Report: Stories Of Changed Lives

Elias Sinda's Story from Nuru International on Vimeo.

Earlier this month, Nuru released it’s annual report in a really different format. Some organizations send out a brief financial statement to donors; others send a more extensive printed annual report (Nuru did this last year). This year, we thought we would do something really different. We posted our annual report online in a really cool interactive format. I highly recommend you take some time to check it out here.

In the meantime, I thought you would enjoy watching this video of Elias Sinda and hearing about how Nuru’s work in his community has equipped him with the tools and knowledge to help his family lift itself out of extreme poverty. Elias’ story is one of hundreds being written in what is the second poorest district in all of Kenya. With Nuru’s help, the people of Kuria are turning desperate conditions into a world of opportunities. They are learning how to prevent waterborne illness. They are growing enough food to feed themselves,. They are insuring their children are enrolled in school because now they have income that will allow them to pay the nominal school fees. It’s truly wonderful to see.

In spite of the drought that has wreaked havoc across the Horn of Africa, Nuru farmers are thriving. It is truly a joy to know that lives are changing in Kuria, and that you and I get the opportunity to be part of it. Thanks for watching, and thanks for being involved. And if you haven’t gotten involved yet, now is a great time to start.

Storytelling—Nuru On Tour

Nuru On Tour from Nuru International on Vimeo.

I love this video, I love the music that was donated by MGMT for the video, but more than that I love the people who make up this video.  Three recent West Virginia University graduates, Derek Roberts, Tiffany Newcomb, and Lisa Hough, decided that in lieu of pursuing jobs in Accounting, Aerospace Engineering, and Civil Engineering respectively, they would drive around the country in a Ford conversion van and tell people about the greatest humanitarian crisis of our generation, and how they could join Nuru in our efforts to end extreme poverty, first in Kuria, Kenya, and then moving forward to some of the most poverty stricken and unstable places on earth.

I first met Derek in a Bible study on the campus of WVU.  He was a competitive triathlete, and passionate about pursuing justice and serving others in this world.  In fact, about a year after I met him, he left competitive cycling and triathlons emphatically by selling a bike and giving the proceeds of the sale to Nuru.  He shocked his fellow triathletes, and left many of them wondering what had happened to radically transform their fellow competitor.  Derek put his career on hold to challenge others to get engaged in the fight to end extreme poverty, and before graduating, founded Nuru’s first campus chapter at WVU.

I’m not even sure where I met Tiffany, but I know I heard stories about her passion for advocacy for a long time.  She left a great job at an engineering firm and took a job waiting tables while serving the homeless community in Morgantown, West Virginia before joining Derek and Lisa to tell Nuru’s story on college campuses, in churches, and in coffee shops in cities all over this country in the winter of 2010.

I was at a costume party at my friend Cameron’s house when I first met Lisa.  Lisa not only served as a diligent student, but also competed as a scholarship athlete in volleyball at WVU.  After her final semester, her friends Derek and Tiffany talked to her about career options, and invited her to join them in sharing Nuru’s story.  She did not hesitate to accept.

Many people found out about Nuru through this tour.  Maybe you are reading this blog post because you found out about Nuru through these three brilliant individuals.  Maybe you are reading this post and wondering if you might be able to make a contribution toward ending extreme poverty.  I can tell you for sure that you can.  I can tell you that I am of the conviction that every person on this planet has a contribution to make toward ending extreme poverty.  It could be as simple as sharing Nuru’s story with a friend or as complex as a career or degree change.  It could be as easy as making a financial contribution toward Nuru’s work, or pursuing a career in advocacy for the one BILLION people who live in extreme poverty.

Today, in the spirit of Derek, Lisa, and Tiffany I simply want to ask you, will you share Nuru’s story with someone?  Not sure where to start?  How about liking our “Do Something” page on the Nuru website?  There are lots of ideas to get you started.

Hollywood Endings and USA Soccer

After watching yesterday's World Cup game between the US and Algeria, one could not have written a more heart-stopping climactic ending. Rather than watching a soccer match, minute by minute I felt like I was watching a hollywood story unfold before my eyes.

Two free kicks in the last ten minutes of play, and both of them missed. We needed the goal to guarantee our spot moving on to play Ghana this Saturaday at 2:30PM EDT. If we could win the match, we could win our group and move forward as the top seed from our group, and win we did! With very little time on the clock, Landon Donovan picked up a rebound off a blocked shot, and helped the US to win it's group for the first time since it's first world cup in 1930.

Of course the video isn't of that shot. It's a recent ESPN commercial featuring Donovan getting penalized for his use of the copier. Pretty funny soccer humor, and I hope you enjoy it.

That's not why I'm writing this post though. I'm writing to celebrate USA Soccer and I'm writing to encourage you to enjoy the rest of the world cup action. And I'm writing to celebrate an incredible story.

There's something about a last minute shot to win, that makes the celebration all the sweeter. There's something in us that rejoices when we see a person or a team rise up and overcome overwhelming odds to achieve a goal. (In this case the goal was to achieve a goal!) Team USA was not a strongly favored team in the World Cup this year and so it makes it even more exciting. When someone is the best we don't rejoice as strongly with a victory. We expect victory, and anything less is disappointment.

But when we see someone overcome great odds to achieve, we go crazy--it just makes for a great story. Nobody wants to watch a movie or read a book about a person who just wins easily without any effort.

And maybe that's why our lives have challenges that arise each day. If life were easy, it wouldn't make much of a story. If we didn't have to deal with conflict, our lives would probably be a little bit boring. It's like it is hardwired into our DNA. But part of any great story isn't just conflict, it's what the character is undergoing conflict to achieve--what is the end result?

For instance, if I were working in this life to achieve the goal of driving a fancy car, or have a nice house, that's not a very compelling story or goal. We were made for so much more than this, and yet it is all that many are living for.

What if you lived your life as a story? What would be the hollywood ending that you would hope for? Is it a new car, or is it something more? Let the world know, and then go for it!

Rick Varner

There I was sitting in sozo monday afternoon, when this guy Rick Varner came into the shop. Rick is one of the people who volunteers at sozo. You see, we have a lot of people who work here, and most of them are volunteers.

So Rick comes in, and he says Billy I've got to tell you about this miraculous provision God has made. Needless to say, my interest was piqued. So I invited Rick to sit down and join me at my table. He began by telling me a little bit of his story. Twenty-one years ago, he was given five years to live after he had a heart transplant. He should be dead, but he's not. And then, four years ago, he found out his kidney was failing. He was told that it was next to impossible for him to get a kidney, because the wait lists for donors were so long. Part of the reason wait lists are so long is because it takes a long time to recover from giving a kidney. At least it used to take a long time. Now, Rick says there's a procedure that takes about a week for both the donor and recipient to be back on the mend. Not only that, but Rick's wife was tested for the possibility of being a donor. Spouses usually don't make great matches for organ donations. Children, parents, or siblings maybe, but not spouses. Rick's wife is able to donate.

This means that rick (who is already a very energetic guy) will have even more energy very soon when he has better kidney function.

Rick is thoroughly excited to be part of the sozo team, but he hasn't always lived in Morgantown. For a long part of his life he lived in Parkersburg, WV where he was a youth minister at North Parkersburg Baptist Church. I had a roommate by the name of Jimmy Shreeves who went to that church and was involved in the youth group. As Rick and I talked, I discovered that he was Jimmy's leader. Small world.

Aside from the miraculous work God is doing in Rick's life, I have to remark on the profundity of our meeting and sharing stories. If I hadn't talked to Rick, I would have missed out on this remarkable miracle. I would have also missed out on his connection to my old roommate Jimmy.

Now picture this. There are people in your world who have profound stories, miraculous stories, tragic stories. Until you stop and listen, you'll never know, and you'll never be able to learn from them or share in their story.

Beyond that, none of us are as far apart as we seem. We're connected in a way that probably won't make sense to most of us on this side of eternity.

So as you read this blog entry, you can choose to sit silent and secluded in your own private world, or you can begin to share, You never know what God may be able to do with your story if you are brave enough to share it. Or maybe you just need to listen, because someone else has a story that you need to hear. Don't live as an island. Life is too short to miss out on all it has.

One Time . . .

One Time . . ., originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

your dad took me to Denny's . . .

I love my best friend in the whole world, Willie! We watched this movie a while back called Smoke Signals. The movie was actually recommended by another friend, Mark Darling.

This movie is essentially a movie about friends, about family, and about telling good stories. It's a road trip movie, but it is so much more. It's a movie about being American Indian in the present day as well. Seems like most Indian movies place folks back in history, but Willie and my dad, they are a couple of contemporary Indians.

So anyway, in the movie there's a scene where one of the characters tells the story of when another character's dad took him to denny's. Willie has been dreaming of the moment when this could come true for Him. It happened this past Saturday . . .

It was probably made even more cool in the fact that I wasn't there. From now on, Willie can tell the story of when my dad took him to denny's and the only way I'll know about the details is through his stories.

I imagine he had the grand slam breakfast with Juice! because that's part of the movie, but I'm sure there's more to the story.

And that's the bigger picture. We all have stories that we can tell and that we are part of. There's a great big story that all of creation is part of, and only when we share with one another, do we get to have a more robust picture of how the individual threads of the story come together.

As you go through your day, realize that your life and your day is a story worth telling. And the cool thing is that the way you live it informs the details. So live in such a way that you have a good story to tell. A good story has it's share of struggle and difficulty, but it also has laughter and joy.

Live the story God has written you into passionately!!! It is my prayer that as you read this, perhaps a new chapter will come alive for you, or perhaps an old memory will come to mind, and next time we get together you'll be able to share.

And it will go something like this,

"One time . . ."

Big Heart.

The boy in the center of the photo above, which was taken by John Leyba of the Denver Post, is seven years old and will be a dwarf when he grows up. But his heart is huge. My brother sent me this link to Denver Post article where you can read more about this little guy.

I think the story is a great reminder that we should never let what we aren't able to do stop us from what we can do. This seven year old boy knows this, but something seems to happen to us as we get older. I don't know if it is self-pity or what, but for some reason we fail to acknowledge the ways in which we are gifted and spend our time lamenting what we are unable to do.

For instance, you may not be able to run a four minute mile (or an 8 minute mile) but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't make a daily habit of exercise.

You may not be able to read a book in one sitting, but maybe you can read a page.

I don't think God is going to have a conversation with us at the end of our lives about all of the things we were unable to do, but He might talk to us a bit about the things we were unwilling to do.

God has given you huge opportunities. He has given you His Son. He has given you His Spirit. Let's make the most of the limited resources we have to bring Him glory and fame. Let's not get caught in the trap of what we can't do, but rather let's get busy doing the things we can do--making the most of every opportunity.

The Nonconformist-Uncompromised

The Nonconformist-Uncompromised, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

I took this photo during a recent faith venture to Washington, DC with a group of friends from h2o. I thought it was a great representation of a life that didn't conform to the norm.

This week at h2o, we started a new series called The Non-conformist and the name of this week's talk was Uncompromised. The series is looking at the lives of Daniel and his friends, and how they refused to conform to the ideals of the society within which they were placed. Daniel and his friends lived in a very difficult time, and they were eyewitnesses of one of the greatest tragedies in the history of their people. The defeat of Judah by the Babylonians, and the subsequent deporting that took place. Daniel and his friends were children who were brought into the most powerful Kingdom of their day, and they were given many "opportunities" to assimilate and find their identity in the new Kingdom. All the while, they resisted; they didn't yield their identity or try to "blend" in with everyone else.

There are ways in which they experienced the same culture as their babylonian peers, but they experienced it differently. They used every opportunity they had to glorify God. When it came to education, they pursued education in Babylon with diligence. But when it came to compromising their faith in YHWH, they were unwaivering in their commitment.

They wouldn't eat the King's food or drink his wine. I wonder if anybody would have faulted them for it if they would have. You see, I think that's the way compromise sneaks into our lives. We justify every little thing, and nobody really makes an effort to call us out. It's almost like some sins are somewhat respectable in the eyes of most people. And maybe that's just our problem.

This all the forces at work in this world are bent on making us just like everybody else. But God is interested in conforming us to the image of His son. For Daniel and his cohorts it wasn't necessarily the foods themselves, but maybe it was what those foods represented. Those foods and wine represented Babylon and all it had to offer.

Sometimes I think our lens gets hazy and we become somewhat blinded or forgetful when it comes to understanding our place in God's story.

So let me ask you a question. Have you bought into another story? Are there areas of your life that have forgotten God's great story of love, mercy, reconciliation, and restoration? Now is as good a time as any to take stock and let go.

As Paul Reminds us in his letter to the church in Rome, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Let's renew, and let Him transform us--so that we, like Daniel, might transform the place where we live for the glory of the Messiah.

Sharing Stories

Sharing Stories, originally uploaded by chanchanchepon.

Earlier this year, I presented a paper at the Native American Literature Symposium which was held on the Isabella Indian Reservation in Mount Pleasant, MI. The Isabella Indian Reservation is home to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan. This photo was taken in their cultural museum. This particular exhibit shows one of the ways which traditions are passed from one generation to another. It is as we gather together and listen and learn from our older people we learn and pass these stories on to future generations. It is this way among the Shawnee as well as the Chippewa, and probably true of all peoples--problem is many people don't take time to listen to the stories anymore.

That's definitely not the case with my family.

Yesterday we had several visitors in my mom's room at the hospital. She is staying in one of a handful of suites that were designed for such a purpose. Among the visitors have been my nephew and sister in law, many friends, and a number of our extended family members.

While it has been an emotional time for all of us it has also been a good time of celebration of our many memories with our mom and with each other. All through the day and night we have been sharing stories with each other and with my mom. My mom has also been sharing in special ways with each one of us.

It is truly a gift to be able to sit at my mom's feet, and at the feet of so many other godly people and continue to soak in their wisdom and life lessons. As the younger ones of our family sit at the feet of these wisdom keepers, we relish in the joy of hearing their words and learning from them. At the same time we realize the responsibility also lies with us to pass these lessons on. That has always been a part of our way of living.

Do you take time to listen to the older people in your life? Who are the teachers in your family who you need to take time to listen to? Or maybe you are that teacher--are you passing your stories on to the next generation?

I marvel at the greatest Story, and how the Great Storyteller allows each one of us to take part in a long legacy of sharing our own stories of how Jesus has walked with us. He has made his presence felt in a very intimate and sacred way to our family during these last few days. It has been beautiful, wonderful, and utterly indescribable. May you know Him in such a way as you read these words!

The Big Story

Over the last few weeks as a faith community at h2o, we have been looking at the Bible as God's great story, and the story in which all of our stories find meaning. Along with each week's message, dealing with the themes of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, my friend Ryan Huffman has been painting original pieces designed to reflect the theme of the week.

Right now I am looking at the painting done for the theme of consummation. I am talking about that theme this week. This theme carries with it the ideas expressed in Revelation 21:1-8. Check it out if you get a chance. It talks about no more pain or tears being around.

On the painting is the phrase " . . .And they all Lived Happily Ever After". This is how our story resolves. As we become heroes in God's story (He gives us an opportunity to become a hero or a villain), we look forward to a time when we will all live happily ever after. The story reaches its consummation--it is complete, and we are able to experience true Shalom.

I can't even begin to get an idea of what that will be like. I keep looking at this painting, and I am taken away by it. There is a tree, and some hills, and a beautiful skyline. Even Ryan, talented artist that he is, perhaps could only glimpse a shadow of what this time will be like. The painting does a great job of creating longing. Like the fragrance of a flower we have never seen, that is our longing for eternity.

What are some of the great stories that you have read that remind you of aspects of God's story?