There's Extreme, And Then There's X-Treme

My mission this week was to locate and purchase a 32oz. Nalgene bottle. Being aware of how many cheap imitations there are, I went right to the source to find a local supplier. To my surprise, only two stores in this metropolitan region carried them. So yesterday on my lunch break, I ventured out to X-treme Outfitters to quench my material and literal thirst.

Now, I must confess that I had a preconceived notion as to what kind of store this was. I figured with a name like X-treme Outfitters I would find a store filled with sleeping bags, Coleman lanterns, boots, back packs, fleece wear and tents. I imagined the people who ran the store to be neo-hippie types who just liked to lay back and enjoy nature. With a name like X-treme Outfitters, I pictured climbing harnesses, kayaks, and maybe a Mountain Dew commercial personified. How could I have been so wrong?

As it turns out, X-treme Outfitters exists only to serve the public in the sector of urban warfare. Instead of sleeping bags, I found bulletproof vests and body armor. Instead of tents, I found urban and desert camouflage. Instead of Coleman lanterns, they had combat boots. But of course, amid all of the materials necessary for counterinsurgency, I found my Nalgene bottle.

I walked around the store, hoping to find a little display, perhaps in the back, of a little tent set up so that my ill-fated preconceived notion might still prevail. As I glanced through the wide array of cutlery, it hit me:

I was the only one in the store without a firearm strapped to my person! The guy who waited on me had a 9mm at his side with two extra clips, I guess for those "just in case one isn't enough" scenarios. As I walked out with my nonviolent and not-so-extreme Nalgene bottle, I imagined those guys in there just daring someone to rob them, to give them an excuse. Apparently, the Second Amendment is what was taken to the X-treme.

A Song That Will Not End

In the swirl she dances with the leaves back and forth
Her dress is wilting like the ones before
And she rests her head on her love again
Praying for a song that will not end..
~tpc

The Goose and the Gander

This was just too interesting, and dare I say, politically controversial to pass up.

The president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) resigned this week. You can read the full story here, or you can read my brief synopsis. NAMB is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention and their recently departed leader is a former pastor of mine from First Baptist Norfolk.

Former NAMB president Dr. Reccord created the agency when he sat on the committee to restructure the entire Southern Baptist Convention back in the mid-90's. He was then the only one considered for the job HE created. Now, it's not just that he resigned...it's the circumstances under which he resigned. He is accused of mismanaging funds (although nothing illegal) by awarding no-bid consulting contracts to his friends and basically going above the authority of the Board of Trustees by not checking with them first when he mismanaged millions of dollars. The Board of Trustees had no idea what he was up to because he failed to check in with them to make sure it was ok.

So...why should you or anyone else care? These are the very things that President Bush is accused of doing in handling the War on Terror and the War in Iraq. The world and the UN told Bush NOT to invade Iraq, but he did so anyways. VP Cheney's cronies are happy about that because of all of the no-bid defense contracts awarded to Halliburton.

My point is this. Many if not most Southern Baptists are very conservative Bush supporters. The church leader is accused of mismanaging money and other shady things and is expected to resign; why is President Bush perceived to be under different circumstances? Is it just a matter of too easily placing the blame on the reporting and bias of the "liberal" media? ...or is there more to it than that?

Usefully Empty

"The Buddha compared people to four kinds of clay vessels. One type of vessel has holes in the bottom. We can pour in as much water as we like, and it runs right out. When this type of person hears the Dharma, it goes in one ear and out the other. The second type of vessel has cracks. Though we pour in the Dharma, it seeps out slowly and the vessel is empty again. The third vessel is full to the brim with stale water, i.e. views and opinions. One can't pour anything new in; everything is already known. The only useful vessel is the fourth: without holes or cracks and totally empty." ~Aya Khema

There is something to be said for trial and error. It's been a way of life for me and only now can I look back and see past the frustration to the grace that comes from not getting what one thinks he wants. It has been an emptying process, an emptying of self and ego. It is only through the continual process of emptiness that I can be truly useful, truly ready to learn, truly ready to begin. So counter-intuitive. So completely backwards. So totally God.

No Such Luck

I hit the snooze button for the fourth or fifth time this morning. Each morning it seems harder and harder to get out of bed and today was no exception. As I lay in bed, semi-conscious but well aware of what was inevitable, I began to dream myself through my usual morning routine. I brushed my teeth and thought about how long it would be before I could come home and take a nap. Getting dressed as I came downstairs, I caught a glimpse out the window. It was snowing! Perhaps, I thought to myself, today will be a snowday!

I rolled over and shut my alarm off. As I brushed my teeth and thought about my upcoming nap plans, I felt a sense of deja vu come over me. I pulled my shirt over my head as I came down the stairs. The sun was shining. I remembered it's now April. I would have to go to work. There would be no snowday, no such luck.

Move Beyond the Tomb

I must admit that Easter is a hard thing for me to come to terms with, if for no other reason than the story of Christ's death and resurrection has remained unchanged for the last 2000 years, much less my measly 25. It's the same thing every time. We base our faith on the salvation that comes from the death and resurrection of Christ. We emphasize sacrifice; we remind ourselves that WE were the reason he died a criminal's death. Every year we return to the cross and remember its significance and we are reminded that it did not end there--we must also go to the empty tomb. But I contend that we cannot stay at the empty tomb either. There is more to Christ's significance than just the last week of his life; and if we stay there, we miss a key point: Christ's teaching us how to LIVE.

Salvation is important, don't get me wrong. It takes faith for me to accept that God became man, lived on earth, died and rose again. And it takes faith (and perhaps audacity) for me to say "is that it?" I feel like I limit myself in my discovery of God if I cloak my faith only in the events of Passion Week. I cannot be content to stay at the empty tomb. I have to explore how Christ taught us how to live...how to go beyond ourselves in service and love--a point that I feel the "church" has missed entirely.

I need to believe in a God that's bigger than me and my cynicism. I need to believe in a God that's bigger than death. And I need to believe in a God that's bigger than his own resurrection, that offers something more to build faith on, to move beyond the tomb.

The End Is The Beginning Is The End...

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring will be
To arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
~T.S. Eliot