My dream.... and unrelated photos of Paestum

I was looking through some old things I had written and saved on my computer, old memories and journal entries. I came across this, from a dream I had last year. When I reread it, it was still a powerful experience for me. So I thought I would share it with you all...

"I just had the most amazing dream I have ever had in my life. I was walking along the top of a building, I don’t know where, I don’t know why. I had just managed to con my way out of passing out fliers for a homeless ministry and I was walking back and it was around Christmas time. For some reason, I saw two musicians I knew and was kind of following them because they were mildly famous in my eyes. I followed them to the edge of a building where they stood watching three other musicians playing guitars for some audience over the edge of the building. I climbed up to the edge and looked over and was stunned by what I saw.

It was a huge tower/building of made of cardboard boxes and abandoned trash and empty barrels and who knows what else. It was crawling with children. I don’t know why, but it was tons and tons of street children. I was horrified as they were playing that every once in a while, one or two would fall off. These were destitute children, no where to go but play on their mound of trash, no hope in sight. There were some other people watching and one of them reached out and grabbed. Then they pulled and I saw they had grabbed one of the children who had jumped towards our side. A couple more children realized that they could jump to our building, to safety and started running and jumping across the divide. People on my side started coming to the edge, holding out hands, trying to help those that were jumping to safety. I got on my belly and edged my way to the side, stretching out my arm to try to help catch whoever jumped. But then what brought me to tears (in my dream) was that someone from our side ran and jumped into their building. Just dove into the midst of their trash to help them. We were on the safe side, trying to pull those kids in danger to our side, to catch them, and this guy just dove right into their trash tower to help. I then woke up. I don’t know what this means but it seems like a picture of Jesus to me. A picture of what I should be like. Living in my “safe side”, seeing those who unknowingly are falling off the edge of their “trash tower”. No hope. Yet someone needs to run and dive into their trash tower, not just lean over and help them as they jump."

Below are some pics I took from a trip to Salerno two weeks ago to visit Amanda... enjoy

The girls got funky up top the Greek ruins at Paestum

Were we supposed to be in the temple? Probably not, but no one complained too loudly

Yes, that temple behind us is real.

Take a guess at who is the real Italian. Hint: It is the guy who is actually dressed fashionably in the middle.

"No One Knows Their Name"

This past summer, a friend and I were talking about her work in Central America at a convent with a group of nuns who served the poor in that area. The way she spoke of their simple life was in a beautiful way that made me envious of the little that they had. They truly connected with God in a way that wasn’t distracted by the many things that we need in this modern world. And I think in a lot of ways, they are probably more fulfilled than most but most of us are too scared to give up what we have for the risk of something less. To scared to truly “die to self” as Jesus calls us to do. But that is another conversation…

The thing that she told me that has often come to mind this year was that, “No one knows their name.” For every Mother Teresa that the world venerates, there are thousands of people like these nuns that labor for the sake of the Gospel, that labor with all of Christ’s love, and no one will ever know who they are. Instead we hear the horror stories of those who work “in the name of God” because they sell more papers; those who abuse their position and use God for selfish means. But these women, who in all likelihood don’t even consider what they have left compared to what they have gained, labor on in obscurity.

Why? Their stories should be told, we should hold them up as shining examples of what it means to follow Christ. But that even more important, in my own life, is that it bothers me that people don’t know these women. Because the honest truth is, it bothers me, not because I think of their stories and how they should be told, but because I think of how I want my story to be told. Selfish, I know, but honest.

Because, sad though it is to admit it, I want people to know who I am. I, too often, give in to this desire for “fame and fortune.” No, I am not trying to work my way to the top of the corporate ladder and make my millions and willing to step on everyone in the process. No, I am not actively seeking fame (unless you count this blog). But I do want to be known. I often desire for people to tell me, “Well done.” And I think this desire, though not inherently bad, is often just as selfish as they guy climbing the corporate ladder. Far too often I care about the opinions of others more than I care about whether I am following God closely.

I want to be a sellout. Sold out for the cause of Christ. I want to be so committed to the cause of Christ that it won’t matter to me if no one knows who I am. I want to be listening to God so closely that I am willing to work in a place where I see no results for years and years, if that is what God has called me to do. But I am not there yet. I know, I know, Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs says that we all need affirmation, but I want to be working for the “Well done, good and faithful servant,” the one opinion that truly counts.

Italian Student Protests... and American issues

For those who dont know, there have been some intense protests here in Rome (and all across Italy) because of recently passed laws/referendum. The result that students are especially angered about is that cost of university is very likely go up, too high for a number of students here. Some of the other parts of the laws and changes being made dont seem so bad. But to educate yourself, check out these two articles below. And the pictures below were taken by Sam and I was there at this one. At La Sapienza's main campus, a number of the science faculties (majors) were taken over by students, who closed them down for a time being. A number of the protests were like the pictures, while some of them were classes held in public squares or things like that. An intense, interesting atmosphere to be sure, one to pray that God uses in some way (I dont know how) to reach students for himself.
A Case for Change - published in The Economist
Student Protests Paralyse Rome - published on lifeinitaly.com/news, a great website for Italian news.


In other news, I am cautiously hopeful for Barack Obama's presidency. I will pray for him, for the United States of America, but this is something I feel pretty strongly about. I hope this blog never gets political, but here is a rare (hopefully) foray into that. Obama is endorsing something called the Freedom of Choice Act. I disagree with that. To see what the Freedom of Choice Act is, click HERE. Quite specifically, the thing that gets me especially angry with this bill is that it proposes that "a government may not interfere [with a womans right] to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman." While this may sound reasonable to some (this is not intended to be a pro-choice/pro-life argument and forum but I am willing to take this risk), this means that the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act will be repealed. This is a heinous act, sanctioned murder in my eyes. I use strong words because I feel like it is necessary to defend the defenseless and a baby ("a pregnancy after viability" at the very least) qualifies. So if you want to do something about this, go to http://www.fightfoca.com/. Ok, I am off my soapbox but I dont apologize for making this statement. I realize that for many, if not most, women who have had abortions, it was not an easy choice and there are many who still experience emotional pain from this. This isnt an attack on a person(s), please dont take it as that. But this is a strong stand against this bill, against the action of abortion, especially into the second and third trimester. My brother was born in the second trimester and was supposed to have a whole host of medical problems... he survived and is great (Praise God!)... so this is personal for me too.

Venice by Photo

Two weekends ago I went to Venice... this is my journey in pictures. To truly see it time-wise, start at the bottom and scroll to this picture a the top

I am thankful for the pic... and that I didnt fall in...

I had to step out onto this thing... what fun, eh?

I love the Roma STINT Team

Enjoying cappucino along the Grand Canal... capuccino but nothing to eat

Check out the moon over the Grand Canal

My team showing their back...err...better side

The dudes I get to live with in Roma

My own private concert... until I was kicked out

Oh yea, that is my team in the crazy boots... L-to-R Kanda, Sam, Ella, Jenny, Brian, Kerry, Giacomo, April

Flooded but beautiful

Me and Giacomo Campobello in flooded Piazza di San Marco

Can you find Jenny, Kerry, Sam, Jimmy, Brian and April? And the crazy people in yellow boots?

Notice how the water is over the banks?

The girls, looking sweet as ever

Waking up is hard to do... unless you are on a sweet boat in flooded Venice (Venezia)

To start, we all piled into this 9 passenger van with Giacomo as driver

Voting

I am not a big fan of the election. I think it is a tough choice and I am not going to try to promote one candidate or the other. But I ran across this article and think it is well written and I wanted to give y'all this quick quote and the link to check out the rest if you want. And dont worry, more on my life will come later this week. I got lots to share :)

"I’ll cut right to the chase: ultimately our problems will not be solved by the right man (or woman) in the White House. It simply doesn’t work that way. We live in a democracy, a representative form of government, where it’s as much if not more our responsibility to love and take care of our neighbors than our politician’s responsibility. Real and lasting change comes from knowing and loving the folks who live in the houses that sit next to ours rather than saving all of our longing and hope for the voting booth." - Derek Webb
Check out the entire article here..

And for a preview of what is to come about my life... check this

Me and a guy named Giacamo Campobello in Venezia!

Reason #123 Why I love the Spurs

I am copying this off another website... "As some of you might recall, during the preseason doldrums, Suns center Shaquille O'Neal took offense with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's liberal use of the Hack-a-Shaq strategy during the first round of the playoffs last year, calling it "a coward move."

Check this. I love Greg Popovich, who is the guy with the white beard and the Spurs head coach.

Life Update

The whole goal of writing here once a week has been sadly neglected and I sincerely hope to do better at this. Please forgive me for the time being. There is so much to catch you up on so I will try make this as detailed yet brief as possible. Let's rewind to last weekend; I went on a retreat with my "Archo", which is really a group of people that gets together for community, wanting to walk together towards following Jesus which will result in our ministry being more fruitful. The more we become like Jesus, the more we "abide" in him, we will bear fruit. SO acknowledging this, I showed up at a train station at 9:30 AM and got on a train, having no idea where I was going, just knowing it was an overnight with fun people. We headed off to Castel Gandolfo and Lago Albano, which is where the Pope's summer palace is. It was my first time at a lake in Italy and while not as beautiful as Muskoka, Canada, it was pretty spectacular.
That Saturday was spent getting to know each other better by each getting to share about our lives, experiencing life together, swimming in the Lake and wrestling with the Patterson boys. It wasnt really buisnessy at all but was a good break from Rome and really inexpensive. I has some great time with God, just enjoying the beauty of his creation. For me, this is a great way to connect with Him... spending some time in his Word, looking over the Lake Sunday morning was pretty fantastic. Here are some more pictures from the weekend.

We spent a lot of time chilling, talking...

While I really wanted to moon the camera, wisdom made me settle on this...

I love lakes... and flips...Me upsidedown over Giacamo

Some of the Patterson boys checking out the view..

Giacomo Campobello looking pensive... I like it.

This past week was a week of ministry diving in and spending time on campus. I loved it. This is what I have been missing. I had some great conversations with students, both that I knew and that I didnt know. It is great to begin to share truth and just get a small taste of someones life and where they are coming from. At times it seems a little overwhelming for me... there are literally tens of thousands of students here that I will never meet. How am I supposed to make an impact? One of the things I was reminded of this week was 2 Cor 2:14-15. My good friend GV reminded me that when I go onto campus, it is "God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; ". GV told me that when we step foot on campus, that even before we say anything, the spiritual atmosphere changes because it is God going before us. And that isnt just the reality for me here in Rome. That is the reality for every Christian, wherever they go or work. That was a huge encouragement to me... thanks GV.

Last but not least in this update is this weekend, Amanda was in town and it was so good to hang out with her and others. We hung out with the lady from the Post Office for appertivo which was pretty sweet and then made dinner for a bunch of friends. Dinner was quite the occasion, with conversations happenining in Spanish, Italian and English at the table. I was really encouraged by my conversation with my buddy Daniele about reaching his friends... I like guys like Daniele and am eager to see how God uses them. After dinner we hopped on a metro to the Colosseo and just hung out there until 1:00 AM.... strange how the Colosseo is 20 minutes from where I live. Wild. Well thats it... peace... oh and check out THE DROP (link on the right) for some quality music from Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot).