'I must be an acrobat, to talk like this and act like that...' -Actung Baby,U2
I am Jacob Bailey. I have been writing here for a while now. I am 27 years old, on the brink of moving to Spain. I love my wife and two beautiful children. Glad you stopped by - please let me know you were here by posting a comment.
leading with QUESTIONS
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
for a while now I have felt estranged from attempting anything that might look like personal "devotions" or "quietime." This regulated/daily time in my traddition of faith has always been considered essential. "Just pray and read the word!" is a perfect sound bite that fits our evangelical tradition. Ingredients for spiritual success...for me? Hardly...
What am I anchored by? What anchors me to Christ?
For so long it's been guilt. Its always guilt. and it should be love...I think. For us evangelicals it's always a slippery slope to guilt gutter. Too many "good" ideas lead us that way...go figure.
so I drift along. drawn in toward my savior often through others or at the invitation of another but so rarely on my own...so I wait. trying to release the guilt for something else. possibly love...
free bees! I just found Audacity a digital audio editor...cool. Its free. So far I am pleased with it. Great combo for working on videos with screenblast!
Monday, July 26, 2004
yep
Thank God for working through people like Brian and so many others to help us gravitate back to more heathly view of the church and the Kingdom. Check him out as he does his thing through Christianity Today. I appreciate this guys perspective so much.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
from home
just attempted to enable a true comments link. someone help me out and let me know if it's up and running or that I am simply typing to the wind!
Tania and I watched touching the void last night after a great evening with our friends the Nemeths. We enjoyed the film. I would like to read the book. It left me wondering about something Richard Rohr was explaining in Soularize - about near death experiences and living on the threshhold. Wow! The film (documentary/reinactment) was powerful as it let you peer into a man's soul as he wreslted with fate/death/fear/community/faith/sanity and strength of will...
Thursday, July 22, 2004
And if another Christian is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don't let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. Rom 14:15 NLT
We may know that these things make no difference, but we cannot just go ahead and do them to please ourselves. We must be considerate of the doubts and fears of those who think these things are wrong. 2 We should please others. If we do what helps them, we will build them up in the Lord. 3 For even Christ didn't please himself. Romans 15:1-3NLT
Tough words when so many of us are stepping out the box or the boat to experience new freedom in this new world. If another is Christian is distressed by what you ___________ fill in the blank...
Talk about emptying yourself...
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
some pics from spain. theres plenty more where these came from. but I don't want to track back too much.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
some thoughts as I fill out my iteams application:
Four years of ministry in a local church setting have taken me to places I never would have dreamt of spiritually. Not that I now live a mountain top experience, but rather the opposite. I now see that all of life is a spiritual journey. I now see that I will never “arrive” spiritually. I come to understand less, yet hold tighter to Christ than ever. I find myself deeply impacted by my postmodern worldview. I am just now coming to understand what it may mean to be someone who is postmodern while at the same time surrendered to Christ. I find in this tension times of great fear and desperation and uncertainty and yet I find in this time great encouragement in that my faith has not failed. In fact I find it strengthened and refined in so many ways. I find my spiritual journey renewed and now far less predictable and yet exciting. I find my self hungry and thirsty for an experience and understanding of the kingdom of God. I find myself chasing after Christ much like I imagine the disciples attempted to do. And stronger and stronger I sense his grip on my life and invitation to come and die with him in service to a hurting world as my inescapable calling.
soularize
received yesterday a copy of soularize mp3 talks by the ooze. Last night I enjoyed listening to Andrew Jones and Doug Paggit....it's funny how after months of tracking these guys on the websites they really come alive when you can hear them speak. Looking forward to previewing the others...especially Richard Rohr.
It's tough for me here. I really feel cut out of the same stone as these guys as far as what they are feeling and thinking about following Christ and the Kingdom today....I am drawn in by there story telling and dreams. Where might this journey lead? who knows?
I need to pray and trust more...
Monday, July 19, 2004
it's alive! Why do images make words come alive?
don't miss Moby's thoughts that are posted below images I just uploaded.
moby right on on the right...
check out these throughts by moby on Christian right. I so much appreciate him for this kind of stuff. Notice his humility in saying that he "doesn't know." Notice alot of good stuff in there...
------------------posted on moby.com-----------------------
I'm Baffled - The Christian Right7/19/2004 - New York City
i've written about this before, but i'm baffled by the priorities and teachings of the christian right in america.
it's safe to say that two of the most important issues for the christian right are abortion and homosexuality. and this makes no sense to me.
why?
well, because christ spoke of many things, but he never spoke or taught about abortion or homosexuality. he spoke about love and forgiveness and non-violence and compassion and humility but he never mentionedabortion or homosexuality.
which isn't to say that christ would approve of abortion or homosexuality. it's my guess that christ would, as was his wont, be more concerned with the individual than with their action, but who knows, i could be wrong about that.
it does seem mystifying to me, however, that the christian right are so obsessed with these two issues that christ never mentioned.
and yes, homosexuality does get some attention in the old and new testaments, but not in the gospels. and abortion is never mentioned, although it does say 'thou shalt not kill' in the 10 commandments. but if it says 'thou shalt not kill' in the 10 commandments, and christ says (to paraphrase) 'not only shouldn't you kill anyone, you shouldn't even be angry with them' then why are the christian right so often pro-war and pro-death penalty? it does seem safe to say that christ wouldn't be pro-war and pro-death penalty if he were alive today. it's also fairly safe to say that christ might say something to the christian right along the lines of:
'why are you guys so obsessed with 2 things, abortion and homosexuality, that i never mentioned in the gospels? hey,if you're going to be obsessed with some issues why not be obsessed with love and forgiveness and compassion and taking care of the poor? and why are you right wing christians always so angry and judgemental? didn't you see that part of the gospels where i said: "judge not lest you be judged"? and "work out your own salvation before you start judging others"?'
i just find it eternally odd that so many christians are obsessed with issues that christ never mentioned but they seem to pay no attention to the things that christ actually said.
thanks,moby
p.s-i have to reiterate that i have no idea what christ's attitude would be towards abortion and homosexuality, and in writing this i'm in no way putting forth the thought that christmight approve of either practice. i just have no idea cos, as i've said, they are two issues on which he never spoke.
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He's right on you know it?
Thursday, July 15, 2004
happy
signing out for the week. trying upload this picture of my buddy Giacomo...from the 4th.
We were having fun capturing ourselves on digital film...
....it didn't work....
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
dv time!
new software I purchased via ebay arrived today, Yeah! It sony's screenblast DV editing program. I think I will pull a late-nighter and explore the program tonigt...
Enjoying Kimball's Emerging Worship. I like his simple kind of "this is just the way it is" approach. He has no real flare to his writing. In fact it's pretty simple stuff. He respects those who are trying to understand what he is doing and that comes through. anyway. trying to get up the guts to make a proposal...I wonder if the church leadership would bless an alternative service....I can see all the people lined up around who would jump at the opportunity to be a part of it...
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
3:19
It's 3:19. It'll soon be 3:20 or more. I just opened an amazon box with three books inside. Kimbals-emerging worship + McLaren's Finding Faith + Miller's Experiencial Storytellings. Yikes! What am I doing? Browsing leads to more pages turning and then disappointment. I am tired of reading. I want to start living. I am tired of thinking I want to start being. Blogs and more blogs from moby to the kiwi. I go round and round. 3:24. Distracting myself from what I am supposed to do here. I just can't face it. Disconnected from some stuff. Not making sense. And I wait for change. Wish it was coming soon. I bring up the inbox again and again. Maybe this time. The chime. and then.
Nope here I am. Stuck here. Disppointed. Dreamweary and down. I pick up the phone. I wish I had friends to dial. I put it back down and wish again. LIfe's to important and too confusing to do alone. I am in a rut. I want out. I, I, I, I...please.
Fluidity of thought? It must be getting warm in hear things are moving fast. I wish there was something written that here that meant something. But no. Not now...not today....3:30
Aileen
thanks to the work of nick Broomfield we can all move beyond Hollywood and towards a better understanding of Aileen Wuornos's story. Tania and I viewed nick's 2nd film on Aileen last night called Aileen - the life and death of a serial killer. I highly recommend it. Actually I recommend our journey - first seeing monster, then the selling of Aileen Wuornos, then finally the life and death of a serial killer.
Anyway...Tania and I wept as the credits rolled at the end of the film. the death penatly for this woman seeming to us completely inappropriate. the weight of abuse and pain that this woman had to endure was overwhelming. if this is life on the earth...if this means she deserves hell for her actions...if this is justice...
we must see beyond. when we look at her whole life we understand. I can only believe God in his infinite wisdom and eternal perspective can look down with kindess and grace upon these his lost, fallen, and wounded lambs. this i pray...
Friday, July 02, 2004
powered by ?
powered by Net Zero...uuuckk...
Yah that's from home. BUt it's better than not powered i guess. Family day today...then a wedding this evening. I am not doing the ceremony though. That's a relief. Gotta run Kaleb's movie just ended and Hannah won't go down for her AM nap. Tania's at the doctors feeling ill ever since we returned from spain...we are all a little under the weather. Just enjoying good coffee and yard work. That's right enjoying.
Wholistic development of people. thats what I was reminded of last night as we stayed up late into the evening with a couple of close friends discussing ministry. I really get nervous whenever we start talking singularly about someones "spiritual life." It's like the spiritual, physical, pschycological, emotional, soul-life, all that stuff is intricately woven together like a web. Change in one area affects change in all the others. This view of spiritual formation help us not bail out to early. It changes our perception of what ministry should look like. to me it's more realistic...
Thursday, July 01, 2004
exploring Terra Nova
someone connected me recently with iteam's terra nova team in Santiago de Compostella. I am really, dangersously, seriously exploring the option of linking up with them. Family included...
In some odd conicidence we have envisioned what they are now expressing over the past two years. and they are inviting more to join...i don't know. Could this be what's next...the adventure morphs...?
