Sophomoric Musings: My Dream
This is the first article in a series I’ve entitled “Sophomoric Musings”. I view my musings as sophomoric for two reasons. The first is that the word sophomore is Greek in origin meaning ‘wise fool’. I’ve lived as a Christian for a little over ten years now. While I feel as though I have amassed some experience that may deem me as relatively wise, in reality I’m still a pretty foolish person. I don’t see things objectively, so my musings are infused with a bit of quackery as well as insight due to just having lived up until this point. Secondly, the term sophomore refers to a stage just above the novice or freshman level. These days, I feel as though I’ve entered into the second phase of my Christian life. I’m not sure if I can say exactly when or where the transition happened (the Red Line stop at Belmont on July 10th… nah forget it), but I definitely feel as though I’ve had a major paradigm shift as of late in terms of how I relate to Christ, His church and the world around me. This post is an articulation of what I’ve been feeling as of late. Hope you enjoy or even cry preferably tears of joy, but I’m not averse to those induced by sheer terror either; all I can say is that Dr. Ben taught me well in this regard.
Telling The Truth (How West Loop UBF Began)
As Joe is telling it to the church (I am lovin’ it with high fives!), I wish to tell the truth as a parallel post. UBF leaders like to say among themselves that UBFriends is declining with only the same few tired commenters. Translation: “Don’t worry about UBFriends. We are still in control.” Nonetheless in just the last few days, as Joe tells it to the church, there were over 140 comments in 3 days! and with new fresh commenters who had not commented before. For the record, UBFriends has no political agenda. As Joe said, which I echo, “Neither of us (Joe and Ben) has tried to gather supporters behind us to start a countermovement to make demands from ubf leaders. Basically, all we have done is to write articles on this website to express our opinions.” Amen. Continue reading →
Saying “I’m Sorry”
After losing one million USD to a conman in 2004, I said to my wife, “I’m sorry.” Perhaps, I never felt worse in my life because I knew how much I had hurt the person who loved me, and whom I love. It was not primarily the loss of the money, but the fact that I refused to listen to her pleading with me and to her better judgment, because I thought I was investing the hard earned money that she had saved for over 20 years. Then it was all gone in a moment! Plus we went into massive debt. Entirely by God’s mercy and grace alone, God helped us to come out of our financial (and emotional) crisis. Since then we have been enjoying many honeymoons, which is also nothing but the grace of God. Of course, I still annoy her (sometimes intentionally!), and still have to often say, “I’m sorry, dearest.” Continue reading →
Radio Silence
There is a communication term called “radio silence“. This term refers to a “status in which all fixed or mobile radio stations in an area are asked to stop transmitting for safety or security reasons”.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve sensed a growing push from the Spirit to remove the online presence from my life for a time. So I’ve decided to go “radio silent” starting tonight.
Recent events have shown me the need for this time to be off-line from blogs, Facebook and to some extent, email as well. I will continue to be reachable by email, but will not be responding so quickly. I realized through Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that I have had a “savior complex” and proudly thought I myself had no wounds. So I will be taking time to process this.
Continue reading →
Issues UBF “Ignores” (are not ignored on UBFriends)
Commenting on the “Most Commented.” Scroll down the right side of this page. The last section is titled “Most Commented.” It is interesting to note what the top 10 most commented UBFriends articles are. I believe it corresponds with issues that UBF generally tends to ignore, avoid, or refuse to address on websites and often not even in person. Perhaps because of this, it gets addressed most often on UBFriends, since there may be nowhere in UBF where any current or former UBFer can truly address them with HOT (honesty, openness, and transparency).
The top topics/issues “never” found on official UBF websites are:
Son of Rick Warren Commits Suicide
Reading this news shocked me. The youngest son of Rick Warren, Matthew, aged 27, has committed suicide after a life long battle with mental illness, depression and suicidal thoughts. This is a copy of a letter Warren sent to members of his staff:
Subject: Needing your prayers
To my dear staff,
Over the past 33 years we’ve been together through every kind of crisis. Kay and I’ve been privileged to hold your hands as you faced a crisis or loss, stand with you at gravesides, and prayed for you when ill. Today, we need your prayer for us. Continue reading →
Is There Glory and Honor in Reconciliation?
Reconciliation is the “hardest” job of Christians. The “easier” job is to invite new people to Bible study. A friend said, “It’s better for UBF to reconcile with one ex-UBF member than to invite 99 new people to Bible study.” I agree. The former job (reconciliation) is messy and unpredictable. The latter job (inviting new people) is fun and exciting. The former requires humiliation and humility. The latter requires being fuzzy and friendly. The former feels like descending and dying. The latter feels like soaring and conquering. So, is there any glory and honor in seeking reconciliation?
How Does Shepherd Paul “Feed Sheep”?
How does the apostle Paul shepherd God’s flock? To emphasize mission and Bible teaching, UBF has loved Paul’s imperatives from 2 Timothy: Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Tim 2:3). Do your best as a workman who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Preach the word (2 Tim 4:2). 2 Tim 2:2 is also a great imperative (“entrust to reliable men”), but is not stressed in UBF.
Continue reading →
When Silence Speaks Volumes
It’s no secret that UBFriends has become a gathering place for some who have strongly negative opinions and experiences of the UBF organization. It is a very rare and precious thing for persons and parties with strongly felt opposing positions to come together and communicate in a respectful and loving way. We (the administrators of this website) believe that God has called us to this unusual, awkward and sometimes-painful ministry of dialogue across the divide.
At times, this website has been criticized for being one-sided, unbalanced, unhelpful, overly critical, and so on. Some of that criticism is deserved. Yet from my perspective, it seems rather disingenuous for people stand at a distance, to listen to a conversation going on, to claim that the conversation is unhealthy because alternative points of view are not being represented, but then to do absolutely nothing to join in the conversation.
I understand that there are good reasons why some people feel uncomfortable discussing controversial issues on a public website. In all honesty, I believe that it would be better if these conversations that are now happening on UBFriends were taking place in another forum. But until that venue exists, I don’t see any viable alternative for those who feel that their voices haven’t been heard, except to continue to speak out with the hope and prayer that someone, somewhere will hear them and respond.
On the Ministry of Reconciliation
Yesterday, a friend called my attention to an article titled, An Open Letter to the Church: How to Love the Cynics. The author, Addie Zierman, writes from the standpoint of those who have left their evangelical churches.
The article begins very abruptly:
You should know, first of all, that there’s no quick-fix here. There are not ten steps. There is no program that you can implement, no “Young Adult” class you can start.
This is not about your building or your music or your PowerPoint slides.
There is not a trendy foyer in the world with the power to bring us wandering back.
After all, there’s not much you can say to us that we haven’t already learned in some Sunday School classroom somewhere. We know the Bible stories. We heard them over and over, year after year until they became part of our blood, part of our bones.
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