The Creation Crowd

I put my car in park and leaned out the window, trying to see the front of the line of vehicles we’d been sitting in for the past ten minutes. A few kids got out of a van a little ways up the road and started tossing a Frisbee around. Beyond them, the road disappeared around a curve, and all I could see were trees. To the left of the road was a big, grassy field, and beyond that, rolling mountains. To the right was a corn field, and then more mountains. I eased back into my seat and let out a sigh, staring out the window at the corn stalks.

 

“The corn is doing really good,” I said absently and to no one in particular.

There was a short pause and Brittani, who sat in the passenger seat, answered, “I like corn.” After another short pause, we both broke out in in a fit of laughter, startling Mark, who had been dozing off in the back seat. For the rest of the trip, all one of us had to say was, “corn,” and Brittani and I would start laughing, not even sure what was so funny about it.

Brittani (left) and I

I don’t think that any of us really minded being stuck in traffic, because with every inch that we rolled closer to Agape Farm, Mount Union, Pa, our excitement (and perhaps our silliness as well) grew by miles. As the back window of my car proudly proclaimed, for us, it was, “Creation Fest or bust!”

Founded by Pastor Harry Thomas and Tim Landis in 1979, Creation Festival is now the largest Christian music festival in the world. The easiest way to describe it is as a “Christian Woodstock.” Thousands of people go and camp out for four days to hear 50+ of the top Christian bands, artists and speakers of today. Some of this year’s lineup included TobyMac, Third Day, Skillet, Newsboys, Chris Tomlin, Owl City, The Almost, The Letter Black, Lecrae, Loui Giglio, and Brad Stine.

Creation founder Pastor Harry Thomas leading an impromptu worship session in the Late Night Tent while awaiting the arrival of comedian Brad Stine

 The banner which hangs above Creation’s Main Stage each year reads, “A tribute to our Creator.” Not only is the festival itself a tribute to our Creator, however, but the people who attend (and I say this in general) are as well. 

While driving down Hallelujah Highway (one of the dirt roads that run through the farm) in search of our camp site and the other members of our group, I could tell that the Creation crowd is a unique one. And I’m not just talking about the interesting hairstyles (like the father and son with matching bright red mohawks or the girl who fashioned her hair to stand up straight around a soda bottle and then sprayed it green), the different ways of dress (like the guy with the tail or the guy in the banana outfit), and the other unusual sights (like the ambulance converted into a mobile tattoo parlor we passed on the way in). 

I’m talking about people’s attitudes. I didn’t see anyone get mad about having to wait in line or hear anyone complain about the rules. I’m talking about the spirit of community. Strangers offered each other assistance without being asked, people walked around with “free hugs” signs, everyone smiled and nodded or waved at each other as they passed. And I’m talking about the openness and sincerity that was felt among friends. In general, people didn’t seem to be out to impress each other as much as they are in the ‘real’ world. They were honest to each other about their struggles and shortcomings and showed grace to others regarding theirs.

Yes, Creation Festival 2011 and the crowd that attended was definitely a tribute to our Creator. But the question that I have for myself and all those who were a part of it is, “Is it still?”

Are we taking what we learned from all of the amazing speakers and implementing it in our lives, or did we simply apply what it means to our lives while we were at Creation, but forget about it after returning home?

Brittani and I with Christopher Hopper, who spoke about arts & the church

 Are we living in a constant state of worship right now, or have we gone back to the complaining, the distractions, the apathy? We all have great memories of worshiping God together for four days non-stop. But what happened after all of those thousands of candles that helped unite us on the hillside burned out? Are we still a city on a hill? A light that can’t be hidden?

Are we still carrying the atmosphere of Creation into our daily lives at home? It’s always hard going back to ‘real life’ after an experience like Creation. People in the ‘real world’ are harder to get along with. It’s not as easy to worship God back at work than it is when you’re with thousands of other believers surrounded by the majestic beauty of God’s Creation being led in song by Chris Tomlin or Tenth Avenue North, or one of your other favorite bands. But really, no matter where we are, isn’t it still our choice? Shouldn’t we be able to carry that experience back with us? And in doing so, might we be sharing that experience with others who weren’t able to be there? It’s just a thought.

I realize that I’ve been writing mainly to people who attended Creation, but this applies to those who didn’t as well. Maybe you’ve recently been on a church retreat, a mission trip, or a week of camp. Or, maybe you were impacted by a song you heard on the radio or something your pastor said in church. What are you doing right now to continue applying what you learned?

Or maybe you’ve read this far and you’re not really much into religion or Christianity. Maybe you think I’m crazy, or maybe you think it’s cool but not for you. Well, that’s ok. Thanks for reading anyway. I hope that someday you’ll understand what it’s all about and let Jesus be your best friend like He is mine.

And to all you crazy Jesus freaks from Creation Festival 2011, will you join me in carrying this tribute into 2012 and beyond?

Main Stage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This One's For My Dad

Ten Things I Like About My Dad:

1.  He has a great sense of humor. He’s good at sounding serious when he’s joking around, but he always gets a funny mischievous smile on his face that gives him away.

2.  He does well at rising above the circumstances of life. I know this because he had to grow up without his father, but I didn’t.

3.  He’s a hard worker and doesn’t give up. At one point, he was working a full-time job and a part-time job, plus selling at flea markets on weekends. He currently just works the full-time job and does the flea marketing, but also works a lot of overtime so that he can support his family.

4.  He loves God and loves to spend time with Him and tell others about Him.

5.  He’s a fun guy to be with. I have lots of fun memories with him: looking for shells and feeding the sea gulls at the beach, playing miniature golf, going out for ice cream, taking walks together down our road…

6.  He’s really good at finding free stuff and good deals. Over half the stuff in our house came from yard sales, flea markets, and the curb. And it’s nice stuff, too! This also shows that he’s resourceful.

7.  He cares about people. If there’s something he knows he can do for someone, he does it.

8.  He keeps his priorities straight and puts the most important things first: God, his family, responsibilities, etc…

9.  He’s loyal to my mom.

10.  He’s brave. I know this because he taught me how to drive. And, he’s even braver, because after surviving that, he’s now teaching my brother how to drive!

Yep, I’m one lucky girl. I couldn’t ask for a better dad because I’ve already got the best one! Happy Father’s Day!

Nutsibooism

It is the use of laughter as medicine. It is the theory that in order to keep your sanity, sometimes it becomes necessary to go insane. It is the absence of worry and the presence of fun. It is love for life. It is the practice of laughing until your sides hurt and tears start coming from your eyes. It is silliness. It is randomness. It is something like “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” but easier and just as fun to say. 

The word is: “nutsibooism.”

Go ahead, say it out loud: nut-see-boo-iz-em.

My late Great Aunt Lettie invented the word. Now, everyone has their little quirks and eccentricities, but Aunt Lettie was quite a character. She used to go outside and water her plastic flowers so that the neighbors would think they were real. She also used to make up silly songs for me and my younger brother when we were little kids to keep us entertained. One of them was titled and made up of just two words that made us giggle no matter how many times we sang it: “Boody-boo.”

When Aunt Lettie was around, there was always laughter. She is most remembered by those who knew her for three things, the first being her sense of humor. 

The second is the way she prayed. In her church, Aunt Lettie was known as a “prayer warrior.” Even a simple trip to the grocery store with her would reveal this to be true. When we arrived at her house to pick her up, she would insist on praying before starting the trip. Then when we got to the store, she would pray before we got out of the car. Then again before we left, and again when we arrived back at her house. And whenever she lost something—her glasses, wallet, house keys, or whatever—she would pray and search and keep praying until she recovered the item. Aunt Lettie left God out of nothing.

The third thing was her generosity. She was always giving to others, never seeming to worry about whether she had enough for herself. She seemed to find a joy in it.

And like I said before, she also loved to joke around and make people smile. She had a gift for lifting people’s spirits, and she would use that gift no matter where she was or who she was with.

I think that’s why she made up nutsibooism: to make people laugh, lift their spirits. I can’t remember what her exact definition for the word was, but it was something along the lines of laughing and being crazy and having fun simply for the sake of laughing and being crazy and having fun. 

Every once in a while something will make me think of nutsibooism and I’ll laugh out loud. It crossed my mind last semester at school when some friends and I decided to have a campfire and roast marshmallows. We had the bag of marshmallows, we had the sticks, and we even had the fire—sort of. 

We couldn’t actually set anything on fire on campus without most likely getting arrested or something, so we used the next best thing to a real campfire: an iPod app with flames and crackling fire noises. We also had a backpack with flames on it, so we put that on the floor with the iPod on top of it and sat in a circle “roasting” our marshmallows. 

Sure, we got a few strange looks here and there, but we had fun and laughed and ate marshmallows and after ten minutes, we all broke up and went to our different classes.

What crazy things do you do or have you done for the sake of having fun and laughing? If you want, share your stories as comments below, and if you don’t have any, go out and make some!

After all, everyone needs some nutsibooism in their lfie.

Meet Jazz.

Meet Jazz, my guitar. I named it “Jazz” because it is blue like jazz, and “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller is one of my favorite books ever. If you tell me that’s too corny, I’ll just blame it on my friend Katy, who came up with the idea in the first place.

Miller explains the title in an author’s note at the beginning of the book. He writes, “I never liked jazz music because Jazz music doesn’t resolve.” Then he tells about watching a man play the saxophone for fifteen minutes without opening his eyes and how after that, he liked jazz music. “Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself,” he writes. “It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.”

It’d be hard to sum up what Miller means by “any of this” because the book is full of mini stories and essays about a variety of things. The first time I read it (I’ve read it a few times now) I put it down at the end and said, “Wow. That was a really good book. But I have no idea what it was about.” 

I think the book’s subtitle describes it best: “Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality.” 

I don’t want to give too much away, because if you haven’t read it, I hope that you will. I would like to share with you, however, two things about what the book means to me. 

First, “Blue Like Jazz” is a book that brings people together. I lost count of how many times I’d be sitting somewhere in public (a coffee shop, work, school…) reading it and someone would walk by or glance in my direction and say something like, “Hey! Good book!” or “Blue Like Jazz! I love that book!” and even if we didn’t know each other, a conversation would start from there. 

One of these instances occurred this past year during the beginning of my first semester at college. I was reading in the lobby area at school when a professor walked by, saw the book, and exclaimed, “Blue Like Jazz!” Although it may seem like a small thing, to me it was cool to find that connection during a time when I was still somewhat apprehensive about being back in school and trying to get used to the new environment.

The second thing about this book is that each time I read it, it makes me think. A lot. Even though I’m not sure I agree with everything in it, I have to resist the urge to go crazy with the highlighter on every page because so much of it stands out to me. Here are just a few quotes from what I did highlight:

“And that’s the tricky thing about life, really, that the things we want most will kill us.” (page 77)

“Andrew would say that dying for something is easy because it is associated with glory. Living for something, Andrew would say, is the hard thing. Living for something extends beyond fashion, glory, or recognition. We live for what we believe, Andrew would say.” (page 111)

“If loving other people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide which state we would like to live.” (page 173)

“There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction.” (page 182)

Some of the chapter names make me laugh. Chapter five, for example, is titled, “Faith: Penguin Sex,” chapter six is, “Redemption: The Sexy Carrots,” chapter twelve is, “Church: How I Go Without Getting Angry,” and chapter 15 is, “Community: Living with Freaks.”

Seriously, if you haven’t yet read the book, read it, even if you’re not into Christianity or religion. What have you got to lose?

And if you’re one of those people who can’t stand to read, but prefers to just watch the movie instead, you’re in luck because this fall, “Blue Like Jazz: The Movie” is expected to be released in theaters. 

The story of the movie itself is almost as inspiring as the story it tells. Just like the book, “Blue Like Jazz: The Movie” brings people together. And I can say this even before I’ve seen it, because it has already brought a whole community of people together—4,495, to be exact (of which I am one). You can read all about that at www.savebluelikejazz.com. 

I just watched the teaser trailer, and in case you can’t already tell, I am very excited about the movie. Of course, I don’t expect it to be just like the book. After all, how do you take a non-fiction book that is a series of essays, and turn them into a story with a plot and a climax without changing and adding some things? 

But I do expect it to be amazing.

At least, I hope it will be, because otherwise, I’ll have to re-name my guitar, and it took me three years to find this name!

You can also see another preview of the movie at: http://isthisgonnagetweird.tumblr.com/ The password is "yeah probably" with the space. Check it out!

What Does God Look Like?

What do you think God looks like? 

Do you picture Him an old man with a long white beard, a white robe, and a white staff (kind of like Gandalf)? 

Or maybe when you think of God, you picture the classic pretty “white man” Jesus with the long flowing blonde hair that would make any girl jealous.

Or, is the first thing to pop into your mind a little golden statue of a chubby half-naked Buddha?

I didn’t realize it until recently, but sometimes I picture God as a big black void. 

When I first started to think about it, it scared me. I wondered if maybe I pictured Him that way because I really didn’t believe in Him at all. It scared the heck out of me to think I might have been an atheist all along and never known it. But no, I’m not an atheist, and that thought didn’t stick around for very long. I did, however, continue to wonder why, in my mind, is God a void, big, empty, and dark?

I thought about it, and thought about it, and then, finally, started to pray about it. After all, who better to ask than the subject Himself? 

A funny thing happened as I closed my eyes and started to pray. I realized that with my eyes closed, all I could see was a big black void, darkness. I stopped short and slapped my forehead. Duh!

It makes sense: Most of the time when I talk to God, out of habit, I close my eyes, and what do I see? Darkness. So what image automatically surfaces in my mind when I think of God?

Now, I’m not saying that praying with our eyes closed is always a bad thing. The biggest advantage is that it keeps us focused (if we don’t fall asleep). For me, the habit formed way back as a little kid just learning how to pray in Sunday school.

“OK, everybody fold your hands and put them in your lap,” the Sunday-school teacher would say, “Good! Now bow your heads and close your eyes and let’s pray. Dear Jesus…”

Of course, there was always the smart aleck or tattle-tale who, at the end of the prayer, would raise his or her hand, and when the teacher called on him or her, would point to a kid across the room and say, “He had his eyes open!”

Overall, I think that closing our eyes when we pray keeps us (both as children and adults) from getting distracted, so yes, it can be a good thing. However, it can also turn into a bad thing. 

I don’t want to envision God as a big black void. But as I thought about it, I realized that no one on this earth really knows what He does look like. So no matter how I picture him, it’s going to be inaccurate. I didn’t like that thought either. 

Then a verse from the Bible popped into my head. Romans 1:20 says, “His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made…” (ESV)

So, today I decided to try something. I went for a walk at a place where His attributes are very clear through His creation, and I talked to Him (with my eyes open). Sure, I’d done it many times before. I’ve always felt closest to God when closest to nature, but I wanted to purposefully try to get a glimpse of Him through His creation while talking with Him. And, it worked.

Now, I’m not saying that God is a tree, or a bird, or a lake, but that some of who He is can be seen through those things: His beauty, His power, His awesomeness, his complexity. And I think these are probably more accurate pictures of who God is than pictures of Gandalf or Buddha.

So, my challenge for you is to make some time to get alone with God surrounded by nature and just talk to Him, with your eyes (and heart) open.