Tilling. Or, The Great Gardner

November 9, 2010

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I originally posted this on my Mission Year blog in December of 2008. I hope you enjoy…

“Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” – Hebrews 10:12 (NASB)

“To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you.” – Theophan the Recluse

“We have to realize that here the word heart is used in its full biblical meaning. In our milieu the word heart has become a soft word. It refers to the seat of the sentimental life. Expressions shuch as “heart-broken” and “heartfelt” show that we often think of the heart as the warm place where emotions are located in contrast to the cool intellect where our thoughts find their home. But the word heart in the Jewish-Christian tradition refers to the source of all physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional, and moral energies.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen

I’ve mentioned in some of my newsletters (and maybe here in the blog) that on Saturdays some of my roommats and I get to go work in a Garden with a man named Earl. Earl used to run it as a program for teen guys to come and work, and they even made a hot sauce out of the peppers they grew that was sold, and is still saught after, all over the city. The money made from this was used to help the boys to go school if they wanted. After Katrina, and having several boys from the program killed, Earl shut the program down.

When we met him, he was beginning to go back to the garden and restore it to what it used to be so he could run the program again. So, for the past few months that we’ve been here we go down to the garden and do whatever Earl asks of us.

One of the things we do is till up the soil. I used to do a lot of gardening with my dad, and grandmother, so I had tilled before, but always a small area with one of those things you turn with your arms. Earl has a really neato-bandito gas powered one. I like it. But I also like to just watch whoever is tilling (usually Braxton) do that for a few minutes. You can see the dirt turning and turning in the rotors, and the new soil sitting on top of everything. It looks fresh and ready to take on the world.

Usually I do something like trim back a tree, or take out all but one of a plant that has over grown an area. This last Saturday though, Braxton and I redid the little brick border around an area that is going to be replanted soon. As we were pulling them out of their disaray, we began to dig and find more…and more, and more buried pretty deep under the dirt. We finally got a bunch of them up to make the new border, but realized that the entire dirt are we were standing on used to be a beautiful brick walkway. It was probably a combination of Katrina and time that had covered them so deeply…but it was just amazing to know that had been under us the whole time and we’d had no idea. We also fixed the door to the shed, which was in a pretty sad state.

We’re not completely done with either of those projects, and we’re nowhere near done with restoring the garden to the award winning state it used to be in. We can see improvement though. If you’ve read this far, that’s what I wanted to talk about. As I sat watching Jacob till for a few minutes last Saturday this is kind of what was going through my head:

That’s what God is doing in my life, and wants to be doing in all of our lives all the time. We’re works in progress, even though we have a relationship with Christ, we need to, as Paul talks about, work out our salvation daily. God wants to till our hearts so new things can grow. When we first come into relationship with him our hearts (in the sense that Theophan and Nouwen talk about them) are covered with sin. God doesn’t use the gas powered tiller though, He doesn’t even use the one you turn with your arms. He digs into our heart, and soul, and sinful nature with His hands and begins to turn the dirt over so that fresh soil can sit on top. When He’s done that he begins to plant seeds of change in our life. He wants to change the way we live, the way we love, the way we talk, the way we treat others, the way we work, the way we eat. All of it. Seriously.

He wants to lay that new brick border, and find all the other stones buried deep that we didn’t even know about, and smile that big Daddy smile as we joyously celebrate the discovery of what we never knew was there. Then He wants us come along side Him and lay out the new walkway/patio area. He wants us to get down and dirty with Him in this as we shovel/sweep/and dig with our hands through the sin in our lives. The things that were beautiful to the Devil in our old life He wants to wash way to become beautiful in His sight.

I don’t know exactly why God began to show me all of this in a garden, but I would imagine it’s mostly because He likes gardens. He did after all intend for us to live with Him there didn’t he? I’n beginning to see Him as The Great Gardener.

I feel like those quotes I have up at the top kind of illustrate that. This is also what God has been doing in my life, even before I came here. In the months leading up to me departing for this adventure I was realizing that I was saying and doing a lot of things, but not fully engaging Christ in my heart. I am now. But like the garden I’m only just beginning to see the changes. I’m almost done with a project here and there, but nowhere near being done with the whole thing. I suspect I (we) never will be. I am dirty, but He is cleaning me up. I am destroyed and unrecognizable, but He restoring me. I am withered, but He is growing me.

I challenge you to examine your own heart. What stage of the garden restoration are you in?

Re-planting,
Stippick

New Orleans; or “You don’t always get what you think”

November 6, 2010

superstippy Mission Year, New Orleans, Phaltering Poetry 1 Comment

Here’s the deal. I don’t know anything about poetry. Not about style, or rhythm, or any of that stuff. But I still make attempts to write some now and again. I wrote this mid-mission year. Enjoy…

What is she? Change.
To me anyway. Though to herself,
I am sure she is constant and true.

Family is no longer just blood. No,
Now they are those who do the
Will of my Father.

A neighbor isn’t just next door,
It is anyone who opens their door,
Or anyone to whom I open my door.

Time isn’t necessarily kept, but
Wondered about. Or maybe…
Lost in translation.

A meal isn’t just eaten for satiation,
It is time for a story told, a laugh
Shared, or a smile smiled.

Music isn’t just something to
Listen to. You experience it…
and you follow it.

Community isn’t necessarily where
I live…but rather who I live it with
And how we choose to live it.

 

A Prayer

August 7, 2010

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I originally posted this on my Mission Year blog back in February of ’09. I was reading it again the other night, and wanted to share with you here:

You embrace me when I fight You.
You clean me off when I become dirty in spite of You.
You tell me You love me when I scream my hate at You.
You will never leave me nor forsake me.

When I laugh You laugh with me.
When I have joy You celebrate with me.
When I love You love infinitely more.
You will never leave me nor forsake me.

If I am crying, You wipe my tear.
If I am wracked with sorrow You comfort me.
If I am in pain You sooth me.
You will never leave me nor forsake me.

Though I do not understand,
Though I will never comprehend,
Though I can not truly appreciate,
You will never leave me nor forsake me.

Abba,
Your love for me is boundless and know no depths, and while I know that, while I ever really get it? I don’t know. But I thank you daily for who You are. Who You tell me that I am in You. I feel as though I’m never getting it right when it comes to understanding your love for me, but you smile as only a Father can, hug me to your chest, and just chuckle. Understanding that though I may not get it I am trying. And I am. I am chasing after you with everything that I Know that I have. But I still feel as though I’m failing at it. You show me that I’m not. I get scared though…and wait for you. When you show up I am a mess…but you remind me how to clean it up, and then do it with me. You are always there. You always have been, and always will be. For that there are no words for me to tell You THANK YOU. But I will anyway.

Thank You.

Love,
Your son.

Sabbathing

March 2, 2010

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I originally wrote this on my Mission Year blog on February 24th, 2009. Got a nice reminder about it last Sunday though.

We have a Sabbath built in to our week, and it’s great. I generally spend mine doing absolutely nothing but reading, web surfing, and blogging. I enjoy it…but that book that we’re reading that I told you about (Practicing Our Faith) made me rethink how I will probably be spending my Sabbath from here on out.

In the Jewish tradition, they are called to observe the Sabbath for two reasons. One reason is because God did. He worked for six days, and rested on one. If we are assuming that the world can not go on without our work for one day…how arrogant does that make us? What does that say about how we view God? The other reason is to remind them of their newly found freedom. He reminds them of their slavery in Egypt. Slaves can not take a day off, free people can. (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

In the Christian tradition, we kind of have this day built in to our weeks as well. Sunday. We get the family all together, go off to Sunday School, go to service, go out to eat, go catch a quick nap at home (if we’re lucky), then back to the church building for budget/personnel/ministry team meetings, and then there is always the possibility of the Children’s Choir performance or some banquet or other after that. We don’t honestly get that much rest, because we’re so involved. That totally used to be me.

The Sabbath is supposed to be a time of rest. A time that we use to thank God for giving us the time to rest, and for the work he has given us to do.

Sunday is no longer protected by legislation (Blue Laws), or custom. Because our lives are so busy on other days, we have to cram all those meetings and events in to one day. A lot of the time we don’t think about the fact that some people don’t ever get a day off, because they work multiple jobs, or have to put in insane hours at the one job they’re trying to keep. When we go out to lunch at a restaurant, we don’t wonder if our waitress has had a day of rest this week.

How great would it be if groups of three or four families got together to spend their Sabbaths together, and keep each other accountable to just…resting. Maybe they set up a rotating schedule of who provides food, or they all contribute every week. And they make a commitment not to be committed to anything that is work (or church work related). As far fetched as it sounds, if the body of believers decided to take back their Sunday as a day of rest, a Sabbath (this is most often the best bet because it is a relatively open day), then eventually the church governance would get the message and stop scheduling meetings on Sunday, and (and yes I really believe that if enough people did it this would happen) if people stopped going out to eat, restaurants wouldn’t open, and perhaps they’d learn something from S. Truett Cathy (founder of Chik-Fil-A and does not allow them to be open on Sundays).

We get scared of hearing something like this, or of considering making it a priority because ‘What about this project I have a work’, or ‘Yeah, but the garage isn’t going to clean itself’. Consider this though:
“People who know the Sabbath pattern of creation, liberation, and resurrection nurture a dissatisfaction with this system, however, and can work for change. Keeping Sabbath, we grow in our longing for a system where all people have work at a living wage, and time for rest and worship too.” – Dorthy C. Bass
People who decide to take a stand against what the culture decides to observe, and celebrate the Sabbath can change the culture.

Using your Sabbath as a day to rest, commune with God, and others, and respect the right of others to do the same will change your life. I promise

-Stippick

Facebook, TV, And Girls Who Don’t Care

January 12, 2010

superstippy Life, Mission Year 1 Comment

Those of you who know me well know that in the year or two that immediately followed my graduation from high school I didn’t really do much. I spent most of my time watching tv, facebooking, and talking to girls who didn’t really care about me (in the same way that I was just sure I cared about them). I tricked myself, and thought I had others fooled as well, into believing that doing those things, and being half-hearted at my part time job, and filling my calendar with as many church events as possible meant that I was super busy.

I wasn’t busy. I was existing.

So what did I do? I thought it would be a really great idea to figure out something to do that God could use to totally change who I am in a radical* way!

That’s not even true. I was trolling through the See You At The Pole website, and found in their partner ministries this thing called Mission Year. It sounded really cool, because I could go somewhere that was not here (and not feel as inferior to all of my educated college friends), and be on mission, telling people about Jesus for a year. Sign. Me. Up. Because my faith was on fire! I was growing in the Lord, and doing everything I could to tell people about Him, and love others anyway (That’s all not true. But again, I had fooled myself and others). But it seemed like a pretty cool deal nonetheless. So I sent in for an info packet.

An application, interview, and a prayer later, I was told to get ready, because I’d be doing Mission Year. In 10 months. What was I supposed to do until then? Be half hearted at my part time job, fill my calendar, watch tv, facebook, and and talk to girls who didn’t really care about me (in the same way that I was just sure I cared about them). I actually even ended up getting a job as a summer youth intern at a church the summer before I left, and by that time, God really had started to help me realize that this thing was real. I was going. And He was working in my heart to get me ready for some of the things I’d experience (That part is real, so I don’t feel guilty about sharing Jesus with those kids).

New Orleans taught me a lot of things. It’s possible to get stuck facebooking way to much even when you’re spending 95% of your time legitimately serving others (and when you’re not supposed to have internet in your apartment…sorry Irvin…), on your Sabbath when you’re supposed to be resting and communing with God to refuel for the week, you can watch hulu, and movies that you have, and read one chapter out of some book of the Bible, and only feel a little guilty. And, you guessed it, even though you really are growing in your relationship with the Lord now, and maturing, you can still spend way too much time talking to girls who didn’t really care about you (in the same way that you are just sure you care about them).

I really did have a life changing experience in New Orleans though. God placed passions on my heart that I didn’t know existed. He revealed Himself to me repeatedly through someone on the street, a giving neighbor, roommates I loved, and even roommates I didn’t always care so much for.

I came away with a passion to see church done differently. To really be the church with fellow believers, as I’d experienced with my roommates, and teammates, and spent so much time reading about in Acts and discussing with my roommates. I felt the Holy Spirit moving in my life as I never had before, and I sensed Him moving in this whole thing we were a part of (the other Mission Year teams). I wanted to experience Acts 4:31 with my community back home

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Now, after a while, I realized that my desire wasn’t necessarily for that situation to happen. But to still be in such communion with God, and my community, that we felt that.

In coming back, one of the biggest things I learned is that it is possible to leave half of my heart in another city, in another state, with people I love dearly and do not know when I will see them again. My sister said the other day that maybe the reason I haven’t found a better job, or anything really permanent here is that…I’m supposed to be back there. Maybe that is the case. I don’t know. I’m praying about it. Join me.

I’ve been back about six months now, and I’ve been really good about keeping up with all of the things God taught me to be good at while I was away. Like loving unconditionally, not judging, having grace when someone screws up, being willing to be a little inconvenienced when someone needs my help with something (like a hitch hiker who needs a ride, or a homeless person who could probably use some food or water) (Also, all of those things are sarcastic. Again. I’ve been terrible at that.)

I have lots of friendships. Lots of them. And most of them are really deep rooted and Christ centered. Or…they look that way, and I’m really good at keeping them looking that way. In reality, they’re mostly very surface level. I don’t have the community that God put a longing in my heart for, and this tears me apart every day.

Now, I know you’re wondering if I still facebook too much, watch too much tv, give a half hearted effort at my job, and…yeah…still talk to girls who don’t really care about me (in the same way that I am just sure I care about them), and fill up my calendar. The answer to all of those things, ladies and gents, is a resounding YES. Absotootarootinlootley. Because I am still a mess. The upside though, is that I am also still growing in my relationship with the Lord.

The thing I’m missing now is what Donald Miller would call an “inciting incident”. I’ve got a lot going, but I’m not really doing anything…out of the ordinary, I don’t have anything I’m really living for…other than a free meal here and there, and there, and there (I somehow manage to secure a lot of free meals…). Not just so that I’ll be doing something, but because God wants for us to live better stories that are centered around him.

So that’s what I’m doing now. I’m trying to find and write a story that I want to be living. Sometimes that takes the form of me sitting on the couch eating colby jack cheese, and watching re-runs of Friends, The George Lopez Show, The Nanny, Fresh Prince…you get the idea, sometimes it looks like me hiding under my covers for two days because I’m that embarrassed before God about everything I’ve not done in the last six months. Sometimes though it looks like me taking a few weekends off of work to share Christ with some kids, or making my best effort to be in the 9th grade Life Group class with my students every Sunday, or being more willing and open and making an effort at family gatherings. It unfortunately also still involves the facebooking, tv, and girls who don’t care. I’m working on those.

-SuperStippy

*Radical: Of or going to the root or origin’ fundamental

(Big thanks to my friend Kassandra Barbee who inspired this little post)

One Question

February 16, 2009

superstippy Mission Year 2 Comments

Ok, so I am the only person who is doing all of my newsletters through e-mail, and the goal is to figure out how well that is working. So, please just pick the one that applies to you. I will have no idea who answere what, so please be completely honest.

Thanks for your time!

I’llllll be hoooooome for chriiiiissstmas…

September 5, 2008

superstippy Life, Mission Year, New Orleans , 2 Comments

Seriously.

I’m leaving in a few hours to take off on my new adventure. Mission Year. It’s going to be great. I know that’s kind of brief, but I’ve got a lot of emotion going on inside of me and I feel like if I start writing about it I won’t be able to stop.

One of the things I’ll miss a lot is blogging. Really. I’ve gotten used to it. I will be blogging on my Mission Year blog as often possible, so add that to your bookmarks and check it…regularly…? Seriously though, I will be trying to update it as often as possible. (SuperStippy will be on hiatus(sp?) for the time being. When I am home for twoish weeks over christmas? Prepare for a blogging frenzy)

Lastly, my good friend Jenna Coe blogs also. Tonight she wrote a “very special blog” to me. I’m not trying to talk myself up or anything. That was just really cool. I love Jenna a lot and will miss her (and YOU too), and it’s also one of thse things that I feel like if I start writing about it I won’t be able to stop.

 

Loving Jenna (and packing…),

David Stippick

Dating Up

September 2, 2008

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Don’t worry, this isn’t about dating people who are “out of your league”, or “too good for you”. It’s a life update. Please read. (Also, there is a tiny spoiler alert for the movie “Traitor“…tread lightly)

There’s been some back and forth on whether or not I was going to be bussed or flown to Atlanta. If I haven’t told you, I will be headed to the Atl. for about a week before my NOLA adventure officially begins. I would have been in Atlanta for a few days anyway with everyone for our national orientation. Because of hurricane Gustav (Gustov?) all of the New Orleans Mission Year team members will chill in Atlanta for a few days. If I had to summerize this paragraph I would say it’s about me going to Atlanta before New Orleans.

Back to the original point of that. I’ll be flying. Which I’m kind of happy about. I would not have really cared if I had to take a bus, it probably would have been a really cool experience, but…24 hours on a bus? I’ll wait a little longer in life for that experience. Also, I saw the movie “Traitor” yesterday (Don Cheadle is amazing) and it was really good, but part of the plot was about them blowing up buses. Not. For. Me.

So, I leave this Friday, and it will probably be a pretty long day. I’ll be about 12 hours on planes/in airports. weeoo (not).

Also, if you have never played the Tiger Woods PGA video game you should. Brett rented it last night, and I pwned his face off, and we’re rematching it tonight. Be there or be square.

I think that’s all I have in the life update department. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything else.

 

Livin’ it up,

David

A lesson in humility

August 27, 2008

superstippy Life, Mission Year, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

I got one tonight, and it was really cool. Tonight at Shockwave (the Wednesday night, youth worship service at FBCgT) they kicked off a new series called “Wipeout”. The idea came from the TV show, but really the only likeness to that is the Youtube clips they showed, and the games they will do throughout the series. The idea for the focus of the series is how God can redeem us from our moral failures. It seems really cool, and I think He is going to be able to do some great things in the lives of students through it.

Anyway, tonight, Brett (Levy, for those of you who don’t know. He is the youth minister at FBCgT) was talking about Moses, and how he went from being born into Hebrew slavery, then raised as Egyptian royalty, then cast out when he murdered an Egyptian man, then God uses Moses to lead His people out of captivity to the life He promised them…of course they end up messing that up (but who of us hasn’t messed up something that was supposed to be a blessing from God?!). It’s a really cool story, and if you don’t know it…go read the book of Exodus…I digress.

We get to the part of the story where Moses sees the burning bush (ch. 3). Moses kind of sees it, and then realises that this bush is on fire…but not being consumed! So he looks at it a little more closely, and what follows is an incredible encounter with the God of the universe:

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses! And he said “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:4-5)

The point Brett was making out of this passage in relation to our moral failures is that we need to humble ourselves before God when we are coming out of that. It’s a great point, and is 100% true. When he shared the verse though, he kind of paraphrased it in a cool way that set my thought wheels in motion. He (Brett) said something to the effect of:

“What God is saying to Moses here is “Hey, show some respect before you come here, because you’re about to experience something the likes of which you’ve never even heard of. Me.”

I just thought it was really cool to picture God saying it this way.

A lot of time we’re going, going, going, with something that we think (and may be) God inspired, but at some point we take Him out of the loop. True Life? WE CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO KNOWS OUR EVERY THOUGHT!

Whatever it is that we feel God calling us to do we MUST humble ourselves at His feet if we have any SHRED  of hope of succeeding. When we pray for guidance from Him, we had better make sure that it is with a heart that knows how unworthy we are of His love.

Yet He gives it anyway.

For me, tonight, that is my deepest desire. That I would develop a more humble attitude toward what God has given me, and allowed me to do/part of, and what He is about to allow me to be a part of. As I embark on my Mission Year, I hope that I experience God in such a way that it would be something the likes of which I have never seen.

 

Learning all the time,

David

 

(Sorry this was longer than normal, thanks for giving it a look. I hope it got across the point that I had in my head)

La La La La La La La Life is Wonderful

August 19, 2008

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I bought some Jason Mraz music today. Good stuff.

Aside from that, life IS pretty wonderful. I just chilled at the house mindlessly today…which I haven’t really been able to do in quite a while.

The past couple days have been pretty good. I’ve been able to hang out with my friends before they head off to school and I skip away to New Orleans for my Mission Year. That’s been a lot of fun, because honestly as the next couple years roll up who knows how often we’ll be able to get together. I know that sounds kind of lame/like a pipe dream that we would all stay close at all, but I will say that most of these people are people that I have been doing life with for the past couple years, and as I look out at what I believe Gods plan for my life to be, I see them as people that I will continue to be doing life with in for years to come. (Thanks guys)

Yesterday was my last Sunday at Austin Bapist Church, it was good. I will miss those kids, they gave Alex and me a great summer. They made us each a scrapbook of the summer which I thought was really cool (if you guys are reading this, I am taking that with me to N.O.!). I really enjoyed my time there this summer, I learned a lot about being in ministry (bein in church work specifically), and about myself. Thanks Dr. Procter, Kay, and Alex.

For those of you who follow me religiously (thanks Cat!) I took the plunge on the whole moeskein thing. Might be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m loving every minuite of it. I am probably writing in it way to much…but I don’t care…it’s way to much fun to stop. I’ve even got sketches (one sketch, but I envision more…) and I am a terrible sketcher..that’s probably not eve what they call themselves…sorry guys…

 

I think that was all I wanted to share with you guys,

Dave

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