Day 14

March 5, 2010

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Day 14 of my 40 Days of Water journey with blood:water mission finds me almost…apathetic. In my faith. Not in my water drinking. My water drinking is going great. When I got that boost from reading all over the blood:water site about the HIV/AIDS, and the water crisis going on over in Africa…it game me that extra boost to keep going. But my reason for it…I just want to see AIDS eradicated, and clean drinking water made available to everyone! But I don’t have Jesus in it…

James tells us in his letter that faith without works is dead. But I think it also works the other way around. There’s a song I like by Jimmy Needham, and in it he says,

Sure I’ve got zeal, but does love have a part in it?

Passionate words and beautiful phrases

They just don’t mean much if I don’t have Jesus in it”

I am a big fan of social justice. I think the Bible is clear that we are supposed to care for the poor and the disinherited. And honestly, I don’t always do a good job of seeking that out. But when I do. Look out. Because I’m on fire, and I’m going to try and light you as well. I can read all kinds of book and websites, and tell you all about it, and tell you that you should get behind it too. But it’s generally not because I’m reminded that Jesus is a bigger champion of those causes than I, or any billionaire could be. He already conquered them all when he died on the cross. but he allows us to come along side him to help. But I have to remember.

Jesus loves the people in Africa who don’t have water more than I do. And He can do more for them. And the same goes for those afflicted by poverty, and disease all around the world, including those in my own town.

If I want to be working along side Him, and not just “in His name”, though, that requires my relationship with Him to be growing. And as of late it hasn’t been. I’ve been running on empty, but making sure I’ve got words and actions to hide behind so that it’s not too obvious that I haven’t cracked my Bible on my own in a week or two.

And the thing is, I can sit here and tell you about how crappy I am at reading my Bible, or having a consistent prayer life, but that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if I don’t just cut the crap and start doing it.

Action. The word of God requires action from us. That’s where we get these great organizations like blood:water mission, World Vision, Compassion International, Mission Year, Word Made Flesh, etc…But to have our hearts transformed to take those actions we have to take the action to open a book. Not another book about world hunger, or the AIDS pandemic. But The Book. The Bible. Everything we need to know is right in there. It’s a 66 book love letter from the ultimate lover. And we have to take the action to talk to God. Hit your knees, fall on  your face, sit in a chair! He doesn’t care. He wants us to talk to Him. And he wants to talk back to us. These are the things He wants us to do to get to know Him. That way, we find out what He is passionate about, and what breaks His heart, and then He can show us in what ways we are equipped to help Him fix those things in this fallen, broken, sin sick world we live in.

Water teaches you things in funny ways.

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)

My thoughts on America

October 27, 2008

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My point is not to try and make you feel the way I feel about these things. These ar just thoughts that have been in my head in the past week, and I wanted to share them. I encourage you to exercise your right to vote for whoever you desire if you choose to do so. I WILL NOT be telling you how I think you should vote, nor will I tell you who I am going to vote for if I decide to. That being said:

 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to coruption into the freedom of the glory of the childern of God. Romans 8:18-21.

 

I love America. I always have. For a long time my biggest desire was to serve in the Navy, and when that didn’t work out, I really was crushed. I have always supported our troops, and I have several very close friends who are in Afghanistan/Iraq. For a long time I was very for war, and liberating the world. Recently, God has been changing my heart to the point of brokenness and tears. I can no longer support the wars that America is involved in (and started), though I do support and pray for the men and women fighting them. Don’t misunderstand me, I realize that by being born here, I have privileges that an Iraqi child may never have even dreamed of, but does being a great nation, and a world super power mean that we should push our agenda on the world?! The founders of this nation even encouraged us to stay out of the affairs of the world.

 

I do believe that when injustice is being done somewhere, we should take action to fight it; I don’t believe that means military action. I believe we had a responsibility to stop the atrocities being done by Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but I believe we had a responsibility to do it because we put him into power there in the first place. A lot of what is going on, and the dissention against us in the world is our fault due to actions we’ve taken in the world.

 

I read an article recently that inspired me to look into the issue of Nuclear Disarmament. I found that a huge desire of Reagan, that he was even able to bring Gorbachev around to was complete world nuclear disarmament! THIS WAS IN THE 80’s! It blows my mind that we could blow the world to smithereens 30 times over, because everyone feels like they have to protect themselves from the other people that have that ability. The Bible calls us to take care of the world God has entrusted to us, and I feel like this is a part of that. What kind of legacy are we leaving for our children and grandchildren? And if people come to their boiling points, and use their weapons, what condition will we leave the world to them in?! (Visit The Nuclear Security Project, Biblical Security, and these articles: A world free of nuclear weapons, Toward a nuclear-free world)

 

I am frustrated by the political situation in our country. I don’t know if I am going to vote, and I have been praying a lot about it, (and I would strongly encourage you to do the same) and will continue to until the morning of Nov. 4th. The bass-ackwardness of our political system blows my mind. More than that, the way Christians act towards each other in times like this breaks my heart! I am tired of hearing that if I vote for one man I’m not a Christian, and if I vote for the other then I will be ushering in the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. I don’t want to hear about how one man is Antichrist, and the other is Biblically appointed. And I am weary of the talk about one man being the demise of life as we know it, but the other being the man who will set the course for our ‘Great Nation’ for the NEXT 200 years.

 

We are not guaranteed tomorrow. As individuals. Or as a country. (James 4:14)

 

I believe that as Christians, we are called to take a stance on issues. A stance that the Bible says is right. On the other side of that, people have been interpreting the Bible differently since it has been around. The way I read something may lead me to a different conclusion or conviction about something than it will you. There are non-negotiables, like the sanctity of life. But, does being ‘pro-choice’ make you ‘pro-death’? And does supporting stem cell research gel with your claim to be pro-life? Both of these men claim to be followers of Christ. But so do I. So do you. The only people who can know where that person stands in their relationship with, and the eyes of God is that person and God. I want people to stop telling me that one man in of Satan and the other is of God. I want them to let me come to my own convictions just as I’ve allowed them to do. I will debate the issues with a person all day long, because I know that we still have Christ in common, and regardless of how far apart we may feel about something, the love we have in Him will bring us together.

 

I believe that understanding the issues and what the Bible has to say about them is extremely important. Chew on this though: There will probably almost never be on candidate who agrees with everything you think the Bible has to say about all the issues. So how do you compromise? How do you decide what to condone, and what to condem? How do you decide whether to vote for baby deaths, or sending your neighbors baby into battle half a world away?

 

We’re reading through Hosea right now for our Team devo, and the other morning I was doing chapter 2. I had read through it the day before, and again that morning deciding what I wanted to talk about when we gathered, and came up with some things. While I was reading it to the group though, God made some parallels to me. Let me preface this by saying in no way do I believe that America is comparable to Israel in God’s sight, or favor, but we do claim to be a Christian nation. So this is what I started to see: America has whored itself to the world. For oil, for power, for money, for prestige. I don’t claim that this is prophetic in any way shape or form, but if God wants for America to fall from its place of power, nothing I say or do can change that. It will have been written since the beginning of time. In addition to that, the Bible says that no one comes to power that God doesn’t allow to (Romans 13:1). Chew on that for a second.

 

So…how I am I responding to this? In brokenness. My heart has been heavy all week, and last night I realized that this was why. We were sitting around, singing some worship songs, and I was thinking about all of this, and I just began to weep, because I hurt for my nation. For the world, and all the people in it. For how we are effecting the world. How we are affecting (not always for the good) the kingdom with our actions.

 

I am posting this on my Mission Year blog, so go check that out…not for this one, but I have other posts there too. The thoughts and ideas here, are not those of Mission Year or any of their staff, they are my own, so please treat them as such.

 

I gladly anticipate your thoughts and comments, but please refrain from lashing out in anger or frustration at this, or anyone else who decides to comment. If you can’t do that, I will delete your comment.  Also, feel free to e-mail me at stippy87@yahoo.com.

 

Thank so much for your time,

David Stippick

 

 

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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