Nooma - Rain

Bonus Mosh Pt. II

Who knew that a concert and a mosh pit could be an example of the unity God wants for us all? i traveled with Dan Rex down to Columbus, OH.

If you don't know Dan Rex.

This is him.

That is him with his GF Sarah (who he is madly in love with, it is very cute). I work with Sarah and met Dan through her, and he was recently hired to work the day shift at the meeting place with us. He is a nut! crazy, off the wall fun guy and a great man of God. The idea behind this blog was brought to my attention by him on our way home after the concert.

Right after work on 10/23 Dan and I traveled down to Columbus to see Anberlin and Taking back sunday in concert at the Pavilion. Due to traffic issues on 270 (the highway we needed to take) we were......2 hours behind the schedule we wanted. We got there after Anberlin had already started. luckily they hadn't been playing very long.

While Anberlin was playing the crowd was not very responsive. Seemed that all of the little teenyboppers and middle schoolers (don't even get me started on these annoying little buggers)had shown up to see them. When Anberlin left so did this group.

TBS (taking back sunday, not the tv channel) seemed to draw more of a college age crowd. the enviroment and experience at a concert can be dramatically affected by the people attending. Now not having a bunch of kids and unexperienced concert-goers around I was ready to rock.

As soon as the first song started by TBS the crowd broke out moshing. This is always an interesting experience and usually a good one from what I have seen. This is a violent, tiring, scary, painful and amazing experience. It is something that is not for everyone, but I would highly suggest every guy try it at least once. This response from the crowd was exactly what I was hoping to see, this was a major part of this concert experience and made it one of the best nights I have had in a long time.

I have been to concerts before with moshing and it is usually a different experience every time. I have been to some that are full out violence and fighting and others that it is just mild shoving. This time could be nicely placed in between.

On the trip home Dan brought my my attention how this concert experience was a better

example of what the church should be and how we as followers of Christ should act than what is normally seen within the body. It is hard to imagine how a group of rowdy college students at a concert could be an example of unity better than the church, but that is what this blog is meant to talk about. Sorry about the long opening, but here is the point and body to what I want to say. Once again, Dan brought this to my attention and inspired me to post this so, the credit is all owed to him. Thanks Dan!

You would think that when a group of people assemble for the same general purpose that they would get along during that event and be in unity for it. Everyone was there to hear/see a good band play and have some fun with it. The group moshing got along really well, though it annoyed some of the people on the outside who didn't want to be involved in our activities. There was no fighting or angry people we all just let out our aggression and had fun enjoying the music together. It didn't matter what type of person you were, we were all there for the same purpose and to enjoy this together. There were all kinds of people there, some with tattoos, some with strange piercing and gauges, some were preppy, some were gothic, some were emo, some were indie, some were gangsta; none of it matter to us, we were unified by the same purpose and driving force

So often we do not see this in the church and it is a thing that can often limit the experience we could gain from each other and our time spent there. We become seperated by personality, looks, theology, age, intellect, class, etc. How often do we not get along with Catholics because they confess to a priest? Methodists because they do infant baptism? Baptists because they are strict conservatives? We let petty details get in the way of the unity we are called to have, and we miss the point that we are called to follow Christ not our own personal views of how "Christianity" should be. The people at the concert were a great example of unity (an unusual kind of unity) for a purpose that DIDN'T EVEN MATTER IN THE GRAND SCHEME/LONG TERM VIEW!!!! We have a great call and purpose and we can't even get along in order to be an example of our calling. FOR SHAME!!!! (speaking to myself here too, I stand on my internet podium realizing there is someone speaking the same words to me.

In such a reckless activity you would think that people wouldn't care for the people around them, but strangely enough they all did. After the first song one of the band members asked the crowd; "What do you do if someone falls?" He made sure that we know that we better pick people back up again. (One guy yelled out right after the question was asked; "You fuck em'!", this was obviously the wrong answer. lol) This was the way the group worked throughout the concert, helping each other when it is needed. When someone fell everyone around them quickly picked them back up again so they could continue enjoying the activities too. If someone lost something (cell phone, shoe, etc) The group around that person would stop and help them find it.

I was extremely grateful for this, at the beginning of the encore my shoe got pulled off in the skirmish. realizing that it was way more fun for me to enjoy the last song of the concert than to search the floor for a shoe, I continued with the fun. When they were finished playing

I was glad to see that someone had found it and was waving it around trying to find the owner.

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

How often are we laying down our own agenda for the good of others or for the good of God's will? Seems too often we stay wrapped up in our own comfortable bubble and purposes and not help one another. We eat our own and then we wonder why the world thinks the church is a joke. It would be just as easy for them to keep going with no regaurd for who they are trampling and leaving to fend for themselves.

Don't brush this off!!!! How are you helping those around you? How often do you send someone on their way without addressing their personal needs? "If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"

It makes me want to start on my sermon called "How we treat the creation reflects how we feel about the creator." So my challenge from this is; How do you feel about the Creator? and How do you Treat the creation?

After I was hit in the face on accident he came up to me after the concert and apologized, for something that was bound to happen and I didn't care about. This was something that was bound to happen, so when it did I was not surprised. I was taken back when he came up to me and said he was sorry for jacking my in the face, he didn't mean to, he was just caught up in the moment. Though I didn't find it necessary I was impressed by his integrity. Here is a picture of my eye, but sadly it is hard to see my black eye very well.

How often do we trample others with our actions with no regard for our actions? We become divided when we allow our actions and words to be something that harms others. Back to that sermon of how we treat the creation reflects how we feel about the creator, how are we treating others and are we paying attention to the outcome of our actions? I have an upcoming blog about how we are called to think about our actions and the way it affects others. This can easily become a factor in unity and care for others. When we are not careful of the way we interact it hurts people, and hurt people don't want to be around the people(s) that inflicted that upon them.

Maybe I just over think things. Dan and I talked about most of this, but some of it was just me sitting here thinking too much.

Just a thought (or more)

-B3{/}

Coffee House Confucius #1

Coffee House Confucius #1

Christians against Gay soda!

Yesterday a group came in to use the meeting room, called the Allen County Patriots. I have a feeling there will be quite a few logs about this group. One of the members came up to my counter and says to me; "I was going to get a pop (soda) but it seems you guys only have Pepsi products, and I refuse to drink it because they supports homosexual causes." He then proceeded

to storm off to the meeting room leaving his thirst unquenched. This left me very puzzled, and wanting to say things that would have made him look like a fool...........but i'm glad i held my tongue.

There are a few things that bug me about his statement. This statement came from a Patriotic Nationalist Christian and makes no sense to me. Such a loving way to present yourself, right?

#1. If you want to talk about righteous business practices, I would look at the competition's character too.

Coca-Cola is under scrutiny for being a massive human rights abuser. It may almost sound like a superhero complex but, shouldn't Christians be looking out for the poor, forgotten, helpless and

the people being denied their basic human rights?

All he would be doing in protesting Pepsi is remaining a pissed off person trying to piss off the people he dislikes. This tactic seems about as useful as the god hates america campaign. (www.godhatesamerica.com) Don't even start me on them. Just another cult masquerading as a group of Christians.

#2 Does this man really need more (or even any) soda?

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body," 1 Cor 6:19-20

It would seem to me that if the body is the temple you should be taking care of it by not consuming sources that would cause harm to it or take away from health. The amount of sugar in a can or glass of soda is enough to shock your immune system for up to 6 hours. sugar is bad for your heart, cholesterol and seems to me that a large reason that America has a lot of obese people is largely because of the large amounts of soda people drink on a daily basis. (and believe me he looked like he has a few too many every day)

#3 Should he even be concerned with fighting and protesting homosexuals?

The model for Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ. If you want to believe in such a thing shouldn't you model your life and actions after Him? When Did Christ ever protest of condemn such people? If you can find me a legit example of where he did I will shut up, but until then taking such action doesn't make sense.

If you checked out that god hates america site you would realize that it is just a bunch of

misled pissed off people pissing off people. Seems to me that if you throw mud at others you tend to get your hands dirty a

nd lose a lot of ground. Christ did not come to condemn us but to save us, he was the ultimate example of love and what love should be and act. He sat with sinners and scorned the pharisees for their actions against the people. Why does our modern jesus scorn the people and love the pharisees?

#4 Should he have even told me that?

Why would someone who works at a restaurant even care if you dont consume their products for "moral" reasons? Did he think that his saying that we would get rid of our Pepsi fountain? Would we then put a "NO GAYS ALLOWED" sign in our front window? All it did was annoy and offend me which pushed me away from his views. It was a bad way to express how he felt about that company. If he had said nothing and not told me anything about why he didn't drink Pepsi.

So this is for you Mr. hater of homosexual soda's. I hope that you will learn from this mistake (prob won't) and show love for others in the way that Christ did. Next time before you push your ideas on someone else, start to live up to the lifestyle you claim. Just seems to me that if you are going to spread your message you should know what you believe before you go around pushing ideas and presenting yourself in ways that conflict with it.

Just a thought

-B3n

P.S. The godhatesamerica.com site makes about as much Biblical sense as this http://godhatesfigs.net/. Check it out, I think it is hilarious.