This is Interesting. I heard about it when I was listening to a Mars Hill sermon today, and wanted to read more about it, since it's relevant to me next year:
MODESTO MANIFESTO
In November, 1948, while Billy Graham was holding evangelistic meetings in Modesto, California, he met with Cliff Barrows, George Beverly Shea, and Grady Wilson to determine how they would conduct themselves and their meetings in order to be completely above reproach. The resulting "Modesto Manifesto," while not written down as a formal document, is the standard for accountability that the Team has followed ever since.
The following resolutions could be applied to the life and ministry of any Christian:
HONESTY
It was resolved that no communications to media and to the Church would be inflated or exaggerated. The size of crowds and number of inquirers would not be embellished for the sake of making the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association look better.
INTEGRITY
It was resolved that financial matters would be submitted to a board of directors for review and facilitation of expenditures. Every local Crusade would maintain a policy of "open books" and publish a record of where and how monies were spent.
PURITY
It was resolved that members of the Team would pay close attention to avoiding temptation-never being alone with another woman, remaining accountable to one another. Wives would be kept informed of activities on the road in order to help the wives feel a part of the Crusades.
HUMILITY
It was resolved that members of the Team were never to speak negatively of another Christian minister, regardless of his denominational affiliation or differing theological views and practices. The mission of evangelism included strengthening the Body of Christ as well as building it.
When I read this, I could immediately see the implications for myself. The MH sermon mentioned "SUDs," or, Seemingly Unimportant Decisions which are often justified but can build up into potentially harming incidents. SUDs are the beginnings of every affair, every scandal, every miscommunication where one or both people are not being completely transparent with each other for their own sakes.
Well, I got to thinking about it, and realized that I needed to write my own "Integrity Manifesto" for my life. I'm working on it right now, and while it's worded to apply to my relationship with Eric and my ministry as a Barnabas Team member next fall, I hope that its guidelines will follow me and hold me accountable throughout my life-- as a teacher or volunteer or any other kind of ministry that God brings me to. It might seem overrated, it might seem a bit much. But believe me, I'm one of those people who can justify almost any of those SUDs I run into, so I need this in order to make sure that Eric and I can maintain the healthy level of honesty we've been having.
After all, the Bible says to "...prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world..."
Philippians 2:14,15
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Eros, CS Lewis, and grief.
For it is the very mark of Eros that when he is in us we had rather share unhappiness with the Beloved than be happy on any other terms. Even if the two lovers are mature and experienced people who know that broken hearts heal in the end and can clearly foresee that, if they once steeled themselves to go through the present agony of parting, they would almost certainly be happier ten years hence than marriage is at all likely to make them--even then, they would not part. To Eros all these calculations are irrevelant.....even when it becomes clear beyond all evasion that marriage with the Beloved cannot possibly lead to happiness--when it cannot even profess to offer any other life than that of tending an incurable invaled, of hopeless poverty, of exile, or of disgrace--Eros never hesitates to say, "Better this than parting. Better to be miserable with her than happy without her. Let our hearts break provided they break together." If the voice within us does not say this, it is not the voice of Eros.
~"Eros," CS Lewis, The Four Loves (p107)
Funny, how CS Lewis articulates very much the same thing that I tried describing to Erin, Heidi, and Eric this past week.
Betsy
~"Eros," CS Lewis, The Four Loves (p107)
Funny, how CS Lewis articulates very much the same thing that I tried describing to Erin, Heidi, and Eric this past week.
Betsy
Thursday, June 21, 2007
8 Random Things:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Heidi tagged me! Hehe, I like this one.
1. Today I dreamed up a program that I would like to start someday (or to get involved with a pre-existing one) which is basically helping people get jobs by helping them write resumes and fill out applications, practice interviews and talk about first impressions, how to work a cash register/count change/etc. even so far as offering skills training--typing classes, word/excel. my brainstorming went on and on, i swear (i have a lot of time to think at work!) i read about one of these programs in the book The Working Poor: Invisible in America which I highly recommend.
2. I have at least 150 books in my room. Probably more like 200. My top favorite book, ever, is Thomas Merton's No man is an Island, which no one should go through life without reading.
3. My favorite Bible passage is Psalm 73. It's not too well-known, but the ending part is soooo good.
4. I'm big on the concept that time is relative. Ie; I have a hard time getting my mind around the fact that my dad died of cancer about 2.5 years ago, because life is so different now. But I also have a hard time with my semester abroad in Scotland. It was already almost a year ago that I left on that plane, yet it feels like just yesterday. I have a hard time letting go of my memories there, and I'm always wishing to go back. I know that's not scientific, but time is relative. My experiences tell me so.
5. I love taking showers and taking naps. (I can sleep just about anywhere, anytime.)
6. I have two adorable neices and a nephew--they're triplets of my step-brother. BUT I have another one on the way!! My brother zach and his wife Jane are having their wee one sometime late July. They chose not to find out if it's a boy or girl, though... we're all impatient for the kid to be born so we can find out!
7. Glasgow, Scotland, is my home. Not technically. I grew up in west Michigan. But if I had to say where I've felt most at home in this world, most comfortable with who I was, and where I'd like to be right now, it would be in Scotland on Kelvinhaugh Street, in West End....
8. I like ministry and I like volunteering. However, I also like my expensive education at Calvin College. Therefore I must work in a factory doing odd jobs (and scrubbing at least a hundred bins) and data entry so I can graduate in 2 years.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Heidi tagged me! Hehe, I like this one.
1. Today I dreamed up a program that I would like to start someday (or to get involved with a pre-existing one) which is basically helping people get jobs by helping them write resumes and fill out applications, practice interviews and talk about first impressions, how to work a cash register/count change/etc. even so far as offering skills training--typing classes, word/excel. my brainstorming went on and on, i swear (i have a lot of time to think at work!) i read about one of these programs in the book The Working Poor: Invisible in America which I highly recommend.
2. I have at least 150 books in my room. Probably more like 200. My top favorite book, ever, is Thomas Merton's No man is an Island, which no one should go through life without reading.
3. My favorite Bible passage is Psalm 73. It's not too well-known, but the ending part is soooo good.
4. I'm big on the concept that time is relative. Ie; I have a hard time getting my mind around the fact that my dad died of cancer about 2.5 years ago, because life is so different now. But I also have a hard time with my semester abroad in Scotland. It was already almost a year ago that I left on that plane, yet it feels like just yesterday. I have a hard time letting go of my memories there, and I'm always wishing to go back. I know that's not scientific, but time is relative. My experiences tell me so.
5. I love taking showers and taking naps. (I can sleep just about anywhere, anytime.)
6. I have two adorable neices and a nephew--they're triplets of my step-brother. BUT I have another one on the way!! My brother zach and his wife Jane are having their wee one sometime late July. They chose not to find out if it's a boy or girl, though... we're all impatient for the kid to be born so we can find out!
7. Glasgow, Scotland, is my home. Not technically. I grew up in west Michigan. But if I had to say where I've felt most at home in this world, most comfortable with who I was, and where I'd like to be right now, it would be in Scotland on Kelvinhaugh Street, in West End....
8. I like ministry and I like volunteering. However, I also like my expensive education at Calvin College. Therefore I must work in a factory doing odd jobs (and scrubbing at least a hundred bins) and data entry so I can graduate in 2 years.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
reading list!
So I've been pretty proud of my progress in terms of actually reading things this summer. I've finished a few books since summer started and I'm almost done with Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
I guess it's no wonder that when I had some time yesterday between getting out of work and dinner at Zach and Jane's I headed over to Schuler's Books to browse their fantastic used book section. I walked out with 6.
I bought:
--a one-volume copy of Lord of the Rings ($8!)
--a like-new copy of The World is Flat ($8!!) My brother had lent me this book and I never got around to reading it though he told me it was great. So I bought my own and now I can return his :)
--a world literature reference book (75 cents!) which should be handy because it gives an overview of the great works of lit, terms, and a brief overview of each era :)
--Fit to be Tied ($4) so that I can lend it out without losing my beloved copy that has my dad's handwriting in it :D
--Annie Dillard's American Childhood ($7)
--Love poems by Donne and Herrick ($6) because we read them in BritLit and I love those guys ;) and I needed to round out my purchases, haha...
So I got my fiction, my current events, my reference, my inspirational, my quality read and my poetry all for about $35.
If that weren't enough (which of course, it wasn't) I went to Barnes and Noble down the street after I hung out with my cousins/siblings! There, I was able to buy a few books and I actually had a gift card, so I only had to pay $4 out of pocket.
--World of our Fathers, which is about Jewish people ($1, figured I'd get my history in here, too)
--a Jewish prayer book (it looked fascinating)
--A lesson before Dying (a book I read in high school and LOVED it, very good)
--a rhyming dictionary (because it was $1 and I've always wanted one!)
--Christ and Culture, because it was cheap and I know all my teachers/profs reference it at one point or another because it's so Ref doc :)
So yeah. I definitely need to spend a liiiiiiittle more money and get me another bookshelf!!!
:)
Bets
I guess it's no wonder that when I had some time yesterday between getting out of work and dinner at Zach and Jane's I headed over to Schuler's Books to browse their fantastic used book section. I walked out with 6.
I bought:
--a one-volume copy of Lord of the Rings ($8!)
--a like-new copy of The World is Flat ($8!!) My brother had lent me this book and I never got around to reading it though he told me it was great. So I bought my own and now I can return his :)
--a world literature reference book (75 cents!) which should be handy because it gives an overview of the great works of lit, terms, and a brief overview of each era :)
--Fit to be Tied ($4) so that I can lend it out without losing my beloved copy that has my dad's handwriting in it :D
--Annie Dillard's American Childhood ($7)
--Love poems by Donne and Herrick ($6) because we read them in BritLit and I love those guys ;) and I needed to round out my purchases, haha...
So I got my fiction, my current events, my reference, my inspirational, my quality read and my poetry all for about $35.
If that weren't enough (which of course, it wasn't) I went to Barnes and Noble down the street after I hung out with my cousins/siblings! There, I was able to buy a few books and I actually had a gift card, so I only had to pay $4 out of pocket.
--World of our Fathers, which is about Jewish people ($1, figured I'd get my history in here, too)
--a Jewish prayer book (it looked fascinating)
--A lesson before Dying (a book I read in high school and LOVED it, very good)
--a rhyming dictionary (because it was $1 and I've always wanted one!)
--Christ and Culture, because it was cheap and I know all my teachers/profs reference it at one point or another because it's so Ref doc :)
So yeah. I definitely need to spend a liiiiiiittle more money and get me another bookshelf!!!
:)
Bets
Monday, June 11, 2007
catch-up.
I need to write like someone who's pulled an all-nighter needs a nap. Unfortunately, for both of those situations, more often than not, healthy reprieves are postponed and put-off until you simply can't do anything but submit to what you ought to have been doing all along: sleeping. Writing.
Too many times I think of something during the day that I intend to journal about and meditate on later, but I end up forgetting what it was or I sit down with my laptop and spend the next half hour or so doing anything but writing. It's too bad. I actually sort of had things to say worth saying.
It's tempting to begin a long (but shallow) ramble about the mediocre that I've been up to (I already did this with my last post) and besides noting that I put together a new bookshelf (less than $40 at Meijer for 5 shelves! It's really nice...) and that I've been intending to read more than I have been, as well as writing more letters to a particular person I love in Minnesota, there's not much to say when I'm working all the time.
I can say that this summer with my family has been really healthy and wholesome for me. Not to mention refreshing. My mom and I have been able to share some good quality mommy-daughter time and she's been spoiling me! ;) Last night we went to the evening service at Central Wesleyan and it was superb. I loved the kids songs near the end, too. That and things with Jessey are so much better than I expected. I am actually excited to give Jessey a Father's Day card this year, and I know he deserves it. He's not my "dad" but for a step-dad, he's pretty great. :) I even got a chance to sit on the beach with Zach for a while and talk with him. He and Jane are hosting a "cousin's game night" this Friday so that'll be a lot of fun. Yeah. Life at home is pretty wonderful.
Lately, though, I've been questioning who it is I am and where my future is headed. The problem for me is that I am aware of way too many options, and in ways I wish I could pursue them all.
When I sing in church or any worship service and I truly enter into it with my heart, my mind is not in this building or even in this state. My mind goes to other places where I have had the most pure forms of worship: Yellowstone National Park, Glasgow, Scotland, or Calvin's chapel the day I found out my dad died. Or it wanders to places I haven't been: Brazil. Eastern Europe or Russia. China. Ghana. I dream of the churches there and my heart longs to be with them and be intimate with a church that has never known a budget that allows for big screened TVs and thousand dollar sound systems. I would love to host a church, but to do so much more for the community in ways like teaching or through medicine. Honestly, I entertain the idea of simply packing up and going. I keep an "opportunities" folder in my room, and I'm always collecting handouts and ideas and positions available just in case I ever need them. It's also interesting to go back and see what things interested me before, and how those interests have strengthened or waned.
And then there's this life I've chosen now. I'm returned from Glasgow, and even though I miss it dearly and long to return to the city I think of as "home," I'm doing my best to be patient. I would love to go to seminary, because those religion classes fascinate me at Calvin (and I do pretty well in them) but even that's going to have to wait a while. My life is, in a strange way, more of a sacrifice and more of a lesson right now than it has been before or could be anywhere else. I'm learning to give to other people without needing to edify myself. I doubt that makes sense. Put it this way: I love someone, and he's worth it to me to stick around for. So I'm patient. And we'll see how things go.
And yet I still continually look to the past. I'm struggling with how to make my experiences relevant to my life, my personhood, and my future ministry as Barnabas (and others) without talking too much or being too forward or getting carried away... But I so desire to make my dad's death part of my life, and all that I've learned from the places I've been. I want to be true to myself. I don't want to forget where I've come from-- Where God has brought me from. Just like the Israelites believed that the deeper into the desert you went, the closer you were to God, being there isn't an experience you're likely to forget or want to move on from quickly. It keeps you grateful.
Last summer, I was entering into a time of preparation. Hindsight allows me to see and appreciate how all of it-- Yellowstone, Scotland, the uncertainty in between-- was bringing me back home to serve as Barnabas. I almost laugh a little thinking about the expectations and ideas I had back then (and the cluelessness!) and the knowledge I have now. Of course, there still is so much uncertainty. Heck, I'm a Barnabas next year and I barely have an idea of what I'm in for. It's intimidating when I give it much thought, and if I didn't have this whole last year behind me, I'd be having some serious doubts about whether this was really what I should be doing.
Thomas Merton and his thoughts on vocation come to mind when I write that. Oh, Merton. I think that, as time goes by, I can say that his book No Man is an Island is really my favorite book ever. It's so full of wisdom and I am inspired by its simplicity and depth. I have so many favorites, but Merton has been with me through it all.
I think it's about time to call it a night. I have to go to bed before 11pm these days or I never survive work the next morning. Meh. It's not exactly the most intense or interesting job, but it pays well (and I can get away with buying $81 of stuff from Khols!) and it's only temporary. So yeah. Gotta love the daily grind.
More later. Hopefully.
Love!
Betsy joy
Too many times I think of something during the day that I intend to journal about and meditate on later, but I end up forgetting what it was or I sit down with my laptop and spend the next half hour or so doing anything but writing. It's too bad. I actually sort of had things to say worth saying.
It's tempting to begin a long (but shallow) ramble about the mediocre that I've been up to (I already did this with my last post) and besides noting that I put together a new bookshelf (less than $40 at Meijer for 5 shelves! It's really nice...) and that I've been intending to read more than I have been, as well as writing more letters to a particular person I love in Minnesota, there's not much to say when I'm working all the time.
I can say that this summer with my family has been really healthy and wholesome for me. Not to mention refreshing. My mom and I have been able to share some good quality mommy-daughter time and she's been spoiling me! ;) Last night we went to the evening service at Central Wesleyan and it was superb. I loved the kids songs near the end, too. That and things with Jessey are so much better than I expected. I am actually excited to give Jessey a Father's Day card this year, and I know he deserves it. He's not my "dad" but for a step-dad, he's pretty great. :) I even got a chance to sit on the beach with Zach for a while and talk with him. He and Jane are hosting a "cousin's game night" this Friday so that'll be a lot of fun. Yeah. Life at home is pretty wonderful.
Lately, though, I've been questioning who it is I am and where my future is headed. The problem for me is that I am aware of way too many options, and in ways I wish I could pursue them all.
When I sing in church or any worship service and I truly enter into it with my heart, my mind is not in this building or even in this state. My mind goes to other places where I have had the most pure forms of worship: Yellowstone National Park, Glasgow, Scotland, or Calvin's chapel the day I found out my dad died. Or it wanders to places I haven't been: Brazil. Eastern Europe or Russia. China. Ghana. I dream of the churches there and my heart longs to be with them and be intimate with a church that has never known a budget that allows for big screened TVs and thousand dollar sound systems. I would love to host a church, but to do so much more for the community in ways like teaching or through medicine. Honestly, I entertain the idea of simply packing up and going. I keep an "opportunities" folder in my room, and I'm always collecting handouts and ideas and positions available just in case I ever need them. It's also interesting to go back and see what things interested me before, and how those interests have strengthened or waned.
And then there's this life I've chosen now. I'm returned from Glasgow, and even though I miss it dearly and long to return to the city I think of as "home," I'm doing my best to be patient. I would love to go to seminary, because those religion classes fascinate me at Calvin (and I do pretty well in them) but even that's going to have to wait a while. My life is, in a strange way, more of a sacrifice and more of a lesson right now than it has been before or could be anywhere else. I'm learning to give to other people without needing to edify myself. I doubt that makes sense. Put it this way: I love someone, and he's worth it to me to stick around for. So I'm patient. And we'll see how things go.
And yet I still continually look to the past. I'm struggling with how to make my experiences relevant to my life, my personhood, and my future ministry as Barnabas (and others) without talking too much or being too forward or getting carried away... But I so desire to make my dad's death part of my life, and all that I've learned from the places I've been. I want to be true to myself. I don't want to forget where I've come from-- Where God has brought me from. Just like the Israelites believed that the deeper into the desert you went, the closer you were to God, being there isn't an experience you're likely to forget or want to move on from quickly. It keeps you grateful.
Last summer, I was entering into a time of preparation. Hindsight allows me to see and appreciate how all of it-- Yellowstone, Scotland, the uncertainty in between-- was bringing me back home to serve as Barnabas. I almost laugh a little thinking about the expectations and ideas I had back then (and the cluelessness!) and the knowledge I have now. Of course, there still is so much uncertainty. Heck, I'm a Barnabas next year and I barely have an idea of what I'm in for. It's intimidating when I give it much thought, and if I didn't have this whole last year behind me, I'd be having some serious doubts about whether this was really what I should be doing.
Thomas Merton and his thoughts on vocation come to mind when I write that. Oh, Merton. I think that, as time goes by, I can say that his book No Man is an Island is really my favorite book ever. It's so full of wisdom and I am inspired by its simplicity and depth. I have so many favorites, but Merton has been with me through it all.
I think it's about time to call it a night. I have to go to bed before 11pm these days or I never survive work the next morning. Meh. It's not exactly the most intense or interesting job, but it pays well (and I can get away with buying $81 of stuff from Khols!) and it's only temporary. So yeah. Gotta love the daily grind.
More later. Hopefully.
Love!
Betsy joy
Saturday, June 9, 2007
busy.
I have been neglectful. Well, okay, maybe not so much in real life but at least in terms of this blog. I really don't feel quite the same way as I did last week about the whole long distance thing. I know we can do it now and everything's fine. :)
In other news, I've been working five days a week in 8 hour shifts, and I almost got creamed by a big shelving unit that fell over randomly (lucky for me it fell AWAY from me instead of TOWARDS me) and I've also been spoiled by my mommy (seeing movies, eating steak and asparagus, not to mention she bought me a new phone battery AND a new big chair for my dorm room next year!) and spending time with old friends, volunteering where and when I can, enjoying the improved weather, and the like. Life is good. (Granted, seeing more of Eric would certainly be an improvement, but I can't complain. He's been good to me)
At any rate, I really ought to get some sleep, and I don't really know why I posted here except to give an "IOU" for a real post that should be coming soon. I haven't forgotten about this blog, I promise. There are plenty of things that I think about that I would like to and should write about, but it just hasn't been happening. Sorry.
Did I just apologize to my computer for having a life? Hm. Interesting. I could write about that, too... Just kidding.
Love.
Betsy
In other news, I've been working five days a week in 8 hour shifts, and I almost got creamed by a big shelving unit that fell over randomly (lucky for me it fell AWAY from me instead of TOWARDS me) and I've also been spoiled by my mommy (seeing movies, eating steak and asparagus, not to mention she bought me a new phone battery AND a new big chair for my dorm room next year!) and spending time with old friends, volunteering where and when I can, enjoying the improved weather, and the like. Life is good. (Granted, seeing more of Eric would certainly be an improvement, but I can't complain. He's been good to me)
At any rate, I really ought to get some sleep, and I don't really know why I posted here except to give an "IOU" for a real post that should be coming soon. I haven't forgotten about this blog, I promise. There are plenty of things that I think about that I would like to and should write about, but it just hasn't been happening. Sorry.
Did I just apologize to my computer for having a life? Hm. Interesting. I could write about that, too... Just kidding.
Love.
Betsy
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