flashbacks

i read through my old YWAM journal today. not the personal one, but the required one. the one we had to write as "homework" each week. the one i got poor marks on, because it wasn't colorful enough. nevermind that i poured my heart out on the pages. appearance trumps content, apparently. i complied.

it was week 11 of our lecture phase. we were all gearing up to go over to Africa. we were learning about evangelism. a couple notes that i took from the speaker:

"community operates in this way: belong -> believe -> behave"

"society in post-modernity is moving back towards seeking spirituality and interdependence."

the first quote bothered me. it sounds like it came from a slightly brainwashed version of myself. but, maybe, it's true. it might just be out of order. i think first, you need to believe before you can really belong. believe in the purpose, the meaning, the need. only then can you really belong to something. but, 'behave'? the word has a negative connotation, sure. but still, is that the end goal of community? i hope not.

the second quote makes sense. i see it everywhere. i feel like people are more than willing to seek out levels of spirituality in everyday life. people my age are recognizing the isolation we all live in, and are craving to be a part of something greater. we all know that facebook, twitter, texts, blogs even, portray false, edited versions of ourselves. autheticity is deeply jeopardized in these glossy mediums of communication.

interesting that these 2 points were made on a week focusing on evangelism. they probably had to do with relational evangelism, and they ring true now more than ever before, as i live in des moines indefinitely. YWAM was the fullest i've ever been immersed in community, but i'd like to recreate glimpses here. why not?

...

in the margins of the same journal i read snippets describing holy moments shared in australia: on trains, on beaches, communing over fish and chips and pancakes. the atmosphere was pristine but the real beauty was living gritty, side-by-side life with uninhibited, humble people. from the second week onward, we knew everything about everyone. strengths and weaknesses. and we loved all the greater because of it.

i think of them everyday, in some small impereceptible way, with the greatest gratitude possible.