Cwillz Spills

I made a fun playlist in light of graduation. Rules: had to be my music, no repeated artists.

1) “My Chains are Gone” by Chris Tomlin. I wouldn’t resist the opportunity to laugh on the way home.

2) “Don’t Come Around Here No More” by Tom Petty & the HBs. This is Taylor‘s song to me.

3) “Exodus” by Bob M and the Ws. Love me some Reggae. This was my nap CD freshman year, and the I am looking forward to the movement of Jah people.

4) “Fortunate Son” by CCR. Unlike The Dude, I still have my Creedence Tapes. Oh the Red Wide and Blue– I ain’t no senator’s sawzall.

5) “Gone” by Montgomery Gentry. Whats in a name?

6) “Graduate” by Third Eye Blind. Because 6th grade wanted its song back.

7) “If You’re Going Through Hell” By Rodney Atkins. This is for all those worn out juniors who will walk this lonesome valley next year.

“Into the Dark” by the Juliana Theory. For all of us who are unsure of the next steps.

9)”Me and Paul”by Willie Nelson. Its a song about learning from life, friends, and the cities of the nation.

10) “Run Like Hell” por Pink Floyd. 2 reasons: 1) the anti-school/social control theme of The Wall and 2) I left the first disc of the album in a middle-school classroom. Mrs. Boone if you read this, please send it to me.

11) “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. Any man named Alice who can make it in the rock world deserves some respect. Also, this list would be 67.923% incomplete without it.

12) “Self Americans” by Dogwood. Lots of talent going unheard from this band. See previous post for rationale.

I feel ripped off. By this Saturday at noon I will be a college graduate. It has taken four years for me to realize what that means. It means that I am more educated than 98% of the world. It means that I have enough debt to keep me and my future family in the the same system. It means that I am bound by privilege.

Here at Taylor I have been given a very good, Christ-centered education. My practicum for a degree in Christian Educational Ministries took me to Juarez, Mexico where I facilitated high school mission trips in basically a squatter colony. There I learned what it looked like to not have enough resources to feed your baby properly, and to watch across a fence as another bank building goes up, waving Old Glory. As those people shared Christ and many gifts with me, I felt like I learned much more about the reality of God during my first few weeks there then I did as I was writing research papers at length for my Bible or Christian Ed classes.

My frustration is not against Taylor, but that I feel trapped. It takes a lot of effort to break myself of consuming, wasting, entitlement, and just plain ignorance. Oversimplified but not nearly as expressive as it is within me it is this that I am frustrated at: It cost me over $100,000 to realize that I don’t want this kind of life– and I have to retain my privileged place in society just to pay (a good portion) of it back.

I hope that I can find someone who can show me what it truly means to become like Christ.

Last summer I worker for YouthWorks! and it was amazing (click on the “YouthWorks!” label on the right to see more.  They still need people for this summer’s staff:

A Message from Rita in the Recruiting Department:
Are you 20 years old or older? Are you (or a friend) still looking for a summer job or internship? YouthWorks still has PAID summer site staff positions available for their May 26th training. Spread the word! Call the Recruiting Team toll-free at 877.249.9904- option 2 today to find out more! Again, available positions are for those that are 20 years old or older.

YouthWorks is dedicated to providing life-changing summer missions trips for teenagers; nearly 40,000 participants are expected this summer. Live in one of 78 communities in the U.S., Canada, or Puerto Rico with your staff team. Coordinate daily programming. Build relationships with 65 youth and adults who come to your site each week ready to serve. Help them be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Check out www.youthworksrecruiting.com for more information and to fill out the online application!

One of our chapel speakers, Mary Poplin, talked about how transcribing biblical texts has helped her re-order her thinking after her adult conversion to following Christ.  Her conversion came well after she established herself in the world of “secular” scholarship.  This scholarship was incomplete and in disarray without the truth of Christ.

I have a pet peeve against things that define themselves or other things by what they are not.  It used to be a somewhat popular writing style to begin with “3(5, 7, 10) things that _____ is not” and taking forever to get to what actually needed to be said.  I understand the need for exacting and explaining things, but in my mind it does injustice to define anything, especially personal faith by what it is not.

A group of leaders within the Evangelical movement released an Evangelical Manifesto today, declaring and defining to the world who Evangelicals are.  A friend of mine commented that its funny that “the humanists only took like 5 years to write a manifesto while Evangelicals waited 70.”  

Haven’t writen much recently due to my senior paper and the return of my beautiful fiance, Carol, from a semester abroad. We are in love.

One quick thought:

Wednesday’s chapel speaker asked us when the last time we had our hearts broken for the world.

For me it was when I wrote “Bed Sheets“.

Leave yours.