Cwillz Spills » culture

A Christian’s Posture to World

Chris Williams — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:05:38 +0000

Our posture to the world needs to be one of hands raised in support, open, steady, and supported by the fear and love of God. All too often we start with open, supportive, weak-yet-empowered hands that influence out world and fellow humans towards love, justice, peace, and godliness–only to later close our fists to grasp control, not realizing that a closed hand will eventually lead to a closed heart and a saltless life that is only a shell of the Gospel which once was allowed to live through us.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

Tagged: Christianity, church, culture, Faith, gospel, thinking, youth ministry

My Name in Chinese

Chris Williams — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:57:55 +0000

At work the other day we had a business units / affinity groups conference where you could walk around and learn about what people are interesting in or what they do in the corporation. Lots of S.W.A.G.

One of the affinity groups was about Chinese culture. A calligrapher was on hand to write visitors’ names in some form of Chinese (I apologize for not knowing what).

The three characters that are used to sound out my name, Chris (I chose not to use CWillZ), are:

cool

fortune

thinking

Neat huh?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Tagged: Arts, culture, Cummins, fun, languages, self efficacy, swag

Amazing Grace the Film: A Review and Reflection

Chris Williams — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:36:26 +0000

Last night we watched Amazing Grace, a movie that portrays the life of leading British politician William Wilberforce and his fight to pass bills leading to the abolition of the slave trade. While I have not checked into the historicity of the film, I trust that it is at least conceptually accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism

As a young man, Wilberforce was faced with the dillema of choice between life of ministry or of politics. He had a good life as a young statesman, but was inspired by his pastor John Newton, who was reformed former slave trader and writer of the hymn “Amazing Grace”. For him, it was very apparent that the solution to the dillema was ironically obvious. God’s will for ‘Wilby’ was to proclaim God’s justice and greatness through his work as a statesman (MP, Prime Minister).

There are many great lessons to write about from this film and this truly inspired event of history. I will name a few today and tomorrow I will post about what is actually on my heart heavily after seeing this film.

1) You often must change the culture before you can change laws, and even then it will be costly.

2) The kindness of a spouse and good friends can inspire the weariest of souls.

C) We are terrible sinners.

$) Christ is an amazing savior.

5) Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

Tagged: abolition, Africa, Amazing Grace, culture, Evangelicals, film, grace, Great Britian, justice, law, media, movies, repentance, slavery, the Kingdom

Circle Circle Square Square

Chris Williams — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:52:00 +0000

We had a great speaker last weekend and I’d like to share:

Eric and Danielle Timm have a ministry called No One Underground. At Springhill’s fall teen retreat last weekend, Eric spoke with authority, humor, candor, and great love. He also painted two pieces of art that went along with his message. Danielle did a dramatic reading of some of her word art, which was also powerful, truthful and exacting.

The first painting he did for us was called “Issues” and is a picture that shows the God-shaped hole in every person, and three shapes (a circle, a square, and a triangle) in the background. The shapes cannot fill the hole correctly. We learned how to let go of these shapes, trust in the Lord and to get rid of the things we use to push God out of our hearts.

http://ericsamueltimm.com/Paintings.html

Check out No One Underground Ministries
Check out Eric’s Artist Page
Check out No One Underground on YouTube

Thank you so much Eric and Danielle!! My students and I will have the reminder of how important it is to guard our hearts every time we see your painting in our youth room.

May the Lord’s will be done,
CWillZ

Graduation Playlist- Beta 1

Chris Williams — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:11:00 +0000

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.

8) “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.

Wisdom From Tea

Chris Williams — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:30:00 +0000

Today I was enjoying a cup of tea when I looked down and saw that there was writing on the paper end of the string.

“Act selfless, you will be infinite.” — My Tea

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” — St. Paul.

Who says that faith and culture don’t intersect??

P.S. Try the Mexican Sweet Chili, not spicy but pleasant.

Free Books Online!

Chris Williams — Sun, 11 May 2008 23:43:00 +0000

Just stumbled upon a site with a bunch of books online for free.

Love it

Online Books, Poems, Short Stories – Read Print

Gay Rights and Moral Non-Contradictions

Chris Williams — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:24:00 +0000

George Barna:
“I have met a number of born again Christians who believe in “gay rights” — i.e. that gays
should have the same rights as everyone else — even while they
believe that homosexuality is un-biblical and a sin. To most people
reading this, that will seem a huge contradiction — can you shed any
light on what Christians like that are thinking”.
…
I am a “Christian like this”. Barna does a good job at explaining my thoughts.
…
Still Barna:
While it is true that you can legislate morality – after all, what laws do is define what is right and wrong, which is the essence of morality – a growing number of born again people are not staking their entire realm of influence on the legal and political systems. Instead, they desire to offer a theologically honest but emotionally compassionate reaction to proponents of homosexuality. In other words, they cannot ignore the fact that homosexuality is a sin from a biblical perspective, but also realize that Jesus’ primary exhortation was to love other people into a different way of understanding and living their lives
…
Dear Gay People, We love you. You know we disagree, but we love you.

Isaiah 1:18 "Come let us reason together"

Chris Williams — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:32:00 +0000

I am reading David Dark’s “The Gospel According to America”. So far I appreciate it greatly. While there are so many good thoughts in the book that someone should write a book about it, I want to share a section that addresses the preference of we Northern hemisphere believers to only pay attention to those of like opinions.

p. 29 “Ancient wisdom tells us that it’s the insane person who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject, but somehow popular media culture in America…has reached a fever pitch that views thoughtfulness as weakness and a changed mind as treachery.

“Militant ignorance passes itself off as integrity, and our habits of mind learn to dismiss illuminating fact and testimony with the non-argument of “bias” (whether liberal, conservative, or anti-American)…”

I am often tempted to stick to the few things that I am relatively secure in my knowledge about to truly lend an “ear to hear” to views that aren’t my own. The truth is that God created us to learn form each other, and in a state of dependence on each other and ultimately Him- even for our thought lives.

We cannot be afraid to listen to our brothers or sisters as they describe the other parts of the elephant. The One True God is way beyond comprehension, and naturally some will perceive Him in ways that eventually will help us to truly know Him.

Homework assignments:

1. trade your News stations to the “other side” this week (ex. CNN to FoxNews etc.)

2. do devotions written from a different strand of the Tradition (ex. ”Book of Common Prayer” instead of “Guideposts” or vv)