A couple weeks ago, I watched the movie Blood Diamond with my wife and some friends. Apart from being a wonderful film, this movie had quite the moving affect on me. For the first time, I felt a strong desire to move over seas to help the poor. Now, that is not to say that I have never wanted to help the poor until this movie, but this was the first time like I ever felt that I needed to move away from America. Not that I absolutely am in love with this country, but I do have a big heart for it’s people. Yet now, I find myself questioning the importance of the needs of the American people, vs. the dire needs elsewhere. Why worry about the people here, who are mostly okay, when there are children in Africa that go about murdering and pillaging as the norm? For a few days, this thought had me tied in a knot. Until I got settled back into my cushy office, working on websites to help other people get rich. Then today I come across this article, or gallery rather, that puts some statistics that we have all heard about America, into proportion with some clever use of images. The one featured here is a portion of one piece that shows 213,000 vicodin pills, which represents the number of emergency room visits yearly in US related to misuse or abuse of prescription painkillers. Some of these photos blow my mind..

Living in Santa Barbara is a bit of a unique experience. Where else can you find 3 major universities in a city of less than 100,000 people, right next to the beach? For me personally, there are parts of it that I love, and parts of it that I love - not so much. One of the things that fits into the ‘not so much’ category, is that by the nature of the town it is, people are constantly moving away to other places. In the 3 years that I have lived here, I have seen more good friends move away than I can count on both hands. And each time another close friend moves away, I feel like I too want to move, so that I won’t be dis-heartened by that type of departure any longer. But this evening, coming home from yet another goodbye party of some loved ones, I came to a new realization.

So, if it is indeed a postmodern culture that is emerging around the globe that we are a part of, and also trying to reach, then it is this sort of departure that is not only good, but in fact critical. I believe that many of us are left with a stale taste in our mouth of the oh so familiar ‘bubble’ christianity. It is no longer fit that we sit amongst ourselves discussing the things of God; but we are thirsting to see and know God as He exists amongst His people, yes, even the ones that don’t know Him. Hence the movement of house churches across the nations, and the ‘cell groups’ being ported into coffee shops and bars in hometowns. I believe this is a necessary step in the kingdom, from which I am drinking deeply. I know that myself along with my friends have been enjoying greatly, the atmosphere of the emergent postmodern church. It is a new work, and we are excited. So, how does this tie in to parting ways with some close friends? Well, just by the very nature of having and holding close relationships, there must be something to bond the parties involved. And when it comes to us, it is most common that our strongest bond with our closest friends, is our concurrent relationships with God. People meet and conglomerate with other people that are like minded. It’s not ground breaking, it’s just fact. The problem is, the people that we bond best with, are the people that it is most painful to be pried away from. But maybe we shouldn’t look at it like a departure in the sense of scraping old wallpaper off a dry wall, but rather a sort of mitosis, or splitting of cells. If there are two of us that are like minded, how much more effective are we if we are in two places rather than one. The great thing about mitosis is, eventually you will get to the place where there is another growth, or bonding experience that can split again. And we’re all still part of the same body anyway!

Even though I will continue to be a little sad every time I see good company move on, I am at least comforted by the thought that someone else will now get to enjoy it. And every departure makes way for a new arrival.

People of the Son would like to wish all of you out there a happy easter!