General Assembly 221 in Detroit has been a truly interesting and both uplifting and at some times difficult experience. A few quick hits or things I've seen and experienced this week:

A homeless man stopped me and asked for money, after I told him I had no cash which at the time was true he then asked if I was with the Pastors conference thing, I said yes. He then asked me to pray for him. Of all the things he could of asked, he asked for prayer. How could I not say yes? So we prayed, and it was one of the most moving moments of this week. I was reminded that prayer is a sustaining practice.

Today while walking to the plenary session I saw a man on his knees on the sidewalk, his head was bowed and he was on his prayer rug, praying with the conviction of faith to do it anywhere. How much could we learn from that conviction? Is our faith that present in our lives?

Participating in the Miracle

The video embedded is my senior sermon for seminary. I was allowed to do mine before I leave for my internship during my senior year. The sermon is called; Participating in the Miracle. It is about the feeding of the 5000 from the Lukan text. I was very blessed to have good friends participate with me in the service.

Behold the birth of the P.R.E.P.

Yes, P.R.E.P. (copyright - Jeff Ferguson 2012)

In my discernment process I've been asked time and again to write or tell my statement of faith, I believe that P.R.E.P. best describes my faith. There will be more to come on this later this week. So stay tuned for the full definition.

The True Problem with Airline Travel and Security

The real problem that we encounter at the TSA stations in our airports is ourselves! I admit there are many restrictions, policies and procedures that are completely erroneous and ridiculous but honestly if we weren't so self centered we'd get it together and work to alleviate the stress of traveling.

When TSA agents have to remind people that you can't wear your shoes, a regulation since 2003 or that you need to put your jackets and sweaters through the x-ray machine it shows that we truly don't pay attention to anything but our own iPhones, Blackberries, text messages etc. Ever since they implemented the metal detector we have not been able to carry change, wear a belt buckle or a wallet chain or anything metal, this is nothing new people! The bins, oh the bins, it is as if people think that the job of a TSA agent is to pick up our crap that we leave lying around! It is proof of our absolute lack of concern for anyone but ourselves. Just the same as leaving the shopping carts lying around in the parking lot of Target, Wal-Mart, and the grocery store because we're too lazy as a people to walk the 500 ft at max! to the cart return, we can't even lift the gray bins that our belongings were in while going through the x-ray off the conveyor belt and back onto the pile less than 5 ft away!!

If we stopped for just a moment and looked at our own behavior we should be appalled at how rude and inconsiderate we are! I admit I fall victim to the constant checking of my iPhone in public or texting while I should be paying attention, and many times I bitch and moan about new TSA regulations that seem counter-intuitive and many of our complaints are valid when it comes to some of the regulations such as the one here in XKCD: http://www.xkcd.com/651/ but honestly we would complain if safety wasn't the government's priority.

I have had the wonderful misfortune of flying on the same day as many failed attacks, from trying to fly home from Madrid to JFK in 2002 on the flight scheduled to leave immediately after the flight from Paris to JFK that the shoe bomber was on, to last Christmas 2009 when I flew from New Orleans to Madison WI, in the air at the same time as the idiot on the flight to Detroit who tried to blow himself up. I have had first hand experience with the immediate safety enforcements. Is it inconvenient to remove my shoes and jacket and laptop from my bag? Yes it is inconvenient, does it have any long term repercussions on my life in any way? Of course not!!! An extra 5 minutes will not be the deciding factor between a happy life and an unhappy one unless I let it.

The sad but true facts of life right now are that we have lost sight of true human decency and honest self reflection. We are not willing to see that we are just as much part of the problem as the person at the Lost Baggage counter, or the attendant at the check in counter, or the TSA agent that we swear couldn't possibly have a high school education. There are many people who probably shouldn't be in customer service positions because it isn't their gift, but there are just as many customers who shouldn't be complaining for their own mistakes as if it were someone else's fault.

We all need to take a few moments and assess our own actions and how they might affect those around us. It is the Christmas season and whether you believe in it or not this time of year is supposed to be convicting of how our lives should be more gracious to others, and that giving is better than receiving. Maybe this year we could give one another a break, share an extra smile, a kind word to the people we see everyday and might not acknowledge. You'd be amazed how far a smile can go.

Here is my smile to you :)

Have a wonderful day, enjoy your life wherever it may be.

Peer Editing

Hey all, I am finished with my book now; I am looking for some people who would be in a peer editing group. I would ask that you read the rough copy of the book and meet with me and others to discuss your thoughts, pros and cons about the book, and its premise etc. In order to be a part of this just respond to this blog.
Thanks for all your help in making this a reality.
-Jeff

What if you could change your past?

I read about some of the people I went to High School with, what they are doing now, how much they have done, where they have been. It makes me wonder, would I have ever finished school if I had never been sick? What if I had never gotten cancer? Where would I be? I stop for a while and wonder what the people who were around me then would think of me now. I am pulled constantly between the yearnings of earthly success and Godly success, struggling to find which one is which. Why I wish to be successful, but fail to see it when I am. I wish to have had normalcy, but fail to see the beauty in the things I have done. I have set foot on 3 of 7 continents, and yet it seems like more of an accomplishment to have thrown a frat party, or gone to NYC with my friends. I have built homes for poor people in Mexico, yet it seems like I should have just gotten my degree and gone to get a job. I have set up two couples and they are either happily married or engaged, but I cannot find a date. I am looking for validation to my life in the places that I will never find it. Yet I continue to stand here, waiting, waiting for you to say I am worth the space I take up, and the oxygen I use.

The Bubble needs to pop!

I was in a Christian bookstore the other day. This statement has so many things wrong with it; is the building itself Christian is that what makes it a Christian Bookstore, is it because there are bibles or Christian related materials, is it because Christian's work there? None of these seem to make enough of an argument for why we call it a Christian bookstore, even if it is all three. Continuing on, I am deeply disturbed every time I enter one of these establishments. First, they seem so unfriendly, uninviting. Second I just want to scream out obscenities while I am in there. There is no other place in the world that I would rather drop the F bomb. We don't get it. We don't even know what the question is. How could we ever think that some person who doesn't know who Jesus is, or doesn't know what Christianity is really about would wander into one of these places? And if they did, are we happy with the representation that they are of us?