Pursuit

Pursuit. Everyday, all around the world, people pursue the car, the experience, the beauty, the knight in shining armor, the job, the house, the latest fashion, the newest technology...the dream that captivates them. What is it that gets us out of bed in the morning? For most, that dream they're pursuing. It's the reason they can bear the job or manager that drives them crazy. It's how they get themselves out of bed before the sun's risen outside. It's the lack of a pursuit that makes our days miserable to get through.

Pursuits. They captivate our imaginations, fuel our daydreams, and drive our ambitions. They're a powerful thing. Think of the women and men who have changed the world because of the passions they have pursued. Martin Luther King Jr. Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Billy Graham. Steve Jobs. The list goes on. The truth in nearly every business book is that we rarely accomplish anything we're not pursuing and we rarely (if ever) have the perseverance to pursue something we're not passionate about. We pursue things that make us come alive, that consume our thoughts, our imagination, and our time.

What if we were someone else's passion, their pursuit? What if thoughts of us consumed their imagination, their thoughts, their time? What if we were the ones that made them come alive? What if you, what if I, were the ones that fueled another's passion? What if we were the thing that drove them to accomplish their goal - us? People in passionate pursuit of something will give up anything for it. How many entrepreneurs give up countless hours of sleep, money, energy, and their lives to accomplish what they're pursuing? It's a truth, not an exaggeration, that the people listed above 'gave their lives' for their passions - not just by dying for them (in the case of MLK Jr.), but more importantly, living for them.

Now, put those two pieces together. What if you were what someone was pursuing? What if you meant so much to them, that they were willing to give everything for you? Their sleep, their time, their money - their very lives. It's why loves stories captivate us so much. It's what we all long for - to know that we mean so much to someone else that they'd be willing to lay down their lives for us. It's what women dream of - a man who will pursue them and give everything for them. It's what men hope for - a woman they can give their life for, knowing that she'll give her life for him. Both long to be the desire and pursuit of another.

C.S. Lewis made the point that what we see, experience, feel in this world is simply a taste, a vapor, a spark of what's true of the next. This world simply echoes and reflects that which is eternal, unmarred by our greed, jealousy, or bad choices. It blows my mind to realize that we are what God is pursuing, that we are what He is passionate about. God's passionate pursuit of me is is greater than anything I'll ever experience or see on this earth. If men and women can give up their sleep, their time, their money, and their lives for their pursuits - God's pursuit of me has been, is, and continues to be even greater than that. The God of the universe, who doesn't need me, gave up so much to pursue me. Jesus gave up his place in heaven to come to earth. He went from being fully-God, to being fully-God and fully-man, taking on the form of us - humanity. He fixed himself to one place by taking on a bodily form - no longer God, everywhere all at once. He gave up his status as the ruler of the universe to be born in a manger. He gave up his desire to be spared the cross to be obedient to his Father - knowing that it was only by His death, a perfect, final sacrifice (Heb 9-10), that God would be able to have a relationship with us - the object of his pursuit ever since the world began. Unlike others, his life wasn't taken from him. He willingly laid it down to pursue me. He was the greatest of entrepreneurs. The most passionate of pursuers. He gave everything - both in life and in death - for his passion, a relationship with me and you. That we might know Him, as He knows us.

And then, at the end of it all, he left it up to us. It wasn't even a sealed deal. He pursued it as far as he could and then he left the final step up to us. We have the freedom to step towards him, or to step away. But he's given everything to pursue us. We, you and me, who captivate his thoughts and have fueled everything he's done since the creation of this world - we are his great pursuit. It's the power behind a truth they teach in Sunday School:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:16-17)

It's why the story in the Bible is so powerful and has rung true throughout the millenia, and continues to. It's the great pursuit. It's the most powerful romance story - of a lover who has given it all for the one He loves. And He's done it all so that we might know him - as we know our friends, our family, and the ones we love - intimately, resting in their love, their grace, and the delight they have for us.

Know that God's crazy about you. He's been passionately pursuing you since the beginning of the world and he continues to. You are his great delight and He desires, so much, to be in a relationship with you, for you to rest in the fact that he's absolutely crazy about you - and that his grace and love is absolutely sufficient for every excuse and reason you could possibly make up for why He shouldn't love you. Give it up, you're in a loosing battle! ;-) He's crazy about you and no excuse you make or secret your reveal will scare him away or surprise him. He's been passionately pursuing you since you were born and He's not about to give up!

'500 Days of Summer' & LOVE :-)

Ben Witherington III, a fantastic New Testament Pauline scholar just blogged on the new film '500 Days of Summer.' I haven't seen the film yet, but his review makes me really interested to:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/2009/08/500-days-of-summer---and-then-some.html

I really liked what he had to say about love. It rings true with what I've come to believe, that love isn't a search for THE right one - but finding someone you'd be willing to give everything in your life for. Here's what he said. See what you think:

'I must come clean at this point and say, I am no fatalist or Calvinist. I don't believe I was destined from before the foundation of the world to marry some one particular other person. Indeed, I would say the nature of true and real love precludes such a notion. Real love is freely given and freely received, whether it is divine or much more mundane love. It can't be forced, manipulated, coerced, predetermined or otherwise destined.

What I do believe is in the providence of God and in God's leading. I do believe God can lead you into right possibilities, but what you do with them is another matter. Love is about wooing and winning, about allowing yourself to be led and persuaded. Its not about one person making another an offer they inherently can't refuse. And if it was like that, if it was like something as inevitable as gravity, it wouldn't be true love. It might be a strong attraction like gravity, but it wouldn't be love. Love is not like a magnet and iron filings, its a personal interchange between two personal beings in which both are treated as persons of sacred worth due respect, both are treated as free agents, both are treated as God's special creatures. And yes, both are treated as sexual persons, not sex objects. The objectifying of the other person is a sin, as it reduces the other person to a sum of their body parts. It also leads persons in a desperate quest for 'enhancements'. The coup de grace for me recently was hearing a father rationalize that the best high school graduation gift he could give his daughter was breast implants! Sure, if the goal is helping her attract all the wrong sort of guys. On this theory all a wonderful car really needs to better appeal is bigger headlights.*'

*A new ad campaign for a used car company in Northern Ireland just came out that uses this same comparison of choosing a woman based on her breasts like you would a car on it's headlights. I wanted to throw-up, just like this dad's comment makes me sick to my stomach.

17 Life Changing Things Other People Have Told Me

Over the last few months, a 'list of 25 random things' went around in which the author was to write 25 random things about them and send it on to friends. To be honest, I got a bunch of them, read a couple, but just wasn't a fan so never took the time to fill it out.

However, as I've been working on homework today and thinking about things, I decided that I was curious about putting together a list of things other people have told me that have shaped and continue to shape who I am. So, here goes my attempt at 17 key things others have said to me that have shaped my life:

1. 'Keep the main thing the main thing.' - my youth pastor, Rob Shiflet, told me this. I know he didn't coin it, but it'll always make me think of him. It's been a good reminder for me to focus on what's fundamental about our faith, not what's secondary.

2. 'Give thanks in all circumstances.' - an older brother, Doug Holcomb, of a best friend of mine from 9th grade, Philip Holcomb, told me this one night when I was spending the night with his family and he and I had decided it was too good of an African night to not spend the night on the roof. So we did, and Doug shared with me how he had made the most of moving to Kenya his senior year of high school. It's exactly what I needed before heading back to the US and carried me through a really rough few years adjusting to the US.

3. 'Healthy things become unhealthy in the extreme.' - my dad was heavily influenced by his friendship with Neil Anderson, who put forward this idea that most things are healthy until they're taken to the extreme. This idea of moderation has formed the basis of almost all of my thinking from alcohol to school work.

4. 'Don't doubt in the dark what God's shown you in the light' - my dad didn't coin this, but he's been really good to remind me of it throughout my life.

5. 'Your curiosity will carry you far.' - Uncle Wayne Daniel's told me this once when I was standing at his elbow asking all sorts of questions as he soldered something. It's been a huge encouragement to keep asking questions.

6. 'Jesus stopped and listened to her whole story.' A gentleman named Doug, used to be President of Youth For Christ (maybe it was another organisation), but now works with politicians in DC, told me this in reference to Christ stopping and listening to the women who had been bleeding for 12 years. While I'm not sure it's faithful to the text, it's faithful to who Christ was and continues to be my reminder to try and slow down and listen to people.

7. 'Context, context, context.' - I am forever indebted to Dr. Castleman, Dr. Vila, and Dr. Blankenship for 'pounding' this into our heads in Biblical Studies. It has tremendously shaped the way I understand Scripture and the way I study history.

8. 'Geeze Daniel, I didn't bring my sunglasses today.' - My 7th grade history teacher (who I remember very fondly) and my friends who loved to tease me about my white legs. I wore shorts to school one day and remember a couple of them saying this when I came into history class that day. To this day, you won't see me wear shorts very often, maybe they've saved the world in their own little way. :-)

9. 'Please and Thank You should always be a part of our speech' - Uncle Henri Aoun, an amazing missionary from Lebanon who now lives in Paris with an incredible family (I'm fortunate to call his two kids, John and Lily, good friends), told a group of us on a mission trip this once. I'm not good at following it, but it does continue to always come to mind.

10. 'Sometimes Daniel, I think we should wait for God to give us a red light, rather than a green light. Too often we sit around waiting for God to give us the go ahead, when He's saying "Get going and trust me to stop you!"' - Diana, one of the sweetest lady's I've ever known in my life told me this. She, in fact, was one of the high points of my year in California. She'd been a missionary in France for years with Uncle Henri, so she and I would greet each other in the morning in my poor French - which usually ended after 'how are you', because I didn't know any more. This encouragement has been what has spurred me on to try so many of the different things I've had the opportunity to do (including being here in Northern Ireland).

11. 'Take your pictures, print them out in black and white, and put them up in your house. Then when people come over you can tell them about your trips, and you can remember them.' - the janitors and workers at all of my jobs have always been some of my best friends. My year in California was no different. The African-American gentleman (gosh, I wish I wasn't so bad with names!) who came and cleaned our building would always stop and talk to me, since I often worked late. I loved those conversations. Well, he had put pictures up in his house like this, so he encouraged me to do the same. It's been one of the best things I've ever done to remember what incredible opportunities God's given me.

12. 'Now Daniel, his other two friends have both walked out of his life when he told them this.' - In college, a dear friend of mine told me that he struggled with homosexuality. I remember being given the above warning by some of our mutual friends and it broke my heart. Not that I would ever walk away from a friendship because of this, but it broke my heart. Having been teased in high school because people assumed I was homosexual, this just reaffirmed my conviction to be one who would love at all times.

13. 'Oh man, I was hoping you were going to try out for the play. I was hoping to cast you.' - the theater director at my school in Kenya told me this my freshman year, the same year that I chose to go out for the basketball team, rather than theater, because it was more 'macho' (hey, it was the mind if a nerdy 15 year old :-). After that, I ended up being involved in theater and duet acting in both high school and college.

14. 'I've never had someone come and ask me what he could be doing to practice as much as Daniel. So he get's the [a name I haven't remembered since] award for hard working. At the same time, I've never seen someone say 'I'm sorry' so much on the court, so he also gets the Dr. Kavorkian award.' - this was the end of the year 'awards' party for the JV basketball team I was a part of my freshman year of high school. I've never remembered the compliment, but I've always remembered the Dr. Kavorkian award. I haven't played basketball since.

15. 'Pass Daniel the ball!' - Ms. Bressler, this amazing woman who was my driver's ed teacher and PE teacher in Kenya (as well as my volleyball coach), shouted this from the sidelines at a basketball tournament we were at where she had had girls playing field hockey. I had my hopes up that day because the coach had told me I'd get to play, but I hadn't played all day. Ms. Bressler starts shouting this from the other side of the court and I look at her, through eyes that I'm trying to hold back the tears of dissapointment in, and mouth 'what are you doing? I'm on the bench. They can't throw the ball to me.' To which she's says back, 'I know, that's the whole point. I want the coach to put you in.' Well, needless to say I got to play that game. I've never forgotten Ms. Bressler or her cheering me on that day - it continues to be a moment of great encouragement when I'm blue.

16. 'We're going to do some karaoke and we're going to invite someone up. Daniel Ostendorff, come on up.' - by far, this night at FSM (youth group), was one of the most embarrasing moments of my life when Bobby Girard, the worship pastor and a man I very much respect, called me up, and I tried to sing 'I'm going deeper' - but was so nervous that it was to a whole new tune, rythm, everything. After a few lines, Bobby said, 'Alright, freestyle!' because I was so far off! :-) It has continued to be a funny memory for Justin Adams, Josh Connolly, and all my other friends that I still get to see from FSM.

17. 'The future can be either scary or exciting, just depends on how you look at it.' - a JBU friend, Lauren Raikes, told me this a couple of weeks ago. Not only was it what I needed to hear as I was thinking about what God might have planned, but it's continued to be on my mind since then. It really is a great reminder - if I look at life as God is the one in charge, then it's totally exciting! But, if I'm the one trying to lead the charge, it can get very scary, worrying about what's next. I have no doubt this will be one that will stick with me for years.

There are so many more than this. This is what I was able to come up with tonight, but the reality is that anyone who's reading this has had a significant impact on my life, almost exclusively (with rare exceptions in a few people) for the good. Thanks so much!

Governor Palin and State Politics

For those of you that watched the Superbowl, you saw the above spot with Governor Sarah Palin that came on. When it did, one of my friends wasn't too excited, to say the least. :-) Which led into a short conversation about why it was that she wasn't excited about Sarah Palin. We were both really exhausted after a long couple of days, so the conversation didn't go very far - but, summed up, this friend disagreed with most all of Palin's policies (drilling in ANWAR, purchasing of rape kits, etc.) and thus, really, really just doesn't like Palin.

That all led me into ruminating over the last couple of weeks on the idea of State politics and the main purpose of a Governor. A Governor's purpose is to meet the needs of the citizens of their state. To do the best job governing them they can do. During the election, Palin had a 90% approval rating as Governor, the highest of any Governor in the country and, perhaps, the highest of any state official. That tells me that, for her constituency, the people who elected her, she's doing something right. In fact, to think that she won the gubernatorial elections with 48% of the vote, the high approval rating a year and a half later is incredible.

This weekend, an article came out about actress Ashely Judd's outcry against the wolf-hunting policy in Alaska. Several of the animal rights activists in the 48 states decry the policy as inhumane and, in Judd's words, 'It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery.' The reality is that the policy in place is limited to Alaskan citizens who must obtain a permit and the numbers are closely monitored. The whole program is in place to protect the caribou and moose populations - the very populations the same group cries out about when it comes to drilling in ANWAR. I understand that it's the method they object with.

However, fundamentally, it's the question of, who under our Constitution, has the right to tell who what to do? Who's the 'top dog' in the constitution? Is this a country where the Federal Gov't can legislate it's views for the States? Or, do the states have protection from the government to put in place policies that are best for their people? It's the latter. The Federal government isn't supposed to legislate on anything outside of it's jurisdiction as set out in the constitution. Unfortunately, it frequently does.

Once again, another reason I'm a Republican. The best group of people to take care of the needs of a town or city are the elected officials over that town or city. The best officials over the state are the state's elected officials. The Federal government was created to protect the union of this country from inside threats and outside threats - not determine what's best for the states therein. It's also why I'm in full agreement with Republican pushes for Federal Tax cuts. Keep more money away from the federal government and you keep more money in your own state, meeting the needs of the citizens in your state, which includes you.

Okay, I'll step down off my soap box now...

Obama: How does Bipartisan Work?

Quick post, since I really need to be doing some other work. I was reading Reuter's this morning on the Stimulus Package that the Dem's are trying to get through the Senate. There were some things that struck me.

*One of Obama's key ideas in his campaign was the end of partisanship. It seems that this stimulus package is the first test of that, because:

1. The bill passed the House, from what I understand, without a single Republican vote. It seems significant that there weren't even moderate Republicans that voted for it.

2. For the bill to pass the Senate, where it is currently, it only needs two Republican votes - yet it can't even get those from moderates. That also seems really significant.

So, while the ideal of bipartisanship seems a good one on the surface, the truth is that partisanship is there for a reason - because all the different parties see the answer to the country's problems in different ways. I refuse (it's the stubborn side of) to chalk this up to "Republicans don't want to vote for a Democratic bill." No, if it truly was something they were comfortable with, I imagine at least a few would have voted for it. It's in instances like that that I'm really glad our government is set up the way it is - that the partisan sides call each other into check. Thank you Founding Father's for checks & balances. :-)

Reuter's article: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0142074920090206?feedType=nl&feedName=usmorningdigest