Mountaintop Experiences: Abraham

Note: This is the first in a series of blog posts entitled Mountaintop Experiences. These posts are based on a sermon I preached at Camp Beaverfork in February.

A good portion of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, is dedicated to telling the story of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. Abraham was a God-fearing man who moved his family from his homeland in search of a land that God promised to give to him and his descendants, who God promised would be as numerous as the stars. There was just one problem: Abraham didn’t have any children. His wife, Sarah, was barren, and they were getting too old to be having children.

But Abraham clung to the hope of having a son. He suffered a lot and faced many trials throughout his life, but he knew it was all going to be OK because God was going to bless him and would someday fulfill His promise of giving him many descendants. And eventually, God did give Abraham a son named Isaac. Abraham loved Isaac and saw him as the fulfillment of God’s promise He had made so long ago. God had finally come through for Abraham.

And then what did God do? He told Abraham to give up the one thing he had wanted his entire life. In Genesis 22, we read the story of God instructing Abraham to take his son up to the top of a mountain and sacrifice him on an altar. Think about it. God finally gave Abraham the son he had been waiting on for so many years, and now God was telling him to take his son and slaughter him like a sacrificial animal. How crazy does that sound? And yet, Abraham obeyed.

The Biblical text does not give us any information about what was going through Abraham’s mind, but one can only imagine the anguish he must have felt. He journeyed to mountain for three days, all the while knowing what he was about to do. He had to hide it from Isaac, who expressed confusion about why they weren’t bringing an animal along with them. How hard it must have been for Abraham to look into his child’s eyes and simply say, “God will provide.”

When they reached the top of the mountain, Abraham built an altar to the God who had asked him to give up the most important thing in the world to him. He prepared for the sacrifice, and then he took his son, his beloved, and he took out the knife to kill the person he cared about most. And then, suddenly, he heard the voice of an angel telling him to stop. He didn’t have to do the thing he dreaded. He had passed God’s test, and God had provided another sacrifice to take his son’s place.

In this story, we see that Abraham had a mountaintop experience. A mountaintop experience is a point in someone’s life where they come face-to-face with God and there is a sudden, drastic change in their lives. Abraham’s mountaintop experience literally took place on a mountaintop, and there are other stories in the Bible of people having life-changing experiences with God on the top of a mountain, and thus they are called mountaintop experiences. However, they can take place anytime and anywhere, and each of us can and should have at least one of these experiences during our lives. There should be a point or points in our lives where we can look back and say, “That was a turning point in my life where my relationship with God went to a new level, and I have never been the same since.”

Our mountaintop experiences probably won’t be as extreme as Abraham’s. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son because He knew that Isaac was the number one thing in Abraham’s life, and God wanted Abraham to show that He meant more to Abraham than even Isaac did. God wants to be number one in our lives, even more important than great things like our families and friends, and He calls us to lay those things down before Him and show Him that He is more important than anything or anyone else.

God wants us to want Him more than we want anything else. More than we want to do well in school. More than we want to be successful. More than we want to someday get married and have a family of our own or whatever our ambition is. More than anything else, God wants us to want Him and to depend on Him for everything. As long as we’re doing that, the relationships and the school and the career and the family will fall into place. As long as God is your number one, you’ll know that you’re on the right track.

Abraham chose God above even his own son. He went up on the mountaintop and had an encounter with God where he laid the most important thing in his life before God and said, “Here, it’s yours. I choose You above all else.” And because Abraham did that, God blessed him and used him to create His chosen people from whom would eventually come Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Because Abraham chose to put God first, the whole world was blessed through his descendants.

Maybe you’ve been putting something before God in your life. If so, He’s calling you to climb the mountain and lay that thing down before Him. I know it may be hard, but if you take the time to get away, to have that mountaintop experience with God, to say, “This thing means the world to me, but I’m choosing to give it to You,” I promise your life will never be the same. God will honor your commitment to Him. He will bless you, and He will use you beyond what you ever could have imagined. Maybe today will be your time to have a mountaintop experience with God.

Parks and Recreation

I’m sure many of you have heard of the spectacularly hilarious character known as Ron Swanson. If you haven’t, you should Google him right now and finish reading this review later. He’s stone-faced, he’s old-school, and he tells it like it is. He has some of the best one-liners in television history. Basically, he’s a riot. And he’s just one of the many wonderful characters on NBC’s Parks and Recreation.

Parks and Recreation is a mockumentary-style TV show showcasing the lives of local government employees in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Leslie Knope, the main character of the series, works in the Parks and Recreation department and sincerely tries to improve her town. But Pawnee is a very unique place with very unique issues like being one of the nation’s leading cities in obesity and a pack of rabid raccoons.

Leslie is aided by her best friend Ann Perkins, who is probably the most normal character on the show and serves to juxtapose Leslie’s hilarity. Other characters include Ron Swanson, Leslie’s boss; Tom Haverford, the young Parks employee obsessed with the latest trends; Donna Meagle, the department’s diva; Jerry Gergich, the scapegoat; April Ludgate, the apathetic intern; and Andy Dwyer, the goofball played by Chris Pratt, who is becoming one of my favorite actors. Adam Scott and Rob Lowe join the series in later seasons as Ben Wyatt and Chris Traeger, and they really round out the cast.

My favorite thing about the show other than the cast is its self-awareness. This is a show about local government, and it really points out a lot of the quirky things that go along with local government. There’s immature backstabbing and ridiculous under-the-table deals. The show even parodies current events such as the “soda tax,” Pawnee’s own version of New York’s limit on how big a soda can be.

If you thought of The Office when I mentioned that this show was a mockumentary, then you already have an idea of what Parks and Recreation is like. It follows the same format, and a lot of the jokes are delivered through interviews just like on The Office. But even though it has the same format, it doesn’t always have the same comedy, and it is definitely it’s own show.

If you decide to give Parks and Recreation a chance, be warned: The first season is not very good. NBC ordered it as a midseason premiere just to see how it would go. The first season consists of six episodes that kind of lay the groundwork, but once you get past those episodes, the show really takes off. It’s hilarious, and you won’t be disappointed.

Parks and Recreation is now in its sixth season, and for a while, its future was in doubt. But the president of NBC recently announced that Parks and Rec will definitely have a seventh season, and that’s good news. It shows that NBC really believes in the show, which is surprising given how many shows NBC has given up on lately.

The show’s best asset is its cast. They portray hilarious characters who play off each other really well. That said, the plot is also very good. There are some overarching elements to the show, and it does take some twists and turns throughout. If you give Parks and Recreation a chance, you will be hooked. It’ll make you laugh episode after episode.

Parks and Recreation airs Thursday nights at 8:30/7:30c on NBC. Previous season are available for streaming on Netflix.

Nostalgia

A couple of weeks ago, I was up late because I couldn’t sleep. So naturally, I got on Facebook. I started scrolling through my profile, and before I knew it, I had looked at years of statuses, posts from friends, and photos on my timeline. It was overwhelming to experience all those memories at one time. And when I was finished, I was left with a very strong feeling of nostalgia.

We are all familiar with nostalgia, a deep longing for the past. I remember growing up listening to older adults reminisce about the past and tell me stories about things they did when they were younger. But nostalgia isn’t just for older people anymore. My generation has had an early onset of nostalgia that is starting in the late teens and early twenties. I don’t think previous generations experienced this kind of nostalgia at our age, but if they did, they certainly didn’t voice it the way we do.

Because of new technologies like social media, people my age are not only able to go back and look at memories from their past more easily (which may lead to an increase in nostalgia), but they are also able to voice this nostalgia more freely. And we’ve definitely made some noise. Popular children’s TV channels like Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network have started re-airing shows from the early 90’s in order to appeal to people who grew up during that time and want to re-live those memories. Throwback Thursday is a weekly tradition for many people my age where we post pictures of ourselves with friends from years ago and reminisce.

So for better or for worse, we are surrounded by nostalgia. If you haven’t experienced it yet, I’m sure you will someday soon. Here are a few things that I try to keep in mind when I’m hit with a case of nostalgia.

1. Memory isn’t perfect.

Nostalgia can be positive or negative. You can either reflect happily on good times or miss those good times to the point that it makes you sad. And when you’re forced to re-live unhappy memories, it usually brings up some negative emotions. But it’s important to keep in mind that the way we remember things may not always be exactly correct.

In An Abundance of Katherines, famous young adult author John Green writes, “You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.” This quote has some truth to it. Our brains aren’t objective video cameras recording the exact details of what happened to us in the past. Our memories are influenced by the way we experienced the event when it happened, and they can also be affected by the way we feel when we’re doing the remembering itself. A fond memory may seem even better than it actually was if you’re remembering it when you’re sad. Our memories are tricky like that.

I am in no way trying to downplay anyone’s memories. We’ve all had some really happy times and some not-so-happy times. But I think it’s important to keep in mind that the good things we remember probably weren’t quite as good as we remember them to be, and the bad things we remember probably weren’t quite as bad. There will always be exceptions. But I know that I personally have a tendency to idealize the past, and I have to remind myself that my memory isn’t perfect. Doing so has helped me avoid some unhealthy nostalgia.

2. That was you.

This one may seem obvious, but when you’re in a state of nostalgia, it actually may be harder to realize than you think. When I was scrolling through my Facebook reading all of the things I said and the things people used to say to me, I felt detached. I felt like I was reading about someone else. I barely remembered a lot of the things I was reading, and it hardly felt like they applied to the person I am today.

But the truth is, that was me. As distant as that time may seem, as different as I may seem now from the person I was then, that was still me. Anything I admire about the person I used to be is still inside of me somewhere. The things I regret are a part of me, too. The relationships I had with people, even if they aren’t maintained anymore, still happened. They still had an effect on me. And they are all still a part of who I am. The same goes for you.

3. You’re not the same.

But on the other hand, there are a lot of differences, too. There is a level of disconnect between who I am now and who I was then, and that’s why I feel somewhat detached from that person when I look back. I don’t look the same. I don’t act the same. I don’t hang out with the same people. My preferences have changed. Even though I’m still the same person, I’ve changed. And so have you. It’s a part of life. As we experience new things, we adjust and we grow. Without that change and growth, we wouldn’t be able to experience nostalgia in the first place.

I think this fact is important to keep in mind becuase it can help release us from our past mistakes. Have we done things we regret? Yes. Should we own up to those things, try to make up for them, and learn from them? Yes. But do we have to live the rest of our lives feeling bad about stupid things we did in the past? No. Not at all. Because we’re not the same. We’re all growing and learning together, and it’s OK that we make mistakes. If we handle them correctly, we can turn them into positive learning experiences and then let them slip into the past as we continue to grow and learn and change.

4. You’re not finished yet.

And that brings me to my last point. Nostalgia is fun sometimes, but it cannot be a way of life. We were meant to live in the here and now, to try to improve ourselves and the world around us. If we allow ourselves to get stuck in the past, then we inhibit ourselves from acting in the present, and we limit what our future can be. No matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, you’re not finished yet. There is still more for you to do. Don’t get stuck in nostalgia. Go out and live your life in such a way that when you look back years from now, you’ll have something to be nostalgic about.

I think nostalgia can be healthy. It’s good to remember where you’ve been. It helps you figure out where you need to go. But I’ve learned to be careful about nostalgia, and I try to handle it by keeping these four things in mind. So when I’m looking back, I can remember that things were good, but not so good that I should spend all my time missing them. The things I like about my past self are still there, even if I can’t see them in myself now, and I can bring them back if I choose to. But I am a different person now, so I don’t have to feel bad about mistakes I’ve made (or how obnoxious I was when I was 17). And I always remember that when the time for reminiscing is over, I’ve still got a future ahead of me. There are many more memories to be made. And I can’t wait to be nostalgic about them.

DuoLingo

In junior high, my Spanish teacher taught us a joke that I’ll never forget. It goes like this: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American.

Like most jokes, this one actually has a hint of truth to it. There are too many people in our society who do not see the point in learning a second language, and so they just don’t. But studies have shown that there are cognitive benefits to learning a second language, and the earlier one starts, the better. It’s also nice to be exposed to a different culture and open oneself up to communicating to a whole new group of people. And if that’s not enough to convince you, then maybe this will: Employers are looking for potential employees who are bilingual. Learning a second language has a lot of benefits.

And it’s really not as hard as you think. There are a lot of resources to help you learn a new language. You can take a class at your local college. Or you can try out the Rosetta Stone software. But both of these options can be expensive. Fortunately, there is a free, convenient way to learn a new language, and it’s called DuoLingo.

DuoLingo is a language-teaching software that’s available on just about any device. They have a website that you can access on any computer, and they also have apps for iOS and Android. DuoLingo makes it easy to learn a second language even when you’re out and about. Plus, it’s totally free and doesn’t have any pesky ads!

I really like DuoLingo’s approach to teaching. They treat it like a game. You earn experience points, level up, and work your way through different stages as you learn. It really makes the experience fun. But it’s not just fun and games. You’re actually learning. DuoLingo is set up in a way that teaches you the basics and then builds on them to reinforce past words while learning new ones.

And this learning is meant to be long-term. DuoLingo rewards you for keeping up a daily streak. All it takes is just a few minutes everyday. And the app encourages you to review past lessons periodically to remind yourself of what you’ve learned. The whole system is set up to help you succeed and actually learn the language over time.

I’m personally using DuoLingo to re-learn Spanish. I took a couple of Spanish classes in high school, but I had forgotten a lot of it, so the app is serving as a nice refresher. I’ve really enjoyed using DuoLingo so far, and I’ve actually learned a lot. I would highly recommend DuoLingo to anyone wanting to learn a new language or get a refresher on a second language one hasn’t used in a while. Learning a second or even a third language is a worthwhile goal to pursue, and DuoLingo can help you achieve it.

DuoLingo offers lessons in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese. You can sign up for DuoLingo on their website or download the free DuoLingo app on the iOS App Store or Google Play.

I Am Not a Brand

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about “personal brands.” People who want to gain online credibility are encouraged to treat themselves as brands and their content as products. They adopt marketing strategies similar to big corporations and try to convince people that what they have to say is worthwhile. All of this is very concerning to me.

I am not a brand. I am a person. I don’t have an expensive logo or a witty catch phrase. I’m not trying to “sell” my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs to anyone. I’m not trying to establish myself as an online authority on anything. I don’t spend hours a day thinking up ways to get more people to pay attention to what I have to say. I’m just trying to share my life with people in a meaningful way.

I think seeing oneself as a brand threatens that. If all you’re doing is trying to gain as many followers as possible, then you’re going to end up selling out and just sharing whatever you think will draw attention to you. That’s not what social media is about. Too many people get caught up in the statistics. They live to reach the next big goal in their quest to gain as many followers as possible. Personally, I would rather have a few followers who are actually interested in my life than hundreds of thousands of people who could care less who I am.

The truth is that things are changing. People—my generation, at least—are getting tired of corporations telling them what they should do or think or buy. We live in a world of Kickstarter and Indiegogo, where creators don’t go to big corporate sponsors to support their creative endeavors. They go to the people who really, truly care about what they’re doing, the fans, and they find the support they need from them. This system really empowers the everyday person to have a say in what gets made and how it’s made. It’s really incredible.

I know this change is slow, but I see it happening. As people get more and more tired of traditional marketings schemes, companies are having to change their tactics. And all the creative commercials in the world aren’t going to change the fact that people want something more than that. Eventually, companies are going to have to offer something substantial. Maybe they’ll actually offer better products or more ethical practices. Something real.

Because that’s what matters. And that’s what social media should be about. Marketing techniques aren’t going to change the world or people’s lives. But real people sharing their lives, their interests, their thoughts, and their experiences with others in an honest, open way? That could make a difference, and that’s something worth following.

So you won’t be seeing any advertisements from me. And I won’t spend hours and hours strategizing how and when I’m going to use social media. But I will be sharing my life with you in the most real, honest way I know how. And if it makes a difference for a person or two, that’s enough for me.