Growing weary

I have been doing concerts about every week at the Palace Bar and it seems as if I am coming up dry from doing them.  I guess I have grown tired of doing the mundane things here...the things that I do every week because I feel obligated to do them.  For those that know me know that I hate doing things out of obligation.  Maybe God is telling me it's time to look for another place to play.  I still want to maintain a good relationship with the people at the Palace Bar, but I believe it's time to branch out a little and try for some new places.

A Cool European Haircut

For those of you that have been to Europe and have ever gone to the hair salon to get a haircut, you guys know that you can request whatever you want at the place.  Regardless of what you request most of the time, the hair stylist does whatever he wants to your hair.  However, this time, I went to a different place than I usually go to because I wanted to try to get the famous European Fauxhawk.

Many of you may be asking this question "What is a fauxhawk?"  Well I am glad you asked that question because I will gladly answer with words and pictures.  A fauxhawk is like a mohawk, except on the sides, it is not bald, but rather just a lot shorter compared to the hair movement down the middle.

I have to say that I rather enjoy this style of haircut and will probably get it from now on or as long as it is popular here in Europe.  Here's the pictures for proof if you need something like that.  Until next time...

I have realized that my last couple of blogs have been on the attack about things in the church or things in American Society.  This blog however is going to be one of confession. A confession to things that I have done when I was in the States:

- I confess that I have lived a life of double dutch missions as I call it.  I stand on the outside, wait for the opportunity, get in, do my job and get out and think "that was fun."  However, the problem is that I have treated it like a job and haven't really invested in any individuals that I've come in contact with on these trips.  I have been full of broken promises to people that I promised to e-mail and still be a part of their life journey.  Because of that, I don't know where they are in their walk with Christ.

- I realized that I have not consistently taken the light into the dark areas of the community around me.  I have been content in my Christian bubble with a fear of lostness contamination.  I've let fear of being influenced by the world overcome my fear of the Lord in my life.

- I confess that I have read and memorized scripture my whole life, but not applied every word of it that I have ever memorized.

- I confess that I have not lived a life where I am that encourages community with those around me and have depended so much on my independence, that I forget the gospel is about being around people and sharing Him with those that don't know Him.

- I confess that I have picked and chosen in the past who I want to share the gospel with instead of just being open as to who God brings my way. 

- I confess that in my past, I made stances against certain movies or books instead of taking stances against things that really matter.

- I confess that I have spent money on selfish desires that will come and go instead of really investing it in things that will make the world a better place for everyone.

More to come...

   The longer I am away from the United States, the longer I realize there's some things I don't understand the things that our nation and God's bride, the church does and supports.

   For the life of me, I don't understand how we went into a nation to rid this nation of a dictator that was killing his own people.  Yet why don't we don't go into countries like Sudan, Chad and Kenya to help bring peace to those countries and let diplomacy rule in those countries?  I know that probably the ultimate answer to that statement is that there's no benefit for us, but why should we base what country we help on what we get out of it?  Why do we as the United States do anything solely based on what we can gain from it?

  One of the things that troubles me about the church I've experienced back home is that we seem to be partial about sharing the gospel with certain people.  We pick and choose who should come to know Christ, when Christ came so that all might live.  I remember we would go to a certain neighborhood in my town and share the gospel in the low cost residential areas in our neighborhood once a week.  While that is good to do, why isn't there someone doing that throughout the year?  What are we afraid of?

  Another thing with the church is the thing we stand against.  We try to boycott movies and controversial books.  Maybe we need to read these books and watch these movies and put them in relation to God's word and what the bible says.  Don't you think avoiding things like this further puts us out of touch with the world around us and keeps us from being missional like we are suppose to be?  I'm so tired of boycotting stupid things like movies and books.  I would rather boycott industries that support sweat shops in third world countries or buy fair trade coffee than do something that does nothing but separate me from the world and puts me out of touch with those around me.  

The life I live here is pretty simple to understand, but not so easy to live and not so safe.  God brought me here to live my life as a believer in front of my friends.  I also do language exchanges with them as well as assist bringing interns over for them to study Spanish as well as Catalan and Spanish culture.  I also do a little bit of music in my spare time.  It sounds like the perfect kind of job, right?  One that's easy and comfortable since I live in Western Europe.

However, I want to make clear a couple of things that have been on my mind as of lately.  People tend to glamorize or make me out to be a hero in the life I live and what I do here or even the fact that I live in Western Europe.  Now for one thing, I've never viewed what I do as to be held up to a position of heroism.  I'm just a man that was willing to go where God called me to be.  I have to be honest and say that this view of what I do really frustrates me because it seems that by saying that, people place a blanket between themselves and a call to this kind of work so they don't have to answer it.  I'm not saying that everyone's called to do this kind of work.  Rather, I am asking that nobody raise me to a hero status.  I am just an ordinary man that was obedient, that's all.

Another thing that some people may think is that it's easy to do what I do here.  While I do have access to many things here like I would in the United States, I would say that this place is one of the most spiritually dry and dark places I've ever been to on this planet.  There seems to be a real hardness to the gospel here.  There's also a great deal of spiritual danger where I am because the society I live in is so open to so many things.  It's easy to live in the States, where you have your church bubble and go on trips into the "danger zone" to share the joy that you have.  I'll admit that I'm guilty of doing this in my past and now I look back on it and wished I'd really invested myself in the cultures around me.  I would go on trips for a week, a month or even three months and then come back and share the pictures.  I'll admit that I don't even keep in contact with hardly any of them.  I regret the fact that I haven't kept up with them and been there along their journey.

That being said, I absolutely love being here and to be able to do what I do is a blessing.  I will confess to you that the thought of going back into the Christian subculture in a way intimidates me to no end.  Don't get me wrong in that I want to be surrounded by believers, but at the same time I don't want to lose sight of the calling that God has placed on every believer's life... to go and make disciples of all nations, to love your neighbor as yourself and to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.

Despite these deep moments of thought, things here have been going well.  I have been traveling a good bit as I have been to England and Germany in the past month.  We had a strategy forum here in Barcelona last week, where people that work for the company all over Europe got together to discuss new strategies and such.  It was a blessing to meet many of my co-workers and to be able to connect with teachers in the States.  However, I was glad it was over because I feel like I've been going non-stop for this whole past month.  I'm just ready to be back to hanging out with my friends here and not busy doing busy work and such.

So I had my first gig last night at the Palace Bar and I believe it went well for a first performance. I vividly remember the emotions and thoughts running through me the week leading up to the concert.  I was at peace the whole week about it and the nervousness really didn't hit me till the day of the show.  That whole day, I spent in prayer and reflection and just asking God to grant me the strength to do the best that I possibly could.

So I set up all my stuff and have my set list ready for the show.  At the start, there wasn't many people at the bar.  However, the more I get ready, the more people start piling into the bar.  I was thinking "Jeez, God...I was fine with a few people and now I have to play in front of 100 people easy."  Nevertheless, I led in with the first song, which was a little rusty, but fine.  Next thing I know, I'm on my last song and people are applauding me.  Even Thomas (the manager) said I did a great job and invited me back to play.

To conclude, the concert was a success.  Thanks to all those who had me in your thoughts and prayers during that time.  I will have pictures soon to post so I will post them as soon as I get them.  Thanks for everything

J

Que tal tio?

   The longer that I am here, the more I am starting to observe the differences between the American and the Spaniard way of thinking.  I left here thinking that I have never had much in common with the "American way."  However, I am discovering I have more in common with my homeland than I thought I did.  I am also discovering that I am becoming more and more Spaniard the longer that I am here and I have to tell you, I'm delighted in the person that God is molding me and making me into here.  In the meantime, it's amazing how much of what we think is "biblical" when it is actually just tradition.

   One small difference I have noticed in thinking is in the way we start talking with people when we first meet an individual.  We start off with the typical "Hello!  What is your name?"  What I've discovered is the next question asked is different between Americans and Spaniards.  Americans ask "What do you do?" or if you're in college "What is your major?"  If you already know the person, the question usually is "What have you done today?"  In Spaniard culture, it is much different.  The first question is "How are you?"  Now for me, I find this so incredibly comforting about culture here.  A friend from here said "You Americans are so concerned with what kind of job a person has instead of the person... All we tend to care about is that they just have a job or are going to school because that's all that's needed to show they're not lazy."

   Now this shows me something incredibly significant about culture here.  It shows me that Spaniards care more about who you ARE and not what you DO.  I find that as an incredible fault in American culture that we only care about what people do and not about how they are.  I find it an incredible fault that we give a default answer of "fine" or "good," when all inside of us is falling apart sometimes and others don't know it.

   I am not saying that I have the right answer nor to I pretend to be the person that knows everything.  My opinion culture maybe wrong. There maybe some of you out there are saying that you are not like that and for those of you out there that are not like, this does not apply to you.  However, we all have to ask ourselves if we really care about how we all are doing or do we care about what people do.  To me, it's no wonder why people are legalistic when we ask them what they are doing and place more emphasis on that then the heart condition of a human being.  

   The life of Jesus shows us that he was more concerned with us being and not what we do.  He was more concerned about the heart condition and less concerned about the actions of a person.  Jesus knew that in the end, what we do would flow out of what we are.  Have you ever given much thought to the fact that the fruits of the Spirit are a state of being and not a state of doing?  So in turn, I ask, How are you doing?  How are you really doing?

Barcelona - The City that Celebrates Chocolate?

Today, I had the opportunity to go to something I've never experienced in the United States- I went to the Chocolate Festival of Barcelona.  For 8 euros ($11.75), I got to see all sorts of different chocolate on display.  From dark chocolate to milk chocolate, from chocolate with cinnamon to chocolate with cayenne pepper, it had so many different varieties.  I got to try a little bit of everything while I was there so needless to say it was a fun time.  Here are some photos:

The Entrance To The Festival

Delicious samples

A Chocolate Lover's heaven

Chocolate, Whipped Cream, and Strawberries

Why are we so afraid to be vulnerable in front of people?  Why do we feel as if we always have to have the answers to everything in life?  Why do we not ever want to admit that we need help to others?  Why are we afraid to surrender?

I'm From Barcelona

All credit for having this video goes out to Tanner Cogsdil, one of our illustrious intern. Even though it's mostly comical, it definitely portrays the love, fashion sense, and mentality of our city. Peace!

It's Time It Cooled Off Here

Seriously, it's about time...It's been blistering hot here all throughout July and August so I'm glad it's gotten cool here lately. It's nice to be able to wear a jacket when going out and to be able to see the changing of seasons unfold before you. It's also been really rainy here, which is always a good thing.  There's something strange about cool weather that just makes it seem more intimate and heart-felt than any other kind of weather. Rain always seems to bring about a gentleness and a calmness as well...the kind of calmness that makes you want to curl up in bed and just sleep the day away.  Don't worry though because I have not been doing that this month whatsoever.

I've been thinking about what I find so great about living here and the answer I come up with is quite complex.  This city is slowly fast-paced, has a chaotic order, and a quiet noisyness so to speak.  I know those things may not make any sense to anyone reading my blog, but those are the senses that I get about living here.

I miss this beautiful woman so much, it drives me crazy sometimes.

Residency is Almost there...

So yesterday, I traveled to finish up the last bit of my residency stuff for Spain and it was an adventure in itself.  First off, my flight left at 6:35 am in the morning.  My initial thinking was "Okay, I need to get up at 3am so I can get up and get ready to be to the airport by no later than 4am."  I thought this because the last time I had to catch a flight that early in the morning, it took forever to get through security.  I wanted to go to bed at 11pm, but I had to take care of a few things around the apartment first and ended up not getting to bed till 12am, thereby only giving me 3 hrs of sleep.

After arriving in Madrid at 8 am, I immediately met up with the man in charge and we drove to his place to catch the metro from there to the government building on the other side of town.  It only took literally 3 hrs of waiting in line to get everything taken care of, which is a big praise for that.  The only step left is to wait 40 days to get my card and my residency is complete.  Thanks for all those who have been thinking of me through that.

The Little Things

It's amazing how after being into my experience here for 7 months how you so easily forget the little things that made you so excited to begin with.  You forget where you are and where you've been in a sense after being here a while.  As I was traveling to Madrid yesterday, I quickly remembered how I had forgotten that I live in freaking Spain!  I quickly forget that I get to enjoy living in a decent flat, get fed well and have many amenities that many of my other friends or other people in the world do not get to enjoy.  It's the little things in life that I am learning to enjoy now and not just the major things. 

La Merce
Every year at the end of September, Barcelona celebrates the Festival of La Merce, a festival in honor of the patron saint of Barcelona, Mare Deu de La Merce.  The Festival kicks off on a Friday and ends on a Monday.  Catalan arts and crafts are for sale during the day and concerts going on all night.  During the day time and night time, other events go on as well.

One such event that goes on is the Castallers, the building of human towers.  This takes place in the Plaça De Sant Jaume I and begins with the heavy lifters at the bottom and ends with the light, agile people at the top.  After each level is completed, music is played over the sound system.  At the end, a little child stands on the top with a helmet on and throws his/her hands up in victory and the crowd cheers loudly.  Here are two pictures from Castallers.

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and they are saved."

- Proverbs 18:10

Another event that goes on is the Correfoc.  There are two Correfocs, one for children and one for adults.  During the Correfoc, kids and children dress up as devils with a stick device that twirls at one end.  Placing a roman candle-like firecracker on the twirling end and the people hold the stick in the air or shoot the firecracker on the grounds towards people and they dance in front of the sparks or under them.  It is quite a spectacle to see.  Below is a video of the event.

Come Fall On Us, We Fall On You...

Today is a day of sadness, but nevertheless, a new chapter in my life.  As I was watching the Castallers yesterday, I was reminded of Proverbs 18:10 and how strong the name of the Lord is.  As I witnessed a dear friend leave to go home, I became blunt with the Lord and prayed "God I know I'm suppose to place my trust and hope in you, but do you expect me to be here all alone with no guy to relate to what I'm going through?  What am I going to do here now?  This is going to be impossible without you and complete dependence on you."  I praise the Lord for showing me this in my life.  My heart hurts that my friend has left, but at the same time rejoices that my journey is not over, but rather it's just another chapter in my journey here.  

I think the one thing that I've began to realize since being here is what is truly valuable in this life that I have.  First though, I will start by saying what is not valuable to me in my life.  What is not valuable to me in life is the things I own.  I slowly have begun to realize that the things I say I "need" are only things I want.  I want the new iPod touch, but I don't need it...I would like to buy new clothes at ZARA or H&M, but I don't need them.

I am also realizing that traveling to distant, far-away lands is not valuable to me at all.  Sure I love to travel to other countries and be a tourist sometime...I mean, who doesn't enjoy that?!  However, at the end of my life, will those be the things I will remember the most?  The fact that I lived in Spain for two years and got to visit Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Argentina, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, China and England?  I have come to the conclusion that this isn't what's valuable in my life either.

So what is it that I see as valuable in this existence that I call "my life?"  What are the things that make life mean so much to me?  One thing that means more to me than trips or possessions is the people I experience all those things with.  I could go to every country on the globe, but if I don't have someone with me to reminisce about those trips and the experiences along the way, what's the use in going?  Life's not nearly as fun without friends or family in your life to experience them with.

I have come to also realize that God is truly the most valuable thing I could ever have in my life.  He knows me, loves me, is merciful to me and sustains me in times of trouble and turmoil.  Even though the mountains may fall into the sea, the Lord is a warrior and stands strong for me in the times that I feel weak.  I feel so little and insignificant compared to him and to know that he is above all nations and people, brings comfort to my soul.

To all my friends and family, I say thank you for the experience that I have had with each and everyone of you.  Your smiles and laughter, sadness and tears have forever been impressed upon the walls of my mind and heart.  You have taught me things that I will forever carry the rest of my life about God, the world, and the beauty of everything around me.

To my God, I say thank you for being there with me in the hard times and the good times.  Thank you for your mercy and grace even when I don't even deserve it.  Thank you for the times where you make me laugh and the times where I break down and you pick me back up and set my feet upon a rock.

It truly is better to give than to receive... :)

The Festa Major De Gracia

     Every year between August and September, each neighborhood in the city of Barcelona celebrates it's existence with music, fair-like food and other things.  The first of these festivals is the Festa Major De Gracia.  In the neighborhood of Gracia, streets compete by decorating their portion of the streets with recyclables or other things.  The winner gets the sole recognition of winning the major event.  There is also a lot of bands playing, people dancing, people watching movies.  That being said, I went with my friend Federico to discover what all the fuss was about.  Here are the pictures to prove it

Me standing in the underwater-designed street (yes Mike, I have a murse...lol).

This one is the one that got first place in two categories.  It was so impressive, I couldn't get all of it in one shot.

This is me and my friend Federico.  We had a good time of conversation and sharing about things with an awkward pause every now and then.

So as you can see the festival was quite fun.  More pictures coming soon.

JKW

So it occurred to me that I have not put up any pictures of my flat on my blog (props to the parental units for reminding me). Without further adieu, here's the pictures...

This is my super cool living room...This is where my musical creations all happen.

This is my stylish kitchen. A lot of culinary experiments have been performed already in this area of the apartment.

This is my area of deep reflection and thought...also known as my bathroom.

This is my bedroom with complementary fan as it gets really hot here considering I have no AC.

Pictures of me in Barcelona coming soon....

As much as I love change...sometimes it freaks me out.

My friend Mateo tagged me for one of these chain blog type of things (thanks Matt...sarcastically speaking). Therefore I must do this post.

Rules:

1. You must post these rules before giving the facts.

2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged must write their own blog (about their 8 things) and

post these rules. (If you are a non-blogger you can email them. Just don’t be

annoying.)

4. At the end of the blog I must tag eight people and give their names.

5. Remember to leave a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged

and to ready your blog.

And now....

8 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

1. I have all the clothes in my closet color coordinated.

2. When I walk in between cement blocks, I count the steps I take in each cement block.

3. I have been addicted to Desperate Housewives recently (thanks Eva...lol).

4. I dance sometimes to music playing loud in my flat.

5. I have all my coins neatly organized.

6. My childhood dream growing up was to be either an astronaut, a garbage man, or a construction guy (what can I say...I loved heavy machinery).

7. I had a huge fear of cockroaches growing up. Partly because I had one fly at my face and another crawl up my leg when I was little.

8. When I'm doing a #2 in the bathroom, I always use four sheets of toilet paper for every swipe.

Tag, your it: Peyton, Daniel, Jimmy, Hope, Stefanie, Heather Sumner, Zach, Matt Baker

Summer Vacation Has Begun (for Spaniards)

In Spain, the whole month of August is vacation time for Spaniards...I know I wish I had a whole month of vacation a year.  Needless to say, most of my Spaniard friends will be gone on vacation during this time, leaving Barcelona absolutely dead around here.  My favorite chocolate shop here will be closed for the whole month which really stinks.  I really like going there and getting a cafe con leche with a mint dark chocolate bar.

Copeland + Cloudy Weather

I have discovered the perfect music to listen to during an overcast or rainy weather.  The perfect music to listen to is the band Copeland.  Every time I listen to them when it is overcast, the wonderful melodies of guitar combined with the vocals of Aaron just make this band the ultimate to listen to.  So if you ever have an overcast or rainy weather, be sure to listen to Copeland during that time.  Copeland is a great band regardless, but they're meant to listen to during those rainy days.

Changes (and I don't mean just clothes either)

There's already so many changes in myself and in those from home I keep in contact with.  I can tell the shifts in the way I think and do things has changed considerably and I have to say, I like where God is taking me with this.  I'm learning to truly care for those around me, to care for the planet, as well as truly become more real with people than ever.  

Haley reminded me of the story of the Dragon in C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  In this story, the Dragon was a human before this.  The Lion tells the dragon that he must tear the dragon skin off.  The dragon tries this and then proceeds to look in the water to see if he's changed back into human form, only to discover he's the same.  The Lion ultimately tells the Dragon that only him tearing it away can change it.  After tearing away at the dragon's skin, the dragon is in pain for a while.  He looks down and notices that he's back to human form.  This story reminded me that change can and will be painful at times, but that the only meaningful change can be brought by Christ and Christ alone.

That's it for now you guys.  Take care and God bless.