Home again, home again…

by Jonathan Lowery • May 2nd, 2008

I’ll be back in Mississippi for a week from May 12th through the 19th. I’m looking forward to this and hope to fill up the days as much as possible while I’m there. I’ll be speaking at my home church on the 18th about my ministry up here with PUSH - I don’t know yet if this will simply be a brief speech that morning or an additional evening event as well. I’ll post the details when I know them.

I’m actually in the middle of watching the movie Adaptation as I write this. It’s pretty cool, all about a guy who’s writing a script that happens to be the one you’re watching. Trippy.

It’s bringing up interesting thoughts about life - which seems to be a common thread in all the media I’ve consumed recently. I’m still reading Ravi Zacharius’ book The Grand Weaver (which I highly recommend), which has been a nice closer to the book I read before it: unChristian.

unChristian was a spooky read. It presents research into Christianity in America that lends credence to just about every hunch I’ve had about how our society and culture view Christians. It also presented research on current culture that was equally helpful.

It’s kinda weird to struggle through myriads of conversations, assumptions, and general skepticism about your understanding of the world - and then have scientific research swoop in to take your side. unCrhistian will probably be a game changer for me - even though I’m not changing anything (weird, huh?).

Speaking of change, I’m moving into more work with PUSH for the next month or so. Tom Ohl is in the final stages of phasing out of PUSH to pursue his career in teaching and deaf education more fully. This leaves the current PUSH roster with three guys: Darren, Topher, and me. Seeing as Tom was performing alongside on or the other of these guys, that leaves many of his roles to me.

This is pretty cool, but at the same time scary and a major challenge. This is due in large part to the fact that I am performing right on the edge of my abilities to learn Tom’s parts. This move in particular is difficult for me. —>

The result of this new performance repertoire is a set of extremely sore legs and arms. One might be able to imagine why from this photograph. I thought I had discovered all the odd little muscles in my body that no one else uses… I was wrong.

Since I met him, Tom has been an inspiration. His presence on stage is so vital and nuanced; not even bringing up his technical skill which could stand on its own merit. And this is outside of his real life off the stage - which is even more amazing.

Que serra…

Finally, I thought I’d add in a short set of references to what I’m currently (or future-ly) digesting in book form.

Jiggity jog!

What I’m Reading Now:
• unChristian by David Kinnaman
• The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharaius

On the Shelf:
• The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
• The Necessity of Theater by Paul Woodruf