Geishas and Coffee

What did we do before coffeehouses? I was wondering that today in line at starbucks, and ended up creating a monologue in my head, a perfect blog posting if you will, akin to the narration of Renee Zelwegger in Bridget Jones' Diary. Are coffeehouses a unique social phenomeon, or did, perhaps, it just evolve with the times, and has become the latest evolution of a prior phenomeon? I'm currently reading "Memoirs of a Geisha". I saw the movie with my sister Michelle a long time ago. I was actually surprised she wanted to see Asian women in a movie. Nevertheless, we went, and we loved the movie. Now, as i read it, i am forced to wonder if coffeehouses are modern day, western versions of teahouses in Japan. Teahouses in the 1930s were where men came to be entertained by geishas. Now, coffeehouses are not necessarily where men go to be entertained by women, but, lots of dates happen at coffeehouses. I'm not proposing everyone who goes to a coffeehouse in hopes of romantic interest is a geisha or a japanese man. In fact, Chris and I started our relationship at Starbucks (well, before we went on a long walk to DTR). But i AM proposing that perhaps the coffeehouse is the American 2011 version of the Japanese 1930 teahouse. Just a proposal. The book happens to be just as good as the movie. I actually wished i had read Memoirs before watching the movie. But alas, i did not, and instead, i'm left here, in complete awe of the beautiful Japanese story, and now coveting a nice visit to one of the nail salons to feel a bit of the Eastern vibes. I'm still a lover of Jesus. I also like culture. Well, not really culture. Moreso exotic stories of the 1930 Japenese version of a modern day coffeehouse. I am a bit embarrassed to say i've come back to blogging, and this is my gloroius returning post. oh well.

Starbucks and the Sin Nature

I don't know if all starbucks has this, or if its just the one in Maui, but there's like this "wall of words" at my starbucks that tells random stories. And when i sit and stare at it and read when i'm bored (or waiting for a friend), i realize...

The stories are actually kind of sexual and kind of perverse and violent and use bad language. i thought i'd might bring this up to management, but i wasn't sure if this was a starbucks thing? And i'm not going to make them take down free expression...it's their business, after all. This is not the sin nature i'm talking about. And, also, this is not the wall of words i'm staring at. this is just a wall of words i found on the internet that i thought would be fitting to get the picture. the one at starbucks is much nicer, also...

Taking 2 junior high girls to starbucks is always an adventure. it's like they've entered into the sophisticated "adult" world of coffee and cute cafe chairs that only the elegant get to ascend into. They got so excited, they actually began screaming with energy and taking pictures.

I need to take them out more.

But i realized they were reading the wall! THE WALL OF NAUGHTY THINGS! And so i said: "oh, stop reading that wall, there are bad words and the like on it..."

And insted of stopping, they tried to find the NAUGHTY WORDS!

If that's not a picture of our sin nature, i don't know what is.

I told them they were sinful and that the world is born into sin and that was their flesh. They kept looking, and i made us all leave.

But i glanced back to see the naughty words. and i laughed.

Collegeinpjs.com

I just saw a commerical for "college in pjs" dot com. Obviously, this is a way to get people to go to college online, with the persuasion that you can sit in your pajamas all day.

I'm serious. Here are the stats:

As you can clearly see, college in pjs online has had a triple growth in the past year. The graph does not lie.

I understand college on line, but why make it less academic by saying you can go to college in your pjs.

That was cool when we were in third grade, and to celebrate Drug awareness week, we got to wear our pajamas to school. It was awesome back then. But not now.

I mean, what do you say when you graduate? "I graduated from collegeinpjs." Sounds prestgeous. (also, i believe i just spelt that word wrong.)

A List of Tips and a Revelation about Acts

Other than this being a shameless plug for my babies at Hume Lake 2010, I do have a point in showing these photos.

At Hume this summer (see), the babies, myself, and my boyfriend went to this class called "How to Read your Bible". Now, being in ministry now for 8 years, and a Christian since I was 5, with my mom discipling me in the word, i was very doubtful this seminar would teach me anything. I was just there to show my support of my babies reading the word.

But instead of a "step by step" reading directions on how to sponge up the word into your head and heart (which is what I would have done), this man named Chris Nicely proceeded to give tips on how to read the bible.

Genius. Everyone loves a list of tips.

Praise God I take notes. Here are the Tips:

1. Why do you want to read the word? Why equals How Each of us is created uniquely, so we have different needs as to why we are reading the word.

2. Never view God's word as a textbook It's the Word of God. It LIVES.

3. Never be educated beyond your capacity of obedience If you know it, you must do it, or you end up like a Saduccee and Pharisee, and no one wants that (James 1:22)

4. All of the bible is inspired, but not all is important in the season of life you are in Why do we never do Sunday School classes for kindergartners based on Song of Songs?

5. With each season comes new revelations "How did I miss that the first time?"

6. Never get stuck in the New Testament You don't start a movie half-way through.

7. Ask questions And answer all your questions by asking more questions.

8. Not all things are called to action, some may be called to awareness Why David and Goliath? To remind us of who God is. What must if have been like to receive the ten commandments like Moses?

9. ALWAYS remember the Context The bible is NOT ONE VERSE

10. Know what is cultural and what is timeless Study. Know the setting.

11. Create an atmosphere and an attitude of anticipation Why is it more easy to connect with God at camp? You know God is about to reveal something crazy! It's not a buffet.

12. Memorize scripture Read it over and over again and make it a part of your conversation. Repetition reduces resistance.

Crazy stuff, huh? Powerful. For me.

Recently, the book of Acts has made number 4 relevant to me. You see, i've been trying to read Acts since High School, but i just can't get it. I can't get into it. too many people, places, and speeches. I can read Ezra. i get excited about Leviticus. Heck, Song of Songs sounds marvelous. But Acts?

God knows the season. I'm life journaling (SOAPing) with my girl small groups through Acts right now. I have three small groups of 13 different girls on 3 different occasions meeting, reading DAILY and journaling a chapter a day of Acts. It's crazy.

But out of everyone, i believe i'm getting the most out of it. I talk about Acts 3 times a week, and i read it an hour a day and journal it. I have maps now. I have diagrams. I get excited about little words.

My confession: Hi, My name is Whitney Branscome, I'm a Youth Director, and I've never read the whole book of Acts.

I'm on Acts 16. Let's pray this momentum carries me through...

While Preparing for the Resurrection

We are finishing an 8 week series in our Junior Hai based on the life of Jesus. We've went through the whole book of Mark. Anyways, my job this tuesday is to cap it off with talking about Jesus raising from the dead. I had NO IDEA this would be so complicated.

It's times like these, when i'm pouring over the word and I feel these oxymoronic feelings. Such as: I feel so full of knowledge through research and studying, I don't know what to do with myself. But then, I feel like a spiritual anorexic, because there is NO WAY i know enough of anything to do something. But then, I look at my babies, and I think to myself: they really don't need me. The Lord is so teaching them things. Here are some of my favorite things I've heard from them recently:

"Whitney, I didn't think Peter and that other guy could heal that beggar-guy at that gate-like thingy in that book in the bible we are reading (Acts 3, by the way). I thought only Jesus could do that, so i was getting sad, like, oh no, don't try! But then they did. and that was cool."

(A prayer) "Lord Jesus, I pray that you would embalm us in Jesus..."

"Before I die, I want to lead worship for the Africans"

"How do you know where everything is in the bible, Whitney? Like, do you read it every day?"

"My favorite points from Ben's talk last night was that Men are leaders and women are to give birth (From our Friday night series through 1 Timothy...we were learning 1 Timothy 2 haha)"

(Praying for our leaders who were about to get married) "And i pray for Angela, as she is with child, for her children and their children's children, and their children's children's childrens that they will know you."

"Did you guys see Ryan's muffins, i mean (giggggle gigggle) his muscles!" (girls talking about my intern ryan's arms in a game of apples to apples)


"this is the best day of my life!" (after we did a chocolate slip n slide)

"How do you know all the songs we sing at church, Whitney? Do you listen to them while you're not at church?"

And my favorite thing EVER:

"Whitney, you have a house? Like a real house? I thought you slept on the couch in your office."

And this makes my job worthwhile. Here's to the resurrection!

Laughing with God

Story: I decided to google myself today. And this picture came up as #2. And i thought to myself, looking at the little thumbnail in the Google finder page, "Haha, that's classic. Look at that retarded picture. This would be so funny to post as my blog as the first thing I found when I googled myself!"...

But then I realized...that actually is me. That idiot i wanted to post as a joke ended up being a reality. A reality. My reality.

I mean, the truth is that this was me my senior year of high school at summer church camp with Sagemont. I was on the silver team. And i actually remember taking this picture. I really thought I looked really sporty and cool.

ugh.

This picture also came up when i googled my name. I like this one better. Sassy. Classy. No one says, "look at that idiot." No one's laughing at this whitney branscome google image. No one.

It reminds me of this song that keeps popping up on my Pandora:

Laughing with by Regina Spektor

No one laughs at God in a hospital

No one laughs at God in a war

No one's laughing at God

When they're starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God

When the doctor calls after some routine tests

No one's laughing at God

When it's gotten real late

And their kid's not back from the party yet.

No one laughs at God

When their airplane starts to uncontrollably shake

No one's laughing at God

When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else

And they hope they're mistaken

No one laughs at God

When the cops knock on their door

And they say we got some bad news, sir

No one's laughing at God

When there's a famine or flood

But God can be funny

At a cocktail party when listening to a God-themed joke, or

Or when the crazies say he hats us

And they so red in the head you think they're about to choke

God can be funny

When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way

When presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini

Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus

Sixteen and Pregnant, Take 2

In the past, I have said some pretty nasty things about "The Secret Life" and MTV pregancy shows...I even saw that I had done a blog a while back, vowing to keep the young babies of America pure by not allowing the young eyes to watch the likes of MTV and Secret Life.


I stand by my previous statement that "The Secret Life" is poison. It is. I hate the main character (I can't even utter her character's name aloud) and the actress is sooooo awful. The whole show is just awful. Not because of the content (although the content, too, is just a cultural disaster and i no longer wonder why America's youth is slowly rotting away) but because of the atrocious acting.
That picture makes me want to vomit. I really really hate Secret Life. And i might just hate ABC Family, too, if they didn't show reruns of Full House at night. They have kept me addicted.

Now, JUNO, however, is a completely different story. And so I begin my change of heart...
I want to start new, with no judgement, on T.V.'s portrayal of pregnant teenagers. Again, I know this is opposite to my previous fire and brimstone rant, but I recognize that I am a changing person, as God works on my heart.


I'm really sick of seeing myself and my self-righteous attitudes in books such as "What's so Amazing about Grace" and "Starving Jesus". I'm sick of looking more like a Pharisee than Jesus.


In Job 12:5, it says: Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those who feet are slipping.


Pretty much, Job is saying to his idiot friends (again, i don't read the parts where Job's friends talk, because I'm not that mature) that it is easy for people to point fingers and show judgment and despise those who have "misfortune". In Job's case, this misfortune was losing all his earthly possessions, having his children and family destroyed in one fell swoop, and being near-death sickly. I think the biggest misfortune is that his friends are idiots. But when you are not in that place, in the desperate of desperates, when you are doing pretty good, everything is working just peachy, then you cannot understand the despair of the desperate. Instead, it's "their fault"...


Pregnant teenagers. It's your fault. Pregnant out of wedlock? Your fault. Homosexuals? Your fault. You deserve EVERYTHING you get. Divorced people. Your fault. I don't feel sorry for you. In fact, I don't want anything to do with you.


Job's friends sound a lot like the Christian church today. They sound a lot like me in previous post...


Sixteen and Pregnant on MTV tells about four teenagers who are pregnant and the journey they take with their families, boyfriends, friends, schools, and strangers. At first, I thought MTV was saying, "look at how cool this is! you can be 16 and pregnant and be on t.v." I'm sooo sorry for that. I'm so Job's friends. (I'd like to be Zophar because of his Z name). But the more I watched, the more respect I had for these young woman and their boyfriends.


I'm terrified of being pregnant. Terrified. When I was a teenager, i would have nightmares that I was pregnant and not married. I wasn't afraid of child birth (although that looks like death) or the idea of being responsible for someone's life the rest of my life. I was afraid of the judgement of the church. Not of God. Of the church.


I'd never get to be a missionary. I'd never get to work with youth girls. No one would accept me.

Sixteen and Pregnant became Teen Mom. And I love teen mom. It is the most precious show. I love the teenagers in them. My heart gets melted by their desire to do things right. Of course, without Christ radically transforming them and redeeming them from their darkened thinking, they will not be able to be free. But they need a Savior, just like me...


My favorite couple is Catelynn and Tyler.

First of all, I really love Catelynn. Her mom is AWFUL and she has had to overcome so much anger at her, anger within her, being poor, being misunderstood...and she has the most gentle spirit. I also really like Tyler. Normally, teen dads are labeled as Deadbeats with no heart. But Tyler LOVES Cate, and you could see them working on their relationship.

They had a beautiful baby girl named Carley. And they gave Carley up for adoption to a great family who couldn't have a baby. The Mom and Dad are great. And they supported Cate and Tyler the whole time, as well as now. Cate and Tyler get to see Carley once a year, and they get sent pictures and letters all the time.

They brought me to tears today. A year and a half later, they are still dealing with the heartbreak of knowing they will never be with Carley as a family. They struggle with doubt. They struggle with self-worth.

Catelynn was talking today about how she feels no one will like her for who she is, so she lies all the time. She's in tears. Tyler's in tears. I'm in tears. And I know the Father is in tears, too.

Catelynn just wants grace.

O momentary grace of mortal men,

Which we more hunt for than the grace of God.

Shakespeare, Richard III