One of the aspects of my life that I cherish above many others is the blessing I have had to share in the beauty and brilliance of so many other cultures. We are quickly becoming a society where the bonds and links between human beings are stretching beyond borders and into what once was deemed remote and foreign. What a privilege it is to usher in that transformation!

As exhilarating as it is to travel the world and speak face-to-face with those that you only hear about in books and news stories - it is equally exciting to share those insights with folks back home. My world traveling (and start of this blog) began back in 2007 when I visited Tanzania and Australia for a summer. It was the start of a journey that continues each year. And with each year that passes, I have slowly been adjusting better to that shock of returning back home and trying to share my learning with friends and family.

The first few times was hard, and my natural response was to remain quiet and keep my thoughts to myself. And although I still have that tendency, it is changing from a state of frustrated silence to one of selective ramblings. Thoughtful traveling and intentionally placing ourselves to serve others along the way results in lots of thinking, and I can see how it would take a lifetime to sift through all the questions that arise.

One of the threads that has remained consistent on each trip is the deepening of my faith in, and widening of my understanding of, God. I have come to see God's grace shine through every speck of our frailty and illuminate every corner of our dreams and desires. His love is not constrained to the language or laws of any one religion, and he desires for all of us to experience relationship with and through him.

I am beginning to fully comprehend the power behind the lyrics "...and my heart will sing how great is our God"

Along the way, I get lots of questions revolving around why I am still a Christian, if I am still, how my understanding of it has changed, and what I think is relevant or important any more?

Well, there's a lot of answers to questions like those, but the one that has been on my mind the most recently revolves around why I am a christian and why I feel it is so relevant and important for the world.

I believe that God is truly beyond our comprehension and limited understanding. And I believe that he (or she or it or however you'd like to refer to God or a higher power) has revealed himself to us in countless ways. From the aboriginal traditions of Australia as to how their country was formed to the visions and prophecies from countless individuals throughout history, I believe God works through many forms. And in different cultures, God is known in different ways. But in no way have I been able to accept that God is limited solely to the understanding of one culture - such as the one which I have grown up in through the Bible.

Yet I do believe the Bible reveals some incredibly powerful and revolutionary understandings - and it is these primary distinctions which lead me to continually pursue Christ with all my heart.

The sole distinction I find in the Bible is that God is a god of a relationship. He exists in relationship, thrives in relationship, and desires for us to be in nothing but relationship. This is the beauty of the trinity - and it changes everything!

One of the main themes that I encounter while traveling is that the majority of us still believe in the power of love. I've found it in smiles of Jamaicans and the hospitality of Turks. I've found it in the songs of orphans in Tanzania and the wisdom of Bedouins in Jordan. It may sound cliche, but love is what makes this world go round.

And although that belief is sometimes shaded or dirtied over, we still long for the good in situations and for love to shine forth. It is the spark of hope we find deep inside the darkness of each of our lives. And I believe it is this love which is at the core of God, in fact, God is nothing but love. Brother Rogers of Taize wrote that "all God can do is give his love" - he is incapable of anything else.


Yet love can not exist separate from relationship; they are two components of life - and God - which go hand-in-hand. And this is the revelation we find through the trinity.

For God to be nothing but love, he must have others to share that love with - otherwise it is meaningless and with no purpose. Love must exist in relationship. God must exist in relationship.

When we look at the life of Christ and his time with us through the Gospel, his message can be boiled down to one core concept - God is love and he desires to be in a loving relationship with us just as He is in a loving relationship with his son. Christ's life was an example of what it looks like to live in that relationship with God. That was God's message to the world - that's the part that he so desperately wanted to reveal to us and choose to do so by bringing his own son into the world.

Sadly, the religion of Christianity over the years has muddied the message of Christ and misrepresented it to the rest of the world.

What I find to be the most interesting thing to observe now is how so many Christians feel the strong desire to defend Christianity, to defend God. But if I had to guess, their interest is not in defending the message of God, but in defending their individual understanding of truth. We like to appear that our view is the right view - and don't like when others challenge that understanding.

My fear is that for too many Christians, as years tick by they grow deeper in their faith but forget to grow wide in their understanding of God. They feel a need to defend because they have focused all of their efforts on growing deep, without taking the time or effort to notice how wide God's message is stretched. It's like focusing solely on the concept of love without continually placing ourselves in situations to show that love to others. Or it's like spending our entire career to master calculus without realizing how it can be used to better the world.

God needs no defendant. He needs discoverers and followers.


I try to remind myself of that distinction each and every day, and I find these lyrics to beautifully sum it up.

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me on magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you, my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you

We are all called to discover God in our own way and through our own cultures - but may we not let our depth in that discovery blind us to the revelations of others whose understanding may enrich our own journey. God is too great and too creative to restrict himself to one form of communication.

Personally, to help myself grow in that understanding, I am going to be reading through the Bhagavad Gita and the Koran this year, if anyone has other recommendations or would like to share thoughts back and forth among all these texts, feel free to get in touch with me!! I'm looking forward to an exciting 2011!

It's been a hectic past few months (as evident by my lack of blog posts) between starting up New Leaf and developing business plans for a talent agency I'm helping to create. And in the midst of all the formal and official business, I've also had the chance to get to know the dentist on a much deeper level recently, with visits at least once a week. They've taken my wisdom teeth, numbed my gums more times that I care to remember, and poked and prodded at my teeth with instruments that I would never wish to have in my mouth. But, it's been great to get to know all of them and we're now on a first name basis (unfortunately with the one lady, I also bit her finger accidentally, so we know each other even better than just first names). But, I've reached the end now and from here on out it's just checkups and the standard procedures - no more teeth removal and vicodin (fingers crossed).

With all the time at the dentist and sitting drugged up in the family room chair recovering, it's given me some time to think and reflect over the past few year. A lot of my sustainability ponderings and thoughts (I know, the really exciting stuff) have been moving over to New Leaf's blog to help that get going, so feel free to take a look and let me know what you think - all kinds of feedback is welcomed!

But I wanted to take the time before Christmas comes and go to share a video that really hit me on a more personal level and which sums up a lot of the thoughts spinning in my head. Take the time to listen through (it's 20 minutes but worth the time - and we could all use a break at this time of the year). A lot of my thoughts below are repeating the ideas of Brene Brown in the video, so I want to start by thanking her for making some of these thoughts a bit clearer.



Every now and then we bump into those rare individuals who seem to have discovered an incredible mystery that the rest of us are blind to. They posses a certain magic that we are drawn to and which captivates our attention. It creates an incredible connection that we don't want to let go of in fear that we might forget all of these wonderful things we discover about the world around us through them.

But perhaps we shouldn't be as concerned about the connection - and more focused on ourselves. Perhaps there is something blocking that mystery from being discovered within ourselves because we are afraid to fully uncover it. And instead of face the messiness of our inner self, we cling onto others who have managed to get through that pain and uncomfortableness already.

Perhaps that mystery we are afraid to uncover is vulnerability...

We all long for love and belonging, meaning and purpose. Some of us strive towards perfection to find it, others build a wall of disguise to pretend like we have found it. There are individuals who act as if the messiness within them is in fact ordered, confusing uncertainty for certainty. And there are some of us who belittle the accomplishments of others to make our own purpose feel greater.

Yet all along, no matter how hard we try, we manage to evade the simple truths of what actually lead to true happiness.

We refuse to deal with vulnerability.

The vulnerability of stepping out and saying "I love you" first. The vulnerability of switching career paths and starting all over again. The vulnerability of letting go of something that meant so much to you for so long.

The vulnerability of change, and exposing yourself for who you really are, both to the world around you, and to yourself.

Christmas unfortunately can be a time where people numb that vulnerability and set it aside while they focus on the 'real issues' at hand - like buying the right gift, or making the right meal, or wearing the right outfit to impress the right person. But perhaps during a season intended to focus on the pure source of happiness and goodness in the world - we've managed to confuse the real issues that are important.

There have been a few of those rare people in my life - the ones that remind me of the real issues in life. Those people that challenge me and confuse me. The ones that make me search deeper and uncover unsettling truths about myself. The ones that refuse to give up on me yet never force me. The ones that have lent a listening ear and reassuring smile. The ones that have helped me uncover my vulnerability and let me peel back layers one at a time. The ones that stood by me and rejoiced as I discovered who I truly was. And the ones who are aware of all the learning and growing still ahead.

I surely don't have things figured out, and god knows how many times I wish I could have done some things differently. But I am grateful that despite the hiccups and despite the curvy and indirect roads to get to my final destination, I have always been blessed with the best friends one could ask for.

There are the friends who have stuck beside me from elementary school onward to the friends I have bumped into for a few hours on a train, just long enough to share stories of our vulnerability. There have been the friends who ventured into new countries and new fields alongside me and the friends who refuse to let distance or timezones stop sharing our stories.

You all know who you are, and I wish I had a couple sets of hands and computers to simultaneously write letters to each of you. But alas, I procrastinated to the last minute and will have to settle with this for the time being. Thank you for everything each and every one of you has done over the last year - if only I could show the specific impact that each of you has made.

Jesus would often talk about seeds in his parables, and I've always found it a reassuring picture to sum up the impact you all have made. Some seeds germinate quickly, and others take awhile to fully flourish, but regardless, I am grateful for each impact you have made.  And some of those impacts have yet to fully develop, you'll have to keep waiting to see what they turn into.

May we remember the true reason for the season this Christmas and be open to the vulnerability within all of us. It's often the uncomfortable we avoid, yet the uncomfortableness which leads to beautiful discoveries. Continue to uncover those mysteries this upcoming year, and I pray that I might be apart of some of those discoveries alongside you!

Back in December I was lucky enough to hang out in Copenhagen for the COP15 Climate Change Negotiations. While there, I had the chance to hear the band Outlandish perform after a speech by Desmund Tutu, and instantly became a fan of the Danish hip-hop band.

Recently I've been on an Outlandish kick, and came across their song "Beyond Words." There's a lot of lyrics (which is always a plus) but one line has really stood out to me:

If I worship You in fear of hell, burn me in it
And if I worship You in hope of paradise, exclude me from it
But if I worship You for Your own being
Don't withhold from me Your everlasting beauty  

I believe that spirituality and religion have a lot to offer the world, but often the organized part of religion gets in the way and causes more harm than good. Regardless, I still rely largely on my faith as a guiding light for the work I engage on and way in which I interact with those around me. But one of the frustrations I have is that with the rise of religion, people have slowly begun to divide the world around them into black and white. We seem to have lost the grey areas.

Homosexuality is either right or wrong. Christianity is the only way to God. Climate change is either a made-up science or the end of the world. The middle east is full of terrorists. Black or white. Right or wrong. Republican or democrat.

In a world full of complexity and constantly evolving systems and information, we have developed a tendency to simplify a message to break it down into bite-sized pieces. But we often simplify and reduce that message to either A or B, and this quickly overlooks the invaluable details of a situation.

Part of this tendency can be linked back to the rise of organized religion and the separation between heaven and hell. Although I don't believe this to be the intention of Jesus, the teachings about hell have been used to instill fear in society as a reason to follow their specific religious tradition. Unfortunately, I think that's the exact opposite of what Jesus came to preach - and Outlandish speaks to this in their song, though coming from a muslim perspective as well (one of the reasons I love the band, they consist of both muslim and christians creating some neat lyrics).

Jesus came to flip organized religion on its head, and to sweep away the rules, traditions, and stumbling blocks that we humans like to lay down behind and ahead of us. He wasn't concerned with forcing people to follow him, instead he had a tendency to cause people to turn away because his teachings hit at the heart of the matter and were often too difficult for people to follow with their actions. But for those that did choose to follow, they experienced a life change that transformed them from the inside out.

How many religious folk tend to worship god out of fear of hell or joy of heaven? The problem is that both of these forms of worship emerge entirely from a selfish nature, out of the good or bad that will happen to us in the future. We have a hard time stripping the black and white away from situations, especially when they regard ourselves. I think Jesus was more concerned about those who worshiped God simply for who God was. I am who I am. By focusing so much on ourselves and narrowing our thoughts to either heaven or hell, we forget to focus on the beauty of God's love for us. Perhaps that's why so many people today are turned away from religion, because the religious folks have done a really good job at stripping that beauty and appeal away from God. We've wrapped the beauty of God behind a boring cardboard box - sometimes I just want to rip that box apart.

Now although Jesus was most concerned with our relationship with God, I think his teachings have a significant ripple effect into the rest of our lives and the way we approach challenges each and every day.

Take climate change for example. For some crazy reason, we seem to have let the issue morph into a black or white situation, especially in the political realm. Democrats are concerned about man-made climate change and republicans seem to be able to discredit all scientific accounts and opinions, forming the other side of the coin - that man-made climate change is a myth and not a concern.

But why must we split an issue grounded in sound science as either black or white? Why can't we agree on the fact that climate change is a significant challenge for all of society, and rather than debate the science of the issue, focus on the strategies and methods for responding to it. A significant and sustainable solution must come from both the democrats and republicans, and relying on any one party to determine our path forward is a scary thought.

Yet we for some reason resort back to the tendency to reduce life to black and white, right and wrong. It's a dangerous habit that has permeated not only our personal and spiritual lives, but now into the life of our global society and will have lasting impact on generations to come through the decisions we make today.

What is the role of sustainability, indigenous knowledge, and religion?

A Thousand Suns tells the story of the Gamo Highlands of the African Rift Valley and the unique worldview held by the people of the region. This isolated area has remained remarkably intact both biologically and culturally. It is one of the most densely populated rural regions of Africa yet its people have been farming sustainably for 10,000 years. Shot in Ethiopia, New York and Kenya, the film explores the modern world's untenable sense of separation from and superiority over nature and how the interconnected worldview of the Gamo people is fundamental in achieving long-term sustainability, both in the region and beyond.

One of the issues that the film raises (and it's not a long film, less than a half hour, so go check it out) is the importance of a holistic worldview. In most, if not all, indigenous cultures, a systemic understanding of the world around them and how they as a species fit into that larger picture is a critical component to their lifestyle. Through a deep connection with nature, these cultures have an ingrained understanding of sustainability - especially in relation to agriculture. One of the challenges is that with the rise of western religion, an emphasis (whether theologically correct or not) has been placed on the distinction between heaven and earth. One side effect from this distinction is that earth and its resources suddenly became viewed as things to be 'used' and set apart from holy - a realm that existed in heaven and the afterlife.

But is this consistent with a christian perspective? I guess it depends what kind of christian you talk to. Personally, I feel that it is largely written into the verses and books of the bible to be responsible stewards of the planet, but it really comes down to one key thing for me. As I wrote in the previous post, I believe there are two key lessons to take away from the bible: love god and love your neighbor.

Being wise stewards of the environment around us is a direct way of showing our love to both god and our neighbors - and this is where sustainability starts to come into the picture.

God is described as the creator of the universe and planet, and that all that we see around us was placed here as a gift to us. As with any gift we receive from a close friend, we tend to treasure it by taking care of it and perhaps displaying it prominently on a shelf in our bedroom. It doesn't matter if it's a standard off-the-shelf picture frame that you could easily replace, you tend to place higher importance on a gift from a loved one simply because of it's designation as a gift, and because you want to show love back to that person who gave it.

At the same time, all of god's creation, and all of our neighbors (both locally and globally) find themselves living on this great gift from God. And as we are all completely dependent on the land we live on, it's imperative that we seek sustainable solutions that responsibly care for our natural resources that so many around the world depend on. Loving our neighbors cannot stop at offering to babysit the neighbor's kids for an evening. It cannot stop at us taking time out of our busy schedules to share a meal with a community member going through a tough personal situation. And it can't even stop at donating money and resources towards humanitarian groups providing food to the hungry.

Loving our neighbors requires so much more - and it's not always the easy choice. Loving our neighbors requires us to deeply and sincerely look at our own lives and see how the actions we take and decisions we make impact those around the world. And it's sometimes difficult, uncomfortable, and messy to analyze those actions and decisions, but if we truly believe in loving our neighbors, then we would be willing to overcome any barrier, regardless how difficult.

Sometimes the hardest part is making the decision to simply start digging just a little bit deeper...

Since returning back to the states, I've been greeted with numerous media clips, emails, and stories of people in the US afraid of islamic extremists and muslims slowly overtaking the rest of the country, I know, it's sad and I wish I could change it somehow. It's definitely not all, or even the majority, of the view in the US, but sadly there has been enough people to cause a stir and begin creating a panic in the rest of the country. Yet whether it be islamophobia, homophobia, or obama-phobia - the problem is still the same - our culture reacts and responds to fear. And unfortunately, there are certain people within our society that recognize that fact and use it to advance their personal agenda.

I have been extremely blessed and fortunate to have traveled around the world and meet people from every culture and walk of life, a gift that I cherish above anything else I own or have experienced. For every place I visit, I try to share with others - through my blog, pictures and stories - the way of life for the rest of the world - a group of people that the majority of us never get the chance to meet. But sadly, I find that it's never possible to fully pass on that message to others, it's simply impossible without meeting someone face-to-face, I don't see any alternative. I wish I could bring my friends around the globe home with me so that all of you could meet them (but I haven't found a financial solution to that yet). If there's one thing I could figure out in life, it would be to help others understand the beautiful interconnectedness of our global society and reveal the incredible similarities we share as a single, thriving, human family - regardless of country, culture, or religion.

Just two months ago, I found myself walking along the shores of the Bosphorous river and spending time praying in some of the most beautiful mosques I've ever visited. I shared the streets with kids and their ice cream cones and veiled women picking up groceries for that night's festivities and celebrations. We fasted together during Ramadan and talked about the way religion has caused so many ridiculous barriers between person to person and person to God. We ate wedding meals together and dreamed about ways to end extreme poverty. Turkey was more beautiful and hospitable than I could have ever imagined.

Since returning to the states, I try to keep in touch with that group as often as possible and share our life stories together. But then I quickly remember that it is so much harder to have those conversations with people when I return to the states - because we in the US live in a perpetual state of fear, a fear that silences so much meaningful conversation and discussion. When I travel away from home, it is so much easier to talk with people, it's as if an invisible fence is torn down around me.

When I hear stories of pastors who want to burn Korans, I get so upset because it feels as if everything I try to stand for and represent to others around the world is ripped to shreds. I try to convince others that the US isn't as bad as the media tends to illustrate it as, but I have to question if I'm really defending the right side?

When will we ever put our differences aside and grow out of our fright and distrust for those not exactly like ourselves? When will we learn that we are equally, if not more, responsible for the mess in the world, but are blind to that simple truth? When will we stop bickering and perpetuating the problems around us and actually start finding meaningful solutions - that benefit all of humankind? When will we learn to grow up?

I hesitate to share my thoughts at times because of my lack of experience - I realize I am only 23 and have an entire lifetime of learning ahead of me. But there are certain things that I will not remain mute on, and I will passionately defend any culture or religion who I feel is being victimized, especially when the victimizing is coming from my own culture.

The world is not a simple place. There is conflict and pain. There are those who look to use the system for their own gain. There are those who thrive on evil over truth. And I wish I could change a lot of that. But I would never change the complexity of the world around me, for it is what makes this life so worthwhile and fulfilling. God's beauty is etched into every church and mosque, carved into every riverbank and countryside, and placed within each of us his children, regardless of religion.

Who are we to steal that beauty from others...

I have tons of friends who are committed followers of Islam and true stewards of peace. They are saddened when they hear of bombings and wars happening around the world. They are like you and I and have dreams and fears and hopes and difficulties. Why are we so afraid of those we don't know - is it impossible to think that they may share the same feelings and thoughts as we do? For my muslim friends, it doesn't matter if we sit together in a mosque, a church, or a buddhist temple - we can always talk with God - and together! I believe the two most important messages in the bible are to love god and love your neighbors - it would be a sad and cruel world if we were to fear god and fear our neighbors (but unfortunately, I think that's how we prefer to live).

I sincerely pray and hope that we begin asking the question "Were we building bridges or walls in the world?" I hope that answer is bridges. All I can do is start reaching out to others to help build my small bridge - from Turkey to Jordan, and Tanzania to Australia. I just hope the rest of the US will follow...

This past summer, by far one of the most important places I visited, and the one I miss most, is Taize in France. I made a bunch of posts about my experience in Taize (go check out July 2010) and since returning back to the states, I've been trying to figure out what it was that made Taize so special, why did it make such a difference on me?

Well this morning I was listening to a sermon and my pastor made the following point - Jesus didn't say my house will be called a house of music, or a house of worship. He didn't say that my house will be called a house of teaching or preaching. What Jesus did say, is that my house will be called a house of prayer.


It's not worship or preaching; prayer is what radically defines a place to be filled by a spiritual presence. It's not the walls of a beautiful church or the trickling water of a flowing stream - it's the prayer (our conversations with god) that fills those spaces which invites god into our presence.

While at Taize, I was struck by the simplicity and beauty of community in this small town hidden in the rolling french countryside. There was something that felt so 'magical' and 'holy' about this area, but what was it? I thought it was simplicity, but I think simplicity was simply a byproduct of the real reason - their focus on prayer.

Spending the majority of your day in prayer (we're talking multiple hours) inevitably creates a sense of simplicity. And I thought it was the simplicity that was missing from my home churches, but I don't think that that was the differentiating feature.

I've never really had a single church I call home - that's probably largely due to my tendency to travel the world and never be in one place for too long. So I tend to have different churches that have different strengths, and their combined efforts are what have a significant impact on me. I think the key aspects of church - prior to Taize - for me were teaching, worship, community, and service. And each church back home covered one of those areas quite well. But traveling to Taize - another church to add to my list (and I use the term church to refer to any community of believers together, whether it's in a traditional church building or not) - I realized that I was missing an important component - prayer. And it's funny that prayer is the one thing Jesus says will define his house - a house of prayer. I seemed to have missed that one in all my searching.

So it's not that the other components aren't still important, they are, it's just that prayer plays a significant difference in how I rely upon the other four areas. I'm slowly learning how to "raise the priority of prayer" in my own life, but I'm quickly realizing it's importance. I pray that I will never remain content or comfortable with my faith - that it will continue to expand and grow and uncover new truths - it's one of the most exciting journey's I've been on yet!

I should really track my frequency of blog post writing vs. time since my last international trip. It seems that every time I return back home after a trip abroad, I take at least a month break from writing. Maybe that's my way of dealing with culture shock back to the states, or perhaps I get swept so quickly back into this culture that I forget how much I enjoy writing. So, time to start this all back up again :)


First, for the personal side of things - since returning home I've been heavily involved with launching a nonprofit called New Leaf Initiative. It's an exciting platform for connecting individuals and organizations around the world to collaboratively tackle sustainability challenges together. Over the last few weeks, we've been building the community and reaching out to people who we know are committed to making the world a better place. It's been incredibly inspiring and encouraging to see the support of so many people who, when given the opportunity, jump at the chance to join others and make a difference. You can never have too many friends like that!! If you're interested in joining or working alongside New Leaf, check out our website and send us an email.

Now onto a few thoughts that have been tossing around in my head alongside New Leaf...

For those of you who know me, you probably realize that I like being busy. I like having my hands in a bunch of projects and helping impossible dreams turn into incredible realities. And as sincere as I can be, many of those projects come from a desire simply to make the world a better place - to do good.

But while I was up at State College this past week, my pastor posed a question that struck me and hasn't left my thoughts for quite some time. When it comes to leaving a mark in the world, what is your motivating passion?

And initially, my response was because I want to do good in the world. But then he went on, and began to tell this story.

In the days before his death, Jesus was hanging at home with all of his disciples and followers. While they were sitting around (presumably talking, maybe playing a bit of pool if they had it back then), Mary walks over to Jesus with a bottle of extremely expensive perfume, equivalent to about a year's wages. If that were nowadays, it would be equivalent to about $20,000 - clearly a very cherished possession of Mary's and something she had been saving for for quite awhile. As she neared Jesus, Mary opened the bottle of perfume and poured it over Jesus' body (maybe just his feet, perhaps his whole body, but the point being that she didn't just dab a bit on each wrist - she emptied the bottle). As she poured out her prized possession for Jesus, many of the disciples in the room became visibly upset and called Mary out, telling her that she was foolish in wasting the perfume. Rather, she should have sold the small jar of liquid and used the money to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, a direct response to Jesus' teachings over the past few days.

They were basically saying, "Mary, you could have done so much good in the world, why did you have to go and waste that opportunity?"

It's as if the disciples were responding to the question "When it comes to leaving a mark in the world, what is your motivating passion?" by saying - "to do good!"

I get it, I probably would have thought a very similar thing to those disciples.

But Jesus doesn't side with the disciples. He responds by telling them that the poor will always be with them, but he won't. What Mary had just done will be remembered throughout history when this story is told, and that she was doing what her heart led her to. What the disciples were overlooking was their motivating passion. Jesus wasn't looking for people simply to do good in the world; he was looking for people who love him. And out of those 'crazy love bursts,' people are led to extravagant generosity, and you find yourself pouring out $20,000 worth of liquid on someone's feet.

Sure, those love bursts will often lead to doing good in the world - because that seems to be one of the main purpose's of Jesus' time in this world - but it sometimes leads to more than that. It leads to irrational and seemingly absurd acts that aren't motivated by anything other than a crazy love for Christ, and subsequently, those around us. Sounds a bit radical, but I wouldn't expect much else.

So as those thoughts have been swirling around up in my head, I've been asking myself more frequently what is my motivating passion for doing good in the world? Is it for myself, is it for those around me, or is it out of a love for Christ.

I love the way that pastor dan explains how our hearts are transformed when we check our motivation - we find ourselves loving deeply, forgiving completely, serving sacrificially, and giving extravagantly. That's the kind of life I want to live. As I find myself caught up in the tornado of projects and exciting ventures over the next few months (which is inevitable), I hope that I can continue to remind myself of why I do the things I do, and who's behind it all.

If you're interested in listening more, check out Dan's sermon here, it's entitled 'Leave a Mark: Extravagant Generosity.' Thanks Dan for getting me thinking once again :)