Lessons in Allomancy Pt. 2: God's Mistborn

Hey gang.  =)  Hopefully you've all read my previous post.  If not, then I suggest you go read that first because otherwise some of this might not make a lot of sense.  Now then.  Quick recap.  Last time we talked about the first four of the basic eight Allomantic metals and how their abilities compare to various aspects of the Christian walk with God.  In the same way that pewter gives an Allomancer superhuman strength, God is also the strength of His people and through Him we can withstand infinitely more than we can alone.  Being in God’s Word and being filled by the Holy Spirit should open our spiritual eyes to the world around us and its needs just as tin sharpens the senses of an Allomancer.  Jesus Christ serves as our copper and protects us from Satan’s power and that of the world.  Lastly we looked at bronze and talked about how we should be able to recognize other Christians because they should stand out from the rest of the world.  Four metals down, and four left to go.  Let’s jump in. 

First of the two remaining physical metals (after pewter and tin) is steel.  Steel gives an Allomancer the ability to push metal directly away from them.  This has proved to be an especially useful ability during battle.  Allomancers capable of burning steel can push metals objects such as coins or nails towards their enemies at great speed, effectively creating deadly projectiles.  But if two Allomancers both push on a piece of metal directly between them, a serious pushing war comes into play.  Interestingly enough, there is a bit of physics involved in this particular kind of magic.  When two Allomancers push against each other, the one with the strongest push will win.  Some Allomancers are stronger than others, and so this can come in to play a bit.  But usually the winner of a pushing war is simply the biggest.  Weight becomes the all-important issue.  In fact, this is true with any push.  Pushing against a piece of metal that weighs more than you do, or that is being pushed by someone bigger than you, will result in your own push rebounding and sending you flying instead.  (This can be especially painful if there are walls behind you.)  The only way for the smaller man to winning such a pushing war is for him to find an anchor.  A suitable metal anchor must weigh more than your opponent or the piece of metal you are trying to push.  By bracing yourself against such an anchor you ensure that you cannot be pushed any farther back, which means that your opponent’s push will instead pass through you and rebound off of your anchor, which then sends it right back at him and in turn sends him flying. 

This reminds me of our own personal battles against Satan.  So often when we are faced with the coin of temptation we try to push it away with our own strength.  But behind that piece of metal is another person who happens to have a much stronger push than we do.  Sometimes I don’t think we realize exactly how powerful Satan is.  If he really wanted to, he could totally kick our tails.  In fact, the only thing keeping him from doing that are the boundaries that God has imposed upon him.  But even so, he is still stronger than we are.  When we engage him in a pushing war, we usually end up getting ourselves flung backwards into walls.  Alone, we have no chance of winning.  What we need is an anchor. 

We find that anchor in Jesus Christ.  In chapter 6 of Hebrews the author is talking about how we can be certain of God’s promises, and in verse 19 he says “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”  Hebrews 2:18 says that Jesus also suffered under temptation, and because of that he is able to help those who are being tempted.  Jesus needs no anchor to defeat Satan.  He has already done it.  He is more than strong enough.  And that is what makes Him the perfect anchor for us.  James 4:7 says this: “Submit yourselves to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  Notice the order there.  Submission comes first.  When we submit ourselves to God, when we obey His commands (especially those to get in His word, to pray, and to tell others), we are able to make Him our anchor.  He gives us the strength we need to resist Satan, to push against him so hard that he has to flee.  But we can’t do it alone.  We need Jesus to be our anchor.  Only with His strength behind us are we finally strong enough. 

 Then there is iron, the metal that turns an Allomancer into a bit of a human magnet.  Burning iron pulls metal toward the Allomancer.  As Christians, we should have a similar effect on people of the world.  Not all, mind you.  (Matthew 15:20)  There are people who are going to hate us.  But there are others who will be drawn to us.  That is, they will be if we stand out.  We’ve already established that Christians should be different.  Christians are supposed to serve (Mark 9:35).  They are supposed to love everyone, even their enemies (Matthew 22:39, Matthew 5:44).  There are a great many people who will scoff at that.  But there will be others who will find themselves drawn to it, often without even knowing why. 

Matthew 5:14-16 says this: “You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way let your light shine before men, that they may see your god deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  Have you even seen someone in a dark room with only one light source?  More often than not they are drawn towards the light for no apparent reason.  People tend to be drawn to light.  Jesus calls us the light of the world.  We should be something different in this darkness.  We should be the light that draws people and points them to the King of Kings.  That is our purpose. 

At the same time, however, we also need to be careful not to get sucked in.  The same laws apply to pulling as they do to pushing.  If you try to pull something larger than you, you end up shooting yourself towards it.  Romans 12:2 tells us not to conform any longer to this world.  We are to be set apart, a chosen people and a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).  That means we have to stay pure.  So how do we keep from being overwhelmed by the world?  We find ourselves a strong anchor.  Once again, God provides that.  If we are walking with God and are constantly in His word and His presence, if we are listening to the Holy Spirit in our lives, God will give us the strength we need to stand against the world and keep ourselves pure.  Without Him, it would be impossible.  But nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). 

This brings us to the last two of the mental metals.  First is brass, the metal that allows an Allomancer to soothe away chosen emotions.  Christ is a bit like that with us.  When we give our lives to Him we find something that we can trust in.   We find a savior who loves us, who tells us not to be worried or anxious or afraid because He will provide (Luke 12:22-31).  Jeremiah 1:8 says not to be afraid because God will rescue us.  Philippians 4:6 says not to be anxious about anything.  Revelation 7:17c tells us that God will wipe away all our tears.  John 16:33 says to take heart because God has the final victory.  John 14:27 says not to be afraid.  God has the ability to soothe our emotions and free us from the bondage of worry.  He can ease our sorrow and rid us of our bitterness and anger.  But first we have to trust Him.  We have to be willing to surrender ourselves to Him and give Him control and let Him work in our hearts.  Because honestly, worrying about life and being angry at people won’t get us anywhere in life.  But if we are willing to give control to God, Philippians 4:7 says the peace He gives us will transcend all understanding.  When we are willing to let go of those emotions God is able to give us peace and joy.  You’ll be surprised how much lighter you feel when you aren’t carrying all of those emotions around. 

Then, of course, there is zinc.  This metal allows an Allomancer to riot people’s emotions, causing them to feel certain things.  This one goes a bit in hand with brass.  When we give our worry and anger and shame and sorrow over to God, we are freed from the burden of those emotions.  This instead leaves us free to be on fire for God.  The Gospel calls us to be bold and to share with all the world the good news about Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20).  Psalm 27:1 says that the Lord is our stronghold and because of that we have nothing to fear.  Psalm 118:6 even tells us not to be afraid of men because they are powerless against our God. 

Sometimes we are afraid to stand up.  We are afraid to share God’s word because we are afraid of rejection or afraid that people will mock us.  But in Matthew 10:19-20 Jesus says not to worry because when the time comes the Spirit will speak through us.  When it really matters, God will give us the words to say.  In verse 27 Jesus says that what He tells us, we should proclaim from the rooftops.  ­The first century Church was willing to die for what they believed.  They proclaimed it proudly in the streets and in the temple courts.  Paul himself actually wanted to go to Rome so that he could witness to Caesar!  Peter went to prison more than once (Acts 4:1-3, Acts 12:1-18).  Paul endured stoning (Acts 14:19-20), shipwreck (Acts 27:27-28:6), and many other things.  Not counting Judas, ten of the eleven disciples died as martyrs for their faith.  The eleventh, John, died in exile.  And yet no matter how many Christians died, Christianity itself simply exploded.  Nothing could stop it.  Why is that?  Part of that is simply the power of the Gospel.  It refuses to be extinguished.  The other part, however, is due to the fact that the followers of Christ refused to be silenced.  The power of Christ in us should give us a boldness that flies in the face of all common sense, a courage that enables us to fearlessly stand up to anyone and anything and proudly proclaim the gospel.  The fire of God acts like an Allomancer rioting our emotions, igniting our own hearts and passions with that same fire.  And that fire will never die unless we choose to let it go out.  Guys, it’s time to get back into the Word and reignite the fire inside our hearts so that we can share the Gospel without reservations.  So many people today are concerned with finding “God’s calling” on their lives.  Let me tell you something.  Our first and most important calling is to bring glory to God and to follow Him in all we do.  Our second calling, coming directly out of that, is to tell others about Him.  It’s as simple as that.  All we have to do is dig in, to restart the fire, to turn our metals on, and God will give us the courage and power to do the rest. 

So those are the basic eight Allomantic metals: pewter, tin, copper, bronze, steel, iron, brass, and zinc.  But before I wrap this up I’m going to introduce you to two more quick metals.   These so-called “god” metals are fictional metals known as larasium and atium.   

The first of these two, and my personal favorite, is atium.  Atium is more or less the gold of Allomancy.  Whoever burns it is able to see a short time into the future.  This allows them to see their enemy’s blows before they even fall, thus enabling them to devise a counter move.  In other words, they know every single move their enemy will make before it is even made.  In a head-to-head battle between two Allomancers, the winner will always be the one who has more atium, or who even has any at all.  I was going to use an illustration here, but then I realized that it would spoil one of the most epic scenes in the entire trilogy (which you should definitely read!), so I’ll try this instead.  Just imagine for a minute that you had an entire army of atium-burning Allomancers, plus enough atium to keep them all going for hours.  The entire army would literally be invincible.  There would be absolutely nothing the enemy could do aside from surrendering.  It would be absolutely impossible for them to beat an enemy who can foresee their every move and plan a way around it. 

Guys, this is a bit like the power that we as Christians have.  You see, God is all-knowing.  He knows all of Satan’s plans before he even puts them into action, and He knows how to counteract every single one.  Now granted, sometimes He chooses to let the attack fall.  But again, that always serves the purpose of either bringing glory to God or strengthening our faith.  Often it does both.  But unless God allows it, Satan literally cannot touch us.  God sees the attacks coming, and He moves us into a position where we have the ability to defend ourselves.  In the first chapter of Job, Satan has to appear before God and actually ask permission before he can even touch Job's possessions, let alone the man himself!  And even then he has to remain within the boundaries God sets upon him!  The only other way for Satan to get to us is when we choose to walk away from God, to stop burning our atium, and allow him to strike a blow.  As long as we remain in God, Satan can't even touch us. 

But there’s even more to it than that.  With the power of atium, an army is invincible.  And our army has an unlimited supply of atium in the form of Jesus Christ.  Hebrews 13:5b (referencing Deuteronomy 31:6) says “‘Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.’”  He is always with us.  And because of that, we know that our army will win.  In fact, we already have.  Revelation 1:18 says that Jesus holds the keys to death.  He died and rose again, paying the price for our sins, conquering death, and proving that He is stronger than Satan will ever be.  There is literally nothing Satan can do.  He continues to fight, of course, still believing that he can somehow win.  But we have the atium, and we can see the end.  The battle may be hard now, but there will come a day when the world ends and God reaches out and casts Satan down for eternity.  We will win.  And if we know that, then we have even more courage than before.  Knowing that we win, what do we have to fear? 

Last but not least is larasium, the metal that turns a regular person into an Allomancer.  When we accept that we are sinners and need a savior, when we understand that Christ died to pay the price for our sin and then rose again to conquer death, when we accept His gift of salvation and give our lives to Him, we suddenly gain the ability to access the powers of all the other metals.  He is the one who turns us into Mistborn, capable of utilizing all of the powers of Allomancy.  Without Christ, none of this is possible.  Without Him, we are completely alone in this world.  We need Him more than we could ever imagine.  This is why we have to tell others about Christ.  Because our enemy is real and he is powerful, and without the intervention and power of Christ the world is powerless against him.  Not to mention they are on the wrong side of a war they can never hope to win.  In Matthew 12:30 Jesus says very clearly that whoever is not for Him is against Him.  In light of this, knowing that we hold the knowledge that can save the world and bring them to the winning side, how could we possibly be silent?  If you had the real, physical, honest-to-goodness power of Allomancy and could give anyone you wanted the option of having the same gift, wouldn't you be telling as many of your friends as you could?  And yet, the gift of salvation is worth so much more than Allomancy could ever be.  Shouldn't we be even more eager to share the knowledge of a gift that can save people's souls?  It's time to stop being silent, guys.  It's time to stop sitting on our hands and to open our mouths and to go and tell a lost world that we have access to the thing that they will otherwise waste their whole lives searching for. 

Well, that concludes my elaborate metaphor.  =)  There are six other metals left in Allomancy, but we’ll let those alone.  I hope you guys have learned some things from this.  I know I definitely had a great time writing it.  Now it’s your turn.  Dig yourself into the Word and start your own study of what God says.  Oh, and be sure to read the Mistborn books!  But the Bible comes first.  Always make God first.  If you guys have any comments about anything I said, please let me know.  And also let me know if I can pray for you in any way.  I love you guys!

-Ash

Lessons in Allomancy Pt. 1: Reborn is Mistborn

Anyone who has known me for any amount of times knows that I love to read.  My favorite genre, of course, is fantasy.  I’m not exactly sure what it is that draws me to this genre, but there is just something about stories that could never really happen that I find enjoyable. 

Recently I discovered a series called The Mistborn Trilogy.  I bought the first book to read on our car trip to Virginia, and I had all 500 pages finished by the end of the first day.  When we arrived I quickly bought the other two and read them in less than a week (I had to work around freshman orientation).  The first book has a fairly simple premise.  The tyrannical and immortal Lord Ruler has ruled the world for the last thousand years.  Black ash falls from the sky, what little vegetation survives is brown and withered, and at night the land is covered in mists that are rumored to kill people.  There are two groups of people: the down-trodden skaa, who work as slave labor in the country and abused peasants in the cities, and the pampered nobility, whose ancestors were supporters of the Lord Ruler when he first seized power.  In the capitol city of Luthadel a criminal mastermind named Kelsier is gathering a crew and crafting an elaborate plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler and free the empire once and for all.  But first he’s going to have to win the help of Vin, a young thief girl who trusts no one.  Vin will then have to master Allomancy, a magical power granted only to nobles, if Kelsier’s rebellion is to have any chance at all.  And even that may not be enough.  These books are unlike anything I have every read.  Very rarely do you come across a work of fiction that is as incredibly original as the Mistborn series.  Unfortunately they were not written by a Christian author, so the idea of divinity is skewed.  But the story itself is brilliant.  Pick one up, and I can all but guarantee you that you won’t be able to stop until you have read all three. 

But enough of my book review.  (Yes, there really is a spiritual connection here.  Just hang with me for a minute.)  In the Mistborn universe, there is a form of magic known as Allomancy.  Certain metals in this world carry special powers.  Allomancers are people who are capable of “burning” these metals.  By ingesting scrapings of a particular metal they are able to harness its power, at least until the metal is used up.  (There is also Feruchemy and Hemalurgy, which also involve the properties of metals, but those aren’t important right now.)  Mistings, then, are people who are capable of burning only one specific metal, meaning they have only one power.  Mistborns, on the other hand, are capable of burning any and all metals containing Allomantic powers.  The trilogy lists fourteen such metals, with two yet remaining undiscovered.  Some charts I have seen actually list eighteen metals, but that’s beside the point.  (Again, I promise I really am taking this somewhere.)  The most common, and arguably most useful, are the basic eight metals, which are composed in to four sets of two.  Burning pewter strengthens an Allomancer’s physical abilities like agility and physical strength, while tin enhances the senses (sharpening hearing, sight, etc).  Steel gives an Allomancer the ability to push metal directly away from themselves, while iron instead pulls metal towards them.  Skilled Mistborns are able to combine these two skills into something that resembles flying.  Brass allows an Allomancer to soothe people by suppressing specific emotions such as anger or fear.  Zinc instead riots them, flaring up desired emotions.  Bronze allows people to sense nearby Allomancers and determine which metals they are burning.  Copper, on the other hand, acts as something of a smokescreen.  An Allomancer burning copper is able to shield those around them from Seekers (bronze Mistings). 

Now I know that can be a lot to remember, so I’m including a picture of an Allomantic table so you can check the various metals and their powers when I mention them.  The charts include the specific metal (organized by type), the nickname for a Misting who can only burn this metal, the symbol for that metal, and a description of its capabilities.  (Click the picture to open it full-size in another tab.) 

By this point I’m sure you’re wondering, “Ash, where in the world are you taking this?”  Allow me to explain.  Many of you may have noticed from this blog that I’m something of a metaphor nerd.  I can find metaphors in just about anything.  As I was reading the Mistborn books, I was struck by how many of the Allomantic abilities reminded me of aspects of our Christian walk with God.  And I’ve decided to share my crazy metaphor with all of you.  =)

The easiest metal to start with, I think, is pewter.  An Allomancer burning pewter becomes much stronger, faster, and more agile than a normal person.  These abilities can be used to gain a strong advantage in a fight, to survive high jumps, lift heavy objects, etc.  Pewter also helps a person keep going when they should be exhausted and can keep them from dying from wounds that should kill.  An Allomancer flaring pewter (pushing the ability to its absolute limit and strength) can run for days without stopping and cover vast distances while doing so.  So what do Superman-style powers have to do with Christianity?  Allow me to explain.  Life is not easy.  Any person can tell you that.  There are good moments and highlights and fun experiences, but for every up there is almost always a down.  A hill is simply not a hill unless there’s a valley next to it.  There has to be a low in order for us to fully appreciate the high. 

Granted, the lows in life are typically caused by the fact that man as a whole is sinful and fallen and we live in a world that is sinful and fallen.  But Jesus Christ loved us so much that He died on the cross so that we might have eternal life.  When we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we gain an advantage over the rest of the world.  That advantage is strength.  Jesus Christ becomes, quite literally, our strength, though it may not always be a physical strength (Exodus 15:2, 2 Samuel 22:33, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 46:1-3, Isaiah 41:10, Philippians 4:13).  He is our rock, the one we cling to when life gets hard (Proverbs 18:10).  He is the one who gives us a reason to keep going, who pulls us through all of the bad times (Isaiah 40:29-31, Isaiah 41:10).  He is the reason we can have joy even in the midst of sorrow (Habakkuk 3:17-18, Philippians 4:4).  We know that no matter what happens, God will take care of us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Romans 8:28).  And no matter what happens, nothing can ever separate us from God (Romans 8:35-39).  Basically, Jesus is our pewter.  He makes us stronger than the world, strong enough that we can endure anything.  Now when an Allomancer stops burning pewter, particularly after flaring it for a long period of extreme physical exertion, their body is completely exhausted.  Similarly, if we choose to walk away from God that strength disappears and we are forced to face the world alone, something none of us are strong enough to do.  It may work for a time, but in the end it will catch up with you.  If we stick with God, however, if we walk in His truth, if we keep burning our pewter, so to speak, we will be strong enough (with God’s help) to handle anything that comes our way. 

The opposite and yet companion of pewter is tin.  Burning tin enhances all of an Allomancer’s senses, and thereby changes how they see the world around them.  Everything is sharper and clearer.  In the same way, reading God’s word and living with the Holy Spirit inside us serves to sharpen our own eyes.  We are called to see the world as God does.  In Matthew 9:36 Jesus sees the crowds and it says that He “had compassion on them because they were... like sheep without a shepherd.”  Jesus felt for people. When He sees Jerusalem in Luke 19:41 He actually weeps because He knows that so many in the city are lost and because He knows of the trials that  the Jewish people as a whole will soon face (in 66 A.D. the Jewish people rebelled against Rome and four years later the Romans destroyed the temple and much fo Jerusalem).  Throughout His ministry, Jesus had a heart for people.  We should be the same way.  When we look at the world around us, we should see it as Christ did.  We should feel compassion for the people around us.  The sight of people who are hurting or who are far from God should break our hearts, just as it did Christ’s.  We need to see with spiritual eyes, just as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:18.  We can’t see people’s souls, and yet those are what will last forever.  1 Samuel 16:7 says that the Lord looks at the hearts of men.  So should we.  Guys, we have got to learn to use our spiritual eyes.  We need to learn to live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  So many of us have become content to rely on our physical eyes.  We see the world around us, see people who are hurting, people who need Christ, and yet we do very little.  We’ve stopped burning our tin in favor of being able to live in our comfort zones.  Guys, whether we know it or not, this is sin.  It is direct defiance of God’s command to go and tell and serve.  And I’m not just talking to you.  I’m just as guilty of this as anyone.  But it’s time to finally put a stop to that.  God has called us to reach the world (Matthew 28:19-20).  We need to wake ourselves up, to turn our tin back on, and start living life with spiritual eyes. 

I’m going to skip down to two of the mental metals now.  The first is copper.  Copper Mistings are known as Smokers.  A Smoker, especially a strong one, can protect the other Allomancers around him from being detected.  When we place our faith in Christ, He becomes our Smoker.  He is our hedge of protection.  Psalm 32:7 says that God is our hiding place and that He will protect us from trouble.  Proverbs 18:10 says the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous will run to Him and be safe.  Psalm 28:7 says that the Lord is our strength and our shield.  In Psalm 143:9 David speaks of hiding himself in God.  As long as we stay near our Smoker, as long as we stay in God’s word and remain in Him, we are safe.  While we are in that place Satan cannot lay a finger on us unless God chooses to let him.  And when that happens, it is always for the purpose of strengthening our faith and bringing eventual glory to God.  But aside from that, we are invincible as long as we stay near our Smoker. 

On the flipside of that is bronze, the metal of Misting Seekers.  Bronze allows an Allomancer to sense others using Allomancy nearby.  As Christians, we are constantly burning bronze, constantly on the unconscious lookout for other believers.  They should be easy to recognize.  One Christian should stand out to other people in the same way that other Allomancers automatically stand out to Seekers.  But for some reason, we don’t.  At least, not in this modern Americanized culture where almost everyone claims to be Christians.  Why is that?  Why is it so hard for us to tell the true Christians from the false, the real from the mediocre?  The perfectly honest answer is that somewhere along the way our Christianity has fizzled out.  The fire that began to burn inside of us when we gave our lives to Christ has slowly been allowed to died over the years.  The minute an Allomancer stops burning metals, it becomes impossible for a Seeker to distinguish them from anyone else.   The same is true of Christians.  As soon as we walk away from God, as soon as we stop reading our Bible every day, as soon as we start putting off prayer until tomorrow because we "don’t have time", our metals cease to burn.  And so does the fire inside of us. 

Christians are supposed to be something special.  1 Peter 2:9 says that God has chosen us out of the world.  As a result of that we are supposed to bear fruit (John 15:16), fruit that should be evident and should show us to be unlike the rest of the world (Galatians 5:22-23).  We are supposed to be set apart, no longer conforming to what the world says (Romans 3:22).  We should both look and act born again, making it very obvious that we are something completely different from the rest of the world. 

One of the girls on my hall said the other night that so many people like to say that they are at a standstill in their relationship with God, but that this is actually impossible.  Either we are walking with God, or we are walking away from Him.  Matthew 12:30 makes this very clear.  Jesus says that whoever is not with Him is against Him.  There is no middle ground.  If we are not burning our metals, then we look just exactly like everyone else.  Guys, we cannot afford to get this one wrong.  We can no longer afford to be mediocre cultural Christians who, to quote a video from my class, “go to church on Sunday and worship like God exists, and then spend the other six days living like He doesn’t.”  This is what the rest of the world finds so hard to believe about Christians.  They know what Christianity teaches.  The world says that the greatest person is the richest and the smartest, and yet in Mark 9:35 Jesus directly contradicts that by saying that the greatest in heaven will be the lowest, the one who serves the most.  We are supposed to serve the world, to be an example of Christ’s love.  The world knows that.  They know that we are supposed to be different.  But when we turn off our metals and act just like them, all they see is a bunch of fake hypocrites. 

I’m not trying to offend anyone here.  I’m talking to myself just as much as anyone else.  But we have got to get this right.  We have got to get out of our comfortable American churches with the plush seats and the fuzzy feel-good sermons and get out into the world and start living for Christ.  The disciples didn’t have any of that, guys.  They had no high-paying jobs, no comfortable beds to sleep in, no warm meals to go home to at night.  Their lives were not easy.  In fact, the first-generation church was persecuted so much that many of them died martyrs’ deaths.  But persecution does something incredible: it causes the church to grow.  Seriously.  It's a bit like a grease fire.  The more water Satan throws on it, the worse it gets.  At this very moment the underground church in China is exploding, while the church in America and western Europe seems to be on its death bed.  Why is that?  I believe that one of the biggest problems is that western Christianity has become comfortable.  It's easy to be a Christian in America.  And when life is easy we think we don’t need God anymore.  We get comfortable, and so we turn off our metals and without even meaning to we start to fall away.  If we're not being forced to struggle for our faith, it won't grow.  Satan knows that.  In fact, it seems to me that a lack of persecution is actually the strongest attack Satan can make on the church.  Because then when the trials finally come our faith has grown so weak and feeble that we fall away. 


In the book Dune, the beginning of an ingenious sci-fi series by Frank Herbert, a young man named Paul Atreides becomes the leader of the Fremen people and leads them to rise up and overthrow the corrupt empire they have been enslaved by.  After that his fighters sweep across the galaxy on a bloody jihad, bringing all of the planeets under his countrol.  These men believed so strongly in Paul and in what he stood for that they were willing to die for it.  By the second book the empire has stabilized somewhat.  In the third book, however, the jihad is over and those same men who were ready to throw away everything for their beliefs are now wealthy and comfortable, living in secure positions as supporters of Paul.  There is no longer a war to fight, and as a result their religion has gradually been watered down to nothingg more than trappings and rituals.  The unshakable faith that would have led them to fight and die willingly is gone.  Paul notices this, and he gives a speech to his people (in disguise), mocking their so-called "faith".  He asks the crowd: “Is your religion real when it costs you nothing and carries no risk?  Is your religion real when you fatten upon it?”  Guys, this is what has happened to the American church.  Not every church, but the majority overall.  Christianity has become the popular thing to do.  The perscution has died away.  we no longer have to fight to believe.  Christianity no longer carries a risk.  And as a result, our faith has died. 

Guys, if we are not completely sold out for God and completely on fire for Him (or at least longing for it and really trying to make it a reality), then we need to seriously reevaluate our walks with Christ.  Joshua 24:15 says this: “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...  But as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.”  You can’t serve both God and yourself.  You can’t walk towards Him and away at the same time.  You can’t burn your metals and still blend in with the crowd.  There is no middle ground here.  We have to make a choice.  Will we continue to blend in with the world, hiding the knowledge that could save countless souls?  Or will we stand up and proudly turn our metals on, letting the world know exactly who we are?  Because if we do, I promise you that they will notice.  It’s like John Wesley once said: “Set yourself on fire with passion, and people will come for miles to watch you burn." 

I’m going to stop here because this is getting pretty long and there are still four more metals to go.  (Well, five, but I’ll explain that later.)  I hope you guys are enjoying this and learning something from it.  If there’s any way I can pray for you guys, please let me know.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I love you guys!

-Ash

Coffe Shop Christianity

When I think of American culture, one of the first things that comes to my mind is Starbucks.  You never have to look far to find someone drinking something from Starbucks.  There’s one on practically every corner of every town.  In the big cities, there might even be two on a corner.  If you asked, most people would tell you that they go to Starbucks for the coffee, or maybe even the wireless internet.  But why else do they go?  What is it about coffee shops that people are so attracted to? 

In Poland, Starbucks had just arrived.  The coffee shop itself, however, has been around for centuries.  In Krakow there are almost as many coffee shops as there are apartment buildings.  The main square is completely surrounded by coffee shops.  And most of them are almost full.  The question is, why? 

A few weeks ago my family was driving through Edmond, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City.  There was no one outside, no movement other than cars driving up the road.  Not to mention that everything just felt so far apart.  The hundred degree heat didn’t help either.  Neither did of all of the flat land and fried brown grass.  It was such a stark comparison to the cobblestone streets I had walked only days before.  Streets full of people walking and talking.  Streets lined with coffee shops.  Something about the landscape rolling by really began to bother me, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. 

As we drove, my dad started telling us about a book he had read by Francis Chan.  (Great speaker and author, by the way.)  In this particular part of the book, Francis was talking about being in a coffee shop in a big city.  As he was sitting in the coffee shop, he began observing people.  Some of them were using their internet.  Some of them were drinking coffee.  Most of them were sitting in groups talking.  Watching them all sitting together simply enjoying each other’s company, Francis suddenly realized what it is about coffee shops that draws people so much.  It’s the life.  Coffee shops are alive. They’re full of people talking and laughing and fellowshipping and just being together and enjoying each other.  You can walk into just about any coffee shop and immediately feel life just rolling off of them.  Especially in the big cities, where everyone is so busy and focused on their own life, coffee shops provide a chance for people to be together and be what we are designed to be: social beings. 

There are very few places in America where people can walk from place to place, and what few there are usually crammed with people hurrying about their busy schedules.  Streets in America lack the same life and excitement found in European streets.  Perhaps this is why we enjoy Europe so much, why we are drawn to places like Starbucks.  Because they are full of life. 

As Christians, Jesus calls us to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16).  We are supposed to stand out as something different.  We are supposed to be alive in a world of people who are spiritually dead.  (Ephesians 2:1-5)  In a way, we should be like the coffee shops of the earth.  People should see something different in us.  We should be filled with the Holy Spirit, alive in a way that is totally different from anything the world has ever seen.  And that life should draw people to us just like coffee shops draw people.  But to do that, we have to drench ourselves in the Word of God.  We have to drown ourselves in His mercy and His love.  We have to live and breathe truth.  Because what we put into our hearts will come out.  And when we are following God with all of our hearts, when we are over-flowing with His love and grace, when we are filled up with the Fruits of the Spirit, people will see that we are different.  That we are alive.  And then they will want what we have. 

So the next time you go to Starbucks, take a look around you.  See the life.  Soak it up. Then go sit down with the Word of God and let Him bring you to life.  Let’s shake ourselves out of our busy lives and start living like coffee shop Christians. 

-Ash

All the World's an Airport

(Yes, it really has been four months since I lasted posted on this blog.  I won't pretend that I have a really good reason, because I don't.  Aside from AP exams and finals and graduation and AGM and moving back to Ameerica and starting college.  But quite honestly, I could have found time to write another entry if I'd really wanted to.  And I did think about it almost every day.  I just couldn't seem to think of anything to say.  Part of that was because I did drop the ball for a while as far as reading my Bible. But starting school on a Christian campus has helped me get back in to that.  And so now I have tons of ideas, just in time for school.  As always, let me know what you think about this blog.  And if there's any way I can pray for you, please let me know.  I love you guys!) 

On July 28^th our family flew into Newark airport in New Jersey.  After two and a half years in Poland, we were about to be back on American soil.  Part of me was interested to see what it would be like.  Would it feel like coming home after a long journey?  Or would it just be another stop in our twenty-six hour trip?  As we walked off the plane and down the hallway, I found myself taking in all of the sights and sounds.  Brightly colored clothing.  Loud American voices.  Advertisements in a language I could understand.  But as we got in line for passport control, I was struck by a strange thought.  This didn’t feel like a homecoming.  In fact, just the opposite. 

I felt like a foreigner in my own country. 

Having spent six years of my life in post-Communist European countries, there are days where I consider myself more European than American.  In fact, when people ask where I am from, my gut reaction is usually to tell them “Poland.”  I actually have to stop and think for a second before I can say “Oklahoma.”  In many ways I just feel more Polish.  I get frustrated with America’s lack of public transportation.  And the lack of sidewalks.  I get annoyed when people complain about having to walk to the dining hall, about a ten minute walk from our dorm, because in Poland I had to walk this far almost every day just to get to the tram line.  I will admit, however, that walking to North Campus can be a serious pain in hot August weather.  But the distance itself is nothing.  Hersey’s chocolate just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.  Where’s the Milka?  And what’s up all the fruit juices being half sugar?  After three weeks back in the States I am sick of fried food and sugary sodas. I ate salad two days in a row in the cafeteria, something I would never do at home, just because I was desperate for something green.  I keep my room stocked with apples so I have access to fruit.  I also find myself approaching relationships with the reserved, post-Communist mindset, and no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to convince my brain that in America how many hoops you have to jump through is not, in fact, directly proportional to who you know.  The few Polish words I know have permanently inserted themselves into my vocabulary, and I have to stop myself from using them around my American friends.  In short, I feel Polish. 

Standing in passport control in the Newark airport, wishing we could turn around and just go “home”, I was suddenly struck by the realization that this is how Christians are supposed to feel about the world.  John 15:19b says “As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.”  As a kid I used to have a T-shirt that had on it a fish in a little tiny bowl.  Underneath the fish it said “This world is not my home.”  I had always accepted that phrase with my head, but my heart had never completely understood it until that moment. 

Have you ever seen the movie The Terminal with Tom Hanks?  The movie is about a man who gets on a plane to America.  While he is in the air a violent revolution occurs in his country, and by the time he lands the U.S. has refused to recognize the new government.  In a way, it’s as if the country no longer exists.  Which means that Viktor, played by Tom Hanks, is technically not from anywhere and so his documents are no longer valid, leaving him stuck in the airport.  He spends the rest of the movie living in the airport while trying to find a way to leave.  In the process he touches the lives of many people who happen to be there. 

In a way, this world is like an airport.  We don’t really belong here.  This is just a layover on the way to our final destination: heaven.  Having moved six times in my eighteen years, sometimes I don’t feel like I belong anywhere.  I can get caught up in looking for a place that feels like “home.”  But the truth is, while I may find places I love, I will never really find a place that is truly my home.  Such a place just doesn’t exist in this world.  That was something I had to learn to give up over the years.  I have had to learn to enjoy the terminal where I am, but to also accept that it is not my final destination. 

Sometimes the airport is a fun place to be.  Personally, I love airports.  I basically grew up in them.  Some of my favorite memories are from being laid over in an airport with other MK’s and having to find ways to entertain ourselves.  The moving walkways were always a favorite.  Especially when someone had a video camera.  My favorite time was when a group of us flew through Frankfurt, Germany and discovered that the international terminal has a McDonalds with a rocket-shaped playground.  We spent the rest of our time there playing with our Alvin and the Chipmunks happy meal toys.  But no matter how much fun we might have had, we always knew that the airport was not our final destination.  Eventually our plane would arrive and we would move on to somewhere infinitely better.  Life is like that too.  Someday the layover will end and we’ll catch a plane to paradise where we’ll spend eternity worshipping our God. 

So when the airport gets boring and you’ve run out of money and your I-pod battery is dead and your back hurts from sleeping on the floor with your suitcase as a pillow, remember that this is not the final destination.  Someday, things will be even better than you can possibly imagine.  But as long as you’re here, you might as well make the best of it.  And I’m not just talking about playing on the moving walkways.  Do what you can to make a difference in the lives of others around you.  It’s like my dad said in one of his sermons: “Be in the world, not of it.”  So while you’re here, make friends.  Do what you can to make their day brighter.  Even something as small as a smile can make a difference in someone’s day.  Don’t waste this opportunity.  Because you never know when you might be the only person in your terminal who can tell someone about Jesus. 

Enjoy the airport.  :)

-Ash

Colorado Essay #2 (Living Sacrifices - Not Just for the Aztecs)

Here is my second essay for Colorado.


Prompt: Reflect on the Scripture passage below. What does it mean to you? Can you connect this passage to a recent event or circumstance in your life? How? "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

The phrase “living sacrifice” is one that makes many modern American Christians uncomfortable.  They are fine with a God who is all about love, peace, and good works, but the phrase “living sacrifice” seems a bit grim, a bit extreme.  The truth is, however, that we owe it to God.  Yes, the gift of salvation is a free one and God does not demand anything else in return.   At the same time, however, He let His beloved son die on a cross, one the most brutal and painful deaths in all of history, so that we would no longer be under the condemnation of sin.  We come from a society where everything has a cost, where every debt and favor must be repaid, and a Christian who truly understands the extreme love that such a sacrifice requires will be completely blown away by their own inadequacy to ever repay such a gift.  The only thing we could possibly offer, and the only thing we have that God wants, is our lives.  Many ancient and/or tribal cultures had/have the concept of a life debt.  If you save my life, I then spend the rest of it serving you.  This is much the same concept.  Jesus Christ took our place and endured the punishment meant for us: death.  He gave His life for ours, and if we accept His gift we now owe Him our everything. 

A sacrifice, however, must be pure.  In the Old Testament there were very specific rules for what was and was not an acceptable sacrifice.  For example, a lamb or goat that was to be sacrificed had to be outwardly perfect with no disabilities or physical blemishes, and was to receive special care to ensure that it stayed healthy.  In Exodus 12 God gives Moses specific rules concerning the age and sex of the animals to be used for the first Passover (one-year-old male goats or sheep).  There are even rules concerning on which day of the month these animals are to be chosen and on which days they are to be killed.  The first seven chapters of Leviticus are dedicated to describing the proper methods for carrying out all the various types of sacrifices.  God took sacrifices very seriously.  There was a right way to do it, and there was a wrong way.  If we as Christians are to be “living sacrifices”, we must also keep ourselves pure.  Keeping ourselves pure physically means remaining sexually pure, watching the words that we use, acting in a way that reflects Christ (not cheating, stealing, lying, etc.), and also not doing drugs or drinking or doing other things that are harmful to our bodies.  We must also keep our minds pure, by being carefully what we watch and what we listen to, and our hearts pure, by not hating or lusting.  This means not conforming to the world.  In order to be living sacrifices, we have to make the choice to be different.

God is a perfect god, and He cannot stand to look at sin.  Humans are born sinful and can never be perfect, but when Jesus died for us He took our place, and now when God looks at us He sees His perfect son.  This does not mean, however, that we are free to live however we want.  If we want God to speak into our lives and we want to know His will, we must endeavor to keep ourselves as pure as we can, so that we may continue to be “living sacrifices.” 

This verse reminds me a bit of high school, particularly the one I am in now.  I go to an English-speaking international school in Krakow, Poland, and the high school typically consists of only around twenty students.  In a city where nearly everyone drinks and smokes, there is a lot of pressure to simply blend in.  There is also the media, encouraging teens to have premarital sex and dress immodestly.  In a school so small peer pressure is a very strong force that often results in ultimatums.  At lunch I can join everyone else in talking bad about a teacher, or I can change the subject.  When students are talking about sex, I can nod along or I can walk away.  Knowing that my friend’s father isn’t home this weekend and that there will probably be alcohol at the party, I can either go along or I can stay home and away from the temptation to drink.  I can either throw around the same words everyone else is using, or I can try to keep my mouth pure.  Staying pure is never a one-time decision.  It is a decision that must be remade every moment of every day.  Being human, there are many times when I make the wrong choice, when it’s simply easier to blend in, whether that means saying something bad or simply looking the other way.  Then I have to make myself start over again.  Over time I have learned that the more I am in God’s Word and with His people the easier it is to stay pure (not always, but for the most part), and the more I am able to keep myself pure the easier it is to hear God’s voice. 

As Christians, we are called to step out every single day and live for Christ, to be pure, to be different from the rest of the world.  This is never easy, but it is definitely worth it.  There is another Christian girl at my school that I have become very good friends with this year, and we do our best to help each other live in a way that pleases God.  When we as Christians choose to live pure, godly lives, the world notices.  They may jeer and mock, but there are always those who see us and want what we have.  I had a friend in middle school who knew I went to church, but who I had never actually told that I was a Christian.  We were both headed for different high schools, and just before we parted ways she told me that she had always known I was a Christian just because of how I acted, and that my actions had encouraged her in her own walk with Christ.  I had another friend a bit later who was a very strong atheist, but he told me one day that if the other people at my church were like me then maybe he wouldn’t mind going sometime.  I learned later that this same friend had been seriously considering suicide, but decided against it because of the love that some other Christian friends and I had shown him.  When we keep ourselves pure and offer our lives to God, the world notices.  More importantly, God notices.  He can work through our lives even when we aren’t willing, but it is so much easier, and so much more beautiful, when we surrender ourselves fully to Him and to His purpose. 

Colorado Essay #1 (Me and J.C.)

One of the colleges I applied to this year was Colorado Christian University.  They required me to write two 3 page, double-spaced essays on two assigned prompts.  I turned them in around November, and then forgot about them until about a week ago, at which point I decided that, despite being assigned, they came out really good.  (Have to thank God for that one.  I am so incredibly blessed to have the writing skills that I do.)  So here is the first of my two essays.  Hopefully they'll help you guys somehow.  Enjoy.


Prompt: Please describe your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, including the moment you trusted him as your personal Lord and Savior.

People often talk about trusting God “as your personal Lord and savior”, but for me, at least, those were two very different decisions.  Allow me to explain.  I grew up in a Christian home.  My parents and grandparents were all Christians, and my dad was a pastor.  From the time I was born, I knew all about God and how much He loved me and how He sent His son to die for me.  Then, when I was six years old, my parents decided to become missionaries.  My little six-year-old mind decided that if I was going to tell people about Jesus, I needed to know Him for myself.  So I asked Jesus into my heart.  I never really forgot about that day, but I did make the same mistake many Christians make by treating it a bit like fire insurance.  I had prayed the prayer, and now God would save me from hell.  I just needed to be a good Christian for Him, and everything would be cool.  As they say in Poland, to wszystko.  That’s all. 

When I was thirteen years old we had come back from the mission field and I went to a church camp.  The speaker talked all week about Isaiah 64:8 and how as Christians we have to surrender our lives to God so He can mold us into who He wants us to be.  They had a pottery wheel set up for kids to mold their own clay, and on the very last day the speaker took a bunch of spare pots that had been made and threw them on the floor so that they shattered.  Something about that image stuck in my mind, and I began to realize for the first time that “giving my life to Christ”, as it is so often called, was really just that.  God wanted to use me for something incredible, but He could only do that if I gave Him complete control of my life and let Him make it what He wanted it to be.  I was going to have to let Him “break me” and mold me back into what He wanted, into a usable vessel.  That was the day that I promised God that my life was His to do with as He pleased.  I had trusted God as my savior when I was six years old, but it wasn’t until I was thirteen that I began to make Him the Lord of my life. 

Since then my relationship with God has been a bit like a rollercoaster ride.  When my parents felt themselves being called back to the mission field when I was fourteen, I spent a year struggling with God over why He would bring us back and give me such incredible friends, only to rip me away and take me somewhere else.  It felt as if God had more or less disappeared from my life, and there were a few months where I felt completely empty inside.  Then one day I was reading the story in Genesis where Abraham is ready to sacrifice Isaac, and I began to realize that God was making good on the promise I had made him nearly two years before.  He was testing me, seeing if I was really willing to trust Him with my life no matter what.  When I finally came before Him on my knees and told Him that my life was His, even if it meant leaving everything I knew and moving to the other side of the world, I suddenly had a peace and a joy about it that I’ve never felt before.  No matter what happened, I knew God would take care of it.  I had always known that God would do what was best for my life, but that was the first time I had been given the chance to trust Him on it.  When I was sixteen my family finally moved to Krakow, Poland, and looking back I can see that it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me on every level of my life.  I think I have grown closer to God in the last two years than in the rest of my life put together. 

The last two or three years have been full of lessons.  God is teaching me how to trust Him with my life, how to praise Him not matter, how to lean on Him when life gets hard.  He has also been teaching me things about Himself: about how much He loves me and about how there is so much more to Him than the Sunday school version that created the world and “loves the little children”.  The more I learn about Him, the less I seem to know.  God is so huge and so incredible that it blows me away every time I think about it.  I will never understand why a perfect God would send His beloved son to suffer one of the cruelest forms of death in the history of the world so that He could be with selfish, sinful, imperfect me.  I will never understand why God would allow someone as small as me to have a place in His plan.  I will never understand, but I will be forever grateful. 

God has shown so many faces of Himself in my life.  He is my comforter when no one else knows that I’m hurting.  He is my rock when I cannot do it on my own.  He is my friend when I need someone to talk to.  He is my Prince of Peace when I don’t know what to do.  He is my strength and my shield, my protector and my redeemer.  He is the father who gave His son for me, and the Lord to whom I owe everything.  He is the best friend who will never let me down.  In short, God is my everything.  I honestly do not know what I would do without Him in my life. 

Being human, my relationship with God is far from perfect.  There are still times that I turn away from Him, far more than I’d care to admit.  But He always takes me back, thank goodness.  I find it amazing that He continues to forgive someone who screws up as often as I do.  But I am incredibly glad that He does. 

Living for God is not a one-time decision.  It is a decision that must be remade every moment of every day.  Similarly, walking with God is not a simple choice, but rather a life-long journey.  I have given my life to Jesus Christ, my King, and I am doing my best to live every day for Him and for His Kingdom.  As time goes on, I feel that I am beginning to catch glimpses of what God wants for my life, and I find it very exciting to finally begin to understand why He has given me the passions, experiences, and friends that He has.  I am very eager to see where God leads me as I continue on my journey with Him. 

Update:  As most of you know, in February my friend Ryan shot himself.  (Please continue to pray for his friends and family.)  I have been severely struggling for the past (almost) two months with being depressed, being hurt, and being angry at the world and at God.  But I'm trying to get back in the Word, and I'm hopeful that things may begin to get better.  In a way, I think this is growing my faith even more.  I heard a TV show character the other day say this about life: "It hurts like hell.  But that's how you know it's worth it."  In a way, I think he's right.  We need the pain to apreciate the joy, to understand that the things that hurt are the ones truly worth fighting for.  I'm praying for everyone who reads this, that God will show himself to you and help you through whatever it is that you're struggling with.  I love you guys so much.  Take care.


-Ash