Christian Challenge at MSC

Wikipedia describes a pocket knife as this -

"A pocket knife is a folding knife with a blade that fits inside the handle and that is small enough to fit in a pocket. Blades are typically no larger than 3 to 5 in. (8 to 13 cm) in length. Pocket knives are very versatile tools, and may be used for anything from opening an envelope, to cutting twine, to slicing an apple."

I know some guys why don't carry a knife on them.  When I asked them why they don't pack a pocketknife, their answers varied from person to person.  "I can't have one in class," one person told me.  Bah, it is totally legal to carry a folding pocket knife with a blade under 5 inches (which is pretty freaking huge) anywhere on the MSC campus.  Another person told me, "I can't afford one.  New knives are expensive."  Another lame excuse.  Your knife doesn't have to be new; on the contrary, a knife with history (like one given by a dad or grandad) is so much cooler than a new one. 

I know one thing for sure - nothing is less manly than asking to use another guy's knife.  Guys should carry their own blade - here are 20 reasons why.

These first 8 reasons come from the Art of Manliness blog - a great resource for learning about being a man in the 21st century.  Notes added by me will be in italics.

1. Opening a box.
2. Cutting rope, tags, and string (or anything else... cutting is what knives do best)
   
3. Cutting an apple. I love eating an apple that I’ve cut with my pocket knife, slice by slice. You feel like a bad ass doing it. You hold the apple in your non-dominant hand and then make a slice with the knife using your dominant hand. After you make the slice, pinch it between your thumb and knife blade. Bring the blade to your mouth and deposit the apple slice. (I agree here - nothing is much cooler than eating an apple with your knife)
4. Opening a letter. Sure, you could use your finger, but using a knife is just more manly.
5. Weapon. Not the most effective, but it’s better than nothing.  (Maybe not as good as a 52" Scottish claymore, but if I were facing off against a grizzly bear, I'd rather my knife than nothing.) 
6. Camping. How else will you sharpen the point of a stick in preparation for stabbing your prey? And by prey I mean hot dog.
7. You never know when you’re going to have to MacGyver your way out of a crisis. Be prepared.
8. You need something to clench in your teeth when swinging from a rope.  (Pirates!  ARRRGGG!)
9. (These next 7 reasons are all new!  Enjoy!)  Check out Genesis 22:1-14.  Abraham needed a knife - imagine if he had to go over and borrow one before leaving.  That would have been tough to explain to your neighbor.
10. One word - Rambo.  You try digging a bullet out of your leg with a stick.
11. How else can you whittle the head of a wizard out of a piece of wood in a boring afternoon?
12. Without owning a knife, you can't learn to properly sharpen a knife.  Knowing how to properly sharpen a pocket knife is the basis for sharpening any other hand tool (chisels, hand planes, broad swords, etc.)
13. It's useful for gutting your first deer, antelope or moose kill when out hunting.  Try doing THAT with a stick.
14. You could tie it to the end of a long stick to use as a hunting spear, just in case you ever get lost in the woods a couple hundred miles from civilization and need to survive, ala Survivorman.
15. Last, but not least - the ladies think they're cool.  Given a choice between a two guys of near equal attractiveness, one of which is using his knife to do something listed above and the other is not, it's proven that 9 out of 11 times a lady will chose to talk to the guy with the knife.  Knives symbolize danger in the woman's mind - it's attractive.  Just be careful to watch out for the lady that carries a knife too, especially if it's bigger than yours.  She could be psycho, or awesome, or both.

So, how does this relate with a Spiritual Topic?

 Apply it to a deadly problem in your life -

1. Face your problem, then back away slowly.
2. Be large, shout.  Make a fuss about it.
3. Um... hold a child up in front of you as an sacrificial offering to your problem?
4. If attacked, fight back.  You might be able to take it down with your fists and teeth.
   

Ok... so it's a bad example... But #3 really just cracked me up. 

See you tonight at Dinner... 5:30 sharp!

On his blog "Into the Mystic" Alex McManus (brother of Erwin, pastor of Mosaic) writes about the 4 turnings of the Spirit. These are the four major kinds of repentances that a person goes through as they become a mature follower of Christ.

 
          The four turnings are these:

1. A turning to Jesus Christ as Lord
2. A turning to some form of Christ following community
3. A turning to the Scriptures
4. A turning back to the world on mission

These turnings can happen in any order. That these can happen in any order must be emphasized. Many will belong to the community of faith for a season before ever believing in Jesus. Others will be on mission to the world before reading and centering the scripture. Some will believe in Jesus but will hesitate to identify with a Christ following community.

What do these four turnings looks like?

Do you think it's possible to do #4 before #1? It seems like we focus on #1 so much (or #2 at ChallengeMSC) that we miss out on 50%-75% of the people out there who look to the other 2 or 3.

Jake is starting a scripture study in the dorms, and I believe Chick Church has the same plan for sometime soon too. This is a great way to lead people to #3 - a turning to the Scriptures. From here, it's easier to lead them to another, then another.

What do you think about this? What can we do better?

This week we invented (or rather used with permission) the Ultimate Hop Scotch course. And now, I want a chance to share this amazing invention with everyone else.

The process is rather simple. Here are the materials You will need.

Required Materials

1. 100 or so pieces of sidewalk chalk.


2. Your choice of sobe energy drinks.


3. At least a couple of willing volunteers.


4. About four hours of time, depending on your level of detail and length of the course.

Optional Materials

1. A bunch of 12” square cardstock for making uniform squares.


2. Cheap knee pads, or better ones if you can afford it.


3. A good pair of cheap work gloves, so you don’t totally dry out your hands.


4. A night of good weather.

Now, here comes the fun part.

Creating the Ultimate Hop Scotch Course

1. Gather your materials, and head to wherever you have a long, busy sidewalk. Do this at night though, otherwise you may be ran over by busy people trying to get to wherever they are going. Get into your gear (gloves and knee pads).


2. Take some photos to document the beginning of your amazing feat.


3. Send one person to the end of the course, to speed up the drawing process.


4. Take your 12” square cardstock and lay it at the beginning of the course. Grab your favorite color of chalk, and draw a line around the paper.


5. Move the paper to the outside edge of the square you just drew. Draw lines around the square again.


6. Repeat until you get to the end of the course.

That’s really it. Of course, if you just do a single line of squares, it will get boring very quick. Here are a few suggestions to add some spice to your Ultimate Hop Scotch Course.

• After a couple of single squares, make two squares, side-by-side, and then another single.


• Try offsetting your single square.


• Turn corners.


• Make three (or four, or five if you’re really sadistic) squares wide, and put X’s through the ones NOT to step on.


• Emulate various video game characters, such as pac-man or Mario Bros.


• Make a maze.


• Add some long jumps.


• Make the course color coded.

There ya go. Stay tuned for photos of our attempt, and possibly even video, all coming soon!