Jonathan Almanzar - in pursuit of Truth and Beauty

Problems with Prayer

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We have all read, seen, and acknowledge that we tell people we will pray for them, more often than not, to end a conversation or because that's what we are supposed to say...so I'm not going down that road. My problem/question starts further back...do we even believe in prayer?

If we truly believed in prayer, would we ever argue?

When we get to heaven will we be amazed at our lack of prayer on earth?

If we truly believed in prayer would we ever be afraid?

Do we talk more to our brother about Christ, than to Christ about our brother? Which should we? (and that isn't a rhetorical question)

Do we truly believe in prayer?

How do you know you're alive?

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Jake, Hannah and I were talking yesterday and we were teasing Hannah that she was asleep. She kept saying she wasn't asleep and dreaming, but with every reason she gave Jacob and I would come up with an excuse of why she could still be asleep. That lead to our conversation of living.

Hannah said, "what if our whole life was someone's dream?" I'm sure you and I have thought that before, but I wasn't expecting it to come out of a 6 year olds mouth. So this conversation lead to my question of, "how do you know you're alive?"

Hannah answered the way most Christians answer their second birth, "because I was born." In fact she commented about her passport (we were in the car, and since we have to have it to cross the border the kids are very familiar with what they are and what they stand for). Jacob however was quiet. When he finally gave his answer of how he knew he was alive it was very real.

"Because I am sad, because I have pain."

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The Dump of Life

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Check out this video made very close to my heart/home. It's about 12 minutes long:

What is Not Love

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"Grandfathers are kind...fathers are loving."-Peter Kreeft

Love is not God...God is love. I'm afraid of what I have confused love with. Many times I have confused love for peace, love for niceness, love for happiness. But that isn't love. It can be, but it's not always.

Do I love a brother more than I love him liking me? Am I willing to confront or inflict pain in someones life to protect them from something far worse? Do i love them enough to know the most merciful thing that I can offer is to seek for justice to have it's way? Do i love them enough to wait patiently and embrace them when the world would deject them? Do i love them enough to know when they need encouragement and when they need a firm hand? Do i even love myself in this way?

The Hand of God on the Hand of Man

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We've recently planted over 150 trees. Palm trees, fruit trees, ficus trees, Avocado trees. It has been one of the most inspiring, softening times in my life.

A college group from just outside Toronto has been here this week, helping do some of this stuff and also visiting orphans in Matamoros. As we were watering the trees, carefully pouring one gallon down the opening stem of the palms, then slowly releasing the 4 gallons onto the ground around it...but not too fast and not too close to the trunk, I was asked this question.

"If it's this much work, how do they survive in the wild?"

I paused for a second...looking around a saw a couple palms across the road. Definately in the wild. They were dwarfed, they had never been pruned and head dead palms hanging all over like a man who's beard was out of control. The palms thereselves were not the vibrant green of our palms.

They will survive in the wild, without the hand of man, but they will not thrive.

That's how God created nature. Linked it to the hand of man. The duties He gave to Adam haven't changed: gaurd, keep, cultivate...its just a little more work than before. But I must wonder this. What about us...when we are completely cut off...left alone in the wild we still survive. But do we thrive.

Eternally Damned

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Church of England used to ask this haunting question to any seeking to take up membership in their service. It is not a question we hear today.

"Are you willing to step into the service of the Christ, to submit to His desires over your life, even if it meant being damned to the abyss if that brought Him glory?"

How would you answer?

Beauty of the King

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I read the passage in Luke where the risen Christ joined the journey of 2 men on the road to Emmaus. What stuck out the most to me was Christs ability to love and care and be patient with them. Men He even called foolish, and stubborn, yet He joined Himself to them, to walk with them on their journey, and patiently began showing them...using their knowledge...how He was the King. To me this is beautiful. How Christ can join with sinful broken men, and patiently show them He is the King.

What is the most beautiful attribute of Christ to you?

Politics and Love 5 of 5

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Though the majority always wins (in our country), how often is the majority right?

(i know the majority doesn't always win...i was alive in 2000)

Politics and Love 4 of 5

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What place, or what priority should be given to Politics by the Church? How interested-invested should the church be in political goings-on? Should the church debate, educate, picket? What do you think?

Politics and Love 3 of 5

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is Jesus a Republican? Is He a Democrat? If you can answer yes to either of these questions than can you explain how either party is glorifying Him?

Politics and Love 2 of 5

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is Jesus a Capitalist?

Politics and Love 1 of 5

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is Jesus an Enviromentalist? Actually a better question is a more involved question. Is Jesus as concerned with the environment as you and I...is He more concerned, less concerned? Does He use it the way you and I do, or does He protect it the way you and I do?

Actually an even better question is...what if He used His dominion over us the same way we do over nature? What if He Ruled, Subdued, Tended, Cultivated, Watched, and Named us in the same manner we do what He entrusted us with?

Hands in the Dirt

Fri, 8 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I spent the day between the trees yesterday. As we were planting our new orchard I began thinking how amazing trees are...life is.

We've been talking alot about technology lately. Good, bad, all those things. But what stood out to me most yesterday, was how much it lacks. Everything God creates brings life. Trees reproduce, sheep reproduce, flowers give back oxygen, bees pollenate trees, etc. Everything we produce takes life. Something dies for everything we build. A house kills trees, my shirt kills cotton, we really don't come up with anything new, we just destroy whats here to make something we think is better.

So are we really inventing anything? How amazing is our God who not only gives life, but gives life that in turn reproduces life?

Alone on a Hill of Ashes

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I have really been challenged of late in my 'spiritual walk', of whether I am completely selfish in it. Am I desiring to grow into Christ because of what that offers me, at the expense of others...and is that possible. Today I've been thinking about fasting and how different I look in this compared to the ideals set forth in Matthew and Isaiah.

I'm loud about it. You will know what I am doing. But beyond that, it's always about me. It's about something I want, or a place I want my relationship to go, it's not about sharing my food with the hungry, or loosening the bonds of wickedness (which doesn't happen in one conversation or through one gift. Remember God used 12 plagues over an extended period of time to loosen the bonds of wickedness placed on Israel) It's so easy to do things from a distance, so hard to walk those 2 miles with someone else.

So when you see me this way, alone on my pile of Ashes, ask me to go for a walk...and I'll do the same for you.

Accepting the Embrace of God

Wed, 6 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Prayer is a confusing subject. Or more importantly corporate prayer, which hurts my ears on so many levels. The name hurts my ears, most times when it's performed it hurts my ears, when someone is called on to pray it hurts my ears, when a preacher preaches his sermon before his sermon it hurts my ears...really the only time it's beautiful is when it's from a child.

Many times my prayer life, and I can only imagine our prayer life, has become clouded with performance. I read a question yesterday where a lady wanted to know if she should tell her friend she had been praying for her, so her friend would feel encouraged. I scoffed at her thought, self-righteoussly knowing that Christ is sufficient, Christ, the One shes crying out to will send the Comforter, so she doesn't need to tell her she's praying for her...but how confident am I in my own relationship to Christ that I could quietly pray and let God do all the healing?

My question boils down to this. Am I more satisfied, or comforted in the words I am saying and where I am saying them, then to the One I'm crying out too? Has prayer turned into just another attempt to find the right environment to feel good?

Silence is Golden

Tue, 5 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Worship is our response to God. I know that it is now a coined phrased and used to mean the time in a church service (and I use the term service very loosely since I have rarely participated in any type of service at the building) when everyone sings. My question is...is that our best response to God.

I read the other day how trees grow. They grow right where they are planted, heading straight for the heavens, responding perfectly to the design of their King. You never see a tree responding to God in any way other than growing. I read where the clouds bring forth their rain as a response to the call of God to bring forth rain. Nature responds to God, or worships, perfectly. Yet ours is more desired...because we have the choice to offer or respond in an incorrect way. Just like Cain.

So, how often have I opened my mouth in praise, when my response should be stark silence? Am I more interested in feeling good about what I'm saying, then actually praising God?

Disparity and Disregard

Mon, 4 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I am double-blogging this week so my posts will probably follow a theme. Here, however, I will expand the brief thought I am placing on openapologies.

What do you think of drive-up, clothing drop-offs, at the salvation army? I used to think it was a great idea, or at least not a bad idea. But my mind has changed.

Have you noticed how we continually seek for ways to make helping more convenient? Is that good? What happened to the humanity in giving?

In all our attempts to create an easier, more effective way to give, a more palatable enviroment to leave the things we don't want for someone else, we've removed the relationship. Why? Because I don't want to meet the guy who's going to be wearing the shorts I wouldn't be caught dead wearing. Because I don't want the responsibility of knowing him, knowing he has 4 kids and no food, knowing he may live on the street or he may live in a house I will never drive by unless I'm lost.

Their is great disparity in my life and the life of the One I'm told to immitate.

"It's okay to have relationships with others as long as they are clean and don't get messy--as long as my freshly pressed Khaki's don't get soiled or wrinkled"

- from Open Apology to the World at Large

A Change

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Please go to this site.

Destination Points

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It seems often times I find myself living for a destination. A place just out of my reach. It could be as simple as the weekend or as far away as Christmas. I'm told to set long term goals, short term goals, mid-range goals. Even my Christian life is filled with destination points. Baptism, Salvation, Missions Trip, Sunday Morning, Saturday Night.

Is Living for a destination Point what I was created for?

Once in a while I actually live in a destination. A missions trip is a good example. I find when I have arrived at that destination, things begin taking on new meaning. Now a flat tire isn't a nuisance, but a divine apointment with the guy at the gas station. Running late to an appointment isn't cause for stress, but a God Orchestrated chance to continue a long over-due conversation. What's the difference?

What if we quit living for desitnation points and began living in them?

An Open Apology

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Is this for real? How can this be happening? In the name of a god or a church or a twisted perspective of the gospel, men and women who claim to be our brothers and sisters are picketing a funeral. For who? Heath Ledger, the star of BrokeBack Mountain. I'm not the first to write about this, nor is this the first response. But I would like to offer my apology to the world at large, and to my King who sits on His Throne watching us make a spectacle of His laws and grace. So with all apologies to standing up for what you believe in, or attempts at holiness without repentance, I want to offer my broken mercybut more importantly the grace that put my King on the cross.

Where is Christ standing todayin the picket lines, or with the people comforting the families?

Is This What Jesus Had in Mind?

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

My brother is volunteering at a homeless shelter. Not an uncommon thing, one would think, for a believer to do. Unless you are the Lamar Council of Churches. Lamar has the only homeless shelter within about 200 miles. My brother volunteered his youth group to work at the shelter and was informed that it would be great if they were still openYou see the Council of (supposed) Churches had illegally taken control of the homeless Shelter. They were meeting that very night on some details. After a very short meeting, the shelter was closed. Over 2,200 people passed through the shelter last year alone. That night, after the meeting, they locked the doors and didn't allow the 20 men inside with temperatures below Zero. (Colorado in the Winter). Today, after several things happening, the shelter has been reopened. My brother is currently sitting on the board of a Shelter that is $13,000 in the hole, and have no support from the council of Churches.

Here are my questions. Is this what the church has become? And also, What is Christ going to say? Matthew 25:41-46

Are Rabbis Real?

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"It is not from ourselves that we will learn to be better than we are."

Is this a true statement? Can we internalize growth?

Comitted to Recieve Blame?

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In his book The Art Of the Commonplace, Wendell Berry discusses the idea of how everything changes once you commit to someplace. "Here, now that I am both native and citizen, there is no immunity for what is wrong. It is impossible to escape the sense that I am involved in History."

Do we do this as members of The Church?

Who said this: Einstein or Mike Tyson take 2

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"The physicists say that I am a mathematician, and the mathematicians say that I am a physicist. I am a completely isolated man and though everybody knows me, there are very few people who really know me."

Does this quote make you feel happy or sad for him?

Who said this: Mike Tyson or Einstein?

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"I feel like sometimes that I was born, that I'm not meant for this society because everyone here is a hypocrite. Everybody says they believe in God but they don't do God's work. Everybody counteracts what God is really about. If Jesus was here, do you think Jesus would show me any love? Do you think Jesus would love me? I'm a Muslim, but do you think Jesus would love me ... I think Jesus would have a drink with me and discuss ... why you acting like that? Now, he would be cool. He would talk to me. No Christian ever did that and said in the name of Jesus even ... They'd throw me in jail and write bad articles about me and then go to church on Sunday and say Jesus is a wonderful man and he's coming back to save us. But they don't understand that when he comes back, that these crazy, greedy, capitalistic men are gonna kill him again."

What do you think about this?

Don't leave the Light on

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Traveling through the south-eastern United States (in a school bus) over the last three days, something has jumped out at me. Last night, somewhere in the bayous of Louisiana-Texas, we began looking for a hotel. Why?!

I'm a believer. We're part of the Kingdom of Light. We are members of the church and we're having to find a hotel.

Not only was I thinking, "as Christians we shouldn't have to stay in a hotel, we should be able to stay with other believers", but I also thought Hotels should be a foreign concept. So foreign that we have to explain to our children why someone would have to stay in one.

I'm not wanting to put Hotels out of businessI'm just wanting the church to be connected.

Stars Fell on Alabama

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"The man who can find as much wonder in his backyard as in the Pyramids of Egypt is the man who resides in heaven."

I live in Mexico. There aren't a lot of lights. There aren't a lot of trees. But the stars are bright.

I want to be the old man who stops in his tracks to watch an ant line.

I want to be the father who is on his hands and knees helping his son look for four-leaf clovers.

I want to be the husband who lays out in the back yard looking at stars with his wife.

I want to live in the Kingdomand know I'm there.

Voting or Living?

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

G. Campbell once said, "Everyman would vote for the Kingdom of God, if voting brought it about. But the problem is no one wants to live for it."

What does it mean to live for the Kingdom?

Waiting for Nothing

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How long is right now? I'm sitting on a plane, waiting to land 1,000 miles from home and I find myself wishing it was yesterday or 5 days from now. Yesterday seemed to pass by so quickly. How long is right now? Is there even anything other than right now? The past is only a memory and the future is but a dream.

I guess right now lasts as long as we live in it. When I'm living for tomorrow it seems to drag on, and when I'm living for yesterday it seems to have flown by.

What is really confusing about the present is when I see things like a gnat. A gnat only lives for a few days or hours, how long is their present? Is a moment to me a day to them, a week, a year, or is it just a moment as well?

"Don't say tomorrow I'm going here, or tomorrow I'll do this, who says you're even going to have a tomorrow." The only reality we have is the present. God is fully real, He's the only true realityeverything to Him is present. Shouldn't we be living there with Him. I can't change yesterday, and tomorrow holds who knows what, so why not live today and enjoy every moment. Make right now last forever by living today.

Children of God 2 of 2

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"Don't bother me!" I was justified in shouting this. I had things I needed to do and right now wasn't the time for trying to figure out why this bug we call a cow-killer lived in a hole.

My son Jacob is very inquisitive, maybe no more than any other 8 year-old, but I don't live with any other 8 year-olds so he seems more curious to me. He could spend hours asking questions, trying to figure out the whys' and what ifs'. He's fascinated by nature and physics, although he doesn't know its physics. He loves thinking up new things, trying to discover something new. He frustrates himself trying to grasp eternity. And into this beautifully innocent mind I shouted, "Don't bother me!"

That's the only reason I am here. It's to be bothered. My role as a parent is to be bothered and troubled with the 100^th why question in a row. It's my responsibility to try to explain why ducks have web feet even when the return question is"but why do they need to swim, why can't they just fly like other birds?" It's my privilege to help shape a young mind, to help encourage a young heart, to help spur on a young spirit.

With each question Jacob is worshipping God. Worship is simply our response to God, and Jacob is following God's intention for us. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever,". God placed in us a desire to search something out. Jacob is walking in that. But he isn't over complicating it either. It's out of purity to know, to understand, to discover the things revealed. He hasn't made assumptions that he is trying to prove, he doesn't have a hypothesis that needs backed up, he hasn't taken a stand that he now must lie to protect. He simply, innocently wants to know all his Father has to offer.

"Don't bother me!" What if God said that?

We were made to be bothered.

Deuteronomy 29:29