Archive for 'Other Stuff'
Who’s the greatest?
Posted on 20. Feb, 2006 by Josh Agerton.
The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:1-4
How do we become like this?
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Learning from a toddler.
Posted on 19. Jan, 2006 by Josh Agerton.
Lately I have really been flooded with thoughts and reflections about my relationship with Benjamin (my two year old). I could pour out so much about this right now but the main point I would eventually come to is this…being a father is teaching me how to be a son. Today I found some old words that I just felt pressed to share here. It’s something I scribbled down during one of our chapel services last spring. On this day, Jason Upton was leading the service and just singing over us. I remember sitting there with my head between my knees listening to his words when I felt the need to just start writing. Here’s what came (pardon the run on sentence):
I came home the other day, opened the garage door and walked in the back door to our home to see my son turning the corner from the hall into the kitchen, running towards me with both arms up in the air, shreeking with joy, holding a plastic soup ladel high in one hand. He was doing his best to run towards me, just being able to walk for a few weeks now. His feet pattered across our hard kitchen floor. He was wearing red and black plad flannel pants and a grey long sleve t-shirt with a big cartoon zebra on the front. He had on the little white lace up leather boots that klanked across the floor. He ran at me so hard that I had to catch him. I was kneeling down with my arms reaching out for him in his final steps. If I had not been there he woud have face planted right into the floor…he was coming at me that hard. Total trust. He had heard the garage door open from his room and took that as a sign that daddy was home. It was an ear piercing shreek he screamed out as he ran. Words can’t describe it. I caught him in my arms and wrapped him up. I love you Benjamin!
Man, how I long to be like Benjamin towards our Father in heaven! These children around us…they are amazing persons of faith and joy!
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The Yoke of Perfection
Posted on 07. Dec, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
I’m in the heat of the end of the semester (although the actual temperature this morning when I woke up was 12 degrees). But you know what I mean…things are getting crazy about right now. Group presentations…final projects…and a comprehensive short answer exam staring me in the face. And in the middle of all this I’m hit with the thought of carrying the yoke of perfection. It is real heavy around here sometimes…trying to make good grades and all. Sometimes we soften the language for it and call it “excellence” to make ourselves feel better. But I’m realizing that when we, or I should say, when I carry this yoke of perfection, I loose FORMATION. I’m so wrapped up in doing things right to get a good grade that I loose the ability to let the assignment form me. Case in point: I’m working on a “Personal Spiritual Development Analysis” that looks at my 31 years of life and process how God has intervened at certain points. Well I have spent about two hours this afternoon looking through books and examples of other assessments tryring to figure out how to make this assignment look good on paper so that I will get a good grade. By God’s grace giving me this reflection, I’m ready to throw my hands up in the air and say, “OK, I don’t care what grade I get on this…what I really want is to allow this assignment to form me more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.” To get rid of my own agenda and just be along for the ride on this project.
So that’s it. I really have nothing else to say about this right now. Anybody else (of the 5 people that read my blog) feel this yoke of perfection??
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Hunger Banquet
Posted on 23. Nov, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
Last week I went to a “Hunger Banquet” here on campus. I had never been to anything like this before and had no clue what to expect. As each person walked in the door we were randomly handed a card indicating the group we would represent…high income, middle income or poor. I somehow ended up with a high income card and was ushered to a single table sitting in the middle of the room where I sat with three other people. All around me sitting on the floor were about 30 of my friends and peers, representing those in poverty…they had no chairs to table to sit at. Then across the room were about 7 others representing the middle class who sat in chairs but had no table. As the banquet went on we realized that the way the room was set up proportionally represented these groups three groups. The four of us high income individuals at the table represented the 15% of people in the world who earn more than $9,500 a year (this is considered high income by the worlds standards…makes you see how our Western incomes are quite extravagant). The 7 people in the chairs represented those who were on the fringes of poverty…getting sick and not being able to work would utterly spin them into poverty. Then the near 30 people on the floor represented the 67 percent of people in the world who live in poverty, earning about $1 per day. There were staggering statistics of children and parents dying of hungar.
Then the meal was served. The four of us at the table were served a very nice meal…two grilled checken breasts, potato caserole, green beans and cheesecake for dessert…more than I could eat. The middle class were given a pan of rice and beans that they had to serve themselves into small cups. The poor sitting on the floor were given a tray of rice that they had to serve among the group into small cups…I think that each of them got about a half of a cup. It was incredibly akward. We were not allowed to give away our food to the poor…for the sake of the exercise we had to keep it to ourselves. The four of us “high income” folks just looked at eachother and could hardely eat. As we ate we discussed how this was making us feel. We began to understand that what was happening in the room happens each day. For so many of us we eat and live with blinders on…we don’t even know what is going on in the world and how so many around us are hungry. Even here in Wilmore, there are children going to bed hungry at night. All I could think about while I was at this banquet was that God sees this all the time…and how it must break his heart to see his people not doing anything about it.
I’m left with a lot to think about after all this. Thought this may be a fitting post before Thanksgiving. Also, if you’re reading this you are in the “high income” bracket. More on this later…
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THEY’RE GIRLS…we think.
Posted on 22. Nov, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
16 Weeks
So…we went to the doctor today for Leslie’s 16 week appointment. Everything looked great…both babies are healthy and growing perfectly! Both had strong heartbeats…one at 150 and another at 155. And they were pretty active…all over eachother…there is a membrane separating them that is only a milimeter wide. And we looked along with the Dr. for about 20 minutes trying to determine the sex of these two. After several good clear views of both babies we saw no signs of the male anatomy (i’m trying to be appropriate here for all audiences) so they are 99% sure they are GIRLS!!! Leslie has spent the evening planning out the room…it looks like I’m going to be painting some pink poka-dots on the wall over the Christmas break. We are so excited about these two coming. It is amazing to see them being knit together inside of Leslie. Truly a gift and miracle from God!
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Sugar High!
Posted on 02. Nov, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
Last night Benjamin was introduced into the wild world of Sugar. We spent the evening with our friends, Mark and Erin, at “Treats on Main”, the local Halloweeen/Tricker Treat deal that our town puts on for the community. Benjamin had three lolly pops, a few sweet tarts, and half a recees cup…quite a bit for only a little 26 pounder. I had a free tasty hot dog from our friends at the Wilmore UMC. We didn’t get home until about 8:30 so Benjamin got to skip out on his bath. The sugar wore off and he finally crashed. But today at lunch I saw that he still had some reminants of a blue sweet tart stuck to his neck!
Here’s a picture of him with his little buddy Silas. They had the luxury of being pulled around all night in the ATW (All Terrain Wagon).
Silas the Puppy Dog and Benjamin the Auburn Football Player/Pumpkin Head.
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Seeing Glory
Posted on 26. Oct, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
I’m sitting here in Auburn in the study of my parents house. I’ve just come from the hospital where my dad had invasive surgery today and now I’m staring at a picture Leslie just emailed me of the twins from her Dr. visit today (oh ya, for those of you who don’t know…Leslie and I are having identical twins!!). Such a contrast between the images my eyes have seen today. I’ve seen sick people going up and down the halls. People saddened by bad news. My own family rejoicing in the wonderful suprise of unexpected good news. Then my dad, there in bed with tubes, IV’s, and monitors going all over the place. And now I’m looking at a picture of two little bodies inside Leslie’s womb, being knit together and formed into new life second by second. I can see ears, eyes, noses, two spines and two hearts…it’s the bright little spot in their chests. There is something amazing about seeing my dad, at age 70, battling for life and then to see two new little Agertons being created. I’m amazed at what God is doing right now…just even in my one family. He is healing and restoring my Dad as he lays in an intensive care bed, he is knitting two souls together in Leslie’s womb as she sleeps there in Wilmore…he is comforting my Mom in just the other room. The only words I can think of in all this is “God’s Glory”. Looking at my family today has been like looking at one of those incredible pictures of the universe.
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Rest and Be Quiet
Posted on 13. Oct, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
OK…so I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit. It’s a good indicator of how busy I have been these first weeks of the semester. I’ve been going hard…reading books, writing papers, doing Greek word study assignments, getting things done for our chapel office, etc. All good things. Last night I somehow came to realization that I had been so busy accomplishing the many tasks of life that I didn’t even know what was going on with my soul…what I was learning, going through, struggling with, etc. If someone were to ask me how I’m doing, I would answer “oh, doing good…just staying busy”. Have you ever heard that before. We say this little stuff to eachother all the time. For me this is really an encrypted version of “I don’t know what the heck is going on and I don’t feel like talking about it!” But last night there was a breaking in of some sorts…a word of recalibration. As I realized my state of being so busy that I’m out of touch with my heart, I heard, “rest and be quiet”.
Still figuring out what this means. Practically I think it means being more intentional to have time to rest and just listen to God…for whatever he might say or not say. Just to be there with Him.
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Roof Top Friendship
Posted on 16. Aug, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
Roof Top Friendship
Leslie snapped this one on the 4th of July. My friend Brandon and I were up on my roof watching the fireworks around town (Leslie and Alison, Brandon’s wife, were too scared to get up on the roof and watched from the deck). We could see the big fireworks show out at RJ Corman’s place and even more exciting…all the local neighborhood firework shows around Wilmore. But the longer we were up there it became less about watching fireworks and more about just sharing life. It was one of those moments when your soul opens up and you are fed by the connection with another friend. We talked for for hours about our lives growing up…how it shaped us…our families…where we are now in life…what God is bringing us through. I look at this picture now and just think of extravagent friendship…or what I would now call “roof top friendship”. What is roof top friendship? I can’t put it into words just yet…it’s something to do with mutual listening and having an other oriented heart. Seeing this picture is pointing me in a good direction for this. It was a time of great blessing. I know in my heart that these are the kinds of relationships that God desires for us to have.
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I just want to walk like Benjamin.
Posted on 10. Aug, 2005 by Josh Agerton.
My dear friend, Dan Lowe, wrote this poem this past February while he was watching Benjamin climb up and down the stairs outside McKenna Chapel. Leslie was close behind. He scribbled it down on a sheet of notebook paper and gave it to me. I just found it again this morning in my journal and wanted to share it:
I want to walk like Benjamin,
one step at a time up and down the stairs
while you’re there to catch me when I fall.
So often my legs are too short
and my eyes are too big,
but with a grin on my face
I take a leap,
but before I stumble your hands grab mine
and I grin like Benjamin.
Walking up isn’t so hard
because I just trust the next ledge.
You’re right behind me,
but when I turn around all I see is edge
and my feet are to short
and my eyes are too big
but then your hands are there and I remember to giggle in delight.
I just want to walk like Benjamin.
Dan Lowe 2-24-05
There is so much in this little poem. Today I feel like I’m at the edge and my legs are too short, my eyes are too big. I’ve got a lot going on right now. I want to giggle in delight and grin like Benjamin! Lord open my eyes to see your hands behind me.
