Monthly Archive for March, 2007

Tough Week

Posted March 31, 2007 at 11:44 pm // 2 Comments

It’s been a rough week. Save for the two days that Aftan and I were able to visit my parents in Missouri, the rest of it has been rather forgettable. Let’s just say we’re both out a couple extra hundred bucks due to the incompetence of the Transportation Security Administration and United Airlines. If you really want to know the story, I might rehash it with you sometime. Just not now…there’s a bigger issue to talk about.

There’s no easy way to share the news that I am about to break. I figured I’d tell everyone in person, but that would be tough. So I’m just going to write about it on my blog and you’ll get the real and unedited story from me.

Aftan and I are no longer together. After one year and three months of a good relationship, we finally decided to break it off after a few repeated disagreements and stress over our trip to Springfield. We both admitted that we have completely different interests, different ways we express our faith in Christ and different ways we express ourselves. Just a bunch of general incompatibilities that would make it tough to even talk about getting married from here on out.

It’s kinda tough to stomach…after all, the girl that helped me out through my time in Iraq and not to mention, has done a LOT for me (and I’ve done a lot for in return) is no longer mine and I am no longer hers. I don’t know what to think about it yet.

Pray for us as we travel down different roads in life but still remain friends.

Leavin’ On A Jet Plane

Posted March 25, 2007 at 10:34 pm // 0 Comments

Now I don’t feel so bad after the Oregon Ducks’ loss to Florida today in the NCAA Tournament.

Tomorrow morning Aftan and I will be flying out to Tulsa, Oklahoma where my parents will be waiting, then we will all ride over to Springfield, Missouri to spend a couple days with them. I’ll be back on Friday and I don’t know if I’ll write any new stuff between now and then, but in case I don’t, see you on the other side.

P.S. I’m taking lots of pictures.

A Flock Of Seagulls

Posted March 23, 2007 at 2:15 pm // 0 Comments

“Space Age Love Song” just might be the best song ever. It runs a mere 3 minutes and 46 seconds, and it makes me wish it were longer. Space Age Love Song is nearly four minutes of pure musical bliss.

If I were a third-grader and Space Age Love Song were a book, I would have just aced my book report. :)

That is all. Hey sometimes we need a necessary diversion from the seriousness that plagues our lives.

Another Contemplative Faith Post

Posted March 22, 2007 at 2:27 am // 2 Comments

Never thought I’d say that, especially after moving here, but it’s true.

I am beyond excited to visit my parents with Aftan by my side next week. It’s gonna be great.

Youth service tonight was great, and it was a great message by Pastor Smith talking about how unforgiveness in our hearts stops us from having a fulfilling relationship with God and also hurts those whom we hold bad feelings against. Great message.

The past few weeks at church I’ve been really wishing we had a separate young adult class on Wednesday nights. Right now the young adults are paired up with the high school/junior highers (basically those above the age of 13). It’s a weird setup in my opinion. It’s obvious that young adults are on a completely different wavelength than teenagers, so it just seems right to me to give the young adults their own time. We don’t have that here at New Horizons, we didn’t have it at Lakeside, and I believe myself and others at the church would really benefit from it. I don’t think I’ve been in a class/Bible study that was specifically designed for my age group since I was 16. Then I was thrust into youth ministry at the age of 17 because the Kelso COGOP couldn’t find anyone else to do it, and I in all my infinite wisdom accepted the job. While I was still in high school.

That brings me to a personal standpoint as to why I need to be in a young adult-oriented Bible study. Many times already I have been instructed to pray with a younger member of the group during altar call, thus robbing me of the time I need to pray and try to work out some spiritual tweaks of my own. I know that sounds selfish, but seriously, if I’m hurting spiritually and need prayer myself, why on God’s green earth am I being instructed to pray with a younger member of the youth group? The mere fact that I’m 22 and the kid next to me is 16 doesn’t mean I automatically need to go up and pray for him just because I’m older.

I struggle too, and it’s tough to stomach the fact that even in the midst of my spiritual struggles (I’m a pretty transparent guy), I’m looked upon as someone with something to give at that very moment. Please folks, just let me pray and I’d really appreciate it if someone came to me and prayed for me too…

I’m definitely not bitter anymore about my prominent role as a human toilet at Lakeside Church. But the exact opposite of what happened there is happening here at New Horizons, yet the situations have a striking similarity. At Lakeside I was ready and willing to serve as a member of the youth leadership team to which I had been appointed, and I wasn’t utilized. Here at New Horizons, I don’t feel in my spirit to contribute to the youth ministry at this present time, yet at times I am pushed and prodded toward it. And through both these time periods I have been on a spiritual roller coaster with wonderful high points and terrible low points.

I never thought I’d say this, but church has got me burnt out a bit right now. I love everyone in the church but man, sometimes it’s just a bit much.

That being said, my walk with God progresses every day. Don’t be led to think I’m not doing well with the Lord. It’s just some auxiliary stuff I’m struggling with. We’ve all had our spiritual low points, some more often than others. I think I’m definitely in the “more often” category.

This too shall pass.

Monday Is My Saturday

Posted March 19, 2007 at 8:55 pm // 1 Comment

The past couple days have been really interesting. Yesterday morning at church Pastor Smith taught about how we need to do the best we can in public service for the Lord. Lots of people missing though, you could tell some were sick and others at work. Any way you cut it, it was a down day yesterday in attendance but it was still a really good service. We had a chili feed afterward. Good chili. I was full until 6 PM.

Today was cool too. After no sleep last night (I worked until 11), I volunteered to be an extra this morning for a film that they’re shooting here in Portland. It’s called “Untraceable,” and it will feature Diane Lane as an FBI agent tracking down a murderer who posts videos of his victims on the Internet. A few of us from Fox 12 were there today and we all have a very minor, yet interesting, role in the movie as TV folks. I was a cameraman, complete with a prop camera and everything. It took them six takes to get our scene down, even though it was only a fifteen- to twenty-second scene. Todd Mansfield, a FSN radio guy who covers OSU Beavers sports, was there for the shoot and played the reporter I was filming…he said it well when he said, “I’ll never watch a movie the same way again.” It’s true. So much attention to detail goes into movies it’s unreal.

Tomorrow’s another day off, and I’m going to visit Aftan in Corvallis. Hope you all are doing great out there.

Oh, and life in my new apartment is great. No noise complaints, cool neighbors, what more could you ask for. It’s been nice since I had my car keyed the second day I was here.

Encouragement For Today

Posted March 17, 2007 at 3:21 am // 0 Comments

I was fortunate enough to capture some video at Wa-Ri-Ki of Gene Rutherford leading the college/adult class in a song “If God Be For Us.” This morning I imported it to my computer, and since it spoke to me when I watched it I’m going to share it with you. Yes, I felt inclined to sing along in a few places and was off-key in one. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying the video, though…


The devil MUST flee when we let God be for us. AMEN!!!

“Soul Seekers” Full Video Finally Available

Posted March 14, 2007 at 11:29 am // 1 Comment

I’m pleased to announce that “Soul Seekers,” a video that New Horizons Church produced in conjunction with their youth group for Camp Wa-Ri-Ki, is now available for viewing/download on my site. It took me awhile to upload it as I only had a dial-up connection until moving into my apartment.

It’s a large download but those of you with high-speed connections should be good to go.

View the video now! (QuickTime, 10:08, 156 MB)

Credits
Writer/Director – Leah Cain
Camera – Dan Browning
Grip/Audio – Daniel Birch
Editor – Chris Brewer
Actors – Cris Birch, Adrienne Birch, Chris Brewer, James Ells, Anna Marshall, A.C. Ribeiro, David Salas, Pastor Frank Smith, Joan Stricker

Shot on location in Camas and Washougal, WA

Living By Myself

Posted March 12, 2007 at 11:04 pm // 1 Comment

Sing the title of this post to the tune of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” and you’ll entertain yourself for hours.

On Saturday I began moving my personal belongings into my new apartment in Hillsboro, Oregon. It’s about 10 minutes from my workplace if I go through all the traffic lights at the right time, so it’s not bad at all. Today I had to go get a bunch of boxes from my former residence at Aftan’s parents’ house (which I am deeply grateful to them for providing me a place to stay and put my stuff at temporarily) and just got done bringing them up two flights of stairs to my third-floor apartment.

It’s a one-bedroom place I call the “Eagle’s Nest” — it’s, as I previously mentioned, on the third floor, has seven hundred square feet of living space (which is more than enough for everything I possess at this point in time), and came with a washer/dryer in the back corner of the kitchen. Not a bad little place — high-speed internet and basic expanded cable TV are free with each month’s rent, which is a modest amount for living in Hillsboro.

I don’t have much furniture yet. In fact, the only things I have are my queen size bed and my computer desk. I plan on getting some soon so I wouldn’t recommend anyone coming to visit quite yet.

Now it’s time to unpack all these boxes. In the event anyone does want to come visit me, shoot me an email (use the Contact Me form to do that please) and we’ll work it out from there.

God bless!

Approaching Two Years On The Web

Posted March 8, 2007 at 2:03 pm // 8 Comments

In just two days we will celebrate two full years of this weblog being in operation. I started The World According to Chris Brewer two years ago, while I was still living in Virginia, on my old webspace at FirestormLive.net.

The first event I wrote about was the trip I took with Tyler Ashworth, Jon Masters and Sean Wilder to the 2005 COGOP Youth Conference in Tennessee. From there I chronicled daily life in the Air Force as well as life in the ministry, shared what went on during my deployment to Iraq as a broadcaster, shared my anticipation for separating from the Air Force and becoming a normal person again, and here we are in March 2007 already.

Over the past two years I’ve punched out entry after entry on this blog, I’ve really taken notice of how life never really slows down. It’s unmercifully fast. People come and go. We anticipate big events, attend them and they become a memory.

As time goes on, I realize that a lot of the things I’ve written about over the last two years have shaped who I am today, and I give you my thanks for being part of that by reading what I write and keeping me in your prayers. Thanks for also putting up with my many theme changes as well. ;)

God willing, I’ll keep punching out entries in this blog for many more years to come. Hop on the train and enjoy the ride, and once again thanks for your participation.

Prayer Group Suspended; Why I Can’t Defend Them

Posted March 5, 2007 at 1:13 pm // 4 Comments

UPDATE 3/5/07 2:14 PM: I have now recorded an audio blog about this topic. To listen to “A Moment In My World,” click here.

From The Vancouver Columbian:

A dust-up over group prayers in the Heritage High School commons before the start of school triggered the suspension of a dozen students on Friday…

A top Evergreen Public Schools administrator downplayed the incident but confirmed that 12 pupils were disciplined after they ignored a faculty order to stop meeting for prayer in the commons area at the 2,200-student high school near Orchards, one of Clark County?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s largest schools…

A praying student ordered to detention on Friday said two group co-leaders received 10-day suspensions, while eight others were given three-day suspensions. They had been warned on Thursday not to meet again in the commons, she said.

It’s unfortunate that a prayer group at Heritage High School, which included a member of my youth group at New Horizons Church, was suspended for meeting for morning prayer. I definitely support their cause because I like seeing Christians active in their faith in public.

That being said, and after reading the above article, I can’t say I support the prayer group’s actions at all. Because of their refusal to obey a faculty order in advance to not meet in the commons, they disobeyed the authority of those put over them in a secular setting. While the Bible says to obey the laws of the land as long as they don’t conflict with God’s Word, I don’t see where faculty asking to move a prayer group to a different area is in blatant conflict with the Bible.

A prayer group in a high-visibility area will turn heads and probably draw a crowd of onlookers and gawkers (read: not participants). Yes, it was a Satanic student that objected to their prayers, and the Columbian’s article states he brought up his concern respectfully. Read this key part of the article:

Heritage administrators offered use of a classroom to the group, per written district policy that allows religious or other student clubs to use school facilities during non-school hours, with limited supervision.

The school district was going by the book. Doesn’t matter what affiliation your group has, you would have been asked to move anyway. The students defied that. They were wrong. Heritage High 1, Prayer Group 0.

Issue #2 is the fact two students were suspended for ten days, where 10 others were suspended for only three. I wonder why this is…the Columbian states that the two students were group co-leaders, so maybe they were suspended for a longer period of time because they represented the group as leadership. Another possibility could be that they felt a bit of religious fervor at the moment, got caught up in it and talked back to the school staff, thus earning their extra seven days of sleeping in. However you cut it, everyone’s out of school for a few days. Heritage High 2, Prayer Group 0.

It’s an unfortunate situation but it sounds like the prayer group should have moved when asked, instead of pushing the issue and using Christianity as an excuse to do so. I love and respect my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for standing by their convictions, but I take issue with not respecting a policy that has been set before them and in turn being disciplined. It makes them look like they carried on a “holier than thou” attitude, and in turn could seriously turn some people off to Christianity.

Message to the Heritage High School prayer group: Your prayers are no less effective if you would have obeyed the rules and guidelines set forth by your school leadership. In fact, I think God would have rewarded you for obeying. Instead, you chose not to, and you paid the price by being suspended from your school, which I as a brother in the Lord, have to still fully support.

There’s all kinds of civil disobedience in the Bible. However, as stated above, I don’t think asking a prayer group to move and comply with rules that have been set for other clubs and groups in the same school is in blatant disrespect to God and His Word. The students that refused to move when asked would do well to learn to respect their authority even if it is outside of the church. The fact that they are a Christian group does not place them above the rules of any other group or club at that school, even if their prayers are for a noble cause.

As I previously mentioned, one of the 10-day suspended students attends our church and was at Camp Wa-Ri-Ki, our church’s weekend retreat that concluded yesterday. Inevitably, the youth was praised for “taking a stand for their generation” and “proclaiming the name of the Lord in front of their peers.” This person was in turn directed to pray for all the young people in the congregation and proceeded to “anoint” those who came up front for prayer.

This bothers me greatly. Without presenting both sides of the issue, the incident was glorified as a bona fide stand for Jesus, in direct defiance of a world that is coming against Christians and prayer groups, because after all, it is Satan’s intent to stop anything and everything that is holy. Well, it is Satan’s intent to do just that, yet at the same time, I don’t think old Lucifer influenced Heritage High School administrators to write a rule in their handbook restricting groups and clubs to meet in a specific classroom after school hours.

I just don’t see how a blatant act of disrespect and disobedience to authority could possibly be championed as a defiant stand for the Lord in the face of tremendous adversity, and at a church camp, no less.

What we are all left with is a tremendous black eye on the face of Christianity in general. Something that should have been a non-issue has become a big one for no good reason at all.

It’s a good lesson in exercising spiritual wisdom when it comes to a public display of faith. We would all do well to learn it.