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The time has come!

Creating Culture will now live at sammahlstadt.com – so head on over there to catch upcoming posts and discussions. While you are at it, go ahead and subscribe to the new feed by clicking here so you don’t miss a thing!

Rainn Wilson is Mad at God

I was over at soulpancake.com this morning, browsing the site for ideas on a project I have bouncing around in my head, and I came across this piece of writing from Rainn Wilson. He describes hearing the news about the devastation in Haiti after a recent trip there with his wife:

When I first heard that an earthquake hit near Port-Au-Prince, my body clenched. No way. No way could it be one of those bad ones. No way would that happen. Those concrete-and-cinder-block houses, stacked against each other, leaning precariously like dirty blocks. The consequences of even the slightest tremor would be unimaginable.

No. Way.

Yes way. Total devastation.

Virtually no building has been untouched. The royal palace crumbled. The beautiful Hotel Montana (where we stayed) was wrecked. Thousands of bodies buried in rubble. A giant cloud of concrete dust that shrouded the city for 20 full minutes like a spectre of death.

After some calls to friends there, the only thing I could think to do was pray. But I stopped. I just couldn’t.

Why? Because I believe in God.

I believe in God, an omniscient, creative force that defies all description, that loves His creation, and is sending us individually and collectively on a mysterious spiritual journey.

I believe in God, who created science and beauty and, yes, suffering. A God that that both all-powerful and has given us free will.

But God dammit! How could this God, who lives mighty in my mind and heart, literally create, cause, place, know of, ALLOW an earthquake in one of the WORST possible places on this entire planet? There’s nowhere least suited for an earthquake than the most poverty-ridden, fragile, helter-skelter city you can imagine.

Why there, God!? Shouldn’t that earthquake have hit L.A.? Or Antarctica? C’mon!

I’m angry at God about this. How could You do this? And what do you want me to do now? Pray for the thousands of bloody, broken children that You made that way? How do I pray for the millions affected when the God Im praying to in some way had a hand in this cruel devastation?

This is great. These are the doubts and questions that often go overlooked and neglected following a time if severe tragedy. I am hopeful that the bravery it takes to ask these kinds of questions publicly will help bring healing and restoration to hurting hearts around the world. Do the person who sits in silence a favor, and ask the question that you know is in their head too.

I would love to open it up here, if anyone has a question, doubt, struggle, etc. with the current situation in Haiti or life’s other major moments. Ask/vent/comment away.

Dream On

In honor of a great dreamer today, I encourge you to keep dreaming. Don’t let circumstances stand in the way of the dream you have in your head, and the convictions your hold in your heart. They can change the course of history.

Dream on.

New Home Coming Soon

I am very excited about this!

Creating Culture will soon have a new place to call home. The design is coming along, and it will launch soon.

The look will be similar, minimalistic and unassuming.

Here is a peek at the header/navigation:

My hope is that this blog will be a jumping off point/returning point for me personally, and my writing.

This blog provides me a space to share my thoughts and insights along the journey, and to connect to a readership that is greater than I would have ever imagined. I can write candidly here. I can also share with you where I have contributed to other outlets. It gives me a place to come back after I have written for other people and their readership, and have a sense of home. So here’s to you guys (especially the ones who creep around but never comment) and thank you for participating in this little piece of online community with me.

The best is ahead.

Join Me in Providing Relief to Haiti

Yesterday, I posted about activists engaging in alleviating poverty. It sparked a few comments that ended in a request for a personal example/s of how I have engaged in helping the under-resourced. I shared a bit of my experience, and thought it would end there.

Then last night I got news of a devastating earthquake off the coast of Haiti, causing unbelievable devastation.

Thanks to Tyler Braun for the link to this video.

So…here we go. Time to put our ideals to action.

I received an email from One Days Wages today about a way to get involved, with 100% of donations going directly to emergency and disaster relief. Here is some information about Haiti from that email:

Haiti ranks as one of the least developed countries in the world, and has an approximate population of 10 million, with most citizens living below $2 per day. According to the World Food Program, more than half live on less than $1 per day – in extreme global poverty…One Day’s Wages has committed $5,000 from our General Giving Fund to aid in the relief efforts and now, we invite you to join us.

You can go here to donate through One Day’s Wages, or click on the image below.

I implore you to give something. $1, $5, $10, $1000 – whatever you can. We must put action to our words. And it starts here…tomorrow is payday and I will be making a donation through One Day’s Wages. Please join me.

Sanctity of Life?

This blog was inspired by and ripped off from Anne Jackson, who writes a blog at flowerdust.net and is quite possibly THE standard for faith bloggers (term from Justin Wise). As you can see, this is a hugely original post. There, full disclosure

Anne posted about a study revealing what conservative Christians deem as necessary to stand behind. The results were staggering. In a bad way. Here is a snapshot of the results. Full study here.

As the chart shows, and Anne states, conservative activists (read: Christians) define sanctity of life as “Sanctity of the American Unborn”

I am deeply disturbed by the findings, but not one bit surprised. I feel that these results are the very reason America is a emerging as a post-Christian nation and the millenial generation is growing more and more skeptical of the Christian faith (again, read: Christians).

Foundational to the Christian faith, in my opinion, is a mindset and way of life that follows in the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus said to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. I define neighbor broadly, and include those around the world.

Apparently, we don’t hold ourselves accountable to “those” neighbors who are starving, sick and ravaged by preventable diseases, because we can’t put down our picket signs long enough to live out the com(passion) of Jesus.

As you can probably tell by the tone, I find this disgusting and unacceptable. So, Christians, what are you doing to change this? Those who aren’t Christians, what does this say to you? I would love to hear thoughts on both sides of the coin.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

A quick fact: Right now, slavery is more prevalent than at the peak of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

A cool resource: slaverymap.org tracks human trafficking cases across the nation, and provides new stories and specific details.

A 3-step plan to get started as an abolitionist:

1. Educate yourself ( polarisproject.org / ijm.org / humantrafficking.org )
2. Get connected to a group or organization
3. Give (time, resources, passion) to a group/organization

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I also blog over at stopslaveryhere.com – where we try to keep a finger on the pulse of human trafficking issues. We are always looking for organizations who are paving the way, and creative, practical ways to get involved in the fight against human trafficking.

photo from love146.org

Stop Slavery Here

In addition to blogging here, I also generate content over at stopslaveryhere.com. I would love if you peeked over there and took a look around, especially with January 11th approaching, which is the national human-trafficking awareness day.

There are some practical next steps to get involved in the fight against modern-day slavery as well as some information to get a grasp on the reality of slavery in our world.

You can also follow the action on Twitter @stopithere

Together, we can stop slavery here.

Fear and Writing and Correction from Strangers

In 2010, I am taking some very strategic steps to begin a writing career.

(gulp)

That is a hard thing to say for a few reasons:

• I live on a constant roller coaster of pride and self-deprecation
• I measure myself against those who have a wide audience and have produced great work
• I don’t feel capable next to said bar-holders
• I live in fear of failing quite a bit
• My fear of failing makes me feel like a failure (you see the vicious cycle)
• As a person who believes that God is mysteriously, actively opening doors in my life, I fight the tendency to kick down doors to make a way
• I fight the urge to be known and to be liked on a regular basis, and I know this is a destructive way to live if you want to be a writer

* Clarification *  I am not planning on stepping out of the receiving-a-paycheck world in 2010, but laying the foundation that will allow me to transition into full-time writing.

With all that said, I wrote the following in an email the other day while inquiring about taking this blog to the next level.

I am planning on spending 2010 growing and expanding my writing platform, and my blog will serve as a portfolio of sorts for perspective freelance gigs and such. I will be trying to make the jump into professional writing this year, and I would like my blog to reflect a level of professionalism and creativity – while also not appearing to overcompensate for a lack of actual writing skill.

While this may have not said anything that raises a red flag or makes you question motives, I hated something I said.

I am planning on spending 2010 growing and expanding my writing platform

This goes back to the fear issue that I deal with regularly. I fear that my writing isn’t good enough to stand alone. I fear that without a cooler-looking blog and a better self-brand, I won’t make it as a writer.

And of course, as I am internalizing all this, some of the writers I follow began talking (or I came across what they had written in the past) about building and expanding platforms.

Anne Jackson, author of flowerdust.net – one of my favorite blogs to read – wrote a 3 post advice column (2nd question in the FAQ) if you will about what it takes to be a great blogger and 2 posts about people’ readiness to lead. Great thoughts on building a platform.

* UPDATE: minutes before this post published, Anne posted this about her tendency towards affirmation. Brilliant.*

Tony Morgan, blogger at tonymorganlive.com just recently wrote a post about building and maintaining platforms.

Scott McClellan, editor of COLLIDE magazine just wrote this article on how to fail at social media.

So, thanks to Anne, Tony and Scott, for keeping me in check without even knowing it. That’s why I read your stuff.

Hmmm…maybe there is a lesson there…

Here’s to 2010 and big dreamin’.

Rob Bell on Finding God

Rob Bell (one of my heroes) made the following comment during his sermon “Intentions” released on the Mars Hill podcast on 12/6/09.

If you try to resolve the God exists or not exists question at a purely intellectual level, or a theological level, or a philosophical, ontological level, if you can just line up your thoughts in your head, the problem is, this God never says, “That’s how you’ll find me. Just think your way to me, it’ll be easy.” This God is fundamentally defined by generosity. And sometimes what happens is we are struggling to connect with God, and yet we aren’t practicing the raw essence of how this God has even revealed this God’s self, and so what happens is we are deeply disconnected from the fundamental nature of God. This God is fundamentally defined by giving a son who gave himself to the world. And page after page after verse after passage of the Scripture speaks of this God who says, “If you want to know me, then find those who are most lacking, and serve and give and love them, and I’ll be there.”

I love this guy, and what he stands for, and the way he presses on in the face of criticism from those inside and outside the Church. As we have had several conversations about faith issues on the blog recently, I thought this was relevant here.

I kick it back to you. Thoughts?