{"id":2445,"date":"2012-04-18T15:51:46","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T20:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=2445"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:51:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:51:58","slug":"adventures-in-the-spirit-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2012\/04\/18\/adventures-in-the-spirit-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"adventures in the Spirit, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am an urban-educator who grew up in the country.\u00a0 I often feel like my entire life is a Truth-seeking adventure.<\/p>\n

I grew up in Northeast Iowa in a very rural community.\u00a0 Currently, my parents live in an unincorporated village\u00a0where the\u00a0town welcome sign proudly announces 27 residents.\u00a0 Practically everyone I knew growing up looked and sounded a lot like me (fair skin, light eyes and hair, with a twangy Iowan accent).\u00a0 I attended public school until I went to college (even though I have always been interested in Christianity) because it was the only option.\u00a0 I didn’t live a sheltered life, really, but I was actually pretty isolated and protected. The woods, fields and pastures were my playground and I only heard gun shots during hunting season.<\/p>\n

Now I live in Chicago-land, a sprawling urban area that has a population of over 9.8 million residents!<\/a>\u00a0 I teach at an all boys inner-city, Catholic high school pretty much right-smack in the middle of all the action on Chicago’s south side. Today some of my students were casually talking about how they heard gun shots during their baseball game in the park, in the way that my high school friends would talk about hearing thunder during a game.\u00a0 “It was all right,”<\/em> they said. “We got to keep playing because they weren’t too close.”<\/em>\u00a0 I am worlds away from where I grew up.<\/p>\n

I serve in a culture that is not my own.\u00a0 This high school is much more lively than mine ever was.\u00a0 From the elders to the children, there’s a different style than I am used to.\u00a0 Even though I have been in this community for about three years now, I am still frequently exposed to food, music, art, history and speech that is so foreign to me that it seems a passport should be required.\u00a0 I have had to adapt my teaching style, my expectations and learn a new way of communicating and making jokes.\u00a0 Everything is interesting and fascinating, and\u00a0yet I am constantly\u00a0self-evaluating\u00a0to make sure I am not subconsciously behaving paternalistically.\u00a0 Fortunately, I have been embraced by the community and have experienced success.\u00a0 I am here to serve and it’s an honor and blessing to be so welcome.<\/p>\n

Beloved:<\/em>
\nEveryone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,<\/em>
\nand everyone who loves the Father<\/em>
\nloves also the one begotten by him.<\/em>
\nIn this way we know that we love the children of God<\/em>
\nwhen we love God and obey his commandments.<\/em>
\nFor the love of God is this,<\/em>
\nthat we keep his commandments.<\/em>
\nAnd his commandments are not burdensome,<\/em>
\nfor whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.<\/em>
\nAnd the victory that conquers the world is our faith.<\/em><\/em>
\nThe Spirit is the one that testifies,<\/em>
\nand the Spirit is truth. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>-1 John 5:1-4, 6<\/a><\/p>\n

During Holy Week 2012 I went on a Truth-teaching adventure.\u00a0 Eight of my students, a school colleague, and an urban 10-year-old (a chaperone’s\u00a0son) and I squeezed into a van and drove five hours to the foreign land where I grew up.\u00a0 We stayed four days and nights growing as a team through many fun experiences, service-work, reflections, challenges, prayer and communion.\u00a0 God was up to a lot of good.<\/p>\n

When I get to witness the Spirit at Truth at work, I am amazed I am part of it.\u00a0 I am amazed I get to see God in action.\u00a0 Observing enlightenment is like watching a flower bloom or a sunrise, a glorious newness emerges so gradually and quietly.<\/p>\n

Before my students and I went on the trip, we had meetings to get ready.\u00a0 At one meeting I made a huge chart on the board that looked something like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u00a0 had a very interesting conversation when we tried to fill in the gaps. Before our trip we left the Truth row blank. Finding the Truth was named as one of the trip’s\u00a0missions.<\/p>\n

Jesus was our trip companion. \u00a0Although we were in the hills of Northeast Iowa, I tried to keep my Holy Week spirit with Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jesus is the man who is the best at teaching the Truth!<\/p>\n

Like he said: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.\u201d<\/em> -John 8:31-32<\/a><\/p>\n

In this blog series, adventures in the Spirit<\/em>,\u00a0I’ll\u00a0write about all the Truth that was taught and learned by my students in Iowa during our Holy Week adventure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I am an urban-educator who grew up in the country.\u00a0 I often feel like my entire life is a Truth-seeking adventure. I grew up in Northeast Iowa in a very rural community.\u00a0 Currently, my parents live in an unincorporated village\u00a0where the\u00a0town welcome sign proudly announces 27 residents.\u00a0 Practically everyone I knew growing up looked and...","protected":false},"author":4071079,"featured_media":2459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115341],"tags":[7104,5154,2568,1342,401,7816,33380,16484537,59348,8329,140745,116,503602,400361,1096,1591,51892,106,1108217],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-2445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-and-justice-equity-and-justice","tag-catholic","tag-chicago","tag-christian","tag-education","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-holy-spirit","tag-immersion-trips","tag-iowa","tag-jesus","tag-relgion","tag-religion","tag-rural-life","tag-service-learning","tag-spirit","tag-teaching","tag-teens","tag-truth","tag-urban-education","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/screen-shot-2012-04-18-at-11-42-28-am1.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"

adventures in the Spirit, part 1<\/a><\/blockquote>