God is amazing.

God is amazing.

Sometimes I spend too much time thinking of a clever title for my blog. Today I am just going to cut to the chase. God is amazing. Below is one chapter from my story that reminds me how amazing God is, how unthinkable it is that He would use me to let others know how amazing He is.

Seminary is hard. I tend to have one or two responses to this (after the sheer panic), fight or flight. Some days the challenge of the work and the pressing needs of life and Spiritual growth drive me to buckle down, dive in, fly right, and many other clichéd sayings to get the work done. I “fight.” I rise to the challenge (As and Bs thus far, thankyouverymuch.)

Others days see me in full flight mode. Overwhelmed by the amount of work to do (whether it be in the classroom or wrestling with God as he shapes me into a new person) I run. I dive not into books but into media. It could be online vids, playing chess against the computer, watching old episodes of the Muppets, or even simply sleep. Sunday evening was a time of flight.

When I run, somehow the free time I have is eaten away and suddenly then it’s time for bed. By now I am so engrossed in learning about the impeding Muppets appearance on WWE (which actually happened) or simply determined to beat the computer in a game of chess (I think my win percent is like 8%, and even that doesn’t count the dozens of games I have quit in the middle of facing the inevitable checkmate of the PC.) that I push back a half hour of sleep for a half hour of play.  Then it’s “one more vid” “one more game.” Before I know it is 1:00am and Chapel starts in 7 and half hours.

That was Sunday night. The spiral of sloth and avoidance led not to rest but self-destruction. But I figured Monday (Halloween) would be a good day. Monday means costumes and candy, and more importantly it means opening up the church and allowing the neighborhood to come enjoy costumes and candy, as well as games and the Gospel. I was sharing the Good News of Christ that night, and I was going to use the analogy of a Jack-O-Lantern to do so. (Think of the analogy that comes from II Cor 5:17 about new creations that you have heard about butterflies, and sub in pumpkin to Jack-O-Lantern.) I knew that I needed a Jack-O-Lantern prepped and ready to go before Monday. 

The Tuesday before a friend and myself spent the evening carving Jack-O-Lanterns. I put mine out back so that it wouldn’t rot. The squirrels (which there are plenty of around these parts) got to my Pumpkin and nibbled at the eye sockets. An easy enough fix, but I decided to bring the Lantern in to avoid any other potential damage caused by hungry rodents.

Before we continue a little background is necessary. I have lived in several places, and while they were all in California several of them experienced cold weather (not Midwest cold, but still cold). I have lived in houses that have been heated by stoves, fireplaces, and central heat. My apartment in Chicago has something I haven’t used before, a radiator. It seems like a simple enough device to work, and yet the thing confounds me.

It turns on at random times (the middle of the night, when I am at class). I have turned the valve to the off position and still the thing comes on. Monday night as I sat in the living room wasting my time, the radiator sprang to life (and when I say sprang it gurgled and hissed and clunked its way into action). I went over and turned it off. It stopped producing heat and it stopped making noise. It stayed in this state as I spent my evening watching the special features on the Captain America DVD. 

Now back to our story…

I woke up on Monday morning at exactly 9:30am, the time that chapel starts. I was discouraged that I had missed an opportunity for learning and community. However, I was not dissuaded. I had homework to do before class, then a lovely evening of sharing how amazing my God is.

As I left the bedroom I heard the hiss of my radiator. (I swear the thing doesn’t like me. ) Because not only was it on, it was on full tilt and it was actually hot in my apartment. I went into the kitchen to check on my Jack-O-Lantern. It had melted. Sure the scientific term would be rotted, but it looked like a deflated balloon. A giant orange balloon that was leaking on my kitchen floor. The Jack-O-Lantern was taken to the compost pile behind the apartments, the floor was cleaned, and I like the once mighty Lantern was deflated and defeated. I grabbed my computer and sank back into my online world.

Fortunately, my online world also holds many of the people of my present community. I received two offers to help me carve a new pumpkin. But I made the excuse of time to both. I didn’t want to be in community just then. I was lazy and slothful, I clearly can’t work a radiator, my visual aid is now useless, and all this means that God can’t use me (It doesn’t but that was my mindset).

So I sat and pouted and prayed. I prayed that despite my rotten pumpkin and my sour attitude that God would use me to make himself known that night at church.

I went to class. My Monday class is actually a small group where we are sharing in each other’s lives through the weekly telling of small bits of our stories centered around a theme. Today’s theme was Transition. I shared, but not much. I couldn’t find the words (shocking I know). I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be in seminary.  I felt that clearly I was failing in effective ministry.  I felt like I was out of place.

The church I attend is a little less than a mile from campus. As I walked to the Harvest Festival I prayed once again that God would use me despite myself.

I had enough time to use one of the “before” pumpkins that were at the church to turn it into a new Jack-0-Lantern. So now things were set. Now that I had my object I could teach my lesson.

I honestly thought that God would use me only in spite of myself.
But He didn’t. He used me.

He used my gifts and abilities to teach the Gospel. He used my love of stories to explain how amazing He is.

There was one girl that came to story time twice. She asked questions both times. I don’t know how my answers will be used in her story as God calls her to know and love Him. I am not so vain to think that without her encounter with me, God would be lacking in resources to draw her unto himself. But I do know this. God used me when I didn’t think I could be used, when I assumed that I shouldn’t be used.

Why? Because God is amazing.

--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away

--Jesse Letourneau

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Dear friends and family,

I am finishing up my second year here at Alliance Redwoods.      many of you know the Lord recently placed on my heart the desire to go into full time church children’s ministry. Until that particular calling comes to fruition, I am happy to say that I have found a home here among the Redwoods. I enjoy my job and am blessed to be working with people who inspire and challenge me each and every day. I have also found a church and a small group that do the same.

Through the camp, I have taken the opportunity to join a team of Americans (along with two “South African-Americans”) who will be meeting with a team of South African nationals to bring hope to youth in and around the Cape Town area. The ministry is known as Camp South Africa or as it is affectionately labeled CSA. We will be working in schools, churches, prisons, and parks. Our mission can be summed up in our desire to bring fun for the spirit, food for the body, and hope for the soul. We hope to accomplish these goals through songs, games, stories, small group sharing, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This is the ninth year that camp has run this program. I like to describe it as “hit and run missions-that has been running for almost a decade and has nationals involved with and connected to the ministry to stay behind and carry out the work all year long.” It may be a mouthful, but it is a large task that we are under taking.

My personal involvement came after I heard the story of a little girl who was a part of CSA 09. We will call her “Lenaiah.” Lenaiah like so many children in South Africa, has A.I.D.S. She is fortunate enough to have access to anti-viral medication. Last year, the team was able to host overnight camps. On the last day of camp, Lenaiah forgot to take her daily medication. When asked by our leader and founder Merv, ho w this happened. Her response was, “Uncle Merv, I was having so much fun, I forgot.” The children of South Africa live in circumstances beyond my imagination. If I can give them one week, one day, one hour, or even just one moment where they are having so much fun they forget their circumstances, and in that moment they are simply children again, then I simply have no choice but to go.

My work here at Alliance has allowed me the time and the resources to undertake this journey. I am writing to all of you asking for prayer and support. The dates of the trip are November 18 – December 17, 2010. We will be working most days, and will be out ministering for as long as twelve hours a day. Please pray for our team, that we stay healthy, safe, and sane. Pray that the moments seen and unseen will be used to impact these children and that through the fun and food, they will come to know of the hope of Christ.

--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away

--Jesse "Gonzo" Letourneau

If you would like to help defer the cost of my trip you may send donations to

6250 Bohemian Highway, Occidental, CA 95465. Please include CSA2010/Jesse Letourneau on the memo line. All donations are tax deductible and you will be sent a receipt.

More Muppets

So, I have been giving a lot (too much) thought to Gonzo and how he has appeared over the years. Like any good decades old character he has undergone several changes in appearance. The most resent I like to call his "Disney-ification."

Outside of Kermit, most of the principal players on the Muppet Show underwent some pretty radical transformations during the show's (all too short) five year run. To say then, that Disney has no right to change the characters look would be unfair. However, the direction that the Muppets have gone since Disney bought the rights to Kermit and company, as been to a more rounded, monochromatic, almost Playschool like appearance. (In point of fact, the classic Disney characters (Mickey, Donald, Goofy) have undergone a similar metamorphosis.) It is a case of marketing (kids like bright colors and soft round shapes) dictating the characters' look, over the character of the character dictation the character's look.

I know that last sentence has a lot of "character" in it, but when dealing with the Muppets it is important to remember that they are first and foremost characters. They have back stories and deep seeded fears, they have strengths and weaknesses, they function as a (highly eclectic and highly unstable) family. To turn them into the "funny one," the "mean one," the "jock," and the "outcast" is to miss the point of what made Jim Henson's crazy characters work so well and be loved for so long.

Kermit's new appearance is the most egregious change brought to the Muppets. However, to Disney's credit they have brought him back to a more classic look.

Classic Kermit (Notice his "skull" is basically a hand) with a more football shaped head

"Disney-fied Kermit' with a almost perfectly spherical head.

And here is Kermit in the most recent Muppet Production ("Letters to Santa")

Notice we are much closer to the original football shaped head.

(Side Note: The Muppets and many other properties have been trying hard to produce a seminal Christmas film in the vain of A Charlie Brown Christmas. The reason Charlie Brown and friends have become a part of American Christmas is that CBS ran the special every year for decades on end. If you want kids to grow up watching your Christmas special, stop making new ones every five years, and simply rerun your show until everyone deems it a classic)

Despite the presence of various and radical changes, Miss Piggy adamantly denies ever having plastic surgery. You be the judge.

BEFORE

AFTER

However, what Disney has done to the pig (make her head as round as possible) seems a little extreme.

Disney-ification

Sadly, one of my favorite Muppets (who makes me smile on appearance alone) has undergone (in my book) the most unfortunate transformation of all.

Old school Fozzie

Disney-ification

I really hate the look of the current furry funny man.

So on to Gonzo.

When Gonzo was first introduced to the world, he was this little weird whatever. Not overly appealing in his appearance (or his "artistic acts").

1976

As the years went by Gonzo grew in size as well as physical appeal (relatively speaking of course)

1981

During what some fans have dubbed "The storybook years", Gonzo continued to grow in size, appearance, and in prominence. In 1992's A Muppet Christmas Carol, Gonzo took center stage as the narrator of the film.

narrator of classic novels and stealer of souls

After Disney bought the Muppets, Gonzo became rounder, softer, and more monochromatic.


Once ugly and predominately purple, Gonzo has morphed into a (somewhat) appealing and mostly blue.















I would be absolutely appalled at the transformation of the little whatever who was booed off the stage when he tried to eat a tire to the tunes of Korsakovo to the alien who is front and center of the recent Disney/Muppet outings, except for one thing:

Dave Golez, the man who has had his hand up Gonzo's tucus, since the first episode of the Muppet Show. Gonzo and Golez are the only character/puppeteer combo to remain in tact since the beginning. Golez/Gonzo are the reason that any heart, any humor, and since of nostalgia are part of recent Muppet productions.

So while I am not a fan of rounded heads and simple color schemes (these ain't the telletubbies) I do love me some Gonzo.

Below is a video of Dave and Gonzo

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