Drivers and Passengers

by Tyler Zach



Which is easier? Being a driver or a passenger?

I think that most of us would say that being a passenger takes a lot less work and is often times more enjoyable. Just think about it. When you are a passenger, you can sleep as much as you want on a road trip, read, relax, talk to other passengers, and not worry about going off the road.

Many of us, if we had the choice, would choose to let someone else (friend, parent, church, etc.) drive our lives while we sit back and relax. There is less pressure and less responsibility. If your car ever does veer off the road, then you can blame it on someone else instead of taking responsibility for it!

People justify their actions and make excuses all the time – trying to blame their “crashes” in life on other people whenever possible. Bill Clinton did a great job of this when he gave his five-minute speech to the public about his relationship with Monica Lewinski. Check out this analysis of his speech (549 words total):

# of words devoted to self-justification: 134 words
# of words devoted to attack on the prosecutor: 180 words
# of words devoted to saying it’s time to move on: 137 words
# of words devoted to regret for actions: 4 words
# of words devoted to apology: none

When John F. Kennedy was going through the Bay of Pigs fiasco, he took full responsibility for everything that happened. And guess what? His popularity in the U.S. went up!

Recently, I drove my Explorer into the ditch after hitting an ice patch on the road near Crete, NE. My car went down the steep ditch backwards until I ran right through a barbwire fence. Did you notice that I said, “after hitting an ice patch” instead of saying “after driving too fast for the weather conditions?” Do you see how I tried to justify my action?

How do you justify your daily actions? Do you follow Clinton’s example or JFK’s?

Are you in the driver’s seat of your life? Or do you intentionally put other people there so that you can blame them when your life crashes?

*content taken from the book “Habitudes: Images that form Self-Leadership” by Tim Elmore”

Are You Culturally Relevant?

by Tyler Zach



There are many Christians but few seem to be relevant to their culture.

In the book, “Journey towards Relevance”, the author describes that Christians either lean towards being a Conformist or being a Separatist. Look at the characteristics bellow to see which side you might lean towards:

SEPARTISTS – God-lovers

• They separate themselves from the non-believers on campus for the main purpose of remaining holy. They take the commands of God, which are not burdensome, and make hundreds of other rules and laws in order to maintain personal holiness.
• Tend to judge others by their outward actions
• Have a fear of compromising with “worldly” activities
• Withdraw from the world and live on a “spiritual island”
• Categorize all activities as either spiritual or secular (black or white)
• Attempt to control temptation, sin, and holiness by their own strength
• The conformists believe that this group is out of touch with the real world.
• Have very few non-Christian friends
• “Separatists have their Christian friends, their Christian music, and their Christian church. They wear their faith all the time, but fail to relate with the world around them. They pride themselves in having a pure faith. Separatists fail to see that no one wants to hear about their faith, because they’re completely irrelevant to the culture around. When you challenge them to integrate their faith with their culture, they get a frightened look in their eyes. They don’t want to integrate because what you’re asking them to do is to leave their safe island.”
  

CONFORMISTS – People-lovers

• Conform themselves to the ideals, philosophies, and goals of the world. They value what it values. They model what it models. They worship what it worships.
• Label others as legalistic
• Want to be free from control
• Tend to have problems with authority
• Flaunt their freedom and condemn others for their structured or disciplined lifestyle
• Enjoy the pleasures of sin because it is too hard to live a disciplined Christ-like life
• The Separatists believe that this group lives and thinks no differently than non-Christians do. Their lives don’t look any different
• Have more non-Christian friends than they do Christian friends
• “Conformists propose to live a one-day religion. For those who even go to church on Sunday for about two hours, they look, act, and speak like someone who follows Christ. However, after hitting the exit door, they immediately place their faith on the shelf and live the rest of their week completely conformed to culture. In fact, many conformists are so polished at this that they can temporarily wear their faith and take it off at will. They can display their faith when it’s convenient and remove it when it proves to be uncomfortable.”
  

In case you are wondering, I am a recovering Separatist. I tend to make up more rules to follow so that I can follow them and pretend I’m more spiritual than I actually am. I tend to judge myself and other based on outward actions. Instead of reaching out to the culture often times, I just encourage the students I work with to go out to the battlefield. “Go reach the world,” I shout, and then kick the students out of my apartment so that I can read a good Christian book.

The alternative to being a Conformist and a Separatist is a Transformist. A Transformist is someone who loves culture and the people in it as a result of their overflowing love for God. They immerse themselves in culture without forgetting about their love for God and their responsibility to tell everyone about Him.

Are you so immersed in church that you’ve lost touch with the real world? Do you label places or activities as either spiritual or worldly? You need to realize that the best places to spread the gospel are usually the places you stay away from.

Are you so immersed in culture (real world) that you’ve given up on following God diligently, living a life of obedience, and sharing your faith? You need to realize that you are constantly surrounded by people who need to hear the truth. Now it is up to you to commit to the responsibilities that God has given you as a child and ambassador.

UNO Students Serve Katrina Victims

by Brenton Thompson



Most students took advantage of fall break by heading home, working extra hours, spending time with friends or just relaxing. Greek Endeavor and Campus Crusade led a group of 25 students to Slidell, LA. to help with ongoing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Generous donations totaling $6,000 from family and friends allowed the trip to take place.

As UNO’s homecoming week concluded, the students crammed into three vans for a 20-hour drive to a city where most residents no longer had a place to call home. City streets once lined with houses were now lined with piles of rubble and trash.Locals estimated that nearly 80 percent of the New Orleans suburb was shut down. Houses that only had minor damage were crammed with numerous families. In many cases, the owners of these homes didn’t know any of the families that had now become their houseguests.

The UNO group took two days to help with the relief efforts organized by The First Baptist Church of Slidell. It took hundreds of college students, the American Red Cross and the members of the National Guard to run the operations that were set up on the church property.During this time, students were provided numerous ways to help out. Some handed out warm lunches, cold water and bags of ice to cars as they drove through the church parking lot.

The church provided over 9,000 free meals to hurricane victims each day.Other students helped stock tents with clothing, canned food, toiletries and other necessities that were supplied for the victims. Some of the male students spent time restoring the church by shoveling sand underneath portables to provide a sturdy foundation and tore down molded ceiling tiles and insulation ruined by flooding.

While many students worked at the church, each day a small group performed a “mud out” on a house in the community. This was a day-long process that included tearing out walls, cabinets and floor tiles that had been ruined by flood waters. While working in the houses, the crew members had an opportunity to talk to the residents about the storm. Though exhausted at the end of the trip, most of the students were disappointed to leave. “It’s amazing how quickly our hearts became dedicated to these people, considering the short amount of a time that we were here,” said Julie Grotelueschen, a sophomore in Chi Omega. “It was hard for us to pack up and go home when there was so much work left to be done.”

With the success of this trip, Greek Endeavor and Campus Crusade are organizing another hurricane relief trip for Spring Break 2006 and are expecting about 300 students. Interested individuals can contact Tyler Zach at tyler.zach@uscm.org for more information or visit www.NebraskaRelief.com after January 1.

The Parable of The Unmerciful Fraternity Brother

By Tyler Zach

Note: This story is longer than most of my blogs and therefore requires a little more patience. But it is worth it!



At the end of each semester, the executive board of the Sigma Epsilon fraternity would look over the roster and pick out the members who had not paid their dues in full. These members would be put on the fast track for expulsion since they had not fulfilled their financial obligations.

One by one, the members would go into the executive room of the fraternity house and have an opportunity to explain their situation. Jarred, a junior at Texas A&M, was a little nervous when he first stepped into the room. He hadn’t paid a single dime for the semester.

The financial officer said, “Jarred, as you know, you have an obligation to pay your dues in full every semester. What’s the problem, man?”

Jarred said, “I’m really sorry guys. It’s just that my father left my mom and my little sister three months ago - and ever since, my mom has been struggling to pay the bills. So all the money that I’ve been getting from my job, I’ve been giving to mom and sister. Is there anyway that I can pay you back next semester? My mom and sister just need some time to get back on their feet. I promise I’ll be able to cough up the money next semester.”

There was silence in the room. Nick, the financial officer, replied, “Bro, I feel really sorry for you. That stinks that your family has been going through a rough time. But we can’t make any exceptions. The system has to be fair for everyone. I’m sorry, but we are going to have to let you go.”

Jarred looked at them in disbelief. He waited a few seconds, and then proclaimed, “I can’t believe you guys won’t give me a break! What about all that brotherhood stuff you always talk about? You know...that you’d do anything for a brother in need.”

As Jarred went on defending himself, the President’s heart started to shift. He suddenly felt sorry for Jarred, realizing that his brother really was going through a tough time in his life.

Matt, the President, stopped Jarred and said, “Jarred, listen. I know you are going through a tough time. It wouldn’t be very helpful to the chapter to lose a great guy like yourself. We need you here. So this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to override the system and let you stay in the chapter for now. Normally, I would make you pay back your dues next semester - but - due to the circumstances surrounding your family I’m not going to make you pay your dues. You are a great guy and shouldn’t be punished for helping your family. I know that chapter won’t like it much because it won’t seem fair to them, but it seems very fair to me.”

A smile swept across Jarred’s face. He thanked the President and walked swiftly out of the room. He called his mom later to tell her the good news. She was overjoyed at the President’s mercy.

A few weeks later Jarred was walking to class and saw his fraternity brother, Lucas, coming towards him. At the beginning of the semester Lucas had borrowed $75 from Jarred to help pay for one of his textbooks. Jarred quickly remembered that Lucas owed him money and said, “Hey bro, you still owe me $75. You know, the money that I loaned to you at the beginning of the semester?”

Lucas replied, “Yeah, I know – but don’t you remember that I told you I would have to pay you back next semester? All the money that I’m making at my work-study job is going towards my tuition this semester. I’ll definitely be able to pay you back in a few months. Is that cool with you?”

Jarred started to get a little irritated. “Lucas, you know I’m really hurting for cash right now. I need the money ASAP.” Jarred replied, “Dude, I don’t have the money right now.” “Well, you better get it quick,” Jarred shot back.

“What is your problem? Why are you getting so angry with me? I’ll get you the money, I promise.” “That’s not good enough. You owe me $75 and if you don’t pay it back, I’m going to bring you up on trial in the fraternity. And if they don’t do anything about it, I’ll take matters into my own hands,” Jarred said threateningly.

Word got back to the President about Jarred’s hostility towards Lucas. The next Sunday before the fraternity’s weekly meeting, Matt called Jarred into the executive room. “Hey guys, good to see you. What do you want?” asked Jarred.

Matt sat silently with a frustrated look on his face. “What’s wrong,” Jarred asked. Matt and the rest of the exec team just started at him. “Come on, what is going on here,” Jarred asked again.

Finally Matt spoke up. “I can’t believe you Jarred. We met with you for an hour last week and listened to you patiently as you talked about your family and how you were going through such a tough time. We honestly felt bad for you. We were willing to go against the system and make an exception just for you. The whole chapter was mad at us because we kicked out Ben and Tim because they hadn’t paid their dues – and we let you slide. We gave you a lot of mercy and were judged harshly because of it. And now we’ve heard that you are going to bring Lucas up on trial? What’s up with that? He owes you $75? Big deal! You owe us hundreds of dollars in dues!”

“But…” Jarred tried to chime in. “No, listen to us,” Matt firmly said. “Since we handed you grace and mercy when you needed it, and you failed to show that same mercy to another brother, we are expelling you from the chapter for good. We are saddened by your hypocrisy and will not tolerate it. You are free to go.”

Jarred continued to defend himself but the executive board backed Matt’s decision. The paperwork was signed and he was removed from the fraternity. During the chapter meeting later that night the President said humbly, “What happened to Jarred will happen to you if grace and mercy is extended to you and you do not return the same to your brothers.”

Disclaimer: The names of the people in this story are made up and the plot does not reflect actual events. The parable that this story parallels is Matthew 18:21-35.