Branden Garrett - Getting Free

Luke Trip: Dehradun Recap

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So here's the deal, when things are happening all the time and moving cities every few days is your life - it is hard to find time to write about it. (unless you are in the habit of it). Enough excuses.

Dehradun January 20 - February 12
When I first left off we were in Dehradun, India. This was pretty much the beigining of our trip, and now we are in the home stretch. Regardless, our time in Dehradun was full.

In the mornings three of us would jump into an autorickshaw and head to a rooftop school for the poorest of the poor (at least in that "neighborhood"). Most of the kids worked in a mining camp just out side the "neighborhood" - defiantly child labor, but they got time off for school. At first it was difficult to work with these kids - How do you relate to someone that is living an entirely different life than you? How do you teach kids without adequate books, notebooks or pens? and How do you open your heart enough to let them affect you? We were dealing with our own ish (issues) - culture shock and personal problems.

It took the first week for me to start to deal with these questions. I began to see that the kids were not so different than me. I began to relate to there childness - we were all children once. And in relating to their childness I began to connect with them. Everyone at the age of 6-8 loves high-fives, loves to laugh, loves to be noticed. So that's exactly what I did. I gave them high-fives, I did funny things, and I paid attention to them. Then something magical happened. The fact that we didn’t have the best school supplies didn’t matter, we just did what we could with what we had. The important part is I was there and I interacted with them with a smile. When they said my name I looked and answered their questions. Did we get a lot of actual school teaching in? Some. But that wasn't most important. Then about the second week something even more magical happened. Without realizing it I started letting them affect me. I enjoyed them and cared about them. The more I gave to them the more I received to give to them. The more I cared for them, the more culture shock disappeared and my personal problems became less important. (Not that they were buried - more they rose to the surface and I, with the help of Our father and the team, dealt with them).

The third week we stopped going to the school to teach - our contact had other things for us to do. But during the final week we met with the kids three more times. One afternoon we decided we should pull them out of the factory and play soccer with them. So we did. And again, all that mattered was we were there. They just enjoyed being loved - and who doesn't? The second time was in the evening. Again we decided that we should pull them out of the factory and do an outreach for the factory families. We preformed skits and songs, but what really mattered were the high-fives afterward. It turned into an all out high-five frenzy! The last time we saw the kids was our last day in Dehradun. We visited them at the school and sang some final songs with them. We were all very sad to leave but knew our journey had just begun.

In the evenings our contact Brian would take us on house visits. They mainly consisted of us sitting, him speaking in Hindi for awhile, some songs (in Hindi) and then our testimonies. Before this trip, I hadn't really given my testimony, ever. But I learned early on of the power in a testimony. Growing up I thought your testimony was your life story about how you became a Christian - and it can be. But the testimonies we gave were a little different. We mainly talked about what Out Father was doing in our lives that day or what we felt the people we were talking to needed to hear from Our Father. The greatest part in that is everyone's testimony is different, everyone is going through different things, and everyone has a different life story. And the people got to hear it and connect with it - and they did.

When we weren't doing these thing we had some "free" time - but not really. Dinner was often held at our contacts home and when we weren't there - we were either practicing resting (which I will probably write a whole blog about) or listening to Anth Chapman (which I will write a blog about). Anth Chapman has four sermons that we listened to about the New Covenant that has really shaped my everything with Our Father. Diving into them was a lot of work and processing them was even more. We still aren’t done. We also visited Rajpur, Mussurie and Rishikesh - fantastic cities to visit.

All in all, Dehradun was the perfect transition to India and I enjoyed leaps and bounds. I have very fond memories of the Outreach Centere, Brian and his family, Parvesh (Brian's assistant pastor), the school and Prem (our taxi driver).

Luke Trip: Nainital/Sat Tal Recap

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Nainital February 12 - February 15
After our busy time in Dehradun we were eger for some rest and relaxation. Brian knew of a place that over looked a lake, high in the Indian Himalayan Mountains - Nainital. It was BEAUTIFUL! We didn't do much there except rest and listen to Old Boy (our name for Anth Chapman). But it was the best thing we could have done. One day, however, we did get adventurous and climbed Nainital Peak, a small thing compared to the daunting Annapurna Circuit - though it still kicked our butts.

Sat Tal February 15 - February 19
Soon we were off to Sat Tal. Sat Tal is a near by city secluded by the mountains and lakes. There is a Christian ashram that Brian said would be perfect to escape the population of India. We also didn't do much there - or so it seemed. We practiced rest in Sat Tal. I learned to quite myself and purge my head of distracting thoughts. I learned to create a space in which I could actively let Our Father work in me. And after realizing what that feels like I learned that I had felt it many times before. So all the times I asked Our Father to do something inside of me and didn’t think he did anything (and got quite upset about it), I just didn’t have the eyes to see what he was doing. I had a laughing fit soon after this realization. We also talked extensively about the four Old Boy sermons here.

Without going into much into detail - spiders, panicking, treses, and fires are all fond memories.

Nainital February 19 - February 20
From Sat Tal, we traveled back to Nainital to regroup before making the long journey to Ongle. Not much happened in the day we were here.

Luke Trip: A New Perspective

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

There is a secret buried within scripture and for some reason we have yet to discover it. At least fully.

Track with me:

The Bible starts in a garden. After God has created light, water, land, plants, fish and animals He finds that there is not a suitable helper for Himself. So in His image He creates man. And because there is not a suitable helper for God except out of His own image He creates woman (still in the image of God) from man to be man’s suitable helper. And God becomes Our Father.

Our Father yearns for a relationship with us; it’s the whole purpose of our existence, and the evil one knows that. So he exploits the one area in the garden that can disrupt the right relationship between Our Father and His kids: the knowledge of Good and Evil.

It’s easy to say that if that is the one area that can break the relationship with Our Father it shouldn’t have been created. But with out it, without the choice, true love - Our Father’s nature - cannot exist. What is love if it is forced?

But of all the things to keep us from, why is knowing the difference between good and evil, the one thing Our Father didn’t want us to have, such a bad thing? It seems to be the first thing parents teach their children and seems that society and its laws are also based somewhere within this knowledge.

And even though society is based on the one thing Our Father didn’t want us to have, the knowledge of good and evil, it is a better place, I mean, we are free aren’t we?

OR… are we? Its as if we are slaves to judging what is right and what is wrong. We are continually justifying/rationalizing our actions, creating expectations, feeling guilty, and comparing ourselves with others. And that’s precisely why Our Father didn’t want us to have this knowledge - because try on our own strength as much as we can - WE JUST CANT HANDLE IT!

This is just the beginning… more on this later.

Luke Trip: Off to...

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Going into this trip we had one plan. Fly into Delhi; start in Dehradun for three weeks and lean of God for direction from there. Well, now, that is at risk of being changed. But its ok - God is good.

This morning Benny got a call from Neil ("he's the guy that gets crap done for us in the office" - Benny) telling him there is a church group from America that wants to come to India. The problem is their Indian contact just got into a car crash and cannot take the church group in. (Prayers are nice :-) ) They contacted AIM seeing if there was anyway to go through them, seeing as they have prepared so long for this trip.

Benny and Miles are both capable to lead this sort of trip and we are here to be available. However this is a 21 hour (or more) drive out of what the plan was (we would probably fly though). And we aren’t sure how our contact in Dehradun will feel about this, delaying our 3 week stay with him.

Prayers for clear direction would be great.

God is wild and has a plan. He helps us nurture the seeds he plants in us.

We are still heading to Dehradun today, as planned. And moving as God wants us too.

Luke Trip: First Day

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Well hello!

I don't have much time, but I thought I'd drop you guys a line and tell you that I am safely in Delhi, India!

This place is surreal. Full of activity, always.

I just had some street food, delicious.

(As you can see I am not having very deep thoughts. I'm in overload mode and sometimes can't think passed what I am seeing right at that moment. But it is fantastic.)

Excited: Holi

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In highschool I was introduced to a Slam Poet by the name of Bradley Hathaway. His emotions are real and he translates them well into words. I cannot write poetry for the life of me, but I love performing well done slam poems. This one captures what I think Holi (at its deepest level and/or what it will be for me) is about:

On Being Joyful and Content
I'm ecstatic!

and my thoughts
are
uncontrollably
sporadic!

Yet thier all centered around one center

Joy.

In plush ripe tones
joy is rushing through my bones!

If joy were a color
it would be purple
pastel
pretty

Like old women and young children
both wear on easter

Smiling while having deviled eggs
and drinking kool-aid

Chasing blown bubbles
in the backyard

The young ones' distracting hats
fly off...

And the old ones laugh
a contagious laughter
that is to be shared
by everyone there

The sun
shines down upon them
as all of their physical imperfections
gleam
beautifully

and inside
inside
I feel like this
and I look outside my window
and imagine the
future purple pastel pretty
moments of joy
that I will one day have with my wife.
My Children.
My friends.
My family.

I really look forward to those moments.
But I am thankful for the one
that I am having right now.
this morning.

Alone.
On my couch.

Overwhelmed by Joy.

-Bradley Hathaway

For those of you who don't know Holi is the Hindu festival of colors. They throw colored powder to celebrate color, joy and life. There will be purple pastel pretty everywhere (along with most colors). Even though it is a Hindu practice we can experience and give it (a celebration of color, joy and life) to Our Father.

So I'm excited to be covered in powdered color celebrating the Joy that Our father gives.

Reflections: Coming Back to Life

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

For those of you that don’t know, the last year and a half has been a struggle for me. I graduated high school with what I now call the Big Explosion of Death (BEoD). While it’s not appropriate to explain it in detail I will tell you that it was a series of poor decisions that compromised my character.

So I escaped, first to Josh Kaiser in Toledo, OH and then to Cedar Campus to heal. (Benny told me I would enjoy working there the fall before the BEoD). Over the course of the summer I pondered what I should do with not only my life but also how to pick up the pieces of the BEoD.

After I decided that I was not stable enough to go to college (I was thinking about taking a year off since January) an offer to work in the inner city of Toledo with Josh’s Father came up. Sadly, I started talking to people about it. Some thought it was a great idea and others did not. More or less, I chose to go to college because that’s what society expected.

Going to Michigan State University was great on some levels. Our Father never wastes a step. I started building strong relationships with friends I made at Cedar that lived near East Lansing in Grand Rapids. (I still don’t think he knows how much his friendship means to me). I started building friendships with guys on my floor (The Boys of 5 South), especially my roommate. And I got my first taste of geographical independence.

But on lots of levels it was the worst decision I could have made. I wasn’t healed enough from the BEoD and I hadn’t picked up any of the pieces. I went not for myself but for other people and their expectations. And I wasn’t near strong godly influences all the time. I went into a state of depression and stopped going to class. I just gave up.

This summer I went back home. I worked at Maranatha (the summer conference center I grew up at) and was surrounded by people that watched me grow up and have loved me since I was born. I was starting to heal.

Mistakenly, I went back to Michigan State this fall (thinking I was ready). And I slid back into the funk of living in other people’s expectations and gave up again (on school). So I had a lot of time on my hands. I started thinking and getting to know Our Father again. I spent a lot of time with my roommate from last year and he helped me through a lot of what I needed to work through.

NOW! I am getting joy back. Slowly but surly Our Father is giving me life again. He is a God of process and there is no escaping it. I have learned so much, an unimaginable amount from this last year and a half. It was hard and painful but it enabled me to start living in freedom.

To Live! L'khayím!

Reflections: Seeing the Vatican

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Travel has always been apart of my life. When I was very young my parents would travel for various reasons at random times throughout the year. It was normal, part of life to find out on Monday that my parents would be leaving Friday and would come back in two weeks. But this time I got to go.

We always talked about going to Europe but nothing came together until last spring. My father, as he often does, gets passionate about something and things start to happen. He wanted to take me to Germany, Austria and Italy so when I was done with college for the summer, we went.

The whole trip was fantastic! We packed light and moved fast. Without the girls (mother and sister) we were able to be very effient with our time and we saw all sorts of things. First Munchin, Germany our home away from home, then Igles, Austria where my parents have gone several times to ski, next to Florence, Italy which oozed with culture and finally Rome and the Vatican.

The Vatican was spectacular. I still dont have words to describeit all, but at the same time I wanted so badly to have a sludge hammar and destroy it all. Here I was in this beautiful, elaborate place and my flesh loved it. It is unimaginable. But my Spirit hated it. All my spirit could do was yell and yell about how much money all of this costs, and where it could have gone; and how many people died completing it; and how much false value was put into it; and how to some, it was the center of their faith, not Jesus. I was/am so angry with it.

I still don't know how I feel about it. Yes, it cost a ton of money, and some make it thier idol; but to some it does help them get closer to God, and to some it is an incedible testiment to Our Father. For me, I think I'll appreciate that it was built to bring/for the glory of Our Father, but will keep it in perspective. It is still just a church.

The Church is way more important.

Excited: Rhesus Macaque

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So, something I'm really excited about:

AHHHH! I was told by a native Nepali (that I know from State, Neelima) that I definitely should not look these monkeys in the eye. They will start attacking you, call other monkeys and take all of your stuff. Umm, so immediately I was like "looking these monkeys in the eye".

Then I started reading about these monkeys, and it turns out that if you look them in the eye, they will not only take all your stuff (even if you surround yourself with bananas, like I was planning), but they will also probably bite you. And there is more then a good chance that one of the bites will have rabies in it.

So, sadly, I will not be looking these monkeys in the eye, on purpose.

But, I guess seeing bunches of these monkeys at a time will be cool.

And, if it just so happens that I do look one in the eye...

Iron on Iron: Josh Kaiser

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Josh and I

So the summer before third grade I met Josh Kaiser. We were in Children’s Chapel at Maranatha and somehow we, a third grader and a fifth grader, started talking about Pokémon Yellow. He told me I could preorder it (which was a foreign idea to me at the time) so I could get it the day it came out (for which I am still grateful).

Fast forward a few years and we became stereotypical best friends. During the summers we were inseparable (unless we were working or he was on a run). We slept over at each other’s houses and two summers we even lived together in my family’s empty mobile home. We encouraged each other to pursue girls (as high school boys do). We got into mischief: at one point we bought pineapples and played baseball with them and a machete. But most of all we perpetuated each other deeper into Our Father. The talks and revelations we had are priceless to me.

He was my physical rock when I started getting into trouble in high school too, always encouraging me to take the path of life. At one point, he even provided a refuge from Muskegon for a few days, where he could keep an eye on me and make sure I was ok. He is truly a Man of God.

As high school ended for me, Josh was starting a new chapter in his life. He found a wonderful woman of God and they got married this past summer. We aren’t as close as we have been, but such is life and the path that God takes us. Insha'Allah we will have an opportunity to be that close again. I am extremely happy for him and wish him well in all that he and Our Father do.

I love you man.

Old Thoughts New: Prayer Rope

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So I was stumbling around Wikipedia as I often do, and I came across the idea of prayer ropes. Wikipedia defines them as:

"a loop made up of complex knots, usually out of wool or silk, that is used by Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics to count the number of times they have prayed the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

I really liked this idea, but it seemed too wrapped up in Law and religion for me.

I had a revelation a few weeks ago, when I first came across prayer ropes, that religious, ritualistic practices come from two attitudes. One attitude is more malicious than the other, these practices are like indulgences or the Spanish Inquisition. They come from the same attitude as putting someone down, so you can feel better about yourself or just like any other manipulative, exploitative things. The second comes from a practice that worked for someone at sometime to bring them closer to Our Father. They institutionalize it because it worked for a group of people, just like modern "worship music" or "men's breakfasts". And for some churches they work, please don't get me wrong. But all things done by one church don't nessicarily work for the entire Church.

The idea of having a counting method while praying is appealing to me though. I can turn off my brain, go to the simplest sense: touch for direction, and completly let my heart flow. Holding the rope helps me focus and I know that once I go through the big knots I have prayed for about 40 things. The little bit of structure allows me to train my sinful flesh to converse with my Holy Father. Also, it is a stylish braclet that can be and is for me a reminder (that I welcome) to pray.

If you want one, I am making and selling them for five dollars to help raise money for the trip. Just send me an email and I'll get right to it.

Reflections: My First Trip with Benny

Thu, 9 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Grade 10 Branden ^^^^ ^^^^ College Age Benny

I have known Benny a long time. He was a Maranatha teen leader and I was a Maranatha teen, well, tween. He was there a few summers in a row so we really got to know each other. I loved what he had to say about manhood, the Bible and Our Father, his analogies and how much he believed and encouraged out of me (and others) the ideals of Marianne Williamson’s poem Our Deepest Fear. (He didn’t use this poem explicitly until much later, but it sums things up nicely.)

Just like Joe and later on John would push, teach and lead me deeper into Our Father, Benny did just the same. For whatever reason Benny really thought I was worth pouring into so when I was a sophomore in high school he invited me, with many of his college friends, on a road trip to Kansas City for the Onething Conference the IHOP puts on. I am still amazed as to why my parents let me go so really Insha'Allah I went.

As we grow up in the flesh we also grow up in the spirit. I don’t know if Benny knew how profound this conference would be to me or not, but needless to say I defiantly grew up a little bit spiritually.

More so, this conference widened what Christianity was, is and can be for me. Until then, it was West Michigan church, youth groups and Maranatha. But now, there was a huge God and so many different ways we could express ourselves to Him and Him to us. Now there were twenty thousand people not just a few hundred (at a time) that believed it. What’s more, is they seemed to love this fiery, dangerous God – not just a safe goateed Jesus. He is POWERFUL.

Iron on Iron: Joe Whalen and Jeremey Sandison

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This is Joe Whalen.

This is Jeremey Sandison.

My early teenage summer's were full of time spent with these to men. I dont think they knew it then, but the time they spent with me help set the foundations for my adult life faith.

Joe Whalen, a Muskegon native, was the supervisor at Maranatha Bible and Missionary Conference's Teen Department. He was attending Moody Bible Institute to become a youth pastor, and was testing what he was learning on the campers. In step with every other summer of my life, I attended the youth program and soaked up all he had to teach.

However, it doesn't just stop there. Extracuricurally, I spend a lot of time with Joe, and our Jesus talks weren't restricted to Maranatha either. While Joe was learning the pillars of the christian faith at moody he was relaying them to me, and I loved every minute of it. Finally, a subject that kept my attention longer than math, science, history, or english. Thanks Joe for starting me out.

Now, Joe is married to a wonderful lady, Kristi. They live in Muskegon, MI. He is a youth pastor at a rapidly growing church (Bridge Bible Church) and is in charge of all youth and family matters.

Jeremey Sandison, another Muskegon native, was a teen leader many of the same years Joe was supervisor. While he taught me about the pillars of the christian faith. He taught me more about being a man. That life can be epic and we can learn something from it. He also nurtured my adventurous spirit.

Jeremey is also an amazing musician. He helped my love of music start up. (For which I am eternally grateful). He is also married, to a wonderful woman. Her name is Jacquie and they might have a child. (I'm guessing from facebook photos. I haven't really sat down and talked with Jeremey for quite some time)

Again, these guys are amazing!

Iron on Iron: John Schindelbeck

Tue, 7 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

This is John Schindelck.

It was by chance that I met him. I just moved from Grand Rapids and started going to a youth group close to wear I live. It was a small gathering of people; however, when our youth leader moved on so did the church group. Shortly before this, most of my youth group started going to John's. He was a smart youth leader, scheduling his youth group meeting time on Thursday instead of the normal Wednesday. So when our youth leader left we just started going to John's.

I connected right away with John. He took a liking to me, as I him. So I started hanging out with John extracurricularly, mostly going to lunch with him. First to talk about one of my event ideas, but soon just to hang out and sometimes talk about God, the Church and the church. There was a group of us that would meet with him and we all became quite close. Addison, Taylor, Chase, and Nate had been in the church a long time. Soon added were Mel, and Terra. Then, me. And later on Kellie and Emily.

The summer after my sophomore year of high school John, Addison, Chase, Terra, Colby, and I went to the Cornerstone Music Festival 2007 in Bushnell, Illinois. We camped out of the church van and trailer, set up canopies, brought couches, and set up a kitchen all for a week of shows. It was fantastic! John cooked us our meals, usually from something he hunted and we all loved him dearly. I don't know when the others had enough experience with him for him to become more then a youthleader and more of a friend and mentor. But for me, it was during this week at the Psalter's concert.

So much has happened since then. Please., Thanksgiving, hunting, chickens, painting, and more! Words cannot explain the adventures, wisdom and love he has bestowed upon me. He is a spectacular man and I am amazingly lucky to have him in my life.