Jordan Rippy

I have no idea why, but for some reason I love this show. I don’t have cable at my apartment right now. My roommate has the enitre short-lived series “Freaks and Geeks” on DVD. I find myself watching it all the time. Two, maybe three episodes a day. I fear that it’s because it reminds me of myself in high school. Even if I wasn’t as big of a geek as some of these guys, it’s so relatable. It’s so outlandish, yet somehow it reminds you of someone you know. It’s definitely a show that makes you root for the underdgog. I know, I’m a nerd.

Have you ever heard someone share a story that caused you to step back and even wonder if you are a real Christian?  Lately, I have been so challenged by people who are doing radical things for the Kingdom of God.  So if there existed a checklist of things you had to do to be considered a follower of Christ, what would be on it?  I have no idea.  Okay, so I have an idea.  I know where it would begin.  I am sure that it would begin with experiencing Christ in some way.  That experience would trigger a response and that response would be accepting Jesus as Savior.  Beyond that, where do we go?  Is it really enough to accept Christ and then follow a certain code of morality, attend church, and tithe?

I think it is necessary that we experience God to the fullest extent.  In his book entitled, “The Signature of Jesus” Brennan Manning states that, “We do not need to theorize about Jesus; we need to make Him present in our time, our culture, and our circumstance.”  Manning teaches that the only way we can be sure of our beliefs is to experience God.  He says that, “When we encounter the God revealed by and in Jesus Christ, we must revise all our previous thinking about God.”  This statement is paralleled with the call of Abraham to abandon the comfort of his home in Haran to an unknown destination.  When Abraham was called God was asking Abraham to forsake his polytheistic views about God.  Therefore, the experience with God changed Abraham’s preconceived notions concerning God.

I just know that there is a lot more to faith in God than we generally understand.  Following Christ is not a system of beliefs or a code of morality.  The Kingdom of God is a way of living.  It is an ever present presence of God.  Manning says this about the divide between belief and faith: “For contemporary Christians, there is an essential difference between belief and faith.  Our religious beliefs are the visible expression of our faith, our personal commitment to the person of Jesus.  However, if the Christian beliefs inherited from our family and passed on to us by our church tradition are not grounded in a shattering, life-changing experience of Jesus as the Christ, then the chasm between our creedal statements and our faith-experience widens and our witness is worthless.”  We have to take the journey of faith between knowledge and experience.  For Abraham, it was from Haran to Canaan.  For us the physical journey may not be so drastic.  The Spiritual journey, however, will be just as life changing.

Well, as you may know by now Kristin Dunning and I were engaged on Friday, August 11th. Here’s some background / details. The Dunnings and my family go way back. When my dad pastored in Palatka, our families were best friends. I was about four at the time and Kristin was three. I would be lying if I said that we were interested in each other then. Fast forward fifteen years to Syktyvkar (pronounced sick-tiv-car), Russia. My home church (Evangel Temple in Montgomery, Al) and Kristin’s home church (First Assembly in Palatka, Fl) have joined each other for a missions trip. Kristin and I begin our relationship a healthy six days after meeting. We have been together for the past seventeen months.

All right. If you’ve hung in this long you may be way more interested in my life than you should be. So it’s friday and Kristin thinks we are just going out on a special date because it’s been a while since we’ve been able to. After a great dinner at Carrabba’s we set out for St. Augustine Beach. As we sit out on the beach I give her a letter that talks about the times we were able to spend together in Russia. While we were there Kristin bought a Matrushka doll that was painted like a snow man. (Matrushka dolls are graduated from large to small much like nesting boxes and are very specific to Russian culture.) She loved it. It was unique. Unfortunately, she set it down next to a table in Moscow, and it was stolen. So, after she reads the letter about our time there I give her a present. It is a snow man Matrushka just like the one she lost in Russia. We open it together and watch as each doll gets smaller and smaller. Finally, in the smallest one, there is a ring. I get down on my knee and ask her to marry me. She says yes.

The drive to Palatka from where I live in Lakeland is about two hours.  Most of which is on highway nineteen, which runs through the Ocala National Forest.  As I drive through the forest, I typically pay little attention to the small Smokey the Bear signs that read. “Today’s Fire Hazard”.  They are a little hard to catch at eighty-five miles per hour.  Which is by the way the understood speed limit through the forest.  At least that’s what I told an officer ”slash” park ranger a few weeks ago who did not agree to the tune of $208.50.  Anyway, there is a rotating sign under that which either reads low, moderate or HIGH.  HIGH is in all caps and red letters.  Very dramatic.  However, on my jaunt through the forest this week I noticed the signs were a bit hard to make out.  There seemed to be smoke evrywhere and it smelled like it does on the first day of winter when you turn your heat on for the first time in eight months.  I knew that this was not a good sign for Smokey.  I soon passed trees on fire alongside the road and fire trucks racing passed me in the other lane.  Apparently about four hundred acres of the Ocala National Forest is ablaze.  So, Ranger Joe and the rest of the gand choose to close down highway nineteen.  A maze of detours spun me into a demension of rage that I had never experienced in all my life as well as making the usual two hour trip into a four and a half hour trip.  Needless to say, next time I am driving through the beloved forest, which doubles as a wildlife preserve, it is very likely that there will be another forest fire that starts not as a result of lighting, but as the result of a burning Smokey the Bear fire awareness sign.  What can I say? I’m angry.    

Tonight, I asked Kristin Dunning to marry me and she said “Yes!”

I’ll write more later, but just wanted tell everyone the great news!!!

-Jordan