brian nixon

fiction family-closer than you think

2009-05-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

I like this song from Fiction Family which is Jon Forman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek.
listen! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1lYt32zHWE

the part about spending life inside a box looking through stained glass is my fav..

Lola!

2009-03-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

This is our new dog Lola, we got her from the humane society and she was already named that way. no we're not huge Kinks fans.. we're calling ourselves mommy and daddy and everything.. pathetic? She's reminding me I'm kinda a morning person. she's gotta go out in the morning ya know.. so I get up the other day and we walk out to the field where I've mowed a labyrinth in the grass and she just walked it with me. With the morning sun, and the tall grass and a companion.. it was pretty sweet..

shoes

2009-03-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

so I guess the Iraqi guy that threw both his shoes at president bush is getting like 2 years in prison.. I thought this was a bit funny. Here is the statue they've put up who's considered a hero by some, others are ashamed. I heard an iraqi on npr talking about how they should have been hospitable to the man that was coming to their country. Others said it was a good sign of protest to the killing of many innocents by their invaders. anyway, I get shoes thrown at me about every time I go to work.. I dont sentence them to 2 years in prison.. I dont condone shoe throwing, or killing.

God and money

2009-02-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

I go to a church called Good Harvest Christian church. We're a newer church with about 50 or less a Sunday. We have a parent church (hillside christian church) that has been supporting us very generously for a few years now. Now we've come to a point where we need to support ourselves. With so few members and with many lower income folk among the congregation, it seems difficult to hope much for a future in this church.
Every Sunday at offering pastor Lynn asks "what do we all have to give, even if we don't have money?" we answer "ourselves" I've always loved that, cause everyone always has something to give. Lyrics of one of my favorite worship songs go like this "in our touch, our smile, our listening ear embodied in us, Jesus is living here." Even if the church dies the people will go out in love.
The past few Sundays we have talked a lot about tithes, and offerings to the church, to find a way to still exist. This past Sunday pastor Lynn told about a crossroads we've come to with our money. He was asked if he wanted to continue mailing in the churches tithe to our outreach. It would make sense in this situation to keep it, and save it to get us through another month. Pastor Lynn talked about the formation of the church, and how it was formed in the vision of outreach. He decided to mail the tithe because it makes no sense to continue existing but to have forgotten the very reason for existence. If in our struggle to survive we become a group focused on ourselves and not others, we lose our vision. We then lose any intention to carry out a call of Christ and there become nothing but a group of people. Not Church. So often the church is not in churches, but I've seen it before.
This is slightly off topic.. but everyone is talking about economics, and things trickling down etc... I gotta put my 2 cents in. I think we need to help those hurting terribly. And I know people are losing jobs right and left. And I'm really more socialist than anything probably, so I can see the use in spreading the wealth around. However, on this subject I think maybe it'd be ok to let some of our American urge to live in excess die along with GM and this stimulus package. But I guess that's probably not gonna happen. Maybe capitalism functions best when people are spending right and left, and even beyond their means. I don't think capitalism allows for simplicity and Christian economic values. anyway, just thinking, I dont know much how God and money live together, or God and government. Even worse, God, money, and government.

love

2008-12-19T10:29:00.000-08:00

On the night streets, and the islands its you and me

pictures of oceans, faces and scenery

this is new I can see I belong.

It's simple but greater than us, it's..

I think together we can make this be love.

I hope together we can make them see love.

I pray together as your hands and feet we will be for thee,We will be for thee love, love, love, love..

when it's tough and it's easy it's you and me

in the boring or daily discovery

this is new I can see I belong-

to a love. it's simple but greater than us it's

You, it's You, it's love, it's your love, your love..

So this is my attempt at a love song.. stephanie and I will have been married 3 months tomorrow. We just looked at our honey moon pictures again, and it really was amazing. We were in a beach house right on the beach, there was a nice downtown to walk around, we stayed on an island, and got to go to cumberland island to visit- where there were wild horses everywhere.. we actually missed our ferry cause stephanie couldnt stop taking pictures. I almost got mad, but it was an adventure-and the ferry actually came back for us, we didnt have to jump on.

One of the most exciting things about marriage is that we are in this together. Life is now faced together. It's a smaller picture of the church. When we act in love, we are acting together- because of the love received through our Lord. When we spend time patiently and mercifully with the children we work with, we are doing that as God's servants, as the hands and feet of Christ. We are acting in love. I am in love with Stephanie, but I find it hard to be in love with the world. I have my moments, but some people are just jerks. I dont wanna screw it up, it's a big deal. We are called to love as we are loved and that's hard, cause God's pretty good at that. But, together I think it'll be a little easier.

work on definitions for the heavy words

2008-08-13T20:51:00.001-07:00

Peace, love, justice, righteousness.. more to come

Peace and Love

2008-08-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married in a little more than a month. Sept 20th that is.. I'm discovering love, and the ideas, and actions of the word. Love is not easy, and I'm not so good at it yet. Also I worked out at a church camp all summer and the theme was Peace. Peace and Love are both great words, and words with meanings I think we as followers of Christ need to carry out to the extreme. However, they're not simple words. They're actually really difficult to grasp, and carry out. They're kinda, dare I say "lofty goals" I struggle saying that because I believe in peace, and I think we can have it. and we should try, and we surely dont try hard enough. And I believe in love, and I do love sometimes, and I try, and so do a lot of others. But at the same time, those that use the words Peace and Love, struggle daily in carrying out Peace amongst the everyday folk, and Loving our spouses (which can be broken down even more to doing the dishes, cooking, or being encouraging, patience and kindness), or friends and neighbors.
I'm working with troubled kids now, and they often really help me practice these peace and love ideas. I obviously dont really have the romantic feeling of love for the boys, but I try to care for them. It's not easy to get kicked and hit-then make em supper, tuck them in at night, and be patient kind and good to them. It's been great learning to really try caring for them even when they hurt me. It's a lot easier to stay at home and read books about love.
It's kinda weird how the human mind works, in that we want revenge. We want justice and we want people to get what they deserve. It kinda makes sense, people should get what they dished out, but I dont think that's what Jesus means when he says love your enemy..(paraphrased of course) People often argue that justice and love are connected.. and they may be distantly related, but how I see love is through the love I've received through Christ. His words and action. It's still easy for me to call for justice, and do to others as they did to me. But now I have the example of Jesus to show me what Peace and Love really looks like. He really did all he could for these lofty goals. He didnt hold anything back even to death. He said things like Love your enemy, forgive 7x70, turn the other cheek, give your coat as well (you can look in the red letters to get a little more info on some of that if you'd like) . I believe He meant what He said. so now it's a struggle for me. It's not easy to carry out Peace and Love and to really dig in to the practicalities of those words when our minds really want justice or the kinda justice I dont really think is just.. we'll work on redefining the word Justice later. that's another one of those heavy words we dont really have nailed down yet.. .. but I pray I can remember that's the goal and it's not too lofty. And perhaps it's the "want" of God or even the "Call" for the followers.
here's some lyrics to a song I've been workin on with this stuff in mind.
"it's fitting to blame you for the trouble you've caused.
it's easy to break you when it's clear that you're wrong.
You hate and you hurt me it's all that I've learned,
respond with what looks like what you deserve.
I'm kinda afraid of exploring the thought of forgiving the chief
of impatience and anger, but my lack of mercy is murdering peace.
We know little of grace if our hope is revenge
and even the wisest men can't see all ends
sword or sharp tongue and the cross close behind
we're using them all claiming justice our guide.
I'm kinda ashamed of my lack of mercy it's ruined our peace.
Retaliation is ruling my self-righteous need for release.
I'm kinda afraid of exploring the thought of learning to love
with patience and kindness, in learning forgiveness we're beginning to love."

music

2007-11-22T18:08:00.000-08:00

so, I have a demo now.. it's pretty cool I suppose. I got to play in a band a while back for a couple, and play somebody else's music w/ my little additives here and there.. but it's kinda cool to have my own ideas, musically, and lyrically, or theologically or whatever, come alive. I got out of that old band for a variety of reasons, nothing bad, I just needed something new basically. they're great guys, with great music, I just needed somethin else. I'm glad I'm out, but i'm excited for them now. they have a full length about out, and a solid stretch of touring. www.myspace.com/abandonkansas I did really like touring. it's funny, the actual performing part is about 2% of being in a band. anyway.. I dont know that I wanna hit the road just yet, or make a huge effort to play around, or make my music successful. however, I've been noticing that I definitely do love playing music, and if it's something I'm good at, then I should be doing it. rich mullins said something about this subject, i guess I'll just quote him.. Rich-- “The end is that God made man. He created him in His own image. He created him out of dust. He breathed into him the breath of life. Man became a living soul. He gave man sexuality. He created them male and female. And he gave man work. And I am just doing my work. I am not trying to write great albums. I'm not trying to write great songs. What I'm trying to do is be faithful. If I were a plumber, most plumbers don't say, "Man I'm going to come up with the most original arrangement of pipes here." But when you flush your toilet, if things go the way they should go, you are very thankful that the plumber was doing their job. I think that part of our identity as human beings is that we have work. And I am gifted as a musician. I am gifted as a writer and so I have to do that out of obedience. I am not gifted as a singer. I have a weird voice. I have a terrible speaking voice and when I sing its not as weird as when I talk so I should probably sing more and talk less. But, nevertheless, I don't like my voice even when I am singing and people say, "Why do you sing then?" and I go, "Because it is the most reiterated command in the whole Bible." And I figure there must be a reason why it says over and over and over, sing sing sing sing. I also kind of go, this is a lot easier than loving my enemies so maybe I should start with the easy stuff and maybe by the time I am really old I will have been able to tie the more complicated knot.”
I liked hearing from rich that he didnt think he had a good voice.. I love his music, but sometimes his voice gets annoying. also, that part about singing being the most reiterated command in the bible makes me feel a little better about worship music.. I get down sometimes about singing worship songs at church, and what they mean and how they should be done, and so on.. but if we're in an attitude of worshiping God then we're on the right track and I do think there's something about just singing.. and dancing too Derek Webb has a song about dancing that's pretty cool, but I'm no dancer, so I'll sing. anyway.. listen to my songs and tell me what you think of my musical theological rantings.. I have a song, kinda about the church, one kinda about theology, and a couple about life, and our call as christians. anyway, oh here, www.myspace.com/briannixonmusic

nothing

2007-10-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

I dont have anything fancy to say at this point. mostly I wanna try this blog thing and see if it'll help me collect my thoughts on stuff. so help me out if you've got something for me. Lately I've been pretty into Sojourners stuff. if you wanna check it out, www.sojo.net it's a blog that deals with a lot of social justice issues here and around the world, I get updates on current events related to justice, and quotes and new blogs about isues like, poverty, immigration, the SCHIP deal, Iraq, unity in Christ, Peace in general, and so on. this organization works directly in helping with a lot of these issues, so it's really cool. I wanna know things about all of that, I've been interested in hashing out the immigration deal in my mind, cause at this point I think I'd make some bold statements that some folks may easily shoot down, who knows. But, here goes. you know in John lennon's imagine he says, imagine there's no countries? seriously what do you think God thinks about our obsession with borders? Is it even our world to claim stake in? I understand now we have countries, and maybe we just gotta deal with that. But, Why? scripture has stuff to say about the immigrant, or alien. just go to bible.com and type in alien and there's a lotta sweet ones. this is one Ephesians 2:19 "you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household" in the sojourners magazine there was a lady wearing a shirt that said "who would Jesus deport?" I dont know- There's a bunch of churches, even in kansas that are acting on this issue and housing "illegals" in their church. since it's a church the police dont really barge in and take them away. I think this is an important issue- politicians that say they're about the family, even focus on the family-if we're about the family, and family of God then that definitely includes immigrant families being torn apart and sent away. somebody tell me I'm on the wrong track?