holding the keys

wht's new

2009-08-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hey all, been a long time since I posted, but nothing new in that whole realm. Really, just finding the time when I am thinking of something awesome has been difficult. So I'll give you some updates into our lives at the moment.

Lucy is walking, sort of running and smacking her head and face on anything and everything. Apparently her head is huge. Her height is in the 30%, her weight in th 15% and her head in the 80%. Of course I have decided that those percentiles the doctor gives us are either made up, or are of no actual concern because babies are all different. . . or my daughter is a genius, prodigy with the perfect percentages and everyone else is dumb. That being said, I also have a big head, so my apologies to Lucy for that gene being dominant. Anyways, this leaves her a bit top heavy, sort of like an upside down weeble, necessitating her face to smack carpet often. She is also learning lots of stuff and songs. Her favorites are 'O happy day' by Steve Fee and 'Baby Shark', what can I say? She is eclectic. Any time we sing those she yells and dances and as soon as we are done she says, 'again', no matter how many times the song has been sung. She has also become very into Elmo. Sesame Street must be evil geniuses because that furry, red, little, (insert funny and slightly offensive noun) is like LSD for kids. We stumbled upon an 'Elmo Dance' vhs tape at a garage sale, and Lucy, after one time through was hooked and basically 7 thousand times a day asks to watch Elmo. So now Julie and know all of the dance moves, oh and the tape features Paula Abdul so, it was already painful to have on every other day, add her in the mix and let's just say it gets annoying. Whatever. I am hoping she soon learns 'steelers'. All that to say, Lucy is fun and has not yet started throwing really big fits, so we are enjoying this stage.

In other news, our church is growing like a weed, in a good way. We are working furiously to try to keep up with the number of new folks coming to the church and making commitments for Christ. God is doing a huge work and it is awesome to be a part of it. We are in the 'about to break ground' faze of our new building which is a bit of a stresser for me because I am responsible for the worship area, pushing us further towards contemporary staging, lighting and sound, while still staying within the smallest budget know to man and also convincing everyone what is a good idea, vs everything else. BLAH! Alas, it is fun most of the time, but the pace that we are trying to move at in order to not have to have 5 services is hectic. Cool problems to have.

I continue to get opportunities to preach, which is exciting and challenging. This past weekend, our pastor was out of town and commissioned me to preach on Sex. Nothing like keeping it light. It turned out well, so far as I can tell. I had Julie team teach with me and she did an awesome job. It was a cool opportunity for us and despite running rather long, we received very positive feedback.

In other news. I still own a house in Canton. Which I now refer to as "The Thorn". Luckily, we couldn't sell it a couple of years ago and were forced to rent it out. Sparing all or you from a long rant about how bad a time that is, I will just say that it is currently a very bad time and adds much unneeded stress.

So, all in all, things are going rather well aside from 'The Thorn', maybe soon I will post something of great value and insight that will cause you to re-think how you view the world. Until then . . .

Why Michael Bolton Rocks

2009-06-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

-Killer Vocals
-Tried to do the hair band rock thing, and toured with Ozzy but elected to instead to go after middle-aged women and the school slow dance and make tons of money. Some would say sell out, I would say musical genius.
-cut his hair after years of holding onto his hair band days, props for being current
-how am I supposed to live without you.

nuff said.
Great writers have a unique capability of convincingly and eloquently making a point to a reader in such a way as to, no matter how ludicrous the subject matter, the reader stops and thinks, 'maybe Michael Bolton really does rock. I am not that good of a writer. This point is probably why I wait so long to post on this har blog. It was really fun for a time, and still sometimes it is, but usually I have too many loose ends rattling around in my head to get something out to the masses. And by masses, I mean all two of you, although perhaps my little shout out to MB will get me some new subscribers, welcome to all of you. We'll see.

I have a couple of updates and extra points about nothing. First of all, my good buddy world famous Eric Newcomer sent me via Dan Gartley an mbox, complete with ProTools to help me get moving on some music writing. Thanks to both gentlemen for your service. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, most simply it is a tool (hence the name) for properly recording music. The hope is that I will get off my duff and starting making some original music. When that happens I will let both of you hear what I got. Oh, sorry forgot about new MB subscribers, the four of you will get to hear what I got.

Second, my daughter is right on the cusp of walking. This is a fun time, she is always doing lots of cool stuff, including face-planting into the hardest part of the couch, when dad forgot to catch her. I think she forgot about that though, because she continues to try to walk which is good. She also has taken to picking up my phone, holding it to her ear and saying 'hi'. This may seem rudimentary to most people, but you are not 14 months old, so for us it is cool.

I am working hard to prep our very large group of high school students and leaders for our mission trip coming up in two weeks. Very excited, but a little stressed do to the amount of details involved. Julie is doing a great job of being a mom and teaching Lucy, while still having time to love and encourage me, I married up.

That's the update, but I also wanted to make a comment on the new NBC late night schedule. I have always been a large (both figuratively and literally) Conan fan and it has been good to see him in the tonight show. Now, having only done a couple of shows, it has been a bit weird to see some of the subtle differences in his show, while it is still basically the same show. I am reserving judgment on that for a while until he has gotten into a groove. What I really wanted to say is that after a rough first couple of weeks, Jimmy Fallon has really grown on me. His last couple of shows (that I have seen) have been really funny so hopefully he sticks around. Which brings me to a gripe that I would like to voice. I would say that I watch a bit too much tv, but that is not the point I am getting at. It has been a re-occurring theme since I started to tune into some more regular shows, that every time I like a show, it gets cancelled. I am not going to list any of these for you, but over the past three years, I have really liked about 6 shows, four of which have been cancelled after one season. What in the fat?! I guess, everybody else has bad taste. Michael Bolton rocks! So, sorry Jimmy Fallon show, because I like you, you are doomed to cancellation.

That's all.

Kisses

2009-04-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

It is about time for an update on things in the Savage household. Things are going well, we are moving into the 'busy season' at church, specifically for me in the area of youth. Lots of stuff that happens in the summertime. Also, our pastor is gone quite a bit which leaves me to preach several times, which I am growing in and get a little more comfortable every time. Julie is wrapping up her time teaching abstinence in the public schools (until fall) so we will get to hopefully have some more time hanging out all together and do family stuff with Lucy.

Lucy is a hoot. She is finally crawling and has turned a corner very rapidly where she has gone from being more responsive to stuff we do (which was really, really fun) to being proactive with stuff we do. She will crawl over to the table and pick out her favorite book "Skippy Jon Jones" and hold it up or us to read. Her once four hours of awesome nap time has now become an hour or here crawling around her bed, making noise and trying to play with stuff until we decide she's fooled around long enough and go in to get her to find her standing in her crib bouncing up and down. And the coolest thing is that she has learned to give kisses. A couple of weeks a go she figured it out. I had been saying often "Daddy give Lucy a kiss" and smooch her on the cheek, then "Lucy give daddy a kiss" and lean my cheek in to her. And then suddenly one day, we're sitting there and she leans her mouth over towards my face. We're thinking what's she doing? And then it clicks! She's giving a kiss. And so now, we say "Lucy give daddy a kiss" ( or mommy) and she leans in and gives a kiss, (well it isn't and actually smooch, it is more of an open mouth lean in, we'll keeping working) It is always followed by a hug. so nice. This last week she has figured out that her baby doll is a baby doll, and she crawls over to it and picks it up (by the leg) and pats it and makes the hands clap and of course, gives it kisses.
And keeping with the ever popular, 'what is Lucy doing that mom and dad think is cute' theme, she has also learned the 'word' 'Oww'. And every time she falls over, or drops something or there is a loud noise, she says "Owwww!"

So she is lots of fun. And as for dealing with deep issues in life that need discourse and contemplation. There is usually something huge on a day to day basis, but never enough time to successfully put into blog form so everyone can join in over-thinking stuff.

With this in mind. . . something not worth over-thinking, or maybe it is. . .I have recently been running a lot more, which means my i-pod has been updated pretty regularly, and my current favorite running song is "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West. That song freaking rocks. I want to do it in church. Without editing. It may be one of my elect, but I don't care. Speaking of playing it in church. Our church definitely played Bon Jovi- Living on a Prayer last week. nuff said.

Not So much

2009-04-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

I don't have anything to say except I am doing some experimenting with new blogger templates to see what neat-o things I can do. I have lots of other stuff going on, but it will have to wait for now, so until next time, enjoy the different looks of my blog as I try to dial-in what is going to be best.

Also, If you were once on my favorites list, never fear, you should be back up shortly, unless you never update your blog, in which case it is not that important, though I sense a shifting in the wind where blogging is becoming less and less cool, in place of facebook. You feelin me?

Can you beleive it has been a month

2009-03-05T22:33:00.000-08:00

So after being very committed to blogging some stuff for a while, I have neglected the whole deal due to over-all busyness, and a natural high after the Super Bowl. I looked today and realized it has been a whole month, and I also notice that Adam has two posts in the month of February, which means I am behind the curve.

There is so much going on that I really don't know where to begin, so I will just fill you in on a recent adventure, and then save the rest for later.

I work at a church that is about 50 yards from a small bank. You must understand that the "town" is only 100 yard long, so that isn't saying much, save that the bank is really, really small. They do not have an ATM, or any way to electronically transfer funds. Pause for a sigh and shake of the head. For real? I guess it would be foolish to put into place any system that would encourage people from actually using your bank. What was I thinking?

Well, this high enterprise bank got robbed the other day. Pause for a side note, that the robber was unarmed. . . really? Now, as it so happened my pastor and I were leaving the church to drive to a meeting at the exact moment said unarmed robber was fleeing. He ran directly in front of us and got into a awkwardly parked car. Mike and I continued onto our meeting, talking about something else, unaware that the bank had been hit. Only later did we find out that we had seen the guy, and had both had the same thought as we were driving down the road. "It's really odd that this guy is in a dead sprint to that awkwardly parked car. Who sprints to there car? Jeez, you rob a bank or something?" I even looked back at a sign that we passed to see if the guy had vandalized it in some way, cause it was weird how he was running.

So you imagine that we felt a little silly talking to the police detectives later that day about the obviously suspicious looking guy running away from the bank.

Alas, my spidey-senses are a bit lax. I am disappointed because to date, that is the first chance to summon my inner John McClain and thwart an evil plot. How often does that happen. So I am left slightly distraught.

Anywho, little business savvy bank was the victim of its second robbery in three years. That is sad. And I got to look at a police line-up for the first time. In doing so I was no help whatsoever, as I really didn't see the guys face. Every guy I saw could have easily been or not been the guy. Which, by the way, makes me want to be sure never to volunteer for a police line up. So I picked the guy with earrings and a tattoo cause he looked like the kind of guy that would rob a bank. (I told the detective that by the way)

So hopefully the mafia doesn't come after me as a master informant. So that was a mini-adventure.

Julie, Lucy and I are going on vacation next week, so hopefully I will get a chance to post some more updates as to the goings on at the Savage house.

Bye, bye then

Super Bowl

2009-02-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah, its today. Good times, nothing important to announce but I'll give props to anyone who can identify this person. . .

Cecil Brookins . . ."Eff" and the Super Bowl

2009-01-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

When I was a counselor at camp one year we had a kid, Cecil. We had some rough kids throughout the summers, but Cecil was unique. We knew the first day that he took medication for "ADD" supposedly, I won't comment on that. We also were aware that he had some behavioral issues. All said and done, he had a pretty good week except that every morning he would wake everyone else up with a loud battle cry, "WAKE UP MOTHER EFFERS!!!". No matter how much earlier we tried to wake up to ward off said battle cry, we were never successful. He apparently was a light sleeper and heard our alarm.
Anyways, you must take note that he did not use the word "EFF". But rather choose to go for the unedited, grand daddy of all curses. I personally prefer 'EFF'. You still get the point across, preserve some cleanliness, and it is much more humorous in general.

This makes me think of another "EFFin" story. Josh, Eric and I were hanging out one Tuesday evening at good old Mallon's. This was before they went high tech. And this particular evening was rather slow and some sort of higher-up manager appeared this evening, and was sort of harassing the guy who was working that night. He was a bigger guy who looked as though he just got out from under his car. (extra information in order to paint a picture) He was apparently having a bad day because he was really giving this other guy a hard time for the over all cleanliness of Mallon's that night. We mostly ignored the guys until at one point we hear the dirty manager really yelling at the other guy. He was trying to get the other guy to get the hose from out back, but again he was really having a bad night because he totally got stuck on the word "hose". He was so miffed, he got caught on the swear word. (He too did not say "Eff") He yelled, " GO get the "Effin". . . the "Effin". . .the "Effin". . ." And then tried the whole phrase over again only to get stuck on "Effin" again. Now, conventional wisdom makes me think he probably only said "Effin" 6-10 times, before "hose" came out. But in my mind, he said it like 30 times, in fact, he may be still saying it right now. That may not be funny for everyone else, but it was for me and I know Josh will get a kick out of the memory. Frankly there is no reason for either of these stories. There is probably something to be said about society and cursing, but I'll let you do the thinking. So no deeper purpose from me, I apologize.

Perhaps it is on account of cuz I am in such a good mood about the super bowl. Getting hopped up for the Stillers to cause havoc. Also pretty hopped up to make some Ro-tel dip (Thanks Tim) and I am going to whip up some homemade buffalo wings. Great for the mouth, bad for the rest of me. But it's the super bowl, what are you going to do, eat salad? "Touchdown! Alright! Yeah! High Five! can you pass the Raspberry Vinegaret? Oh and some extra broccoli! Whatever.

Speaking of the super bowl, I read the best quote ever by a sports writer the other day who was electing to make the Cardinals his pick to win the game. He was talking about Kurt Warner and how he has such a cool story and is a stand up guy who is strong in His faith and whatnot. He goes on to make his pick by saying "YOU CANNOT BET AGAINST GOD AND PUPPIES, SO I PICK THE CARDINALS. . ." Good line, and Kurt Warner rocks, but not this time. HERE WE GO STEELERS!

OKay, and now, since so far this has been a lot of nothing, here are some pics of Lucy.

Playing in the snow with Steve

Lucy's first Christmas, apparently my dad showed up, as she has a bow on her head.

Snow Suit "I can't put my arms down!"

Snow angels are stupid!

mmm Sink Bath

2009-01-19T17:31:00.000-08:00

Steelers...

Attack of the Sasquatch

2009-01-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

Here we go Steelers! Here we GO! (Thanks for the photo Jay)

There are several things as I have procrastinated a ton in blogging. So, I will attempt to brief and still make a couple of points, give a couple stories, and catch you all up on the Savage family.

-On Christmas
I have written a lot about my struggle with Christmas time. So I wanted to fill you in on my Christmas. It really got going on Christmas Eve, when while preparing for our church's Christmas eve service we found out the our pastor's mother had passed away. He was still able to make it through our services and frankly, it was probably the best Christmas Eve service(s) I have been a part of. God really showed up big. We were all really focused on giving Him glory and not just lifting candles to "Silent Night" just because we've always done it. We had a terrific time of worship and we also had an absolute ton of visitors. And while that is SOP for a holiday service, we have seen a major turn around in the following weeks. A ton of new families coming to the church and making commitments to follow Jesus. It really was awesome.
The next day Julie and I went to her family's for Christmas time and we really had fun and relaxed a bit. We went to my family's the next week and despite the travel stress, we again had an awesome couple of days with family. Lucy, sort of got the concept down by the end, of opening presents. It was fun to watch her eat the paper. Best gifts... a Whirly Pop, The Dark Knight on DVD, and a movie gift certificate from Julie, she knows me too well:).
The adventure to tell is that in between our tow visits I conducted my first funeral, for Pastor Mike's mom. Nothing like diving in the deep end first. I was very nervous, totally weirded out and way out of my comfort zone (which doesn't happen often) Having grown up in the Salvo, my funeral experience is a bit one sided. If the they do nothing else great (and I am not saying they don't) the Salvo does funerals with some style. Without explaining it for all of you, just think big, long and always with a great tone and that is the 'Promotion to Glory". Well, everyone else does the short, pointed thing at the sterile and a little too warm funeral home. Where the pastor does the whole thing and is relied upon to provide the family with closure, hope and fill them with great memories. No pressure right? All said and done, it also was a great experience, to see the loving family and loving church family say goodbye. I had to wear a suite. Needless to say, I borrowed one. But other than that, I learned a ton through doing it, and God has again shown up for the family in a big way. So that was Christmas. I should stop there, but I won't.

-Two Stories from the news.
1st Rick Warren is giving the prayer at Barak Obama's inauguration. There was this hoopla surrounding this, because the gay community (not my term, is this the most PC we can get? I don't know how else to say that so whatever, sorry gay community) was offended that they would have someone pray who believes that lifestyle is a sin. Without explaining all of the details in here, I just think it is strange that the same group who pushes for acceptance should be all up in arms when someone who disagrees with them is asked to pray on the national stage. "We want to accept everyone, unless they are different then us. . ."
2nd what in the fat is the deal with these life-like baby dolls? It seems like every other day there is a news story about this craze called Re-Borns. They are creepy little life-like chucky dolls that look like newborns that people spend thousands to get made and then take them out in public, have birthday parties, and the list goes on. Oh, yeah and these are for adults! Can anyone shed some light on this for me, because as of right now, it is just too weird for me. Every time I see an interview about these things, the whole time, in my mind I hear REE-REE-REE-REE!!!!

-In other news. . .I was working a little late one evening last week at the church, which is located out in the sticks. (one stop light) And as I am leaving the building, I see some trash on the lawn. So I pick up said trash, being the nice guy that I am and I walk it over to our dumpsters, which are actually 8 well closed, solid trash cans with wheels. These cans are around the side of the building next to the woods (which is next to more woods and farms and what not, the only reason this is important is too mention that there is little to no light back there. I don't have a problem with the dark, because I am big and strong and intimidating) So I lift the lid on one of the cans, and I get this sort of weird smell. It wasn't standard garbage wine smell that wafts from a garbage can. It sort of had a skunk thing going on. Now having a master's degree, I used my mental prowess to deduce that there is no way a skunk could enter a trash can with a lid four and a half feet off the ground. So, i think, "that's weird." I decided to look a bit closer into the can, remember poor lighting, I couldn't really make out what was in there. Usually, there are just white bags in there. This sort of looked (in the dark mind you), like a piece of furniture. So, I stare in a bit closer out of curiosity. "what is that?" After about 30 seconds of deliberation, I decide to forget it and toss the trash into the can, with my face still over the opening. When said trash hit the piece of "furniture". . . it moved. . . now, for all I know it could have been anything hamster, a cat, a skunk, a raccoon, or my top three finalists a giant bear, Sasquatch or Jason Vorhees. Needless to say, I immediately screamed like a little girl, let the lid slam shut and ran for my life. As I was leaving. . . I definitely heard the can shake with anger and growl. Moral. . ."Don't freakin litter"

-Lucy has officially said her fist word! it is 'dad'. this is a victory. we will continue to work on 'Mom' however, I will still continue to train her on the side for 'Steelers' and 'John McClain'.
Speaking of Lucy, she is getting really big. She has a cute little belly and she laughs a lot when it gets tickled. She also is very vocal and depending on the circumstance she has taken to yelling at the top of her lungs. Like when everyone is singing at church, she doesn't quite get the singing part and just makes loud noises. This also happens when conversation around her gets loud or when there are other babies playing around her. She hasn't quite gotten the crawling thing down yet so when other kids are playing around her she takes to flapping her arms wildly and screaming.
It would be pretty awesome if that remains her social etiquette throughout life.

I think that is all, if you made it thus far. . . good for you. Here's a quote.
"IN-famous is when you're MORE than famous. He's not just famous, he's IN-famous.
-Wow, in-famous? In-famous?"

Meet Hot Christian Girls

2008-12-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

Couple of things. . .
First, all commence being in shock at the number of recent blog posts.

Second, as for the title of this blog, you can thank facebook. There was definitely a side link on facebook to click on to meet hot Christian girls, complete with picture of questionably dressed young ladies. No, I did not click on the link. No, I am not petitioning to ban facebook. It does raise a few questions, comments and red flags though. And by a few I mean many. So I am not going to actually comment on it, save to mention the state of sexuality in western culture, including the church, is not that great when you have a sub category for Christian hotties to be found on the facebook. Now, had they had "Find Hot Christian Guys" on there with my picture, well, you can't argue with truth. But sorry ladies, I am taken and I did not want to invoke lust in any of you, giving the devil a foothold that would most definitely cause you to stumble.

So I said, "NO".

Third, Steelers rock, sorry Josh.

Fourth, got into that age old discussion about Satan Clause with someone today. Always a great topic for discussion, I love to focus on the most trivial element of secular people misrepresenting the celebration of the birth of Jesus. The only thing that is interesting to think about is how the two biggest Christian holidays have found secular popularity through fairy tales. I guess the creator of the universe miraculously being born to a virgin, barely escaping being killed as a baby and eventually dying for the sin of all mankind and rising again, isn't a big enough story. That being said, I really don't blame Santa. He is just a jolly guy. You can't look at Santa and not smile. It's kinda of like a banjo.

And last but not least a quote.
"What's the soup de jour?" . . . "It's the soup of the day." . . . "Mmmm, that sounds good, I'll have that."

The Ten Theory

2008-12-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

We'll get to the theory a little later. As for the pictures, wanted a picture that related to what I was blogging about, but instead settled on something silly. Under the image search "Fail", are some pretty crazy funny pics, if you want a good laugh and a waste of time. I selected two. The kid for obvious reasons. The cat because he looks like my cat Jeremy, who, being a ninja cat could get himself into a predicament as such. And cats are weird in general. I won't get into that.

I actually wanted to take a moment to comment on Christmas. I feel as though I blogged about this last year, but I will do it again nonetheless. I have grown into quite a scrooge when it comes to Christmas. I have trouble with Christmas music, most folks love the 15 Christmas carols that get sung for a month and a half every year. I on the other hand do not. I like a few of them, sort of and I have redone a few of them in pretty cool ways that help, but I still struggle through getting into the 'Christmas Spirit'. Some of this is the commercialization of Christmas, stores go crazy, black Friday. . .yeah, someone actually died. Radio stations. . .crazy, decorating house with outside lights. . . crazy, TV shows/ movies. . . crazy, all sorts of hype about the 'spirit of Christmas' which basically is giving stuff. I do recognize the cool part in bringing families together, but I struggle with the giving part. Some of this stems from my own propensity to stink at giving people I love, specifically, but not limited to, my wife good gifts. I always sort of feel like the sweater that I pick out will do justice in conveying the amount of love and gratitude I feel. This gets magnified by the pressure that a gift giving holiday (which includes valentine's day, birthdays insert other days that consist of consumer pressure to purchase a great gift.) I don't have a problem with giving, but the consumerism. Does that make sense?

Now with that laying a subtle groundwork for my struggle with Christmas, Christmas has never been a not busy or stressful time. Salvo people can shout an amen. Pageants, Santa Claus, traffic, Christmas eve candle light services, the living Christmas tree, lots of busy and then there is this huge push to be more busy in order to have the greatest family Christmas. I immediately think of National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, which is an awesome part of Christmas. All of this really was hit on the head for me the other day. I was coming home from my parents house on thanksgiving, flipping through the radio station and stumbled upon Christian radio. . . bad idea. The speaker was reading off a list of "naughty and nice" stores to spend money at during the Christmas season. Listing naughty stores being the ones who say 'happy holidays' instead of 'merry Christmas'. . . and the nice ones were the vice versa. Are you flipping kidding me? Ok church, when you go out to spend lots of money, buying lots of stuff your family doesn't need in the name of Santa . . . (as I think the percentage is small for people on black Friday pushing for the best price on the x box 9000 in the name of Jesus. . . did I already say that someone died?) . . . make sure you do it at stores that only recognize your worldview, we want to make sure that we don't intermingle with anyone who believes differently. Needless to say, I was a bit honked and I am still working through why.

Also on the subject of Christmas, as a worship leader, I am called to usher the people of God to the foot of his throne and put the praises of God on their lips on a regular basis. I have such a hard time at Christmas with the songs, not just because I get a bit sick of them, but because I feel like they come so close to pointing towards the secularization of the Jesus story. When I hear 'Joy to the world' I think of kettles, stores, Santa, gifts and then through sheer force of will, come back to Jesus. THat may just be my own deal. But I am going to leave that for now in order to not write forever as I still wanted to address something else.

The ten theory.
I was talking with Mike (my pastor) about holidays and how we always want to get it right and we always want, especially the family time to be a '10'. And he said something sort of on the fly, along the lines of. . ."If it is going to be a ten, it is just going to happen naturally. If you try for it, you might get an eight." The more I think about this, the more I think this is book worthy. It applies to everything. You always know when someone is trying too hard. I've got to think through it more, but I think that is some of my issue at Christmas. You try so hard, you miss it lots of times. I am going to look at this more for sure, so this is just a preview I guess. Anyone think of where else this theory could apply?

IN other news. I have decided that I am old. Despite the evidence in the graying of my beard, I have held onto some hopes of stying hip. But I just got into a text conversation with one of the youth. It took me like 3 minutes to send him a one word answer, and by the time I had watched the phone confirm that the message had gone through, closed the phone and set it down, he sent back a full paragraph follow up response. The dude basically copied the dictionary in 8 seconds. I guess the iphone now has telepathic text response or something. This paragraph was just bonus by the way.

And last but not least a quote:

"It's got a cop motor: a 440 cubic inch plant. It's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas."

Follow up. . .

2008-11-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

This is Lucy's thought about the ocean. (as continued from earlier post)

HMMMM. Ocean!?

Eww!. Ocean?!

Ahhhh! OCEAN !!

BAD OCEAN!!

Soap in the eyes

2008-11-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Well it has been forever it seems since I posted something. I check out friends blogs regularly, I am always disappointed when they haven't updated their blog. So, I figured there is probably someone out there who checks mine and thinks I've dropped off the earth. Things have been really busy, in a good way. And frankly, there are always things I think about that I should blog about, but getting them concise enough always seems too daunting. So there are lots of issues to talk about and I hope to get a bit more pro-active in my blogging, so without further ado, a simple blog.

I poured soap into Lucy's eyes yesterday. Not intentionally of course. It was actually her fault she turned her head as I was dropping the "Tearless" baby shampoo on her head. Come on, who does that? Needless to say, it is not so tearless when a huge glob drops directly onto eyeball. You could actually see the soap mixing with her . . .eye goo (?) and making bubbles and what started out as a whimper progressed into crying, then screaming. She was inconsolable. At one point she stuck her thumb in her mouth and put here other hand behind her head (this is her sleeping position) and clearly was trying to take herself to a 'happy place', but to no avail. The "stinging continued and the crying continued. All said and done, the soap worked its way out and she settled down, and that was that. Sad times, dad is banned from bath time for a while.

Our dear friends from Malone had their annual Thanksgiving last Saturday. Julie and I couldn't make it, but we saw some pictures. It is always cool when loved ones gather. We're sad we missed it, but we did get to be a part of reaching out to our community with a free Thanksgiving dinner. That was a really cool time for our church. One thing that people got to see was Adam and Carrie's baby's sonogram (sp?) pics. We did hear that they are having a girl, congrats. I was thinking about how Adam and Josh and I would go sit at Perkins all hours of the night during college. Talking about 'the game' and how girls were crazy and we had to devise a plan to snag one. Now we play for the other team, since we have all girls. We now have to devise a plan to make sure no stupid boys try to snag our girls.

Here's a movie quote and some pictures.
"You know, it's just occurred to me. We really haven't had a completely successful test of this equipment."
"I blame myself."
"So do I."
"No sense in worrying about it now."
"Why worry? Each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."

Hint: There are 3 people talking

First Bite in. . .

First Bite out.

Ready for the beach

Mommy, Lucy, Babs and Babs' hat which is its own whole separate entity. Amazing.

The Never Ending Pasta Bowl. . . pastoberfest

2008-10-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Tis the season. It's October. I really, really like the fall. Football is in full swing, hopes are high for the Stillers and the bengals stink which re-assures that the world is still normal. Apple cider. Nice cool weather. It is also the time when everything gets hyped by changing the word 'Octoberfest' into something 'new' and 'cool'. 'Rocktoberfest', 'Shocktoberfest', Is saw a 'Bratoberfest' (which I will definitely be a part of) more on that later. It is also that precious time of year when the Olive Garden offers the never-ending pasta bowl. All you can eat scrumptious pasta. This is the epitome of self indulgence. Julie and I graced the Olive Garden last Friday. My normal plan going into pastoberfest is to eat enough pasta to make up the difference of over priced meals that I have eaten throughout the year. I am sorry to say though, that this year, I did not make a strong showing. I may have to consider retirement. I was only able to take down 2 bowls. In years past, 4 was the norm. I believe the highest was 6 (which, I must point out could have been higher had I not been cut off) So I may need to hang up the gloves.

I spent some time with some pastors last week. I was in the middle of preparing a sermon that I gave at our church over the weekend, when my pastor invited me to attend a meeting with some fellow pastors in the denomination. It was a simple little Bible study/small group. It was a very interesting dynamic. I have been serving at a church that is wildly contemporary and more importantly working really hard to minister to people. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of a church family that is concerned with reaching people with the love of Jesus and getting those people plugged into the ministry of the church, which goes way beyond our weekends together. Coming from this point of view, mixed with the fact that I just finished an MA in pastoral leadership, where the teachers and students are totally fired up to see the church become what it was meant to be, I sat with these guys and marveled at how easy it is for churches to become so pre-occupied with their thing. This group of guys was a cool group, and I won't tell you about them individually, but I will mention that they follow in a long line of people who I have encountered recently who are falling into this trap of taking what they are already doing and trying to re-package it to make it connect with new people. Let's take our Sunday service, throw in a guitar and assume that will fix the problems. We'll put out a sign for a 'contemporary service', and it will all just take off! Let's take down the sermon series from the marquee and put up there 'Churchtoberfest!'. My sermon was based on the idea that for the church to be the church, we can't just be all about Sunday. We have to be all about each other (after Jesus) and then together, all about the world around us. 24/7. This is really easy to say. I know, i just said it. But in spending time with some other pastors and hearing from other churches, I see that this easily gets lost in the shuffle. Satan wants more than anything for churches to keep doing what they're doing, make sure Sunday is an awesome show, repackage the old stuff, and neglect the call for unity, growth, true worship (living sacrifice, spirit and truth, no building built by human hands, etc) and ministry. There will always be a battle in keeping the call alive. When a church is healthy the battle is to keep it. When a church is not, the challenge is more apparent, but equally important.

No real questions or answers, more of an observation that should challenge to be aware of the deception of Sunday.

And now a quote. "Sallah I said no camels, that's five camels! Can't you count?!"
know the movie?

Sad day to live in Ohio . . .

2008-09-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Unless you are a Steeler fan. The state of Ohio got beat up with the left overs from the last hurricane. The Buckeyes got it handed to them by USC. Then as usual, the Bengals couldn't be any worse, then the Brownies lost their must win against the Black and Gold. Good times. That is not all to worry about in this particular blog post. I actually have had a ton of things that I wanted to bring up to the blog world of the last few weeks, but have not been around the internet for enough time, so I'll bring up a couple and then hopefully post a bit more with the rest later on.

On Spiritual Gifts
For whatever the reason, the topic of spiritual gifts has come up a lot in my circles. Tim had a couple of blogs asking why most churches do not really utilize the power of the Holy Spirit, or at least not in context of teaching through and practicing the gifts. More specifically the sign gifts. This is really important for the church. The church where I serve does very little when it comes to the gifts. Without getting into a reason as to why, I want to comment on something that I see in the the church. The church (western culture) wether old school, or new school, dying or huge, has a major proclivity to emphasize only Sunday. Now this could not be more of a general statement. The more I think about it though, how many people only see church as a Sunday thing. This plays out in everything. Big seeker sensitive churches spend 70+ percent of their time working towards Sunday, then more of their time working on growing Sunday. Dying churches get into fights about tradition and methodology primarily circling what happens on Sunday (i.e. music style, pews, burn the organ/don't burn the organ, can we move the couch in the fellowship room?) This plays out in struggles for all of the other ministries at the church. Trying to get adult leaders to come and hang out with struggling teens, or serve in the food pantry, or whatever else in the middle of the week, leaves the church doing 80% of their truest ministry with 20% of the people. So, what does this have to do with sign gifts? Hold that thought. We have several students involved in a informal college Bible study at our church and after the first meeting several of them came to me, freaking out because they talked about sign gifts and had a mini 'healing revival/ slain in the spirit hoopla'. So, I met with the guy leading it, who is relatively new believer who is just working through his passion to preach, and minister. In my discussion, one of the things that same up was that this dude was not really plugged into a growing community. Being a person who considers himself charismatic, I wanted to connect with this guy, encourage him in his spiritual development, but also help put some order to what was going down.
So here is how this all connects. The spiritual gifs were given to the church, for the edification of the church. To encourage, build up, challenge, equip, (insert whatever verb applies). The problem when it comes to the gifts is 1 Corinthians 13. Chapter 12 talk about the gifts and then how the church works and Chapter 14 talks about tongues and prophecy a bit more in depth, but 13 gets into how it all connects under the umbrella of 'the most excellent way.' It talks about what love (agape) is to look like in the church. Anyone who has been to a wedding has heard it. You know, the patience, kind, slow to anger. . .etc. Here is my point. When the church is limited to Sunday and people are not deeply connected in service and ministry outside of Sunday, they do not have the opportunity to do 1 Corinthians 13. The easiest way for me to say it, if you haven't gotten mad at each other, (then gotten past it) you haven't been there. The gifts are so important for the church, but not without 13. When the gifts spring out without a base of connectedness in a church, I feel like the idea of order gets lost and maybe more importantly, the gifts lose potency, they are more easily dismissed and it adds to the argument against their existence and use in the church. When churches dismiss or neglect the gifts, they miss out on a major part of what drives the body of Christ. But it has to come through deep connectedness with other believers, serving together, loving each other, walking through trials with each other, seeking God in prayer together. So let's get after the gifts, but let's get into each other's lives as well.
The Baby or the Bath-water
I have recently been listening to/ watching Mark Driscoll on Youtube. If you haven't heard him, check him out. He is huge on reformed theology, men in the church and being angry. I agree with him 98% of the time, but he has some really good stuff to say about religion. My church is free from the ties of dealing with traditions that shackle a lot of churches that are trying to grow, many of who are dying. Without really getting into a long discussion on how to spur change within a church, I want to point out that when it comes to change, it all about methodology. It is always a struggle to adjust what used to work. Especially when what worked is woven into the fabric of who a church is. I think of the phrase 'don't throw the baby out with the bath water'. The problem is, for many people the baby and the water are hard to distinguish. What happens is, churches go to extremes to 'change' and they throw out truth in exchange for tolerance and universalism. That freaks out the other churches who decide not to throw out anything, and they just try harder to play the game by the old rules. All of that to say, the church by definition, is supposed to grow and reach people for Christ. When religion gets in the way, methodology takes over and people freak out over needing to change. Check out Mark Driscoll if you get a chance
Why John McCain should be president
Despite my over arching desire to not publicly support a candidate as I think everyone needs to think for themselves, I must point out how close the Republican candidate's name is to John McClain. Could he be the inspiration for Die Hard? He did help discover the wheel. . .

And now for a quote:
“I couldn't help but catch the 'Equetsu Orcha' part. Did you just refer to me as white devil?”

Fantasy time again

2008-08-24T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, after thinking I might not get into a fantasy league earlier this week, I am now in a whole bunch. I am taking my weird draft strategy or taking the best of everything else while everyone fights over running backs. Conventional wisdom says that this is foolery, and if you don't do fantasy, you will not understand any of it any way, but this unorthodox draft strategy got me to the final game in two leagues prior only to loose to people who did not have top backs on their team anyway. So off we go. . . with the joyous return of the NFL and fantasy football, the further away from playing I get, the more I revel in the view from the couch.

In other news,
-Lucy has grown a ton and is making lots and lots of noises. She is going to be a talker, which is a funny labeling as we hope every child is a talker.

-I am also as sick as crap with a nasty cold thing that is keeping me up at night.

-Steven Curtis Chapman songs can make a statue cry (see Cinderella and All I really want for Christmas)what can I say, the dude has a gift.

-The Bengals look wretched (not really news) while the Steelers look like another run is in the future

-The Olympics are done, and I am questioning the true value of many of the sports, that's all I'll say.

-My cat Jeremy has fleas, because he has figured out a way to ninja his butt outside the house without us knowing.

-Presidential election is coming up. . . nothing valuable to add, because really, despite knowing full well who I am going to vote for, I like to comment on what other people say with absolute conviction and play devils advocate, because frankly, I think people need to look deep into why they would vote for a particular candidate and make an educated choice, and a lot of what I hear from folks is a lot of surfacy stuff that doesn't actually deal with the capabilities of a candidate to lead.

-And now a new addition to Sean's blog posts, name the movie quote. . .
"Kickboxing. Sport of the future. "

until next time

I thought I was busy once

2008-08-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Well hello in blog land, my apologies for the time between my posts. Things have been very busy around the Savage house. There has been so much going on it is hard to know where to begin. So I will try to keep it to some highlights.

1. Been watching the Olympics and for the first time I can remember, I have been quite engaged by the different sports and different countries and all the hooplah. I am sure that once we get to the ribbon dance event, that will subside a bit. While I likes me a good ribbon dance, since they kicked me off the ribbon dance squad and squashed my Olympic dreams, I choose to not follow that most intense display of athleticism. All in all Olympics = cool.

2. Stuff at the church is going very well. I have settled into the job quite well and am gearing up for some huge things coming into the fall. We have seen a ton of kids coming to our Thursday night deal and have been diving into the word very strongly, my prayer is that the kids will feel loved and build solid relationships and most of all be guided closer to Christ. There are tons of challenges with our kids, not the least of which are the 10 or so kids who put out the cigarettes their parents bought them right outside the door before they come into church. And do not get me started on our first discipleship retreat. Maybe we'll join Bible bowl. ( for those who do not know . . . just nod and smile) Our worship team is growing leaps and bounds. The players are getting better and more comfortable leading on their own, while we have added like six new people in the last couple of months. It has been awesome to see them all growing in their faith as well. Small groups is the ministry that I love and is also the most frustrating at the same time. Getting the more mature people in our church to be willing and equipped to lead more small groups has been very difficult and is perhaps the most important thing to our church. We have so many people who are new to church coming in every week, we have to get better at discipleship, fast.

3. Lucy is growing like a weed. She and Julie went away for a couple of days last week and she came back walking. . . not quite. But she did look HUGE. It has been cool to watch her discover new stuff. And it gets cooler every day to watch Julie be a mom. Any who, for those interested here some pictures and an attempt at a video post. The video is of Lucy doing what she does, and me probably making silly noises at her. . . and then she ninja kicks the cat and tries to discuss quantum physics. . . I may have run out of batteries before that happened so, all you get is smiles and noises.

Where to begin

2008-07-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone out there in blogville. It has been quite a while, but there is lots to talk about so. . . here goes. I finished school a couple of months ago and then dove headfirst into work at the church. For those who do not know, Julie had been the youth pastor at our church for about a year and a half until Lucy was born. I was involved with several ministries at the church, but unofficially. When Julie was gearing up to have Lucy and I was trying feverishly to finish school, we decided to switch our roles at the church. I would take over the vision and direct of the youth ministry along with other ministry opportunities and get paid and she would stay at home with Lucy and serve in various areas as time allowed. Well that has happened, what was unexpected was that she was placed on 'bed rest' for the last two months of being pregnant. That is the preface for the last two months of mad scrambling to put together some youth trips and summer plans and really dive into the youth ministry for me.

So, we started our summer youth group stuff. I couldn't think of anything awesome, so I call it 'Super Thursday'. I may have stole that name from a furniture sale, but nonetheless, it has gone pretty well thus far. We have been averaging about 25 students that are coming and getting into the word and learning what it means to be the church. We spend time together with some worship and intro stuff (games and videos and whatnot) and then split into small groups. I am hoping and praying that it will grow and more importantly that the kids will 'get it'. If anyone has any awesome youth group games or ideas feel free to share them. We have yet to unleash the gross games, I have a ton in the arsenal, but am always looking for more.

Then three weeks ago we took 12 senior high students to CIY Move conference. This was a great trip. They do their conferences very, very well. And it exposed our kids to a week of awesome worship, fellowship with other students trying to follow God, and terrific Biblical challenge. I recommend it. Our trip was interesting to say the least we had about as random a group of kids as possible, from a few who were entirely new to the church, to a few sold out students ready to follow wherever God leads, to a few lifelong luke-warmers, all of whom had great experiences along with some serious challenges. I won't go into detail, but if you can dream it, it probably happened. But I think it will be a great building block.

Last week, we took 6 junior high students to a mission trip. This was also a great experience for the kids, though not for Sean. We had several kids cancel at the last minute and the organization we went through really dropped the ball in several areas. That being said, I know the kids learned a lot and had an awesome experience hanging out with the other church groups that were there.

Mixed in with getting those trips to go, my grandfather passed away. That was definitely a stressful week, with all of the family stuff to sift through, however it was awesome to come together and celebrate his life and see family and whatnot. It was awesome to see the impact that he had made for so many people and how his love for Jesus bled over so much.

Not directly related, I have been thinking lately, more like burdened with the idea of the church doing all it can to impact as opposed to just doing churchy stuff. The difference in the two trips were perfect examples of this idea. The one was not a mission trip but rather a 'retreat of sorts', but at no point during that trip did it feel like any part of it was simple there to give kids something to do. Every part was about challenge spiritually and challenge to go make an impact. The mission trip on the other hand was the opposite and felt like they were doing things just to fill a week. The biggest sign of this was this girl from another church, who I talked to. She was getting ready to go to college and she was sort of coerced into the trip. She had grown up in church, but was far from God. She has embraced postmodern ideology to the full, talking about 'I believe in a higher power but it isn't the same for everyone.' This was at the end of a trip, where the kids should have been shown how to love people, because Christ who call them to one faith in one Spirit loves them and wants everyone to have life. But never once on that trip did we ever talk as a community about why we were serving people, we just did it because it was a mission trip, something to do with friends from church. My biggest prayer is that the youth ministry at our church would not be a 'safe hang out', but rather would equip students to step up and play the role they are ordained for in the church as fellow ministers of the gospel. I love that our church has been so good at moving, but I see all over how easy it is to get caught up in the ideas of denomination, or doctrine, or tradition, or whatever and forget to move and follow Christ. I guess one of the things that also has come up is my wife's alma mater. The school has come under attack because it is teaching through issues of postmodernity in the church and homosexuality. There is more to that, but the thing is, that university is not condoning universalism or any other sort of huge liberal agenda, but rather trying to develop Christian leaders who can interact in the real world and love people to Christ. They are equipping the church to grow and shift and continue to be grounded in scripture as opposed to tradition. While traditions have place and are rooted often times in great things, when people fall more in love with the methodology of their particular church or denomination, or their traditions, or their original group of church friends than Christ, they lose the desire to go. What is left is a complacency that leaves the church going through motions. That's all I'll say about that.

If you are still here, the moment you have all been waiting for I'm sure. . .
BABY NEWS
Lucy is now just over three months old. She is getting real big. She started smiling consistently a few weeks ago. My mom insists that she would smile at her when she was like three weeks old. (clearly gas) But now she is smiling for real. And responding to people. She can almost totally hold her head up, although sometimes she forgets to hold it up and it flops around. She makes lots of noises and is learning to grab things. The best is when she tries to suck her thumb. She is all about it, but not totally coordinated enough to get it. She is about 36% effective at thumb into mouth. Most of the rest of the time she either has her thumb tucked behind her index finger, or even better when her mouth does the sucking motion, but her hand is like 6 inches away because she can't get her elbow to move on command yet. Julie is doing awesome at the mom role. She is really shining at being a mom to Lucy, she is always playing with her and teaching her and stuff. That has been cool to see. I love them both a lot. Well, here are some pictures. My goal is to get a few more up there soon.

Yeah lips

Me and my dad. . . don't look at the camera!

This is my hoodie, it's comfy

This is me pulling a Babs

This is cousin Ethan ( who I am taller than) yeah baby.

When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master.

2008-05-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hip Hop Horay! Well, for those who do not know, I have been working feverishly to complete my masters degree. Today, I just found out that with straight A's in my last semester, it is finished. Above is the picture of the ticker tape parade we held this morning. Schooling was quite fun, though at times was a little stressful. I learned a lot and now have some more tools for ministry, and can start paying back loans:(.

So, for all of those who have been waiting in anticipation for some awesome blogging, I thought I would kick it back in with this thought. I had a discussion with someone from the 'uppers' of a church, on the topic of leadership, specifically when it comes to church. This person was convinced that leadership is something that everyone could learn and a position that anyone could fill. All in all, the idea being that a local church should be built on shoulders of strong leaders, plural. In essence, the implication is that when a church fails, it is simply a lack of submission to Christ, specifically from the communal form of leadership in the congregation. The pastor did not succeed in teaching those goals or the people just didn't do it. Cool, sounds good on paper, but then the ordained pastor or 'leader' of said church is sent to another church to not lead, because they should already have a communal form of leadership in place. The whole thing trying to combat the old form of church, where the pastor did all of the ministry and held a position of high authority over people.

While it is of utmost importance for the church to be developing leaders and to have strong leaders within the context of the church (elders and team leaders)I believe that scripture is clear that there is a position of singular, visionary leadership to guide a local body. That singular, visionary leader must then be surrounded with other leaders who can help support and guide the process through, prayer, biblical insight, discussion, guidance, wisdom, etc. But at some point the buck stops with one leader. This person is not better than anyone else, nor is their giftedness better. The reality is that the role they play in the body is to give direction to empower the saints for ministry. There in lies the key. How many church leaders miss this? They either miss the magnitude of the responsibility, or they get to enamored with the magnitude and feel they are better than everyone else, and treat their role as king, with all of the right ideas and no one has a right to question. It seems like the person I was discussing this with probably has, like me, experienced too much of these two extremes. The result was an ideology removing of the position of strong, singular, visionary leadership. I am still thinking through the ramifications of this, but I have to rest on the fact that God rose up individuals all throughout scripture to move His people. When they led properly, taking advice from other leaders, following after God, empowering people and serving, they did great things for the kingdom.

So, that is a snippet of a huge idea. I guess the biggest idea that I had to settle on was, as a leader, there is a huge responsibility. Are the people I lead being empowered for the ministry they are called to? Do they feel 'Lorded over' or loved? Am I seeking God for every step? Who am I developing to lead?

That's it, just some thoughts.

It's the brak show. Look, it's me, I'm brak!

2008-05-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, thought it was about time to show some more pictures of the wee lass. I actually have a ton of thoughts for jumping back into proper blogging, but, I am taking some time off because I just finished all of my work for my master's degree, and am waiting anxiously for my grades to come back and ensure that I am a master. Finger's crossed.

Anywho, here's Lucy. She is now 4 wks old and is currently learning the violin. It's just something she likes to do in between feedings.

Obviously, these pics were taken in a one minute span. If you will notice her hands, you can join us in marveling at how she has no concept of proper hand usage and placement during social situations. She is all about having her hands around her face.
I guess that's ok until wk 6.

Some new pics

2008-04-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you know how every now and again you see a baby who is not so cute. You still say they are cute, but you know full well that they are not. Julie and I always wondered if our baby A. would be cute B. we would be able to tell if she wasn't or we would be just blinded by parental love. Well, we think she is cute so we will just assume that she is in fact cute. He some more pics.

Adalei

2008-04-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are new, Julie and I just had our first baby, Lucy Adalei. (see pictures below) She is good times. We brought her home on Friday. She is so little! She sleeps on my chest sometimes and runs a serious risk of falling into my belly button and being lost forever. Not quite. She sleeps, looks around, does bathroom things and eats (and throws up). At this point in her life when everything is new, this a vast array of fun to chose from. We are going through the joys of getting on a schedule with her/ finding time to sleep and go about life. It really is cool. Julie's mom has been hanging with us, which has been a huge help in the transition process.

So that is the update. I did want to make a couple of non-related comments.

1st of all, I got to hang with my friend Thunder Dan Gartley last night, which was good times as always. Dan may be the friendliest guy I know, he always makes me smile. Anyways, he recently got me hooked on the awesomeness of Tom Petty, (to which I am greatful) I don't know how I over looked them for so long. I do not think they have ever made a song I don't like. But then last night we got see a band that he has been talking about called, 'Decemberadio'. Yeah they rocked in every sense of the word. Dan had said that they were the most talented and legit rock band in Christian music, and I must second this claim. Anyone interested in some great rock, check em out.

2nd, Lucy's middle name is Adalei. And we need some clarification. It is a silly spelling, but easy to say. (Add - uh-lay ) We sort of made it up. And chose it based solely on the rythm along with her first and last name, along with wanting something that sounded unique and girly. So no big ploy to fool the world and make life difficult for her forever. The reality is that in about 6 months, nobody except the family will pay notice to her middle name. Until, of course, she is a famous female singer-songwriter who also plays the violin and sings awesome harmony with her dad.

I write this out because I have had several people say, in response to me telling people her name, "Eww, why did you make her middle name so hard?". . . mk, I am not angry, although this response automatically switches my brain into cynical sarcastic guy. I kind of want to say, um "Eww, name your own child", or express how difficult it is to repeat 'Add-uh-lay" 'yeah, it is pretty difficult, we should have simplified it to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.' While here name is no Ann, May, Jo, Marie, Sue or one of the other 10 American sounding girl middle names, her name isn't hard to say. It is sort of difficult to spell. But that is in honor of her dad and people messing up 'Sean'. Names are funny.

Also, I did find some hunting and found out that her name is loosely connected to the German name Adelaide, which means 'noble one', or when applied to a little girl. 'princess', which is nice. So, that's it, check out Decemberadio.

I love Lucy

2008-04-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pics

Lucy Adalei Savage

2008-04-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, all we just finished delivering Lucy. 6 pounds 15 Ounces, beautiful little girl with her daddy's cheeks and here mommy's long legs. I know you have all been praying with us to get us through the long ordeal, and so without further ado. . . here are some photos.

Go slinky go! This is going to be some kind of recooord!!!

2008-04-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

Hrs 48-49. It is officially the nicest day of the year thus far, except we still don't have a baby. She is having good strong even contractions, but is only at 2 cm. (if you don't know what that means, you don't want to know) This means that after all that time we will more than likely end up having to do a c-section.

The good news from waiting all this time. . . I get to skip my last class of my graduate school career. Good times.

word, if you know all the words to the theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel Aire

Waiting on the world to change

2008-04-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we're sitting here in hour #36 of having a baby. Sparing some of the graphic details, we have crossed over into the 'home stretch'. Obviously, the 'home stretch' is somewhat un-eventful at this point since I am able to blog. And compared to the previous 36+ hours, the next 6 hours of home stretch should be relatively quick.

I was thinking of John Mayer songs, like 'daughters' which will now hold more meaning, but settled in on 'Waiting on the world to change' simply because that is what it feels like I am doing. Obviously the wait seems way longer than it actually is, while you are in it, but I think the wait is accentuated because I am doing a whole lot of nothing, just waiting for my world to change. There is a ton to be said about that, and in reality, I am still a few hours from the reality of this whole deal. But I am excited about it, and can't wait to hold my little girl.

. . . and pictures are coming soon.

BABY!!!

2008-04-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

A wonderful nine pound, two ounce baby was born. . . but not ours. April Fools! (hehehe, first 'dad' joke) To update anyone who is watching, we spent yesterday waiting for some action on the baby front, but alas nothing. So, We approaching the 24 hour mark and we'll see how today goes, Julie is doing great, no really big pains yet and she is just hanging out in the bed. I, on the other hand, am impatiently chomping at the bit. For those guys who have had a baby, you can relate to the long wait. Luckily, I have internet access, so I can fool around and blog and crap.

As before. . .baby pics soon to come!

Having a Baby

2008-03-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

So, we are starting to induce labor this evening. So we should have a baby tommorrow ( or if it takes really long, Tues. We are so blessed that she has made it to 39 wks. and is ready to go. Pictures to soon follow once Lucy is born.

"I bet if I had a million dollars I could hook that up. . ."

2008-03-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Name the movie for a star. . .

For all two of you who have vested interest in what's going in Savagetown. . . that is stupid, my apologies. Here is an update, Julie and I are waiting Lucy's birth. Good times, though, the last month officially stinks. It is well worse than waiting for my wedding day, because at least there was for sure date, and I got to hang out with Julie everyday, and friends, and plans lots of crap. There is no such mountains of fun in waiting for baby. Although, we have had good times washing all of the new clothes for her to wear, thhbbbbbbt! No, really, we are totally excited, and I am a little impatient, which is silly because Julie is on bed rest and has to sit at home all day for a month, so I'm sure she feels double impatient. But, speaking of wedding, today is Julie and my anniversary! Yeah! It is cool to remember our wedding day and the excitement of being together. It is also fun to think about how different our lives are now, and how God continues to watch over us and use us.

My dear friend JR visited us on the way down to his new home in Memphis, where he will, in fact, be walking. It was awesome to see him, though it wasn't much of a party. Since Julie and I are in wait mode, we do a lot of sitting. He and I got to chatting a bit about how crazy change is and how different people respond to it and what not. I have realized that I have trouble with really big changes, and can't imagine going through them without Julie as she is much more calm during those time. And I found twenty dollars or my dad's name is Randy.

I added 'the chuck' to my links area on the blog, this is a link to some awesome Chuck Norris facts. I also am in the hunt for a Chuck Norris total gym. I found a couple on Craig's list, but they haven't emailed me back yet. I know that with a Chuck Norris total gym, I will be one step closer to becoming a Ninja.

In other news, I got to preach last weekend. I personally felt that it went very well, although, you may get a different story from the congregation. Not really, I have received positive feedback. The sermon was on 'Love', more specifically , the sort of love the church should for each other and the world around them. Originally, I was going to go down the road of unpacking the meaning of 'koinonia' - fellowship and what it truly looks like, but I kept leaning more towards the love side. THen the kicker was, I was on the net, and stumble across an article by this KJV only dude who was basically going off on people who point to greek 'nuggets' in their sermons. It was pretty interesting, because I don't think that it is necessary to dive deep into greek or hebrew when preaching the word, and at times it is overkill, espescially if the preacher is not good at connecting with the people and teaching them through the importance of a text. This guy, however was on a whole nother level. He was going as far to say that using greek in a sermon was nothing but an unbiblical parlor trick, that only points to glorify the knowledge of the speaker. I am guessing, he has not had good experiences with this.

He went on to site the different words for 'love' in the NT. His claim was that they are universally interchangable within the text and held no difference for the original readers, nor do they hold any relevance to today. (remember old KJV guy) To top it off, he included a 'test' as proof for this claim. The short version of the story is, his test totally proved him wrong. Anyways, all of that to set up the fact that I ended up feeling led to talk about the difference between the loves in Scripture. (Philos and Agape) The premise being that Agape is totally unbiased emotionally. Agape love, which is God's love that we should model and have in the church and to those outside of the church, is given despite any sort of ill feeling towards people. Example: 'Turn the other cheek'. . .if you get slapped by someone you love emotionally, it would be pretty easy to turn your cheek, overlooking the wrong that had been done. But if random Joe who annoys yous slaps you, it's on. Agape love is intentional, covers over wrongs, and gets the people who don't automatically connect with you emotionally. (enemies, weird neighbors, ugly people, widows, orphans, single moms, those on the margins, rich people, etc.) It covers everyone. You might say its patient, kind, selfless, keeps no record of wrongs, slow to anger, selfless, not rude, etc.. This is huge for the church. George Barna said that the church has become 'an island of piety surrounded by a sea of irrelevance' to many people. I wonder if that's because they love (Agape) really well?

I'll leave that there, but thanks to angry KJV guy, for allowing God to speak through your wrongness.

"My body is throwing a party and my brain is not invited."

2008-03-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

This may be the best quote I have ever heard. This was the description of adolescence used by my professor for a class in family counseling. I can't get enough of it and am going to use it whenever possible for the rest of my life. It was worth all 1500 smackers that the otherwise boring class cost.

Also, I recently watched this mime on the youtube that I had seen last year, again. I may have even blogged about it, because it cracks me up. If you are interested in a few laughs, and have a distaste for mime or 'interpretive dance', then this is the clip for you. Here is a link to Josh's blog. He has the three best clips right there for you to peruse.

Hm Haw

2008-02-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

Myron cope died today. For those who don't know he was the legendary broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers and originator of the terrible towel. He was a throwback to the days before HD TV and commentators filling the games with pointless stats and John Madden. While it is awesome to see football the way it is today, it will be sad to lose the nostalgia of hearing the voice that helped build Steeler nation.

Also, Larry Norman passed away the other day. For those who don't know who he was, he was like the father of Contemporary Christian Music, one of the first Christians to play 'devil music'. I am not sure which legacy is cooler: Terrible towel or Jesus Rock.

Thbthbthbthbthbttt!

2008-02-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is the sound of trying to make a 'th' and 'b' sound simultaneously, while blowing a burst of air past the lips, ending in a crescendo at the end. Those of you who have just tried that now can gain a deeper understanding into last week.
Without going into specific details, last week was a rough week for Julie and I. I am sure we all have weeks, or days, or months, or years that fall into this category. The one where at some point you really have to stop and say, um God? Did you forget we were here? I know you are busy, but this is a bit much. It was one of those times when you truly understand that His grace is sufficient. Sufficient meaning enough, not more than, or less than; but enough. It will make a good story later on, and perhaps even now, but I will save it for later. We have come out basically unscathed, and I have seen God's provision all around, but that doesn't make the time less stressful. There is a reason why Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow. You'd think he had supernatural insights into the soul.
All that to say God is faithful, and also not content to see us content because there are people who need to know him, need his hope, his grace, his love, and to get 'content' would lead to being complacent. I thought about the manna he provided the Israelites when they were wondering, and how they grew tired of it. I am thinking that had God provided them an abundance, they would have been content and would not have pressed on to what God had in store for them. Though the journey was hard at times, they reached the promised land. I guess it comes back to trust. Do I trust God will meet my needs, so much that I do not grumble and complain? There are some rabbit trails to go down when talking about this, but I have just come to settle on understanding that God is doing a great work in those who love him. He is going to refine and mold more and more into his character, because there is still a great work to be done. And that is where I have ended, there is great work to be done. Do it.

Doo doo doot nnn doo

2008-02-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

The title for this blog is the written version of the opening riff of "Vehicle" by the Ides of March. Sweet song that goes well with this dude. I am throwing him into contention for the profile picture. Don't forget to check which one you like in the previous post.
As for this post, I fore warn you, it is going to be long. So here goes. . .

The Adulterer
I have discovered that every college has a select group of socially awkward individuals who band together into their own social niche that gathers outside of campus sponsored activities. The tend to pick a spot, usually the unpopular lounge of a dorm, claim it for their own and commence weirdness. They will play freeze tag, fake light saber fight, yell to people coming in the door then hide, and other 2nd grade recess games. When I was doing my undergrad we called them the lounge-rats. This was a little mean, but I justify it by feeling as though they took pride in their title, much like mall-rats. What set them apart from second graders at recess was that they all 'dated' each other (and they were older). And by dated I mean NCMO. (Non Commitment Make Out, for those who do not know) Once it hit like 9:30 PM, any trip through the lounge brought with it the truly uncomfortable position of not interrupting someone making out in the public lounge. . . . Yucky.
Anyways, I had to go through a lounge at school yesterday and sure enough, lounge rats, NCMO. They are apparently everywhere. In my under-grad the lounge rats were led by a dude who may have never left the lounge. He was known only as the adulterer. This was because his NCMO knew no bounds. The dude had a different girlfriend every other day. (exaggeration) But anyways, I thought of him yesterday, so props to the adulterer, I tip my light saber to you, live long and prosper.

The Worst Infomercial Ever
Julie and I stumbled across the worst infomercial in the history of tv last week. The only reason I didn't believe that it was a Saturday Night Live sketch was because I didn't recognize the people on screen. It was ridiculous. It was for some hair product that was supposed to instantly volumize your hair. 1st of all, the was a lady off screen that never stopped loudly exclaiming how great her hair felt. While that was going on this weird guy was trying to explain why the stuff was awesome while he was 'fluffing' these two ladies' hair. Basically he rubbed the goop on his hands and then messed up the ladies hair, and called it awesome. Now I am no fashion-ista, and if Julie didn't warn me she was getting a hair cut, there's a good chance that I would not notice. This is mostly because, outside of awesome beards, hair is simply there and doesn't conjure in me an emotional response for whomever I am looking at, unless it is really bad. From that standpoint, I feel like the guy didn't help the ladies hair at all. Both ladies had perfectly acceptable hair before he messed with, and after he was done it was a tangled mess.
I wonder how many people are that gullible, and if I am that gullible, that if someone gets in front of me, gets excited about something, would I follow suite and buy said product? It reminds me of the day I had to do face painting at camp. (not good use of giftedness) I basically convinced every kid that the coolest thing ever was to get a 'slash' ( basically, the quickest possible stroke of paint on face). They went nuts. There is a good chance that I got in trouble, but the kids went insane. Maybe I should try to sell the slash. . .the bar isn't all that high.

Shaq
Old.

Loving Leaders and those who aren't
To get a little bit serious, I have been working through what it looks like to develop an intentional assimilation process in the church. The goal is to make sure that the people who come into our church community feel loved and then are challenged towards discipleship. Discipleship is possibly the most important element to the growth of the church and it is also the most dropped ball. That is a discussion for later, but today I am dealing with the question of who do you focus your time on? I struggle with how to word this. When it comes to loving people and building relationships, as a Christian, love should abound, but there is also a real separation in how we love peers, upcoming leaders, those who will never lead on a large scale, the socially awkward, all in the church and then all of those categories again for the unchurched.
Scripture is pretty clear that certain people are going to stand out as leaders who need discipleship, this person is pretty easy to build a relationship with, they are like me. But if my time goes there, it can't go to the non-leaders. I am most specifically thinking of the socially awkward person, the ones that Jesus called the least of these. They need loved and to connect in a relationship, in many cases more than others. The re-occurring theme is to be more intentionally pouring into the leaders and let them meet the needs of the needy. The goal is to learn to truly equip the saints for ministry.
That is all well and good, but is it happening? I feel like a lot of time, leaders are not developing anyone, or if they are pouring energy into a relationship with people, it isn't to intentionally grow them. So the church becomes exclusive and people love their pastor, and nobody who needs the love of Christ get it. If you are a Christian leader, you need to have a disciple or several. Not just a flock, or a small group, but a disciple. I am wondering if it shouldn't be equally as important to have a 'least of these' as well. Most simply because how are we going to teach a disciple to love them if I do not. I am just starting to think about this, so any thoughts are welcome.

Hymns and Sexyback
Last one, I love hymns (not all of them) but the good ones are awesome. They are deep and well worded and affirm a great deal of truth. The church is really sort of past the argument of going contemporary in worship. I think it is on every one's radar to the point where the only people still putting up a fight about new music styles are over 70. I do not want to get into that huge discussion aside from I love how older folks stake the claim that the hymns of old are so much better because they are chock full of theology, where as new songs are not. That argument is crap, for every awesome hymn there is a crappy new song, and for every awesome new song, there is a crappy hymn. That is not even getting into any musical connection at all.
I am taking a class called doctrine of Grace with an older professor, who absolutely holds this belief. He starts every class with this song (which is a chorus not a hymn) And probably only my older Salvation Army friends will recognize it from the old band, bass drum, Sunday evening hallelujah wind up, days.

I am not under law; I'm under grace!
It was grace that rescued me; it was grace that set me free.
I have sought--I have found--a hiding place;
I am not under law; I am under grace!

This is all well and good. The prof.,who is well published scholarly author, is really thorough in his breakdown of the doctrine of grace. But he keeps using random hymns as a part of his argument. Like this one. . . He is explaining how grace has to cover us for salvation, no matter what we ever did or didn't do. And then he quotes the song, “Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands. Could my tears forever flow; could my zeal no respite know! All for sin could not atone; THOU must save, and Thou alone.” . . .well in that case, .

I have come to realize a certain pattern that I did not see before. Many of the older hymns (musically built off of bar tunes) had to be infused with truth teaching. The goal of the hymns were to affirm belief and doctrine. Newer songs really do not worry about affirming belief as much as simply praising the Lord. (neither is better or worse, and both deal with 'theology') There is something to be said about how the church is moving away from dealing with deep doctrinal issues, and the music reflects this. As for the prof., I am not a real strict person or anything, but why put any stock on the authority of a song? You know the scripture, use it for authority and let the song point to it.

I would like it if more daily truth was argued in song. I could interrupt any conversation, meeting or caucus because I'm bringin sexy back. Doo doo doot nnn doo . . . I'm a friendly man in a black sedan and I like chicken wings . . .

New Profile

2008-02-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

OK all. I have been informed that my blog profile picture has gotten old. Since no one really wants to see my ugly mug on there and I am not creative enough to come up with my own, I figured I'd let everyone else decide. Feel free to weigh in on which one of the following pics I should use in my profile for a time. I'll leave them up for a little while before I actually pick a new one.

William McStefphofferson

2008-01-31T16:07:00.000-08:00

We are officially done stupid moving. I have come to the realization that I do not handle change well. Perhaps I do better when the change is not where I live, but every time I have to move everything in my being struggles to adapt. This is pretty interesting compared to the fact that I lived a rather nomadic life out of my New Yorker throughout college. Mmm New Yorker. . .
I rarely stayed in one spot more than 6 months. But now, I get into a new place and have trouble sleeping, get stressed out, and have an overall feeling of not well.
Nevertheless, we have finished taking stuff to the new house, (Special thanks to Babs for 6 hours of driving a bulky truck and help in the heavy lifting) hooray.

blog title
The title on this blog is for no real reason except that it is an awesome name that makes me laugh. If I ever had to go under cover for any reason, this would be the name which I would choose . . . or not use. . .since I'm under cover. I may have to use it to name my next pet.

Rambo 4
So I elected to see Rambo 4 as my first movie in the theatre like 3 months. Anyone who knows me, knows I love to go see movies by myself at the theatre. I sit real close and as close to the middle as possible and it is a good time. I used to go way more often, but it has lessoned as of late. Because of this, I have been a lot more picky about what I go see. Rambo 4 fit the bill. After seeing though, I do not know if I used it wisely. It was definitely a good return to First Blood, but hopped up on serious blood and guts steroids. It was really, really violent. It wasn't good old fashioned stylized violence with Rambo firing off 1,000 rounds and a whole bunch of guys obviously jumping and flipping backwards with every 'bullet impact'. It was rather very realistic exploding people, lost limbs, intestines spilling, etc. I began to wonder if I didn't like the goofy violence of old more. It left more to the imagination. I could just be me turning into an old dude who doesn't like cool blood and guts anymore.

no looky typers
Does anyone else not care if a person doesn't have to look at the keys when they type?
Being at school I get to see way more of the people who took a typing class in high school, who always make it a point to be really obvious about the fact that they are not looking at the keys while they type. For example, this one dude I was forced to interact with made it a point to 'talk with me' while typing something on his computer. Of course, watching me and like, making stupid faces of feigned interest, the whole time. He's that guy ( the face). I may just be jealous that my hands are too big to type with more than three fingers.

nothing too important in this one. . .

smorgasboard

2008-01-24T22:51:00.001-08:00

OK, so there are a ton of things that I have wanted to post about, but every time I go to do so, they get too big and I give up. SO I am going to throw several on here and maybe elaborate more later.

Martin Luther the King Day
Because of MLK Day, it seems that lots of thought has been turning towards racism, or ideas that deal with race issues.
Josh blogged about problems in Cleveland that are socio-economic in nature but come across as a result of racism. Tim Blogged about how the post modern movement may not actually reach out to people other than white middle class young people. And then probably the most crazy to me was the lady who said the only way anyone was going to compete with Tiger Woods was if they took him out and lynched him. Here is where I want to land for a second. When taken in the context of this lady's commentary, there was no ill intent in her statement. Tiger acknowledged this, but the media and older Black leaders have raised a stink about it, sighting that the term 'lynch' carries with it strong racist connotations. I may be, and probably am totally naive when it comes to racism, mostly due to the fact that I am white and live in the country, but why is it so important to make a big deal about a statement that is only very loosely racist to anyone under 35, and that was absolutely not said in a racist way? Is it really going to help fight real racism to try to pole vault over mouse turds?
Granted, there is something to be said about being careful with the words we use, but I am thinking that pointing out things like this might actually do more damage than good. I will leave that there, even though there is way more to be said.

Moving
So, if you didn't know Julie and I are moving. Moving blows, but it is a real blessing because we are getting to move from our apartment into a house, which means lots more space. We are going to paying $100 less /month = awesome. Plus our new house is across the street from the church where we work, which; taking into account the 20 minute drive each way we were driving, we'll have a tone more accessibility for the ministries we are involved and we'll save 8,000,000 dollars in gas. Good things.

The chuck

Chuck Norris is freakin 68 years old. Are you kidding me? Ninjas live forever.

Being Pregnant
If you didn't know, Julie is 7 months pregnant. I'm exited to be a dad and get to be weird, and say silly jokes, and get to answer 'how to' questions with "I'm Dad". I have heard tons of funny stories about pregnant ladies going crazy and it being a crazy time for dads to be, but I just wanted to give some props to my wife. She has been a trooper. Aside from crying anytime a child does anything on tv, especially if they are special or singing about Jesus, (and when both occur, it is what some might call, "The Perfect Storm"), and one week of hating pizza, she has handled being pregnant like a pro. No big breakdowns, no late night runs (which may be yet to come), no moments of insanity. I may just be the luckiest man in the world.

I'll stop there for now

More later . . .

freakin patriots pt. 2

2008-01-20T22:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so I planned on blogging something awesome and heartfelt and meaningful to bring in the new year of blogging, but every time I went to blog, I got caught up playing boggle online, I mean working. Instead, I will postpone the meaningful in order to vent about the Packers loss. I was ready to hop on the Farve bandwagon, and then they lost to the Giants. For real? who cares about the Giants? Good for Eli Manning and all but I still don't like them. I would have liked to see the Packers in the big game, but alas, I have to settle for this round of pointless commercials.

Maybe they'll win and the Patriots will feel dumb.

Isn't it strange?

2007-12-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

THE forward. Everyone has gotten them. I find it remarkable that the forward still circulates amongst e-mailers. I also find it crazy how many more forwards come around the holidays. I know my grandpa gets a kick out of the forward. He goes so far as to print them out, so, at anytime he can look back at the words of the Luke 2 Christmas story shaped like a bell. Good for him. I am sure that there are more who love the forward. All of that to set up the fact that I have been getting some forwards from someone, who I did not expect. This person has fully embraced the "yes, this forward has touched me so much that I need to send it to my entire e-mail directory" mentality. I have been checking them out, just to see if any of them are anything more than a long hallmark greeting. So far, not so much.

I got a forward asking, 'Isn't it strange?" And then asking several questions about how strange it is that is easy to do things in the world like sit through a 2 hour movie, sit in the front row at a ball game, read a novel, talk to friends, gossip; but then how difficult it is to sit for an hour at church, sit in front at church, read the Bible, pray, tell people about Jesus. It was actually quite insightful, though not enough to forward.

Two things, first, at the end of this quite insightful forward was the clause, "If you choose not to share His message you may deprive yourself
from being blessed as well as depriving others...
who may need God in their life." Are you kidding me? There is so much to rant about here, I don't even know where to begin. So, I won't, except to say that if you do not send people the link to my blog, I know Jesus will not love you.

Second, with the questions posed in the forward, I wondered about the strangeness of people's lack of desire to dive into spiritual things. I guess I could chock up the cause to Spiritual Warfare, believers must realize that they are a part of a battle over their hearts. Not only do we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, when we are not intentional about building our relationship with Christ, we are in danger of being completely in-effective in ministry, which is what all believers are called to. It is Spiritual warfare, but I wonder about the direct role the church plays in this process.

Let's be honest, church as a whole is not usually characterized as fun. I wonder at what point do churches move from reaching, engaging and challenging people and into maintaining a certain level of reverence. I am part of the 'no running in the chapel' generation. I am sure there is a sociological study as to the cultural impact in the church that pushed reverence into the wrong areas. i.e., the chapel, the way people dress and act in church. Without really exploring that I have to think that what was once reverence, spurred a generation of people, who may or may not really believe, who simply do not equate the things of the church with excitement. (which is what makes people read a novel or go to a sports game.)

One of the realities of the church is that we are called to make disciples, joining people into the adventure of a transforming life in Christ. It seems that many churches have moved away from making disciples and towards keeping up with the functionality of the reverent activities of the church. I am going to think more about this idea and post on it later, but for now the question is there. Why is it hard for people to engage at church? And I wonder if the answer actually is making church not boring, which has been the seeker sensitive model of the church.

I'll leave it there for now. Merry Christmas, unless I post again before then, at which time I will recant my Christmas blessing and provide you with a new one, unless you are a sinner and don't tell people about my blog.

Refer to the last blog or the ability to add a link

2007-12-08T18:27:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I figured out how to add a link onto my blog. I feel as though a whole new level of freedom has been added to my life . It is all thanks to my dear friend JR, you'll notice the highlight on his name, it is linked to his blog, check it out. I'll also link the kid from the last post so that you can easily see him here. And I'll link the guys who like to scream that Rob Bell is the anti-Christ. I'll also put a link to a sweet guitar player, and then a movie of babies laughing, just for fun.

the side swig, rob bell, truth by the way . . .

2007-11-30T08:53:00.000-08:00

I preached at our church a couple of weeks ago. I was fun and I got both good and bad reviews, however the crowning achievement I noticed when I watched the video online the next day. As I was watching I noticed that when I took small sips of water on occasion, from my water bottle I was using the Babcock side swig. I felt pleased as pie that I have made the side swig a part of my ethos. If you have not seen the side swig, it is the coolest thing in the history of mankind. If you know Babs, you will know what I mean, if not take Frank Sinatra and mix him with some Ray Charles and throw in some John McClain and a pinch of of the Cheetos Cheetah, and then have him drink some delicious Coca Cola out of an old school bottle: and you have the Babcock side swig.

I am a fan of Rob Bell. Mind you, I do not live and die by everything he teaches, but I believe he is teaching people to get into God's word in a way that is reaching people. I have been challenged quite a bit by his books and videos. Anyways, I was online trying to get some info on his Nooma video series and I stumbled on some youtube junk that had to do with him. The first was this kid doing an impression of the Nooma videos as a commercial for the 'see you at the flagpole' prayer gathering. Below is the link, sorry I still don't know how to get it directly on the blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOBNMhADXnw&feature=related

Anyways, after the 1st 30 seconds, the kid does a stinking great impersonation of the Nooma videos. If you have seen them you may enjoy it. If you haven't, you might not waste your time. Anyways, after enjoying that video so immensely, I clicked on the next one and found a video of two street preachers outside a Rob Bell speaking engagement screaming heretic, and hell fire and brimstone. These guys are literally yelling about 'truth' to people who know 'truth' I was at a missions conference about 7 years ago, and there were street preachers, screaming about the importance of being Pro-life. They were equipped with graphic posters with photos and stats about abortion. We're talking about an evangelical missions conference, truth to truth. I am not going to comment on whether or not I feel either one of these preacher groups are correct in what they are saying. But I always wonder what these guys are thinking. Hey. I am a conservative evangelical dude at a conservative evangelical missions conference and I see these guys. . . 'Wait, you mean I should kill babies? Why did anyone tell me before! I better go change some major things in my life right now! It is even more remarkable for the Rob Bell instance. Hey, I am on my way to see this guy speak who I really agree with and trust to teach me things or that my good trusted friend says I should check out and I see these complete strangers yelling through a bullhorn, heretic! Rob Bell teaches that the Bible says we should celebrate a new life in Christ! instead of living in fear of the flames of Hell! . . .oh. . .well in that case stranger guy screaming, I guess I better just go home. I didn't realize he said those things.

I guess my issue is, 1st of all why do that in the face of believers? What does it say about truth? It isn't enough to know Christ, you have to know him how I know him, otherwise you are wrong and are heading for judgement. I struggle with this, because I am not a universalist by any stretch. You have to know Christ, you have to work towards understanding of and obedience to scripture (which is knowing Christ) and he says, "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (Jn 8:31-32) That being said, there has to be grace.

When it comes to the street preacher guys, I really struggle with this because I just don't see it in scripture. Sure there were street preachers and teachers, but it was a different deal. Everyone taught on the street, . . . and wrote on blogs. When it comes to the truth of the gospel, we model Christ. He told his disciples to go make more disciples ( which trickles all the way to believers today). Disciples were (and are) people who acted, did ministry and taught the way Jesus did. There is the verse that says he came not to condemn the world, but to save it. So truth and condemnation do not have any place with one another. Truth and love do.

I was thinking about this idea the other day and the thing I began to realize, and struggle with is that people on the street do not need to hear about death. Death is all around, the earth cries out about death. People know that life is tough, that it stinks when marriages fail, and wars devastate, and how much wrong child abuse does, and friends die, and terrorists attack, and lies break destroy our connection to people, and so on and so on. People do not need me to tell them that death is all around, they need me to show them life. They need me to be real and honest and an example of life in a dying world. Yes, we teach on how to grow in faith, which necessitates some 'do not touches', but the goal is life. We are not who we were, death does not reign here. I think we get really concerned with death within current issues ( abortion, issues with homosexuality, other religions, etc) I think it is important to take a stand on issues, but do we do it correctly, are we spreading life or death? So, I struggle with the street preachers, but I struggle with me as well. Am I being a source of life for people around me. Am I actively showing them life, or am I getting too concerned with death? There are a lot more questions, and answers for this discussion so I leave it there, for now.

Shorty

2007-11-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

It is time for a blog update. I have been thinking through a ton of things as of late, all of which could use some addressing, but I do not have a ton of time right now. I anticipate a ton of awesome posts over Thanksgiving. For now though, I got to see David Crowder last week. I took the ten folks that are currently on our worship team. It was a very cool experience for three reasons.

1. the opening band were actually quite good. The Myriad and Phil Wickham are both worthy of checking out for drastically different reasons. I would look the up if you have the chance. I would like to see them both again.

2. Crowder played for a long time and played a lot of songs off of his newest album, which I really like. If you have seen him a few times, it can get redundant and this was pretty new.

3. He really emphasized the message that if we lived the way we sing the world would be hugely impacted. It was a very good starting conversation for our team. I loved that he was pretty in your face about the need to be Christ to the world. It is such a simple message. I hate how we aren't so much of the time.

Outlandish Prediction

2007-11-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

OK, I feel it is time to make a playoff/ super bowl prediction. This is simply to refer back to when it comes true. This should go against what anyone feels they know about the NFL. Here goes. . . NFC Championship game will be Dallas vs Green Bay, Green Bay wins. AFC Championship game will be Pittsburgh vs Cleveland, Pittsburgh wins. Super Bowl then is Pittsburgh vs Green Bay, Pittsburgh wins.

That is my prediction, oh yes. If this happens everyone owes me a dollar

Lots of Little things

2007-10-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have been in class for 6 days in the last two weeks. Whenever I am class this long, I get annoyed easier and my mind wanders. So, here is some pointless venting and some rambling thoughts.

Heavy Breather-
There is a guy in my class who breathes really loudly. It is one step above snoring. I know he probably has some genetic problem which has led to painful confrontations with people and he feels bad, but whatever, I have psoriasis and people used to pretend to ski on my dandruff. Breath right strips baby!

Yucky Toe-
There is another guy in my class who where sandals every day. It's cool, I do too. Except, he has a yucky toe. More specifically, toe nail. It haunts my dreams and when I sit near him, it is all I can focus on. I can't even describe it. It transcends words. I understand loving the sandal, but you got to keep others in mind. I don't think he should cut it off . . . or be required to wear shoes. Perhaps a big toe-sock would do.

Dropping the Kids Off-
As my class drew towards an end last Thursday, I digressed in maturity ( or digressed in my pretending ) We had been in class for 9 hours and the dude was talking about problems that face small groups. He said a major one was finding some baby sitting for member's children. In the span of about 10 minutes, he said a variant of 'He can drop the kids off before he leaves for small group' about 150 times. At the end I was like, "Does no one else find this funny!?"

Minister of Deez-
In the same class, the dude had come up with a cool new name for his pastor of discipleship -Minister of D's. Again he repeated this over and over, the whole time I had no idea what he was trying to say, because I, again, had digressed to 8th grade maturity. (if you don't understand my plight, enjoy your level of maturity, and pray that I am not ever in charge of anything)

The evil vacuum-
I hate the sound of the vacuum cleaner on so many levels.

Extra Question Guy-
Same class as before, there is a guy who always has a question when the prof. says, " If there are no more questions, we'll be done for the day." It would be awesome if he had a question that anyone shared, or was deep. Unfortunately, it more often then not is more along the lines of 'here is what my situation is, and I don't have a question, but want to get some participation points, and get the professor to repeat things that have already been said for five more minutes.

The guy who dominates class time + is a loud typer-
Same guy, same class. This dude apparently is the kind of person who "thinks out loud." This is not me, so I get annoyed when the guy has to stamp his own story for 20 minutes on every major point our professor, who I pay lots of money to give me insight, makes. And to top it all off he is the guy who finishes his comment and then very visibly finishes 'taking notes' by typing without looking at the keys. (I am probably more mad because I can't do that) The worst part is that he does not have a wonderful newer laptop with very little sound out put, but rather a honking old think pad with the loudest space bar in the history of man kind.

The iphone + kettles-
I have noticed that all but maybe one person I have talked to about their new iphones have had a similar response. I love it! Look at all the cool stuff it can do. I usually say something quick and oozing with wit like, "Yeah, my phone has a built in calender." In order to make up for my shortcomings. Perhaps I ooze conviction, because then every single person says something to the effect of . . .Yeah, well for the kind of work I do it just makes everything so much simpler, my previous phone and laptop just was too much to handle." To which I have to say, Starbucks must really keep you on the go! - People, your iphone is expensive. Be secure enough to say you bought something expensive, it does awesome things and you love it. It was like when I used to stand kettles (salvation army red buckets, Christmas time, bell-ringer, give your change) if I ever made eye contact with people they would always feel compelled to explain to me why they were not going to give to the needy.

**Let me take a moment to say that I realize this blog is quite negative. I also realize that I am often times way too selfish. Having several items in this blog anonymously venting about people doing things differently than me, I need to ask. How quickly do we fall into this need to 'vent'. I know that, while sometimes it is 'funny' to vent if I truly had God's heart for people, I might not need to vent. Is it healthy or necessary to vent? Did Jesus ever vent? Get on his blog and type about 'that guy', the one who is always talking before he thinks . . .' The blog is a very easy place to do this I have found.

Mr. Miagi-
We ended our class with a killer walk through the Biblical call of the disciples to disciple others (which is still in effect today). One of the things we pointed out was that it is really everywhere. The best athletes always can point to someone who taught them specifically. Electricians always learn through apprentices, as do doctors. In movies it is standard procedure Jack Dalton and whoever Sam Elliot was in Roadhouse, Kung Fu and grasshopper, Star Wars and Mr. Miagi and Danielson. It was just interesting to think of the Karate Kid as a model for discipleship. Anyways, that was a lot of nothing, I bring some meat next time.

pizza, Horatio, 'They must be cheating'

2007-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

Pizza

If you haven't already heard, my wife Julie and I are having a baby. So far, it seems that the pregnancy has been uneventful. I say that loosely, because I know Julie has been pretty sickly for the first three months, which is stinky. I know that I would turn into a little girl from feeling ill for that long, so great job to Julie. But, the first real weird food issue occurred last week. We were shopping. We had made a habit of buying these cheap yet delicious frozen pizzas to eat on busy nights. As we were wrapping up our grocery extravaganza, I suggested that we get some delicious pizza. I was confronted with a death stare and the challenge to not ever allow the word 'pizza' escape my lips again. She said, 'I can't even think about pizza right now without feeling sick.' Just the thought of it was making her visibly ill. If I even started to mouth the 'P'. . .sick. - - - But here is the best part A.)we ate pizza the night before and B.) we were getting the ingredients to make calzones (AKA-folded delicious pizza). It is apparently just the word or evil triangle-circle pie shape that makes my child angry. Just down right crotchety. Anyways, that has been a fun new adventure for me to work my mind around.

Horatio

Julie and I have a few shows, as I eluded to in the previous post, we like to watch. One of which is not CSI: Miami. I hear a lot of hype about this show and due to a very sore back, have watched a few episodes over the last few weeks. The show is alright, cool suspense and interesting crime science and drama. All in all, it is ok if you really have nothing better to do. That being said. . . the like main character. (And I meant to say like, because I don't know how to describe him another way) Horatio. . . I don't know if anyone watches this show, but tell me if this is not the biggest tool on TV. He is this all pasty, red-headed, dude who uses this 'Dirty Harry' whisper when he talks and he says all of these pointed one liners like he has experienced everything that has ever existed and everyone else are just silly ignorant children wasting his time. The idea of his character is not all bad. Mysterious, strong, intense, bad 'A - double money sign' good guy who influences the team and often times makes the final bust. But the actor they picked is just so random. It is like Nicholas Cage in Con-Air -"Put the bunnay down." or George Clooney as Batman (for real?). Anyways, that is his picture.

'They must be cheating'

I was riding to school today with my class mate and having our weekly debate over why the Bengals stink and why Pittsburgh is a sleeping giant ever in danger of awaking and destroying all who venture near. After a weekend when Pittsburgh forgot to show up and Cincinnati actually played like they new what a football was, Nick and I resumed our debate. It has become pretty clear that Pittsburgh will be able to defeat the Bungals, but the topic came up about whether or not anyone will beat the Patriots. Nick's immediate response . . ."They must be cheating!" Now, I am not a fan of the 'Hoody' or Tom Brady ( not for any good reason other than he has beat us three times in the championship game. ) I also note that they have not played anyone really good, but holy freakin cow. They are absolutely toying with teams. They are like a pro team playing against ACC college teams. The domination has been total. Now I know that this will end when they face the Steelers, but for now, I have to marvel at whether they are that good, or is everyone else that bad. If they are that good . . . they must be cheating!

that is all

PETA, The British are Coming, the Talmud and the church: a dead horse

2007-10-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

PETA

OK, to start off this round. I love my dog, Steve. I also love petting the soft fur of kitties and bunnies. That being said, PETA gets a big, fat "FOR REAL?". They are holding a giant protest outside of an annual evaluation meeting for Proctor and Gamble. (They make the glorious smell of my Old Spice, Cool Rain Solid Deodorant, as well as IAM's dog food.) They are protesting the use of dogs as test subjects for dog food.! Are you kidding me? They are saying that dogs and cats are house pets and shouldn't be used as test animals. What about mice? How is PETA not outside every cancer clinic every day? I am going to start a new PETA called PEETA. "People for the Equal and Ethical Treatment of Animals." Let me just insert again, for those who are PETA members, I love animals and don't think they should be tortured or anything, but they are still animals. I once ate a live snake though, that could be pretty torturous. And, how do we decide which ones are better than the others. Doggy . . . cute, you are in. Rat . . . yucky, so it's OK to sell poison at the drug store.

The British are Coming

Julie and I are excited about several shows that are on TV currently. We have a VCR so we can tape shows while we are working and then watch them without commercials. If you don't have a V C R, you should hook it up. Anyways, out of the 6 top shows on TV this year, like 4 of them have lead actors from the UK. They all throw on a very good American accent and are totally believable. Then they go on American talk shows and we simple Americans marvel at their ability to fool us so completely. There is no bigger meaning to this part than me just saying that is funny how we import our actors. Are there many American actors in Britain? Is this all because we are the only nation willing to sit and watch anything and everything that runs through the tube? hmmmm

The Talmud and the Church

Briefly, it seems that again and again I am running into the problem of dealing with churches or people in churches being stuck in their traditions. More specifically the problems associated with said 'stuckness'. It is so interesting that when we read the New Testament, we see that all of the conflict that Jesus has with people are based on religious folks stuck in traditions. Stuck to the point where their actions became their God, as opposed to God directing their actions. It is interesting that most of the issues were not merely on the law but on the human interpretations of God's law that were recorded in the Mishnah which later made up a part of the larger exposition in the Talmud. Lots of weird words, but the point is, how does this happen over and over. Churches get so caught in their own methodology that they miss their God given call to reach people.

I have been reading about this concept in some classes this semester, but it has also been made painfully real after spending some time with a group of young people recently. It was apparent that all of these people had deep roots in the church, but have all gone down a different path. They know the stories, they have served in church and they have been totally dropped by the church. They are all searching for a way to fill voids in their lives with drugs, sex and alcohol. I understand rebellion, I have been there. This was supremely different, however, because for this group, rebellion has moved to lifestyle. They have embraced a Universalist theology, believing that all roads will lead to God. While they are seeking, in a way, the only church they know cares nothing about connecting them, is only interested in judging people, and totally hypocritical upfront. It is a bad rap the church gets (which is not without merit) from the outside world, but these kids are from the church. I remember coming out of my own rebellious phase, thinking that my church dropped the ball and that they did not invest in me. I am realizing that, to some extent, it had to be my decision and the church isn't all about me. The larger issue was not that the church didn't invest in me, but that it was solely interested in the skills I had to further its own methodology. These kids were the same. Their church never challenged them in ministry or in their faith, but rather reinforced for them the appearance of faith. The deeds were more important. I wish I could have put my time there on video, and then sit every pastor and church leader down in front of it to hear the conversations and see the devastation written on their faces. And then ask how important is it really to wear that? or painfully fill a choir, or throw the band together? to sing that song? to have that program?
How often does this happen? Maybe if we saw it, we would be challenged not to put the band-aide on the appendicitis anymore.

I am really struggling with this and am still processing my experience. I could probably go on for a long time, but I'll leave it for now with a quote from a guest prof from my class today. The dude is 80 years old and has been ministering in the church since the 50's. (Which means he was a part of the large growth movement that developed most of the traditions we deal with today) He actually wrote a book which formalized Rick Warren's purpose driven church. The guy was old and did not speak with tons of . . .'pizaz?' But he spoke with a burning hot passion for the church to be real. I loved that this older guy had no interest in traditions, but rather in seeing the church be the church, authentic. He said this about methodology,

"When the horse dies . . . dismount." -Dr. Ellis

. . . , mmm and the wink guy, the fruit I am owed, wee ones

2007-09-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

It has been a small time gap since my last post, but I just put a post ranting about my boring class. It needed its own space. So I this is the second, and I am still in love with putting several short ideas in a post so,
on we march.

. . .,
I love the dot thingy. It implies so much with so little. anger . . .I am so mad I can't even complete the sentence! artsy-ness . . . introspectivity. . . awe. . . it can also mean, for real? . . . the face. . .all sorts of awesome; just watch
Prime Rib. . .
Oprah. . .
crap. . .
Steelers . . .
then watch what happens when it comes before
. . . gas
. . . (this would be the perfect space to throw an 'A double money sign', although that may not be the most appropriate, so I will simply hint at it. )
especially if you could add a head motion or angry fist. it also enables the reader to input their own feelings. It is like a choose your own adventure novel every time!

mmm and the wink guy,
I am taking four classes this semester so I get to have interaction with lots of different people which is good for me, because people tell me I sometimes am "not very nice" or I "Intimidate" people or "make little girls cry" whatever, I enjoy getting to see how people interact and pick up on things that make me laugh. Here are two from last week. The first is the wink guy. He is in my human and family development. Everything he says is somewhat playful in an older guy, likes to use puns, cheesy way. The wink I guess is there to mean, "its OK I am just kidding, you are a good enough friend that we can joke like this, Isn't it great that we are close in this way?" Whatever! Yeah, I see how close we are. You just winked at the dude in front of me as if I wasn't even here . . . cold ( note the dot thingy) Wink guys, don't take offense I enjoy the relate- ability you bring.

The other one is the mmm person. You know when something profound is said in church or some other sort of lecture setting or in a prayer circle, the "mmm" that comes from somewhere. This can be very encouraging for the person speaking. The first time the person did this in my class I was taken back to summers at camp and my friend Jamie. It took me a minute to remember what she used to say. . . "That's right" She was very good ( and more than likely still is) at finding the right place for it. Very encouraging. You know you had the green light to continue when you heard that, and everyone else was there to, "Jamie's on board, so are we lets go!" Props for the encouragement. Now, mmm person is a wholly different beast. I realized this by five minute into the class. Every other sentence was profound enough for an 'mmm'. "Small groups are the life blood of the church" . . . (mmm!) "Acts 2 shows a church built on true koinonia (fellowship)" . . . (mmm!) "I think we are going to take a break for some coffee" . . .(mmm!) "Attendance is important " . . .( mmm!) After a while it is definitely not encouraging, but annoying. Oh well, I am sure mmm people will learn to master it much like the force. It also, when used improperly can start to come across as pointing at ones self as opposed to the person speaking. I have definitely know a dude who does it to make himself seem more spiritual. This is the dark side of the force . . . so mmm people beware!

The Fruit I am Owed -this will be an abrupt change of tone

I have been on a kick about the garden of eden, and how the story surrounding the fall of man gets repeated over and over and how it speaks so much about our depravity and the illusion that sin (Satan) creates to cloud, tempt and deceive people.

One of the things I have begun to notice about myself is how easily I get caught in thinking I am owed something and then to make matters worse I feel what I am owed is sin. For starters, when we get tired we all have a propensity to make bad decisions. I have been working a ton this summer and basically dove right into school again and had a short vacation which was nice but not long enough to really recover. So stupid thoughts start creeping into my head, more than just I need to get away for while, or I need to rest.

You get tired, especially after doing some intense ministry and say, I am drained, I need to just chill. Then you start to think, that was awesome I deserve some me-time and it becomes something that gets in the way. Other people are not as important, someone else can take care of them, my margin is too small for anything or anyone else. I look back on my early days as a Christian and doing small amounts of ministry while still struggling through some of the sins that had their hold on me that I knew about. I can remeber the same feeling then. I just need some me-time, a chance to 'chill' I deserve it and this would soon lead to something sinful ( I leave the description there because it does not matter who your are, or what you do, or what sin you struggle with . . . insert it here.

I sin and wrestle about whether or not I should with my self and fall on the rationale that because of the crazy, draining ministry I just did, God won't care what I'm about to do. . . . HE OWES ME . . . this is not only crazy to think about, it is also dangerous. This is the beginning of thinking that I am as important as God. Return to Eden. God just wants to keep you from knowing the truth. You owe it to yourself to be a God. This is what the devil sneaks into our hearts with ease! When I stop and think about how easy this starts to creep in my mind, it is scary and I am challenged to build plenty of margin in my life and to be sure to balance my work and ministry properly with my family and most of all, my active relationship with God. How crazy is it to think that I am owed something by the creator of the universe, and the savior of my soul. I guess the cross just doesn't cut it. . .

Wee ones
- this blog is all over the place, but if you have made it to this point, you get yet another major change in tone. You all will be happy to note, though many of you already know, that Julie and I are going to have a baby. Well, she is doing the having. . .(this is the sort of addition to deter wink guy from a well timed quip)

We are super excited about it and a little freaked out at times about how we will be able to make it. I start to wonder if I am ready for a child, but I know that it is part of continued growth. I also think about the fact that my dad was a few months away from having his fifth child when he was my age. So, whatever that means. We are happy.

Bonus
One more, I want to personally thank Tim for putting a curse on me. He said about 6 years ago, "Wait until you get older and your metabolism slows down." He was saying this in response to some amazing show of eatability, like when I ate 85 chicken wings, or a whole pizza of whatever. I woke up this morning fat, slow and with back problems. I used to athletically dominate all who questioned my short, large boned stature. Until this morning. I did get in its place, some man-strength and can now wear a moustache with pride. Anyways, until next time. . .

"My best friend was killed on one of those"

2007-09-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

Can I just vent a bit about the class I am taking. The professor is a very . . . we'll say . . . different. The above quote was said in reference to motorcycles, but said while laughing and telling a motorcycle joke. This is the equivalent of saying , "Speaking of naked, Babs' mom . . . " (I use Babs for obvious reason . . .kidding, cause I know his patience knows no bounds) That sort of oddity is just a bonus for the crappiness that is this class.

The professor, in his defense, is 70 and this is his first time as an adjunct. I am also a bit spoiled, addicted to stimuli and have a rough time paying attention most of the time, but this dude couldn't be more boring. He makes Bob Ross and or James Lipton (take your pick of the one you recognize) look like a hoe -down. ( You cannot, not party when a banjo is being played) I could also say rock concert, but whatever . . . Boring.

To complicate matters, the class is on "contemporary dynamics of Biblical church growth" or how to grow a church today based on the Bible. The problem is, I don't agree with half of the stuff he is shoveling. In fact, there are no limits to my level of disagreement with the basic model of church he describes. This is a classic case of having to work through my own differences in order to glean the wisdom from someone who is obviously experienced in ministry. It is hard, when methodology is so diametrically opposed, to stay quiet and attempt to stifle my instinctual urge to provide correction and wisdom for the person.

I cannot begin to explain all that is being said. There is nothing necessarily un-Biblical being said, simply 'agree-to-disagree' interpretations and such. I guess it raises similar questions that I have had for some time. Much of the class (oh yeah it has been 12 hours over 2 days intensive) has dealt with corporate worship. At what point does an older person lose touch with changing culture and cling to (while defending with scripture) what they did in their prime? The best example is that he said that the church maximizes its musical worship and best guards against a 'performance' mentality through the use of a choir. Soak that in. Let it marinate. You have to understand I grew up singing in choirs, church choirs at that. Through that time I completely missed the point of 'worship' and never once felt it anything less than a performance. Oh, by the way, I paid for my undergrad by singing in a church that paid me to come on Sunday to sing in their choir. So, this could be me being led astray by my own unfortunate experience of the smallest percentage of churches doing the right thing the wrong way . . . The bigger problem is not whether this mode would or will work, but rather that he said that the example we have from scripture shows a choir. Yeah, Acts 30:21, right there.

So, all that to say . . . how easy is it for anyone, old guy . . .me . . . anyone to look at scripture and subtly twist it, and unintentionally interpret it through our own 'goggles' to make it say whatever we want? This obviously happens all the time, but who is right? And specifically when it comes to the our style or method of doing "church".

As the blog goes, We hold the keys . . .

Saving Babies, The Y, Moust-age, Cowboy Church and Meeting people where they are

2007-08-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the long title. I realized that I have been lacking in telling folks about what has been going on in our lives this summer so here is a reader's digest version of some of the highlights along with some issues I have been working through.

-Saving Babies
So, you can call me Batman, Superman, and/or John McClain if you are inspired. I was fulfilling my pool duty about a week ago. (Julie and I are pool monitors for our apartment complex to make some extra cash) As I was working on come music editing, w/ my head phones on, this little boy comes over and taps me on the shoulder and says, " Can you help us?" I say um sure. Well, his mom had accidentally, shut the minivan door on his 12 month old sister and locked the keys inside.

Mind you it was a sweltering day and the van had been sitting outside for several hours so needless to say, the mom was freaked out. So, I calmly had her call 911 as I went for a screwdriver and hanger. I went to work. And due to my extensive experience, having locked my keys in the New Yorker on monthly basis, was able to have the door open in a matter of minutes. It was weird to break into a car with a police officer watching... I felt good about that day.

-The Y
I have been working at a day camp at the YMCA this summer. It is a pretty easy job with little stress and is way below my qualification, at least so my degree says. It has been interesting being the oldest person on the staff by a few years and bringing a whole different understanding to their concept of child care. The biggest issue that I deal with is having to see the same 50 kids (ages 5-13) for a whole summer (16 wks) with little to zero funding. Most of the kids are dealing with issues ranging from dis respectfulness to lack of having a functioning brain. That is a bit harsh, but if you saw some of these guys, you might be a little crazy as well. I may need rotator cuff surgery from the amount of dodge balls being thrown this summer.

The good that has come out of this however is the relationships I have been building. Two guys I met this summer have become pretty close friends to the point where we have hung out a bit outside of work. This has been huge for me as they are not church guys. I have felt God tugging at my heart to be building relationships outside of the church for a while and have been looking for the opportunity to do so and was really able to do this while at the crappy Y. The best news is that I was able to have a very serious faith discussion with some of the guys the other day. It was very non threatening and really just opened up a discussion for us to learn about each other, and hopefully plant some seeds.

-Moust-Age
Ok, I came up with a new term. You know how it is sort of funny to grow out a moustache? Especially in college, this was all the riot. The dirtier the better. I never once considered my moustache to be acceptable on any level. Well, I just turned 28 and I recently cut a mustache for a day as it turned to spring (5 mo. ago). Just for fun, but noticed that it actually looked OK. I began to wonder, you see pictures of older guys (Alex Trebeck, Tom Selek, Sam Elliot) that look fine with a stache. My stache was not nearly as filled with comedy as it was sex-appeal. You can view in an earlier blog post ("Stages of my beard") I have decided that, much like coming out of puberty, when parts begin to it together again and zits go away, there must be an age when the moustache becomes right. The Moust-Age. I am sending it to webster.

-Cowboy church
OK, so Cowboy Church happened while Julie and I were on our high school mission trip, which she did an awesome job leading by the way. While on this trip I was able to hang out and minister to some of the leaders there (at Youth Works, the org. we went through) which was really awesome. It is so encouraging to get to hang with young people who are hungry to see God work in their lives. So, the one evening they took us to Cowboy Church. Now if anyone has ever been to a new church for the first time, specifically one that is somewhat different, (ie. Catholic Mass, or a Liturgical Church of Christ, or the Salvation Army, or a Charismatic CHurch) you may get a piece of the shock value of being at Cowboy Church.

This was not quite as awkward as a new faith display (going from a liturgy to speaking tongues) but at the end, all I could say was . . . That... was... Awesome! Couple highlights:
The call to worship consisted of listening to Lee Greenwood on cd singing "I'm proud to be an American" while four flag bearers on horseback road around in a circle with the Christian, American, State and Stadium flags. Oh yes, it was in a rodeo stadium.
We then got to here a poem by a little cowboy complete with buckle, hat and Sam Elliot Stache who got choked about the colors of the flag. We then said a Pledge of allegiance to every flag and the Bible. We then sang a song or two, followed by special music. The preacher and wife sing Ray Boltz - "I pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" Then the preacher gets up there, chew can visibly in pocket and gives message. And there was a church dog that roamed around the whole time. OK, those are the highlights, but the point of telling this story, aside from attempting to get the awesome outside of just me (find and attend cowboy church) was to be a bit marveled at how this is a real ministry that is reaching people.

I guess it ties into two questions and/or observations. The church is community. Cowboy church worked not because its target audience, but because it was a place where community was happening. There may be something to be said about basing a church around some pastime. Call me up when Golf Church needs a worship leader. Are churches aware of the importance of building relationships based on anything in order to build community and spread God's love?

The second, though not exactly drawn from cowboy church is an observation of God's will. Or at least a conjecture to it? Julie and I have been painfully dealing with a second house payment since we have moved to Springfield. Because of this, I took the job at the Y and the pool. Now, had I not been in that position, I probably would have simply done more school stuff and then took a vacation. I would not have built any relationships at the Y, would not have been able to share Christ with some guys, would not have saved a baby ( which could be my actual calling) and probably more things that I may not know. Some of that sounds like I did a lot, but I know I could always do more. I guess there is no question here except to ask do you know your in God's will even when things are not peachy?

That's should keep you all busy for a while.

Money

2007-07-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

I am so glad I have a blog on a day like today. I performed at a coffee house last night, which was its standard good times of playing as many songs as humanly possible over two hours. I think I am getting better at it though as I have a much more impressive line-up of songs now. So I played pretty well, by my own account, but that is not why I blog.

I met this guy, he was a computer programmer of what I presume is Indian (not Native American) decent. He had embraced his, how shall I say ... techyness. He was all about how he figured out how to put the entire first level of SuperMario Bros. 1 as his screen savior. May I input here that, that is pretty cool and I would be all up in that business if I was techy enough. OK, so he was also the 'let me see that' guy. You know the guy that grabs stuff that's yours as he is asking to 'see it'. Yeah he was that guy.

He says, "Hey, can I see your guitar?" As he begins to play it. That is cool, it really doesn't bother me, I am a sharer. By default he was also the guy who wants to play guitar and is all about playing the performer's instrument in front of them. So, all that to give you a general description of this guy. Every one knows someone that fits this description.

But, is your guy's name MONEY! hahahaha

Oh yes, you read correctly. . .. Money. I am still slightly speechless. It goes so far beyond Layla, or Rhonda or Hugh Jass or any other name warranting a quip from that other guy who makes the quip after hearing someone's name that sounds like something else. Money.

I couldn't help but to at least ask if that was in fact his real name. He assured me it was.

He is now the coolest dude ever. That is so money!

Incidentally, he knew Rick James, who is a local youth pastor and who is all about being as white as possible and dressing in dockers and polos. Also money.

Welcoming back to the land of posting a new blog

2007-07-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I know it has been a while. Life has been busy for me this summer. Since Julie and I are trying desperately to sell our home, we have been left paying for an apartment and a mortgage. So, this summer I have been doing some extra work at the YMCA day camp. This has been weird for so many reasons and have produced many crazy stories. I will probably be able to share some with you as I now have some time because we have finished our church mission trip, and will wrap up VBS, which is apparently a huge deal for our church, this week, and the biggest time consumer has been my summer classes at school. So all those are done leaving me some time for the wonderful world of blogging.

So, to kick this new round of blogs off, I want to mention one thing of utmost importance and validity to discussions of life and society and whatever else I want to have and opinion on, on this blog . . .

Die Hard 4 rocks, it wasn't better than the original, but did the original complete justice, making it a close second. It was action packed, visually awesome, funny all that you could ask for from a Die Hard movie. We'll see how it stands up to the 'on video' test, before we put it atop my favorite movie list, but it is surely in contention to knock off one of the weaker movies on my top ten.

Crowder

2007-06-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

I got to see David Crowder at a conference I am at, and then again for a service that evening where Donald Miller spoke. It was pretty awesome, Crowder was sweet as always. At the conference however the last session was a sort of panel discussion with Dan Kimbell and some other pastors on his book They Like Jesus but not the Church.

He basically polled a whole bunch of twenty-somethings and found them hungry to hear about Jesus, but not from the church. The consensus from the book and anyone paying attention is that the church has missed the boat. Now, most people in my circle understand and are dealing with this issue, so this probably isn't news. Nevertheless, I felt that it was a good step to have an open, large group, pretty no-holds- barred discussion with pastors and church leaders about how to push the church into a new era in western culture, which is absolutely catered to the suburban middle class right now.

A couple of really good points that were made:
- this is the first time in history that a church has the possibility of having 5 generations represented in its community. Old and young will not be pleased by the same show.

-20 years ago people (culturally) came to church because they thought it might do well and then were turned away with crapping, outdated music. This is being remedied, but now people (culturally) don't really just go to church so why is the show such a big deal, or more importantly the most open door to knowing Christ?

-The Christian bubble is the biggest wall to non-Christians, this is against the call of church, hence --sin. People who have a bad view of Christians usually do not have any Christian friends so their perception is built around the guy pushing a tract on a street, or holding picket signs outside abortion clinics and concerts. How do they not have any Christian friends?

Yeah, that's just the surface. Can I just say that the thought that many of the people polled do not have Christian friends is the most painful to think about. Obviously, we are supposed to be obedient to God and grow spiritually and the like, but Christianity . . .aka being like Christ . . . is based on love. Love means growing relationships not just being polite, though some could start there. Anyways, I'll probably bring some more on this as I process it.

Go make a friend

The exclamation point!

2007-05-14T11:20:00.001-07:00

I was going to write on the power of the written word, but I don't feel overly powerful at the moment as I have a week off of school, so I thought I'd write on nothing.

So I was talking with my wife, who loves cards and little encouraging things in the same vain. Within the body of work of a card or encouraging e-mail she likes to include the exclamation point, as much as possible. Example: ... Hey Girl! What is up!? I miss you tons! Can you believe it !? Today was the nicest day ever! etc. This may be a fundamental difference between guys and girls. Whenever I get a card or e-mail with said exclamation point, I usually like to read them all as angry exclamations, always enjoyable. Nonetheless, these serve their purpose in generating excitement and encouragement. Anyways, more next time.

The Best Paper Ever

2007-04-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ok,
I just finished my last major paper for this semester at school. My first at graduate school. I had my biggest paper ever due last week (25 pgs). This kicked my butt. And for those of you who were with me in the undergrad., will remember my propensity to produce awesome papers. I once received a D with a remark "maddeningly poorly written" is that a word? Much to the joy of my friends who could from then on say they knew a guy who got this remark. Anywho, got my big paper back and oh yes, I got an A.

Not to toot my own horn (A) I did have some room to improve, of course how much can you really improve on A. I now know anything there is to know about the debate over miraculous spiritual gifts (A) within churches of the Restoration Movement, if you need to know anything, I did get an A.

So I will be off school shortly and back to blogging more consistently (A) and filling your world with joy. I know you all never know how often I change my blog, it should be more consistent.

next up. . . the power of the written word (A)

update and Babcock

2007-04-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
sorry it has been a while. I have a ton to talk about but not enough time as I am in the midst of my first round of finals and term papers. So, the big stuff will have to wait for a week or two.
How about, American Idol ( yeah I watch it) brought in like 50 million dollars for children's relief Africa. That is pretty big. I just finished my biggest term paper on the argument over the existence of miraculous spiritual gifts in the contemporary church. We'll see what kind of grade I get, but I learned alot. I'll talk about it a bit later as well as the power of the written word.

Until then feast your eyes on this commercial on you tube address here... ( I don't know how to attach it directly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aj55sgudlc&mode=related&search=

For those of you who know Babs , do you resonate with this commercial? those who don't probably will not think it humorous so don't get your hopes up.

later

The Porch at 17th

2007-03-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

So, I was supposed to continue my thoughts on butter Jesus (see previous post), but I think I am spent from trying to analyze things too much. In short I think to spend money on such a thing is the worst decision they could have made. And maybe I am being like Judas because the people at that church really feel that this was the best they could give to God, like a small child drawing a picture of her dad, but I feel like there is so much harvest ready to be reaped all over the world. I would hate to think that resources were squandered. Anyways, enough of that.

The last few nights have been perfect weather wise. Warm but not humid. You could smell the grass and the soon to be budding trees. It reminded me of making killer movies at three in the morning in college with the guys, and sitting at the edge of the runway of the airport for like two hours only to have one plane, the smallest plane in the world, fly over our heads. And then to get stopped and interrogated by the cops. It reminds me of bitners, and camp during lane duty, and jumping off the bridge, but most of all...

It reminds me of the porch at 17th street. If I was Josh, I could wax on eloquently about the joys of the porch and the yucky couch and the bottle tree and everything else. I love all of the seasons equally and am always ready for them when they arrive, and they always provide me with nostalgia.

So here's to the porch!

Newsong and Other Rockers of Old

2007-03-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

I must comment on my recent experience with Newsong. Now, previously, I had only experienced Newsong in the context of the song 'Arise my Love' being ( air quotes) danced to through interpretation with assistance of dow rods. Now, saying nothing of the dow rodders, this song was scarred slightly, which in turn kept me from seeking out further Newsong songs.

Now Newsong is sort of in the Christian rock genre. Now, not to be confused with the straight hair rockers such as Petra-(This means War!) , DeGarmo and Key ( Boycott Hell), or of course Striper ( To Hell with the Devil)... who all taught young Christian kids how to Jesus rock. Now also not to be confused with the more adult friendly MWS ( oh you know) or SCC or Geoff Moore and the distance, Newsong meets somewhere in the middle with very solid and tight 80's rock and roll with a stack of killer vocalists. These guys embrace their lives of 10-15 years ago and rock it hard. I went to see them play along with SCC and a few others and they rocked. I do not think this is because I am getting old either. These 8 or so white guys sang the old spiritual ' people get ready for the train's a comin' and let it rip. The piano player ( who incidentally has been nicknamed "Sauce" by Thunder Dan and friends for the amount of sauce he throws down on the keys to spice up every song, which by the way may be my favorite nickname aside from Thunder Dan) so 'Sauce' jumps out from behind the keys and throws all sorts of soul in a vocal solo. And then this other dude ends the song with the longest, loudest, highest note ever. Comparable only to-"To Hell with the Devil" if you don't know, get it somehow an listen to it.

All that to say, I have been renewed in my love for the snare heavy, screaming guitar solos, synthesizer ready rockers of old. Rock ON!

Coming up next... the continuation of "butter Jesus"

Butter Jesus

2007-03-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, for real?

This statue is in front of a church on I 75 just north of Cincinnati. It is most commonly referred to as ‘touchdown Jesus’, but I like to call it ‘butter Jesus’ because it looks as though it was carved out of a giant stick of hand churned, full-out-Amish butter. If you look close you’ll see a dude standing next to the statue as a way to scale the thing. It is over 60 feet tall. We’re talking the statue of liberty big.

This is the most gaudy thing I have ever seen. It blows all other ‘big’ church indulgences out of the water. This makes the textured iron cross of camp look almost necessary to true spiritual growth and development. ( this analogy only works if you know of said cross, my apologies.)

Now, before I go into any thoughts on this…what do you think? Audience participation. Is it a good use of money for the church? Is it an “alabaster jar” expensive? Is it good for churches to drop money on bigger better stuff? Is this a symbol of God’s blessing or a perversion of resources?

Healing

2007-03-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

This is me really thinking through the issue of healing. Perhaps some food for thought might come for some folks. When I left my previous job, I remember having to work through what went wrong. I still am working through this. It is interesting that as I left, I wondered if I was in fact doing what I was called or gifted to do. I realize more and more that it had less to do with calling and more to do with following. Like all of us in leadership, I am learning constantly how to be a better leader. I think that the point when we left, God was opening some new doors for us, but perhaps more importantly teaching me some lessons about what it mean to 'heal'.

I was surprisingly not very distraught or self conscious when we left, but I had a older leader express to me that this time would be a good time of healing. I was taken a little by surprise, thinking, "I don't need healing, they need healing." But as I have had opportunity to think and reflect, I realized that there was a defensive response to my own insecurity. I remembered that it is through the struggle that God makes us more of who he wants us to be. We don't realize it while in the struggle, but he uses it to sharpen us and draw us closer to him.

Now that Julie and I are in our new place, after four months of waiting around for God to make things go, I am now again in a leadership position, and perhaps one with greater responsibility. The ironic (to us mortals)thing is, in order to be here, we had to step on someone else. After tons of thought, worry and prayer as to whether this was the right thing to do, our pastor pushed it forward. Now, as for me, I am in a place right now,( and I pray that I remain), where I know deep down that God has to direct this.

The other guy however has been pushed-out a bit, caused to question his call and giftedness. I know God can provide him with healing. I guess my whole thought process boils down to is, in order to take people to where God wants them, leaders must pull them out of the spot that isn't good enough, even when it is painful. It is here when God picks them up, brushes them off, and points them in the best direction. Healing takes us out of the status quo and closer to the great things God has for us.

This is a bit of a burden for me right now, having to be the center of the struggle for someone else. Hopefully I will be able to come along side the person and help the healing process.

Fasting

2007-02-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

I wanted to comment on the discipline of fasting. This is just me thinking through and processing my experience. Much to every one's surprise I have never really intentionally practiced fasting for an extended period of time. I sort of assumed I knew the ideology of fasting to put us into a better place to experience God. I also grasped the concept of it making a person practice an element of self denial in a simple way. Basically if a person can deny the basic 'need' for food, they can open their hearts to denying other elements of life that get in the way of our relationship with God.

I had to read a couple of books for my spiritual formation class, one of which dealt in large portion to the discipline of fasting. I felt compelled to try it for a period long enough to surpass the initial wave of hunger pains (few days). I felt important to make known the supernatural humbling that takes place. I wouldn't go as far as to say nothing else compares, but I would say that after doing this, I felt more ready to take the hill than I have in a long time. When you are really physically hungry, you understand truly who you are. I was able to look at myself with sober judgment and see my need for God to work through me as opposed to reallying on my own handling of the gifts he's given me.

It really helped to center me and renewed my vigor for meeting with God in every aspect of my ministry. I would encourage anyone to make this part of their own relationship with God.

Stages of my beard

2007-02-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Here we go for all of you who look forward to my annual spring shave stages. I had to consolidate into a singular documented experience for all to enjoy. For all those looking for a real meaningful blog experience, you'll have to wait until next time.

Just to note this is the first time I ever thought about keeping my mustache for a while. I mean look at it.

mmmmac!

2007-02-26T06:37:00.000-08:00

Hello blog land. I am currently writing form the college coffee shop from my new laptop. It is a mac, (complementary head nod) It is the bomb or it is simply a new toy. Needless to say, it has been sorely needed in starting school, and I finally was able to obtain it last week. This does open the door for much more blogging, for the two or three of you who ever care to look on my blog. I have so much to update! though most unfortunately it will have to wait as I have to study for a test.
Stay tuned for posting on cool things happening and specifically "Butter Jesus", "Healing", "Fasting" and "Newsong, and other rockers of old". stay tuned...

Snow

2007-02-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

To all those anxiously awaiting a new blog, here it is. I have not been able to blog as of late because I have been waiting for my financial aide to come through for school, in order to purchase a computer and then have access to the internet whenever necessary. This has been an arduous process that couldn't be resolved quick enough. Needless to say, being in school allows little time for blogging when I only have isolated chances to use the internet. This may be for the best as to wasting less time. School is awesome so far and the day I get my new computadora I will blog all about it.

In the meantime, I must comment on the event of snowfall in Cincinati. What the crap? As soon as a flake fall to the ground the whole area basically turns to chaos. Drivers ride their brakes like a 16 year old girl, and all the schools close for days, and that is no exaggeration. THere are like three plow trucks for the whol of western OHio. I grew up in mnts of western and eastern Pennsylvania where we had to get over a foot of snow to cause even the least bit of concern. Here the news has been talking about a snowstorm that might come through tommorrow and it is all everybody, and I mean everybody is talking about. What the real problem with snow is, "iIt's the slush that really make it bad." or "it's when the freezing rain hits, that when you know we are approaching the end of the world." biuldings burning, rioting, looting, fire hidrants bursting, children and grown men crying, dogs and cats living together, all H. E. double hockey sticks breaking loose. Cursed snow!

I am going to make an angel.

Grammer

2006-11-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

It is awesome that immediately following my post announcing my acceptance into grad school and I write a post dealing with teaching people who may seem simple-minded, with the worst grammer ever. Seriously, read the next post of you don't think it possible. .... Proof read...

Sorry, I was in a hurry and in a panera bread, (the only place I have internet access currently).
I left the post because I believe that this is a problem.

Most (if not all) of the great deceptions the devil pulls are through our pride. We don't even know it is there, and then all of a sudden we feel that we have an understanding that is above the comprehension of those we are supposed to teach.

How often do we hear about, get involved with, know of, or complain about how churches have a tendancy to become a baby-sitting service. The church gets full of people who only are there because of what they can get from the church. I would suggest that is because we get caught up in ourselves and treat people as though they were babies and needed us to grow. If that is the culture a leader sows...

I was recently told by a pastor that I know well that the people in his congregation simply could not do what was needed to grow the kingdom. This is totally contrary to the message of Christ. He was all about letting everyone in, and more importantly empowering them. The disciples were these guys, not the best or smartest and Jesus said you are capable to lead the church.

I doubt this problem is intentional, but we have to constantly check ourselves, and each other

A simple culture

2006-11-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

On several occasions recently I have had people talking about teaching specific congregations within the church. More often than not, in my discussions of how to best teach a specific culture ( or subculture within western culture ) I have been told that the culture is too simple to understand deep teaching. Poor, rich, upper class, new christians, inner-city, suburban, rural, blue collar, you name it, all are used to rationalize a lack of solid teaching.

I can think of 3 seperate teachers/pastors in opposite cultural settings that have told me how their people cannot understand deep teaching due to being simpletons. Is this the truth?

I understand some people actual have mental problems that slow their understanding of basic truths, but everyone else just have not been educated. I wonder how dangerous it is for leaders to assume a lack of potential in their people. Doesn't God open the banquet to everyone once the original guests elect to see it as trivial and not show? Isn't there something to be said about how Jesus taught blue collar, uneducated people how to know God and they built the church?

Maybe it is just me, having a passion to teach, and thinking everyone else should. But maybe it is a huge problem, maybe many leaders in churches are dropping the ball.

I am still thinking through this and will post more, but it was a bit fresh today.

hey big time college grad!

2006-11-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

well, that is a while coming, but I officially have been accepted to graduate school and am now in the process of scheduling classes, and waiting for finacnial aide to come through. I am excited to go back to school.

I am currently at panera bread and a lady just sat down near me. Can I just comment on old lady smell? I used to think it was a natural smell, but now I realize that they actually purchase a pefume in order to make this smell. I am a second away from passing out from this mix of normal perfume, old spice, original lysol and comet. Seriously, feel free to dab. If you suffer from OLS, I apologize.

more news later

FAFSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

If I could incur wrath by the power of my word it surely would fall on fafsa. I'm talking the sky would blacken, with thunder crashing, and lightning flashing, my voice would become huge and fill the sky and sound like an army of warriors reigning down a battle cry of death towards all whose ears they fall, simply when I said the word FAFSA.

Um yeah, you know how it is hard to convey emotion in an e-mail or or other print as such? You know, it is easy to sound distant and a little cold or maybe angry without intending to. Well, in this case it surely will do injustice to the amount anger that courses through my veins. If I took my blood pressure right now, both me and the nurse might have a heart attack. But I would stay standing, pressing on solely powered on the disdain for filling out the FAFSA!

For those of you who don't know, I am trying to go back to school. My application is taking forever to process and so the admissions office suggested I apply for student aide right away in order to have it all in by next wednesday when it is due. ( student aide is how I will be paying for school , so it is imparative that this happens) So, for the last enitre day, I have been trying to fill out the Federal Application For Student Aide. FAFSA! ( wrath & warriors & stuff) BY the way, who includes "for" in their accronymn? How much cooler would it be to say FASA? But no FAFSA! does nothing easy, everything takes forever.

The biggest hole , aside from having twelve million web pages to do two things (get and ID and apply) is discovering your PIN or acces code. I apparently had one from doing my undergrad ( I must have been skippng that day) but they can't tell me over the phone. They can however take every other bit of my personal information over the phone in order to tell me to go back to the website where dreams go to die and request a new pin be sent over the unsecured internet to my easier than a phone to access google account. Oh, and it takes between 4 hours and 3 days. I guess I just wait here at Panera like its Christmas Eve and I know santa is coming.

Needless to say I am a bit bitter. I get fired up with things that are automated and do nto actually help with a particular problem. I am sure John Fafsa is a good man, and I love him as Christ tells me to, but his application process is not cool. Sorry, I had to bring you on the tirade.

If you made it this far I give you open season to vent on something as a response. Anything. slow drivers, the guy at walmart, Ukraine's airport, Atlanta' airport, puppies, K- fed getting an album, you probably have something. If you were in a possitive mood, my apologies, you can comment on something awesome to lift our spirits.

later

Some Thouhts on Generations

2006-10-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

So, one of the problems that so many churches face is the struggle between older and younger members over the basic approaches to doing church. My wife and I recently left a church that had well passed, but at one time had struggled with little things like choir robes and the color of the pew cushions. THings that I believe my generation views as inconsequential. That church over the course of ten years or so was able to change the culture out of holding so much stock in the "things" of the church.

Julie and I are now serving in a new church that after being closed to dying completely three years ago, got a new dynamic pastor who has a vision to grow the church. I'll explain my quandry as quickly as possible. IN three years this church has grown from like 20 on Easter to 200 + weekly. THere is a life in this church like I haven't seen in a while. The people are eager to serve others and eager grow. It is evident the moment you step into the church and it is the main reason Julie and I decided to go there. Now that we have begun to submerge ourselves in to the church culture we have begun to see some of the behind the scenes struggles they have weekly. Yes, weekly. There are older members of the church who have been there for years, or were there for years and then came back as its grown. I say older because noon e under 60 causes an flak in the matter. The people there argue and raise complaints and cause dissention and are stubborn to the core about seeing the church go their way or die.

Now the problem I have is not with them holding onto what they believe is true, it is that the things they are holding to me seem stupid. Examples: The rails in front of the stage, the lecturns on the side that no one use...ever, the organ no one uses...ever, the "alter" that sits in the middle of the stage which no one understands why its there and is also never used...ever, the placement of a screen to run any video needs, the number of pews in the chapel, the 25 year old couch that is falling apart in the fellowship hall, when the bell rings, and then some. My opinion..the dumbest stuff ever. THey are basically a lead weight to the progress of the church. I can see being up in arms about a new program with questionable spiritual signifigance like a block party with slot machines to raise money, but the couch?

This is a problem that faces tons of churches, and I am not looking for encouragement that you just have to deal with it, nor am I beginning an argument to put all folks above a certain age on a reservation some place warm where they can have their own way at church, and music, and be able to drive, smell funny, make left hand turns at their own pace etc. . I feel that there is wealth of knowledge, wisdom, experience that is basically burned on the color of fabric on "things" inside a building where a specifc body meets. Why is it such a problem connecting older and younger? I wonder who fails? Was there a breakdown in the church a few generations ago that resulted in an age group of people more concerned with things and attaching their salvation to the place they meet and its overall appearance? ARe the two other generations present within churches wrong with their new music and now their to experiential and intimate approach to worship? Is there sin involved on either side? THese members are financial givers within the church, so do they have the right to have such a say in the thing they helped buy 40 years ago?

OUr church has put a band-aide on their problem by having a "traditional" service early in the morning, that everybody else warns new people not to come to. The two biggest questions I have are,
1. Is this a specific problem with this generation in western culture, or is it a problem that I will contribute to when I retire? (note I wonder if Billy Graham raises a fuss in his local church when the kids want to use their video ministry?)

2. If not, and if I think it is wrong because I feel they are not only missing the message of the gospel but also are hindering it, is it a sin for me to support a "traditional" service that appeases those sensabilities and not gently but firmly confront these brothers and sisters who are not to look down on me because I am young, with the truth and message of Christ?

Just some thoughts

Pastor's Wife

2006-10-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

OK so here is something that has been a cool progression of what God is doing in our lives. Julie has a job as a youth pastor and I have the job of the pastor's wife, so to speak. I am sort of slowly getting into a leadership at the church. I am preaching the end of this month and we ( the pastor and I )are exploring ways to get me up to lead worship and teach some different classes. I am going back to school as well, provided I get accepted.

When we decided to come here, we felt that God was callingus to a place to minister together, for Julie to grow in a leadership role, for me to go back to school, and to step up into a leadership role. So far that side of it has been cool. I have had people ask if I had a million dollars what would I do. This is pretty close to it, only with a nicer car.

Since we have been here we have been confronte several times with the need to make some more money. I start to freak out and try to find the first job I can. I start the wheels turning in my head about how much better life would be if I had a job the doubled up our money. This was espescially strong in the first couple of weeks. God however has shown us that He is in control and my trust needs to be in Him. We have been able to work out our finances in a way that allows me not to have to work and to be a pastor's wife. Really, it means that I can pour my energy into the ministry God has called me to. I am excited to get some things going.

If are willing, please join us in praying that our house will sell by the end of the month, as this is the source of most of our financial turmoil.

I will keep you all posted in that regard.

News

2006-09-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

So here's what's been happening here. Julie and I are in our new place and liking it alot. (though not as much as if our house was already sold) Jeremy our ninja cat was angry that we put him in his cage to travel and then scared of the new surroundings and hid under our bed for three days. Steve our dog basically just thinks we put carpet down for him to run easier, as opposed to having actually moved.

It is interesting being away from where I called home. I moved alot growing up and adjusted relatively quickly every time. This has been a bit more difficult as and adult. I sound like an old lady in church I know, but there is something to be said about comfort and control. I used to go to my movie theatre, or my golf course, or my workout area, my gyro place, church, italian restaurant, sub shop, friend's house, field to play ball with steve, place where my wife and I shared our first kiss. All are not here and it is a bit discomforting. I am getting adjusted slowly but surely. I have met some nice young Christian peers, which will help.

I am also looking for a job (which stinks), I am limited in what job I can get as I am plannign to start school in January. There is a possability of me being a meter reader for the power company, which would be rather humorous and sort of crappy, but well paying with good benefits.

There is alot of thought going into the sort of ministry challenges facing this area, which I shall dive into later, except on commenting on the problems facing an area that is almost midwest, influenced by Judeo-Christian philosophy, depressed, sort of republican, and largely facing a total mis-conception of who Christ is. Like I said, large can of worms.

So, first priorty...find a job and not stress between no and then.

Then see Jackass 2....

Hey!

2006-09-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has been a while all of you who may have been waiting anxiously for some insight into my soul. Julie and I are in the process of moving to Medway, Ohio. Julie got a job as a youth pastor at a church there, while I am going to be going back to school to get my master's degree in Biblical studies or something of the sort. I am sure that this will enable me to come up with more better things ramble about eloquently.

We are moving wednesday and then worrying about selling our home thereafter. Hopefully despite the crapiness of the current market, we will be able to sell our home rather painlessly. I will try to be better at filling every one in on life and what has been going on with us, but it depends on computer accesability.
peace

Ninja Master

2006-08-09T07:09:00.001-07:00

So being in between work really is no fun. Julie and I are currently trying to figure out where we are going. IT is pretty stressful as we are waiting for different possabilities to play out. There are other areas of stress, but I cannot comment on specifics.

It is interesting how the blog basically enables people like me the opportunity to share thoughts with the world. Sometimes it functions like a personal journal of what is going on and other times like a newspaper column to shoot an idea out there for people to chew on and hopefully get a little fired up about.

Though I currently have alot for people to get fired up about(AKA probably just me), I will settle on happier trails. After returning from"vacation" julie and got home to a happy puppy and a cat further into his planning of world domination. He has been working on his fighting as he got into a tiff last night with a neighbor cat. He occasionally runs around out back. He did last night and apparently ran into another cat ninja. All we heard was the hiss/ reeeeeeeeer! of a good strike and then we we new a battle of epic proportions was ensuing. Complete with some matrix-esque kicks and a winning slash from Jeremy evidenced by white fur in Jeremy's claw found later. We sent steve ( our dog ) out to wag his tail at the opposing cat, but he got distracted by eveyrthing in between the door and the end of the porch. Alas Jeremy had apparently struck a walked away, like a true ninja master.

2006-08-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

Maine

2006-08-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

So Julie and I are in Maine. It is good times. Lots of misquitoes. I mean swarms, I would welcome the chicken pocks rather than this opening of the fifth seal of the apocalypse. THe ocean is cold, there are supposed to be moose here. I am anxious to see one. We cooked up some fresh lobster, which was mighty fine and are having some good R & R, I am hoping to get some time to get some good updates on my blog which has fallen stagnate of late. My apologies.

Starting today with the question of how long is a good alter call? We were at a meeting last weekend where the alter call not only last one hour and fifteen minutes, but also included every prayer chorus in the book bringing even the most stubborn alter-goer-downer down with several repeats of "all that I am."

though I do love that song, I wonder how useful it was for me to sit in the audience and feel obligated to watch as people made tearful recommitments, I meant with heads bowed and eyes closed. I maybe just super cynical, and need to go the alter myself. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, don't fret it is no - big deal, just a rant. I will probably be putting more thought into this, later.

Mexi Dips and Chips

2006-07-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so, my friends Tim and Jamie always used to talk about Taco Bueno. Being from the northeast (where there are no Taco Buenos) I had to hear stories and take their word for its goodness. THeir description was "taco bell, but way better". Being a large fan (both figuratively and literally) of the crunch wrap supreme and chil cheese burrito, I thought there was no improving upon perfection. I stand corrected. I just went today for lunch and experienced firsthand mexidips and chips, with a chalupa-ish thing ( AKA #3). I feel as though I have just choosen the red pill ( matrix), and been confronted with reality for the first time.

I may be exaggerating a touch, but given the option of all fast food, pizza shops, and franchised restaraunts, Taco Bueno now sits amoung the top five. Good times, good tacos, hence the name I guess.

When Life gives you lemons...

2006-06-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

sell them and buy some iced tea. mmm tea.

So, for those who don't already know, I lost my job. After four years at the church where I was serving, and a position shift, I got the ax. There are negative elements to the whole ordeal, but all in all, my leaving is on good terms. The hard part about it is the fact that both Julie and I had put in alot of time and energy into pushing the ministry foreward, only to be removed. We are now leaving alot of the friends we made and on to something new. TBA as I find out what that is.

It really has been evident through the whole thing that God is directing it all. Though it sucks being told "you don't fit here", it opens the door for us to freely move foreward. Anyone want to buy a house?

Well, I'm sure I have something lighter and witty next time, Superman opens tommorrow.

Hitch

2006-06-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I have talked about the movie Hitch before. It has recently been added to my elect top five list. It isn't remarkably funny, but funny. It does however perfectly demonstrate not only the concept of men marrying up, but more specifically is a perfect characterization of My wife Julie and I. ( If you put out a romantic comedy about she and I, Kevin James would play me and the girl from the movie would play her.) I am sure it will get blockbuster acclaim when it is made.

So, last week was a bad week. I elected not to write about it on the blog as not much positive could have been said aside from the journey is more important than the destination.

To quote Julie's friend... "I know God is trying to teach me something, I just hope it isn't something crappy like patience." or humility.

So quickly you say

2006-05-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, I wrote a blog like ten minutes ago, but I have been confronted with one of the more funnier videos I have seen in some time. Check it out if you'd like.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/mothers-day-picture.html

True Worshipful Community

2006-05-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

So, I decided to listen to just the radio yesterday and stumbled upon one of the CHristian stations. THey played a Mercy Me song while I stuck hot poker's into my eyes. THen they proceded to talk about how their station promotes true worshipful community.

Is it me being fed up with people trying to sound like ultra spiritual, high thinkers, or would that phrase cause the biggest disconnect with anyone outside of western evangelical church subculture? I use words like... community, meaningful, fellowship, post-modern, etc. all the time but am often reminded that they are words that sound good. And "worshipful" ... come on, they can't be serious. It sounds like a word that would come out while praying aloud in a group of people who are better than you. Don't pretend like you haven't played the Pharisee, we all have done it at some point.

My point is, these sort of spiritual words, or made up words strike me as being dangerous. THey mask over the need for action with empty words. I have been seeing more and more recently how Christians get decieved with stuff that sounds important and sounds right but couldn't more distracting. THere are two bads happening. One, we use words like worshipful to help push us towards doing something new, something relevant, something that doesn't bore us because that will translate directly to a non- Christian, so we think.
Two , we use big words that turn away non-CHristians because the words couldn't be more irrelevant to someone who isn't engulfed in church culture.

My re-occurring thought is that the newest Christian song isn't going to pull the secular world into the church. ( not that it won't aide or that being relevant to the culture is mute) THe world need truth taken directly to them. When JEsus taught he taught straight truth through teachable moments steeped in secular culture. How does the church find the balance? Will my thoughts change things? no. Does everyone in my circle say this? yes.

There could be more to say, but I am gong to go and do.

plotting and Flutie

2006-05-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

First off, Doug Flutie announced his retirement from professional football today after 21 years either in the CFL or NFL. Hats off to the fluterino at 43 still had the juice to convert the first dropkick in like 50 years in the NFL. Giving hope to all short, old average looking dudes he had success all over the place from the National championship to the NFL where he took his team to the super bowl a few years back only to get benched.

Second, I have been watching Jeremy, my cat recently and have come to realize that he is definitely plotting world domination. He watches everything, constantly adding up figures in his head in order to achieve his goal of taking over the world. He practices his ninjitzu punches on Steve, my dog ( who thinks he is playing and runs all over the house only to be ninjitzu pnuched again). He has been walking around outside when it rains in order to build his stamina against his arch nemisis water. His only weakness is the flahlight, which when turned on, shoots a circle of light on the wall that is irresistible, and must be caught. World, be ware of Jeremy.

On the subject of losing your passion

2006-05-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

if you are tired...
I don't care who you are or what you do, there are days when you don't want to do what you do. There are days when I don't want to play my guitar, or go into the church and hang- out wth the people I love to work and do ministry with. Are these the days when my faith is falling short? are these the days when I fail? Are these the days when I have crossed the line and done all I can do?

I am not having one of these days today, but am reminded of those days when I talk about being passionate about something, specifically what GOd is doing in the world through His church or could do without our sinfulness getting in the way. IN those days, " sabbath" becomes real. Truly entering into a state of not only rest, but reflecting on who God is.

It is awesome to think that GOd is not only willing, but fully counting on using us to do His work on earth, despite ourselves. IT is also awesome to realize that most of the things God wants us to do not only seem too big for us, but are too big for us. I have always heard people in ministry talk about working out of the overflow. God's spirit pouring out of us do to our awesome time spent with God... I am currently making the face... (for those of you who don't know the face, think of the dumbest thing you have ever seen someone do to you, take that disdain and direct it through your eyes and the face will take of itself.)

I agree that we have to work out of our overflow, but we also have to be realistic about who we are. honestly, outside of Jesus, who has that good of a quiet time. To make the matter more real, God said, take a break! you are human, I took a break and I'm God. I find that when my passion fades, when the thing I know God wants me to do is boring, I have surpassed the point when I was supposed to take a break. So don't be lazy, but take a break, walk around outside, read the Bible for no reason, play "throw cards into hat", find some people to mess around with, do anything else that could be put into a dorky what to do that is touchy feely book,
just break away and be refuled, return ready to fight round two of the good fight.

its all good

2006-05-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

So, I have been feeling the pressure, having not posted in a while, to come up with something awesome. Luckily, I have been sort of focussing my energy into doing some song writing and reading through the book of Numbers. So far my creative and passionate buttons have not been depressed leaving me looking forward to anything.

Julie and I listened to a talk for a leadership program our church is doing. In the talk, the speaker was talking about our leadership moment when God reveals the element of our sinful world that pushes us to action. He talked specifically about Moses seeing a fellow Jew getting beaten by an Egyptian, this burned in him and eventually blossommed into His leadership role when God calls him. It was a good talk, the most important thing I thought that he said was to expose yourself to the things that tick you off. Like if it is bad music, put yourself into a position to experience it in order to fuel the fire. Another example would be Christ clearing the temple, His heart burning for what God had set up on earth to represent HImself to man.

Being very interested in how passions are developed in our lives I really connected with this concept now that I have been thinking about it. In our culture it is very easy to not stay fired up. Between TV, movies, golf, family, dog, bible study, order of service ( not in order of importance) I find it so difficult to stay fired up about what God has set me up to get worked up about.
"It's all good" should not be my mentality, but rather GOd's broken heart for all that is wrong with what could have been perfect. Maybe I should starring answerring the question "howsit goin?" with ... " bad. I look around at churches that don't get it or are so pre-occupied with themselves, they miss God! or how could you stand in front of the gathering of the body and not spill forth the most inspired - Spirit lead talk or worship or silence? ! "

I could go on, but it is already negative. of course... I am sure it wasn't kicks and giggles wen the temple was cleared.

One Bad and Roses

2006-04-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

So, I watched a camp video from my final year working at summer camp, at the end of the video was an episode of VHI Behind The Music that some of us made up and produced about a made up group calle d" ONe Bad and Roses. It was ather humorous as we had an OK video editor, had talked all summer about doing the spoof, and then did it really quickly in an afternoon. So it came out very impov sort of in the same vain as Spinal Tap. Anyways, all that to say it was fun to remeniss (sp?). So fun in fact that I accidently rewound the entire tape and somehow ( I am still blaming my cat Jeremy, as he always has that look in his eye) pressed record. Recording 8 hours (on SP) of Sportcenter as we slept. THere was a sort of shock the next morning after realizing that memory piece was gone. Luckily I am not all that sentimental, but it was still kind of sad.

The Elect

2006-04-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

So my buddy in college used to talk about the elect when it comes to favorites. He was basically talking about songs he liked, even if they were more worthy of ridicule. He just liked them. An example... (not real) I caould say my favorite song was "Barbie Girl" by whoever techno group it was, and if it was ridiculed I could label it one of the elect.

Side note, I am assuming this comes from God's elect, specifically from a Calvanist point of view being that whoever he chooses for Salvation, gets Salvation not for any reason or merit, but because He is sovereign God and He says so. Interestingly enough, whether predestination is your thing or not, it says some great things about GOd's love for us that no riducle could stand against us when we are saved. Nothing can seperate us from God, no matter how dumb a song we might be.

Anyways, after taking some flack for my previous post of top ten movies I could see over and over and songs I like now, I thought I should prefface those lists as being not all time favorites, but rather songs I like at the moment... AKA would have on my Ipod if I had one; and movies I could watch several times and not fall asleep. SO ... here is a list of elect, songs and movies that should take flack, but can't because I, being sovereign to what is my favorite or in this case what I like , elected them to be....for now.
10. You've got mail
9. Notorious thugs
8. If I had a hammer
7. Bloodsport
6. Star Wars Episode 2: Attck of the Clones
5. Walking on Sunshine
4. THe Incredible Hulk: new movie
3. The cutting Edge 1
2. Bye Bye Bye - NSync
1. Lamu

top ten lists

2006-04-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

TOP TEN MOVIES I COULD WATCH MULTIPLE TIMES.... 10. 13 going on 30 ( I am currently hiking up my skirt) 9. Anchorman 8. Die hard: with a vengance 7. Die Hard 6. Black Sheep 5. Trains, PLanes, and automobiles 4. Crimson Tide 3 The Pink Panther Strikes again 2. Tommy Boy 1. You've got mail ( what can I say...it makes me smile)

Top Ten songs I like alot right now,
10. More THan a feeling - Boston 9. Under Pressure - Queen w/ David Bowe 8. Fix you- coldplay 7. Sattelite- Dave Matthews Band 6. Come Awake- David Crowder Band 5. Smooth Criminal- alien Ant Farm remake 4. Hold the Line- Toto 3. Rainbow Connection- Jason Mraz 2. All you need is Love- Beattles 1. With or without you- U2

pointless,

THe CHuck

2006-04-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

So my little brother showed me Chuck Norris and Vin Deisel Jokes, which are basically dumb one liners like.. Vin Deisel irons his shirt while he is wearing it..or, Once Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked someone so hard his foot broke the speed of light sending him back in time, killing Hitler...or CHuck Norris' tears cure cancer, unfortunately he has never cried, ever.

Anyways, it took me back to rediculous high school jokes. When I was there, it was always "this verses that". Like who would win in a fight? Batman or DareDevil? Vin Deisel or CHuck Norris? Bryant Gumble or Oprah? Tony Tiger or Sugar Bear? Mr. Myagi or the winner of Norris/ Deisel? Got any more? or insight victor information?

working out

2006-04-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

So I have been trying to get over a bad back and return to to the rigors of a workout schedule, hence returning me to my once great physic. ( see picture) Alas, it has yet to happen.
My favorite excersize if the pull up, probably because I can only do one. It is over quickly.

Lack of Passion

2006-03-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to visit a church last weekend. It was a surprisingly big church and felt rather comfy until we got hounded by two leaders of the church. It felt as though they tried to immediately assimilate us into their culture. We were at the church, so we must be church people. Despite the crappiest music ever, not just in selection, but also in congregational response; and a sermon that took one verse dealing with following hard after GOd alone and then some how jumped onto a soap box of of talking about Pre-marital sex, the unchurched couple we were with didn't have a good experience. I wonder why, gee I don't know, I guess some people just aren't ready to hear from GOd.

I have been jumping from anger and sadness as result of going to that church. I cannot say this without sounding like a mega/ seeker sensative church lover, or a gen X-tradition hater, or whatever othe adjective falls into this category, but what the crap? I is tearing me up to think that individual churches feel it is OK not to follow the call of the Lord. I have been trying to pay attention t o different churches to get a vibe of how we are doing, and it is not all that good. I am a part of a church that is growing, whose people are passionate and spreading the gospel, but I look around and see so many other who are not. They instead focus on their services, or their classes, or what will make people more comfortable. I don't want to be where a church is trying out new things with the same lifeless motions. I would just a soon go someplace that sings "Blessed be the tie that binds" and "love lifted me" and on fresh days, "Lord I lift your name on high" as long as the people are on fire for GOd and are being encouraged to go into the world as well as to grow in t heir faith.

In that service this weekend, I wanted to stand up and scream. I am sure that there are good things happenign in that church, but why do I have to preface all the good things about that church weithin the bigger church, before I say " shame on you for not being so passionate about Jesus that it oozes off of you onto everyone around you." That was the shorter version of a longer rant.

Imogen Heap

2006-03-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

OK, so I am usually not on the cutting of hot music, but I just heard a couple of songs for a lady called Imogen Heap. SHe is all keyboard, electro, drum machine stuff and she is from the UK ( which doesn't mean much except the genre similarities to what is coming out of the UK currently). Any ways, if you like new and sort of a break from the norm, check her out.

THis will not meet the approval of rock -n-rollers, lovers of country, rap, or metal, Michael W., orthe occasional boy band.

Passions 2

2006-03-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

OK so builing on the premise that, If our passion is pointed in the wrong direction, it can and will cause bad things to happen; (It might not be seen right away, but it will on some scale be negative.) and on the idea that no matter who we are there is at least someone for us to lead and somefor us to follow, is where I want to continue.

THe reason bad happens when our passion isn't right is that passion, begets passion. Look at at anyone close enough, and see who they lead and follow... their passion, no matter how great or focussed or intentional is passed down. THink of any successful business, somebody somewhere got passionate about smoething and it passes through the company. It is also why businesses fail or are stagnant. if there is no passion for what is being produced, and the passion is instead somewhere outside the workplace, it won't flourish and folks will not love their work. Obviously, I do not think work should be anyone's primary passion outlet, but it should occupy a little space in their heart.

Also, look at sports teams, the team that aligns their passions wins, which usually comes from a passionate coach or a Joe Montana or Michael Jordan. OK lots of secular examples to reinforce in my own mind that people see and respond to my passion. If I am fired up about something the people that see me as a leader will be fired up to.

IF I am a naturally high level leader ( lots of people will follow) then consistant passion is necessary to drive those followers.

Was Jesus a strikingly handsome dude? Was he exemptionally strong, smart, loud, quiet? Upon looking through scripture, I see other people described in such ways. I suppose Jesus was described as an exeptional teacher. I think more importantly, the thing that drew people to him was his heart. His Passion for the Father came out in everything he did, even when he talked back to his mother. It was so evident that it went beyond talking and into the miraculous.
I will stop there.... this is like the tip of the iceberg in my head.

Passion

2006-03-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

OK, so this is an intro into a new era for my blog for a time. I have not had the opportunity to access it in a while, so there has been nothing new. I have had the opportunity to wrestle with some things that I see God doing with me and in the church.

IT all centers around the idea of passion. Michael Jordan, Braveheart, mother Theresa, Napoleon ( what? ), Joan of Arc....Pause, my office neighbor just stuck her head in the door and asked about Passion cd's, that's a mistery..Resume... freakin William Booth, Martin Luther, Hitler, Terry Bradshaw ( 1 pt. for Steelr reference.) the terminator, FDR, Bono, (1pt. Bono), Muslims, John Maxwell, Jehovah's Witnesses, Druggies, Rocky Balboa, if you know their name, they were probably passionate about something. Passion works in wierd ways, for some its awesome like Mother Theresa, for Hitler... not so awesome.

I have been hit hard with this idea that, being created in God's image means we were created with Passion. Realizing that passion unleashed can be so very awesome and so very dangerous in the same breathe... how much more bigger does this idea make the commandment for us to have nothing else come before Him in our Passion pecking order. Holy geeze, when a person's Passion is not on God whether by choice or ignorance, it is dangerous. But, when our passion that gets unleashed on the world is on God....

Warning... this will be the topic of several posts to come.

back that thing up

2006-02-26T19:05:00.000-08:00

Ok so I hurt my back with the strength of a thousand suns. I have been stuck laying on our living room floor due to what I hope are just muscle spasms for about 5 days now. This has been present for about 4 months now, but this last week has been the pinnacle. I have had to ride in the car a couple of times which has been the most painful times of my life, and when I walk with my new cane every step has been bad news. Plus i cannot sit down. ( I am going to the doctor) all that to set up the fact that I have been left to sit and ponder between dr. phil and I love th 80's strikes back. It is humbling and also an electrifying thought that the ministry that I have been placed in has little to do with me. Realizing that God gives us talents and gifts and uses us in ways we could never imagine is important, necessary, and awesome. Even better is being reminded that is not me on my own, but rather God working with and through me. He is made perfect in my weakness. I have been made more aware of this this week as well as have begun to really become more aware of the how the body of Christ works. which will have to be discussed later.

Anyways, God works through us and it is awesome when it happens.

Blog: 2 mo. Evaluation

2006-02-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

OK, so I have a blog. I still feel like it is very much like a diary. I am on the fence at how much I like posting things. It is good because it makes me communicate things more simply, and cause me to think more critically. I actually enjoy checking out what everybody else's blog say more than checking my own. I have one friend who thows up a ton of long posts with long words that are his thought process. I have another friend who uses it exactly like a diary. I have another friend who now and again puts up short simple statements that challenge his immediate churchn or The Church.

The best part about it is the responses, its like when you are listening to talk radio and Jo-Bob calls up and wants to talk about them thar Politics. Half the time I don't know who is responding but it usually seem to miss the point. ( myself included)

THe friend with the long posts usually has something profound such as ( possible example, I wonder Theologically how the church has gotten lost in externality when we are called to focus on Discipleship) ( again not a real example..) and the responses will be like... "whoo woo, discipleship rocks" or "I have a puppy." or I will say... "Your mom gets lost". All who joined me in the response are winners.

THen diary guy gets responses that are more like e-mails that are harder to check... " what's man, great to hear about your rash clearing up. Hope to hear from you soon." good times, glad we get to join in.

THen the challenger will say something like, "Why does the church care more about the pledge than the orfan on the street within a mile from where they currently are. ( a bit dramatic to make a point) To which the responses start flowing in. You can see the fury in the people's responses. THey definitely tensed up and breathed heavy while finding the best group of words to defend their cause, and often times focus on only a part of the idea. THe see pledge and" !!Pledge! we have sadi under God since 1776 ( not knowing the pledge was written in 1892 and changed 3 times the final change occuring in 1954 with the adding of the words... "under God".) they would talk about their side for keeping the phrase and then a large side discussion will flow out and people will argue over the seperation of church and state. All the while the point of the post was missed, but an awesome and passionate war of words over nothing. Its a good thing my brother doesn't get on there, (if you are on here, the other brother).

THose are the best blogs. I am going to start coming up with and posting great argumentative statements. Like, " the Browns suck", and "Leno is better" and "I went to see brokeback mountain." and "you don't need to be baptized, because you were pre-destined, so what difference does it make?"

If you have any ideas for discussion now is the time to enter them...

tommy like wingy

2006-02-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

Two down...

2006-02-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

So my parents have some new children. 5 was not enough so they have two more. THe boy is Donnie, the girl is Tori. THey are good times and very smiley and cute, or the more masculine equivalent.

It is interesting to be a part of adopting children. I get to see first hand the need. It is hard to think that Donnie and Tori could be in a place that they wouldn't smile as much and wouldn't get professional photos of them in unnatural poses, as Donnie would never sit as shown. And to think they would have been neglected, underfed exposed to drugs etc. . And this happens in America, it is a shame. THe more I think about it, the more I realize how much Christians, or the church fails at truly helping.

Super!

2006-02-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

NOw that we have hoisted a certaint silver football for the fifth time, we can call ourselves champions again. Go Steelers! a great team game, nobody did awesome, but the whole team was good enough for victory. Awesome. Farewell to the bus. Hip-hip... horay....hip-hip....horay!

Wish Granted

2006-02-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

so I have been trying to eat more healthy and work out more. I used to be quite fit for a thick dude. But after like 23 years of eating way more than several people, my metabolism basically packed up and left. I am finally pretty motivated to work out which in turn helps my eating. I have been drinking alot of v8,(I chug it fast and wash it down with Iced tea so its like it never happened) that was until last week...

So Julie and I found ourselves at Quaker Steak and Lube...

single order, double order, compact bucket (50% more wings), I had to do the compact bucket. I tried two new flavors to me. I am pretty old school only ever getting hot and ranch, so this was a big day. Arizona Ranch and Suicide Barbecue now haunt my dreams with their temptation. THe wings are bigger than I remember, also more tastey all around. they make all hopes of eating well seem bad. If only there could be a marriage. A chicken wing that was holistically good for you. iT had no extra fat. Somehow through the advances in modern science, the yummy Barbecue sauce was made not with sugar and brown sugar, but rather broccoli and carrots, but still tasted awesome. And the ranch I dip them in...it too was simply more healthiness. If only...

I guess everything that is bad for us has some pleaseurable aspect. I could say that about anything... I wish cigerettes were good for you, they not only make you look cool, they sweeten your breathe and help your heart. Drugs, aside from making you feel funny and see things, they make you smarter and help make you a more responsible person. Chicken wings aren't a sin, but it seems like a good sermon illustration on deception....

Missed Opportunity

2006-02-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

You ever know full well you missed an opportunity. It is awesome how, as a Christian, I can know the right things to do. I, more often than not, choose not to do them. In this culture, specifically in ministry, in this culture, I do not get to interact with people not like me very often. If I am being brutally honest, no one does here. We have our nice, Christian, conservative bubble. Not all that many in, and definitely not all that many out. THis is not across the board, but I am sad that I so easily return to the bubble. Donald Miller talks about this idea in " Blue Like Jazz."

Last night I taught a class on " how to be sure of your faith". Basically, the idea was that CHrist gives us assurance through the cross, which is testified to us through the Word, which is made alive to us through the Spirit. BUt I ended the class with a look at Galations 5. The fruit of the Spirit, versus the fruit of the sinful nature. THe idea being that when we act ( emphasison our action) on the prodding of the spirit these fruits become more and more evident in our lives. THe effect is that these come down to us loving those around us with Christ-like love. Great! We all left feeling motivated to love others.

I stopped at a gas station on the way home, and upon returning from paying the bill a man approached me and asked for money for the bus. I didn't have cash to give him, but I did have a car, an ATM machine within fifty feet, and time. My first reaction, as we all have is... you'll just go buy beer...sinner. THe second one was, I could help but I don't have time, I want to catch the end of a show. ...For Real? A show made it inconveient? Has it really come to this, my time being wasted inside this bubble that doesn't recognize anyone outside of those in my church circle?

Is anything more important than an opportunity to touch the heart of someone who may need Jesus? Needless to say, I was convicted. Whether that was truly a chance to minister or a chance for me to fail, I would definitely like to be the guy that answers the call when it is inconvenient.

.

New Musack

2006-02-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

SO I am currently working on writing some music. My job necessitates me to arrange music every week, but I am trying put some energy into writing some stuff on my own. HOpefully, by telling some folks, I will be motivated enough to fight through my own particularity and finish some songs. I have felt for a time that I should do some writing, but have not done it yet.

THe hardest part for me is to write something that doesn't add to the noise, but will evoke emotions that spur others to faith in CHrist or encourage the beliver's heart to worship not just with their lips but with their whole heart or ,better said, "life."

THat makes me nervous, we'll see how it goes.

Here we go

2006-02-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

I needn't say anything about the super bowl, we know its coming and we know who the most awesome team is, so here we go.

Real american heroes: Ice Hockey

2006-01-27T05:23:00.000-08:00

So I am playing in the community adult hockey league. There is nothing more savage (2pts) than men's league hockey. All these guys who were never any good, releasing their aggression on each other. It is fun times to be had by all and anyone watching by accident. I don't have the wheels I once had, but luckily I fall alot more and my pants don't fit as well. good times.