1.21 Gigawatts

2011 Reading List

2012-01-01T08:43:00.002-06:00

As has been my tradition... here's all my reading from the past year. For the record... it's my lowest page total since I've been tracking this thing. The problem is that I'm in the middle of three or four books both at home and in the office. So it's a little deceiving. Hopefully I can get up into the 10,000 page range next year. We shall see.

Professional Reading
1. Razing Hell (Sharon Baker) 222 Pages
2. A Resilient Life (Gordon MacDonald) 243 Pages
3. Visionary Parenting (Rob Rienow) 140 Pages
4. Justification (N.T. Wright) 279 Pages
5. Evil and the Justice of God (N.T. Wright) 176 Pages
6. Surprising Insights from the Unchurched (Thom Rainer) 281 Pages
7. Love Wins (Rob Bell) 202 Pages
8. The Circle of Seasons (Kimberlee Conway Ireton) 138 Pages
9. The Grand Weaver (Ravi Zacharias) 208 Pages
10. God Behaving Badly (David Lamb) 205 Pages
11. Bible Made Impossible (Christian Smith) 240 Pages
12. The Good and Beautiful God (James Bryan Smith) 191 Pages

Top 3 Professional
-A Resilient Life: Extremely valuable book detailing truths that will lead to longevity in ministry. I read this at a crucial time in my own life.
-Bible Made Impossible: Fun little book that details a Christ-centered hermeneutic and makes the case that you don't have to be a fundamentalist or even a biblicist to have an extremely high view of scripture.
-The Good and Beautiful God: Great entry level discipleship material... the whole book is about identifying and rejecting false narratives that we hold about God and ourselves. Very well done.

Personal Reading
1. Star Wars: Patterns of Force (Michael Reaves) 288 Pages
2. American Assassin (Vince Flynn) 435 Pages
3. Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #6: Sentinel (John Jackson Miller) 29 Pages
4. The Game of My Life (Matthew Leach) 206 Pages
5. Star Wars: Judge’s Call (Timothy Zahn) 5 Pages
6. The Abs Diet (David Zinczenko) 287 Pages
7. Star Wars: Vortex (Troy Denning) 375 Pages
8. Dune: House Corrino (Anderson and Herbert) 496 Pages
9. Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith #7: Pantheon (John Jackson Miller) 31 Pages
10. Escape from the World Trade Center (Leslie Haskin) 74 Pages
11. Star Wars: Conviction (Aaron Allston) 366 Pages
12. Phoenix Rising (William W. Johnstone) 345 Pages
13. Star Wars: Death Troopers (Joe Schreiber) 284 Pages
14. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Colllins) 374 Pages

Top 3 Personal
-The Hunger Games: Hands down the best and most interesting book I read all year. Good story, compelling characters... can't wait to dive into the last two books.
-American Assassin: Not the best Vince Flynn novel ever... but in the drudgery that was my personal reading this year... it makes it's way into the top two.
-Star Wars, Death Troopers: Again, not a great book... but different than the semi-boring Star Wars stuff that I've been reading lately.

22 Books, 4 Short Stories/ebooks 6120 Total Pages

Introverts In the Church 5.2

2011-10-28T09:56:00.000-05:00

McHugh continues in chapter five with some ‘myths of belonging.’ The first myth he addresses is this one: more personality = more belonging. This myth suggests that the more extroverted and outgoing you are, the better connected you can get into a community. Community is linked to natural personality.

In fact, McHugh goes on to say this (which I had never really thought about in this way before). “…it is a temptation for churches to define spiritual maturity as attendance: regular worship, participating in a committee or leadership team, and involvement in a small group. The implicit though is that the mark of true, progressing discipleship is participation in an increasing number of activities.” He goes on to point out that sporadic worship… or a hesitancy to join in various activities of the church usually land you with an ‘uncommitted’ label.

This is an interesting connection. I have made this mistake before. And I have had to be careful in this area. For instance: small groups. I think small groups can be a really great way to connect into a group of people in a more intimate way. However, throughout my time as a pastor… I’ve noticed that there are select people who are just simply uncomfortable in a small group setting. They still attend Sunday morning… they still give generously… they still help out as needed… but they never commit to a small group. I think some people just never really feel comfortable in a small group.

Truth be told, if I wasn’t a pastor… I don’t even know if I would chase after a small group opportunity… unless they were covering a topic that I was interested in. Coming from an introvert… here’s the problem: I prefer to connect with people on a 1-on-1 setting. That way I can decide exactly how much to share of myself… how many layers to pull back… etc. When you are in a small group… you are dealing with seven to ten different sets of ears… not all of whom you would naturally be comfortable sharing. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a small group that I feel completely safe in.

McHugh goes on: “Introverts have layered personalities, and they prefer to slowly unpeel the layers as they bond with people over time.” This explains why small groups can be difficult for me… But this principle works in a lot of different places: I remember having a conversation with a district leader in Michigan… and it was the very first conversation I ever had with him… and one of the first things he asked me was ‘how my thought life’ was. In other words, are you struggling with lust? I remember being horrified… not because that was a struggle… but because it takes a little while to build trust with someone before I share those types of things. But then again, this guy was a full bore extravert.

There’s still quite a bit left to chapter five and I’m going to try to remain more consistent in my detailing it here on the blog.

2011-04-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

"Depression is often a birthing process just before God makes a breakthrough. If you can look at depression as a gift and look at what God is going to do in you through it in the future, it can change your perspective about it." -Unknown

Introverts In the Church 5.1

2011-03-04T10:18:00.002-06:00

“So much of me wants to be lost in my grand ideas and reflections, away from the noise and urgency of other people, but I cannot escape the fact that growth invariably involves the messiness of genuine human contact and the struggles of intimacy.” (Adam McHugh)

I can relate to the above sentiment. I am constantly learning to adjust to this reality of being a lead pastor. There are some weeks when the mess of relationships just continues to pile on. Last week alone, for instance, was a week where I just wish I could have hide in a cave for the entire week. I just kept getting little points of feedback… not all of it very constructive, unfortunately. Some about the worship service, some about children’s curriculum, some about men’s ministry, some about the women’s ministry, some about mission’s giving, some about why people would show up to a ping pong event and not a prayer meeting.

That’s not counting the people who are legitimately hurting right now. People who are struggling to get by financially, people who are dealing with the loss of a loved one, people who are dealing with medical surgeries and recovery. The emotional toll of lead ministry was higher than I ever expected. And yet, I am called to be the pastor of a congregation of people. Even more so, I am called to be IN the fellowship of the church. Pastor or not… I belong to this imperfect body of people called the church.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this: “If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you.” This is a good reminder for an introvert. There is something God created me to bring to the fellowship of believers and there is something that I gain… only by connecting into the fellowship of believers.

McHugh goes on in this chapter to detail how community is emphasized in scripture. The majority of the scriptures were written to a group of people… the nation of Israel or to the Early Church of Jesus Christ. God’s plan for the redemption of the world is played out in the context of community. And when we read the ‘new creation’ passages that point to an unknown future… it is always set in a community context… with the gathering of all the believers to live in this new reality.

Community is important… so as an introvert… I must figure out how to appropriately fit into it. As an introverted pastor, I must figure out how to adequately leverage my gifts and my personality make-up to be as effective as possible. And in those times when the emotional drain is heavy… I must figure out ways to move forward with strength and integrity… but at the same time, to figure out ways to protect myself from becoming disillusioned and burnt out.

In post 5.2, I’ll look at the list of practical suggestions that McHugh gives for an introvert to connect effectively into a community context.

Life Mapping 2

2011-03-02T14:46:00.002-06:00

This post will continue my thoughts regarding a life graph that my mentor illustrated for me. Please refer to ‘Life Mapping 1’ for anything in this post to make sense. It’s interesting… but I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a pastor. I played ‘pastor’ for my family members when I was young. I felt called to ministry in Jr. High. I knew early on in high school that I would attend Indiana Wesleyan University in order to gain a degree that would allow me to be ordained in the Wesleyan church (the only denomination I knew anything about, truthfully.) From a family standpoint, I was encouraged to pursue this dream.

College was more of the same. It was the first time I saw any kind of academic success… but really only within my major. I still felt a little out of place with the normal Christian Ministry major at the time. And truthfully, I don’t think many of my professors really knew what to do with me. I think most of them liked me… but not many really knew what to do with a long haired, overweight, hippy looking kid that wanted to be a preacher. In fairness, I’m not sure I would have known what to do with me.  During college, I never faltered in my desire and interest to become a pastor.

Relating back to the funnel… I almost feel like I never had a ‘wide open’ moment in my life… where there were numerous occupational decisions in front of me. It was always ministry. Always. Fast forward a couple of years to my second church… and there were moments where I desperately wanted out of ministry. I wanted the funnel to widen for my life. There were a lot of reasons for it… none which I’ll go into here… but I could think of a handful of other things that I’d rather be doing… but just couldn’t afford to go back to school. Truthfully, I think God had (and continues to) purposefully remove a ‘plan B’ because He knows that would be too much of a temptation.

Anyway… I am currently in my 30’s doing lead pastor ministry. There are days when I love it and it really makes sense to me. There are other days (or weeks) where I can’t imagine carrying this load for another 35 years or so. It’s a humbling journey. It makes me curious to see if the ‘life-map’ will be accurate from here on out. Will I have a time of refocusing in my 40’s? If so, what will that look like?

This second post was written over a couple of days… so I’m not sure I got down what I really wanted to get down on this issue. I’m working through a lot of different personal issues in my head. I would say that the past six months have been extremely valuable for me in rediscovering my base… my foundation. God has pointed me to several books that have been so important for me to read recently. I’ve really done some interesting introspection that has turned into some tangible ways forward in keeping myself healthy and fully engaged in ministry… I’ll get to that on a different day.

The Pressure Is On

2011-03-01T10:32:00.002-06:00

I listened to a sermon yesterday given by Kevin Myers of 12Stone Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He was speaking about economic pressure and stress. He said something that made a lot of sense as it relates to our personal finances… but also as it relates to just about anything in life. He said that there are two kinds of pressure financially: Before pressure and after pressure.

He suggested that most people choose ‘after’ pressure. We see that by the massive amount of credit card debt we have in this country. We are an impulsive people… spending money that we don’t have for things we think we need… and eventually those choices will catch up to us. Maybe in the form of interest rates that we can’t keep up with. Maybe in the form of not being able to pay electricity or whatever. Maybe in the form of bankruptcy. This is ‘after’ pressure… and it’s NOT pressure that we put on ourselves… but that other people or circumstances put upon us.

He also suggested that life would go a lot smoother if we chose ‘before’ pressure. As opposed to ‘after’ pressure… this is pressure that we DO put on ourselves. Some might call it discipline. But it’s putting pressure on ourselves ahead of time to make the wise decision. In the area of finance, it’s saying NO to spending money we don’t have. We put pressure on ourselves to say NO now… so that we avoid someone else putting pressure on us to pay them later.

But isn’t that true in many areas? Right now, I am choosing to put pressure on myself to only eat a certain amount of food per day so that I can get to a healthy weight. I am trying to utilize ‘before’ pressure. Because, truthfully, in the area of food… I have primarily dealt with ‘after’ pressure… bad knees, low energy, random heart issues. It’s time I start putting ‘before’ pressure on myself consistently in this area.

I can be a procrastinator at times. But what if I utilized ‘before’ pressure to deal with those things in which I procrastinate in a timely manner. That way I avoid the ‘after’ pressure of deadlines, impatient people, and added stress.

I think this could be true in relationships as well. I put ‘before’ pressure on myself to continue to cultivate a relationship with my wife and kids. I do this to avoid the ‘after’ pressure of hurt feelings, distance, and disappointment.

Anyway… I found this helpful. I know it’s just a restating of stuff I’ve learned before… but for whatever reason… it resonated with me at this time in my life and has given me a lot of think about…

Life Mapping 1

2011-02-17T15:51:00.001-06:00

In case you haven’t noticed (if there is still anyone still reading this, haha) this blog has shifted in focus pretty dramatically since it started in 2004. Back then, I wrote pieces on a lot of different things… some religious in nature… some hobbies and passions of mine… family updates… those types of things. It was a mish-mash for sure.

I feel like it’s shifted recently to almost an on-line journal. This is less what I should write that will entertain the people reading… and more about writing publically concerning the things that are going on inside of me. And over the past year and a half… I feel like there has been a deep heart transition taking place within me. It’s really quite difficult to explain. And because this is so… I really haven’t communicated it with a lot of people. I look at this blog as a bit of an outlet, I guess. I really haven’t disclosed much here in regard to what this transition is… mostly because I still feel that I’m in the midst of it… but it’s a good place to write and put down into words what I’m feeling, wrestling with and thinking about. Anyway, here’s another personal evaluation post: Take from it what you can

I recently had a breakfast meeting with a man who I’ve asked to mentor me. It’s been a joy to connect with him. He has a wealth of information to pass along in terms of psychology and learning to process certain types of life management type things. He showed me a model that he had picked up in his own journey. It was a funnel… with a wide top at the beginning which represented childhood, teen years and the 20’s. It symbolized how wide open the possibilities are in that phase of life… lots of choices and directions and things you could invest your life in. The funnel narrowed dramatically… and he said this represented the 30’s. It’s there where, traditionally, you’ve identified what career path you are firmly in… and in fact… this is the time where you really understand how you fit specifically within your own field.

The graph moves on to show a line in the funnel… which represents the 40’s and how there are times when our choices in our late 20’s and early 30’s end up not going quite the way we’d like it to go and so we need to refocus… or maybe we are in the field we are supposed to be in… but we’ve experienced some mission drift and need to figure out a way to leverage our gifts so that we are making the most of the time we have left working in this field.

The graph widens again at 60… I can’t remember what he said about this exactly… but it seems like this represents retirement from your chosen field… and a time when you could involve yourself in just about anything you want again… the possibilities widen to a certain point in retirement when you aren’t constrained by time of your full time occupation.

It was interesting to see it illustrated like it was… and obviously there are many exceptions to the rule… but I thought I’d throw this out into cyberspace as a two part post. The first is this one. My next one will be much more personal in how I see myself fitting into the various points of the graph. Be back soon.

Introverts In the Church 4.4

2011-02-15T11:05:00.000-06:00

I’m finally going to finish processing chapter four. McHugh spends some time breaking down his personal ‘rule of life.’ These are the following questions that he has asked of himself to develop a rule of life that works for him:

• What are the times of the day when I feel the most energized?
• When do I feel the most tired?
• How much sleep do I need?
• What are the physical habits that energize me? Drain me?
• When do I most feel the need for solitude?
• How do I find soul rest?
• What are the spiritual disciplines where I feel most restored by God
• What are the relationships in which I feel the most refreshed? Most drained?

McHugh has developed a rule of life centered around rhythms that work for him. He finds that his relational stamina is drained as he proceeds through the day… so he takes that into consideration. He builds in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly activities to keep him at healthy levels of relational energy.

He recommends building in a few habits that have been helpful to him: Intercession, study and reflective reading, journaling and writing, silence and centering prayer, and Sabbath. Three of those five have been very helpful to me… and I’d like to get better at all of them.

The above ‘rule of life’ questions are helpful. I am most energized at the beginning of the day… by far. I am much like McHugh in that way… my best relational energy time is in the morning… early afternoon. I feel the most tired at night… right about 9PM. I usually need about 7 to 8 hours to feel normal. I can get by with 6 every now and again… but it will catch up with me eventually. I don’t take naps very often… so it’s important for me to stay disciplined with getting to bed at a decent time. The rest of the questions are even more important…

For instance, I’m going to start building in two monthly rhythms into my schedule… one which will help me be more intentional about doing future-tense ministry planning… and the other which is designed to help me recover from ‘meeting hangover’ without taking it out on my family. So each month, I plan on getting out of the office two work days a month. The first will be to hole up somewhere… like the public library… or somewhere else where I can work uninterrupted on future tense ministry planning.

The second will be scheduled after a particular monthly meeting which has the tendency to suck the life out of me. That day will be spent off-campus… but the focus will not be future tense… because that tends to be the last thing I want to think about after this particular meeting. The focus will be on relationship building with God; finding soul-rest; being with people who encourage me; and protecting myself from things, people, and conversations that will send me deeper into hangover mode. I can let this one meeting affect me for an entire week if I let it… so the goal is to minimize the ‘hangover’ time as much as possible… so that I can get back on stable emotional and relational footing quicker than I have in the past.

I’m sure more rhythms will come into focus as I continue to explore this book further.

The next chapter is one that I have great interest in reading: The title: ‘Introverted Community and Relationships.’

Introverts In the Church 4.3

2011-01-26T14:16:00.003-06:00

Another component of chapter four has to do with life’s rhythms. McHugh states (correctly in my opinion) that we must ‘learn to listen to each part of our nature (body, soul, mind, emotion) if we are to find balance and peace in our introversion.' And then he kicks into a look at life’s larger rhythms. He looks at the idea of a ‘reflection-action-reflection’ rhythms as working well for an introvert. He shows how God has built this type of rhythm into our lives. Sabbath rest… for example… is a way of expressing this rhythm in a weekly manner. “Sabbath rest enables us to see broader patterns of the Spirit’s work and teaches us not to capitulate to the restless activity of our culture. Sabbath gives us permission to do what our introverted hearts cry out for: to restfully reflect, contemplate, observe, retreat into and marvel at God’s creation.”

Time for self reflection… I realize how important my day off has become for me. I’ve never struggled with taking a day off… what I’ve struggled with is how to make my day off work for me. I feel like I’m getting better at making that day more effective in recharging who I am and using it to gain what I need to move forward with more strength. I remember one day this past October when I went outside to play with Aaron… and I ended up laying on our trampoline… looking up at the clear blue sky… reading a book… and thinking: This is exactly the type of thing I need… enjoying God’s creation… enjoying Aaron… enjoying a book. It was one of those moments when a profound sense of peace flooded over me. I never know when those moments will occur. But it took me being willing to unplug and go outside.

McHugh continues on in this chapter about the smaller rhythms in life. He gives a story about a summer in Mexico that sounds extremely close to the feeling I had on a trip to Nepal. Sensory overload and no time of solitude lead to a hazy fatigued feeling. His first assumption was that he was not cut out for missions… when all he needed was space to recharge.

He also spoke about the importance of sleep… and he spoke about the importance strategically placing intentional moments of recharge throughout the day. I am picking up on this in my own life. I’ve discovered that certain meetings at church absolutely sap my emotional reserves. I call it a ‘meeting hangover.’ I have a hard time sleeping after such meetings… and I just feel restless and listless throughout the rest of the day. After four years of this particular meeting… I just this week came to the realization that I need to handle the day after the meeting much differently than I currently do. I need to set up appointments with people who inspire me. I need to reconnect with my family. If I’m working… I probably need to get offsite for the day and go hole up at a library somewhere. I need to do things that will energize me out of my funk.

McHugh talks at length about a ‘rule of life.’ His definition is helpful: “The rule of life works with the internal and external rhythms we discover as we come to embrace who we are. This is not simply a schedule or a calendar; a rule of life opens us to the awareness of God’s presence, not only in our moments of quiet but in all aspects of our lives.”

In my next post… I’ll summarize what McHugh’s rule of life is and begin to process how that might be applicable to me.

2010 Reading List

2011-01-01T06:26:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe, but this is my fifth reading list now. 5 years. Wow that went fast! My reading dropped off a little from last year. I finished a far smaller amount of professional books than I did the year before. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’ve started a gazillion different books in 2010… but never ended up finishing them. As always, here's my disclaimer: This list only represents the books that I actually finished. This would be a far greater list if I retold all the books that I started, parts of commentaries that looked through, or early church reading that I accomplished. Okay, here it goes:

Professional Reading

1. The Threefold Art of Experiencing God (Christian Schwarz) 31 Pages
2. Sacred Pathways (Gary Thomas) 233 Pages
3. The Gospel and Our Culture (N.T. Wright) 33 Pages
4. Son of Hamas (Mosab Hassan Yousef) 265 Pages
5. Surprised By Hope (N.T. Wright) 332 Pages
6. Care of Creation (edited by Joseph Coleson) 201 Pages
7. Why Pray? (John F. DeVries) 255 Pages
8. Know Doubt (John Ortberg) 186 Pages
9. Color Your World w/ NCD (Christian Schwarz) 191 Pages
10. Fit To Be Tied (Bill and Lynne Hybels) 234 Pages
11. Living the Christian Year (Bobby Gross) 332 Pages
12. The Last Fall (Jay Blevins) 192 Pages

Personal Reading

1. Star Wars: Skyborn (ebook – John Jackson Miller) 31 Pages
2. The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) 509 Pages
3. Star Wars: A Forest Apart (ebook – Troy Denning) 50 Pages
4. Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (James Rollins) 360 Pages
5. Star Wars: Paragon (ebook – John Jackson Miller) 32 Pages
6. Pursuit of Honor (Vince Flynn) 431 Pages
7. Star Wars: Backlash (Aaron Allston) 309 Pages
8. The Tales of Beedle the Bard (J.K. Rowling) 107 Pages
9. Star Wars: Savior (ebook – John Jackson Miller) 31 Pages
10. Ford County (John Grisham) 308 Pages
11. Star Wars: Allies (Christie Golden) 359 Pages
12. Project Future (Chad Denver Emerson) 185 Pages
13. Star Wars: The Clone Wars 256 Pages
14. Absolute Power (David Baldacci) 678 Pages
15. Star Wars: The Ruins of Dantooine 286 Pages
16. Total Control (David Baldacci) 520 Pages
17. Star Wars: Street of Shadows 306 Pages
18. The Winner (David Baldacci) 628 Pages
19. Star Wars: Purgatory (ebook – John Jackson Miller) 30 Pages
20. The Confession (John Grisham) 418 Pages

32 Books, 8319 Total Pages

Top Three Professional
1. Surprised by Hope – This was incredibly formative to me. It has helped shape my view of heaven… along with giving me more reason to question the standard view of the end times. (Example 'Left Behind') Loved it, loved it, loved it.
2. Living the Christian Year – Fantastic introduction to the church calendar. Comes with appropriately themed devotions. I traced through this book the entire year and found it to be very accessible and helpful. I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about the various seasons of the church year.
3. Sacred Pathways – A helpful study on the different spiritual styles that each of us might utilize based on experience and personality. For someone who has grown tired and bored of the normal devotional prescriptions given to them by the church… this book offers a few different ways and suggestions for connecting with God. Thought-provoking.

Top Three Personal
1. Project Future – Great book about the beginnings of Walt Disney World. It was fascinating to hear about all the various ‘maneuvering’ that took place to buy all that land. This lands at number one… more because of my interest in Walt Disney World. Very few people, I’m sure, would put this at #1 on their list.
2. The Confession – A very strong John Grisham offering. Harkens back to his early books when he tackles some very difficult issues. I couldn’t put it down for a span of about 200 pages or so.
3. The Winner – Liked it mainly because it was such a different type of story. Memorable characters and a creative plot lands this book in my top three.

Introverts In the Church 4.2

2010-12-19T17:43:00.003-06:00

Recently, I was involved in a pastor’s meeting and I was asked the question: How do you know when God is talking to you? How do you know when He is asking you to do something or when He is calling you to move forward in ministry in a particular way? It’s always been a difficult question for me to answer… and that meeting was no different. I have never heard the Lord audibly speak to me… even when I was called into ministry back in Jr. High. He didn’t audibly tell me to resign from my first two churches. He didn’t audibly tell me that I was supposed to marry Melissa Jane Wright. I don’t remember how I answered that day at the pastor’s meeting… but I’ll attempt to answer now as I continue reading McHugh’s fourth chapter.

Of course, I hear from the Lord while reading the scriptures. That’s an easy answer. But what about those moments when I’m up against a decision that the scriptures do not directly address? Or what if it’s a decision between a good thing and a better thing? How do I make my decisions? I think the Lord grants me brief moments of clarity at various junctures… moments when ideas flood over me. It doesn’t happen every day or even every week… but it does happen… and usually at just the right time. It’s a weird process that is difficult to explain or pin down. I can be sitting on a decision for several weeks and have no leaning or inkling of how to move forward or what to decide to do… and then, all of a sudden, I have clarity and a path forward opens up.

I don’t know if that’s an introvert thing… or just how God chooses to work through me. But McHugh says something in this chapter that catches my attention: “It may be that introverts are more equipped to hear and see what God is doing inside of them, while extroverts are more sensitive to his revelation in the outer world. God’s speech to introverts may come in the form of inward thoughts or impulses, ideas that spring out at us, or words, images or feeling that surprise us or cut against the grain of our natural tendencies. As introverts, we need to take the activities of our inner worlds seriously in order to hear the overtures of God sounding in our lives.”

This sounds strangely familiar… I’ve often noticed that God speaks to me through ideas. Sometimes it’s just a random thought that develops into something more. Sometimes the idea comes… but remains incomplete until I hear another puzzle piece of an idea from someone else that fits directly in with what I’ve been thinking about. Like I said, it’s extremely difficult to pin down… but McHugh’s definition really helps explain the process.

So while I can’t always pin down how God communicates to me… or how to explain those moments when He communicates with me… I do know, without a doubt, that he does communicate with me. He has always been a faithful guide. And even though He doesn’t speak the same to me that he has to others… that’s ok. Because He is choosing to speak to me in ways that He knows will capture my attention. He knows that a powerful and organized idea will capture my attention way more than most other methods. At the end of the day… He knows me better than I know myself… and chooses to communicate with me based on that knowledge. And for that, I am so grateful…

Next time around, I’ll try tackling McHugh’s section dealing with life’s rhythms and how that can be important for an Introvert.

Introverts in the Church 4, Part 1

2010-12-02T21:56:00.001-06:00

McHugh describes what an introverted spirituality looks like in chapter four. After beginning the chapter by describing how scattered our society has become… he issues the following observation: ‘In an increasingly fragmented, fast-paced, chatter-filled world, I consider the greatest gift introverts bring to the world and the church to be a longing for depth.’

McHugh then starts to describe a ‘Contemplative Spirituality.’ Which was a section in which I found myself nodding my head a lot because it resonated with me and tended to describe some of my own leanings in devotional material recently. “Sometimes referred to as mysticism, this spiritual mindset seeks to discover the presence of God in every aspect of human life.” He goes on to describe the multitude of ways that God tries to communicate to us… from the scriptures, to beauty, to modern stories, to experiences… and the goal of contemplative spirituality is to be an active and open listener. This resonates with me… because some of my most profound thoughts about God tend to happen outside of church… sometimes in the midst of a moving story… or enjoying the beauty of nature.

One description that has been helpful to me in locating my spirituality on a map of sorts is by looking at three statements found in church history. Augustine would say ‘I believe in order to understand.’ Aquinas would say ‘I understand in order to believe.’ Mystics say ‘I believe in the absurd.’ In other words, there is such a mystery, such an unknowable-ness to the truths of Christianity… that a mystic begins to embrace that mystery… instead of being overwhelmed or frustrated by it… they allow it to expand their wonder and awe. The older I get, the more I find myself in the third category. That’s not to say that I’m not trying to learn and think and grow in knowledge… but there are certain things I don’t think I’ll ever completely understand… and I’m growing more and more comfortable with that.

McHugh goes on to describe a contemplative spirituality. One aspect is what he called integration. Here’s his depiction of this: “Introverts in particular can feel that the world divides us from ourselves, that it takes from us. In contemplation we seek to draw together the divided fragments of our existence and present them to God who, in turn, finds us, restores us and draws the pieces together.” I am learning more and more about my need for this to happen in my life. Particularly in those seasons of life when a lot of different things are coming at me all at once. It’s easy to feel scattered. But I find that when I can quiet myself before the Lord on a regular basis… he binds me back together. He quiets and even focuses my mind. It’s something, I’ve noticed recently, that I have to have in order to be effective in my various tasks.

Another thing McHugh mentions and it’s the last thing I’ll write about in this post is the role of solitude in contemplative spirituality. He makes immediate reference to the fact that we find Jesus as an example of carving out times of solitude in our lives. McHugh makes reference to solitude in much the same way that Bobby Gross (Living the Story of God) makes reference to fasting… it is the art of creating space for God. We remove ourselves from distractions and noise and human relationships… FOR A TIME… in order that we might experience more of God’s presence… or that we might hear Him in a clearer way. It’s a moving AWAY from something… but at the same time, it’s a moving TOWARDS something.

I’ll stop there for now… he finishes off chapter four with more on how to create and use times of solitude… and then gets into a discussion about how to take advantage of the rhythms of our lives. I’ll get into those topics next time around.

On Chicken Feed and Dancing

2010-11-06T07:05:00.002-05:00

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to gather with a few other pastors in the district. The leader of the meeting (Steve Wright, Oak Lawn) pitched a few questions our way and I found the questions to be both challenging and powerful. I’d like to deal with one of them on here today.

He shared about how when he grew up in Georgia, there used to be machines where you could put a nickel into the machine which did something to notify a real, live chicken to start dancing. The chickens would dance and then chicken feed when come out as a reward. You could just put nickels in over and over and watch this poor thing dance the day away.

I got a chuckle from this as I had never seen or heard of anything like this. But then Steve countered this story with a question for the group: What’s your chicken feed? What makes you dance? My gut reaction was to think about all the things that I SHOULD be dancing for. People coming to Jesus; seeing people grow in their walk with Jesus; seeing the Church become all it was meant to be…

But as we got deeper into the discussion, I realized that Steve was not really all that concerned with what I SHOULD be dancing for, as we all could pretty much agree on those sorts of things. What he was concerned about was to get us thinking about all the things that we were CURRENTLY dancing for… good or bad.

So my mind wandered to a whole different set of scenarios and I settled my mind on the fact that I tend to dance for the few out-spoken negative influences inside the church I serve at. And truthfully, I don’t dance for them personally… I dance for some semblance of peace. I have an aversion towards conflict, mostly because I find most of it unnecessary… but at the same time… I’m not sure anything I say or do would every really calm the spirit of someone who is overly critical.

But I just keep dancing anyway. I keep making certain decisions with the negatives in mind… even though most strategies and leadership principles I’ve heard or read make it clear that I need to ‘corral’ those sorts of influences in my mind and not let them shape who I am or the decisions I make. I’m still learning about conflict and compromise and confronting… I’m not very good at two of those three. But… much like any problem… it’s good to acknowledge the weakness first… to admit that I’m currently dancing for something unhealthy… both for me personally and the future of the church.

John 11.1-16

2010-11-03T09:17:00.003-05:00

I recently made a commitment to read through the second half of the book of John with a friend. We are using N.T. Wright’s ‘For Everyone’ series as a guide. The idea is to deal with a chapter or so each time we meet together. I’ve been excited about it. This week has been my first week to engage with this portion of the scriptures and the material. It has been a blessing. I thought I’d put a few of my cursory thoughts up on here.

John 11.1-16

We are starting with John 11. It’s the story of the death and raising of Lazarus. This story has always been intriguing to me from the standpoint that Lazarus was one of the few people to have to die twice. Poor guy. But aside from that, it’s a marvelous foreshadowing of Jesus’ own resurrection. It really fits perfectly within the book of John.

One of the more dramatic elements of the first 16 verses of this chapter is Jesus’ IN-action. He learns about Lazarus’ plight, but doesn’t leave right away to ‘save the day.’ As N.T. Wright puts it… it’s a reminder that ‘his timing is not our timing.’ It’s actually something I’ve been working through in my own life recently.

I started working at my current church in 2007. It was my first ever Lead pastor position… so there was (and continues to be) a lot of on the fly, on the job learning. It seems that there was the expectation that this church would just start to take off because of my arrival. Truth be told, I was hoping this church would take off as well.

Four years later, and we are just now starting to get some traction. We are just now starting to see some things pay off. And it’s not huge gains yet, we are up about 5% from where we were last year. Last year was the worst, though. We ended up taking the first attendance loss since I’ve been here. It was really discouraging and led me to ask some unhealthy questions. Maybe I’m not the right one for this position. Maybe this church needs a different type of leader. Maybe I can’t grow a church.

I heard a sermon recently where the preacher made the comment: ‘Everything in the middle can seem like failure.’ It was a moving reminder to me that it’s easy to get discouraged in the middle of the story. I’ve found that it’s easy for people in churches to get discouraged in the middle of the story. That sometimes we need to wait for God’s perfect timing. Sometimes it seems like he arrived too late. But that would be because our vision is blurred or insufficient.

This passage urged me to trust in God’s timing. Not my own. Not in someone else’s timing. God’s timing. This passage also served as a reminder to continue to trust in Him with the ‘middle of my story.’ In those times when everything looks like failure… to continue to obey and trust that God will work and move in His own time and in His own way…

Introverts in the Church - 3

2010-10-28T10:02:00.004-05:00

“Living as an introvert in a society and a church that exalts extroversion takes its toll, and shame cuts deep into introverted psyches that are bent toward self-examination.”

This chapter is all about healing. And there can’t be healing without inflicted wounds. McHugh spends the first portion of the chapter dealing with the reality that many who are naturally introverted have felt put off or belittled by others in one form or another. In fact, he states that 49 out of the 50 introverts he interviewed for the book had felt ‘maligned’ for their introversion in one form or another.

One particularly striking statement McHugh says that ‘While extroverts commonly feel loneliness when others are absent, introverts can feel most lonely when others are present, because ours is the aching loneliness of not being known or understood.’ McHugh gives example after example of introverts being wounded by those who misunderstand them: An introverted daughter being pushed by an extroverted mother to become more normal; An extroverted school teacher absolutely destroying an introverted student because he couldn’t answer questions quickly enough for her...

I’ve been wounded in the past as well. I remember my second grade teacher was not very understanding of this. I remember being a little slower to learn/process things in those grades… and I remember that I worked slower than other kids… and I don’t remember it to be because of laziness. Maybe it was because I was trying to be careful to be right… but I worked slower. I remember this teacher forcing me to stay in and finish work during recess. I also remember one day walking into class to see my desk overturned in the middle of the room with all of my stuff in one big pile and she insisted that I needed to find a worksheet that I had not turned in. It was humiliating and frustrating.

McHugh says something important in response to these examples: ‘Finding healing as an introvert will not entail freedom from these characteristics. Healing for us will involve a new way of interpreting our natural personality traits.’ In other words… find out and embrace who you are… and don’t let other’s define who you should or should not be. However, he cautions that we are careful to diagnose introverted patterns wisely. There are some things we do that go too far… there are times when we retreat too much from others… and it actually develops into more unhealthy patterns.

McHugh suggests that while introverts may find some healing by a ‘journey inward’ toward accepting who we are and how we tick… he believes (and I agree) that we won’t find total healing until “we respond to and welcome the indwelling presence of the Creator God who ‘formed my inward parts.’” The great irony for Christian introverts is that ‘our ultimate identity is never found in aloneness, but it is found in relationship to another.’ So in the midst of our introversion… we belong to, should be shaped by, and hopefully can find healing in the midst of a greater community.

While this is not my favorite chapter in the book, I suspect that it can be very powerful to those who approach the book with deep wounds in their past from people who were ignorant to the particular nuances, needs and gifts of a introverted person.

In my next post, I’ll try to summarize and respond to chapter four of McHugh’s book which is entitled: ‘Introverted Spirituality.’

2009 Reading List

2010-01-01T07:16:00.003-06:00

I was able to finish a few more books this year than last year. It helped that Star Wars was better this year. As always, here's my disclaimer: This list only represents the books that I actually finished. This would be a far greater list if I retold all the books that I started, parts of commentaries that looked through, or early church reading that I accomplished. Okay, here it goes:

Professional Reading

1. The Secret Blend (Stan Toler) 180 Pages
2. The Making of a Leader (Robert Clinton) 272 Pages
3. Passion, Power and Purpose (Various) 207 Pages
4. Life Together (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) 122 Pages
5. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (Robert Louis Wilken) 368 Pages
6. Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Philip Yancey) 351 Pages
7. Practical Guide to Solo Ministry (Stan Toler) 192 Pages
8. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Len Lencioni) 229 Pages
9. Serve God, Save the Planet (J. Matthew Sleeth) 225 Pages
10. Common Ground (Keith Drury) 187 Pages
11. Treasure the Word (Joseph Coleson) 201 Pages
12. The Orthodox Way (Kallistos Ware) 164 Pages
13. The Last Word (N.T. Wright) 146 Pages
14. Simply Christian (N.T. Wright) 240 Pages
15. The History of Christian Thought (Jonathan Hill) 352 Pages
16. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (Ron Sider) 335 Pages
17. Leading on Empty (Wayne Cordeiro) 215 Pages
18. 3 Colors of Your Spirituality (Christian Schwarz) 192 Pages

Personal Reading

1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Sean Williams) 319 Pages
2. The Copper Scroll (Joel Rosenberg) 368 Pages
3. Star Wars: Revelation (Karen Traviss) 410 Pages
4. Extreme Measures (Vince Flynn) 430 Pages
5. Star Wars: Invincible (Troy Denning) 299 Pages
6. The Associate (John Grisham) 373 Pages
7. Star Wars: Millennium Falcon (James Luceno) 317 Pages
8. Black Order (James Rollins) 426 Pages
9. Star Wars: Outcast (Aaron Allston) 302 Pages
10. Playing For Pizza (John Grisham) 262 Pages
11. Star Wars: Omen (Christie Golden) 236 Pages
12. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 281 Pages
13. Star Wars: Abyss (Troy Denning) 332 Pages
14. Open (Andre Agassi) 388 Pages
15. Star Wars: Precipice (Ebook – John Jackson Miller) 35 Pages
16. The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry) 387 Pages

34 Books 9343 Total Pages

Top Three Professional
1. A History of Christian Thought - I received this book many years ago and have slowly plugged my way through it... not because it was uninteresting... but because I was enjoying it so much. This single book gave me a passion to know and understand how the theology of Christianity has been developed through the years.
2. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought - My one/two punch should tell you where my interest has been recently... the exploration of Church history through the time of Augustine has been fascinating to me. This is a great book exploring the worship patterns, poetry and theology of the very early church. Well written.
3. Three Colors of Your Spirituality - This was a very interesting book that I just finished under the 2009 buzzer. The premise is that there are many different antennas that God 'broadcasts' on and each of us have a primary way of connecting with God. (The author gives nine options.) I found out that I connect with God best through the 'Sacramental' style... and might be more at home within an Eastern Orthodox worship service than even my own Wesleyan denomination. (No, I'm not switching...) I think this would be a book that could benefit many congregations.

Top Three Personal
1. Open - This autobiography by Andre Agassi was the best book I read all year. Agassi's various inner battles are disclosed. There were moments when I laughed out loud and there were moments when I was deeply moved. It's just a great story about a guy who was forced to play a sport and had to overcome himself in order to succeed in that sport.
2. Pride and Prejudice - Very good book. Grew to care about the characters and loved the witty dialogue. Never, in a million years, did I think this book would make my top two last January 1.
3. Star Wars: Millennium Falcon - Great 'mystery' story that explores the beginnings of this iconic ship from the classic Star Wars films.

Ware – 1.1

2009-08-28T08:49:00.002-05:00

At the recommendation from a friend, I read the book The Orthodox Way written by Kallistos Ware. The first chapter is entitled 'God as Mystery' and it was my favorite chapter of the book. I wanted to cover the various points that Ware makes that really helped shape my view about God.

He starts by talking about the 'otherness' and 'nearness' of God. It's one of those grey areas about God… how can we really know anything about God? And yet, how does the incarnation fit into the picture? That God is both very, very far away and very, very near ALL AT THE SAME TIME is one of the great paradox's of the Christian faith. And it's one that I've become very comfortable with. Here's a great quote from Ware:

"God is both further from us, and nearer to us, than anything else. And we find, paradoxically, that these two 'poles' do not cancel one another out: on the contrary, the more we are attracted to one 'pole', the more vividly we become aware of the other at the same time. Advancing on the Way, each finds that God grows ever more intimate and ever more distant, well know and yet unknown – well known to the smallest child, incomprehensible to the most brilliant theologian."

The main point that Ware is trying to make in this chapter is that God is and will continue to be a mystery to us. There are things about him that we will never fully comprehend… there are facets in His existence that we'll never be able to completely dig underneath. So we must, as His children, grow comfortable in the unknowing. Ware goes on to say: "We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder."

This resonates with me a great deal because I am most familiar with conservative evangelical thinking… which in some cases… comes close to assuming that everything is settled and figured out… and if your experience is different or counters from what mainstream evangelicalism says… then you are the one in trouble. Since college, I've been struggling with a Christianity that had everything figured out and all the answers are quick, formulaic and easy. I'm learning what it means to live comfortably in the grey areas of faith and relationship with God.

Ware is urging us Christians into the 'mystery' and 'darkness' of God. Not an evil darkness by any means… but something that he calls a 'luminous or dazzling darkness.' I'll conclude this post with one last quote from Ware: "So, in the Christian context, we do not mean by a 'mystery' merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is REVEALED for our understanding, but which we never understand EXHAUSTIVELY because it leads into the depth or the darkness of God."

Bouncing Back

2009-08-25T08:44:00.002-05:00

I read a devotional today that spoke directly to where I am at right now. It was a short piece about perseverance... but it wasn't the stuff about perseverance I really needed to hear... it was one of the quotes in the devotional provided. The quote was given from an unnamed basketball coach: "Being in good shape is never measured by how tired you become. It's how fast you recover."

What a great quote... and one that's adaptable, at least in my mind, to being in good spiritual shape. Truth be told, I've been wrestling with a few ministry related things recently. There's been some situations that have put me in a bit of tail spin emotionally... and it really seemed hard to pull out of it.

Maybe the lesson I need to be reminded of here is that my spiritual health directly relates to my ability to recover from criticism... disagreements... disappointments... etc. The tailspins will come in ministry... they just will. The questions I have to ask and answer appropriately: How am I feeding my soul? Am I interacting with God in a way that will bring spiritual health? Am I spiritually healthy enough to bounce back from the tailspins of life in a quick and responsible way?

So in my personal journey... this is what I'm going to concentrate on this fall. What feeds my soul? What things should be in my life that aren't currently that would make a difference in my spiritual health? If I can adequately answer those questions... I think it will go a long way in helping me 'bounce back' quicker and stronger in the midst of the storms that come in ministry.

Darth Vader

2009-07-15T22:37:00.000-05:00

My good friend, Brian Blum, showed this to me. Very, very funny. Enjoy.

Sermon Snippet

2009-07-12T15:34:00.000-05:00

“14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. 20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. 25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:14-26)

Martin Luther wrestled with James in this passage to make sure he wasn’t saying anything out of line when it came to grace and faith. There is a fear, and it is rightfully founded, that a wrong interpretation of this passage could lead to some dangerous thinking about being saved only by what we do… rather than what Christ did. So we must navigate carefully today.

Now, the flip side of the argument is that if we separate faith and works too much… it will lead to apathetic Christianity. Do any of you remember church camp song ‘Casual Christian.’ I don’t wanna be, I don’t wanna be a casual Christian. There are multiple reasons why I don’t like that song that I won’t get into today… but one of reasons is because the term ‘Casual Christian’, to me, is another great example of an oxymoron. Those two terms should never ever go together. And I’m wondering if James is arguing here that they can’t, in fact, go together.

Our confession of faith MUST influence the type of person we strive to become. It must influence our words, thoughts, decisions, habits… it must influence what we do.

We should backtrack just a moment to gain some clarity. In the passage directly proceeding the one we are looking at today… James calls us to a lifestyle of Christ-like love for our neighbor… a love that sees beyond skin color, economic status or any other human class distinguisher. He just got done calling us to incorporate mercy into our dealings with other people in verses 12 and 13… and then he hits us with this statement in verse 14: “What good is it when a man claims to have faith but no deeds?”

I think he’s asking us to consider: If we don’t display that Christ-like love to our neighbor… if that is not a part of our lives… then has God’s grace really taken hold of us? Is our faith legit? Does our confession of faith even matter without the life change that should happen as a result? It’s another sobering part of James that asks us to really take a closer look.

Now, critics will throw up their hands and claim that James is suggesting that we are saved by our works… that we are really saved by what we do. Friends, that is not how I read this passage. For the people that want to throw James out of the New Testament because he seemingly contradicts Paul… I actually think they need to go back and read Paul some more. Paul includes many passages about loving and relating to others, many passages about doing good rather than evil… many passages that deal with ethics and morality. Paul never intended to divorce faith and works… James doesn’t here… and neither should we.

To be clear: We are saved by what Christ accomplished for us on the cross and through the empty tomb… but if our belief in the victorious, risen Christ does not lead to life change… if it doesn’t lead to an obedience to that same Lord who died for us… we have to ask how genuine our faith really is...

The Kiddos

2009-07-11T22:05:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd post a small update on here tonight... I'm really going to try hard to post more... not so much because I think anybody is still reading... but because it's good to get some of this down before I forget it.

Emily... she's seven years old now... which boggles my mind. She is so creative; she scrap-books with Melissa; writes little short stories; draws some very cool pictures (with some forced perspective even - I mean, seriously... she already draws better freehand stuff than I do.) She loves to play the Lego games on Wii right now. Particularly Star Wars. It's a very fun collaborative game that we can play together.

Aaron... he just turned three and is a great little boy. He has a more defiant streak than Emily had, so I've had to completely rethink discipline with him. Just raising my voice doesn't work with him like it did Emily. He loves 'Tar Yays' (Star Wars) and I just told Melissa that all those toys that I bought in college have now paid off... because the kids love them. In fact, I just opened a clone trooper from Episode 2 up today. That's love... to open my precious carded figures!

Just one little story that I don't want to forget... the other night, Emily was staying over at Melissa's parents house and Aaron stayed home with us. We put him to bed and then came back about an hour later to find him asleep in Emily's room... on Emily's bed. So he definitely missed his sissy that night.

I know this might not always be the case, but my kids bring me extreme joy right now. I love watching them grow up and develop. It's an amazing journey!

Birthday Boy

2009-07-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures of Aaron on his 3rd birthday at Chuck E Cheezes:

Wow!

2009-01-09T08:25:00.006-06:00

So I get a packet from my denominational headquarters... they are promoting a Spring/Easter campaign that they have been doing for a few years now. In this packet, there is a letter and a pen.

Well, I'm used to getting pens in the mail all the time... It was a big ole fat pen with campaign title across the side of it. I just smiled and put it in my middle drawer where the rest of my ka-jillion pens rest.

It actually wasn't until the next day that I read the letter that came with it. The letter told me to enjoy my USB Pen. What?!?! A USB Pen?!

Sure enough... the pens breaks open at the middle and the non-writing portion of the pen is a USB flash drive. They had loaded all the campaign curriculum on the pen. Even better though, is the fact that it holds 1GB in memory!!!! 1 Gig!!!

Sometimes it pays to be a pastor! Great work, headquarters! You hit a home run on this one. (Of course, I'm sure there are some pastors out there who still think it's just a pen. Snicker, snicker.)

My Two Year Old

2009-01-09T08:21:00.001-06:00

I'm not good at remembering little things like this… so I’m going to write it down before I forget it. Last night, Emily told on Aaron. Evidently, Aaron had thrown a toy and it knocked over and broke one of Melissa’s winter decorations. I gave Aaron a stern look and went into the other room to survey the damage. At that moment, I heard him take off… and I heard (through the baby monitor) his closet door moving.

So I went looking for him. I went down the hallway. I moved into his room. Still no sight of him. Finally, I opened the closet door… and there he is. Hiding. I had never seen him do this before. It was hard not to crack up laughing. Very clever. Also very Adam and Eve-ish too. It’s interesting to see how early we learn to hide from our mistakes…

2008 Reading List

2009-01-01T07:18:00.002-06:00

Much like last year, I feel like this list is not very big. I wish I would've gotten more reading in. However, I feel I should make a disclaimer... this list only represents the books that I actually finished. This would be a far greater list if I retold all the books that I started, parts of commentaries that I poured over, or early church reading that I did. Okay, here it goes:

Professional Reading

1. 5 Things Anyone Can Do To Lead Effectively (Phil Stevenson) 96 Pages
2. 5 Things… To Help Their Church Grow (Phil Stevenson) 95 Pages
3. Soul Cravings (Erwin McManus) 258 Pages
4. 7 Practices of Effective Ministry (Stanley, Joiner, Jones) 187 Pages
5. An Unstoppable Force (Erwin McManus) 224 Pages
6. The Knowledge of the Holy (A.W. Tozer) 188 Pages
7. Return to Worship (Ron Owens) 210 Pages
8. Comeback Churches (Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson) 226 Pages
9. The Wonder of Worship (Keith Drury) 298 Pages
10. The Church Jesus Builds (Various) 205 Pages
11. The Radical Reformission (Mark Driscoll) 204 Pages
12. The Shack (William P. Young) 248 Pages
13. Be Holy (Various Authors) 207 Pages
14. Authentic Faith (Gary Thomas) 253 Pages

Personal Reading

1. Star Wars: Death Star (Michael Reaves & Steve Perry) 363 Pages
2. The Last Templar (Raymond Khoury) 523 Pages
3. Star Wars: Sacrifice (Karen Traviss) 367 Pages
4. Sandstorm (James Rollins) 587 Pages
5. Star Wars: Inferno (Troy Denning) 299 Pages
6. Map of Bones (James Rollins) 521 Pages
7. Star Wars: Fury (Aaron Allston) 356 Pages
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Campbell Black) 178 Pages
9. Star Wars: A Practical Man - Ebook (Karen Traviss) 70 Pages
10. The Appeal (John Grisham) 358 Pages
11. Star Wars: Jedi Twilight (Michael Reaves) 343 Pages
12. Protect and Defend (Vince Flynn) 403 Pages

26 Books 7267 Total Pages

Top Three Professional
1. Be Holy - A fantastic book re-examining the Wesleyan take on Holiness.
2. The Shack - Not a theology text... so don't read it like one. Just enjoy and allow God to minister to your heart.
3. Authentic Faith - Challenging book about some Christian disciplines that aren't thought about as much.

Top Three Personal
1. Protect and Defend - Flynn continues to write engaging stories... probably the author that I most look forward to reading new stuff from.
2. Map of Bones - Great stuff by Rollins... I just hope he revisits this storyline again... very unfulfilling ending.
3. The Last Templar - If you can get past another Gnostic gospel book (like DiVinci Code)... the story is really pretty engaging.

One big observation: I continue to read Star Wars out of loyalty... but I enjoy those books less and less. Not sure what's going on there... but I'm hoping for a better Star Wars year this year... we'll see.

What Happens...

2008-12-08T14:32:00.001-06:00

...when you leave Aaron alone in a room for ten minutes... forgetting that you left your financial files out on the bed.

Elf Yourself!

2008-12-05T14:27:00.002-06:00

I'm pretty sure my brother will kill me for including him in this, but I had some great pics...and just couldn't pass it up!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sherlock

2008-12-03T16:18:00.000-06:00

Aaron's word for Sherlock:

"yubyub"

You can't make this stuff up.

Christmas

2008-12-01T20:08:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite times of the year is Christmas. I love preaching Christmas... I love the lights. I love living Christmas through my kids. I plan on soaking them up over the next couple of weeks. Fun times ahead!

Hmmm...

2008-11-16T18:59:00.002-06:00

Josh Howard fulfilling his National Bloggers Month commitment = Fail.

Election Humor

2008-11-06T12:37:00.005-06:00

This is perhaps one of the funniest election/political spoofs I've ever seen. I can't embed it... so follow this link and enjoy.

Sarah Palin Rap

"All the mavericks in the house put your hands up.
All the plumbers in the house pull your pants up."

No Way!

2008-11-05T13:29:00.004-06:00

So, I get a newsletter from Emily's school Principle in early October and I find out that JIM BELUSHI came to her school to read books to the students. What the heck?!? Come to find out that Jim Belushi went to Lincoln Elementary School way back in the day and occasionally stops in to read for the kids at the school. How cool is that? For the record... Emily has no idea who Jim Belushi is... and did not say a word about this when she got home. If not for the Priciple's newsletter... I would have never even found out! There's gotta be some irony there...

Here are some pictures of the event below:

Kudos to Mr. Belushi for taking the time to come back and hang out at his old school! Very impressive!

Election Day

2008-11-04T20:47:00.001-06:00

"If you do not vote... then I do not want to talk to you about our country's problems." -Michael W. Smith

Amen.

News Flash

2008-11-03T21:35:00.002-06:00

My little boy, Mr. Aaron, went 'number one' in the toilet tonight for the very first time in his life. I'm sorry if that's too much information... but it's the big news of our day here in the Howard household...

Sermon Snippet: Unpacking Holiness

2008-11-02T18:56:00.000-06:00

Leviticus 11:44 tells us something the Lord said to the Israelites and is repeated in various other places throughout scripture: “I, the Lord, am your God. You must be holy because I am holy.”

So what exactly is Holiness? The Biblical concept of Holiness implies separation. Now, I have known and understood this for quite some time. College professors beat this into my head, I’ve read books… I’ve done biblical studies. And I’ve heard over and over again this concept of Holiness as being separate or set apart.

But it wasn’t until recently when I was reading a book called ‘Be Holy’ that this concept changed a little bit for me. Before this book, I had the concept that Holiness was about being separate FROM something. Holiness means separation from culture. To be separate FROM something immediately implies a set of DO NOT rules. Don’t associate with them. Don’t watch movies. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. If we don’t do enough things… then maybe we’ll finally separate ourselves enough to be holy.

But then I read a chapter on the Old Testament foundations of Holiness written by Joseph Coleson and he said something that resonated with me and freed me from thinking about Holiness in a limited way. He wrote this: ‘Biblical holiness is about separation – but separation as a positive concept, not a negative one. With respect to God’s people, biblical Christian holiness means we are separate TO God.’

In other words, our holiness should be thought of in positive terms. That we are separate TO the Living God… we are set apart for relationship with God Most High. And it’s only through that relationship that we can hope to be changed and renewed and freed to be the men and women that God created us to be.

At General Conference this past summer, I listened to a talk on personal holiness that was given by Dr. Chris Bounds… who is a theology professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. He said something that echoes this concept… He said: ‘The end of holiness is not the death of sin… the end of holiness is love.’

The end game of holiness is not to be separated FROM something. That will happen and should happen… we SHOULD want to separate ourselves from sin and those things that cause it. But that’s not the end game of holiness. Ultimately, the end game is to be separated FOR or TO God! Holiness is about choosing to engage in a love relationship with God that would change the core of our being. Once our core is changed… everything else in our lives starts to fall into place.

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

National Bloggers Month

2008-11-01T11:45:00.002-05:00

Well,

I read a few years ago that November is considered National Bloggers Month... so in order to celebrate that... I will be posting at least one time each day this month. In fact, this will be my second go at this. Last November, I pulled this off (barely... with the help of a few people) and this year I'm going to give it another shot. Makes it a little easier that I hardly ever write on my blog anymore... so I'm fairly certain that I could pull off something for 30 or so days.

I'll start today with a few quick news bites:

-Emily and I are going to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars today in the theatres. It may surprise some of you to hear that I haven't seen this yet. But I was waiting till Emily and I had a chance to see it together. And then when we get home, we'll have about 5 episodes of Clone Wars to catch up with recorded on our handy dandy DVR.

-I'm starting a four week sermon series tomorrow on Holiness. I'm very excited. (I'll post a snippet of it for my blog post tomorrow.) I've been excited about what I'm hearing within the Wesleyan church about Holiness Thought and Theology. In fact, if you are interested... I highly recommend 'Be Holy...' the third in the Wesleyan Theological Perspectives series released by Wesleyan Publishing House. Very engaging read!

-I still love being a Lead Pastor. Some days are better than others. But most days are better as a lead pastor than most days as a staff pastor. If that makes sense... haha.

-Emily knows how many years the Cubs have gone without winning a World Series. Just throwing that out there. She is well aware of the numbers now.

-I absolutely love my little boy Aaron. He's into everything... He loves cars, trains and construction vehicles. And he is really starting to talk now!

-I love my wife about as much as you can love another human being. Just thought I'd throw that out there too. Did you know we celebrated 10 years last summer? Hard to believe.

I think that will about do it for now. I'm sure you'll hear more than you want to about my life in the next month if you track with me all month! Cheers!

Disney 2008 - Day Four

2008-10-08T16:16:00.005-05:00

I can’t really put my finger on why… but this was my least favorite day at Disney. We spent the day at Hollywood Studios. The newest Disney attraction is here at the Studios, Toy Story Mania… but the line was about 70 minutes all day. I didn’t know this going in… but fastpasses are usually completely gone by 11AM in the morning. So while I was off getting FP’s for Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror… everything for Toy Story Mania was completely used up. I was really disappointed about this. I guess it’s something to look forward to next year.

I was able to take Emily on Star Tours… which, for obvious reasons, has been a long time favorite of mine. She smiled through the whole thing. I will say though that this ride is very dated now. An update needs to be made… perhaps a foray into the battle above Coruscant that is depicted in Episode III? That would be stellar. The rumor right now is that it is going to be a pod-racing theme. I really wouldn’t be as excited about that.

Indiana Jones Stunt Show. This too is getting tired. The opening sequence is good… but the rest of the show just needs to be refreshed. Change the storylines and sets. Use something from Last Crusade or Temple of Doom… or even the new one. Just rewrite portions of the show every three years or so… just to keep the audience on their toes. I think this show should stay… especially if they plan on making an Indy 5. But a freshening up would be in order.

We figured something out about Aaron. Explosions scare him. He can handle dark rides well. But put him in a stunt show with loud explosions and it terrifies him. It’s interesting to see how each kid handles and adapts to Disney entertainment.

Rock N Roller Coaster… good ride. Unfortunately, though, the Aerosmith soundtrack wasn’t working and it was kind of weird going through the ride without loud music pumping in your ears. I didn’t get to Tower of Terror or the Great Movie Ride… but those don’t concern me as much. I was able to take in the Auto Stunt Show… which is ok, but once you’ve seen it… it loses it’s pizzazz.

We went to the Sci-Fi Dine In for dinner. We went here last year too. I liked it a lot better last year, and probably wouldn’t try to go here again for a meal… maybe dessert… but not a meal. Food was not great… and the atmosphere that hooked me last year was not quite as cool to me this year. One minor annoyance… the same movie clips they showed last year were used this year. Again, let’s spend a little time freshening up things for the repeat visitors.

I think Hollywood Studios could be a great park again… but everything just felt so old, dated, and thrown together. Major work needs to be done here. The Animation tour; the Back Lot Tour; even the Beauty and the Beast show needs work. Oh well. We left the park early, so we skipped Fantasmic. After a long day at the Magic Kingdom… just about all of us were exhausted. The kids went to the pool for a little bit. I did some reading and relaxing. And we geared up for our final day at Epcot.

A Cardinal Fan in a Cub World

2008-10-03T07:32:00.003-05:00

Emily is not afraid to speak her mind when it comes to bashing the Cubbies!! She does it to grandparents, church-people, friends, etc. So apparently her school was going to wear Cubs gear yesterday to cheer on the Cubs and the teacher asked them to write a reminder note to bring home that said "wear Cubs clothes tomorrow". When I opened Emily's backpack, this is what her note said...."Wear Cubs clothes tomorrow but we won't because we don't like them". It was killing her to have to bring home a note about the Cubs, so she just HAD to add an extra line about how we don't like them.

Josh and I got a pretty big kick out of this!! He's trained her right, I guess.

I have to admit that the Cardinals and fan situation is probably the thing I miss most about not living in St. Louis anymore. I used to love having Cards days at school and being able to wear my jeans and Cards shirt. I loved that the teachers' conversation in the lunchroom everyday had to do with the game the night before and what was going on with the team. I loved that my kids would talk about being at the game the night before or would share their excitement about going to the game that night. I loved that taking time off from school to go to a World Series game was not only approved by the principals, but cheered on by them!! It was just a great environment and I absolutely loved the excitement toward the Cardinals - everywhere I went. I am sad that as big as a Cardinal fan as Emily is...she won't grow up in it, but she's proved she can hold her own and definitely won't turn. Now we just have to work on Aaron!!

2008 Disney Trip - Day 3

2008-09-24T09:40:00.003-05:00

Our second park day was spent at Magic Kingdom. It was much cooler… but with the coolness came a lot of rain. In fact, it never really stopped raining until later in the evening. It was still a nice day. Magic Kingdom has a ton of stuff to do indoors which makes it easier to manage rainy weather.

Magic Kingdom also has the most fast pass attractions of any park… and I took complete advantage of this. The four of us were there for the rope drop and I took off immediately to get fast passes for Space Mountain. Whenever I was able to get another fast pass… I would leave the group and go get one for another attraction. I am not kidding… but by mid afternoon… I had fast pass tickets for seven attractions in my pocket. That night we rode a lot of big rides with pretty much no wait at all. Good stuff.

We had dinner at a place off of Main Street called the Crystal Palace. This is a buffet restaurant… but with Winnie the Pooh characters. As you’ll see by some of the pictures… both Emily and Aaron loved this aspect of the meal! Also, Uncle Kevin… who is known for his quick wit… also joined in on the fun. He had something different to say to all four characters:

To Piglet: ‘I am a big fan of your work.’ (Piglet was his favorite Pooh character as a kid) To Pooh: ‘You need to lay off the honey, you’ve been packing on the pounds recently.’ To Eyeore: ‘I see the Prozac is working for you.’ To Tigger: ‘You need to remember to take your Ritalin.’ Funny stuff.

I also experienced a first in Magic Kingdom. A couple of years ago, they redid the ‘Alien Encounter’ ride and re-themed it as a Stitch attraction. I gotta tell you, it was pretty lame. It could’ve been much, much better than it was. I actually liked the old attraction better than this one. I would grade it a solid D. They need to just completely rethink this space for a better attraction.

We stayed for ‘Wishes.’ Disney does a tremendous job with their fireworks. It was the first time we had stayed for Wishes since 2005. Magic Kingdom is just so huge and it’s opened the longest of any other park on a normal day. It makes for a long day… it still remains my favorite theme park.

I’m a huge fan of Adventureland. We had a terrific Jungle Cruise guide this time around. She had some great lines that I hadn’t heard before… like when we sailed through a dark and creepy Asian temple… she started eerily singing ‘It’s a small world after all…’ That cracked me up. She also said something like ‘If you think this ride is boring then go check out the Hall of Presidents and come back… then we’ll talk.’ She finished up by saying: ‘Enjoy your stay in the Magic Kingdom… where your dreams come true. Then the park closes… and MY dreams come true.’ I continue to enjoy other Adventureland attractions like the Enchanted Tiki Room and one of my favorite attractions on Disney property: Pirates of the Caribbean. Magic Kingdom continues to amaze me in its’ scope and creativity. As an aside… it was probably Emily’s favorite all around park as well.

Disney 2008 - Day Two

2008-09-18T15:12:00.001-05:00

Our first full day at WDW was spent at Animal Kingdom. It was a brutally hot day. Sunny, 90’s, a ka-jillion percent humidity. Melissa’s sister, Priscilla, and her husband and daughter were on the tale end of their trip to Orlando… so it was nice to all meet at Animal Kingdom and experience some of the attractions together.

As always, I immediately ran and got fast passes for Everest. Melissa and the kids ran and got a few character autographs. I was proud of Emily on this trip for a couple of reasons: 1) This was the first non-stroller trip for her… we made her walk the entire trip and she didn’t complain at all. She held up really well and had a pretty good attitude through most of the trip. 2) She challenged herself on a few attractions… she rode an attraction called Primeval Whirl… which is a tame mouse type coaster… but I thought might be a little bit too much for her. Not only did she ride this thing… but she loved it as well. She would tell you that this was one of her favorite attractions of the whole trip! She rode it three separate times!

Later in the day, she also rode Kali River Rapids with Kevin and me. She had a good time… even though she is exactly like her mother… she wore a poncho for a water ride. Getting wet is part of the fun of it for me… but not for my girls. Some of the other big hits of the day included Expedition Everest; Kilimanjaro Safaris; The Lion King Show (best on WDW property) and the Finding Nemo Show.

There are about four exhibits and attractions at Animal Kingdom that I have never found the time to do… and that didn’t change. I had every intention of hitting some of the animal trails… but we just ran out of time. I’ve always wondered why Animal Kingdom closes so early (5PM on this day) compared to the other parks. Some say it’s because of the Animals… but honestly… you don’t see very many animals when you are there. Because it’s always a shortened day… I never see everything that I want to see.

We closed the park by eating at another new restaurant called Yak and Yeti. Don’t ask me why you would put the word Yak in any American restaurant name… but it was an Asian flare type restaurant. I was a little worried about this one going in… but I thought the experience was tremendous. The restaurant was beautifully decorated. Our server was very nice. I thought the food was tremendous. I got a steak and shrimp combo entrée and it was very good. The shrimp was breaded and it came with this dipping sauce that was excellent. For dessert, I ordered fried Won Tons with cream cheese and vanilla ice cream. The whole dinner was fantastic. When we left the restaurant, the Animal Kingdom had already closed down… so it was kind of eerie to walk to the front of the park and only see a couple of people around. Very rare at a Disney park! All in all, I really enjoyed Animal Kingdom… it is slowly developing into a nice theme park.

We spent the rest of the night relaxing and hanging out at the hippy pool. I usually don’t take the time to swim on trips like this… but I went ahead and went down to hang out with the kids. Both Emily and Aaron had a blast. Aaron even wanted to get into the big pool! We took turns holding him above the water.

Disney Trip 2008 - Day 1

2008-09-06T10:22:00.006-05:00

So we left for our annual Disney trip on Thursday morning very early. Even though the wake up time was brutal that morning… I actually prefer to get into Orlando as early as possible. It opens up a wider range of possible activities. We flew Southwest out of Midway and arrived in Orlando at around 11AM.

We utilized Disney’s Magical Express… which shuttles WDW resort guests from the airport to their Disney hotel. This is a free service that I wrote about last year. It’s a money saver and if you don’t care about renting a car… it’s one of the nice perks about staying on Disney property.

The resort we decided to stay at this year is called Pop Century. It’s Disney’s newest ‘cheap’ resort. The theme of the hotel is basically an homage to American pop culture from 1950 through 1990. The 50’s pool was shaped like a bowling pin. The 90’s pool was shaped like a laptop computer. The 70’s land had a large game of Twister available in the courtyard. The 80’s had huge Rubik’s cubes. We stayed in the 60’s… and our pool was shaped like a flower and it was called the Hippy Dippy Pool. There was a four story tall Balue Bear that Emily really enjoyed.

All in all, I was impressed with the resort. We had good service. The food court was decent. Our rooms were small, but nice. Bus service was as good as you can expect when you have to service that many people. The pools were great. There were two ‘splash park’ type spots that Aaron got a huge kick out of. I would recommend this resort to anyone wanting a cheap way to stay on Disney property.

Even though we checked in early, both of our rooms were ready. (We also had Melissa’s parents and brother along with us.) After having lunch and a brief rest… we took our first adventure and went to a miniature golf course called Winter Summerland. There are two rounds of 18 holes at this place… one is a beach summer theme… the other is a snowy winter theme. Melissa and I had already played the snowy theme. I left the choice up to Emily… and she picked the beach summer theme. Melissa’s Dad won out of the five of us that kept score. We stopped keeping track of Emily’s after round three. (She’s a huge cheater.) The highlight for me was ‘the bridge.’ There was a bridge that you had to walk across and when you walked through an infrared beam… things started squirting water at you.

We ended our day by eating at a new restaurant called ‘The Wave.’ We took advantage of the free dining again… so each of us got a free entrée, drink and dessert. Our waiter was very nice. The décor in the restaurant was very classy and modern. The only bad points: It took forever to get our food; and we were next to a table of eight drunk people. The food was delicious. I had the lamb… I had never tried lamb before and wanted to give it a shot. It was good, but I wouldn’t choose it over steak again. They brought us some multigrain bread which was delicious. Desserts were served in three bite sized portions and it was pretty good. Final bill would have been around 225 dollars… but it was all free because of the free dining plan!

Emily's first day of 1st grade!

2008-08-20T13:34:00.003-05:00

Well, it seems like only yesterday I was posting about Emily's first day of Kindergarten. I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by. Emily is definitely ready for 1st grade, but emotionally it has been hard on all of us. She has been very concerned with not being able to hang out with Aaron and I and play with us as much. She's talked a lot about how long her days will feel. I think they will go faster than she thinks...lots of activities, lunch, recess, art, music, etc. I know she'll adjust and just love it. She seems to have a great teacher and everyone speaks highly of her.

Yesterday was a half day for her and today is her first full-day. The house is definitely quieter. Aaron jabbers and makes noise, but she was my conversationalist. There was always plenty to discuss with her around!!

Em waiting in line, with her class, to go inside.

Random Summer pics

2008-08-20T12:48:00.009-05:00

I had an awesome summer with my kiddos! We really enjoyed the Wheaton area this summer and found lots of fun things to do. We visited the library at least once a week, the pool a couple of times a week, lots of parks, the splash park, the zoo, and the Children's Museum.

I already can't wait for next summer and all the new memories we'll get to create!! This summer went way to fast. (Watch for a post on Em's first day of school.)

Enjoy the pics.
Emily at the splash park.
Aaron wasn't crazy about getting wet, but he enjoyed the splash park more this summer than last summer. He like to dump water and play with the water guns.

Children's Museum

Aaron's favorite part of the day...the water table. No matter where we took him, he kept migrating back to the water table. Anyone who knows him well, knows that this is not surprise.

Emily pretending to be Superman!!

Emily building her very own creation!

The finished project - a scooter

Giant Lite-brights!!

A Franciscan Benediction

2008-08-04T16:14:00.001-05:00

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen.

Emily's new look and Aaron's new skill!!

2008-07-30T20:59:00.005-05:00

We found out this summer that Emily needed glasses! Not a surprise since I got them in 1st grade and Josh got them in 2nd grade. She was a little apprehensive at first, but has done great!! She looks good in them and seems to like it that she can see better now.

We're hoping it helps her to see things in 1st grade...seeing as that is less than 3 weeks away!! I told Josh that sending her off to 1st grade will be harder on me than kindergarten was. It just seems so official...all day, everyday.

We are also very excited because Aaron finally decided to start talking!! This has been a very late skill for him. Not because he doesn't understand or communicate. He understands everything and communicates great....just not with words. He's finally begun to communicate on his own and it's very exciting. It's neat to see just how many words he understood and knew, but never said until now. A few things he'll say on his own in response to things....MOM(in caps because it is always yelled as in a state of emergency), choo choo, juice, clean up, mickey mouse, chuckie cheese, Sherlock (prounounced shoe la), night night, hi, wow, uh-oh, bye bye, pleeese, cheeese, thank you, love you, no, mine, and maybe a few more that I can't think of right now. He'll say most anything you try to get him to say....but these are just his independent words. We knew he had it in him, but he kind of walks to the beat of his own drum and there's no pushing him if he doesn't want to do something. What a difference there is between my boy and girl!! But I love them both and wouldn't trade either of them for the world!!

Star Wars Dance Off

2008-07-16T17:08:00.002-05:00

I'm a sucker for Star Wars humor... wait until half way through and see who comes out to steal the show!

Non Verbal Sermon Teaser

2008-06-23T14:25:00.004-05:00

Pictures of our "set dressing" from Sunday.
(Thanks to Bubba Hollingsworth who did an outstanding job putting all of this together.)

Sermon Series: Story-teller (A series on the parables of Jesus)
Sermon Title: The One about the Builders (Matthew 7:24-27)

How Aaron Changed Our World

2008-06-16T14:20:00.003-05:00

Gen Con 2008

2008-06-14T10:37:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take a moment while it’s still fresh to blog about my time in Orlando as Melissa and I attended the Wesleyan Church’s General Conference. I went to the conference very excited and very curious to see all the ins and outs of the business portion of the conference. I left uplifted, encouraged about the state of the Wesleyan church, and greatly refreshed for ministry.

For all the talk about the conference bar electing our first woman G.S… there were actually two other things that stood out to me that were, just as, if not more important than that decision.

1) Holiness Forums. Education and the Ministry hosted three Holiness forums. They were fantastic. The first forum was an excellent theological perspective given by Dr. Chris Bounds that examined the various Wesleyan views of Holiness. This was significant because there were three views given… the Short Way, the Middle Way, and the Long Way. The Short Way was identified as the official position of the Wesleyan church… but Bounds went on to detail how John Wesley had more of a Middle or Long view of holiness. Dr. Bounds said something very powerful towards the end of his talk… and it is in my estimation that if this statement can be taught and modeled by our leaders and pastors… along with being understood by our congregations… it has the capacity to change our churches through and through. He said: “The end of holiness is not the death of sin… the end of holiness is love.” Powerful stuff.

The second forum was on corporate or atmospheric holiness. Dr. Jim Garlow was the keynote speaker and his talk was both moving and powerful. He gave his personal testimony and it was so raw, so authentic… it brought me to tears at various times. He made some great suggestions about how to build atmospheric holiness… including making better use of the Eucharist and the Apostle’s Creed… as well as promoting simplicity. He talked for an hour… maybe more… and I never felt like it went long.

The third forum was on social holiness. Both speakers did a great job. I felt that these forums were the highlight of the entire conference. They really reinvigorated my passion for our holiness distinctive in the Wesleyan church. I was reminded why this distinctive remains an important one to hold on to and I was reminded why our theology of holiness needs to be taught clearly, often and well. This was very important for me.

2) Change in our membership. The conference voted that each local church could decide whether or not they would use an updated version of Community membership. Community members were given the right to vote on all church issues with the exception of the reception of Covenant members. There was much debate on this issue… which was very intriguing to listen to. This was a great step taken, in my opinion. Covenant membership is still required for elected and some appointed positions… but now Community members have the right to vote in all local conferences. This will be very helpful in my context at Wheaton Wesleyan. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I applaud the Wesleyan church for electing Jo Ann Lyons. This is a great statement and affirms our tradition of ordaining women into ministry. Some people think that this election will make a huge difference for our denomination. We shall see. I have some opinions about this… but I’ll reserve those for another post in the future.

All in all, Melissa and I had a fantastic time at conference! Barring any emergency… I will make it a point to be at all future General Conferences. We were able to connect with old friends and be refreshed for ministry in our personal context.

Indiana Jones 4 Review

2008-05-24T20:05:00.012-05:00

Okay… it’s officially time for my Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull review. And this may be very surprising for some of you to read. To be very honest, it was surprising for me to write. I almost feel disloyal... but this was how I felt as I left the theater last night:

I am a little disappointed. Perhaps I had built it up a little too much in my mind. Maybe I made a mistake by watching Raiders of the Lost Ark this week… I don’t know. I was hoping to see an Indiana Jones movie that had me hooked from beginning to end like Raiders and Last Crusade. What I got was… well… not that. In fact, as much as I hate to admit this… I think this is my fourth favorite Indiana Jones movie. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I liked Temple of Doom better than KOTCS… and that should speak volumes. That said… I’m going to get into some spoilery type of stuff here… so if you haven’t seen the movie yet… you may want to come back later. Also, this will be about double of the length of a typical post from me… so you may want to grab a snack or a soda before you pull up to your computer for the long haul.

My main gripe was with the story. And I should preface this by saying that I had no problem with the aliens aspect of the story… I am a big fan of the X-Files and Close Encounters… so that wasn't a big deal to me. I just felt that there were many, many poor story telling decisions and ommissions. For example, I didn’t feel the urgency in this film that I felt in the other films as it relates to the end goal. In Raiders, Indy was trying to find the Ark before the Nazi’s did. In Temple, Indy was trying to acquire a Shankara (spelling?) stone for a village that was dying without it. In Crusade, Indy was on a quest for the grail, (really, his quest was for his father…) and the urgency for the grail was heightened when Indy’s father was shot. In Crystal Skull, I never felt any urgency to find the Skull… or return it to the city. I know he was up against the Russians… but I never really understood what the Russians were going to do with whatever they found. If only you could take over the world with a super charged magnet... as that was about the only thing that was interesting about this skull.

I thought the dialogue was convoluted and, at times, confusing. Sometimes Indy would be talking about something that happened in the 40’s and I would wonder if it was important to know… and then miss something that I was supposed to know. It was also very plot-driven… rather than character-driven. I never felt like characters were given a chance to react or question their circumstances... the story just marched forward from one location to another. I'm not sure if this makes sense or not... but compared with Crusade, which was almost completely character driven... this film was almost the opposite. Indy was the only character that I felt for. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t have cared if Marion or Mutt would have died… I was never really invested in them emotionally… even when I found out that Mutt was Indy’s son. Don't know why... I just wasn't.

Here are some nit-picking things about the story:
• For the majority of the second half of the film… Indy took his cues from a crazy old man that was ‘possessed’ by the Crystal Skull. The old man figured out most of the mystery… Indy just watched and then helped when he could. I sometimes wondered why Indy was even necessary.
• The ‘tarzan’ and ‘monkey’ scene was part bizarre and part dumb… and on a whole did not fit into the story.
• Where are the cool booby-traps? The characters were put into two ‘tomb’ type situations where Indy could have encountered some sort of trap resistance… and there was nothing. What made the other movies iconic were these types of sequences… the bolder in Raiders, the Spike Room in Temple, the blades and walk of faith in Crusade… there was really nothing like that in Indy 4… other than the collapsing steps.
• Only Temple of Doom had a worse opening sequence… and I really wasn’t a big fan of the A-bomb sequence… I thought they could have wrapped up the scene better. The warehouse scene was okay… and the homage to Raiders was very cool… from the music to the glimpse of where the Ark has been these past 20 some years.
• Kate Blanchard was good… but she didn’t even come close to some of the other villains: Belloq in Raiders and Donavon in Crusade were far better. I might even argue that Mola Ram was better…

Okay… enough criticism… here’s what I enjoyed about Indy 4:

-Harrison Ford. He was great again as Indiana Jones… he was definitely older, but the script allowed him to be. He did a marvelous job. I can’t even imagine how bad this movie would have been without him.
-The various homages to the previous three films.
-The sets and settings were phenomenal. The last set in the ‘temple’ or spaceship or whatever you want to call it was just beautifully done. There was also a burial site that was very well done. Very articulate… yet you felt like it was ancient.
-There were some nice humorous moments… like the quicksand part when Indy is offered a snake to pull himself out.
-John Williams, once again, outdid himself with the musical score. Tremendous.
-Most of the action sequences were good... the jungle chase was well developed and fun to watch.

In summary... I think Indy could have been utilized better. I think the dialogue could have been tightened up. I think urgency could have been built into the story better. I think the story as a whole could have been a lot better. Here's what we are left with:

It's a decent to good movie… but it just wasn’t near as good as the originals. Is it worth seeing in the theater? Yes, absolutely. It’s a fun summer flick and I am not sad that I saw it. I just think that it could have been infinitely better. I heard a rumor that they might make an Indy 5 with Shia LaBouef as the lead and Indy as the ‘Sean Connery’ type sidekick… to be honest, I kind of hope they decide against this type of scenario.

I probably need to go back and watch it again. Perhaps I'd like it better with another viewing. For now I’d probably give it a 6.5 out of 10.

If you'll excuse me... I'm going to watch the opening scene in Raiders again to remind myself of why I fell in love with these movies to begin with...

Slacker

2008-05-22T14:42:00.002-05:00

Hard to believe it's been two months since either Melissa or I have posted on this page. It's been a busy couple of months. I am going to try and get back into some personal writing. It's always been an outlet for me and I've gotten away from it. Here are a few thoughts rattling around my brain right now.

-Indiana Jones 4: I will be seeing it tomorrow at 4:10PM. I am very excited about it. The reviews have been mixed... but that is to be expected. I'm sure I'll love it. I'm really not that picky and I'm very loyal, so this should be a great 2 hours spent. I'm planning on taking Emily after I've seen it so I know what parts I'll need to cover her eyes on. We watched ‘Raiders’ together last week and she really liked it. She was a big fan of the truck scene. Haha! She loved the opening sequence too, but come on, who doesn’t love that iconic opening?

-American Idol: The right guy won, despite what Simon tried to tell America on Tuesday night. I got so mad during the show because Simon made it sound like there was such a wide gap between the two singers. I'm sorry, but there wasn't... and I felt a little justified last night when Simon said pretty much the same. I can't vote against the first guy to sing a U2 song on American Idol, can I? Even if it wasn't one of my favorite U2 songs. Maybe some future contestant will sing some Achtung Baby songs... that would be pretty cool.

I was a little annoyed at the finale because they crammed so much in and those of us who DVR’ed the show barely even heard who won before it cut off at two hours. Maybe instead of having the USC junk and the terrible singer… maybe give some more time at the end for announcing and celebrating the winner. I didn’t get any of that last night.

-Church Life: Things have been really good here. This was the first conference year since 1997 that Wheaton had an increase in average worship attendance. So we have a lot to be encouraged about. I'll spend some time in a future post talking about some of the church wide initiatives we've implemented. It's been a challenging and very fulfilling year. I'm convinced coming here to Wheaton saved my personal ministry. There were times in my last position were I seriously considered teaching high school religion or working at Toys R Us.

Thankfully, God knew what lessons I needed to learn and to see some mistakes that I should try to avoid. Once I settled into my position here, I knew that I was in my ‘sweet spot.’ Doing the kinds of things that God specifically designed me to do. I have loved it and would never seek out a staff position again. Melissa and I love Wheaton and would love to stay here for many, many years… Lord willing.

-Book and Movie Reviews: There is an application on Facebook that makes reviewing books and movies much easier than it is here on blogger. So I will no longer be posting reviews here. If you are interested in those… look me up on Facebook. Speaking of movies… there are so many this summer that I want to see! Wow. As always, I’ll probably see one or two and then hope for the best through my Blockbuster queue.

That’s all for now… have a good weekend!

Easter Sunday!!

2008-03-24T19:44:00.003-05:00

Easter morning started out like Christmas morning....Emily couldn't wait to get up and see what she got from the Easter Bunny. Her "big" gift was the 101 Dalmation movie. She was very excited about that.

We had a great morning at church. It started with an all-chruch Easter breakfast. Very yummy and a great turn-out!! Church went well as we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We had a great attendance in service and it was exciting to see so many faces - both old and new.

After service, we all rested and allowed Aaron to get a good nap and then we met my parents for Easter dinner. We had a nice day and it was nice to be around family on Easter...something we haven't really had in the past.

The kids opening their Easter baskets from Bunca and Papa.

Aaron loved his new Easter tractors and Easter Thomas trains!!

Thanks mom and dad for a nice dinner and the goodies!!

Decorating Easter Eggs

2008-03-24T19:34:00.004-05:00

One of Emily's favorite traditions is decorating Easter eggs. Once she sees Easter decorations in the store....it's all she talks about. We finally found time to do our eggs and she had a great time. The hardest part was waiting on the eggs to boil and then cool!!

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-24T19:14:00.004-05:00

Lots of fun things to share about...

About a week ago, we participated in an Easter Egg Hunt at the local YMCA. It was a fun event for the kids. Aaron was in the Age 1-3 hunt and he walked away with about 6 eggs...not too good. Emily was in the 4-6 age group and she did very well. She definielty knew what she was doing and got lots of eggs. It was a fun time with crafts, face-painting and even the Easter Bunny. (Notice Aaron is not in the picture...he wanted nothing to do with the Easter Bunny.)

2008-03-21T15:13:00.001-05:00

"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God.
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood."
-Isaac Watts

Hmmmmm...

2008-03-20T12:07:00.003-05:00

I have been on a fantastic reading spree. The last three or four books that I’ve read concerning professional or spiritual things have been tremendous. It figures that eventually I would run into one that I am not so high on.

The book is called Return to Worship, written by Ron Owens. I actually bought this book way back in Kalamazoo where I was the worship leader. Yeah, five or six years ago… and I’m not even done with the book. I picked it up initially because I liked the format. This guy writes each chapter like a letter to worship leaders, pastors, worship band, etc. It was a neat concept and he has some great thoughts about worship in general at the beginning of the book…

I decided to start reading it again because I am tired of being in the middle of a hundred books and never finishing any of them. It’s starting to drive me a little nuts… so I’m trying to polish this one off next. Here’s the problem… I’ve read chapters 27 through 31 over the course of the last couple of days… and I’ve disagreed with or questioned at least one point he makes in each chapter.

For instance, in chapter 27, he suggests that the style of the music can cancel out the lyrics. His premise is that if the music is too rocky… it diminishes the message of the song. I guess he is warning worship leaders to be sensitive to use appropriate music... which is good advice… but in doing so he illustrates his faulty premise with an example OUTSIDE of the context of a worship service. (in the world of radio) He faulty premise? That if it doesn’t ‘sound’ Christian… it doesn’t matter what the lyrics are. Look, I’m not a fan of metal… in fact, I hate it. I can’t listen to it and I don’t want to… but if Christian artists are using that music to reach out to people whom I could never connect with… go for it! Who am I to stand in the way of that?

In chapter 29, he centers his whole letter around the issue of not allowing non-Christians to play on the worship team. This is a sensitive issue, to be sure… and for me it probably comes down to what context I am serving in. My problem wasn’t that he was raising the issue… but the reasoning he gives behind it. He writes: “According to our Lord Jesus, the first and greatest commandment is ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ The second was like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ We have reversed the order."

Another faulty premise has been exposed… he suggests that churches which put non-Christians in a worship band are choosing the second command over the first command. Here’s my problem with that: He makes it seem like we have to pick one command or the other… and that we couldn’t possibly be accomplishing both commands together! Regardless, who am I to judge the motives of churches that decide to go this route? Most of them would probably say that they are trying to minister to the non-Christian… which seems to be something that Jesus would really like to see happen. I don’t know. Again, I don’t have a problem raising the issue… I just have a problem with his reasoning.

In chapter 28 he criticizes repetition in worship… even though repetition is constantly used throughout scripture as a devise of learning and remembering. In chapter 30 he makes a case for stifling applause during the worship service. In chapter 31 he basically suggests that we should not talk with each other before the start of a worship service… but we should be preparing our hearts to worship. He makes some good points… but he approaches all these issues with what I perceive to be an 'all or nothing' approach. He strikes me as being very boxed within a certain mold of worship and if something doesn’t quite fit within his box… he rejects it altogether.

Okay, that’s my rant for the month. If you’ve read this far… thank you for humoring me. G’day.

Bread

2008-03-13T10:24:00.002-05:00

So a couple of weeks ago... I was feeding Emily lunch. She asked for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I made it for her and then started to do something else.

About five minutes later she comes up to me with little while balls of rolled up bread that she had torn off of her sandwich.

She proceeds to hand one of them to me and say: 'Take and eat... because God loves you.'

She was serving me communion. It was a priceless moment...

Long Time

2008-03-12T12:14:00.003-05:00

Well... Melissa has pretty much carried this blog since the beginning of the year. I figure I'd better post a little something something here. Just some random thoughts from my very scattered head right now.

-I'm really happy that baseball is back! I don't think the Cards are going to be stellar this year... but it will be interesting to see how some of the younger players we have pan out.

-It's been hard to stay disciplined in blogging. I think it's because I write a sermon each week that is equivalent to a seven page paper... so it makes it tough to want spend any more time writing anywhere else.

-Went and saw U2-3D in late February. It was spectacular! Can't wait to see this same technology applied to Star Wars... mostly so I can take my kids to the theater to see Star Wars. That's something I've wanted to do for a long time!

-Still love being here in Wheaton. Things are very busy at the church right now. Seems like I've had meetings at the church 3-4 nights a week since early February. We continue to work our way through Natural Church Development. We are just getting to the stage where we take some concrete actions. It's exciting and intimidating at the same time.

-12 people signed up here at church for Fantasy Baseball League. I couldn't even get enough for eight person league down in St. Louis! Had our draft on Sunday and it was a blast!

Okay... that's all for now. I'll try to get more regular in posting... but don't expect anything heavy for awhile...

Just Plum Wore Out!!

2008-03-04T13:19:00.003-06:00

This is what happens when you play really hard at church!!

He was so tired!! He still had his coat on and his snack in his hand!! He walked down to his room and collapsed right in front of his door. I guess we just didn't get him in his bed fast enough!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!!

2008-02-27T07:49:00.003-06:00

Emily is in afternoon Kindergarten this year which means she goes to school at 12:55 every day. So, when her schedule changes and she has to go to school at a different time...it's always a very exciting thing!! Well, Emily has a field trip today and has to be at school at 10:30 and get picked up at 1:15. When I picked her up from school yesterday...this is what she said to me:

Emily: Mom, we have a field trip tomorrow.

Me: Yeah, I know. It should be fun.

Emily: Mom, I know you like to sleep for a long time, but tomorrow you are going to have to not sleep so long because we have to be at school at 10:30.

Me: Okay hun, I think I can manage that.

Emily: We have to be at school at 10:30. I know that cuz I put it in my brain. Can you put it in your brain too, so you don't forget it?

Me: Yes, honey...I will do that.

When I told Josh this story, I asked him if he even remembered the last time we slept till 10:30!! I'm thinking it's been atleast 5 years. :)

Then, last night when I crawled into bed....I found this sign taped to a water bottle and sitting on my night stand. It says 10:30, but it's hard to make out the 0. She ran out of room and had to squeeze it in. Apparently she didn't think she could trust me to get her up on time. For the record....I was up at 6:45 with my personal alarm clock...Aaron.

Very, Very Funny

2008-02-18T12:01:00.000-06:00

Check this out!

2008-02-15T21:07:00.000-06:00

Looks pretty awesome to me!

Are you smarter than a Kindergartner?

2008-02-09T08:50:00.000-06:00

Apparently, I'm not. Emily brings home books every now and then that her class has put together. They usually write a sentence and draw a picture about whatever the topic is. We have fun reading it together and seeing what she and all her friends said. This week, Emily's book was titled "Oviparous Animals". We began reading through it and the first one was a penguin, then a flamingo, a crocodile, birds, etc. A thought hit me...what does oviparous mean? I don't see any sort of connection between these animals. So, I asked Emily...."what is oviparous?" She looked at me like I was dumb and said...."oviparous means to lay eggs". Oh, ok!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not good at Science and History. My brother and husband even have some good stories involving me and history information, but wow...I really felt stupid this week.

Emily's new activity!!

2008-01-19T13:49:00.000-06:00

Emily decided she wanted to try ballet instead of gymnastics this time around, so she started ballet and tap last Wednesday. She is in a class with 5 of her girl friends from her Kindergarten class. She looked pretty cute in her outfit and shoes and she seemed to have a lot of fun. They have a big recital in April which I'm sure she'll enjoy. We'll try to get some video as she learns some new things.

What I want to be when I grow up....by Aaron

2008-01-19T13:42:00.001-06:00

I thought this was too cute!! Sherlock had found a nice, sunny spot on the carpet and then Aaron decided to join him. Before I knew it, they were both asleep. Aaron loves his buddy Sherlock. I'm not sure how mutual the feeling is, but Sherlock is very good with Aaron. Of course it helps that Aaron keeps Sherlock hooked up with snacks all day.

A day in the life of Emily and Aaron

2008-01-09T21:42:00.000-06:00

So...Emily and Aaron have really been playing together lately. It's fun to watch them interact. Emily is so creative in the type of play she creates and Aaron loves it. They have been playing choo choo for the past two days and they ride all over the house like this. It's quite cute!! Emily also loves to build tents for Aaron. When he wants her to build a tent, he pulls out all the blankets and drags them to her. He may not talk....but he definitely communicates. I love watching them enjoy each other and spend time together. Hope you enjoy!!

P.S. Listen closely to the video. Emily talks about how they are going to Africa...or maybe Chicago..they're pretty equal, right?

Pastor Josh

2008-01-02T10:07:00.000-06:00

Emily's been funny lately. She's starting to realize what I do.

She will sometimes, out of no-where, call me Pastor Josh. Not daddy... but Pastor Josh.

Last night she came up to me and said: 'Daddy, I think you are a good pastor.'

I told her: 'Thank you. Do you know what a pastor does?'

She said: 'Ummmm. They talk.' (Great line...heh heh)

I laughed and then I said: 'Well, what do they talk about?'

She said: 'They talk about God...'

Sweet.

2007 Reading List

2008-01-01T19:56:00.000-06:00

Well, as has become a tradition for me since last year... here is a list of all the books that I finished in 2007. I didn't finish near as many this year as last year... and honestly... I didn't read near as much this year as last. There are various reasons for this... but oh well. Here's what I read:

Professional Reading

1. Velvet Elvis (Rob Bell) 194 Pages
2. Experiencing God (Blackaby & King) 288 Pages
3. Prayer (Richard Foster) 275 Pages
4. Fresh Power (Jim Cymbala) 204 Pages
5. The Emerging Church (Dan Kimball) 266 Pages
6. Roaring Lambs (Bob Briner) 202 Pages
7. People Just Like Us (Norman G. Wilson) 94 Pages
8. The Servant (James C. Hunter) 187 Pages
9. The Story of Christianity Volume 1 (Justo Gonzalez) 429 Pages
10. Natural Church Development (Christian A. Schwarz) 128 Pages
11. Total Quality Life (Stan Toler) 160 Pages
12. Practical Guide for Pastoral Ministry (Stan Toler) 303 Pages
13. Visioneering (Andy Stanley) 272 Pages
14. Simple Church (Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger) 257 Pages
15. Courageous Leadership (Bill Hybels) 253 Pages

Personal Reading

1. Star Wars: The Joiner King (Troy Denning) 443 Pages
2. The Ezekiel Option (Joel Rosenberg) 415 Pages
3. Star Wars: The Unseen Queen (Troy Denning) 333 Pages
4. Act of Treason (Vince Flynn) 415 Pages
5. Star Wars: The Swarm War (Troy Denning) 357 Pages
6. U2 by U2 (U2 and Neil McCormick) 345 Pages
7. Star Wars: Betrayal (Aaron Allston) 387 Pages
8. Report From Ground Zero (Dennis Smith) 366 Pages
9. Star Wars: Bloodlines (Karen Traviss) 380 Pages
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 759 Pages
11. Star Wars: Tempest (Troy Denning) 392 Pages
12. The Gashouse Gang (John Heidenry) 321 Pages
13. Star Wars: Exile (Aaron Allston) 337 Pages
14. Ice Hunt (James Rollins) 397 Pages

29 Books 9,159 Total Pages

Top Three: Professional (No particular order)
-Prayer (Richard Foster)
-The Story of Christianity Volume 1 (Justo Gonzalez)
-Simple Church (Thom Rainer & Eric Geiger)

Top Three: Personal (No particular order)
-Act of Treason (Vince Flynn)
-U2 by U2 (U2 and Neil McCormick)
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)

Happy reading in 2008!

Luke Skywalker

2007-12-22T17:10:00.000-06:00

So... I have various Hallmark Star Wars ornaments for our Christmas tree.

Aaron pulled one of them down today and this is what happened:

Given what happened to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back... I guess this is kind of appropriate...

Enjoy...

2007-12-18T09:12:00.000-06:00

Rejected Star Wars Toy

2007-12-12T11:37:00.000-06:00

The Force™ action figure

It's not an empty box. The force is an invisible energy, it surrounds us and binds the galaxy together.

So stop whining. It's not an empty box, it's the FORCE™, all right?

If you want to see more rejected Star Wars action figures... visit this site:
http://www.mcmorran.org/pages.php?page_id=15

Let the Countdown Begin...

2007-12-10T16:50:00.000-06:00

Words that Warmed My Heart

2007-12-05T10:36:00.000-06:00

After Emily finished praying before a meal recently... somebody told her that she prays very well. To which she responded with the following words that made my eyes well up and warmed my heart:

"My daddy taught me how to pray."

Whew...

2007-11-30T11:47:00.001-06:00

It's over.

I would like to officially say goodbye to National Blogger's Month. It was a challenge... but I am looking forward to moving back into my one to two post a week quota. Here's a few quick facts to make this post worth browsing:

Jeff and I had 52 downloads from our Cardinal Talk podcast last week! Pretty cool stuff! We've gotten about 39 already this week... but I don't know if we'll break last week's record. That will be tough.

I start my first advent season as a Lead Pastor this Sunday. Should be fun! I have always liked advent preaching... but many pastor's have told me to just wait about seven or eight years and I'll change my tune. Haha.

U2 re-released The Joshua Tree. That would make a fantastic Christmas present for me. Hint, Hint... Melissa... Hint, hint.

That's all for now. Here's to a quieter December on the blog!

We've been elfed!!

2007-11-29T13:46:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd give my husband a break from all the blogging he's done this past month....hopefully he'll still appreciate it after seeing the video!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9636350903

Colorado Pics

2007-11-28T21:23:00.000-06:00

Random Thoughts

2007-11-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm not going to lie... posting everyday has been a challenge... and even annoying sometimes. But so far so good. I've got four days left and I'm sure the hardest part is behind me. (Especially when I was travelling to and from Colorado... some airports charge for wi-fi and that's just annoying.)

I'm not really sure what to talk about today. I have been keeping an eye out for Christmas specials to come on TV. Now that we have a DVR... it makes it much easier to record some shows that Emily and I could watch together. There are a ton of holiday specials that I have never seen but have always wanted to... so this year will be the year that we'll record those and watch them when it's convienient to our schedule.

This Wednesday, there is a Shrek Christmas special coming on. Looking forward to that... should be interesting. I love the Christmas season... faults and all. I love the music and decor and McDonald's eggnog shakes. Good times!

Jenny

2007-11-26T20:14:00.000-06:00

This is kind of long... but well worth it!

Sermon Snippet

2007-11-25T13:29:00.000-06:00

“They (Saul and Barnabas) traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.” (Acts 13:6-12)

Though this is a great story of courage and willingness to confront evil with the power of God’s spirit… the actual changing of Paul’s name is a little anti-climatic.

I mean, the three other men that we have looked at this month had fairly significant name changes… God spoke to Abraham very dramatically… God wrestled Jacob right before the change… Jesus proclaimed the change of Peter’s name. But in Paul’s case, there is just one line in scripture that refers to the change:

“Then Saul, who was also called Paul…” That’s it. In fact, we don’t even know if God changed Paul’s name. We really don’t even know the exact time when Saul’s name was changed to Paul. All we have is this line: “Then Saul, who was also called Paul…” That’s all we have to go on.

But perhaps it is significant to observe that we never see the name of Saul used again in the book of Acts. From this passage forward. Paul is always referred to as Paul.

So let’s pause to consider the definitions of these names and see if we can glean any insight from them: The name Saul literally means: ‘To ask’ or ‘asked of God.’ The name Paul literally means ‘small or little.’

The thought that might come to your mind is simply to observe that the definition of Saul sounds more significant than the definition of Paul. It sounds more spiritual… more meaningful… more groovy. I mean, given the choice… would you rather be called ‘Asked of God’ or ‘Little?’ I bet the majority of us, if we were honest, would rather be called ‘Asked of God.’ I mean, there’s a certain ring to that name. There’s really no ring to being called ‘Small.’ Hey Smalls! How you doing? No thanks. Just call me Saul.

Yet, given what we know about Paul… I think the definition 'little' is significant. Much like the Pharisees that Jesus personally dealt with… Saul grew up in an atmosphere of arrogance as it concerned the law. If Saul was anything like other Jewish teachers and leaders… He would have seen himself in a much greater light than normal people. He knew the law better than than. He lived the law more closely than them. He was a better person than them.

This attitude is certainly seen within Saul in the way he chooses to engage Christ followers. He condemned them. He gave approval to violence directed at believers… He stood against them whenever he could. He was not acting out of any sort of love… which Jesus indicated was of utmost importance when trying to follow the law.

Ultimately, Saul acted based on his own understanding, his own intellect, his own strength. There was a lot of Saul in Saul… and not much of God in Saul.

And perhaps the name Paul… perhaps the word 'little' or 'small' was a reminder to Paul of his place next to God. Tiny. Perhaps the name Paul was a call to humility. Perhaps being called ‘small’ or ‘little’ on a daily or hourly basis would help Paul prioritize his life in the right way… in a similar way that John the Baptizer organized his life: I must become less so that Christ can become more. I must become Paul, I must become little, I must empty my vessel of ME and fill it with Jesus. Perhaps.

I confess that I am just making a guess. Scripture does not confirm or deny the reason why Saul’s name is changed to Paul. But I can tell you with great certainty that scripture is very clear on this issue of humility and living on less of our own strength and resources and more on God’s.

In fact, Paul himself was very clear on this issue. He wrote some neat letters… and while it’s hard to pick favorites… especially when you are talking about scripture… the book of Philippians is a masterpiece as it relates to this issue of humility and living smaller lives so that Christ might be greater.

Bill Hybels wrote a book some time ago with a great title: Descending into Greatness. It’s a great irony in our faith journey: (one that Paul learned and taught about) In order to find true significance in this life… we must die to ourselves. In order to make a big impact we must become smaller… smaller as to create more room for God to fill us up and mold us into the type of person that He wants us to be.

And now that I think about it… maybe being called ‘Smalls’ isn’t as bad as I originally thought…

At the Pumpkin Patch

2007-11-24T23:09:00.000-06:00

Christmas Tree

2007-11-23T17:44:00.001-06:00

So we finally broke down and bought a new (fake) Christmas tree this year. It's a 7.5 foot, pre-lit, wispy willow pine beauty that stands tall and proud in our living room! We love it! (Pictures coming, but we are having issues with our digital camera.)

That said, I will always have fond memories of our old 'Charlie Brown' christmas tree. We bought it the year before we got married, after Christmas, for $10. It lasted nine years... which means that it cost us about $1.11 per Christmas to own and operate that tree. After looking at those numbers, we felt ok making the decision to buy a new one.

That old tree was the first tree to 'house' the presents of our young marriage; the first presents of Emily; and even the first presents of Aaron... though he'll never remember it. There's a significant amount of history that surrounds that old tree. (Even if it WAS just a tad little taller than me and, honestly, it was probably skinnier than me too)

It may not have been the prettiest tree in the world, but the family time that it represents more than makes up for its' deficiencies...

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T18:12:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am posting this from beautiful Colorado. We'll be back in Chicago tomorrow, but we spent the holiday at Melissa's sister's house.

We went through the mountains yesterday... I'll post pictures ASAP... probably next week sometime. Beautiful! The mountains were covered by trees... made even more beautiful by the fact that it snowed about an inch the day before... so everything was beautifully dusted.

We had our traditional Thanksgiving meal today and after the meal I walked into the kitchen and found Aaron unloading a case of Diet Coke into an empty cabinet. One at a time, he took a can and placed it in the cabinet. He was very systematic about it. It was pretty funny to watch... until he dropped a can on his bare toe and split his nail down the middle. After the blood and crying, he turned out ok.

It's been a fun trip! But now I need to write a sermon in less than two days... so we'll see how that goes. :)

Another Harry Caray Funny...

2007-11-21T21:53:00.000-06:00

Traveling...

2007-11-20T21:46:00.000-06:00

I traveled yesterday...

Traveling with a 17 month old is challenging.

Traveling with a 17 month old via plane is bad.

Traveling with a 17 month old via plane taking off from O'Hare is terrible.

Traveling with a 17 month old via plane taking off from O'Hare during Thanksgiving week is awful.

Traveling with a 17 month old via plane taking off from O'Hare during Thanksgiving week with a departure time at 9:00PM is brutal.

Traveling with a 17 month old via plane taking off from O'Hare during Thanksgiving week with a departure time at 9:00PM with the flight lasting 2 hours and 35 minutes is painful.

Traveling with a 17 month old via plane taking off from O'Hare during Thanksgiving week with a departure time at 9:00PM with the flight lasting 2 hours and 35 minutes and then finding out that the plane would be delayed until 10:10PM is pure torture.

Not getting to bed until about 3AM while traveling with a 17 month old is, well, not advisable...

This is Freakin' Hilarious

2007-11-19T21:45:00.000-06:00

Sermon Snippet

2007-11-18T07:41:00.001-06:00

On Peter:

“While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servants girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. ‘You were with that Nazarene, Jesus, she said. But he denied it. ‘I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,’ he said, and went out into the entryway. When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, ‘This fellow is one of them.’ Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of the them, for you are a Galilean.’ He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about.’ Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.” (Mark 14:66-72)

Many people look at that story and just assume that Peter was scared for his life. That he was a coward and not willing to give his life for Jesus… so he denied that he had anything to do with Jesus… and even called curses upon himself if he did know Jesus. You read that story and the first assumption to make is that Peter is just a big coward.

For a long time, I made that same assumption… until I took a closer look at something that happened earlier in the evening.

Back in the garden of Gethsemene, when the large crowd came to arrest Jesus… the gospel of John tells us that a detachment of Roman soldiers were sent to help arrest Jesus… along with many other people. The crowd came armed with weapons. There were professional soldiers there… and there were a lot of angry people there.

The disciples were outnumbered by a long shot… and yet we see Peter pull out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the people who came to arrest Jesus. I’m sorry… but when you are outnumbered, outclassed, and outsworded… this is not an action of a coward. This is not the action of a man who will just tuck tail and run.

Rather, this is the action of a man who is willing to give his life for the cause, this is a man who is desperate to see all the prophecies come true, here is a man who firmly believes that Jesus is the Messiah… only not the kind of Messiah that Jesus ended up being. Peter’s heart was right on the night of Gethsemene… but his understanding and discernment were way off.

He drew his sword and swung the blade against overwhelming odds… because he thought that this would finally be the time that the Messiah would take control… would wrest power from the Roman government… to rule as King David ruled. To reestablish the kingdom. This would finally be the time that Jesus would begin using his powers to destroy, rather than to heal…

And how crushed do you think Peter might have been when he saw Jesus reach over and touch the wounded ear and it was restored to health as if nothing happened? I bet his gut just knotted up… And how do you think Peter might have felt when the crowd successfully arrested Jesus and took him into custody without any fire from heaven or any resistance at all? I imagine there was a large dose of confusion going on in his head. How emotionally damaged would Peter have been that night when he saw the man who was supposed to be the conquering Messiah led away in chains? I suppose Peter must have felt waves of deep despair and disappointment.

And then flash back forward to Peter’s denials. I truly do not believe that they are denials based in cowardice. Peter was never a coward… he was always the boldest, loudest, the most audacious. No, these denials, I believe, were based in despair and disappointment. He believed that Jesus was there to save Israel through military action… there was no room in Peter’s messianic paradigm for a suffering savior…. and I believe it was despair that led him to deny Jesus three times that night before the rooster crowed. I imagine that this was the darkest night in Peter’s life…

Out of Posts...

2007-11-17T21:53:00.000-06:00

So this whole writing in November thing has been fairly simple so far because I had about eight posts saved as drafts just waiting to be used on a busy day.

They are all used up now.

The rest of November will be completely current and I'll now be posting day by day. I'm not sure how this will look yet. It should be interesting. Here are some very random thoughts from my day:

I played Scene It! with some friends tonight. I realized how much I don't know about movies. I definately have a particular affinity for certain genres... and pretty much avoid the rest.

I've been playing a browser based game called 'Travian.' It's a lot like Age of Empires... yet completely different. You build your resources, villages, and armies up. You can align with other people playing the game. It's been a lot of fun.

I got a haircut today. I hate going to get a haircut and feel so much better once it's done. I do the same thing with oil changes too... I procrastinate on both.

I've been doing a Cardinal podcast with my brother. I have had a blast doing it. I finally found a program that will make the whole thing sound great... and I have enjoyed learning how to do that. Plus, I get to talk ball with my brother once a week... who can beat that?

That's all I have for today...

Final Photo Tour: Family Room

2007-11-16T20:03:00.000-06:00

Here is our final photo tour of the inside of the house... coming soon will be pictures of the outside of our house... Emily's new playset... my office... and maybe some of the church... but we'll see. Enjoy.

Photo Tour: Master Bedroom and Bathroom

2007-11-15T13:14:00.000-06:00

I'm a big fan of the metallic blue that was chosen for the bathroom!

Aaron Clapping

2007-11-14T22:13:00.000-06:00

Another video from the summer...

Photo Tour: Living Room

2007-11-13T22:31:00.000-06:00

Aaron Dancing

2007-11-12T10:45:00.000-06:00

This is from the summer... but it's still pretty stinkin' cute!

Sermon Snippet

2007-11-11T13:28:00.000-06:00

Continuing a series of sermons about men who had their names changed by God:

I love the story about Jacob wrestling with God… but the part I love the most about that story is when Jacob demands that God bless him. Not only that, but Jacob refused to let go of God until He received a blessing.

I know I’m jumping to conclusions here that are not necessarily spelled out in the text… but I think that made God smile.

Think about it: The last time Jacob tried to get a blessing… he snuck in like a coward… pretended to be someone that he wasn’t… in order to get a blessing that wasn’t really his.

This time… Jacob is Jacob. He’s not pretending to be anyone else. He’s not hiding or running or tricking like a coward… he is struggling… face to face with his opponent. And even in the midst of physical exhaustion and anguish… he hangs on and in boldness demands a blessing. And the blessing that God gave him was rightfully his...

What a change in how Jacob goes about getting blessed! And I really gotta believe that it pleased God. Jacob held on… he didn’t give up… and God blessed him for it.

There are bound to be some reading this who really feel that life is more of a struggle right now than anything else. Perhaps you are battling physical ailments; financial difficulties, relational stress; emotional drain; or even spiritual oppression.

I would encourage you to hang on. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Persevere. Keep moving forward. Keep trying to do the right things. Don’t give up. Don’t. Give. Up. Keep on clinging to the Lord. After all, the story of Jacob teaches us that God is willing to bless those who are willing to persevere on His behalf in the midst of pain, loneliness, confusion and stress...

Tennis Lessons

2007-11-10T15:49:00.000-06:00

Bringing it all back...

2007-11-09T09:38:00.000-06:00

I ate breakfast this morning in the Wheaton College dining commons. I'm sure they have an official name for it, but I don't know what it is.

As I sat down to eat my eggs and french toast with the group of guys I was with... I heard the VERY FIRST Jars of Clay CD pumping through the speaker system. Yes, the one with classics like Liquid, Flood, and Worlds Apart. It immediately took me back to my own college days. That album came out the Spring/Summer before my freshman year of college. So it wouldn't have been surprising to hear that very album playing in the IWU student center during my years there. It's funny how music can do that to you.

DC Talk's Jesus Freak album also takes me back to my Freshman year of college. Dave Matthew's 'Under the Table and Dreaming' takes me to my Sophmore year. U2's 'Achtung Baby' takes me back to my Junior year. Sonic Flood, as much as I don't really care for them now... their first album takes me back to my Senior Year. It's just amazing how music has the ability to transport you to another time in your life...

Simple Church

2007-11-08T18:19:00.000-06:00

I've been reading a book called 'Simple Church' and I gotta say... this stuff really makes sense. It echoes other books that I've been reading, like Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner's book called 'Seven Effective Practices of Ministry.' The book suggests that the discipleship process shouldn't be complex... and that the ministries of the church really shouldn't be complex.

One passage of the Stanley/Joiner book really stands out to me: “Many of our staff had previously been involved with churches that were program-heavy, and we know how quickly things could grow out of control. So we became tenacious about staying simple. In fact, you might be surprised at some of the things we do not do. For example, we don’t have a Christian school, midweek services, men and women’s ministries, a children’s choir, adult Sunday school, Easter or Christmas Pageants, or a recreation ministry.”

The book suggests that churches that do too much are perhaps making a lot of noise, but aren't making any kind of an impact. It's very intriguing stuff. They took surveys and did studies of declining churches and pitted them against growing churches… and the results they found were staggering. The growing churches were the ones that had a simple process of discipleship… who clearly communicated that process to the people… and who leveraged all their energy, time and resources towards accomplishing that process. If a ministry did not fit the criteria of their process… they don’t consider doing it. They only do things that will compliment and add to their chosen process of discipleship.

It’s a fascinating way of doing church… mostly because I’m so used to the opposite. I’m used to being involved in program after program. Admittedly, I’ve started program after program… without asking the question: Does this compliment the mission of the church? Does this compliment the process? And unfortunately, there have been times where I couldn’t ask that question because there was no given process or mission to shoot for. In fact, I’ve worked in churches that Reggie Joiner could call: ADD churches. They have an inability to focus on ANYTHING for any length of time!

Our church here in Wheaton has just taken a Natural Church Development Survey... and we found that our limiting factor is Effective Structures. Some places of the church are over-structured… some places are under-structured. The church has had a vision or mission statement… but it’s pretty cumbersome and nobody really knows what it is. I am excited because I think ‘Simple Church’ will come in really handy in helping us move forward in identifying our process for discipleship.

We will begin really diagnosing things in the coming months… but this book fell in my lap at exactly the right time. It has made me ask some difficult questions of my own ministry paradigm. Why do we do what we do? What is the purpose of the church? How do we move people into spiritual maturity? It’s challenging, exciting, scary and intimidating all wrapped up into one. But I’m finding that that’s where God wants me to be… more times than not… in over my head.

Here’s to a simple church that can make a deeper and greater impact for the kingdom of God!

Buddies...

2007-11-07T10:26:00.000-06:00

More Than An Exhibition?

2007-11-06T21:20:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago, Major League Baseball came up with the grand idea of having the winner of the All Star Game decide home field advantage for the World Series.

Traditionally, the All Star Game has been an over glorified exhibition game… and you know what? I liked it just fine that way… because all the super stars were on the field together playing ball in a way that wouldn’t happen the rest of the year.

What do I think of this new invention of the All Star Game ‘counting?’

Well, to be blunt, I hate it. An exhibition game deciding home field?

If we are going to have exhibition games decide home field… why don’t we just compile the National League’s record against the American League in Spring Training? The better league that Spring gets home field advantage in the next World Series. Yeah, that idea is just as ridiculous as the All Star game deciding things.

Not to mention the fact that about 90 percent of a normal MLB team has NOTHING to do with the All-Star game. Why would you reward or punish 90 percent of a team that had nothing to do with the outcome? It’s almost as absurd as rewarding home field advantage in the World Series based on who wins the Super Bowl. Crazy, I tell you. Crazy.

For instance, last year, the Cards made it to the World Series and didn’t get home field advantage because Trevor Hoffman from the San Diego Padres gave up the lead to the American League in the 2006 All Star Game. It was Hoffman’s fault and the Cards got punished for his inability to pitch in big games. (Turned out to work in our favor… but the point still remains.)

The best way to decide home field advantage? I see three possibilities:

1) Go back to the way it was: Alternate between the AL and the NL every year.

2) Reward it to the team that has the better regular season record. Let the teams in question earn it. Not just the three or four players from each team who may or may not even get in the exhibition game.

3) Now that we have inter-league play… and those games actually do count, perhaps you could award it to the league that won more games that year. (This is my least favorite solution… because you start getting back into the issue of putting your fate into what another team or set of players do.)

Regardless of the solution… the winner of the All Star game is not the best way to decide home field advantage… put the fate of the players that are involved in the World Series back in the hands of who it should’ve belonged to all along: The players themselves…

Photo Tour: Guest Room and Kids' Bathroom

2007-11-05T20:11:00.000-06:00

Sermon Snippet

2007-11-04T18:28:00.000-06:00

Here's a snippet from my sermon this morning. If I am going to post everyday in November... I might as well post snippets of the writings that I spend the most time on these days... This sermon is about what God did in Abraham's life... both by changing his name AND transforming his heart:

Where Abram means ‘exalted father’… the name Abraham literally means: ‘Father of Many.’ God changed Abraham’s name to represent the very promise that Abraham had such a hard time believing. God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He? Here’s Abraham… with no legitimate children… and his new name is ‘Father of Many.’

You can almost imagine people snickering when they started calling him by his new name. Hey Abraham… hey father of many.’ Was it awkward, perhaps, to be called something that didn’t yet apply to you? I’m sure at times it was.

But, thankfully, it doesn’t matter what other people thought about this new name… all that mattered was that from this day forward… God made sure that Abraham was reminded of the covenant that was made. From that day forward, Abraham’s very identity was tied into what God had in store for him.

In his book, Visioneering, Andy Stanley made a few observations about Genesis 17 that I found fascinating, and wanted to share them with you... He writes:

“On the day God instituted his covenant with Abraham, he changed his name to signify the certainty of his future. His name change was part of the vision he cast for Abraham and his descendants. God renamed Abraham as a way of pointing him in a specific direction for his life. Their names were a reflection of what could be and what would be.” (Andy Stanley)