culture driven life

Christmas came early!!!

2010-12-18T19:38:00.001-08:00

Obadiah and Malachi have wanted a puppy for so long! We thought about other pets since mommy and daddy have bad allergies but other pets never worked out. Turtles? Nope. Snakes? Daddy said yes, but mommy said no.

Then we went to a friends house a while back and visited with her Teacup Yorkie. It was so cute and we noticed that we weren't sneezing! We did a little research and found out that this breed is especially good for people who have allergy problems! The boys have had their heart set on a puppy and it broke our heart to hear them tell Santa at the mall that they really wanted a puppy but they knew they could never have one because of mom and dad's allergies so we knew they'd be super surprised when we brought him home!

He's a Yorkshire Terrier and his name is Ezra.

You should have seen the look on their faces! Check out the video below for the exact moment the boys met Ezra.

N.T. Wright on America's Adam and Eve

2010-07-24T22:22:00.001-07:00

The Naked Gospel

2010-07-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

I've been reading The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley which the Ooze Viral Blogger program sent to me and I've really been enjoying it. The idea behind the Naked Gospel is the truth of the gospel without all the trappings that we've added over the years. The description of the book says it like this: Jesus Plus Nothing. I LOVE THAT. It's an easy read and very thought provoking, and I believe, very honoring to Jesus and his intent for the "good news" of the gospel. It's not a theological handbook or anything like that, but if you are tired of the stuff we've added to following Jesus, or if you feel like maybe you'd like to read a book that reminds you about Grace, and the way that Jesus sees you I highly recommend this book.

Obadiah wrote a song!!!

2010-06-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been super busy and I've been neglecting this blog. Life has thrown us a few curve balls and we've been playing catch up for a while. I've got a new job, and I've never been so busy. Time with my family has always been precious to me, and now it is unfortunately all too rare. Today is my day off so I took some time to hang out with the boys, and Obadiah let me know that he wrote a song on the piano. Obadiah and Malachi have been taking piano lessons and he was so excited to show me his creation! I asked him if I could sit in and jam with him and after a few practice sessions we asked Malachi to film our performance so that we could share it with you guys! So, without further ado, I present to you, "Summer Day".

Jesus Manifesto

2010-05-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet, and Frank Viola. I received a pre-release copy from Thomas Nelson publishers and it's a pretty great book. I've read a few books by Frank Viola and I really appreciate his approach to Christian spirituality and his thoughts on the cultural trappings that we bring to the church. I've also read So Beautiful by Len Sweet and really love his writing style and the way he stretches my brain (he's deep). So, ever since I heard about their collaboration on this book I've been looking forward to reading it.

So far, I'm loving this book. It's full of great thoughts about the way we approach our faith and the way we relate to church, spirituality and the person of Jesus Christ. Their focus in this book is to show that we, as believers, need to re-focus on who we are following. Are we following a church? Are we following a Pastor? Are we following tradition? Or, are we following Jesus? Are we living a purpose driven life, or a person driven life?

The basic idea I'm getting from this book is Jesus, plus nothing. That's it. That's all we need. There are a few books out right now that are focusing on this theme, most notably Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley, and this one, Jesus Manifesto by Sweet and Viola. I'm incredibly hopeful that many people will read these books and center their lives around the one who gave us life.

CLICK HERE to purchase Jesus Manifesto

Fred Phelps' son speaks out

2010-05-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Fred Phelps is the leader of the "God Hates Fags" group based out of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. His son, Nate Phelps is speaking out about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father as a young boy and about how he supports a new law going to the Supreme Court that would limit where and when the hate group could picket. Specifically, banning them from picketing the funerals of soldiers.

I've written about these hatemongers before and I hope this law gets passed. Sadly, I'm sure this interview will just throw more fuel on Fred Phelps' fire as I'm sure he'll use this clip as an argument that he's being persecuted. I'm sure he'll quote Matthew 10:35 "For I have come to turn a man against his father." but I wish Fred would read I John 2:9 "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness." and Luke 6:27, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you."

There were commands in the Old Testament that Fred, and others like him use to justify their hatred but I wish they could grasp the fact that Jesus came to do away with those commands and give us a new one:

"A new command I give you: LOVE ONE ANOTHER. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

John 13:34-35

BONHOEFFER

2010-05-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

BONHOEFFER Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas is really, really great. This is a heavy book. Yes, the subject matter is serious, but I mean this book is heavy, like three pounds. Metaxas is so detailed in his description of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life that's it feels like you are reading every possible bit of information that could be found on him. Metaxas did all the work for us and wrote an amazing biography. This book covers Dietrich's upbringing, family life, spiritual formation, ministry and eventually his involvement in the plot to end Hitler's life and ultimately Bonhoeffer's execution.

Bonhoeffer's insistence that a spiritual life is a life fully lived, in service to God and others, not a life split into sacred and secular divisions seems especially relevant in a culture where we too easily fall into the trap of a lifestyle of consumption and compartmentalization.

I would definitely recommend this book. It was fascinating to read about this theological giant, and about the world he lived in, his thoughts on what it truly meant to be a follower of Jesus, and the struggles he dealt with as he saw the church sit idly by while evil men had their way.

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

CLICK HERE to purchase BONHOEFFER

thank you Jesus

2010-04-04T23:15:00.001-07:00

It's a tough time, financially. I'm looking for work and things are not going as I planned. Last night at about 11pm I went to turn off the porch light and saw that someone had left a card and 4 Easter eggs just outside the front door. The eggs had chocolate, and the card had $100 and said "love, Jesus".

Thank you Jesus.

resurrection

2010-04-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo.

Every glimmer of good, every hint of hope, every impulse that elevates the soul is a sign, a taste, a glimpse of RESURRECTION.

Happy Easter!

A New Kind of Christianity

2010-03-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

I’ve read several of Brian McLaren’s books before and I’ve always appreciated his humility, his genuine love for God, his generosity in dealing with people who believe differently and the approachability of his writing style. There have been several times though where I felt he was deconstructing and asking questions and leaving us, the readers, to find the answers. This has made for some great conversations around his books but I’ve also felt like I’d love to know the conclusions that he came to on these same topics.

I had heard that his newest book “A New Kind of Christianity” might be the book where Brian moves from deconstruction to constructing new ways of thinking for a new kind of Christianity so I was thrilled to receive my copy from the publisher and I jumped right in.

The book is based around ten questions whose answers Brian believes will shape the way that Christianity will move forward.

The chapters about the narrative arc of the Bible, and how we should read and interpret were fascinating. Brian talks about how many believers view the Bible as a constitutional document that we go to for “case law” in order to defend our actions, or condemn others, when the Bible is written as a library of poems, histories, parables, and letters.

The chapter about a moving from the view of a violent tribal God to a Christlike God was especially eye opening to me. It sounds like a no brainer but it was really an AHA moment for me when Brian talked about the fact that not only is Jesus like God, but God is like Jesus. Brian says it this way, “The Bible’s highest value is in revealing Jesus, who gives us the highest, deepest, and most mature view of the character of the living God.”

This book covers lots of ground, and not only theology, but practical, down to earth material that helps us visualize what these new ways of thinking mean to the way that we live out our everyday lives.

Overall I found this book to be very respectful and humble. I found Brian’s writing to be motivated out of a deep love for Jesus and the people who are trying their best follow Jesus. I can’t say I agree 100% with everything Brian has written but I really appreciate the way he makes me think long and hard about what I believe and why. This book can be very challenging at times, especially if you come from a church background, but I would encourage you to read it with an open mind, and ideally with a few friends that could read through it with you and discuss your thoughts along the way.

CLICK HERE to purchase A New Kind of Christianity

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

Ash Wednesday... Is the first day of Lent. The first day of a season of self denial. It’s a day to remind ourselves to take our focus off of self and to refocus on Christ.

It is a day to "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19)

It is a day to "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel" (Mark 1:15).

It is a day to "Repent, and hear the good news" (Mark 1:15).

The ash is made from the palm fronds of the prior year’s celebration on Palm Sunday. The ash is a symbol of ecstatic praise gone cold over the past year.

Palm Sunday represents praise and adoration, Ash Wednesday represents the knowledge that our adoration has turned to dust.

May the ash remind us that our praises turn too quickly to dust, and spur us to refocus our lives on Christ.

The Selfless Gene

2010-02-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

I’ve always been intrigued when I listened in on conversations between Christians when they started talking about creation vs. evolution. I’ve heard impassioned and spirited debates from equally intelligent people on both sides of the argument. And they both seem to have some excellent points.

So, I was looking forward to reading Charles Foster’s book The Selfless Gene, living with God and Darwin. I have to say this was a hard book to get through. For one, I am not a highly educated man and much of the scientific talk was really hard for me to digest. I read through several of the chapters 2 or 3 times to make sure I was understanding what Foster was getting at. It was also hard to read because Foster is kind of belittling to young earth creationists and die hard Darwinians alike. His tone was more than a little off-putting. I was hoping for a more neutral perspective.

Having said that there are some very interesting points in this book and it made me think new, exciting, different thoughts.

CLICK HERE if you'd like to check it out yourself

Sex, Lies and Religion by Randy Elrod

2010-02-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Sex, Lies and Religion, Enjoying the Freedom of Unconditional Sexuality and I highly recommend it. I grew up in the whole church scene and sexuality was not something that was discussed openly.

This book is bringing the discussion out of the closet. Elrod proposes that all longings that we experience (including sexual longings) are deep cries from within reaching out towards God. It’s all interconnected. He also talks about the fallacy of separation of body and soul, how we tend to see the nourishment of the soul as sacred and the nourishment of the body as profane.

This book exposes the sexual politics at play in the church today in relation to women in leadership and points out that men and women are both, and equally, created in the image of God.

This book isn’t a sex manual, and it doesn’t get down the nuts and bolts description of the plumbing, but it does talk in depth about the emotional and spiritual component of sexuality that so many of us miss when we focus solely on the physical.

Elrod talks about the bedroom being a place of surrender and mutual respect, and not a place of control or manipulation. He writes, “In a kingdom where grace is the currency, there is no room for a language of control. The wonderful truth is that when we accept and enjoy what is true and beautiful—we are free. Free to give love, not spend lust. Free to share ourselves, not possess others. God is enthusiastically for all that we are as whole beings as we enjoy the freedom and communion of both soul and body.”

This book is challenging without being crass, and open, honest and direct without being lewd.

Sex, Lies and Religion is a breath of fresh air. God never intended for our sexuality to be a dirty little secret.

CLICK HERE to purchase a copy of Sex, Lies and Religion

This should be interesting

2010-02-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

Bart Ehrman is the author who wrote the most widely used New Testament introductory text book, and now he writes about why he has stepped away from the faith.

This looks like it's going to be a challenge, but I really love books that challenge me, and make me think long and hard about why I believe what I believe.

CLICK HERE to check out Jesus, Interrupted

Tonight...

2010-01-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

...we gathered as a family and sang songs of praise to our Savior. We gathered at Granny's house and sang the songs that she has sung every Sunday since she was a little girl.

"All to Jesus, I surrender..."

"I stand amazed, in the presence, of Jesus the Nazarene..."

"Come thou fount of every blessing..."

"I walk through the garden alone..."

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..."

We sang and we cried. We cried a lot. We hugged and we kissed. We tried to pretend that it was a coincidence that we all showed up at Granny's house at the same time. We tried to pretend that none of us had heard the phrase "they just called hospice." We tried to just enjoy the time we had together. We tried to live in the moment. Fully alive.

Life is a gift. Embrace it. Every moment of it. It's all a gift.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, February 2nd, at 11:30am Melva Donaghy stepped from this life into the next. She will be missed but we have full assurance that she is in a better place and we look forward to that great celestial reunion.

GO BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW

2010-01-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

I read through "A million miles in a thousand years" in 2 days. A world record for me. COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I'm a huge Donald Miller fan, but this one really blew me away. This book is so inspirational, I feel like I'm ready to take on the world.

This time of year lots of people make resolutions and devote themselves to making themselves better, or making the world better and this is the perfect book to read to give you the motivation to do it.

CLICK ON THE BOOK COVER to get the book.

the Greatest Stories of the Bible

2010-01-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

I've been looking through the "NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible" for the past few weeks. It's a compilation of the great stories of the Bible in storybook format. It's got all the great stories you remember from Sunday school in an easy to navigate format.
I kind of dig the storybook feel. In my home we like to read through the stories in the Bible with our boys before they go to bed. Having everything laid out in like that is really nice. However, I think the NKJV version is still a little old school as far as readability. I prefer the Message version for it's every-day English ease of use, but the organization of this version is really great.
It's a toss up, not sure which version to grab at story time...

Hawaiian Music

2010-01-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend on the way to church the boys and I were listening to the radio and the DJ said the word "Ohana". Malachi asked "what does that mean?" Obadiah and I chimed in, "That's the Hawaiian word for family." To which Malachi replied, "Oh, Hawaiian!" Then started immediately singing, "Feliz Navidad!" with the biggest smile on his face! He was so excited that he knew a Hawaiian song!

The Justice Project

2009-11-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

The Justice Project is a collection of essays devoted to understanding social justice issues. There are over thirty chapters dealing with issues as diverse as urban poverty, justice for Native Peoples in the U.S., reading the Bible justly, and racial justice among many others.

I appreciate the conversational rather than adversarial tone used in these essays. You will hear from liberals, and conservatives, you will hear from evangelical, mainline, and emerging believers, you will hear from seasoned voices whose names we all recognize and you will hear from the next generation of Christian thinkers that will amaze you with their passion and intellect.

Here's a little bit from the book:

"Because God is a God of justice, in any situation in which power is misused and the powerful take advantage of the weak, God takes the side of the weak. In concrete terms, that means God is for the oppressed and against the oppressor, for the exploited and against the exploiter, for the victim and against the victimizer. Because God loves justice, he is 'a stronghold for the oppressed' and 'the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever' Ps. 9:9,18"

"God's justice to the poor is executed through God's covenant people."

"God's kingdom is God's justice: God's will being done 'on earth as it is in Heaven' Matt 6:10. When that happens, justice comes. And with it comes freedom."

"If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

This book will challenge you, and convict you. I highly recommend this book.

CLICK HERE to view/download a 25 page excerpt of The Justice Project. (thank you Baker Books!)

CLICK HERE to purchase The Justice Project

Respectable Sins

2009-11-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges tackles the issue of sins in the believer’s life head on. But this book takes a different approach than you might think when you hear that this is a book about sin. Bridges writes about sins that we find culturally acceptable, the ones that we sweep under the rug.

It’s easy to point out “big” sins and pontificate about how sad it is that others are struggling with such horrible issues without realizing that we are in fact committing the “acceptable” sins of gossip, pride and judgmentalism.

Or how about the sins of envy, jealousy, discontentment, selfishness and worldliness? Not only are these sins acceptable in our consumeristic society, they’re practically viewed as a God-given birthright!

This book is humbling, and convicting. It calls us to a holistic view of sin, and to the pursuit of holiness.

CLICK HERE to purchase Respectable Sins

CLICK HERE to purchase the small group discussion guide

It's really all about God

2009-10-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

He said some really interesting things there.

Religion as a "God management system"?

What do you think? This might be an interesting book to read.

The Search for God and Guinness

2009-10-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading THE SEARCH FOR GOD AND GUINNESS, a biography of the beer that changed the world and I gotta say, it was pretty great. The first chapter alone is worth the price of admission! This book is full of beer history, Irish history, and the long tradition of the Guinness family and it's undying commitment to social justice and care for the working class of Dublin. The first chapter is a thorough history of beer, the brewing process and the way that religion and beer have been inextricably linked throughout the years. The rest of the book tells the story of the Guinness family; it's business genius, it's commitment to God, and to the needy.
The Guinness family has been classified in three groups, The brewing Guinness', the banking Guinness' and the Guinness' for God. The author, Stephen Mansfield, makes a point of saying that he is hesitant to use the phrase "Guinness' for God" though, because the implication is that the other family members were not "for God". He writes:
"They did not see themselves as secular, but rather as called. They did not see themselves as apart from Christian ministry, but rather as in the Christian ministry of industry and trade. They did not think of their brewing work as a menial way to pay the bills, hoping that they might compensate for such worldliness by giving occasional service to the church. No, they had absorbed the great Reformation ideal that everything a man did was to be done for God and that his calling and his vocation were usually the same thing. They understood that this transformed workbenches into altars and the labor of a mans hands into liturgies pleasing to God."

CLICK HERE to purchase The Search for God and Guinness

Tell her I don't want her to go

2009-10-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Last night as we were sitting down to dinner I got a call telling me that my Grandmother's doctor had found cancer spreading throughout her intestines. He was doing a surgery on her large intestines when he made this discovery. He said, "We'll have to keep her here for about 5 days, then all you can do is take her home and make sure she's comfortable."
We all sat at the dinner table and cried.
I got up after a while and put on my jacket to go. I told the boys, "I don't think the hospital will let little guys in there because they're worried about the swine flu. I'll let Granny know you said hi, OK guys?"
As I turned for the door Obadiah stopped me.

"Dad..."
"Yeah Buddy?"
"Can you tell Granny something for me?"
"Sure man, what is it?"
Through his tears he said, "Tell her I don't want her to go."

The Simple Life

2009-10-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Simple Life, and I highly recommend it for you if you feel like you are too busy, or if you are trying to find focus in your life. The authors surveyed over 1,000 people and kept hearing that people were busy, stressed, nervous, and without a clear direction. The areas that needed the most work in the survey respondents were time, relationships, money and God. The authors propose that with clarity, movement, alignment and focus you can achieve the Simple Life. This is good stuff. I definitely recommend this book.

Also, if you're a church leadership type, get "Simple Church". Excellent.

GET IT HERE

what matters more?

2009-07-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've been following the controversy regarding Derek Webb's latest album, "Stockholm Syndrome" and especially the song "What Matters More". The record label threatened to shelve the album, and Derek went on a viral campaign to get the music out there. He actually released segments of tracks of the songs so that die hard fans could piece together the music! Brilliant! Anyway, the controversy at first seemed to be about adult language in one of the songs, but when I finally heard the first verse of "what matters more" I knew that there was more to it than that. Here's the first line of the first verse.

"You say you always treat people like you like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality"

Whoa! Can of worms.... opened.

Let me point out that this song is not discussing whether or not homosexuality is, or is not a sin, this song is talking about the the priorities of the church.
I am of the opinion that the church invests way too much energy, time, and money into issues that just serve as a distraction from our calling. Our God is a God who hears the cries of the oppressed, and as His people our calling is to hear that cry and answer. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, taking His healing touch to those who are weary. We are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give water to the thirsty.

According to the World Health Orginization 1.1 billion people have no access to any type of improved drinking source of water. As a direct consequence:

1.6 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases (including cholera) attributable to lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and 90% of these are children under 5, mostly in developing countries;
160 million people are infected with schistosomiasis causing tens of thousands of deaths yearly; 500 million people are at risk of trachoma from which 146 million are threatened by blindness and 6 million are visually impaired;
intestinal helminths (ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm infection) are plaguing the developing world due to inadequate drinking water, sanitation and hygiene with 133 million suffering from high intensity intestinal helminths infections; there are around 1.5 million cases of clinical hepatitis A every year.

What a powerful testimony it would be if the church embraced the call to "love thy neighbor" and put all of our time, energy, money and political clout into providing clean water in the name of Jesus to our neighbors around the world? But it's so easy to get distracted from our calling when we are spending our energies debating who can and who cannot be a part of our club.

As I was listening to the song and thinking about the calling of the church I began loooking around the internet to see what kind of response this song has been getting. One of the responses that I found fascinating was Brian McLaren's take on Acts 8 as it relates to the issue of how the church should treat those with same sex attraction. Here are Brian's words:

"For many years, I was like thousands of Christians: uncomfortable with the conventional approach to homosexuality - namely: it's a chosen lifestyle, and it's a sin. (I was also uncomfortable with the "anything goes" approach that was often - and falsely - presented as the only alternative.)

I knew from my many years as a pastor that sexual orientation was not a choice; I can't count the number of people who "came out" to me over the years, and never once did I have a person say, "This is a choice like any other sin issue. I'm just choosing to rebel, and if I repent, I will be different." They all had gone through months or years or decades of intense struggle and shame before coming to the point of saying, "This isn't a choice. It's a fact of my make-up. It's integral to who I am."

So, I was uncomfortable with the conventional approach, but I was unsure how to construct an alternative that was equally faithful to Scripture and faithful to the reality I saw in human beings who came to me as their pastor, friend, and family member. Over many years, that alternative has become more and more clear, and surprisingly (to some), it was a passage of Scripture that opened the way for me to see it.

While people have vigorously and sometimes viciously debated isolated verses in Leviticus, Romans, and 1 Corinthians (versus which, I explain in the book, may have very little or nothing to do with contemporary understandings of sexual orientation) ... Acts 8 was waiting with a story that is more powerful than many have realized.

It's a story about an African man who because of his race can never fit into the Jewish nation, and because of his sexual identity can never fit into the traditional family. As a eunuch, he can never be "healed" to become heterosexual. So now, through no choice of his own, he finds himself an adult who can never be categorized in traditional sexual roles. He has come to Jerusalem to worship God, but has, no doubt, been turned away - first because of his race and second because of his sexual identity: the Hebrew Scriptures explicitly excluded both Gentiles and people in his nontraditional, not-part-of-the-created-order sexual category.

Returning in his chariot to his home in a distant land, he is reading the prophet Isaiah. One passage seizes his attention. It's about a man who was led like a sheep to slaughter or a lamb to the shearers, despised and rejected, a man who would not have physical descendants, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. A disciple of Jesus named Philip runs alongside the chariot and asks the man if he understands what he is reading. The man invites Philip into the chariot and asks if the writer was writing about himself or someone else - a question that suggests this man feels the prophet is talking about him in his sexual otherness: he too will have no descendants; he too has been rejected, misunderstood, despised, shamed ... he too has been brought like a sheep or lamb before people with cutting instruments.

Philip explains that this passage can be read to describe Jesus, and he shares the good news of Jesus and the kingdom of God. As they pass a body of water, the man then asks if there is anything that could hinder him from being baptized. Anything that could hinder him - his race? His sexual identity?

Imagine what Philip might have said: "I need to contact the authorities in Jerusalem to get a policy statement on this issue. Maybe we should wait a few centuries until the church is more established. Baptizing you could cause real controversy in our fragile religious community. In the interests of not offending people back home, I'll have to say no. Or at least not yet."

But Philip doesn't answer with words; he responds with immediate action. They stop the chariot, and Philip leads him into the water and baptizes him.

Neither race nor sexual identity was an obstacle for the apostles in welcoming a new brother into the community of faith. As early as Acts 8 in the story of Jesus and his apostles, the tough issues of race and sexual identity are being addressed head-on. But as we all know, as the years went on, both issues once again became obstacles. It's only in my lifetime that we have truly begun to put racism behind us - although even there, we still have a long way to go. Now, it's time for us to remove the second obstacle. Not in spite of the Bible, but because of it. We've lost a lot of ground since Acts 8. That's why I am among those who dissent from the conventional approach and attitude, appealing back to Philip's even more ancient church tradition."

I appreciate Brian's gentle and grace-full approach to this most sensitive subject.

I hope that the church can embrace our brothers and sisters that are attracted to the same sex, I hope that we can love them unconditionally, I hope that we can pray for God's best for them, I hope that we can see that we are all on level ground, at the foot of the cross, sinners, looking to Jesus as the only means of our salvation.

when in Rome...

2009-05-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to get these up here for a while. Things have been crazy busy and many of you have emailed me asking to see pics from our latest trip.
So, here they are. Katie and I went on the trip of a lifetime to Rome, Greece, and Turkey to celebrate our tenth anniversary!
This is us at the Victory Arch, or Arch of Constantine. The roads that lead to Rome from the East, West, North and South all met at this arch and the armies would return to this spot to claim victory in their battles.

This was an amazing cafe in the Campo de Fiori. If you ever get the chance go to Campo de Fiori, look for Cafe Moneserrato, ask for a table outside, some red wine and you have to try the polenta. It is TO DIE FOR!!!

You can't go to Rome without seeing the Colosseum, and you can't imagine the scale of this amazing building until you've spent the day walking around in it. It is truly breathtaking! The sense of history when you walk through those arches is just overpowering.

Right next to the Colosseum is the Forum Romano. This was basically the downtown area of Ancient Rome. The buildings were amazing. This building is showing signs of vandalism. Do you see the circular "rope burns" up high on the columns? Thieves tried to pull down these great columns to sell the marble. Thankfully they withstood the attack.

The Vatican. Majestic. So beautiful that it literally takes your breath away.

Katie didn't realize that she couldn't wear a shirt that exposed her shoulders into the Vatican so we had to buy this lovely Vatican themed scarf to cover up her dirty Western shoulders.

This is the Pantheon. This was a place of worship for those who served many gods. Pan=many, Theo=gods. The architecture was amazing. The guide told us that modern architects are completely baffled as to how the ancient builders were able to build a building, not only so large, but so perfectly balanced.

The inside of the dome of the Pantheon is architecturally perfect. It's a huge dome and the height and diameter of the interior circle form a perfect sphere within millimeters.

A trip to Rome wouldn't be complete without spending some time soaking in the sights and sounds of the Trevi Fountain. This became our favorite spot and we went back often during different times of the day to watch the crowds, feel the mist on our sunburnt faces and enjoy the soothing sounds of the fountain.

On to Greece! The Parthenon... I have wanted to check out the Parthenon for as long as I can remember. Like the Colosseum, the sense of history is overwhelming.

The view from the Acropolis is amazing. You can see the entirety of Athens and the sheer size of it is mind blowing. Athens and the surrounding areas contain over 3 million residents.

This is the view from Mars Hill, next to the Acropolis. This is the spot were ancient philosophers would gather to theorize, pontificate, and ponder existence and meaning. The Apostle Paul delivered an absolutely brilliant speech to the men of Athens at this very spot. That speech has been one of the most influential bits of Biblical history for me personally. This was a truly inspiring moment.

The Athenian Guard does not appreciate it when you giggle at their cute outfits, or the dangly bits on their clogs. They are very serious about what they do.

The Greek food was great, the wine was amazing, and the drunk Australians dancing in the street to the live Greek music was extremely entertaining.

We met up with our ship in Piraeus, a port of Athens to cruise to Turkey and the Greek Islands. We've never been on a cruise but it was great. The rocking motion takes a bit to get used to, and the water from the pool ends up all over the place, but it's a pretty cool way to travel.

Our first stop was Mykonos, and it's every bit as beautiful as everyone says that it is.

We made it just in time to catch the sunset at Paradise Beach. Paradise beach is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 most beautiful beaches in the world. Gorgeous.

Our next stop was the Muslim nation of Turkey. This is the Library at Ephesus. The story of Ephesus is amazing, and an ecological cautionary tale. Behind the Library is a vast sea of barren sand. It used to be a seaside port. The ships would come up right behind the Library and load and unload their cargo. When the Romans came to Turkey and conquered the Ephesians they pillaged all the trees for their building projects back in the mother land. With no root system to hold the soil in place a major earthquake shook loose the earth and there was a mudslide that devastated Ephesus and FILLED IN THE ENTIRE PORT. What use to be a seaside port now takes 45 minutes by bus from the modern port! The ground is barren and not a single thing grows in it. The saline content from the sea salt has rendered the soil completely useless.

Behold... The crapper. The Ephesians had a thing about the loo. These were prized seats, with plumbing and running water (that still works). They would pay top dollar to sit next to the movers and shakers of Ancient Turkey. There were hired musicians that would wander through the bathrooms entertaining the prestigious guests!

Don't judge me. You know you would have had a seat too.

The amphitheater at Ephesus is an amazing piece of ancient architecture. The Apostle Paul spoke here and this amphitheater is specifically mentioned in the Biblical book of Acts.

After Ephesus, we left Turkey and set sail for Rhodes. This ancient castle was so amazing inside.

The interiors were so incredible, the attention to detail is stunning!

After Rhodes we spent some time on Patmos, famous for being the island exile of John the Revelator. This island was used as a prison because of it's remote location. I'm not quite sure why the book of Revelations is so gloomy. Being stuck here doesn't seem so bad.

Through that doorway is the cave where John was imprisoned and wrote the book of Revelations. Again, Katie had to cover her dirty, dirty shoulders.

The iconic art was just amazing. The tiles used for these mosaics weather the ages much better than paint so we were actually permitted to touch these ancient works of art!

At our last stop we took these pirate-like boats from our ship to the beautiful city of Santorini.

To get to the village at the top of the volcanic shelf is so steep that the quickest way to get up is to rent a few donkeys! Isn't Katie adorable?

The road to the top is a long trek but once you get there the view is INCREDIBLE!!!

The beautiful architecture, brilliant whites, and deep blues look like the Greece you imagine when you close your eyes.

We stopped at a cafe to take in a beverage and wait for the sunset. This drink is made from cactus fruit. It was kind of sweet, and fruity, without being over the top sweet. It was however, over the top expensive. That drink and the beer cost over $30!

It was worth it though, to have such a great spot to watch the sunset on the last night of our cruise.

So, that's our trip. We came back refreshed, renewed, and so in love after ten years of marriage. Good times.

good quote from a good book

2009-01-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

"The beautiful thing is to join a church that has gathered and find yourself looking around thinking, 'What could this group of people possibly have in common?' The answer of course, would be the new humanity. A church where the two people groups with blue hair -young men, and old women- sit together and somehow it all fits together in a Eucharistic sort of way.
Try marketing that. Try branding that. The new humanity defies trends and demographics and the latest market research.
In Acts 8 some of Jesus first followers are healing people, and a man named Simon sees this and offers them money and says, 'Give me also this ability.' Simon is seduced into thinking that the movement of the Spirit of God is a commodity to be bought and sold like any other product. The apostles chastise him for his destructive thinking because the Eucharist is not a product.
Glossy brochures have the potential to do great harm to the body and blood.
Church is people.
The Eucharist is people.
People who have committed themselves to being a certain way in the world. To try to brand that is to risk commodifying something intimate, sacred, and holy.
A church is not a center for religious goods and services, where people pay a fee and receive a product in return. A church is not an organization that surveys its demographic to find out what the market is demanding at this particular moment and then adjusts its strategy to meet that consumer niche.
The way of Jesus is the path of descent. It's about our death. It' our willingness to join the world in its suffering, it's our participation in the new humanity, it's our weakness calling out to others in their weakness.
To turn that into a product blasphemes the Eucharist.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus led a passover meal unlike any other. He took the bread and the cup and connected these symbols with himself. He told them, 'do this in remembrance of me.'
The 'do this' is understood to be the taking of the bread and the cup as the body and blood of Christ.
So we take it and we taste. We reflect and we remember. We sing and we pray. We take part in this two thousand year old ritual. Some of us 'do this' in a church service, some every day, and others with a small group of friends. We 'do this' in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of places with all sorts of diversity. Some of us 'do this' with chants, and some of us in silence. In some settings a priest or a pastor or an elder or a leader serves us, and in other settings people serve each other, and in other gatherings people serve themselves.
We do this in remembrance of Jesus because the ritual moves us, it changes us, it humbles us, it brings us together.
Just try to do this with someone you are not speaking to. You'll end up reconciling or at least speaking or at least being more understanding and more compassionate.
But what if Jesus meant something else-something beyond the ritual? What if he was talking about our actually enacting what the ritual is all about over and over, again and again, year after year? What if the 'do this' he primarily meant wasn't the ritual he was leading his disciples through at the moment. What if the 'do this' was his whole way of life?
He has chosen the path of descent; he comes into Jerusalem on a donkey, not a horse, with children, not soldiers, weeping, humble. And he dies, naked, bleeding, thirsty, alone.
Maybe that's what he meant when he says, 'do this in remebrance of me.' The 'do this' part is our lives. Opening ourselves up to the mystery of the resurrection, open for the liberation of others, allowing our bodies to be broken and our blood to be poured, discovering our Eucharist. Listening, and going.

Because when we do this in remembrance of him, the world will never be the same.

We will never be the same."

Rob Bell, Don Golden
Jesus Wants To Save Christians
A Manifesto For The Church In Exile

holiday conversations

2008-12-26T21:01:00.000-08:00

Dec. 19, 2008. The setting: The boys have been "dismissed" from the Christmas play because of their inability to memorize their lines, and focus during rehearsal. The following conversation occurs the night before the play.
Malachi: "Dude, we gotta rehearse our lines for the Christmas play"
Obadiah: "Dude, we don't have lines, remember we got kicked off the play. Now we're just sheep."
Malachi: "Oh yeah... 'Cause we were ba-a-a-a-ad"

Dec. 25, 2008. The setting: Christmas dinner is being cooked as Malachi is trying out his rollerblades.
Malachi: "When I grow up I'm gonna be a professional skater."
Momma: "That's nice, just don't skate through the kitchen right now."
Malachi: "OK, but can I just go through, 'cause I don't know how to turn around."

p.s. The drum kit is the boy's main Christmas gift. They've been making plans to take over the music world as soon as their new CD comes out. They've got a marketing plan, promotional materials, and a fan club... Now all they need to do is learn how to play.

2008-11-28T12:24:00.000-08:00

We had a Thanksgiving dinner with our home group just before Thanksgiving. This has become our tradition with our home group. We do a full on Thanksgiving meal, turkey, stuffing, and all and then we take time to tell each other what we're grateful for.
I'm beginning to see another benefit of living in community with a small group of believers. As we live out what it means to be a faith community it models appropriate behavior for those around us. I see this most clearly in my sons.
That night my boys sat nearby as we took time to tell each person why we were grateful for each other.
Later that night after I tucked in, and prayed for my boys, Obadiah stopped me before I got to the door.

"Daddy? he said. "
"What's up buddy?"
"I just wanted to say thank you."
"Thank you for what son?"
"Well... Not for one thing, but kind of, for everything."
As tears came to his eyes he continued, "Daddy, you got us this house, and you pay for our room, and you got is this new bunk bed, and you paid for our stuff, and Daddy we've got some pretty cool stuff... And I just wanted to say thank you."

I could barely hold back tears.

This beautiful moment gave me a glimpse into what it must be like when God, our Father must feel like when we, His children lift our hearts towards Him in humble gratitude.

May we live a life of gratitude.
May we be truly thankful.

my favorite story

2008-08-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

In home group a while back we were talking about the power of storytelling and how Jesus chose to teach through storytelling so often. He could have given us detailed lists and clearly defined expectations but more often than not he told stories.
People would ask him questions and instead of a straight answer he would say something like: "the Kingdom of heaven is like a woman who lost a coin." WHAT?!?!? That can't have been the answer that they were expecting.
We came to the conclusion that Jesus told stories because he wanted followers who were inquisitive, followers who were seekers, those who were willing to put in the hard work of deciphering the meanings because of a deep conviction that these stories somehow held truths that were worth knowing.

Then we took some time to talk about our favorite stories. Mine is the story of the "sinful woman" told in Luke 7:36-50 (and pictured so vividly above by David LaChapelle).

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."

40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
"Tell me, teacher," he said.

41 "Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, ^[a] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

There are so many things about this story that I love. I love that this woman had a sense that it was OK to approach Jesus. I love that Jesus wasn't terribly concerned about what damage this might do to his reputation. I love that Jesus uses the worship of a "sinful woman" to show the religious leaders what true worship is like.
I also see a warning for leaders of the church. The religious leaders had neglected to honor Jesus by greeting him with a kiss, they forgot to offer Jesus a way to cleanse his feet after a long walk on dirt paths.

They had neglected the King on their presence.

It's all too easy for those of us who spend our lives in service to "church" to get stuck in the rut of just going through the motions, and we can find ourselves neglecting the King in our presence.

I speaked, I spoke, I... spake?

2008-06-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to speak in the weekend services at my home church this past weekend. I really enjoyed it. It is kind of tough to give the same message three times in one weekend though. Especially telling the same jokes. Nothing is funny three times in a row. Unless it's a little kid wacking their dad in the jewels with a baseball bat while the proud dad stands by the baseball tee.
That's hilarious!

I hate to say "I told you so" but...

2008-06-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

A new Web site is offering a first-of-its-kind service: sending e-mails to nonbelieving friends and family who are "left behind" after you are whisked away by God in the rapture.

The site Youvebeenleftbehind.com offers users the ability to store e-mails and documents that will be sent to up to 63 e-mail addresses six days after the rapture has occurred. Users get up to 250 megabytes of storage space, 150 megabytes of it encrypted for sensitive information such as bank account numbers or eTrade passwords that can be accessed by those who remain on earth. Billed as the last chance to "snatch them from the flames," Youvebeenleftbehind.com is the month-old brainchild of Mark Heard, a 49-year-old supermarket shelf-stocker who lives in Cape Cod, Mass. "You've Been Left Behind gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends For Christ," the site reads. "Imagine being in the presence of the Lord and hearing all of heaven rejoice over the salvation of your loved ones. It is our prayer that this site makes it happen." Heard says it's also a way to pass on financial information to loved ones who remain on earth before God's return. "The idea started for me in 1999 when I was… trading equities online and trying to think, 'How I can send my password to my wife if the Rapture happened at this moment?'" he said.

Jeff Vaccaro, a 34-year-old computer programmer in San Diego who runs the Web site Godsurfer.com, which allows users to post and rank Christian-based Web content, signed up for the service when he saw it covered on another news site last week. Although Vaccaro hasn't uploaded any messages just yet, he says that he plans to construct e-mails that give the non-believers in his life a nudge along with Bible passages.

"I like the idea behind it," said Vaccaro, "It would be one final, 'Hey guys, maybe you need to check this out further …"

My only question is this. The website says that it is run for Christians by Christians...

So... who's gonna hit send?

well now... that's a first...

2008-06-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend when I was welcoming our guests from the stage I noticed several new faces. I especially took notice of the young couple in the front row. They were dancing wildly and pumping their fists as they looked up at the screen and tried to sing along. After leading the music for the first few songs I asked everyone to shake hands with a few people and I stepped down to meet this couple. You could smell the alcohol on their breath from about three paces.

They were TRASHED.

They said that they really enjoyed "the show" and told me that they were in church for the first time in years. I realized that they were not used to a worship service and this seemed more like a rock show to them. So they were doing what you do at rock shows. You try to sing along as loud as you can, and you grab someone and dance with them. A few people behind them were distracted but for the most part the congregation didn't seem too put off.
The couple seemed nice enough and sat through the message (with bathroom breaks about every 4-5 minutes). They even sent out an "amen" now and then.

At the end of the message when I got up to lead the closing songs they both looked at me with a smile and you could tell that they had had enough of the talking and were looking forward to "the show" again.

As I went through the first chorus of "How He Loves Us" I opened my eyes for a second and could not believe what I was seeing.

There, in the front row, only three seats away from our senior pastor, the young lady was doing a FULL ON LAP DANCE for her (obviously happy) boyfriend!

About two thirds of our congregation were obliviously worshiping, with hands raised and eyes closed, while the remaining third stood staring, mouths agape, in horror at the spectacle in the front row.

After the end of the service I got the chance to meet up with the couple again. They said, "This is a COOL ASS church!!!", and "There's a really great energy here". I thanked them for their kind words and told them that hopefully the energy they felt was the presence of Jesus. They thanked me again and got a ride home from their designated driver.

I've been thinking about that service all week long. When it comes down to it I guess I'm really glad that they felt welcomed. I'm glad that they felt at ease (a bit too much at ease, but you know what I mean). I'm glad that they felt the "good energy". I'm glad that someone from my church cared enough to reach out to this young couple and bring them to a place where they would be loved and accepted just as they were.

thou shalt not steal

2008-04-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

Check out this video a pastor posted on youtube after their church trailer, with almost all of their church gear was stolen.

good friday

2008-03-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians 3:10-12

losing my religion

2008-02-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

A study released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life today claims that Americans are increasingly switching faiths or leaving faith entirely.

Here are a few excerpts from the "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey":

Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation in the U.S. is both very diverse and extremely fluid.

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion -- or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, roughly 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

The survey finds that constant movement characterizes the American religious marketplace, as every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents. Those that are growing as a result of religious change are simply gaining new members at a faster rate than they are losing members. Conversely, those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are not attracting enough new members to offset the number of adherents who are leaving those particular faiths.

To illustrate this point, one need only look at the biggest gainer in this religious competition -- the unaffiliated group. People moving into the unaffiliated category outnumber those moving out of the unaffiliated group by more than a three-to-one margin. At the same time, however, a substantial number of people (nearly 4% of the overall adult population) say that as children they were unaffiliated with any particular religion but have since come to identify with a religious group. This means that more than half of people who were unaffiliated with any particular religion as a child now say that they are associated with a religious group. In short, the Landscape Survey shows that the unaffiliated population has grown despite having one of the lowest retention rates of all "religious" groups.

In addition to detailing the current religious makeup of the U.S. and describing the dynamic changes in religious affiliation, the findings from the Landscape Survey also provide important clues about the future direction of religious affiliation in the U.S. By detailing the age distribution of different religious groups, for instance, the survey findings show that more than six-in-ten Americans age 70 and older (62%) are Protestant but that this number is only about four-in-ten (43%) among Americans ages 18-29. Conversely, young adults ages 18-29 are much more likely than those age 70 and older to say that they are not affiliated with any particular religion (25% vs. 8%). If these generational patterns persist, recent declines in the number of Protestants and growth in the size of the unaffiliated population may continue.

CLICK HERE to read the full report

So, Americans float around a bit and get restless easily, no surprise there. Did you notice how quickly the numbers are shifting to the "unaffiliated" camp, and the dominant age ranges of those claiming no affiliation?

We have to ask ourselves some serious questions.
What must the church do to reach the younger generations?
As a follower of Jesus, what is my responsibility to the younger generations?

...and the greatest of these is love

2008-02-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

"There is more hunger for love and appreciation in the world today than for bread"

Mother Theresa

We were created for companionship. We were made for love. Something within us cries out to belong. We have an inborn desire to be loved, accepted, and valued.

At some point you may have been told that you were unlovable. Someone may have said cruel things to you. Maybe you have been trying to live up to someone else's definition of beauty and you feel like you just don't measure up. Maybe you've been in hurtful relationships and you feel like damaged goods. Maybe you feel like you are "on the outside looking in" when it comes to true love.

I was reading in Ephesians the other day and came across a wonderful passage. Paul writes beautiful words of love and acceptance to the believers in Ephesus. These gentile believers were used to feeling like they never quite measured up. They weren't accepted by Jewish believers, and the non-believing gentiles thought that they were strange. They were accustomed to feeling like outsiders.

Paul writes down the following prayer for them:

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

It seems like back then the common knowledge about the church was that they were narrow, elitist, and reserved their love and acceptance for a select few. Sound familiar?

Then Paul brings these words; depth, height, width, length. These words sound vast, and expansive, not limiting, and reserved. To me it sounds like Paul is describing an ocean. Something you could swim in. Something you could become immersed in, covered in it.

If you've felt unlovable, if you've felt damaged, if you feel like you somehow missed the boat on love, know this; God's love for you is huge. It is deep. It is high. It is wide, and long. Let it cover you. Allow yourself to become immersed in this love. This is what you were made for.

If you sense that you have somehow expressed your love in a narrow fashion, if you've acted unlovingly except to a select few, allow yourself to be used as a conduit of God's expansive love for all. Experience the freedom of expressing this deep, deep love.

My prayer for you today is that you would experience love, and that you would express love. Not sparingly, but extravagantly.

Tell someone you love them.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

I got a lovely Christmas card the other day from Pastor Jack Hayford. In the card he shared a Christmas meditation and I wanted to share it with you.

"Immanuel.

Transparently, the unveiled God bares His heart, stripping away all man calls 'dignity', stooping with immeasurable humility into time, unto earth, to take up residence within a womb, then incarnate in infancy to be laid in straw on the edge of an obscure town.

Transactionally, the unclothed God bares His face to the spittle, His head to the thorns, His hands and feet to the spikes, His side to a spear, His life unto death, and His body unto a tomb; thus invested in infamy to be paid as the blood-price in exchange for obscured souls.

The light became transparently revealing,
disclosing His heart of love,
and that Love became transactionally releasing,
dispensing His gift of grace.

And this Christmas as at the first, the glory of His light and the wonder of His love abides.

With us... For us... Among us... Within us.

All hail Emmanuel!"

May God's grace and peace rule and reign over you and your family.
May His banner over you be Love.

God bless you. Merry Christmas.

all we need is love

2007-12-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

On Sunday morning a little over a week ago I was sitting in an office at the church building reading "Soul Cravings", by Erwin Raphael McManus. The office is just off of the auditorium and as I was reading I could hear the message in the background. The topic of the message was "the power of the tongue". The book I was reading was talking about how our souls crave love. The need to feel loved is central to the human condition. It was saying that when we feel unloved, or unloveable that we turn to cheap imitations of love, or we give up on love entirely. The portion I was reading at the time was talking about those who feel like they are incapable of being loved, they feel too damaged, too ugly, unloveable.

"We all long to belong. We are created to know love and to give love. Without love there is no life. To love is to be fully human.
The farther we move from community, the closer we move to violence.
Over the years we've come to expect urban violence. If we're honest with ourselves we would have to acknowledge that many of us have become desensitized to crime and violence in our inner cities and especially among the urban poor, which is probably why what happened in the quiet community of Jefferson County, Colorado, so affected the American psyche. Two teenage boys planned for over a year to ruthlessly massacre as many students and teachers at Columbine High School as possible.
If I know nothing else about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, I know that they had given up on love. They no longer considered themselves a part of the human community. They cared for no one and cared about no one, not even themselves. Where there is no love, there is no value for life. When hate consumes our hearts, all we can think of, all we desire, is to destroy.
When there is disengagement from human community, there is potential for inhumanity. The human heart was not created to be a container for hate.
When we allow bitterness, jealousy, envy, racism, lust, greed, and arrogance to fuel our souls, we create an environment within us to be agents of violence."

On my drive home after service I was thinking about the young men who brought guns to school in Columbine. And I was thinking about the young man who had, just days ago, brought a gun to a mall in Omaha. I was thinking, "What happens in a person to get them to that point?"
When I got home I opened up the laptop and saw the headline that said "Shooter at Colorado mega church". I opened the article and couldn't believe what I was reading. My heart raced as I reached for the cell phone and texted a friend of mine who is on staff at New Life in Colorado. I was relieved to hear back from him that he was safe. I spent the rest of the day watching the story unfold on the news channel.
Over the past week much has been learned about the young man who took these innocent lives. We've learned that he was at one time hoping to be a missionary. He was raised in a Christian home. He was home schooled. We also learned that he railed against the church after being turned away from the missions organization. He wrote that he never felt good enough. He felt that he could never live up to the expectations. He wrote that he couldn't deal with all the rules and regulations.

I've thought a lot about the way the church presents it's message and I'm concerned that there's an inordinate amount of time spent talking about the do's and dont's, the rules and regulations, and not enough time spent talking about the extravagant love that Jesus came to give.
There's a great story about the religious rulers coming to Jesus to get his input on the raging debate about which rules were the most important. And he turned the conversation towards love. Here's another section from "Soul Cravings":
"When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment is, His response was simple and straightforward: 'You are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.' And then He added, 'And you must love your neighbor as yourself.'
It seems Jesus simply couldn't restrain Himself to one commandment, but gave His inquirers two of them. Maybe it's because He couldn't separate the effect that connecting to God would have on our relationship to people. Really Jesus is saying that the most important thing to God is love. Love, it seems, has two arenas where it's played out-in our relationship with God and in our relationships with people. What's on God's heart is not a list of rules or commands, but the expansion of love.
When we live in an intimate relationship with God, we are able to love ourselves and become passionate about loving others. When we are disconnected from God, we find ourselves increasingly empty of love.
Jesus, it seems, is certain that the more you love God, the more you will love people."

As I've been thinking back on this over the past week I keep thinking about the topic of the message that day, the power of the tongue, and the awesome responsibility that the leaders of the church have in communicating the message that God wants us to. Do we focus the message on love, or do we get caught up in the same old game of which rules were the most important?

If we focus our message on the rules and regulations are we heaping condemnation and guilt on God's children? Are the Colorado shootings the result of a message focused in the wrong direction?

catching up

2007-12-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, and I don't really have an excuse but I wanted to catch up a bit and let you know what I've been up to. Writing it all down would take days so I'll just post pictures and descriptions. I hope you enjoy!

The summer has been extremely busy! We got a chance to get away for a bit though. A family in our church "adopted" us and sent us to their time share in Hawaii! It was an amazing, relaxing, refreshing time!

We went back to the grove. It's been over a year now since my Father in Law passed away and we've been back to his favorite place on earth, and his final resting place, several times to remember him.

I started performing wedding ceremonies! This summer I've officiated 4 wedding ceremonies. I've really enjoyed this. I didn't think I would but it's pretty amazing. Especially if I know the couple well. This picture is Jake and Naiomi. They are a part of our homegroup and they are like family to Katie and I. Their wedding ceremony was on the beach in Troncones, Mexico. Too beautiful for words!

We hosted Thanksgiving for our families in our new home!

We've spent as much time as possible on our back deck. The view is amazing and it reminds us of the beauty of God's creation. Each and every sunset is another chance for God to dazzle us!

We got tee peed!!! Katie and the boys look pissed in this picture but it's an act. We were thrilled because, as my brother Ben pointed out, "this means that somebody loves you enough to get up at three in the morning!"

We got our tree put up! Katie really gets into seasonal decorations and the Christmas season is the pinnacle of the decorative goodness! Bring on Christmas! Bring on the extra services! Bring on the gifts! Bring on the New Year!!!

to dazzle us...

2007-08-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Don Miller, in his book "To Own A Dragon" tells a story of a conversation he and his mentor, John MacMurray had while watching the sun set. Don was asking if John believed that God made the sunset for our benefit. John said something to the effect that God made the sunset "To dazzle us". Don asked John:
"So He did, or didn't do it?"
"He did it, but He did it for us."
"Us? You mean you and me?"
"Us. He did it for His children. That is what beauty is for. All this beauty exists so you and I can see His glory, His artwork. It's like an invitation to worship Him, to know him."
"You think?"
"Absolutely Don. Beauty doesn't make any sense apart from God giving a gift to His children. Think about it. Is there a Darwinian explanation for beauty? Not really. It's a love letter. That's all. It's this massive letter to creation inviting us to enjoy Him. I'm always telling the kids that sunsets are God's final brushstrokes on the beauty of the day."
"But why would He do that?"
"Because that's who He is."

I was reminded of this conversation the other night as Katie and I, and a few friends lay on the deck behind our house, snuggled together, watching a meteor shower. It was an amazing display of beauty, and power. I felt a sense of connectedness. I felt close to God. I felt "dazzled."

I can't believe it!!!!

2007-07-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a proud papa!!!

2007-06-27T18:04:00.001-07:00

eight dollar hot dog

2007-06-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Brett for sharing, thanks to TWOTP for the video.

God is fathering us

2007-06-04T20:04:00.001-07:00

One of the most comforting ideas to me is that God sees me as a father sees his son. I've always liked the verses that talked about God being the Father but everything really clicked once my sons were born. All those verses became even clearer to me.

My love for my sons is not based on what they do. It is not is not based on how they look. It is not based on how they act. It is not based on what they know.
My love for my sons is based on who they are. They are my sons.

That is why it is comforting to me that God calls me son.

There are many times where a situation, or a conversation with my boys triggers a thought about another aspect of the fatherhood of God and how He relates to us.
The other day Obadiah and Malachi were talking about an event in the recent past and Malachi was having a hard time expressing his thoughts. He doesn't yet understand the concept of "yesterday". To Malachi, yesterday means some point in the past and tomorrow means some point in the future. He doesn't yet understand that yesterday actually means the day before today. Obadiah on the other hand is a recent graduate of Mrs. Hughes Kindergarten class and is looking forward to expanding his academic career in the first grade. He's got it all figured out. This is the conversation I overheard:

Malachi: "Obadiah, you remember yesterday when we were watching the show on dinosaurs?
Obadiah: "Malachi, that was like a week ago."
Malachi: "Yeah, I know... yesterday"
Obadiah: "No, you don't get it."
Malachi: (confused look, shrugging shoulders)
Obadiah: "Let's see, how can I explain this to you?"
Malachi: (listening intently, wanting to learn)
Obadiah: "OK, first of all... There are seven days in a month..."

That's all I heard of the conversation. I had to duck around the corner before I started laughing out loud. Later as I thought about this conversation I thought about how God must think of us sometimes. I can imagine God sitting back listening to us talk to each other. Maybe when we're discussing theology, or the meaning of life, and then one of us who feels like maybe we have it just a little bit more together than our peers offers our opinion. Then God has a little giggle and says to himself, "Oh, that's precious. They think they've got it figured out."

You see, when Obadiah incorrectly taught his little brother how many days were in a month I didn't love him less. I didn't jump in and tell him how wrong he was. I didn't think he was dumb for making that mistake. I just smiled, and I was happy that they were even trying to learn at all.
I think God sees us this way. I don't think He's worried that we'll never figure it out. I don't think He dislikes us as we stumble through life, trying our best. I doubt that He thinks we're stupid when we make mistakes. Kids do that... they make mistakes.

Fathers love them anyway.

full life worship

2007-05-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

A while back a dear friend of mine asked me several questions in an email. She asked me to define worship, and asked how I maintain a lifestyle of worship in the midst of a busy life. She also asked if worship becomes repetitious (I lead music at 3 services per weekend), and if it’s hard to worship intimately when you’re in the spotlight.

All excellent questions.

To me worship is much more than singing. I was raised in a church going family and when people said worship they meant “praise and worship music”. There’s nothing wrong with praise and worship music but if that is your definition of worship you are missing out on so much. I believe that anything that points to God, anything that draws our attention to God and inspires us to think of God, or to pray to God is causing us to worship. So, if I’m out walking around Spring Lake and I’m in awe of the beauty I am surrounded by I can thank God for His creation and worship Him in that moment. If I’m in a museum or an art gallery and I’m seeing some amazing creative art I can thank God for making us in His image and giving us the ability to be creative as He is. If I’m reading a good book and it is challenging me, and making me think new thoughts I can thank God that He gave us intellect and free will.

I don’t really have a set “devotional time”, but I’m always looking for God’s touch throughout the day. This is a vital part of what I call “full life worship”. Full life worship is all about perspective. It’s all about looking for little glimpses of God in everyday life. For example, I do a lot of driving for my work and the route that I take goes through Sonoma and Marin counties with breathtaking views of mountains and vineyards. It’s an amazing drive. I’ve always known it was beautiful but one day my perspective changed. It went from “wow this is beautiful”, to “thank You God for the beauty of Your creation”. It has transformed my travel time into a worship experience.

In this way I can worship in my everyday life and this helps keep the “musical worship” on the weekend from becoming repetitious and boring. Truth is, sometimes I don’t feel like leading musical worship on the weekend. Sometimes I’ve had a crappy day, or a crappy week and the last thing I want to do is put on a fake smile and lead people (most of whom look like they’ve had a crappy week too) in worship. However, I believe firmly that I am doing what I was made to do, and sometimes it is a sacrifice of praise. Sacrifice means it costs something. Sacrifice means even if I don’t feel like it.

Worship should never be based on our feelings. If we only worship when we feel like it than the object of our worship has become ourselves. The Bible calls this “will worship”.

I really do love musical worship so I love to sing, even if it’s the third time I’ve sang this song in any given weekend, so the spotlight thing isn’t a problem for me. The only time I don’t like being up in front is when I screw something up. Because everyone notices! I still get nervous before I step on stage but as soon as I take that first deep breath and belt out the first note it just all comes into focus. I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. There’s a famous quote in the movie Chariots of Fire that says, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”

For me, when I sing, I feel God’s pleasure.

now that's my kind of church

2007-04-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

photo by keylime

When you think of an Easter service, you probably don’t picture 30 parishioners gathered around, looking on as a guy named Iggy presses a tattoo gun into a fellow parishioner’s forearm. But if you’re a member of the CrossLink Watershed Church that gathers for worship in the Drexel Theater on Grandview Avenue, you’re counting on it this Sunday.

Nathan Feathers, the young pastor of this new alternachurch, wanted to add a jolt of adrenaline to his Easter service, something edgier than the church’s resident rock band.

Then it hit him: What says Christ and the resurrection more than a big black tattoo of a cross?

CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story

Happy Easter

2007-04-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

May you experience God's resurrection power in your life.

grace, peace, and much love, jimmy

good quote from a good book

2007-03-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

"In the beginning.

In the first chapter of Genesis, when God creates the first people, He blesses them. This is significant. God’s blessing is the peace of God resting on people. The story begins with humans in right relationship, in healthy, life-giving connection, with their Maker. All of their other relationships flow from the health of this one central relationship, people and God. They’re connected with the earth, with each other. They’re naked and feel no shame.

And then everything goes south.

They choose another way.

And they become disconnected.

God goes looking for them in the garden, asking, “where are you?” The first humans make coverings of fig leaves, and then they’re banished from the garden.

Disconnected from each other.

Disconnected from the earth.

The woman is told that there is going to be conflict between her and the man. The man is told that there is going to be conflict between him and the soil.

And this is where you and I come in. We were born into a world, into a condition, of disconnection. Things were created to be a certain way, and they’re not that way, and we feel it in every fiber of our being.

Is this why the first thing newborns do is cry?

We’re severed and cut off and disconnected in a thousand ways, and we know it, we feel it, we’re aware of it every day. It’s an ache in our bones that won’t go away.

And so from an early age we have this awareness of the state of disconnection we were born into, and we have a longing to reconnect.

Scholars believe that the word sex is related to the Latin word secare, which means “to sever, to amputate, or to disconnect from the whole.” This is where we get words like sect, section, dissect, bisect.

Our sexuality, then, has two dimensions. First, our sexuality is our awareness of how profoundly we’re severed and cut off and disconnected. Second, our sexuality is all the ways we go about trying to reconnect.

Last year I was swimming in the ocean with one of my boys on my back in the midst of a pod of dolphins. They were swimming around us and under us and making their noises, which are incredibly loud and piercing, when one of them shot up into the air above us and did a flip. Right over our heads.

When we describe moments like these, the words we use are rarely about distance. The words are about nearness and connection, sometimes even intimacy.

Your friends just got back from hiking, and they say, “We felt like we could just reach out and touch the mountain.”

I just spent an afternoon with a doctor who donates significant amounts of time working with people who have AIDS and can’t afford proper treatment. He loves it. He talked with great passion about they joy it brings him. He’s a successful, educated, wealthy man who loves to spend his time with the poor, uneducated people who are from a totally different world than he is. He was telling me how his work brings him a sense of connection, an awareness of the simple truth that we aren’t all that different from each other.

These moments move us because they have a sexual dimension. They help us become reconnected. They go against our fallen nature, which is to be cut off.

That’s why music is so powerful. Have you ever noticed that when you ask people why a particular song or concert moved them so much, they often resort to ambiguous explanations?

You get words like emotion and passion and energy and relationship and connection. Music is powerful because it is sexual. It connects us. We generally don’t think of it in those terms but it’s true. The experience of a great concert, with everybody singing together, waving their hands in the air, and a feeling of oneness permeating the room, has a significant sexual dimension to it. We don't know each other, we come from vastly different backgrounds, we disagree on hundreds of issues, but for an evening, we gather around this artist and these songs and we get along. The experience moves us so deeply because it taps into how things were meant to be, and we have so few places where we can experience what God intended on such a large scale.

Whether it's a concert or a church service or a rally for a just cause, certain communal events draw us into something bigger than the event itself. We feel connected with the people we're having the experience with, and not just connected but aware of something bigger than us all that we're brushing up against in the process.

What we’re experiencing in these moments of connection is what God created us to experience all of the time. It’s our natural state. It’s how things are supposed to be."

Sex God
Rob Bell

CLICK HERE to purchase Sex God

good quote from a good book

2007-02-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Will we ever understand the gospel of grace, the furious love of God, the world of grace in which we live? Jesus Christ is the scandal of God. When the Baptizer is imprisoned by Herod, he sends a couple of his followers to ask Jesus: “Are you the One who is to come into the world or should we wait for another?” Jesus says, “Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the poor have the gospel preached to them, the messianic era has erupted into history, and the love of my Father is revealed. Blessed is he who is not scandalized in me.”

We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.

Every parable of mercy in the gospel was addressed by Jesus to His opponents: murmuring scribes, grumbling Pharisees, critical theologians, members of the Sanhedrin. They are enemies of the gospel of grace, indignant because Jesus asserts that God cares about sinners, incensed that He should eat with people they despised. What does He tell them?

These sinners, these people you despise are nearer to God than you. It is not the hookers and thieves who find it most difficult to repent: it is you who are so secure in your piety and pretense that you have no need of conversion. They may have disobeyed God’s call, their professions have debased them, but they have shown sorrow and repentance. But more than any of that, these are people who appreciate His goodness: they are parading into the kingdom before you: for they have what you lack-a deep gratitude for God’s love and deep wonder at His mercy.

Let us ask God for the gift He gave to an unforgettable rabbi, Joshua Abraham Heschel:

“Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of Your universe. Delight me to see how Your Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His, to the Father through the features of men’s faces. Each day enrapture me with Your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all.”

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

happy holidays

2006-12-31T19:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that.

I pray that your New Year will be filled with vision
I pray that your New Year will be filled with faith
I pray that your New Year will be filled with prayer
I pray that your New Year will be filled with worship
I pray that your New Year will be filled with grace
I pray that your New Year will be filled with gratitude
I pray that your New Year will be filled with hope
I pray that your New Year will be filled with patience
I pray that your New Year will eb filled with love
I pray that your New Year will be full of oportunities bless others
I pray that your New Year will have more time for you to "be still and know" that He is God
I pray that your New Year will find you surrounded by family and friends
I pray that your New Year will find you closer to God than ever
I pray that your New Year will find you connecting to God in ways that you never thought possible

grace and peace, jimmy

psalm 12.5

2006-12-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

Into the hovels of the poor, into the dark streets where the homeless groan, God speaks: "I've had enough; I'm on my way To heal the ache in the heart of the wretched."

Psalm 12.5 msg

Thanksgiving in the Rockies

2006-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

We spent our Thanksgiving in Colorado with my brother Ben, and his lovely bride Lindsay! We had several day trips up to the mountains, to take hikes, and this trip to Red Rocks.

Here is the whole family! This is the first time in years that we've had all the siblings in one place at one time! Here's the list of who's who, from the left; Sam, Me, Mary, Dad, Mom, Josiah, Ben, and Hezekiah.

We drove through the Rockies all day Friday to find snow. The boys really wanted to play in the snow. This is the first time Malachi has been in the snow. They had a blast!

It was really cool to be with the whole family for the holidays.

I was a little stressed though. Not because of Thanksgiving, but because I was scheduled to make my speaking debut at church the following weekend! I can usually put my thoughts together pretty good when I can sit down and type something up but speaking to a live audience really freaks me out. So, when we weren't off on field trips I was studying on my laptop preparing for the weekend. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. If you would like to hear the message click the link below. If you don't have time to listen to the whole thing I think the last 15 minutes were the best.
CLICK HERE to listen to Jimmy's message on worship.

if you don't have anything good to say...

2006-11-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted much here lately. A while back I felt convicted that I had let this become my own "soap box" where I could ridicule, criticize, or belittle whoever I wanted. My favorite target was the people, and especially the leadership of the church. I called it speaking the truth in love. The truth is that it wasn't very loving at times.
I do believe that we, as believers, should spur each other on to good works. I believe that iron sharpens iron, but I've also come to the conclusion that when our attacks on each other are less than loving, and all too public, that it can be damaging to the witness of the church. I cringe when I think of the possibility that a non believer could stumble upon my rants and raves as I tear apart the church, and decide that they want nothing to do with such a dysfunctional family.

We are the body of Christ. We are flawed for sure, but we need each other, we need to build each other up, we need to support each other.

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life, your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life, and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face."

Romans 12.1-8

"Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with, even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.

For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help.

Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.

What's important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God's sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you're a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It's God we are answerable to, all the way from life to death and everything in between, not each other. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly, or worse. Eventually, we're all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:

"As I live and breathe," God says,
"every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
that I and only I am God."
So tend to your knitting. You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

Forget about deciding what's right for each other. Here's what you need to be concerned about: that you don't get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is."

Romans 14.1-13

thank you

2006-11-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

I want to say thank you to all of our friends that have stood by us during the past few months. Your thoughts and prayers have meant the world to us. Thank you so much for your support.

It's been two months since we lost Katie's father. The grieving process is a fascinating thing. It sucks. We're still neck deep in dealing with all the emotions that go along with this process. The interesting thing is how vastly differently we deal with it.
I've thrown myself into work and helping out at Albert's house (we're almost finished with the remodel and getting ready to put it on the market). Katie is still having a really hard time with all of this. She still cries a lot.
Obadiah understood immediately what we were telling him when we walked him home from school that day. His grief came in quick, unexpected, violent spurts. Malachi didn't get it for a long time. He would bring the phone to Katie and ask if he could talk to Grandpa Albert. He knew that Grandpa was in heaven but he kept asking when he was coming back, as if he was just on a trip. On this past Saturday we were on the way over to the house to work some more on the remodel and Malachi asked once again, "when is Grandpa coming back from heaven?" I told him, "buddy, he's not coming back. That's where he lives now."
And it finally clicked. He cried all the way to the house.

Still, every day gets a little better. Little by little. I've got a friend who lost his father a few years ago and he tells me "it never goes away, you just get used to it." Maybe that's what is happening. Maybe we're just getting used to the pain, little by little.

Thanks again for your prayers.

grace and peace, jimmy

the grove

2006-09-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

Two months ago I told you about my favorite place on earth. I told you about the grove in Northern California, the place that makes me feel closer to God. I told you that in my opinion it was the most beautiful place in all of creation.

What I didn't tell you was how I found the grove. I was introduced to this amazing place by my Father In Law, Albert Merritt.

The first time Albert took me to the grove he told me that this was his favorite place on earth, that it made him feel closer to God, and that in his opinion it was the most beautiful place in all of creation.

We visited the grove again yesterday. This time it was to spread Albert's ashes.

I learned a lot of things from Albert. He had a deep love of God, and it was contagious. He was passionate. If he loved something you had to love it too. If he liked a book, he'd buy 6 copies and hand them out. Same thing with CD's. He was the same way about his love for Jesus. He wanted you to experience the same joy he felt. He had a relationship with his kids and grandkids that I hope to have with my kids and grandkids. He accepted me into his family and loved me as one of his own. He talked straight. You never head to guess what he was thinking. He loved life, but he didn't hold on too tightly. He wasn't afraid to die.

His death was tragic and unexpected and our family is still in shock. We are mourning the loss of his companionship for ourselves and our children. We will miss him.

We appreciate your prayers as we navigate this painful chapter in our lives.

I'm getting old

2006-08-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how big my kids are getting! Obadiah is getting so tall, and Malachi is outgrowing all of his clothes! I'm amazed at how smart they are getting and how quickly they are turning from little kids into big boys!

Today was a milestone for us. It is Obadiah's first day of school! He's been so excited! For the last two weeeks he's been counting down the days to when he could start school. He would frequently say, "I wish summer was over so I could go to school!"

I'm gonna remind him of that someday.

there's got to be a better way...

2006-07-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

closer to God

2006-07-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a recurring theme lately in stuff I've been reading or listening to. The theme is "Sabbath". Everywhere I go I hear people saying that we need to slow down, turn off the cell phone, get away from the office, disconnect. Sabbath is a biblical principal that has been all but ignored by the church. Sabbath is more than going to church once a week. Sabbath is stopping EVERYTHING for one day a week to just rest, relax, and experience God.

There are two podcasts which I just listened to the other day that were on this very topic. One podcast was featuring an interview with Rob Bell, author of "Velvet Elvis", and the other was an interview of Eugene Peterson, author of "The Message".
Both podcasts are from the people who put on the Catalyst Conference. You can go to www.catalystspace.com to download the podcast and sign up for their online newsletter, and you can subscribe to their podcast at iTunes.

Katie and I are going to endeavour to make Sabbath a priority for our family. We are committing one day a week to relaxing. No work, no lists, no errands, no shopping, no church, no cell phones, no email, nothing, just relaxing and enjoying God's, and each other's presence.

When I want to get close to God I try to find a quiet place, outdoors if possible, where I can experience the beauty of God's creation. Last week Katie and I went with family and friends to the Northern Coast of California. We spent several days in one of the most beautiful places on earth. As soon as I got out of cell phone range it almost felt like I could feel my soul batteries being charged. I love getting away like this.

This makes me feel closer to God.

Our favorite campground is up in Humboldt County. It's called Hidden Springs. It's right next to the Eel River, and it's right on the "Avenue of the Giants". We had a blast so I thought I'd share a few pictures from our trip.

Here are Obadiah, and Malachi and their cousins Hannah, and Summer. We had the best time going on hikes through the forest!

The boys called this picture their "America's Next Top Model" picture. Strike a pose!

Here is the boy's tent. This is the first time the braved the elements in their own tent.

Here is our swimming hole on the South Fork of the Eel River. It's within walking distance of our campground. This redwood tree fell into the river years and years ago. It landed just right so that it sticks up out of the water like a built in diving board.

And what is camping without SMORES?!?!?!

Obadiah prefers his marshmallows EXTRA well done. Cajun style in fact.

One of our favorite spots to go is a special grove. The ground is covered with sorrel, it looks like four leaf clovers. There are also ferns all over the place. It is so beautiful. This is my favorite place in the entire world.

Good times.

dang!!!

2006-06-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

Forecast calls for highs of 104 today and tomorrow.

How I spent my summer vacation

2006-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

Katie and I got a chance to spend a week in the nation's capitol. It was also our 8th anniversary! We got there at about midnight the day before Memorial Day. Most of these pictures were taken on Memorial day.

There were lots of festivities going on for the holiday. These guys were all dressed up in wartime uniforms from previous wars.

It's been about 16 years since I've been in DC so the World War II memorial was new to me. It was pretty amazing. The fountains were beautiful and left a nice cool mist floating about. It was over 90 degrees each day we were there and the humidity was horrible so it was a nice treat to walk by the fountains.

This wall had over 4,000 golden stars on it, 1 star for every 100 men killed in World War II. It was very sobering to think of all the lives lost.

After the WWII memorial we walked over to the Lincoln memorial. As we were walking up to it we looked up to see Marine One, the President's helicopter flying by. The President was on his way over the Potomac to Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremony at the Tomb of the unknown soldier.

There were hundreds of Vietnam Vets in town for Memorial Day. The streets shook with the sound of their Harley Davidsons. They were all over the Vietnam Vets memorial. It was moving to see these men looking up to see the names of their friends etched in stone.

This is the flag that was draped over the side of the Pentagon on September 12th, 2001.

A few days later we went back to the National Mall to see the museums, and historic museums. We went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was a very emotional experience. I've seen pictures of the Holocaust, and footage from Auschwitz, so I thought I was prepared for what I was about to see.
But there was one thing that caught me off guard. One of the first things that you see when you walk into the exhibit is coats that were taken off of the backs of the Jewish prisoners before they were lead into the gas chambers.

At about eye level were two children's coats that would have fit my sons perfectly.

We wandered around the Library of Congress for hours. It is in itself a magnificent work of art.

One of the most treasured articles in the Library of Congress is one of the few remaining Gutenberg Bibles. It was really amazing to see it in person. I didn't realize it but I wasn't supposed to take pictures of it. Sorry Officer...

We spent the large part of our last day in DC at the National Gallery of Art. Katie and I really enjoy fine art and this was a really good museum. Here I am with the "Self Portrait" by Van Gogh, my personal favorite. It's so cool to look up close at these beautiful works of art that you've only seen in a book. You could see every single brush stroke. I was literally shaking.

Katie really liked these paintings by Georgia O'Keefe.

After spending all day in the National Gallery of Art and a great dinner at Capitol City Brewing Katie and I decided to walk the whole National Mall area after dark. If you're going to go to DC you've really got to see the Monuments at night!
This was an inscription at the Jefferson Memorial. It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but the first half of the inscription is pretty amazing. It reads:

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

This is at the FDR memorial. Katie and I had never even heard of it. Apparently it's a fairly new one and most of the people we've talked to haven't heard of it either. It was a really cool memorial. These fountains were all over the place, along with many depression era FDR quotes.

Honest Abe, quite an imposing figure, even more imposing at night. He looks amazing all lit up like that. Plus, he's HUGE!!!

This is my favorite picture form our trip. It's almost midnight and Katie is sitting at the World War II memorial looking past the fountains to the Washington Monument. That was a really beautiful moment.

We had a great trip and it was very refreshing, but it's nice to be back home and to tuck our babies in at night.

good quote from a good book

2006-06-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

I've been reading this book by Brian McLaren about the ways that Jesus communicated his message. He contends that Jesus spoke in many parables, and hidden messages, but he always spoke in the language of his peers. The chapter that I'm in now is titled "the Language of the Kingdom". One of the points that Brian makes is that Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is like..." Brian suggests that if Jesus were speaking to us today he may not even use the term "kingdom". Today you hardly ever see a King that actually rules over his land. In fact when we see a King most of the time that Kingship is symbolic. The power is held by others in government, the royal family is really there as a matter of tradition. It gives the peasants the warm fuzzies. Do you really think that's what Jesus had in mind? Didn't think so. Again Jesus spoke the language of the people.

Brian suggest that instead of the term "Kingdom" of God we might use other terms interchangably. For example, the "Dream" of God, the "Revolution" of God, the "Mission" of God, the "Party" of God, the "Network" of God, and the "Dance" of God.

Side note; I get most of my reading done on the elliptical at the gym. By the time I got done reading the section I'm about to share with you I was unable to hold back tears. It was pretty embarrassing. When the dude with the tattoos and spiky hair starts boo hoo-ing on the elliptical, EVERYONE notices. They stare, they whisper, and they point their fingers. I thought the pointing was a bit overboard, but that's just me.

Here is an excerpt of the section that talks about the "Party" of God;

"The party of God. Jesus often compared the kingdom to parties, feasts, and banquets. Today we could say that God is inviting people to leave their gang fights and come to a party, to leave their workaholism and rat race and come to a party, to leave their loneliness and isolation and join the party, to leave their exclusive parties (political ones, for example, which win elections by dividing electorates) and join one inclusive party of a different sort, to stop fighting or complaining or hating or competing and instead start partying and celebrating the goodness and love of God.

Just today I met some folks from a church in Minneapolis who demonstrate this metaphor in a dramatic and fun way. A group of them gather on a street corner in a poor part of town. They take overturned trash cans, old pots and pans, and an assortment of drums and other percussion instruments and start creating a loud, joyful rhythm. Soon a crowd gathers. It's impossible not to smile when you hear the joyful music being made mostly from junk. Homeless folk and people from the neighborhood start dancing. Then the church members start distributing food-not in the somber style of a soup kitchen, but in the joyful atmosphere of a street party. They don't have to say a word, really, they're demonstrating their message-that the kingdom of God is like a street party to which everybody is invited.

My friend Tony Campolo tells a true story that also serves as a great parable in this regard. He was in another time zone and couldn't sleep, so well after midnight he wandered down to a doughnut shop where, it turned out, local hookers also came at the end of a night of turning tricks. There, he overheard a conversation between two of them. One, named Agnes, said, "You know what? Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm gonna be thirty-nine." Her friend snapped back, "So what d'ya want from me? A birthday party? Huh? You want me to get a cake and sing happy birthday to you?" The first woman replied, "Aw, come on, why do you have to be so mean? Why do you have to put me down? I'm just sayin' it's my birthday. I don't want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I've never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?"

When they left, Tony got an idea. He asked the shop owner if Agnes came in every night, and when he replied in the affirmative, Tony invited him into a surprise party conspiracy. The shop owner's wife even got involved. Together they arranged for a cake, candles, and typical party decorations for Agnes, who was, to Tony, a complete stranger. The next night when she came in, they shouted, "Surprise!"-and Agnes couldn't believe her eyes. The doughnut shop patrons sang, and she began to cry so hard she could barely blow out the candles. When the time came to cut the cake, she asked if they'd mind if she didn't cut it, if she could bring it home-just to keep it for a while and savor the moment. So she left, carrying her cake like a treasure.

Tony led the guests in a prayer for Agnes, after which the shop owner told Tony he didn't realize Tony was a preacher. He asked what kind of church Tony came from, and Tony replied, "I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” The shop owner couldn't believe him. "No you don't. There ain't no church like that. If there was, I'd join it. Yep, I'd join a church like that." Sadly, there are too few churches like that, but if more of us understand the secret message of Jesus, there will be lots more."

CLICK HERE to go to Brian McLaren's website
CLICK HERE to purchase "the Secret Message of Jesus"

a tribute to mothers

2006-05-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

Mothers birth us, care for us, teach us, discipline us, and love us, always.

When we’re sick, she stays by our side.
When we fall down, she dusts us off.
When it’s cold outside she reminds us to bring a sweater.
When we wonder “Can I do it?” she cheers us on.
When we accomplish a goal she says, “I’m so proud of you.”
When we go to school for the first time, she acts brave, but we know she’s nervous.
When we bring home a note from the principal she reminds us that she loves us, but there are still consequences to our actions.
When we go on our first date, she paces the room while anxiously watching the clock.
When we head off for college, she reminds us to watch what we eat, and to keep our room clean.
When we choose a mate, she knows that they’re not good enough for us.
When we raise our own family with loving care she knows that she has done her job well.

So, to all the mothers out there we say, “Thank You”. We commend you for your strength and perseverance.

We count on your love.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

The strangest thing happened the other night, I was at a bar and a worship service broke out!

2006-05-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

"There is no better loss than to lose myself in You..."

I got the chance to see MuteMath at Slim's in San Francisco on Thursday night. I had heard about their live shows and I have their debut EP so I was familiar with their music. Their live show was absolutely amazing! The energy they put out on stage was just incredible! If you ever get the chance to see them I highly recommend it!
Their music is great and their lyrics are very straightforward and some of the lyrics directly quote scripture. At several points in the evening you could see people with hands upraised singing along in worship right in the middle of this dimly lit bar. It was really an amazing experience.

Imago Dei

2006-05-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

"Imago Dei is taken from the Latin meaning the "Image of God". This concept and theological doctrine states that human beings are created in God's image and therefore have inherent value independent of their utility or function. The moral implications of the doctrine of Imago Dei are apparent in the fact that if humans are to love God, then humans must love other humans, as each is an expression of God. The ability and desire to love one's self and others, and therefore, God, can become neglected and even opposed. Striving to bring about the Imago Dei in one's life can be seen as the quest for wholeness, or one's "essential" self, as pointed to in Christ's life and teachings."

I was listening to a podcast recently where several moderators and a large crowd were discussing the theological implications of the movie "Crash". The movie deals with the subjects of racism, hatred, power, greed, loss, and love. It is a moving work of art which is very difficult to watch at times. This is one of those movies that you end up talking about for a long time after you see it. I had heard several discussions about this movie but when I heard about this podcast and that they were talking about what we can learn of God's character, and our nature through this film I had to have a listen.

The discussion centered around this phrase; "Imago Dei". The thought was that all people are made in the image of God, all bearing His likeness, and none more or less valuable in His sight. The moderators talked about the fact that people who are racist see themselves as better than those who are different. They said that the people who were power hungry and greedy saw themselves are better, smarter, and more important than those around them.

I sat back listening to this discussion and nodding my head. "Oh yeah, absolutely! I agree. Those darn racists are horrible. I can't believe how they think they are better than everyone else. I am SO glad I'm not like that!"

Over the next several days the term Imago Dei kept turning about in my head. I became convicted that there were areas in my life were I had thought of myself as better than someone else. Subtle thoughts crept in. Thoughts that I was more valuable because I was better looking, or in better shape, or more talented, or smarter, or because I had more money than someone else.

I was feeling pretty self righteous when I was watching that movie. Thinking to myself, "Thank God I'm not a sinner like that." And yet the root of that sin was showing up in my everyday life. I've thought a lot about the "Imago Dei" and what that means to treat others as they deserve to be treated because they are made in the image of God. It's made me think a lot more, and talk a lot less. I'm trying to love others the way that God loves me. It's hard. It's a big deal to try to change my thought processes to be less self centered. It's work. It takes a conscience effort to evaluate each of my thoughts. I need to take my thoughts captive. I need to make sure I am thinking the right thoughts and doing the right things for the right reasons.

I'm trying to see others the way that God sees them.

He is not here... He is risen

2006-04-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

He is risen indeed!

May you experience God's pleasure on this resurrection Sunday.

Happy Easter!!!

passover

2006-04-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Sundown, Wednesday. The beginning of the Passover Feast.

It's so easy for us to get so caught up in tradition that we forget that the events that we read about really happened to these people. The Last Supper wasn't some static event that happened in a vacuum. It's more than just a story, more than a painting. It really happened. I've been trying to contemplate the reality of the everyday thoughts, fears, joys, and all the other emotions that the followers of Jesus had during Holy Week.

I'm looking at the clock right now at 5:32pm on Wednesday afternoon and thinking of what it must have felt like for the followers of Jesus as they prepared for the Passover Feast on this evening so many years ago. They had been traveling so I'm sure they were looking forward to the Passover to sit back, relax, eat a little, drink a little wine, and enjoy each others company. It must have been nice to get away from the crowds and have just the core group around them.

Then, as they are eating Jesus begins to speak. "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me." The Bible says that they began to ask one by one, "It isn't me, is it, Master?"

"Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, 'It isn't me, is it, Rabbi?'
Jesus said, 'Don't play games with me, Judas.'"

Matthew 26.25 msg

OH SNAP!!! That must've changed the dynamic in the room. Are you kidding?!?! One of the twelve?!?! One of the elite chosen few?!?!? OUTRAGE!!!

Then Jesus starts talking CRAZY TALK! "Eat my flesh, drink my blood..." WHAT?!?!?

WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?

By the end of the night they would end up at the Mount of Olives, and the garden at Gethsemane. Jesus would continue to bewilder them by telling Peter, one of the closest to Him, that he would betray Jesus. This can't be. Say it 'aint so Peter. Then eventually by the end of the night Judas shows up and greets Jesus with a kiss. Soldiers appear out of nowhere. Jesus is arrested. The disciples flee in fear for their lives.

What were they thinking at that moment?

What happened? This was supposed to be the King. We thought He was going to conquer the Romans, and now he's been arrested?
This isn't at all what we thought about when He kept talking about "His Kingdom." We thought we were going to be ruling and reigning with him and now we are hiding to save our own skins?

What went wrong?

palm sunday

2006-04-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this? The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

Matthew 21:1-11

I was learning a new song for Palm Sunday called "Hosanna" when I learned something interesting. I learned that Hosanna means "Save Us". I always thought that Hosanna meant "Here is the King", or "This is the promised One", or "praise Him", or "He is worthy". I never realized it was a plea.

Since the fall of man there has been a seperation between the Creator and the created. Mankind has longed for that "connection" to God that we were created to enjoy. Ever since sin entered the world there has been an empty spot in man's soul that could only be filled by that connection.

I wonder if there was some sort of sense that the "connection" could finally be re-established on that day of the Triumphal Entry. I wonder if that is why they cried out "SAVE US"?

good quote from a good book

2006-03-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I used to listen to this Mark Cohn album over and over. He had a song on it about his father and how his father had a silver Thunderbird and used to get up in the morning, very early, and start the car and go driving down the street. Mark Cohn's father used to say that a Thunderbird is better than a Buick, and a Thunderbird is better than a foreign car, and if there is a God up in heaven, He drives a silver Thunderbird. I like that song, but I don't think God drives a silver Thunderbird. And I know nobody really believes that sort of thing, that God drives a Thunderbird, but there are people who believe other crazy ideas about God.

I've met people who say God is mad at people, throwing dishes like an alcoholic on a binge, and others who paint God as a fairy running through flowers waving a wand at a unicorn. And all these people are convinced they are right.

The very scary thing about religion, to me, is that people actually believe God is who they think He is. By that I mean they have Him all figured out, mapped out, and as my pastor, Rick, says, "dissected and put into jars on a shelf." You've got a bunch of Catholics in Rome who think one way about God, and a bunch of Baptists in Texas who think another, and that isn't even the beginning. It goes on and on and on like this, and it makes me wonder if God created us in His image or if we created Him in ours. And it isn't just religion, either.

I met a guy not long ago who was very conservative and had opinions all over him, and he was saying why God agreed with his political ideas and why that made his political ideas right. And I was feeling like this guy with the opinions was presenting a kind of Jesus who didn't even exist. His Jesus was just an invention of his imagination, someone who more or less justified his position concerning a lot of different political opinions. Sitting there listening to him made me feel tired. People like that should have an island.

But I suppose I can't blame him because, in my life, God is always changing the way I think of Him. I am not saying God Himself is changing, or that my theology is open and I blur the lines on truth; I am only saying I think I know who He is, then I figure out I don't know very much at all. For instance, and as I have said, a lot of people believe God responds to formulas, but He doesn't.

So that is one example of how our idea of God is always becoming a bit more accurate. And that's one of the things you notice about Jesus in the Gospels, that He is always going around saying, “you have heard it said such and such, but I tell you some other thing.”

If you happened to be a person who thought they knew everything about God, Jesus would have been completely annoying.

CLICK HERE to get "Searching For God Know's What".

what we've been up to...

2006-03-20T22:23:00.000-08:00

Katie and a few of her friends are opening their own salon! She's been doing hair and makeup for weddings and special events for about 8 years and decided to open up a full service salon. They are calling it "the Powder Room".

This is one of Katie's partners, Deeanna, in the building. Before we got it, it was a second hand store that was stuffed from floor to ceiling with every imaginable item.

The first step in getting ready was demolition!!! This building was in serious need of an overhaul. This is Katie with her other partner Jennifer tearing up the old flooring. They had clients booked already so we were on a deadline. Everyone helped out.

Remodeling is dusty.

After the demolition it was time to start rebuilding! This is my Dad and I installing the hardwood floors. With the tight deadline we were at the building until midnight most nights. One night we stayed until quarter to 4 in the morning!!! I still haven't recovered.

On Tuesday morning the building looked like a construction site. By midnight Tuesday night it looked like this! We had clients booked for Wednesday morning!

They've decided to go with a "shabby chic" motif. They found most of the furniture used, and then painted it white and pink to match the salon look. Some of the furniture was more shabby than chic. Oh well, beggers can't be choosers.

We got done just in time for the first clients! There are a few last things to get done before it's totally finished, but it looks great already! I'm so proud of Katie and her crew. They've done an awesome job!

miracles DO happen!!!

2006-03-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Woman Gets Beer From Her Kitchen Faucet!

It almost seemed like a miracle to Haldis Gundersen when she turned on her kitchen faucet this weekend and found the water had turned into beer.

Two flights down, employees and customers at the Big Tower Bar were horrified when water poured out of the beer taps.

By an improbable feat of clumsy plumbing, someone at the bar in Kristiandsund, western Norway, had accidentally hooked the beer hoses to the water pipes for Gundersen's apartment.

CLICK HERE to read the story.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Benjamin Franklin

living a lifestyle of worship

2006-02-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

I went to visit a friend in prison the other day. There is an overall feeling of despair at the prison. There are family members that have traveled great distances to see their loved ones. Little boys and girls dressed in their Sunday best looking forward to seeing Daddy for the first time in months, maybe even years. You can feel the sense of hopelessness. I can only imagine the hardships that these families face on a daily basis, facing the struggles of everyday life without the benefit of a Father, or Husband to be by their side.

Before you get into the visitation room you have to sit outside the prison visiting offices and wait for them to call a number that you have on your visiting slip. There are benches and picnic tables for you to sit at while you wait. I sat down and listened for my number to be called.
As I sat there I began thinking about what we call "living a lifestyle of worship". I talk about this with my Christian friends and we agree that we shouldn't just worship while we are in church but that we should experience Gods presence in our everyday lives. The theory is that when we experience God in our everyday lives that this will somehow minister to those around us. Not that we are trying to preach at every chance, but that when we focus on loving God that somehow this can affect people around us without us even trying. Ministry would be a natural outflow of our relationship with God.
To be honest I was having a hard time with this. I haven't been "feeling it" lately. It kind of felt like it was just another cute Christian saying that we throw around to make ourselves feel better. But I wanted to believe it, I wanted it to be true. I just didn't feel like it had been true in my life, at least lately.
In this outdoor waiting area I sat there and prayed silently. It was a beautiful sunny day and as I was praying I looked around at the hills and the trees and the clouds that were floating above me. I had an incredible sense of God's presence as I talked to Him and enjoyed the beauty of His creation.
It was a beautiful sensation, I could feel His presence. I remember looking over towards the prison and seeing a small bird behind the gates with barbed wire. The bird hopped around a bit and then took off, flying past the gates and into the sky. I watched the bird until I couldn't see it anymore. As I was watching this and praying silently a song came to mind.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

I began quietly humming this song to myself as I watched the bird fly past the prison gates. This felt like worship to me, just me and God, spending some time together. As I sat there in silence the woman who had been sitting next to me said out loud, "His eye is on the sparrow... and I know He's watching over me." I hadn't realized that anyone could hear me. I was actually a little embarrassed. I smiled at her and said, "He does indeed." Then she leaned over and said, "Thank you. That was God's confirmation for me today." I just smiled at her and nodded.

The thing that amazed me when I though about this later in the day was that this just seemed so natural. It wasn't spooky, or weird, it just seemed so natural, like it was supposed to be that way. I was just enjoying God's presence, worshiping Him in my everyday life, and somehow it ministered to someone else without me even trying. This is what living a lifestyle of worship is all about.

I think the key to finding this "place" of worship is actively looking for it. We need to quiet the busyness, the frantic pace, and the noise that surrounds us and look for God in our everyday life. I believe that when we do this we will find Him in the most unlikely places.

good quote from a good book

2006-02-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

"Close your eyes, friend, and imagine. You're high up in the air, in an aisle seat, looking past your neighbor and out the window. Down below you is a mass of cloud cover looking like fresh snow, marbled, marked with divots and craggy monuments of white. Imagine that your understanding of reality is defined by this view: what you see out the window and what's proximate to you there in the plane's cabin. The airplane and its passengers are what you might call a small, unique closed system moving inside what appears to be a vast space with a visible boundary of white mass below. Many well-meaning Christians, gathered together in various sects, present Christianity in just this way. They invite you to view reality from a very small window, and they are quite certain they're providing you with an absolutely objective view of reality. If you join them, you are expected to see as the sect sees. Failure to embrace their view of reality is sometimes commensurate with failure to be a follower of Jesus. And when people say you're not, and you are, it is very hurtful--and very troubling. For sects such as these, 'anything other than absolute, unqualified, mathematically certifiable authenticity betrayed a soul adrift.'
Let's imagine some more. Get out of your seat, reach into the compartment above, and carry the yellow package to the rest room.

It's a parachute.

Strap it on.

Now go to the big door with the red sign, open it, and jump.

When you pass through the white stuff, pull the cord. As you pass through the clouds, down below, previously hidden from your view, is a world of wonder and wickedness, joy and pain, sex, truth, and lies. It's a place full of story where words are as plentiful as stars in the sky. And there's land and promise. Land where God walked. Land belonging to Him, promise belonging to Him. It's a place where men and women, boys and girls, either serve themselves or serve the God of the land and sky and all that ever was and is. This land and sea, this earth and water, is the jazz of God and humanity: order and improvisation, beauty and ashes, boundary and freedom, choice and counterchoice, mistakes and all. It is a place of storytelling and storied living."

Charlie Peacock
New Way to Be Human

i love these online quizzes

2006-02-20T16:02:00.000-08:00

I am the “SPANK-INATOR”!!!

What is your “SINNER” name?

Answer these simple questions to find out your “sinner” name!!!

Pick the one statement below that you identify with most. Then, match up the corresponding letter with the number at the bottom of the quiz to find your “sinner” name!!!

1. I have a hard time staying away from porn sites when the computer is on and no one is around.

2. I enjoy engaging in sexual activity with people of the same sex. No one knows, but if my friends knew I don’t think they would let me come to church anymore.

3. I look forward to quiet nights at home alone so that I can touch myself inappropriately.

4. I have a hard time controlling my mouth. I use the Lord’s name in vain quite frequently.

5. I love to talk about other people’s problems. It’s not really gossip as long as I’m passing along a “prayer request” right?

6. I love to eat. I don’t care if it makes me fat. I don’t care if I am “desecrating the temple”.

7. I’m married, but I have sexual relations with someone other than my wife/husband.

8. I shoplift sometimes, but only when I’m positive I can get away with it.

9. I take scriptures out of context and twist them to make them say what I want them to.

10. I am as concerned, if not more, about my appearance on Sunday morning than I am about the content of the service, or my spiritual progress. I am smokin’ hot baby!

11. I do not have all the things that I deserve. Others around me have way more than me, and aren’t half the Christian that I am.

12. I see lukewarm Christians all around me. I wish they would all grow up. I feel that God has given me the gift of discernment and I feel it is my Christian duty to show these sinners the error of their ways.

13. Ohmigawd... what's wrong with me? I answered yes to ALL the questions!!!

All right kids. Take a minute to pick the one statement that rings true for you. Think about it. You don’t want to end up with the wrong “sinner” name!

Once you have picked your answer scroll down and match up the number from your answer to the numbered answers in the list of “sinner” names below. Share the answer with your friends. Come back after your sin pattern changes and take the quiz again! Who knows, maybe you’ll cycle through several names over the course of time?

Answer Key:
1. The Porn-meister
2. The Homo-nator
3. The Spank-inator
4. The Cuss-meister
5. The Yap-meister
6. The Glutton-ator
7. The Cheat-meister
8. The Theif-inator
9. The Heretic-inator
10. The Vain-meister
11. The Envy-inator
12. The Judge-meister
13. Apparently, you are the Antichrist

The above survey is obviously a joke. I got the idea from my friend the Porn-meister in a recent comment. The idea of being identified by your sin got me thinking. I thought I’d have a little fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously, don’t get your panties in a twist. It’s OK to laugh at ourselves every once in a while… honest.

black church conference creates network to fight anti-gay bias

2006-02-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

At the first Black Church Summit, participants formed a new national network to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians in African American churches.

More than 200 African American ministers and gay activists from across the country gathered at the two-day meeting near downtown Atlanta to discuss how to make black churches more accepting of gays.

Participants said bias within black churches has not only led gays and lesbians to feel excluded, it has contributed to the "down low" phenomenon -- of men having sex with men while maintaining a heterosexual identity. Bias has been seen as increasing the incidence of AIDS and HIV infection among African Americans, especially women.

Many attendees agreed that churches are the largest and strongest institutions in the black community and that everyone should feel welcome in them.

The new Black Church Social Justice Community Action will work in churches throughout the country to promote a black, faith-based movement that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and opposes bans on same-sex marriage.

Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been vocal in his support for including gays in faith communities and for same-sex marriage since his run for president in 2004, said he welcomed the effort.

"It's not a question of bringing gays and lesbians into the church," Sharpton said. "It's about having a discussion because they are already there, and not just in the choirs. We can't ignore part of the congregation. I'm willing to take whatever criticism is necessary to start the dialogue."

The Rev. Ken Samuel, pastor at the Victory for the World church in Stone Mountain, Ga., said he condemned homosexuality when he started his mega-church, and his membership grew. One day Samuel had a revelation, remembering a childhood friend who committed suicide because he felt ostracized by the church for his sexuality. When he started preaching inclusion, he said, he lost about half of his 5,000 members.

"There is a disconnect between religion and reality, and it contributed to the death of a young man," Samuel said. "That set me on this path to try and figure it out. We have to find ways to incorporate it with the Bible the same as was done with slavery. The Bible condones slavery. We have to interpret rather than exclude."

What are your thoughts on this?

you've got mail

2006-02-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

I just got one of these Blackberry phones that have all the bells and whistles. I am connected at all times. I can do it all, email, text message, IM, web browsing, contacts, calendar, and even pong! It beeps at me every five minutes or so when a new email comes in. You don't realize how much stinking email you get until something beeps at you every single time you get one!
I just read an article in Relevant Magazine about our email habits. It said:

Email traffic over the World Wide Web has grown from 5.1 billion messages a day in 2000 to 135.6 billion messages daily in 2005. Worldwide email traffic is projected to grow from 171 billion messages per day in 2006, to 331 billion messages per day by 2009.
Here's a look at the frequency of our email habits:

60% check email while on vacation
41% check email in the morning before going to work
25% never go more than a few days without checking email
4% check email while in the bathroom

I can say that thanks to my new Blackberry I am one of the proud, the few, the ones able to answer email while on the pot.

Speaking of pot, I remembered reading about another study on the effects of email on our brains. It was a research study by Hewlett Packard UK. Here is a small excerpt of their study:

Info Mania, is it reducing your IQ?
"The abuse use of “always-on” office technology has led to a nationwide state of “Info-Mania” where UK workers are literally addicted to checking messages. Mobile technology offers massive productivity benefits in the hands of those who know how to use it, but irresponsible use means that workers are not seeing the benefits they should.

New research, commissioned on behalf of technology experts Hewlett Packard, reveals that 62% of adults are addicted to checking messages out of office hours and whilst on holiday. Half of workers will respond to an email immediately or within 60 minutes and one in five people are “happy” to interrupt a business or social meeting to respond to an email or telephone message.

Perhaps more worrying is the effect of Info-Mania on workers IQ. Far from making workers more productive, the findings of a new scientific experiment reveal that those who “over juggle” and who constantly disrupt their day to read and respond to messages reduce their IQ significantly. In a series of tests carried out by Dr Glenn Wilson, Reader in Personality at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, an average worker’s functioning IQ falls ten points when distracted by ringing telephones and incoming emails. This drop in IQ is more than double the four point drop seen following studies on the impact of SMOKING MARIJUANA!!!"

At least email won't give you the munchies.

good quote from a good book

2006-02-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

"So more and more I discovered, progressively, that I do love all things dark, all things secular. While somewhere deep inside I was still committed to Christ and was still fully committed to the Godly development of the ministry I work in, I began to wonder where my real love lie.

I knew that I had committed to Christ in a gut-wrenching moment of conviction nearly five years ago, and that I had been up and down ever since. The thing was, I had to wonder if my faith at some point in time had left its authentic roots and moved to more cultural grounds. I’ve found it is bad to have a faith that is based in the surrounding culture. This is different than having a culturally relevant faith.

A culturally relevant faith is a faith where you do not shun the outside world; where you know and respect and include yourself in the lives of the very people you are trying to reach. But a faith based in surrounding culture is a faith that is there only because your friends do it, or because it gave you a social group that you don’t want to leave, or because your family tells you that you need it, or because other Christians tell you it’s essential to keeping your salvation.

I don’t want that kind of faith. I want a faith where I do follow God because I sincerely want to. I want a faith where I do the right things because God would have me do them. But that, in essence, is the problem. I involve myself in the picture too much. I want not to be human. Look back at how many times I mentioned myself in that sentence, versus how many times God is mentioned: I want a faith where I do the right things because God would have me do them. It’s a three-to-one- ratio.

In the deep, intimate corridors in my life reserved only for private conversation with my own thoughts, Satan has convinced me that I want to do Godly things, and that I want to live in a Godly way. Satan knows I will put the pressure on myself, and since I am a human, sinful by nature to the core, I will fail miserably. I will tell myself that I’m a bad Christian, and will continue to let my faith go because I was never good at it in the first place. Or perhaps I will succeed, only because I don’t want to loose face in front of my Christian friends. But that would not be authentic Christianity; that would be cultural or social Christianity.

God knows I can’t live this way. Why did I fail so bad and do what I did that night? Why have I had a better time living borderline than living as a follower of Christ? Because I tried to do it. And frankly, I suck at trying to follow Christ on my own, without His help. We all suck at it. I do, you do. Every church and ministry leader throughout history does. And even in all of our suckiness, we are prideful. We as humans want to make it ourselves, and not ask anyone for any help, not even God."

Jeff Nash
Churches, Pubs, & Hostels

CLICK HERE to order "Churches, Pubs, & Hostels"
CLICK HERE to read more of Jeff's work.

judge allows man to change name to "Jesus Christ"

2006-02-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

Jesus Christ, AKA Jose Luis Espinal, 42, of Washington Heights, NY said he was "happy" and "grateful" that a judge recently approved his name change. Espinal said he was moved to seek the name change about a year ago when it dawned on him, "I am the person that is that name."
The judge defended her decision by saying, "Espinal's reasons were primarily those applicable to his own private religious beliefs and he stated no desire to use his proposed name to secure publicity, to proselytize, to fund-raise or advise others that he had been cloaked by the courts or government with a religious authority."
Espinal, who is unemployed, unmarried and has no children, said, "This was not done for any reason other than I am that person. You're dealing with the real deal."

In related news:
A pennsylvania man named Paul S. Sewell has taken to signing his name "God". He claims that this is legal and acceptable. The Berks County Registrars office isn't so sure. "The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation accepted it on my driver's license. I have a credit card with it," he said. "It shouldn't be a problem." As the owner of a bail enforcement agency Paul says he's used to being called God, "Whenever I go to arrest somebody, they say, 'Oh, God, give me another chance. Oh, God, let me go. I'll turn myself in tomorrow'".

Interesting side note: Apparently "God" is a registered Republican.

when I said "create excellent art" this is NOT what I had in mind...

2006-02-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

Mark Fox, AKA "Lil' Markie" is a christian recording artist. As far as I know he's the first christian artist to parlay a multipersonality disorder into a traveling "music ministry". Mark sings as himself then switches voices to Lil' Markie, taking on a really, really creepy voice. He says he's singing as his younger self, singing as a child.

All I know is that it's super freaky. I'll share a few of the hits with you.

First CLICK HERE to check out "Diary of an unborn child."
Then CLICK HERE to listen to "Story of an alcoholic father."

And finally... The pièce de résistance...

CLICK HERE to see live video of Lil' Markie in all his glory!!! It's a large file but SO worth the wait.
You've GOT to stick around for the second half!

get rich off Christ dyin'

2006-01-31T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was in a recent church service where the pastor was talking about the evils of the entertainment business, Hollywood, violent video games, and MTV. He was saying that these media vehicles were spiraling out of control. More violence, more sex, more depravity.
In conversation since then I've posed the question, "are Christians partly to blame for this problem?" Here is my theory: Christians in the media, left their positions of influence to create a smaller niche where they could completely control the content; "christian entertainment". Christian consumers took their purchasing power to a "christian marketplace" abandoning the popular marketplace. How can we complain about how bad everything has gotten when we abandoned that marketplace a long time ago? We retreated to our own subculture. We left "them" to their own devices. We created our own music, our own literature, our own clothing, our own art, in my town there are even a few "christian restaurants"! They are owned and operated by Christians and they market through word of mouth; "have you been to "so 'n so's", Oh you should really check it out... they're Christians!"

I understand the initial thought of these separatists. They were trying to be holy, trying to be separate. But if the end result is that we've become so separate that we are rendered impotent is it really worth it?

Another aspect of the "christian marketplace" that worries me is the thought that if you put a christian label on it, Christians will buy it. I read a review of a video game a few years back. The game was about a paper delivery boy. The paperboy would go along his route throwing papers in order to get to the end of the game where a bikini clad young woman jumped up and down to congratulate him on a job well done. It was a stupid game.
The game flopped.
The gaming company had a brilliant idea. They changed the game up a little bit. The had the paperboy deliver Bibles. They changed the story line so that the paperboy was on his way to Sunday School. They changed the bikini babe to a dowdy looking Sunday School teacher. They put a cross on the front of the video game box, and they started marketing to Christian book stores.
The game was still stupid.
It was a smashing success.
The video game review I read was in a "secular" magazine. The reviewer had seen both versions of the game. His closing comment was along the lines of, "Those stupid Christians, they'll buy anything you tell them to as long as you call it a christian product."

Even more disturbing is the fact that people will avoid something that has been marketed towards Christians even if the product is amazingly beautiful! I went to a pre-release screening of "the Passion of the Christ". It was a big deal. Mel Gibson was there answering questions and the whole deal. At first I thought, "this is amazing." Then I realized what they were doing. They were marketing to Christians.
They invited pastors to the screening so that we would go back to our churches and tell our congregations that it was their duty to go out and see this movie... you know, because it's "christian." Obviously, "passion" was a huge success (but was is truly the "biggest evangelistic opportunity in 2000 years" as it was hyped? That's another post I guess.). Recently a similar marketing campaign was used for the movie "Chronicles of Narnia". Again, a beautiful, excellent movie, but I have read on blogs, and heard people say in conversations that they would avoid these movies just because they were being marketed to Christians, and they didn't want to be fed church propaganda.
Read a little more about the Narnia marketing machine by CLICKING HERE , HERE , OR HERE.

What's wrong with letting the art speak for itself?

Here's an idea: If you are talented in music, or visual arts, or movie making, or script writing, or clothing design, or whatever, go into the marketplace and let your art speak for itself. Create excellent art that is indicative that we are creative beings, made in the image of a creative God. Don't tell people they should partake in your product because of your faith. Tell them they should partake in your product because it is a quality product.

Go out there and redeem the marketplace.

If you disagree and prefer to purchase only christian goods, your prayers have been answered!
CLICK HERE to be redirected to "LordMart" your one stop shop for Jesus Junk, and Holy Hardware (Jesus Saves... especially when He shops at LordMart).
Ask yourself... WWJB (What Would Jesus Buy)?

field trip

2006-01-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of being in the music industry is the opportunity to go to the massive trade shows that happen at the beginning of the New Year. Last week I went down to Los Angeles to go to the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show.
I took a few pictures of some of the cooler (or weirder) stuff and thought I'd share with you.

The coolest thing about going to "the show" is the chance to see new companies coming up with cool ideas. This company was making guitars out of metal. It's not an entirely new idea but these guys would also scribe, and fatigue the metal to give the instruments an antique look. Very cool.

This company was doing custom engraving on cymbals, guitar headstocks, and pickguards.

It's kind of hard to tell with the fancy script but the correct spelling of the name on this custom made amplifier is Fuchs. The owner of the company was at the booth. Her name is Annette Fuchs. If it's pronounced the way I think it's pronounced I want to know how she made it through High School with a name like Annette Fuchs.

This is where it starts getting wierd. This company was marketing the "Neck Sock", it looks more like a neck condom to me.

This gentleman was demonstrating a "fretless" keyboard. The idea is that you can slide from one note to the next without the interval. I.E. you could do 1/3, 1/2, or 1/4 notes if you wanted. I guess you could use those 1/3 notes for arabian scales? It kind of sounded like a Theremin. It has a neoprene "keyboard" that has lines printed on it so you know where you're at. I played it for a while. It was actually pretty fun. But I could not think of a single practical use.

OH YEAH BABY!!!! THE KEYTAR!!!! It works kind of like an autoharp. You play a chord with your left hand which holds down the strings on frets underneath the keyboard. Then you strum to your hearts content. It doesn't sound real good, but it definitely draws a crowd!

Besides the instrument manufacturers there are electronic parts manufacturers that are peddling their wares as well. This company thought it was important not only to know where your product is coming from but also who made it. Check out their slogan: "Made in China... but made by Korean people". I didn't know that this was a selling point? Interesting.

There was a guitar string company at the show called "knucklehead strings". This was one of their T shirts, "Dark Side of the Trailer Park".

They actually had a White Trash Trailer at their booth! AWESOME!!!

There were tons of small booths with custom made instruments like these Basses.

Now THAT'S a Bass!!! This baby has ELEVEN strings!!!
CLICK HERE to listen to one of these bad boys in action.

Some of the major manufacturers had cool stuff at their booths as well. The Fender booth had this guitar on display. This is Jeff Beck's Telecaster. They had a video running directly over the guitar that showed Jeff Beck holding the guitar.

Fender also showed off many of the guitars from their Custom Shop. This guitar was hand painted to replicate this painting. It was very beautiful!

This is definitely a collector's item. It looks so good you'd feel guilty for playing it.

Another really cool thing about the show is that there are tons of musicians doing live shows. You get to see some pretty wild stuff! This young lady had a Cello on a guitar strap around her neck! She actually strummed it and played very aggressively like a rock guitar player.
She had a great voice too! Very interesting sound.

Taylor Guitars also hosted an intimate acoustic show with Switchfoot. There were less than a hundred people there and I was about ten feet from the front of the stage. It was KILLER!!!
I met the guys from Switchfoot about seven years ago when they were opening for Delirious?. They were super cool guys and it's great to see them making such a huge impact in the music scene.

I got the chance to say hi to John Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot after the show. He said he remembered meeting me back in the day but I think he was just being nice.

Although, I must say, I do make an impression.

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I was able to get a little bit of video from the Switchfoot show on my digital camera. It's not the best quality but it's still cool. It's a HUGE file so don't even try it unless you've got DSL or cable.

That's it, that's my report on my field trip.

Good times were had by all!

quality time

2006-01-17T23:39:00.000-08:00

i love this game

2006-01-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

So, my time at the gym has been paying off nicely. I've decided I'm not going to pursue any further step class activities. The leotards kept riding up. Plus there were only a few other guys in the class, and they kept hitting on me.

Anyways, I've been working on my hoops skills, you know, workin' on my "hops".

I even figured out the secret trick to the most coveted move in basketball: the SLAM DUNK! There is a trick believe me.
This is no easy feat for a man who stands as tall as your average 6th grader (5' 6" to be exact)!!!!

To learn the "secret of my success" CLICK THE PICTURE

resolutions

2006-01-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna get into shape. I'm gonna do it.

I don't really want to lose a ton of weight or anything, I just want to feel like I can run a few miles without throwing up, or at least climb a flight of stairs without panting.

I did pretty good with last year's resolution. I resolved to give this "blogging" thing a try. I've enjoyed it. It's been a nice outlet. I've made new friends, pissed off old friends, and gotten called into the office on more than one occasion. Good times were had by all.

Anyway, I'm pretty worn out. I just got back from my step class. DON'T LAUGH! I can step like a madman. I'm feeling the burn. I feel so good I'm gonna have a celebratory doughnut!

Happy New Years!!!!

2005-12-31T12:12:00.000-08:00

2005-12-29T13:37:00.000-08:00

If you are going to be in
Northern California tomorrow night
Come pray, meditate, hang out,
& catch the vision

Worship night at Gina's house

December 30, anytime between 7-11pm

Everyone is welcome

Bring friends

CLICK HERE to email me for directions

merry Christmas

2005-12-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

The Byzantine Museum-Athens
Nativity-1783

tattoo stories

2005-12-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

I got this "half sleeve" done over the summer. Each part of the tattoo has significance and I thought I'd take a minute to show off my ink! The symbol on my shoulder is known as the "Sacred Heart". It's a Catholic symbol. It symbolizes the heart of Jesus Christ. It has a crown of thorns and the side is pierced and blood and water both flow out of it. The cross at the top is symbolic of death, and the cross is being consumed because Christ conquered death and the grave.

On the back of my arm is a drawing of Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the late 1800s. Hudson dressed, ate, worked, and spoke as the Chinese when missionaries typically told natives that they needed to become "western" in order to become Christian. He had become one of them and had earned their respect. As a result the missions organization that Hudson founded, "China Inland Mission", is to this day the most successful Chinese missions organization.
I've always considered Hudson Taylor a kind of hero in the faith.

Oh, by the way... Did you get your tickets to the GUN SHOW?!?!?!?

I have the Greek word "Doulos" tattooed on the inside of my arm. Doulos means "Slave, Servant, or Bondservant". Doulos has a connotation of service, not because you seek reward, or because you are were purchased as a slave, but that you are compelled to serve. As if something within you compells you to serve this master, no matter the reward, or the cost.

I also have a tattoo on the back of my neck. You can see a picture of it, and read the story behind it by CLICKING HERE.

Yes, they hurt.

The inside of the arm hurt the worst, especially up towards the armpit. The top of the shoulder was pretty bad, and right on the spine on my neck didn't exactly tickle either. The outside of the arm was cake though, I actually fell asleep in the middle of a 4 hour session.
The whole half sleeve took about 20 hours altogether.
I can see what people mean when they say that it's addictive but I'm pretty sure I'm done. I'm not planning on any other major pieces anyway. I'll probably have a little black and gray clouds in between the waves and the Sacred Heart at some point, but that's all I'm planning now.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out!
Sim does a great job if you're looking to decorate your temple. www.simtattoo.com

semper reformanda

2005-12-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

Semper Reformanda:
Forever Reforming

At my church we recently had a series on the attributes of God. One of the topics was: God is Immutable.

Immutable
Pronunciation: (")i(m)-'myÃ¼-t&-b&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin immutabilis, from in- + mutabilis mutable
: not capable of or susceptible to change

We illustrated the point that God never changes by showing in contrast how much we as human beings change.
Our bodies change as we grow. Our fashion sense changes as the years pass by. Our opinions change as we become educated.

We are "Always Reforming", always changing. In a very real sense without change there is death. Our human bodies are finite, and ever changing. Some changes are more visible than others. For example, my hairline is slowly receding, and gray hairs are starting to pop up on the sides of my head, while my belly is not quite as tight as it used to be.
Some changes are completely invisible to us. At the molecular level our bodies are in a constant state of change.
The only time that the process of change stops is at the time of death.

And that's only the physical change that our bodies experience. What about the way that we change our minds?
When I was 18, I was pretty sure that I knew it all. I had it all figured out.
Then I got to 21 and realized that I had been totally wrong about many things at 18.
When I turned 23 I got married and realized how truly juvenile I was back when I was 21.
Then when I turned 25 and had my first son I realized that I was just a kid when I got married.
Now I look back and wonder "who are you?!?!?"

Katie says, "You're not the man I married." And I say, "Yeah, no kidding, I've been like three different people since we got married!"

It's fascinating to me that we constantly go through change, we are always "in process". I'm thankful that God understands this and that God does not change. His grace is always available to us so that we can live the lives we should. His mercy is always there when we jack things up.
God is much bigger and more complex and more beautiful than we will ever be able to comprehend with our feeble human minds.

It's a challenge for us to realize that we are still in process. It's tough to admit that we don't have it all figured out just yet. It's important for us to realize that we are "semper reformada".

We see through a glass darkly.

modern day job

2005-12-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

"Job hearing of his ruin" by Gustave Dore

Sheriff's deputy Andy McDowell was forced to live a parent's worst nightmare twice in a matter of minutes.

After he was taken to the site where his 23 year old son, Rory, was killed in a car crash early Wednesday, McDowell was driven past another fatal accident. Only later did he learn that the fiery wreck took the life of his only other child, 21 year old, Cory.

As a father my heart aches for the loss that the McDowell family is experiencing right now. Join with me and pray for the McDowell's as they deal with this unimaginable grief.

CLICK HERE to read the article, "Brothers die in crashes just minutes apart"

emo driven life

2005-12-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

"Every man has a Jessica Simpson fantasy. Here's mine: Jessica, hold your sister Ashlee down so I can kick her in the throat!"

Dave Attell

I'm not a huge Ashlee Simpson fan. I definitely don't dislike her as much as Dave here does, but I'm not lining up to buy her CD or Tivo'ing her latest reality show, so when the latest issue of Blender showed up with her on the cover I almost didn't open it up. I somehow got a complimentary subscription to this magazine, probably because I subscribe to other music mags like Rolling Stone. Anyway, I haven't been all that impressed with the writing or the reviews so I rarely even open up the magazine when it arrives. Last night I had some time to kill so I flipped through the pages and came across an article entitled "Emo Driven Life". Much to my surprise this secular magazine had an eight page spread on the worship team "Team Strike Force" of Mars Hill Church in Seattle! I've never seen this much attention given to a church organization (other than maybe Saddleback, or Willow Creek) in a secular publication. The article was surprisingly complimentary too! It even had a nifty little timeline that featured the history of Rock n' Roll in the church.
The best entry in the timeline was this: "Circa A.D. 30; Jesus establishes rock & roll credentials by hanging out with a prostitute, Mary Magdalene, and turning water into wine at a party. Your move Tommy Lee..."
The article talked a bit about the Church, the pastor, and the different worship teams that lead at Mars Hill.

Here's a small excerpt: "A thousand people are on their feet for Team Strike Force tonight. The band, in Converse and corduroy, smash out the power chords of an emo anthem. 'Give me a heart, a heart that is full,' moans Luke Abrams, his dirty blonde bangs flopping over his brow, his slight frame bent rapturously back. Matt Johnson smacks down the drums, sweat dampening his Dischord Records T-shirt. The room shakes with the crowd's singing. Hands raise invisible lighters aloft. This moment should be followed by cold beers in the dressing room as Dave Grohl drops by to say hello, a couple of skater babes in tow. But in the green room at this particular venue, none of that awaits. There is a deli tray with olives and turkey sandwiches, but the only alcohol is a chalice of sacramental wine resting next to a worn Bible on a side table.

'Our church attracts the young, urban, hip, arty, cool, play-guitar-on-the-weekend, workin'-a-desk-job-during-the-week, people. Some have grown up with church experience. But most haven't been for a couple years. This is cool enough that they can relate.'
'Many of us were going to churches where the music was cookie cutter and dry' says Claudine, 31, who's been attending Mars Hill for three years. 'Team Strike Force is something we can understand.' Pastor Mark Driscoll and his team of church elders have invested much thought and energy in making the physical environment of worship one where people like Claudine feel not only comfortable but impressed.
Everything in this vast former hardware store is sleek and modern, even the church motto: MEANING. BEAUTY. TRUTH. COMMUNITY. Aside from a distressed-metal cross that looks more like a design element than an icon and the shifting images on the 'digital stained glass' video screens, this could be any room Fall Out Boy would play on a nationwide tour."

CLICK HERE to check out Mars Hill's website. Click on the downloads button to listen to music from Team Strike Force.

the next great philanthropist/social activist?

2005-11-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

I just read an article by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker about Pastor/Author Rick Warren. In this article Rick talks a little bit about the newfound fame and wealth that his book "Purpose Driven Life" has brought him. Here is a short excerpt from that article:

"In the wake of the extraordinary success of "The Purpose-Driven Life," Warren says, he underwent a period of soul-searching. He had suddenly been given enormous wealth and influence and he did not know what he was supposed to do with it. "God led me to Psalm 72, which is Solomon's prayer for more influence," Warren says. "It sounds pretty selfish. Solomon is already the wisest and wealthiest man in the world. He's the King of Israel at the apex of its glory. And in that psalm he says, 'God, I want you to make me more powerful and influential.' It looks selfish until he says, 'So that the King may support the widow and orphan, care for the poor, defend the defenseless, speak up for the immigrant, the foreigner, be a friend to those in prison.' Out of that psalm, God said to me that the purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence. That changed my life. I had to repent. I said, I'm sorry, widows and orphans have not been on my radar. I live in Orange County. I live in the Saddleback Valley, which is all gated communities. There aren't any homeless people around. They are thirteen miles away, in Santa Ana, not here." He gestured toward the rolling green hills outside. "I started reading through Scripture. I said, How did I miss the two thousand verses on the poor in the Bible? So I said, I will use whatever affluence and influence that you give me to help those who are marginalized."

He and his wife, Kay, decided to reverse tithe, giving away ninety per cent (over $14 million in 2004) of the tens of millions of dollars they earned from "The Purpose-Driven Life." They sat down with gay community leaders to talk about fighting AIDS. Warren has made repeated trips to Africa. He has sent out volunteers to forty-seven countries around the world, test-piloting experiments in microfinance and H.I.V. prevention and medical education. He decided to take the same networks he had built to train pastors and spread the purpose-driven life and put them to work on social problems.

"There is only one thing big enough to handle the world's problems, and that is the millions and millions of churches spread out around the world," he says. "I can take you to thousands of villages where they don't have a school. They don't have a grocery store, don't have a fire department. But they have a church."

CLICK HERE to download the entire article (PDF)

blood:water mission

2005-11-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I led worship at a multi church, multi denominational community worship night. There were several leaders involved both in musical worship and in leading short segments of prayer, and exhortation. I was asked to do a little of each. The music part was easy to plan for. I’ve done that a million times. However, speaking is not my strong suit. I did have a message on my heart though, so I took a deep breath and dove in. Here’s what I said:

“Thanksgiving… How many of you have something to be thankful for? Personally I have so much to be thankful for. When I take a moment to sit back and count my blessings I feel a responsibility to give back a little bit. I want to do something for those in need. To whom much is given, much is required.

About a week after Hurricane Katrina a few friends and I drove a truck load of supplies down to Louisiana and Mississippi. It was amazing to me to see that with a fairly small investment you could have such a huge impact on a community. Let me ask you a question. What was the first thing that hurricane survivors asked for? What was the most urgent need?” The unanimous response was WATER! I held up a water bottle and continued.

“This water is fairly cheap and we’ve seen the huge impact it can have. You cannot sustain life without clean water. After returning from Louisiana I became acquainted with the organization started up by the guys of Jars of Clay called ‘Blood:Water Mission’. I learned that two of three children born into third world countries will not reach adulthood because of one thing: unclean water. I also learned that with a fairly small investment we can help. For a few thousand dollars we can dig a well that will provide clean water for an entire community for years to come. In a room this size (about 500 people) if each and every one of us gave up Starbucks for just one day we could dig this well. It’s not a huge deal, just one mocha."

Then I said, "I’ve placed two water cooler sized water bottles at the corners of the stage and during the next few songs I want you to get out of your seat and come down to the water bottles and put your Starbucks money in the bottle to provide clean water for those in need. This is a very real way that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to the fatherless, the widow, and those in need. Jesus called that ‘true religion’ and tonight we want to be a part of that.”

Then I prayed and started leading the congregation in the doxology, and then we sang Grace Like Rain. It was really hard to hold back tears as hundreds of people came up and gave as an act of worship. It was a beautiful thing.

I was hoping for around a thousand dollars but I was blown away at the final count. When all was said and done our group of worshipers had given over $1800.00!!! I am absolutely amazed at the generosity of these beautiful people and am extremely humbled to have been a part.

If you would like to be a part CLICK HERE to go to Blood:Water Mission’s website and click the “Donate Online” button. Join us and give up your coffee money for a day or two and be a part of a life saving effort to bring clean water to Africa.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the work of Blood:Water Mission

thankful

2005-11-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

have a happy thanksgiving!!!

2005-11-21T18:40:00.000-08:00

oops...

2005-11-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

What's crazy is, the attendance was up by 200 percent that weekend...

poster child for christianity

2005-11-13T22:22:00.000-08:00

Meet Margaret Perrin.
Margaret was a part of the television show "Trading Spouses" where the mothers from two diverse families trade places for one week while the cameras roll tape. Margaret is from Louisiana, and is a church going, Bible believing, Revelations quoting, "God warrior". She spent a week with a new age family as the new age mom spent a week with Margaret's family. What a wonderful opportunity for Margaret to be an example of Christlike grace, love, and acceptance. Unfortunately Margaret couldn't get past the "dark sided" ways of the new age family she landed with. She didn't really make too many friends in the family. It did however appear that she reinforced many preconceived notions about Christians being close minded, narrow, unloving, selfish and unaccepting.

Is that really what Christians are about? Why would anyone want to be a part of that family?

CLICK HERE to see the clip from "Trading Spouses"
CLICK HERE to hear Margaret's new single from her upcoming album

**NEW** CLICK HERE to see the Margaret Perrin Bobblehead figurine!

you had me at Jesus Juice

2005-11-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

A Los Angeles couple has petitioned the Copyright office in an effort to market a wine labeled "Jesus Juice". The label features a man looking an awful lot like Michael Jackson in the pose of the Crucifix. That's not distasteful at all.

I'm sure they have the best intentions.

CLICK HERE for the full story
CLICK HERE for the winemaker's explanation

questions facing the early church

2005-11-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm watching a fascinating documentary called "from Jesus to Christ: the First Christians". It is all about the cultural setting that Jesus was born into. It also follows His ministry, crucifixion, and the aftermath for the newly formed community of the followers of Christ. It's about a four hour documentary and I'm only two hours in, but already I've seen some fascinating stuff I wanted to talk about. The thing that struck me was that the early church faced many of the same questions that I face as a follower of Christ who wishes to be true to my faith while maintaining cultural relevance. Check this out. One of the commentators was talking about the struggles of the first generation of Christ followers, much of which is documented in the book of Titus. They had several questions that they had to sort out:

How Greek am I to be?
How Roman am I to be?
How Jewish am I to be?

When read in context these questions mean this:

How Greek am I to be, how strongly do I identify with my nationality, race, and heritage?
How Roman am I to be, what is my place in the political scheme of things?
How Jewish am I to be, do I have to be a religious person in order to be a follower of Christ?

These are the problems that the followers of Christ faced as they asked themselves, "what is my place in today's prevailing culture?"

These are relevant questions for today. I see a sense of national pride in the USA, and have seen the terms "American" and "Christian" used interchangeably, yet many things that are done in the name of the good 'ole USA are not Christlike at all. Should I speak up, even if I seem unpatriotic? I've seen churchgoers used as political collateral, and told en masse who to vote for by someone in leadership who has done all the thinking for them. Do I follow the rest of the sheep, or do I rock the boat? Is it even my place to be talking about politics? I've also seen so many people who love Christ but want nothing to do with organized religion. Is there a place for them in Christianity? How "religious" do we need to be?

One of the first major controversies that the early church faced was based on the last question. How Jewish am I to be? With the spread of the gospel of Christ came new converts. The first question a heathen (gentile) convert must ask themselves is,"must I become Jewish (religious) in order to be a follower of Jesus?" Did they have to take on the Jewish rites? Did they have to follow the letter of the Levitical law? Did they have to leave behind all connections to their family and their community? Did they have to become circumcised so that they could take on the appearance of the Jews? Did they have to look religious in order to be a follower of Christ?

I knew it would be interesting to watch this documentary but it was fascinating to me to discover that I could relate to some of the same questions that they faced.

How American am I to be? Do I have to stand by everything that is done in the name of the USA even if I feel like it is contrary to what is true, and right, and Godly?
How Political am I to be? When I decide to become a Christian do I vote with the rest of churchianity and leave thinking to the qualified?
How Religious am I to be? I hate neckties. I like beer. I cuss every now and then. Do I really have to listen to that music? Do I have to learn to talk like other christians? What the hell does "traveling mercies" mean anyway?

I truly love Jesus Christ, and I really want to live my life in a way that would honor Him. So I struggle my way through these questions because I really want to know:

What is my place in today's prevailing culture?

CLICK HERE to read the synopsis of the documentary

eeewwwwww...

2005-11-03T21:39:00.000-08:00

Nudist pastor holds naked services.

Pastor Robert Wright has begun hosting Nudist Church Services at a naturist resort near Brisbane Australia. His services have drawn as many as 200 naked worshipers to partake in the Lord's Supper in the buff. Pastor Wright says, "I am not trying to get Christians to become nudists, I am catering to Christians who are nudists. There are more Christians in it than people realize. We are not into sex orgies, we are very well-adjusted people."

The problem is, everyone can clearly see when he's "adjusting".