Waiting on the world to change

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

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

. . . and pictures are coming soon.

BABY!!!

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

As before. . .baby pics soon to come!

Having a Baby

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

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

Name the movie for a star. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hm Haw

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

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

Thbthbthbthbthbttt!

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

Doo doo doot nnn doo

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

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

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

Shaq
Old.

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Profile

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

William McStefphofferson

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

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

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

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

nothing too important in this one. . .

smorgasboard

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

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

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

The chuck































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

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

I'll stop there for now

More later . . .

freakin patriots pt. 2

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

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

Isn't it strange?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shorty

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

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

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

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

Outlandish Prediction

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

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

Lots of Little things

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

pizza, Horatio, 'They must be cheating'

Pizza

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

Horatio

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

'They must be cheating'

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

that is all

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

PETA

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

The British are Coming


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

The Talmud and the Church

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

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

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

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