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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

"My best friend was killed on one of those"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Money

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

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

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

But, is your guy's name MONEY! hahahaha

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

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

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

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

Welcoming back to the land of posting a new blog

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

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

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

Crowder

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go make a friend

The exclamation point!

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

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

The Best Paper Ever

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

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

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

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

update and Babcock

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

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

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

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

later

The Porch at 17th

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

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

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

So here's to the porch!

Newsong and Other Rockers of Old

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

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

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

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

Butter Jesus

Ok, for real?

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

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

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

Healing

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

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

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

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

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

Fasting

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

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

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

Stages of my beard

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

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

mmmmac!

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

Snow

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

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

I am going to make an angel.

Grammer

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

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

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

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

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

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

A simple culture

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

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

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

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

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

hey big time college grad!

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

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

more news later