We got back Sunday night from a trip to Auburn. I did a wedding on Friday night (8-08-08) for a couple of my former students, so we left here on Thursday the 7th. Since I had another wedding on the 16th for another couple of my former students in the same area, we decided to use some vacation time and just stay out there for the week. I swear, moms, that I did not provoke them to marrying. We never played spin the bottle at youth group or anything like that...
Both weddings went well (which means that they're married, the mothers of the brides still have hair that has not been pulled out, and so do I) and we were ther for worship services both weeks. It was nice to see old friends and so many of my former students. The church seems to be doing really well and the new minister is a great guy. The regular guitar player was out of town the second week, so they asked me to lead worship. It was a blast to be doing that again.
On Monday we went up to Omaha and met Dave and Janice (who were celebrating a 1 year anniversary of a wedding which I did not incite, but enjoyed attending) for lunch. We were going to go to the art museum with them, but discovered it was closed. Apparently Monday is 'closed-museum' day. Who goes to the museum with 4 kids under 8 anyway?
We stayed in Omaha and Tuesday was Zoo Day. The Lincoln Children's Museum was our destination on Wednesday, and we got to meet Cady for lunch.
I know they say you can never go home again, but it was a great visit to a body that became as much a church home as I've ever had. I'm grateful for the reminder of what can happen when people make themselves available to the shaping hand of The Creative God.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
Revival
A few years ago I read Jim Cymbala's Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. I remember being impacted by the thought of what God could do if we, the church, would really humble ourselves and seek Him in prayer. I started reading the book again the other day and I'm still convicted of the same thing: the church, in large part, doesn't live a very full life when it comes to prayer.
Our prayer, too often, seems weak or even contrived. We pray because we're 'supposed' to pray - at meals, at bedtime, at church... We pray when we want something. But do we "pray continually"? Do we pray just so we can talk with God? Do we spend time praying just to hear His Voice?
After Solomon had the Temple built in Jerusalem, listen to what God told him. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." (2 Chronicles 7:13-16)
The eyes and heart of our Creator live where the prayers of His people are offered. If I'm not feeling very "in touch" with the heart of God, the first place I should look is at my inner life. Am I a person of prayer? Am I living a life that is characterized by a constant conversation with God? Only then will I be able to see the way He sees. Only then will I be able to love the way He loves.
A couple lines from my prayer journal last month asked God to "blow a fresh wind of Life into these bones." "I'm tired of feeling burned. Can I have some new life?" Shortly after those entries, I became acutely aware of the lack of depth to the level of intimacy in my relationship with God. In a worship time at camp, at HeavenFest, and in this book, I'm hearing God's answer: "Pray... Listen for Me... Stay with Me..."
It's been a good reminder. Maybe you needed it to. Seek the Face of our Father. Let Him do what only He can do.
Our prayer, too often, seems weak or even contrived. We pray because we're 'supposed' to pray - at meals, at bedtime, at church... We pray when we want something. But do we "pray continually"? Do we pray just so we can talk with God? Do we spend time praying just to hear His Voice?
After Solomon had the Temple built in Jerusalem, listen to what God told him. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." (2 Chronicles 7:13-16)
The eyes and heart of our Creator live where the prayers of His people are offered. If I'm not feeling very "in touch" with the heart of God, the first place I should look is at my inner life. Am I a person of prayer? Am I living a life that is characterized by a constant conversation with God? Only then will I be able to see the way He sees. Only then will I be able to love the way He loves.
A couple lines from my prayer journal last month asked God to "blow a fresh wind of Life into these bones." "I'm tired of feeling burned. Can I have some new life?" Shortly after those entries, I became acutely aware of the lack of depth to the level of intimacy in my relationship with God. In a worship time at camp, at HeavenFest, and in this book, I'm hearing God's answer: "Pray... Listen for Me... Stay with Me..."
It's been a good reminder. Maybe you needed it to. Seek the Face of our Father. Let Him do what only He can do.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A Thing That Made Me Go "Hmm?"
“Lord - Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”
A simple prayer. Protection... Forgiveness... Humility and Hope... Wisdom... Willingness... It's a prayer not too different from many I have prayed myself.
But a lot of people are upset about this particular prayer. Not so much the words it contains, but the source of these words. The prayer was actually taken out of a crevice in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It had been placed there last week by Barak Obama while he toured the region.
Whatever your politics are, this raises a lot of questions:
Does the prayer tell us anything about what's really going on in the heart and mind of the Presidential nominee?
Why would a Jewish seminary student think it was ok in this situation to take someone else's prayer out of the wall?
Should the world really be privvy to private conversations with God?
Will this change any conservative Christian minds about who Barak Obama really is?
What is it that causes so many to be so skeptical of his motives/intentions/abilities?
Was this simply a strategic way to appear more spiritually minded?
What do you think?
A simple prayer. Protection... Forgiveness... Humility and Hope... Wisdom... Willingness... It's a prayer not too different from many I have prayed myself.
But a lot of people are upset about this particular prayer. Not so much the words it contains, but the source of these words. The prayer was actually taken out of a crevice in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It had been placed there last week by Barak Obama while he toured the region.
Whatever your politics are, this raises a lot of questions:
Does the prayer tell us anything about what's really going on in the heart and mind of the Presidential nominee?
Why would a Jewish seminary student think it was ok in this situation to take someone else's prayer out of the wall?
Should the world really be privvy to private conversations with God?
Will this change any conservative Christian minds about who Barak Obama really is?
What is it that causes so many to be so skeptical of his motives/intentions/abilities?
Was this simply a strategic way to appear more spiritually minded?
What do you think?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Pay attention...
This has been a pretty crappy summer. Kids were sick, LuAnn got sick, the basement flooded, LuAnn got E.Coli (went septic and had blood pressure low enough to scrape the pavement) and a kidney stone, my race car got wrecked... and it's not even August yet! It seems like every time one thing gets better, something else is smashed to pieces. It's been really discouraging.
I had to miss Jr. High camp alltogether and most of High School camp. By last Wednesday, LuAnn was feeling enough better that I went up for the last full day of camp. The worship time was very encouraging (thanks Adam - who is, by the way, soon leaving for the planting of Whitewater Christian Church and would be a great recipient of some of your mission-giving budget). I was struck by how my level of intimacy with God has suffered over the past couple years and how that's affected everything else in my life. My ministry is weaker, my inner life is pretty 'scattered', my ability to develop deeper connections with students has deteriorated...
After coming home from camp, about a dozen of us got up Saturday morning and left for Denver to go to Heavenfest. I'll try to post more about this later, but to sum it all up - it was awesome! More than a typical music festival, it was a time of artful worship. Over 12,000 people there, with 70 some bands, but what mattered most was that the 1 God was there.
After this great weekend, I was trying to distill some thoughts for a short newsletter article this morning. Here's the summary of what I've been chewing on this weekend:
Have you ever forgotten that God still speaks? It’s easy to become so preoccupied with the everyday activity of life that we forget to pay attention to God. When we simply meander through life from one task to the next, we miss the real details of life… we miss God.
Like me, maybe you need to be reminded that God is still speaking. He’s still desiring to commune with us. Maybe you need to get out of the habits that are deafening you to the Voice that created you. Maybe, like me, you need to form new habits that heighten your perception of God – that draw your attention to Him.
Thank God for His patience with us. His grace and mercy continue, even when we’re too busy to notice. Stop. Notice. Listen.
I had to miss Jr. High camp alltogether and most of High School camp. By last Wednesday, LuAnn was feeling enough better that I went up for the last full day of camp. The worship time was very encouraging (thanks Adam - who is, by the way, soon leaving for the planting of Whitewater Christian Church and would be a great recipient of some of your mission-giving budget). I was struck by how my level of intimacy with God has suffered over the past couple years and how that's affected everything else in my life. My ministry is weaker, my inner life is pretty 'scattered', my ability to develop deeper connections with students has deteriorated...
After coming home from camp, about a dozen of us got up Saturday morning and left for Denver to go to Heavenfest. I'll try to post more about this later, but to sum it all up - it was awesome! More than a typical music festival, it was a time of artful worship. Over 12,000 people there, with 70 some bands, but what mattered most was that the 1 God was there.
After this great weekend, I was trying to distill some thoughts for a short newsletter article this morning. Here's the summary of what I've been chewing on this weekend:
Have you ever forgotten that God still speaks? It’s easy to become so preoccupied with the everyday activity of life that we forget to pay attention to God. When we simply meander through life from one task to the next, we miss the real details of life… we miss God.
Like me, maybe you need to be reminded that God is still speaking. He’s still desiring to commune with us. Maybe you need to get out of the habits that are deafening you to the Voice that created you. Maybe, like me, you need to form new habits that heighten your perception of God – that draw your attention to Him.
Thank God for His patience with us. His grace and mercy continue, even when we’re too busy to notice. Stop. Notice. Listen.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Kids!
A snippet of today's lunchtime conversation:
I just graduated preschool - I wanna be a cannibal when I grow up!
Josiah: What are humans made of?
Emily and Dakota (in a creepy kind of unison): MEAT!
I just graduated preschool - I wanna be a cannibal when I grow up!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Action
"...eventually you have to stop thinking about it, dreaming about it, imagining it, hoping, scheming, planning, or even praying, and you have to actually do something. You have to act. You have to execute. You have to step into the real world and bring the change that you can only see through the eyes of faith." -from Erwin McManus' Wide Awake
I've always been a bit of a dreamer. I can see things better than they are. But sometimes I feel powerless to move them from what is to what could be. Lately, I've seen a lot of what could be happening but isn't - a lot of potential lying dormant. But instead of creatively leading forward, I've been frustrated into cynicism.
One of my favorite concepts in physics is the transformation of potential energy into kinetic energy. An object sitting around has potential energy. Even though it's just there, not accomplishing anything, there is potential energy. It's measurable. But it's only potential. The energy is not useful until it's made kinetic - until it's set in motion. Our dreams of a better future are like that. Unless we set them in motion, they are worthless to the world. Set something in motion today.
A dream deferred eventually becomes a weed of despair instead of the seed of hope God planted.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The atttitude of Jesus
I've asked my students to write a short essay on living with Jesus' attitude, so I thought I'd post an example of what I'm looking for (this is on the short side of what's assigned, but it's enough to get the idea):
"What does it mean for me to live with the attitude of Jesus?" I suppose it means that as much as possible, my thoughts, feelings, reactions, etc. are His. It means that my perspective on life is seen through His eyes. I can tend to get a little cynical sometimes, my outlook a little bleak. Sometimes I see situations that are obviously messed up and doubt that there's anything I or anyone else can do to make them better. A lot of people don't really want to 'get well'. That can be very discouraging for me.
But when I have the attitude of Jesus, my perspective changes. Flickers of hope begin to melt away my cynicism. I come to understand that my job isn't to make things better, but to "awaken possibilities" within others - to take a spark of life near enough to them that they will be driven to seek out the Source of that Life.
This means that people are not seeking out me. It's not relationship with me that they need. They're looking beyond me, through me, to see the One whose attitude I reflect. And that's ok. Having Jesus' attitude means I don't want their attention to get stuck on me. I want to direct their attention to God, our Father. If that means being ignored and taken for granted, I can live with that. Jesus' attitude says, "Life is not about me."
Jesus set aside everything for the sake of others. He humbly laid down His right and privilege in order to serve humanity. If I'm going to have His attitude, I will be willing to do the same.
"What does it mean for me to live with the attitude of Jesus?" I suppose it means that as much as possible, my thoughts, feelings, reactions, etc. are His. It means that my perspective on life is seen through His eyes. I can tend to get a little cynical sometimes, my outlook a little bleak. Sometimes I see situations that are obviously messed up and doubt that there's anything I or anyone else can do to make them better. A lot of people don't really want to 'get well'. That can be very discouraging for me.
But when I have the attitude of Jesus, my perspective changes. Flickers of hope begin to melt away my cynicism. I come to understand that my job isn't to make things better, but to "awaken possibilities" within others - to take a spark of life near enough to them that they will be driven to seek out the Source of that Life.
This means that people are not seeking out me. It's not relationship with me that they need. They're looking beyond me, through me, to see the One whose attitude I reflect. And that's ok. Having Jesus' attitude means I don't want their attention to get stuck on me. I want to direct their attention to God, our Father. If that means being ignored and taken for granted, I can live with that. Jesus' attitude says, "Life is not about me."
Jesus set aside everything for the sake of others. He humbly laid down His right and privilege in order to serve humanity. If I'm going to have His attitude, I will be willing to do the same.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Summarize...
I got a link to this video in an e-mail from Joe, our children's pastor. This is a great idea, but more than that - it's a great statement of what God's doing in the lives of the church where this was filmed. How would you summarize your self/life in just a few words??? What would be your "cardboard testimony"?
Monday, June 09, 2008
Being Known
I've not posted much of anything lately. And the little bit that I have written here recently has been way on the 'lighter' side of content ~ I mean, "greener" bombs??? Come on...
It's not that I haven't had anything to say. I've actually had quite a few things that I wanted to write about lately (working with a summer intern, fixing my race car, visiting the art gallery, reading Dostoyevsky, new music, moments with students...). But whenever I begin to actually put the words together, I find myself insanely filtering what I want to say. Then I decide this distilled, nuetralized (or is neutered?) version of what's on my mind isn't really worth saying anyway. So I delete it and move on to something else.
(I'm fighting with myself right now even ~ finish the post or filter it then scrap it? I'll keep going and see what happens...)
I think this may just be a part of my tendency to question everything - especially myself. In that case, I'll just keep digging for answers, writing and deleting my way along. But it also may be some fear of something outside of me, looking into the part of me I put on display, and deciding they don't like what they see. When I started this blog, I was feeling pretty secure. I knew if anyone had a problem with what they found here, we could deal with it together. I had a confidence in what I had to say, even when difficult issues led me to say things I knew people didn't want to hear. I was known. I knew myself and felt like I was on firm enough footing to defend if I needed to.
I feel like all of that is missing now. I'm not known. I don't want to say what people who don't know me don't want to hear. (We're not very nice to people we don't know when they say things we don't want to hear, are we?) I feel like Jeremiah maybe, with a message to deliver that I don't really want to. But he couldn't keep it in, and I'm sure I can't either...
Not that I'm trying to stifle the message of God for the sake of my own security. Or maybe that's exactly what it is. Maybe I know deep inside that the masses of consumer christians don't want to hear the call to create and produce something in keeping with the faith they claim. Maybe I know within my soul that the herds will always value conformity above true beauty. Maybe I've just been listenning to too much Coldplay...
It's not that I haven't had anything to say. I've actually had quite a few things that I wanted to write about lately (working with a summer intern, fixing my race car, visiting the art gallery, reading Dostoyevsky, new music, moments with students...). But whenever I begin to actually put the words together, I find myself insanely filtering what I want to say. Then I decide this distilled, nuetralized (or is neutered?) version of what's on my mind isn't really worth saying anyway. So I delete it and move on to something else.
(I'm fighting with myself right now even ~ finish the post or filter it then scrap it? I'll keep going and see what happens...)
I think this may just be a part of my tendency to question everything - especially myself. In that case, I'll just keep digging for answers, writing and deleting my way along. But it also may be some fear of something outside of me, looking into the part of me I put on display, and deciding they don't like what they see. When I started this blog, I was feeling pretty secure. I knew if anyone had a problem with what they found here, we could deal with it together. I had a confidence in what I had to say, even when difficult issues led me to say things I knew people didn't want to hear. I was known. I knew myself and felt like I was on firm enough footing to defend if I needed to.
I feel like all of that is missing now. I'm not known. I don't want to say what people who don't know me don't want to hear. (We're not very nice to people we don't know when they say things we don't want to hear, are we?) I feel like Jeremiah maybe, with a message to deliver that I don't really want to. But he couldn't keep it in, and I'm sure I can't either...
Not that I'm trying to stifle the message of God for the sake of my own security. Or maybe that's exactly what it is. Maybe I know deep inside that the masses of consumer christians don't want to hear the call to create and produce something in keeping with the faith they claim. Maybe I know within my soul that the herds will always value conformity above true beauty. Maybe I've just been listenning to too much Coldplay...
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Strange Headline
Scientists Design More Environmentally Friendly Bombs
It's nice to know we can take care of our planet without giving up our ability to cause massive chaos, destruction, and loss of life.
It's nice to know we can take care of our planet without giving up our ability to cause massive chaos, destruction, and loss of life.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
"I Was Just Testing You"
Sitting on the couch with my son Josiah the other day, we had the following conversation:
Me: "I think you're about the funniest kid I know."
Siah: "So you won't ever throw me away?"
Me: "No, I would never throw you away!"
Siah: "What about Kota?"
Me: "Nope, I'd never throw him away either."
Siah: "Emmy?"
Me: "No."
Siah: "Lizzy?"
Me: "Nope."
Siah: "Mommy?"
Me: "No way."
Siah, after a long pause: "I was just testing you, dad."
Then he gave me a big 4-year-old hug - I guess I passed.
Me: "I think you're about the funniest kid I know."
Siah: "So you won't ever throw me away?"
Me: "No, I would never throw you away!"
Siah: "What about Kota?"
Me: "Nope, I'd never throw him away either."
Siah: "Emmy?"
Me: "No."
Siah: "Lizzy?"
Me: "Nope."
Siah: "Mommy?"
Me: "No way."
Siah, after a long pause: "I was just testing you, dad."
Then he gave me a big 4-year-old hug - I guess I passed.
A Thought Provoking Quote
Eugene Peterson talks about Jonah going into Nineveh and becoming
The second set of phrases seems pretty shaky, but forces us to really think about what we believe and why we do the things we do. I want to develop a band of believers that isn't afraid to be questioned, who see beyond today's issues and struggles and will walk the difficult path into a better tomorrow. A people who are not merely coloring between the lines set before us, but who are creatively molding the colors and shapes into dynamic portrayals of God's faith, hope, and love for the world around us.
If you're a pastor, don't pander to the spirit of religious consumerism and job security. If you know me, help me keep out of that mentality, too. May we clearly see the face of the God we seek, and undeniably display Him wherever we are.
"a pastor in this place - not to improve their religion and not to serve their religious needs but to subvert their religion, insinuate doubts into its validity, and then help them to deal in faith with a living God. 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.' He didn't accuse them of being evil. He didn't denounce their sin and wickedness. He called into question their future. He introduced eschatology into their now-oriented religion, their security-obsessed present."
- Meeting religious need
- Improving religious experience
- Identifying evil
- Denouncing sin and wickedness
- Subverting religion
- Insinuating doubts
- Questioning the future
- Re-orienting without an emphasis on 'now'
- Embracing a dangerous way into the future
The second set of phrases seems pretty shaky, but forces us to really think about what we believe and why we do the things we do. I want to develop a band of believers that isn't afraid to be questioned, who see beyond today's issues and struggles and will walk the difficult path into a better tomorrow. A people who are not merely coloring between the lines set before us, but who are creatively molding the colors and shapes into dynamic portrayals of God's faith, hope, and love for the world around us.
If you're a pastor, don't pander to the spirit of religious consumerism and job security. If you know me, help me keep out of that mentality, too. May we clearly see the face of the God we seek, and undeniably display Him wherever we are.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Will it Matter?
I really couldn't care less who is revealed soon as the next American Idol winner. I haven't ever really gotten into the show, but apparently it's come down to a couple guys named David. Every time I turn on the radio in my truck, they're talking about it. Every commercial break on whatever station the show is on includes a plug. It seems that somehow, the outcome of the contest is important to our nation - maybe even to the world. But I doubt that it is important at all and really don't care who wins.
What I want to know is, who actually votes? What kind of people actually don't have anything better to do than vote for another pop star? Thousands of people spend their time and money to cast their electronic ballot in this meaningless election. I heard one lady lamenting the fact that she just couldn't decide which David to vote for, so she split her votes between them equally, so that she'd helped to choose the winner! By that logic, I guess I contributed as much to tipping the scales one way or another as she did.
I don't know. Maybe I just don't get the hype. Maybe I'm hopelessly out of touch with all that is pop. It just seems a great waste to me.
Why do we spend so much time and money on things that don't matter?
What I want to know is, who actually votes? What kind of people actually don't have anything better to do than vote for another pop star? Thousands of people spend their time and money to cast their electronic ballot in this meaningless election. I heard one lady lamenting the fact that she just couldn't decide which David to vote for, so she split her votes between them equally, so that she'd helped to choose the winner! By that logic, I guess I contributed as much to tipping the scales one way or another as she did.
I don't know. Maybe I just don't get the hype. Maybe I'm hopelessly out of touch with all that is pop. It just seems a great waste to me.
Why do we spend so much time and money on things that don't matter?
Thursday, May 15, 2008
I Got a Birdie!
I'm not much of a golfer. I consider it a moral victory if I find more golf balls than I lose. Yesterday, I went golfing for the first time in about a year - not expecting great results. My scores were well above par (mostly above double-bogey), but I didn't lose a single ball in the water. I didn't lose a single ball in the weeds, or one in the trees. I did, however, lose one in a goose!
I teed up - picked out a lofty 4 wood to make sure to go high up and over the pond between me and the green. Stepped up to the ball. Drove said ball right into a herd of geese standing at the edge of the tee box. Feathers flew. Geese squawked (that is an oddly spelled word, isn't it!) and scurried (I don't know if geese actually scurry as much as they kind of flounder about in aimless confusion, but whatever...). And one little goose traded his entrails for my Titlist.
A moment of silence for the recently departed member of our feather gallery...
I teed up - picked out a lofty 4 wood to make sure to go high up and over the pond between me and the green. Stepped up to the ball. Drove said ball right into a herd of geese standing at the edge of the tee box. Feathers flew. Geese squawked (that is an oddly spelled word, isn't it!) and scurried (I don't know if geese actually scurry as much as they kind of flounder about in aimless confusion, but whatever...). And one little goose traded his entrails for my Titlist.
A moment of silence for the recently departed member of our feather gallery...
Thursday, May 08, 2008
BiteBack Benefit
Our talent show to raise money for Compassion's BiteBack program went pretty well last night. We raised just over $600. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have more of an audience, but this is the first time we've done anything like this. Maybe word will get out about how good it was and next time, we'll have more interest. The students did a really good job. We had everything from pole vaulting to "A Whole New World" to a "Popular" song/skit to dance to train building (which was a favorite of the kids in the crowd) to video editing & several piano solos... We even had a McDonald's drive through for a few minutes! The two students who had the most stage time ended up leading the "vote count" with Teresa (dance, rap, piano, & vocals) just edging out Sam (piano, jokes, & MC). Thanks to every student who shared a talent and to those in the audience who generously "voted".
I was stressed with a number of last minute switches and glitches on the computer, but in the end, over 60 kids will soon be protected from malaria, so it was well worth it. We made a difference. And that was the point.
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On a personal level, if you'd like to make even more of a difference to one child in particular, check out the link in my sidebar to sponsor a child through Compassion's child sponsorship.
Friday, May 02, 2008
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