Christmas Karma

On Sunday afternoon I assumed that Karma would honor me for helping my father paint shelves as my fanatical Eagles fan brother opted to instead watch the early round of football games. The expected honor from Karma- a Cowboys victory over the Eagles.

A few hours later I received a text from my wife’s sister asking if I was in Hell because of watching the Cowboys embarrassment while next to my annoying Eagles’ fan brother.
To which I responded that I wasn’t in Hell, but actually in the Abilene police station.
She and her mother immediately assumed that I had been incarcerated because I had participated in a round of fisticuffs with the previously mentioned Eagle’s fan, which could have been a real possibility if I didn't have another reason to be at the jail.

As the story goes Karma didn’t hand me any post-Christmas presents, only two lumps of coal- another depressing December Dallas performance and a dent in the back of my truck from a driver who tried to park too close to my truck and then decided to drive off. Luckily a witness had a camera phone and the desire to call the cops, thus the trip to police station during the game. Unfortunately there is no law against the Cowboys collapsing in December.

The moral of the story: don’t do anything nice, ever.

FYI- I truly don't believe in Karma. I am more into Christianity than Buddhism.

The Denton Project

Check out this link about our church plant.

My Angel

"I've got an Angel,
she doesn't wear any wings...
She wears a heart that can melt my own.
She wears a smile that can make me want to sing.
She gives me presents with her presence alone.
She gives me everything I could wish for,
She gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home."

-Jack Johnson

Water-parenting

Chief, my 90lb lap dog, has hunger issues. I am not talking about he gets hungry and stands by the food bowl. When Chief gets hungry in the morning, he starts scratching on the bedroom door. Because of the few days when I forgot to block the door back in Florida, I had to spend a morning filling in the grooves from his nails on our wooden door.
Last weekend I decided that I had enough of the scratching/blocking the door routine and only one solution existed, waterboarding. I placed a half full (or half empty-for our pessimistic readers) cup of water on top of the slightly cracked opened door and waited to wake up in the morning to a slightly drenched beast. Instead, the cup sat on top of a door that didn’t get scratched. Somehow that dog knew the trap. Three days later the other non-scratching dog, Chloe, bumped the door, got a little shower and scared both of them.
Now all I do is put an empty cup over the door and the door doesn’t get scratched.

Two thoughts-
1- Chief is a smart dog. Since I originally wrote this I have had to make a revision, I thought he was smart until just the other day when he ate a bottle full of Chloe’s Prozac and made me sit in a lonely vet room hoping his hunger wouldn’t kill him while he got his stomach pumped. Luckily It didn’t.
2- I hope that type of discipline works with Avery. If Avery comes home late for curfew, and she gets welcomed by a cup of water placed on the door. That will teach her to come home on time, right?

Church Staff

I have come up with a new tactic for hiring staff for my church plant. If anyone will put my wife on a paid corporate board that pays over 100K per year, they can be either worship leader or children's minister. Thanks for the idea Gov. Blagojevich

RHCC

It has been great these last few months being at the Richland Hills Church of Christ before we head up to Denton and launch next fall. A few highlights so far:

-Last week the entire staff loaded up in a school bus and headed downtown to spend time with some disenfranchised people. Afterwards the staff went to get burgers, and someone honestly asked David Fraze if I was a homeless person that he brought to lunch.

-It had been quite a few months since I last preached before two weeks ago, and it's encouraging to preach for such a receptive group like RHCC. I am preaching again next Wednesday, if you are bored here is the link to their podcast.

-Getting to share my passion for church planting and kingdom work with a church that has a similar vision.

Judging

One would be short-sighted as well as unrealistic if they were to assume to never incorporate someone’s past in the way they view their present. It’s humanly impossible to forget someone’s past mistakes, but just remembering isn’t judging.
When we assume one’s final chapter has already been penned and we don’t leave open the possibility for change we judge. When we judge others we remove the potential for others to allow God to work in their life.

Blindside

During our Thanksgiving driving I listened to a great story of redemption, adoption and football, The Blind Side. Here is a great quote (as best I could remember) from the book and a clip of the story.

For most of Michael Oher’s life he wandered from home to home and school to school. A friend’s grandmother wanted her grandson to leave his troubled filled inner-city Memphis school and enroll at a Christian schools in Memphis. The grandson went to see this new Christian school with his 6’5” 340lb tag along, Big Mike. It didn’t take the coaches there long to be interested in Mike, or more specifically his girth. Within a year a family from his new school found out that Mike didn’t have a change of clothes and more importantly, a home. That was too much for this wealthy Christian school mom, who decided that he was going to move in with them and became apart of their well-to-do family.
A few months after getting Mike his first ever bed, she brought home a Northface backpack for Mike much to his dismay.
“I am not carrying that backpack.” Mike said.
“Why not?” she replied.
“That’s the backpack all those rich kids carry around.”
“Michael, you are a rich kid.”
That day Michael Oher started carrying the backpack the other rich kids carried.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Ephesians 1

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ACU Football

I went to Abilene this past weekend to watch ACU's amazing record setting win.  I never thought I would see a football team score 93 points, but I was wrong. 

Here is a great story about ACU assistant football coach and my friend Desmond.  NFL teams were looking at him  (just like the other starting safety, Justin Lucas, who played in the league for quite a few years) until his tough times. For the eight years that I have known Desmond, he's been a constant encouragement and you will see why.  

Rwanda

In the movie Hotel Rwanda, Don Cheadle playing Paul the Rwandan hotel manager has this dialogue with Joaquin Phoenix's character (Jack an American reporter)  regarding the horrible genocide that Jack has just recorded and the presumed response of Jack's American audience.

Paul, "I am glad that you have shot this footage and that the world will see it. It is the only way we have the chance that people might intervene"

Jack, "Yeah and if no one intervenes, is it still a good thing to show?"

"How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?"

"I think if the people see this footage they'll say, 'oh my God that's horrible,'  and then go on eating their dinners."

I am proud to be apart of a church with people who don't just go about eating their dinners after seeing these atrocities. The Rwanda08 mission team has been with Richland Hills for the last few months and yesterday they left Richland Hills. They will arrive in Rwanda in December, so please pray for them and their Kingdom work in Rwanda. 

No to Change

Earlier this week President-elect Obama spoke of something that needs to be changed and I just don't want it changed. 

Obama said the current college football bowl system doesn't work. He supports creating a playoff system instead of the traditional bowl system. If God wanted us to have a bowl system, then when God created college football, God would have created college football playoffs. If it's fine for God, then it's fine for me. Creating a bowl system would ruin the excitement and the uniqueness of college football. 

Obama, we don't want your change in college football. 

"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for Kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Tim 2:1-2

Power

In honor of the transfer of power to our country's new president, I am reminded of Jesus’ attitude towards power. Jesus always chooses power under through service and rejects power over through dominance.

Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”

Here is Greg Boyd from The Myth of a Christian Nation

“Rather than buying into and then fighting over the limited, divisive options of the kingdom of the world, we (the Church) need to be the one tribe on the planet who thinks 'outside the box.' We need to be a peculiar people who live in the otherwise unasked question- what can we do to bleed as means of manifesting life? While others posture and holler, we are to be holy people who, knowing we are the worst of sinners, simply live in the question- how can we bleed for others? How can we sacrifice for and serve the gay community in way that communicates to them their unsurpassable worth? How can we individually and collectively bleed in service to the homeless, the poor, and the racially oppressed? What does 'power under' service look like to drug addicts, battered women, pregnant women, children in sexual bondage, and confused, needy people…”

Miracles

For the last five years Lindsay has woken up to the sound of an alarm clock blaring country music at a decibel level that would cause blood to trickle out of the ears of many earthlings. She couldn’t wake to an alarm any quieter and still many 5am mornings she would sleep through the sonorous sounds of Garth Brooks at ear piercing levels until I gently encouraged her to respond. On many of these mornings I woke with dreams of slinging my Maglite into this evil alarm clock.
But a miracle happened about three months ago and she has changed my life. She has also changed Lindsay’s sleeping. Lindsay now will wake up to the slightest movement or sound by our daughter. I cannot explain how a person miraculously changes like that other than a God placed deep longing to love and nurture.

“Believing in ‘miracles’, in the eighteenth-century sense, is no good as a test of genuine Christianity… the eighteenth-century idea of a ‘miracles’ envisaged a ‘God’ who was a remote, detached Being, who normally kept his hands clean from involvement with the space-time universe, but just occasionally used to ‘intervene’… What if the word ‘God’ itself might refer, not to this distant, remote, occasionally-intervening Being, but to a God who breathed with the breath of the world? … by being active within his creation… He put into their inmost beings, as creatures made to reflect his image into his world, a deep desire for one another, and a deep longing to create and nurture order and beauty within creation.”

NT Wright "Who was Jesus?"

Leadership

"My job is to get men to do what they don't want to do in order to help them achieve everything they want to achieve."

Tom Landry

God at Work

From Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis, thanks Johnny Storm.

“The point in the book of Acts isn’t the early church. The point is the God who is at work in and through the early church to change the world. When we take the Bible seriously, we are taking God seriously. We believe that the same God who was at work then is at work now. The same God in the same kinds of ways. The goal is not to be a ‘New Testament Church.’”

My church heritage has held to this very reading of scripture that leads to a well-intended but ultimately short-sided effort to replicate the pattern of the New Testament Church. Because in the same way one don’t study a map to learn the map, we don’t study the Bible to know the Bible and we don’t study the Church in the past to replicate the Church. You study a map to arrive at a destination. We study the Bible to know God and we study the Church in the past to dream of what Church can become in the future through God's work.

Change

Four years ago my brief mountain biking stint came to a sudden conclusion on one windy Abilene, Texas afternoon. In the midst of riding a trail on this fated day, I went through a patch aptly titled “Cactus Minefield.” The evil wind huffed and puffed with such vigor that would blow even Lance Armstrong off his bike. Despite my best effort to right my faltering bike, the wind won. I lost. The cactus lost, she lost her spines. My face, neck, arm, hand, leg and torso adroitly recovered the prodigal cactus spines.
When I finally arrived back to my house an hour later, my nurse wife began a lengthy process of attempting to remove these spines, but even the most skilled medical professional couldn’t remove all the little devils that occupied my body. To this day one still remains entrenched in the palm of my hand.



For the last four years I had grown accustomed to living with it, but now it is starting to annoy me. So my question for you is do I leave it or try to cut it out?

Please hear the analogy of this little devil in my hand to the wounds, bitterness, and destructive habits we carry around with us for years and not make the effort to try to remove them because we have grown accustomed to living with them.

We make serious life change when the pain to remain exceeds the pain to change.


UPDATE: (10.27)
Over the weekend a friend who doesn't read the blog invited me to go mountain biking. I quickly turned him down. Unfortunately for him while riding he broke his hand. I think I am just bad luck.

Kingdom

Here are some words from Frederick Buechner on Christ’s Kingdom.

“What he seems to be saying is that the Kingdom of God is the time, or a time beyond time, when it will no longer be humans in their lunacy who are in charge of the world but God in his mercy who will be in charge of the world…
We cannot make the Kingdom of God happen, but we can put out leaves as it draws near. We can be kind to each other. We can be kind to ourselves. We can drive back the darkness a little. We can make green places within ourselves and among ourselves where God can make his Kingdom happen.”

Lord Jesus come soon…

NT Wright

The line of good and evil never runs between us and them, but between ourselves.
NT Wright

Random Football Thoughts

Here is a pic from the Monday night Cowboys/Eagles game a few weeks ago. It just happens to be one of the best games I have ever seen and to see it in person made it even better.

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The Oakland Raiders recently inquired of my father-in-law and the rest of his high school football staff regarding one of their former players who currently kicks for UT. The first question they asked,
"Was he on time to class?"

I have wondered year after year why I don't get drafted, and now I know. And to think, I always blamed it on being small and slow.

Peter Gomes

Peter Gomes recently spoke at my good friend Brian's seminary. Over lunch Dr. Gomes told Brian that he had never seen an episode of the Colbert Report, but while in the greenroom waiting for the show two weeks ago he realized that Stephen Colbert was a loon. So he decided to treat him like any of the smart-(edit) undergrad students at Harvard that he has taught for the last 20+ years. I think he held his own while talking about his new book.

Avery Video

Here is a video I put together about Avery's arrival. For more Avery stuff please check out my wife's blog


EDIT: To see Lindsay's blog go to the link "My Girls" on the side.

Christianity for Today

Last year at the Zoe worship conference Lauren Winner asked the question “Why are you a Christian today?”
Some come to faith out of fear or guilt, but I don’t think those things motivated me to be a Christian. And I am for sure they haven’t kept me a Christian. I think the benefit of the Christian community draws people to faith, but it’s not keeping me here today even though the Christian community, for the most part, has deeply blessed my life. The reason I am a Christian today is that I know Jesus does life right. Jesus embodied what people are intended to be and when I follow him I am being what I am called to be as a person. So today I remind myself that I am still following Christ because Jesus is the way.

Why are you a Christian today?

Fun in Abilene, and no fun at the Doctor's

Lindsay, Avery and I just got back from Abilene. While there I got the pleasure of talking with four of the five devoted readers of my blog, unfortunately my grandma-in-law wasn’t there to make it a perfect five for five.
Also, Avery enjoyed getting to hang out with her aunt Laura and Laura’s roommates for a night. Laura lives in the same house as some of my college friends used to live. And with Avery being over there it was like old times, since those guys usually had girls just a few years older than her over there.
For some reason that’s much more disturbing now.

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Avery had to get her foot poked today for blood work at her Doctor’s appointment. It was awful to hear her cry. I know that I cannot prevent Avery from feeling pain for the rest of her life, though I wish I could. But, I can promise to always be there for her during her pain. I can always give her a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry upon. I think God’s in the same spot. God cannot prevent every hurt we go through and maintain the freedom that enables an authentic relationship with him, but God has promised to always be by our side through all the hurts of life. Sometimes the hand to hold is from those who seek to embody Christ in the Church and sometimes the shoulder to cry upon is one that just cannot be explained.

Welcome.

This past weekend Lindsay, Avery and I were introduced to the Richland Hills Church at all three services. (Avery clearly prefers the instrumental services.) It went well, but for some reason Rick didn't give me the microphone. I had prepared to deliver the exact same message as this 5th grader gave to twenty thousand members of Dallas ISD a few weeks ago, but Rick didn't let me.





After watching this fifth grader, what do you think he will grow up to become? I think Politician.

Update

We have been in Fort Worth for almost a week now and almost settled. I should be back to blogging regularly in the next week or so once we get our internet hooked up.

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I am working on getting a special father/daughter thing that Avery and I share together daily. I am leaning towards a nightly prayer time. Any of you have special routine w/ your kids (or dogs for Cromer)

Moving on up

We are moving back to God's country of Texas this weekend.
My brother is kind enough to fly over to Florida to drive our moving truck, so I can drive my truck and Lindsay and Avery can fly. I have got a nice long road trip with my two dogs and two books on CD waiting for me. Hopefully after we get settled I will get back to blogging more regularly.

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Avery also is moving on up. In her three weeks she has already gain 23 ounces and three inches. If she keeps up this rate of growth, through proper diet, sleep, and stretching, she will be 5'2" and 34 lbs by her first birth day.

Random Thoughts

Here are a few more pics of Avery. I have been working on a video that I will try to get up by next week.

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Stress-
The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts on a good team. I think stress works the same way. A bunch of little stressors can appear much bigger when clumped together.

Everything for a reason...

Last week on a plane I met a woman with an amazing story. She was in a bad car wreck three years ago that left her surprisingly with no injuries, but the MRI’s revealed that this non-smoker had a grapefruit size tumor in her lung. If she had waited a few weeks longer the cancer would have spread and she wouldn’t have been on the plane next to me.
After finishing this story she said, “Everything happens for a reason.”

This popular phrase sounds nice, but I just don’t think I can agree. It would be tough for me to see the reason for some of the atrocious acts in our world. Though I do think that every moment carries with it the potential for something good to come out of it or in spite of it. There might not be a reason while someone experiences something bad, but I do think something good can come out of it.

What say you, does everything happen for a reason?

She's here

On Thursday at 1:52 pm Avery Ellen Norsworthy joined us. Lindsay and Avery both are doing well at home now.
Avery weighs in at 5lbs 14 oz and stands (or lays down) at 18& 1/4".

Here are a few pics that I am sure will be followed by plenty more.

Olympics...

Since everyone is posting about the Olympics, I guess I will succumb to it also.

The favorite to win the 100M hurdles according to USA Today is none other than ACU Alumni Delloreen London. In my first semester at ACU (where I pretended to be a polevaulter) I finished a workout on the track and went into the weight room to get in a post-workout lift. I began with benching 225 lbs, which I thought was a respectable weight until I sat up from my first set and looked over to my left and saw Dello benching the exact same weight as me. Under most situations having a girl benching as much as me would hurt myself esteem, but not when it’s a world class athlete.

Her husband, Lincoln London, has also run in the Olympics and more importantly is a great guy, except that he always calls me “Skywalker.” They have one daughter (as of a few months ago when I last talked with Lincoln- whose coaching now). Her name reflects her amazing athletic pedigree. I cannot spell it b/c its in their local dialect, but I know her name means what her mom is striving for this week, Gold.


-Are the new swimming suits everyone is wearing similar to a corked bat?

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-Tomorrow we go in to have Lindsay induced, so I will post some Avery pics soon after.

Pressure Washing

As we prepare to move to Texas and sell our house (hopefully) here in Florida, I did some pressure washing the other day. Pressure washing cleaned off almost everything that covered my driveway and sidewalk. Thankfully it removed the dirt that covered the concrete, but I wasn’t as pleased when the pressure washing allowed me to see a massive crack in my sidewalk that until then I didn’t even know existed.

Isn’t that just like life? Pressure and stressful situations remove the pleasantries that often mask some really beautiful traits that we often don’t see and unfortunately pressure can also shows some character flaws that we gladly keep hidden. When in stressful situations you get a clear shot at your true character including the cracks that you try to hide. In the new Batman movie, the Joker seemed to think the same thing. If he put chaos into peoples' lives he thought their cracked humanity would show (remind anyone of a book in the Old Testament?).

Thankfully plenty of people still have amazing character that shines even brighter in pressure situations.

Forgiving

A Christian is someone who forgives.
Non-Christians forgive too, but to follow the forgiving Christ we must be forgiving Christ-followers.

Jesus said that the greatest commandments are loving God and loving people. Most can love those who love them, but Christians are to love those who don’t love them. Often those unlovable enemies are those who have wronged them and need to be forgiven.

Here are a few thoughts on forgiveness
-Forgiveness is a daily choice, not just a momentary decision.
-Forgiveness (and forgiveness’ end-reconciliation) doesn’t always go the way you want and even that needs to be forgiven.
-Often forgiving gives the giver more than the recipient.

Is there a more define act of Christians than forgiving?

She's almost here

Next Thursday Lindsay is scheduled to be induced. It's amazing that Avery is almost here. Here are a few pics from these last few months as we waited on our little Angel.

Church Planting

New churches often connect new people with the message of Jesus. Since connecting new people with the message of Jesus is one of my main passions, we have decided to plant a new church. After putting off doing a solo church plant a few months ago. We are very glad that we have waited to find the North Richland Hills Church of Christ as our church plant’s mother church. So after Avery is born in a few weeks, we will move to Fort Worth, TX to work with Richland Hills for six months or so until we plant our new church. Please keep us in your prayers during this time of transition.

Having a new baby isn’t stressful enough, right? So why not add selling a house, moving and starting a new job at the same time?

Cardboard Testimonies

Suitors problems and The Stache

I’ve had plenty of people make comments about their child dating Avery, but I came face to face with the enemy for the first time this week. While he seems like a nice kid, that doesn’t change the fact that he is trying to steal my daughter from me. So when he asked upon his evil father’s nudging,
“Mr. Luke, Will you introduce me to Avery?”
I quickly informed him that he would never meet her, ever. I felt pretty good about the interaction, but I think when I unintentionally grabbed a knife it might have been a little bit over the top.

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Jason Giambi of the Yankees has been wearing a massive caterpillar on his upper lip and he is playing much better since its arrival. Despite this masculine display the lip fur couldn’t get him in the all-star game. Maybe Barry Bonds should grow one and he could actually get signed to play for a big league team this season.

Church Signs

Today my sister-in-law texted me this line she saw written on a church sign in Zepher, TX-

Don't like church? What will you do in Heaven?

It goes next to the other popular church billboard lines-

Eternity- smoking or non-smoking?
CH- CH- What's missing? UR

We have all seen some pretty funny/horrible stuff written on church billboards, so what are some of the more memorable church signs that you have seen?

Chlo-zac

Preparing for Avery's arrival next month has affected all of us in the Norsworthy household. I have been reading my What to Expect When Your Expecting and learning many things which I never thought I would have to know about. Lindsay has been, well, caring around Avery in her stomach for eight months. And now our dogs, at least one of them, wants to participate in the preparation. Our female, Chloe, has decided (or has been decided for her) that her pre-partum depression is too much for her to deal with on her own and so she is now on a K-9 version of Prozac. I am sure there are some Tom Cruise-ish readers out there who will scoff at her anxiety problem, but it is quite common for dogs to have anxiety problems.

I will keep you all updated on Chlozac's response to her medication.

Anniversary

On Saturday Lindsay and I celebrated our fifth anniversary. It seems like just yesterday Lindsay walked down the isle in downtown Austin as Jeff Berry played the piano. But in these five years we have experienced a lot, and I know that soon we will experience a great deal more of life. In these years I see that I am one of the lucky ones that married someone better than I deserve. But as you all know marriage takes work and sacrifice. It sure is easier to work on your relationship when you see the other person is working just as hard as you or even harder. I truly am lucky to have such a great partner who will share life with me.
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We ate at PF Chang’s on our anniversary, and after trying a new dish as recommended, PFC and me are good again.

Bad Taste

Not too long ago PF Chang’s ranked in my top two favorite restaurants. So PF Chang’s recently opened new location in Destin (forty-five minutes away from us) brought no small about of excitement to my taste buds. After one particularly long day of shopping in Destin, Lindsay brought home take-out from PFC. After gorging myself on my usual, sweet and sour chicken, I surprisingly became sick. A few weeks later we went to PFC and unfortunately all I could think of was my bad experience a few weeks before. Soon after eating the same meal I again felt ill. Now fast forward a few months to last week, when I tried to overcome my bad experience for the second time. We stopped at PFC on our way to the airport, but yet again the bad experience was still stuck in my head and soon after it was stuck in my stomach. One bad experience seems to have destroyed my whole relationships with PF Chang’s.

That seems to be the same situation with many people who are not apart of a community of faith in America. Those who are outside a community of faith in America have heard of Jesus. They know about the cross, Heaven and God, but they aren’t coming back.

From Unchristian-

“The vast majority of outsiders within the Mosaic and Buster generations (age 18-41) have been to churches before; most have attended at least one church for several months; and nearly nine out of every ten say they know Christians personally, having about five friends who are believers.”

One reason for why they outsiders and not insiders, is the images Christians have earned and have been given.

“One outsider put it this way; ‘Most people I meet assume that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, antigay, anti-choice, angry, violent, illogical, empire builders; they want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe.’”

Here is the question- How can I get the bad taste of PF Chang’s out of my head so I can enjoy my sweet and sour chicken again and how do we get the bad taste of Christianity out of the heads of outsiders so they can taste and see that the Lord is good?

Love

Is the phrase "unconditional love" redundant? If anything is conditional doesn't that mean it isn't love?

Can love come with any conditions on it?

Dilatory Dad’s Day Thoughts

We got back into Florida late last night from a great weekend in Fort Worth (add a ditto from us to this effusive praise of our kind hosts). Along with a great time with some wonderful friends and new friends, the time we got to spend with my father highlighted our trip. As a dad you embody the most dominate metaphor for God, God the Father. Fathers have the privilege and responsibility to influence their children’s understanding of God. I (and Lindsay too) have been fortunate enough to have a great dad who has given love, support, and encouragement in ways that have honored God. I hope to be able to do the same with our child.

In honor of my friendly Dad, here is my dad a few hours after purchasing his car making new friends.

Hindu or Hindon't

Thoughts on Hinduism from Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions. First of all the notion of grasping an entire religion in a chapter is quite overwhelming.

Like
-4 different routes to finding God- Reflection, Love (which is what Christianity is seen as to the Hindu), Work, Scientific steps
While one can incorporate all four, one is recommend to stay with one route.

-Atman- God within- A yogi trys to connect w/ the god within (Atman) by losing every trace of former separateness.


Don’t like
-The world is doomed to disappointment and the world is just “a training ground for the human spirit.”
-It is a just world in which everyone gets what is deserved and creates his or her own future. (This one is really tough to swallow, I must be seeing a different world than them)
-Bodies are not connected to the soul (jivas)- (unlike the Christian God who saves wholes not souls)-

“Worn-out garments, are shed by the body; worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller.” Bhagavad-Gita II:22

-The final stage of life wherein the goal is actually reached is the state of the sannyasin- “One who neither hates nor loves anything.” (To live without love is not really a life worth living, right?)

Big gulps ay?

Most people typically go to a Sonic or a convenience store when they are thirsty, but not us.
When Lindsay gets dehydrated, I take her to the hospital.
I guess I just have always been the romantic type.

So take this as a lesson, drink your water.

And yes, my two ladies are fine.

Faith/Sports

For Cowboys fans like myself, one of the greatest points of frustration with the team for the last few years has been the Cowboys’ porous secondary. Dallas’ pro bowl safety Roy Williams receives the brunt of the media’s and the fan’s the criticism for the sieve like secondary. When Williams came into the league he was an intimidating force, but then two things happened and the order is debatable. Opponents started to realize that he could hit, but couldn’t cover and Williams became a Christian. Some go so far as to even connect his deteriorating performance to his Christian conversion. Williams has repeatedly responded to the criticism of his play saying that Jesus was criticized too, and so he doesn’t care. To no one’s surprise, this messianic comparison has garnered no applause from the media.

Here is a quote from CBSSports.com-

Williams' heart may be in the right place, but his brain needs work if it sees parallels between the persecution of Jesus and the persecution of a $25 million safety. Beaten by Roman soldiers, beaten by Randy Moss -- what's the difference?

Athletes turn to God, and God loses. Have you ever met someone who was turned on after watching Jon Kitna thank God for a touchdown pass? Doubt it. Have you ever met someone who was turned off? Sure you have. There's a saying: Christianity would be great if it weren't for all those, you know, Christians.

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In other Cowboys news- I hope that you all are praying for Romo and Jessica.

Coconut

I had the bright idea to purchase a coconut for use in my protein shakes. Two problems existed beyond the scope of my culinary understanding.

1. I had no clue how to open a coconut.
2. Real coconut doesn't taste nearly as a good as processed (sweetened) and dried coconut.

Bear Grylls would have been disappointed with my inability to open a coconut without the aid of a hammer and a screwdriver.

Hero

On December 4, 2006 in Baghdad, Ross McGinnis, a 19 year old army soldier, sat in the gunner’s hatch of a Humvee when he saw a grenade land in his Humvee. A fellow soldier said that McGinnis had time to jump out of the Humvee to save himself, a choice that most would have taken. But Ross was not like most. He threw his body on top of the grenade and saved the lives of four of his friends. One of the soldiers he saved says that Ross became part of his family while being stationed together. The saved soldier’s young daughter still remembers Ross nightly almost two years later. “My daughter still, every night when she says her prayers, thanks Ross for saving her daddy's life,"
In the posthumous presentation of McGinnis’ Medal of Honor (the highest award for courage in combat, the 4th given in Iraq), President Bush made an allusion to John 15:3. Often Bush’s use of Christian rhetoric makes me uncomfortable because it either intentionally or unintentionally seems to connect our nation’s activity as being equal with God’s work and the Kingdom of Heaven, but this quote seemed to be extremely fitting.

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.”

Cravings

Here are the top five things (in order of importance) that I have been summoned to get so as to keep my wife and unborn daughter happy:

5. Spaghetti w/ meat sauce (lunch portion), salad w/extra tomato from Olive Garden (but this is a standard pre-pregnancy requirement)
4. Blazin Buffalo Doritos.
3. Bread (soft bread that is less than three days old)
2. Watermelon
1. Sonic Ice Pellets



Any of you have a list??

Hope

This morning my aching body reminds me that I’ve been out of high school for a decade. Last night in the second softball game of our double header, I tried (in vain) to do a superman dive after a ball in left field. When I did that in high school two things were different. First- I would probably be closer to catching it. Second-I wouldn’t feel it this much the morning after.
So in my state of bodily groaning I am going to remind myself of some quotes from NT Wright’s Surprised by Hope. Wright argues for an understanding of hope that isn’t based on an escapist pie in the sky end times, but a time in which God makes the world right again like it was originally in the garden. God will redeem all creation and blur the line between Heaven and Earth. In Kingdom living we both experience a foreshadowing of the time of redemption and we also currently participate in this redemption.

God did not want to rescue humans from creation any more than he wanted to rescue Israel from the Gentiles. He wanted to rescue Israel in order that Israel might be a light to the Gentiles, and he wanted thereby to rescue humans in order that humans might be his rescuing stewards over creation. That is the inner dynamic of the kingdom of God. (202)

It (Jesus’ work and death) is the story of God’s kingdom being launched on earth as in heaven, generating a new state of affairs in which the power of evil has been decisively defeated, the new creation has been decisively launched, and Jesus’s followers have been commissioned and equipped to put that victory and that inaugurated new world into practice. Atonement, redemption, and salvation are what happen on the way because engaging in this work demands that people themselves be rescued from the powers that enslave the world in order that they can in turn be rescuers.

Salvation only does what it’s meant to do when those who have been saved, are being saved, and will one day fully be saved realize that they are saved not as souls but as whole and not for themselves alone but for what God now longs to do through them.

Thoughts from the Beach

Two simple thoughts from my Memorial Day trip to the beach.

1. Don't bring your "boombox" to the beach. No one wants to hear your "jams."

2. I don't care what European country you are from and what they think there, but here in the US fellas don't wear Speedos on the beach.

Signposts

While in school I was given the advice to find a favorite theologian and read everything he/she writes. A slapdash read of my posts will show that I chose N.T. Wright. (An author whose name is Wright seems to clearly be the right choice.) One of Wright’s dominant metaphors in his writing is a signpost. A signpost, according to NTW, doesn’t ever point to itself, but it points to something beyond. In Simply Christian NTW talks about four main signposts that point to something beyond this broken world; Justice, Community, Beauty and Spirituality. For example beauty is a signpost to something beyond (to mix my metaphors) like an engagement ring “which is meant as it is to delight the eye but which is meant even more to delight the heart because of what it promises.”

In my life some of the greatest signposts are my patient wife, loving family, supportive friends, the fulfillment I feel when talking or hearing about Jesus, post-workout endorphin rushes, and making a difference.

What are signposts for you?

Suitors

Avery is getting to that age (fourteen weeks until her due date) when her suitors are starting to line up. Three currently reside in the front of the line. Here’s the breakdown on each’s chances, giving special attention to each gene pool.

Truitt- a stunning one year old from Houston, um... I mean Memphis.
Pro’s- Dad happens to be my best friend, a great minister and a pretty good athlete. Mom is the best preacher in his family with Truitt’s Grandma pushing for second place. Future ACU Wildcat.
Con’s- Truitt possibly could be scared of dogs like his dad. There also is a salacious rumor floating around of Truitt taking a bath with a girl before his first birthday.
Chances- Doubtful.

Samuel- a strapping seven month old from Panama City.
Pro’s- Parents are good friend of ours. Samuel is almost guaranteed to have outstanding manors and to be pretty smart with an engineer and doctor for parents. Has a good relationship with our dogs already and destined to be the best outdoors man of the three.
Con’s- Unlike his mother’s family that contains three D1 football players and three coaches, his dad’s lack of interest in football might thwart his athletic success. Has tried to spit into my mouth.
Chances- One in a billion.


Desean- a smooth three month old from Panama City.
Pro’s- Dad, a friend from the gym, happens to be one of the most ripped people I know.
Con’s- Desean could be a pretty boy like his dad, and Avery’s home has already exceeded it’s pretty boy limit.
Chances- Slim and none.

Conclusion- Avery doesn’t need any guy other than her dad.

Christians on Sitcoms

Who are some of the most famous or infamous Christian characters on TV/Movies?
Here the first two that come to my mind.

Angela from The Office

Ned Flanders from The Simpsons

Who else is there and what would be one word to describe them? Ned ("I just got back from a Christian camp, where I learned how to be more judgmental") and Angela ("Yeah I watch 'Will and Grace' and almost throw up.") can both be described as judgmental, especially Angela.

Beautiful Pregnant Wife/ Forgiveness

Here are some pics of my beautiful wife looking more beautiful than she ever has before. The first one is her at 14 weeks, with Chief around 18, at the beach is 21 weeks and in front of the mountains is at 25.


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Check out this amazing story of forgiveness.

Emerging

From John Burke's No Perfect People Allowed

“Generally, emerging generations do not ask, ‘What is true?’ They are primarily asking, ‘Do I want to be like you?’ In other words, they see truth as relational. ‘If I want to be like you, then I want to consider what you believe. If I don’t see anything real or attractive in you or your friends as Christ-followers, I don’t care how true you think it is, I’m not interested.’”

The primary issue, according to Burke, isn’t orthodoxy anymore, it’s orthopraxy. The issue isn’t mainly what you think, but how you behave.
If this is an accurate depiction of the emerging generation, then do you think this makes it easier or more challenging for Christians?

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On a side note, I have felt Avery kick in my smokin hot wife's belly, but now I have seen her kick in my baby's mama's belly. That's just amazing.

Joys of Delta

Living in the southeast, I know that if I want to get to heaven I have to fly through Atlanta first. Flying to Atlanta is always precarious; this morning was no different.

Good news- I got bumped up to first class on my flight from ATL to Sacramento

Bad news- I got bumped from the 6:00am flight to the 3:30pm flight.

And they still expected me to pay for the parking.

The silver lining was the lady behind the desk with the German accent was quite considerate. It helps having someone who can commiserate with your plight.

Mission

According to Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, dogs need the following three things in this order:
exercise, discipline and affection.

His lists seems pretty accurate to the needs of people too, but let me insert one caveat about defining exercise. Birds were create to fly, fish were created to swim and dogs were created to walk. When a dog walks he exercises his God intended mission.
While people do need physical exercise, I think what we most need to exercise is our God given sense of mission.

In the cult classic Fight Club, a battle interrupts the plight of an over-bored and under-challenged suburbanite and in the process gives him new life (and a few new scars). I assume the movie’s ability to hit a nerve in the plight of many over-bored and under-challenged 18-35 year olds caused the movie’s success. Many people need to be instilled with a sense of mission. Some of us need to redefine our missions within the context of our current lifestyle and others need to take on a new mission.

What would you say are the three things needed most by people?

Scripture and Authority

In my pretend to be a cop day I unfortunately (or fortunately) didn't get to see anything too exciting. But I did get to wear a bulletproof vest, which was pretty empowering until I realized that it wasn't just for aesthetics.
My cop friend did get pulled over while driving his jeep. He had a nice line to get out of the speeding ticket, "I am a cop- here is my badge and gun." I think I might try that one.

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The phrase “Authority of Scripture” gets thrown around a lot by many church people (including me), but what exactly does it mean for scripture to have authority? Sometimes the phrase gets used as a trump card to support an interpretation of scripture, but I think it has a deeper meaning than that. The authority of scripture is a sense of calling to hear the word of scripture.


From NT Wright’s The Last Word

To affirm 'Authority of Scripture' is precisely not to say, 'We know what scripture means and don’t need to raise any more questions.' It is always a way of saying that the church in each generation must make fresh and rejuvenated efforts to understand scripture more fully and live by it more thoroughly, even if that means cutting across cherished tradition.

So how do we empower scripture to have authority without just giving it a title for aesthetics?

Grace or Tolerance?

Last week I attended the National New Church Conference in Orlando, Fl. At this conference one of the speakers presented the idea that Tolerance is a cheap alternative to Grace.

Tolerance is such a popular phrase today. It seems that the only thing that isn’t tolerated in many circles is intolerance. But is tolerance just a watered down version of Grace? Tolerance seems to say that I accept you where you are. Grace says I accept you where you are, but for your own best interest I will not leave you there. Tolerance can often enable destructive behavior. Grace tolerates people with destructive traits, but doesn’t allow those traits to be kept around.

How can we be people who give grace without just giving tolerance?

Update

I have written a few posts, but for some reason I cannot post them on my Mac. I think I am eating my words of adoration for Mac's.

I am going on a ride along tomorrow with my friend who is a cop in downtown Jacksonville, FL. I am sure that I will have a good story to tell soon.

Worry

Worrying is like a rocking chair.
A whole lot of commotion with no movement.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

Forgiveness

Here is a quote form Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Then I realized something: That last thought had brought no sting with it. Closing Sohrab’s door, I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.

What do you think? Forgiveness- is it a momentary epiphany or is it a slipping away unannounced experience?

Fathers be good to your daughters.

While we sat in the theater at an otherwise unmoving movie, Lindsay grabbed my hand and placed it upon her stomach and I was moved. For the first time I felt my daughter kick and squirm. And I am now not the same because of it.

I have been working on my Dog Whisperer skills walking my dogs with choke collars. I am fine doing that with my male dog. But the first time I pulled on the collar of my female dog, she looked up at me with her big eyes shocked that I would discipline her and I almost stopped. If my female dog can do that to me, what is that little kicking girl going to do to me when she grows up?

The Last Lecture

Here is Randy Pausch's story who was on ABC last night. Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer with a prognosis of six month left to live. Check out this speech he gave over his life.

Mac

Just got a new Mac laptop and I am officially loyal to the brand. With one firewire cable I transfered my entire old mac onto my new one. If only this whole world was as simple as a Mac....

Dogs

A lady from church informed me of one way to tell that your dog and not your wife is your best friend-

Lock your dog(s) and your wife in the trunk of your car and then leave them there for an hour. When you come back and open the trunk who is going to be more excited to see you?

I haven't tried it yet.
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The other day one of my furry best friends crossed the line and stole my deer jerky that he had been drooling over for a week. The next day The Dog Whisperer sold another book. Caesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer, makes the observation that most dogs in America are not happy because they are forced to be more than they were created to be. Owners expect them to be four legged, hairy humans, instead of letting them enjoy life as just a dog. I think Caesar is on to something with not just dogs, but with people too. Dogs, like most of us, appreciate life more when life is lived as it is intended to be.

Spiritual Memory

A few months ago I stood fatigued after a workout before my Gold’s Gym locker trying in vain to remember the combination to my lock. I could remember the year the Cowboys selected Demarcus Ware, my first home phone number, and my dog Chief’s body weight but I couldn’t come up with the same three-number combination that I used almost daily. So I closed my eyes, stopped trying to remember with my brain and let my hands remember the numbers. And somehow feeling the clicks on the lock made something click. Muscle memory is a funny thing. If you do something enough times your body remembers how to do it, even if your mind might not.
There are a few prayers that I say almost daily- The Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner) and the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father who art in Heaven…”). As I stand before an all-present and powerful God sometimes I try in vain to come up with a combination of words that connect me to Him. Its in moments like this I am glad that I have spiritual memory, even if my mind cannot conjure up the right words, my lips have said them enough that it just clicks.

Any prayers that have been particularly meaningful to you?

Slow down.

The beauty of life is never grasped when rushed past.

Books and BoSoxs/Yankees

While the Red Sox Nation waited to see if their team would play after the Sox were striking for another 40K, the Yankees were helping the Virginia Tech community continue to heal from the shooting months ago by playing an exhibition game in Blacksburg (and giving a nice million dollar check from the Steinbrenners). A Hokie student asked Jeter to pose for a pic next to the stone in memory of her late fiancé, a Jeter fan. If that thought doesn’t get you choked up, like A-Rod in October, you are heartless. For more on the (dare I say) Christ like behavior of the Yankees check out Cromer’s blog .
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I was recently asked to give the most influential books I have read. In the last few years I said - Simply Christian- NT Wright & Simple Church-Rainer (In my opinion it could be simpler by being edited down, but still a great model for church). I might eventually add How (Not) to Talk about God- Rollins.

What are your three most influential books?

The Way

Jesus says, “I am the way and the only way.” In John’s Gospel, Jesus gives a series of self-identifying statements, which reveal his divine status, and this one makes me struggle the most. If Jesus is the only way to the Father, then no other way gets us to God. Pre-Jesus Judaism will not get you there. Islam leads you on a road that doesn’t get to THE Destination. And the list goes on and on.
I am a product of my environment and that’s not all bad. I have been formed (some by choice and some not so much by choice) to be a person that doesn’t want to disrespect the religious experiences and the stories that influence someone’s life. I don’t like the idea of telling someone that their religious heritage is empty, because Christianity has been given too many black eyes by people who are quick to get involved in verbal (and not so verbal) fisticuffs with those who have different religious experiences. So I am tempted by the popular option of saying that all roads lead to the same destination. A Hindu and Christian both travel roads that lead to the same divine mountaintop. This mentality proposes to respect all differing religious stories by proposing that they are really all analogous. But does this really respect all religions? It seems to actually disrespect all religions by the arrogance of the outsider. One can pompously say that these differing religious narratives actually aren’t that different. Our Hindu friend says there are many gods, but our Jewish friend says that only one God exists. Yet the supercilious outsider mocks the defining characteristics of each by saying your doctrines matters little because you both are going the same direction.
While I maintain the mentality that “do unto others…” does include respecting formative religious narratives of others. I think that watering it all down just doesn’t work either. I am reminded of an episode from ER not too long ago in which a grief-ridden doctor faces death while being swamped with the guilt of administering a lethal injection to a posthumously vindicated man. He wants the chaplain to give him answers for how to be forgiven and how to experience grace. She gives him the nebulous postmodern “all roads lead…” answer. But this answer leaves him empty. The doctor furiously castigates her because he wants a simple right or wrong, yes or no answer, but all she has to offer is ambiguity.

Jesus gives us that simple answer, “I am the way.”

10,000 BC

Sunday night I saw 10,000BC while in Dallas with Lindsay and her parents. The movie automatically goes in my ‘guy movie’ category alongside gripping movies like Braveheart and Gladiator. In all of these movies we see the common thread of the battle for family and justice. William Wallace in Braveheart fights for his country and revenge for his wife’s murder. Maximus in Gladiator fights for Rome and for revenge of the deaths of his family and his beloved friend and emperor. In 10,000 BC, the hero, D’Leh, fights for the emancipation of his people and for love. It’s the same story, told and retold. Yet it still grasps us in the same way, because these stories touch on an almost primal compulsion for fighting a battle worth living for and dying for.

What’s in your ‘guy movie’ category and what is it about our 21st century life that makes these movies so powerful?

Wedding Bells

We are back in Florida after being in Texas last week for a speaking engagement in East Texas. Not only did we get to make some new friends at the church, but also we were able to get over to DFW and Abilene to see family and friends. But we are not back in Florida for long. On Thursday we head up to my old stomping grounds of Ohio for a wedding. While I am very happy for the bride and groom, it is going to be the most odd wedding I have ever been to because at this wedding I am marrying my grandma. Before you get some weird Arkansas type idea, let me clarify. My grandma is getting remarried and I am officiating the ceremony. One of my friends in Abilene told me that marrying your grandma isn’t nearly as odd as marrying your dad which he did a few years ago. I might disagree with him in a few days.

As I prepare for the service I am struggling with a few lines.

“Jim, you may now kiss my grandma.” Just doesn’t sound right.
So I might go with, “Jim, you may now give a quick side-hug to my grandma.”

The Shed

It is amazing how life can change one’s impression of a location. I’m back in Abilene, and every time I’m here I drive by our first house. This is the house Lindsay and I bought right before we got married. We welcomed our dogs, Chief, into our family there a few months before we got married (and Chloe the next Valentine's Day). We came home from our Mexican honeymoon and unloaded our car full of presents into this house on the 4th of July back in ‘03. This is the house that I put almost a thousand square feet of Pergo flooring down, painted every room and built a fence with my neighbor the pilot. I remember coming home to that house from Grace Bible Study on Tuesday nights and I remember having dinner ready for Lindsay when she came home from working at Hendrick Medical Center. I remember trying to black out the bedroom windows for the few months that Lindsay had to work night shift. I remember getting a blowup pool for the dogs to keep cool in the summer. So many memories that over time seem to have all been brushed positive, but the memories there weren’t positive for the house’s new occupant.
There was a shed in our backyard that our dogs would go into when it was cold. Actually a few times they would go into the shed, accidentally shutting the door and then find themselves trapped. I would have to go out to emancipate them. My Boxers would burst out the door and leave their futon bed in shambles. But now the shed no longer stands.
As the gossip mill has reported, one of the renters found himself consumed with guilt and thought that another way didn’t exist. So he committed suicide in that shed. Someone, I’m not sure who, decided to tear down the shed. As I drove by the backyard I saw our dog’s blow up pool sitting on top of a pile of rubble from that shed. Life and her memories can be so wonderful and at the same time it can be so painful.
Lord Jesus come soon…

Fishing Trip

I went deep sea fishing off the coast of Louisiana with my friend Derek on Thursday. Here is the Tuna we brought home.

Acting and Hoping

Here’s a great Eugene Peterson quote from A Long Obedience in the Same Direction-

We live in what one writer has called the ‘age of sensation.’ We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting.

Do you agree or disagree? Act into feel or feel into act?
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One of my workout partner’s son’s 17yr old friend died in a car accident over the weekend. Deeply moved by the death of a teenager, especially because it caused him (and all of us for that matter) to come to grips with our own children’s mortality, asked something along the lines of “How can you make any sense of this?” He and another friend turned and looked at Luke the Pastor.

“No words can make this seem right. But words like ‘hope’ help. Hope that God will one day make this all right.”

What would you have said?

Life in the Storm

Elie Wiesel in Souls on Fire refers to a Jewish parable that has been meaningful to me.
Here is my version-

Two travelers get lost on a journey in the midst of a storm. The darkness impairs their ability to see their path in front of them and the rain makes each step precarious. But there are brief moments when they can see. Each time the boom of thunder shakes the forest it foreshadows a brief flash of visibility. The fool stares up at the redoubtable lightning. The wise man on the other hand doesn’t look up, but looks ahead. He looks at the path in front of him that is briefly illuminated by the lightning.

In moments when we seem lost on our journey, we can either stare up at the storm overhead that has created the muddy mess that bogs us down. Or we can use the lightning for the brief illumination that it is. In those flashes we get to see our character, which often gets masked by the comfort of sunny weather. We can peer into where our current steps are leading us and where our next step really needs to be.

Flood and Valentine's Day

As Lindsay was driving home from work talking to me on her cell, she scream. She then explained that a car next to her made a wrong turn into a flooded ditch next to the mall. I think this is that car.
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One of my favorite people in Panama City, found himself across the pond in Afghanistan for Valentine's day a few years ago. When you are a pilot in the US Air Force you just assume that you will not be getting off of work to be with your wife on Valentine's Day. So this pilot decided to give out a little different Valentine's gift for his wife, Tammy.

As his plane was being loaded with bombs he got out a sharpie and brushed off his poetic skills and wrote on the bombs:

"Dear Osama,
Happy Valentine's Day
Love, Tammy"

I know some people display love in unique ways, but that is pretty different.

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This same pilot a few days later flew the same trip and instead of dropping bombs, he was dropping relief. That has to feel weird.

fairy tale and a nightmare

Here's a Frederick Buechner quote about fairy tales-

“We send scientific expeditions to Loch Ness because if the dark and monstrous side of fairy tales can be proved to exist, who can be sure that the blessed side doesn’t exist, too? I suspect that the whole obsession of our time with the monstrous in general- with the occult and the demonic, with exorcism and black magic and the great white shark- is at its heart only the shadow side of our longing for the beautiful…”


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I just had an awful meeting with a couple deciding to get a divorce. The phrase, "Reconciliation is not possible" is a painful pill to swallow. Ironically a tornado touched down not too far from my office while we were meeting, but it was no surprise that the darkness outside my office because of the storm was exceeded by the darkness inside my office because of the lack of reconciliation.

Random Thoughts

I think “The Shack” was a good book. My favorite thought in the book was the comparison of the work of the Holy Spirit to a fractal. It looks like a mess up close, but when you step back you see the beautiful picture.

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I think that my taste buds are coming back to work. When I was sick last week nothing tasted right or even good, including my beloved Subway. I think that’s true when we are not being the type of people that we were created to be too. When we have a selfishness infection, giving isn’t that appealing. Sometimes our taste buds or our desires are examples of just how far off of the mark we are.

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I think that the upcoming NFL combine is more exciting than NBA basketball and NASCAR.

“What I meant to say was…”

This last week I have been almost completely worthless because of a nice fever and an ear infection. Don’t tell Jesus, but I have drunk some juice in order to get some Vitamin C. I am pretty sure he will not mind. Watching Roger Clemens getting grilled by the Democrats and worshiped by the Republicans on Wednesday was almost as bad as the fever.
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The wedding last Saturday started a few minutes late, but the nerves of the bride had showed up promptly for the rehearsal dinner and continued through the next day until the wedding started. The nervous bride, dressed in white, walked down the isle on the arm of her step-dad towards the front of the sanctuary where her excited groom met her.
They walked up the stairs to the stage where we began the service. As I began my sermon I made a comment along the lines of how it seemed that not too long ago they met at the bride’s place of work.

The entire audience erupted in laughter, and I was confused. I began backtracking trying to figure out what I had said. And then I realized the source of the humor.

I had said, “It seems like just a few weeks ago that you met for the first time at the Holiday Inn.”

As I tried to explain how she was a manager at Holiday Inn, I noticed that my snafu alleviated the bride’s nerves.