Avery's 1st MLB Game

We had a great time taking Avery to her first MLB game this week. She did well, but she got upset when the ballpark erupted in boo’s when A-Rod batted. She couldn’t understand why people would do that to him, but once I told her about the “Kissing the Mirror” pic in Detail magazine she understood. While I am not a huge baseball fan, I must confess that I am a Yankees fan. They do a good job of filling the sports void created by the Cowboys recent short seasons, and they always spend the money to try to be competitive.

Sitting alone in church

We had visited this good church before, but this time when no one talked with us after church it bothered me because my pregnant wife was feeling ill. Church should be a safe place to feel ill considering all the “love people” stuff churches typically talks about.

Lindsay sat down hoping to get over her temporary illness during the last few minutes of the service. But it didn’t go away. The service ends, and everyone rapidly leaves. And we awkwardly sit. She needed water, but she also needed her husband to stay next to her. So we sat, alone. Not one person came over to talk with us during this long five minutes, and while it never bothered us before that no one talked with us, it bothered me that time.

I am not trying to bash this church, I am just trying to figure out how not to repeat this mistake. What do we do to establish a church that makes everyone feel welcomed?

Venture stuff

Here is some info about Venture that I have been working on for our website-

JESUS. Venture exists to help people become more like Jesus, who is the light in a dark world and the truest expression of what people are intended to be. We believe in the forgiveness found in Jesus, the power found in his cross and the strength found in Christ centered community. At Venture we follow the way of Jesus through living in Christian community, worshipping, and serving.
BROKENNESS. Throughout the world brokenness exists, and brokenness isn’t just out there but brokenness is in each of us. We believe that God brings wholeness to our broken world through Jesus. Venture exists to help people experience the wholeness that comes from God.
GOD. As Christ followers we have joined something larger than ourselves- God’s redemption of his creation. God has entered into his creation’s existence through Jesus to reconcile the world back to himself. Venture seeks to be a signpost that points people to this reconciling God.
SAFE. Venture is a safe place to wrestle with your struggles and the sometimes over-whelming task of trying to engage with God.

Friendship

An acquaintance is someone who likes you for your strengths.
A friend is someone who likes you in spite of your weaknesses.

Justification

Here is a quote from an NT Wright interview based on his new book on Justification that I am really excited to read:
"because the question Paul is asking is not, 'How can you get enough righteousness so that when God looks at you he’ll be happy with you?” but, “How can you be sure that you are a member of God’s people, that your sins are forgiven, and that therefore you are part of the covenant purposes of God which, ever since Abraham, have been the way in which God was addressing and rescuing the world?' "

Marley, Chief and Me.

Lindsay finally got me to watch Marley and Me last Saturday night. I still hadn’t recovered from watching 8 Below three years ago, and didn’t know if I was ready to watch another dog movie because without fail the dog dies at the end. I reluctantly watched the young couple get their dog at the beginning of their marriage just like us. Lindsay and I got Chief right around the time we got married and Chloe soon after on our first married Valentine’s Day. As a grad student I was perplexed how another grad school couple with a similar income could afford to go on vacations and afford a new car when we couldn’t, until I realized that the only other expense we had that they didn’t was our two dogs. These dogs have cost us a great deal, but there is a reason they are called man’s best friend. Dogs truly do love you for who you are and just want to be around you.

UPDATE-This blog turned out to be ominous foreshadowing. I wrote this blog earlier last week and didn't post it when we found out that Chief had cancer. After removing two cancerous tumors from his hip, the vet said that he had a fifty percent chance that the cancer wasn’t in his blood stream. We spent last week dreading the results of Chief's blood work. Today we heard the good news that the cancer wasn’t in his blood stream. After finding out that most likely Chief will not have anymore cancer, he is going to be extremely disappointed that the preferential treatment he experienced last week will not last. Lindsay and I sure are glad that Chief is back to sleeping in the living room and eating his regular diet.

Memoirs of a church planter- Vol 1

Planting a church has been quite an adventure so far, and it’s only going to get more overwhelming, exciting and stressful as we get closer to our weekly launch in October.
Here are three of the lessons I am learning:
1. Measure twice, cut once. We only get one chance to establish our initial DNA and we will be affected by this DNA for years. If (and that’s a big “If”) we can thoroughly measure out who God is leading us to become, then we will save ourselves a lot of cutting down the road.
2. Make the ask. The leaders in my life that have blessed me the most have been the ones who have painted a picture of who I could become and invited me to become that person. Many of us are waiting for someone to give us the opportunity to grow, and those of us who God has entrusted with leadership roles owe it to them to give them those chances.
3. Don’t fear the “no.” When I was in college, I would invite people each week to make the forty-five minute drive with me out to the country church where I preached. Fifty percent of the people who said they would go with me would never show up at my house on Sunday morning. This lesson has helped me more than most lessons I learned in grad school. People will dissappoint you, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be a disappointing person.