Luke Norsworthy

Like and Love

2009-10-01T20:40:00.001-07:00

I have been working on this thought for a while and I will continue working on it until I use it next month in a series at Venture on the Lord's Prayer.

The difference between like and love-
You like someone because there are things about them that you enjoy being around (such as a sense of humor, or being a good listener) but when you love someone you want to be around them despite the things about them that you don’t enjoy (ie- stubbornness, inability to replace the toilet paper roll).

What do you think?

Ochocinco and Avery

2009-09-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

"Hey Chad, my daughter's a big fan of yours. Can she get a picture with you?"
"She's too young to like football."
"No, she likes football."
"Ok"
Picture taken.
"Thanks Chad."
"Ok, you guys enjoy."

The dialogue was breif, but tacitly Chad Ochocinco (All-Pro WR for the Cincinnati Bengals) expressed to me how happy he was to see me at the Grapevine Mills Mall in DFW today. I feel bad that I walked off too fast, because I think Chad wanted to give me his email so I could send him a copy of the pic.

UFC 103 and JC

2009-09-22T09:28:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday night, a good friend from Venture and I attended UFC 103 in Dallas. Like most sporting events, watching on TV can in no one replicate the experience of being there to hear, see and feel the event. One aspect of the experience I didn’t expect was the crowd, surprising the cage-fighting crowd isn’t the most sophisticated audience. Who would have thought? I feel safe to say that of the almost 20K there, I might have been the only clergy there. The large gentleman from Chicago next to me seemed to have been very dehydrated and tried to placate his thirst through copious amounts of Jack Daniels- a seemingly popular technique for many that evening. Fortunately for me, he was a happy drunk. He proudly pulled out his camera to show me a picture of two people that he partied with the night before, a former UFC Champion and the fighter’s adult film star girlfriend. I made conversation about the athlete, but ignored the girl, much to this guy’s dismay. So he turned to the stranger on the other side and finally got the reaction he wanted from the picture.

If I were a betting man, this guy would probably not feel too comfortable in a typical church service. He would probably prefer to get punched in the face by his new UFC friend than participate in a typical small group because the world that most church people live in and his world are so different. Many church people are so insulated from this lifestyle that we don’t have the ability to even speak the same language. Regardless of how right we are, if we cannot connect with him we have failed because if we are to be letters of recommendation and we don’t get our message to its intended destination then we are the lost ones not him.
If we are truly going to be missionally minded communities as God intends for us we have to find a way to make it easy for people like my new friend to connect with God through our Christian communities. So here’s the million-dollar question, how do we embody church in such a way that he can participate and wants to participate?

1st service video

2009-07-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

Untitled from venturecommunity on Vimeo.

Venture's 1st preview service

2009-07-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

The Venture Community gathered on Sunday for her first worship experience. We had spent a good chunk of Saturday transforming our middle school into a place of worship for the first time, but we had a strong team that worked hard to get it done. Sunday morning seemed to be the culmination of a lot of work, because most of the work that I’ve (and others) put in to this church plant over the last year sixteen months hasn’t produced a great deal of tangible or visible results. All of these preparations started to pay off when new people not just showed up but wanted to get involved. We didn’t do any advertising or marketing other than word of mouth, so we were exciting to see a solid turnout. While this might have seemed like the culmination in some ways, we know this is really just the beginning. Our goal has never been just to get people to show up for a gathering. Our goal is to help people be formed into the image of Jesus. Just showing up on a Sunday morning doesn’t do this, but it can be a good place to start. I am pleased with our auspicious start, and anxiously await to see what’s next.

God is...

2009-07-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here's the sermon series for our preview service.

God is... from venturecommunity on Vimeo.

Venture's Story

2009-07-08T11:08:00.001-07:00

Venture's Story from venturecommunity on Vimeo.

Our first service is coming up this Sunday. Please keep us in your prayers.

Luckiest Man....

2009-07-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

From Lou Gehrig's July 4th 1939 speech- less than two years before his death.

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans...When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know. So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

imperfect information

2009-06-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday on my trip out to Midland to preach at GCR (one of Venture’s two main supporting churches) I read Andy Stanley’s Next Generation Leaders. The one thought that has stuck with me from the book is a quote from the WWII submarine movie U-571.

(on being a captain) “Now that’s the job. It’s not a science. You have to be able to make hard decisions based on imperfect information, asking men to carry out orders that may result in their deaths. And if you’re wrong, you suffer the consequences. If you are not prepared to make those decision, without pause, without reflection, then you got no business being a submarine captain.”

A leader makes hard decisions based off of imperfect information. Stanley says that a leader is never going to be more than 80% certain of his/her decision, and if you wait for more certainty you will most likely miss an opportunity. At Venture we have issues of which we are certain- we follow Jesus, God’s grace is enough, love, forgiveness…. But issues of style, preferences and forms aren’t always reaching 80%, In these times I am learning as a leader to trust in God and secondly to focus on clarity instead of certainty.

Venture Small Group

2009-06-11T13:12:00.001-07:00

We started weekly small groups last week and had our second meeting last night. We had a great group thats starting to act like a church. It's truly exciting to be apart of this church plant.

On the second picture you can see at the table three of the Avery's, including my Avery in the yellow, who are apart of Venture. I guess great parents think alike when naming their kids.

Core Issues.

2009-06-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

In high school, my sophomore track season got derailed because of a back injury that started months before during wrestling season. Despite consulting a couple doctors, I couldn’t figure out why my back was bothering me. Chiropracters tried adjusting my back. Another doctor had me wear a heal lift in my shoe to compensate for a difference in the length of my legs. A physical therapist thought with a combination of electrical stem, ice and massages it would get better. The latter was my favorite, but even that didn’t fix the real problem. The real problem that caused my mid-lumbar strain was my hamstrings’ flexibility, or should I say, lack of flexibility. As a 15 year old, I didn’t understand the importance of stretching. The tightness in my legs caused my back to become extremely tight and then it couldn’t handle the trama delivered to it from wrestling or pole vaulting. The solution was surprisingly a basic core issue, but we all erroneously thought complicated treatments would do the trick.
It seems to me that many of us have a deep wounding or brokenness at our core that we try to medicate with shallow home remedies- a few more compliments from your peers, new stuff, more success (however we define that- the size of your bank account or “your” church), or a plethora of other options. All to no avail. Instead of turning to the core issue of connection with one’s creator.

Tim Keller-“Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to an identity, apart from him.”
Barbara Brown Taylor- “Contrary to the legal model, the essence of sin is not the violation of laws but a wrecked relationship with God, one another, and the whole created order. “All sins are attempts to fill voids,” wrote Simone Weil. Because we cannot stand the God-shaped hole inside of us, we try stuffing it full of all sorts of things, but only God may fill.”

Sitting Alone- part 2

2009-06-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a follow up to a previous post on the subject of churches that don't do a good job of being welcoming-

Many churches that do a good job of drawing large crowds to their services don't do a good job of creating community. One reason could be very pragmatic. Many people in many different services isn't conducive for building meaningful relationships. But it could be much more than just that, because what you win them with is what you win them to. If you get people in the door by just giving them a good worship product, then you could be establishing a consumer culture in which people expect to receive and not give. When you go to church to receive, then you aren’t in the mindset to give to anyone including the stranger sitting next to you.
So the million dollar question is how do we lead meaningful worship experiences while concurrently calling people to discipleship and community?

Avery's 1st MLB Game

2009-05-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

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

Justification

2009-05-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Venture's Location

2009-04-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

We finalized our Sunday meeting place for our first year at Venture- Crownover Middle School. It's a great location and has great space for children's ministry. We are pretty excited about it.

Venture

2009-04-20T12:06:00.001-07:00

We finally got something up on Venture's website- Venturecommunity.org. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will start to take more shape. On May 15th we will have our last vision casting meeting and then we will transition to weekly small groups as we build towards our first preview service on July 12th. I am sure these next three months will go quickly. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Denton Project Update

2009-04-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

We finally decided on a name for our church and purchased our domain name. Our website should start to have some stuff on it soon, but until then check out this preview for our site and our name.

MacChurch

2009-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Within a few days of getting my first Mac laptop I was hooked because of the seemless interface with my Ipod, camcorder, camera, calender, phone, etc. Since all of these things work together so smoothly I have ended up use them more often and more efficiently . I hadn’t purchased many CDs in the last few years, but once I had easy downloading capabilities from Itunes I began purchasing music almost weekly. As I am now about to get my third Mac laptop I must admit that I am committed to the brand.

So the question is how do we develop a church that can be as seamless as Mac? How can we let all of the expressions of our Christianity go smoothly together instead of the seemingly disjointed church experience of which many of us have grown tired or just begrudgingly accepted. How does our personal reading of scripture and other spiritual disciples get incorporated into our church life? How can we serve our local community with our church community? How does what our kids experience on Sunday morning affect them and our family throughout the week? How does what we hear on Sunday morning interface with our small group? I know that just as I was less likely to drive to a music store and buy a CD, but very likely to download music off of Itunes, many people will be more willing to engage in the Christ life if they have that same accessability.

My answer-simplicity. The more the words, the less the meaning (Eccl 6:11). We need to speak less words and do less activity for more meaning. Getting people busy or always at the building (if you have one) doesn’t produce more Christ-likeness just as hanging aroud the biology department doesn’t make you a doctor. What makes someone like Christ is enabling them to embark on the venture of following Jesus. We need to do a few things that all explicitly tie to a singular vision of Christ-likeness.

What do you think is the best way to a seamless church?

Preaching

2009-03-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the privilege to preach at Richland Hills’ weekend services. It is a lot of fun to preach for over four thousand people that are excited to be there and ready to listen. I guess that’s what happens when you get used to listenning to Rick Atchley and his sidekick Johnny Storm on a consistent basis. Here is a link if you want to check it out.

Forgiveness

2009-03-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

Here's an amazing example of forgiveness.

"I looked down to see where my plane had crashed and saw that it had gone right into a house. I screamed in horror when I realized what had just happened," Neubauer said in the document.
Neubauer landed in the backyard of another home and was not injured. The pilot had been trying to reach the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when he started having problems with his fighter jet.
The jet crashed into Dong Yun Yoon's house, killing his wife, his two young children and his mother-in-law. An unoccupied house was also destroyed.

Days after the incident, Yoon said he did not blame the pilot.
"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," Yoon said. "I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could."

Front Row Flirting

2009-03-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here’s an unfortunately true story I am telling at RHCC this weekend during my sermon…

It was my first month at my first full-time job and I had just finished preaching when a girl came forward for prayer during the response time. I was feeling pretty good as she headed for the front pew, expecting to hear her tell me a life-changing insight that I shared during my sermon. Soon after she sat down, I stepped over towards her and took a seat next to her. I leaned over to find out how exactly I had changed her life, but she didn’t move. Not only did she not move over to converse with me, but she turned away from me. And she sat. I asked her what was wrong. And she sat, silent. So I motioned for an elder to help me out, and so he came and talked to her. And she actually talked to him.
Thirty minutes later the church building had almost emptied out, when her mother motioned me over towards the two of them and said,
“Luke, I am really sorry that my daughter ignored you. She just thought that you were a boy on the front pew trying to flirt with her.”
Which might possibly be understandable if I hadn't been preaching for the last thirty minutes. So I assume that she thought my sermon was the longest pick-up line in history.
When I actually said, “Open your Bibles to the book of Mark.”
She must have heard in her mind, “Hey girl, you come here often?”

Contentment

2009-03-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 13:5- Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
It seems odd that a verse on contentment would contain a quotation given to encourage Joshua as he takes over for Moses as the new leader of Israel. This verse has been stuck in my head for over a week now as I try to think of a connection between financial contentment and God’s faithful presence.
Contentment is a mentality that what you have is all that you really need, if not more than what you need. I don’t think a person can ever be content without being thankful and I think if you are good at one, then you will inevitably become good at the other. God, the dresser of the lilies of the fields and feeder of the birds of the air, will not take a day off from his job. So we are content whatever way God chooses to clothe us, without regard for the brand, and we are content whatever way God chooses to feed us, without regard to the culinary skillfulness. Whenever I find myself being discontent with my situation I try to list five things for which I am thankful and amazingly contentment seems to show up because God is pretty good about never leaving or forsaking us. And I am not saying this as someone who has always had financial things go my way. I have a house that's been on the market in Florida for 14 months now without an offer. I have prayed many times that God would send a buyer, and I have also prayed that God would send a hurricane, both to no avail. So obviously God isn't housing me the way that I would like Him to, but that doesn't mean God has forsaken me. I've actually seen God more in times of trials than in successes and I think that’s what contentment is really about, being ok regardless of the circumstance.

1st sickness

2009-03-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Avery has her first real cold, so we drove around last night so she could go to sleep sitting up in her car seat. While I am thankful she doesn't have a fever or anything worse, it is still terrible to watch your daughter cry and struggle to breath through her stopped up nose.

Reading

2009-03-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend Lindsay and Avery took a quick trip down to Austin, so I had some time to kill. On the way home from the gym on Friday night I grabbed a copy of Jurassic Park and proceeded to indulge my nerdy self. By the time my girls returned for dinner on Saturday I had spent the entire day reading, except for breaks to finish up my class for Sunday and to swim a mile. After this weekend I am reminded of two things:

1-How thankful I am for my wife, b/c left to my own devices I would be a complete nerd.
2-Yes, if you haven’t read the book it is way better than how I remember the movie. It seems to me that our imaginations are always better than our ability to put words into flesh.

Chaos

2009-03-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

I have been following the incredibly sad story of the four guys lost at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. In ancient thought the seas were a sign of chaos, and I am sure to these guys and their families it's still a sign of chaos. No matter how big or strong you are, when you are adrift in the chaos of the seas or life for that matter, we are all helpless. But the good news of the first creation story in Genesis says that God creates order in the midst of chaos. I am sure that is what those families and many other families across America in their own chaos are clinging to as well.

UPDATE: Unfortunately this story seems to have an awful ending. According to the survivor, the others chose to remove their life vests and give up hope. Such a terrible ending to a terrible story.

Denton Project 2nd Meeting

2009-03-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the Denton Project had her second meeting. We were very excited to introduce the newest addition to our team-Shannon Plog. Shannon, Mike and their two boys: Andy (10) and Elijah (2), come to us from the Richland Hills Church of Christ where Shannon has been on staff for five years in the children's ministry department as the 252 launch director. As a church planter, I am so glad to have such a qualified children's minister, because without a quality children's ministry churches just don't seem to grow. As a parent, I am so glad to have such a good person (and parent) helping to develop Avery's relationship with Jesus.

Here is a group of us praying over the Plogs and next here is Shannon and me talking about children's ministry.

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

“From dust you came till dust you return.”In Panama City I had an Episcopalian priest friend, whose church I attended for Ash Wednesday, but in Fort Worth I didn’t have a place to participate this year. I love Ash Wednesday’s reminder of our transient state on earth.

This year for Lent I am giving up two things.
Oatmeal raison cookies- Easter always connects me to the Heavenly banquet in which we will one day participate (Think the movie Antwone Fisher- The meal scene at the end of movie- if you haven’t seen the movie, that scene is well worth it and it’s the best picture of the what I think the Heavenly banquet will be like). In the past I’ve given up flavored drinks (for those who know me, yes I know, it’s only Gatorade) and Carrabba’s (my favorite restaurant in Panama City) but this year it’s the removal of my current favorite dessert. As I already anticipate having them again today, in a much greater sense I anticipate the meal we will partake in on that glorious day.

Non-Christian music-Let me make a brief disclaimer about “Christian Music.” I think even the term “Christian Music” is unbiblical, but it’s easier to communicate than the alternative. The idea of Christians having a sub-culture of music doesn’t fit the same DNA established by Jesus, who took on flesh and dwelt among humanity. I think real “Christian” music engages culture through their art, and all beauty and art connects people to the creator of beauty and art. All music can truly be Christian in the sense that it can connect people to the Christian God. If I were a musician I would use my talent for my local church and I would also engage in my community’s music scene, but I am just a few degrees from being tone deaf. So instead I am looking to hire that guy to work at my church. But I think the term that we use of “Christian Music” actually signifies that it doesn’t have shady lyrics and attempts to communicate a Christian message, so I will reluctantly use it. With that disclaimer, the second part of Lent for me will be to fast from listening to non-Christian worship music as a way of focusing on this season of anticipation. I admit I might play a little fast and loose with this one in a few weeks.

Firsts

2009-02-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted, this whole starting a church thing can keep me pretty busy. But here are a few first for me from the last few days:

-First time I ever wrote my name as "Dad."
-First time I ever got two girls gifts for Valentine's Day.
-First time I ever had lunch w/ Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys.

A-Roid

2009-02-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, It has just come to the light that the most hated MVP currently in baseball, Alex Rodriguez, tested positive for PED's in 2003. Now it will be interesting to see how he responds. Some have tried to deny it (see-Clemens, Roger or Bonds, Barry) and thus were vilified. Others have admitted to using steroids (see-Giambi, Jason) and seem to be absolved by the media. I for one would like to see some honesty, because for such a cynical society, we have a strong propensity for forgiveness.
Why do you think we quickly forgive these athletes when they admit it, but so voraciously try to destroy them if they don't?

Denton Project Meeting 2

2009-02-03T19:15:00.001-08:00

On February 28th the Denton Project will be having her second meeting. We have been greatly encouraged by the interest we have found from so many people who want to participate in this project, and we look forward to getting them all together.
A few random pieces of information about The Denton Project:
-"The Denton Project" is not going to be the church's name. We are still working on a creative name that communicates the heart of this group of people.
- We hopefully will be able to introduce a new key member to our team at the Feb 28th meeting.
- Some things in life you have to discuss repeatedly. And as we do, we either become less certain of our “product” or become more certain. This church plant is the second. I am constantly being convinced on almost a daily basis of the validity, importance and the blessing of this church plant. We still have a lot of work to do, but like the proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Adding to the Pack

2009-02-02T12:06:00.000-08:00

This past week we added my brother’s two little redheads to our pack while he and his wife went out of town. With dogs it is often easier to take care of two dogs than one dog because as pack animals they entertain each other, but not so with children. Even though Avery wants to keep sleeping in the morning because she has been waking up every two hours in the night, the two redheads want to wake up for pancakes bright and early. Once you break the man-to-man defense of two parents to two kids and have to go zone coverage of three+ kids to two parents you get in real trouble.
But having three car seats in the back of my truck is well worth it. Especially when I overheard this conversation as the two boys were play fighting as their favorite "superheros":
“I am hulk”
“Fine, now I am Spiderman”
“Ok, I will be batman”
“Well, now I am uncle Luke”

100-0

2009-01-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

"We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."
Thus said the former coach from Covenant School of Dallas after his girl's basketball team won 100-0 over Dallas Academy (a school that specializes in helping kids with learning differences that happens to have been winless for four years). Teams lose, people lose. I personally lost my third ever varsity wrestling match in under 15 seconds (which almost takes talent to lose that fast). People get embarrassed in sports. But a coach who has his team play full-court press and shoot 3's after a 59-0 halftime lead has crossed a line. As a parent it would have been more palatable if my daughter were on the losing team, than the winning team because afterwards you cannot feeling guilty for being a bad basketball player, but you can feel guilty for having bad sportsmanship.

Power and Violence from MLK

2009-01-21T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here is more Dr. King from the same speech-

Now a lot of us are preachers, and all of us have our moral convictions and concerns, and so often we have problems with power. There is nothing wrong with power if power is used correctly…
What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at is best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at is best is love correcting everything that stand against love.

I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.

Room at the Top

2009-01-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

From MLK's speech "Where Do We Go From Here?" in 1967

“With all the struggle and all the achievements, we must face the fact… that the Negro still lives in the basement of the Great Society. He is still at the bottom, despite the few who have penetrated to slightly higher levels. Even where the door has been forced partially open, mobility for the Negro is still sharply restricted. There is often no bottom at which to start, and when there is there’s almost no room at the top. In consequence, Negroes are still impoverished aliens in an affluent society…”

Today, we as Americans have made a loud declaration of the availability at the top of our country for all. And I hope, as President Obama said, we will put away childish things.

Seriously, How?

2009-01-16T10:09:00.000-08:00

Seriously, how do you possibly say no to Girl Scouts cookies with the tiny little Girl Scouts asking?

Seriously, how does a dog lover watch the movie Marley and Me knowing full well that they are going to cry like a school girl at the end of the movie? Personally, I still haven't gotten over Paul Walker's Oscar worthy performance in 8 Below.

Athletes and Faith

2009-01-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

Recently someone asked, "How is God glorified through athletes and their professions of faith?" Here's my take, I would like to hear your take.

Our society has an odd obsession with athlete (and their wider category-celebrity) endorsements. I can understand why athletes can endorse athletic gear, but I don’t understand why Derek Jeter should influence my choice of facial razors (or cars from Tiger, cereal from Jordan or cell phone coverage from Phelps). And I really don’t understand why Tom Cruise should influence someone’s choice of postpartum medicine or any celebrity’s political views should influence anyone. But since these are the cards that we have been dealt in our culture, we might as well play them. For one of best examples of people using celebrity faith endorsements check out the I am Second campaign and (and for MMA fans check out the slightly out there Fighting with God conference).
My assumption is that celebrity endorsements don’t lead to conversions for many people, but people will allow these endorsements to validate their already established beliefs. I know if I had a football-loving boy I would be extremely grateful to show up at my in-laws church in Austin and see Colt McCoy there every week just as I would be thankful for Tim Tebow’s example and the obsessive/stalker tendency that FOX’s commentators displayed during the BCS championship of Tebow. Some might complain about many athletes peculiar use of scriptures (most notably Phil 4:13), but I am grateful for any person doing what they think is encouraging to other people and honoring to God.

The Denton Project's 1st meeting

2009-01-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday night the Denton Project had her first meeting. As we left our house to go up to Denton I reminded myself that John Burke who planted The Gateway Church in Austin had three people show up for his first meeting. I was prepared to have that many show up, but luckily that was not the case. It is great to see how God continues to provide. We still have about 8 months until our weekly launch, but this is an exciting beginning to a long journey.

Please be praying for us as we continue to seek people to join our launch team, prayer team and funding team.

Not so PG Noah

2009-01-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

Lindsay and I have been reading Avery a story every night before bed from her Karyn Henley Bible (thanks Mrs. Jane).
Last night as I read to her the mildly morbid story of Noah and the Ark, I was reminded of the words of Frederick Buechner.

"This is really as dark a tale as there is in the Bible, which is full of dark tales. It is a tale of God's terrible despair over the human race and His decision to visit them with a great flood that would destroy them all except for this one old man, Noah, and his family. Only now we give it to children to read. One wonders why."

Any ideas why a seemingly sad story is such a popular kids story?

Christmas Karma

2008-12-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-19T10:20:00.003-08:00

Check out this link about our church plant.

My Angel

2008-12-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

"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

2008-12-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

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

ACU Football

2008-11-24T05:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-06T05:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T02:22:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T02:29:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

"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

2008-10-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-23T08:47:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

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

Random Football Thoughts

2008-10-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-06T11:51:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-08-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-08-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

Suitors problems and The Stache

2008-07-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-06T18:43:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-17T17:28:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-06-11T14:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-22T13:02:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

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?