"ASPS, VERY DANGEROUS"
I have become convinced that my role in life is to fulfill the role of, "guy who will do anything for a laugh". I have been a school mascot at the high school and collegiate levels; I have been Chuck E. Cheese; I have taken pies and various other baked goods in the face on more than one occasion. But, it seems that recently my forte has become the role of "sidekick". This year marks the second time I have been the annoying and silly sidekick of the main character in a Vacation Bible School. This year's embarrassment comes in the form of a carbon-copy of the character "Salah", from the Indiana Jones movies. Picture yours truly in a white pinstriped suit and paisley tie. Yeah, scary. Yet another chance to make some kids happy at my own expense. Kids rock. Somebody make me stop.
5.26.2004
5.24.2004
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME...
Yeah, we're never leaving home again. We go to Indy for the 4-year anniversary EXTRAVEGANZA (it was that exciting), Mel gets food poisoning, and we come home to a flooded basement. I had a near-meltdown experience, and after God back-handed my will a few dozen times, we finished cleaning up the mess and it ended up being no big deal. Not one of my prouder moments, however, as I refused to take a moment and pray when we found the mess, because, as my interior monologue lamented, "God is teaching me about OPPRESSION today!"
I know, I am pathetic. Bask in the awe-inspiring speck that is my faith! I love You, God, I am just really bad at remembering that. Back-hand away.
Yeah, we're never leaving home again. We go to Indy for the 4-year anniversary EXTRAVEGANZA (it was that exciting), Mel gets food poisoning, and we come home to a flooded basement. I had a near-meltdown experience, and after God back-handed my will a few dozen times, we finished cleaning up the mess and it ended up being no big deal. Not one of my prouder moments, however, as I refused to take a moment and pray when we found the mess, because, as my interior monologue lamented, "God is teaching me about OPPRESSION today!"
I know, I am pathetic. Bask in the awe-inspiring speck that is my faith! I love You, God, I am just really bad at remembering that. Back-hand away.
5.14.2004
WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
So, it occured to me today that the biggest thing I accomplished today, or this week for that matter, was leg-pressing 1000 lbs, 6 times. Now, I was happy about it, and I prayed before-hand that God would help me do it (or at least that He would keep me from droppin an O ring). It worked, I guess, as I had no problem doing it, but later as I headed back to work, I thought, "Is this it? Is this the most important thing I can accomplish on any given day?" I guess I just wallow in self-pity, when I see those around me who seem to know exactly where they are going, and it seems clear that God is fast-tracking them there. This is probably an ignorant assumption, as perception is often far removed from reality, but.....it feels true.
I am a perpetual whiner....I need to stop. Life is so great in so many ways. I have no right to complain, but I do it on a regular basis anyway. Let me know if you happen to see God trying to tell me something; I'm usually whining to loud to hear him. Thanks.
So, it occured to me today that the biggest thing I accomplished today, or this week for that matter, was leg-pressing 1000 lbs, 6 times. Now, I was happy about it, and I prayed before-hand that God would help me do it (or at least that He would keep me from droppin an O ring). It worked, I guess, as I had no problem doing it, but later as I headed back to work, I thought, "Is this it? Is this the most important thing I can accomplish on any given day?" I guess I just wallow in self-pity, when I see those around me who seem to know exactly where they are going, and it seems clear that God is fast-tracking them there. This is probably an ignorant assumption, as perception is often far removed from reality, but.....it feels true.
I am a perpetual whiner....I need to stop. Life is so great in so many ways. I have no right to complain, but I do it on a regular basis anyway. Let me know if you happen to see God trying to tell me something; I'm usually whining to loud to hear him. Thanks.
5.12.2004
LIKED IT SO MUCH, I STOLE IT TOO!
In case you miss it in my links, this was written by Greg Hubbard out in Las Vegas, and copied as well by Tim Wheeler. It's interesting.
Two Theories to Try On You
Today I had a phone call from a lady from So. Cal. with questions about how we do what we do as Apex. I have the privilege/challenge of such phone calls at least once or twice each month. I found myself throwing out two ideas that I have come to believe, and I thought I'd throw them out here for all those in blog-dom to read as well . . . .
1) People in general can not be accurately labelled as "churched" or "unchurched" anymore (or even "believers" or non-believers"). Sure, some people fit completely into one of those labels. But most people do not. Most of us have a complicated, even bizarre, spiritual story. People's stories are often a stew made up of ingredients borrowed from the kitchen cupboards of life. They've dabbled in a little of this and a little of that.
As those loved by Father, we aren't so much trying to identify who is "churched" (so we can get them to jump over into our brand of church) and who is "unchurched" (so we can save their souls from fiery damnation) as we are looking for occassions to come alongside others journeyng through life to see where our stories and theirs might intersect and where we may help each other grow. We trust our Father will use us through these intersections to reach out to others.
2) Successful, large churches (although good in many ways) are going to miss out on reaching two kinds of people.
The first kind are those who will never come to anything called "church" (no matter how far the church stretches to reach them -- even if the church serves beer and hires strippers, there are some people who just aint coming if it is called church!).
The second kind are those on the opposite extreme who have been so reached by the church, who have jumped through every hoop offered by the church to the extent that they, in a sense, have grown beyond what the model has to offer. They are ready to go out and live lives loved by Father, embracing freedom, sharing life in their spiritual community, and sharing love with the world. They have drained everything they can out of the large, succesful church, and in many cases, they have given all they can in service through those churches. They are ready and equipped to be sent out.
Large, successful churches may well have an important function for years to come. However, their ultimate success may depend upon their ability to appropriately acknowledge and deal with the fact that they are limited from reaching these two extreme groups of people, both of which are a growing part of the population in North America.
In case you miss it in my links, this was written by Greg Hubbard out in Las Vegas, and copied as well by Tim Wheeler. It's interesting.
Two Theories to Try On You
Today I had a phone call from a lady from So. Cal. with questions about how we do what we do as Apex. I have the privilege/challenge of such phone calls at least once or twice each month. I found myself throwing out two ideas that I have come to believe, and I thought I'd throw them out here for all those in blog-dom to read as well . . . .
1) People in general can not be accurately labelled as "churched" or "unchurched" anymore (or even "believers" or non-believers"). Sure, some people fit completely into one of those labels. But most people do not. Most of us have a complicated, even bizarre, spiritual story. People's stories are often a stew made up of ingredients borrowed from the kitchen cupboards of life. They've dabbled in a little of this and a little of that.
As those loved by Father, we aren't so much trying to identify who is "churched" (so we can get them to jump over into our brand of church) and who is "unchurched" (so we can save their souls from fiery damnation) as we are looking for occassions to come alongside others journeyng through life to see where our stories and theirs might intersect and where we may help each other grow. We trust our Father will use us through these intersections to reach out to others.
2) Successful, large churches (although good in many ways) are going to miss out on reaching two kinds of people.
The first kind are those who will never come to anything called "church" (no matter how far the church stretches to reach them -- even if the church serves beer and hires strippers, there are some people who just aint coming if it is called church!).
The second kind are those on the opposite extreme who have been so reached by the church, who have jumped through every hoop offered by the church to the extent that they, in a sense, have grown beyond what the model has to offer. They are ready to go out and live lives loved by Father, embracing freedom, sharing life in their spiritual community, and sharing love with the world. They have drained everything they can out of the large, succesful church, and in many cases, they have given all they can in service through those churches. They are ready and equipped to be sent out.
Large, successful churches may well have an important function for years to come. However, their ultimate success may depend upon their ability to appropriately acknowledge and deal with the fact that they are limited from reaching these two extreme groups of people, both of which are a growing part of the population in North America.
NEW DAY, NEW BLOG
I have reformatted. Yes, the transition is nearly complete. Try to contain your excitement. Do you ever just have those days when you feel like changing things? Sometimes I just move my office furniture around out of frustration with normality. I think God wired me to be restless. Or are we all that way to some degree. All I know is that I periodically imagine myself wandering blindly into all kinds of different situations, and it doesn't really seem that scary or strange to me. My issue with God at the present is that He seems to have created me with the ability to do a few things pretty well, but then never let me know where he wanted me to concentrate m time and attention. It's annoying not to have all the answers! Oh how I ling for omniscience!!!!!!!! O.K, yeah, I saw Bruce Almighty, I know how that line of thought ends.
Anyway, if you read this post, pray that I can stop being a big freak and listen to God. I mean, don't say it that way, but you get the idea. Man....I am a freak.
I have reformatted. Yes, the transition is nearly complete. Try to contain your excitement. Do you ever just have those days when you feel like changing things? Sometimes I just move my office furniture around out of frustration with normality. I think God wired me to be restless. Or are we all that way to some degree. All I know is that I periodically imagine myself wandering blindly into all kinds of different situations, and it doesn't really seem that scary or strange to me. My issue with God at the present is that He seems to have created me with the ability to do a few things pretty well, but then never let me know where he wanted me to concentrate m time and attention. It's annoying not to have all the answers! Oh how I ling for omniscience!!!!!!!! O.K, yeah, I saw Bruce Almighty, I know how that line of thought ends.
Anyway, if you read this post, pray that I can stop being a big freak and listen to God. I mean, don't say it that way, but you get the idea. Man....I am a freak.
5.10.2004
MOTHER'S DAY, AN EXERCISE IN FUEL CONSUMPTION
Great weekends are composed of several elements. Fun, sun, friends, family, and HOURS OF INTERSTATE TRAVEL!!!!!! Two states, one day, too much food, and lots of exciting twists and turns. Props to our friends Justin and Tasha Golden (A.K.A. Dividing The Plunder)for being on the radio in Richmond, IN playing the title cut from their CD, "The Ordinary" (was that "announcer-ish" enough?).
Props to my mommy for seeing me a grand total of 5 minutes and not decapitating me. Props to my man Seth, who tracked me down after meeting up with my sister at 4 AM at Bill's Donuts (probably no website, but if you are ever in Centerville, OH.....EAT MANY DONUTS AT BILL'S!!!!) Finally, props to Seth's mommy for sending our wedding gift with him after three years....that's some serious scary memory, ok.
It feels good to go home. I don't know if it's just that "going home" feeling when you visit, or if we really just miss the homeland (So-Ohio in the hizzle for rizzle!). THe baby keeps asking to go to Cincinnati for some odd reason, even though she has never been there in her short life. I guess we just miss the family connection, and the chance to interact on a relational and spiritual level with those we know or have known in the past. We've been in Findlay over a year, but fitting in is still tough.
By the way, WAY TO GO GOD!!! It has been already a string of successive great days, good for mowing grass and frisbee golf, and I like it.
Great weekends are composed of several elements. Fun, sun, friends, family, and HOURS OF INTERSTATE TRAVEL!!!!!! Two states, one day, too much food, and lots of exciting twists and turns. Props to our friends Justin and Tasha Golden (A.K.A. Dividing The Plunder)for being on the radio in Richmond, IN playing the title cut from their CD, "The Ordinary" (was that "announcer-ish" enough?).
Props to my mommy for seeing me a grand total of 5 minutes and not decapitating me. Props to my man Seth, who tracked me down after meeting up with my sister at 4 AM at Bill's Donuts (probably no website, but if you are ever in Centerville, OH.....EAT MANY DONUTS AT BILL'S!!!!) Finally, props to Seth's mommy for sending our wedding gift with him after three years....that's some serious scary memory, ok.
It feels good to go home. I don't know if it's just that "going home" feeling when you visit, or if we really just miss the homeland (So-Ohio in the hizzle for rizzle!). THe baby keeps asking to go to Cincinnati for some odd reason, even though she has never been there in her short life. I guess we just miss the family connection, and the chance to interact on a relational and spiritual level with those we know or have known in the past. We've been in Findlay over a year, but fitting in is still tough.
By the way, WAY TO GO GOD!!! It has been already a string of successive great days, good for mowing grass and frisbee golf, and I like it.
5.07.2004
I'M UP, I'M UP!
Props to my man Tim for continuing to e-mail my sorry behind despite my prolonged internet absence. I gave up on e-tech for a while due to the UNBELIEVABLY, EXCESSIVELY SLOW INTERNET CONNECTION, not to mention the worm that ate through our entire office network. I am back from the DL, and ready to rock....O.k, so time has told the tale that I will probably lapse again, but I know that, "And knowing is half the battle". Life has gone on here "much the same as it has this last age".
I am excited for Mel and Aletha to begin their ministry of music; they're practicing and getting some connections made. I am enjoying music more and more, growing in my guitar prowess, and playing drums for the youth praise band (temporarily, til we grow some more drummers.) We are trying our level best to seek God's guidance in the plan for our life and ministry, but are chronically impatient. Story of my life. No new kids (you guys are definitely winning that race, Tim), no major disasters; life is comfortably numb. I don't actually WANT a bunch of stress, kids, and disasters, but they do tend to keep life exciting. That's me in less than 5 minutes- hoping, praying, playing, living, breathing, waiting for the page to turn.
Props to my man Tim for continuing to e-mail my sorry behind despite my prolonged internet absence. I gave up on e-tech for a while due to the UNBELIEVABLY, EXCESSIVELY SLOW INTERNET CONNECTION, not to mention the worm that ate through our entire office network. I am back from the DL, and ready to rock....O.k, so time has told the tale that I will probably lapse again, but I know that, "And knowing is half the battle". Life has gone on here "much the same as it has this last age".
I am excited for Mel and Aletha to begin their ministry of music; they're practicing and getting some connections made. I am enjoying music more and more, growing in my guitar prowess, and playing drums for the youth praise band (temporarily, til we grow some more drummers.) We are trying our level best to seek God's guidance in the plan for our life and ministry, but are chronically impatient. Story of my life. No new kids (you guys are definitely winning that race, Tim), no major disasters; life is comfortably numb. I don't actually WANT a bunch of stress, kids, and disasters, but they do tend to keep life exciting. That's me in less than 5 minutes- hoping, praying, playing, living, breathing, waiting for the page to turn.
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