Game for the Ages

In the midst of all the Tick excitement (see below), I got to watch the end of a fantastic basketball game.

Game 6 of the Bulls and Celtics went in to 3 overtimes (I think this is the 4th game in the series that has gone at least one OT).

While continually reaching up and running my fingers through my hair just in case, the Bulls and Celtics locked in for a back and forth slugfest. Ray Allen, whom is in the top five list of most hated NBA guys for me was lights out. 50 some points and hitting shots that he had no business hitting.

I can almost guarantee that this game will be an instant classic on ESPN Classic in the next day or two. I encourage you to watch it if you get the chance. The NBA game is a lot different than other basketball but at the heart is still two teams competing for survival in the playoffs...nothing better than that.

For Better or Worse

I love my wife.

After five years of marriage, I think I finally discovered and spoke her love language.

We were just into bed after a nice night of dinner at Rockne's and shopping at WalMart, when suddenly my wife gasped and looked at me with a frown. No I had not just taken my shirt off to reveal my pasty caucasian flab. Instead, Shaina had something in her hair that was making her nervous.

We went into the bathroom and turned on the lights and like a mother monkey lovingly grooming her baby monkey, I began picking through my beloved's scalp. Shortly, I found it, a little bugger that looked alot like the above little buggers...maybe a little bigger than the biggest. A tick...but he didn't just want to surrender...he was trying to burrow into her scalp to eat her succulent brain matter. So I clamped down and ripped the sucker out (along with a good portion of Shaina's hair and scalp). Shaina quickly flushed it down the toilet, perhaps thinking baptism might make the situation less grotesque.

She combed her fingers through her hair and felt something more...Wouldn't ya know it, MegaTick's little cousin Tickeysha was frolicking in the meadows of Shaina's follicles. I quickly snatched her up like a fat kid grabs a fudgeround and booyah...Shaina was groomed.

Not sure if the dog is bringing this Tick family into the house or what, but this all went down about an hour and a half ago and guess who cannot go to sleep now? Me...there's just this sensation that there are thousands of ticks in my bed and they are just waiting to burrow in my pasty whiteness.

It's a funny and nasty story. But I call it a love story. After all Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It does not hesitate when giant creatures seek to feast on brains. Straight out of the Bible...It's in the Greek.

P.S. Yes Shaina's hygiene is excellent. She showers far more regularly than I do.

P.P.S. With that said...this is the third different tick encounter she has had since I've known her. It has to be her voluptuous scalp, mixed with an intoxicating aroma of brain matter that lures these buggers to her rather than me.

YES Man!

Got to watch Yes Man with my buddy Jared last night.

I generally can't stand Jim Carrey, but this movie was pretty good.

Here's the deep profound thought that I pulled from it.

Most everything I hear about effective leadership and ministry is saying 'No' frequently. "Turn down good opportunities to stay true to right opportunities." While this is truly a great concept and has real life application, it is hard for me personally to discern what good is vs. what right is.

In the movie, Jim Carrey makes a 'covenant' to always say yes in every situation. It's kind've a dumb concept, but here's the cool piece.

When we say YES to the one penultimate, grandiose thing God is calling us to, we become free from time constraints, stress and uncertainty. Instead of discerning what to say no to in a life that is run by the clock, paid by the hour, used by the minute, we need to figure out the ONE thing that we MUST say YES to. That YES can lead us into a life of purpose, passion and potency. It will reveal our livelihood, legitimacy and legacy.

What do you need to say YES to?

12

12 STRONG!



Delonte West is HILarious! I rolled when he said "You done let the whole city of Cleveland"

Lucky 13

Thirteen more wins to go. It was an ugly game, but the cavs are just the better team.

Joe Smith had a big production game. 19 points in 19 minutes...I'm pretty sure they call that efficiency.

They should wrap up the series tomorrow and then sit back and relax as I think Atlanta and Miami could go 6 or 7.

Boston and Orlando are playing mediocre basketball right now which makes me think the Cavs could let their guard down. It'd be nice to see The Lakers drop another one to Utah to make that series go at least 6.

I am beat. Gonna go get a power nap in so that I can be amped up for Bible Study and Megan's concert tonight!

Cavs Partay.

-Havin' some folk over for the cavs game tonight. Gonna be lots of fun and hopefully we take one from the pistons in their place.

-Got to see a mentor of mine who I hadn't seen in two years. It was a lot of fun. Did alot of talking in a short span of time.

-Tomorrow is our Church's Leadership Summit. We do these once or twice a year to rally the leadership of the church. I will lead worship with Shaina for the first time in ages. Looking forward to God's movement.

-I came across Phil Wickham's website and he is offering free downloads of his cd, Cannons. It is phenomenal. This song has got me right now:



-The Browns will take with their first pick of the draft: Michael Crabtree. And we will lose 11 games this year.

-My truck is in the shop...the frame is almost rusted through. The guy said not to haul anything with it...apparently it won't be long before the frame crumbles. So we are going to try to hang on for 6-8 months and then get a used car...Come on Ranger...just hang on.

-The weather here is unbeatable. Mid 70s and sunny. Enough of this blogging stuff!

Weighing in on Theological Education

Seminary is an interesting experience.

My view of God, of the Bible, of the Church...all have changed somewhat drastically in 3 years...in some ways for the better...some ways I'm not so sure.

There is certainly a subjectivity involved in Seminary that is in one sense liberating and in another sense devastating. We aren't told what to believe. We're told about the differing perspectives on things and then left to make our own minds up. This has made me a very critical thinker, but it has also left me wondering about all things God, Church and Bible oriented.

Big questions gnaw at me.

Can we say the Bible is inerrant? If not, does that mess anything up?

Did God ever desire such an institutionalized form of Christianity? If not, is there any way to go back?

What is the ultimate purpose of the cross? Salvation? Magnifying God? These are hugely different answers with hugely different implications.

Perhaps the thing that is on my mind about seminary right now is the lack of moral guidance and accountability. There are some things that are absolutely not subjective! Child pornography is not left to one's own preferences. Allowing things to get to a place where your spouse walks out on your marriage is not an acceptable thing! Telling someone that you've married the wrong person and want to marry them instead...is not a conversation to be had. Participating in same sex relationships is not a choice left to the individual! Alcoholics Monday through Saturday, should not be preaching messages of right living on Sunday.

Yet these things are happening in seminaries across the country. Want to know why our churches are a mess of moral failure, because our leadership leads the way. I'm not saying that pastors aren't allowed to have faults, sins and the like, but at some point, we need to draw the line and say look, if you're called to the ministry then start living to that standard of humbly serving the people of God.

I know this sounds harsh...but the Bible has a prophetic message about spiritual leadership leading the way spiritually...and for the sake of political correctness, we have lost our prophetic voice...and the world sees it.

Post of Randomnocity

1. 14 to go.

I think the Pistons have run their course. They'll be lucky to steal one of two at the Palace.

2. This is revolutionizing the car industry:


3. Greek Vocab Quiz Round 3...24 out of 25. Collectively now, 52/75. 70%. We are nearly passing Greek!

Colbert vs. Bart Ehrman

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Bart Ehrman is a radical biblical critic...It's funny that Colbert actually can carry a conversation on this. Its worth 6 minutes. haha.

Viva la Monday

I like Coldplay and kids. Kids singing Coldplay? Pretty sweet...good harmony action as well. Thanks Mike

15 to go

Cavs need to win 15 more to be champions.

I feel bad for the Pistons...being in our way and all...but such is life.

I will keep the countdown going until we're sporting the trophy and the banner.

Good weekend

Shaina took me to Erie, PA to see our friends Jared and Michele from our college days at Mount Union. We got to go out to Presque Isle, a peninsula on Lake Erie and then just had a restful evening catching up with our friends.

It is always nice to catch up with friends and it was nice to get away from the stress of life that happens in the daily grind.

There was a lot of laughter and encouragement, which you cannot have enough of.

Got back this afternoon, picked up my mom's old freezer to take to an appliance scrap place...though Mapquest was a failure and left us driving around wooster for about a half hour...it got done and we're home to watch the Cavs now!

Gonna hang out with our friends Scott and Angie tonight.

It's a good weekend and I have even had time to do 2 chapters of Greek translation.

surprise

Just found a suitcase sitting by our door...aparently my wife is taking me away for a getaway overnight. I don't know where we are going...and I hate surprises (its a control thing.) haha.

Let the fun begin.

consumers and producers

We live in a time and a culture that is best defined as consumption driven. We consume more resources than anyone else at any time else in history. We're even consuming resources at a speed with which nature can not keep up.

While this is an important issue, consumption of natural resources is not the point of this post. Worship is.

Do we have the mindset in our churches of consumers of worship or producers of worship? Consider this: Since the age of Constantine, we have had the church institution that is built exactly like a theatre. There seems to be an audience and some key performers (pastors/priests/worship leaders/etc) who are 'on stage.

This is a terrible concept of worship.

It breeds an understanding of worship that allows an audience to be largely 1)Non-participatory, 2)Critical, 3)Disconnected.

1. Non-participation
If I am in the "audience", my role is not significant. The people on stage represent me or are there on my behalf somehow. This destroys the notion of the priesthood of all believers. Somehow we must reorient our worship so that each of us has the view that we are on stage offering and performing our worship for a Most High Audience of One. We must move from Consumers of Worship to PRODUCERS OF WORSHIP.

2. Critical
When I am a consumer of worship, I am entitled to be critical of what is being offered by the leaders. So when they sing Come Now is the Time to Worship, or some other 1980s song that I am weary of, that is on me, because somehow it has become about my preferences, opinions or ideals. When we move to being producers, our critic becomes God, and the desperation to orient ourselves around right worship becomes overwhelming as we know even our most spectacular praise is spectacularly inadequate for our Lord.

3. Disconnected
The more consumer minded we become about worship, the easier it is to disconnect from the body. "They don't feed me there." You know who requires to be fed? Babies? If you are maturing in your relationship with Christ, feed yourself. God is a Mighty and gracious God. If you draw near to him through his word/prayer/worship, he will feed you as you feed yourself. If I hear this "I'm not being fed" thing anymore in our churches, I will organize a sunday where everyone gets a bib and a diaper when they come into church. May as well treat them how they are acting right?

So the task of leaders is to reorient our worshipping communities from Consumers of Worship to Producers of Worship. Any thoughts on how?

The best drug in the world

If you know me, you'd guess I was going to say Mountain Dew. That is probably in the top three drugs...but you know what the biggest drug in our culture is?

Busyness.

I know it sounds crazy, but I think there's a large majority of people who get high off of being on the go all the time. I think this gets dumped on our kids more and more. We expect our kids to go to school, maintain a respectable GPA, participate in after school activities (sports, music, theatre, etc...) then expect them to be involved in church, if the family is Christian...the list goes on...

We like to feel needed and we sense that if our calendar is full from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. that we must be needed.

The opposite is probably equally true...people who are more connected to their DVR than they are to a world that is in desperate need of love. People who know more about LeBron James than they do about the person they are married to. Laziness and Apathy are drugs too. It's easy to be indifferent.

Oh to be a people who are neither consumed with their own activity or inactivity, but on the activity of God in the world.

As the band Skillet so aptly puts it..."You're better than drugs."

My dog...

So yesterday's a fairly big day. It would be the first time that most of our young adults had ventured to our new place. So there was a lot that had to be done. Including a trip to Church to pick up some supplies for the dinner. Shaina worked in the morning so I headed out in our truck (which is only 4 years from being a 20 year old). I brought Shadow the dog with me. The day before I had picked up some plastic easter eggs and some a bag of starbursts and Airheads to put inside the eggs for a little fun thing I'd concocted for the dinner. I had left those in the truck inside a walmart bag. I went inside the church got the stuff I needed and returned to the truck opened the door and there is Shadow...

Going to town.

She'd torn open the tied WalMart bag. She'd ripped open the bag that the easter eggs came in and they were all over the floor. She'd ripped open the starburst bag and the airhead bag and she had unwrapped about 10 of the airheads and eaten them and shed eaten the starbursts...every single one of them...wrapper and all.

So I half scolded her and half laughed at the situation and went home. Good ol Shadow then times it at about 2 p.m. to realize her tummy may not have liked all the starbursts and starburst wrappers and she yacks all over the carpet in the dining room, where the majority of our evening would take place.

I hurried to get her outside and then cleaned up the yack...usually I can barely stand to do that because the stench makes me want to yack as well...but surprisingly, the scent was not of stench but of fruity rainbow deliciousness.

In about a half hour the stain was mostly erased. I went outside and she had yacked on the sidewalk where everyone would have to walk to get inside the house...so I had to clean that up as well. But 4 p.m. came and the two piles of yackdom were no where in sight.

(The only snafu in this huge cover up was that during the outdoor easter egg hunt, yack pile three was discovered by one of the young adults...(sorry Jake!))

So Ben loves pizza, Shaina loves chocolate and Shadow loves candy...got all the major food groups covered.

Whirls of fun

Made it from Hosea to the cross last night. I think it went well. It's challenging to preach on the darkness of Good Friday and not tip our hat to Sunday. haha.

Tonight is another night I've been looking forward to for awhile. It is the EDGE REgressive dinner. Last year we did a Progressive Dinner and had lots of fun connecting with people. Tonight everyone is coming to our house and the dinner is going to come to us...backwards. There are some fun things planned and after we finish up here we'll be heading to Whirly Ball up in Cleveland.

If you haven't heard of it...it is what is missing in your life.

Whirly ball is a combination of bumper cars, lacrosse, and basketball. You drive around in these cars, 5 on 5 in a whirly arena and try to pass a whiffle ball from person to person using a sawed off lacrosse stick. The object of the game is to throw the ball at your goal (a board with a sensored net in the center). Hit the board for one point. Hit the net for 3. It's not easy as people are trying to crush you and you are trying to drive, maneuver, catch and throw a ball.

Friday

I'm excited to share the Word of God tonight. Going to take a somewhat unorthodox angle but I'm trusting the Lord to work. Speaking out of Hosea 2 tonight.

7 p.m. Wadsworth UMC.

Check it out!

Master of my domain

I went golfing Sunday afternoon. First time out of the year is always interesting. I hit the ball fairly well all day...until I had to use the flatstick...I have no touch and no confidence on the green haha.

The Masters is this weekend which happens to be a really busy weekend on the Church Calendar, so I won't catch much of it, though I may see a little bit on Sunday afternoon, while working on Greek.

One of the cool sites out there for you local golfer types is Chippewa Golf Club. You can sign up for free for their fantasy golf and each week, you can pick 5 golfers (spending up to 1 million dollars) to try to win against the other golfers. Top four places get a prize...They vary from week to week, but for the Majors the prizes get pretty sweet (a Nike Driver is the top prize this week). Other weeks you can win free golf. Now I know you might think that my inviting you to join in the fun is lessening my chances of winning, but my hunch is that if you win free golf, you will want to show gratitude to the guy who hooked you up with the opportunity and want to take him as part of your foursome.

This week, I'm rooting for Tiger, Padraig Harrington, Briny Baird, Bubba Watson and Rory Mcilroy.

Tee her high and let her fly!

9/25

Nine out of twenty five. In baseball, you'd be batting over .400. Shooting three pointers, 9 out of 25 is a good percentage.

On a Greek Vocabulary Quiz...9 out of 25 is not particularly stellar.

I don't have time to dwell on it though...got an Aramaic vocabulary quiz at 1.

Sigh...What happens when zero motivation intersects with ridiculous workload?

Shakin' off the preachin' clothes.

For those wondering if a 9-1 drubbing on opening day is going to deter me from picking the Indians to win the Central, have no fear...I bet we can win a pennant with no offensive production, horrendous starting pitching and mediocre relief.


Meanwhile, I am amping up for the message for Good Friday Service this week. I am excited for how the service is taking shape. If you are not of a tradition that has service on Good Friday or if you aren't of any tradition at all, you should come check it out. I haven't preached since November, so I'm feelin' a bit rusty, but I am excited to bring a message from the Lord on a dark and solemn day in the church calendar.

7 p.m. Wadsworth UMC
195 Broad Street
Wadsworth, OH

do you smell that?

The aroma of freshly cut grass...the scent of spring flowers jumping up out of nowhere...pine tar and rosin bags...big league chew and sunflower seeds. Its baseball season. Of course, in Ohio, few of these smells start until May or June, because its 30 degrees here today...but the Tribe starts their march to the postseason today against the rangers. Here's my season predictions. Take them to the bank.

AL East: Yankees (Money can't buy you love, but and can buy you the best hitters and pitchers in baseball...finally it pays off for them.)

AL Central: Indians (By the end of the year, Choo and Francisco will be household names around the baseball world and everyone will laugh at the Yankees for getting rid of Pavano who has a crazy good season.)

AL West: Angels (They're in the Bible...and they play in a joke of a division.)

AL Wildcard: Red Sox (This will only barely happen, but they are still an upper eschalon team with one of the best rotations in baseball.)

AL Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia...It's not that he's that good...its that his team will produce 42 runs per game for him to work with.

AL MVP: Grady Sizemore...There will be a stretch this year where the team will ride Sizemore's bat/glove/hustle to the pennant.

NL East: Mets (Santana is scary good and the Phillies and Marlins will beat each other up to open the door for the Mets)

NL Central: Cubs (I just like them to get close to the Series and combust. Its one of those sick pleasures in humanity.)

NL West: Dodgers (ManRam is a lunatic...but he can hit.)

NL Wildcard: Marlins (Every few years this team makes a ridiculous run with a bunch of no namers. This is that year.)

NL Cy Young: Johan Santana

NL MVP: David Wright

World Series: Mets vs. Yankees...no one wins because some guy who hates sell outs will annihilate both teams making the world a better place for the rest of us.

What are your picks/disagreements with me?

My cup is full

Had a good Palm Sunday service yesterday. My father-in-law brought a solid, well crafted message about the power of our high priest.

Six of us went to Chipotle and to 707, a young adult worship gathering. The guest speaker ended up in the hospital, so they had a service of worship through music, scripture and communion.

It made me realize a few things. First, dynamics in music matter. The ability to build a song or draw back to a complete or near a capella section of a song impacts the worship as much, if not more than the song selected.

Transitions between songs will either aid or destroy the mood/focus of worship.

Good Transitions: Thoughtful Meditation on a scripture of from an idea brought forth in a song.

Bad Transitions: Repeating the words verbatim from the song just sang.

Good Transitions: Smoothly transitioning from song A to song B without pause.

Bad Transitions: Stopping song A and then starting up song B. (That 10 seconds of downtime kills an A.D.D. generation of worshippers.)

Good Transition: Reading a brief scripture with passion, seeking to articulate a life forming truth to the people.

Bad Transitions: Reading a huge passage of scripture, with zero emotion or inflection.

I'm convinced that if musicians pick the songs and perfect them musically and then think they are ready for worship, they are only done with half their preparations. Thoughtful segues/transitions do sooo much for drawing the people into the God's presence.

a-ha moment

Shaina and I used to be involved in a homeless ministry in Cleveland. We'd prepare and take up meals every Thursday without fail and feed around 50-100 guys.

One time we had some extra meals and went to a park bench in the midst of a heavy drizzle and chilly night. One of our regulars was there. He was drunk and laying, barely coherent, on a bench. We got over to him with a meal and a hot chocolate and he got up and started yelling. Most of it was a mumbled mess, but he said two things that I still remember a couple years later.

"Forget all your Theology, what you need is Knee-ology"

This statement, though cheesy and cliche, cut to the core of who I was as a first year seminary student. How much does my life orient around the central fact that I am desperate for the Lord?

"Sure Jesus is your Savior, but is he the Lord of your Life?"

As Palm Sunday is upon us and we remember the triumphal entry, we have to celebrate the king and his penetrating kingdom. This is to be his followers' life work. Do the people see an alternative kingdom where God is on the throne, and peace and justice are not only the norm, but the only option?

So is he Lord of your life?

End of an ERa

I remember when I was about 11 or 12 years old that I finally had permission for an extension on my bed time on school nights. It was actually only on Thursdays, but that was fine by me. I got to stay up until 11 and watch ER. Last night, after a 15 year run and well over 100 emmy nominations, this hospital drama came to an end.

One of the things that I appreciate about this show is that it had an uncanny ability to address difficult issues in the medical field that challenged and sometimes strengthened our ethics/morality.

The writers did a fantastic job of tugging at the heart strings of the viewers week in and week out. The characters were developed and became a part of the household. Names like Ross, Carter, Hathaway, Benson and Green are all etched in our minds.

The end of the show wasn't anything unique. It simply stuck with what had worked for the show for 15 years. The agony of death and the beauty of life and rescue in the ER.

So if you watched this show over the last decade plus, any favorite episodes or characters?

Bloom.

We moved here in the dead of winter. Clouds were gray, trees were bare, grass was dead, snow was on the ground. Slowly though, this place is coming to life with color. Just wanted to share a couple pics from around the house that show New Life is all around us.

One of the things that has a profound impact for me is the power of the Seasons. Experiencing the 'changes in vegetation' throughout the calendar helps me to experience God's handiwork, while simultaneously entering into His story. Whether it is understanding anew what it means to be washed white as snow, or to celebrate the truth of entering into new birth, God's story can be seen through the seasons.

That being said, I would still move south in a heartbeat and sacrifice the spiritual moment of winter haha.