3 Year Old Road Rage

I'm sorry, but I saw the funniest thing today. I know it shouldn't be funny, but it was...

I walk in the gym and the preschool kids are playing, nothing new there. Now the preschool has a few Fisher-Price cars that a single kid can ride in, roof, doors, everything, there's just no floor so you move it with your feet. You get the idea. Now one girl was in a car and she was at a 90 degree angle with the wall, head on. She could not go forward or turn. The funny part was the kid behind her, he was also in a car and ramming her repeatedly like they were in bumper cars.

The girls has enough. She yells at him, gives a nice road rage face, then gets out, slams here door and pushes his car away. I know, it shouldn't be funny, but I just kept thinking, "Boy, we've trained our future well..."

T

Do You Give?

This article kind of sums up how Christians do not give to their own church.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081103/lf_nm_life/us_religion_giving_1

I just like the question what could God do with 133 Billion Dollars?!

T

Who's Inviting?

A quick recap on some things that have happened the last few days...

I go to lunch at the high schools here (HSE & FHS, sorry LN) and usually it consists of me sitting around a lot with a few people who know me well coming up and saying hi (which is always nice, please do that). A few weeks ago I met a guy who just walked up and said "hi". Nice guy, we talked for a few minutes, I told him who I was and about our church. Next Sunday he's there. He's now been here every week and last week he was even inviting new people. Then, just last Thursday, a guy walks in the church during NewSong practice for Youth Sunday (our Youth worship team practice for those that didn't understand the code). This guy knows no one here but said he just felt drawn to show up here at that time, the one Thursday a month when the people his age happen to be there having worship practice.

So I have two theories (or a third, which is both of them together). One is that quite possibly God is real, and even more possibly people are trying to find God and in their search God's Spirit is moving in our church and people are being led here to find God. My second is that perhaps God is tired of waiting for us to do what He asked us to do and tell people about His love, so tired of waiting that He is doing it Himself to kick start us a little. Or, like I said, possibly both of those things...

Either way, if God is here and if there aer people looking for Him and if He is calling to those people, perhaps we should jump on board and do our part. Our part can't be that hard, if people are coming to church without even being invited, imagine what would happen if we did invite them! If people are so desperate for God they are just appearing, imagine how receptive they would be to having a person say hello and talk to them about God.

Just a thought...

T

Punk'ins

Sorry it's been a few weeks, I've been a little behind with the pumpkins.

But there is good news! We sold more this year than in years before, even after throwing out hundreds and hundreds of rotten ones (I wish we hadn't thrown them out, people were buying them on Halloween!).

So a big thank-you to everyone who helped out this year. This will definately help our student ministry with our mission trips next year. Thanks again!

T

Adding Insult To Injury

I'm sorry, but this was just too stupid, funny and mean all at once. I read it today.

"When medieval Europeans burned witches, the victims' families had to pay for the firewood."

Now come on, that's just mean!

T

Magnifying Glass Theology

I just finished reading a book that I really enjoyed by Philip Yancey. Anyway, he said something that kind of got me near the end, although I don't think he meant for it to be as impacting as it was to me.

He talked about how sometimes we view the tapestry of God through a magnifying glass. Think of it like a person who is appraising a piece of art. They take out a magnifying glass and see the tiniest of cracks, the little specks of colors under that glass. The problem is, they can't see the full picture and lose the ability to admire it's beauty.

I wonder how many times we have done this with God, that we spend so much time arguing or mulling over some tiny, almost insignificant piece of theology so much so that we lose the ability to see the true beauty of who God is. We lose the sense of God's love for us.

Just wondering...

T

Best Ad Ever

The other night I was up late watching TV and this ad for the Honda CR-V came on. Usually, I don't care, but the pitch they gave this car was so ridiculous I wrote it down (and tried not to wake Lorie laughing). I tried to find it online, but couldn't, but trust me, this is what they said to show how awesome their vehicle is.

"Convenient, easy access door opening."

Really?! You can open the door? Easily? Yeah, those other cars, I was having such a hard time working the handle, the whole pulling thing. I'm glad they finally perfected that.

I guess what made it worse is after saying that they showed a woman opening the door and putting art in the back seat. It's so easy they had to show me how the door opens.

I am so fascinated I may need to trade in my Geo. Forget that it's small and old, I want doors that are easier to open darn it.

T

What Kind Of Impression Do You Leave?

Today I had the fun job of going to hotels and finding out their room rates in case people come visit our church. I repeat. Fun job.

Well, there is a hotel across the highway from the church. You can see the church from it's front door. It makes sense that we would go there first.

So I end up talking to the woman at the desk and telling her about what I'm looking for. She's very helpful, giving me prices, etc. Then I ask how many people can stay in a room. She's a little confused by the question so I explain that teenagers may be involved. She immediately gives me back my card, explains how the hotel has a "no teenager" policy (I don't know how that works) but it's because they are too messy and loud. I tell her it's for a church, it doesn't matter.

But that got me thinking, obviously the person who owns that hotel had something happen that forever left a bad impression on them of how a teenager will act in a hotel. And faith made no impact on how they viewed teenagers.

So my question to you is, what kind of impression do you leave with people...?

(I hope I do okay)

T

Question And Funny

First the question, why do we have to work so hard to get people to do their best? Or even better, why do we have to convince people to do their best? If you take a job or volunteer to do something, or join a sport, why on earth would you even consider doing it if you have no intention of giving your best? Or another one, do people honestly think this is the best they can do when it's obvious it's not? Sorry that was more than one question, it's just been bugging me today...

For the funny though, Lorie and I went to the zoo (of course) where we spent a lot of time looking at otters and things of that sort. We also had to go see Martin, the new baby cow. He was in his pen and friendly and really soft. So I pet Martin, and he liked it (as animals do). So Lorie goes to pet Martin, and he turns into her arm like most animals do when they like being pet. But as he turns in, he flicks his head and gives her this huge lick down her arm. It was really funny. It would have been funnier if she wasn't wearing my sweater...

T

Another Bad Church Experience

Today I was at lunch at Fishers High School, my first full lunch all year, and I ended up talking with a student who knew I was a youth pastor (it's not hard to figure out) and immediately told her story of the one time in her life she had been to church and why she wouldn't go back.

I won't bother getting to the details, but can everyone do me one of two favors. One, if you've never been to church or been to one bad church, realize they're not all the same. That's like saying "I went to a party and it was bad so I'm never going to any type of party again." There are different churches with different styles of music, different people, different approaches to worshipping God. And for those who ware in churches, can you please be nice to people? Be friendly? Say "hi"? It's amazing how many people I talk to who go to a church and cannot remember anyone saying "hi". That doesn't mean that absolutely nobody said hello, but greetings were few and far enough between that it didn't stick into their memory.

On the flip side, I had one student today realize how easy it is to invite someone to church. Someone asked what I did, I told them, said they're welcome anytime and what do you know, they're thinking about it. And I'm a stranger. Imagine if a friend of theirs invited them...

T

Time

Okay, enough Monkey Kickball, you all beat me...

For some reason all day yesterday I was thinking about time and how we've made our lives so incredibly constrained by it. Let me explain.

Go all the way back to creation. God creates and there are only two units of time, evening and morning. Our day was divided into one of two, you were either in daylight, or you were in night. That's it.

Then, sometime, the standard for the day was split into 5. There was dawn (6:00), the mid-morning, or the 3rd hour (9:00), noon (12:00), mid-afternoon, or the 9th hour (3:00) and dusk (6:00). If you were to meet someone, you would use one of those first 4 times (you didn't usually meet after dark). Our day was now divided a little more...

Then at some point we divided our day into 24 hours. Some trace this back to the Babylonians using a 12 hour clock but I don't know how reliable that is. There is also evidence of Egyptians having a 12 hour clock in 1300 B.C. (10 hours day, 2 hours twilight, 12 hours night), but it wasn't in common practice like the 5 division Roman day. The Romans still recognized those hours (as evident by the 3rd hour, 6th hour, etc.) but were still 5 divisions in practice. Either way, for centuries this was used, mostly by astronomers and people related to the stars (navigators and scientists too). Why 24? Who knows. A common theory is because 24 is an easily divisible number (2,3,4,6,8,12).

But that wasn't enough.w had to break it down more. Back to those whacky Babylonians and their astronomers, at sometime between 300-100 B.C. they divided by 60 (again, easy to divide by) and created minutes and seconds. Now our lives are measured even more minutely.

But that's still not enough. If you watched the Olympics, you would have noticed that they needed to make time smaller, 100th's of a second. And for me, all the music stuff I do, well, that's even more minute. I go to 1000ths of a second.

We have made time so small, and in doing so, made it so big in importance. It just seems crazy to me that we would do that, we would micro mange ourselves into the 1000th's of a second.

And yet, through all this, it's still not right. A standard day, full revolution of the earth, well, that's only 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds...

T

I Beat Liz

My Monkey Ball Score (so far...)

http://totebo.com/mko.php?c=qporrrotBoutuorFBoUBoppsotrqUoD6OmouUEr

T

Poison Ivy

Sorry I haven't been on, I've been in and out of consciousness and energy the last few days. I got poison ivy from head to toe at the Guys Night Out last week. Right now I'm sitting at my desk feeling the itch on my arms and neck, it's awesome...

Life Hurts God Heals starts Sunday, hope to see you there!

T

The Right Thing

Sorry it's been a few days, I've been getting stuff ready for our new series at Drink Deep & The Refinery (our Sunday night program for students). Anyway...

Suffice it to say, I was watching TV the other day and heard something really profound. "Even if you do the right thing, it may not turn out the right way." That's true, isn't it? Think of the times where you told the truth, but you didn't get the forgiveness you expected but got in trouble.

But then I started thinking even more (scary) and thought about this. Who says what outcome is right? Well, obviously, we do. We have an outcome to every action that we think is the right one. Maybe we're not as smart as we think we are.

And one more thought with that. Does this mean that we start to decide what is right based on the outcome? I took that in ethics class, if we base all actions on what we think are the outcomes, it really waters down what is right and wrong...

Things to ponder.

T

More English Meanderings

I have another one for you, although this one was not as clear-cut when I read it...

I was reading a book in which the author used the word disgrace, but spelled it dis-grace. And that's when I started thinking. Really, the word is intended to mean a loss of grace, as in the acts that we see as "disgraceful" are really meant to be thought of as so repulsive that you can actually lose the grace of God for taking part in them. What a crazy idea!

But then I went further. What do we see as disgraceful? If you were to walk down the street and say "That's disgraceful", what would the person be doing? Begging on the street? Eating out of a trash can? How about something less, wearing something that was in style last season but definitely out now?

And aren't people who do those acts the ones who need grace? And yet surprisingly, when good, middle-class, upstanding Christians lower themselves to that level, their loving counterparts mutter under their breath "How disgraceful"...

T

Another Quirk Of The English Language

I can't be long, sorry, but here's a tiny fact I read tonight.

The word "listen" has the same letters as the word "silent".

Food for thought about our listening skills...

T

When People Want To Worship...

I meant to talk about this yesterday, but I got off track, sorry. On Tuesday night we went and saw Hillsong United (http://www2.hillsong.com/united/). A great worship concert, they did a really good job.

Two things I got out of it though. One, it was NewSong on crack. They were also in a gym on a stage inset like ours, just everything was slightly bigger, bigger gym, bigger stage, bigger sound, lots more people (obviously, there was a concert). But it gives me hope for the future.

But the second thing is what I've been thinking about the past few days. And I think about it every time I go to something like this. Just how much more different it is when people want to worship.

Now don't get me wrong, I know there are people who want to worship Sunday morning. But there are also those who are there because it is their duty, and I think the ones who want to be there hold back so they don't stand out. At concerts like the Hillsong one, you can't stand out. If anyone wants to worship God so much they go on a Tuesday night (some driving from other states) and pay extra money for a ticket on top of it, they really want to worship! People were really excited to be there!

I just wish I knew how to move more people from the state of apathy on Sunday mornings to that excitement...

T

How Smart Is Our Bunny...?

It's said in some circles you can tell the intelligence of an animal by how long it takes it to escape its habitat. To give an example, some zookeepers say this and say monkeys are very intelligent because they will use tools like screwdrivers to open air vents (pretty smart).

So today we were reading about our bunny and realized he needed more room, so we bought him a pen and put it up to his cage. Now thankfully my wife is smarter than I am and thought we should put him in it long before we go to bed just to see what happens (we let him run around it for a long time with the door open to get used to it). Needless to say, he was trying to squeeze through the bars to see us.

Anyway, I go to work on the computer and hear "He's out". Our bunny had discovered he could jump on top of his cage and make an easy exit around the bars. So we put a cardboard blocker on his cage. Done. We waited about half an hour, nothing, so we went to bed. While lying in bed I said to Lorie "Wouldn't it be funny if the bunny hopped by right now?" What's even stupider, while laughing, the bunny hopped by. No word of a lie, I had just finished saying it. The crazy little rabbit had figure out how to jump over the pen by using the side of the couch (we put him back in to watch and find out his trick). To see if it was a fluke we watched him do it three times, all in about 2 minutes.

Clover is now back in his normal home five feet in the air (it's on a stand, don't worry) and he's completely caged in. Too smart for his own good, he lost some freedom tonight...

Hey, aren't we like that. We're so smart we can make our own choices, do what we think is right, but in the long run we ruin our own freedom in the order God established...?

T

Vantage Point

Yeah, I saw this movie tonight after Drink Deep. I don't know, it's my kind of movie and I really liked it although it was a little different (but then again, so am I). I was thinking about a couple of things while watching it, but I'll focus on two for tonight.

One was a suicide bomber. Unfortunately, this is all too real in our world, people who are willing to kill themselves just to kill others for an ideal. But it got me thinking (and I talked with Lorie a bit about it). How on earth do people manage to get such devotion out of a person? I mean, I am completely devoted to God, I don't know if I would strap a bomb to my chest for Him, but I also know that He would never ask me to do that so we're good. But those people, they are so devoted to their cause that they are willing to kill themselves for it. We aren't even devoted enough to come to church more than twice a month (not to mention on time), or serve more than one hour Sunday morning, or give a full tithe, etc., etc.

But the other point was how this idea of finding the truth through many different vantage points is like our quest for God. In the movie, all these people are involved in seeing and being a part of one event, but because of who they are, their roles, their personalities, etc. they all see this event differently. It's only by all these perspectives together do we as a viewer see the whole truth. And I wonder how much of that is like how we see God. I have a view of God, but it is limited to my focus and corrupted my who I am. But, in getting many views maybe we can work together to see a more complete picture of who He is.

It's late, I'm rambling, but it was a good movie and got me thinking, not to mention about perceived reality and the ability of a heart to be persuaded, but we won't go into that.

T

The Power Of God

I know we hear all sorts of Old Testament stories about God and His power, but here's a newer one. You know me and astronomy...

So there's a researcher named James Jean, he's an astronomer in England. He figured out a way to find out how powerful the core of our sun is and how to explain it so people understand. Here's what he said. If you were to take a piece of the sun's core the size of the head of a pin (really tiny) and place it here on earth, it would generate so much heat that a person would die from that heat 84 miles away. To give some perspective, if we were to put that tiny, itty-bitty piece of sun in my house, someone on the south side of Fort Wayne would die from the heat...

That's incredibly powerful, and God made that so He is way more powerful than that! And to think, instead of using that power on us, His love is even stronger...

Gen. 1:16 ~ So God made the two larger lights, the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars.

Eph. 3:18-19 ~ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

T