I made it here alive! [comatose in many ways, but alive]

After driving some 20 hours through hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons...me and more importantly...the bike are now in Ashland.

I am staying at a super-secret brethren hostile for advanced spirituality. The people here are teaching me how to meditate, levitate, and con people out of money...you know...typical pastoral skills. They plug me into a MATRIX like machine every night and I wake up more skilled and holier than ever.

I hope tomorrow to learn how to call down hellfire and brimstone, move mountains, walk on water, and a few other tricks of the trade. [if I hit your house with any of this stuff I'm sorry, please forgive me as I am a novice]

Plus the foods great, and the brethren dali-lama and his wife are great company.

Talk later. Must work on sermon, and wander about town and pray.

Not everybody that has a trailer is a redneck in Texas, but owning one is a badge of honor. I have had redneck envy for years looking at people with dirt-bikes and wave-runners on the back of trucks laden with Nascar stickers. Alas my poor little metrosexual truck doesn't have a hemmie, but the little rice-burner is happy.

Amy said when she kissed me good-bye the other morning that I said "be careful in the truck sweetheart, now that he's got a hitch, he's feeling frisky"

I deny having ever said that...but it's funny.

Pray about the weather, I was gonna leave Tue but we are supposed to have an Evan-Almighty deluge that day so I may leave Monday night just to get ahead of it. And, candidly, I am nervous about driving a trailer...it's my first time...and I hope the road will be gentle with me.

Upstairs and the garage are now show-ready, and downstairs is close. We have had a lot of lookers but we will get a real-estate agent pretty soon.

Big garage sale Saturday...fun.

I'll chime in later...that's it for now

PS: "rice-burner" and "redneck" are meant as terms of humor and not derogatory in any shape or fashion.

1. my clutch is done, but needed other work


2. they can't find the tire I need for my bike


3. I painted something black at the house, told the kids to stay away, and my youngest walked in it and got it everywhere. Then I yelled at them, and then walked to the other side and leaned against more black paint and got it on me. Her guilt foot-print is found above [they had all claimed innocence]


4. the cats urinated on something again, and the other can of paint I needed I couldn't find...then found it...and it was dried out


5. and the guy who was supposed to fix something hasn't come by, and won't answer his cell phone


6. The kids spilled cereal all over something I had just painted with oil based enamel...and I have no idea how to clean it up

I'd kick the dog, but he hasn't done anything wrong

So I am going to read some Psalms and listen to David Crowder till I get my head on straight again.

an aside

I was reading a blog of an Iraqi teenager in Baghdad last night for about 2 hours. It was heartbreaking. I wrote her an e-mail telling her how sorry I was and that I was praying for her. Given the pitiful smallness of my trials this entry now seems so...small.

I suppose that is the thing that helps with frustration. Perspective. Having been reminded by the Spirit of her plight...my problems now seem microscopic.

and that does help

• Excitement about starting a whole new life, reinvent myself in some ways, make new friends, etc.


• Grief over leaving a decade of ministry, friends, and churches here.


• Relief over getting the house ready to sell, packed, and knowing exactly where God wants me to be.


• Fear of failure.


• Passion about using my gifts, being a missionary in Ashland, and loving and leading the church.


• Anxiety over the house selling and my family's transition.


• Wonder and worship.

These emotions blend and blur, fade and resurface because of choices I have to make in my mind and heart a thousand times in any given day. There are moments and hours of keen worship and connection to the spirit; and there are moments of keen spiritual opposition and the gnattering accusations and dark whispers of the evil one.

This is life. This is normal. This is Christianity and its experience. I used to try hard to avoid some emotions, but this was exhausting and usually a failure. Now I try to sit with my various emotions and let each of them bring me thier gift. Some gifts are fine in small dosses [grieving] because it forces me to pray and connect to the Spirit. Some gifts are just great, and when "peace like a river" floods over me I try to saturate my heart roots in it, so I am soaked in it for the times that are coming when I'll be dry again.

I'm a pretty holistic guy. By guys do have compartments. So the three compartments I am try to see maturity in are mind, emotions, and will.

• Getting my mind aligned with God


• Allowing the Spirit to steer my emotions


• Allowing God to pull the trigger on decisions of action

I'm not normally an emotional roller-coaster...or at least not as much as I used to be. But the events in front of me will be a rollercoaster. I know this. Thus I can either choose to hate it and cringe at every turn...or...embrace it as part of the thrill of life and something to experience fully.

I firmly believe a great day should have these 7 components in it, and I aim at this every day

1. My mind needs to be challenged by Gods word to understand and enjoy and obey Him more.


2. My heart needs to give and recieve love from God, others, and even myself.


3. My body needs to be stretched and tested, pushed and strengthened.


4. If possible a good day should always end with grass-stains on the knees. In a pinch do at least one sommersault outside.


5. An unchurched person should be touched by God in a significant way.


6. Cry hard at least once, preferably in prayer for someone else.


7. Laugh hard and fully with deep joy from God.

• power-rangers


• rock and roll


• U2
• Telly-tubies [which one was gay...I can't remember]


• the Matrix and even Constantine [I had a brief conversation with the protestors outside the theatre I watched it in]


• and yes even the Smurphs...remember...there was a sorcerer

I wonder if CS Lewis hadn't been a famous Christian if everybody would have gone nuts about the white-witch etc. I'm sure if he was writing today he wouldn't be on a lot of thier interview shows.

I guess what I'm trying to say is DISCERN what is best for you and your core relationships. Me, I will keep showing my kids where culture accidently [providence?!] trips over God's truth, where they are obviously opposed to God, and where the gray is. [Chip and I looked through some Green Day lyrics yesterday and talked about them and God]

I want them sober, awake, and aware. "Be sober minded, your enemy the devil, prowls about seeking whom he may devour." Indeed, it's hard to be sober about what you know nothing about. So thanks Hollywood, for giving me some great eye-candy and object lessons to teach my kids about spirituality. The church can't afford the special effects, so I'm glad God sometimes hijacks tinsel-town for His own means and ends.

more than meets the eye

• How many of us want to be heroes? Many of us if not most.

• How many of us are willing to sacrifice, face the anvil, experience the pain, and be disciplined enough to become one? Far fewer.
  

• Sunday: Possible personal applications, accountability and small group studies from the sunday message


• Monday: Prayer requests related to those applications


• Tuesday: Ways to teach the principles to children


• Wednesday: Insights on how it is going so far [Midrash] hopefully others will share what they have done and we can learn from each other


• Thursday: How to handle the opposition of applying these things


• Friday: Probably a re-cap from my journal entries for the week that I think might help


• Saturday: Things that didn't make the sermon, but are good stuff. Resources that are available

This is tentative, and will be hard to pull off the 1st week while I am on the road. But this could be good. Really if you just check in on Sunday and Wednesday you should get some practical help moving this stuff forward in your life.

I'd love feedback on what you think about this...or ways to improve the idea [just click on comments, right below this post...when you put your cursor on it, it turns red...click and it will give you a box to write things in]

• Rebuilding a relationship, family, or marriage


• Rebuilding a career, calling, or vision


• Rebuilding finances


• Rebuilding hope and faith


• Rebuilding your thought life or emotional landscape


• Rebuilding what is most broken in your life...is God's speciality

Nehemiah can point you in the right direction...but as always with God's word...you will have to do the work in fleshing it out with God.

God

I love you Jesus, and thanks for giving us a new church.

And I'm sad about you having to die on a cross.

• cleaned out and cleaned up the fridge


• packed several boxes


• put garage sale stuff on the porch


• cleaned out another 2 rooms


• taken garbage out


• scrubbed floors by hand in kitchens and bath


• some painting


• dishes and laundry

Later on we will go get hitch put on truck...then maybe...a DVD rental or go to a movie

Family Maxim I learned from Mom and Dad: "You work before you play"

Which is funny, because in the last year I have taken a ton of standardized tests and interviews and they all said the same thing. "Play more!" Which is either proof they are all lazy weasels...or....more likely...I need to spend more time having fun.

Which is hard for me. And I know it's sin to not rest and experience joy. So pray for me about that. Hold me accountable I guess. I know Jesus wants me to enjoy life...there's just so much to do!

speaking of which. NO I haven't got the the garage yet. But I'm glad you asked. I really need to do that.

The Bible talks a lot about our lives and churches producing fruit. What does this mean? Let me take a second to explain it, and then I will give you some perspectives on how this effects all of us as individuals and as a church.

We are all planting an orchard called "the kingdom of God" and in a sense we are all johnny-appleseed every moment of every day in the seeds we leave behind in other peoples lives through our words, attitudes, and actions.

Thus we have 2 impacts. One is our personal impact and legacy; and secondly what our corporate [group / church] impact and legacy will be.

Personal fruit the Bible talks about:

1. Good works. While the New Testament makes it clear that these have no effect on our salvation, they do effect our standing before both men and God. Paul says that we are "predestined" to certain good works which may be a reference to our own personal life-purposes and destiny. But it also includes the basics of kindness, respect, and working hard for our boss. The reputation of all of Christianity is to be found in the good works of individuals. This is also the light-side of holiness. The Bible has lots of "do not..." but sometimes Christians focus far more on these negatives to avoid than on the things to pursue and embrace that God tells us to do. Widows, orphans, and those in prison must be served with love.
2. Character. Sometimes called virtue which is the opposite of vice. This is the hidden fruit of internal ethics that only you and God really know about. The thoughts, attitude of the heart, and choices we make deep inside. Personality is what people see and character is that which lies beneith. Character is built bit by bit and forged through struggle and temptation and testing. And a persons true character is seen by all when placed under the pressure of circumstances. God tells us that our character is to be be godly...God-like. This is seen through virtues like longsuffering, patience, endurance, etc.

Group fruit the Bible talks about:

1. In the Old Testament towns, families, cities, and nations are all told they will be judged as individuals and as groups for what they have done. In our American individualism it is hard to imagine this, but it remains in the book. Thus, Ashland, Ohio, and the USA will be judged as a unit as well as individuals in the future. This makes for interesting assessment of being green, foreign policy, etc.
2. Churches will be judged for a variety of things as seen in the letters to the churches in revelation. These things include: being ashamed of Jesus in front of unvelievers or being courageous in evangelism; loving one another as brothers and sisters...or not; and standing up for truth or ignoring heresy [like the Nicolatians] Paul also says that church discipline is something to be done to keep people on the straight and narrow through tough love.

Interestingly there are also crowns given to individuals who produce specfic fruit through thier lives.

Thus we end up with some practical questions for all our lives. To answer these questions you need to be able to point to real-life experiences and not good-intentions.

• What is my life-long life-purpose and am I aimed at developing it?
• What good works am I doing in the lives of the unchurched? When was the last time an unchurched person felt you love them deeply in a practical way specifically because you were a jesus-follower!
• Is my internal character a well kept garden or a sewer about to explode? What am I doing about it!
• Is our church loving one another and am I doing this in a practical sense? When was the last time you gave money, stuff, dinner...some act of practical loving to a fellow believer as an individual!
• Is our church telling people about Jesus or are we ashamed? Besides hoping vaguely that that magically come to church!
• Is our church courageous enough to discipline one another and bring out the best in each other through tough love? When was the last time a mentor said "I love you enough to talk to you about..."
• Are our children becoming 'religious' or missionaries? Are they mimicing church culture...or...experiencing God and expressing God!
• Are our teenagers sucked into the matrix of Americana or are they becoming truely subversive and revolutionary by moving beyond hedonism and cynicism to dare to be holy and loving? Is church a stop-gap in hopes they will turn out ok or is it a training ground for eager explorers, artists, and leaders!
• Are our Seminary students being prepared for a lifetime of service by what they learn from our church? Beyond school are we helping them get the experience they need.
• Are the unchurched who come in contact with us pleasantly surprised by how fun, loving, joyful, hopeful, and good we are?
• Are we serving the students at Ashland knowing this is a crucial time in thier lives? Are you gonna show up on move-in day and carry luggage for them...or not?
• Are we on page with what God wants to do through us, or, are we searching for what God will do for us? This is the #1 problem with american christianity...the increasing assumption that God wants to serve us and the decreasing assumption that his followers are people who live to serve him.
  

Everyone usually wants to know what the leaders goal is. That way they can understand his decisions and decide where [or if] they should be onboard and online with that direction.

My goal is very simple:

"To turn unchurched consumers into self-sacrificing missionaries for the glory of God."

In order to do this a church must have 2 things that it does very well.

1. Understand the various means that should be used to present the rescue-story of Jesus to people who don't know him or have missunderstood the message he has entrusted to his followers. A church must be highly skilled as missiologists [people that know how to pull off Jesus mission] and be willing to forego personal desires and ambitions in light of the much higher value of saving people literally from "burning buildings."
2. Understand how to develop new believers into marine-missionaries. Every believer needs to be mentored and developed into the sort of missionary that God desires. Video/film-maker; blogging; lawn-mowing...missionaries. In order to become a missionary a believer must be fully discipled from a variety of sources and primarily by the Holy Spirit.

Thus my questions about every initiative will be again two-fold.

1. How does this new thing which will require time and resources allign itself with the mission.
2. Is this initiative balanced with the mission. IE Do we already have a lot of missionary building initiatives and not enough outreach initiatives.

My assumption has always been the following:

• People develop best while moving in a direction of service, not by sitting around playing with concepts.
• People have emotional balance because of worship and connection with God primarily, and with other believers secondarily. If people don't connect with God personally...no amount of fellowship will ever make things ok.
• Having adventures with God builds internal momentum and creates an atmosphere of hope, expectation, and excitment. Waiting for someone else to lead an adventure is an abdication of connection to Jesus...your true leader who is always up for an adventure with you.
• Little disciplines build character...character makes the big decisions and actions easy.
• Nobody becomes a "saint" sitting around talking...it is thier actions that have defined them in history and in our Bibles.

These are general concepts. But they help you start to understand my thinking. A church should never be focused on or accepting of survival or personal or family happiness as a goal. It views itself as a missionary making headquarters for revolutionary world conquest through the love and revolutionary grace of Jesus.

Jesus is something EPIC and so are the lives of His children

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if there is any left, I buy food and clothes."

Erasmus

and I have a picture with this quote in my library at the house

I will be leaving in less than two weeks. WOW! I am leaving a decade of ministry here and going there.

This has given me some things to think about as I ask God what He wants to use and discard from my experiences here. And many things to think about as he re-fits me for Ashland.

As a pastor in dry-dock, the ole battleship has some repairs going and some things to be replaced and other things to carry forward.

The things I carry forward:

• Pastoring is being as like Jesus as I can be in my own skin and personality. Nobody needs another performance or cliche.
• Pastors help keep the MAIN thing the MAIN thing and make sure churches don't get swallowed up in details, distractions, or themselves.
• Pastors are WAY more afraid of God than people.
• Pastors are coaches and help saints become more like Jesus, and sinners to surrender thier lives to Jesus.
• Pastors give up thier rights to a private life. Thier hearts expand to the size of thier flock and community.
• Pastors don't have all the answers but know who does!
• Pastors lead while limping.
• Pastors multiply thier effectiveness and shepherding through discipleship.
• Pastors are 1/3 of the equation for a churches health and destiny. The other 3rds are God's annointing and will and the people's willingness to follow.
• Good pastors pray hard, study hard, and play hard.
• Pastors take God and the mission very seriously...but don't take themselves very seriously.
• Pastors understand that Satan is very real and has a very real effect in this world.
• The pastors sermons are in many ways the rudder of the church ship.
• Pastors must earn trust and respect just like everyone else.
• Pastors are watchman on the wall and watchdogs in the yard.
• Pastoring is a journey and not a destination.
• Pastors help bring the kingdom of God out of the shadows and into reality.
• Pastors stop sparks before they become fires.
• Pastors read maps and know where they are going even if they don't know exactly how to get there at times.
• Be preachable, teachable, and reachable.

This is some of what I do know. There is more to be sure, but because they were the 1st to come to mind I thought they would help.

The rest I am about to learn through you and God.

1. Salvaged food from "Town Talk" not as gruesome as it sounds. Dented cans etc that can't be sold by grocery stores. Marked about 90% off.


2. 1/2 off 1/2 off. Factory returns on clothing. Again about 90% off everything. Almost nothing in the store is over 10 bucks.


3. Craig's list for the metroplex: From tools to tillers the best way to get a deal on stuff.


4. LEGAL Garbage-picking. You may laugh but I really have garbage picked about 75% of the furniture we have.


5. The Tandy outlet and Fry's. Electronic Gizmo's at about 90% off retail. Slightly damaged...but nothing duct-tape and spray-paint can't fix.


6. Free mulch after every major storm and tornado...provided by the highway and parks department.


7. The FW city store. Stuff the city sells after it is done with it. I got a nifty pair of fire-fighter boots to wash the car in.


8. Central market. Gormet food we can't afford...but...playground and free concerts every friday and saturday night outside.


9. The Container store and Ikea. Anal Compulsive organizational mecca and temple.


10. The salvage stockyards. Giant place with everything imaginable under the sun. Cars, bikes, fridge...just find it, take out your tools, remove it, and take it home.

There is a lot of horse-trading in Amy's family tree...and I think I have picked it up over the years.

Where are the deals in Ashland and the surrounding area...do tell

ok.
I'm a convert

he WAS fouled in the last 3 seconds outside the 3 point arc and should have gotten his shots.

now i'm mad at the sorano's and the NBA ref's

i guess i'm an official ohioan [sp?] now

"The unexamined life is not worth living"