Photos are in...

How good of a photographer is Shelley Paulson? Well, you can click here for the shots of our family and decide for yourself.


Shelly - a million thank yous! Once again, proof my kids are good lookin' like their momma.

another one bites the dust...

In uncharacteristicly cryptic fashion, Brent Steeno announces his departure.

Go with God, my friend.

Matt 5 thoughts...

If I were trying to build a congregation, I would avoid Matthew 5 at all costs. In fact, I think I'd provide Bibles to the congregation that omitted it all together. It's just to counter-intuitive to the way we think, to the way we live, and to the way we preach.

I came of ministry-age in a time when the way to grow your crowd was to figure out what they wanted to be told and find a way to tell them, mixing in a little Jesus language and perhaps appealing to their legitimate, God-given desire to make an impact by offering them a volunteer position that would serve to keep the machine running. Our battlecry was "make us relevant", which we entireley assumed meant "make us cool".

Recently, I read a chapter form a book by Peter Tsukihira. He was relaying the story of living in Israel during the first Gulf War. His family lived with the daily fear of being hit by Scud Missles fired from Iraq. They had taped off a room with plastic sheets and each had a gas mask. They knew where they were in relation to their gas mask at any given time. It struck me how relevant that mask was to their lives...and yet no one in their right mind would have described it as cool.

Having mistaken relevance for good music and coffee-drinking think-tank sessions, we have jacked-up our definition of relevant to the point where it's not remotely biblical. What we're doing now is only relevant in the best of times. Scripture, history and common sense beg us to realize that the best of times change on a dime.

Back to pesky Matthew 5.

Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Having seen this passage applied only to families at the graveside, I think we're missing something. What if it's time for all of us to mourn? Could it be that it's time for that?

We love the Ecclesiastes quote about it being a time to dance. Children of the 80's cheered when Kevin Bacon told us that. But what about the rest of that passage?

Ecc 3:4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance...

Maybe it is time to mourn. Maybe it is time to fast. Even if it's not time yet, it will be soon. We might want to go into this with a little practice.

Mac Rocks!

Truck is fixed. Loose wire. Whooohooo!

Still needs brake rotors replaced....but at least we're up and rollin'

full day @ the hop...

Started early this morning by meeting my Active Seniors group at the gym. One of the kids hid (?) the membership cards so I needed to use my Golden Corral Blue Haired Club membership card. I can't stand the picture on that thing.

We met a new friend over the weekend.
Shelley Paulson, owner of Summerset Studio, was in town visiting IHOP and was kind enough to take some shots of our family. Her work is phenomenal - be sure and check the gallery. She is talented enough to make your horse look more expensive and your kids cuter than they really are. This is a gift.

I connected with Shelley a few months ago when I saw she'd linked from her blog to mine. Check it out for some hillarious pictures of a Dog Dock Jumping Championship...which is a contest that looks suspiciously like something I made up. Anyway, after some shots of the kids, Kelsey and I, we sat around the kitchen table and had a great time talking art and life and prayer. Thanks for your time, Shelley!

S.S. Family Truckster Update
Thank you to everyone who suggested the battery was dead. We jump started it, and that worked...at least until we reached the street, where it died again. Jumped again, started again, drove a block, died again. Got it started again and drove like the Duke Boys to Mac's, where it died a third death in the driveway of his shop. He opens at 8 AM and I suspect a call shortly thereafter, as I managed to block his garage door with the corpse.

Schedule Dump
Today is meetingspalooza...Forerunner Publishing, Management Team and an All-Staff, with a meeting with Kelsey and another couple stuck in the middle somewhere. Tonight, though...a big treat. Jason & Lindsey have scored the mother of all coupons to this place at the Plaza (coupons are about the only way we approch this area of town!) Whooohooo!

I cannot bring myself to title this.

Evangelicals & conservatives are invited to lecture liberals at Berkley and their area of expertise is....powerpoint? Kind of makes you wish William Seymour was around to make the trek north from Asuza Street.

BERKELEY / Liberal Christians look to conservatives / At Berkeley theology school, evangelicals advise on using media: "'Electronic Christian Media' has been taught before at Berkeley's Holy Hill campus, but the difference this semester is that Heller, a politically moderate, interdenominational Christian, has recruited nationally known evangelical Christians as guest lecturers. Each guest will show the course's 17 students how evangelical congregations have mushroomed with new and younger believers in the last decade, in part by putting down hymnals full of 150-year-old songs and picking up digital video cameras."

This is proof...

This link is proof that you're only about one good idea from making a million bucks. The cool factor in this lies primarily in the fact that you and I never thought of it.

Cordoroys with the wales going horizontal instead of vertical...I'd have a pair of these if they weren't eighty bucks a pop.

One Cool Mashup....

Spell with flickr
Type in your text, hit enter and poof. You can even change individual letters. I dig it.

hmmmm.

I went to IHOP to pick up Jackson tonight. After running in to find him and returning to the S.S. Family Truckster, I inserted the key and turned. Nothing. No dings, no hums, no rrr, rrrrr, rrrrr to speak of. As Ricky Ricardo may have said "The car, Lucy, she don't go!"

It is not the battery. It is not the solenoid. I believe it's a short in the wiring. Kelsey told me this has happened to hear a couple of times but it always started eventually. No luck tonight. She came to get me in my mom's car. We have gone from being a one car family to being a no car family, at least until we can get it over to Mac's Auto Repair to get it looked at. Might as well figure out how to fix that funny sound in the brakes and the unusual, intermittent grinding in the front end.

Not sure how this is all going to land. Even as it nears 150,000 miles, the truck is obviously not beyond repair, but it is sneaking into that zone where you are prioritizing repairs like you would prioritize health care for a 14 year old Golden Retreiver. I mean, of course you love the dog...but...well, you get the idea.

Guess we'll have to figure out how to get everyone to church in the morning...and then anywhere on Monday.

On a happy note, when we ordered phones the other day, we bought a super cheapo one from Costco, took the SIM card out and installed it in one of our older (but better) phones for Jackson to use when he's traveling without us, etc. I promptly took the new cheapo phone and listed it on eBay. The auction just closed and we cleared sixty bucks over the price we paid for it. Kerching! Mac will be elated.

Congrat's

16 Year Old Downloads Billionth Song on iTunes: "Apple would be giving him a 20-inch iMac, 10 iPods and a $10,000 gift card for the iTunes store."

This kid is going to be very, very popular in school on Monday morning.

Weekend Update

Sorry for all of you who eagerly tuned in for the minutes from Friday morning's Gun Club meeting. They were classified in order to further the growing mystique surrounding the shadowy organization.

Friday afternoon I took the boys on a boys night out...dinner, a movie and a night in a hotel....to celebrate Jackson's birthday. We hung out in the hotel pool for a while before heading to Chipotle where we sat at the bar facing the window and made up stories about the pedestrians walking by. The older boys are very good at this and Zion is now showing great potential too! Afterwords we headed to HyVee to stock up on man-snacks (Creme Soda, chips, Twizzlers and gummy orange slices). We went to see Curious George (I give 5 stars to the parts I was awake for) and then back to the hotel to watch the Olympics.

And what was Kelsey doing all this time? Eating Bon Bons and watching QVC? Oh contraire...she and my mom were doing a birthday makeover on Jackson's room. He returned home to find his room transformed from boyish disaster to Starbuckesque coolness, complete with freshly painted walls, furniture, a new framed Narnia poster, a killer tan chair with wooden armrests, a small desktop fountain, and a host of thrift store accessories. He was shocked - we'll have to pry him out of there. I think he's in there blogging right now.

His fasting list is up over 300 now. Tomorrow's the big day - join us if you can, fasting for the unborn...for his birthday.

I LOVE this story...

This may be the only thing left that is RIGHT about sports. Good for the boy, good for the coach, good for the school. Watch it here.

i am being swayed...

must...resist....temptation....to switch to Firefox....

Sargent Obvious on Duty

Man's shirt erupts in flames after he is shot with Taser: "'The subject,' recounted Sgt. Al Tolley in a subsequent report, 'immediately dropped the knife.'"

Sounds like it was pretty stinkin' effective to me.

intagnation...

OK, two days after patting Scott Hodge on the back for not playing tag by the rules (he answered the questions and then did not forward the affliction on)....Chuck tags me. I am now forced to either ignore it and be an internet curmudgeon or go ahead and fill out the appropriate forms. so...

FOUR JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Gas Pump Jockey
2. Rock Picker (The North Dakotan's understand...)
3. Credit approval guy at a jewelry store
4. Director of Small Things, Cincy Vineyard

FOUR MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER:
this is a horrible question for me...I can only generate one...
1. Contact

FOUR TV SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH:
Not even going there. Sorry. Does anyone on the internet read books anymore?

FOUR PLACES I'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
1. The Bahamas
2. Jackson Hole, Wyoming
3. Kiawa Island
4. Los Angeles

MY FAVORITE DISHES:
1. Pizza
2. Steak
3. More Steak
4. Whatever that chicken stuff was that Kelsey made last night.

FOUR WEBSITES I VISIT DAILY:
1. MakeZine.com:
2. Guy Kawasaki
3. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia
4. DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism Security

FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE
1. already on my way to the prayer room rather than answering these
2. the black rock desert
3. Montgomery Inn
4. Ripping across the prairie on a big dual-purpose bike.

FOUR BLOGGERS I'M TAGGING:
Nope. The misery ends here.

decreasing the gap

When we were in our early twenties, Kelsey and I bought our first house. I've blogged about it before, but in case you don't remember....does the word ramshackle stir up any recollection? To be fair, it was a cute little house, but it needed work, and what we knew about those sorts of projects could have fit on a half page, fourteen point font, double spaced. We drove by it a few months ago and I was tempted to go to the door and apologize to the current owner for the mangled job on the hardwood in the dining room.

The house had some issues that we just couldn't do much about - particularly, assorted gaps. Gaps around the windows. Gaps at the bottom, top and sides of most doors. The way things had settled, there wasn't a right angle to be found...just lots of space between where things should have been and where they ended up.

I'm reading the prophet, Isaiah this morning. He records the word of the Lord in this way in chapter 42, verses 8 & 9:

I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them."

As I read the passage this morning, it occured to me how blurry the borders are between recorded history and His prophetic word. God mixes language of the old passing away and new things being declared as if He were in full control...and for good reason. He is constantly moving back and forth between relaying things that have happened and things that will - and they're all the same to Him.

I'm disturbed by the gaps in my life this morning. The space between what He's spoken over me and the way things are right now. Sometimes being stuck in time can be a peculiar form of torture. You know what you've heard and you see what you see - and they're not exactly lined up straight and true. Through the gap between calling and walk blows a wind so cold that it can bring all activity to a halt if you don't keep the fire stoked.

Gotta stoke the fire. And I've gotta close those gaps.

Update on the Birthday Fast...

FYI, Jackson has now amassed a small army of fasters. See the list here.

the ups and downs of the day

Up: Made it to the gym again this morning.
Down: Am repeatedly pushed to my limits by the geriatric gym cronies.

Up: New phones arrive via UPS this afternoon. Near end of contract put us in prime negotiating mode, so it's time to upgrade.
Down: After using Nokias since the 1940's, Kelsey and I must now learn a new phone OS. If I don't call you, it's not necessarily because I'm not trying.

Up: Homeslice Sean in the house and livin' large.
Down: Homeslice Sean goes back to his LA crib tomorrow.

up & at'm. whoever 'm is.

I woke up at 4:50 AM and in an unexplainable burst of ambition, decided to go to the gym before going to IHOP. Actually, I think I know what motivated me. Thanks to a friend, we had carryout from here last night, and tonight we have plans to go here. Couple this with the fact that I have added a few poorly placed pounds, and I figured I'd better hit the treadmill.

By 5 AM I was headed out the door. We are ninety seconds away to the gym if you hit the green lights. It can also be done in ninety seconds if you run the red lights, albeit with significantly more drama. I parked and approached the building around 5:05, only to discover that they open at 5:30. Oddly enough, though, there were a half dozen elderly folks waiting to get in. "Don't worry," they assured me, "She'll let us in a few minutes early."

Think about this. They're regulars, and they regularly come twenty five minutes before the posted time to open, because she'll let us in a few minutes early. That is a picture of tenacity. Or something. So there I stood, surrounded by what the gym refers to as "Active Seniors". My boys say I could park in one of the "Active Seniors" reserved spots, if I only were active.

About 5:10 AM, a police man approached from around the corner, eyes wide open and gun drawn. Yes, this is the second time I've seen the business end of a Kansas City policeman's firearm in the last few months. It seems the alarm had gone off. He seemed a little disapointed to find only me, the Golden Girls and Pa Grape.

The Active Seniors were right. The worker had mercy on us and let us in about 5:15. I went straight for the treadmill and satisfied my daily intake of information by listening to the iPod while reading the subtitles on a History Channel biography about Teddy Roosevelt. When I first glanced at the monitor, it displayed only a landscape scene - no text - yet I recognized the topography as North Dakota. Sixty thousand square miles and twenty years later I can recognize it in a heart beat, at 5:20 AM, surrounded by Active Seniors on an automated walkway to nowhere.

The day has officially begun.

I'm not sure how this happened, but Jackson will be 13 next Sunday. A few weeks ago, he had an idea. His mother and I think it's a good one. Rather than tell you myself, I'll just insert the text of an email he sent out a few days ago:

Friends and Family,

As some of you know, my 13th birthday is coming up. (February 26th)

This time last year, I was having a hard time celebrating my birthday when fully aware of how many babies had been aborted on my birthday - 60,500 at the time since 1993. It seemed wrong to celebrate my birth when two thirds of people born on February 26th wouldn't be able to celebrate.

This year, I am faced with the same dilemma. I feel a heaviness that I think is from God, telling me to fast on behalf of all of those aborted since then. There are over 65,000 that will have been aborted by my birthday this year, and the way I see it, if I don't stand, I will essentially be slapping God in the face.

I feel a divine invitation from God, and I believe he's ready to do something just in our nation. This is why I ask you, Will you fast with me? Will you stand in the gap with me on behalf of the unborn? Will you take the time we would have otherwise spent celebrating my birthday and fast?

Please prayerfully consider this invitation, and do not feel pressured to do anything. If you feel nothing, do nothing, but if you feel as I do, please do this with me.

Thank you,
Jackson Bohlender
Intercessory Missionary, Kansas City, MO

If you'd like to join him, you can let me know in the comments section or email me directly and I'll pass it on. At last count he had 26 people...

Feel free to forward this. Wouldn't it be cool if the kid started a trend....

New to the blogroll

Kristi Walsh is now blogging.

She's recent immigrant to New Zealand with her husband Aaron where they're launching a House of Prayer and internship.

Run her site meter up. She loves that. And send goldfish.

a working weekend

Still facing a deadline, I spent the better part of the day at the office today, hammering away at the keyboard.

At the end of the afternoon, I pulled all of the pieces into one document and found out that I'm right on pace, having just passed 35,000 words. Whoohooo! Did I mention I started sixteen days ago?

The office was not exactly a bastion of serenity today, so I crammed my earbuds in my ears and wrote while listening to a few musical gems by Allison Krause and Blues Traveler.

Let me just say that there is a reason they give that girl all them pretty statues. She's got a voice as clear as crystal.

And Blues Traveler just flat out rocketh.

"D'oh" of the Week

CNN.com - Dog Show Winner deemed dangerous in some areas - Feb 16, 2006: "'He's a wonderful pet,' owner Barbara Bishop cooed. 'My grandson used to sleep with him in the crate.'But in some parts of the country, dogs that look like this Best in Show winner are seized, muzzled and in some cases, destroyed."

And in some areas, Barbara, people who admit that their grandkids sleep a crate with the dog have sudden, unanticipated legal difficulties...

catching up

hello friends, family, and stalkers...or any combination of those three

My blogs have been sparse the last few days as I have thrown myself into a writing project. I'm ghostwriting something that needs to be done by the end of February. Holyghost writing, Batman. Having just received the rough material about Feb 6, it's meant cramming in order to stay on pace. I need 40,000-50,000 words and passed the 25,000 word mark around noon today. I've really loved the deadline - it's forcing me to do what I love to do but find ways to put off. :)

This week our HP All-in-One Fax/Printer/Scanner/Copier/Latte machine became an All-in-None, reverting to barfing out reams of white paper no matter what we mashed the print button on. First it quit on Kels' laptop. Then Mom's desktop. My powerbook printed a few days longer and then gave up as well. It's really odd, because this is exactly what it's predecessor (also an HP) did to us. The first one got a free ride to it's prior home, where we picked up the second one...so, once again, back to the home office, where we picked up a third. Each time they get better, cheaper and smaller. This latest unit cost half of what the first one did, does 3 times as much, and is the size of a postage stamp. At this rate, if I wreck a few more, they'll be invisable and free.

Tonight we're off to dinner with the Rutherfords...people who we've always intended on spending more time with and just haven't. We'll fix that.

I do not understand this in the slightest.

Why is it that my cell service provider, which is arguably in a tech industry of sorts, has a web site that is so clunky and slow that it appears to have been designed as some sort of junior high programing class project?!?!

This has been a long-time irritation. Just in case you are wondering.

Hundreds attend mass pillow fight

SAN FRANCISCO / Hundreds attend mass pillow fight: "Bullwinkle did not know who organized the pillow fight, but she said
many in attendance were veterans of Burning Man, the annual art-party
extravaganza in Nevada's Black Rock Desert."

You have my word, I was at IHOP.

Perspective is everything...

Someone just emailed me a picture of a bumper sticker that says "I'd Rather Hunt With Dick Cheney Than Ride With Ted Kennedy".

ouch...

I Love My Wife

That's her in the picture, dancing the night away with Grayson (8) at a wedding last September.

Dear Kelsey

I love you for who you are - an adventurer, a family administrator, a student, a fearless proclaimer of truth, the funniest person I know, and a million other things.

I love you for how you care for our boys. There will be many jewels in your crown for serving to balance out our male-dominated household.

I love you for challenging me to do things I would not normally do. To write. To take chances. To clean the garage.

I love you for forgiving my for wanting to wear cowboy boots to our wedding rehearsal dinner, although I would like to point out that they're in style now and I was simply seventeen years ahead of my time.

You are the best! Happy Valentines Day!*

Randy

*Men, if this your first realization that today is, in fact, Valentine's Day, your hiney is in a sling.

Good News Tim

Sunday morning at IHOP featured a killer song by none other than Hosanna's "Good News Tim" Cone !

An original song with killer lyrics and a beat you can dance to. Well, I couldn't dance to it, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done.

Way to go, Mr. Timness!!!

Man Racks Up Frequent Flyer Miles

Fossett Breaks Flight Distance Record: "Adventurer Steve Fossett completed the longest nonstop flight in aviation history with an emergency landing Saturday, flying 26,389 miles in about 76 hours but stopping early because of mechanical problems."

What they fail to mention is that his black, wheeled cordura bag never materialized on at the baggage check when he was finished.

Home Improvement to the Nth Degree

Ever since Jim Bob put that new deck on the double wide, property values have gone soaring...this is the strangest story I've seen in a long time...

Misvalued House Causes Ind. Budget Woes
"A house erroneously valued at $400 million is being blamed for budget shortfalls and possible layoffs in municipalities and school districts in northwest Indiana. The house had been valued at $121,900 before the glitch. County Treasurer Jim Murphy said the home usually carried about $1,500 in property taxes; this year, it was billed $8 million."

One would expect that last sentence to have been enough to clue someone in before they got in a rush to spend the windfall. Incidentally, that's the 400 Million Dollar House in the photo to the right...read on, friends:

"Most local officials did not learn about the mistake until Tuesday, when 18 government taxing units were asked to return a total of $3.1 million of tax money. The city of Valparaiso and the Valparaiso Community School Corp. were asked to return $2.7 million. As a result, the school system has a $200,000 budget shortfall, and the city loses $900,000."

Name The Context Contest

Look at the photo below and see if you can figure out where it was taken.


A) The annual business meeting of a 5-fold ministry charismatic church.

B) A recent address by Abdullah Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia

C) The big Amway Convention

D) Insert your best guess in the comments section.

Kelsey-Cam

A real-time shot of Kelsey doing a breakout at this weekend's conference.

The following is a genuine quote from her talk, uttered four minutes ago and presented here out of context: "I want to be that end-times monkey!"

location is everything

When you are exactly where you are supposed to be, and you know you're supposed to be there...you're light years ahead of 99% of the rest of the world.



Right now, Feb 10, 2006, I would not trade my seat here for anything.

Gun Club Minutes

The Men's Breakfast & Gun Club met this morning for one hour and twenty minutes at the secret, undisclosed location. Member Cornhusk was noticably absent, however, his trusty sidekick did make an appearance after being goaded into it in an earlier text message rant.

Topics covered:

Dysentary in Africa

Tile in Lenexa

Bus/bike accidents in Washington

Property values on Red Bridge Road

Firearms. Really.

i'm out

U2 loses all originality; dangerously close to becoming Rolling Stones

The Grammy's were held last night, and although I didn't see it, I understand everyone's favorite pop theologion did very well. I've heard their little record and I have to admit, it's quite a toe tapper.

All I want to know is this: What's with the hat, Bono? Especially the hat/glasses combo. As the Christian scriptures say, "What meanest this?" (pictured here: supergroup U2)

I mean, last time I saw a combo like that, the dust was flying and there were homemade flamethrowers being tested in the background.

Let it be known that I put the ensemble together first. This photo was taken late August 2004.

Although I appear to be assembled along with my surgical team, they are actually hydrodistrubtion artists.

(pictured here: supergroup myself, Barry & Lana)

Jackson scoops Kawasaki

Guy says:: "When I went through the security line at San Francisco International Airport this morning, I noticed this laptop with an Apple sticker pasted over its Dell logo (click to enlarge the photo if you don't believe me)."

Randy Says "Jackson stuck an Apple sticker on an old Toshiba he was using last fall and got the most hillarious double-takes from people in the coffee shop!"

quick and random thought...

Anyone else notice it the other day when Bono's defenders outnumbered the President's defende If the DNC had a fraction of a brain they'd snag him.

Give this a listen

If you've ever done something really dense and laughed at yourself later, you owe it to yourself to go to NPR's This American Life and listen to a recent edition called "It seemed like a good idea at the time...". It features a series of people telling their 'dumbest ever' story.

It opens with a police officer telling the story of the time he crawled in the back of his car for a late night nap, only to wake up and discover he'd locked himself in the back of his patrol car....

The guy panics for 25 minutes then realizes he has a cell phone with him...but he's not sure where he's at...so he call's 911, who mistakenly reports it as "Officer Down", bringing out everything from the dog catcher to the cavalry.

Just go ahead and listen here

The Tuesday Night Crank Up

P.O.D. : Testify

A few months ago, I got on an airplane and sat next to a petite woman with two gorgeous toddlers on her way to San Diego to join her husband. We talk.

Her husband? He's a musician. Anyone I'd know? Probably not. Ha! Guy turns out to be the guitar player for POD.

The follow-up to Satellite never impressed me, but I've been looking forward to hearing this one since then.

It is a very loud little recording. And I likes it. I think I'm going to yell 'microphone check' next Sunday when I do announcements.

Giving New Meaning to the Word "Dude".

I was just thinking "should I finish answering these emails or head on over to Maverick's to enter the big surf competition...". Pity that I'm so swamped here.

Maverick's kicks off under perfect conditions: "(02-07) 13:30 PST PILLAR POINT -- Six surfers are battling it out this afternoon in the finals of this year's Maverick's surf contest. The winner will walk away with $30,000 and was expected to be decided
by 3 p.m."

1 Peter 5

It's more and more obvious to me that the most counterculture thing we could manage to do is live a Godly life.

1 Peter 5 preaches a radical message of preferring one another while signing up for delayed compensation. In a world that tells us that fortune favors the bold, God tells us that eternity favors the meek.

I Peter 5:6,7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's might hand, that He may life you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

The word 'cares' is the Greek word 'melo'...and is translated most other places as 'concerned' and in at least one place as 'worry'.

The idea of God worrying about us stretches my theology a little bit, but His being concerned seems decidedly more active that just 'caring'. I care about the price of oil. I am concerned about the welfare of my children.

Rest easy, today, knowing God is concerned for you and, if you are striving to live in alignment with what He is doing, He is actively working toward your ultimate good.

Put your John Hancock right there....

A few weeks back, Grayson played John Hancock in his homeschool co-op's play...we left town for a few days afterwards and the little guy never got his proper recognition...so, John Hancock, this blog's for you! (with additional thank you's to Grandma, senior executive of costume procurement.)

To the Highest Bidder

Jim Henderson preceded me in my role at the CIncy Vineyard. Since then he's run a conference machine/think tank called Off-the-Map. In one of his most brilliant ideas in a while, he just bought an athiest on eBay!

I love it.

via Kevin Rains, who is a midwesterner in his mid 30's and insists on using the word "rad'. C'mon, bro. Bro?

The President and Bono are Wrong.

A blog in which I completely torch what remains of my reputation as a hip Christian figure while simultaneously enraging the other side of my contacts list who think Bono dated Cher but follow GW religiously....

There was a little presidential prayer breakfast action the other day in DC. All the usual cast of characters showed up, including an unusual character, Bono. I've found all sorts of links to Bono's speech all over the usual blogs because, after all, we are dying to find a cool Christian and we think at times he might be the guy.

Likewise, our devoutly Christian president was there and made some very nice remarks that were faxed to him on the drive over (nothing personal, I'm just pretty sure that this is how these things work).

I haven't read Bush's remarks yet. I watched Bono's video clip. It was masterful, as he wove Isaiah and talk of the Spirit with the need for aid worldwide and alluded to the glorious idea of unity among religions. Among other things, he said "I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here—Muslims, Jews, Christians—all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.

Bono, friend, incredible lyricist, phenomenal vocalist, charismatic front man....you are out of your ever lovin' mind. And Bushie, you're not far beind him.

King Abdullah of Jordan opened with talking about comonalities between the Torah, the Gospels and the Koran and invited everyone to pray for the middle east.

He suggested the pray..."That not one more generation will grow up knowing conflict and injustice, nor suffer from poverty or oppression...That not one more family will lose a loved one to war and bitterness, and that, together, Muslim, Jew and Christian, we can create a new future for the Holy Land: a future of peace."

King Abdullah, President Bush, Bono....if any of you genuinely think that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are going to come to terms on the Middle East, then none of you have read any of those books. And King Abdullah, any prayers based out of the Koran are going to be at extreme odds with the prayers based in the other books.. You might be careful what you...er, pray for.

C'mon gang. The sun glasses are cool. The rantings are ridiculous. Anybody got the guts to agree?

Test Blog

Here we go, test blogging from the new blog widget. Let me know if you can't read this. :)

One theory of prayer, half baked.

A lot of times people hear about the time we spend in the prayer room and say "Wow - I would love to do that...but I don't know if I could...how do you pray for those extended periods?" To be honest, I don't think I'm wired for this any better than any one else. There are times I'm horrible at it. So...if we were designed for communion with the Father, what makes it difficult?

I was reading through 1 Peter the other day and something jumped off the page at me.

1 Peter 4:7,8
The end of all things is near; therefore be clear minded and self control so that you can pray.

Apparently, there are two things that stand in the way of our ability to engage with God, one being a lack of a clear mind, the other being the lack of self control. Entire libraries are full of books on self control...but what's it mean to be clear minded? After doodling the idea for a while in my journal, I think I'm getting somewhere. Here's the theory...

To be clear minded is to be free of distractions...not drawn to side issues. I'm not talking about the shopping list or a crying baby. Those sort of things are going to be everywhere...but what are the things we carry that keep us from being clear minded before the Lord? I think it has to do with the past...and the future.


In relation to the past, to be clear minded means to have a clear conscience. This doesn't mean having led a perfect life - if that were the case, we could throw this whole concept out immediately. It means having dealt with the wrongs in your past, whether distant or recent, and being able to stand in this place in time before God without the weight of misdoings hanging over your head. It's hard to be clear minded when you keep going back to something that you regret.

In relation to the future, to be clear minded means to have pure motives. There are a host of people who have allowed God to deal with their past and yet fully intend on repeating some of the behaviors, thinking that once they're done, they'll let God deal with it again. That willful intent to sin in the future makes for a very cloudy present. If you're motives are not Godly, it's difficult to claim clear mindedness.

This morning, I hope you can find your way to that place of clear mindedness....anchored rearward with a clearn conscience and anchored forward with pure motives. In that place, you'll find it much easier to engage your heart with His.

Gun Club (pre)Report

I am sitting in the official Men's Breakfast & Gun Club clubhouse, awaiting the arrival of the other members. Two barristas mill around wondering where the other customers are while Hootie and the Blowfish gives way to Peter Gabriel on the overhead speakers. A bastion of hipness it's not.

Today's meeting will be small. Probably only executive members. Member Cornhusk has made a trip home due to a family illness. The member I referred to earlier as being in jepordy of losing his membership status emailed yesterday from Kentucky (of all places), seemingly aghast to realize the meetings were weekly.

More to come....

harumph

There comes a time when you just need to draw a bead and squeeze.


Bloomberg.com:
U.S.: "Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, which, according to an old German
legend, signals there will be six more weeks of winter weather."

unlucky in love...

Even in context, this is one of the strangest quotes of all time.

"'He is a very unlucky person, I hope I will have a good life with him.'"

click here for whole, weird story

I'm all about casual...but still.

I may be a country boy, but I know better than to wear a t-shirt of any sort to the State of the Union speech.

Twenty Years Ago Today

Head on over to Just Charlie to read in entirety one of my favorite posts. Ever. As my friend Lou would say, "C'monnnnnn!"
"Twenty years ago today.Twenty years ago, I remember telling that great medical staff that 'BB' wasn't your name - that you were a real person with a real name, a real identity. I remember a wise doctor telling us that you likely wouldn't make it through that first night, and that if by some chance you did, you'd likely have pretty serious consequences for the rest of your life."