CNN.com - City to offer wireless Web for all - Dec. 17, 2003 What I really want is wireless access along I-80 from Omaha to Reno. For free. And I'd also prefer not to pilot a land yacht sized RV this year. Maybe the Montero instead. Sipping coffee at 80 mph while the co-pilot surfs for spots to grab Mexican food, then retired for the evening to sleep in a real bed...sure sounds better than the 40 hr earthquake it takes to do it the other way.

It's Christmas time...and some folks have sent some very cool gifts our way. Earlier this week I got OTR's Good Dog/Bad Dog. The first song opens with this great line about 'a beautiful peice of heartache'. I haven't got a chance to listen all the way through but am jazzed to do so ASAP. Perhaps on the long drive to Colorado in January. Also this week, I received a hat from a friend who was concerned that a) I was going to freeze to death with my bald head and b) that my cool factor was slumping. Sporting this lid should help.

Some gifts are coming, but another gift is leaving tomorrow - Josh Cone has been with us for a few months and we hate to see him go. He's a gem...and welcome back any time! Josh was in our youth group eons ago (and nevertheless serves the Lord to this day...).

CNN.com - Few in Appalachia smiling - Dec. 19, 2003: "Kentucky and West Virginia have the highest percentage of older adults missing all their natural teeth according to data collected in 2002 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "


I could not make this stuff up.

Either Blogger is really freaked out or my posts are being intercepted by the government.

Fyi, I did update the photoblog with an old photo....but not so old that I have hair.

CNN.com - Judge grants Hinckley unsupervised visits with his parents - Dec. 17, 2003 Ten bucks says they rent "Contact" for a quite night at home. children of the 80's, do you remember why?

I suspect Garfield. CNN.com - Europe's biggest fishtank wrecked - Dec. 17, 2003

Warning: Play is dangerous! Thanks to Sean who sent this gem to my son, Grayson. local6.com - News - Half-Ton Snowball Traps, Injures Boy

The power of speaking...

We hear a lot about the power of the spoken word, both good and bad, but I don't know if I always understand it. I know I say things that probably hurt people much more deeply than I realize at the time, and I also know how hearing a kind word from someone can touch me. I think there's also an untapped well of potential in the words we say to ourselves.

As part of my normal morning routine, I've been reading aloud from The Book of Common Prayer. I'm not sure where my copy turned up, but about six months ago I found this little red hard back book on my shelf. I spend about 20 minutes reading from it most mornings, usually in responsive readings or Psalms. I find that saying these things out loud stirs up my faith in an unusual way.

This morning, I was reading Psalm 130 from it. I rarely read from the KJV, but portions of the scripture ring like poetry in the old version, particularly the Psalms. This particular Psalm closes with "O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption." Only KJV. Eugene Peterson couldn't have pulled this one off. As daunting as "plenteous redemption" appears in text, it sounds wonderful. Say it. Go ahead. I'll wait.....

Plenteous redemption. Plenteous redemption. Experiment with emphasizing different syllables. PLENteous redemption. Plenteous reDEMPtion. Plenteous redempTION. Any way you say it, it sure sounds good. The more I say it, the more I enjoy it. The thought of a grace of plenty. Not a stingy, short-on-grace, long-on-punishment God, but one who loves us with plenteous redemption....a pile o' love...a constant cornucopia of kindness. Okay, I'll quit.

May your day be one of plenteous redemption.

I have joined the photoblogging masses. Check it out: Photos...we gots photos!

I should have known it would come to this... Church Votes to Expel Non-Purpose Driven Members. This is why I was so suspicious of being herded into missional neighborhood groups.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the forming of friendships. Certainly, to some degree, friendship follows function - we become friends with those we work with - but in those cases, it sure seems like the relationship is often just task related. When the natural connector (the job, the church, etc) dissolves...is there anything left? And if not - was there ever a relationship or just an 'arrangement'? I am at a point where I'm not looking to build relationships based on what people can do for me, nor do I want to do party tricks to gain the affirmation of others. There's got to be more.

I'm feeling a little rough today...went to the prayer room early but came home to rest and slept almost 3 hrs.

File
this under "Places I Wish I'd Have Been". My copy of the cd is months old and still stays warm from repeated plays...

Had a great weekend hosting Los Angelan Sean Henry. Is there anything more fun than watching a grown man freak out over a heavy snow? I loaned him the mighty turboWagon one night and he came home raving about being a rally driver. I have not noticed any major damage....

This morning I joined Dan Southerton for breakfast. Dan travels and speaks on transitioning churches, both on his own and in affiliation with Saddleback. He and I have had a lot of email contact but never met face to face - what a great guy. It speaks volumes to me when preachers are good customers at resturants. Dan's the real deal.

I'm reading 1 Kings this morning...about how Solomon built the temple. The description of carvings, beams, gold overlay on ceilings, floors and walls is pretty amazing. As I'm reading about the 15 ft tall cherubim that dominate the room, wings brushing both walls and meeting in the center, it seems overwhelming...the holiness, the other-ness of that place. Add to that the tendency for people to drop dead there because of their own sin, and it's not a place to be entered lightly.

Amidst all that, here in the House of Prayer, the band is playing and the singers singing these lyrics...

When the deep is calling and the waterfall's my home
When I'm all but drowning and I'm treading on my own

And I cry / a silent prayer
that comes out of me / it's a mystery
Come wash over me / wash over me
'till I can't take anymore...

...as my voice is heard
in the secret place / where I bare my face
Come wash over me/ wash over me
'till I can't take anymore


This secret place place still exists...and we're invited to go there. With all our stuff, with all our baggage and struggle, we bare our face in the secret place and find God ready to pour into our spirits the sort of things He knows we will never wholly contain. In fact, I think that's part of His plan...to inundate us with a grace-flood that breaks the dam in our lives and pours out on the valley below so that others in our life are forced to deal with a grace-flood of their own.

Let it rain.

It has been entirely too long since I took a look atThe Phat News of Mark. Phar out. Here's an example from Chapter 1, verses 7 & 7:

Now John was a high holy hippie clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate bugs and wild honey rather than spange off of Babylon. And he focalized, “There is One coming after me who is greater than I, One whose sandal strap I am not worthy to fasten.”

This has some great language! :) I think i'm going to become a focalizer....

It got a little chilly....

Last night around 7 PM we noticed it was cold in the house...found the thermostat set at 73 and the actual temperature at 69. This is not good. The furnance had converted itself to a piece of static art. As attractive as it is, I prefered it in it's functional state.

Immediately called the property management company....fix-it man arrived about 10 PM, went into the basement, made a bunch of clanky noises and said "That'll do'r". Temp started rising...we went to bed.

5 AM....alarm goes off. I roll out of bed and immediately feel connected to Robert Shackleton. The furnace had quit again. Temperature in the house was 58 degrees. Apparently "That'll do'r" didn't. Called the property management company again. This time they're sending me the furnace guy. Hello?

For your bemusement....

The furnace in the house we are renting has become more of a static art exhibit. It is not 'furnacing' anything. Temp in the house is 67 degrees and dropping like a lead brick. I am surfing the 'net for a quicktime movie of a fire.

If I do not post by noon tomorrow, send the St Bernards. Don't forget those cool little barrels around their necks. If I don't post by 6 pm tomorrow, split my stuff amongst yourselves. No, wait...split it all except the following.

To Robbie Reider, I leave my picture of he and I at Burning Man, framed in a cool african looking frame that someone gifted us there.

To Tom Planck, I leave a partially eaten bag of Salt & Pepper chips recently purchased at Wild Oats.

To Dougie, I leave two pristine copies of The Purpose Driven Church. You can eBay those babies. (Why do I own two new copies of that?)

To Andrew Stone, my baptism swim trunks. Dare you to use them.

To Aaron Walsh, I leave enough money to buy a set of snow tires and driving lessons.

To Chad Canipe, try and pry one of those copies of PDC from Doug.

To David Sheldon, I leave my White Castle Frequent Fryers Card.

To a yet-to-be determined IHOPer, I leave the mighty Volvo Turbowagon.

Feel free to call dibs on the rest of the stuff.

QUIZ IN THE WEIRD NEWS DEPARTMENT: Which is true?

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Shanghai plans to ban bicycles from its major roads next year, to make more room for cars, official newspapers have said.
Police will also raise fines tenfold for cycling infractions such as running red lights, the Shanghai Daily reported. Such measures aim to 'control the number of bicycles on city streets,' it quoted police official Chen Yuangao as saying. "

SAN FRANSCISCO, CA (AP) -- San Francisco plans to ban cars from it's major roads next year, to make more room for bikes, official newspapers have said. Police will also raise fines tenfold for automobile infractions such as running red lights, the San Franscisco Gate reported. Such measures aim to 'control the number of cars on city streets', it quoted police official Phillip Hernandez as saying."

Find out here.:

I got a call from the Vineyard an hour ago telling me I had won an award for writing the "Funniest Email of the Year".

Very nice, but they failed to tell me which email it was that won me the award. Upon further reflection, this causes me to wonder if perhaps it was an email that was not supposed to be funny....hmmmmmm. Well, either way, the prize was free Starbucks. No complaints here.

Well, perhaps White Death was an exaggeration...but we did get a few inches of snow. Coupled with a cold snap and nasty wind, it made it much nicer to be inside than out.

I left the house this morning at 5:45 AM on the maiden snow voyage of the mighty Volvo TurboWagon. I'm guessing that it saw snow somewhere in the 200,000+ miles that it racked up before it was gifted to me in August, but this was my first experience driving it in these conditions. Some roads had been plowed - others had not. The Volvo didn't seem to care...just sort of plodded onward like it normally does...an automotive Eeyore.

Last night we hung out with a portion of the International Missions Center team that I lead...no agenda other than putting away as much of this killer Mocha Cream stuff Kelsey made. Had a good time - these are great folks.

Warning! Warning!

White Death is coming our way! Flood the aisles of Wal-Mart while you can, spending every spare dime in essentials. Gather the children and bring the dogs in the house.

Wait. We don't own dogs. Who's dogs are these?

It's going to snow.

Waterworld...

A cold rain is falling in KC - it was nice when I left the house this morning at 5:45 AM. Not so nice now - even the ducks are complaining. Of course, ducks can be among the most surly of poultry.

Got an email this AM from a friend in Southern California - he's flying here this weekend to hang in the house of prayer. Always good to host folks.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I've been reading Charles Spurgeon's "Being God's Friend." It's a little 180 page booklet that has challenged my thought processes about what it means to befriend Divinity.

In Chapter Five, Spurgeon talks about the obedience that goes hand in hand with friendship with Jesus. He says "The friendliest act a person can do towards Christ is to obey Him."

Spurgeon goes on to talk about our tendency to give Christ everything we think He might want - except our will. He includes this zinger: "To bring our wealth and not yield our hearts is to bring the box and steal the jewel."

Let me encourage you to give Him what He asks for today. Yourself.

CNN.com - Tests: Activists fed pork to sheep - Dec. 4, 2003: "Animal rights groups say live animal exports are inhumane because the animals spend weeks aboard ships that often are severely crowded and hot. "

What the activists do NOT say is how the pigs felt about rescuing the sheep from certain death.

We spent the better part of the afternoon hanging with the Geverdts and fellow Cincinnatian (actually living in refugee status in Northern Kentucky), David Sheldon. David is in all likelihood one of the most naturally hip people I know of...I put him in the class of Donna Hern and Sting. (Sting you've probably heard of, Donna you probably will one day...she's famous in certain small concentric circles).

In addition to innate hipness, he's incredibly talented, although I'm at a loss to describe what he does. Illustrator? Cartoonist? Is there a difference? Probably so, although if I did it, it would be called doodling. You've probably seen his work on posters in Old Navy or between shows on Nick at Night. You can surf David's website here.

Dave regaled us all afternoon with his vast knowledge of food that won't kill you. He's a sort of self-styled Nazarite whose strength lies in his all-natural diet and exemplary grooming. Time spent with him is always fun.

Now if Donna and Sting would just drop by some Sunday afternoon. Then, baby, you've got a party.

Note to self: It is possible, and unadvisable, to overfill a waffle iron. Gotta go clean up....

CNN.com - Trampled woman has history of claims against stores - Dec. 5, 2003 There is always another side to the story.....

Good news in the prayer room....

Yesterday we moved 'the main event' to the former location while they installed a new sound system here in the prayer room. It will be a day forever marked with dancing, singing, feasts, and perhaps they merry frolicking fo children. I say that because the sound has always been a point of difficulty here.

The former prayer room was a poorly disguised series of three trailers, bolted together with indoor/outdoor carpet duct taped down. It was very wide, but not very long front-to-back. No matter where you sat in the room you were only 8 or 10 rows from the front, but you could be a considerably far from the band. Sound slapped off the back wall and banged you on the back of the head. It got somewhat better when they totally enclosed the drummer's cage, but it was never good.

They didn't make the same mistake in the new prayer room. It felt like they made a different one. :) Rather than shallow and wide, this room is much larger, but long and narrow. The front 1/3 of the room is marked by people wearing earplugs ($1/pair a the bookstore - only color available, orange) while the back 2/3 is marked by people saying "Huh? What are we praying for?".

Yesterday, while we toughed it out all day in the old facility, they installed a new system here including speakers hanging halfway back in the room. The difference is amazing. The uniformity of sound is an incredible improvement. I also just spied a hard-wired video projector hanging from the ceiling and new screen on the wall. Hmmmmmmm. What meanest these things? Looks good to me.

I haven't ran across something I've wanted so badly on eBay in a long time...we could do disaster relief...we could care for the poor...we could do BURNING MAN! It's got an onboard generator, for crying out loud. Saw one of these in Cincinnati 2 years ago. Thought I'd never find another. Can't afford this one either. eBay item 2446910999 (Ends Dec-11-03 11:41:02 PST) - 1982 Carpenter 40ft Redcross Bus Low Miles

Make a note gang...if all civilization falls into a societal abyss, grab the kids and head for the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage - a sustainable intentional community living space. These folks are fascinating. I like the idea of printing your own currency. I really like the idea of selling that homemade currency to other people for real green American Dollars (although I don't think that's what the Dancing Rabbit Tribe is doing). Maybe I'll suggest it.

Newsflash: at this rate, some of you are not getting a new phone for Christmas. Prepare your hearts in whatever way you need to. Wired News: Handsets Are Going, Going, Gone

Being asked to give our best...

Since Jackson was very little, we've felt in our hearts that he was our "Samuel". We've prayed from nearly day one that Jackson would clearly hear the word of the Lord in a way that would far exceed expectations for his age or station in life. In many cases, that's exactly what happened. Once, when he was six or seven, he sat up out of a near-sleep state to wearily tell his mother "Mom, I think God's saying that if you worry about buildings or people, you'll get neither of them. But if you don't worry about buildings or people, you'll get both." Zing. Not bad for a sleepy six year old prophet.

A few days ago, Lenny or Tracy LaGuardia (I forget which one...you know how it is after people have been married for a while, they sort of meld into one entity!) was talking about offering our children to the Lord for His service. They said "Samuel was actually taken to the temple and dropped off there - it cost his mother everything for him to be in the service of the Lord." This morning I was reading that very passage. Join the story here as Samuel's mother delivers him to Eli, the priest, when Samuel is about two years old:


1 Samuel 1:27,28
I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD . For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD ."

Reading that, I began to reflect on giving Jackson to the Lord...something we've always said we've done with our children, and I believe we have to the best of our understanding. Then something in the next chapter hit me like an arrow. It's set in the context of the wickedness of Eli's sons - they're consistently stealing from the offerings and conducting themselves like barbarians in the temple, even though they're priests. In that setting, we read of an annual interaction Samuel had with his mother.

I Samuel 2:18,19
But Samuel was ministering before the LORD -a boy wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

The thought of Hannah, Samuel's mother, seeing him once a year...and lovingly sewing him a little robe for each visit...showed me the cost that she paid for her son to be one of God's. That's not to say that God is expecting us to drop our kids off somewhere to be raised by someone else - but I think there is a lesson about open-handedness with our children here. They are not our own. They are not even their own. If truly consecrated to the service of God, they belong solely to His purposes, which may mean a call that leads them to the far ends of the earth. If so, and if they're of age to make that decision rationally, then ours is really not even to bless it, let alone complain. They do not belong to us, nor themselves. They belong to the service of the King, and must do His bidding.

The upfront cost of raising Godly children is high. You pay in a variety of ways - in holding a high standard for behavior, in living with your children possibly not understanding why your families mores aren't like those of their friends, and even with loneliness of possibly seeing them once a year because they're serving in a distant place. The payoffs, however, are phenomenal.

1 Samuel 2:26
And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men.

1 Samuel 3:19-21
The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD . The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

Kind of makes you wonder what more a parent could want? A perfect ACT score? A soccer scholarship? None of these are bad, but they're not the voice of God in your child's ear. Pursue the greater things.

One more thing - lest you think Jackson's the only one we've felt has an affinity for these things...perhaps soon I'll gather some thoughts about Grayson and Zion as well. Both have similar 'prophetic forwards' written in the front of their life book.

Timing is a funny thing. I've been thinking of home the last few days....not Cincinnati, or the home before that (Kingsport, Tennessee), or two college towns that served as host for 2 years each, but home. My real home - the wide spot in the road and the prairie surrounding zip code 58790.

Add to that the fact that when I grabbed my email this morning, the email version of the New York Times had an interesting series of stories about the population drain from small towns on the great plains. I'd link directly to the story but I can't find the link directly from the Times website. (By the way, it's a free subscription site and well worth entering your info.)

So...I've got thoughts of home & the Times story about the great exodus of youth (of which I am arguably a part of) rolling around my head when I get ready to leave the house. When the garage door opens, I find the ground lightly covered with my native area's main natural resource...snow. Now, North Dakotans would proudly say "Nah, that's not snow. Now, back in '99 when co-op lost all them telephone poles, she was a snowstorm. Ice too. You betcha." Nevertheless, it was enough to remind me where I've come from.

I've had thoughts of going back the last few weeks. Not moving back...I just don't see that happening...but returning for a visit - something I've not done in six years or so, since I drove the moving truck containing my mothers' things from ND to Ohio so she could live with us. I'd like to wander the land that my father farmed for 40 years....to show my boys where the spring is on the southeast corner of the property, and the spot where foxes always made a den on the hayland. I'd like to take my boys to the little park that sits across the bridge from the school (literally, THE school!) and let them ride their bike on the same bare dirt path that went from one side of the park to the other (if you're from Velva and reading this - does that path still exist? is that huge rock still there by the cabin? Let me know!).

The snow on the ground and the blips on my Treo tell me that the trip won't happen any time soon...but it will happen. Kelsey and I will load our SS Family Truckster much like Meriwether Lewis loaded his keelboat, and I-29 will be our Missouri River. With the boys stowed in their seats and the front of the truck littered with cd's and McTrash, we'll venture north. To the place the Rutgers' proffessors wanted to turn into a Buffalo Commons. To the place I came from. I look forward to it.

My first thought was "A Cornhusker is born....Newsday.com: Neb. Woman Gives Birth to 14-Pound Baby". Then I saw it was a girl. Yikers.

Now reading: "Being God's Friend" - Charles Spurgeon

Hey - if you don't have plans for the window between Christmas and New Years, I've got a plan for you. Get thineself to Bartle Hall, downtown Kansas City, MO for the One Thing Conference...Dilerious?....Charlie Hall....Jason Upton. It's going to be a big whoopdedoo. Come. Witness for yourself the potential held in thousands of young adults living life in pursuit of One Thing with reckless abandon. I dare you.

McDonalds should never have tried to make pizza (a '90's fiasco) and I predict this will go the same route. Is the Bay Area ready for its morning McLatte? / McDonald's to debut new cafe this week

Post Thanksgiving thanks giving

I think I like Thanksgiving better than Christmas. That's probably highly pilgrim-centric of me, but I have my reasons...among them the fact that we've probably got the date for Christs' birth off by a few months, and that we've yet to figure out how to exploit the consumer end of Thanksgiving like we did Christmas. (I'm not even sure if you can buy a Pilgrim hat at WallyWorld yet, but the day will come.)


My appreciation for Thanksgiving goes back to 1990, when Kelsey and I were newly married. We were also newcomers to a community and church.

In the church was a fellow who lost his job - he literally got the phone call as he was walking out the door to close on the purchase of a home for his family. We didn't know them well - just a fellow in his late thirties or early forties, his wife, and their two adopted children. At Thanksgiving weekend of 1990, he had been out of a job for months. The job market was incredibly tight, and not much was available - surely not anything to raise a family one. Nevertheless, that weekend when the church we were a part of had a Thanksgiving service, he was the first to jump to his feet and talk about all that God had given their family. He was genuinely thankful. His heart had a big impact on me that day, and I've been thankful since.

So...what am I thankful for as we race towards 2004?

I'm thankful for my family. I know that probably sounds like a stock answer, but it's for real. I have an amazing wife and three wonderful boys. I am rich in this area. My wife is a wonderful blend of analytical dreamer. I do not know another like her. At 10, Jackson is at once sensative and rediculously funny. Grayson's heart burns with the needs of the poor and is 6 year old man of action. Zion, 2 1/2, is emerging from his baby-shell to be one who commands the stage of life...not in a demanding way, but in a way that draws others to watch.

I'm thankful for experiences. By the hand of God on our lives, we've wandered in and out of a number of situations and relationships that we could never have orchestrated. My hands are caked with two parts loam, one part playa dust, and sprinkled with the waters of many baptisms. The people that God as woven into our tapestry still fascinate me.

I'm thankful for instant oatmeal. It saves me twenty minutes a week.

Well, there's more, but that'll have to do for now. I'd love to know - what are YOU thankful for?

Sign me up for one of these Segway killers ASAP. This thing looks way fun.

This is my annual post of astonishment. Holy cow. $1.52 Billion Day at Wally World. Perhaps Reverend Billy is partially correct in promoting his "Buy Nothing Day".

Now blogging: my favorite rock star, goatee wearer extraordinaire, and fellow Burning Man veteran. Take a click into the thoughts of Robbie Reider.

CNN.com - Plumbers busy after Thanksgiving - Nov. 28, 2003

Something makes me think the writer of the article is incorrect in atributing this to turkey bones in the garbage disposal.

Post Thanksgiving Day greetings...

Yesterday was a great day. The house was full all day - a few straggling in and out but the large majority there for the bulk of the day. John Van Weelden (John, Dianne and the kids are here from Cincinnati for Thanksgiving) and I made a trip to IHOP to pick up some tables and chairs where we spotted a sign in front of a neighborhood liquor store: OHPIN. Glad I'm not the only bad speller in the world. Highlights of the day were Zion making big buddies with Jessica Gmitter...Sandy the former Apple employee getting the final glitches out of my sync process...showing the assembled crowd the Vineyard Boy Band Video (couldn't resist...they all know Rusty, and he wasn't there to defend himself!)...and going back again and again for fudge...coffee...fudge...cofffee, trying to find that perfect balance of taste.

This morning, I'm back in the prayer room, stirred by a couple of needs people have emailed me and an intense dream that I can't share. With the onslaught of the holidays (Did you know it was the official "Buy Nothing" day today? Try and celebrate) it's easy to lose the focus of what we do. The busy day yesterday conspired with a 3-4 AM session of reading Steven Ambroses' Undaunted Courage to make me a little late getting here today....but as always, it is good to be here. Despite all our temporary destractions, the business of eternity goes on.

Tell me again - who thought this was a good idea?!?! Wood-Chipped Chickens Fuel Outrage

I remember seeing this project when I was 12 years old, thinking "they'll never finish that thing!" Now I'm 36 and more convinced than ever. Gotta give'm credit for ambition, though! Sioux City Journal: Crazy Horse Memorial reaches milestone

Thanksgiving approaches....

and we're anticipating a house-full. This year 30+ will gather at our place...they are mostly (though not all) singles, and one way or another, too far from home to warrant a return trip. It will be like the first thanksgiving....mostly pilgrims and a few Indians comparing their own traditions and making new ones.. Our freezer now houses two twenty five lb turkeys (yes, that IS a lot of meat) and the table will groan for mercy when all the side dishes are set out.

I love this holiday. Perhaps because it's slightly less commercialized than Christmas...but also because I live in a state of being overwhelmed at how much God has provided for our family. Here's a partial list of the things I'm thankful for.

Dual citizenship....
We have heart parts in a number of geographic regions (Tennessee, Cincinnati, Kansas City) where God has provided us with family. We'd be in three places at once if we could. Also, the ability to rest comfortably in two faith communities - VCC and IHOP - affords us much richness. Many people live without ever feeling at home. Even fewer find home in more than one place. We love our home(s).

The Stream of Humanity...
that passes through our lives. We have met the most interesting people because God saw fit to bring them our way. I am thankful for people like Jim, my AIM cohort and Burning Man Media Mogul. We invest (some might say waste, but they'd be wrong) long conversations into such topics as classic Johnny Cash and interpretations of the book of Revelation. Also for those back in Cincinnati who are teaming with us to make this journey of intercessory missions a reality and the huge variety of folks we've met here, like Billy and Marybeth. (It always encourages Billy to see that he's made the blog....)

The Gift of Timing...
that allows us to be alive at this point in history. I've always been a history buff but I know that we're living at the most exciting time in history - at the crossroads of technology and Divine destiny. The day is coming soon when global communication will be more than a novelty - it will coordinate the actions of an army of young people intent on showing a broken world what it means to live in wholeness, and we've got a front row seat.

The Fam...
I live in a hectic household populated by Kelsey and I, my mother, and my three boys. They all - along with the steady trickle (some would say a torrent, but perspective is everything) - of visitors make my life complete. It's a joy to still be eating my mom's soup on a cold day, to make household decisions with Kelsey, the love of my life, and to watch the development of three boys destined to change the world. Revolutionaries are fun to raise. I often ask myself WWEDD? (What would Elijah's dad do?). Elijah was once a boy, just like them.

I'll probably be adding to this list all week, because I love thanksgiving...but before I go, I'll toss a few more in today: I'm thankful for Rusty and Jen. I'd go adventuring with their family any day, any time, anywhere. Lewis and Clark have nothing on Geverdt & Bohlender. I'm thankful for my VCC team. I'll miss you and 14,400 Krispy Kremes on Christmas Eve (and IHOP'rs, that's not a 'made up number..."). More to come.

Going wholeheartedly...

Last night, at the Forerunner Christian Fellowship meeting (FCF is the pastoral expression of IHOP), Mike Bickle taught about what it meant to pursue God wholeheartedly. Christendom is full of people at varying rates of pursuit and growth. Some are pursuing the heart of God to the best of their knowledge. I believe those people are rewarded for their efforts. Others are pursuing God at a lesser level - it's not about skill, it's about desire - and those people will forever be less than they could be.

Mike taught about the fact that the basics of pursuing God are not brain surgery...in fact, they are very simple. Most of us, on some level, would prefer a complex list of rituals and rules, because in complexity is room for ambiguity, and in ambiguity there is wiggle room. God's heart, though, is for simplicity, so that anyone who sets their mind to it can do it...but don't confuse simplicity with ease. To follow wholeheartedly is hard - not because it's confusing, but because it's crystal clear.

What does it mean to follow wholeheartedly? Here are the things we heard about last night (and as a staff, have been talking about all day). These four assume that a believer has had a grace-encounter with Jesus and is desiring to move beyond Believing 101.

Servanthood.
Serving others is unnatural to us. The self-preservation gene is a strong one, and everything within us says 'take care of yourself'. A believer who wants to follow God wholeheartedly will follow the example of Christ, the ultimate Servant, and give away the strength of themselves for the good of others. It can look a million different ways, but it is always focused on others.

Prayer.
This is not rote prayer or penance, but communion with our Father. The thought that we can achieve intimacy with God without extended periods of conversation is a direct byproduct of our instant-results oriented culture. We are expecting maximum return for minimum emotional and time investment...and we wonder why prayer seems boring. Following wholeheartedly means praying past the small talk with God to a real encounter with Him.

Forgiveness.
Forgiveness has gotten a lot of good press...even doctors will tell you that unforgiveness leads to illness...but most often we think of unforgiveness towards those who have done something horrible to us. We muster up grace for them and yet hold a million things in our heart against those who have offended us in the littlest ways. We've been centering on the difficulty of forgiving those who are adversaries to what we believe our calling is...who is the person who is slowing you down? Can you bless them? If you learn to, you will learn much about forgiveness.

Fasting.
Fasting is a cousin to servanthood, in that it involves self-denial. In servanthood, though, we also often see an earthly pay-off....an 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' element. Fasting, however, puts us in a weak position for what appears like no earthly reason. The purpose behind it is that when we display our weakness, God displays His strength. It may mean a strict water-only 40 day fast, or simply denying yourself a pleasure that is obviously allowable by God, allowing you the time to pursue the greater pleasure of knowing Him.

None of these four are complex - they're are simple...but they're in our faces. Many will turn away, rich-young-ruler style, because it's just too expensive for us, but some will press in and find a reward they never imagined. It offends our democratic nature to think that the depths of Christ might open for some but not all...but Jesus himself said the way was narrow and few actually find it. Come, friend...let's pursue the narrow way together.

Only at IHOP...

We're in our leadership meeting where one of our leaders is telling about how she was arrested a few weeks ago at the airport for inadvertently leaving a turkish sword in a carry-on bag...

So, how was your Monday morning meeting..... :)

It's 8:02 AM and I'm parked on the floor in the living room with Zion, who is watching The Big Comfy Couch. It's funny - this is the first interest he's shown in TV. This afternoon we're joining the Van Weeldens and Geverdts on a big family trip back to Science City. There is probably no bigger family entertainment bang for the buck than the family pass to a good museum.

Mike Bickle taught on the end times last night - I am beginning to understand just how badly the teaching of eschatology has been ignored in my experience. It was spiritualized and made comfortable (especially for westerners, who have a hard time syncing their end times theology with the experience of the church around the world), but rarely delved into, frankly.

It matters how it all ends. And it has huge ramifications on how we shall live.

Well, duh. After my earlier rant about configuring the new Treo to sync w/iCal and other Apple programs, I finally figured out that I had the Treo date set to 2002....I was syncing and couldn't see it because I was looking at the entirely wrong calendar year. iDoofed.

Okay, I found something I don't like.

As most of you know, I switched to Mac about four months ago. It's been a wild - but good - ride as I've had to learn to deal with a computer that doesn't crash every twenty minutes. I am still totally jazzed about the iBook, but if there's one thing that drives me nuts it's Apple's tendency to give everything similar names. iChat. iCal. iTunes. iSync. I'm telling you, if I find one more, iBarf.

Last night I worked for an hour trying to get my new Handspring Treo to sync with the iBook. Finally realized that iSync and iSync Palm Conduit are not the same programs. Duh. Now I've got it syncing my contact info but not the calendar yet. Soon. If iCan.

CNN.com - Campus caretaker sprays evergreens with skunk spray to deter thieves - Nov. 21, 2003: "He admitted wondering what the campus will smell like when warm weather hits next spring."

I guess that would be the definition of 'afterthought'.

Yesterday we began our first IHOP ServeFest...Patterned shamelessly after the event of the same name at VCC. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it...). On difference is that rather than fifteen opportunities at one time, we're doing multiple time slots, allowing people six opportunities over three days.

Last night between 9 PM and 10 PM, I led a crew of three others to go clean public restrooms as a practical demonstration of God's love. We left the cashiers at the convenience stores w/a bag of candy and a printed card explaining that IHOP was here to serve the community, along with come contact info. As the team cleans the restroom, if the business isn't busy, one of us would talk with whoever was working the cash register, getting to know them and learning how we can better serve our neighbors.

I think my favorite person I met last night was Sam. Born in Jordan, Sam moved to the states in the early eighties and married an American. They had two children, then returned to Jordan for two years where they had a third child. Now they're back and living in Lawrence, Kansas. Last year he opened a Mediterranean Grocery Store there - he said it failed miserably and they lost everything. Now he commutes the forty five minutes to an hour to work the night shift at a friend's gas station.

When I asked Sam how we could pray for his family, he asked if we'd pray for health. He said "Someone once told me that 'health is a crown of gold, but only the sick can see it on the healthy'". Pretty profound for the late night Texaco guy. We gathered by the cash register and prayed for him and his family before we left.

When we do these outreaches, there is always something oddball that stands out. Something about cleaning public restrooms that late at night just sort of lends itself to goofiness. Last night we went into a liquor store that featured a sign on the door insisting "You must remove your hoods before entering!". I wish I had brought the camera! It was almost as good as the sign in the Mosque that Steve Sjogren and I saw....Written in a slightly cryptic manner, it threatened anyone who peed on the seat with eternal punishment. We couldn't figure out if it was from the Koran or a cranky janitor.

If you're in KC - watch for me the next two nights. I'm the guy removing my hood and walking into the liquor store with a toilet brush....

I believe it was social philosophers Lynyrd Skynyrd who wrote

"But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change."

I've got Skynyrd on the brain this afternoon as the publisher of my Big Unnamed Project and I came to the decision to part ways. We split for one of the two reasons that great rock bands dissolve (It's always 'creative differences' or the lead singer going into rehab. There is no rehab involved in this parting.)

To put it simply, they had concerns that the book was a) not focused enough to sell in Christian book stores and b) too intellectual. I misunderstood all this as complimentary. Just imagine my surprise. It probably didn't help when I mentioned that I don't shop in Christian book stores myself.

I think that had I pledged to rework some stuff and beat the drum promotionally for the book that they would have liked to continue the arrangement, but I'm not all that concerned about selling books to cause me to write something else. Likewise, the idea of a a promotional tour causes me to want to barf. I'm certainly not adverse to travelling and speaking, but the dog-and-pony show for the purposes of moving product is particularly repelling. Sounds like the Purpose Driven Pain in the Rear.

There's amazing freedom in not writing/speaking with the crowd in mind. To choose a target and market a product towards them is not an immoral goal by any means...just not what I am interested in doing. In the end, I said "I think you probably need to send me a letter of release." They agreed - and seemed a little relieved about it, if my intuition is working correctly.

Thanks to my buddies who were Instant Messaging me to find out how it went...and great apologies to those (my wife included) who I gave the wrong report to. (I had two phone discussions about five minutes apart. I thought the first one went well. Then the CEO called and it went decidingly south....). For those of you who got an update between those phone calls - I wasn't yanking your chain on purpose.

Now what? I guess finish the book, although I'm not beating the bushes for a publisher. Maybe it just needs written and not published. I'm fine with that too...there's great freedom in not holding one's identity in what one accomplishes. Think I'll go turn up the Skynyrd and teach Zion to yell "Play Freebird!".

Spotted by a friend of mine:

"We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing."

Another friend said "Hey, that was my old church's mission statement!

CNN.com - A man who will move your soul - Nov. 18, 2003: "'I don't know what he was preachin' about,' he quoted the respondent as saying, 'but he sure was preachin'.' "

hmmm. Been to that service before.

It's O-Dark-Thirty and I've just finished preparing our November Newsletter for mail-out in the morning. No, I don't particularly like preparing a mailer in the middle of the night, but we've been busy and it just had to be. The house is quiet, allowing me a the time to listen to one of my all time favorites, Garrison Keillor.

I've mentioned him before in my blog - Keillor is one of America's greatest story tellers. Weekly on his radio program, he weaves the stories of an eclectic group of characters from the fictional Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. His show, a two hour variety show of music and drama, reaches it's climax wehn the music dies down and he starts in with his familiar "It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown, out there on the edge of the prairie..." What follows is fifteen or twenty minutes of hillarity.

The story I heard tonight, though, was different. Oh, it had it's moments, like when the main character struggles with her inner drive to join a charismatic Lutheran church and go against her faith by buying a Chevy (Catholics drove Chevys...for the reason why, you'll need to listen). Very quickly, though, the story grows dark and serious. I can't say enough about this guy. Preachers should be made to listen to him to understand how stories are told.

To hear the story, go to this link: A Prairie Home Companion: November 15, 2003 and scroll down to section six. About 7 or 8 minutes into this section (Realplayer will let you fast forward), the story begins.

It doesn't end like you think it will...enjoy the news from Lake Wobegon, his hometown, out there on the edge of the prairie...

Good night, friends.

CNN.com - Hinckley's former psychiatrist approves of unsupervised visits - Nov. 18, 2003: "John Hinckley Jr.'s former psychiatrist said Tuesday that the man who shot President Reagan hasn't shown 'any evidence of psychosis in the last 16 years'"...

Uh. Yea. Ever since he shot up the President and the Secret Service for Jody Foster, he's proven himself to be okay. Did any of you who remember this ever think this guy would see the light of day?

Joshua 1:2

NIV
"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites.

NASB
"Moses, My servant is dead; now therefore arise,

AMPLIFIED
Moses My servant is dead. So now arise [take his place]

KING JIMMIE HISSELF
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

THE MESSAGE
Moses, my servant, is dead. Get going.

I've been reading Joshua. :) I love how the book opens (obviously)...with the flat announcement - a reminder, really - to Joshua, that Moses is dead and Joshua needs to engage in leadership. I doubt that Joshua was really unaware that Moses was dead...after all, he'd been Moses' right hand for years. At a spry 120, Moses had gotten a glimpse of the promised land and laid down and died. Deuteronomy says they mourned him for 30 days. Joshua was filled with a spirit of wisdom from the time Moses had laid hands on him...he was the obvious successor in the eyes of people and the eyes of God, yet when the next book of the Bible opens, he gets a gentle reminder: "Moses is dead. Get going."

There's something about young leaders that keeps them living in the shadow of the past. Whether our mentors were good ones or bad, we spend a good portion of our lives doing things in comparison to or in rejection of how our leaders led us. Often we don't step into our own until long after our Moses is dead...and in the meantime, those we serve suffer under archaic models or, just as bad, models reactionary to those we learned. Once in a great while you meet a young leader who knows who he is and has the fortitude to fully be that right out of the gate - not in response to a mentor, but in response to God's invitation to leadership.

Let me encourage you with this - Moses is dead. You were called to lead...today. If you're mentoring young leaders, then die a little yourself, and let them step into who they're supposed to be. For all the church's railing against cloning, we're terribly guilty of it in the ecclesiastical sense. How else can you explain all the Willow-Driven Pre-Seeker Post-Post-Modern Post Toastie church plants? To lead is to develop those who are following into their full potential, not yours.


Leaders, Moses is dead. I charge you: Lead on, for crying out loud.

Click here to learn why rednecks don't get arrested.

It's all in good fun, Andrew!

The amazing down and up story....

We're 2/3 of the way through a 21 day corporate fast here @ IHOP. If you're not familiar with fasting, sometimes the kneejerk reaction is to paint it all with the broad brush of legalism. I guess you'd have to be in this context - it's easily the least legalistic thing I've seen. When the leaders announced the fast they were adamant - you determine what it means for you, and you're forbidden to ask someone else what they're fasting. Some are simply drinking water, others juices, and some have altered their diets and habits in other ways. The point is not group starvation - it's group spiritual hunger manifest in the willingness to put aside allowable pleasures for the pursuit of God's heart.

As a body, we've been meeting Tuesday thru Friday, 10 AM to Noon and 4 PM to 6 PM for corporate prayer and a short teaching time. We've spent a fair amount of time in the book of Zechariah (go the OT/NT break, and page backwards through Malachi....Zecharaiah is the next to last book of the OT). A few things really jump out at me from the third chapter.

Zechariah 3:1-2
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD , and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD , who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"

Some things never change, huh? Here it is - thousands of years ago, and God's servants are under intense spiritual attack from Satan. There's something confidence-inspiring, though, about how quickly the LORD jumps to Joshua's defense. He says, in effect - "I yanked this one from the fire - do you think I will quickly hand him over to you?"

Zechariah 3:3-5
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes."
Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." 5 Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.

The High Priest goes through an amazing transformation here as God takes off his iniquity and replaces it with robes of richness on him. What we don't know is what Joshua was feeling at this point...to have the God he has served in the past cleanse him of his wrongdoing. We don't know Joshua's thoughts on the matter, but we can explore our own. What is it like to have the load lifted off only to be replaced by a light and easy load? God's not done with him yet, either....

Zechariah 3:6,7
6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

The Message Bible says "...you'll make decisions around here and oversee My affairs." What a thought - that God would pull a filthy, sinful man posing as His servant into His presence, clean him up, and then put that man in govermental authority. It is so like God, and so unlike our theories of team building.

Something that's been talked about around here a lot lately is God's wacky team building...get the uneducated, rough fisherman, add a doubter and a few other rabblerousers. Pick out the one you know will betray you and allow him to handle the money. Bless the one who denied you and announce your intentions to build Your kingdom through his efforts. Empower the whole mess and let them go.

Once you catch a glimpse of how God interacts with people - bringing them from a low place to a high place as they're learning the principles of obedience - you understand that in surrendering our lives we have nothing to lose.

Wowser - quick blog from the 'HOP...our regular Sunday evening celebration and the place is JAMMED. I'd guess 200 people w/o seats. We've got to be knocking on a thousand in here tonight. Rich Joyner is speaking - could be part of the swell, I supposed - but we're not far from this most Sunday nights anymore...stuff's up.

Unbelievable...I was watching the Chiefs march the ball down the field and the cable went out. Who knows how the game turned out...and really, who cares. Right? Right?

You're not buying this. I can tell.

Second quarter update: If the Chiefs don't put the war bonnet on here pretty quick, I may be forced into digital seclusion lest my Cinci readers berate me beyond what I can bear.

It's smackdown time, Cincinnatians. You only have a few more hours before the Chiefssend you to the locker room...

:)

Newsday.com: Milwaukee Postal Workers Find Live Gator: "Alligators longer than 20 inches are not allowed to be sent through the mail, and officials said the shipment from Milwaukee to Colorado was under review."

Am I the only one that finds it interesting that alligators less than 20 inches are able to be shipped via US Mail?!? I'm waiting for UPS to start advertising their GatorTube - the cylindric solution for your larger gator shipping needs. Also works for snakes, although snakes may experience some muscle stiffness after remaining straight in tube while shipping.

Niagra Falls Jumper joins Circus....proving that there is always room for one more clown in the Volkswagon.

Speaking of clowns...why don't cannibals eat clowns?

Apologies for Ancestors Who Ate Missionary

Does anyone know why cannibals don't eat clowns?...

CNN.com - Wheaton College lifts 143-year dance ban - Nov. 14, 2003

Everyone who feels like singing the theme to "Footloose", please meet in the chapel atrium following the service.

Step back, gang, for my head just may very well explode.

A while back I had to put my Palm 105 aside because it will not sync with my iBook. Please do not email me a fix...there is no fix. No serial to usb adapter will work w/OS X. I guess the rationale is that anyone hip enough to run OS X is probably too hip to own anything that demands a serial port. One can never make an assumption like that about my hipness.

All that to say this - I have been organizing my life on my iBook via the Apple application iCal. It works okay...but I'm tired of yanking my iBook open every time someone says "are you free at 2 o'clock?".

With much heaviness in my heart, I have listed by M105 on ebay, along with a Compaq Aero 1500 someone gave me. Hopefully, the sale of these two jurrasic (but wonderful) PDA's will be enough to generate enough capital to buy something that will work. The budget is tight right now, so if anyone feels compelled to toss in a few bucks to assure that I buy something that actually works....let me know!

"By the time he grows old as a coach, Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis wants to be like the Chiefs' Dick Vermeil."
:

Sunday Marvin gets his chance.....

I'm sitting in the prayer room, resting a moment before the 4-6 corporate prayer time. Mike Bickle is going to share a little this evening about the history of IHOP - never a dull moment when those stories start being told.

On my way out the door I picked up a book that Kelsey found somewhere - Richard Wurmbrand's "In God's Underground". Wurmbrand was a pastor imprisioned by the Romanian Communists during the cold war. His stories of beatings and mental torture over fourteen years of confinement (several of those years in solitary confinement) are amazing. We are living in a socio-economic bubble - a anomolic blip on the timeline of eternity - where we can't imagine these sorts of things, even though most of humanity has dealt with them on some level through history. We know nothing of persecution or true financial difficulty, at least on the scale found elsewhere on the globe.

Had plans to sneak out and see Luther this evening but it looks like our fellow movie goers failed to score a babysitter. Looks like we'll have to wait 'till it hits the shelves and throw a big ol' Luther Party. Nobody parties like a Lutheran.

We attended a small group last night...since coming to KC we've been involved in a house congregation (and loved it), but this was different...kids were sequestered in the basement as the adults committed two hours working at getting to know one another. And it is work....casual contact is so much easier (and less satisfying).

The format intrigued me....after a few minutes of howdy-how-are-you and a quick round of what's new in everyone's life, we dedicated nearly an entire hour to hearing one woman's story. I was struck with how poor we are at listening. We all knew this woman, and even though we were the new ones there we had heard bits and pieces of the story...but it seemed none of us in the group knew the entire thing. It was fascinating to hear her take her time and lead us down personal bunny trails, often at our encouragement. It served to reaffirm my theory that everyone has a story.

That thought was touched on again this morning when John Dawson, leader of YWAM, spoke again to the staff. This man travels the world...every week. He regularly stops mid-talk to try and say accurately what continent he was on when telling the details of a story. As busy as this guy is, he told of the joy he has in getting taken to the airport, because it means at least twenty minutes - sometimes an hour - with another of God's souls. Each soul has it's own story and will make it's own imprint on history.


How can we ever walk past someone and think of them as ordinary...or less than worthy of our full attention?

It's early Tuesday morning, and I see that my friendly banter about the Chief's coming victory over the Bengals has encited more comments than anything else I've written in the last few months. Granted, some of the comment-leavers were so worked up that they inadvertently left the same comment multiple times....sort of reminds me of my boys playing on the front step, ringing the doorbell ten times in a row. :)

You'll notice a change in the links to the left...a much needed update as I added Doug Hill, frequent commentor, personal Apple Help Desk, and all around good guy. I deleted my good friend Aaron Walsh, whom I presumed was going to start a blog but ended up just leaving the world a note. He will understand and not be scarred by this deletion.

One more thing on the football game - Doug, you think you prayed a lot last weekend? You'll be praying at least 3 hours straight on Sunday. :) That may be one of the the biggest motivations for 24/7 prayer in Cincinnati....

Big day...

This afternoon, Kelsey and I took the boys to Science City. Science City is one of those funky kids-and-adults museums where everything is hands-on. It had some great exhibits, particularly around the Liberty 7 space capsule that had been lost at sea for 38 years. The capsule itself was amazing...I found myself staring through the window at the control panel that looked as if it had been built from spare parts found in the discount bin at Home Depot. It's phenomenal that anyone actually went up in that thing.

We came home in time for a quick dinner and then ran to our community-wide celebration. We had a guest speaker - Youth With a Mission's international director, John Dawson. John directs the efforts of YWAM's 650 mission bases (that is not a typo) and nearly 17,000 missionaries. He'll be briefing our leadership community tomorrow.

I have already heard some trash talk from the Cincinnatians regarding next Sunday's little football game. Understand, I love Cincinnati. I love the chili. The hills. The river. I know where the backroads are and how to use them to get to a Starbucks. I will forever love Cincinnati...but when it comes to football, I have tasted of cheering for a winning team now, and it is good. Bring on Johnson and Johnson. Heck, bring on Soap-on-a-rope if it helps. At the end of the day, the self-destruct virus that infects Cincy sports teams will once again do its work. Ten and Oh are just around the riverbend for the Chiefs....

Woohoo! The string continues! Of course, next week the Chiefs play the Bengals....

After a lot of tinkering, I have come to the realization that my Palm M105 will not talk to my iBook. Hmmmm. I smell an eBay sale coming on.

Kelsey and our guests, Dana, Laura and Lynne are off at the women's conference this evening. Kelsey did a breakout session this afternoon. When she came home for dinner she seemed content with it, which probably means it was incredible. This morning, Melody Green spoke at length about her life story, including the loss of her husband, Keith, and two of their children in a plane crash, leaving her with a 1 year old and one on the way.

I've spent a fair amount of time with the boys this weekend...it's been much fun. One would think that with the four year stretch between each of them that they would not have much to talk about together...but they talk nonstop! Even Zion. His latest regular exclaimation is "Dude, that's NICE!". I've wanted to spend a little extra with them knowing next weekend I'm on the road to Rolla, MO.

Had a fun late night chat with Doug last night...talking the how to's of extended periods of prayer. New Life bit off their first (I think) 24 hour prayer event this weekend. One day, Cincy readers, there will be prayer and worship 24/7 in the Queen City...and we'll all look back and laugh at our first attempts.

I took the better part of a day off today to take all three of the boys to the American Royal...a 104 year old event here in KC that features a rodeo, livestock shows, and horse shows. We missed the first two - this thing's been going on for a month, it seems - but did catch the horse shows. It's times like this when I realize how removed my suburbanite boys are from my very rural upringing.

As a quartet, we (re)discovered:

1) Horses really do smell. Even expensive ones.

2) There's a fine line between lookin' fine and lookin' goofy. Horse show folks are not aware of this.

3) A man with three sons is wealthy.

For the morbidly curious, the word count of The Big Project has now risen to 23,931, including the following from Chapter Seven: Mortal Considerations. This section immediately follows a section entitled "The Good News: We're All Living Longer", outlining today's skyrocketing life expectancy.


The Bad News: We’re All Dying in Pieces.

In our grandparents’ day, people generally died in one of two places. The lucky ones, it was said, died in their sleep. The rest of them died on the job - an accident in a factory or a farm, or a heart-attack induced from years of eating poorly. However it happened, it was fairly certain that they died in entirety. Not so anymore.

In an her article in the University of Deleware's Journal of Extension, Patricia Tanner Nelson observes “Advances in medicine allow people today to die in "small increments of debility."

Call me odd, but I’m not so sure this sounds like progress. While I have no burning desire to, as my father used to say, “wake up dead some day”, neither am I eager to see the day when death certificates are issued with markings to punch off like those grade school lunch tickets...hearing, sight, continence....get all your holes punched and you’re gone. It’s more of an expiration notice than the death certificate.

In a sense, an extended period of dying accentuates the fact that we need to come to better terms with it than previous generations. Simply put, most of us will live longer and die longer...and we need to get much better at it than we are right now.

CNN.com - Lunar eclipse to turn moon red - Nov. 6, 2003: "(AP) -- Stargazers across North and South America, Europe and Africa will watch the full moon dim into a dark, ruddy orb over the weekend as the moon drifts through Earth's shadow in the latest celestial event this year to pull eyes skyward. "

Hmmmm.

The Salt Lake Tribune -- Cowardly CBS pulls 'Reagans,' caves in to conservative attack

Or maybe it was just a really poorly made, grossly inaccurate movie that needed to be tanked. Does anyone really think that the industry kneels to the right unless they're already standing on very weak ground? I heard some audio clips from the movie and the dialogue was horribly done. Think of it as a Hallmark After School Movie trying to be The West Wing.

Not that you need reminded, but there are enough leadership lessons in Numbers 11-20 to choke John Maxwell.

Numbers 11:26-29 / the message version

Meanwhile, two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed int he camp. They were listed as leaders but didn't leave the camp to go to the Tent. Still the Spirit rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.

A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

Joshua, son of Nun, who had been Moses' right hand man since his youth, said "Moses, master! Stop them!"

But Moses said "are you jealous for me? Would that all God's people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them!"

It's not really clear why Eldad and Medad were not with the sixty eight or so other leaders and Moses where they had been called to meet...perhaps they were at the library or on the back nine somewhere. They wouldn't be the first couple of guys to neglect their higher calling in favor of that green labrynth of evil...ouch.

What struck me this morning was that they couldn't escape their calling. God was moving on the entire leadership team...they were all prophesying. When it happens to the group, the Bible mentions that this is a one-time event...this was big. God was so intent on using these two guys that His Spirit sought them out and drew them into a very out of the box experience with Him.

The true call to leadership is not about usurping position from another...it's about receiving a mantle. To the human eye, there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how God does it. The most unlikely folks get tapped to lead. Nevertheless...those He chooses, He chooses...and they're marked for the ride of a lifetime.

If you find yourself burning to prophesy in the most unlikely places, consider that maybe you're supposed to be out at the Tent of Meeting. Don't fight the call. Lead on.

New Father David Letterman:: "'First thing I took him home and dangled him over the balcony.'

Life Lesson #452524: Quit while you're ahead.

Kansas City Star | 11/05/2003 | `Matrix' franchise spins its wheels in conclusion that's just bad

"1 star. There's no point in sugarcoating it. 'Matrix Revolutions' is an unmitigated disaster. Clearly, millions of dollars have been thrown at the screen, but no amount of high-tech grandstanding can disguise the awfulness of this film. It is so bereft of plot and personality that one can hardly bear to mention it in the same sentence with the original 'Matrix.'...
A movie like this is what happens when filmmakers (in this case the Wachowski Brothers) are told so often they're geniuses."

Now Shipping: Two billion copies of Linux with no irritating "free 10,000 hours" of AOL bundled alongside. Power to the open source model!

CNN.com - China to invest in Linux-based software - Nov. 5, 2003: "The Chinese government plans to throw its financial weight behind Linux-based computer systems that could rival Microsoft Corp's Windows in one of the world's fastest-growing technology markets, an official said on Wednesday. "

ps...just as Tom Planck gets complaints that some of his readers don't get Thomas Dubay, I'm sure some of you don't see the magnatude of this article. I'm fine with that. Really. One reader recently told me, "Randy, you're so vain, I bet you think this blog is about you...". Uh, yea. I sort of do.

company in the house...

We're honored with guests again this weekend...three Cincinnatians (well, five counting those in utero) who are out here for the Women's Conference. I love this part of our life. The revolving door makes life fun. Welcome to Laura, Lynne and Dana.

Lynne and Dana were part of our Burning Man camp in 2002...Dana flew out with her husband, Robbie, but Lynne and her husband, Steve, were part of the marathon road trip crew. We teased her about being the token girl and token Canadian, but she gave as good as she got the whole trip, all the while serving up some killer coffee at interstate speeds and adding an element of class to our sorry crew.

House Population Count tonight: 10, not including the two to-be-born or Grayson's Rescue Heros. A housefull of family and friends. Tonight, we are rich.

"Dean said, 'I started this discussion in a clumsy way":

Welcome today's recipient of the Understater of the Month award.

Coming into a presidential election, consider this first of many poorly chosen words:Howard Dean: 'It's a racist symbol but I also think the Democratic Party has to be a big tent."
:

Duh.

an aroma-seal?

Okay, now this is nuts. I just made coffee to fill a thermos and take along today...and I see we have some new coffee. Rather than shame the compnay into bankruptcy, I will call not name the brand. Let's just call it Cafe Au Garbaj. Suffice it to say, it's not Starbucks, but (to quote Chariots of Fire), 'during times of war, all of us are called upon to make certain sacrifices."

The container, plastic with a twist-on lid, boasts an aroma-seal. Now, who's bright idea is this? Is it such a bad thing to allow the coffee aroma out to permeate your kitchen? Face it - most of us go to Starbucks because of how the place smells. Yes, the coffee's good, but we love the smell. Heck, I'd wear coffee cologne if it were available....and yet this company wants to keep that smell in the container. It's a travesty.

and this is what I'm thinking as I leave the house for the 6 AM prayer meeting....

Hmmm...having entertained a fair amount of blog visitors and having none of them take me up on my challenge to run a marathon, let's call that idea dead before someone steps up with the cash, shall we? Don't say I didn't offer.

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On a more reverent note, we've entered a solemn time here at IHOP. Without going into all the details, our leadership has called us to a 21 day fast, believing that God is calling us higher in Him, but it must be accomanied by a higher standard...not that God can be 'convinced' to bless us by our actions, but rather to encounter Him at that level entails a higher standard for our own protection. We'll be meeting for corporate prayer several times each week, 10 AM - Noon and 4 PM - 6 PM.

One might wonder how a group responds to this sort of thing...I can hear the rumblings now..."If I called a corporate fast at my church, they'd vote me out...". Things are a little different here in that we all knew what we signed up for...this is a community of fasting and prayer. We didn't come for the good music (of there is much!) or great powerpoint (of which there is none!). The announcement was met with a fair amount of cheers, actually. I, for one, am ready to pay a price if it means a difference in my life. The edge is that saying that out loud has a tendency to make people uncomfortable...they assume that my choosing to rachet up my commitment means I question theirs. Not at all the case...I just know what I need to be doing to become who I'm supposed to be.

One more clarification - the fast is not a legalistic one...leadership said yesterday "determine what it means to you...all veggies, just water, skipping lunch every day - whatever...and if you fall off the wagon, don't tell us and don't tell God...we don't care! Just join back on the next day." I love the mix of grace and radical commitment.

Okay, P. Diddy has thrown down the gauntlet and beaten Oprah's time...for charity. I am stepping up. Who will throw down hard cash to support an intercessory missionary if I will run a marathon? Speak now, or forever hold your peace. You'll even get my new book..."Body for Later".

P.Diddy Runs NYC Marathon for Charity

Thoughts from the prayer room...

I'm sitting here in what we call a devotional set...a smaller band, just a few singers and a prayer leader working their way through a scripture passage. In a prayer room that can get pretty intense, it's a nice break! :)

Today is the first of our corporate three day fast. Zion didn't give us much sleep last night...I got a little more than Kelsey...and neither of us feel well. In my journal this morning, I wrote "Lord, I am tired and hungry and weak...but I am HERE." Fortunately, it's in our weakness that He rushes to meet us, and I know these three days will be no exception. By 10 AM most of the missions base staff will be in the prayer room - the gray haired retirees and the blue haired X'rs, side by side in pursuit of one thing, doing our small part to fill the bowls of intercession mentioned in Revelation. One day those bowls will tip, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed in fullness...and every hungry, tired, weak moment will have been worth it all. We press onward.

Now, a word from the Unnecessary Technology Department: Wired News: Whoopie-Cushion Ring Tones Big Biz

Man! I wish I would have thought of this while I still had a week of vacation left....Men Run Seven Marathons in Seven Days

My Way News: "Hongo was famous throughout Japan for her habit of sleeping for two days and then staying awake for two days."

This lady would have been great for the Night Watch at IHOP. Those folks are downright nocturnal.

Five halloween yard parties later...

Well, we survived. At the party we helped work, we gave out 290 hot dogs and untold cups of hot cider and coffee (it was cold and windy!). The hosts met more neighbors than they knew they had. Kids jumped on the Moon Bounce for hours. It was a royal hoot. My favorite constume - the guy in the hospital gown with the fake plastic booty exposed.

I've heard from a couple of the other parties - mostly good stuff. There's something that is right about serving our neighbors and people walk away knowing it. I say we quit picketing stuff and try and love people. It does the Kingdom good.

In the interest of fairness....Wired News: Bye-Bye Data: Glitch in Panther. This is not good Mac news.

We're gearing up for four simultaneous yard parties tonight...including inflatible moon bounces, hotdogs, bottled water, games, and of course, candy! Despite all the crud associated with halloween, there is no better time to meet people who live near you. Fear not! The little kid with the boogyman costume is NOT coming after you!

The tagline on our connect cards say "We're not spooky...we're your neighbors!". Jackson was quick to point out that technically, we could be both.

CNN.com - Woman dressed as clown robs bank - Oct. 31, 2003: "At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, a woman in a clown costume walked into a Bank of America on one of Virginia Beach's busiest streets, and handed a bank teller a note demanding money, police said. "

Local law inforcement officials immediately formed an Insane Clown Posse to apprehend the suspects.

On giving from the heart...

"The leaders brought onyx and other precious stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breatpiece. they also brought spices and olive oil for lamp oil, anointing oil, and incense. Every man and woman in Israel whose heart moved them freely to bring something for the work that God through Moses had commanded them to make, brought it, a voluntary offering for God."
The Message
near the end of Exodus 35

Last night, I watched a beautiful thing between my children. I was engaged in a conversation with some adults while the boys played. Grayson (6) went outside of the meeting room to play with his buddies, and Zion (2 1/2) desperately wanted to go as well. Jackson (10) sat and played with him on the steps to distract him from going, knowing that if Zion did leave the room, I would have to go get him. Jackson didn't have to do this - he could just as easily gone out with Gray and played with the other kids...but he chose to serve me in this way. Having full right to serve his own pleasure, he chose to limit it in order to allow me to continue in my conversation. Is there anything as beautiful as a voluntary heart of self sacrifice?

So many of our group dynamics - church, work, family - neglect the concept of voluntary giving. We don't give - we pay. We pay our tithes. We pay our dues. We pay the price necessary to do whatever we think we need to. Out of that idea of paying for things - even necessary things - comes the consumerish idea of what is owed us. Relationships, even with God, become measured as transactions on a ledger.

What about a voluntary heart? How would our interactions be changed if we were giving freely of our time, our talent, our cash? History tells us that the abundance would be more than enough for whatever needed to be done.

"The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning. All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the sactuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying, "The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!" So Moses sent out orders through the camp: "Men! Women! No more offering sfor the building of the Sanctuary!" The people were ordered to stop bringing offerings! There was plenty of material for all the work to be done. Enough and more than enough.
The Message
early part of Exodus 36

Freely giving, may your life be one of enough and more than enough today. May you find abundance in serving out of a voluntary heart, bringing your Father good pleasure and the brotherhood of man hearts full of joy that can only be found when someone chooses to live out of selflesness.