Eclectic Journey

Road Rash...(sort of)

2009-03-25T20:23:00.006-05:00

The doctor walked briskly into the examination room and directly to where the patient lay in obvious pain. "So what seems to be the problem?", he asked.
The patient, rather than describing his injury, which is what the doctor expected, launched into to an exceptionally convoluted accounting of the incident that apparently led to his eventual arrival at the ER.
"OK. So it's really kind of silly, but it's not really my fault. The owner of the gym even admitted that the stupid thing was too close to the wall. But they bought all of this new stuff and had to really crowd everything in there and they just put it too close to the wall. *Deep breath* Anyway, I was getting up to speed gradually--just passing 4 and a half miles an hour--when I first noticed that there were mirrors on 3 sides of me and I could see myself in all 3 at the same time. Although the third one I could only see as a reflection in the other 2. Then there was the reflection of my reflection in the one in front of me and I could see the reflection of that reflection in the one behind me as a reflection in the one in front of me. And it seemed to go on endlessly, just one reflection of another one of another one. So I wanted to see if I could actually see all the way to the end of them to the very last one. You know, what it would be like--my back or my front at the very end. I guess it was about the time I was getting up to full speed--maybe 6 and a half miles an hour--that I sort of lost focus on what I was doing because of the mirrors and I fell. Then, of course, the belt kept on going and swept me off the back of the thing and then because the wall was too close, like I said before, I was pinned between the belt and the wall lying on my back against the belt and it just kept turning. I know I probably should have used the emergency stop cord, but nobody uses them. Heck, most of them are tied around the bars out of the way. And I couldn't get up because I was more or less trapped there until a couple of the other people came and grabbed me and pulled me off of the thing. Then the ambulance came and they...."
Finally the doctor interrupted and asked, "Where are you hurt?" And the patient rolled to one side so the doc could see his back and there was a symmetrical hollow all the way across his it just below the shoulder blades that was nothing but raw meat and blood. "You're telling me you did this by falling off of a treadmill?!!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah", the patient said. "That's what that whole story was about. I should get a hell of a settlement out of it," he smiled.
The doctor said, very calmly, "Close your eyes for me"; which the patient did. The doctor planted his foot firmly against the wall of the examination room, for leverage, and punched the guy dead in the face. "Idiot", he mumbled as he walked out.

RUSH LIMBAUGH IS THE ANTI-CHRIST!!!!!

2009-03-11T00:44:00.002-05:00

Ok. That's it. Nothing else. Just needed to get that out of my system. Carry on now.

Patchwork

2009-03-10T23:58:00.005-05:00

It has been noted that from great heights--from a plane, for example--the earth looks like a patchwork. Different sections of land joining together at odd angles. Shades of greens and browns butting together and overlapping. Blues and blacks intermingled.

This is a view I have often these days, as I travel back and forth across the country.

Staring out the window on one of these seemingly endless flights recently I was struck by the patterns and the way the colors seem to change depth and shade, sometimes suddenly and sometimes gradually. I could see my life in those changes. I could see it from a great height and I saw the patchwork that it is; the days and years running together as different shades of colors. Bad times, angry times are very dark and difficult to penetrate--from above or on the ground. They are overgrown and uninviting, promising only wounds and danger. The good times are airy and light. A mild breeze blows through them, pleasantly. Birds sing cheerily, inviting me in.

It was interesting that sometimes the border between the light colors and the dark ones would be clearly defined; the transition immediate and easily discernible. Those were times when my life changed suddenly--a wrong choice or a right one; bad luck or good. Something changed things with frightening speed so that the colors could not blend. I could not prepare or be forewarned. The change from dark back to light was often less severe, as if exiting the darkness is more of a process that must be lived out. Or perhaps it's just that we must suffer the consequences of our actions; and, often, the actions of others.

I think the places where the transition from light to dark is more gradual are more frightening somehow. They seem to say that I should have seen this one coming. The warning signs were there and I missed them. Ignored them? Likely. The dark patches after these entries were deeper and wider, taking much longer to blend back into paler shades.

Waters run through the scene as well. Sometimes shallow brooks joyfully falling across stones with grassy meadows on either side; a few willows on the bank for shade and rest. Other times raging, gushing, angrily rushing torrents of the blackest depths. Screaming "Danger" and offering no way to cross. Filled with sharp edges and pain. I marvelled at them, that I had emerged from them.

The further along this path I was able to see, the less frequent the dark patches appeared. And they seemed to be less dense and narrower. Am I wiser, or luckier? Not a fair question, perhaps. Maybe just less energetic.

Try as I might, I could not make out what lay ahead. It was hidden from me in swirling mists and semi-darkness. For the best, I suppose. For the best.

Music

2009-02-22T23:51:00.007-06:00

I wonder what it is about the music of our youth (and I'm speaking mostly to those of us who are old enough to look back at least somewhat wistfully) that transports us. Not all of the music from that time does it, but there are songs or artists or albums (that's what CD's used to be called before there were CD's, kids) that create strong emotional responses within us. They take us back in time and can make us feel like we did then. Especially if there is a particular event in our lives that we associate with a song or a group.

And I also wonder what it is about personalities that makes some of us eagerly seek these little side trips of life and some of us dread them. I had many awkward times as a teenager; many uncomfortable moments, times when I did or said something that I regretted or that was stupid and made me look foolish. There was pain and sadness like all people have in there lives. But that's not where I go when I go back. There's a fullness to the memories I have; a sense of longing for that time; a sense that it was good. I remember laughter that was easy and sincere, a sense of invulnerability and great good fortune, a belief that I could make the world better in some way. And there's a tonic in those memories that helps me to believe many of those things are still possible. Even without a teenager's idealism, vigor and ligaments, I can laugh with my friends and know that the life I have is filled with goodness and believe that there are things I can do every day to make the world a better place--for me and for others. I can look at the scars I've acquired--on my body and on my heart--and still know that God has a plan; that, in spite of the pain and carnage we've come to take for granted, human beings are capable of the most profound acts of kindness and love and courage. I can feel gratitude and freedom. I can feel the late spring sun shining on my face and revel in life itself--the sheer joy of being alive and in the universe.

I no longer believe that I am invulnerable to the ravages of time in this world, but I am invulnerable nonetheless. I am more comfortable with my own human-ness. I accept that I am not without faults. I turn my face to the sun each day with hope in spite of them; hope for my future, for the future of my family--my children. I refuse to wring my hands in frustration over the failures of the past or in desperation about the supposed inadequacies of the generation to which we will give way. I have seen them do great things even in the midst of facing greater challenges than we ever imagined. I see them care about things deeply. I see them seek God in spite of our poor example.

I have not accomplished all that I hoped to, but I have accomplished things I did not expect to--and I yet live. There is still time to do more.

My life is not as I imagined it would be all those years ago when I spent time imagining such things. But it is as God knew it would be, and I'm still here. There is some affirmation in that.

We complain so much--about politics, religion, our health, our neighbors, our kids, our spouses, the economy. Stop bitching. Stop it. Please. Stop complaining and act. Act out of love and respect for other people. Act out of a sense of our own fallibility, knowing that we will make mistakes because that's what humans do. Sometimes we fail, but sometimes we don't.

Forgive. Love. Temper anger with understanding; regret with faith; failure with fortitude. See the beauty in this world; see it even when it seems to be hidden by tragedy. In fact, don't just see it, but seek it out. Hunt for it as if your life depends on it.

Jesus said, "I have come so that you might have life and have it in a way that is fuller than anything you can ever imagine or understand." Live. Live fully. And listen to the songs of your heart with expectancy.

An Oversight

2009-01-31T01:13:00.002-06:00

In the previous post I said there were 4 who fit the description of true, lifetime friend for me, but there is a fifth who is likely the most steadfast of all. She and I have been through much together and have managed to stay in touch with some frequency through all these years. Perhaps that is why I forgot to include her. We did not just reconnect, we have stayed connected. She was the first friend I made at college and possibly the best. She has never judged me, in spite all of the times she probably should have. And I can only think of a very few times that she was ever really angry with me; again, in spite of all of the times when she probably should have been. A patient listener and an honest advisor, she is dear to me.

More evidence that we can so quickly overlook those who are nearest to us.

Old Friends

2009-01-30T23:41:00.004-06:00

I have met and known a lot of people in my lifetime--a LOT of people. More than the average person I'm almost certain. In fact, I saw a statistic a few years ago that said the average American will have the opportunity to influence 10,000 people during their lifetime. I'm guessing I've already hit that mark.

But the interesting thing about that number, which seems outrageous on the surface, is that out of that number I can probably narrow down the list of good friends that I have had--and I mean the kind of friends that are lifetime members of the club; where neither distance nor time nor circumstances nor any of the other myriad incumberences of life--(which means I still have them) to a number that fits on my fingers without having to use any of them twice. And I don't know if that is a sad thing, a common thing, a remarkable thing.........It can make me melancholy if I'm not careful; and I'm not one given to melancholy thoughts.

My suspicion is that it is typical; that most of us go through life making friends who are really acquaintances when it comes right down to it. They are people we know; that we like to hang out with. They're fun and funny, but they are not the missing piece to the puzzle we are trying to find.They are not bad people, usually just the opposite. They are likeable and dependable. We can count on them in a pinch and we'll miss them when they're gone, but they will eventually go--never to reappear.

But that handful--that favored few who stick to our lives no matter what; those are the ones I've been thinking about lately. And most of the ones who are that for me were made while I was in college the first time, right out of high school. And it is Facebook, of all things, that has me in this odd sort of humor.

You see, about 2 or 3 months ago a reasonably large number of people form that time in my life started to show up on FB. Or, actually, we began to find out that we were all on there; most of us having been on there for a while. And the most important out of that handful I've been talking about are present. Some of whom I have not spoken with for 25 years until just recently. And it was as if we had only been apart for a few days. There was no discomfort; no uncomfortable silences or feeling out. We fit. Seamlessly. Effortlessly.

I wonder, how many people go through life without ever experiencing that. How many people live all their years isolated from the realization that those relationships must be guarded as stingily as their last breath. I wonder how many times I sat uneasily, aimlessly casting about in my own mind for an explanation for my restlessness--not realizing that it all pointed to the missing pieces that are those friends. The real friends I have made. The people whose influence has always been present in my life regardless of the miles or the years. The longing was real but the answer was given to me 25 years ago.

For me, there are 4 people who fit: one from my service days (which followed immediately after my college days, coincidentally); and 3 from college. I have had a chance to sit with 2 of them face-to-face since November and have chatted, messaged and spoken on the phone with the other 2. And in each circumstance there has been no need to try and reassociate or reconnect. The trust and comfort with each other was immediate. It is, perhaps, one of the most encouraging experiences of my life. It gives me a sense that life does not necessarily pass us by, oblivious to our needs or desires. My faith and my family sustain me, but these friends are vital to me both emotionally and spiritually. And I feel immensely blessed and fortunate to have found that out in the middle of my life. I fear that so many either never realize it, or find it out far too late.

Twenty-five years of life have made us different people to be certain, but our bond, which is a bond of love, has kept us the same. I believe melancholy is fed by yearning, and cured by recognizing our blessedness through our friends--the real ones; that diminutive number of people we need and love regardless.

A Little Catching Up--Part II

2009-01-25T00:22:00.002-06:00

Other than the incident with our so-called friend, we have had a pretty good couple of months since the last posts. Pastor Vasile and his son, Daniel, (they are from the church where we went on our mission trip this past summer) came to America in November and were in St. Louis for a little over a week during the Thanksgiving holidays. We hosted them and a number of our friends for dinner on the holiday. We had the gathering at our church youth building so there would be more room and less mess at our house. The food was amazing and we had a really great time. Pastor Ian (pronounced Yon) is an amazing man of God. I admire him a great deal.

We were able to go home (to Alabama) for Christmas this year and that visit was excellent. We stayed for 9 days, which is a bit longer than our normal visits, but it worked out OK. It was almost over before we really started to wish we could go home. We love our families, but there's close and then there's too close. Living in Mom and Dad's house is no longer optimal. I did get to go hunting with my dad several times and we saw a lot of my sister and her family. I am very excited about moving back there in a year and a half. I can't wait. I miss the South and I miss my people.

Sandi's dad has a girlfriend now (her mom passed almost 2 years ago) and he's like a kid again. He really likes her and she's a great lady. Sandi and I went to high school with her kids; the ages were staggered, but we all knew each other. In fact, I played football with her son. She's really full of life and they are constantly going places and doing stuff together. I think it's been, and will continue to be, great for both of them. And Sandi and her brother are both very supportive, which her dad was worried about.

Our kids are doing very well, although they have both learned to dislike school now. Not sure where that came from. Well, the older one has always kind of been that way. Not that it matters, because it's not like they have a choice. Right?

My job is going very well. I find that I like being a manager more and more and that I like being in safety more and more. How blessed is that? So many people hate their jobs--the title and the work itself. And I suppose a big part of what makes me like it is that I am good at it. I wasn't sure that would be the case when I first jumped off into it. I have an inkling that my attraction to it has something to do with how closely it mirrors ministry. Don't laugh. Getting people to support and adhere to safety processes, regardless of their position within the company, is not really disimilar to getting people (who, remember, don't have to do what you say in church because they are there voluntarily) to rally around the cause of Christ and support the direction you are trying to take them. You have to inspire, lead by example, wield influence subtly, etc. in each circumstance. Or, at least that's my style in both. And how well I do my job can have profound influences in both arenas; although one is obviously moreso than the other. But you get my point.

I have another interesting thing that has been going on over the last several weeks, but that's for the next post.

A Little Catching Up

2009-01-25T00:01:00.003-06:00

It has been what seems like forever since my last post. A lot has happened during that time. I won't burden you with all of it, but I'll try to fill in some of the spaces.

First, our friend with cancer has moved out. She is in remission and the prognosis at this time seems to be for a full recovery. She had the cancerous kidney removed and the other places where it had appeared are either gone or shrinking. Good news for her. But there's more to the story. She did not leave because she was ready to. We asked her to.

When we first learned of her condition and decided to ask her to live with us (see previous posts), we also knew that we were going to need to find a way to help her financially so that she could get back out on her own once her condition improved. Otherwise, knowing her as we do, we knew that she would not be able to leave because she would never come up with the money on her own, nor would her family help out. Thus we decided to have a fundraiser. There is a surprisingly close network of people in the real estate business in this area and many of them know her and many more know Sandi and the lady that she works for. So they (Sandi and her boss) set about organizing a trivia night with all the proceeds to be placed into a trust for our friend. Sandi and I would be named as executors of the trust because we knew that if she had control over the money it would be blown long before she could move out of our house and, well, let's just say that would be bad.

The event was a success with many people from the real estate community as well as our church responding generously. We raised nearly $5000 for her. Sandi and I went to the bank and made all of the arrangements and deposited the money. We told her how the trust would be set up and why. The money was to be held until she was well enough to move on and none of it would be spent until then and it wasn't. That was in early September.

In November we received a call from the bank asking a bunch of questions about the account. It felt very much like an accusation. As we pressed the guy from the bank for details he told us that our friend had been in that day, unbeknownst to us, seeking access to the funds. It had set off some sort of inquiry and the end result was that the bank told us that we could not have the account as it had been originally intended. We had to give her the money and close the account. It made us both pretty angry (actually, Sandi was fit to be tied) to be placed under such scrutiny when we had done nothing wrong--only tried to help. And it demonstrated yet again that our 'friend' has no real concept of the nature of friendship or self-control. When Sandi confronted her (remember, she didn't know that the bank had spilled the beans) she tried to deny everything and when that didn't work she tried to make excuses and say the bank had misunderstood her intent.

To keep a long story from getting any longer, the final result was that we told her she could no longer live with us. I gave her until the end of January to find a place and move. We knew that if we didn't get her out of our house soon the money would be spent and then there would be real trouble. The funny thing is that she ended up moving in with the guy I talked about several posts ago who has pined away for her for so long.

I could go on and on about this, but I'm tired of talking about it. The end.

Consistency

2008-11-05T01:06:00.003-06:00

I've remained quiet for the most part throughout the recent run-up to the election, but after reading all of the melodramatic status updates and hearing all of the gnashing of teeth and religious posturing of so many within my tiny sphere regarding their personal angst over the results, I have a few things I need to say.

If you have seriously referred to Barack Obama as the antichrist at any point during this process please navigate away from this page. I do not want you here; I have nothing to offer you.

I cannot escape the feeling that most in the Christian community vote Republican based on only 2 issues: their opposition to abortion and their feelings about gay rights--specifically, gay marriage. I do not disagree that abortion is wrong or that homosexuality is a sin--Scripture is clear on those things. What I cannot fathom is that people whom I know to be otherwise astute and intelligent have not realized that the strategy of the entire Republican party, for the past 6 elections at least, has been to use these issues for the sole purpose of inciting such an emotional response from voters that they ignore key issues that are firmly grounded in Scripture as well. And that an unforeseen result of this strategy was that the leaders of the religious right would become hungry to maintain their positions of power and influence within the political arena and subvert their faith to make that happen.

For example, I know of 2 or 3 verses in the Bible that allude to the sanctity of life beginning in the womb, but over 2000 that refer (most of them quite explicity) to our responsibility to care for those who are less fortunate. These verses are replete with specific references to the poor, orphans, widows, aliens (as in 'immigrants', not ET), the sick, etc. etc. etc.

Dr. Dobson literally spent millions of dollars to defeat ballot initiatives providing either marriage rights or partner's rights to homosexuals in states where there was never a hope of defeating them. And even if they had been defeated I suggest that there would have been no change in the fate of the traditional American family as a result. Those millions of dollars spent helping people in need could have made a difference in families if used in a constructive and biblical manner. Perhaps he should change the name of his ministry; he is no longer focused on the family, but rather on politics.

Statistics offer us some interesting insight on some of these political ping pong balls. It is statistically valid to say that during times when the country does well economically and poor people are being helped in real ways--job training; day care for working moms; food programs for children; improved access to better health care; educational assistance--to name a few--abortion rates and divorce rates go down. It is also statistically significant that the Republican party controlled the White House and both houses of Congress during the first six years of Mr. Bush's presidency and during that time they did nothing significant to legally limit abortion or gay rights. I hear people shout that it's the "liberals'" who stopped it, but you know in your heart that that's not true. Ever astute in their political dance, the GOP knows that if they somehow managed to legislate abortion and gay marriage out of existence that they could not be relected. Once their smoke screen was removed and their underlying agenda exposed, only the rich would support them with any consistency.

If you are willing to step back for just a few moments I believe you will see that neither party lives up to its billing. Both have deep flaws that need to be healed. But we as Christians need to be consistent in our causes. We need to be consistent in our ethic--in our call for justice. And we need to consistently hold our elected officials' feet to the fire to see that they are responsive to our beliefs and moral convictions. Does a consistent ethic of life, for instance, say that all life is precious or only the lives of the unborn? Do we say that all life is precious or only the lives of Americans? Is torture wrong or is only the torture of American soldiers wrong? Are we commanded to love everyone or are we commanded to love everyone who isn't gay? Is greed (corporate and personal) always wrong or is greed only wrong when it starts to deplete MY retirement accounts?

And when did it become part of the Apostles' Creed that war is the desirable course of action? When did Christians become the solicitors of doom upon any group that opposes America? When did it become unpatriotic to favor peace? I suppose Jesus was unpatriotic; seems I remember him claiming that his Father is the God of peace; that peacemakers are going to be blessed. I support our soldiers with every bit of faith that I have; my heart breaks at the thought of their sacrifice for my freedom and safety; but I cannot support a political/economic war that had nothing to do with an immenent threat to our country. And I make that statement based on my understanding of the teachings of God.

We have failed our own tests, I'm afraid. We have not maintained a consistent ethic of life or for life. We have sold out to the bidder most capable of inciting our emotions.I believe that you can be a Christian and be a Democrat; and that you can be a Christian and be a Republican. But please be whatever you are because you know what's going on, what the issues are, and because you believe the person you have chosen is most capable of representing those beliefs in a consistent manner throughout the breadth of a well-thought-out and consistent biblical ethic.

Finally, I believe that you cannot be a Christian if you hate--anyone. That's in the Bible too; New Testament; Jesus said it, so did John.

Love Demanded

2008-09-10T21:27:00.004-05:00

Our friend, the one with cancer, is all moved in with us now. Actually, it's been nearly 2 weeks since the last stuff came over. The adjustment is ongoing.

One byproduct of her arrival has been the concurrent arrival of the man who would be her suitor. We've known him for several years, and have known of his desire for our friend. He is disabled by Parkinson's Disease, but still lives independently--driving, cooking, etc. Some days are better than others for him, but he does OK. In addition to carrying a torch for our friend, he is the father of another friend of ours. It's all very interwoven, but my current interest in the subject has to do with his tireless pursuit of companionship.

I don't want to use his name, so let's call our lonely friend Pete. I suppose my deciding to write about this is related to how we as people of faith handle our loneliness. And it's not just how the lonely ones handle their loneliness, but how the observers--those of us who get that they're lonely--handle it.

Pete has had to deal with a lot, just like his would-be girl friend (for crying out loud, let's just call her Betty; I'm sick of trying to come up with analogous phrases). He lost his wife when he still had kids to raise. He has a crappy disease that's slowly robbing him of life and quality of life. He is somewhat estranged from his family. (As an aside, don't go banging on the family too hard. I've discovered over the past few weeks that he can be difficult to deal with.) It's been a tough go for him.

As I watch him diligently pursue Betty I am struck by the ultimate futility of it all. She has been very forthright with him in telling him that she does not want a relationship other than a strictly Platonic friendship. He says he has accepted that and is fine with it, but that cannot be true. His loneliness trails behind him like an open parachute. The wind has caught it and he struggles to move ahead. Life, people, streak past at break-neck speed.

We are promised by God that he knows us; loves us. He implores us to release our cares to him; to allow him to bear our burdens--our loneliness. We cannot do it, though. Almost never do we remit our vanity to him. And I think it is vanity. We wear our loneliness like a martyr's shroud. We let it wash over us and through us as we covet the sympathy, empathy, of others for our condition. And as we watch the lonely and make the dance of sympathy for them we secretly celebrate our superiority because we know that we truly do rely on God to strengthen us in our times of loneliness. All the while holding our golden martyr's statues high above our heads for all to see so that they can pay homage to our courage and perseverence.

My God. Am I really that cynical (isn't that a small island nation)? Or is that really what I see; what I've seen in my own life over the years? I know I've worn the shroud sometimes. It feels good to sink into that place where self-absorption rules the day and the pain and suffering of those around us can be ignored. The place where we can feel justified in being completely focused on ourselves. It's quiet there most of the time. Only the little voice that tells us how brave we are--how misunderstood we are--gets through. Such a comfort, that little voice. Oh how we love to listen to how evil and lucky those others are; those others who don't know our pain; those others who shuffle about stupidly oblivious to their own sinful and futile lives. We revel in our own anguish. We eagerly crave the overwhelming waves of self-pity. We drink it; we gorge ourselves on it. God is sad. We have lost our way. The trap is sprung.

Fellowship is God's response. Fellowship with him; real fellowship, not a potluck dinner. The kind of fellowship that realizes that we share in the very nature of the divine (Peter's words, not mine). We are partners with, sons and daughters of, the uncreated creator of the universe. That kind of power, access to that kind of holiness, does not lend itself to loneliness and self-pity. Nor does it allow for hypocritically glaring down our noses at a lonely brother. It demands patience, forebearance, kindness, humility--it demands love. It demands love. It demands love.

Reach out in love. Our fellowship with God, if it is real, demands it (John's words, not mine).

Pray
Mike

Life Changing

2008-08-30T01:46:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's been a while. Quite a bit has happened--is still happening. Let's start with the more mundane.

The girls started school since I last posted. Liz is a junior this year and will be getting her driver's license very soon. She's a pretty good driver, but it still scares me for her to be out there because there is no shortage of idiots and retards driving about with complete disregard for the public safety. Becca started middle school this year--a sixth grader. Man, my wife must be getting old if Becca's in middle school :).

I got a promotion at work about 3 weeks ago--I KNOW...I've only been there for 3 months! It's kind of a convoluted story, but it's basically the job they originally contacted me about in March. Some of the circumstances changed--mostly they removed the requirement to move to Seattle--which allowed me to accept it. So now I'm the Safety and Training Manager. A couple of the guys who now work for me are a little stunned by it, but they are good guys and I don't think it will be a problem. And now I have plenty of work to sink my teeth into, plus I got a very nice raise. SWEET.

Now to the more serious stuff.

Back in the Spring we found out that a friend of ours has kidney cancer--stage 4 (and, apparently, there is no stage 5). She is 60. Her life to this point has been no picnic. I guess it was 20+ years ago that her husband committed suicide leaving her to raise their son. She's been selling real estate for 16 years, which is volatile enough when the market's up. And we all know that it has not been up as of late. This means that her financial situation, which is always in some state of flux (and typically not a good flux) is in the crapper. The real down turn started a few years ago when her son's drinking problem became a drinking and driving problem. His fourth DUI was issued shortly after he drove a friends borrowed car (he had neither car nor driver's license) into the back of a parked police car. Our friend spent everything she had trying to keep him out of jail and he still ended up in prison for a couple of years. There are a lot (and I mean a LOT) of details that I'm leaving out, but I want you to have some idea of what she has faced. And on top of all the other things, she is basically estranged from her family. I think she sees some of them on occasion, but they are not a resource for her now that she's sick and broke. She had to sell her condo a while back and lived with a friend for a while. She finally got back on her feet enough to move into an apartment a few months ago, but that's beyond her resources now as well. It's been a tough go for her, to say the least. None of this is to say that she has no culpability in her situation. Even though she's had some rotten luck, she's also made some bad choices, but most of us have. She's never been able to say no to her son, even when she should have. And now that she's in trouble and he's working, he's still no help. It's very sad and frustrating.

To keep a long story from getting even longer, I'll try to cut to the chase. We were able to help her get some financial help from the church so she at least was able to pay her way out of her lease and pay her health insurance through the end of the year--which is obviously a big deal right now. And we are moving her in with us until, hopefully, she recovers and gets back on her feet. I don't say that to try and glorify what we're doing, but because it provides the context for the rest of what I'm about to write.

Sandi's had a tough time with it all from an emotional standpoint. How can a person whose been through so much now have to face this potential death sentence? Why would God do that to her? Is he so ruthless that he just picks people to punish? Valid questions under the circumstances, I suppose. Our friend thinks she is being punished for something she's done wrong. And it's been overwhelming for her (Sandi) as we've tried to make the adjustments and get everything ready for our friend to move in. There was a good bit of work to do moving stuff around and out of the basement. Plus we've been moving our friend's stuff into a storage unit--at least what of it she won't be bringing here. It's also sad to see your life reduced to a 150 square foot pile of furniture and cloths.

We started the moving process last Saturday and will finish tomorrow. As the day approached I found myself getting angry about having to deal with it. I didn't realize what it was at first. I could obviously tell I was getting crabby and short tempered, but I really had to stop and think about why before I figured it out. Then I had to deal with how I felt about that. It seemed very selfish and that made me feel pretty crappy. But it's really about the disruption, isn't it? We don't want to have our lives disrupted by anything. We have plans and visions of how things are supposed to go--and they're typically very short-sighted--and when something interrupts that we get all pissed off; often not even realizing why. The more I thought about it the more I realized, thankfully, that I wasn't mad at our friend. I just didn't want to be bothered with all the things we had to do to get ready. I don't like that I felt that way, but I had to deal with the fact that I did. It made me sad about me and I hate that too. Once things were finally under way I was glad to be started and actually started to finally feel good about what we were doing. Working has a way of doing that.

Tomorrow's the big day; the final move--then she'll be in and staying with us and we can settle into the time of helping her become part of our family and working to get her on the road to recovery. It's sad and hard an dreadful, but also uplifting and good. We have a ministry to her, whatever the outcome, that's as important as any we've done. If she recovers, we thank God for the miracle of life and help her get on her feet again. If she doesn't (and we have to prepare for that as well) then we thank God for the miracle of life and we figure out how to grieve and continue on.

Pray for her and for us during this emotional time.
Mike

2008-08-24T17:20:00.001-05:00

Sigh.

Flying High

2008-08-10T21:37:00.003-05:00

I had one of those days today that do not come that often. One of those days where you can look back at it and say, 'Wow. I don't think I would have changed anything about that.' Such days are rare and need to be cherished.

First, today was the big preaching day. Three weeks ago, Bruce asked me to speak during the 2 Sunday morning services at our church today. I was very excited about it for a couple of reasons. First, I love to preach anytime God provides the opportunity; and this was a big one. Coming right on the heels of our return from the mission trip, it felt like the culmination of something that had been gaining momentum for a while. And I think that turned out to be the case. Even the disappointment from finding out that I'm not really in the running any more to be our interim preaching pastor didn't tarnish it. (As I noted in previous posts, our church is currently without a head pastor. In the interim, they are going to hire a pastor who will fill in every Sunday for the 2 services until a new pastor is called. I had hoped that I might fill that interim role, but that is apparently not to be. And that's alright. God has plenty of other things for me to do.) I felt empowered by the Holy Spirit in a way that I haven't felt very often in the last couple of years. I felt very much like God was using me to accomplish something bigger than myself. And that is an amazing thing. When I was finished, I was drained but confident that I had delivered the message I was supposed to. And that is a feeling that inspires awe in me every time it happens.

After church we had lunch with friends and that was a great joy. It was one of those times when I could pull back from what was going on and truly appreciate the pureness of life in the simplest things. Smiles and conversations take on a surrealistic quality that make them somehow special, even though they are in essence no different than a thousand other smiles or a thousand other conversations. But it's as if a heightened awareness of God's presence in the world allows us to experience people as he does, if only for a few moments in time. Those moments become untainted by rancor, selfishness, worry, busyness. It passes; but the memory of it is like a drug.

After lunch and a brief repose, I went flying. My friend, Scott, has his pilots license and a plane (how jealous am I) and had invited me to fly with him. We probably spent an hour and a half aloft and I got to fly the plane for about 30 minutes. And I mean I actually was doing the flying. How cool is that? I mean it's not like I was doing loops and barrel rolls, but I made the turns, changed altitude, picked landmarks. It was amazing. And seeing God's incredible creation from that vantage point, while doing something I always dreamed of was a most excellent exclamation point on a most excellent day.

And then I got to go to Sno Biz (awesome shave ice) with 2 of my 3 favorite girls--Sandi and Becca.

God is good--all the time.
Mike

Final Romania Post

2008-08-10T21:19:00.002-05:00

We've been back in the U.S. for almost a week now and I wanted to add a closing chapter to the story. When I last posted, we were packing for the trip home. We obviously made it, but not completely uneventfully. First, I slept virtually none at all the night before leaving--maybe an hour and a half. Then the first 2 legs of the journey went off without a hitch: Bucharest to Munich and Munich to Chicago. And, of course, as soon as we got back into the states the whole thing went into the crapper. All the flights, including the one we were booked on, from Chicago to STL were cancelled. I still don't know why. The weather was perfect in St. Louis and just a light sprinkle in Chicago. Plenty of other flights were taking off. We ended up renting vans and driving the final leg of the trip. None of us had any intention of spending the night in Chicago after being gone for 11 days and spending the previous 20 hours either on planes or in airports. We finally made it home about 8 PM--roughly 3 hours later than expected, but home nonetheless. Hooray. I make this pledge to you today: Unless I have absolutely no other option, I will never fly to, through or out of Chicago O'Hare Airport again so long as I live. For the second time in less than a month I was nearly stranded there for no apparent reason. Heck with that.

A few quick final observations about Romania:

We couldn't flush toilet paper through their system (no one can; it wasn't just because we were American), so after you wiped the TP had to be deposited into a waste can positioned next to the toilet.
There are blueberries in Romania that are smaller and sweeter than the ones we have here and they are FREAKING DELICIOUS!
Romanian roads are, generally, very rough.
I got to drive a car while I was in Romania.
I have 3 Romanian friends on Facebook now.
I desperately hope to return to Romania next year.

Pray for peace.

Mike

Day 11--The Final Hours

2008-08-03T15:44:00.003-05:00

It is the end of our 11th and final day in Romania. As I write this it's 11:45 PM local time and we leave for the airport in Bucharest in 4 1/2 hours. Our flight to Munich leaves at 7:15 and the odyssey ends in St. Louis at 5:15 CST (GMT -6). That's 21 hours from get up to touch down--a long day by any standards.

Today in Romania was full as well. We all had church services to attend in various villages that started at 0930. Each group provided a speaker, a song or two and had a story and craft time at the village churches. I had the privilege of speaking at Maranata, which is Pastor Vasile's church here in Campina. Bruce, Josh and Chris spoke at the others.

By 1:00 we were all back at the Vasile home and having lunch, which was, yet again, amazingly good. The aftermath of that was naps all around. I think that today was the day when everyone started to feel some of the exhaustion that has been creeping up on us each day. We have been so busy and so fully engaged in the ministry work that we didn't notice it. But now that we have begun to wind down and look forward to returning home, the adrenaline has ebbed and we're running on fumes. Thank goodness we don't have to drive the plane.

The evening service saw us all gathered at Maranata in Campina for a celebration service. All the pastors and their families from the village churches as well as the people who had served as volunteers during our Bible clubs were there. There was much singing in Romanian; each team gave a report on how their week went and then did a song; then all of the Americans and the Romanian volunteers sang a song together in English and Romanian. Once all of that was finished Bruce preached about what it means to be devoted to the gospel of Christ and to the fellowship of believers, using the last 15 verses or so of Acts Chapter 2. How do we stack up when we compare ourselves to the first century church?

We spent a lot of time after the service hanging around at the church and talking with the friends we made during the past 10 days. It's hard to believe we can feel so close to people we've only known for such a short time, but we've shared a lot during these few days, and we share a common love for our Savior; and we labor together for the cause of Christ. It's funny, but we shared a lot of email addresses with the younger friends we made. I don't know why, but I didn't expect that. I also made a couple of new Facebook friends. Weird, huh?

After church we had a late supper (around 9 PM) and took some photos. Emi Vasile had taken the photos from the past week and made a slide show for us with full written commentary. It was quite hilarious; especially the parts where he was picking on Dan. This is a very special family, the Vasiles, and I know that in the days and weeks to come, after returning to America, I will miss them a great deal. And I hope to begin making plans right away to return next summer. Maybe Sandi and I can come together. I hope so.

It's after midnight now and we are all packed. The kids are still running around outside. Some of the adults are sleeping and some (like yours truly) are not. I hope to catch a couple of hours before we have to leave for the airport, but we'll have to see how that plays out. This should be the last post from Romania. Maybe I can provide a wrap-up tomorrow night if I can stay awake long enough. I know I speak for all of us when I say that we are very anxious and excited to see all of our loved ones again.

Until tomorrow.
Mike

More Day 10 Stuff

2008-08-02T15:35:00.002-05:00

Well, it turns out that I am a prophet. If you read the earlier post from this morning, you will note that I signed off by saying that we would have fun and pie today--we did both.

We started the day by sleeping in (those of us who wanted to), which was fine by me. Breakfast at 9:00 was followed by a quick trip into the city to grab a couple more souviners and, thank the Lord, a Diet Coke. They have been difficult to come by on this trip and I was jonesin' a little bit. The call it Coke Light in Europe. I also picked up a football jersey--Romanian national team; very cool.

After we returned from the market, we went straight to the picnic, only it wasn't in the forest as I mentioned in the earlier post. Apparently the forest is quite popular and has limited space, as we were ejected from our spot by a group that got there ahead of us. We are nothing if not flexible, though, so we moved the entire operation to a field very near the Vasile's home that offered limited shade, but a very fine football venue; and the Romanians do love their football. However, it turned out that someone knew of a better spot near Mislea which is were our Bible club was yesterday. It really was a great spot for the barbecue with plenty of shade and a nice breeze. It did not lend itself to great football. The grass was rather tall and there are these ankle and shin eating plants that are interspersed throughout the area. They have these razor sharp thorns that ravage the flesh of clumsy Americans and adroit Romanians alike.

(As a quick aside, I am assuming that everyone knows that when I say 'football' or even 'futbol' I am referring to soccer. But, as you probably also know, everyone in Europe calls it football so while I'm here I call it that too because I want to be really cool. Don't hate the playa, hate the game.)

Anyway, after the football game (and yes, I did play) it was a short wait until lunch was served. And it was, indeed, all meat plus baskets full of grilled bread. It was barbecue heaven and very tasty. I didn't count everyone who came, but I'd guess we had at least 50 people attend; all either pastors and their families or volunteers who helped us throughout the week. The groups often overlap.

By mid-afternoon, the party was winding down so Chris and I went with Timi and Dan Vasile back to Campina to set up goals for a real football game at the field where we had begun the day. Part of doing that was to go by Dan's work and pick up wood frames that would serve as the goals and load them on a work truck that was there and haul them to the field. Dan had to drive the truck and his brother, Timi, is not old enough to drive so I ended up driving Dan's car from the work place to the soccer field. How about that? I got to drive in Romania. And then I drove the car back to the house after the game.

I discovered that Dan Morris, in addition to being a pie maker extraordinaire, is a good footballer. I am not, although it turns out that I'm not half bad as the keeper (that's soccer talk for goalie). We played for at least a couple of hours then made our way back to the house for showers and supper.

Then was the highlight of the day: Dan's pies. He had made a very large apple one, but the real killer was the 2 blueberry pies. I don't even like blueberries and these pies were incredible. A lot of it had to do with the local berries they picked up from a vendor along the highway a couple of days ago. These berries are smaller that the ones in the States and firmer and sweeter. I can eat many of them and they make a spectacular pie. I thought we were going to have to sedate Lucy before we could even get the pieces passed around. That girl likes her some pie. And she eats faster than any human being I've ever known.

We have church in the morning so we'll be scattering out to go to the various places. Chris, Josh, Ken and I will be speaking again. Pray for us as we prepare to deliver God's Word. Tomorrow night everyone meets at Pastor Vasile's church, Maranata, here in Campina for a celebration service and Bruce will preach there. After that, it's only a few hours until we head for the airport and begin the long journey home. I know I speak for everyone when I say that we miss our families and are very grateful for being allowed to come on this trip and be blessed by this service. We are excited to be coming home.

Maybe one or two more posts before I pack it away for the trip. Pray for peace.
Mike

Day 10 in Romania

2008-08-02T01:41:00.004-05:00

We are going to 'the forest' (not sure what that means yet, but Lucy says it's OK) for a barbecue today. It will include the pastors of the Baptist churches we have been working with as well as their families; and also the people who assisted us as translators and other things throughout the past week. Apparently a Romanian barbecue is meat--and just meat. That's my kind of barbecue. Don't mess up the flow with a bunch of silly vegetables and fiber. It should be fun.

I guess the photo seen here needs a little explanation. It seems that Dan made quick friends with a brick maker who also had a pet chicken (Dan's the one on the left). All the details are a bit fuzzy, which, under the circumstances, is probably for the best. My most reliable info says that Dan wandered onto the operation by accident and, being the engineer that he is, had to see how it worked. Then he asked for a brick as a souviner and was offered a wheel barrow full of them. They settled on 2 bricks of different sizes so that Dan could have a variety. As far as I know, the chicken pics were free as well. Pastor Vasile suggested that there might be sinister designs involving the bricks and Dan's mother-in-law, but he (Dan) insists that nothing could be farther from the truth. He intends to paint pastoral scenes from the Romanian countryside on all 6 surfaces of the larger brick to present to his lovely bride. Laurie, you are a lucky woman.

We will have fun today and homemade pie tonight.

God bless.
Mike

Day 9 Update

2008-08-01T17:53:00.003-05:00

This was the final day with the kids, which was tough. We were at our third village for the week and this one for only one day. But it's still easy to get attached to the kids. We had only 12 today, but they were great with the stories and games and the crafts. Pastor Sylviu the Brother Daniel from the local church stayed with us all day, which hadn't happened any of our other days. They hung out with the kids some, played the games some and even did some of the crafts. The kids responded well and several prayed to accept Christ at the end of the day.

Lucy's team had a smaller group than we did, with only 11 kids, but they also talked about how much more attention you can give to the kids that way. I think we would all like to have larger numbers, but there are pros and cons to each. The best bet is to be excited about what the Lord provides and work within those parameters.

Bruce's team had about 30 plus kids and had an adventure at a brick-making operation (or at least Dan considered it an adventure; but he's an engineer). Ask Dan about it sometime. He'll be glad to share.

It's very late and I'm very tired. I'll share more tomorrow and Sunday as we finish up our trip.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Day 8 Update

2008-07-31T23:32:00.004-05:00

For Team B (my team) it was another good day. We had 25 kids again and they were attentive and engaged and very well behaved. We started the day in a small field about 1/4 mile from the church; which is better than yesterday when we walked very nearly a mile to a field that was very overgrown and difficult to use. Apparently the pastor had not known about the close one, but the kids did because they play soccer there. It worked out great for us. We only had to move once for a group of cows (vaca) to be driven through. We did have one little girl step in a fresh pile in the morning. And Stacey managed to get it on my shorts while we were cleaning her shoe--I still owe her one for that. After lunch we took the boys back to the field for games and while we were playing soccer one of the kids made a sweet slide tackle on one of the other kids and both of them went down in a fresh pile of poo. They were the subject of much sport after that; and they had to guard each other the rest of the game because no one else would get near them.

Team C, Bruce's team, had an interesting day. The village Orthodox priest had shown up ahead of them and told the kids who had come for the club that they had to go home because the clubs were bad and God didn't like us (Baptists). Apparently the kids didn't put too much stock in it because they just left by the front gate and circled the block and came in by the back gate. They still had about 45 kids for the day. And Pastor Vasile along with the local village pastor had a chance to talk to the priest for quite a while, which has been a challenge for them, and at least reach a reluctant truce. It's quite astonishing to see how much power the priests in the villages hold over the people. They can keep them from associating with the evangelical churches by refusing to provide any sacraments of the Orthodox Church to the entire family of someone who crosses over. And as far as the people are concerned (because it's what they've been taught since they were infants) the sacraments of the church are required to get into heaven. The priests also teach religion in the schools in the villages and they will fail a kid who angers them or whose family angers them. It's really amazing how opposite from God these types of activities are and they're being done in the name of God. How little we seem to learn from our history, we silly humans.

Bruce's team also ran into a snag when the rain started about 3:30. With a couple of hours left in the club time, they had no shelter except for a small overhang. Dan and Ken were able to spend some time with some older kids on the soccer field at the school where they were holding the club. Emmi went with them to interpret and they were able to share the gospel and a couple of the kids accepted Christ. Plus Dan then got to play soccer with them. Very cool.

Team A, Lucy's team, had a pretty good day although when the rain drove them inside they were in rather cramped quarters. But they made it work for them and the kids did great. There was, however, one incident that we may not have heard the last of--on a potentially international scale. I'm not really allowed to discuss the details, but ask Lucy or Chris about the inner tube, child dragging debacle. Perhaps they can provide the details.

Oh, and I ate 10 of the little dessert cakes that Pastor Silviu's wife made for lunch for teams A and B. Apparently that makes me some kind of dessert hero. All I know is that they were puerta bene.

We are off for another day. Please pray for us.
Mike

Some General Observations About Romania

2008-07-30T23:09:00.005-05:00

It is a beautiful country. I don't know exactly what I expected, but it is different than that. It is very rural and pastoral and the mountain ranges are quite spectacular. I can see why so many tourists come here now.
Campina, where we are staying, is a fairly large city as suburbs go and it is very common to see horses and cattle--both tended and untended--traveling on the streets. There is much poo as well.
It is quite common to see people traveling by horse-drawn cart once you get out of the cities. They are also in the cities, but not so often. They travel on the roads just like the cars except on the main national highways.
I saw a man who appeared to be quite poor who was sitting in his horse cart at the end of a side rode, waiting to guide his rig out into the flow of traffic, and he was gesturing wildly and talking in a very animated way on his cell phone. That made me giggle pretty hard for some reason.
American culture and influence are present here in a much stronger way than I could have imagined. From clothes to music to television and movies, I see the effects of our culture. I don't necessarily see that as a good thing (although sometimes it is), I just see it. For example, so many Europeans speak English as their second language that nearly all the signs in the tourist towns are in Romanian and English, or just in English. And away from the tourists areas the signs are probably still about half English. I did not expect that either.
There are many oil wells, at least in this part or Romania, and they leave the derricks in place and just build the pumps underneath them. So there are the big grasshopper-looking pumps pumping away with the entire structure of the derrick, now abandoned in place, looming above.
Every house--and I mean every one of them--has a fence; and the gate is always closed and it is impolite to pass through it until the owner knows you are there and invites you in.
I don't think I've seen a house yet that didn't have at least one dog. And most of them--at least the larger ones--are named Rocky.
Many dogs roam the streets and sleep wherever they want--and that includes the street. One particularly suicidal dog plopped down for a nap in a lane of traffic on a railroad crossing. They are unaffected by traffic or horns.
My beautiful wife would not be able to ride in a car in Romania--at least not with her eyes open.
A blinker in Romania is not a courtesy or a request, but a warning--ready or not, here we come.
On 2 lane roads the slower cars will get as far to the right as they can so that the faster ones can pass them in the middle--while oncoming traffic does the same thing. Exhilarating, to say the least.
I would enjoy driving in Romania.
A lot of people here ride bikes, scooters and motor driven bikes; in the road.
In the countryside, the men urinate beside the road as the need arises with no regard for being observed by approaching traffic.
Romanians love football, but not the American kind.
The poorest homes nearly all have a TV satellite dish. The government apartments are covered with them on the outer walls.
98% of Romanians profess to be Christian; 87% of those identify with the Greek Orthodox church.

Romania Day 7

2008-07-30T16:09:00.003-05:00

It always seems to be late when I'm working on this--oh well. I've been collecting photos from everyone for the last several hours and uploading them to Picasa. Be sure to check them out at www.picasaweb.google.com/mcarojcc. I still have some uploading, but I hope to finish tonight.

The village time was much different today than it was on Monday and Tuesday. We only had about 20 kids and they were, for the most part, very well behaved. We had no issues with the games or the crafts or even the stories, really. They participated and listened and seemed to really enjoy themselves. It was like the kids in Minier Village had come from another planet; or been a bad dream. But when we were talking about it afterward, Josh said something that made the rest of us on the team think--he said it was too easy; that he missed having at least some challenge from the hard kids. In a way I can agree, but it's also nice to be able to feel like we are accomplishing some of what we set out to. The truth is ultimately that God is in charge and all we can do is put it out there no matter which planet the kids are from. We give them our best effort every time and pray for them and there's nothing else we can do.

I thought I'd give a bit of a run-through on what we do with the kids so you can have an idea of what our days are like. The clubs start at 10 AM and we try to arrive at least a half hour before that. The ride can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 90; like Bruce's team has today and tomorrow. Once the kids start to arrive (they trickle in a few at a time in the mornings) we have them get a name tag (a must) and then start playing with the parachute. Once the bulk of the kids have made it in we get them all seated on the parachute and introduce ourselves (for a day one) and then sing some songs, pray together and head into a Bible story. We have 4 stories that our team is using--this is from among the 8 or 9 that we had available to us. Our stories are the feeding of the 5000 (which Adam tells on day one); Jesus heals a blind man (which I tell on day one); the birth story (Stacey-day two) and the crucifixion/resurrection (Josh-day 2). Each story has a craft which goes along with it so we'll tell one story in the morning and do the craft and then tell the second story in the afternoon and do the craft. We have also taken individual photos of the kids which we print out overnight and take back on the second day. The kids have painted picture frames the day before and then they finish decorating them and we put the pics in for them. They are always thrilled to have the photos. One little gypsy boy in Minier Village stared at it as if he had never seen a picture of himself in his life. Maybe he hadn't. Intermingled with all this other stuff are games which I refuse to describe individually, but they're typically physical but designed so that all the kids can play.

That's all for now. Check out the photos and keep us in your prayers.

Mike

Days 5 and 6

2008-07-29T14:18:00.003-05:00

We started our work in the villages yesterday (Monday). Each team went to a different village to run the children's Bible clubs; these will be 2 days and then move to the next village. The village where our team served the past 2 days is one that has a high percentage of gypsies (I know) and is very poor. We had 48 kids show up the first day and 58 today. I couldn't believe how many there were. I suspect some of them came out of sheer boredom--especially the older ones. But most of them just want to be with someone who will pay some attention to them. And we had plenty who did anything they could to get it. In fact, Monday was probably the most challenging ministry experience of my life. Several of the older kids were very difficult to control which made it that much more difficult to maintain the attention of the younger kids, who were barely holding on anyway. The entire team was exhausted by the time we sent the kids home, a full 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Speaking of the team, besides Stacey, Josh, Adam and me, we have 4 local teens who are helping us out--Christina, Eliza, Alin and Samuel. They provide a lot of stuff we need, especially translating skills. We are learning some Romanian words though; stuff like 'come here', 'go over there', 'sit down', 'be quiet', 'line up'; all the basics.

Day 2 in the villages (day 6 of the trip) was today. After yesterday I was braced for the worst, but hoping for better, fulling expecting that God would have his way regardless of how difficult it seemed to us. Things were certainly not as chaotic as yesterday, but still plenty eventful. I had a talk with the older boys first thing in the morning and that helped keep them somewhat in check. Some of the little ones were testing us, but it was overall a much better day.

We took digital pics of the kids yesterday and used a small photo printer to print them out overnight and took them back today. It was amazing and humbling to see how much appreciation they had for something as simple as a photo; something so taken for granted by us that we can't fathom the thrill it is for them.

Each day consists of games, stories, crafts, songs, etc. that we do with the kids. The second day focuses on the stories of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. We had 2 kids in our group who talked with Stacey and Christina and prayed to accept Christ. I always wonder if the kids really understand what's going on. And Lord knows how hard it will be for them to get any real reinforcement of what they have heard the past 2 days. But I pray that their experience was real the that they will be able to find support for their faith in that poor village.

The other groups had 40 and 38 kids yesterday and then 50 and 38 today.

So far it is thrilling, frustrating, exciting, fulfilling and everything in between.

Mike

Quick Review of Day 4

2008-07-27T15:09:00.002-05:00

This will be a quick review because I am dead tired. It's 11 PM here and I think the trip over is really starting to catch up with all of us. We start the all day children's ministries tomorrow so we will need some rest.

Today each of the 3 teams went to a village church and participated in the services. Josh, Chris, Ken and I spoke at the different venues (Josh broke off from our team and spoke at Maranata in Campina, which is Pastor Vasile's church). Our team members also gave testimonies at the churches and did some music.

It was very interesting to see and hear how they do worship here. Much of the service centers around prayer and it is open to anyone in the congregation who feels led...and most of them do. People all around the room, including the teenagers, will pray and this will happen 2 or 3 times during the service. I could only understand 2 or 3 words that they were saying but it was moving to hear the passion of the people as they prayed and to hear the others respond to what was being said. One of the few words I know is the Romanian word for 'thank you' and it would be repeated many times during each prayer.

It's wonderful to see how these folks have so much less than we and they still have sweet and honest worship. The service lasted about 2 hours; and this is the typical time for Sunday mornings here.

We lunched with the pastoral families at each church and the meal at each, according to the descriptions I got from the other teams, was a small feast. After we returned to the Vasile home we prepped for the coming week with our teams and then had a bit of free time before going as a group to the Sunday night service.

This was a different Sunday night service than normal for the Vasiles. The final Sunday of each month 6 different churches--from 6 different denominations--in this part of the country get together for a joint evangelistic service. There were a lot of people there...more than I ever expected. It was a very good service except the guy who preached the main sermon went for about an hour and a half. Poor Adam fell asleep and nearly fell into the floor from the pew. Funny stuff.

It's been tough to keep up the posts on the schedule I had hoped to because internet access can be rather spotty. I'm also trying to keep up with the photo uploads so keep checking the link in the posts from Saturday and Sunday.

Pray for our mission.
Mike

Romania--Day 3

2008-07-26T17:00:00.002-05:00

Today was our second day in the country and with the family. It was a tourist day for us when the family took to see some sights and buy some souvenirs. We went north out of Campina toward the Carpathian Mountains where we passed through a couple of resort towns geared toward tourist and business visitors. They cater to conventions and sightseers in the warmer months and skiers during the winter. They are very beautiful places with amazing views of mountain peaks and expansive valleys spread below. I never thought of Romania as such a place.

Our final destination for the trip was a town called Bran and its famous castle called, appropriately enough, Bran Castle. There are a ton of pics showing the inside and outside of it at this link. It's notoriety is based upon it's being the point of origin for the Dracula legend. Construction on the castle began in 1377 and the tour of it was pretty amazing. I recommend seeing it if you have the chance. However, the odds of you having as exciting a visit as we are very small, as one of our team--Nick--managed to fall approximately 10 feet down the side of a rock ledge in a small, but impressive, cascade of rocks ranging from pebbles to about melon size. He received a cut on the bridge of his nose, a badly scraped right knee, a gashed left knee and an ankle injury that may or may not be a fracture. We won't know that until he is able to have it x-rayed tomorrow. It was quite an adventure. Dan doctored him as much as we could (we had climbed up to the entrance to the castle) and then he and I carried Nick back down to the valley and placed him in the care of the Vasile family while we caught up with the rest of the group for the castle tour.

In spite of the pain and frustration of the injuries, Nick has been a great sport; because, as soon as we determined that he wasn't permanently damaged, we had a bit of fun at his expense. There are also pics of this at the link above. Dan was actually taking a picture of him as he began to fall which captured him just as gravity reclaimed it's dominion over him.

Our supper tonight was great. We had grilled sausage and beef with fresh bread, tomatoes and the most incredible jam I've ever tasted--and I'm still not sure what kind it is. Bruce knows, but he's holding out on me. Also, we have met all of Pastor John's (pronounced Yon) kids now. He has 3 sons--Andre, Emmi and Timmy; and 2 daughters--Christina and Ewana. Timmy (13) and Christina (16) are still in high school and Emmi is still in college. They are all great people who are already like family to us.

Tomorrow we go to some of the local churches that Pastor John has planted to help with the services. Chris, Ken, Josh and I will be preaching at various ones and Lucy will be singing. Pray for us in these efforts as we will be working entirely through interpreters.

More tomorrow.
Mike

Romania Trip Days 1 and 2

2008-07-25T14:28:00.004-05:00

I'm doing the first 2 days together because they have completely run together for us. We have not slept, other than a fitful nap on the various flights, (and not even that for most) since we left St. Louis on Thursday at 7 AM. That was over 30 hours ago. We lost pretty much a full day in transit as it is now 10:30 PM in Romania.

We flew from STL to Chicago to Munich to Bucharest for a total in transit time of around 20 hours in the air and then had a couple of hours left in vans to reach Campina, and Pastor Vasile's home--our final destination. The travel was more or less uneventful once we got Bruce and Conner back off of the plane to Toronto that they mistakenly boarded while we were in St. Louis. Also, after last year's team arrived in Bucharest with none of their checked bags, we were only missing one--Ken's bag with his clothes in it. Fortunately, we all packed an extra change of clothes in our carry on bags for just such a contingency. So long as his bag catches up to us tomorrow, he will be fine. Of the 12 of us on the trip, 3 have been here before and 9 of us are 'newbies'. But the pastor and his family have taken us in as if we are lifelong friends. They are wonderful people with great hearts for God.

Once we arrived at the Vasiles' home around 3:00 PM local time, we unloaded our stuff, claimed our rooms and had a brief meeting with the team. Many of us grabbed quick naps prior to supper at 6:00. It was a great meal, nothing exotic or out of the ordinary except that we had fresh peaches that were delicious.

After the meal several of us went out into the neighborhood where they live and passed out flyers for an upcoming evangelistic event that a cooperative of local evangelical churches have organized. We were accompanied by his younger son and daughter, Christina (16) and Timmy (13). We were out for a couple of hours and walked quite a distance. We met a lot of people and most of them were quite nice. I learned some Romanian words from Christina, which I used haltingly during my meeting with the locals. Josh used them quite freely and with a fair amount of comic effect. Especially when he stopped at a home along the way and bought a watermelon from a man who was selling them in his yard. Very funny stuff.

We are readying for bed (thankfully) after having met with an American missionary who lives in Bucharest. He stopped by to see Pastor Vasile and Bruce and Lucy. We had more cookies, fresh pears from the family's tree out back and Josh's watermelon to top it off. We are exhausted and happy. Tomorrow we do some sight-seeing (hopefully to Dracula's castle) and then on Sunday we will help with church services in 3 of the local village church plants. I will be speaking at Miner Village, Bruce at one of the others and Chris at a third. Then we will all attend the main joint service with the local churches in Campina.

Click this link to view photos of the first couple of days-- http://picasaweb.google.com/mcarojcc/Romania2008

God bless...please pray for us. I am going to try and post some pics, but that may or may not work out. If they are not available on the blog, I will also have then on facebook.

Mike

Off to Europe

2008-07-23T23:32:00.002-05:00

I leave with the rest of our team for Romania tomorrow. I'm very excited about what God is doing in my life right now and I think this trip may be a tipping point; I hope so.

One issue we are facing with the trip is purely logistical. Lufthansa, the airline we will be flying from Chicago to Munich to Bucharest, is in the process of taking a strike vote among their ground crew employees. There should be no chance of interference with our flight over, but the trip back could be more eventful. I wonder what it would be like to be trapped in Europe by an airline strike. There are worse things, I suppose. Too bad the dollar's so weak right now.

On a related note, the saga with my missing laptop continues. Here's a shipping company recommendation...do not, under any circumstances, use DHL if what you are shipping absolutely, positively has to be there overnight. Apparently their guarantee only applies if it works out that you actually get your package. I am very frustrated with them at this point. On the other hand, if this is my biggest worry, life isn't too bad.

Pray for peace and our mission trip.
Mike

Teaching Again

2008-07-23T00:59:00.002-05:00

I taught at the college gathering tonight at the Realm. It's been a while since I taught in that type of setting and it's always a rush. The group was very engaged and we had some lively discussion at the end. I even got to pretend that it worked out the way I planned it--although that is what I had hoped for.

The lesson was on what it means to have a Christian world view. In order to have a viable ethical construct upon which to base our moral choices, we must have a biblical foundation. Ethical systems built without it fall apart in the face of moral relativism. Without a concept of God as the ultimate authority for our system, I cannot ultimately defend any ethical precept as being independent of human whim. It becomes just another victim of logic; I cannot logically assert and defend the position that my ethic has more authority than yours unless the source of it is outside of human control and influence.

Part two of the teaching news is that I will be preaching the 2 Sunday morning services at FBCH on August 10th. It is kind of my audition for the interim preaching job while we search for a permanent replacement for David in the head pastor's slot. I would honestly like to be considered for that position, but I don't think there would ever be a chance I could be chosen. My experience is limited and my pedigree lacking in the PhD department. I believe that with God's help I could do it, but I don't know if God would support my desire any more than the church would. Anyway, the interim gig will likely be 8 to 12 months. It would give me a great chance to sharpen my gift and skills, get some valuable experience and get some exposure for other speaking/preaching opportunities in the years to come. It might even get me a shot at a pastor's job somewhere else.

My true prayer is that if God gives me this chance that I will approach it with total humility and a full commitment to see lives changed through what God says through me. I want to be good at it and enjoy it and grow because of it. My best learning takes place when I am allowed to teach others.

I'm torn by what to preach on. I have several messages on my heart at this point and just pray that God will make one of the choices clear to me.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Miscellanea

2008-07-23T00:47:00.002-05:00

Liz got back from her Mexico mission trip Sunday. She was very tired, but excited about the trip--I guess. It's hard to really get any real conversation out of her about it. I've been able to hear conversations she's had with friends about it and they indicate that she was effected by it in a good way. I hope it will turn her heart even more toward Jesus and toward service.

I leave with our team for Romania in 2 days; actually in less than 36 hours. How cool is that?! We've been keeping a journal of our daily Bible study for the past 30 days and I can look back at it now and see God preparing me for what he has in store for me; not just in Romania, but well beyond.

I came back from a business trip to Columbus, OH last Friday sans one laptop computer. How stupid was that? I left it in the hotel room on the desk right next to where I was standing when I packed the cord, mouse and other peripheral gear. It's been an adventure trying to get it shipped back so that it will arrive before I depart for Europe, but it left there today and is supposed to be here by 10:30 tomorrow. I checked online and it is definitely on the way. I still can't believe I did that.

Becca got to see the Jonas Brothers tonight. It was a total surprise for her. Sandi bought the tickets about a month ago with one of Becca's friend's mom so they could go together. Pretty cool deal for her. I can't believe our baby girl is starting to grow up. They'll both be gone before you know it.

Sandi and Becca were in Alabama for just over a week and got home last night. I was glad to see them home again. I missed them a ton.

More Greed

2008-07-17T23:52:00.002-05:00

I have seen, in several different places--including on TV--advertisements for foreclosure bus tours. This is where realtors create an 'event' of sorts that involves renting a bus and taking prospective buyers on a tour of all the foreclosed homes in the area.

I realize that neither the buyers nor the realtors created the foreclosures, but something about it seems wrong somehow. I can imagine how someone who has been foreclosed upon must feel when they see the banners and commercials. They've lost their home. We're not talking about vagabonds or drug addicts or mean people, but families with children and jobs and friends and churches. (I realize some of them may be mean or on drugs or whatever--don't be stupid). Listen to the way that sounds in your head--they've lost their home.

Must we consistently make our way by treading on the backs of others? It makes me very sad. I fear we've lost our way in this country.

Someone forwarded an email to me recently that was very disturbing. It was quite lengthy and was basically all about how everyone who isn't like them should go somewhere else--to another country, preferably. It was cloaked in a great deal of flag waving and patriotism. If you don't like America then get the f@@@ out of it--that sort of thing. There's a lot of underlying fear in a message like that. I believe people sense that we are on the verge of upheaval in our country and, whether they can verbalize it or not, whether they are conscious of it or not, people can sense that and it makes many of them afraid. People can be very mean when they are scared.

I guess I have a bit of fear about it as well, but it's that kind of fear when you know something weird is going to happen and it will make you feel a way you don't usually feel, but the anticipation is very exciting as well. It's a bit like riding a new roller coaster for the first time, or going white-water rafting for the first time. You can see the power and feel the fear/anticipation/excitement/adrenaline rush and you like it but too much of it might overwhelm you. Your brain seems to actually crackle or hum.

But there's a real fear also in this coming change. It's that pit-of-the-stomach fear; that whistling-past-the-graveyard fear. The kind that knows if things go wrong the consequences will be dire; perhaps crippling--or fatal. My fear is that once the upheaval occurs the status quo will have won. The fear-mongers will rule completely and America will become even more egotistically committed to this nationalistic colonialism that is increasingly isolating us from the rest of the world in a way that is moving far beyond being just inconvenient.

If that happens, we will suffer and fall. It makes me very sad.

In the sage words of Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility". If we wield that power with impunity (and we have been), we will suffer and fall.

It makes me very sad.

A Tale of Two Cities

2008-07-09T20:56:00.004-05:00

I am in New Orleans for a couple of days on business and I got a tour of the city today that I bet most people don't get. A friend of mine who grew up here (he lives in Baton Rouge now) picked me up at my hotel this afternoon and drove me around his old neighborhood. After that we went through the 9th Ward and then to the more popular tourist areas. The picture I got is one of extreme divergence; hope vs hopelessness; rebirth and neglect; vitality as opposed to poverty.

"Jack" is African American and he grew up in a government housing project which has since been torn down. We drove by the site and he showed me the tree that the balcony of his family's apartment used to overlook. Across the street from that balcony is a store where some of his old pals still hang out doing nothing in particular. Jack told me that, as a youth, he had seen several shootings in front of that store. It was almost an off-hand remark, as if he were telling me that he used to buy ice cream there when he could scrounge the spare change. We drove up and down a lot of streets there--places where I wouldn't have been safe if I were alone. The tour commentary consisted of things like "That's where my father-in-law lives", "That's the church I grew up in", "That's where my wife lived", "This is the street where I sold most of the drugs I used to sell", "This is the corner where I was talking to one of my boys when a guy came out of that house right there and started shooting at me". I asked him what he did when the guy was shooting at him and he said, "I ran my ass off, man" and kind of chuckled.

Damn.

Most of the houses still have the large spray-painted "X" on the front with the numbers and letters in the quadrants showing that they had been searched and whether or not any bodies had been found. Most of them were in various states of disrepair--shingles missing, doors askew, windows boarded on some. Most of them needed paint or siding repair. Most of them have people living in them regardles of their condition.

The 9th Ward was worse--much worse. Many of the houses that were there are simply gone; pushed to the ground and loaded on trucks for the landfills; not worth the cost of repair; never to be rebuilt. One thing that Jack told me that seemed to him to be most tragic about the missing homes--missing families--is that the homes they lost represented, in many cases, their family history. They were literally handed down from one generation to the next. Extended families living together, expanding in one direction and shrinking from the other as new children were born and the old folks died off. That's gone now, carried away by floods, bulldozers and dump trucks. He showed me where his grandmother's house used to be. Now there are only weeds and scrub brush. We went by Fats Domino's house, still intact, still in the hood. I was surprised that it didn't really stand out from the others except that it was painted a subdued yellow and had the letters "FD" in black about a foot high on the front gable. It is slightly larger than the other homes on the block, but not opulant by any standards. Perhaps a testament to his committment to his roots, and to the fact that celebrities are much better compensated than they were when he had his hayday.

We talked a lot about what it was like for him growing up in that situation and how he got out of it. He said he never took drugs, ever. But he also didn't blanch about selling them to support his family; always carrying a pistol for protection against the junkies and other dealers. He always worked regular jobs too, once he was old enough. And it was always about being able to make something better for his mom. He was finally able to move her out of the projects into a house several blocks away, but after a couple of years she wanted to move back because all of her friends were still in the housing.

His work ethic was part of what got him out of there, but it seems like part of it was also almost accidental (providential?). A chance meeting while he worked at a gas station got him a better job that turned into a career that made enough money to get him a better life. His brothers and sisters all got out too. They have jobs and careers and families and none of them live in the poverty they grew up in. I've never met her, and Jack didn't say so (I forgot to ask), but I bet his momma had a lot to do with it. How could all those kids succeed where so many others had failed if it were otherwise?

What's funny (not funny haha, but funny 'damn') is that even though he's from there, his history is there, he says he feels scared now when he goes back and talks to some of his old friends and visits some of the old places. He's succeeded where others haven't and there's a tension because of it. There's a sense that he's in danger from those who would want what he's got in his pockets or in his truck. There's also the possibility that someone with a long memory might still hold a grudge and decide to act upon it. Maybe it's true--we can never go home.

We went from the 9th Ward the short distance to the heart of the city, where all the tourists go. We saw Jackson Square, Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, Convention Center, Riverwalk, French Market. We went past giant hotels and the world's largest land-based casino--Harrah's. I bet you had no idea that it was in New Orleans--me neither. In all of those places we saw what is possible when civic powers put their minds, talents and money to the task of recovery. And we also saw what is of value to us in this country in contrast to what is not, even when it's located only a few short blocks away.

Poverty is not about race or geography. It's about what we decide is morally acceptable. It cannot be solved by governments alone, but it cannot be solved without significant committment from them either. The answers are not simple and the solutions will not be quick, but we are commanded by our God to help those in need. As the rich get richer off of the blood of the poor and the shrinking middle class we are in grave danger ("we" meaning us Christians) of coming under the judgment of that God.

Poor children need a quality education, adequate food, health care. Poor working moms need help with child care; both in terms of having an adequate supply and the money to afford it. Families need access to counseling and other benefits that will help them to stay whole and stable. And there must be jobs, real jobs, jobs that pay a living wage and provide fulfillment and self esteem.

All of you ultra-conservative scoffers can mark this down. God has laid out quite plainly the moral responsibility of those who have to assist those who do not. There are 2000 verses that refer to justice for the poor and disadvantaged. We will not be exempt from them when we stand before God. Don't believe me? Read Matthew 25, especially starting around verse 30. Please do not be condemned by the hypocrisy that Jesus so deeply loathes.

Pray for the poor. Pray for peace. More to follow.
Mike

My Trip to Frisco

2008-07-02T02:08:00.002-05:00

On the lighter side of things, I was in California late last week and had to stay through the weekend. My friend, Rickey, and I decided we would make the relatively short drive from Sacramento to San Francisco on Saturday afternoon and take in some of the sites. Little did we realize that we had decided to visit the bastion of gay pride during national gay pride week. Quite a surprise for us. Our friends and coworkers have made quite a bit of sport of us. Oh, well...it's still a beautiful city and we got some great pics of the Golden Gate Bridge; and the people of California as a whole were very friendly--and I don't mean it like that so stop smirking.

A Difficult Message

2008-07-02T01:07:00.005-05:00

I'll be leaving for Romania in a few weeks on a mission trip. It's my first one and I'm pretty excited about it; about the chance to be placed where God will stretch my abilities and gifts and force me to rely on him more than I probably ever have. As part of our team's preparation for the trip we are doing 30 days of Bible studies and journaling our thoughts.

Since beginning this process about 9 or 10 days ago a lot of what I've read and contemplated has drawn me back to the idea that God has something for me to do that I either haven't figured out or haven't been listening closely enough to hear. Consequently, I've approached these studies as not only a way of getting ready for our mission, but also as a possible way that God plans to communicate to me what the next part of my journey will be. I think I may have gotten a glimpse of that this evening.

Our reading was from Jeremiah 1:4-10. It's the passage that describes Jeremiah's commissioning for his mission as well as God's equipping of him for that mission. The comments about the passage talk about how Jeremiah was being assigned the task of giving the Israelites a message that they did not want to hear and to which many of them were not going to listen. In fact, as you read on through the book you find out that they tried to kill him on more than one occasion because of his unrelenting proclamations. I see in this somewhat of a parallel to where my passions have turned over the past couple or 3 years--the church's abandonment of the cause of social justice in exchange for political clout.

When I talk about the church in this context I am well aware that there are still many people involved with programs and ministries that help the outcast and downtrodden, but the vocal leaders of the conservative evangelicals in America have consistently and stridently preached the gospel of conservative politics in the name of some of the most divisive issues in the history of this country: abortion and homosexuality among the most volatile. And because the Republicans have given loud and consistent lip service to the conservative stance on these issues the evangelical leaders have fallen into lock-step behind them and endorsed their candidates and their agenda carte blanche. They have preached this agenda from the pulpits of their churches and touted it on every national media outlet to which they could garner access. They have told us that to vote against this party is to vote against Christ. In fact, I have heard church members say that anyone who votes Democrat is not really a Christian. As I have studied church history I believe we must go back many centuries to find such complete and utter idolatry and sin within the church.

I don't care which party's candidate you vote for, but how dare you have the audacity to tell me that the veracity of my faith resides within a voting booth! I will prayerfully vote my conscience regardless of a candidate's affiliation and I hope to be damned (literally) if I ever allow anyone to convince me otherwise. I made that mistake once and it shall never happen again.

The Republicans lie about their intentions in order to rally our votes and the Democrats have for decades (until quite recently) dismissed us as incapable of having real input on issues that they have failed to realize do have moral implications.

Jesus Christ did not deal in half-truths and pompous judgmentalism. He spoke quite plainly and vehemently about our responsibility to care for the less fortunate and to deal with everyone from a position of love--the unconditional kind. The people he chose to follow him and represent him were not the powerful and political, but those who would stick the biggest bur in the saddles of those very types. If he were physically present on earth today I believe he would spend his time in the inner cities and in the towns devastated by corporate greed. He would be in the homes of people who were dying because the have no insurance and therefore cannot be treated for their diseases. He would wander the villages of third world countries where boys not old enough to date are kidnapped and forced to commit genocide; where young girls are gang raped and killed because they belong to the wrong clan or tribe; where people are beaten to death because they did not support the current dictator. I can see him in the middle east tending to the wounded Palestinians and Jews in the West Bank and Gaza; or in Baghdad cruising the alleys for those in need, both spiritually and physically. I submit to you that these are the places where the real acts of terror are being committed. I do not believe that he would ever set foot in the White House--regardless of by whom it was occupied--unless it was to chase out the 'money-changers' with a braided whip.

This message is not popular with those who hold sway within evangelical circles. But I believe they see the approach of their demise. They see a generation of Christians rising up who will think for themselves and will not be swayed from the cause of Christ by the lure and promise of political clout. I think that God is calling me to this cause. I also believe that it will cause me pain in the places where I have normally felt safe and welcome. My heart breaks for the poor and abused and it fills with anger at those who ignore or exacerbate their plight. I believe that a new journey begins for me tonight.

Pray for peace--real peace.

Mike

Again, Dobson?

2008-06-26T21:56:00.003-05:00

Dobson's at it again...protecting the families of the world by doing everything in his power to support the right wing political agenda. And I would say the same thing if his attack was leveled at McCain instead of Obama. As an aside, Dr. Dobson vowed just a few months ago that he would never support McCain because he wasn't conservative enough. He has since reversed himself. Interesting.

I won't go through the whole thing again (see the previous post), but when are the ultra conservative evangelicals going to stop being the mouthpieces for a political party (and underlying agenda, which, by the way, has nothing to do with forwarding the cause of Christ)? When will they shut the crap up and start listening to God (Matthew 25:31-46; Phill. 2:3-5)? When will Christians (or, at least, church-goers; there is a difference) stop allowing ourselves to be led around by the nose at the whims of politico-evangelicals with personal agendas?

I fear the answer to the last question is, perhaps, never. It is much easier to assume that everything they say is correct than it is to search for the truth and think for ourselves; especially in this age of instant misinformation when so much comes at us so fast. It's much easier to live on the falsely energized emotional roller coaster than to admit we are not always right. God is always right, but not us. How many atrocities have been committed and falsehoods perpetrated in his name?

Check out this quote from Jim Wallis' latest blog:

The United States is not the Christian theocracy that [evangelicals] seem to think it should be. Political appeals, even if rooted in religious convictions, must be argued on moral grounds rather than as sectarian religious demands -- so that the people (citizens), whether religious or not, may have the capacity to hear and respond. Religious convictions must be translated into moral arguments, which must win the political debate if they are to be implemented. Religious people don't get to win just because they are religious. They, like any other citizens, have to convince their fellow citizens that what they propose is best for the common good -- for all of us, not just for the religious.

Please think for yourselves. If you disagree with me or anyone else that's fine. But do so in a coherent, cogent way that indicates you have reasoned through your thoughts and the issue at hand. Do it in a way that is biblical and allows for dialogue. Do not paint me or anyone else as evil just because you disagree with us. That determination remains the exclusive purview of God and God alone. And that is biblical--check chapters 2, 3 and 14 of Romans for starters.

Until the church fully ejects itself from protection mode and starts to truly think globally, we have little chance of fulfilling the callings placed upon us by Matthew 25 or Matthew 28.

Pray for peace, wisdom and patience, as will I.

Mike

The Question of Gay Marriage

2008-06-18T22:59:00.005-05:00

The word on the street (and in the papers) is that upwards of 30 million dollars will be spent between now and November by activists on both sides of the gay marriage debate in California. That is when an amendment to the state constitution which would ban gay marriage will be decided by voters. The thing about this story that most interests me is the amount of money (a combined 27 million dollars was spent in the other 24 states that have already decided this issue with constitutional amendments) and, more specifically, the sources of much of it. Among those in favor of the amendment are the traditional conservative groups, most of them Christian; and among those one of the more generous contributors is expected to be the Colorado-based Focus on the Family.

I don't doubt, or intend to contradict, that the Bible teaches against homosexuality. I also understand that the issue is highly charged and emotional for many Christians. But I guess what I don't understand is how this issue is a priority worth millions of dollars for an organization that claims to focus on the family in a country where there are many other issues that are destroying families in a much more devastating way and at a much more rapid rate than anything associated with homosexuality ever will.

Nearly 50 million Americans have no health insurance in the richest nation in the history of the world. In a recent conversation about this issue with a friend, he said he didn't want any of his money going to support people who would not support themselves. Well, here's a newsflash: the vast majority of the people here who are uninsured are working full time, often at more than one job, and they still have no insurance because their employers either can't or won't provide it. And I defy any of these self-righteous capitalists to provide the basic necessities of life to their families on wages that typically don't produce incomes above the poverty level, much less find additional resources to purchase personal health insurance. And many millions of the uninsured are children who, obviously, are at the mercy of their situations.

Speaking of poverty specifically, check out the quote below taken from Wikipedia and based on U.S. Census and world poverty statistics:

Poverty in the United States refers to people living in poverty in the U.S. Within the U.S. the most common measure of poverty is the "poverty line" set by the U.S. government. The official poverty threshold is adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index. Poverty in the United States is cyclical in nature with roughly 12% to 15% living below the federal poverty line at any given point in time, and roughly 40% falling below the poverty line at some time within a 10 year time span.[1] While there remains some controversy of whether or not the official poverty over or understates poverty, the United States has some of the highest absolute and relative pre and post-transfer, poverty rates in the developed world.[2][3] Overall, the U.S. ranks 16th on the Human Poverty Index.[4]
Those under the age of 18 were the most likely to be impoverished. In 2006 the poverty rate for minors in the United States was the highest in the industrialized world, with 21.9% of all minors and 30% of African American minors living below the poverty threshold.[5] Moreover, the standard of living for those in the bottom 10% was lower in the U.S. than in any other developed nation except the United Kingdom, which had the lowest standard of living for impoverished children.[6]

Do you understand how utterly unthinkable it is that the U.S. is the LOWEST ranked developed nation?! Do you understand how many families are destroyed by poverty in this country every year? Do you have any idea how many millions of children suffer from easily treatable conditions in this country every year because they have no access to the finest medical treatment available in the world today? Do you have any idea how insignificant any detrimental effect gay marriage may have on American families will be compared to the answers to the above questions?

I would ask Focus on the Family to reconsider their allocation of significant resources to a cause that will ultimately pale in its influence on American culture and families when compared to the good their millions of dollars could do for the poor and suffering of this country. Or, if they insist on following through with their windmill-tilting campaign, please change the name of their organization. Let's call it Focus on Politics, or Focus on Media Attention, or Focus on Failure or something similarly appropriate; but do not tell me that your focus is on what's best for American families. If my family where falling apart because we were about to lose our home, or our child was sick and I couldn't provide care for him or we were just plain hungry because we couldn't afford to buy food, I truly don't think that I would believe that situation would be corrected or improved by banning gay marriage in California or any other state.

Read Matthew 25, especially where Jesus tells us what's important to him, and let me know what you find in there about gay marriage.

Pray for peace.

Mike

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

2008-06-15T00:38:00.004-05:00

The quote below is from Dr. King's letter, which was written in 1964 as a response to the disingenuous and hypocritical panderings of an array of local clergy who had condemned the civil disobedience of local African Americans.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

I read Dr. King's letter several years ago, but as I was re-reading it tonight this paragraph jumped all over me. It's as if he saw 40 years into the future. Read the entire letter (please) at the following link:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

Various

2008-06-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

Dana Carvey has a new HBO special called "Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies". I probably won't watch it, but I thought the name was cool. I cannot speak to the voracity of the statement.

Still no word on the prophetic warning from yesterday's post, but I'll never rest until we have the truth.

I had barbecue for supper--a half rack of ribs and a rather large pulled pork sandwich; plus fries. I think if I sneeze I'll crap my pants.

I love my daughters and my wife more than anything and I miss them terribly when I'm on the road. Seeing them for the blessing they are is very humbling.

I read once that the average American will meet 10,000 people during their lifetime. That's a lot of opportunities to influence people. Don't ___ it up by being a jerk.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Warning--Prophetic Alert

2008-06-09T18:03:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it. I was flipping channels and what might appear to others to be mere chance but I know was Divine guidance, occurred. As I landed on Daystar it just so happened (Just so happened...HAH!) that Manna-Fest (get it?) was just coming on. AND, the host was preempting the regular programming to provide a prophetic alert because he had received a word from God that is going to be vital to all of us believers; I think it was about Iraq because he followed up the precursor with a reminder of how God had given him a vision about the invasion 8 or 9 years before it happened; really; he had a drawing of it. And just when he was about to spill the beans about the new prophecy------the screen went all snowy. Man, what rotten luck. No doubt the devil, or some of those Godless terrorists, jacking with the broadcast to keep us from getting this invaluable piece of heavenly intelligence info. It will probably turn the tide in the war when we get it. And I will get it. No paltry force of evil-doers can overcome me. Keep checking back. I'll post it as soon as I get it. Rock the prophecy.

A Gift of Song

2008-06-05T23:14:00.003-05:00

This video is of my daughter, Liz, singing (she is amazing), being accompanied on guitar by her friend, Emily, who also has a great voice. Could fame await them? You be the judge.

I have hair growing where?!

2008-06-05T22:50:00.004-05:00

OK...I want to get serious for a few minutes so buckle in.

Do you think God sits up in heaven (is it up? where is it really...heaven, I mean) and just giggles and snickers when guys get old enough to start having hair grow in places it never used to? For example, our ears. Why in the world do we, after living 35 or 40 years without hair growing on and in our ears, suddenly wake up and discover we have 2 extra places to shave? You look in the mirror one morning and instead of the guy you're used to seeing there's a hobbit or something (no, wait...hobbits have hairy feet; well, you get the point). And don't even get me started on the nose hair thing. For cryin' out loud! And the worst thing of all is the guys who don't shave the extra follicles. GROSS! What do they think, that they're French? Guys, I know it's not fair or fun, but just shave it. You look like a creeper when you don't.

Pray for peace (and hairless orifices).

Mike

Sunday School

2008-06-01T23:12:00.003-05:00

Isn't that a weird phrase? I always get the image of people who don't know what Sunday is and have to be taught all about it. The test always has the same question on it: What day comes after Saturday and before Monday?

I was actually in Sunday school today (but not to learn what Sunday is). It was my first day with the college ministry. There was an interesting (well, sort of interesting) discussion about why people choose to either show up or not show up each week. For example, if I choose to go to a ball game or the races or just sleep in does that mean that I'm disrespecting God or church or community or something. I guess it comes down to attitude; these kinds of questions usually do. Am I blowing off church because I figure whatever I'm going to do is more important; or because I just selfishly prefer doing what I want to do? Maybe I'm very faithful and really struggle with the decision but ultimately decide to skip church this time because what I'm doing is important also, or just an unusual opportunity.

I don't know the answer for sure. I really do think it's about attitude. Someone pointed out that Jesus made it a point that the day of meeting in and of itself is not the important thing. It's about communing with God and contributing to the welfare of other believers. If I also come to church on a different day or night, plus have a Bible study that I go to does that make Sunday less important? Can't I be a Christian even if I don't go to church at all? The fact is, Sunday is not sacred, and you don't have to be in church to be saved. But there are tons of biblical reasons to be with other believers. Sunday is the day when we have traditionally gathered. I like going and I also think I contribute to others when I'm there--in addition to what I get out of it. It also gives me a chance to serve; another thing I am commanded to do.

If you go because you think you have to and there's no joy or sense of worship and gratitude toward God--stay home.

Attitude is everything.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Corporate (corporate?) Stupidity

2008-05-30T10:07:00.002-05:00

OMG! Just when I think that we (Americans) might have turned the corner and started to become a bit more reasonable (or at least less idiotically reactionary) I read a story like this one: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7427206.stm?lsm . It seems like we actually desire to be ruled over by the stupidest people we can find (i.e. Ms Malkin--see the story link above). But, thank God that our media does their job in fueling this ignorance by creating a story where none should exist. How else would we ever be able to root out and destroy these hideous plots by subversives and terrorists. And, finally, where would we be except hopelessly lost without the keen decision-making prowess of the courageous souls in charge of corporations like Dunkin Donuts? How would they ever survive if the entire readership of such a tower of intellectualism as Ms Malkin were to suddenly refuse to purchase their deep-fried treats? Think of the economic chaos if several dozen neo-stupid, overweight extremists switched from Dunkin to Krispy Kreme. We could be plunged into civil war and anarchy (well, the anarchy could be fun).

Thank you, Dunkin Donuts. Thank you, Ms Malkin. Dear God, please help us.

2008-05-28T01:09:00.002-05:00

As a follow up to the previous post, my older daughter has been one of the kids trying to defuse the anger and disgruntlement (is that even a word?). She has gotten a bit frustrated a couple of times--a natural part of the process. The cool thing is that she's trying to work through it and keep loving people. Mistakes are part of the journey; it's how we learn. But she's doing well with this situation. She's becoming a young woman, a leader. I'm proud of her.

Mirror Image

2008-05-28T00:35:00.002-05:00

I have been a spectator recently of a bit of drama that is developing within the youth ministry at our church. A small but vocal minority of students have begun to speak out with great rancor and venom about the things within the ministry that displease them. How quaint. As an observer, I have been alternately proud and ashamed; proud to see how many of the students have been supportive of their ministery and their minister and how they've tried to keep a dialogue going with a background of love; and ashamed to see how well our kids have learned to imitate their parents' tendencies within the church. (This is obviously true of one particular kid who is the instigator).

We have argued and vilified one another in the name of due diligence to protect our liturgical preferences and doctrinal positions until our children see it as their birthright to act similarly. Can we be satisfied with this legacy? But, there are glimpses of greater things; students who want to find the Godly solution. They can seem a bit clumsy at it in their youth--we all remember what it's like to have only the desire to rush in and start fixing things regardless of if it's all higledy pigledy. The sad truth, though, is that their efforts seem clumsy because they haven't really had a good example to follow.

It's not too late to change our legacy. It's never too late to love one another...they will know we are his disciples by our love for one another (John 13).

Pray for peace.
Mike

No Place Like Home

2008-05-26T01:18:00.002-05:00

Do you ever have those moments when nostalgia rushes in on you and covers you up like a hot wind? It starts with being a little homesick; maybe it was triggered by a song lyric or a vague memory. Then it kind of swells up inside of you with adrenaline and an almost overwhelming desire to just break and run; dump everything you're doing, pack what fits in the back of your truck and just take off. Most people, especially women, don't understand what it means to a man to be respected and liked by the men he knows. And that's especially true when what you grew up knowing and valuing in life was the rougher things--backing your buddy's play, standing your ground, knowing you could survive almost anything, knowing you could take a life if that's what it took to protect those you love. How do you explain that so that it makes sense to someone who never felt it? How do you translate the feeling you had sitting on a tailgate on a dirt road with your best friends in the world--simple, honest, strong friends who all loved each other without ever having to say it--singing at the top of your lungs or laughing together about something stupid with a long-neck beer in your hand? How do you mourn the loss of that feeling? How do you quell the anger at the fear you feel knowing you may never have that feeling again? What's the cure for the blues you get when you feel like you're looking back at more of your life than you're looking forward to?

I can't answer all of those questions, but there are some things I know about me that are just as important. There's nothing like the pride of being the father of daughters. Daughters who love God and have hearts that break for people who are in need. There's nothing like the feeling that swells in a dad's heart when his little girl (who isn't really little any more) stands on a stage and sings a song so beautifully that angels walk away with their heads down. What can compare to looking into the face of a girl whose outlook on life is so pure and excited that it's impossible not to be uplifted when she's around? What in life could match the realization that a woman has loved you enough to stay true for over 20 years--and not nearly all of them have been easy for her?

Well......damn. Seems like life has more questions than answers. Who would have thought?

Fox News

2008-05-23T23:50:00.003-05:00

Is it just me or should the people at Fox News be smacked in the mouth with a wet fish?

If you think it's just me, then turn off your TV, read a newspaper (a real one) and start making up your own mind, not taking the rantings of the most biased, quasi fascist, so-called 'Fair and Balanced' media center in the country as gospel. You can get a better idea of what's really going on with an issue by watching Weekend Update on SNL. I'm surprised they haven't offered that pig, Rush Limbaugh his own 'news' show.

This just in...God is not a Republican, or a Democrat, or a Libertarian, etc., etc., etc.

Jim Wallis Quote

2008-05-23T23:40:00.002-05:00

Followers of the Prince of Peace should be the hardest to convince to go to war, never the easiest. We should require the highest measure of proof from our government that a particular war is "necessary and just," not the lowest. Final judgment over whether or not a war is just should never be left to governments. It should be left to the moral discernment of the global body of Christ.

Various

2008-05-13T20:24:00.002-05:00

Dang! I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. The new job was still brand new then. In fact, I think I was in Atlanta at the time. I'm in Chicago this week and back in Atlanta again next week. Quite a whirlwind, but not unmanageable.

We got some sobering news a couple of weeks ago at church. Our pastor of 15 years is leaving for a new job. He's going to be dean of the undergrad school at Midwest Seminary. It's a great gig for him. He's a teacher at heart and I'm sure he'll do well and be very happy. It leaves a big hole for us to fill, though. By all accounts it takes a year or better for a church the size of ours to select a new pastor. I'm interested and scared to see how it all develops. Good groundwork has been laid in the past couple of years that should help us avoid some of the explosivity that can come with this type of disruption. We have a lot of different-thinking groups within the church in terms of worship style, philosophy of ministry, opinions on small groups vs Sunday school, youth ministry, children's ministry, etc. It's easy to imagine these differences becoming very divisive in the absence of leadership at the top. The staff we have is great, but they will have their hands full keeping all of the plates spinning.

It's interesting that when I heard the news it never occured to me to hope for the job for myself. After all, as impossible as it would be for me to get (not enough letters behind my name--like MDiv or PhD), it still seems like something that would at least stir something; some desire. One thing it might do is give me a shot at one of the openings that currently exist on the staff, but those will likely be left for the new pastor to fill once he comes in next year. We'll see--very likely another long shot.

Sandi thinks I should be on the pastor search committee. I wouldn't mind it, but I don't think I have the right political ties within the church to land a spot. I probably don't have the right politics at all, come to think of it. It's a crapping shame that those kinds of things come into play within the church, but you have to be pretty stupid not to see that they exist. It makes me really tired sometimes, but I actually feel pretty relaxed with the role I play right now. I am disappointed that I haven't had any chances to speak or preach in a while. I've asked friends in various places to chat me up with churches or groups who might need a fill-in once in a while, but nothing has come of it. Folks are just busy, I guess.

Pray for peace.

Mike

New Job and other stuff

2008-04-29T19:08:00.003-05:00

I arrived in Atlanta yesterday to begin training for my new job which, coincidentally, began yesterday. The folks I've met so far have been great and I think I'm going to like the new company. I'll be doing a lot of traveling over the next few weeks as I continue to train and meet people. Next week I will fly to Miami and then drive back to STL in my company truck. It's a long trip, but I'm getting paid for it, plus picking up a sweet perk.

The family is well, but we're all ready for Spring to actually arrive and stick around for a while. It's been a lousy winter in the Midwest; which, combined with being back in the South is making me more homesick than ever.

I read today that Dr. Phil isn't quite what everybody thought he was and that all the tweeners' parents are up in arms because Miley Cyrus bared her back in a magazine photo. I have a small bit of advice for these folks (who are, by the way, representative of all the groups, people, fanatics who get pissed off when their creations turn out to be just like them--human): GET OVER IT! How can you possibly take yourselves that seriously (which, in case you didn't get the obvious inference, is way too seriously) when your frenzied attention and voyeuristic mania toward any celebrity drives the machine that leads to these things in the first place. How can you possibly expect other people--especially 15 year olds--to live up to ideals that you can't live up to. I don't claim that I can live up to them--never did. But I'm not the one beating my breast and rending my robes about stupid crap that doesn't matter--at least not right now. And I'll bet you my next 6 months salary that not one of you utters a word if Miley shows up in a photo in some teen mag that shows her hanging out with her pals in a two piece bathing suit (again, for those who have no grasp of the obvious, she would be showing a hell of a lot more skin than she did in the Vanity Fair pic). In fact, my guess is that most of you with daughters have bought them two piece suits, many of which leave very little to the imagination. It's all like some guy who builds a giant crap making machine and then gets mad as hell when he ends up with crap all over himself. How many folks who are so overwrought with Miley leave your kids at home unsupervised with a computer and a high speed internet connection (I'm not even going to explain that one to you. If you don't get that one it's hopeless).

I can't believe how angry this makes me. Get over yourselves. Stop idolizing human beings. Stop being freaked out and stupid when humans act like humans.

Aargh.

General Ramblings

2008-04-24T22:21:00.003-05:00

I've been doing a lot of work on my youngest's room while I'm off this week; not that you care, but I say that to say this. While I was working on it this morning my wife had the TV on in the other room and I could hear The View playing in the background. From the time the show signed on until the second commercial break, they were arguing about whether or not black people should vote for Obama because he's black or if black women (and women in general) should vote for Clinton because she's a woman, which would trump the race issue because they're more emotionally committed to the gender issue.

I keep trying to imagine a scenario that would make me care what they (or any other of the teaming hordes of pop culture figures out there today for that matter) think about politics. They may or may not be well informed and thoughtful. But if I cannot make up my own mind based on my own ability to reason and respond with any more efficiency than to require their input I believe that I will just not vote.

I also keep trying to figure out where in time our country became so ridiculously captivated by every little nuance of the lives of famous people. We and the pop culture media have robbed them of their lives and privacy and someone seems to have stolen our desire to be intellectually relevant; or to at least not be intellectually dormant. We have become a nation of stalkers who live vicariously through the lives of people who are often emotionally frail and, quite frankly, not all that crapping interesting outside of the fact that they got rich and famous.

Enjoy the people around you. Idolize the heroes in your community. Live your life, not someone else's.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Invitations

2008-04-22T09:07:00.002-05:00

I have a bit of a quandary that I've been pondering. We have simultaneous services at our church; one is live with the pastor and the other is broadcast closed circuit to another building on the church campus. The remote service has a live band on stage for worship and I act as host to facilitate the service. At the end of each service they have an 'invitation' at the live service and we stop the feed and do our own invitation live.

(I'll take a second in case you aren't familiar with the concept of the invitation at church to explain. After the sermon, the band/choir leads in congregational singing while the pastor invites those who are led and willing to come forward and be saved, accept Christ, be converted--whichever term you are comfortable with. Or you can come down and request membership or pray, etc.)

I'd like to ask anyone who reads this to let me know what you think about the concept. I think ours needs to change somehow--maybe radically; maybe even go away--but I'm not sure what needs to be done. If you have some ideas that you think would be cool, or maybe something you've seen done somewhere that seemed to work well please leave a comment and let me know. If it's going to be done it should be a time that evokes response. One thing that makes it hard is being away from the live sermon, but that may not be true either. Who knows? I'm just trying to get some dialogue going and see if we can figure something out. Becoming a follower of Christ is the most important decision anyone will ever make, and I would like to be able to figure out a way to help them take that step.

Post your comments and let's see what comes up.

Mike

Unemployed

2008-04-22T09:03:00.002-05:00

I am technically without a job as I wait for the new gig to become official. Having the week off is nice, though. And I've already got a travel schedule set for next week. It's very exciting to be embarking on something new again. It's been a while since I've had a big change like this and I'm ready for it.

You can check out the new company, UtilX, at their website.

Charter, Again

2008-04-22T08:59:00.002-05:00

We're back with Charter for internet again. Here's the stupid thing; I call on Friday and I'm hooked up on Monday--one business day for lead time. If they had done that in the first place we never would have canceled! And, I only wanted the internet service but it was $12 cheaper to buy internet and basic cable instead of internet alone. So now I have basic cable that isn't even hooked up to anything. Is it just me, or does that seem a little retarded?

A Call to Lament

2008-04-22T08:55:00.002-05:00

http://www.sojo.net/action/alerts/080307_paths_of_peace.html

Pray for peace.
Mike

AT&T Sucks Too

2008-04-18T23:33:00.003-05:00

A while back I was ranting about how mad we were at Charter for all the problems we were having with our internet connection, so we switched to AT&T. Bad move. Slow connection and I am pretty sure they have an entire department whose only job is to make it so difficult and burdensome to contact them about any kind of customer service issue that people will just get so pissed off waiting and wading through endless automated electronic menus that they will just hang up. Well, next week they will discover that I am more than patient enough to stay on there long enough to cancel their service. Phttbb.

By the way, what happened to calling up a business and talking to an actual person? I mean, who decided that the best way to deal with people was by not dealing with them? I called my doctor the other day and after 5 minutes of menu driven madness I was finally able to leave a message! Thank God I wasn't sick.

Is it possible to love gadgets but hate technology?

Mike

Clarity

2008-04-18T23:22:00.002-05:00

Ever have one of those moments when you actually recognize, however briefly and fleetingly, that you are very blessed? It's like the noise fades into the blackground and for a few seconds there's clarity. You realize that you have great kids who make you proud; that you love your wife; that you have good friends and that your faith is real. You are blessed. Store that moment away and bring it back later when it seems like everything is sucking. It's not a cure, but it helps.

China and the American Conscience

2008-04-15T23:24:00.002-05:00

This will seem very obscure and obtuse to many people, but there are some important questions that we need to ask about China that our government (read "big business interests") are not likely to ask. And the answers are not so black and white as many would suggest (as is often the case).

First, it's somewhat perplexing that several years ago the IOC (International Olympic Committee) chose to award the largest sustained spectacle on the world stage to a country that has a documented record of failure in terms of human rights. I think that perhaps part of the reasoning runs along the lines of applying pressure on the government to make positive changes because of the intensified public scrutiny that will, by definition, be applied as a result of being chosen. On the other hand, there is also the valid assertion that to award the Olympics to a country like China is tantamount to endorsing their behavior. I can see both sides and my allegiances are split between the two. I suspect that had I been given the power to decide, I would have given the games to another country (was Great Britain the other finalist?).

What's frustrating to me is the systemic commitment by the Chinese government to denying basic safety assurances to the workers producing the tens of millions of products that are shipped from there to the rest of the world each year--a huge percentage of which come to America. Our businesses close production facilities here (often after being coerced by WalMart--but that's a subject for a different post) and produce their products in China where workers make a few dollars a day and live in squalor. They're forced to work 12 or 16 hour shifts in factories with virtually no safety oversight. Broken bones and amputations are commonplace (e.g. one particular factory assembly line averages 40,000 broken or amputated fingers per year--that's just one factory). Several hundred thousand--yes, thousand--workers died there last year from exposure to poisonous chemicals and dusts in their workplace. Where oversight does exist, it is typically corrupt.

Not everyone--not even all businesses--ignores this. But those who don't (the businesses, I mean) only respond under pressure from consumers; not out of any real sense of ethical responsibility. Most of our businesses and the government as well (is there still a difference?) ignore the atrocities in favor of the profits. Lots of small and medium sized companies are forced into importing from China because they can't compete otherwise. As a result, good paying jobs in America, where safety and benefits are protected, are gone and we become increasingly dependent on a service based economy which will eventually consume itself (again, a subject for another post).

Sub-poverty wages, substandard housing, zero benefits, not just unsafe, but dangerous, working conditions, sixteen hour workdays--all these things are just another day in the life for millions of Chinese workers. Where is our outrage? It only exists when the danger spills over into our country in the form of tainted or dangerous products. Apparently, our safety is more valuable than theirs; our lives more worth saving.

Check out a good editorial on this subject at www.ishn.com.

I realize this is a break from my normal subject matter, but it is what I do for a living (as noted in my profile).

Pray for China and for peace.
Mike

Farewell to Friends (sort of)

2008-04-15T23:19:00.002-05:00

With only 3 days left at Ameren (my current employer), I want to say that, even though I am very excited about the new opportunity we are being given by UtilX, my time at Ameren has been great. I've made some incredible friends and have had opportunities to learn, grow and influence people and am a better human being for it. No company is perfect and I think they are still struggling to find their new identity in the 21st century, but I have no regrets and few complaints. I wish them all the best and will miss them.

New Job

2008-04-06T20:18:00.002-05:00

I got the phone call Friday from Seattle and they have offered me the job...woohoo! We took the weekend to think it over, but we had really already made up our minds about it. I'll be talking to the VP tomorrow to accept the position. We'll still be living in St. Louis, but I'll have to travel a bit. But when I'm not traveling I'll be working from home. I'm looking forward to the change. My current job is solid, but it's time to move on.

More later; just wanted to get that out there.

Mike

Troop Support

2008-04-02T00:55:00.004-05:00

I'm in Seattle for a couple of days and when I travel I like to catch the local news to see what people have going on in different parts of the country. You can tell a lot about what the people of a region think is important by what's communicated to them. One thing I've noticed that's common to most everywhere I've been is reports of local men and women who are killed in combat. Almost every place has been touched by our current war in some way and the local stories are important to people.

I try not to get too political on this forum, although I'm not sure why. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I want it to be an opportunity for dialogue (although I have no clue how many people might ever see any of it) and politics is a polarizing topic. We've made it something that mandates rigid choices and denies the opportunity for dialogue. That's a shame, really. Although I do talk a lot about faith and many people want that to be a polarizing topic as well; when what really seperates us is trying to talk about religion. They aren't the same thing.

Back to the war--and what I really want to say about it is also about faith (religion?). So many of the people that I interact with--at my church and at others--have this basic assumption that if you are someone who claims to be an evangelical Christian then you have to be a Republican and that in so doing you have to blindly support whatever comes from the party, and especially this administration (Bush). To them, anyone who does otherwise is not a patriot and just may not even be a Christian.

Here's a couple of clues for those folks. First, Jesus was a peacemaker and he made it a point to specifically tell us that peacemakers will be blessed. Does that mean that I am a pacifist or that I believe that the Bible teaches that all war is wrong? No. But I think we (humans, Christians) better be very careful about how we choose to enter into armed conflict and aggression and how we choose to support such acts. Augustine laid out some very Biblical tenets for evaluating whether or not such actions can be considered "just" and they are just as valid today as when he wrote them several hundred years ago. I'm not going to revisit the theology or the academic treatments of what he wrote, but if you're interested just Google 'Augustine just war criteria" and you'll have enough material to keep you busy for a while.

Part 2 is that our current involvement in Iraq does not meet Augustine's (or anyone else's) criteria for a 'just war'. Over 4000 of our men and women, many of them National Guard and Reserve soldiers, have died on foreign soil since the first attack. The reasons for us being there in no way minimizes their sacrifice. They do what they do in the name of their country, their families, democracy and, in many cases, their faith. I pray for them and their families often. Now that they are in this situation I understand that they need the full support of all of us--most of all their government (which, by the way, hasn't been very forthcoming; especially for the survivors, wounded or otherwise; what does that say about patriotism and motives?). What our being there should do, especially for Christians and especially under the circumstances (hidden agendas, lies, profiteering), is demand that we ask why. We should ask it again and again and again until we get a real answer and not a truck load of political BS and excuses.

If you read this and it pisses you off then do me a favor before you comment--read about just war, read about what happened leading up to our invasion and think about it for a while for yourself. Don't write and recite what your pastor or somebody else told you was the truth. Figure it out for yourself. If you still disagree with me--that's cool. Let's have a dialogue about it, not an argument. I've learned the hard way that I'm not always right, but I've also learned that it's OK for us to disagree and that we can talk about things and still be friends, still respect each other. And I've also learned that the church is not always right, even though getting it to admit such a thing is harder than juggling chain saws. If you don't believe me just read the post from last night about WBC in Topeka--especially what they say about why our troops are dying in Iraq. That's something you should really be pissed about.

Whether you are for the war or against it, I think we can all agree that peace is better. Pray for it and pray for our kids' safety while we wait for it.
Mike

We'll soon know

2008-04-02T00:42:00.002-05:00

One more interview to go and then it's just wait and see. I met with one of the regional managers and the VP today and will be meeting with the senior safety specialist tomorrow and then all I can do is wait to see if they offer me the job. Everything so far has been very positive and I'll be surprised if they don't offer it; then it's just a matter of agreeing on the terms--salary, vacation, benefits, etc. I don't foresee any problems with that part either.

It's kind of scary to be changing companies at this stage in my life--especially after being with my current employer for over 15 years. But, the opportunities with the new company will be much better, whether we're talking about finally being able to move back down South or being able to move up within the organization. It's very exciting; I'm even looking forward to the travel, especially since it will involve opportunities to go overseas--probably within the next year and a half to two years. They have operations in Australia, Japan, India, Korea, Europe...

Wow. Life can sure change in a hurry. God's always good, this is just one of those times when it's easier to celebrate what's going on.

Pray for Peace.
Mike

Lord, Help Us

2008-04-01T00:29:00.002-05:00

I've been hearing about the website for the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS. Their web address is 'Godhatesfags.com'. I finally visited the site because I had to see for myself if it was as bad as I had heard. Sadly, it was worse. It's no wonder people look at the church and see bad things. I don't think it's because the church is full of bad people, but the churches that seem to get the publicity--or, at least, the kind of publicity that most folks remember--are the ones that make God the saddest. In their own words they "insist that the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace be taught and expounded publicly to all men." Wow. How could they have any idea of what grace really is? Any so-called Christian who uses the word 'hate' in reference to another human being has never read any of the letters that John wrote because, according to John, as soon as you hate someone else you condemn yourself. You declare yourself to be a liar; someone who has no clue who God is. WBC even has links to other sites such as 'God Hates Canada', 'God Hates Sweden', 'God Hates Mexico', 'God Hates Ireland', 'God Hates America' and 'Priests Rape Boys'. WBC does not know God. And guess what? We still have to love the people of Westboro; no matter how much hate and venom they spew or how much they tarnish the church and, worse by far, the name of God. Man, Jesus was right when he said this wouldn't be easy.

Pray for WBC.
Mike

Internet Woes, etc.

2008-03-31T17:57:00.002-05:00

It's been another week and an half since I made a post because we still are between internet providers. I canceled Charter when they continued to screw up correcting our problem and call AT&T. And, of course, they started the relationship off by screwing up the switch-over. Hence, we were stuck waiting an extra week to get them hooked up; and the story isn't over yet because tomorrow is the day they are supposed to get it done...finally. It's even money with the Vegas bookies that it still won't be done. *&!*

I'm traveling today--currently sitting in the Salt Lake City airport waiting for a connecting flight that has, to this point, been delayed 2 hours. It was coming from Chicago and I guess the storm in the Midwest has everything screwed up. Although we did leave St. Louis right on time. I'm trying to get to Seattle for a couple of days of interviewing for a new job. I'll write more about it if I get it. No reason to bore anyone with details if it doesn't work out--I'll only bore you if it does work out.

I'm reading a book by Margaret Feinberg called The Organic God. I've gotten through 4 chapters and so far it's been great. I just finished a book by Dan Merchant called Lord, Save Us from Your Followers--it was excellent. I recommend both of them if you feel like there's something missing in how the church approaches non-believers and difficult social and ethical problems. In fact, I recommend them even more if you DON'T feel that way. We (the church) have to realize that the U.S. is the way it is in large part because we have created battle lines and demanded black and white choices be made when the issues don't support that kind of reaction.

One example is homosexuality. Now, I have no misunderstanding about what the Bible has to say on this subject. God considers it a sin. But he also considers adultery a sin, drunkenness, pornography, extra-marital sex, oppression, etc.--all things that are much more prevalent and, I believe, dangerous (because the people in our churches are just as guilty of these things as the people outside our churches). But we ignore the latter, refusing to preach on them except with rare exceptions and often refusing to discuss them. But we constantly hear sermons condemning homosexuals, churches post websites claiming to hate them, we condemn them to hell and refuse fellowship with them. Guess where Jesus would be spending time if he were here today? Yep...with the sinners, the sick, the lonely and outcast. Not because he approved of what they were doing but because he loves them and won't abandon them. The hypocrites get the boot and the sinners get the relationship.

I'm sure this won't be the last time I get off on this subject (it certainly isn't the first). In the meantime, pray for peace.

Mike

Charter Sucks

2008-03-21T13:29:00.002-05:00

This won't be a very long post, but I wanted to get something on here since it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. Why so long, you ask? Because Charter Communications has the absolute worst customer service process of any corporation with which I have dealt. The people with whom I spoke were nice, and it's likely not their fault that their company sucks--they've been set up for failure by the idiots who run the place. Anyway, I digress...our service went out and rather than the 24-48 hour return we were promised it's been over a week and still nothing...I cancelled the peckerwoods and we will be switching. In the meantime, I guess I'll be making periodic trips to local joints with free wi-fi.

Since my last post several things have happened. Liz went to and returned from NYC with her high school choir. Apparently they had a great time. She still loves NY and claims she wants to live there some day, but it was gratifying to see that she was also excited to be home.

Sandi and Becca left this morning for an overnighted to Springfield, IL. They took the train and they're going to visit the Lincoln Museum with a friend and her daughter.

I am in the final run-up to changing jobs again--only this time changing companies as well--scary but exciting. I should hear something early next week.

That's all for now; keep praying.
Peace
Mike

Special Day

2008-03-11T21:09:00.002-05:00

Sandi and I celebrated our 19th anniversary today. Amazing. It's not easy and it's not always fun; but it's worth it. I think that's what you have to keep your eyes on to have a marriage that lasts. We've had chances to give up on it, but that would be the easy way out. I love her and she loves me back (Lord only knows why). We enjoy the good times and love through the hard ones--we persist. I guess that's all pretty cheesy, and not terribly eloquent, but it's honest. Would we do it again? Yeah. And I guess that's the most important question...and answer.

And having God right in the middle of it all is the key.

Peace.

Fear and Loathing in STL

2008-03-09T17:05:00.002-05:00

Another one of those days marked by self-loathing. I don't have many of them, and thank goodness for that. I'm not very good at it.

I found out some more stuff today that just serves to convince me that I got the message wrong when I thought God was calling me to something more than volunteer service. The depression is wearing off. I'm not good at that either. I like to laugh too much; but it hurts beneath the surface. I imagine that 'this, too, shall pass'.

I was just thinking about a radio talk show that I was listening to the other day. Now, as a rule, I don't listen to talk radio, for a million reasons; most of which have to do with the unbridled rancor and crass attitudes of the hosts. But in a moment of weakness I paused on one of them long enough to be drawn in by the sheer lunacy of the topic--is Barak Obama the anti-christ? Obviously, it was a Christian themed station and the callers were (possibly) well-meaning souls desiring to express their concerns about someone who doesn't meet their criteria of a qualified candidate. (Holy crap...I kept a straight face almost all the way through that last sentence.) I just wish that for 10 minutes these ultra conservative types would pull their heads out of their behinds and look around at what's going on around them. In defense of the host, he seemed to be pretty fair-minded and didn't really believe that Obama was the devil's chosen, but he could have shut it all down and moved on.

Jesus gave us 2 things to do that would show the world who he is and how much we care about him and his teachings: love God and love each other. And then he even told us how to do that: take care of the people who can't take care of themselves. Feed the hungry; cloth the naked; support the poor--get them back on their feet; give drink to the thirsty; visit the prisoners. And, guess what...if we don't follow through on these instructions he's going to look us right in the eye and say that he doesn't know us. It will make him sad; he won't like doing it; but he's going to show us the door. Read it for yourself in Matthew. He told John to write in one of his letters that any one of us who claims to love God, but hates a fellow human being is a liar! We are so full of hate in the name of God that people are turning away from the church because of it. The souls that Jesus holds so dear are turning away from him because of what they see in the church.

While this isn't true of all Christians or all churches, the people who have the loudest voices in this country--who claim to represent us and God--are sending this message. I have a message for these guys: Stop pretending to speak for me! I don't need or want your help!

I read some cool things that Tony Campolo had to say about all of this in a book I'm reading right now. I'll try to reproduce some of it in a future post. Great insight into the true nature of what the church should be and what we should expect from our government.

If you think Obama or Clinton or McCain or anyone else in our God-forsaken political system is the anti-christ: please get into therapy.

Read the Beatitudes (in Luke) and resolve to be humble, merciful, makers of peace. God loves us all--even those of us who blow ourselves up in Jewish shopping malls. Our sin is his sadness. The mercy and grace of the cross are our only claims to who he created us to be.

Mike

What color is envy?

2008-03-08T22:34:00.000-06:00

I guess one of the harder lessons in life is how to deal with friends' success. And maybe it's especially harder if it's a faith lesson to boot. Maybe that comment needs a little background.

I have several friends who were just out there doing life, with regular jobs and all the regular stuff that goes along with that. About the same time (relatively speaking--like, within a couple of years of each other) we all were called into ministry--in a vocational sense. Of the 5 of us, 4 made the transition relatively quickly; in a way that made it almost seem easy, although nothing like that ever really is easy. But offers from churches came pretty soon after they started to seek an opportunity. In fact, in 3 out of the 4 the offer came from our church (we all attended the same place); and the one who didn't get his start at our church is now back there. (Worth noting is that 2 of the others who started at our church are now on to other churches--their choice; not kicked out or anything.) It should be obvious by now that I'm the one that didn't get the ministry job.

They are all still friends of mine and I'm glad they are. They are great guys; committed to God and to his ministry and very good at what they do. I guess what's hard for me is when some of us are together and they talk about all the stuff that's going on for them and comparing notes on ministry strategy and logistics, etc. I really feel like an outsider. Now I know that that is my problem and not theirs. And I know they don't intend to make me feel that way; but it's hard nonetheless. I make a very honest effort not to be jealous but it creeps in. And there are always the feelings of self-doubt. Have I lived in some way that makes me less worthy? Am I not doing enough to impress God (as if any of us can do a crapping thing that will impress God)? Did I completely misread what I thought was a calling?

More self-pity? I guess--don't know for sure. I suppose some of it has to be. The real point, ultimately, is that I'm through waiting and hoping; especially on our current church. If they, or God, don't want me on the staff then that's fine. I have a shot at a new job and if it pans out maybe we'll be moving back down south in a couple of years (Lord knows I'm sick of living in the Midwest). If God throws something my way in the mean time then he does. If not, screw it. I have a good job and a great family. We have good friends and a place to serve. It's not perfect, but none of them are--nor will they ever be. I'll keep plowing through the anger and bitterness and just try to keep it all real. It all boils down to the fact that, no matter what we do or how holy we might think we are, none of us are worthy of what Christ did for us. We just have to love him as much as we can and keep trying to live the best life we can.

Pray for peace and pray for the poor.
Mike

Ch,ch,ch, changes

2008-03-07T22:54:00.000-06:00

Well, tonight was Infusion for the middle schoolers; pretty good fun. The theme was Thrift Store Fashion Show. Some of the kids had some pretty funny get-ups. Mine wasn't bad either--sort of a south Florida retirement village sort of thing. It's fun to watch Josh with the kids now that he's back. He really connects with them. He's got a great gift for the kind of story telling they really engage in.

Liz had auditions for Les Miserables this week. Call-backs were this afternoon so she won't know if she got the part or not until tomorrow--fingers crossed for her.

The job thing is getting kind of interesting for me. I got an email early this week from a company based out of Washington (state) that is looking for a safety supervisor in the Midwest. They treat underground cables with an injection system that extends the life of the cable by about 20 years. They have crews all over the country, and even internationally. It will be a significant change for us because I'll have to travel a pretty good bit. But there's a company car and good benefits--as good or better than I have now--and the same or better salary. The details have yet to be worked out; one big one being that they haven't offered me the job yet, but I'll be very surprised if they don't. Sandi's cool with the change so if they come up with the right offer I'll probably take it, although there's still some trepidation associated with it. After all, I've been where I am now for over 15 years so there's a lot of security in that. But I guess security has never been my highest priority. Plus, they have operations in the deep south so we might get lucky and be able to transfer down there one of these days--fingers crossed.

2008-02-23T23:35:00.000-06:00

Well, we got our tax refund this week; that's always nice--not a bad one this year. Of course, it never lasts long. There's plenty of bills that need to be paid with it. Maybe there'll be a little left for fun stuff.

I'm sick and tired of stupid winter and totally ready to move back down south. You'd think that since I don't have to work outside in it any more that it wouldn't bother me so much, but just the opposite seems to be true. And this winter seems worse than most of the recent ones. It's probably just because I have to drive so much farther in it that it bugs me so much. There's another batch of snow and crap coming through tonight and tomorrow. The girls were out of school Thur. and Fri. this past week. And I haven't hit a golf ball since early November; that really sucks. Especially since we didn't get to make our trip home for Christmas. I was planning on playing a bunch then. Oh, well...maybe we won't be trapped in the Midwest forever.

I'm starting to wonder if I totally misread the calling that I thought God gave me (not to totally change the subject or anything). It seems like I've been waiting forever for God to hook me up with a full time ministry job and nothing's happened. And I haven't just been sitting on my hands. I've applied at places and talked to people. I try to bide my time patiently and keep everything in perspective, but my age is becoming a factor as well. My current career is a good one, but I need/want to do some additional things--more education, for instance--to enhance it, but I don't want to invest a lot of money and time in it only to have to stop mid-stream and change course if God sees fit to hook me up. It's really very frustrating. I've tried to get something going at our current church, but that's a slow-moving vessel if ever there was one. And I also recently sent a resume to a church in northwest Florida, but they haven't even acknowledged that they received it. I have the skills and the intellect, but I can't get the opportunity. Did I mention that it's frustrating?

At least we know that the coming of Spring is inevitable. It will arrive and with it will come not only new life, but renewed spirit and hope. Winter is down time in more ways than one. Hey, at least we don't live in Seattle ('cause it rains so much--not because it's a bad place; I actually kind of liked it the only time I visited).

Pray for me that I'll stop being so whiny...and pray for peace. God knows we need it.
Mike

Valentine's Day

2008-02-17T23:47:00.000-06:00

Well, another manufactured holiday has come and gone. One cool thing that happened was that our friends Josh and Erin had their baby (I almost said 'new' baby, but they are pretty much all new by definition, aren't they?). It is a little girl--Brooklyn. Congrats to them; now Noah and Anna have their little sister.

Sandi's about over her bout with whatever she had. The doc said it wasn't the flu, but something else that's been going around. She still has the cough, but is feeling much better otherwise. Apparently she gave me a touch of it which kept me pretty much under wraps for the weekend. I ended up missing Wired (our weekend winter youth event) because of it; and also missed church this morning. It seems to be winding down--maybe the whole long weekend won't be wasted.

I ran into my old pal Aaron at the Realm Wed. night. It was good to see him again. Hopefully he and I can get together soon and play a bit (music--nothing weird). He's a talented young guy. Liz is supposed to sing with his band some soon. They do worship music for the high school on Wed. nights. I think he's also going to start doing some stuff for the college ministry; which is where I'll be serving after May. I'm looking forward to the transition. I headed up that ministry about 3 years ago; right before we left for Bethesda and the church plant. I love the middle school kids, but it's time for me to move to something else. I even sent a resume to a church in Pace that's looking for a pastor. It'll be interesting to see what God does with that one. Probably a 'Dear Mike' letter, but what the heck.

Pray for peace.
Mike

2008-02-09T13:10:00.001-06:00

Since this is my first post since the Super Bowl just let me say HOW BOUT DEM GIANTS!

What a game. I was among the many who didn't really give them a chance, but secretly hoped for the miracle. Congrats to Ely and the whole team. I do, however, have to give props to the Pats for being very classy in defeat. Even though I don't like them, they handled everything graciously, giving the Giants full credit for beating them; not whining or making excuses.

Our friends, Mike and Amy, had their baby on 1-31; a little girl named Payton. Yea for them! They are going to be great parents. I'm excited that we will get to see them all in a few weeks.

I only have 3 weeks left before I start my 'new' job...actually the same job at a new plant. But it will get me closer to home and--best of all--it keeps me off the interstates and out of the traffic. It took me almost 2 hours the other day to get home when it should never be more than a 45 minutes drive. Hard to stay sane and calm when that happens. (Find your happy place)

I have also gotten calls from 3 different recruiters over the past couple of weeks. Not sure what that means, but it's interesting that it has happened during a time when Sandi and I are really looking at our options for moving back down south. We'll see what happens.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Response to Sky Angel

2008-01-30T20:43:00.000-06:00

In response to my recent mini rant about Christian programming I had a comment from someone who is concerned that I am misinformed about Sky Angel and that I treated them unfairly. The contents of that response are below.

Dear Mike,
First of all, there isn't such a thing as the "Sky Angel Network" or channel. Sky Angel is a television service carrying many channels of faith and family programming. It appears you think it's an actual channel. I have Sky Angel, and it's not all preaching. There are kids channels and teen channels, music channels, documentaries, and, yes, even news from a Christian perspective. So before you criticize something, you should really know what you are criticizing.

I appreciate the rebuttal and I understand that there are many who enjoy the programming. However, I also understand that Sky Angel is a satellite service that has 3 channels that they sponsor themselves (only one of which they produce themselves--kids programming) and many others that they purchase the rights to broadcast (such as Discovery Kids). I appreciate also that they are trying to provide a family friendly alternative by selecting channels to broadcast that do not have the violence and suggestive content that are typical.

However, the 2 channels that they offer that I receive on Dish Network (Angel 1 and EWTN) are typical of what I described in my previous post and lack what I would consider to be content that is relevant to the world that most people live in. I believe with all my heart that we as Christians are capable of creativity that rivals any we see on other networks and that we can do it without compromising the message that we all carry. I do not believe that what we are putting out there now lives up to that. We can do better.

Pray for Peace.
Mike

2008-01-28T21:24:00.000-06:00

Well, Becca got Liz's flu. I guess it will just travel through the whole bunch of us. Yuck.

Work has settled down a little bit since I'm not running all of the place working on the Kickoff. But there's no breathing room. We started an audit today that will run 2 more days and I'll have to start training the whole plant on hazard recognition next week.

I've been going to Sunday night services for about 4 weeks now; since David started his recent split time sermon series. I'll probably keep going once that's over with. I forgot that I kind of enjoy it--except the hymns are kind of tough; they're never in my voice range.

I wish I could get a chance to speak once in a while on a Sunday morning. That's what I really miss about having my own church. I've tried to put some feelers out there, but to no avail so far. If you know of something, leave me a comment.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Family, Work

2008-01-27T00:08:00.000-06:00

Liz came home sick from school yesterday with a headache, fever and cough. We took her to the doctor today and it turns out she has the flu. Tough break for her--she feels like crap. Hopefully it will clear up soon, but the doc says it will likely take about a week.

Work is still hectic. We finally got the safety kickoffs over with--they were great, by the way--but now I have an audit to do, tons of training to do, a procedure to implement and I have to get everything ready to transition to the new person who will be hired to take my place when I move to my new plant location. And it all has to be finished by the end of February. Whew.

Sandi and Becca are doing pretty good. Becca always seems to be happy and Sandi is staying busy with work and church stuff...especially now that the Chrysalis is getting started up. I'm not nearly as busy at church as I was now that Josh is here. I'm not splitting any speaking time on Sunday mornings; and Luke is doing all the music. I'm still hosting Sunday mornings at the Realm, but a lot of the hectic is gone from my middle school stuff. Since I'm not doing 8th grade there's not even any Crucible stuff for me to do. And that's all fine, considering how busy things are at work.

My sister called a couple of days ago to tell me that there's a church down in Pace that's searching for a pastor. I'm going to get in touch with them next week and send a resume. Hey, maybe God's finally decided that I'm ready; then again, maybe not. I've finally given up on trying to figure that out. It keeps my frustration level much lower.

Peace, out.

SkyAngel?

2008-01-26T23:22:00.000-06:00

I'm watching the Sky Angel network (don't ask why) and started wondering about some things. I'm wondering what it is we are trying to accomplish with the shows that we put out there for public consumption. (When I say 'we' I mean Christians. Even when we don't want to be we are all pretty much lumped together by the people who aren't Christians.)

If you go down the programing list for this network and the others like it they are pretty much the same. About 22 or 23 hours out of each day are devoted to preaching shows, some sort of so-called news/discussion shows, shows about ministries, etc. The other 1 or 2 hours might be devoted to some kind of contemporary music or extreme sports and they are always on late at night; very obscure. And during Christmas and Easter you will see movies about Bible stories. Now I understand that this description is slightly oversimplified, but not much. They spend tons of money (that they are constantly asking us for) to put stuff out there that even most Christians aren't going to watch very often. What's the point? And so many of the people come off as pompous and judgmental.

There are many, many Christians who are massively creative and capable of developing stuff that people would really watch (all people; not just uber conservatives). Then there might be a chance to reach an audience besides the first 10 rows on Sunday morning. We cry and moan about our shrinking sphere of influence (or at least we should) and then we do everything we can to make sure it can't grow.

Christian TV---pull your heads out of the sand (or wherever you have it stuck) and think like real people for a while. You can get the message out there without the bad hair, archaic language and preachers in expensive suits. The U.S. demographic passed you by decades ago. Help us. Help yourself. Help the cause. Join us in the 21st century--please. Hire some commentators who will look at the world in terms of the social responsibility and justice that Jesus taught his entire ministry. Cover stories like Darfur and Congo so that people get the real story. Talk about the thousands of civilian casualties in Iraq. I bet you a Thompson Chain Reference Bible that Jesus doesn't think of them as collateral damage. Talk about homelessness and uninsured children in America and how our government should be responsible to its people instead of its corporations.

Here's a question you should be asking yourselves--what shows do your kids watch when they get home from school. Unless you force them to watch the lame crap on your network, they are watching Disney or Nickelodeon, I bet. Ever think of doing something along that line? And here's a thought; I bet there are some smart and creative writers and producers out there who could work a good message into a show that's also funny and smart that adolescents would actually watch. How about an entertaining drama that wrestles with moral ambiguity from the perspective of people who understand that there is ultimately a right and a wrong--that God really exists--but also understand that every single issue cannot be solved with cliches and catch-phrases from the conservative handbook?

Guess what? Christians who actually take seriously the call to be relevant to the world they live in aren't going to watch rich pastors in thousand dollar suits sit in gilded thrones and pontificate on issues that they obviously haven't bothered to fully educate themselves about. I am sick of it and I'm calling you out.

Oh, what's the use. You'll never read this and if you did you'd probably just started piling up rocks (think about it).

For anyone else who might see this--let's pray for peace and keep trying to love people like Jesus did.

Mike

Well, crap...

2008-01-21T11:06:00.000-06:00

This is one of those times it doesn't pay to be a Packer fan or a Patriot detractor. I guess I'll just TIVO the Super Bowl so I can go back and watch the commercials. Bad time to have a mediocre game, Brett. We'll always love ya, though.

Go Giants.

Pray for Peace.
Mike

Just Stuff

2008-01-19T16:47:00.000-06:00

Tons of stuff going on these days but not a lot worth writing about...'course that's kind of the point sometime; just to put stuff out there whether it's worthwhile or not.

I am transferring to a new work site. I'll be doing the same thing (safety) with the same company, just at a new plant. It will be a good bit closer to home so maybe I won't be homocidal by the time I get here every evening. I hated leaving my old plant because I've made lots of good friends there. But this might be the only chance I get to be this close to home so I figured I had better take advantage of it.

Anybody else sick of the presidential race yet? Only 9.5 months to go!

2 big football games on tomorrow. I can't watch the Chargers game, though. It will make me too mad when the Pats win and I don't need that kind of aggravation.

Go Pack!
Pray for Peace.

Football, mostly

2008-01-13T21:37:00.000-06:00

OK...I think it's time to just admit that the SEC rocks college football like Einstein rocked physics and Liz Taylor rocked husbands. I mean seriously; did Ohio State even show up for the LSU game? At 7-2 for the bowl 'season' the SEC schools showed again why there are really only 2 football conferences in Division I-A; although the Big 12 certainly had an off year in bowl games. Goes to show you why a so-called powerhouse like FSU would tuck its tail and run to the ACC when it started looking for conference money. Kudos to Mizzoo, however. They hammered an Arkansas team that handed LSU one of its 2 losses (both to conference teams and both in OT). The biggest disappointment in the bowl games was OU (sorry Chappy). How the heck do they get man-handled by a Big East team? By the way, college football needs a playoff system bad. BCS must stand for Big College Stupidity.

Turning briefly to the NFL, I have to admit that, in spite of my extreme dislike for the Patriots organization, they have one good football team. I hated seeing them go undefeated in the regular season and I just pray that the Chargers can pull off the miracle and keep them out of the Super Bowl. On the bright side, Dallas is out and my Packers are playing like wildmen. Watch out for the Giants, boys, they're on a tear. But as long as the hogs keep their front four off of Brett, he'll pick 'em to pieces. Cheeseheads of the world unite. Let's send BF into retirement with one more Stud Bowl win and a big honkin' ring. Won't be a dry eye in the house.

Roll Tide and Go Pack Go.

Responsibility

2008-01-06T01:14:00.000-06:00

Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.

Romans 15:1

What Would Jesus Do?

2007-12-30T02:50:00.000-06:00

We ask that question a lot and I'm afraid that many times it's pretty self-serving. If we're willing to be honest we would probably all have to say that most of the time we don't know. And, if we're still being honest, we would also have to say that most of the time it wouldn't be what we do. I'm sure that some of the time we get it right, but the problem is when we start thinking that all of the time we get it right.

I look at our churches and I see people that really love each other; and I see people that don't. When I look at other people and see myself I tend to be much more tolerant of the things they do that don't measure up (to what? my standard? God's standard?). I think God looks at all of us like that. He sees each of us in each of us. He sees the people who really piss us off the same way he sees us. He looks at Christians in our sin and sees Jesus. He looks at people who haven't accepted him and he wants to see Jesus. I think we tend to look at each other and never see Jesus. And, sadly, we look at ourselves and never see Jesus. (Except for the really self-righteous people and I probably shouldn't get started on that; I'd give myself away. God sees them a lot differently than I do; and that's on me, not him.)

There's a lot of spiritual searching in this country right now, but it's so mis-directed. Somewhere along the way we (the church) lost the right to be the guide. We started hiding inside our sanctuaries and our catch phrases and locked everybody else out. We started thinking that what Jesus would do was somehow related to our inward-focused fear of the world and forgot that he never passed up a chance to eat with the sinners and hang out with the prostitutes and tax collectors. Any time he got a chance to stick it to the self-righteous he nailed them. Man did he make them squirm.

Maybe we should be looking at the things that make us squirm and wondering if we missed something along the way.

God, I know people who really, really do great things for people and nobody really knows about it but the ones they help. They love people because they love God. They look at other people and see themselves. They look at other people and see Jesus. Instead of looking at someone and saying, "There but for the grace of God go I"; they look at them and say, "There because of the grace of God I can love". I think that's what Jesus would do.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Ten Lessons for Understanding and Surviving War--Especially for People of Faith

2007-12-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

The following 10 points were put forth by Jim Wallis shortly after the war with Iraq began and are included in his book, God's Politics, on pages 120-123. If these things make you mad because you think Bush is infallible then I recommend you read the whole book. If you are still mad for the same reason, I suggest you read the Gospels--pay special attention to the red parts. If you will read them with an open mind you will see that they have proven to be quite prophetic.

1. Nobody should be surprised that a vastly superior American fighting force will vanquish a vastly inferior Iraqi army. But one of America's worst characteristics is hoping that success wipes away all the moral questions. In the long run, it won't. War is always ugly, and this one was too.

2. There are many more civilian casualties in modern warfare than military casualties. Smart bombs are never as perfect as boasted, and not all Iraqis may want to be "liberated" by an American occupation. Above all, we must remember that "collateral damage" is never collateral to the families and loved ones of those killed in war. Don't accept the first reports on casualties from governments (on either side) or "embedded" journalists--many of whom now sound more like cheerleaders than reporters. Be sure that technology does not ultimately usurp theology or morality. Find alternative sources for information. Watch and wait for the real story.

3. Humanitarian aid must never be co-opted by the military. Instead it is the painful task to be taken on after the destruction caused by war. Many predict that the aftermath of this war could be far more dangerous and costly, in human terms, than the military campaign. Listen to the non-governmental relief organizations as we move forward.

4. If an evil, dangerous and unpopular regime does collapse quickly, that is not an endorsement of war as the answer, but a sign that a better way to resolve the threat might well have been possible. The best wisdom of most church leaders, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and a majority of international political figures and diplomats around the world was that alternatives to a full-scale military assault on Iraq were not adequately tested. This was not a war of last resort.

5. A preemptive war of choice, rather than of necessity, fought against over-whelming world opinion and without approval by the United Nations, will not create an atmosphere of cooperation for postwar reconstruction or, most significantly, for the crucial international collaboration needed to defeat the real threats of terrorism.

6. A new world order based on unilateral rather than multilateral action, military power rather than international law, and the sole decisions of the world's last remaining superpower over the deliberations of the community of nations will not create a framework the world can or should trust for peace.

7. Unresolved injustice--such as the Israeli-Pakistanian conflict, feudal Arab regimes protected by oil and globalization policies that systematically give advantage to wealthy nations over poor countries and people--remains a root cause of violence and will not be overcome by the imposition of American military superiority.

8. Dissent in a time of war is not only Christian, it is also patriotic. A long and honorable record of opposition to war in church tradition and American history puts dissent in the mainstream of Christian life and American citizenship. Rather than acquiesce to war, prayerful and thoughtful dissent is more important than ever.

9. The churches have demonstrated the most remarkable unity in our history in opposition to war, even before the war with Iraq started. The American churches didn't just say not to war, but offered compelling and credible alternatives. These alternatives were seriously considered by many political leaders around the world, but not by our own government. An American president who increasingly uses the language of Christian faith refused even to meet with American church leaders for discussion and prayer as he made momentous decisions to go to war. The American churches are now in deep solidarity with the worldwide body of Christ and may have to choose between their Christian alliances and the demands and policies of their own government. We must learn to be Christians first and Americans second.

10. The onset of war with Iraq does not demonstrate the failure of the peace movement, but rather the failure of democracy. Tens of millions of people around the world have become engaged in active citizenship against the policies of preemptive war for resolving the greatest threats to peace and security. It is time to build on that movement, rather than withdraw from collective action. We must learn the differences between grief and despair, between lamenting and languishing, between hope and hostility. We are stronger now, not weaker. Our action has just begun.

T-shirts

2007-12-27T19:15:00.000-06:00

T-shirts (What We Should Be Known For)
by Derek Webb

They'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they'll know us by the way we point and stare
at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare

they’ll know us by our picket lines and signs
they’ll know us by the pride we hide behind
like anyone on earth is living right
and isn’t that why Jesus died
not to make us think we’re right

when love, love, love
is what we should be known for
love, love, love
it’s the how and it’s the why
we live and breathe and we die

they’ll know us by reasons we divide
and how we can’t seem to unify
because we’ve gotta sing songs a certain style
or we’ll walk right down that aisle
and just leave ‘em all behind

they’ll know us by the billboards that we make
just turning God’s words to cheap clichés
says “what part of murder don’t you understand?”
but we hate our fellow man
and point a finger at his grave

when love, love, love
is what we should be known for
love, love, love
it’s the how and it’s the why
we live and breathe and we die

they'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
they'll know us by the way we point and stare
telling ‘em their sins are worse than ours
thinking we can hide our scars
beneath these t-shirts that we wear

Psalm 140

2007-12-24T13:22:00.000-06:00

I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor
And upholds the cause of the needy.
Surely the righteous will praise your name
And the upright will live before you.

Ps 140:12-13

Introspect

2007-12-24T03:06:00.000-06:00

Christmas in one day...a normal time to be introspective? Perhaps. What happens when we realize that we will not be the man we always imagined ourselves as? Ever. What do we do when we suddenly see into the past and remember who we always thought we would be with the understanding that that's not who we are? And not the man we saw as children; the hero who scores the winning touchdown, or hits the homerun in the bottom of the ninth, or rescues the girl, or any of the other winsom tales of childhood or adolescence. I'm talking about the person we started to see glimpses of as a teenager; the bits and pieces of ourselves that we began to construct as we got older, became young adults. The person we aspired to be who would lead people and be admired. There were things in the people we looked up to that we assigned to our future selves; things that we knew were good in them so we kept them for ourselves as well. There was a man at the end of that tale who knew himself, didn't doubt, lacked weakness or fear. He always did what was right, always knew what was right.

The greatest danger of that realization is the loss of hope. We can reach that point and succumb to a feeling of utter failure. We can stop trying; give up; give in to the fear of our own insignificance. We forget--

We forget that the dream is never the same as the reality. We forget that we are created not for ourselves but for God; in his image and for his purpose and that will never be bad nor a failure so long as we do not stop reaching for the dream that he has for us. Every decision we make is a chance to stay on that path or to return to it. Whatever point we have reached is that starting place for the next part of our journey. We can continue to have courage in spite of our fear, only striving to be more courageous. We can continue to try and live with integrity and strive to be more honest. Even good fathers can become better fathers; even good husbands can be better husbands.

Anonymity is a human fallacy; a creation of the ego, born of fear and loneliness; bitterness and low self esteem. We are never--we cannot be--anonymous to God. Our value in his eyes is boundless and equal to every other human being who has ever existed on this planet, save one. And that one was his Son; and it's because of him that our value to God persists.

If no other person ever applauds your efforts or recognizes your accomplishments God remains steadfast in his celebration of who you are; who I am; who we all are.

His love gives us endless worth. Our love connects us to him. And to each other.

Unto us this day a child was born. Through him are extended God's tidings of peace and good will toward men.

We have worth because we are loved. Pray for peace--be the instrument of it, even if it's just to your family.
Mike

I hate snow

2007-12-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

Sandi and I went to the management Christmas party last night. It was at Charlie Gitto's at Harrah's. Lot's of fun and great food. We left early to keep Bec from being alone too long. Then I went to Brad's bachelor shindig--not a lot of people, but we had a good time. I think those guys spent the night, but I came home about 1 AM to try and get some rest. It's been a long week. The snow had started by then. I hate snow.

I have yet to find a snow shovel that doesn't suck. And by that I don't mean to suggest that shoveling snow might ever not suck, but that it would still be nice to find a shovel that would actually get the snow off the driveway and not poke me in the gut every 8 seconds. And then, of course, once you get the stupid snow off the driveway then it just snows some more and covers it right back up. And don't get me started about whoever it is who plows our street. Definitely a short bus reject or an escapee from a mental ward. One pass; sometimes the blades down; sometimes maybe it's not. Maybe he'll clean the middle, maybe the left side, maybe the right. The biggest problem is that the city doesn't plow the streets in our subdivision. The developer, who must have been equally retarded, decided he would set up it as private snow removal so we have to pay even more ridiculous subdivision fees so that our neighborhood council, or whatever it's called, can hire the cheapest guy they can find.

I hate snow.

2007-12-13T22:44:00.000-06:00

I seem to be taking longer between posts lately...just a busy season I guess. Things are crazy at work and pretty busy on the home front too. At least I have a vacation coming up; but, sadly, not until after next week. And what really sucks is that I have to go to Keokuk, IA on Friday. I know--who the heck goes to Keokuk?

We were planning to take a trip home (down South where it's warm and nice and comfy) for Christmas but decided to stay in STL. The more I see of the weather forecast, the more I wish we hadn't changed our minds. I think the kids are excited to stay here and be with their friends for the holidays.

Major League Baseball released the "Mitchell Report" today about steroids in baseball. It's a pretty sad commentary about what we value in this country when the biggest story in the nation is about how a retired congressman took over a year and a half to figure out what we all already knew anyway: that a bunch of millionaires who play a kids' game for a living succumbed to the temptation to enhance their performance so they could make more money--duh. And any owner who acts the least bit shocked--especially the one who is the so-called commissioner--should be punched right in the face. Every single one of them turned a blind eye because every homerun, every strikeout, every exciting thing that happened in their ballpark put more money in their pockets--risk to the players and moral turpitude be damned.

Darfur is still in the midst of genocide, thousands of children die every day for lack of so basic a need as clean drinking water, good jobs are exported to countries where workers make a few dollars a month and live in squaller so that our millionaires can get richer and we talk incessantly about whether the steroid 'scandal' will damage baseball's fan base or whether or not our movie stars will attend the Golden Globes if the writers' strike doesn't end. I love our country, but sometimes it makes me sad.

Pray for peace.
Mike

Jealous

2007-12-08T14:59:00.000-06:00

I read an article in Relevant today that kind of put me in a weird temper. It was by a guy named A. J. Jacobs and it was about how he spent a year trying to live by the exact laws and teachings of the Bible. The article was actually several excerpts from the book he wrote about the experience and some commentary that was added for the magazine. I enjoyed the article and was intrigued by how Jacob's (a self-proclaimed non-devout Jew) life was changed by the experience. But as I read about how he spent time with various Christian and Jewish groups and traveled to Israel it occurred to me that this was yet another type of experience that very few readers could ever hope to duplicate because of the expense and the time commitment. How many of us can take a few weeks here and there to be off work and travel around the country or the world?

This brought me to another conclusion; I'm often jealous of the authors of the articles and books that I read. They have these great experiences and meet all these cool people and spend their lives doing ministry and writing books and speaking at conferences--all stuff that I wish I could do. I don't want to be jealous. I don't want to envy them. I don't want to be angry that they have what I want. It just all kind of pops out there sometimes.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't obsess about these people or waste my life wishing and wanting. I still do ministry in the ways that I can and study and write and speak whenever the opportunity is there. But I do it around all of the fiscal and temporal constraints that most of us have--jobs, kids, school activities, spouses, etc. I suppose my greatest frustration is that I know many people in the same situation and we think very deeply about our faith, see Christ work miracles in the lives of our friends and neighbors--but it's not really what people think of as a great adventure, is it? It ends up being quite anonymous and, often, thankless. It must be my human-ness that makes me want someone to make a big deal over it; that makes me want to be in front of a crowd of rapt listeners, hanging on my every word; that says, "Hey, I could write an article that good. My insights are as good as his.".

How do we reconcile these feelings with Jesus' call for humility? How can we read about Jesus healing a blind man and making him promise not to tell anyone who did it and then be angry that we can't be famous for serving God? I wish I knew. I think that if we remember to love people--really love them, like Jesus said to--then the other desires become secondary. For some they probably go away altogether; not for me. I have had times over the years when I was so totally immersed in serving and ministering that all the other desires were nonexistent, but those times have been rare and fleeting.

Is this my cross to bear; is this a sign that my faith is too meager; does God look at me with disappointment because of it? More questions that I can't answer. It makes me sad and a bit melancholy. Some would say, Read you Bible more; others, Pray more; and still others, Suck it up you big baby, quit whining. Maybe they would all be right in their own way.

Jesus said to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love other people as much as you love your self. It's a progression; one leads to the other. That's what I try to do and I succeed more than I fail at it. And I think it's the key. No matter what I feel about myself or other people I always come back to this. Whatever else we study in the Bible, it always comes back to this. Jesus knew that if we took these two things to heart and strove to do them, none of the other information was even necessary. If we love God completely, it's going to be pretty hard to screw the rest of it up. So long as I end up back in this place, my adventure continues. God wrote it for me and I'll be famous for it in heaven; and that's where it counts.

Pray for me.
Love me back.
Mike

2007-12-08T14:39:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted. It's been crazy busy both at work and at home; plus our internet was out for a couple of days when we switched from cable to dish. The guy doing the install disconnected our high speed cable by accident and we didn't realize it until he was gone. Then it took a couple of days for him to be able to come back and fix it. What's weird is how disconnected it made us feel to be without our email and Facebook and all of that stuff. It's a little embarrassing to realize where our priorities lie. The world's going to hell in VW Microbus and we're freaked out because our high speed access is down. I'm not even sure I still remember how to use dial up.

Last night was full of activity. The plant employee Christmas party was right after work in Arnold. I had to leave it early to get home and get ready to go to Sandi's office Christmas party out in New Town. And we missed the Infusion Christmas Karaoke Night at the Realm altogether. I'm disappointed about that because I bet it was funny. I haven't talked to anybody yet to see how my boys did in the contest.

Sandi and I have been very lazy so far today. She's worked on decorations a little and I've pretty much just laid around and read Relevant magazine. Becca spent the night with a friend last night and Liz had a friend over here. Now Becca's home and Liz left. Oh well, I guess that's what cold, rainy December Saturday's are for.

Joy and peace for your family.
Mike

2007-12-02T09:35:00.001-06:00

Sunday A.M. and it's the first Sunday I've missed since I started hosting the Realm service last July. Guess I picked up a touch of the Montezuma's Revenge or something. Anyway, I'll be hanging at home today.

We went over to the Morrises' last night (completely unrelated to the current situation, of course) and played some games and kind of watched the Mizzou game. That was sad. They seemed to be pretty nervous and I think they got out coached. We had a great time...the McLauries were there and so were Gary and Connie.

Started putting up Christmas decorations yesterday, since we'll be staying here this year instead of making the trip home. Becca pretty much did the whole tree once we got it put up and got the lights working. I spent a good bit of time running around looking for pizza sauce--don't ask.

There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Cor. 13:13)

2007-11-29T23:12:00.000-06:00

Hard to believe it's already been four days since my last post. Our lives are always busy, but they always get busier as the holidays approach. And work is getting more intense all the time. As I'm sure is true with many others, the pay raises never keep pace with the workload or responsibility. I'm in Peoria tonight (how exciting is that?) at the midpoint of a 2 day whirlwind tour of some of our plants in Illinois. It's cool to see the plants and meet new people, but I'd rather be home. What especially sucks is that the Packers and Cowboys are playing tonight and the greed-sucking NFL decided to only broadcast the game on their network. I hope they choke on it (but I'm not bitter).

Liz's choir had the first of two consecutive nights of fundraising tonight. They are presenting a dessert concert that includes group and solo performances as they serve homemade desserts to patrons. There's also a silent auction and some other stuff. They will be going to New York during Spring Break to perform in a national competition and need cash to finance the trip. Pretty fancy stuff--they're really quite good (obviously).

I finished up my series on the attributes of Jesus Sunday. This week was about Jesus as King; but not like that. It's not the whole "ruler of the universe" thing, but the warnings that he gave about what it means to commit to him. He has to be in charge of all we do and we have to know that up front and be willing to stick with it. He doesn't want us to jump in just to decide we can't handle it--and he won't allow us to use the excuse that we didn't realize what it would cost us.

We decided to spend Christmas in MO this year rather than travel back to Bama like we have been planning. Gas is way too high to afford to make the trip and still pay all the bills; plus the kids are kind of excited about just hanging out and decorating our house and seeing their friends. It'll be fun and I'm still going to take some time off so we can go do some stuff; like tour Meramec Caverns, hit the City Museum, etc. We do way too few family outings. I'm really looking forward to it.

Just one quick, predictable reminder about the season before I go. I think even the origins of Christmas didn't really have a lot to do with elevating Jesus just for the sake of elevating Jesus; but that doesn't mean we have to ignore that opportunity. The angels were spot-on when they said that his birth (which was actually sometime in the Spring) was all about peace and good will. We have so little of that any more, whether we're talking about countries or each other. Try committing some Acts of Random Kindness (ARK--was 'Evan Almight' a sweet movie, or what?). Forget the crap and focus on the good stuff. It really is contagious.

Pray for peace; celebrate life.
Mike

Walk-ins Not Welcome

2007-11-25T20:10:00.000-06:00

OK...this was just too funny to pass up. A young couple who shall remain nameless (friends of ours) had returned home to St. Chuck to visit with the husband's parents. After awakening this morning they felt rather amorous and decided to do something about it. At a most inopportune moment, in walks Dad (without thinking to knock) to announce that breakfast would be ready in 15 minutes. Panic-stricken, the dad said, "Oh no!", made the breakfast announcement and hastily retreated. The wife was mortified but the husband was quite amused. And he used the situation to his advantage in conversations with his parents throughout the remainder of the day--especially with his mom, who was even more freaked out than his wife. When he called and told me about it (with his wife's blessings) I think I wet myself a little bit.

He did admit that he will be checking the lock on the bedroom door more carefully on future visits.

God gave us our sense of humor so laugh easily and often.
Mike

Post Holiday

2007-11-25T15:15:00.000-06:00

Well, the family has come and gone and a good time was had by all. Debbie and David spent the night last night on their way back to Cincinnati from Arkansas. We watched the Mizzou game and Die Hard with a Vengeance last night. Good movie--excellent action sequences and one liners from Willis.

Church was good today. I taught the last of the lesson series on the attributes of Jesus for the middle school kids. It was one of those weird teaching times where I felt like I hit all the points I wanted to hit and got all the info out there, but it just didn't seem to resonate. Oh, well; I guess they can't all be home runs.

Remember that it's cool with me if you disagree with me about anything I say--social views, political views, religious views or whatever--if you have an informed opinion. If we can have thoughtful discussions based on differing understandings of facts and information, then there exists the potential for common ground. But if you only want to yell about stuff you aren't willing to learn about, I don't have the energy for it. Our country was founded upon, and its future depends upon, INFORMED disagreement and compromise. Ignorance is the breeding ground for marginalization, persecution, racism, hatred, etc. Do not fall victim to it.

Love God...pray for wisdom...be a life long learner.
Mike

Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T00:10:00.000-06:00

Well, the meal--non-traditional though it was--was great. So was having our family here. I think it's going to make us that much more homesick when they leave. I still haven't heard from the church in Pensacola that I emailed. I'm hoping that's just because of the holiday. I'll call if I don't hear from them by mid week next week.

I guess some gratuitous ramblings about the meaning of Thanksgiving is in order. I kind of hate that sort of stuff, though. It always seems so canned and predictable. I am truly thankful for what I have--great family, good job, friends. I even like my stuff, although I try not to be tied up in it. One thing I often think about is how we as Anglos look at the holiday as a celebration of our coming into this country--our coming to posses the land and build such an empire. We think of it as a recreation of the fellowship the pilgrims had with the Native Americans they met so many centuries ago. I don't think the Native Americans quite see it that way. It wasn't long after that first celebration that the long and bloody process of stealing the land from them through genocide began. I realize that this is a story that is repeated often throughout world history in many countries on many continents. Of course, just because a thing is common doesn't make it OK.

I guess, more than anything, I look at this and think of our hypocrisy when dealing with the immigrants today. We look down our noses at them and want them to leave. We consider them less than ourselves. States have even passed laws that make it illegal for churches to help them with the most basic of their needs. I understand that some control over our borders is necessary, but how can we be so angry at people who are looking for a way to live a decent life; to make a better life for their families? We should be looking for a way to make it work, not make it go away. Compassion should be our aim, not isolation. Carte Blanche is not the answer, but neither is anger and hatred. Most of us are looking for the middle ground; to do what is right, even if it's hard sometimes. We have to stop allowing the hardliners on the fringes run our country and our lives.

Love God. Pray for peace.
Faith, hope and love.
Mike

Healthcare Crisis

2007-11-21T22:17:00.000-06:00

There's a crime being committed in this country every day and we are subsidising it--and it's being perpetrated by the insurance companies and the politicians who work for them. 48 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured; many of them children. And many, if not most of them are working men and women whose wages won't support the cost of health insurance and whose companies either can't or won't provide it. Fortunately, our president vetoed the SCHIP bill (which passed with great bipartisan support) which would have at least provided some coverage for most of the kids who are on the outs. And that crap that he said about Medicaid providing the coverage they need is a lie straight from hell--and the sad thing is that he may be too thick to even know it's a lie.

With nearly a trillion dollars being spent on health care, there is a huge incentive for the insurance companies to want to maintain the status quo--which is, basically, pay through the nose to purchase a product that they will ultimately try to withhold from you at their whim. Here's something encouraging though; of every premium dollar paid to the insurance companies, at least 15% is spent on overhead and administrative costs--and that's only indicative of the best of them. It's more likely to be in the 20% to 30% range for most of the companies.

There is a solution that will allow every single person in this country to be covered for less money than is being spent now to cover 83% of us: HB 676. Check it out at Healthcare-Now.org. Also check out the Sojourners website at sojo.com to see what they have to say about the proposed bill. If you believe that we are truly supposed to care for "the least of these" (Jesus said that, Christians); if you believe that we've been lied to for long enough; if you believe that corporate greed must become a thing of the past; if you're tired of corporate bigwigs, lobbyists, special interest groups, political action committees and others who are only interested in themselves running this country instead of the people who live in it then educate yourself and do something about it. Write, email and call your representatives and tell them you demand to be heard over the voices of the rich. Check out the websites and check out the bill. Here's something else we as Christians need to think about: in addition to the fact that the Republican president vetoed the children's health care extension which was supported by his party, there is not one single Republican signed on to cosponsor HB 676. Where are their priorities--where are ours?

Seek God; pray for justice.
Mike

Visitors

2007-11-21T21:59:00.000-06:00

Well, Debbie and David left this morning for Arkansas; Mom and Dad arrived about 4:30. The rain made it a dreary day, but we had a lot of fun visiting and catching up. I laughed so much last night and today that my stomach hurts.

We decided to go non-traditional for Thanksgiving eats this year. We're having steaks and baked potatos and a few shrimp on the side--a little surf-n-turf. We usually fry a turkey and fix all the usual trimmings, but everybody wanted to go with something a little easier; works for me.

Becca and the twins are getting restless because of the weather and having to be inside all day. Will took them bowling late this afternoon--brave man.

Family Visit

2007-11-20T18:04:00.000-06:00

Cathy (my sister) and her family arrived this afternoon. It'll be good to have the family here again. It's been a long time since we had everyone up here together. Debbie and David (friends from Cincinnati) are due in any time and Mom and Dad will be here tomorrow. I finished work on the bathroom about an hour before they arrived...whew.

Met with David this afternoon to talk about a potential staff position at FBC. Turns out it won't be filled for a while; and even then they're looking for something besides what I really have the expertise for. Not a big deal...probably the most fruitful realization I've had in a long time is that it's not a big deal either way if I ever get a full time gig at a church. I still know I'm called to do it, but I also know that I'm called to serve regardless of where. David's a good guy; he's really trying to do what's best for the church and follow God's will. He's going to put my name out there when he hears about staff positions he thinks are suited to me; and he's going to let me know if when he hears about speaking or teaching opportunities in the area--for services or events.

I am finally on vacation--off work until Monday. It's the first time in a while that I can just hang out a veg. The only other vacation I've taken this year was in June and that was to go to youth camp; not exactly a real vacation--lots of fun, but not restful.

Love God, pray for peace.
Mike

2007-11-19T23:33:00.000-06:00

Well, Liz's play is over with--it was "Guys and Dolls". She was the Salvation Army general (I forgot the character's name). She, and all the kids, did a great job.

I am tired of working on our bathroom. Thank goodness we're nearly finished. Just a little more baseboard to put in and a bit of painting and it's done. Then it's on to the next project. It's nice to be getting some stuff done around here; the place looks better already.

Relatives are coming in for the holiday this year--first time in a long time. We're very excited about it. My sister and her husband and their boys arrive tomorrow and my mom and dad on Wed. (unless they back out again). Some friends are staying tomorrow night only on their way through town heading for Arkansas (I know, but they have relatives down there). It's good to have people coming to visit. We usually have to make the trip down south to see them.

I have a meeting with David tomorrow (our pastor). We're going to talk about the open staff position at the church. I think I've finally reached the point where I don't feel frantic to get a full time ministry job--like I'm running out of time or something. If God works it out then that's cool; if he doesn't, I've still got a good job and a great family--a great life, really. It's not always easy, but it's usually my fault when it isn't. There are also a couple of staff openings at my sister's church in Pace that I'm checking into. That would be very cool if I could get the full time gig close to home like that. We'd really like to go back soon. I would like to be with my family again before I get old.

Love God; pray for peace.
Mike

Sunday

2007-11-19T00:08:00.000-06:00

Today was good. David's message rocked; I got to sub in doing worship for the middle school kids and had a lot of fun with that; and the lesson on Jesus as Shepherd went well. And we had a good lunch with Bruce and Leigh and the boys.

Got some bad/disturbing news yesterday--Mac (fraternity brother) called to let me know that an old friend, Greg Hamilton, also a frat brother, died about a week and a half ago. He was 45 and had 7 kids. That's a tough thing to take. Life is fragile and full of questions. Mac was really close to Greg and took it pretty hard.

I'm super tired. Sandi and I have been working like crazy to finish the remodel on our guest bathroom. The relatives are coming in for the holiday and start arriving Tuesday. Got the floor in today; the painting is nearly finished; still got to reinstall the toilet and put in the trim and caulk everything.

Pray for justice.
Mike

Another Day

2007-11-17T17:21:00.000-06:00

Nothing heavy today...I had to work which I didn't really want to do, but figured I'd better because Christmas is coming and I usually don't get paid for my OT but today I did...whew.

Question: Why is it never obvious to the people who so obviously have double standards that they obviously have a double standard?

Liz (my oldest daughter) is in her final night of her play at school and tonight is the night we are attending. I love to watch her perform but I wish we had gone to one of the performances earlier in the week because I'm really tired.

When we get home from that I have to finish the lesson I'm teaching for the middle school kids tomorrow morning at church. It shouldn't take long, but it's just another thing to have to do. I'm teaching about Jesus' role as shepherd. It focuses quite a bit on how he really does want the best for us and he promises to always care for us. I think people completely misconstrue this idea by thinking it means that he will guarantee that nothing bad ever happens to us. We have no concept that the real value of the relationship we have with Jesus will be realized when this life ends...in the afterlife. We'll be secure with him forever. In this life it means that we can count on him for joy and peace even in the midst of turmoil and pain. That's a hard lesson--goes against our nature. We think that joy and peace are equal to happiness and that they can only be present in the absence of turmoil and pain. In the Psalm, when David writes that "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil", he's giving us a huge clue. He's saying that the cool and amazing thing about God is that even when I'm completely up against it because of stuff that's happening to me in my life, knowing God intimately gives me the courage to keep going. Even when I really am scared I can still find comfort, joy and peace in my relationship with him.

BAM!! Relationship! That's what God wants from us--not robots who know all the words and movements to the rituals. He hates that. Talk to him; cry with him; yell at him; seek him; know him. Intimacy. That's the key to getting through the crappy times of life.

Love God--pray for justice.
Mike

Hi

2007-11-16T22:58:00.000-06:00

This is my second run at blogging. I had one a couple of years ago when we had the church plant, but I kind of let the weeds grow up around it. I seem to feel like I have some stuff to say; mostly it seems to be born of discontent...discontent with politics; with religion; with the church; with people--or least Americans. We're so busy hustling to succeed at The Dream that we've become incorrigibly too lazy to think for ourselves. We believe everything we see on TV, read in a magazine or hear on the radio--or God forbid we find it on the internet (I think I may have just suggested to you that I'm not to be trusted; screw it, work hard enough to figure it out for yourself). USE YOUR BRAIN!! Please.

Our country is run by lobbyists for insurance companies and oil companies and banks and pharmaceutical manufacturers and the list goes on. This is only possible because we allow it.

If you call yourself a Republican then at least know why. Are you rich and just trying to protect your money--no matter at whose expense? Are you a Christian and think it's your responsibility to God to support a particular party? Are you hawkish and want to see America fighting in constant wars?

If you call yourself a Democrat then at least know why. Are you so far left of center that only anarchy will ever truly satisfy you? Are you convinced that the government is ultimately responsible for taking care of all of us?

My guess is that most of us fall in between these extremes; but we've gotten lazy--or tired. Too tired to hold our government responsible for what's really important to us. Too tired to fight for ourselves, much less those less fortunate or able. Too tired to cry out against the demagogues who defile our airwaves and our minds with hatred and lies and horribly slanted points of view that represent only the smallest fraction of people in our world. Too tired to fight the greed that has corrupted our companies and our leaders.

Find a mirror, look at the person you see there, point your finger right at them and say, "From now on I'm holding you responsible; not the media; not the politicians; not my boss; not my wife or my kids--but you."

Until we take back our integrity and our honor and reacquire a sense of personal responsibility for what happens not only to us but around us we are doomed to failure and death. Generate energy and justice in your world. Suppress the urge to blame someone else. Find the real God; the one who hates greed and injustice; the one who holds service to other humans as the highest form of service to him.