bigish small news coming

If my blog had a theme sound bite – it’d be the sound of crickets. Because it’s way too quiet around here.

But to my seven faithful readers I say “don’t worry – good times are ahead”.

This lack of activity is not because I’ve run out of strange ideas. On the contrary – a lot is going down in my head. It’s an exciting place to be.

I’ll re-engage soon. In fact, a big strange idea will show up right here tomorrow. As our kids like to say, “seriously”.

Headline: BIG news (or maybe bigish small news) is coming tomorrow – April 16th, 2008. Right here.

I’m hoping to get 7 comments on this blog entry before then – to document that I actually do have 7 readers. Otherwise our idea will crash and burn.

So go ahead – talk to me…say something nice.

Until tomorrow then…keep the faith. And if you need a random update on someone’s life…check out Stretch. He’ll turn that frown upside down.

a teaser: like in chess – sometimes you need to start playing the game and figure out the moves along the way – are you in?

moby on christianity – relevant magazine

Moby was interviewed in Relevant magazine. I found this question, and his response especially interesting.

In an interview with RELEVANT a couple years ago, you talked about some negative views on the state of Christianity. Do you think anything has changed?

It’s hard, because I think that individual Christians are quietly doing amazing things; they’re ministering to the poor and sick. The quiet, humble Christians seem like the ones who are really trying to walk in the footsteps of Christ. It’s the loud, arrogant, judgmental, obnoxious Christians who seem to give the rest of Christianity a really bad name.

When I see religious leaders being judgmental and arrogant, I want to pull them aside and say, “You’re supposed to work out your faith in humility and fear and trembling.” You’re supposed to approach everything in a spirit of nonjudgmentalism and compassion and love and forgiveness, and I don’t see a lot of evidence of humility and love and faith on the part of leaders. I find that to be really dispiriting.

satan uses turbotax

oh snap! you’ve got to watch this. this is from Craig Groeschel /Lifechurch.tv. i love what Craig is doing @ Lifechurch.

i can think of 4 things that Satan has been telling me I need. pretty much every other day i believe him. why are we such suckers???

Commentary: You can’t take Christ out of Christmas – Roland S. Martin

Here is an excellent commentary on the Christmas Season By Roland S. Martin. Worth the read…glad to see this on CNN.

Commentary: You can’t take Christ out of Christmas

He raises some good questions…

What if families decided to forgo gifts, and instead, used their shopping days giving back to those in need? What if more of us went into our closets, grabbed old toys and clothes, repackaged them, and provided them as gifts to those without? Instead of gorging on food, what if we used some of the dough to feed those who are in need?

I think it’s important not to lose your identity as a consumer during the Christmas Season (or in any season).  I fall into this trap too.  Even with my kids, I want to give them lots of presents at Christmas.  But I also want to open their eyes to the idea that we can help people too.

Merry Christmas!

one clear choice

Here is the prayer God gave me today…

God, give me one clear choice – that is awesome.  And help me to follow.  Amen.

This was spurred on by two things:

1.  A breakfast meeting with Jon (who totally spurs me on, & maybe instigates a bit too).
2. And by the lyrics of James Blunt.  (God can work mysteriously, right?)

On Blunt’s new album there’s a song called “Same Mistake“.  I don’t completely understand the song, and I don’t necessarily think it’s theological.  But the lyrics do capture my prayer to God right now…

I’m not calling for a second chance,
I’m screaming at the top of my voice.
Give me reason but don’t give me choice.
‘Cause I’ll just make the same mistake again.

is technology helping the church?

Is technology a killer? Is it killing the church? Or is it killing true worship?

Especially when it comes to worship, I wonder if technology (overall) is helping people connect with God on a fuller spectrum? I wonder what God’s take is on all the things we’re adding to worship?

Below is a link to the opening of one of the Hillsong Conferences.

I love the song Bittersweet Symphony by the Verve. And I love the song Amazing Grace. And I love the chorus Chris Tomlin added – My Chains Are Gone But I never expected to hear the 3 songs merged together. That’s how the 2007 Hillsong conference started.

If you have nothing to do for the next 12 minutes, watch this version of Amazing Grace. I’m sure John Newton never imagined this. It’ll at least make you think. About 11 minutes into the video Chris Tomlin shows up, with his humble redeeming smile. I love that guy. I love the look in Chris’s eyes towards the end of the clip. It’s like he doesn’t know quite what to think. It’s like he’s thinking, “What am I doing here?”…which he probably was.

Hillsong Conference 2007 Opening
Uploaded by ajchz

I found this here.

Is technology killing the church? I don’t think it’s killing the church, in fact I think overall it’s helping. But when it comes to worship – sometimes simple is better.

i love stainless steel coffee mugs – “finishing”

Apparently, I’m really good at drinking coffee and bringing stainless steel coffee mugs to work. I’m not so good at taking them home….sorry Lib.

I hate doing things half-way, but I’m good at it. It’s easy to start something (like taking coffee mugs to work) but I need to work on the finishing part of things…two good friends recently encouraged me to finish something I’ve been trying to finish for the last 2 months. Why are some things so hard to finish??? even if they’re important?

Hey – what do you need to finish that you’ve been putting off?

Here are a few pictures from my typical work set up….this is where it all happens.

I like VW’s and Audi’s….and other things from Germany (like my wife)

sharing a meal with sonny, perk and ??? – a simple act of worship

Ben and I set out for our bi-weekly homeless lunch. It was a misty cold day with an overcast foggy skyline. We walked around Market and Rodney Square looking for Charlie or Eric or Donald, but we didn’t find any of them. But we did find 3 other guys.

Ben was up first this week, he asked me if he should go up to 3 guys standing together. I’m the skeptic cheap guy so I said to Ben, “Dude, you want to take 3 guys to lunch???” He said, “Yeah, good point”…then he proceeded to go up to them and ask if they were up for joining us for lunch. That’s so like Ben…

Well they were up for lunch. We met the coolest guys – Perk, Sonny and another guy who would not tell us his name for security reasons. He said he doesn’t give out his name to anyone. We were like, “Hey that’s cool – we don’t need your name, just come anyway.”

They asked us why we would take them to lunch. Ben gave this awesome response of why we’re doing this, I’m sure he’ll mention it on his blog – check it out here.

I can’t even begin to describe our lunch, but fun is a good word to start with. We threw together our $$ and had just enough to pay for all five lunches. I think we had $3 dollars left. The small restaurant we go to is called Benjamin’s on 10th, at 204 West 10th Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. The place is great, one person behind the cash register, and one cook. They only take cash. I got a BLT, Ben got ham & cheese, ??? got a BLT, and Perk and Sunny got large cheese steaks with everything.

Sonny is a blues man. He is definitely a believer in Jesus. We started talking about worship and he said so many wise things. He said he follows a hard Jesus (as opposed to an easy Jesus) and that Jesus has always given him a door to take out of bad situations (like Vietnam). He travels from city to city and apparently plays a lot of blues. He said he worships through the blues, because God sees his heart.

But one thing he said in particular really hit me. He said that no matter what we sing, we need to “Lift Him”. Maybe it was his deep raspy bluesy voice, but for whatever reason there was a lot of weight and honesty behind his words. He kept saying “Lift Him” over and over again when he described how to worship. I told him that when I lead worship sometimes it seems that people are not really worshiping like they could. He said that whatever song we sing, no matter how we sing it we need to “Lift Him”. And he said maybe we’re not “Lifting Him“. I need to give his words time to sink in. Especially “Lift Him”.

Another highlight was when Sonny started chatting with the waitress and all of a sudden he had his harmonica out and he was singing her a bluesy love song. It was so awesome, I wish you all could’ve been there.

I learned so much today. Here are a couple of pics from Ben’s phone to prove we’re not making these lunches up…

me sonny and perk…

sonny…

freerice.com

a good cause and a fun way to see how bad your vocab is…

here’s my freebe: tintinnabulation = ringing

based on my research, this site is legit. look at their faq and do your own research, please let me know if you find otherwise because i’m a skeptic…

sharing a meal with “charlie” – a simple act of worship

Ben and I set out for our bi-weekly homeless lunch again today, walking Market Street and Rodney Square in Wilmington. You can read Ben’s account here.

I was up first, I went up to a guy and asked if he wanted to join us for lunch. He said he had some important business to take care of. As we were walking away, Ben had the wisdom to go back and make sure he knew who we were in case we ran into him again. Once we talked to him a little more, he basically said – “Hey I changed my mind, I will come to lunch with you today.”

We shared a meal with Aubrey Willis, a.k.a. “Charlie”. Charlie moved to Delaware when he was 5 or 6 (in the 1950′s) and has been in Delaware ever since, although I get the idea he doesn’t like it that much. He couldn’t understand why Ben moved here from Texas, Charlie is a Dallas Cowboy’s fan and he especially likes the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

What struck me about Charlie is how average and ordinary he seemed. He seemed to have a clear mind, and he had an even temperament. He didn’t seem eccentric. He is a regular guy.

Charlie was different than Eric. Eric had grandiose (though somewhat delusional) thoughts about how he was going to start a real estate business and become wealthy again. When we asked if Charlie had any hopes or plans, he said he didn’t have any.

When we asked Eric what he needed most, he said cash. When we asked Charlie what he needed most, he said a warm jacket and some work shoes. Jackets and shoes are something Ben and I can help with. Our plan is to take Charlie a new jacket and a new pair of shoes next Monday.

Here are some random thoughts from today:

• even homeless men have normalcy and routine in their lives
• some of them really are hopeless, and others just have unrealized dreams just like me
• everyone has their own unique story
• everyone needs some compassion in their lives
• no one person is above any other, though we like to put ourselves above others – that’s not really the way it is

would you quit your shenanigans!?!?

Oh the things you’ll say as a parent, even in a public place…

I met Lib and the 3 hooligans for lunch at Panera today. At one point Lib was getting super frustrated with Eli and she turned to him and yelled:

Would you quit your shenanigans!?!?

I just started to giggle, then Eli did too. I’m like Lib’s 4th kid, I laugh when she yells and then I make our other kids laugh. It’s a vicious cycle. But that got me thinking, what is a shenanigan? Really? And is this a word we should be using in public? Hmm…

According to my good friend Wikit,

A shenanigan is a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance. The term is usually used in the plural, shenanigans. However, in some regions, shenanigans can merely refer to harmless mischievous play, especially by children.

Yeah, she was right on with her vocabulary. Shenanigan was the right word…na na na na

What’s something goofy that you say to your kids (or husband)?

taking the random out of kindness (it’s ok not to be safe part 4 of 5)

Have you ever driven by someone on the road, and noticed that it looked like they needed help – then had the thought:

maybe I should stop and help that guy!

but then you keep right on driving?

Well, I have.

A few weeks ago I was in this situation and it went down a little differently…

I was headed back to Wilmington after meeting Ben for lunch and happened to pass this couple that was waiting under a tree, they had their son who was probably 3 or 4 with them. It looked like they were waiting for a bus or a ride.

I drove by, then decided to turn around (the pivotal moment of the story).

I parked in the parking lot near them. Walked up and said I was heading to Wilmington if they needed a ride. It was funny, they were arguing when I walked up. I even mentioned I had a car seat for their son.

They said they were waiting for a ride, said thanks, they were a little hesitant because of the situation. But they seemed a little surprised by my kindness. So much so that I think they forgot about their argument.

In Romans 2:4 Paul reminds us that even in Christ’s righteous judgment it’s his kindness that leads us towards repentance.

So I had this idea that part of the Christian life is a life of kindness that’s demonstrated with the purpose and hope to somehow offer people the chance to turn around. To repent.

It sort of takes the random out of kindness.

mold – a show stopper? + Crowder

so we just got back from Crowder. He brought it to Philly. awesome. double awesome.

we got to go to the meet and greet thanks to our friend Tony, gotta love the hook up. Crowder was not aloud to talk after the show ’cause he’s on voice rest, I think he’s recording a DVD at the NYC show. All he could do was wave and give the thumbs up.

One surprise was getting to meet Shelly Giglio, Louie’s wife.  Shelly and Louie are the fine people that spear headed the passion movement.  The Myriad opened up, they were pretty impressive. I’ve got to check those guys out.  Another highlight was when the fans booed Crowder because he didn’t get a Philly cheese steak. It’s just like Philly fans to boo, so typical. But hey, he should’ve stopped by Pat’s – so shame on him.

So here’s my problem, I’m kind of hungry ’cause I skipped out on dinner. I checked the fridge for a healthy snack and found this…

Here’s my question – is mold a show stopper for you? I don’t even think the stuff is dangerous. Really. I need to check this on wikipedia. I think you can skim mold off the top and you’re basically fine. I think I know what I need to do…

trick or treating & experiencing community

trick or treating was a blast last night. Eli “Buzz” and Eden were really cute, and Silas was dressed up as a monkey! He even had a banana hanging out his back pocket. He was cool and he didn’t even know it.

Halloween is an awesome family event for us. And it seemed our entire neighborhood was out last night, everyone talking with new people and getting to know their neighbors. It was an amazing feeling of community, something we lack most other days of the year. We had the chance to meet some new neighbors and they got to see our kids, and there was free candy flying everywhere. Sweetness.

searching for what?

Have you ever headed over to the internet (as if it’s a place) with an actual purpose, and then quickly got distracted by something you think you need? ~~like this~~…or ~~this~~…and then forget why you started “surfing” in the first place? Yeah, that just happened to me.

I tried to remember for a while and then my wife reminded me I was supposed to be checkin’ my online calendar. Lame.