Where do I go from here?

Update

2007-06-09T08:31:00.001-04:00

Life is pretty crazy sometimes. I turned 31 yesterday. I have never been a big birthday person, but for some reason this year feels different. I know I haven’t been updating as often as I have promised to, and for that I apologize. Let me fill you in…

I am rounding the corner and heading for home in regards to finishing my degree. I have about 4 months left. It will be a great personal accomplishment, especially since I started 13 years ago. I am still trying to figure out the specifics of starting my Master’s program, but I have a feeling that I will have to wait until next August to start that.

I was recently promoted at work. That is a big deal too. I don’t like to brag about money, but it was a good pay increase. The great part isn’t necessarily the raise, but the opportunity for days off. It looks like I will be able to stay on 3rd shift (which is beneficial for school) but I will have Friday morning through Sunday night off!

Michelle and I are doing a lot of traveling in the next few weeks (although unfortunately, none of if it is together). I am going to a conference near Chicago this week, she is going to a conference in Denver the following week, then she flies out for a trip to Ireland the week after that. The Ireland trip is important. It is kind of a graduation gift to herself, I guess. Something that she needs to do. I understand that, even if others seem confused by it.

I have some other stuff going on too…stuff that is really exciting and scary at the same time. I can’t say much about it yet, but when the time is right, you will be the first to know. Just pray that I hear and follow God’s lead for the time being.

Well, that’s it for this update. I am sure I will have some thoughts to post from the Chicago conference. I will hopefully get some pictures as well.

Virginia Tech and other thoughts

2007-04-18T09:23:00.000-04:00

I realize that a lot of people are weighing in on the tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech this week. There are few things that can help us to understand such horrific events. The one thing I have noticed about the "news" channels is that they refer to it as a "tragedy," a "massacre," and a "horror." But I haven't seen anyone call it what it is...terrorism. We like to identify fundamentalist suicide bombers as terrorists, but people within our own country (whether natural born citizens or visa issued aliens) are rarely called terrorists. Remember Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (the Oklahoma city bombing), or Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (the Columbine High School shootings)? These were domestic terrorists. Terrorism, with all the news spin, has been relegated to foreign religious zealots, but terrorists exist in our own back yard.

One of the things that people often ask when such tragedy takes place is "why?". we turn to psychiatrists, sociologists, and other professionals to explain the root causes. But realistically all they can do is describe the situation from their scientific perspective. The answer to "Why?" is not an easy one to grapple with, but I can reason from a biblical perspective that all evil in this world is a result of "The Fall."

God never intended for pain, disease, suffering, death, oppression, starvation, exploitation, war, slavery, bigotry, hatred to exist. They exist because humanity is free to make choices. If we were not free to choose to rebel, then we would also not be free to choose to love. It is a catch-22. My heart aches that such evil exists, but I am thankful that I might choose to love instead of being forced to. when I think about the subject of pain (which all of this eventually falls under) I realize that God is hurting too. He realizes that his Creation is fallen and he has been in the process of putting it back together for a very long time.

What can I do?

Well, for one, since I am free to make choices, I can choose to not contribute to cycles of pain. I can choose to support causes to alleviate suffering and oppression. I can choose to make responsible financial decisions. I can choose to make responsible moral decisions. I can choose to not cause pain to anyone.

I know it seems simple, but the old saying "if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem" does have some credibility. I want to be part of the solution. Maybe if we all wanted that, then we would not have to endure such horrific things.

Maybe I am an idealist, but I believe that people can choose good over evil. I hope that is the case.

Comics, Sci-fi, and our Secret Identity

2007-04-03T15:08:00.000-04:00

Unless you have been living in a cave somewhere, you may have noticed that our film industry has become obsessed with comic books. Batman, Superman, the Hulk, Spiderman. Not to mention graphic novels. Sin City, Road to Perdition, a History of Violence, and now 300. It’s on TV too. Heroes is a huge hit. LOST repeatedly draws inspiration from the comic genre. What is the drawing power of the comic/graphic novel? What is it about this fantasy, sci-fi, surreal genre that packs theaters and enslaves viewers?

I am not an expert, but I think I might have figured it out. Life sucks.

It’s that simple.

We live in a pretty broken world. Don’t get me wrong, it’s our own fault. Pollution, disease, oppression, war, pain, suffering, hunger, poverty…it’s all humanity’s collective fault. But the fact that this world is less than perfect inspires hope. Most of these stories focus on something bad, something impending, something oppressive. Then they shift gears and focus on a hope, a hope for some resolution, that this world could become better, healthier, whole.

Sci-fi and fantasy stories allow us to think about and discuss topics that might not feel all that safe. Like terrorism, nuclear threats (or nucular if you are from Texas), natural disasters, political oppression, human atrocity, etc.

Because in a comic, the enemy is always a bad guy, an alien, a fascist warlord, or a demented megalomaniac. The enemy is not exactly your everyday, run-of-the-mill person. We put this idea of “enemy” with a face and now it can be fought.

I admit, I am addicted to the TV show, LOST. Although the line between “good guys” and “bad guys” is often a little blurry, there is usually a definite “us” and “them.” For the most part, the “good guys/us” are the survivors of a plane crash. The perceived “bad guys/them” are a mysterious group dubbed “the others.” In typical sci-fi fashion, the others can represent many enemies. To some, they might represent corporate greed and exploitation, to someone else – fascist government, to another – oppressive religion. Whoever the enemy is, their face is the “others.”

Why do we equate our fears with the bad guys in comics/sci-fi? Because we are afraid to face them in our real lives. Often the fears we have are connected to things outside of our control. Often we fear what we have no power to change. It is cathartic to overcome the enemy in a comic or sci-fi story. I think that is why so many kids get into the genre, and I am sure that is why so many men are hooked. Men, in general, are taught to crave control, but we are often not in control of so much of our lives. We wish that we could overcome our fears, but we often feel powerless. So when the wimpy nerd is bitten by the radioactive spider and develops super powers we cheer him on, because he is everything that we wish we were.

Why am I spending so much time on this? Because the real question is not about comics and sci-fi. It’s about us and our identity and where we find our own value.

There is this lie, it goes something like this:

“You are stupid.

You are unattractive.

You are untalented.

You are unlovable.

You are worthless.

You are nothing.”

Have you heard this lie before? Maybe somewhere in the back of your mind, this lie repeats like a broken record.

Because of this lie, we are afraid. We are afraid of others, their judgment, ourselves, our potential, of failure, and sometimes even afraid of success.

Most of the time, comic heroes have secret identities. Why is this? Often it is because the rest of the world would not understand their need to fit in. Most superheroes just want to be normal, while the normal people would give anything to be extraordinary.

The reason the lie sinks its hooks into us is because we have an identity crisis. We desire an identity that is not true. We want a secret identity.

Identity and value are rooted in perception. When others want to be around us we believe that we are valued. We find our value in what others think of us. In this way we create an identity that displays the qualities and characteristics that we think others want from us. We root our identity in the judgment of others.

Hollywood will continue to make comic/sci-fi movies because they draw the crowds. We will continue to go because we desire hope. But at the end of the two hours we will still have a lie playing over and over in our heads. If we believe the lie, no amount of Hollywood hope will overcome it. And the only way to defeat the lie is to embrace your true identity.

You are intelligent.

You are beautiful.

You are gifted.

You are loved.

You are valued.

You are somebody.

There is a sermon in here somewhere.

Here's your chance...

2006-12-04T07:01:00.000-05:00

Over the past few months, I have had a few people ask when I was going to post on topics like i used to. You know, religion, Christianity, spirituality, theology, etc. Well, i will be honest, i am not feeling all that creative lately. School is really kicking my butt. So I had a thought.

I will give you, my loyal readers the opportunity to suggest topics for me to post about. any topic is acceptable. anything that you want to read about, i will post my thoughts on.

So go ahead, start making suggestions. Either comment to this post or send me an email at mike(at)mythirdplace(dot)org (i spelled out the symbols so i don't get junk mail)

I am looking forward to your suggestions.

p.s. over at my other blog (Just a little off the top) I have already received a couple suggestions: My perspective on Hell, and Why does God allow suffering (especially in children). These will be tough topics but I will do my best to address both of them.

mike

What You Didn't Learn from Your Parents About: Christianity

2006-10-31T04:17:00.000-05:00

There is a fine line between being witty and being a smart elek, and Matthew Paul Turner has made an art of carefully walking that line. His newest tightrope act, “What You Didn’t Learn from Your Parents About: Chrisitanity” is an enlightening, yet playful exploration of the world of the Christian sub-culture.

This is not uncharted territory for Turner, who authored, “The Christian Culture Survival Guide,” but it is new scenary in a familiar land. This examination could be veiwed controversial considering some of the targets at which Turner fires his flaming arrows of observation. No one is safe: Binney Hinn, the Baptists, Christian music, even your grandmother are put under the microscope.

One aspect of the book that can repel some readers and at the same time attract others is the format. This book reads as if it were written by someone with ADHD for someone with ADHD. There is the main narrative, of course, but this is often interrupted by side-bars, other stories, thoughts by the publishers and even charts.

If you, like myself, have difficulty focusing on one topic for an extended period of time, this hyperactivity may break up the monotony. Not that the book ever becomes monotonous; there isn’t any opportunity for it. The chapters are relatively short and easily read. The added information can be read after finishing the chapter or as you come to them.

Overall, the book is an intellectual, yet critical examination of the state of American Christianity: the good, the bad, and the really bad. According to Turner’s web site, there are three other books in the “What You Didn't Learn from Your Parents About…” series. The topics include sex, politics, and money: all of the things your parents taught you to never bring up in public. “What You Didn't Learn from Your Parents About: Christianity” is a great book for anyone who has ever scanned the landscape of American Christianity only to be left confused, cynical, or jaded.

Apple, Bono, Give me a break!

2006-10-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

Ok let me be the first to say that I love Apple, and I love U2. Let me also say that I am really getting on board with social justice movements from all across the spectrum. It is admirable that Bono and Apple have teamed up to sell a specially produced iPod Nano: product red.

The promotion is to help raise consciousness and money to fight the increasing pandemic of AIDS in Africa. I get it, that is all very applaudable and worthy of admiration.

Here's what I don't get.
According to this article
it costs Apple about $90 dollars to produce each iPod Nano. When you calculate the cost of this new Bono endorsed product at a retail price of $199.00 you realize that Apple and Bono are making about $100 profit.

I say that because on their website, Apple proudly advertises the fact that 10 whole dollars from the sale of each iPod Nano: product red will go to help fight AIDS in Africa. TEN WHOLE DOLLARS!!!

Give me a break.

Guess Clothing just teamed up with Invisible Children, an organization that helps the children of war-torn Uganda. Guess has opted to give 100% of the proceeds of the clothing line to Invisible Children. This, my friends, is admirable.

Shame on you Bono, and shame on you Apple.

Jesus vs. the Religious People

2006-09-27T04:41:00.000-04:00

I haven't really been in the mood to write anything deep, introspective, or philosophic. But there has been something on my mind. Since I got back from Texas, I have been thinking a little about how much Christians (a category in which I am included) condemn and marginalize people who don't profess faith in our system of belief.

As a Christian, my role model, my example is the man named Jesus (whose last name is not Christ by the way). When I look at the New Testament accounts of his ministry, I see that he interacts with two distinct groups of people. He interacts with those people who do not claim to "know" God, and he interacts with those people who claimed that not only did they "know" God, but they had religion all figured out.

This first group of people, were commonly called "sinners." Interestingly, the main criteria to be a sinner was to have broken one of the ten commandments. So in my case, since I am a lying, prideful, lustful person, I am also a sinner. These people were called sinners because they did not claim to have an understanding of the nature of God and what his plan was for their lives.

The second group were often called the Pharisees. They were the powerful religious and political leaders of the era. They claimed to have everything figured out and they wanted everyone to know it. (Good thing humanity grew out of this kind of arrogance, huh?)

When Jesus spoke to the first group, he said things like, "Get up, take your things, and go home." or "i do not condemn you." or "your faith has healed you."

When he spoke to the religious people he said things like, "you thieves," or "you hatefilled oppressors," or "you do not know God"

Jesus did confront and condemn people, but they were the religious people who spewed judgment on others.

This is an interesting observation if you look at the state of Christianity today. In America, the Christians tend to believe that they are the moral police of the nation, that they should condemn and judge everyone. But from my observation of Jesus's own actions, the Christians are not to judge those outside of their belief system, they are to judge and hold accountable those who have professed faith in Jesus.

It just seems to me that more harm is being done in the name of Jesus than good. I know for a fact that many deeply spiritual people will have nothing to do with the message of Jesus because so many hatefilled people have corrupted that message.

Jesus said that there were two laws we should keep: Love God, and love our neighbor. By doing this, we keep all the other commandments and display the love of God. It is unfortunate that some of the meanest people on this side of Hell happen to be Christians.

My age group on MySpace

2006-09-26T08:49:00.000-04:00

ChurchMarketingSucks.com posted this article about a trend taking place in the world of MySpace. Apparently more and more people over the age of 18 are getting connected with the networking site. Here is what they have to say:

We've talked before about how your church can use MySpace and other social networking sites to connect with people, whether it's connecting your congregants or giving visitors a preview, but some interesting new stats prove that social networking sites aren't just for the youngsters. While MySpace.com (the runaway hit with 82% of traffic in the category) is perceived [and vilified] as the online hangout for teens, 87% of users today are 18 or older. If that's not shocking enough, 52% are 35 or older, which means the majority of users on the youthful MySpace are, well, old. And it's still seeing 230,000 people sign up every day.

For churches it should be clear that MySpace is no longer a tool for youth groups or young adult ministries. It's something the whole church should consider. (link via churchrelevance)

Well now I don't feel as much like the creepy old guy at the junior high dance.

Great Western Adventure part 5

2006-09-08T15:21:00.000-04:00

So Michelle's dad took me up in a Cessna. I have never been in a plane before so it was a little scary but fun nonetheless. I posted some video of the fight in the first posting about our trip.

Here are a few pics.

Inside the Cessna.

Outside the Cessna. Randy is meticulous about the preflight inspection.

Ready to taxi down the runway.

just after take off, looking east towards Dallas.

Downtown Ft. Worth about 6 miles away

Ft. Worth again.

Dallas skyline, 35 miles away.

blue arrow is my in-law's house. yellow arrow is Michelle's car.

Kenneth Copeland, the televangelist's house and airfield. Must be making lots of money of old ladies.

More of the Copeland Compound.

Great Western Adventure part 4

2006-09-08T15:20:00.001-04:00

We went to the Louis Tussaud's Palace of Wax and Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Grand Prairie (a suburb of Dallas). They are in the same building, so that is convenient. IT was fun, but not that great. Some of the wax figures did not look that much like their human counterparts.

Here I Am with Dr. Phil

...and Oprah

...and Ghandi

...and the Tin Man, Lion, Scarcrow, Dorothy, and Toto

...and a shark!

Great Western Adventure part 3

2006-09-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

Ft. Worth and Dallas have a great train transit system linking the two cities. So instead of driving to downtown Dallas, trying to find parking, and fighting the crowd, we took the train to Dallas to go see Dealey Plaza. For some reason, I have always been interested in Kennedy and the assasination. So this was definitely on my list of things to do in Dallas.

The museum inside what used to be the book depository builiding is really incredible. The spot from where they think Oswald shot the rifle is preserved, there are hundreds of photos, graphics, memorabilia, and other items to look at. Of course the is no photography inside the museum. So we had to take several outside.

Dealey Plaza

There are "X's" on the road to mark the spots where he was shot

The sixth floor window and the "grassy knoll"

Great Western Adventure part 1

2006-09-08T15:18:00.001-04:00

Michelle and I took several days to go see her parents in Ft. Worth.This is the first of a few postings about our Texas trip.

Michelle's dad, Randy, is an amateur pilot. He has a private license and rents a Cessna pretty regularly to take up. I have never been in a plane, so when he asked if i wanted to go up, i jumped at the opportunity.

I took our camera and captured some footage of the take off and landing. Here ya go.

Double click the pics to start the clip.

more to come...

Great Western Adventure part 2

2006-09-08T15:18:00.000-04:00

We got to do a lot of interesting things during our Great Western Adventure. First, I got to cross the Mississippi River, which is something I have never done. I have been all over the eastern part of the country, but never further west than St. Louis.

Second, Michelle and I got to go to a few museums. We are kinda geeky in that way, we like art and culture. Unfortunately, museums don't like for you to take pictures. The museum of modern art in Ft. Worth had a couple Jackson Pollock's and a couple Andy Warhol's, as well as a Lichtenschtien.

Jackson Pollack - Number 5

Andy Warhol - Self Portrait

Andy Warhol - Marilyn Print

Roy Lichtenstein - Mr. Bellamy

There were a couple of interesting sculptures outside that we could take pictures of. One is a huge sprial made out of iron. When you step inside it you hear echoes. The other is a warrior sculpture.

New web site!!!

2006-02-24T08:53:00.001-05:00

The day is closing in. I have been working around the clock to teach myself how to build a "real" web page. Well, I guess it has paid off. Introducing: MichaelBox.Com and MyThirdPlace.Org!!! Some of the links aren't operational yet. But they will be soon. Look for a weekly recap podcast on the 3rd Place site, and other fun new opportunities. This blog will be officially dead in one week. I will post the new blog address soon. Thanks for visiting, encouraging, and challenging me throughout the past 3 years!

a dialogue

2006-02-15T17:40:00.000-05:00

I had an assignment to write a dialogue between a non-christian and a christian. the dialogue had specific things that it needed to cover. i saw this not only as an opportunity to do well on a paper, but also to contiue the story of ray, seth, and the others.

so. this is the rough dialogue between ray and seth. it doesn't have any narration. but i think it flows well without it. let me know what you think. I will most likely edit it and add narration later. It is a bit lengthy so forgive me.

--------------------------------

SETTING: Two friends, Ray and Seth, are continuing a dialogue that has spanned several conversations. Over the time their relationship has developed a level of trust and respect. What follows is a continuation of previous conversations.

RAY: So what were we talking about when we met last time?

SETH: Agnosticism, I think. I had said that I didn’t know if there was or wasn’t a God, but thought it was important enough to look into it.

RAY: Yeah, open agnosticism. We had discussed the three types of agnosticism. Closed, open, and ignosticism.

SETH: Right. Closed agnostics didn’t know and didn’t want to look for answers. Ignostics didn’t know and didn’t really care. They chose to be ignorant.

RAY: Yeah, so we established that you don’t know if there is or isn’t a God, but you are willing to explore the possibility.

SETH: So that makes me an open agnostic. Right?

RAY: More or less. So where do you want to go from here? What is the next step?

SETH: Well, I am not sure. What do you suggest?

RAY: I think that we should explore the possible outcomes if there is no God. If we look at those results we can make other assumptions as to whether or not that line of thought makes sense.

SETH: Ok, so in order to prove that there is a God, you want me to explore what happens if there is no God?

RAY: Well, yes, but my role is not to prove or disprove anything. My role is to help you make those realizations.

SETH: Ok, so where do we start?

RAY: I’ll ask you a few questions. Then we can try to find good….no, the best answer we can.

SETH: Sounds good, let’s get started.

RAY: Let’s start with the assumption that there is no God. How did life start?

SETH: Well, some people believe in some sort of cosmic event that started everything; some kind of “big boom.”

RAY: Ok, so what initiated this cosmic event?

SETH: I’m not sure. Maybe it was a chemical explosion.

RAY: Maybe, but where did the chemicals come from? Remember this is “in the beginning.”

SETH: Good question. I see where this is going though. If there is no God, then how do non-existent chemicals interact with other non-existent chemicals? What sets all of this cosmic coincidence in motion? There must be some primary force initiating or orchestrating everything.

RAY: That’s it. Even most scientists understand that spontaneous chemical existence is improbable if not impossible. Do you want to move on?

SETH: Yeah, I think I am ok with God being behind the creation of everything.

RAY: Let’s talk about morality. Good and bad. Do you believe in good and bad? Not in the subjective sense but in an absolute sense. Beating a child is always bad. Protecting a child is always good. That sort of thing.

SETH: Well, yeah. Certain things are definitely always bad, and others are definitely always good.

RAY: Good and bad are hard to measure. What scale do we use to measure them? Do we just use socially or culturally accepted paradigms or maybe it is a case of different rules for each person?

SETH: No, I really think there is some universal standard.

RAY: Then what is that standard? What do we use to gauge morality?

SETH: Well, governments set laws right? So thy must be the standard.

RAY: So there is no standard where there is no government?

SETH: Ah, no. I guess it is more of an inborn understanding. Something we are born with.

RAY: And where would that understanding come from, if there is no God?

SETH: So the ideas of good and bad come from God?

RAY: Sort of. Let’s think of it like this: If the God of the Bible is real, and the biblical descriptions of God’s characteristics are true, then we know a few personality traits of God, don’t we?

SETH: Those are big “IF’S,” but I want to see where this is going.

RAY: Ok, so “if” all of that is true, then we know that God is good, loving, creative, merciful, and gracious.

SETH: Because the Bible tells me so?

RAY: Yeah. Ha. Nice joke, but the Bible does tell us all of that. If all of that is true, then we can assume that the opposite of those characteristics must also describe the opposite of God.

SETH: So, if God is good, loving, creative, merciful, and gracious then the opposite is bad, hateful, destructive, merciless, and condemning, right?

RAY: In so many words. So we just established the polarization of good and bad: good on one side, bad on the other. How did we define the two?

SETH: God defines good, and the opposite of good is the opposite of God.

RAY: Yes. So does it make sense that moral standards (good versus bad) and the ability to understand them comes from the ultimate measurement of goodness, God?

SETH: I think so. I can see your point. Without God, there would be no absolute good or bad, just subjective perception of good and bad.

RAY: You’re getting it now. So let’s bring it all back together. If there is no God, then the existence of life is nothing but a cosmic coincidence (even if we can’t figure out how non-existent chemicals can become existent on their own.) Whether creation or evolution, something had to be the catalyst.

SETH: We also explored morality: good verses bad. We concluded that God’s personality is the measuring tool for morality. So what’s next?

RAY: Well, we can talk about the reasons some people choose not to believe in God.

SETH: Ok. That could be tough, but I’m up for it.

RAY: Why do you think some people do not believe in God?

SETH: Well, sometimes I doubt there is a God because there seems to be so much bad stuff in the world. You know, pain, suffering, disease, all that.

RAY: Ok, what does that make it difficult to believe in God?

SETH: I guess it is difficult to imagine a loving God allowing such bad things.
RAY: I can understand how hard that could be for you.

SETH: It isn’t a problem for you?

RAY: Not really. I realize that all the “bad stuff” wasn’t part of God’s initial plan. Free will was part of the plan, and humanity’s choice to disobey God resulted in the consequences we experience. Humanity rebelled and caused creation to kind of slip. Everything was impacted. Think of it like this: the hurricanes in the gulf have been called tools of God’s vengeance by a lot of people. But the hurricanes aren’t part of God’s vengeance, more likely they are a result of humanity’s irresponsible stewardship of the rest of creation. We pollute, contaminate, exploit, and destroy so much of the eco-system everyday. Do we really think that those actions have no natural consequences? Humanity pollutes creation, and as a result waters warm, temperatures rise, radiation enters the atmosphere, disease mutates, and storms churn. Humanity’s disobedience results in consequences and like spoiled children we want to blame the parent for the natural consequences of our actions.

SETH: Wow. I have never really heard of it like that. That really makes sense. So what happens? Humanity rebels and God allows natural consequences to take place, but is that all there is?

RAY: No. The great part is that God wants creation; humanity, earth, everything to be like it was intended. So God promised to restore it one day. But that is jumping ahead quite a bit. What other reasons keep people from believing?

SETH: For me, it is hard to believe that some of the miraculous events in the Bible really took place. I have tried to read and research them, but always get the same easy answer: if you have faith, you will believe. I think I need to know about the validity of miracles before I have faith or belief.

RAY: That’s a good transition. What about miracles? Maybe we should define a miracle. What do you think a miracle is?

SETH: Hmm. I guess it has something to do with going against natural laws or something like that.

RAY: Good thought. Let me elaborate. A miracle is when the supernatural meets the natural and results in the unnatural.

SETH: Good definition. I am following you.

RAY: So, by definition, a miracle is going to be hard to believe because it isn’t natural. It isn’t something that we can reproduce. It happens when the supernatural (God) meets the natural (humanity, earth, creation).

SETH: This is a little deep, but it makes some sense to me.

RAY: Most people can’t accept miracles as possible because they don’t want to think of natural laws being able to be bent or broken. What we have to understand is that God is not bound by laws of nature. God created nature. Do you remember watching cartoons as a kid?

SETH: Yeah, of course.

RAY: Well let’s say that one day Mickey Mouse decides that there are laws to his universe (which consists of a sheet of paper and a desk). These laws state that if your hand gets crushed then you can blow on your thumb and your hand will re-inflate. If the animator, Walt Disney, leaves the office and someone shuts his hand in a door, can he just blow on his thumb and avoid a trip to the hospital.

SETH: No. he would probably have a broken hand.

RAY: So the laws of the creation don’t apply to the creator.

SETH: AH, now I get it. So God can interact in anyway he chooses, not just in ways that humanity has defined and natural.

RAY: I couldn’t have said it better myself.

SETH: Wow. This stuff is giving me a headache.

RAY: One last topic then we will call it a day.

SETH: All right. Fire away.

RAY: Let’s say there is a God, that miracles take place, and even more incredible the Son of God really came to earth. Most people can agree that there is historic proof to support the idea that a holy teacher named Jesus lived in the Jerusalem area around 30AD. They even agree that he was probably put to death for his teachings against Rome and the Jewish elite. The Christian faith hinges on one specific miracle: the resurrection. What do you make of that?

SETH: This is a tough one.

RAY: So why do you think that people don’t believe in the resurrection?

SETH: Because a man rising from the dead is so unlikely. Most people would think that there has to be a more intelligent reason for the belief: like he was not really dead, but unconscious from his wounds or that the real story ends with his death, but believers added the resurrection part later.

RAY: Those are great points and many people have had the same thoughts throughout the centuries. But let me ask you something. How could a religion, that started while its leader was alive, continue for 2000 years if it were false? Better yet, the people writing the records of the life of Jesus were writing while the first believers were still alive, able to dispute them.

SETH: That’s a good point. Are there resources outside of the Bible that support the claim of the resurrection?

RAY: Yes and no. A historian named Flavius Josephus wrote within the first century. He recorded many of Jesus’ claims and the claims of the disciples as noteworthy. Josephus had no stake in granting respect to Jesus or the Christians because he was a Roman Jew. So his bias actually helps support Christian claims.

SETH: That’s pretty interesting. I just don’t know if I can believe it though.

RAY: Well what obstacle stands in your way?

SETH: I guess it is the whole unnatural thing.

RAY: I can understand that. To be honest, I think most Christians have to struggle with the resurrection at some point.

SETH: You did?

RAY: Sure. It seems so unlikely. But think of a few things for a second. If Jesus was buried like the biblical account says, then everyone would know where the tomb was. A wealthy member of the Jewish high court owned the tomb. When stories popped up about Jesus coming back to life, wouldn’t the Jews examine the tomb?

SETH: That’s the first thing I would thing they would do.

RAY: And if they found Jesus’ body there, wouldn’t they expose the resurrection story as a lie?

SETH: Sure, if they had a body they had proof.

RAY: But that isn’t the case. Josephus never records that the Jews found a body.

SETH: Maybe the Christians moved the body.

RAY: Not likely, there were two Roman guards in front of the tomb and a rock so heavy it is reported to have taken several men to move. The first people to make the resurrection claim were women, it is not likely that they blindsided the Roman guards and moved an obtrusive stone without drawing attention.

SETH: Yeah, I guess you have a point there.

RAY: So the body is gone and no one could have stolen it. This alone helps support the resurrection story.

SETH: Yeah. I can see the point. It is still pretty fuzzy though. Maybe we can meet some other time to focus just on this part.

RAY: I would love to.

END SCENE.

10 Things You Should Know About People

2006-02-12T06:21:00.000-05:00

This is part of an article I found at Church Markerting Sucks I think it is dead on.

10 Things You Should Know About People
… if you want them to hear what you’re saying

1. People don’t care about the church database.

Talk about what makes life better for the guest, not about behind-the-scenes software or systems. When you say “Remember to check-in to F1” or “Sign-in to the database” it communicates it’s all about us and our processes, not about the guest. And, they could care less. Keep it simple and focused on the guest. Say “Remember to check-in to get your name tag”. Or, “door prize” or “food”…whatever makes the check-in about them. Don’t talk about the database or F1.

2. People aren’t motivated by your need. They’re motivated by theirs.

It’s about great things that are good for the guest, not about what you, or the church, needs. When guests hear “We really need small group leaders” or “We really need your help with this”, they hear desperation and selfishness. Again, this communicates our need, it’s all about us. We want to make it about the guest. Instead, say “Here’s a cool opportunity you’ll want to hear about” or “You might want to check out this one of a kind experience” or “Come find out the fun ways you can be part of the behind the scenes”. This makes it about the guest, not us, and it motivates them to act.

3. People don’t care about their next step until they know they’re valued where they are now.

Encourage next steps, but affirm what people are doing now. When someone hears “you need to step it up” or “it’s time to go deeper” it communicates that they aren’t ok where they’re at and they’re not as good as they should be. Of course, that’s not your intent, but it is the filter many of our guests receive it through. Instead, we can encourage people to “take their next steps”. “This might be your next step” or “what is your next step” or “here are some next step opportunities for you to consider”. But remember, everyone’s next step looks very different. One person’s next step might be to invest more serving time or to volunteer at a higher impact capacity, but for another it may be to finish out the evening without leaving early. And, each of these next steps is equally important.

4. People don’t know who you are, no matter how long you’ve been around the church.

Introduce yourself, every time. If by chance there is just one person in the group that doesn’t know you and you just get up and start talking, it communicates two things. One, it communicates exclusivity (everyone’s already in the club except for you) and two, it communicates that you are “all that” in assuming that people automatically know who you are. So, take the time to introduce yourself and why you’re the one standing in front of the group (if necessary).

5. People multi-task and can’t remember squat.

Visually support your verbal announcement to make it attention-getting and memorable. It’s human nature to tune out the talking head in the front of the room as you look through your purse, write notes to your friend or mentally run through your to-do list for the week. And, if you’re lucky enough that people are listening to you when you’re talking, there is no guarantee they will remember what you said when they walk out of the room and back into their life. Whenever possible, visually support your verbal announcement to grab and hold attention, clarify information and raise the interest level of your audience. It doesn’t have to be fancy or elaborate; you can reinforce your verbal announcement with a printed program, PowerPoint slide, table tent, postcard, basic signage, etc. But, remember, don’t read directly from your visual aids. They exist as a separate component that reinforces your announcement.

6. People are turned off by lack of preparation.

Prepare to cast vision for the opportunity by rehearsing it so your audience “catches it” within 90 seconds. If it’s important enough to announce, then it’s important enough to prepare for. Your vision-casting should answer these questions. What’s so special about this opportunity? Why should I spend my time on it? How is it going to make me and my life better? In no more than 90 seconds.

7. People relate when you talk about them or people like them.

Tailor your announcement to your audience. Whenever possible, taking the extra minute to customize a broad message to a specific audience make a bigger impact. Even if the message doesn’t change, but you find a way to highlight a unique component for your specific audience, it makes all the difference. For example, if you’re talking about the food drop to a group of Moms, tell them about the opportunity to include their entire family. Help them see how they can specifically use the information you’re sharing.

8. People feel left out and frustrated when you use insider’s language.

Avoid the use of acronyms or insiders language. Don’t assume everyone is in the know, most people aren’t. For example, instead of talking about MC3, talk about GCC’s food pantry. Instead of talking about Oasis, talk about our gathering for middle-schoolers. Once people are on the inside, feel free to use the insider’s language. But, it’s never cool to use it in announcements for large groups, connection events, first-serve opportunities, etc. When you do, you can bet that you’re alienating guests. [The specific ministry examples used here are for illustrative purposes only.]

9. People aren’t impressed with your theological vocabulary and holy dialect.

Use normal, everyday language. When we use phrases traditionally associated with Christianity, guests either don’t get it or will run from us so they don’t “catch it”. These phrases are weird and scary to guests (actually, to the majority of people): “demonic spirit”, “binding the hands of Satan”, “forces of evil” and the overuse of an entire list of “blessed” phrases. Keep it simple, keep it real and avoid over-spiritualizing your conversation.

10. People love stories not lectures.

Use stories and illustrations whenever possible. Don’t just read the information. Make it yours. Bring in the human interest. You’ll draw people in, spark interest and engage that personal connection. Then it’s no longer a boring announcement, but a conversation they don’t want to miss.

Two postings in one day?

2006-02-09T18:48:00.000-05:00

I know it is crazy, but I felt the need to post a second time today. (actually within minutes of the first one.)

I have been reading a couple of blogs over the past few months that I would like to share with you.

The first is by Zach Lind, and the second is by John Chandler. The reason I bring these two up is not for the individual blogs of each man.(Although both are full of information and quite funny on occasion.) The reason I point out their blogs is so that I can bring attention to their cooperative effort.

The two guys host a podcast called Theohacks. I relate not only to the name of the cast, but also to the concept. Two guys talking about theology, but realizing they are indeed just hacks. You can find the website for the podcast here. This week, they talk about the origins of the Bible. Some might think that it fell out of the sky, or that the audible voice of God spoke to the writers each word that was to be written. Zach and John tackle this ideas and shed some light on some other information during this talk.

I love the podcast revolution and encourage everyone to get onboard. I have even thought of it myself. hmmm. Mike's box....nah, too chessey, but it could happen before too long.

Nicci and Jaylen

2006-02-09T18:33:00.000-05:00

Mommy and baby are doing fine. I will post more pics as I get a chance.

G.K. Chesterton Quote

2006-02-02T12:05:00.000-05:00

I can't get this out of my head. I read it a few weeks back and it is still bouncing around in my thoughts:

"If you put a bunch of devils in a classroom, you will not get angels.
You will get educated devils."

post comments to this one please.

3pm

2006-02-01T15:19:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned for information on "3pm," an exciting new opportunity for connection. This has the potential to be huge!

Message: Psalms

2006-01-31T00:54:00.000-05:00

I usually don't critique CD's on here, but I just got this cd today in my Relevant Network package. To be honest, I didn't expect much from this cd, but man this is a great disk. I listened to it on my way to school tonight and on my way home. Really good stuff.

Play a sample here.

Here are the track listings and more samples:

Psalm 121:1-3, 5-8 (Spoken Word)
Melony Pietersen Listen

Eyes For You (Psalm 141)
Sarah McIntosh And Phil Wickham Listen

Come Close (Psalm 69)
Building 429 Listen

How Faithful You Are (Psalm 89)
Phillip LaRue Listen

Last Chance (Psalm 88)
Jeremy Casella, Sandra McCracken And Andrew Osenga Listen

Psalm 23:1-4 (Spoken Word)
William Mwizerwa Listen

Flown Free (Psalm 129 & 124)
Over The Rhine Listen

Can't Get Enough (Psalm 63)
Chris Rice, Matt Wertz And Dave Barnes Listen

Run To You (Psalm 131)
John David Webster Listen

Wait (Psalm 40)
Kendall Payne Listen

Psalm 91:9-16 (Spoken Word)
Ben Johnson Listen

Salvation (Psalm 71)
Shawn McDonald Listen

Flag (Psalm 57 & 108)
Rachael Lampa Listen

To You God On High (Psalm 92)
Venus Hum Featuring Ginny Owens Listen

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 (Spoken Word)
Melony Pietersen Listen

Who Can Compare With God (Psalm 113)
Natalie LaRue Listen

What kind of Christian are you?

2006-01-24T11:21:00.000-05:00

My friend Adam posted this quiz on his site. I took the quiz and was not surprised to find that I fall on the "left" side of the spectrum. Oh well, guess my grandma was right.

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern

82%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

57%

Classical Liberal

46%

Modern Liberal

39%

Reformed Evangelical

39%

Neo orthodox

36%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

32%

Roman Catholic

11%

Fundamentalist

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

2006-01-18T10:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I am taking a couple days to go "home."
I am going back to my hometown of Anderson, Indiana to visit my father.
I will only be gone a couple of days, so don't fret.
In the meantime, I will leave you with this cool saying that can be found on the inside back cover of the most recent Relevant Magazine.

"Do all the good you can.
By all the means you can.
In all the ways you can.
In all the places you can.
At all the times you can.
To all the people you can.
As long as ever you can."
-John Wesley

Another update

2006-01-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't get nto that second post on the postmodern delima. IT is coming though. In the meantime, I wanted to let those2 or 3 fans know that I am again writing. The process slowed to an excruciating crawl over the past 4 or 5 months, but the creative inspiration is back. We will see what happens to Ray, Seth, and Lynn. I hope that I finish this book soon, but I am not putting any hope in that. There are several areas left to develop and the crux of the story is far from attainable as of right now. At this rate, I will have 1500 page manuscript. An editor will most likely shred it down to 200-300 pages....such is life.

Well if you want to refresh your memory of the story you can follow these links:
Chapter 1 Part 1
Chapter 1 Part 2
Chapter 2 Part 1
Chapter 2 Part 2

Postmodern delima

2006-01-10T07:54:00.000-05:00

What follows is a comment I left on my friend, Anthony's, blog. There is a sharp distrust of what has become known as postmodern christianity. The delima lies in the naming of the response. Most people in think that postmoderninsm is a negative thing. Postmodern philosophy is an offshoot of nihilism, which is the child of naturalism. Since both of these worldviews denies absolute truth, people assume that postmodern christianity does the same. Postmodernism (the christian movement) is really a reaction to two things. It is the reaction to a growing postmodern world and a reaction to the modern interpretation of christianity.
As for its first underlying reaction, postmodern (emergent) christianity approaches the world of today and asks, "how can we engage a culture that has disengaged?" The second response is in the approach it takes. Realizing that the tools, methods, and traditions of modernism might not be the best answer for reaching a postmodern culture, postmodern chrisitanity attempts to deconstruct the religiosity of christianity to a culturally relevant faith.
This can be quite confusing to some. Postmodernism, the world view philosophy, is typically areligious, that is, not "anti-religious" but unreligious. There is no absolute truth, no moral measuring stick, no value or purpose to life. Whereas christianity's response to postmodernism insists that there is one absolute truth, God, and he has provided value, purpose, and morality. I plan to expound more on this topic later this week.

Minor Update

2006-01-06T01:58:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy lately. Sometimes I just crave some time to just sit and think.
3rd Place is doing really well. We had 17 total stop in at one point or another over the evening this week.

School is back in full swing for myself and for Michelle.

We just found out that I am going to get $1.70 per hour raise. That is good news.

We also just bought a new (for us anyway) car. A 2003 Saturn Ion. Mine is black.
It is pretty nice and I am excited 'cause it is mine!!

I have been doing a lot of reading lately. I finished the last book in the "New Kind of Christian" series by Brian McLaren. It was really a wonderful book. I enjoyed every bit of it.

I have also finished a book by the statistics King, George Barna. It is called "Revolution"

It gives an interesting look at trends in churches all across the country. A good read if you want to try to change some things before they get out of hand.

Well, I know that this is a boring post, but I wanted to update something for the two of you who read this....

End of a year

2005-12-30T03:51:00.000-05:00

Well, 2005 is almost over. We saw a lot of interesting things happen this year.

We lost some famous and infamous people:

A Pope died, and a new Pope was elected.
Peter Jennings passed away.
Johnnie Cochran in March.
Rosa Parks passed away in October.

We also lost Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor, Pat Morita, and Bob Denver.

We witnessed the struggle of Terri Shiavo, the release of Martha Stuart, and the destruction of the entire city of New Orleans.

We saw the White Sox win a world series.

From a personal aspect:

I saw two dear friends give birth to a beautiful baby girl.
I started writing a new book (which I still have yet to complete).
I was given the opportunity to grow and teach a great group of people.
I began the process of completing my Ministry degree.
I was able to baptize a friend.

This year has had it's ups and downs. They always do, don't they?

I pray that 2006 will provide great opportunities and experiences.
I pray that you (my faithful readers) will be blessed in many ways, and that you will use those blessings to in turn go out and bless others.
I pray that you would take the time to love yourself, love others, and love God.

best wishes,

Armor of God

2005-12-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

Ok so after trying to host this movie, i think i got it set. This is a video that i put together for one of my classes.

We were supposed to "teach" on a passage from Ephesians, I chose chapter 6, the armor of God.

I showed this video in order to establish the imagery that Paul was writing about.

Then I led a discussion as to why certain pieces of the armor are related to Godly characteristics. I think it went well.

Leave a comment to discuss your thoughts.

By the way, if you would like to have video on your blog, try YouTube. I tried many options and found them very easy and affordable (free).

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T12:45:00.000-05:00

Holidays are strange for me. My family all lives in Indiana, I live in Ohio. Michelle's parents live in Texas. That certain "family- time" feeling just isn't there. Add to that the fact that I work at a juvenile detention center. They don't close for the holidays. So I will be spending my holiday working. I sound a little depressed. I do have much to be happy about though.

Today, Michelle and I had the honor and privilege of baptizing a very special person. Sara has been a part of the group that I lead on Monday nights. She has been asking questions and honestly seeking God, and she asked if Michelle and I would baptize her. It just so happens that her sister, Angela, wanted to be baptized as well. So we just got home from helping two sisters become sisters-in-Christ. They will do great things for the Kinddom, of that I am sure.
So, that is my Christmas.

I hope you are blessed today and able to bless others. May you have a wonderful holiday.

I'm back....And I have a lot to say...

2005-11-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

So just bear with me...

First, let me start by saying that 2 weeks away from my computer was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Man I am addicted to my mac. Anyway I am back, energized and ready to take on the world. Starting with touchdown Jesus....

If you haven't been blessed by the roadside circus act that sits in front of an infamous church on Interstate 75, then you don't know what you are missing. Check out this site for info about this monolithic monstrosity. I really have nothing to say about it, what I do have to say is regarding the sign that blinks catchy sayings in front of the church. Most churches have them. You know the glowing sign that has that cheesy cliche that makes you wanna hurt someone. (maybe that's just me) anyway. I was driving to school last week and saw the sign. There it was as I came over the hill. A glowing sign that explained the unexplainable...."YOU ARE TOO BLESSED TO BE DEPRESSED."

ummhmmm.....

now I see these signs all the time. For example..."The best vitamin for a Christian is B-one...." or "This house is prayer-conditioned." But this one struck a chord. You see. I have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. This affliction sometimes strikes me so horribly that I can barely face my daily tasks. I will be very transparent here. So for those of you who are uncomfortable with honesty, you might want to look away. I see a psychiatrist, I take medication, In short, I have a mental illness. But now, all of a sudden, this church sign tells me in so many words, that I shouldn't have a neurochemical imbalance, because I am just too blessed. Well.....Needless to say, that has not sat well with me. Christianity is not the end of our problems here on earth. Sometimes it is actually the beginning. For a church to advocate that Christians should not have depression not only marginalizes those of us fighting this illness, but also allows other Christians to assume that what the sign says is the truth.

How many times in the Bible does a central figure experience sadness so overwhelming that it consumes them? David, Jesus, Paul.

I know that the people putting the sign up probably did not intend for it to be a slap in my face, but we have to be cautious about the kind of message we are sending. Really, if it all boils down, I am blessed AND depressed.

More to come.....

2 weeks vacation

2005-11-14T00:40:00.000-05:00

I am writing this post 40 minutes late. I had made a commitment to start a fast at midnight tonight. I am fasting from my computer. I know that doesn't seem all that spiritual, but here is the deal...when i wake up, the first thing i do is check my email, when i come home from work - email...when i leave the house for any amount of time - email....i am always online with a chat program....i am always downloading the newest podcast, webcast, or streaming video from around the world. I am more connected to my mac than my wife or my pets, or God. So, i have prayed about this and have chosen to fast from the computer for two weeks. I am not checking email, signing online with a chat program, or mindlessly surfing the web for two weeks. I do have some obligations that cannot be neglected though: i can use the computer for school or ministry (small group) purposes only. So if you need to get ahold of me, please feel free to call. or if it can wait i will be back online as of midnight on the 28th. please pray for me during this time, i know that the temptation will be there to check my email (i am OCD about it). thanks and i will talk to all of you soon.

Pat Robertson does not represent me.

2005-11-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

I am sick of this guy. He is the type of religious nut that I keep apologizing for. He makes claims that really make Christians appear to be crazy ultra-religious and judgmental jerks...This is a great reason why people do not go to church. Read this

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power as an alternative to the theory of evolution.

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."

Eight families had sued the district, claiming the policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The federal trial concluded days before Tuesday's election, but no ruling has been issued.

Later Thursday, Robertson issued a statement saying he was simply trying to point out that "our spiritual actions have consequences."

"God is tolerant and loving, but we can't keep sticking our finger in his eye forever," Robertson said. "If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them."

Robertson made headlines this summer when he called on his daily show for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

Seriously, between him and Jerry Falwell I am really getting fed up with people calling themselves Christians, assuming roles as political bureaucrats, and then trying to impose their own personal agenda by calling it the "Christian thing to do."

Have you ever noticed...

2005-11-07T18:25:00.000-05:00

that some people seem to be incapable of happiness? They think that it is the people around them, but really, deep down, it is something inside of them, that keeps them from being happy. Maybe it is guilt, self-doubt, bitterness. Whatever it is, it tears at them. They resent those who are happy.

I have been studying personality types lately. It has been part of my class at CCU. What is interesting is the number of ways that we interact with others based really on what we think and feel. For example, I am an introvert. Because of my personality, I may not be as apt to walk up to someone and start a conversation. This has nothing to do with that person, it is all about me. But I can justify my action (or lack thereof) by simply redirecting the attention to the other person. "well, they looked busy," or "they wouldn't want to talk to me anyway." the point is that my personality is what holds me back. To blame others is really unfair.

back to the happy and unhappy person. Happiness is not something that another person give you. It is something we choose. The same goes for anger. I can choose to get angry or choose not to. Some people, maybe it is based on their personality, are naturally inclined to react with hostility (anger, judgment, bitterness.) while others are more naturally peaceful (happy, care-free, accepting). It is hard when you are one type and the people around you are another.

This is where the compromise lies. We must find a way to identify our own personalities, and how we can effectively bridge the gap with others, without changing who we are. Let me know your thoughts. I am interested in what others have to say.

Tough week

2005-11-01T21:28:00.000-05:00

Well, one of my best friends and a vital part of 3rd Place is leaving. Adam and Jessica Clarke have been a part of the group since we started almost a year ago. It was definitely a small group back then, only 6 or 7 of us each week. Now, almost a year later, we have had as many as 15 or 16 on Monday nights.
Adam and Jess haven't just been a huge part of the group, but also in the lives of Michelle and myself.

My friendship with Adam started almost 3 years ago when I started working at Mary Haven Rehabilitation Center. Adam was a part-time staff member and we worked almost every weekend together. He and I connected pretty quickly and soon I was asking about his church background. Eventually I invited Adam to visit my church. Actually I think I invited him quite a few times. He finally visited about 3 or 4 months later and he and Jess instantly connected. They became members and both became part of the small group that would become 3rd Place.

Since then, we have celebrated, shared, cried, prayed, grown, and encouraged each other in many ways. Michelle and I were proud to spend time with Jess and Adam when Jess was about to give birth to Rowan(the most beautiful baby in the world.)

Adam had a great opportunity to advance in his career. He was offered a job as the head of loss prevention for two stores in malls in the suburbs of Detroit. Although I am extatic for him and the opportunity he has, I am very sad to see him, Jess, and Rowan leave. I don't cry often but this morning I had a hard time holding back tears as I thought of Adam saying goodbye.

I hope to stay close to them and see his daughter grow up. Adam has been more than a great friend to me, he really has been a brother. I love him and Jess very much and hope the best for them.

2005-10-27T20:49:00.000-04:00

You need Flash to view this, but i had to post it. Thanks Rochelle for telling me about it.

Recovering….

2005-10-20T01:02:00.000-04:00

So tonight I was talking to one of my dearest friends, Rochelle. We were talking about different denominations and practices of Christianity. She works with quite a few Catholics. She entered the faith in the Methodist church. I was raised in the Baptist church. She mentioned how they don’t tend to get in many “religious” conversations at work. I assumed that was the case in order to avoid offending each other or stepping on toes. That got me to thinking…why do we focus on the differences between different faith practices? We really should try to embrace the diversity we have, the freedom to pursue God in different ways. For example, the Catholic Church is very socially conscious, something that most protestant churches somewhat overlook. The Methodists are usually great thinkers of the faith. And the Baptists sure know how to cook.

For years I have called my father-in-law a “recovering Catholic.” This is not because he hates Catholicism, but rather he endured the sisters in grade school. This left a sour taste for such a rigid spiritual system. He now calls himself “just a Christian.” I mentioned this to Rochelle, and she replied, “yeah, and you are a recovering Baptist.” That is something that I had never really thought about. I am still shedding years of spiritual baggage from my childhood. I remember coming home from college one year. My ears were pierced a few times, my hair was bleached platinum, and I had a “different” look about me. My grandmother, the poster-woman for Baptist old ladies, pulled me aside and asked, “Michael, are you still close to the Lord?” At that moment, I realized that I was on the road to becoming something new…a recovering Baptist.

Now, theological debates aside, I am not a big fan of tradition. And I am certainly not a fan of tradition for tradition’s sake. I firmly believe that Scriptural example is much more important than man-made tradition. As I scan the denominational spectrum, there are representatives of the very tradition oriented denominations all the way to denominations that dismiss any form of tradition at all. I tend to lean a little to the less traditional side. I like some tradition. But when tradition is done for its own sake, it is dangerously close to being worshiped itself.

Baptism is one of the doctrinal topics that causes more argument and division in the Church than any other. Some of it is based on tradition. (the method, form, ritual) some is based on Scriptural interpretation. As far as I can tell, there are plenty of New Testament references to baptism. Not just baptism, but baptism by immersion. Not just baptism by immersion, but baptism by immersion at the time of belief. Why do we have to argue about what the Bible doesn’t say? Instead, we should embrace what it does say.

Anyway, I still struggle with my Baptist roots. There is definitely a “we’re right, and everyone else is wrong” mentality in some churches. I just wish that we could just say, “from what the Bible shows us, we are following Christ’s teachings as best as we can.” Instead of being divisive denominations, why not just be followers of Christ? It just makes sense to me.

2005-10-08T20:24:00.000-04:00

I found this while surfing the web. I thought it was funny so i am posting it here. Sorry if anyone is offended, but....

3rd Place site is up!!!

2005-10-05T10:03:00.000-04:00

There have been some minor changes to the 3rd Place site. It is now up and running, though. I hope that it is useful and engaging to those who visit it. Thanks for the support that many of you have given to me, and the group over the past year. God has truly blessed 3rd Place. It is awesome to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves.

Love = Jesus

2005-09-25T21:44:00.000-04:00

I thought of something today. we often talk about Jesus and his love for us. In fact it is often said that God is love. If God is love, then Jesus (being the earthly incarnation of God) is love.

That got me to thinking:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 could read...

4Jesus is patient, He is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.
5He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.
6Jesus does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
7He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

just a thought.

Here's the real challenge though. When we use the word "Christian" to identify ourselves, what we are really saying is "I am like Christ." Because the word "Christian" literally means "little Christ." Think about that for a second. When you give an attitude to the waitress at the restaurant.... Or when you pass by a homeless person and say mean things (in your head or with your mouth).... or when you are cut off in traffic and one hand reaches for the horn while the other reaches out the window in an odd "you're #1" sign...you are supposed to be like Christ.

4Mike is patient, He is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.
5He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.
6Mike does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
7He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I am not saying that I am capable of this right now. I have a very hard time with most of these on a regular basis, especially when I see the same things in other "Christians." But the point is, we should be trying to be all of these things. Christ was and is. and so should we.

A great Week So Far

2005-09-14T00:55:00.000-04:00

Monday, we had a great night at 3rd Place. We watched a NOOMA video
called "Dust." It was a really challenging video. I will post some of
the questions and pics soon.

We also got to see Jessica and Adam again. It has been a while since
they were able to come. They brought the new baby, Rowan!

Today, I got a chance to hang out with two of my favorite people. And
I was given a great book by one of them.

If you haven't read "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell, I highly recommend
it. It will challenge you to rethink and examine your relationship
with God.

Then to wrap up the evening, Michelle and I went to the Y to work
out. I don't really like to work out much, but afterwards I feel great.

So that is my week so far. Oh yeah, and my classes, but you don't
really want to know about those.

later,

Chapter 2 Part 2

2005-09-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

As he left the coffee shop, Seth felt a rush of blood swell in his head. He almost lost his footing, but steadied himself against the outside wall of the building.
“What are you doing, man?” he asked himself. “You aren’t ready for this.”
He answered himself with a voice he only slightly recognized as his own. “She is really cute though,” said the voice. “And that smile: she really got you with that smile didn’t she?”
Seth struggled to his senses, put one foot in front of the other and made his way to a light blue subcompact parked in the lot. Leaning against the car, he wiped several drops of sweat from his brow.
“Maybe you are ready.” Then he pulled the folded napkin from his pocket. He ran his finger across the numbers that just moments ago Lynn had scribbled down. “You might want to give this one a shot,” he thought.
“Yeah,” he whispered. Then he got in the car and started the engine.

Lynn glowed with a smile as she walked to the back of the coffee shop. She went to the sink to wash her hands before returning to make drinks. Claire, a co-worker who was quickly becoming a good friend, hurried to the back room to meet Lynn.
“Ok, so give me the dirt,” Claire said with a mischievous twinkle in her crystal blue eyes. “What’s going on with Mr. Firefighter?”
Lynn shrugged her shoulders and gave a puzzled expression. “What are you talking about?” she asked, playfully.
“Don’t play games with me, Lynn,” Claire huffed. Drying her hands, Lynn turned to the other barista. Claire caught a sparkle in Lynn’s eyes. In fact, it wasn’t just her eyes. It was her smile, her posture, her confidence. Lynn radiated a glow from deep within her.
“Oh, I know that look,” Claire smiled. “You’re falling for him.” At this Lynn blushed, but was not ashamed. “I haven’t really known him long. We have talked before, but not like today,” she could not restrain the smile that continued to escape her mouth.
“I think I am falling for him,” she said finally. Lynn giggled, and that two of them laughed as they returned to the front of the store.

Anne hung up the phone and turned to her daughter. There was panic on her face, and McKenzie knew that it must not be good.
“What did they say?” McKenzie was the first to speak. “Is daddy ok? Can we go see him?”
Anne put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “Yes, we can go see him,” she assured her.
“But let’s sit down first,” she suggested. I need to let you know what happened and what we will do next.” Anne explained.
They sat on the sofa and Anne explained that Ray had been in an accident, that he was very hurt. He had broken both legs, his collarbone, and several ribs. “He may not even be awake,” she continued. “I am going to get Emma from day care and drop you both off at Mrs. Farmer’s house.”
“But mom! I want to go!” McKenzie objected, but her argument did not sway Anne’s decision.
“No, I will go. If he is awake, I will come get you,” she explained.
McKenzie did not much like the arrangement, but knew better than to argue with her mother. So she huffed and crossed her arms instead.
“I need to make a couple of calls then we will leave,” Anne said. McKenzie did not reply. Anne left the room and returned to the kitchen. She sat at the table and began to dial a phone number.

Chapter 2 Part 1

2005-09-06T17:39:00.000-04:00

Chapter 2

Anne McUne had just fastened her seat belt when a thought struck her.
“I haven’t heard from Ray at all today,” she said to herself.
This was somewhat unusual for them. Ray would typically give her a call around three o’clock or so, but not today.
“Oh well,” she thought. “I guess I’ll just see him at home.

Traffic was heavier, more congested than usual that afternoon. On her way home from the office, Anne thought that several times the freeway resembled a parking lot more than a highway. Now, she came to a stop that lasted several minutes. She glanced in her rearview mirror. As she did, she ran her fingers through her long hair and brushed it away from her face.
Although she had just turned forty, Anne’s porcelain skin and flawless complexion created an ageless perplexity about her. She had sweeping curls of caramel hair with accents of sun-streaked highlights. Ray would not admit it, but they had been mistaken for father and daughter on several occasions.
Anne’s external beauty was only magnified by the kindness and compassion of her personality. To Ray, Anne was the most beautiful woman in the world.
Ann pulled her cell phone from her purse, which rested in the passenger seat of her mini-van. She hated driving a mini-van; it made her feel so ordinary and typical. Typical suburban mom.
Phone in hand, she speed dialed their home.
“Maybe Ray is already there,” she thought.

The phone rang.
Nothing.
Rang again.
Nothing,
A third time.
“Hello,” said the voice on the other end.
“Oh, hey Sissy. Is your dad home yet?” asked Anne.
“No, he isn’t.” McKenzie explained. “And he isn’t answering his phone either. I tried to call him earlier to see if I could go to Carrie’s to play.”
“Hmm.” Anne considered the possibilities. “Maybe he had a meeting with someone.”
But secretly she thought, “I hope everything is alright.” Then she spoke up again. “Well, I should be home in just a little bit. If he isn’t home by then, I guess we’ll send out the search party.”
“Yeah,” McKenzie laughingly agreed.
“Ok, well, I will see you in a bit,” said Anne.
“Ok, bye Mom,” replied McKenzie.
“Bye,” Anne repeated, and with that she put the phone back into her purse.

Lynn gathered the cups from the table and started to get up.
“Well, I need to get back to work,” she said
“Yeah, ok. I need to get going too,” Seth said, although he had no plans and nowhere special to be.
“Will you be in anytime soon?” asked Lynn, a bit awkward. “What is wrong with me?” she thought. “I am acting like I am in high school again.”
Seth squirmed in his chair, obviously getting uncomfortable. “Lynn, what are you trying to ask me?” he questioned her.
Now she was the uncomfortable one. “Well,” she started. “I had a really great time talking with you today. And well, I just…” she lost her words.
Seth leaned in and quietly asked, “You just what?” There was a tenderness in his voice that she was finding irresistible.
She relaxed a little and tried again. “I just want to know when I will, uh can, see you again.” She struggled a bit, but it was out. It was no on the table.
“That wasn’t so difficult. Was it?” Seth teased.
“Never mind,” she said, ashamed of her vulnerability.
He leaned over and put his hand on her shoulder. It was soft and gentle. Lynn started to feel as if she was melting.
“When do you work again?” he asked.
She looked up and caught a look in his eye that caused her heart to skip a beat and her stomach to flip-flop.
“Those bold blue eyes,” she thought.
“When do you work again?” Seth repeated.
“Oh, uh tomorrow. Morning shift.” She muttered, still partly in her day dream.
“I have to work tomorrow.” Seth said. “I will stop in on my way to work.”
“Ok,” she smiled. To Lynn, the smile felt as if it was literally from ear to ear. In actuality, Seth found it mesmerizing.
“See you then,” he said, then headed for the door.

Anne made it home about twenty minutes after hanging up with McKenzie. As she walked through house her chest tightened and she flushed with anxiety. She heard someone in the kitchen and went in to investigate. There she found McKenzie sitting at the table with the phone to her ear.
“Ok. Yeah. Ok,” she said, then looked up at her mother. There were tears in both of their eyes. “Here is my mom, she just walked in,” she then covered the mouthpiece with her hand.
She whispered to her mother, “It’s the hospital. Dad’s been in an accident.”
At this, Anne’s keys and purse slipped from her fingers and crashed to the floor. The contents spilled across the tile floor. A swell of fear mixed with nausea twisted in her stomach.
She took the phone from her daughter’s outstretched hand. With a quiver in her throat, she introduced herself.
“Th-this is Anne McUne. Is my husband alright?”

Darkness.
That was the last thing that Ray could remember. Now, nearly two hours later it was also all he could see.
He opened his eyes, but saw nothing. Pitch black. A black so dark and foreboding that his heart sank.
“Am I blind? Where am I? What happened?” he thought. There was so much panic in his heart that he wanted to scream. He heard something though. A strange buzz. A hum actually was coming from somewhere in this place. He searched through his memories for the sound.
“Fluorescent lights?” he thought. He became aware of other sounds. An electronic beeping was coming from just over his right shoulder. And now he could hear voices, as if on the other side of a door or wall. And there was a voice on a P.A.
“Doctor Reynolds please report to the E.R. Doctor Reynolds to the E.R. please,” the voice requested.
Ray the smelled it. The strange odor in the air; actually it was the strange lack of odor. Clean. Sanitary. Now that he was sure he was in a hospital, Ray wanted to know how he got there and why. But first, his attention returned to his eyes.
He reached with his right hand to feel at his face, but did not get far when an I.V. tube restrained him. He cautiously reached with his left hand. His fingers crept slowly across his mouth, nose and finally reached his eyes. They were bandaged, wrapped tightly with gauze.
Ray breathed a sigh of relief. “Maybe I’m not blind after all,” he thought. Now that he had managed to calm down, he tried to shift in the bed. This was met with an instant stabbing pain. The piercing agony shot through both legs. He tried to feel at them, groping aimlessly, but could not reach.
“No matter,” he thought. “You know they’re broke Ray.”
He knew alright. As a high school athlete, Ray had endured his share of broken bones: his right wrist as a freshman, his collarbone the next summer, and of course the compound fracture of his left leg. That one happened during the homecoming football game of his senior year. The leg had snapped just below his knee when another player had hit him there during a tackle. The other player’s helmet had smashed into him so hard that Ray had blacked out.
There was a certain universal pain that accompanied a broken bone. Ray knew this and decided to try to lay back and relax until a doctor could come talk to him. But just then, he realized that there was another pain. He must have missed it earlier, but now it was creeping to the surface. He felt at his neck and ran his fingers across a C-collar.
“Did I break my neck?” he thought, then answered his own question. “No. You felt pain in your legs didn’t you? It must be just a precaution.” But there was still a pain in his neck.
“Must be whiplash,” he explained it away. Then he started remembering. Screeching tires. A car horn. Darkness.
And with that thought, he fell back to sleep.

2005-09-04T00:19:00.000-04:00

New photo blog for Rowan Clarke. Go check it out:
Rowan's Blog

Next Chapter is coming!

2005-08-31T01:03:00.000-04:00

Well I just finished the second chapter of my as of yet untitled
fiction book. I will get it typed this week and post it as soon as
possible. Thanks for all the great comments about the first chapter,
I hope the chapters to follow will not disappoint.

Religious Right or Wrong

2005-08-25T18:36:00.000-04:00

This article appeared in USA Today. It blows me away that some of the "Christian" leaders in this country can take such non-Christian stances.

Hugo Chavez, the populist strongman who runs oil-rich Venezuela and rails against U.S. influence in Latin America, has a new helper: Pat Robertson.
When the veteran televangelist called Monday for assassinating Chavez, it was small-bore news in an American context — notable mostly because it's not every day that you hear a Christian activist advocating murder. But Robertson has said outrageous things before and is quickly dismissed.
Abroad, though, his comments quickly fueled anti-American sentiment.

Since Chavez was first elected, in 1998, claims that Washington is plotting to kill him have become routine. Robertson — a prominent White House ally, who once sought the Republican presidential nomination and won four states in the primary campaign — gave them credibility. "If (Chavez) thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson said on his The 700 Club, a TV show seen by nearly a million people a day.

Threats to heads of government are not taken lightly overseas, particularly when the White House has a policy of "pre-empting" foreign threats. Over the past half-century, the United States plotted against leaders of Cuba, Congo and the Dominican Republic, and encouraged assassinations in South Vietnam, Chile and elsewhere.

Robertson tried to claim Wednesday that he had been "misinterpreted" and later apologized. But the impact of his remarks was widespread. The National Association of Evangelicals worried that the comments could endanger U.S. missionaries and aid workers who are wrongly perceived as collaborators with U.S. intelligence agencies.

They might also have worried about the political interpretation. Not long ago, Robertson was at the forefront of the campaign to sanctify displays of the Ten Commandments across the land. Now, the Christian Coalition founder publicly advocated immoral and illegal action. What part of "Thou shalt not kill" is it that he fails to grasp?

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And this comes from Church Marketing Sucks. I think this is exactly how Christians should respond to this. With holy anger.

Pat Robertson Assassinates Jesus

As you can expect, the news channels are swarmed with chatter over the latest stupid thing Pat Robertson has said: The U.S. should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (watch the 700 Club video). Stupid comments like this and thousands of others do real damage to the cause of Christianity.

Why does anybody even listen to this guy?

The headlines today are amazing—it's actually hard to tell the satire stories from the real ones:

Real or Fake?

[For the record, it's fake, real, fake, real, real.]

Stupid Things Christians Say

OK, we've been here before: prominent Christians saying stupid things. It's not exactly a great public relations move, and it certainly doesn't help the image of the church.

Now let's be clear about what we're saying. We're not saying that Christians should be silent in the face of injustice. We're not saying Christians should keep quiet about sin to help our marketing. That's a crock. We're saying Christians need to be careful what they say. There's a big difference between "assassinate that guy" and "that guy's doing something wrong."

Think before you speak.

In the Aftermath of Stupid Statements

Now that Robertson has opened his mouth and inserted both feet, what if potential visitors associate your church with Robertson's comments? Sadly, it happens all too often that Christians are characterized by the unguarded comments of people like Robertson.

But there are a few things you can do:

Keep your distance. It's the classic political move: distance yourself from the one in trouble. In this case it might be as simple as reiterating that your church doesn't have the same stance as Robertson. It could be a simple side comment in a sermon or a newsletter article. It's also worth noting that you want to distance your church from his comments, but not necessarily him as a person. Christians should still support one another, even when we say stupid things.
Humor helps. Laugher can often defuse a situation, and in this case poking fun at Robertson's comments seems like a good way to go. Spoof ads or skits making light of the situation would show the difference between your views and Robertson's and also reassure potential visitors that you're not a bunch of wackos. Again, it's important to have some balance: laughing at his comments is OK, laughing at him seems a little harsh.
Stick to your strengths. Make sure people don't associate your church with something stupid a Christian said by making it clear what your church stands for. Grace, mercy, love, justice, etc. should be so blatant in your church's sermons, newsletters, banners, posters, web sites, etc. that it's obvious that comments about assassinating a world leader wouldn't jive in your sanctuary.
Offer your perspective. When people discuss the issue, offer your perspective. Take the opportunity to explain that not all Christians would agree with something like what Robertson said. It would be ideal if a member of your church staff could offer that perspective to a local newspaper covering the story.
Apologize. This is something we're often not good at, especially when it doesn't seem like we're the ones who should apologize. But offering an apology can be a gentle and graceful way to show where you stand.
Pray. I hate to bring up prayer in a public relations post because it just seems too easy to co-opt prayer. But it's still important, even if nobody knows about it. Pray for Pat Robertson and Hugo Chavez. Who knows—mysterious ways, right? Maybe one day Pat and Hugo will laugh about this mess over drinks.

Dealing with something like this doesn't need to be a huge ordeal for local churches. It could be as simple as a joking reference and a more serious comment at the beginning of Sunday's sermon. But these kind of statements do have a long-term effect on our ability to communicate, especially with non-Christians. That may mean a college ministry or an outreach group will be dealing with stupid things Christians say six months down the road. Being aware of these issues and defusing them is the key.

And so is keeping them from happening. Think before you speak, even if you don't have a nationally televised cable show.

Reality Church?

2005-08-25T01:14:00.000-04:00

I ran across this on Dan Kimball's blog. If you don't know Dan, he is the author of The Emerging Church, and Emerging Worship and is a key thinker in the Emergent Movement.

The First Stage: We begin going to a church, exciting, thrilling, love Jesus, the church is exciting, all things new.

Second Stage: We begin getting involved, learn behind the scenes things, feel privileged to know the church staff and leaders more personally, we are totally excited.

Third Stage: We see things you start to question, the thrill of the big church meetings wanes, as it seems more and more predictable, the leaders seem more human now and not as special as first.

Fourth Stage: We start to get tired of serving in ministry. It seems routine now and we only see it as fueling the big meeting that we don't really like anymore. The leaders we once were in awe of now seem not only normal, but there is a suspicion of self-serving vs. serving the church in their motives. We lose excitement and wonder if church is even something we should be part of. We grow more disillusioned by the day.

Fifth Stage: Total disillusionment, begin feeling bitter towards church leaders, and wonder why people don’t question things more. We sit in the big meeting and feel very alone. We look at the crowds around us and don't feel like we belong anymore. Is church just a produced big meeting? We are tired and it even angers us to see excited new people joining the church as we now know how it really works and how they too will eventually become tired like we are and see church is a program and organized religion.

Sixth Stage: We silently drop out of church. We read the Bible and early church history and see that they didn't have bigger weekly meetings in the early church. We read "house church" literature and begin thinking this is the real New Testament church. We get excited about really doing church the right way and not the big organized way. We find a few other disillusioned Christians and either form or join some sort of small house church gathering. We want it to be simple and not "organized" or programmed or big, but pure like the early church. Everyone all sharing together, true community will happen here, unlike the bigger programmed meetings.

Seventh Stage: Fairly quickly, we realize it isn't too easy leading people. Even in a small house church. People don't show up, or you have people dominating conversations. There is the same bickering, some gossip, people whispering to others that they are not happy with how the meeting went etc. We sometimes try to sing worship songs with ten people and it feels very odd. So you don't try to sing anymore, but do secretly miss the corporate singing that happens in a larger group. Eventually we find the same disappointments in the smaller house church that we did in the bigger programmed church, but at a different level. We get even more disillusioned, as we realize that even the key leaders (including ourselves) and the people of the house church are just as messed up as the big church leaders and people in those churches.

We also feel subtly uncomfortable that the house church feels a bit inward focused. It would be weird to have non-Christians break up the intimate dialog and prayer we have taken such a long time to establish together. But we know something has to be done, as we keep thinking about those who don't know Jesus and that our house church might not be the best place to invite them. Plus dealing with little kids running around every week during your meeting certainly limits your full engagement into the Bible discussion. We get more disheartened as our 4 year old knocks the entire strawberry shortcake dessert onto the kitchen floor as he was trying to get at it early before it is served at the house church.

Eighth Stage: We stop going to any church of any kind. We forget it all. Watch a lot of TV. Play video games. We go see the Dukes of Hazzard movie.

Ninth Stage: We begin missing other Christians, and regular fellowship. We do some introspection and eventually deal with the disappointments and high expectations that we had. We begin a new level of maturity and thinking about the church and church leaders.

We start thinking about our options. We don't want to go to a preaching-driven church that just has everything revolve around the senior pastor or the preacher, as that subtly creates passive spectators who depend on the preacher to "feed" them weekly - rather than maturing as Christians whom should primarily be "feeding" ourselves (since we aren't infants anymore). We don't want to go to a hyper-Reformed church where we feel guilty all the time and get caught up in the everybody else is worldy and wrong but us mentality. We don't feel good about the seeker-type of churches where everyone is so happy, the music is hyper-cheery and we fill in the blanks in the notes they give out. That excites us for a little while, when we fill in the blanks, because it feels like you are really learning. But after a while we see the stack thickening in our Bibles that we stuff them in and realize that we have never even looked at them since we filled them in. We look at our notes that we filled the blanks in on, and can't remember a single thing from these sermons, even the one from two weeks ago.

Tenth Stage: So, we slowly go back to our original church that we at first felt good in because of the overall vision and mission that drew us to it in the first place. We find that the leaders do admit freely to you there are weaknesses and flaws and mess ups and ego issues, but still try their best to blend both the bigger meetings and smaller home meetings for the purpose of the mission. They try to be organized, without being "Organized".

It's not perfect, but we begin to enjoy and even more appreciate the benefits and momentum of the church. But now we get involved with more realistic expectations of what church is and understand the leaders are just like us, trying their best to serve Jesus. We become happy again with a balanced life and imperfect church family all serving on a mission together.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Due to the rather large amount of emails I am getting from people about this post and asking questions - I wanted to say this is not an entirely real situation, but one made up from lots of different experiences and stories. Nor do I think everyone has to go through all these stages. Nor do I think everyone always ends up back at their original church. Sadly, some churches should never be returned to!

I am just thinking of the churches that people leave that really are OK, and just trying their best and making some mistakes along the way. Pondering some of the unrealistic expectations we make sometimes of church and church leaders. I'm glad it is stirring up some thinking and from the emails, sure seems like a lot of people have personally experienced some of these stages. - Dan

The baby is here!!!

2005-08-24T23:35:00.000-04:00

Jessica gave birth today to Rowan Anastasia Clarke at around 1:00pm
The baby weighed 8lbs, 7oz. and was 20 inches long.
Mother and baby are doing fine, and dad is freaking out with joy.

It's GO time!!!!

2005-08-23T07:51:00.000-04:00

Well, today is the big day for my friends Adam and Jessica.
Jess is being induced this morning. I am about to walk out the door
to drive down to the hospital.
Please pray for them and their baby. This is pretty exciting, I am
really happy for them.

Just trying out a new feature

2005-08-19T02:40:00.000-04:00

Blogger has a feature that allows you to email your posting directly
to your blog. I am trying it for the first time right now. We'll see
if it works well or not. By the way, if I was a greedy turd, i would
tell you to check out the ad links on the side of my site. but i'm
not, so i won't.

Site Update

2005-08-18T02:10:00.000-04:00

I added a list of postings and essays that I have written over the past 2 years. They are on the right hand side. Some of these are about postmodern Christianity, some are about me, some are about life in general. I am proud of all of them, and would love for you to visit them and comment on them if you like. Thanks.

continuation of chapter 1

2005-08-08T03:56:00.000-04:00

Lynn flopped down into a large soft chair across from Ray and next to Seth.
“Mind if I join the boys’ club?” she asked.
“Our pleasure,” answered Seth.
Seth was a regular at the coffee shop and had engaged in several light-hearted conversations with Lynn and the other baristas.
“So, what are we talking about?” inquired Lynn.
“We’re just sharing work stories,” explained Seth.
“Don’t even get me started,” laughed Lynn. “I have plenty of stories.”
“Don’t we all,” said Ray, making more of a statement than an inquiry.

At this point it was closing in on three o’clock and Ray was far from finishing his sermon. He wanted to stay and talk some more, but he knew he had to work on his message. He asked Seth if he would be at the shop next Wednesday. Seth assured him that he would.
“Looking forward to talking with you again,” Ray said, gathering his things.
“Me too,” added Seth.
Ray exchanged goodbyes with Lynn, and with that, he left the coffee shop.
Lynn was working a double shift, so as she was taking a break, she enjoyed her vanilla latte, the quiet jazz music in the air, and the company of a real-live hero.

Seth was the first to strike up a new conversation.
“How long’ve you know Ray?” he asked.
“A few months,” she answered. “I had waited on him a lot and eventually had a real conversation with him one day. He’s a pretty cool guy.”
“He seems like it,” said Seth. “Not really what I expected a minister to be like.”
“What did you expect?” Lynn questioned.
“I don’t know, it’s just that, well, as far as I could tell he isn’t your typical uptight cookie-cutter type of Christian,” answered Seth.
“I know what you mean,” she encouraged. “He’s not pushy or abrasive,” she added.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Seth confirmed. “Why can’t all Christians be that way?” he added.
“That is a really good question,” Lynn concluded.

As Ray left the coffee shop he felt a few drops of rain on his face. The rain was soothing and cool, a contrast to the warmth of a typical August day. Although Indiana is known for its moderate Springs and Falls, the Summers and Winters could be incredible aggressive: Not today though. Rain was sometimes scarce in the late summer months, so this shower was pleasantly welcomed.
Ray quickly hopped into his beat up S-10 pick up. He hated the idea of getting water spots on his papers. Although he had contemplated buying a laptop, for now he was happy handwriting his messages. There was a certain sentiment to handwriting a sermon. It conjured thoughts of ancient scribes penning the Gospels and the Epistles.
Ray switched through radio stations trying to find anything worth listening to. As he expected though, all he found was the same bubble gum pop music that he found nauseating. He had said to his oldest daughter once:
“Come on Sis. I mean seriously, how many ‘Ooh’s’ and ‘Yeah baby’s’ are necessary?”
He pulled a zippered CD case from the backseat. Feeling his way through the case, he found the prize he was looking for and popped it into the player.
He usually listened to audio books while in writing mode. He tried to stay clear of “church” music in order to avoid getting emotionally caught up. He tried listening to worship CD’s once, but found his messages were encouraging and uplifting, but not as challenging. So today’s background noise would be chapter 4 from a book entitled “And God said…” Actually, it was originally titled, “Et Dieu a dit…” The author, a French philosopher from the 1800’s was named Xavier Boche’.
Although it was translated into English, it was still fairly heady stuff. From what Ray could tell, the point of the dissertation was that Christ had not abolished the laws of the Old Testament, but had fulfilled them, even simplifying them in two laws. Ray had to agree. For several years he had come to believe that one could follow the original ten commandments by simply adhering to the 2 commandments that Christ had given to his early followers: Love God and love your neighbors. The problem, as Ray had seen it, was that people still focused on working for salvation, as if they could earn it. Ray began string thoughts together.

“If we could earn salvation…” he thought aloud.
“Then why would we need Christ?”
“If we could earn grace…” he continued his thoughts.
“Why should we depend on God?”
He sat for a few seconds, not really thinking but just waiting.

Then it came.
“Because we can’t earn it. That’s just it. God offers it to everyone. After we have accepted his gift of grace, our lives change and we want to do good works. Not to gain salvation by because it is already given to us ,” he concluded.
This was nothing new to Ray. He had debated the grace vs. works argument when he was in seminary. He assumed that most people had abandoned the idea of salvation through works a long time ago.

He was in the middle of his thoughts, somewhat swept away, when he jerked back to reality to the screeching sound of tires, but not his. Then, blackness.

“So, you mean to tell me that there are single guys in the fire department?” Lynn giggled with amusement. “I thought that all women went crazy for a man in uniform.”
“Well, it’s a little misleading. I’m not single because I have a lack of opportunity. I am single, cause I’m not looking,” Seth explained.
“Well that’s a shame,” said Lynn. “Cause I was just about to ask you out.”
Seth thought to himself for a second. “Was she joking? Oh man, this is uncomfortable.”
He didn’t respond.
“Well, awkward moment, eh?” Lynn asked shifting in her seat.
Seth cracked a smile. “Yeah,” he agreed.
Then a thought popped into Lynn’s head.
“Oh crap, I am so sorry. I must have missed something. I had no idea that you were, well, you know, not into girls.” She awkwardly apologized.
“What?!” Seth half gasped, half choked. “I’m not gay! I’m divorced!”
“Great. I’m an idiot. I am so sorry, I guess I assumed that if a good looking guy tells me her isn’t looking to date that he must be trying to say something else,” she tried to explain.
“Don’t worry about it, the guys at the station tease me all the time,” Seth tried to comfort her.
“No really, I am sorry. I will by all of your drinks from now on,” she was still apologizing.
“Well that’s a deal, but only if we drop the subject,” Seth concluded.
“Agreed,” added Lynn.

She continued, cautiously. “So, uh, if you don’t mind me asking. What happened?” her tone had changed.
“You mean my marriage?” asked Seth.
“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me, it’s none of my business,” she back peddled.
“No, it’s ok,” he replied. “We were young, just 19 and 20 when we got married. Things were great for a few years. I was hired at the department; she was a receptionist at a doctor’s office. Like I said, things were great.”
Lynn just sat there, silently, taking in the story.

“So a few month at the fire department and we were fighting all the time, about everything. Our shifts suck, twenty-four hours on at a time. Seven o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock the next morning.” Seth continued.

“Wow, I thought I had it rough working a few mornings here and there,” replied Lynn.

“Yeah, well, while I was at work, she was out with her friends hitting the bars and clubs. One night she met a bartender and the rest is history,” he looked away towards the window.

“Oh no,” Lynn was feeling pain for him.

“She started having an affair. I felt so stupid. I had no idea. It went on for two or three months. Then one morning, I came home from work and the house was quiet. She wasn’t there. All of her stuff was gone. All she left was a letter on the kitchen counter,” he remembered.
“She left you a ‘Dear John’ letter?” Lynn almost shouted.
“Yeah, well actually a ‘Dear Seth’ letter, but it basically said that she was leaving me, she found someone else, it wasn’t my fault, blah, blah, blah.” He motioned with his hands as he said the last three words.
“I just remember falling to the floor and crying so hard. Then like a one-two punch, I realized that she had taken our dog too. I was literally all alone.” There was a quiver in his voice.
“Oh my gosh, that is so low,” replied Lynn.
“Yeah, so that was five years ago, and I haven’t dated since,” Seth added.
They sat back awkwardly for a few silent seconds.

“So,” Lynn broke the tension. “What holds you back?”
“I don’t know, fear of getting hurt again, I guess,” answered Seth.
“Yeah, I guess that would do it,” Lynn offered then continued. “Don’t worry, I won’t stalk you or anything, but uh, you know, if you ever would like to go have dinner and some company you can give me a call.” She wrote down her phone number on a napkin and slid it over to him.
He reached for it hesitantly. Looking at it for a second, he spoke up.
“I just saw this number,” he said.
“What? Where?” she asked, concerned.
“On the wall in the restroom,” he said, smiling.
“You jerk,” she said, laughing, then slugged him hard in the shoulder.

Brain hurts, muscles burn, heart aches...

2005-07-30T17:51:00.000-04:00

I have almost finished my summer classes. I have one day to go. I already finished my two history classes. Got an A in both of them. I am hoping for a C in my Biology class, just enough to transfer the credit. So with the summer classes coming to an end i have been putting some time into my books (i am still trying to write two!) I have also been trying to put time and energy into 3rd Place. It is difficult to juggle so many things at the same time.

Last week I went to a job interview for a job I don't really even want. I sent a resume to a facility in Xenia about a month ago. I got a call for an interview. I always do pretty well with interviews. In fact, I have never had an interview that was not followed up with an offer. This interview was no exception, it went really well and after less than 20 minutes the interviewer explained that he would be forwarding my information to his superintendent for a follow up interview. I was called yesterday and scheduled another interview for next Friday.

Here is the interesting part: i don't know that i want the job. With class scheduled for the fall and subsequent quarters after that, I have a pretty structured schedule. And 3rd Place is on Monday nights. To be honest there are few options that they could offer me that would be totally beneficial.

Add to the scheduling the fact that I have a disease the i will have for the rest of my life and it developed while with my current job. I don't know much about insurance, but i do know what a pre-existing condition is.

This all rests heavily on my heart and mind. I also had a couple fillings this week and scheduled a root canal for next week. I hate going tot he dentist. That is stressful enough.

My heart has been heavy lately too. I am nearing my 7th anniversary with my wife, Michelle, and although we still love each other very much, we are both honest in admitting that there are areas of our marriage that could use some improving. So I am dedicating myself to being and becoming the man and husband that I can be. We started working out together. In fact today , i ran 2.75 miles on the cross trainer. I have been climbing on tuesdays as well. I know that a physically fit body can lead to an emotionally fit person.

Well that's it in a nutshell. I will try to post again soon. Thanks for reading!!!

1st Chapter of the new book

2005-07-01T01:34:00.000-04:00

Here is the first chpater of my new book. It is yet untitled. Be warned, I think this is going to be a long book. Don't worry, I am going to finish the other one, but this has been put on my heart and I feel a need to at least get it started. Well With that, here it is. By the way this isn't all of the first chapter, it is just all that I have typed so far. More will come ASAP.

UNTITLED
Chapter 1

“Ray, your soy chai latte is ready,” declared Lynn, the barista at the coffee bar. As the announcement rolled from her lips, she had a thought.
“Two years and I am still making drinks in this place. Wow, it has gone by quick.”

Ray McUne peeked over the top of his thick-rimmed glasses, rose gradually and strolled over to pick up his freshly brewed concoction.
“Thanks, Lynn” he said with a friendly tone in his voice. “You doing ok?” he added.
“Yeah Ray, just a little down today” Lynn answered.
“Anything I can do?” he asked her, searching her eyes for a hint as to what might be troubling her.
“How about a prayer or something?” she only slightly joked.
“As soon as I sit down, you’ll be my first priority” he encouraged her.
“Thanks, Ray” she replied. “I feel better already.”

Ray returned to the comfortable oversized chair from where he came. Sitting down, he realized that he spent a lot of time in this coffee shop. He recognized other “regulars.” He knew several of the baristas by name, some of them, like Lynn, on a personal level. They knew his drink before he even ordered.

Soy chai latte.

It was something that a friend had introduced him to, a sort of spicy tea mixed with vanilla, honey, and milk. Ray had difficulty drinking milk, so he opted for soy. The oriental brew was his regular drink now. Something was soothing about it and allowed him to relax as he went over his notes.

He would arrive every Wednesday around one o’clock in the afternoon. After picking up his hot spicy beverage, he would begin to write and rewrite his message for the upcoming weekend.

Ray sipped his eastern creation while revising the sermon, thinking to himself.
“I’ll need to cut one of the points in order to trim some of the time down.”

Ray was famous for presenting a message that was consistently twenty-seven minutes long. He didn’t really know how he had come to twenty-seven, but it seemed to work for him and the church community at Lakeside.

Ray had helped plant the church just seven years ago, along with his wife and six other couples.

Married for sixteen years, Anne and Ray had two beautiful daughters. McKenzie was almost eleven and Emma was eight. Ray pulled the family picture from his wallet. It was one of those Sears prints with the semi-glossy surface. The corners were bent and worn and there was a slight tear on the bottom edge. He smiled as he admired the photo.

“Time really does fly,” he said not realizing he had spoken the words aloud.
“Sure does,” said a gentleman seated to Ray’s left.

Ray flinched out of his daydream. “Excuse me?” he asked.
“You said that time flies. I just added that it sure does,” replied the kind faced man with graying temples. “Name’s Seth Miller,” continued the stranger.
“Ray McUne,” added Ray. “Nice to meet ya.”
“Same here,” Seth cordially replied. “What do you do, Mr. McUne?” Seth inquired.
“Well,” Ray paused.

He knew what would happen when he revealed his identity as a minister. He would get a string of never ending God questions, and right now, he just wanted to finish his drink and his sermon. But something tugged at him and he let his guard down.

“I’m a minister,” Ray conceded, closing his notebook and putting his pen away.
“Well, what do ya know? A real live preacher!” Seth joked.
“Yeah, what do ya know?” added Ray. He thought he would quickly ask the same question of Seth, hoping to avoid the theology class.
“So Seth, what do you do?” Ray asked.
“Oh me? I’m just a fireman,” Seth answered humbly.
“Just a fireman?!” Ray exclaimed.
“Well yeah, I know. But it ain’t like we rescue babies from burning buildings all day. Honestly, most of the time we just goof around at the station,” Seth admitted.
“And the rest of the time is spent in burning buildings,” laughed Ray.
“So how long have you been a real live hero?” Ray continued, now forgetting about his sermon.
“About ten years, but it feels like I started yesterday,” answered Seth.
“I know what you mean,” Ray thought aloud, then to himself. “I know what you mean.

Ray and Seth shared occupational stories. Some were happy, some were tragic. Seth had excused himself to go to the restroom and Ray didn’t once open his notebook. The sermon was officially on the back burner. He was just finishing his drink when Seth returned. “You were talking about a fire you got called to,” Ray reminded him.

“Yeah, so there I was, blindly searching through the smoke and fire,” Seth continued his story. “The O2 on my tank was low, probably ten, maybe fifteen minutes left. The apartment building’s structure was weakening. You could hear the fire screaming and the building crying,” he explained.
“I was in what seemed like a nursery. Toys and little furniture everywhere. Then the thought struck me. Here I was on the final sweep of the building and I was going to find a dead baby. There was no way a child could have survived all the heat and smoke. I did not want to find a dead baby. That’s the hardest part of this job: dead or dying kids, especially babies,” he said, a strong emotion behind his cloudy blue eyes. “I found the crib and reached inside.”

Ray was on the edge of his seat. He could somewhat relate. He had done several funerals in his fifteen years of ministry and burying a baby is one of the hardest ones. He thought of his girls and how quickly they had grown up.

Seth continued, “So I am feeling around in this crib, hoping for all hope that there is not a baby in it.”

Ray was actually breathing harder as Seth narrated the story. He was troubled.

“Then I felt it, a leg,” Seth said.
“Oh no,” cried Ray his heart thumping in his chest.
Seth continued, “I picked up the body and realized…”
“It was dead?” Ray interrupted.
“Well no, not really. I realized it was never really alive. I had rescued a doll,” Seth laughed.
“Oh thank God,” said Ray, relieved.
They were both laughing hard when Lynn came over to join them.

Lynn wasn’t a complainer; in fact, she was fairly content most of the time. She was just frustrated. She had taken the coffee shop job two years earlier just to help pay for school. Now a graduate with a degree in business management, she felt as if she was just turning her wheels.

“Business management,” she laughed to herself. She had always dreamed of owning her own business someday. Those dreams were quickly fading away though. She had tried to get on staff with several realtors, financial advisors, and marketing firms, but having a Bachelors degree today was like having a high school diploma twenty years ago. You would be ahead of the game, but not by much. So here she was serving drinks to realtors, financial advisors, and marketing execs.

“It’s not so bad,” she tried cheering herself up. “I have made some good friends.” With this, she glanced at Ray.

He felt her stare, looked up, and smiled back. Lynn had become a good friend to both he and Anna. Just a few months earlier, Lynn had sat across from Ray one Wednesday afternoon discussing God, religion, and particularly, Christianity.

The only surviving child from a broken family, Lynn had been raised by her loving, yet bitterly jaded mother, Mary. Despite her namesake, Mary felt anything but, “blessed among women.” In fact, after several church ladies took it upon herself to judge and condemn her for her lifestyle choices, Mary chose to leave the Church altogether. She saw only anger and judgmentalism from the “Christians” in her life and was losing faith in their God. When her oldest child, Christopher, had died of a sudden heart condition at the age of twelve, Mary had had enough. She concluded that no loving, gracious, merciful God would allow such pain and heartache. Alone with her daughter, Mary raised Lynn to question everything and be skeptical of the “religious nuts.”
Now she was twenty-three and Lynn had come to know the same God she was taught to avoid. And her walk with God had started with a cup of coffee.

Stress and more stress

2005-06-20T23:12:00.000-04:00

I turned 29 a few weeks ago.
Every time I have a birthday, I start to examine the past year, my life, my goals, etc.
I realized that I have let myself down when it comes to my book.
I need to put more time into that.
I also, got an idea for a fiction novel. Ask me about it later.
Next, I examined my spiritual life. I am a great deal closer to God now than I was a year ago.
3rd Place is growing. We had 13 last week and 11 tonight. It is such a blessing to lead a group like that.
I finished my first quarter of school. Two B's and one A.
Not bad, I wanted all A's but I haven't been in school for over 8 years. So I'll settle for the two B's.
I just started the summer quarter. I am taking two classes online and my first on campus class, Biology, ugh.
Otherwise, I am pretty good.
Keep checking in.

The new face of my site.

2005-06-09T23:32:00.000-04:00

So it is finally here. I have revamped both this site and the 3rd Place site. They are fairly similar. It just makes it easier for me to have them utilize similar themes and graphics. I am sure that will eventually change.

So a lot has taken place over the past few months. I am back in school, trying to get a few classes under my belt before going to C.C.U. in the fall.

I celebrated my 29th birthday this week. I can't believe I am already looking at 30. I know that it is cliche, but the time really does fly. We also had a great block party last week. We got to meet a lot of our neighbors and enjoy some great food. On top of all that, I survived the month of May. May is such a difficult month for me. We found out that my mother had cancer in May of '89 or '90, (i can't really remember) we also lost my mother to that cancer in May of '95. Add Mother's Day and Memorial Day and you have a formula for some good 'ole Box family depression. So I am thankful that it is now June.

I finish my Spring quarter classes this week and start Summer quarter soon. Eventually I will publish chapter 4 of my book. I just need to find the extra time.

Anyway, enjoy the new site. There are some hidden "easter-eggs." I won't tell you where, but the hunt should be fun.

Be prepared

2005-05-29T00:03:00.000-04:00

There is a new look to this site in the works. It is coming soon, so be prepared. Sorry i haven't posted in so long, but since I started back in school, things have been crazy. Please keep checking in, changes are coming!!!

Just a little about me.

2005-05-13T23:43:00.000-04:00

What is your name? Michael
What are you listening to right now? Crickets and traffic
What was the last thing you ate? A salad
If you were a crayon what color would you be? Gray
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My wife, Michelle
Favorite Food? Mexican
Favorite Drink? Chai
Favorite Month? August
Least Favorite Month? May
Favorite Fast Food? Arby's
Last Movie you Watched? Hero
Chocolate or Vanilla? vanilla
Favorite TV Show? Lost
Favorite board game? Chess
Favorite Author? Brian McLaren
Who inspires you? Many people (my mother, especially)
What do first think when you wake up in the A.M.? Ugh, I gotta take the dogs out!
Right-handed or Left-handed? Right
Smooth or Chunky Peanut Butter? yuck, i hate peanut butter
How many pillows do you sleep with? 2
City and State you were born in? Anderson, Indiana
Ever hitchhiked? yup.
All-time Favorite Band? Smashing Pumpkins

Kinda Creepy!

2005-04-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

Last week, the Catholic Church elected Joseph Ratzinger as the new pope. Pope Benedict XVI.
Immediatly upon seeing His Holiness I felt as if I had seen him before somewhere.
I told michelle that I think he was in a movie or something.
I said that in all of his wardrobe he looks like an emperor or something.
Then today, I found it. While surfing one of my daily sites, I found that they too had seen this Papal Powerhouse before.

Is that creepy or what?

A walk in the park.

2005-04-17T23:34:00.000-04:00

Michelle and I went to Cox Arboretum for a walk and a picnic. It was a beautiful day and I got a lot of nice pics. Here are a few:

Then after a great day, Michelle and I got spontaneous and decided to get the tattoo that I had designed. Michelle was able to get hers, I am getting mine on Monday morning...her is a pic of Michelle's. Mine will be the same, just bigger and on my right shoulder.

Very long week

2005-04-13T19:03:00.000-04:00

Let me just say that I am addicted to my mac. I never realized how bad until this week. To mac a long story short, the ruby iMac died this week. I think the motherboard is toast. Anyway, today I am finally back on a mac. My wife, Michelle, went out to "run some errands" today. She came back with a small box from CompUSA. At first I honestly thought it was a box or software, or maybe even an iPod. But then I turned the box over and saw it. The mac mini.

For you tech-no-geeks, like me, here are the specs:

1.42Ghz G4 Power PC processor
256MB of RAM
80GB Hard Drive
Slot Loading Combo Drive (DVD-ROM & CD-RW)
OSX 10.3.7
iLife Software Package

Needless to say, I am psyched. My father-in-law just got a new G5 imac so he sent me his old iMac. It will be Michelle's, but I swapped out the old hard drive and put in the one from our old mac. Now I am trying to move important stuff from the iMac to the mini. It shouldn't be a long process. Anyway, I wanted to update and let everyone know the good news!!!

Sad songs and starry nights....

2005-04-05T00:27:00.000-04:00

I'm in hiding......

2005-04-04T00:59:00.000-04:00

Hmm....Sleep

2005-03-05T00:09:00.000-05:00

I sleep a lot. No, really. Ask my wife. I sleep more than anyone I know. Now sometimes, it isn't even because I'm tired. I just like to lay in bed, all snuggled up in blankets, and do absolutely nothing. Occasionally I will have a dream that I remember.

Sometimes dreams and nightmares wake me up in the middle of the night. Sometimes they cause sweats and shakes. Sometimes they happen again and again. This happens to me. Recurring dreams.

Some people think that dreams have strong psychological, emotional, or even biological meanings. I am not sure where dreams come from. All I know is they freak me out. sometimes I can figure out the meaning behind them, other times it feels like watching a horror movie.

I don't know why I am writing about this, but I am. What do you guys think about dreams or nightmares? Please leave comments on this one.

The long awaited 3rd Chapter

2005-03-02T02:43:00.000-05:00

Here it is. I finally got around to typing out my hand written version of chapter 3. I hope you all enjoy.

One Friend that Helped Change My Life

Most of my friends knew that my mother was sick. And most of them knew that a depression of sorts had swept over me. I had started pulling away from my friends as well as my family. I would spend my free time writing, working on publications for school, or drinking. It was easier to pre-occupy myself than to deal with all of the things going on around me. It was at this low point in my life when a friend took a huge step of faith. She reached out to me in a way that would change my life.

Dana was a friend in the best sense of the word. I cannot remember her ever saying a negative thing about anyone. She came up to me one fall day, just before the dismissal bell rang at the end of the school day. I was already walking towards the door. (Leaving before the bell was a benefit of having a last period study hall, during which I worked in the athletic office.) She stopped me before I could walk out the door, just inside the breezeway, next to the Pepsi machine.

“Mike, can I talk to you for a second?” She said. In hind site I can imagine how nervous she must have been. I had become somewhat of a self-absorbed jerk and I could have easily treated her poorly. But I obliged her for “a second.”

“Sure, but it has to be quick.” I said, knowing that I didn’t really have to be anywhere in particular.

“Well, I just wanted you to know that my Sunday school class at Bethany has been praying for you and your family,” she informed me.

That was exactly the type of cliché, sugary-sweet stuff that made me want to choke. The taste that it left on my palate was indescribably unsatisfying. People say that kind of stuff so “matter-of-fact,” so meaninglessly; it is one thing to speak the cheesy tongue of Christianity, it is entirely different to act like a follower of Christ. I wanted no part in this.

So there I stood, wondering where this conversation was going. Dana continued, “It would be cool if you came to visit sometime, you know, just to meet the class.”

There it was: the hook. In my cynicism I started to believe that all Christians had ulterior motives, hidden agendas. It seemed like a type of “bait-and-switch” deception tactic. And I had been right. She was only trying to console me in order to add a new member to her Sunday school class. I bet they were having some kind of twisted contest to see who could get the most broken hearted, sad storied suckers to walk through the church doors. I looked away.

I have this thing, it’s like a tick or something, but when I am uncomfortable, I cannot seem to look people in the eyes. Was I uncomfortable? Did I have reason to be?

“Oh, that’s alright, I think I’ll pass…just tell them thanks.” It was my version of a polite brush-off.

“OK, just think about it,” she finished. I thought about it. I thought about it a lot. I really had no choice. Almost every day after that conversation, Dana invited me to visit her church. And almost every day, I had an excuse not to go.

Finally after about a month of excuses, lies, and ducking in-n-out of hallways trying to avoid her, Dana cornered me after Brownie’s English Literature class.

“Hey, Mike, how’s your mom doing?” she asked. Her persistence was starting to annoy me. Didn’t she have someone else to harass?

“She’s fine, I guess.” I said as I scanned the area for an escape route.

“Mike, we are still praying for you and your family.” She continued, “Why don’t you just come with me…”

“STOP!” I nearly shouted, interrupting her before she could say anything else. “If you stop hounding me about it, I will go to church with you.”

So, there it was. She broke me and I gave in. I had agreed to go to church again.

That Sunday morning I thought about sleeping in, but I knew how persistent Dana was. She would have continued asking until I came anyway. So, reluctantly, I went.

Bethany Christian Church was just across the street from our high school. I had known about it long before our freshman year. It had a reputation of being the “cool” church. They had a big youth group and a praise band (with drums and electric guitars). This was a far cry from the piano and organ tradition of my Baptist roots.

A warm wave of apprehension washed over me like a fever as I approached the building. I really had no desire to be there except to get Dana off my back. I pulled in the parking lot and positioned my car for a clean get-away if things got messy. Then I just sat there. I sat in my car and wrestled with the idea of making a step back towards a God I had given up on. I don’t remember walking from my car to the door of the church. I don’t even remember walking downstairs to the Sunday school classroom. What I do remember is waiting by the classroom for Dana to show up.

I was about 10 minutes early, which is extremely uncommon for me. So I just browsed the literature and pictures in the hallway. A few of the other kids were filing past me in the classroom. Some greeted me, others pretended I was invisible. Eventually, I recognized a face. It was Joy, from school. She seemed surprised to see me, but greeted me nonetheless. Joy and I had been in several classes together since junior high. In my arrogance, I always saw her as somewhat of a wallflower, never really paying much attention to her. I didn’t really consider her a friend, but on that Sunday morning I didn’t have anyone else to relate to.

We went into the classroom, where I met several people: some I recognized, some I did not. I remember meeting Randi and Katherine, Troy and Joe. Over the next year they all became my support, encouragers, and closest friends.

What happened to Dana? Well she finally got me to come to church. But the weekend I came, she was sick. She didn’t even show up. That was perfect. I couldn’t believe it. But I didn’t really care. I had found something that I was missing. I found a community. A place I could be real, where I could relax, have fun, and share stories with others. Because Dana took the step to ask me to come to church, I was there. Sure it took her a month’s worth of asking, but I eventually came around. To this day, I thank God for Dana, because without her, I may never have come back to Him.

Where has Mike been?

2005-02-21T22:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry faithful readers, I have been missing in action for a few weeks. Let me catch you up to speed on what has been going on.
First, it is official: I am once again a college student. A couple weeks ago, Michelle and I went to CCU to look into the CALL program. everything sounds great. They went over my previous transcript and accepted 59 of my credits from KCC/KCU. That is huge. I still need a few general education classes. So last week we went to Sinclair and I met with several people to help me get registered. I had to take some placement testing, which I was really worried about. It turns out that my testing scores made eligible for honors classes. Not bad, since I hadn't been in school for 8 years. So after all that, I am registered, and signed up for 3 classes this next quarter. All three are online courses, which is great for a computer geek like me. I will take a few more classes in the summer and then start at CCU in the fall.

Michelle is working like crazy. She has spent the past 2 weeks working on the children's furniture line for her business, SanBox Creations. they have sold several sets so far. I am trying to work on their web site, but that is slow since I am learning as I go. But if you are interested you can search for them on Ebay. Their seller name is sanboxcreations.

3rd Place met tonight, ending our one week drought. It was good to be with friends again discussing, growing, laughing, and sharing.

Work on my book, Outside the Box, has been slow. I have about 6 chapters done. I am thinking of posting another chapter online. Several of you have told me that I should. I hope to get some more writing done soon.

Well that is it. I hope to update soon. Until then.....

Things are looking up.

2005-02-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

Well, I am back online. It is amazing that this little battery was the culprit.

Apparently, this battery was completely dead, causing the Mac to be unable to start up. I have never heard of such a thing, but a $14.00 fix is better than shelling out hundreds or thousands.

So I got that going for me.

We are still trying to manage on one income. It isn't that difficult, just a cause of frustration.

We had a cool group at 3rd Place last night. Adam and Jessica stayed after and we watch Kung Pow! What a hilarious movie.

Anyway, I wanted to post something to let everyone know that things are not always as bad as they might seem. I also wanted to thank Doug, Rochelle, and Jeff for really being their when I needed them. They are true friends.

Really tough week

2005-02-06T19:16:00.000-05:00

let me just say that this week has been one of the hardest we have had in a while. it all started on tuesday when my wife stayed home sick from work. around 1:00 that afternoon, we received an email from her boss explaining that "things weren't working out" and that she had been fired. fired by email?!?! that is low. then we had a problem with the brakes on her volkswagen, as of now i still have not been able to remove the calipers from her car to replace the brakes. then this morning, i planned to promote 3rd Place at Church. i had a video ready and took the imac to the church to set up a table. once the table was set up i pushed the power button on the imac and waited for it to start up. but it never started. nothing, not even a flicker. so here i am abusing the privilege of internet access at work so i can ask you for your prayers. i am incredible dependent on my mac, as is my wife. she has several papers due soon for school. in all of this, i am trying to be a loving, compassionate husband and an encouraging teacher. i know that all things happen for a reason, i just wish i knew what it was.

Are you freaking serious?!?!?!

2005-02-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

James Dobson is at it again. You'll remember when he attacked the TellaTubbies a few years ago, well now he has leveled his "morality sniper rifle" at Spongebob Squarepants. That's right, Dobson claims that the cartoon promotes tolerance and sympathy for homosexuality. Exactly something that Christianity should promote: tolerance and sympathy. This is why the world is not responsive to the Gospel. Anyway, one of my new favorite sites Church Marketing Sucks posted a great article about this topic.

Earlier this week, Dr. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, launched a diatribe at SpongeBob SquarePants. The lovable sponge, along with a cast of other children's characters, appeared in a video remake of the disco hit "We Are Family," which Dobson alleges is trying to insidiously promote gay tolerance. The video's creators say it's meant to carry a message of multi-culturalism and racial tolerance and does not have anything to do with sexual proclivity.

I'm not going to get into the political, social or moral debate at all, because that doesn't have anything to do with marketing. What I am going to tell you--and this isn't a suggestion, but a straight up marketing imperative--is don't ever, ever, ever get in a fight with a fictional characacter. I don't care if it's the protagonist in a classic novel, a lead figure in a play, a cartoon animal, a comedic role in a modern sitcom or the animated spokes-thing for a major brand of pet-food. It's a lose-lose-lose proposition for you from a PR standpoint. Why? Four main reasons.

1. You look foolish.

You're arguing about (and potentially with) something that doesn't exist. That's bad enough in the business and political world, but even worse in the world of faith. If you think that a particular type of entertainment or show is problematic, say so simply and back it up scripturally. You don't need to poke fun or villify the authors or creators of the work. All that will do is turn their fans into enemies. And fans of creative work are some of the worst enemies you can have from a PR perspective.

2. You're on their turf.

Created characters actually live in the world of information. That's all they are--content. You have to eat, sleep, walk the dog, sit in traffic, etc. You have friends whose opinions matter to you. You have family. They do not. They are not real. They can defy the laws of space and time. Dead presidents can speak on their behalf. They can appear on 20 different shows at the same time. It's like trying to outswim Flipper. Bad idea.

3. Reason isn't reasonable.

The fans of fictional characters love them because they aren't real. Serious, rational arguments about their "faults" don't count.

4. They bite.

It's one thing to get taken down a peg by a real-life antagonist; someone with an argument better than yours or a competing organization that simply does a better job at what you're trying to do. It's another thing entirely for a fictional character to take you out back and spank you like a redheadded stepchild. Murphy Brown did it to Dan Quayle. Not pretty.

Again... if you have a problem with the message being delivered by a character, show, medium or cultural sector, you should not hesitate from speaking. But to single out one particular character for public chastisement, ridicule or attention is asking for trouble from a marketing and PR stance.

When I was a child...

2005-01-24T01:25:00.000-05:00

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1 Corinthians 13:11

I have made a decision to finally put the childish ways behind me. I have been praying very hard about my purpose, my mission, my ministry in life. I have been so thoroughly dedicated to 3rd Place in the past 3 months that I really haven't had much time for anything else.

I am sort of just free form thinking here so I apologize if it is hard to follow.

3rd Place is continuing to grow - what a blessing!
The first 2 chapters of "Outside the Box" have drawn incredible reviews - thank you to those of you who have taken the time to read them!
Work has had its ups and downs - I am currently seeking new employment.
I have finally made the choice to go back to school - it has been almost 8 years in the making.

I found a program at Cincinnati Christian University offering an accelerated course schedule for working adults. You can earn a Bachelor's in 24 months attending classes one day a week. The degree is in Biblical Studies with an emphasis is Ministerial Leadership. This is a huge step as I basically turned my back on ministry once before. In hind sight, I feel that God was preparing me for a growth period, a re-formation, an emergence. I have dedicated myself to "postmodern" ministry for over a year know, and I am seeing the doors open more every day. I cannot continue to deny that God has a plan to use me in ministry. It is my joy and passion to teach others about Christ, and to equip them to do the same.

I will be honest it all scares me a lot. I mean, 7 years ago I dropped out of college. I had 3 years worth of classes under my belt. To be really honest, I flunked out, and decided not to pursue reviving my academic status. I didn't think that I was good enough to be a minister. I felt like a fake, a hypocrite. So I tried to change directions.
I quit.

But I look at all that came from that situation as a blessing. I met my incredible wife and was married. I worked in great places with wonderful people. I became involved in worship ministry. I was a sponsor for an awesome youth ministry. I contributed to forms of leadership in an incredible Church community. I took on roles as a small group leader. I was given the opportunity to start and facilitate 3rd Place. And now I am in the process of writing my first book. God has given me so many blessings and opportunities. He has also blessed me with unbelievable friendships. He has given me mentors to help guide and shape me. He has given me encouragers and "cheerleaders" to support me. He has given me honest friends to kick me in the butt when I need it.

I am so excited to see what will take place in the next 2 years. 3rd Place is my passion and ministry, and I will continue to pour all that I am into it.

Chapter 2

2005-01-18T23:16:00.000-05:00

I told some of you that I wasn't going to post anymore of my book, but I have decided to give you one more chapter. I hope it keeps your interest. Thanks for reading.

Cancer

When I was twelve years old, my mother was diagnosed with a type of pancreatic cancer. I remember feeling an uncontrollable anger wash over me; something that changed me. I become a bitter, angry, and hate-filled creature. By the time I entered my senior year, the cancer had overtaken much of her liver, and the cancer had taken over much of my heart.

My mother was a kind woman; well, I’m pretty sure she was. Your memory plays games with you sometimes. I have this childhood memory of one of my uncles. He is an intimidating man and rarely admits his faults or flaws. Somehow this arrogance and confidence created a false perception of him in my mind. For some reason I saw him as a much larger man than he was in reality. In my mind, my uncle was well over six feet tall. When I realized that I was taller than him, my memories of him were derailed. I think it had something to do with a kind of respect that I had for him, or I just thought that loud, obnoxious people must be tall. I don't really know. What I do know is that I really don’t remember much about my mother: except the talks.

Almost every night she and I would sit up and talk over mugs of hot cocoa. We would talk about life, school, family. But most of the time, we would talk about God. I guess when you know that you are dying, God becomes more of a concern than ever. One night, when I was in high school, I came home after a party to find my mom sitting at the table with a hot cup of cocoa waiting for me. We talked about the night, some of my choices, most of my mistakes, and why those choices didn't work out for me. She wasn't angry, but she was disappointed: and that hurt more than anything.

Certain things stand out in my memory of her. One of those is that I do remember that she had no friends. Seriously, all of the people in my mother’s life (aside from family) had pushed further and further away as her sickness had worsened. What a terrible feeling it must be: to know that you are dying, and dying alone. Don’t get me wrong, she had my father, and the rest of the family, but that was about it. Dad is a fireman, and a really good one at that. He has won several awards and honors. He takes a lot of pride in his occupation, as he should. But his hours were difficult to work around. He would work twenty-four hour shifts almost every other day. This meant that he would be gone one day, and be recuperating the next day. That made for a lot of nights alone for my mother.

My brothers and I spent a lot of times on our own or with our grandparents. But at 17, with a car, and a job, I pretty much did my own thing. That’s when I discovered binge drinking. I never cared much for alcohol, and my parents never had any around. I soon discovered that I could forget a lot of things while I was drinking. I could forget that my mother was dying. I could forget that I resented my father. I could forget that I was angry. Most of all I could forget about how much I hated God. I decided to turn my back to God. Now that isn't too easy with a family of Southern Baptists, especially when my grandmother was the epitome of a Southern Baptist Woman. But I figured out how to fake it real well. I would go to church with them, but I would draw, write poetry, flirt with the girls there: whatever I could do to avoid actually meeting God, I did it.

Because of my dad's job, I felt that I had missed out on all of the father-son activities that my friends and their fathers were doing. I never learned much about cars, or fishing, or any other “guy” things. It’s not that he was a deadbeat or even a bad father. He was busy. He was busy with work, busy providing for our physical needs. He was busy taking care of a sick wife. I resented him for years and I really didn’t know why. It wasn’t like he was a bad dad; looking back he was a pretty good one. I just wasn’t that close to him. I never really had a relationship with him and so I never really got to know him. He would make every attempt to be a part of what we were doing, but his job was a strain on him. If there are two regrets that I have, they would be (1) I didn’t spend enough time with my dad, and (2) I didn’t learn to play piano. Not necessarily in that order.

Wrestling with God

Since the day my parents told me about my mother’s cancer, I have been at odds with God. In fact, I can honestly say that I have cussed out God several times. I am happy to say that no lightning bolts have been sent my way. I don’t know how fair it is, but I blamed God for my mother being sick. I blamed God for my Dad working all the time. I blamed God when bad things happened in my life. So I decided that I didn’t really need a God that would let all of this happen. So, like I said earlier, I pretended to be a Christian. For years I was just going through the motions. Eventually I decided to just stop going to my parents’ church. I figured I could handle all of my problems on my own.

During this time, I had completely turned from God and Christianity. I had discovered alcohol, tobacco, and a few choice drugs instead. I also applied to Ball State University’s journalism department. I was hopeful to receive a scholarship. While attending a workshop on campus it was announced that I had in fact won two scholarships. I would basically only be financially responsible for the cost of my books. This was such a huge award because I knew that my father was not in any position to assist in funding my college education, so a scholarship was all I could hope for.

Ball State University has a great Journalism program, but it also has an even more famous party scene. It was once ranked in the top five of a men's magazine's list of the "Top Party Schools in the Country." Adding to the celebrated status of the festivities on campus was the fact that several of my close friends were already attending there or had connections there. This meant getting into the best parties, with the prettiest girls, and the best music. I had come along way from my Fundamentalist roots. And now I was ready to leave that all behind.

It was during the second semester of my senior year that my world started to change. Church was the furthest thing from my mind, but God must have been thinking about me. Right about then my friend Dana started to get really obnoxious.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

2005-01-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

M.L.K. - by U2

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down him
So let it be
So let it be

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on him

Pride, In the Name of Love - by U2

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
One more in the name of love
In the name of love
One more in the name of love

One man come on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss

Early morning, april four
Shot rings out in the memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
One more in the name of love
In the name of love
One more in the name of love

VERY Rough Draft of My First Chapter

2005-01-17T01:31:00.000-05:00

Chapter 1
What will you be in 10 years?

The question was asked during my senior year in high school. It was an assignment for Brownie’s English class. "Brownie" was the nickname for Mr. Brown, English teacher, senior class sponsor, and all around friend to students. Brownie had this dirty-old-man air about him, but he was grandfatherly all the same. He ate antacids like they were candy. I guess he ate a bottle full in a day or so. Brownie’s class was always interesting. It was there that I first learned about Voltaire, Descartes, and C.S. Lewis. It was in that class that I discovered Dante and his Inferno. It was in his class that I realized that I loved to read and write.

“What will I be in 10 years?” How could I know? I couldn’t predict the future. I always hated those kinds of questions: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “What kind of impact will your life have on the world?” “How will people remember you when you are gone?” How can anyone honestly answer these questions? I was getting frustrated. I was only 17, and my biggest concern was just getting through the day. So I sat in Brownie’s class trying to come up with something intelligible for the assignment, but all I could do was doodle and scribble band names on my folder. "Maybe I should write about music."

Music has always been a huge part of my life. My mother once told me that my father would put headphones on her pregnant belly as I kicked to the rhythm of Queen's "We Will Rock You." He was into the guitar greats: Clapton, Hendrix, Page, and more. When I was young I used to listen to his Queen albums over and over again. I wanted my fingers to scream across the neck of a guitar like Brian May.

Mom, on the other hand, was more refined in her taste of music. I think that she tolerated Dad’s music, but she was more interested in vocalists and classic instrumentalists, specifically the “Kings of Hair:” Michael Bolton and Kenny G. I still cringe when I think about it.

I remember sitting in classes just trying to think up “cool” band names. Fronting a band was a dream of mine, but it never really panned out. I couldn’t play anything, I could barely sing, and I couldn’t write music. But I could write lyrics…I had tons of lyrics.

About my junior year, I had found interest in poetry. I knew that it was not the coolest thing a guy could do, but I became interested in this romantic language for one reason: GIRLS. I soon realized that most girls see right through that strategy. I soon started to understand that by writing I was releasing something pent up inside of me. It was in this kind of therapeutic self-discovery that I began to see the scary side of myself. I started writing about death, suicide, and pain. In fact it became all that I wrote about.

I wouldn’t say that I was suicidal or even depressed, but there were inklings of who I could become in those morbid writings. And I was OK with that, because I thought that I was finding myself. Writing was filling a void. I didn’t know what was missing, but when I put a pen to paper I was transformed.

So I started writing for the school yearbook. I was consumed not only with the writing, but also with the mundane aspects of journalism: layout, design, promotion, and marketing. I threw myself into it, often staying after school till 10:00 or later. By my senior year I knew what I was going to do with my life: I was going to be a writer.

I became an editor of the yearbook my senior year and started writing for the school newspaper. It was all I thought about: I was obsessed. I even started writing articles for the local city newspaper. I began to think about writing as a profession. Then it hit me: Rolling Stone Magazine. I loved music, I loved writing. I always wanted to be in a band, but maybe I could do the next best thing; I could get paid to follow bands and write about them. So I set my goal, I was going to be a writer for Rolling Stone.

Brownie was less than pleased with my paper. I guess I misinterpreted his meaning in assigning the paper. Apparently he wanted something a little more philosophic than what I wrote. I think he secretly wished he was a philosophy professor at a prestigious college. He gave me an 82% on the paper, but that was OK, because I had discovered who I would be.

Life is too fast

2005-01-13T01:48:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how rushed we are as a culture? I mean seriously, we have an acronym, abbreviation, or shorthand word for everything. We communicate in a hurried manner in almost every way possible. I remember a teacher I had in High School that would take points off if we used contractions in our papers. Now, it is very acceptable to use contractions most of the time.
Think about our everyday situations. What do ABC, NBC, CBS, NASA, FBI, CIA, NFL, NBA actually mean? What about CPU, MPG, MBA, AARP, ACLU, UNICEF?

The internet has made these abbreviations even more acceptable: WYSIWYG, WiFi, HTML, JPEG, MPEG, Mp3.
Throw in the newest craze of text messaging and you start to create a new language altogether.

This linguistic laziness creeps into our formal conversations also. We shorten words that don not necessarily require shortening. I know am minister that uses the word "relaship" as an actual word. He probably feels compelled to get so much information transferred to the congregation that he rushes through the word "relationship." I doubt that any others hear these subtle inaccuracies, but they irritate me.

I think it just boils down to the fact that for some reason we, as a culture, have allowed our lives to become so incredibly over-committed. We do not feel that there are enough hours in a day. I fear that this fast paced, break neck lifestyle is taking away from those things that should take priority: family, interests, hobbies, talents, spouses, education, and especially God. How often do we honestly take the time to pray, meditate, worship, and just "be" with God? If you are like me, then the answer is, "Not often enough."

An interesting passage from Scripture is Psalms 46:10

In the New International Version it reads:
10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

Other versions of this passage include The Message:
10"Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything."

The New Living Version says:
10 "Be silent, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world."

I think it is important for us not to get so caught up in the fast pace of our culture's busy-ness, but instead take time to reflect on God, embrace His truth, and His goodness.

Donate

2005-01-11T01:51:00.000-05:00

I really don't have anything to say today. Just please donate to the tsunami relief fund.
So many lives have been devastated by this terrible situation. Please give, even if it is just $20.00 it will help someone who has been injured or lost a loved one. Please pray about this and consider contributing. Click the Red Cross logo to be directed to their site.

All is quiet on New Year's Day?

2005-01-03T23:22:00.000-05:00

It's a new year! And I meant to give the site a new look, but i am a procrastinator. So, maybe i'll do that tomorrow. This has been a crazy week. I have been feverishly scribbling in the notebook that is becoming my book. I can't seem to put down the pen. I anxiously await the day it is printed and bound. That will be an amazing feeling.

Michelle and i had a house guest for the week. Our friend Jessica came to visit her boyfriend, Chris. She needed a place to crash and we were more than willing to help her out. They are both such amazing people and are perfect for each other. We had a lot of fun times, like a snowball fight inside michelle's car, fun at Starbucks, and me spearing chris into the snow.

anyway, Jessica left today, and there were sad times had by all. She is going to go to college in Cincy, so we will see her soon.

In the middle of all that, michelle and i drove up to wauseon, ohio to see her sister. Michelle's parents flew in from texas for the week, so we exchanged gifts. I got some cash, so i am going out to buy, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." It is an amazing book. By the way, if any of you have read it, there is an online test to tell you which character you are most like. Well, I am like patrick.

We had 3rd Place tonight and had a lot of cool things happen. Stories were shared. New year's resolutions were broken, and some secret surprises were told. (but i can't be specific yet)
We missed Doug tonight, he had spent the week in Boca. But is now at Passion '05 in Nashville. It really stinks to be that guy. We also missed a few others. but those of us that were here, had a great time.

by the way, i formally announced my book in progress to my friends at 3rd Place tonight. they are very supportive of it. Well that is all for the update for now. I will try to get on more often this year. thanks for reading.

A series of unfortunate events:

2004-12-23T23:33:00.000-05:00

Not the movie, but my past 2 days...

I made it to work on Wednesday. It took me almost an hour due to the severe snow storm. I can usually make it in 25 minutes. Anyway, after making to work, it became more obvious that my co-workers are not as loyal (or poor) as I am. People were calling off left and right. By the end of the night, all of the staff members for 3rd shift had called off. Since I wasn't looking forward to driving home at night in the snow, I made the decision to stay and work the extra shift. By the time the morning shift started to approach, all of it's staff members had called stating that they might not be able to make it in. I was looking at working 3 shifts in a row. Which is not only dangerous, but illegal. Finally another staff member strolled through the doors. I was ready to kiss him. I so badly wanted to go to sleep. It took me nearly an hour and a half to get home, at which point my car got stuck in my cul-de-sac. The plows were nowhere to be seen in my neighborhood.

I left the car where it was, went to bed for a few hours and awoke knowing that I had not finished battling Mother Nature today. I bundled up and went to shoveling. I don't mind shoveling, seriously. it is tiresome, and somewhat agonizing, but I like to be witness to God's awesome power and glory. I see it all around me when I look at 24 inches of frozen water in my drive and in my neighborhood. I could only work in shifts of 20 minutes or so, due to the fatigue I was feeling. I could barely catch my breath before I would head back out.

I saw a good majority of my neighbors shoveling. I waved to one man across the street. Michelle and I have lived here for over a year and I had never spoken to him. He waved back and smiled as he cheerfully shoveled his lot. I was returning from a rest break, when I saw him using a snow blower on his next door neighbor's drive. I continued to shovel, secretly hoping he would have pity on my and my meager attempts to move mounds of God's glory. Then it happened. He came over and in 20 minutes he moved more snow than I could have shoveled in 3 hours. We exchanged names. His name is Joe. I offered him a little cash for helping me, but he politely refused saying, "Happy holidays."

By the time I made it inside, Michelle had a big pot of homemade vegetable-beef stew made. I enjoyed it as it warmed my entire body. Will and Alicia and their son, Aiden came over to share our meal. We laughed and enjoyed each other for an hour or so and then they went home.

I am mentally and physically exhausted. This has been the longest 36 hours in my life.
One other good thing did come out of all this: I was able to spend some time writing my book last night. I wrote nearly 20 pages.
And I might have come up with a title for the project: Outside the Box, Christianity in a Changing Culture.
It is a working title anyway.

I hope we don't have more snow overnight.

And so this is Christmas...

2004-12-21T22:46:00.000-05:00

I am not one of those "holly jolly Christmas" types...i never have been. I know that it should be one of the most important times of the year because I follow Christ, but seriously, I am not all that excited when December rolls around. Some of it has to do with memories of my mother and how much Christmas meant in my family. After she passed away, everything changed for me. So the holidays are pretty tough for me.

I went to Starbucks with Anthony tonight. We had a good time. We talked about all kinds of things, from school, church, religion, college. It was a nice break form my everyday. We saw some friends there and share some time with them. Coffee and friends: what more do you need?

So I started the first chapter of my book. As of right now, it looks like it will be somewhat autobiographical, but with a twist when i get to my current state of spirituality. I don't know where it will go, but it should be an experience.

3rd Place is the one thing that keeps me sane lately. I get so charged and energized when i think about all the potential there is. God is blessing me so much with the opportunity to act as a guide for that group. We will start a series on "A New Kind of Christian" in January. I look forward to it with much anticipation.

So there it is, a snapshot of my day.

I would like to ask for your prayers. Like I said earlier, the holidays are pretty rough for me, which means they tend to be unpleasant for those around me. Add to it the depression that I already bring to the table and it's a formula for disaster. Pray for me, but please pray for those around me as well. I appreciate it.

So I have been thinking about writing a book...

2004-12-15T07:32:00.000-05:00

There, now I have actually said it. I have always wanted to be a writer. In high school, I dreamed of landing that perfect job: writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. I know, dream on, but I was serious. I was the editor of my yearbook, and an editor for the newspaper. I was accepted to a respected journalism department at a decent university. I had won several awards and scholarships. and then....dum, duh dum. God tapped me on the shoulder.

I felt called into ministry. At 17 feeling called is pretty close to the same feeling as being kicked in the groin. It hurt, was a little confusing, and very shocking. It got my attention. Now, I don't really know if God was leading me to ministry, or maybe the fact that I looked up to and admired the youth minister in my church, but I completely changed directions.

I applied to and was accepted to Kentucky Christian College (now Kentucky Christian University). For the most part things were good there. I learned a lot and made great friends, but long story short: I dropped out after 3 years. I got married and went into the world of "real" work. I say "real" work, because most people feel that ministry isn't that difficult. Truth be told, it is a 24-7 job. And a mostly thankless one at that.

Now, almost 7 years later, I am being led back towards ministry. I am part of a growing community called 3rd Place, where I serve as the facilitator. I have been given an awesome opportunity and responsibility to lead this group closer to each other, and closer to God. All the while, my passion for writing has been increasing.

I started this blog over a year ago, and have been sharpening my skills, my technique, my wit. I have made connections with several well respected writers. I have developed a sense of purpose.

So there it is. My confession. I want to be a writer. Who knows, maybe it will happen someday.

3rd Place Update

2004-12-14T01:27:00.000-05:00

At 3rd Place tonight we talked about the concept of story and how God has written us into his story. We had a great time. The discussion was productive, everyone sharing in the conversation. Doug shared a few songs with us tonight. And I might add, he did an awesome job on "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus."

We had our biggest crowd to date: 9
Which doesn't seem like much, but when we officially started as 3rd Place just 3 weeks ago, we had 6... I am encouraged anyway.

The group is taking off, really opening up and sharing. Will & Alicia hosted tonight. They live just 2 doors down from me, so it was convenient for everyone. Jessica & Adam are such a great part of the group. And Jess's co-worker, Kate and her husband, Nate were here tonight. We missed Jamie & Aaron. They couldn't make it tonight. We really had a great time of sharing and being real with each other.

After the closing prayer, Doug had to take off and Kate & Nate left. But the rest of us played Trivial Pursuit - 90's edition.
We played guys vs. gals. I have to say, in all honesty. We stomped them. Seriously, we had all of our pieces in less than a half an hour. I can't say much more about that.

I really love this group of people. We are growing and trusting each other more and more. Many of them have told me that this is the highlight of their week. I am just so happy and encouraged that God has given me the opportunity to facilitate such a thing.

Keep praying for 3rd Place. We have big things coming up at the first of the year. I can feel it!

What is Faith?

2004-12-09T23:49:00.000-05:00

While at work tonight, a co-worker started asking me about faith. Ben knows that I am a follower of Christ and that I serve at my local church community. He didn't really want to know about Christianity. He wanted to know about faith. Ben is in the middle of a self-described "crisis of faith." He explained that he believes in God. But not because he feels God, but because he feels like he is supposed to believe in God. He explained that he grew up in a Christian family. In fact his mother had been a minister at one point. The unmentioned expectations that he grew up with had to be impacting him. Ben is a logical person. Which is often an obstacle to faith. God is not something that can be explained or even fully understood. If that was the case then what kind of God would He be? I don't want a God that fits into a nice little box. Ben explained that in his logic, he cannot justify how a loving, gracious, merciful God could, if we chose not to follow him, banish us from his presence to an eternal Hell. Then he went on to explain that he struggles with the concept of a "relationship with God." To Ben, God is not a person. He is a being, or a force, or something bigger, unexplainable. To Ben, God is more heavenly and less earthly. So it is difficult for him to wrap his logical brain around the idea of having a relationship with God. I explained to him that I think that phrase: "a relationship with God" is a cheesy cliche that some Christian thought up to oversimplify what it means to follow Christ and live in God's grace. I think that phrase is used when it is more difficult to say what we really mean. To have a relationship with God is like having a relationship with anyone. You talk, you listen, you spend time together, you learn about each other, you cry together, you laugh together. Pretty hard to do with a concept, isn't it? But God isn't a concept. I feel for Ben, because I have been where he is. That dark moment of the soul when you realize that at that point you could take one of two paths. One path leads to life in God. Living Kingdom Life, loving God and loving people. The other path leads to self-gratification, self fulfillment, and eventually self loathing. Because we hate to be alone. We were never meant to be alone. God created us to be relational creatures. This was rough, because I didn't have any real answers for him. But then again, when I was in that place, I didn't want answers I just wanted someone to listen, to give validity to my doubts and struggles. I told Ben that we could pick up this conversation on our next shift together. I pray that God gives me the words to comfort Ben and steer him to the path towards God.

What is evangelism?

2004-12-07T01:26:00.000-05:00

That was the main question tonight at 3rd Place.

I don't personally think that evangelism is about catchy cliches and cheesy sayings. It's not about tracts and pamphlets with the "roman road" on them. It not about t-shirts and bumper stickers. I dare say that no one has ever given their life to Christ after reading a bumper sticker.

Evangelism is about relationships. It's about investing time and energy into another person's life. It's about being concerned and it's about caring. It's about listening more and talking less.

I have been dedicating my time to spending a few hours a day actually evangelizing. Building relationships with people. Honestly, people want to share their stories. I have listened to so many people in the past few weeks that I could write a book. But I won't. The point is that we get scared to "witness" to people. We say that we aren't gifted in speaking, or we are too shy, or we don't know enough Bible. Then I say stop "witnessing," start listening. When we show people that we care enough to listen to them, we show them that we care, period. People respect that and are more willing to hear your story. I am learning to take the ordinary, simple moments of my day and use them as a chance to build new relationships. When we stop looking at Christianity as a conquest, as a competition, we will start to see changes in people's lives. The emphasis is not on conversion, it's on conversation. People want to share their stories. Go listen.

3rd Place

2004-12-01T01:40:00.000-05:00

3rd Place met on Monday night and it was a great time!!!
Check it out at 3rdPlace

Conversations on life, love, and coffee

2004-11-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

I spent a good portion of the day at a coffee shop, reading, drinking my chai with soy milk, and talking with people. I spoke to many other clients about the miserable weather, politics, sports, you know, small talk. But during the course of three hours, I spent a long period of time talking with one particular barista. He and I have spoken quite a bit in the past. We have developed a friendship and we have seen each other outside of the coffee shop and exchanged kind words. This barista happens to be a gay man. He isn't gay in a "broadway show-tunes, rainbow flag wearing" kind of way. He is gay in the "i don't make it absolutely obvious to everyone" sort of way. We discussed what it is like being gay in a mostly conservative area. We talked about politics is reference to homosexuality. We talked about his distrust for most Christians. In his words, "I love the Church, and what it stands for. But I know that the Church doesn't love me." I thought, "isn't this sad." I told him that although some Christians might not get past his lifestyle, I can get over it because I have built a relationship with him...i don't see him as the gay guy at the coffee shop. He is my friend at the coffee shop. How do I let him know that although some Christians might seem antagonistic towards him, that Christ still loves him and wants a relationship with him? The gay community is a marginalized section of society. It is shunned by most Christians, overlooked by some politics, and divided among itself. My heart broke for him as he talked about the pain and anger he had felt from confrontations with Christians. How being told that he was "going to Hell" and that "God hates fags" never made him want to change, it just made him sad. For his attacker and for society. God does not hate gay people. He doesn't hate me in all of my sin. He hates the sin. He hates the separation that we cause through sin. But he loves us. He wants us to come to him, cling to him, depend on him. I couldn't offer any clear answers for my friend today. I mostly listened and apologized for the insensitive approach to Christianity that he has encountered. I left there thanking him for opening himself, for discussing such personal stories, and for valuing my opinions. I am not going to change the world, but i can change how i react to it.

Sittin' in a Starbucks

2004-11-19T22:57:00.000-05:00

So here I am sitting in a Starbucks on a rainy afternoon. There's a rockabilly guy behind the counter making drinks. He looks stressed, like he's about to pop. The cute, smiling girl taking orders doesn't seem to notice. Over in the corner, a musician is packaging a supply of CD's for distribution. He calls his grandfather (who he calls "Pappa") to let him know that he's ok. All tattooed and pierced, with a chip on his shoulder but he tells pappa, "I love you" as he hangs up. A table of college underclass girls sit talking about nothing and giggling obnoxiously. A bald guy in his early 30's is talking life with an older man. I hear the word "church" then "discipleship." One woman at a table for four is sitting in a corner with a laptop. A couple of older ladies are mumbling while drinking their carmel machiattos. A middle aged man sits by himself in one of the "comfy" chairs. He seems mildly preoccupied as he stares out a window. The music is disturbing today, so far I have heard "puff the magic dragon," "the lion sleeps tonight," "there was an old lady who swallowed a fly," and "dey-oh" by Harry Bellafonte. It's not that bad though, the conversations are loud enough to drown out the music. One girl behind the counter keeps looking at me in a paranoid manner. I bet she thinks I'm writing about her. And the guy making drinks still looks stressed. Maybe he's had too much coffee for today.

Update on Natasha

2004-11-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all of my readers that have been praying for Natasha. I have had many of you ask about her over the past week. She has returned to my facility and is in good spirits. She has no evidence of permanent damage to her brain or body. She is still very depressed and needs psychiatric counseling daily. Pray for our facility, that we can give her the best care and supervision possible. I know that God pulled this girl through, and I know he has a purpose. I just pray that she finds that purpose and it gives meaning to her life. Thank you to my families at Southwest Church and New Life for you prayers and encouragement.

Prayers please

2004-11-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

Last night, while at work I responded to a suicide attempt of a 17 year old girl. I can't give out her whole name, but her first name is Natasha. She had tied a bedsheet to a ceiling vent and hung herself. We estimate that she could have been hanging for at most 10 minutes (we do 15 minute room checks at night)
I was one of the first responders and helped to cut her down. Another staff member and myself helped to move her to a more safe and accessible area of the pod. She was unconscious but had a shallow pulse and labored breathing. She was convulsing slightly and medics informed me that that was indicative of spinal or brain stem injuries. She was careflight lifted to Miami Valley Hospital.
They said that it would be miraculous if she lived through the night. I didn't get much sleep last night and was in prayer most of the night. I called work this morning to see if they had an update. I was expecting the worst. But they said that in the middle of the night, she came to, she is conscious, but not speaking, they believe there was no brain damage, and that she should make a full recovery. Please be praying for her, her family, the doctors, and my facility. Thanks

My Whirlwind Week

2004-11-05T08:28:00.000-05:00

This past week has been so busy for me. If it wasn't a lost cause I would probably pull all my hair out!

Starting on Saturday night, I had the opportunity to lead worship at New Life. I admit that I am shaky in my leading skills. I can sing, and i can play guitar, but when the two are combined it can get ugly. The best part is that i had so much help and encouragement. Tom and Doug are my Barnabas team lately.

On my way home from New Life I got a message that Jeff needed someone to fill in for bass at SouthWest. So I went to the Y to set up and practice.

Then I played on Sunday for both services. Monday I had small group/house church at my place. We had a great time sharing and learning with each other. It didn't end there 'cause Tuesday was "cast your vote but it doesn't matter if your state goes the other way" day. I stayed up till 4:00 in the morning waiting to see what would happen. Wednesday and Thursday were typical work days for me. Sex offenders, alcohol and drug offenders, and car thieves, oh my.

I just got back from Small group at the Y. It is so cool to have the senior minister as a participant in a group that you lead. Roger is a dear friend and a constant support. He has truly taken me under his wing and provided the mentoring and positive feedback that I need.

So that is my whirlwind week so far. And I still look forward to this weekend: playing bass on Saturday night at New Life, and Sunday morning at SouthWest, then small group/house church on Monday. It doesn't seem to end.

Tears of sorrow, tears of joy

2004-10-25T15:19:00.000-04:00

I attended the funeral for Gil Jarrard on Monday. Mr. Jarrard is the grandfather of Adam, a good friend of mine. During the funeral service at the church, Mr. Jarrard's grandchildren got up and spoke about their grandfather. Having never met Mr. Jarrard I enjoyed hearing from each grandchild as they shared fond memories of this great man. I heard a lot about the man. Mr. Jarrard was a veteran, having served his country in the armed forces when the duty called. He was a politician, serving on the Lebanon city council for more than 20 years. He was a friend to many helping out throughout the community. But mostly, he was a sold out, on fire, God-fearing, grace receiving believer in Christ. He would take any opportunity to share the Gospel with anyone. Not only did his family share of Mr. Jarrard's love for Christ, but also his love for his family. It was a very moving experience to be a part of. Though there were tears of grief and sorrow, there were quite a few tears of joy and hope. Hope in the promises of Jesus Christ and the His Father. Hope in the comfort that only comes from the Spirit. Hope that Their loved one is worshipping God in all His glory. And that is really the point of all of this. We too want that hope. We want that hope for ourselves and our loved ones.

New Life: Underground

2004-10-12T23:04:00.000-04:00

I had a great opportunity this week. I was invited to serve with an old friend and to make some new ones as well. Doug Hill invited me to play bass with the praise band at New Life: Underground, a community of faithful believers living life together. It was a great time of worship, teaching, sharing, and fellowship.
Tom Planck, and Doug are really nurturing an environment of creative worship and fellowship. I read a lot about new trends in Christian communities. And unfortunately, most trends die off in a few years. But the strength of New Life is that it is not about being trendy. It is about experiencing authentic relationships with God and His people. And that is exactly what I felt Saturday night. Thanks for having me Doug and Tom!

Prayer Blog

2004-10-05T20:30:00.000-04:00

I am considering making a page within this site designed to be a prayer request blog. Basically we could post prayer requests and praises and other readers can pray for them. My prayer life is awful to be honest. This is a feeble attempt to jump start my own prayer life, but also to encourage those of you who have requests but don't know who else to ask for prayer. I am strongly considering this. I will devote myself to one hour daily in prayer for these requests. What do you guys think?

mike

Music

2004-09-28T16:41:00.000-04:00

Music is a big part of my life. I can honestly say that not a day goes by that I don't listen to, play, or write music. I don't really talk about some of the artists I listen to because I always have other things on my mind. But lately I have been listening to so many great artists that I feel like I need to pass them along to my readers. So that being said, here is the current line up of artists that have been infecting my ears lately. *NOTE Although I am a follower of Christ, not all of the artists I listen to are. This is in no way a list of recommended spiritually uplifting music. This is a list of the music I am listening to, period.

Jamiroquai - Synkronized
This is an amazing CD. Funk, blues, jazz, pop. It has a feeling of the 60's and 70's with a modern spiciness. A good CD to relax too. The songs are somewhat repetitive, but are well produced with layers of interesting sounds.

Keane - Hopes and Fears
I heard Keane for the first time on a late night talk show. I think it was Leno, but I might be wrong. This CD is incredible. Very well produced. Piano and vocals driven. Something of a Coldplay feel to it. Very good songwriting.

Zwan - Mary, Star of the Sea
Many of you know that I am Smashing Pumpkins fan. Although the Pumpkins are no more. Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain have produced the next best thing. Zwan. The music is guitar and drums heavy and the sound is nearly exact to the good ole days of the pumpkins first 3 albums. This is a good CD for any Pumpkins fan.

Stumbling Toward Faith

2004-09-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

I read a lot. I really read a lot! Sometimes I read great books. Other times, eh...not so great. Let me just express that this book is not a great book...it is an amazing book! Renee Altson puts her life's story into words. And it is captivating!
So often as pursuers of truth, we feel the need to disguise our own faults, messiness, fears. We desperately pretend that everything is perfect. I know in my life that pretending to be happy wasted a lot of energy. Altson does not "sugar coat" it. Life is not a box of chocolates. If you asked Renee Altson, I dare say she would say life is like a lost child, forever searching for the end of that proverbial dark tunnel.

Altson's life is extraordinary. Here is an excerpt from the first page of her text:

i grew up in an abusive household. much of my abuse was spiritual---and when i say spiritual, i don't mean new age, esoteric, random mumblings from half-wiccan, hippie parents. i don't mean that i grew up thinking all the wrong ideas about religion or what it meant to be saved because i was given too much freedom or too many options. i don't mean that my father protested the phrase "under god" in the pledge of allegiance or told me there was more than one way to heaven.

i mean that my father raped me while reciting the lord's prayer.

i mean that my father molested me while singing christian hymns.

and from the back cover:

raped by her "christian" father, rejected by church leaders, abandoned by her addicted mother, author renee altson's story is difficult but essential reading.

this disturbing, beautiful narrative will unsettle your understandings and assumptions of what it means to live as a believer in christ. altson's heart-wrenching reflections and insightful prose and poetry ask questions we rarely get to the bottom of:

why does god allow evil to exist?

where is justice?

where is healing?

what is the point of faith? of belief?

if you dare to confront these questions, this powerful, poetic memoir can change your perspective on faith and the church.

I have worked in social services for nearly 6 years. helping others overcome abuse, neglect, abandonment, addictions. In six years I have endured a lot of horrible situations. But the abuse depicted in this book is greater than all I have seen.

The very fact that this book is published by emergentYS is inspiring to me. emergentYS is responsible for publishing the works of McLaren, Yaconelli, Kimball, and other forward thinking Christians leading the emergent movement among today's followers of Christ. To my knowledge, this is the first book of it's kind published by this company.

If you have the time, pick up this book. It will break your heart.

The Christian Culture Survival Guide

2004-09-16T23:52:00.000-04:00

I started reading this book yesterday. And four hours later, I finished it. This is the easiest reading book I have picked up in years. Maybe it was the witty deliver in which Turner tells his childhood Sunday School horror stories. It might be the fact that I laughed out loud several times from the undeniable truths of Christian culture stereotypes. Maybe it was the fact that I felt like I could have written this book myself. Whatever it was, I breezed through all 151 pages in very little time.

Turner points out several lists of things we should know about the Christian culture. For example:

1. When you think you're going to offend someone, you probably are. That doesn't mean that you stop what you're doing-just be prepared for the repercussions.

2. Criticism is rarely welcomed in a church setting. You can be as nice as possible, you'll be "criticized" behind your back for constructive feedback of almost any kind. (Editor's note: This rule does not apply if you're James Dobson or Rick Warren.)

3. Christians tend to make judgments first, and think about stuff second.

4. Most Christians have very little sense of humor; even when they "get" the joke and know that you were kidding-they will not laugh.

5. For the majority of people, you're never supposed to bring up religion or politics, but a Christian's politics is {often} his religion (and vice versa). found on page 74.

I find it funny that in one chapter he talks about the marketing "genius" that is Christian culture. He discusses the Christian bookstore phenomena and the selling of marketed Christianity. WWJD bracelets, Be Wiser (as opposed to Budweiser) T-shirts, and of course the Prayer of Jabez "anything." When he says anything he means it: Bibles, posters, CD's, even boxer shorts. It's insane.

The reason I found it funny that he specifically discussed Christian bookstores is that one major store has opted to refuse to carry this book. I for one am happy to have bought this book and was thoroughly amused by it. If you would like to borrow this book please let me know, or go out and pick up your copy. It is only $9.00

and that's my two cents.

What an ispiration!

2004-09-10T23:43:00.000-04:00

This guy is more man than I'll ever be. I watched the 2 hour special on Dateline tonight about Aron Ralston. It was unbelievable!

Aron Ralston had set out for a carefree desert hike through Blue John Canyon in Southeastern Utah when, with no warning, he had descended into hell. The young man's arm was trapped by an 800-pound boulder and he was forced to make an unimaginable decision in order to survive.

Ralston: "And I was hanging from the boulder, from the top of it, where the last good handholds were. And that was when it shifted. So I dropped down here... and the boulder came and it smashed my left hand here, and it smashed my right hand up here. And then it slid down and it actually dragged my arm down and my arm was right about here.

"I threw myself against the boulder, just trying to get my knee onto this boulder, just lifting up, pushing up. But still, it was -- my hand was trapped. And progressively the pain faded as my hand lost sensation."

Ralston was pinned to the canyon wall by an 800-pound boulder. He was at the bottom of a hole in a hidden canyon, 100 feet beneath the desert surface, 20 miles from the nearest paved road and surrounded by hundreds more miles of uninhabited desert. read the rest here

Aron also has a book out now about his ordeal. It's called Between a "Rock and a Hard Place" read a chapter from Aron's book

He'll take "Brainiac" for a million-plus, Alex.

2004-09-03T15:42:00.000-04:00

Jeopardy! whiz Ken Jennings returned to the game show Monday night after a six-week hiatus to continue his unprecedented winning streak.

So far, he's triumphed in 39 consecutive games and banked $1,331,661, shattering all previous records for the syndicated game show.

Monday's win represented Jennings' lowest cash draw from the game to date—a relatively paltry $10,001 after he incorrectly wagered $21,599 in Final Jeopardy. read the story here

Lurkers, they're everywhere!

2004-09-02T09:43:00.000-04:00

The blog scene is very fickle. The postings that I think will generate a lot of discussion, dialogue, or at least a few comments receives absolutely no attention. The postings that are generic, mundane, and probably boring are responded to by both of my readers. I say both of my readers because the blog scene also has a downside: lurkers. A lurker is the viewer of a blog that for some reason or another refuses to participate in the growth of that blog. The lurker never (or rarely) comments, rarely gives feedback, and rarely (if ever) spreads the word about that blog. I know for a fact that I have a lot of lurkers. I average about 200 visitors a month, but I only get two or three people to comment or give feedback.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blog for attention or for others to commend me. I blog so that others can gain some understanding of my thoughts about life, faith, and politics.
I understand the reluctance of a lurker. Once you post something on the internet, it's out there for everyone else to read. But understand that with the internet comes anonymity. You don't have to use your name in order to comment on a posting. Maybe you lurkers just think of the blogs as another form of entertainment or news. But unlike watching TV or listening to the radio, the blog is interactive, alive, organic. It can grow and change based on feedback.
Not all lurkers are parasites, but that's what many of us bloggers see them as. They suck the information out of a blog, but don't directly contribute to the blog's well being. If you find any posting, on my blog or someone else's, please comment on it. Give the blogger some feedback. It is always welcomed and is encouraged.

And that's my two cents.

The newest in cool computing!

2004-08-31T14:55:00.000-04:00

Many of you know that I am a zealot in the religion of Macintosh-ism. So in an effort to mac-vangelism to the masses I feel obligated to make this posting.

Apple Computer has unveiled it's new iMac desktop computer design, which integrates all disk drives and processors into a flat display less than two inches thick. Well, there goes my gas money.

read the rest of the story here

Or watch the Webcast of the Keynote at Mac Expo

Dave Matthews Band - In a "crapload" of trouble.

2004-08-25T12:45:00.000-04:00

The Dave Matthews Band is being sued by the state of Illinois for allegedly dumping 800 pounds of human waste from their tour bus into the Chicago River. The waste hit boat tour passengers passing underneath the bridge, including one lady who reportedly had her mouth open. I guess they weren't kidding when they wrote "Don't Drink the Water." Read the article here.

Get Lost!

2004-08-25T00:18:00.000-04:00

I've been going to Re:Jesus for about a year now. There are some great resources on that site. Among them is the Online Prayer Labyrinth. If you do not now what a labyrinth is, it is basically a maze. The idea of a prayer labyrinth is that while you travel along the path, you come to stations that help guide you in meditation or prayer. It is a great way to encounter God. This labyrinth has a guided visual and audio component which makes it very interactive. Take 10-15 minutes and visit the Prayer Labyrinth. You'll be glad that you did.

Legalism Rules!

2004-08-23T01:19:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK (AFP) - Roman Catholic officials have invalidated the First Communion of a New Jersey girl with a rare digestive disorder whose gluten intolerance put her on a collision course with Catholic doctrine. Haley Pelly-Waldman suffers from celiac sprue disease and cannot eat wheat, rye, oats, barley or malt, so when it came time for her to take the sacrament for the first time, her mother Liz asked her priest to allow Haley to eat bread made without gluten, which is a component of wheat. Read more...