community

I know, I know ... it has been way too long since i have posted. To be honest I go through blog-swings. It is very similar to mood-swings. Just how moods toward poeple, places, experiences, and things change from one extreme to the next. So does my blogging change. I will blog constantly to be in like flyn, but the tides will quickly change.

Anyway, I wanted all those to know that I have been experiencing one of the greatest freedoms... community. My wife and I have some friends now in this place that we live and we get together weekly. It is one of those gatherings that you love, but you think about if you invited someone else... they would think you are weird. I am delusional sometimes b/c I create scenarios in my head. So here is the conversation I imagine when I think about asking people to come to our gathering.

Stranger - what are you doing friday?
Me - well I am hanging with some friends over Steve & Lois'
Stranger - I never heard of that bar?
Me - it is not a bar, they are people, and they have a home.
Stranger - What are you doing at home with friends on a friday?
Me - singing, sharing our life stories and some of our secrets, praying, reading and talking about the bible, being the church...
Stranger - is it a cult?
Me - sort of.... NO!
Stranger - cool, well maybe next week we can do something.

That is my imagined conversation. It is purely fictional, and I am finding that my delusional scenarios in my head are as far from reality as my pet fish Sushi is from real sushi. This small community of riff-raff, is a community of stories that are colliding and resonating with each other. It is not a place where difference is accepted, but it is a place where difference is encouraged, hoped for, and initiated. It is unity in diversity.

This is very exciting. We are committed to being the church and not going to church, and people are coming who do not go to church and they love it. We are not being seeker sensative, we are loving and it is working better than what I have ever experienced and learned. All I can say is that, God's kingdom is backwards. What we think will make it work is often times the thing that makes it fail.

Hard Knock Life

Right now, when I am writing this, I am sitting here watching Annie with my wife and niece, Madison (from Gina’s side of the family). Gina’s dad just joined us as well. Do you remember in the beginning of the movie when all the little girls sing “It’s a Hard Kock Life,” yeah that is my favorite part of the movie, and the only part that I like because it reminds me of the Jay-Z song.

We are here in Baltimore enjoying our Christmas time with the family. It is great! It started with Christmas Eve, we came in last night after three church services, WaWa subs, and a 2 hour trip. We arrived and crashed a party that was still bumping at 11 o’clock.

Then on Christmas day we got up and opened some gifts. It was great because it was my first Christmas that I got to experience the holiday traiditions of another family. For 22 years I experienced Christmas with my family and my family only. I loved it and still do. Actually, I was a little disappointed that I was not going to participate in the normal traditions with my own family. But seeing something experiencing something different is really good for the soul.

So I guess I will tell you what made it really good. We gave to each other more than the other expected, random people from the local church and community popped in and joined us, we ate food, we laughed, and then we tried on and played with the clothes and toys we got. This is a picture Ben, my brother, who tried on the clothes of his brother Jimmy.




Did you ever have one of the occurrences that was really cool, but was really bad at the same time? You know, when you see something wrecked car and you were like “Cool!” then you realized that people suffered somehow through that. Well this happened to me. I was sleeping and my phone rang, I did not pick it up, then Gina’s phone rang and she did answer it. She jumps out of bed and run in and says to Ben “There is a fire in Reisterstown,” Ben ran out of the house and I walked to the toilet saying “I wish I was a firefighter.” Anyway, the fire was really big. It destroyed 76 units in a old folks home, but no one was hurt thank goodness. But I am sure a lot of people lost a lot of stuff that meant a lot to them. So, later on in the day we went down to see what was going on. It was great because Gina’s dad is really high up in the fire department, so all it took was a daddy phone call from Gina and he sent someone to take us down there. We passed up the all the News cameras and vehicles to the scene of the fire. I tried to get on the News, but I failed.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Jesus

Should I say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

Does saying “Merry Christmas” actually mean that you are a Christian and standing up for God? If it does why? "Merry Christmas" is not just a christian phrase. Politcally correct or not, several people say it and are not a christian, so if we challenge the church to say Merry Christmas in defense of the gospel, I don’t think the rest of the world cares, or even say,”wow those people are christian b/c they said 'Merry Christmas.'”

Further on that, but separate – saying "Merry Christmas" would not save the gospel. Does that mean give up, NO! But, we have to do a whole lot more than just say "Merry Christmas" for people to encounter the gospel for this or any other Christmas season.

Last thing I would say is – Saying happy holidays could be more Christian that actually saying Merry Christmas to someone. This could be true especially now that it is a huge media thing and has become an agenda for Christians and non-Christians to battle. For example, when we are in conversation with the cashier or the someone else waiting in line at the store, saying Merry Christmas to them could really turn them off to Jesus b/c, “Merry Christmas” is nothing but a vein agenda for Christians to have their way.

This whole issue boils down to something much larger and that is tied to not being able to teach creation in schools, post the ten commandments, and say America is one nation Under God. I am afraid that Christianity has developed this reputation of winning rights to be push our agenda of prayer, ten commandments, saying God in speeches, teaching creation, and getting rid of abortion, rather than proclaiming Jesus. Can all these things be related to Jesus? Yes, but that is not it? Lesslie Newbigin said, “The confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ implies a commitment to make good that confession in relation to the whole life of the world – its philosophy, its culture, and its politics no less than the personal lives of its people. The Christian mission is thus to act out in the whole life of the whole world the confession that Jesus is Lord of all.” [the open secret]. So, our mission is the confession, not to push our agendas. I think the issue boils down to the fact that the mission has become lesser than proclaiming Jesus, it has become about proclaiming prayer, anti-abortion, etc.

When I read about Jesus, I see him interacting with people who had agendas that they were trying to push, and he shut them down like nobody's buisness. The Pharisees came to Jesus asking and testing him about agendas all the time. Back then, they were agendas like, the Sabbath, taxes, divorce, and shaking or raising hands for a promise. If you remember, he said to them, "What ridiculous hairsplitting!.. You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment - the absolute basics! - you carelessly take it or leave it." [matt. 23].

Sometimes i think we miss the tree for the leaf, the forest for the tree.

I am Santa

This past weekend Gina, who is my wife, spent a lot of time with her best friend. Whenever they are together - look out! They come up with the most random and spontaneous ideas ever. So the idea this past weekend was to dress me up like Santa, and Gina to be Mrs. Claus trying to hit on Santa. They went to the store bought some fake sheep hair for my beard. I got some load straps from my truck that were red and made suspenders out of them. Then we went outside and took pictures in the snow. Then my neighbor came out gave me his Christmas list.

The only part that was not good, was that the sheep hair got all over me. It was so bad I had to get a shower after it.

Dear Spotting & Earrings

I have done something recently that has made me feel a little on the rebellious side... I pierced my ears. The experience was a little weird b/c I did it in the mall in one of those booths where everyone can see you. So, I had to act tough. The other thing that was weird was the smell of the place. I think the lady had just eaten lunch and I think she had tuna. I was really afraid that I was going to end up throwing up b/c the mixture of getting holes pocked into my ears and tuna did not settle well in my mind... it still doesn't.

Also, me and two friends went dear spotting @ 1 am. This I had never done before. it was a lot of fun, besides the fact that the spotter kept dying from having a weak battery. We saw a bunch of dear, and one buck. i think they like to play games with us. There was one time when we found a buck and he rand into the brush to hide but he was still staring at us. We turned around to get a better look and he was gone. Sneaky little guy!

One last thing, I went into Hot Topic to find some cooler earrings, and I decided to gauge my ear. I went from 18g to a 12g. That means I made the ear hole bigger. I was there with my wife and this other girl who was very experienced in ear piercing. I could tell she was experienced b/c she had about five or six piercing on her face alone... I trusted what she had to say.

Anyway, she was saying how gauging your ear does not hurt that bad, but she said that she was used to it and could endure pain. What was I going to do with that, say, "No I cant endure pain" of course I can. Honestly, I was a little nervous. But I followed through with it. I went home and got a hot shower (they said that helps it go through easier) then sat on the toilet as my wife forced the earrings through the hole that was too small. The first ear was not that bad, but the second we had to stop halfway through b/c she could not get it all the way in... I did not enjoy that so much.