Please
there are a lot of reason’s i like these guys…
June 17th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer, Rock Star | | 0 Comments
Christians or Worship people?
It’s not like i had a whole lot of intentionality about it… I suppose about a decade ago as culture was growing towards post-Christendom, i distanced myself from words like Christian… although obviously the context literally meant Christ-like, it seemed it meant much more to the folks we were hanging out with- in thier mind’s.
Christian - (Adj) 1)To act self righteous, condemning, hateful, prideful; 2) lacking 3) lacking humility or disdain for all things. 4) lacking compassion, or sentiment.
So i’m not saying that’s what we thought, it’s just it seemed like all of our friends saw that (hopefully not in us), so as a result we sort of just lost contact with that as a word and chose others as descriptors.
Now many years later, it seems that the word in a post-Christendom society has completely lost its original intent… Which is probably why it seems much easier to use… funny things are, i have noticed that our kid’s don’t use it…
Recently I heard one retelling of a church experience, and she said
“There was these people, they were worship people…um yah, and they were singing like you know, worship people do, with thier hands… and her butt was shaking like this (wiggle, wiggle)”.
I kind of chuckled to myself as i heard her use the word worship people… Then just the other day, another one was describing the Simpson’s ( a family favorite) and as they were describing a scene.
He went on to describe a typical Simpson episode, where our favorite howdily dowdily neighbor Ned Flanders was doing something predictable; offending somebody with overt kindness, and of course the disposition of that act spun the whole Simpson family into chaos…
So admist my son’s giggles as he was describing it… Of course he knew every character’s name on the show… but the Flanders.
“Dad I you know that episode in the Simpson’s where that Worship people guy… What’s his name? you know the Worship People guy?…”
I could die happy being known as the Worship People…
++make me a worship people++
June 3rd, 2008 - Posted in General, Prayer | | 1 Comments
Elpida
Well i have been thinking a lot about the Elpida Society….
Something about this time of year… maybe it’s the Spring, the leaves, the tree’s all beginning to wake up… grafted branches…
Just has me thinking…
April 30th, 2008 - Posted in General, Prayer | | 2 Comments
Death Cab for Cutie
So I haven’t heard much of the album, but I will say what I have heard I really like
++How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me
It’s like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can’t read - just yet
You gotta spend some time–love, you gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you’ll find–love, I will possess your heart (x2)
There are days when outside your window, I see my reflection as I slowly pass
And I long for this mirrored perspective, when we’ll be lovers, lovers at last
You gotta spend some time–love, you gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you’ll find–love, I will possess your heart(x2)
I will possess your heart (x2)
You reject my advances and desperate pleas
I won’t let you, let me down so easily, so easily
You gotta spend some time–love, you gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you’ll find–love, I will possess your heart (x3)
I will possess your heart (x2)++
April 16th, 2008 - Posted in General, Prayer, Rock Star | | 2 Comments
Blinded by Character
++how fortunate i am lord, that you put people before me who understand your ways and what your about, who understand your spirit and who have steadfastly followed you, and bring the wisdom of years in your yearning. i love you, and
April 16th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Stab in the Front
“friends stab each other in the front”
i wanted to share a learning moment i had on weds night because i think it is an awesome reflection to community as god intened. this is a depressing truth, but it captures the ongoing stuggles of living. we were at soccer practice and we were having a scrimmage. as always, we we were doing our best to yell out and coach the kids in a positve way. our pracitce feild sounds pretty loud for most of the practice. usually we have to yell because its outside, theres a breeze and the field is near a road with a lot of traffic noise. once you get around the fact that were yelling at 10year old girls if you listen a majority of the time were yelling things like come on or get it forward or stay in your zone. . .
i coach the defense specifically the fullbacks, we have been doing much better in games and in the last weeks there is an incomparible improvement from just a few weeks ago. my oldest daughter plays center fullback and is the only one of the fullbacks who hasn’t played soccer before. she now loves it and is excited to improve. she is one of the fastest girls on the team and is definelyt the tallest so she is perfect for the job, becuase she has never played, it has been challenging for her to understand angles, when to commit, when to cushion and when to determine if someone is in the kill zone . .ect. . and she is slowly gaining confidence in her ability. there is added diffiulty because she doesn’t get a lot of help yet, even though the other defenders have played soccer before, they really don’t understand angles either . they typically don’t pull their oppents off sides and also get burnt, leaving her often times in a 3 on 1 or at least 2. anyways. on weds night, i really really wanted them to stay in their zones and it just wasn’t happening.
its funny with all the other girls i have a lot of grace but for some reason with my own daughter who i obvioulsy love more, i don’t know why but i feel the freedom to yell more. she kept getting burnt and wasn’t playing well and i was keeping on her, and letting her know. i have been around sports all my life and competed from rec leagues to the proffesional level of international competition. i have been coached by and witnessed literally hundreds of coaches and even coached others at an international level i am only writting this to express that i really do understand athleticism. coaches that yelled never bothered me. coaches that were negative always did. the best coaches are those who can point out the right. focusing on the negative is easy, explaining how to get it right is just plain what a coach does. i am concious about negative coaches in perhaps a hyper vigalente sense. they have no place and are worhtless.
well, weds night i crossed over the line and definitly did it before i realized it. i thought i was helping but was just doing the opposite and it was horriblle. i constatnly need reminded of my presence, i just never think of myself as intimidaing and i definitly have no desire to come off that way. i know from the pains of life that i can and have initmitdated my own family before and the thought of ever doing so again is practically unbearable. its why i always jokingly use dallass willards name in vain (becuase had it not been for a great wife, friends and that book, i don’t think i would have realized the potential harm or damage i could have continued to invoke.) perhaps the saddest part is that i know better, for years i sat under the tootelage of a great leader ed piorek whose life passion is the father heart of god. the premise to his ministiry is that poor behaviors frrom earthely fathers, can impeded an individuals perspective on his heavenly father. so after reading much nouwen and living amougnst ed i know really do know all the damage that fathers can invoke. the baffling part to me is that i had the best earthly father i can imagine. i couple that fact with the concept in the OT of sins of the father repeating, and things don’t make sense. frightenly enough its like i am starting my own personal out of control lineage of yuchhh.
so here i am out on a soccer feild telling my own daughter that she is getting burnt, and she just cowards away, i am still haunted by her beautiful eyes welling up and the image of her as she turned away and ran back to her postition after our scrimmage team scored a goal. i saw here posture change and her beautiful little body fighting back the flood of emotion that she was feeling. it was all she could do to keep from breaking down. it was then that i knew i had blown it. what do you do? how do you recover from that one? why the hell did it even matter? my behavior is so contrary to how i feel. well it is no secret and i have been working on it intentially and gotten much mo betta over the years, but i had definitly screwed up. and then to make it worse my daughter told me after practice choking back tears of pain, that she had hurt her ankle and that was why she was defending poorly. she said she didn’t want to be like the other girls who fake injury or manipulate (her words) so they can get out of practice. infact she was the only one who voted to do laps at the end of practice. so by the end of that little conversation i was feeling like there are no words to describe.
but here is the part of community that was beautiful. practice was over, and we waited until all the parents had left as we always do, typically the girls play together, and i noticed that mark seemed a bit preoccupied but didn’t know why. (actually he was just protecting me) after the kids were in the car and all the stuff was loaded up mark came over gave me a hug and very privatley whispered the following words which almost broke me. “as a friend and as a brother, i think you stepped over the line with your daughter today” about all i could say was “yah i know” and that was it. that was all that needed said. that was all it took, because we practically live together i knew those 18 words spoke more and adressed more than words can capture. i knew from the look in his eyes he was doing his job as a memeber of my community of faith and holding me accountable. that was it. simple and quick. and then he got in the car and left. had mark not confirmed my suspicions (it took a real rocket scientist) of my own behavior, i may not have handled the aftermath the same. unfortunatly the damage was done and once again it is not as easy as a simple apology. i know when he got in the car his daughter probablly questioned him about it, and i also know that he represented me in a way that won’t further the damage i did. ulitmatley that is what is best for everybody.
we have an openness that can only come from relationship and there is nothing we would hold back especially in love. we have come to expect each others feedback and welcome it as naturally as our own thoughts. so philosophically not saying something is the sin. beth reminded me of a quote by oscar wilde who had a fascinating life of brilliance “friends stab each other in the front” well thats all mark was doing. stabbing me in the front. you know what i welcome it anytime, i want it, i need it, its like having eyes guarding your back. if we don’t confront sin or poor behaviour in our communities and hold each other accountable how will we ever move towards our own healing? even more how will we incept change and model the kingdom to those who are onlooking. if we are looking for life long inpact, it ain’t gonna happen without the relationship of brothers and sisters who adress our faults in love and want to see us move on. transparency is just part of it, being surrounded by those who challenge is the other. but the best part is that there is an openess amoung freinds that will represent, protect and gaurd out of mutual interests and allelon. if know if we can do this, if we can with dignity and honesty restore and build each othe up, we will see life lasting change. so go and challenge each other and live amoung freinds
++lord heal the wounds i create,
please restore my daughter and anyway ive screwed her up,
help me to model you to my own family and those who i have infected
i want to be more, say more and do more for your kingdom. thankyou ++
April 16th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Mercy me
++give me some more patience, help me to learn
allow me to be a better communicator,
teach me to see things many ways,
help me to see the other side of the story
help me at showing, and allowing rather than doing++
April 16th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
I AM the DNA
i heard this this morning when i was praying but i sensed it was for more than just me to read, actually i felt it was for the eMerging church crowd, so i am posting it. i think it will take more modeling than we can comprehend
+you are so beautiful
they ways you are gathering and the ways your are listening have been brought about by technology,
but don’t be mislead about who is spawning this.
this is all within my heart
practice your thin space because i am continueing to speak.
teach listening,
teach listening
teach listening
teach your relationships how to listen to me,
you have the ways to communicate,
you have established this as a valuable resource,
now listen to me,
hear what it is i have to say
and
put that into your practices,
put that in your podcasts
be bold to speak what it is i am telling you.
be bold to say ALL that you are hearing
be bold to speak it out
be bold,
be bold
what do YOU have to loose?
demonstrate what it looks like to proclaim my words AND USE THEM
- they are far more powerful than your own,
they are far more relevant to your culture than any language you can concoct.
they are the words of life.
more than flesh
more than blood,
they are the words that can form into being
and they are the words that draw beings.
i am the DNA
speak me+
April 16th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Boomer’s
the boomer’s time is not over. their realm has not reached it’s threshold, they will be used in the most powerful of ways. The wants and vision they started some 40 years ago are just now coming to a fruition they originally lacked the humility and understanding to fathom. Fruition in themselves and fruition in who they are called to be, now running out of steam for the folly of their youth they will enter a time bringing countless with them when possibilities other than their issues, and those larger than their limited ability can solve. They now will come to find the source Power that can accomplish the vision they so long ago had for the world. Issues will surpass them; they will enter a time when their destiny and futures are challenged. In this challenge, they will come to terms with their own faith; age and the visible effects it has on the human body has a beautiful way of accomplishing this. This realization will bring many into the Church.
Now wealthier than they could have dreamed of, and with the adage of 401k’s and savings, they will gain a new way of demonstrating what it means to be provided for and provision.
Their legacy will be a legacy of countless coming to the realization that theirs is a God and King who loves them more than any totality of all their vision they could have capsulated for the last fifty years. How exciting to watch them grow up, to see the things they have fostered, to capture their vision and see them come to full fruition in the kingdom. I can’t wait to see them at the front of our churches, at the front of our mission projects, at the forefront of our communities, now leading with all the time they fought so hard to achieve in retirement. Now balanced with maturity, experience and wisdom they are finally walking into their gifting and calling- A calling that will begin to break in 2010 as they entire into their retirement years in unprecedented ways. Forgoing the values of pleasure, they will once again see what it means to be selfless, and beautiful in the eyes of the kingdom. I can’t wait, bless our fathers, our mothers, our aunts our uncles, our neighbors who for so long have dreamed. This will be their time. This is their legacy, to BE the church, to act with vision and fulfill the call they started so long ago.
++Bless their health, bless their strength, give them strength. Boom baby boom. Boom with numbers, explode with love++
April 16th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Send Us
send us
+++send us out as soldiers
send us clothed with praise and armed for battle
send us out as servants send us ready and humble
send us out as children
knowing full well who our father is
send us out as faceless
so the glory is all yours
if you will move-move upon us
we long to see your kingdom come
we long to see it in its fullness
we long to be reunited with your son
so we might see your kingdom come
so let your kingdom come
let it come in fullness and power and glory
our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name,
amen+++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Father
i recently watched the movie Sam i Am it was a story about a “differently-abeled” father whose cognative impairments were alleged to get in the way of fathering. it was very comforting to see, and further more proved the point that love goes a lot farther than intelligunce.
i had the greatest father in the world. it strikes me that at the core of so many issues of leadership it always comes back to (intentionally & not lazily) modeling or whats been modeled. sure there are wrinkles in the true fathers heart. and nobody had the perfect earthly father. but it truley seems that at the core of leadership, is wanting nothing more than what is completely best for our sons/daughters or those were trying to lead (leadee’s).
at times i feel like i am “Sam i Am”. i have been asking myslef why wouldn’t we want to bless our leadees? why wouldn’t we want them to get more glory, to put them first, to make them better, to make them smarter, to let teach them to know the best possible relationshiop with their heavenly father. thats what we want for our kids. why wouldn’t we want that for our leadees. thats what i love about leading without the building, the program, the tight sermonette. being freed up from the things thta really aren’t kingdom at all, we can focus more on leading and modeling. we actually have time to allocate for whats best to our leadee’s. rather than whats best for us. the movie said it much beetter that that but if you get a chance check it out.
++lord help me to intentionally model
what has been so purposefully modeled to me
thank you that my dad took the time to model it.
help me to do the same in my kids lives
as well as those i get to hang out with++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Rembrandts
++lord give us wisdom about rembrandts
keep us from doing any thing wasteful
i love you lord and need you,
i need you to continually ground me
wake me up everymorning focused and centered on you++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
My Father
i knew that generationally and statistically speaking that the inevitability of guys coming through the ranks with single parents or fatherless parenting was increasing so i really i wanted to understand it. fortunatly a man who had dedicated his whole life to understanding fathering, was my “pastor” at the time. ed piorek a great man and truly someone i wish everyone could get the opportunity to know. i remember asking him how i could better understand, the fathers love. ed was the guru and i was the confused guy who had the greatest dad in the world and couldn’ t possibally understand how anyone would have father issues.
i’ll never forget the night over dinner. i wanted to understand the fathers heart better. he said do you really want to know? have a few kids and you’ll know. 12 years later i am only begginning to see what he means.
yesterday i saw it clearer then i every have, as i watched thunder’s eyes light up in the power ranger section at wal-mart, while i listened to him ride with me in our old vw bus, expalining (blogging) about his day. as i watched him struggle hitting a hockey puck and finally figuring it out. just looking at him so affectionatly. i got such a sense that the feeling i had was finally the fathers heart.
every once in a while i have a fleeting thought that something will happen to him and i immeadialty get the sensation of chasing and catching the person who wronged or injured him and literally ripping their arms off, physically beating them beyond reckognition, breaking their legs after i’ve curbed them a couple times, and leaving them for dead. it sounds morbid but i truly think this too is an outflow of love, in some way a protective fathers heart. i understand that aspect protection and have prayed that a similar scenario never happens.
there are so many components to the fathers love i am only begginging to understand. it is remarkabally humbling. a swirl of emotion and metephors i want to grasp. i can’t help wonder about all the other metaphors and stories of my god. who knew about dinosaurs, and doves and prostitutes and daughters, theives and sons, and has a mothers heart as well. how many times has he proudly watched me struggle to hit my “hockey puck” knowing that if he buts in early i’ll never learn?. . . how many times has he watched my eyes light up talking to him? . . ridden with me . .
++thankyou that you gave me such a great father
help me to not model things that will be bad to my kids
and people around me
help me to give your image of what fathering is to my kids
and those around me
help life to go slow so i don’t miss the oppourtunities++
help me to see them
teach me what it means to be better at them++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Stand Under to Understand
while i was in sunvalley which is a resort town, i saw something i haven’t seen in a while. you kind of have to understand sunvalley located in the town of ketchum. it is a very wealthy area, yet the people there are very down to earth. infused in their culture is a sense of adventure and buildt in wonderlust. its common place to sit in a room and find that most of the people there spend at least 2 months out of the year pursueing intrests like surfing in indonesia , or trekking/hiking/kayaking in nepal, traveling to asia to travel and explore. basically stuff most people around here don’t do. one of the reasons the town of ketchum catches so many is because of the freedom for life that everyone there experiences.
the take away moment was when i saw some guy that looked about 30 holding up a sign while walking his dog. its unusuall to see people walking and holding signs especially in ketchum. as we approached him i noticed that there was a peace rally in the center of down town also very rare in ketchum. the guy walking his dog, had a huge smile on, like the cheshire cat in alice in wonderland. his beautiful malumute husky was leading the way on a piece of rope and the guy looked genuinely happy. as i approached his simple sign about a foot and a half by a foot and a half, i could begin to see it more clearly. on it was a picture of the earth taken from a sattelite photo with an indian spirit catcher around the outside perimiter of it. i noticed that after people looked at it he spun it around and on the other side it had a picture of assumabally his daughter, a beautiful 2 year old looking girl, who was smilling. the words below it said “say no more”.
i don’t understand pacifism well enough, not even certain how it all works or what part of jesus pacifism looks like. i do know that the guys sign seemed to make sense.
++help me to understand
what part you want me to play
in understanding pacifism,
its so far away from the me
let me grapple and understand it
god++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Got Issues
more about pacisfism, i grew up company guy, never question authority, follow orders obey your parents.. .pacifism was not an option unless our gov’t was practicing it. about fighting back, mommas rule was that after you asked em nicley to stop it 3 times, you could knock them out, and typically it was a quick three times. she also said that after you turn the other cheek you could fight back, i was never really clear if that was get hit on oneside, and offer the other, and then hit back. or hit back after they hit the other cheek. or just hit both cheeks and then turn. typically i am very good at hitting back and like momma says i do it until i’m not in danger.
i feel like waterboy. and all of a sudden jesus is like that colonel sanders character in the movie, who might be disagreeing with momma. hitting back is such a fun thing and i enjoy it so much, i already miss the idea of not doing it. fight club is fun. i sort of feel like its out of character to be a pacisfist. i am wrestling/fighting the idea of pacifism. my ohio bro told me i should read a book by yoder (he sounds wise like yoda) and i will. i can still remember reading those challenging (for me) chapters 5-7 about anger in divine conspiracy and it wasn’t until i read that, that i relized i have/had/getting rid of an anger problem. i wonder if this book is going to make me relize i have a pacivity or lack of pacivity problem. i have been thinking a lot about that demonstrator from yesterdays blog, read beths (blog for more weekend details) and i am continuing to wonder about pacifism. who understands it? allelon me.
++thanks for working on all my issues
help me to wrassle with them
let me understand them
please give me wisdom++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Your Ways
jesus i love your ways, help me to understand you better in all the things that your spirit points to on earth. i am overwhelmed by your graciousness and capacity to be unending in you love for me and i want to spread that to my friends. help my buddies to learn more of you . let me be a source to them . with all of my friends i pray your spirit would be so intriguing and so guiless that they would long to understand who you are and their relationshop to you as men and woman. break their hearts for the things of the kingdom and help them to follow you. i pray they would.
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Send it
i think it is a sweetism that as leaders today we need to be more spiritual guides than didactic orators, whatever the language i am more conviced than ever that we need to point out the spirit at work. prophetic perhaps is just as good a language, basically signposts. what really bugs me is watching the spirit move and seeing nobody step up to the plate and speaking about it.
i am not a huge fan of the boss, but last night during the grammy’s, the worship song he sang had some mojo on it. i think the song is called the rising, and last night in front of concervatively 1500 people as he sang you could see what god was doing. at the end the crowd was “moved”, but i would also bet that what they were responding to was worship. the kind of worship that lies dormant at times, yet it embeded in our DNA. they were “moved” and i think sometimes people replace emotionalism for what is really a physical outflow of worship ( . . .but i realize thats gray area). i am not entirely convinced that the people were responding to the boss, rather i think they were responding to the spirit, but thought they were responding to the boss. it was driving me nuts that here was this audience of many, at the end of this song, standing up clapping with a looks of dismay on their faces, not knowing what had happened. it was as if they had experienced intimate time with god, but there was know one there to give language to it. i think that is where a spiritual guide can really come into play. if there was only someone there even narrating or explaining to people what god was doing in their midst i think there would have been a lot of people who would want to search out god more often. if it is true we are post-christandom than who esle is going to point this stuff out.
++send me lord, show us how you move amoungst us
teach us to be bold and speak when we see you move
help us to explain to others what you are doing++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Strength
++May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love bring us love++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Oneness
++thankyou that i get to be married,
please allow me to speak your truth into my friends lives.
let them be introduced to you through this.
please meet them++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Help Me
++help me to notice people around me
let our home take care of people
let me make the most of my time++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Isaiah 1:12-17
“quit your worship charades
i can’t stand your trivial religeious games:
monthyl conferences, weekly sabbaths, special meetings-
more meetings, meetings , meetings-i can’t stand one more!
you’ve worn me out
i’m sick or your religeioin, religion,
while you go right on sinning
when you put on your next prayer performance i’ll be looking the ohter way.
no matter how long or loud or ogten you pray i’ll not be listening.
and do you know why? beacuase you’ve been tearing people upto pieces
and your hands are bloody
go home, wash up, clean up your act.
sweeep your lives clean of your evildoings
so i don’t have to look at them any longer
say no wrong
learn to do good
work for justice
help the down-and-out
stand up for the homeless
go to bat for the defensless”
isaiah 1:12-17 (message)
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
Rhetorictition
+++i can’t stand for theoretical practices, practictioner is the only life style for being christianity. its as if the word has been reduced to an on or off switch, i am tired of the dualism, and were all guilty of it. conferences on the how to’s and what to do’s, emails, newsletters, ezines. help us to be care free enough to enjoy who you have made us to be, let us deliver the goods to who when and how you want us to. let us be real in our temperpant and let us be tempered by you. allow us to work thourgh our sinfful ways and help us to heal. send us in your power so that we have the necessary tools to fight for your kingdom and the pricipals that you employ. teach us but don’t drown us with your peddlars of rhetoric. i am so tired of words lord. show me actions. i am over whelmed with programatic fromulas for your kingdom. tell them all to shut up, and get outside.+++
April 15th, 2008 - Posted in Prayer | | 0 Comments
