Month: September 2006

  • Fall prep

    Cutting_tressIt’s no secret that Fall comes quickly in Michigan. With the leaf duty just weeks away it’s time for us to start preparing what we can now in the house and around the house. Here’s a little list that we’re out to tackle this weekend.

    1. Trim more trees. This morning we hacked at a birch tree and cut down 75% of the cedar tree in the backyard. Our simple theory is that less trees is better for the house.
    2. Put summer stuff away outside. Not a lot to do there, but we need to start moving summer stuff to the back garage and winter stuff to the front garage. Dare I say that I need to get the snow blower ready?
    3. Take out Megan’s window air conditioner.
    4. Install Paul’s new heater.
    5. Start removing summer plants and putting down ground cover.

    Fun times, eh? Kristen loves Fall, and while I like it plenty… there is much to do. Winter in Michigan is absolutely inevitable.

  • Game for next weeks Light Force

    In an attempt to bring you the very best in youth group games, this is a preview of the game for next Wednesday night.

  • It’s the weekend

    Nothing deep here. It’s the weekend and I’m happy it’s here. It was a good week… but time to PARTY. Oh, wait… I don’t really party. I’ll bet I’ll be bored within 20 minutes, but it’s the weekend and I’m happy nonetheless.

  • Starting to see it…

    A lot has been said and talked about, to me at least, with the church’s "new vision/direction/whatever you’d like to call it."

    Here is one place where the results are starting to show through. Light Force

    We’ve been measuring our nights by this phrase, "Are our small groups having meaningful conversations?" When I’ve talked to the small group leaders over the past 3 weeks, the answer is progressively getting to be "Yes!" It started out with "I went well, not there yet." To "we’re getting there" To last night some of the leaders were saying "We’re getting meaningful." It’s a progression that is fantastic because as the leaders and students begin to trust one another more and more…. those meaningful conversations will happen. Students and group leaders will know they are safe and life-change will happen.

    That’s really encouraging churchwide. As this weekend GroupLink happens and adults start learning who their small groups will be… I can look into the future (not with a crystal ball but through my lenses of the Light Force experience) and see how fantastic GroupLife is going to be for our adults.

    Can I insert my little old school Toyota commercial leap here? (Dating myself there, right?)

  • Light Force Talk Notes

    Lightforcelogo_blue_greyA few people have asked about this, so I want everyone to know. I’ve updated my talk notes link on the blog. On the right side is a category called "My Life" where you will find a link to "My Talk Notes." This will take you to the Light Force website and you can download all of the transcripts from my Light Force talks.

    I think the truth is that Ryan Neilson is secretly using my note for his group each week. I won’t tell your pastor Ryan. 🙂

  • A classic Paul day

    Paul_flowers_1
    Today Paul and I got to hang out since Kristen is volunteering in Megan’s classroom.
    It’s always for to have "boy time" in the McLane household as I will readily admit that I’m not home as much as I’d like.

    We started off with a movie. But A Bugs Life ended up being too scary for him so he lost interest. About 30 minutes into it he decided that we needed to go somewhere. He told me (get this!) to get the keys and get in the car.

    I was bored, so I was game for Paul’s adventure. We got our shoes on and I kept asking him, "Where should we go?" He just told me that we would talk about it when we got in the car. So, boys buckled in and car started we sat in the driveway and the guessing game started. "Where?" Somewhere. "Somewhere where you buy things or somewhere where you play?" Buy stuff. "What store should we go to?" I don’t know. "Do they sell food?" Yes and other stuff. "OK, tell me what that place is like." You drive there and you walk around in carts and look at stuff. "Is it Meijer?"No, somewhere else. "OK, is a place near here?" I don’t know. "What do you like to buy there?" Well, they have some things that you buy that if they are on sale mommy will buy but only when it’s on sale. "Oh, so there is something you want daddy to buy?" Maybe if it’s on sale. "I see." (Thinking of all the things a 3 year old may want to buy. By this time I’m just driving and not sure where we are going.) Not really frustrated I just told him where I thought we should try. "Do you want to go to Kmart?" I think so!

    So, this is when I realized I was being set up. He had seen something with mom and mom had told him, "Let’s wait until it goes on sale." Paul had decided that this minute was the time to cash in because daddy is a softie. (It’s a shame that they already know this about me!)

    As we got in the store he made it clear about the cart thing. Then we started going through the store and I had no idea what he wanted. Torturing him, I skipped the toy aisle. But he didn’t care! So, we headed towards the back of the store and he started to talk about Halloween candy. Two seconds later, we were at the Halloween aisle, completely snookered by a 3 year old I knew he had set me up. He said, "Look daddy, they have Batman costumes, maybe there is one in my size this time." Uh-huh. Yeah, I walked right into his evil plan.

    So, we got the costume… and since I was getting the wool pulled over my eyes he scored a Sprite and some chips too. Mom came home and I was left sitting here… completely bamboozled by a 3 year old.

  • Gag me with a Christian Spoon

    I ran across this story over on Marko’s blog. Things like this make me absolutely sick, but it’s true… people are developing Christian-themed subdivisions. Two excerpts are puke-worthy:

    Near the entrance, before the road turns to reveal new homes starting
    at $400,000, a restored chapel sits under the shade of trees.     [Read the article]

    It’s good to know that Christians aren’t mixing with the riff-raff that buy houses under $400,000. I mean, if you can’t swing a mortgage payment of $3000 or more, God isn’t blessing you. Excuse me while I run to the bathroom.

    But their developments seem to be trying to sell a certain way of life.
    They’re mixed-use developments, meaning commercial businesses will go
    in with the homes, but there are restrictions as to what can go in
    these areas. Banks and gas stations are going up, but don’t expect to
    see anything that caters strictly to vices.

    "Of course we’ll
    have some restaurant locations here, but no bars. No massage parlors.
    Nothing like that that would be damaging to people’s character, as part
    of our restrictions," he said.

    This type of mixed-development is just a bad idea. Forcing American-Christian morality and sensibilities, notice I didn’t say Biblical morality, into a society just doesn’t work. After all, Jesus wouldn’t want anyone associating with people who frequent bars or massage parlors, would he? Let’s be real… developers develop subdivisions, not the New Jerusalem. It didn’t work for the Puritans and it won’t work in Tennessee. You cannot create sin-free zones where people will make the right life choices. As if Christianity were merely a lifestyle choice? Even if it were a lifestyle choice, this clearly isn’t a God-honoring choice. We know that Jesus was not impressed with the Pharisee’s who did exactly this. Jesus clear does not want his people separating from the world, how come people continue to think this is a good idea? I’m dry heaving here for again.

    Of course Joe Swanson, the developer mentioned in the story, got his start as a Jesus-junk peddler. His son now runs Swanson Christian Products where you can buy such essentials of the faith as the Plan of Salvation Band, fish tie tacks, and "I have Jesus in my heart" stress balls. So I suppose this is just a large scale Jesus-junk scheme. To steal a line from John Stassel, give me a break!

  • Bush, Tongue Tied


    OK, I saw this and just thought it was funny. It’s good to know that I’m not alone in saying stupid things in public.

  • An Irish fan in Wolverine country

    NotredamelogoIt’s not a secret that I am a Notre Dame football fan. (Yes, I like all their sports teams and follow them all… but football is obviously what they do best.) The last decade or so has not been that great for ND but we’re finally looking good these days with a #2 ranking currently.

    Notre Dame has two rivals. By far, the biggest football rival is the University of Southern California Trojans. That game is traditionally around Thanksgiving. But at the beggining of every year is their secondary rival.

    Today Notre Dame takes on the Michigan Wolverines. Their primary rivals are the Buckeyes of Ohio State. So for both teams, this is a big game but not the big game of their year. Michigandm

    Of course, the interesting thing about today for me is always that I am a Notre Dame fan living and surrounded by Michigan fanatics. All that to say, the flag is flying on Bailey Street for all the Michigan fans to see. Later this evening I’ll either be proudly waving that flag or sheepishly putting it away until next week.

    I don’t think Michigan is that great of a football team, but I also recognize that this rivalry game is generally a close one. In a few hours, we will all know.

  • I love connecting

    I think I learned this little phrase from Jason Raitz, "I love networking with youth workers." I mean, we’re just wired a little differently than the average person. While most people flee working with teenagers there are a group of people who love it. God made us this way and I love getting together with youth workers… it’s hard to explain, but it’s just cool.

    I did this last week as I sat down with Andy, a former church member and graduate of our ministry. (It was a long time ago) Nonetheless, it’s great to see kids who grew up through our ministry involved in a ministry of their own. Even more so, it was great to get to know another youth worker.

    It’s obvious that he and I disagree on the methodology of ministry but I’m confident that we share the same heart for students and much of the same theology. It was really cool… and I hope that somone I felt was "feeling negative" about me and my ministry… I think he at least understands what we are doing better. I know from my perspective he blew a lot of my expectations out of the water.

    Every time I meet a new youth worker (to me that is), I get excited. I’m really excited about what God is doing with him in Lapeer and while I don’t know if we’ll ever be on the same page enough to do something together, I do look forward to hearing more about what God’s doing through him.

    It was well worth my time… and of course, Red Knapps is a great lunch any day.