Category: hmm… thoughts

  • The Guilt Trip

    Perhaps I am the only sick mind who has wondered if I could get away with a speech like this when taking the offering? And maybe I’m just a little passive-aggressive when it comes to offerings?

    If the ushers could please come forward for the morning offering.

    The offering is a time when the people of the church give back to God a portion of what God has given to them.

    This is an act of worship whereby you measure what you say you believe against what you are actually willing to put behind those beliefs, financially.

    If you are new to our church… perhaps this is your first time… we don’t want to pressure you to give. We recognize that you’re probably already feeling guilty enough. It’s OK if you don’t participate in the offering. No, really… we mean it.

    But, if this is your first time and you’d like to give, perhaps out of some cosmic belief that if you give money to a church it will make up for something you’ve done. Our theology says that it doesn’t make a lick of difference to God… eh, who are we to judge? Go ahead and drop that check, cash, or sin-laden stock options in the offering plate as it passes by. We’re a charitable organization. Even if it’s for the wrong reasons we really need the money during these hard economic times.

    If you are a regular attender of the church, this is for you. (Eyeball the church treasurer- A wink for style points.)

    To those who are faithfully giving to God, you are awesome. I think you are awesome. The church treasurer thinks you are awesome. And we’re pretty sure God is smiling on your faithfulness. I’d like to give a shout out to Dave Ramsey and Suzi Orman. Teaching people how to budget… brilliant!

    If you are a regular attender of the church and are not giving regularly, what’s wrong with you? No seriously. Talk to someone and figure it out. You gave your mailman a Starbucks gift card for Christmas but not a thing to the church. Yeah, we saw that. It’s not cool.

    [Another quick glance and wink to the church treasurer]

    While Mary Johnson sings the Ray Boltz classic, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord” we’ve prepared a little slide show of cracks in our church walls and pictures of our staff’s children. Please note that Tiffany and Peter could really use some dental work. And that the pastor is driving a 1987 Buick LaSabre.

    Let’s pray.

  • Not Dwelling

    A co-worker sent me this verse of the day. I think it is a great way to get fired up about 2010.

    This is what the Lord says, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.’” Isaiah 43:16, 18, 19

    For me, the last 12 months have been filled with highs and lows. And I learned a ton through it all. My hope is that I takeaway lessons which will spur on good things in 2010!

  • My Transition to YouthWorks

    YouthWorksOn January 1st, 2010 I will become an employee of YouthWorks.

    Before I talk about YouthWorks I do want to mention some things about Zondervan. A lot of negative things have been said and written (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) about Zondervan through this process. I want to convey publicly what I told them privately. They have been great through this. The last few months have been painful to say the least. (I think the right term is agonizing!) And at every turn the people I worked alongside at Z were professional, kind, and quick to pray for and with me. Whether or not you agree with all of their decisions in the last year or so, know that they are not awful people with maniacal laughs and evil plans. From the CEO (Moe Girkins) to the CFO (Gary Wicker) on down through the leadership team and the ranks of employees, I’ve found them to be intelligent, hard-working, and upstanding people. I’m a better person for having worked with them. I’m thankful and proud of my 18 months of work with Z. (And by proxy, being an employee of HarperCollins and News Corp was pretty nifty, too.)

    A couple weeks back, as the deal became final for YouthWorks to buy Youth Specialties, also came an opportunity for me to continue on in my ministry with YS as an employee of YouthWorks. Despite the fact that I had every reason to suspect I would be offered a job, the offer itself still came as a shock! I really had never thought about what my response would be if I were given the chance to stay on.

    The next 36 hours were as near to insanity for me as I’d ever like to get. I asked hard questions that needed to be answered. (Of YouthWorks and myself) I listened a lot. I took a couple long walks by myself. I talked to my dog. I wasted gas driving around San Diego for an evening. I shed some frustrating tears. I aimlessly walked around Best Buy for a couple hours. I talked in circles to Kristen. I burned through a few hundred text messages. I put out a Twitter request for a burning bush. Around and around I went. I just didn’t know what to do.

    Picture 2
    Apparently my iPhone changed "divining rod" to "diving rod." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing

    See, it’s not in my nature to do things halfway. There was a lot of wisdom in the advice I was getting… “Play it safe.” But that’s not me. That’s not how I roll. To me, it would have been better to just say no and move on with my life than to do something halfway with an eye on the door. I wanted to be resolute one way or the other. “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.” I wanted to be true to myself even if it meant putting into action plans B, C, D, or E and all the fear and second guessing that went with that.

    Make it clear God! That was my prayer.

    That resolve I was looking for came early Friday morning.

    Long story short. On Friday morning, I talked to the folks at YouthWorks and let them know that I had decided to stay on with Youth Specialties/YouthWorks.

    And so a new adventure begins! After a weekend off, transition work began bright and early on Monday morning and will continue through the Christmas holidays. I’ve got this theory that decisions generate energy. And in this case, I’ve got lots of new energy and enthusiasm for what is next for YS.

    Just as surely as it is hard to say goodbye to so many co-workers… its been exciting to meet a whole new staff of people from YouthWorks. Over the past couple months I’ve gotten a chance to meet the leadership at YouthWorks. In my desire to learn more, I even went out looking for complaints and couldn’t find any. Lots and lots of happy customers. Lots of people impressed with their mission trips and how they go about their ministry. As I’ve gotten to know them I’ve been very impressed with how forward-thinking they are. And it’s been scary how much we’re on the same page with overall ministry-styles. I’ve only met about 10 of their staff of 60 face-to-face, so I am looking forward to getting to know more and more YouthWorks peeps over the coming months. They are differently culturally from the SoCal-YS-style, but in heart and ministry value they are very much the same.

    Soon, we’ll be rolling out a lot more about the future of YS, what’s next, etc. But just know that a big reason I’m joining YouthWorks is because I have a deep-gut belief that the best days of Youth Specialties are ahead. I know that’s a bold statement considering how great the past has been for YS, but that’s why I’m on board. I think there are even better days to come.

    Here’s a few quick FAQs based on the innumerous texts, Facebook messages, and Twitter DMs I’ve gotten in the past couple weeks.

    1. Will you have to move to Minneapolis? Nope. Sorry San Diego, you are stuck with the McLane family for a few more years. We’ll be keeping it classy together. We will be moving offices eventually. Hopefully, it’ll be something near a trolley stop.
    2. How does Kristen feel about this? I just want her to get to know my new co-workers. They are, as a whole, very missional. That’ll resonate with her. At this point, she is just glad to have my sanity back. This decision released a lot of energy! She got her husband back.
    3. What’s the new YS going to look like? More will come out in the next few weeks/months about our plans. I’ll just say I’m really excited about the stuff we’re talking about! I do know this… whatever it is, it’ll be true to the long-term mission of YS and YW, serving and equipping youth workers and church leaders.
    4. Will you be at NYWC this Fall? Even if I had to pay my own way, I’d be there. You will want to be in Nashville the weekend before Thanksgiving.
    5. Will you travel more or less? For some reason the YouthWorks staff wants to come here to San Diego more than they want me to come to Minneapolis. Go figure! So  time will tell on that one.
    6. What will you be working on? As time goes on, this will get more clear. But for now not a lot is changing with my job. It’s a safe bet that I’ll be calling 612 now more than 616.
    7. Do you even own a winter jacket? No, we donated it to the Salvation Army when we left Michigan. I do, however, own a lot of t-shirts, shorts, and sandals. See question 6.
    8. Can I ask you more questions? You bet. Leave me a comment. (Verbal comments would be awesome!)

  • The Peak of the Christian Life

    pinnacle-of-christian-life

    Question One: What is the chief end of man?
    Answer One: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
    – Westminster Shorter Catechism

    If you were to ask most preachers the question, “Practically speaking, what does the peak of the Christian life look like?” most of them would give an answer related to the answer given in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. (Even if you don’t come from that tradition.)

    The theologically correct answer to that question sounds like this, “You are in God’s sweet spot when you follow God’s call wherever that is. So it’s different for each person. For me, being in God’s sweet spot has meant being a pastor at this church. But for you, the pinnacle of the Christian life could be ____. Anything less than following God’s call to that is not the pinnacle.”

    But if you listened to their preaching you’d hear a much different message.

    A lot of preachers accidentally lift themselves and their calling to an unhealthy place. Preachers, in their messages, often imply that their calling to become a pastor is a higher calling than anyone else in the church. (Read 1 Peter 5:1-10) They use their obedience and their life as an example of getting into God’s sweet spot. Sitting there, listening to them preach and use themselves as the pinnacle of the Christian life week after week… you might start to believe that working for a church is the pinnacle of the Christian life. While I don’t think that most preachers really believe this to be true, it is easy to use themselves as an example to illustrate their sermon. And more often than not they use themselves as a heroic protagonist in the story… thus the implied status that they are the example of the peak Christian.

    The truth is there are a lot of people attending and even working at churches that believe that lie. (Heresy) Even if the preacher never directly says that that working at a church is close to the peak of the Christian life and being the lead preacher is the peak, most people believe that a pastor must be somehow superior unless they are taught otherwise.

    Next, you see this pattern emerge all the time! A person feels stuck in their spiritual journey. They desire something “greater” and decide that they need to take a leap of faith. Out of an earnest desire to experience the peak of the Christian life, they start pursuing something else. They follow the leadership example they hear year-after-year and walk away from where God has them in order to chase “the pinnacle of the Christian life” by serving at a church. And those people further perpetrate the lie by testifying, “I used to be an accountant, but God called me to become the Pastor of Finance at this church. Even though I am making much less money I am happy to be in the Lord’s service.”

    Financial sacrifice does not equal a ministry calling. But listening to the testimony of a lot of preachers, you’d think it was. As if God was going to cosmically bless a ministry simply because you gave up earning potential?

    The irony continues once you make that leap. Once you get on staff at a church you learn a dirty little secret. The priesthood of all believers is true.

    You want to reach a majority of the community you live in for Jesus Christ? (I believe most churches do.) It simply will not happen through the church staff or its programs. [Even the biggest megachurches only have a tiny reach into their community.] It will only happen when the people in the congregation take hold of what the Bible teaches and takes the Gospel to the places they have access and influence. (Places 99% of pastors have no access or influence.) This mega-change in a community is just as likely to come from a house church of 12 as a megachurch of 20,000. Just like in Acts, God is not interested in the size of the Temple. He is interested in bringing the message of the Jesus to the people where they are. Did Peter, Paul, John, or Timothy grow endearing church organizations? I think not. It was never the goal of the early church to create a massive, efficient organization. The early church built no cathedrals, had no mega-meetings, and lifted nothing but spreading the message as far, deep, and wide as they could in their lifetime. This is a far cry from the little-church-kingdom building we see among clergy today.

    I belive most Christians aspire the peak of the Christian life. It’s a good thing to aspire to! Let me encourage you with this. To reach the peak of the Christian life probably won’t mean an Abrahamic move. You likely won’t be called by God to sell your land and move your sheep, goats, and wife to a foreign place. Nor is it likely that God wants you to stop being an accountant, teacher, nurse, or business person to work in a church. The church needs more Christ-followers in the workplace and fewer business people dressed up as pastors.

    More than likely you can reach the peak of the Christian life right where you are, in the career you are in, with the friendships you have.

    “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25

    If you are seeking something more significant in 2010 I want to challenge you to first do your very best right where you are. Don’t forget to consider that God may have you in the right spot– it may just be you that needs to change.

    Look at your life through the eyes of Jonah and ask yourself… what am I running from? That’s most likely what God is calling you to.

  • Pressing Play on Life

    I woke up thinking about this song. Flashback to the 90s, right?

    In so many ways life has felt like it was on pause since September when I went to LA for convention. I’ve just been consumed by work. It swallowed me.

    And yesterday brought so much release. (Er, if the illustration of “swallowed by work” holds true, I guess that means work vomited or pooped me out? Let’s just not take the illustration there.) When I got home yesterday, I just felt like life could return to normal. I went to Target to Christmas shop. I took a little nap. I took Kristen out to a very nice restaurant and a movie. And this morning… it’s time to grab the leash and take Stoney to the beach.

    Back to life, back to reality…

    I’ll spare you the video of me dancing. But just so you know, I’m dancing.

  • Wisdom

    rodin__the_thinker2He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
    he who cherishes understanding prospers.

    Proverbs 19:8

    Adam’s translation

    Wanna sleep at night? Chase after wisdom with all you’ve got. But don’t just chase wisdom, put it into action.

    For the past couple of months I’ve been living in Proverbs. Sure, I do a lot of tweeting and Facebooking on my iPhone. But I’ve also been giving the Bible app (and my snail Bible) a workout. And almost all of my reading has been in Proverbs. On the trolley. At the office. At the dining room table. At football games. Backstage during sessions at NYWC. On planes. Over coffee. You get the idea.

    Again and again, I find myself blown away by this stuff. This was recorded a few thousand years back and it is just as relevant today as it was back then.

    Here’s a sampling of the verses I’ve bookmarked in the last 3-4 days:

    Proverbs 14:15 “A simple man believes anything,
    but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.    “

    Proverbs 14:23 “All hard work brings a profit,
    but mere talk leads only to poverty.    “

    Proverbs 15:18 “A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
    but a patient man calms a quarrel.”

    Proverbs 15:23 “A man finds joy in giving an apt reply—
    and how good is a timely word!    “

    Proverbs 16:19 “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed
    than to share plunder with the proud.    “

    Proverbs 17:5 “He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
    whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.    ”

    Proverbs 18:6 “A fool’s lips bring him strife,
    and his mouth invites a beating.    “

    Proverbs 18:12 “Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud,
    but humility comes before honor.    “

    Proverbs 18:24 “A man of many companions may come to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.    “

    Proverbs 20:19 “”A gossip betrays a confidence;
    so avoid a man who talks too much.    “

    Proverbs 21:5 “The plans of the diligent lead to profit
    as surely as haste leads to poverty.    “

    Proverbs 21:21 “He who pursues righteousness and love
    finds life, prosperity and honor.    “

    What one thing you do you when you are faced with tough times and hard decisions?

  • The cry of the people

    [Please press play]

    I love this song. And I love how Bono performed it on this tour. He kicked it off and let the audience do the first verse and chorus. An amazing moment in the show.

    One reason I think this song is so powerful, particularly performed live, is that as the audience sing along loudly, each voice represents the cry of every heart there. Collectively, 60,000 people shouting their cry out during this song, each imagining what they are still looking for. Tears, joys, sorrow, pride, and dreams all mashed together and pushed towards the stage.

    I wanted to take this moment of pause to reflect, and ask you to join me in singing this chorus.

    I don’t know what you are looking for today. Each of us cries a slightly different cry. But I thank you for walking with me, reading along, and together we will continue to walk together until we find what we are looking for.

  • Hey youth workers… do you believe?

    Image by hiddedevries via Flickr (creative commons)
    Image by hiddedevries via Flickr (creative commons)

    Here’s the deal.

    Dirty little secret time.

    I think a lot of youth pastors, youth ministers, youth directors don’t believe in the power of adolescents to flip their world on its head.

    Adults think they can do it all. And they backfill that belief with anecdotal information to make themselves feel better.

    They think kids are too busy. They think kids are distracted by education. They think kids care more about sports. They think that you have to be spiritually mature to reach your friends for Christ. They think parents just get in the way. They think lack of resources get in the way. They think ordinary kids can’t do extraordinary stuff.

    When they see inspirational stories of teenagers who have made a huge difference, they don’t think their kids could do that. And they wonder why the adults who “really lead that” aren’t in the spotlight. The aspire to see stuff like that happen in their midst but refuse to believe the style of leadership that leads up to it.

    A lot of youth leaders think its their job to do those things themselves. They think that because they are “the leader” they should be the ones leading the charge. Kids are just the pawns who attract the cameras, so they think. Ultimately, they think they are the ones who are responsible for making something big happen.

    They have it upside down.

    Adults just get in the way with their ego, agendas, and desires to be famous. “Maybe Disney will make a movie of my awesome leadership?”

    Reality check– Adults who “lead” big movements of God are typically on the sidelines. They coach. They inspire quietly. They parent. They mentor. They encourage. Most importantly, they know that the best thing they can do is equip them to lead and get the heck out of the way. And then they stand by and watch. (And then coach some more, mentor some more, parent some more, encourage some more, develop some more.)

    If there is a microphone, they are reluctant to step up to it. But they are quick to put a student in front of it.

    The big fancy adult leadership Christians are infatuated with rarely, if ever, results in movements of teens. (Whether as movements of religion or otherwise.) We chase after it but it’s a myth. You get there only to discover you’ve wasted a lot of time, energy, and investment in the wrong stuff.

    The style of leadership that seems to result in the most world change involves handing the reigns over to kids and believing in them. It’s the most organic, natural, and effective style of leadership. It’s so easy a football coach can do it. Or a high school basketball coach. Or a Little League coach.

    Those leaders do their leading on practice days and give the kids the spotlight on game day. Kids step up because that coach believes in them enough to put their reputation behind them.

    And that’s the problem. Most adult leaders in youth ministry don’t seem to believe in kids.

    What do you believe in…?

  • Three New Mac Apps

    I’ve got three quick apps for the Mac to share. All of them are free , freemium, or stinking cheap. Maybe they will be useful for you, too?

    dropbox-logoIf you are anything like me– your work computer is a bit of a mess. I’ve got all sorts of work files mixed in with personal files, mixed in with stuff that I just used for a blog post or something like that. Keeping it all orderly and seperate is a big problem. But I think I’ve found something to help!

    dropbox-installDropbox basically installs a remote drive on your computer for storing files online instead of on your computer. There are other things, namely MobileMe, Mozy, or even a webdisk installed through your hosting service that can do the same thing. But I’ve found them to be either too expensive for what I need or cumbersome. (i.e. Not friendly to the Mac) But I like Dropbox because of its apps. Once you install the free software on your computer (mac or pc) and link your account it basically just runs in the background as a folder on your computer. When I put a file in the folder, it copies it up to the secure server, and copies it down to other linked computers. This all happens automatically, no tech skills required. If you are sharing an internet connection with people you can even throttle it. Once set up, I can access the file on another linked computer (like my home computer) or even my iPhone. I can even share files through the app… I just select the file or folder I want to share and it emails the person with a link. It’s a pretty rad little tool. Up to 2 GB of storage is free. (Plently for me.)

    tinygrab-logoI need to show people screenshots all the time. Whether I’m updating someone on the progress of a design, or putting together a tutorial, or if I just want to show someone something from the internet… I’m doing screenshots all day long. Command-shift-3 has long been both my friend and enemy. I could screen grab easily, but I’d always have to open up PhotoShop to clip out stuff I didn’t want/need the recipient seeing.

    I picked up TinyGrab as part of a recent MacHeist. This little beauty basically allows me to screen grab only what I want, and in the same action automatically uploads it to a server and gives me the link. By doing a command-shift-4 shortcut I get a little cursor that allows me to highlight what I want to grab. When I’m done it snaps the picture and uploads it. An instant time saver!

    sofortbild-logoYou may have noticed my recent fascination with time lapse movies. I think it’s a profound and fun way to capture the worlds movements. (more coming!) I’ve wanted to get software to do this with my Nikon for quite a while. But it was tough to justify spending $180 for Nikon Camera Control 2. It’s not like I had a real reason to do this… I just thought it’d be fun!

    sofortbild-screengrabThat’s why I was so stoked to discover Sofortbild. It’s essentially the same thing– and it’s free! (Sorry Canon freaks, this is just for Nikon right now. And it’s just for Mac.) Basically, I can set up my camera where I want to shoot, connect the USB cable, and then completely control the camera with my computer. When the pictures are taken (either remotely or manually on the camera) the images are transfered directly to a folder on my computer. You can shoot directly with your computer, manually, do a timed picture (like for a family portrait) or set-up intervals (time lapse). It’ll even import right to iPhoto! Now if it had an iPhone app where I could start or stop interval shooting remotely, that’d be crazy cool.

    So, there you go. Three quick new apps for you Mac users to try out. They are all free, freemium, or cost just a couple bucks.

    What are some new apps for the Mac you are discovering?

  • That Slimy Boy

    Photo by Jon Ovington via Flickr (creative commons)
    Photo by Jon Ovington via Flickr (creative commons)

    While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7

    The incarnation of Jesus is messy business. Like, the physical act of it. Not pretty. As we approach the sterile corporate approved holiday of Christmas that we celebrate today, maybe we need a step back to remember just how messy Jesus coming to earth really was?

    I don’t know if you’ve witnessed child-birth personally. But I’ve seen it and it isn’t beautiful. It’s popular to say child-birth is beautiful… it isn’t! I don’t know where this notion comes from. It’s interesting, it’s miraculous, I’d even call it cool– but it is not beautiful in the sense of a Monet painting or the Christmas display at Marshall Fields or the Cubs winning the pennant. Child birth is anything but beautiful.

    And modern birth is a lot safer than it was back 2000 years ago. Even in today’s modern hospitals child-birth is still bloody, agonizing, stinky, and otherwise unpleasant. I can’t imagine child-birth outside of a hospital. Maybe you can. But to me it just seems really scary.

    Now put yourself in the shoes of a teenage girl. Away from home, pregnant for the first time… and your water breaks. Wonderful. Labor and delivery of Jesus was not in a hospital, hooked up to monitors, comforted by nurses and a lovely drug man offering pain management. Jesus was born outside of the inn. The text just highlights that there was no room for them in the inn, so Jesus could have been born in a barn or a cave or just outside.

    And who can blame the innkeeper? If you showed up at my house with a woman in labor– I’m not about to give you a room in my house so your wife can drop all that stink and nastiness in one of my rooms for a couple bucks. Would you let them into your place of business? I think not.

    We think of Jesus’ physical arrival in such clean modern medicine ways, don’t we? Let’s not lose sight of the blood and agony of Mary so quickly.

    • A young woman in a lot of pain.
    • Since she was traveling for the census, her mom probably wasn’t with her.
    • It’s reasonable to think that Joseph and Mary traveled with his family. So maybe Jesus was born within the presence of his grandmother or aunts? The text doesn’t say. Either alone completely– or this virgin was bearing her goods to her husbands relatives. Talk about awkward.
    • She sits down or squats to deliver a baby. No birthing suite. In the ancient world they let gravity do much of the work.
    • If modern child-birth feels touch and go, imagine child-birth in the ancient world? Hell on earth. It’s not like they had the option of a C-section.
    • As Jesus’ little head pops out we have no idea how scary that moment was for everyone there. But I will guarantee you no one pulled out a little suction thing and sucked the fluid out of Jesus’ nose.
    • No one felt safe enough to ask Joseph, “Would you like to help deliver your child?” I will guarantee you that. Joseph probably wasn’t even allowed to be present.
    • After delivery, no nurses took the baby to wash him and wrap him up to lay him warmly on mom’s belly while a doctor uses sterile instruments to clean up. How did they get that cottage cheese stuff off of him?
    • If Jesus was born in a stable or barn, let’s hope there wasnt’ a dog. They like to lick stuff like that. My dogs runs around and licks when the kids spill cereal. Yeah, let’s hope there wasn’t a dog present. There probably was.
    • No big moment when the doctor asks Joseph if he’d like to cut the cord.
    • The “it’s a boy” moment was just a confirmation of what the angels already told Mary & Joseph.
    • No one pulled a sterilized Jesus aside to check his Apgar score.
    • No balloon bouquet or digital pictures of the infant fly around the world so that family can instantly know the baby is healthy and mom is OK. Word probably traveled fast back to Mary’s family… but a couple of days at the very least.

    The act of Jesus coming to earth– slimy at best. Death defying to say the least.

    And yet, on December 25th, the entire world pauses to remember this moment. Messy, bloody, gross, and scary. The act of remembering, symbolized by the exchange of gifts and family celebrations, is celebrated in almost every country in the world! Even people who are diametrically opposed to Jesus celebrate Christmas.

    Black Friday. Mall parking lots. Santa Claus. Candy canes. Shopping lists. Ham. Credit card debt. Somehow God is in all of that, too? Something like 30% of retailers cash flow comes in the 30 days surrounding Christmas.

    That’s a lot of cash spent remembering a baby people don’t believe is the Savior of the world.

    The act of incarnation. God becoming flesh. 2,000 years later it is still sending shock waves, isn’t it?

    Messy, slimy boy.