• San Diego State Aztecs Go to 7-2

    Who would have thought that the college team in town would be the best team to play at Qualcomm Stadium this year? I know I didn’t.

    I took Megan and Paul to the Aztecs game last night and had a blast. We didn’t get home until about 11:00 PM, but I think we’re slowly making Aztec fans out of them.

    • They begged me to go early for the game so they could play in Aztec Village. (Bounce house, live music, food we didn’t buy, etc.)
    • When I told them it’d be easier to just drive to the game… Megan put her foot down. “No daddy, the best way to go to the game is on the trolley. It’s faster and kids ride free.“
    • The stadium is starting to fill with actual fans. Having 40,000+ for the fireworks show is one thing, but to attract 34,000+ for a game against a lesser opponent– we’re now getting somewhere.
    • The football team now controls their destiny. If they win out they will win the Mountain West. But if they beat either TCU or Utah they will likely finish 9-3 and enjoy some respect going into the off-season. But 8-4 is now very likely. (I can’t see them beating either TCU or Utah.)
    • I’m totally bummed that I’ll miss the Utah game. (I’ll be at NYWC in Nashville)
    • I’ve officially decided to increase my season ticket order for 2011. Two tickets per game is now not enough. Anyone want to join me?
    • Speaking of 2011. Rumor has it that we’re adding Boise State and dropping BYU. Toss in a game at Michigan with the fact that they are recruiting local talent like crazy (100+ local high school players on the field to watch warm-ups) and I think Coach Hoke is starting to capture lightning in a bottle.
    • We all got a kick out of the streakers. The first one made it about 100 yards. The second one was a kid, he didn’t make it very far.

  • Daddy Days

    This weekend, Kristen is off to Chicago with Erin for a girls getaway. Since I’m traveling a little over 1/5th of 2010, she certainly earned some time to herself.

    Kristen’s definition of a girls weekend is Thursday afternoon to midnight on Monday. I like her style.

    As we compared notes leading up to this trip we determined that this is the first time Kristen has ever done anything like this. It’s been fun to hear her talk about the trip for the last month or so, all the places she wants to visit, and of course– all of our favorite food places she wants to enjoy. (We lived there for 8 years. She is busy satisfying cravings for Johnnie’s Italian beef and Oatmeal shakes from Irazu. I’m totally jealous.)

    The flipside is that I’ve earned some solo time with Megan and Paul!

    So far, so good.

    I’m not going to lie. I love that I get this time to be with them like this.

    Last night, over a healthy dinner of tacos, rice and beans, and chips… we talked about all sorts of drama at school. Apparently, Foursquare provides endless playground theater that I was previously unaware of. There are some kids who like to steal the ball and throw it over the fence. Yeah, straight thugging.

    We don’t have overly adventurous plans for the rest of the weekend. Which leaves plenty of time to do what they love to do most. Relax and be kids.

    • Thursday night I was impressed that I could make a healthy, well-balanced meal that they actually ate. Roasted fish, roasted apples, and whole grain rice.
    • Friday was a marathon of driving as we went from school to the San Diego State ticket office back to the YS offices to the house then to dinner at Rubios. I felt like a soccer mom with all of that carting!
    • Today we plan on going to the nursery so we can start seedlings of our winter garden, doing some weeding and cutting of grass, relaxing in the afternoon, then going to the Aztec game a bit early to enjoy some of the tailgate festivities before SDSU plays Colorado State tonight.
    • Sunday, I hope to keep it simple. Church in the morning and then finish painting the dining room while the NFL games are on. At some point, Paul needs to do his homework.
    • Monday, I’m just happy to get them to school. We will spend some time in the early evening making sure the kids rooms are clean(ish) before mom gets home.

    Goals:

    1. Quantity time.
    2. No trips to the ER.
    3. Keep the house clean.
    4. Convince the animals to sleep in tomorrow for daylight savings time.
    5. Create some memories.

  • Two quick axioms about money

    Photo by Alan Cleaver via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    1. If the average American spends 3-5% more than they make in a month– making more money is not the solution to financial woes. If you made $1 million and spent $1.05 million a year, you’d be the same fool with money you are today.
    2. If the financial institutions of our country were as diligent about collecting information from customers as the average retail clerk, we wouldn’t have had as many bad loans in the housing market. “Do you want to open a credit card and save 5%? Would you like to make a donation? Would you like to buy the extra insurance?“

    Got any observations about money lately? Share them in the comments.

  • Cool book for small groups

    Earlier this year I posted a review of Tony’s Jones book about the Didache.

    I’m still thinking about this book and its effects on community life.

    So take this as a random recommendation. If you’re in an adult small group and you are looking for a book to get your group talking about what it means to be an authentic community– The Teaching of the Twelve is what you are looking for. It’s only about 120 pages, I read it in two sittings.

    I know, I know, I know. A lot of people see or hear the name “Tony Jones” and that makes them think of all the controversy. Read my review from February as I hit that head on.

    After you read the book you may need to re-think what you think about Mr. Jones. I know I did.

  • I’m a walking contradiction

    My life in a Bible verse:

    “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.” Romans 7:15-17

    I’m a walking contradiction.

    Outside of the sin world– and boy am I a sinner– this verse speaks into a lot of other areas of my life.

    And in the gray areas of life, things where it isn’t abundantly clear it’s a sin issue, I’m literally a contradiction.

    • I love my kids, but boy do I love to spend time alone with Kristen.
    • I love spending time with the students in the youth group, but every Tuesday night I struggle to make time to go to youth group and hang with them.
    • I love my church, but I’m quick to wonder if we’re going to the right church.
    • I love the people of Haiti, but to live there? Not in this lifetime.
    • I hate big box stores, but when I need something in a pinch you’ll find me at Target, Home Depot, or Costco.
    • I hate disappointing my children, but I also know that if I give them whatever they want they won’t become the people we hope they become.
    • I hate discrimination against people, but if I’m honest I do it without thinking all the time.
    • I hate people who talk on their phones while driving… even with a headset on, but I do it all the time.

    This is the problem I face every day. I want to be a person of integrity. I want to be a person who makes the right choice for the right reason every time. But life is full of so many contradictions that I’m often left feeling like a hypocrite. I intend to do everything based on my convictions… but I fail a whole lot.

    I do the things I don’t want to do and I can’t stop myself. I even do the things I don’t want to do without thinking about if I want to do them or not. People say I’m a good person and I’m quick to say thank you. But when someone points out my faults I’m just as quick to try to justify myself.

    What’s the moral of the story?

    I’m no better than anyone else. I’m just as much a mess as the guy next door. I need to remind myself constantly that the Gospel is just as much for me as it is for my neighbor.

    To take a stance that I’m somehow better or less a sinner only validates a position that I’m a hypocrite.

    “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

    Through Christ, I’m a walking contradiction, forgiven purely by grace.

  • How to Be Alone

    This was beautiful. I’m thankful I found it.

    I’m an introvert caught in an extroverts life. Fortunately, I’m married to a fellow introvert. And we dream about simple things… like taking vacations places where we can walk in silence and be alone. Where we are free to explore and discover. And where we take the time to just be.

    I find the Spirit’s voice loudest and my mind most alert when I make the time to be alone.

    Weird, isn’t it?

  • Table Project moves to private beta


    I’m pretty excited to see my friends at the Table Project have gone to the next step in their application development process, private beta.

    What the heck is the Table Project? It’s hard for me to describe, exactly. At first blush it’s easy to call it a social networking site for churches. But  it’s more than that. To label it as that would cheapen it.  I’d called it a social networking utility for churches.

    Most churches have an assortment of inter-connected people. There are people in the pews, an email list, a Facebook page, a website, a youth group list, a group of knitters who meet at the church but no one is sure why, and some sort of database for tracking member information.

    These are all separate things that the Table tries to bring together to make life a bit simpler for churches.

    Since the Table is a ministry launched from YouthWorks, I’ve gotten a chance to spend time with the developers… poke holes in their theories… and share Coke’s over head-spinning “what if” sessions.

    Over the months, in my skepticism, we’ve tossed quips back and forth. I’ve said, “Are you guys just another Jesus-flavored Facebook rip-off?” And they’ll fire back, “What’s your solution? Create a forum and charge people to join?”

    Zoinks. Touche`.

    With this big milestone, I want to point out a few things about the Table and invite you to check it out.

    1. They have a stellar philosophy… they call it a manifesto. (The Unibomber would be proud)
    2. This service is free and open to others building apps on top of it to make it better. (Free and open… two of my favorite words.)
    3. They are a non-profit ministry. Some have said that the ownership thing doesn’t really matter. I think it does, and something tells me churches will think so too. (If money didn’t matter, how come all those investors invested?)
    4. They’ve got a great video explaining what the Table is all about.
    5. This phase of private beta is open to 50 churches, they have a fun little contest going if you’d like to join now.

    My disclaimer: Youth Specialties and The Table Project are both parts of the same organization. But no one has asked me to blog about their project. I’m just doing it because they are friends of mine and I’m excited about it going to the beta test.

  • Under the hood of YSpalooza.com

    For the last month I’ve had my head under the hood on a brand new event for YS called, “YSpalooza.”

    Over at the YS blog I’ll talk a little more about what the event is and why we are excited about it.

    But here I wanted to take readers behind the scenes to show off some of the nerd-factor I added to the website.

    • The site is fully HTML5 compliant. (No flash or plug-ins required to view the site, it looks great on mobile phones. All the hover overs and what-not works the same on a computer which it does on a phone.)
    • Since Internet Explorer isn’t HTML5 compliant, we had to learn a lot of hacks and workarounds for the world’s least functional browser.
    • This is our first big event to use Eventbrite for registration. I’ve used Eventbrite for a number of things and I totally love it. I especially love how it integrates with Mailchimp.
    • This is the first site in FOREVER (like maybe ever) that I build just in HTML/CSS without a content management system. It was like learning to ride a bike all over again. I love the customization level I was able to achieve by going this direction… but when it comes to managing content, there’s a reason you go with a CMS!
    • Building a site in this way has an aesthetic to it all it’s own. It’s a slow and methodical method. But I have a much more intimate connection to the site than I typically would. I have spent a ton of time on each of the 50+ pages.
    • Dave Luke was a freaking wizard. I’m not very good with coding websites and fortunately for me… Dave is formally trained. I broke stuff and he fixed it.
    • With no SQL databases or feeds or anything like that, the site loads super fast. Really, what you see is what you get.

    This was a fun project to work on. For one thing, it’s a brand new event. So we were creating a lot. Typically, I manage a group of freelancers who all do 1-2 pieces of the pie. For this one it was a blast to do it in-house, with coding help from Dave.

  • TSA Resistance

    Do you really want to be seen like this?

    Sometimes I embarrass my wife. And on our July trip to Haiti I offered her one very embarrassing moment when I refused to go through the new backscatter TSA screening machines while opting for a manual pat down instead.

    The TSA made the process of opting-out a hassle. While there were plenty of officers on duty they managed to make me wait for about 10 minutes while they played their keystone cop routine.

    Call me a jerk all you want. But I don’t like that the government wants to take pictures of its people naked for the sake of “security.” The media has shown over and over again that all of this extra screening doesn’t stop people from smuggling weapons aboard a plane. It’s really just for passengers to feel safe while traveling and little else.

    Back at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. I had completely dug in on my decision.

    Kristen quickly went through the line, got her nudey pic taken, put her shoes back on, and glared at me in the way only a wife could.

    Finally, an older TSA agent had me go through the metal detector and directed me to the screening area. He explained that he was going to pat me down and that he intended to touch my private parts with the back of his hands.

    Obviously, I’m not dangerous and they didn’t find anything.

    As the officer took his gloves off he looked in my eyes and asked asked me why I had opted out. My reply, “When it comes to governmental invasions of privacy, I prefer personal over digital.”

    That moment revealed the heart of the matter. If the TSA agents had to look hundreds of thousands of passengers in the eyes and manually search them– we’d actually be safer.

    Dehumanizing the screening procedure is not how you make airline flight safer. Humanizing it is.

    I’m not alone in this desire to resist the new scanners

    The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg shares his desire to resist as well as documents the new procedure to feel up your thigh until they feel “resistance.” (Obviously, women lack resistance.)

    “But what about people who hide weapons in their cavities? I asked. I actually said “vagina” again, just to see him blush. “We’re just not going there,” he reiterated.

    I asked him if he was looking forward to conducting the full-on pat-downs. “Nobody’s going to do it,” he said, “once they find out that we’re going to do.”

    In other words, people, when faced with a choice, will inevitably choose the $%*#-Measuring Device over molestation? “That’s what we’re hoping for. We’re trying to get everyone into the machine.” He called over a colleague. “Tell him what you call the back-scatter,” he said. “The $%*#-Measuring Device,” I said. “That’s the truth,” the other officer responded.

    The pat-down at BWI was fairly vigorous, by the usual tame standards of the TSA, but it was nothing like the one I received the next day at T.F. Green in Providence. Apparently, I was the very first passenger to ask to opt-out of back-scatter imaging. Several TSA officers heard me choose the pat-down, and they reacted in a way meant to make the ordinary passenger feel very badly about his decision. One officer said to a colleague who was obviously going to be assigned to me, “Get new gloves, man, you’re going to need them where you’re going.”

    Here is another story of a pilot who refused the pat down and was suspended from his job. Ridiculous.

    So– it’s come to this. If you want to fly you are left with an awful choice. Do you want someone looking at you naked or someone touching your genitals? We aren’t talking about a doctor here… we’re talking about a TSA agent. A person hired by the Department of Homeland Security for just above minimum wage with no qualifications. Seriously, TSA screeners either have to have a high school diploma or GED or one years experience working security.

    Call me crazy. But I think if enough people opt-out we can force the issue and make the government remove these devices.

    Call me a conspiracy theorist: But I would like to know how much American Science & Engineering, Inc gave to their members of congress and senators to lobby for selling these machines. (They are $170,000 each!)