• Freedom to Doubt

    There is great integrity in a leader who fosters doubt in his congregation

    Humans possess curious natural instincts. Of all of creation, no creature is more curious than humans.

    God created us with this natural instinct. It’s as evident in the Garden as it is in your heart today.

    Great faith is produced within an ecosystem where question is a free fulcrum between doubting God and having great trust.

    Doubt is not the enemy of faith.

    Indoctrination is.

    Doubt is normal, it lives in a persons heart from his first breath to his last.

    Fear of questioning inhibits faith development.

    Doubt is not the enemy of the church.

    Fear of doubt is.

    Great faith does not come through eliminating doubt.

    Great faith comes when a person has measured doubt’s full weight and chosen faith.

    Consider Thomas

    Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

    A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

    Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

    Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

    John 20:24-29

    What’s the point?

    Often times, the biggest doubter among you– given the freedom to doubt, will develop the deepest faith.

    We are not called to eliminate doubt.

    How did Jesus deal with Thomas’ doubt? He chastised him a little, but allowed Thomas to express his doubt. Jesus didn’t look down on Thomas because of his doubt. Instead he knew that by allowing Thomas the freedom to doubt, a faith weighed and tested, would generate great faith.

    And as a result Jesus knew Thomas would become a rock solid believer and took the Gospel to India.

  • Late Fall Planting

    The eggplant harvest continues

    Admittedly, we’ve fizzled in both our zeal for gardening and our zeal for blogging about our garden in the last couple of months. Life got incredibly busy and we kind of went on cruise control in the backyard.

    Truth be told there hasn’t been a lot to report. As early Fall rains came, the weeds grew fast and furious. Likewise, the bugs came and ate our bok choy and broccoli.

    Today, I spent a couple hours weeding and planting two types of lettuce. One, a red, is called “Incredible.” Who wouldn’t want to eat incredible lettuce? The other, a green, is just your standard bread and butter meat-n-potatoes lettuce.

    There are three surprises in the garden right now.

    1. Apparently jalapeño plants don’t die in San Diego. We have two very strong plants that have continued to grow and get stronger after their initial harvest. I was surprised to discover a plethora of little white flowers yesterday. The first batch was super hot… it’ll be interesting to see how batch two produces.
    2. The same is true with our eggplant. As I picked five good-sized, deep purple eggplants today I saw several more blossoms. I’m looking forward to more eggplant all winter long.
    3. The last surprise is that our cucumber plants have regenerated! I was just about to pull these baby plants out of the ground as weeds when I recognized the long tentacles and a distinctive yellow flower. I’ll give them a few weeks to see if they will mature.

  • 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.