• Comedy and the Human Condition

    Last night I was watching a PBS piece of the history of comedy on television in our country. While the documentary itself wasn’t all that interesting or funny there was a cultural parallel there which caught my attention.

    In times of peace, comedy is introspective and makes fun of the human condition. In times of war, comedy is external to the self and makes fun of politicians and the enemy.

    This explains why the video I posted yesterday isn’t as funny today for its content as it was 15 years ago. The piece pointed to Will Rogers as being hilarious in the 1920s-1930s [Seen above mocking FDR to his face!] but immediately falling out of “funny” when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Likewise, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would seem out-of-place if we were not at war in the Middle East.

    But I wonder how much that the condition or war and peace effects how we think of ourselves? I wonder if times of peace make us introspective while times of war make us look at external things to ourselves?

    As the culture gets more individualistic I wonder if we can take it a step further. (This is where it gets purely hypothetical) I wonder if what’s funny to you or I is dependent upon war or peace in our own lives?

    If I’m depressed, is my sense of humor darker?

    If I’m generally happy, is my sense of humor jovial?

    I’m probably reading way too much into this. But it does have me thinking about what is funny to whom and when.

  • A 15-Question Spiritual Growth Plan for 2009

    Tony Myles, a retired youth pastor senior pastor in Ohio, challenged his congregation and blog readers with this list. It has challenged me this week, I thought it was worth sharing for those who hadn’t seen it:

    -How will you grow in your love for God in a way that encompasses all of who you are and all of who He is?

    – How will you grow in your love for the people you see everyday and care about their spiritual condition, whatever it is?

    – In what area of your life do you most need to grow to be more like Jesus?

    – Read Galatians 5 – which fruit of the Spirit needs most development in your life?

    – What will you read in the Bible this year?

    – What sections of Scripture will you memorize so you can “own” them?

    – How will you deepen your prayers this year?

    – What music will help you worship more?

    – What books will you read and/or reread?

    – With whom do you need to build or rebuild a relationship/friendship with this year?

    – How will you maximize the teachings of this church – in person and online?

    – What special events should you be a participant in? What values and activities do you need to become a point person in?

    – What new practices of connecting with God do you need to develop?

    – What resources do you have that you need to release back to the God who gave them to you?

    – Who will hold you accountable?

    Don’t slip into spiritual apathy… take this on with me and some other brave men and women, and let’s see if this world doesn’t respond to some real-deal change from God to us to them.

    HT to Tony

  • Good Ole’ Communist Jokes

    You have to admit, Ronald Reagan was great at telling a joke.

  • Beyond the Zoo Giveaway

    The launch of Beyond the Zoo has gone great so far. We’re adding new reviews weekly and we’re even hoping to add a couple contributors to capture some various genres of stuff in and around San Diego.

    At the same time we thought it’d be fun to kick things up a notch and have a fun contest at the same time. This Sunday we’re giving away $50 in PayPal cash to one fortunate person chosen at random. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post to enter. Anyone with a valid email address and a desire for $50 can enter.

  • Why do we cut heroes from the budget?

    In light of budget cuts all over, I’ve been thinking about those most effected.

    In my world, youth ministry and childrens ministry seem to be the first things cut at a church. If not first, than high on the list.

    Maybe in your world, it’s teacher’s.

    Or firemen/EMT’s.

    Or frontline customer service people.

    This isn’t the first recession of my working life. So I’ve seen the ebbs and flows of how it seems to work. In low-times those running things cut symbolically from their own perks and then hammer the little guy with layoffs. Even worse, sometimes they keep the little guy but make their work life horrible buy cutting the funding they need to be effective.

    So, now we see youth workers and teachers taking double paycuts. They won’t get a raise this year… didn’t get one last year… even worse, they didn’t get a raise last year and will take a paycut this year. On top of that they will start paying for a lot of ministry stuff out of their pockets. (Hence the double paycut) The same is true of teachers and many other frontline heroes.

    So, my question is simple. Why do heroes get paycuts while the big bosses don’t?

    Why are teachers seen as replaceable but administrators not? Why are kid’s ministry workers seen as less important than preaching to adults? How come no board says to their senior pastor, “We don’t really need a sermon every week. How about once a month and we’ll just get DVD’s for the other 3 Sunday’s?”

    Why are firefighters worried about getting laid off? Are we supposed to believe that city administrators will now answer 911 calls and rush into burning buildings?

    I think not. I think our culture grossly undervalues everyday heroes. I hope to one day live in a world where the heroes of society are richly rewarded.

  • Episode 023 Backstory

    I have to tell you, I’m especially excited about this week’s podcast. Every episode is fun to work on… but this one uses two segment that were especially meaningful to me. The tip is from Kerry Loescher. She’s not someone I had ever met before and since she isn’t a published author… I hadn’t heard of her. She is a youth ministry prof at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Before the shoot she had a great chat. Even after the shoot, the chatting continued and I was really happy to see her around the convention center the rest of the weekend. I love how she leads you into this simple tip with a compelling story. Great communication! A few weeks later I shot this piece with Danielle Strickland. (She’s the social justice director for Salvation Army Australia) I had heard some really cool stuff about her so I had a feeling the piece would turn out good. What I wasn’t prepared for was how easy she was to talk to. In her eyes I wasn’t just some dude with a camera to bother her on a very busy day. (This was about 2 hours before her general session talk) She had carefully arranged the meet-up time, then apologized for being ready early, (which NEVER happens) and was extraordinarily kind through the whole thing. Then, when she started to teach I found myself captivated. By this time, I had shot dozens of these segments at the conventions. But for whatever reason I was really into it. And she really challenged my heart with this devo. When the shoot was done I felt a little awkward… like stunned to silence as contemplated it and let it soak in. I looked over at Cathy (my co-worker who was with me) and she had the same look I did. It was quite a moment when I realized that I wasn’t just shooting a devo for a podcast. My heart had been ministered to as well.

    The only other side note on this episode worth sharing has to do with the timing of my segments. In order to get the show to appear on YouTube, we need to get it as close to 10 minutes as possible. We knew Danielle’s segment was longish for what we normally do… which was fine because Kerry’s was shortish. All that to say… Ian and I were rushing to fit my intro, segway, and outro in as fast as possible. Never fear, we have something fun planned for next week’s show!

  • When your leader won’t leave…

    The impeachment of Rod Blagojevich is an interesting case for church leaders. What do you do if a former leader refuses to leave?

    In Rod’s case, the facts of the matter don’t matter nearly as much as the soundbyte. Whether or not he was really selling Obama’s senate spot is unclear. But what was clear was the vote to impeach him. (And probably remove him from office.)

    I’ve been around church life enough to know that most people fired from a church job feel the way Rod does. The politics shifted on them and the next thing they know they’re in a witch hunt. In all too many cases, the witch hunt is over by the time they find out they are on trial. From the 50 member country church to the 16,000 member megachurch the reality is that all of the politics in church is conducted the same way. Closed door meetings. Coffee shop decisions. Fairness and justice take a backseat to pragmatism.

    Watching Rod on Good Morning America was like talking to a freshly fired youth pastor. He didn’t think the procedure was fair. He didn’t have the opportunity to call witnesses and tell them his side of the story. You can see him, wounded and fighting for life, in complete denial that there was no chance getting it all back.

    Watching Rod on Good Morning America reminds me of the advice I’ve given to friends in his situation. The best thing you can do is quietly leave. Fighting is just embarassing for everyone and rubs salt in the wounds daily. Working at a church is a political position. Keep the powers that be happy and it’s a great life. Everything you do is appreciate and your family is adored. Get on the wrong side of the politics and your life will become a living hell.

    It’s doubtful that Rod will get his fair trial. But I do know that, in church life, the best thing you can do is just move on with your life. Sticking around and trying to fight it out is bad for you and bad for a church. Fighting the politics in a church when the tide has turned against you will merely grind your faith on the hard rocks of others sin.

    I just hope Rod figures that out soon enough.

  • Making Detroit Cool

    I think this was a great move by GM. Bring Conan O’Brien into the Detroit Auto Show and letting him have some fun. Self-deprecation is actually a great way to start changing the mood towards the former Big 3.

  • Pet Resue Works

    This is Stoney. In my mind he is the poster dog for adopting from a rescue shelter.

    Stoney joined our family in October 2005, just a month after we bought our house in Romeo. We had a half acre of grass that was fully fenced and it was screaming for a dog to patrol it.

    After looking around a little, we decided to check out K-9 Stray Rescue League in Oxford, Michigan. We liked the idea of adopting a dog who had gotten lost and finding him a new home. We especially liked that this shelter rescued dogs from other shelters who were going to put unwanted dogs to sleep.

    I can’t lie. We went to look for a dog hoping for a beagle. I’ve always wanted one… heck, I still do! But after walking around the shelter we knew we had to adopt one of the larger breeds they had in abundance. We had actually picked out a female yellow lab first. But the attendant looked at our family and said, “There’s a really nice male you need to check out. But he’s down at PetCo in Auburn Hills right now.” As soon as we met him Kristen gave me “the look” and our hearts just melted for him.

    All the way home we debated names. The kids wanted something like “yellow” or some other descriptive name you’d expect from a 4 and 2 year old. But I managed to convince them that we should name our dog after a favorite park, Stoney Creek. His name has since morphed to it’s permanent name… Stoney J. Baloney McLane.

    Today, I took Stoney to the dog beach down in Ocean Beach. Stoney is still transitioning into a west coast style of January. A year ago I’d throw his ball in the backyard and watch him lop through foot deep snow to find the spot where the ball disappeared into the snow. As he chased the tennis ball, other dogs, and did all sorts of dog business it suddenly dawned on me. He is both a great dog and a very fortunate beast.

    I kind of wonder what he thinks of sometimes. A crazy family who first gave him a great yard than one day told him “car ride” and drove him 2500 miles west and south? Does he wonder if he’ll get to go back there and dig up all his old bones? Or does he just try to forget about yesterday and focus on the present?

    Does he think about the family who first bought him? Does he think about the day he ran away from them and got lost? Does he think about his time at the Humane Society in rural Michigan? Does he wonder about the other 100 dogs from the K-9 shelter?

    Stoney is a great dog. He is disciplined and gentle. His worst habit is waking us up at dawn to let us know it’s time for his daily meal. He rarely barks, and when he does we trust it is for a good reason. He even likes the family cat, Lovely.

    I don’t know if you’re in the market for a family beast. But if you are, let me remind you that there are shelters everywhere filled to the gills with pets of all shapes and sizes. Puppies and kittens are great. But slightly “used” animals are still fantastic.

  • Saturday Tunes

    Just another lazy Saturday in McLane land. Other than taking Stoney over to dog beach to let him sniff butts and chase tennis balls, I don’t have plans for today. It’s kind of cold and wet here, so it’s not as if we’ll want to do much else.

    Just like a typical Saturday morning, I’m getting it started with some Java (last of the Starbucks Christmas blend) and some headphone time. Here are the next 10 songs playing on my ipod. As always, totally random and my rating is included.

    #1 Life is a Highway by Rascall Flatts ****

    #2 Tell Me Something Good by P!nk ****

    #3 God of this City by Chris Tomlin ****

    #4 Head Over Heel by Sandra McCracken ***

    #5 Georgia on my Mind by Ray Charles ****

    #6 Hard Sun by Eddie Vedder *****

    #7 Insane in the Brain by Cypress Hill *****

    #8 Here With You by 3 Doors Down *****

    #9 Obsession by Starfield ****

    #10 Seven Bridges Road by The Eagles ****

    Bonus! My buddy and worship leader at Stoneridge in Romeo, Jimmy Savage, has a song on iTunes. It’s a single off his upcoming album. I really like it, its called “Tonight.”