• checking in

    Just a quick note between things here. The LF Mission trip is going great. We’re working hard (or hardly) at Von Humboldt elementary school in Humboldt Park. This is much different and harder than last year but the students are doing a great job.

    Everyone is happy, but many of us are fighting colds and something else. And yes, at one point I thought I broke my thumb playing dodgeball but now I am pretty sure it is just a nasty bone bruise. But who needs a thumb anyway?

    As far as the group goes, it’s a great group. They are very different from previous groups but they seem to be challenged nonetheless. (Wow, they have "mature" converation on a moments notice though. A lot more sex talk than I’ve ever heard out of this group. Oh well…)

    More later.

  • Taxes Done

    With just a few hours left before the deadline (OK, so the deadline is midnight Monday, but I’ll be on a mission trip.) I finally have my federal and state returns done and ready to go in the mail. Gosh, what took me so long?

  • My 3Story Life

    It’s been a few weeks since we finished the first round of 3 Story Life training here at Romeo. In the past 3 weeks or so I’ve really started to see some fruit of putting what I was teaching into action.

    Fruit? OK, so that’s Christianese for some of the stuff that I’ve been trained to do is working. Whether it’s neighbors, random people in Florida, or guys on the construction site here at Romeo… lots of people have started to share themselves with me in ways I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

    No real deap thought associated with that… it’s just cool.

  • Light Force Still Rocks

    Lightforcelogo1I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about Light Force lately, but it is still rockin. Last night I taught from Luke 19:28-48. It’s pretty sweet that the Triumphal Entry in Luke lined up with Easter week. I like that a lot. The take aways last night, in case someone missed it looked like this.

    If you want to handle the turning points in your story like Jesus…

    1. Don’t have fear
    2. Put aside your pride
    3. Keep on working

    Based on the amount of feedback I got last night, this was a talk that a lot of people needed to hear.

  • Megan is registered

    KLast night Kristen and I went over to Amanda Moore Elementary and registered Megan for kindergarten. It’s a very nice school and we were extremely pleased to meet her teacher. We are really hopeful that the teacher we met will actually be her teacher in the fall. She seemed like a great lady.

    They also made a big push for us to sign up for kinder plus. This is Romeo’s all-day kindergarten. Essentially, you pay for 5 days of childcare after the school day. I just have this observation from the session I sat in on… tuition based all day kindergarten went over like a ton of bricks. When the principal asked if anyone would like to talk about it, only 2-3 of the 50 people in the room were interested. Oops!

    Another observation from last nights session. I could not believe how rude and disrespectful some of the parents were to their teachers and the principal. No wonder they are always on their guard… I would be too with parents snarled lips like that. Weird.

    We just hope to be able to bless Megan’s teachers in any way we can.

  • Good times for YMX

    Ymx_alt_nostroke_1
    I don’t know how to explain this, but the last several days have been very encouraging for YMX. We’ve gotten all of our LLC paperwork and Federal ID stuff taken care of. I’m going to the bank tommorow to finish up the account set-up. So that is all very cool.

    But we’ve also gotten a lot done with our advertising. As of right now, 80% of our years advertising has been booked. How cool is that?

  • Great Article on the Gospel of Judas

    I ran across this article about the Gospel of Judas over at Christianity Today. It’s worth reading. Here’s a portion.

    Well, that sure would change things. If it were true. This "news" isn’t
    what makes the Gospel of Judas significant. Rather, thanks to this
    text, we can further confirm what we already know about Gnostics—those
    pesky heretics condemned by early-church leaders like Irenaeus.
    Don’t get confused by mentions of Jesus and Judas. This is no Christian
    text. The Gospel of Judas did not circulate until about 150 years after
    Jesus died. Let’s put it this way: This new text tells us nothing more
    about Jesus’ relationship with Judas than does     Jesus Christ Superstar.

    Read the rest

  • Tails

    Just a random thought here this morning. As I’m eating my Cheerios I’m having one of those "deep thoughts" moments. Do you ever wish humans had tails?

    With our dog Stoney and our cat Violet, we can tell a lot about their mood just by watching their tails. Violet had a low tail as she swept in to the breakfast table to knock over Paul’s milk for a drink. Stoney then had a high wagging tail as he came and drank the spilled milk off of the floor. Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks about tail wagging.

    Think about this. Wouldn’t it be cool if humans had a tail to express body language with? Wouldn’t it be cooler to have a nifty tail to help us keep our balance?

    Back to the Cheerios

  • DaVinci Code Opportunity

    Da_vinci_codeIt seems there is a healthy amount of fear about the upcoming release of the DaVinci Code. I have to say this… it’s nearly bursting out of me.

    What are we afraid of? I’ve heard some fear-mongering on Christian radio about how damaging this book will be for Christianity. Really? Since when is the Gospel not true? Afterall, the only way the gospel message is damaged is if it is not true.

    An open diologue is priceless! Instead of people fearing Dan Brown’s interesting conspiracy, we should be encouraging people to discover the truth for themselves. Afterall, hasn’t gnosticism been dead for a long time? Wasn’t the Nicene Creed written specifically to answer the gnostics?Tom_hanks_cathedral_203x152

    Isn’t Brown’s interpretation backwards anyway? Didn’t the gnostics argue that Jesus was fully God… and the DaVinci Code is trying to show him as fully human?

    I am dumbfounded by fear mongers in the church. We need to look at these not as attacks, but as opportunities. At the end of the day, truth always wins.

  • White Collar Pastors

    This may come as a surprise. But I am certain that Bob and I have been a part of every step of Phase 1. I’m not bragging or saying that have ever played a significant role, but it’s been fun for both of us to take off our khaki’s and lend a hand where ever we’ve been able to.

    After months of simple labor projects here is my observation: I’m in the right business. I don’t like getting my hands dirty, but I’ll do it if I have to. I am not good at being both strong and gentle, so I break stuff. Little details of construction are lost on me. I have a strong respect for those who do construction… even stronger after the taste tests I’ve gotten.