• why our church is better than most… i guess

    Ty Todd, over at Monday Morning Insight recently had a post about Ty Pennington and his show, Extreme Makeover… really just doing the job of the church. [Read the post]

    As I thought about Todd’s post I thought… that is probably true of a lot of churches but it honestly isn’t true of my church. At Romeo, we may not be super fancy, we might not be the best church in our zip code, we may not be big and growing and exciting… but God is using us to extend his hands of hope and mercy in our community. I wish I could share all the things that we’ve done in the past 3 months for people… but that may violate some people’s privacy. But we’ve been reaching out like crazy and meeting tangible needs. We’ve helped people solve problems, we’ve helpled people who couldn’t help themselves, and we’ve put sweat behind our words.

    So… while it would be nice for me to lament and shake my head in agreement to what Todd wrote… I think he just hasn’t seen US!

  • Notre Dame rolls

    Dariuswalker With a solid, solid game today my favorite team rolls on towards a BCS bid. They are now 7-2 and will move up to maybe as high as 7th in the polls this week after Bama’s loss.

    What has most impressed me is how they have won this year. It hasn’t been luck… just good solid play. Darius Walker (pictured here) has been an amazing running back. The best part? Almost all of this team are underclassmen. Next year should be truly amazing.

  • Capote: Narcism explored

    Kristen and I went to see the movie Capote tonight. (Yes, it was better than one of our previous date movies… Hotel Rwanda… but barely as romantic.)

    To summarize the movie. It’s the true life story of author Truman Capote as he researches and writes a non-fiction novel about a homicide in the plains of Kansas in 1959. The story in itself is interesting enough, but only made better by the immense moral failure that we see exhibited by Capote.

    See, in order for Truman to finish his novel, he needs the 2 murderers story to end. So, on the one hand he is busy using one of the murderers for information about the murder by coercing him for information by exchanging Capote’s ability to motivate connected people to hear his appeal to avoid execution. On the other side is Capote needs the two of them to be executed so he can finish the novel and get famously rich.

    Notice I said he was narcisistic and not a sociopath. Truman is terribly effected by his moral decisions. At one point he is literally paralyzed with the reality of his decision to stop the appeals so he can get his book in print.

    When it is finally over… when his wish [prayer as he calls it] is finally over and the men are executed… he is equally devastated. The reality is that he knows his actions have led to the execution of his friend. While he becomes famous beyond measure… he never recovers.

    Here’s a quote that sticks with me… it’s from the credits. Truman wrote this as an epilogue to the last book he never finished.

    "More tears are shed for answered prayer than for unanswered ones."

    Nice quote and in his story I can see it as true… but I wonder how true it really is.

  • growth in the midst of change

    Light_force_017So Sunday I woke up a little discouraged. Not discouraged like I don’t want to do life anymore… more like I am tired and I don’t see the point on moving forward just yet… I need more rest.

    Over the last few weeks I’ve been praying that God would move me. Not move me geographically… just move me from where I am at to a new season in my life. Grow me, push me, pluck me… so I was thinking about these things this morning as I got ready.

    As is my practice, I left for church early. (8:15ish) As I left the front door and headed towards the car, I saw this plant at the bottom of the stairs… it caught my eye.. and I think it symbolizes a lot of what I have been going through.

    I thought to myself… Isn’t this just like life? While everything around should be dying or changing or doing what it is supposed to be doing in its season of life… there is growth. That’s what I want to be in my relationship with Jesus and the peope in my life. I want to be the STUPID shoot that grows when it isn’t supposed to. In it’s disobedience to what it’s DNA is telling it to do… it pops up and says, "Here I am, growing through all of this." I want to dare the winterery times of life with growth. Knocked down? Get up!

  • finally switched to firefox

    FirefoxlogoI’ve had it with all the security issues and I’ve finally switched my PC’s to Firefox. You can download it at the Mozilla website.

  • lightning strikes one of my friends!

    LighteningSo I just found out one of my friends got hit by lightning while walking around at Roberts College.

    Two lessons to learn here… first, skip class on Wednesday’s. Second, don’t go outside with an umbrella for any reason other than golf.

    [Here’s the article]

    (Rochester, NY) 11/09/05 – Four women were struck by lightning Wednesday.

    Three college students and another woman were struck by a bolt of lightning while walking across campus at Roberts Wesleyan.

    A spokesperson for the college said there was the sound of a loud crash when lightning struck Cox Hall.

    All four were carrying umbrellas when lightening struck.

    They were all examined by a school nurse and checked out at the hospital as a precaution—they’re all OK.Dsc05868

    She says she is fine… but look at this recent picture.

    Val, I dunno… I think you need to go back to the doctor. Seriously, praise God you weren’t hurt.

  • Green Puppy

    Green_puppyAnd you thought you had problems in life? How about being born green? [New story]

    Thanks to Kristen for sending that my way. I don’t know if she was trying to send me a message about me or not. Afterall, this pup was born a Notre Dame fan. Sorry Stoney, move over… we’ve got a new puppy coming that is just right for our house.

  • talk note reminder

    Occasionally I get e-mails asking me about what we are currently teaching in Light Force. All of my notes from Light Force talks are available online in Adobe Acrobat Reader format. Just click on the link to the right that says "My Talk Notes"

  • fall clean-up action… before and after

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  • another rockin’ Light Force

    Lightforcelogo_red_yellow Here are a few reasons I thought tonight was a particularly good Light Force.

    1. We’ve got a mojo right now. While we are not, and never will be, "the coolest hippest thing in town" we do have a good feel. Environmentally, I think it’s a good mix of chaos/control and inquisitive/talkative.
    2. Solid, simple games. We’ve been doing old school, Scooby-style favorites and they are classics because they are classic.
    3. Content. I am decidedly uncool, but God’s word is always cool. I think that Bible teaching is one of our strongest points.
    4. Solid leaders. I can’t say enough about the crew we have. They are calm, helpful, caring, dedicated… I could go on forever.
    5. A level playing field. While we aren’t all the same, I think we do a good job establishing that we are all a big mess just trying to find Jesus, chase after him, and sit at his feet.
    6. Worship. We all know this is an area we need to grow in… but just like everyone else, I am waiting for God to do something. But for now… the worship team is right on. Looking back 2 years, it is clear this has been a growth area. Even though our worship has never been perfect… we still do it because we know, and I beleive strongly, that our act of obedience in worship releases God’s power among us.
    7. Fresh faces. Seems like every week there is someone new. Maybe they don’t always come back… but they are checking us out and that adds a fresh flavor.
    8. We are still not a "dating group." I’ve never been anti-dating but I am pro not dating. I think one of the cool vibes we have going is that it isn’t a meat market.
    9. Different people. I got to spend time tonight with some students that I’ve always really like but never really connected that well with. Personally, that made my day.
    10. That would have been nice and round to have 10 wouldn’t it of…. but I only have 9. So take that!