For those who have never seen Little Britain… buy it now or at the very least rent it. It’s worth the look. I was thinking about the character Daffyd today. On the show, Daffyd’s entire identity is tied into his being the only homosexual in his village. What is really funny about it is that, through the show, you learn that Daffyd really likes to identify with gay things and dress like a gay… But he is scared to death of living the actual life of a gay man. There are two funny and revealing observations that I think ring true with Christians.

1. Daffyd is not the only gay in the village and neither are you. I remember when I was in high school I had a complex that I was just about the only Christian in my high school of 1600. If I am honest with myself, I am also convinced that right now I am the only solid youth pastor in my town. Both are lies… I wasn’t the only Christian at my HS and I am not the only good youth guy in town. But the simple fact remains that a lot of my students have the same complex I had in high school. They feel alone, but are really surrounded by other Christians if they would just open their eyes!

2. Daffyd claims to be gay but is afraid to go through with it and so are many of us. It’s clear that the idea of having sex with a man scares the crap out of Daffyd. In the same way many Christians out there are scared to death of being labeled a Christian. This is what is so interesting about the pomo movement as well as the entire contemporary music thing… People feel comfortable with it because it’s a parallel universe to their daily reality. In these comfortable churches, concerts, and meetings they can feel like they aren’t at church at all… And their unsaved friends won’t care so much that they are a believer since they aren’t “shoving it down their throats.” But, just like Daffyd… They are scared and full of excuses.

Here’s the deal… We are not the only Christians in our village and when we hide behind that facade, we become a joke. Our insecurity reveals to everyone our lack of faith and our fear of what others think.

Like a lot of Americans, I awoke to he news that George W. Bush had nominated his special counsel, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court. [Read news story]

If this nomination goes through, it will probably tip the balance towards the conservatives. I for one, am a fan of a conservative federal government. But I am also a fan of states ruling themselves… I think that John Roberts will protect federalism and the rights of the states.

If confirmed, will this lead to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade? I think so since it was such a terrible ruling and the plantiff has readily admitted that she lied about the nature of her pregnancy… but I also don’t think that overturning Roe vs. Wade will lead to making all abortions illegal. What I hope is that it will stop the abortion on demand industry that is destroying our nation… particularly among minority groups. I think that abortion will end up being a protected medical practice for ever, but not as an on-demand thing, probably switching the language to “medically necessary.”

Granted, it’s a given that I am very conservative on this issue… but I think that something like that would help eliminate the wholesale murder of infants while protecting women.

All of that to say, I don’t think Harriet Miers will get confirmed. I think she is too conservative and the Senate will nail her for her lack of experience as a judge. Let’s put it this way, I’d like to see her confirmed… but I don’t think it is going to happen.

Been a long time since I ran through my weekly schedule. It’s a good habit.

Monday: I’ve got to finish the bedroom today. Yesterday JonD helped me get the wiring finished for hte new ceiling fan, the finish coat of paint is in, I just need to get the trim from Home Depot and get that up… then scrub those hardwood floors a few times. Then I can turn it over to Kristen. This bedroom is going to be gorgeous. I am very excited about that. Later today I will be going to golf practice. It’s Ryder Cup week for the team… that should be fun.

Tuesday: I’ve got to get a jump on a lot of projects since I am covering for Bob by preaching this weekend. So besides my normal Tuesday stuff, worship team practice, web stuff, video stuff, I have got to get my talk going for the Tell Me Your Story series. I am pretty sure that this week’s story is going to center around Joseph and Mary. That should be sweet.

Wednesday: Game day. I’ll be zeroed in on making LF awesome.

Thursday: Student day. I’ll be focusing on my lunch routine and finishing whatever non-StuMin projects I have left.

Friday: It’s homecoming for Romeo and we are tailgating. Besides that, I have to get the talk for Sunday AM nailed. I am preaching from Romans 3:14-15… it’s about the church’s faithfulness. I am thinking of putting up a ghetto sized cardboard wall in the sanctuary right now.

Saturday: Off day from business… I am sure I’ll be busy with house stuff.

Sunday: Preachin’ in the AM and then we are off to the “Amazing Corn Maze” after church. That’s one of my favorite events of the year. It’s awesome.

Funny thing worth mentioning: Kristen is the worst dancer in the history of the world. She just came into the kitchen dancing, if that’s what you call it, to the music coming out of my laptop… I said “everything’s better when you don’t dance.” She looked at me and laughter broke out! It’s true… the girl is good at a lot of things… but she can’t dance.

For as down and out as I felt coming back from Northern Ireland I am feeling pretty class these days.

I’ll spend my early afternoon today mowing and trimming the backyard. Rich let me borrow his push mower since he never uses it. [He has a service, man I wish I could pop the $25/week for a service too!] Also, I broke down and bought a trimmer at Home Depot yesterday afternoon.

Last night I met up with fellow Moody grad Keith over at Romeo’s Times Square. We met up via mySpace and I thought it would be fun to make that connection. He works up at Almont’s First Congregational Church. After dinner he and I went to the Almont vs. Capac HS football game. I have a student who plays for Capac’s team that I have been trying to see play a few times, otherwise I had no interest in that game. Almont cruised past a helpless Capac team. It is amazing sometimes how stupid football coaches can be. Capac gave up at least 35 points off of fundamental mistakes and bad calls. Mix that with their 25+ penalties and there was simply no way Capac could win. Oh well.

Theological musing of my day. As I talked with Keith last night it seemed really clear that youth ministry in America is facing an epidemic of lazy people. The students are merely doing what their parents do… not much. But at the same time we both ssee students longing for “something more” and an intimacy with Jesus.

This problem has a simple solution. John 15 makes it so clear that in order to be a growing believer, you must be connected to Jesus, the vine. How does one do that? Look at John 15:5-8 and you’ll see how clear it is:

5″I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. 6Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. 7But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. 8This is how my Father shows who he is–when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

Why is it that something so clear is so hard for people to get? If you spend time with Jesus and get connected with him you will grow. If you don’t, you will not grow. How do you get connected? Spend time with Jesus’ words. Meditate on them, read them, reflect on them, pray through them… and you will grow. Stop doing that and Jesus says, “You can’t produce a thing.”

This is exactly why I am spending so much time and energy teaching my students Doug Field’s H.A.B.I.T.S. This may be totally simplistic and so unorganic that it annoys people like Nick… but it is a system that first and foremost works! It has worked for centuries and, since the principles come from Jesus’ words… will always be true. Embrace the formula and grow, run from it and you won’t grow.

Why is it that the simple stuff in life is so hard in reality? Just like in finances… stick to the fundamentals and you will be fine in all things. Deviate and you risk loss.

Speaking of loss. My quarter ended on the stock market yesterday. Intel’s net gain for my retirement? -$51 So much for a lock!

Tonight was Light Force’s first Concert of Prayer & Pizza night. We do this once a month to focus our attention on God and not us. For those who aren’t cool with that… we just ask them to focus on the pizza and participate as best as they can in the COP&P.

I am learning a valuable lesson about myself in ministry leadership. When you give away ownership of something, you need to let it take on a life of it’s own, even if it’s isn’t 100% what you would have done. As I think about tonight I realize that I had very, very little to do with the concept, design, or execution of tonight’s COP&P. I don’t think I provided any useful input to the worship team and I don’t think they really wanted my help. They prayed, studied, and did it. How cool is that? It’s worth saying again… On their own initiative, 3 students prayed, studied, and pulled off a great worship night… Leading their peers into the throneroom of heaven. Whoa.

I am taking Thursday off to work with my buddy Rich in hosting the Romeo District golf tournament. The weather is bad… Cold and rainy… I am glad I’ve drawn the card of putting together all the technical assistance for the thing and not acting as an observer or forecaddy person as in previous years. This is one of the few times in life I am glad I am good with computers!

Speaking of computers. As the office wing is now 98% complete, the new network interface is coming online later this week. We’ve replaced 100% of the wiring and hardware for our network. In the past 6 months almost every employee has a new workstation. We also have the capability of adding about 8-9 more permanent users without adding any wiring or hardware as well as a back-up wireless system. [Yes, I am setting the wireless up only as a back-up since I am still not satisfied with it’s reliability or speed. But I do like that it’s a cheap easy way to connect almost infinite amounts of people to our network!]

As for the house. My project list is still pretty fierce but I am managing to plug away at a few each day. Yesterday I installed a new foyer light, cut up the HAM radio antenna that was on our roof, and sanded the ceiling in our bedroom. Today I put the final coat of mud on the ceiling, sanded and caulked between the new ceiling and the old walls, and prepped the room for paint. Kristen has also been busy. In just a week she has managed to put away most of our stuff, clean out our old apartment, and begin winterizing the landscaping outside. Without Kristen this wouldn’t be any fun. I am so excited to see her getting her hands dirty and jumping into the work here.

Well, it’s midnight and I have to be at Romeo Golf Course at 7:00 AM.

The following is an article a student of mine wrote for the churches monthly newsletter. I thought it was good enough to reprint here. Andrea shares some pretty good insights and observations…

Living for Jesus in High School

Recently, I took a test on prepositional phrases. I still don’t know exactly what they are, even though I aced the test, but soon after I was read this verse “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) So I thought to myself, “How can I take tests and other school work for the glory of God?”

I think that the application of this verse isn’t just in what I say or do, but more in how I do it. For example, instead of sleeping in class, I should pay attention and work hard. I need try to keep my moral standards high, even when it seems like the entire student body is involved in “questionable activities.” I need to be nice to the nerds. I need to be positive, but not fake. These are difficult things to consistently do, and anyone who knows me can see my struggle, and keeping to these standards involves a lot of prayer, reflection, and relying in my relationship with God.

Lots of times, I think that it would be so much easier to just stop being Christian for a week. I could relax with my friends at an R-rated movie; laugh at their dirty jokes, and talk any way I wanted. If I were able to do that I wouldn’t get that guilty feeling when I know I should speak up about my faith, but I don’t. So, if it’s so much easier to not be a Christian, why do it?

I can’t answer that for you. But for me, as difficult as the going gets, I know that no matter how attractive their lives may be, my friends are not happy. They are atheistic, agnostic, New Agers, self-reliant, homosexual, immodest, conspiracy theorists and live very liberal lifestyles. When they are honest about it, they are also dissatisfied with life and looking for answers. I know the answers they are looking for could be found in Jesus, and they know I know Jesus, so they are watching me closely. They are watching to see if my faith is real, to see if it really does make a difference in my person’s life.

Living for Jesus in my high school doesn’t always mean that I need to preach the gospel at every turn. It means that I need to conduct my life according to Biblical standards. I need to do everything to the best of my ability. I need to let God take control of every part of my life not only because those decisions are pleasing to God, but also because my friends are watching me.

I am realizing just how much this week has been all about the house… in some ways the house has served for a metaphor for a lot of things.

Here’s an update on all kinds of stuff.

All of our stuff has been moved. A gaggle of people come over Saturday and helped us move. There isn’t room to say how glad I was people helped us… It took infinitely less time with all of those hands.

After the move was over, we got pizzas and tossed the football around for a while. I am loving it when there are students using our house. I can see how God can use our home as a place for his purpose in a way that our tiny apartment could never. I can’t wait.

Projects galore. So last week I “accidentally” took out a drop ceiling and Kristen “accidentally” took out a linoleum floor. Oops. This kicked off my first remodeling project on Bailey Street. Friday and Sunday I had some people over to help me hang drywall for a new ceiling… I should begin taping and mudding that today. I’d like to get a coat of primer on it early this week so I can hang the new light fixures, paint the walls, and be done with it. I am glad we decided to do this now…. But it’s come at the cost of not having a bedroom to officially move into right now.

Another project that Mike and Jon helped me with last night was fixing a gutter problem. When it rained hard Thursday night water poured over the gutters… Jon and I installed an extra gutter from the roof and tied it into a new and updraged drain. It’s a little thing, but a big project completed. Many, many more on tap.

The kids… Megan and Paul are loving their new digs. This morning Paul woke up with me and I could here him going from room to room with glee to find new treasures. [Stuff is still in boxes.] He went into the dining room and I could here him say “football!” and then he went to the living room and giggled about another toy.

So, my day off will once again be all about a project. I’m off to Home Depot this morning to get some last minutes tools for this project… More later.

My family just got back from a “small church thing.” Tonight, we had an International Dinner put on by the deaconnes board. It was small, cute, and a lot of fun. The kids got to run around with their friends and mom and dad got to hang out with some adults.

It was there that I made this powerful observation: The people of this church love me and my family way more than we deserve. It’s really amazing to see how our kids are so well cared for and loved.

For most of the night the middle school students, guys included, ran around and played with Paul and Megan. How cool is that.

One thing I really, really like about middle school kids is that they are half adolescent and half little kid. They still play make believe but care about what they look like and stuff like that. It’s really funny.

Another observation. There are a couple of students who are “far too cool” for me and the youth group. But it’s sweet that they can’t stay away from us. They are always like “well, my mom dragged me here tonight, I don’t want to be here.” And I’m like, “So that’s why you’ve talked to me for the last 20 minutes?”

It’s nights like tonight when I know I am in the right place. It’s times like this when I am reminded that for all the BS I put up with, I am still doing something that matters.

Kristen and I learned that our old pastor, Ray Pritchard, is leaving his post as the senior pastor at our Beloved Calvary. [Yes, Kristen and I still think of Calvary that way. In some ways, it will always be our home.]

What’s interesting about how I am responding to this, a mixure of “I knew it would happen eventually” and “I can’t believe it…,” is that I actually care this much. I mean, I don’t go there… and we haven’t been members there for more than 3 years. What’s even weirder about the whole thing is that he and I are virtual strangers. Sure, I was technically a part-time person there for a year or so as an intern/interrim High School leader. But he and I never met formally as employee to employer, we just met a few times socially and that was it. The only time I ever talked to him as a pastor to staffer was at the Christmas party after I had completed my internship. That was it.

What Ray means to Calvary is like a parable. In a lot of ways that church carries his personality. Big and tall, bold and conservative. In a place like Oak Park, Illinois… being bold and conservative earned him a reputation. Oak Park is anything but a haven for conservative Christians. I remember when we lived there we were shocked to learn that our town had been labeled “the gay freindliest place in the midwest.”

And yet Ray was respected there. He earned the respect of even his biggest critics. Take a look at some of these articles that a flowing into the hugely liberal newspaper… the Wednesday Journal.

‘Restless’ Pritchard to leave Calvary Church
Lamenting the loss of two conservatives

Ray leaves big shoes to fill. In his 16 years at Calvary he really grew the name of his church in the community. More than that, he has become a nationally recognized speaker, author of more than 20 books, and radio/TV show regular in Christian circles. I don’t know what he’s off to do, but as a friend of mine remarked… “It’s going to be good.” An elder of the church said in a newspaper article… “We’re just happy to have had him for our pastor.”

Godspeed to Ray and his family as they search out what is next.

Sorry, this isn’t about sex.

I realize I have been neglecting to make some entries for a few days, don’t worry… I am OK.

we got the house and that is crazy. No time to talk about all the insanity… let’s just say I went to paint 3 rooms yesterday but only got 2 done… and I need a new ceiling for my bedroom. Oops. It just fell down.

Then I thought it would be a relaxing day at the office… big joke! Instead the network flubbed up yesterday and I got to talk to SBC tech support all morning… the guys who barely speak English and live in India were maddening. All that to say I had to install a new switch and router. So I actually didn’t get anything of my job done today.

More later.