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I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but things are going so well!

Last night we had a really nice time at the tailgate party and FREEZING cold football game. Let’s face it, it was a miracle that we made it to halftime. Just after the king and queen we announced… We took off. I took Paul with me to the game since he had such a great time the last time we tailgated. Well, he made it to kickoff and promptly fell asleep. It was 7:05 PM! I had to hold him and he got really, really heavy.

Even more “fun” is that a student spent the night at our house. This student has basically become a part of our family since she is here so much. If it weren’t for the difficulty this creates with the child protection policy… I wouldn’t care at all. But I also realize that our pseudo-adopting of her does create problems. Here’s my thing… the more I can share my life, the more that all the students know Kristen and I are for real. One thing that I am sure my students get… What they see on Wednesday and Sunday is what you get.

Today will be another busy work day at our house. I hope to re-stain the woodwork I bought last week and get that up on Monday. I hope that this means that the room will be 100% done.

Today I will be focusing on my text, Romans 3, for Sunday’s message. This is a unique challenge in that I am not doing a “stand alone” fill in message while the pastor is away. Instead, I have been asked to be a part of his current series on faithfulness. I don’t like to teach topically… so this is a stretch for me.

Here are some sermons I reading as part of my research today.
Objection Overruled
Let God be True Though Every Man a Liar (Piper)
God is Righteous and True
Why God Inspired Hard Texts
God Justified, Though Man Believes Not (Spurgeon)

Everywhere I look, I just read “this is a very hard text to preach.” Great. Looking forward to it. Thank God for commentaries.

Last night went pretty well. We had a gaggle of students there and the whole thing felt like home again. I really enjoyed it. The talk went pretty well too. I felt like it was one of my stronger talks… though Kristen just thought it was OK.

My attention is now turning to Sunday mornings message on Romans 3. I have absolutely no idea what I will be doing. More on this later.

I have finished my talk called “Mary & Joseph’s Story.”
Check it out here.

It’s a pretty simple talk… straight forward and to the point. Luke 2:21-40 pretty much teaches itself. I’ll be spending some time contrasting human vs. supernatural responses.

I am working on tonight’s talk at my favorite coffee shop. OK, it’s my favorite coffee shop until I find a coffeeshop that has FREE wifi. I mean, $2.95 for 2 hours kind of sucks.

But, at least I can nibble on my hot apple blast while writing about Luke 2. The talk should be up on the web in a few hours.

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.