This evening I finished reading 'Churched: One Kid's Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess' by Matthew Paul Turner. I enjoyed it immensely.
Here is an editorial review that gives a little background on the story.
“A funny, heartfelt portrayal of one man’s attempt to find true meaning despite his upbringing among fundamentalists who taught him that Azrael–the cat from The Smurfs–was an agent of Satan. The true miracle of this book is that its author never manages to lose his faith.”
–Robert Lanham, author of Sinner's Guide To The Evangelical Right
These are a few of the many thoughts that struck me as I read.
'According to anybody who was anybody at my church, the devil was a cunning individual. But he was also a simple creature. For instance, nothing made him happier than luring our young minds in front of the television to watch 'Knots Landing.' Hollywood was on his side.'
'"Matthew, do you really think God would use me in your punishment?" I didn't know how to answer that. I hoped he wouldn't, but I didn't know. People said a lot of odd things about God. They said he was in control, but when a teenager was killed in a car accident or a young mother died of cancer; they said he allowed those deaths to occur so other people would come to know Jesus'
'Prior to meeting Mrs. Nolan, I'd never been disliked by anyone before, especially an older woman. Old women fell head over heels for me. I didn't even have to try--it just happened. I thought I had a gift. As soon as I walked into church, women over the age of thirty-four threw candy at my feet like I was Mick Jagger and the Tootsie Rolls were underwear. But Mrs. Nolan was indifferent to the charm other women saw in me. She wasn't impressed with me. I really needed her to be impressed.
At my church and school, perception was everything. How people viewed you was much more important than how you actually were. The truth didn't matter. What people believed to be the truth mattered. I learned early on that if everybody believed I was the well-behaved, good-natured boy without a sin in the world, it didn't matter what the truth was. The truth was secondary to a person's opinion or perception of the truth. It was all about good PR, and prior to having Mrs. Nolan as a teacher, nobody stared at me too closely.'
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Headline...
This is an actual headline I came across...
1/3 of U.S. Skips Broadband Due to Cost, Crotchetiness
Wired News - - 2 hours ago
More than a third of American adults don't have a fast internet connection at home, leaving some 80 million adults and 13 million children at a distinct disadvantage in a wired world, according to an FCC report released Tuesday.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
So this is parenting Part I...
In December I went to Disney World with my nephew (the Great Bambino), sister and brother-in-law. We were in the Magic Kingdom on our last night, and I received a glimpse into what parenting must be like. When we arrived we grabbed two Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain aka 'the fast train.' We had some time before our time to ride came. We got some ice cream and then my sister, bil & nephew went to ride Peter Pan while I went to go save seats for the parade and fireworks. After Peter Pan they came to where I was. I took the Great Bambino to Thunder Mountain while they got food and continued to save our seats.
We get to Thunder Mountain and we are the next two to ride and the Great Bambino says 'Uncle Keith I have to go to the bathroom.' When I asked if was an emergency tears started welling up in his eyes. We had to wait for the ride to come back. When the gates opened we hopped over the train and headed for the exit. I think it was at the point he realized that he wasn't going to get to ride the fast train. He started saying 'Oh let's go back. I don't have to go that bad.' I explained that we missed out turn so we should go to the bathroom and then we'd go back. He relented and went to the bathroom.
Now we don't have a Fast Pass and the stand by line is 50 minutes. I ask him if he wants to wait. 'It's a longer wait that Peter Pan, are you sure you want to wait?' Yes. 'Are you hungry or thirsty?' No. 'Are you sure you want to wait?' Yes. We got in line and the first 20 minutes of the wait were good. He was climbing all over the place having a good ole time. After 20 minutes he slowed down and said 'I am not sure I want to ride anymore. I want to see mommy.' I said, 'We can go see mommy now but you won't be able to ride the fast train.' He was beside himself with angst at this point. He didn't know what to do. I picked him up and told him to rest a while and then we would decide. About every 5 minutes we would have the 'I don't want to wait anymore/We don't have to wait but you won't ride' conversation. I was hoping we could make it to a place in line he would recognize, and he would know we were close. Well we made it and he loved his last ride on the fast train of the trip.
I couldn't help but thinking that this is what parenting must be like all the time. Expect the unexpected and no matter how well you plan something is bound to throw you off.
We get to Thunder Mountain and we are the next two to ride and the Great Bambino says 'Uncle Keith I have to go to the bathroom.' When I asked if was an emergency tears started welling up in his eyes. We had to wait for the ride to come back. When the gates opened we hopped over the train and headed for the exit. I think it was at the point he realized that he wasn't going to get to ride the fast train. He started saying 'Oh let's go back. I don't have to go that bad.' I explained that we missed out turn so we should go to the bathroom and then we'd go back. He relented and went to the bathroom.
Now we don't have a Fast Pass and the stand by line is 50 minutes. I ask him if he wants to wait. 'It's a longer wait that Peter Pan, are you sure you want to wait?' Yes. 'Are you hungry or thirsty?' No. 'Are you sure you want to wait?' Yes. We got in line and the first 20 minutes of the wait were good. He was climbing all over the place having a good ole time. After 20 minutes he slowed down and said 'I am not sure I want to ride anymore. I want to see mommy.' I said, 'We can go see mommy now but you won't be able to ride the fast train.' He was beside himself with angst at this point. He didn't know what to do. I picked him up and told him to rest a while and then we would decide. About every 5 minutes we would have the 'I don't want to wait anymore/We don't have to wait but you won't ride' conversation. I was hoping we could make it to a place in line he would recognize, and he would know we were close. Well we made it and he loved his last ride on the fast train of the trip.
I couldn't help but thinking that this is what parenting must be like all the time. Expect the unexpected and no matter how well you plan something is bound to throw you off.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Lent...
Lent starts tomorrow. I thought I would share an entry Dustin posted on the topic...
Why I NEED Lent.
The season of Lent is something that I do not remember participating in my Restoration Movement church background. In fact, I feel like the civil calendar directed our affairs more than the church calendar did, which is unfortunate. Instead of asking questions like, "what should we do during Lent or Advent this year?" it was more "what should we do during Mother's Day or the Fourth of July this year?" I hate that I missed out the guidance that the seasons of the Christian year offer us through the cycle of life, death, and resurrection that we experience with Advent, Lent, Easter, etc.
In fact, I remember perceiving the sentiment that Lent was primarily a Catholic practice by which people seek to earn the favor and forgiveness of God by voluntarily refraining from something (usually meat or chocolate) and that it was something that we Protestants should not be a part of. This is probably a good illustration of what it means to "throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Through the last 3 1/2 years with the Evergreen Community it has been helpful for my personal transformation to be introduced to this cycle and participate in it. As Lent approaches, I am ever more excited to spend an intentional time refocusing my heart and mind on Jesus. I'm excited to lay down those things that I have tended to rely on during the past year to soothe, comfort, and get me through life. If you're like me, you've found yourself relying on things other than God for your support and comfort.
This year I will be spending the 40 days of Lent fasting from beer. To many Midwestern friends, this probably sounds ludicrous. In fact, many would even question my faith for drinking beer (which comes from a cultural christianity that I have a hard time even understanding anymore). But living in the Pacific NW where there are more micro-breweries per-capita than anywhere else in the world it makes loads of sense. We hang out in pubs regularly, we brew our own beers, we follow beer blogs and tweets, we have theological conversations over pints. It's simply part of the way of life here.
But what I've noticed over the past year is that slowly, beer has gone from being a special drink reserved for special occasions and visits with friends, to simply something I drink whenever I feel like it, or whenever a new brew is released, or after I've had a particularly rough day, or when Seinfeld is on :) It's not that I drink a lot of beer at any one given sitting, or even tend to overindulge. It's simply that it's become standard fare with any given meal or tv show to have a pint. And in some way I have to ask the question, "is this something I've come to depend on?"
We discussed the purpose of fasting, whether during Lent or any other time a few weeks ago at Evergreen and basically it came down to a few things:
1. it helps us to say no to the small things, so that we will be able to say no to larger temptations when they arise.
2. it helps us to practice impulse control and rein in our desires.
3. it helps us to lay down our functional saviors and grasp on to the true one.
Even today there are people that hear that we encourage people to participate in Lent and it ruffles their feathers. They equate Lent with some kind of "works-salvation", or legalism. And truthfully it can become either of those things. It can even become a contest in spirituality in which we try to one-up each other: "I've lived off of nothing but peanut shells and watermelon juice for the last 40 days, what did you do?" But so can any other spiritual practice that we choose to participate in. Does this mean we do nothing to intentionally seek God? Should we give up praying, reading scripture, or times of silence just in case it becomes legalistic or a kind of "works-salvation"? Or course not!
And this is why I choose to participate in the 40 days of Lent. Not to mention that spending 40 days putting something to death that has become too powerful in our lives makes the season of Easter resurrection so much more powerful. I've found Lent to be difficult, challenging, and very important in my spiritual formation. I just wish I would have known about it sooner
Why I NEED Lent.
The season of Lent is something that I do not remember participating in my Restoration Movement church background. In fact, I feel like the civil calendar directed our affairs more than the church calendar did, which is unfortunate. Instead of asking questions like, "what should we do during Lent or Advent this year?" it was more "what should we do during Mother's Day or the Fourth of July this year?" I hate that I missed out the guidance that the seasons of the Christian year offer us through the cycle of life, death, and resurrection that we experience with Advent, Lent, Easter, etc.
In fact, I remember perceiving the sentiment that Lent was primarily a Catholic practice by which people seek to earn the favor and forgiveness of God by voluntarily refraining from something (usually meat or chocolate) and that it was something that we Protestants should not be a part of. This is probably a good illustration of what it means to "throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Through the last 3 1/2 years with the Evergreen Community it has been helpful for my personal transformation to be introduced to this cycle and participate in it. As Lent approaches, I am ever more excited to spend an intentional time refocusing my heart and mind on Jesus. I'm excited to lay down those things that I have tended to rely on during the past year to soothe, comfort, and get me through life. If you're like me, you've found yourself relying on things other than God for your support and comfort.
This year I will be spending the 40 days of Lent fasting from beer. To many Midwestern friends, this probably sounds ludicrous. In fact, many would even question my faith for drinking beer (which comes from a cultural christianity that I have a hard time even understanding anymore). But living in the Pacific NW where there are more micro-breweries per-capita than anywhere else in the world it makes loads of sense. We hang out in pubs regularly, we brew our own beers, we follow beer blogs and tweets, we have theological conversations over pints. It's simply part of the way of life here.
But what I've noticed over the past year is that slowly, beer has gone from being a special drink reserved for special occasions and visits with friends, to simply something I drink whenever I feel like it, or whenever a new brew is released, or after I've had a particularly rough day, or when Seinfeld is on :) It's not that I drink a lot of beer at any one given sitting, or even tend to overindulge. It's simply that it's become standard fare with any given meal or tv show to have a pint. And in some way I have to ask the question, "is this something I've come to depend on?"
We discussed the purpose of fasting, whether during Lent or any other time a few weeks ago at Evergreen and basically it came down to a few things:
1. it helps us to say no to the small things, so that we will be able to say no to larger temptations when they arise.
2. it helps us to practice impulse control and rein in our desires.
3. it helps us to lay down our functional saviors and grasp on to the true one.
Even today there are people that hear that we encourage people to participate in Lent and it ruffles their feathers. They equate Lent with some kind of "works-salvation", or legalism. And truthfully it can become either of those things. It can even become a contest in spirituality in which we try to one-up each other: "I've lived off of nothing but peanut shells and watermelon juice for the last 40 days, what did you do?" But so can any other spiritual practice that we choose to participate in. Does this mean we do nothing to intentionally seek God? Should we give up praying, reading scripture, or times of silence just in case it becomes legalistic or a kind of "works-salvation"? Or course not!
And this is why I choose to participate in the 40 days of Lent. Not to mention that spending 40 days putting something to death that has become too powerful in our lives makes the season of Easter resurrection so much more powerful. I've found Lent to be difficult, challenging, and very important in my spiritual formation. I just wish I would have known about it sooner
Thursday, February 11, 2010
3 days until pitchers and catchers report!
These quotes are why I love the Yankess...
"The AL East can toughen you up. Hopefully it will work to our benefit. We will do what it takes to win. Look at the money we are paying out in revenue sharing. We are baseball's stimulus package. The fans of other teams have no reason to complain about us or the Red Sox or the teams that support the rest of baseball."
"The AL East can toughen you up. Hopefully it will work to our benefit. We will do what it takes to win. Look at the money we are paying out in revenue sharing. We are baseball's stimulus package. The fans of other teams have no reason to complain about us or the Red Sox or the teams that support the rest of baseball."
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Overheard...
'Jim - there is nothing routine about the way I get down.'
'What? I can't go to Hawaii because Sarah Marshall has heard of it?'
'What can I bring in addition to the hotness?'
'She gets hotter every 10 seconds.'
'Happy Birthday! We have gifts of pleasure!'
'I am going to get a good wipe.'
'I think you're the one with the lover's boob. I am not the one with a lover's boob, nor did I write that.'
'What? I can't go to Hawaii because Sarah Marshall has heard of it?'
'What can I bring in addition to the hotness?'
'She gets hotter every 10 seconds.'
'Happy Birthday! We have gifts of pleasure!'
'I am going to get a good wipe.'
'I think you're the one with the lover's boob. I am not the one with a lover's boob, nor did I write that.'
Monday, February 1, 2010
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