Done
Jul 30, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Well…
//NOISE: Grace talking about yellow
Well, vacation is finally over. We spent the last few days up north with Kyle, Melissa, Chaz, and Nicole. It was a blast. And the sun got the best of me. I am red as a candy apple red thing.
But as of tonight, it all ends and I am back in the game. I have been out of commission most of July (with HSLT and vacation) and I have a pile to catch up on. Monday I have to prioritize my life. I have a new series starting very soon; house work to-do (painting, new trim, etc); a couple weddings; a full email inbox; 73 appointment/advice/whatever requests to wade through; fall planning; etc…
It could seem overwhelming.
I’m actually excited about it. I love my job and while sometimes it’s nuts, I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Off to look at paint colors with Grace.
Jul 28, 2005 Uncategorized
Theres nothing better than watching someone eat a crunch wrap supreme while pumping gas. Except maybe blogging about it at the same time.
Home and Eden
Jul 28, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Relaxed
//NOISE: Birds
We finally made it home at about 7:30am this morning. I drove the first late shift until 2:30 and listened to an amazing sermon by Mark Driscoll and then a bunch of hymns. I don’t know why I was in the mood for hymns, but it actually kept me driving. Grace then took us the rest of the way home.
We put the kids to bed, hoping they would let us sleep a bit and they actually did. We woke up at 10:30, cleaned out the van, hired a guy to mow our lawn (amazing deal…he mowed and trimmed and everything…looks great) and we are basically settled back in.
In other news, I have been reading “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. I am suprised that for whatever reason, I have never read this before. My brother in law John gave it to me for Christmas and I started it in MB. I am about halfway through right now and loving it. Here is a section I read yesterday in the van that struck me for a variety of reasons:
“The church and the whorehouse arrived in the Far West simultaneously. And each would have been horrified to think it was a different facet of the same thing. But surely they were both intended to accomplish the same thing: the singing, the devotion, the poetry of the churches took a man out of his bleakness for a time, and so did the brothels.”
This section reminded me of this quote:
“Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.”
-G. K. Chesterton
Anyhoo, the section in “East of Eden” continues…
“The sectarian churches came in swinging, cocky and loud and confident. Ignoring the laws of debt and repayment, they built churches which couldn’t be paid for in a hundred years. The sects fought evil, true enough, but they also fought each other with a fine lustiness. They fought at the turn of a doctrine. Each happily believed all the othes were bound for hell in a basket. And each for all its bumptiousness brought with it the same thing: the Scripture on which our ethics, our art and poetry, and our relationships are built. It took a smart man to know where the difference lay between the sects, but anyone could see what they had in common.”
Jul 27, 2005 Uncategorized
We left Myrtle beach at 11 15. So far we have travelled 8 miles. Ah..the start of a trip. Oh, in case you didnt look at the time stamp, it is 12 44.
Myrtle Beach Pictures
Jul 26, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Rested…too rested
//NOISE: Kids watching cartoons
I finally got around to loading some of my MB pictures. I am going to slap a few up here for your viewing pleasure. Once I get back in town later this week, I will start blogging with a vengeance again. Sorry for the silent spell.
Batman and Speed Humping
Jul 20, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Dark
//NOISE: Grace, Tara, and Henry planning to go to Wal-Mart
We finally got to see Batman Begins tonight. Eric watched the kids while Grace, Nate, Tara, and I went to see it. Very cool. It was the best or second best of the Batmans, me thinks.
Anyhoo, on the way there, we rode in the back of Nate’s ghetto cargo van. Here is a picture. Notice that I am sitting on a wheel well.
That picture was taken moments before Nate took us full speed over one of these:
After floating in mid-air, Grace landed Gracefully on some blankets while I landed Noelfully on the wheel well.
It hurts to be speed humped.
No Pictures Yet
Jul 20, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Goodish
//ITUNES: “Empty Room” - Marjorie Fair
I just found my camera this morning so still no pictures. We had an experiential worship deal last night that ran to midnight. My favorite mental picture so far of the week is the interns stumbling in early this morning to clean up. They looked like zombie pouring out of a 15 passenger van. Awesome.
Anyhoo, I am going to go work on m message for Friday right now. We are past the halfway point and it’s all downhill from here.
Crazy Busy
Jul 19, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Chill
//NOISE: Kids writing postcards
Well, we have been swamped with HSLT stuff. Overall really cool. I promised pictures but haven’t taken any. Oh well.
Things are chill starting this afternoon. The rest of my week is pretty relaxed. I have to teach Friday morning and I have several lunch / coffee appointments, but mostly the team we have here is doing all the work. For the first time ever at HSLT I felt kinda useless this afternoon with nothing to do.
Not a bad problem to have.
Oh…my phone is ringing. Here we go again.
Olders and Youngers
Jul 14, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Old
//ITUNES: “He Said” - The Hippos
Dan has a great post about Olders and Youngers in the church. I actually probably like his commentary better than the quote he posted, although that is great too. I will post both here for your reading pleasure:
There is an obvious distance in the lives of many olders and youngers who are Christ followers. Some of this is just age, some of this is culture and some of it is sin. There are very few olders who are taking the initiative to really “teach faithful men” who will pass the message of the gospel on to other faithful men. At the same time there is much cynicsm coming from youngers, which, to be honest seems to lack kindness and self-control that mark the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, there is a time for confrontation, yes there is time where rebuke is the most loving thing to give, but I’m afraid we justify slander all too often through this.
This from Christi Avant in Baptist Press news, she helps a church in NYC, funded by SBC churches, to reach out to the artistic community there.
“I have caught a dangerous trend arising in my generation, which “loves Christ but not the church.”
Not all of this is our fault. We are crying out for our elders to step back and allow us to step up. We are crying out for them to fund relevant college ministries even though most of us cannot drop as much as they can in the offering plate.
However, we are crying out immaturely, like a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum in a grocery store.
Abandoning or “taking a break from” church is neither the right thing to do, nor is it any kind of solution to the problem.”
We need more stories like that of Rick at our church who joined a band just to get involved with younger’s lives. Or of a group of men who meet weekly with a bunch of guys. This kind of relationship is all too often lacking, in our church and probably most others. We need the youngers to sit and converse with these olders also. I need to.
Coming Along
Jul 14, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Good
//ITUNES: “Here I Go Again On My Own” - Whitesnake
Well, things are coming together pretty well. The interns have been busting their collective heinies trying to build a “Nathan Klan Original” set design. It’s pretty cool. I’ll throw some pics up when we are rolling. Now, I have to crank on message prep for a few hours. So…se ya.
Jul 14, 2005 Uncategorized
Someone at a water park just mooned our car. Thought you would like to know.
Myrtle Beach
Jul 13, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Very Very Tired
//NOISE: Eric and Nate Snoring
Well, we have arrived in sunny South Carolina. We made it in record time. Only 16 hours. That is not bad, considering we were hauling a family and we waited for Eric and Nate to catch up. We drove through the night and have finally gotten into one of our condos. Luckily, it is ours so we are settled in while the guys are napping on our couches waiting for their condo to be ready.
I have (for the first time down here) dialup from SBC. Nice, considering I usually have to do a free trial from another provider (ahem) and then cancel it at the end of the month. Tomorrow, Eric is hooking up high speed wireless at the Forum, so I should be cooking.
Well off to shower and nap.
