For those of you who don’t regularly read my wife’s blog, here’s a snapshot of what our two youngest get into when no one’s looking:
Click the picture (or here) to read the hilarious tale of woe.
Family
New photos / random roundup
For those interested, I’ve posted a few photos from our recent vacation to Virginia Beach on my photo page.
We spend a week vacationing with my extended family every year, which is always a lot of fun.
And now just a few random thoughts about what’s going on, and what I am thinking about blogging this fall, just to get the blog rolling again:
Music:
- I am listening to Imogen Heap on headphones right now, and I am very impressed. If you get the album, check out "Goodnight & Go", "Hide and Seek", and "Daylight Robbery".
- I’ve also heard that Leeland’s new album is ridiculously good.
Books:
- I am reading Stephen Ambrose’s history of the building of America’s trans-continental railroad (Nothing Like it In the World). Interesting stuff.
- I’m still plowing through Jesus and the Victory of God (N.T. Wright). It’s a masterful book, and challenges a lot of preconceptions about what Jesus was up to. Very rewarding reading.
- I just started Sacred Rhythms, by Ruth Haley Barton. I’ve heard good things about her stuff on spiritual formation.
- I also just started Emerging Churches, by Gibbs and Bolger. Many say it’s the best book on the emerging church so far, so that’s a good reason to read it. I also like to see what other church leaders around the world are up to and how it’s working out.
Movies I’d love to see but will probably not see until they come out on DVD:
- Talladega Nights – Will Ferrell plays a Nascar driver named Ricky Bobby, who named his two sons Walker and Texas Ranger. Sounds hilarious.
- Snakes on a Plane – The title is a spoiler. You have to love a movie like that. I’ve heard the beginning and end are hilarious, and the middle languishes a bit. But I mean, seriously, an entire movie about snakes that are… on a plane? How could it not languish in the middle, unless the snakes do some line dancing or something?
Stuff I’m thinking about that will probably end up in this blog:
- The fundamental dynamics of spiritual growth (or spiritual formation, or character growth, or whatever you’d like to call it). It’s still a massively misunderstood topic, from the old question of "Why bother, because aren’t we saved by grace apart from works?" to the more practical question of "How in the world can I actually change?"
- Church and culture. This has been a big theme so far anyway, but I want to continue to explore the question of how a rapidly changing culture affects the way we function as the church, the way we lead, the way we teach and disciple and preach the good news.
- Web/Church 2.0 – How does the church create environments that are truly interactive, without losing her soul? How can what we see happening in the world of technology or music or film or design or fashion or architecture or _________ prompt us toward a more healthy ministry model?
- I’m hoping to start a Master’s program this fall – I’m sure many posts will be prompted by my reading for that course.
So those are the happenings in my world as of late. I hope to continue conversing with y’all soon!
Returning rested
I’m back from a two week vacation, just got done clearing a very full email inbox (after carefully reading and responding to them, of course), and am ready to resume blogging. Before I left I had created all four Cross-pollinator posts, and scheduled them to appear throughout my vacation, just to keep you on your toes. It seems to have worked! Of course I wasn’t able to respond to comments, but that will come in time (hopefully this week isn’t too late to do so).
I feel rested and ready to re-engage, which is a great way to come back from a vacation. If anyone is interested, you can check out some of the photos from the trip here.
Watch for posts coming on more Faces of Innovation, as well as some more musings on Church 2.0, including some thoughts on how realistic it is, given the current cultural climate. So much to think about, talk about, pray about, converse about…
Ten years
Today Deb and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! I actually wrote this post five days ago and post-dated it to pop up today. We’re vacationing right now in California (without the kids!) and I haven’t looked at my blog for five days (Shh! Don’t tell!)
It Was Almost The Best Day Of My Life
Most of the time you don’t know the full extent of the effect you’re having on other people’s lives.
Last weekend I took my 8-year-old son Ethan down to Indianapolis to watch a Pacers game (vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves) and spend the night. It seemed to me that things went "fine", judging by Ethan’s reaction to everything. Kevin Garnett didn’t play, which was too bad, but Ethan seemed to be enjoying himself, so I told my wife, when she asked how things went, that things were "fine."
Then today Ethan brought home a brief story he wrote in class about something that happened to him recently. He wrote about the weekend watching the Pacers. After gushing about how great it all was, he ended with this line:
It was almost the best day of my life.
It brought home to me again how much of an effect we have on each other’s lives without really knowing it most of the time. When we talk about "missional church" and "emerging church" and all that stuff, it really boils down to things like this, where a human life touches another human life. Missional church starts with how I treat my spouse and my kids, it starts with my attitude toward my neighbors, whether they’re good ones or not. It doesn’t start with grandiose schemes to evangelize cities, it starts in much more humble, boring circumstances: learning to put away anger, becoming more self-controlled, exercising patience (again), learning kindness, actually preferring others above myself.
You won’t make the headlines with accomplishments like that, but you will probably have a far greater impact than you imagine.