20 April
As I was tucking Jonathan into bed tonight, we read today's entry in his "God and Me" book, a little devotional book for kids his age. Tonight's devotional was on creation. Here's a brief excerpt of our conversation.
Me: Do you know who made all the trees and plants and beautiful flowers?
Jonathan: [referring to my father-in-law] Pops?
Me: No.
Jonathan: [referring to my niece] Emmi?
Me: No.
Jonathan: [blank stare]
Me: It was God.
Jonathan: Oh. Where does it say that?
4 February
According to this article, the number of nuns and monks is on the decline.
Well, duh.
They don't breed.
12 April
No matter which side of the debate you're on, this is an interesting read: Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Life, and Sam Harris, well-known atheist and author of The End Of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, sit down for a friendly chat about whether or not God exists.
Some choice quotes, taken completely out of context:
Sam Harris: There's no evidence for such a God, and it's instructive to notice that we're all atheists with respect to Zeus and the thousands of other dead gods whom now nobody worships.
Rick Warren: I see the fingerprints of God everywhere. I see them in culture. I see them in law. I see them in literature. I see them in nature. I see them in my own life.
Sam Harris: How is it fair for God to have designed a world which gives such ambiguous testimony to his existence? How is it fair to have created a system where belief is the crucial piece, rather than being a good person?
Rick Warren: We're both betting. He's betting his life that he's right. I'm betting my life that Jesus was not a liar. When we die, if he's right, I've lost nothing. If I'm right, he's lost everything. I'm not willing to make that gamble.
Sam Harris: I think you could use your time and attention better than organizing your life around a belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God and the best book we're ever going to have on every relevant subject.
Rick Warren: You're more spiritual than you think. You just don't want a boss. You don't want a God who tells you what to do.
15 January
So it looks like the hormone balance will be completely out of whack at my church this weekend.
Our Men's Ministry is having its first retreat: a duck hunting trip to Maryland.
Lest anyone worry, I shall not be among them, for three reasons.
Reason The First:
Actually, I'm not allowed to talk about this one, but those that know me already know the reason.
Reason The Second:
Because somebody has to stick around and run the Sunday service. ;)
Reason The Third:
I can easily envision two scenarios. In the first scenario, myself or a fellow laborer in the ministry would come home with more than was taken along, namely some sort of ammunition lodged into the buttock region. In the second scenario, myself or a fellow laborer in the ministry would come home with less than was taken along, namely several toes or, possibly, a pinky.
12 June
This is very interesting reading. Slate writer David Plotz, who describes himself as never a terribly observant Jew, is reading through the Bible and posting his thoughts and reactions online:
So, what can I possibly do? My goal is pretty simple. I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. I think I'm in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people (Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus). I love Judaism; I love (most of) the lessons it has taught me about how to live in the world; and yet I realized I am fundamentally ignorant about its foundation, its essential document. So, what will happen if I approach my Bible empty, unmediated by teachers or rabbis or parents? What will delight and horrify me? How will the Bible relate to the religion I practice, and the lessons I thought I learned in synagogue and Hebrew School?His insights, without the benefit of commentaries and interpretations, are quite fascinating:
Until reading this, I never knew why, when Jews bless our sons on Shabbat, we bless them in the name of Ephraim and Manasseh. It turns out we are following Jacob's instructions: "By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh."... The religious practices Genesis describes are animal sacrifices, altar-building, idol-burying--things that have absolutely nothing to do with my life in 2006. This blessing is the first moment that the Torah intersects with my actual religious life--where its instructions are still living and followed (by me).So far, he's plowed through Genesis ("Maybe it was unfair for me to call Lot's daughters Judea's Hilton sisters.") and has reached Exodus 12 ("How stupid is that Pharaoh?"). I eagerly await the rest of his writing. I'm hooked.
25 December
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
-Luke 2:8-14
Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family, and to anyone else who happens across this website. May your Christmas be joyous and filled with peace.
And now, I'm off to bed. Some of us have to get up and lead worship at church in the morning. :)
22 March
From The Guardian:
Easter is one of those occasions on which human beings entertain a number of contradictory ideas. Christians celebrate a pagan fertility cult, while non-believers make their biannual journey to church. People whose lives are dominated by godless consumption give something up for Lent. A society governed by science engages in the ritual sacrifice and homeopathic magic - eggs and chicks and rabbits - required to induce the earth to bear fruit.
3 February
If you were wondering about the snowball I mentioned last week...
28 January
Sometimes, in order to effect a major change, something fundamental, you need to do something drastic. Something uncharacteristic. Sometimes, you don't get to benefit from these changes directly. You act as a catalyst in the hopes that others may benefit, or at least learn.
This week I threw a snowball, so to speak, and it seems to be starting an avalanche. I pray it turns out for the best.
There's a knot in my stomach that won't come undone. Maybe with time.
For now, I take comfort in knowing that all of this has a purpose. That all of this was planned in advance.
What I've done can't be undone, and people could be hurt in the process.
But something had to change.
And I was the only one who could do it.
24 December
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
"'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Merry Christmas, my friends. May blessings be upon you today and throughout the coming year.
21 November
Well, 40 Days of Purpose is over, at least for Westwood. I learned a lot by reading The Purpose Driven Life again. I had already read it earlier this year, but this time I got so much more out of it by participating in a small group and doing the readings with Jen.
Re-reading reminded me just how far I still have to go. It reminded just how weak I really am. But that's where I'm supposed to be. My strength doesn't come from within me; I'd be in trouble if it did.
If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it. It's quite excellent. If you can't afford it, let me know; you can borrow my copy.
26 August
ABC News: "A lot of people have the idea that you can only find God in the church," says Nelson Searcy, a teaching pastor with the church. "We believe that if you seek God you'll find him, even in the movies."
Amen to that.
26 August
Chris Tomlin writes: From Dallas, we flew in to Orange County to be a part of the Saddleback Church worship conference. It was what I refer to as a top 5 night. Meaning that I thought it ranked maybe in my top 5 all time experiences in playing music.
Yep. I was there. It was amazing. Chris goes on:
It was one of those concerts you wish you had on a live cd.
I wish I had it on a live CD, too. He joked that night that he wished he had recorded it all so he could the MP3s on his web site for us to download. That would have been way cool.
I was so tired the night he came out to lead worship. We were all exhausted. We had finished three days of training, of conviction, and of very moving worship. By Friday night, the finale, I was ready to be entertained. I really didn't want to worship. I just wanted to sit.
But within moments, I was on my feet.
We all were.
We had to be.
8 August
It's an eye-opening experience to walk into my four-year-old daughter's bedroom to find her sitting at her big yellow plastic desk with her head in her hands, lamenting the amount of work she has to do.
"What's wrong?" I ask, when I find her sitting there looking dejected.
"Daddy," she says sadly. "I just have so much work to do. I just don't know how I'm going to get it all done."
Granted, her "work" consists mostly of cutting random shapes out of construction paper and drawing objects on them. Even so, it gave me a pretty clear glimpse of how she sees me, or at least the image I'm projecting at home.
So, tonight, the three of us went to see Steven Courtney in concert at a local church. He was great. We had a rather humbling experience afterward. Instead of charging admission, the church collected a love offering, giving people an opportunity to support Steven Courtney directly with what they feel is an appropriate amount (sidebar: we used to do this for some gigs in Anonymous Joe, and you never know just how much or little a love offering will bring in; if you want predictability, put it in your rider). We put $11 in the pot, because that's the all cash we had on us.
This, while rather sad, seeing as how I make a pretty decent living and have in the past month bought a new car and a PowerBook for my wife, yet I rarely have two nickels to rub together, is not the humbling part. On the way, we passed his merchandise table. Grace wanted a video. Jen said, "Sorry, but Mommy and Daddy don't have any money." This was true; all of our cash, all $11 of it, went into the love offering.
Now, understand that this is not the church we attend. We were virtual strangers here. Also understand that we're not particularly dressed up for the occasion. A kind woman must have overheard Jen telling Grace that we didn't have any money and misunderstood. She turned to us, "Does she want a video?" she asked.
Jen, not really understanding yet what was happening, said, "Yeah, but we don't have enough money."
"I can buy her one," the woman said. "I'm writing a check anyway, so we can just throw it in."
At this point, I realized that this kind soul thought we were hurting for money, which we definitely aren't, we just never have any cash on hand. We're credit people. We politely declined, but it struck me how gracious this woman was. She didn't know us, had never seen us, but within two seconds of learning (even mistakenly) that we were in need, she offered to help.
Wow. I wish I were more like that.
