Another "kethup" post

What I thought would only happen one time is beginning to happen more frequently - the irregular "ketchup" post. I probably don't need to worry about doing these since most of the blogosphere couldn't care a lick about my life, but for some reason it helps me - so to catch my 3 readers up, here goes...

PERSONAL

• Had a GREAT trip with my family to Topeka, Kansas to see LeAnn's side of the family over the 4th. LeAnn and I are so blessed to have the extended families that we do. I am so thankful to God that both of us have parents that love Christ and siblings who are leading their families to follow Christ as well. It is always so enjoyable to be with any of our family. The only regret was not getting to go boating/skiing/tubing one day due to weather (that and not getting another day or two with everyone!). Otherwise, the week could not have gone better.
• K turns 11 today. We have a small family party tonight with the annual "birthday-party-with-friends" event on Friday.
• I've been swimming laps almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday since the pool opened. I've lost 13 pounds in 2 months, and hope to lose about 9 more by the end of August.
• LeAnn and I just booked a week away together (not just a weekend) on a "couples retreat" in mid-November. We get to hang out at a house in the middle of Wisconsin reserved for full-time pastors and their spouses.
  
• I'm addicted to the game "Scramble" on Facebook (it's pretty much the game "Boggle"). I'm up for a turn-based game with anyone!
• I'm enjoying our "eXchange" series on Romans here at New Covenant. But I need to get caught up on last week's sermon since we were out of town...
• I read "Deadly Viper Character Assassins" on my spiritual retreat June 27. It was fun, a great reminder, surprisingly "non-Christian" coming from two pastors, and something I'm giving to the leaders I get to co-labor with to encourage them to be men of radical integrity.
  

MINISTRY

• I have a bunch of stuff to do for a conference we are putting on here at New Covenant on mid-sized groups. What started as a conference for the leaders of our Adult Bible Fellowships has spilled into an event we are inviting other churches too. I got to design the promo materials, and now need to get those mailed out to various churches.
• I have 2 weddings in one day on July 19th. I've never officiated two in one day, but I'm honored that I get to stand before Jonathan & Mallori and Dustin & Josie as God makes the two into one as they exchange vows. But because I have 2 in one day, I should probably get to working on at least one of them this week...
• I'm still trying to figure out what exactly to pour my time into now that my time with Watershed is pretty much over. I have a couple of different missions trips in mind, plus a "leadership development group" that's been swirling around in my head. If I'm going to do something on the leadership development thing, I better get going on it since the idea is a 9-10 month class, so I need to get going in September. Any young adults in CR that read this and have an interest, email me...
• We have an opportunity at New Covenant to reach out to some international students studying business at Kirkwood here in Cedar Rapids.
  

THOUGHTS THAT DESERVE THEIR OWN POST

• One disappointing moment on our Topeka trip last week: LeAnn saw a friend of her parents' at church Sunday after the service. He asked the typical "so where are you these days" and she answered "Cedar Rapids" just as I was walking up to join the conversation. He immediately remarked about the floods, having heard about it on the news. He even clarified: "your city government buildings were built on an island in the river, right?" After our affirmative answer, I could not believe my ears at the next statement to slip from the lips of this "wizened Christian man".
  
  "Well, you'll get no sympathy from me".
  
  The same attitude that I saw in the New York Times article on the Cedar Rapids flood was pouring out of this man in front of me. I tried to help him understand the magnitude of the flood, but it was useless - his opinion was that if someone builds anywhere close to water, they should expect to lose everything in a flood someday.
  
  After I realized he was stuck in the conclusion he had jumped to concerning the flood, I chose to point the light on Christ and share about all the great things God has been doing in the city, especially through His people. The man before me seemed amazed at this and was somewhat pleased, but you could tell he had come to a firm opinion and was not going to give any pity whatsoever.
  
  I couldn't help but think about this conversation the entire 6 1/2 hour trip home. One thought I had was that perhaps this man shouldn't receive any mercy if his home was destroyed by a tornado since he had the hubris to build it within the state of Kansas. But I knew that wasn't the right response.
  
  But the overwhelming thought I had was this: Even if the entire city of Cedar Rapids had intentionally built near the river with arrogance and ignorance, the Christ-like response is not only sympathy, but compassion in action. The Scriptures tell us that while we were sinners, while we were arrogant and ignorant thinking we could do it better or differently than God, Christ died for our sins. He entered in to our problem, put compassion into action, and rescued us through the cross.
  
  And so having a Christian man (whose wife has been very active in her church's missions committee which has aimed to put Christ's compassion into action all around the world) respond with such an uncaring attitude just hit me below the belt emotionally. I could not believe a self-proclaimed Christ follower could come to such a "logical" conclusion of unsympathy.
  
  
• I have several magazines and articles waiting to be read, one of which is an AP study on the consumption of news by today's young adults.
  
  
• I finally saw Rob Bell's "Everything is Spiritual" sermon/DVD. I liked it much better than I anticipated. I used to listen to Rob's sermons via podcast, as well as own every Nooma film he has taught in. But so many of his sermons and Nooma films began to come to the same conclusion. "We just need to go out and do good in the world." It felt like a rehashing of the social gospel of the 70s. Christ seemed absent, and good works was enough. Obviously I am all for doing good in the world as you can tell by my praise of the flood relief efforts, but to only do good without the knowledge that Christ gave us the example seemed empty to me.
  
  I expected the "Everything is Spiritual" message to come to the same conclusion - just go do good things because it is all spiritual. But that wasn't the message. Rob had some EXCELLENT illustrations and ideas in his message, and I've already used his Flatland illustration in conversation twice. I'm going to lend it to a friend, but this is probably a message I should relisten to (which I rarely do).

FINALLY THE END

Okay, this is WAY more than enough. I'll be surprised if even one of my three readers makes it this far. And that counts my wife. :o) I know I would probably have given up reading this far by now - probably because of the info in that AP study...