Misperceptions of Father

This afternoon while getting my kids a snack, my 3 and a half year old, S (pictured) said "Daddy, you are really big! You must be a hundred!" Now, you have to keep in mind that S's favorite number right now is the century mark. To him it represents a lot - the most he can possibly conceive. He often will say "Daddy, I love you 100!" So he was actually trying to complement me, not insult me. But my 5' 8" frame couldn't help but gently shake as I laughed at the misperceptions of my son.

As I laughed at S's misunderstanding of age and size, the thought hit me that I probably do the same thing to God. I underestimate His size. I miscalculate his wisdom. I misinterpret His ways.

I just hope that God can still smile and laugh at me because He can even see in my childishness that I still hope to grow up to be like Him. Even if S thinks I have to be 100 before that happens!

Razooing Blood:Water Mission

I got an email asking me to join Blood:Water Mission's group on a new action-oriented social networking site called Razoo. If Blood:Water Mission gets enough members, they could be selected as winner of the Change Your World Contest, which would award them $10,000.

Blood:Water Mission is doing great things helping Africans get clean fresh drinking water from wells right beneath their feet. I'd encourage you to join Razoo as well, and after you confirm your email address, click on http://beta.razoo.com/groups/bloodwatermission to join the group and help them out.

Waiting for Marriage

USA Today published an article about young adults and their "wait" for marriage.  I knew the average age of first time marriages was increasing, but this gives further evidence to this fact.

According to the article, "[t]he trend toward delaying marriage has emerged over several decades as economic and social forces have made it more difficult for those in their 20s to reach independence. Sociologists and demographers say other factors are also at work, including increasing numbers of cohabiting couples, more highly educated women who have fewer highly educated men of comparable age to partner with, and more choices open to women than in decades past."

I would personally add to this list:

• Looser Sexual Norms:   Each generation tends to move further and further away from the expected sexual norms of their parents' generation.  Media (both professional (TV and cinema) and self-published (such as YouTube)) seem to reflect this.  Why wait for marriage for sex when you are encouraged to enjoy it outside of a long-term marriage commitment?
  
• Pain of Divorce:  The children of the divorces of the 80s are now adults and have no desire to experience the pain they watched their parents go through (and that they themselves experienced).  So why rush into marriage when it appears it will only bring arguing, separation, and pain?
• Extended Adolescence:  Sociologists have been extending the age of adolescence to 26, and in some cases I've read, age 30.  We seem to be maturing slower, whether because of our upbringing, parental examples, education, or past experiences, and so we simply aren't ready for the responsibility of marriage.

Those were the first things to pop into my mind, and I'm not surprised one bit by the USA Today article.  And I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing - I would rather have people wait until they truly are ready for marriage than jump in to soon and wreak havoc upon a relationship through their selfishness and immaturity.

Thanks to Church Relevance for the link.

Losing Hymns for Him?

I may get in trouble for this post, but I've wanted to blog my thoughts on this subject for several weeks now and am finally carving out a bit of time to do so.

A while back I read a note in which the author, sharing his or her opinion about hymns, said that he or she was "afraid we are raising a generation of young people who will never be ministered to by these godly hymns."

First off, I want to say that I love the hymns.  But it isn't because I grew up with them.  I was raised in a church that reacted to the dead faith of the churches in our area by singing contemporary songs in our church service.  The adults in my church family had experienced life in Christ, and they didn't want to sing the same hymns the "dead" churches were monotonously droning out each Sunday.  Simple Scripture choruses were all I knew growing up.  In fact, as a kid I thought Keith Green had written "Holy, Holy, Holy" for his Songs for the Shepherd album.  So when I transferred my sophomore year of college to John Brown, I learned about all these great hymns I had never heard before.  And I still love to sing them today.

But with that said, I believe there is nothing "godly" about the hymns.  They are simply songs (tools) designed to help us in our worship of God.  They are not equivalent to Scripture.  They are not inerrant.  They are not God-breathed, designed to last forever.

If hymns were designed to be passed from generation to generation, then I would like for someone to teach us some of the hymns Jesus and his disciples sang.  If ever there was a godly hymn, it would have been the one Jesus sang with his disciples after the Last Supper before they headed out. (see Matthew 26).  I'd also like to learn some of the hymns Paul knew.  He mentions hymns a few times in Scripture (see especially Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16), and I think he even records the lyrics to some hymns in Scripture (as some say about Ephesians 5:14).  But where are the melodies to these hymns?  Where are the lyrics to the hymns Paul didn't quote?  Where are these hymns today?

I think the answer is obvious.  God uses the music of the time and culture to create and craft songs through his worshippers to exalt Him.  It isn't a tragedy to God to have these hymns "lost", because He is not tied to cultural forms of music.  The tragedy is when people hold the hymns (or any song or form of worship for that matter) higher than the things that truly last.

Now, if a hymn can take the heart and mind of a worshipper to the heavens and to the foot of God's throne - wonderful!  That is what it was designed to do.  But if other songs are doing the same thing and the hymn is lost, I believe God is just as glorified and the worshippers have lost nothing.  God wants our hearts, not our hymns.  Worship is about the One on the throne who died for us, not about the one in the pew longing for their own personal forms and traditions.

Blogging on Phrogging

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to the concept of phrogging.  According to Urban Dictionary, phrogging is the act of secretly living in another person's home.  This concept has been brought to the limelight by a documentary called Living With Strangers. and ABC's i-Caught.  Supposedly most phrogs are young adults who don't want to work a 9-5 job, but want the "pad" of a working professional, so they hop from place to place enjoying the amenities without having to pay the rent.

I watched a couple of the short videos on the Living With Strangers website.  A part of me was (and still is) very skeptical that people really do this (and skeptical that the documentary was true).  Another part of me was creeped out by the idea.

But then I had another thought.  I realized many people have been phrogging churches for a long time.  They attend worship services every week, but never make their presence known.  They consume from the church, but never contribute.  They want the conveniences of the church, but never join the family.  Then the jump to another church for whatever reason they decide.  In short, they miss out on the things that really matter and bring the greatest joy.

Maybe we should create a new entry on Urban Dictionary for "Church Phrogs..."

My 200th Post - MyPhone

Recently I was researching for a message I'll be giving in a month, and as I did so I read a guy's blog where he started it off by saying "The iPhone is now MyPhone". Well, those words are now MyWords.

To celebrate my 200th blog post, I'm going to admit to the world that I now own an iPhone. One of my friends who shall remain nameless (but his initials are Mike Goril) said "Erin, I'm a single guy who gets paid very well, and even I can't justify buying an iPhone.  How does a guy like you afford to get one?"

Well, Mr. Anonymous Mike and all those with similar thoughts, let me tell you a story that will hopefully glorify God in the purchase of a little gadget...

My church has asked that each of the Equipping Staff have a cell phone.  I was the last one to not have one.  I knew that I would function best with a smartphone - to have my PDA and cell phone combined.  I've used Palm OS systems for years, so I figured I would get a Treo 680, the least expensive Palm on the market.  But a "free" Treo 680 actually ended up costing $40 more after a 2-year contract than an iPhone did after its 2-year contract.

So I was surprised I was even considering an iPhone.  I mean it was too expensive, right?  But then Apple started selling "refurbished" units (which I now believe was actually a clearance of brand new units given their recent decisions concerning the iPhone) for $100 less.  So now I needed to come up with $400.

I happened to be on the Tapland forums (which I hadn't visited for probably a year), and someone in Uganda was wanting to buy a Zodiac 2, which was the PDA I was using daily.  So I offered to sell it for $100 and my new Ugandian friend agreed to it and paid the shipping.

So then I needed to come up with $300.  As I pondered this, I realized I am planning to close my web design business this fall, and in doing so, that frees up the almost $200 in that account.  So now I need to come up with $100.

Because I sold my Zodiac, I needed to go ahead and purchase the iPhone.  But I kept praying that God would somehow provide the last $100.  So when Apple announced on Wednesday they were dropping the price of the 8 Gb phone $200 and getting rid of the 4 Gb altogether, I was confused why God didn't lead me to wait until the price drop.  But then I "just happened" to see on a website that Apple has a 10-day price guarantee.  I quickly looked at a calendar, and lo-and-behold, I had purchased my phone exactly 10 days before.  I immediately called Apple, sat on hold for an hour and a half, and finally heard the good news that not only would I be refunded $100, but I would actually be refunded $150 because I had purchased a refurbished unit.

So my "$500" iPhone actually ended up costing $250, and I won't have to spend a penny out of pocket.  While I've struggled to understand why God answered these prayers for me and hasn't answered others (lots of messy ministry situations right now that I am aware of, plus many messy situations around the world), all I know is that God clearly worked in this situation and I am SOOOO grateful.

Hopefully this was a worthy enough story for my 200th post...

The perfect church service...

“The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God.” (C.S. Lewis)

Back to the Blog

Long time, no blog.

The excuse? Busyness. Pure, unadulterated busyness. I've been so busy I haven't even READ blogs, let alone have time to write on my own. In fact, I started this blog 2 weeks ago on Aug. 24, and yet here I am two weeks later finally finishing the post.

But I hope to resume as I am sure all three of you out there are dying to know what's happened in my life and that the blogosphere has deeply missed my voice among the millions and billions of blogs floating around in cyberspace.

Rather than unleash all my thoughts at once, I will try to share some of the blog ideas I've had over the past several weeks over the next few days. We'll see how it goes...

Entering a Cult

Yes, it is true. This summer I joined a cult. I had heard of this cult for quite a while, and naturally I doubted this cult held the truth. But its adherents (some of which were other pastors on staff at New Covenant who evangelized me upon my return from the Czech Republic) seemed convinced of the veracity of their "theology", and I was desperate for help, so I drank the Kool-Aid. I read their "bible". I began to implement the principles. I'm an early convert and not quite ready to make disciples, but I'm giving this a true college try.

In case you are afraid for me, I want to assure you I'm used to these cult things - I am a Mac user, own a Tapwave Zodiac (at least DID own one until last week - more on that in another blog), have been a Nebraska Cornhusker football fan my whole life, and have been drinking Mt. Dew since childhood. So I am used to these sort of things.

So what is this cult? Why, it is the Getting Things Done cult, of course. The "messiah" of this cult is David Allen, author of the bestselling book by the same name. I am still only 75% of the way through implementing the GTD system (busyness has kept me from getting "Getting Things Done" done), but I can tell already it is going to help me in the long run.

It took a lot of time to begin the process of converting the whole organization of my office, task handling, schedule, and life, but I'm glad I'm giving it a try. Administrative stuff has always been a weakness of mine and I needed help. But it appears GTD has come to the rescue. Hopefully it will help me put in enough margin in my life to get back to blogging!

A Big Week of "Ds" at the Birdnest

A couple of important milestones are happening with the girls of the Birdnest, and as a proud dad, I thought I'd share them here.

A Double-Digits Daughter
It does not seem possible, but I am now the father of a 10-year-old daughter. My eldest, K, turned the big One-Oh yesterday. When asked by her Grandpa Bird on the phone last night if she felt different, she said "yeah, a little!" :o)

But she wasn't as excited about turning 10 as we thought she would - she told LeAnn last week that the bad thing about becoming double digits is that most people die in their double digits. Thankfully she isn't a pessimist most days...

I thanked God last night before our family celebration for choosing to place K in our family. Her laugh lights up our rooms, her creative mind is a blessing (most days!) to those around her, and her hunger for God is inspiring. She is a great big sister, a wonderful helper, a motivated learner, and an amazing daughter. K's name comes from the Greek word meaning "grace", and it truly was God's grace that has blessed us with K's presence. We love our little "venezolana" (who isn't so little anymore), and are thrilled she is part of the Birdnest. Happy Birthday, K!

A Duly-Dunked Daughter
While I was gone in the Czech Republic, my children watched video devotionals I made for the them. In one of the videos I made for M, I went out to Palo Lake to talk about fish (from Matthew 13:47-50). To help M know where I was, I mentioned I was at the spot where our church has held summer baptisms the past few years.

When the video was done, M turned to LeAnn and said "so when can I get baptized"? This led to a great conversation about the meaning of baptism, who gets baptized, and more. The conversation continued once I got back home from my trip, and much to my surprise, my shy little 7-year-old truly was ready to make her public stand of her faith in Christ.

So tomorrow night I get the honor of baptizing my second daughter at 7:00 pm out at the Pleasant Creek State Park. All on her own M decided that this was the right thing for her as a Christ-follower to do. And I couldn't be more proud (in the righteous sense of the word!).

I have a new hero...

I have linked to Eric Goodell's blog before, but I can't help but do it again. He has a superb (but mammoth) post about some of the things he has learned and experienced recently in Central America. His journal entry from June 21 is so good, that I'm posting much of it here for those of you without the time to read the entire online novel.

Pastor Bernabé is my new hero-on-earth. Thank You to Eric for sharing this:

I have learned a lot on this trip so far, but I can honestly say that the times that my eyes have been opened more than any have been with my conversations I have had with Pastor Bernabé [Ramirez] (pictured). Though much of my time has been spent here on the island has been spent in conversation with Bernabé, I think that more than anything, I have learned by watching this man’s life.

I mean, just two years ago Bernabé was a Doctor of chemistry making $204,000 dollars a year, had 14 employees, 3 chemistry businesses, a personal chauffeur, nice house and great recognition in the Latin American chemistry world. And simply because he wholeheartedly believed God called him back to his ancestors to preach the gospel, he abandoned it all and came.

He converted to Christianity 10 years back, literally saw a vision of him preaching the gospel to the Kuna people on these San Blas islands, and then fought it for 8 years before actually coming. Think about it, 40 years old, well established in his life, and yet he knew that he had to go. He said that it was like a feeling of anxiousness, a tingling in his feet such that he simply couldn’t resist it any longer. He just had to go. He forsook it all, packed his backpack, and came to the island not knowing anyone, nor having any training as a Pastor. He didn’t have a place to live or much of an income since leaving his profession. He has been supported by a church in Panama City but very little comes from there. And so there he was, one day a rich leader in the chemistry field, the next day on an island with an indigenous primitive tribe where the average salary is less than $5 a day.

Little by little, he took over an assembly of God church that had already been established on the island and gave it the name “Casa de Oracion Cristeana de Playón Chico” With the little he had, he began to fix up the broken down building, building benches and painting where it was needed. To this day, he is working day in and out to see the church raised up and the gospel message spread to the people of Playón Chico.

If the 180 degree turn in lifestyle weren’t enough of a challenge, the tests he faces daily are enough to make one throw in the towel. During the services, few adults come and when they do, it’s very inconsistent, and the children are running around making a huge scene throughout the whole service. It’s almost impossible to maintain a topic of doctrine two services in a row because the inconsistency in the attendance is so terrible.

He’s all alone and basically does everything by himself and gives his whole life daily for these people. He has to work hard in the hot sun and humidity in the fields trying to raise a little money to live on, to help feed his relatives on the island, the church, or works out on a canoe fishing for not only income but also to be able to understand what the people in the community experience on a daily basis. Imagine a Doctor, a prestigious, well known, educated Doctor of Chemistry out in the field covered in mud and sweat, sleeping in a hammock under a roof of palm branches, all to serve a people who don’t even seem to care? And it’s not just for a weekend or even a month long mission trip, but rather he is committed to doing this for the rest of his life if that’s what it takes to reach these people. Working, sweating, sacrificing, for what seems to be futile, and a waste of time, Bernabé is truly giving his life daily to serve God and these people.

When he came here, he had 15 acres of land passed onto him by his grandparents and had the option to sell them. But instead, he decided to become just like the people and farm the land himself. He spent an entire year alone in the jungle clearing land with his machete every day for 4 hours a day. He did this for two reasons: First, he didn’t want to have to be supported by the church. He wanted to work for his living and have food for his relatives on the island. Second, he wanted to experience what the Kuna people experience on a daily basis. He wanted to be able to talk to them about the things that interest them. Bernabé had an extremely formal and sophisticated education and could easily engage in a conversation of profound depth and philosophical topics with the brightest and wisest, yet with these simple Kuna people, he knew that he needed to master the topics that engaged these people’s daily lives; farming and fishing. He arrived to an island of people who had little if any education, with little understanding of the outside world, and a primitive lifestyle of farming and fishing. He wanted to better understand them, being able to sympathize with them, and build relationships with them even to his own pain and discomfort. Working out there for one day was hard enough for me, but it’s hard to imagine doing it day after day after day in the hot sun for weeks, months, even years in order to relate better to the people. It’s hard to comprehend that kind of sacrifice. But the amazing thing is that he doesn’t do it with an ounce of unwillingness or a feeling of superiority or obligation.

But the reason that I go into such detail about the life he has given up and the life he now lives is to give reason for my amazement when I see that this incredible man does it all with pure joy, and willingness, more than grateful to serve the Lord in even worse circumstances were they to come. Despite the apparent failures that daily plague his work, he never gives up hope, and keeps incredible faith that God is going to bring about the change in the hearts of these people and that God will finish the work He started on this island. Never have I seen such humility, such perseverance, and such faith in all my life and I can say that my life has been changed by the honor of spending 6 days with a person of such priceless and rare character. To sit there on a log in the middle of the hot, humid jungle with such an admirable man and to look into the eyes of someone whose love for God and for people drove him to such sacrifice was a real honor and privilege for me that day.