Comments (3)

By Andy, June 25, 2009 9:56 pm

I was 6 years old, just 3 months shy of my 7th birthday, and my family and I were on a vacation down the central California coast to check out Hearst Castle.  We were driving from our home in San Francisco in our 1969 Buick Skylark coupe, listening to the AM band, when the news came over the radio that Elvis had died.

The quintessential pop icon of my parents’ generation had gone.

Twenty years later, over Labor Day weekend, I was in Las Vegas with Will and a cast of other young twenty-something men for a bachelor party weekend.  We had piled into 2 cars that Saturday morning to tour Hoover Dam, and upon our return, after a dinner at a nearby In ‘N Out Burger joint, we got ready for a night of gaming at the Hard Rock Hotel.  Television tuned to CNN, we saw the breaking news…Princess Diana had been killed in an auto accident.

The princess who’d had the storybook royal wedding when I was 10 years old had gone.

Twelve years later, sitting in a cubicle high above downtown San Francisco, I learned that Farrah Fawcett, one of the blonde bombshells whose beauty marked my childhood and adolescence, passed on after a battle with cancer.

Jill Munroe, an original Angel, had gone.

And on that same day, sitting in that same cubicle high above downtown San Francisco, following the Twitter feed of a couple of friends, I learned that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson had died.

The “Thriller” will thrill no more.

Four pop icons, whose lives have left their mark on global pop culture, have passed within a 32 year span.  Who could forget the royal wedding in 1981?  Who could forget Jill, Sabrina, Kelly, and later Kris, in various syndicated repeats?  Who could forget the moonwalk, the lighted sidewalk in the Billie Jean video, the Eddie Van Halen solo in Beat It?

A large piece of my generation’s pop culture history passed today.

Farewell.

Comments (2)

By Andy, June 23, 2009 11:56 pm

I admit it.

I watched it on Monday night.

In fact, it’s been a show that our family has watched, on and off, since it first aired.

My kids, in particular, have enjoyed watching the antics of the sextuplets as they’ve grown up from crawling babies to curious 5 year olds.  But now…all we feel for the sextuplets and their twin older sisters, is nothing but sadness.

For all the flaunting of their Christian faith in the early years of their reality show (they took a trip sans kids to speak to a large church in Fresno, and Kate’s book tour last year took her to a variety of churches across the country, nevermind that their book was published by a major Christian publisher and can be found in the Christian book section), the fact is that it appears, at least from the 30 minute episodes we’ve seen, that it wasn’t as large a part of their life as we’d been led to believe.  Admittedly, some of that is editing, of course, but the pattern of behavior that we’ve seen on the show between the two parents has not been healthy for a long time. On Monday night, Jon, the father, admitted as much when he shared that he had allowed his wife to boss him around while he reacted passively (although I would argue rather passive aggressively) and that he’d finally had enough.  There was truth in that statement, as we could see that pattern throughout the life of the show.  We saw a time when Kate flipped out when Jon dressed the kids in clothes other than what she set out (because they matched) rather than accept the fact that he got them dressed and out the door for a family outing (which is what would happen in most healthy marriages).  The level of criticism she has leveled at her husband, on screen, to his face, during those love seat interviews, probably wasn’t fair much of the time.  And he should have stepped up to work through those rather than accept them the way he did.

That said, he’s a coward.  For all the criticism that I can level at the wife, I reserve my harshest for him - because as a father and a husband, he is called to more.  If he truly believed in his vow of marriage, if he truly loved his wife the way he is supposed to, he would have stepped up - would “man up” - and be the Ephesians 5 husband that God has called all husbands to be.

25-28Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.

Ephesians 5:25-28 The Message

Unfortunately Jon’s actions in recent months, clubbing with another woman, is worse than anything that his wife might have done to him in the past. He should be loving his wife, faults and all, the way Jesus loves us - the sacrifical love, the love that brings the best out of us.  As a husband that’s what I want to do, to love my wife in such a way so as to bring the best out of her.  I don’t always succeed, but I’m not about to take the “easy” route and run away from the problem.  Besides, doesn’t it make sense that it would be easier for the wife to respect her husband when he is loving her the way that Jesus loves His church?

There is so much more that could be said, including the materialism that both parents seem to enjoy from the income from the show, but that’s a discussion for another day.  The sad truth is that eight more children will become victims of divorce, victims of two selfish parents, one of whom has a highly critical streak in her personality, and one who is unable to rise up to the challenge of becoming a real man…a man who should be loving sacrificially, the way Jesus loves us, the way that He commanded us to love.

Comments (2)

By Andy, June 21, 2009 9:37 pm

“Hi there…we’d like to give you this gift card today as a simple way of showing that God loves you.”

With those few words on Saturday, a neighborhood in our coastal town was blessed as folks received Starbucks cards, Shell gas cards, Chevron gas cards, and gift cards to the local Dollar Tree store.  A few other folks received $2 bags of quarters for their wash at laundromats throughout our city.

Men from our Thursday morning small group, and a few others, met for breakfast at our local Denny’s on Saturday morning, as we typically do each week.  Over pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs and coffee, we plotted out our strategy.  A couple of us brought our kids along, too, and around 10 am on Saturday, we simply showed God’s love to our community - a big deal to a couple of these guys, as it was their first time as servolutionaries.

What is a Servolution?

A Servolution is not an event; it is a culture. Infusing this culture into the DNA of your church will change the view of the world and your perspective of the needs of those around you. This movement is rumbling throughout the body of Christ - a revolutionary army of people ready to take up this mandate. We are actively pursuing the lost, the forgotten, and the poor to show them a God who is passionately in love with them. We stand ready with one heart, saying, “I will serve others and show them the hope they can have in Jesus.”

From Servolution.org

After completing our breakfasts, we headed out to the strip mall where the servolution was to take place. We met in front of Starbucks, passed out the cards to the members of our Servolution team, and prayed…for boldness in our actions, for lives to be touched, for seeds to be planted, for God to be present.

And present He was.  The cards for the dollar store ($5 each) were passed out quickly.  The Starbucks cards ($5) moved a little more slowly as we waited for additional foot traffic.  The gas cards, for the nearby Chevron station and Shell station, went more quickly - and at each station, customers who received the cards, especially those who were about to pay at the pump, were blown away at the gift of $25 towards their gas purchase.  In the case of one man to whom I handed a card, he grabbed me as I walked by after handing out a subsequent card, just to shake my hand and thank me as he intently read the business card we gave with the gas card…”This is our simple way of showing that God loves you…let us know if we can be of service.”

Two other men headed out to the laundromats around the city.  Armed with 30 bags of $2 in quarters, they actually had a difficult time finding people to give money to…not that folks weren’t accepting the money, but Saturday morning isn’t exactly “rush hour” at the local laundromats.  One of our gents shared that he only had one instance in which the money was rejected…it was a woman who told him that she owned the laundromat!

But she said she would take several bags of the quarters, and pass them onto her customers.  As he shared with us, “We didn’t pray for workers - but God gave us workers!”  He also still has 13 bags of quarters to hand out, and shared that he will be handing them out this week to unsuspecting customers at our local laundromats.

And finally, at original Starbucks location, when all the cards had been distributed, one of our guys went in to buy a mocha.  The worker at the counter said, “Hey…you’re one of them…one of the guys handing out the cards out front!”

“Yeah, I am…”

“Well, that’s a really cool thing that you guys did.  Are you with a church?”

“That’s right…we’re with New Life.”

“Awesome…what’ll you have?  It’s on me.”

My fellow brother got a free mocha simply because he had listened to Jesus’ call for service on Saturday.

All this is just the start to something more as we reach out to our community.  Ideas are forming as to what we’ll do next.  How can we reach the elderly in our community?  Who are the struggling families in our city and how can we help them?  Where can we find the single mothers?

How can we continue to love our neighbor and to show Jesus’ love for them in a practical way - and make it part of the DNA of our church community?

We took a few simple steps forward yesterday.  And we’re going to keep going.

Comments (2)

By Andy, June 18, 2009 11:38 pm

Let’s face it - all of us have challenges each day.  For some of us, we simply need support to just maintain our prayer lives.  That’s certainly true of me, as I can easily forget to talk to our Father.

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10 NIV)

I move around too much.

I can get unfocused all too easily.

I want to watch TV.

I want to read.

I want to write.

I don’t want to be still.  But He commands us to be still.

Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. (Psalm 37:7 NLT)

I really don’t want to be patient, either.

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.  I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8 NLT)

If I am still, I will hear Him. And when I hear Him, I will know that He knows what’s best for me, He will guide me.

What do I need to say to Him?

What do you need to say to Him today?

How can we pray for each other today?

::

So with that, Prayer Request Fridays are back.  Leave your requests below.  Or if you’re on Facebook, you can leave your prayer requests there, too.

Comments (3)

By Andy, June 16, 2009 11:04 pm

Being the book freak that I am, I opted to review 3 books as part of this Father’s Day blog tour for Waterbook Multnomah.  The books I received were Eyes Wide Open, by Jud Wilhite, The Disappearance of God, by Albert Mohler, and Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart, by Chuck Black.

Of these, I read the entirety of Eyes Wide Open and about half of The Disappearance of God. Alas, I’ve not had the time to crack open Sir Dalton yet, so the review in that case will consist of the publisher’s marketing description of the book, which does look to be an intriguing work of fiction. I do plan on reading it later this summer as my reading shifts from the more theologically inclined non-fiction I’ve been reading to straight up fiction.

As to the theologically inclined non-fiction, both Eyes Wide Open and The Disappearance of God are interesting contrasts, when read back-to -back as I have done.  Wilhite’s book is a basic look at God’s grace and how it works in our lives.  Wilhite, senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, writes:

Embracing God’s perspective of you - living with eyes wide open - is so important because it allows you to become the person God created you to be. Not the you your critics claim you are. Not the you who pretends to be perfect in order to satisfy others’ expectations. Not the you who feels guilty before God about your past and who lives with chronic spiritual remorse. Not the you who looks in the mirror and sees a failure….
…Some of the most “together” people I know have admitted to going through incredible struggles to accept God’s grace, to see themselves with their new identity in Christ, and to make an impact in the world as a result of that. One of the greatest joys in my life has been to see them look at God and themselves with new eyes, freed to discover the person God designed them to be.

What follows throughout the book are chapters that take us on a journey from having eyes wide open to God, to having eyes wide open to identity, eyes wide open to change, and eyes wide open to influence. He effectively uses appropriate Scripture and vignettes from his own life, from the lives of various denizens of Vegas who have come to know Jesus, and even some well-known folks (Evel Knievel anyone?) who have experienced the transforming power of Jesus’ love. He reminds us to view “spiritual growth more like a spiral that’s gradually moving toward a destination of becoming like Jesus.” This book is written in a conversational tone, but is theologically solid as Wilhite reminds us:

If you only have grace, you’ll be forgiven, but you won’t be challenged by the truth to become the person God desires. You’ll be stuck in a rut. So truth must be there as well. Yet if you only have truth, without grace, you’ll wallow in guilt and condemnation. And all of this takes significant time. The change doesn’t happen overnight.

I recommend this book, as Wilhite gives us the truth of the Gospel without falling into legalism.

On the other hand, Mohler’s book The Disappearance of God falls into dangerously close territory to legalism, and flirts with elements of American nationalism, both of which made me uncomfortable as I read the book.  He writes to a specifically American audience (whereas Wilhite’s audience isn’t necessarily limited to North American Christianity), denigrating his perception of elements of American society and the American church as falling away from a typically conservative American political viewpoint associated with a particular political brand of Christianity.

However, Mohler does address some basic theology very well, particularly at the outset of the book.  He effectively defines the issues that all Christians should agree on, and defines lesser issues which separate Christians without disagreement on primary issues.  He suggests that primary, first order issues include “the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, justification by faith, and the authority of Scripture.” Lesser issues would include baptism (infant baptism, full immersion) or the ordination of women - issues that have caused the disagreements among denominations (and even some congregations within denominations) without jeopardizing the truth of first order issues.

That said, his writing evokes a certain anger towards those who oppose or disagree with the primary/first order issues, and there does not appear to be much grace and love in his writing style.  It is much more heavy handed, less conversational, and tended to leave me cold as I read.  It was not as accessible as Wilhite’s book, nor did it make me want to agree with his subject matter, intriguing though it was at times. I can’t recommend Mohler’s work, unless you’re willing to work through it and wrestle with his dogmatic style.

Two interesting, yet very different reads, with two different recommendations.

::

Book: The Disappearance of God

Author: Dr. R. Albert Mohler

Dates: June 15th – 19th

Summary:

More faulty information about God swirls around us today than ever before. No wonder so many followers of Christ are unsure of what they really believe in the face of the new spiritual openness attempting to alter unchanging truth.

For centuries the church has taught and guarded the core Christian beliefs that make up the essential foundations of the faith. But in our postmodern age, sloppy teaching and outright lies create rampant confusion, and many Christians are free-falling for “feel-good” theology.

We need to know the truth to save ourselves from errors that will derail our faith.

As biblical scholar, author, and president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler, writes, “The entire structure of Christian truth is now under attack.” With wit and wisdom he tackles the most important aspects of these modern issues:
Is God changing His mind about sin?
Why is hell off limits for many pastors?
What’s good or bad about the “dangerous” emergent movement?
Have Christians stopped seeing God as God?
Is the social justice movement misguided?
Could the role of beauty be critical to our theology?
Is liberal faith any less destructive than atheism?
Are churches pandering to their members to survive?

In the age-old battle to preserve the foundations of faith, it’s up to a new generation to confront and disarm the contemporary shams and fight for the truth. Dr. Mohler provides the scriptural answers to show you how.

::

Book: Eyes Wide Open

Author: Jud Wilhite

Dates: June 15th - 19th

Summary:

I had it all backwards. The main thing was not my love for God, but his love for me. And from that love I respond to God as one deeply flawed, yet loved. I’m not looking to prove my worth. I’m not searching for acceptance. I’m living out of the worth God already declares I have. I’m embracing his view of me and in the process discovering the person he created me to be.

In Eyes Wide Open, Jud Wilhite invites you to discover the real you. Not the you who pretends to be perfect to satisfy everyone’s expectations. Not the you who always feels guilty before God. Not the you who secretly feels God forgives everyone else but only tolerates you. Not the you who looks in the mirror and sees a failure. The real you, loved and forgiven by God, living out of your identity in Christ.

A travel guide through real spirituality from one incomplete person to another, Eyes Wide Open is a book of stories about following God in the messes of life, about broken pasts and our lifelong need for grace. It is a book about seeing ourselves and God with new eyes–eyes wide open to a God of love.

::

Book: Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart

Author: Chuck Black

Dates: June 15th - 19th

Summary:

Sir Dalton, a knight in training, seems to have everything going for him. Young, well-liked, and a natural leader, he has earned the respect and admiration of his fellow knights, and especially the beautiful Lady Brynn.

But something is amiss at the training camp. Their new trainer is popular but lacks the passion to inspire them to true service to the King and the Prince. Besides this, the knights are too busy enjoying a season of good times to be concerned with a disturbing report that many of their fellow Knights have mysteriously vanished.

When Sir Dalton is sent on a mission, he encounters strange attacks, especially when he is alone. As his commitment wanes, the attacks grow in intensity until he is captured by Lord Drox, a massive Shadow Warrior. Bruised and beaten, Dalton refuses to submit to evil and initiates a daring escape with only one of two outcomes–life or death. But what will become of the hundreds of knights he’ll leave behind? In a kingdom of peril, Dalton thinks he is on his own, but two faithful friends have not abandoned him, and neither has a strange old hermit who seems to know much about the Prince. But can Dalton face the evil Shadow Warrior again and survive?

Comments (3)

By Andy, June 15, 2009 4:26 pm

So I’m an ADHD narcissistic stalker.

How about you?

Comments (2)

By Andy, June 13, 2009 12:03 am

For as long as I can remember, I was a San Francisco Giants fan. More so than any other Bay Area sports team, including the 49ers, the black and orange of the Giants has taken root deep in my soul.  From the bright orange road jerseys of the 1978 team with manager Joe Altobelli, to the 1981 and 1982 Frank Robinson teams (especially the 1982 team that gave the NL West to the Braves), the 1985 team that lost 100 games, the resurgence in the late 80s with Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Jeffrey “One Flap Down” Leonard, the near-move to Tampa in 1992, the signing of Barry Bonds in 1993, and the ill-fated 2002 World Series, the black and orange have been a large part of my life from childhood to adulthood. The Giants have been the team by which I choose to enjoy the game of baseball.

If baseball is a house complete with a large hallway with many rooms, I found myself in the hallway knocking on the door that led to the Giants.  Some of you found doors that led to the Cardinals, or the Athletics, or the Pirates, or the Cubs.  And others of you who I would deem to be a bit misguided knocked on the doors of the Yankees or (gasp) the Dodgers.

Each door, however, leads to a variation on the same theme…baseball.  We’ve merely chosen to enjoy the game from a slightly different perspective - with different “laundry” as Jerry Seinfeld would say.

Our Christian lives are no different.

It  (mere Christianity) is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meal. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable. It is true that some people may find they have to wait in the hall for a considerable time, while others feel certain almost at once which door they must knock at.  I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait.  When you do get into your room you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise….

…When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall.  If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them.  That is one of the rules common to the whole house.

C.S. Lewis, from the Preface to Mere Christianity

Hmmm.

I guess Dodger fans need my prayers all the more.  ;-)

Comments (0)

By Andy, June 11, 2009 11:05 pm

It’s one of those words that in my prior church experience was perhaps not taken seriously enough.  What does it really mean to be “authentic” in the Christian context?

According to Merriam-Webster to be authentic is to be “not false or imitation : real, actual“.

Until recent years, I hadn’t really understood what that meant or how to do it.

And then I read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. I read Mark Driscoll’s Confessions of a Reformission Rev. G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. And suddenly, I started to understand - I saw how each grappled with their faith, with Jesus, with their church, with how they perceived themselves and how they were perceived by others in the Christian community and I could relate to their issues.

However I still didn’t know how to do it myself. It was not something that I grew up learning how to do (nor, in retrospect, was that encouraged, but that would be the subject of a much lengthier post), and to be honest, I’m not sure that I knew that I needed to be able to do it in the first place.

Until…I came face-to-face with men in my local community who encouraged me to be real with them.  Perhaps encourage is the wrong word.  These men demanded it of me, and I demanded it of them.  More to the point - our faith demanded (and still demands) it.  If I am to grow in my walk in Jesus, I need to confront my own weaknesses and be held accountable by Him - and He does that through other folks.  With me, He has certainly done that in the company of the brothers I now keep.

In recent weeks I have seen many of my brothers be very real about their lives, the way I have been with them.   In each circumstance…

…we listened.

…we encouraged.

…we prayed.

It was real.

It was authentic.

It was Jesus meeting each of us at his moment of pain.

And it was very good.

Comments (0)

By Andy,

A few quick key takeaways so far from Dino Rizzo’s Servolution…

The goal of our servolution has always been to demonstrate the love of Jesus, not to make people feel like they now owed it to us to come to a service.Serving people is not just something we want to do; it’s something we need to do. People discover personal healing through helping others.

When we focus on caring for people, God takes care of the church.

Servolution is about expanding the kingdom, not just our church.

Every Christian needs to serve…through serving…staff, leaders and congregation have matured deeply in their spiritual walk, in their marriages, in their finances, in their relationships, in their emotions, and in their personal lives.

We don’t want to be known for our average generosity; we want to be a church that gives with extreme generosity.

Our understanding of “the poor” has to include any person in any kind of bondage or under any kind of oppression who needs the freedom of Christ shown to them.

A servolution costs those who ignite it.

Servolution reminds us that this is all about Him and not about us.

Comments (5)

By Andy, June 9, 2009 11:15 pm

My latest read is Dino Rizzo’s Servolution, a book that is completely challenging my viewpoint of how to love others unconditionally.  From the official website of the book and movement:

A Servolution is not an event; it is a culture. Infusing this culture into the DNA of your church will change the view of the world and your perspective of the needs of those around you. This movement is rumbling throughout the body of Christ - a revolutionary army of people ready to take up this mandate. We are actively pursuing the lost, the forgotten, and the poor to show them a God who is passionately in love with them. We stand ready with one heart, saying, “I will serve others and show them the hope they can have in Jesus.”

I want to be a Servolutionary.

I’ve started to take small steps over the past year, but now that I’m halfway through this book, I’m convinced that I want the attitude of this culture embedded in my everyday life.  I want to love as Jesus loved.  I want to serve as Jesus served.

The challenge has begun in how I and my brothers in Christ are planning ways to love our community creatively and passionately.

Last summer we washed cars for free.  We also handed out $2.00 bags of quarters at a local laundromat, at the local dollar store, and in front of a national coffee shop chain with a green circle in its logo.

About a month ago, we purchased a $50.00 card for that same national coffee shop chain and told the workers at the counter to use that card to pay for the coffee of subsequent visitors early one Thursday morning while our men’s small group met to discuss the prior week’s sermon message.  When we left a little after 7 am, the manager came out to tell us that the card had lasted for nearly 2 hours…several customers added funds to the card!  Others came in blown away that their coffee that morning was free.  One woman had remarked that she didn’t have enough money for coffee that morning (I assume she was planning on charging it) - so the act of kindness had touched her that day.

So what’s on tap?

Likely another free car wash.  We’ll probably give away bottles of water to runners and joggers at a nearby trail.  We’re going to give away gift cards to the local dollar store, to a national sandwich chain, and to that same national coffee shop as well.  Free gas cards are being considered, and you just might see some of us giving away bottles of water and juice to inebriated bar customers as they leave at 2 am.

You see, when Jesus says to love the poor, it isn’t just the economic poor.  It’s the emotionally poor.  It’s the spiritually poor.

It’s you.

It’s me.

I’m joining this Servolution.

How about you?