Christina and I threw our gear and boys in the car Friday and met with old college friends at Fairfield State Park for a night of camping. Camping with a bunch of ministers stinks because we all have to be at church Sunday morning, meaning we only get a good day-and-a-half to be together. Oh well, it’s a day-and-a-half worth spending.

I love camping with our boys because at 6, 3, and 18 months they’re old enough to only have fun in the outdoors – they don’t realize the frustrations of setting up tents, forgetting all useful items, fighting mosquitoes, and other annoyances we adults tend to focus on. They had fun chasing the armadillo through our camp, roasting marshmallows, throwing rocks into the lake, and playing in the tent like it was their own personal castle. I don’t know when we make the change, but at some point life becomes more about the frustrations than the joys. We carry our worries around like a fragile heirloom – we focus intensely on them, talk about them, show them to everyone whether they care or not. At some point we lose our childlikeness by seeing the bad more clearly than the good.

Oh to be a child again…

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On a separate note I’ve got some book recommendations for you. Christina read “The Shack” aloud two weekends ago while we were in the car for 9 hours. If you’re like me and put off reading it simply because everyone else was, give in and read it. It’s a great, great book.

I’m currently reading “What the Dog Saw” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a fascinating book about men and women who made something of themselves by seeing the world a little differently than the rest of us. It’s full of wonderful, tragic, inspiring stories.

I should be receiving my next shipment from Amazon soon with two new books – “Finding Our Way Again – The Return of Ancient Practices” by Brian McLaren, and “Christianity Beyond Belief – Following Jesus for the Sake of Others” by Todd Hunter. I’ll let you know my take after I’ve read them.

I finished Don Miller’s “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” today. What a great book. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. It’s easy to read yet deeply inspiring. Here’s my takeaway:

We are capable of crafting a story worth telling with our own lives.

I met a guy today named David Beagle. As of December 15 this year he will have been sober for 19 years, yet he still goes to AA meetings and leads multiple recovery groups and Bible studies during the week. His “job” is director of the distribution center at the Impact Church of Christ here in Houston. I say “job” because to David, it is clearly more than that. Jordan and I got to watch him in action for only a half-hour or so today, but in that brief time we heard his heart for the poor, his compassion for the addict, and his sensitivity toward those of us who are oblivious to what he sees everyday. David shows up each morning at 6:00 a.m. to begin his work at the distribution center. Some days he’s at the Food Bank making his purchases, some days he’s filling bags or preparing MRE’s, and other days he’s in meetings or teaching an alcoholic about Jesus. His partially-replaced knee is the only thing strong enough to slow this man down.

I tell you about David because I think he’s living a good story on purpose. I tend to wait for the good part of the story to come to me rather than make a good story happen. I’ve been content with a life of mostly insignificant events with a few extraordinary moments scattered between. And in some ways, aren’t we all? We live vicariously through our friends who are conquering the world, but we assume those stories are only for a select few. What if those stories are for everyone – you, me, your family and mine? What if we could make a life full of stories worth telling? What would that life look like?

That’s essentially what Donald Miller’s book is about. It has me ready to start writing a story, and when that one’s done, I’ll write another.

I’d love to hear about people you know who are living good stories on purpose.

That Bono sure draws a crowd.

 Wednesday night Christina and I joined Matt and Angela for the U2 concert at Reliant Stadium. Every seat was full and the standing-room-only floor was exactly how you think it would be. The concert was amazing – AMAZING! The band played 23 songs and stayed on stage for almost three hours, and at one point I may have cried a little.

 That Bono sure draws a crowd.

 I think it’s safe to say U2 has a massive following. I saw people from all walks of life Wednesday night – preppy, hippy, rich, poor, black, white, and everything in between. I saw a man dressed what appeared to be eastern religious clothing; I saw singles, married couples and a few gay couples. A woman sitting behind us had a British accent. It was the closest thing to the world’s population gathering in one place – all to hear one man.

 That Bono sure draws a crowd.

 Jesus drew a crowd. Mark tells us Jesus once fed 5,000 men (plus women and children) with a few loaves and fish. This was done with no billboards or Ticketmaster. Sure there were also no lights, screens, speakers, or stage, but there was a show. Healings, driving out demons, teaching like no one had ever heard, and the food! The people loved hearing Jesus teach about the Kingdom of God and how the poor are really rich, the hungry are fed, the weak are strong, etc. I can imagine them cheering when Jesus slammed the Pharisees, much like a U2 crowd cheering at Bono demanding the release of a political prisoner.

 That Jesus sure drew a crowd.

 Jesus and Bono have some similarities. Unfortunately, so do their followers. Following Bono is easy. You buy a t-shirt or two, some CD’s, and attend an event every once in a while with the rest of his followers. If you’re a hardcore fan, you sign up to be part of a campaign. Outside of that, following Bono has little effect on your day-to-day life.

 What would happen if I wrote the above paragraph substituting Jesus for Bono? Let’s try:

 Following Jesus is easy. You buy a t-shirt or two, some CD’s, and attend an event every once in a while with the rest of his followers. If you’re a hardcore fan, you sign up to be part of a campaign. Outside of that, following Jesus has little effect on your day-to-day life.

 Could this be true for you? I know it is for me much of the time. Western Christianity in many ways has been reduced to a t-shirt and church attendance. As Americans we celebrate our religious freedom, and rightly so, but has our freedom made us soft? Has our freedom removed a need for sacrifice? So far as I could tell, few people, if any, left the U2 concert before the lights came on. Everyone wanted as much as they could experience. In John 6:66, after delivering a hard teaching, John tells us that “many of (Jesus’) disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” When Jesus became more than a sideshow and free food, people bailed. Jesus made it clear that following Him meant something deeper, something harder than sitting in a pew. He said things like, “Take up your cross,” “Whoever loses his life will save it,” “sell everything you have and give to the poor.” Where is our cross? How much time do we spend preserving our life? How freely do we give to the poor?

 That Jesus sure can clear a room.

Geez Louise it’s been…okay I stopped counting…it’s been a really long time since my last post. I forget how much I enjoy blogging because it keeps me constantly thinking, critiquing, analyzing, and challenging myself. I think this is a good time to get back into it because, now hear me out, I’m really struggling with who I am, where I’m at in my walk with Jesus, and where the church is headed. It’s not a bad struggle; in fact I think it’s extremely healthy to feel uneasy sometimes about where we are as a people of God. Uneasiness gets us moving. Comfort keeps us in our seats. So I’m uneasy, and it’s got me moving.

So here’s the thing, for a very long time I’ve had a passion for the poor, the least of society. I’ve given my heart to those the world doesn’t want and the driving force behind that feeling is Jesus – these are the people Jesus gave His heart to. I feel at home, at peace, in parks full of homeless people. I get a rush when I’m at Impact in downtown Houston, I feel alive when I’m in Honduras with men and women who wear the same clothes everyday and sleep on dirt floors. I felt very close to God in Malawi sitting in a man’s home in a small village eating sima and boiled cabbage. These are the places I feel the Spirit of God. These are the places I feel myself aligned with the mission of Jesus on earth.

Here lately (specifically the last few days) I’ve been wrestling with who I am in the grand scheme of things – not just as an individual, but as a part of the Kingdom of God. I’ve been wrestling with the direction the Church is headed. I feel a deep sense that church as we know it will fail to reach our world in the next 15-20 years, maybe sooner. There are places in the U.S. where “church” has been undergoing a transformation for a while now, and the Kingdom is spreading even though there are no buildings, pews, benevolence policies, or ministry models. There are people reaching people, meeting in homes over dinner tables or in coffee shops or at restaurants, in bars and pubs, in tattoo parlors, and so on. The Kingdom is spreading in spite of the traditional Church.

This isn’t a slam on The Church. Jesus created it, God dwells among it, and the Holy Spirit works in it. The Church is holy, righteous, and good.

I think we in Bible belt, traditional churches in America must start reexamining how we approach reaching the lost. In many ways The Church is seen by people who do not claim Christianity as another institution not to be trusted. The Church is lumped in with the government, health insurance companies, investment firms, and other central societal organizations. Some believe they will never get a clear picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus because The Church has too much to lose if we were to teach that. So instead, the belief goes, we sugar coat, we glamorize, we amaze with worldly things – large buildings, high-tech equipment, helicopters, private jets, best-selling books. The Church competes with society rather than transforming it.

One of the wonderful things about being a youth minister here at West Houston is that I get to introduce this side of Christianity to our students through things like 30-Hour Famine, mission trips to places like PUMP in Oregon, Memphis Urban Ministry in Memphis, TN, and Mission Lazarus in Honduras. We live in a pretty affluent area of Houston and it’s hard to remember sometimes that another world exists – a world of poverty, hunger, hurt, pain, life. We get glimpses of that world through these events and I can’t wait to get to them again.

It’s hard for me to know what it would be like to be saturated in a world of poverty. I’m currently at my desk in my office, listening to the quiet hum of the copier in the work room, using my wireless internet, cooled by the air conditioning, and about to go into the kitchen for a snack. It’s hard for me to understand what the world is like for those who live outside, who deal daily with stress of not knowing what the immediate future will hold. It’s hard for me to understand how Jesus feels about me sitting here at my desk, on my computer, in my cozy office. Right now I’m just full of questions about life, God, Jesus, myself, The Church, my boys, and other issues. I’ve listed them below in no particular order. Some of them came to me even as I was typing. Some of them are currently more relevant than others, but they are all contributing to an overall feeling of unease.

And so it begins:

- How can my world look more like Jesus’ world?

- How can I make the Kingdom of Heaven a little brighter for the people around me?

- Where is God at work in my world? How do I join Him in it?

- Is it okay to help everybody just because they ask? Should we take Matthew 25, the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and other teachings of Jesus seriously when it comes to giving, serving, helping?

- Is God pleased with The Church as it exists today?

- What should The Church be doing that we’re totally missing?

- How do we all join together – megachurches, traditional churches, parachurches, house churches – to channel the Kingdom of Heaven on earth?

- How much is The Church hindered by our pride and arrogance? How many decisions in The Church get made that are borne out of selfishness, a desire to be bigger, richer, more powerful? How does God feel about those exactly?

- Where is there selfishness in my own world and in the student ministry at WHCC? What must change if we’re going to start reaching students we’ve never reached?

- Should everyone be poor? Jesus was. Is that the best way to live? It seems like Jesus was God’s way of not only redeeming humanity, but also saying, “Here’s what life is supposed to look like. I created it and here’s how I would live it if I were human.”

- I don’t read the word “responsible” or “irresponsible” in the Bible. Maybe it’s there and I’m just missing it. It seems to me that we use the idea of responsibility as a reason not to take risks. Responsibility is dependent on human wisdom. A lot of what Jesus said and taught didn’t really make sense. Is responsibility a crutch, an excuse, a way to maintain our comfort?

- What do I want my children to know about the Kingdom of Heaven? Do I want them to know how to do church or how to be like Jesus? The obvious answer is to be like Jesus. But how do I do that without simply making them good at church? How do I teach them that the people taking Jesus into bars and pubs, coffee shops and restaurants, but never go to a church building, are just as much a part of the Kingdom of Heaven as we are (if not more so)?

- How far am I supposed to go with trusting the Lord? Should I go home now, throw out all my food, and wait for God to show up with a basket of bread, turkey, barbecue Lays, and lemon-lime Gatorade? Should we go buy a cow and get our milk the way God intended? Should I have a garden in my backyard with all our fruits and vegetables growing in it? Am I sinning by buying food for more than one day at a time?

Yes that’s right, Seth turned 1 yesterday. It’s crazy that are year ago we were in the hospital wondering which of his brothers he’d most resemble. As I said in my last post, I REALLY love that kid. One of my favorite parts of the day is going in his room in the mornings to get him out of his crib. He’ll flash me that cheesy smile, put his hands in the air, and wait for me to snatch him up. When I do his head instantly goes to my shoulder and he rides that way into our bedroom so he can tell his Momma good morning.

One of his favorite things to do right now (unfortunately) is to keep a close eye on the baby gate blocking the stairs. If it’s open, he flies to the bottom of the stairs and starts making his way up. It makes me QUITE nervous to have him crawling up like that, but I’ll chase him for a second as he laughs and giggles. Then about half way up I’ll reach down and yank him up.

Below are some pics from his birthday party we had for him on Saturday. It was a fun way to celebrate our son.

Seth, happy birthday monkey. I love you very much and I cannot WAIT to see all the ways you’re going to grow in another year.

Today is just a good day. I’m sure you feel it – it’s one of those days that keeps you smiling from sunrise to sunset. It’s a day filled with random, giddy laughter, high-fives for no reason, and a sense that all is right in the world. Yes, today is Opening Day! It’s the only day of the season when there’s a 30-way tie for first AND last place. 29 teams are filled with the hope of a season with a different outcome than last year. 1 team carries the hope of a repeat. Rookies nervously await their first steps on the freshly manicured grass. Starting pitchers anticipate their first fastball called for a strike. Fans wait eagerly for that first run to cross the plate, the first strike out, and, of course, that first big shot over the outfield fence. Yes, my friends, it’s Opening Day. Soak it all in.

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Also, today is the day BEFORE Seth turns 1. I’ll write more about that that tomorrow, but we had his birthday party over the weekend. Let me just say I LOVE that kid. He’s already got so much personality and when he lays his head on my shoulder my heart just melts. But, like I said, more on that tomorrow.

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Tonight is the NCAA Final Four Championship Game – North Carolina vs. Michigan State. My money is on the Tar Heels (GO ACC!!!), but the Spartans have surprised a lot of people. Regardless of the outcome I’m confident it will be a great game.

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My “To-Read” list is growing significantly larger. I was working on three at a time, but that got too overwhelming, so I’ve decided to finish G.K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” first, then “Waking the Dead” by John Eldredge, followed by “Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers,” by Shane Claiborne and some other guy. Our church staff is currently reading “It’s Your Ship” by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. It’s a good book on empowering those under your leadership. Also on my “To-Read” list are: “Outliers,” “unChristian,” and one whose title I found fascinating – “Buy-ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.” Any recommendations for Blogland?

You can check out www.mlb.com if you want to listen live to your favorite team’s game today (or tomorrow). Crank up the game, open a window, grab a good book, and feel the love of a beautiful day!

We all know the story of Zacchaeus. I always pictured him as a victim – the small guy everybody picked on until one day Jesus strolled in and made all those bullies be nice. But the opposite is actually closer to the truth. Zacchaeus was a jerk, a traitor, an exploiter, and a thief. He was despised, not because he was small, but because he wasn’t worth liking.

When Jesus came walking into Jericho and the crowds raced to His side, He fixed his eyes on the small man up in the tree. Imagine being Zacchaeus, watching the mob move as one with Jesus at the core, right over to your tree. Dozens, if not hundreds, of faces staring up at you, but only Jesus invites you down. Everyone else’s stares are screaming, “Stay there!” And you know the end of the story – Zacchaeus comes down to have dinner with Jesus and makes a covenant to give half his possessions to the poor and repay those he’d stolen from four times what he took.

What Zacchaeus did was bold, not because it cost him a lot of money, but because he shifted his place in his culture. Doing something radical requires not just a sacrifice of material possessions, but a sacrifice of your place in your world. For Zacchaeus it was for the better. Surely he gained at least a few people’s respect through his actions. More importantly, he decided he would no longer be the filthy rich guy living off other people’s money. He was changed by his encounter with Jesus.

We’ve all designated our own place in our own world. Maybe we WANT to do something radical for Jesus, but it would require sacrificing that place, those friends, this house, that career, this paycheck, etc. We see Jesus looking up at us, but the faces of the crowd keep us in the tree. Maybe it’s time you came down, ignoring the crowd, and joining Jesus for a life-changing conversation that will lead you to God knows where.

Last week I spent time meditating on a verse in Jeremiah 20. Here’s the passage:

“O Lord, you seduced me and I was seduced;

you overpowered me and prevailed.

I am ridiculed all day long;

everyone mocks me.

Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

But, if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,”

HIS WORD IS IN MY HEART LIKE A FIRE,

A FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES.

I AM WEARY OF HOLDING IT IN;

INDEED, I CANNOT.

I love the imagery of the word of God being a fire inside of me that I cannot hold inside. I love the IDEA of it, but sometimes that’s not reality. I wish God’s word was a fire that I cannot hold in when I’m talking with my neighbor, Chris, who desperately needs the Lord in his life. I wish it was an uncontrollable fire in my bones when I’m at a high school for lunch, talking with students who don’t know Jesus. I feel it when I’m alone, if only when I was with other people.

What is the word of God like to you? Is it a fire that you cannot hold inside?

More companies this week have announced layoffs around the country. Our “Consumer Confidence Index” is at an all-time low (which means people are afraid to go out and spend money right now) and, to top it all off, the world might end in four years!!!

President Obama is pushing his new economic stimulus plan. One of our students last night said he heard part of the money is going to an art gallery. I had not heard that, so I decided to investigate. Below is what I’ve been able to find regarding Obama’s stimulus plan. Take a look at it. What do you like? What do you not like? What do you think the answer is to our economic woes? Give your take, Blogland!

Immediate Relief for Families

• Cut taxes by $500 for individuals and $1,000 for families.
• Greater access to child tax credit for working poor and expand earned-income tax credit to families with three children.
• A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
• Allow first-time homebuyers to keep $7,500 tax credit.
• Keep extended unemployment benefits through 2009 and provide job training.
• Increase benefits to the poor by $25 billion.

Modernize Federal Infrastructure.

• $32 billion for transportation.
• $31 billion to modernize federal buildings.
• $19 billion in water projects.
• $10 billion mass transit projects.

Double Alternative Energy Production in Three Years

• $32 billion for a “smart electricity grid.”
• $20 billion in renewable energy tax cuts.
• $6 billion to weatherize homes.

Expand Health Care

• $39 billion to subsidize health care insurance for the unemployed.
• $90 billion to help states with Medicaid.
• $20 billion to modernize health information technology systems.
• $4 billion for preventative care.
• $1.5 billion for community health centers.

Improve Education

• $41 billion to school districts.
• $79 billion to states.
• $21 billion for school modernization.
• $16 billion to boost the Pell Grant.
• $2 billion for Head Start.

Invest in Science Research and Technology

• $10 billion for science facilities.
• $6 billion to expand broadband.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census.

(Source: AP, Highlights of $825 billion plan, January 15, 2009)

Christmas is over. Call me a Scrooge, but I get annoyed when Christmas begins in September. You know what I’m talking about. You walk into Wal-Mart to get school supplies and you have to walk past the inflatable Santa’s to find the backpacks. Ridiculous!!! Nevertheless, I’m always sad to see it go. This year was especially fun.

Levi really got into the whole Santa thing. He made his own decorations around the house, got all excited about our Christmas tree and the lights in our yard. Christmas Eve we watched The Polar Express while eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate. He left a note for Santa asking him for a football helmet, which Santa delivered along with a truck for Titus and a walk-behind toy for Seth to go along with the 10 bajillion gifts the boys got from Nana, Poppy, Aunt Karen and Uncle Greg, Gram, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Peyton, Aunt April and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Doug, Great-Grandma and Great-Granddaddy, Great and GrandMoe, and Mama and Daddy. Our toy inventory was raised by approximately 500%!!! In addition to toys, Christina and I cashed in on a new espresso machine, a kitchen cabinet-mounted CD player, the Perfect Pushup, and generous amounts of cash.

Nevertheless, I’m sad Christmas is over. The gifts were great, but I loved when my side of the family came to Houston on the 21st to eat, open gifts, and ride the church bus around town looking at Christmas lights. We then all went to San Antonio, stayed at a hotel on the Riverwalk, and spent Tuesday at Sea World. It was one of the best Christmas’ our family has had together.

I also loved going to Belton to be with Christina’s rather large family (large in number, not in size). We spent an afternoon at Putt-Putt golf and games riding go-karts, bumper boats, swinging in the batting cages, putt-putting, and playing video games. It was a blast.

For me, that’s Christmas. I thoroughly enjoyed my gifts, but I loved being with family even more.

At least Wal-Mart’s back to normal.

What were your Christmas highlights, Blogland?