Rubbing Elbows

One of the cool things about living in a big city is the prospect of seeing celebrities. Thursday night Christina and I went to see A Christmas Carol downtown. The play was incredible and it’s always fun to be in the theatre district at night. The highlight for me, though, came during intermission. Christina was one of a thousand women waiting to use the bathroom, so I meandered around for a bit. As I waited I saw a rather large fellow walking my way. It instantly clicked who it was – ROGER CLEMENS! I couldn’t believe it. He got right beside me and all I could do was point at him and say, “Roger Clemens!” He looked at me and I extended my hand. “Cory Jones,” I said. He shook my hand (with his pitching hand no less), and said, “Nice to meet you Cory.” I’m pretty sure he meant it.

I don’t do well when I see celebrities. I once saw Nicholas Cage in New Orleans while walking through the French Quarter with my buddy Matt Wilson. Matt noticed him first. We were with our high schoolers from 3Chopt in Richmond and I wanted to make sure they saw him. So I ran past Nicholas Cage, his wife and friend/agent/publicist/person-no-one-cared-about and pointed him out to our teens. They thought the sight of me running like a school girl was more entertaining than seeing a celebrity.

Those are the only two celebrity sightings I know about. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ve passed a number of famous people and didn’t even know it. Any celebrity-sighting stories from Blogland?

Thoughts

Christina’s grandmother died last Friday and her funeral was Wednesday in Oklahoma City. The Jones fam loaded up and drove from Houston to OKC Tuesday and back Wednesday. It was quite a haul, but well worth it. Being with family is always fun, even if it is for a funeral. Some thoughts from the weekend:

1. Christina’s grandmother instructed her children to use the savings she had left to pay for hotel rooms for the entire family making the trip to the funeral, and for a special meal together. That was how she wanted her life to be celebrated – by a coming together of those she loved most. If that’s not a communion analogy I don’t know what is. We come together each week as the family of those loved by God to remember Jesus. The McCarty family spent their time together laughing, sharing old pictures, telling stories, hugging, crying, catching up, all the things a family does when it comes together. I feel that sometimes we miss the point of communion when we treat it as though it’s the only time of the week we have to be alone with God. We have all week for that; communion is community, a coming together of the body of Christ. I sometimes wish we did it a little differently.

2. Christina’s dad, Mac, has now lost both parents. I spent a lot of time thinking about that the past couple of days. Obviously, he is now of the age that he no longer relied on his parents the way a young child does. He is now a husband, father, and grandfather. Nevertheless, it HAS to be a strange feeling when both parents are gone. I couldn’t help but wonder if he felt at least a twinge of uneasiness over this. I wonder what it will be like when I’m in that position. What will it be like when my children are there?

3. On the way to and from the funeral Christina read two books aloud. First we read “90 Minutes in Heaven.” Not what I expected, but it was very appropriate and reassuring as we traveled to a funeral. On the way home we read Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love.” I explained to a friend that we had been taking some small steps forward in our faith. “Crazy Love” shoved us over a cliff!!! Read it. It’s conversational in tone, much like Francis Chan’s preaching style. But it will force you to consider how you go about living out your faith. Great stuff.

4. I’ve just ordered multiple books from Amazon. Typically I only get one at a time for fear that the rest will just sit on my bookshelf, never to be opened. But I gave in and got “Jesus Wants to Save Christians” by Rob Bell, “The Great Emergence” by Phyllis Tickle, and “Same Kind of Different as Me” by Ron Hall. I wish I read faster than I do because I’m EXTREMELY excited about all these books. Any other suggestions from Blogland?

I pray you’re all having a great holiday season. It snowed in Houston yesterday. Yes, you read that right. Unfortunately we were on the road and missed it. We did pull over once so I could use the restroom and I flung a snowball at the car just to remind myself what it felt like.

I’m so rich…

Over the weekend our high schoolers participated in World Vision’s 30-Hour Famine. At one point during the weekend I asked those participating to fill in the blank: I’m so rich ______________. The responses were interesting. I’m so rich:

my dog is fat

if I want to starve, I have to do it on purpose

I have a car

I have clean water

There were many others. I thought I’d throw it out to Blogland. How would you finish the statement?

Goodbye, Hypocrites!

Yesterday Jordan and I went downtown to James Bute Park to participate in the daily worship service for the homeless men and women there. We were late (we’re youth minister’s, we’re not supposed to be on time), so we just sat down in the plastic chairs among the dozen or so men gathered. We listened to a man talk about a faith without deeds. He called the men to repentance for their sins and challenged them to start their lives over again for the glory of God.

We chatted with Dave Alvarez from Glimpse of Reign, a praise band that often plays at the park. As we were leaving a man sat on the wire fence near my car and as we walked past he smiled and waved. I waved back and he said, “Goodbye hypocrites.” He had a fairly thick Spanish accent, so it came out, “Goodbye Heepocreets.” I couldn’t understand what he was saying so I walked over to him. I smiled and said, “What did you say?” He said it again – “Goodbye hypocrites.” I extended my arm to shake hands with him when it registered what he was saying. As my hand went out, he quickly drew his arm away and shook his head, refusing to shake my hand.

As Jordan and I left I wondered aloud why he thought we were hypocrites. Was it because we were obviously not homeless? Did our wealth indict us? Was it because we participated in the worship time and this man has a disdain for Christians? Was it because we didn’t give any money when an offering was collected (I always forget to bring cash or change with me)? None of the above? All of the above? I have no idea.

What occured to me was that we cannot possibly know what is in people’s hearts. Jordan and I were there to participate in worship, but also to scope out our plans for this Saturday when we take our high school students to the park to feed the homeless men and women there. I was initially offended, thinking to myself, “That guy doesn’t know me! Who is he to judge me?” But I’m just as guilty.

As a homeowning, car owning, clean clothes-wearing, shower-taking, grocery-buying “ordinary” American, I tend to make assumptions about the poor and the homeless. They’re probably lazy. They’re probably hooked on drugs. They’re probably alcoholics. They’re probably uneducated. They’re probably mentally and/or emotionally disabled. Who am I to make such judgments? How do I know that every man and woman living in that park aren’t the Godliest, most humble, servant-hearted people on the face of the planet? How do I know that the men and women in that park aren’t serving God even MORE faithfully than I am on a day-to-day basis? How am I to know that?

Are you guilty of these feelings from time to time? Do you wrestle with what you SHOULD feel toward the poor versus what you ACTUALLY feel about them? What are your thoughts?

Bailouts: What do you think?

I’m curious what your take is on our current issue with bailing out large corporations. Many Wall Street firms that were bailed out are being scrutinized now for handing out bonuses this year. The idea is that they need to reward those who have continued to work hard and, perhaps more importantly to those getting the bailout money, giving away bonuses is what keeps the financial firms competitive. In the articled linked above, one Wall Street exec is quoted as saying, “nobody wants to be the one not paying bonuses when others do.” So while Americans are losing their jobs and their homes, Wall Street firms are using government money to boost six-figure salaries. Something doesn’t sit well with me about that.

General Motors is also on the brink of collapse, looking for a handout from the government. I feel a bit differently about this one, though. In the article above it is estimated that 1 in 10 American jobs is linked to one of the Big Three auto makers. A collapse of those businesses could be devastating to the factory workers building our cars. While I understand that our investments are tied up in companies like AIG and Morgan Stanley, my feeling is that people connected with the auto industry have more to lose than those connected with investment banks. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but, for what it’s worth, those are my thoughts.

How do you feel about this issue? Are you for the buyouts? Against? Indifferent?

Rays or Phillies?

As a Yankees fan I can honestly say that I’m sad my Yanks are at home this October, but I’m happy to see the Rays and Phils in The Series. I want to see the Rays win it so bad, but I also want guys like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to have a championship under their belt so when the Hall of Fame comes knocking there will be no denying that they belong there. I know it’s election time, but is anyone paying attention to the baseball playoffs? What do you think? Can the Rays win it all?

In & Out Burger = AWESOME!

Greetings from Sacramento. Christina, Seth, Jordan, Joey and I are at the Youth Specialties conference here in the capital city. It’s been an awesome conference so far. A few highlights:

- Mercy Me was the performer at the first general session. Awesome concert/worship time

- Andrew Marin from The Andrew Marin Foundation has been here all weekend talking about building bridges between churches and the gay/lesbian community. Talk about some heavy stuff!!

- Phyllis Tickle taught an entire church history course in about 45 minutes. It might have been the most important message of the conference – it was basically how cultural shifts impact our ministries.

- Doug and Cathy Fields led a Q&A session on youth ministry and marriage last night. Christina and I went and really enjoyed it. The Fields’ are proof that you can be a GREAT family man and have a GREAT student ministry. Very inspiring.

- Mark Yaconelli spoke at a general session. Absolutely amazing message, but nothing compared to his grand finale – stripping off his outerwear to reveal disco attire. The lights went out, the disco ball lit up, the jams started pumping, and he boogied on the stage. The place was going nuts!!!

We leave tomorrow and I’m anxoius to see Levi and Titus. It’s been a great weekend and I’m ready to hit the ground running when we get back.

Mission Lazarus

Christina and I took a wonderful trip over the weekend to visit Jarrod Brown and his family at Mission Lazarus. Jarrod, Ally, and their team are doing an amazing work there, ministering to the orphans and the surrounding communities of Chuloteca and San Marcos. The purpose of our trip was to see what our teens will be doing there this summer on our 11th and 12th grade mission trip; while we got all the info we needed, it turned out to be much more than a survey trip. We were blessed and inspired by Jarrod and Ally and all that we saw. They have eagerly put themselves in the current of God’s Spirit, allowing Him to move them wherever He needs them to go. I figured everyone would want to see pictures, so here they are.

Margarito's house on the island

Christina and I eating clam soup made by a woman on the island

One of the children's homes on the ranch. These things are amazing!!

Jarrod and I eating turtle eggs. Peel it open, throw it back, and pray none of it touches your tongue!!!

Visiting an island

At the carpenter's house

The carpenter's children

We were supposed to visit a clinic, but the road had pretty much fallen off the mountain. This is as far as the truck made it.

Christina on a hammock at the posada

Another Victim of Houston Traffic

I hopped in the car today to head downtown for worship in the park. Dave Alvarez and Glimpse of Reign were going to be leading the homeless men and women in praise, so I was exicted to finally get to hear them. Sadly, Houston has more people than can fit in one city, so I sat in traffic on 290 for over an hour before turning around and coming back. You won this time, Traffic…

While in the car, though, I had one of those “Was-That-The-Holy-Spirit?” moments. I won’t go into details, but I was overwhelmed with the goodness of the cross. Jesus personified love, giving, and sacrifice through the cross. The cross is what makes the poor rich, the weak strong, and gives the blind sight. What a wonderful Messiah!

Finally, Brother V. (that’s what we call him because no one can pronounce his last name), a missionary supported by West Houston in India was here today and had lunch with the staff. How’s this for a ministry resume:
– he preaches for two churches in his town
– he began and continues to run an orphanage which currently cares for 75 orphans
– he began and runs what amounts to an orphanage for widows, giving them a place to live, food to eat, etc.
– he began and runs a ministry to lepers, India’s “untouchables.”
– he mentors and trains young men to be preachers throughout India
Brother V. is about the most humble-looking figure you’ll ever see. Unimposing in stature, soft-spoken, polite, humble, thankful, but the power of God inside of him has stirred a fire in his heart. Everyday he ministers to these various people of India – the lowest of the low, the untouchables, the least of these. Brother V. is my hero!

ATTENTION: Levi Craig Jones is Five Years Old!!!

There’s a tear in my eye and a smile on my face today because my big man, my Pancho Head (not sure where that nickname came from) is five years old. Five is one of those milestone birthdays; five means kindergarten. Five means big kid stuff. Five means a new world where the old toys, clothes, and cartoons don’t exist. Five means new friends. Five means a new perspective of the world. Five means you’re a kid but you’ve taken the first step toward not being a kid anymore. Five is fun for him, scary for me. Five means next year he’s going to be in school – real school where Mom and Dad can’t control everything. Real school is where kids don’t always believe in God or go to church like they did in his four year old world. In five year old world there’s still a God who is real, and big, and awesome; but now there’s a Satan who is real, and big, and evil.

This morning he got really excited about his two new robots that move and walk by themselves (only $14.99 at Wal-Mart in case you’re needing a good gift idea). That’s the Levi I know – the Levi who gets genuinely excited about something, who craves to know how things work, why God made the decisions He made, and what life is all about. When I think of Levi I think of the little boy coming down the stairs in nothing but the t-shirt he wore the day before and a pull-up, asking for a bowl of cereal and a Curious George cartoon. I think of the boy who loves to watch himself run; the boy who wants me to critique his batting stance; the boy who loves Daddy, but REALLY loves Mama. I think of “sport shirts” as he calls them, worn with “sport shorts” that may or may not match. I think of the boy whose first instinct is to be cautious about something new, but is so proud of himself when he musters the courage to try it anyway. I think of red hair. I think of Jeter and the Yankees. I think of wrestling on the floor and “going down to China Town.” I think of prayer times at night when he thanks God for “such a fun day.”

I think of my God who has shown me what it means to be loved by a Father, because I love Levi with everything I have. I think of my prayer every night with the boys – “God, thank you for letting me be their daddy.” I think of my son. Levi.

Happy birthday pal.