Archive for March, 2008
The Flag Football Follies, Part 1
Saturday was our first official game in flag football. I told our crew to see it as a practice game seeing how every team is going to make the playoffs. Looking back, I’m glad we had that perspective.
The game was humbling for me on a couple of levels. First, we got rolled up. 24-6. Our guys had a hard time grasping flags which was good and bad. Good – they were there to make the plays. Bad – couldn’t figure out how those flags worked. That’s okay and a fixable situation. By the end of the game, they had figured it out and pretty much shut down the other team.
The team had a blast, we called out our favorite candy bars as we broke the huddle, we laughed, tried trick plays. Great time. So that was awesome.
The more humbling thing was Cooper. I was a decent athlete growing up but not a stud. I was never the first one picked but also was never the last one either. I figured our kids would be “cursed” with the same gene of sports mediocrity. Which on the grand scale of things isn’t so horrible. We’ve made sure that we never set up ‘sports excellence’ as the goal for our kids. Learn the game correctly, laugh while doing it.
But Cooper was….well….(dare I say it???)….he was good. Not just good….very good.
I started Cooper at QB knowing that I was going to yank him after the first series to see who else I had who could play the position. On the first play, Cooper hit Harlan on a 7 yard slant that Harlan took another 25 yards. It was awesome. I’m thinking…”Dude.”
On the second play, Cooper had a wide open receiver 20 yards downfield. He’s wide open because everyone on the field knows that there isn’t a kid in the league that can throw the ball that far. Heck, when Cooper winded up to throw it over there, I was thinking “Okay – bold move but there’s no way it’s getting there.”
He unleashes a perfect spiral right to him. Yes, the pass was dropped. Yes, there would be a LOT of dropped passes today but most of those were because Cooper was throwing bullets. One throw hit our receiver in the chest, bounced straight up in the air and was picked off….15 yards downfield.
And so went most of the game. We rotated around quarterbacks and running backs and receivers but we couldn’t catch a cold in Alaska.
We ripped Cooper out of the QB position and put him at middle linebacker for the second half. He was ripping flags off in the backfield, tipping balls – basically being the biggest pain in the rear for the other team. Then he picked off a pass and took it the house.
Touchdown.
After the game, had the coach, the officials and a parent from the other team walked over to me all asking me the same question.
“Who’s #14?”
“That’s Cooper. (Long pause) My son.”
“He’s a freakin’ beast.”
“When the rest of your team learns how to catch, you guys are going to be awesome.”
“He’s not just good…he’s scary good.”
“I’m watching that kid. He’s going to be special.”
Couple of awesome things after the first game…first, parents and kids were awesome. We laughed a lot on the sidelines, learned a ton about pulling flags, and lots of high fives. Everyone was upbeat.
Second, everyone was tired. Which meant everyone played more than what they wanted to. That’s a good thing in little league anything. My other coach did a great job of rotating players in and out. We had some kids volunteer off for a rest – which when they do that, the minute they are ready to go back in, we try to get them back in.
Lastly, most of these kids have never played football before and they are loving the game. They are pumped about the next practice and game. They WANT to play football. Mission 1 accomplished.
On a personal level, I’m trying to figure out how to deal with being a dad and a coach. Cooper made it a little more difficult for me by playing so well. 
Okay…he played awesome. I’m incredibly proud of him but honestly, I’d been just as proud of him if he had laid an egg out there. That’s what I’ve got to figure out how to keep communicating to him – your value to me has nothing to do with your performance.
It’s hard at times to keep the two separate. Here goes a very public learning curve in this weird place of trying to figure out how to handle success.
Top 100 Movies
Here’s the list from The American Film Institute. The ones in bold I’ve seen. Total seen: 46
1. Citizen Kane, 1941.
2. The Godfather, 1972.
3. Casablanca, 1942.
4. Raging Bull, 1980.
5. Singin’ in the Rain, 1952.
6. Gone With the Wind, 1939.
7. Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.
8. Schindler’s List, 1993.
9. Vertigo, 1958.
10. The Wizard of Oz, 1939.
11. City Lights, 1931.
12. The Searchers, 1956.
13. Star Wars, 1977.
14. Psycho, 1960.
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.
16. Sunset Blvd., 1950.
17. The Graduate, 1967.
18. The General, 1927.
19. On the Waterfront, 1954.
20. It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.
21. Chinatown, 1974.
22. Some Like It Hot, 1959.
23. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982.
25. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.
27. High Noon, 1952.
28. All About Eve, 1950.
29. Double Indemnity, 1944.
30. Apocalypse Now, 1979.
31. The Maltese Falcon, 1941.
32. The Godfather Part II, 1974.
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.
35. Annie Hall, 1977.
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.
37. The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.
39. Dr. Strangelove, 1964.
40. The Sound of Music, 1965.
41. King Kong, 1933.
42. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.
43. Midnight Cowboy, 1969.
44. The Philadelphia Story, 1940.
45. Shane, 1953.
46. It Happened One Night, 1934.
47. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.
48. Rear Window, 1954.
49. Intolerance, 1916.
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.
51. West Side Story, 1961.
52. Taxi Driver, 1976.
53. The Deer Hunter, 1978.
54. M-A-S-H, 1970.
55. North by Northwest, 1959.
56. Jaws, 1975.
57. Rocky, 1976.
58. The Gold Rush, 1925.
59. Nashville, 1975.
60. Duck Soup, 1933.
61. Sullivan’s Travels, 1941.
62. American Graffiti, 1973.
63. Cabaret, 1972.
64. Network, 1976.
65. The African Queen, 1951.
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966.
68. Unforgiven, 1992.
69. Tootsie, 1982.
70. A Clockwork Orange, 1971.
71. Saving Private Ryan, 1998.
72. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.
74. The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.
75. In the Heat of the Night, 1967.
76. Forrest Gump, 1994.
77. All the President’s Men, 1976.
78. Modern Times, 1936.
79. The Wild Bunch, 1969.
80. The Apartment, 1960.
81. Spartacus, 1960.
82. Sunrise, 1927.
83. Titanic, 1997.
84. Easy Rider, 1969.
85. A Night at the Opera, 1935.
86. Platoon, 1986.
87. 12 Angry Men, 1957.
88. Bringing Up Baby, 1938.
89. The Sixth Sense, 1999.
90. Swing Time, 1936.
91. Sophie’s Choice, 1982.
92. Goodfellas, 1990.
93. The French Connection, 1971.
94. Pulp Fiction, 1994.
95. The Last Picture Show, 1971.
96. Do the Right Thing, 1989.
97. Blade Runner, 1982.
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.
99. Toy Story, 1995.
100. Ben-Hur, 1959.
The Great Toby
Yesterday ended up being a very long day.
After all the fun at Panera, finally make it home in time to get in a quick power nap before kids and a school function that night.
As we’re walking out the door to go, Camber tells me that the dress-up clothes downstairs are soaking wet.
???????
How did that happen? A leak from the ceiling.
My stomach hit the floor. Upon closer inspection, it is a leak from the main water line going upstairs. It’s in the wall in our kitchen. And the dollar signs start chugging in my mind.
I call Toby. Our spiked-haired Canadian youth volunteer who plays 7 instruments…and is an electrician who has done some plumbing.
By 10 pm, I have a slighter larger hole in wall behind the refrigerator but no leaky pipes and I’m not busted broke!!
YEA TOBY!!!
Why Panera Has Lost My Business…At Least For Now
So this morning I had a 6.30 meeting at Panera. I’m thinking it will be the last. Here’s why.
1. It’s freezing. Not outside…in here. We are in Parker, Freaking, Colorado. It’s 42 degress this morning – perfect weather for a hot tea or mocha. I walk into Panera and the air is on. It’s blowing cold air. It’s warmer outside on the deck than in this place. I ask the manager – “any chance of getting the air turned off.”
“The air is not on, sir.”
“Oh.”
Both standing there.
“So…what’s with the cold air blowing?”
“Our heater is broke.”
“Oh.”
Still both standing there.
“So…any chance of getting the broken heat turned off?”
“It’s on an automatic timer.”
Is there any response to this that isn’t rude? Can he not figure out how to work it manually? Do I look that stupid to just shake my head in agreement and say “Oh!!! okay!” like that was missing link to the conversation that I needed?
I think about explaining the basics of thermostat control to him. If the heater is broken and it’s set to warm your establishment up to 69 degrees and the thermostat (that funny box on the wall) isn’t broken – it will never reach 69 degrees. The thermostat will keep telling the heater to turn on so it will keep blowing non-hot air into your establishment making it colder, not hotter and thus the cycle continues.
I’m way too tired and it’s way to early to have this conversation. So I just order my bagel and hot tea. Why hot tea and not a mocha?
2. Their coffee is terrrrrble. (Said like Charles Barkley.) I got nothing else to add to this.
3. Wedding Music. I forgot my headphones so I am no forced to listen to the Wedding March and other instrumental music played mainly at weddings. Every now and then I feel like standing up and yelling “Ladies and Gentleman, Here comes the bride!” just to see if anyone would stand up. Would more or less people stand if said “The Class of 2008?”
4. Customer Base Changes at 8.43. Since about 7 am, another guy with a Mac has sat across from me. We look important. There’s a whole restaurant to work with here but for some odd reason, moms with babies, grandparents with toddlers love pulling up their high chairs and spill mats right next to the people with laptops. I’m not opposed to young moms/grandparents/babies eating. I think it’s important. Just do it in the back of the restaurant away from the 4 or 5 guys up front with laptops.
UPDATE: Guy with a Mac across from has 2 distinct advantages over me right now. First, he has headphones. Second, he is drinking a Starbucks. So he got a Starbucks, ordered a bagel, cranked up his laptop to work. Nice form, veteran move. I could learn a lot from this guy.
5. Charging for the Cream Cheese. What the heck? First, you charge me for the cream cheese then you give me a bucket load of it. How about you give it to me for free in about the same size as the butter packets?
6. Co-workers Personal Life. I’m really sorry she said that you and is now cheating on her boyfriend. It’s a terrrrble thing, it really is. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but….I don’t care. I mainly don’t care because I want to order instead of listening to the drama. I mainly don’t care because you two are talking as if I don’t exist and I know I do because you keep glancing over at me. I mainly don’t care because it’s gossip and I’m sure if we were ‘friends’ I’d be the subject of your next diatribe.
So take note to all who wants to open a coffee shop in Parker – I’m a free agent.
I May Start Playing Golf Again
Star Wars just announced that this summer you could play golf with a Stormtrooper or even Darth Vader. Now if we could get light saber golf clubs for those tree shots.
Spring Break Family Fun
Last week was a fun, busy week. So much fun and busyness that I didn’t get to blog about it. Here it is complete with the pics…
First, we did some skiing at Winter Park. I don’t have any pictures because doofus here forgot to charge the battery in the camera. And it’s one of those slim, cool cameras that has a rechargeable battery but you can’t substitute AA or AAA batteries.
Winter Park is okay. It’s got a new lift and a couple of new blue runs this year but their overall customer friendliness and helpfulness is pretty low. They don’t help kids get on the lift, the guest services people will help you only if you ask and beg. Copper is much better about those kinds of things.
Next, we hit the Denver Zoo. What is it about zoos that kids love? I love the zoo. Here’s Cooper in his retarded shirt. He wanted a picture with the tiger in the background.
My own sea lions getting their picture taken with the statue. The Zoo has these kinds of statues all over the place – hippos, elephants, bears, birds. They look awesome and kids love climbing all over them…until about 2 in the afternoon. They are solid bronze and heat up pretty good in the sun by then.
This was the coolest experience. There was a little guppy fish in this leopard’s pond. She would haunch and leap and try to catch this fish in the water. Then she look up and walk around to the glass and put her face on it – right where the kids were standing. She did this two or three times but I never could get the picture right.
After the Zoo, it was off to Engine 6 of the Denver Fire Department, located downtown right across the street from the Pepsi Center. We know someone on the engine and it was an awesome experience. (I think the Denver Fire Department has the coolest looking logo.) Blair showed us how to use the firepole and we got to play on the Hamer 1 truck – the downtown HazMat vehicle.
Later in the week we toured The Wildlife Experience. Good – they have an exhibit called Survivor: Jamestown. It’s a maze that you navigate by making choices that the first settlers would have had to make – would you eat this? settle here? work with the Indians? Your answers either added to your life or took it away. Great fun for the fam and took about an hour to work through.
The rest of the museum was a minor let down. To be fair, they are in the middle of a massive construction project. They will double the size of their place by the beginning of this summer. So we’ll give it one more try when the new digs open.
And here I am teaching the Boise State offense in flag football.
And the week ended with Easter. The sign below made me laugh. It was at our church for our Eggstravaganza event. You can take the kid out of middle school but not the middle school out of the kid. Cooper, Camber, Cayden for Easter. I am keeping my promise to never dress my kids in knickers or lederhosen for Easter. And our traditional Bunny Cake.
Whew…what a week.
Stray Poles
I saw the stray ski pole. It’s common courtesy on the slopes to pick up items of a yard sale as you come across them and deliver them to their rightful owners. You’re going that direction anyway. Plus it’s hard and embarrassing going back uphill in ski boots to pick up the stuff you just got done spraying all over the mountain.
The victim was an 8 year old boy who looked like a Weeble-Wobble on skis. (All skiers when they first learn how to ski are classified in one of 3 possible categories: Giraffe On Skis, Weeble-Wobble On Skis, or a Squatter. Cooper and I were Giraffes. Camber was a Weeble-Wobble. Cayden was a Squatter – sitting low to the ground. These are NOT insults but rather rites of passage. In short, we’ve all been there. Except for Amy. No one has ever seen her fall on skis. (Regular walking is another matter altogether.) The theory goes that shortly after she was born she was skiing – before she walked or was even potty trained. But I digress.)
Then the dad opened his mouth.
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He can’t ski. He’s not getting it.”
I looked at him. I guess if I’d met him in church or at the lodge or at a ballgame, we’d be good friends or at the very least, friendly. He’d been normal…I guess. But we didn’t meet in any of those places. Instead we met here. He was acting like one of THEM – a frustrated parent on skis. A FruPaS.
I had multiple responses ready for him.
“Well whose fault is that, jack%$#! ?”
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?”
“It’s amazing. This 8-year old kid…drove himself to the mountains, rented his own skis, bought his own lift ticket, got on the lift for the first time and skied down to this point on the mountain ALL BY HIMSELF and in that kind of arrogance got no further no this!”
Indecision reigned in my mind. So I said nothing to him. I looked at the frustrated Weeble-Wobble. Sweat was pouring out of his helmet, couldn’t even stand up.
“I think I’m a little tired,” he heaved.
I chuckled, “No kidding!?”
I picked him up, got him steady, handed him his pole. I told him how to stop on his skis. I showed him how to do it. Then I watched him succeed at it. It took 5 minutes.
I high-fived him.
“Great job. Skiing is supposed to be fun. Every person you see on this mountain today was at one point in their life worse than you at skiing. Laugh every time you fall down today.”
Weeble-Wobble smiled.
I looked at FruPaS. I hadn’t said one word to him. I wanted to plant the pointed end of my ski pole in his forehead. I’d seen and experienced enough of his kind. They ruin everything. I wanted to repeat his words back to him. “You don’t get it. You can’t do this. You’re never going to get this.” I wasn’t talking about skiing. I’m not sure I was even really talking to him either. Maybe some cathartic release of my own baggage? Something worse than that? I didn’t just looked at him, I looked DOWN on him.
Before I could get anything out of my mouth, his eyes flashed up at me and said “Thank you……for me.”
That’s when He hit me. The FruPaS wasn’t a bad parent. He was a parent that needed more grace than his Weeble-Wobble on skis…and probably less than a judgmental parent that did black diamonds in his sleep.
I felt my shoulders shrug. “Dude…we’ve all been there. Have a fun day with your kid.”
I skied on realizing that of the three characters in the story of the last 15 minutes, I was the one that needed that “interruption” most.
Thank God for stray poles.
I Guess You’re The Coach Then…
I’ve tried to make it a point to NOT coach my kids. Why?
First, I’m as competitive as they come and quite frankly, I don’t need the extra drama.
Second, I deal with parents all the time as a youth pastor. Most of the time it’s pleasure and about a subject matter that matters. With coaching, normally it’s the other way around and never about anything more substantive than playing time.
Third, I need my kids to get used to having other authority figures in their life other than me and Amy.
Lastly, I enjoy the role of cheerleader parent as opposed to ‘coach’ parent. I want to cheer, celebrate and be positive. Not the instructor, expectation parent. I’m going to be doing enough instruction as it is.
But the flipside that Amy and I have run into is this – while they may be well-meaning, a well-meaning coach who has no clue of the game or the fundamentals is incredibly frustrating. I’m not going to lose sleep if my kid’s team goes 0-10 if he/she is learning the fundamentals. On the other hand, if the team goes 16-1 but they don’t learn the basics of the game and the coach is a jerk – that’s just as horrible. We’ve had both experiences.
So this morning, Cooper started his flag football league. As the kids show up, I see a disaster happening. There is not one adult taking charge, introducing kids to each other, or in general acting like a coach. The rumor is out – there is no coach and no parent has of yet ‘stepped up.’
Cooper and I start playing catch, then another kid starts playing with us, then another and another. I’m learning names because it’s just the youth pastor in me. We start playing this funky game of calling out the name of the person you’re throwing to and catching from. In about two minutes, every kid on the team is in the field hollering each other’s name.
It’s at this point, I realize I have a choice to make. Either coach the kids, teach some fundamentals, and enjoy the time or be a pansy and walk to the sideline, not coach then complain all season long about the job some other parent is doing.
One parent steps over. His name is John. “Hey…I guess you’re the coach, then.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re my assistant then.” He smiled at first then he realized what I said.
“Oh, no. I don’t what I’m doing.”
“Great, we’ll be awesome together.”
And so started my coaching career.
After a 45 minute practice and a 8 play scrimmage, let me vent a couple of random observations about flag football.
1. The other team ran 4 straight running plays. We stopped one of them…barely. We’ll get better at grabbing flags without knocking down kids…we have to or we’ll be the Oakland Raiders of the league. But we turned around and ran 4 straight passing plays. We completed every pass. Apparently defense is not going to be the strong suit of our team or this league. That’s going to be fun.
2. The other team’s coach said to me afterwards – “Normally, they don’t pass in this league.” I smile. Long pause. Nobody is saying anything. I finally cave…”Okay…sooooooo what does that mean?”
“Nothing.” And he walked off.
I leaned over to John and said – we are going to have so much fun. We’re going to run flea flickers, reverses, halfback passes, and deep bombs. Why? Because it’s flag football and because it’s a bunch of 9 and 10 year-olds AND because I’ve got 2 kids who have cannons for arms.
Cooper looked at me on the way home and said – “Dad, are we seriously going to throw the ball that much?”
“Every down.”
He started smiling from ear to ear. “This is going to be fun.”
Exactly.
3. I think I got lucky. We have 8 kids on the team. Perfect number. The game is 5 on 5. It’ll be easy to play every kid at multiple positions.
4. Parents…has 17 years of student ministry prepared me for little league parents? I’ll keep you posted.
The Ring of Death
It finally happened to me.
I thought I’d avoided it but alas….it could not be avoided.
The dreaded ring of death for the Xbox 360. I will now go on a forced fast for the next 3-4 weeks.
The good news – the customer service guy was awesome. No hassles, no 20 minutes on hold. Just verifying address and contact info and the box is on the way.
Tossing Aside The Tract Article
I’ve had another article published by The Journal of Student Ministries.
You can take a look at it here.
Book Review: I Know Absolutely Nothing About Skiing
The place where we stayed on our ski trip had this book laying around. So I grabbed it and started reading it. If you’ve read a Ken Blanchard book, you know the style in which this book was written. Our main character is getting drug out to Colorado for a ski trip so he stumbles into some folks who help him get the basics down.
Of course the guys he runs into happen to be former Olympic skiers who tell him all he needs to know…and then some.
If you literally don’t know anything about skiing – then this book is for you. Honestly, only a couple of chapters were all that useful – how to dress and ski etiquette. It’s not that I don’t appreciate history but knowing it is not going to make me a better skier.
On the topic of dress, it’s amazing how many people have no clue how to dress for skiing and the consequences are severe. The ridiculing you’ll get for wearing a one-piece bright neon snow bib will be enough to shame you forever. Seriously, in terms of dressing for comfort, warmth, and dryness this book does a great job explaining what to wear and what not to wear.
The other bright spot of the book is the slang of skiers defined. I’ll give you a couple of my favorites.
gapers – visitors to the mountain who stop and just stare at the views. It’s a term of endearment.
caught an edge – edges are thin metal pieces that run the length of the skis, helps stop and turn in the snow. To catch an edge means to stop suddenly, like slamming on the brakes.
yard sale – a tremendous crash that results in equipment flying all over the mountain including skis, poles, hats, and gloves.
That gaper caught an edge in the powder and just had a yard sale.
Ski etiquette and how to watch out for each other
The Facebook Follies
I’m on Facebook. Just like blogging – my brother-in-law led me down the dark side.
Facebook isn’t hard to learn but it does have it’s own set of protocols and vocabulary. Like the “wall.” “The Wall” is your webpage post-it note place. Think of it as that white dry-erase board you had on your college dorm room door. People leave you messages, insult you, whatever. It’s considered good form to comment back BUT not on your own wall. You go “wall to wall” with them or personal message.
If you write on your own wall, it’s considered bad form because you’re increasing your wall posts with your own comments. It doesn’t matter that no one else can follow the conversation. It’s bad form. Clay taught me this…of Patsy Cline fame. Apparently, the number of wall posts is one of the Tell-Tale signs of just how cool you are.
The other Tell-Tale sign is the number of friends you have.
Which leads me to both the awesome things about Facebook and the ridiculous things about Facebook.
AWESOME: I’ve been able to catch up with a couple of high school friends that I haven’t seen/heard in over twenty years. Crazy? Yes. (You should hear the comments when they find out I’m a pastor.)
RIDICULOUS: After a couple of emails and “Oh my gosh, you have kids!!!!” moments – it returns to normal. I wish it were different but it is what it is. Same thing with college buddies.
AWESOME: All of my former youth students that are on Facebook have me as their friend. That is meaningful. It really is. I can click over and check up on them when I want.
RIDICULOUS: I get invitations to events that happen on campus or some stupid application like Jetman (which I suck at) that does nothing but fill up my inbox. It’s not evil or harmful…just annoying.
There are some lingering questions I’m wrestling with concerning Facebook.
First, do people really sit around and click on other peoples profile to find out what they are doing that minute? And if people actually DO keep their profile up to date – what’s the point? I mean, do you really care that I’m reading Chuck Yeager’s biography right now?
Second, I’ve gotten friend requests from people I’ve never met. What’s up with that? It’s not like Len – whom I’ve never met face to face but we’ve had so many phone calls and email dialogs and blog comments, we’re practically related. (As a sidenote – Len, I did get your freakin’ text about the Newsboys. I didn’t respond because I’ve been so busy skiing. It really sucks to live here.)
But back on the subject – if I ignore or reject the friend request, who’s the bigger jerk? Me for rejecting them or them for saying we’re friends when we’ve never met? I think it’s them because if I’ve never met you, I’m not your friend. It’s not that we are ENEMIES but shouldn’t we at least meet or have some conversations with each other before we add each other to our friend list? What if we completely annoy each other? Wouldn’t it be MORE AWKWARD to remove someone from your friend list?
Lastly, I can’t seem to see the long term advantage of Facebook. With blogging – I get it. I write, we comment, we converse. This is cathartic for me, entertaining for you, and it’s a cheap, easy way to keep the family updated with what is going on in our world. With Facebook – ???? I don’t see it. It’s fun. It’s great at killing hours at a time. Not sure where it goes from here.
What are you thoughts on the mess?
Can You Love God For The Wrong Reason?
This is part of our weekly journey through the book of Acts. Today is from Acts 8.
There’s so much going on in this chapter. First, there is the effect of the death of Stephen had on the church. It scattered them all except for the Apostles – what Luke calls the 12. In man’s eye this would be a bad thing – scattering of resources. But God isn’t man. What man sees as wisdom, God laughs as foolishness. What man sees as weakening the church, God sees as strengthening it. The Church was designed and purposed to be worldwide, scattered to all people in all places. Again we see how God doesn’t waste anything – pain, death, hurt, sickness – but uses all for the advancement of His story.
Second, we get a few more sentences about Saul – the great enemy of the church. He’s there at the death of Stephen. He was probably there at all the trials of Peter and John. Now he’s dragging men and women off to jail enforcing a vigilante justice of the San Hedrin. When we see Saul’s ‘turn-around’ in the next chapter, it’s easier now to see why the Apostles were so reluctant to accept him.
Lastly, the contrasting stories of Simon the Magician and the Ethiopian Eunuch. Their only similarities with each other were they were both foreigners.
Simon was a con-man. Used deception and slight of hands to make a living as well as have a fan base. Simon woos both money and attention from people. He’s a taker, not a giver.
The Ethiopian was an intellectual. One of the most honorable men in Ethiopia. He was in charge of the Queen’s finances. He was a truth seeker not for the sake of gain but simply for the sake of truth. His whole life was about serving others.
At one level, both men loved God for what they thought God could do for them. I guess we all do at some level. I first ‘accepted’ Jesus because I didn’t want to go to hell. Did I love Jesus? Yes….because he was going to save me from hell. Would I have loved Jesus if he couldn’t/wouldn’t save me from hell? No. Let’s face it, deciding to follow Jesus isn’t exactly an entirely altruistic decision. I’m at a place now in my walk where if I end up going to hell – I’ll go loving Jesus and thinking he was the greatest person to ever walk the earth. But my relationship with him didn’t start out that way. And neither did Simon’s.
Simon saw the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives – he wanted it. He offered to pay for it. It sent Peter off the deep end.
“To hell with your money! And you along with it! Why that’s unthinkable – trying to buy God’s gift? You’ll never be a part of what God is doing by striking bargains and offering bribes.” The Message
Simon’s words point to a deeper problem. Simon thinks he can manipulate God. Most of us can admit that we first loved Jesus because He could save us from hell but we weren’t the under the illusion that we could put God on the take. Simon apparently did. He saw what the Apostles were doing in terms of miracles and wrongly believed he could do that to. Except the disciples weren’t doing the miracles, the Spirit was through them. God wasn’t on the take and that’s what Simon wanted – to somehow work God into personal financial security.
Simon saw God/Jesus/Spirit as a commodity. The Ethiopian saw them as Truth.
Simon gets rebuked and embarrassed. The Ethiopian gets released to impact a country for Jesus. I think it’s possible to start a relationship with Jesus off on the wrong foot, for the wrong reasons. I also think He loves us enough to not let us stay there.
Skiing, John Denver And Wanting To Jump Off The Lift
Spent a day with my buddies Danny and Toby. (Yes…we were skiing.)
Danny hadn’t been on the long sticks in over a year. He did well. His greatest contributions however, were in the humor department. As with all good ski humor, it begins on the lift. We catch the 10th chair up. Danny’s impressed.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been up on the mountain this early, this soon.”
Toby and I are both quiet. I just turn to look at Danny.
Now, I love Danny to pieces. I’m positive every person on the planet has at least one of this kind of friend. The kind where the minute you meet him you just know – we are going to laugh like crazy. That’s Danny. We lived in his house when we first moved here for a few months. We’ve spent countless hours saving the universe or protecting the democracy from terrorists on the Xbox. We’re in a Life Group together. In spite of only having met Danny a little over a year ago…I know him well and vice versa.
I don’t know one single story about him that involves him being on time let alone early. In fact, we have coined the phrase “Danny Time” to justify being 30 minutes late as actually being on time.
Danny glances over at me.
“What?”
“Forget about it. For some odd reason that doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Somehow, some way we get talking about John Denver. (Again, there was no alcohol involved so I’m not really sure how this came up.) Danny starts referring to John Denver as “JD.” Like – “You know, there’s nothing like a good JD song to get you in the mood for skiing.”
Which Toby and I both laugh at because we honestly have no idea what in the world Danny means.
“You fill up my SENSSSSSSSSSESSSSSSSSSSS…..”
People on the chair in front of us turn around. Yes…some idiot is on the lift singing Annie’s Song at the top of his lungs.
The good news is we are on a 6-person lift. It gives Toby and I an opportunity to spread away from Danny.
“Like a night in the Forrrrrrrrresstt. Like the mountains in sprinnnnnnnnnnngtime. Like a night in the RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIN!”
I start debating how dangerous it really is to jump off a lift. I never thought a 6-person lift could be so small. I try to use distraction on him.
“You have John Denver on your iPod?”
“Yes…but there’s a reason for that.”
“You like crappy music?”
“I was a DJ so I had to have some crappy music because some of that crappy music is good to dance to.”
“Like You Fill Up My Senses?”
“It’s called Annie’s Song.”
I’m thinking – who the heck is Annie – but instead I say something of the effect – “So John Denver had a dance album?”
Toby picks up on this and comments – “You gotta know that some Chinese cover band has done a John Denver tune like that.”
And so went the rest of the day. Danny would often inform of us of the hipness of JD. That he would have loved to see JD’s music evolve to the next level had he lived long enough. I of course, can’t see the Emo John Denver making it besides the fact JD wasn’t actually young when died.
Danny’s big question of the day was – which rock-and-roll artist would you want to bring back from the dead – the ones that overdosed or the ones that crashed in planes?
A short list of each before you cast your own vote:
Overdosed: Jimi Hendrix, Andy Gibb, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison
Plane Crash: Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ritchie Valens, Otis Redding
As you can see…we get a lot done when we ski.
I’ve Got Nothing
This is part of our weekly journey through the book of Acts. Today is from Acts 7.
Then the Chief Priest said, “What do you have to say for yourself?“
Stephen’s response is THE mark of a spiritual leader. He says absolutely nothing for himself.
NOTHING.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Stephen’s in big trouble. He’s the latest in a long line of cases before the San Hedrin concerning this new movement centered on Jesus. They’ve already killed Jesus. They’ve arrested and beaten Peter and John twice. Peter and John escaped from their prison once. Thousands are leaving the Temple and joining this movement. Stephen completely embarrassed their scholars in a debate.
The San Hedrin finds themselves in a losing battle but they can’t figure out who their real opponent is. They think its this band of misfits, fishermen, prostitutes, and tax collectors. That’s the emphasis of their question – what do you have to say for yourself? They’ve yet to figure out they are fighting against God.
Stephen is the ‘straw’ that will break this thing wide open. The San Hedrin is at a boiling point. And Stephen is able to do something that Peter, John, or any other disciple couldn’t do – bring into focus the real issue using language that the San Hedrin would be sure to understand. History, tradition, scripture, theology.
Along the way Stephen models true spiritual leadership and courage.
Stephen goes on 20 minute explanation of the work of God through the nation of Israel. He begins with Abram through Moses to the prophets to Jesus.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
Nothing. It’s not about me. It’s about the work of God. What He did. What He is doing. How you are completely missing it.
“What do you have to say for yourself?“
Nothing. Other than I’m a sinner that needs God more than He needs me. And so are you. We’re a bunch of traitors, murderers, liars, and thieves that need God. And so are you. You need God.
“What do you have to say for yourself?“
You’ve blown the greatest opportunity in history by focusing on yourself. God stood before you in Jesus and you asked the same stupid, arrogant, ignorant question.
“What do you have to say for yourself?“
I’ve been baited with this question. How quickly I answered it and in so doing proving my immaturity. The whole point of a relationship with Jesus is understanding that I don’t have anything to say FOR myself. If I could, I wouldn’t need Jesus.
The San Hedrin wanted to make the issue about Stephen’s intelligence, reputation, and character. Stephen refused to be baited by the question and instead drove right to the heart of the matter – God’s story and their rejection of it.
Stephen didn’t justify his faith,. He didn’t rationalize his actions. He didn’t try to paint himself in a good light. He didn’t have a self-protecting mindset at all because he knew that it had nothing to do with him.
“What do you have to say for yourself?“
I’ve got nothing but God’s story.
The mark of true spiritual maturity – to be free of the desire to say anything for yourself and instead be consumed by God’s story.
I want to be like that.
Helmet Vents
As some of you noticed, I now wear a helmet when I ski. Call it leading by example…except that I only started wearing AFTER my kids were wearing theirs and they kept bugging me to get one.
The cool thing about my helmet is that it has vents. Keeps your head cool on spring skiing days.
Of course the bad thing is when it’s not spring skiing….
And you forgot to put the plugs back in…
Which is what happened today. I thought my head was going to freeze but only on those little squares where the vents were open. I felt like I was being attacked by Frozone.
Adding to the humor was the fact that I didn’t have my beanie with me either…
AND instead of grabbing my goggles – that fit over my glasses – I grabbed Amy’s goggles that don’t fit over anything.
So I skied a run and came home. Great to have a season pass.
Book Review: Band of Brothers
Stephen Ambrose’s passion for World War II has gifted the world with some of the best books ever written. D-Day, Citizen Soldier, and this one – Band of Brothers. The book follows one company – Easy of the 506th Airborne Infantry – from training in Toccoa, Georgia to the end of the war.
The leadership lessons alone make this book a must have. Major Winters ends up being the hero of the story. His steady influence, example, and leadership made this unit one of the best in the world at the time. My favorite line comes from Winters while he is chewing out another lieutenant for gambling with the men. The young LT can’t see how gambling is all that bad. Winters asks him what would have happened if he’d won. In the silence, Winters reveals his guiding principle of leadership – “Never put yourself in a position to take from these men.”
And Winters doesn’t. He gives, he sacrifices, he leads, he demands the best, he cares for them but he never takes from his men. He’s there to serve them and the mission – a balance that at times gets hard to achieve but he does it.
It’s a value I’ve tried to communicate in ministry. We (leaders, volunteers) exist to serve others, not ourselves. We make decisions based on what is best for the mission and the ones we are called to serve. I’ve been fortunate to never have on my own teams someone who was there more for themselves than the students but I’ve met youth pastors who were. They don’t get it and often times end up doing more damage than good.
Winters did the best that he could to make sure the leaders of the men in the 506th understood that principle.
The 1-Minute Bible Experiment
This week we do something I’ve never done in student ministry before. We’re going to try to read most of the Bible in one year using Doug Fields “1-Minute Bible.”
What I Like About It:
1. It’s easy to keep up with – 1 minute a day is doable. If you forget for an entire week – that’s only 7 minutes of make-up work.
2. It connects students DAILY with God through His word. Could develop a habit.
3. Removes the biggest obstacles I hear students say are to reading the Bible: 1) don’t know what to read (where to start) and 2) don’t understand what I’ve read when I’ve read it.
4. Will provide a groundwork for our Life Group leaders to work off of.
5. Will help having our volunteer team reading the same thing, connecting with the same scriptures every week.
What I’m Nervous About:
1. New students…how do we get them involved and engaged?
2. Will we get bored with it?
3. Is this enough to keep ‘butts in the seats?’
Gerrard Fess said it best – “What you win them with is what you win them to.” While I completely agree with his sentiment, it does scare the bejeezus out of me to ultimately ‘sell’ the youth ministry on – “We’re going to read the Bible in a whole year.” We’ll do service stuff and ski trips and some other cool things. We’re still going to laugh, be goofy and break things in the main auditorium but doing this for a whole year…I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t even the least bit nervous.
I think what I’m nervous about pails in comparison to the potential rewards of this. Should be one heck of ride.
I Just Want To Buy One Friggin Stamp
Today I had one letter that I was pretty sure was a tad bit overweight for just one stamp…but I wanted to make sure. I mean – heck, can’t be wasting an extra stamp. That’s a whole 41 cents.
So I go weigh it on one of the little kiosks with a scale and come to find out – all it need was one stamp. Yeah, me. I saved us 41 cents.
The line to talk to an actual person is 14 people deep. No way I’m waiting in line for one stamp.
Can’t find one of those cool vending machines that we used to dump change in for a stamp.
I did find one of the new U.S. Postal service ATMs for shipping stuff. (Which I think would be a cool acronym – ATMFSS.) So I start pressing buttons.
“Can I help you mail something today?”
Yes.
“What is the size of your package?”
I snickered…middle school humor is so hard to leave behind. I click on the “Letter” option.
“Place the letter on the scale.”
“Do you accept the weight?”
Yes.
“How fast do you want it to get there?”
Here’s where it starts getting a bit frustrating…Overnight is $14. 2 day is $7. First class mail is $0.41 – estimated arrival date is 2 days from now.
Click on $0.41 option.
“The lowest amount you can purchase something from this machine is $1.00 since this machine doesn’t give change.”
Alright, I get that…sort of. But no problem. It gives me the option of buying 3 $0.41 stamps…which now I thinking is $1.23 – how does that solve the change problem?
So I click on the 3 stamps option and it says – “Insert debit/credit card”
Wait a minute – if you’re going to let me use my debit card, why can’t I buy just one friggin’ stamp.
Of course, I’ve been quiet this whole time except for this last phrase I say out loud.
Apparently, fairly loud because the lady behind me starts snickering.
I turn around and say the magic phrase again – I just want to buy one friggin’ stamp.
“So go stand in line.”
I spent $1.23 on my debit card to send a $0.41 letter all because I didn’t want to spend 82 cents.
I’m an idiot.
Powder Day – February 26
After a few days of blog silence…which is always good…time to report on my therapy.
First was last Tuesday. It was an awesome day. I got to ski on 11 inches of fresh powder. I got to ski with Gene. I got to introduce Gene to some great friends from Arkansas – the Sellers and the Tumlinsons. In fact, Matt Sellers was one of the original Band of Brothers. I got to catch up with Nathan and Lisa. I got to watch Matt face plant down Copper Bowl.
This is Nana Sellers – my favorite Romanian. Of course…she’s the only Romanian I know but that is besides the point. Her and Matt were watch the kids for us and I always felt bad for Nana because it was like she was watching 4 kids instead of 3. Matt – although now a doctor – is still a great big kid. I think that’s why we hit off so well so many years ago and still do.
This is Nathan and Lisa. Nathan and Lisa were Life Group interns at our church in Little Rock. They now are working with an organization in town that connects international exchange college students to American families in Little Rock. I think you can see the mission emphasis there. Great family, great leaders.
And here’s Gene in the background. I’ve got more to say about Gene later but the end of the day had us both in stitches. First, I was resting on one of our diamond runs and he sprayed me pretty good with snow. Since turn about is fairplay, I decided to get even. Only problem is I hit ice and ended up sliding, not spraying. I stopped at Gene’s feet with no snow on him whatsoever.
After skiing all the black diamonds we could handle, it was time to head home. We flew down the front side of Copper, just letting the skis run out. Gene is in front, I’m flowing close behind. Turns out, a little too close.
Gene lazily turns back into the middle of the run and coasts as if to stop. I see this happening in my mind but my legs weren’t exactly ready to respond. So I finally get my skis stopping but then I notice that Gene’s pole is kinda in the way. It’s not Gene’s fault per say but I start hollering at him “pole, pole, POLE!!!!”
Apparently Gene’s reaction time was on par with mine because I hit his pole as I’m stopping…although I’m not going extremely fast, I’m going fast enough to gently roll over on my back, knock Gene off his skis and I tumble one more time for good measure. All of this happens underneath the Super Bee lift. Lots of laughter to end a great day.
Growth = Problems
This is part of a e-vo series through the New Testament book of Acts. Today is from Acts 6.
“We are growing but not making budget.”
“We are growing but we don’t have the volunteers we need.”
“We are growing but we don’t have the leaders to maintain the infrastructure.”
“We are growing and it’s causing our staff to run around like chickens without heads.”
“We are growing but we are forgetting to take care of the widows.”
Some things never change. As any organization grows, ‘opportunities’ will raise their heads. (A code word for problems.) Our early church brothers were no different. As the church was growing and flourishing, a group of folks were falling through the cracks – Hellenistic widows. What to do?
Pick out some qualified men to serve these woman – to make sure that their needs were being met. Simple. Direct. Pragmatic. Right?
If it were only that easy. It says that ‘hard feelings’ had developed between two groups inside the church. How long did this percolate before the Twelve were brought into the circle? At first, did the Twelve blow it off because they thought it was so simple to fix that anyone could fix it? When did the Twelve finally realize that what they had on their hands wasn’t ‘feeding the widows’ problem but a leadership problem?
What’s bothersome about the passage is that this problem got elevated to the Twelve. Are you telling me there wasn’t someone wise enough to figure out this solution BEFORE it escalated into an emotional, potentially divisive issue? Apparently the answer is yes. And truthfully – this stuff still goes on.
I’ve sat around enough committees and other decision making groups to see the dynamic at work. Someone will have keen insight into the problem – why this is a problem, how this problem developed, whose fault the problem is, and what will be the ultimate result if the problem goes unsolved. I used to think that person was smart and wise and insightful.
I was wrong. That person is just a complainer. What takes true leadership and maturity is the courage to try solutions that are redeemable and workable regardless of the cost – to ego or to position. Every individual who complained about the problem of the widows without further pushing for a redeemable solution was just adding to the problem. That’s where the hard-feelings develop. I think most people don’t get that sitting around figuring out problems without figuring out solutions just leads to bitterness.
In essence, the Twelve’s solution was to put it back on the people – “You pick out guys who you trust and know that have God’s character. Let them solve it.” That did a couple of things. First, it addressed directly the issue at hand – getting widows food. But it also gave them a template for ministry. See a need, meet it. That’s what people with the character of God do.