I get knocked down…

…but I get up again!

My site was down all day and my server was doing some serious overhauling. Unfortunately, my last 3 days of posting were a casualty of this… I have been on chat support all day with them. Brinkster is usually good with support, but all they could tell me was “sorry, is there anything else I can help you with?” Gees.

I win!!

It’s still unofficial and we have to count Florida’s votes, but it looks like I won the “best worst nickname” competition over at CJ Mills’ blog. Check it out HERE.

Can we just vote now please?

I am ready for the presidential race to be over. I am tired of it. Tired of the useless debates. Tired of hearing the same old stupidity on talk radio. Tired of the jokes. Tired of the email forwards that are waste of human efficiency. Tired of the seeing the ABSOLUTE worst brought out in people.

Lets face it, the US president is not all that powerful. He is not going to overturn Roe v. Wade, he is not going to restore the economy, he is not going to balance the budget, he is not going to overcome the partisan gridlock that is holding back our country, and he is not going to bring an end to terrorism. He is essentially a glorified PR person and poster-boy for the USA.

Jesus Christ is my King and thats all I really care about. I would be much happier to vote this next Tuesday and get on with it. Who’s with me?

What keeps you up at night?

I don’t sleep very deep. When the A/C kicks on I usually wake up for half a second and then go back to sleep. But occasionally, these midnight intrusions open the door for my mind to play tricks on me and get me thinking. What follows is a few hours of tossing, turning, thinking about minor problems in life, and then convincing myself I am dumb for wasting time at 2 AM with them.

What about that nasty co-worker? What SHOULD I have said during that argument earlier today? What are we going to do about money? Is my message ready for Sunday? Will make that deadline at work?

So, what mind-tricks keep you up at night?

In a spiritual desert

I am in one right now. And you know how I can tell?

My mouth.

I have always had a big mouth and have often had to repair relationships with people because I had my face-hole filter turned off. But Jesus knew what he was talking about in Matt 12:34 and Luke 6:45 when he said that “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

I have been saying stupid things lately. Not mean or opinionated things, but just dumb, junior high-ish humor that is crass and useless. I can only attribute it to the fact that I have been lax on spiritual discipline lately. My heart is harder than usual and so crap proceeds from it through my mouth and into the world.

In the last few days I have had several moments where I have said to myself, “I CAN’T believe I just said that… what an idiot!” Usually I say dumb things to get a laugh from people, but it is not worth it.

I wish I could be one of those guys who only has encouraging, useful, and profound things to say. I have always struggled with the slow to speak thing that Jesus’ half-bro talked about.

Need a job?

Try THIS.

The Bricktestament

If you have ever played with Legos and you consider yourself a follower of the Most High, then you MUST check out The Bircktestament.

A guy photographs and storyboards stories from the bible using Legos and Legomen… I may never have to teach another lesson in Junior High ever again! Brilliant.

Visit the site HERE.

Gettin’ publicity

A few weeks ago I posted about the falls series at my church and the grassroots campaign we are doing to promote it. A local paper did a write up about the August-September series called, Jesus for President. You can read it HERE.

You can check out the series micro-site HERE at anewplatform.com.

No office, no problem

This post is part of Creative Chaos.

I was thinking about my relationships the other day. Before we begin, you must know that I am not a relationship guy. I know this sounds weird coming from a youth pastor, but its true. I like to have a handful of close friends who know me 80% of the way, my family who knows me 85%, my wife who knows me 93.7% and I keep the other 6.3% to myself. I do not do this intentionally, I have just learned over years of moving, changing, and growing up that this best suits me. I am working on being more open to those who need me to be. Read more

Bibles for leaders

Thought I would share this pic with you. It is one of the village chiefs and pastors in Chikudzulire receiving a bible purchased by Vision Africa. My church sponsored Chikudzulire almost a year ago and if you had anything to do with Vision Africa, here is just a glimpse of what you have helped accomplish. Also, notice the feeding center you helped build in the background!

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