Suzanne @ 50

My sister Suz turned 50 yesteday and nobody turned 50 more graciously than she. I was thinking how her birthday has been one of the greatest gifts that I have ever received. Though she is a decade further along, she and I have always been close. We have laughed, cried, prayed and grown together as friends. She is passionate and principled, has a exuberance for life and is generous to a fault. There are few people I admire more and if she is your friend you have a true one. She will not tell you what you want to hear unless, of course, what you want to hear is what you need to hear but she will tell you out of your best interest and an unguiled sense of love. She is intense--a good intense like warmth from a fire or the light from the sun. She is a devoted wife, tested and true, and a tireless mother, sacrificial and steadfast. Fifty years doesn't seem that long the closer I get to it. As you approach getting older, you begin to realize the uniqueness of deep relationships and the trueness of character. You begin to value and cherish people--the clear and certain people who have been tested to the core of their character and who, though flawed in their own way, remain true. Suzanne at 50 is a paragon to beauty, virtue, love, joy and the zest to live in pursuit of Christ.

Red Bud: First and Best

The Red Bud tree outside my office reminds me of the splendor of Spring. It is always the first to bloom risking frost and it is always the most brilliant. Giving your first and best to God is not a mere act of obedience but the heroic act of trust as well as the sign to all that change, life, warmth and light are all on the horizon. First and best is about hope about love bursting into the darkness. The Red Bud tree is always first and brilliantly beautiful giving forth its best. I'd love to be consistently this bold and beautiful, risking the frost and yet still busting out in undeniable beauty--first and best.

Foie est Foie

Aaron Harvie and I were in the La Boqueria in Barcelona looking for the Rachel Ray recommended restaurant. What we found was a crowded little kiosk of sorts with a bustling but cramped staff of three meeting the needs of dozens of patrons. We waited and we sat down, looking at the menu. Our Spanish, not to mention Catalon, was not very good so with regards to a menu I asked about huevos con fritos. "Que est ..." and the man would simply pick up the item. The first was squid and the second item was fish. The third item said heuvos con fritos con foie. I asked "que est foie?" With astonishment and disdain the man said "foie?" Then there was a contemptuous pause followed by him emphatically saying "Foie est Foie!" So I ordered that. It was the best fried egg and duck liver I have ever eaten--seriously good. Sometimes you can't boil it down any further, and you can't show a picture or explain it, but can only experience it. Foie est Foie...and it's good.

Buzzards

Yesterday as I drove up to the church there were over 40 Buzzards sitting in the front of the church property. I slowed and looked and they were congregating but there was no obvious corpse. "Lord, is this some sort of sign or something?" I'm in a bit of a fog on Monday mornings anyway but this was eerily strange. Later in the day they were still there. As I drove to my lunch appointment, I passed the hord of vultures sunning themselves on the front property as thousands of cars passed by obvious aware that something was dead at that church. What a PR nightmare: "buzzards descend on Grace Point." I slowed and looked into the creek where there was the corpse of a deer that was probably hit crossing the street to eat all of our plants. I then had mixed emotions: part of me glad the landscape eating bandit got caught in the gauntlet and then miffed that death brings buzzards. As I drove home they were still there and maybe today when I go in the all day buffet will still be open. My wish is that the dead churches all around the country would have such a clear indication as buzzards on the lawn. There are just not enough buzzards to go around.

Full Circle

A few years ago our church produced a Worship CD and one of the songs "I want my life to be" I helped co-write. It was a great project and our church really got behind the CD and it was well circulated.
Fast Forward to last month or four years later...my Niece has turned her life around and decided to focus on Jesus and distance herself from selfish and self destructive lifestyles. She has a new roommate from Saudi Arabia who is an active believer and she is reorienting her life and choices. As she stepped out of the shower she heard the song "I want my life to be" and she said hey is that my CD? Her roommate said no "it's mine". My niece replied " but that's my uncle's song....where did you get the CD"? She said "my youth minister when visiting the states came back to Saudi with the CD and gave it to me"...
My niece called me that morning to share the amazing story of how far and vast one act of worship can travel and how remarkable and significant seemingly unnoticed acts of faith can transform someone else. I praise God for allowing the little things to come full circle and remind me of how Great and Awesome, Deep and How wide his love is.

Bike Porn

The Magazine is called Mountain Bike and the January 08 edition has all the new bike offerings for 08 from the various makers. They are laid out in Glossy airbrushed pics fearturing the flawless perflect positioned bikes in such away that they are glistening and mesmerizing. Page after page each bike with it's unique features entices you to want to purchase or possess. On my plane ride home I had given my magazine away but I saw another guy ooogling the same edition. Whether it's guitars, cars, William Sonoma, it's all the same it's porn. Pictures developed to cultivate desire and lust to the point of conquest. I'm addicted to internet bike porn and i'm not proud of it. I have a bike a great bike...why can't I just be satisified and be a one bike man? why do I always have to look and lust?
It seems addiction is the obsession with possession....when you become bored with addiction it no longer possesses you...it could be anything...it's the thing that inhibits full devotion, seeking first, hearing His voice. It could be bike porn.

Missionary Minded

Three days removed and having cafe con leche withdraw I am reflecting on the challenges facing Missionaries in Western Europe. The U.S. is drawing closer to the context of Western Europe...Prostitution is legal in many places in the U.S. the Medicinal use of Marijuana and a porn obsessed internet generation...we are more secular all the time and the relative nature of religious belief continues to make people numb. There are similarities and yet we still have an open window. In Western Europe the context is difficult and then add Missionary Board guidelines that make it all the more difficult to accomplish. The board is not bad they just are not on the Western European field. They pass well meaning guidelines but aren't able to see the domino in Western Europe. Bureacracies in general are this way...they mean well but slow and cloud the effectiveness because of an inability or lack of experience on the actual field of play. In Western Europe I learned a great lesson...don't rage against the machine...but be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. I then added a life lesson or spiritual discipline that I am going to grow in and pursue...Ecc. 7:9 "Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit for anger resides in the lap of fools"... More than anything I admire the men and women who are undeterred in their calling and unprovoked in their spirit's...I hope to become more like them....more like Christ.