Month: July 2009

Check out what my friend Joe is doing in Florida with his Nightlife Center. Click here to see the news coverage.

The Americans know this will end in schism | Tom Wright – Times Online

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Just finished reading The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter & Matt Smay. I enjoyed the challenge and call to the church to Incarnational ministry. If you are not afraid of books that challenge assumptions and call the church out of the trenches of her comfort zone, give this book a read.

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent but had not phoned in sick. So he dialed the employee’s home phone number and was greeted with a child’s whisper. ‘Hello?’ ‘Is your daddy home?’ ‘Yes, he’s out in the garden,’ whispered the small voice. ‘May I talk with him?’ The child whispered, ‘No.’ So the boss asked, ‘Well, is your Mommy there?’ ‘Yes, she’s out in the garden, too.’ ‘May I talk with her?’ Again the small voice whispered, ‘No.’ Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, ‘Is anybody else there?’ ‘Yes,‘ whispered the child, ‘a policeman.’ Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, ‘May I speak with the policeman?’ ‘No, he’s busy,’ whispered the child. ‘Busy doing what?’ ‘Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the police dog men.’ Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background, the boss asked, ‘What is that noise?’ ‘It’s a helicopter,’ answered the whispering voice. ‘What is going on there?’ demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive. ‘The search team just landed a helicopter‘ ‘A search team?’ said the boss. ‘What are they searching for?’ Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle…. ‘ME!’

I was struck by a question while in Costa Rica: Is there a difference between a rainforest and a jungle? Tonight I Googled the question and here’s the distinction: A rainforest floor is clear and it’s canopy allows almost no sunlight through. In contrast, the jungle floor is dense and moderate sunlight is allowed in. Given this distinction, I would say that what we were in was more accurately the jungle than the rainforest.

Just for fun this summer I am randomly doing some Spontaneous Summer Surprises with my youth ministry. These will be unadvertised events and the only way to know something is happening is to be at our Wednesday night services. Last night, in the middle of the service, I just said to show up at the church tomorrow with $10 at 10 a.m. to go out for breakfast. Six of us had a really great time hanging out, eating, sharing, and laughing over breakfast at Country Kitchen. It was really fun and refreshing! Looking forward to more of them this summer!

Today was much more normal than yesterday. We had a great youth service tonight. Lots of fun! Great to see my teens again. The Costa Rica team and some kids who went to El Salvador shared their stories. Very exciting and inspirational! After service I went out to Taco Bell for almost 2 hours for a great conversation with one of my youth leaders. Excellent!

We arrived home from Costa Rica last Wednesday night, and after a few hours of sleep we were driving back to LaGuardia to fly to Virginia for a whirlwind weekend of two weddings – me performing one, and the other bringing our entire family together. We got home last night and today was my first day back to normal. About mid-afternoon it really hit me. I am really feeling culture shock! Going from Latin American culture back to American culture and then from Virginia culture back to New York culture. Wow! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a weird mix of emotions all in one day. God, I need Your grace!

We are back in Virginia for the weekend where I am officiating the wedding of one of my former students and also attending the wedding of my cousin. In addition to seeing many friends at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, today we had fun running around the old stomping grounds, running into, and surprising some old friends. We surprised our friend Diana, stopped by to see our old house and say hi to our neighbors Bobby, Francis, & Jeromy, and stopped by to see Claudia’s best friend from 1st grade, Hayden. At the rehearsal dinner I looked around to see that [after the wedding tomorrow] four of the guys there are married and one has two kids. Does that make me a spiritual grandpa or something? Not sure, but I definitely felt old … and proud!