Ethos NYC

I spent the last 2 1/2 days at the ETHOS NYC event, a leadership expereiment, at Columbia University. The event was lead by Erwin McManus and several of his team from Mosaic LA. I'm not a good note taker so here are some random quotes I jotted down.

Unless otherwise noted the quotes below are form Erwin McManus:
Ethos, defined as, The fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, and practices of a group or society, cannot be created, cannot happen with only one person.

The Church as it exists right now is an institution, what Jesus started was a movement. Somewhere along the line, we lost our motion.

The predominant mindset will become the ethos.

The majority will not lead, a small group willing to risk greatly will lead.

Mystics live in relationship with invisible realities. (Could be my favorite one)

Talent doesn't point to passion.

Ambition is good, selfish ambition is bad.

We have screwed up Jesus' command in Matthew 28:20. He did not tell us to teach all nations all things but to obey all things...most of us already know too much, the question is how much do we obey?

Drawing the line of faith too close creates high maintenance discipleship. Pushing the line out...followers of Christ are those who give all.

If we listen well enough, most people will tell us how to lead them to Christ.

In response to what is the most effective thing you are doing to reach people for Christ:
"We throw parties. Our first party one person came, now 80-100 show up."
one of the Church planters of Mosaic Dusseldorf, sorry I am spacing on his name
"Instead of building a church building we built a coffee shop that sees 600-700 people a day. And we hold a couple services there on Saturday Nights"
Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church Washington DC

Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible for a Christian to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

Most people, in our congregations, live off other peoples spirituality.

My message has to be done by Thursday so I can take my day off on Friday and Sabbath on Saturday.

We violate the image of God in us when we don't practice taking sabbaths.
Pete Scazzero, Founder, New Life Fellowship, Queens, NY

Those are my notes, fragemented as they are. Lots of stuff still churning in my head, may be another post to come on ETHOS NYC: the aftermath






Ethos erwin mcmanus
leadership
Character

Don't mind me while I rant

A blogging friend recently asked if it was okay to repost some comments I had left. I was told ahead of time the thoughts would be edited; I had paid my friend a compliment in the comment and she thought it too self-serving to reprint it. In the reprint, I was cited as the source. Asking permission to repost my stuff was a very courteous gesture, while not necessary, I appreciated the thought.

Now let's travel to the far end of this spectrum we shall call blogging integrity. Over a year ago, I read and printed for reference, an article on leadership from a favorite e-zine. I recently read a post from a widely-read emerging missional(whatever you wanna call it) blogger on leadership. As I read, I thought "yeah this makes alot of sense." Then another thought occurred to me, "Hey this stuff sounds kind of familiar." I walked away from my computer. A day later, I dug up the old article I had printed. Wouldn't you know it, almost word for word, the article on leadership from the e-zine got jacked, lifted, pilfered!!!! I realize that there is nothing new under the sun; almost all ideas are old ideas revisited. But this was word for word. That's just poor. I don't care who or what the source or who or what the author you don't do that. There wasn't even a token, "I don't remember the guy's name but..." or "I read this someplace else..."
Maybe I'm just being naive. Maybe if you put something out on this crazy internet thingy, you should do it, knowing that someone, somewhere will probably steal one of your ideas and claim it as original. Call me an idealist but blogging integrity is not something to be taken lightly if you take your blogging at all seriously. One would never publish something in print form that was someone else's work with citing the source. I am not suggesting footnotes according to Strunk & White but the simple "Hat Tip" will do; something to give credit where credit is due.

Here endeth my little rant.


tags blogging integrity blogging integrity leadership

When God breaks through...

So I have been reading through Renovation of Heart: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation by Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson.
In praying through and thinking about the experiment for Day 32, Next steps towards Love, Joy and Peace, I had a huuuuge a-ha. I was considering what the book refers to as the "destructive feelings" that exist in my life. I have gone through my adult life with a bad habit that I didn't know existed. If I have a bad day, a tough exchange with someone, if a program I planned didn't go well, you get the idea, then I am entitled to some sort of compensation for that unpleasantness. Say something goes wrong, I get home, I replay the day and think to myself, that was miserable I am entitled to....not just a glass of wine with dinner but one after the kids got to sleep, or a giant stack of oreos, or 3 hours of video games that end at 2:00 am.
As I thought these things through I realized that I was standing directly in the way of God's work in my life. The bible talks about "God turning what man intended for harm into good" and "God working all things for the good of those who love him."Instead of acknowledging God's ability to work even in the crap of my life I chose to handle it myself.
I prayed and asked God to forgive me for getting in his way and for the faith to trust Him to handle even the crap in my life.
I love it when God breaks through.

Scot Mckinght on an "Evironment of Honesty"

Scot Mcknight has some insightful thoughts on the Ted Haggard Mess that has been/is unfolding.

Haggard's troubles point to larger problems within Evangelical Christianity not just the sins of one man. According to McKnight

1. Christians, and not just pastors, do not feel free to disclose sins to anyone;
2. Christians, including pastors, sin and sin all the time;
3. Christians, including pastors, in evangelicalism do not have a mechanism of confession;
4. Christians and pastors, because of the environment of condemnation of sin and the absence of a mechanism of confession, bottle up their sins, hide their sins, and create around themselves an apparent purity and a reality of unconfessed/unadmitted sin.
5. When Christians do confess, and it is often only after getting caught, they are eaten alive by fellow evangelicals — thus leading some to deeper levels of secrecy and deceit.

Therefore, we need to be diligent about correcting the above. We need to be diligent in creating an "environment of honesty." Please read Scot's full post here.

Love compels us to action

I taught this morning at Crossroads about the how the love we have received from God compels us to action, living beyond ourselves. Sometimes, I take for granted that I live with one of the best example of self-sacrificing love I have ever met.

That's my wife, Gail, playing UNO with the boyz. It's 7:00 on Sunday night. We spent the morning at church. The afternoon was spent watching football with a bunch of the college guys then Dinner at my mom's.

She doesn't complain about the hard parts of doing full-time ministry. She always puts the boyz and I before herself. I am obviously biased but she is truly amazing.

Pleasant Surprises

Have you ever been really pleasantly caught off gaurd by something?

I was, this evening. An old friend and his fiance came over for coffee and dessert. My friend has seen alot of life. A few years ago he made a series of bad decisions that just sent him into a spiral. I did everything I knew how to, to be there for him; gave him rides, gave him money, offered advice, went to court with him, listened to him. Unfortunately, each bad decision seemed to make him withdraw from me all the more.

As he withdrew, I continued attempts to reach out to him. It became increasingly difficult to catch up with him. His phone got disconnected, his cell was destroyed in a car accident. Towards the end, even when I did manage to catch up with him and arrange times to meet he wouldn't be there. We lost touch.

A mutual friend was home for a visit. We were telling stories and rehashing memories. We decided to go find our long lost friend. We went to his last known address and just happen to find him home. He seemed genuinely happy to see us. That was about a year and half ago.

He has since got back involved with a local church, has a steady job, seems to be making some good decisions and has a beautiful fiance who loves him.

So back to tonight. He handed me some money and said there would be more coming. I never expected him to pay me back when I gave him the money but he did. The money doesn't matter to me but the fact that he is dealing with his past in a constructive manner made my whole month. He seems to be in a genuinely good way. I couldn't be happier for him. As he was leaving, he shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye and said "Thank you."

Did I mention I was pleasantly caught off guard?

it's tough being a raider fan

Anybody want to make a comment about the raiders performance last night. I can take it. Whatever the comment might be I'm sure it's deserved.

My buddies and I have this deal where the one whose team has the highest draft pick (read worst record from the previous season) has to host our annual "NFL Draft Day party." I will be sending out an email later today asking if anyone has any special requests for the Draft day menu. It's a sad day when I know will be hosting....and it's only October.

"Commitment to Excellence....er, uh...mediocrity....whatever"



tags raiders NFL Draft

'til I'm old and grey

I started doing Student Ministry as a Young life volunteer. I had a "real" job ( I sold toilet paper and lots of it...don't laugh everybody needs it right?) and lived a normal life. I never would have guessed that 14 years later I would still be hanging out with middle school and high school kids and doing it professionally. Over the course of that time there were phases when I would look ahead and think I'm gonna do this 'til Johnny graduates. Then Johnny graduated and I said I think I can do this until Suzy and Joey graduate. Most recently, I said I think once Russ, Zak and Steve graduate I'm done. That would be June '08.

This past Wednesday, I drove a car full of freshmen guys from our weekly meeting over to the local fast food joint. Football players, skaters, honors-class kids and gamers; great homes, broken homes, dysfunctional homes; leaders, followers, and rebels, all who have allowed me into their amazing, wacky messed-up lives. We laughed and joked the whole drive. We piled out of mini-van and I watched the six of them walk into the restaurant.

I smiled and thought to myself I gonna do this 'til I'm old and grey.

tags student ministry youth ministry

Is God Green?

I hate politics. I especially hate it when it gives God a bad name. I hate it even more when "God's people" give God a bad name. There are those instances, which are way too rare, when a few folks who claim to be followers of Christ stand out in the parade of political nonsense as admirable and worthy of imitation.

Is God Green? recently aired on PBS and you can view it in it's entirety here. It was an intestesting combination of why I hate politics, more and more, why I want to distance myself from the religous right and a few individuals whom I would do well to imitate.

Despite how I feel about politics it was a great piece. Thought provoking on many levels and worth the time to watch it.

On a side note, if you watch this thing, there are several clips of congregations singing. Why is it that the media shows only those congregations that are tone-deaf and/or rthymically impaired?

tags Christianity politics environmentalist

Movin' on up...

So, our leadership team at Crossroads has been in talks with a local Epsicopal Church to see about sharing their building. After several months of discussions and more importantly praying and seeking God's leading it looks like we are going to be moving down the street into ...gasp...an actual church building.

I'm excited about this move for a number of reasons. (not in any order)
It means a semi-permanent home for us. Regular set-up and take down will be minimal.

It means a building that looks like a church. Believe me, I am the first to say and try to live out. "We don't go to church, we are the church...we need to be the church." That being said one of the the peculiarities of New England is a love/hate relationship with tradition. We currently meet in the gym of the local YMCA. Many visitors and would-be visitors have expressed a concern or issue about the facility. I'm not just talking about "church people" looking for the right place to meet their needs either. At the same time, some of those same folks are concerned that meeting in a building that looks and feels like a church will drudge up baggage from their uprbinging associated with their parent's church or some other sort of unpleasantness. Like I said it's a love/hate thing. While this might be a detrimant in some contexts I believe here in the enigma that is New England it will help.

Moving into a traditional building provides us with a great opportunity to re-purpose things like the stained glass windows and the kneelers. How cool it would be to provide people with an opportunity to see tradtional church trappings from a new perspective...We are all keenly aware that the new building looks like a church so we are already in the process of brainstorming ways to make to sure we don't define ourselves by our building, to make sure that we continue to be about much more than a place and a time.

This move means a chance to do something with very different community of faith. We will maintain separate services, sunday schools and all that good stuff. Simply the fact that two churches are sharing a space like grown-ups has huge potential to reach the surrounding community.

Our leadership has taken on a much bigger "kingdom" attitude about the whole thing. God is calling us to do this thing. We may or may not benefit from this at all. It's possible that the reason we are doing this is for the other congregation.. Who knows? But the fact that we are thinking of Christ's Church and not our church is very cool.

Anyway, like I said I am excited. Please pray for the people of Crossroads and of Grace Episcopal and for the next leg of our journey together.


tags church christianity New England

Recent Readings

I have been struggling to get back into a discplined habit of bible reading. I recently read through 1 & 2 Timothy and came away with a little surprise. There is an often quoted portion of a verse in 2 Timothy 1 verse 7, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power..." That's where the quote usually ends. In it's entirety the verse reads "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. "

God gives us a spirit of self-discipline. I got such a boost out of that. The spirit of God is at work on my behalf even in self-discipline. It also knocked me back a step. What bad form to take bits and pieces of scripture to meet a given need. Shame on me!

I have also been reading through Renovation of the Heart: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation by Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson. Dallas Willard has always been recommended to me as one those guys you need to read. "It will stretch you" people said. I don't know if I'm an idiot or what, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to get through a Willard book. Renovation takes small excerpts from Willard's book of the same name and supports them with daily experiments in spiritual transformation. Finally, I feel like I am making some progress. I have really gotten into each exercise that follows the reading. Maybe I am just a slow processor and need that extra time to contemplate the deep thoughts from Dallas. I am thinking about trying to pull some folks together this winter and work through the book as group. Maybe meet once every other week and talk about how we have been reading and experiencing....to be continued


tags: Dallas Willard spiritual transformation christianity

Weekend o' sports

We had a great weekend. Thursday Night Jake and I went to Yankee stadium and watched the Yanks get almost no-hit. Jake's line of the night, "Even though they lost it was still the best night of my life."






Friday Night, I hung out with some college and high school folks watching the Golden Eagles of Trumbull High dismantle the black knights of Stamford.



Saturday was at the UCONN/Navy game. My Father-in-law went to the naval academy back in the day and is still a die hard fan. It was pretty cool to sit amidst all the midshipmen and former and present sailors as Navy kicked the snot out of UCONN. Man I miss football!!!

Wanna go for a walk?

I have been thinking about/ had the images of the account of Jesus transfiguration stuck in my head for going on a year now. Even after a year my thoughts on it are still pretty disjointed so please add your $.02 or ask for clarification.

My really rough paraphrase is this: Jesus asked his three closest friends to go for a walk. When they got to where they were going things got funky. Jesus started to glow. Then two other guys who had been dead for hundreds of years show up. Not knowing what else to do, one of Jesus' three friends, Peter, suggests they set up camp so they can all hang out for a while. Then this voice from the clouds starts in, " This is my son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him."
Petrified Jesus' friends bury their faces in the ground. When they look up, everyone is gone and everything is quiet. Jesus helped them process through what they had just seen and asked them not to discuss the whole thing with anyone else for a while.

The actual account is recorded in the book of Matthew.

Jesus spent three years, pretty much 24/7, with Peter, James and John. They got to see Jesus do all kinds of amazing things and what I imagine must have been all kinds of mundane things.
We don't know if Jesus was aware of what was about to happen when he asked the three to go for a walk with him that day. Nevertheless he asked and ended up sharing one of the high points of his life on earth with Peter, James and John.

They didn't balk at his invitation. They were used to Jesus sharing not just his work or ministry with them but his life as well. It was not out of the ordinary, again my really rough paraphrase, for Jesus to say to Peter or James or John or all twelve of the disciples, "Hey I have to run a few errands, wanna come with?" In sharing his life, his friends got to see how he responded to the valleys, to the plateaus and to the mountaintop experiences. Jesus' "training program" was no program at all. He simply lived life out in the only way he knew how and invited others to come along for the ride.

Finally, after Jesus and the twelve had been together for a while Jesus started to ask them to run the errands by themselves. They would go off and do their thing, with varying degrees of success and return to Jesus and tell him about what they did.

So what? So if I call myself a Christ-follower, then I need to be intentionally developing relationships, intentionally sharing my life with others. Not simply reading through the gospel of John with Harry or Sally on alternate Tuesday evenings but opening up my life and allowing others to see how I walk with and respond to God in the valleys, on the plateaus and on the mountaintops. Have them over for dinner, ask them to go to Home Depot with me, tell them I am volunteering at a soup kitchen and ask them to help out. We never know when God might break through in the middle of the mundane and do something amazing. How cool would it be if we could share it with someone?

If you are on the other side of that coin, trying to follow Christ or figure out if He is trustworthy to be followed; ask someone you know who has been doing it for a while. Ask them if you can tag along?

Like I said a little disjointed, but some really important stuff in this story about Jesus and his friends going for walk.

....not every man really lives.

If you were rich but you had to work, you know there was a law or something that said everyone had to have a job what would you do for a job and why?
That question is supposed to tell us what we were made to do. I’m not sure how reliable the question is but I do know this. Each of us has dreams, passions and talents inside of us. And if we don’t let them out, we die a little bit everyday.

You hear people say we only use 10% of our brains or whatever it is. I think the large majority of us only really live 10% of our lives. We settle for something way short of what I think life was meant to be.

As a high school student, I remember looking out into the Adult world and thinking to myself is that all there is? Go to school; get a job where I work crazy hours to get a promotion so I can work crazier hours so I can buy a car with the right emblem on it?

I literally used to live in fear of life as the walking dead; like the opening scene from Joe versus the volcano. An army of grey suited drones schlep into an awful grey tinted, fluorescent lit, cubicle enclosed world, day after day after day. It was my definition of hell on earth A girl I dated, once played this song for me called Ordinary Joe. She told me she meant it as a compliment. The song is about this guy who goes to his cubicle everyday and does nice things for the people in his office. He just lives an ordinary life doing nice things. I freaked out. I was so pissed I couldn’t even speak. “Is that what you think of me? I’m just gonna be some schmo in an office?” It still irritates me and that was a long time ago.

I think the reason it made me so mad was there was nothing about working in an office that lined up with the any of the stuff I dreamt about or was really important to me. I have come to realize that those dreams, passions and talents are a part of who I am, a part of who I was made to be. I don’t know what all of you guys think about God or even if a God exists but I believe in God and I believe He put those dreams and passions and talents inside me and inside you.

There is a verse in the Old Testament written by a guy named Jeremiah, he was a prophet, a messenger from God that says:

I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

12"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.

13"When you come looking for me, you'll find me.
"Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, 14I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." GOD's Decree.

The God of the universe places dreams and passions and talents inside each of us. He wants to see us live the life He intended for each one of us. When we come to Him, He will help us live the other 90% of life that so many miss. It won’t necessarily be safe or worry-free, but it will be a life fully lived.

“Every man dies, but not every man truly lives.”
~William Wallace~

Origami Hustle

A friend and I recently entered this video in an Art show. The theme of the show was feet. The piece was his idea and his craftsmanship I just helped him put it on video and do a little editing.

Enjoy it.




Tags: origami feet

Baptism

We held our annual baptism service this morning. The people standing at left were all the baptizees. The weather was perfect. The day is always important in the life of our little community of faith but today was even more so for me and my family. I got to baptize our oldest son Jake, founding member of Kayos. That's him, leaning forward, in the red trunks.







I looked at Jake and asked him, just loud enough for the two of us to hear, "You ready buddy?"

He nodded with a big smile. I grasped his hand and said "Jake, I" .......... Long pregnant pause.....I was overwhelmed at what was happening. My oldest son was placing a stake in the ground, in his words, " I want to spend the rest of my life with God." I choked back some tears, "Jake, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." I dunked him, then yanked him up out of the water and gave him a huge bear hug.

It was a good day.

technorati tags baptism

George Barna's Revolution

I read Barna's book back in March and wrote this about the same time. I saved it as a draft and forgot about it. Here it is, better late than never.


From George Barna's Revolution p. 49

The above is the graphic depiction of what George Barna has labeled the next great age of church history, the Revolutionary Age. I spent the last two weeks reading and underlining and dog-earring pages in Barna's latest work entitled Revolution: Finding vibrant faith beyond the walls of the sanctuary. In a nutshell, Barna's research has led him to the conclusion that the local church, it's attendance, bank roll and importance in the lives of believers and seekers (I don't like that word but don't have a better one) alike, has been and will continue to wane in importance. The lives of those truly trying to follow Christ, as defined by following Christ in the way of the apostles, are being shaped by influences other than the local church. Barna contends that "there is nothing infherently wrong with being involved in a local church but association with a church no more makes you a follower of Christ than "being in Yankee stadium makes you a professional baseball player."

Barna refers to those who are at the heart of this movement as Revolutionaries. He lays out seven traits of the early church which are, according to Barna, at the heart of the Revolution as a movement and the Revolutionary as the individual. He also draws upon his years of polling and research to see how the local church measures up to the early church.

Every believer was expected to worship, not attend a service but a commitment to respond to the greatness and glory of God, every day, both in private and in the company of other believers.

For those who participate in a local church... Worship happens only in the context of a service once or twice a week. Only 50% of all Christ followers say they have entered into God's presence in the last year.

Faith based conversations pour out of the revolutionary; springing from the very excitement that one has about their own relationship with Christ.

For those who participate in a local church...Most will die without leading a single person to Christ. Most cite lacking the gift of evangelism as rationale for not sharing Christ's love with others.

Intentional spiritual Growth happens as individuals actively pursue it; not sit back and wait for it to happen.

For those who participate in a local church...Most spend more time in a year doing just about anything else (t.v., music, hobbies, reading other books) than reading the bible. Success is hardly ever defined in terms of their relationship to God.

Servanthood Nothing reflects Christ, his love and his message more than selfless of acts of service

For those who participate in a local church...Most would rather give money than be personally involved in helping someone. Only one out of four in the local church actually serves others and in most cases it is other congregates

Resource Investment The apostles shared "everything"as they had need as good managers of what God had entrusted to them.

For those who participate in a local church...The average yearly donations total roughly %3 and that is self perceived as sacrificially generous.

Spiritual Friendships Intentional relationships built on accountability and encouragement were the one of the centerpieces of the early church

For those who participate in a local church...The biggest influencers are the law, media and other family members. Fewer than 1 in 6 have an intentional spiritual relationship.

Family Faith The home was the primary vehicle for spiritual growth and development of all family members.

For those who participate in a local church...Fewer than 10% worship, pray or study the bible together outside of church. Most families feel they are not doing a good job at spiritually growing their children

The bottom-line according to Barna is that placing all our hope in the local church is "misplaced hope." The implication is that because the local church, as Modern America has constructed it, does not look like the early church and is not sufficient unto itself to support and/or facilitate life in the way of Jesus; the Revolution. As Barna himself writes, "A healthy local church will always have a valid and valuable role within God's kingdom...The revolution is about recognizing that we are not called to go to church. We are called to be the church."

The Revolution also marks a departure from the other major movements within the church. According to Barna, " it's impetus [The Revolution] is not salvation among the unrepentant but the personal renewal and recomittment of believers...In the end the Revolution transforms believers so that they can transform the world." This is the part of the book with which I have the greatest trouble. If the Church, those who call themselves Christ followers, becomes completely introspective (which I take Barna's use of the word impetus to mean) it will have failed. Our natural inclinations, are always to turn inward. We want to surround ourselves with people who look like us and act like us and think like us. This type of mindset quickly becomes us and them. This mindset is antithetical to Jesus' ministry. Jesus had hard words for the religious people of his day for just such a mindset. Jesus' impetus was "to seek and save what is lost." In my mind, the bottom line on this issue is the Christ follower's job is "to make disciples of all nations," believer, seeker or otherwise.

Barna suggests local churches have 2 responses to the revolution: 1) Fight it and defend turf, territory and traditions but he adds why fight it? Barna's interpretation of scripture is that the modern church, as we have constructed it, is absent from scripture. He relies on several passages from the Book of Acts as a blue print for the Church. (Acts 2:42-47, 4:24, 31-35, 5:17-18, 27-29, 40-42) The requirement that he points out is one of continual worship in spirit and in truth. Therefore, whether someone is connecting with God and other believers on blogs, in a Starbucks or within the walls of a church does not matter.

So in reality, in Barna's mind there is only one choice; figure out how to become part of the Revolution.

There is much that desreve close analysis in Barna's effort. I see real life people and their stories that match Barna's data. Sadly, I see how the modern church does not reflect the early church. But I am not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. Barna paints a utopian picture of revolutionaries and their impact on the world. Are there people out there who are completely sold out for the cause of Christ? Absolutely. Is it possible for people to grow in Christlikeness outside of a "church" context? Sometimes. I appreciate Barna's book as a reality check. The seven passions of a revoltutionary are things, that as Christ followers, we should all be passionate about. How I am doing as an individual in these seven areas? How is the church that I am part of doing? What can I do to make these seven things happen in my context? What should I stop doing that might allow these seven things to happen? However, it almost feels as if Barna is encouraging folks to leave their churches in search of Christ. Even more than that, if you are serious about Jesus than you must leave the local church. He throws in the occasional, well sure there are churches that are healthy and those are good. It feels almost like a token gesture.

technorati tags George Barna

Clarity

This was the sign hung on the door to the men's restroom of a local fast food place. I am a big fan of clear, concise, pointed directions.

I wonder how many "unfortunate incindents" there were before this sign was hung?

Footprints Washed away in the Sand

Found this awesome new take on the old poem Footprints. Please go visit this guy Sean who rewrote the poem. Just to give you a little taste, here are my favorite lines:

Footprints guy to Jesus:And I gripe, “But I thought you were the nice guy that would never make me struggle if I didn’t want to!”

And Jesus would reply, “Seriously, if you want someone to carry you, first you’re going to have to lay off the donuts. And second, find a god that doesn’t care so much about you.

Rain Down

When I was a junior in college I read a novel called Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins for my American history 1945-the present class.
One particular passage stuck with me. I think about it on a regular basis, even now some 16 years later. I had occasion to read this passage again this summer. This time it was presented to me as an example of choosing a good attitude. Here is the passage:

As was my custom in such elements I hunkered down against the rain, drew my head into my collar, turned my eyes to the street, tensed my footsteps and proceeded in misery. But my hosts, I noticed, reacted in a quite a another way. They strolled calmly and smoothly, their bodies perfectly relaxed. They did not hunch away from the rain but rather glided through it. They directed faces to it and did not flinch as it drummed their cheeks. They almost reveled in it. Somehow I found this significant. They accepted the rain. They were not at odds with it, they did not deny it or combat it; they accepted it and went with it in harmony and ease. I tried it myself. I relaxed my neck and shoulders and turned my gaze into the wet. I let it do to me what it would. Of course, it was not trying to do anything to me. What a silly notion. It was simply falling as rain should, and I another phenomenon of nature, was sharing the space in which it fell. It was much better regarding it that way. I got no wetter than I would otherwise, and if I did not actually enjoy the wetting, at least I was free of my tension. I could even smile.

So tonight, as I stepped out into the pouring rain, the words of Tom Robbins again ran through my head, as drops of water ran down my face. I relaxed and let my shoulders droop into their normal position. I set out on my somewhat long walk to the car. I smiled.

How about you, ready to be at ease in the rain?