more pictures

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be back August 7!

vacation pause

I am in the middle of our family vacation internet/ study fast, and I have to say it is both refreshing and frustrating. The relaxation and enjoying the beauty of “Up North” and the “Northwoods” is a good thing. Nancy saw a bear, David and I saw a beaver, Greg saw a peacock (We have no idea where that came from), and we saw deer galore.

Every evening sitting by the lakes you can see loons going about their loon business. Loons are solitary birds and fascinating to watch. They aren’t in any hurry like some other animals, but just seem to take their lives in stride. They disappear for a while, diving beneath the surface looking for fish and then they reappear in an undisclosed location. Instead of television, I guess you could spend the night watching loons and guessing where they are going to come up for air. Sound exciting? You have to be there.

The frustration of no internet is not as bad as it seems. News comes from talking to people. There isn’t anything so important to learn that you can’t wait to Google it some other time. However, early on in the trip there was one time I wish I could have gone wireless.

We had Team USA women’s soccer team on the flight to Minnesota with us and saw them get swamped by girl soccer teams waiting at the airport to greet them. That was a lot of fun to watch, but being out of the women’s soccer loop I only recognized a couple of faces and couldn’t put a name to them. Well, being on the computer to do this blog, I did a quick search and realized the three I recognized are Kristie Lilly, Abby Wambach, and Heather Mitts.

I do miss blogging; it seems like a brain pause. Not that you stop thinking, but just the way you process and express the thought. Blogging has been a way to stay fresh in the mind. Now, I just get to think of different things. Like teenage sleep habits.

With the hectic life of teenagers, being on vacation the change caused by all of us waking up when we wake up and spending the day together, you get to see everyone’s true rhythms in action. I am an early riser, and so still the first one up, but if we didn’t eventually wake them, the kids would still be sleeping at noon. I know this a common teen phenomenon, but it still is incredible to me. I wonder if our children would rather be bears in hibernation?

christcast 18- friends beget friends

from Minnesota with my best buddy Rich Melheim, founder of family ministry organization Faithinkubators, and our daughters, also best buddies, Kristina and Kathryn. What do you want your kids to be saying about you? We tell all...

getting away to it all

I am going on vacation for three weeks. Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota. Cabins, fishing, and of course, mosquitoes. I am going to spend the time connecting with my immediate family, my parents in Wisconsin and my in-laws and other relatives on Nancy’s side in Minnesota.

I met with my pastor recently and he suggested I spend the time in restoring the soul. For me this means:

1. blog and podcast sabbatical- one more blog tomorrow, one more podcast Thursday, and then check in with me on July 25 and I will report how the “project” is going
2. study sabbatical- one book and only reading for a brief period in the morning
3. limited Bible reading- only Psalms 145-150 and only aloud!
4. do nothing- three days to do nothing but enjoy family and surroundings

This is not for everyone. This is a personal prescription from someone who knows me well.

Don’t leave just yet. Check in tomorrow and Thursday.

keep it simple...Acts 28 message

I have finished preaching through the Book of Acts. Paul is such a stud! He just gets his business done. I especially enjoy the last chapter, because Luke, the author of Acts, makes sure Paul’s message doesn’t confuse us. Paul has taken forever to get to Rome, pretty much the center of the universe at this time. What profound, sublime, thought provoking message does he bring?

Luke tells us twice in chapter 28.

23 So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul's house. He told them about the Kingdom of God and taught them about Jesus from the Scriptures--from the five books of Moses and the books of the prophets.

And

30 For the next two years, Paul lived in his own rented house. He welcomed all who visited him, 31proclaiming the Kingdom of God with all boldness and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.

The most brilliant and important Christian preacher and teacher, second only to Jesus himself, and he has a message with two parts. The Kingdom of God is available now, and trust in Jesus gives you access.

No political causes; no 25 ways to live a healthy relationship with your pet; no why the anti-Christ is really Simon Cowell; just Kingdom and Jesus. Come on preachers, let’s follow Paul’s example and quit being so complicated!

Here is my quest for clarity…

waiting

I have been waiting for a lot lately. Nothing earth shattering; just waiting. The worst waiting this week is a couple of trips to the automotive repair place for the air conditioning on the youth van at church. Not quite done, yet, and It’s hot outside.

At least you can listen to the radio to take your mind off the heat.

“It’s getting hot in here, so take off…” Hold on there! This is a church van! Only music in the key of “C” allowed.

Contemporary Christian
Country
Classic

Yah right…

But most waiting is nothing. The worst waiting is like when Kristina had “suspicious” moles a couple of years ago. They were “pre-cancerous” and burned off and she was fine, but the waiting on the test results for that was hard core. Some of you have been there in a major way about yourself or a loved one.

I don’t know if waiting for the small things builds you up for the larger, but I would hazard to guess that the whole “seed planting” metaphors in the Bible are there to teach us patience. Most of our life we sit around and wait. Even for good things. Life experience teaches us this. We come into situations (or, at times, God puts us into situations) where patience is required. If it doesn’t come from God, God will use it to make us patient. It is almost like he is saying,

“If you have to wait it gives you the opportunity to think more on me. If you are busy all the time and everything is going your way that is not going to necessarily help our relationship."

age segregation?

I was talking about the age of Thomas Jefferson (32) when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Well, Washington was 42 in 1776, so he might be considered the old man, though out of that group the honor probably goes to Ben Franklin, a whopping 70! That’s not old now, but it sure was then.

So, if this wide range intergenerational leadership team kind of got a country going, how are our intergenerational teams today? In the “dot com” boon there were mainly young. In the corporate world even today, skewed toward the older. In the mainline churches the denominational leaders are mainly in their 50’s and 60’s, with so many trying to get back to the “60’s,” “1960’s” that is and the denominations suffer. Without the younger leaders, irrelevance is just a step around the corner.

In the Evangelical churches there are far more young leaders, though many times they are challenged by an older leader who becomes larger than life. Vision and direction occur, but implementation becomes difficult. With guys like Robert Schuller II or Joel Osteen following their dad’s, you might be able to smoothly pass on the mantle, just depending on what your actual mission is, but the challenge is staying fresh with young leaders combined with the wisdom of the elders.

Age “segregation” may be way more the issue with leaders today. If you want to make race or sex a factor, it is probably because you want race or sex to be a factor. Having a good mix of life experience is important but also difficult to pull off.

Take it from this old 50 year old signing off...

christcast 16- up close and personal

Why doesn't God give me a sign?

Dana shares his observations on this question

Thomas Jefferson

Yesterday I was thinking about something to say today concerning the fourth of July. What came to mind as I have started reading 1776, by David McCollough, is that Thomas Jefferson was 32 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Considering the history of the world up to that point, Jefferson’s own understanding of landed gentry and aristocracy and such, these words are astounding...

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

Why is it self-evident? How in the world do you know this, you 32 year old ‘kid” (at least to me)? Equal worth and value is what he means, I would argue. How do you gain that much maturity so soon in life?

The next time a young person is saying something to me about life, I will give it my undivided attention. At least for a while. In deference to Thomas Jefferson.

here we go again

Here we go again. The Palestinian Authority TV commercial which beckoned children to become suicide bombers several years ago, was aired on official Palestinian TV again last week. The commercial was pulled three years ago after outrage from the U.S. senate (Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called it, “horrific child abuse.”).

Now they are at it again. Instead of tempting kids to buy the latest toy, or the latest high sugar content cereal like we do here (bad enough in themselves), Palestinian TV says this about children blowing themselves up...

"How sweet is the fragrance of the earth, its thirst quenched by the gush of blood, flowing from the youthful body.”

There is no moral equivalent here. It is warped plain and simple. Don’t try to make excuses. Don’t try to shift the focus elsewhere. Condemn this action and let’s keep moving toward peace.

God and storms

What is the connection between God and the storms of life?

on "liberal" and "conserative" thought

In our country today, I would argue the education system and the media have a general bias towards “liberal” viewpoints. Overwhelmingly. Therefore, most of the information input a person will normally get, whether they seek it or not, is along this line of thinking. If you add to this, “liberal” thinking at home, a young person in America could go through their whole upbringing and only have this very one-sided worldview.

Not so with a “conservative” viewpoint. No one is exposed to a general “conservative” bias unless they seek it out. Much is said about “conservative” radio talk shows, FOX news, and blogs, but they have a very small total information “market share." You have to choose to listen, watch, or read. All other print media, television news, T.V. shows, and movies lean decidedly in the other direction.

In education, unless you are home-schooled or in a “conservative” private school, your exposure leans greatly toward the “liberal,” as well. What are the implications of all of this?

Well, for one thing, if you tend to be a “liberal” person, there is a chance you may never have been exposed to intelligent “conservative” thought. The only “conservative” viewpoints you hear are the extreme ones which are isolated by the mainstream media for your perusal. “Conservative” people have no problem being exposed to intelligent “liberal” thought. It is all around them and they have been exposed to it all of their lives.

Personally I don’t fit into any category comfortably. I try to learn from anyone whom I judge is using good logic and reason to make their argument and that can be “conservative” and “liberal.” I find myself hanging around with very “liberal” people some time, and very “conservative” at others. My general observations are the same.

The more heat and aggressiveness, the more use of cleverness and sarcasm, the more manipulation you use with your language, and the more logical fallacies you choose to fall back on, the more likely you have no idea what you are talking about, and in fact have little confidence in your own position. Now, even in the best of cases we may not know what we are talking about. Yet, if you can give me a careful, straightforward, reasonable argument from a viewpoint you totally disagree with, I will keep listening. Else we need to move on to a different topic, because neither one of us wants to waste our time, do we?