Feeling Very Moved

We have just moved. Again. This move marks the forth move since my wife and I got married back in May of 2008. Yes that means four homes in a little more than four years.

Now it is not entirely our fault that we have moved so often. Life just kind of kept changing. School ended, children were born, jobs changed. The combination of these life events simply caused us to move.

Life After "The Jesus Shirt'

Well it has been rather interesting these past few days here in Nova Scotia. What began as a local school discipline decision over the appropriateness of a t-shirt ended as a international debate/discussion on the topics of freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

If you want to read the events in detail simply Google the phrase 'Jesus T-Shirt Nova Scotia' and you'll find plenty of information. If you'd rather stick to the Coles Notes (CliffsNotes for you American readers) allow me to bring you up to speed;

Project- Keeping The Faith

Faith is not easily. It is a deliberate choice, a daily choice, and at times a very difficult choice. There are a lot of forces that attempt to tug, tear and trash our faith. Some of these forces are intellectual, some are emotional, some are spiritual but none can be overcome alone. We need each other.

If you have been following this blog for any length of time you have likely started to get a sense of my story. You know where I have struggled and where I am still struggling. You also know the issues that make me passionate.

But at my very core I want to help people grow in their faith, I want to help people keep their faith. And I need your help.

Over the next few weeks and months I want to share as many stories of faith I can find. Because I believe as we share our stories of how we have chosen and continue to choose faith, 'iron will sharpen iron'. If we share our stories more people will be able to proclaim with Paul; 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.'

Now here comes the ask. I need people, and I need stories. If you are a person who would like to share your story I want to hear from you. Or if you know someone who's story needs to be told, I want to hear from you. Connect with me via the comments section in this blog, or track me down on Twitter or Facebook.

Let me be clear on one thing. Your story does not need to be an epic spiritual battle, a major health crisis, or a time of near insurmountable loss to count. Faith struggles can come on red hot, or they can burn quietly under there surface unnoticed by anyone except yourself. If you have a story of faith struggle that you want to share, I want to hear from you.

Let's help people keep the faith together!

Holy Monday 2012- From The Mouths Of Babes

I don't know how I have missed it. I have lost count how many times I have read the Gospels but I honestly felt like I have never seen this passage tucked just after Jesus clears the temple;

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?” Matthew 21:14-16

Halloween, Yea Or Nay?

In Christian circles Halloween seems to drudge up some pretty heated and rather divided discussions. I think a convincing case for participating in Halloween and a convincing case for not participating in Halloween can both be made equally well.

There is a good reason for that.

Halloween is two distinct holidays that have been meshed together. Now I don't mean that literally, as in there were two holidays that have combined, but in practice that is what we have.

Allow me to elaborate.

No Pleasure

A few moments ago I heard a great deal of celebratory car honking outside my office. You know the kind I mean right? That special excited honk that people have for sports team wins and weddings. I was surprised to hear such sounds on a rainy Thursday afternoon so I looked out my window. As I looked I didn't see a car with 'Just Married' or a team flag on it. Instead I saw a car displaying several Libyan flags.

Then I understood.

Moammar Gadhafi is dead. And many are calling for a celebration of that fact. I can't bring myself to join in.

Reflective Inaction

Do you want to know what one of my pet peeves is? (Other than the ones I outlined what feels like ages ago) To date my current biggest pet peeve is unreflective action (followed very closely by unreflective speaking). That is in fact my biggest concern with the Missional Church movement. I don't like loose ends, or uncertainties, or otherwise sloppy thinking. I want to understand why we ought to be doing something, and what the goal it is supposed to achieve.

I really do believe that getting your thinking right precedes getting your actions right. Or more simply put I think wrong thinking leads to wrong acting. However I am feeling very convicted right now having spent the afternoon in study and reflection.

Right now I am feeling convicted about my reflective inaction.

Honestly Trying

While I was on vacation I tried to read Craig Groeschel's book, 'Confessions of a Pastor'. I won't lie I only made it through the first two chapters. Now this is not to say that it is a bad book, just that I didn't care for it. Never the less the premise of the book still intrigues me.

The idea Groeschel put out there was that all Christians, especially pastors needed to drop the pose, or the mystique as he calls it. Instead he claims we all ought to live a far more honest and transparent life. Honest about our failing, and transparent about our struggles.

All and all I am for this. But as I was reading what little I did I found myself wondering something; Groeschel seems to be saying that our less transparent, more mystique filled lives are fake. I am not sure that is always the case.

Why Doing Good And Being Good Won't Be Good Enough

My titled may have caught you off guard. It may have made you feel defensive. In fact you may have come here to argue with me. All of that is fine. But before we get to far down the rabbit hole let me start off by saying I believe in my heart of hearts that Christians have to Live Justly and Relate Purely. You will no doubt notice they are 2/6 of my page headings.

So when I say doing good and being good won't be good enough, I really do mean they are good things that we ought to be doing but in of themselves they are not enough to sustain the church, or disciple people.

So with that being said, please hear me out and then by all means argue with me in the comment section.

Count Your Blessings

I am not great at processing my emotions. I forget to express gratitude, I can clam up when I am angry, and sadness makes me introspective. In all fairness this is partly because I just don't feel really comfortable spewing my feelings all over the place. What can I say I am a big fan of the Vulcans.

Therefore I have mastered two different emotional art forms fairly well;

The 100th! My Potential Big Idea

First let me say I am excited to have made it to 100 posts. I am grateful for everyone who has read even one word of this blog. I know I am still learning how to do this. I still am working on catching all my typos and grammatical errors. I am still figuring out backgrounds and fonts and all the other things that come with working on a blog. Generally speaking this has been a joy. I love your comments, and feedback. Please keep them coming.

But on to business.

I started this blog for a reason. I am trying to sort out an idea that I have. It may well be THE idea that I have. You know what I mean, that one or two really good ideas that person gets in their lifetime. I think I may have had mine. Right now I am trying to figure it all out.

Let me tell you the story thus far.

A Little Slice Of Heaven

My Sister sent me this e-mail yesterday and I needed to share and comment;

A friend from work just came up to me after lunch and said:

"Soo... your brother.. he preaches about heaven and stuff right?"

"You should tell him, that you can find heaven in all sorts of different places, please tell him I found a little piece of heaven hiding in the Great Canadian bagel shop"

To this preacher/blogger this was just to good of an invitation to ignore. So why don't we talk about, 'Heaven and stuff'.

Relevance Is No Longer Relevant

Spend enough time with 'next gen' leaders and you will inevitably hear the word 'relevant'...a lot. Relevance seems to be the great quest right now. There is good reason of it; many if not most churches are graying and shrinking. By on large the church has not been successfully reaching youth and young adults on mass. And what is equally troubling is that the few youth we have are leave faster and in larger numbers than ever before.

Given these facts, a common observation is made; the church is stuck in its old ways. Old music, old seating, old style of dress, old buildings, old vernacular, old technology, old style of meetings, old patterns of ministry. The list can go on but you get the idea. Many believe that the church is too stuffy, and too old. That it needs a face lift, a good dose of new energy, new ideas and fresh perspectives.

In short the argument goes that the church must update and remove all of the 'old's' and replace them with 'new's'. The church has to go from being irrelevant to relevant.

I disagree.

From The Mouths Of Babes

My hope for the future generation of Christians was dashed a little on Sunday. A boy, young enough to still say whatever stomps through his mind, yet old enough to form pretty strong opinions of how things ought to be, asked me on Sunday when I was going to start behaving like a real pastor.I was shocked, I didn't know what we meant.

As it turns out by behaving like, he meant look like.

That's Not Funny, But It Just Might Be True

A little more than a week ago I was sent a link to the Christian Post. It was something I knew I wanted to interact with but I was just about to launch a Holy Week set of blogs so I had to wait until today. The article was about comedian/atheist Ricky Gervais giving a message just before Easter saying that he was 'a good Christian'. What was this startling claim about? Did Ricky convert? No. But he did compare his life to the 10 Commandments to see how he was doing. His self evaluation, a 10/10 he passed with flying colours.

What was his point in this you may ask; he believes that he is a better Christian than many Christians. The sad truth is he is very likely right.

An Undesired Learning Opportunity-Redux

I have been told, and I have taught others that all hardships, all struggles and all conflict should be seen as God ordained opportunities to grow. It is always much easier to say that when things are going well. Right now I am 'enjoying' an unscheduled and rather undesired opportunity to learn, and grow.

Gleeful

Last night I watched my first ever episode of the hit TV series Glee. I did not set out to do so. Meghan was watching survivor while I was doing some chores. Her show ended, the phone rang and the TV remained on. Once one character made the statement that churches didn't like him, woman or science I knew I needed to keep watching.

Well that and there was another character praying to a Grilled Cheesus.

Little Eye's Be careful What You See

Now call me a little paranoid but I think Waybuloo is trying to turn my son into some kind of Eastern Mystic.

Rejoice With Those Who Rejoice, Mourn With Those Who Mourn

Now this should come as no surprise to any of you but I am not a mother. However a friend of my wife's and mine writes a blog about being a mother that I drop in on every now and than. Sometimes the topics go well over my head, others don't connect with me at all; being a father and not a mother that is to be expected. But the other day she posted about a personal loss that she is suffering through, her loss of an unborn child.

Conviction and Coffee Round 2

Coffee shops never cease to provide me with encounters ordained by God. Today seems to be no exception. For the past hour or so I have been eavesdropping. It's a bad habit I know, I ought not to do it. Granted they are speaking so loudly the only way to avoid it would be to plug in earphones, which I don't have, or leave which I am not going to do. I came here to get a head on some lesson plans and by goodness I swear I will!