I’m in lovely San Diego right now. It really is lovely here by the way (you were right Adri). I’m attending the National Outreach Convention put on by Outreach Media Group. Unfortunately, one of the few presenters I’d really heard of and desired to see, Ed Stetzer, is speaking after my mother and I are leaving. Oh well.

I definitely feel the diversity of the body of Christ. I’m surely the only PCA person here (although I can’t prove that), or at least that’s what it seems to me. Lots of Baptists, Independents, Methodists, some Lutherans, but lots of other folks as well. There are a bajillion little exhibits, tons of books, publishers (I always dream of being published one day so I “networked” during breakfast with fellow exhibitors-though I’m really not one…..) and some great speakers here that have been quite challenging.

So why did I leave behind my wife and little baby for this trip? And it wasn’t easy by the way. Other than the fact that my conference fee was completely funded by the ministry Somebody Cares to be an exhibitor (that feels a bit weird but as long as I’m not behind the table no one reads my name tag and asks me questions!) and my mother’s purchasing the plane ticket, why would I come here and listen to folks who definitely have different theological leanings?

Because they have a greater passion for outreach than I do, along with greater applications for actually bringing people to faith and discipling them. That much is shamefully clear. Someone already established at Hope-it’s easier to criticize and actually be constructive when you are part of that which you’re criticizing-gave some thoughts on my denomination the PCA. He matter-of-factly said, “It seems like the PCA is a Grad School for Christians. They come to a PCA church not because they’ve been converted to Christianity through a PCA church, but because they’ve been a Christian a while, are interested in theology, and read R.C. Sproul.”

I laughed my head off when I heard it. Sad, but funny. Sad, but very true to life. Now I don’t want to leave my denomination because I think I do think its the “best show in town.” But it’s not the only show in town. And it needs to grow in this area, among others. I will gladly learn from these others who may not agree with me on the non-essentials of the faith, but currently know way more and do way more in this area. They have much to instruct us on evangelism. More thoughts on that later. I hate (or rather don’t) read long blog posts (hopefully I haven’t lost you by now), and I assume you may be like me.

On Sunday I “missed” the Bucs incredible comeback: their biggest in history. Well I say “missed” because I didn’t watch it live. For 7 dollars a month, the DVR feature has become an NFL lovin’ Pastor’s dream come true (you know with Sunday being a work day and all).

But even with the game being recorded, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch it. I really didn’t. If they lose, I sometimes watch the games REALLY fast (skipping plays). Yet if I know they are going to win, I savor them a bit more and simply skip the huddles.

On Sunday they were playing as poorly as was humanly possible, so I didn’t have great expectations. I couldn’t watch this game-when I got home from youth group-without knowing the end first. So I timidly checked ESPN.Com and found out they won in Over Time. It was the same case with the movie The Sixth Sense; I had to know the ending was “good” before I would suffer through the scary parts (except this time I didn’t need to keep the lights on).

When I got home I simply savored the game, despite the fact they continued to turn the ball over 2 more times in the red zone. I wasn’t worried when they made stupid penalties. I wasn’t worried when there was 25 seconds left and they were 25 yards away. Even though they rarely ever come back, I wasn’t scared. I knew the ending. I knew they would eventually score a touchdown and get the 2 point conversion.

That’s not to say I wasn’t excited. That was probably one of the more exciting games I’ve seen. But because I knew the final score, I had nothing to worry about. Life definitely isn’t like the DVR; and we should be glad-if you’ve seen the movie Click, you know what I mean.

But there is some parallel. It’s important to know the end of the story. God doesn’t give us all of the details (supposedly the devil is into those). Even how the end comes about is a little fuzzy. However He does give us enough that we don’t need to await further revelation. And here’s the end. We will one day get a new world, and Satan will be crushed under our feet (Romans 16:20). And in that new world, we will be without sin (Rev 21). And He promises to get us from here to there (II Tim 4:18), even when we, like the Buc’s, just about “fumble” away the game. So because we have the end in mind, we can struggle, fight, and still enjoy this life he’s given us. We know we will literally come out on top (Romans 16:20).

On Saturday we had another neighborhood cookout. It was decently well attended and quite a blessing for all involved. One question that we really need to ask ourselves is “Why did God put me in this house/apartment/condo/igloo (if you’re an Eskimo)? He has placed us in specific locations that we would bless those around us. We may like where we live; we may not like where we live. However we are not to “waste” where we live, but instead live among and love those whom God has ordained us to live among and love.

A verse that my mother (via her Tea Calendars) has brought to my attention is Acts 17:26-27

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”

A neighborhood cookout is a great place to build relationships which may eventually lead people to “seek him (via YOU) and perhaps reach out for him and find him.” In addition, such cookouts bring community to people who are naturally (and now more than ever) isolating themselves from deep relationships. It’s been a blast to see relationships begin to form from these simple get-together’s.

If you’re interested in hosting one, and I think yo ought to at least consider it, I recommend simply sending out an online poll to find a suitable date, and then sending it again to coordinate who’s bringing what. It may take a little effort to eventually break through the inertia. But in the end, you”ll find it well worth the effort and prayer.

It has been brought to my attention by several folks that I have not had any Connar pictures in a while. So for those of you who like seeing baby pictures, click here for some Fall Festival and Halloween pics.

The last few Fridays, some men and I have been meeting at 7 am to go through Living The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Meheney. The book has been absolutely fantastic, and I totally recommend it. All of us have been Christians for more than 5 years, and yet are getting so much out of going over the gospel. How simple, and yet how complex. If you ever get tired of, or think you’ve somehow outgrown this message, you’ve more than likely misunderstood it to begin with.

Anyhow, before we discuss the book we have some time of prayer requests, accountability, dialog, and confession of weakness and struggle areas. That’s probably been my favorite part. Men coming together to talk about deep stuff. Men coming together to admit we are in fact weak. And this is the kicker-not being scared to talk about our need for accountability and prayer. How beautiful is that? And yet how deeply masculine. Instead of running from and ignoring our weaknesses and struggles (fear), we’re embracing and confidently confessing them (faith). Sound a little more “manly” now?

Was Samson a picture of manhood? He kicked people’s butts and slept with lots of chics. So up on the big screen, and in the eyes of our world, yeah, he was a man’s man. But in reality, it wasn’t until he called out to God in His weakness that he really displayed what it means to be a man. Unfortunately he died shortly afterward.

We’re hoping to get a “head start” now in confessing our weaknesses to each other. And it’s been very freeing, not to mention less lonely, to be around other needy people like myself.

Well, the Rays’ season is over now after a magical ride. They will probably go down in history as the team that did more with less than any other team. I have to admit that I doubted Joe Maddon’s laid back style for a few years, but it seems to have worked. No one got more out of less (low payroll, young players, few “household” names) than him.

That’s the way that God works with us. He gets more out of less. Jesus didn’t establish some sort of “dream team” of talented, beautiful, highly educated people. He chose fisherman. That’s why there’s hope for us, even if you don’t fish. It isn’t any different with the church today. He doesn’t accomplish anything through us because of how talented we are.

He uses jars of clay (II cor 4), not pots of steel. He chooses the foolish things to shame the wise (I Cor 1). He does more with less so that He gets the glory and we get to join him in His work.
Provided we use our gifts to serve the church and participate in mission, we’ll see God do more with less quite often. So in some way, the lives of His children (who are using their gifts) parallel the Rays magical season. Except our season doesn’t end in October.

As I was reading Randy’s blog today, I noticed some great political debate. I didn’t agree with some of the ideologies and thoughts presented, but it was great to see some civil political debate. Like war, debate usually isn’t very civil. Which is probably why someone coined the phrase that many people like to quote- “There are two things I don’t discuss: politics and religion.”

I can remember one of the few times someone threw that line my way. I was working in the meat department of a Food Lion in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina the summer after my sophomore year of college. Milton, a big (literally he was huge) redneck (not used in a derogatory sense-this guy told me that gold fish are good bass bait, but “just don’t let the game warden catch you…”) used this line on me in between cutting and wrapping meat. He was a butcher, and I was the wrapper.

I said, OK, fine. I mean what could be more private than politics and religion? What could be more public is a better question! But I’m sure he’d experienced plenty of uncivil debate in his time on both issues. I honestly can’t remember the rest of the content of our conversations because I was a sophomore (literally a “wise fool”) in college.

I came back to Myrtle Beach the next summer after my mission trip to Mexico City. Wouldn’t you know it, some friends of mine who had worked with Milton that summer invited me to celebrate his birthday at Ryan’s Steakhouse (obviously someone’s getting a little loose with the language). He had become a Christian. Looking back, I guess it wasn’t a fruitless summer after all. I was just laying the foundation.

It often takes the witness of several people to lead someone to faith in Christ. Obviously, as Milton formed relationships with more than one Christian he could trust, “religion” got taken off the “the things I don’t talk about” list. If people trust you, and you give them time, and involve other Christians they can trust in their lives, religion will drop from this list faster than you would think.

Of course you have to be willing to lay the foundation, realizing that it may be someone else down the road who sees the fruit. If you’re lucky (providentially blessed), you may enjoy a “steak” dinner with them some time down the road like I did.

Tonight as I was preparing dinner, we heard a knock on the door. Much to our surprise it was one of Amy’s former students (and his family of course-I don’t know too many first graders who can drive). After tutoring today, Amy invited some of last year’s kindergarteners to come again to our Xmas Outreach party this year, this December. One of the kids thought since the invitation was issued today, that the party was today. So his Mom called Amy’s cell three times. No luck. The only way to prove to the little tyke the Xmas party was not in fact today, was to stop by the house.

So little Justin, his younger sister, his mother, Connar, Amy and I hung out for 15 minutes or so. Connar just so happened to be wearing the very outfit they gave us. Crazy. It was a great reminder to us how God used/continues to use Amy as a teacher to do more than simply teach (though that still would have been a good thing) but to touch lives. Justin, and we pray many others as well, are planning on coming back to our house for the Xmas party. Even though these kids are no longer in Mrs. Henderson’s class, they’ll always be Mrs. Henderson’s kids.

That class was special. ESPN sport’s anchor Stuart Scott has even compared called that class the “2008 Rays” of Kindergarten classes. We’ve had more than 75% of the kids over to our house to hear short gospel messages around Xmas and Easter. And now we have the chance to do it even after they “graduated” kindergarten. Who knows what the gospel (and a Spanish bible) could do in their lives?

My dear friend Ande Johnson had the privilege of going to the Rays-Phillies World Series game a few nights ago. They were fortunate enough to witness what could be the Rays only win. Anyhow they were interviewed by someone from a Philadelphia paper. While Ande told me that the Rays fans were less than cordial, this article made them look a bit too nice. Nevertheless, even overly laid back fans can still get in on the “action.” Look at what my buddy did to a friend according to the paper:

Also prevalent last night were lone Phillies fans among groups of their Tampa Bay friends, like Tim Stahl, 28, of Naples, Fla., who was the only red ship in his sea of blue friends. “I came in a car with four other guys in those shirts,” he said, pointing to his friend, Ande Johnson, who claimed to have given Stahl a “figurative wedgie” on the car ride to the stadium.

I don’t know what a “figurative wedgie” is, but it sounds quite painful. Far worse than a literal wedgie, with longer lasting scars I would assume.

Someone named David posted a comment on my previous post which included a link to Abraham Piper’s brief testimony (thanks again for that!). After his brief testimony, he instructs parents how they can best seek after a wayward child. Since he was one for so many years, he speaks from firsthand experience. It looks like it would be helpful for parents, but really, most of the principles could apply to anyone who has a wandering friend. Click here for that article.