Yesterday was a day of highs and lows, and I’m not talking about the tides. However they, by the way, have been awful lately, and what I’m blaming for my lack of fish in the boat (or rather kayak). Anyhow, I was down because the promised article from the Herald was no longer a possibility due to the proximity of our coffeehouse/art show (in two days). Then all of a sudden, a woman called and interviewed me. And 30 minutes after that, someone came by to take pictures. My office has never looked so good. Seriously. All the art crammed in the tight space covered over some of the other clutter.

To read the article, click here. I think they did a good job.

One of the reasons we do this coffehouse/art show each year is to give the community, our church, the Church in general a chance to more greatly appreciate the arts. Art, music, writing, story-telling don’t have to be explicity Christian to be good. God is a creative, story-telling God whom we honor by reflecting back that creativity through pursuing art, music, story-telling, and/or simply by appreciating the aforementioned through the arts.

My Reformed background has always expressed a high regard for arts, music, and cultural engagement. The Reformed view of the arts is to appreciate beauty and the creative processes God has given to men and women because they are in fact made in the image of God. Animals can’t do this, nor can their descendants. Christians ought to celebrate this unique God given creativity through the arts.

In addition to simply reflecting a creative God, art, music, story-telling point us to a greater story behind our story. To depict God’s world, even in its brokenness, points us to some aspect of God’s Ultimate story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation. It needn’t be explicitly Christian, nor done by Christians for it to be of great benefit to us.

The NFL Draft was last Saturday and Sunday. And yes, I’m one of the football starved degenerates (I’m mad there’s no NFL-Europe anymore) that actually gets excited about it. Of course I had an elder retreat, sermon prep, and dinner with friends on Saturday night that precluded me from wasting my time following it. And just for the record, I DO think I could do a better job drafting than the Bucs usually do. But I’m probably wrong.

Anyhow there are two dominant strategies for how to pick a player: go with an area of need (for instance if you need a QB, then pick the best QB you can) or simply go with the best overall player available, regardless of need. Either way a team is obviously picking a person based solely on what they can bring to the ball club.

While I believe it is important to network as much as possible (two of my musicians for our upcoming Coffeehouse came from networking: they were friends/contacts of my friends), I need to be very careful not to treat relationships like an NFL draft. We are all prone to pick relationships based upon what others can do for us.

But the pattern we see in Jesus’ behavior and heart is very much the opposite. He perfectly modeled Phil 2:4 “Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” I’m not discounting the need to have friendships that build you up and don’t drain you. We need these.

But I know my tendency is to look at people like I would if I were drafting them to make “my team” better. Yet if I look at Jesus’ life, he builds his team not with high draft picks, but with un-drafted free agents that all other teams look over. And strangely enough, just like football, these un-drafted free agents can (they don’t have to) do amazing things for His Kingdom. Interestingly enough, retired Denver Bronco’s receiver Rod Smith, undrafted out of Missouri Southern State University, is the NFL’s 15th leading receiver.

But our final motivation to not look at others like an NFL draft is that Jesus doesn’t look at us like that. Fortunately. He didn’t choose us because of what we could do for him but simply out of love.

Sometimes its good just to laugh. Sometimes its just good to fish. This video combines both of them. Its a spoof on American Idol star Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus take the wheel.” Hope you enjoy.

I listened to a few very informative and challenging lectures during my study leave week. Due to the fact that I drove to Riverview twice, and Lakeland once, I had such time.

Anyhow, here is one of the lectures I would like to commend to you. The president of Exodus International (a ministry assisting homosexuals attempting to depart from the active gay lifestyle) spoke before Central Florida Presbytery. They get good speakers at that presbytery. We don’t get any speakers down in our parts.

I realize the word “lecture” means something less to many than it does to me. After all, I don’t have any music on my Ipod: only lectures and sermons. However I think this lecture/testimony (its more of the latter) and following Q and A session may be helpful in understanding more about the homosexual community. And of course that is one in which we know very little about-so anything more is good.

The president, who is now married with kids, openly discusses his unique struggle and story, as well as those of his dear friends. One main point in which he challenged the church was to aspire more to deep fellowship. Unless the fellowship the church offers is better than the gay bars, how can we expect gay folks to come? While what we display in the church IS POTENTIALLY better in many cases, many of us don’t embrace the freedom, honesty, grace, and love centered around Christ. And so our fellowship boils down to eating food, surface friendships, being too scared to share struggles and doubts, never challenging others when they are clearly in the wrong, and never open to challenge.

How can we expect gay folks to leave gay bars when what we have isn’t a whole lot different than what they already have? That was his challenge to the church and one that certainly convicts me and my shallow conversations and my fear to confess sins/struggles to others.

Its not what you say but how you say it. Heard that one before? I’ve heard it plenty of times. El Guapo (from The Three Amigos) might say I’ve heard it a plethora of times. He would probably be correct.

Every so often Amy gets concerned over my ‘tone.’ Unfortunately she’s not the only one to question my tone when I’m disagreeing or debating. Sometimes I’m aware of it, and the tone comes from a sense of anger or defense. At other times, the tone may sound harsh, and not only will I be unaware of the tone, but the heart behind the tone will NOT be defensive or malicious.

Since sometimes I’m unaware of the tone myself, it would be helpful to have it recorded some time so I can hear it. I don’t propose having someone follow me around with a video camera like Paris Hilton. That would be far too incriminating.
However the other day, I was caught on tape, so to speak. I left something at home, as I usually do before church one Sunday. So I ‘kindly’ requested through the answering machine that Amy pick up the phone ASAP. She did eventually.

She said my tone was back, and I of course denied it. I didn’t really have any anger in my heart, so I assumed she was imagining this tone. Well it was on our answering machine, and there could be no denying it. Tone was quite present.

I didn’t feel ‘tonal,’ but I certainly sounded tonal. One more lesson to teach me that its more than what you say, “Its how you say it.” Supposedly communication is 80 % non verbal (I’ve heard different numbers, all of which seem too high). If that’s the case, the remaining 20 % is probably 90% tonal, and 10% content.

We just got back from our elder retreat. In case you’re not Presbyterian, I’m not referring to a weekend get away with the numerous 55 and up communities that dot our lovely landscape down in Florida. Elders are those who have been elected by the congregation to oversee the flock.

5 of us got away, because the 6th is somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. We had a good time to reflect upon the goals of an elder, the way we live out the goals, and how we live them out (our attitude and disposition). Quite helpful, though I’m ready for a break since I have to preach and get some more coffeehouse stuff done.

Anyway, we found refuge at an Episcopalian retreat center in Ellenton/Parrish (I forget which one), as did a number of other like and unlike minded folks. There was everything from a theosophist group (I’m going to be googling that one soon) to Woodland Community Church’s Men’s “Wild at Heart follow-up retreat.” It was kind of funny because they had a HUGE African-American dude as their keynote speaker. Probably a different cat than Eldredge.

Aside from the obvious departure from orthodoxy of the theosophist group (I did read some notes on their wall like “inner light” and stuff like that before folks started staring), there were a number of other evangelical groups pressing on toward the prize. Its always good to be reminded that my or your particular stream of Christianity makes up only a part of the Church as a whole. Otherwise we become a bit too myopic, and eventually frustrated-as though its only US who Jesus is using to build His Kingdom.

I love to work out. I really do. But lately I’ve been hard pressed even to do the bench press (my favorite exercise). Why? I’ve fallen out of the routine. So today, because I have tons of stuff to do, I’m probably not going to make it to the gym. Tomorrow, I have tons of stuff to do, including finalizing my sermon for Sunday, so I might not make it then. And next week, guess what? Tons of stuff. There’s always tons of stuff to do and I don’t even have kids, yet. I’m not complaining how busy I am, by the way. I have a point, I think.

My lax gym attendance began when I took a week off for Amy’s spring break/vacation to St. Augustine. From that point on, it has been harder to get back into it.

While routine simply for the sake of routine kills intimacy and delight, skipping that routine can really make it extremely hard for one to ever get back to doing what you love. For the last 6 years or so, the only reason I took time off from working out was due to either shoulder or back injury. That’s it. I couldn’t fathom how people could just stop going altogether.

But now I see. They were always busy, but working out was simply part of their busy schedule.
They skipped once, they skipped twice, and so on and so forth. Each time they skipped, it became easier to skip.

I think the same thing goes for any spiritual discipline. Once I get out of reading God’s Word, its hard to get back into the pattern. I assume the same thing goes for people who stop going to church; they get out of the routine, and the more they don’t go, the easier it becomes to not go in the future.

The weird thing is that I love working out when I get to the gym. Like church, I love seeing people there and find great joy in it. And I forfeit that joy by NOT GOING. So in order to get that joy and delight back (our highest motivation), I have to put important activities ‘on my calendar.’ While we may find it hard at first to put these disciplines back on our calendars, we are simply, though intentionally, exposing ourselves to Jesus: “thy lovely source of true delight.” When we are confronted with continuing schedules devoid of corporate worship, private devotion, family prayer, time with spouse, let us be motivated by the joy that comes WHEN we get there instead of passively waiting for it to come to us.

Last night we had our penultimate prepared childbirth class. While it has been a pain-in-the-butt to get out to Lakewood Ranch every Tuesday night, I would say the trek has also been well worth it. All four of the couples are quite different from each other, but we all share a common bond. We’re all going through the same thing.

Our common experience has created a certain level of fellowship. Nothing creates fellowship with others quite like suffering, and there has been plenty of that for some of the ladies (and soon will be for all parties involved). In Seminary, I became fairly close with a lad who had back problems. And over the years, I’ve developed a special connection with those who have anxiety/depression, those with kidney stones, gastro-intestinal stuff because I’ve had/still have some of the aforementioned.

Recently I’ve seen this same sense of connection with others as well. Paul reminds us that we share not only in the power of the resurrection (which we like), but also in the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings (Phil 3). A deeper fellowship, not only with others, but with Jesus, is entered into when we suffer. We have the opportunity of identifying more closely with Jesus, our suffering Savior. In Christianity we have a God who CAN identify with us because he knows first hand what its like. Just an encouragement to draw near to Christ (he already draws near to us) and to others even when we don’t feel like it. Don’t forfeit this deep fellowship.

This past week I took a “study leave.” It’s actually part of my package here at Hope, and am thankful it is (its not given de facto in the PCA-though it should be!). I spent time reading, reflecting, being refreshed, and probably some other ‘r’ words as well.

Part of my study time was to see what some other churches were doing. One church where I know several staff members and elders is Redeemer Pres in Riverview. They have been blessing their community for several years by offering a soccer league called Boyette Sports.

Boyette Sports has become a cheaper option than a regular soccer league (only 65 dollars per child) and the coaches have a devotion with the kids, accompanied by a league wide devotion for all involved. Currently they have 150 kids (now in their 4th year), though they started out with only 50 the first year. All of the coaches are members at Redeemer Pres and have been trained in both soccer and the gospel.

I think perhaps the greatest catch of the league is that everything takes place one day a week. They come at 9 am for practice and devotion and then a game from 10-11 am. Parents like not having their weeknights taken up by practices.

Anyhow, I finally got to witness this ‘operation’ on Saturday, and was greatly encouraged by the church participation in this ministry. But it was also encouraging to see folks embrace a mindset intent on blessing the community. The ministry is simply called Boyette sports (instead of Redeemer Sports), because it is intended to bless the Boyette area community and serve them by offering a cheaper, more time efficient place for families to enjoy a Saturday together.

Ultimately, one dude saw a need (those lacking money/time) in his community and encouraged the church to help meet it. Different churches do different things. We’re doing a coffeehouse/art show again this year in hopes to give both the church and the community a chance to see some creative gifts. In the end, we want to be a church (and individuals) who bless our community. So much so that if we were to disappear, or spontaneously combust (it happened to the Spinal Tap drummer), our communities would seriously miss us. Can we say that about our churches or homes? I think that’s a good question to continuously ask.

I had to get to church a little bit early today to move chairs back into place. Randy was already there, along with his son Collin and another young adult who had anticipated practicing music-not setting up chairs. Collin, as usual, was full of questions this morning.

I was greeted by, “When the Israelites were enslaved, were they victims of war or was it something else?” Then it moved on to more natural stuff like Orca Sharks and the Ice Age-typical 6 year old questions. He really does ask me some good questions; in fact I’ve come to expect good questions from him.

And he didn’t disappoint. While we were setting up the chairs, he asked, “Can you let me know whenever the church needs something done, so I can come up here and help?” Wow.

When I think of faith like a child, I tend to think of someone who simply believes because God says it in His word. But this child’s faith also included participation and connection to the local church. And I think that’s part of child-like faith: a simple connection and desire to serve the church. Not serving out of guilt or to escape problems at home, but out of true desire. Some have this faith, and some don’t. But this is the kind of faith worth praying for. And I need to pray like this because even pastors (who HAVE to serve the church), are to do it not out of compulsion but instead with eagerness (I Peter 5:2). Thanks for the reminder Collin.