Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Andrew and Erica (my son and future daughter-in-law). the opening of the gifts was preceeded by the eating of the ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and pumpkin pie - yum yum!!! (no pics, I accidentally deleted them)
Yesterday I took Mackenzie, her friend Kiara, and Allyson bowling. We had a great time and I really enjoyed the smoke free environment! Click here for some pics. There were three other NCBC families there and you'll see them in the slideshow.
Afterwards, Judy met us at HyVee for Chineese as we continue to celebrate Mackenzie's birthday.
I am speaking tomorrow at New Covenant Bible Church and I thought I would give my blog readers the outline one day in advance. If you have any comments please let me know. I am using the Me, We, God, You, We outline method.
I came up with the title "Get out of the Church" when I was at Willow Creek's Small Group Conference because I have come to the conclusion that we have to keep reminding people that the mission of the church is to make disciples, not huddle and have Bible studies even though Bible study and fellowship with other believers is important. Here is the outline:
Luke 10:25-37
Me I have been the ministry full time now for almost 18 years and over those years my contact with unchurched people had become insignificant over the years.
· Ministry obligations – earning my wings
· Second job to pay off student loans and put kids in private school
· Separatist mindset
Don’t get me wrong. I engaged several of my neighbors in meaningful relationships whenever I could and even invited them to church on occasion. Then there was the dry cleaner who I had befriended. But most of the time I felt guilty for the time I DID spend with these folks.
You see, I know that I am supposed to be engaging the culture and demonstrating the love of Jesus to people. I know this as a fact, but trying to get it to happen in the real world is often difficult. What happens when the church leaves the building?
We In the pursuit of life, especially in our fast paced society, it is easy to get tunnel vision and we are tempted to wall ourselves in because of the demands of life. Think about it. Our generation is consumed with consuming and providing as many opportunities for our families as we can while many of us would have difficulty giving you the names of our neighbors and what they do for a living.
When we get together with people, they are already believers and while this is good and healthy, we find that it is work to move beyond our comfortable surroundings and engage the culture around us.
If you want to measure how you are doing in this area, try to list the names of your neighbors and a couple significant details about them, like where they work or the names of their children.
Prayer Care and Share is a great idea – for everyone else! But if we are going to embrace a lifestyle of PCS we are going to have to get our hands dirty and associate with some folks people who we may not agree with. We may have to leave our “Fantasy Christian Island” and go to the mainland in order to impact our world with the truth claims of Christ.
What happens when the church leaves the building?
God
A Question - An expert in Jewish Law approaches Jesus and asks him a question: What must I do to inherit eternal life?
· An inquisition
· Jesus replies with a question because he knew:
· Remember, Jesus is not telling him how to earn eternal life. Eternal life is a gift.
· People who have eternal life should reflect these values found in the law.
Application – People often ask us questions in order to test us. We have to remember that questions come out of our own context and pain.
The Answer - The scribe answered Jesus right out of the Law from Deuteronomy and Leviticus proving that he truly knew the law.
· v27 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind.”
· v27 “…love your neighbor as yourself.”
And just like in the game of Jeopardy, the appropriate dollar amount was added to the scribes board for giving the right answer! But he had a little question about this whole matter.
The Qualifier – who is my neighbor?
· v29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The scribe wanted to feel justified and if he could get Jesus to put some parameters on what it means to love your neighbor as yourself he could “feel justified.
Application – I have discovered that if I tell someone what to do based on my experience and through the lens of my paradigm. This is dangerous at best. Coaching technique.
The Real Answer
10:30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. 10:31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. 10:32 So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 10:33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. 10:34 He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 10:35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’
10:36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 10:37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
Remember, Jesus is answering the scribe’s question “who is my neighbor?”
The players - A wounded traveler. “A man, two Jewish leaders, a Samaritan
· A wounded traveler – v30 robbers stripped him, beat him and left him for half dead. That is all we know about the traveler. What we do know is that this man is clearly in need!
· Priest – v31 Aaronic priest who had most likely been serving in the temple.
· Levite – v 32 A descendant of Levi who assisted the Aaronic priests in the temple.
Note: It is assumed that the man was a fellow Jew and the basis of the law both of these men had an obligation to stop and help their fellow countryman.
· Samaritan man – v33 The Samaritans were despised by the Jews because their mixed Jewish and Gentile ancestry.
Love your neighbor
The Samaritan took a huge risk to stop and help this wounded Jew.
· He could have been attacked by the same group of robbers.
· Someone might have seen him with a pagan!
· He loved someone who potentially hated him.
· This act of love cost him time and money.
Application - What happens when the church leaves the building? If we choose to “love our neighbor as ourselves” it could become messy. We might be required step out of our comfort zone and take the PCS gamble. I can tell you that it is not easy to mix it up with “pagans.” They might use offense language. They might reject us. They might not show up to the big band concert if we invite them. But it is the right thing to do!
The Lesson – Jesus asked the lawyer a simple question:
36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
You Congratulate the congregation – Flood relief tell - story of jukebox (benevolence, hands on help), Eight Days of Hope, SOS (Serve Our Schools), SWAT team, Christmas benevolence, etc.
But there are too many people to reach “corporately.” Each one of us must be about loving our neighbors!
This is really Prayer, Care and Share. This is one of the easiest concepts about the Christian life to understand, but one of the hardest to actually work out. When Jesus was asked which of the commandments were the most important he singled out two and said that they sum up all the others:
· Worship – love the Lord with all you have and worship him alone
· Fellowship – love your neighbor like you love yourself
Most of us get the worship thing. The difficulty lies in loving your neighbor. And some neighbors are harder than others!
Some little ideas
· Try little things. (hold a door, offer a smile)
· Pray that God would show you opportunities to demonstrate love.
· Keep an open heart to possible situations
· Give your waitress an enormous tip
· Send a, email, text or card
Some bigger ideas
· Snowblower ministry (slide)
· Big Screen TV ministry (slide)
· Community projects, clubs, etc.
· Find a tangible need and meet it (grass cutting)
Some huge ideas
· Start an organization like Eight Days of Hope
I want to personally challenge you to take God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself seriously and set a goal for yourself for 2009.
Take 2 minutes and write down 1-3 people you want to tangibly demonstrate the love of Christ and brainstorm ideas on how to you can do this.
We
What if it is true? What if the PCS concept works? What if you demonstrated love to someone and they crossed the line of faith?
11 years ago today a precious little girl came into this world, Mackenzie Noelle Male. We loved the name Mackenzie Noelle and since she was born two days after Christmas we knew that Noelle would have to be part of her name.
Mackenzie received a pink desk chair, primarily due to the fact that she takes ours! Click here for a slide show of this evening's festivities. Jaicey was able to join us this evening.
Mackenzie is our fourth child, yet she exhibits a lot of the traits of a first born. She is a strong leader and has great critical thinking skills. She is able to intuitively dissect a task into parts, create a list and delegate responsibility. I'm describing an 11 year old! Yet, with the leadership gift I understand that the greatest leader is the greatest servant.
I thank God for his wonderful gift of Mackenzie. I love you Kenzie! Dad out.
We left Cedar Rapids around 6:20 AM, only 20 minutes behind schedule and arrived in Cincy about 9 hours later. At 5:30 AM Morgan recommended that we use the cartop carrier which I did not want to use due to the -6 F temps. Welp, I put on my coveralls (pronounced "coverhauls") and braved the early morning sub-zero temps and I was glad for it. Click here for some pics.
The girls settled in and went to sleep and I enjoyed some country music while cruising through the Iowa country side watching the sun come up. We watched a couple movies and listened to Christmas music for a while too.
Somewhere in Illinois or Indianna we saw an amphibious car on a flat bed. (See pic above) If you know anything about this car I would appreciate hearing about it. UPDATE: After a quick internet search I discovered that the car we saw was the "Aquicar." There is a website devoted to this unusual car. http://www.amphicar.com
I enjoy travelling immensely and hope that in the next couple years will be able to take a couple family vacations once Judy is working and we can budget for such luxuries!
We had an awesome time with Bob and Kay at their place in Cincinnati. Judy's brother Todd, Ashley, and three kids were there. Shelly and his two kids were there. We also spent some time with Judy's aunt's and cousins as well. I must say that this year was quite low-key compared to other years. Maybe it's because we are all in our 40's now and don't like acting like 12 year olds!
Click on the pic above for a slideshow. Enjoy the pics! Tye out.
This year we made the trek to Cincinnati and had some awesome time with our families. Christmas Eve evening we spent time with my mom and dad, Tim, & Scott (brothers), and Jaime and Katie their kids respectively. You can click on the pic for a slideshow.
It was a great time visiting and catching up on our lives and eating even more food. Thanks mom for all the good food! Tye out.
Merry Christmas to everyone! This is the traditional day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, although most are certain it was the first week of January. As we prepare to share gifts with one another I always take a moment to remind myself that without the birth of a little baby in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago my life would be meaningless.
Jesus Christ has fused my life with meaning, purpose and value. You see, in his death, burial, and resurrection I received new life and eternal life at the same time. I have someone besides myself to live for and some day when I escape this earth's surly bonds I will spend eternity with the one who gave everything for me.
I hope that this Christmas that Christ's birth will remind you of what life is really all about and that we live well when we live for something besides ourselves. Merry Christmas.
Make sure you listen real carefully to the female voice in the background. I love this video. I think it could be especially to helpful to some of our your and newly married friends. Enjoy!
I often get these emails that manage around my spam folder that alerts you to the fact that some wealthy individual wants to bequeath you some major dough. I received this one yesterday.
Subject: A sincere request for help
Dear Friends, my name is Ndugood. I am a wealthy Nigerian prince who loves the jazz of music. I am seeking your help to move $200,000,000 from my checking account here in Nigeria to the United States. I too love the jazz of music and am planning to flee to America to open many jazz clubs at which I would like you to perform. You will receive $42,000 a night,plus a meal.
My new "Tribal Village Vanguard" clubs will be of great success and you will become rich like the rest of American jazz musicians. I have already applied for building code exemptions to allow thatched stages and the spearing of live animals.
But I desperately need your help. My tribe, the Swindlisi, a peaceful, jazz-loving people, has been horribly oppressed by the ruling military junta, which despises the jazz of music. My father, an exiled king and booking agent, was recently imprisoned under the draconian "three gigs you're out" law. And now I must flee my beloved country with all of my improbable wealth. But I need help in moving it. I have so much money that it will not fit in the allotted two checked bags and one carry-on. I am therefor want to transer the money through your ATM system. (The Nigerian ATM system cannot exchange international currencies; it only converts "antelope to money").
So please to just provide me with your full name and address, social security number, bank account and PIN numbers. And you will become incredibly (literally) rich from playing many jazz gigs.
(Note: normal Nigerian Musician's Union rules apply: three-hour performances, two 15-minute breaks allowed, musicians to provide their own mosquito nets, one open fire per bandstand, one free meal plus anything you kill).
Act now. The first ten musicians to respond will receive a free copy of the Nigeria's Greatest Jazz Hits CD, by our beloved 'Disoriented' Gillespie Band, which contains the hits:
The Night Has A Thousand Flies Goodbye Shrunken Head Here's That Rainy Season Just Tribesmen (Lovers No More) Take the 'A' Trail When I Fall In Quicksand Half-Nelson Mandella Blue Monkey Leopard Skins and Moonbeams Blue Mombossa Almost Like Being In Lagos Sunny Side of the Goatpath I Didn't Know What Century It Was
Thank you for your many help.
Your inordinately wealthy Nigerian brother, Prince Ndugood.
Tye here. This story has me pretty jazzed. Tye out.
For years now I have had a little difficulty understanding the whole Santa thing strictly based on the science of the matter. I read this article that Dave Kvindlog posted on Facebook and thought it might shed a little light on the matter. Enjoy.
THE PHYSICS of SANTA CLAUS’ SLEIGH RIDE
1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we >are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.
4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison – this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as space crafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.
In conclusion - The physics of Santa's Christmas eve journey are a little beyond our present technology levels. Who knows maybe someday we will figure out how he does it.....
I came into my office early this morning after a breakfast meeting and was enjoying some time in the word when I realized how beautiful the view was out the window so I thought I would share it with you.
This got me to thinking that we often walk right by "God moments" in our quest for the "next thing." Here are a few things that I have to intentionally stop and thank God for:
I read a blog over at LifeChurch.tv: Swerve and this one written by Chris Johnson, one of the leaders at LifeChurch.tv, caught my attention. Like Chris, I have met some really great leaders, some so-so leaders, and some not-so-great leaders. I've met servant leaders who are extremely successful as well as some self-serving leaders who while being successful burn out people and organizations.
Chris offers a list of good vs. not-so-good leader characteristics.
Good leadership vs. Bad Leadership
1. Passionate about one’s job vs. It is just a job
2. Values one’s team vs. Has employees
3. Knows one’s team vs. Should not be personal at work
4. Takes time to develop their strengths vs. Focuses on their weakness
5. Gives people a chance to fail vs. Controls every decision
6. Takes time to reward good work vs. It is their job
On November 1, 1990 I was delivering pizzas in Chattanooga, TN when I was held up at gunpoint. What the two men did after this was life-changing to say the least. The two thugs put me in my own car in the backseat and then they jumped in the front seat and off we went for a wild ride.
Needless to say, they eventually let me go unharmed.
When I saw this article today it made me think of that day.
MIRAMAR, Fla. – Police say a pizza delivery man fought back with the one weapon he had handy when a gun was pulled on him in a stickup: A large, hot pepperoni pizza.
Delivery man Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the steaming pie at the gunman, buying time as he ran for safety, police said.
At least one shot was fired as Devictoria fled, but the deliveryman wasn't hurt and was able to quickly call police, according to authorities.
I read these words from the The Message bible and thought I would share them with you today:
Love never gives up Love cares more for others than for self Love doesn't want what it doesn't have Love doesn't strut Doesn't have a swelled head Doesn't force itself on others Isn't always "me first" Doesn't fly off the handle Doesn't keep score of the sins of others Doesn't revel when others grovel Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth Puts up with anyuthing Trusts God always Always looks for the best Never looks back But keeps going to the end.
Let me encourage you to pick out a couple of these phrases and determine how you are going to love someone based on what this passage says? Be specific. Let me know how it goes. Tye out.
Last Sunday night I figured that there would be a low turn out because of Thanksgiving weekend, so I asked if we could have a party (old school "fellowship") at our house. Since I am a terrible party planner I decided to just wing it and we wound up having Skyline Chili for everyone. Click here to read a post about our fave chili in the whole wide world.
Halftime is a term we use to describe people who have raised their children and entered the "second half" of their lives where they move from success to significance by carving out time in their schedule to make a kingdom impact. This is a wonderful way to do this!
I saw this video recently from ABC News "Person of the Week" that features Burt Brady who goes to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport to welcome home up to 100 veterans who are returning for some R & R. He went to the airport 300 times last year. If you are ever in the Dallas area you might consider heading on over to welcome home our heroes. Click on Welcome Home a Hero for more information. Enjoy the video! Tye out.
Today I am remembering those who gave their lives that tragic day 67 years ago in Pearl Harbor.
According to Wikipedia (I know - keep your comments to yourself):
The casualty list includes 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, with 1,178 wounded. Included are 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions.
This attack brought the USA into a war with Italy, Japan and Germany, a war that would eventually cost the lives of some 600,000 soldiers. Yet, the Allies won.
I hope our new president has the wisdom to know what to do Iraq. I hope he supports our troops and pushes for a "win" in that country. While you are remembering our fallen war heros, perhaps you could say a prayer for those serving today, those who have served in the past, and those who made it home but were injured. Tye out.
I follow a prayer outline from Family Life Publishing for my wife and it concludes with a simple prayer for me as her husband. Perhaps you would like to say this prayer along with me today:
Father in heaven. help me to be the man my wife needs me to be today. I know that I cannot meet her every need - only you can do that - but help me to always be caring and attentice toward her. Help me to be sensitive to her concerns and to provide for her as I ought.Enable me to listen to what she says, and to always be courteous and thoughtful toward her and encouraging to her in all her efforts.Help me always to be alert to her and defend her against harm or insult. Please give me the will and energy to share my heart and my thoughts with her, and to tell her the things that seem obvious and self-evident to me but may not be clear to her at all - help me to be kind, appreciative, and fun to live with. Amen. (Excerpt from How a Man Prays for his Family by John Yates.)
Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Andrew and Erica (my son and future daughter-in-law). the opening of the gifts was preceeded by the eating of the ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and pumpkin pie - yum yum!!! (no pics, I accidentally deleted them)
