I didn’t mean for three months of silence to happen here.

Really, I didn’t.

I’ve just been so deep into life that I haven’t stopped to write.

I’ve been thinking about things…

Reading so much…

Listening to everything…

Walking with God slowly…

Praying to him…  (not enough)

Talking with Lorana…

Enjoying my daughters…

 

I have had so many thoughts that I could blog about.  But… that’s not where I’m at right now.  I’m not at a place that I can be so raw and transparent to put it out there for the very few people who read my blog can see.

 

Lorana knows my heart and that is enough.

Yesterday, Brad Ruggles posted a blog called The Death of Idealism.  I immediately sent the link to Lorana with a few thoughts.  We continued the conversation shortly over email.

See, in our relationship, I’m the Idealist and she is the Realist.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not 100% that way.  She does have dreams and I do see some things in the harsh, cold light of truth.

But, overall, those are the roles that we seem to fill.  I am heart and she is wisdom.

I dream big stuff and just plan on it all working out somehow.  She looks at the data and our circumstances and sees that it may not be possible as things are right then.

At times, I get down on myself a little for being this way.  I want to have my feet firmly planted on the ground and wade through life.  I want to be the planner and leader that makes it all work out.

We believe that you either need both types to make a marriage work, or each person needs a decent mixture of idealism and practicality.

As a Christian and an idealist, it would be far too easy for me to dream and then say that my faith in God will make up the gap between that dream and reality.  It just doesn’t happen that way, though.  Sometimes God wants us to put feet to our prayers.  He could do it all for us, but then what would be the point?

So, is there a point to this post?  Probably not to anyone but Lorana and me.  We’re on a journey and trying to find the best way to get to where we are going.  We grow daily when we pay attention and slide backwards when we don’t.

It’s life, right?

I saw a Facebook status today that made me stop and think.   It can be taken so many ways and interpreted differently by each person who reads it.

“GOD’S business needs to be done GOD’S way!!!!!!!”

Um, yeah.

Who has a handle on that?  Is it the ultra-fundamentalists?  Is it the far left leaning liberals?  How about evangelicals?  Any ecumenical out there think they have it?  How about the folks who think God is a Republican?  Wait, what about those who see him as the great Santa in the sky or a dear old grandfather?

Everyone who has a notion of God sees him in the light of their own context.  It is inescapable.  I’ve been told by some that they believe in the God of the Bible and that they have a clear picture of him.  I still maintain that there are lenses that we each look through.  We all have our own.  Are yours rose-colored?  Are they so black and dark that they limit what you can see?  Maybe agnostics and atheists wear these to keep them from seeing and being open-minded when it comes to God.

Now, I know how I was raised.  I know how churches that I grew up in taught the Bible.  I know that there are several different things that Jesus said that are glossed over or contextualized to fit in with a certain comfort zone.  So many things are explained away to soften any harshness that we might feel.

Here’s a question.  If God’s work needs to be done God’s way, why don’t good, faithful, church-going Christians spend more time with prostitutes and drunks?  Why don’t they go to parties where there is drinking and dancing?  Jesus did.  So, wouldn’t that count as doing something God’s way?  They instead practice “separation”.  In separating themselves from sin, they go too far and also separate themselves from the sinner.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again.  Then, he told a rich, young ruler that he had to sell all that he had and give it to the poor.  Which one of these to we accept and teach widely?  Which one do we claim was only meant for one person, but should be a lesson to all of us to not put material possessions above serving God?  It’s easy to be born again, but hard to give away all that you own.  (Not an original idea of mine.  Read The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.)

My rear end is totally being kicked by two books that I’m reading.  I kinda linked to them before.  This post is about what I’m thinking and wrestling with.  I hope that none of my readers feels attacked or that I’m taking this out on them.

I read blogs.  Lots of blogs.

Many of the writers are just people to me.  Their words and thoughts either interest me or entertain me.  So, I keep reading.

Other writers, seem to rise to a different level.  You start thinking about them in terms of friendship.  You think “Hey, this guy and I would really get along.” or “Man, we have a lot in common.”  Sometimes it may be as simple as feeling like you’d love to have a drink with them and talk about life, love, or  whatever.

Sometimes, I get to thinking that I am friends with them.  From their writing, you feel a kinship because you’ve seen inside their minds or souls.

A few of the folks that show up in my reader, I have had the chance to meet.  Maybe one or two of the internationally known blogsters could be listed under the category of friend.  I’m not going to drop names, that’d be totally uncool.  Others were friends before blogging got big.

Just a few random thoughts.

BTW, my favorite blog writer is in the bedroom we share, still asleep.  She is truly my best friend for life.  BFFL!

in no order at all:

* Is there a hole in our gospel?

* Apple hasn’t dropped the 3.0 software yet

* What should Lorana and I do?

* Is the revolution truly irresistible?  If so, how has it been resisted all these years by so many?

* “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”

* Talking to my wife is wonderfully sweet when the topics are kind of awkward.

My beautiful wife, Lorana, and I got a chance to take Em and Kay to see No Doubt in concert last Friday night.  The old iPhone didn’t get any good concert photo’s or I’d be sharing them.  I kept pulling it out of my pocket to take photo’s or to twitter and kept putting it away un used.  I loved being in the moment and didn’t think all my peeps needed to be up to date with what song was playing right then.

Ok, let me be clear.  Lorana and I were there for No Doubt, but I think Emily was a bit more interested in Paramore.  Sitting up in the lawn, it felt like the crowd was 75% female during their set.  Waves of estrogen and whatever makes up female teen angst surged all around us.  Paramore was cool.  I recognized a few songs, but didn’t feel the need to sing along, waving my hands in the air.

. . . and then, the moment we had been waiting for:  Adrian, Gwen, Tom, and Tony.  I’ve wanted to see No Doubt in concert for sooooo long now.  There’s no disappointment here.  Kicking it off with Spiderwebs and finishing their encore with Sunday Morning, they played it all.

From seeing concert footage of their early years or their heyday, there was probably a whole different vibe going on then.  Now, though?  They still brought energy to every song they played.  The lawn was a sea of bodies jumping and dancing.  I think my daughters saw their dad in a new light.

Favorite moments:

“Simple Kind of Life” – when Gwen sang the words:  I always thought I’d be a mom . . . She paused, smiled ever so sweetly and then went on with the song.

“Running” – The screens behind the band  showed clips and photo’s from the bands early, early years – Running, running, As fast as we can, Do you think we’ll make it?

I saw this yesterday while driving up I-75. Is it okay to do this? Even if it’s legal, it still seems a little crazy. I guess it’s good that he decided to forego bringing his motorcycle, too.

I am on the road tonight and I’m really missing my wife.  We’ve been talking a little lately about my travel.  Neither of us likes it.  I told her last night that I see so many others in sales who are perfectly fine with being away from home for long periods of time and they seem fine with it.  I’m not.  I can’t stand to be away from her side for one night.

We’re praying and discussing how to reduce or eliminate the travel.  Could you join us and ask God to give us guidance and wisdom?

On every Saturday morning that we have the girls, I make breakfast. We have pancakes and bacon. The first two or three pancakes off the stove are plain for the two girls who like them that way. Then I throw in some blueberries for the rest of us. Usually, Emily Kate cooks the bacon while I flip the flapjacks. We make a pretty good team.

I love doing this for Lorana and the girls. It is my way to show them how much I love them.

It used to be that I hated cooking. The most I could pull together on a Saturday morning was toast or maybe oatmeal for the girls. Some mornings, after Lorana and I got married, I’d make a mean Toaster Strudel for her.

Then, one day she mentioned in an off-hand manner that she loves blueberry pancakes. Hmmmm, the boy thought… here’s a way to spoil my baby! So, it’s become a Saturday tradition. I love it.

What are your traditions of love?

As most of you know, my life did not go down a very good path.  By the summer of 2007, I was in a place that found me with a broken marriage and having ended a very destructive relationship.  I had been making similar mistakes over and over again.

During that summer, Andy Stanley preached a sermon series called Destinations.  With this series, God grabbed my heart and my mind.  Andy has taken the principles from that series and expanded on them in the book mentioned in the title of this post.  The idea is simple.  So many times, we find ourselves in situations and with problems that we never intended.  The simple premise is that it is not our intentions that define where we end up.  It is our direction.

In this book, Andy weaves in scripture and personal stories to show us this principle in action.  Although the ideas in this book are grounded in the Bible, even those who doubt cannot argue with the wisdom contained in this book.  The presentation of the precepts are clear and to the point. 

Has your life ended up at a destination that you don’t want to be in?  There is still time to change and go in a different direction.