The River Is Calling

I was doing a little research on the Little Miami River this afternoon. I'm taking the day Monday to kayak about 25 miles of the river to scout it our for our family canoe outings. (The picture above is near the origin of the river as it empties into the Clifton gorge) On our first little trip a week or so ago, I parked the pick-up vehicle at the wrong branch of the river and we paddled past the end point I had hoped we would land at.

Then a few days after that, I tried again with Deb and the girls and we ended up pulling out at a difficult spot which required about a .25 mile hike with the canoe to a parking lot nearby.

So I need to get a little more familiar with the territory before stranding the family again.

Besides the mapping value of the excursion, of course, will be the chance to be refreshed and have my cup filled. The margins of my life and schedule have disappeared as I've launched back into full-time ministry as well as maintaining a presence at Starbucks. I'm giving it until the end of July to settle or balance...then evaluating the health of continuing with the current obligations.

The Way I See It #237

I rarely even the read the cups that I'm handing out to espresso-craving customers. But today this one caught my attention. If you're having trouble reading tiny inverted print, it says:

"It's relationships, not programs, that change children. A great program simply creates the environment for healthy relationships to form between adults and children. Young people thrive when adults care about them on a one-to-one level, and when they also have a sense of belonging to a caring community."

--Bill Milliken (founder and vice chairman of Communites in Schools, author of Tough Love and The Last Dropout)

This quote could easily be altered to apply to a broader audience: "It's relationships, not programs, that change people. A great program simply creates the environment for healthy relationships to form. People thrive when someone cares about them on a one-to-one level, and when they also have a sense of belonging to a caring community."

It challenges me NOT to see people as a means to an end (whether in church, Starbucks, or my neighborhood) but to see people as fellow image-bearers who enrich my own life & community with their presence and contribution.

A More Robust Gospel

Reading on the Out of Ur blog/site (http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/06/is_your_gospel.html) and came across this discussion of "gospel" by Scott McKnight. He was contrasting an "anemic" gospel with the following description of a more "robust" gospel. Great thoughts. I think he also does a good job of placing the church/faith community in a prominent place within this gospel. Although many of us see the church negatively with its many poor expressions of gospel, there's a foundational sense in which the true church is and will always be God's primary vehicle of grace and transformation. (from this point down is extracted from McKnight's interview/post)

1. A robust gospel cannot be “tractified” (meaning, reduced to a formula).
2. God made you as an eikon (Greek for “image”) to relate in love to God, to self, to others, and to the world.
3. The “fall” cracked the eikon in all directions.
4. Bible readers cannot skip from Genesis 3 to Romans 3.
5. Genesis 4-11 reveals the “problem” of sin: the climax is a society of eikons trying to build their way to God.
6. Genesis 12 begins to restore the eikon by a covenantal commitment and forming the family of faith. The rest of the Bible is about this elected family of faith.
7. The “problem” is finally resolved in “four atoning moments”: the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
8. The “locus” of resolution is the family of faith: three big words in the Bible that describe this family of faith are Israel, the Kingdom, and the Church.

This understanding of the gospel does not marginalize the church, but instead makes the community the heart of God’s work in the world. Is McKnight’s more robust gospel better than the pervasive "4 spiritual laws" version? Is the tract gospel the source of our diminished ecclesiology and individualism? Are we even open to a wider discussion about the nature of the gospel, or is such a thing taboo—to only be permitted in “emerging” circles?

Family Canoe Trip

I think I already mentioned the Reds Game excursion with Jason, Ethan, & Jessica. It was Ethan's first MLB event so that was fun. The Reds handed the game to Sammy Sosa on a silver platter. But it's the experience we're after...not the win I suppose.



The burnt skin on my back is protesting any contact whatsoever. I just don't seem to realize the need for sunscreen even though we lathered up the girls with it before climbing into the canoe this morning.

We're having a great time living near the Little Miami river here in Milford. The girls are getting a good taste of the outdoors. Although it makes the mother-in-law very nervous, I love being able share these experiences as a family. We got to share the canoe experience with my little/younger brother and his son Ethan over the past weekend as well. It was a fun little trip (with pulse-quickening encounters with some of the big catfish turning over in the currents, a few tipsy runs through the "rapids", etc). Good Times!

A couple from our church had us over this evening for some pizza and good conversation. Their family is quite a blessing to be with. They've adopted two adorable little girls from China with some special needs (spina bifida and some other issues). Add in the two adventurous boys who first expanded the family from two to four and there's a house full of excitement and energy. As I figure out what it means to be a "Community Life Pastor" it's refreshing to hang out with folks who are so supportive and realize their own need for connectedness and the togetherness of Kingdom life.

We're still getting settle in here in Milford at the new place. It's been a random sort of treasure hunt as we try to find things which were buried in the storage unit for the past year. There are still some furniture voids which need to be addressed. No lawn mower yet...good thing it's been so dry I guess.

Preaching Crimes

Sometimes, the forwards I receive just really touch a nerve. The latest one I received was a forward from the AFA (http://www.afa.net/) with a plea to sign a petition so that preachers and Christians still have the right to condemn homosexuality.

You know...I'm not so sure it wouldn't be a good idea to just shut up on that issue (or at least radically reinvent some language which doesn't just convey condemnation, hate, and homophobia).

Am I just getting too "liberal?"

Arts Conference

My pastor and I are currently attending an arts/worship conference at Willow Creek in Chicago. It has been an inspiring couple of days. The highlight so far (besides the opening session with the David Crowder Band) has been a session with Mark Miller.

Mark spent many years as a creative director with Chic Fil-A in Atlanta. He has studied the brain and its creative potential for about twenty years as well. In his session, he provided some excellent ideas, strategies, and techniques for increasing creativity. His main points were:
1. Expand Your World (by exposing yourself to a variety of experiences, people, and places)
2. Train Your Brain (Using various techniques to avoid mental ruts and default patterns of thinking)
3. Invest the Time (creativity takes time and preparation as well as a partnership with the Living Creator)

The first session was also pretty fascinating with Dewitt Jones, who was a world renouned photographer with National Geographic for about 30 years I think. The images and stories he shared were phenomenal. One of his main points was to approach life with a full cup...embracing the opportunities rather than lamenting losses. Find out what "fills your cup" so that you always have an overflow and chance to contribute. Also, we need to spend time with "guides" who model a love life attitude...not just people who can take us on a tour. He also spoke of art as Life. It's a moment in time when we see the extraordinary in the ordinary. His third point or phrase was "Act as if..." Even if we don't have all the kinks worked out, act as if you love life and embrace every moment with hopeful anticipation.

...a decision to embrace love and possibility rather than fear and scarcity.

Quoting Robert Frost:
"My object in life is to unite my vocation with my avocation..."

Not many people get the opportunity to do what they love, but we all have the opportunity to love what we do.

Still soaking it in...

Knock on the Head

Yeah...I took a little crack on the head today at a picnic we were hosting for some kids in the community. It was a scorcher of a day. Let it rain!

Anyway...I also nearly shaved my head...I'm working up the nerve to be a skinhead.

The other big news is that I've switched to Mac. Yep, I'm loving it so far. The integration of applications on the mac is very functional. One of the major motivations for the switch was for video editing and graphics design applications. Most of my friends who are messing around in those areas are using macs and highly recommending them.

Starbucks has become a pretty frustrating place to be this week. The new store is much slower than I'm used to...but the difficulty is just in learning yet another set of tribal practices. I've worked in 8 different cafes now and they all have a slightly different personality and philosophy on maintaining standards. So each time I walk into a store and find these weird things going on...I become the boat-rocking Star geek.

We'll see how it goes this week I suppose.