Light & Dark...Flesh & Spirit

I apologize for the large image files on my blog here. The art of file compression is not one I have mastered.

This image was one taken at a little creative seminar at the Willow Creek Arts Conference back in June. One of my table-mates created the image and it came to mind as I was reading the Gospel of John for a small group study we're in. The light-dark motif in John's gospel is a prominent theme.

As we were reading the story of "Nic at night" and the conversation with Jesus, I was struck by the usage and translation of the "born again" phrase which is probably more accurately translated born from above. But Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus' words (palin in the Greek) and took the literal meaning. Crazy to think now that an entire approach to evangelism and explaining spiritual regeneration is based on Nic's misunderstanding.

As our group discussed this passage though, the real interesting debate was around the juxtaposition of flesh and spirit. In ways we don't even realize, we often equate our spirituality with things we can do, manifest, or accomplish in the flesh. Yet there's this mysterious "wind" blowing from above which is the real source of all that is spirit. And we are just to position ourselves to be acted upon by the Spirit so that our lives can be a living demonstration of what God is doing.

If we could just live in the light instead of darting around in the shadows finding occasional pockets of light to warm and illuminate us.

A Theology of Gratitude

I just realized that I haven't paused recently to really thank God for what's right in my world. There are many things to mention. Here are a few...

We have a place to live (where the in-laws aren't upstairs!)
Disclaimer: I love my in-laws

We have a great community of people to worship and chase after God with
(yeah...Lifespring)

I have two beautiful daughters and a smokin' hot sexy wife (woo hoo!)

Health!

We've transitioned from a desert experience into an oasis
(spiritually speaking)

God has restored one particular relationship in our lives!
(if you know who you are...thank you)

We are developing some great relationships with 2 couples in our small group.

I recently got to hang out with two of my best friends ever in Columbus and see some old friends and youth groupers.

I'm learning how to fly fish.

The Johnson's (our new pastor/friends/confidantes/etc)

Golfing with my little brother on his birthday.

Well, the more I type...the more that come to mind. Suffice it to say, we are blessed and often are nearly as aware of the blessings as we are of the trials.

Daily Post

Perhaps I'll get a few more posts in this week. I'm sitting in the Kenwood Towne Center checking email and syncing my calendar before Final Cut Express training session at the Apple Store. This mac stuff is pretty fun. But as always, technological progress comes at a high price...cost, time, learning curve, etc.



You'll notice the Apple is backwards...I suppose I could fix that if I knew how.

I wonder what pieces of technology have been the most helpful or hurtful for you?

The Weekly Post

Apparently I'm going through a post-a-week phase of blogging. There's certainly not a lack of material or experiences to share here...just a lack of time.

Many of you will sense an urge to hold me accountable and remind me of my need for "margin." I will humbly and enthusiastically accept those comments!

We've had some real fun family moments lately. Here's a couple of pictures we took recently when we were trying to get a good family pic to someone. We actually had a lot of fun doing this and I'd encourage all you mom's and dad's out there to give this a whirl. Get everyone cleaned up, get out the camera, and just start taking pictures...having fun, being created, making silly faces!



We also had the opportunity (thanks to some of our best friends in Columbus!) to go to Kings Island last weekend let the girls experience the joys of Scooby Doo, water slides, and those marvelous swings. Interesting that one of the simplest concepts for a ride still provides one of the best wind-in-the-face amusement park experiences.

Perhaps one of the most entertaining moments for me personally, however, was watching a girl on this scrambler-type ride pop like a ripe tomato right before the ride started. The employee was running from "car" to "car" giving each pair of riders a head start on the spinning before the ride even started. Well this girl (probably 12-13 yrs old) must have just eaten a large Funnel Cake and a Mountain Dew from the looks of what came spewing out! The poor girls in the car with her started screaming "I want off...I want off." I know I shouldn't be entertained by someone else's misfortune...but it was rather comical to watch (from a distance). Then some of the young ladies waiting in line for the ride starting hopping the rails with their hands over their mouths trying not to do likewise.

Well, since I've ruined the mood for sharing anything of real import...I'll sign off until next week.

A River Runs Through It

Rivers and water seem to be the thread running through most of my pursuits of late.

This past Sunday afternoon and evening, I waded up and down a section of the East Fork river tailwaters as they flow out of the East Fork Lake. I was accompanied by my newfound fly-fishing mentor, Bob. Bob has been a friend and fellow coffee connoisseur acquaintance from Starbucks in Eastgate for about a year now.

Spending about 7 or 8 hours with the guy caused me to soak in a good bit of information. From the feeding habits of small-mouth bass to the anvil-headed formation of a puffed up cumulus cloud...I'm venturing into the unknown realm of actually being able to catch fish!

Combined with my love for paddling down the river...the ability to flick a little nymph into the habitat of small-mouth or rock bass is just icing on the cake of life!

Now if I could just get the garage door opener to work...life would be complete.

The Ohio River Barrier

I finally made it down the Little Miami all the way to the big river. It took me about 4 hours to paddle from Milford to the Four Season's marina just down from the inlet where the Little Miami meets the Ohio river.

It was slow going since the water levels are kind of low and those long stretches demanded constant paddling to keep a steady 4-5mph pace.

My next paddling goal is to head down the Ohio River from there to downtown Cincinnati...and eventually all the way to Louisville. But that will be a two-day trip at least I think.

I also got about a 25 mile bike ride in on Sunday afternoon. So my legs were dead from that and my shoulders and forearms are fried from paddling. But maybe I'm coming out of my fitness slump at last. We'll see how the next few days going. We're planning a little family tennis this evening.

Focused on the Courts

Obviously, I'm not talking about a political preoccupation here. I'm enmeshed in the daily drama at Wimbledon. I didn't even grow up with an interest in tennis (nearly at all) but now it's one of the few sporting events I really get wrapped up in.

I enjoy watching some of the tennis majors, the golf majors (if Phil or Tiger are involved), and then Cycling (it's Tour de France season again!)

Fortunately, with DVR, I can watch these things efficiently and only commit about 25-50% of the time it typically takes to watch events like these.

But it's still quite an investment of time so I'm trying to multitask as I watch Mauresmo and Vaidisova battle it out between rain delays.

On my mind today regarding ministry and life though is the tendancy for people to depend on the church too much. Specifically, I'm reflecting on some comments made by individuals who think our church ought to be DOING more, or have more on the calendar.

Below the surface of such comments and critiques is an unhealthy dependance on the church to be responsible for what followers of Christ should be doing with their time naturally. For instance, if someone thinks that we should have a ministry to the "needy" in our community...why wouldn't they just find out what's already being done in the community and just join forces? Or personally find a family in their neighborhood which is facing some kind of crisis or need. Look around and see who's not getting their yardwork done because of aging, health, caring for a sick relative, etc.

Why must the church (as institution) be the clearinghouse for all of our activity? Hypothetical question of course...it shouldn't!

Consistency Check!

Someone has quoted one of my posts from December of 2004 and challenged my apparent inconsistency. I actually welcome the accountability since it's a question I've had to deal with internally if not publicly (until now).

Basically, at that time, we had resigned from full-time responsibilities in the ministry and church where we were serving and I had taken on the full-time load of finishing a masters degree with a part-time role in leading worship at church and serving up lattes part-time at Starbucks as well.

As I reflect back on my words and thoughts at the time, I believe it was indeed a very serious paradigmatic shift away from a life that was completely ordered by religious and institutional obligation and activity. We often joke that our schedule included 4 or 5 nights a week at the church building (which was not an exaggeration). So when I spoke of re-orienting our lives in a healthy way by not considering the church/institution as the epicenter of our lives...it was definitely an accurate desire and path we began to move towards.

The most glaring case of inconsistency with that choice was actually our move to a large church in the Dayton area the following summer. In September of 2005, for reasons still not totally clear (mainly out of financial insecurities and career ambition), we accepted an invitation to direct the student ministries at this large congregation. The emotional, spiritual, & philosophical dissonance of that experience led us to resign exactly one year later and we landed with family in Cincinnat.

Now almost exactly another year later, I find myself in a staff position which at a glance may look like another inconsistent choice. But at Lifespring (our new church family) I believe we have found a church which trying to strike an authentic balance between being an institution and being a living organism with Kingdom priorities. This gathering of Jesus-minded people has no desire to create a self-serving organization of relgious activity. One third of our efforts focus on the worship gathering and refreshing our relationship with God. Another third of our effort is directed towards developing genuine community and relationships in the Body. The final third of our effort is directed outward with hopes of impacting our neighbors and our world.

Now I have four to five nights a week available for my family or to relationally invest in our neighbors or friends. I work a little at Starbucks on the side to keep the free coffee flowing (and health insurance!) I get out in the canoe or kayak an average of once per week. We ride our bikes or walk the neighborhood in which we live, work, play, and church (verb).

So that's where we're at and it feels like a great balance with which God has blessed us. Another comment I would make, however, is that there needs to be a statute of limitations on blogs, journals, or other ways in which we confess ideaologies. If we all agreed with everything we thought or said 2-3 years ago...it might be a sign of stagnation and little growth. I've been very tempted over the past few years to turn my back on the church and give up on the whole experience (not of God...just the church). But I really feel like the church can have a healthy role in our lives and in the world...it just needs to be stripped down to the essentials.

I share these words (and hopefully all my posts) with much humility and the posture of a life-long learner!