Under the Dome: 02/01/2007

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

It starts today!!!!!

The first spring training games are played today. That means that from now until October there will be a baseball games somewhere almost every day. It's a good thing :)

This Old Cub has to Wait 'til Next Year...

The Veterans Committee had decided again to not admit anyone else to the Hall. Ron Santo fell a few votes short again. It will be a shame if his entry to the Hall ends up being a posthumous one Gene Wojciechowski writes an article about it over at ESPN.

Day Off Blog

I actually had two nights (SUN and MON) in a row this week but Im really counting Tuesday as my day off. Sunday was a blur after working overnight, doing church, a potluck dinner, and Mason' s speech competition (he won by the way!!!!!). Monday I took the kids to school, worked at the church for half a day and then took the boys to wrestling camp just before rushing to lead FPU. I topped it off by watching 24 and then The Prestige before calling it a day. Tuesday was as follows:

took kids to school
watched The Great Raid
went to the library
watched United 93
read for a while
cooked supper for the family
watched Flushed Away
TV and a mini nap before heading back to work

Not too bad. Not a lot of productive work involved but a good day off none the less. Ive really been on a movie tear of late. Need top finish a book. I currently have 4 in progress.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

FPU Week 3 is in the books

We went through lesson #3 last night, "Relating with Money". Great discussion about no matter if youre a man, woman, nerd, free spirit, married or single, we all look at money in different ways. Great reminders for me as a husband and father.
I am so glad that we have changed the format to a small group on a night when there are no other services. I didn't realize how much we rushed through the first two time through the course. Not that we are pushing past our 2 hours, in fact we were done a few minutes early last night!
The thing that I am the most proud of is that every family in the group is participating in discussion ahs accomplished that first month's budget. That's a huge step!!! Everyone has been willing to be open about their situations and it gives a support network as each family works their plan. It also gives us things to pray for. This is real world stuff!!! I can't wait to see what these families do as they walk their way out of financial bondage, God is good.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Jesus' Tomb found

So just about everyone has seen that James Cameron of Titanic fame has supposedly found the tomb of Jesus. It has already started and I am sure that it will increase exponetially over the coming days; the amount of chatter in the blogosphere about it. Many scholars are already criticizing the documentary. Many people far smater than I will I'm sure weigh in on this one as well. For now I just have a few questions to throw out for thought on the issue:

Do you think that it is any coincidence that this is coming out just weeks before Easter?
One of the co-producers stated on the Today show that he did not htink that this precludes a ressurection; only an ascension. Doesn't that still remove his deity?
Even if these are actual artifacts from the time of Jesus; could they not have been placed by the Romans or other non-believers in an attempt to discredit Christianity?
Is it a little too convienient that suddenly all the peices fell in to place?

I believe that as the Church we should never back away from open debate on the things of God. We must also nove forward with our eyes wide open. Is this type of documentary enough to rattle our faith in God to a point of disbelief? If so, we have deeper issues. Too many will only see what they want to see in this. Unbelievers can say "I told you so", believers can cry "FRAUD". The fact is that we should recognize that any opprtunity to talk about Jesus is an opportunity for the Kingdom. The challenge for us is to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies within us...

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Prostitues, Beer, and Jesus

I was reminded of an article called "Seeing Jesus in Africa" from the Missionary Church Today magazine Winter 2005. It talks about a man who bought a room in a brothel located in a tavern, wins 15 prostitues to Christ, then the tavern owner. The building is now a church! My thought is ; Are we willing to engage our culture/ communities in such a way? What a difference we would make if we did that intentionally. The church is so often only inward focused. The Great Commission is not fulfilled by merely setting up shop in our communities and waiting for people to come to us. I had been thinking about this for a couple of days when I read this post at Chuck Warnock's blog. Looks like I'm not the only one dealing with this right now. What follows are some key excepts from the Africa article.

The day before, I had completed a 24–hour
non–stop drive through South Africa and
Zimbabwe to reach our destination. We had been
visiting a number of small villages during the
morning, preaching the gospel and trying to
encourage the people. I was tired and a bit
discouraged. The last congregation we had visited
had been noisy and somewhat unruly. There were
distractions and interruptions during the message,
and as I prayed for the sick there had been no
indication that any of them were being healed
or touched.
I began to question what I was doing there.
How could these people understand the gospel?
Was any real transformation taking place in their
lives? How could I meet their overwhelming
needs? They were so hopeful when they
gathered around us, expecting something good—
anything good—and all we had were words they
didn’t seem to grasp and prayers that seemed to
fall to the ground. I wondered, “Is this worth it?

I remembered the Great Commission promise
Jesus made to His apostles, “Go and make
disciples of all the nations . . . and be sure of this:
I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
I thought of Paul declaring to the Corinthians,
some of whom questioned his apostolic
credentials and authority, that he came to them
not with “lofty words and brilliant ideas” but with
a determination to “concentrate on Jesus Christ
and His death on the cross.” He told them, “I
came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.
My message and my preaching were very plain. I
did not use wise and persuasive speeches, but
the Holy Spirit was powerful among you. I did this
so that you might trust the power of God rather
than human wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5, NLT).

Jesus is also with Pastor Eugene Ngendahayo
in Cyangugu, Rwanda. Pastor Eugene attended
our training in 2002 in Butare, Rwanda and
returned to Cyangugu determined to make
disciples for Jesus. His first disciple made 50
disciples in one year. Pastor Eugene rented a
room in a brothel and soon won 15 prostitutes
and the owner of the tavern where the brothel
was located to Christ. The tavern is now a church
building, the bar is the pulpit. He took his
disciples to the local government HIV/AIDS
hospital to share the love of Jesus. They cleaned
toilets, showers, beds, rooms and painted walls.
They washed the bodies of those dying of AIDS,
loving them in their suffering and pain. For two
years they did this at their own expense. The
Rwandan government was so moved by their
actions they hired them to do the job they had
been doing for free. Pastor Eugene took the
money from the hospital contract and opened a
shop to train homeless street children in
carpentry skills. They now make beautiful
furniture and are a blessing to their community.
They did all of this without any US money. They
did all of it with Jesus. Only Jesus!

What are we doing with Jesus in our community??????????

Friday, February 23, 2007

Christian Blogger Survey

Thoughts on spiritual Transformation

The questions posed by Mark Waltz on his blog regarding Spiritual Transformation have me thinking. It might be because this is right where we are at CRMC right now. In the process of feeling out/ launching a full fledged discipleship plan. It might be just because this is something central to all Christ followers and their journey. Here are the 10 questions he asks:

1. How is spiritual transformation defined in our church?
2. What does a "win" look like in spiritual transformation?
3. In what ways is spiritual transformation expressed in our mission, vision and values?
4. How are we trusting or not trusting the Holy Spirit to transform the lives of our people?
5. Does this feel like an “add-on” to everything else we’re doing... or how is it integrated into the fabric of our church life?
6. Is there evidence that our people are engaging spiritual transformation as a lifestyle? If not, what's preventing that reality?
7. What key words, what important concepts will we use to cast vision and create a culture of spiritual transformation that is embraced by our people?
8. What environments will we intentionally continue or create to help our people engage the story of the Bible in their journey of spiritual transformation?
9. How do we help our people engage spiritual disciplines as pathways rather than task items to mark off their to-do lists?
10. How will we measure and celebrate spiritual transformation in the lives of our people?

You can read the entire post here. I really wanted to leave a few comments as he requests but I feel like I need to mull this one for a while first.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Movie reviews X3

I've watched 3 movies in thge past 24 hours - that's about 3 more than in the last month I'm sure. All part of my effort to actually capture my days off. Here they are

World Trade Center
I went into this one a bit leery because of Oliver Stone. I was waiting for the conspiracy theory; it never came. This is just a story about a group of guys doing what they did because it was the job they chose and they wouldn't have had it any other way, no matter the outcome. Also some good reminders of what the families of civil servants go through every day. I like it when a movie isn't what you thought it would be sometimes. I'd recommend it for sure: A-

The Guardian
This one borrowed on the ried and true Top Gun formula of the young guy coming in and earning his stripes being taught by the older and wiser leader and learning about love from a girl. That aside it was pretty well done. It gave a fair glimpse into the life that the rescue swimmer faces. These guys are really heroes. Not one to buy, but not a waste of time either. B+

Jarhead
I got this one from the library because it was one that I thought would be interesting. It got some Academy Award nomination last year, but was not that popular with the people. I can see why. There is a hoplessness in this film. The feeling that all we will ever do really amounts to nothing. Very frustrating to watch. The most redeeming quality I found was how training for an opportunity that may/ may never come. Life is like that, we need to be prepared no matter what happens. We can't sit and complain about circumstances when we don't get overselves ready for them. Jamie Foxx is a pretty incredible actor as well C-

My Day Off

I've been realizing how I have not been taking my days off seriously enough. I need to make the Sabbath a practice. Since I do not have a set schedule it makes it tough some times. I have decided that I will start writing what I did with my day(s) off for personal accountability. Since I work nights 1 day off can easily be more like 2 if I pace it correctly, which is a good thing. I got off Wed. morning and had Wed. night off. This is what I have done:

read for approx. 1 hour
3 hour nap -- If I don't do this on a day off sleep at night is actually harder if I stayed up
rented/ watched 2 movies The Guardian and World Trade Center (see the reviews in following post)
ate Subway for dinner
watched Criminal Minds
took kids to school - this is cool because if I'm home Micki doesn't have to wrangle the kids and they get to sleep in a little
made a Wal Mart run
filled a propane tank
stopped at the library - borrowed Jarhead (see review)
watched movie
errands around home
still planning a haircut and a few more honeydoos

Not a bad effort -- hope to have a few more like it in the near future

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

LOT Caster...

Not sure what to do about the upcoming men's trip? Have two good things for you to choose from. Just want to be able to pass the buck on making a hard decision? Should you impulse buy that new sports car? Head on over to Lark News and try the Lot Caster. It's like the Magic 8 ball; but you won't go to hell for it :)

Rumblings, Ramblings, Grumblings

Ive been mostly checked out of the blogosphere for a few days. Life seems to get in the way of so much. Not always in a bad way either.
24 was decent tonight. They always seems to find a way to add more plot twists. What will President Logan be able to give to the plot????
FPU was good tonight. Along with the budgeting lesson we had some good discussion. Too bad we had some people missing tonight during such a key lesson.
I am coming quickly to the realization that I need to remember that not every need is a calling in my life.
Worked security for a Screamo concert Friday night. Interesting experience.
Got word that I will be managing a LL baseball team this year. Looking forward to it. Hoping to keep the opportunity to have eternal impact at the forefront. Too many times we get inward focused in the church and sit and wait for the world to come to us.
Still definately winter here but the snow started melting today, MLB teams are starting spring training, it won't be long until the good weather hits.
Looking forward to fantasy baseball
I hate cold sores
Discipline is the key to getting things done in my world. I need more of it.
If I can ever track down who it is that got ahold of my Visa # I might have to start a jail ministry...

Enough for now, just wanted to get a few thoughts out there to get my mind in gear for the week

Friday, February 16, 2007

Disagreeing but not being disagreeable

I had to post a link to Steve Broussard's blog entry at ESPN on the John Amechi/ Tim Hardaway situation in the NBA. This is interesting because Broussard is a Christ follower and because it speaks well to the fact that the Church needs to be constantly thinking how we will respond to those who we come into contact with that do not share our views. Will we continue to close our minds and expect everyone to act the way we think that we should or will we be willing to engage them where they are?????

US military doesn't like Jack Bauer

In this article from The Independant we findout that the US military is not fond of the way that 24 shows interrogations/ torture. I'm not too sure what to think here. Have we gone so far in not being able to seperate fiction from reality that peoplr who watch TV shows cannot really tell that??? What do you think???

Wait 'til next year; already?

I see that Kerry Wood is already on the shelf for a few days. Can't ever seem to get a break if you're a Cubs fan. Article Here

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Game of the Week -- SNIPE

Another one from Fetchfido... Took me a few minutes to get the hang of it but I quit becaise I think I could spend way too much time on this one

SNIPE

The Reaping

Corey Mann posted this link for a trailer for an upcoming movie called The Reaping. I've watched it twice now and I'm interested in seeing where they go with this on theological, social, and sprituality fronts. I'm not holdong my breath that it will make Christ followers look too good. We'll see. Below is how the movie is described.

Hilary Swank plays a former Christian missionary who lost her faith after her family was tragically killed, and has since become a world renowned expert in disproving religious phenomena. But when she investigates a small Louisiana town that is suffering from what appear to be the Biblical plagues, she realizes that science cannot explain it

Any thoughts????

What is your weakness??

As we began our journey of FPU this week an interesting point came to light. It seems that ech family/ person has something that trips them up regularly. For some its going out to eat for convenience, others just like to shop, one was a weakness for ice cream. We will be working through these issues as we develop plans to win. It got me to thinking that it seems that we all have that thing/ things that are consistent problems for us. It also occurs to me that our biggest problem as Americans is usually discipline. That is the way that we will be able to overcome these issues. We too often try to get through these things on our own instead of remembering that we can do ALL things THROUGH Christ. A lot less self and a lot more Jesus in all areas of our lives will help us win financially, spiritually, physically, emotionally, with family, in friendships, in conflicts, and any other area we can ever encounter. Time to stop viewing accountabilty and discipline as negatives.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Out of control

When I saw this video I had several reactions.

Am I really seeing this?
I guess I'm not that surprised
What would I have done?
Should this guy be in jail?
Hurry up Jesus!!

What were your reactions?

Monday, February 12, 2007

Lion Chaser's manifesto

I had to post this here as much to keep it in front of myself as anything. It is the Lion Chaser's Manifesto, based on Mark Batterson's book, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day. If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to. I have a big week ahead, time to grab some mane...

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion.

Book #4 - No Excuses by Charlie Weis

There is no surprise to anyone that knows me that I have always loved Notre Dame. So it would also be no surprise that I would read a book by an ND coach, or that I would like said book. Reading this book confirmed the fact that I really like Charlie Weis and know that he is the tyoe of coach that any parent would love to have their kid play for. Yes he swears, but we too often just expect that those who are not Christ followers should automaticaly take on our value systems and lifestyle choices. That is a discussion for another post...
I found an awful lot that can be applied to my life from this book. Weis talks about what it means to be a good loser. You never have to like losing, but you better be a good loser whn it happens. He also talks about winning with integrity, not making excuses for your shortcomings, and the ethics of hard work. All things that our culture has become quite poor at.
The book is written in a style that many ages can easily read and glean from his perspectives. I would definately call No Excuses, like the coach himself, a winner.

Today is the day

Apart from it being my daughter's birthday (happy BDay Bethany!!), tonight is the first week of FPU. I am excited to get started with 13 weeks of families putting together a plan to win financially. There will be lots more updates on this class as it progresses. Time to change some family trees...

Friday, February 9, 2007

Cool Links and stories

Seems like this week there have been a ton of cool blogs, stories, and the like. Bloglines has changed the way I do my daily blog reads. If you're not using it, or a similar tool, you need to be. All your favorite feeds deliverd to one spot when the postings happen. With that I thought that I would share some of my favorites of late.

Corey Mann has posted both the Superhero and the Lost quizzes recently. Which ones are you? Turns out I'm Green Lantern and Sun.
AV Club has posted some hilarious signage
BON has posted a link to the rules of manhood
Mark Batterson had a great post on having Guts
Joseph Sangl has a ton of great posts and tools reagrding your personal finances
Mark Waltz has a great post about 20 Lies about God

Those are just the quickies that I came across, the Blogosphere is great!!

Random Thoughts

Being sick is no fun
having 3 people in the family sick at one time is REALLY no fun!
It's been an odd week: severe cold weather, school closings, sick family
Hopefully will finish book #4 today
anticipating a good time working the middle school wrestling tournament tommorrow
Exciting to see the High School team make it to State on the 6th consecutive try Here's the story
the calendar seems to be filling quickly again; gotta guard home time and make sure that the power of the Easter season doesn't get lost
Speaking of LOST, Ive never gotten into it; feel like an outsider to those who are fans.
Maybe that's a good feeling for me; I can possibly see what it's like to be an outsider to the church... trying to let that sink in
Im glad the Colts won. I'm even more glad that Tony and Lovie's faith has become about as big a story as their color
Daytona speed week starts Saturday... Go Jimmie Go!!!
Anxious to get the state EMT written exam out of the way
time to get back to work....

Thursday, February 8, 2007

Game of the Week -- 50 States

Thought I'd go with a little more of a mental challenge this week. Maybe it will help my memory since I forgot to post one last week. From Addicting Games I give you:

50 STATES

How many can you properly, or should I say perfectly, place?

T-Minus 4 days...

A few facts about our upcoming FPU class:

It begins in 4 days
there will be at least 13 participants
10 of these are 1st timers!
God is opening the door for some families to change their lives forever
One of the couples are old friends of mine. He calls me yesterday and says that he and his wife were just talking that they should try and find a FPU class because he had been listening to Dave on the radio. He goes to the site to find a class and voila, my name pops up. And they can do Mondays!!!
I am fired up about it!!!!
It is still not too late to join in.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Man of faith

Its a pretty good thing when your character and faith in God outshines your ability to coach a Super Bowl winner... great photo

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

6 Days to FPU

FPU starts in six days. Do you know where your money is??????

Super Bowl Recap

The game is over the Colts (be careful how you type) are champs. Its cool to see Peyton win one. It's also cool to see a coach. team, and organization that is built around doing things the right way get it done. Its also really cool to see it be done by a coach who is a Christ Follower and not afraid to say so and place the praise in a proper way. You can just tell that iti s much more genione than the typical "I'd like to thank God..." speech we have come to expect from athletes and performers.
From a purely sports aspect, I posted here a breakdown of how I thought things were. This post is about reviewing these points. We'll see if my predictions/ assumptions panned out.

QB: While neither guy had a spectacular game by any means Peyton did what has become the reason I think they won it this year. He did what he could and didnt try too much, except that first quarter interception. Rex never got a rythmn going. I think he is being given WAY too much blame for the loss.
RB: Once the fumble fest subsuded in the 2nd quarter, most of these guys were steady. Like I previously mentioned, no rythm for the Bears/
WR: Reggie Wayne had the biggest play of the night on a busted coverage. Someone always seems to come through for the Colts.
TE: Dallas Clark was all he was expected to be and Desmond no where to be found.
OL: I'll have to mark this one a push. Neither team was great here but there were no major faux pas either. Just solid mediocre football by both squads.
DL: The Bears were doing theor best to get after Peyton but after the bomb to Wayne they backed off big time. Fairly solid against the run. The Colts stopped the run and made Rex the deciding factor; they win becaue they executed their game plan.
LB: Urlacher is just amazing. He is everywhere and playing what seems to be the right position every time. The Bears did not lose for his lack of effort.
DB: Even without Harper for the full game the Colts did enough here to stop the run and never gave the big pass away.
Kick D: The Bears win becuse they were just OK.
Kick Returns: Hester is an animal! The fact that he ran the opener back led to a success for the Colts when they squibbed it and it was fumbled. The Bears then pulled him the next time just so the Colts would actually kick off. He's truly a game changer.
Punter: Maynard never really got the chance to change the field on the Colts; Smith did his job (except that he botched that xtra point)
Place Kicker: Vinatieri actually missed a Super Bowl kick! Both guys got 1 through: PUSH

In my original post I had 6-5 Bears, this post gamer makes it 7-3 Colts. They just simply executed their plan better than the Bears. A good game. Interesting to say the least with the weather. Both teams should be contenders again next season. Great times for the upper midwest!!!

Boy is it cold and I have one...

OK, the temp as I write this is -6, wind chill -25. It's been like this for a few days and its really beginning to make me thankful for all this Global Warming! How cold would it be if it weren't for that? You'd think that with all the bad weather I'd have plenty of time to surf the web and make blog posts. Sounds good except that I've been flat out with a killer cold/flu/bodyache thing since Saturday afternoon. I even fell asleep and missed about 2/3 of the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl. Finally coming out of it, so I decided to come to work tonight and spend time outdoors. hmmmm makes you kinda question my fitness of mind.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

FPU is 10 days away

10 days until our newest Financial Peace University (FPU) class begins. I am excited to see what can/ will happen in the lives of the families that are participating. Micki and I always get more out of it each time we go through. It also helps with our motivation and discipline to "work the plan". Arrangements can still be made for ayone who wants to participate. Give me a call, send an email, call the church, respond to this post, send a carrier pigeon, whatever you need to do.
This class will arm you with the information and discipline to become the master of your finances. You can win! This is one of those things that I am convinced will not only change families for generations to come but will change churches as well. When was the last time you were able to respond to the promting of your conscience to meet a need rather than thinking "I wish I could help, but..."?
We have 11 people confirmed for this class, not including anyone who may be a return student, and I would love to make it 20. I borrowed the following list from Joseph Sangl:

Top 10 Signs That You May Have A Money Problem

You sold your child on E-bay last week to pay off the dog you bought with 90-days same as cash.
When you plug your expenses into the INCOME - OUTGO = EXACTLY ZERO budget form, INCOME - OUTGO actually equals "Microsoft Excel Gives Up"
Check Into Cash holds a ceremony in your honor
You have eaten ramen noodles for eight straight weeks, but your pet is eating Eukanuba Reduced Fat dog food for $20.29/bag.
You cringe every time that the phone rings
When the credit card companies actually believe that you have too much debt and stop sending you credit card applications
Your hand suffers a 3rd-degree burn when you write a check
You are afraid to discuss debt with your spouse
When your child tells you, "Man. We sure have a whole lot of debt!"
If you can not imagine or remember what it was like to NOT have debt.

Let me say first off that I am far from perfect in the area of finances; but I have found a plan that helps me win as long as I stay with it. What are you waiting for???

Book #3 - The Blogging Church by Bailey and Storch

I'm right on pace for my 30 books for 2007 and am keeping to my plan of balance in genres. Feeling pretty good about that; widh some of my other goals were going as well...

This book slid to the front of my intended to read pile quickly as I heard about it's release. I just personally made a real entrance to the Blogosphere in December. I began my first blog (this one) later in the month. I began to be challenged with how this from of technology could be used for fun, enrichment, information, and to challenge the world. The Blogging Church came along at the perfect time for me. The authors have provided a book that is both informative but I believe will also serve as a resourse for those who currently are using and thos who are yet to join the Blogophere. I know it will be invaluable to CRMC as we ponder and begin our first ministry related blog in the coming weeks.
The book is well divided, easy to read, and accomplishes all that it set out to do. Amidst all of the great information (including info on great blog links to look into) are sets of questions and challenges that will keep the beginning and experinced blogger in focus and on task if followed. One of the biggest take aways for me came in chapter 15:

Lets be honest: none of us is as smart as we think we are or deserves what we have. We are blessed to serve in ministry and to have the platform and position He has given us.

I know that I will be keeping this book on and easy to get to shelf as I will return to it as I venture on in my blogging experience. If you or anyone you know is a blogger or is think ing about beginning blog I would recommend this book as a resource whether the blog is a personal or a ministry/ vocational one.

I currently have 3 books going; one on personal health, a biography, and a ministry related one. Not sure which will finish first, but there should be a post for book #4 rather soon.

Friday, February 2, 2007

Children are a Blessing

There is definately a theological lesson to be had here; I just haven't figured it out yet...

Children are a Blessing

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Im still alive

I havent fallen off the planet but have just been busy. Got a couple drafts started that aren't quite ready. Also will have the next book review and some other stuff in the next couple days