Differences

Most of our faithful readers know that Brandon and I are very different individuals. We've come to see that makes a great team. Back in time, we would argue and try to compete with each other, but we have learned to embrace our differences.

While my posts are more family oriented, his are a little deeper. That's why we came up with "Embracing the Friction", because we all have subtle tensions in our lives. It's better to embrace them rather than struggle with them.

I was speaking with a new friend last night, and was telling her that if she has some deep intellectual questions to email Brandon. If she needs encouragement, then e-mail me. In the past, I would have tried to answer her questions with weak answers hoping they would pass and we could move on. Brandon would have tried to be hospitable or be "sweet" (yes- he's great like that) to people even when it's not his nature. Now, I'm not saying he's a grouch or that I just shrug off any questions- but we have learned our "place" so to speak.

Life is so much easier when we are who God made us to be! We are polar opposites on every spiritual, family, interest test we have ever taken and I love it! Hey- opposites attract, right?

Do you embrace your differences? Are you trying to be something you are not? Are you friends with people like you, different than you, or somewhere in the middle? Share some insight with us:)

The Organization as part of the Organism?

I posted this on our campus blog as well, but I thought it was a good discussion here.

I have been reading a bit more about House Churches, and how this church movement is affecting our current world. Many say it is the church going back to its original DNA. Some even say it is more "organic" than current structures the church organization has created. Regardless of the opinions, it is the real deal. Although at first glance, this seems totally different than LifeChurch.tv (the church I work). It is the one thing that keeps me up at night...thinking of the great possibilities. The Internet Campus (the campus I pastor) changes things for this "organization" we call LifeChurch.tv. It allows us to be in any home. It allows us to be there with those God has given a heart to become a House Church. It has the potential to pull us (the big "C" church) all together. It allows the "organization" to be a part of the "organism."

What do you think about the House Church movment? Do you think the church structure we have today will be gone in 5/10 years? What does it look like and how do the best principles of both come together?

The thief of time?

Ok- confession here....I'm a procrastinator. I love the rush of getting something done at the last minute. I love the feeling of thinking I have all the time in the world to complete something. I don't like being late- or feeling stressed.

Brandon is a finisher and it's usually way ahead of time! If he has a project, he completes it with time to share. He usually gives himself plenty of time so he can even go back and look his "project" over to make sure it's just how he wants it. I usually am just glad it's finished.

So, Merrick our soon to be 8-yr old is a perfectionist (like Brandon) but also seems to be a procrastinator (like me). He has been waiting until the absolute last minute to complete his work and reading at school. I find myself telling him how important it is to complete it on time. What a hypocrite, huh?

I was telling Brandon I do NOT want Merrick to follow in my footsteps. Well, any of our children. He said "Well, you are going to have to start modeling that behavior." OUCH! He is totally right. It's great to see your kids pick up on your good traits- but not the bad.

Do you have characteristics that you see in your children that come from you? How do you influence your kids so that they don't have to learn the hard way? Is that just part of life? Thoughts?

Deep Thoughts (Control)

Control is the natural development of a lack of trust; it comes from fear, the opposite of faith - Wolfgang Simson

Have you seen a need for control in your life? How did it correspond with your faith in God?

Merrick is 8!!

Merrick, our first born, is 8 today! Time has flown by too quickly. I wanted to take today to highlight this special man and what he means to us.

Merrick's name means "joint ruler". This is exactly how we picture him to be at this time. A miniature CEO as the small age of 8. He is somewhat of a perfectionist but good at many things! He has a brilliant mind and memory. He is a leader. he's very creative.

Merrick is a great older brother and loves to teach Ethan how to do things. He even reads to him:) Merrick is a boy who sees things as they are. He takes things literally. He also has a huge imagination. He asks some pretty deep questions. For instance, when he was 6 he asked what the middle number of all numbers is. Anyone know?

He is independent. One time he got lost at Disneyland. He was 5 years old. It was right before the evening parade and I has walked off with a friend. I didn't realize that Merrick was following me. He ended up getting lost in the crowd. After frantically scouring the area and alerting several cast members, Merrick was found in a gift shop corner. He was standing there with a map out trying to find his way back to us. What a brave boy! (needless to say we had to have a little talk about wondering off).

I could write on and on about how much we love our son and all the unique characteristics he possesses but I will save you the length.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MERRICK! (in the picture above, he is smiling with a pickle in his mouth, he LOVES pickles)

Tell us some characteristics about your kids! Isn't it amazing that you can have totally different characteristics in your children (we do). Are you a first born, middle child, or baby of the family?

Killing Curiousity? (3 of 3)

First, we opened the question "is the church killing curiosity?". Second, we saw how curiosity was a major reason for the explosion of the ancient church, which was a heavily persecuted and private group. I thought I would end with some of my personal thoughts about being salt (see part 1).

As I have thought and written these posts, I have asked myself "how am I not being salt?" and "what does it mean to be salt?". Since I am all about embracing the friction, here is a personal confession. I am more comfortable telling people about the hope found in Jesus, His truth, His love, the need they have deep inside; than I am living it out. In fact, I actually believe that my ability to bridge their need to Jesus, to give the answer, to explain the gospel is more effective than me living that truth out. I have this strong tendency to help them understand their need as if they would not know it without my help. I feel like I have to explain the answer to them clearly. I feel like I have to convince them. Oh, it is not always conscious, but my actions prove this to be true.

But salt is not about being the answer. It is about living in the answer. It is the catalyst to bring thirst. Jesus is the answer, the water of life. Don't get me wrong we are called to know the reason for the hope that is within us, but we are also reminded that we are to be set a apart, a peculiar people, aliens. And to be honest, there is not much difference between my life and the non-believer down the street. What is it that sets me apart? What is it about my life (the way I live) that creates an insatiable curiosity in those around me? I am thinking that we do not have a problem of people hearing the answer. We have a problem of people seeing the answer.

Killing Curiousity? (2 of 3)

Here is the context around the first post (from Houses that Change the World). Curiosity is one of the major reasons many historians give for the great amount of people becoming Christians in the ancient church. Why is this amazing? The ancient church had an incredibly different context than our churches today. In fact, the differences would seem to me to decrease the amount of people coming to faith.

Picture of the New Testament Church (up to AD 312)

1. Persecution could break out anytime. This was a time that always had this possibility. Joining this sect was clearly not the easy life.
2. There was no public evangelism. You would not see many public speaking engagements. It was too dangerous.
3. No "attractive" worship services. Generally, people outside the Christian circles were not invited or even allowed to Christian meetings. After Nero's persecution, many closed their doors completely to outsiders.
4. Not mainstream religion. This was the counter-culture that was very secret and private.
   

Isn't that crazy? This is the context of the church when it experienced some of its greatest growth! Here are a few ideas why such an insatiable curiosity was built in this context:

1. The incredible community these Christians had. Their lives were wrapped around their Christian community
   
2. The love and peace that flowed within this community as well as towards others, even as they faced death.
3. The extreme faithfulness to their beliefs and their king.

What other ideas do you have on why this curiosity was built in outsiders? How do we fit these principles into our present (almost opposite) church context? What have we lost as the church? How do we get it back in our church age? What do we change? get rid of? add?

Killing Curiousity? (1 of 3)

Here is an interesting quote from Wolfgang Simson's book Houses that Change the World :

Today we are sometimes in danger of pressing home answers to people who have not even asked the right questions, and preventing people from becoming truly curious.

Is the church killing curiosity? It seems the consumerist mindset around American churches has the danger of doing just that. Wolfgang continues...

Jesus described himself as the water of life, and the disciples as the salt of the earth. If people eat salt, it will make them thirsty, even if they have not been thirsty before. If people are not yet thirsty for the water of life, feed them salt. Then they will become thirsty, and then they will drink.

What do you think about curiosity being a part of evangelism? What are your thoughts?
(Here is Seth Godin's thoughts on curiosity in the business context)

Van Halen tickets!

Yeah, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Rick, called me yesterday asking if I wanted to go to the Van Halen concert. Heck yeah!

Van Halen was unbelievable. The Ford Center in OKC, OK was pumping. I have to say I was blown away by the show. Those boys can still play. Eddie Van Halen was a terror on the guitar as he played shirtless the whole night. His tone makes me cry. Alex still has both speed and control on his drums. Wolfgang, Eddie's son, tore up the bass, and Mr. David Lee Roth can only be described as Mr. flamboyant (Mr. Entertainer). Stage was sharp. Sound was awesome. Lights were amazing. Energy was incredible.

My only regret was seeing this without Travis, my older brother. He is the one that has shown me all things Van Halen. Travis, this Van Halen moment was in your honor...speaking of "In Your Honor," next up Foo Fighters (Jan 29th)!!

Show me the money!

Our church just started a series called "How to be rich". It's not about how to GET rich, but BE rich. it's actually not even really about money even though that's what we think of when we hear the word "rich".

Go here to take a quiz to see if you are rich- you will be surprised by the results. This came right at the time of my Are you grateful blogs and so it's hit me from all directions!

When you realize you ARE rich, how does that make you feel? If you don't consider yourself to be rich, how does that affect your attitude towards life?

Who you votin for?

OK, you really don't have to tell us who you are voting for, but I got this link from my friend Nat and it was very insightful so I thought I'd pass it on if you want to give it a look-sie. I'm really using my Okie accent today, huh?

That link will lead you to a 20-question quiz, and it will tell you which candidates you are most like and unlike on many issues.

Check it out and post your result. I was most like Rudy Guiliani and Ron Paul and most unlike Obama. I was surprised. I am not planning on voting for any of those 3. Brandon was most like Ron Paul and most unlike Obama as well. I guess at least we are on the same page :)

What about you?

Write an email to the FUTURE you!

I just wrote my future self an email. I will get it in 2013. Christi and I have some major life goals that we will be finished with in 5 years, so I wrote myself with congratulations and a reminder of what I was doing today. I am sure in 5 years it will be quite an encouragement. Do you have any big goals you hope to accomplish? Do you want to remind your future self to remember the blessings? Maybe you should write a quick note to your future self too.

Thanks Eric for the cool link.

Monday funnies #2

These guys have a lot of grace. Kind of makes me want to work out.....Enjoy! This took some practice!

Big or small? City or country? (pt. 2 of 2)

On Friday night, we went to a high school basketball game in Roland, OK. It was so much fun. The kids from Roland high school played another local city. (They won by the way). These kids grew up together.Their parents know each other. The team spirit was energizing and fun.

Now, let me tell you about Edmond. Our boys go to 1 of 16 elementary schools, which feed into 5 middle schools and then end up in 3 high schools. Each school has about 650 in their graduating classes.This means that our boys are about 1 in 2000 kids graduating from Edmond on any given year. Sheesh! (Please note that these numbers are only estimates.) You can also add in kids from private schools and ones that are home-schooled.

That's a big contrast from where I grew up. We want them to have all the opportunities without getting lost in the crowd! This is a big concern for us. We have a few more years before Merrick will be in middle school to figure out what's next.

So, what do YOU think? Do you want your family growing up in a big city or a small town? What do you think are the pros and cons of both? Did you feel like you had more/less opportunity depending on where you graduated from? Please share!

UPDATE on the "power of the tongue"

I don't know if you read my post " Power of the tongue" this week but I had to come and give you an update. Brandon and I came home from a trip on Friday and had received 2 unexpected checks in the mail!!! Isn't that hilarious? I promise you we didn't name them and claim them beforehand. I'm pretty sure God has a sense of humor. (We are thankful for the blessing BTW)

Apparently the gym we were a part of in California had a lawsuit filed and we got part of our membership fees back. Both of the checks totalled about $21.

Pretty ironic, huh?

Big or small? City or country? (pt. 1 of 2)

We just rolled back into town after a mini-getaway with some friends. Brandon fly-fished for the first time (and loved it!) and I went shopping (of course!). These friends live in a small town. It was a welcomed change of pace. We talked on the way home about if we would want to move back to a small town or stay in a big city. We see the pros and cons with each of them.

I grew up in a small town. I graduated with about 100 people. It was a great experience. Brandon graduated from a private school with about 14 others. His family had to drive about 20-30 minutes just for groceries.

So the question is big or small? City or country? Which do YOU prefer? Where did you grow up? Where did you graduate from and what was it like? Do you live in about the same size city that you grew up in? Please share!

Chipotle....welcome to Edmond!!

Chipotle is here and I am so happy about it! We loved Chipotle while we were in Colorado and then California, bot now we have one in Oklahoma!!

Let me give you the play by play for yesterday......I got a phone call from a friend telling me that Chipotle was giving away FREE burritos. Free? I called them up and they confirmed it:) I then called another friend. We met up with the boys and our friends baby in tow and headed that way. Did I mention that it was raining and in the mid 30's? Did I mention that it was supposed to snow? Oh well- anything for Chipotle, right?

We did have to wait in line but it went by quickly. The poor AT&T store right next store was also having a "grand opening" sale and they had cookies and T-shirts out. Needless to say- they were just sitting there watching everyone pour into Chipotle. We by-passed them as we focused on the true prize.

We made it inside. Our meal would have been about $30 but it was all FREE! Kudos to Chipotle!! If you haven't eaten there and you live in the OKC metro area, go check them out. Friday they are giving away T-shirts and burritos to the first 200 customers. Gotta love anything that's free!

What do you think about the "power" of the tongue?

This phrase keeps coming up, "there's power in the tongue." Now, I know the schoolyard saying about sticks and stones and how hurtful words can be. I'm talking about in the spiritual sense. See, I grew up in a church where they taught you to "name it" and "Claim it". I have a hard time with that because I don't believe that we can just tell God what we want and "claim" it and it will happen. I also believe that it's not black and white.

I've heard of several situations lately where people have quoted scripture over a situation or "confessed" positive things were going to happen.....and they did! So- it leads me to believe that the faith that we have WILL make a difference if we say it out loud. I know that faith pleases God. There's just such a thin line here for me that I can get caught up in the "hows" of it all that I don't do any of it.

I still don't believe in "claiming" unexpected checks in the mail and things like. But, after talking with my sister this morning and her sharing about a conversation she had with a friend, I believe that I can claim God's promises over my life. He may not send me an unexpected check or give us a brand new house, but he will provide all that he has promised.

What are your thoughts on this?

So, what's God been telling YOU lately?

OK.....have to share a little insight with you......I'm confused. My head is fuzzy. Brandon and I have several things that we are praying about, but not seeing real clear direction on (yet). I know I need to be still. I need to wait. I need to take it one day at a time and expect the answer in God's timing.

The cool thing is that God is telling one person in this world something, and then another person something totally different. We can't go on a book we've read or what someone else thinks to determine what God has for us.

So- have you been pressing in for anything specific lately? What has God been telling you? What would you recommend for B and I while we seek God's will during this time? How do you connect most with God? Are you seeking and waiting as well?

What's YOUR favorite TV show?

EW.Com gives their list of the top 10 best and worst TV shows for 2007. Since we don't have cable, I don't get to watch half of them. We don't watch a lot of Television, but when we do, our favorites (in no particular order) are:

LOST
Survivor
One Tree Hill
Heroes


Does the list for 2007 surprise you? What are your favorites? How much time do you spend watching TV each week? (honestly) What show can you not go without missing?

Are you grateful........really? (Pt. 2 of 2)

Have you seen the movie, The Jerk? Steve Martin and his girlfriend break up and when he's leaving he grabs a lamp and says "This is all I need, this lamp". Then, as he's walking out he sees his favorite chair and changes it to, "and this chair- all I need is this lamp and this chair"......"and this book" "and this cup".......I'm not really giving it justice but it's funny that he keeps adding one more thing.

How many of us do that in our lives? We tell God that all we need all our bills met, but then we go on to add "and a nice house, and a good car, and some retirement money would be nice, and a great family, and ......... you see where I am going. We really have a hard time just having our needs met but want to push it to our wants as well. I mean- we are supposed to be blessed, right?

Do any of you struggle with materialism? Have you found yourself comparing with what others have? Did you struggle in the past but now have overcome materialism? (if so- how?)

Are you grateful........really? (Pt. 1 of 2)

What would you do if you could make $1,000 more a year? What about $10,000? Do you think things would be SO much better? Craig wrote a post on Swerve yesterday about Erwin McManus and it took me back to 4 yrs. ago when he asked that first question.

You see, Brandon and I had just moved to California. We left our 3B, 2 ba house with a garage and a big backyard and moved to Cali. and had to rent a tiny 2 B 1ba, apt. We left a good school district and ended up in a shady neighborhood. We were broke! We were trying to be thankful that God provided for our needs, but kept missing our backyard or our garage, or that extra bedroom. Believe me, the daily whining was not pleasant. We kept telling ourselves it was just for a season, but that didn't seem to help.

We attended Mosaic one Sunday not knowing that Erwin would be talking about gratefulness. We raised our hands wanting $10,000 more or even $1000 more. Then, he talked about how we are never satisfied with what we have. We usually want to push it one step further. It was a big wake up call for us. It has stuck with the both of us for years now!

Are you really grateful for what you have? How do you stay in that mindset? Have you ever thought, "if only I could make a little more money, then I could make ends meet"?

China bans all free plastic store bags......

China just announced that the country is banning all free plastic bags. Canvas bags will be used instead and plastic bags can be purchased if desired. Read the article here.

I think this is awesome, personally. A Country that is trying to make a difference in the environment and cut down on waste is a good thing. I realize they are a communist country, but what would you think if America tried this?

What are you doing to be "green"? Are you concerned about global warming or the environment?

Did God Create Evil?

While visiting Josh Allan's blog today, I read a great story that gives a brilliant and simple answer to this tough question. Read this and you will have a sound answer for the question of evil.

Even if the story is fictional about it being Albert Einstein, it is a great way to explain how evil could exist outside of God creating it.

Nice find, Josh

Wisdom from a 5 yr. old (pt 3)

We had some great family conversations this past week. I love that my boys are getting old enough to communicate with us and actually have a real quality conversation.

Ethan asked us "If Jesus is everywhere- then why don't we bump into Him? We replied with the "*clears throat* hmmm.....that's a good point, Ethan." We went on to talk about how He is everywhere, but in a spirit state and went a little deeper than he wanted. He really wants to see Jesus in person!

I love our boys for challenging us on a daily basis!! Have you been stumped lately? Tell us about it!

New Year's Goals

Do you ever get a little wore down with your New Year resolutions? Do you seem to MISS half of them...or more? This is a great must-read post about setting goals for the new year over at The Sciptorium Daily. JP Moreland uses the board-game Monopoly as an analogy. Here is his summary of WHY the individual turns in the game would be meaningless if the game had no goal or purpose:

Because if the game as a whole has no purpose, the individual moves within the game are pointless. Conversely, it is only in light of a game’s actual purpose according to its inventor that the individual moves within the game take on significance.

It is a great read and a powerful reminder - you can't set meaningful effective goals for your life if you don't know your life's purpose.

Monday Funnies........

Here's another post to lighten the new year and make you smile:)

Flight of the Conchords..........

Chuck Norris Humor

OK, I just read this on Eric Bryant's blog and I laughed out loud. You might have heard some humorous Chuck Norris facts. Well here are Eric's top 10. My favorite is about Chuck's tears.

Start the year with a laugh!