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Alan Creech
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December 31, 2003
> 4:56 PM
somebody needs a ride Hey people who are coming to Mayhem - Paul in Pittsburg is unable to drive and wants to come hang with us, BUT has no ride. Is anyone on their way to Cinci next week coming through Pittsburgh?? If so, please consider picking up a passenger on your way. You can e-mail Paul to let him know. Thanks! Hope we see you there Paul. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | > 3:45 PM announcements Just in case anyone wondered - NO January monthly Gathering for vbcc this Saturday. A lot going on during the Christmas season so we're taking a break. We'll be back "on" for the first Saturday in February - see you then. Aaaggghhh!!! Mayhem is only a week and a half away!!! Register now if you still want to come - should be a seriously fun time. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 30, 2003 > 11:16 PM making God visible This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have touched — we speak of the word of life. (This life became visible; we have seen and bear witness to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was present to the Father and became visible to us.) What we have seen and heard we proclaim in turn to you so that you may share life with us. This fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. —1 John 1:1-3 The scripture that we read tonight in our community's weekly meeting - from tonight's evening office. We had an awesome discussion surrounding this. It spread out as we hadn't planned - very cool - very possibly the Holy Spirit manifested. We talked about how this is what we do too, like the Apostles - we proclaim and witness to what we have heard, seen, and touched - what we have experienced and what is real to us. This is all that we can tell people. That's how it works. We can't really testify to that which we have not "touched with our hands." We also talked about the fact that in God's Kingdom economy, we, the Church, are the continuation of the Incarnation of His Life on earth - like Jesus, a part of Christ - that we make Him visible to those around us. As our lives are swallowed up in His - as we are transformed - what is visible about us, naturally, becomes His Life. It was just a good time - and or course, eating, talking, laughing, and Thanksgiving - the Eucharist and prayer. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | > 10:08 AM moving right along Wow - that was pretty cool. Thanks for all the great comments and discussion. It's always good to know that what you've said has perhaps clarified something, or at least sparked some good thinking. We'll all, I'm sure, keep thinking about it - and working together to work out what we'v thought about - and acting, of course, acting on what we're in the process of working out. You generally don't get it totally worked out before you act. You shouldn't anyway. You'll be waiting a long time before you do anything. Anyway, as I said, moving right along. I think it was on Saturday. It was quiet around here - kids here and there staying the night at friends or Grandparents. I caught my friend Paul online and we spent the afternoon (for him) - evening (for me) together. We had a great conversation, shared photos - good, good time. I appreciate that God has woven me together with someone like this on the bottom of the world. These connections through blogs and IM, etc. can be significant I think. They are new pathways of communication and relationship - God is using them. I don't think they can all-together subsitute for down-home face to face relational community, but they are showing us, at least, our membership in the larger whole. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 26, 2003 > 11:43 PM emerging Liz just came home. I used my new knife tonight - I think it's so sharp I could shave myself with it - I won't. Listening to my new Radiohead CD - The Bends - amazing stuff - there will be more. Matt and Brian came over tonight - pleasant surprise - just hung out for a while. I love those boys. I've also read a little in blogdom and heard a little talk lately about the term "emerging," referring to the emerging church. Also used is the term "emergent" as well as "postmodern" - wow. Are you still really using the term postmodern a good deal? Seriously. Anyway, I don't really give a damn what you call it - it's not that important. I just know what I am doing (yes, DOING) and what I've been tracking with and seeing happen all over the world. There are different phenomena out there - it's not all the same. This doesn't equal that doesn't equal that over there. Generally, and this is brief surface scratching here, the term postmodern church, as I see it, refers to churches that tend to keep many of the same trappings as ever: buildings, budgets, staff ministers, sermons in front of silent audiences, a "come to church" mentality, programatic "ministry," etc. Only this - they do it cooler. They have cool haircuts and cool worship songs and the setting of the same old stuff is just plain cool. I suppose that'.... never mind - I just don't think that's very helpful. Root causes are not being addressed. Problems that cripple the Body are left untouched really, covered with makeup and band-aids. Are they sincere and Christian and do they love God and love people?? Yes, yes, yes, ok, ok. I'm not saying they don't. I don't know if going on with this post much further is even fruitful. I wonder. Things are changing. What I've seen in this underground sort of "emerging church" whatever it is, is (and seriously, labels here are pointless and it really doesn't matter) something far more radical. More radical (to the root) than models of how to "do church" and music styles and whether we reach "young people" or not. It's more a wholesale questioning and redefinition of why we are doing what we are doing and what it has or has not - and what it is or is not accomplishing - and whether or not "accomplishing" anything in this arena is even what we need to be talking about or concerned with. The question for me and for many church planters - people who have jumped out of the boat to find another island - are doing is trying to get to the heart of the matter - what IS the church? Why is it here? All the answers we have EVER been given are on the chopping block - they won't do simply because they are there. So, we lay them all down and we pick them up one by one and ask, "why is this here?" - "is this legitimate?" - "does this harm or help?" - and the big one - "does this or that help to effectively form me and those whom I am bound together with into the image of Jesus Christ?" The answer to this question is what causes me to "be the church" how I be it. The question, you understand me, is NOT, "does this or that effectively communicate the gospel to the postmodern generation around me?" If that were the question, I would not be asking deeply enough. I would be asking within my former framework of thinking. I would still be wondering how best to get people to come to church and how to make that church service relevant to them when they do come. That would be to stay the same with makeup on. So, I am not talking about one model over another. I am not advocating "house church" over "cell church" or whatever. The only reason I would ever suggest anyone look at any model whatsoever is if I thought somehow, part of that model caught a glimpse of the core of the matter better than another perhaps - so look at that - please! But don't just look to find things that seem cool and copy them - damn! Jump off the cliff and hit the freakin' rocks below and die a bloody death to everything before! Do it now!!! If you do not, you will never ever know if any of it is good and healthy and formational or not. You will not know because you will have stayed in the land of assumptions. So, you may come back alive from that death and realize, for instance, that liturgy IS good and DOES help to form people effectively into the image of Christ - and then you will do it because of that and not because you never questioned it and you assumed it was just good. And you will not do it because you were desperate to reach the young people and you found out they like that cool, mystical crap and so you cranked up some candles and incense and did it, and they came, and declared, "it is cool." If you die that death, allow God to slowly resurrect you, and then end up with a building - awesome!! But DO NOT simply refuse to question whether or not it is legitimate to have a building as a "church"! Don't do that. Don't simply refuse to question paid staff ministry because "that's all I was ever trained to do" and you're afraid you won't be able to support your family - DON'T do that! Wow! We can't get past the front door to see the street! It's NOT about models or labels or styles of worship - crap, crap! It's about busting it all down because it really, really has not worked very well - a good deal of it - and allowing God to rebuild it - ALL of it - for us, through us, in us. So, doing it the same old way with new garb on is not going to cut it. Not allowing yourself to question pretty much everything because of fear will not get it done. This is it. This is what is "emerging." I'm sure other things are too, but this is what I'm seeing and hearing and doing - trying to do. OK, I'm done for now. I wasn't even sure I wanted to get started on this tonight. I guess I did though, didn't I? Oh well. Peace, Grace, and an open heart be with you. Labels: emerging church 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 25, 2003 > 12:04 PM christmas day  Mmmmmyyyyyy prrreccioussssssss!! Mine - my own. I haves it! My Chrisssmasss prresent. I know, I know, I'm weird. It was actually a two knife set with a small very cool paring knife as well. I have a good wife. And she'll make you lovely French press coffee if you come visit with her present. The kids are having fun with their various things. A little later we'll be driving to my parents' place an hour or so from here and staying the night. Oh my, there will be presents a many there, and a good relaxing time, chopping some more wood, walking in the woods, etc. That's all for now. May the Peace of Christ permeate your life today.
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permalink | e-mail me | > 1:34 AM incarnation He has come among us. He took flesh - real flesh - a real life, like mine. Earlier today - Christmas Eve - I was frustrated with my kids. That kind of thing comes and goes. Jesus knows about that, in general - about the frustrations of life in the world. I am thankful for that. I love Him because he first loved me like that. Liz worked tonight. I was home after our friends left. We ate this and that leftovers and watched the now traditional Christmas Story - you know, "you'll shoot your eye out kid!" The marathon is running. We got ready and went to the Christmas Eve service at Church of the Apostles. Good time there with our friends. Came home in the pouring snow, put the kids to bed and wrapped a few more small gifts - now chillin' out with Liz. Peace and Merry Christmas to you all! 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 24, 2003 > 12:20 PM funkiness Well, it started off as a good morning. Slept well with much deep-fried turkey in my stomach and snow on the ground. We had a great time last night. Didn't get out of bed this morning till around 10am (save the jealousy please, it's not attractive). Our family custom is for everyone to open one present on Christmas Eve and the rest the next morning. So, of course the kids want to do that right away, so we got some coffee made, and let everyone do that. Laughing, fun, playing, etc. And then... and then the fighting, the kids taking things too far with each other, crying, me yelling. Then, I'm in a "mood." Quiet must be had. Kids must go upstairs - TV off, etc. Ahh, wonderful Christmas Eve. Peace, come to me! I'm sure it will soon. I just hate all the bickering. Another good thing - we'll be hanging out with our good friends the Souzas in a little while today. They reside in Cape Cod, Mass. We don't get to see them very often. They used to live here a few years ago. Anyway, their family will be coming over to hang out today before they have to go back to the North country on Saturday. That's all for now. Peace be to you as well this day - freedom from bickering and PEACE! 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 23, 2003 > 1:32 PM home > christmas > etc. Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. -Malachi 3:1 We need to be enouraged that our Lord has already come and that He is always coming. He has come and brought the manifestation of His Kingdom on earth. It is already here, now. Our life is no longer merely of this world, no longer merely human. Maybe we should say that now it can be fully human. We don't even really know what that means I don't think. But it is available to us. The Lord and Messenger we seek and desire has already come and revealed to us the Life we were always meant to have and to know and to experience. Time to catch up to reality. Christmas dinner tonight with our little community. We're going to try to deep fry a Turkey. Never done this before, but we got one of those deep fryers and it's supposed to be the best way, so we're doin' it. Everyone is bringing side items and we'll have a little gift exchange. I'm looking forward to this time of "family." God is forming us together into His fullness. We're catching up - slowly but surely. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 21, 2003 > 1:22 PM winter solstice Winter begins - for the Northern hemisphere. Paul and Malcolm are sitting around in the sun on the beach or something downunder. I'll take snow at Christmas time thanks. We do have snow still on the ground here. It might survive another 4 days. I've put up a bunch of pictures from our Christmas party on my fotopage. That was a fun time. It was awesome having the Bill and Mollie Bean and their girls here staying with us for the night. We just love those people. We all went up to Vineyard Central last night for the regional Christmas Allgroup. Good time, as always, seeing all those people, worshipping together, hearing stories. I'll post some photos of that event later. After the festivities, we ordered pizza for all our kids and left them playing LOTR Trivial Pursuit, and went out to eat. Kevin & Tracy Rains, Bill & Mollie Bean, and Liz & I went to Buca de Bepo's in Cincinnati. I had never been there - pretty cool place - good food - just great time of being with friends and being pretty much ignorant. On our way home later that night Liz was saying that it has just been a very good couple of days, and it has. Grace and Peace to all! 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 20, 2003 > 12:35 PM party time   Christmas party last night. I guess we're getting lame - only lasted to 2am this time. Fun stuff. A bunch of friends haning out, eating, drinking, laughing, talking - very good time. The Beans are here - their family stayed the night with us. Of course you know that means the after-party - sitting around talking - lasted till 4am - wow. Then we just got up and ate some serious breakfast around 10. Also had a Macaroni Grill contingent show up - late shift came around midnight and stayed till 2. We'z tared.
Some of you have seen on Eric's blog the little "discussion" going on about manifestations of the Holy Spirit, etc. Interesting. First, I'll tell you that Eric and I love each other. I'm gonna kiss him when we see each other in January - so it ain't all about that. We're figuring things out together. And let me say something for the record - talking is part of doing. Are you a human being? Do you just grunt and hammer stuff? So, yes, I will talk, and I will think, and I will continue to work things out AS I'm DOING them. I honestly don't sit in an office all day, or my "study" and just think and write and argue. Anyway, I'll shut up about that now. Here are a couple of short quotes from Thomas Merton on such things as I promised. A little background on his arena of the Church - the contemplative monastic orders such as the Cistercians, were very accustomed to manifestations of a very similar kind to what has been known in much of what is called "charismatic" churches (for about a thousand years). So, having been there and done that and spiritually directed many others doing the same, he had this to say... "In any degree of the spiritual life... it can happen that a man will feel himself caught up in an emotional religious ferment in which he overflows with sensible, and even sentimental movements of love for God and other people. If he is very holy because of the holy feelings that are teeming in his heart." "This blaze flares up and burns out in a few moments, or a half an hour. While it lasts, you taste an intense pleasure which is sometimes deceptively lofty. ...But the danger is that you will attach the wrong kind of importance to these manifestations of religious emotion... and although sometimes they are unavoidable, it does not seem prudent to desire them." "...when there is nothing you can do to prevent these feelings of inebriation and spiritual joy you accept them with patience and with reserve and even with a certain humility and thankfulness..." "Passion and emotion certainly have their place in the life of prayer - but they must be purified, ordered, brought into submission to the highest love." I realize that not everything he mentions here is what Eric is talking about. These are things I'm pointing out - that I believe go hand it hand with an inordinant focus on spiritual manifestations of a certain type. As I've said before, I would never say to put these things down and dismiss them - that would be to put some legitimate things of God down. God forbid, as Paul would say. And I also realize that there those of us who disagree on these things. That's fine. It's going to be that way sometimes. We're just working it out. I'm not fighting for a "model" or about some title - "emerging" or "pomo" or whatever. I'm just thinking, talking, and yes, doing. Peace to you and Merry Christmas! 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 18, 2003 > 10:21 AM snow > days off > the holy spirit I'm dreaming of a whiiiiiiiite Adveeennnt! Well, I don't have to dream, just look outside. Snowing a beautiful snow in central Kentucky today with the promise of up to 3 inches of accumulation. I love it. You may not - move to Florida - but I honestly love it. Today is my last day of work till January 5th - wow. Lots of time to be home with the family, in front of the fire, sleeping later, etc. Please don't hate me. Maybe we can eat lunch - I'm free. OK, enough of that - I think I'm making people stumble. Ahhh, the Holy Spirit - God the third person, the giver of Life, the essence of God. As my friend Eric has been pneumatologically pining lately, I thought I'd put a couple of quotes up from a great essay I read yesterday on this subject. The article was written by none other than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He lives at the Vatican. Joe, is, if you didn't know, the guy in charge of keeping Catholics in doctrinal "line" so to speak. He has sort of a hard nose reputation but apparently he know some things. The article is called The Holy Spirit as Communio: Concerning the Relationship of Pneumatology and Spirituality in Augustine. So, part of the content is from our dear Father Augustine, and part is Ratzinger's gleaning from it - good stuff either way. Here are a few choice quotes... "It seems to me that three conditions must be fulfilled to speak meaningfully, reliably, and defensibly about the Holy Spirit. First it cannot be talk based upon pure theory but must touch an experienced reality that has been interpreted and communicated in thought. But experience alone does not suffice. It must be tested adn tried experience so that 'one's own spirit' does not take the place of the Holy Spirit. Third: in consequence, suspicion will always arise when someone speaks on his own account, 'from within.' Such speech contradicts the Holy Spirit's mode of being, for he is characterized precisely 'by not speaking on his own' -Jn. 16:13. ...trust is only appropriate when one does not speak on a purely private account, but from an experience of the Spirit tested in front of and standing in the context of the whole, i.e., when one submits the experience of 'spirit' to the entirety of the Church." "Being spirit and being holy is the essential description of God. ...When he is named by that which is the divinity of God, by what the Father and Son have in common, then his essence is just that, the communio of Father and Son. ...His particular being is unity. ...This already has a fundamentally ecclesiological meaning for him... It opens pneumatology up into ecclesiology, and the reverse connection of ecclesiology into theology. Becoming a Christian means becoming communio and thereby entering into the mode of being of the Holy Spirit." "1 John 4:7-16: v.12 - If we love one another, God abides in us... v.16b - God is love, and he who abides in love, God abides in him. v.13 - We recognize that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. ...In the above verses, pneuma takes the place of love and vice versa. Or literally: 'The Holy Spirit, of whom he has given us, causes us to abide in God, and God in us. But love does this. He is, therefore, the God who is love.' ...The gift of God is the Holy Spirit. The gift of God is love. God communicates himself in the Holy Spirit as love. ...the presence of the Holy Spirit is essentially proclaimed in the manner of love. That is the criterion of the Holy Spirit... ...not 'knowledge' but love." "...the basic criterion of love -- its characteristic activity and therefore the characteristic activity of the Holy Spirit -- is that it creates abiding. Love proves itself in constancy. Love is not recognizable right at any given moment, or in just one moment; instead, love abides, overcomes vacillation, and bears eternity within itself... Because love has to do with abiding, it cannot take place anywhere except where there is eternity. ...From this there emerges the basic framework for a doctrine of the discernment of spirits and a directive for the spiritual life. Clearly anyone who looks for pneuma only on the outside, in the always unexpected, is on the wrong path." "'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. As Scripture states, from his body a stream of living waters will flow.' -Jn. 7:37 'All of us have been given to drink of the one Spirit.' - 1 Cor. 12:13 ...Christ is the well of living water. That means that the crucified Lord is the generative source of life for the world. The well of the Spirit is the crucified Christ. From him each Christian becomes the well of the Spirit." OK, that's enough for today, children. Probably too much, but hey, it's good - very good. If you want to read the whole article, you can find it here. It's not long but is seriously packed with content. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 17, 2003 > 9:08 AM it's just me... Interesting. I was listening to this little talk show on the way to work this morning - Bob & Sheri - good show - and the call-in topic was "it's just me." Basically, call in and tell us things about yourself that you do, ways that you are, which cause you to say to others, "it's just me," or "that's just how I am," with the implied, "and you'll just have to deal with that." Of course it was funny and entertaining, etc. But you know, after a little bit, this stuff stops being funny and starts being sad - pitiful sad. I hear people using this phrase - mostly the "that's just how I am" deal - all the time. What it ends up being is an excuse for them being selfish and and ass towards others. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot - that's just how God created you - to be an ass. I'll try to remember that next time. Or perhaps not. Perhaps, and this is just mildly possible, "the way you are" needs to change! Yeah, I think that may be it. If you find yourself saying that a little too often and the circumstances in which those words come out are a bit on the questionable side, you might want to consider that your beloved personality is flawed and needs to be transformed. Mine does - just in case you started wondering. Have you ever been just downright rude to someone - a waiter or waitress, a clerk or teller, or maybe even a friend? Here's the deal. There is NEVER a time when that is acceptable behaviour for someone who claims to have the Love of God living inside them - just never. NOPE - never! Not even then. AAAAggggghhhh! Stop coming up with reasons!! I know "yelling" like this on my blog may come off like that to some of you. Not sure it's the same thing. Am I making excuses? I don't know. I don't think so. Can we be firm and correcting? Remains to be seen I suppose. "That's just the way I am." Well, my ass needs to change and so does yours. We just need to get to that point. We need to realize that we have NO excuses any more for certain ways that we are, and open ourselves to be changed. It's OK to change. It's not going to happen overnight, for sure, but I'm talking about the realization that precedes actualization - process, remember, process. We recognize our deal, realize it needs to change, turn ourselves to God who can do the changing, and "allow" Him to do it - to work on us. So, when I say to you, whomever, and to me, "change" - I don't mean to say - boom! change it right now! That's not going to happen. I do mean to wake up and realize something so that the change that follows can happen. Grace be with us to change. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 16, 2003 > 9:37 AM Don Oiche Ud I mBeithil I sing of a night in Bethlehem A night as bright as dawn I sing of that night in Bethlehem The night the Word was born The skies are glowing gaily The earth in white is dressed See Jesus in his cradle Drink deep at his Mother's breast And there on a lonely hillside The Shepherds bow down in fear When the heavens open brightly And God's message rings out so clear Glory now to the Father In all the heavens high And peace to his friends on earth below Is all the Angels cry This is an amazing little Irish Christmas Carol - Of a Night in Bethlehem. I cry nearly every time I hear the Chieftan's version featuring the late Burgess Meredith reading it over music - it just goes through my bones. Especially, as you look at the Icon of the Blessed Mother and Jesus to the right, the part about Jesus in his cradle drinking deep at his Mother's breast. I weep at his humble humanity. May this weeping somehow work to transform my heart. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 15, 2003 > 3:49 PM thinking about things Love of God. Transformation. Spirituality and spiritual growth. Spiritual "gifts" and how they operate. Knowing God. Love vs. Knowledge. God working through the Church. These are some things I've been thinking about today. I don't think I can really get into all of that right now but I wanted to just throw that out there and say that I'll probably be talking more about these things soon. I also have some quotes to put out here dealing with some of this. One thing - I think we far too often jump into talking about things like this while holding onto set thought patterns about them. I mean to say, we start a conversation about something we really have no intention conversing about. We ask questions that we already have answers to. We, in effect, come at things with a sort of "tunnel vision" which cripples our ability to see clearly what we're dealing with. This may not make any sense. I'll try to rephrase to help clarify -- Nothing wrong with having set opinions or even die-hard convictions on things - no problem at all. We should not be "wishy-washy" on what we believe I don't think. That doesn't help. But when we come to God, or to ourselves, or to others asking questions about our theology or some sliver of Truth, we should come full open, and not peeking through the pin hole from behind a closed door. For instance; if I am beginning to question my views of what the evangelical term "discipleship" means, I had better not have an answer too terribly ready at hand to trump any other one which might overshadow it. I need to bust it wide open and say, "I don't know what discipleship means and I'm not even sure that's what it should be called." We need to step out on the cliff's edge and open ourselves to definitions that we may have never heard before - ones that even outright contradict what we used to believe concerning this area. So, to question something - to re-visit it's meaning - we MUST be ready to feel the pain of perhaps finding out we have been horribly wrong for 37 years, and admit that what we believed and taught may have actually harmed people. If we are not ready to lay down like that, we do not want the Truth. We answer so many questions by our experience or by our ecclesiastical culture or even our secular culture. Are these the ways we find answers to these things? I feel this way mostly, and most strongly, about the area of spirituality and spiritual transformation. We listen far too much to our own experience and to our own culture about these things. What have we been told? "You grow because you hear the Word." Hmmm, is that it? "Well, hear it and put it into practice, with faith." OH, now I see - just that simple, is it? Oh Lord, Lord - help us! OK, I'll get into this more later. I'm still not sure I'm getting my point across. I know what I'm thinking, but it's hard to get it out. In the mean time, check out my man Brian Phillips, who has now entered the blogosphere - welcome him in so he'll keep posting. Brian is a good man and I'm glad to be in community with him. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 14, 2003 > 2:28 PM 30 seconds down > a rock creek adventure   Weeelll, we'z baaack! Safe and sound - mostly sound. It was a great time and an interesting little adventure for Kevin and me. I'll give you a few high and lowlights and point to the pictures on my fotopage. There are 3 here of beautiful Rock Creek in the Big South Fork as well. It is a very cool place. We drove Friday after buying Kevin some waders, etc. - got there a little later than expected so we thought we'd be setting up camp in the dark. Ahhh, as we got down the gravel road, quite the few miles from anywhere, to the entrance of the campground - behold, what did we see? A damn "road closed" sign! Camp ground closed!? What the!?
We were, as you can imagine, quite thrown off by this unexpected plan change. I wasn't heavily familiar with the area and had never camped there before (he continues on building a very plausible defense for himself so he won't look quite so much like a total idiot) - soooo, we drove around the woods in the middle of the night trying to get service on our cell phones to call the Ranger station, no luck. I did call Liz from the top of a mountain though - she, of course, laughed at us. We continued driving thinking we'd have to go back to the next town and find a place to stay, not being sure of the laws, etc. about just camping anywhere (fines are not fun). Ended up in Monticello, KY - we just did - somehow - anyway, we stayed at a nice little Holiday Inn Express and ate at a Chinese buffet on Friday night - quite the camping adventure, huh? By this time, I had developed a nearly terminal case of the head shakes. That's where you're just sitting around and spontaneously start shaking your head back and forth as your own stupidity - then you stop --- --- then you start again. Words come mumbling out of your mouth like, "pitiful" - "lame" - "stupid, stupid." Oh well, whatever - we'll use the tent next time. By the way - the title to this little blog post - "30 seconds down" - is in reference - I can hardly bring myself to put this in writing - in reference to how far down the gravel road there was another perfectly fine and OPEN camp site that we could have stayed at. Hmmmm. Pitiful. "his head shakes" We found out about that the next day as we drove back to where we were going to stay and parked to fish. It was till early, cold, and nearing the snow we had been praying for. Good day. We really had a good day. Had a little basic fly casting lesson with Kevin. He caught on pretty well - it takes time. We suited up in our waders, etc. and hit the water. Not long after we entered the stream and started fishing, the snow began to fall. It was pretty cool to stand there casting in the snow. We both laughed. We worked our way upstream until we found the before-mentioned camp site that was unbelievably open the night before - aaaagghhh!, I don't like to think about that part. Anyway, there we decided to do "day camp." We started a fire in one of the fire-pits, got our stuff out, and cooked "breakfast" of bacon, eggs and coffee for lunch right there beside the stream. Sat for a while warming ourselves and went back to fishing again. Not long after that I hooked a Rainbow Trout and brought it in - decent fish, about 12". I wish it had been Kevin who caught it, but at least we were both there to see it. The water was very cold, and even with waders on, the feet tended to get numb after a while. Shortly after the catch, my own feet were painfully cold, so we decided to pack it in - went back to the Jeep, turned the heat on, and packed our gear (yes, we put the fire out). After that, we drove around till we hit the end of the road, literally. We got out and walked around some more, wet a line from the bank a couple of times, took some pictures and headed out. Got back to Lexington after driving through some bad weather and seeing several accidents on the interstate highway - lots of slush and ice. Stayed at my house last night, went out to eat, watched some TV, laughed our butts off, etc. Very good time. It was, most definitely, an adventure. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 12, 2003 > 3:34 PM  audio post powered by audblog
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permalink | e-mail me | December 10, 2003 > 11:09 AM appetizers Last night was Tuesday night - as you probably already know. Our community meets weekly on Tuesdays, usually at our house. Last night, as Liz is on the rampage to clean our house from stem to stern, it wasn't happnin - not in there. So, we changed plans and all went out for appetizers and good hang-out time at Friday's. After that we all went to Barnes & Noble bookstore to roam around and drink coffee, etc. That was pretty fun too. The Sherwoods were home sick - we missed them. I'm sure they'll be better soon. Again, one of those really good nights where the sacrament of fellowship took the limlight and was used to build us all up. Good stuff. I've loaded a bunch more images onto my fotopage. This is pretty fun. I'm created categories by days - check it out. Counting down the days - only 2 more!! - till Kevin and I head to Rock Creek for a little fishing adventure. Tonight I will be spreading all my fishing crap all over and getting it ready so I won't be last-minute paranoid - let's see, waders, boots, 2 rods and reels, vest, flies, toilet paper, steri-strips and bandaids, sleeping bag, food, pipe, tobacco, and beer - that's not all but it'll do in a pinch. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 09, 2003 > 9:01 AM i just want to write something OK, I just want to write something else so there's something new here. I'm sure, as I type, something will come to mind to say. This is probably just a bit on the ridiculous side. I do it none-the-less. Well, I'm looking forward to this fishing trip I'm going on this coming weekend with Kevin. The boy says he wants to learn how to fly fish - we shall see. I'm making him buy waders. That way, he'll have an investment in this thing. I'm sure this time will do us both good. I was thinking last night of cold - that it will be cold as we sleep in a tent on Friday night, and that there no bears in that part of Kentucky. Really, there are NO bears in that part of Kentukcy. Racoons are always the little visitors in the night if you leave any food out. Camp fire, pipes, a few beers, good conversation, and hopefully, we'll catch something. I haven't fished in a while. I know now why it was mostly men in their mid to late 40's that I saw come in the fly shop I used to work in, going fishing all the time. You have to get to that age before you have any freaking time to fish. At my age (37), with job, 4 kids at home, and other obligations, the time is precious little to spend on the stream. That really gets to me sometimes. You'd have to be a fisherman to understand that. I have it figured out. When I'm 47, in 2013, all my children will be 18 or older. Now that I said that, it hits me that that's only 10 years away, and 10 years can move mighty fast. Wow. It's not the getting older part that gets me when I think that. It's the my kids will be moving away and growing up part - tends to make parents sad. It's good though. We raise them to be good adults, not to remain children. Then, then I will fish - a lot. Liz will come with me. Sometimes she will fish too but mostly, I think, she'll sit on the banks of the stream, reading a book, watching me. I think I am looking forward to that. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 08, 2003 > 4:29 PM on children Just a little something about children - all and my own. Even though my kids bug the crap out of me sometimes, and are a little wild here and there, I would rather have a child who is a loving person than one who is perfectly behaved. Most definitely. I thought of this when I heard my son Conor say yet something else that spoke of his character yesterday. This on the heels of having behaved badly the day before. He was looking out the back door and saw a boy who lives in our neighborhood, a friend of my kids, older than Con. The boy at times deals with depression and has lately been sort of down. Conor said - "well, I see ---- down there - he looks like he might be crying - I better go down there and chear him up." That, as he was putting his coat and shoes on. The boy really cares about people. Even his sisters, even though he almost drives them nuts sometimes. Anyway, this was more than a make-up for the previous bad(normal) behavior. Think. Think about that. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 07, 2003 > 5:05 PM advent > fotopage > etc. Had a good Advent Gathering last night with the vbcc crew. We invited some others but the nature of the season I suppose makes for a hard time to get together. So it was just us - which was good. Our friends at Church of the Apostles are very gracious to allow us to use their facility. It's very Body of Christ of them. We are very grateful. Well, I have buckled under to the peer pressure of the blogosphere and done went and got me a fotopage. I take lots and lots of digital photos, just ask my friends. It's funny, we only have one hold-out in our community who has yet to make the digital plunge. Please pray for Matt. Anyway, I have put some images of the leadership thing at Vineyard Central, Friday night, as well as a couple from our Advent deal, and some sky shots, on my new page. Check it out. I'll also continue to pepper this blog with my photos as well. Just makes things more interesting - seeing a bit through my eyes. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 05, 2003 > 12:38 PM vacation day > extended community I'm at home today taking a vacation day. I found that I had quite a number piled up that I had to take or lose by the end of the year so this is one of them. I'll be off every Friday from now till New Year's and, with the week that everyone gets at Christmas, plus the ones I'm taking off, I'll have a 2.5 week stretch of no work during Christmas time. I am very grateful for that - oh, and shame on you for being angrily jealous of me. Peace be with you too! Later tonight I'll be heading to Cincinnati for a little get together of some "extended community" folk - some leaders from several simple church networks in the area, potluck, conversation, prayer, and worship - very good stuff. We'll be invading Kevin's house. Chris is going to be there, and Glenn. I hope Chad as well. Them along with many other people I've now grown to love will make this a great night. I'll head home after we eat, drink, do all that other stuff, and likely stay up late talking more and laughing our asses off. Some of my personal ass needs to come off anyway, so that'll be OK. I'm very thankful for this natural connection of people that God has sewn me into - our communities into. It is an amazing thing. Nothing spectacular or flashy or fancy - just real and very precious. My plan is to make my world famous (well, not yet) beer chili to take tonight. We'll see if it happens. It takes a while to cook and the woman with the ingredients isn't back from the store yet. This be it for now. Pax vobiscum - again. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 04, 2003 > 11:07 AM atkins diet, etc. Oh my, the stuff is all over the blogosphere this week I reckon. Check out Greg's extremely good diet analogy of the kind of spiritual growth we run after sometimes. Good stuff. Let us please keep reminding oursleves of these things. We may start to get it. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | > 10:10 AM mayhem is coming Yes, Mayhem is still happening and if you're planning to come, it would be very cool if you would head to the site and register up. Check Kevin's blog out today for a longer deal. Look forward to seeing some of you there, building some new relationships and strengthening others. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 03, 2003 > 11:57 PM kingdom stuff You need to check our good Brother Matthew and his observations - about his own life and the spiritual life in general. These words are the stuff of the Kingdom. As I said in his comments, we should be so brave as to tell people these things from the get-go. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 02, 2003 > 2:48 PM christian insanity I heard a good definition of this once upon a time: doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. All-righty then. I guess that lets us know where we are. Think of this on a micro as well as a macro level. Small things we do in our lives and communities as well as larger things we do in the Christian arena. This may be an overstated thing to say, and at this point may seem almost beyond needing to be repeated, but seriously people - will we ever stop rehashing ways of doing things, slightly reworking them and never really changing?? I wonder sometimes. We get in deeply cut grooves of how to get something done and even though it doesn't work for what it should work for, we keep doing things this way. Not healthy. I mean some of these ways of doing things "work" for something - but not for the holistic health and transformation of the Body of Christ. We get trapped by our surrounding culture. We are overwhelmed by what we've always done and just can't get past it I suppose. It's understandable. I mean, I can stand back and look at myself and others and see why we do this. That doesn't mean to say, though, that there isn't a level of "insanity" in it. Battering our heads against a stone wall may make a few scrapes, but mostly it will injure our heads. And if we fall down, get back up, walk away for a bit, and come back around to the wall from a different angle, put a helment on and different clothes, and yell a different phrase while running at it - what are we doing? We are still battering our heads against a stone wall. And the wall will still not fall down. And we will still end up hurt and bruised. Insanity. I say all that while realizing that we are on a journey. I know that's cliche now as well, but we are. We are on a long journey that is not over. We discover things as we go. We help each other see them and navigate them. I don't see it all. I see some of it, and I will speak as if I do. I'll try to point out what I think I see. I say, ever now and then, that I'm going to just go live in the woods - easier, less pressure and stress, just go live in the woods. I'm not though - not yet. Even when I do, it'll be the woods next to town. Anyway, we have to look at what we're doing, what we're thinking. We may at times find ourselves required from within to break from what we've been doing, how we've been thinking - in order for certain things to happen. This is hard. We must do it. I must do it. 0 comments
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permalink | e-mail me | December 01, 2003 > 9:24 AM lumberjacks and doctors  This is the land of lumberjacks, sort of. A shot from my laying on the floor of Creech Forest. From that forest came all the wood that's piled up behind our house right now. We split and split until there was a pile that more than filled my Dad's truck. I couldn't believe there was that much wood. Conor was a huge help in all this. Of course he thought it was terribly cool to heft that big maul and split those logs. He also helped me unload most of it last night when we got home. I think, too, that I figured out the way to tell which muscles, particularly, that you used in the job of splitting and carrying wood - you get up the next morning and feel for the ones that hurt like crap - those are the ones. Damn I'm sore! You wouldn't think that the ham-strings (back of your thighs) would be the big muscle group you used to chop wood - and your ass, as it turns out. Believe me. they're the ones.
  From that, to that - pretty cool. Then then into the truck bed, and then to our house and unloaded into the back yard to be stacked on the deck. Here comes the doctor part. Our wonderful Liz was carrying some wood (I'm sure she's blogged about this by now already), tossed a piece over the fence, it decided not to go all the way over, but come back and hit her in the mouth - yeeeOUCH! She cut a lovely hole in her upper lip (we should've taken a picture). When she showed me, I really thought it looked like a borderline, could possibly have used a couple of stitches - but, medically oriented dude that I am, I whipped out the steri-strips, cleaned her up, scolded her for trying to do too much, told her I was paranoid for her to go to the hospital because of her recent "stabbing" incident - that they would think I'm abusing her, and did exactly what they probably would have done for her there. There will probably be a slight scar, but I told her not to worry about it - it'll be cute. She's funny and I love her.
>> I've added a link to Advent readings and devotionals to the right above the icon. A storm is brewing in the Universe - the Chosen One is coming! 0 comments
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