From todays reading of "Everything Must Change"

"When the misionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, Let us pray. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land." (the first Kenyan president, Jomo Kenyatta)
I have been told that during the apartheid years, Archbishop Tutu, when speaking to white Christian leaders, would then hold up the Bible and say, "Now, my brothers, based on this Bible you have given us, I call you to give us back our land!"
At that moment, truth and justice would come together: if the truth is that God doesn't play favorites, if the truth is that God is not a racist, if the truth is that land theft and slave labor are wrong even (especially!) when done by people who call themselves Christians, if the truth is that all human beings are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated with equal dignity, even sanctity-then we must face the injustices of our past and seek justice for everybody everywhere. That is the only way that the world of tomorrow will be a better place, and it is the only way to live by the truth. (page 45)
Thoughts...

We cut a tooth this morning!!!

It's good validation as a parent when you've been telling people ever since you brought your daughter home from Kyrgyzstan that shes teething and she finally cuts a tooth. I've always asserted that parents can blame global warming on teething. We knew it was coming...the screaming...the jamming the fist in the mouth...the white gums...but it took forever. A couple days ago we thought we could see one but couldn't feel one...that's how convinced we were. Well it's official! I felt the sharpness this morning and she let me know that she wasn't happy about it.
This isn't a picture from this morning...it's actually from yesterday. Alyssa takes so many pictures of the kids that Sofia actually closes her eyes when she sees the camera to prepare for the flash. Amazing.

Our Life Group is sponsored by Mac

This was my dining room table on Tuesday night for Life Group. Jon and Ian had their Macs out to enter into depths of nerdery that should never be delved into... so naturally I had to add my little white step brother to the mix. Maybe our Life Group can get sponsored by Apple and we can all get jackets with matching patches or something. Is that taking this too far?

Please buy a shirt from my blog buddy

This is my blog buddy Aaron Ivey. I have no idea how we stumbled across each others blogs but we are officially homies. He and his wife Jaime are adopting this amazing little boy from Haiti. His name is Dowensky and they are going to change his name to Amos. They are selling shirts to help raise money for their adoption. I encourage you to go to their sites and see their hearts for this little boy. These t-shirts are a great way to remember to pray for this family and also get them some funds to make this adoption happen. Go here and buy one of these shirts if you have the means.

Thank you Life Group

Alyssa, Zeke, Sofia, Scarlet and myself love you all. Just wanted to make sure you knew that. Thanks for a great night!
Please don't comment to this post. Just wanted you to know how we feel.

Halo vs. Jesus

Check out this article. Thanks Ian. I heard this kind of thing is taking off in the Sudan :) I think it's possible that they are asking the wrong questions.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Luke 4

Our young married group at the Grove is studying the book of Luke together. Next week we get into Luke 4 where Jesus gives his manifesto as he quotes from Isaiah. He talks about bringing good news to the poor and giving sight to the blind, freeing the captives and ushering in the year of jubilee. People seem all excited about this and then it gets really crazy. They want Jesus to validate his ministry with miracles like he did in Capernaum and he reminds them of two familiar prophets. He talks to them about Elijah and Elisha and how they weren't excepted in their home towns. Because of this God sent them away and they had significant ministry with Gentiles which was an outrage to the Jews. The people are so mad that they haul Jesus out to the edge of a cliff to throw him off and kill him but somehow Jesus just walks right through the group of people and leaves. Awesome. I'd pay a lot of money to see how that went down.

my monday mornings...

Alyssa teaches till noon so I get the kids ready...put together trains that Zeke just got from Aggie. (Thanks Aggie...Zeke's a train fanatic!) Put Sofia down for a nap, and then I have about an hour to myself. Quietness in my house. It's weird how much you miss those simple things after you have kids. I think I'm going to sit on a chair in my backyard with a cup of coffee and be quiet for a while. See ya.
And yes...I did take this picture with my macbook because I'm too lazy to transfer pictures from my camera. And yes...those are a ridiculous amount of wrinkles on my forehead but I messed with the contrast of the picture so I'm blaming that!

Sabbath

Great day of chillin' and spending time with the family. Alyssa laid it out pretty well in her blog. Forts, reading books and naps. Today we went to my grandpa's house for his 84th birthday. He is an amazing man and it was a great time to hang out with our family. My aunt Lindi told me today that she reads my blog so I've got to give her some major love. My aunt Lindi is amazing and she loves my kids as much as Alyssa and I do. She puts out a spread for dinner every time we go over to my grandpa's and it's enough to feed and army. She makes the best food you've ever tasted and her specialty is tacos, enchiladas, and steaks (fillet mignon). Aunt Lindi...if you read this...please know you are loved by our family and you are the best aunt a guy could ask for!

So full of life

I caught it perfectly. My incredible son...no inhibitions...no fear...pure joy...jumping into a pile of pillows with a blanket pulled over them with his cousins. What you see is definitely what you get with Zeke. When he's happy he will crack you up with his enthusiasm and contagious laugh. When he's mad he will scream at the top of his lungs and punch you if your not quick enough. When he's loving every second of his four year old life he will jump with fearless abandon into a pile of pillows. When I grow up I want to be more like my son. I'm starting to see what Jesus was talking about when he said you had to become like "one of these" to really understand his kingdom.

Got my copy yesterday

Can't wait to get into it. I'll keep you up on the process. Don't tell Mark Driscoll I have this book. I would hate for him to call me out by name in the middle of a southern baptist conference and call me a heretic. I was talking to Micah about this yesterday. Go here if you want to hear Driscoll bash McLaren, Paggitt, and Bell. Why can't we all just get along? Here's an idea...Let's actually sit down and talk to the people we disagree with or actually hear from their own mouths what they believe. Let's not hear about a few books that they recommend and then deduce that these people must agree with every doctrine these people ever believed in because they enjoyed portions of their book. It's a ton of "he read this" and "she said that." For the sake of the kingdom lets at least have informed opinions before we spew them all over everyone else. I hate giving any energy to this but I feel like it's probably going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Sad.

Romans 1 in a new light

DISCLAIMER:
I haven't thought through this a ton. It could be total heresy. These views do not represent The Grove. Just some thoughts that I'm working with.
So I sat down this morning to wrestle with Romans 1 and came out of it with some crazy thoughts. I think Romans 1 was a critique to Jews (those that were called to show the world what God was like). I don't think it was written to pagans which is the excepted explanation in most commentaries.
vs. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him... (The Jews knew God but were constantly fluctuating in their worship of him.)
vs. 22...they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human beings and birds and animals and reptiles. (Jews in the wilderness of Sinai)
vs. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. (The Jews knew the truth)
vs. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death (the Jews are the ones that know God's righteous decree)
I bring all this up because most commentaries will tell you that Paul is taking to pagans in this chapter. In this view the world has seen the invisible and visible qualities of God so they are without excuse and when they choose to live outside of God's ways he turns them over to depravity.
But if Paul is talking to the Jews then this is a rebuke to the church. If we have an understanding of God and his truth then we are called to be a representation to the world of what God is like. The rebuke is for the church to shape up (not the pagans) so that the world will see the difference in a people that are set apart. This really goes in line with what you see through the Gospels and letters. Jesus and Paul's harshest rebuke was held off for the "religious" and those inside the church. To those outside the church we offer love and an invitation into the way of Jesus that (should) look completely opposite of the surrounding culture.
I don't know if any of this means anything to you but it changes a ton for me. I'm gonna study it a lot more. Any thoughts? Read the chapter first and let me know what you think. I need the Rabbi Risinger to weigh in. (I hate not being able to walk down to your office to talk about this stuff!)

The blog roll is out of control

So many peeps joining the ranks.
I gotta give some love to Casey even though she throws a blog up every 6 months! She's the one that got me into this thing and it seems like a blog disease has infected Riverside...I love it!
I'm not gonna give you links to all of these because I'm lazy and I've already added them to the blog roll on the left side of my blog.
Here's the newest kids on Dan's blog:
-Andy Prickett: Guitar genius (Prayer Chain, The Violet Burning, Cush) I peed my pants a little when I saw that he had me linked on his blog.
-Bill Risinger: The rabbi from Salinas couldn't handle the pressure
-Brad Nelson: Great pastor at Mars Hill that I met at a conference
-Dave Stewart: Makes great guitars
-Elissa Gonzalez: Great stories about momhood.
-Janell Fagg: My cuz..twice removed...and then twice removed again!
-Mama Sue: Don't listen to any stories she tells you about me...I've never met the woman.
-Rob McInteer: The master of stuff no one else knows about. Great friend.
-Scott Ellis: Started a blog because he's married now and his wife made him ;)
-Yvonne Weinstein: The wobbly librarian...she's awesome
If I forgot you and you're a regular let me know. It's not on purpose...there's just a lot of you out there.

Guitar players only

Self tuning guitars...amazing...but not worth the price.
Thanks Ian.

Put this on your calendar

Click on the flier and you can listen to all the bands. I love Fransisco the Man. Scotty rocks it Neil Young style. The Trade acoustic should be really cool and Rue is amazing. (It will just be him with an acoustic and some keys). I also really like The Red Coterie. I think we are going to do the show in the hallway outside the Hub. We did that once before and it was really cool. I could use some help for the show if anyone wants to come out for free. Let me know!

Imogen Heap rules

This is seriously amazing and her voice is incredible.

Make your case...

You can argue with me all day but my kids are the cutest kids on the planet! Seriously...what the heck...sooo cute!

Amazing morning

We took the family down to celebrate with the Hasemeyer's because Levi's adoption was finalized today. The Hasemeyer's are my hero's! Levi is there sixth adopted kid to go along with the three biological kids that they already had. All their adoptions have been kids with special needs. They're family is rad...white, brown, black...one big happy family. I remember what it was like for us when we finalized Zeke's adoption. I'm glad we could be in the courtroom for them today. We got to talk to Zeke more today about his adoption. It's been cool to start sharing with him the story of how he became our son. God is good!

"I hate fasting"

That's a quote I'm taking from my buddy Nate that I heard this last weekend. I tend to agree with him. Fasting is one of those disciplines that I don't really get. But when you think about it fasting is probably the most profound discipline that there is in our society of gluttony, excess, and have whatever you want, whenever you want. I've got some big things on my plate right now and fasting and prayer seem like the thing to do. But it's funny because I think we view fasting as some magic experiment...at least I do. I think to myself...if I'm willing to go hungry then God will understand how devoted I am to him and he'll bring perfect clarity to my uncertain world. What God is teaching me today is that the point of fasting is not to rub a lamp and get the desired result but to put my day to day dependence back on God. He sustains every breath, every meal, every conversation and when you go without some food for a while it brings you back to an understanding of that. I've made fasting selfish in the past but I think the point is to remember how big God is and if can remember that then I don't have to worry about the other stuff that seems so big in my own head. Did any of that make sense? I'm thinking about a burrito right now so everything could be nonsense.
And for the overly righteous person that is already drafting their comment about how I'm not supposed to talk about fasting, I'm beating you to the punch. I suck at a lot of stuff and talking about things that I shouldn't talk about is probably one of them. (ask my wife)

Just call me beer pits

So if you are thoroughly confused already go and read this first.
For everyone else...I got rid of the ether filled deodorant that was slowly bringing me to a deep sleep through the pores in my pits. I took the advise of the always on top of his game...reverend of the environment...Bishop O'Farrell and found a deodorant that was much better for me. You can find it at Teeeeeggg. (that's Trader Joe's for those of you that don't know me). What's awesome about this stuff is that it's made with hops, so now I don't stink but I smell like beer! This stuff is amazing! Usually after a full day if my nose ventures anywhere near my pits there is a loud siren and flashing lights with a loud voice of a woman screaming...RE-APPLY...RE-APPLY! But my beer deodorizing stick rocks it all day...amazing.
The only weird side affect is I find myself in a reoccurring dream that has me taking a bath in Newcastle. Is that strange?