The lead pastor at our church released a new book this week!
Pastor J.D. lived for a couple of years in a Muslim country in the pacific rim of Asia, and also got his PHD in Islamic studies. “Breaking The Islamic Code” is his attempt at helping us ‘westernized Americans’ better understand Islam, Muslims, and the huge gaps in culture and communication that often exist.
Having lived in a ‘Muslim’ country myself, and hoping to possibly plant a church in a Muslim context some day, I look forward to seeing what he has to say!
This past weekend was the first time we’ve had a significant amount of snow since Stephanie and I were married almost three years ago…
Remember this series of posts from several months ago?
I wrote about the book “Religion Saves (and 9 other misconceptions)” by Mark Driscoll, head pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
The book is based on the sermon series by the same name (which you can watch, listen to, or download for free).
Well, this month, like every month, ChristianAudio.com is giving away an audio book, and this month it’s the audio version of ‘Religion Saves’! It’s completely free!
Just follow this link during the month of February, and you can download the book in mp3 form!
I especially recommend the book for those who consider themselves to be skeptics or opponents of Christianity. I think the book does a great job of clearing up several common misconceptions about the teaching of the Bible.
If you get it, please let me know what you think of it!
Seven inches of snow this weekend has pretty much everybody’s plans canceled around here.
That means I found some time to use my computer for something besides work and I’m actually posting a couple of videos for the first time in months!
Enjoy:
Josiah has been doing this for a little over a week.
He can only take about 5 steps before he gets scared and collapses, but it won’t be long now!
I learned a good lesson recently.
Well, I guess it wasn’t new. Let’s say I was reminded of a good lesson recently.
Since it involves a moment of personal vulnerability in someone else’s life, I’m going to leave out lots of details that would probably make it a better story and just cut to the chase. If we ever get the chance to sit down and chat, you can ask me for the long version :0)
Here goes:
Tags: family, men, story, unemployment
Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.
I’m 27 years old, and I can’t remember a time in my life that was so simultaneously exciting and uncertain.
(I’m hopeful that some of you will actually read this, so I’ll resist the urge to leave you a 3-page brain dump attempting to fully-qualify that statement. If you want the long version, give me a call and let’s go drink some burnt coffee!)
The summary version is: In the last four years I’ve gone from
poised college graduate with an engineering degree from a great school, a healthy routine, a (fairly) clear vision, and a fruitful life
to
an excited frontier missionary to a borderline third-world, closed country, on track to be international staff for a college ministry
to
a somewhat depressed and lonely missionary to a borderline third-world, ice cold, darkness-enshrouded, closed country
to
a 23-year-old who was recently kicked out of said third-world country who lives with his parents, has no job, and needs 128 dollars to fill up his gas tank (seriously)
to
a love-struck, head-over-heals 23-year-old who often drove 400 miles in a day in my courtship of the only girl I ever loved
to
a 24-year-old newlywed who doesn’t know the first thing about marriage trying to work a full-time software job under managers who don’t like me while also trying to be a borderline not-quite-full-time youth pastor at a church plant with some great people but some fundamental gaps
to
a 26-year-old in the middle of a theological paradigm shift with a whole new (though less clear) vision for life, on the hunt for a safe church environment for my family (which now includes a baby) and for some good friends for myself and my wife (which are MUCH harder to find than I ever imagined earlier in life)
to
a 27-year-old recovering former fundamentalist-turned-calvinist, in the process of becoming a member of a baptist church (that I’ve known about for years but was too brick-headed to ever visit) with my fourth family member cooking growing in my wife (who is becoming exponentially more beautiful with time)
Suffice to say: it’s been one heck of a roller-coaster.
And this could be the beginning of a book, but I really just wanted to share something:
This whole time – from the moment I graduated from college (where Campus Crusade For Christ did a great job of helping me stay around Godly men I could learn from), I was searching for someone to speak some Truth to me.
Don’t get me wrong: my parents and friends and family are great and they give me great advice. But I was looking for someone who had been down the road I want to go down. Someone I could check in with from time to time to get advice, encouragement, and (probably most importantly) rebuke. I love the “follow your heart” type of encouragement you get from a parent, but I also want someone to ask me hard questions. I want someone to burst my bubble when it needs to be burst.
I’ve heard it said before that a friend is someone who will stab you in the front. I think there’s some truth to that I can’t remember the last constructive criticism I got.
So I was looking for some dudes I could have that kind of relationship with.
And I don’t mean I would sit at Starbucks and pray, “OK God. Send me someone to give me some wise council.”
I was banging down doors.
I was begging people to make time to spend with me.
I called pastors I had never even met and asked if they could make some time to talk to me.
And they said no.
Even when I was overseas and I really needed some training about how to do my job there, I asked our team leader if he could make some time to train me.
But he said it wouldn’t be worth the investment since my commitment was only a year.
I once wrote on facebook that finding a mentor is harder than I thought it would be and almost ALL of the feedback I received was negative. Some people were offended that I didn’t consider them my mentor. Some people said you don’t need a mentor because you have the Holy Spirit. Some people said that you don’t have to spend time with someone to learn from them.
So, eventually, I kind of gave up.
I know that’s weak; but it’s honest.
I figured trial and error (also known as ‘learn everything the hard way‘) would be my best alternative.
And to be honest, I still find myself pretty much in that place.
Even as recently as a couple of months ago I contacted one of the pastors at my church. He was willing to meet with me once and I basically told him where I’ve been, and where I think God is leading me. He listened and gave me some helpful feedback, but I don’t think that’ll become a common occurrence. (I actually had to communicate with his secretary just to get a date scheduled)
So, what’s the point of this post? Is it just a big whine fest?
No. I hope not. I’m sharing all this because of a blog post from Mark Driscoll that I read today.
Celebrating the 14th anniversary of Mars Hill Church by taking a look back, he gives a list of things he learned and things he wishes he had done differently.
First major lesson?
He says:
First, I needed more training and should have waited a few more years. Had I to do it over again, I would not have given up looking for a godly older pastor to help sand off my rough edges and help me get ready not just to start a church, but lead it well for a lifetime. I had tried a few older men and each relationship went badly, so I gave up trying to be rebuked, mentored, and trained. But I should have persevered in that effort.
Sound familiar?
This encourages me for 2 reasons:
1) I’m encouraged to know that I’m not fundamentally broken to the point that nobody wants to hang out with me my experience hasn’t been totally unique. Someone else out there has struggled with the same thing.
and
2) What do you know, but he actually has some advice (about looking for advice): keep looking.
And I think he’s right.
So I’m going to keep looking.
Can you relate?
Any thoughts?
Any… advice?
In no particular order, here’s the last batch of my favorite 2009 photos:
OK. Part 3 of the “2009 In Pictures” series.
This is July – September.
Which was the summer…
Which is when we lost our dang minds and started snapping pictures like it was the end of the world apparently drank some funky kool-aid and took WAY too many pictures.
So here’s your warning: There are like 20 pictures here.
Or 30.
Or 117.
Don’t judge us…
Continuing from last week, here are some of my favorite photos from 2009.
I don’t have time to caption everything like a good blogger would, but I’ll bet you can figure out what’s going on.
Stephanie and I have a reputation in our family for taking ridiculous quantities of pictures throughout the year.
I admit, we get a little shutter crazy sometimes. But we love capturing memories, and I like being able to include people in our lives, even though we don’t get to see them every day.
I’m also hopeful that someday I’ll treasure all the memories that they will hopefully conjure up.
Anyways, the new year is always a good time to dig through the year’s photos one last time before they get buried in another year’s adventures and memories.
Here’s January through March:
It's hard to remember him being this small
A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie and I dropped Josiah off at my parents, came home and got all dressed up, and went to my company’s annual Christmas party in Greensboro.
It was our first time leaving Josiah anywhere overnight, so we really went for it!
We wanted to get all dressed up, but not spend a bunch of money, so we raided our closet and I ended up wearing the only suit I own (purchased in the 11th grade) and Steph wore an old brides maid dress! We even took some pictures like we were going to prom or something!
We went and ate and danced our hearts out, and then came home and slept for like 12 hours! And then we wrapped it up with a breakfast trip to Cracker Barrel in the morning!
The pics are only so-so because our living room isn’t lit all that well, and we were using a tripod and timer, but here they are:
The Boston Globe has a section on their website called “The Big Picture“, where they have some of the best photos from around the world on almost a daily basis.
It’s one of my favorite websites, and while some of the photos are beautiful and inspiring, some stop me in my tracks and remind me how big the world is and how small my perspective often is.
This week, they have a post titled “2009 In Photos, Pt. 1“.
The photos are super high-res, and there are a lot of ‘em, so it takes a while for all of them to load, but it is definitely worth the wait.
Here are a few of my favorites:
