The Bears are struggling. It’s really not pretty at all. But, at least we get to watch Devin Hester. The dude is simple amazing. He returned another kick today which you can see here. I was browsing his videos in YouTube and came across this old video of his from his Miami days. Sure, they were playing Duke, but this return is ridiculous:
Archive for September, 2007
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September 30, 2007
At Least We Have Devin Hester
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September 28, 2007
Cubs are in the playoffs
Just get in the playoffs. Anything can happen. Hoping for a Chicago / Philadelphia playoff series. It would make for some fun around here. I’ve lived in Philly for 11 years so they have become my “second team” but I am Cub fan tried and true, to the death. Is this our year, who knows. Its nice to still have something to cheer for this late in the year though. Hey, maybe the Cubs could put together a “World Series Shuffle” like the 85 Bears did… or maybe not. Go Cubs!
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September 27, 2007
Guatemala Adoptions in Trouble…
Most of you know, we have recently adopted our son from Guatemala. It was an amazing experience. We are excited to have our son home. Unless you have adopted, you can’t even imagine what its like. While we were down in Guatemala we met many families who were still in the process and were only visiting their children. They were still waiting for the process to finish so they bring them home. I can’t imagine how hard it is to hold your child in your arms and know that you still have to wait and come back another time before they can officially be part of your family. We chose not to visit Mason for our adoption which means that the first time we met...Read More →
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September 27, 2007
The Radical Gospel
In our bible study last night one of the guys made the statement, “dang, the gospel keeps getting more and more radical everyday.” I can’t tell you how encouraging it is to hear others give voice to that. I feel that the more and more that I look at the scriptures and try and get a handle on the “good news” and the call of discipleship, it just keeps on getting bigger and bigger. How about you, is your understanding of the gospel becoming more and more radical as you look at it?
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September 24, 2007
Guatemala Adoption Process Questions
Since our family finalized our adoption and brought our adorable son Mason Carlos home from Guatemala we’ve obviously received a ton of questions about the process. The first thing people usually ask is: “How long did it take? ” The answer there is: A LONG TIME! We started the process in January of 2006 and Mason came home to Philadelphia in August 2007. We had a number of stalls and a ton of waiting for it all to happen. The second thing people usually ask is “how much did it cost?” The answer there is rather easy also: A LOT! It’s no secret that a Guatemala adoption costs around $25,000 when all is said and done (adoption fees + travel). We were no exception. We...Read More →
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September 19, 2007
Headed to Chicago
I’m headed to Chicago tomorrow (Thursday) till Saturday. Looking forward to a friend’s wedding (a friend from highschool) as well as some time with my parents. Playing golf twice with my dad, dinner tomorrow night with my brothers and I am sure my mom and I will go out for coffee together a few times. It will be good to see my family in chi-town but I’ll be missing my wife and my boys for sure. At least its a quick trip. Also looking forward to this. Shoot me an e-mail if you’ll be there. It looks interesting. Too bad my first place Cubs aren’t in town…
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September 19, 2007
The Gospel We Proclaim vs The Gospel We Live?
Yesterday I wrote about Scot McKnight’s definition of the gospel in his book embracing grace. Today a thought came to me. Most of us probably don’t have the same exact definition in our heads that Scot presents, but we all probably have something that is similar or at least contains some similar elements. My question is this: Whether we use Scot’s definition or our own, how much of a disconnect is there between the gospel that we profess and proclaim and the gospel that we live day in and day out? If the gospel we profess focuses on forgiveness, how much do we actually embrace God’s forgiveness and how much do we forgive others? If the gospel we profess emphasizes justice, how much do we...Read More →
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September 18, 2007
The Gospel and The Cycle of Grace in Embracing Grace
I am leading a Bible study on Wednesday nights at our church on the book by Scot McKnight called, “Embracing Grace.” In it, he defines “the gospel” as, “The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community for the good of others and the world.” I love this definition because its a very holistic definition (though i am sure not perfect). It deals with personal salvation of human beings and the restoration of their relationship with God, it deals with the work of God in restoring man to each other, it deals with the importance of community (or the Church) in this and finally it deals with that fact that...Read More →
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September 18, 2007
What The Office Did on Summer Vacation
This show is pretty much amazing. This three minute “preview” is just another reason why. Now, I know the shows got some innuendo… but its still amazing. I love me some stupid humor… this show is as stupid as it gets… Thanks Steve for posting this before me….
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September 17, 2007
Two Great Reasons to Work From Home
Unless I am out on a web design meeting or a church meeting, I work from home most days. My office is in the basement: When I go upstairs to get something to drink, or for lunch or for, well whatever… this is what I am greeted by: and sometimes this… Hmm… I think I’m pretty much enjoying life right now…
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September 17, 2007
Volunteer at The Well in Feasterville, PA
At The Well, we’ve got some great volunteer opportunities that we’ve started. It’s kinda cool to know that when you search “volunteer work in feasterville pa” our website comes up first (by the way, Feasterville is the town where our church gathers) When a church is leading this search, I think its a pretty cool thing….
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September 17, 2007
Come and See Website Video Tutorial
I created a website for the outreach and missions ministries of Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, MN this summer. David Berge, the intern there this summer, has created a cool little video tutorial on how the website works and its features. Check it out here
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September 15, 2007
Are You Striving Like Paul?
I was doing some studying for my sermon and happened across this verse again. “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works within me.” Colossians 1:28-29 Man, take this verse seriously and you find that you are way in over your head. Not only because the task is so huge, but because of the example that Paul lays out before us. I don’t think this is just written for professional clergy… Am I honestly as committed and passionate about this as Paul? Are you? hmm… Good question eh?
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September 14, 2007
Preaching Jesus or Doing Justice? Yes.
At The Well, we’re spending the early part of this fall (and beyond) really calling our people to be moved with compassion for the poor and oppressed. Not only moved with compassion, but moved to action-after all, I believe from the model of Jesus we see that true compassion demands action for a response. So, we’ve been giving some tangible, practical ways of getting involved in some really awesome ministries. Of course, one of the “dangers” (I hate even using that world when it comes to doing justice because why should justice be dangerous!) is that we forget about the Lordship of Christ in the midst of these actions. Unfortunately, it happens. And, unfortunately, some Christians use this possibility as a reason to not get...Read More →
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September 12, 2007
Save the Environment. Kill People. What?
I was reading an article on CNN this morning about Russia’s new “dad of all bombs.” Apparently, its a really, really big non-nuclear bomb. To quote CNN: “The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability,” said Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said in televised remarks.” Then article says this, “Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn’t hurt the environment, he added.” What?! Is creating a huge crater in the ground and killing massive amounts of wildlife, trees and whatever else was underneath it not hurting the environment? Also, doesn’t something seem a little off with this ethic? It’s okay to kill people as long as its...Read More →
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September 10, 2007
Pastoral Confessions.
Recently I saw a bunch of theological bloggers put out their “theological confessions” and thought it was really neat to see them humble themselves and share their thoughts and struggles openly. Taking inspiration from them, here is my list of pastoral confessions: Even though I don’t want to, I struggle with the temptation to measure our church’s success by how many butts sit in the seats (or sofas) each Sunday mornings and not by how well we are living our our values. I struggle deeply with a consistent prayer life and regular scripture reading habit. Not only do I struggle with the habit, I often struggle with the desire to have a habit at all. Then of course, I struggle with the struggle that I...Read More →
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September 8, 2007
Doylestown Art Show
Last night (Friday, Sept 7) three church communities (resonate, the living room and The Well) joined together in partnership with Main Street Baptist Church in Doylestown, PA to put on a community art show. Our (unofficial) goals for this were (I say unofficial because I am just now writing down what we talked about for the last few months): Get three churches serving together in common mission Meaningfully participate in and be part of the monthly First Friday in Doylestown, PA Create a space where people from each of the three churches can meet and get to know each other Create a space where people from our three churches could be in touch with people from outside our churches Put on a good art show...Read More →
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September 6, 2007
What Does Being a Pastor Mean to a 4 Year Old?
I am a pastor and a webdesigner. I have a four year old son (along with a 10 month old son). Of course, said 4 year old son asks an astonishing amount of questions a day. Too many to count. This 4 year old son now understands that his daddy has to go to work everyday. He doesn’t really like this so much. Along with wanting to know why I have to work (which is easy enough to answer) he wants to know what it is that I do when I work. This is harder to answer. Since I am a freelance web designer 2-3 days a week, I can get away with saying that part of the day I work on my computer. (I...Read More →
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September 5, 2007
9 Ways to Help Me Actually Read Your E-Mail
Not counting those mean spammers, I get a lot of e-mail each day. If you are anything like me, you don’t read every word that comes into your inbox. Heck, if you are like me you don’t read every e-mail that comes into your inbox. As a pastor, I weekly send out a bunch of e-mail to groups of people regarding events or announcements. In the last five years of sending (and receiving) these events I have found a few practices that give me a better chance of people actually reading and responding to my e-mails and getting what I am trying to say. (I probably don’t follow these all perfectly, but I generally try to). There is nothing worse than sending out information about...Read More →
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September 5, 2007
Purchase My Favorite Books From Me
I have just added a cool little store to my blog. It’s basically a catalog of all my favorite books that have influenced my thought about Christianity and the Church. Its links to Amazon.com so I get a little referral kickback from them if you buy from me. Its not a ton but if you purchase from my site you basically would allow me to buy even more books. And, well, I don’t see anything wrong with that!
