Here and Now

Looking back... From deviantart Two posts in August Three posts in July I think a single (substantive, sort of) post in June Silence... I would blame it on the move - but I've been at my new church for eleven weeks now. I'm sort of settled in. I could say that I don't have anything to say... but those who know me know better... There's the issue of time. But that's a copout. I make time for what matters (and I'm a season and a half into Fringe  on Netflix to prove it). I won't promise any posts that matter. Or any posts at all. I have actually enjoyed this past couple months of not posting. I've had them before - I go through them. I know it's no way to keep readers (sorry) but it's who I am... and will continue to be...

From Wikipedia Okay - it's a math term, and art and science, and... everywhere. But I won't try to explain it... It turns out that there's a "golden ratio" for relationships too. I read this snippet of an article that talked about research done finding a ratio of about 5 good to 1 negative interactions is the recipe for successful relationships... of all kinds. Explains why I avoid some people - those Eeyores who are always complaining - and why I gravitate toward some people - those who are always positive...

From Morguefile Practice Makes Perfect. We've heard it a million times. And my daughter's violin teacher likes to say, "That's not true. Perfect  practice makes perfect." Except, it turns out, THAT'S not necessarily true. Turns out, it doesn't have to be perfect. The act of doing in sheer volume will perfect the doer... with a single caveat. Feedback. Read THIS ARTICLE . Did you read it? I'll trust you. So, the sheer volume of churning out...anything... the act of doing... makes one better. Provided that the doer analyzes the flaws, the errors, and the poor techniques. Some kind of feedback system has to be in place - internal or external - for this to succeed. So I taught myself to play guitar 20 years ago. I learned to fret a D chord "wrong." Every time I fret it and someone who plays guitar looks at my hand they ask, "What are you playing?" I had no external feedback system to tell me "no, this way" an...

found online We finally made it - Lori's favorite restaurant. We had made plans to go a dozen times over the past four years - each time the plans fell through... It's too far, it's too expensive, we don't have time... I had elaborate plans on our anniversary this past year that at the eleventh hour got sunk... and we didn't go... But we finally made it on the way home from Lori's grandmother's funeral. Not the most auspicious of occasions, I'll admit, and it was a detour from going to Farmer's Inn with the girls (we didn't go there because of the rain...) and several literal detours later...we finally sat down. It was just how I remembered it. Small town Italian restaurant, friendly enough staff, not-quite-ready-for-the-magazines decor... The physical menu had changed, but the contents didn't seem to have. Didn't matter, we'd order the same thing. Could be gone twenty years and I'd order the same thing: spaghetti and me...

Morgufile I read this quote from St. Augustine: "Hope has two beautiful daughters.  Their names are Anger and Courage.  Anger that things are the way they are.  Courage to make them the way they ought to be." Jim Denison of  the Denison Forum  quoted it in an enewsletter I get. It struck a chord with me, though. How often do I hear people who are mad about the way things are...but that's it. We are a nation that is, generally, all talk. We spout opinions like they matter somehow. Like our angry words are somehow going to reshape the world... Now don't get me wrong - words are powerful... I'm in the wrong business - heck, I'm in the wrong FAITH if I didn't believe that. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word with God, and the Word was God." I don't take that lightly... Nor the fact that God SPOKE and everything came into being. Or that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17) Are we ready, though, t...

Found Online So I'm in a new place - physically. It it a strange thing to deal with moving as a pastor - you celebrate your ministry, you are mourning leaving where you have been, yet you are excited about moving to new opportunities and challenges that God has for you. It's not like any other job move that I've made. When I left teaching, it was for a calling into the ministry - it was definitive, it was a clear ending of one path of my life and a new journey was beginning. When I left some of the "lesser" jobs, it was even easier - I worked in the restaurant industry for six or seven years when I was young - started as a dish washer, ended up what amounted to the night manager* at this family owned restaurant - but as much as I love restaurant work, that wasn't the life for me and I knew it and when I quit, as hard as it was to say good bye to Bernie and the others, I knew I was moving forward. Working construction, working as a baker and at the deli, my...

I saw these and, well, resistance was futile :)

I know I'm months too late on this but it still made me smile...

Dr. Who explains time... Hope that helps...

It's been a crazy couple months as we've been getting ready to move. Seems like every time I've thought of something to write, I haven't had time... Packing...ugh, we have boxes EVERYWHERE. Can't find half of what I want now... But I caught wind of this bit of controversy this morning and it just makes me shake my head in disbelief.... Cheerios ran this ad: You will note that the comments section has been disabled. ANd you can guess why... The comments were because the husband is black and the wife is white. And the comments were vitriolic. General Mills shut down the comments because they were anything but family friendly. But they refuse to shut down the spot. Kudos to General Mills for not pulling the ad.

Maybe NM, maybe not. But true...

I went to CMS* again this year. It was, again, a really good conference. Since it was my second year, some of the new-car smell had worn off and I knew more what to expect. I decided this year to catch a couple of the songwriter sessions, in addition to the sessions I went to "for work"**. The songwriter session that I was most stoked about was led by Ian Eskelin . Now, most people at CMS (I assume) had no idea who Ian was...until the Friday night concert when they did a "songwriter in the round" session with like five or six songwriters*** when he introduced himself and said he wrote "This Is The Stuff" with Francesca Battistelli . But I was pretty hyped up before I got to the conference. I had a video Eskelin did called Supersonic Dream Day  - videos of the album of the same name - from when he was just starting out in the industry - here's a sample . Then, a few years later, I caught his band All Star United opening for Third Day with anothe...

I saw this, without comment, on another blog: Think about the truth of this image. Success is a crazy trajectory, with tons of moments where it looks like failure is immanent. I haven't read Steve Jobs' bio yet, but my good friend Ray has been giving me summaries as he's been reading through it and I'm struck by how close amazing breakthroughs are to complete failure and collapse - if not for that "one thing" that "one moment." But that "thing" or "moment" almost always comes out of hundreds - maybe thousands - of hours of blood, sweat and tears and it's probably the really the momentum of the labor, not so much the serendipitous "moment" that pushes an idea, project, technology, whatever into the realm of "success." Then you have to define success ...

The next several - pictures of words...* As always... Maybe not Mr. Lincoln, but pretty good anyway... *So what is a picture of words worth? Huh? How many words is THAT worth? Huh?    Yeah...I went there...

It's a T-shirt Saturday... Yeah...all from the same show...* *Which is crude, rude and totally inappropriate... but these are my people...  I can be SUCH a nerd...

found online I saw this video a while ago, turned on to me by a guy who was all about how we have to "defend the Truth of the Gospel,"* which may or may not be a post for another time. Anyway, Penn Jillette is a one half of the famous comedy duo Penn and Teller who do (does? done did?) shows in Vegas. Penn is apparently well known for being an outspoken athiest** and also well known for doing these kind of video blog posts*** where he rants about...well, whatever. But one day after a show, a guy gave him a Bible. Check this out. The rant isn't what you think it's going to be: Yeah, it's not comfortable looking up his nostrils the whole time, I know... But did you catch the rant? 3:00 in. (Yeah, he doesn't foam at the mouth rant, don't worry, it's safe to click the link, I promise) "And I've always said, you know, that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that ther...

My good friend Steve raves about The Walking Dead , AMC's Zombie-fest that's always at the top of the ratings. And he says, "You have to watch it. It's not the zombie stuff. It's the characters that will hook you in and keep you watching."* And I mock him.  'Cause that's what friends do. Zombies? Really? found here But the point is taken. The number one show. Or is it number one on cable? Does that matter? I see that sometimes.  "Cable's number one drama. Or comedy. Or cable's number one show with two guys wearing suits. Or whatever..." I dunno. Anyway, the season finale a couple weeks ago got 12+ million viewers .** That seems like a pretty solid number one on TV kind of slot to me.*** So I haven't watched the show. I can't get past the zombie bit. To each his own.****  So, um, not the point. It occurred to me, however, that being the number one show, while being a pretty big deal, isn't enough to be culturally...

I don't teach anymore...  But if I did... ...this second one would probably get me in a lot of trouble...

It's just the mood I'm in today: Quadruple Star Wars Goodness. ENJOY!

Sermon site  updated with yesterday's message. Hopefully, our volunteer will get the audio sermons page  caught up soon...

Morguefile The other day Seth Godin posted a marketing post about " You Can't Change Everybody " The point being you can't reach everybody with marketing anymore - maybe you never could, but in the days of three networks and PBS, you could reach a LOT of people with a 30 second TV commercial, in the days of Time and Newsweek, you could reach a TON of people with a full page ad. But, he likes to say, we live in an age of a billion channels (and it's true), so you can't reach everybody. Why try? You have to be VERY selective now. So...who you gonna reach. And since marketing is about change, whose mind are you going to try to change?  He then lists a bunch of questions to figure out once you can answer the who - the very specific who - and, face it, if you can't answer the who, don't bother going on. So, what follows applies to church too, I think. Generally. We're not trying to sell, so much, as reach. But it's still about connecting a...

from history.com The History Channel finally started their 10 hour miniseries, The Bible , last Sunday night. The first episode, Beginnings, pretty well done. Sure, people are going to quibble about details, what was left out, what was added. That's fine. Quibble away. I found it well done for what it's intended to be: a dramatic presentation of the Biblical story . Story. Tell the tale, get the point right. Will it be embellished? Will some details be dropped?** Yep. So I really liked having Noah re-telling the creation story to his family on the ark as the opening scene. CGI in the scene was better than average*** and the acting was good enough to draw me in (important, I think, when opening your series) though Noah with a strong Scottish accent was an interesting choice... So, this isn't intended to be a review so much as a reflection, I guess. I liked the focus on Abraham - hit the highlights - the theme of "trust in God" was prevalent. It's int...

This remains true at the Beatty household... But the day is fast coming when it'll just be a box... I'm not looking forward to that day...

From Morguefile The other night, Lori and I watched Flight , the newest Denzel Washington flick to hit DVD. I had been warned that it was...not to be taken lightly. I knew it was rated "R" so we shooed the girls out of the room for the duration of the film. I checked IMDB to see why it received the rating , so I was prepared for what was to come. So, it wasn't quite the story I thought it would be. I expected it to be the story of a pilot who heroically saves the day when the plane crashes (a la Sully in the famous Hudson River ditching) but he's got a checkered past and, well, I thought it would be about him being framed for the crash and him trying to clear his name. It wasn't. It was, instead, a story of redemption. A fall from grace, the crash (both literal and metaphysical) and the aftermath, and the denouement of his life after a life-changing decision. Yeah, I don't want to give too much away, I guess. Here's the thing. I had been...

found online.... A couple weeks ago, Seth Godin posted a great post about why organizations don't improve . It's short (it'll take you about a minute to click there, read it, and come back...I'll wait, honest...) Told you it's short. Anyway, he says, in a nutshell ('cause I know some of you didn't read it) that improvement is risky because it has many costs. Making something better, or trying to, might actually break it...That happens, so we fear change and do nothing. Making something better ALWAYS makes it worse for some people*. We know that, so it may depend on the perceived power and position of that "some people". Change is frightening, so we don't do anything - and that feels better, because it is known... But Jesus changed everything... *I know churches who hold on for dear life to a particular worship style in a service where only a dozen people attend - and in one church it is a traditional ser...

found online It's Lenten Luncheon season around here. You know,* where you go to a different church each Wednesday (or Thursday) at noon, have some kind of "service" and a light lunch - all conveniently packaged in an hour so folks who work can punch back in before the boss gives them the stink eye...** So, yesterday it was at the Lutheran Church and I almost didn't go. Don't get me wrong. I didn't want to go in the first place. But I go, because I should go. I'm a pastor in the community. It's "connectional." Well, sort of. I don't think these kind of things advance the Kingdom of God particularly, but I feel compelled to support the other churches. So, anyway, the point is, I go... And they hand me a bulletin. Okay. Sigh... It's a lot of responsive reading stuff. I mean a LOT. Like three sides of the bulletin, you know what I mean? It's ALL responsive reading stuff. Leader. Us. Leader. Us. Psalm. Prayer. Call to Worship....

From Morguefile (Note: I'm going to attempt to clear out my Drafts folder here on Blogger, so there may be some posts that reference some, um, past events in the...well, future... ) Last December we had a community dinner at the Tidioute Church. It was kind of a spontaneous idea that came up at our November board meeting: "Could we just invite people to come to a free dinner for Christmas?" "Invite who?" I ask, 'cause that's what I do. "Well..." I see what's going on. Sure, we could have a church dinner. Been there done that. We could invite family and friends... But, well, they'll have Christmas dinner. Who might not? "We just got the list of who will get food baskets for Thanksgiving. That's..." Papers shuffle and some quick counting. "...about 35 families...about, wow, about a hundred people." "We could send invitations." "Hey," someone says, "we could hand out invitati...