I write this blog to you from the corner of the snack shop at YouthFront Camp in Edgerton, Ks. I’ve had the privilege of being the camp pastor here for the last four years and it’s starting to feel like a second home.

They have great facilities, an excellent staff and some of the most unique programs I have every seen. But, probably the most ringing endorsement comes from my boys Noah and Nathan who say this is their “most favorite camp ever”, which is a huge statement because my boys… they’ve seen lot of camp.

When I ask what their favorite part is, it’s hard for them to decide:

• Is it the paramilitary game NIGHTSTRIKE played late at night when they cut all the lights at camp
• Is it the grossly enormous free standing water slide that has a 30 second drop
• Is it the 50s Pool Party, the Renaissance fair, the camp-wide shaving cream war, the daily HYPE sessions of dancing, goofy games and indoor dodgeball
• Is it the all access free pass they get to the snack shop as the camp pastor’s kids (I think this might be it, but that’s just me)

Whatever it is, I love doing this camp, because my kids love it so much. And, this camp is really unusual because of its facilities and programming.

However, there is one thing that makes this camp identical to the hundreds of other camps I have been to over the years… the kiddos. Continue reading Growing up, Graduating & Chuck

Just got back from an incredible trip overseas and I have more to communicate than I could ever hope to pour out in a single sermon, blog or conversation. So, whoever shows up at church this weekend… God help them.

One of the great parts of this recent road trip was the opportunity to visit the ancient ruins of Ephesus and actually stand where the Apostle Paul stood. You know, to not guess, but to whip out the old Holy Bible and read the chapter and verse and quote what he said standing on the very spot he said it.

Kinda cool. Felt a little like a time machine with the flux capacitor kicked into high gear.

So, here I am this morning trying to reintegrate/catch up on the week we missed and I decided to reread some of the passages connected to the places I’d just seen.

Right out of Acts 19 while Paul was visiting Ephesus is this crazy, funny story: Continue reading Get ready, get ready, get ready

I have a love hate relationship with my IPOD.

More than 8000 songs from classical, to 80s, to Bluegrass, to Heavy Metal (Christian, of course), to audiobooks, to podcasts/sermons, to some stuff I can’t even begin to apply genre too.

Then there are days worth of video (seasons of Dr Who for me and Spongebob for the kiddos), games, pictures and even text files.

I have the 160 GB Classic monster… that’s the part I love.

The part I hate… trying to listen to it in my car.

I have tried nearly a dozen of those little wireless FM transmitters only to be dismally disappointed every stinking time!

I plug it in, turn it on and tune it up expecting to hear that crystal clear digital joy. But, what I get would make a leisure suit wearing, El Camino driving, eight track aficionado smirk at me with disgust (sorry to all your dads). Continue reading Mixed Messages?

One Body, Many Parts

 12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized bya one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

a Or with; or in

The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Co 12:12-27). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

I am learning a lot from my body lately. Not by choice, probably because I was never a willing student in the first place. Nonetheless, I have some valuable lessons being heaped upon me.

Suffering from these chronic chiari headaches, I have learned how to try and cope and push through the day to day stuff even when you’d rather just lay down. It’s helped me cinch up a couple of notches on my baby belt and quit pegging out my wuss-o-meter.

That is, unless Kathy’s around and then I lay it on thick because she is awesome with the neck rubs. No one forward her this article… don’t ruin this for me!

Continue reading Lessons from the Little Piggy gone to market

I’ve spent this past Monday afternoon with a couple hundred grade schoolers here at Venue 302… yeah, day off!

Actually, it’s been fun. They are being rewarded for making their end of the year reading goals by getting the afternoon free from class and kicking back to watch a movie here at our facilities. So, with popcorn and cookies in hand these kiddos sat down to watch The Tale of Despereaux.

I had never seen it, kinda cute.

As the movie was getting underway and the plot was setting up, the ’stinger’ line is given: “A hero never appears until the world needs one“.

Enter title character Despereaux.

A great little movie about bravery, hope and the little guy making it big. But, I started thinking about the premise.

Is it true? Do heros wait to appear when they are needed? Do circumstance create our saviors?

At first, there seems to be some Biblical support for this. Galatians chapter four says:

⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Just looking at this verse it appears that God waited to send Jesus until we needed Him, but that can’t be right…

If that logic were correct then it would mean humans hadn’t pegged out the sin meter unil 2,000 years ago, and there was no need for a Savior until Jesus actually made the scene at the BC/AD split. Continue reading It’s Hero time!

Last night I had the privilege of speaking to Christian Challenge, the college aged ministry meeting here in the Hutchinson area.

I spoke on the issue of contentment, and as weird as it sounds… I have been totally fired up about contentment! This spring I have spoken at half a dozen schools and colleges and have talked about contentment almost every time (even at our own SURGE Bible Study once). But, last night I finally got it on video.

Hope you enjoy! (BTW… if you ‘right click’ the video you can ZOOM and watch it full screen if you’d like. A new feature on our new site!)

PS- Don’f forget to subscribe to CrossEyedLife if you haven’t already done it. It’s free, easy and no hassle. See the widget on the top right of this page!

Continue reading Contentment is so frustrating

After a couple years of maintaining the CROSSEYEDLIFE we have decided to take a giant leap forward technologically.

It’s so exciting.

Much of what has happened is behind the scenes, but it’s going to mean some very public benifits. Changing providers, hosters and structures will allow the site to be much more nimble and easier to change.

Plus, there are a good number of widgets on the sidebars that are there for fun (clocks, twitters, MAVS updates, online radio) and for real use (eBible, Calendar, library suggestions, Compassion Connection and partnering with external blogging sites: Technorati Profile). These will be continually changing.

All the content is here from the previous site, but the comments to the posts have been lost. It’s one of the reason I had to leave behind the old hoster. They kind of handcuffed what we could and couldn’t do.

The teaching resources (all the archived messages and such) are no longer a siderbar item, they have their own page with broader descriptions and logos for visual depictions. This should make things much easier to find. You can find that link on the top and the left sidebar of each page.

Finally, even if you had been a subscriber to the CROSSEYEDLIFE, PLEASE NOTE… THIS IS A NEW SITE AND NO SUBSCRIPTIONS HAVE TRANSFERRED!!!

I cherish your connection and really hope you’ll take 20 seconds to provide your email in the subscription box you see at the top of the right hand sidebar. Your email is kept private and is only used when an update is made to CROSSEYEDLIFE. A copy of that article is sent to you and you can read it, or link to the actual site… thats it. Please, consider subscribing right now.

Well, this is just a technological blog update, but I can’t miss an opportunity to give you something worth chewing on. One of the new features of this site is suggested books widget (down on the botton right). One of the books I have on the list there is from a favorite speaker/author of mine.

Let me tell you, I know it’s Mother’s Day weekend, but you read this one and you’ll grow a beard. It drips with testosterone. AWESOME!

Here’s a taste:

 “If you are a follower of Christ and you have allowed yourself to be domesticated, you have lost the power of who you are and who God intends you to be. You were not created to be normal. God’s desire for you in compliance and conformity. You have been baptized by Spirit and fire. Asleep within you is a barbarian, a savage to all who love the prim and proper. You most go to the primal place and enter the presence of the Most High God, for there you will be changed by His presence. Let Him unleash the untamed faith within you.”

- Erwin Raphael McManus “The Barbarian Way”

 I am not a natural optimist. In fact, my natural propensity for fear, tends to lead me the…er, other way.

So, trying to have a positive expectation is not the norm for me. If I am getting ready for travel then I think about every nightmarish movie scene of plane, train and automobile disasters I have ever seen and simply overlay my face into the scenery… fun!

If I get a mysterious phone call and need an urgent reply, then I am sure that the person on the other end of the phone message has had their life completely unraveled or hates me… or their life has completely unraveled because they hate me… super fun!

If I have a soar throat, it’s never sinus drainage, it’s always some precursor to cancer, a rare disease in its final stages that will only be discovered in my autopsy, or the final mutation of the swine flu that has evolved to its pristine killer form within me… uber fun! Continue reading Expectations

WARNING - Don’t watch this video if you aren’t willing to change
Continue reading A Storm Is Coming…

 So, have you had a chance to percolate on the previous article for a couple of days?

I’ve never written a ‘to be continued’  before but I thought I would give it a shot. If you haven’t read “I knew I was right” from a day or two ago please take a minute, or none of this will make any sense.

Honestly, the way I write, it might not make any sense if you read it anyway, but it’s worth a shot.

I decided to continue the article, or at least make it a two-parter when I saw that Acts 16 (the continuation of the passage we were looking at) appeared to be a contradiction of Acts 15. Continue reading So, maybe I was wrong…