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Tarnished Bells

We’ve all been there. Walking through your day with that song you can’t get out of your head, and Christmas time is the worst.

Last week I was mindlessly humming some weird mutant-hybrid of “What Child Is This” and “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.” I know, I know, I know… somehow it worked in my head.

But, just today as I doing some Christmas shopping (yes, I’m still Christmas shopping and I don’t want to hear it from any of you who obviously need more to do with your lives than go to stores and and shop online… well, after that rant, Merry Christmas) I caught myself whistling a song I couldn’t recall right away.

After a minute or two of my own personal name that tune… I GOT IT!

Silver Bells. Continue reading “Tarnished Bells”

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Thanksgiving as a way of life

Here are a few thoughts on the issue of giving thanks, which, by the way, I am convinced is the mark of Christian maturity the more I read the New Testament.

I filmed this last week while on mission in the Grand Caymans. Props to my buddy Jonathan Curtis who got up real early with me to hold the camera. We had to get up early so that we could find a quite time on the beach and avoid mostly naked people in the background… I’m a thinker, don’t you know.

This video will be one of several used in our weekend services on our campuses over this holiday weekend, so, if you attend just consider it a preview.

Many blessings and may Thanksgiving be more than just Turkey and football to you this year. No matter where you are, you have something to be thankful for… Continue reading “Thanksgiving as a way of life”

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10, 9, 8, 7, 6….

Ten years.

It’s a long time, or is it?

When you’re in grade school, 10 years may as well be a life sentence. In that context we can’t even fathom how far away recess is. To a third grader, in 10 years they will all be millionaires, cars will fly, and all known adults will be dead and gone (or at least put away in a home somewhere).

To those young adults out there scraping by, raising a family and working your rears off; you see 10 years a little more realistically. In ten years will have the house one-third paid off, all the kids will be in school (oops, here comes another one… surprise, surprise) and we’ll finally be getting somewhere at work… God willing. It’s still in the distance, but 10 years from now is a light at the end of the tunnel.

To older adults (which, by the way, is anyone older than me) they see 10 years in a completely different light. Listen to them talk: “It’s a blink, a flash, a moment, gone before you know it!” They look down the road and say that in the next ten years yours kids will be grown and gone, your money will be grown and gone, and your hair will be grown and gone… hang on to them all while you can.

Continue reading “10, 9, 8, 7, 6….”

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To my boys…

This blog entry will be a little different from all others. I am feeling a bit sentimental today as my oldest son turned 10 and I decided to write him this open letter.

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It’s actually to both my boys and tackles subjects that they probably aren’t really ready for, yet. But, this is where I am as Dad.

So, as an open letter… I share it with you.

Many blessings to my friends and any fellow parents out there. Continue reading “To my boys…”

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Thank God for theory of evolution

As one of my boys would say, “Today was super cool!”

This Monday morning I began teaching for Sterling College, a course called Servant Leadership, to about 200 incoming freshmen and transfer students.

I only had the chance to personally speak to about 15 or 20 students on this first day, but I was reminded how great it is to hang out with them.  Their  passion for life, their questions about all things spiritual and fundamental, their desire to leave a mark on the world, and their ability to live off the dollar menu at McDonald’s…  everyday!

They are amazing. Continue reading “Thank God for theory of evolution”

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We all need it…

You are truly a child of the 80s if you immediately went Rick Springfield after reading the title of today’s blog and started singing… The Human Touch.

(Here’s the YOUTUBE video from 1983 if you really wanna go back to high school, but only go after you finish this blog and get your spiritual Wheaties!)

Today I had the opportunity to speak at Central Christian School here in Hutchinson for their weekly chapel service and I wanted to share it with the CrossEyedLife World. I spoke on the issue of the human touch in our Christian faith and was amazed at how well received this message was by those junior high and high schoolers. Continue reading “We all need it…”

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What a wierd choice

I hate it when people make the wrong choice.

Especially when it’s just so obvious… you know, the smart decision, the right direction, the intelligent choice, the proven alternative…  The thing YOU would have done!

Just give me 15 minutes on a bench at the mall and I can fix half the pop culture injustices of the world:

  • That haircut should have never gotten out of a magazine
  • You really just bought an IPOD when you can’t afford two of the same shoes
  • Sister, quit holding that dude’s hand, he gives me the creeps
  • Seriously, pull your pants up
  • Hey there young mom, it’s called a pacifier, they’re used to pacify that intense screaming sound coming from that rolling buggy just in front of you which you have obviously somehow grown immune to
  • Wow!  It should be illegal to pierce that Continue reading “What a wierd choice”
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You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling

God is love.

That’s a statement most of us seem to take without much thought.  But, what does that mean?  It seems to stand in stark contrast to a God of judgment, justice and a world of evil.

Yet, straight from scripture we get these words:

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (The Holy Bible  : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (1 Jn 4:16). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.)

I must admit, it all does seem a bit confusing.  If God is love and I am even remotely tight with Him, then what’s the deal!  Because I am not feeling the love. Continue reading “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”

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Power Tripping

I am desperately seeking a Playstation 3. I know that PS3s are not hard to find, but I need to get a hold of the 60 or 80 GB version because they are the only ones that are backward compatible, and believe me… the Addis’ have invested in Playstation history.

So, I have been on a hunt. As a modern man I am not driven to grunt out an existence hunting caribou on the tundra plains with my fellow tribal herdsman. Instead, I just hit the Spangles drive-thru.

So, to pacify all of the testosterone driven energy inherent to all males of my species to hunt and provide for the clan, I turn to the only outlet known to our kind: the procurement of high-end electronics.

Me hunt long time. Scour plains of internet for weeks. Brave dark caves of pawn shops. Learn ways of the classified paths. Even cry out to fellow warriors of KWBW Partyline, but there no answers be.�

I know everything there is to know about these machines. I know they were made for only a short time, that they are not longer in production, I know their specs, ups, downs, ins and outs.

That’s probably why I went over the tipping point last week when I stopped into a Gamestop in McPherson on my hunt. I asked the teenage cashier behind the counter, “By any chance, do you guys have a Playstation 3, 60 GB version.” Continue reading “Power Tripping”