everything is so amazing but nobody is happy

Funny interview on Conan O'brien.

DC to Princeton

The suggested drive time from DC to Princeton is 3 1/2 hours. Shaved off an hour today. I always aim for new land-speed records on the road. Drove through 4 states on the way: Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

We're up visiting my brother and his girlfriend, Namrata. They're both academics so there is always a heightened degree of analysis going on. My brother is the type of person who takes a constitutional law course at Princeton for fun. I'm always challenged by his mind.

Walked around the Princeton campus. I LOVE that campus at night! Such an inspiring space. Never seen a campus match it.

Spending time with family always puts things in perspective; you realize what matters most. Gonna hang out in Philly all day tomorrow. Can't wait to check out the oldest street in the US and Independence Hall.

Crazy Spades

We learned a great card game tonight called "crazy spades." Try it out sometime.

Rules:
13/11/9/7/5/3/1/2/4/6/8/10/12

Those are the number of cards you distribute each round to each player (assuming you have no more than 4).

You go around the table and each person guesses how many hands they will take (spades are trump).

Points examples:
If you guess 4 and take 4, you receive 4 points.
If you guess 4 and take 3, you lose 1 point.
If you guess 4 and take 1, you lose 2 points.
If you guess 1 and take 1, you receive 1 point.
If you guess 0 and receive 0, you receive 1 point.
If you guess 1 and take 3, you lose 2 points.

When you get to only 1 card to pass out half-way through, everyone puts their card on their forehead, then you go around the room and guess if you'll take the hand based on reactions and other people's cards.

Had fun playing that tonight with the Chole's.

sense memory

The Chole's live on a 5 acre sanctuary in the middle of...nowhere. So nice to sit by the stream this afternoon with my Dad catching up and sharing some laughs. I appreciate that my parents instilled a strong love for nature in us. Most summers growing up, our family would pack up the camper and head off for some coastline for 6-7 weeks. Lots of camping, lots of vehicle breakdowns, lots of memories.

The aroma of the campfire around here brought back a memory.

One of the many things we learned from my father was that the quickest way to start a fire was by using gasoline.

One autumn evening in Arkansas, my father decided to pour gasoline onto the fire, you know, to expedite the process. Would it surprise you that the fire followed the gas into the tank? Quickly reacting, he pulled the can away spraying "fireballs" all over our campsite. As you can imagine, this brought another level of excitement to both the seasoned and novice campers near our site, not to mention the forest preserve police.

Conveniently, firecrackers we had recently purchased were in the vicinity. I believe over 100 fireworks went off that evening as my mother ran into the camper flushed with embarrassment and the rest of us frantically stomped out the fires all over our site.

I don't think we're allowed back:)

Being a city-slicker, it's been refreshing to be out in nature for a few days.

tears and cheers

Visited with Jane Zickafoos, wife of the late Joe Zickafoos whom we forged a relationship with during our stay in Edinburgh.

Shared a morning of tears and cheers as she shared the story of her husbands passing in the summer of 2008. She has unbelievable strength, just coming off from living abroad with two teenage sons and then losing Joe to cancer.

My Dad flew in to meet up with Randy Hurst, a long-time friend of the family. Randy is the director of the Assemblies of God "Today's Pentecostal Evangel Missions Edition". He travels the world writing stories and taking photographs to communicate to churches around the US. Great to speak about creative communication methods for the future of missions. Ate at Caspers....this hole-in-the-wall joint with the greasiest food I've encountered. So good!

Meeting up with some people tonight who went on a missions trip to Edinburgh a few years ago. They helped do some construction at The Forest Cafe.

So cool to have stayed in touch enough to catch some of them on this side of the ocean. Looking forward to talking about Scotland with them.

Great day!

MO

Great to be in Springfield, Missouri for a few days. Love Smoothie King, Mexican Villa and Lambert's. Smoothie King has a shake called "the hulk" which is killer.....literally for some people. 1500 calories of strawberry goodness.

We're in town to do some filming for a great friend and author, Alicia Chole. She's written a phenomenal book entitled "Anonymous", talking about Jesus' hidden years and how 30 years was preparation for the 3 years to rewrite history. Hidden years aren't meant to be rushed through, but in strategic preparation for something bigger. She's preparing for the release of another book, "Finding an Unseen God".

I knew I wasn't in DC when I saw "Andy Williams Christmas", "Shoji" and "Yakov Smirnov" billboards.

hospitable

One word I'd love to change out of our churchisms is "layperson", which is defined as a "nonordained member of a church, or a person without professional or specialized knowledge in a particular subject."

Emphasis on the "priesthood" of believers has slowly declined. Makes sense right? As areas of expertise become increasingly specialized, society has come to expect the professionals to provide the necessary services or insight for maximum results. But here's yet another paradox of culture and scripture.

When God spoke on Mount Sinai to a people who had lost their sense of humanity through hundreds of years of enslavement in Egypt, He began the process of teaching His people what it meant to be human again. In Exodus 19, God proclaims, "Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."

A priest mediates the divine. To mediate is to come between. A priest comes between people and God. A priest shows you what his/her God is like. So when you went to the temple back in the day, or witness a pastor today perform certain rituals or act and speak in a certain way, you get a sense of what their God cares about.

Read through the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. As you read it, ask yourself "who's the real priest here?"

So when God invites his people to be priests, it's an invitation to show the world who this God is and what this God is like. That's not just the job of pastors and other professional Christians, it's the job of everyone.

Following this, I think a great indicator for solid development in churches is the percentage of those who volunteer in some capacity.

ALL this to say that I had a night out with our hospitality volunteers at Union Station. We've got 25 incredible people who give of their time to serve and give. Loved laughing and sharing stories. Loved hearing about their lives.

We're all priests in God's economy.

sitting

Spanish, math, wii, american idol and a lot of hide 'n seek in the dark.....that's what I call some fun kid-sitting last night.

Lots of fun for Kate and I to spend a few hours last night with our cousins Parker, Josiah and Summer.

For the record, I set a few family records on the wii fit.

What I'm Reading

The Invisible Cure: Epstein charges that Western governments and philanthropists, though well-meaning, have been wholly misguided, and that Africans themselves, who understand their own cultures, often know best how to address HIV in their communities.

ReJesus: Thought provoking book on rethinking the mission of the church.

Surprised by Hope: N.T. Wright has done it again with an incredible critique on rethinking heaven, the resurrection and the mission of the Church.

The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Andrew Walls, a professor at Edinburgh University does a brilliant expose' on the influence of culture on the Christian faith and how, in fact, that very influence has shed new light on Christ and scripture as if it was a light shining on a diamond. Profound read!

The Spirit of Disciplines: Dallas Willard says that the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest. Been really challenged to re-imagine my lifestyle and specific practices.

Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell asks the all important question: why do some people succeed while others seem to never fully reach their potential. I have always loved his writing with lucid research and creative analysis on challenging questions.

Just a few I've been going through lately.

Choosing to Cheat

I'm on a 50 books in 52 weeks new year's goal for this year. So far, so good. Been reading a book called "Choosing to Cheat" by Andy Stanley. It's built on the premise that everyone cheats somewhere because there simply are not enough hours in a day for everything.

The solution, strangely enough, is similar to the problem. Both involve cheating. Simply put, we must choose to cheat at work rather than at home.

It's a book about establishing priorities — those things we say “yes” to even when it means saying “no” to other important things. It is a principle that is already at work in our lives.

When we choose to cheat in accordance with God’s priorities for our lives, it is an invitation for Him to bless us and our family in ways we never dared to imagine.

One simple thing I've chosen to do is go home everyday for lunch and spend it with my wife. Can't tell you how many times I've been asked to grab lunch with others and would have said yes. It's made it easy to say no now that it's become a priority. We're saving money, but more importantly, we're cutting specific time out of our day to just be together.

Good read.

Not Forgotten

We had the Watoto Children's Choir in from Uganda. Can I say, it doesn't get much better than this. I heard them sing 5 times this weekend and cried each time. No joke. They've performed for the Queen of England, Hillsong United and Israel Houghton. I'm just sayin.....they're good.

There stories are phenomenal. Each child (17 in all) represented over 1700 children that are now part of the Watoto Village which is a unique vision that is making a world of difference. Each of the children were orphans that lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.

18 months ago we sent a team of 21 NCCers to help build housing for more children. Today, we got to see the vision of aone:eight and the missions initiative in the flesh. So often you get the outline of relationships in missions....the stories from missionaries, the images, the films. Those are all good, but simply can't share the impact as much as seeing what God is doing right in front of your face. We saw the guts of it.

Every time they got up and sang, "I am not forgotten, the Lord knows my name" I'd just well up with tears seeing the beautiful faces and knowing their stories.

We housed two girls, grace and crystal along with a chaperone, Pricilla. Talk about the sweetest, most behaved kids in the world! Unbelievable.

I think seeing all the children brought missions home for a lot of people today.

In him alone

Solomon wrote a beautiful poem in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes: "For everything there is a season......" I've had a paradigm shift when it comes to planning my calendar. I don't plan for year-round routine. Instead, I plan for seasonal shifts throughout the year. Some months, it's busy and my schedule requires specific adjustment. Other times....I've got....time. That becomes more of a recalibrating, refocusing, vision-casting season.

Right now, Kate and I are in a very busy season. It will remain this way until May. This weekend, a children's choir from Watoto, Uganda are here to sing in our weekend services. Kate and I are housing a few of the girls. So excited to serve and love them. We're sending a team to help build a school for their orphanage.

We leave for Missouri in a few weeks to film a few promotional videos for an author we've gotten to know. Then it's off to Ethiopia for almost three weeks to film and support a ministry that works with AIDS victims. Then editing and promoting the film, then a trip to California and by the time we've got our bearings, it's going to be May.

Gotta admit, I'm a little stressed these days. My mind is cluttered and am trying to balance a number of things at once. I find solace in knowing I'm not the only one who deals with a hectic schedule. There are few who don't.

Need your prayers going into this hectic season. "We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone." (Psalm 38)

That's my prayer in this season: an unfailing love that surrounds, and a hope that is found in Him alone.

Quick question: what season do you find yourself in?

Chevy's

When asked what he missed about the States, Aman stated: "mexican food." I shared that sentiment with him. There were few mexican restaurants in Edinburgh. There are no mexican restaurants in Addis. So Aman has been consuming Mexican food for the 5th day in a row.

We wanted to take him for Ethiopian. Based on his reaction, it's like flying all the way to Addis and having a Hamburger.

Love hanging out with these guys: John Hasler, Joel Schmidgall and Aman Mengistu.

good day off

Just spent the last 5 hours with Aman Mengistu here at Ebenezer's. He just flew in from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he along with his family are continuing to grow Beza International, a conglomerate of initiatives ranging from building community with African diplomats to ministering to those inflicted with AIDS on Entoto Mountain.

Feel like we're kindred spirits as we spoke about the cross-cultural process and the movement of the church past, present and anticipating the future.

Beza just helped organize the African Prayer Breakfast which brought together presidents and heads of state from all over Africa. It was the who's who in religion and politics. Cool to hear the stories behind the event and what sort of plans are in the works for the future.
Kate and I as well as 45 others from NCC are traveling to Ethiopia in less than a month to work with their community development organization that blesses the people of Entoto Mountain, many of whom are infected with AIDS.

It's these types of conversations that inject new anticipation and energy into calling and passion as we continue to dream about the future possibilities.

them irish

"The irish know how to celebrate with minimum resources and with minimum reasons." John Smith

I try to meet up at a pub once/week to hang out with friends......the atmosphere is too cheery not to.

collective wisdom

The team of campus pastors at NCC met with Dr. Dick Foth this morning for a two-hour Q & A session. This month our team is emphasizing pastoral care within our areas of ministry and spoke with the guru of relationship-building himself.

Dr. Foth was the President of Bethany College in Santa Cruz for a number of years and then spent 12 years mentoring members of Congress, White House aids and other ranking diplomats in Washington. His collective wisdom is simply phenomenal.

I've got pages of notes, but the very first question, almost standard of course, had a great response:

Q: Looking back on your late twenties and growing in areas of leadership, what do you wish somebody would have told you?

A: In leadership, we naturally assume that we're expected to know the answers. You're considered a professional in the field, either business, educational or ministry, etc....and you're consumed, especially at an earlier age, with the notion that you've got to provide sound, articulate answers to questions from those who seek it.

False.

We need a paradigm shift. We need to flip it. A leader or one in a position of authority is one who doesn't know the answers all the time, but knows how to ask the right questions.

Jesus answered only 3 questions directly without another question or story. All told, over 200 questions are written in the account of the four Gospels.

Passing by

"....but a Samaritan, as he traveled came where the man was, and when he saw him, took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on

oil and wine." Luke 10

I passed by these two nouns without a seconds thought for roughly 20 years. But, one of the things you learn again and again from Jesus, is his story within a story within a story that exists in all His stories.

The priest and levite, some of the lead characters in this classic parable would serve in the temple area in Jerusalem and part of the serving as the religious establishment would be these giant sacrifices that symbolized gratitude to God. One such sacrifice was the pouring of wine and mixture of olive oil. Part of the drink offering was pouring a portion to the ground and declaring publicly, "God we are grateful for everything you give us. Even the grapes of the vine we are grateful for." The oil would then be mixed in as a way of saying that even the olives, which come from the earth come from God alone.

So central to the work of the priest and levite in the temple were all these sacrifices which were daily ways to remind, to remember, to refocus on the generosity of God to provide and sustain us. It was the ultimate form of service.

These two central elements in the servant sacrifice of the religious members was oil and wine.

Here's the story within a story:

Jesus is basically saying, "who here is doing God's work?"

The understanding of the day was that God was in the temple, that's where He resided. But Jesus so brilliantly flips it on his listeners: he has the despised Samaritan with the oil and wine doing something very sacred and holy by the side of the road. You have to understand how challenging this must have been to his hearers.

Central to being a Christ-follower is this awareness that the world is wounded and in need of help by the side of the road. God is looking for people who will stop and take out some oil and wine. The result is this sacred, holy thing.

God is in the temple, God is by the side of the road, God is in your home, God is in the classroom, God is in the coffee house.

Central to the life of Christian is this notion that there are opportunities EVERYWHERE. The call to serve others is not only important, as we can all agree, but it's central to the life of what it means to follow Christ and become image-bearers of the one true God. Service is not peripheral. It's central.

pop-ins

When choosing a college, towards the top of the criteria is being far enough away from home to avoid pop-ins from parents. It's like upon getting out of prison, having your parole officer showing up unannounced at one of your parties....just not cool. Can't say I ever felt that way though. In fact, I loved it when they drove out to meet up for dinner.

Nothing's changed. Today, my Dad flew in for lunch. Yes, that's correct. He flew in from Chicago to DC for a quick pop-in. He came bearing gifts.....cookies my mom had made, brats from my favorite local grocer and other items. But more than that, he simply flew out so he could take Kate and I out for a bite to eat and catch up....face to face.

I love my parents for any number of reasons, but these types of occurrences happen more often than not. They have a way of making the extraordinary an ordinary part of their way of life. As a son, I can look back and reflect on the numerous things I've been blessed to learn and witness first hand from them. But this....going the extra mile or 1000 miles to be exact, has been burned into my psyche.

My mom had to work, but I know she would have been right there with him for the lunch pop-in today.

Love pop-ins.

untitled

60/02

It was clear skies and 60 degrees in February here in DC.

Had our annual Super Bowl tournament, but we mixed it up with a location competition since we have five now.

Only a few million had recently stood where we played, so the residue was....mud. We should have called it Mud Bowl because that's exactly what it was. Most were covered head to toe.

Couldn't get a better Sunday afternoon though. This is one of the reasons why it's so fun to live in DC: Playing football in between the Washington Monument and the Capitol.

That Superbowl too......what a game!