Marietta Little Lamb

Not blogging much these days as we’re in the process of moving into our new home in beautiful Spring Arbor.

Emily has been painting, I’ve been rewiring things, and friends have been very helpful along the way. Kids have been with grandparents; otherwise paint-hand-prints would be everywhere.

See you next week RadBlog!

LinkFest 7

Seinfeld… the first Post-modern sitcom, evidenced by many things including a conscious indifference to morals (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

Did you know that the average child in the USA will wear down 730 crayons by his or her 10th birthday? Make your elementary teachers of yesteryear proud with these useful facts (okay, they’re not that useful, but if you win the next Trivial Pursuit… thank RadBlog.)

Dick Staub, who wrote The Culturally Savvy Christian can be seen talking about Jesus in pop culture here. It’s an excellent book from a good thinker.

We sold our house (woo hoo) but the pending recession is affecting not only people’s homes but their cottages, too.

Pentecost Memorial

You’re probably aware that this is Memorail Day Weekend (May 28). We’ll have a parade, hot dogs, various items colored Red, White and Blue. We will honor those who died in service to their country. One recurring idea throughout this federal holiday will be a call to Remember certain events where some folks risked it all for the greater good. To forget that our freedom isn’t free is not only dishonorable, it’s dangerous. People went to war because of the promise of a better future.

Pentecost happens to land on the same Weekend (May27). They are both unrelated and inseparable at the same time, since we

1. Recall a promise (Jesus said “I’m sending the Holy Spirit”– a ‘better’ future)
2. Mark an event (the promise fulfilled) and
3. Remember the effect (people died for the greater good… of the Kingdom)

I’m not trying to Americanize Christianity or Christianize American pride. I’m just suggesting that we’re wired to remember BIG events. For the Church, Pentecost Sunday was a big event and continues to be. This Sunday we will mark the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Church, an event that happened once and continues today. We will worship, remembering that the Holy Spirit came and praying that the promise is fulfilled again in our gathering. And we will remember, since forgetting this would be dishonoring and dangerous for the Church’s mission to the world.

“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” – Romans 5:5b

What’s it like to live as though this really happened?

What’s it like to die for something (as many did, especially after Pentecost)?

Drumily

Just a quick post to let the world know that my wife is becoming an excellent drummer. She’s a natural. Not bad for a Baptist Piano Pedagogy major, I’d say.
She’s been playing for me at rehearsals these past 2 weeks. Considering she’s been concentrating on the drums for the past 3 weeks, she’s doing phenomenal. Emily is picking up things on the drums that took me weeks/months/years. I’m truly amazed and very proud. Now… back to RadBlog.

A Time for Christmas

I’m looking forward to December ‘07, since we’ve set out to present A Time for Christmas, a dramatic musical that tells the story of one guy’s experience with the true meaning of Christmas. It’s a full scale musical, complete with drama, orchestra, effects and months of preperation. We’ve actually been working on it –slowly– since February. Music was ordered on valentines day. Orchestra members are already commiting to it. Choirs are in the ready. Calendars are filling up. It’s exciting and wierd to think about Christmas now, but here we are…

On a side note, I had a fascinating conversation with someone who said “I don’t like musicals that much” and then proceeded to list off all the musicals he loves — which includes everything but “Oklahoma”. So maybe he should have said “I don’t like Oklahoma that much”. Me neither, but you can’t deny it — that catchy tune gets stuck in your head.

I think a story told well is one of the best things we’ve got going for us in the church — in terms of mass communication, at least.

MySpace

While it may be a good place to connect with old friends, MySpace can end up being wasted time walking down dark alleys. I took advice from a friend who changed his profile to say he was a “she” so that the ads targeted at “her” were less suggestive. That makes it a little better, but I can’t help but feel the need to soak myself in rubbing alcohol after being in that town for too long.

To top it all off, I have a new friend request.  Look closely — he’s online now…

Of course — I clicked on it.  I konw Jesus… and that’s not him!

Two Hats on Mother’s Day

I have a mother. As I’m sure many of you do.
And I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world. Which only applies to me.
And she (afforementioned wonderful woman) is the mother of my children.
These children cannot purchase gifts for Mother’s day, mostly due to their age but also because they don’t have jobs and, therefore, have no money.
I will not give them money because they will find a hole to cram it in to before they use it to buy goods and/or services.
Thusly I am buying for their mom (#1) and, by virtue of my son-hood, my mom. Which is all good and fine, except that I’m nervous about the whole thing. Hints have been dropping like American Idol contestants around the house, and not just from Emily. I think even the telemarketer who called yesterday said, as I was hanging up on him/her, that I can’t forget Mother’s Day. As if Ginsu knives would make a pleasant gift. Or aluminum siding.
No, mothers don’t want that. Nor do they want a George Foreman grill. Or anything even remotely linked to George Foreman.

So — I’m thinking about how best to honor my wife on Mother’s day, even though she’s not my mom. And how to make my mom feel special for her mother’s day, since there is no one buying gifts on my behalf anymore and signing my name in crayon. Adorable, but those days are over. Hmmm. Ideas?

Random thoughts of (BLUE M&M’s!) a blogger

• Why does the outer shell of Advil taste like candy?  I had a buddy who once worked in the medical field.  He would pop an Advil into his mouth and spit it out when the candy shell was gone.  The same applies to Dimetapp — cough syrup/delicious liquid grape love.  As if Barney himself had been liquefied.
• When it’s stormy out, I always always want it to be bad enough to warrant a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and/or Tornado Watch.  Given the unfortunate carnage in that small Kansas town last week, I may be wishing for something no one wants.  I think this is a throwback form my kid-dom, where I was totally freaked out by storms.  I even carried around a barometer like it was a teddy bear whenever storms would brew.  Now I love ‘em.  Storms.  They’re an acquired taste, like Coffee or, say Dimetapp.
• My mom is in town this week helping us with the kids.  Bless her heart.  Not much more to say than that — and that I’m thankful to have such a superb family.
• The room I work in at the church has been hitting a solid 78-80 degrees this week, at least according to the thermometer. That’s too hot for a husky fellow like me. Maintenance is working on it. I’ve lost 3 pounds.
• I’m going to be using a vintage Yamaha SY-22 keyboard in my office for rehearsal, pitch finding and MIDI goodness. It’s the first keyboard I led worship with over 10 years ago. It still runs strong, like an old Chevy. Sounds like one, too. By the bye — looks like alt musician Moby uses the SY-22 for just about everything he does. Cool.
• Being a dad is fun, but in a “with great power comes great responsibility” kind of way.
• That Ronald McDonald scares me. What in the world did that guy do for Halloween? Dress up as an office worker?

apple + control + reset

I recently came to the conclusion that it was indeed time to get back into the right rhythm of life. So much has gone on in recent months that have made things kooky in terms of something of a daily routine. It was like mixed measures — a 9/8 or 6/4 tossed into my typical 4/4 routine (I apologize for this blatantly lame music theory analogy, but its pretty accurate).

I need a renaissance of routine, comprised of the following elements (at least these…)

• Bible / Journal / iPod – scripture meditation, prayer, listening. This was happening but not with much discipline or intention. It just kind of happened whenever. Not very Matthew 6:33. I was seeking… but maybe second or ninth instead of first. I’m not a big fan of lockstep devotional time but I do need the discipline to keep me in line.
• Workout -which feels like the crappiest thing at the time but pays off for the rest of the day/week/life. I was back in the gym today for the first time in months. Some of my best iPod moments have been on an elliptical machine.
• Book of the Day - having the project of reading/re-reading/skimming a book a day seems daunting but it’s an easy rhythm to get into. Got this idea from several sources when I was younger; now I can hopefully be one of the sources. I know firsthand that I get dumber by the second if I’m not being challenged by prose.
• Quadrant II – Steve Covey, you’ve made us highly effective enough to know how screwed up we are. I haven’t spent quality time in Quadrant II in a month, and I’m feeling the pressure. By the by, Q2 is where you’re spending work time on things that are “Important, Not Urgent”, meaning that they need to be done but not in a 5 minute time frame. We typically trend toward Q1, which is “Important AND Urgent” — PANIC! at the term paper.
• Flywheel or “Frisbee” golf. Gotta get out there and improve my game.
• Pranks which my world is hurting for. Superintendent needs packing peanuts in his file cabinet or something. I don’t know. Post your ideas here.

So that’s that. I hit Apple+Control+Reset on Saturday night and so far it’s going pretty well. It’s good to have the compass reset — to the glory of God.

Malachi Updater 6

There were 6 Police Academy Movies just as there are 6 Malachi Updaters. So here we go…

We’ve been home for almost a week now. The Kitty missed Malachi Malachi missed the kitty.

Our job for the next five weeks is to keep the child from bumping his head. No helmets, no bandages, no halos, no upside down lamp shades that they use on dogs. Just unencumbered 18 month old energy. Only five weeks to go.

Swelling is down; he looks more like Malachi now.

Lexi has been happily bouncing between grandparents. We miss her but know that she’s better off where she can get the attention she needs. Besides, when our kids are together their heads become magnetically attracted to each other. Upon contact they make the sound of two coconuts clunking together (just like on TV)

During this time we’ve been selling a home, buying a home, finishing classes, getting ready for summer ministry and keeping RadTunes moving. Emily’s mad packing skills and organizational prowess are just a few of her beautiful strengths. I don’t know how she does it.

So that’s about it for now, here in beautiful Spring Arbor (where it’s always sunny on Friday).