Common Saint

Josh is hands down the most talented guitar player that I know. However, it seems Josh has laid down his axe to venture into a new direction. Check out his most recent release here . Yes this is really him and no this is not a cry for help ....(I don't think?)

I had such an interesting weekend. It was good and weird on many fronts and God opened up a lot of different opportunities both to be challenged and to challenge, which was really great. I was reminded again this weekend that regardless of how many people are in the building, we play our instruments and sing for an audience of One. God has been so good to me and my family. I thank him everyday for His grace and protection. We are going to have a special guest this week at Lifegroup . Cherie's aunt is going to be in from California and has asked to be baptized. I am really looking forward to it. We will be breaking out the horse trough. I'll post some pics.

I think one of the greatest and often overlooked gifts that we have as Christians is the purpose given to us at our conversion, which serves as the framework for our lives and gives everything that we do meaning. It didn't hit me until I recently picked up a novel at the bookstore written by a secular author. I rarely read fiction and, in fact, stopped about two-thirds of the way through this one because the story became so debase. But what struck me before I put it down was the paradigm of the author as he was trying to extract some meaningful story of the protagonist's life from a world that the author, as was evident from his writing, deems to be chaotic. I forgot what aimlessness feels like. I haven't truly felt it since before I gave my life to Christ. Since that time I have come to understand that God is truly sovereign. Therefore everything in the life of the Christian who has truly surrendered his life to Christ has a purpose, whether it appears good or bad to us at...

I had a pretty rotten thing happen to me on Friday. I was talking to someone on the phone over an issue related to my business. When our conversation ended, the person on the other end of the line thought that he had disconnected from the call, but something happened and the call remained connected. I overheard his conversation about me to someone else and it was venomous and negative. He said things that he would never want me to know. I felt betrayed and angry! Mainly because this person has pretended to be my friend for a really long time....and I felt that we had developed a pretty close relationship over many years. I realized at that moment, however, that it had all been "just business". I was pretty broken about the whole deal, and it has been good to be away from the office this weekend. Truth be told, I wish I had a couple more days away. Too bad I wasn't just independently wealthy and didn't have to work...That would be great! Nevertheless, tomorrow I am hea...

On more than a couple of occasions in my life I have been grievously disappointed after trying to help someone battling an addiction...only to see them squander the resources I have given them to fall back into the same trap. People who are desperate to satisfy that need just won't stop asking....begging....stealing. The manipulate in anyway they can if they think it will result in getting what they are after. If you have ever experienced that frustration....then you know exactly the emotion that I have in regard to this bailout that the President and Senate are trying to push down the throat of the people. The Senate voted out of turn today, in order to pressure the house to pass this, after adding another Billion (yes, with a 'B') to the prior nightmare, which was rejected outright. I am praying the representatives in the house, both Republicans and Democrats, will stand their ground to reject this piece of legislation again. The message needs to be sent, "What is i...

It has been forever since I actually sat down in front of the computer to write anything on my blog. I think I should do it a lot more...good therapy. I find that many of the links that I have, lead to blogs of people who haven't posted since before me. Some links don't work, and others have changed and no longer go to Blogger or Word Press. So I guess a little house cleaning is in order and I will get to that soon. I have spent the past hour checking the headlines and catching up on the whole political scene, trying to make sense of the $700 billion dollar bailout that has suddenly became my and my family's responsibility. Typically, I only track what is going on in D.C. with only cursory interest, but this whole deal has really made me just incredibly frustrated. It appears that the bailout will extrapolate to about $3100 per person. In the simplest of terms, my family of five will now be on the hook for $15,500 of someone else's mortgage. I really was not intending...

Darth and I love the blues. What can I say?

Wow it has been way too long since I done this, but I truly have not had the time to even look at my blog. I was in the bookstore the other day and Melissa Parker says, "I was on your blog this morning". Then it came to me, oh yeah I have a blog! Things have just been so hectic I simply have not had the extra time, and while I would like to say I am a reformed man/blogger I don't think that I am there yet. Maybe I shoud just commit to blogging while at the car wash, which I am doing now. That may at least keep my account active? So what have I been doing you ask? Well somehow about a two to three months ago I got this stupid notion in my head that I was bored. So I can now confess that i absolutly let the pendulum swing to the opposit extreme which I am praying through and working like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest and at this moment it does not feel as though I am fairing well. I could use a second wind. Sent from my iPhone

Sorry. I have been getting hit by the spammers so I have enabled word verification in the hopes that it will cut some of it out.

I don't have many memories from childhood, so those that I have are very important to me. While I was driving in this morning, I drifted in my thoughts back to a moment when I was a very young boy living in Cambridge , Indiana . In my memory I was a lying in grass, very thick green grass, on my back and looking straight up at the sky. I remember that it was sunny, but not so bright that it hurt my eyes or caused me to squint. The breeze was blowing and the air was clean and fresh. The big blue sky was dotted with puffs of white, cottony clouds. I was watching the billows toddling across the sky, slowly changing shape in time with the currents of wind blowing across my body and tussling the patches of the long blades of grass around me. I remember trying to discern the shapes of the clouds and recognize in them some figure that was familiar to me. It was a Robert Browning moment where, "God's in his heaven...All's right with the world!" Only I was little, very li...

This is a big day for you guys! In commemoration I just wanted to let you know that you have a really big surprise coming very soon.

It has been one hectic week and weekend, and tomorrow it starts all over again. I was sitting in my chair unwinding and thinking about how good God is. Everyone has limitations but God gives us the power and incredible ability to receive His glory in spite of them.Tonight, I am thankful for the Holy Spirit that He has given me. I have so enjoyed my preparation and study of Acts 2 for this week's sermon and will take with me, into this week, the great assurance that His Spirit is within me, though I don't deserve it; That He will use me, though I am so very limited in my abilities; and He will receive glory from me, though I am merely human. Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way!

OK , I should be writing a paper tonight about how to witness to Hindus and Muslims for my class at the cost of some needed sleep, but instead I am going to start this series of posts and pay for it in the morning....why you ask?.....I have no idea, but here it goes: In the event that you are wandering by my blog for the first time....let me clarify, as a preface, for you that I am a "to the bone" committed student to orthodox exegesis in regards to the principals of the Scripture...my paraphrase: "Don't jack with The Book, or God will jack you up!" But I am tired of many things that I see that are not scriptural based, but traditionally based, and held to the same level and reverence as if they were born in the scripture themselves and serve as a standard for faith and practice. Well, guess what? Many are not. It is not that I consider myself to be any sort of scholar or authority, but I do know that those who do not know history are destined to repeat it....

I was reading tonight some material and came across the story of a young woman who was attempting to join Spurgeon's church in London one day, and she was asked, "What makes you think you have become a Christian?" Not understanding all the Bible doctrines of conversion and regeneration, she simply responded, "Because now I sweep under the doormat!" I really like that answer. The walk we are called to is not about the appearance that we can put on, as if by any stretch you or I could do anything to impress God. So who do we put those famous Sunday appearances on for that we hold to so tightly ? Why do you insists on wearing that suit and tie on Sunday? Who are you hoping is going to be "scoping" that new Easter dress and hat you just purchased? Does God marvel at those things? Is he impressed? I talked with another man this weekend, who told me he couldn't go to church this past Sunday because his only pair of jeans have holes in them and they are...

Larry Norman was responsible for the first Christian rock album. For years he was spurned by the mainstream christian music scene and record lablels. However he stood by his convictions and was eventually recognized for his unprecedented contribution to Christian music. His motives were conveyed in the title of one of his better known songs, "Why should the devil have all the good music?" I remember the first time I heard it. Larry went home to be with the Lord this week. I was listening to the radio and the announcer stated that the day before his death he told friends, "I feel like the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks and I sense the hand of God reaching down to pick me up." I thought that statement was so beautiful, especially coming from a man who experienced the "cold shoulder" for so many years from the mainstream Christian movement because he stood for his convictions and then battled ongoing physical illness toward the end. It made me stop and thin...

I have to say that I am so excited about this past weekend. I took a couple of days at the end of last week to hang out with the elders of the church in a mini-retreat to pray, study, relax, plan, etc. For me it was a very meaningful time and I really enjoyed experiencing how God moved and for the work that we accomplished over those two days. God is doing something that is nothing short of awesome in our local congregation and I am so excited to simply be a part of it! On Saturday, we worked all morning hanging a new projector at the church. I was sure that it would take only about 30 minutes, and I was dumb enough to make that prediction to Cherie in our conversation as I was leaving the house. Somewhere between the third and forth hour of the project I decided that I'm not going to make anymore assessments as to the time it will take to do projects in the future! Overall though, the thing that I am so happy about is the recent change that we have made in the meeting on Sundays ...

Dear... , This is really hard for me to say, but things have just not been working out between us lately. I have hit your links on numerous occasions but its just not the same between us. You seem so despondent, so distant. So after a lot of thinking...I have come to a very difficult decision. I feel it is time for us to unlink. It's not you, it's me....I just need more. I want you to know that I will never forget you. I will always cherish the memories that we made and really enjoyed our time together. The moments we had were special, but I think it is just time for us to move on. You are heading in other directions and I would only be holding you back. This doesn't have to be forever, and I still want us to be friends. It's just.....well.....I have met some people who enjoy the same things that I do. They have been posting since the first of the year and I think I really need to spend some time linking with them. I know this is hard, but if you search your heart...I k...

When I became a Christian I said, "Lord, now fill me in, Tell me what I’ll suffer in this world of shame and sin." And He said, "Well, Your body may be killed, and left to rot and stink, Do you still want to follow me?" I said, "Amen! – I think. I think Amen, Amen I think, I think I say Amen, I’m not completely sure, can you just run through that again? You say, my body may be killed and left to rot and stink, Well, yes, that sounds terrific, Lord, I say Amen – I think. But, Lord look, there must be other ways to follow you,” I said, “I really would prefer to end up dying in my bed." "Well, yes," he said, "you could put up with sneers and scorn and spit, Do you still want to follow me?" And I said, "Amen! – a bit. A bit Amen, Amen a bit, a bit I say Amen, I’m not completely sure, can you just run through that again? You say I could put up with sneers and also scorn and spit, Well, yes, I’ve made my mind up, and I say Amen! – a bit....

I always liked the Van Morrison song, "Into the mystic", but gotta admit, I don't understand what in the world it is about. Aside from that, when I hear the word "mystic" or more directly "mysticism", it conjures up in my brain images of beaded, peace sign tatooed, nature fetished hippie types, hugging trees for some undefined type of "spiritual experience". Pretty weird, huh? I really need to work on these stereotypes I have floating around in my head. As I have been reading more and more on the missional vs. emergent thing, this whole concept of "mysticism" keeps popping up. What I can't seem to get my brain around is if the term has been adulterated in practice within the emergent movement to be more reflective of my bad stereotype or is it really about making doctrine secondary to feelings? I am not making a statement, it is really the question I have, since there appears to be such disparity between the different congregati...

I have had several conversations lately about what it means to be missional. Michael Frost answers that question. Please take the time to watch this. I look forward to hearing your comments.

I think I know what Hank Williams Jr. was feeling when he wrote, "all my rowdy friends have just rowdied on down." (is "rowdied" really a verb?) Anywho, I'm just going through my links to see what all my blogging friends are writing about and guess what? Bosephus says, "I think I know what my father meant when he sang about a lost highway". I am really not a Hank Jr fan at all, but after looking at the pitiful sight of inactive blogs, I'm thinking about downloading a whole anthology of that depressing music and mourning the loss of my blogging friends. I hope you guys come back soon! :(

It was a great weekend, even though I think I preached one of the worst sermon's, in terms of delivery, of my entire tenure as a minister. It is great to know that His word never returns void and that He can even use my blunders. We had the opportunity to hang out with several good friends over the two days and that was cool. I am thankful that the Lord has allowed us to form friendships with so many diverse folks. We get into some interesting conversations as a result. Tonight the conversation turned to the topic of the church and its effectivness in engaging the culture, which was interesting. That conversation though got me to thinking about something else. The church is composed of people who are by definition suppose to be "Christ-like". In a pragmatic sense, I am aware that if Christ were here walking amoung us physically in the 21st century, that would look verfy different in terms of details than what we read and know from scripture. However, what if Christ were b...

"Sometimes the whole world is applauding you and God is saying, 'that's not what I called you to do'. At other times it seems everything is against you and God says, 'you are right where I want you to be because you don't know the things I am doing that you can't see.'". This was what a friend told me was the lesson that God taught her in a big way after learning that her new album has been nominated for a Dove award as "best album of the year by a new artist.". She told me that just prior to receiving the news of the nomination she was battling feeling down and like things were just not moving. I understood what Annie was saying and I know a lot of you reading this do too. Her desire is for God to use her, not to receive awards, or gain men's applause, etc. Yet, sometimes you can work very hard and very long at what God has called you to do without any sign of affirmation and that gets tough. The clouds of doubt roll in and y...

One of the hardest things about leaving our old church was leaving the worship team and have to start all over. Playing and singing are such a big part of my expression to God that it was tough. Only my musician friends really understand truly what that means and how big of a deal it really is. However, God used our moving on to mobilize others into that ministry. A chance that they would not have had otherwise. But I am so excited because He has been so awesome to assemble a new worship team at Cornerstone. It is really starting to come together and it has been so exciting. The past two weekends have just been great! We could use a keyboard player and another male vocalist, but I am not pushing things. I'm just so happy with the people He has allowed to come together. There are a lot of things that are falling into place and I am so excited to be here at this place at this time. Our little congregation is really starting to take on its identity also which is very exciting. I could...