Take Me Out  Franz Ferdinand

Float On  Modest Mouse

Mr. Brightside The Killers

Beverly Hills Weezer

When You Were Young  The Killers

Don’t Stop Believin’  Journey

Jump  Van Halen

Stars  Switchfoot

Hump De Bump  Red Hot Chili Peppers

Roll With the Changes  REO Speedwagon

Eruption  Van Halen

Come Right Out And Say It Relient K

Panama  Van Halen

Boom  P.O.D. Satellite

Hot for Teacher Van Halen

C’mon Girl  Red Hot Chili Peppers

Summer of ’69 (MTV Unplugged Version)  Bryan Adams

Oh! Gravity.  Switchfoot

Crawl  Adam Watts

Machinehead  Bush

Crossfire  Stevie Ray Vaughan 

Rude Mood Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

Perfect Situation  Weezer

Dani California  Red Hot Chili Peppers

The plan was to ride as much as possible this weekend but was a bit delayed due to rain Saturday morning. Cleared off into a nice day, so off we went.  The cool part was I was able to take my 10yr old son Nathan on the Corwin to Morrow trail.  The farthest he has ever been on his bike is about 1.5 miles from our house to Stubbs Park.  When it comes to kids there is a fine line between pushing their limits and pushing them beyond the limit.  I wasn’t sure how far he would really make it.  I had just put a cycling computer on my bike so we were able to see how fast we were going and maintain a consistent speed – albeit a road burning 6-8 mph!  He did great!  We rode from Corwin down to the bridge by Morgan Canoe rental place, which is just shy of 6 miles.  All together we biked a little under 12 miles.    

All the hard work was rewarded with ice cream from The Corwin Peddler.  Two scoops in a waffle cone.  Those things were as big as our heads but we both finished them. 

It was a great just to spend time with just Nathan.  Having three kids you have to work at getting on one time with them.  Unfortunately I don’t do it nearly as much as I should.  We do a lot together as a family, but there needs to be more of this type of thing.  Its worth it!  Plus there’s ice cream.  

Now that I have big kid bike with gears and cables and stuff, the idea of fixing my own bike has been intimidating.  I tore my bathroom down to the sub-floor and wall studs and remodeled everything myself.  So what’s the big deal about a bike?  I dont really know.  Maybe because if I screw up it could be an expensive oops or result in another wicked wreck.  Wipeouts at age 10 are way cooler then age 40!

 Which brings me to my point – a by product of complexity is stress.  Rather obvious really, but so true.  The more components we add to our lives the more difficult it becomes to keep them maintained.  After while they seem to take control.  There are too many cookies for the jar, far to many ducks to get in a row.  There is something to be said for simple.  Pedal forward you go forward, pedal backwards you stop.  No gears, no cables, no problems. Simple. 

I was reading an article yesterday by Bob Hyatt and he used the best terminology I’ve heard. He said this, “By missional we mean that we are trying to foster a orientation within our community not inward, but outward. Not to ourselves, but to others. We are attempting to be not attractional, but incarnational.” Those two words, attractional and incarnatioanal really describe the core of what it means to be missional.

Do we want people to be attracted to our gathering, or do we want them to be change people? Missional churches are not focused on making Sunday morning or programs an advertisement. Corporate gatherings are not big rah rah cheerleading sessions to tell attenders how great the church is. Missionional churches do not view programs as a buffet line so everyone one can get a taste of what they like. A missional churches goal is not information, but transformation. Missional churches are focused solely on Jesus and the and the hope He brings. The focus is the heart of Jesus and the hearts of people.

Programs and activities are not inherently bad or even the problem. The disconnect occurs when the value is placed on the method rather than the outcome. Our church values reaching the hearts of youth. Therefore, we have a full time youth guy and activities and programs to fulfill the mission God has given us. Within some churches there has been a shift that has made “programs” a bad word. I think my dad said it best by saying that Programs are merely a tool to fulfill our Purpose that is fueled by our Passion. So then the real question becomes What is our Passion?

Take a big breath, more, more,more.  More air, chest fills up.  Gulp the last bit of oxygen pushing the lungs to maximum volume!  Phhhheeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!  What could happen if we don’t breath out?  I’m no doctor but I would imagine if we held long enough there would be some dainbramage.   Ultimately we pass out, then die.  Sounds like a lot of Christians.  We Breathe In the bible studies, Christian magazines, books, music, Sunday sermons, sermons on the radio & podcasts, small groups, worship music…….  More oxygen, more more, more, last sip of air.  No Exhale. Pass out. Die. 

Come on Spring!!!

“But Ralph Reed & Pat Robertson shall come upon you and give you power.  Then you will tell everyone about abortion and gay marriage in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria and everywhere in the world.” 

There is a bumper sticker I saw recently that really set me off.  Lost in wonderment and awe staring at the bumper of an ever so pretentiously eco-green Prius, it read “the Religious Right is neither”.  I’ve got to get one of those!  Imagine the nasty post-it notes on the window of my car on Sunday.  That thought alone causes me to feel warm and toasty inside.  This may have detrimental affects on my church membership, that is, if I was a member in the first place. 

What is the real purpose of the church – big C church, not just your local community?  The same question can be asked of individual Christ followers? 

With those thoughts in mind, there are a few things that christiandom needs to just let go of.  If the Gospel of Christ is to spread at home and around the world then evangelicals need to release the stranglehold on a few issues.  Namely these four in no order are Abortion, Gay Marriage, Creation Science, and Prayer in schools.  Oh boy, there it is!  The Holy Quad of all things Christian.   Before you run off for wood and matches to burn me at the stake as a heretic, just bear with me a minute.   

When you turn on your radio to a religious station which of the following topics do you hear about?  The latest from DC on a states ruling on limiting definitions of civil unions, or a discussion on what it means to live like Jesus in a post modern culture?  Do you hear Dobson go on and on about Hollywood, or do you hear a call in program where anyone can ask the tough questions and doubts about God?   We don’t hear those things not because they are not needed, but because they don’t cause action.  And by action I mean money.  In the Christian realm of America action = cash.  If you get them mad you can get their money. 

Just think for a moment what $26.5 million dollars would do for places like the Miami Valley Womens Center, Elizabeth New Life Center, Christ’s Hope International, and Stand True?   That is the exact amount of revenue the Christian Coalition of America once generated.  More recently, they are more than $2 million dollars in debt.  Following is a clip from CNN.com on the CCA:

 ”  The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America resigned his post Monday.

Rev. Joel C. Hunter cited a difference in philosophy over which issues the conservative Christian organization, in his opinion, should embrace.

Currently the senior pastor of the Northland Church in Longwood, Florida, Hunter was to assume the presidency in January. (Watch why Hunter stepped aside –> –> –> –> –> –> –>[if gte vml 1]> –> –> –> –> –>[endif]–> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>[if !vml]–> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>[endif]–>)

But Hunter said CCA leaders resisted his calls to expand their issue base.

“I wanted to expand the issues from only moral ones — such as opposing abortion and redefining marriage — to include compassion issues such as poverty, justice, and creation care,” Hunter said in a statement. “We need to care as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb.”

Hunter also said he wanted to focus on rebuilding the CCA’s once powerful grassroots network — an appeal he says board members rejected.

“After initial willingness to consider these changes, the board of the CCA decided, ‘that is fine, but that is not who we are,’ ” Hunter said.

That last sentence astonishes me.  “Thats fine, but that’s not who we are”.  Providing food for the hungry, standing up for the treatment of other humans, and caring for what God created is not who you are?  Then who exactly are you?  And don’t give me the christianese jargon of that’s not our calling or our mission.  Sorry, if you use the word “Christian” in your name, that is your mission, along with a few other things, whether you like it or not! 

What if we as believers take our clinched fists that hold these issues so tightly that they have come to define who we are, and open our hands and release them?  What if our fists became open hands and open arms raised in worship humbly allowing our Creator to define us?  Make His passions our passions.  His purpose our purpose.  This does not mean we are waving the white flag in defeat and giving up.  It means that we are putting them back in the hands of the only one who can fix them.  It means we admit that these issues are part of a bigger problem caused by the fall and our only redemption is in hands with scars. 

There is such a thing as a coalition of Christians.  It’s called the Church.  Its time for the church to stop acting as a Political Action Committee and start acting like the Church.  Its time to stop yelling and start serving. 

James 1:27  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.