Go read Erin-Lo today

I you want to read a series of touching stories in the journey of one couple to adopt a little girl, go to Erin-Lo's blog. Erin and Jeff are currently in Vietnam, where they just received their new daughter, Selah. They've had pictures of her for the last five or so months, but now they can actually hold her. It's amazing to follow the progression of her posts over the last week as they traveled from the U.S. to Vietnam and then to the village where Selah waited for them. Lots of people are very happy for them, right now.

If you can, take a minute to pray for them, though, as an potential problem with the INS in Vietnam has materialized and may delay their return home. They long to come home and introduce Selah to her two big brothers.

Tags: Adoption, Vietnam, Heart Warming, Prayer

Titillated to Boredom

Every day, as I commute between home and work (about 12 miles), I drive by three (count 'em, three) strip clubs. After you make the drive a few thousand times, you start to notice a few things, even about the places you try to avoid. For example, one of the clubs always posts on their sign what the lunch and dinner buffets are. Another one has taken to advertising their big screen TV’s as a great place to watch various sporting events.

It struck me today just how odd this is. I mean, I would have assumed that anyone entering one of these three places would be rather distracted by the club’s primary business, but it would seem not. Apparently, the titillating is now so mainstream, so commonplace, that it has become boring. This spoke volumes to me when I though about it. We, as a society, have so over-indulged our desires that we have become blasé to things that should affront us.

The point is this - I am going to start looking at my own life to see where apathy may be taking hold and convincing me that my sin is little more than a foible. What do you think: where have we as a society, and we as the church, become accustomed to our own actions and lost the will of God?

Tags: Apathy, Over Indulgence, Church Life, Christian Living

How can I compete with that?

I was reading over on Shlog today. Shaun Groves was giving a little confessional (in part) about his own youthfull hubris and the importance of "relevance" in today's church. I also read today's "Kudzu" comic strip and thought the two went together quite well.



Check out Shaun's post here. He promisses to finish his thoughts tomorrow.

Tags: Shlog, Kudzu, Relevance

What a weekend

I need a break. We had a very full weekend, but definitely a good one. It all started on Friday afternoon. We dropped off Tabitha with some friends and Erin and I, to celebrate our 10th anniversary, went downtown and had dinner at a fabulous restaurant (for those who live in Houston, check out Mia Bella Trattoria at Main and Preston, great food and our favorite restaurant). After dinner, we headed over to the Hobby center to see the touring production of The Lion King, which was fabulous. By the time we got out of the show, picked up Tabitha, and got home it was around 12:30. A late night for our family.

So, what do we do to recover from a late Friday night - on Saturday we get up early and drive up to College Station for a reunion of a bunch of college friends. We had 14 adults and, get this,

16 kids (and one couple doesn't have kids yet). Have you ever felt seriously outnumbered? That was Saturday. It was good to see everyone; most of these folks we only get to see once a year at this reunion. You try to keep the kid's names straight, thought; I'm not up to the task. After a full day of water play, hot dogs, smoked pork and brisket, and no dairy anywhere (one child has a severe dairy allergy) we were exhausted. Tabitha showed this by throwing a fit at bed time (part tired, part I'm hungry because I didn't eat my dinner). Oh, yeah, she also woke me up several times during the night to tell me to stop snoring! The picture above was taken Saturday afternoon in the Flag Room of the Memorial Student Center, where we used to hang out in between classes.

On Sunday, we all got up and went to the church we attended during college then went to one couples house for lunch. Erin, Tabitha, and I had to head back to Houston pretty quick, because Erin is working on a play that will perform over Labor Day weekend. It is being put on by BIRTH, an organization that seeks to better inform women about the birth process and choices they have. The play is a collection of interwoven monologues giving the perspective of seven women's birth stories. Erin is playing one of the of women, as well as assistant directing. So, we get home and Erin heads off for rehearsal.

Busy weekend, but it's over now. Time to relax with my "easy" work week. Maybe I'll get luck and slip into a delusional state where work gets done, but I get relaxed and rested. Maybe. Maybe not.

Tags: College Station, Aggie, Lion King, Snoring, Theater, Birth

Prayer focus

Please take a moment to notice the top prayer item I have on the left, for several friends in deep marital troubles. Erin and I have two couples close to us whose marriages are in dire straights. One couple, the husband has been living separately for a few weeks. The other couple, the husband moved out this week and signed a one-year lease on an apartment. Both are families dedicated to the Lord, but seemingly have forgotten the blessings God gave when He joined them to their spouses. I won't go into any detail except to ask you to pray that their hearts are softened to each other and that the distractions of this world which pull them apart are muted or removed. Both families have young children who are confused by what is going on, so please pray for the kids as well as the parents.

Too amusing to pass up

What happens when you have diet coke, mentos, a buddy, and way, way, way too much time on your hands? Apparently, you get this symphony.



Tags: Mentos, Diet Coke

The secret origin of euphrony

It finally happened. I knew this day was coming, when my past would catch up with me, but I dreaded it. Like a fish that flops out of the water and smacks you in the face, I was hit with the question: what does euphrony mean? It was Kat who asked, brave and foolish, and I gave her a part of the answer, brushing the surface of this shallow pond that is euphrony. But the time has come for the true, secret origin of the man you know as euphrony to be revealed.

Kat can now tell you the basics. From Greek, euphrony means literally "good mind" or "true mind" (i.e. well thought or fully thought). From literature, Euphrony is also the name of a William Faulkner character in Sartoris and Flags in the Dust (actually, the Faulkner character is a woman, but Euphrony is rather gender-neutral). As to why I use this name, it has little to do with either literature or Greek origins, and is another story. A story whose time has come.

Back in the old college days, a good buddy of mine (Scott over at TheForce.net) drew a comic strip for a weekly newsletter he and I and a few others put out for our college group (the Aggies for Christ). The main character was the aptly named Jim Shorts, along with girlfriend Ella Funt and sidekick Euphroni (note the spelling). Euphroni was a go-getter, always doing and never slowing even when going 90 down the wrong side of the freeway during rush hour traffic. Euphroni died an untimely death (as did the whole comic strip) when Scott lost time and interest; but from the ashes of this memory a calling stirred in me - the internet anonymity. I did not want all this information seeking scam artists (harder to filter out in the early days) knowing who I really was and I needed a secret identity to insulate me from the prying eyes of the world. Euphroni was calling to be reborn in the form of a pseudonym, but one obstacle remained: that -i had to go. To avoid complex legal proceedings in assuming this name from Scott's character, I made him my own with a -y.

And now you know the truth. Now you can say "I know the truth". Guard this secret, for it is the secret which keeps me safe. At least I didn't feel the pull of "bat boy".

Tags: Secret Origin, TheForce.Net, Euphrony, Aggies for Christ, Pseudonym, Noir, Cheese

Sara Groves Just Showed Up

Okay, here's a shameless plug for my favorite artist. Sara Groves has just released a documentary DVD. It's part music, part back-stage pass, part chronicle of her ministry efforts post-Katrina and in Rwanda. Looks like good stuff. Let's all check it out; shall we?

Tags: Sara Groves, Rwanda, Hurricane Katrina, Documentary

The Word of God

I have been considering of late what it is that we (servants of Jehovah) are. We call ourselves Christians, literally "of Christ", as He spoke of us in John 6:56. We are children of God. We are the body of Christ. We are the Word of God to man.

You may wonder a bit at this last description, as it is how John described Jesus; but I believe it to be accurate of us as well. Consider that we are in Christ and He in us (John 6), in the same way that Jesus is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 10:28). We have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and we have the Spirit to guide us and "inspire" us. If Christ is the Word of God to man, made flesh, then does not the Word fill us? When we speak, do we not speak the Word of God? When we act, do we not act out the Word that is written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Corinthians 3:3)? This is what we too often forget: our lives are not separated into religious and secular times, actions, and events but all is entwined as we continuously speak and live out the Word.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV)

We are His ambassadors to the world, a full time calling, even as we work and live in the professions to which God has also called us. There are those who use the blessings of God to bless others, both spiritually and physically. I recently came across a recent story (here) about the daughter of an old family friend, Ellen Little. Ellen is a perfect example of using her blessings to bless; led by God to become a doctor, she also heard His call to spread the gospel. She lives in Uganda, providing medical and spiritual aid to all who need. The story I read about her relates how she helped a 1-year old Sudanese girl travel to the U.S.A. to receive multiple heart operations, which saved her life. In this, the girl's family also saw the wonder of Jehovah at work.

What Ellen does is what Sara Groves has called "adding to the beauty". Her latest album, Add to the Beauty, revolves around this theme and a quote from Mother Theresa - "You can do no great things, just small things with great love." This theme of living as beautiful before God has been resonating in my heart, even before I heard Sara Groves' album. In the title song from the album, she proclaims "This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful." We readily seek grace, but are we responding to that grace, adding to the beauty that God works around us?

Are we being His ambassadors, as Paul wrote? Are we living as the Word made flesh, or have we made this worship of Jehovah a part-time job? These questions fill me as I struggle to answer them honestly in my own life.

What about you - where do you find your answer to this struggle?

Tags: Jehovah, Mother Theresa, Sara Groves, Ambassador, Christian Living, Word of God

My Favorite Song

I was drawn into a post on Five Cent Stand today, talking about the despondency of those in nursing homes. This is a special subject to me because of the years I spent visiting a nursing home every week when I was in college, singing with the people there. Following my own bunny trail, I soon found myself thinking about the songs we sang there, which lead me to think about the songs we sang every week, and the one song that we sang without fail – sometimes more than once a night – because they always asked for it. The song I came to dread because I wanted something different. The song I would not sing of my own volition. The song that now is my favorite song. It isn’t very popular nowadays. It’s downbeat; we want peppy. It’s mournful; we want cheery. It’s slow; we want toe-tapping. It’s old; we look for new things. It’s also magnificent in the promise it conveys, and the promise I make in singing these words is taxing and life-changing. I can hardly sing this song, because of the lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I think of the beauty of the song and the beauty of the people who asked to hear it so many times. It shames me as I remember how I resisted singing this song with the people who cherished it, and it draws me close to my God and Savior. My favorite song:

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff'ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above,
To bear it to dark Calvary.

In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then he'll call me some day to my home far away,
Where his glory forever I'll share.

So I'll cherish the rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down'
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

Tags: Old Rugged Cross, Cross, Christ, God, Devotion, Nursing Home, Hymn, Traditional Hymn