GotNoBlue’s Weblog

Wow - just finished  an intense few days of worship and learning at the Drive 08 conference, at Northpoint.

There was amazing teaching and slamming music. but my overall favorite experience was the staff of Northpoint. All three campuses - Alpharetta, Buckhead and Brown’s Ridge - were represented, and wow - did they bring it.

No question went unanswered. No room was closed to a tour. It was amazing. Maybe its just that southern hospitality thing - but I felt like  I had known these people for years after sitting with them for an hour.

Mad props to the Northpoint people.

And I met my blog hero. And he linked me on his blog. Yep. I have a blog crush on Carlos.

Now that I’ve had this awesome experience I have to ask, “Now what do I do?”

clipafriend.com

go there. give $5. build an orphanage

sucks.

must plan better this year . . .

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. I have been thinking a lot about my father these days, as I continue the adventure of fatherhood myself.

It has taken me quite a bit of time to adjust to having a kid, especially in the decisions that get made for me. For example, I wanted to get some reading done the other night, but my child wanted to scream into my ear for a while, and scream louder when I put her down.  Now, I don’t holding a crying child, well, I don’t mind holding my own crying child. I’ll toss yours right back at you when it starts to cry - which is usually because I am holding it. I have an uncanny act for making babies cry. And women and men. <Mostly due to my awesome good looks and unnatural charm. Anyway.

I don’t think that my daughter is being selfish when she wants to be held, although she always wants to be held when I want to something else. But I do realize that when I was younger, I was really selfish. I didn’t recognize it at the time - really young kids don’t comprehend when they are being selfish - but I was selfish none the less.

Then I think about what my father must given up for me. All the times that I screamed, kicked, yelled for attention. I wonder how much more he could have accomplished, how much more fishing he could have done if he hadn’t had to run my all over the place for this activity or that. I think about how unselfishly he gave time, money, cars, advice, more money, education.

I think about how I hope I can live up to his example for my daughter, including always having to clean a gun when a boy came over to see my sister! I hope I can give to my little girl in the same selfless, yet not spoiling, manner as he gave to me.

Thanks, dad. And happy birthday.

Yesterday, reality hit me in the face.

I was confronted by someone I respect much, Gregg, about some comments I had made. To me, they were made in jest. To him, they were hurtful. These comments were not made face to face, but over an intercom system.

This brings a few things to mind:

I was completely unaware  of how the manner in which I was communicating was being received.

I can be a very insensitive jerk sometimes.

If it wasn’t for the other person confronting me, I’d have never known and would more than likely continue being snarky and insensitive.

So first off - Let me apologize publicly for being a jerk (I did seek forgiveness from Gregg personally). Gregg, sorry bro - didn’t mean to rub salt in the wounds. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Secondly, let me send out a blanket apology to anyone else that I may have offended along the way. More than likely, I am completely oblivious to the fact that I have offended. Please talk to me if I have, that i might be made aware of my mistake and begin to seek forgiveness from you.

Finally, I have a new mission now - to be more aware of my impact on others, and to be more positive so as to not poison those relationships that I cherish.

Recently, I was asked to share in a few minutes my life story. After listening to many others, and examining my own here is a summary:

I was never the prom king.

I wasn’t the homecoming king.

I wasn’t the star athlete.

I wasn’t a member of the popular crowd at school.

I wasn’t the smartest in my class (though I acted like it).

I drove a crappy, crappy car (after I wrecked the camaro).

I sported a mullet at one time.

All in all, I lived a pretty ordinary life - never the stand-out in any one area. But I have also:

Seen the sun rise and set in the Caribbean with no land around.

Heard Vivaldi in Vienna.

Felt the rush of performing in a play (or several).

Drank wine in Burgungy, France.

Drank (lots of) delicious beer in Germany.

Sang to God in St. Paul’s Cathedral and at Canterbury.

Got married surrounded by nature.

Witnessed the birth of my daughter (at least from around the curtain)

Heard a symphony in Prague.

The artist Jamie Cullum sings in the song Photogragh “When I look back at my ordinary, ordinary life - I’ve seen so much magic though I missed it at the time.”

I am so thankful for the magic in my ordinary life, and thankful that I haven’t missed it.

Here are some things I learned from watching the big race today:

1. Caution breeds caution. Announcer Darryl Waltrip uttered this phrase several times at the end of the race, which saw three cautions in the last ten laps. His point - all the scrambling for position after an accident often leads to more accidents.

2. Everything in America is for sale. Allergy drug company Claritin apparently owns the naming rights to the race restarts. Honestly, lots of money is being spent to get the Claritin name out there. How long before we see a church sponsor a car? I think Young Life sponsors a funny car, but let’s face it, the big viewership is in Nascar. C’mon, admit it. You’d love to see your church name on the hood of an 800 horsepower machine. I’d love to see the GotNoBlue Ford cross the finish line at Daytona. Question: would you be willing to accept corporate sponsorship of your ministry? The Viagra men’s ministry. High school club brought to you by Mountain Dew. Given how consumeristic America has become, this probably isn’t a bad approach.

3. Airing ads for another Larry the Cable Guy movie (really, another Larry movie?) during a race broadcast only reinforces the stereotype that Nascar fans are rednecks.

4. From the King (Richard Petty, if you don’t know): “All you can do is put yourself in a position to win. The circumstances will determine the outcome.” Are you putting yourself in a position to win? Whether it be in a personal struggle, project, or long term goal the best we can do is put ourselves in a position to win, and let God determine the outcome. It’s freeing to know that success only lies so much in what I do.

Well, that’s it for the race. Congrats to Ryan Newman on winning an exciting race.

On Monday, I got a new car. Not new as in a 08 model, but new to me. It’s actually old, a 95 Buick Riveria, with lots o miles. But it was free.

A gift.

No payment would be taken by the previous owner. They just wanted to give it away.

They had received a similar gift, and wanted to do the same for someone else. Then they found out I needed a car. At first they were going to take a nominal fee to cover the cost of a home project - but in the end the decided they wanted no payment.

And now I have a car that works. And I was able to pass my car on to someone who has the means to repair it, and use it to pile the miles on for their tri-weekly commute from Pittsburgh to Akron.

The kingdom at work. In the hearts of those generous people who just wanted to give a gift. Thanks Terry and Natalie.

So tonight, we celebrated communion at our gathering.

A little background. We serve communion once a month at our mid-week gathering. We have been trying something new for the past few months, where we give people the option to, after corporate worship, either attend a specific study, or stay for the sermon/message.

Usually, we serve communion after the message - so those who are attending the study need to decide whether to join in communion, or go to the study. Tonight, there was a miscommunication where some people in a study were told that communion would be moved so that they could partake and go to their study. Upon finding out this wasn’t actually the case, one woman sought me out in our lobby, and proceeded to explain in a very agitated state that she was told she would be served communion.

She was practically demanding that she be given communion. Which makes me wonder whether she really gets what communion is about.

Have we become such a consumer driven society that we think we have the right to demand a sacrament?

How sad.

We tend to put a lot of stock into a person’s last words. When it’s the last thing that you can to say, it tends to be a message that carries a lot of weight for the speaker.

The bible records the last words of Jesus, prior to His ascension after the resurrection in the book of Matthew. We call this the “Great Commission”, the charge to go out into the world and make disciples.

So Christians for centuries have been doing just that. Going out and converting the pagans. Because Jesus said this at the end of time on earth, we put a lot of stock in it. It is not a commandment to gloss over.

But read closely. Jesus said to “teach them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Jesus also said that the greatest commandment(s) were to love God with all we are (paraphrase) and to love our neighbors.

I think we are sometimes guilty of trying to convert without trying to love.

Maybe we should be more concerned with a person’s heart than adding another notch to our bibles.