Batter My Heart

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

This is one of my favorite poems, a sonnet by John Donne.

It is a dangerous prayer to ask God to batter your heart in such away that it becomes untangled from all other things but Him. But such a prayer must be offered, that we would be divorced from all other allegiances and found only with eyes for Him.

A dangerous prayer, a possibly difficult prayer, but a necessary one.

Thankfulness for someone who encouraged thought

A great man of God passed away yesterday: Chuck Colson.

There are leaders of the faith who have inspired me, those who have equipped me, those who have encouraged me. But Chuck Colson is a leader who challenged me to think about and understand my faith. And in doing so he inspired, equipped, and encouraged.

The first time I ever heard Chuck Colson I had no idea who he was or that it was him I was listening to. At the beginning of his song, "Heaven in the Real World," Stephen Curtis Chapman had a sound bite of Colson saying this:

"Where is the hope? I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that's where our hope is in this country. And that's where our hope is in life." 

His life story is about that hope. His story is a testimony to the powerful grace of God.

If you've never heard of or interacted with the work of Chuck Colson, I highly recommend you do.

Read his obituary press release here.

Read his story here.

Check out his books here. If you want some suggested starting places I'd go with The Faith, How Now Shall We Live, and The Body. 

And check out this video...

The father who keeps his promises

Sunday night our family visited Mosaic, Erwin McManus' church in West Hollywood. It was an incredible service and Erwin gave a phenomenal message, as expected. Before we left for church though, our kids had their hearts set on going swimming at the hotel. We knew we wouldn't be able to make visiting Mosaic if we took a dip, so we ensured them there would be swimming when we got back. 

While buckling Baylee in after church the first words out of her mouth were, "We're going swimming when we get back, right dad?" I love swimming and having fun with my kids, so with complete confidence and intention I said, "Baylee, we are going to swim! I promise you! Unless the pool is broken, we will swim. And if for some reason it's closed when we get back then I promise we will go in the morning." The result was one huge smile.

Now take the fact that 8pm Los Angles time is actually 10pm to Baylee and Jaxon's little Chicago bodies and add to it a 35 minute drive back to our hotel, and result is two zonked out little kids. Gone. Comatose. At this point it didn't matter if the pool was open or not.

But it did matter in the morning. At 7:45am Baylee was awake and the first words she said were, "Daddy, do we get to go swimming?" But she didn't stop there. She added the other words. She played the trump card. She called me out.

The pain of miscarriage and the goodness of God

Devastating. 

When talking of miscarriage, I'm not sure if there is a better word that can be used to describe what you're going through. Every person I've ever met who has gone through the experience uses this word when telling their story. 

Good.

When talking of God, this is one of many words we can use when describing Him.  Goodness is part of His defining character. It's who He is...all the time.

How these two words can come together in one story is hard to fathom. Yet, I'm incredibly thankful for my friends Tiffany & Daniel Schaaff. Last week Tiffany shared their story on her blog and beautifully brought these two words together. 

I'd really encourage you to take a minute and read her entry: God is Good...So Good!

Immanuel of Everything

As part of the message Sunday during our Christmas service, our amazing New Life Lincoln Park worship team did this song by Coldplay, "Christmas Lights":

The theme of this song rings true: Christmas is an amazing time of year, but it doesn't always feel amazing.

Along with all of the fun, celebrating, and connecting with others, for some this season was nothing but the opposite.  It was a stressful season: Who all do I buy for? What do I get them? When am I going to have the time? That woman took the last pair, could I take her out before she gets to the register? It was a time that raised old hurts: remembering loss, broken dreams, loneliness, no presents under the tree. And these could create feelings of doubt: What’s the point? Anyone care? Is anyone out there?

Everyone Mad Libs

The only people who don't like Mad Libs are the people who don't know what they are. And Nazi's. 

So for all of the unfortunately misinformed, and for all of the short evil dictators with little mustaches out there, this is the idea behind Mad Libs:

White Ribbon Day: Remembering 9/11 [VIDEO]

The day after the attacks, my friend Dave Trout came to me with 8-10 hours of 9/11 news footage recorded on one VHS and an idea for a video. The plan was to create for church a montage video, set to the song, White Ribbon Day. After two all nighters, about two hours before services started, the memorial video was finished. 

Here it is:

Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?

An incredibly busy city:

The capacity is of people with places to be. 

Jobs. Classes. Projects.

Meetings. Appointments. Tasks.

Daily, hundreds will drive down this street, LaSalle Blvd:

12 Years of God's Grace

12 years ago today my life changed. 

Standing upon a little hill on the Myer's castle grounds, I remember Jeannette walking into view with her dad. My jaw dropped. The family and friends present ceased to be. In that moment the realization was overwhelming: this beautiful woman walking toward me was going to be my wife. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with my friend.

What I didn't know in that moment was everything over the last 12 years that she would be in the midst of everything we would walk through:

Critiquing Criticism: a lesson from The Smurfs movie

Transformers. G.I Joe. He-Man. Mask (come on - who remembers Mask? It was a-maze-a-zing!). Thundercats. Voltron. These were my favorite cartoons while growing up. But I must be honest, I must confess: I also watched the Smurfs. Yes, yes I did. Papa Smurf, Jokey Smurf, & Hefty Smurf were my favorites. Smurfette was dumb and annoying (young guy's perspective). Yes...I am a closet Smurf fan.

The idea then of a live Smurf movie was a mixed bag for me. It could be cool or it could be horrible, there didn't seem to be a lot of room in-between. But, having a 4yr-old and a 2yr-old that can be taken advantage of to see kid's movies without losing my mancard, I was willing to give it a chance.

And then the early reviews came out.

Week in Review #3

We were finishing up moving this weekend, therefore wasn't able to look back at last week.  So, it comes now a little late:

• We have 95% of our stuff over at the condo. Still need to take clothes and some odds & ends. Oh yeah, and clean up the house =) 
• My son Jaxon's 2nd birthday was on Wednesday. We had an amazing time at Odyssey Fun World. The funniest part of the whole time was that Jaxon wouldn't use his hands to eat his cupcake.  Not sure if he was scarred by the mess of his first birthday or what, but it was rather humorous.   
• I was in Pensacola FL all day Thurs till Fri morning for work. Kinda stunk to be driving alongside the ocean and beaches but not being able to stop.  And I learned that people in Pensacola drive a lot different than people in Chicago.
• IKEA is a time warp building. You walk in, but you don't realize you were there 3-4 hours until you are walking out.
• LOVED this article about John Mayer and why he quit using social media. 
• Still waiting for the Lion from Apple. I keep telling myself that I'm going to wait a week or two before upgrading, but I know I won't be able to wait.  Anyone else?
• Google + is out. I love it! I love how simple it is, and I love how it is linked to all my other Google stuff. Here's a great overview on it: Google + - The Complete Guide. Will it take down Facebook? Not sure. But if anyone thinks it's not possible to take down such a large entity like Facebook, go check your MySpace page.
• Have been thinking through a blog post about Casey Anthony and my take on the situation. Read this article on CNN that gets to the heart of what I've been thinking about: Casey Anthony and the Challenge of Forgiveness.   
• Pic of the week.  Last Wednesday I was playing with Jaxon at Odyssey on the inflatables. As he climbed up the ladder I snagged this shot.  There's a depth to it that I love - watching my son climb. Keep going buddy. Keep going:

An elderly cerebral hemorrhage survivor got in my face

This week I'm working with a smaller education conference in the southern part of Illinois. It's incredibly hot, and the church only has air conditioning in the sanctuary, which basically means I've been sweating like a dog for the last three days.  It's still been a great time.

Not long after I did my presentation on Logos, an elderly woman came up to me and asked if she could sit with me at my table.  She thought the software looked amazing and wanted to get it to help her get ready for Sunday School. 

"This will be a good tool for me I think. I love to learn and study God's Word, and don't take the opportunity to be able to do so lightly"

"I'm with you there mame," I said. 

Looking over the Logos form, she says, "You see, I'm a cerebral hemorrhage survivor. Most people do not survive that ordeal. But I did"

Charlie Sheen: The Crack Pot

Charlie Sheen...what in the world happened?

Whatever it is, apparently tons of people are interested.  Last week, YouTube's blog offered the following bit of info on Mr Sheen: 

Actor Charlie Sheen has dominated celebrity headlines of late, culminating with producers' decision to halt production on CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and series of rants/interviews drawing public attention. The first part of Sheen's interview with Alex Jones of InfoWars has been viewed over 200,000 times since it was posted on Friday. Today, Sheen's interview on "Good Morning America" is now also drawing attention. A search for "Charlie Sheen" videos on YouTube will deliver over 1,400 results from just the past week.

OK, the masses aren't necessarily interested in what happened, they just want to see the consequential train wreck.  Entertainment on and off the screen is hard to pass up. 

Rich

The first time I saw Rich Mullins was in the summer before my freshman year of high school.  Our youth group went to a conference at Taylor University, where he was the recording artists for the weekend.  My friends and I had front row center for this guy I had never heard of, but by the end of the night would never forget.

9/11: This is a Special Place

In the summer of 2006 Jeannette was 5 ½ months pregnant with our first.  We hadn’t taken a real vacation in a few years, so we decided to have a nice last fling before the two of us became the three of us. There was no need for negotiations on where we would go, we were in complete agreement within seconds: New York City.

My birthday, my mayorship, my grandpa

Today is my birthday.  I turned 36.  Four more years on this side of the hill.

Presently, our family is driving south down RT 41 in Indiana to my parent’s fishing trailer near Terre Haute.  It’s about a 3 ½ hour drive, and just for clarification – Jeannette is behind the wheel right now.  Baylee is watching the Incredibles, Jaxon is out cold, and I’m spending some quality time here with my Mac Book Pro (once you go Mac you don’t go back).

Coming down 41, not too far south from 90/94, we passed the McDonalds in Highland, Indiana.  This is a special McDonald’s.  This is the McDonald’s that I am the former mayor of.  Yes…I’m serious.

The Mess & The Iceberg

Yesterday I wrote about the 7-11 owner Jeannette & I talked with who was robbed at gunpoint.  The idea of lingering pain is still on my mind (yes, it's lingering), so this will be my cud for awhile.

Do you tell people what you're feeling or what you're going through?  

Do you open about things you've gone through, whether they are part of your past or present?  

As far as our feelings and hurts and ideas and fears and doubts and dreams go, we treat the idea of sharing any of them, of opening up, a lot like company coming over.  

I Cried Like A Baby

Wednesday morning I posted the story of when I almost lost my iPhone.  Just a note for the cynical: every part of that story was true, including the punch in the gut part at the end.

After hitting the post button I was sat in my office thinking about that gut punch and my life, my expertise in screwing up, and my warehouse of questions.  It wasn't a dark cloud moment, but it wasn't time for cartwheels either.

Inception

Monday night Jeannette & I  were finally able to see Inception. Like when we saw Avatar, we were coming in a couple weeks after the initial release.  Part luckily, part purposefully, I didn't read anything being said - so, I managed to come in as normally desired: with only the general plot idea and no spoilers.