My Wife…

I wish I could properly express myself. But… I can’t

I have been married to my beautiful wife for 1,492 days. One-thousand-four-hundred-ninety-two days!. I can honestly say that I am more in love with Liz today than any other day of my life. If you don’t know my wife, then all I can say is… sorry. She truly is an amazing woman.

She laughs at my ridiculously stupid joke… she laughs a lot. She misses me when I leave the house. She may not know it, but I love when she gets sad because I have to leave the house. She gets the cutest little pouty face. I love when we play a 4 player game by ourselves, mostly because we have to make up our own rules, but we LOVE IT! I used to love riding bikes together. We would ride to blockbuster to get a movie, or to a small restaurant to grab some dinner. I love when we get on a plane together. She ALWAYS falls asleep in my lap. I love that. I love when she comes to my work to see me, especially when I am speaking. She always finds a way to encourage me.

My wife is a special young Puerto Rican lady. And the best part is…… She is going to be a great mother. We are moments away from being parents, and I have no doubt that Liz is going to be a great Mom. I can’t wait to see her love Ethan. I can’t wait til we get to go on family shopping trips. I can’t wait to go see her family and friends in New York. She is going to make a great MOM.

And… she is beautiful.

Black Friday is upon us…

Is it just me, or are you amazed at the craziness of Black Friday too? Am I the only one that finds the whole concept of Black Friday ridiculous?

We are going to be starting a series in Jr. High this week that is called Advent Conspiracy. This is not something of my own creation, I am just 1 of many that is jumping on the bandwagon of this movement. Here is the concept: we as Americans spend a ridiculous amount of money each year on Christmas. Christmas has become about consuming and not celebrating. So we are saying “enough”.

I am preparing for this weekend, and just for fun I thought I would look up some things on Black Friday. So, naturally, I go to YouTube. It is here that the madness is exposed. Videos of people doing insane things for “stuff”. People standing (actually more like camping) in line for hours, days, just to save $100 on a TV that they probably don’t need. (no actual stats on that, just an assumption on my part)

What does this say about our culture? I am afraid it says a lot. We are willing to spend countless hours in line to buy stuff. Meanwhile there are pressing issues around the world, but we so much as blink. Clean water? sorry, there is a sale at Walmart. Starving children? sorry Best Buy has a 10% off sale for all used video games. Orphans? sorry, Dillards is having a sale on their dishes. I think you get the picture.

So, what do we do? I don’t have all the answers. I do know this: my favorite memories from my childhood have nothing to do with the presents I got. It had more to do with the presence of my family and friends. If we give more of ourselves and less gifts, what would happen?

Check out this video. I hope that we can take back Christmas. No more stuff.

Liz and I

pumps, pads, and ointment

I am at a loss with some of these things. But… they are a reality of what is to come for my wife and I. Here I am, Nov. 16th, my wife could “go” anytime now, my lil’ man could emerge into this world. And me… well I guess I am ready, or as ready as I will ever be. I am genuinely getting excited. I can’t wait to see what God has knit together with our genes. Brown skin, freckles, blue eyes, and RED hair?

The other day Liz and I were in target shopping for the essentials for all parents. Well that’s what I have been led to believe anyways. There are some items that I will spare you with, but to think that we have to buy a breast pump? No thanks… It was actually kind of embarrassing carrying that thing around in our cart. I am sure that it won’t be long before I am immune to those types of things, once the parenting begins.

Here is what we are doing right now to prepare:
- I am nesting more than Liz. I am wanting to have the whole house picked up and cleaned. Hoping that we won’t have to mess around with that once Ethan arrives.
- Reading! I have been reading books to him almost every night. I actually really enjoy this. I get all close to Liz’s tummy and read him some fun kid books. I figure I will wait to start in with the CS Lewis material.
- Hangin’ with friends. I am trying to get some time in with my guys before my world is flipped upside down.
- Work… I don’t know what to do with this one, but I am confident that our leaders will handle everything in an excellent fashion when I am out. (I have no idea how paternity leave works?)
- Sleep – I am trying to sleep as much as I can, or actually I am wanting Liz to get as much sleep as she can.

The time has come. We will be 38 weeks this Friday. I am going to be a DAD! Weird…
I can’t wait to meet my little man. I can’t wait for my little man to meet all the people in my life that are so important to me and Liz.

Any last minute advice???

It’s just softball

It’s just softball, It’s just softball. This is what I need to keep telling myself right now. Every Monday night I get to go out and play softball (which I love) with some great guys. I can honestly say that I Love my Monday nights. I look forward to them every week.
But… when it comes to softball there is 1 thing that can ruin a night for me. Not a bad hitting night, not a bad fielding night, but when the other team is a bunch of trash talkers.
So tonight… we played some major trash talkers. I mean these guys were downright jerks. They were yelling at the ump for no reason at all, they were actually calling him some pretty ridiculous things, and they even started saying some things to us. The guys I play with are some pretty level-headed dudes, that never get into with anyone, we don’t argue calls, we just wanna go out and have some fun. But I could tell that I wasn’t the only one that had the night almost ruined because of these guys. One guy said something to my buddy Jeff, then the whole field went dead silent. It was kind of creepy, no one said anything. We all just stood there. It was a real damper.
I talked about taming the tongue this weekend to our jr. high and high school students. I found myself having to swallow some of the words that wanted to creep out. I am not a big talker, but I HATE it when guys come out and take things too seriously.
What gets you going?

Upside Down

Right now we are going through a series in our Jr. High group titled “UPSIDE DOWN”. When you read the parables of Jesus, he is constantly flipping the popular ideologies and practices of his day upside down. He is taking the cultural “norms” and poking holes in them.
Personally, I find this to be the most refreshing part of Jesus, and at the same time the most challenging part of his teaching. He calls the disciples and all who hear to a new kind of life, a new kind of living, and gives a new vision of what the Kingdom of God is like.
What would do if we took these ideas, teachings, and thoughts of Jesus to heart? Would the way we live today look differently? I would argue Yes, and even those of us that would call us Christians, I believe if we really began to live according to the way of Jesus that we too would begin to live very differently.
In the parables, Jesus is often times speaking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious folk of Jesus’ day. I can’t help but think that those stories are still being directed at the Religious folk of today. As I go through the stories, I can’t help but think of us inside the church needing to listen to these stories and truths just as much as anyone. This has been a part of my teaching over the last 3 weeks, which has been great to teach, but also very good to hear.
For example, this weekend I am teaching about the Great Banquet. Sometimes we forget who the Kingdom of God is for, we (Christians) can become very pious, thinking that we have it together and it is “others” in need of God’s grace.
Oh how quick we forget. We (christians) sometimes have such a short memory. I sometimes have a short memory. I was ( and am everyday) in need of God’s saving grace, in need of the mercy that God hands out, broken and lost. The message of Jesus is beautiful, and I am in need of it.
I have been loving this series. What is your favorite parable?

LULL

That word would describe my blogging activity lately. I promise to start putting some more up. Not that what i have to say is soooo profound, but I will do so anyways.

September 11, 8 years later…

I keep hearing people say ” I can’t believe it was 8 years ago already”, and I totally get that. Maybe because we all remember so vividly what we were doing that day. I remember almost everything from that day. The image of the planes going into the towers, over and over and over and over again. The towers falling to their end. The cloud of smoke that covered the sky of NYC.
I can almost feel the tears welling up inside of me right now as I recall that day. I am saddened that we live in a world where something like that is a reality. My heart breaks for the families that lost loved ones that day.
As I was driving on the freeway this morning I couldn’t help but think how quick we seem to forget in this country. The popular phrase for 9/11 is ” we will never forget” or something along those lines. In that we will never forget that day, we seem to forget easily some things so closely related to that day.
Do you remember how much the people of this country seemed to come together as a result of that day? Everyone all of the sudden became a life that we cared about. We almost instantly felt drawn to people, our neighbors, and strangers. There was a sense of togetherness that swept through this country. I don’t know if that is so much the case anymore. Or, how about the lives of our soldiers. It seems so crazy to me how we have lost so many lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, and yet we don’t so much as blink at the death tolls. Not that we don’t care, but we certainly don’t lament in the same way. The current wars have cost our country and other countries exponentially more lives than Sept. 11 did.
I hope we never forget. It was such a sad day.

NYC

I love New York City. There is no other place like it. Enjoy the video. These are still pictures.

New York city portrait, HD time lapse, April 2006, music by Moby from Max Moos on Vimeo.

Currently reading…

Am I the only person that reads multiple books at the same time? I have a serious problem with never totally finishing a book, but starting 2 more. But… right now here are some books that I am chewing on.
1. Sustainable Youth Ministry – this book is good so far. I recommend it for any youth worker, but there is a good amount of info. that is either obvious or non-relevant. Even with that said, there is still a good amount of info that is worth the brain power.
2. The Divine Conspiracy – This book is so good. I think I am the last person in ministry to read this book, but none-the-less, it is such a good read. Willard’s approach to the gospel and the Kingdom is so refreshing and it resonates deep within my soul. It has taken me a year to get through 2 chapters, but in the last week I have been movin’ through it and really enjoying it.
3. The 5 dysfunctions of a team – This book is a fictitious story about a team of executives that should be the biggest and best in their field, but… they quickly find out that talent isn’t all you need to make a team work. This book is a good read, the thing that I have taken away most is just understanding how important conflict is and how to have healthy conflict.
On Deck….
Colossians Remixed… I can’t tell you how excited I am to jump into this book. Bring it…