working to find a lost me

trying to figure it out.

How many of us really have ever really known a person who was not a Christian for any part of their life until their “conversion?” Probably, given the majority of the people I know, not many of us. I’m sure we all know people who have come from this type of background but how much have you actually asked them about their previous life before Christ?

We live in a post-modernistic society. That society is post-Christian, meaning that people are not typically churched growing up. They have a whole set of values and ideas that are separate from those of us who did grow up in the church.

But what are those ideas and values? I think we all need to spend more time getting to know these people, their needs, their hopes, their fears, their reasons. Maybe when we do we can start getting to know how we can reach more people in the name of Christ.

blessed be the name of the lord.

This is a stupendous (and stupendously quick) article on why we need to retain the names of God as He has revealed them to us. We shouldn't just substitute names or take other deviations from the Word (read: Herchurch) because it suits us or we feel it "fits better" with our culture because that's not how God has revealed Himself to us.

Anyway, read it, be a better person for it.

tim keller.

This is the most thought-provoking thing I've ever seen on YouTube. Ever. Very intriguing, especially given the audience, and extremely poignant for the moment. I think I'm going to buy his book.

learning cohorts.

After working in PregnancyCare for a week, it started me thinking that it might be useful to do something.

I'm kind of wondering if it would be useful to engage in actual dialogs with people in other denominations to discuss  theological and doctrinal (practical) ideas. EmergentVillage has an interesting site that allows for people to find discussions, called cohort groups, like that.

Now, I'm not big into Emergent theology (which they do have, don't let them tell you different). It allows for too much ambiguity and compromise which easily leads to heresy. However, the basic of idea of being big enough and open enough and secure enough to explore and discern other points of view is attractive.

It just doesn't make sense for Lutherans, if they do want to grow, to just sit back on their haunches and sit in their congregations waiting for people to come to them. Instead, in joining with others, they will find that their presence in their communities will be increased and more people will come to them to try to learn who Christ is.

We don't have to agree with every point of theology that others have. We don't even have to like it. But they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ and we do have to love them. And, in my (limited) experience, loving is learning. Both learning from and learning with.

Does anyone have a good group going in the Cincinnati area? I wasn't able to find anything on EV.

herchurch again.

This is so deeply disturbing to me as a Christian and as a Lutheran. Despite the fact that a woman is leading the congregation, which goes against the Book of Concord, the teachings and confessions of the true Lutheran church, the melding of humanistic, gnostic, ambiguous, and who-knows-how-many-other theologies is sickening. The life of Christ was that of a biological man and God, not a woman, not "the sacred feminine," not "the incarnate Sophia." Ew.

Seriously, who thinks this is a Christian church? Do you think God is pleased with this kind of heresy? Or their heretical actions by default?

How have we let our churches get this far off track?

I'm thinking we need a new Council of Nicea. Immediately.

P.S. I wrote about this church last year here.

ht: Lutheran Lucciola

yo gabba shins.

Who doesn't love The Shins? And who doesn't love "Yo Gabba Gabba?" This is a great learning video on an... interesting kid's show. It really is good, even if the show is a bit odd.

total genius.

Today, I discovered that the Geniuses at the Apple Store's Genius Bar weren't such geniuses after all. Their solution to a problem I was having with Numbers?

Switch to Microsoft's Excel.

Yikes.

wrappin' it up.

So, I be wrapping up a trip to Colorado. As we speak (well, as you read, but really more as I write), I am sitting in the Colorado Springs airport, waiting for my 1:15 local flight to the ATL. Then I connect up to Dayton, where I arrive at 9-something and drive an hour home. It's gonna be a long day of travel, but I suppose I should be used to it by now.

I've go incredible friends. People who open up homes (and pantries) to me, who come out to see me, who just make life good. I really had a fun time out here. I also got to go hiking and driving. I took my rented Jetta and, mostly accidentally, almost did a 360 spin out on a dirt road. Awesome.

I took lots of fun pictures, too. Not that I'm a good photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I got some good shots. It's so hard to show what I saw in the middle of the mountains, but the pics ain't bad. There's just something amazing about coming over a hill and having to stomp on the brakes because you see three incredibly high, rocky peaks soaring above the horizon, dwarfing anything daring to be around them.

Anyway, I had a great trip. Couldn't have asked for any better of a mini-holiday.

garden hiking.

There's this place in the middle of Colorado, in the shadow of Pike's Peak, that absolutely takes my breath away. It's one of the few places that geographical events completely hide the monumental mountain. Thank you, Garden of the Gods.

mini holiday.

I am currently traveling to Colorado, being at my layover in Minneapolis (I had to walk well over a mile to get to my gate, from one end of the airport to the other, of course, because the tram was broken). For a man who loves to travel, I haven’t been out of Cincinnati in almost 5 months. That’s a heck of a long time for me. So, I’m taking a mini “vaca,” as it were. I'll be back in Cincy Friday, but for now I'm going to be enjoying the goodness that is the Colorado desert, majesty of nature and all. It should be, and will be, good stuff.

I hope to be posting some pictures, maybe even some thoughts as I travel. This is the last big thing before I start at Pregnancy Care next week. Very, very exciting.

a new baby.

I'm bragging a little, but meet the new addition to this blogging family:

life update.

Hey, I thought I'd share some news with y'all.

Also, if you want, you can read a little more that I wrote to a group of friends by following the link at the bottom of this post.