Juiced up Pastor

The sun is streaming down into my office, and I’m a bit in awe of God this morning, and I can’t stop thinking about OCC’s membership class last night. I'm a bit juiced up...

God is so good. Another full, and over-full class, another amazing collection of humanity…a cross section of intergenerational, multi-ethnic, amazingly talented, incredible humans…a picture of heaven. One couple had been at OCC for 5 years. Many had been attending for more than a year. But the majority are new to our church within the last 12 months. New life, fresh perspective.

We crash-coursed through Unity, Purpose, Truth, and Covenant. Then we prayed, and after that the conversations began. Pastor Gary and I spent an hour or more just hanging out and connecting with individuals and families who floored me. This couple is from Brazil, she’s a famous folk singer there, and they want to start a Portuguese-speaking life group in their home. This couple started a web resource called Soulbyte, and they want to make products specifically to support the congregation of Overlake. This woman is so passionate about Seattle that she can’t wait until we open a venue down near Pioneer’s Square so we can welcome the demographic that can’t make it to our campus into the same kind of dynamic environment where they can meet Jesus.

There were the amazing stories of how people found our church. Some by accident. Some were looking for another church, and happened to get the directions wrong. Some were planning on going to another church with an earlier service and didn’t get ready in time, so they had to find a church with a later service start time (ours are 9:20, 11am, and 6pm on Sundays). One couple was interested in trying every church EXCEPT Overlake, until a friend earnestly suggested that she give it a try. They did, their family loved it, and now they’ve found a home. One family drives up from Tacoma! What the what?!

These things I share knowing that God is up to something. It is something good. Something exciting. Something impactful. Something that glorifies HIM. He’s on the move at the OCC…

To those of you who were at our membership class last night, I simply want to say again what an HONOR it is to be on this journey with you. To those of you who aren’t yet connected to a life-giving, freedom-living, passionate-for-Jesus kind of church, I humbly want to invite you to check out OCC. And to those of you who are IN, who are ready to charge the gates of Hell with a war-cry and a watergun, I want to say, “Let’s DO this thing!”

Love God.
Love People.
Serve the World.

And remember that its all for Jesus.

p.s. OCC.org is a great place to go to get questions answered…our current series on LOVE: THAT 4 Letter Word…our archives contain all sorts of Hot Topics as well if you’re curious…love to invite you to poke around a bit…Blessings today...and JUICE!!

Praying for Miley

Today, in honor of her Concert at the Tacoma Dome, I confess that I listened to Miley Cyrus on my wife’s ipod. Through my daughter, Miley, or Hannah Montana, has invaded our home, via Disney TV, cd’s played in our car, and merchandise like cups, nightlights, and toothbrushes. Miley is a big deal around here. So I thought I’d write Miley a quick note. You are welcome to read it, too.

Dear Miley,
I pray for you. I invite others to pray for you as well. I bet that might come across sounding hard, or meanspirited, but that’s not my heart. It is offered with compassion and grace. Here’s what I mean:

Miley, you have achieved the kind of stardom and wealth that very, very few people ever achieve. I’m talking Solomon-like wealth. Flipping through an issue of Time, I read that last year, your merchandise net alone brought in 1.3 billion dollars. Bring in the way Disney has packaged your TV personality into a product. Add in the CD sales and your 3-D concert movie. Remember that you can sell out a stadium concert faster than anyone ever has. There’s a lot of gravy flowing, and Billy Ray’s little girl is riding that train at breakneck speed. Since wealth is power, I pray that you’ll steward yours well.

As far as I know, Miley, you are like 16 years old. I can remember how chaotic and circus-like my life was at 16. There was friend drama, the weeks that circled around our Friday night football games, the invites to parties, the time I crashed my car, and of course the pinnacles and heartbreaks swirling around the quest for a girlfriend. And if life was crazy for me at 16, I can’t imagine how crazy it would be for a person who is an uber-gazillionaire. In America, celebrity is royalty, and Miley, you are the current reigning princess. That has to mess with your head. So I pray that it doesn’t.

Not only that, but I remember making some pretty dumb moves as a 16 year old. And the thought of having every bonehead move photographed and splashed on the front page of a gossip rag is just shameful. I mean that literally…it produces shame. To know that everything you do, every boy you go out with, every fight you have with your dad will be news…I imagine that produces an overwhelming amount of pressure. So I pray for you.

I ran to the punk-pop-beat of your songs today, and I was admiring them. The come across like fun Go-Go’s tunes (I cut my chops on the 80’s) filled with energy, and a bubble-gum-smack voice that cracks at just the right time, like Cosette from my Les Mis Broadway Soundtrack (I am hoping this is a compliment to you both). But here is why I truly like them…the Lyrics. Wholesome, filled with themes of love, of falling in love, and of empowerment. You sing a song to your deceased grandfather called I Miss You, and it’s touching. You have a song with a chorus that says, “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not strong enough.” And when I see my daughter belting those words out with all that she’s got, I get this crazy lump in my throat. There are so many negative and hurtful messages in the songs of our culture, and I celebrate the ones that are joyful or quality. And so I pray for yours.

In fact, the biggest reason that I pray for you, Miley is my daughter, Alex. My daughter is 9 years old. She wears glasses and plays soccer. She has the most beautiful, innocent, compassionate soul that I’ve ever seen. She befriends everyone, especially the kids that don’t have a ton of other friends. Once her teacher brought in a new student, mid-year, who didn’t speak much English. Alex moved her seat to sit next to her, and stayed with her all day showing her around school, and introduced her to all her friends. The only reason I know this is because her teacher emailed the story to us, and both my wife and I teared up when we read it. I’m tearing up right now as I try to figure out how to communicate the absolute golden nature of this beautiful child of God who has Jesus in her heart and Hannah Montana on her wall. For one reason or another, Alex has placed a portion of her heart in your hands. Miley, what you say matters to Alex. How you live matters. The lyrics in your songs matter, and the choices that you make…I just want you to know, they matter.

They don’t matter to the paparazzi who want to exploit you for a buck. They don’t matter to your PR folks who can figure out how to spin your life in an interesting way and sell the story to VH1. They don’t matter to handlers and managers, because the wild exploits of celebrities are what keep them in business. But they matter to little girls who have never had a hero before, and who have decided that you’re it. Life is going to try to knock those stars out of her eyes soon enough, and so I’m hoping…I’m begging…I am praying for you. I’m praying that you would please handle her heart with care.

And as I pray for you, I’d love to remind you that at the end of the day, this voice, this honor, this wealth, this ride, and this life that you’ve been given…you’ve been given it all by God. He loves you just because you’re you, I know you know that. And the greatest thing you can do, is to offer it all back to Him as a gift.

I’m praying for you.

Sincerely,

Alex’s Daddy

Date with JOY!!

OVERLAKE, in the spirit of our LOVE: that 4 Letter word, I wanted to give some auxiliary tips for maximizing your dating life…whether you are single, in a dating relationship right now, or married, and are looking to creatively date your spouse. Here are 30 low cost, relatively creative ideas that you can try to work through to keep things fresh…

DATES, Dates, and prunes:
1. Go to the Zoo (and try to discover an animal you never knew existed)
2. Backpack Snow Lake
3. Canoe at the Seattle Arboretum
4. Puddlejumping/mudball fights (10.5 months out of the year this works in Northwest)
5. Thrift Store Raiding (don’t spend more than 8 bucks!)
6. Cheap Food (Mexican or Italian are best, but tip well)
7. Picnic (better when themed, even better if you can get a mandolin serenade)
8. Rock Skipping (watch out for boats if you happen to be at Carillon Point)
9. Fish off of the pier at Newcastle Park
10. Toys R Us Video Game Blitz (you might have to share time with elementary school kids, but there are some great games for you gamer couples to sample)
11. Learn to Swing Dance
12. Fly a Kite
13. Little League/Soccer Fan it (cheer like crazy: extra points for wearing colors/painting face)
14. Roller Blade Sammamish River Trail
15. Borders Poetry Read (write your own…trust me, you’ll do fine)
16. Garage Sale it (but this is only for the early birds, or go at noon and complain that all people have is trash)
17. Sunset Watch at Bicrackie Park Hill
18. Sunset Watch in Style (rent Uhaul, bring couch, rug, candles, friends to serve the sparkling cider, open up the back right on a bluff overlooking the lake or the sound…)
19. Sail Boat out on Lake Washington
20. Walk the Flower Fields up in Mount Vernon
21. Live Music at a Coffee Shop and good conversation
22. Watch Salmon Run at the Ballard Locks
23. Walk SAM and surrounding Galleries and pretend you appraise art
24. Dress to the nines, and pretend you’re interested in buying Millionaire homes
25. Learn to Wakeboard together
26. Learn to Snowboard Together
27. Aquarium, Seattle Science Center
28. Explore Sunrise at Rainier
29. Take a ferry ride to Poulsbo and visit the Swedish downtown bakery
30. Have dinner rotating around the Space Needle
(Hint: 25 Best Places to Kiss in Seattle, by Paula Begoun)


More Helpful Dating Tips:
KILL THE MOVIE
Movies don’t provide interaction, and remember, that is the number one goal of dating: to learn about this person’s character and the compatibility that you share, and to learn some things about yourself. You can’t learn a whole lot by sitting silently next to someone for two hours, other than what kind of movies they like. Ask them what movies they like instead. Same with Married folks: you need the time to catch up…to reconnect…to fall in love again. For my wife Jodie and I, 2 hours at the Purple Café is great to send us running toward intimacy again. (Caviots: Sporting Events can be great fun as long as both parties agree that the the sporting event will be fun. Lots of good talk time. If you're the kind of guy who gets way too wrapped up in whether your team wins or no, skip altogether. Pike's Place, of course, is great for explore, talk, laugh, etc. If you ARE going to a movie, there are new theaters out there with waiters and fancy desserts and plush reclining armchairs...very posh and they deliciously enhance the experience. But build tons of connect time before and after...)



Gentlemen, ASK OUT IN STYLE
By being boldly creative, very average and homely men have found matches totally out of their league. One dude asked my wife out, when she was in High School. He put a helium balloon on her front porch each night with a different number in it. At the end of a week she had all the numbers to his phone number and he revealed who he was and the note said call me if you would like to go to prom with me. Isn’t that a good idea? Be creative! She said no to the guy, but you can’t win them all!


Save kissing for at least a season so you know if there is some quality there (if you missed the message on Sunday about Physical Intimacy you need to hit it at occ.org right now!) but if you get a sense that the guy or girl you are with is going to try to mack you and you don’t want to kiss them, here are a couple tips on HOW TO AVOID A KISS:

1) Eat nasty garlic and say, “No thanks, I’m good HEH HEH” when your date offers an Altoid
2) Fake a cold and begin to sneeze and blow your nose a lot as the date comes to a close
3) Talk about how painful your canker sores (plural) are…
4) Strategically place lettuce in your teeth and smile a ton

Those are for free. You’re welcome.

Rainbow Sandals

Most surfers and California beach-wear afecianados know what Rainbow Sandals are. They are a light-wear, leather sandal that forms to your foot, virtually indestructible, rather like wearing twin slices of heaven on your feet.

I like to think of them as the sandals Jesus wore.

Whenever we are back in San Clemente, Ca., we stop by the factory to pick up a pair or six. This last visit, the chief architect running the construction of the sandal manufacturing empire gave us a tour, and it was absolutely fascinating. Fashioning the leather straps, cutting the layers of rubber sole, applying the patented glue…you could tell this guy LOVED making Rainbows. Each one was special to him. And like Jelly Bellies, whose factory we also visited, even the flops were items of love and care. (Try purchasing bags of belly-flops the next time you’re passing through Fairfield, Ca.)

Which brings me to my own experience with Rainbows. I have owned, through the years, multiple pairs. They each have different purpose. My nice ones, I wear to work, or to important meetings, like with my elders, or the Mayor. My “Used to be Nice” pair has started to become worn and faded, and so they are my Lake Pair, or Surf Pair…whenever I’m heading to the beach, wherever they will potentially get soaked, or left out in the sun for hours…this is the pair that is good to go, rough and ready…my adventure pair. Then, I have my “Yardwork” set…my oldest and most cherished pair, I’ve loved them for more than a decade, but due to age, and rough wear, they are…what is the word I am looking for…shot. The rubber sole is worn thin, and the leather is worn completely through where my toe lands when I walk, and they stink, but let’s not dwell on that fact. What you need to know is that, if I were to send them back to the Rainbow factory, they would restore every worn part of the sandal and return them to me good as new, because that is their guarantee. But I am not eager to do that, because I love them exactly as they are.

In other words, I have some Rainbows that I use for noble purpose, some for ignoble purpose, but all of my Rainbows do I love dearly.

Now, I’m no Karl Barth, but I am certain that God loves you more than I love my Rainbow Sandals. The next time you read a difficult passage in the Scripture, like Romans 9:21, never forget that our God is the Lord of Love. And just like the factory in San Clemente, when we return to Him, He restores us and makes us good as new…that’s His guarantee.

Another Stott Shot

For some reason, this week I’m seeing how short I fall. I’m seeing how many times I’m choosing selfishness over selflessness. How many times I’m in need of the grace of Jesus just to keep BREATHING. I don’t think it is coincidence that this week we see the Cross of Christ more clearly than any other week. This is the place where grace flowed down to us. If you can read this quote, in love, without accusation, recognizing its truth, it will rock you.


Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, “I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.” Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.
And of course men do not like it. John Stott, Authentic Christianity


Thank you for the Cross Service
Overlake Christian Church
Friday Night, 7pm
Childcare for kiddos under 5
Easter Services: Sat 5:20, 7pm, Sun 9:20, 11am

A Little Hot Stottie

(That’s my attempt to spice up a British Octogenarian Theologian…hot Stottie. John Stott. He’s hot. Enjoy.)

In his death Jesus did something objective, final, absolute and decisive; something which enabled him to cry on the cross, ‘It is accomplished’; something which is described by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews as ‘one sacrifice for sins for ever’; something which turns Christianity from pious good advice into glorious good news; which transforms the characteristic mood of Christianity from the imperative (do) into the indicative (done); which makes evangelism not an invitation for men to do something, but a declaration of what God has already done in Christ. John Stott, Authentic Christianity, pp 55

Thank You for the Cross Service
Overlake Christian Church
This Friday: 7pm
Childcare for Kiddos under 5
Easter Services Sat: 5:20, 7pm, Sun 9:20, 11am

God uses a Riding Mower

We’re coming up on our five-year anniversary living in the same house on the Eastside of Seattle. I think it bears mentioning that I’ve never lived in a single residence for this many successive years, and I think it means I’m maturing, (if by mature, I mean a more fatherly, more settled, less-schizophrenic sort of mature). The reason this figures important is that upon moving into our home, I purchased a riding lawnmower. It fulfilled a life-long dream.

So, five years ago, heading out to mow the lawn, my (then) two year old son would want to ride on my lap. Caleb would sit, nestled into the crook of my elbow, and talk up a blue streak, telling stories which were drowned out by the drone of the mower. But inevitably, after ten minutes or so, I would notice that he had stopped talking, and had begun yawning. That would be followed by his head nodding forward, or lolling backwards, and he’d be sound asleep. So I’d finish the lawn, steering with one hand and holding my sleeping son on my lap, with the other arm, and just praise, praise, praise, that my heavenly Father gave this earthly father a golden memory of mowing the lawn.

This happened regularly when Caleb was two.
And three.
And four. You get the picture. No, he doesn’t have narcolepsy.

Well, last weekend it was clear skies, and time to do the first yard clean up after the winter storms wrecked their havoc all over my suburban dreams. So I cleared branches away, and prepped the mower for the inagural run of ’09. I called over to Caleb, “Hey bud, you wanna help me mow?” Now, keep in mind, he turns seven next month. He’s, like, big.

“Sure, dad.” And he climbed up on my lap, talking a blue streak. Within a few moments, his stories turned to yawns. And then his head rested on my shoulder, and he was out.

This time, it was different.
In the first place, I was overwhelmed with the sense of love and closeness that I felt with my bud. I know it’s a cliché, but I felt that heart was filled to bursting. I took more than a few extra laps to make the most of that time with my boy. And it hit me that in some respects, I know God must feel like that with us. It’s hard to believe, I know. But it’s true. God delights over us. God’s love for us is unlimited. Everlasting. Unconditional. Which means that we don’t need to perform to please Him. Even sleeping on His lap while he mows the lawn brings Him joy. Closeness is a value to God; that’s why He didn’t remain far removed, but came close in the person of Jesus.

In the second place, what struck me was the sense of ultimate unconcern that Caleb feels on my lap, on the mower. He is lulled to sleep by the hum of the motor, the strength of his dad, and the peace that pervades knowing that he is exactly where he is supposed to be. I thought to myself, this is what Psalm 23 speaks of. Complete peace in the strength of our Shepherd. Ultimate unconcern, knowing that He has things handled, He knows how to hold me, and how to get the job done, at the same time. This is the very picture of safety and contentment, and it’s found in our Father’s arms.

In the third place, it struck me that Caleb is turning seven soon, and boys don’t want to sit on their dad’s laps forever. I don’t know exactly what age that is, but the picture of him, as a full-sized teen sitting on my lap (tipping the mower over, most likely) didn’t evoke the same kind of emotion. I want him to grow to the fullness of stature and wisdom that God has for him, and I want to cheer him to great heights of godly influence and significant contribution. But he’s my little boy right now. And I’m not ready to lose these moments. So I was thankful again, for the chance, just this once more, to have my son knock out on my lap.

My prayer for you, (it’s the same prayer for me) is this: I pray that in the midst of pace, in the heat of planning, of running, of achieving and performing, you’d pause. Draw close to the ones you love. Celebrate the moment, because the moment won’t last forever. And find some time today to climb up in your Father’s arms, let Him drive the universe, and you just rest. He’s a strong dad.

You’ll never get to big for this lap.