weekend review...June 28-29

My weekend was a lot shorter this week, thanks to having this coming Saturday off (4-day weekends rule!). Even so, Sunday was a busy day, and I felt like I accomplished quite a bit.

- I finally bought an external hard-drive to back up my laptop. I've been toying around with this for a few months now, fearful of losing everything--including hundreds of pictures we've accumulated--to a crash. It's happened something like 3 times in the past 5 years, so you'd think I'd have done this a long time ago. Experience is the best teacher, I guess. Anyway, got a pretty sweet deal on a Seagate 500GB drive at Circuit City--only $100--and had a blast moving stuff over Sunday afternoon. After all was said and done, I cleared out more than half of my laptop and optimized it pretty nicely. Next project: burn all of our music CD's onto it, and get rid of the actual discs themselves in a garage sale we're having this weekend. After that, we plan on taking all of the magazine articles we've saved through the years--interesting pieces, recipes, etc.--scanning them, and saving them in PDF form. Not only will this help with physical space around the house, it will help us be far more organized. I'm really looking forward to it, and I'll let you know how it goes.

- As a follow-up for our DISH problems...well, I did it again. Last year (probably right around this time, I believe) we were having the same issues we were having lately--intermittent signal outages at odd times. I expected it when the weather was nasty, but it seemed it was happening on sunny, clear days, too. So, as I explained last week, I finally booked a service call. The guys came out on Thursday evening (in drizzly weather, no less) to check things out and weren't here 10 minutes before they found the problem. It was familiar to me, because it was the same thing as it was the last time: our palm tree simply needed to be cut back. So, we did. And, as expected, the signal is fine. I remember looking at the dish, measuring it against the tree, thinking there was no way a branch could be getting in the way...but, of course, I was wrong. Only cost me $29 to find that out, though. I've asked my wife to beat me across the head next time I mention this problem. And then hand me the clippers.

- You can eat a pretty good meal at Sam's Club. I finally got my membership from work (which was a saga in and of itself), so we went to look around and get a couple of things. Turns out it was "Demo Day" and there were at least 10 different booths with some pretty good food items. All for free. Not having to buy lunch was a nice addition to our Sunday.

- Does anyone else think it's nuts that it's July already? July 4th weekend is at our doorstep (and, as I mentioned, I've wrangled it into a 4-day weekend!), and our California vacation, which seemed an eternity away, kicks off in just 3 weeks. Next thing you know football season will be there...not that that's a bad thing, at all!

on Acts 17:16-34

"While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to debate with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there." (16-17)

"So Paul, standing before the Council, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious, for as I was walking along I saw your many altars. And one of them had this inscription on it--'To an Unknown God.' You have been worshiping him without knowing who he is, and now I wish to tell you about him." (22-23)

"When they heard Paul speak of the ressurection of a person who had been dead, some laughed, but others said: "We want to hear more about this later." That ended Paul's discussion with them, but some joined him and became believers." (32-34)

I love the picture that Paul creates in this passage, as well as the direction he provides us for dealing with the culture around us. It's clear from the way this account was written that Paul was troubled by what he saw, implying that Athens was a place that didn't exactly have their hearts set on God. If that was true then for him, how much more for us now? One look tells us all we need to know about the world around us. Much like the physical statues that the men and women of the ancient city in Greece worshipped and prayed to, we have created false idols of our own. We use physical possessions, emotional highs, twisted relationships, and misguided searches in an attempt to fill the void we have in our lives. Like the citizens of Athens, we are praying "to an unknown God"...

So, how do we deal with the gap that's created? How do we adequately and effictively share the love and power of Christ without upsetting the applecart, chasing away those who honestly want to find Him? Well, obviously, we're called to speak the truth no matter what. So there will always be those who we will not be able to please, no matter our approach. But, in this passage, Paul gives us a pretty radical and practical blueprint for dealing with those who are earnestly seeking.

It would have been easy for Paul to come into the "Council" guns blazing, shooting up the traditions and culture of the people he was trying to reach. But, instead, he offers a far more pragmatic approach. Paul looks for the common denominator...something he can point to that will help them to understand that he was just like them, and he grasped where they were coming from. In this case, Paul is able to point to the "religiousness" of the people of Athens. It was clear they were looking for something Higher than themselves. They just weren't sure what it was. Along comes our hero, who is able to put a face and a personality on their "Unknown God".

Interestingly enough--and worth noting for own benefit--there seems to be no huge revival here. Indeed, we are told that some even laughed at Paul. But, it's made clear that some wanted to hear more, and their lives were transformed into Christ-followers. The clear inference from the conclusion of this passage is that, no matter how we approach telling others about Christ, we will face rejection. However, if just a few--or even one--come to know Him, our effort is worth it.

Too often, I believe Christians take the "Rambo" approach to evangelism: shoot first; ask questions later. As I said, we need to always speak the truth. But how much more powerful is that truth if it's spoken in love? How much more af an impact can we make if we try to understand those who don't know Christ, instead of dismissing them away from Him automatically? Like Paul, may we make every effort to understand and connect with the culture around us. May we look for common connections (after all, once we were just like them!), an opening to share our lives with them, and, above all else, an opportunity to truly show the love of Christ.

weekend review...June 21-23

Yes, I know it's Thursday. And, yes, I know last weekend is far removed from most of your minds. Sorry about that. It occurs to me that if I'm going to have a "weekend review" posting every week I might actually need to post it while the weekend's still fresh. I'll try harder next week. For this week...well, it's already Thursday. Deal with it.

Anyway, my lovely wife turned 35 last Saturday, so obviously it was a celebratory weekend around the Walton household. Early Saturday morning, before I sauntered off to work, I presented Becki with a couple of homemade gifts as well as the traditional Starbucks gift card. Sunday was a blur, as we had our parents and family (read: Brent, Rachel, and the kids) over for lunch. The plan was to hit the pool (which I was looking forward to; I haven't taken Jacob yet), but because it's Florida and because we planned something outside, of course it rained. Hard. (I did manage to get the lawn done before that, though. Yay!) So, we resorted to cards and/or Halo on the XBox. Apparently I enjoy getting my rear end kicked by my nephews at this game so much that I made an afternoon of it. Oh, well.

Monday was, well...a Monday. Started off the morning with our regular stroll around the neighborhood, and then relaxed quite a bit for the day. We capped off the weekend with our last Small Group until August (we're breaking for a bit because of conflicting vacation schedules). And that was it. Exciting, huh?

A couple of additional notes:


- I finally broke down and called Dish to schedule a service call. (In the middle of our Sunday festivities, which did NOT make my wife happy. Can't say I blame her!) Seems we are having intermittent problems with the signal going in and out, even on clear days. The kicker is, I can't just call and have someone come out to check it--I have to wait until the problem crops up. Which usually happens right about when there's something on that we planned to watch. Anyway, of course it started doing this on Sunday, right about the time I wanted to flip the Cardinals game on. So, I made the call. They'll be here today. I'll let you know how it goes.


- I'm back on the "wake up early and work out" wagon. Started again this week. I was really into it around the time Jacob arrived--which obviously threw a wrench into my plans--and then again right around the time I got sick for about 3 weeks. My goal is to lose 7-10 pounds by the time California is here in a month. That feels outrageous typing it. But, I know it can be done...just gotta stay focused! Long-term (say 6-9 months): I want to run my first 5K. Really...

weekend review...my first Father's Day!

Hard to believe it's been a full year since Becki and I discovered she was pregnant. And how cool that it coincides with Father's Day! (Which means I just missed it last year...if only she had tested just a few days earlier, I could've scored more gifts. Oh, well...)

Anyway, had a very nice day on Sunday. Spent the whole afternoon at my in-laws, where we gathered, along with my brother-in-law, Brent, and his family, and my folks for lunch and cards. It was a lot of fun to have us all together again, and I'm looking forward to doing it again this weekend for Becki's 35th birthday.

Earlier in the morning, Becki and Jacob woke me up and presented me with my very first Father's Day card, pictured above. As I understand it, the little guy had a bit of help from Mommy and some of her friends...but it's still darn impressive, ya gotta admit! I'm really proud of it, and, as always, I am so thrilled to be a Daddy!

Because I had to work on Monday, it was a rather short weekend, so, other than the Father's Day festivities, nothing much went on.

However, here is what's been on my mind lately:

- Just got back from a trip to Barnes & Noble. My folks gave me a gift card to reward me for all my hard work as a new Father, so I went and spent some time picking out a few good books for the summer. They're all along the theme of completely abandoning ourselves to Jesus, something that's been really capturing my heart lately. Here's what I got:

- Searching for God knows what by Donald Miller
- Desire by John Eldredge
- The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian D. McLaren

I'm really excited about diving into these, and I'll be giving a full report after I'm done.

- Speaking of abandoning to God, I've been spending quite a bit of time over at Seth Barnes' site lately. Seth is the founder of Adventures in Missions, which, among other things, facilitates short-term missions trips to South America, Africa, etc. I'm absolutely positive I will be writing much more about this in the near future, as I believe God is starting to stir something up in me with regards to this, but, for now, spend some time looking around his sites. Very thought-provoking, poignant, and, most of all, challenging.

- OK, NBA, I really tried. Lakers-Celtics in the Finals seemed like the perfect way to draw my interest back to you. After all, I spent much of my early teens watching Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale and the gang take on Magic, Worthy, and Kareem in epic battles at the old (and better) Garden in Boston and the old (and better) Forum in LA. So it was natural to at least hope for something similar this time.

No dice. I spent maybe five minutes watching the whole thing. Today's game is way too glitzy and "me" oriented for me to care much. I just couldn't do it. I guess I'm glad that Boston won it all, but, to be honest, I couldn't really care less.

Oh, and if you expect those of us who have a passing interest to tune in to watch, maybe it would be a good thing to start scheduling games where us "regular" folks can watch it...as opposed to 9pm every night (including two Sundays where tipoff in the afternoon would have been welcomed with open arms). Even with a start time 2 hours earlier it would be a hard decision whether to watch...but a later start makes the decision easy for me. So, uh, thanks.

- I can't help but think this Tiger Woods kid will be pretty good someday. As much as I love golf, I don't watch too much of it (it's not really a great sport to follow on TV), except during Majors. Even this year, I didn't really catch too much of it until Tiger's late Sunday afternoon charge. And, of course, the one Monday I have to work just happens to be the US Open playoff. But I still managed to catch quite a bit of it in our break room at work. What an intriguing battle. Glad I could watch. Shame Tiger's pulling out for the rest of the year with a bum knee.

It's a good thing he won the tournament, so he's got the cash to pay the doctors... :)

on Micah 6:6-8

"What can we bring to the Lord to make up for what we've done? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer Him thousands of rams and tens of thousands of rivers of olive oil? Would that please the Lord? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for the sins of our souls? Would that make Him glad?

No, O people, the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what He requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."


Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

In our quest to "appease" God, we often resort right back to what our forefathers seemed to do so often:

They wanted quantity over quality.

They wanted physical sacrifice over spiritual abandonment.

They wanted to bow before God one day and mock Him the next.

But Micah reminds us that God is not after empty rituals. He's not interested, necessarily, in what we give Him, if it doesn't come from the right attitude.

No, in contrast, Micah offers up what God requires from us all:

1. Integrity
2. Mercy
3. Humbleness

The practical application of this is up to us. But, if it's not rooted in these three things, well...it's not rooted at all. We need to be careful that the "what" we're doing for God doesn't exceed our "why". We need to examine our "programs" and "movements", our resources, our actions...everything we do "in God's name". We need to ask ourselves whether these things are vain sacrifices, empty rituals, meaningless tributes. Basically, we need to be aware of our true intentions and attitudes at all times.

I know I'm guilty of this far more often than not. God, forgive me. Let my life be an expression and outpouring of Your love and mercy. Let me walk humbly with you. Let me do the right thing, always.

counterfeit revival...or the movement of God?

I first caught wind of what's now being called the "Lakeland Revival" just a few weeks ago, while reading about the death of Steven Curtis Chapman's little girl, Maria. If you haven't heard of this movement yet, here's a few news stories on it (here, here, and here) as well as the Wikipedia entry and the official site. Anyway, the aforementioned story appeared in the Orlando Sentinel the morning after Maria's accident. Like most news outlets, the Sentinel allows user comments to encourage discussion. What caught my attention in this forum was a posting from someone claiming to be with the revival who all but called the Chapmans out for not bringing Maria's body to Lakeland so she could be raised from the dead, as something like 20 people had been. Now, obviously this caused quite a stir and immediately my hyperbole antenna was in alert mode. So, like any good researcher in the 21st century would do, I "Googled" it up and had pages of information at my fingertips. And here I am.

Let me say at this point that I grew up in a staunch Southern Baptist church so 1) I have not had much experience with or been witness to much "charasmatic" activity and 2) what little I know about things like this I tend to automatically dismiss, simply because it seems, yes, weird, and I'm fairly uncomfortable with it. That being said, however, as I grow older I'm trying to grow wiser and, therefore, I am much more open to God's moving in unusual ways in my life or other's. After all, who am I to question God, or the way He speaks?

So, in an effort to understand this type of thing further, I'll ask the following questions. I hope someone with more experience in this area can give me an honest answer to these, and don't take my questioning this as questioning God. I truly want to know.

For the record, though...I, at the very least, do NOT believe people have been raised from the dead as Bentley claims. If 21 people had been prayed back into existence, not only SHOULD there be medical proof, but there WOULD be verifiable reports world-wide. There's a great blog that talks about this, and questions the claim that a girl was raised after being dead 2 days, here.

Anyway, here are my questions:

1. Why, in order to "receive" a blessing from the Holy Spirit (Who we all, as Christ-followers, have the same access to), is it necessary to travel to a particular location--Lakeland, Florida, for example--and have one person--Todd Bentley, in this case--impart this blessing upon us?
2. If this is a true revival of God, why is there not a much-more concentrated effort on repentance, and bringing people to Christ's saving grace? The times I've watched there has really not been one mention of the Gospel. Instead, the main focus seems to be physical healing. I understand that God uses the supernatural to bring people into a relationship with Him (see Paul), but what about those who do NOT experience this and still accept Christ, as I would guess the great majority of Christians do?
3. If there really is physical healing and, yes, even raising the dead going on here, where's the proof? I get it that we are supposed to have faith, but, let's face it, if there is verifiable proof of something, shouldn't we be itching to share this? And shouldn't we, as Christ-followers, be demanding it, lest we be called liars?

I suppose, looking back at all I've written, that I've probably made up my mind on this already. To be honest, I think I know the answers. But I would appreciate someone else's slant on it. Having heard the comments of friends who don't know the Lord, I believe that "movements" like this only serve to further separate the world from God's love. So, for better or for worse, there's my take on this. But, in the interest of seeking to further understand how God truly speaks to us and because, well, I just typed a bunch of stuff I don't want to go to waste...I'm keepin' it.

Opinions, please!

the death of "three on thursday"...

Hi folks. Obviously, this well-intentioned feature of my blog has not worked out the way I want it to. Number one, I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to come up with "top 3" categories every week (I mean, c'mon, my best topic--top movies--was used up in week one!). Number two, despite my annoyingly organized mind, those skills aren't transferring to the keyboard. It's too easy to miss a regular posting for whatever reason (even legitimate ones, like my car dying and having to work on it this week...) and, therefore, miss the whole point anyway.

So, at least for now, no more "Three on Thursday" posts. However, if you have any keen ideas for future categories, let me have 'em. I'm not at all opposed to doing one every once in a while.

From here on out, please expect far more random posts (both in timeliness and subject matter) and also a move toward more serious subject matter, as you'll see within the next 24 hours.

Thanks for reading...

weekend review...May 31-June 2

Somebody asked me why my "weekend review" posts included Mondays. Well, I actually work Saturdays right now (although "work" is a relative term--I actually find Saturdays at the office fairly relaxing and get a ton of personal stuff done), so Monday is my usual day off. Which still feels kind of weird. I almost feel guilty for not going to work. Almost.

Anyway, had a great weekend with Becki's family. Her brother, sister-in-law, and 3 kids are back from Macedonia after a 5-year stay! They flew in on Friday and, despite being dog-tired, still managed to have dinner with us that night. Sunday afternoon we headed out to Toni's condo (which she graciously allows us to use from time to time) for some beach action. Had a blast body surfing with Brent and the kids. But I forgot how tiring being in the ocean can be! Anyway, Jacob got his first taste of the beach, too! He looked adorable in his lobster-festooned swimsuit and hat, and seemed to have a pretty good time with his feet in the wet sand and the waves. Those are the pictures above. Cute, ain't he?

Beyond that, it was a fairly typical weekend for the Waltons. Here are a few things on my mind, though:

- Please keep us in your prayers as we deal with some difficult situations at church. We are leaders of a Small Group and, while we enjoy it immensely, it puts us in some tough binds sometimes having to deal with "issues". Before I get into specifics, I'll just leave it at that, and ask for prayer that God would rejuvenate and re-inspire us, while giving us the wisdom to know what to do in these situations...

- On a related note, I'm beginning to shop my resume around a bit in hopes of finding a career closer to what I would like to be doing. I have a great job right now that comes with a pretty good paycheck, but, to be honest, I'm bored and feel like I'm not going anywhere there. So, it's time to test the waters a bit. Something in business/project management would be great, and I would be THRILLED to work from home. Really, I would like to find some sort of a semi-regular speaking gig in a church or two, also. I really miss that, think I'm good at it, and, who knows, could God be calling me back? All in His time...I pray that I can recognize it, though.

- My Dad turns 69 tomorrow! Happy Birthday, Dad! With a son of my own now, I am so much more appreciative of your role in my life, and I hope I can be half the father to Jacob that you were to me! I love you!

- As I've mentioned before, I've become slightly addicted to the Discovery Channel show, Deadliest Catch. Our DVR is now brimming over with episodes I have yet to watch, even though it seems like I'm getting 2 or 3 in a day. As I told, Becki, though...it's probably time to cut back. I'm finding myself on those boats every night in my dreams!