6 Year Progress

This is a picture of the World Trade Center Site from last week.










This is a picture from our old office space when I moved in the summer of 2002.












I haven't been back to NYC since I left in 2005 but I'm amazed at what looks like the lack of progress. It's been 6 years and it looks about the same. I'm sure there is much more than what it looks like in that top picture but it just shows you how complex and difficult the job of rebuilding really is. Wow.

SE Potluck

Last night, despite the ridiculous heat, we had a SE Potluck for some people in the homegroup and pretty much anyone else who wanted to come.

Five great things about last night:

1. A pre-potluck game of Sequence with Rob and Katrina.

2. An intense game of whiffle ball (I struck out once on Rob's curve-ball, but to keep things in perspective, Clay struck out on Victoria's change-up twice!)

3. A post-potluck game of Bohnanza with Chad, Andy, Emily, Rob, Katrina, Kelli and myself. If you haven't checked this game out, make sure you do! And if you need serious tutoring at the game, I recommend you ask Rob, as he takes it very seriously. He's a strategist till the end. Unfortunately his end last night came in defeat.

4. Delicious food and drinks.

5. Truly enjoyable people to spend time with. I honestly couldn't be more happy with the people who are connecting at Evergreen Hawthorne.

Last night was one of those times when I was tired and didn't initially feel like being there which happens from time to time, but as it always turns out, I am glad I was there. I've been learning that this is a practice of community, being present even when you don't feel like it. I haven't been disappointed yet!

Brew Day

Today Travis Moore and I brewed 10 gallons of beer! 2 beers in fact. He brewed an Amber of his own creation which impressively was a partial mash using some hallertauer and sterling hops and irish ale yeast. The other impressive thing is that Travis is growing his own Cascade hops outside! Sweet.

I brewed a Belgium Wit complete with the two things you see below: orange zest and coriander. Just used 8oz. of flaked wheat, 7 lbs. wheat extract, and hallertauer hops and Belgium Wit yeast. The wheat beer is the one on the right which from looking doesn't look white at all, which we resolved when we tested it in the hydrometer. It is indeed white! woohoo. I think that is going to be a good summer beer.

Coffee Cream Stout Success!

I don't usually brag about the beer that I make (mainly because 50% of it isn't any good) but I've got to be honest, this Coffee Cream Stout is the best thing we've made so far. It's AMAZING! Couldn't have turned out any better. I would buy this at the store.

Speaking off beer brewing, this Thursday I'm going to brew with Travis who has had some good success brewing as well. Just recently he released a limited edition Thatcher Pale Ale that is fantastic! Anyway, this Thursday I'm going to give a Belgian Wit a try. Should be a good summer beer!

Seinfeld on Carlin

Jerry Seinfeld wrote a very good tribute article to George Carlin called "Dying is hard, Comedy is harder". It's worth the read for those who like stand-up comedy, or Carlin, or Seinfeld, or all three.

Summer Hiking Adventure #2

Today Kelli and I drove over to the coast and hiked up Neahkahnie Mountain. This is a mountain that is rumored to have lost treasure left by Spanish sailors from the 1700's. This is also the place where the Tillamook tribe believed their god resided. We didn't see either, but it still remained a beautiful view from the top.

We did find a metal box with several small notebooks in it so Kelli left a message for us.

Then we just went down to the beach and checked out some cool rocks. There were a TON of surfers there today but not much surf.

The rest of the pics here!

Next Saturday: Larch Mountain Crater

"No Creeds But Christ" Really???

I was first introduced to Jesus in a church that is associated with the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ (or Disciples or Restoration Movement) or any other name there may be for it, when I was 15 years old. I then went to Bible College at a school of the same non-denominational denomination. I'm extremely thankful to God for my first church experience and my Bible College education. I'm not sure I would change any of that.

It wasn't until I was living in New York City that I realized that almost no one outside of the Midwest where this small movement began had any idea what this movement was. I was led to believe it was much larger and more prominent than it really is. That was a first wake-up call in this re-learning process.

The second wake-up call was when I was a church-planter in New York City and one of the Restoration Movement publications ripped apart the church planting organization that I was working for because they were funding me to work for a Southern Baptist Church (evil of all evils!). This led, surprisingly to my mission organization losing several thousand dollars. It also led me to some disillusionment with my church planting network and I was honestly not all that sad to leave it behind after I left New York City.

The more I have been thinking and reading about the "Restoration Movement" and frontier Christianity in general, especially from those outside of the movement I have realized once again, that there are some good reasons to leave it behind.

The naivete that comes along with thinking you can read scripture apart from any cultural or historical presumptions. That it is possible to just read your Bible and leave church history with it's rich creeds behind is preposterous. Church history along with it's creeds are a safeguard to our own cultural bias and unfortunately when the Restoration Movement left those behind, they left a full picture of Jesus behind as well (as you can see displayed in any Max Lucado book). They were not able to see that although Jesus isn't just an abstract Jesus of the creeds, he was also more than a best friend, able to see us through lonely times on the frontier.

Church history and creeds are not infallible but we can look back at them and develop an awareness of how our current surroundings influence us about how we perceive Jesus and help us make corrections along the way. But what happens when you disregard creeds and history? You get a less than par Jesus. Or as Barton Stone did, you end up rejecting the idea of the trinity because the language is not "biblical" and become a subordinationist!

No Creeds but Christ? No thank you.

Fantasy Baseball Owner Rips Team In Media

Classic Onion article for my fantasy baseball playing friends! Enjoy.

Next Hike: Neahkahnie Mountain

This Saturday Kelli and I will be going on hiking expedition #2 over on the coast at Neahkahnie Mountain. This is another pretty easy but relatively steep hike but should be a beautiful view.

This week we've been working out at the gym in the morning before work and I can't tell you how good my days have been . I've been so productive and my mind works so much better. Plus when I work out in the morning I don't hit the afternoon wall. I've got to keep this up!

Summer is good.

I finished today with the rest of the work for Walt Kaiser's class. Also finished my Mentored Ministry stuff for the summer. All I've got left is a class with John Sailhamer the beginning of July and I'll be done with school for the summer!

Kelli and I got up at 6am today to hit the gym and while I hate getting up early, exercising in the morning has really made a big difference today. I've been unbelievably productive. I guess if that's what it takes to get my mind to work right, then i'll have to do it more often!

And as for that, it finally IS summer in Oregon! Praise God!

Not much to say, but I'm excited to meet the boys at the Lompoc on this beautiful eve.

Summer Hiking Adventure #1

Dry Creek Falls - June 14th, 2008

Today Kelli and I started our summer hiking adventure. We are going to do a different hike every Saturday on our day off and gradually build up to more difficult hikes in terms of miles and in elevation gain. By the end of the summer, we hope to conquer some decent sized mountains. We're working on a schedule that will build up our legs and lungs so we will survive. Today we started with a really easy hike of about 4.4 miles round trip and a elevation gain of 710 ft. over at Cascade Locks which starts out at the Bridge of the gods trailhead. Click here for more pictures.

Here's a link to the description and details of the hike.

Somehow

this is going to be the reason the Cubs end up losing the World Series. I just know that something will happen where this will do us in. A questionable call that ends up going against us will be our demise. It's just our luck. Mark my words.

i love thursdays....

A good day ahead. Started out with a 7:30 coffee with Rob Grant at Stumptown. His quote of the day was, "I love to just stand in a room and consider." Bumped into a guy at the coffee shop who visited Evergreen on Sunday, that was cool.

Have to write a sermon on Ps. 145 for Walt Kaiser class. I love writing sermons that I will probably never use! Great song, but the structure of a sermon for a Seminary prof is much different than my typical sermon outline, that's for sure!

I also figured out my class schedule for the next year and sure enough, I'll be finished up with the MDiv next summer. 2/3 of the way done. sweet.

Going to eat at Chipotle for dinner with the Leos and then have a elders meeting at the SW Lucky Lab tonight.

But for now, I'm going to work on spending that 50 dollar Amazon gift card that the Lashbrooks so generously sent me yesterday! There's no email that is more exciting than a "you've been sent an Amazon gift certificate"! Those are like gold.

It's going to be a good day!

When do we stop watching?

ESPN had a good sports poll that reminded me of the state that professional sports are currently in.

Which sport has the biggest image problem?
	Allegations of impropriety on the part of NBA referees
	Use of performance-enhancing drugs by MLB players
	Off-field illegal activities by NFL players

That's a good question in light of the Donaghy dilemma, Cedric Benson (which is just an example of a number of arrests in the NFL) being arrested twice in the last month and consequently released by the Bears, and Barry Bonds in general, but the Mitchell report more specifically.

It's a world of hurt for professional sports. It's hard to know what to do as a fan. Do we keep watching or do we as fans stop spending our money to support the immorality and corruption that has become known as pro sports? Is there enough good left in these games to continue as fans?

NBA Officials

It's become obvious over the last few years that NBA referees have a funny way of lengthening playoff series which benefits everyone, the refs, the NBA, and the networks by making them a lot more money. It is only in the last few days that this has been confirmed by Tim Donaghy. You can read the report here.

It's going to be hard to watch professional basketball anymore just knowing the kind of control the referees have over the game. Besides, there's a whistle blown almost, no exaggeration, almost every trip down the floor. I would love to see these guys play some basketball but there's little of that. I guess that's why you've got to watch college basketball if you actually want to see someone play.

Fleet Foxes

For once Pitchfork and I agree on something! This is a really interesting record. If you're bored with music, you should give this a listen! I'm loving it. I hear some influences by MMJ (the good years) and The Shins here and there. Great stuff.

Surprisingly enough Pitchfork and I agreed on a second thing this week. The new My Morning Jacket album is horrible. Whatever direction they are headed, I got off the freeway about 73 miles back. It only takes one listen to "Highly Suspicious" to realize whatever My Morning Jacket had is gone. Come on, seriously, give it a listen. What the #($* was that? Rest in peace MMJ.

Miracle Spring Water

I would like to direct your attention to this post from 2005 because, believe it or not, I still receive comments on this by people who think I'm Peter Popoff .

And if you remember, this was the scam artist who got busted for receiving information about audience members by way of a receiver in his ear and someone backstage reading him names and ailments. Amazing that this guy could still be on tv after being proved a fake. Just shows how desperate people are.

Just received a comment today in fact!

1st Sunday

I forgot to post some pics of our first Sunday from May 18th! Thanks Larissa for taking these!

Pride and Control vs. Trust and Faith

This past Sunday, even though things went smoothly again, I felt really stressed out and uncomfortable (just ask Devin), and for no good reason! I'm starting to understand what Bob is going through when he is not preaching which is why you'll catch him pacing around frantically in the back of the pub. There's something about the burden of responsibility that makes it really stressful when you are not in control. Even when there is someone preaching who you completely trust (like Chip), it's still difficult for some reason. I need to find away to let go of that burden a little and constantly remind myself that I'm not as important in this whole venture as I probably think I am (subconsciously or otherwise!). I'm guessing that is where the stress comes from, thinking I'm actually going to make or break this thing.

I don't want to live a life where I am constantly beating myself up for what I said or didn't say on Sunday or by how much I feel like people liked what we've got going on. If this is truly about mission and building community, then hopefully we will all carry the burden and when things aren't going well on a Sunday or any other day, people will step up to make it better. What I've got is a problem of faith and a version of God that is too small. May God readjust my vision of Him and just how powerful He really is.

For the second time this summer already Kelli and I have been apart for over a week. This time for me it's been a little easier because I had an intensive class and something going on almost every night so I didn't have a lot of time to sit around and feel sorry for myself that my companion was gone. Although the hardest thing for me is when my wife isn't around on Sundays. For some reason I find a lot of comfort by having my little Tammy Faye around during that time. This is also telling of how much I am dependent on my wife over God. Of course there is a balance, God has given us each other to help each other deal with life and all the struggles and blessings that come with it. But I don't want to tip the scale so much that I am always relying on my wife for comfort and not God. This whole thing continues to be a learning experience! But overall, it's been great and I'm loving it.

Excited for the community dinner tonight! But for now, I'm going to read and then in a little bit I'll probably watch a few horses run around a track. A race that takes 2 minutes, but coverage that will last 4 hours. Interesting.

June Muxtape

Got a new Muxtape online. Click here!

Professional drama queens...

Last night could Paul Pierce have been a bigger drama queen?

Seriously? Could he have?

I doubt it. After writhing in horrific pain and being wheeled off the court in a wheelchair to the groans of Celtics fans everywhere who saw their NBA Finals run coming to an end, after five brief minutes in the locker room, who comes running out of the tunnel?

We all know the answer.

I just don't understand professional athletes and their ridiculous reactions to minor injuries. I never will.

But one thing is for sure, his whole scheme to get the crowd into it worked. When he came out, the place erupted and the Celtics never looked back.

Shootin some bball outside of the school

Went and played a few hours of basketball today for the first time in what seems like 3 years. It was a blast to play again, but one thing I should have expected: pain. Lots of pain. I thought I was going to barf after the first game. That first time back always sucks so bad. It's funny though, while you're playing you're thinking to yourself "I'm never going to drink a soda again!" "No more beer" "No more pizza". All kinds of stuff like that was going through my head. Hopefully that will stick. I'm excited to play more this summer, I'd love to play once a week. It's also a lot of fun because it's a great group of guys who don't take the game or themselves too seriously which makes all the difference.

Another thing I realized today was pretty important. Don't picture yourself still being able to do the things you used to be able to do 10 years ago. That's a sucky lesson. You can't jump as high, you can't run as fast, and you certainly don't have the same stamina. I am only 28 but I feel like I'm 46. It's not that I was ever super awesome but at least then I could get up and down the court every time. Today, every time I had a fast break or had to get back on defense quick I had to take about 5 plays off! I hope this gets less painful and I stop coughing up phlegm from 1997. Frick I feel old.

I will say this: Ben Posedel had a sweet tear drop right over me which is just as impressive as his rap skills.