To own a dragon...

I just returned from a meeting at the "number three" in my life. Mmmm. Starbucks Komodo Dragon Blend. My first cup of BOLD coffee since our bag of Ipanema Bourbon was turned upside-down to empty the last grounds into my coffee maker weeks ago. The server timidly asked if I wanted to leave room for cream... I resonated a NO! in my manly, booming, bass vocal tones. Actually, that's just what it felt like for a newly initiated black-coffee afficianado. It was really just my everyday "no". So, anyway. I got mine today.

Touche Natalie!

Getting it right

A friend read Ephesians 4:1-6 aloud during a meeting last night. It cut me. All of it, but especially verse 2, Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.

I know it's right. I just want to get it right much more often than I do. I want to be a living and breathing example of Christ in every area of life. I'm past asking "why" it's so difficult to do in certain times and places. I know why... You know, I want to make this an "us" thing, so anyone who reads this thinks it's not just about me, but about them, too. It would take the edge off. Not today, though. Can't do it. So quit stalling. Get back to the question! OK. It's so difficult to live out because I tend toward self - subtly in some settings, overtly in others. The urgency is no longer answering "why" in order to make plausible excuses. I want to move on to steadily answering "how" through my thoughts, words, and actions. There are real people on the receiving end of success and failure in living this out. And I love them intensely.

Real Spirituality

“When we take the step and engage our lives with those around us and find ourselves not only thinking like Jesus but living like Jesus, there is a transformation that is unlike anything else. That is spiritual formation at it’s best.” Doug Pagitt in Church Re-Imagined

In the Message, James 1:27 puts it this way, "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."

Bottom line. Our belief and knowledge must lead to action. How am I going to do that today?

Head cold

A head cold in the summer? How frustrating is that? I can understand it in the winter - it's like there's a reason to be sick. But the sinus fog should be lifting around summer time, shouldn't it? Maybe it's the whole thing with going swimming when it's like 78 and breezy. We saved up and bought a pool pass, so whenever it finally stops raining and gets sunny out, we're at the pool. The cold hasn't been too bad - but it must be getting to me... "I do believe I've taken a draft." We're loving the waterslides at the pool. I'm a big diving board fan, but the girls are too small and I feel bad leaving them with my wife for too long by herself.

All that to say, I can ramble on and on about nearly anything, and I have a head cold.

Nothing to write.

I have nothing to write and I didn't get a grill for my birthday.

"I want my liquor!"

OK. Let me explain... The quote above came from my three year old daughter. You can imagine the surprise on our faces as my wife and I exchanged glances after this absurd exclamation. Now, before you call the social worker, here's the background. Our little one absolutely hates to have her hair brushed. While enduring this "horrible" process of having her hair brushed, her three-year-old whining and crying was interrupted with a shout: "I want my liqour!" Our eyes were wide with questioning! Where had she heard this? No one in the family even drinks! As we followed her line of sight we realized that she was looking at the lollipop setting on the table beside her... a "sucker" in her normal vernacular, but in the heat of the moment renamed, a "licker".

I literally fell over laughing when I realized what she was saying: "I want my licker!"