Piling up scrap lumber and playing nose tackle

Albert Haynesworth of the Washington Redskins is paid $100,000,000.00 to play football. His team came under new management this year and switched to a different type of defense which required Haynesworth to move from defensive tackle to nose tackle. His response was to protest by skipping the team's off-season conditioning program and practices as well as a mandatory minicamp. He was unable to pass the team's conditioning test until the 10th day of training camp.  This week he came out and said that his $100 million dollar contract doesn't make him a 'slave' to the Washington Redskins. He said that just because someone pays you money that doesn't mean they can make you do whatever they want.  Are you kidding me? This guy needs to be fired and have to stand in an unemployment line until he gets a firm grasp on reality. I can't tell you how much this mindset disgusts me! This is what's wrong with this country! 


Some of the best advise my dad ever gave me concerning my work ethic came one summer I was working as part of his framing crew building houses. I wanted to be on the roof nailing decking down with the other guys wearing a cool leather nail apron, swinging a hammer. Instead, dad had me piling up scrap lumber. When I complained my dad told me, "Son - It all pays the same. You're going to make $2.15 an hour whether you're swinging a hammer or piling up scrap lumber. Now get busy piling up scrap lumber." Someone needs to tell that to Albert Haynesworth! 

Me and Johnny Depp

I love my job! 

My favorite thing about my job is introducing people to Christ and helping people find the road that leads to life and successful living. 

Another thing I love about my job is the people I get to work around every day. My team is made up of my very best friends on earth! 

And then there are the pirate moments. The moments when we get to do fun, creative things like dressing up as pirates for the video roll in of our new sermon series Wine, Women and Song. The message series is a biblical look at the influence of alcohol, sexuality and music on our culture. It made perfect since to wrap that study in a package that included pirates, so we put on our eye liner, donned buccaneer attire and sang our hearts out. What other 40-something gets to do things like that? Just me and Johnny Depp! Did I mention - I love my job! 

Do you have a Jesus toaster?

When I saw this on MSN I couldn't believe it! Some company has designed an appliance than burns an image of Jesus on your toast for you. This of course is in response to the worship thousands have given what they consider the image of saints that appear through burn marks, rust and mildew around the world as a would-be sign to the faithful. Monopolizing on that trend, this company gives you an opportunity to create your own signs and wonders.

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, but the truth is we do this all the time! How many times have we justified something by saying, "I believe God wants me to..." or "The Lord is leading me to..." Sometimes the things we say God is telling us to do aren't even scriptural! When we do that, aren't we just burning the image of Jesus onto our toast?

Don't get me wrong, I believe God speaks to His people! He has promised to lead us and guide us by His Holy Spirit. But the first and foremost way He leads us is by His Word! He will never tell us to do anything that violates what His Word declares. 

God warns us in the book of Jeremiah, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds."

There are times when we will want to do things that the Bible clearly condemns. Those are the times we must deny our own desires and follow the will of God. To ignore the scriptures and do what we want and then justify it by saying we prayed and God gave us a 'peace' about it, is to call God a liar and essentially fire up our Jesus toaster! 

Providence's Tap On The Shoulder

Last night we officially moved Robin into her Master's Commission apartment. Little Samuel has been dropped off at the temple! It's truly bittersweet. On the one hand, it's hard to think about the fact that my little girl will be living away from home for the next nine months. (Her room looks so empty!) On the other hand, we are so proud of her. 

She told me yesterday that this is a fruition of a dream she's had for six years! At a stage of her life where so many young people want to get out from under authority, discipline and structure, she has purposefully placed herself squarely under a more intense form of those virtues than she has ever known! God will do so much in her life the next nine months and all of it will serve as a foundation for the great things He will continue to do in and through her for the rest of her life! 

We enjoyed her orientation this morning with other XMC parents from around the country. It was so cool to look over the 2011 class of our Master's Commission program and realize that in 1991, our church launched the first MC program outside of Phoenix, AZ. Twenty years later, my daughter is going through that program led by one of the graduates of that first graduating class - Shawn Marcell, whose daughter Autumn is also going through the program this year! Providence sure has a great way of tapping you on the shoulder.