Check out this excellent Henry Cloud video by clicking on the following link:
http://www.cloudtownsend.com/videoserver/player.php?clip=CCNT2421&link=http://www.ccn12shop.com/video/CCN/topic/wmv_M/CCNT2421_M.wmv&playerType=WM
missional musings from suburbia
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
back in the day...
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ... I was an editorial cartoonist. I worked on and off at several different publications for about ten years. Here are a few of my favorites from my last few years at The Daily Iowan (1996-1998). Enjoy...
after the McVeigh verdict
tough love
just a little fear for my kids 
truth is stanger than fiction
money for bombs but not for food
Friday, August 3, 2007
flashback
Check out this article I wrote last September, shortly before we began our involvement with Cornerstone Vocational Center and City on the Hill Church of Christ. Isn't it funny how God works?
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my comfort zone. Am I getting too comfortable in it? Did things I used to consider revolutionary become cliché when I wasn’t looking? Am I becoming my dad? Actually, I have been telling my son to turn down the music a lot recently. Hmmm.
Despite my apparent aptitude for creating controversy, I am finding more and more things controversial myself. This disturbs me a little. For instance, as hard as I try, I can no longer picture Hip Hop or Heavy Metal music as valid options in the worship service. I used to think they might be interesting, but now I can’t picture it. Conversely, I fear our “choruses” are moving from the cutting edge to the cozy middle (Incidentally, I really dislike the term “choruses”. It was coined to describe those church-camp-style songs with all of the meat removed – the sort of song we rarely play – and it is often used as a derogatory term. “Worship songs” would be more accurate). Or consider our outreach. Is it constrained to the usual, safe, suburban, white-dominated realms of soup kitchens, food pantries, Pro-life rallies, and Habitat for Humanity?
Might life be a wee bit too comfortable for us suburban Washingtonians? Are we so privileged that we are in danger of taking our blessings for granted?
One part of me says, “Hey, isn’t this what you’ve been working for all these years?” while the other, deeper, part says, “Are you ever supposed to feel comfortable here?” If we are feeling comfortable, might we be succumbing to the world?
In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Paul explained our state this way:
…as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
We are aliens here. We are meant to feel uncomfortable. We shouldn’t want to be assimilated. We long to be at home with the Lord, and until we are, we should feel a little lost. I believe that a burr under our saddle or a stone in our shoe is much more likely to be the tool God uses than a warm bath. Remember, Jesus did not say, “Since everything was easy for me, it will be easy for you too!” He said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”1
Change is not everything. In fact, change is not even a virtue. But, neither is it the enemy. Rather, stagnation and comfort are the enemy. Recently I heard that the medical definition of death is a body that has stopped changing. This does not mean that we stop “testing the spirits.”2 We must still be discerning, but the test is whether our discomfort is spiritual or worldly. Have we spotted the problem, or are we the problem?
If something in a worship service challenges you or some outreach opportunity thrusts you out of your comfort zone or something just doesn’t set right with you, look first to see what God may be doing in spite of your discomfort. You may be surprised to see what God can use. Maybe even Hip Hop or Heavy Metal.
1 John 15:20; 2 1 John 4:1
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my comfort zone. Am I getting too comfortable in it? Did things I used to consider revolutionary become cliché when I wasn’t looking? Am I becoming my dad? Actually, I have been telling my son to turn down the music a lot recently. Hmmm.
Despite my apparent aptitude for creating controversy, I am finding more and more things controversial myself. This disturbs me a little. For instance, as hard as I try, I can no longer picture Hip Hop or Heavy Metal music as valid options in the worship service. I used to think they might be interesting, but now I can’t picture it. Conversely, I fear our “choruses” are moving from the cutting edge to the cozy middle (Incidentally, I really dislike the term “choruses”. It was coined to describe those church-camp-style songs with all of the meat removed – the sort of song we rarely play – and it is often used as a derogatory term. “Worship songs” would be more accurate). Or consider our outreach. Is it constrained to the usual, safe, suburban, white-dominated realms of soup kitchens, food pantries, Pro-life rallies, and Habitat for Humanity?
Might life be a wee bit too comfortable for us suburban Washingtonians? Are we so privileged that we are in danger of taking our blessings for granted?
One part of me says, “Hey, isn’t this what you’ve been working for all these years?” while the other, deeper, part says, “Are you ever supposed to feel comfortable here?” If we are feeling comfortable, might we be succumbing to the world?
In 2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Paul explained our state this way:
…as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
We are aliens here. We are meant to feel uncomfortable. We shouldn’t want to be assimilated. We long to be at home with the Lord, and until we are, we should feel a little lost. I believe that a burr under our saddle or a stone in our shoe is much more likely to be the tool God uses than a warm bath. Remember, Jesus did not say, “Since everything was easy for me, it will be easy for you too!” He said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”1
Change is not everything. In fact, change is not even a virtue. But, neither is it the enemy. Rather, stagnation and comfort are the enemy. Recently I heard that the medical definition of death is a body that has stopped changing. This does not mean that we stop “testing the spirits.”2 We must still be discerning, but the test is whether our discomfort is spiritual or worldly. Have we spotted the problem, or are we the problem?
If something in a worship service challenges you or some outreach opportunity thrusts you out of your comfort zone or something just doesn’t set right with you, look first to see what God may be doing in spite of your discomfort. You may be surprised to see what God can use. Maybe even Hip Hop or Heavy Metal.
1 John 15:20; 2 1 John 4:1
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