Who?

For the second year in a row, Allie and I had tickets to the Cubs game for Memorial Day. The Cubs won 3-1 over the Los Angeles Dodgers, led by 7 good innings from pitcher Ryan Dempster and home runs by first baseman Derrek Lee and third baseman Aramis Ramirez.

The real highlight of the game, however, came during the top of the eighth inning with the opposing team up to bat. The starting second baseman, Jeff Kent, lead off with a single. The Dodgers manager then substituted in pinch-runner Chin-lung Hu.

Judging by the lack of uproarious laughter at Wrigley, I think only the PA announcer and I got the joke.

Birthday Hijinks

Four birthdays in a week and only one blog in which to celebrate them...

What to do...

Unfortunately, I don't have too many recent photos of any of these guys (at least not many that I haven't already posted) so I'm digging deep into the vault.

May 14: my best friend Dan



May 20: my old roommate Matt


May 20: my Dad



May 21: my brother, David



[Editor's Note: Apparently May 21 is one of my coworkers' birthdays as well. I don't have any pictures of him. Then again, he doesn't read my blog.]

Fast Track

I'm beginning to secretly (and not very seriously) suspect that I'm on the fast track to a management position. Over the last month or so, I've spent an average of at least two days a week at corporate headquarters, and at least half of all of my working hours in meetings. This week, I'm finally crossing that magical threshold and spending parts of three days at HQ, all in meetings. With any luck, by the end of the year I'll be delegating my work to underlings and making decisions solely by some mystical combination of experience and whim.

...Before we even asked

A little more than a month ago, our church elders told the congregation about a budget shortfall of more than $40,000. They had carefully looked over all of the numbers and determined that although we didn't have the projected income to meet the church's needs, they could not find any unnecessary programs to cut. We needed to come up with the money.

In response, they called the congregation to participate in a day of prayer and fasting the first weekend of April. However, they were very clear in their instructions: the purpose of our prayer and fasting was not to determine for ourselves how we were going to fix the problem, but rather to bring our need before God and see how He intended to provide for it.

This morning, the elders again came before the church, this time to share with everyone how God clearly responded to our need. Back in 2002, a church member had died and left $50,000 to our church. Due to some legal issues, the money has remained tied up since then and never been given. The church leaders were only recently made aware that this money even existed. After some work, all of the roadblocks were cleared and on April 4, the week after our elders spoke to the congregation, and the day before the fast, the check was finally written. Without knowing our church's situation, instructions were given not to cash the check until April 9, the week following the fast. Even after our church tithed on the check to pay into our missions fund, there was more than enough to cover the $43,000 needed to complete the budget.

"So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" Genesis 22:14

Transformation

In some ways, this past week feels like it has flown by (mainly at home), and in other ways it seems like nothing has happened (mainly at work). I suppose those ideas are not mutually exclusive, so for now, that's the best I can think of to describe it.

Allie has been doing better in the last few days. She's still a bit tired, but has (generally) been feeling better. She had an appointment last Friday and everything still looks good. We're only at week 11, but our little one is now the size of a large lime and apparently danced and wiggled through the entire appointment. Allie can't feel it just yet, but Sam put on quite a show during the ultrasound. Personally, I'm hoping that this means we have a drummer on the way. We tried to get a good ultrasound picture, but Sam just wouldn't hold still.

I wrote a few weeks ago that I wanted to explore the parallels between spiritual and physical life. I still intend to do that, although much has happened to distract me since then.

I guess for starters, we find at least one place in scripture where Jesus talks about spiritual life in Him as being "born again," so for practical purposes, I will use birth as a major milestone in both realms. I am quickly learning that there is a LOT that happens in the physical world before birth. Seeds are planted. Those seeds have to unite with a willing and fertile recipient. That in itself is a miracle. There is tremendous and continuous growth from something that barely resembles a person (as one book put it, if you saw it coming at you in a dark alley, you'd high-tail it in the other direction) into something that is already becoming beautiful. Even at this early stage, Sam has a good heart, a brain, hands and feet. Although our little one has not yet been born, Allie and I have the responsibility (privilege!) to nurture them, protect them, and make sure they are able to grow throughout this process and long afterward.

We find almost the same things occurring during the early stages before someone is born again spiritually. Seeds are planted, and one of them lands on a heart and a mind that God has opened. That in itself is a miracle. From there, the person begins a period of growth, asking questions, looking for evidence, thinking about God perhaps for the first time, or beginning to finally understand Him for who He is. At this point, the person may not resemble a "Christian" in any way that we would be able to identify, but God is moving them towards beautiful redemption. Their heart and mind are changing and preparing to be renewed. The part of the Christian or discipler is to nurture them and help them grow throughout this process in anticipation of what is to come. The transformation has not yet occurred, but they are on their way.

Celebrating a Quarter Century of Excellence

Happy Birthday, Sarah!


What's a big brother for if he can't post a weird picture of his sister on his blog for her birthday?


Also, I don't know if I ever officially apologized for it, but I'm sorry I made you eat Play-Doh. Hopefully this makes it up to you.

Old Friends

I became aware of the band Caedmon's Call during high school when they had several songs on the local Christian music station. Although pop-savvy, they had a folksy sound and honest lyrics that made them stand out in the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene. I saw them in concert the first time nine years ago, during the fall of my freshmen year of college. At that time the band had been together for seven years, but only experienced "mainstream" success with two albums. They were young. They were talented. They were rock stars.

Within a couple of years, the band joined the already declining worship-band-wagon and recorded several albums that did not impress me musically or lyrically. Gone were their roots of guitar-driven introspection and hope, replaced by simple chord loops and repeated choruses. As much as I'd always enjoyed their music, I just couldn't get into their new watered-down CCM pop. Like many, I blamed this on their parting ways with talented band member and songwriter, Derek Webb, who decided to pursue a solo career and audiences of less than a dozen members. On that point, if nothing else, I can relate to him.

In the years that followed, Caedmon's Call released four studio albums and two "greatest hits" discs, all hits, but none of them worth listening to. Derek Webb released four studio albums, all of which sounded fantastic even if they never cracked the Billboard charts.

Fast forward to 2007.

After years of traveling their own musical paths, Caedmon's Call reunited with Derek Webb for their new album, "Overdressed," and the ensuing tour, including their stop in Chicago on Saturday. Derek Webb opened for his old-and-current band-mates, then joined them for a two hour set consisting of many old songs, many new songs, and (thankfully) only handful from in between. In 1999, the band was playing to some of the biggest crowds they'd ever seen, filling auditoriums like college gymnasium where I first saw them. Now nine years later, they were again playing a sold-out show, though the venue this time probably only held 300 people. In an ironic twist, I imagine this was one of the biggest audiences Derek Webb has entertained during his solo career, but one of the smallest as a member of his old band.

They put on a great show. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, reminiscing about the old times and catching up with what they've been doing since. After many years apart, it was good to see them all again.

Derek Webb

Cliff Young

Danielle Young

Andrew Osenga

Knocking on Heaven's Door

Most of you, my loyal readers, will remember the previous trouble I have had with the United States Postal Service. Today, I had a couple of much more pleasant encounters with them.

This morning, I went to the post office to apply for a US Passport. Having completed my taxes about two months ago, the fact that today was April 15 meant nothing to me until I arrived at the building at 9:00am. The line was not yet out the door, but was still 15 people long despite having four stations open. Fortunately for me, the passport window was at the opposite end of the building with no line. I slinked past all of the frustrated customers and stood patiently until one of the employees came over to help me, well ahead of many of the other customers. It felt very Calvinist, seeing the powers that be choose to extend grace to me while others suffered. I had my picture taken, filled out a few forms, paid my fees, and left before most of the people in line had even moved.

My other pleasant encounter has come with some of the "humorous" mail I have been receiving at home. I thought I'd hit the jackpot last week when we received a generic mailer from Red Man addressed to the "Adult Smokeless Tobacco User" in our household. I thought maybe I'd send that one back with a note saying that he doesn't live here. I couldn't do that with today's mail, however. It's addressee?

"Jesus (or Current Resident)."

Coming soon to a blog near you

About four years ago, I was but a lowly supervisor (read: only employee) for a coffee shop in Evanston. During the summer months, I would routinely have half an hour between serving customers. Realizing that I could only wash the tables and clean the espresso machine so many times, I took it upon myself to keep a book and notepad on-hand to pass the time.

One afternoon, alone with my thoughts, I began to meditate on the way that God often parallels the spiritual world, which we cannot see, with things in the physical world, which we can readily observe. Jesus himself often taught in parables so that his disciples and followers could learn truths about His kingdom from the things with which they were already familiar. Scripture is still the best source for knowledge of God, but I believe that in His creativity He ordered the world in a way that we could also learn about Him and the spiritual realm.

I filled the front and back of a sheet of paper with thoughts about the parallels between birth, growth and maturity in the physical and spiritual realms. Jesus spoke of being "born" again. Several authors in the New Testament exhort believers to become "mature." From what I observed, every major stage of human development can also convey some lesson in our spiritual growth. In the weeks that come, I plan to explore this subject in depth.

1173 Words

Allison is pregnant! We found out just before Easter, and Allie has had a couple of doctor's visits since then to confirm that everything is coming along well. We're obviously very excited about the news, and thinking through everything we need to do to prepare. Allison is picking out strollers and high chairs, and I'm trying to make sure we can afford it all.

FAQ:
Due date: middle of November (hard to pin down, somewhere between 11/7 and 11/18)

Boy or Girl: We won't be able to find out until the end of June. Yes, we will be finding out.

Name: Nahum Jeremiah for a boy, Naomi Jezebel for a girl, Sam until we know for sure
[EDITOR'S NOTE: These names were intended as a joke, but my sense of humor just before midnight is not as sharp as I would like to believe. Apparently these names were slightly too plausible to be considered humorous, and most of my readers understandably took me seriously. I don't have anything against anyone named Nahum, Jeremiah, Naomi, or Jezebel, but we won't be using those for baby names. See the comments section if you still have any questions. The real names we are using are locked in a time delay safe that, coincidentally, is set to open in about 7 months. Also, because all of this is written inside these little bracket thingies, I don't have to update the word count for the title of this post.]

Health: Mom and baby are doing fine so far

Work: Allie will be taking time off around the birth, and will return to work at the beginning of next year. One distinct advantage of taking care of children professionally is that she will be able to take our child with her to work when she returns.

Happy Meal Grace

Tonight I observed several children eating Happy Meals. I should qualify that statement by saying that they eventually ate their Happy Meals, but spent the first 20 minutes of dinner playing with the "prizes" inside. As I watched the food grow cold and the children's fascination with the plastic trinkets, my mind drifted to the grace of our God.

In many ways, I treat God's grace like the prize in a Happy Meal. The first time it appeared, it was a big deal. It was a surprise- something unexpected and wonderful accompanying my daily sustenance. Here in the midst of the ordinary was something so completely unique and exciting that everything else stopped while I tore open the packaging and explored its every facet. As I began to see this reward as the pattern, however, my surprise turned to expectation, and I began to believe that I deserved it. Lack of expectation led to complacency, and complacency led to boredom. Before long, what I once considered to be of the highest value was discarded, and perhaps worse, I outgrew my sense of wonderment at it all.

Lord, forgive me for looking at your grace as a cheap pleasure, only to be used and forgotten. Help me to receive it like a child and to continually be excited by its newness.

A Different Perspective

Two completely different ideas today. Same theme.

First, the photo above shows the same tree as the one I used for Jed's photo shoot, just from a different perspective. I tried repeatedly to get the contrast set up just right using a series of filters on my computer, but my software was acting buggy. It showed me one thing on-screen, then saved it a different way entirely. This is as close as I could get to what I really wanted.

Second, I prayed a dangerous prayer this morning, asking God to help me learn what it means to love my enemies. (In truth, it was more like, "Please teach me this without having to practice it at all. A theoretical knowledge should suffice. Thanks.") On my way to work I began to meditate on Romans 12:14, which says, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."

As I thought about the nature of blessing and cursing, it occurred to me that each is two-fold. To bless someone, I can do kind things for them and I can ask God to do kind things for them. Likewise, to curse someone I can do unkind things to them and I can ask God to do unkind things to them. To love my enemies and to bless them, a good starting point may be to look at them from God's perspective and simply ask Him to be kind to them, leading them toward himself. Having prayed that, I shouldn't be surprised at all if and when he tells me to be the one to act kindly toward them. The combination of asking for God's kindness and then showing kindness to my enemies is frightening and intimidating, but that's His way. In light of Easter, I can begin to see the way His love is revealed when God acts kindly toward His enemies.

God Quit

Don't worry, friends. This isn't a leap into apostasy. God Quit is the new album from my friend, former band mate, and best man, Jed Brewer. (Available now at his website, http://www.jedbrewer.com/godquit, as a free download.) Having lived with him for several years and heard him playing the guitar at all hours of the night, there's very little musically that he could do to surprise me, but he's done it. This album is some of the best music I've ever heard from him or anyone else.

In this collection of nine songs, Jed explores the depths of God's love that we usually have difficulty wrapping our minds and hearts around: God not only loves those who are abandoned and hurting, but identified Himself with them. He does not fit into our American Sunday School perception of a God who loves us by giving us more than our neighbors and doing what we ask. In "Blessed Are Those Who Have Nothing To Show For Themselves," Jed reminds us that "God... will be known for who He is," regardless of whether we get it or not, and our misunderstanding of Him does not equate to unfaithfulness on His part.

Musically, this is a smart, accessible album with some wonderfully nuanced performances. Jed has grown significantly in many areas, with vocals, keyboards, and guitars woven together to create a melodic tapestry. Every song fits in both form and function to make this his most cohesive work to date, yet the listener does not get beat up with the same sound on every song.

My favorite tracks at the moment are "The Easy Part Is Hard," "God Quit," and "You Never Spared Yourself," but do yourself a favor and download the whole thing.

...As a Bee

Allie and I have been quite busy over the last couple of weeks. [Together: "How busy are you?"] Last night was the first (and only) night this week where we were both home at dinner time. To celebrate our extra time together, we ate barbecue sandwiches and then napped for about 2 hours.

I recently switched project groups at work, so I've been learning new skills. Instead of tools, I'm becoming an expert on electric motors and ventilation products. So far it's been a good challenge, and I still like the people with whom I'm working. It's also kept my working slightly longer hours, but still not as long as Allie works each day.

Allie has also been keeping busy with the kids she nannies for, along with a lot of extra babysitting. The family's youngest boy turns 2 on Saturday. (He was about -6 months when we started dating.) He's already learning to WRITE his alphabet and likes to draw on everything, so you can imagine how hectic Allie's day is.

With Easter and Spring Break coming up, we're hoping to spend a little more time relaxing. We'll see how that goes.

Can He?

Allie wasn't feeling very well tonight and went to bed early. As I was taking my contacts out, I lifted up a simply prayer, "God, can you please help her to feel better?"

Before the words could even come out of my mouth, I realized that this was the wrong prayer because I already knew the answer to my question.

Yes, God can.

Whether He will or won't do something is an entirely different question, but that's for Him to decide. God is always the right one to hear my plea because like no other, He can handle it. His power is always great enough. He can and will do what needs to be done. It may sound like I'm playing semantics here, but knowing that God is capable is a very comforting thing. I don't have to call God's abilities into question in any situation that may arise.

"Reflections," or "Winter on Round Lake"

Happy March, everyone!

Here's hoping that the next month brings warmer temperatures and less snow. Until that happens, here are a few pictures taken on Round Lake last weekend.

This is the same tree that I photographed in the fall.

Stay warm and drive safely.

Eclipse

On Wednesday night, February 20, the entire Chicago area had a perfect, clear view of the lunar eclipse. The moon was about 3/4 covered when Allie and I got home from work, and I didn't really have any choice but to grab my new camera and telephoto lens to see what I could come up with. I've only attempted photographing the night sky once before, so this was a fun experiment for me.
Besides the traditional shots, the camera produced some beautiful, though unexpected, results:

A funny thing happened on the way to the tollway

Yesterday morning, Chicago was able to see the sunrise for the first time in several weeks. Allison and I got to enjoy it together.

From a ditch.

Just before getting on the tollway, we were traveling eastbound in the lefthand lane. I was following the car in front of me at a "safe" distance, but needed to merge into the other lane within about half a mile. I spotted an opening and put on my turning signal. In the time it took me to begin turning the wheel, the gap in the other lane began to narrow as traffic slowed down and the car in front of me came to a quick stop. I put my foot on the brakes and the anti-lock device kicked in without slowing us down at all. In a split second, knowing that I didn't want to be in an accident or have to deal with the insurance companies, I decided to bail out. I pulled the steering wheel around hard to the left and my tires found traction just in time to angle the car through the bank of plowed snow and ice and down into the ditch separating the two directions of traffic.

We came to an abrupt, but not instantaneous, stop. The car kept running, and Allison and I were both fine. Unfortunately, the car was entrenched in the snow deep enough that we weren't going to get out on our own.

As we pulled out our phones to inform our respective employers that we would be at least a few minutes late, a police officer pulled up behind us to block off traffic and offered to call us a tow. We gladly accepted the help. She went back to her cruiser and Allison and I sat back to wait. We tried to make ourselves comfortable and watched as the sun began to peak over the treetops and fill the cold, clear sky. I sipped my coffee and put on my sunglasses while Allison pulled out her makeup bag. It was a strangely calm feeling to be sitting there, not able to do anything to help our situation, but still knowing that someone was taking care of everything.

We continued to watch the roads while waiting for the tow truck to arrive and listened to the radio to see if we would make the morning traffic report. (We did!) I pondered a dozen scenarios in my mind to see if there was anything that I could have done differently and decided that my course of action was the best. In the span of about 20 minutes, we watched another two cars touch bumpers, a 4-6 car pileup going the opposite direction, and at least two other cars spin out while trying to stop. I don't want to say that I was happy to see so many accidents and near-misses, but I guess I took some solace in knowing that I wasn't the only victim of the slick roadways. The city was already out of salt for the winter, and was laying sand instead. At only 10 degrees, that just couldn't keep the roads from freezing. (A quick note about so-called "black ice": this is a terrible and misleading name. It should be called "invisible ice.")

The police officer came up once again to tell us that the tow truck was on its way, but that it was "stuck in traffic." With the officer blocking one lane of traffic behind us, I could guess why. Nonetheless, it arrived soon thereafter. The driver was quick and helpful, and in a few short minutes we were out of the ditch. We thanked and paid the driver, then got on our way.

Everything was cleaned up almost as quickly as it had all begun, with the only lasting mark being the 6 foot wide channel cut into the snow along the side of the road. It was not at all how the morning was supposed to unfold, but I was reminded how much I love my wife by the fact that we could both take it in stride and laugh at the situation.

I'm looking forward to the many miles that still lay ahead of us.

Wrong holiday

It's almost Valentine's Day, so naturally it's time for me to finally post a few pictures from Christmas. My brother was home from Africa, and my parents picked up my Grandpa Griffin from Michigan.

Normally we save the bows for the cat, but my dad seemed to enjoy playing with this one.

The cat's name is Griffin, too. No relation.

I voted today

As I'm sitting at my desk listening to a Christian talk-radio program this afternoon, the hosts are naturally discussing the presidential primary elections being held in many states today. Wisely, they are asking their callers not to tell who they're voting for, but rather what issues are important to them.

Sadly, the only issues anyone has mentioned on this Christian station are abortion, the sanctity of marriage (i.e. preventing homosexual marriage), and occasionally illegal immigration. How is it that Christians in America cannot think of anything else to talk about than these two or three issues? I'm not saying that these are unimportant issues, and don't have clear moral direction in scripture, but it seems that Christians have a relatively narrow focus when it comes to selecting a political leader, always believing that the right candidate will eventually be able to bring America back to being "one nation under God."

My problem with that is, well, that's not what Jesus did. Jesus came to be with the people he was trying to save. He got to know them. He loved them. He did not come to legislate morality or overhaul the government. He intentionally avoided taking up a role in government, even when the people tried on several occasions to force it on him. The world already had the law at that point, and it was powerless to save them. Jesus built relationships and served people, and by his life and death (and life) brought real change.

"...A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:16)

"After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, 'Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.' Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself." (John 6:14-15)

I say all of that to say: Vote for a good leader. Vote your conscience. Vote to put the best possible people in office. Just don't vote thinking that it's the way to bring America to God. God uses real people for that, not politicians.