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where would Jesus be today?

Last week my buddy Dan Hinz asked a really great question on his blog.  Essentially he was asking where would Jesus be if Christmas were to have taken place 25 years ago instead of 2008 years ago.  It's a great question, and it reminded me of a recent conversation I had.

I was shooting a video interview with a 19-year-old agnostic named Charlie last week, and during the conversation he postulated that if Jesus were to come to earth today he'd be a homosexual.  After picking my jaw up off the floor, I asked Charlie a couple of follow-up questions.  What was fascinating was that he really wasn't saying anything about sexuality.   Charlie pointed to Jesus' love of the outcast, the controversy Jesus always seemed to be generating and the way powerful people were threatened by his existence.

What was really shocking to me was the different ways we both saw both Jesus and homosexuals.  To Charlie, homosexuals are people with specific values and burdens that set them apart.  At least in that moment, in my head homosexuals were people who needed to change their behavior. 

new puppy

One of the hardest things our family went through in the last few years was having to get rid of our beloved dog. Now that we've moved to KC we can finally get a new puppy. So meet Charlie. We have to wait until the end of January to bring him home, but he's going to make an awesome addition to our family.

dog tired

There are a few things in life that I never seem to be able to move out of the life-lesson-in-box.  One of those things is learning to balance my life.  For most of 2008 was doing a great job with this.  But then I started a new job.  At the end of November.  The week Church of the Rez kicked off it's Christmas series. 

So for the past five weeks I've been running and working like my hair's on fire.  Moving in.  Getting unpacked.  Learning a new job, a new operating system, a new editor.  Learning to find my way around KC.  Making new friends.  Knocking out a full-time class load.  Attempting to do the best work of my life while I do all of that other stuff. 

Trying to balance all of these things really pushed me to the limit of what I was capable of. Last week I was literally experiencing chest pains and headaches just trying to live up to my expectations of myself.  The plan was to just make it through to Christmas, so I could have just one day to do absolutely nothing but rest and recover.  Of course, you know the thing about plans . . .

On Christmas day this year, my poor wife and kids were completely knocked out with the flu.  I ended up spending the entire day taking care of all of them (which I really was happy to do).  What that meant, however, is that today I'm back into the full work swing again having not rested yet at all.

In 2008 one of my goals was to achieve a life balance that would accurately reflect my own personal values, not anyone else's.  So I guess that will be a 2009 thing too.  And this year I'm going 12-months for 12-months. 

Anyone else working on this?

unChristian concept video

Here's a concept video I've been working on for the past few weeks.  (click the image above to check it out)  We're starting a series based on the book unChristian by David Kinnaman in January, and this is the trailer for it.  It's not too often that a piece turns out this close to what I had it my head, but when it does it's pretty sweet.

Special thanks to the band Starfield for letting us use their song. 

worship music

One of the changes I've been struggling with most over the past four or five weeks is not having the chance to serve musically.  In some ways it's been good to step back and remember why I love leading worship.  In some ways, however, it's felt like part of me has been asleep.  It's always been about more than just the music itself, but sometimes I forget how powerful music created for worship can really be. 

The other night I had the chance to lead Christmas worship for some new friends.  And it was great.  Really great.  I've always been more of an 'eyes-closed' style of worship leader; as I was sitting on the floor the with my guitar, just singing my heart out, I'm not sure my eyes were opened for more than ten seconds total.  In a very real way, it felt like . . . home. 

I'm not sure whether this is going to become on ongoing thing or whether it will be more sporadic, but I hope and pray that God will continue to open those doors in the days and weeks moving forward.  I'll let you know how things continues to develop in the future . . .

change is good?

Since I was 18 years old, one of the mainstays of my life has been my old leather backpack.  Sometimes it carried textbooks.  Sometimes lunch.  Sometimes baby bottles.  Eventually, it started carrying my laptop.  It became a sort of through-line for all of the steps, both little and big, in my life.  I loved my backpack.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to replace my old beloved leather backpack.  There were things I needed to carry that that old pack couldn't fit, and so I had to get a new one.  It wasn't necessarily something I would have chosen, but it needed to be done.

And you know what?  The new one's not as bad as I thought.  It's actually lighter and stronger, and it feels a lot better on my shoulders.  It provides better protection for my new Mac laptop (which is another post entirely).  Basically, it's better for me right now.

There are a whole lot of things in my life that are changing now.  Some things I really wish hadn't changed did.  But a lot of the changes have been better than I thought.  Some of the changes have been sublime.

I'm not sure about the future.  There are so many paths God may lead me down, so many doors He may open.  But hopefully right now, today, I can learn to hold on a little more loosely to the backpacks in my life. 

you've got to be kidding me

So I'm in Best Buy today helping my wife knock out some Christmas shopping, and since we didn't exactly know what we're looking for we decided to take a lap around the store.  As we get to the back of the place we notice that the entire wall of one of the back corners has been painted primary red.  As we get closer we saw a sign that read "Musical Instruments." 

Honestly, my first reaction was straight-up cynicism.  Best buy has always had a small assortment of cheap casio-style keyboards, but we decided to step into the little sub-store to have a look around anyway.  I almost has a heart attack when I discovered that Best Buy now carries Taylor Guitars.  And not the cheap ones either.  The special humidity-controlled room was sporting 814 cutaways, T5s . . . even the new solidbody electrics were there.  (as well as Gibsons, Fenders, Line 6, DW and Korg)

So basically, one of my worst nightmares has come to pass.  They've created a single centralized location where I could feasibly wreck my financial future in the space of a single hour, with a single yellow card. 

Lord, save me from myself . . .