From a first time blogger, thoughts about life from an American missionary now living in the US after years in Russia and doing a lot of back and forth. Family stuff, Christian content, sports innuendo and lots of quotes from good books.

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Add It To Our Lingo

For those paying attention to Atlanta area news this week, this will make sense. For others, see www.whattheheckwereyouthinking.com.

While I am very glad this did not end in the death of anyone, I've got a new term I want to add to popular American English for cold feet, quick flight, exit stage left, and a host of other terms/phrases meaning "to up and disappear". The term: pulling a Jennifer Wilbanks.

Usage? Here are some examples:

"Man, things are getting tense here in the office. I'm gonna pull a Jennifer Wilbanks!"

"This is all too much on me right now. I'm JW-ing it."

"Hey! What are you thinking? You can't Jennifer Wilbanks us. We need you."

"If you can't stand the heat, Jennifer Wilbanks!"

Friday, April 29, 2005

Dad Gum Internet!!

Amid the mounds of work I have to do between now and Lufthansa flight 445 next Saturday, I come across a web site filled with stuff from my glory years. You know, stuff like the Fat Albert theme song, Whatever Happened to Mr. Ed, and this little goodie!

Wade is still keeping me focused on the serious matters though...

Saturday, April 23, 2005

A Reason to Retire

I'm going to take a temporary break from my blog. The main reason is that Wade Hodges is saying everything right now that needs to be said. I strongly encourage you to visit his current discussion. I am living out his 5th installment right now and boy is it revealing...and painful...and true. I get no kickbacks in the world of blogometer traffic or financial considerations from telling you to go there. Just go there and check it out. Nuff said.

The fam and I leave for Russia May 7. We'll be back sometime in the fall. Keep us in your prayers and look for an occasional update on this site while we are there...

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Who Receives Saving Grace?

"As far as I can tell, the Bible only gives one category of people who receive grace: the humble."
(Quote from John Alan Turner on Wade Hodges' blog)

I could comment all day on that but I'll let it kinda make its own argument...

Friday, April 15, 2005

Wade is (thankfully) at it again

Wade Hodges is stirring up the waters again. Jump here to join the journey...

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Cure for Alcoholism!!

From the Moscow Times (English version found here):

"Alexei says he was an irredeemable alcoholic until he met Marina. He gave up drinking after the Novosibirsk psychiatrist beat him on the buttocks with a flexible rod."

Obviously, you'll want to click on the link and read the rest. Now! Do it!!! Or face me chasing you with a long, black whip (which has been proven to be an effective way to motivate people to follow directions!).

Monday, April 11, 2005

A Different Way of Life

Ok, hear me out.

Different people I know live in different ways. My friends who live in Thailand and Croatia deal with issues unique to those countries and cultures. My buddies in NYC, or Madison, WI, also have their particular joys and struggles in life that are inherent given where they call home. Each place has its obvious positives and negatives.

My wife's brother and his family live in a very unique place just north of Phoenix. It's called Anthem. I've been out here 5 or 6 times since they moved here. Each time I come I am taken aback by the "ease" of life here. Golf courses, gobs of playgrounds, a train through the park, neighborhood rec center, water park, fishing ponds, roller blade stadium, walk ways, hiking paths, bike trails, cul de sacs, and on and on and on. You name it and it is here. What I always start assuming when I first get here is how great everyone's life is. No desperation and no longing for the good life. They have found it! Obviously, these people have no real problems in life. Their kids run free and are safe doing so. They all have nice houses, beautiful yards, shiny cars, and plenty of discretionary income.

As I'm here a bit longer though, I start to see things more clearly. Lots of stay at home moms whose kids see their daddies leave very early in the morning and come home very late in the evening. Lots of trying to keep up with the affluency of their neighbors. Lots of entertainment. Lots of "more". I think about the Fellowship Church, the Canyon Church, the Grace North Church, the new Catholic and Lutheran Churches that are being either planted or built here. I see the challenges they are facing in trying to bring The Life to those who are living the life. It's different than what we face in Russia or what others face in their respective mission fields. It's different but it is no less daunting.

If you are thinking of a place to move and live, let me suggest Anthem. If Traci and I had the money, it'd be hard to not at least pray about being here. It is a place that needs mature Christians who are committed to living a credible Christian example within an affluent context. I applaud my brother in law and his family. They are light and life here in a way I doubt I could be. I applaud those planting churches here. They are expressing bodylife in a way that is applicable here. Though the initial take on this place is that "they have it all," we know all they have is useless if they don't first have Christ.

Don't let affluency (or the lack of it) throw you off from seeing where people itch. Seek it out, latch on to it, and then help people scratch that itch. Meeting them where they are is very much what we are called to do.

Now, I gotta get back to the big screen and SportsCenter...