Where I'm going today

this

is where i'm going today. SuburbanRails has taken me on as friendly fone guy for a while. My friend James is more than kind to do so.

This park just got completed by SR, and we're heading up there today for a "bizness" call. Hopefully there'll be a bit of shredding there, as well.

young Jordan, pictured in first link, is one of the Effort guys. He's the most gonz-friendly, creative skater I know personally.

It's a priv to work in skateboarding and skateparks.

yesterday I visited and helped a bit at a neighbor's house, building their half-pipe. that should be good.

Well, gtg.

gratitudes...

this morning is COLD. it was in the 30's last night. and I woke up with that headachy shaky feeling I get when the weather changes out from under me... and i feel so grateful!

one of the things I'm grateful for is the "one-hundred dollar hoopty". It's this wreck of a car-a toyota corolla- from 1991 that got donated to us... a gift of love that was difficult to understand at first.

I put just under a hundred dollars and about 20 hours into her and got her running good enough.
she needs a new muffler. badly. but she's just 4 cylinders, so it's not that loud... i drive like a grampa, so no worries...

there are a LOT of "real" things I'm grateful for, though. Like Aaron Mansfield's new marriage, and the babies born in our community here. Like Kadin and Seth playing after school. Gosh, Kadin is a genius! He builds the most fascinating lego weaponry on sunday mornings.

I'm grateful for Charlie and Crystal and my man Riley. (how do you guys spell him?) I'm grateful for finding my friend Greg, and how Chris Deering's mouth has spilled so much grace this month.
I'm grateful for Sam, one of the godliest young men I've known. He's like when JP was young! Fired up! and silly! and wise!

I'm grateful for marcelo, my Brazilian boy, who at 17 has crossed the equator to spend a year in grey Ohio. All of his comparisons show us lacking. and we are. He has learned to shred on a skateboard, lately. I'm proud of him because he's braver than he looks. He is slaying dragons.

I'm grateful for my man aaron ross, who got his hair cut yesterday. at 13 he's dealing with the world in a wisdom from above, from time to time... he's a good man in training and i'm honored to be his dad...

it goes on, deeper and deeper, ending with my wife. there is simply nothing better on this earth than the love of a godly woman. having a wife who loves me less than she loves Jesus--whose first and almost only love is our Lord--has sanified me. She is a constant source of truth and wisdom. She isn't afraid of the trials of life. amazing. fearless...

some thoughts today.

and JP, thanks for the call.

What isn't there to love about my eldest son's love of skateboarding. The thing I like the most is how he learns to do what HE wants to. All of his skateboarding is HIS.

The Poor: Discovering that you are them...

...and yet, as we enter into friendship with the poor through daily contact with Jesus, on his madman path of life in the Spirit...

we will discover, as soon-to-be-formerly-rich-people, that we are not rich at all. We'll find a bravery and a freedom among the poor saints that we lack. A peace and unfetteredness--a readiness for the Kingdom Above... and we'll find ourselves jealous and ashamed...

yet we are called to turn our visits into residency. your trips to mexico and Kenya... just go there. go and lead and be and grow. go and die and rise again. go and attain to the better resurrection-that city with walls whose builder and architect is God, who, in Christ, endured the cross, counting its shame a small thing...

comforted by angels, you will know God's face. pure in heart.

you will see that before you came here, with Him, you had nothing, and now you have everything.

all you rich christians! You're going to lose it all, soon. Either crisis, or death, or sickness, or God's hand of circumstance will soon enough peel the false face off your life. seek for the depth of God! give up STUFF along the way.

then your use and enjoyment (1 tim 6) of it will be free of greed, which finds itself next to homosexuality on the naughty list. do you want to be found with that on you? then plow up your fallow ground. (hos.10:12)

read these scrips and comment me others! get into this with God...

The Poor: Becoming them

you know what? one of the most difficult things about what Jesus says about the poor is that we'll become them...

look at the loss we'll suffer:
sell all, give to the poor, follow me...
love your life in this world? Lose it.
poor are rich in faith to inherit the kingdom
rich get in by a miracle of God-very difficult for them
poor have high position
woe to rich
blessed the poor...

look at the teachings of the master. Why do we cling to wealth? we do.
stop.
don't.
cling to the cross...

aah the cross. There's another thing. Not just His teaching, but his example. "He who was rich became poor so that we, through His poverty, may become rich..." look that up. someone tell me what scriptures I'm speaking from...

Jesus modeled the "downward mobility" of becoming a leaf on the wind... even better, the Wind itself...
isn't that the basic teaching of the kingdom he gave the old religionist in John 3? That those who are really Jesus people: born of the Spirit... that they're like the Wind. Not a leaf. The Wind.

Are you like the wind? or are you attached to this world in your heart. Lay it bare again, today, before the Master and make a fresh 100% surrender.

This is me in the Philippines with "Shadrach". I have very little clue to what he was saying to me, but I think it was, "Let me have that guitar for a minute." He wanted to play me a song.

Cough Receding

I know I posted about contracting the "Whooping Cough", "pertussis", a while back. Well, my doc put me on a med that was not "for" pertussis. It helped and knocked the cough back during my trip to the Philippines, but during the last couple days and into my settling back in, the cough returned to pummel me nightly. As of yesterday, I have slept on the couch for a long time, since my frequent awakening and nightly coughing bouts awake Judy.

But last night, on our trip to Portland, ME for training in the State Department Grants programs that we work with, I slept all night. All night. A full night's sleep. What a blessing!

Thanks God for a full night's sleep. I feel terriffic! and I also recognize that there are so many people today suffering from chronic illness who don't get to sleep or rest because of pain. Thanks God for all the people who pray for me and put up with me in the real-time of life.

All of you at Northside and across the country who love me and pray for me and my family: thanks to God for you.

The Poor: "Normative" discipleship

loving the poor
within the family of faith
and our neighbors geographically
isn't a special project or administration, separate from other parts of our faith.

it is the authentic outworking of a "normal", "normative" christian life, among the discipled, obedient students of the Master.

are you a disciple? Are you a Christian? this will be your fruit.

do you not have this fruit? Personally, individually? Corporately, as a church? Then Seek the Lord in the Word and prayer, laying down your life again to surrender to His will. Learn to HEAR and HEED the Holy Spirit! Don't just do what's right in your own eyes! Come to Him and Reason with Him! Engage Him.

It says in Is.55 to seek the Lord. Not to seek His Will. it says in Romans 12 that if you lay down your body (and its desires, plans and cravings) you will know his will. Knowing and doing the will of God are products of His laying hold of you and you laying hold of Him and surrendering your will to His. this is just christianity.

The Poor: the Flow

where you live
where you move
who eats at your table
who sleeps over
where your extra goes...

these things are claimed by God for the support of the saints in the Body, that the church may manifest the teaching of Jesus, embodied. What? is it too challenging for pastors to command the rich to be generous and not trust in wealth? (1 Timothy 6)

a flow of resources, impelled by God's love in our hearts (1 John 3:16-20) and a disposition toward obedience to Jesus' commands in our minds (2 Cor.10:5)

...this flow--from the rich to the poor (Jas.1: 9-10) will PROVE that JEsus is our Lord! This is a manifestation, a fruit, of the love we have for him who loved us and gave himself for us... so now we live with our hearts set on His Kingdom, and we live differently than we used to.

try to lay up a fat account for tomorrow with this kind of teaching going on! You'll end up rich toward God, depending on Him daily, and joining the Hebrews 11 parade!

The Poor: Pastors and the Word

Pastors don't minister the Word without compromise. I'm talking about major compromise, here.

I mean, how many sermons have you heard that confront greed with a scathing insight? that really peel the skin off a greedy man?

...and how many times have you been in a meeting where there was church discipline of the adultery and greed that are carrying us downstream?

no matter how many times you have, it doesn't make much difference if we're still going downstream, does it?

We need to return to the Word of God and Obey our master and sovereign, Jesus. Then the refreshings will fall from heaven.

If you're a faithful pastor who ministers with integrity and shepherds with authority and love from our Savior, don't chicken out. Press in and do the work of the Word and prayer among your people.

The Poor: Two Priorities

the prosperity that comes through the blessings of righteousness: a constant flow outward.
brings healing
refreshes the soul
allocates our affections to heaven


the prosperity that comes through the amassing of wealth through greed: a stagnating collection inward.
causes pressure
stagnates and putrefies
allocates our affections to the earth


Let us be on our guard against every form of greed!

greed. there i said it. greed.
this is as big a sin as homosexuality or what have you.
and more prevalent.

and the fearfulness and laziness of Christian preachers has allowed it to consume the church of God in this country. We have put aside the clear word of God and become servants to the greedy!

Rise up o men of God. Have done with lesser things! Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the king of kings!

The Poor: The Power

in the last post I ended with a quote from the timothies about form and power... read that.
1 Tim 3:1-5

Be dismayed and amazed at how much of that behavior and mindset is PREVALENT among present-day MINISTRIES in their daily office life. Have you seen it? God sees it all. Now is the time for ministers and ministries to purge themselves of the flesh and the deeds of the flesh.

judgment starts at the house of God...

because of the increase of wickedness the love of many will grow cold (mat. 24).
and look at how cold we are. We don't even KNOW how to faithfully and obediently handle hospitality and ministry to the poor among the churches! Group after Group squanders their opportunities, their mind set on the things of men, not the things of God...

the power of God is found in the simplicity of obedience to Jesus Christ, in the Church, daily. But with "Church" defined as a meeting, whose success is defined by attendance and collection numbers... the Power will not be manifest...

behold the things the american church can do... without God.

The Poor: Romans 12

Associate with the Lowly...

Jesus who was rich, became poor so that we, through His poverty, may become rich.

Along the lines of Matthew 25, we realize that the least of these His brethren, are important! We become passionate about this.

We read James and read how we're to avoid that gravitation toward affluence that gives preference to the things of rich-ness, and rich people... We see that we are to esteem the poor in this life (among the church, all of this so far) as greater in the faith and the Kingdom of our Lord...

As people of the Word, a core value, a passion, a reality from beyond and before us, begins to drive us. We begin to pray differently. We have a passion to be near Jesus, and we know where that will take us, no?

Perhaps this is the driving reason behind so many of the forms of Christianity that we see today. Affluent, meeting-based, drive-in/drive-away, hand-out, quick-visit missions, drive-by servanthood... These are forms of godliness that deny the real power of God, my friends.

The Word: John's sharing about China

Among the persecuted church in China and the house church network that Brother Yun is part of, they ran into a big problem with Western Teachers and Missionaries.

The westerners could only minister in the Word for about 40 minutes, maybe an hour. That was WAAAAAY too short. The Christians there go for about 2 or 3 hours listening to and discussing the Word with their teachers, then break for lunch, then go for another 2 or 3 hours...

This has actually happened in our house church before, and it was a blessing. I was exhausted and exhilarated. I have seen this among hungry disciples when I was young, tarrying in meeting through the wee hours...

I've seen it a lot, but always outside of the "normal" christianity we're fed en masse.

The Word

This discussion of the poor ends up being a discussion about the Word.

The Word is a person: Jesus, of whom the Scriptures speak. The purpose of the Scriptural witness is to illuminate Jesus. This is also what the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jesus) is doing.

Any engagement of the Bible that doesn't result in connection to the Word, who is Jesus, is dead. It is just another in the litany of dead religious works we do in our flesh to feel better in this hostile and dying world...

The Poor: Matt. 25 ...my brethren...

Acts demonstrates the care of widows within the community

"...especially to those who are of the household of faith..." (where is that in scripture, anybody?)

Timothy: delineation of priority in the ministry to widows

Julian the Apostate: they take care of (all of) their own, as well as a number...

There's something about Priority when it comes to the ministry to widows and orphans, isn't there? It's not just a sloppy love-fest, is it? And it's not just a hand-out to first comers, in the church, is it? Not just a social good-working organization, is it?

What is it then?

The Poor: Doing what is right in our own eyes

Sometimes when we do for the poor, we do what is right in our own eyes, don't we. We get led astray from (2 Cor. 11:3) Sincere and pure devotion to Christ, and get roped into a life of philanthropy and concern for men's issues...

What we do must come from our love of Jesus. Love we receive and shine back, as the moon does the sun.

anything else, though borne of good intentions, can lead to perdition. "the road to hell..."

The Poor: Matthew 16

Jesus rebukes peter here because he had in mind the things of men, not the things of God.

Peter had something in mind that was ostensibly good: the life of the Master.

But although it was ostensibly good, it was not good.

It was fundamentally evil. Jesus called him "satan".

So we see that it is possible to have in mind something we see as good, yet to be fundamentally evil, because it is the "things of men, not the things of God." Amazing. Gives one pause.

I call this "things of men" attitude: Androcentrism. Centered on men and the purposes of mankind. It plays out in all kinds of good-looking altruism and philanthropy.

We are called to "Christocentrism". We are called to hear Jesus say, "I'm going to go and die and be raised" and say "Good. You are good and we trust you and we hope in the fulfillment of your words."

Now if I had been peter, I would've done worse. But I'm not him. i'm me. I don't live then. i live now. And I have seen by faith something that Peter didn't get to see until after that day, so I don't have to make the same mistake...

This "androcentrism" is at the heart of a lot of "good" things that lead us astray.

The Poor: Intro

A good friend recently asked me to do some thinking and praying, and to share with him about "The Poor" and how Christianity/Christians interface with "them".

There have been many movements and ministries launched, a lot of books written, money raised and speakers paid to deal with this issue, yet the lions share (ironic metaphor?) of American christians have no daily contact, much less discipleship relationship, or friendship with people below their socio-economic status. Why is this? What's the deal? What the heck?

With all that we find from Old Testament to New Testament about "the poor", what should we as individual beleivers, and we as the church Body, be believing and doing (one without the other is dead)?

I am going to share some "raw thought" out here on the web, in hopes of stimulating discipleship among a wider listenership than I have in my daily life... So here come quick posts with individual "bites" of teaching and ideas about "The Poor".

Please receive these for what they are: thoughts shared to stimulate our growth. OUR growth: I'm growing here, too. That's what is so fun about blogging: we do it for ourselves, too.

enjoy...

hey, i'm going to the doctor in 10 minutes. you know that cough? it's back. i cough all night. for a month! even when i was "better", i still felt it in my chest. Thanks to God i didn't suffer it in the Philippines...

did i mention that Judy and I got to go to the Philippines and see Dad and visit with 2 churches over there?

those of you who pray, please tune in on this cough thing...

Battlestar Galactica

dude, bill adama is the man.

Judy and I've been watching through BSG for the last month. Still quite a way to go, but it's gooood... i mean, there's stuff, but that's what the skip button's for. so send the kiddies to bed, put your finger on the ff button and learn a thing or two about leadership on a battlestar from Bill.

hilarious reality: I watch Nacho Libre when i feel like i'm going to have a nervous breakdown. it really really helps. thanks to aaron mansfield and clan for that technical insight.

New computer

I got a new macbook pro 17 inch. no kidding.

"got" is a bit complicated.

Through the Grace of God,
the persistence of Don at Elan Tech
the wisdom of Apple Computers
...and the generosity of my friend James...

I have a new computer dropped in my lap.
just as the old one dims.

Unlike previous days, I'm now no longer on salvage technologies. I have already posted my first video on YouTube. It's not so good b/c i got the timing on the text all wrong, but it's a start... have a look.

Sam Sam the coffee man...

this morning sam took the first two cups of 8 from the pot, as soon as they brewed. "Yeah! I just did that! Whooooo!" He's all like jumpin' up and down and goin' nuts. Don't confront Sam about stuff that doesn't matter...

He's hilarious! Hilarious! Guy's a nut. Sam says, "Whoooo!" You gotta see it.

and why are christians still gravitating to "nice" and "safe" neighborhoods? What is being taught in the meeting-houses of today? Obviously it is soaked in greed (niceness) and fear (safeness).

let's repent.

any christian discipled to OBEY all that he has commanded us is going to manifest a hearty desire to get in there and share the gospel in the tough places... most of the Cincinnati churchgoers think it's beyond good enough to visit a tough place a couple of days a year...

let's repent. Starting with pastors who model and teach to this. If your leadership isn't making a disciple of you--one who obeys all that Jesus commanded us--you need to examine your motives and get real with the Lord... are you into that?

and you pastor-folks... doesn't it make you fearful that the single greatest enemy to the kingdom of god (which is impossible to impede) has been institutional/organized/professional religion-people? Don't you tremble at the thought of facing a stricter judgment, having made man-pleasers and line-toe-ers of the people that Jesus called to deny self and take up the cross?

We are to equip our people to be holy and surrendered to Christ, even unto death. What? To resist sin and to serve to the extreme. Some of us are satisfied with "turn-outs" to "events" that do no more than advertise our meeting days... wow...

Live there, dude.

how do people do it? trying to minister on any daily basis among the church, when the church is a wide-spread conglomeration of individuals who drive up to an hour to come to a weekly meeting?

I mean, daily ministry is to be "neighbor-intensive" isn't it? Jesus told us to love our neighbors. and i'm talking about healing them and doing good deeds among them and to them... soooo... how does the church do that when its meaning is reduced to meeting-culture attendance/membership?

wow. what a systemic problem we face...

during this shifting time, Christians need to focus on ministering in the church, where they live, with the church as their family, daily, in real-time, as a body... this means that the christians you live near are more your church than the meeting community you attend on Sundays...

This implies a shift of understanding of "church" to mean a people: the people nearest your home, first...

All this "drive-in" christianity is producing "drive-away" christianity! This simply isn't the kind of service to which Christ called us. What?

forget how much more effective at the work it is to do it right. What about just the plain old pleasure of our Lord. Let's repent and redefine our terms in Biblical ways, no matter what the cost...

if anyone out there needs help talking this through or praying about it, feel free to connect with us. we are excited about you becoming a disciple who obeys Jesus, where YOU live. About this, we can have coffee...

Visit us and see it firsthand in all of its ordinary glory...

excerpt from this week

researching identity theft and preparing to help someone regain their finances from it...

...researching top Job leads to help local teens get their feet on the ground...

...counseling to young marriages and new parenting...

...teaching in Bible Studies all over the place...

...availability to conversation with neighbors who are... our neighbors! We're supposed to LOVE them, and so often hardly know them...

...working with Welcome Home to help a local family get their feet on the ground, out of extreme poverty. extreme...

meetings... there are so many scheduled meetings in a week...

...regaining my footing with the skatepark company i've started working with, after a 12 day hiatus for a trip to the Philippines...

...jetlag and a cold...

...the joy of my kids, every day. i LOVE picking them up from school every day at 330. It is a high-point and I crave it like a drug. What a joy, this lifestyle of work from home and Ministry in our own neighborhood...

just went down to help with the Teen Job Fair in Northside... What was amazing was how many of the companies that promised to send representatives to help teens apply DIDN't. They just didn't show. didn't call didn't anything...

These young inner city youth saw firsthand the bad example of companies to which they hope to apply for jobs that will require them to show up on time and keep their word... interesting. but sadly, not earth-shakingly surprising...

double standards abound in this world. it's a good thing there is a next one... and so sad that so few will choose to seek Him out to find it...

Back from Philippines

Some of you may know that Judy and I went to the Philippines... I'll update you soon. just want all of you to know...