Live Generously

So I know it’s been quite awhile since I last posted. There has been a lot going on and I have a lot I’d like to talk about. There isn’t a particular reason why I haven’t been posting…other than the fact that I’m lazy. It has been a good last couple of weeks, and here are a few things that have caught my attention:

1) We had a truly fantastic Easter last weekend at New Song. I certainly was not at my best, but I was very proud of our church. I thought everyone did a great job with Sunday morning, and we had a wonderful time of worship together on Sunday night. It was really a great day of celebrating the resurrected Christ.

2) During my spring break I read the book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project. My dad, who is not a Christian, recently read the book and he seemed to like it, so I decided it was worth getting a copy of the book and giving it a read. I felt that Collins did a great job of showing how what he knows to be true from his scientific training and what he knows to be true as a Christian need not be seen as contradictory. It particularly recommend the book to those who are Christians and find theories such as young earth creationism and intelligent design to be intellectually unsatisfying. What I most appreciated about the book was Collins’ fair-mindedness. I felt he was very even-handed in his analysis of the various issues that he was considering, and he was cordial towards those with whom he disagreed. I never sensed that he was overly dogmatic, nor did I sense that he sought to belittle those with different persepctives. We need more people who can present their perspectives in the way that Collins does, particularly in the church.

3 ) The Bruins somehow made it to the Final Four. There were some tense moments along the way, but they made it. That is a good thing. The tournament has been a lot of fun this year and has produced several great games. Speaking of March Madness, while my bracket has totally stunk this year, my wife is currently in the 99.9 percentile on espn.com with her bracket. I am humbled and amazed.

4) I just started reading N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope the other day. N.T. Wright is a terrific scholar and I am always challenged by reading his writing. So far this book has been about the resurrection, and it appears so far to be a helpful theological corrective. He acknowledges that perhaps the biggest problem when it comes to understanding the resurrection and other issues of life-after-death and eschatology (end times stuff) is simply that many Christians don’t understand what the Bible actually says.

5) Last night at Seven24 we had a woman from Elam Ministries come and share. Elam works to distribute Bibles and otherwise equip the underground church in Iran. It was remarkable to hear stories of what God is doing in Iran. I was both inspired and challenged as I heard about the hunger that the Iranian people have for the Word of God. We have it so easy over here. Towards the end of her talk I asked the woman what we as American Christians in Southern California could learn from our brothers and sisters in Iran. She suggested that perhaps the church in America needs a little bit of persecution in order to wake us up spiritually (not her exact words, but that was the basic gist). I often wonder if she is right. I encourage you to click to their website above and read about some of the terrific work that Elam does.
6) School starts tomorrow. I’m very excited to have another class with Dr. Craig Hovey. He is by far the best professor I have had in my year and a half at Fuller. This class is on political theology and it promises to be a good one.

7) I recently subscribed to Relevant magazine and I have greatly enjoyed the magazine so far. They are speaking the language of twentysomethings at Relevant, and I’ve been impressed with several of the articles I have read. I particularly enjoyed a short essay from the most recent issue that I also just discovered is posted in its entirety here. The piece is called Will We Obey? and it’s written by a guy named Winn Collier. He begins by admitting his distaste for Christian cliches that over simplify faith (a distaste that I fully share), but he then turns the mirror inward and confesses that his frustration with oft cheesy Christian culture has led him to a place of spiritual passivity. In his words:

“I’m noticing the uncomfortable fact that I have used my distaste for Christian cliche as well as my desire for authentic faith illicitly, as a cover for my spiritual passivity. If I imagine everything must be so hard, so complex, so confusing all the time…If I believe honesty requires me to constantly rehash, rethink and circle round and round and round…then I excuse myself from the responsibility of trusting what I do know and from obeying God wherever ) and whenever) He has spoken clearly.”

Collier raises an important point. I believe we are right to acknowledge that faith is more complicated than perhaps we make it out to be, but we are in big trouble if we turn this acknowledgment into a tacit excuse for spiritual passivity. He goes on to quote the great Eugene Peterson, who once said that the most important question we can ask of a passage of Scripture, “What can I obey?” I was deeply convicted by the entire article, as I see in myself and others like me a desire to question and otherwise commiserate about various spiritual issues under the facade of seeking authentic spiritual maturity that is instead hiding a desire to avoid obedience (I’m not sure if that sentence made sense, but oh well). I wholeheartedly believe that questions are good, especially when it comes to faith. But I (we) must not use our questions as a sort of implicit excuse for obedience. Give the essay a read, it will take all of two minutes.

8 ) I got to hang out with my buddy James on Saturday morning. We had a great time talking about our lives and working through various theological issues we have been struggling with. He just returned from Uganda, and is working on starting a great socially pro-active business called Acholi Beads.

9) And finally, I’m teaching on a particularly important passage of Scripture from Mark 9 this weekend. I spent a couple of hours at a coffee shop today studying for the message, and I’m really looking forward to writing the rest of it. It is my hope and prayer that we will have an honest, convicting, and encouraging discussion together this week at Seven24.

That’s it for now…I probably could have written a whole post about all of the above items, but I wanted to at least make a brief mention of all of them. I’ll try to post a little bit more regularly this week…

It’s nearly 3:00 a.m., and I’ve finally finished paper writing for the day. We are now only mere hours away from the start of the greatest two weeks of the sports year, known affectionately as March Madness. I am slightly disappointed that the combination of finals this week and Easter coming up on Sunday will prevent me from enjoying the first four days of the tournament, but nevertheless I determined that a little trip down March Madness memory lane was in order:

The year was 2006.

That magical Sunday when the brackets came out finally came, and there it was. UCLA, my alma mater, a #2 seed. Gonzaga, my dad’s alma mater, a #3 seed in the same region. My two favorites teams on a collision course to meet in the Sweet 16. You have got to be kidding me. I knew if there was a God in heaven that the seeds would hold up and these two teams would meet. I was giddy.

I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and I commuted once a week down to Oceanside where I was transitioning into my job as the college pastor. I commuted on Thursdays. Those were great days, but I didn’t return home to L.A. until 10:30 or so most Thursday nights.

The tournament started, and by the end of the first weekend it had happened. UCLA and Gonzaga had dispatched their opponents in the first two rounds and they were all set to play each other in the Sweet 16.

‘Should I drive home so that Dad and I can watch the game together?’ I thought to myself. If I could possibly communicate to you my near idolatrous obsession with March Madness and my long history of rooting for both UCLA and Gonzaga, and if I could possibly communicate to you how many memories my dad and I have that revolve around watching great sporting events together, you’d understand why the six-hour drive seemed worth it.

But I couldn’t. Worse than that, I wasn’t even going to be able to watch the game.

The game was on a Thursday.

The night before the game I gave my roommates, all of whom shared my passion for all things UCLA and all things March Madness, very clear instructions. “After the game is over I want you to set up the Tivo so that it’s all cued up to the beginning of the game. That way there is no chance that I accidentally see the score when I turn on the TV. And I don’t want to see any of you. I don’t care if you’re in your rooms or if you leave the apartment, just please, don’t let me see any of you.” Anyone who has ever taped a sporting event understands my desire to avoid those who knew the score.

So I went to Oceanside, and at the end of the day I drove home.

I didn’t turn on the radio.

Not even F.M.

I couldn’t risk it.

This was the biggest college basketball game of the year. I couldn’t remember a time when I was more looking forward to a sporting event. There was no way I was going to accidentally stumble across the score.

The 100 mile drive felt like 200. I didn’t call Christie. Heck, I didn’t call anyone. I just drove.

I was focused.

I entered my apartment. The Tivo was cued up perfectly, and there wasn’t a sound to be heard in the apartment. ‘They must have left,’ I thought. I plopped down on the couch, thrilled to finally be watching the game without anyone telling me the score, but slightly bummed that my dad and I hadn’t been able to watch in together.

10 minutes into the game, I was quite happy that my dad was not in the room.

UCLA was stinking up the joint.

It was bad. Real bad. I thought about just fast forwarding, finding out how much we lost by, and calling it a night. We were down 18-7 early, and it didn’t get any better.

By halftime it was 42-29.

‘I would not have been able to stomach watching this with Dad and the rest of the family enjoying Gonzaga’s dominance,’ I thought. Nothing worse than watching your team lay an egg while fans of the other team enjoy the moment. It was a good thing I hadn’t driven home.

But then, something crazy happened. The second half began and UCLA starting chipping away at the lead. They started playing defense. They started knocking down some shots. What was once a 17-point deficit shrunk to 13, to 11, to 8. They couldn’t seem to get much closer though, and with just over 3:00 to play it was a 71-62 game. In my four years at UCLA they’d done this one too many times. They’d come back from a big deficit, they’d get our hopes up, but in the end they couldn’t finish.

But this time they kept getting closer.

With 40 seconds to go they only trailed by three.

‘There’s no way,’ I thought. Years of rooting for the Sacramento Kings had made me a pessimist.

And then…magic. Magic that can only be described by watching the video pasted above.

Defense.

Free throws.

The steal by Farmar.

The lay up by Mbah a Moute.

The turnover by Ravio.

Afflalo and Collison celebrating at half court with Afflalo looking even more like Denzel’s character from Training Day than usual.

Game over.

UCLA 73 Gonzaga 71.

It really happened.

I was yelling at the TV. I was in utter disbelief. As glad as I was that my dad hadn’t been around in the first half, I was really glad he wasn’t there now, because what I witnessed was a miracle for UCLA, and one of the most gut-wrenching losses I’d ever seen in any basketball game ever at any level for Gonzaga. Not only did they lose, but their superstar player ended the game sprawled out on center court crying.

Yes, crying.

I imagined several of my family members doing the same thing, as I jumped up and down in the empty living room of my apartment. Nothing worse than trying to enjoy your team’s amazing victory while people you love are inconsolable.

I walked into one of the bedrooms, and there were my three roommates, celebrating UCLA’s victory by responsibly, and silently, enjoying a six pack of MGD. They’d stayed in the room the whole time I was watching the game and they didn’t make a sound. Well done, gentlemen.

We hugged. We jumped up and down. We looked like fools.

And we didn’t care.

It was an amazing night to be a UCLA fan, and an amazing reminder of how truly magical the Madness of March is.

And it all starts again in about six hours. I can’t wait.

I remember sitting on the couch in the living room of my fraternity house watching the coverage on CNN. The ‘countdown’ to the beginning of the war in Iraq was on. The moments ticked away and eventually whatever deadline had been set in place passed (I’m a little foggy on the details) and CNN declared that the war in Iraq had begun. I remember shaking my head at the TV screen, drawing the ire of many of my friends who could not yet recognize this war for what it was.

It’s hard to believe that was five years ago.

In honor of the fifth anniversary of this global tragedy the folks over at Sojourners have produced what they are calling A Call to Lament and Repent. It’s worth reading and I encourage you all to sign it. Frankly, I’m at a loss for what else to say. While I deeply respect the men and women who have sacrificed so bravely for our country as a part of this war effort, I continue to hold in contempt those whose dishonestly and irresponsibility have made that sacrifice necessary. If anything, the fact that I have come to befriend those who this war has personally affected has only increased my disdain for it (didn’t realize that was possible).

This is amazing…we need public safety messages like this in the United States.

A few years ago I was told that I absolutely must read this book called The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical written by a guy named Shane Claiborne, who at the time I’d never heard of. To be honest, I am frequently told that I absolutely must read such and such book, so I didn’t really think much of it. Eventually, after being given the aforementioned mandate by several people, I went ahead and ordered the book. And it absolutely blew me away. Shane’s ideas are nothing short of radical, and its voices like his that the church desperately needs. Since reading The Irresistible Revolution I’ve tried to read everything by him that I can, I’ve been to see him speak, and I even bought a little button when I saw him speak that said “God Bless Everyone” and had an American and Iraqi flag on it (I attached it to my computer bag, but sadly it eventually fell off). Needless to say when I heard about his new book, Jesus for President I was pretty excited. It just recently came out, and I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but these quotes (taken from a review of the book posted on Amazon), are certainly intriguing:

“Too often the patriotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual values of humility, gentleness, and sacrificial love.”

“We in the church are schizophrenic: we want to be good Christians, but deep down we trust that only the power of the state and its militaries and markets can really make a difference in the world.”

“Rather than placing our hope in a transitional church that embodies God’s kingdom, we assume America is God’s hope for the world, even when it doesn’t look like Christ.”

I look forward to hopefully sitting down with this book and having it kick my butt in a couple of weeks once finals are over. Publisher’s Weekly has already called the book “the must-read election-year book for Christian Americans.” They’ve got a pretty nifty website for the book that’s worth checking out. If Shane can avoid getting tagged as an ultra-liberal (which some would argue he already has), I believe he has tremendous potential to do a lot of good for the Kingdom of God in a generation that is growing weary of the tired old ways of doing church.

As you saw in my last post, I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the idea of motivation lately, namely the importance of staying motivated.  I’ve been working through the book Learning to Lead for my Org. Leadership class at Fuller, and towards the end of it I came across two terrific quotes that relate, in a sort of roundabout way, to the idea of motivation.  One is from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a letter from the Birmingham jail, and the other is from CSU-Northridge then-president Dr. Blenda Wilson’s Inaugural Address in 1993.

“I am coming to feel taht the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will.  We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic works and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.  We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability.  It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.  We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King’s quote struck me because I believe it is so easy to simply point out the bad while failing to contest for the good.  The corruption and moral depravity of our world is evident everywhere we look, from our president who refuses to outlaw waterboarding to a New York governor who has sadly shown himself to be a hypocrite, we needn’t look far to find poster children for the unfortunate state of our world.  The reality is, however, that good does not come from criticizing the bad, but as Dr. King said, it comes from the “tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God.”  It’s easy to throw rocks and point fingers…harnessing the motivation to take responsibility and seek to move the world forward is much more difficult.

Dr. Wilson’s quote below is interesting to me simply because of the language that she uses as the president of a secular university:

“In all we do, we must affirm an unyielding moral vision–that the next generation is entitled to participate fully in reinventing and benefiting from the American future.  If we believe in ourselves, we will find and create a vital and paricipatory community in which every student, faculty, and staff member is valued and respected, in which we recognize that we share common values as educated and ethical human beings, and in which the bonds of community are stronger than the habits of cultural ignorance.  That is our fervent goals.

“If we believe in ourselves, we will create the kind of learning environment and campus community that will prepare our graduates for a lifetime of learning, ethical conduct, global sensitivity, and service.  Those institutions that will succeed in achieving a 21-century version of academic excellence will be those institutions that believe–in their students, in their communities, in themselves–and as a consequence of that belief, will take risks and design radically new approaches to embracing the imperative of change.“

I had never heard of Dr. Wilson before reading this quote, nor do I know anything else about her.  But what she articulates is a compelling moral vision worth following, and it is a vision that can be implemented, in perhaps a nuanced way, in settings far beyond a university.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately.  There has been a lot going on since I got back from my trip, and I suspect that has prevented me from thinking too deeply about things to write about.  I did want to post briefly about a message that I watched at the staff retreat I went on a few weeks ago that has had a profound effect on me.  It was given my Bill Hybels at the 2007 Willow Creek Leadership Summit, and it was on the topic of motivation.  Specifically, Hybels dealt with the how leaders can motivate themselves when they are the ones who are responsible for motivating others.  This is a significant obstacle of leadership, as it is easy to lose a step or two when you don’t have anyone spurring you on.  I am fortunate in that while I am a leader to many, I also have several superiors within my organization to whom I report that are fantastic about providing me with encouragement and motivation.  That being said, I, like everyone else, still struggle with feeling drained and unmotivated from time to time.  In the course of his message, Hybels listed ten of his personal keys to staying motivated.  They were terrific, and I should say that this message was by far the best I’ve ever heard Hybels preach.  His ten keys were (with my personal comments in italics):

1. Stay clear on calling from God- I find for myself that my moments of apathy sneak in when I allow myself to drift from the understanding that God has called me into ministry and he has called me to the specific position that I am currently in.  I believe that anyone, in any profession, can fight apathy by remembering that they are uniquely called by God for the task they are doing.

2. Leverage spiritual gifts- This is huge.  It is crucial that leaders understand what their spiritual gifts are and structure their schedules accordingly.  My top two spiritual gifts are knowledge and teaching, so I am intentional about allotting large portions of my schedule to study, sermon preparation, and meetings with individuals where I can engage in meaningful conversation.  I am particularly weak when it comes to administration, so I try to delegate administrative tasks as best I can because a) I stink at them and b) Seven24 and Overdrive suffer when I am the chief administrator.

3. Make sure players on teams are inspiring people- As a sub-point to this he said, “get people around you that give you a positive emotional jolt.” It is crucial that people in leadership are intentional about getting positive people are them.  At Seven24, I am very intentional about making sure people are serving in areas where they are passionate. My primary reason for this is to care for that specific individual, but a secondary reason is that people are more positive when they are passionate, and positive people make for a positive environment.  Bottom line, I want people around me who I like and who are positive thinkers.

4. Read the right books- He specifically suggested biographies of inspiring people.  I devoured biographies when I was a kid, but don’t read them as much anymore.  It would probably be worthwhile to look at the biographies of people ranging from Lincoln and FDR to Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer, and others. I am, however, very selective in the books I read, remembering what USC president Steven Sample said at the Leadership Summit in 2004, that with every book you read you are rejecting thousands of others.

5. Rub shoulders with exceptionally inspiring people- Do you have people in your life that inspire you?  Two people that inspire me most are my college friends James and Ben (his bio is in the BFG section).  These guys both live inspiring lives and think inspiring thoughts, and being around them motivates and inspires me like few other things can.  I love being with those guys first and foremost because they are my friends, but also because they are role models.

6. Participate in inspiring events- We all need inspiring events to break us out of the doldrums every once in a while.  I’m not entirely sure what these are for me, but I know that there are certain events that fire me up in a way that is good for the soul (how’s that for vague?)

7. Pay attention to physical disciplines- He claimed that studies have shown up to a 20% energy gain in those who are physically active.  I’ve fallen into a pattern of relative slothfulness in that regard lately, and starting with the Grand Canyon I’m trying to resurrect that for the sake of my energy level and overall health.  It’s easy to completely disconnect physical condition with motivation, but there is in fact a strong link.

8. Pay attention to working environment- Here is one that I have completely ignored.  By virtually any human standard, my working environment is a mess, and it is completely my fault.  To be honest, I haven’t done much to change this since hearing the message, but it’s at least on my radar as something I ought to address.  There is something to be said for walking into a well-organized office that perhaps contains decorations that encourage motivation.  This is something I need to work on.  What is your work environment like?  Does it effect your productivity?

9. Have inspiring recreation outside of work- This one, in my opinion, relates closely to the physical discipline point.  I’m coming to realize the importance of recreation to my productivity at work, and it became especially evident to me while I was at the Grand Canyon.  My soul simply needs recreational time outdoors, and there is something about that time that inspires and motivates me.  I’m fortunate enough to have a job that I love to the point that I rarely call it ‘work’, but nonetheless I need to be disciplined about creating space for recreation (is that an oxymoron?) outside of work.

10. Practicing daily spiritual disciplines- This one I know to be true from personal experience.  When my daily spiritual disciplines go in the tank, so does my motivation level and effectiveness in ministry (go figure).  On the flip side, when my relationship with God is healthy I’m extremely motivated.  One discipline that he spoke of was what he called “saturation reflection”.  Saturation reflection consists of reading a particular passage of Scripture every day for a substantial length of time (for him it was one year). Hearing him talk about that put me over the top, as I’d been considering implementing something like that into my devotional life for some time.  I have thus been reading Colossians 3:1-17 every day for the past two weeks in an effort to have the concepts from that passage really sink in to the point where they deeply impact my life.  I have no set time frame that I’m going to continue for, but I certainly plan on reading the chapter daily, in addition to my regular Bible reading, for at least six months.  So far, it has been an absolutely amazing experience, and I highly recommend it.  Meditating deeply on that passage has not only enriched my life, but it has also deepened my passion for Bible study in general.

So those were his ten points, and needless to say I think they are good ones.  We live in the midst of a pretty apathetic world, and I suspect that Southern California is one of the more apathetic places in the country. Preaching and practicing motivation is especially crucial in college ministry I am finding, as for many these are truly ‘make or break’ years where students are deciding if they are going to strive for God’s best for them or just settle for the status quo. I found Hybels’ tips to be most helpful, and I look forward to my continued attempts to implement more of them into my daily life. Did any of Hybels’ ten tips stick out to you?  What do you do to help stay motivated?  Is motivation ever a problem for you?

You can certainly file this one away in the “odd news stories” category. South Pasadena, California, (the town right next door to the town where I go to school) has declared the first week of March “No Cussing Week”. The article linked above is certainly worth reading, as it is quite cleverly written.

The idea for “No Cussing Week” apparently came from a 14-year-old who has become fed up with the potty mouth that surrounds him at his junior high school. He and some friends started a “No Cussing Club” on his campus, and now the club has over 10,000 members spread throughout all 50 states, and they even have their own website. The founder, McKay Hatch, has been interviewed on several television news networks, and has received a commendation from the Los Angeles County Supervisor. The mission of the group is summed up in their motto, “Leave people better than you found them.”

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what to think of all of this. I virtually never use profanity that wouldn’t be allowed in a PG movie (and try my best to limit even those words), and I generally find excessive profanity to be distasteful. I say this only to show the perspective I’m coming from, and I certainly don’t mean to imply that my avoidance of profanity gives me any moral superiority. In my past I have been guilty of casting ridiculous amounts of judgment upon those who regularly cuss (I even referred to people who cuss regularly as “second class citizens” in an editorial in high school…not my proudest moment). While excessively judging those who cuss is foolish, I think there is something to be said for the notion that cussing, in certain settings, suggests a lack of intelligence. In high school I had an acquaintance who told me that he was trying to stop cussing for that very reason.

I believe, however, that the issue with profanity is something far deeper than what it says about a person’s intellect. In my view, and I know there are many who would disagree, the language one uses is more of a heart issue. To that end, I don’t particularly concern myself with the language that those around me use. In my mind, to correct someone’s language is to put a band-aid on a knife wound. Many of the students in our college group play Ultimate Frisbee with a group of people who are often quite liberal in their use of profanity, and I specifically remind our students that they aren’t the “potty mouth police”, and they should avoid correcting the language of those around them. Instead, they themselves ought to focus on playing fair and modeling sportsmanship, compassion, and more edifying language and conduct. The reality is that no one likes having their language corrected, and attempts to do so either a) don’t work, or b) work, but fail to address the real issue. The real issue is that there is anger, bitterness, and resentment in the heart of one who uses angry language (not just profanity), and that, ultimately, is what must be addressed. As Christians we, unfortunately, often attempt to claim some sort of moral superiority because we don’t use profanity, while our more socially acceptable words express the same sentiment and thus reflect the same heart condition. I am certainly guilty of this.

With all of that said, I don’t think I can agree with those that say cussing just “isn’t that big of a deal.” I find this argument to be particularly prevalent amongst Christians who casually swear. While it is socially constructed, I believe it is a big deal simply because it rehearses anger. In one of his books, John Ortberg critiques the helpfulness of “blowing off steam” using that same rationale. Using profane language and expressing anger doesn’t free us from anger, but rather it rehearses and reinforces it. Furthermore, I believe that cussing reflects a sort cultural individualism that tells us that we can say “whatever we want”. While legally this is true, I would suggest that in practice this sort of thinking is very damaging. Paul says, in admittedly a different context, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful” (1 Cor. 6:12). That statement sums up the argument I am trying to make here, and I believe it sums up the mission of the “No Cussing Club” (although they are a secular organization). We all have the right to use whatever language we want to use, but we all ought to take the social responsibility to use our words to add value to others. That ought to take precedence over exercising personal freedom, and living by that sort of ethic requires significant conscious effort. All this to say that the point of not cussing isn’t simply to avoid what is “bad”, but to instead focus on using one’s words for the good of others. That takes us back to the fact that this ultimately isn’t a language issue as much as it is a heart issue.

There are those who will hear of “No Cussing Week”, will see the club’s website, and even might read what I’m writing and scoff and how elitist and judgmental it all sounds. I’ll admit, on the surface it does all sound obnoxiously elitist, and it does seem like there is a big deal being made over a seemingly insignificant issue. My hope is simply that all of us, regardless of our reaction to all of this, will do the work of reflecting on the all of the words that we use and considering how we can use those words to add value.

This issue, of course, brings up all sorts of potential questions. Do you cuss often? Why or why not? Is it acceptable for Christians to cuss? I know many who cuss quite regularly and I’m not entirely sure what to think of it. How can we go about promoting more positive language without appearing elitist or judgmental? Am I off base in saying that language is really a heart issue? Those are just a few questions that come to mind and there are certainly many others.

In other news, while I am not a Mike Huckabee apologist, I did find this article by Jim Wallis about Huckabee interesting. Many of Huckabees ideas, as Wallis suggests, do indeed serve as evidence that the monologue of the Religious Right is over. Also, my former college pastor Rhett Smith has done some interesting non-political posts on why young people tend to like Barack Obama that are very much worth reading.

On Sunday night Christie and I returned from our trip out to the Grand Canyon. It was a pretty grueling trip, but we had an absolutely amazing time. The Grand Canyon is truly one of the most unique places in the world, and the scenery is nothing short of breathtaking. We had a great group of people with us, and we were blessed with picture perfect conditions. Below are a few pictures from our adventure:

Christie and I at the top of the Bright Angel Trail, ready to begin our descent.

The fam at Plateau Point after our first day of backpacking.

These are the sorts of views we had while backpacking. If you look closely you can see the steep trail off in the distance.

I thought this was a pretty cool picture of Christie.

This was a cool perspective shot…you can barely see my dad at the bottom of the picture.

Dad, John, and Steve inspecting their packs at our campsite at Bright Angel Campground.

Should we jump, or should we keep climbing? That was a tougher decision than you might think ;-).

Preparing dinner in the makeshift “kitchen” that Mike created on our last night in the Canyon.

The spectacular view from our campsite on the last night.

Beautiful wife and beautiful sky.

Taking a break on our way out of the Canyon (how she mustered up the energy to smile, I don’t know)

Almost there. I was pretty much gassed by this point.

The victory photo at the top!

So there are just a few pictures from our amazing trip. I hope you enjoyed them. We’re now back to real life, and I should be returning to regular blogging in the next day or two.