i am paradox

New Dr. Pepper

Was in the grocery store the other day, and came across a new flavor of soda being offered by Dr. Pepper: Berries and Cream. I tried out the diet version, and although it tastes ok, I don't like it as much as the cherry vanilla. It tastes like something that I have had before, but can't place my memory on what that would be!

Here is what the official website says:
"New Dr Pepper Berries & Cream combines the one of a kind flavor of Dr Pepper with the smooth indulgent taste of cream and a refreshing hint of berry. Get lost in the flavor. Get berried in cream."

Vacation !

Well, this is the first chance that I have had to post since I left for vacation. I woke up at 2 a.m. this morning to leave for Vegas. I flew from there to Salt Lake City, then changed planes for New Orelans. I am spending a couple of days there to be with family (aunts, cousins), and then it's off to the country to be with my mom and her side of the family. Angie and I were in New Orlean for Christmas 2004, and haven't been back to this part since 2001. Cottonport has a whopping popluation of about 2300, and is located in Central Louisana, 3 hours north of New Orleans.

Even though my aunt and her family live in Kenner, you would be surprised at how much damage was done by Hurricane Katrina, so many months ago. We toured yesterday, and it's so bad. There were "blue roofs" everywhere, which means that so many people just put blue tarps on their roofs b/c it's so hard to get roof repair done right now, b/c there is so much demand. It's also hard to find building materials. There were untold countless trailers in front of people's homes, where they are living in until their houses are back to normal. FEMA has provided the trailers. One street we drove down, you could see trailers all the way down the horizon, as far as the eye could see.

But the worst was downtown, right next to where the levee broke. On one side of the street, there were houses. On the other side, untold amounts of debris where homes were. It looked like a war torn, 3rd world country: demolished homes and power lines, overturned vehicles, homes with vehicles and trees and powerlines in them. Unbelieveable, you can't even put it into words. I am talking like 8 or 9 blocks, and it's so bad, all of this used to be in the street, you couldn't even get around. Now, everyone is driving by, taking pictures, and even though it is still bad, it took them 6 months to get it to where it's at now. It will take so long to get back to normal, if that is even possible. The problem is so complex, because it will take a lot more than just money to fix. And it's so bad, it's not like you can just take a group of friends to go clean it up. I'm speechless.

I am here until Saturday, and then I will be in Dallas with friends for a few more days before returning home.

Good bye for now

"Paradox -- the emerging community of faith that Benjy and I and a small group of young adults began three years ago -- has quietly slipped away -- R.I.P.

It has been an amazing three years, and we all have learned SO much (e.g. discovering that the "church-within-a-church" model is very difficult to pull off). Some outside observers were prone to merely consider Paradox an 'experiment' in exploring different ways of being the church, but Benjy and I always considered it to be much more than that."

Thanks so much for the kind words Chris. Read the rest here .

Follow our new adventure, starting soon, here!

Catalyst

Conversation over dinner

After 3 years of living in the greatness that is Southern California, we FINALLY found a restaurant nearby that serves Texas style BBQ!  We were taken to dinner by friends and were honestly skeptical at first, but this place was so good, it was definately as close as it gets to Texas BBQ without going to Texas--they even had brisket !

Part of our conversation that night was about the missing man and possible murder from a cruise ship. You can read the details here :Cruise Ship Murder .  Basically, " no one has been charged, but Connecticut's top federal prosecutor said Tuesday that the 26-year-old's disappearance is being aggressively investigated and reports of blood on the ship raise concerns. The comments are the first by a U.S. prosecutor on the case and the strongest indication yet that officials suspect foul play.

The couple had been drinking and gambling at the ship's casino that night, the prosecutor said. The next morning, he said, Hagel woke up and went to the gym. Smith was reported missing after cleaners found blood in their cabin. There was also blood on the balcony and a hand print on the side of the ship, the prosecutor said, speaking on condition of anonymity."

YLI TEAM 05

This is one of the most exciting weeks of my entire year! I get to be a part of the amazing YLI TEAM Conference 05.  A few years ago, many influential people realized that the next generation of leaders within the Body were not being successfully raised up. A few different universities, including Azusa Pacific, were given 2 million dollars from the Lilly Endowment to see what could be done to change this.

And what Robin Dugall and his staff are doing is an amazing, innovative job at raising up the next generation of Christian leaders. There is an incredible, almost unbelieveable sense of community and connection. So I will be blogging from here this week.

Community

It's been a while, I know. I will probably have to start trying to attract readers all over again. I have been going through some personal and ministry change. We have decided to go back to the drawing board with paradox. It's been 2 and 1/2 half years in, but we are not seeing the life change that we are happy with. Many people involved in this new way of doing church don't last long and end of closing their doors. We have prayed and feel that it's not time to do that yet, but we are totally revamping what we do.

Can you imagine if more church leaders would actually think about doing this, what kind of effect it could have?  I know many people just aren't able to do this, but some can and just don't have the guts. We are about reproducing followers and disciples who experience life change through Christ. It's not about candles, sermons, music or attendance trends.

More details coming soon....

Vacation ! ! !

Just got back from a great extended weekend vacation in the best city on the planet: San Diego. If you have never been or just haven't been lately, you should definately put it on your must do list. We originally planned to go to attend the 30th Annual Jazz Fest, which was totally great.

While there, we also went to Balboa Park, visited a few beaches and discovered an amazing lounge: The Onyx.  The Gaslamp Quarter is where both the loung and jazz fest were held. It's like the historic and cultural center of the downtown area. We felt like the only people there in our 20's who were not smoking cigars. An overall great weekend.

New beginning

Our dog socks died last Friday. We had her for about 2 years or so. The original plan was to wait until after summer to get another, but our dog Wags is kinda lonely and depressed. We came across this cute little guy online today and couldn't say no. We get him tomorrow. His name is chocolate, but we want to change it. Any ideas?

Who are you ?

I was talking to a good friend lately who is doing a research project. She asked me, who are you?  Have you ever thought of how to answer that question and how profound it really is?  I began by saying my name, how old I am, where I live, who I'm married to and what I like. But that doesn't really give you an accurate picture of who I am.

What about who or what your friends or family say that you are? Is that totally accurate?  How do you determine who you are?

Honesty

So I've been thinking about what it really means to be honest lately. And my friend Marko who recently started a blog (finally!) has some good thoughts on it that I really liked.

"I was in a guys accountability group that met weekly. They were my best friends, and we really lived life together. But we also met once a week – usually on my front porch, so cigars were involved in the best Lewis and Tolkein way – and voluntarily talked about what was going on in our lives and minds and hearts and souls.

Problem is: all accountability is voluntary. Just because we met every week, we never had a hint that one of the guys had a 10 year struggle with porn that – later, after our group had moved on – almost ended his marriage, and did end his youth ministry career. And this was just the kind of thing we talked about in our group. But he, voluntarily, chose not to.

Bottom line:  accountability is a sham.  It’s voluntary."

Accountability is a sham