I Graduate from Seminary Today!

Today is the end of a 6 year journey of
studying to get my Masters in Theology
as I graduate from Talbot Seminary.
Thank you Jesus!

Marie, our kids, My parents, in-laws
sister and brother-in-laws, my sister,
friends Josh and Rose and my beloved Aunt Shirley
will all join us tonight for a dinner
to celebrate.

It should be a great day.

Did you know...
Legend has it,
Graduation ceremonies first begun
in the 1432 at Oxford University
in England.

Back than, graduates had to recite a
sermon in Latin
in order to graduate.

Thankfully, I don't have to recite any sermons
in Latin tonight, I simply have to avoid tripping
as I cross the stage.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to study theology
and I pray God uses my training for his
Glory!

Final Installment of our Promo's for MANCAMP

Here is video #3 we showed this past weekend
at Calvary:

4 Purchases I Made Yesterday and 1 Regret

Tuesday was a busy day

as I ran around town buying:

#1 - Nooma #16 - Store

One of the latest of the short film series

led by Pastor/teacher Rob Bell.

This is one of the best of the series.

The video talks about anger and what should make us angry

and what in reality makes us angry.

I don't always agree with Bell's theology,

but this short film is right on and brillant.

We are using it tomorrow night in our

"I feel Angry" series with our high school students.

#2 - A DVD/Teaching guide to Dan Kimball's book, "They Like Jesus but not the Church"

I picked up this resource for two reasons.

One, I plan to go make this a series next fall in our Young Adult Gathering as part of a larger Fall/Winter push to motivate/implore/encourage/admonish

our twenty somethings at Calvary Church to become more evangelistic (missional) in their living and thinking.

The second reason I got this resource is because a few of my high school friends are some of the non-Christians interviewed by Dan on the DVD.

I am curious to watch them on the DVD and observe some of the things they say. It is so convicting to hear their answers to what they don't like about Christians, because I was one of the actual Christians they grew up with.

#3 - A Costco CardFor the first time in my life,

I am a full fledged Costco member.
Weird.
I feel like a real adult.
Anyone want a 24 pack of lightbulbs?

#4 - Money to a Homeless Person

I gave out some money to a homeless person who came by our church.

I later found out that the story they told me was false

and that they were going from church to church in our area

milking money from people.

I regret giving out money so easily

without asking better background questions.

But the story seemed so real and convincing

I honestly felt compelled to give.

Congratulations Ryan and Melissa

Today my church officially hired Ryan Guard
to be part of the high school leadership.
I am really excited about Ryan coming onto our team!

Ryan and Melissa will be moving into the roles
of co-directors of the high school ministry
as I move out of high school ministry.

Melissa is a great leader.
Ryan is a great leader.

Our high school ministry is in for such a special season
with these 2 at the helm.
I am so proud to hand the "baton" over to both of them.

My Prayer for Melissa and Ryan

Lord, give them wisdom.

Give them humility.

Give them courage.

Give them creativity.

Give them love for students.

Give them patience.

Give them a heart for the lost.

And most of all

Lord, give them a burning passion for your name,

the name above all names, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Today is Visit Your Relative Day and Peace Day: Coincidence?

If you are not a consistent reader of Relevant Magazine
you should be.

Their website www.relevantmagazine.com
is worth a look as well.

Here is what I read today:

"This Sunday, May 18th is Visit Your Relatives Day. Oddly enough, Peace Day is also celebrated Sunday. Is this a strange coincidence or a foolish dream?"

Marie and I are blessed to have incredible relatives on both sides of our extended families.
I am not just saying that, it is really true.
So today, I toast to you Doan, Acorn, Mittmann and Hess relatives.
The card is in the mail.

My Year Living Biblically

I came across this guy

who attempted to live a year in his life following

all of the Old Testament commandments, dietary laws

and customs.

Here is a fascinating summary of his book:

(from Relevant Magazine)

The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs

"I spent 12 months following the rules of the Old Testament. All of them. Hundreds of them. I followed the famous ones, such as the Ten Commandments and ‘Love thy neighbor.’ But I also followed the often-ignored ones, such as don’t wear clothes of mixed fibers, don’t shave your beard and, yes, stone adulterers.

It was an amazing, enlightening and life-changing year. It was a spiritual journey that moved from irreverence to reverence. You see, I grew up in a totally secular home. No religion at all. I’m officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the way the Olive Garden is Italian. Which is to say, not very. But in recent years, I decided I needed to see what I was missing. Was I neglecting something crucial to being human, like someone who goes through life without ever hearing Beethoven or falling in love? I dived into the Bible headfirst. And lo, it was awesome. I was surprised by how relevant much of the Bible’s ancient wisdom was to my 21st-century life. I was surprised by how baffled I was by other passages. I was surprised by how a lifelong agnostic like I am could find solace in prayer. I was surprised by how the Bible revealed my flaws and challenged me to be a better person.

Since I’m officially Jewish, I spent most of my year studying and following the Old Testament (though I did devote the last four months to the New Testament). I know that most Christians don’t follow a lot of Old Testament laws. And in fact, neither do Jews. Jews may avoid shellfish, as Leviticus says, but they don’t stone adulterers or sacrifice animals. Those were abandoned after the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. But I wanted to try everything. As naive or misguided as it may have been, I wanted to get into the mind and sandals of my ancestors. And I’m glad I did. Because even the rules that seemed bizarre at first glance were thought-provoking and revealed important insights about faith, God and the Bible.

THE 5 MOST UNEXPECTEDLY WISE & LIFE-ENHANCING RULES

Keep the Sabbath.

I’m a workaholic (I check my emails in the restroom, in the middle of movies, anywhere). But the Sabbath taught me the beauty of an enforced pause in the week. No cell phones, no messages, no thinking about deadlines. It was a bizarre and glorious feeling. As one famous rabbi said, the sabbath is a “sanctuary in time.”

Give thanks.

The Bible says to thank the Lord before our meals. I did that. But then I got carried away. I gave thanks for everything—for the subway arriving on time, for the comfortable cushions on my couch, for my high-speed DSL connection, etc. It was a strange but great experience. Never have I been so aware of the thousands of little things that go right in our lives.

Let your garments be always white. (Ecclesiastes 9:8)

I chose to follow this literally—I wore white pants, a white shirt and a white jacket. This was one of the best things I did all year. I felt lighter, happier, purer. Clothes make the man: You can’t be in a bad mood when you’re dressed like you’re about to play the semifinals at Wimbledon or go to P. Diddy’s party.

Don’t gossip.

When you try to go on a gossip diet, you realize just how much of our conversations involve negative speech about others. But holding your tongue is like the verbal equivalent of wearing white. I felt cleaner and untainted.

Do not curse.

I used to curse a lot. In fact, my computer password was, at one time, a particularly adolescent bodily function. During my year, I tried to scrub up my vocabulary. My new curse words were: Fudge, sugar and shoot. Whenever I said them, my wife would respond by whistling the Andy Griffith theme song. She can mock me, but the weird thing is, I think my G-rated language made me a less angry person. Because here’s the way it works: I’d get to the subway platform just as the downtown train was pulling away, and I’d start to say the F-word. I’d remember to censor myself. So I’d turn it into “Fudge” at the last second. When I heard myself say “Fudge” out loud, it sounded so folksy, so Jimmy Stewart-ish and amusingly dorky, that I couldn’t help but smile. My anger receded. Behavior shaped emotions.

2 RULES I VIOLATED AT LEAST ONE TIME PER DAY (AND WHAT I TRIED TO DO ABOUT THEM)

You shall not covet.

This is like asking someone not to breathe. Especially in my hometown of New York. This is a city that runs on coveting. And on a typical day, I would covet dozens of things, everything from Steve Jobs’ latest gadget to my friend’s sprawling back yard. I came up with several tools for battling coveting. Perhaps the most effective was to overcome coveting with gratefulness. Every time I coveted something (like a flat-screen TV), I’d counter it with something I was grateful for (that I have a working color TV with good reception and a remote).

Be slow to anger. (Proverbs 19:11)

I knew I had to wrestle with my anger when I gave the finger to an ATM (in my defense, it did charge me a $2 fee). I never fully quashed my anger, but the best method for putting the brakes on rage came from the story of Jonah. It’s a wonderful story. God teaches Jonah—who was acting like a peevish teenager—to get some perspective. Jonah whines to God about the loss of a shady plant that was keeping him cool in the desert sun. So God asks him, “Do you do well to be angry?” And God reminds him what’s important: Jonah just helped God save Nineveh, a city of 120,000. Get some perspective

To read the rest of the summary click here

I Really Need to Start Working Out

I haven't run or lifted weights in weeks.

And by weeks I mean months.

One of the side effects of not working out

(besides rocking the XL t-shirt these days)

is I have realized I have a lot of pent up energy.

This energy is normally not a problem

except when it is late on a Wednesday night,

me and the high school team are still at church cleaning up

from our Wednesday night student gathering,

all of the students have gone home and I get an idea

to push Matt Gargula down the steep church nursery stairs

on a rolly cart.

This is what happened:

Actually it wasn't that bad.

Here is what it really looked like:

So today, me and one of our great and understanding church custodians grabbed some puddy, a puddy knife and some napkins (to stuff the hole) and went to town on repairing the previous nights adventure.

I really got to start exercising.

p.s. - Matt Gargula is fine.
p.s.s. - The rolly cart is still fully operational.