Big Ear Creations

Ridiculous Love (From the January Brant Advocate)

2012-01-30T13:15:00.006-05:00

People who don’t fight in marriage concern me. My wife Krissy and I are scrappers. While dating, one of our first TALK talks, we decided to just tell each other every bad thing we’ve ever done to see if we still liked each other after. It was awkward and difficult and stirred up quite a wide array of emotions. The unexpected result was that after hearing it, like turned into love because it made us both want to fight for each other’s freedom. But we haven’t always been able to be that mature about it.

We celebrated our second anniversary in Accra, Ghana by eating a machete-cut pineapple from a roadside wheelbarrow and fighting with each other. It was a doozy too. We were just beginning the process of learning how to ‘do marriage’ together and we were thrust into a situation where we were right beside each other 24/7. Sleeping in a broken bed …sweating together. In taxis and Trotro buses… sweating together. In a classroom… sweating together. Sitting in various states of undress playing rummy and watching decades old reruns of The Bold and the Beautiful on Ghanaian TV… sweating together.

We completely got on each other’s nerves. And when I say that, what I really mean is that we got to the point where every time the other did something, we were banking our anger so that at the next available outlet, we’d go down the same you did, you said, you are road again. That muggy night, we retreated to our bedroom to fight, and I was a particularly harsh jerk to my wife. I don’t remember the specifics of what I said, but I do remember exactly what she said. I watched her hit her breaking point and look up at me with tears in her eyes and say,

“Dave, I don’t need you to criticize me anymore. What I need from you is to love me anyway. I need Ridiculous Love.”

When she said the words “ridiculous love” they hit me hard, and not in a fight back kinda way either. They were the first words that either of us had ever said during a fight that had settled something then and there. Our marriage changed that night. We instituted a policy of ridiculous love. The plan was that whenever she’d do something that made me mad, my job was not to give a death glare, criticize, or store up my anger to let it loose in an argument later. My job was to squeeze her hand and whisper the words “ridiculous love” into her ear. Her job was to reciprocate by saying out loud, “I receive it”. And we made it our responsibilities to mean it, and do it… even if we didn’t feel it. Ridiculous love is our policy until this very day. What it really is, is grace. It’s unmerited favour. And it’s necessary to make marriage, and life, work.

Marriage really is a fairy tale, but not in THAT way. It’s a fairy tale that includes dragons, and fighting, and politics, and lost friends, and hurt feelings, and poverty, and, and, and, and… Your job is to squeeze your spouse’s hand and honour the vows with ridiculous love. And sometimes you have to believe it, and act it out, whether you feel it or not, because you both need it. Marriage bears little resemblance to the gooey-eyed idyllic imaginary paintings that little girls suckle themselves to sleep with. The majority of the time, marriage consists of brokering deals, uncomfortable compromises, vigorous debate, weighing notions of morality and severing one’s own sense of entitlement.

Marriage is a voluntarily entered into institution that contractually obligates your life to be about SOMEONE ELSE.

I care about Brantford prospering. But Brantford is the sum of its parts. The number one thing that can distract me from being the Dave I wish I could be each day, is when things are not right in my relationship. And I suspect you might be the same. And it happens! That’s Marriage! Don’t despair! Marriage promises mean something and our ability to fulfill the “love, honor and cherish” part cannot be trusted to feelings. Love is not a feeling. It’s a choice. Kind of like how we can’t entrust the success of our New Year’s resolutions to the euphoric buzz we get by merely WISHING for the best.

Marriage IS like a fairy tale because even though there are many trials to overcome, you get the chance to overcome them together! It would be a pretty crappy fairy tale if there were no obstacles. When it’s right, it’s filled with ridiculous love. Something you have the ability to fill your best friend full of as you send them out the door this morning into our city to make a difference.

Read my other articles from The Brant Advocate here

Things I have to bite my tongue not to comment on Facebook about

2012-01-20T09:15:00.008-05:00

Teenagers making sexual statements - Sometimes I want to respond equally inappropriately just to freak them out and show them how HORRIBLE it sounds out loud in social media world. It's like they think others can't see them?

Every Union "the city is going to hell" ad - Didn't work for bad 70's-90's Evangelism and it doesn't work now. Last night I got riled up and started to craft something brilliant saying, "Oh people will will hate this one..." when my wife said, "David. Stop. Not tonight"

Kids who used to be in my youth group running blatantly from God - "Getting drunk tonight! Who's in?" The number of times I've had to erase comments.... some good ones too. I once NEARLY wrote, "I'll bring the weed" For obvious reasons... I did not write this :)

Invites to Multi-Level Marketing scam parties - Last week on Twitter I cracked and wrote:

On second thought...gimma a couple of Visalus, I'm IN on your financial plan, let's go to that indie rock show & does Farmville still exist?
— Dave Carrol (@davecarrol) January 16, 2012

Psychobabble quotes - I'm guilty of it too. But my inner Gen Xer wants to punch myself when I do it. I almost always want to respond with fictitious response like "Leadership and belief and faith when mixed with positive friendship is worth it's smiley weight in positive, leading attitude feelings" Then I'd sign it CS Lewis just to anger people.

Personal attack posts - I desperately want to give a social and relational etiquette lecture. But then I'd have to give myself a lecture too for the lecture. That would get weird.

Text Speak - Cus I hate it.

What are the things you have to bite your tongue not to comment about on Facebook and Twitter?

My favorite scripture

2012-01-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you;
Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.
Isaiah 26:8

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. You know why?

2011-12-31T00:24:00.004-05:00

BARTLET
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed citizens can change the world. You know why?

WILL
It's the only thing that ever has.

The West Wing: Season 4 as President Bartlett swears in Will Bailey

That's a powerful truth. The best ideas I've ever had have been made sitting on my porch after an hour of chewing on & spitting out thoughts with a very small number of like-minded people. I think the world can change from a porch.

2011 ... a tougher year than it should have been.

2011-12-24T09:43:00.008-05:00

One of the best euphoric Christmas rushes every year is the drive home after leaving the last day of work early. I cranked up Paul Simon's fabulous "Getting Ready for Christmas Day," basking in the beauty and contentment this season bring and began to think about this past year.

I didn't blog as much this year, because I quietly struggled personally more than other year of my life with an extended period of time that I can only describe as depression-like. This might be a surprise as I only told 3 humans that I was anything but totally great.

Ministry wise, this year has been incredible! We're beginning to see some of the results of ten years of hard work laying the foundation for something special to happen in Brantford. Somehow Captain Kindness has turned into a quasi-mascot for the city and we're seeing more families, individuals and students than ever are catching the vision of worshiping & serving the city with us at Freedom House! This year I've rekindled old friendships, my marriage is thriving, my kids are smart and growing, I've been a part of the team that led our local MP to a whopping victory and since been placed on his fabulous board of directors. I've had doors open to speak into so many unexpected areas of influence. 2011 has been GREAT and the things that I REALLY want to happen... ARE happening more than ever!

But for half of the year, peaking around my 35th birthday, I had a hard time getting out of a funk. Worship was a trudge. Prayer dried up. Hope (regardless of the actuals around me) seemed far off. And for the first legitimate time, I toyed with the idea of being mad at God. I felt a bit like Joseph in the pit KNOWING that I'd done what God had wanted and KNOWING that His plan was unfolding but wondering how long I'D have to wait down here personally!

Much of it circled around my 35th birthday. I've never once EVER struggled with aging. I'm always actually annoyed that I'm not older than I am. Youth and it's inevitable baggage of ignorance bugs me. But the midlife questions that everyone seems to go through at least once in their life hit me like a ton of bricks.

"I'm not making enough money am I? Have I done enough? Am I positioned properly for the second half of my life? I've sacrificed for ministry... God you know that right? YOU'RE my retirement plan right?"

I'm not a big party person. I would rather not have a birthday party or receive gifts. I don't really WANT much but more-so, I'm not good at receiving or asking. But this year, on my birthday, I was in messy place of isolation. I even made my wife make up a ridiculous lie to fake why we couldn't even go out with friends for dinner while I ranted around the house in a self-centered tantrum. I left the house after the kids went to bed and sat out on a bench swing overlooking the Grand River and had it out with God.

Did you know that God's OK if you have it out with him honestly. If you read through most of the Psalms, it's the story of David verbalizing that life is tough and people are attacking him. Then the tone begins to change. Half way through it's like God begins to remind him of who HE is and who DAVID is too. Then by the end... David is singing God's praises again. That's what happened on the bench swing overlooking the river. I was honest. God was honest back. Worship began flowing out of me for real for the first time in MANY months and I felt like I could breathe again.

That's all He wants... you. This life is about a relationship with your maker who loves you so extravagantly. It's got ups and downs. Press on with living. When you include God in your life... there will always be a path out of the valley. You should read my old blog about CS Lewis's "A Horse and His boy" about how 'the lion' watches out for us during these times. Lewis's word picture is powerful.

Driving home for Christmas; I felt full. I've got a smile on my face and I've got 4 walls around me like Great Big Sea says. Dreams are coming true in this city... including mine. The difference between earlier this year and now is that my passion and focus is (in practice... not only in theory) on others instead of myself. Once you begin down that road of living your life for OTHERS as an act of worship, when your insides turn from it, your whole life wobbles perilously like looking down walking a tight rope. I never stopped it in practice. But who you are on the inside means more than what you do on the outside.

Merry Christmas. I pray that 2012 is a prosperous new year for you, your family, your marriage, your city, your church, your business and your life.

"Behind the Stable"... my Living Nativity story (And FULL video)

2011-12-21T09:40:00.010-05:00

This weekend, Freedom House performed the second annual "Living Nativity" 6 times over 3 days for roughly 2500 people outdoors in Brantford's Harmony Square. Thanks to I AM Studios and Caleb Bray... this is video of the show in it's entirety:

If you watched all the way to the end, you'll see me come out and speak about the story of Jesus to the crowd. This was the final performance and I was feeling particularly fired up as I paced around behind the stable. A lot of thoughts were going through my head and I was desperately attempting to grasp them and articulate the moment. You see, the Canadian church doesn't get many "open air" opportunities to fully speak about the full message of Jesus Christ with THAT much buy-in and excitement from the WHOLE community. We do A LOT of showing God's love in a practical way, and it's the only reason why we get to have an audience for The Living Nativity... but culturally the chance to preach in public to crowds is a rare bird.

Behind the stable I couldn't help but remember my early days as a Christian. I was remembering the hope I first held for sharing the message of Christ's "life forevermore" in my culture... followed by the hopelessness I felt after hitting walls of over-stimulation, self-sufficiency and malaise. I wondered if there even was a logical way to ever really "reach" MY city without being the spiritual bully I NEVER wanted to be.

I was remembering how my eyes were pried open during my time in Ghana to see a present-day, here-and-now, context where the message of Jesus was being embraced en masse and wasn't... jerky. Could it really be? I remembered wondering how it this new information/experience would ever translate to the motherland to which I was so heavily burdened for. But if it was really real, there had to be a way.

Behind the stable I was flipping through the mental Rolodex of pictures of the last 12 years of hard work as an African-trained missionary to my own "people group." I was remembering a whole lot of trial and error... a whole lot of faith walking... a steady progression of hope... and some of our recent breakthroughs.

On the video at about the 15 minute mark, you'll see the shepherds freaking out about their encounter with Jesus. They begin running around the crowd (and even out onto the VERY Bethlehem esc ice rink) shouting, "THE KING IS BORN." Jamie Prokop who plays Joseph, walks to the front of the stage with a bewildered "what in the world is going on here" look on his face. Angels were translating a message from heaven while wild men were running around the countryside spilling the beans about a message that NOBODY quite "got" at this point. It's a PR person's nightmare. There was NO WAY to stay on top of this message. It was a virus that got let out of the box.

It's a virus that so so many have caught. Books upon books have been written about this story. MILLIONS upon MILLIONS gather to converse, sing and dance with him weekly. BILLIONS upon BILLIONS whisper hopeful nighttime utterings to him. This story is an unstoppable WILDFIRE that has become the central story around which humankind functions today. Whether you are a Christian or not, we all must choose to whether Jesus Christ IS or IS NOT the son of God and our lives are knowingly or unknowingly structured accordingly. As Brian Beattie says, "The most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God."

No one who has ever walked this earth who has claimed to BE God & Love incarnate has had a reputation or credibly that has lasted more than a few decades without coming crashing down. Jesus story however just... keeps... spreading on a global scale.

Behind the stable as I walked out on stage to declare that I DO believe this story; I felt very aware and humbled of my minor role in a MAJOR production.

Brantford's Local Media

2011-12-12T09:55:00.009-05:00

The Brantford Expositor, The Brant News, The Brant Advocate, CKPC, Rogers Cable 20, Power 93.9 and FHTV. My city's media portholes. These are the primary avenues where the public perception of my home city is formed. And I think they do a great job serving the city I love.

Here's why.

I am college educated in broadcasting/journalism. I've worked the majority of my professional life in one area of media or another. Part of me digs it... but right from day 1, a large part of me has also found the culture to be a VERY cut-throat, viscous environment. One that often eschews creativity and grander vision in exchange for habitual, thoughtless ripping & reading... existing solely to propagate sales of things that (cup half full) we don't need or (cup half empty) actually hurt us. But media is a mountain of influence in our city. What the local media does and says about their city not only CAN change the city... but DOES change a city in one direction or another. It matters.

I often hear people say, "I don't like the news. Too depressing. I wish they'd report on the good news." Very few sweeping sentiments drive me more crazy as someone who has read every newspaper I could get my hands on since I was 8.

You don't "like news?" News is not a genre of fiction. It's what's happening on the earth you live on! It effects you and you should be effecting it!
Too depressing? The "depressing" news involves human lives being negatively effected by something in our world. Something you might have the solution for. Are we saying that their lives don't count? Sucks to be them... don't burst my little bubble? I certainly hope not.
As for the good news? Publications have tried to JUST report the "good" news and it's generally uninteresting and unbalanced schlock because it doesn't paint a full picture!

There ARE reasons that many do feel and believe that sweeping statement. There are definite nuggets of truth in it. But it's an incomplete thought without consideration of played-out ramification or solution. Here's why I'm proud of my local media. Because I've found that they both genuinely care about the prosperity of our city AND actively seek out to report on the GOOD that happens in Brantford as well as the bad. And when it's clearly bad... they OFTEN find the good to bring perspective... thus breathing life and hope into a situations that can feel bleak.

A few weeks ago, hundreds of gravestones were toppled by a vandal. Expositor photographer Brian Thompson captured (what I feel is the photograph of the year) City Councillor Jan Vanderstelt in the middle of a herculean act of personally erecting the desecrated stones. The GOOD act of one man, well communicated by our media along with the partnership of passionate social media advocates (who are ALSO making a real difference) spurred a chain reaction of positive response, including businesses like Ingham Monuments volunteering time and resource. The story was not about despair... it became about hope.

Yesterday, Syd Bolton from Brantford's Personal Computer Museum partnered with Sony Canada to give my son "Kid Kindness" a PSP game system just for being a great kid and spurring on kindness in our city. And this morning, this photo was on the FRONT PAGE of the newspaper with this story called "It's good to be Kind"

It was the headline story over the weekend. This blog praising the local Brantford media is not because they put my son on the front page (although it warms a fathers heart and when you encourage a kid it's like breathing destiny into them) it's because in our quest to make Brantford known as the kindest city in Canada... EVERY SINGLE MEDIA OUTLET I've mentioned has JUMPED at the chance to find ways to both ACT kindly and use their influence to spur people in our city onto kindness!

They are actively seeking to report on the stories of local heroism and generosity. They are intentionally honoring and encouraging of those who do. I count many of the local media members as personal friends because of the quality of their character, the depth of their work, and their passion for this city. Not becoming jaded in the media is tough. I know it... I live it.

I want to take this opportunity to thank and honor the local media in Brantford. You help make Brantford the STRONG city it is. Kindness really does breed Kindness and can change a city BY good INTO good. It's a lofty goal but when we each do our part... I think we're beginning to see that it's within our reach.

The Worst Christmas gift you can give is...

2011-12-08T13:57:00.006-05:00

The Worst Christmas gift you can give is a lottery ticket.

"Here you go. Nothing! Merry Christmas! It's nothing! From me to you. Nothing."

Unless it wins, then it's something. But not JUST something. It's 47 Million Dollars.

"Hey there Bob. Remember that ticket I gave you that turned into 47 million dollars? I hope you're enjoying that. Yeah I'm really enjoying that mug you got me. I, uh- had some coffee out of it earlier. So it's pretty nice too."

As paraphrased from Norm MacDonald

Why we shouldn't stop giving gifts at Christmas

2011-12-03T19:37:00.005-05:00

As seen in The Brant Advocate

"Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves." ~Eric Sevareid

I'm sure you've heard, said, or at least thought this during the Christmas chaos:

“We all already have everything we need. I don't need your gift and you don't need mine. Let's stop giving gifts."

It's hard not to be tempted to think this sometimes because of the cultural rut we've gotten ourselves into. But I don't believe that stopping giving is the remedy to the ailment. It's merely a visceral reaction. Dig deeper. Giving... is integrally woven into Christmas.

THE verse in the Bible that almost everyone can recite is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Giving. But not JUST giving. Giving extravagantly , intentionally and sacrificially to a culture of people who thought they already had everything and didn't need this gift. This gift was so good and was so confrontational to man’s perceived self-sufficiency and pride that culture has never been fully able to process it. This season is ALL about giving and it's always come with the temptation to treat gifts incorrectly.

Even The Magi came to celebrate the birth of a peasant baby into a cows food trough by bringing expensive, impractical gifts. Illogical, but the beauty of their story continues to be passed down and still opens hearts. Years ago, U2's Bono was coming back from a very long tour. On Christmas Eve, he went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Belfast. He recalls the revelation he that day about the value of the Christmas gift.

"It had dawned on me before, but it really sank in: the Christmas story. The idea that God, if there is a force of Love and Logic in the universe, that it would seek to explain itself is amazing enough. That it would seek to explain itself and describe itself by becoming a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw... a child, I just thought: “Wow!” Just the poetry. Unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable. There it was. I was just sitting there, and it's not that it hadn't struck me before, but tears came down my face, and I saw the genius of this, utter genius of picking a particular point in time and deciding to turn on this. It’s actually logical. Essence has to manifest itself. It’s inevitable. Love has to become an action or something concrete. It would have to happen. There must be an incarnation. Love must be made flesh."

Incarnation. An ethereal feeling or belief... being express as a THING. Hope coming alive. Here are a few ways I think we make gift giving and receiving a little more effective this Christmas:

1) WANT to give: In our culture we spend too much time ignoring and disregarding each other to let a season of GIVING go by and not let it change our hearts. Don't think of people as lists. Think of them as they really are. An important person in need of an incarnation of love. It's not about rich or poor. A human is a human is a human.

2) Think about your gift: It does the soul wrong to just pick out some random, insignificant piece in a store and give it because you have to. Really think about what would tickle someones fancy. Something that would really communicate your feelings for them. It doesn't have to be expensive. It could be words that you've never spoken. It could be time. OR it could be a Macbook. The thing doesn't matter... the spirit of it does.

3) Humble yourself to really receive: You're likely going to be getting a gift this year from someone who can't afford to give you something... but they will because they love you. Don't say, "Oh you didn't have to" and feel guilty. They have intentionally given you a gift that cost them something. Humble yourself and receive it. Acknowledge the warm feeling you get as divine and let it inspire you.

4) Give to someone who doesn't "deserve it": This one is powerful. Think about how The Grinch warms your heart and makes you tear up a little. The Who’s were totally robbed blind on Christmas Eve. But they heaped love on someone who didn't deserve it. It broke The Grinch's heart and cause it to grow. THIS is what a Christmas gift can do.

It's not about what we deserve. It's about what we don't. Culturally... we're out of whack with how we function in giving. Minuscule percentages of people give more than 10% annually while people go hungry around the world and we go into debt at Christmas mindlessly. This is no good. But the answer is not to STOP giving. The answer is MORE giving. The answer is giving more of yourself. Time, Talent AND Treasure. The answer is being intentionally and extravagantly generous on all occasions!

I’d like to invite you to The Living Nativity, two show nightly December 16-18th in Harmony Square. Come and see for yourself the greatest example of generosity our world has ever experienced and let it inspire you to fully participate in the spirit of the season.

The Best Musical performances I've ever watched on Letterman

2011-11-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

I have been a fan of Dave Letterman for as long as I can remember. Before I was old enough to stay up and watch his show, I would listen to it at 12:35 after Johnny Carson on the radio feed of Global TV. To this day, he's what I'm doing if I'm up at 11:30. I must of have watched 1000 musical acts on his show... most of them forgettable like most live music shows. Some of them very good. But a few over the years have stuck with me for nearly 20 years. The one thing that plumlines through all of these clips is the fact that Dave is tickled by each of them and how much you can see that he genuinely enjoys it.

Here are my top 5 musical performances I've ever seen on Letterman:

5. Blues Traveler - Hook: Letterman loved these guys and they were regular guests before they were famous. So fans like me knew of John Popper's harmonica skills years before the rest. This was likely their biggest song, and includes a MAD harmonica solo where you can see Paul Shaffer with an awe-filled smile during it. Then at the end, Popper does as he always does and gives Dave his mouth organ. Letterman plays it and gives it his running joke line... "Too Spitty"

4. Lou Reed and the Blind Boys of Alabama - Jesus: A couple of years ago I happened to be watching and heard this absolutely magnificent combo of the POWERFUL Blind Boys of Alamba and the awesome Lou Reed. Not sure if you could jam the name of Jesus into a song more... but I felt every one. Love how Dave rightfully gushes over the rare jewel he just heard.

3. Drive by Truckers - Everybody needs Love: I had never heard of Drive By Truckers before this summer. But when I heard this old Eddie Hinton with some rarely authentic blues rock complete with a lap steel guitar... I played this clip for months every morning. The bit that Dave does at the end is uncommon. You can tell he loves the song that he does a whole bit about it and gets them to play it again! I can't EVER remember that happening and the smile on the lead singers face when he does is fabulous.

2. Van Halen - Not Enough: Early 90's Van Halen. With respect to Diamond Davers... this was the era where Van Halen was at their best. You can tell Dave is just thrilled to be close to these legends. Eddie plays the piano AND a screaming guitar. Sammy just kills the vocals and in this clip when they come back from the commercial and they are just finishing up "Jump" ... you can tell that something else very special just happened.

1. Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days: Far and away #1. Let me set the scene. This was the final show of Dave's at 12:30am on NBC after a nasty fight between networks where NBC had just chosen the sad sack Jay Leno over Dave Letterman to host the Tonight Show... Dave's lifelong dream job. Dave was slighted and devoted fans like me were outraged. Me and my friends felt like we were fighting for and along with our sarcastic TV friend. So this show was the final "Up Yours" to a network that didn't believe in him and soon lost the ratings battle for many years.

I taped this show on my VCR and watched it over and over again. Tom Hanks was the guest and did a great bit about being a bellhop at an LA Hotel where he had comedy legend Slappy White yelling "Stop bending the shaft" at him while he was putting his clubs in the truck.

Then... just before the show of shows ended. This happened.

I was euphoric. My favorite singer singing my favorite song the most intense way I had ever seen. The entire band was having a PARTY! Bruce was doing Karate Kid-like leg tricks and pounding his rock-foot on the piano! Even sax legend David Sanborn in the back was givin'er. I wore an old black and white shirt that looked like Bruce's on in this performance for many years after... because I figured if I could ever come even close to being as cool as The Boss in this most... I'd be OK in life.

When Dave comes over at the end and thanks him that genuinely... all the stars collided. I've always felt a kinship with David Letterman. He's been an immature, cutting, sarcastic, kind of uncomfortable in his own skin, old guy for years... even when he was young. I related to it and still do. I feel like I kinda get him. He never made it to "the top" partially because he's not someone who pretends to like thing he doesn't. Sometimes he even turns on a guest who peddles him a line of BS.

All of these acts have somehow captured an eternal place my memory. I can tell you exactly when and where I saw them and who I was with. And all of them, Dave felt the same. You can tell. Not all music is powerful. But some is. And when it is...

Santa vs Jesus: Can't we all just get along?

2011-11-24T09:23:00.010-05:00

There were a few years where I was a rabid Anti-Santite. Well it was not exactly as if I was affected by rabies... but I meant it. I was a Christian dern it! That jolly old elf was one of the great deceptors of our time. A filthy mix of greedy consumerism and nearly OPRAH-like nicey nicey feel-good pablum that was conceived by the Devil himself to make us forget to do Living Nativities in town squares and light advent candles.

We once declined to allow a Santa-related gift we received into our home as not allow the enemy to infiltrate our jingle belled haven. Deep sigh. I know. But don't judge until you've tried earnestly center your life around genuine service and devotion to a deity. Have a little grace. It does a body good to analyze our culture instead of just lapping up what we're being handed.

Can these two Christmas superpowers get along??? My brother tweeted this the other day:

It made me laugh. This stanza has always fascinated me:

Santa knows that we're God's children,
That makes everything right
Fill your hearts with Christmas cheer,
'Cause Santa Claus comes tonight

It's like Santa's doing his thing while respecting God's turf. So that makes everything "right". Listen... Santa was hard core. Saint Nick was a stinkin' FAITH HEALER and radical carer of the underprivileged in the name of God! Check out these Santa stories:

"A poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment would have to become prostitutes. Nicholas decided to help him but being too modest to help the man in public, or to save the man the humiliation of accepting charity, he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses (one for each daughter) filled with gold coins through the window opening into the man's house. In one version the father confronts the saint, only to have Saint Nicholas say it is not him he should thank, but God alone."

Go Santa! And now the one of about the human meat pies of death:

"A terrible famine struck the island and a malicious butcher lured three little children into his house, where he slaughtered and butchered them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Saint Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, not only saw through the butcher's horrific crime but also resurrected the three boys from the barrel by his prayers. Another version of this story, the man murdered them, and was advised by his wife to dispose of them by turning them into meat pies. The Saint saw through this and brought the men back to life."

Hard Core. Now THAT'S a Santa story. The real question as a parent is how to treat the Santa myth with our kids. It is a very legitimate argument to say, "How can I convince my kids of a mystical man at the North Pole they never see but who cares and brings gifts... then tell them that he doesn't exist... but that the other mystical man in the sky they never see but who loves them and gives them gifts DOES." It's GOOD logic. And one day, for every parent, push DOES come to shove at some point.

How it rolled out for us was that we didn't say much at all. We have never played up the absolute veracity of Santa. There are no "From Santa" gifts under the tree. But our kids have grown up enjoying the stories. And two weeks ago our oldest son Jared, who is now 8, asked point blank for the first time if Santa was real. And I told him no. Was he crushed? Absolutely not. He was pumped that he figured it out and pieced together what was God and what was a nice silly story logically. I told him about the human meat pies of death and how Saint Nicholas took care of the three daughters and he made the connection to that event and our knit stockings today. We watched Elf this weekend and Jared winked at me. It was great. As a result... my kids did not have be Anti-Santites at a young age. They just learned about the origins of Christmas AND that a way to incarnate that love IS through gift giving today. My December article in The Brant Advocate coming out next week is about why we shouldn't stop giving gifts at Christmas.

This Saturday is the Brantford Santa Claus Parade and it's theme this year is "Santa's Workshop". Our float this year is a Mini Living Nativity scene to promote our up-coming musical in Harmony Square and we toyed with including the line:

"The Living Nativity... the original workshop where Santa got the idea"

We didn't ... but I think it might be time to stop pretending that our purpose at Christmas is to defeat Santa. Tell the story of Jesus. It's SO important and IS the real meaning of Christmas. But Santa knows that we're God's children man. Be generous and help each other in Jesus name. And if you happen to see a bucket of people guts about to be turned into meat pies... think to yourself... "What would Santa do?"

My crazy family

2011-11-23T12:39:00.004-05:00

I found these buried on our camera today. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Our family doesn't run marathons. We're actually more likely just happy to hang together on the couch and make fun of TV. We don't spend our time fretting about getting enough veggies. We eat more KD and PB than we should. We yell and lose our tempers at each other sometimes...

... but I don't know a group of people who laugh together and tell each other "I love you" more often and sincerely than my family.

Where churchmen ought to be

2011-11-21T18:36:00.000-05:00

The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died and that is what he died about and that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen should be about.

- George McLeod

The 99% yelling at the 1% is nothing new... neither is it right.

2011-11-21T11:57:00.013-05:00

LOTS of anger these days being hurled towards a group being labelled as "The 1%". The elite. The wealthy. The decision makers. The power brokers. The law makers. The economy creators and propagators. They are being characterized as a lost, misguided, selfish group who deserve to be despised, reviled and stopped at all costs.

It sure does seem like something the majority of people should be able to rally around... like 99% of the people right? This blog post is not specifically about the Occupy Movement. It's simply the newest manifestation of a very old and ugly sentiment. People who are perceived to be "Have not's" like to hurl stones at the perceived "Have's." It's the reason why stats CONTINUE to say people in the vast expanse of Canada hate Toronto. It's the reason why people in small church love to tear down big churches. It's why citizens seem to revel in tearing down their political leaders.

It's the easy way.
It lacks character & integrity... and it's wrong.

It's an interesting percentage breakdown actually. If the 99% really believe that the 1% are lost, oppressive scumbags... check out how JESUS says we should treat those 1%.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18: 10-14

That's the numbers given by the incarnation of love on earth... not mine. He says that if that 1% are lost... LEAVE THE 99 AND GO GET THEM! He doesn't say, go tear them down! He says that he loves them so much that we should leave the crowds to aggressively show them love! They are not nameless, faceless numbers. They are regular people who God would BE HAPPIER to see reached than care be made for the 99 already "awoken".

Want another example of how Jesus treated the 1% in his time?

^"Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."
Matthew 9 10-13

And don't you go all "Rich young Ruler" on me. Because Jesus gave that guy a chance and a challenge and WANTED him to play his role. Jesus acknowledged it was tough... but since when does that mean that we back away from "tough"???? In fact that sounds like a mission! Ghettos are tough but we laud praise on those who go into the depths with a message of love, grace, forgiveness and stay there to fight for people's freedom. But but but... how could Jesus feel that way about the 1%? He DID and DOES. He eats with them and makes a special point to show his affection in fact, even at the expense of the crowd.

I help lead a church in the downtown of the city. Often people think that we FOCUS our outreach on the poor. Not true. We care for the poor because we're supposed to and I think we do a pretty good job of it. We ALSO create outreach strategies for the suburbs... because there are PEOPLE there! Lot's! We are going to be creating series of business seminars and we're a part of BIA's and are actively looking to spend MUCH time and effort to create context to engage (through personal relationship) with the 1%, so that they too can thrive in their surroundings AND in their faith.

In fact... my heart is found in the suburbs and the boardrooms. I blogged a while back about "Impacting the Suburban Ghetto" I encourage you to read it and even get mad at me because of it if you want. But there are some destructive cycles in our culture (part of what the Occupy message actually is ironically) and real people have found themselves trapped in them... and these people MATTER to God. How we treat them and speak about them matters to God. AND the engagement of this sector of the city EXPONENTIALLY releases strategic resource to care for the poor too. Example:

Today after a month camped in a Toronto Park, people focusing their time being bitter at the 1% will leave a nearly million dollar mess in park. In one moment of generosity, a 1%er could say, "I'll fix the park because I care." Will they? I hope so. I know people who do exactly this kind of thing anonymously. Imagine that... someone showing love to another who spent a month reviling them. I will tell you that these days in my city, we're seeing businessmen and people of influence beginning to really think about the difference they can make by going above and beyond in city-investment. It happens through care, relationship, and the extension of the same love and grace (Unmerited favor) that every one of God's "Little ones" needs to be shown.

I know most people don't think much about "conversion" ... but as someone who does espouse a belief system and works/studies lots about the best ways to do it make it influence society... I will tell you that calling people scum from afar doesn't work. The Church tried it. It makes it worse. We're feeling much better now.

But but but but... But nothin'

"Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get."
Matthew 7:12

Want to know the truth though? Most of the 1% that I've met personally... want to help. They just need to be given a context to do it that works, communicated in a language they understand. We were never designed to let people come to us... our mission is to GO and speak the language of others to communicate the same message cross-culturally. WE need to be willing to be uncomfortable for others freedom. Let's get on that instead of calling another creation of God dirt. That's NOT how Jesus would treat them.

Or and one more thing... looking globally... you likely ARE one of the wealthiest 1% on our planet. Are you committed to personal generosity? Are you leading the way by example? I certainly hope so because Jesus also said:

"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
Matthew 7: 1-5

There are no have and have nots. Just people.

Wonder Pounces

2011-11-14T22:19:00.009-05:00

When you stop; wonder pounces.
Wonder teases the boy about his manly reflection.
Schoolyard tickles about grey whiskers and his glutinous paunch.

Wonder pounces and marvel's men at their mountains.

How did I get this far up a MOUNTAIN??!!??
How will I reach the top??!!??
Can I get down if I want to??!!??
... I hope everyone is gonna be OK

Wonder nods with a comforting smirk and a friendly wink.

Wonder sing songs to climbers who just don't know better.
Well maybe they do...
but who can remember what you learned in Boy Scouts when there is hungry cargo in your pack.

Some call wonder a bully.
But wonder is nothing of the sort.
Wonder just show slides of yesterday and paints pictures of tomorrow.
Every Picture tells a story... but put 'em together and WHOA.

won·der
/ˈwʌndər/ [wuhn-der]
To be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe

The Best Paul Simon Christmas Song you've never heard

2011-11-12T12:15:00.001-05:00

From early in November to the last week of December
I got money matters weighing me down
Well the music may be merry but it’s only temporary
I know Santa Claus is coming to town

In the days I work my day job
In the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to working man's pay
Getting ready I’m getting ready ready for Christmas day

I got a nephew in Iraq
It’s his third time back
But it's ending up the way it began
With the luck of a beginner
He’ll be eating turkey dinner
On some mountain top in Pakistan

Getting ready oh we’re getting ready
For the power and the glory and the story
Of Christmas day

If I could tell my mom and dad
That the things we never had
Never mattered we were always ok
Getting ready ready ready for Christmas day

Ready getting ready
For the power and the glory and the story
Of Christmas day

Want to see a thinner, goofier, different me bombing at stand-up comedy on TV?

2011-11-07T10:03:00.012-05:00

6 years ago I got a call from a guy named Greg Harrison, calling himself "Greg Who" asking me if I'd perform stand up comedy and be a guest on his variety show on Christian TV. Greg is a great guy with a big heart and I was pleased to be a guest!

I've written before about my successes and failures in the world of Christian Comedy but reactions have ranged from an encouraged, happy and entertained room... all the way to my audience progressing from hate, to ignoring me, to walking away to get snacks... to me getting a shoulder tap & quick hook followed by me writing apology letters to the ministry team the next day.

Suffice to say... it's a tricky thing to balance the raw, cutting honesty that comedy requires with ministry responsibilities that supersede a laugh. This is a much larger discussion that I have wrestled with for 15 years if you'd like to chat later about it but this is about watching myself on this show 6 years later as the clips just went up on YouTube.

I want to show you the stand-up clip first. I come on at about the 2 minute mark. I will warn you that I too cringed at my material 6 years later.

Then I was invited back to the desk to talk with Greg Who. It winds up with me putting a tennis ball in my mouth. Legendary.

I watched these clips today and realized that I'm a very different person than I was 6 years ago. First... I was just at the end of a YEAR of fasting, culminating in a 40 Day just juice fast. So I was DARN skinny. Thankfully years of eating has restored my winter layer.

Also, I think my speaking (and comedy) has been refined greatly. I believe that I've learned to use less words more effectively. I watched those clips and wished I'd have just made the point I was trying to make instead of babbling my way around it. Hit and stick with the joke clean... pull and hit clean again. Stand up comedy is very much like a boxing match. Shout testify if you've tried it. It's the single toughest public speaking discipline I've ever done.

I also see a younger and more... spry man in these clips. At the time I was only a few years into the church-planting adventure and things were pretty novel still. I can't help but think of some of the hard work, tough times, and late night planning sessions leading to sleepless nights that have happened between then and now and I think it's changed me. The Dave in these clips struggled to focus in meetings, while today I'm sitting on boards of directors. The Dave in these clips could say or do most anything he wanted without much serious or lasting criticism/impact. Today, I have to make sure that everything I say or do in public, online, in print, or on TV is consistent with the story I want my life to tell... because people are listening. The Dave I am today is more who I've always wanted to be, but it's come with darker eye circles, less sleep, more late night eating and a heavier responsibility weight.

But I'll say one thing... like the U2 song from "No Line on the Horizon" says, there are times where I'll go crazy if I don't go crazy. I learned years ago, that my gift to make people laugh was given to me to refine and use as a communication tool to influence people. It's not JUST for me and my pleasure. It's a tool. The joke used to be paramount. Now the message is. But I HAVE to make people laugh. I HAVE to be a little edgy. I HAVE to have bouts of craziness... or I'll go crazy.

When Kings go off to War

2011-11-05T16:28:00.006-04:00

I want to encourage you to pick up the November copy of The Advocate. It is filled with stories and thoughts on Brantford, war, peace and hope. Check out the Facebook page for locations you can pick up your copy, including at Freedom House. Here's my contribution that I'm very proud of this month telling the story of my Grandfather I never met John Carrol and Great Uncle that I did, Les Moore; while answering the question, "How does The Church deal with war? "

If you grew up going to Sunday School, you know the story of David and Bathsheba. It was one of the “kinda dirty” Bible felt-board stories. Wakka Wakka Wow Wow. The King of Israel was bored one day, wandering around his palace and went Peeping Tom on a pretty young lady having a bath who he decided to “take” and accidentally impregnated. To cover up his “Oopsy” David sent her husband into battle to die. A pretty ugly chapter in the life of one of the world’s most famous leaders.

But the story starts with one fascinating line. “In the spring, at the time Kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.” Two things stand out to me. The first is that there is a season where men must fight. They MUST fight to defend and conquer for the freedom of their subjects and those in kingdoms beyond. The second is that bad things happen when, even good men, abdicate their responsibility.

Why does the Bible mention war 135 times? Why do most of the instances point to war as a sometimes necessary responsibility? How does it make sense when it also says that we’re given the “ministry of reconciliation?” How does one... kill? As a 35 year old lilly-handed suburbanite, it’s a very difficult thing to wrap my head around given that the closest I’ve personally come to war was during the Braveheart craze of the mid 90’s when I was inspired by the powerful line,

“Every man dies. Not every man really lives”

My Great-Uncle Les died this past year. He embodied what a GOOD man is. He worked hard with his hands and square-danced around North America dosey-doeing, decked out in red plaid and a Bolo necktie. He met his dancing partner, my Aunt Dorris, overseas serving Canada while fighting in World War II. She was his war bride until the day he died. I loved and respected my Uncle Les greatly for the warmth, generosity and passion with which he lived his life. Remember that old Bell Canada commercial where the a grandson calls his grandfather from the beach of Dieppe just to say thanks? I used to call my Uncle Les to do the same when I’d see it. The frog in the old man’s throat was the same one I heard over the phone from my Uncle, choking back tears, thanking me for remembering. This was the first time in 25 years that he was missing around our traditional family Thanksgiving campfire and his absence starkly felt.

I knew there was always part if him that never left Europe. He rarely spoke of the war, but in 2005, he and his band of brothers were invited to a celebration in the Dutch city of Rotterdam that they liberated from Nazi (or ‘Naa-zees’ as he called them) oppression. They were lauded as heralded heroes coming home. Generations of Dutch families came out to thank them for their sacrifice and bravery, showing my kindhearted Uncle the free happy children to whom he gave the opportunity of life. I had never seen my Uncle so touched as he remembered what had happened right at the end of WWII in the spring of 1945; in the season where kings went out to war.

But that was the glory moment that most didn’t get to see including my paternal Grandfather who died almost exactly one calender year earlier... likely in the Italian Battle of Monte Cassino. Along with many other “Kings” John Carrol bravely took heavy fire as they pressed on valiantly, against odds, up the side of a hill from the valley. His body, along with many of his friends, is still there today surrounded by monuments that invoke God, country, sacrifice and freedom. He never met his son, my father, who was born that October on their family farm near Madoc Ontario.

Cities and nations RECONCILED by the death and sacrifice of good men who didn’t want to die or kill, but knew that sometimes freedom comes at a cost. If men like this had chosen to stay home, to take the easy way out while others suffered in oppression in the spring when kings go out to war, their grandchildren wouldn’t be telling their stories and know personally that it’s our responsibility to do onto others are you would have them do to you.

I miss these men. But there is no sting in their death for they lived life fully. Each generation has their own battles to fight and their own foes to conquer. And real men... Kings if you will... lay down their lives for others.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

-- John McCrae

The Kindness Project ... in the House of Commons

2011-11-03T18:48:00.005-04:00

I have to admit. It was a pretty cool day, hearing our MP Phil McColeman tell the story of Freedom House what has been going on in Brantford with the kindness movement in the House of Commons in Ottawa. We even got some a few "here here's"!

Mr. Speaker, eight years ago, Freedom House, a church and ministry centre in Brantford, began a mission called "The Kindness Project" to see if a city could be transformed by good into good by using simple but strategic acts of kindness.

In these eight years, among other things, roughly 20,000 hamburgers have been given away; a free winter carnival, Frosty Fest, is hosted; a school curriculum is in the works; affordable housing has been provided for those in need; and a local superhero, Captain Kindness, has emerged and taken control of the city. This Friday, November 4, will be the second annual Random Act of Kindness Day in Brantford.

The Kindness Project seeks to uncover the untapped level of synergy in the community as a collective commitment to serving each other. It is people helping people with what we all have in our hands to give.

We hope, together, to make Brantford known as the kindest city in Canada.

Yep... that's the goal. The Kindness city in Canada through a holistic revival. Where all the part of the community begin to prosper together mutual service of each other. Pretty cool day.

Me And My Stuff

2011-10-29T09:56:00.007-04:00

As the November edition of The Brant Advocate is about to come out including an article of mine that I'm very excited about called "When Kings go off to War" I wanted to share with you the full extended version my October article about how we treat our "stuff".

When I was in my early 20’s and could finally afford some of the things I really wanted, I could only think of one thing. A brown leather jacket. One like Kevin Costner wore in Field of Dreams. He was one sharp lookin’ man in that movie and when I wore my bomber jacket that smelled like an old baseball mit, I knew I looked GOOD. Costner good.

Before we were married, while on a date with my wife in Toronto to see the Phantom of the Opera, we were walking down Yonge Street and saw a homeless man. He was not the first nor last we saw that night but this situation was different. As we walked past, I heard that little voice inside me (the one we all hear but too often ignore) say the words, “Take off your jacket and give it to this man”. I instantly went into internal spin mode with a litany of great reasons why NOT to give my coat away.

I was on a date. It was cold out. He HAD a coat,. What did he need a Kevin Costner jacket for? How would I explain “the voice that told me to do something irrational” to my girlfriend? There were lots of reasons to continue walking and ignore the unmistakable burden on my heart. So I did because it was easier and it didn’t disrupt my evening.

I put on the jacket the next day to go to work, and it didn’t feel the same. It didn’t look the same. I didn’t much feel like the Field of Dreams man of faith who brought Shoeless Joe Jackson back to life, to right an old wrong, by acting on what he KNEW was RIGHT. Soon my leather jacket went totally Tell-Tale Heart on me and I had no choice but to throw it in the closest Salvation Army donation bin I could find so I didn’t have to live with the reminder of my failure.

That jacket taught me something about how we should treat “stuff” that has stuck with me for 15 years. There is nothing wrong with having “stuff”. Stuff can be pretty great. But we can never make the mistake of believing any “thing” isn’t expendable for the benefit of others. The task God gave to me on the street that night, wasn’t to deck out a homeless man in brown leather. It was a personal challenge about how generous of a life I was going to live and how I was going to steward the amount of wealth I was going to have over the course of my lifetime. The next time I was faced with a similar situation, I’m happy to report I passed. Not every time, but more often than not because my outlook was changed about how an adult with choices should treat his “stuff”.

In our city there are MANY needs and MORE than enough resource to make sure ALL the needs are met. No foolin’ Wally. Brantfordians are incredibly innovative, talented and industrious. History and our present day revival of civic hope shows it plainly. So why aren’t all the needs met?

What ISN’T the answer is FORCING people to give. This is not an uncaring statement if you rethink the leather jacket. Often attempts to solve social issues by coercion , feels as if during that night on Younge Street, someone stopped me, pointed at the homeless man and forcibly demanded my jacket because I could afford it. Even IF I agreed to such a scenario, it would have been grudgingly, and while an immediate need MAY have been met, the chance of me doing it again or meaning it would be squashed on the spot. It’s not an exponential scenario for any party involved. In fact it actually bypasses the very opportunity for heart-change that can mean the difference between someone choosing to LIVE generously and motivated to personally meet needs repeatedly ... or stagnant solution, ending in bitterness and worse... apathy.

Community leaders, I think we need to believe in, rely on, and challenge our fellow man a little more than we do. Farginen” is a Yiddish word that means “To open space for others”. Be it civic leaders, church leaders, leaders in a classroom, or leaders in business, the good ones farginen for others by opening space for those they’re leading to prosper... GIVING seed to the sower instead of taking it from him.

Then it’s up to us and our stuff. We have enough stuff to go around. When when we have the faith to listen to the little voice and give, it not only meets needs... but it multiplies because it change our hearts and might even free someone else’s heart to give too.

The church can be weird ... but so are you

2011-10-19T07:47:00.005-04:00

I've spent most of my life as a church person. I had a couple of years there where God gave me a mulligan while tasting the fru-its of the dev-il ... but perspectively, The Church has always been a major part of my life. I grew up in the United Church, split away to go Independent, joined a Congregational network, was a die hard Pentecostal, had a brief respite as an African grass rootsy, and then planted an intentionally Non Denominational church with a mission to bring 'em all together.

I have deep appreciation for of them all. I have lingering burrs up my butt about all of them. They all both confuse AND INfuse me with passion. And I have a growing understanding that God loves them all for more unilaterally than I previously suspected.

"Protestants have this fear of Mary the Catholic Boogiewoman for some reason. Are we are afraid she is going to jump out and make us worship saints?"
Aaron White

Sometimes when God's people come together to worship, it's downright weird. I've been in meetings that included (not exaggerating here) 50 swords (including most of the Lord of the Rings replicas) that by the end of worship were being waved about.

I've been in prayer rooms with a group of quiet contemplative Baptists when "The Shofar Guy" walks in to triumphantly announce the "Walls of Jericho" falling down if you will. That's a scene that you wish you had a hidden prayer room camera for.

I've been in services where the truly crazy just walk right up to the speaker and declare them the living Spawn of Satan and I've been in meetings that when finished, people are laying prostrate on the ground under the weighty presence of a tangible God. I'm sure I haven't seen "it all" but I've seen lots of various good AND bad... and a whole lot of in between. And I suspect since everyone in these stories are still following Jesus and still trying to figure it out together... God's love and grace for all of it MUST BE bigger and wider than we suspect.

PEOPLE are the variable in each equation. It's not easy to figure out how we humans should behave around someone we respect and want to impress. Good looking girl... a business person you look up to... God. And because of that, sometimes it can get WEIRD and awkward. Sometimes it's like U2's heavenly dream of “I believe in the kingdom come where all the colors will bleed into one”. Those moments are awesome. Poignant. Meaningful. Memorable.

But not every moment is poignant. In fact most really aren't and it really doesn't matter that much. I was in a worship service recently where at one point there was a woman attempting to sing in a falsetto two octaves above where she should be singing, that sounded like a cooing dove struggling to breathe. At the same time there a young woman singing completely off key in my ear. At the same time someone else was aggressive knee-drummed completely off beat to a song I didn't like. I wanted to take a walk to get away just to let my brain breath. But what was happening was genuine people lifting what had, in their own way to God. Not pretty... but real. More real that most life scenarios because people were ACTUALLY expressing love.

I remember once when I was a young, zealous new convert eager to see revival in my city and family... I, enraged, tore out of the parking lot of a lovely Anglican service. My family was all gathered for a funeral and I couldn't believe that the Man of God delivering the message didn't act in the way that I would have. The nerve eh? It was so silly because what happened was honoring of man and God and meant MUCH to my family... but I couldn't get over the things that just don't matter much.

Many of our churchy things are all just make-believe. Names, titles, precious little traditions. They aren't NEARLY important as we think. But the amount of love and grace that God chooses to have for us as we figure these things out tells me that we need to really consider having much more for each other.

Last night a friend of mine sent me this clip that a personal friend of his shot from a church called Bethel in Redding California. At the end of a service... all of a sudden in the corner of the room a physical cloud appeared and began rain flakes of gold. Keep an eye on the top right corner

Absolutely amazing. Weird? Oh absolutely no doubt. This is NOT a common occurrence. Is it something that happened in the Bible? Oh absolutely... there was cloud of God that walked right along with his people. Do I get it? Lord no. Do I want to? Oh absolutely. What's the key to understanding? Love, grace, peace, patience, kindness and not getting brought down by how things look and seem even if it's not something we "get" ... yet.

The Church is weird but extraordinarily beautiful. I want more.

What are the most "Liked" verses in the Bible... at least on Facebook?

2011-10-13T10:17:00.014-04:00

There's a fascinating site called "The Likeable Bible" that breaks the Bible down verse by verse, and asks people to 'like' the individual verses they like the most.

Let's look at the current Top Ten and see if we can cast vast non-contextual, overblown, sarcastic generalizations and semi-baseless assumptions about what it says about people.

#1 and #2 (The boozy verses)

Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Proverbs 31:6

Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Proverbs 31:7

What it says: Well... people like their drinkin clearly. I actually love these verses too. They make the conservative squirmy. Of course it does say right before that it's not for Kings and rulers to crave it... so maybe all those sad sack country songs about friends in low places drinkin whiskey resonate with the facebooking masses.

#3 (The Beginning)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1

What it says: It means that people wound rather get in arguments about dinosaurs, gardens and strategically placed fig leaves than the publicly espouse the deity of Christ. Ooooo...

#4 (The Commandments)

Thou shalt not kill. Exodus 20:13

What is says: It means that people are still trying to avoid thinking about those whole coveting the neighbor and pesky Sabbath ones.

#5 #8 #10 - (The Novelty Verses)

And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. 2 Kings 2:24

Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. Leviticus 19:29

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence 1 Timothy 2:12

What is says: Bear maulings, whores and silencing women. Gotta love the Bible. It says that there are lots of former Sunday School boys who amused themselves by trying to make their friends laugh by passing the funny scriptures around while a lady in a Hawaiian shirt put on a puppet/felt board combo show... on Facebook. I'm personally very disappointed that Ezekiel 23:20 is not there though. That's what I "Liked"

There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

Best... verse... ever

#6 (Anger at the rich)

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Matthew 19:24

What it says: People love this one. Mostly because 70% of our culture has no liquid money and are drowning in debt and revel in seeing a rich guy is get burned. Schadenfreude. Yep. That's why people like it so much. Of course they often forget the poor widow that Jesus lauded gave MOST of her earthly possession and wealth so... easy treading there plankeye.

#7 (The Slam Dunk)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

What is says: It says that people only really know a couple of Bible verses... and this is one of them.

#9 (The Tats)

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:28

What it says: It says that the namesake "Mothers" whose son's chose to honor with ink on their upper arm... didn't find it quite so touching.

BONUS #11 (Fruity Sex)

Strengthen me with raisins,refresh me with apples,for I am faint with love. Song of Solomon 2:5

What it says: I don't know why fruit was such a big part of Bible sex... but it looks like I'm not the only who curious about it. Where do you put the raisins?

A Grander Vision of the Political Right PART 2: "You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong"

2011-10-04T09:28:00.018-04:00

Part 1 (if you missed it)

I continue to be a little bothered by the lack of GRAND vision communicated by the political right. Called the "Ten Cannots" this has been long misattributed to Abraham Lincoln. It was actually written by William John Henry Boetcker, a leading Presbyterian minister, thinker and speaker in 1916. It's thoughts are incredibly important, especially for those of us who care about the prosperity of EVERYONE instead of only a few.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

It's a mindset issue and an important one. I think it depicts a scenario in which good men can ensure MANY needs are BEST met. In my article in this month's Brant Advocate, I tell a story about many years ago while on a date in downtown Toronto where God confronted me about how to treat "wealth".

When I was in my early 20’s and could finally afford some of the things I really wanted, I could only think of one thing. A brown leather jacket. One like Kevin Costner wore in Field of Dreams. He was one sharp lookin’ man in that movie and when I wore my bomber jacket that smelled like an old baseball mit, I knew I looked GOOD. Costner good.

Before we were married, while on a date with my wife in Toronto to see the Phantom of the Opera, we were walking down Yonge Street and saw a homeless man. He was not the first nor last we saw that night but this situation was different. As we walked past, I heard that little voice inside me (the one we all hear but too often ignore) say the words, “Take off your jacket and give it to this man”. I instantly went into internal spin mode with a litany of great reasons why NOT to give my coat away.

I was on a date. It was cold out. He HAD a coat,. What did he need a Kevin Costner jacket for? How would I explain “the voice that told me to do something irrational” to my girlfriend? There were lots of reasons to continue walking and ignore the unmistakable burden on my heart. So I did because it was easier and it didn’t disrupt my evening.

Soon after, I got rid of the jacket. I couldn't even look at it because it was no longer MINE. What it did was make sure that the next time I was confronted with sacrificial generosity... I did what was right. And it changed me. Forever. That jacket taught me something about how we should treat “stuff” that has stuck with me for 15 years. There is nothing wrong with having “stuff”. Stuff can be pretty great. But we can never make the mistake of believing any “thing” isn’t expendable for the benefit of others. Life is about others.

Too often the "Ten Cannots" are broken in attempts to solve social issues that EVERYONE cares about. But when it happens, it feels as if during that night on Yonge Street, someone stopped me, pointed at the homeless man and forcibly demanded my jacket because I could afford it. Even IF I agreed to such a scenario, it would have been grudgingly. And while an immediate need MAY have been met, the chance of me doing it again or meaning it would be squashed on the spot. It’s not an exponential scenario for any party involved. In fact it actually bypasses the very opportunity for heart-change that can mean the difference between someone choosing to LIVE generously and motivated to personally meet needs repeatedly ... or stagnant solution, ending in bitterness and worse... apathy. You cannot legislate care. It has the opposite effect.

"All thinking will be moonshine unless we realize that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly. It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft of bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society."
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity

We've tried legislating care. It doesn't work. The answer lies in the ensuring of the freedom of man. As fallible as the human being is, God has put His eggs in man's basket. Leaders need to challenge and open space for good men to be generous. We need to GIVE seed to the sower instead of taking it from them. People taking care of people may sound Utopian, but imagine what free people caring for each other would look like. You personally KNOW the needs of your neighbors... Your family... Your community better than anyone. And you'd be shocked at what a little thought, time, talent and money can do to completely revolutionize a life and neighborhood. When WE do it because it comes from out hearts, instead of someone doing it for us, it is MASSIVE MASSIVE. One changes man and creates ripples... the other barely gets anyone by.

ALL thinking will be moonshine unless...

2011-10-03T20:25:00.009-04:00

Politics and its systems are important; but...

"All thinking will be moonshine unless we realize that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly. It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft of bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society."
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity

We can't HOPE in systems.
We CAN change our world.

How Christian Denominations see each other

2011-09-29T11:32:00.006-04:00

This is pretty darn funny and true. Click on the picture to see it larger

Is it possible that God cares WAY less than we do?

I think Grace is WAY bigger than we give it credit for

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
St. Augustine of Hippo