the encounter

As a boy growing up that’s what it was: “rasslin”. Today everyone says, “wrestling”. But in my day it wasn’t quite as glitzy and glamorous. The biggesting thing going was the Von Erich family and Jose Lathereo. Nobody could beat them. Their stamina and strength seemed to make them invincible in the ring.

I never wanted to enter the ring, though me and my cousins would always have our own version of Satuday night rasslin the living room when they came over.

Today I often find myself rasslin. Its not with people, xbox, or the latest computer virus. Its against some things that go deeper and have longer lasting impact. Here they are, not in any particular order:

* to regularly hear something fresh from God.

* to let go of trying to make people believe or change.

Those are my 10. Day in and day out I enter the ring with them. Sometimes I use the VonEric iron claw on them and other times they bodyslam me. Everyone of them is worth the fight. So I rassle.

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Jonathan Blundell has awarded me along with 3 others the “subversive blogger award.” Jonathan received the same award from a friend who had received the award. The idea behind the award is:

Subversive bloggers are unsatisfied with the status quo, whether in church, politics, economics or any other power-laden institution, and they are searching for (and blogging about) what is new (or a “return to”) – even though it may be labeled as sacrilege, dangerous, or subversive.

Jonathan is the one who has helped and is still helping me understand the world of blogging. Its still not something that second nature to me, but it is growing. Others that Jonathan awared were:

Michael Robinson, who has so many thoughts he has to keep them on three different blogs. A man whom I admire for his insights, awareness and observations of the world around him – the good and the bad.

Kevin Hendrix, and the folks at ChurchMarketingSucks, for frustrating, motivating and educating me on how to not suck at marketing and sharing my faith.

Brandi Manes, who keeps me entertained with her thoughts on life, living with a boy, life in Nashville, TN and who has always been against the status quo since we started working together on the school newspaper at UMHB.

In keeping with the spirit of the award, here are my nominees:

1. the folks from Church Relevance. They are a great source for up-to-date ideas and resources for communicating the gospel in the language of today.

2. Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church (also known as the theater church). His fresh approach to faith and church are challenging and inspiring.

3. I would also have to award the Church Marketing Sucks group. I love their vision, approach, and practical ideas.

I hate to cut the list to only 3, but I haven’t gotten too far around the blog corner yet. I’m on my way though. Thanks to the bloggers who keep me current and motivated to serve Christ and lead the church to be incarnationed into culture.

The rules of participation are pretty straightforward:

1. If you are tagged, write a post with links to five subversive blogs
2. Link back to this post so people can easily find the origin of the meme
3. Optional: Proudly display the “Subversive Blogger Award” somewhere on your blog with a link to the post that you wrote (Please download the image and save it to your own server before posting it to your blog. That way everyone can save on their bandwidth. Jake has another image on his blog as well.)

That’s all there is to it. Keep in mind that this award is meant as an encouragement to bloggers to keep doing what they’re already doing – being subversive (however you interpret it). May we never forget that Jesus (and His message) was the original and ultimate subversive.

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We never had any pets growing up, so the whole thing of having cats and a dog is still a learning journey for me. Our dog, Ranger, is part of that journey. Heather picked him up from the animal shelter, so we didn’t know much about where he came from and what breed he was. As he’s grown, we’ve continued to wonder more about what kind of dog he is. One thing has become clear – he is a hunting dog.

He has a morning ritual that begins at about 7am. He goes throughout the yard looking up into the trees. He is searching for squirrels. When he finds one, he barks and barks and barks. As the squirrels leap through the trees, he follows them with intensity. Nothing can pull him from the chase. Heather can call him from the back door, she can offer him food, but nothing takes him away from the chase. If we step out in the back yard, it seems to give him an even greater desire to show off his hunting skills. After a couple of hours, he’s done for the day. Then its an all day nap until the next morning.

Ranger is a hunting dog. He was bred to chase, to look up, to track the trees. Its instinctive to him.

When my heart was birthed anew by God some things changed in my life. There began to be some instinctive longings that rose up in my heart. They were different who I used to be in desire and passion. As I follow these new instincts they grow and change me. They long for closeness with God, for a clear conscience, for right relationships, for authenticity, for truth. That is not who I was before, but because of a new heart, they are part of me now. I want to track after Christ, chase His heart, watch His ways.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. Romans 7:22

God used a donkey to speak once, now he speaks through our dog Ranger. That dog!

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This sunday at encounter we finish the “chase the lion” series with the real life story of a couple that faced the ultimate of marital lions – infidelity. For most, facing this lion brings certain death to the marriage. Husband and wife walk away scarred, wounded, and defeated. If there are children, they too bear a lifetime of wounds that leave them disfigured.

This couple however vowed to not only fight the lion in the harshest of circumstances, but defeat it. Like Benaiah in a pit on a snowy day, they committed themselves to not let go until they were restored to one another. Their story is one of courageous faith and incredible tenacity, for few make it passed this lion.

Their story will encourage your faith, deepen your commitment, and restore your hope.

See you sunday!

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We’re always looking for the latest game that the family can all play together. With 7 of us and kids ranging in age from 8 to 16, that can sometimes be challenging. The latest was a game that Phil gave to us – a tv version of Mad Gab. Its the game where words are listed on the screen that have no apparent relationship, except by what they sound like when you say them. For example: Ace Care Remove He. No relationship right? Say them all together, think outside the box and you get “A Scary Movie”.

Of course it wasn’t enough to play the boxed version, we had to create some of our own Mad Gabs. See if you can figure out these…

hint: our family dog’s name

hint: fire roasted treat

hint: no hint. this one’s too easy

hint: drive

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