Two songs... Two overlapping worlds...

Yesterday, I was finishing a run when I heard two songs back-to-back on my iPod. The first song is one that has always resonated in my imagination - "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day. This song has always captured my attention. Here are the lyrics:

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What's f*%@ed up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I walk alone
I walk a...

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone...

The next song that came on is one of my recent favorites by the David Crowder Band -"Everything Glorious." Here are the lyrics:

The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than its hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

(chorus)
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that


You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious.
You are glorious. You are glorious.

Two songs... Two different worlds. In many ways, I feel the pull between the two. Sometimes I feel like I am walking in this world alone (even though I am surrounded by close family, friends and a wonderful church family) and other times I feel like God is making everything glorious in and through me (especially in those same relationships).

The apostle Paul often uses the image of taking off the old and putting on the new for the Christian life. The reality in this life is that followers of Christ will never completely feel like they have taken off the old and put on the new but they do get a foretaste of that fully changed life. The old and new worlds overlap.

One of my prayers for 2008 is that it will be a year that includes a movement toward living a life worthy of the calling God has made on my life and that I will identify more with Crowder's song as opposed to Green Day's song (though I still love both of them).

What songs capture your imagination as you look back on 2007 and look toward 2008???

Flow of Criticism?

At various points in my life, I have realized that I am a very critical person. I am constantly assessing situations, systems, organizations, leadership, etc. and then forming my opinion.

Recently, I have recognized a clear pattern in my criticism. The specific aspects that I criticize are often my exact weaknesses. I have realized that the things that bother me the most about other people are the things that bother me the most about myself.

What should I do with this realization? One response is to use this pattern to help me identify areas that I need to turn over to the Lord in prayer and to ask my closest friends for help in identifying when I continue these patterns. I can choose to ignore this pattern of criticism equaling self-criticism or embrace the opportunity for change.

In 2008, one of my goals is to move toward guarding my tongue regarding criticism for others and instead point the finger on myself.

My Timing (but not yours)

I am increasingly becoming aware of a pattern of communication and yesterday I was the one who was responsible for it. More and more, I am seeing how cell phone calls are made mostly when the caller is en route and has a few minutes (or more) to make the call. The receiving person may or may not be available at that time.

Yesterday, I called a friend on the way home from the church. My "commute" is a mere 5-10 minutes depending on the number of green lights. I wanted to check in briefly with my friend but I didn't want to open a long conversation because I knew that my family was waiting for me at home.

Do you see the issue here? I mentioned "me" or "I" in that description of the call. I didn't let my friend know ahead of time that I was calling. I was calling him on my own terms. In fact, the conversation probably left him frustrated because I basically asked him a few quick questions and then gave him an update on life and then cut him off because I had arrived home.

I have been on both ends of this type of conversation.

How many of your recent cell phone conversations have ended with, "I've gotta go because I just arrived at my destination"?

My guess is that a lot of them have... Is there something wrong with this picture?

Picture of the Church?

I was driving around a few nights ago with my family looking at Christmas lights. We saw a well-decorated community and we turned onto the street leading toward the lights. As we turned, I noticed right away that the community was a gated community and I was locked out!

I was baffled...

Why would a gated community with 9-10 homes (that is all that were in the community!) decorate their homes to the extent that they did? Do they really believe that they are providing "holiday cheer" just for themselves? My thoughts wandered to the types of conversations they must be having inside their community...

"Hey, great lights John, I really enjoy them. I put my lights so that you and our street could enjoy them. I'm glad that we are not like other communities that have tons of cars coming through to look at our lights. We get to look at each other's lights and reindeer and santa claus figures and enjoy them. Maybe later this week, we can sing Christmas carols to ourselves and walk down the street. Isn't that going to be a blast?"

In many ways, I've witnessed some churches follow the same patterns in a different arena. We put on our best "show" and "lights" but oftentimes only think about ourselves and who is inside our 'community'.

My prayer and goal is that I would be part of a church that doesn't exist like that gated community that I saw the other night.

I wonder how many people visit a worship service or drive by churches and feel baffled like I did the other night?

Worth reading...

This book brings together many of the themes and specific ideas that I didn't "get" in seminary. I found myself thinking, "Why didn't we cover this?" over and over and over.

Fee and Stuart demonstrate the necessity of both exegesis and hermeneutics in bringing the Bible to bear on life today. They provide numerous reminders of why every Bible reader/interpreter needs to ask what the text says first, then what the text means (in its original setting) and then and only then what the text means for us today.

If you feel confused (as many do) about what to do when you open up your Bible, then read this book and you will be better equipped to let God speak to you (and your church) through the Bible.

More specifically, Gordan and Fee engage each part of Scripture and provide a framework and examples of exegesis and hermeneutics for each. Once again, I found myself thinking, "Why didn't my seminary professors find it important to talk plainly about these tools for interpretation?"

In many ways, my seminary Biblical studies classes focused on either of two extremes. 1. The very detailed Greek or Hebrew text critical issues and the scholarship behind the decisions and decision-making process.
2. The very high level social issues that surround the controversial passages.

The day-to-day reading and interpreting of Scripture for the life of the church and the followers of Christ who happen to be reading the Bible were not covered...

SO, this book is worth reading...

Building confidence

I finally put together our foosball table after months of having it sit (in pieces) in my garage. Laurie's parents gave us their foosball table and I have been lazy.

Cambria loves playing foosball and she wants to play 3049830489083509 times per day. The game can be dangerous for her because the handles of the table are at her head level. Every time I move the players, I have to make sure that I do not hit her face.

In spite of that challenge, I am enjoying playing with her more every time because I am seeing her confidence grow. She is learning how to hit the ball and stop the ball so that she can control the game. She is far from being a real player but I can see how each small action builds her confidence in playing.

I am avid foosball player. I have many many many memories of playing at church during middle school and high school and at camps throughout that time. I am looking forward to the day that Cambria can provide some real competition and we start keeping a family scoreboard!

Until then, anyone want to come over to play some foosball?