Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Friends, fastflight, fake checks, and falls

I suppose things are plenty busy, but it’s not with the kind of stuff that’s really blog-worthy. Oh well, here it is anyway…

The Dempseys came and stayed with us on Monday night. Jason’s grandpa died, and his funeral was in Cisco. All of the hotels were booked with Rita evacuees, and so they came and stayed with us. Not ideal circumstances, but it was nice to see them.

I got a “rejection letter” via email from Eastland… so far the unhireable premise holds true.

I’ve been shooting my bow some getting ready for deer season, which starts Saturday. Unfortunately, one of my cables started to break on Monday night. I had to get a new cable today, which will stretch and put my bow out of tune bit by bit for a while, at the same time I’m trying to hunt.

I rode around with the police this past Friday night from about 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. It was interesting. We arrested a guy for public intoxication and had to spray him with pepper spray since he was fighting the cops and not getting in the car. Then we caught a lady who had passed about 200 fake checks in the past three weeks. The detective who was working on her case was going to the store at 11 p.m. to buy toilet paper when he saw her sitting in her car in the parking lot. He called it in and the rest is history. She also had drugs in her purse, so she’ll be in jail for a while. We also checked on a dispute between two neighbors and also a drunk driver. There’s a whole other side of the world right across the street that only comes out late at night.

(My recent studies in Greek have made me think about grammar… does the other side of the world come out at night, or is it across the street that only comes out at night? Isn’t grammar fun!)

Shana sprained her ankle today. She twisted it at Dollar General. She had the boys with her, but some nice guy helped her get them into the car since she couldn’t walk. She went to our friend Lindy’s house. Lindy was great! She helped Shana with the boys all day long until I got off at 4 and brought them all home. They kept ice on it and it seemed to be getting better by bedtime. The second day’s usually pretty bad, but she was starting to get around OK this evening.

I talked to my friend Chris tonight about our semi traditional annual bowhunting trip. It’s still up in the air, as he’s doing job interviews. He stuck with the plan and just graduated with his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.

I guess that’s all I have to say for now. I have to work 36 hours, read two books, and take a midterm next week, so I ought to get off the computer and get to work…

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Two instances of blatant plagiarism

I have always hoped that my blog would challenge people to think. Other folks sometimes (actually very often) challenge better than I do, so this time I'm going to just copy their stuff.

First, a bit from Mike Cope's blog about youth ministers....

Just a word about youth ministers here. I've been blessed to speak at lots of conferences for youth ministers through the years, and I've gotten to know many of them.

Here's what I've discovered: so many of them are among the most passionate, godly leaders I've ever met. They tend to fly under the radar a bit since they are "youth ministers"--but trust me, their influence permeates throughout their churches.

Most of them are thinking theologically in a way that connects with culture. They have to answer the question "Where was God in this?" constantly, because teens aren't afraid to ask. They have developed a knack for seeing beneath the surface to the deeper issues. For example, when everyone was blathering on about Generation X, most youth ministers saw beneath those "studies" to the deeper cultural shifts involved.

Church leaders are, thankfully, talking more and more about missional living. I think many youth ministers led the way. Over the past couple decades they have moved away from the ski trip model of youth ministry (though there's nothing wrong with a good old ski trip!) to the mission trip model. They know that their job isn't to meet all the perceived needs of their teens or to compete with the next megachurch down the road but to help in the transformation of students into passionate disciples of Christ who seek to participate in the work of God.

So many youth ministers I know are passionate about kingdom, mission, incarnational living, authenticity, and -- of course -- the gospel. They have little time for denominational concerns and have been moving beyond those borders long before others decided that is a good idea.


Second, a post from Greg Kendall-Ball's blog about certain people he calls "the unhireables." Although the Travis in his post isn't my brother Travis, we'd both certainly be members of Greg's club. I know I'd buy the T-shirt anyway.

My pal Travis and I have formed a club recently. Actually, I would venture to say that this club has been formed for some time, but we're officially proclaiming its existence, and possibly even making t-shirts.

The Unhireables: a club for men and women, who through academic association, positions on certain key issues, and attitudes toward a great number of things have made themselves unhireable by many, if not most, Churches of Christ currently in existence.

Let's face it: some of us are screwed. I just spoke with a couple who were being interviewed by a church recently. As the meeting went on, they were asked about their view of the "core" of the Gospel. They talked about the Divinity of Christ, Sovreignty of God, and so on. One elder asked them about their view on instrumental music. When they responded that it was not a "core issue" for them, the elder closed their information packet, very visibly, and quickly called the meeting to a close.

This happens more often than we'd like. I know a guy right now who has his M.Div, was recognized as a great servant by his teachers, has years of ministry experience at churches around here, and he can't find a job. He's not even half as controversial as I am, so what hope do I have? I know of some very gifted preachers, excellent teachers and so on, who can't find jobs because of the lack of certain male body parts.

Are we overreacting? Are we really Unhireable? Are we just suffering from a period of low self-esteem? Are we just talking to the wrong churches? Are there churches out there who would actually let us serve as ministers?

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Like the hangman said...

No noose is good noose.

Not much happening around here. Some friends and I just recently made fun of "stream of consciousness" blogs with no point, so I won't tell you everything I did this week.

One item of interest... I got to go look at a piece of land that I have permission to hunt. Turns out one of the elders from Canadian has moved to Abilene and bought 400 acres. He gave me permission to hunt. Pays not to burn the bridges some times. Looks like it'll be super excellent varmint hunting and trapping, plus it's got lots of quail, some pigs, and some deer, and it's only a 3 gallon round trip in the truck.

So far we've got Kurt Russel and Herschel Walker on the previous post... anyone else?
Jason

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Brushes with greatness

Also the title of a biography of a guy with huge teeth...

I met a couple of semi-important people today. One, I had a five minute conversation with the vice president of Academy Corporation. Turns out he's from Austin and he has a son who coaches at Bowie, so we talked about Leander and Westlake football. We also talked about some of the old Academy stores, like the one on Burnet Road and the one on I 35. I bought one of my first rod and reels at the I 35 store. They were also one of the only places in town to get Benjamin pellets. Academy apparently does about a Billion dollars a year in sales, so the #2 guy is a pretty important fellow. Our store got good reviews, and our department did really well compared to the other departments. This bodes well for my manager, but also for me, as I have a review coming up in the next couple of weeks that'll determine how much of a raise I get.

Two, I had dinner with about 20 other guys and Paul Scott Wilson, a preaching professor from somewhere in Canada. He's one of the top scholars in the field of homiletics (preaching). It wouldn't be like meeting the best player for the Yankees (hate 'em, but they're good), more like the best player from the worst team, but he's still major league, and top in his (rather small) field. Upside of the meeting was a "free" copy of one of his books about preaching, and also dinner from Harold's BBQ, plus I got to take home an extra plate. Not bad for 15 bucks.

Nobody's been commenting lately...Any of you met anyone even semi-famous?

I served Laura Bush a glass of tea once.

Jason

Monday, September 12, 2005

Thoughts for the day

I don't have many original thoughts, but at least I'm thinking.

One, I think sometimes I'm a real jerk. Now, some of you knew this already, but to others it may come as a surprise. I was unfair in my treatment of the ACU police guy, and I've apologized to him for acting like a horse's patoot.

Two, I think I really like Taize. Some of you have heard of Taize from my previous experience in February. If you want to know more, ask Kent Jobe, or better yet Google Taize and check out their website. Highland does a once a month Sunday night Taize style worship, and I got to go last night.

Three, I think my boat has forgotten my name. I haven't fished in 17 days and counting. A travesty, I know.

Four, I think my parents are coming up this weekend. It'll be nice to take dad dove hunting.

Five, I think I'm going to lead the small group I mentioned. I don't know what form it will take yet, as our church is pretty much wandering aimlessly when it comes to vision for small groups. It'll be pretty much up to me and the group to decide on our group's purpose and topic of study. I'm leaning more toward spiritual formation and spiritual disciplines than another look at Galatians or whatever. We'll see.

Six, I think it's good that I still remember how to count.

Seven, I think we made some new acquaintances. We had a classmate of mine and his wife over to dinner tonight. David and Rachel are both grad students. He's working on a MDiv and she's doing MFT. They've been visiting Southern Hills, and so we invited them over.

I think I'm done with thoughts for the day.
Jason

Friday, September 09, 2005

Two reasons to go to seminary

Here we are at the end of week three of the semester, and so far I'll I've figured out is exactly why I decided to go to graduate school. There are pretty much only two reasons.

I want to develop spiritually. I don't pretend to be perfect, even though I may occasionally come off as if I think I am. There are many areas of my spiritual life that need development, and I think that seminary should be a place where that kind of development is encouraged.

The second reason is to figure out the answer to a dilemma that has plagued me throughout my entire ministry career. How do you bring non-sectarian, even anti-sectarian, biblical messages to people who really want to hear what they've always heard, or want to hear lessons about "the issues?" I've determined for myself that I think most of the "issues" are 99% irrelevant to the gospel. At the same time, the cultural identity and self concept of Churches of Christ, particularly the ones I've worked for, is based heavily on (primarily?) our positions on those same issues. We are the church that doesn't use instruments, that doesn't allow women in leadership positions, etc. For me to challege those positions (which I did probably too often) even from a position of biblical scholarship and truth, was not a challenge to the intellect of those churches, but to their very identity and self concept. I've decided that you just can't use logic, reason, or scholarship when the issue is one of identity and not of intellect. So the burning question in my mind remains: how do you communicate truth to people who would rather fire you than be pushed? If a member at a church doesn't like the teaching of a minister, they can leave, and often do. On the other hand, if the eldership, or even some opinion leaders, don't like the teaching of the minister, the minister "gets" to leave.

As for my reasons, I've pretty much taken it for granted that fulfillment of reason #1 is part of the process. If I apply myself to my studies, if I seek godly wisdom from my mentors, spiritual development is virtually guaranteed. Reason #2 is not so simple. So far I haven't been able to get a straight answer, although I haven't asked the question in private contexts, only in classes.

In other news, the ACU police deparment denied my appealed parking ticket. We've exchanged a few "interesting" emails. They've accused me of being sarcastic and rude (which I was), and I've accused them of being irrational and bureaucratic (which they are). I don't imagine much good will come of it.

Some of our new acquaintances (to call them friends is probably appropriate, but we have had such good friends that these people don't even come close to, so...) have asked me to lead a small group for them, "since I'm a bible major." I was considering it already, but availability will be an issue since I can't get my work schedule more than a week in advance. We'll see.

Jason

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Good News!

Texas won by alot. As if that weren't good enough, Oklahoma and A&M both lost.

He he he!
Jason

Friday, September 02, 2005

Hurricanes and Capitalism

Something thought provoking happened at Academy today. We sold about $4000 worth of stuff to people who were buying for hurricane victims. We sold about 20 sleeping bags, 20 propane Coleman style stoves, 10 cases of 1 pound propane bottles, and about 40 cots. It was interesting to watch my manager be excited about the huge sales and at the same time be sobered by the realization that the things we sold wouldn't come close to meeting the needs of the people in trouble. One group that bought the most had 60K to spend donated by thier company to help company employees in Mississippi. It seemed odd to me to be selling the stuff rather than giving it away, but I guess everything has to be bought some time.

Another thing that bugs me is that people are blaming President Bush for all kinds of stuff... like it was his idea to have a hurricane. Seems like 99 2/3% of the job, even the blame, should go to the people to whom the jobs are delegated, not Bush himself.

Lest the TPWD get a hold of me if I elaborate too much, I'll just say that the dove hunting last night was excellent.
Jason

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Bloggin' 'bout birds, brakes, and brotherhood

Everybody feeling nice and alliterative this morning?

This morning I changed the front brake pads on the car. It made me feel nice and manly to be able to fix a car I've never worked on without consulting a manual, plus I got to get all greasy.

I haven't lived in Abilene in about five years, so the opening of dove season today brings with it mixed feelings. Abilene's dove hunting is about like Texarkana's fishing, so I was excited about the chance to go again. On the other hand, I haven't had a place to hunt out here in five years, so I was a bit anxious about calling to find a place. I ended up calling Cleve Cleveland, one of the landowners who supported my outdoor habits while I was here before, and he said I could come hunt this evening. We killed lots and lots of birds on his places when we lived here before, but he has sold the place where we hunted the most. Even so, the hunting should be good.

Part one of brotherhood...I wanted Travis to go with me this evening but he's busy.

Part two of brotherhood... Today is the first annual observance of "Free from Walnut Day." The "generosity" has run out, and now I'm free to say whatever I want without any financial repercussions. And I want to say....

Nothing. There's plenty that could be said, but I'm not going to say it. I will likely make comments about Walnut in the future, since most of my readership consists of Walnut members. I shall also return to writing about religious topics, which is my life since I'm in a Bible grad school program. If my topics and Walnut intersect, so be it, but I will not write in order to attack. If the Word convicts, that's between you (and me) and the Word, now isn't it?

Have a nice day!

Jason