Some Churches Just Stink

So this past Sunday I visited another church in the area. It had one of those "The Church at ...." names. Very nice building with a coffee shop setup in the lobby. All the goodies were free, it was comfortable and they focused on making it feel very welcoming. The building is completely decorated to look like it is THE place to be. I entered the worship center (aka sanctuary) and took a seat in the back (see picture below for my view).

When worship started the band was awesome. They reminded me of the Reach band, but more trendy and good looking (sorry guys). For those of you who don't know, the Reach Band is the band that leads worship for our young people back in Delaware. I was in the band and we rocked.......but let me get back to the story.

The worship was great both in talent, participation and song selection. I was getting very excited that this may be the place for me even though I had reservations about what I had seen outside the service. Then the pastor come onto the stage and stunk the joint up. His sermon was awful. I suddenly realized why the pretty girl at the welcome counter hurried me into the sanctuary so I didn't miss the worship time. Her quote was, " worship is the best part of the service". Boy was she right.

The pastor didn't just stroll on the stage area. He came down and roamed around the crowd like a crazy homeless man wandering the streets and hassling people for money. It was like a bad motivational seminar about finances in these troubled times. At the end he made a "gospel" presentation. It consisted of the declaration that God loves us, and that he desires a relationship with us, and that if we want one with him that we just need to do it. That was it. Jesus name was not mentioned, nor the cross, nor our sinfulness, nor our need for a savior. The good news was...get right with God. So, this church was a dud. I will not return.

In other news, I have to say that my friends back home are great. On Monday I arrived home to discover that I had a package. This package contained a photo album that was put together of pictures of them with notes to me. I have to say it made me cry..... I was doing pretty good with homesickness until that point. Now I am really thinking I need to get back home for a visit. I don't know when/if I can make it happen, but I may be back in Delaware before my planned visit in May. Maybe this is their twisted plan to get me to move back home. Pretty clever.

Are You Serious?!?!

Well, I have been lax in posting again, but I think I have an excuse. I have been faced with some major life changing decisions lately. Let me start from the beginning.....

I have previously written about the things happening at my job. I work for a major American life insurance company, and they are consolidating some operations. In that post I shared that I had somewhere between now and 18 months before my job would be phased out and moved to Columbus Ohio. I did what every person in that position should do; I started the process of finding another job. Delaware has some good opportunities, and I just needed to find the right one. I had plenty of time because I was sure that I would be safe for about a year.

About three weeks after the big announcement, I was called into our director’s office. She wanted to know what my plans were for the future. I told her that I was looking around. I anticipated that she was going to offer me some sort of incentive to stay till the end. This is a common practice for companies to offer cash bonuses if you don't jump ship before they have moved your function. To my surprise, she said that my company wanted to keep me. They offered me a promotion as well. The caveat was that I would have to move to Ohio. The package was attractive, and I advised I needed to think about it. She told me that her boss in Columbus was going to be in town the next day and that I should talk to her about it.

I had the meeting and the info was very interesting. She advised me that I didn't have to move for a while (at least 6 months, maybe a year), and that I had two weeks to think about it. Wow, I needed to make that decision in two weeks. There was MUCH about this deal that was attractive.

Now I am not the sort of person who makes life decisions on a whim, so I really began to think about it, and pray. I sought advice from those that I respect and those that love me. The reactions were very consistent. They went something like this....."We/I love you and don't want you to be out of my/our lives, but this seems to really be a good opportunity for you and it seems that God is leading you there." I also went to my family, who immediately said I should go (insert joke here).

So after much thought I made the decision to accept the job. I will be moving to Columbus Ohio sometime in the next 6-9 months. I'm excited, and a little nervous. I have never lived anywhere outside of the same 10 square mile are area in DE. I never went away to college, or spent a summer living at camp. I am really looking forward to what God has in store for me.

My plan is to dedicate two years of my life to this. At the end of two years I will evaluate the decision and if God is leading me back to Delaware, then I will return. This is really going to be an adventure in worship. Pray for me.

A Tribute To Some Couples I Love

I love these guys. The fact that I was able to catch them doing these things with a video camera is just luck. I had no idea they were sooooo talented.

Here's To Dan and Kelly Mac


Here's To Michael and Kate

When The Children Cry

Ok, so here is the situation. There is a particular child that I attend church with. He is 2ish. The picture over there on the left is me and him when he was a day old. He hadn't even left the hospital yet. Isn't that a cute pic?

So lately he has taken to running in panic from my presence. One Sunday morning I walked int he building and he started screaming and clung to his dad as if I was going to eat him. It was odd at the time, but his dad and I chalked it up to the little ones mother being away for the weekend. Kids get funny when mom disappears for a day or so. Well, a couple days later I was again in the church building and I was sitting and talking with the church secretary. I heard this young mans mom coming around the corner (little guy in tow) and thought to myself that now we would be cool again, since mom was back and all.

Surprise, he saw me and turned and ran down the hall away from his mom. She tried to bring him back and he cried and hide. This situation persists. You may think that I have done something to this child to cause this reaction, but I haven't.

The most bizarre part of this whole situation is that he talks about me all the time when I am not around.....favorably. I mean as favorable as a 2 year old can, but he'll see me on a video and be happy. He'll dance around when he thinks that he is going to church and that he will see me. His mom even tells me that he has spontaneously prayed for me when she prays with him. It just goes to pot when I am in his physical presence.

Its weird I tell you. I know that kids have their strange periods, its just odd to be involved in one. One day I'm sure we'll be best friends.

My Car - Absent Without Leave

It was a regular Sunday morning, as my alarm started to make an obscenely loud noise. I opened my eyes and I think I only hit the snooze button twice. I curse the day I ever discovered the purpose of that button. I eventually got myself up and in the shower. I’m really not awake until that water hits me. I love a morning shower. I don’t really understand those who only bath at night. Next step, get dressed for church and get out the door. I like to stop at Dunkin Donuts and grab an iced coffee before worship team practice. I’m running a little behind schedule as I walk out my door debating on whether I should still attempt this, or go straight to church and be on time.

As I get to the bottom of my steps and enter the parking lot, I start scanning for my car.

Hmmm, I thought I parked right there…….Maybe its further down that way. Hmmm, this can’t be right.

At this point I am confused and start strolling around and looking for my car. After about 2 minutes of this, I have realized that my car is AWOL. Its somewhere not here. I walk over and sit on my steps and decide that there are two options. Option 1, my car was stolen. Option 2, my car was towed by my condo association. At this point I take my phone out of my pocket and call my friend Ian at church and tell him that my car is missing and I need someone to pick me up for church. I’ll deal with this later.

Since I live a couple miles form my church, it only took about 15 minutes until I was standing next to my fellow musical types explaining that I my car was away from home without my permission. After church my friend Bernie drove me home and I called the number for the towing company that our condo association uses. The woman I spoke to said that she wasn’t sure that they had taken my car. This was not what I expected; I began to think maybe my car had been stolen. I spoke with her again 30 minutes later and she told me that they did have my car.

Having located who was in possession of my vehicle, I asked why. She advised me it was something to do with my tags. At this point I feel it necessary to explain that on 6/15 of this year my condo association began a parking enforcement program. Some people from a nearby neighborhood were parking excess vehicles in our spaces. We also had some residents who would have extra unregistered cars or several overnight guests. At this time, you need to have your car registered, your guests need a pass if its overnight, etc…. If your car isnt’ registered with the complex, you get a warning. If it is in an illegal spot, handicapped spot, or is untagged, it is towed immediately.

Being told that my car was towed for a tag issue, I began to think about the last time I went to motor vehicle. I was almost sure that it was tagged appropriately, but I have been known to let my tags expire in the past. I would deal with this when I had all the facts and picked my car up Monday morning, so I called my mother and made arrangements for her to pick me up early Monday morning. I spent the afternoon and evening with MC_Shan and Kate going to a friends afternoon church service and having dinner at Outback. I needed a good steak.

Monday morning came and I was up and ready to go when my mom picked me up. We are very different in how we handle stressful situations. Where I am calm and tend to avoid worry and rushing into more stress, my mom is ready to call everyone in the county to complain and yell about something. Needless to say, I had to calm her down about the situation. When we got to the towing company, she wanted to come in with me to “question” why my car was towed, I wouldn’t let her. I knew it would turn into a scenario in which she would "loud talk" to me on the injustice or stupidity of the situation. It wasn’t the towing companies fault; they were just doing their job. So after I paid the $200 (this was the most painful part of this whole situation), I sent my mom home. My car was at another lot the company maintained, and so they graciously offered me a lift to that lot.

Here is a fun part of the story. I got to ride in a tow truck with two of the most stereotypical tow truck guys you will ever meet. As we drove to the other lot, the driver was yelling at women he passed while complaining about his ex wife and telling stories with the other guy about run ins with the police over the weekend. The experience was priceless.

We got to the lot and my car was released to me, and just as expected the liscense plate sticker said Nov 06. Now I have let my registration go a few weeks in the past, but never 7 months. I drove to work and when I got to the office, I rifled through my glove box and found the registration slip. It said that the car expired in Nov 06. At this point I am kicking myself, because it looks like it is completely my fault. How could I let my registration go for 7 months.

At lunch I went to Motor Vehicle to get the car inspected and get a new sticker so that I wouldn’t be towed again that night. I waited in line for inspection for over an hour. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but my air doesn’t work in the car and it was something like 97 degrees out. I got through the lane, went in the building and went to the counter. Surprisingly, everyone at Motor Vehicle is more pleasant than they used to be. The lady at the counter took my paperwork and when she pulled my car up, she informed me that my car’s registration didn’t expire until Nov 07. Suddenly struck by the comedic value of the whole situation I would have smiled or laughed, except that I was also immediately struck by the waste of $200 that wasn’t my fault. The nice lady gave me a new sticker and a new registration card for free and I was out and on my way back to work.

That’s the story. Funny, painful, stupid and confusing. I’m out $200 for what looks like the theft of my DE license plate sticker. I have no idea who took it, or if it just fell off for some bizarre reason. I don’t even know how long its been missing. The towing company isn’t at fault, the complex isn’t’ at fault (except I think this whole situation exposes a flaw in the parking enforcement system). I’m certainly not at fault. I plan on writing letters to the condo association and the property management company they contract to plea for changes so no one else goes through this. It would be nice if they would reimburse me as well.

So what is it that God is trying to teach me in this situation? Many people were perplexed at my casual and calm approach to the whole thing, and I believe that this is an appropriately biblical response.

How about you dear reader, can you see the lesson in this adventure?

Pollution and Tending The Garden

On Tuesday night I attended a concert at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. It was offered by the University of Delaware Choral program. Over the course of the evening they shared competition pieces that they will be using at an international choir competition in Estonia. Much of the music was beautiful, and a good deal was sacred. As a side note, I find it very interesting that secular universities use sacred music in their music programs. I wonder if at some point this will be considered offensive, but I digress.

The music was beautiful and at one point a young man read a statement before the choir sang a Venezuelan piece. The statement was a list of environmental disasters and their effect on the environment. After each disaster he dramatically spoke the word "Listen". He then quoted an old African saying about the "earth being tired." I have to say that I am not a proponent of global warming theory; at least not the theory pushed my many. I do believe that the earth is going through changes and that in some cases, we are responsible. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, he gave them the duty of tending it (Genesis 2:15). He also gave man dominion over the planet (Genesis 1:26-30). Now dominion is a serious responsibility. I am consistently disappointed with my brothers and sisters in the Lord who are so against anything that resembles agreement with liberals, that they dismiss the responsibility God gave us at our creation.

Let me be clear, I am not saying we are in a environmental crisis. Nobody would call me a tree hugger or a hippie, or a left wing environmental wacko. What I am saying is that we can all take our responsibility to be good stewards of the gift God gave us a little more seriously. Conservation isn't just to appease the environmentalists. Its good stewardship of the world we were give dominion over and asked to tend. We can also do all we can to eliminate pollution and live a little more clean. If everyone did a little it would add up to a lot. Global warming is debatable, but pollution is not. It’s happening and it doesn't have to.

Cubic Zirconium - Cheap or Beutiful

I was listening to a podcast on my way to work this morning in which the hosts were talking about how Apple has submitted a patent for a possible use in a rumored iPhone case made of Cubic Zirconium (CZ). OF course during the course of the conversation, one of the females on the show talked about how she would dump her man if he gave her a CZ ring. This made me wonder.

A CZ is definitely man made (except in very rare occurrences in nature), but it is also mega beautiful and has many of the same properties as a diamond. In actuality a CZ has more fire than a diamond does. So why would a woman dump a guy who gave her one? I would guess there are multiple reasons, some good and some bad. I think the culprit is that we as a culture have connected love and money. We have place value on love. The diamond industry has successfully integrated into our culture the notion that true love requires a monetary investment to prove itself. If you love a girl, then you buy an expensive piece of jewelry to prove it to her. Does this pervert love at its core? Does this valuable expression actually devalue love in some way? Diamonds were given because they were beautiful and precious, they still are beautiful but they are widely available. Now a CZ is arguable more beautiful, but less desirable. Just makes me wonder. I guess I need to set up a savings account specifically meant to buy a diamonds so that some day I don't get dumped.
RAV