charlieDEAN’S Blog

Real quick, I’ll catch everyone up on my weekend…

Thursday night — took our boys camping for the first time…Caleb in particular had a blast. I think he was sitting in the backseat of my car for about 15 minutes before we left just giddy w/ excitment! It was a perfect night to camp…cool, clear and just a really great time w/ the family!

Friday — helped dig 37 postholes for my dad’s new deck surrounding his pool (okay, we cheated and rented a gas-powered auger)….buy Friday night I was beat!

Saturday — mountain biked by myself, and then went to work to prep for the weekend’s message. This was the first time I’d spoken on the weekend here at Northwoods, and so it was a little nerve-racking.

Sunday — had a cookout w/ our ministry and had between 70-75 people. I was pumped!

Monday — mountain biked again with Ryan and Josh at Independence in Marquette Heights. Went over my handle bars — HARD. Cut my knee pretty good. First blood of this years’ mountain biking season. Great ride. The guys at Little Ade’s in Pekin do a great job of maintaining this network of trails.

I just began reading Brian McLaren’s new book called The Last Word annd the Word After That. This book is the final book of a Trilogy that began with A New Kind of Christian and continued with The Story We Find Ourselves In. I’ve just started it, so I don’t really have a lot of thoughts about it except one that came to me this morning (I don’t think it was necessarily something he said, but something that came to mind anyway).

Are my thoughts on faith, politics, etc., shaped more by rational thought and study or simply by my context? Really, this is the at the crux of the postmodern theological conversation. It seems that often people are conservative republicans, for example, because their family has always been such and they have always been associated with conservative causes and organizations. Here’s the question framed in a little different way. Did I find my theology or did my theology find me?

I think that if I answer in the second case, then I am more likely to reformat my understandings of the world and to toss out ideas that don’t seems to make sense any more. However, if I believe that my theology is the result of rational thought then I am much less likely to explore ideas that are counter to my preconceived notions.

I thought this was common sense until discussing it with my small group last night and finding there was NO consensus. So here is my ranking of the seven star wars movies (including the cartoon version of The Clone Wars). Feel free to comment/criticize/offer up your own list. From favorite to least favorite:

Confession: I grew up in the Christian ghetto. I remember the first time I brought home a “Christian Rock” tape (yes, I grew up in the SWEET era of cassette tapes) and my mom wasn’t quite sure if it was okay. One of the first tapes I brought home was a Petra tape — Not of this World, I believe, and the first two “Christian Rock” tapes I bought were Medals, by Russ Taff and Back to the Street, by Petra.

Anyway, since then my music tastes have definately grown up, and for me Petra has, in some ways, come to represent all that is laughable in the catagory of “Christian Rock.” (Here’s my beef in a sentence — People in the Christian ghetto trying to convince people that “Christian Rock,” is actually better music than real rock music.)

What cracks me up about Petra, is that they are as pathetic as the Rolling Stones in terms of old men who refuse to hang up the guitar, or at least move on to Buffet, or James Taylor stylings. But the thing with Petra is that at one point, a couple years ago, no one from the original band was even in the band, although one person came back for their most recent release.

Anyway, I don’t really hate Christian musicians in any way, I just think that when you’re trying to “copy the world” you often come off a little (okay a lot) cheesy. Petra did a good thing 30 years ago in pioneering a brand of music that had a rock-feel but good lyrics, but it just doesn’t play in Peoria anymore (okay, if you live in Peoria, you have to say stupid stuff like that sometimes).

After 33 years, Petra has decided to finally close up shop…RIP.

Here’s the quotation from Soren Kirkegaard’s journal that I used last night:

“The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.”

Just finished a great book! (It seems like I say that a lot!) Anyway, this isn’t a book that I was interested in at first glance. I’ve been married for 9+ years now, and books on chastity aren’t at the top of my reading list, but I started, intending on skimming in order to see if there was anything I could use in talks I was preparing. But I got caught up in it. Lauren Winner does a great job of distinguishing between celibacy (committing to a lifelong choice to refrain from sex) and chastity (treating sex as intended by God, whether one is married or not). She placed the sexual act within the context of Christian community, which is a great discussion. I know I recommend a lot of books, but for what it’s worth, here’s another recommendation.

Someone asked me to post the quotations I used at the Gathering last night, so here’s the one from Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaguration address:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us…and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Check out this link for important information on how lightsabers work, including some examples of practical uses for lightsabers besides the more common uses like deflecting blaster shots from droid armies.

Yes, that’s right, this church is made entirely of LEGOs! Check out the web page of Amy Hughes. She’s the person who created this masterpiece. She obviously really loves LEGOs and cats.

So here’s my question for today: who is crazier, me, or the crazy cat-loving LEGO lady?

Read this from her FAQ section:

8. How much time did it take to build?
It was about a year and a half of planning, building and photographing. It was a big project, but it was less time than most people spent watching TV during that same year and a half.

Seriously, who is crazier, a person who spends all their spare time creating a masterpiece (albeit with a questionable medium) and who really loves her cats, or a person who spends and hour or two per day zoning out in front of the television?

Waaaaaaay late on this one, I know, but what a beautiful movie! (Wait until you have two small children and see how many movies you get to see in the theater!) On a couple occasions I got goose bumps because I was so caught up in it.

I don’t have the time right now, and I haven’t really given it a lot of thought, but it’s interesting how significant the story of Peter Pan is to so many people. There is something so tragic about the story — about what it means to grow up and lose your creativity and imagination. And yet, there’s hope, I think…