charlieDEAN’S Blog

Seriously, I’m glad they kept the “Nard Dog” around for season 4…he makes me laugh all the time!!

Anyway…I thought the intro was hilarious.  Jennifer and I had to keep jumping back because we were laughing and kept missing lines…here’s one:

   “Phyllis is our Mrs. Butterworth…like a less urban Aunt Jemima.”

Sorry for the recent lack of posts…here’s a summary of my last week:

• Thursday — sore throat started developing
• Friday — went home early…head cold…slept all afternoon
• Saturday — cold seems to be lifting
• Sunday — felt pretty good
• Monday — cough starts developing
• Tuesday — I cough my head off all day
• Tuesday Night – Wednesday Morning — violent case of the flu
• Wednesday — in bed all day recovering
• Thursday — I feel weak…Jennifer’s grandma refers to it as feeling “puny” — that’s a great way to describe how I feel today!

Sorry…a cold front has moved into my upper sinus region and I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  I started watching the office and was fighting off sleep, feeling miserable.  So, here’s a quote to get you guys started:

“Powerpoint.  Power…point.  Power…POINT.  Power….POINT”

Micheal, giving his powerpoint presentation that he never prepared for!

Convince me that this was a good episode…I’m going to go back and watch it again when I feel better…but it seemed long and drawn out, although any episode with MOSE makes me happy!!

Haven’t done this in a while, but here’s some recent music purchases that I’m excited about:

I bought my first Jimmy Eat World cd last night — Chase the Light – at Wal-Mart.  It was $10, so it was worth a shot.  I’m just getting all the way through it the first time — so far, I like it.

I’ve never bought a Foo Fighter album…I’ve downloaded some songs — and I’ve really liked them.  So a week or two ago I downloaded Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.  The first couple of listens to this album were okay, but it’s really growing on me.  Obviously The Pretender is a great song — although I’m sure it’s well on its way to getting overplayed on the radio.  I guess what I like about the Foo Fighters is that it’s just straight-ahead rock — I can put it on my iPod and let it crank while I work out — which is good.

I’ve had this post marinating in my head for some time so here goes…

Do you have any people that you admire from afar?  What I mean is this: there are certain people who I really don’t know very well — I know them more by reputation that I’ve actually sat down with them and had a real face-to-face….anyway…I want to tell you about two (actually three):

• There’s this couple that I see occasionally.  They meet at Panera — it appears to weekly — and the sit there with their Bibles open talking and praying together.  I admire that so much!  Of course their kids are older — but I admire that they prioritize growing closer to God together.
• There’s this guy.  He’s the director of a local youth ministry, and he just might be one of the most grace-filled, kingdom-thinking people I know.  Every time I walk away from an interaction with him, I’m left marvelling at how he never says a bad word about anyone and at how committed his is to seeing the kingdom thrive in the Peoria area!

Jesus was not crucified for saying “Behold the lilies of the field, how they toil not, neither do they spin,” but for saying, “Behold the Pharisees, how they steal.”

Vance Havner, as quoted by Dallas Williard, Renovation of the Heart, p. 49

Yes, if you’re following along, my calendar has been too much — funeral last saturday, spoke to our high school group last Sunday, spoke at New Community Wednesday, and then three servcies this weekend.  Anyway…this weekend I wrapped up a series on prayer, talking about “Unanswered Prayers.”  I don’t really have much to add…but here are some resources that I either quoted directly or leaned on heavily for this talk:

• Prayer – Philip Yancey
• Reaching for the Invisible God — Philip Yancey
• Mudhouse Sabbath — Lauren Winner

The Switchfoot song that was later covered by Mandy Moore for the movie A Walk to Remember, is called “Only Hope.”

Okay, I don’t get to quote Daryl very often, so I’ll pick him tonight…

“Leave our sweet Kelly Kapur alone over 500 sheets of paper and go out there and sell reams like a man!”

     Solid episode…the opening bit was hilarious, Angela is back in full force and Jim playing pranks on Dwight!

Just a cool experience…

Yesterday I had my message for New Community all prepped and ready to go by 4:00, and there’s a growing group of staff that gather in the auditorium on the stage just to worship & pray for New Community for about an hour.  So I joined ‘em.

So they asked what I would be speaking on and I told them about the whole “stories of deliverance” message that I would be giving and then they prayed over me…and it was cool…I really felt empowered to teach the message I had prepared.  And then as different people were praying, there were words & phrases that they used that inside I felt Holy Spirit saying…”you need to say this.”  And so, after prayer I went back to my manuscript and added some stuff…particularly to my conclusion.

It was a really cool thing…to think of the message last night, not as “my message,” that “I prepped” and “I preached,” but a message from God confirmed, empowered and strengthened by a community of people.

The “challenge” for me in the Old Testament Challenge is there is so much stuff to cover in a limited time!  So, yes, last night I was talking fast because Exodus is so important and there’s so much to say!  So I had to gloss over the burning bush encounter in Exodus 3 & 4…which killed me…but maybe some other time.

This week I don’t really have anything to add to what I said last night.  I’ve been on an interesting journey recently of thinking more and more about Judaism and the connections to Christianity.  In the evangelical subculture there’s lot of talk about support for Israel but very seldom do you hear evangelicals talk about the beauty of the law and what it means to us.  I think this is what’s been happening in me…I used to hate the OT because is was irrelevant and the law just didn’t make sense…but more and more I’m falling in love with the OT and the law and the deep connections between Old & New Testaments.