charlieDEAN’S Blog

I’m reading Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution.  I’m curious to see if anyone has a reaction to this quotation:

“My [sociology] studies taught me that the higher a person’s frequency of church attendance, the more likely they are to be sexist, racist, anit-gay, pro-military, and committed to their local church…as I’ve heard my old mentor Tony Campolo say, ‘If we were to set out to establish a religion in polar opposition to the Beatitudes Jesus taught, it would look strikingly similar to the pop Christianity that has taken over the airwaves of North America.’”

A friend gave me a copy of Eddie Vedder’s new album, the soundtrack for Into the Wild.  I still believe Pearl Jam’s Ten to be one of my favorite rock albums ever.  But to be honest, I was skeptical about a Vedder solo album.  I’ve been so pleasantly suprised!  It’s a great pensive, brooding, acoustic rock album that showcases the range of Vedder’s vocal talents.  And while I haven’t seen the movie yet (I’ve read the book) it really captures in the music what I’d guess the spirit of the movie to be, if that makes any sense.

Favorite Tracks Are: “Rise,” “Long Nights,” and “Hard Sun”

So I’m sitting at Panera this morning, finishing up my last message for New Community tonight, listening to Eddie Vedder, drinking coffee and it’s cold outside…I love what I do.

At the Hard Rock Hotel this weekend they had a complimentary copy of Rolling Stone in the room.  I don’t regularly read Rolling Stone, but when I get a chance I usually leaf through it at least.  Anyway, there was an article that I came across called “My Favorite Nut Job,” by Matt Taibbi, a political writer for the magazine.

The article was about Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate, who professes to be devout Christian.  There were several things that captured my attention in Taibbi’s article:

 (1) His undisguised contempt for Christians.  In super-PC America, it seemed a little strange to hear a columnist refer to Christians as “nut-jobs” and “kooks.”  (Okay, I guess I should have expected that from Rolling Stone.)

(2) I loved that even though the disdain for Christianity was huge, there is an attractiveness about Huckabee himself.  I’d like to think that even if people think I’m a “kook” or “nutjob” for what I believe, they still respect me as an individual.

(3) At the same time, there are some pretty serious accusations against Huckabee, that while he was in the Arkansas governor’s mansion he acted in some ethically suspect ways.  Is there any politician who is above reproach?

So, when I was a kid, and we visited a city…we walked.  If it was absolutely too far to walk, we might choose to take public transportation.  Never, under any circumstances did we ever take a taxi.  I mean, thought would be an outrageous waste of money!

Tonight, we were standing at the corner of Michigan Ave., and Chicago Ave. waiting to catch a bus to go to Navy Pier.  However, we didn’t have correct change to pay the $8 bus fare, and the driver didn’t have change.  So we begrudgingly decided to grab a taxi. 

The fare? 

$5.25

So, why didn’t we grab taxis?

Maybe it was because kids in Ethiopia were starving and kids everywhere were getting eyes poked out with pencils.

Actually…I think, as a parent I might know the answer.  You don’t want the hassle.  And frankly, half the timie, you just want to walk some of the endless energy out of them…and you don’t want to explain your reasoning, because they would never understand….so you just say that you can’t afford it…that shuts ‘em up.

So tonight we’re in Chicago.  Our friend Erica hooked us up with a sweet room in the Hard Rock Hotel on Michigan Avenue.  So we’re up here chilling with Caleb & Gavin (Jaxon & Madox are at home with my parents).  So, Caleb and Gavin consistently crack us up!  A sampling:

Why do people like Chicago so much more than Brimfield?  (Caleb)

We started the day in Oakbrook at a Children’s production of A Christmas Carol….about 20 minutes in, Gavin loudly whispers to Jennifer, “what color is my snow board?”

Caleb, looking at a tall building…”is that a Jail?”

At random points throughout the day we would catch Gavin — in the middle of a restaurant, in the middle of a busy sidewalk — breaking out into dance moves from High School Musical 2.  We’re so proud!

I think one of the “gray areas” of raising your children as a Christian, is that we don’t believe that kids are “automatically in.”  You aren’t born into faith, but each person chooses whether or not they will give their life to following Jesus.  That being the case, as Jennifer and I have talked about raising our boys, we don’t want to manipulate them into “praying a prayer” or “asking Jesus into their hearts” so we can check it off the good parenting list.

Instead we’ve been watching, praying, and waiting for tender moments when the Spirit of God seems to be doing something in them.  Several months ago it seemed that Caleb had a lot of spiritual interest, but it was right around the time Madox was born and nothing really came of it.  But last night, in his normal bedtime prayers (“Dear God, you’re the greatest God…I love you soo much… (He prays just like his Discoverland leaders!  It’s hilarious and pracious at the same time)) he prayed that he would go to heaven.  We have no idea why this was on his mind…but Jennifer took the opportunity to explain to him the significance of Jesus and how Jesus died as a payment for our sins…

And last night, Caleb prayed a prayer to begin a journey in his life of following Jesus — of becoming, step by step a disciple.

This isn’t the end of the journey, just the beginning.  There will be (we hope) many more prayers, many more “re-committments,” many more decisions whether or not to follow Jesus, but Jennifer and I are so excited to see our oldest son beginning to follow Jesus!  Praise God!

At the risk of tarnishing my image I offer the following thoughts:

When it comes to Christmas music, I’m not into hip, modern stuff…give it to me classic…like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby.  It’s even a time of the year that I dig real classical stuff.  So here’s some stuff that I’m listening to as we approach Christmas:

“Now That’s What I Call Christams” is a 2-cd set…the 1st cd is good…the second one is filled with pop artists…I never listen to the 2nd cd.  (There’s also a vol 2. & 3)

This is a classic for me…I still love it!  Much better than his second Christmas cd, in my opinion.

I think I said something about this one last year.  I still like it.  Just gives some classic Christmas songs her unique twist.  Of course Sarah could sing the Barney theme song and I’d probably love it!

Yeah, I know I’m going to get harrased, but it’s not bad.  He hits on the classics without adding a lot of new stuff.  He does have a great voice.  Plus he’s soooo dreamy!