This is coo'

X-treme X-mas Tree Decorating

My friend Chris is x-tremely x-treme, so much so that he even does x-treme Christmas tree decorating. My x-treme friend Clay, who's so x-treme he goes by the name "Bulldog", and once had a white man's Keith Green afro, wears x-treme deodorant. My x-treme friend Tino (nickname not so x-treme, but cool nonetheless) told me of x-treme ironing. I think that may be my next hobby, since I'm so x-treme.

Happy Smiles

Grace is eight weeks old today. Her first smile was at 2 weeks, but in the last several days she has grown so much more responsive to us and so smiley. She's a happy baby (most of the time)! My face gets to hurting from my involuntary smiles and laughs when she's like this. When she looks into my eyes and smiles I know I'm blessed by God to experience a kind of joy and love I'd never known before.

From Oct,Nov,Dec. ...

From Oct,Nov,Dec. ...

First Date

From extreme living

Micah and Grace on an awkward first date

From extreme living

Micah's bored. Grace isn't sure this is working out.

X-treme Living

Seems like people are into "extreme" stuff, so much so that we have things like extreme sports, extreme snack foods (e.g. Extreme Doritos), extreme deodorant, and even the "Extreme Teen Bible". My friend Dan and I wanted to participate in the ethos of our day through "X-treme Living".

X-treme Reading

X-treme Sweeping

X-treme Typing

X-treme Nail Clipping

X-treme Sitting

X-treme Napping

X-treme Vacuuming

Bottle Feeding

Sometimes when Lindsay's gone I have to bottle feed Grace.

The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-14
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

This is perhaps one of the most treasured passages of the entire Bible. In several short paragraphs we get a glimpse into the infinite love and grace of the eternal God who chose to dwell among those whom he created and to save and bring them into his family. It is truly revealing of the great wisdom of God that he can make this message understandable to a child, and at the same time blow our minds with things that are seemingly more incomprehensible the deeper we go. Who can understand these great truths? A child. Who can penetrate to the core of God’s heart and mind? No one.

Let just one drop of water from the Word’s eternal fountain of love and grace touch the tips of the tongues of those, who with parched and sticky throats, are dying of thirst. Their thirst will be quenched and they will live forever—not by some fairy tale magic of a fountain of youth, but by the life that is in the eternal Word of God.

That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us has a fairy tale quality about it, so much so that some are quick to dismiss it as just that—a fairy tale. But why do we invent stories that speak of things that capture the imagination and inspire a sense of wonder? Is it not because we hunger to be filled with awe? Do we not thirst and seek for things that are grand and beyond us? Things that transcend the bubble of our often monotonous daily existence?

People watch certain movies so they can be caught up in a grand, powerful, creative drama and experience its excitement and the vicarious feeling of being involved in something hugely significant. People turn to technology to feed their hunger for the amazing and unbelievable. Sports fans cheer by the millions and are charged by the feeling of being part of something that excites them and represents them. Adventure seekers climb mountains, jump out of planes, rappel into caverns, and raft wild rivers to experience something that will make their hearts pound and adrenaline pump. People want to be moved. They feel as if life should not be ordinary. There is no shortage of books that try to help people help themselves overcome the ordinary. We all want it. We want something bigger than us, something grand into which our little lives can be absorbed and find their fulfillment. We’re all looking for it. We just turn to different things. What will satiate and at the same time fuel this hunger for wonder?

I believe the food and the fuel for wonder are found in John chapter one. The Word has always been God. The Word is God. The universe was made through the Word. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. God became one of us. For what? To bring us into the life of God, a life which no one can have apart from the Word. There is eternal life in the infinitely loving and gracious God. He is the infinite fountain of all that inspires matchless wonder. He is what we are seeking. He invites us to drink.

What's so funny, Grace?

I submit to you that this is one of the cutest things ever photo- graphed.

Love your God with all your mind

Jesus said that the greatest commandment of all, the commandment that carries the most weight, is "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." It means loves God with your whole person, with all that you are.

We often hear that love is more than emotion, that it's an act of the will. This, I believe, is true. Sure, a husband and wife can fall out of love, but what they really mean is they don't "feel love" for one another like they used to. True love, God's kind of love, says you remain committed to your spouse and desire and do what is truly good for him or her. It's great when emotion and the will line up, but if emotion is gone for the moment (or however long), it matters not, at least with regard to the essence of love, which is an unwavering commitment to the highest good of another.

Now, to get to my main thought...

I have a thought tonight about loving God with my mind. I'm currently studying for my theology test and working on a big assignment. With what feels like a mountain of other things that require my time and attention, I don't feel like studying. I'm tired. This causes some dissonance in me because here I am studying, reflecting on, and learning about wonderful truths about God, things that in my heart bring me deep joy, and yet there is a feeling of dread about this task of studying for the test and completing assignments. So I started thinking about the greatest commandment to love God. Loving God with my mind is included in that command.

If love were only a feeling, I'd close the books, push back from my desk, and perhaps try to feel love toward God without this mental strain. But how can I feel love for someone unless I know something about them. True, to know someone is different from merely knowing things about them. But you can't truly know someone without knowing things about them. When it comes to loving God (as in all meaningful personal relationships) you need both. The two (knowing and knowing about) should not be separated. If we are to know God personally we must seek to understand the truth about him as he himself has revealed in the Scripture. The two are joined.

It's been wisely said before, "Theology without piety (my personal reverence for God) is sterile abstraction. Piety without theology is empty emotionalism."

I don't want the pressure of my studies to pour water on my fire for God. Rather, I want my studies to be gasoline for the fire, even if my emotions at the moment are not where I would like them to be, for true love involves commtiment of the will. Therefore, God help me, God help us, to love you with our minds, our hearts, our souls, our strength.

What we ALL need more of

I haven't had time lately to post anything meaningful. But today I made the effort because in conversation with my friends Aaron and Monica, we were reflecting on something important: We ALL need more cow bell in our lives.

Baby Aerobics

Trouble Sleeping in the Delivery Room

Lindsay was in labor for almost 23 hours. At about the 17.5 hour mark Lindsay got an epidural. The climate in the room changed dramatically. Her pain stopped and she was able to take a short nap. Gini (Lindsay's mom), Dawn (Lindsay's sister), and I all felt better ourselves, but we too were exhausted and decided to try to catch a few winks. The problem was there were three of us but only one place to sleep, so we had to get creative. Take a little looksee at some of our various attempts to sleep in the delivery room. There is one picture in this bunch where one of us actually fell asleep. Can you guess which one? You may post your guess in the comments section.

David Hasselhoff - Hooked on a Feeling

Thanks to my friend Nate for sharing this with me. This video is truly a testament to the fact that America is an amazing seedbed for musical artistry.

Grace in a Polar Bear Suit

Pictures of Grace

Click on the photo below for the pictorial saga of Grace's arrival.

Grace's Birth

Baby Grace

Grace Marina was born into our world on October 11, 2006, at 4:35 a.m. God has poured out his grace on us in giving us this little one. We are so thankful.

Oct. 10: The New Labor Day

Lindsay's in labor. It started a couple of hours ago and we're going to remain at home for a little while.

Soon I have to deliver a pumpkin that's in our car to Lindsay's work. Of all the things going on, we MUST make sure to deliver that pumpkin!! Lindsay has made it clear that delivering the pumpkin must happen before delivering our baby. I guess I'm just struck by the juxtaposition of the delivery of two little pumpkins--one extremely significant, the other not.

Well, gotta go. She just asked me when I'm going to deliver that pumpkin, and I'm like, "When are YOU gonna deliver THAT pumpkin," as I point at her huge pumpkin-sized belly.

On another note, there are some benefits to having a large pregnant belly, one of them being using the belly as an eating tray for your Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

In all seriousness, please pray for Lindsay and Grace, for the strength and health of their bodies and spirits. Thank you.

Chalupa

I highly recommend the Mexican restaurant "El Mirador," located the corner of Market and Lancaster in Salem. Their food is fantastic, as you will see in this video. I eat lunch there sometimes with my friends Andy and Chris. Unfortunately, with these videos the sound runs a bit behind the video.

Seriously, that's not a basketball

As of yesterday, Lindsay was 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. The doctor estimates that Grace is already 7.5 to 8 lbs. That's big. Lindsay was 9 lbs. 14 oz. when she was born, if you can believe that! Yowzahz!

Mr. Crazy Eyebrows

This is my friend Jeff. He's a 13 year old trapped in man's body. Note how amused his wife is with his antics.

So what's up Doc?

Doc says Grace could be born tomorrow, she could be born in 3 weeks, or anytime in between. Should Grace tarry in the womb much longer, I may try to get Lindsay a warehouse employee back-support belt, the kind with suspenders.

I was thinking earlier about related issues within this birth saga. Lindsay's level of discomfort and horizontal expansion [which I'll call "A"] are directly proportional to our excitement for Grace's arrival [B]. A and B increase together.

For me, the proportional increase of A and B are merely correlational, whereas for Lindsay there is a causational component (i.e. B increases as a result of an increase in A), though the rise in B for Lindsay certainly has a whole host of other reasons. To simplify: "Get out Grace!!!I'm getting huge and will soon need a crane to help roll me over in bed! Plus, I can't wait to meet you face to face."

On Church Community

[This is something I wrote for our church's monthly newsletter]

Open Doors

When I walk through my neighborhood I often think about the fact that it’s called a community. It seems the primary reason for calling it such is that my neighbors and I happen to live in the same geographical location. Considering that so many of us don’t even know what our neighbors look like, let alone actually know them personally, in what sense is it a community? It seems closed doors are reflective of closed lives.

What then is the meaning of community for our church? Is our community based on the fact that we all congregate in the same location on Sunday mornings? True, being together in the same place plays an important role in community, but that’s only part of it.

Com- is a prefix that means together or with. Unity means oneness. Essentially, community means oneness with others. In one sense, our Christian community is a present reality. It’s based on our acceptance into the eternal family of God by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We’re united with believers everywhere because we’re members of Christ body, the Church.

But in another sense, Christian community is something that must be entered into through personal relationships with other Christians. These must develop for there to be oneness with other believers in the local church.

In his prayer to the Father in John 17, Jesus said, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Jesus prayed that his followers would know the same kind of relational oneness that he experienced with the Father. The Bible tells us that the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. Jesus prayed that we would know the same kind of love for each other. And this love will be a powerful witness for a lost and dying world. Not only should we enter into meaningful relationships with one another for the good of the Christ’s church, but also for the sake of a watching world in need of salvation.

Sadly, our world doesn’t value what Jesus prayed for. Our culture in particular values the individual over community, self-reliance over humble recognition of our need for others, and the pursuit of one’s personal ambitions at the expense of sacrifice and service to others.

More married couples are foregoing having children, seemingly because they love their freedom from having their lives constrained by family responsibilities. People avoid making their needs known because they don’t want to be viewed as “charity cases” or lead others to think that they’re incompetent. Like contestants on “The Apprentice,” people, in order to get ahead in life, practice a cut-throat, do-whatever-it-takes-to-advance-yourself strategy even if it means trampling the trust and dignity of others.

These are but a few of the symptoms of a culture of self-absorption. But Jesus calls his followers to cut against the grain of self-rulership. We’re called to enter under his rule together; to strengthen, support, and love each other as brothers and sisters of the same family; and to build a community in which we serve one another and move out together in the world to help bring others into this community of Christ.

According to Jesus, anyone and everyone is our neighbor. We see the faces of our neighbors on Sunday at church. But do we know them? True, we’re already a community by virtue of our relationship to Christ. But we also need to grow in community—in oneness—because this was Jesus’ prayer for us. Let’s ask God to answer that prayer in the life of our church. And let’s be willing and ready to move into each other’s lives when God starts opening up the doors.

Wild Child Terrorizes Village of Smurfs

Toddler pictured here after gleefully tromping through the Smurf village and eating Papa Smurf and Smurfette.

Actually, my neice Sydney had a great time eating her birthday cake on her first birthday. She needed a bath afterward, as you can see.

Quotes from The Confessions of St. Augustine

I'm currently reading The Confessions of St. Augustine. I'm moved by his candid and eloquent re-telling of his journey toward Christ. My theology textbook describes Augustine as "the greatest Latin theologian and the towering figure of Christendom's first 750 years." Here are some excerpts that have struck me. Granted, I'm not giving their context, but I think that for the most part they're understandable.

"If you find physical pleasure in earthly experiences, use the occasion to praise God for these gifts. Turn your love not on the pleasures but toward their Maker."

"Proclaim this message, that sinners can only be carried to the Father after they go down into the valley of tears. You do not speak out of God's Spirit if you feel such a fire of sympathy for the lost that you do not tell them the truth."

"From You I now learned that nothing is any more true because it is eloquent. Nor is anything any more false because it is explained through inelegant lips."

"I did not yet hold to my Lord Jesus Christ. I had been humbled, but I could not yet find my way to the Humble. Nor could I yet discern what lessons this lowly teacher would give. Your word, the eternal Truth, far above the higher parts of Your Creation, raises up the meek. He came into this lower world to build for Himself a lowly habitation of human clay. He was abased to find such as would be subdued and bring them over to Himself. He heals their swelling, and nurtures their love so that they might go no farther in self-confidence. Rather He seeks those who will become weak, seeing before their feet the Divinity who became weak by taking our coats of skin. He was wearied that the weary might cast themselves down upon Him and be lifted up in His rising."

Prego Pics

"Lindsay, Full of Grace"


"Wonder-twin powers, activate!!"

Celebratory Toddler: "Oh Yeah!!!"

This is my niece, Sydney. She is stinkin' cute!! She's doing her uncle Tom's trademark intentionally geeky celebratory cheer.

Thanks, Kipper.

That's what I'm talkin' about.

personal sharing

I've had something on my heart that I want to share with you, my friends and loyal readers. I'm going to go mow the lawn now.

Something Smells Good in the Kitchen

Somethin' smells good in the kitchen.

I guess I'm technically a blogger now

I've never blogged before, but I read blogs. Maybe I'll try this for awhile. If more than 1 person reads this in the course of one month, I just may continue.