old photos, bad sweaters and lives together

I'm not usually one to get all mushy over anniversaries. although i do admit in public that i am a bit of a romantic. anyway on this date, ten years ago, at a certain university christmas party, some quite stylish guys went out on a limb to serenade some ladies they kind of knew. fortunately the soda had been flowing freely the entire evening and these fellas were quite hopped on sugar and caffeine.

this led to much laughter and the need to remember the moment in photographs...


one such photo captured the beginnings of something beautiful...




here's to fifty more years of group shots on funny couches... i wonder if i still have that sweater?

holiday cheer ramping up!

sophi demonstrating michigan's chance for the national title...


pics from our annual "get the christmas tree" outing. sophi sporting the very warm and necessary puffy coat. the aftermath of the trip and finally our fabulous tree...which is currently standing with lights on, but without ornaments (only so much time in week).


on other news, we spent the weekend over with the ullmers in appleton (amy's family). cookie baking extravaganza! family pics at the fox valley's best lit house and home hunting in oshkosh. marking my third drive to the fox valley in one week.


next year for christmas i'm going to ask santa for a non-complicated life. some assembly required i'm sure.

Movement

this should be the place where i insert some fantastic quote or an inspirational scripture or something. it is usually a way of validating or at least adding weight to what i have to say, but not this time...

this past year has been one filled with all types of ups and downs. some downs that actually played out as ups and vise versa. out of all the twists and turns, foggy mornings and bright sun at noon moments one dream has emerged. the idea of beginning a new community of faith, one centered on values that we may not even be able to write out clearly. but that we know are essential if Jesus-following-life is to mean anything to those disconnected from church (myself included). i heard someone once say that Christian life is more than believing properly (orthodoxy), it is right movement as well (orthopraxy). like riding a bike, balance is discovered in the going, doing, moving (except to my brother-in-law and his whole "fixed gear" bike subculture -don't ask).

amy and i, along with some friends and family are on a journey to discover what a faith community, centered on living the kingdom of heaven here (oshkosh) and now, could look like. as of this moment, we've got no mission statement, no meeting place or anything... but we very much feel like God is directing us to step out this way. so here we go, closer up... deeper in.

On faith, love and stuff...

This morning I was hit (once again) with the reality that Christianity is so much more than right beliefs...

"To affirm the approach that I am advocating means we must accept that to be a Christian is to be born of love, transformed by love and committed to transforming the world with love. This is not somehow done by working ourselves up and trying to find the right way of thinking and acting, but rather in letting go and opening up to the transformative power of God. In so doing, we will not merely sit around describing God to the world, but rather, we will become the iconic spaces in which God is made manifest in the world.
Peter Rollins
How (Not) to Speak of God (p 71)

I am in love with the image of followers of Christ as "iconic spaces". There is a danger in describing yourself by what you are not. Having said that, it troubles me that so often the church seems more concerned with describing God, or God life, than in actually living, creating, healing, feeding, inspiring, going, giving, dancing, somersaulting, loving,...

It doesn't get much better...

I don't have anything to add to this. Simply click, scroll down, hit play, listen and enjoy Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Thank you Burnside Writers Collective.

ongoing saga of waking...

sophi in the afternoon. (movie guy voice) this time... it's later in the day...

coats, recess and life

"did you hear that? she said we don't need our coats! guys, she said we don't need our coats today!" you would have thought this little third grader had won the lottery from the level of his excitement. apparently the recess supervisior lady had announced that coats were not necessary after lunch because it was so nice out. i watched him from the side and smiled to myself.

simple pleasure, no coat. but this little man was owning the moment. i was right there with him.

too many days go by without even a second thought about all the little things. sure we are coming up on thanksgiving here in the states so that means everyone is thinking about being thankful. this is different. what if God was all about saying, "hey... (big grin) no coats today." do we hear those moments? life is filled with bruises and all that, but what about the times when a butterfly lands outside your window? or when you can roll your car window down in march because of an unusually nice day? or when a friend you haven't seen in a while connects with you? or you sense God leading and it's been a while? or you just feel loved?

"hey friends, did you hear that? he said no coats! i call the swings!"

they grow up so fast

by the way it is against the rules to be making random comments on the "cute baby voice" that adults must use when speaking to an infant.

Happy Halloween!

Sophi's first Halloween. She is, of course, a ladybug.

She was quite the hit at Nasonville school. As a matter of fact, she got so wired being around all the kids Sophi decided she didn't need her afternoon nap. Daddy was very happy about that, as you can imagine.

Thanks to Grandma Ullmer for her great rummage sale (known as garage sales to the rest of the western world) find... only three bucks.

sad news (tongue in cheek)

this is a sad day. the tigers bowed out of the world series losing game 5 to the cardinals. unfortunately, the boys from detroit never seemed to get things going on the big stage. when it all was said and done they just got outplayed. and so the year has come to an end.

unfortunately, not even my lucky jersey was enough to turn the tide this last game. so much for my ability to move space, time, and baseballs. oh well at least detroit's got the lions...

it was a fun year though. this year's team reminded me how much i enjoy baseball. it's good to enjoy things that are somewhat trivial from time to time.

thanks to my brother back in michigan for the official tigers peanuts. nothing beats watching a game and tossing empty peanut shells on the ground. (too bad amy wouldn't let me throw them onto the living room floor)

(the fam at a game this season over in minneapolis - it really was a fun year)

Pears Don't Stand a Chance!

As you can see, no food is safe now that Sophi is on to solids.

Detroit Tigers World Series 2006

Tonight the Tigers finished off the Oakland Athletics with a game four win in Detroit. Very rarely do I post about sports (mostly because Detroit doesn't usually offer much to brag about... insert Lions joke here) but this cannot go without mention.

I have been going to Tigers games with my family since I was very young. I remember one game I talked my dad into going to was a doubleheader that had a rain delay. Our seats were under the overhang in along the left field line so we waited it out. That was a very full day of baseball. Another time while at Tiger Stadium with my high school church group some buddies of mine and I got Rickey Henderson (A's) to flip us off. Real mature on our part I know, but man we rode him until he finally turned around and gave us the bird. They pulled him the next inning. Growing up, we used to go to two or three games a summer. The Tigers are my link to so many wonderful childhood memories... and so many disappointing seasons. But hey, they have always been my team and I've stood by them.

All that to say that I am extremely excited about our trip to the World Series. A ninth inning walk off homer by Magglio Ordonez was the perfect way to clinch this series and send Detroit on to represent the American League. Baseball... there is something right in the world when the home team wins.

So as we have said in times of old, "Bless you boys... this is our year!"

LOST - television has purpose once again

Last night ushered in season three of ABC's LOST. It's no secret that this has been our favorite TV show for the past few years. This year we decided to make an event out of it. Thus, LOST - the party. Our friends Rich, Bridget and Laura joined us for the event. Drinks were provided by The Darhma Initiative, fish compliments of Jin, Clare made some peanut butter cookies, Hurley dropped off some creamy peanut butter and Locke cooked up some wild bore sandwiches. It was quite a spread.

Some may say that this is a bit overboard. They may be right... but then again, they might be the Others.

Here's to another wonderful season; filled with great stories, knocking off main characters, scary smoke and bad black and white films. I'm sure that at the end of the year we will be just as confused, if not more so. Isn't life great?

a day well spent

yesterday amy, sophi, and i loaded up our bikes and headed over to Sparta, Wisconsin... which by the way is the bicycle capital of america.

we rented a pull behind trailer, strapped the little girl in her car seat, retrofitted it into the trailer, and headed out. the sparta trail is a state park that runs along an old rail line. this means no big hills (although some on the trail thought the 3 percent grade was a bit steep - none in our party though). the fall colors this year are fantabulous and well worth getting out and enjoying. here are a few pics and even a video link of our little adventure.

it was definately one of those perfectly timed relaxing days.

video star?

this goes out to the countless people who have asked for some clips of our little girl. i'm not sure how i feel about this, but i do think she is the cutest thing ever so you win.


sophi in the morning

enjoy

immigration (no class action faith)

this afternoon, as i was driving out to school with sophi to visit amy for lunch, i had on a christian radio station. as disturbing as that might sound, it gets worse. actually, a program was finishing up about faith and tough times,which i thought was very solid. but, after the program was over, one of those short 30 second faith blips came on. radio bumper stickers. and downhill we went.

anyway, the speaker started by asking, "red, white and green?". and then went on to briefly talk about fact that chicago had decided to celebrate mexico's independence day by lighting up its skyline red, white and green. cool, i thought. we are secure enough in our own "country-ness" that we can get excitied about another country's freedom birthday.

i was wrong. the speaker went on to throw in a jab at illegal individuals who are here trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. apparently we (as christ followers) are very against this? or at least should be? whatever. the real thing that struck me as funny/sad was the suggestion that we, the listening audience, should all call the mayor's office and tell them we are against this whole celebration thing.

then the program ended with a little jingle that said it was faith in action. what? are you kidding me? faith in action is concerned with lighting up buildings? with celebrating a neighbors' independence? with validating over 50,000 people of mexican decent in the greater chicago area? i thought faith in action was feeding the hungry, clothing those in need, hanging out with the imprisioned. i guess not.

i shouldn't get too worked up. perhaps this was one snippet from a greater teaching on practical love, serving others, offering hope to the hopeless... or maybe it's just another believer who accidentally forgot that faith doesn't have that much to do with misguided conservative patriotism.

i wonder if the (good)samiritan was legal? did he have the proper paperwork to be traveling down that road? i bet the beat up guy he helped didn't care much.

blended roles and breathing

tomorrow marks the first day of school here in our public school district. this means that my wife, amy, will be off to school in the morning just like she has for the last seven years. this year's difference being, sophi is home with me...

from go we have aimed our life in the direction of amy staying home with our family. up until recently this was still our story line. now, we continue to find ourselves in a state of transition and limbo. which translates as confused roles and sometimes frustration, both individually and collectively. this is by no means a social commentary on cultural norms in families, just our path. i have a feeling that it can be too easy for outsiders to simply tell you how you should feel or what your next life step should be. i must admidt/confess that i have heard myself say, 'you should do such and such with your life...' it's easy enough to do from the outside. i can't imagine three years of this on our terms, let alone someone elses.

and so tonight in the midst of unknown one thing i do know is that this season will very much open up into something else. something more in tune with our wiring. we are not the first to find themselves at a place in the road saying, 'this is not where i am supposed to be...'

and so, breathe in... breathe out... breathe in...

it's good to be alive and breathing air again... (robbie seay). even if we're not sure how to step next. thank God for nexts. may our lives add to Your beauty.

transformed by the grasp

we are like an infant in the arms of God, unable to grasp but being transformed by the grasp.
Peter Rollins
How (Not) To Speak Of God

i always enjoy reading an author who seems to be writing what's been locked up in my head. each page i turn i find myself nodding thinking, 'exactly!' as i drag my highlighter across another sentence/paragraph that i would have written had i only been more committed/eloquent/focused.

this is not one of those books. rollins, founder of Ikon in Belfast, is tapping things that make me both uncomfortable and at home at the same time. faith as a/theistic. God revealed and hidden. my head spins... and i'm only a chapter or two in.

thanks to brad for turing me on to this stuff... now if i can only get a cup of coffee large enough to help me through this stuff. possibly more to come as i wrap my head around the "hypernymity" of God. his being unknown, not because he is anonymous, but because he is hyper present... yeah, this might take a while.

on getting back in the saddle

a few weeks back i had the pleasure of speaking at amy's home church evangel worship center over in menasha. it had been a few weeks (as in two months) since i had last preached. which is the longest stretch i have had of non-public speaking since graduating in '00. all went well (at least i thought it did).

we looked at living life right here, right now (not through the lens of van halen...sorry). of how tomorrow and the idea of having fun then can rob us from being in the present. we also looked the flip of the past getting in the way of now.

which is exactly what i was doing the night before... i was drudging through all these questions of do i really have anything to add to this faith conversation? or does this even matter? all those good kick you in the gut self esteem questions. and then i was spinning around all these what-if's. past and future very much in the way.

what would happen if we who say we follow christ really got in the present. away from our "future hope" stuff that really excused us from living responsibly toward our neighbors, environment, and social issues. what would the church look like if we got away from the idea of eternal life being down the road and realized that it is about right now? what would it look like to really kick off the past stuff that mucks us up? i wonder.

anyway, here's a link to the message...nothing fancy, just another conversation of trying to figure faith and life and stuff out a bit more.

CARPADM

jason and i saw this on a license plate several years ago and agreed on how clever it was (carpe diem - get it?). truth be told, the last time we purchased license plates we remembered it and were tempted to steal the idea. but alas . . . the expense was deemed unnecessary (by ONE of us) and we settled for the slightly less popular "752-EYZ".

as our family (that sounds so weird) finds itself in a very strange and uncomfortable season of transition, jason and i are doing our best to be mindful of the importance of seizing each day . . .regardless of the circumstances that may be swirling around us.

jason just spoke this past sunday at the church i grew up in and built his message around an incredible quote:

Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.

-Blaise Pascal
Pensees

it isn't always easy to stop "planning to be happy". I do, however, find it quite easy to be caught living unaware of the priceless moments that make up each day . . .right now . . .

so here's to working on it. no matter how uncertain the future may seem, our lives are about what we do and who we love today. may we not allow the past or the future to rob us of the incredible moments of right now.

here are a few i was fortunate enough to notice . . .

sophi turns 6 months old



















napping in the shade










-


cheering for the detroit tigers














enjoying eachother's company