Reflections on having a 10 year old

I am not old enough to have a ten year old, but nonetheless my oldest child is now one decade old. It seems like yesterday I woke up in haze to my wife saying, "I think my water broke!" What a shock that was.

I think back over the changes of the last 10 years, and then I look ahead. My oldest will 20 in another 10 years. It seems like the last 10 years have been a blur. I can only imagine what the next 10 will be.

Enjoy the kids while you have them. Savor each stage of life. Don't rush things. Like Ferris Buehler said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."

Our problem with "them"

I get so sick and tired of people griping about sinners in church. "All that guy does is stand outside and smoke." That was a comment made by someone.

Does smoking send someone to hell? Does not smoking get us to heaven?

Don't smokers need the love of Jesus just as much as the goody-goodies?

The scriptures say:

15While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (Mark 2:15-16).

The Church does not exist solely for the benefit of those who have their act together. I would say that the Church exists more for the benefit of those who need the touch of the "Friend of Sinners."

The dulling of the "Tomahawk Chop"

Well, the Atlanta Braves have been officially dethroned. The New York Mets have done what no one has been able to do since 1990. The Mets have become National League Eastern Division champs. The last time the Brave did not win the division, George Bush (H. W. that is) was president. Vanilla Ice was popular (still can't believe he ever was). The Milwaukee Brewers were still in the American League. No one had ever heard of the Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, or Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Washington Nationals were a historical footnote (having moved to Minnesota in the early 1960s). The Wild Card was term associated exclusively with the NFL.

The Braves won an amazing 14 consecutive division titles, a feat not even equalled by the vaunted New York Yankees. In those 14 years, the Braves won 5 pennants and only one World Series. The Florida Marlins, in the last 10 years, won two World Series. During the last 14 years, the Toronto Blue Jays won two. The Yankees won four.

It seems to me that the Braves were among the biggest underperformers in the post season. It's nice to see some new faces. Now, if we could just get the Yankees to lose.

Spontaneity vs. planning

I've been thinking lately about spontaneity versus planning in worship. The tension that arises when considering that the two lies in the seemingly irreconcilable difference between the two. Planning seems to eliminate the possibility of anything spontaneous happening. Planning stifles spontaneity.

The problem that I see is this. Lack of planning looks more like chaos than spontaneity. When we don't plan there is no flow. It meanders here and there. Ebbing this way, and flowing that way. It lurches this way then that. There is no discernable beginning and the ending seems anticlimactic.

Planning gives us focus and direction. Within that framework we can allow for spontaneity. We need to know where we are going, or we will never get anywhere.

On our recent vacation (see previous post), we had a plan about what direction we were going. Within that plan, we did some spontaneous things.

Worship is no different. Direction gives us destination, while allowing for the spontaneous.