Archive for June, 2005

Cruisin’ Alaska

Published
by
Mike
on June 30, 2005
in family, marriage and travel
. 11 Comments

As Jimmy Buffett puts it, “It’s been a lovely cruise.”

We just finished a week aboard the Carnival Spirit (without ever seeing Kathy Lee), sailing from Anchorage to Vancouver. For my parents’ 50th anniversary, which they celebrate this summer, they wanted to take their children and spouses on an Alaskan Cruise. We have been surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation — animals (bear, moose, bald eagles, otters, whales, etc.), mountains, glaciers, and ocean — for the past week. Nothing restores my spirit like mountains. The rest was bonus.

And we ate . . . and ate . . . and ate. Like hobbits.

My parents were married in the summer of 1955. Eleven months after they married, I arrived. Their first year of marriage was spent in Pittsburgh, PA, where Dad was stationed. Then after a brief stay in Neosho, MO, we moved to Austin for two years, where they finished their degrees in journalism (Dad) and English (Mom). The other 47 years of their marriage have been in Neosho.

I’ll probably write more about it in August when the actual anniversary date arrives. But needless to say, I’m very thankful for their love that has survived and thrived through the past five decades.

Alaskan Sluggards

Published
by
Mike
on June 22, 2005
in General
. 28 Comments

T-shirt I saw recently, worn by a teenage girl: “I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame you.”

- - - -

We arrived in Anchorage last night on the second longest day of the year. When I went to bed just after midnight, it was still light. When I got up at 4:00 (Anchorage time), it was also light. I think that for a few moments in between there, it may have darkened a bit.

I’m not a fan of light at midnight, but I could get used to the light-at-4:00 thing. Being a morning person, I love early light. That’s a problem of living on the west side of a time zone. Sometimes it feels like the sun rises around noon.

Now it’s 4:30 a.m. and there is STILL no one else at this hotel lobby. Sluggards!

My Goat

Published
by
Mike
on June 21, 2005
in justice
. 7 Comments

I received one of my favorite gifts ever for Father’s Day: a goat. What a wonderful gift!

Don’t Try to Be the Cool Parents

Published
by
Mike
on June 19, 2005
in family and movies
. 22 Comments

A Father’s Day Encouragement to Young Parents

A while back I wrote about how pleasantly surprised we were by the message of the film “In Good Company.” By the previews it looked like a mindless plot about the romance between a hot-shot young executive (Topher Grace) and the college-age daughter (Scarlett Johansson) of the man whose place he took (Dennis Quaid) after a company buy-out.

But the romance is short-lived. The movie isn’t about that. Rather, it’s about the fathering of this young exec by the man he replaced. Near the end, he says to this older guy after being punched in the eye for sleeping with his daughter: “No one ever took the time to give me a hard time.”

What a great line.

I want to encourage all you younger parents out there in blogsphere. It is hard to be the parent who lovingly gives a hard time. It’s hard to be the one who enforces tv/computer time limits, homework, and bedtimes. It’s difficult to set age-appropriate limits to movies when “every other kids’ parents let them watch whatever they want.” It’s tough to be firm when you’re exhausted from work and life’s stresses.

But hang in there! Your kids are counting on you — whether they yet know it or not. (I just saw a teenager on the plane whose t-shirt had two words: NO LECTURES!)

Your children need to know that YOU are the parent. In too many homes, the children run everything by parents who are overly-eager to please. If they don’t like the Bible class, they don’t have to go. If they have more friends at another church, the family leaves. If they want to eat unhealthily — well, we reassure ourselves that at least they’re eating something. If there is a problem with a coach or a teacher, the child is always assumed to be right.

Be the adult! Be the loving, compassionate, tender, but very-much-in-charge parent! It’s one of life’s ironies: that the one thing kids say they don’t want (rules and limits) is what they need.

I’m not talking, of course, about being a tyrant or about being inflexible. I’m talking about being lovingly in charge.

It may seem to kids that parents who mind their own business, don’t serve vegies, let them wear whatever is in style, allow unlimited time on the net to chat, permit any movie to be shown when friends come over, and ask no questions about where they’re going in the evening are the cool parents.

Here’s my encouragement: Don’t try to be the cool parents. Be the parents who take the time and the love to give a hard time.

Eventually, when your kids age a bit, they’ll know that you really were the cool parents.

Language School, Packing Enough Cloths, & Big C / Little C

Published
by
Mike
on June 16, 2005
in Church of Christ and travel
. 23 Comments

Diane says I never take enough clothes when I travel. For example, even though I was coming to Costa Rica for a week, I didn’t check anything through. A carry-on was plenty for me. I feel no need to wear clothes only once–especially when I’m around people I don’t know. (Besides, isn’t this an American thing? The very kind man I am staying with either has a wardrobe consisting of a half dozen shirts that are exactly alike . . . or he doesn’t worry about changing. He follows the GUY philosophy: If it was clean enough to wear at the end of yesterday, it is clean enough for this morning. And if it isn’t clean enough for this morning I shouldn’t have been wearing it last night.)

(Brief private note to my wife: Honey, that is all I’m writing for today. Turn off the computer and have a nice evening.)

. . . Having said all that, it appears that in this instance my Beloved may have been right. (Being up to my eyeballs in language school, I cannot help but wonder how long it would take for me to figure out the right words for “may have been right” in Spanish.) I may not have factored in how much walking and sweating I would do.

So this morning after breakfast (which we eat at 6:00 since they are also early risers) Georgina gave me a lesson on washing clothes by hand without wasting water. I hate to admit it, but I feel like I should receive a boy scout badge for conservation.

I like both my teachers. But my grammar profesora, a very religious woman, found out that I’m a preacher and it’s as if she is on a mission from God to get me to learn. Occasionally I see her wince a bit at what I’ve said as if the gospel might be at stake. I want to reassure her, “Lighten up. It’s all right. I’m not going to confuse the words for Jesus and Satan.” However, I don’t know the word for Satan. (A good guess would be “satan.”)

The other profesora is younger and apparently not quite as religious and isn’t concerned with what I do. What I like best is that she’s having fun teaching.

As I continue writing, mostly because I’m enjoying this moment in English, I wonder: Why do people keep writing “churches of Christ” instead of “Churches of Christ”? I hope it’s not the old illusion of innocence (to borrow from Leonard and Richard’s incredible book) that we’re the true church. I.e., since we’re the real church (code language: the LORD’S church), we are Christ’s church, or (lowercase) churches of Christ.

I prefer “Churches of Christ.” This admits that while we love much about our heritage and the nondenominational dream, we are a group, a denomination. We have our own colleges, our own camps, our own papers, our own quirks, our own family stories, and our own language. We’re just a small part of the body of Christ, however.

As I mentioned, the other student in my class is 18. She’s a liberal Episcopalian (her words) and I’m a conservative Church of Christ guy. All right, maybe moderate. Is it an accident that my strength is grammar and hers is vocab? I know the rules and she knows how to make words dance. Both are important. A good thing to remember when I think of the body of Christ.

Does God Laugh at Prayers?

Published
by
Mike
on June 15, 2005
in General and travel
. 11 Comments

Small blessings on day 3:

1. Have located the semicolon and question marks;?

2. ESPN 2 in Spanish

3. An 18-yr-old student in my class (the only other one in our intermediate II class) who sneaks me meanings of worlds. I´m the grammar hombre; she´s the vocab chica.

4. Fresh fruit. Lots of it. Mango, bananas, papaya, pineapple, etc.

5. I led a prayer in Spanish and no one laughed. (Actually, God may have had a smile on his face!)

More later . . . .

What’s the Spanish Word for Semicolon?

Published
by
Mike
on June 14, 2005
in General and travel
. 17 Comments

Hola de Costa Rica.

My brain is fried. Frito. My family doesn´t speak English, and my profesora won´t speak English. She prefers to draw on the board until we figure it out. Nearly all day yesterday I thought she didn´t speak English, but she let it slip.

I wonder — (No semicolons today . . . I can´t find it on this computer keyboard and I don´t know the word for semicolon) — don´t all these people get tired of speaking Spanish all day. At the end of the day, isn´t it possible that they go into their homes and speak English when no one else is listening (Just realized I also can´t find a question mark!)

It´s beautiful here in central CR. Sunny all morning and rain in the afternoon. Even though it´s June, it is a mild climate. Lots of thunder, which I love.

More later. Have to take turns at the school with the computer.

Matt and Jenna: Happy First Anniversary!

Published
by
Mike
on June 12, 2005
in family and marriage
. 5 Comments

One year ago today I performed a wedding I’ll never forget. The bride was lovely — as she always is (on the outside and the inside). The groom was smiling with a look that indicated he’d hit the jackpot. Which he had.

Happy anniversary, Matt and Jenna. I love you both and am so thankful for you both. Hope you got to see Chris and the others from Highland at Impact this morning!

Travel Post-Wreck

Published
by
Mike
on June 11, 2005
in grief and the wreck
. 8 Comments

Thanks to Matt Ritchie for these words he wrote this morning on his blog:

A little over two hours ago, we put Levi, our oldest son, on a van that was headed to Houston for a youth mission trip. After January’s accident, I don’t think that I will ever take for granted that - when I send my kids away on a trip - they are guaranteed to come back in one piece.

It was tough watching them drive away, and Sheila didn’t even go. She was afraid that if she got upset, it would make it difficult for Levi to leave. I’m glad I got to go, though, because I witnessed something amazing this morning.

Mike and Diane Cope’s son, Chris, who was seriously injured in the January accident, climbed right into the same van with Levi, while his parents anxiously watched from a few feet away. Whatever Sheila and I are going through, it must be infinitely worse for these guys.

It was hard. We tried not to fixate on exactly where in the van he sat. I went home for a while and was fine. A buddy who’s an elder, probably knowing we’d be fear-full, came over for a while. Then I came to the church building for a while. And that’s when fear started to grip me. But about 10:00 it lifted. I quit praying just for a safe trip.

Somehow, a spirit of courage took over. I began praying about this trip to inner city Houston, remembering that three high school boys on graduation Sunday named it as one of the most formative parts of their spiritual journey. (That means it stuck with them five years — which at that age is like a couple decades at mine!) I’ve been praying now that God would use them to minister for Jesus; that God would open their eyes to see a world that isn’t safe and comfortable; that God would form my younger son to have the kind of heart for the downtrodden and poor that his older brother and sister-in-law have.

Even as we watched the vans drive off, we received word that another Abilene kid Chris’s age — a kid I’ve coached in basketball, a great kid with a smile that would light up the room — was killed last night. What I’ve heard is that he was out of town visiting his dad. Great sadness.

June 10, 2005

Published
by
Mike
on June 10, 2005
in General
. 13 Comments

As the elders announced last week, I’ll be gone more this summer than usual. Much of the time I’m away I’ll be in language school in Central America, so I don’t know how easy it will be to blog.

While I’m gone Highland won’t exactly be suffering. The preachers while I’m gone are Mark Love, Rick Atchley, Jerry Taylor, and David Wray. (Eventually some are going to figure out the truth: with the people at Highland, I’m extra baggage!)

- - - -

I’d like to ask for your prayers. Tomorrow morning a group of middle school boys from Highland leaves for a mission trip to Houston.

As of this moment, Chris is going. Whether we can actually let him go or not I won’t know until 7:00 in the morning.

Diane hasn’t slept well the last two nights just thinking about it. Of course, it has to happen sometime, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

Rationally, we know that the vast majority of people who drive from Abilene to Houston don’t have wrecks. But then the vast majority driving on I-20 on a clear, sunny day don’t roll over, either.

Diane and I don’t believe that prayer guarantees safe trips. Certainly many were praying for safe travel in January. But, like Peter in the gospel of John, we find ourselves saying, “Lord, to whom else would we go?”

- - - -

Several of you responded financially to the trips I mentioned — grad students from ACU going to Sudan and Rwanda this summer for survey trips. Thanks so much. I believe Houston and Kelly Shearin still need $1000 for their trip to Sudan, as does Brian Harrison. Don’t you love the thought of young Christ-followers heading toward a place of such great suffering (between the genocide in Darfur and the rippling effects of war and famine) with the message of the reign of God in Christ?

One other thing. Billy Wilson is an amazing young man whom many have heard at the Pepperdine and ACU lectureships. He and his wife have a powerful ministry in Glasgow, Scotland. You can read about it at billywilson.net. Recently he’s had to spend more time than he’d like raising support. Seems that Scotland isn’t at the top of missions budgets these days. But what they’re doing is vital. Check it out.

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“Justification by faith has come to be understood as the purpose for which Christ died and rose again, the end and goal of God’s entire saving purpose. By extension, the central human problem is construed to be guilt, and the central human resistance to the gospel is construed to be the establishing of our own righteousness, rather than the receiving of God’s righteousness in Christ as a free gift. Salvation is therefore achieved precisely at the moment of individual repentance and faith, when one is justified. Everything that follows after this in the Christian life is simply working out the implications of this climactic event.

“When the gospel is understood in this way, the social and participatory dimensions of the gospel necessarily recede into the background. Particularly in North America, the receiving of the gift of justification is no longer clearly understood as an invitation to participate in God’s life amidst God’s people. In our American revivalist tradition, church membership is an experience subsequent to conversion, a step required primarily to sustain and preserve the new grace into which one has entered. By contrast, we would argue that justification and forgiveness are the necessary preparation for participating in God’s life and mission. They are the means to a greater end, not the end in itself.” (StormFront)