Wayward Son

Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.

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Shipping Up to Denver…

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Categories: random stuff

It appears that The Wild One, The Director and I will be visiting Denver, Colorado in a few weeks…

Fellow blogger Kathy Escobar, along with her community, The Refuge, are helping to host the Born Again Church Tour, sponsored by Off the Map. We’d been talking about coming up to visit and to minister for a weekend, and this conference seemed like a great opportunity to help out and to meet like-minded people. Off the Map is an out-of-the-box evangelism organization founded by Jim Henderson, co-author of Jim and Casper Go to Church.

We’re really looking forward to this–not just for participating in the conference but also because of the opportunity to learn and to meet new friends. If you live in the Denver area, or plan to be in the Denver area the weekend of October 17-18–please consider coming to the conference. The information is here.

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Our Daily Bread (or "The Death of the Five-Year Plan")

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

My family and I are all creative types, which means we tend to not be very organized. Our schedules and routines stay very flexible, and it doesn’t take much to pre–empt them. We do a lot of things on the spur of the moment. (This drives my mother crazy, because she is the opposite and needs to plan things way in advance. But that’s another story…)

Anyhow, of the three of us, I’m probably the most organized and meticulous, and the least flexible. But even I have a messy desk and have a thread of chaos weaving through me.

This is a preview of Our Daily Bread (or "The Death of the Five-Year Plan"). Read the full post (656 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

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Note to the Gasoline People–I Can Do the Math

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Categories: Rantings, What the heck was THAT?

Okay, so I realize that Oklahoma usually has the lowest gas prices in the nation, being oil country and all…so this is probably gonna sound to some of you readers like I’m being a crybaby here. But…what the hey…here goes.

Dear Gasoline People (I don’t know what else to call you),

I monitor the price of oil. The last time it was at $92 a barrel, we were paying $2.69 a gallon here in Tulsa.

Today, the price of oil is once again at $92 a barrel. And the price of gas? $3.69 a gallon.

This is a preview of Note to the Gasoline People–I Can Do the Math. Read the full post (227 words, 2 images, estimated 54 secs reading time)

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How We Can Help

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Categories: house church

As I’ve probably alluded to or mentioned a few times in the course of this blog…my family has been in a place of transition, seeking God for some direction as to what we are to do in this next season.

We’ve led a house church for 8 years now. God has taught us so much in the process, and we’re still learning. The house church we have doesn’t look anything like what we started with–and I don’t just mean different people. (Some have moved on, some new faces have come, and some have been with us the entire way.) I mean we function differently than we did when we started. The tone and flavor, our collective personality, and the things we think are important–all of that has been transformed over time, so that just as I mentioned here that I barely recognize myself from the effects of this journey, the same is true for the group I lead.

This is a preview of How We Can Help. Read the full post (412 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

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If God Is My Father, How Can Jesus Be My Boyfriend?…

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Categories: food for thought, missional, theological questions

Umm….don’t linger there too long. 🙂

A good friend of mine said something recently that has really resonated in my soul. He said, “Every metaphor breaks down at some point.” NOW does the title make a little sense? 🙂

Since the fall of man, when man essentially became separate and alienated from God…God has been on a mission to redeem man back to Himself, to restore the relationship that was lost. It is a constant theme throughout Scripture, and I believe it continues today. Emergent/Missional types like to refer to this idea as “Missio Dei”–the mission of God.

This is a preview of If God Is My Father, How Can Jesus Be My Boyfriend?…. Read the full post (801 words, 1 image, estimated 3:12 mins reading time)

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The Journey

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Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

In a recent post, I ended with this remark:

“Sometimes it takes looking back just a bit to see how much God has used your experiences to shape you. Perhaps this is why the journey is every bit as important as the destination.”

I’d like to expand on that thought a little bit today.

When I was a teenager in a Christian school, I had to struggle through The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. I only recall bits and pieces of the story (not a leisure read), but what has stood out to me over the years is that it was a journey. All of Christian’s growth and change came as he traveled, and the people he met along the way and the experiences he had contributed to his growth.

This is a preview of The Journey. Read the full post (919 words, 2 images, estimated 3:41 mins reading time)

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It’s Fun! It’s Free! And It Will Help Us!

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Categories: fun, random stuff

Hey, everyone…do The Wild One and me a favor…

Look at the picture of our dog Jordy below! (If you’re viewing this in a reader, you’ll probably need to click through to see it!)

Cute, isn’t he?

This photo is entered in a “pampered pets” contest! If you like the picture, click on the link and vote for Jordy!

And you can keep voting, too! Once every 8 hours, if you like! There’s a hyperlink posted in the right sidebar of this blog under “Vote For Jordy!” Until the contest ends, this link will be on this page! Click the link and vote!

This is a preview of It’s Fun! It’s Free! And It Will Help Us!. Read the full post (141 words, 6 images, estimated 34 secs reading time)

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Just Some Stuff I’ve Learned

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought

Sometimes it takes looking back just a bit to see how much God has used your experiences to shape you.

It’s as if I can look at myself now, and the “me” back a few years ago, and it looks like two different people. Since embarking on this journey of deconstruction, I can hardly believe how my thinking and actions have changed over the years.

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

This is a preview of Just Some Stuff I’ve Learned. Read the full post (452 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

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Where Were You…

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Categories: food for thought

…seven years ago today?

Most Americans, and many others from around the globe, can tell you where they were and what they were doing the morning of September 11, 2001.

About 3000 people can’t. They are no longer with us.

That day, our family was in between homes, living in an extended stay hotel in Tulsa. I was driving to the laundromat when I first heard on the news that the first tower had been hit, and shortly after I turned on the radio…the second tower was hit. I watched on the laundromat televisions as the towers burned, then the Pentagon was hit, then Flight 93 fell to the ground…and the first tower.

This is a preview of Where Were You…. Read the full post (286 words, 2 images, estimated 1:09 mins reading time)

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You’ll Think I’m Making This Up #2: Has It Really Come to This??

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Categories: What the heck was THAT?

I’m sharing this true story with permission from my good friend Dr. Fuh. This actually happened, and it’s kind of funny…or it would be if it weren’t so, um, serious…

My good friend Dr. Fuh called me this evening to tell me what happened to him when he left the clinic to go to IHOP for dinner this evening. The waitress who served him saw his scrubs and asked if he was a nurse. No, explained–he was a doctor.

This started some small talk, and Dr. Fuh asked the waitress (whom we’ll call Jennifer–not her real name) what her career aspirations were.

“I’m preparing for the ministry,” Jennifer told him.

This is a preview of You’ll Think I’m Making This Up #2: Has It Really Come to This??. Read the full post (329 words, 2 images, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)
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