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If Yoda Preached a Sermon

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Categories: fun, What the heck was THAT?

Pastor ____, you I thank, that invited me here today, you have.

Brief my message will be today. When 900 years old you reach, preach as long, you will not. Hm? (audience laughter)

John 3:16 (paraphrase, I will) says… “For so loved the world did God, that His only son begotten He gave, that those who believeth on Him, perish should not, but everlasting life should have.”

Everlasting life–seems something I should know about, hm? (audience laughter)

This is a preview of If Yoda Preached a Sermon. Read the full post (267 words, 3 images, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

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Between Seasons (or, "The Decompression Chamber")

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Categories: faith, Meanderings (look it up)

It’s downright chilly outside this morning. Kind of unusual for Tulsa in early September. We don’t really start feeling cooler weather until nearer October.

It’s interesting how the weather fluctuates between seasons. When you are at the end of summer, but autumn hasn’t yet begun–some days it feels like summer, and some days it feels like fall, like nature can’t quite make up its mind.

This is a preview of Between Seasons (or, "The Decompression Chamber"). Read the full post (842 words, 2 images, estimated 3:22 mins reading time)

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A New Look for This Here Now Blog

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Categories: random stuff

I got a bit tired of the basic Blogger layouts, so I’m trying something new. If you’re reading this in a reader, click over to my page and see whatcha think!

****UPDATE 9/8, 10:30 AM****
Based on your comments so far, I dug into the XML code (which I happen to know NOTHING about) and just happened to find the URL that was making the colors fade down the page. I deleted it and changed the color to the default. That seems to make the page more readable on my computer; let me know if this has helped.

The only other glitch I’ve noticed is that my page is loading a little funky, kind of putting the items on left-to-right on my screen. Let me know if you see this or any other issues when loading the page. Thanks, guys!!

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Permanent link to this post (139 words, 1 image, estimated 33 secs reading time)

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Hidden Treasure

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Categories: fun, what I did today

Anyone heard of Charlie Peacock?

If you have listened to Christian music in the past 20 years, you may not have heard of him, but you’ve felt his influence. He is a true musical veteran–an artist, singer, songwriter, and producer in Nashville.

Ever hear the dcTalk song “In the Light?” Charlie wrote it. In fact, he recorded it first, several years earlier; dcTalk only covered it. And Charlie’s produced numerous artists that you probably have heard of.

I’m MySpace friends with Charlie, and the other day I got a message that he was doing an impromptu gig in Oklahoma City. So The Director and I got in the car and drove there.

This is a preview of Hidden Treasure. Read the full post (486 words, 2 images, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

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Close Encounters of the First Kind–The Holy Spirit in My Life

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Categories: food for thought, My Story, post-charismatic

So I just found out about Robbymac’s synchroblog this morning (via Barb and Sarah)–the one encouraging people (especially post-charismatics) to tell our stories of “how we first became acquainted with, and eager for, the felt presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.” And I was like, “Hey, I wanna do that, too!” 🙂 So here ya go.

I was raised until about age 10 in the Episcopal church. My divorced mom was devout, and I remember she and I being the only attendees many times at early morning Lent services (only one of us actually being a willing participant).

This is a preview of Close Encounters of the First Kind–The Holy Spirit in My Life. Read the full post (1319 words, 1 image, estimated 5:17 mins reading time)

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Chasing Gustav

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Categories: fun, what I did today

Earlier this week, millions of Americans got into vehicles and fled from Hurricane Gustav.

Today…three wackos got in their car and drove into Gustav.
Okay, so Gustav is no longer a hurricane, and I’m so thankful it wasn’t as bad as it could have been (though people are still suffering from it). Today, it is just a big mass of “itty-bitty stinging rain” (a-la Forrest Gump) with some annoying wind behind it, now spinning in our neighborhood.
The Wild One has been wanting “rain pictures”, and what better rain event than a former hurricane? So she had been planning for Gustav for days. And last night, Gustav came to our doorstep…and kind of stayed there. By noon today, we still weren’t getting any “real” rain…while just a couple dozen miles or so to the southeast, they were getting soaked.
What would you do? (If you reeaally wanted “rain pictures”, that is?) Since Gustav wasn’t quite coming to us…we went to Gustav.
We drove to a nearby town, stood in the rain with ponchos and an umbrella, and took pictures like these…
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And then…Gustav followed us home. (It’s pouring outside this evening.)

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Permanent link to this post (193 words, 4 images, estimated 46 secs reading time)

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September and October (and sometimes August)

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

This isn’t something I can really prove scientifically or anything…but it seems like God sort of maintains His own seasons in my life at certain times of the year.

Take the late summer/early fall months, for example. August, September and October. It seems like these are really seasons of harvest and change for us. If there is any sort of life change for us, it usually takes place during these months. October was the month we moved to Tulsa. October was also the month we moved to Broken Arrow. August was the month we married. There’s other stuff that’s happened during these months, also–extra blessings from God, stuff like that. I dunno. It just seems that way.

This is a preview of September and October (and sometimes August). Read the full post (251 words, 1 image, estimated 1:00 mins reading time)

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The Director’s Spiritual Journey (or "Will Our Kids Be Okay??")

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Categories: children, faith, food for thought

A couple of weeks ago, Kathy wrote an intriguing post raising the question shared by many who are on similar journeys of departure from “normal” Christian expressions: “What will become of our children?”

A couple of days ago, I got an email from a friend who is thinking about leaving his institutional church to start a house church, and he posed similar questions about how to help support his child spiritually during the in-between period.

This is a preview of The Director’s Spiritual Journey (or "Will Our Kids Be Okay??"). Read the full post (1384 words, 2 images, estimated 5:32 mins reading time)

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Departing: How I Found Myself Outside the Walls

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Categories: food for thought, My Story

After my last blog posting, it’s getting apparent I need to change the subject. 🙂 (Thanks for all the comments, folks.)

I’m sure I’ve covered this previously somewhere in the blog archives, but it’s sort of on my mind today. I’d like to share a little of my story, and how I have wound up outside the walls of institutional Christianity.

Reading the stories of many others out there, it is apparent that many who are among the “disenfranchised” when it comes to the IC have simply walked away. Either they left because they were disillusioned, or they left because they were wounded (and often a bit of both). Either way–they were the ones who did the walking.

This is a preview of Departing: How I Found Myself Outside the Walls. Read the full post (1196 words, 1 image, estimated 4:47 mins reading time)
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