Happy New Year

Here is a Puritan prayer that I wanted to share with everyone as 2008 approaches. I love this prayer and hope that it serves to bring you close to Jesus in this new year.

The Deeps
Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

Misty's iPod

I bought my wife an iPod several weeks ago.
I did it begrudgingly.
Everyone else seems to have one and for that reason I didn't want one.
But Misty is a great wife and she doesn't ask for much when it comes to electronics or trendy stuff. She primarily wanted it for worship music and since it could help her when she leads music for Children's church, we went forward and joined the world of iPod users.
At first I didn't use it very much. I downloaded some stuff for Misty and she used it and let Jasilyn use it.
And then I discovered podcasts. This discovery is about as important a turning point in my adult life as the day I learned to properly utilize hair gel.
Now I'm listening to Mark Driscoll and Matt Chandler while I do dishes. I'm nodding my head to Bob Coy and Andy Stanley while I take out the trash. I'm searching iTunes for every podcast that remotely seems interesting.
The more accurate first line of this post should be: "I bought myself an iPod several weeks ago."

Psalm 124

Psalm 124
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” let Israel now say— 2 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, 3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; 4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; 5 Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.” 6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Church Day

Yesterday was what my kids now call "church day." Matt taught our Sunday School class and his main scriptures were Galatians 5:1 and 5:22-23. Anytime you can incorporate crayons, pennies and index cards into a young adult Bible study you get an A for creativity.

Matt's plan is to teach through Galatians over the next several weeks and I'm looking forward to it. The first book study I ever did was Galatians and although I bored the class to death, I learned a lot.

Pastor Mike's 11:00 message was from Psalm 124 and it was excellent and timely. Mike challenged us through God's Word to focus on what the Lord has done for us and to thank Him and praise Him. I was able to sit down and reflect on how good God is. I could write about this for weeks...

A Season Of...

Several days and Christmas has passed since I wrote last. Christmas was a magical time for me and my family and I thank the Lord for it. We managed to keep things fairly simple and we were blessed because of it. I use the word "magical" because I can't think of a better word. I know that some of my fundamentalist brethren will begin to shake uncontrollably when they see that I used that word, but I assure them that we still don't read or watch Harry Potter in my home so all is well.
For Jasilyn it was a season of singing. She sang all around the house with Misty and she sang in the Christmas program for her school and for the Christmas program for church and finally she sang with her school choir during the 11:00 service last Sunday morning. I secretly suspect that she sees herself as Hannah Montana. I noticed that one of Misty's dinner theater wigs keeps getting mysteriously moved around...
For Noah it was a season of realizing he is strong. He walks around the house posing like he is on the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine. Minus the veiny and ripply bikini clad she-hulk of course. One of Noah's "feats of strength" involves him rolling me off of the bed. It was funny the first eight or nine times but now its starting to wear on me. I lie in bed reading with one eye on the pages and one eye on surveillance duty. Noah will be four in March.
For Jacob it was a season of destruction. If it exists, Jacob will touch it. If it can be pulled to the floor, Jacob will relocate it. His favorite food is bananas. Misty has him on such a good schedule that at lunch time he climbs up in his chair and straps himself in.
For Misty and I the last few months have been a season of slowing down and appreciating what we have. Taking the time to laugh together and tell stories and listen to music and just enjoy where we are in life. If you're not careful you can spend your whole life trying to get to the point where you can just have some peace and sit back and enjoy life, and then at some point you realize that you wasted a lot of time striving for what was available all along.
2007 was a tough year in many ways but it has been a year in which we learned to appreciate the small stuff and enjoy the journey.

My Week In Review

I've been out on vacation for a week so I thought I should drop back and give a rundown of the last several days:

Saturday: Great day! Jasilyn, Noah and I went to Givens Books on Lakeside Drive and we spent the afternoon playing with toys and reading books. Per Jonathan's advice we purchased "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and we ended our visit by sitting in The Drowsy Poet and drinking root beer. Jasilyn's favorite part of the day was playing with the princess costumes and Noah's favorite part was playing with the trains. My favorite part was watching my children sit cross legged on the floor and look through books. That night we had our first performance of Tree of Life's Christmas Program. I played Joseph and Jesus. My Jesus wig was awful. I looked more like Chong from Cheech and Chong than Jesus. Misty was one of the singers. We finished up at about 9:00 and everyone headed home to get some sleep before returning at 7:00am the next morning. I fell asleep thinking about root beer and books and bad wigs.

Sunday: At 5:30am we got Team Queen up and running. We arrived at the church by 7:00 and I ran back out to Starbucks to get some coffee. We had three performances and they went very well. The Jesus wig got worse and worse. I was able to sit in the audience during two of the performances and watch Misty and Jasilyn sing. Both of my girls were breathtakingly beautiful. I felt like I was watching one of the old "Bob Hope Christmas Specials". At the end of each performance I came out dressed like Jesus at the Resurrection and stood with my arms out in a welcoming gesture to the crowd. At first it was awkward. By the final performance I was overwhelmed with emotion at how unworthy I am to play that role. I got an opportunity to be Christlike as I walked off the stage and a lady whispered "you need a hairbrush". Jason would have whispered, "as do you madame. as do you..." But instead I just smiled and nodded my bad wig in her general direction. All in all it was a good day. We ended the day reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and the kids loved it.

Monday: A day of leisure. I watched a lot of television and listened to some sermons on Misty's ipod. That night we went to Tree of Life's leadership dinner. The food was great. Seven different types of corn pudding. We sat with Joe and his family. Joe is among five people who make me laugh out loud. Corn pudding and laughter don't mix too well.

Tuesday: A hectic day. We ran around catching up on errands.

Wednesday: We watched "The Nativity Story" at church that night. This movie is very good and it does a great job of depicting the humanity of Mary and Joseph. Joseph is portrayed as a strong and good man.

Thursday: We went to Build-a-Bear Workshop in Charlottesville. Jasilyn built a pink leopard. Noah chose a brown monkey. Jacob got his first teddy bear. It was another great day in a series of great days. I am blessed with great children and an awesome wife.

Our Baby

Our baby is now 18 months old. He is no longer a baby. He is the destroyer of worlds.

He eats crayons and when they reappear they no longer resemble crayons in any way except for color.

Aspirations

Yesterday my oldest son Noah came into the living room wearing his SpiderMan costume.

"I'll be back," he said. "I'm going out to save da world."

"Don't forget your coat," Misty replied.

Now That Is Love

The other night my daughter Jasilyn walked up to Misty and hugged her and said, "Mommy? You mean more to me than my Raggedy Ann."

Misty cried.

I'm A Shepherd (update)

Well, I reported to the dress rehearsal for Tree of Life's Christmas Program and I am not playing a shepherd. I'm playing the Good Shepherd.

When I arrived last night I noticed that Pastor Don suddenly stopped talking to people as I walked in the sanctuary. His eyes locked in on me. He put his hand up in the general direction of the people that were asking him questions and he began to stalk towards me. I bravely walked towards Don and met him halfway. Without saying a word Don began to analyze my face.

"Nice beard," said Don.
"Thanks," Jason responded.
"You won't even need a costume beard," said Don.
"That's good to know," Jason responded.
"Cause the beard glue would get stuck in your real beard," said Don.
"That wouldn't be good," Jason responded.
"No, that wouldn't be good at all," said Don. "We can't have Jesus getting glue in his beard."
"Ummmmmm....I'm playing Jesus?" Jason asked.
"Well of course," Don said. As he placed his hand on my shoulders Don pointed me towards my costume and began to tell me my cue.

So I'm playing Jesus. The performances start tonight. I'll be standing with the lost sheep.

I'm A Shepherd

Our church's Children's Pastor is also in charge of all of our dramas. He is responsbile for dinner theater, dessert theater, skits during our services, illusion shows and Tree of Life's Annual Christmas program. Year after year Don waits until the last minute to recruit actors and year after year I publicly proclaim that he will be unable to recruit me and year after year I find myself on stage as Joseph or a friend of Joseph's or someone in a crowd scene or someone leading someone to Jesus. I always say that I will never do it again, yet I always do it.

My resolve to never act for Don is not because Don is a jerk. He is not a jerk. He is a godly man. My wife loves him and acts in every single thing he does and she even helps lead worship in the children's ministry. My kids love Don. They think of him as their pastor. He is a good man. He is a kind man. He is a persistent man. He is a determined man. He is the human version of one of those raptors from Jurassic Park. He gets you in his sights and he approaches you with tunnel vision. When he talks to you his eyes begin to swirl like that hypnotic snake Kaa from The Jungle Book. He asks you to help in a way that you cannot deny and before you know it... you're backstage, tying on a headband and making sure you don't trip over your robe as you practice your lines.

I'm not a good actor. I worry about acting. I worry about performing. These plays traumatize me as I practice my lines throughout the day and as I picture in my mind where I am supposed to stand and when I am supposed to come out. I become obsessed with not messing up and I worry myself to the verge of ending up in the fetal position in a deserted choir room at the back of the church... And when its over I publicly proclaim that I will never act again.

Last night at church I began to breathe easy. We are three days away from the performance and I haven't been asked about being an actor. I'm safe. Aaaaahhhh...

I began to plan in my mind where I would sit in the audience. Who I would sit with. I even pictured myself relaxing in our church's comfortable chairs as I watched the performance. I might even smuggle in some eggnog and sugar cookies. It would be a peaceful Christmas without practices and costumes and...

My musings were interrupted by the intense feeling in my spine that someone was watching me. I looked around and saw no one. I began to breathe easy again but I suddenly noticed a movement in the crowd to my left. More movement. The crowd parted. And there he was. Pastor Don. Staring at me. Moving towards me. He was holding a clipboard and his eyes were burning into me like an infrared light.

I began to walk backwards. He walked faster. I counted the paces to the media booth. My friend Joe was in there and I was quite certain he would grant me sanctuary. I made a break for it but my legs felt like they were in quicksand. I was moving slower and slower and Don was moving faster and faster. He outweighs me by at least a hundred pounds but he is gaining on me. I stop and I face the inevitable. I am prepared to debate my way out of this. What follows is as accurate a transcript of my conversation with Don as possible.

Don: Hello Jason.
Jason: Hello Don. How are you?
Don: Not good Jason. Not good at all.
Jason: Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. Is there something I can do to help?
Don: Yes Jason. You can agree to be a shepherd in the Christmas play.
{Jason clears his throat and produces the following brilliant response to Don's plea}
Jason: Okay.

My first practice is tonight. I'll be standing with the sheep.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

My brother Jonathan called me last night to let me in on his choice for "holiday book of the year". His choice? "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson.

Jonathan said it caused him to laugh out loud. This endorsement carries much weight for me, so I plan to stop by Givens tonight and purchase a copy.

Here are a few lines from the first page:
The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker's old broken-down toolhouse.
The toolhouse burned right down to the ground, and I think that surprised the Herdmans. They set fire to things all the time, but that was the first time they managed to burn down a whole building.

I grew up watching the movie version of the book and I know that it is a great story of love, grace and redemtion. Those are three character traits worth reminding ourselves of at this time of the year...

A Package From Kansas

Like a lot of American families these days, my family does a Christmas gift exchange thing where one person buys for another. Most of us are spread out across the state and across the country, so the exchange sometimes gets about as complicated as a pyramid scheme bonus plan.

My oldest brother is in Kansas. He and his wife and two youngest daughters participate. His youngest daughter has my name. Now, I have only met my niece four or five times so I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that her gift was going to fit nicely in the "its the thought that counts category". I was wrong.

I received a package from Kansas last Friday afternoon and my niece had filled it with stuff for me and my family. She made ornaments for each of my children and the kids loved them. She also included three whistle straws that produce a sound that I can only describe as being similar to the scream a coyote makes when it runs through a cactus patch.

My wife surveyed the situation and calmly collected each whistle and that's the last I heard of those wretched devices.

At the bottom of this package was the book "Quiet Strength" by Tony Dungy. Tony Dungy is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. I had heard somewhere that he was a Christian but beyond that I knew very little about him. I don't follow football like I used to and aside from listening to my friend Eric attempt to educate me about the goings on in the world of sports I know very little about the NFL, NHL or any other L. So, I appreciated my niece's gift but I did not anticipate enjoying the book. As I mentioned earlier, I was wrong.

The book was excellent. I would never have bought it for myself but I am firmly convinced that the Lord used my niece to place that book in my hands. I will write more about that soon when I have enough time to do it justice. For now, I highly recommend it. Especially if you are a sports fan. Keep in mind that I opened the book with the impression that the Colts were still in Baltimore.

Ice Ice Baby

Lynchburg woke up to ice covered sidewalks and streets this morning. I skated across my porch and made my way to work.
Downtown is deserted. I walked from the coffee shop to my office and never had to use the sidewalks. Walked right down the middle of main street, sloshing through the crystals of salt and ice.

Hope For The Worrier

Check out this passage from Habakkuk chapter 3. I'm a worrier and this passage speaks to me about where I need to be in relation to my reliance upon Jesus. My prayer is that I will get to the point where this is my testimony:

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.

Manly Coffe Update

I just ordered and consumed something called a "cocochino". I loved it. I wish it was called something different. Something manly like "the rhino" or "swampmud".

aka The Living Christmas Tree

Last night we were blessed to be invited by some friends to go with them to see The Virginia Christmas Spectacular. Until recent years, this production was known as "The Living Christmas Tree" and its put forth by Thomas Road Baptist Church.

To sum it up: It was in Virginia. The theme was Christmas. And it was spectacular.

We took Jasilyn with us and she sat straight up with her mouth wide open and her eyes bright. Her favorite part was the dancing Raggedy Ann dolls. She fell asleep last night talking about all of the singing and dancing and pretty lights.

Manly Coffee

I think coffee is manly. Some ladies would disagree I'm sure, but I'm not talking about lattes and mochas. I'm talking about straight up coffee and strong espresso not daintied down with caramel and whipped cream.
I like Americanos. I can feel my beard grow as I drink Americanos.
Last night I strayed and I feel the need to confess. I ordered a decaf. To make things worse it was a decaf breakfast blend, which is a mild blend to begin with. To take it further down the praline path, the barista served my decaf breakfast blend in what appeared to be a teacup.
I could list all of the reasons that I ordered decaf but even as my mind processes those reasons I feel my beard shrinking.
My friend Joe ordered a caramel macchiato and I started to feel manlier in comparison until the barista brought Joe's concoction over in a gigantic hunter green mug that resembled a soup bowl.
My teacup. His soup bowl.
I felt like I was going hunting with a pink shotgun.

Thanksgiving

I had a great Thanksgiving and I hope that everyone else did as well. We traveled to my parents' home in Dillwyn and enjoyed a great meal together. There were only nine of us there, but we had a great time and enjoyed good fellowship as a family.

We ended the day back at my house, setting up the tree and watching The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. We've seen it six billion times but it is a great movie to watch while decorating the tree. As I watched my children I realized just how different they are. Jasilyn likes to turn every situation into the pivotal scene of a musical. She is the star of aformentioned musical of course. She hands out ornaments and floats around singing about each one. Noah is more low key. He picks an ornament out. Hangs it. Picks another ornament out. Hangs it. Jacob is at the age where he pulls the ornaments off faster than we can put them on, which fits well with Noah's hanging rhythm. They basically cancel out the work of the other.

Misty and I decorate the tree with different styles as well. I try to pick out my favorite ornaments and put them in places of honor. Example: Superman goes right in the center and the Norman Rockwell Santa goes right below him. Misty approaches the whole thing in a similar fashion to Jasilyn except the musical is more of a three act play and Misty is of course the star of each act. The boys and I are the audience. Jasilyn has her own musical on her own stage.

The night ended with the tree decorated and beautiful and Jasilyn asked each of us what we were thankful for. It was a great day.

Running On Empty

I spent the last few days wrapping up my preparation for a new series I will be leading at my church on Wednesday nights and I'm excited about it.

Here is the ad I posted in our church bulletin, The Leaflet:

CrossOver Young Adult Ministry Presents An Original Discussion Series:
"Running On Empty: A Look At America's Empty Generation"
Empty Bank Accounts. Empty Homes. Empty Minds. Empty Hearts.
Low On Time. Low On Energy. Low on Love. Low on Trust. Low on Hope.
Join Us As We Take A Candid Look At The Way Too Many Young Adults
Live Our Lives With No Room For Error, No Room For Creativity, No Room For God.
Our Main Resources Will Be: God's Word and "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper.
Join us in Room 106 at 7:00pm Beginning Wednesday, November 28th.

Please pray for us as we go through this series and please pray for me as I try to lead the group in a way that pleases Jesus.

Some concepts that will be recurring themes in this series will be dying to ourselves daily and picking up our cross daily and living on daily bread.

If you live in the Lynchburg area we'd love to have you join us.

Thanksgiving Memories: The Early Years

Some of my favorite Thanksgiving memories:

Eating at the kids' table. I didn't appreciate it then, but when you're eatin' at the kids' table, life is easy. No problems, no stress, no bills, no worries at the kids' table. [age: until I hit my teens]

Sitting at aforementioned kids' table and calculating the chances of getting any turkey after my dad, mom, Leslie, David, Sissy and Jonathan got their chunk of bird. It was at that moment that stuffing became my favorite Thanksgiving fare. My younger sister Becky was even further down the Queen food chain so she had to learn to love and appreciate pickled beets. [age: 8]

Waking up to the sounds of Thanksgiving. Pans rattling. My mom and sister talking. Christmas music coming from the record player (Bing). The phone ringing as relatives called. My brothers and dad loading guns for hunting. One sound was gloriously absent. I never heard my dad couging uncontrollably as he had for just about every morning I remembered up until that time. He had stopped smoking that year. He did it on his own without complaining and he never smoked again. I am convinced that I am still able to visit him tomorrow because of the decision he made that year. [age: 9]

Using construction paper to make Indian headbands and pilgrim hats at school. I can still remember the sweet feeling of staples digging into my scalp. [age: 10]

Coming home from school on Wednesday evening, knowing I was a free man for four glorious days of food, family and falling asleep watching football games. [age: 11-17]

Driving to Virginia Beach with my family to eat Thanksgiving at Uncle Buddy's house. Meeting family I'd heard about but rarely seen. [age: 18]

Lining up my Thanksgiving schedule in such a way that I can eat at least three turkey meals with family and friends. Ending the day watching movies at Dave's house. [age: 19-20]

Arriving home from college on Wednesday night. Eating Papa John's Pizza and watching Home Alone. Years later, when times were bad, I would pop in Home Alone and eat Papa John's and draw from memories of better times. [age: 21]

Drinking coffee on Tuesday night with Eric and playing Hearts at The Drowsy Poet before he left for Thanksgiving break. The place was desolate. [age:22]

Driving home with Jason A. on Wednesday morning. Hearing a popping and rattling and shattering sound under his hood. Rolling to a stop on the side of I-64. Inspecting the ground and discovering a piece of oil covered iron with Japanese writing on it. Walking with Jason to a gas station leaving his crippled and dying Nissan Pulsar behind us while we talked about the virtues of checking your oil. [age: 23]

Waste Not...

I'm currently reading John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life". I was driven to my knees in prayerful repentance last night while reading this book and I'm only on page 21.

The Homecoming

Last night we continued our new Thursday night holiday movie tradition by watching "The Homecoming". What an excellent family movie. The television series "The Waltons" was launched from this movie and it is based on the life of Earl Hamner, who called the Central Virginia area home. As a side note, if you watch the television series you will hear numerous references to Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Farmville, Afton and lots of other local towns and cities.
If you're looking for good old fashioned drama with heart and soul, "The Homecoming" will not disappoint you. The writing is fantastic, the acting is very good and the spirit of the season permeates the movie like the smell of baking pies in a small home.

Thursday Night At The Movies

Last week, Misty and I began a new tradition. Starting with last Thursday night, we are going to sit down and watch a Christmas or Thanksgiving movie right up until the Thursday before Christmas. We started this trend by watching "Deck The Halls", which we chose because it was one of the few Christmas movies in the world that we had not seen before.
We were entertained by "Deck The Halls" but we were not blown away by it. Danny Devito is always funny and Matthew Broderick reminds me of growing up in the 80's, so those two facts alone made it worth the time we traded from our lives to view the movie. It was a great depiction of all that is bad about the Holiday Season and it dipped slightly into some of what is good about it. Family. Friends. Food.
No mention of Jesus of course... Does it strike anyone else as absurd that we would have a birthday party but never mention the person whose birth is being celebrated?
Tonight I think we are going to watch "The Homecoming". This is the 1970's classic that launched the series, "The Waltons".

No Whining From Jim Reid

The Liberty University football team beat VMI 73 to 34 last Saturday. My friend Eric was there and he left happy. Eric sent me an e-mail with the post-game comments from VMI head coach Jim Reid. Notice how he doesn't make a bunch of excuses or shift blame or whine. He takes the loss like a man and he keeps his chin up.

“It was a long afternoon. We could not move the ball with any consistency. We did move the ball in chunks of yardage and then all of a sudden we had a fumble, or an offside, or an interception. On defense, we just couldn’t seem to match their speed, especially to the outside. It was pretty much of a problem all day. In the second half we moved the ball on our first drive methodically down the field and then all of a sudden, we had that fumble, and it hurt us and we just seemed to lose a little bit of steam there. But we never did quit – we were playing right to the very end. We had a fumble return for a touchdown and that was exciting. It was almost like feast or famine on every snap. We either did something well on offense or we really got hammered. On defense, we either held them at the line of scrimmage or they moved for a huge gain. I felt bad for the players, and bad for us as a staff, and I feel bad for our alumni. But we just can’t get discouraged. We laid the plan out early and we are going to keep these guys red-shirted. I just got finished telling a reporter that in the first spring we had 26 scholarships in our program. This spring, if everyone stays and no one has left yet, we should have 45 in spring practice. Now we are at least beginning to look like a Division I-AA program numbers wise, and we just have to keep working, stay focused, and we can’t forget what happened to us today and we need it to motivate us to be better.”

No Perfect People Allowed

I'm currently reading "No Perfect People Allowed" by John Burke. John is a pastor in the great nation of Texas and his church is Gateway Community Church. This book is excellent because it has challenged me more than any book has in quite a while.

I try to read two to three ministry books a week and I've hit quite a few that are just too liberal and too wishy-washy for me. My fundamentalist upbringing triggers a gag reflex with some of this post-modern ministry stuff that I just can't overcome. I try and I try to keep an open mind and open heart but some of this stuff is ridiculous. The feminization of Jesus. The watering down of the sovereignty of God. The constant apologizing for what the church has done is doing and will do. I'd rather spend the evening snuggled up next to a sack of my son Jacob's dirty diapers than trudging through that kind of revamped, reheated, repackaged neo-liberalism.

I love the local church and I love exploring my role in the larger church body and I love exploring the church's role in the community. I've found some books that help me flesh out my thoughts on those subjects and I've found some that I wouldn't even use as a stabilizer under the short leg of my desk at work.

John Burke's book will find a prominent role on top of my desk and I plan on buying some extras to hand out to people.

Let me warn you. His "come as you are" philosophy might shock you. His way of handling sin in seekers and new believers might make you nervous. Good! If it makes you think and it makes you search the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit for discernment and guidance then GREAT!!!! But stick with him and see what he has to say about the power of God to change people and redeem people.

In an attempt to avoid being labeled a fundamentalist evangelical right winger, I am tempted to bring some balance to this post by going into a rant about Bill Bright's "Witnessing Without Fear" but I won't because I live in Lynchburg VA, a city where that book is so revered that some of my friends won't even stack stuff on top of it....

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel

I had breakfast at Cracker Barrel this morning with my boss. The general store part of the restaurant was packed with Christmas stuff. Thinking back over the last five or six holiday seasons, I realized that just about each one has started with me walking through Cracker Barrel looking at the Christmas stuff and thinking, "the holidays are here..."

Fritos, Laughter And A Kick To The Head

My wife is awesome. I use the word "awesome" to describe a lot of stuff and a lot of people, but even if I didn't overuse the word, I would still use it to describe my wife. She is awesome.
I had to run home at noon today and Misty had lunch waiting for me. A ham and cheese sandwich and BBQ Fritos. What an awesome combination.
As I ate lunch my wife told me a story that made me laugh. Very few people can make me laugh but Misty consistently does so. My son Noah tried to outdo his mom by making me laugh more but unfortunately his vaudeville style act included a roundhouse spin kick that ended up knocking the sap out of his little brother Jacob. The laughter and the lunch ended as we consoled Jacob and disciplined Noah.
As I got back to work and sat down at my desk I couldn't help but think, "man, that was an awesome kick..."

Questions

I'm tired of questions, so you won't have to deal with the Q and A style anymore. It was great during the 48 hours that it lasted....
This week has been a week of questions and I've grown weary of trying to answer questions that have no answer.
Example: One of my co-workers just lost her infant grand-daughter. She lived for four minutes. I like to be able to answer questions and there are no good answers for her grandmother. Or for her mother. Or for her dad who dug the grave himself....

Who?

Follow Up Question: Who is Jason Queen?
A Quick Answer: I am a guy who lives in Lynchburg, VA with his wife and three small children.
A More Comprehensive Answer: I am a Christian. A husband. A father. A son. A brother. An employee. A pastor at my local church.

Why?

Obvious Question: Why am I starting a blog?
My Answer: Because bloggers are cool and I have had an unquenchable desire to be cool that probably finds its roots in the mid 70's when my parents allowed me to watch Happy Days. So if blogging can bring me coolness that even begins to mirror the coolness of the Fonz, than I will do it....
Another Less Revealing Answer: I need a creative outlet.