NEW STRONGEST KID IN THE WORLD - RIPPED ABS - RIPPED CHEST - WORLD'S STRONGEST KID

Wicked. What kind of parent drives their kid like this...and what kinda person watches it and then posts on their blog?

Getting a degree

This has definitely been a learning season in my life, which has been cool because I've been hungry to learn. I am taking two classes at my church, and have a weekly bible study of men I meet with... but it's not all been book learning. Additionally I'm learning how to and planning a wedding, not to mention learning how to love R and get ready to be married. There's been plenty I've been learning at work too, and in some personal reading, and also on a recent trip we took to DC. I'm truly enjoying this season of life, and how He's feeding me and preparing me and I know there's lots more to learn. But here are a few things I gained:

.Lessons Learned.
--Don't buy the Plane for the Peanuts. We've been taking a class at church called, RightStart. It's basically premarital counseling in a classroom setting -- we take a different topic each week and discuss it from a biblical and practical perspective. We've covered the topics of money, in-laws, conflict resolution, communication...all the other areas you should cover before getting married. It's been great, because it's brought up questions and topics we hadn't necessarily discussed indepth yet, so that's been helpful.

--Invest Wisely. Didn't mention this above but God's been teaching me a good deal about money lately. With things at work sorta drying up in October for a bit, I found my faith tested and lots of sin in my heart was exposed. It's easy to be content and trust the Lord for provision when things are fine. Not so much when times are tight plus you're thinking about providing for another in a few short months. But He's been faithful to change my heart. He brought to mind a quote I heard from a sermon awhile back: "The danger isn't making a lot of money--it's keeping a lot of money" and helped me realized that I hadn't really applied that yet. So, Rachel and I have been talking more about giving and setting that prescedent in our marriage...and it's been cool to watch God work when we obey in that area.

--Older and Wiser. Learning tons in my discipleship group. With two 50 somethings, three 40 somethings, 2 30 somethings, a couple other 20 somethings and a guy in his sixties leading it, it certainly looks different than groups I've been in the past. Also socio-economically it's pretty diverse -- a couple of the guys are docs, one owns his own company, and most are pretty established in their careers; so needless to say us 20somethings are learning a good bit from them on that front. But it's been cool to hear them discuss the passages and topics from their perspectives as parents, married guys with in-laws, and coaches of 7-year-old football teams. Sometimes I just sit back and listen...it's certainly a Harvard education on married life. And their prayer requests aren't about their personal struggles like most of the groups I've been in before...they are about their wives, kids, co-workers kids and such. It's helping me so much in this transition into marriage.

--With Rachel I'm learning further who she is and the incredible person I get to marry and spend the rest of my life with. Engagement is cool in that it gives girls that ever present sense of security they need and want but you can't always effectively communicate as a guy. Buy a ring, though and it'll do that :) [I'm not saying buying stuff solves problems, just keep tracking...] Anyway, it seems though to have a different effect on the guy...now we get into this "omg, i'm gonna be married, have to provide for, love and cherish fully this woman, like Christ the church no matter what life brings...am I ready?" And I've found the answer is no; or rather, I shouldn't be asking that question anyway. God knows and determines what I'm ready for, and as I'm seeing, He's constantly humbling and preparing me for this next step. Anyway, though, back to Rachel...We got to go up to DC back in September and hang with/meet some of her family. We stayed with her sister and bro-in-law that live basically 3 blocks from the Capital.

Then we went and hung with her grandparents a couple of times and also I met all her aunts and uncles that live in MD when they had an engagement party for us. It's a strange yet very cool feeling to meet someone for the first time knowing that very soon you'll be related. They were all so welcoming, and interesting people with cool jobs. Can't wait to get to know them better. We also drove by the house Rachel grew up in (she lived up there the first 6 years of her life) and also her first school...you just get to know a person better when you see some of their roots. I did and am even more excited about marrying her and being a part of this family.

This is getting long, so I'll just sum up what else I am learning. We went to the Newseum in DC too, I should mention, and it was a very educational day. Learned the roots of newspapers, saw some good quotes about them and journalism, and also about how technology has effected news...we spent like 4 hours there and only saw half of it. I came back with a sense that what I do is important, being part of the "Fourth Estate" in our nation. At work though, I have been humbled a lot through some different interactions with managers and clients. Definitely learning a lot there and seeking to honor God through my work. I mentioned that I'm taking another class at my church. Well, it's on the culture wars here in America and where the roots of modern liberalism and conservatism came from. Did you know that the whole movement of Politically Correctness is actually rooted in Marxism? I'll write a post on that soon, but needless to say it's been an eye opening experience with some interesting reading. I'm so thankful for my church that they offer such opportunities for further education.

So that's been my world lately...it feels like I'm getting a degree, actually several of them right now...in critical cultural thought, money management, and husbandry (?) and others. It's a treat being in school again, especially when the classmates and Teacher are so significant to me, and will be lifelong.

that's all for now. L'chaim!

Autumn from my view

I've had a quintessentially fall day...driving up the winding roads of North Georgia to a trail head; breathing deeply the mountain air as the final vibrant orange leaves cascade down to join their brothers in the shuffle under my feet; feeling the mist of the waterfall on my face as I stand in the mountain shade and wonder why I'm wearing only a t-shirt. Back to my car at the trail head and down the bumpy dirt road to "ford" the stream again in my Camry (luckily only a few inches deep); then over, through, and to another mountain town as the masses congregate and congest the roads to enjoy the only dry autumn weekend in recent memory.

Wedding.
Literary Festival.
Photographs.
10-piece bluegrass band on the town square.
Pottery and Patty Griffin.
Decaf and WiFi.

I've needed this.

A good day, but not great...she's not with me.

Sin Was Necessary

This passage from a Piper book has been shaking up my world lately. I read it a few months ago when a friend gave me this book, Spectacular Sins and their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ. But after a recent conversation with Rachel, I had to look up this paragraph again. I want to dwell on the Truth revealed here, because it's very powerful and will ever change how you view your sin, and the true purpose of it in our lives.

"Or consider 2 Timothy 1:9: '[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.' Saving grace was given to us before the ages began. That is, it was given to us before there was any human sin to save us from. Therefore, grace was planned before human sin was there to need it. This means that God's plan to save us through grace was not a response to human decisions to sin. Saving grace was the plan that made sin necessary. God did not find sin in the world and then make a plan to remedy it. he had the plan before the ages, and that plan was for the glory of sin-conquering grace through the deaht of Jesus Christ."

It really challenges the traditional view that Christ and redemption were "Plan B," because we screwed it up in the garden. Rather, the Truth is that before the world God was gracious and loving and redemptive, and sin was necessary for Him to display those aspects of His character to us. And sin still has a purpose for us in our walk; He convicts, we repent and are forgiven and love Him more because we're forgiven much and become more like Him in the process.

What do you think about this??

We're asking the wrong questions

<>What am I going to do with my life?
<>How much money do I need to be making?
<>When can I get the next new gadget/car/trendy item of clothing?

It's subtle but these questions invoke the gospel of the kingdom of this world. The enemy would have us stay there, shackled unaware, not asking the Kingdom Questions:

.Who am I going to be?
.What cause can I give my money to?
.Who do I belong to?

he would have us preoccupied with productivity rather than purpose, prospecting for business rather than nurturing souls...the former distracts from significance and leads to wasting of a life; the latter leads to lasting impact and fulfillment.

What ?s are you asking? and do you know who they're coming from?

do I need to start looking

this and this make me think so

Or I could follow these guys

Lord Save us From your Followers

I went to see this documentary last night with Rachel and we quite enjoyed it. Revealed a lot of disturbing realities about how Christians are perceived, because of well, how they/we act in society...so we kinda already knew or expected some of it, but it was still hard to swallow. Known for hate rather than love, dividing instead of uniting, and as one guy on the street said, for "being nice people, but crazy wild behind closed doors, and that's a fact."* Yep, we really have missed the mark of what Christ modeled and desired for the Church to be. Luckily though for the average joes and janes in the movie, our behavior hasn't marred their view of who Jesus was.

The director of this documentary, Dan Merchant, through his interviews and the scenarios he sets up, reveals a lot of important facts about the state of the church in America: for one, that the average person on the right is not as educated, well-read, or just plainly aware of what's going on in the world, much less what the "other side" even believes. And his whole argument, (and I left convinced), is that we need to start having conversations where humility and understanding rule, not polarizing arguments in which we remain defensive and leave angry and worse off. It's not an argument for tolerance and acceptance of the other side, but rather civil debate and discussion on issues we feel are important; with an understanding that we are talking with (not dogmatically to) people with stories and reasons why and we need to seek to know them so we can love them.

There are a lot of cool situations where Merchant models that humility and shows it being displayed through Christian service; but I won't spoil that -- you need to go see it! Overall, it was humbling to watch, but very important for us to realize this so we can start learning to love and more fully align with God's purposes verses pushing our own agenda. It does start with humility, perhaps the church apologizing to those they have hated that Christ loves, and that might be a better way to fight this "culture war." Are those the weapons Paul spoke of that we have?
Anyways, go see this movie if it's in your city. It's at Regal near Perimeter Church in GA (only theatre in the state!) and looks like a few places in TX, NC, CA and Oregon where Merchant is from. Start engaging in the conversation!!

*my paraphrase :)