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Got $5?

The organization Soles4Souls is in the middle of their 50,000 pair in 50 days challenge. You and your $5 can help. The mission of Soles4Souls is to impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes. There are approximately 300 million people in the world who do not own shoes and are forced to walk in what are sometimes dangerous conditions.

I love the 50,000 pair of shoes in 50 days idea in small part because I really dig shoes... but mostly, because it is simple, practical, something almost everyone can help with, and it meets a real need. Check out the history of Soles4Souls, buy two pair of shoes for $5, and spread the word.

Tips on Tipping

Too often tipping is poorly done. I am beginning a 3-4 minute quest to fix that.

I have learned certain things in life through nothing more than observation. For example:

• When it comes to those who walk their dog, big people have small dogs and small people have big dogs.
• Men between the ages of 45-60 only wash their hands 58.4% of the time after using the restroom.
• In Student Ministry, the kid you scholarship to camp will buy $38.43 worth of candy, chips and soda at the first stop for fuel.
• Most pastors are poor tippers.

In fact, when a bunch of pastors get together and everyone throws in "their amount" to cover the bill it often goes like this. "Let's see, my super deluxe special Norwegian sandwich with chips and a side of slaw was $8.99, the drink is $2.00 ... here's a $10!"

Seriously, this happens. I was in a group of about 12 pastors one time for lunch and the person paying the bill ended up eating a $28 salad. I am not bitter however.

Maybe it speaks to my insecurities, but I believe in leaving a good tip. Here are some guidelines to make sure that you do not trip on the tip:

• Start at 18% when you are seated. If the service rocks take the tip up to 20-22%. If the service is poor take it down to 10-15%. However don't penalize the server for something that they cannot control. If the service is decent and what you would expect, leave it at 18%.
• If you have young children tip that make a mess and require greater attention be extra generous with the tip.
• NEVER EVER PLACE A DOLLAR BILL IN ONE OF THOSE GOSPEL TRACKS THAT SAYS "JESUS -THE BEST TIP YOU HAVE EVER RECEIVED". If you do this, please tell people you are a Mormon or Jehovah Witness.
• If you are at a busy restaurant and you occupy the table for an unusually long period of time, tip more.
• Coupons and gift certificates are great, but tip on the full amount of the bill.
• Every once in a while lovingly blitz a good server with a huge tip. Make their day!

Question #26: What is your View on Jesus and Culture

Over at Jesus Creed there is an insightful conversation taking place about Jesus and culture. The context for this discussion is the John Stackhouse book, Making the Best of It.

To begin the discussion McKnight breaks down the classic typology of H. Richard Niebuhr found in Christ and Culture. So when it comes to your view of Jesus and culture, which view best describes you?

1. Jesus against Culture: Reject the world and separate from it.
2. Jesus of Culture: Viewing Jesus in terms of cultural values. Interpret culture through Jesus and Jesus through culture.
3. Jesus above Culture: Culture is neither good or bad and God works through a harmony of both.
4. Jesus and Culture in Paradox: We live in both the spiritual world and temporal world and have responsibilities in both.
5. Jesus the Transformer of Culture: Culture is flawed and corrupt, but redeemable. 

A more detailed description of each view can be found here.

Questions 1-25

Global Warming, Al Gore, and My Daughters

This just in: My daughters are getting older.

As my girls were growing up, there would be occasional arguments, "discussions", etc... with each other over things like:

• clothes
• who rides shotgun
• borrowed jewelry or shoes not returned
• controls of the remote
• favorites athlete, team, or sport
• computer time
• dad is cooler than mom
• meals
• items to buy at the grocery store

The other night two of my daughters were discussing global warming and whether Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Price for what he did or for what he represents.  They were not in agreement. I listened from the other room as each articulately  made their point. 

As a dad, I am proud that my daughters have grown up to be critical thinkers and take very little at face value. I have tried to teach them that most issues are complex, to recognize talking points and spin and focus on what is not being said.

Good job girls!

Waste, Indulgence & Gluttony (Part 2)

As of today I have been alive 15,354 days. What have I done with this life? More importantly, who have I been? What has been wasted? What has been misused? What have I done with all that I have been given during these 15k days?

In the United States the difficulties are not a Minotaur or a dragon - not imprisonment, hard labor, death, government harassment, and censorship - but cupidity, boredom, sloppiness, indifference. Not the acts of a mighty, all-pervading, repressive government but the failure of a listless public to make use of the freedom that is its birthright. - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

To really max out our life for the purposes of Jesus; to live out our part of God's story to the fullest, requires that we embrace the birthright we have through the grace of God as his child. That we also embrace the freedom that we are given through Jesus. Freedom from the bondage of sin. Freedom from our past failures. Freedom from religion. Freedom to live in and through God's power rather than our pride. Living in anything other than that freedom is a ... waste.

Too often we live in a way that is marked by boredom, sloppiness, and indifference. Now in writing this I am not emphasizing more "doing". I am emphasizing more "being".

Paul said it like this, for to me, to live is Christ to die is gain. (Phil 1:21)

Someone said that life is what you are alive to. College football season is about to start, I come alive to that. Some people come alive to shopping. Others come alive to chocolate or a new piece of technology. It is not that coming alive to such things is so horrible. However, it leads to waste, indulgence, and maybe even gluttony, when we are more alive to things, other people, and experiences, than we are to Jesus.

More to follow...

(Part 1)

Waste, Indulgence & Gluttony (Part One)

In the United States of America, by my calculations, (please check if you feel led), we "use" 2637 trees per weekend to create the church bulletins that we quickly read (maybe) and then throw away.

Here is how I arrived at 2637 trees:

• US Population = 301,139,947 (Source)
• 47% of Population attend church weekly. (Source) Personally I believe this is high, but we will go with the research.
• Total weekly church attendance = 141,535,775
• Bulletins produced at rate of 1 bulletin for two people = 70,767,888
• Sheets of paper (8.5 x 11) used per bulletin = 3 (This is my guess, but I think it is probably more)
• Total sheets of paper used per weekend for bulletins = 212,303,663
• Sheets of paper per tree = 80,500 (Source) (Source) Estimates vary here from 15,000 to 200,000
• Trees used per weekend = 2637
• Trees used per year = 137,140

My point has very little to do with conserving trees. I am all about wisely using what we have been given by God. Plus we now have more trees in the U.S. than at anytime in the last 70 years. Each year the U.S. forest community plants 1.5 billion seedlings. More than 5 trees are planted each day per person and millions other grown naturally. (Source) Thats a lot of trees!

My point is that the weekly church bulletin is the poster child for waste. It is the paper plate of periodicals. It serves a purpose for about 10 minutes and is then discarded. I would call it waste. Sure, most churches use the WEB more than ever, but most churches still crank out weekly bulletins. Last year I was handed a weekly bulletin from one of the largest churches in the nation, and I counted 17 different pieces of paper inserts of different sizes and colors. Wow!

However, the ol' bulletin is not the biggest waste in the church. Not even close. The biggest waste is related to those who ARE the church. Often we are ineffective in living out our part of God's story because we waste - OUR STUFF, OUR TIME, OUR OPPORTUNITIES, and OUR GOD GIVEN GIFTS and TALENTS.

Oh what could be if we eliminated the waste in our lives.

By the way...  the trees being used each year to produce church bulletins would supply enough wood for 25,876 houses. (Source) Wow!

Stay tuned for part two...

Is Drinking Bottled Water a Sin?

I must admit that right after reading Charles Fishman's report: Message in a Bottle, in the latest issue of Fast Company, I felt like taking a final swig of my Dasani and heading off to confessional. Did I mention that I am not even Catholic!

OK, drinking bottled water is probably not a sin, but consider:

• American's spend more on bottled water than on iPods or Movie tickets. American's spend $15 Billion a year on something that is essentially free in their own home.
• 24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke and Pepsi.
• Fiji water produces more than a million bottles of water a day, while more than half of the people in Fiji do not have reliable drinking water.
• If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.
• We pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year - in excess of $1 billion worth of plastic.
• Worldwide 1 billion people have no reliable source of drinking water; 3,000 children a day die from diseases caught from tainted water.

Now I realize that if we did not have bottled water, then we would probably drink more of something else and the resource drain would be no less. I get that, and personally I love a cold bottle of water. I love the taste and the convenience. I have a fridge in the garage full of bottled water. Now just so you know where I am coming from - I am not someone who is always against cutting down trees and drilling for oil, or even bottling up some spring water. I am all for wisely using our resources; but I am not for wasting our resources or indulging without thinking.

My take from the article was not so much that we should do away with bottled water or that bottled water will bring the world to an end. No, my take was that bottled water is symbolic of our taste for indulgence.

Think about it. A $15 billion industry birthed to provide something that we do not need. 

I have been giving thought to my actions and responsibility as a Follower of Jesus as it relates to indulgence, waste, and gluttony. Stay tuned - major rants ahead this week.

First target - Church Bulletins! Stay tuned...

Big Mo's Presidents

I really dig history and lately I have taken a greater interest in presidential history. One of the individuals who reads my blog occasionally, has his own site called Big Mo's Presidents. It is his examination of each president in the context of his times. Big Mo is doing all 43, and he is currently up to number 13 - Millard Fillmore.

Some really good stuff and a great project. Here are a couple to get you started: Andrew Jackson, John Adams

Random thoughts on the 4th of July

It seemed kind of odd to have the 4th of July occur right in the middle of the week. However, it still proved to be a good time to chill, hang with family, eat a hamburger, and of course watch fireworks. Reflecting back on the day here are some of my thoughts:

• When did patriotism become such a bad thing? I certainly understand that the USA is far from perfect, but in this day and age it seems like USAmericans are expected to apologize for loving their country. Now part of what makes the USA great is that we can rip our own country and I would never want to see that freedom disappear.

However many people are quick to see that all of the problems in the world are the fault of the USA. The double edge sword then becomes criticism for helping and/or criticism for not helping. At the risk of being patriotic I will suggest that you read or reread "The Americans" by Gordon Sinclair. Although more than 30 years old, it still makes hits home.

• Fireworks are best watched with little kids.
• For some reason I feel better that this title is back in the hands of the USA.
• Since when is it OK to light off fireworks until 3:00 A.M. Where are the parents? Oh... it is the parents!
• Just my opinion, but I believe all fireworks shows should just be on big grand finale. Get all of the fireworks that your organization or municipality can afford and send them all up at the same time or within a one minute window. It would be spectacular, loud and time efficient.
• I eat more watermelon in early July than any other time of the year.
• Our dog Aussie turned 11 yesterday. It is ironic that she hates fireworks so much.
• My wife who is awesome at so many things, is not very good at taking pictures of fireworks. It is a timing issue!

Virginia Tech: A Pastoral Response to an Unspeakable Tragedy

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School that killed twelve students and one teacher. I was a youth pastor at the time and I can remember very clearly being in my office, receiving a phone call, then turning on the radio and hearing about the tragedy. All of a sudden my teaching plans for the week seemed insignificant and in need of some significant change. My mind quickly shifted to helping my students deal with the events that took place 30 miles away.

A fellow youth pastor and friend, Lane Palmer led a student ministry that was made up of mostly Columbine students. During and after the events, Lane provided great help and comfort to students, families and the community.

Today he provides wisdom, challenge, encouragement, and hope for those of us who try to provide care in the midst of such tragedy. Lane writes:

• Sometimes the phrase “it seemed like yesterday” can be viewed as an overused cliché, but in this case it is absolutely accurate.
  
  I’m talking about the April 20th, 1999 tragedy at Columbine High School, where 12 students and one teacher were killed by two students who later took their lives.  The reason it still seems like yesterday is because of my closeness to the situation. I was a youth pastor in Littleton, Colorado with a youth group made up primarily of Columbine students.
  
  At first the images from that day struck me as a fire at the school... continue