Over the past few months I entered into what is often known as the Blogsphere.  I’ve attempted to maintain a blog while posting thought-provoking posts.  But after getting a feel for what a Blog is, and watching my wife maintain her blog, I’ve come the the realization that it is time to put my blog to rest, for now.  I realized I don’t have the time to post anywhere near with the frequency that needs to be done in order to make a blog interesting.  So to the few faithful readers out there, thanks for your time, it has been an interesting few months.

On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream..” speech at the DC Civil Rights March. In my prayer times, I often recite my own version of an “I Have a Dream” speech. It normally goes something like this:

I have a dream to see people so passionate and so hungry for the Word of God because they understand that it and it alone is what brings life to where there is no hope.

I have a dream to see a young adult service in Denver that helps a dying generation understand that the truth of the Word of God is greater than any intellectual confusion, that prayer is a much greater means of change than self reliance, and that the high from worshiping God is far greater than any high that can be attained from drugs or alcohol.

I have a dream to raise up my son to be the voice of truth, to understand genuine Godly love, to stand firm in the face of persecution, and to animately follow after the calling of God on his life.

I have a dream to see Little League formed in inner-city Denver to provide baseball as an alternative to drugs, gangs and the like for those that are economically challenged.

I have a dream to see child sex rings across the world come to an end.

I have a dream to be such a dedicated husband and father that the success of my calling of God is reflected in the happiness of my family.

I just pray that if these dreams come from the throne room of God, that He give me the endurance in life to see them come to fruition.

Have you ever had an innocent addiction? Is there a such thing as an innocent addiction? You know, something that you are addicted to that doesn’t necessarily ruin your life like drugs, alcohol or porn. Just an addiction that consumes you and does what Calgon claims to do… “Take me away.” Well here is my innocent addiction:

Every year since my senior year in high school I have bought the EA Sport NCAA Football game for whatever system I had. Then I usually spend the next 48 hours fueling my addiction to win a National Championship. The game came out yesterday. I am trying to decide if I want to do what in my heart I know I shouldn’t do.

Derek turned 9 months on Tuesday and the love I have for my son is pretty intense. And there are certain things he does over and over and over that no matter how many times he does them, it never seems to get old:

No matter how many times he smiles when he sees me for the first time when I walk in the room (even if I was just there 3 minutes ago) … it’s never enough

No matter how many times he stiffens up his body, gets his lower lip all straight, and grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs … it’s never enough

No matter how many times he gets all excited as Reese is licking his face … it’s never enough

No matter how many times he clings to Teresa’s neck and snuggles his head into her chest .. it’s never enough

No matter how many times he screams his head off for no apparent reason as we take Reese for a walk in the morning … it’s never enough

No matter how many times he splashes the water in the swimming pool and then looks around wondering who got him water in his face … it’s never enough

No matter how many times he plays with my face and looks up at me with those innocent eyes as I rock him to sleep … it’s never enough

Fatherhood truly is a gift from God!

Have you ever had one of those moments in your bible study time where the Holy Spirit illuminates a certain Scripture to you that just rocks your socks off. I hope so, if not, you need to be reading your Bible more. It happened to me this evening. I was reading in 1 Corinthians 8. Here we see Paul building a case for the fact that just because we as Christians have the freedom and liberty to do certain things, doesn’t mean we should. Paul is using the example of food sacrificed to idols. Paul seems to be emphasizing the fact that we need to be especially careful when we have knowledge that our own actions, even if we have the freedom to do so, may cause someone else to stumble because of their weakness in that area. Then in 8:9-12, Paul says:

9Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

Verse 12 is what really rocked my socks off. What Paul is saying, is that if you chose to partake in some action that you know will cause another brother (or sister) to stumble, even though you have the freedom to do so, you are sinning against Christ. That was like a holy crap moment for me. Let me give you an example. As many of you know my wife is a former alcoholic. And nowhere in the bible am I forbidden to having a casual drink. Yet if I were to bring alcohol into my home, having the knowledge of how that might tempt my wife to sin (drunkenness), even though I have the right, that would be a sin against Christ. Because my action can cause someone else to stumble into sin, and I have knowledge of that weakness. Makes me seriously reconsider the liberty I take with some of my actions.  Even though I may have freedom in Christ, that freedom is almost really for others, not for my personal gain.  Sounds pretty Christ-like to me.

Last night Teresa and I were watching that movie about Daniel Pearl, the journalist who was beheaded while reporting in Afghanistan.  In the previews, a movie with Michelle Pfeiffer came on and I mentioned to her that Michelle Pfeiffer was probably someone I had a “Hollywood Crush” on.  We’ve often discussed in the past who our “Hollywood Crushes” are (Another one of mine would be Alicia Keys).  I think one  of hers is George Cloney.  And I was thinking today that it is so cool that I am married to an awesome women who doesn’t get jealous when we talk about thinks like “Hollywood Crushes.”  A woman that knows she is the only one for me.  A woman that, no matter what, I can share my heart with, and know that she will stand by my side.  I woman that I am proud to call my wife.

Who is your Hollywood Crush? (Only if your spouse won’t get mad with you sharing)

Working from home my face to face interaction with non-Christians is very minimal. I hang out with mostly people from church and my associations with “people of the world” is not where it should be. Well tonight I sit in a hotel in Orlando, Florida after a week spent at a Technology conference for my company. I often find myself struggling to interact with people in situations like this because all I want to do is puke on them about Jesus. All I want to do is find someone, anyone, to have a theological debate with. I wanted to get up on stage last night as 1000 people were drinking their hearts content and teach the Word of God. As I walked from booth to booth talking to different companies about how their technology benefits my company, I so wanted to tell them how the blood of Jesus Christ could benefit them. Yet all week I never once felt like I was to share my faith (as odd as that may sound, hope it doesn’t sound like a cop-out). I think God was burning his love for the lost inside my heart this week to remind me how much we need to be careful not to get caught up in our church circles. How we need to be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo intentional on building relationships with people outside the church. How we need to do as Jesus did and go to the people, not expect them to come to us. Where is the Pepto? My heart hurts.

Last night while in the airport heading back from our visit to Minnesota, I picked up the latest issue of Business Week. On the cover was an article that caught my eye on how Blogs would change the way we do business. The current article was actually an update of an article that was done 3 years ago by the magazine. It talked through how the latest technologies like blogs, wikkis, social networks (MySpace, Facebook, etc.), podcats are changing the way businesses operate. Given that I am in the area of training, I came up with the idea of putting together a class for my company that explains all of these technologies and how they would benefit my organization. I pitched it to my manager and she was all over it. So starting tomorrow, I will be getting paid to blog, paid to create a wikki, paid to play with podcasts, and paid to create my myspace account. I now have a good excuse to create a MySpace account, of which I was avoiding like the plague.

In honor of my recent conversation / confusion with my cousin Tim, I thought I would share one of the most horrific moments of my childhood, which happens to involve my cousin Tim.  He claims he doesn’t remember this, but I often remind him of the terrible person he used to be.  Tim is about 6-7 years older than me.  When I was probably around 10, making him 16 or so, Tim was infatuated with farting (I think he still is).  One time when Tim came to visit us from Maryland, he thought it would be cool if he tried farting in my mouth.  So Tim tackled me to the ground, stood over me and while trying to keep my mouth open, tried farting in my mouth.  I can’t exactly remember if he succeed or not, but I think that moment scarred me for life.

Remember, Tim is now a youth pastor, so there is hope for us all.

I’ve recently been having a debate about salvation with my cousin Tim.  Tim is a youth pastor at a Catholic church in Maryland and pursuing his Masters at a Catholic Seminary.  The debate has obviously come down to the difference in beliefs between Catholicism and Protestantism, specifically in regards to salvation.  During this debate, I have been reminded of the many conversations I’ve had with people or observed where comments such as “Do we really need theology, after all, aren’t we just called to love people into heaven?”  And this is a very valid argument given Jesus’ quote in Mark 12:30-31 about loving God first and foremost, and then loving our neighbor as ourself.  But I think if our only goal is to “just love people,” we may be leading people astray as to the real means of their salvation.  Although people do need to be shown the love of Christ, eventually we need to help them understand who Christ was, not just what he did.  For if people are just loved by Christians, yet are never given a true understanding of who Jesus was, are we presenting them with the true gospel of salvation?  Because if the Jesus we present is anything less than a Jesus who is fully God, then His death on the cross was insufficient in providing atonement for the sins of humanity given the fact he wasn’t “the perfect sacrifice.”  At some point, we need to take people past just loving them, and help them understand who this Jesus was that we are putting our faith into.  And this is where theology comes into play.  Taking people past the “just loving them” phase, and into an understanding of the only Savior this world truly has to offer.