Why I Wish I Had Internet

Mars Hill Teachings

Philippians Series

Unfinished Business

I wanted to, and even started a post to follow this entitled, “People Who Make Me Never Want to be a Christian Again” but I thought, why go there..?  You know?  We all have many people like that in our lives as it is!

To sum:

I think what I valued most in my journey as a Christian was: honestly, humility, doubt, openess and discussion.  Funny that conviction, and things like that weren’t on my list.

I think one of the problems for me with Christianity is that Christianity never allowed people just to be who they were in Jesus.  Jesus always allowed people to be who they were.  He told those people, as they were, to follow him, and in the end he still called them by their names.  They were who they were.  He liked them that way.  He wanted them to be with him, to dine with him, to enjoy him, to walk with him, to converse with him, not just to be in awe of him, worship him, bow before him, quake in his presense, etc.

For some reason whenever I write about my Christian experience I want to scream about some things!  I want to cry out against some people!  There is still some unfinished business there, I think.

People who make me think I’d like to be a Christian still…

(and by “christian” I mean church-goer, not what I am)

Dean Hahn (who most recently commented on my POWERAGE post).  Dean was one of my prof’s at serminary in Fort Worth, Texas.  He was also the first Christian who asked questions outside of the box – practical and theological.  He introduced me to some thinking that went contrary to that which I was being brain-washed with at the time – actually, he gave me a GIFT – the gift of free-thinking, which is rarely known or used in most Christian circles.  it was think gift that caused me to question EVERYTHING and it was that thinking that caused me ultimately to leave the ministry behind.  So, Dean, you could say you brought me out of Christianity!  LOL!  Just kidding, bro!

Corey LeCureux (who, with wife and child in-toe, moved on up to Bellaire, MI – sweet!  See you this weekend, bro).  Corey and I met when he was 15 at a Independent Fundamental Bible-believing Camp.  It was there that he said, “I’m a Southern Baptist, I just don’t fit in around here.”  Now he’s pastoring a SBC church re-plant saying, “I’m an Emergnt, I just don’t fit in around here.”  Ha!  Anyway, his faith and practice have always been worthy of following, and I just wish things would have been easier for us in the beginning of our ministries, but his kindness, forgiveness and Christ-likeness have won over my mind and heart many times.

Jonathan Mays.  Jon is the pastor of a Pres church in Boyne City, MI.  When I met him he was the church planting pastor of Jacob’s Well here in Gaylord.  Jonathan was the piece of the puzzle that finally did it for me in leaving my Calvanistic, Fundamentalism behind and trying to follow Jesus instead.  His life and family were exactly what I thought Christians should be.  I still admire him and Kathy to this day.  I can only hope – inconsistencies and everything included – that my family turns out like theirs!  Jonathan, we need to hook up.  I miss you, bro.

Jessie Lester.  Jessie is a young lady that I work with at Ponderosa.  She goes to a church in Atlanta and is very devout in her faith and practice.  She reminds me of the purity of what Christianity once held for me.  She’s been engaged for some time now, and I recently gave her and her fiance some of my Bible-study material.  Even though her practice reminds me of what I walked away from, her walk and talk reminds me of the good things I knew and felt once a long time ago.

POWERAGE

Wal-mart will soon be selling AC/DC’s new CD, “Black Ice” exclusively.  I’m not sure how I feel about that, but nonetheless, in preparation for this, Wal-mart has a new live DVD, “No Bull” featuring footage from the band’s tour in 1996.  I doubt I’ll pick it up, but as a fan you’re always interested, and maybe the best thing about it is that Wal-mart – FINALLY – has almost every AC/DC CD in stock!

I kid you not, every time I go into Wal-mart (well almost every) I look to see if “Powerage” is in.  Powerage was a album made in 78.  It was the first album to feature Cliff Williams on bass, and was their last album before they reached HUGE worldwide fame with “Highway to Hell” in 79′.

It is also my favorite album by AC/DC.  So I was pretty damn geeked to see it (finally) at Wal-mart this week – and for 7.00$ I nabbed it up!  (As I’m writing this I’m wondering why it is that I didn’t grab a couple others that I’m missing…??  Oh yeah, the “4,2,1″ reason: 4 kids, 2 dogs, 1 mortage!  LOL!)

As a huge fan, I have owned all of their CD’s through 1992.  I recently burned “Stiff Upper Lip”, so I have some catching up to do.

Anyway, with Black & Black, Highway to Hell, Razor’s Edge, etc, how can I say “Powerage” is my favorite?

Simple: I LOVE bluezrock and Powerage is probably their best b-rock effort to date.

You can sample some of it’s greatness here.

Album Tracks:

Rock n’ Roll Damnation

Down Payment Blues

Gimme a Bullet (to bite on)

Riff Raff

Sin City

What’s Next to the Moon

Gone Shootin

Up To My Neck In You

Kick In the Teeth

If you’re even slightly a AC/DC fan you should check out this CD.  It’ my favorite.  You can not go wrong with this CD.

And the number one song in the last 50 years is…

The Twist, by Chubby Checker.  Seriously.  You can read it for yourself here.

Happy Birthday, Alaina!

Six years ago, yesterday, my daughter, Alaina Marie was born into this cruel, dark, and unforgiving world.  With her came light, love, laughter and of course, crying.  Boy, Alaina was a screamer from day one.  She could not digest protein.  Once she got past that she was a doll.

Anyone who knows Alaina knows that she was sent here to put a smile on other’s faces.  There is no one who is safe from her fun loving, carefree, loveable ways.  She just has a charm about her.  She is one of the most open, affectionate kids I have ever known.

I love to cuddle with her.

I love to listen to her silly stories.

I love to hold and be held by her.

Her favorite words are “let’s pretend” and “I love you” (and perhaps “mac and cheese”).  The thought of her brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face.  Alaina truly warms my heart.  I believe she could help break any dark spell that has been cast over me.

She is my princess.

Sadly, I fear that some of the darkness of this world will take its toll on her one day.  She is brave, though.  I hope that she does not recall the former days, but instead holds to the future.  I hope that she does not warm up to me and you because she is cold inside froma confused childhood.  I hope the light and laughter that she brings isn’t because of her confused sadness from being the child of an alcoholic.

I will do my best to protect you, Alaina.  I will stand in front of what I can for you.  I will let pass what needs to pass, though.  I hope.  I hope to help being stability to your life, as I already have.

You are my princess, Alaina.

I love you, madly.

True Believers

There are several types of people in this world…

- Ones that believe in the exsistence of Lock Ness Monsters, Goblins, Vampires, Werewolves, Bigfoots, etc

- Ones that don’t

- Ones that believe in ghosts, and the paranormal as it relates to humans (no weird monsters, etc)

- And probably other catergories that other people might fit into

Me?  I’m a believer.

I believe Lock Ness Monsters can, and do exsist.  Why not?  Science has yet to prove otherwise.  But, let me quickly add that I believe that almost any type of person can believe that a person can, and did, rise from the dead 2,000 years ago.

Anyway, how many of you are excited to see if this footage is real?  I am!