By Steve
It's just how I am, sometimes I get quiet. I don't mean to, I often don't have a good reason, and truthfully, nothing is wrong...I just don't always feel like talking. At least not outloud. And not because I don't have anything nice to say (although much of what I say comes out wrong). My mind is always working, and even in my quietest times, I still hold the most incredible conversations with myself.
I've been quiet lately. Life has been busy and loud, but I've been pretty quiet. Not too many conversations, no writing...little talking. It's just how I am. But something always breaks the silence.
Or two, or three, or four things.
I've really been wanting to talk about the adoption process Madonna has been going through, and the court's recent denial of her request. The process in Malawi is very similar to the process we recently completed in Uganda with Perez. There are many fascinating things to this story, but in the end, I bet the judge changes his mind and Madonna comes home with another child.
I would love to write about maintaining and growing in our faith. I recently had a few short conversations about this, but because I haven't been talking much lately, there is much more to say.
I would like to talk about Easter, but I will direct you to someone elses writing...they could be mine (and if you don't have much more time, spend your time reading from the link before finishing this page).
It would be great to speak about recent trajedies, earthquakes in Italy, shootings in New York, a young girl found dead in a suit case in Tracey...certainly things worthy of conversation...with God.
I'd like to tell you what's going on in my family, our church, our work in Africa and recent trips I will be taking.
But none of these things compelled me to break the silence.
Last night, I curled up on the couch for a moment to watch a bit of the NCAA championship game (hoping for more excitement than the loss handed to our home town Padres just moments earlier). Unfortunately, that would not be the case. Minutes into the game, UNC jumped out in the lead and never looked back. In frustration I spoke (I should have remained quiet), "This game sucks." To which Ali quickly responded, "Perez, don't you ever repeat that." Perez, tuned into lego building had not heard my comment, but Ali made sure he knew I said something "bad."
Perez looked at me with sad eyes for 15 seconds then began. "That's a bad pastor dad. Pastors no say bad things. Pastors love Jesus and don't talk like that." He was on a roll, and I was a bit surprised that he didn't quote Ephesians 4:29, "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up." But he stopped short of that. He had spoken his mind. Said what needed to be said. He pulled out the "pastor card," used it effectively. And went back to his legos.
That my reading friends, got me thinking. I need to "keep talking." There are things to be said. Good things. Things others speak badly about. Things that others, myself included, keep silent about.
And so it is, after many weeks of silence, I speak again. As my friend Matthew and I were speaking about this morning, sometimes to get out of one situation, you just need to start something else. Sounds simple, but it can be tough as we all know.
One can't always make himself:
Pray if they feel far from God
Exercise if they feel unfit
or speak if they feel quiet
But that is what we (I) need to do. Start talking again. As I write, I wonder if there is something you're pretty sure you need to do, but just haven't gotten around to it. It could be simple, like cleaning your room. It could be relational, like forgiving a friend or fixing dinner for another. It could be faith related, like prayer, or church. It could be anything.
Though I'm only now, right at this moment, practicing what I preach as I break my silence...might I suggest that you do the same and get after whatever it is that is on your heart and mind to do (things I believe are placed there by God).
And if you do something, why don't you drop a comment and tell me about it. It would encourage me as I come out of my silent time.
By Steve
Thanks to the Tour of California for a great week of bike racing. I have watched bits and pieces of the race on TV this week and today I gave a few hours of my time waiting to see the worlds best bike racers come to the finish line in person. I don't get too crazy about celebrity sightings, but this event sucked me in. I was able to see Lance Armstrong race. I wandered through the various team tents, getting an up close look at the bikes these guys ride. And I learned a few things along the way (nothing profound, just wanted to write).
So in lame blog fashion, here are 5 things I learned this year from the Tour of California.
#1 I am no pro cyclist. These guys are fast. Really fast. They corner at speeds that I descend. They climb at speeds that I corner. It really isn't fair.
#2 Sometimes even a glimpse is worth it. We arrived 3 hours early and parked about 5 blocks away (better than I expected). The race coordinators planned many things to do to help pass the time, but really, we mostly stood there and waited. And waited. And waited. Which was really all fine by me, I enjoyed the anticipation. And when the racers finally came into sight, rounded the last corner and sprinted the final 200 meters to the finish line, it was a 20 second rush of adrenaline worth every second of the previous 3 hours.
#3 Well, not every second of the previous 3 hours. I learned that participating in these sort of events is much easier without kids.
It was hard to take it all in and still keep one eye on the kids. They wandered. They complained. They fought. They were bored. They wanted every single free hand out from every single booth. Yeah, it's easier without kids, but it's great with them.
#4 Perez is a ladies man. This picture earned Perez a free page of Cannondale racing stickers. It didn't make mommy real
happy, but you can't blame Perez for his good looks, and you can't credit daddy.
#5 The bigger picture. Californian Levi Leipheimer won his third consective Tour of California. He rides for team Astana, the same team that Lance rides for. In cycling, a team races for one man to win. After many years of success, it was pretty cool watching Lance race all week for Levi to win. Lance had a great race, but winning wasn't the objective. This was Levi's race.
Earlier in the week, Levi had built a commanding lead and was minutes ahead of every rider coming into the finish line...except one. This rider had drafted Levi's rear wheel for many miles, an exceptional advantage. Racers say that drafting conserves %30 of your energy. Typically, racers will share the draft. Not that day. Levi carried the entire load. As they approached the finish, the racer shot out and around Levi and won the stage, uncontested. I was so irritated. The racer celebrated his stage win, but right behind him was Levi, celebrating. Levi didn't win the stage, but his time that day gave him the over all lead (which he held on to to the finish).
A few thoughts on this last idea. Maybe coming in first isn't the determining factor if you are a winner. Maybe it's okay to let other people live some of their life in your draft. Maybe you need to spend a bit of time in someone else's draft (a friend, mentor etc.). Even if the lead out man doesn't ask for it, don't forget to thank the people that help you succeed. And if someone else get's the glory, even if you did all the work...remember...there's a bigger picture.
By Steve
Would you go to church because a postcard on the message board at Starbucks invited you (for my more semantically minded friends, I know the phrase "go to church" is troublesome, sorry)? What would it have to say? What would it have to look like? What would jump off of the cluttered board, grab your attention and compel you to wake up on Sunday morning to go somewhere where you know no one?
For me, probably nothing would do it. I want to share my life, all of it, in relationship with others. This means my own spiritual pursuit, and what I invite others into as a pastor, finds itself in community (considering the pseudo community starbucks builds, maybe starbucks should place postcards in churches inviting people to meet at their place).
Ironically, I will probably place a postcard letting people know about our church on a message board soon...just because it doesn't work for me doesn't mean it doesn't work.
Unless of course your church card gets covered over by another church card. This afternoon, during a very rare mid-day coffee urge, I found myself scanning the cards on the message board. A low budget but intriguing church card caught my attention. When I moved in to take a closer look, I realized that the card had been placed over a card from another church (a fancy and less intriguing card to me).
Would you? Would you move either of the cards? Would you go to the low budget card church because it finally received some attention over the fancy presentation? Would you go to the fancy card church because you felt sorry for it being covered up? Would you even care? Would you even notice? Would you even go?
I realized right then, San Diego does not really need another church...especially if there is not room on the board for all of us. No, we don't really need another church. What would be really great is if we stopped inviting people to church, and invited people to God.
