As a team leader?

As  a song leader?

As a spokes person for the church and Christianity?

As a person of faith?

go…

Lent is a practice that was put into play by the Catholic Church. With even the mention of the Catholic Church, many will turn their back. I personally know people who have had flourishing Christian lives in the Catholic Church and I know many that have been badly beaten up and spit out by the same churches. For me, its not a Catholic of anti-Catholic thing.

Let’s stop for a minute and determine if there are valuable times in our life to sacrifice. If we are honest, every day is an opportunity to sacrifice. Our family has chosen to take this season to sacrifice. We love to eat out, but we know that it can be very unhealthy, both physically as well as financially. It’s a time to eat together around a table. Purposefully.

I do not champion Lent. And I do not champion religious practices of the church. Catholic or non-denominational. I champion sacrifice. I champion the act of removing our desires and allowing God to replace them with His desires for our lives.

So, what is the intent of Lent? Who knows. The practice itself has been around for a long time and I believe that practices like this, often lose their original intent over time. They become about ritual and not about heart. But, the reason we are choosing to “fast” from something during this Lent season is all about intent. We desire to draw closer to Him. If simply changing my eating habits can help in this process, then we are in! It’s not about how much, or how long. Its about intent. Its about the heart.

So, celebrate Lent, or don’t. But, I challenge you to sacrifice and surrender this season…and all year round.

While we were in Nashville, we got to hang out With Justin and Trish. I fell in love with these two people. Justin is a Campus Pastor for Crosspoint.tv and we had the honor of walking through their future church site. Tammy and I got to hang out with Trish all week at the conference and we laughed till we cried. Justin and Trish have an amazing testimony. It was humbling to listen to them share their story with us and also to see them today, healthy and well.

Tammy and I are honored to guest post on their blog today. This week, Justin wanted to focus on things we wish we had known before we got married. We are in good company and honored to personally know all the guest posters. Please take a moment and head over to Justin’s blog. You can read our post today. Then go back through and read the others. There is some amazing wisdom and proof of God’s grace in all of us.

I’ve read some great posts the last couple of days describing Lent and what it is and what it means. I am not going to take time to try and explain the history or religious ideas of what Lent is. But it is a time of year that I’ve never participated in. Easter is amazing. What a blessed time of year we choose to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior. I oftenI find myself getting to Easter and wondering why it went by so fast. I don’t stop long enough to savor this time and in doing so, I believe that I personally lose many opportunities to listen.

So, during Lent, it is common practice to forego something in your life. To cease a habit or practice and then replace it with something that will allow us to meditate or focus better on the Easter season. Some choose fasting. Some choose to not watch TV or stop drinking coffee.

This year, Tammy and the family and I have decided to join in Lent. We have decided that there will be no eating out for the entire period of Lent(40 days, including the Sunday’s). Instead, we will choose to be focused at home in our eating together and will even be going through a little study together. Now, many of you following us on Twitter and Facebook, will be able to monitor our journey. You can hold us accountable if you see something out of line. We will still be enjoying coffee. We will also be enjoying an opportunity to grab a snack or treat with the family. If we are running around the mall, we may go to the pretzel place. But, we will not be purposefully eating any of our main meals at a fast food or sit down restaurant. Tammy and I also enjoy going out for an evening drink sometimes and that will continue. I love our date nights. Also, if we are invited to dinner by someone, we will instead, see if they wish to come to our house and fellowship there. One more thing. I received a very generous gift card at Christmas. it is for an excellent local restaurant and I will be taking tammy to this restaurant and using this gift card at some point during Lent. So that’s a freebie

So, why are we doing this? It’s about discipline and sacrifice. Eating out is fun. but eating out takes it’s toll physically and financially. Eating out also takes us from an intimate table and places us in a place that too often allows for no personal connection with each other. but most important, it is allowing us a chance to recapture an area of our life and replace it with something more appropriate. This season is about Jesus, His death and resurrection and His amazing gift of life. I want to worship him by giving areas of my life back to Him that I control, and I want to allow Him to do amazing things through this time.

So, here we go…

I say…yes.

I think a large movement in “spirituality” today, is to allow for the thoughts and feelings of others. No matter what you believe, or what you think you know, no one has a lock on truth. Absolute truth does not exist.

But, I don’t agree with this. Absolute truth does exist.

Im writing this post from a little coffee shop in Nashville, Tn. Tammy and I are here this week to join with others at re:create. An amazing gathering of artists, musicians and leaders, looking to connect with God and each other in a deeper way. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to join friends at Crosspoint.tv. Pastor Blake spoke. He made a statement. “Truth is not a what, truth is a who“.

I believe that this is the key to the argument of absolute truth. Yes, we will have philosophical differences. Yes, we will disagree on motive or reason. Yes, we will have moments where we can’t see eye to eye. But when we start with truth being a who…there can be no discussion. You either believe in Jesus, as the bible says He is, or you don’t. But it doesn’t change the truth of who He is. It is absolute. Jesus is who He said He was. He is alive. And He is coming again.

So, all that stuff in between, really is not the issue. And I believe that the fight for or against “absolute truth” is held in that arena, way too often. We should not be fighting over the non-essentials, because they do not hold truth.

Only Jesus does…

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”
-John 14:6

-Pastor Tom

This weekend we will be taking time as a church to answer these questions. Please join us this weekend at Table Rock Fellowship as we take time in all our services to see how we, as a local church, can be a part of helping the corporate church in Haiti. There are a couple things we would like you to think about before arriving this weekend.

#1 Invite friends and family to be a part of the services this weekend. You will not want to miss this. Call, email and contact everyone you know that is an attendee of Table Rock Fellowship and encourage them to be here this weekend!

#2 Arrive on time. We will be starting each service promptly at 6 pm on Saturday, and 8, 9:45 & 11:30 am on Sunday. We would appreciate people in their seats and ready to participate at these times. Also, those with children, be aware that we will be displaying some graphic video content that may need parental discretion.

#3 Come prepared for how we, as a church family, can be involved in this crisis. We will be challenged as a body to look beyond our community and into Haiti. We will also be challenged to step up financially as well.

“This is a step of faith for us as a church as well as an opportunity for us to come along side the family of God in Haiti. Let us… ’Whenever we have the opportunity…do good to everyone…especially to those in the family of faith’….we have the opportunity…..it is now our time to do good!”
- Pastor Tom

I wanted to speak to one aspect of thought in this. When we are faced with these situations, we are often left in confusion. Not knowing what to do. This can take on different forms. Some people choose to release the thought and forget about it. Some choose to get involved. Some may find themselves in between in a state of, “I dont know what to do”. I want to speak to that.

Is awareness enough? Is it ok, to not lift a finger to a tragedy as this and still be comfortable? Is it enough to just pray? Yes and no, but in all of it…action needs to take place.

“Is awareness enough?” – This can be one of two things.

Maybe you have just been made aware of what’s going on. You’ve read some articles, seen some pictures. But this is where it ends.

Or, you can now take your knowledge of the situation, including options of involvement, and you let others know what they can do to participate in helping others during this time.

“Is it ok, to not lift a finger to a tragedy as this and still be comfortable?”

There are many that have no choice. Health, location, finances. There may still be some practical things they can do, but it will be unlikely that physical involvement will be a part of this.

But, If you are physically capable of being involved. Being that locally or in Haiti…get involved. With gathering items in need. With financial contribution. With phone calls, emails and prayer!

“Is it enough to just pray”

It should be the first thing we do. Prayer for healing, safety. Prayer for an understanding of how to be involved. Prayer for open doors that you can walk through to help others. Prayer for those already helping and in need of strength. this list can go on and on.

But, don’t stop with prayer. Understanding the physical/financial limitations we may have. Still involve yourself. Make others aware. Resource others with info, items of need. Whatever you can do. Don’t stop with prayer.

Here’s the bottom line for me.

-Be generous with what you have to give. That may be something physical, it may be something spiritual.
-Be active in understanding the situation and seeing how you can be involved. From the little(Twitter, Email, Phone), to the big (Finances, items of need, on the ground).
-Be hopeful. This is not a time to feel guilty for what you can or cannot do. And it is not a time to extend guilt to others, if, in our minds, they have not done enough. This time is not about us. It is about those in Haiti…which leads to…
-Be unselfish. This is not our tragedy, it is there’s. Let us be merciful and gracious in dealing with each other and those in need. Let us be patient. Let us be resourceful and active. We have much to offer and to give, both physically and spiritually. Give it.

On a practical level, here are some options for getting involved. There are many great resources, but be cautious. Many people will look to take your resources or money for their own gain. Know where your goods and money are going before you give them. Otherwise Haiti, will never receive it.

Seek out local/regional church and care organizations looking for help. Someone in town may already be doing and be better equipped for what you are trying to do. Join forces.

Because of the degrees of separation on Twitter and Facebook, we all inevitably know someone who is there or headed there. Find out who they are. Listen to what they are doing and get involved with what they are asking for. Here is someone I am following, because of my twitter connections. Troy Livesay

Online Prayer Chain

American Red Cross

World Vision

Compassion International

Nine Ways to get Involved – from Mashable

There are many more. If you have other options of involvement, please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Finally, I have to say, that many of my thoughts came out of a great conversation I had with Tammy today. And then an extended conversation on Twitter with a great friend. This post originally was intended to be more of a hashing out of those thoughts. I still think there is a place for that, but as I wrote this out, my heart was drawn more to action at this point, rather than conversation.

First of all, these are social networks at heart. Like Facebook, or Twitter, but they are more purposed for posting your location and what you are doing at that location. They range from simple to more detailed. Ive played with all 3 and they are really quite different in their focus.

Second, I am not trying to encourage you to use these applications. Some will enjoy it. Others will hate it. And most will be indifferent. So, this is basically to give you an idea of what each can do. If they look interesting, try them out and tell me what you think. I will only touch the surface of all the detailes of each of these applications. But I will tell you what I have found useful or valuable to me. My biggest thing is, I do not want to add another option to my life. I want to better integrate the options available to me. More function and info, with less places to manage.

All 3 apps include a Web based application as well as iPhone, Blackberry and in some cases Android apps. I of course am using an iPhone, so I am connecting via the apps on my iPhone. In all 3 apps, there did not seem to be something I could do on the web but not on the iPhone. That was a plus for all of them. Drives me nuts when iPhone apps only do half of the features that the web application allows. All 3 of these seem completely functional on the iPhone including friend and settings management.

All 3 apps allow you to search your Facebook and Twitter friends to find people to connect to. They also allow options of searching for local places or people, to connect on a local or regional level. The friend search on Foursquare was the most difficult. It easily connected to facebook and twitter, but searching for places or people was very limited. Almost not functional. I only tried this on the web app.

All 3 services have a similar approach to setting your location or “check in”. They each give basic info about the location, a map to locate the place of interest, and the ability to upload that info to Twitter or Facebook or both.

At this point, the 3 services begin to take different directions of focus…

Gowalla

This is the first one I tried. I was attracted to their iPhone app. Very good looking. Their web app is good too.

Gowalla has a couple features of its own. It highlights a thing called “passport”. As you travel in real life, your passport is stamped with the places you have been. Gowalla does this as well. You gain stamps in your passport as you visit locations…

You also gain pins, as you create new locations or travel to locations multiple times…

This is the “game” portion of Gowalla. Its an opportunity to be the first to do something or have a full passport you can be proud of. This feature (also in Foursquare) is the least of interest to me.

I have used this application the longest, so it was very familiar to me.

Foursquare

Foursquare is the second application I used. I instantly fell in love with this application. When I used Gowalla, I felt a little like I was the only one using it and playing with it. Eventually others joined and I gained more friends there, but when I joined Foursquare, I realized this was where everyone was the whole time. One note. Foursquare is a newer app, that was limited to certain regions. This week, they opened the app up to allow for creating places anywhere. I see this app taking off quickly now.

One thing I like about Foursquare is that it is clean and uncluttered. Simple interface and quick to use. I actually like the iPhone app better than the web app, but that is where I would be recording my locations anyway. So that works for me. The home page gives a quick view of where Ive been. It also has a feature called “tips” I love this! People can leave tips about the places they are visiting. Like special foods or people to ask for, or places to sit so that your not sitting under a cold air vent…

A nice feature in the iPhone app, is the info page on places. When you check into a place, you can find out who else has been there, yelp info and twitter or url info, plus any tips that may have been left by other people…

Foursquare also has the “game” built in. As you create new check in places and visit places, you are given “badges” to add to your collection. You can compete with other friends to see who visits places most as well as become the “mayor” of locations when you have the most visits in a month. Again, these features are of very little, to no use to me…

Whrrl

This is the newest app for me to check out. I have only been playing with it today, but it blows me away. It takes what Gowalla and Foursquare do and adds a bit of steroids to the mix

In addition to location check ins and bonuses for creating and visiting locations, Whrrl also creates a “story” environment. Essentially, every time you visit a location, you have the chance to allow your friends to follow your story. For instance. Say you are going to downtown Portland for the day. On twitter, we would let people know we are headed to downtown. Then as we visit locations or take photos, we would share those, one by one through twitpic or another service. What Whrrl does is take your trip and put it all into one location. Pictures, notes, locations and all. And then it allows for friends to join in and create a blog style conversation on Whrrl’s site, connected to the “story”. Let me show you what this would look like…

If you look at the pic below, you can see a simple “story” I created this am. I went out for coffee. You can also see that a friend commented on that story. I have the business info. Location map. Reference to what I purchased. And a picture of my purchase. All in one spot. I could have taken multiple pictures while checked into this location. This would come in handy if I checked into a location for an event or dinner. Each subsequent picture would be attached to that location and become a slideshow that friends could view…

The big negative to this…for me…is that it creates a new environment that I need to manage. Instead of having a single place, like Twitter, to reply to all comments, I now have a secondary location where comments and conversation could happen. On the one hand I love the whole idea of creating a “story” and having pics, captions and location info for my evening or event in one place. But this can be done through Posterous or my blog. But, that creates a secondary space to manage as well.

To me though, the greatest feature of Whrrl is its privacy settings. In Foursquare and Gowalla, if you have designated someone as a friend, they receive all of your updates and locations. In Whrrl, you are able to designate friends as “trusted”. And, you can also, for each post, place a privacy setting which allows only certain people or certain information from the post to be seen. This is extremely valuable if you want to tell a “story” about something at home, but you don’t want people to know your location. For example, you create a “story” about having game night at the house. You can caption your photos and upload pics, but your privacy setting determines who, if anyone, sees your actual location. Very nice! You can see the privacy settings below, bottom right…

Another thing that is nice about Whrrl, is that you can combine other users into one story and they can then contribute their own pictures and comments through the evening or event as well. You can see that in the above pic as well. This makes the “story” more interactive and community oriented. This is very cool!

———————————

So, this is a crap load of basic info, regarding some applications that I believe can be very simple or very in depth. From my perspective, Bottom line…

I really like Whrrl, but I have a blog and can archive Posterous uploads there, so I already have a primary place to create “stories”.

Gowalla was fun, but as I am finding, there are not very many people involved in the network in my area, so it is not as resourceful to me as Id like.

I can see myself continuing to use Foursquare. I like the ability to share my locations. Favorite eateries. Favorite places to get a drink or hang out. Favorite foods or shops. I like that. I like how simple Foursquare is. I would love to add pics to my postings, but I have a feeling that Foursquare will include this soon.

But the 2 biggest sells are…

#1 It has the biggest network. I already have more local contacts on Foursquare than I did for the last 6 months on Gowalla. This will prove to be handy to make this app the most resourceful for me.

#2 It easily integrates into what I am already doing. I want to stay in the Blog/Facebook/Twitter world. I don’t want to have to manage another area online. This will allow me to keep all conversation in that world.

So, try them out. Tell me what you think. A whole other conversation, that I chose not to approach in this post, is whether or not this is a complete waste of time or a total lack of privacy. If you want to talk about that…there’s a comment section below

I don’t remember having any “stomach” issues that day, but I clearly had something going on.

I tend to be “gassy”, so I wasn’t too concerned over my need to relieve myself. But…when I did…something happened.

I noticed that my “passing” did not feel normal. It felt…loose, wet, not right. And, sure enough, something else had come out besides…air.

I immediately said, “uh-oh”. My wife asked, “what?”, I said, “I just farted, but I think something more came out”.

At this time, I assume there will be some grace, maybe even some concern. Nope. The laughing began. Then she explained to the kids what just happened. They began laughing. Then she got on the phone to begin calling friends to let them know what had just happened. They began laughing.

I was also told…strongly…not to get “anything” on the car seat. So, needless to say, the rest of the trip home was…interesting.

Im not bitter…

Posted via web from Oops! I crapped my pants

Our church has a preschool. We have installed a new management system that allows parents to check in their child, using a keypad entry system.

When we built the new office for the manager of the preschool, we used the specs the company had given us to prepare for the installation of this equipment. Their original equipment called for a power supply and an ethernet connection over network or directly to the host server.

Our problem now is that Cat5 wiring has been installed into the walls for the installation of this equipment, but their equipment has been updated. The company gave us the wrong specs. And now we are stuck with needing a powered USB connection from the host server to the keypad.

So…Can I use the existing Cat5 wire in the walls to create this USB connection. I understand that length and quality of wire could be an issue. The USB run will be about 12′. Right now, I am just running a USB cable from the keypad to the server in the open, to get us rolling.

Any ideas???

Posted via web from inworship’s posterous