Baseball on a Sunny Morning…

Today as I sit near the sunny shores of Lake Washington I have an excitement…a passion…a roar stirring within me.  Today is not just Friday.  It’s the first day of Spring Training games for the Seattle Mariners! Baseball is something I’m very passionate about.  I played for most of my life…I attend more games than I care to admit and I’m simply happy that the season in beginning and Spring/Summer is right around the corner.

In a couple weeks I plan to blog about my MLB predictions ( and from time to time will share Geoff Baker’s blog from the Seattle Times.  He has the coolest job in the world!  Anyways…here is today’s starting lineup as the M’s face off against the new SF Giants (new meaning the now Bond’s-less Giants).  We finally get to see our new ace, Eric Bedard who many here in Seattle believe we traded away too much to get.  Only time will tell…

 So here’s to baseball in the desert…the sun in the Northwest…families at the ballpark…and believing the M’s can win the World Series!

Peace and Love.

Goodbye, my Friend.

This has been difficult week as I awoke Monday morning to the news that a long-time friend and mentor suddenly died from heart failure.  Myles Corrigan had been preparing to leave the hospital after having experienced some heart and kidney problems.  His wife said goodbye, planning to take him home the next morning…he passed minutes after she left. 

Myles was a great man and influence in my life.  My first encounter with Myles was the first day of my 7th grade school year.  He was the first teacher I ever had who introduced the famous 6-hole paddle to his students and threatened to use it every day.  While the paddle always brought fear to the classroom, Myles also had a knack for making education fun.  He had a pet piranha and each day, if we were good, he would drop a goldfish in the tank.  This was the coolest thing I had ever seen!  Looking back, it was probably my first biology lab…:)

Myles was also my first basketball coach and I will never forget one of his famous lines.  If ever a player tried a fancy wrap around pass, or between the legs dribble; he would yell out…”Keep the mustard on the hot dog!”  I still think of that line whenever I see players fail at being “smooth” on the court only to throw the ball out of bounds or dribble of their foot.

Myles would go on to coach football under the great Don James at the UW and was the tight-ends coach during their 1991 national championship season.  Whenever you talked to Myles, you knew you were talking to a coach.  He was a tremendous leader, teacher and mentor.  He had currently been working for Life Center in Tacoma where he served as the director of Men’s Ministries.

I will miss Myles very much.

Peace and Love.

The Prosperity of Generosity…

My last few posts have been exploring some of the effects greed can and is having on our world.  Scripture has plenty to say about it, yet few churches are willing to talk about it and even admit it’s own greedy tendancies.  Last Sunday, we did just that…we examined the words of Jesus regarding money and how leadership in all it’s forms (political, business, religious) all too often fall to greed.  It was one of the more difficult and transparent talks I’ve ever given…

I closed my talk with a scripture from Paul’s letter to the Corininthians that I just can’t get off my mind…

As the Scriptures say,          “They share freely and give generously to the poor.Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in everyway so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.  2 Corinthians 9:9-1

For me, this is the one true gospel of prosperity!   These words of Paul speak so profoundly as to why God gives some wealth and clearly, all other messages of prosperity are just bull shit.  Think of what the church can do when it becomes driven by generosity.  According to Paul, it will cause those in need to thank God.  This is the  prosperity of generosity…praise to God and not men. 

 My prayer now after teaching last Sunday, is that my friends would NOT be motivated by consumer guilt, or any other motivation other than desiring to follow Jesus and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 

Peace and love.

Greed Pt.2

1 billion people live on less than $1 a day. 

 850 million exist in hunger.

24 million children will silently starve in 2008

In the corruption-filled land of Egypt, the word for bread is now “Aish”…meaning “life”.

1 in 10 in the world paid bribes to police or national government to receive a basic service.

Out of the $80 spent on one pair NIKE of shoes, only $1.60 pays for the labor to make the shoes.

This is just a glimpse into the realities of how greed is affecting our world.  I continue to ask where I fit in all this and is my life in any way helping fuel the greed. 

In Matthew 6:33 we see Jesus teaching people about the dangers of making money our god and that the worry for simple provisions is simply our not trusting God.  He says that we should seek God’s kingdom first and his righteousness.  I’ve learned recently that the word here for righteousness is the same as justice…so it really should read, “seek first the kingdom and his justice“.  This suddenly helps make sense of it all.  The Kingdom of God forces us to consider how we are using our power to bring justice to this world.  What a challenge! 

Think about what the church should be doing with all it’s power!  Our education, our money, our resources and technology.  Think about the justice that could be given if we stopped for a moment and pondered our use of this power.  No guilt trips here…but are we being greedy with our power?  Yes, I know plenty of mega-churches do it, evangelists do it, TBN does it…but what about the rest of us who are honestly trying to be as authentic in our faith journey as possible?  Please think about it…

 Peace and Love.

A much needed break…

I just returned from one of the best weekends I’ve had in some time.  I spent the weekend with our church’s student ministry at their winter retreat near Leavenworth, WA.  We used a cabin that belongs to a life-long friend of mine and we could not have asked for a more beautiful weekend of weather and incredibly deep snow!  While our youth pastors directed the retreat, I just hung out with the teens and spent some much needed time in the great outdoors.  I rented snow-shoes and trekked about 5 miles on Sunday morning, then spent the entire afternoon on a sno-mobile.  There was not a cloud in the sky, nor a breeze in the air the entire time we were there…a perfect weekend!

I was reminded yesterday while snow-shoeing along a valley of beaver dams that I need more of this.  I need to slow down more often.  I need to get out of the city…and just get away from the emails,  the TV, and all the things that break me down over time.

This retreat was especially important for me as I’m entering a VERY busy time with the church and my painting business.  I would appreciate your prayers as relying my strength just isn’t going to cut it right now.  To be honest, I am really nervous about how the combination of my two jobs is going to work over the next few weeks. 

For right now though, I’ll sit back and imagine myself back in the snowy woods, basking in the goodness of God’s beauty.

Peace and Love.

Greed is Good!

“Greed is good!”  These were the words of Gordan Gekko, played by Michael Douglas in the movie Wall Street.  The movie was a poignant view of corporate America and it’s ruthless attempts at making more money…I encourage you to watch it.

This week I’ve been studying in  preparation for an upcoming teaching on Greed.  I’ve spent a few hours just researching corporate, government and human greed and I have to be honest…nothing has shocked me one bit.  Here are a few snippets of how greed is being played out everyday of our lives.

• Transparency International reports 1 in 10 people worldwide had to pay a bribe to police or national government to receive a basic service like electricity.
• Bread for Life reports that while there is plenty of food being produced in the world, 24 million kids will starve to death in 2008.
• Nike ,which has a $280 million advertising budget could make a 1% cut and direct that money to their Indonesia factories.  Currently these workers live below the poverty line and a 1% cut would bring thousands of Nike employees out of poverty.

Now, I have to be honest…I don’t consider myself to be a greedy person, but this week I’ve really had to wrestle with some questions.  Is my life and the buying choices I make every month (such as the Nike’s I picked up last week) in any way fueling world greed?  Have I been greedy with the gospel?  If not money or goods, then what other things have I convinced myself that I must have? 

Over the next couple of days I will continue to blog about this and share some of what I’m finding in scripture, other than…”the love of money is the root of evil”.   Until then, I’ll continue to probe these questions, asking God to bring to light any forms of greed in my life.

Peace and Love.

Rethinking Heaven…

I’ve recently begun reading NT Wright’s new book called Surprised by Hope…Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.  So far, the book is amazing!  I am a fan of NT Wright’s work and believe he’s the leading mind today in helping us understand the writings of the Apostle Paul.  Not that I will agree with all of Wrights thoughts about the after-life, but this is a very important book to read and a worthwhile conversation to enter.

For those who have no time or interest in reading the book, here is a brief TIME interview which will give you a glimpse into his work and the challenge of rethinking what we’ve traditionally (in the evangelical church) been taught about Heaven.

What were you taught about Heaven?  What questions arise out of that teaching?  Do you believe in Purgatory?  Could Heaven actually be our new existence in the new earth as described in Revelation 21-22 and not eternal radiance in a non-earthly realm? 

I recommend the book and believe that in MANY ways we will be very surprised by God and his beautiful plans for humanity.

Peace and Love.

The Issues of Our Day…

It seems that each of the presidential hopefuls have a message about bringing change to one particular issue of another. 

Hillary: health-care

Obama: Change (whatever that means)

Mit: Economy

McCain: Homeland Security

Huckabee: Values

My belief is that one should never vote for any one candidate based on ONE issue.  You will be very disappointed four years later if you do.  Anyways, it seems that when I talk about these various issues with friends and in the blogosphere, there really isn’t a constant from anyone one group of people.  Most of my friends (30’s) seem to differ on what they believe are the important issues of our day.

What are some of the issues that concern you the most?  Why are they important to you?  Do you believe a new president can bring healthy change to those issues?

Peace and Love.

Bye, Bye NFL…Hello Spring Training!

I must admit that yesterday’s Super Bowl was maybe the best football game I’ve ever seen.  I love seeing the underdog win!  Speaking of underdogs, the Seattle Mariners begin spring training in just two weeks and just like every other year, I believe this is THE season for the M’s. 

I love sports, but I’m deeply passionate about baseball!  I’m so glad the NFL season is behind us and now we can focus on America’s true pastime. 

The Mariners’s have been rumored for days now to be making a big trade for a number one starting pitcher and it looks like tomorrow all the details of the trade will be finalized.  This is a big piece of the puzzle for the Mariners to even have a chance of making the post-season.  Still, it’s the Mariners we’re talking about here and no matter how much I try to believe this is THE season…it most likely won’t be. 

Here’s to another great year of baseball, summer nights at the ballpark, beer and hot-dogs, and Mariners mediocrity!

Hope for Kenya…

This has been a difficult and emotional week for me and for many as we read about the events taking place in Kenya.  Today I came across this encouraging blog and after reading it, I have a little more hope.  I’ve always beleived that where there is hell on earth, God is there.  The problem is, humantiy messes everything up!  Read these encouraging posts and beleive that in the midst of the pain, killing, deceit, and questions…God’s love rules in Kenya.