Moved in…

by Lon on July 26, 2005

in Community,life

It took 20 people and a whole lot of sweat, but we’ve moved everything in, moved some things into storage (my parents), gave away couches, ac’s and a television, hardwooded most of the floors, and repainted every wall. boxes are still ceiling high, but just in different places now.

Yvonne and I are on around year 4 of our 30 year plan right now. everything seems to be falling into place so far, but we didn’t expect to find ourselves owning a condo right now.

I finished Malcom Gladwell’s Blink recently. I have to say I did most of while on the can. Excellent bite-size nuggets of thoughts throughout the book, but not as good as Tipping Point if you ask me. More on that later.

I’ve been in awe of the community of people that have helped us out this past while. This group started out from scratch in January and has grown into such a beautiful community of God. I’m left speechless by their sacrifice, service, and support. They’ve treated our home as if it were their own, and it certainly is.

“How good and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).

I’ll start posting regularly again, real soon.

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Growing up is hard to do…

by Lon on July 20, 2005

in life,Pictures

Greek is over for now. I’ll be starting Greek Exegesis in September though.

The packing has begun for the big move. Moving now isn’t like all the times I moved as a student. I’ve got a lot more forms to fill, bills to pay, and boxes to the ceiling of material goods i probably don’t really need.

I scrolled back in my journal a year ago, and noticed I had an entry about becoming another big city local and my disappointment with prevailing conversations of materialism, like what color to paint the walls… well I spent Sunday night doing exactly that.

I wonder if i offended anyone when I first wrote that, because I somewhat feel like i just offended myself. I mean there’s nothing wrong with having a nice place to come home to right? Adulthood sure can seem lame sometimes.

Here are a couple pictures that mean a lot to me, and remind me of simpler days. The first is my ‘lucky sausage’. I got it back in ’95 for free in the mail. It’s a ham sausage with honey that’s been shrinkwrapped, but I never thought it would last this long. For some reason most people I show it off to are disgusted by it. I love it because it reminds me that some of the best things in life really are free, and if you don’t indulge in it all at once, it just might last forever.


The second is my cow-poo keychain. It’s probably 5-6 years old. When i first got it I couldn’t stop squeezing it and pushing my finger in it. But then one summer I left it in the son and the dung just oozed right out next to it. Conversely, it reminds me everytime I passionately get my hands into something, I can’t just suddenly leave it out to dry. Some things you need to just keep pushing at, or else it makes a mess of itself.

I’m throwing them both away. It’s so hard, but I think it’s time to move on…

It’s wierd imaginging Bono sharing the gospel with someone… Liam Gallagher of Oasis sounds like he’s had enough of it. “I’m f**king God. F**k Bono. I don’t need his guidance. He’d talk a glass eye to sleep.” I guess even rock stars get shafted.

Google couldn’t stop with the earth, it’s finally landed on the moon.

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Longing for the character of Christ…

by Lon on July 7, 2005

in Character,Christ

This is us with Jeremy and Rochelle, who are a core part of our Discovering God group this past year. Over the long weekend, we hung out at the beaches, had a rooftop bbq, and watched the fireworks. It was completely refreshing.

Waves of busyness have been slamming against us the last while, hence the lack of blog posts. One particular theme that has been rising to the surface in my conversations with God and in our small group study through the book of Philippians is that of character. Particularly my lack of desire for the character of Christ.

My yearnings to have the heart of God formed in me pale in comparison to my endless prayers for more wisdom in my studies, more capabilities in my ministries, and more time to accomplish things. I’m just like the next dude, when you sum it up, who really just wants God to give me his omni’s… his omniscience, his omnipotence, and his omnipresence. Yet these are the very things I will never have, which makes me kinda lame. Observing Jesus, it seems these are the very things he emptied himself of when he walked the earth, and still, he lived the most incredible life imaginable.

How often do we get on our knees and beg for humility? or compassion? or thankfulness? In Christ, God passionately longs to forge in us his heart and his character. But do we even really want it?

May we begin to desire God to change our character as much as we desire him to change our circumstances.

There’s already a flickr photo group on this morning’s London Bomb Blasts.
Tony Morgan, just released his list of the ten most innovative churches in America
Saddleback’s officially launched P.E.A.C.E.
A Rollingstone article on christian’s and purity – the young and the sexless. Hilarious

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Updates…

by Lon on June 28, 2005

in Links

These are some of the iMosaic peeps. Thanks for putting me in Steve!

Three more weeks of intensive Greek and my life should resume to some level of normalcy again. That and i’ll have finally moved into my new shack.

I woke up this morning from a dream with my pastor telling me that I need ritalin. I didn’t even know what it was until i looked it up in the morning. God’s been speaking to me from several angles that i need to reclaim some order in my life.

Mike and Craig of x3church have a blog now. I love the ministry that they do. They’ve been visiting porn conventions (with their wives), connecting with people and sharing the hope of Christ with anyone willing to listen. I think Jesus would be right there with them reaching out to every crevice of society.

One comment of a person they had met at one of these shows just shook me.

James, a paraplegic said, “If you want to help me don’t pray for me, give me money so I can buy a prostitute to touch me… no one will touch me.

That’s the reality in which we live…

iTunes 4.9 just got released with podcasting support. Mars Hill and many others are listed on the itunes directory.

I just discovered some Rob Bell videos via Yu-Ling
The Nazarite Vow
Between the Trees
We’re over here
Jesus and Domitian
A Day of Atonement
Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi

May the love of God continually interrupt your day…

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Mystic Nation…

by Lon on June 19, 2005

in Church planting,mission,Quotes

My brain’s been cramped the last while. I’ve been taking several professional development classes at work on the ‘voice of leadership’ as well as ‘emotional intelligence’. More profiling still to be done. Greek’s been happening two nights a week, and I think i just bought a home.

This will be a substition post via Alex McManus and the iMosaic discussion.

Mystic Nation is a code word for the decentralized yet connected community of Mystic Warriors that make up ONE expression of iMosaic’s missional potential. Rumor is that this Mystic Nation is real but you must know a Mystic Warrior to become one.Imagine this a house church leader in the south whose group meets at the local coffee shop twice a week, a Christ following musician in Brasil whose band practices three times per week and whose members gather with their friends and family for a cookout once per month.
Both keep their immediate communities and a larger following in touch via blogs, chat rooms, email lists, email newsletters, etc.

Both have communities filled with pre believers, both don’t sense the need or benefit of integrating these groups into a local church, but they don t want to be lone rangers. They want to identify with a global Christ following movement that has moved beyond established and traditional forms. They are mystic warriors in search of a nation.

What are the possibilities for a new kind of church that is smaller and more decentralized than a house church and yet larger with more mobilization power and more connectivity than a mega church? Might the era of the house church and the era of the mega church be past and the time ripe for something that integrates the best of both?

technorati tag
imosaic via Steve Watson

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Moby and Relevant…

by Lon on June 10, 2005

in Culture,Links

A couple quotes from Relevant’s interview with Moby (Thanks to Existential Punk for the tip)

As a Christian, I feel very shut out from a lot of contemporary Christianity. My understanding in what it means to be a Christian is to, in our own subjective way, recognize Christ as being God, and recognize our shortcomings and our failings, and try and live according ot the teachings of Christ as best we can. And what I find so strange is I look at the behavior of so many Christians, and I don’t see any aspect of the teachings of Christ represented there. But [I remember] the quote about taking the log our of your own eye before you can see the speck in someone else’s eye, so I don’t want to get in the position of judging other Christians. I fully admit that a lot of my actions and a lot of things that are still in my life are inconsistent with my beliefs as a Christian. I’m very secular.”

“So maybe it’s time for a new Martin Luther, who’s gonna come along and say, ‘Live how you want to live, do what you want to do. But if you’re going to call yourself a Christian, at least know the teachings of Christ. And at least understand the character of Christ.”

” ‘One of my other favorite quotes is, “Those who are sick are in need of a doctor.” And the sad thing is we’re all sick. It’s part and parcel of the human condition, and it’s especially part and parcel of living in the United States in the 21st century. We’re all sick. We’re all deeply unhappy, disconnected, unwell people. We need each other, and we need God. And if God made the universe and if God made us and if God made the world, it just makes sense to invite God into our lives and ask Him, “You made me – what should I be doing?” ‘ ~ Moby

Other Random Links

Thunderstruck.org – I love this site, i’m surprised i didn’t discover it earlier.
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ – Videos now also available from some of the talks. The John Piper ones seem to be missing though.
Wrong about porn - Article on feminism’s failure to change the way men view women
HousingMaps -Another GoogleMap Hack – Hopefully we’ll find ourselves a place soon.
IBM just got into the Tablet market – Thinkpad x41 Tablet
Acts29 – Bootcamp 2005 Audios
Donald Miller of Blue Like Jazz – message on Rethinking Relationships via Veritas Forums.

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Visionaries…

by Lon on June 8, 2005

in future,video

CNN has a special feature currently engaging ‘leading thinkers’ on visions for the future. Ranging from sustainability, nuclear energy, extending life spans, global pandemics, and even one on humanity’s identity crisis. Definitely worth the glance.

I just rediscovered one of my all-time favorite monkey video clips. A classic I never get tired of.

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Fingerprints…

by Lon on June 4, 2005

in Culture,Quotes

“We live. . . in a world drenched in God.
And some people seriously ask you: ‘Where is God?’
Maybe a better question would be, ‘Where isn’t God?’
I mean, his fingerprints are all over our world.
Or maybe it’s his world and they’re our fingerprints.”
~ Rob Bell

Detroit Press just wrote an article on Rob’s Church, Mars Hill.
Sounds like he’s doing the book thing as well, Velvet Elvis is pre-orderable at amazon.

Just glancing at the church site, book cover, and the Nooma series I’ve got on my shelf, it seems he’s got the clean, sleek, Apple interface going on everything… Something about it calls out to me, almost subversively suggesting that I should switch systems.

Or maybe it’s just me, secretly longing for the ‘fingerprints’ of mac on my pc world. I don’t want a mac. I don’t want a mac…

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