Worth A Thousand Pictures

Tony had been trying really hard lately. And this is what he got for his trouble. Meg was 15 minutes late. Almost every Friday afternoon for the past year and ½ he'd arrived in this commuter parking lot at 5 min to 6 and pulled into the far corner. He’d park so that there was an empty spot behind him and wait. She’d pull her blue Toyota in behind him and Shane would get out of Meg’s car, throw his bag into the back seat of Tony’s and climb into the front and Tony would pull away. She parked behind him and he never looked in the mirror. If they had anything to say, Shane would carry the message. They hadn’t actually spoken now for almost 2 years. Of course it hadn’t always been this screwed up. There had been good times. He had made jokes and she had laughed. Everything was funny. Early times, they had talked a lot - about all of the things that people in love talked about, and then later about all of the everyday things that couples talked about and then about the baby comin...

Tony was surprised at how full the parking lot was.       He was going to have trouble finding a spot so he headed for the main gate to drop off Walt. He left the engine running and ran around to the passenger side to give Walt a hand getting out.      He told Walt to go ahead and he’d catch up.       Walt said OK but just stood there for a minute leaning on his cane seeming almost nervous.    Then he straightened his fedora and his tie, took a deep breath and started for the gate.    Tony pulled away to look for a parking spot. This wasn’t how he usually spent Good Friday morning, sleeping in would have been nice, with Shane spending the day with Meg and her family, but when Walt had started talking about it and how it was something that he and Esther had done together every year and how this was the first year without her and he didn’t think he could go alone – of course Tony offered.    Of c...

There's been an interesting gamut of responses to the whole Preacher Idol thing. Some folks are hugely supportive and encouraging. A few have been tracking the percentages of votes garnered by my fellow finalists and done the math required to figure out how many votes have been cast so far. (look at the percentage before you vote, look again after you vote, calculate the difference which tells you how much of a percentage each vote is worth. Work that into 100 percentage points et voila!) Some folks are interested, but doubtful. Preaching and contests just don't seem to go together, even though I remember these from my youth group days. (There were never many entrants. Most of us (myself included) entered on the singing track.) However, one woman told me she voted for me in spite of herself. She like the story enough to break her own rule. Once. That vote meant a lot to me. Some folks are downright hostile to the whole idea. Last night at Dinner, I got a rather long lecture fro...

I'm not sure why I went. Hope I never have to go again. But I probably will. And I definitely would. I'm not a joiner, by nature. Not gregarious, not especially patriotic and probably busier than God, but I walk to the overpass north of my house to see the fallen soldier's motorcade drive by on the 401. No expectations, but I'm surprised by the 40 people already there at 8:15. That was the time we'd been told the plane was expected at Trenton CFB. Then there'll be about a half hour for the ramp ceremony before the limos start their trip to Toronto. But we've all learned that the times can change without notice and it's better to be too early than too late. There are already large flags hanging over the railing, already cars on the 401 below honking and flashing their lights, big rigs as well. Every now and then somebody in a passenger seat takes our picture. I wonder what they think they're taking a picture of. Probably not a wake. As the crowd on...

Robert Webber has been a brilliant and insightful apologist for worship and all it is meant to be. His books and columns have inspired worship leaders and worshipers alike to a deeper understanding of who we are and what we are called to. I am far from the only one who is left with a debt of gratitude for books like "Worship Is A Verb". Ours is a great loss and he will be missed. The following is an e-mail release that came this afternoon: Dear friends, Bob Webber died Friday at 6:10 PM (Eastern time) in his wife, Joanne's arms, after his 8 month battle with pancreatic cancer. A public memorial service in the Chicago-area is being planned, details will be posted on Northern Seminary's website: www.seminary.edu. Please keep Joanne and the family in your prayers. "Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world; in the name of God the Father Almighty who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you; in the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies ...

Is it just me, or is there an increase in pathetic misquoting of scripture out there? Has it always been this bad? Have I just never noticed? It started last Christmas when a Christian friend sent us an e-card. The scripture on the card was " He was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light". (John 5:35). Very nice, except that it's Christmas and the verse is talking about John the Baptist. Next, there was a Christian giftware company that distributed a line of gifts bearing the verse "...You have blessed the work of his hands..." (Job 2:10). Also very nice, but it's Satan talking and he's dissing Job. Do you want that hanging on your wall? Then I heard a prominent TV pastor quote the verse , " This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses that I have set before you life and prosperity... Now choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19) You can look that one up for yourself. I just get mad. Today I picked up a flyer fr...

I'm writing this on my son's machine because ours is still under the patient ministrations of Clair at StarTek. He says he can get it to work and if not, he'll shoot it. That I'd rather do myself. We had Windows 2000 installed on the old beast to give it a new lease on life and somewhere something went wrong and it got stuck in a loop. It would run through all of the startup routines and get to the point where you could see the windows at the end of the tunnel. Then it would start over again. It was maddening. You'd get so close , then... nothing. Back to where you started. We've been going to a church for about a year now that we really love. Great teaching, very cool people. A very warm and welcoming congregation of people who love God. So this Sunday, we started a new teaching series built around Bill Hybels' new book, Just Walk Across the Room, which I highly recommend. It's all about taking the small steps toward people who we don't know. Taki...