Tagged!

Yep, I got tagged by my good buddy, Arthur. Here are eight random facts about myself:

1. I (also) have a hard time answering where I'm from. I was born in Alabama; moved to California when I was three; moved to Germany when I was 12; moved back to California at 16; moved to Arizona for a year, back to California, and now Scotland for the last four years. I don't have a home, but I make home wherever I am!
   
2. I'm watching UFC 76 right now.
   
3. Folding laundry is therapeutic for me.
4. I make the best baked oatmeal of anyone I know... or, I like my baked oatmeal best.
   
5. I'm allergic to codeine -- it's like LSD to me.
   
6. The sweetest words these ears could hear (next to Jasheen saying, "I love you, Christopher," or Gabrielle saying "I love you, daddy," or Isabelle uttering anything at all) is: "Ladies and gentlemen, game 2 of our doubleheader will begin in 30 minutes."
   
7. I have no problem walking out of a theater if the movie sucks... even on a date. "I'll be at Barnes & Noble, sweet-cakes. Come find me after the movie." (I know, I know... how'd I ever get married?)
8. My high school math teacher punched me in the stomach for locking him in the bathroom. No, I didn't press charges or try to get him fired.
   

The Governator

Check out this picture that my brother took on Pacific Coast Highway last Sunday.

That's right... it's Governor Arnie in his PHAT BLACK SUV!

Perspectives

As far as a sports weekend goes it couldn’t have been much worse, from my perspective. Auburn let the University of South Florida come in and take one from them in their own house; a 26-23 overtime loss. That’s pretty much all I want to ay about that.
The Angels dropped the last two games of their four-game series with Cleveland on Saturday and Sunday: losing 6-1 and 6-2, respectively. And the Buccaneers opened their NFL season with a 20-6 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle.
One bright spot was UCLA’s 27-17 victory over BYU… so I suppose it could have been a little worse.
But as I said… from MY perspective. Yeah, Auburn is 1-1 and unranked, but here’s a perspective on other power-programs that helps: Virginia Tech, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State and Miami – all 1-1. Notre Dame and Michigan are 0-2. It’s not as if Auburn is in bad company.

But life is about perspective isn’t it? Glasses half-full or half-empty; failures or learning experiences; better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all?

Every so often I like to pick up a USA Today or International Herald Tribune to ensure I’m getting a balanced perspective on world news and current events (and to follow the MLB pennant race, as well as NFL & NCAA football). Lately however, one of the more annoying things about this has been the excessive coverage of the Michael Vick dogfighting fiasco. I can’t buy a US newspaper without even more coverage than they’ve already provided. It’s as confusing to me as their excessive coverage of the WNBA finals. Is this stuff really newsworthy anymore?

Well… anyway, here’s some perspective for you… in light of all the press surrounding America’s new most hated athlete:

Michael Vick’s participation in the abuse and execution of pit bulls has led to a guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges, and has drawn public vilification and triggered an indefinite suspension from the NFL.

Not as many people are familiar with Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back, Michael Pittman, another NFL player with a history of violence. Pittman has been accused of domestic violence four times, including an incident where he rammed his Hummer into a car driven by his wife and carrying their 2-year-old child and babysitter.

Pittman pleaded guilty to one felony count and served 14 days in jail. The NFL exercised their own brand of justice by suspending him – for three games.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t like anything about any one of these issues. I’m a dog-lover and think what Michael Vick has done is inexcusable and intolerably cruel. I’m also a Buccaneers fan and take no pleasure in using Michael Pittman’s despicable behavior to make a point. But facts is facts.

This tale of two Michaels underscores some subtleties within our nation’s core values system. It would be far too simplistic to imply that the NFL (or the US) cares more for dogs than for women. But the NFL, as with any other sports league, mirrors society, and seldom do acts of domestic violence ignite the kind of national outrage or the swift and severe punishment dispensed in Vick’s case.

Perspectives:

• Michael Vick abused and killed dogs.
• Michael Pittman abused his wife… on multiple occasions.

• Michael Vick is suspended from the NFL indefinitely and has lost any chance of ever being endorsed by a major brand again – and many would like to see his NFL career end immediately.
• Michael Pittman remains relatively obscure. He was suspended for three games and lost approximately $500,000 in salary. He remains on the Bucs roster and played in yesterday’s game against the Seahawks.

It’s all about perspective…

Christianity vs. Authenticity

"God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another."
- William Shakespeare

I'm so tired of faking it. Can others see behind my mask?
Do I dare let you in? What if I told you who I am?
I long to be real.

Living in Glasgow as a minister and follower of Jesus Christ for the last four years has taught me a number of things about myself, my faith, and people who don't share it. When a missionary pulls up his stakes, moves overseas and sets up camp as... a missionary, then people examine his life through that lens. Makes sense.
All of a sudden his occupation is on display. He's a missionary. He moved here to do "this" (whatever "this" might be).
What do missionaries do, exactly? Do you go to an office? Do you earn an income? Do you have a job? No, no... I mean a real job? Do you work? No, no... I mean really work?

Over the past few months I've found myself in some interesting conversations about missionaries... usually with non-Christians, but I've had a few with local believers as well. It's amazing the perceptions that are out there. Several weeks ago I blogged about secularists and a chat roll that I participated in online. To recap, missionaries were viewed as imbeciles, idiots, yankee do-gooders, ignorant charlatans, morons, and pestilent priests. Those overtly bigoted impressions were delivered through the safe veil of internet anonymity. But I've also had some pretty civil face-to-face encounters, as well.

Sure there is the reason versus faith issue that circles the discussion of God and Christians, as well as the very human, "I will not have this God ruling over me," take. But quite honestly, in my time here and from the feedback that I've gathered, I think for the common man it boils down to Christianity versus Authenticity.

In my humble and limited experience, I'm going to make the statement that one of the biggest obstacles that Christian missionaries face in the field - especially in a western culture where missional living is key to successfully sharing one's faith in Jesus Christ - is their own inability to live authentically; to speak authentically; to allow others to really know who they are.

I hang out with a group of guys on Tuesday nights. We can gather as many as 10 or as few as four on a given week, but I'd say it's usually around six. All local businessmen; all closer to 40 than they are to 30; and all keenly aware that I am a minister.

"Christians always seem so damn perfect all the time," one said a couple of weeks ago, "I mean, is anyone ever really that flawless?" At that moment I resisted the urge to answer, "Jesus," for the sake of where the discussion was going. A few of these guys have had Christian friends. One's even had an American Christian friend. They agreed that they were nice guys and easy enough to get along with, but there was an impenetrable divide that made really getting to know them impossible. "You can never really know what they're thinking. Are they judging me? Are they afraid to let on that they have problems too?
And they're always f---ing together," one exclaimed, presumably about American missionaries he knows of here, "What do you people do together all the time?" he rhetorically asked me, not expecting an honest answer (of course).

This growing awareness of inauthentic Christian living was exacerbated today after Jasheen shared with me about a conversation she had with a woman from Gabrielle's toddler group. She asked Jasheen why Christians were so hard to communicate with. "You get to a certain level," she said, "and then - BOOM! - up goes a wall." There were some other comments made about missionaries, confusion as to why they're here, and what they do all the time, but in the middle of Jasheen's account our buzzer buzzed (as they do) and up popped a delivery man with a package from home. One of the items enclosed was a book from my dad entitled, TrueFaced: trust God and others with who you really are.
What?!?!?! Are you kidding me??? After a month of conversations involving this topic, and in the middle of Jasheen's story about how Christian missionaries are perceived as impersonal, inauthentic, and exclusive, a book arrives about trusting God and others with who you really are?

I just had to sit down and write about it. I try to be intentional about living as a flawed leader, but most of the time I'm probably just a crappy secret agent. My cracks, blemishes and stains can be pretty hard to hide... so I don't. I think most all Christian and/or missionary flaws are probably in one way or another rooted in the "F" word -- FEAR. Fear of failure; fear of rejection; fear of being found out.

What if someone finds out that I've sinned? Or even worse, that I still sin?
When we hide our stains, our anger, our mistakes, we eliminate one of the greatest treasures God has ever gifted us: the redemption found in the cleansing blood of His son, Jesus Christ. We're not perfect because we follow Christ, and in my experience, people don't expect perfection from me. But we are made perfect IN Jesus Christ. In our flaws, people will see our humanity. And only in our humanity will they be able to see our dependence on Christ and the subsequent wholeness that comes with a growing and knowing relationship with Him.

Don't be Christian... be REAL!

September: My Favorite Time of Year (Amendment)

The real story is the surging Angels! Currently on a five-game win streak, the Angels boast a 6.5 game lead over the Mariners in the AL West after a convincing series sweep of the boys from Seattle. The Halos (80-54) enter September a half-game up on Boston (80-55) for sole possession of the best record in the bigs! It's gonna be a dog fight!