See you...

This morning I went with my son Ben to his school for 'See You at the Pole', a student-initiated, student organized, and student-led event. That means this is all about students meeting at their school flagpole to pray—for their school, friends teachers, government, and their nation. See You at the Pole™ is not a demonstration, political rally, nor a stand for or against anything. It was really great to be there. Ben began to prepare for the events today by attending a rally last night at IBC where some of the local youth pastors taught the students how to conduct themselves at SYATP, a worship band played and we prayed for the school we would be at. As you know, middle-schoolers can get silly... as we prayed the repeated part of the prayer by almost ever student was "God, let more people show up..." There were about 15 kids in the Lance School prayer group.



THIS MORNING when we arrived many of the students from the rally were already there. We joked and joined the semi-circle around the flag pole. Then more people showed up. About thirty students and 3 parents (including me). It was interesting to hear what the on-lookers were saying although some of their comments would not be acceptable to repeat. Mostly though, as the crowd built there was just a great deal of noise.

Here are a few examples of my experience:

• At one point I was aware of a boy standing just behind me peering in. I let go of the hand I was holding and invited him to join us. He set down his backpack and took both hands to complete the circle. After about 2 minutes he leaned over and asked "Are you guys praying or something?" He stayed for about 2 more minutes and excused himself.

• Shortly after that I overheard someone behind me say "Oh man! I was supposed to be doing THAT!" Again I dropped my neighbor's hand and made eye-contact with the girl that had made that statement and she left her friends and joined in.

• I noticed a school employee over my shoulder and invited her into the circle. She took both Ben's hand and mine and stood with us while many students prayed before she excused herself.

• During prayer two girls walked past and one loudly said to the other "I don't know WHAT they're praying for... but I know the are PRAYING!"

What a great morning. I was so impressed by the students who bravely stood up for their Christian beliefs in front of their school body. I saw many gifted leaders and evangelists boldly proclaiming their love for Christ. These kids are the future of the church... and our future looks BRIGHT!

Being There

The power of multiples has again become evident in my life. I say 'again' because this recurring theme has always shattered my illusions of self-sufficiency. As David states in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:If one falls down,his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up."

During the past month I have been working to set up the Challenge Groups for KFA's "One Month to Live" campaign. It has been both the greatest joy and biggest challenge I have faced this year. I LOVE that a greater number than I expected have decided to connect through small group life for the six weeks of the campaign. However three weeks ago my assistant Peggy had to to begin a personal leave to care for her mother as she has had some medical issues. Here, two would be better than one.

Earlier this week the pastoral staff and their spouses attended the Innovate08 Conference at Granger Community Church in Granger, IN. We took the two church vans due to the number of people going. Things went well through Chicago but shortly after crossing the Indiana state line the tread on one of the tires of the vans came off and flew into traffic behind us. Just so happened it was the van that Jim and I were in AND it just so happened that it happened 15 minutes from my parent's house. When we discovered that the van's emergency tools to change the tire were not up to the task I chose to call my parents for help. You know that call that begins "DAD... you're not going to believe this..." In a matter of time he and my Mom arrived with the appropriate tools for the job and soon we were on our way.

Just before leaving my office earlier that very same day my cell phone rang. As I answered the phone I noticed that it was one of my friends on the other end of the call. Having just had "a day" herself she called to confess that she was tempted to fall into an old sin pattern. She was reaching out because she knows the power of multiples. She knew that public confession would take all of the power out of the temptation. Later, I called her to follow-up while we were sitting on the side of the highway. She had been able to resist the urges that temporarily had her in their grip.

We are called to be there for each other. "Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you now—Someone not impressed with weak excuses." is what Proverbs 24:11-12 says in The Message Bible. I think that is what bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth looks like. How about you?

Take care-

Rich

Between 2003 and early 2008 the cost or rice, a staple food for billions worldwide has doubled. With an American worldview one might think that even with the doubling of the price that rice is still an inexpensive grain. But if you take it out of the 'rich American' perspective this makes for a global hunger crisis. In early 2008 Economists reported that 2.6 billion people live on $2 a day or less. They spend approximately 50 percent of their income on food. Thus a person living on $2 a day spends $1 a day on food. When food prices go up by 100 percent, s/he must spend $2.00 a day on food or purchase less food. The result is s/he purchases less food, leading to increased hunger, and has much less left over for other necessities such as housing.

My time in Thailand earlier this year gave me an opportunity to see what abject poverty really looks like. During our time in the Northern mountains of Thailand we visited refugee camps where people had fled Burma (now called Myanmar) with only the clothes on their backs and after a period of time in Thailand still only owned those clothes. In Pattaya we also experienced women and children begging in the streets. This was all a huge reality check about just how much 'stuff' we have in America. Some of us have so much 'stuff' that we have rental units outside of our home just to hold the overflow. In fact the business of storing 'stuff' is a huge industry in America.

Rob Bell states in his NOOMA video "Rich" that the money that Americans spend on ice cream in one year equals the amount of money that it would take to provide clean drinking water to THE REST OF THE WORLD that has that need! Ponder that. We ARE rich.

FANTASY and FOOTBALL and FANATIC

From WIKIPEDIA:

Traits of FANTASY
The identifying traits of fantasy are the inclusion of fantastic elements in a self-coherent (internally consistent) setting. Within such a structure, any location of the fantastical element is possible: it may be hidden in, or leak into the apparently real world setting, it may draw the characters into a world with such elements, or it may occur entirely in a fantasy world setting, where such elements are part of the world. Within a given work, the elements must not only obey rules, but for plot reasons, must also contain limits to allow both the heroes and the villains means to fight; magical elements must come with prices, or the story would become unstructured.




Football
The word given to a number of similar team sports, all of which involve (to varying degrees) kicking a ball. The most popular of these sports world-wide is also known as "soccer" and most commonly just "football".




And finally:

Fanatic
Fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religious or political cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby.

"A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject."
-Winston Churchill (1874-1965)






I understand these definitions more now than ever as I am currently on my first FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE. Enough said?

Take care-