Father's Day

I know father's day was Sunday but I read this today & thought it was worth passing on so enjoy.

This is an article from our friends at Mars Jill Church in Seattle called, "10 practical ways to be a good dad".

1. Get involved with your child from the beginning.

Remember, there is only one thing a father can’t do for his baby. And even then, you can still establish a role for yourself bathing, burping, comforting, and taking the baby out for a walk.

2. Prioritize fatherhood.

Some dads worry that by emphasizing family so much they will lose their edge at the workplace and not be as competitive for positions as those who lack family ties or neglect them. Research doesn’t support that fear. Plan your work around your family. Decide that father-child time is not negotiable, but work time is. With calendar or planner in hand, schedule first the activities of your children, the school events, the games, then write in your work obligations.

3. Make yourself available always.

Interrupt your meetings when anyone in the family calls. Learn to text and respond quickly. Don’t be busy all of the time. Build in opportunities for spontaneous conversations. (Cf: “Spending Quantity Time with Your Kids“)

4. Have regular one-on-one time with each child.

Sometimes it’s fun to talk while you’re doing errands or making home repairs, but be sure there are times that you turn off the TV, put down the newspaper, and give your kids your undivided attention. Arrange solo time with your kids. Go out to eat a favorite meal or to do an activity the child enjoys or just go on an errand together.

5. Connect with your child at all levels.

Make sure you have some contact with every aspect of your child’s life. Visit the school, meet the teacher and kids and have at least a bit of contact with an after-school activity. If you have seen where your children are and met their friends, you will have more to talk about and more interesting conversations. Parent involvement during children’s schooling is critical to their school success. Work with your employer to see that your work schedule doesn’t preclude your involvement in your child’s schooling.

6. Become an expert dad.

Keep up with the language of child rearing. Talk to other dads informally, in groups, or in parenting classes. Read articles and books about good fathering. In too many families, Mom becomes the “expert” and Dad relegates his responsibilities to her. Don’t let that happen to you.

7. Teach them.

No dad has every gift or skill. Kids may learn certain things from other males in their lives. Use opportunities to share your talents. In my family, I lack auto mechanical ability, but I have passed on the gift and love of sports by personally coaching their teams.

8. Take kids to work.

This is a great way to teach them about the world of work that you are a part of. Take kids with you on business trips when possible. (Cf: “Froggy Boots and a Bible“)

9. Stay connected when you have to be away.

Sometimes work takes dads out of town. Set up a routine to stay connected. Some families schedule a specific time Dad will call that is convenient for all members of the family. When you return, bring home something special for the kids. It doesn’t have to be extravagant.

10. Show affection often.

Even if older kids seem squeamish, kids enjoy a hug and always enjoy encouraging words from their dad. I get my sons t-shirts each time I go on a trip, and they wear them proudly, even when their friends ask why they have such a random collection of shirts from so many different cities.

Living In The Tension: Christians vs. Non-Christians

One of my friends is a guy that is planting a church in Vegas and in addition to secretly sleeping with a picture of him under my pillow I also regularly read his blog.

Vince Antonucci is possibly one of the best thinkers I know when it comes reasons & methods regarding the church being committed to reaching people far form God with the message of the Gospel.

Below is one of his recent blogs that I thought I'd share with you; great thoughts from a guy on the front lines of his faith.

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Living In The Tension: Christians vs. Non-Christians

When you do church for people who don't like church, joining Jesus on His mission of helping people who are far from God get close to Him, there are all kinds of tensions you live in and have to embrace.

One of those tensions is between Christians and non-Christians, and that sucks. Now I don't mean that there are tensions between the Christians and the non-Christians in the church. I mean that what each of those groups need is not always the same. And what each of those groups wants is rarely the same. Christians may want verse-by-verse teaching, non-Christians want you to give them answers for what they're struggling with. Christians might desire long times of heart-felt worship, non-Christians could think that gets a little weird. Often Christians want you to serve them, while non-Christians want to serve the community.

So what do you do? The easiest decision is to "side with" the Christians, or with the non-Christians. (99.99% of churches will give Christians what they want.) The right decision is to live in the tension. It's complicated, but you pray hard and talk a lot trying to figure out how to side with God, and to do what it takes to teach Christians AND reach non-Christians.

But, when you just absolutely can't figure it out and you have to choose one: Go with the non-Christians. Why? Because 99.9% of churches are doing the opposite, and someone has to do it. And, more importantly, because if Christians don't like what you're doing, they'll leave and go to a different church. But if non-Christians don't like what you're doing, they'll leave and possibly never go to

A Few Things I Want To Say To Our Church

1. Easter - WOW!
Easter was incredible gang, INCREDIBLE! Thanks to all of you who were a part of making the day so amazing. We really did feel the power & the presence of God that day. What a taste of the power that defines that day & created it 2000 years ago. During our last series preparing for E.A.C.H we have been clear that found people find people, and you all REALLY took that to heart & made it your mission this last Sunday. Keep it up Paradox!!

Whether you served in the journey, the 411, the security, brought a few friends, played in the band or WHATEVER you did, you were a significant part of making the day what it was. The stories are still coming in but here's what we know so far.

On Easter we saw about a 70% jump in attendance, we saw dozens of new people attending not just Paradox for the first time but any church in a LONG time and many for the first time every. We saw about 30 people make a decision to give their lives to Jesus that morning, we saw many people say they were taking the challenge to explore Christ further than Easter morning. People that have been praying for someone to meet Jesus saw some of those someones do so Sunday morning!!!! We saw Jesus bring dead people to life right in front of our eyes!

2. Don't ever fail to celebrate this.
I have a friend who once told me after hearing that several people gave their life to Christ in one of our services, "well, I guess that's fine but you better disciple them now". OK, certainly we do want to see people grow in their walk with Christ and begin to manifest the presence & the fruit of the Spirit of Christ through their life, but SERIOUSLY!

The "discipleship OR evangelism" debate has done a harm to the church that I don't believe has been intended but it's real none the less. It has created division of an issue that was never supposed to be TWO issues but ONE! In the divided focus it has also divided many churches & believers on the discussion as they argue over which is more important. What the HECK! THEY BOTH ARE PART OF THE SAME PROCESS! It's all a journey BUT it begins with BELIEF! And may I suggest that while we need to offer something intentional to assist people in their spiritual development beyond initial faith; discipleship is no more something we can MAKE HAPPEN than conversion is. I will never apologize for doing BACK FLIPS when someone decides for the first time to trust their life to the living God named Jesus. If that fails to completely excite us then we're missing the heart of God. Remember, He leaves the 99 found to rescue the 1 that is lost, finds the lost & then PARTIES!!! The lost take priority over the found.

Luke 15:7 - "there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!"

3. The best is still yet to come
Sometimes after a big "win" it's easy to sit back, fold our hands, & call it a day. But there is no greater time to press on then after a victory, otherwise we can so easily become complacent.

There is still so much to do because there are still SO MANY THAT HAVEN'T BELIEVED.

30 people giving their life to Jesus is incredible & needs to be celebrated, but not to the the neglect of the thousands around us that still need to. Sunday was indeed awesome, but it was small sample of the work that God is still calling us to and a sample of the sweet & beautiful product of that work. I am celebrating Sunday but am already asking God, "what's next, where are you moving now & how do we stay on your heels?" Press on Paradox, we labor & bleed for the greatest dream that has ever dared to be dreamt...

..."The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

2 Peter 3:9

4. I love this church
I really do! I am SO grateful for the chance to be your pastor. I'm humbled at the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing here, not because of us but DESPITE US!

We serve a GREAT and a RISEN God!!

I can't wait to see what's next & what our head pastor, Jesus, has in store for this next year to come!

The Walk Of A Lifetime!

If you haven't yet heard tomorrow is going to be a HUGE day for the church in the Metro Detroit area.

Tomorrow morning is the downtown walk that will kick of E.A.C.H (www.eachtoday.com).

The talk is numbers in the tens of thousands that are going to be there - it's going to be CRAZY!

There are things that in life are sad when we miss them, like...

• An exist on the freeway
  
• Ed McMahon showing up at your door with a fat check
  
• your kid, when you throw them up in the air

Then there are other things in life that if you miss, you just may regret it forever!
Things like, well, umm let me see.... the EACH walk TOMORROW MORNING!

Go to the website above for more details but DO plan to be there! It might be the closest taste of heaven this side of it that we'll get to be a part of.

Carry Out

Had breakfast with a friend the other day that told me about a sight that I think pretty much sums up the state of the State in which we live right now.

He said he saw this nice, newer, Cadillac SUV driving down the road with a Jimmy John's delivery sign attached to the roof.

Now, I love me some Jimmy John's -- #1 ez on the mayo -- could eat those all day long. And there is NO SHAME in being a fast food delivery driver. But this is a combination of sign and vehicle that isn't a normal sight.

Maybe it was a delivery guy that just really works hard & finally got the car of his dreams -- you go crazy delivery guy!!! But more likely it was a guy like so many of us that somehow in the last year or so found himself without a job, or without the income he had previously been living off of.

abc news just wrote an article about the decline of our Sate that is pretty startling. You can read it HERE

Maybe one of the reasons I'm most excited about this E.A.C.H movement is that there is a chance for the only thing that will really create change to actually happen.

What's that thing?

That the people of God would really begin getting serious about bringing the good news & good deeds of Jesus to the community around us. Even if the economy turns around, even if Metro Detroit becomes one of the largest Metropolis areas in the counrty, even if the state began to grow faster than any other state, even if everyone under 30 wasn't flocking to another place to live & work in our country, even if ___________ (feel free to insert your own).

Even if all this and more BUT we still were a people, a city, a state no closer to the living God who made us then do we really win, do we really gain anything other than hay and stubble that will one day burn off?

I pray that what marks a new day for our state is the state of our experience with the living & loving God whose name is Jesus. He is more concerned with our hearts & our souls than with our economy so may HE use this economy to get hold of the other.

Pieces

My lack of presence here at me blog (no that is not a typo, I'm just feeling very Irish this morning) is the result of a life that has just been crazy, nuts lately.

This morning there is a verse giving me comfort that may give you comfort too, especially if you're life feels as nuts as mine does right now. Actually it's not really a feeling of being nuts as much as being in pieces. Lately it just seems easier to be discouraged than hopeful, tired than energized, worried than certain.

If you can relate at all then maybe God will comfort you too with His words.

Luke 20:18
"everyone who falls on that stone [Jesus] will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

There it is, "PIECES", the work of God is to break us to pieces. Can't you feel the comfort flowing now (yes, sarcasm is my native language).

Why in the world would God break us!! I mean I guess we can be thankful, on one level I could say, "well, hey, I guess being broken is better than being crushed!!" but the question still remains, WHY THE HECK ARE YOU BREAKING ME JESUS!!!!!!!

I can't answer that any better than the apostle Paul already has...

2 Corinthians 4:8-18

^"8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Something crushed is just gone, destroyed, done, that's' all folks!

But something broken can be repaired or even BETTER, it can be completely rebuilt into something new! Paul reminds us like Jesus that the work of God is not to crush us, and though breaking is painful -- IT HAS PURPOSE, eternal purpose that gives life to us and glory to our beautiful savior. But this also means that the work of breaking is not punishment it's the work of sanctification!

How horrible of a life this would be if God just left us alone and refused to sanctify what He has redeemed.

How great it is that Jesus loves us enough to break us an rebuild us. May we trust His work & be patience with His process in our lives.

He Taught Me To Love Jesus

Judges 2:10

"After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel"

For several weeks now my dad has been in the ICU at a downtown hospital. What started as a cold grew to pneumonia then an infection then began to spread to his vital organs and even shut down his kidneys.

We thought we were going to loose him.

Just a few days ago my dad began to improve. While he still has a LONG way to go he is out of the ICU and there are good sign of a full recovery to come.

The last three weeks have been such a whirlwind of activity and commotion that I don't think the emotion of it all caught up to me until this past Saturday night.

When he first woke up his voice was very raspy and hard to understand but in his half awake state he only needed to be awake for a few minutes before he began requesting a Dr. pepper, milk duds and something called a blimpy burger!

It wasn't long before he asked how long he had been asleep and it was emotional for him and the rest of us when he found out he had been unconscious for two weeks. Then he began to get some of his memory back, slowly. As thoughts returned he started telling us how he was so scared when they put him on the ventilator. He said he was scared because he thought he might die.

My dad is not usually one for a lot of emotion or details of what's going on in his head but for the next few minutes he poured them out to us.

This last Saturday night, almost 24 hours after that hospital room conversation I kept replaying one particular thing over and over again in my head. My dad told us how he was angry at himself that he was scared to die, when my mom tried to console him with "but you didn't, you're here now", he explained more.

He said in that moment he had to ask himself, "ok, do I REALLY trust Jesus and trust that I matter to him no matter what happens", he went on to say that he finally answered the question "yes, yes I trust the Lord Jesus Christ with my life". It was at that point that he said he relaxed and that was the last thing he remembered until waking up the other night.

I've always known that my dad loved the Lord but until the other night I never understood that it is BECAUSE he so deeply loves the that I do too.

Depending on your relationship with your parents growing up, it may be difficult to figure out what to put in the, "I am who I am because my parents______________" blank.

After the other night I know what to put there now. I am who I am because my dad has always so deeply and authentically loved the Lord Jesus Christ!

The only reason I am not as ignorant to the love & existence of God as the generation of children in Judges, a generation that needed the judges to come and painfully remind them, is because of my dad & the ways his love for Jesus was modeled to me & passed on to me.

If we fail to love Jesus in front of our children then we fail as parents. No matter what things you will do wrong as a parent, if you teach your kids to love Jesus by how you love Him, so will they. If you give them EVERYTHING else but not this, you've given them NOTHING.

Thanks for all your prayers & concern. Please keep praying, he has a long way to go still.

And, thank you dad for loving Jesus, I do because you did.