Vacuum of Late

I wish I'd posted lots of excellent stuff the past nine days, but I haven't.

During that time I had the great privilege of playing at the Downtown Rescue Mission's graduation service on Tuesday with my son and two amazing friends, Bill Fowler and Nikki Metzger. I spent a chunk of the day today playing in the water with my daughter in 104-degree heat. We played Rook with friends last night, and my team lost and I didn't get angry or frustrated!

In short, I've been doing life and feeling grateful for that privilege.

I'm looking forward to writing down some things that have been gushing from my brain (sounds disgusting but will hopefully be nice). I have a couple of posts in mind -- one that may prove to offend you -- and I'll be giving away a book in the very near future.

Keep your eyes peeled!

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Refocus

Have you ever tried to tell a story but wound up rambling so much that your listener(s) lost interest or you forgot exactly where you were going with it? No? Me neither. (cough! cough!)

Regardless, I'm taking some time to reassess EGBDF's blog content, and that illustration seemed to fit.

From what I can recall, these are the dominant themes that have been featured as I've moved willy-nilly from one topic to another:

• The current state of the Church -- where it is compared to what we see in Scripture
• Real-life stories and situations that tie in to a hodge-podge of spiritual themes (this was the initial thrust of the blog)
• Personal holiness

The funny thing is that the title of the blog, "EGBDF" (an acronym which Wikipedia sums up well: "The notes on the lines of the treble clef and the mnemonic used by some music students to remember it, such as Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge."), is a decidedly musical term. The blog description is "A muscian's perspective on following Christ."

But other than my participation in The Worship Community's Sunday Setlists weekly "worship confessional" when I was on staff working with a church, there hasn't been much of a musical overtone -- pun intended -- to the blog.

When I started blogging, my reason was simple: "I fully expect God to speak to me in some way today, and I'll just take those thoughts and post them so that everybody can benefit from my super-spiritual Godliness." Or something like that. Minus the last half. That reason is still in effect, but the sidetraction along the way has been, well, sidetracking.

So stay with me and stay tuned for a more tightly-focused... er... focus. You're more than welcome to share any of your thoughts along these lines. I'm praying over it now and I'm anxious to find out what happens, myself!

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And They're Off!

My son left last night (or early this morning, to be more accurate) with a team of 20 or so others from Wall Highway Baptist Church on a trip to Haiti.

Among their tasks will be to complete the rebuilding of a house (or houses?) in the aftermath of January 12, 2010's earthquake ("Tranblemanntè 2010 nan pe Ayiti" in Creole, the dominant language in Haiti). They'll be staying at Mission Of Hope Haiti, the place I stayed last year with four friends. We went with three but quickly began to consider our amazing main guide, Sarah, as one of our little band of friends.

I can hardly imagine a better team of devoted Christ-followers than those who set out last night.

I've added the journal of their adventures, Wall Highway in Haiti, to a new blogroll at the left side of the page. I would sincerely appreciate your prayers for my son and the rest of the team -- prayers that God will fill them with boldness for His sake and that everything that happens, whether it seems good or bad, will serve to point the way to to Jesus Christ.

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what's your number one blogging tip?

I'm beginning a little project by which I hope to reinvent the wheel. That is, what I'm asking has already been answered by thousands of people -- really headsy people -- on the internet. But since I didn't feel like Googling (though I just did a little of that in order to create a link), I thought I'd ask you.

If you're a blogger, I'd like to get some free insight from your brain by asking you to answer one of these questions (they're all very similar):

• What is the number one thing you've learned that would be most helpful to someone who's starting a new blog? 
• If you could start your blog over (and many of you have done this), what one thing would you do differently from the way you did it before?
• What one thing did you do with your blog on the ground floor that turned out to be wildly, awesomely successful?

I don't particularly care how you define "success," but its definition should be something like "really good stuff." You may want to speak about technical stuff or you might want to talk about general concepts. As a matter of fact, it's okay to throw in your two cents even if you aren't a blogger. I'd like to know what keeps you going back to certain blogs.

That being said, the floor is now yours.

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coming shortly...

Today I plan to post one of my most disgusting analogies ever. I've debated with myself whether or not to post it, but I think it's okay to do so. Don't have time to do it right now but I wanted you all to exist today in crazy anticipation of it.

You should prepare now by deciding whether or not you want to read it. I don't think it will be so disgusting that you'll get sick, or really anything close, but I don't know if I've ever heard anything quite like it to emphasize a point of spiritual significance.

Stay tuned...

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"Creepy" Christian Worship CD Commercials?

Over at revelife.com (a Christian blogging community) there's a post that's worth checking out: Are You Creeped Out By Commercials with Creepy Christians? It talks about the crowds of worshippers and participants in those "Blockbuster Trendy Worship Hits You Must Know or Else Feel Inferior" CDs. Speaking about the crowds of people in those commercials, the author (can't find who it is!) poses this line of questioning and observation: "What makes it different from hordes of people screaming and swaying with hands raised at a KISS or Aerosmith or Eagles or Styx concert? I'm not entirely sure. I think it's the fact that their eyes are closed. Or maybe I'm just being weird. Maybe I'm just embarrassed by it."

To me, the comments are every bit as interesting as the post. Have a look at these clips:

A commenter with the handle GodlessLiberal says, "I don't see much of a difference between the completely swept up people at these Christian concerts than the tween girls completely swept up at a Jonas Brothers concert."

IamKellyK writes, "Maybe I'm in the wrong for the way I feel. I mean, I love God, I get excited about stuff God does, but I don't feel the need to dance around and stuff."

A response by SWAurora was refreshing to me: "I find it completely normal. I get creeped out by people standing around with hymnals in their hands NOT raising their hands and praising God."

The thing that's probably going to bother most people I know is the point made by commenter ecoutering, who notes, "The raising hands doesn't bother me, just the fact that it doesn't seem real, that it seems like they're selling it. "

I think that the last two responses referenced above do a great job of summarizing my feelings about those commercials and about worship services in general. Never, ever forget that our observations of those around us are greatly affected by our own points of view and our love (or lack of it) for God and for other people.

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New Link!

A couple of friends have begun blogs for 2009, and I've added one of their sites to the links list; Steve Manning's Netkritter, a blog about technology trends. Already it looks way interesting! Another friend's blog looks to be a little more personal -- family and friends -- so I'll wait on the green light from him before linking.

A little history... Steve is an old friend of mine. I met him and several other now-good-friends playing a nerdy-sounding-but-cool online game called Space Empires (which was purchased by a company called Skotos and developed into a game called Galactic Emperor: Hegemony). My friend Steve G still has his old Space Empires Rogues' Gallery site up! I'm "Laudio" in the list at that link.

Out of the hundreds of people I met in those games, only a handful wound up "sticking" as friends. I could go on and on about how the game gave great insight into a person's personality, butI'll leave it at that. I really value these friendships. Three of the guys are named Steve, and at one point I was awarded honorary Stevehood, for Steve-ish valour in the games. :)

By the way, Steve Manning has a couple of books I recommend (follow the links to Amazon.com). They're about WWII, but even if you're not a war buff, you'll find these very interesting. Perspectives on the contributions of "common" men and women. Good reads!

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Symbolic Worship

If you haven't done it already, you've really got to read Jeff Miller's post on Symbolic Worship. The post and subsequent commentary are pretty thought-provoking. In particular, James Nahrgang's comment about the origin of the podium's use in church settings was quite interesting. Who'd'a thunk it? I've gotta go check Snopes now... :)

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Thanks!

A special "thank you" to those of you who visited my daughter's blog, Catz are CRAZY! yesterday (and especially those who'll continue to frequent the site). On her inaugural day, she had 36 unique visitors and 109 page views! Rock on!

There might have been more comments, but I forgot to remove some of the restrictions on commenting until last night -- thanks go to those of you who let me know about it. If you tried to comment yesterday but were unable to, please feel free to give it another shot today.

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New Link -- My Daughter's Blog!

My nine-year-old daughter has been reading my blog occasionally, and last night she decided that she was ready to take the plunge herself. I believe she's been thinking about it for a while. She's pretty deliberate and thoughtful about what she does, and I wish I were more like her in that regard.

Her blog is called Catz are CRAZY! (the URL is catzarecrazy.blogspot.com -- the "z" was intentional) and will be centered around Jesse the Cat (who owns the house in which we live), primarily, with room in the margins for Prissy the Outdoor Cat and probably Hershey the Dog.

Please visit it and leave comments! I don't know if she's expecting comments (we didn't discuss this when setting up the blog), so it would be a very cool bonus for her.

My son (13 years old) has a blog, too, by the way. Video game info and personal reviews. He hasn't posted in a while, but if he decides to continue I'll be posting a link to it, as well.

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New Layout

I have a kabillion templates that I've saved and haven't had time to experiment with, so today I thought I'd get something new implemented. Jeff Miller has been Twittering about doing this over at ConsumingWorship.org, and I promise, I'm not copying him! And his is going to wind up looking a lot cooler than this one, I have no doubt.

I didn't choose this template based on its name: "Communist." I found it at www.bloggertricks.com, and it's touted as "Furniture niche based Blogger Template." I thought that the couch was kind of a neat twist on psychiatry and thinking; that sort of thing.

I'll be tweaking the layout and adding the recent comments and other neat things in the sidebar. Comments are welcomed. I don't know if this one's going to grow on me or not.

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Church Slogan #4 - Blog Action Day 2008

I thought I'd combine a couple of efforts. Today is Blog Action Day 2008, and the theme is "Poverty." I will confess that I do not know poverty. I haven't experienced it, nor have I really been among those in poverty.

Most of the readers of this blog, I'm guessing, attend traditional church fellowships (that is, brick and mortar houses of worship; not traditional music-based fellowships). Would this slogan be appropriate for any of them?

Based on my thought processes for this post, I want you to think about a scenario that I mentally put myself in. I wasn't too happy with the answers I came up with. Not too far removed from the book In His Steps, I want you to think of how you'd react if, on a Sunday morning, a stinky, homeless bum walked in while you were singing, say, "Great is Thy Faithfulness." What would you do if he sat next to you? Move? Nonchalantly act like you're going to the bathroom and get the deacons to escort him out? Would he scare you? Would you take him home? To lunch?

Would he have a reason to be at your church fellowship or mine anyway?

"Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
    uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute.
Rescue the poor and helpless;
    deliver them from the grasp of evil people."
- Psalm 82:3-4 (NLT)

"But a beautiful cedar palace does not make a great king!
    Your father, Josiah, also had plenty to eat and drink.
But he was just and right in all his dealings.
    That is why God blessed him.
He gave justice and help to the poor and needy,
    and everything went well for him.
Isn’t that what it means to know me?"
    says the Lord.
- Jeremiah 22:15-16 (NLT)

Sometimes I'm afraid that my efforts to help people begin with the word "but," or a general plan to avoid getting my hands too dirty.

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What They Say/What They Mean

I can't wake up today! It's raining and I'm thinking about the road trip to the Catalyst Conference (about four hours westward) with a group from our church fellowship. I'd appreciate your prayers for us as we travel, participate in worship, hear the Word, and look for refreshment, new perspectives, and new ideas. Also, please pray for those who will be leading and speaking at the conference. I'll attempt to post daily wrap-ups about what goes on, but I'm not one for journaling, and I'm sure Rich Kirkpatrick or someone like that will do a better job of it, so I imagine I'll only hit the very high points.

I definitely intend to do some sort of Catalyst worship leader fashion wrap-up. It's my theory that there will be about four or five general templates for dress code and hairstyles among the attendees. We shall see...

I want to leave you with a few things before I go, a la blogger Tony M -- several thoughts in one post. Notice all the tags/topics at the bottom of the post.

Today (when he probably should have been sleeping) Tony posted a link to a rough demo of a new song of his, called "Not Me - Him!" and I believe you'll really enjoy both the lyrics and the music. It's a bit eerie-sounding on the verses, which makes me like it even more -- it's not like anything I would have anticipated, having read the lyrics a while back but not having a clue about the music. Good, memorable musical "hook" on the chorus, too.

Tony also mentions in his post that Google Chrome, a new browser getting good reviews, apparently likes this site (http://www.deanlusk.com/). Cool!

Finally, I received an e-mail in the wee hours of the morning that cracked me up. I'm not sure who the author is, so I can't give credit where it's due (UPDATE: found out that Perry Noble is the author. Also found this linked at http://www.jeffkapusta.com). I hope that you find it amusing rather than offensive. I get a black eye in here, too, so this is not aimed at anyone...

What They Say: “I’m looking for a church that preaches the Word!”
What They Mean: “I’m looking for a church that preaches my view of the Word. I think the BLANK translation should be used… I think BLANK should be talked about a lot while BLANK should be ignored. And if you ever stop preaching my view of the Word I will leave and tell others that you don’t preach the Word!”

What They Say: “Lots of people have been coming to me and saying they don’t like is…”
What They Mean: “I basically only have three friends… and all of them think exactly like me. The other night we were enjoying a time of self-righteousness because, after all, we are right about everything… and were also slandering you (in the form of prayer requests) and thought it would be wise to approach you with our pet peeve. We’ve actually talked to no one else about this but said 'lots' because we wanted to validate our dysfunction.”

What They Say: “I’m leaving the church.”
What They Mean: “Beg me to stay. If you will just ask me I will share with you several ways you can compromise God’s vision that He’s given you, thus becoming nothing more than a people pleasing pastor who is more interested in popularity than obedience. If you don’t bow to my demands I will remind you that I tithe and that the church needs my money, reducing you to a mere preaching whore: one who is paid for a service for the pleasure of another person.”

What They Say: “I want a church that is more focused on discipleship.”
What They Mean: “I want a church where everyone knows me and how important I am! I don’t want to reach people who are different from me, be it economic class or race or even musical preference. I already know WAY more than I put into practice, but I somehow equate spirituality with knowledge rather than application, and I rather enjoy feeling intellectually superior to those who don’t know as much as me.”

What They Say: “Don’t take this personally…but…”
What They Mean: “I am about to lower the BOOM on you, but you can’t get angry because I told you not to take it personally. Even though you have dedicated your life to this and pretty much invest every ounce of energy you have to this cause -- and I think about it once or twice a week -- you need to receive my attacks, even when they are personal. And you cannot retaliate because, remember: it’s not personal.”

Feel free to add your own "What They Say/What They Mean" statements on the comments.

Have a great day!

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New Links!

Just added a couple of new links; the first is one that I thought I'd added a while back:

Doorkeeper's Journal -- Craig McDole's blog. Very pointed and sincere thoughts of a Christ-follower and blogosphere/Twitter friend.

Asbury UMC aCross Generations Arts -- Heather Baumbach (and Mark Bell)'s blog. Heather is at Asbury United Methodist Church here in Madison, AL, and she's new to the blogosphere. Loved the second post, in particular, about Heather's visit to the hairstylist.

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In Case You Missed It...

Wow, what a blogging week! There are a few posts that you simply must not miss, starting with...

Last Friday: No Longer a Christian Nation?
Technically not a "week-in-review" piece, but a must-read, not just because of the post, but the comments, as well. Interesting! Controversial! Political!!

Monday: Adventures in Yardwork
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think, "They allow this guy to have a driver's license?!"

Wednesday: Spelling Bitterness
All about letting go of the bitterness and anger we hang onto, illustrated by two losses of mine at Spelling Bees. Yay -- exciting!

Thursday: Stand Firm or Stand Firm?
As Christ-followers, if we're not willing to have faith, we're told that God is not going to force us to have faith.

Friday: Have a Happy Day
A definite, definite must-read/must-watch! I'm afraid the two embedded videos do a fantastic job of overshadowing the thoughts in the post, but that's okay, because if you're not in a good mood when you start to read the post, you will be when you're done.

Have a fantastic Sunday!

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New Link -- "No Sunday School Answers"

Officially welcome my old friend Anthony Stephens to the links list! Or welcome his blog, anyway -- No Sunday School Answers.

Anthony is the youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Birmingham (Alabama), and former youth pastor at my church fellowship, Wall Highway. He "grew up" in our youth department at Wall Highway. I thought he was only slightly cooler when he had long hair and wore a black trenchcoat.

Ah, memories! :-)

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In Case You Missed It...

It's been a while since I made my last "In Case You Missed It..." post. There's a lot to read from that point up to today, so please read it so I don't have to give a synopsis of every post. There's a handy pop-down menu to the left which will take you back to July 27 (the date of the last "week in review").

This week saw some potentially "hot" topics discussed. That time period has presented situations in which I had to truly understand that these aren't just subjects to blog about or discuss, but to apply to real life.

Have a great day!

NOTE: There seem to be some problems with images at Blogger.com. Hopefully they'll sort themselves out. Could just be my computer. Let me know if you can't see images within the posts on your screen, please.

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Wordle

Was looking at fellow Huntsville area worship leader Billy Chia's blog (check out the Links of Interest; the list has been updated a couple of times recently) and saw his post about a really cool little Java applet/website called Wordle. It showed that he's a church addict (at least, Wordle says so).

I assume that it's pulling from the most recent posts, because when I plugged EGBDF into it, I came up with God, good, things, and steak being some of the most prominent words. Oh, and gossip, too. Have a look. This is so cool that I think I'm going to use it for my wallpaper!

Thanks, Billy!

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In Case You Missed It...

Monday: 5ive O'Clock Shadow
Explains how a scruffy, mangy-looking half beard will prevent the face from receiving sunlight, and relates shaving to putting off the old self and its ways. Just as my face will not shave itself, sinful ways will not simply go away without commitment.

Tuesday: What Makes a Bad Word Bad?
This post asks that question. Why are some words considered to be "bad"? Very good reader comments about the fact that our speech is to be edifying to the body of Christ, and even to "outsiders."

Wednesday: A no-post day.

Thursday: Putting Ourselves Through Trials
Continuing a thought from a much older post, I've noted (after reflection on my life) that sometimes the trials that we consider to be tests of our faith are actually the results of goofy or unwise actions on our parts.

Friday: A no-post day.

Saturday: They're Out to Get Us!
Using Disney as a frame of reference, this one asks if Christ-followers are paranoid or reaslistic in thinking that "the world" is out to get us and to undermine everything we believe in. I loved the comment from Jan Owen -- "I would add that perhaps people are thinking less about us than we might want to believe...... :)" How's that for shattering any possible superiority complex?

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In Case You Missed It...

Monday: Hitting the Deck
In which I talk about the project of this week and last -- a new deck! I'll post a photo when it's completed. Many thanks to the three men who've been helping/

Tuesday: Going Through the Motions, Revisited
This post gives an example of what I mean by "going through the motions," and tells why this can actually be a positive thing. This is different -- far different -- from "playing church."

Wednesday: Take This Job...
When you're in the midst of a thankless job, remember to work as though working for the Lord rather than people. Could be an extension of the previous day's post.

Thursday: Identical Coffee Makers, Different Java

Even though I may have learned some phenomenally enlightening things through the tough situations of my life, I've also learned that sometimes these lessons can't be used as solution templates for someone else's problems. Sometimes it's important just to listen rather than relate how much we know.

Friday: When an Agnostic Follows the Bible...
A really interesting concept, about which a guy named A. J. Jacobs has written a book: "The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible"

Saturday: Apollo the Dog vs. Rocky Lusk
My favorite post of the week. More about perseverance! When I raced Hershey the Dog on Friday afternoon, I thought, "This has got to be blog material." Sure enough, the post essentially wrote itself. A must-read (if you consider anything here to be a must-read).

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