Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Kids and Grads

My wonderful niece was one of the graduates honored Sunday morning. I asked all of the K-5th kids to come down front and join us and then asked some questions about being old. I asked the kids how old "old" is. They surprised me. I got answers like 86 and 77. Then I asked the grads how old a person had to be to be "old." One of them said something around 70. And then I put the mike by my wonderful niece's mouth.

"How old does somebody have to be to be 'old'?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said. "How old are you?"

And there was much rejoicing.

I should have asked her when she was, y'know, LEAVING...but instead I let her have her moment. Gracious of me. Also, I didn't think of the comeback until later that afternoon.

I love my wonderful niece. Yesterday she told me about Grad Nite. Her high school took Grad Nite to extremes. They left early in the morning to go to Six Flags for the day. After it closed (and after a 2-hour layover at Wendy's), the bus took them to Disneyland with the rest of the California graduates. They got back on the bus around 7:00 AM, more than 24 hours after the trip started. They crashed all the way home, but she was still exhausted 4 days after the fact. Better her than me. Lisa and I chaperoned Grad Nite a few years ago. She would do it again anytime. I don't ever want to do it again. The joys of youth.

posted by Thurman8er @ 9:13 AM 2 comments

Friday, May 26, 2006

Calcfest 2006

What a great group of kids we had at the house last night. There was, surprisingly, some pizza left over, but that's mostly because Aaron's car broke down and he never showed up. We ate and drank and played games. Scattergories was fun until Lilian and KCee started guessing all the same words as Christian and I. It was close to 11 when they left and I think they would have stayed longer if I hadn't been falling asleep. What an old fogey.

My lesson on Daniel this week revolves around the fact that everybody knew what Daniel believed. If he hadn't been so public with his faith, his enemies wouldn't have known to create a law forcing prayer to the king. They wouldn't have known where to find him when he was praying, or what time of day. But Daniel lived what he believed every moment of his life. It's a pretty tough example to follow, but an important one, especially when you have a chance to be an example to others as well.

Jesus told the Pharisees to go pray in a closet, where they could not be seen. As with many of Christ's instructions, we've often taken the idea of the prayer closet to the extreme. Now, we often take pains to hide our acts of faith from others. And so, once again, we've missed the point. If we pray in front of others so they can see how pious we are then, yes, we are better off finding a dark corner somewhere. But if we run to the dark corner so that others won't know we pray, then we are guilty of being ashamed of our God, ashamed of what we believe. I recently saw a group of girls holding hands in a parking lot, praying with heads bowed. I don't think they were doing that so that others could see them. I think they just needed to pray. It made an impression on me that they were willing to be seen acting out their faith.

I have to question how many times I hold my tongue when it would be better to speak. I need to pay attention to what others see when they watch me. I want the world to know that I serve God.

posted by Thurman8er @ 8:26 AM 5 comments

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Deblogged

Yet another nice, long post has been lost to the Blogger gods. If you want to know all those great insights into the life of Daniel, you'll just have to be at College Sunday morning.

Tonight is Calcfest 2006 (see the May 2005 archives for details). Our home will be overrun with pizza-devouring, soda-slurping, soon-to-be-free teenagers. What a delight it is to get to spend a year with such incredible kids. I've had a few visits from former brilliant students over the past couple of weeks and it's made me realize once again that these people will soon be running the world. I am blessed to be able to be a part of their lives, even for a short time.

posted by Thurman8er @ 9:20 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

June 30

Every summer there's one movie I'm dying to see. On rare occasions there have been more than one, but lately there's always a biggie. And, as befits my personality, that one biggie almost always started life as a comic book. This year it's


"Star Wars" was the first huge movie I ever saw but it set off a chain of events that has never stopped. "Close Encounters"..."Raiders"..."ET"...it was just all so good. And just two years after "Star Wars" came out, I saw "Superman" and I really did believe a man could fly. I didn't like any of the sequels, even "Superman II" which so many people love. I knew my Superman, and I knew that he couldn't move things around by waving his hand at them, or make somebody forget something by kissing them. I remember being glad that Superman didn't need to make ME forget anything.

But "Superman"? The original? Great stuff. The music was, of course, perfect. I loved the story. I loved how Christopher Reeve seemed like such a schmo when he played Clark Kent. I loved the humor of it. Gene Hackman was a perfect Lex.

And now there is finally a sequel with promise. The director of "Superman Returns," Bryan Singer, showed that he knows how to handle superheroes with the first two X-Men movies. And he's a fanboy just like me. He has promised that this movie will be faithful to the first two (since he really hated III and IV) and you can tell by watching the trailer.

Humor, pathos, romance, and blue tights. I don't know...what else could you possibly want?? Can't wait.

posted by Thurman8er @ 9:18 AM 4 comments

Monday, May 22, 2006

Open House

We wish that more of our neighbors could have come by for food and fun Friday night. Still, we had four or five families there and spent a nice evening enjoying each other's company and watching the kids play in the bounce house. After some time spent eating, drinking, talking, and bouncing, one couple had to leave to go pick up their daughters. We brought everyone together and took turns, Lisa and I, giving them our thanks and being specific about what they, and others, did for us while our kitchen was a drive-thru. We all prayed together and I asked God's blessing on them...it was the best gift we could think of...and then the couple headed out.

Before they left, we all spent some time talking about how great it is to be able to share such things with neighbors. Very few people live in a place where Christ is honored in every home. I shared with them a vision I had earlier that day on my way home from work. I was thinking about the mansions that Jesus has prepared for us and I pictured the street we were all to live on in Heaven looking very much like the street we live on now. This is truly a group of people I wouldn't mind sharing eternity with. Our homes might be bigger...certainly the walls will be vehicle-proof...but our proximity to each other will stay the same.

I'm excited about that. I also like to think that all of you will be on adjoining streets.

Yesterday in class we talked about how Jesus modeled for us what humanity could be, what it should have been had we turned Satan's offer down. And we decided that since the evil one would be absent in Heaven, we will know that perfection for real some day.

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Some day we will be.

posted by Thurman8er @ 8:26 AM 3 comments

Friday, May 19, 2006

Closed House

Tonight we are hosting an Open House for our neighborhood. It's a way to say Thank You to all of our friends who helped us out when our House was Opened. It's also a chance to celebrate it's being closed.

We have always talked about how blessed we are to have the neighbors we do. We didn't need a Big Event to cause us to recognize that fact. We weren't surprised when they came through for us so much. Some brought us food. Some opened their homes (and showers) to us. Some watched our son when we couldn't. Many checked on us regularly, asking what they could do. These were never empty requests either. We knew that we could ask our neighbors for anything and they would be happy to help.

One of the exciting things about our neighborhood is that most of us are going to be neighbors for a long time. I mean a really, really long time. Sure, we might not live on Backer Ave. together for all that many years, but I have already put in a request that our mansions be on the same gold-paved street when we reach the other side. Very few of our neighbors don't know Jesus. And yet, they'll pray right alongside us tonight when we all give Him thanks together.

That's tonight. Tomorrow, I drive to LA to watch the Dodgers/Angels game. Sunday is time for worship and catching my breath as I get ready for 9 more days of school. Then I golf.

posted by Thurman8er @ 8:18 AM 4 comments

Thursday, May 18, 2006

What Makes the Hottentot So Hot?

COURAGE!


Next Sunday we are wrapping up our current series, "Sent to Serve." Each week, we've discussed the life of somebody that God called to service and we've tried to make the application to our lives today. What has struck me throughout this study is how different all these people were. Yet, even before the Son of the Lord they served had given his life for them, they were willing to do the same for God. What did they all have in common then? Unlimited faith. Undying love. Unquestionable loyalty.

And courage.

What makes a man leave everything he has and move to a foreign land?

Courage.

What makes a woman enter the king's chamber, knowing that if he doesn't lift his scepter her life is forfeit?

Courage.

What makes a person make demands of a Pharaoh? Confront an army of Philistines? Go to battle with 300 men? Deliver an unwanted message to an evil king? What makes a person follow a man who was crucified for his words? What makes a person declare that man to be God, when the penalty for blasphemy is painful death?

Courage.

I have to ask myself what I do that requires the tiniest shred of such courage. It doesn't take courage to sit in a pew and sing songs. Or to pray. Or to read a book. It would be hard for some to stand up and speak a message from God, but there is very little actual courage involved when I do it. In fact, it is an honor and a blessing.

Daniel was forced to enter a den of lions and they were hardly of the cowardly sort. Could I do it? Would I do it?

How much of our Christian lives revolve around comfort and peace? What would happen to the kingdom of God...and to the world...if Christians everywhere decided to do all of the things that scare them the most? If our faith is as real to us as it was to Abraham, to Esther, to Moses and all the rest, why is our courage not the same as theirs?

There are many among us who still show such courage. I'd like to hear their stories. I'd like to share their stories with others. I'd like to follow their example.

What makes a person preach the gospel in a country which calls that a crime? What makes a person live among disease and poverty in order to introduce people to the Great Physician? What makes people bring Light to the darkest places? What makes a person refuse to bow down to a god other than the One who made the world?

Courage.

posted by Thurman8er @ 7:50 AM 6 comments

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Jury Duty

One last thanks for everyone's comments on the "age of an elder" question (otherwise known as "how old is eld?"). There may have been one more reply since you last checked and I would encourage you to go read Tonya's thoughts. They touch on an aspect of this issue that I truly hadn't considered.

Yesterday I drove to beautiful downtown Fresno and parked across the street from Grizzlies Stadium. A tram took me and all my new best friends to the courthouse where we received our orientation on how to be good jurors. A judge dropped by to tell us how really, really important we all were and then the nice lady got back up and uttered the following heart-stopping sentence:

"We have a trial starting today with a projected end-date of June 30."

June 30. June 30??? But school's out on June 2. Hey, wait a minute! That's my summer vacation!!!

The nice lady then proceeded to call the names of the jurors who were to report to Division 21 and I could feel the cold, clammy hand of fate squeezing my head like a grape. When she read my name I let out a groan and got up to follow the crowd to the building next door with the metal detectors.

I should point out here that I have no aversion to jury duty. I'm all about civic duty and whatnot and I actually find the whole process very interesting. It's just...well...it's summer vacation!!!

We all assembled and a different lady (not as nice) called roll. Then the judge bounced in and cracked some jokes and read a little declaration which informed us that we were about to hear a case involving the rape of a minor. Oh. No.

I won't go into details for obvious reasons. But I felt like my blood got just a little colder when I heard what the case was about. Between my 18-year-old niece and the hundreds of young ladies I have been privileged to know at Sunnyside High, the thought of hearing this case made me just a little nauseous.

The judge then told us that he expected to hear the entire case by Friday. That was the first time we understood that we weren't on the June 30th case. That helped a bit. Then the long process of jury selection began. People told about themselves and the judge seemed actually interested in who these people were. He acknowledged the seriousness of the event, but kept things light enough that people could share freely. We stopped for lunch, we came back, we started over, and at 2:45 we had a jury. I never even made it into the box.

So it's business as usual today. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I can't stop thinking about that young man whose fate is being decided this week. Or the even younger girl who will have to tell her story to a room of complete strangers. Or 14 of my new best friends who will make the difficult decision. And it all makes me grateful for the protection God has granted me and mine over the years (kitchens notwithstanding). And for the perfection of His righteous judgment. And most of all, for the sacrifice that did away with a law I could not keep and the blood which makes me whole...free...guiltless.

posted by Thurman8er @ 8:11 AM 4 comments

Monday, May 15, 2006

Thanks

I want to thank everyone for weighing in (on the elder question, although your baseball terms were pretty cool too...it made me remember "frozen rope," my favorite expression for a hard line drive). Your comments were excellent...extremely well thought-out and very illuminating. Timely too, as the elder question actually did come up for me again over the weekend. If you haven't read the insights from all of the replies to Friday's entry, go back and do so. Then, leave your own thoughts if you haven't (or if you've, y'know, changed your mind since last week).

One of our elders addressed the congregation yesterday and said that "we take a conservative view of the scriptures." He went on to say that an elder should have "been married once." This, of course, is an interpretation of the "husband of one wife" phrase. As I've mentioned before, this interpretation is significant to me as a divorced man with a desire to be a leader within the church. I know that most of our elders interpret that phrase differently, so an inconsistent message was given yesterday. I hope to sit down with all of them soon and find out what they really think. My future (and my family's future) at College more or less hang in the balance.

Lisa and James are both down with vicious summer colds. Your prayers for them are greatly appreciated.

I hope Mother's Day was wonderful for all of you. I have been blessed with an incredible mother, an awesome mother-in-law, and a wife who is a terrific mother as well. Even though Lisa was ill, it was a great time to recognize these three amazing women for all they've done and continue to do. I hope you are all as blessed as I am.

14 school days left. Happy Monday!

posted by Thurman8er @ 7:49 AM 1 comments

Friday, May 12, 2006

Here's a Topic. Discuss Amongst Yourselves:

I'm a little verklempt.

I have a topic for you all today and I'd love to hear you weigh in on it. This is the perfect crowd for this question too. Among my vast readership there are a number of ministers, elders, deacons, elder's wives, elder's sons and daughters, deacon's wives, deacon's sons and daughters, and the myriad extended family and friends of ministers, elders, and deacons. Of course, this makes it sound like there are a huge number of you but we all know that truthfully it's just a handful and most of you fall into many of the above categories. For instance, I'm using Brady as a minister AND an elder's son, and throwing in minister's brother-in-law, and friend to many others. In other words, when I think of my readership, Brady counts for, like, 12.

Here's the question: How old should one be to be considered for the eldership?

Here are some things I know and you don't have to address. Everybody is different. Maturity and spiritual wisdom are not directly connected to physical age. The scriptures are not pointed on the subject of age, but do make reference to a wife and children (and those two discussions are for another time).

But surely you would be surprised, to say the least, to have a 25-year-old submitted for approval as an elder. So, somewhere, in the back of our minds, there probably is an age requirement. I'm wondering what yours is.

A couple of personal points and then the floor is yours. First of all, I have very liberal views on this position. I'm not convinced that the church is required to use the Pauline guidelines to appoint elders any more than I am convinced that we should be using any of Paul's desires for the church 2000 years ago to impact how we do things today. In other words, if your church is selecting elders according to the instructions Paul laid down, then none of them had better have long hair.

This may lead you to ask me if I think that an elder must be male. I do not. But take me to task for that later. Today's topic is age, not gender.

Secondly, I'm aware that this all sounds like I'm wondering if it's time for me to step up. It has very little to do with that. It's simply a discussion that has been cropping up the past few weeks and I'm looking for other perspectives. I truly want to know what you think. So have at it.

posted by Thurman8er @ 9:49 AM 6 comments

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Baseball Lingo

The Angels are mired in a 2-10 slump. They can't hit, they can't pitch, and they can't field...triple threat. They're painful to watch right now. I'm sure they'll improve but if I want to get my kicks from the world of baseball right now, I'll have to do it a different way. So it's time to list some of my favorite terms from the world's greatest sport. Cecil, Keith, everyone else: join in at will.

chin music

digging in

seeing-eye grounder (also known as a groundball with eyes)

can o' corn

humpback liner

throwing junk

hitting a gapper

bringing one back

1-2-3 double play

the back end of a double steal

throwing the deuce, the uncle charlie, the 12 to 6 curve, the yakker

texas leaguer

pulling the chain

the longball, the roundtripper, the dinger

shoelace catch (also known as off the shoetops)

riding the pine (one I'm very familiar with)

leadoff, 2-hole, cleanup

the 5.5 hole (made famous by Tony Gwynn)

warning track power

at'em balls

That's all the "top of my head" stuff. I'm sure I'll add more later. And I can't wait to hear yours. I love the language of the game. One more for the road trip:

get away day

posted by Thurman8er @ 7:51 AM 7 comments

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Cerrano = Palmer

"I like Jesus very much, but he no help with hitting a curve ball."

Thus spake Pedro Cerrano in "Major League."

I had one of those AHA! moments yesterday when I realized that Pedro grew up to become President Palmer on "24." My son will have that feeling in a few years when he realizes that Han Solo IS Indiana Jones. By the time he's old enough to see "Bladerunner," I think he'll have it figured out.

Have you ever had one of those moments? Have you ever pointed at the TV and shouted, "Hey, that's ..................!!" ? Usually it happens when you're watching an old movie on cable, one you've seen a dozen times, and you notice for the first time that it's Charlie Sheen who's making the moves on Ferris's sister. And it always creates strange scenarios in your imagination: "Honey, why is Josh Lyman running from Robocop?" "Well, dear, for the same reason that Frodo is watching Marty McFly play that video game."

Aha.

posted by Thurman8er @ 9:12 AM 4 comments

Monday, May 08, 2006

Scientology vs. Methodism

I'm weak.

Yesterday I was faced with a difficult choice. How to spend our last hours in Savannah? Should we soak up as much of the culture as time still allowed? Wouldn't it be awful to miss a great opportunity to worship at a church actually founded by John Wesley? Or maybe to find our way to a Baptist assembly where Martin Luther King, Jr. had delivered a sermon? I mean, nobody in their right mind would pass those chances up for something so everyday, so humdrum, so downright quotidian as...a movie!

Especially not a Tom Cruise movie!

Well, it's like this. When you have a youngster, your chances of getting out are limited. JJ Abrams is one of our favorite writer/directors and we wanted to...well, we wanted to see some stuff blow up. So we spent our last day in Savannah watching Mission Impossible III.

It rocked.

As did our entire stay. Friday night we were taken by riverboat to Fort Jackson and allowed to tour the entire location. We were served a delicious dinner there and returned to our hotel in time to watch fireworks over the Savannah River. On Saturday we were treated to massages at the nearby spa and then a feast later that night on the golf course, the same course where the Lengends of Golf Tour had been the previous weekend.

The trip home was a bit of an adventure. We had less than 10 minutes to make our connecting flight in Dallas and had to run our socks off (or in Lisa's case, our flip-flops) to make it in time. But we did and we had seats in first class on the way home, something neither of us had experienced before. Did you know that in first class, they serve you drinks in glasses made of glass? And that they give you food? And hot towels? And real plates and cloth napkins and heated, mixed nuts? And that you have a bathroom just for your section? And the stewardesses are...wait for it...nice??

Of course, the best part of the trip home was seeing our sweet boy who grew 5 inches and learned two new languages while we were gone.

Amazing trip.

Good to be home.

posted by Thurman8er @ 9:42 AM 7 comments

Friday, May 05, 2006

Savannah

We spent yesterday at Tybee Island. A huge pavilion was set up with free food and games. We took a side trip to visit an old lighthouse and climbed its 178 steps for a spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean. We laid on the beach for a while and ate dinner at The Crab Shack. It was a good day and we only got a little sunburned.

Today, Lisa and I took the ferry across the Savannah River to downtown Savannah. There were a lot of shops and restaurants and a long row of vendors' booths selling a variety of arts and crafts. But we were mostly interested in the landmarks. Lisa had her camera at the ready and we embarked down Bay Street.

Savannah was the 13th English colony and a primary seaport. It's amazing to walk past buildings that are older than America. We saw some beautiful architecture and amazing artifacts. I was surprised to learn that the city is the home of American Methodism. John and Charles Wesley were sent here on a missionary assignment from England and there are many churches here today that honor them. The most beautiful is the Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church, and it is very near where we are staying.

The thought of unification, as Cecil was writing about in a recent post called "Tears of Joy" (Click here and scroll down), seems to be on my mind constantly. I so want to worship Jesus and celebrate my relationship with him with Christians from "other tribes." I want to learn from their perspective and enjoy their fellowship. And more and more, I believe that it can't happen too soon. Heaven is too long a wait to be together with all of my brothers and sisters.

Tonight, we are off on a river boat to a nearby fort. We will learn some of the Civil War history of the area and eat more free food. Is it just me, or does it taste better when it's free? Tomorrow we are off to the spa for massages. As Joe Walsh once said, "Life's been good to me so far."

posted by Thurman8er @ 1:53 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Georgia

See that picture at the bottom of the previous post? Scroll down. I'll wait.

Pretty, huh? Weird too, since I'm sitting on the 4th floor of that building right now. The flight was great and tonight we received a few gifts (photo album, etc.) and a great spread of food and drink. It's now about 6:30 PST but we're turning in. Something about that 3 hours of sleep (1 1/2 for Lisa) last night.

A quick story before turning in. Avery (Sandra's son) sat behind me on the flight to Dallas. He and his team are off to Alabama to fly their rocket for NASA. Yes, all their odd looking devices did hold the plane up a bit, but not much. We are unbelievably proud of him. Still, the defining moment of the flight for me came when I looked down in my lap, reading my book, and was distracted by movement on the ground to my right...in front of me. I glanced over and saw my nephew's enormous foot, clad in an even more enormous shoe. That's right. His foot was_in_front_of_me. I followed it up the leg, twisting around to see this long-haired genius sitting there with his noise-reducing headphones on...grinning at me.

I love it.

Prayers for all of you whether in Pepperdine or your own home.

posted by Thurman8er @ 6:38 PM 3 comments

Monday, May 01, 2006

TGIT

As stated previously, I love the movie "Office Space." One of my favorite lines is "Uh oh. Looks like somebody has a case of the Mondays."

High school students always have a case of the Mondays. Even on Thursdays. Especially in May.

The weather turned nice last Thursday. Last weekend was wintry cold. This past weekend was summertime hot. So Thursday, pretty much, was Spring.

In May, every student at Sunnyside High becomes Ferris Bueller. They all wake up in the morning, look out the window, and say, "How can I possibly be expected to go to school on a day like this?" Most teachers do that too. Especially teachers who like to golf.

So Mondays are tough. Of course, Thursdays are pretty tough too. Arthur Dent (from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a good movie, a great read, but a tremendous radio show) wakes up one morning to find his house being torn down in order to make room for a new bypass. And he says something with which I could not possibly agree more: "It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."

If you're still with me--and I can't really imagine any circumstances under which you might be--I want to assure you that there is a point I'm driving at (or "at which I'm driving," for the grammatically correct amongst you. Somebody once accused Winston Churchill of ending too many sentences with prepositions and in his phoniest huffy-voice he replied, "Well, that is something up with which I will not put!"). What is that point, you may ask? What were we talking about, you may inquire? Is it still Monday, you may query?

My point is this: Today is Thursday. Happy Thursday.

Yeah, I know it's really Monday, but, see, Lisa and I are getting up early Wednesday morning to fly to Savannah, Georgia where we will enjoy an all-expenses paid vacation courtesy of Creative Memories and my hard-workin' wife. There we will stay at the Westin Resort and sleep in a big, cushy, king-size bed. We will receive complimentary food, drinks, and massages. We will participate in a Civil War reenactment-type-thingy (during which I plan to yell inappropriate and anachronistic phrases such as "Remember the Maine!" and "Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"). We will eat crab in our bare feet on the beach. We will, and this is the most vital piece of information, not be here.

Thus I won't be at work. Thus I will only be putting in two days this week. Thus it be Thursday.

Happy Thursday!


posted by Thurman8er @ 7:52 AM 5 comments

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