click on photo albums to see pictures from jr. high camp.

I really enjoy things that can be accomplished in one day. My wife and I hung some canvases on a freshly painted wall in our hallway. The best part? It was quick. It freaks me out a bit when I get up at night to relieve myself and the house looks different. But then we were looking at old pictures from our first Christmas in our house, and there were so many differences that it felt weird seeing how many things we now think of as always being there. Click on it for a bigger shot, or come over and look at it in real life. Just call first.

So Bono is the guest editor for July. There is an article about it here, and I guess it’s sort of his ‘preface’ article. I’m looking forward to it, and I probably won’t buy more than one issue, but I will dig through the stands to find the coolest one. I’ll update you when I find which one is the coolest. Man it must be tough to be .

Coming home from my stint at Junior High Camp means putting away a ton of camp game paraphernalia, like pool noodles, 60 padlocks, 600 dominoes, some stop watches, and some play dough. But it also means sitting down in the comfortable spot on the couch and catching up on what the Tivo caught for us while we were out. No commercials, no surfing, just vegging out in front of the TV. One of my new personal short-lived favorites is Studio 60. The characters have stories that make them human. It’s been canceled, and I’m pissed. Not enough to actually join a message board or anything drastic like that, but I really did like the show. The ‘Christian’ character Harriet Hays, played by Sarah Paulson, had an interesting scene with Danny Trip, played by, Bradley Whitford. Danny is about to lose a fiance and a daughter in one night, and she is going to teach him how to pray. He leaves the chapel because he feels it’s wrong, and makes some valid points to why it is wrong, but in the end, he caves. All alone, on his knees, in the middle of a hospital. It hurts so good. I wonder at the awkward portrayal of Harriet as a christian, and how it is received by people at Focus on the Family or Christianity Today. Not enough to actually go look for it, but if I stumbled upon it, I think I might read that article. Either way, it’s been a good one season show. I’d buy the DVD’s if I were you, but if you don’t want to cough up the dough when they come out, you can borrow them from me.

The Friday night before camp, I was able to enjoy some live music in Roseville. The headliners caught my ear at last year’s warped tour, and Friday was dynamic. The band doesn’t stop with sing-a-longs that fuel foot tapping and body swaying. There is a thorough commitment by the guys in this band to deliver entertainment at a professional level. It triggers this sense of happiness in me. Their latest album, A Different Light is one step further into the adventure that is Sherwood. These guys are musicians to the nth degree, with a stage presence to fit. Check ‘em out.

I am moving on to The Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical by Shane Claiborne. The place he lives just burned down, and they are accepting donations. Click his name to read more about it. Everybody is reading this book, and Rick used a story from it in This Beautiful Mess. It climbed my stack quick.

Currently Reading: The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.

Next Up:
1.In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson
2.Sex God by Rob Bell
3.An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
4.The Dip by Seth Godin
5.ReUnderstanding Prayer by Kyle Lake

I finished this book this morning. I’m pretty sure this is the second time I’ve ever been confident in saying that using beautiful as an adjective is an understatement. (The first time has to do with this girl rhonda) I’ve taken my time through this book, that is short enough to breeze through, but it cuts too deep to be breezy. I can’t quote anything in it’s entirety here, but the beauty in the writing in this book, not just by Rick, but by many of the people from Imago Dei work me over. The one entitled ‘advent’ will make itself at home somewhere in my home soon. I’m not sure how or where, but it provokes you to live. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Rhonda and I just came back from a week at Junior High Camp, complete with your mom jokes for all. The speaker, Michael Pigg of west Texas, was stellar. The first night had the students setting up the amphitheater as a sanctuary, something they really got to own throughout the week. It was a great setting. I am going to post a photo album of the weeks events. The band, Provision from Point Loma, was great. They were most fun to hang out with, and found more time than one normally does to use puns. We are looking forward to Senior High Camp, where they will be back, and ybod will bring the death and destruction, again. Just a few weeks away. I can’t hardly wait.

Sorry for the time out. I went on a trip: Roseville(Sherwood, The Classic Crime, The Fold, Sound The Alarm), Reno(The Oakes moving to Kansas and got to see Ben and Jessica, parents to be), Carson City(Father’s Day), and Nevada City(Junior High Camp). Even though I had internet access in most of these places, I was way more into being in those places than posting about them. Now that I am back, I will flood the internets with the happs.

I started reading a new book (finished Reinventing Jesus last weekend) called This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley.  He is the pastor at Imago Dei in Portland, which you may know from Donald Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz.  It is already compelling, and will be worth it’s weight in words, I can already tell.  My favorite line thus far is “In all the tidiness, the wonder of the gospel of Jesus seemed to be disappearing.”  A lot of the book hurts when you read it, but it grows you all the same.

So life is messy, which is certainly addressed in this book, and there is a part in Chapter 6 where he goes into this story about living in a hospital while his son is sick.  It’s heart wrenching, but it leads me to share.  I beg you to pray for this boy that I know.  A friend of mine, Nate Oates, is currently pastoring a church in Lincoln called Emmaus.  A little over a week ago, his 4 year old son, Isaiah Oates, was diagnosed with Leukemia.  You can read about it here, but I challenge you to read the post, Rough Night, Encouraging Morning.  It has redefined what it means for me to have faith like a child.

side note: It also made it 10 times harder to sing ‘You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name.’  Honesty hurts, and it is so hard to be completely honest when singing most worship songs.  Maybe some people think I shouldn’t say that, but they probably don’t think about what they are singing anyway.