BabuLife

Can I Break the Spell of the Typical?

I love the Mute Math song "Typical". I discovered it months ago on some of my worship leader friends blogs and had it in my docket to purchase.  And I finally did this week on iTunes.  Check out these lyrics:

Come on, can I dream for one day?
There's nothing that can't be done
But how long should it take somebody
Before they can be someone

Cuz I know there's got to be another level
Somewhere closer to the other side
And I'm feelin' like it's now or never
Can I break the spell of the typical?

Now I've lived through my share of misfortune
And I've worked in the blazing sun
But how long should it take somebody
Before they can be someone

Cuz I know there's got to be another level
Somewhere closer to the other side
And I'm feelin' like it's now or never
Can I break the spell of the typical?

I don't know these Mute Math fellas and their story. Not sure if they are followers of Christ, but they sure have pegged the need and desire every person has to break the spell of the typical life.  That's exactly what God has given each one of us...the ability to break that spell and live for a purpose larger than anything we can see.  He's called us to a greater purpose...

II Timothy 1:8 - Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 9 - Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Now that sounds like something greater than the typical.  Watch the music video below...

What I'll be Doing this Week...Lots of Milking

v.  milked, milk·ing, milks

v.  tr.

1. 1. To draw milk from the teat or udder of (a female mammal).
   2. To draw or extract a liquid from: milked the stem for its last drops of sap.
   3. To draw out or extract something from, as if by milking: milked the witness for information.
   4. To obtain money or benefits from, in order to achieve personal gain; exploit: "The dictator and his cronies had milked their country of somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion"(Russell Watson).
2. To press out, drain off, or remove by or as if by milking: milk venom from a snake.
3. Informal
   1. To draw out or extract something from, as if by milking: milked the witness for information.
   2. To obtain money or benefits from, in order to achieve personal gain; exploit: "The dictator and his cronies had milked their country of somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion"(Russell Watson).

For a little context as to why and what situation I'll be milking, visit my wife's blog here and here.

Worship Confessional: 10/28/07

This weekend was a whirlwind!  We had three preachers onstage talking about parenting issues from three unique seasons of life.  Pastor Brian Gann spoke about raising children while our youth pastor Jim Williams took some time talking about youth.  Tim closed it out with the Biblical perspective of being an adult yet still being a child.  They did a great job.

Musicwise we pulled out a few of our Grace classics. As a matter of fact, I'm considering retiring one of our oldies, "Praise the Name of Jesus".  If you'd like to save this oldie from the storage closet, drop a comment and let me know...otherwise it's probably going to live on in the history books with an appearance once every couple years or so.  Here's our worship setlist.:

• Not to Us (A) by Chris Tomlin
• Praise the Name of Jesus (E) by Friends of His
• You are My King (D)by Passion
• How Great is Our God (C) by Chris Tomlin
• Enough (G) by Chris Tomlin

By the way, for about three weeks in a row I've had folks ask if we have a CD available.  There is a CD available at the Info Center during for $10. It isn't advertised at all really but if you'd like one, stop by and pick one up.  All proceeds go to Grace Church.

Chocolate Rain....mmmmm...yummy

So my buddy Adrian showed this video to me about 3 - 4 months ago.  I didn't know what to think or how to respond.  I'm sure many of you have already seen this if you're a Youtube watcher at all.  But I had to post it...just because I've got this in my head.  Enjoy...

A Vintage Treasure Chest

After a lunch this past week, I walked into my office to discover a tub with my name on the lid.  I opened it up and to my youthful immature self discovered it wasn't a simple little tub, but a treasure chest filled with a gold mine of vintage Star Wars toys.  We're talking stuff I played with thirty years ago. As you can imagine, I was somewhat thrilled by this gift!  Check out that vintage Yoda in the package along with the old Stormtrooper transport...I played that thing to death! I remembered that a friend mentioned that he was tired of lugging around this collection as their family moved frequently due to job responsibilities.

Thank you to both Scott and Michele for the wonderful surprise.  If you didn't know, they're headed to a new home away from Kansas.  They'll be missed.  Scott was a part of the worship team and was just getting into the groove with the team. Thanks for being on the WST Scott!

Christianity...is it the Cheesiest?

A few weeks ago I received an email from a guy named Prodigal Jon asking if it'd be OK if he linked to BabuLife from his blog.  After perusing his site for a bit, I knew I'd love reading some of his thoughts.  Recently Jon had a post about the suffering of Christians and how there's a movement to remove some of the expectation of suffering in the teaching of the Bible.  I couldn't have said better what Prodigal Jon said about this topic.  Read below and continue reading the post at ProdigalJon.com:

Joel Osteen and Macaroni & Cheese

When I was unemployed, or living what I call the “Summer of Jon,” I put on about 15 pounds because I was eating macaroni and cheese for breakfast. I loved it. It felt like a very adult moment. Instead of waiting until dinner or even lunch, I’d just heat up a couple packets of easy mac and eat the day away. Good times, good times.

But something I read recently about Kraft made me lose faith in one of my all time favorite foods. It seems that Kraft has found sales dwindling as a result of specialty cheeses and Wal-mart brands. On the high end of the scale, consumers are trading up for fancy imports that offer a more distinct taste. On the low end of the scale, consumers are buying cheap cheese from Wal-mart. Kraft is stuck in the middle.

Instead of addressing these problems by experimenting with specialty cheeses or lowering their price, Kraft is doing something called “Value Engineering.” Basically they are raising profits by lowering the manufacturing costs of macaroni and cheese. What does that mean? For one thing, it means that Kraft no longer puts cheese into macaroni and cheese. That sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Years ago, there was real cheese in there but now it’s just whey and cheese culture. The crazy thing is that Kraft still calls the product, “The Cheesiest.” Their website is “thecheesiest.com” and they love pretending there’s tons of cheese in the box.

Read the entire post here

Projectors Fixed

Last night our fearless video leader rose to the occasion and jumped on the lift to fix the projector issue we had during services last Sunday.  After a long evening of deep cleansing and color tweaking, the projectors are now operable. Doug and I finally wrapped up at 11:30pm. Hopefully we won't have the tennis match effect this weekend during services as I mentioned here.  Go Video Doog!

Weigh in Week 9

Worked out twice this week.  Did a mile on the bike and a mile on the ellipticals both days.  Had mexican twice this week...what's that mean?  Chips...lots of chips and salsa...had a hard time saying no.  Notice I skipped last week's weigh in? That's because I was too bummed to share that I went from 218 to 223 according to my scale.  However, this week I did lose...I'll try to overcome my frustration and post the good and the ugly...it helps me be accountable.  So...here's the weigh in this week.  A loss of two pounds from last...

221

Super Cool Person of the Week: Darryl

This week I want to take a moment to introduce you to Darryl.

Darryl has been a rock for the WST for many years.  At a time when our musical transition was just beginning some 6 years or so ago, Darryl stepped up to help usher the new sound taking our audio to the next level.  Since that time the audio leadership baton was passed along to Scott (also a WST Super Cool Person).  While the baton was passed, that hasn't meant Darryl faded away into the crowd at Grace.  He is still an important part of our team as he leads in Scott's absence and continues to rotate on the audio schedule.  Darryl's just an awesome part of the WST.  By the way...recently Darryl pretty much made sure that the sounds for the LIFE drama happened.  He was a DJ back there with a dual CD player making the music and sound effects happen.  I was blown away by what he and the other fellas in the booth did.  But there's more...

Darryl also leads the team of folks that meet one on one with folks who go through the Prospective Members class here at Grace.  He has a HUGE heart to help people take their next steps whether it's becoming a member of Grace, getting baptized or even becoming a child of God through salvation.  He coordinates the effort each month and also is Tim's right hand man on Sunday's when folks need to talk to someone about their next steps after services.  He's an integral part of the weekend at Grace.  Thank you Darryl for your heart to lead others to the Lord and for giving your all to the cause of Christ at our church.

Darryl is just one more reason I LOVE being a part of the Weekend Service Team at Grace Church.  If you see Darryl this week...be sure to tell him he's SUPER COOL!!!!!

Why Oh Why Would Ronald McDonald do This?

Here are the figurines the wonderfully "kid friendly" McDonalds are currently passing out to girls in their Happy Meals.  Let me introduce you to the little skaters my daughter enjoys.  Let me just say that each time I visit McDonalds, these little dealios go straight to the trash (after a picture of course)...thankfully there are so many toys in their lives that they don't even miss them.

I've been reading an excellent book that was lent to me by my good friend Jason.  It's called "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters:10 Secrets Every Father Should Know" by Meg Meeker.  I'm amazed at how the battle for my girls has been waged at such a young age.  Companies like McDonald's doesn't help us father's with crap like this (yes I said that word...sorry if it's a cuss word in your house).  Father's must be engaged in the fight...because whether you want to believe it or not...they're being attacked.  Check out Tim's post about this subject here.

To the McDonald's folks...PLEASE stop putting these underdressed, nasty looking little skater girls in the Happy Meals.

Leave a comment if you're sick of horrible McDonald's toys for girls.