By the Numbers

255,555... The number of miles on my car

I'm grateful that my dad taught me to be content with driving old Hondas. They are reliable and get good gas mileage. My parents have never had a car payment. Neither have any of their kids. 

My father-in-law was so generous and for our wedding gave us their '97 Cavalier (less than 2 years old at the time and only had about 40,000 miles). I sold that car for $7K, and bought the '94 Accord with 117,000 miles for $6K. I bet the Cavalier is in a junk yard somewhere. The Accord, on the other hand, is just getting broken in.

Thanks, dad, for reminding me that cars are just metal boxes. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

70 mph... My speed on the Interstate

After Alex's talk on Romans 13, I've been making a concerted effort to obey the law. You can find the message at saltcompany.com

1... The number of farm machines I considered driving under

6:56... The time we put our kids to bed

You can hardly see the time because of all the sunlight reflecting off the clock. We are mean parents.

With our first couple kids, I had this notion that I was depriving them if I didn't let them stay up until 9:00 every night. But we were hanging out with some friends (Scheibe's), and we noticed they were putting their kids, who were older than ours, to bed earlier than we did.

We decided an early bedtime was in order. We found that our kids were much happier, and so were we. 

This early bedtime has also served to save our marriage.

Advice... You don't have to do 7:00, but your little kids probably don't need to be up much past 8. If Benjamin Franklin thinks it's a good idea, then it must be ("Early to bed, early to rise...")

10... The number of garden beds in our back yard

This is the hip way to garden. 

Row gardening is so 90's.

3... The number of books I'm reading

"I'm reading" is code for "books that sit on my nightstand that I look at every night and think, 'that would be a great book to read'...then I turn on the NBA playoffs instead."

Actually, I'm totally loving the Shaara book-it's one of the best WW2 books I've read. It's the first in a WW2 trilogy (thanks, Mikaela!). Mere Christianity is a book I'm trying to revisit on a more regular basis, and 1776 is a book that a friend loaned me (props, Carl). I love engaging history books.

397... Number of my vocal notes that Melodyne fixed

I'm actually not sure how many of my notes were fixed, but if you want to be humbled, record in a studio and have it played back to you without the band. Ouch.

Click here for the technology Todd Wallace has been using to produce the Anthem recording. This stuff is ridiculous. Amazing- especially the bit on changing the notes within a chord (we're still waiting for some of this software to be released).

33... The number of items in my nightstand (i.e. junk) drawer

How many do you count? 

To all the Baptist readers... don't worry, the Swishers only get used once or twice a year.

3... The number of wheels on my lawn mower

Four wheels is over hyped.

It's only fitting to mow with this 3 wheeled beast- it sort of matches the ethos of my yard.

1... The number of items we ordered at the Natural Kind Cafe

Leatha and I happened upon this hippie, organic cafe while we were in Omaha. It's the perfect place to people watch. Believe it or not, this green concoction was our strawberry smoothie. It's not every restaurant that adds chlorella as their secret weapon.

2...the number of people peeking while praying.

 
I have to give Makai credit- he looks very focused on the prayer, unlike me, who was busy taking the picture.

But we all know adults can peek.

Conversations

One of my favorite things in life is meeting up with good friends I haven't seen in awhile, having thought provoking conversations about life, God, politics and whatever else over a cup of coffee. This happened over Memorial Day weekend.

Here we are at the Old Market in Omaha on a perfect Midwest spring day (left to right: Dad, me, Clarke Stevens, Ed Noble). Clarke, who has visited the greatest cities in the world, considers the Old Market in Omaha to be one of the most cultured downtown districts.

Our conversations included...

The contrast between the Baptist Reformed and Holiness movements in America. These views would give vastly different answers to the question: What is the most true thing about me? The Reformed Baptist may emphasize "sinner saved by grace" while the other "saint who is fully equipped to live a holy life". Or, to bring it down one more rung on the abstraction ladder: Is it possible for a Christian to live a sinless life? The former would say, "Of course not, we're sinful to the core." The latter, "The grace of God enables us to say 'no' to sin."

There are also implications for eternal security, which started the conversation. Some people in my home church (Christ Community in Omaha) are alarmed at the pastor's openness to the possibility of someone losing their salvation. I can't speak to his view on this, but I know the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination has roots in the Holiness movement, which may be open (possibly teach) such a view.

I think a good look at church history would instruct and humble us. For the mainline traditions, it may push them to a more vibrant, orthodox faith. For the Evangelical/Bible churches, it would remind them that many of our ancestors in the faith thought differently on non-orthodox issues.

I have more thoughts on the "once saved, always saved"... for another time.

The Omaha Music Scene

Ed, from San Diego, commented on how teenagers in SoCal talk about the music scene in Omaha. Those bands would include Bright Eyes, The Faint, and Cursive. Here's a video for those interested...

Also, our friend Clarke happens to live near Conor Oberst's house. Doesn't his car (and the above video) epitomize Indie rock culture?

The Voice of God

I just sat back and listened as Ed and my dad talked about things God had been speaking to them about in recent days. Dad was speaking later that night on "hearing the voice of God." Ed talked about the "wool test." Does God speak to you? He speaks to his sheep (John 10).

I wonder if there are any loyal Greg Koukl followers out there who think that's not really what Jesus was talking about in John 10. Or that we shouldn't expect to hear from God. I'm not trying to patronize you- I think Koukl has some valid concerns about people's carelessness with this text, "My sheep hear my voice."

I can't wait to get to heaven, when conversations with old friends over coffee on a beautiful day will be a common occurrence.

The Kids

We went to Omaha this weekend. Here are just a few kid shots...

Beck and DJ (neighbor kid) playing dead and getting help.

DJ was so cute. He kept saying, "I'm a coach." I'm not sure what exactly that had to do with getting resuscitated, but he was adamant about it.

Pink sunglasses? I guess that's what happens when you have to sit next to your older sister. 

We buzzed the boys. It's the easy, cheap, and efficient summer cut.

Ava reads nursery rhymes to Makai...

"The apple doesn't fall far from the apple tree." Nice tweaked Indy Air on the swing.

You never know what's going to happen when you send the kids off to fold towels. Here, Ava was turned into a towel mummy. We wondered why they were so quietly hard at work.
Ava in the back seat between her two ninety year old great grandmas. Grandma Marge (on the right) fell to the ground during a game of kick ball. She was totally unfazed. She is made of steel.

Cliques

I was meeting with a graduating senior, and he asked me, "Do you think Salt Company is cliquey?"

Yes. Salt Company is very cliquey.

But our problem is not that we have too many cliques, it's that we don't have enough. 

I'm all for packs of people who like to hang out with each other. The beautiful thing about a large group (i.e. TSC) is that you're bound to find people you "click" with. 

The obvious "duh" here is that the body of Christ should not exclude people or show favoritism based on interests or outward appearance.

But please no Christian butt head cliques. Those are banned.

Give her a break

Leatha is 34 weeks along, which means she's getting very close to having a baby. 

That said, Cameron walks by and sees Leatha sitting on her ball, working on the computer.

He says, "Wow, mom, that ball must be really strong."

There's nothing like a comment like that to lift your spirits. Here are some others that have made this a special pregnancy for Leatha...

"Are you sure you're not having twins." (comment from a neighbor)

"Are you sure they got the dates right? Well, I guess it is your fifth child."

"Wow, you must really be ready to go."

"You look like you're gonna pop." (Cashier at Aldi's)

Magnificent

For my fellow U2 fans, the video for the best song on the new album was released a couple weeks ago. I couldn't embed it, but you can find it here.

The video captures some of the magic and mystery of Morocco.

I still pray for my friends from there... Rachid, Abdessamad, Brahim, Mustafa, and the Tarbouni's.