If you've never done this before it is really cool. This is the best one I've found online, though it is a few years old now. It's an online prayer labyrinth - you have to have some to time to really dedicate to it, but it is very cool.

I picked this book up yesterday at Borders - I know, shame on me for not supporting an indie book store.
But as I started this book it blew me away. It is asking and addressing the same questions I've been wrestling with for a long time. It is a God-sent book for me. For some reason I have beef with the term Pagan - but as they explain it in the book it makes sense. But the whole premise is how modern Christianity practices religious elements that come from pagan roots - not biblical, early church roots. It is a challenge to the way we do church - I can't wait to finish it.

So I wanted to find out if anybody else would like to discuss it. Whether you already read it or would be willing to - it is a thought provoking book and would stimulate great conversation. It has a lot to offer for relational, organic, third-place community thought.

I'm going to try and make this short - but PLEASE READ THIS POST and PASS IT ON TO OTHERS!!

Some good friends of ours, Mike & Candice McGarvey, are home missionaries working with Teen Challenge. If you don't know much about Teen Challenge click here and here. In a nut shell TC is one of the largest and most successful addiction recovery programs, with centers across the US and the World. So successful is their recovery rate that 27 countries are on a waiting list, requesting TC to start a center in their country. Even though TC is faith based, countries recognize the power of its success and their need for help with the drug epidemic.

So, why I want you to read this and pass it on - well for TC to go into these countries and to continue growing here in America, they need more trained, developed and skilled workers. So, our friends have been helping TC develop an internship program to recruit future leaders and raise awareness of the TC mission. I can't do justice to the testimonies and vast mission here, but trust me it is an amazing program. But, Mike & Candice have to raise their own funds - and they need your help.

Julie and I got to spend some time with them on our vacation and it has been burning in my soul since we left. These are good people, doing a good thing and I want to take part. Julie and I have personally cranked up our support on a monthly basis for them and I'm asking that you would consider doing so. Think, 20 bucks to you is skipping a lunch out twice a month - but if you gave that to them, and as others join - they'll have what they need to develop and train leaders for this life changing mission. Maybe you can't, but your church might or your college ministry might or your mom might.

Click HERE to make a one-time donation or a monthly pledge - help Mike & Candice - help people around the world experience freedom!

This is NOT a post advocating voting or not voting - but something to stretch, challenge, add to your thoughts in this very important election seasons. I recently read a good article that challenged me as I was contemplating not voting this year (read it here). I still don't know where I'll land - I hate choosing between the lesser of two evils, I hate that I took the Christian/Conservative vote for Bush in past elections and I know that neither political party represents me.

But I have come to the conclusion that the best vote for me and my faith is Jesus. To be who he called me to be, live the way he lived and love the world around me. So I am taking a similar stance that my wife and I have taken with Christmas. For Christians the Holiday season is as messed up as our political system - so we have separated our faith from it. We celebrate Christmas as an American holiday, we give gifts, have a tree and spoil our kids. We love the holiday season. But to celebrate Jesus' birth we do something totally different and want to make sure the distinction is clear for us and our kids. We and our extended family give stockings to a foster home, the grandkids put on the manager story and we celebrate what His birth means in our lives separate from the Holidays.

So this election seasons I'll probably vote, take part in the democratic system - but know that my Christian voice is best heard through my life - not my vote.

Margret Fienberg - one of the bloggers I read - just saw Joe Castillo live for the first time - pretty amazing storytelling medium. Check out more videos here.

If you havent' heard about this new translation - it is going to be awesome. I can't wait to re-read the stories of the New Testement through the voice of artists and theologians, instead of just theologians.

Over that past few weeks I've had the opportunity to connect with friends from college, some of my local homies and my mentors - here are three consistent things I've learned, discussed and seen.
First...
God uses some pretty unique threads, even crazy threads, to weave our life together with. Our lives aren't today what we thought they would be 5 years ago - and they won't be what we imagine them being in 5 more years. But it is God's faithfulness to us, his love that pulls it all together. If you're like me, sometimes from this limited human perspective the weaving looks kinda crappy - but it's these unique threads that when looking back on our life will mean the most. So we can rejoice with Paul in our weakness, celebrate the failures and enjoy the dry, boring season of life because it is God's story.
Second...
It's the struggles that define us. Without the struggle, whatever it is, life would only hold a limited significance. No matter where we are, with or without a job, with or without funds, with our without a purpose - it is our current struggle that calls us to be better and hold closer to God. Today’s struggle, whether small or impossible, only leads to tomorrows struggle, because to struggle is to live.
Third...
Being a friend is messy. A real friend, a true n' blue friend is there no matter what. If I expect to be a friend, I have to be ready for the messy reality of what a deep friendship entails. It means I have to be ready to see them for all that they are and love them. It means I have to be ready to challenge them with tough love, which is a hard thing to do. And I have to be ready to receive tough love, which is an even harder thing to do. It is too easy to write someone off, to give up on them - but a true friend is ready to get down in the mud, be authentic and live the struggle together.

ROOV is an online community that connects like-minded individuals around their shared experiences and passions within their church and city. Check it out, get connected - change the world. ROOV


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This is the trailer to a movie that will be shown in theatres, in select cities in the Fall. You can learn more at http://www.callandresponse.com/. Another organization to check out is http://www.innocenceatlanta.com/.

I've been having conversations lately about what the Christian voice in Democracy should sound like. I don't believe the sound from the conservative right, is necessarily the voice of Jesus and his love in our world. So, finding organizations like these are glimpses of what I think it should look like.

I had this confused feeling while I was down in the south vacationing - like I was missing something. I saw a lot of confederate flags and was confused by why people were wearing one on their shirt, or why one was hanging from a pole, or bumper-stickered to someone's car? My confusion wasn't around the fact that their rebellion failed and they lost the war, it was that they were wrong on race. The confederate flag should be a symbol of shame and encourage apologizes, not southern patriotism. What I learned from American history, about slavery, was that it was a grossly inhumane act of ignorant hatred - not exactly a shining spot in our short history. I've known a lot of southerners who say the Civil War was about State's rights, but that masks what it was really about - the State's right to have slaves and the inhumane treatment that followed.

I think we should put the confederate flag in a museum - not on shirts or cars, unless the word 'SORRY' is written across it. Another confusing moment of the trip was our visit to Stone Mountain. It is a beautiful park and has the world’s largest relief sculpture, but the sculpture is of Confederate 'heroes' from the Civil War (Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson). What I was confused by is why Abraham Lincoln wasn't included? Or why we haven't updated it with Dr. King? Why does the south memorialize the confederate rebellion? Again - I feel like I'm missing some piece of the puzzle.

So I'm always drawn to a strong female vocalist, one that can stand alone, be simple, pure and moving. I love to listen to Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, Feist, Regina Spektor for those reasons. I have now added Adele to the list. We probably listened to her new album 100 times while we drove on vacation - she's awesome - check her out.

So we just returned from a 9 day trip to the south that included the Smokey Mountains, visiting friends & family, going to a wedding and hanging out with my brother and sister's families at a cabin - we had an exhaustingly-great time, drove 2100 miles and are glad to be home.

I was proud to conclude a trip like that being more in love with my wife and boys then when we started. It wouldn't be hard to imagine 9 days together and 2100 miles in a car together calling for some 'personal time,' but I miss my wife and boys right now and was sad to leave to work today, for more than than the normal reasons. I love my wife and my two sons, I'm glad I have them and feel very blessed to have the life I have.

I’ve recently realized that outside of work, my group of friends had become more Christian than it should be. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Christian friends, but I realized I don’t have any close friends at this time in my life that disagree with me on religion. I intend on fixing this – I need friends who don’t think like me.

Also, I’ve realized that I’ve been without a mentor for a few years now. I have been fortunate enough to have mentors for most of my adolescence/young adult life. So, I recently asked two people I know, trust and who are a little farther along in life than me, to join me in my journey. I love the time I get to spend with them, and they both are a great sounding board for where I am in life right now.

So - check your list of friends and mentors, you might be suprised.

Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, this video is amazing and no matter how many times I've watched it, it still inspires me. With Obama announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups, I had two conversations about Obama yesterday, both made me think of this video.