Coffee Shop Commandments: part 1

Not everyone spends many hours a day at a coffee shop like I do. Not everyone's brain blanks within the walls of an office. Not everyone has the honor of working with a strange population which also primarily exists within the coffee shop.

For these and other reasons, not everyone realizes there are unsaid rules, commandments, to abide by in the event that you visit 'our world'. Below is the beginning of that list.

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Thou shalt USE headphones There is a reason your computer, iPod, or music device has a headphone jack. No one here is interested in listening to your music. If they are, they will listen themselves, on their own headphones, to the music you share on the local network. Otherwise, keep it to yourself.

Thou shalt not be power-hungry (don't hog the power) Look around you! Is there a power source near you? Are you plugged into it with your computer? No? Someone around you needs that power source. Don't hog the power source you aren't even using anyway.

Thou shalt drink coffee (this is not a free wi-fi cafe) Coffee shops have free wi-fi for their customers. Do not go to a coffee shop just to use the internet and not order anything, and NO, water does not count. No, it also does not count if the person you are with got something. Order something...especially if you are visiting an independent shop trying to keep up with the bigger chains.

Thou shalt wear shoes This shop may look like a living room...but it is not. You are gross. That is all.

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What other coffee shop rules would you add?

My Christmas reading list: you pick

I need a book to read over the Christmas holiday time. Here is my list of books to read. Which one should I read, and why?

Introverts in the Church by McHugh Divine Commodity by Jethani Souls in Transition by Smith Patched Together by Manning Leaders Who Last by Kraft Jesus Loves You, this I know by Gross Axiom by Hybels Churched by Matthew Paul Turner The Introverted Leader by Kahnweiler The Back of the Napkin by Roam Made to Stick by Heath Relational Intelligence by Saccone Reverse Mentoring by Creps Culture Making by Crouch Living And Loving Out Loud by West Life Together by Bonhoeffer The Journey of the Prodigal by Manning The Inner Voice of Love by Nouwen The Next Christians by Lyons

Which of these and why? Do you have others to add?

God does not bless you....THERE

In Amos 5:4, God says, "Seek me and live." It was a reminder to people who were trying to go back to places of blessing...places where God had once blessed them. It is a reminder that it is the Lord himself and not the places of blessing the children of God are to seek.

How often do I think, "If I could just go back to one place where I had once known such a connection to God!" If I could just go back to Anderson, IN or Meridian, MS. If I could just go back to such and such a place, I would be connected to God's heart again.

God says, "Do not go back to Bethel, Gilgal, or Beersheba." Do not go back to Anderson, Meridian, or Santa Cruz.

God says, "SEEK ME AND LIVE."

It takes intentional hearts to learn and remember my goal is God himself, not joy, nor peace, nor even blessings, but only my God himself.

Your god is too small [poem]

If your god is relegated to conscience that little voice in your head trained to    speak at the wave of your experience

your god is too small for me

If your god is only a projection of the distant father in your living room who abused and neglected you when a father was more important than food or shelter

your god is too small for me

If your god failed you by not doing what you thought he ought. If your god is designed for your convenience a prop for your comfort

your god is too small for me

If your god is a white-haired old man who is more old fashioned than old-age If your god is historically respected but defective in your current complexity

your god is too small for me

If your god is less meek and more mild piled with placid temperament un    inspired    un   moved   un    intentional

If your god’s emotional capacity for compassion is less than yours

your god is too small for me

If your god calls you to comfort safe for the whole family always “come unto me” but never “go out in my name”

your god is too small for me

If your god has never flushed your face and stolen your words with waves of open ocean or mountains that mouse your vocabulary

If your god does not leave you in awe of amazing grace so unbalanced you clamber to conceive it

your god is too small for me

If your god abides by your contracts a pact to protect your formulas a god who upholds your cold contingencies

If your god only works through the cogs of machinery you have manufactured for a factory of formulas to faith

your god is too small for me

If your god is white, middle-class, republican if your god is Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic Pentecostal, Lutheran, or non-demonational

your god is too small for me

If your God created you in his image and you returned the favor

your god is too small for me

Whatever god it is you know so much about to comprehend or contain is too small for me

Because

My God

is too big for you

My God is not contained in bullet-points pressed on a page by those arrogant enough to think they could grasp Him.

My God is too big for you

If you are searching for a god small enough to see, tiny enough to taste or touch with trust displaced

If your soul is not sandbagged or beautifully nagged by a God who won’t      stop calling your name

my God is too big for you

If you do not praise your god for poetry, music, and art a baby’s smile or a full coffee-cart; for brazen horizons and seas a resounding storm or tender breeze

If your god does not leave you in love with beauty that makes your soul scream, “THIS is what life should be”

my God is too big for you

If you are searching for a god you can wrangle like a mustang with a rope made of frayed twine and managed reason

If you need a being who will obey your beckon to submit to your five senses and incomprehensive pretenses

then this poem is too big for you

my God is too big for you

3 dreams for 2011

Resolutions are not generally something I spend too much time casting. Goals are not a typical party of my vocabulary or reality. Vision casting is not an expertise I would project onto myself.

But I love to dream I cannot NOT create

The dreams I have for this year are to:

Poemize each sermon I write, make a spoken word EP (even if just for me), take more pictures of nothing particular, draw outside the lines of "3", self-publish a book about...something, shoot more video, share more video, join a poetry/writing group, join a rec volleyball league, start and finish P90X again, wear a fake mustache at least once, learn more ukulele, add to this list...

What are your dreams, resolutions, goals, hopes for 2011?

Sovereignty is sovereignty

I continue to hold that one of the most amazing theology books of our time regarding the sovereignty of God is Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss.

I love the perspective reminder. A God who is completely outside of, beyond, and other than our realm of perspective is always going to seem unreal.

I love the reminder that we are exponentially smaller than the God who holds us.

I love the reminder of a God who though his people are carried away by lesser things, he still cries out our names.

I love the reminder that the god people doubt is not big enough.

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What other unlikely books would you place on the greatest theology books...and why?

Family mustache night

Last week, Tonya, Bryleigh, and I had dinner out together. We went to Old Spaghetti Factory, a family favorite. While we were in line for a table, there was a family of 5 in front of us. Mom, Dad, 2 little boys, and a girl; all 4 of 5 had mustaches (only mom was not participating, but dad's was real, so the way I see it his real mustache makes up for mom's unwillingness). The kids just loved it. They were out to eat, which is already the best night ever for a kid, but that they all decided they were going to wear mustaches had to have made that particular night stick out to them, likely forever.

Those are the moments, as a kid, that you never forget.

"Remember that one night we all wore fake mustaches to dinner?"

It made me think about ways I can make nights like this. What ways am I going to make nights like that for my daughter, for my family? Those are the memories you never forget.

What strange unforgettable things have you done with your family?