poets, prophets & preachers

I got back yesterday from Grand Rapids, MI where I attended the Poets, Prophets & Preachers convention. The tag line of the conference was "recalling the lost art of the sermon" and that really was the entire focus. The whole thing was absolutely top-notch.

I won't bore you with all the details. I'll just bullet point some of the things I took away.

~ Grand Rapids has a pretty stinking cool downtown. Who knew?

~ If you do not know who Peter Rollins is, you should. He was by far the highlight of the conference for me. I can't wait to read his book How Not to Speak of God.

~ It was great spending a few days with some dear friends (Jeph & Kayla, Tim & Courtney, & Tim Sutherland).

~ I don't understand why people so passionately hate Rob Bell. I understand some of the criticism against him. I understand people not liking him. I understand people strongly disagreeing with certain parts of this theology. But I don't understand the intensity and the zeal with which people attack him. It boggles my mind.

A gentlemen who attended the conference got a call while he was there from one of the elders at his church informing him that he had been fired merely for his attendance at the conference. Apparently, Rob Bell is a dangerous heretic leading everyone astray and any association with him will send you and your flock straight to hell. Really...I don't understand it at all.

~ Finally, here is my favorite quote from the conference. It is a meaty one, so it may take you awhile to chew on it. It is from the aforementioned Peter Rollins. Here you go...

"God is not the patch of meaning we place over the wound of our lack of understanding. He IS the wound...over which we attempt to place our patches of meaning."

Absolutely beautiful isn't it?

arts academy

Crossings held our first Arts Academy this morning. For three Thursdays this month, a group of artists are going downtown to Tribe One to teach song-writing, sculpting, dance, and poetry to "at risk" inner-city kids. It is a big need and an incredible opportunity to help these kids find outlets to express their thoughts and feelings, and to do so in a positive and constructive way.

And, based on this morning, it is going to be a big blessing for our artists, too.

My role is to teach the art of song-writing. Which may sound easy enough, but (and this is a big "but"), to a bunch of inner-city kids, 'song' means only one thing: rap. So, yes, laugh if you will (and you probably should)...but I am instructing at risk, inner-city kids how to rap.

Now, keep in mind that I am not actually rapping; I am simply helping them construct lyrics and rhymes. So, its not quite as bad as it sounds. But I was a bit nervous, to say the least.

However, here is what I found: these kids have talent. A lot of talent.

And more than that...they have a story to tell. Their language may be coarse, and certainly not every student was into it, but I was blown away at how much these kids opened up this morning. And on the first day!

One young man, within a matter of 5 minutes, wrote this...

When I was ten years old was when my life really began
I could feel the pain through my veins like a sting

I tried to be nice to my mom but she was real mean
My dad was never there for me,

He left me to be a man
and I had to try the best I can

Now its been five and I feel like I'm stuck in a beehive
I've tried to go to church and they say I've got to strive to survive

But I don't see why I've got to strive
when nobody's helping me get out of this beehive

did you hear about this story?

Apparently, there was a plane crash yesterday involving 153 people. The plane was flying over the Indian Ocean when it hit bad weather and went down. Among the wreckage rescue workers actually found a survivor. And it was a toddler!

Isn't that incredible?!

The toddler's name...John Locke. (Not really. But how cool would that be?)

Where were you?

I'm sure there will be many a post dedicated to the King of Pop. I, Betsy, thought I'd just ask for your memory.

Where do you picture yourself when you think about Michael Jackson? When I think of him, I think of all the rides in the car listening to his tapes while my mom was driving. I remember the day Bad came out and going to the store to buy it, opening it and reading the inside while we listened. I also think about dancing slow and meaningfully to Man in the Mirror on our driveway with my fisher price cassette player, and the many times Bill and I have played and sang it in the car. Lastly, I think of decorating posters for cheerleading camp in my friend Heather's garage in high school but stopping because HIStory was just released and the world premiere of Scream was going to be on MTV. After watching that we went back to the garage and tried to remember all the moves to Thriller. There are so many memories of his music and videos. I just can't think there can be another pop star of his caliber, at least as long as music is done the way it is today. An icon falls, and it's hard to believe.

bill's confession time...

Okay. I need to get a few things off my chest. Here goes...

1) I now tweet. I know, I know. I don't even have Facebook, but I have Twitter. Well, Crossings has entered the world of Twitter, and I feel like its now kind of a staff requirement for us to join. And I, like Jesus, always do as a I'm told.

It gets worse...

2) Betsy and I watched High School Musical on Disney Channel Sunday night. And I liked it. Kind of a lot.

3) Betsy and I watched High School Musical 2 on Disney Channel last night. And I liked it, too. Not nearly as much as the first. But it was good.

Listen, I know its unbelievably cheesy...but I don't care. I like the songs. I like the dancing. I like the fact that it depicts high school students who aren't whores. Granted...they are high school students who are incredibly campy and not in any way believable. But its refreshing to watch a movie in which the most risque scene is a shirtless Troy Bolton in the locker room getting ready for the big game.

Well, there you go. Judge me if you will. But I now tweet. And I also now 'heart' Troy Bolton. So, apparently I am a 12 year old girl.

tweedle dee, tweedle dum

I, Betsy, succumbed to Twitter temptation. I like it. follow me!

whoa

First of all, the Fiction Family show was amazing. Sara Watkins opened and was perfect. She played the entire show which I didn't expect. Very cool. I love Jon Foreman, his songwriting has been walking me through life since high school. Speaking of high school, remember what it was like to say "when I was in high school" and actually mean that it was just a few years ago? I realized on May 22nd, that I graduated 10 years ago. That, my friends, is crazy. I do not feel that old. Anyway, seeing Jon with the Watkins (formerly of Nickel Creek, in case you didn't know) was uplifting and inspiring. All of them play their instruments in a way that made me feel like I needed to be in a much bigger venue then the Square Room. Another side note-I LOVE the square room. It really is a great addition to Knoxville. How blessed is Crossings to be a part of it?! Back to my story, Bill and I were third row, right in the center, watching some masters of their trade play and enjoy what they do.




Secondly, I was over the moon about the NKOTB reunion, and now Zack Morris on Jimmy Fallon?!?! Can you even believe how incredibly cool it was of Mark Paul Gosselaar to do that? I was so in love with him growing up but I heard he was kind of a jerk. Now, he has won my favor once again. I will give it to the writers too; they touched on a lot of the best Saved by the Bell trivia! You MUST see this clip, taken from Hulu since they've been removing it from youtube.... GO HERE.

I like yard work!

Tonight I left Bill with Jude and went to Lowe's to get some little shrubs to plant in front of the house. I planted them tonight and put in the little solar yard lamps along the front walk. There is still a whole lot to do when it comes to our yard. The woman who lived here before us loved flowers and worked in the yard regularly. We just don't always have time for that so it's been hard keeping up with some of it. Tonight was a good start though. I also decided that I love mowing the lawn so that's going to be my job from here on out. Bill loves mowing too, but I asked him if I could take it over since he gets exercise more regularly than I do throughout the week. I am just praying that if I keep doing the yard work Bill will decide he loves laundry.

That's all. Night!

yes virginia, there is a...

Santa Claus...kneeling before Baby Jesus statue. Actually, there's two.

Betsy, Jude and I saw these two statues in Pigeon Forge over the weekend. I know its May, but these are classy regardless of the season.

Where to begin?

Betsy here again. Yes, it's been quite some time since the last post. Neither of us have been able to decide what to blog! Most of my update is internal. And most of you are probably way ahead of me in this, so bear with me. This may be a long post, so I'll put it into categories.

SPIRITUAL: The Word

A fellow blogger and christian author, Joanne Heim, finished her latest book, "Misplacing God: And Finding Him Again". I've been reading Joanne's blog for a couple of years now and really like her a lot. She asked us to answer a question about our "quiet times" several months back, saying that if we respond, we'll be in her book. She also said that if we would review the book that we would get free copies! Sure enough, I got my copy about a month and a half ago! It was well timed. Reading it has helped me view the Word of God in a renewed way. I thought it could be another uninspired book with checklists to follow daily to meet my God quota, but it was so much more personal, passionate and encouraging then that. Joanne's open and honest personality shine through and as one who has been following her day to day for a couple of years, I know that it's the real deal. I highly recommend this if you are feeling like your well has run dry!



Around the same time I received that book, we had that dinner at 4MS with the Sara Groves concert. I had forgotten how much I loved Sara because it had been years since I'd sat down and listened. Scripture, truth and life intertwine so well in her music and, as Boyz II Men would say, it's like food to my soul. I'd also had a good conversation with a friend over how challenging it was for me to read the Bible regularly.

I took all of those things happening together as a challenge to do better. I have been setting aside the time of Jude's first morning nap to sit quietly and read and pray. As is usually the case when we choose to do something that's so important, it was exactly what I have needed. Just like in any exercise, I am seeing results! It's so silly that I've kept God at arms length. Now I see it was only hurting me. It wasn't like I was any less of a believer, it's just that I've been trying to make it all happen on my own. I was only holding back from the true life and peace that I can now see I was missing. Ah, I'm stubborn sometimes.

PHYSICAL: Walk the Walk

This new practice is spilling over into my physical life. I started walking regularly. Our subdivision is exactly half a mile around so I try to get in at least a mile and a half. I know some of you could run or walk circles around me, but I am taking my time and just trying to be regular at it. Slow and steady wins the race, and I am definitely slow and steady! I haven't exercised much since my last knee surgery and I have to build up the strength in my legs if I am going to do anything athletic again!


FAMILY: Hey Jude

Jude is approaching the 9th month of life outside the womb. He has 4 teeth (2 are just coming in). He has the cutest crooked smile in the world. He learned how to give kisses that make our hearts melt. He is focused on walking. He can take a step and then he'll try for another and fall. All of this is on his own, we haven't been pushing it because we heard that babies who crawl for a while have good hand eye coordination. He's been crawling since 6 months so I think he'll be okay. He walks along the couch facing it and inching along, but he just started turning and walking one foot in front of the other, barely holding on with one hand. It's an adventure watching his changes and I want to go wake him up and cuddle him right now, but I won't.

That's quite an update, I hope you made it through, and if not, that's ok. I hate to talk about myself so much in a post, but like I said, most of my goings on have been internal. The external has been mainly watching Jude, a trip to Indiana with my sister, and catching up with Crossings family and other friends over many dinners. It's been a good month.

God Bless.

Ok, so this really is a thing.

Last night Bill and I were bored to tears with what was on tv.  Bill suggested we check out what was On Demand.  I told him we didn't get that anymore.  Turns out, we do have On Demand!  So I skimmed through the latest music videos, almost watched a show called "Cool Jew Author", looked to see if anything from tv was on there, but ended up watching "Cardioke" on the fitness category.  Yes, Cardioke is a thing!

Don't believe me?

AND it's a GREAT workout. However, you feel absolutely ridiculous doing it. Especially if you're the only one doing it and Bill is sitting on the couch laughing. But I did about 25 minutes worth of it. The muscles in the back of my head hurt from smiling so hard and I was sweating.

Only negative thing (besides the silliness) is this song Billy Blanks Jr's wife wrote that closes the whole thing out about how we are enough just the way we are. I see where they are coming from, but it could also be the anthem of complacency. I will do this again. It's like I'm on concert in my own living room. I don't have to try out for Making the Band, after all!

dinner with the mayor

So, Betsy and I had the nicest dinner of our entire lives last week.

It was a banquet thanking the individuals and organizations who donated money to bring to life what is now known as 4 Market Square, INC; which includes Cafe 4, The Fellows Program, The Square Room, etc. It is also where Crossings has our office space and meets for worship on Sunday mornings.

Since Mark and Monica were out of town, Betsy and I got to go as the representatives of Crossings. We dined privately with about 20 people, including city councilmen, CEOs, owners of banks...not to mention the friggin' mayor. Basically, we were hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of Knoxville.

It was a 5 course meal with h'ordeurves and all the fine wine we could handle. The menu include more items that I could not pronounce than items that I could; but it was all unbelievably good. The main course was Steak and Lobster.

The center-pieces on the tables were huge assortments of fresh sugar-coated fruit; we were given gifts and the parking was valet. It was like prom...but with less dancing and more millionaires.

Needless to say, Betsy and I were a little out of our league. Want proof? In the car on the way to dinner, hair done and all dressed up, looking like maybe we will fit in...Betsy saw a truck with a interesting business name, got extremely excited and took the picture below.

How classy are we?

(click the picture to enlarge the photo if you can't read the name of the business)

EDIT: Betsy would like to add that there was a surprise private Sara Groves concert after the dinner! It was very good! She may have met Sara and told her that she was having "a moment". The end of the edit.

Jude's first baseball game

Last Thursday night the Crossings staff attended a Tennessee Smokies game.

My all-time favorite player (Ryne Sandberg) from my all-time favorite team (Chicago Cubs) is now the Smokies' manager. The weather was absolutely perfect, the Smokies came from behind to win and we sat in the front row on the third base line (which means we were a mere 10 feet from Sandberg while the Smokies were at bat).

So all in all, it was a fantastic night.

But the best part of the night, the part that had me in eager anticipation all week long, was that this was Jude's first baseball game. Now, I realize that he is only 7 1/2 months old and will retain no memory of this event as he gets older. But it is a pretty stinking cool experience, as a father, to take your son to his first baseball game.

I remember my first Cubs game. I was 5 or 6. Ryne Sandberg was on the field for that game, too.

Jude made it through all 9 innings; an impressive feat, considering the game started past his regular bedtime. He was in a good mood all night and we had an absolute blast as a family.

Here's to many, many more innings together, son.

a random (and pointless) quandary

I have neither Twitter nor Facebook, though I'm pretty sure I understand the purpose of both. One thing I do not understand, however, is this: if you have both Twitter and Facebook, how do you differentiate between updating your Facebook status and "tweeting"?

It seems to me a "tweet" and a status update are the exact same thing, clever and/or informative quips about where you are at or what you are doing?

I promise I am not knocking either. I really am curious. I know a lot of my friends have both, so for those you who do...any help?

You Give and You Take Away

Last week, I wrote and recorded a new song.

Click HERE to listen and read the story behind the song. You can also download the mp3 and the chord chart (I have no earthly idea why anyone would want the chord chart, but its there).

With demo stuff, I am just not that concerned with recording quality any more. I would love to spend more time on it and polish it up, add other instrumentation, etc. But...well, I simply have no time to do that now that I have a baby. Jude is either awake and I want to play with him, or asleep and I don't want to wake him up.

But either way, home-recording is no longer much of an option.

So, about the only way I can record anything is to do it at the office when I have a quiet moment and no one is around. And if you've spent any amount of time in our offices, you know how little that happens.

But the other day, I got the chance. No time to plug stuff in, or check levels...I just opened up garageband, used the internal mic and hit record. I got it in one take. Its not perfect...I hit a couple of sour notes and it sounds like I was in an old elevator shaft (which, of course, I was). You can even hear the people in the offices above mine banging away on something with a hammer. But despite all of that, I think it still captures the song.

So...again, if you want to check it out...click the link above. And enjoy.

chart of the day