the Eclectic Soul

Happy Birthday Calvin!

Calvin turned the big 0-4 the on Sunday.  It's hard to believe how quickly the time goes!  Instead of spending his birthday with his family he spent it on the road with an ever increasingly frustrated father who was attempting to change a flat tire that blew out while traveling back to the UP on I-75.  Then, to make matter worse, we postponed our trip home by one day as we spent the rest of the afternoon spending 350+ to have four new tires put on our car!

Finally, we got home Monday night and Calvin wanted to go to the "Horsey Restaurant," its actually a Mexican place called Los Tres Amigos.  There over a meal of salsa, chips, and quesadilla's we celebrated the dawn of his fourth year.  They even brought him out a sombrero and a flan and sang to him.  He loved it.

After dinner it was off to the house where mom had made an amazing cake, check out her castle cake!  She rocks!

Well, happy birthday little man.  May God bless you this fourth year of your life.  I'm simply humbled by the privilege I have to be your daddy!

The Nutty Professor....

 Today I got to play "professor" for a day.  One of the members of my church directs the surgical tech program and the local university.  She asked if I would come teach a unit on death and dying.  I was humbled by the invite.  So over a period of 2 1/2 hours 40 undergrad students and I talked about death as it pertains to patient care and self care.  It was a really humbling experience and I had an absolute blast.  Also, three students came up after the presentation and said, "Where's your church located again?  I'd like to come try it out."

Fixed Hour Prayer....

For a while now I have used multiple methods to keep my spiritual life alive and flourishing.  Usually it involves spending sometime reading the Scriptures daily and making use of a prayer journal.

Over the last several years I've become increasingly aware of this practice of fixed hour prayer.  Guided by a prayerbook, alone or preferably in community, an individual or group of individuals marks time throughout the day with "fixed" short periods of prayer. 

There are a good number of excellent prayer books out there and my good friend Alan has recommended some helpful ones on his blog.  For me though, I wanted something beefy; something with bulk and muscle.  Over the last year I used the Episcopal two-volume Daily Office, which was pretty good.  This year I made the switch to using the Catholic four-volume Liturgy of the Hours.  Structured by the liturgical seasons the LOH offers both readings form the Scriptures and the early church fathers and mothers all in one portable volume [you only use one at a time].  Sure there are some places where you are asking to pray for the Pope and Bishops, but what I find myself doing, in addition to praying for them, is to pray for my own denominational leaders.

So I've been experimenting with guided prayer at 6 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m. [after my kids go to bed].  Actually, with fixed hour prayer, the ideal is to prayer every 3 hours: 6, 9 [a.m.], noon, 3, 6, 9 [p.m.] and then if you're truly spiritual wake up you wake up in the middle of the night to pray [guess I'm not truly spiritual].

If you haven't tried it let me encourage you to check out some of these really helpful resources.  Since my good friend Alan has already made the effort to compile a fine list, just link to his blog to get started.

Peace,

E

Swoosh...

Just got done catching a CNBC program that I stumbled onto while doing some couch surfing and to my surprise it was time well spent.

CNBC aired, Swoosh: Inside Nike, and the T.V. audience was allowed an inside look into the somewhat illusive but incredibly successful company.  I've been to YouTube already tonight and you can catch some pieces there as well as on CNBC's website.

One of the things that struck me again is that innovators, to launch, market and sustain a viable organization must be at their core risk takers.  I marveled at how the two founding fathers possessed a love for sports and a desire to make the best shoes possible for the atheletes that compete and then threw themselves into pursuing the vision.

We can make all the plans we want and come up with all the visionary ideas that we can possibly generate, but if we refuse to take risks, if the fear of failure is greater than the pull of the possibilty of success, then to carry the sports metaphor further we'll be no more than bench warmers that know the plays but don't have the guts to execute them.

What Do Adam Hamilton and I Have in Common?

Well, not much, other than the fact that we're both pastors in the tribe we call United Methodists and we both do this...

"Every summer the church allows me to take a week away from the office in order to develop sermon series outlines for the next 18 - 24 months..."

Check out his blog for the full post.

Peace,

E

I Just Joined the Challenge...

Carlos Whittaker over at his blog has issued the RagamuffinTop Challenge.

Together there is a community of us who are seeking to get fit.  Check him out to find out more.  Stay tuned for my first video and statement of goals!

Peace,

E

Dear God, Please Not Ours!

Reuters
Starbucks to cut up to 12,000 jobs, close 600 stores
Tuesday July 1, 7:55 pm ET
By Lisa Baertlein

A Big Juicy Confession....

Friends, I need to get something off of my chest.  I did something today that I haven't done in about 15 years.  In fact, I was surprised how quickly the addiction came back.  It was powerful, too powerful to ignore, so I succumbed and gave myself to the emotion and the passion of the experience...

Friends, I rode a brand new bike! For the first time I rode my brand new Trek Cruisliner to the office!  Can you believe it!?!?

I am what you would call a "big and tall man," so finding a bike that is comfortable and supports my girth is a daunting task.  I've always been a rather large human being who has left a large carbon footprint on this blue and green spinning ball.  Yet, over the last several years, I have begun to come to terms with my struggle to be a good steward on every level: materialistically, physically, emotionally, sociologically, politically, and energetically.  What I do with my whole being as an integrated person of faith I have come to understand is vitally important.  As Paul indicates in his first letter to the church in Corinth, "if one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers."  In the same vein, if one part of our "personhood" - our being created in and renewed in the image of God - person suffers, then the whole self suffers as well.

So, as the subtitle of my blog indicates I am seeking to live the integrated life; a life of body, soul, and spirit, not as separate entities of dualistic dimensions, but as a living microcosm of the Triune God I worship, whose image I am created in.  I am on a quest to get healthy, love more, give of myself - time, energy, money, talents, friendship - more liberally so that every aspect of my life resonates with this holistic understanding of the life of faith.

I need your prayers and support.  In future posts I will be a bit more transparent about my physical fitness goals and the point from which I am beginning.  For most of my life I have treated my weight as "the thing of whose name we shall not speak" but it's time to come clean!  I'm also in the process of organizing this new initiative around a noble cause; to raise money to support the eradication of global hunger.  There are many organizations out there, and I have contacted some - I want to be their Jared, you know, the guy who sells the subs that he ate while he lost all the weight.  Except I don't want you to buy a sub.  I want you to feed a hungry person; I want to take food out of my mouth so you can support someone else by putting food in theirs; I want you to share what you have with others who have not!

Well there, I guess I've said it now.  You can't get more public that cyberspace.  Stay tuned my friends.  Thanks for taking you time to stop buy!

And ironically, during this season of personal discernment, Carlos Whittaker over at RagamuffinSoul inspired me with his Ragamuffin Top Challenge, to get active, eat healthy, and lose some extra pounds.  While I haven't yet formally signed on board, Carlos man, I'm wittcha!

Peace,

E

OK So Our Dog's an Idiot!

Time Management

I was reading the latest issue of the Christian Century when I came across this quote on their "Century Marks" page.

"There's nothing wrong with microwaves or mobile phones - they save time.  But God will ask you what you have done with the time that was saved."

-Egyptian Coptic monk Ruwais el-Anthony, who has lived at Egypt's St. Anthony's Monastery for more than 30 years.

We take so many of our "time saving" conveniences for granted, normally without one, feeling like we actually have more time, and two, stopping to think about the implications of convenience. 

What do you say?

Peace,

E