"Fun"

Today to my surprise I crossed paths with my brother Brian, who was moving some of his left over furniture and tools into my parent's place. (He's tying up some loose ends in CA before moving to Arizona).

His roommate, (also named Brian) was telling me about the house they rented in AZ- 4 bedrooms, overlooking a lake, with a pool.

"Hey, you should come visit us . . ." Brian (brother) offers.
"Totally. When can I?" I answer enthused- eating up any interest he has in having me around him for an entire weekend.
"September. The weather will be bearable by then." Brian (bro)
"Right now, you go out and tan super dark in like 10 mins." Brian (bro) continues
"Yeah, so, will you and Jaime and Tyson can come visit? Brian (roommate) extends my brother's invitation. "You can lay out by the pool or lake, tan . . . wait, do you ever even "lay out"?" He looks perplexed as he ponders the mental image of the scenario.
"Of course!" I laugh
"Well, it's just you seem like the type that is always saying no to fun things because you have to go do work!" Brian (roommate) explains.
"Well . . . I tan, I lay out. I have . . . fun . . ." I start over-thinking here
"Cool." Brian (roommate)
"Whatever, we'll probably be working most of the time too." Brian (bro)
(me still over-thinking)
"Well, I'm coming to visit, and I am going to TAN!" I insist.
"K, well see ya guys." Brian (bro)
"Bye Wankes!" Brian (roommate)
"See ya Brians!"

And I watch them pile into the truck and drive off into the sunset as I push away any stark realizations that my reputation states that I am a work-a-holic or that people (guys) are unable to picture me having any fun . . .

And Scene.

Oh, Alistar....

I have a workout/church buddy in Westlake where, every other month or so we get together to shoot the breeze, while power walking 6+ miles around the lake in her hood or doing those horrible stairs in mine, and we'll always talk about God, religion, church, the Bible, work, boys...

She and I met while on an Outrigger Canoe team in 2001 and during our race in Hawaii she was "stuck" in a hotel room with me and both my siblings so she inevitably became one of the family. During our explorations of the Kona Is. volcano my brother drove the dark windy streets, and my sister navigated in the front seat, while Michelle and I chatted it up in the back and then she asked me all the hardest questions in the world. I remember telling her (without apology) the hardest truths about salvation and sin with my brother and sister quietly listening and then confirming their own beliefs in what I'd told her. I thought that would be the end of our friendship to be honest, but instead, her curiosity about God's love sealed our friendship in a way I never could have imagined. Michelle is one of my favorite people in the world, and she's unique in our friendship because she knows my sister, brother and parents almost as much as she knows me! She's one of those girlfriends that never kept me at a "mentor" distance because I happened to be able to offer "answers" about the Christian faith and equally offers me a shoulder to cry on. Constantly.

I can't believe it's been 6 years since we bonded over those horrific workouts in the ocean! We still do our best to maintain that friendship even though we don't see each other regularly. She attends church on her own now, and I try to go with her whenever I am on her side of town. So when she mentioned that a guest speaker was going to be preaching on a particular weekend we made another date to help "maintain" that relationship, and "coincidentally" this entire week this same preacher (Alistar Begg) has been featured on Family Life Today in the mornings during my drive in to work.

The topic? Relationships.
His Scottish accent and wit have always held my attention, but he also has a very blunt and matter-of-fact way of confirming the "hardest truths" about God's will for our lives. If you have the time I highly recommend tuning into the series. If nothing else, you'll laugh, and hopefully fall in Love with the truth of God's Word as he rolls his rrrr's.

You can download the transcript if you don't have time to listen too...

I'll let you know what else Alistar Begg has to say to Calvary Westlake on August 18th!

Now, if they could only get a hold of Good ol' Tommy Nelson . . . then Michelle and I could have another good reason to gab!

Boyz to Men

Another interesting article appeared recently in TIME Magazine; about boyhood which brings to mind the call to MANHOOD in our churches.

Worrying about our boys--reading and writing books about them, wringing our hands over dire trends and especially taking more time to parent them--is paying off. The next step is to let them really blossom, and for that we have to trust them, give them room. The time for fearing our sons, or fearing for their futures, is behind us. The challenge now is to believe in them.