happy memorial day, 2010

formerly known as "decoration day," memorial day is a day to remember that the life we live didn't just happen.  it was bought at a price by many who had to make incredible sacrifices.  as citizens we may not agree with every war and every sacrifice that was made, but we have to recognize that some have valued our freedoms so deeply that they have been willing to offer themselves in its defense.  and that is worth celebrating.  and for those whose service has cost them their very lives, we must stand and salute.  we must put down our memorial day snacks and offer a "thank you" into the great cloud of those who have given up everything.  we must take at least this day to remember not only that what we have is something many have thought is worth protecting, but also that many of those who protected it have lost their lives in that service.  today, we remember them.  with gratitude and respect.  we remember. 

saturday song: this ain't goodbye

for today's saturday song, i'm giving you a song by the band train.  this song is called "this ain't goodbye" and is one of the songs that acoustic orange will be playing at their farewell concert next saturday night.  acoustic orange is the little duet that i'm in with justin mehaffy.  we'll be playing at a coffeehouse in flemington, nj, and there'll be more info about that in the coming days.  in the meantime, enjoy this great song.

if acorns were coconuts...

in today's randomland, you might be interested to learn that country music legend willie nelson has cut off his famous long hair.
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also, in honor of the late art linkeletter, i will share with you that caedmon found an acorn today and told me that he had found a coconut.  oh how i wish that every acorn was a coconut.  that would be amazing. 
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in other news, there is apparently a great deal of oil (which looks like black smoke in the water) coming from a hole in the ground.  has anyone in BP thought about locating all the jack shephards in the world and seeing if one of them is somehow capable to put a big rock cork in the hole?  seems to me that it just might work. 
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and, for kicks and grins, and in case you need to give yourself a pep talk, watch this video, get to your closest mirror, and repeat:

adventure aquarium

as i mentioned the other day, we got to go to the adventure aquarium in camden, nj on sunday, and here you see some of the many pictures from the day.  you'll see that we got to see lots of sharks and fish, touch all kinds of sea creatures (including rays and sharks), feed african birds, and find nemo.  we had a great day!

loving God with our emotions

as i prepare my sermon for this coming sunday, i am wondering what you might think about the role of the emotions in loving God, and in particular in our worship.  i have grown mostly being taught that you can't trust your emotions, that happiness is a red herring and we really ought to be looking for joy (which is no emotion at all, it seems).  as i have gotten older i have learned to be more at peace with my emotions at least in terms in recognizing them as a good an important part of who i am.  still, i'm wondering what your thoughts are on this issue: do our emotions have a place in worship?  if we come to church feeling angry or sad or confused or happy or ____________, does it hurt or enhance our worship experience?  is there a right or good way to somehow use that emotion in worship? or are we better served, in your opinion, if we sort of check our emotions at the door and worship the unchanging God who is great beyond the whim of our emotions? i have my own ideas here, but i'm interested in your thoughts about the role of emotions in our worship life.  hit me up with some thoughts, people! 

lost in sleepiness

when you don't go to bed until after 1 am, then it's hard to blog before noon. 

and the reason i was up so late?  lost.

no, i didn't get lost, but i was watching the series finale.  a show shannon started watching right from the beginning and pulled me into during the second season, has come to an end.  and just like life, it seemed to end with more questions than answers.  for those of you who never really got into the show or who tried it and just didn't like it, i can say that the appeal for me was the questions and the characters.  the characters were flawed people, nearly always navigating the land between "good" and "bad," just like i am.  the questions were the thing that really got me, though.  i found that it was one of the few pieces of television art that didn't give easy answers.  it left it wide open.  which is how i've found life to be.  and so, for that reason, i enjoyed the finale, and the whole series.  i will miss it.

yesterday we also went to the adventure aquarium in camden, nj.  we had been wanting to take the boys there for awhile, and wanted to get it in before we packed up and moved west.  so we did, and it was awesome.  i'll have some pics later this week, but it is just so cool to watch the sharks and other amazing creatures swimming in the huge tanks.  it really is mesmerizing. 

this weekend we also had a wonderful celebration of our ministry and time here in clinton, thrown by the church with over 200 people in attendance.  what an overwhelming show of love and support that truly was breathtaking for me.  i am still nearly speechless at what a gift these last four years have been to me and my family.  we are overjoyed. 

and that's about all i've got today.  i need to close my eyes for a minute and try to catch up on a bit of what i lost last night: sleep.  see you tomorrow.