Talk Nerdy to Me

This is a neat test to take. Saw it on Marko's blog. After you take the test it will tell you your nerd score (1-100). I think it scores a little low, because I think I'm more of a nerd than this indicates. Click the image below to find out your score.

Isaiah

We were having dinner with some friends tonight and somehow the topic of my son, Isaiah, came up. I was commenting on how much Isaiah mimics and looks up to me. It's really obvious. He's 8 years old and he loves spending time with me, watching movies with me, surfing YouTube for stupid videos with me, hugging on me, and trying to make me laugh. I really enjoy my time with him, too. He loves the fact that I'm a youth pastor and has decided he wants to be the same when he gets older + something else. He always says, "I want to be a youth pastor and a rock star" or "youth pastor and make movies" or "youth pastor and a bounty hunter." He told Pastor Joe the other day that he didn't want to be a pastor because youth pastors get to have fun and pastors just work all the time.

He really is into whatever I'm into and is always trying to be just like me. I love it! Mollie's great too (but I'll write about her another time).

I was thinking tonight that I wish my attitude about Jesus was like Isaiah's attitude about me. I talk a big game about trying to be Christ-like, but I am so far off the mark it's sad. I want to be compassionate, but I'm not. I want to be the selfless servant, but I'm not. I want to be an encourager, but I'm not. I want to love people naturally, but I don't. I try (sometimes), but I feel like I consistently come up short.

Maybe that's just the way things are, though. I don't feel like I'll ever measure up to my own Dad, either. Maybe Isaiah will always feel like he never measures up to me. Maybe it's the same with Jesus. I hold him up so high, that he's unattainable. I just don't know where else to hold him. I wonder if there's a balance I need to find in seeing Jesus as a God and man. I do, but maybe if I thought of him more often as "man", his example would seem more real to me - like it was something I could actually be. Then again, maybe he's unattainable because I always want to be Jesus + something else. I want to be Jesus and a pastor. I want to be Jesus and a family man. I want to be Jesus and a bounty hunter...

O Happy Day!

Lebanon, MO now has a STARBUCKS!!!!!

I started my day with a grande peppermint mocha. God is good!

Evan Almighty

I met the teens at the theater last night where we watched the new movie, Evan Almighty. I really enjoyed this movie! Alright...a lot of the jokes were corny, but still, I laughed out loud several times, was moved to a tear once or twice, and was even inspired.

I was wondering how they were going to pull off the whole flood thing since God did say he wouldn't flood the earth again. But they handled it very cleverly. And the special effects of the ark, flood, and animals were great! As I watched it I got a very real sense of how Noah must have felt being ridiculed for stepping out on faith the way he did. And I have to admit, there was a moment while watching it, that I felt God telling me He might have an ark for me to build.

Anyway, great movie! All the teens really enjoyed it and the parents that showed up enjoyed it too. Oh, and this was Baby Isla's first movie and she seemed to enjoy it as well. Of course, she spent most of the movie with a boob in her mouth so...

GEEZ Magazine Article

MarkO reported on his blog today that he discovered an interesting new magazing called GEEZ. GEEZ describes itself as having "set up camp in the outback of the spiritual commons. A bustling spot for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable. For wannabe contemplatives, front-line world-changers and restless cranks." While checking out their website, I read a fantastic article entitled "A Letter to Progressive Christians in the USA." It's too long to post here but definitely worth the read.

It deals with what I have been trying to tell people for a long time, but nobody seems to be listening. US Christians are moving in a dangerous direction by aligning ourselves with Washington so heavily. We are called to something higher. God is not red or blue. Jesus felt no need to address the politics of his day. He ministered faithfully in the context he was born into. In the end, it really doesn't matter whether or not you Senator or President or County Clerk is Christian or not (if they are, that's great - assuming they actually make policy according to their convictions). What really matters is what you are doing to influence your little part of the world for Christ. Anyway, this is a fantastic article written from an outside point-of-view (the author's Canadian). Check it out.

My Favorite Isla Pics from the Last Few Days

Isla's not too happy to be in her swing, but as the shirt says, she's still "sweet".

9 lb. baby is no match for 300 lb. daddy!

Isla in her Shaun of the Dead "You've got red on you." shirt that Daddy bought for her. I will make sure she learns to appreciate the artistic beauty of a good zombie movie. "Mmmm...braiiiins!"

How Many of Me?

Cool website where you can find out how many people in the US have your name.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 208 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Camp Niangua Rules 2007

Here's the rules video that several of my youth group girls and I put together for camp this year. No script - no rehearsal - no shame or dignity.

Pop Ice

Lately, I have been freakin' addicted to the tasty goodness that is a Pop Ice frozen treat. It started a week or so ago with me going to the freezer lookin' for a sugar fix. All we had were what I formerly considered the most boring popcicle in the universe. Since there was nothing else, I took one anyway. A week and a half later, I am literally eating them by the fist full. The good news is they're super cheap. The bad news is I look like a filthy white trash pig sitting on the couch while devouring a "six-pack" of rainbow deliciousness. But the good news (or maybe bad news) is there's hardly anything to them. You could never get your belly full on Pop Ice (but I'm sure tryin'!).

Pray for me. I might need an intervention.

Top 10 Worship-Leading Mistakes

Saw this on Jacob Riggs' blog. Funny and sadly accurate.

Some Great TV

I thought I'd do a little non-baby post since it's been so long. Some cool stuff's been on TV lately, so I thought I'd comment on it.

Sopranos Series Finale - I have to say that I'm pretty sad to see this great show come to an end. A lot of people were pretty mad about the way David Chase ended his epic series. Everyone expected Tony Soprano would either be killed or go to prison or someone in his family would be killed. SPOILER ALERT! Instead, he ended it with a scene that was intense, but didn't deliver a punch line. The family is settling for a meal in a local diner. Some unsavory characters enter the restaurant and eye Tony. Meadow struggles to parralel park her car and as she enters the restaurant the scene cuts off. Chase really left you feeling like your cable had gone out at the most inopportune time and then a few seconds later, the credits rolled. I have to be honest, I kind of like the fact that he didn't give us an ending. I didn't want it to end. Life goes on for Tony and everyone - or not?

Man vs. Wild - This is hands down my new favorite show! It airs on The Discovery Channel and features survivalist Bear Grylls (great name!). Bear get dropped into remote locations all over the world and has to find his way back to civilization carrying only a knife, canteen, and a flint. This show features great moments such as 1) Bear in Kenya, squeezing the juice from an elephant turd in order to avoid dehydration, 2) Bear in the Moab Desert in Utah, peeing on a shirt and wrapping it around his face so he wouldn't overheat, 3) Bear in the Sierra Mountains of California, eating live snakes for nutrition, and many, many more great moments. If you're not watching this show, you need to be. Turns out Bear's a Christian, too. On the Man vs. Wild website they list "Bear's Top 10 Books He'd Want if Stranded on a Desert Island". Five of the books are Christian titles including What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey and Messy Sprirituality by Mike Yaconelli. You can link to his blog from my blogroll on the right hand side of this page.

Isla's Finally Home!

We finally got to bring Jamie and Isla home today. They're both doing well. Jamie is trying to catch up on sleep and is still experiencing some pain. Isla is doing great. If she's awake, she wants to be eating. I told Mollie and Isaiah that she is already my new favorite child (just kidding). God has blessed my family in a mighty way this week! It's going to be a great Father's Day tomorrow!

Welcome, Isla Kae Myers (pronounced eye-la)

Well, after 2 days of inducing labor, our little girl, Isla Kae Myers, was born today at 4:11 pm. She weighed a whopping 9 pounds 7 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. Jamie's doing great! Her drugs wore off about 15 minutes before Isla was born, so the last several pushes were really hard on her. We found the name, Isla, while we were in Scotland. A couple whose bed & breakfast we stayed at in Fort William had a little girl named Isla and we thought it was a beautiful name. Now we have a beautiful little girl to go with it! Thanks for your prayers everyone!

Baby Today!

The doc is inducing labor today at 7:00 am. Who knows how long it will take. It took 12 hours when they induced with Isaiah. Jamie's doc says he's going to take it real slow because the baby's going to be big. Hopefully the next post will include a name and picture of the newest Myers. Say a prayer for us!

What the Homeless Really, Really Need and Why They'll Never Get It

One of the things I love to read is the religious satire magazine called The Wittenburg Door. It was founded by the late Mike Yaconelli and some friends and is often very revealing (in an extremely sarcastic way - I've been told sarcasm is my strongest spiritual gift!) This article was recently printed in the mag. It's by Joe Bob Briggs. He's a comic and movie reviewer known for his love of B-movies and drive-in theaters. The article originally printed in The Dallas Observer on June 7, 1990. It's long, but worth the read.

Back in the eighties, some of the Door-keepers in East Dallas started taking in homeless people, under the theory that if they started saying, "Hey, bud, come on in and sleep in the house," then other people would notice and start doing the same thing.

Apparently not.

We're actually coming up on the 20-year anniversary of the Great Homeless Experiment, and all that happened is that East Dallas became a Homeless Mecca.

The government hasn't done diddly squat. The churches haven't done doo-doo.

They've had 19 jillion Home B.O. cable-TV specials, and we've got more homeless people than when they started.

It was called The Dallas Project. It didn't work. Nobody was interested. Homeless people take up your time. They have bad teeth. A lot of 'em have hassles with the law, or they're sick, or they're trying to kick a drug habit, or they're trying to find a lawyer to handle their divorce. They need rides all the time. They're hard to talk to. They're secretive. Sometimes they pick up and leave in the middle of the night, and it makes you feel weird.

So most people—who think they wanna help the homeless—don't really wanna help the homeless.

This failed scheme was administered by the public nonprofit Trinity Foundation, which runs this here magazine, and here's what they learned:

Numero Uno: Nobody wants to know or hear about the homeless. If "homeless" is in the headline on this article, then 80 percent of you have already turned the page.

Numero Two-o: We don't need more government money for the homeless. The people who work for the government treat the homeless like beggars.

Numero Three-o: We don't need any more of those "Christian shelters" in the middle of downtown. The way that works is you show up in the morning, sit through a sermon or whatever the place is selling, then collect the goods—either food, or clothing, or transportation. In other words, you go to listen to what the place is preaching, then, as a reward, you get the stuff. If it's a "Christian" shelter, you oughta get the stuff no matter whether you listen or not. This is why homeless people are the most cynical people in America.

Numero Four-o: There's two kinds of shelters—the kind that make you leave at five in the afternoon, and the kind that make you leave at eight in the morning. Day shelters and night shelters. This is supposed to be so you don't stay there too long. Homeless people have already been kicked out of a lot of places. They're not looking for some situation where they get kicked out as a way of life.

Numero Five-o: Most homeless don't need money. Unless you can give 'em $50,000 a year for the rest of their lives, money's not gonna make any difference. This is why these big fundraising drives are so sick. All they do is raise money to build up another bureaucracy.

Numero Six-o: Ten percent of the homeless prefer being homeless. The other 90 percent lost their job, then moved in with a relative. Then there was a crisis. (Typical crisis: Somebody in the homeless family wrecks the family car.) The relative got mad and kicked them out on the street. Believe it or not, this is as hard on the relative as it is on the family that gets kicked out.

Numero Seven-o: Almost all homeless people need medical attention, especially dental work. Being homeless makes your body start to break down. The only way they can get free medical care is if some non-homeless person raises hell with a doctor or a hospital and makes somebody feel ashamed enough to provide it. The government won't do this for you. The shelter will ask you to come back on Sunday night when the nurse is on duty. Only a living, breathing angry person can do this. (It's actually easier than you think, once you get into the doctor's office.)

Numero Eight-o: Almost all homeless people need legal help. They owe money. They need to file bankruptcy. Or they're going through a divorce. Free legal services are either non-existent or a joke. Once again, they need a living, breathing, angry person, but this time they need an even angrier one, because lawyers will come up with 10,000 self-righteous reasons why they don't have time for it.

Numero Nine-o: Churches are the worst. There was a time when churches would allow the homeless to sleep in their sanctuaries. Not any more. Churches have "programs." All the "programs" involve the church member giving money, so that the church member never has to actually see the homeless person. Many churches have a policy that their "social welfare" programs are only available to ... members of that church!

Numero Ten-o: Unless you have personally taken a homeless person into your house, you're not an expert on the homeless. This rules out almost all the government employees, most of the preachers, all the lawyers, all the doctors. This rules me out. I haven't done it. I'm guilty. But I'm not gonna pretend anymore. I've given money to charities. But I'm not gonna do it anymore, because I know this much:

They don't need money. They need us.

Disappointing Baby News

Jamie went to her appointment today and the doc said she still wasn't close. We thought we were going to have a baby by tomorrow. Now he says to come back on Monday for another check-up. He says for sure by the end of next week we'll have a baby. Pray for us. Jamie's impatient and uncomfortable. I'm supposed to be at Teen Camp all next week, so I have to figure out other arrangements there. In the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal, but we're ready to do this NOW, not next week.

Apologies, Band Names, Babies, and Discipleship

First off, sorry I haven't posted in a few days. It's been kinda busy. It probably sounds stupid, but whenever I go a day or two without posting, I seriously start stressing about it. I enjoy doing it and I enjoy the fact that there are a handful of people out there reading it and I feel like I'm not doing my job or something. I know that's retarded, but such is the mind of Jeff.

Secondly, my friend, Andy Rains (youth pastor in Thayer, MO) asked me to post a request. He and some friends in Thayer have formed a band and can't decide on a name. So if any of you have creative ideas for a band name, leave them here in the "comments" section. They are a Christian band that does mostly praise music. I don't normally "rent out space" on my blog for other people, but Andy has information about me that could be damaging to my career, so I felt compelled. Anyway, let's hear your ideas!

Thirdly, Jamie is now 5 days past her due date and still no baby. They'll probably induce labor tomorrow. She has an appointment today to find out for sure.

Finally, this week was the MO FWB State Meeting. The powers-that-be asked me to speak at the youth service last night. My message was about discipleship. I've posted about this before I think, but I want to hit it again. Christ calls us to be and make disciples. Last night I opened by asking over 200 people to raise their hands if they were Christians. Almost everyone had their hand up. Then I asked for a show of hands of true sold-out disciples - maybe one or two people raised their hands. We have created this whole new category of believer that isn't Biblical. Most of our people think they can be Christian (sins forgiven, going to heaven) without being a disciple (life totally committed to following Jesus). This teaching is NO WHERE in scripture. You cannot be one without the other. I believe it's largely the fault of pastors and preachers. We treat discipleship like an optional program to enroll in after "salvation". This is wrong and we have to get away from it. We give invitations for people to have their sins forgiven, but that call is not strong enough. We need to be inviting people into a totally committed, life-changing, life-sacrificing relationship with Jesus. Don't call me a Christian, I'm a disciple of Jesus.

Top 10 Signs You're Obsessed With LOST

Here's a great Letterman Top 10 List featuring LOST's Hurley. Of course, my personal #1 would be, "You're blogging about it at 2:30 a.m."