I didn't get into the Olympics much this year. However, I happened upon a neat feature on Saturday. It was the story of a man named Euginio Monti. He was an Italian Bobsleder during the 1964 Olympic Games in Innsbruck. He was a favorite to win in both the 2 man and the 4 man bobsled and at 37, it seemed it would be his last chance. His main competion in the two man was the British duo of Tony Nash and Robin Dixon. Before the race, The British bobsled broke a bolt. They were going to have to drop out of the race. Monti wouldn't hear of it. His team raced first and after their race, he took the part off their sled and lent the bolt to the British sled. The Brits won the gold. Monti and his partner won the bronze. Answering critics from the home press, Monti told them "Nash didn't win because I gave him the bolt. He won because he had the fastest run." But that was not his only act of selfless generosity.

In the four-man competition, the Canadian team of Vic Emery damaged their sled's axle and would have been disqualified had not Monti and his mechanics come to the rescue. The sled was repaired and the Canadian team went on to win the gold medal. Monti and the Italians won the bronze again.

That really isn't fair. If you are that good of a sport, you should win. Right? That's the way we think the world is supposed to work. Do nice things, get rewarded.

Well life's not fair. And for the record, neither is God. What? God's not fair? That's what I have come to believe.

Look at this passage:
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. Christ has also introduced us to God's undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. But that's not all! We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love. Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life's blood, we will also be kept safe from God's anger. Even when we were God's enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son's life.
(Rom 5:1-10)

Do you see anything fair there? Did we do anything to win the prize we have been given? You see like the Brits and the Canadian bobsleds, we were broken down and out of hope without Christ. Is that fair? I don't think so. But praise God he isn't fair!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that being in the middle of change is tough. The change that our family is dealing with is the decision to change churches. For 3 ½ years, we have worshiped with a group of Christians who were very good to us upon moving to Greeneville. We really didn’t look around when we came, we just started attending SonLight Church of Christ, got involved and busy. Over the last 3 years, we have had times of high hopes for the congregation. There were times we felt we were on the verge of significant growth. These hopes reached a high point last January.

Since that time, things have not moved in the direction we had hoped. I have to take some responsibility for that since I have been preaching 2 Sunday’s a month for the past two years. It is hard to admit when you feel something you have invested so much time and effort into isn’t working. Over the past few months, Shannon and I have come to that exact conclusion. The challenge was, what other options do we have. While I don’t feel I have the need to explain to my blogging friends the reasons why we are leaving, I do want you to have some understanding. (I think this also is helping me process my own feelings about it).

NE Tennessee is not exactly the hotbed of Churches of Christ. There are three in the county we live in. One is the church the group we belonged to split from several years before we got there. We have not visited there but I don’t really have a desire to go there. I get their publication and it is very conservative and their behavior of disfellowshipping the whole group because of the split (even those who had never fellowshipped them to begin with. Therefore, why would I have any desire to meet with a group who has already disfellowshipped me without even knowing me. The other church in town is even more conservative.

Therefore, Shannon and I have decided to try another denomination. The independent Christian church is fairly strong in the area. We live about 45 minutes from Milligan College and the Emmanuel School of Religion. They are our denominational first cousins from the restoration movement. So we have decided to spend some time visiting First Christian Church. Two other families from SonLight have been visiting there as well. One had left last year and one left earlier this year.

What are we looking for:
1. To be spiritually fed
2. To have other influences for our children (adults and children)
3. To expand our base of support families
4. To find a place to share ministry but not be the ministry.

I ask for your prayers as we go through this process. While I don’t have any theological issues with the Christian church, my identity with the CoC is strong and lifelong. It is as much of who I am as my name.

I also ask that you pray for those who are staying behind to continue to work of SonLight. I admire their dedication even if I disagree with their view of the outcome.

Implicit Association Test

I have been reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell lately. The book is about our unconscious mind and all that is going on back there. He referenced Implicit Association Test (IAT) in his book. I thought they were interesting. He focuses on the one on race in his book but there are all sorts of other test. To check them out, go here. Each test only takes about 10 minutes. What do you think of them?

Occationally I will get sucked into a story on NPR and will sit in the car waiting for it to finish. Yesterday morning I had one of those "driveway moments". The story was about a website, Elder Wisdom Circle. It is basically a place where younger people ask the advice of those who are older. Those giving advice are described on the web site as: "The Circle of Elders is a Nationwide Network comprised of volunteer Seniors aged 60-97. Elders participate individually from their home computers or collectively at a senior community. Our Elders represent a richly diverse patchwork of life experience and wisdom."

The NPR story was very impressive. At first I thought what a neat idea. Then I thought, isn't it a shame that our real communities (family, church, neighborhoods, etc) aren't meeting this need. What do we need to differently as church folks to make sure this is happening in our real communities?

Humility

It is always a humbling experience when my daughter Grace reads my blog. Today she reviewed it and found two spelling errors. I can't decide if I sould be embarrassed that my nine year old spells better than I do or proud that my nine year old spells better than I do.

First hint of spring

Today, the first pitchers and catchers report to spring training. I am excited because that means soon all the good stuff that comes with baseball will start for our family as well. In fact it will start this weekend. We are heading down home to Opelika to celebrate some family birthdays and enjoy time together. James and I will head over to Auburn to catch a college game on Friday afternoon. He'll be wearing his new Auburn baseball shirt Mimi got him for Christmas and his tiger head hat. The excitement that comes with a new season is so refreshing.

Update: Looks like Uncle David will be joining us for the game.

Finally A Good Snow

Yesterday, we were promised our first big snow of the year. We awoke to a dusting that promptly melted. Then it started snowing about 11:00. For the next 4 or 5 hours, it snowed heavily but the pretty snow didn't stick. Finally it started to stick and we awoke this morning to about 2 to 3 inches of snow. We "forsook the assembling of the saints" due to road conditions and played in the snow. Here is a fun picture of our morning in God's beautiful creation.

The Four Things Tag

Denise tagged me and I have decided to play along.

Four Jobs I've Had:
Shoe salesman @ The Bootery in Auburn
Winter time job with Forestry Dept. at Auburn where I got to pick leaves off oak trees for minimum wage.
Social Worker for the Department of Human Resources doing child abuse investigations
Administrator of Family Services at Holston Home for Children

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
The Princess Bride – what a quotable move
Hoosiers – I have always had a thing for underdogs
Star Wars Trilogy (The originals)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1 & 3) – Temple of Doom just isn’t at the level of the others

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over: I am not much of a re reader. (So this may be more books I would be willing to read over again because I enjoyed them the first time.)
Esther – I know it’s a book with in a book but I love that story
The Tipping Point
Kon Tiki – I didn’t read this until my adult years and found it fascinating
The Chronicles of Narnia

Four Places I've Lived:
Luverne, Alabama
Auburn/Opelika, Alabama
Hoover, Alabama
Unincorporated Tuscaloosa County, Alabama (now the community is called Lakeview)

Four TV Shows I Watch: (we choose not to have cable/satelite so my selection is slightly limited)
House
American Idol
Any sports shows (College/Pro football, Major League Baseball, College Basketball)
Local morning news

Four Places I’ve Been on Vacation:
Washington DC
Chicago
New Orleans
Bahamas

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
AL.com (keeping up with Birmingham news and sports)
Bloglines (to check which of my blogger friends have posted)
Websuduko.com (what an addictive little game)
MILB.com (during baseball season have to check on the progress of guys we have gotten to know through our minor league here)

Four Favorite Foods:
Banana Pudding (the hot kind with meringue)
Mexican Casserole (you know the one with velvetta, chili, rotel tomatoes, etc.)
Pork with Honey Lemon Orzo (and anything else my wife cooks)
Wings & Ribs (gotta love gnawin foods)


Four Places I’d Like to Be Right Now:
Spring Training
Hawaii with my wife (it was in the plans for our 10th anniversary when we got married. It didn’t happen, closest we came was on our 12th I decorated the deck to be Hawaii)
Walking in the woods with my family
Baseball Hall of Fame


People to Tag:
My brother David
Dee
Frank
Amy

If I duplicated a tag I am sorry, I have seen this on several folks sites lately.

Happy Birthday Shannon

Today is the joyous occasion of my wife's birthday. Although I have known her for just less than half her life, she has made a lifetime of difference in mine. I couldn't imagine being luckier. She is a great wife, mother, teacher and friend.

So, as we give our gifts to her, sing Happy Birthday to her and we enjoy her birthday cheesecake; it seems alittle odd that I feel like the one who has been given the gift.

Happy Birthday Shannon!

Change is a coming

My favorite change saying is "the only person who likes change is a wet baby... and sometimes he/she will fight you." Change is something I sometimes long for and sometimes abhor.

One of the toughest parts of change is the transition that comes with it. Transitions are never easy. Living in between is hardwork.

I found this very funny. It is a Michigan Football fan trying to figure out the Auburn Tiger/War Eagle thing.