Rising phoenix church

See this link for a fascinating story of a church that was on a long, slow decline and decided to give their building and property away to another church that was thriving.

Jamie and I have both been members at churches just like Midfield in the story -- once healthy and growing communities that eventually crumble for various reasons. It sounds like Midfield mostly had some economic issues (leaning on the steel industry) that likely impacted the entire community, including the church. That doesn't explain why the New Beginnings church was still strong, though.

Now Jamie and I are part of a church that was actually formed in a merger. Sounds kinda crazy after decades of church splits across all denominations, but it's amazing how much the context of a church's origin can shape the entire nature of the place and people. Ten years ago two congregations in Houston decided that there was a new, growing community in the Southwest part of the city that could benefit from having a local church. The two congregations sold and pooled everything -- property, buildings, furniture, savings accounts, and of course the members. Fast-forward to the year 2006, and we walk into the church and immediately sense that something was different there. It was founded on the amazing concept of coming together and serving the community, and doing it with common sense and compassion. That legacy remains today and we are loving it.

I'm still laughing about what my Aunt Lisa said last summer when she heard about our church's unique history. She shook her head and said, "It's amazing what's possible when people just act like human beings."

It is a lofty and noble part of the human spirit to see yourself as smaller than other purposes at work in the world. The people at Midfield Baptist church understood that. Hopefully I can keep it in mind too.

Fitness and nutrition anecdotes

Here's a glimpse into our physical milestones this week:

• Jamie and I have launched full-bore into a nutrition/fitness plan. The book is called "The Metabolism Advantage" by Dr. John Berardi, a guy whom I've come to know and respect over the past few years. The premise of the book is that even though the old adage says our metabolism slows down a lot as we get older, science has proven this just isn't true. Our metabolism slows down because we're not as active as we were in the younger years. The nutrition and exercise plans in the book are very specific and fit our goals, so we're going for it. It's a dedicated eight-week plan with long-term principles to follow, and we're through the first four days. I have not cheated on the food one time yet, even though he builds in a 10% allowance for cheat meals.
• We bought and ate more vegetables this week than either of us ever had before. My body was already heading this direction anyway, which was interesting. A few weeks ago we ordered pizza on a Friday night, and I cooked up some broccoli to eat with the pizza. Just for me. That never would have happened until recently, and it feels good.
• Jamie got a huge compliment in the gym. She was doing some overhead squats, and a trainer asked her if she was a professional powerlifter, because her form was perfect and he never saw anyone doing that move these days.
• The last two times I've been to the gym, I've gotten down on the floor to use the foam roller before my workout. Standard stuff -- been doing it for more than a year at the gym and at home. But the last two times, someone walking by has kicked me while I'm on the floor, I assume by accident. Neither person stopped, apologized or anything... they just kept walking like nothing happened. What's that about?
• One effect of the clean eating was a digestive adjustment. Translation -- if a diet breaks a person, then I "broke like the wind". I was getting the kids out of the tub last night when bathtime was over, and I let a little, silent one squeak out while I was drying off Samantha. She looked at me very seriously under her towel hood, twitched her nose a couple of times, lowered her voice to a whisper, and said, "Daddy... was that you or me?" I'm trying to model honesty, so I confessed my flatulant ways.
• Sidenote -- why don't our own farts gross us out, while everyone else's seem so nasty to us? I could see that if I told Samantha she was the culprit, she would've thought it was funny and ignored the smell. But when she heard I was to blame, she almost started gagging immediately. Weird. Sidenote over.
• I had just finished my workout at the YMCA yesterday when Jamie and the kids showed up. I decided that instead of daycare/playtime during Jamie's workout, the kids would probably rather play basketball with me. They almost jumped through the ceiling when they heard it was "backetball" time with daddy (that's how Jack says it). At one point during our play, Samantha yelled out, "This is the best day ever!".
• Jack likes to throw down the dunks when I lower the goals to 8 feet and hoist him over my head. The ball goes through the net, I put him down, he runs to get the ball (which is almost as big as him... he doesn't go for those mini-balls), then comes back and says, "Peez?" Who could say no to that?
• They get almost equally excited when it's my turn to shoot and I make one. That isn't very often as I was never a great shot (my brother was always the accurate one). When I finally drain one, Jack points his fists to the floor, locks his arms, grits his teeth and yells, "Daddddyyyy!" I sense the next Bill Walton. Throw it down, big man!
• The changes are already helping me at work. I'm more focused and effecient at the office, which was really needed right now. I've been having some trouble getting back on track after Thanksgiving/Julian/Las Vegas business trip/Christmas/Lasik surgery/New Year's.

If it seems like all we did this week was exercise or eat, that's about how it feels. It ain't easy cooking and eating six healthy meals a day, especially when you have two kids who just won't eat those things. So I guess if you add in their meals and snacks, that's ten or twelve different meals every day this week. We've been running the dishwasher with full loads every single day. Jamie also worked at the kids' school on Tuesday and Thursday, so she's had no time to herself to catch up on things.

It'll all be worth it, though, and we're excited about getting back on track with our health. I haven't had a piece of dark chocolate since last Wednesday, so you know we're serious about this. :)

Why ask why?

The cliche is true... toddlers really do ask "Why" about everything in the world. Samantha asks me at least 50 times every day, and most of the time the question doesn't even make any sense. I'm using this phase as an experiment to see which tactics work best on inquiring minds. Yes, I'm experimenting on my daughter. It's what parents do.

Here are the different approaches I've tried so far, with real examples from the past week or so.

Honest

Samantha: "Why does it get dark at night?"
Me: "Because the earth is a big ball and it spins, and the sun is going to the other side."
Samantha: "........"

TMI

Samantha: "Why does it cost money to buy kolaches?"
Me: "I'm glad you asked. The economy is based on two important principles -- value and trust. Value and monetary currency are essential for buying goods so we don't have to barter, while most businesses and many people keep most of their funds with banks and other groups, who in turn loan it out to others to make even more money. This trust given to the banks and investment firms keeps currency and goods flowing constantly through the system, allowing for millions of small transactions, like buying kolaches."
Samantha: "........"

Note: The cashier couldn't tell if I was just being a prick, or if my daughter was some super-genius who could actually understand my answer. I let him stir on it.

Random

Samantha: "Why can't Jack talk very much?"
Me: "Boogity boogity. Boogity."
Samantha: "WHAT?"

Sarcastic

Samantha: "Cool, Dad! Do you have a new shirt?"
Me: "No, these are my new skis. Do you like them?"
Samantha: "WHAT?! Those aren't skis!"

You just can't get anything past this girl. Maybe she is a super-genius after all.

Boomerang (my current favorite)

Samantha: "Why does Jack like blueberries so much?"
Me: "Why do you like Skittles so much?"
Samantha: "I don't know; I just do."
Me: "Well there ya go."

In conclusion, none of my attempts have proven very successful. Even the honest, direct answers are rewarded with the exact same question repeated again 10 minutes later. Maybe I can just give her a Magic 8 ball and let her ask questions to it all day long. Oh, right... she can't read. I'm screwed!

On a serious note, please keep my friends Rob and Terry in your thoughts and prayers. They've had a rough go of it and need a break. Many of you have seen me post about Rob before -- his blog is here so you can see what's up (and down) in his world.

More from the office wall

I love giving people an excuse to drop by and chat. The two main weapons of choice are a candy bucket and funny jokes/quotes/stuff on my office wall. Here's the one I just removed:

Strange Facts

• Marilyn Monroe had eleven toes
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket
• In 1987, pink frogs rained down on parts of England. Not once, but four times.
• You are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood have only 206.
• Arachibutryophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
• In Michigan it is illegal to chain an alligator to a fire hyrdrant.
• Can openers weren't invented until 48 years after cans were invented.

One guy read my list and said, "Hey one of these is wrong. It says Ms. Monroe had eleven toes. Unless she was cremated, she still has eleven toes."

Got me there.

Driveway talk

My next door neighbor is a good guy that I've gotten to know gradually over the past few years. He may not initially look approachable since he's tall, heavily-bearded and drives 18-wheelers for a living and Harley Davidson motorcycles for fun. He's been through a lot, has tried the fast and hard lifestyle, and now has eventually settled into a mature type of contentment and peace with the world. We've talked quite a bit about religion and the bible over the past couple of years, building up a mutual respect.

This weekend we were both outside and he stopped me for a second to ask me a question. "Do you and your father-in-law go to the same church?", he asked. I answered that yes, we did.

He scratched his head and said, "Oh... I thought you guys didn't agree on some things, so I figured you wouldn't go to the same church. Did I remember right that you guys don't agree on some things?"

"Of course we don't", I answered. "I don't agree 100% with anybody. Nobody does. We're all different. I don't look for total agreement with my church."

This seemed to surprise him, and I felt an opening, so I took it:

"You know those pamplets that churches hand out, usually titled something like 'What We Believe'? I've never seen one I totally agree with, and I don't expect to. I keep changing my perspective on doctrinal issues all the time, and it's likely that I'm wrong about a whole lot of this stuff anyway. I go to church because it's a good community, we help people in need, and we help each other. And I like that my kids get exposure to new things, new people and some solid moral teaching."

He didn't say much else -- I think he was still shellshocked that I would go to church with people I don't agree 100% with. With over 340 Protestant denominations in the US alone, I don't know where he might've gotten the idea that I would leave a church on minor doctrinal grounds. :)

If I had thought faster, the one-word answer for looking past disagreements is "grace". Often this word is confused with mercy, but they're quite different. My favorite definitions are grace as "getting what you don't deserve", and mercy as "not getting what you had coming". It works better if you read that last part in the redneck style (Unhuh... he shore got beat up good... but he had it comin'). Mercy is the pardon for a condemned criminal -- grace is winning the lottery when you didn't even buy a ticket.

We all need a lot more grace.