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Vacation Chronicles pt. 2

A very short break in the rains allowed us on the river yesterday for a couple of hours.  We actually played in the rain for an hour before the sun broke through, played another hour in the sun, and then ran to the vehicles as a late afternoon thunderstorm crashed the party.

Our friends the Diaz family has joined us for a few days from their home in Winston Salem (a couple of hours away).  Blake Diaz and Becky worked for half an hour to clear debris from a four to five foot waterfall, including a rock that must have weighed a couple hundred pounds, making it safe to tube.  After we spent some time tubing there, the older kids and I made our way a tenth of a mile down river from the moms and the little kids to a very deep pool we had discovered last year - deep enough to allow diving off of some huge overlooking rocks.  Yesterday we discovered a six to eight foot waterfall south of that pool that we intend to return and tube today.  Becky went down the fall yesterday without a tube to 'see if it was safe'.  She reported to me, "Dad, is was fine except for this rock at the bottom because you go straight down at one point."  Sounds like lots of bruises to me.

The weather is supposed to be fine the rest of the week.  The sun has risen over my shoulder as I type this.  Better get to the river.

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Western NC, Rocky Broad River

Osama A Friend Of Emergents?

Wow, this guy has his head up his... armpit.  I ran across this article and I laughed out loud.  Upon further review, I grieved that there are people out there who would be confused by this, or worse, believe any of it.  His characterization of 'emerging' is ridiculous.  Who is he talking about?  Give it a read and let me know what you think.  My opinion is adequately summarized in my first sentence.

Technorati Tags: Frank Pastore, Emerging Church, Emergent, Ridiculous

Vacation Chronicles

It's amazing to me what different people call 'camping'. 

On one side of us a family of six are tent-camping.  They've got a tent for the parents, a tent for the kids, and even a really tiny tent for their dog.  (I suppose the small tent could be for all of their camping gear to have a place to stay dry, but it sounds so much cooler when I tell the story if the small tent is really for their chocolate lab.)  Anyhow, this family has camping down.  The day before yesterday a pretty serious storm whipped up out of nowhere.  Each member of this family, from youngest to oldest, sprang into action.  Within mere moments each of the three tents were adequately protected from the elements with tied off tarps and canopies.  They weathered the storm as if it didn't exist - anyone who has tent camped will know, that is talent.

On the other side of us a family of three - mom, dad and teenage daughter had just arrived.  It was easy to tell that they were new to the camping experience as every piece of their gear came out of store packaging as it came out of their car.  They looked like they had stopped at Wal-mart on their way to the campground.  The rain started just as they got their tent erected.  They hurried to toss all the rest of their gear in their tent and then retreated to their car.  They drove away.  A couple of hours later they returned.  Illuminated by their car's headlights, we watched them lift their belongings out of the six inches of water that stood in their tent.  Having retrieved what they wanted they drove off.  The left.  As in, they're done camping.  I'm not joking - they called the campground office and told them 'Do what you want with all the gear, we're through.' 

A couple sites away, the purist resides.  Probably a hiker, climber or sports fisherman I imagine.  His tent is no bigger than he is - like a cocoon.  It took him less than a minute to set the thing up when he rolled in after dark one night.  Then he ate his supper out of a can that he tossed on a fire - that he started without a match.  When he was done eating he read by candlelight for an hour, slithered into his cocoon and was asleep.  He was up and gone before dawn, not so much as a trace of evidence remained that he was here.

Then there are the folks across the creek in 50AMP sites.  These are the folks for whom camping includes all the comforts of home (or more comforts than most of us have in our homes).  This is the land of big and bigger motor homes.  A man drove a 60 footer in here just last night.  It was outfitted with a 50 foot canopy that forms what looks like a carport down one side, and that's a good thing because there was a Hummer H2 attached to the back of the thing.  There are antennas and satellite dishes hanging off the thing like it's a communication station for NASA.  Through the window you can see a big screen TV that illuminates half the campground when it's on.  These sites are known as 50AMP sites because there is enough electricity flowing to each site to supply a small city - a good thing because each of these units need it.  And rain?  I'll bet if you're inside of one of these monsters you don't even know it's raining outside.

What's your definition of camping?  I liked the tent-camping days... but I'm over it.  I like to be off the ground and dry.  The purist?  Cool, but I don't think you can get BBQ ribs and baked potatoes in a can.  The motor homes (emphasis on 'homes'), if I wanted all the comforts of home when I camped, I wouldn't have left.  The whole point to me seems to be getting out and away from some of those things.  Yes, give me my simple little tent camper, a beautiful lake - even some rain because that makes for a beautiful mist over the mountains in the morning complete with cardinals, blue jays and warblers singing - a grilled meal, a can or three of coke, and an internet connection so I can tell the rest of the world how good I have it.  That's all I need.

Technorati Tags: Camping, Asheville East KOA, Skamper Campers

But The Peanut Man Is Gone

Part of our love for this area are a number of the characters we've encountered here.  Bubba, for instance.  It was last year that we learned that Bubba had gone to heaven, and he would no longer be greeting us as we entered his general store.  (If you look closely at the picture, you can see Bubba on the front porch of his establishment.)  We visited Bubba's today - his family keeps the place since he's passed.  It's still the place where you can buy 'penny candy' and a Coke for pocket change.  It occurred to us that each of our girls drank their first Coke from a bottle sitting on the bench just over Bubba's shoulder.

We made the journey today over the mountain and thru the woods to see another of the locals, 'the peanut man', a.k.a. Terry Rhodes, owner of the Rhodes Country Market farm stand.  We made our way down the winding mountain road and as we rounded that last corner, there was Terry's store - but empty of the usual barrels of apples and farm fresh produce, boarded up and unkempt.  What has happened?  Where is the peanut man? 

A quick trip across the road to Harold Owenby's Apple Stand revealed that Terry's apple crop took a beating this year, and so he was unable to open his stand.  He explained how costly it is for a small farmer to lose a sizable part of his harvest - something I never stopped to consider before.  This is more than a nice guy we met on the side of the road a decade ago - this is a man who's livelihood rides on his farming.  Harold assured us that Terry's loafing around the area and drops in occasionally.  If all goes well this year, he should be back in the future.  But, I doubt our trip will be quite the same without our frequent visits to see Terry.

And of course we will miss those marvelous Cajun Boiled Peanuts that Terry is famous for making.  It's 'boy-u-led' peanuts in Terry-speak, by the way - think three sylables.

I file this in the 'life's many little blessings that we take for granted'.  I miss the peanut man.

Technorati Tags: Bubba O'Leary's General Store, Cajun Boiled Peanuts, Hickory Nut Falls

We've Arrived

Shaw family vacation 2007 is starting to feel like a vacation now that we've arrived.  The two days of driving were punctuated with a tire blowing at 70mph - with trailer in tow that isn't a whole lot of fun.  Changing that tire on the side of the road in a very narrow emergency lane while cars and trucks pass you at 70mph isn't a happy occasion either.  Oh joy, add a new tire into the trip budget!

We arrived in a torrential downpour.  It isn't a load of fun to set up a tent camper in a thunderstorm, either.  But I weathered the storm.  And, our camper managed to keep us dry once we got inside it.

Ah, today - the first morning of my North Carolina mountain break.  I spent some time this morning reading of King David's ascent to the throne.  I'm in awe of how he chose his steps, waiting on the Lord at every crossroad.  The sun has made a glorious return today.  The pool and the local rivers are calling.  I'm pretty sure it's a sign that I need to stop blogging and start swimming.  Splash!

Technorati Tags: Vacation 2007, Swannanoa NC

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A Pit Viper Or A Velvet Elvis pt. 8

Returning after a brief hiatus to continue my parallel review of the books The Truth War by John MacArthur and Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.  Picking up where we left off, you can find earlier posts here.

Through chapter 7 in both books.  MacArthur's chapter 7 is entitled 'The Assault On Divine Authority: Christ's Lordship Denied'.  Bell's is simply called 'Good'.

Bell spends a considerable amount of time at the outset being green.  He makes a thought provoking case that "litter and pollution are spiritual issues".  He doesn't make those points in a vacuum, but rather as the beginning of a solid case for renewal as an integral part of God's Kingdom plan.  He concludes, "In Jesus, God is putting it all back together.  To make the cross of Jesus just about human salvation is to miss that God is invested in the saving of everything."  Again, as I said, a thought provoking segment of the chapter.  He moves on to a rebirth of culture, and that's where the chapter takes off for me.  Jesus claims to deity subverted the kingdom of Rome.  "If Jesus is Lord, what did that say about Caesar?"  Great question.  To be a part of Jesus' movement was to join a counterculture movement, Bell asserts.  He continues by observing that we never see these initial followers of Jesus trying to prove that Jesus had risen from the dead, but rather they lived as if that claim had changed their life.  "They saw their responsibility to put Jesus' message on display.  To the outside world it was less about proving and more about inviting people to experience this community of Jesus' followers for themselves."  That's a missional life.

I don't know how else to say this, but Mac's 7th chapter simply makes me believe he is mad at all Christendom.  He launches out against seemingly all evangelicals for not caring about their spiritual heritage.  This is an interesting point to me when I consider that in this work Mac intends to expose the heresy of Emerging Church leaders - the very folks, who for their love for the heritage of the faith are often referred to as 'Ancient/Future' in their worship and works.  He goes on to allege that most all of Christendom has caved in to the "dogma of political correctness".  He names no one in particular, but lumps "almost any theological journal" together as handing out "indiscriminate affirmation".  He actually makes some very thought provoking points about the church today being more concerned with image than truth - but, my thinking as I read this was that it was more an on-target critique of pragmatists (like most of the mega-churches, seeker sensitive and purpose driven types) rather than Younger Evangelical (Emerging) churches.

Bell continued to impress me.  He offered, "It is our turn to rediscover the beautiful, dangerous, compelling idea that a group of people, surrendered to God and to each other, can really change the world."  I agree.  I've seen it.  He continues to speak of the church "giving itself away".  He contrasts this with a church that has given itself to protests, boycotts and campaigns about how dark the darkness is, in our day.  His point is simple: if the church would simply BE the church, the gospel would be good news for the whole world.  "If it isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody."  This is the end of Velvet Elvis (actually, there is an epilogue, but this is the end of actual chapter work).  The end: Be a follower of Jesus Christ - don't just talk about it.  Wow - as I read back over my little review here I realize, I am not doing this chapter justice.  Pick up Velvet Elvis and read it.

Mac continues his attack.  He winds up the chapter with a quotation from McLaren's 'A New Kind of Christian'.  This quotation is from Brian's introduction, noting his frustration with Evangelical Christianity.  Brian's frustrations are exactly opposite Mac's.  He is frustrated with the absolute certainty some evangelicals boast about all things big and small.  Having read McLaren, once again that MacArthur has taken things out of context. You get the sense, though, that MacArthur is winding things up to bring them home in one final chapter - his chapter 8.  I can't wait to see how he wraps all this up.

Stay tuned.

Pigskin Preacher Returns

The Pigskin Preacher Blog is back up and running for the 2007 season over at Tampa Bay Online.  I am pretty excited that the powers that be over at the Tampa Tribune/TBO asked me to return as their featured NFL Fan Blogger for the upcoming year.  I'm even more excited about that when I consider that they didn't ask the guy who covered the Buccaneers to return, leaving me an opportunity to not only cover the NFL but also to add in a few more blurbs about the Bucs along the way. 

With training camps opening this week across the NFL, it was time to get things in gear.  I've tossed up my first couple of posts.  If you're an NFL Football fan, I'd appreciate you stopping by the TBO blog this coming season.  Tell your football friends about it.

Once the folks at TBO get their new season graphics in place, then I will be a featured link again off their main page.  In the meantime, here is the link to the Pigskin Preacher blog.

Technorati Tags: Pigskin Preacher, NFL Football Blog, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Preparing Our Hearts

As we all prepare our hearts to meet together in the morning and to worship the Lord in one accord, Peter and the music team are preparing a great set of songs to lead us into His presence with thanksgiving and praise.  I see 'O Praise Him' by David Crowder on the list.  I see 'This Is Our God' by Chris Tomlin on there.  I see a couple of standards, praise songs and hymns.  I hope that you will be liberated tomorrow morning to lend your voice to the choir!

If you want an advance read on the text we will consider together, we are returning to our summer series of studies through the book of Hosea.  Give Hosea chapter 5 a read.  It wouldn't hurt, actually, to review chapters 4-7 - it will add a bit more breadth to the picture for you.

As always, I look forward to uniting together to bring the body of Christ into the room that we call a sanctuary - to meet Him, and to extol His worth together - with you in the morning!  See you there.