TV rant

Okay, this is a rant against a TV show (which I still watch every week) and the repetitive gimmick it uses to beef up its weekly plots. The show is ER and it seems that every season they kill off a few people, either characters or people related to characters in order to increase interest in the show. In the season premiere next week, it looks like they're going to kill of Jerry the desk clerk.

here's a list of all the people killed off in recent seasons in ER

Dr Gallant (roadside bomb in Iraq)
Dr. Greene (Cancer)
Dr. Romano (helicopter fell on him)
Dr. played by Kellie Martin (stabbed to death in ER)
Dr. Greene's father (heart attack
Dr. Benton's girlfriend (car accident)
Dr. Carter's grandmother (heart attack)
Dr. Carter's baby (stillborn)
Dr. Weaver's girlfriend (killed in fire)
Dr, Chen's father (Alzheimers)

That's a pretty good list for the last 5 years or so.

The latest from Caleb

Sometimes I think Caleb is intentionally being funny. As my buddy Keith Joreski says, the apple didn't drop far from the tree.

Caleb and I were swimming this afternoon. While I was holding him and dunking him in the pool, I said, "I'm going to tickle you!!" Caleb said, "No, daddy, tickle the water instead!!"

men's group update

There have been big changes in my men's discipleship since we started meeting just 2 months ago or so. Out of the 5 of us, two have pregnant wives since then. The two unmarried men have both broken up with their girlfriends, who they were edging towards marriage with. That's a lot in just two months time. It makes me wonder what God might have in store for all of us by the time our group ends next June.

tragedy strikes

Tragedy struck at the office at the bank today. Jerry Vance, who is my parnter...his first grandson died at birth last night. No warnings, no nothing. Just complications is all we know at this time.

Although he is not a religous man, I am still going to spend some time in prayer for both him and his family. And I'll tell him also. We don't have the closest of relationships, but I think this is a good opportunity to build a bit of a bridge.

Many thoughts come out at a time like this. The first is the realization that this is perhaps the greatest tragedy that can befall a person, to have their child die. It's not supposed to happen that way. I think of Brian Morgan (pastor at Peninsula Bible Church) whose first two children died within a couple of days of birth because of an enzyme deficiency. He has been able to use these twin tragedies to greatly encourage others, and it has deepened and widened his faith as well. It gives him compassion for others who are hurting, no matter the reason why.

What does such a tragedy do to the human heart? Does it drive them towards God or away from God? Some of each, I suppose. I don't believe in the slightest that God would cause such a thing to happen, but I do believe He can and does use the aftermath of such tragedies to bring people into relationship with Him. For some people, such a tragedy may cause them to quesion the goodness of God and whether He really cares or not. How could God let this happen is perhaps a natural question that occurs. But there are others who seek refuge in God, knowing that He does indeed love and care for them. For God also lost a Son. He knows the pain also. God is indeed close to the brokenehearted, as the Psalmist says.

As a pastor, how would I deal with this? It will occur at some time, no doubt, and I will have to look at the faces of fathers and mothers who will wonder what God can do for them. It's a matter of being there, and in a sense representing God to them. Be a listener. Not a talker (often the tendency of many pastors). I'm often a better talker than I am a listener.

Assimilation strategies

My ministry responsibilities at church are changing a bit. I'm also being put in charge of our 'Assimilation Strategy'. How do we bring new people into the church, get them involved with ministry, into a small group, etc.? I've got a number of ideas that I'm working on.

We need to review our strategies for our greeters/ushers. If they're not codified, they should be. We need 2 sets of greeters; one at the door to the auditorium to pass our bulletins, help people find seats, etc. The second group needs to be at the entrance to the school. Regulars should be greeted by name. New people shoud be met, welcomed and escorted into the auditorium.

We need to do a 'mystery shopper' like restaurants do 2-3 times a year to see how newcomers feel at our service and what their impressions of our service are.

All cards for new people need to be followed up within 48 hours.

We are also putting together a 'mentor program' which matches mature believers with new believers for a period of time to introduce them further to the faith and do some discipling with them.

More ideas to come

next piece of Caleb humor

While having dinner tonight, Christa wasn't doing so well with the tomatillo chicken enchiladas that I made, but she as still hungry. So she asked Caleb what the baby might want to eat. Caleb looked directly at Christa's tummy and said, "What do you want to eat, baby? Mushrooms???"

funny things Caleb says, Parts I and II

I'm starting to realize the unintentional funny things that Caleb says. Time to start an archive of them.

Christa and Caleb were at the Oakland Zoo last week. When I got home from work, I spend some time talking to Caleb asking him about the zoo, what animals he saw, etc. After about 5 minutes, he tilted his head, looked at me and said, "Ever been to the zoo Daddy?"

Caleb also had his first day of school yesterday. I had been teaching him how to make friends by saying, "My name's Caleb. What's your name?" We practiced this on Wednesday night. On Thursday after work, I asked him if he had tried it. He said, "No, Mommy only said "Hi" to people".