I've been thinking this morning about the tension between adapting to the culture and being different from the culture. In other words, if our culture promotes the individual we have two choices: We can be individual focused in order to be familiar or we can be community focused to provide alternative. I suppose we can share the message of Jesus in both contexts but I think we often overlook the positive aspects of offering an alternative.

Wow! That was confusing.

Well, we won the first softball tournament game last night. It was embarassing being late for the start but I was more embaraased because we played kind of slow even when we were holding up the next game. Hopefully things will go better tonight.

One of the problem's with softball is the tension between being competitive and letting young or inexperienced people play. It usually has a big impact on offense. I would rather let everyone play.

Softball Tournament begins tonight. It has been an interesting season. Lots of testosterone induced passion with some decidedly unChristian moments. A lot of people are apalled at some of the behavior that we have been exposed to this year. The concern is about our Christian witness. But I think it is good for us to have to confront these situations. It lets us know where our weaknesses are and where we need to change. I want us to have a good witness but I don't want us to be something we're not. There's a show on the BBC called "Faking It" where people have four weeks to learn a new occupation and see if they can fool the "experts" into believing they are experienced in the chosen field. They often get quite good at making a good first impression but the judges usually find flaws as they dig deeper. A lot of Christians are faking it.

Oh Yeah. "Losers Gain" played last night. Their lead singer/rythm guitar player was grounded so he couldn't come. First time I've heard that one. They did all right though. The music was well done. They need some seasoning but it was a fun time overall.

Heading to camp this morning to pick up the kids. The best part is grilling the kids about their home life. "So...who has the worst temper? Mom or dad." The ride over is great because I'm alone and can crank the radio. The ride back all depends on how much sleep the campers got last night!

A Beautiful Morning. Watching the sunrise is such a powerful experience. It's as if God is releasing His glory on the world right before my eyes. Not too many people are out yet and the world seems to be absorbing His glory for the moment. Soon people will begin to enter that glory, many without even being aware of it. How many of us will begin to mess it up today. From our perspective we soon will have a harder time seeing what we see so clearly now. The messiness of sin will clutter our view even though His glory will still be there. Good thing it starts all over again tomorrow.

Woa. Did I really just write that? I need my coffee!

Slow Down, Slow Down, Slow Down. I am getting better at this but every now and then I catch myself. It is kind of like when I tell people standing up in weddings not to forget to breathe. Sometimes you can tell when they remember that because all of a sudden they'll take a long deep breath. Likewise, I sometimes remember that I need to slow down and it kind of stops me in my tracks.

I am working on adding a comment option in case you want to comment on something I write here.

I woke up at about 4:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep so I read awhile. One of the books I'm reading is about Cuba. The thing I find amazing is how the relationship has stayed the same for so long now.

This is the first time I have blogged since January. I guess I don't have "brain twitches" that often. In the last months a few people have kidded me about my lack of blogging so I am going to try to pick it up again.