Do you remember that little book, The Prayer of Jabez… big hit amongst the Christian pop-culture a year or two ago? It was written by a guy named Bruce Wilkinson. Now, I do not do things that are wildly popular, simply because they are wildly popular. I stay away from fads, and other strange “follow-the-herd” type phenomena. That’s something weird that is in me, but it’s definitely in me. SO, I have not, and most likely will not, read that book – The Prayer of Jabez. Perhaps in the distant future… but not now.

(On a footnote… the above reasoning is the same reason that I did not wear acid-washed jeans or roll up or safety-pin up the pants legs of said jeans for those of you who grew up in the 80s… and the same reason I have not seen the Passion Of The Christ, or The Lord Of The Rings or The Matrix… and there are many more examples (just ask Jen…) 🙂 but for now… you get the point.)

But, that said… I actually have TWO Bruce Wilkinson books in my possesion (albeit temporarily as they are on loan from the library…) And the first bit of the first one has been really cool.

I have (current read) Secrets of The Vine and The Dream Giver. Dream Giver has been highly recommended by several friends. (NOT highly recommended by the Christian marketing machinery) Secrets of The Vine deals with what Jesus said in John 15, which has always been a very cool chunk of Jesus-words for me. (We named Alex after what Jesus said there. His middle name is Caedon, which is a gaelicized form of the Spanish word Quedar – “to remain”)

Coolest line so far:

He quotes John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser… you are the branches”

“If you didn’t grow up in wine country, you might think that the vine is a long, trailing limb that sprawls along the trellis. Actually, it’s the trunk of the plant that grows out of the ground. … The vine ends in a large gnarl from which branches grow in either direction along the trellis.

In the vineyard the branches (us) are the focus of the vinedresser’s (the Father’s) efforts because they produce the fruit. The vinedresser lovingly cultivates each branch so that it will produce as much fruit as possible.

I thought that was a neat look at a familar passage. I know that imagery… told you it’s one of my favorite that Jesus gave us. But it’s cool to see how much God wants abundance in our life. Really. Not abundance of wealth and prosperity necessarily. But Kingdom fruit.

Cool, eh?

So, let the Vine-Guy do his work today and check out the fruit he coaxes out of you! 🙂

We are so almost done! Today we finished up the vocals, tomorrow we are going to try and get a couple keyboard parts done and perhaps a few other things. I’ll let you know once I can catch my breath! 🙂

The Bills played tonight. They played the Titans, and it was on TV so we went over to watch the game with some Titan-fan friends 🙂 That was great. They lost 16-15 but it was still great! We love football! 🙂

I am flipping through channels, winding down the day, and see a Batman movie on… I think it’s Batman & Robin… and who else is the villain, but …

THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA!

That is too funny. I can’t believe the Terminator is their Governor. First a WWF guy, and now the action hero. Very funny…

Oh hey, I just wanted to clarify some stuff from my question yesterday…

I think that it is clear in scripture that the only relationship God designed for us is one man and one woman for life. That’s it. Marriage was his idea, and there wasn’t nothing else. No dating, no courting, no shackin’ up, no partners, obviously no homosexual relationships… it was one man and one woman for life. That’s the best way to do it.

Now, the Bible is chock-full of folks doing it other ways… polygamy, incest, rape, homosexuality, adultery… but those were obviously never sanctioned by God. And it’s a sinch that most anyone would say those things are sin. (Some would question the homosexuality thing, but I think the Bible is quite clear on that one there…)

So my question was not really why is shacking up a bad thing — living with someone before you are married… if in fact you end up married. I don’t mean sex before marriage with anyone and everyone… I was thinking specifically of someone who dates, lives together and then is married later… even years later.

I would never ever recommend that, but just as I was thinking about it, couldn’t really think of a Scripture that specifcally says that is a bad thing.

So… again… I welcome your email or comments below.

So far the best I have is that it’s just not a good idea. Like, smoking, drinking, drugs, etc, etc… it’s permissible (if legal) but not so smart… and can hurt you. So can sex/living together before marriage. But like these things, should the person/people involved be condemned of a sinful lifestyle? Not sure.

Summary: Marriage (one man, one woman) is the way to go. But it’s good to think about what we say God is against before we blast people with “truth in love”…

Not like, serious, like as opposed to like, trivial… ya know… just like serious, like for REAL and stuff…

🙂

SO, for some reason, I was just thinking about shacking up (not ME silly… about those who do in general) and how it’s wrong and all, and then I thought… wait… where does it say that it’s wrong?

And then I really wondered…

The Bible talks a lot about adultery (which to me is the breaking of the commitment to fidelity that you make when you marry) and even homosexuality and incest and stuff… does it specifically say it’s bad to live together and/or have sex BEFORE marriage?

The only spot I could think of is where Jesus tells “the woman at the well” (John 4) that she has had 5 husbands, “and the man you have now is not your husband.” I have always read that as a prophet kinda way of exposing her to the truth. BAAAAD woman! You should not be a-shackin’ up! But… that’s a pretty weak case for something that I have always known is clearly wrong…

So… I’d like your help. Post your comments below. Help me out here. Where does it SPECIFICALLY say that living together and/or sex before marriage is a sin? Not inferred… though if you make a good case, I will certainly accept it… but real, straight up truth. And stuff. 🙂

I will see what I can come up with too.

No real reason, just the constant search for truth. 🙂 Thanks for joining me in my quest!

Best line of the day came when Ian and I were playing cards out on our deck, and the mosquitos were attacking us… and Ian said:

“It’s hard for you to tell if the mosquitos are biting you because of all the fur on your legs. It might just be the fur.”

That is so true. It might just be the fur.

🙂

Today has been filled with much accomplishment. I have been scheduling gigs left and right, and even did the dishes and cleaned the turtle’s tank. But this month has been such a hectic, overwhelming month, that even with major successes, I only feel the empty, heavy, unending weight of so much more to do.

That’s why I wish I was a landscaper. I’d still get to be creative… but all I have to do is yards. Endless yards. Day after day, week after week, year after year… YARDS. Mowing, weeding, designing, transplanting, trimming, cutting…

OK, maybe I DON’T want that, but measurable success is good. 🙂 I am going to try and enjoy mine today, even though I know my “success” came at the cost of putting off 87 other things for one more day… 🙂

We were in the park again tonight, for the weekly Wednesday Night Concert in the Park. We begin the night with a couple of our songs and then I turn into the emcee for the night, and the feature band takes over from there.

After things get going with that band, there is usually a moment where I get to look around and just take in everything that I have worked so hard to make happen… and it’s a bit weird… 🙂

On one hand, it is sooo cool and rewarding to just see the fruit of your labor… to know THIS is what you worked SO hard for. There has been much stress, lots of tiredness, some frustration… but in the end, a really really great event for our community and lots of people out enjoying a free night of great stuff. The people and the business owners and everyone just really enjoying being a part of the same community. Very, very cool.

On the other hand, there was an odd sort of feeling of ‘I’m really not that important, am I?’ that was creeping in there as well. I had to slip away for a brief moment, and when I did I thought … whoa, there are like 200 people here having fun, and I made that happen… but it is SO MUCH bigger than me… like, they don’t even care about me at all right now. This event has now become its own thing. 🙂

So all really, really good. Really. God’s Kingdom on display. People being loved. People enjoying community. Relationships being formed. Good music (those RPO Marimba guys, and gal… were grrrrreat!)

And I was hugely the reason for it and completely unnecessary to it at the same time.

Go figure.

🙂

Jen just reminded me of a cool visual of what I was just blogging about:

After our group time was done tonight, Chris turned his van headlights on so the kids could have light to play while the adults were all saying goodbye and chatting and stuff… but, when it was time to go, his battery was dead. SO, I grabbed my jumper cables, which happened to be close by, and Dan hooked them up to his van and within moments, Chris’ van was up and running, and we all unhooked our stuff and went home.

Everyone was helping, everyone was sharing, everything worked. That’s doing life together. A cool microcosm of a cool big thing. 🙂

A couple years ago we were introduced to the idea of the “simple church”. Sometimes called house churches, sometimes even just small groups, or home groups… but essentially it is an intentional community of believers.

I love that. I want that. Sometimes we try to force that. But it can’t be forced. It is the regular sharing of regular life with regular people in regular settings… every setting. Not just a planned time together around a study or a lesson or any structured thing. Those are not bad in and of themselves… but when the become the focus, you have lost the beauty of the simple church.

The power is in relationship. Knowing that you are not doing life alone. That you can share the cool stories, or the hard news or call up and ask for help, or offer it… community. And it works best when the members of the community are all nearby. That’s why it’s hard to make relationships often at a big church… just the distance factor. Lots of folks drive a long way for a “good church”.

So our small group is an awesome simple church. We all do community really well, and that’s just so cool. It’s great to be a part of that. I know that I (we are) am accepted and I love them the same way. We have some new friends who just moved to town and I look forward to including them in our simple church.

We did not start out that way, so I think there are many things we are still working through as far as our planned times together, but really, the coolest stuff does not happen from 7-8:30 on Tuesday nights (at least, not necessarily when WE plan for it to!) 🙂 … really, it happens in the parking lot after (yes, our driveway is more like a parking lot on Tuesday nights!) or before when we get there and just kinda catch up on stuff that we know is going on in each other’s lives… and even moreso on days other than Tuesdays when we do regular life regularly.

The church has gotten so set in the programs that we miss the greatness of the community. Of relationships. We don’t do it on purpose, but especially those of us involved in planning the events… it’s a lot of work, takes a lot of our focus, and is a GREAT thing. It is helpful to me! I love to go and think through stuff with a great speaker/teacher. I love to sing with great musicians who love God with all they are.

But the church is not a time, place or event. It is a living, breathing body… it is organic. It is relationships. It is community. And I am so thankful I am part of that.

We try really hard to keep Mondays as a day off. A time to recharge and really get to spend time together as a family. Well, this past Sunday we were free the WHOLE DAY! So, we took advantage of that and since this has been the busiest month on record for us, we did absolutely nothing! (Except some fun stuff together!) 🙂

So today, I have a lot to do, but boy was it worth it! It was so nice to actually have TWO DAYS in a row with no responsiblities, no stress, no nothing. 🙂

Today is different. Back in the studio, and coordinating the last two concerts of the August Concert Series and scheduling concerts from October through December… and beyond? A bunch to do… so I gotta go!

Hope you get a couple days of free strung together for ya soon!