So here I am one afternoon entertaining my girls with the lightsaber app and Jane asks what it is. After a brief description followed by doe eyes from Jane, I can tell she doesn’t get it. So we watch some Star Wars. I edit some of it through fast forward, but she is enamored. Anytime I need a buddy to watch Star Wars, she is in.

So what’s better that Star Wars with your daughter? THIS!

Nothing says I love you like chocolate carbonite.

This last Saturday, I was in the midst of detailing the context for the youth teaching series (transformers) and just was completely unisnpired by any teaching that came up. I thought that most of it was good, but I just wasn’t inspired by any of it. At that point I knew that I had allowed some bad habits to resurface. I hadn’t been spending the time I needed with God, I hadn’t been praying, hadn’t been reading my Bible for anything other than lesson prep. Basically, I had checked out of my relationship from God. Not a great thing for the average person, even worse for a pastor.

I don’t know why, but for some reason it is very easy for me to get distracted. Almost everyone I know is as busy as they can get, most of the time. I am definitely like that. At the same time, I know the value of checking out of busy-ness and checking into God. I had a great time with God this morning. Hope I keep it up and stay focused.

I start my first teaching series for the church as a whole this Wednesday. It is some of the themes from John Eldredge’s Waking the Dead and some of my own thoughts mixed in as well. I really like what Eldredge says about the heart and what he points to in the Bible about the heart.

I wonder sometimes that I never saw it myself. It really is apparent that God wants us to have full lives. That’s not very surprising. The surprising thing is that He wants to do it through our hearts. I grew up in the church very suspicious of my heart. It was the source of all those things that were bad in my life (like emotions). The Bible shows something fairly contrary to that, though. Hopefully, I’ll post more about it as I prepare for the lessons.

In a respite from potty training, I took Jane to get some lunch for us all. We had a great break and a bit of funny conversation. It went something like this:

J: Daddy, do you know what? I have you ever seen a rainbow mouse?

P: Uh, no.

J: Daddy, did you know I have a rainbow?

P: Is your mouse rainbow colored?

J: Yes, it’s a mouse.I have three mices. Their names are Squeaky, Micey and, uh… Rainbow.

P: Is rainbow the rainbow colored mouse?

J: Yes, but Squeaky is a white mouse, and Micey is mouse colored. Daddy, did you know what? They are all superheroes.

P: Well, that’s cool. What are their super powers?

J: Well… Squeaky’s super power is to make unicorns. Miceys super power is to make princesses. Rainbow’s super power is to… make rainbows.

P: Cool!

J: And I have a super power too.

P: OK, what’s your super power?

J: I can make everything good, even God and Jesus.

P: Awesome, that’s the best super power.

J: And I can make lowercases.

That was it. Apparently making everything good isn’t enough for our little four year old.

I read the book without trying to break it down theologically. I just read it to experience it. It didn’t hit any of my alarms, which might be a miracle, sense I am pretty critical. Having reflected on it, there are things that I wonder about. For example, there is no mention of Satan. The idea of punishment leads me to believe that, if the book were true, that God never punishes. Yet we have examples all through the Bible, from the flood to God hardening Pharoah’s heart. So while I do see some things I question, I didn’t have any worries about recommending it to others (which I apparently don’t need to do since so many are already reading it).

What I wasn’t expecting was the adamant reaction of others to the book. I have heard claims tat it is anti-church, universalistic, anti-heirarchical, and monarchianistic. I really didn’t think that this book would shake so many trees.

So having thought through the book have decided to read it through again with my magnifier out. I can’t promise that I will see ay more in it than before, but I am going to give it a shot, just to dignify a response to some of the criticism.

I would say that I read the book first as a… book. That is to say, not the Bible or a theological treatise. I kind of hate to ruin it as a book because others want to try to make it something it doesn’t claim to be, but for unity’s sake, here I go.

So today I heard the response from the leader of the Episcopal Churchin America to the statement issued from GAFCON (Could there be a worse name for a meeting?). It is evasive and equivocating and just plain annoying. In other words, perfect for this post. Her response:

“Much of the Anglican world must be lamenting the latest emission from GAFCON. Anglicanism has always been broader than some find comfortable. This statement does not represent the end of Anglicanism, merely another chapter in a centuries-old struggle for dominance by those who consider themselves the only true believers. Anglicans will continue to worship God in their churches, serve the hungry and needy in their communities, and build missional relationships with others across the globe, despite the desire of a few leaders to narrow the influence of the gospel. We look forward to the opportunities of the Lambeth Conference for constructive conversation, inspired prayer, and relational encounters.”

That’s right, he refers to the statement as an “emission” which, since it doesn’t come from a car, can only mean flatulence. She does however throw in the word “missional”. Forget the thought that she thinks a “few leaders” is actually the majority of the leaders in the Anglican Communion, let’s focus on words.

Emission -

1 a: an act or instance of emitting : emanation barchaic : publication c: a putting into circulation2 a: something sent forth by emitting: as (1): electromagnetic radiation from an antenna or a celestial body (2)usually plural : substances discharged into the air (as by a smokestack or an automobile engine) b: effluvium

Missional -

adopting the posture, thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to engage others with the gospel message.

So for the sake of me being annoying, I submit a new word for Christians.

Emissional -

Radiating the part of the gospel that is completely true and right, but offends some people who don’t want to hear the truth and in fact try to cover up the truth when it reveals things they don’t like to admit. This word will surely become very useful in the present church, especially in America, where the gospel has been corrupted by so many. Just look back a couple of posts to the Obama/Dobson debacle. Use it in a sentence - Obama, in an emissional statement about his faith in the role of government, clearly believes the the place of government is not to endorse any one faith.

I am really excited about the future of epistemology in the church.

This is the Tesla car. It goes 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and costs less than 2 cents per mile to drive. It’s not bad on the eyes either. This car screams “YOUTH MINISTRY”. Well not actually, but I hear they are announcing new lines of this car including sedans and vans. I really hope this is a hit and that the fearful gas dependent manufacturers are taking notice.

1. Jane is a Pirate, Elizabeth is a ninja - We have said it before, but it was proven again this week. Little E can wreck a room in zero seconds, proving her ninja speed.

The scenario that played out was during a game of hide and seek. I am hiding and Jane and Ella come in to the room. I hear the sound of skin htting skin and hear E start to cry. Jane is hitting her, so I take her aside and am talking to her and correcting her. While this is happening, I put on a youtube video for E. After correcting Jane I come back into the room. Now this is more my fault than Elizabth’s because I left it out, but when I get back, she has turned a sketch that I have been working on more time than I care to admit into a piece of black paper.

2. Jane needs a Mommy, bad - Jane is a great little girl with high social needs. Sometimes, we just can’t get her to stop talking. The first day she was alright and didn’t notice Cathy’s abesence so much. The second day, her behavior and social needs started showing the absence of her mother. Last night, she just cried in frustration after having a night of attention seeking behavior. Jane just needs her mother sometimes.

3. I am ADD when I don’t get my social needs met - I generally think of myself as a fairly self-sustaining person. I dream, occassionally, of moving to Montana and living as a semi-hermit. Mid-day Saturday I was craving some adult face time. I had talked on the phone a couple of times with friends and Cathy, but I hadn’t had any relating in proximity with an adult for three days. I was going a little lot bonkers. I realized I have some pretty high social needs s well. Big tells for my needs are: low attention span (I couldn’t even make it through a movie without losing interest), manic conversations when I see an opportunity (I was more social than I have ever been at church Sunday morning just because I wanted conversation with someone older than 4), and a willingness to eat just about anything.

After all, it was a great week and I am really glad Cathy got some time to herself, but I am really ready to see her again. We pick her up today at 10:48. You can bet I won’t be late.

I really love my wife and we affectionately call ourselves Team Martin. We really work together to make things happen, and, while we can defintely make do with half the team, it isn’t nearly as easy as it normally is. Having said that:

We had a really great day yesterday. After droping Cathy off at the airport (an adventure in itself for Jane), we did our normal Daddy daughters time - a Target run. I picked up some fun for Jane later and then it was time to get home for lunch. The girls had pizza but I had, of all things, a salad. Those of you who know, this is not my normal preferred meal, but my wife has been inspiring me to eat better, so…

After a short nap, Jane and I made pie. Well, we kind of made pie. We actually used premade crusts that were 3 inches in diameter and used the mixer to mix powder and milk to make Jello no-bake cheesecake. We then made a library run, movie run and grocery run. We got back, did some coloring and art (like Mommy) and then made some dinner (breakfast burritos and waffles for Ella). Then we got the big treat of mini-cheescake. For entertainment, we watched most of Dumbo, which Jane picked for her movie, baths and then bed time.It was actually a really great night.

I have no idea what we are doing today. I had planned on a trip to the grandparents, but they are going out of town. I then thought of the Zoo, but I think it is going to rain today. I miss Cathy right now. She usually has a couple of ideas at this point.