Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Merry Christmas from BeDeviant.com

Friday, December 25th, 2009

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

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(Don’t) Show Me the Money! Show Me the Atmosphere!

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

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I have a gift certificate for $5 to a local coffee shop. It’s literally money waiting to be spent. I’ve had it for two months now and I still haven’t gone it to get my free coffee.

Why?

It’s simple: I don’t like the shop as much as the other ones I go to; the ones where I pay to get coffee. The gift certificate is to a shop that serves better coffee than the ones I frequent. But I would rather pay for coffee and sit in an atmosphere that I like than sit in an atmosphere I don’t like and receive free coffee. How’s that for logic?

Coffee, for the most part, is coffee. Atmosphere is not quite as simple. Atmosphere takes a little more work. Anyone can brew a decent cup of joe; not everyone can create a place where I feel welcomed, invited, and comfortable.

List-O-Mania! Christmas Eve Edition

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

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We’ll do things a little differently for this Christmas Eve edition of the List-O-Mania. Here’s a “list” of things that I’m hoping to get for this Christmas and for 2009. Here we go (in no particular order)!

A mug warmer: There’s nothing worse than cold coffee. I like my java juice to be borderline scalding, so a nice little mug warmer will keep this dude’s coffee bubbling ’til the last drop.

The release of my loans: When I started seminary in 2006, I took out some loans. Turns out, you have to pay those things back. My wife and I are working on paying off all our debt, 2009 could be the year we nail everything down. Once we pay in full, they give us a letter saying we can have our firstborn child back.

Copy/Paste, group text message option, pic messaging for the iPhone: For such an advanced device, the iPhone has some features that are glaringly missing. iPhone users know what I’m talking about. Maybe Steven will have a change of heart and give us what we want.

Logos for Mac: Apparently this program is like having thousands of years of biblical scholarship at your beck and call. It’s like a butler made up of Scripture. *Bell rings* “Come, Jeeves – tell me what the context was for Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. And prepare my coach, while you’re at it!”

A stage: I was in bed reading Scripture one night and I was hit with the distinct need to pray for a stage from which to communicate from. I believe the Lord has given me something of his heart to share and he wanted me to boldly ask for a stage from which to communicate it from. Preaching at Immersion, this beautiful blog, and my Juice faith blog are great starts, but I can’t help but think there’s something more. That’s my prayer.

What about you? What are you wishing for? Hoping for? What’s on your list?

List-O-Mania V.4

Monday, November 10th, 2008

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Biggest surprise: Biggest surprise was the level of traffic BeDeviant.com is seeing! A few posts really threw us over the top (all election and Obama-related, oddly enough): “Is Obama the First Postmodern President?” and, “Can You Vote for Obama?” Great discussion on both posts. I’ll even be using some of the comments in my sermon this week at Immersion!

Favorite new song: I’ve had LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great” on repeat for the past week (link opens in iTunes). I feel like you should do everything in robot-like fashion when you listen to this song. It’s great.

Seminary: I’m gutting out the last few weeks of my classes. Greek is really starting to take a turn for the worse. Not grade-wise, comprehension-wise. I know it’s important for me to learn this ancient language, but sheesh! Beef jerky isn’t as dry as this class is at times. Also trying to figure out how to graduate by Fall 2009. My advisors think I’m insane.

Most excited about: Seeing where this blog goes. It’s fast becoming a favorite hobby of mine and one of my blogs even won an award! I’m excited about the future of this blog because of the awesome content you all provide. Insightful comments, joining in the election liveblogging discussion, and telling your friends about BeDeviant.com – this couldn’t happen without you. The Church is in a massive (and exciting) change right now and I think platforms like this will help usher in a new direction. Decentralization baby!

Favorite new Twitter-er: There’s two this week: @BeImmersed and @d_eickelberg. Immersion is the ministry I’m on staff with and we just hooked up the Twitter to the Immersion blog. Follow along and read some amazing posts by some amazing young adults who have something to say. Dave (@d_eickelberg) just started up a great blog “Someone Has To Say It”. And he is. Follow him on Twitter and give his blog a little love.

Are you a list person? Type A, perhaps? If you like things organized in list-like fashion, check out the List-O-Mania archives for more listed commentary on culture, theology, and life.

List-O-Mania V.2

Monday, October 6th, 2008

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Biggest surprise: People actually read this blog. Sometimes you type, type, type and wonder (along with Pink Floyd), “is anybody out there?” Traffic to the site has increased nearly 200% with BeDeviant.com’s nomination for an Iowa Web Award and listing on the RSS aggregator website, Alltop.com. Huzzah!

Favorite new song: “Once In a Lifetime” (link opens in iTunes) by the Talking Heads. It’s so wonderfully bizarre and was featured in the trailer for the new George W. Bush “bio-mock-umentary”, “W”.

What I’m reading: My courses have me neck-deep in The Book of Concord and The Augsburg Confession. I’m also reading Emotionally Healthy Church, The Emotionally Healthy Manager, and Churched by Matthew Paul Turner (BeDeviant.com will be part of the “Churched: Blog Tour” later this month.)

Seminary: I’m trying to figure out how I can get done earlier. Right now, I’m slated to graduate May of 2010. This, simultaneously, seems like forever and like it’s right around the corner. It’s a good thing I’m Lutheran, otherwise the paradox might kill me. This quarter I’m taking three classes, which has been a real challenge, but something I’m finding I can manage. Of course, if anybody out there feels like sponsoring my seminary education, this is a moot point. Got an extra $30,000 laying around?

Most excited about: This week, we’ll be broadcasting the Immersion sermon live at BeDeviant.com/Webcast. We tried it out last week and it worked beautifully. I’m not quite sure how many people actually watched, but we had good feedback all around. So we’ll keep doing it. Mark your calendar: This Thursday. 8:15pm CST. Sermon series: What Does the Bible Really Say About… Topic: Sex. Holla!

Favorite new Twitter-er: Ran into @jameseliason at a wedding I was a part of over the weekend. We went to high school together, but I had no idea he was behind WhatsYourTweetWorth.com, Twittad.com, and FilmFitti.com. Ambitious, I like that.

They’re All Going To Laugh At You!

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

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I’d like to officially invite all of you to the “Immersion 10/10 Challenge”.

For those who don’t know, I’m on staff with Immersion (link opens in iTunes) – a 20s and 30s ministry in West Des Moines, IA. We meet on Thursday nights at Lutheran Church of Hope. 7:37pm. Worship Center.

At any rate, next week we’re asking everyone to bring 10 people to the 10/9 service. (We’re calling it 10/10 because on the Jewish calendar, the next day begins at sundown. Booyah!)

I’d like you to be one of my 10. Would you consider coming? Besides if you don’t, that little boy will seriously come laugh at you. Consider yourself warned.

No More Sundays.

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Below is a post off of my blog on dmJuice.com. I included it here because I think it could prove valuable for discussion.

I have been thinking about writing a book lately. I would call the book, “No More Sundays” (a play off of the hugely popular “No More Mondays” by Dan Miller).

“What’s behind the title?” you ask. Well, it seems that in my life I tend to segregate what happens on Sunday mornings as “church” and the rest of the week is “not church.” I don’t make these distinctions intentionally, but years of cultural conditioning have programmed compartments in my brain to better categorize this experience called “life”:

Work = Monday – Friday; 9-5pm.
Drive = Right side of the road.
Eat = Three meals per day.
Church = Sometime on Sunday morning.

I have been really challenged lately by some words I read regarding what “going to church” should look like. The author I’m reading says this to some of his friends about what “church” is all about, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. This, my friends, is your spiritual act of worship.” Simple words if I’ve ever heard them.

So back to my book, “No More Sundays”. I am certainly not saying that we should all stop going to church on Sundays. That would be missing the point. Or, as a mentor of mine likes to say it, “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” What Iamsaying is that we need to re-evaluate what we consider “church.” Is “the church” a place that I go to or is the church an identity that I have whether I am in a church building or not? An identity that follows me around in my “everyday, ordinary life”?

I say “No More Sundays” because I am becoming increasingly more fond of resting on Sundays. As in “sleeping in until noon” rest. As in not going to church. As followers of Jesus, we do need to be in communication with other believers; reading God’s word together, worshiping together through music and prayer and the sacraments. This much is true. But does this have to happen on a Sunday morning? What about a Saturday night? A Tuesday night? Or, I don’t know – just throwing this out there – a Thursday night?

I don’t have all the answers so in the meantime, my wife and I are really enjoying our Sunday mornings together. Not to sound trite, but it’s in those moments – resting next to her, making scrambled eggs for her, having a hot cup of coffee in between – that my soul, my spirit, is most at rest. After all, isn’t that what the Sabbath is all about?

Greek quiz (redemption!).

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

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And that, my friends, is what you call a Greek @$$-kicking. If you’ll remember, I did not fare so well on the last Greek quiz that I took. This, I’m afraid, feels good… Maybe even “very good!”

Burn out.

Monday, July 21st, 2008

From Robert Kegan’s The Mental Demands of Modern Life:

“When burnout occurs, it is almost always an indication that the person’s goals have been externally imposed. Somehow he embarked on his present course because it was expected of him… He was never the authentic source of his choices and consequently they afford little real satisfaction.”

I thought that was pretty great.

Blogging Bethel V.2

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

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Status: Stuck in a small, 4×4 room. Studying for Greek quiz. Needed a break. Took picture of self from ceiling of said small room. Back to the salt mines.