Romantic Scribbles

Several weeks back I promised to deliver some exciting news.  However, the news I thought I would be delivering has changed.  To put it succinctly, God’s plan was bigger than ours.  Back when that first blog was published, I planned on telling you that Erica and I had made a commitment to stay in Tallahassee for a while, and work and serve full-time at Crossbridge.  We were committed to a role known as a Leadership Resident, a role that involved raising funds so that we could stay and work with Crossbridge as we prepared for whatever future God had in store.   We love Crossbridge and I love serving here, and so it seemed like a perfect fit.  We thought maybe after some time we might explore planting a Church, or perhaps by then Crossbridge would be interested in planting a campus, BUT like I said God’s plans were slightly accelerated.

For the past year God has been calling our Senior Pastor Mark Michael and his family on to a new adventure planting Churches in Scotland.  We knew this was possible, but had no idea that it would happen so quickly, nor did we know what that would mean for us.

So here’s the news:

Last Sunday at Church Mark Michael and his family announced that they will be stepping down from Crossbridge and moving to Scotland plant churches.  Furthermore, the leadership team here has recommended that I fill the role of Lead Pastor at Crossbridge Christian Church.

Here’s a portion of the letter that was sent out to our community at Crossbridge yesterday:

If you were at our Crossbridge gathing today, you know that there were two exciting announcements made.  First, the Michael family is moving to Scotland. They are responding to God’s call to start a church planting effort in Scotland, and Crossbridge will be partnering with them in this new step!

As that happens, the obvious next question is, “What’s next for Crossbridge?”  That’s where the second announcement comes in.  The Leadership of Crossbrige was thrilled to announce that through a process of seeking God first, as well as seeking outside consultation, we have chosen to recommend Shawn Grant to fill the role of Lead Pastor at Crossbridge Christian Church. Shawn has been serving faithfully as our Youth Minister and teaching regularly in our Sunday morning gatherings.

Erica, Jude, and I are so excited, humbled, and maybe even a little nervous about this new adventure that God is calling us on.  (I’m sure Jude feels all of those feelings, he just doesn’t know why.)  To those of you who have been praying and supporting us we cannot thank you enough.  We ask that you continue to remember us in your prayers at all times.

To those of you from Crossbridge reading this, thank you for being one of the most amazing groups of people I have ever had the opportunity to serve.  I’m so excited about where God is taking us in the future.

So I’ve been back from Haiti for about a week now.  It’s my fourth trip to Haiti and my second in the past few years.  Haiti trips are always tough for me.  Physically Haiti is tough.  The heat, the pace, the way of life-all of it is stuff outside my usual schedule.  Emotionally it’s tough.  Malnutrition, a lack of clean drinking water, a lack of infrastructure so apparent and so overwhelming it makes you wonder how Haiti will ever change-all of it seems paralyzing.

And yet there is something about that place.  There is a joy in the people that I seldom see here.  There is a faith that I’v seldom encountered.  Perhaps most intriguing to me of late is there is a profound connection to what matters.

Whenever I come back from Haiti I have a difficult time readjusting.  Everything in my life seems so important, until a spend a week in Haiti.  Then I come home and realize how much of my life is spent chasing unimportant junk.  I’m stressed more often than I care to admit, I’m frustrated by trivial stuff, and my life is consumed by a host of concerns that really don’t matter.

One day people from our team walked out into Beau Champ and went hut to hut handing out food.  Our team asked each family if they had anything they wanted them to pray for.  Over and over again at every house they asked if we would pray for health for their family and food.

I’m not sure how to bring that home to my culture, but there has been in uneasiness in my soul that desires to do exactly that.  How do you simplify your life in a culture built on greed, gluttony, and a lack of satisfaction?  How do you cut out the noise of the insignificant?

PS.  I know I owe everyone a few blogs about stuff.  They’re coming…promise.

So Erica and I have some exciting news forthcoming, and while I want provide full disclosure here I’d like to talk a little about what’s going on.  (No we are not pregnant currently.)

Let’s start with the idea of calling.  From the time I was a kid I wanted to be a preacher.  Yes I’m sure that like many kids my desire stemmed from a desire to be like my Dad, who has been a preacher my entire life.  When I was in high school I believed my desire was confirmed with a calling.  In fact prior to graduating college I never seriously entertained the idea that I might do anything other than preach.  Then life happened.

Life from 22-30 has been kind of tough for me.  As someone who was always sure about what he was called to do, I never felt like I was doing what God wanted me to do.  I had some jobs that I thought might prepare me for ministry in the future, but in every career decision I made I felt slightly left (or right) of center.  I had jobs in which I was successful.  Jobs where people looked and said, “hey take a look at that Shawn kid, watch out for him he’s going places.”  And I had jobs where felt like a complete failure, and people seemed to say “Shawn who?”

So, I ran to the place where I was assured of positive feedback…School.  I’m good at school, and I thought maybe even it was a calling to go and get a terminal degree.  Now I’m not saying that I made wrong decisions, or that God wasn’t calling me to take the steps i’ve taken.  All I know is that my journey has had more uneasiness and confusion than I anticipated.

But, right now something has changed and I feel the strongest prompting of God that I can remember in my post-college life.  In fact at the moment I feel a strong calling from God to be right where I am.  I feel, for the first time in quite a while, that I’m right in the middle of God’s will.  And that belief has me wondering about the last 8 years.

As I look back and try and construct a narrative of the events of my life, I think that those 8 years weren’t wasted.  God was preparing me for something, teaching me something.  Maybe the lesson might have been shorter if I learned it quicker, but I don’t think I could walk where I believe God is asking me to walk if he hadn’t taken me on this journey.

God has showed (is showing) me something about pride and ego, success and faithfulness, and calling and discipleship.

So I leave you with the promise that in the future I will share more of where God is calling Erica, Jude and I.  All I will say for now is I’m excited and nervous, but confident.

OK so I know I’m a sporadic blogger and have no right to call out others for not blogging…but…I’m going to. Let me give you some context: So often I go to my blog feed and there are countless blogs by people. Some of friends, many are not, and as I scan through the list I think how I’d rather be reading blogs by the following list of people.

So here it is a list of people I wish would blog more, or start blogging, or tell me where their blog is so I can read it.

1. Crystal Hutcheson. Crystal stop sucking and start blogging.  Crystal was my first and–to date–only intern.  I believe I have had no other interns because people are intimidated to attempt to fill her shoes.  She is super creative, reminds me of Tina Fey, and is one of my favorite people in the world.  Her blogs tend to be creative, funny, and way better than mine. So stop subjecting the world to my crap and give them something good to read.

2. Tammy Davis.  I know you’re all busy taking care of kids, and Terry and whatnot, but come on for realss.  Tammy happens to be one of the most creative people I know, and while I greatly admire her husband Terry, I’d like to hear a little more of Tammy’s voice in this inter-webs kind of life.  Tammy I implore you to make it happen.

3.  Andy Frazier.  To the left is a picture of a friend named Andy Frazier playing another round of what I can only assume is the game he invented in the Summer of 2000 called Corpse.  Basically Andy just goes limp and falls seeing who or what is willing to catch him.  It’s this kind of dedication to awesomeness that demands attention.  I’ll admit I don’t often stay in contact with Andy as much as I would like, but his writing is creative and entertaining.  Andy please for the love of all words that end in “o” write something.

4.  Garrett “GRockLobstar” Laubscher.  Garrett was my college roommate my Freshman and Sophomore years in college, and while I wasn’t always easy to live with, Garrett was awesome.  Garrett lives and breathes punk rock, anti-establishment, and good ol’ fashion family values.  He’s smart and I hear he’s only gotten smarter.  His is a perspective I would like to read on a regular basis.  Garrett stop rockin’ so hard and write something.

5.  Kevin Switzer.  Despite the fact that in this photo Kevin looks like an angry convict, Kevin Switzer is the best tweeter I know.  His tweets are regularly a bright spot in a twitterverse full o’ crap.  Kevin has a blog, but doesn’t write on it very often. I, however, believe that Kevin has the ability to string together more than 140 characters of good times.  I, therefore, humbly implore you to write more often.  (And not technical crap about Iphone 4.0, let the tech geeks write about that junk.  You’re gifts are too powerful to waste on that nonsense.  It’s like leaving Luke to target swamp rats in his T-16, while the Death Star destroys the galaxy.)  So in the name of selfishness I request that you write more.

Ok so there are so many more that I wish would blog, but this is a beginning.  Now if you’re too reluctant to set up your own blogs at least, for the good of humanity, guest blog here.

PS.  All pictures stolen from Facebook.

So I’m making a CD of Alice in Wonderland read by Jim Dale.  Now Jim Dale also happens to narrate the Harry Potter series in the US for which he has won a few grammies.  In any case if I had a billion-jillion dollars I would hire Jim Dale and have him read everything too me.  He has the most melodious voice of anyone I know, well with the possible exception of my good friend John Gove.  (John I’m not sure who will read A Christmas Carol to me while I sleep this year, but I hope somehow, some way it’s you.)

Here’s a video of Jim Dale talking.  I have no idea what he is talking about (I wasn’t listening) but I just like his voice:

So I thought I might escape pollen fest 2010 without the usual sinus track infection.  Well after producing somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 pounds of snot today it looks like that is not the case.  The doctor seemed to agree, and she added things like ear infection and perhaps strep to the mix.  She prescribed me a half a dozen medications, and told me I’d be better before I left for Haiti in June.  Awesome.

Beyond the mucus nastiness things are pretty good.  I love my job, I’m making progress on my dissertation, and I only feel overwhelmed a few times a week.  Jude who started as the cutest baby in the world has continued to grow up at a level of cuteness that is unmatched in recorded history.  Here’s some photos that prove my point:

With this I believe I can rest my case.  Well, in any case I hope you’re all doing well, and there should be more updates coming soon.

By the by as I type this New Moon is on.  This movie is something…that’s all I’ll say.

So lately I’ve been frustrated by a few things.  I could probably write a full post about each, but for now I’ll just provide a list with some thoughts.

1. Citing grammar/grammatical mistakes to win an argument:  I’ve seen this a couple of times recently.  In this scenario a person makes a valid and potentially strong argument opposing someone’s ideals, and instead of engaging with their critique the person dismisses the person for being too stupid to use the English language appropriately.  Now I like language, I believe in using correct grammar, my personal grammatical skills are average to below average, and I appreciate when my friends help correct my grammatical mistakes.  (Thanks Andrea.)  For me, however, I’m much more concerned with the content of someone’s remarks over their form.  Furthermore, I don’t think that grammar is a sign of intelligence.  You can train a monkey to put commas in the right place.  In fact when you disparage someone for an obvious typo or an incorrect apostrophe I lose respect for you.

2.  John Piper books: I’m glad John Piper exists.  I’m glad he writes books.  However, every time I turn around someone is trying to push a John Piper down my throat.  I love you all and your love of reformed theology, but I’ve got a reading list a mile long and Piper is not first, second, or even third in line.

3.  The reaction to the health care reform bill: This one is more involved, but I will try to succinctly state my reasons.

(A.)  I don’t think that the signing of this bill means that suddenly the sky is falling, I now live in a communist country, or that I’m in danger of death squads trying to kill my grandma.  I could be wrong, but for now this type of reaction annoys me

(B.)  The arguments that draw on Christian teaching seem weak or selective at best.  I’m not saying Christians need to support this bill, I’m just saying that those who turn to the NT for reasons to oppose this bill may not find the clear teaching they’re hoping for.  Furthermore, I think Christian leaders who base their arguments on Scripture seem to send the message that says if you don’t vote like , if don’t support what I support you can’t be a Christian.  Christians who oppose this bill should be free to oppose it, just find better arguments that closes off the kingdom to people who vote different than you. This one bothers me the most, especially because I’m worried that we are putting unnecessary obstacles in front of the Gospel.

(C.)  The rhetoric has become so radicalized that conversation between opposing groups has become impossible.  In fact the other side has become the enemy.  (Both sides are guilty of this by the by.)  For those that oppose the bill, please don’t say it’s evil and compare it to women getting raped or people killed by radical Islamists.  It doesn’t prove your point and just ensures that no one will want to talk with you (except those that already believe what you believe).  I love the people who support this bill (even though it is flawed) and I love the people who oppose this bill (although I hope they support health care reform at some point).  I just want the rhetoric and apocalyptic language to tone it down a little so that maybe we can have a discussion between opposing parties some day.

Furthermore, if you keep inciting people into a rage and turning the opposing side into a ruthless enemy then don’t be surprised when death threats go out and bricks go through people’s windows.

4.  Backs: Listen back I’m tired of you hurting.  I’ve got junk to do, and I find it hard to do on muscle relaxers and pain killers.  You cost me a full day this week and some other minutes on various other days.  Enough’s enough, this economy is bad and you don’t want to be out on the street looking for a job.

5.  Diaper rash: Enough said.

Recently I finished Donald Miller’s new book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”.  Another Miller book “Blue Like Jazz” has been sitting on my shelf for years and I’ve never gotten around to it, but I picked up A Million Miles and once I started reading it was hard to put down.

Miller knows how to craft a story, and I wanting to keep reading to find out where it would go next.  Not sure if it was because I read it so fast (maybe 3-5 days) but occasionally the story metaphor got a little redundant, and I thought perhaps the end of the book was quite as engaging as the first, but all in all it was a really enjoyable book.

Now with my new handy-dandy kindle it’s pretty easy for me to mark passages I like, and so I thought I’d share one I enjoyed:

I asked Bob what was the key to living such a great story, and Bob seemed uncomfortable with the idea he was anything special. But he wanted to answer my question, so he thought about it and said he didn’t think we should be afraid to embrace whimsy. I asked him what he meant by whimsy, and he struggled to define it. He said it’s that nagging idea that life could be magical; it could be special if we were only willing to take a few risks.I asked Bob what was the key to living such a great story, and Bob seemed uncomfortable with the idea he was anything special. But he wanted to answer my question, so he thought about it and said he didn’t think we should be afraid to embrace whimsy. I asked him what he meant by whimsy, and he struggled to define it. He said it’s that nagging idea that life could be magical; it could be special if we were only willing to take a few risks.

I think for some people a magical life or the idea of whimsy in the world is completely foreign.  For me, however, I not only believe in this stuff, but I feel a longing, a desire for it somewhere deep inside.  It’s probably what keeps me looking for worlds inside wardrobes, and dreaming of romantic quests involving rings and wizards.  In any case check out the book and include a little spontaneous whimsy in your day.

A friend of mine posted a blog with some initial thoughts about what’s going on in with America, healthcare, and Christianity.  It can be read here.