A. O. Smith, 1977-2007

Rest in peace to our old water heater. Thirty years standing up for our houses' hot water needs! Well done, A. O. Smith serial number 850-F-77-76563.

Night at the SaveMart

We loaded up the Staff team and went to watch the Dogs take on #11 Nevada last night over at the SaveMart Center. Close first half, but Nevada won going away 81-68. What was the problem you ask?!? The Dogs shot just 40% from the line, 10 out of 25. Looks like somebody needs some free throw practice...

Two pictures from the night. One from our seats and the other our Staff team!

Good Sport

As the football season comes to a close this weekend, thankfully we in America get to comfort ourselves with a our unofficial national pastime: The Political Candidate Gaffe Derby (PCGD for those of you in InterVarsity). It's a great game, and, by the way, what a beautiful word "gaffe" is. The game goes like this: we line up all these presidential hopefuls (TIME this week listed like 15-20 of them) and we wait. What are we waiting for?!? We wait for the inevitable gaffe, the remark that disqualifies. And now with youtube, it is sure to be recorded and distributed.

Chalk up our first gaffe today, with Sen. Biden. You win Joe! PCGD medal for you! Who's next?!?

Broomball

We had a broomball social last night. Our biggest social ever. Good times, with students (and staff) falling all over the ice. I rocked my old school Cal Poly hockey jersey.

The only downside...I can't feel my legs this morning...

New blog

For those of you jonesing for more pictures of the ninos, we're going to try to give you your fix at the new blog.

Maturity or Callousness? I'll take maturity!

I was a part of an intense meeting today where we processed through some painful feelings on the way to starting a discussion about philosophy of ministry. Hard stuff, as in, "you betrayed me and I am exceedingly sad bordering on rage." And the kicker was that I had instigated much of it through a paper I had written.

Processes and conversations like that used to absolutely paralyze me. As in a "fetal position in the corner chanting 'happy place, happy place'" kind of paralysis. But God's grace to me in recent years is an ability to respond better to my emotions, and to abide in the midst of relational drama/difficulties. And so today, as I delivered hard truth and had even more delivered to me, I was able to walk away not only functional, but glad for the experience, friends with the people and hopeful for the future.

Being Tom Brady

So let's see...

You make more money than every IV Staff I know added together.
You've won 3 Super Bowls in 5 years and you play this weekend for a shot at number 4.
Everyone regards you, with admiration, as the "all American man".
Supermodel Gisele Bundchen wants to date you.

And yet, even with all of that...

YOU STILL HAVE A BUTT CHIN!!!

Tehachafreezing

Greetings from the sprawling metropolis of Tehachapi. Wondering where it is? Here's a map. We're here for a Staff interest event. Get to know Tehachapi. Here are five fun (and random) facts:

1. Median home value is $90K
2. Population (as of 2005) is 69% male
3. The fine Correctional Institution in town serves 5,563 individuals
4. The late actor Jack Palance (City Slickers) lived here.
5. Oh, and the projected overnight low tonight is 16 degrees.

Really, it's a sign that they care.

Here are some photos of what can only be described as an "occupational hazard" for those of us ministering with and to young adults. It was cold at 7am when I was trying to clean it up...

Enough with the co-pays!

We went again to the pediatrician today. That's four visits in 3 weeks. And, surprise, we found out that Gracie has an ear infection...again. In fact, this would be her third ear infection in those three weeks. We are now starting her on her second variety of antibiotics and she's also on Dimetap and Motrin.

And Grace isn't the only one. Lucy has had two ear infections in these last weeks; she finishes her antibiotics treatment on the 13th. Josh has one ear infected and he will finish his course on the 15th. And then there is Amy. Yes, the bulwark, the pillar of our household, had an ear infection over this last weekend and was, get this, just now in the bathroom draining her ear (ewww). For those of you keeping score at home, yes, that's 7 ear infections in three weeks. Currently, we're running a small pharmaceutical industry out of our kitchen...

Now you know why I've been holding my breath for the last three weeks, slamming vitamin C supplements and living out in the garage...

Free Hold 'em Advice

You gotta, you have to, raise pre-flop with a good hand. Someone remind me of this next time we're playing...

11 years and 207 games later...

...the mighty Caltech Beavers (why Beavers, by the way?!?) finally won an NCAA Division III men's basketball game. Props to the techies!

Latest Online Time Waster

Go to netives.com and try out the marbles game...

"Your little girl has a very high threshold for pain."

That's the word from the nurse practitioner today after an appointment revealed not one but two ear infections for Lucy, one of which was so bad that the "eardrum was about ready to burst."

Good to know that she takes after her dad, um, er, well, make that her, mom.

Gerald Ford

In (irreverent) memoriam...

'Cause what's NOT violent about running your car through a fruit stand?

We love our local pizza joint, and we went there again tonight. This particular establishment has 4 arcade games in the back, and of course Joshua makes a beeline there each time we go in. The trouble is that 3 of the 4 games are overtly violent. Two are the type where you pick up a gun and fire away and one is the kind where two warriors rip each others heads off (literally). Since early on we said, "we're Dixons, we don't shoot guns and play violent games," that left the fourth game, a racing game called Off Road Challenge.

So Josh loves the race, only he can't reach the gas/brake pedals, so someone has to operate them while he turns the wheel. Tonight it was my turn. We chose the Baja (as in California) course and an off-road rally car, and off we went. We zipped through the first turns before it got more difficult and Josh began to miss turns, which meant that we were suddenly all over the landscape. We annihilated some tumbleweeds, cacti and sand dunes. Fine, right?!? But then we hit one stretch where, inexplicably, there were little fruit stands by the side of the road. Little tiendas with two people inside, some piles of fruit and a sign above the shack that read "fruta."

"We're Dixons, we don't do violent games" was suddenly reduced to a mere slogan as our rally car obliterated fruit stand after fruit stand. The fruit was flying, wood was splintering and, not kidding, you could see the look of horror on the proprietors' faces as our car smashed them to a pulp. And all the while, to my great dismay, my 4 year old is laughing and drooling his way through the race...

I'm told you can also pick a track where bears wander in the roadway and you can demolish them as well. So much for non-violent video-gaming...

Urbana

Urbana is coming! I fly out of Sacramento for St. Louis (this years' location) on the 26th, back on the 1st. Once again I'll be assistant managing the Convention office. Feel free to follow along with the Convention at www.urbana.org

This will be my fifth Urbana. Here's a fun shot from the first one (in 1993):

My Inner Bob Vila

I took a shot this morning at changing out a gear on our balky garage door opener (an overworked machine circa 1994). I'm happy (actually, thrilled...or possibly sinning with pride...) to report success, and a savings of at least $80 and possibly more if we had to replace the unit! I'm hoping we get another 6 months to a year out of it. Here's the photo proof (the faulty gear, its replacment, and then a mid-process shot):

It's really tasty with a few meatballs and a light alfredo...

So there's nothing unusual about there being sickness in our house. We found out today, for instance, that Gracie has an ear infection. But the Dr. visit today also brought with it the news that Josh is suffering from torticollis. What is this thing? We're trying to figure it out, here and here. The Dr. did say that it should resolve on its own, in 3-10 days (pray that it's gone by Christmas!).

The good news in all of this is that Josh's MarioKart aptitude is unaffected, and, besides, how cool is it to say, "yeah, uh, we're dealing with a touch of torticollis around here."

It's not a "mancrush," but it's close...

I love Brian Williams. In a house that is an abc30 house for our local news, I catch Brian Williams as much as possible in the evenings. I know all the pundits and their talk of news bias and whatnot, but the dude can read a teleprompter, and he has a great voice and calming demeanor. It is truly a joy to watch him read the news...

Brian (and others) blog; it's called "the Daily Nightly." Check it out here.

Marking one year in Blogland...

A belated Happy Blog Anniversary to me! I wrote my first blog entry on December 4, 2005 during, of all things, a retreat of silence in Las Vegas (don't tell Melissa!). Random. I've learned a few things over the past year:

1. It's tough to post every day. I was just reading a blog and the writer was lamenting his "blog block." I get that, because it's important for me to write or post something meaningful, and there are just some days where the meaning is elusive, you know?

2. I love to write. A friend and Staff partner of mine once told me, before the publication of his third book, that "writing is a spiritual discipline for me." I'm not sure I would take it that far for myself, but I really do like to write, and I think I communicate better and more clearly on paper (not that anyone uses paper anymore...).

3. I blog for myself first. I love those of you who comment either by replying or in emails or conversations, but I've come to realize that I blog primarily because it's good for me to blog. The blog lets me express, synthesize, vent, be deep (or not) and, well, have fun. The more I do it, the better for me.

4. I'm more chill now. When I started I said this: "This blog is my attempt to make sense of the complexity that I live in in all sorts of areas, to define the tensions and to live in an articulated middle." Now that sounds noble! I think I have done some of that, but one year on, I'm less concerned about resolving complexity than I am about...simply expressing myself. Too much pressure "articulating middles" all the time!

Anyway, thanks to those of you who've read along for this year. I'm blessed to have you.

As good as it gets?!?

The odds of our family of 5 taking a picture where all of us are smiling and looking at the camera have to be right around winning the lottery or snow falling in Fresno in mid-July. Here was our best effort from a couple weeks back!

Your Self Worth Fix

Need some encouragement? A self-esteem boost? Do this 10 times and call me in the morning...

Just type in www.yourfirstname.yourlastname.youaremighty.com (for me it would be www.rob.dixon.youaremighty.com) into your browser and enjoy.

Overheard from my two year old

following a "toot:"

"Daddy, Daddy, I have new, special gas!"

Overheard from the front room...

Josh woke up this morning throwing up (too much popcorn last night?!?). He's in with, of course, the MarioKart and I just asked him if he wanted to quit and go lay down with a movie. He just yelled:

"Hey Daddy, I'm healed now."

Praise the Lord.

In 15 years we'll be sitting around the dinner table remembering the time...

...when 2 year old Lucy somehow locked herself in Mommy and Daddy's room for 20 minutes and started opening the Christmas presents that Grammy sent in the mail...

True story.

"I love it when a plan comes together."

Thus said a very wise man once...

I'm fired up about what God is doing and what he's about to do at Fresno City College. It's a joy to see some vision come to pass. Recently we did a "Hands Outreach" at City and took about 160 pictures from students in response to the question: "what do you care about?" Our Staff got into some great conversations. Enjoy!

Countdown

As of right...now, it's 11 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes until Golf Odyssey 2006. Look out chumps, here I come!

You know you're too busy when...

...you finish stuff before you get the chance to put it onto your "to-do list."

By the way, when that happens, the only appropriate response is to write it into the list (posthumously?), then proceed to cross it out. Such a great feeling...

The Horror! The Humanity!

I think this disqualifies him for sure...

Don't tell the grandmas...

Sheesh, you turn your head for one second...

Tracking away...

I'm up waiting for my buddies to fly in from Denver. The flight was supposed to land at 11:05; it's now due at 11:42. I know that because I discovered a sweet flight tracking site here. You get all the info (currently, let's see, we're at 36K feet and 328 KTS); the only thing missing is a list of the en route drink options...

An update long overdue...

Maybe you remember the "MarioKart drama" from earlier this year (here and here for the backstory)...

Josh and I split this morning 2-2. I beat him on Mario Raceway and Koopa Troopa. He vanquished me with a red shell on Moo Moo Farm and then hit me with two lightning bolts on the final lap to annihilate me on Kalimari Desert.

So it's come to this...I'm now officially lucky when I get out with a tie. And, yes, he's still only 4...

Where were you when...?

You know how there are some events that are so, well, so apocalyptic for us that they are forever seared into our memory? In fact they are so important to us that we remember even the specifics of where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news.

November 7, 1991 is one such day for me. That was the day that Magic revealed that he was HIV positive. I remember that I was on my way to class and about to leave the dorm when I saw on the downstairs TV the press conference and announcement. I was sitting there stunned and then realized that I was suddenly not alone. Like some unheard dog whistle, my hallmates were being drawn into the lounge. And together we cried, expressed our unbelief and, en masse, skipped class.

It's a trip to realize that that was 15 years ago now...and to think about how much has changed since then in the world of HIV/AIDS (at least in North America). On that day, I never could have imagined that I would regularly be watching Magic as a TNT studio commentator 15 years later...

Maybe this is why I surf the net during meetings...

Our pastor this morning was preaching on what a team that serves together looks and acts like. And he was saying that a team empathizes with one another and part of that is slowing down to listen. In the midst of that, he reeled off two stats that caught my attention:

The average person can speak at 150 words per minute.
That same average person can listen at 650 words per minute.

His commentary on that? "That's a 500 word gap for us to get bored." Indeed.

Inspiration

The picture is grainy, but check out this beautiful garage organizational system. I'm inspired.

Mad props to Kirsten Nalley!

I resonate with this quote.

From Julia Alvarez in Sojourners this month: "Writing is the way those of us who are writers integrate the myriad, baffling, beautiful, and painful things that happen daily."

In other (not so eloquent) words: it ain't processed until it's written down.

Numbers that oppress

157. That's the number of emails in my inbox tonight...

Halloween Recap

We got the little ones dressed up and ready to go twice today. Josh rocked a sweet Mario costume, Lucy was Princess Peach and Gracie chilled in a chicken suit. Here are some visuals:

And that's our Vice President talking (round 2)

It was inevitable. Here is Pres. Bush's "clarification" of what V.P. Cheney meant.

So how can we find out what he really meant?!? If only we had a way to solicit hidden information...hmm...

Dreaming of Teeth

Thank God Josh's night terrors have gone away. We're grateful for that. But that doesn't mean that he never gets bad dreams. The other night I went in to find him sitting up and crying, and he proceeds to tell me that he's had a bad dream. I asked him what it was about, and he answered:

Teeth.

That's it. Just teeth. A bad dream about teeth. I prayed that he would have no more bad dreams about...teeth, and in the morning he excitedly told me that my prayers had worked. Now, most nights he has me pray that there would be no bad dreams about...teeth.

Two nights ago as I was praying the teeth away, I asked him what he would like to dream about and encouraged him to pray it for himself. I was thinking he would say "spiderman" or "Mario" or "school." But, instead, my heart leapt for sheer joy when he said:

Soccer.

And that's our Vice President talking...

So I may well be out of touch on what constitutes torture, but I'm pretty sure that there is something intrinsically tortuous about a simulated drowning.

Come on, Dick, get some perspective!

A question answered?

Since we've moved to Fresno, and as I've been considering what witness looks like on campus at Fresno State, I've been asking myself and others the following question:

What is the relationship between justice and evangelism?

After careful consideration (and coming out of our spectacular learning trip these past two days), I think I have an answer:

THEY ARE THE SAME THING. Or, you can't have one without the other.

Important Rental Car Update (or not)

For the record, this time it's an Impala...I'm off again this morning for two big events. Feel free to pray for/with us!

Fri-Sun it's our Fall Conference in Malibu. 20 Bulldogs are going; at least 3 are not yet believers. Pray for them!

Sun-Tues myself and three staff are off to San Diego for a learning trip. Some staff down there have pioneered ministry on some urban commuter schools. As we think about Fresno City College, we are looking to learn from some of those who have gone before us!

Probably some great stories to report next week!

I hate it when that happens...

Poor Steve Wynn...

Overheard from the back seat...

Josh: "Red means stop and green means go because Jesus said it should be that way."

Weird, 'cause we haven't hit that particular story yet in the pre-bedtime Bible reading...

Am I that old?!?

When did it happen that I now have a child old enough to be taking actual school pictures? It's only pre-school, but still...

On the bright side, check out that fresh 'doo:

Campus Engagement

On Wednesday morning this week we joined a growing list of So. Cal. campuses who have tried something called a "Hands Outreach" in a public place on campus. To pull it off, all it takes is a digital camera, photo printer, laptop, and the willingness to ask passing students to consider a question, write an answer on their palm and pose for a picture. The two biggest results, in our experience, were a compelling art display and photo gallery and some great conversations. The theme of our outreach was "what issues of injustice concern you?" Here are some of the answers:





















































Great stuff. And then there was this dude (keep those support checks coming!):

Doing conflict on email?

I received an email this morning from a colleague, and the subject read as follows:






What followed in the text of the email was an expression of concern that will warrant some follow up on my part. And while I have no problem with someone expressing concern and am (most of the time) alright with working through conflict, I do have a problem with the medium. Email is great for many things, but dealing with issues and with conflict is NOT ONE OF THEM. Here's why:

1. There's no chance to dialogue in real-time. Maybe I need to ask for clarification of something; perhaps there is a simple misunderstanding that can be quickly settled. Email allows me no option for quick and real time interaction. It's a conversation with delays that can last, well, until someone gets back into town, or gets their internet fixed, or simply gets around to logging on.

2. You cannot read non-verbal. I wonder what percentage of communication is non-verbal? Whatever it is, it is all missing in an email exchange. No eye contact, no sweating, no shrugs or rolled eyes. As a listener, I need these things in order to have a full understanding of where the other person is coming from. And in conflict, how important is that?!?

3. You can't hear tone. Is the person mad, impassioned, matter of fact, kidding, depressed or totally serious and earnest? You don't know on email. Words are helpful, but without their context (sound and delivery), it seems to me that they are robbed of their power. In fact, I wonder if we overstate or understate our feelings when we write on email...on one hand, maybe we overstate since it feels safer to vent without someone sitting across the table, but on the other, maybe we understate since we want to be careful to "get it right" since it will be sitting in an inbox somewhere and saved for posterity.

So is it ironic that I am venting about the perils of electronic communication on a blog?!? Maybe, but it's all so therapeutic!

Update

I blogged here about the kitchen light project. It's done. Drumroll please:

Overheard on the Airplane Intercom

As we are flying through a thunderstorm on the way to Guatemala that has forced us to make several course corrections to get through it safely, and just after the fasten seatbelt light has gone on:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Please return to your seats, sit back and enjoy the light show outside."

Yeah right.

Prayer Gaffes

To the best of my recollection, here is the transcript from one of our prayer sessions at the Guatemala Board meeting:

"Lord...we pray that we would be one body...that we would be unified. Help us...help us to love one another...and, and, and to be a...a good community. May we be a team that cares for each other...deeply...all the time.

Help us to...help us to watch...one another's backsides...to...to watch the backsides of...of the people sitting next to us around this circle..."

Leaving on a jet plane...

The lawn is mowed.
The CDs are being loaded into itunes (I'm taking an old mac with me on the trip)
The kids have been put to bed.
And the clothes are all over the living room waiting to be packed.

I'm off tomorrow at 8 for a few days in Guatemala; I'll be back on Sunday night. The trip is for a long-scheduled Students International Bored Meeting, and while that will be great, the real treat is going a day early to hang out in Antigua and enjoy the city. For those who know, Condesa for breakfast, Campero for lunch and either Santo Domingo or Dona Luisa's for dinner. I'm also excited to be bringing along a young IV Staff, Robert, to enjoy the trip and time together. If you are inclined to pray, here are some specifics:

1. Pray for safe travels. We go through Dallas-Fort Worth on American.
2. Pray for a good time with Robert. I am hoping/anticipating that Robert will be my Team Leader for the next years at Fresno City College, so we have lots of relationship ahead. I am eager to get to know him better on this trip!
3. Pray for a significant time with the Students International family: Fernando and family, Mario and his village (literally), the American staff, Hilmar, Lowell, Nate and the rest of the Bored.
4. Pray for Amy and the crew here on the homefront as they weather me gone. Thankfully, Grandma is coming so that will help greatly.

Thanks and I'll recap the trip when I get back (or, who knows, perhaps while I'm in-country).

Celebration

This is my 200th blog post. To celebrate, we went to Chevy's (OK, we actually went because Daddy is leaving tomorrow for Guatemala, but I digress).

The tale of the Chevy's Dixon tortilla eating tape?!? 5 empty bags of tortillas.

That's 15 torillas people! A modern day record maybe. I tried to take a picture but it was too dark...

Trying to fit in?!?

Here's a shot of me and Noah from a recent Encounter:

You gotta love this...

One of my core convictions that has developed through the years is that ministry is good for the minister. That is, when we do the work of Jesus, not only do we serve others and bless the world, but we also experience more of Jesus in our own lives as well. To be sure, there can be an unhealthiness to ministry, especially if you do too much of it or do it out of your own strength, but for the most part ministry is good for us!

Which is partly why I have loved some recent opportunities I've been given to do ministry outside or beyond my "day job" as InterVarsity Staff. Last month it was a wedding, this week upcoming it's a trip to Guatemala with the Students International Board, and this morning it was a chance to preach down at Visalia Community Covenant Church (site here).

And we had a great time. I spoke out of James 3:13-4:3 and talked about what it means to be a wise community. My two main points were that wise communities are selfless and peaceful. It was fun to speak in a multi-generational (to put it mildly) setting, and it was great to be thanked in the form of a $100 stipend!

And one further thing to report...I also experienced something completely new this morning. I've had lots of things happen before while I was speaking: students falling asleep, someone farting, babies crying, people coming and going and various technological glitches...but never, never have I experienced the persistent and annoying snapping sound that comes from some old dude...

...clipping his nails during the sermon....

Once again a sign that the apocalypse is upon us...

This is why we keep having kids...

Miniature Earth

Go ahead, blow your mind here.

Hah! Can it be true?!?

Live-blogging a Staff meeting...

We're right in the middle of a GREAT discussion of this timeless book on leadership and disciple-making. We're talking about selection, association and consecration:

Something New Part 2

This past Tuesday I had another great experience preaching without notes. And, perhaps coincidently, perhaps not, I had more verbal response from my CSUF students than ever before at a large group. Let me tell you one story from the night...

I was teaching out of Luke 5:1-11, the calling the first disciples, and the application was to submit all areas of our lives to the Lordship/leadership of Jesus. Love it. After the message, there is prayer offered and one guy comes over to me and asks for prayer. His question...what does it mean for him to give over control of his future to Jesus? He has two options: highway patrol academy (his dream) or finishing school at State (his family's dream). And he's wondering what exactly Jesus' dream for him is. Good question. Join me in praying for Eric as he sorts all of that out.

I love what God is doing in the lives of our students, and I love what God is doing in the life and preaching ministry of this old and crusty campus minister...

Dorm Daze

My buddy BG sent me this article on the new dorm life. Sounds pretty plush...and costly.

But one thing is for certain...if this is indeed a trend sweeping the nation's colleges and universities, Fresno State hasn't gotten the memo yet...

At County Health

I failed a tb test the other day. Our district administers free skin tests to parents who would like to volunteer in the classroom, and when I went back to have it read it was 10mm and failing. My reward? A trip to county health this morning on Fulton Mall at 8am for a chest X-ray. I'll hear the results in 10 days, but they said it's likely that I was exposed, my immune system resisted it, and it's lying dormant inside my body. If I take one pill a day for 9 months, I can supposedly knock it out. I don't know.

Anyway, I was asking the tech about tb, about it's prevalence in the valley, and he said this:

"Tuberculosis exists where poverty exists."

Sad and true. So let me guess...I probably wasn't exposed to this in SLO. Maybe here in Fresno? In Guatemala? In the DR? Mexico?

Wishing I was at Dodger Stadium last night...

What a game last night at Chavez Revine. Go blue!

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

People will say that it's just "the West Wing in a TV studio," but I loved it. They could find a role for Martin Sheen for all I care...

Home Improvements Beget...

...more home improvements. That's just straight true. Here's my story:

1. As usual, we watch every house flipping show known to humankind on Saturday night.
2. Amy wakes up in the morning on Sunday with a bee in her bonnet to paint the kitchen.
3. In the morning, we make the first of three trips to Lowe's to buy paint (official color: butterfly bush)
4. Two coats of primer, three coats of paint later, the hideous stenciled vines we inherited are gone!
5. As the paint dries, I start to wonder about the possiblity of changing out our 1970s era vintage light fixture over the sink.
6. We go to Lowe's and discover these beauties called "recessed lighting." Let's give it a shot! We buy the gear, go home to work on it, and 24 hours (and counting) later, here's the result:

I hate it when I'm like the disciples...

It's always fun to teach the disciples in Mark study at Camp. On one hand, they get it right and get lots of Jesus. But on the other, they are a group of chumps who, with Jesus standing right in front of them, tragically miss him completely. And so it is fascinating to watch their journey and mock them a little.

I wish I was always like the disciples at their best, but too often that's not the case. Take last Saturday night at the Ignite Conference. By the end of the day, I was absolutely done. Done. I'm sure that last talk was great, but I was already checking into the hotel and lounging in front of the Bulldogs/Oregon game (yes, with my Swedish Fish). All I could think about was the restful Sunday we had promised our area team.

And then on my way out of the sanctuary I saw Leslie praying with one of our students, and she was in tears. My thought literally was, "THANK GOD Leslie is here and can pray with her, and THANK GOD I don't have to. I LOVE having Leslie here in Fresno." I was stoked to be out the door and on my way to the restful next. Then, in the next beat, Leslie came over and asked me...

...if I could join them. I did and the Lord worked and our student is on they way to some significant healing. I got to see that, I got to participate in that, and I am glad I did.

Last night I was reminded of this story from Ignite juxtaposed with that little number in Mark 6. Something about Jesus feeding the 5000 when his disciples were unable? unwilling? checked out? tired? pissy? trying to do it on their own strength? done and ready for the promised rest?

Bob the Buddha said this last night: "the disciples go from dependent insiders to independent outsiders in a chapter and half surrounding this experience. In what ways are we tempted to on our own carry forward the ministry, when we ought to be seeking greater partnership with Jesus in his work around us?" Good question.

Something New

I did something totally new last Tuesday night. In like 12 years on Staff, I had never preached without notes. Scary and exhilirating all at once, and I think I'm going to try it again this coming Tuesday!

Swedish Fish part 2

I bought more Swedish Fish today. I love them. Here are some little known facts about the divine Fish:

1. The Hebrew for "manna" also translates out to "Swedish Fish."
2. George Washington and his crew snacked on Swedish Fish while they crossed the Delaware.
3. When they found King Tut, they also found a half-eaten bag of Swedish Fish. Howard Carter finished it. True story.
4. Swedish Fish are the national food of Moldova.
5. An IV drip of blended Swedish Fish can cure 90% of the diseases encountered by Dr. House.
6. At the last second, the greatest hair band of the 80's went with Guns n' Roses instead of Swedish Fish.
7. Kobayashi once ate 8,430 Swedish Fish in 45 seconds.
8. The Desperate Housewives pound the Fish between takes. Especially Eva Longoria...
9. There is a small, smeared piece of Swedish Fish on the top right corner of the Declaration of Indepence.
10. The recipe for Swedish Fish is closely guarded in a vault along with the Coke recipe, the Crown Jewels and Elvis Presley.

They say where there's smoke there's fire...

...so what do you do with Lance Armstrong?!?

The Kingdom Revolution

We had a powerful weekend on the road down in Los Angeles at the Ignite evangelism training conference. I got to teach a short seminar on how to help our majority Protestant InterVarsity groups become more welcoming for our Catholic students, and that was cool. I also slept in the van, and that was great. But the best thing was what God was doing in our students. Here are my top 3 moments:

1. First night we’re talking about the Kingdom of God coming and bringing reconciliation and peace and other great stuff, and one of our students gets convicted that she needs to call her Dad and have a conversation. He’s been verbally (at least) abusive and seems, by her description, very controlling and often mean. She realizes that she needs to come clean about her life choices that are taking her toward Jesus and away from him, and she needs to do it…that night. We prayed her up, she made the call, and the Kingdom revolution broke forth!

2. Another student and I are talking about which elective seminar she should go to in the afternoon, and I see one that I think is right up her alley, one about “hospitality and generosity in evangelism.” Perfect for her. She pauses a second, looks at me, and says, “no way, I need to go to this one.” Pointing at the paper, the topic reads “taking greater leadership in evangelism.” “I need to be a leader in this,” she says. “Amen,” I say.

3. A third student realizes that she has some spiritual forces within her that are holding her hostage and she craves freedom. “Hostage” as in emotional, spiritual and even physical torment. Me and my buddy Leslie start to pray over, with and for her. At some point, we bring in the accomplished and gifted prayer ministry/deliverance dude and he leads the rest of the time. In short order, our student is confessing brokenness and sin and then “sending it to the cross in the power of Jesus’ name.” Deep stuff, like significant generational sin that has created a bitter root handed down from mother to daughter. Stuff like sexual brokenness, confusion and fear. My favorite quote from the time? Dude says something like, “demons are like rats in that they hang out by the garbage. By cleaning out the garbage of sin and brokenness, you send the demons away.” Nice. Deliverance.

All in another weekends’ work for a campus minister. Thanks those of you who prayed for the trip. We love the Kingdom revolution breaking out in the lives of our students!

To prove his goodness, the Lord has given us...

...Swedish Fish. I've just discovered them. Where have they been hiding them all these years?!? For the official Swedish Fish site, go here. The wikipedia entry is here.

On the Road Again

The rental car is in the driveway. The bags are ready to be packed on the living room floor. The alarm clock is set for an (alarming) 5am. And I'm finishing up here in the office. I'm all set for 4 days of meetings, training and fellowship with my staff partners.

And yet, really, this is the part of the calling that I could do without. Traveling sucks. Truth be told, I'm most looking forward to dinner at home on Monday!

IVCF in the news

I just heard about InterVarsity being among other groups kicked off campus at Georgetown. Here's the story.

Off for the weekend

It has been a FULL couple of weeks and we are off this weekend to Sacramento for a couple of parties (and hopefully some naps). Saturday night we are again celebrating Lucy's 2nd birthday, which gives us at least a chance of seeing this:

Perhaps the best weight loss tactic is...

...getting a job at CBS...

First Day of School

Josh had his last Monday, our Fresno State students came back this Monday, and then I had mine today. I'm taking a seminary class from the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (MBBS) here in Fresno every Wednesday from 8:30-11:30am this Semester. Title of the class is "The Church and God's Mission in the World."

I'm excited about it, though mostly I'm just excited to be back in a classroom. Quote of the day from the prof: "the church is more than a human institution with all of its flaws; it's also pretty close to the center of what God is doing...and I want to be a part of that." Me too.

Thanks to my IV supervisors for affirming me in this. Thanks to Amy for rallying once again on the homefront each Wednesday. And thanks to MBBS for their "first class is free" policy!!!

Gunshots near campus

So I get this call at like 9:20 this morning from one of my students talking about two gunmen running rampant on campus up at State. Turned out not to be true, but it provided some angst for awhile around here (we had our table up and running at 9).

Here's the story as of tonight.

Somehow this advanced the Kingdom today...

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

Our little girl turns 2 today!

Some publicity roll-out

We're gathering our resources around here for New Student Outreach. Here's our main info flier:

A Blast from the Past

I love archives. Yesterday my staff buddy Leslie and I spent an hour or so in the University Archives at Fresno State. I love those kinds of places. Hushed whispers, the smell of old paper, nobody moves quickly and the aura of history is all around.

We were there to scout out the old Fresno State yearbooks. Recently we realized that our InterVarsity chapter is 60 years old this year! In other words, we've been on campus since 1946. And so we're going to use that as a sort-of theme for the year and invite students to join us as we celebrate. The idea yesterday was to mark some pages so that the archivists could photocopy them for us to use in publicity or as a display.

But so in the midst of the hunting through these old yearbooks, Leslie wonders outloud: "I wonder what year my grandma graduated from Fresno State?" And we were off on a search. Leslie estimated that we were talking early 40s and she was just beginning to dig in the 1941 book when the archivist from the other side of the counter says: "Excuse me, did you say that your grandma graduated in the early 1940s? I happen to be cataloguing senior pictures from that era as we speak." That was wild, but then it got stupid crazy. Not more than 10 minutes passed before he found her. Leslie's grandma's senior picture. Talk about good timing.

Inspired by that story, I now have a goal: next time in the archives I am in search of the 'fro. Rob Knight, class of 1979, here we come!

Sucks to be...

...Pluto.

Can somebody tell me why...

...good and food are pronounced differently?!?

When a prank really works

That last post reminded me of this picture. You should have seen the look on his face...and then you should have seen him the time the cart rolled over on top of him. Oh wait, that's another story...

Countdown

Every December some college buddies and I go play mad golf. This year it'll be December 10-12 here. Today the countdown is at 110. 110 days until, once again, I kick a%s and take names!

Evidently, the new S word is...

...suburban. A couple weeks back I heard an IV student speaking at a local event. She was finishing up a summer living downtown in the inner city. And at one point in her presentation--to a room full of pastors and business-types, by the way--she said something about the suburbs being a dirty word. Lots of chuckles, a few nervous giggles, and a bit of dismay on my part. Here's why:

Living in the suburbs is not intrinsically wrong and, in the same way, living downtown is not intrinsically right. And the converse is also true.

Here are some of the convictions I have come to about where you live in light of God's call to love justice:

1. Justice is a non-negotiable value. Wherever you live, you are an agent for justice because God is. So if you live downtown, you are for justice (and against injustice); likewise, if you live in the suburbs, you are for justice (and against injustice).

2. There is ample injustice and brokenness in the suburbs. My Latino neighbor experiences racism, it's his wife's second marriage and his step-son has been in jail off and on for a decade and is a recovering (or not) drug addict. Last year when the step-son was released and then subsequently stole something out of their garage, the word to us was: "if you see him, call the cops." And I'm reasonably confident that he is not alone in our suburban neighborhood. Indeed, "suburb" is not a bad word, and bad things do happen here. I hope that I/we are teaching our students that, sadly, brokenness and injustice exist everywhere. You don't have to look far to find it.

3. Living downtown is a specific calling. I love my friends who are called to live downtown, but I think it is a specific calling. Participating in the transformation of the city in an intentional and incarnational way is time-consuming, relationship forming, and it requires engagement on (among others) emotional, vocational, political, economic levels. I think it is therefore the rare individual who is able to balance a call to incarnate in the inner city with a significant or especially vocational ministry call outside the inner city. There's just not enough of someone to go around!

So if suburban is NOT the new S word, what might be? Sloth? Sluggard? Somnolent? Senseless? Sleepy? Slovenly? Superficial?

Stuff going on

That is the reality in our house. Stuff is going on. For those interested, here's the roundup:

1. Josh went to his second day at his new pre-school today. He's now daily and in the mornings at our local elementary school. Added bonus is that it's a nice mile round-trip walk to drop him off in the morning.

2. Lucy is potty-training. It's a process. Today Amy enjoyed cleaning up the silver dollar sized olive green drops off the wood floors in the family room. Somebody say "squirts!" Needless to say, the training is on hiatus for the time being...

3. Gracie is about to begin eating solids. We'll start her out right with some of tonight's tri-tip and linguica.

4. Rob is in the midst of New Student Outreach. Last weekend we welcomed back the leadership and this coming weekend we start to make our introductions to the new students. Good but busy times.

5. And Amy? She remains the tireless, beautiful, amazing and centered one holding us all together!

Makes you wonder...

...if what we're doing in Iraq is really the best option, when Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of multinational forces in Iraq, says the following about the Iraqi insugents (quoted, by the way, in Sojourners):

"For every one that I kill, I create almost 10 more."

On Tiger Woods...

Hey, my first "live blog!"

I'm watching Tiger decimate yet another field to run away with the PGA Championship. One more hole to go. A couple of thoughts:

1. He's amazing. For all of his many unbelievable attributes, Tiger clearly has the ultimate killer instinct. Today I watched him step onto the first tee with his game face firmly affixed, and then proceed to birdie no. 1 as if to say, "Not today, Boys." The superlatives are emphatic: David Feherty, commentating on CBS, is talking about "stomping the opposition and stepping on their necks." Then the most overquoted stat of the day has to be "he's never lost when he has the lead entering the final round of a major." Killer instinct! He's better that way than anyone else in the game, or in sports in general maybe.

2. He's amazing, but everyone else crumbles in his presence. Here's what gets me about today: Tiger could have shot an even par 72...and still won! It's as if he has this enormous killer instinct, but doesn't even need to use it! He dominates from his hotel room. He beats them from the clubhouse. Jim Nantz on CBS was just talking about how for Luke Donald, Tiger's playing partner today, "today provides a valuable lesson, as it has for so many." WHATEVER!!! Either these guys are the most unteachable lot since Jesus' disciples (at times), or what he has YOU CANNOT TEACH.

Right about now Tiger and Stevie (his caddy) are walking up 18. Call the engraver and get out the trophy. Tiger's now at 12 majors and climbing!

Costcoization

I love this post from our friend Adam about the, shall I say, ubiquitousness, of Costco. If only they had a raquetball court inside...you'd never have to leave!