Barefoot on the Sun

Walking barefoot on the sun
Across our auburn deck
Life's bright shadow
Falls over me
Takes me in
Seeping from sole to soul
Holy warmth
Heals my heart
Brews me slowly
Like sun tea
Out all day

Boone Grove Celebrates Graduates’ Diverse Achievement and Service to Others

As friends and family gathered for the 124th annual Boone Grove High School commencement ceremony, the band established the festive mood with several special songs.

In her welcoming address, class President Paige Kraushaar paused for a moment of silence for Alyssa Salapski, “the angel of the senior class,” who lost her battle with leukemia in their sophomore year. Kraushaar also reminisced, “Porter Lakes Elementary and Boone Grove Elementary kids didn’t actually like each other on our first day of middle school. But now most of us have a best friend from the other school.”

Next, the senior choir sang “Carry On Wayward Son,” accompanied by Jacob Williams on acoustic guitar.

Guest speaker Kathy Sherman was with these students on their first day of sixth grade. “It has been a wonderful experience to watch the class of 2013 mature from children to young adults,” she said. “It has been an honor to be part of your lives.” ...

Continue reading this story at The Times.

Kouts Honors and Encourages Graduates

Friends and family gathered Friday night to celebrate their high school graduates and inspire them to reach high in their next steps.

Principal Terry Brownell said the 2013 class, which is the 106th group to graduate from Kouts, is extremely talented.

“We’ve got National Merit Scholars, state athletes, Spell Bowl champs, and a three-time winner of the Porter County Attitude Award," Brownell said.

Co-valedictorian Andrew Birky commented on the unique experience that comes from having Kouts elementary, middle and high schools together on the same campus.

“It’s a way of marking time,” he said. “Seeing the younger kids makes you more aware of your own growth each year.”

Ellen Fortin, another graduate, appreciates Kouts’ welcoming environment.

“It’s been really good to be a student here. I really fit in more than I might in a bigger school. It’s like family here," Fortin said.

Kouts gave honorary diplomas to two exchange students, Mariya Sergeyevna Tarasova, of Russia, and Sophie Nai Guo, of China. But the exchange program has extraordinary significance for the Crowley family.

Mike and Jill Crowley adopted their daughter Faith Crowley from China, so hosting Nai Guo has given their family an unparalleled opportunity to learn about Chinese culture right at home. Also, after graduation, Faith will return with Nai Guo to spend a month in China.

Continue reading this story at The Times.  

Hebron High Class Basks in Shared Good Times

Being together since kindergarden has helped Hebron High School graduates bond, said Rick Cheek, the school's band director.

“They’re a tight-knit group," he said. "They’re always hanging out together. We always hate to see the senior class go.”

Class President Aaron Plomann shared the sentiment in his welcoming address to the 124th commencement:

 “I can’t think of any other place I’d rather graduate.”

Allison Lewis, co-salutatorian, expressed the students’ thanks “for everyone who works at our school from the cafeteria workers to the janitors, the faculty and the coaches. We wouldn’t be graduating without you.”

Continue reading this story at The Times.  

Willowcreek Students Combine Service and Fun at Yearend Party

What is the best way for middle schoolers to fight cancer? Giant rolling hamster balls, of course.

Willowcreek Middle School pulled out all the stops for its annual year-end Mega Party: bounce houses, obstacle courses, dancing at centerfield, frozen T-shirt contests, sports, and yes — enormous inflatable balls large enough for students to enter and roll around.

This year, Willowcreek connected the fun with a deeper purpose — a Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society. The Willowcreek school family includes several cancer survivors, including both principals, and a few faculty are currently battling cancer.

To continue reading, click here for the full NWI Times story.

Farmboys Workshop Bringing Nature to a Wall or Card Near You

I love local art.  Even better when it is in the family.
Sarah's uncles, Steve and Donald, make up Farmboys Workshop.  Steve takes the photos from around their home Tryon Farm (Michigan City, IN) and adapts them using PhotoShop, and Donald handles production and distribution.
The end result is unique art and dazzling greeting cards.  The images are somewhere between photo, realistic painting, and Van Gogh.
A browse through their offerings will add color to your life, and you will also learn a lot about native Indiana plant life.  From flowers to grasses and turtles to butterflies, they will reacquaint you with nature.  For example, check out this Bee on Spotted Knapweed.  Who knew weeds could be so beautiful?!

Check them out on Etsy.  They make great gifts and cards, and the cards actually make great gifts as well.  We have a collection of three pictures over our coatrack in our entryway, and Sarah bought a bunch of cards to reframe elsewhere.  You can also like them on Facebook to see their latest work.

Captains Courageous and The Tender Bar

My brother-in-law and I started a book exchange tradition.  Every time we see each other in person, we will loan the person a book to read.  (We live across the country from each other, so we only get together a few times a year.)  We both chose coming of age books.
My first gift was Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous - a beautiful little tale about a poor little rich boy who gets lost at sea.  He is picked up by a fishing boat and is forced into manual labor.  Living by the sweat of his brow changes him and matures him and softens his heart in miraculous and beautiful ways.

Michaels' first book for me was The Tender Bar - a touching memoir by J. R. Moehringer.  Growing up with a single mom and without a significant male influence in his life, the neighborhood bar became his surrogate father.  Actually, it was both the people in the bar and the entity of the bar itself who fathered him.  They taught him how to play baseball, and they taught him how to drink.  But most essentially, they taught him how to be a man.
This particular neighborhood bar was an ironic mixture of a beautifully healthy community mixed with all of the unhealthiness of alcoholism and hedonism.  With that kind of surrogate parent, J. R. naturally had a mixed debt of gratitude and disfunction from the bar.
The most beautiful part of the memoir is J. R.'s coming of age process as a legitimate reporter.  He painfully learns that he must distance himself from the place and the people among whom he felt most at home.  But he does finally grow up and live into his full potential.  And he does come to a peace with his gratitude and separation from the bar, and that in itself is an essential element of his manhood.

Giving and Grieving (Team Patrick)

They're selling mugs and doilies between sniffles and memories.  

This past January Patrick Renehan lost his battle with cancer.  As part of the grieving process his family is raising money for the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life Team Patrick.  Today and tomorrow, Patrick's family have gathered in our church to host a garage sale, raising funds to prevent and to cure cancer.  (www.dunelandchurch.org)

What strikes me today is the essential healthiness of this as a step in the grieving process.  Instead of wallowing alone in grief, they are allowing their grief to motivate them toward good.  Each time a customer asks what Team Patrick is all about, they are able to recount a bit of his life and death.  As painful as that retelling is (evidenced by the kleenex box on the table), each time they voice that loss and connect with a forward looking good, a little piece of their heart heals.  

So for all of the Renehan crew out there today, my heart goes out to you (along with a few stray dollars as I keep finding new things to buy).  But more than that, I want to commend you for such a wise choice of how to grieve.  I pray that God comforts you and teaches us all through your example.

Sensitivity Sermon Audio

What does it mean to be spiritually alive?  Spiritual sensitivity is a huge part of that.  A life of spiritual sensitivity is a life of observation, reflection, and repentance.

Proverbs 8:32 - 9:12

³² “Now then, my children, listen to me;
    blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise;
    do not disregard it.
³⁴ Blessed are those who listen to me,
    watching daily at my doors,
    waiting at my doorway.
³⁵ For those who find me find life
    and receive favor from the Lord.
³⁶ But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
    all who hate me love death.”

9 Wisdom has built her house;
    she has set up its seven pillars.
² She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
³ She has sent out her servants, and she calls
    from the highest point of the city,
⁴     “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
⁵     “Come, eat my food
    and drink the wine I have mixed.
⁶ Leave your simple ways and you will live;
    walk in the way of insight.”

⁷ Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
    whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
⁸ Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
    rebuke the wise and they will love you.
⁹ Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
    teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
¹¹ For through wisdom your days will be many,
    and years will be added to your life.
¹² If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
    if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.

Click here to listen.

(This is the third sermon in our series on the signs of life: movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion, nutrition.)

Temptation to Take Over - Audio

Here is the audio for my first sermon at Duneland Community Church.  I had a fairly long intro with jokes and introductions, so it picks up as I'm explaining the significance of the word "Hosanna" in John 12:12-33.

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival.²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up  from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

To listen to the sermon, click here.  To read the full text, click here.

Valparaiso Never Tasted So Good

Tri Kappa welcomed more than a thousand guests Thursday night into a taste bud extravaganza to raise funds for college scholarships. Forty-one area restaurants put their best quiche and panini forward for Taste of Valparaiso in the Porter County Expo Center.

Taste of Valparaiso also features a silent auction of everything from sports tickets to original art to a ready made “date night basket.” New this year were the central red tables for sponsors, the private dining in the Red Ticket Lounge, and the Wine Pull with a wide range of wines.

Tri Kappa is a philanthropic organization made up entirely of Indiana women. The Valparaiso chapter started in 1906 and exists solely to support the community. Last year they gave away $16,000 in scholarships, in addition to giving sizable donations to the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and several other groups.

To continue reading, go to the NWI Times.

Multiplying Missional Leaders - Review

You know how things tend to fall apart after the key leader leaves?
I've been there and done that, and ever since I've been trying not to do that again.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how church folks tend to develop this myopic vision of their world?  We lead and serve and play within an increasingly small space, while the wide wide world is left unexplored and unserved.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how discipleship has taken on the meaning of understanding some basic information and becoming moderately faithful in a bare minimum of personal spiritual disciplines?  We still think following Jesus is all about us.  Somehow we have separated discipleship and mission.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how your small group sometimes gets this itch to change the world but doesn't know where to start?  We don't have enough people working together with a common vision to accomplish much of anything together.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how the biggest problem in Christianity is that Christians aren't actually living up to our own ideals?  We have all kinds of information, but not much follow-through.  We are happy for someone to teach us to DO something better, but we chafe at anyone's suggestion that they can help us BE someone better.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how the Church seems to be one more machine in our consumeristic society?  We are all producing what the customers want and consuming what the customers are willing to pay for the religious goods.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how Christian community often seems to stop at the doors of the church?  Maybe you even have a small group with a few prayer requests, but everyone is left longing for a deeper level of community that we just don't know how to get or even how to name.
This book is about how to change that.

You know how our experience of Church so often leaves us disappointed and longing for more?
This book is about how to change that.

God's Chisel

Here's a tremendous video from the Skit Guys.

What the Church Can Learn from Hooters

Showing wrinkles and missing a few steps, Hooters is in a midlife crisis.  USA Today ran a story last month on Hooters' CEO Terry Marks's work to help Hooters become more relevant for a changing culture.  Surprisingly, this story carries a boat load of learning lessons for the Church - which is also in its own life-stage crisis.

Hooters is the established leader in the "Breastaurant" industry.  And yes, that's a real thing.  Hooters pretty much invented this market niche when it started in 1980, but as they have failed to change with the times, they are quickly losing ground to competitors like Twin Peaks and Tilted Kilts.  Every Hooters restaurant still pretty much looks like the first ones in 1980!  They are dark, slightly dingy, and serve greasy prepackaged foods.  Sales are down, and last year, they closed about 50 restaurants.

Hence the need for change.  Hooters has identified several needed areas for change.
1. The uniforms.  Those well endowed women are still dressing like they're in the 80's, complete with dark hose and leg warmers.  Hooters is hoping to have a social media powered vote on the finalists for new uniform styles.

Valparaiso Police Memorial

I'm now writing part-time at the Northwest Indiana Times.  Basically, I'm just filling in when their normal writers can't make it to an event.  Here is my first article with them.  Valparaiso is about 10 miles south of Chesterton, where I live.

The men and women who keep Valparaiso safe lined up Wednesday morning to be honored and to remember their fellow officers who have fallen in the line of duty.

Chief Michael Brickner opened the Valparaiso Police Department's annual memorial service with an account of Ranger Margaret Anderson, who was shot and killed at Mount Rainer National Park during a routine traffic stop on Jan. 1, 2012. She was the first of 120 law enforcement officers killed in the United States in the line of duty in 2012.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

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Book Review - King of Torts - John Grisham

Oh, the temptations of materialism.
A young lawyer stumbles into a few incredibly lucrative class action lawsuits.  Initially, he is both awed and disgusted by the flagrant waste, luxury, arrogance, and greed of the other class-action lawyers.  But rather quickly he is sucked into their way of life - including a private jet and a vacation home in the Caribbean.  However, a few bad decisions and a little bad luck lead to the total unraveling of his little empire.
On the surface, King of Torts is just a quick read about the follies of the superrich and the easy-come-easy-go nature of wealth.  Dig deeper, though, and open your own heart a little, and Grisham's scalpel begins to probe our own hearts as well.
How often do our own desires increase in proportion to our increasing income?  For those of us who have experienced financial growth or increasing income, we know the experience of buying luxuries we thought were frivolous when we had less money.  We may have even looked down on those who "wasted" their money on such things.
Materialism doesn't always have price tags in the millions.  It doesn't even have to be double digits.  The little stuff can be just as materialistic as the big stuff, and we can just as easily get sucked in to consuming more and more, with more and more recklessness.
The other little moral of this story is patience and prudence.  Slow and steady discipline usually wins the race over the big all-or-nothing gambles.  Just spend a little less and save a little more, and you'll be amazed at the financial security that slowly develops in your life.
I love it when entertaining fiction also speaks truth into my life.  Well done again, Mr. Grisham.

Book Review - Building a Discipling Culture - Mike Breen

Best book I've ever read on how to do church.  Hands down.
The writing is not knock your socks off.  The cool factor is fairly low.  The editing is a little lacking.
But the concepts ...  WOW!

Here is a brief rundown.

• If you set out to make disciples, you will inevitably build the Church.  If you set out to build the Church, there is no guarantee that you will make disciples.  This is by far the most simple, most profound and most radical concept in the book.
• Everyone needs to be discipled by someone and actively discipling someone (or at least moving toward it).  This in itself is not radical or new.  People have been talking about this for centuries.  What is unique for our era is an actual plan for how to do this and the expectation that it can, must, and will be done.  We are actually asking people to model after us - so we better get our lives in line with what we see in Jesus!
• Discipleship takes a great deal of time, intentionality, relationship, and personal investment.  If we are genuinely going to disciple someone, we have to invite them deeply into our lives.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Review

I couldn't put it down.  Bathroom, bedroom, living room, breakfast table, car, mechanic.  I read it at every free moment until I was done.
Stieg Larsson deftly blends the narratives of the super-rich, struggling sociological outsiders, midlevel power players, abusers, and victims.  Its backdrop in Sweden, although obvious from the names of people and places, actually had almost no impact on the accessibility of the story for me as an American.  I instantly related to the themes of power, relationship, justice, identity, and discovery.
However, reader beware.  This is not a book for people with weak hearts or sensitive minds.  Violence and sexual abuse are major factors in the story.
On the other hand, without giving away the plot, I always love it when hope emerges out of the ashes of the pain.  Larson beautifully plumbs the depths of human pain, yet he also follows through to hope without the slightest bit of sentimental cheese.  Well done, sir.  Well done.

Book Review: "The Client" by John Grisham

The Client reads fast and rips your heart out slow.  A couple of kids in a trailer park stumble upon a mob lawyer just as he's about to commit suicide.  Out of a mixture of curiosity and compassion, they get sucked into the mess.  One boy ends up learning where a certain celebrity body is buried.  Then, the lawyer bites a bullet from his own gun.
The rest of the story is the kid trying to find a way out of the mess he stumbled into without harming his family in the process.  He is being chased by the mob and the Feds, and he is a poignant mixture of crafty and helpless, cunning and innocent.
In addition to its sheer enjoyment value,  The Client offers a beautiful little glimpse into the lives of an underprivileged family.  They are simply struggling to survive amid tragically difficult circumstances, yet they maintain steady love and grace for each other.  That's one of the things I love about Grisham.  He can deliver a profound message without the reader ever being aware that a sermon lies between the lines of the narrative.  Well done, sir.  Well done.

When Jesus Needs a Fire Extinguisher

A few pastoral reflections.
1. Always test fire related special effects on the real stage before the real event.
2. Maybe fire related special effects are not a good thing for church services in general.
3. Always have a singer who can keep singing incredibly no matter what.
4. Always have a guy who will run up and grab the flaming stone door and rush it out of the sanctuary.
5. This will be one of those events that is permanently seared into the memory (and carpet) of this church.  (I was --- old when the stage caught on fire at the Easter production.)
6. Did Jesus just kick down a burning door and walk through a wall of flames?  That's cool, no matter what you say.