I'm with stupid.

What is it with God and His desire to make me look silly and dumb?

(Before you get offended - please read that above phrase as total tongue-in-cheek, and keep reading this post.)

Anyway - why does He do that? Is it some superiority complex? He has all this great power and just likes to do things to show He can? Geeez....

So you are probably wondering what I am talking about? Ok - let me give you three examples of God making me look stupid.

1) So I am out of work a few years back. Economy that was pretty much the same as now, except the gas prices were somewhat decent (insert roll eyes emote here). Well, I knew CCC was short a computer nerd, and come on - who wouldn't want to work there. So I thought about it and my wife and I prayed about it. Well - a couple months later, I get a call from CCC - CCC Information Services. Asked me about a job opening, set up and interview and well - here I am still, 3 years later. I honestly do not even recall applying here. I asked Aesop, and he says the moral is: "When you pray, be specific. God invented everything, and that includes humor."

2) Alright, so I work here at CCC in Itasca. About a 40 min drive daily (now you know why I talk about gas prices so much!), and that 40 min would be if you left about 3am. See, we have this thing called "rush hour". Ironic name, really, cuz "rush" is more a statement of feeling, not velocity, and the "hour" lasts 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. Even Jackie Chan and Chris Rock cannot defeat this traffic. Anywho...I leave one day late. I mean late. I have about 45 min to get to work, and there is just no way it's gonna happen. I grumble as I drive, say "Man God, I really need to get to work on time" out loud, and then, under my breath I say "Yeah right - no way You can fix this."

Ummm......yeah. That wasn't so smart.

Well, I get on the expressway and there is very little traffic. The standard backup at the entrance ramp is non-existent. That happens once in a while, so I think "bonus". Well, I move from one expressway to another and that ramp is pretty empty. Sweeeeeeeet! The toll booth is not so crowded. Wow, this is awesome! A small backup out of the toll booth, but it clears pretty fast. Making good time. Come up to a standard backup area, and there isn't one. To top it off, there is actually two cars and a cop off on the shoulder because of a minor fender bender, and no gapers delay. This is weird, but who am I to complain. Hit the second toll booth in good time and sure enough, there is the other backup. But I can jump off at Army Trail and take the back roads. Make a couple lights and I am just cruising along. I come up to the light at the intersection of my building, glance and the clock and say "Holy crap, I'm gonna make it". (Ok...maybe not "crap", but you get the idea). Just then, on the radio, kicks in "Revolutionary Love" by David Crowder Band, which was the theme song of the current series at CCC. My shoulders shrug as I remember what I said under my breath as I was leaving the house. All I could do was look up and say "Man, You are good."

For the record, I do not say that just to get traffic off the roads.

3) So this past weekend. I am freaking about this bill and that. Man thing is a big payment we need to make on an older bill. Kath had setup a plain for the company to debit our account. As the weekend was approaching, I commented that we should only send them half cuz I am not sure we can make it. That's when I found out it was a debit and not a check we would be mailing. Oh well - we'll survive somehow. So Kath calls about the payment, just to see if somehow they will only process half - the girl who handles the account is sick and out for a while. I'm not saying God MADE her sick, but wow!!!


So God likes making me look like an idiot. Ya know, if He is all-knowing, you would think He's astute enough to understand I need no help in that department, and make myself look like a fool just fine without His input.

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Now playing: "Smellin' Coffee" by Chris Rice
via FoxyTunes

5 + 5 =

Ok - we did it. 10% of this week's income was put on a check, put in the envelope and placed in the bag - half pledged to the Village Team and the other half to Reproducing Church.

So much of me feels really, REALLY great right now. What a difference we get to make, along with the others that took part in Celebration Generosity. Impacting the world, whether next door, across town or across the world. I see how much I have been blessed with in my own home, and while the carpeting is not so great, the couch needs replacing, and I hate how my lawn looks (already...gonna be another long summer)... with all that, I am so blessed by God.

Then there is that small part. I need a new tire. Gas in the car - no comment needed on that cost. Water bill, home heating bill... I was ok until the tire went on me on Wednesday. To be honest - I wasn't really ok, but I was handling it better than I was Wed. about 5:30pm.

Any ideas how others get through those times when you could use God showing up?

Here it comes.

This is a week I have both been excited for, and dreading. Excited because of the Celebration Generosity, a real way to see the difference my financial gifts will make in the world. And with my slow release of the hold money has on me, it was a step up a percentage point (or more) in giving to His kingdom. My goal, actually, was a full 10% this weekend, knowing that I am giving to people that need it so much more than I do. I don't live in a garbage dump (unless you count my son's room), I don't live in a 300 sq foot hut with a dirt floor (unless you count my daughter's room), I don't live in low poverty East Aurora (unless you count my wife's job - FYI: she works at Johnson School in East Aurora), and I do not live somewhere longing for more (I'm out of ideas - insert a joke here about me).

Now my dread - bills. Holy smokes, do we have bills. I knew a week like this would arrive one day, and now it has reared it's ugly face and is lining up to crush us in the dirt. This economy is not helping at all, and a few new surprises are going to make this week a major struggle. Already, I am thinking "Can we do this 10%? Can we even do 5%?" I am trying so hard to have the faith that God will keep us safe, provide that the pantry and fridge will be full of food, have gas in our cars and other basic needs will be met. If only I could walk into Jewel, grab a gallon of milk, say "God bless you" and the checkout and keep going, my purchase price satisfied with simple bit of grace. Or maybe work on my Jedi skills and pull a little trick so the register rings up my box of Ho Ho's at 4 cents. Oh wait.....Star wars is Satan. (I hope you get as much joy out of the link that I do. I am still not sure if they are serious, of if that's a joke. But it does my the nerd in me smile.)

Anyway - all I can ask is that God keeps us safe. And a little of the providing would be a nice gift too.

Hokey religions and ancient weapons.

Last night was the dinner for the New Thing reproducing church team. Needless to say - information was flying. Some great and some very humbling. What caught me the most (worst) was this little tidbit. In 1900, there was one church for every 358 people. In 2004, that number has dropped, or risen, based on how you look at it, to one church for every 909 people. That's not very good. Being that stuffed, we can see how people can feel forgotten in the body of Christ, ultimately turning away. Then Aaron Monts talked about the San Francisco project and the desire to plant a church in a city where 99% do not attend church. Stuffed?? How about empty? There is a city crying out for a need. And that need must start somewhere.

Anyhow - what is the world does this blog subject have to do with the dinner? Well, I am sitting with John and Carrie Larson, Carrie's sister Lena, and a couple they knew, Scott and Dani. (Side note - I stink with names, so +5 to me remembering them). Well, we are sitting there and Dave Ferguson sees me, comes over, hits me on the arm, offers his hand for greeting and says "JediJeff, how you doing?" Do you see that??? Dave doesn't greet me by name - he greets me by nickname. Here is the head of my church, a church highly regarded in the US, and he knows me on a personal level. That's what I love about being here... not just CCC, but God's Kingdom. When you are in it, you are in it and good. And trust me - I'm no great and wonderful person. I have flaws. Big time flaws. But people here still see something in me they like, and want to be a friend to me.


Then again - Tim Sutherland is a pastor here. Maybe we're just a church started by Bellevue escapees.