Here's me shaving Ted's head Wednesday. 

Micah and I shaved our heads for Ted. 

So I haven't blogged in a while

I haven't written a thing on this blog in a while. Sometimes I write, think, and do things in a cycle. When I'm thinking about serious things it is hard for me to write without 'tipping my hand', so to speak.
The last week or so has been pretty rough. Last Wednesday I found out that one of my high school friends, Ted, had a tumor. That afternoon I drove to Memphis to visit him in LeBonheur. He was doing pretty well. His surgery was scheduled for Friday. Friday I showed up at his hospital room at 9:30 AM to visit. His older brother was there, too. We're pretty tight. So, I played poker, with Ted and two brothers. A few hours later it was time for Ted to go in for the five-hour surgery of removing the tumor. His family said, Levi will you lead us in prayer. So I did. We committed Ted to God's care and asked for peace for our hearts. Then we all followed him as far as we could down to the OR and ICU. Ted's mom turns to me and says, "Levi, come here, you're our minister." I was kind of shocked, but honored, so I went into the Prep room with Ted and his parents. I grabbed Ted's hand. You know the way tough guys do, and I cried on him. He look terrified.
It was at that point that I knew I had to see Ted when he came out.
So I visited with his family. And I visited with his family.
At one point I had a great conversation with Ted's dad in the hospital chapel.
Finally, about seven hours later Ted was ready for us to see him.
What a relief to see Ted doing okay, and his grumpy self.
Did I mention that in the process Jake and I shaved our heads in Ted's hospital room?
And did I also mention that along in there somewhere about 50 kids at CHS shaved their heads? [Thanks Bro. Jim, if you read this.]

So, that's been my week. It's been long and tiring. Yesterday was my last day of class. Finals next week. Today Amy and I drive to Branson with the kids for a Staff Family Weekend with our folks from across the state.
In a couple of weeks Amy and I will be going to the Emergent Convention in Nashville.
It's going to get hectic. I'm going to take my laptop everywhere I can and blog as much as possible in this crazy month. Did I mention that in May I will celebrate my 27th birthday, as well as our 5th anniversary?

Hasta la vista.

Universalism

In answer to a comment about McLaren's apparent toying with Universalism and Inclusivism here is a quote from Lesslie Newbigin which we would do well to read and be informed by:
"exclusive in the sense of affirming the unique truth of the revelation in Jesus Christ, but not in the sense of denying the possibility of salvation to those outside the Christian faith; inclusive in the sense of refusing to limit the saving grace of God to Christians, but not in the sense of viewing other religions as salvific; pluralist in the sense of acknowledging the gracious work of God in the lives of all human beings, but not in the sense of denying the unique and decisive nature of what God has done in Jesus Christ."
(Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989, 182-3)

I think that this expresses the tension people could feel when given the opportunity to choose between universalism, inclusivism and exclusivism.
This thinking also leads to a deeper conversation. If McLaren were to say, THIS IS THE WAY IT IS, as he is prompted by both liberals and conservatives, the conversation could be effectively over. I'm not exactly what happens to people when they die. Maybe McLaren is there with me.

Working Working

I've been hard at work today getting stuff together for club tonight and doing whatever it is I do.

Missional Church has been a challenging read. Both challenging in the sense of using big words/concepts, taking a while to get through AND challenging as in deconstructing a lot of what I thought I knew about church. I don't have much to respond with yet.

My wife started reading The Last Word and highlighting it. She and I talked a little about it. She already thinks McLaren's apparent laxness with the teaching of universalism will cause divisive problems. I can see that. I don't think he comes out in favor of our against universalism. That might be the problem everyone sees.

I am still trying diligently not to start reading the Wallis book, but I think I might give that up.

The Last Word

Friday my two new books came: God's Politics: Why the Right gets it wrong and the Left doesn't get it & The Last Word and the Word After That. I'm still in the process of reading Missional Church and highlighting the heck out of A Generous Orthodoxy for my study times with Bob, so I didn't mean to start reading either book yet. Oops. I started reading the McLaren title and couldn't stop. I finished it at about 11:50 PM last night. My head still hurts. I will try to respond to that book in my blog and my life over the next several weeks. Meanwhile, my kids woke up this morning to find that my dad isn't here. He's like that some times. He showed up on Friday. We didn't know he was coming until he was almost here. The he just leaves whenever he wakes up. Crazy. Oh well.
Blessings on all of my readers, if I have any.

My Psych Paper

I just finished typing my Psych 2 essay on critical incidents and trauma/stress-related mental illness. Woohoo. I'm pretty tired now. My head hurts.
I don't know if my paper's any good, but Amy's proofing it right now and then I'll put it to bed so I can go to a middle school for lunch in 30 minutes. Yahoo.
In this particular class it seems like I'd have to turn it a really rotten paper in order to get a less than great grade. Last month I turned in a mediocre paper two days late and still received a 95. What the heck? I was almost embarassed to get that grade on that stinky of a paper done late. Well, such is life. I guess I'll see if Amy's done proofing yet.
Blessings.

I'm a nerd and a geek.

Well, I got a new Bible yesterday. Amy actually both got new Bibles. I've been waiting until the TNIV was done to buy a new Bible because I think it is the best Bible translation found for both public and private use. That's the kind of Bible I need. I might sometimes still use my NAS when I speak to older groups. Anyways, since I was really excited to get a new Bible Randall says I'm a nerd. He's probably right.

I'm thinking even more seriously about getting off the career track for a while and pursuing a Bachelor's in Philosophy somewhere full time. It would be tough on us as a family, but our kids certainly aren't going to get younger. They get more expensive all the time!

Last night my friend Brandon and I borrowed JY's boat and put in at the boat club. The boat club is on a chute off the Mississippi, so it's big and scary. Especially in the dark. Especially in a little johnboat with a trolling motor to get around. Heeheheh.. Well, we didn't catch anything, but we scared the bejeebies out of ourselves. That is one huge body of water, and we never left the chute. (don't plan to, either.) Planning on going out there again tomorrow only heading up the chute into the bayou. That should be fun. I'm pretty sure we won't catch much.
Yeehaw. My crazy life.