relax. it's...me. doing fedex.

When last I posted, I was still lacking the additional employment necessary to take care of my family. I'd had several good interviews, but nothing was working out.

So along comes an opportunity, and, as it's the only one that's open, I take it.

So, after two weeks of training, today was my first day driving a FedEx Ground route.

My job looks a little like the image below.



Except, of course, for the following: in the picture, it's not 95 degrees, the guy's clutch foot isn't killing him, and he isn't soaked through with sweat after unloading 50 boxes at an Office Depot distribution center.

Other than that, just like it.

It turns out that my previous experience driving trucks came in really handy. I'm sure that this will get easier once I learn the ropes, but for now it's a lot of looking at the map, backtracking, and sweat.

It's back to manual labor for a living, and I'm thankful that God's given me this job. That said, I'm not gonna lie to you: being tied up from 7 am to 5 pm every day of the week, doing this, is going to take some adjustment. We're getting started with that.

- - - -

The crazy thing about being on the western edge of the Eastern time zone is that right now, dusk is about 10 o'clock. Honestly. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen.

So, by the time I got back from work and Kristy got some groceries and we ate supper, it was 9. I'd promised Trey we'd go for a walk or to the park, and he was holding me to it.

So I summoned some energy and took Trey, Gracie, and Derek for a walk around our block. We met up with JR, an 11-year-old who played with the kids for a little bit. Then we cut across a yard to the fairway of the golf course, where there are some beautiful rolling hills. We chased little birds around the ground, and I showed Trey and Grace how to roll down the hill. Trey being the graceful big brother that he is, he managed to mow down Derek on the way down. Grace bumped her elbow and called it quits after five feet.



It was a lift to my spirit after a long day.

- - - -

I have more to write, and I'm planning to get back in the habit.

introducing the proud owners of new lifestory chapters

My sister Emily is married to Phil, who's studying for the ministry at Crown College in Tennessee. Emily completed an evening Bible study course through Temple Baptist Church, the home of Crown College. So she was part of the graduation ceremonies Monday evening, and we surprised her by driving down to see her walk.


This is Emily receiving her certificate, from our vantage point. (When you leave central Indiana at 2:30 for a 7:00 ceremony, and you get there at 7:30, you don't get to be picky about your seat.)

Oh, and I got the unique pleasure of attending a graduation ceremony with Trey and Gracie, who loved to clap and holler for totally random people. Absolutely awesome.

And I got to see Benjamin's new haircut, which was also absolutely awesome. (Totally never occurred to me to take a picture of it.)



So Emily freaked out when she saw us, and immediately grabbed Audrey to show her off.



Then we crashed at Phil and Em's place, and ate pizza and ice cream cake from some local specialty place whose name I can't remember, and watched Aunt Emmy open her gifts. Then we got some sleep and headed back the next morning. All in all, a quick, kind of exhausting, fun trip.



When we got back Tuesday evening, we decided that Audrey needed to start sleeping in her own bed. Up to now, she's been sleeping in the bassinet in Mama and Daddy's room, but she was starting to turn herself around in it during the night. And then she asked if she could get bids on knocking out the one wall, which hastened our decision. So the above picture is of Audrey's first night in her own bed. She handled it just fine, and actually slept really well.



Now Grace has her little sister with her in the girls' bedroom. She wanted to have her picture taken, too. (I'm pretty sure that's the faux jewel-encrusted case to her faux cell phone that she's holding up.)

- - -

Transitions, both. The ending of one phase of life, the beginning of another, even if these are of the smaller variety in the big scheme of things. As I hugged my sister, and as I looked down on my daughter, I can't help the twinge of sadness, for the times that have come to an end were good times. And yet, to stay - to dwell on what was -is the only thing more detrimental to them, and to me.

And so I appreciate the times that have been for what they were, and anticipate what will come. I take a moment to miss the old times, but not two. To do so would be to lose focus on how I can be part of Emily, and Audrey, and many others living out God's dreams for their lives now, today.

Congratulations, Emily. We're proud of you, and Phil, and what God's doing in your lives.

Congratulations, Audrey. Daddy loves you with all his heart.

among the titles for this post considered but not used: "baptist, shmaptist"

So it's 2 in the morning, and I'm finishing up stuff before I go catch a few hours sleep before getting ready for our worship gatherings. I notice that my friend Chris McCoy has a blog, so I'm checking it out, reading some of the back posts, commenting here and there.

Chris wrote a post about attending Pastor's School at First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. I knew that he was there, at least in part, as a representative of his place of employment, and I was curious to hear how things had went. (I was there with him the year before, also as a representative of the aforementioned place of employment.)

Chris wrote about how he enjoyed the experience, and some of the spiritual benefits he derived from the conference. He also described how he was inspired by various aspects of the ministry of First Baptist Church of Hammond, as well as its pastor, Dr. Jack Schaap.

Now, for those who might be unaware, First Baptist Church of Hammond is a ministry that, to many observers, proves the stereotypes that exist of Independent Fundamental Baptists (often referred to as IFB's). Everything about the place is big, to start with, and its bigness can come off as being in-your-face. The means/methods by which this bigness has come to be have been brought into question on numerous occasions.

Anyway, I'm reading Chris's post, and there's a comment. The first half of it reads thus:

"I'll take more about Jesus but you can keep your three-ringed circus every third week in March! I spent over 20 years under the Hyles regime and that is 20 years too many. God bless you as you clear the cobwebs from this past PS."

Now I'm curious, so I follow the links to this guy's blog, the sole purpose of which seems to be pointing out the errors of the First-Baptist-Church-of-Hammondy way of doing things. And he has links to several other blogs, all with the common thread of 1) bad/harmful IFB experiences and 2) interesting, sometimes incendiary names: Extreme Fundamental Makeover, Texas Baptist Underground, Strange Baptist Fire, and so on.

It turns out that there are possibly millions of gigabytes of server space occupied with the writings of people who want to make sure to enumerate all the ways that various IFB figureheads are unBiblical, arrogant jerks.

Which is fine, I guess. It's certainly their right, this being America and all. But as I browsed their writings, I was reminded of something I read that a pastor by the name of Mark Driscoll wrote as part of an apology for his offensive reply to a blog post:

A godly friend once asked me an important question: “What do you want to be known for?” I responded that solid theology and effective church planting were the things that I cared most about and wanted to be known for. He kindly said that my reputation was growing as a guy with good theology, a bad temper, and a foul mouth. This is not what I want to be known for.

I'm a little apprehensive for these men. They're good men and fervent Christians, and probably better versed in the minutiae of personal and ministerial doctrinal positions than I. As someone who grew up in and continues to have friends and mentors in IFB circles, I can empathize with their experiences (though I'd never claim to know everything they've been through), and even agree with many of their conclusions.

But if you have to pick something to be known for, is this really it?

- - -

In my last post, I mentioned that I got to meet several new friends at the park a few days ago. Teenagers hanging out with friends, a single mom trying to raise two teens and a preschooler, twenty-year old guys trying to find a job to pay for college. None of them were connected to a church, and as far as I could tell, they were not familiar with their place in God's story.

Every one of them got a business card from me, with my cell number and the address of this blog. I'd like for them to be part of my story, my journey as a follower of God in the ways of Jesus. I'd like for them to sense that it's real, even if it's a little rough around the edges sometimes. I'd like for them to see how that life in Christ, lived with other Christ followers and in front of the whole world, is filling the hole I had in my soul, and it might fill theirs too.

I guess that's what I'd like to be known for.

new friends

I gotta do some shoutouts to my new friends. I got to meet a bunch of new people Tuesday, when our church had a night out at the park. We grilled up burgers and hot dogs, brought out a bunch of food, and invited everyone there to come eat. It was awesome.


On the left side of the table are A.J. and Brooke, and on the right side is Alan and Joe. They were at the park, and I got to meet them and they were happy to come enjoy the meal. Joe and Alan got to the park on a cool little yellow scooter.

These guys helped me load and set up the tables and stuff. Dave's on the left: Contour guy is on the right. They were just hanging out at the park when we showed up. Thanks for the help, guys. Don't stiff me: you promised we'd do lunch sometime.

Vince (I think - sorry, man, I'm blanking), Kalyn, and Ben were also at the park, and they especially like the grilled burgers. They promised me they'd come to church Sunday morning, and then I promised them lunch and PS2 afterward. I'm holding you guys to it.

(To see more pictures, go to our church blog.)