Beer can smashing neanderthals

I have read a lot of criticism of various different ministries that are voicing messages to men about masculinity. I feel some critiques have valid points being raised but to me many are missing the real point of why these manly messages are being so received. What is it about the characters, the bits of heroic prose and imagery that are used that resonates with a lot of men? I have read many of the theological concerns with some content in books like Wild at Heart etc...and it seems some are valid but many are over the top too. I have listened to the paranoid prognostications of a mass of steroid popping, wife slapping, gut protruding, beer can smashing neanderthals storming the pews. But to me that seems to be just doing the exact type of over characterizing that the critics seem to be complaining about. 

Granted not all church bred men are sea-foam green wearing, lillty two stepping charismaniacs, with one eye cocked to the ceiling and the other glossed over. Not all talk in submissive hush tones like a beaten dog. Not all shake your hand like its made of tissue. But many do...but most of that stuff is not really the problem; though it sure does grate against many men's minds. So much so that just writing it or finally voicing it out-loud has been like finally exhaling after holding ones breath for what seems like eternity. Oh my goodness I am not the only one who cant stand that stuff! Coming out of the closet so to speak has been liberating to the male soul. Getting in touch with his real feelings has been therapeutic even if those feelings are the ones being expressed. Every woman and every man possessed with a counseling spirit wants us to talk, share, be honest and real...as long as it isn't too rough. 

Many talk about Jesus as the perfect example of masculinity, that sounds so spiritual to say, but in reality there is a few hundred layers of feminized preaching that have coated that image that desperately needs to be peeled away. I think many of these ministries are just trying to do that; redeem Jesus from the nursery and the tea parties. 

Let's be honest the Hugh Grant image of the Christian male reigns supreme. 

It amazes me that this issue seems to be up for debate. 

Much of the messages from Eldridge and Driscoll and others seem to be awakening the very core elements that undergird the very concerns being made. Being a good father, a loving husband and productive worker and a righteously ambitious expander of the kingdom are all noble endeavors. William Wallace and Maximus can embody those characteristics too. Conquest isn't evil. The challenge of Jesus to the church in Revelations is to be an overcomer. That is both an internal war and an external war against odds, hardships, failures, lack, opposition, unbelief, fear and a host of other opponents. The masculine soul is needed in such matters. An awakening of the fire in the belly is a good thing when faced with so much today that seeks to distort the true image of God in man. 

I applaud the books, the sermons, the language, the manner in which it is spoken and the edge in which it has been done. It has born great fruit in me, helped me take courageous leaps of faith, awakened His grace and courage in me and helped me see I am not alone. 

Day...4

This is Linda Po, she came to our house for the weekend to help with translating for the KaRen family. She is KaRen as well, been here for 5 years. She is a student in another town in Wa. She is studying Micro biology and plans to return to her people to help with malaria. She was sweet and a great help and thankfully she is just a call away if we need a little communication help.



One of the amazing things about this experience is seeing my kids become apart too. They have been awesome, especially Austin, he has really been a good friend, host and helper. Haley obviously enjoys the boys.



I am pretty sure this was their first swing set experience by their reaction. The little willies' in their stomach made them giggle and want out fairly quickly. It was funny to watch.

Becoming a prayer for the damned...

meth-addiction
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception. -Psalms 38:3-12

If you have never seen a meth addict in the throes of a body contorting high, it's hard to explain the horror. We met Natalie on the sidewalk in front of our church today. She was painfully high if you can call a life crushing, hope stealing, body hammering...a high. She was around 21 but obviously a few feet from eternity on the road she is on.

Her name was Natalie I think, she had bruises on her arms. She wore loose clothing that hung off her contorting skinny body. Meth creates havoc on the central nervous system, you can see it yanking each nerve fiber like a master of puppets it is. Violently racing through their cerebral cortex like a city street in Bombay. Confusing, chaotic and completely out of control.

She wept openly, stumbled over her words as they poured out of her frightened and embarrassed soul. Skittish is putting it mildly. Through a mix of excuses, mumblings about men, prostitution and words that liars say to her...she begged, blubbered and simply manifested the spirit of death before us. She is being consumed like dry paper.

Some offered to pray for her, what else can you do in a moment like that?...she said she had prayed already. I stood there silent, no prayers to pray for her. I could only pray for someone to come help us minister to young women like her. I prayed for a house to care for abused women who are being raped by darkness. I prayed for a church to rise up that can say more than...can we pray for you? I am sick of praying, I want to do something...I want to be the answer to prayers for the damned.

Unfortunately there was about 8 of us around her on the sidewalk, that means there were too many for compassion to fully help. She felt like a caged animal and paced around in circles like a dog who had just been beaten...it wants to be pet but is deathly afraid of the hands that meet out pain and pleasure...it was just too confusing for her to remain there, so she stumbled off in a fit of mixed desires that overwhelmed her all ready fried mind.

July

July
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

The look on July's face captures the glee they had at the park today.
It's very amazing to watch mundane pleasures become new adventures in the blink of an eye.

KaRen kids meet the Mac

KaRen meet the Mac
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

We spent about 15 minutes playing with the mac software that makes all kinds of funny pictures. They laughed thier butts off seeing themselves in such crazy shots. It was priceless.

Full house...

Here is the KaRen family from the refugee camp in the Thai/Burma border.
They arrived in Spokane on Thursday night.
Dad's name is Moon Light
Mom's is Yoe Yoo
Son's is Haliey
Oldest daughter name is July
Youngest girl is Larde Eh

We have been enjoying the family immensely, even though it is hard work, emotionally and mentally.
Lots of ground to cover, stuff to constantly explain, language barriers to work with, cultural challenges etc...but much is the same. Kids are kids for sure, they love playing with Destiny's dolls, riding bikes and scooters, playing at the park and they had their first Mc'D's dinner tonight. So much to share, I will try to put this experience into meaningful words as the whirlwind calms down. Pray we will be able to find a close house to all of us for the family.

The impact of fathers...

fight_club
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Not being fathered well is simultaneously sinful and violently traumatic. Absentee fathers physically, emotionally, or spiritually disconnected from their sons pilot Boeing 757 right into their son’s heart. Passive fathers, sons of divorced, abusive fathers, silent fathers, busy fathers, spiritually dead fathers, unhealed fathers, wounded fathers, emasculated and feminized fathers traumatize their sons, often unintentionally, by sabotaging the initiation process that God intends for the masculine maturity of a God-made man.

Read more here: Masculinity Gone Wild

Tanks & Flowers...

coup
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

My brother Matt and his son Nic in front of one of the Thai military tanks. A recent coup in Thailand has taken place but it seems like things are pretty normal. Everyone say CHEESE!

Something to burn...

bellini
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Cast your bread upon the waters for after many days you will find it again. -Ecclesiastes 11:1

Blogging never ceases to amaze me. This last Sunday we had a visitor that moved here from back east and came because she read my blog. Crazy.

But I also know that not everyone uses the internet (what are you amish?) or cant get access or whatever, so I am currently putting together a print edition. I have been going back through my blog and reformatting articles and I am goign to bind them together for people who just want a print copy.

The first edition should be ready by this Sunday I hope.

slowly moving with invincibility....

Franz Josef glacier
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Rick Bass, a very good writer, is another Montana neighbor of mine. Besides being an excellent writer, Bass is a fervent environmentalist. Environmentalists care deeply about this creation, which is a good thing, but a lot of them are also pretty mean-spirited, angry, even violent—verbally if not physically. Bass is small of stature, elf-like, energetic, and laughing, it seems, most of the time. There's not a polemical bone in his body. He hosts parties for the loggers and the miners, working for common ground, developing a language of courtesy and understanding.

Bass wrote an essay recently that I consider required reading for anyone who cares about the contemplative life, immersed as we are in this impatient, shortcut addictive culture. He writes that when confronted with a complex and difficult task, he used to imagine himself laying down one brick after another, brick by brick by brick, to eventually accomplish his aims. But he's recently changed his metaphor from bricks to glaciers. A glacier is the most powerful force the world has ever seen. Literally nothing can stop a glacier.

A glacier is formed by the falling of snow that collects over a period of time. As the snow deepens, the weight compresses, ice forms, then more snow, then more ice, year after year— and nothing happens. Nothing happens until that glacier is 64-feet thick. Then it starts to move and nothing can stop it.

Bass notes that one theory about the origin of glaciers is that they are "the result of a wobble, a hitch, in the earth's rotation. . . . Glaciers get built or not built, simply, miraculously, because the earth is canting a single one-trillionth of a degree in this direction for a long period of time, rather than in that direction." And then this comment: "When I am alone in the woods, and the struggle seems insignificant or futile, or when I am in a public meeting and am being kicked all over the place, I tell myself that little things matter—and I believe that they do. I believe that even if your heart leans just a few degrees to the left or the right of center, that with enough resolve, which can substitute for mass, and enough time, a wobble will one day begin, and the ice will begin to form, where for a long time previous there might have been none. Keep it up for a lifetime or two or three, and then one day—it must—the ice will begin to slide" (The Roadless Yak, Lyons Press).
-Eugene Peterson article

Dad & Monkey Butt

Monkey Butt
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

That's what I call him...I know, strange. He's a lover and a fighter...I think we had a call or a note home each day from the school last week, Ughhh...this varmit can't stop talking...but how can you punish the boy, look at that face?

da boys...

da boys.JPG
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Here is a shot of two of the Blauer church planting team. They have been troopers...new church, new home, new schools, new friends, new neighborhood...wow, they amaze me! I thank God for giving me a bunch of radicals who have taken on this challenge with little complaining. Not that it hasn't been tough but overall they are inspirational to me.

Hospitality in the hood...

We have really put a lot of hard work into creating a meeting space that will be a local hub of community in our neighborhood. It has taken a lot of different peoples talents to bring this all together. It's great to finally see it being used for connecting with the people we are becoming friends with and by God's grace will help become followers of Jesus.



Today the ladies put on their first Women Only "Bonjour Breakfast" for the community. Around 25 women showed up! Great food and a chance to meet some really awesome people.



We had a lot of new people and two ladies that came simply from reading the poster on the church window! Too cool.

Foolish things....

shaming the strong
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are. -1 Cor. 1:26-28

We were trying to have a prayer meeting but no one seemed to be able to muster up any requests. So we did what happens at most prayer meetings talk more to each other than to God. So...God shuffled in.

He came in the person of Gary.

You can see him meandering around the neighborhood with his funky leather hat and shabby clothes that hang off him like a windless flag hugs it's pole. Near toothless like most people around here and the ones he has seem like they are not worth having either, more trouble than any good. It seems we have acid in our water and everyone is eating black licorice by the looks of it.

Gary has grown old in the hard living sense, more has been done to him in his days than mere living should produce. You can see it carved into his withering skin. He made his way right to the table next to his pastor and stood there in an awkward way. The kind of intrusion that everyone feels but doesn't quite know what to say or do.

He talked, made a few jokes, greeted the people he knew and just stood there...like something was expected to happen but know one knew what. Affection was clearly evident in is interaction with his pastor, both in his warm proximity and in the eyes and smile of the one who obviously shepherds him with gentle care.

"We are going to have a prayer time Gary, so if you want to join go ahead and have a seat" said his pastor.
"Oh no, I got to get...got stuff to do." Gary said with out apology. "But I got something for you" he said, as he rustled through his countless bulging pockets.He pulled out his wallet and handed the pastor a handful of crumpled bills. “How much is there pastor” he said. “Oh about seven dollars” he replied. “Well there will be more on Sunday, I had to borrow a few.” Gary explained. He then said his goodbyes and made his way out.

The exchange has lingered on me like perfume hangs in the air long after the wearer has gone. The whole moment reminds me of a line in my favorite song “Thunder on the mountain” off of Bob Dylan’s c.d. “Modern Times”.

“Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of b*tches
I'll recruit my army from the orphanages
I been to St. Herman's church, said my religious vows
I've sucked the milk out of a thousand cows’

I want an army of Gary’s born out of the hell of life...they seem to understand what is important in life. Herman’s Church produces a lot of vows and offers a lot of sacred cow teats to suck from but rarely do you see such powerful generosity expressed. True sacrifice and love being expressed not out of abundance but out of lack. On a fixed income...7 bucks is gold and so was Gary...pure and undefiled indeed.

ouch...

Ronald Sider in his recent book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience, makes the following observation based on statistical analysis of the giving patterns of American Christians by a couple named John and Sylvia Ronsvalle:

“American Christians live in the richest nation on earth and enjoy an average household income of $42,409.  The World Bank reports that 1.2 billion of the world’s poorest people try to survive on just one dollar a day.  At least one billion people have never heard the gospel.  The Ronsvalles point out that if American Christians just tithed, they would have another $143 billion available to empower the poor and spread the gospel.  Studies by the United Nations suggest that just an additional $70 - $80 billion a year would be enough to provide access to essential services like basic health care and education for all the poor of the earth.  If they did no more than tithe, American Christians would have the private dollars to foot this entire bill and still have $60 - $70 billion more to do evangelism around the world.”

But the reality is that American Christians do not even tithe their income to their local church.  According to recent surveys by George Barna, the average evangelical Christian in America gives less than 3% of their income on an annual basis to their church.  And less than 9% of all evangelical Christians actually give 10% or more on an annual basis to their church.  With statistics like that it is obvious why the average church in America cannot meet the basic needs of its own operating budget, let alone the needs of missions causes outside the local church.

What do Mormons really believe?

Many people have friends that are Mormons and often are very confused
about what exactly is the difference between a Christian and a Mormon.
Here is a clear chart showing the major differences between the two.
http://www.mormoninfo.org/index.php?id=1

The spiritual, intellectual creative wasteland...

“I really struggle with American Christianity. I'm not really sure that people with our cultural disabilities, people who grow up in a culture that worships pleasure, leisure, and affluence, are capable of having souls, or being saved...” -Rich Mullins 

Read the whole article here: Rant of an old soul

spock ponders...

spock
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

It's quite illogical, for a democratic country with elected officials to submit to a military coup; no matter how much one may disagree with the previous leaders.

Thoughts from across the pond...

Perhaps I am feeling the void of church which is full of words and little action, invisible to the community around it, unmissed if it dissapeared tomorrow. 

Would my town feel the pain of the kingdom withdrawing from it? If the church walked out of town tomorrow, would anyone notice, and if not, had the kingdom come there at all?

-Gaz Kieshere

military coup

military coup
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

As some of you know and some more than likely don't, there was a military coup in Thailand yesterday. It appears this situation is a positive one, so we will continue to pray it unfolds for the good of all involved.
More here: Thai military coup