Ethiopia's Orphans...

Weekends movies...

LeeElla was away at a worship conference in Seattle this last weekend; so the kids and I watched three movies I've been wanting to see: Kung-Fu Panda, Get Smart and the new Journey to the Center of the Earth. We enjoyed all of them...but I thought Kung-Fu Panda was the best for sure. In fact I think its in my growing, favorite animated movies list, in no particular order: Robin Hood, Robots, Aladdin, RATATOUILLE, The incredibles, Shrek, Monster's Inc, ToyStory, Appleseed Ex-Machina, Titan AE, The Iron Giant, Ice Age 1&2, The Rescuers Down Under, An American tale, The Spirits Within...and more.

....causes one to forget everything

"Woman...Thus the gods fashioned her, delicate and ethereal as the mists of a summer’s night and yet plump like a ripened fruit, light as a bird in spite of the fact that she carried a world of craving, light because the play of forces is unified at the invisible center of a negative relationship in which she is related to herself, slim of stature, designed with definite proportions and yet to the eye seeming to swell with the wavelines of beauty, complete and yet as if only now she were finished, cooling, delicious, refreshing as new-fallen snow, blushing with serene transparency, happy as a jest which causes one to forget everything, tranquilizing as the goal whereunto desire tends, satisfying by being herself the incitement of desire."
-Soren Kierkegaard

This has got to be one of my most favorite pieces written on the mystery and beauty of a woman.

JAVALUJAH!!!!

Bleeding or cauterized...?

To play without passion is inexcusable. -Beethoven

I see the effects of passionless living all around me. It's petrification is evident in faces, voices, choices and relationships all around us. People living without purpose, without fire. They teeter on the tightrope of ambivalence...not daring to unleash the true sinner or saint that wrestles within them. They steer for safer waters, avoiding true communication, depth of feeling, expression of thought in all its truthfulness. They avoid conflict at the cost of their souls. They suffer in silence as they eek out an existence living obediently under the castrating gazes of some mythic authority figure that daily haunts them.

They produce half hearted attempts at almost everything. They are just getting by, not making waves, not rising higher, not being held accountable for never realizing the full potential of whatever they put their hands upon..be it relationships, jobs, bodies, minds, talents...or their inner lives.

They are hazy lifers...never gathering up all their energies to strike at some piece of life like a lightening bolt sent from heaven. Too afraid to try, to stretch, to dream. They won't own the commitment, the challenge, the possibility of life. the closest they come to resembling the reality they are skirting is when they act like promiscuous teenage boys. They sleep with everything but raise no children. They know how to feverishly lust but they don't know the molten fires of a God given, sacrificial love. They know how to be teased by the flames of the furnace but have no guts or faith to step into its belly.

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. -1 Cor. 10:31

Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people. -Col 3:23

Jesus laid out how to live, when He warned of spitting out of His mouth, all those whose lives were like tepid water. (Rev 3:15-16). Jesus calls us to live hot or cold...but flee the spiritual atherosclerosis that is running rampant in the dying around us. Throw off your timidity, the trepidation that paralyzes you from committing to whatever it is that you know is calling you to become more than a perma-couch cushion. Dare to bleed again on the knife of chance...don't settle for a cauterized existance...spill some blood, pour out your heart...try again...love until you hate...hate until you love...or go buy a coffin and lay it next to your tv...to remind you that you already died.

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say "he feels deeply, he feels tenderly"
-Vincent Van Gogh

You do know that....You are dying.

Have you yet...truly lived?


Our defintition of art is the breaking open of the breastbone, for sure. Just open-heart surgery.
I wish there was an easier way. But in the end, people want blood, and I am one of them.
-Bono, U2 frontman.

Sex...how equipped are you?

"God makes it clear that there is nothing wrong, and everything right, about sex in marriage. Satan’s great strategy, when it comes to sex, is to do everything he can to encourage sex outside of marriage, and to discourage sex within marriage. It is an equal victory for Satan if he accomplishes either plan!"

I am teaching/preaching through 1 Corinthians and I read this quote above, in David Guzik's commentary on chapter 7. According to this article, almost half of all women have sexual problems. Do you think that as a woman or man, you are adequately equipped (in all ways) to be the best lover you can be?

Where do you think an honest individual, struggling to be the most loving and serving of mates, should learn about this stuff?
Do you think the church should be involved in this day and age?
Do you think you were prepared to enter adulthood by your parents?
Do you think the internet is the best teacher?
Would you ever attend a "seminar or class" on such subjects?
Do you think Passion Parties have a place in the instructive role of equipping married people for healthy sexual lives?

Oh I wish...I wish...I wish...

I wish I could see this: "The Screwtape Letters" but I would take these to tide me over until I can get to Chicago to see the play.

The Visitor...

In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent, Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) stars as Walter Vale, a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Through new found connections with virtual strangers, Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life.

I really enjoyed this drama about work, music, people, immigration, love. It's the story about the awakening of a man from just existing to being alive.
Good stuff.

UFC 91: Brock Lesnar Vs Randy Couture

Saturday at 7PM,
Spokane Gentleman's Society has been invited to crash the UFC event hosted by the manly men of Kaleo Church, UFC 91 will be on the big screen!
They are located at:
Kaleo
4904 N. Harvard Rd. #4
Otis Orchards, WA 99027
Email Justin Bryeans (justinbryeans@gmail.com) for GPS coordinates, singlets, wrestling cups, teeth guards or to ask anymore questions.

Pizza will be consumed.

Suburban reborn...

Here is my new rig...a 2000 Suburban, 2 years newer than my last and thanks to my wife's OCD shopping powers and wheeling and dealing numbers and my friend Jim Carney's auto mechanic skills and the downturned economy...we were able to upgrade. It's amazing how bad things can be turned to your favor sometimes. I'm a happy camper...literally. :)
If you are looking for a great deal on some good vehicles go to New Deal Used Cars and ask for Sean.

The real reason Obama won...

Good sign

I hope this is a sign of more to come.

Brilliant...

What the world is saying about Obama...

Look here to see what the world is saying about Obama.

Good bye to a bromance...

Well, you wouldn't think by the looks of this damage from my recent accident...but the insurance company determined my Suburban to be "totaled". So basically my rig and I parted ways today in a sad ceremony in a cold parking lot. Me standing there mourning and yet remembering when my manhood was returned, the day I handed over the keys of our maroon minivan to the dealership and stepped into this beauty.

Oh the memories...no more pretending to drive like a man in the woods...now I have 4x4 power. No more shame, no more wondering if it snows if I can get out and drive. Yes, that was a good day indeed. Yes, there's nothing like pulling jet skiis, or driving with a canoe on top of your roof, or hauling stuff to the dump in a rig. Throwing your dog in the back and hauling about 40 kids with your elbow out the window and the country music playing...ah the good Inland Northwest life.

It was slightly shocking when they drove her out of the shop to allow me the chance to unload my stuff and say goodbye.But there she stood...her front end, topless. Her grill all torn open and her exposed lights sagging.. I felt like I was dropping her off at the pound.

Here I stand...

"Whatever is not from faith is sin."
- Romans 14:23

The reason I voted Third Party was the result of hours and hours of work; a reflection of chasing an inner butterfly, a voice, a dream...conscience. It's the result of a convergence of issues of christian mission, political frustration, eschatology and love . I am coming to new conclusions that influence and direct me towards places and positions that have been deep in me but not fully formulated or formed. The church and this nation are in deep need of fresh chrysalis. These voting Issues have unearthed matters of conscience and conviction that have been under the surface. These subconscious tensions have been rubbing against my heart until I finally started owning them.

This has been no trivial work to me. It's work that originates in my pursuit to live and walk as Jesus walked:

"The one who says that he abides in him must live the same way he himself lived." -1 John 2:6

I feel I have seriously, carefully and honestly laid out that struggle here, not with sound bites and video alone, which unfortunately, I feel is the limit of most peoples interest. Rarely do we take time to examine the girth of the iceberg below the surface of the water...but don't be mislead to the size of the matter by the mere tip that protrudes from the surface.

My posts hopefully hint at the direction one must search for themselves to hammer out the issues if they desire. I know that not everyone cares or is concerned and that many are already convinced of these various matters. But for some, like me, these are broad and serious matters that require more thought, prayer, study and mental work to be done.

I knew that I had serious conscience conflict with war, interventionism, a bully foreign policy stance, preemptive acts of war, constitutional side stepping, Big government fiscal policies, lack of real change in regards to the growing poverty gap, issues surrounding the pro-life positions on killing, the growing powers or worship of the executive office vs the constitutionally designed legislative counterbalance established by the founding Fathers. In this political season I thought Obama spoke to some of the issues better than Mcain did...but Mcain spoke to other issues better than Obama. For me, matters of conscience were divided along party lines...I couldn't put both of my feet on one platform for the first time in my life.

I struggled with what to do until the day I voted and in the end...I felt conscience and sincerity required me to vote according to principle and conscience. For me to do otherwise would be, as the above scripture says...."sin".

"Each of us at various periods of life is confronted with certain moral questions that need to be solved. It takes a great deal of effort to attend to them and to seek answers. In every labor, especially at the beginning, there is a time when the work is painfully difficult, when we are tempted to give up. Physical work is painful at first, mental work still more. As Lessing says: "People are inclined to cease to think at the point at which thought begins to be difficult; but it is just there, I would add, that thinking begins to be fruitful."
-Leo Tolstoy

I think many of the issues I wrestled with are at the roots of why Mcain lost. It's a shame when the voice of new creation, opportunity, vision, hope, peace, new dreams, restoration, industry, faith, empowerment is nolonger found in the mouth of the church. I think it's a cop out for the church to disdainfully point a pessimistic, judgemental finger at sincere people wanting a better future for themselves and their families. To our shame, most of these pontifications are fired off from our self indulgent, palaces of praise built off the devoured houses of widows (see Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 20:45-47 and 21:1-4 vs. II Corinthians 8:5-15)

I hear the beleaguered droning of the Christians saying: "It's the churches role to serve the poor not the governments role" Really? How well are we practically doing that? How are our churches really working for justice? I think the church in general, stands naked in her uproar and the people are simply looking for real answers and leadership.


If you were in real financial need who is going to help you? The local spiritual moose lodge?

We desperately need to reclaim a right to speak.

The reason most people ignored all the christian warnings is because until we move from condemnation of gays, murderers, and money spenders...we sound hollow. We need more actions to back our moral authority. The religious right looks silly stomping her feet in anger and pouting. Maybe if she spoke less and did more, people would follow her and not opt out by the droves week by week.

I see all of this as a great time of challenge the church will proactively seize or lazily condemn.


Photo by Troy Thompson

Setting free Angels...

Five hundred years ago, when asked the motivation for a particular sculpture, Michelangelo replied, "I saw an angel in the stone and carved to set it free.This is part of doing ministry in urban neighborhoods...the signs of lives yet redeemed. The signs are all around us in this community...when I walked out of my house to take Micah to school, there was a firetruck with its lights on at the cop shop across the street. When I came out later to go to the church, there were a bunch of police on our block and down the street two cop cars with their lights on and police officers roaming around that block. Part of my work today around the block involved painting over the recent graffiti and replace the bulb they broke in the above light. Nothing big...just part of life around here.

"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. Isaiah 58:12
One of the beauties of doing ministry in a rougher neighborhood is the multitude of opportunities to serve, repair, build up, restore and beautify. Being the people of God in a local area should mean that everyone around is blessed to have you present as neighbors and as participants in the church body that gathers on the block your facilities are at. I love how the prophet Ezekiel saw this living water of life flowing out of the temple and rising like a flood bringing its healing into barren and polluted places (Ez 47).

All of that is so true spiritually, the reviving of dead men and women through the life resurrecting work of the gospel; through the Spirit of God in us, preaching, teaching, and engaging in community restoring work. Making familes, raising children, mowing lawns, picking up trash. Caring for the community by building healthy, nurturing relationships, loving the unlovable and our skeptical enemies until they surrender to the healing ethic of life that makes more sense than the brokenness and chaos around us. But it also is good news for the land, the neighborhood, the buildings, the parks, the wildlife, the gardens, the nutrition, the hunger and thirst...the health or as Jeremiah put it the "welfare of the city" (Jeremiah 29:4-7). Unlike the devouring nature of sinful humanity...God's kingdom, when it comes...even makes little pieces of land...better. Homes improve, creation moans a little less, streets get safer, drugs dry up, sirens come less often, blood spills less, devils search for homes elsewhere. It really is good news when the Kingdom of God has come...We are currently putting in new carpet in our Nursery, classrooms and Children's ministry area. This is just a small reflection of the overall goodness that comes to town when Jesus shows up through His people. Now the little ones can crawl around and mommies wont worry what they might get from that old, nasty carpet that was clinging on for dear life.

It's a good thing, carving out angels from the cold stone of our communities...sometimes its nothing spectacular...just paint, carpet, a wave of the hand, raking up some leaves...just life lived purposefully.

Real change...begins with us.

Dear Mr. President-elect Obama:

I want personally to offer you my prayers as you embark on the enormous challenge of leading our country in a time of great crisis and crossroads. While our ultimate hope is our faith in God, we also have high hopes for your administration.

I am one member of a growing movement of Christians and people of faith who support a broad moral agenda that includes a deep concern for poverty, peacemaking, a consistent ethic of life, and care for creation. During the campaign, you said that, if elected, you would face powerful special interests trying to block change. You said you would need a citizen movement to support and push you.

Today, I am pledging to be part of that movement. It will be a movement that will both pray for you and hold you accountable to the things you promised. So I urge you to give high priority to:

Overcome poverty, both here in our rich nation and globally. Your efforts to resolve the economic crisis must include those at the bottom, the poorest among us. You pledged during the campaign to mobilize the nation to cut domestic poverty in half in ten years and to implement the Millennium Development Goals to cut extreme global poverty in half.

Find better ways than war to resolve the inevitable conflicts in the world. It is time to end the war in Iraq and emphasize diplomacy over military action in resolving problems in Iran and Afghanistan. We need better and smarter foreign policy that is more consistent with our best national values.

Promote a consistent ethic of life that addresses all threats to life and dignity. We must end genocide in Darfur, the use of torture, and the death penalty. I urge you to pursue common ground policies which can dramatically reduce abortions in America, and help bring us together on this divisive issue.

Reverse the effects of climate change on God’s creation. We must learn a new way of living in America to end our dangerous dependence on Middle East oil. We need a spiritual commitment to stewardship and national policies that promote safe, clean, and renewable energy. You spoke of job creation and economic renewal with a new “green economy.”

We need your presidential leadership for this type of societal transformation, but I promise also to do my part.

I will pray for you as you assume the awesome responsibility of leading our nation. To be the best president you can be, you will need both the support and the push of the faith community. I pledge to help build the movement that will keep your administration accountable and faithful.

Blessings,
Eric Blauer

Go and sign the prayer and pledge herehttp://go.sojo.net/campaign/nv_prayerandpledg

If casting a vote is all we do for change...than we are hypocrites. The real work is lived day in and day out...365 days a year.
I can easily rejoice in the historic nature of electing a hard working, intelligent, family loving, inspiring, country serving, God professing Christian and America's first African-America president. Even though I didn't vote for either of them, I voted for a Third Party candidate, I am part of this country and will pray and work for Change...that I CAN BELIEVE in. On many points we will agree and on many we wont but I will still pray for the President Elect and his family...there will be many challenges ahead.

I also pray those who are angry, disappointed or feel a creeping ambivalence will compost that stuff and turn it into the real change they want to see. Change doesn't have to wait until 2012. Jesus is transforming lives, churches and communities from the inside out...that's something a politician can never do.

But even still I'm no party pooper...I think its a milestone for our Country in amazing ways. I pray that it will lead to a more active populace, an awake and serving church and a return to the humble and more noble America that we have known in the past.

God bless America and the World.

And always remember...Jesus is still King of kings...and Lord of lords.

The reasoning behind my decision...

I will answer this sincere statement and question...after the election: ;)

"I don't want to oversimplify the vote, but can we just simply vote for the persons we think will do a better job of president and vice president? Voting for a candidate that has no chance of winning may be a political statement, but seems a bit of a cop out to me. But better than not voting I suppose."

Our Candy Carnival...

Here are some pictures from our churches Candy Carnival that we put on every Halloween. Thanks to the leaders hard work, planning and amazing volunteers we saw over 200 people come to the event.