I've got a wedding today at 5 (weird time for a wedding) - one of Cathie's cousins I'm not sure I've ever met. From there I"m heading to our Fusion/Student Impact camp-out followed by paintball tomorrow morning at Futureball. I think the camp-out will be a great chance to connect with the kids and go nuts. I leave for Kansas City on Monday, back Thursday.

I went on a field trip today with Nate's kindergarten class to Sugarbush Farm in Ypisilanti. I've been working in Nate's class every Monday I've been in town throughout the year, and really enjoying it. The kids are hilarious, and it's a lot of fun watching Nate interact with the other kids - although it's weird being referred to as "Mr. Kurt". Nate's got a great teacher who loves to teach and loves the kids - you can see it as you watch her with them.

As the official spokesman for Will and Teresa, the word is that they are now officially dating. Out of boredom and lack of progress, I'd been telling people this for the last couple of weeks.

Just heard that Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster ride (that we visited last week) has been shut down for a while due to some issues.

I'm traveling on and off over the next two or three weeks, and then it's a week of "vacation" for Velocity, our summer camp for our youth group. I think we're looking at around 30 or 40 kids.

Will, Jason and I went to see Bruce Almighty last night. I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan, but I enjoyed the movie. It'd be easy to write the movie off for its theological inconsistencies (or to some blasphemy), but there are some great truths in the movie that shine through. The themes that stood out to me were:

1. The picture of what God's would look like if he were neither Holy nor Omnipotent. As Jason puts it "What would Jesus do if he were self-centered?"
2. God's love for us, and pursuit of us without forcing us to choose to love him. One of the conditions of Bruce receiving God's power is that he can't mess with people's free-will. Bruce has to come to grips with this as he has all of the power, except the ability to make his girlfriend love him. God and Bruce have a cool discussion around this.
3. God wants to give us the desires of our heart. At one point in the movie, Bruce uses his power to give everyone what they want. God's reply was "Since when does anyone have a clue about what they want?" Bruce has to battle through his own self-centeredness.

Check out this interview with the director, Tom Shadyac. I really like where this guy's coming from:
"I think we Christians have to get off our judgmental high thrones. I understand why we're like that, but God is working in each one of us--independently, individually--and He allows people to go on their own imperfect journeys that He will make it perfect. I hope that the Christian community-- the very community that could embrace this movie--will give it a chance as a whole, and not lose the forest for the trees. Christians have a tendency to talk about religious movies as being ones that deal with religion implicitly and it's just not true. This one happens to have it God in it, so it seems like a religious movie, but so many movies can be spiritual movies, but we somehow don't see them that way because they're not about a priest or a nun or a minister. Take for example the movie Scent of a Woman. The movie Scent of a Woman is really the book of Ecclesiastes--but how many Christians stayed away from it because there was cursing and because he slept with a hooker? And it really was the book of Ecclesiastes--a man was saying "all is vanity" and had no hope until the love of a child, God incarnate through a boy, came in and said "I love you," and it changed that man's whole life. If we as Christians stay in our judgmental boxes, we will miss movies that."

I went back and re-read the section on The Body in ROTH. I still don't get it completely. I'm becoming aware of how central my physical body is in to my spiritual life. Re-reading that, it sounds weird. This says it better: The outcome of spiritual formation is, indeed, the transformation of the inner reality of the self in such a way that the deeds and words of Jesus become a natural expression of who we are. But it is the nature of the human being that the "inner reality of the self" settles into our body, from which that inner reality then operates in practice. The outside becomes a reflection of the inner-life - and the outside can get just as corrupted as the inside and needs redemption in the same way. I was hoping that by writing some of my thoughts out here it would clarify them for me. I'm not sure I'm any further ahead that I was before I started staring at this screen.

Cathie and I are childless this weekend! Cathie's folks took the kids Thursday night and we get them back tomorrow. We slept in, went to Angelo's for breakfast (same one that the semi-famous song is about), took naps and spent time talking. I love her so much - her friendship, her sense of humor (more like mine than anyone suspects), her beauty, and her fun heart.
We were talking at breakfast about a quote that we'd seen on Freier's blog a while back. He hadn't updated his page in a while, and I kept coming to it and re-reading it each time. It took reading it about five different times, and then having Cathie bring it to my attention for the magnitude of it to sink in. It's from Henri Nouwen's book Bread for the Journey:

Friends and Their Unique Gifts
No two friends are the same. Each has his or her own gift for us. When we expect one friend to have all we need, we will always be hypercritical, never completely happy with what he or she does have. One friend may offer us affection, another may stimulate our minds, another may strengthen our souls. The more able we are to receive the different gifts our friends have to give us, the more able we will be to offer our own unique but limited gifts. Thus, friendships create a beautiful tapestry of love.

Cathie and I have very different needs for friendship based on our different personality types, and we've both come to realize the truth in this quote in different ways. My journey in relationships over the past 10 years helped me figure this out, and reading the quote helped me sum it up. Cathie on the other hand has been wrestling with this for a while, reading this helped her see her friendships through a new paradigm.

My wife has such an amazing heart, and she teaches me so much about life and about myself. I'm crazy in love with her even after being married for 11 years. We've been together almost half of our lives, since we started dating around age 17! Amazing to think about how much we've shared and grown over the years.

Cathie and I had a blast yesterday at Cedar Point with Jess, Jason, Anne and Matt. We got there when the park opened and left around 7:30pm. My whole theory of going on a weekday was thrown off a little by the fact that it was the Friday before Memorial Day. The place was packed. Apparently the Top Thrill Dragster ride that we wanted to get on so bad doesn't quite have all of the kinks worked out of it yet. If you haven't heard about this ride, it shoots you from a stand-still to 120mph straight up a 420 foot incline, and then straight back down on the other side. One of the park employees was explaining to us how the car doesn't quite make it up everytime, and the emergency breaking system has to kick in. Nice. We made it on all of the coasters. My favorite was the Tower Power, which takes you up a few hundred feet, hangs you there, and drops you straight down, all on air pressure. I enjoyed the fear that I felt at the top of it. Total fear as I hung there, looking straight down. The best part of the day was hanging with the people we went with in line, talking and people-watching. Jess and I went on a ride together that no one else was interested in, and we had a chance to talk for about 45 minutes one-on-one, which we'd never done before, and I really enjoyed it. She's a really great woman who personifies Christ in a lot of ways - especially in the way she loves people. It's cool to watch. Her and J are great for each other - each complements the other so well.

It's been a crazy week. I'm beat. I've been working very late nights and on the road the past few days, trying to get everything done so I can take off on Friday. One of the deals I'm working on, I've got a guy who is comitting to things and not following through, without explanation or regard for the rest of the team. He's a new guy in our group, so I'm trying to cut him some slack, but he's really pissing me off. Maybe it's self-righteousness, maybe it's high standards, but I work with a team who follows through on their comittments to each other because we respect each other. My gut tells me that this guy is going to wait until the last minute to get his piece done and in turn create a lot of work for me.

Got a chance on Tuesday to sit on an executive level partner negotiations as a part of my mentoring with Mack. It was very interesting watching him in action - what he said, what he offered up, what he didn't say, his demeanor and personality. I really enjoy taking in all of the dynamics that go on at this level. Mack is very unassuming, never haughty or proud. Great model. He's not a bullshitter. He's a man of his word. His compliments carry a lot of weight for me. He's give.n me some very positive feedback in terms of my ability and overall value to our practice. I'm really very lucky for Mack to invest the time that he does in this mentoring relationship.

Be sure and check out The Lark News. Hilarious and irreverent mocking the mockable parts of Christian Sub-Culture, like the Prayer of Jabez. Gotta love that.

I've started watching American Chopper on the Discovery Channel. It's a motorcycle version of The Real World. It takes place in a motorcycle design shop and involves a son, his dad and the bikes they create. I'm not a gearhead, but this show is great to watch. I needed a new show now that the season finales of Alias, The Simpsons and Survivor are done.

I've begun reading the section of ROTH on the body and it's role in overall spiritual formation. Big paradigm shift for me. I'd always thought of the body as more of a shell controlled by all of the other aspects of the person like the Will, the Mind and the Soul. ROTH takes the angle that it's a separate component that needs to be redeemed like all of the other aspects of our perosn. I don't quite understand it all yet. I've been processing it over the past couple of days, having some greaet talks with God about it. Haven't made much progress around my goal of understanding God's image and how it applies to me. All in good time.

I lead a small group of 8 6th and 7th grade guys, appropriate called "The Pyros" along with Zach, whose been one of my kids since the 6th grade. Last night, we had our last meeting before the summer. I was thinking back on the overall ministry year, and had some great things occur. One of the highlights was last night. I connected with Roy, Evan, Justin, Phil, Zach, Greg, Alex and Max this year. Roy, Evan and Phil especially are hard kids. Not hard in the sense of difficult - well, they are in that sense, but I'm talking about being hard-hearted. They're high-risk kids whose hearts are cynical and tough. They've been a real challange. At the beginning of the year, they could've really cared less about anything I tried to teach them and now they listen because they know I care about them. Looking back on this year, I'm not sure that I personally taught them much. They came to Radical E (our praise and worship service with a gay name) because of our small group. We hung out, toilet-papered houses, got into a car-accident together, ate ice-cream, burned stuff, and talked about ways to make potato cannons. But I connected with them! It's been a real paradigm shift for me going from someone who was a mile wide and an inch deep, having to focus more on activities and administration than kids lives. I really like where I'm at now. I haven't got i all figured out, and it's a real struggle for me not to grow this group to unmanagable sizes, but for now, lives are being changed.

I"m heading out to Chicago today for a couple of meetings and then to Kansas City tomorrow night and back on Wednesday. Tour de Force of the midwest. I had a good weekend just hanging out not doing much of anything except playing with the kids, watching the Pistons and eating a whole lot of Sushi on Saturday with Justin. I've got a crazy week with travel and getting a bunch of work done before Friday, when Cath's parents take the kids and we go to cedar point with Jason and Jess.

Read an interesting article today on Relevant about how prayer works. The idea that we can change God's perfect, omniscient will seems contradictory to me. The author sums it up pretty well:
"At first glance, it appears as if we have a contradiction. On one hand, we know God is in control of all things and has worked out everything according to His will. On the other hand, we learn prayer is expected, necessary and accomplishes great things. Historically and biblically speaking, we believe what appears to be a contradiction is in fact two harmonious doctrines. "
I know prayer works - I've seen it happen. I know God is way smarter than me. I've come to accept that it's something I probably won't ever resolve completley, and I'm okay with that.

I've got conference calls from 8:00 am non-stop until 1:30 pm today. Yehah! The next week will be a busy one, but next Friday, Cathie and I are going to Cedar Point with some friends to ride the new Top Thrill Dragster ride. 420 feet high with a top speed of 120 mph. Can't wait.

Last night I was reflecting on some of the influential bosses I've had over the past 10 years. All five were/are very strong leaders that took me under their wing and mentored me in a number of ways.
My first boss, Jerry, helped mold me fresh out of college when I was young, rebellious and full of big ideas. I would sit in Jerry's office for hours and hash through life, spirituality, my job, people and get his unique perspective on things. He gave me huge opportunities, including running lead on some of the company's first really big projects. Not to say I didn't screw them up, but I learned, and in the end I grew. I then went to work under Bill C, who was a very strong leader that had a great business and political sense and wasn't afraid to be challenged. Bill's key motivator was money and power, and advacement at all cost. He flipped the "Mission, Men, Me" philosphy upside down to "Me, Mission, Men". He was a physically strong man with I learned as much from about what I didn't want to be from watching Bill, as I did about what I DID want to be from others. While working under Bill, I also reported up to Barb, who taught me all about being successful by promoting others at all cost and servant leadership. Barb went to great lengths to promote me and coach me around how to communicate with others, and being a gentleman at all times. She was never condecending and taught me so much about being a leader through serving. Bill B is my current boss, and probably the one who's had the greatest impact on me. Bill and I have worked together almost ten years. Bill started at ASG, under Jerry shortly after I did. We've become close friends over the past few years, going to the next level in our friendship two years ago when Bill, Brad, Will, Noel and I went to a retreat in Colorado that connected us at a very deep level as a "Band of Brothers". Bill is an amazing leader that has tremendous integrity, leadership and concencus building skills. Bill has an amazing loyalty among his people. This is partly due to his Bill's easy-going personality, his integrity, and his team having the knowledge that Bill will never ask someone to do something tha the wouldn't do himself. Bill has given me great career advice and has helped me move up through the ranks of the organization. He has looked out for me in many ways, and always has my back. Bill gave me the confidence to move into my current role as a principal, and has taught me how to do the job and not piss the whole world off while doing it. I ask myself all the time, "WWBD - What would Bill do in this situtation?" I currently report to Bill in our organization, and Bill in turn reports to his boss, Mack. I first met Mack in January at our kick-off meeting in McClean, VA at the Xerox Document University. Mack is the Vice President over our entire practice, responsible for all sorts of stuff. When I first met Mack, I'd had no exposure to him, and I'd only heard feedback from Bill as he'd begun to work with him. Mack was in the military as a part of Special Forces for about 20 years, and is a phenomenal leader. He has an amazing calmness, confidence and charisma about how he leads. From the get-go, I was impressed with how he led. Mack's philosophy from his military background was the following: "A good day is when nobody dies" - so he has lots of good days. Earlier this year, Mack agreed to enter into a mentoring relationship with me. We meet a couple of times a month, plus Mack allows me to be a fly on the wall at some of his executive meeting. He's one of the first people at a true executive level that I've had a lot of interaction with, and I'm fascinated at how he processes tasks, information and relationships. We start these calls of with specific topics and then move laterally to whatever comes up. It's something I'm very excited about.
What brought all of this to mind for me was a couple of opportunities I've been given by Bill and Mack recently, and how my career has somehow gotten to where it's at, without me having to sell out my core values or change my personality drastically. I got to thinking about all of the support I've received along the way, and all of the strong leaders I've come into contact with, each with very different styles and values that helped shape mine. I'm amazed at how God has created me, and helped shape me through people and situations. Go figure.

Just saw the Matrix Reloaded this afternoon. Went by myself, and sat in awe. Amazing movie. Can't wait to see it again. There's some great spiritual imagery throughout the movie. I was so caught up in the story that I really didn't have a chance to process a lot of it. I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I also bought the video game Enter the Matrix for Xbox. I rarely buy a game without having played it or hearing from someone who has, but I've heard so much hype about this in terms of the overall design and quality that I picked it up imediately. The story line in the video game parallels the story from the movie and provides a more comprehensive picture of what's going on in the Matrix. The Wachoswki brothers put as much time into the story line and cinematography for this game as they did for the movies. Haven't had a chance to play it yet.

Long day yesterday. I got up at 4:30 a.m. and got to bed around 1:30 a.m. I flew to Tallahassee on a 6:35 a.m. and arrived back at the airport around 12:30 a.m. Long day, and pretty wild to think about traveling from one side of the country, and back again in such a short amount of time, for only a couple of meetnigs. Sure beats my original plan of staying over and catching a 6:35 a.m. flight back.

Had some time to chew on the theme of Tuesday's PS.42 while sitting on the plane. It revolved around the fact that as Christians, we are Aliens (1 Peter 2:11). The topic annoyed me a little bit, and I had to spend some time figuring out why. When I've heard this type of message in the past, it typicaly revolved around separating ourselves from the world around us completely. That wasn't the message here, but it took me a little while to get beyond that and let sink in what was actually said. I get so annoyed when Christians try to create their own sub-culture isolated from the world, yet I know we're called to be set apart. There's a balance there, and I think I err on the side of not wanting to be associated with the the stupid Christian Sub-Culture (Christian Fiction, Books, Movies, Bracelets, Stupid Church Signs, etc) because it's embaressing to me. I'm trying to figure out how I can be set apart aside from all this junk, and I think it's by loving people differently than the rest of the world. From there I started dwelling on how I do at Loving others differently than the rest of the world. My natural tendancy is to look at all the ways that I suck at this. I then heard the voice of Brad (or God) who typically encourages me when I get to hard on myself in these areas, reminding me of the ways that I do well in this area. I'm going to watch myself over the next week, and see how I'm doing at loving people - both externally and at a heart level. Should be interesting.

I'm back from Jury Duty! I sat in a room for 3 hours this morning without getting called, and because of the lack of demand, they excused most us around noon. I got some work done, and some reading in. I wanted to serve on a jury pretty badly, although the timing would have blown in terms of upcoming travel I have for work. But hey, I made $15 today!

While on duty, I was reading ROTH, continuing through the section on the Transformation of the Will. It talks about a progression from the surrender of our will to God's will, to total abandonment to God's will, to contement with the will of God and finally to complete participation in accomplishing God's will in the world. I've been thinking about where I stand in the whole equation, what my ultimate vision is for my life in terms of my will and God's. I'm so much closer to total surrender than I was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, but I keep finding new areas that I want to and need to give up. The more I understand the Kingdom of God, the more I see these things in my life, and the more they seem like the obvious choice to surrender. So does complete abandoment mean I've identified everything, or that as I identify them, I'm willing to let go of them? One of the great descriptions of abandoment that Willard describes is that we come to accept that "Irredeemable harm does not befall those who willingly live in the hand of God."

Just read a great quote from Noel's e-mail signature:
“You asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked, the ‘lord of terrible aspect’ is present: not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests, but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the worlds, persistent as the artist's love for his work and despotic as a man's love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father's love for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the sexes.“
CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Joe and I had a quick talk on Friday that's stuck with me. A couple of years ago we noticed that the kids in Fusion didn't have a good grasp of Worshiping God. We then set about to teach, model and practice worship on a regular basis. Two years later, it's one of our core values and part of our culture in Fusion. Every year, Crossroads participates in a service program called Reach. Kids head down to Tennessee and particiate in helping to rebuild the homes of people in need. Over the past few years, participation has declined to the point that we've cancelled it the the past two years. If I look at my own life, I'm not sure what kind of value I place on service, and it's role in spiritual formation. I enjoy it when I do it, but I need to spend some time making it a high value in my life, so I can infuse that into Fusion's leaders and kids. Does "service" only have to be towards the poor or hungry? I was working in Madeline's pre-school class this morning with 20 four year olds - are they considered "the least of these"? How about Junior Highers?

I started the section in ROTH on the Will (no, not Will Brown - he perfers to be called Ronin) and how it's tied to our character. This stuff was very interesting to me, because so where I'm at in life has been through will, and a lot of my frustration in terms of changing myself has come when I didn't have a strong enough area to succeed or change myself. The section I finished in ROTH on thoughts and images has really been shaping my perception of what I've got locked in my brain - I hope this piece does the same.

I spent some time this morning studying Romans 5:1-8, which I'm trying to memorize. It just doesn't flow well in my brain, and I'm trying to get my hands around it, so it can start to penetrate more.

Today is Mother's day! The kids and I made breakfast in bed for Cathie, and let her stay in bed as long as she wanted this morning (well, almost). We're heading to my brother's house to celebrate mother's day for the mom's (My Mom, Kris's mom, Cathie and Kris). The kids made gifts for her in school, and were very proud of what they'd done, which made them extra special to Cath.

My sister Susan and her husband had the baby! Allison Sandra Mayes. Cathie and Kris decided to road-trip down there late friday night to be there when the baby was born. What a mother's day gift for Sooze! Ali is in the neo-natal intensive care unit until Tuesday because of some breathing problems and the antibiotics they've got her on.

Dan and I are going down later today to see her. The kids won't be able to see her until after she's out of intensive care, hopefully by Tuesday.

At the gym this morning, I was thinking about some of the ideas and images I have locked in my brain and how they need to be transformed. I started thinking about this when there was a very hot woman wearing a very tight outfit. My brain's instinct was to keep looking, partly because of the ideas and images I've planted in my brain about women over the years. Before, I would just try really, really, really hard not to look, and then feel bad when I failed. That's not all bad, but I'm coming to learn that it'll never work in and of itself.

I think I need to begin learning how to change the ideas I have in this area to align more with the Kingdom of God, so that I can look at a woman the way God looks at them - at a heart level. I don't think there's anything wrong with looking at a woman and thinking - "Wow! She's beautiful". It's when it goes beyond that. One of the ways I want to change those idea patterns is by injecting God's word into my brain in order to let light shine in dark areas. Brad and I are working on memorizing a few bible passages, we're starting with Romans 5:1-8, then Romans 8:1-15, 1 Corinthians 13 and Colossians 3:1-17. Secondly, I need to be careful on what I'm putting in my brain in terms of images and ideas to make sure that I'm not fighting a losing battle. That's my vision, anyways.

I made it back last night before the storm hit Kansas City. Getting back early was nice - seeing the kids before they went to bed. Check out the tornado video.

Matt, Anne, Katie, Kasey, Jason, Jess and Will came over for our weekly Survivor gig. Dumb show, but you'd be amazing how funny it can be watching it in a group of sarcastic people. Being able to rewind and pause the show is key for maximum effect. Sunday is the big finale - and the whole crew will be there.

I've got a day full of conference calls and expense reports. Beats traveling. Next week I'm in Tallahassee (armpit of Florida) for an overnight trip and the following week I'm in Chicago for a day and then back to Kansas City for the day. Could be worse.

Mother's day is this weekend. What do you get for the greatest Mom in the world (Cathie)? No, not a pet monkey. Something better. Details to follow.

Great article on monkeys, sent to me by a half dozen people.

I was planning on flying out of Kansas City on a 5:05 flight, but due to the huge follow-up storm predicted for this afternoon, but I'm trying to get out on Standby for a full flight leaving at 1:30 (thanks to Margie Heidinger pulling strings and getting me at the top of the Standby list) . The last set of tornados hit about a mile away from where we're working. I've seen tornado damage on tv, but never up close. It was awe inspiring. Sounds weird, but it was the result of so much power! It went hrough the middle of a factory yard full of trucks leaving total destruction in it's path. There were 500 pounds pieces of metal hanging from trees a quarter mile away. It cut a path through trees that were huge, twisting them and snapping them like toothpicks. This world is dangerous. Nature is dangerous and powerful. How does this part of the world reflect who God is? He is not safe. I love the line from C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where one of the kids asks whether Aslan the lion (who is the book's Christ figure) is safe. " 'Course he isn't safe, but he's good." So God has created a dangerous world, and he's created us to be dangerous - for good. This is something I love to talk with my son Nate about. His eyes light up when I tell him that he is "dangerous for good". It's a much more compelling vision than what Christianity seems to tell kids - be good and be safe.

A couple of weeks ago, I got in a car accident while carting a van full of my jr. high small group guys over to toilet paper mark freier's(our pastor) house. I got a ticket. I lost the ticket - and didn't remember until yesterday that it was due sometime soon. Cathie (my lovely wife) ran over to the police station to pick up a copy of the ticket for me. It was already overdue. Instead of thanking her for carting our three children over there, I found a way to blame her for not telling me that it was late soon enough. My wife's suggestion for a blog entry was: "today, me mr snoop dogg was trying to place my irresponsibility on someone else and was a stupid head to my wife. I am a really smelly man and should be nicer to the people who try to help me. Signed Dave the smelly monkey head!" She's pretty much right on the money. Most of the time she is.

I went back and re-read the whole section in ROTH on the transformation of the mind. I think I've spent a lot of my life trying to tranform myself from the outside - in. I figured that once all of my actions aligned with God, then my thoughts would, and in turn my heart would draw closer to God - intimacy through discipline. I'm coming to understand that real transormation can only come from the inside out, bringing each part of me into harmony with the will and Kingdom of God. I've worked very hard to understand who I am to God, my image before God as his beloved, but haven't not put time or thought into really understanding who God is to me - his image, his holiness, his power, his love, his nature. Dallas Willard says "To think of God as he is, one cannot but lapse into worship; and worship is the single most powerful force in completing and sustaining restoration in the whole person... (Worship) naturally arises from thinking rightly of God on the basis of revelaed truth confirmed in experience." That's my Vision.

Will has a better digital camera than I do. I bid on one and lost. I didn't up the bid because I don't need one as much as I want one. I've got th money stashed away for it, but I've got a better idea for the money (No, not hookers).

I flew in this morning to Kansas City, Missouri to work at Park University for the next few days. I'm down here with Sandy and Mike finishing up our project's Technical Design Specification for a document imaging system we're implementing. Our team works pretty well together. Mike has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor while Sandy is the Project Manager and the unoffical team Mom. They're both great workers, and are the kind of people you want in the trenches with you.

I'm reading a pretty decent book - The Third Counsel. Good presidential thriller.

I've almost logged enough flying miles this year (20,000 at the end of April. I need 25k for Silver) to put me at my Northwest Silver Elite Status. Once I hit silver I can once again get automatic first class upgrades and other perks. Not traveling much last year was nice, but I lost my Elite status and had to start from scratch this year to rack up the miles again. It's not uncommon for some of my co-workers to hit 100,000 miles in a given year. Ouch. The elite flight statuses are worn as badges of honor, but what a price to pay!

We'll work today until about 5:00, head out for dinner and then to the hotel. I'll probably go see a movie tonight.

After regularly checking Mark and Noel's blog's, I figured it was time to start my own. My biggest struggle with this site will be trying to put down what I'm thinking without filtering it through the "Does that sound smart yet witty?" filter. We'll see how it goes.

I started my spiritual formation mentoring with Bob Gielow. Bob is a very, very smart guy. I mean really smart. To understand just how smart Bob is you can either check out this site or look in his garage. Instead of having a messy garage, Bob has built pulley contraptions to suspend huge pieces of his equipment form his ceiling. Bob is really the founder of Crossroads Church and has a huge heart for the lost. Bob and I both have large quantities of ear hair, however Bob is pushing 60. We're both trying to figure out what this mentoring thing is supposed to look like in the context of different generations and communication styles. Neither of us is really sure how this is going to work, but the idea is for him to walk alongside me in my spiritual journey - listening, praying for me and challenging.

I've been reading Dallas Willard's Rennovation of the Heart. Dallas's work really intimidates me. I feel lucky if I understand 10% of what he's saying. For some reason, I've really understood a lot of where he's going in this book, despite his dry, academic writing (did I mention dry?). More on this book later.

I'm traveling this week down to Park University in Parkville, MO. Normally, we stay at the Porch Swing Inn Bed and Breakfast, but the owners, Ellen and Rhonda are on vacation - so the team is staying elsewhere. I'm back Thursday night, and then in Tallahassee the following week for an overnight trip.