a word of introduction…

i have resisted this moment for a long time.  it seems that every blog i read is well-written, witty and insightful and they all make me feel like everyone in the world is smarter than i am.  nevertheless, at the behest of a handful of friends whom i admire and respect, i will humbly presume to share my thoughts in the hope that something beneficial might result, and that jesus might be glorified.

i have little idea how often i will post.  i am fairly confident that my attempts at humor will be widely misunderstood.  it is almost certain that i will offend people that i don’t want to offend (and probably endear me to people i am trying to avoid).  as this is my first attempt at blogging, i welcome criticism and direction even though i’m an emotional midget and i know i will be devastated (see, i just offended all midget readers).  so…on to the promised introduction

for the past thirteen years i have led a small church in the heartland of the heartland (moore, oklahoma) with high hopes and embarrassing results.  it was a circuitous route that  brought me here (more on that in a later post) and i really planned to do great things for the kingdom.  after using up all my most creative ideas and sincerest efforts, people are leaving my church family faster than…i can’t think of anything clever — but they’re leaving at an alarming clip.  surprisingly, i’m not suicidal. in fact, i’m not even depressed.  while i am struggling with a sense of spiritual bone-weariness (more on that in the next post), i really feel like we are where we’re supposed to be.  several years ago, i felt compelled to redefine the definition of “church” in our context and have been trying to lead my people through a kind-of transformation to become the chuch i feel like god wants us to be.  i guess i figured we would pretty-much end up where we are, but i had hoped for happier process.  to be honest, though, the process sucks (much more on  that in posts to come).

a final word about the name of my blog.  i hope that all my brilliant and discerning readers will forgive my literary license seasoned with a pinch of plagiarism and a generous helping of sarcasm (don’t you just love the food network?).  i suppose my attitude would improve with a dose of “lakewood theology” (more on that…well, you know) but i think i prefer to retain my “things-not-seen perspective” (2 corinthians 4:18) and my white-knuckle grasp on jesus and his teaching about what life is supposed to look like.

i sincerely hope you’ll check in again.  don’t forget to drop a line if you are a possessor of the wisdom of the blogosphere.