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Ok – I know I haven’t written anything in a while, but I can’t help it – the Writers Guild of America are on Strike! I cannot simply cross the picket lines and start writing quality blog posts, can I? I mean – even CNN News was affected by the strike, which at first confused me because I didn’t realize the news had to be written (I was under the impression that news was simply reported and not actually written by the same group of talented people that brought us Friends, Cheers, and Seinfield.) So if anyone asks, I’m not really me. This

post is actually written by a ‘scab’ that Sackrider.org picked up to get through to the end of the season. I suggested that we just repost some of the older blog entries with new dates. I mean, they may not be new, but if you haven’t read them, then they are new to you, right?

It may seem cliche but if the writers are on strike, who wrote their signs for the picket line? Anyway, I hope we get this resolved soon so I can tell you guys about the security guard at the natural bridge (“Sir, how many people are in the car!” – he was hilarious!) or the Zander moment that occurred in church when during the announcements video he turned to me and asked “Is it over?” because he thought the scrolling announcements were credits – too much TV maybe? And I would love to tell you guys about the two weeks my brother-in-law and his family stayed with us, or the fact that I have to be at church at 7:30 this morning because we are “Gettin’ Out of the House!” on a Sunday morning to clean up a few neighborhoods, serve breakfast at a boys and girls club and a senior citizens home.

Trust me – I’m not using the strike as an excuss, I really do want to tell you that “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” was actually a great movie that I throughly enjoyed but wouldn’t recommend you take your three year old – not because its inappropriate for that age (although Mr Magorium did once use the word “stupid” in a manner that sounded very much like a swear word) but because your three year old might distract you from being able to enjoy the movie as much as you could have with potty breaks and popcorn requests. I really do want to share these things with you, but I simply can’t. It would be against everything us writers stand for – you must understand how much of a union man I am (http://sackrider.org/category/mythoughts/hazing-the-labor-unions)…

My wife and I are hosting Thanksgiving Day at our house this year as I’m sure many of you are.  So, I know that you will be as concerned as I am about having a fun and safe holiday.  When I ran across the following information, I knew I had to share it with other Turkey-Day hosts – Enjoy:

In an effort to prevent greedy trial lawyers from wrangling your guests into suing you for contributing to the so-called “obesity epidemic,” we have prepared this essential liability waiver. Make sure all your Turkey Day guests sign it.

With this waiver, Thanksgiving dinner hosts can keep the nutritional puritans out of their dining room. They can also protect themselves from over-stuffed lawsuits filed by attorneys who threaten to sue restaurants, food companies, school boards, doctors, and even parents for the nation’s extra pounds. Our Thanksgiving Guest Liability and Indemnification Form comes in carbon-copy triplicate for proper record-keeping come court time. The waiver includes an agreement not to haul your host into court on the basis of:

1.     Failure to provide nutritional information;
2.     Failure to warn of the potential for overeating because food tastes too good and is provided at no cost;
3.     Failure to offer “healthier alternatives” or vegetarian “tofurkey”;
4.     Failure to provide information about other venues serving alternative, “healthier” Thanksgiving meals;
5.     Failure to warn that dark meat contains more fat than white meat; and
6.     Failure to warn that eating too much and not exercising may lead to obesity.

My job has been crazy!  I’m working over 80 hours this week and I have worked over 70 hours a week for the last four weeks.  There has been a lot of stress and a lot of ups and downs, but through it all I know it will be fine in the end.  I’ve reminded myself of the following story to get myself through:

When I was 15 I took a job as a pizza maker at Domino’s Pizza.  I worked there for a few years before leaving for college.  I have a lot of good memories from that job.  I remember on one occasion, I was working the cut table (that station was responsible for pulling pizza’s from the oven, cutting them, boxing them, and grouping them for deliveries.  When a driver got back from a run, he or she would have to take the oldest pizza and any pizzas going in the same direction.  Sometimes a driver would skip the oldest order in favor of a better run or a better neighborhood – it was against the rules and if caught the driver would face reprimand, but it still happened.

Anyway, I was working the cut table and one of our ‘old-timers’ came in from a run and suddenly got very upset.  Apparently, one of the younger drivers had come in before him but skipped the oldest order to take a grouping of three orders going to a nicer (better tipping) area.  After about a 10 minute rant, the older driver took the skipped order and left.  Here’s the part that stuck with me – we had an older lady (maybe in her late 50’s) that also delivered for us.  She had come in during the old-timer’s rant.  After he left in a tiff, she looked at me and said:

I took this job because of the low stress – It’s just pizza!

It’s just pizza!  What a great way to look at the situation.  I know that the issue for the old-timer wasn’t the pizza, and I know that life isn’t always simple – but when things start to get stressed, I remind myself – It’s just pizza.

Have you ever seen the movie “Office Space”? Its rated R and has a lot of strong language, but if you get a chance to watch it on broadcast TV go for it. Its one of the most quoted movies around my office. Anyway, I recently found out about a situation that reminded me of a scene from the movie:

Bob Slydell: Milton Waddams.
Dom Portwood: Who’s he?
Bob Porter: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot.
Dom Portwood: Oh, yeah.
Bob Slydell: Yeah, we can’t actually find a record of him being a current employee here.
Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him about it; but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck.
Bob Slydell: So we just went ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won’t be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it’ll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem is solved from your end.

We fixed the glitch. I’ve always thought of this as a funny scene, but what if this really happened to you? You show up for work everyday but one payday, nothing gets deposited into your account? What would you do? How would you react? No one told you that you were let go, you got no severance package, no exit interview. Just no paycheck at the end of the week. Would you go back next week? In the movie, Milton thought it was an error with payroll. He kept going to work, asking around if there was a problem. Now, what if I told you this happens everyday in America. But, not to funny characters that mumble about their staplers – but to people you know and like.

Did you know that if you go to a small church (less than a few hundred) then there is a good chance your pastor didn’t get paid last week? If you are like me, you’re thinking, “No way, my pastor would have said something”. And like me, you would be wrong. I know a pastor today that hasn’t been paid in three weeks – but last Saturday night, he still spent time in his prayer closet seeking God for the people that would show up the next morning. I asked him why he kept working there and his response is what prompted me to write this blog – “This isn’t new – it happens to a lot of ministers”. I didn’t believe him – until I called one of my pastors from North Carolina. I asked my NC Friend – “Have you ever gone without a paycheck?” His reply – “Well Dale, you pay the bills of the church first because you have to keep the lights on. If there isn’t enough left over, then you don’t get paid”. I’ve confirmed this fact with four different pastors now – all of them in different parts of the country, all of them in different denominations.

Is this how we treat our pastors? Do you know if your pastor went without a paycheck this week? I dare you to ask him if he has ever gone without pay. The worst part about this is that I thought if people knew they would fix it. I’m finding out that in many cases, people hold back their regular giving on purpose because they aren’t happy with the pastor – so unhappy that they decide to ‘fix the glitch’ by ceasing to give! Find out of your pastor is missing paychecks – and fix that glitch! If you have to commit to give more, or just take up a special offering, do whatever it takes. The Apostle Paul said a workman is worthy of his wage (1 Tim 5:18).

I really do want to hear back from you on this – don’t just reply – ask you pastor, work to fix it if your pastor is missing paychecks, then reply to my post. I hope you can all say – I asked my pastor and he said he has never missed a check!, but I fear that will not be the case…

Hello All! I haven’t written an entry in a while because I have been crazy busy! So here is the latests on a few fronts: Stephanie’s New Biz: You may have noticed the ABC link in my sidebar by now – Stephanie has started an online store selling cloth diapers. I have wanted to use cloth diapers for years, but Stephanie wasn’t interested until our sister-in-law Dana sent her a starter pack of cloth diapers. They are very cute, lots of patterns and accessories – these aren’t the cloth diapers that our mom’s had to use! Stephanie gave them a second look and after a lot of research, jumped in with both feet! Lexi has been in nothing but cloth diapers and we love them. That’s why she started the business – well let’s be honest, we hope it makes money as well! Anyway – most of you don’t have kids in diapers, so I’m not pulling an ‘AmWay’ on ya – I’m not looking to sell you a bunch of stuff or ‘share’ with you an ‘opportunity’ – but I do hope you check out her store and let her know what you think – its http://ababyconnection.com Work: Work has been crazy!!! This is the busiest time of the year for my team because we have a freeze window from Nov 16th through the first week of January – so any business teams that want to get their IT projects done before the end of the year have to get them done in the next few weeks. I’ve been working 60-80 hour weeks for the last month. Yesterday was an especially rough day because through an automated process all of my access was incorrectly revoked – my email, my network login, my remote access to work from home, basically every access I need to do my job was removed! To get it fixed, I had to open a support ticket with our helpdesk but the standard time frame to correct it is three days! So, I had to get my senior level VP to call the helpdesk for escalation – which puts the time frame at eight hours. Still, losing an entire work day during this time of year is insane. To top it off – we have a new director that started officially yesterday and the first time she hears my name is from an outside business team demanding that she ‘get Dale’s access fixed – its affecting our timelines!’ WOW – great first impression! Church: I’ve been feeling lately like I’ve been hiding in the pews and its time to take a step forward to help advance the Kingdom of God. So, I scheduled a meeting with my Pastor to talk about where I can ‘step it up’ in our church. Shortly after I had scheduled the meeting with my Pastor, I got an email from a cousin regarding a youth pastor position at their church. My cousin asked if I would be willing to talk with his pastor regarding the position – I said yes, but I wanted to talk to my pastor before I would consider a position with another church. Within a few hours of emailing that reply to my cousin, his pastor called me! We talked about my history and that church’s future – but I let him know that I was meeting with my pastor soon and wouldn’t be interested in pursuing a position (staff or volunteer) outside of my church until after I had an opportunity to talk with my pastor. He let me know that they also had another minister candidate already scheduled to come into town but wanted to talk with me anyway – he even suggested that I visit his church and consider volunteering there. I can’t blame him for trying! I enjoyed talking with him and I did pray about it, but I love my

current church and I’m not looking for employment, I want to affect the Kingdom of God in a positive way. If that means a full time job, great! If not, that’s ok too. Anyway – I have since met with my Pastor to discuss where I fit in our church. It was a good meeting and while my pastor did not know it, what I really needed to hear was that there was a place for me in our church – and that is the exact words his used during our meeting. I left encouraged and excited about the future. Well, I hope to get back to regular blog entry’s after the 16th – until then…

Recently at a church service, someone from the platform hit a sour note during praise and worship.  My wife elbowed me and made a sour face, and without thinking I said “Its not a talent show!”  I didn’t intend to be rude to my wife, I was thinking the same thing that she was regarding the malformed melody.  Blurting out as I did, it seems my comment was directed as much at me as it was to Stephanie.  I have often been caught up in the audience / performer mentality.  I believe we are in an entertainment seeking culture with television, movies, the Internet, and the many other non-interactive media forms we have heaped upon us in the last several decades.  I’ve often found myself deciding on whither a preacher was ‘good’ or not based on how entertaining he was.  I have had conversations where I commented that “if they can’t sing, they shouldn’t be on the platform”.  The problem is, church as I see it was not designed to be an entertainment outlet – and I repent for treating as such.

A friend of mine recently started a house church, due in part to the condition of the traditional church model as an entertainment venue.  He has ‘meetings’ instead of ‘services’, and in a recent post on his blog he pointed out the difference.  As I understood him, services are based on an entertainment model with a platform of performers and an audience of spectators but meetings are expected to be participatory (http://www.blog.godfidence.org/2007/10/15/house-church-clarification/).  I’m not sure how well the ‘meeting’ model would work in the traditional church service with a few hundred people in the same room, but that’s his point (as I understand it).

Is the traditional church model effective?  How does the traditional church affect the world around it?  I believe the local church building does have importance in our world today.  It can be an anchor in a community in a way that I do not believe a home based church can.  Still, the need to connect on a personal level is very real and a home based church makes a greater demand for that connection on its members.  By reducing the size of the congregation, the entertainer/entertainee dynamic is almost completely removed. 

The problem I see is our ability to affect change on a large scale is reduced when we reduce our mass (pun intended).  Ten people in a house church are easily ignored by a politician deciding how to vote on an abortion bill, and while the outreach would be significant to those that did receive it from a small house church, the impact that can be made in the community by a larger congregation is obvious.  In either case – we need more churches, traditional, non-traditional, large and small, in homes or in buildings – we need more churches.  To quote an entertaining preacher that I once knew, Hell is real and eternality is long – so I again repent for treating the church as another entertainment source.  It’s not a talent show.

So, Friday night, Stephanie and I went out to eat using a gift card a co-worker had given me. When we got back to the house, we realized what a nice night it was and decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. That’s when I heard the announcer. He was calling the local football game at Ironwood High School; it’s across the street from my neighborhood. We decided to walk over and take a look.

The lights were on, the stands were full, the sounds of whistles blowing, helmets clashing, and silly trivia from the press box filled the air. The band was playing, the cheerleaders were cheering, the color guard was color guarding (although one of the girls dropped her flag more than once). Young girls and boys were walking hand in hand while gazing into each others wide starry eyes. I forgot how much perfume high school girls wear.

Stephanie and I really enjoyed this unexpected night cap to our evening. As we walked back home with still more than six minutes left on the fourth quarter clock (the score was 41 – 6 Ironwood), I looked back at the stands. I couldn’t help but wonder if these young people knew my God. Has anyone told them about Jesus?  How can I be available to do the work of the LORD in the lives of these young people?

September 26, 1977 – September 26, 2007

 

A friend of mine sent me this. I don’t normally repost other peoples stuff – but I really enjoyed this!

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If you read my post a month ago (30 days), then you know that for the last thirty days I’ve been fasting Television (or at least I had intended to).  I believed a though I had to be a “moment of insanity” on the way home from a family function a month ago.  Since I do intend to write a book regarding how to handle such moments, I though it best to actually attempt the fast and keep track of the results.  So, how did I do?

I did great for the first two weeks.  I fasted all television and I spend the time I got back on Zander, Stephanie, work, and prayer – not in that order (but probably close).  After the first two weeks, we had a baby.  We were in the hospital for a few days and I did watch DVD movies with Stephanie during that time but still no regular TV.  Stephanie’s mom came in town and with Stephanie on total bed rest for the week before and all the time since the baby, I must say that I broke down and watched TV during the fourth week.  Greatly reduced from what I would have watched a month ago, but certainly not a total fast.

So the question that remains to be answered despite my failure to last the entire 30 days – was that crazy thought a “Moment” thought?  Absolutely!  I could not have known at the time that Stephanie was going to be put on bed rest and that I would need to be available to take care of her and Zander.  I could not have known that I was going to be working from home for the last three weeks.  By not watching TV, I spent more time “at the wheel” and less time on auto-pilot.  Stephanie looked at me last week and said how much she appreciated that I was there for her – and I am convinced that had I been glued to the screen I would have had a much different outcome.

You might be thinking, well you would have responded to the needs of your family whether you were fasting TV or not.  Maybe you’re right.  I should hope you are, but by not watching television, I didn’t have it as an escape.  My family needed me to be there and a mini TV-induced escape would not have helped matters.

Interestingly enough, I started a two week trail of Netflix a week ago and today in the mail I received “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair”.  LORD, I pray that You continue to send moments of clarity, that You grant me the ear to hear them, and the will to follow them.