Amazing Lunch

Yesterday I met some people for lunch at Luigi's in Akron. A great Italian place on N. Main Street. After lunch we walked out and saw a sign for an organic restaurant. Organic, yuck! We had just had pasta, salad with lots of cheese and bread. Who wants organic?

I walked up to the window and started reading the menu. It really didn't look so bad. A guy who worked there made his way to the door and opened it. He asked me if I was hungry and I said, "No." (I know, it is hard to believe that is what came out of my mouth).

He invited me in to see what they were serving for lunch. It looked amazing. Salisbury steak, roasted carrots, pasta with alfredo sauce. (I started getting hungry again. But I did not fall to temptation and eat again).

As I was walking out a man with a thick gray beard asked me where I was from and what I did. I hate that question sometimes because i never know how someone is going to react. I also stumble with what to say because I am not sure what to say. Do I call myself a "pastor," "minister," "preacher," or "rabbi?"

When I said I was a minister, the guy showing me the food said let's say a blessing together. He grabbed my hand along with the bearded guy and we prayed. It was awesome. I was hoping Doug and Clay would walk up at that moment to see us standing in the front window praying. They came a few minutes later while I was sitting down talking to Rockne. The Rockne. The guy Rockne's restaurant is named after. Another local restaurant chain this guy founded.

Clay, Billy and I went back today for lunch. It was incredible! Yeah, that's right I ate at an organic restaurant and liked it. I am going back once a week. I do not know what day yet, it depends on what they are serving. They took down my email address and each morning I will get the menu for that days lunch. I can't wait.

Since they are just trying to get their lunch business launched, there is hardly anyone there. So Rockne talked to us about his sausage making class he is going to teach. For $85 you get to learn the right way to sharpen a knife, get an apron/hat, 5lbs. of Hungarian Sausage and a meal. I'm in, like Kramer and Newman in Jerry's apartment.

He gave us a tour of the upstairs art gallery's. He also gave us a history of the building. The rooms artist are now using to create their art started out as rooms for workers in the rubber plants. Each room had three beds and three lockers. Each worker rotated through the rooms. They had eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work and eight hours for fun, where they may have spent their time in the pub downstairs.

Once they began building houses in Akron. The rooms were used for, well let's just say a place where ladies entertained men. That is where it gets the name "Red Light Gallery's."

I have to say it was one of the most entertaining lunches I have had lately. I learned some good history of Akron and had a great meal. If you get a chance stop by and have lunch at "The Northside," tell them Scott sent you. If they look at you with a blank face say "the preacher from Tallmadge." I am sure within the next few months they will know who you are talking about.

One last thing, they are open for dinner and have the oldest stage in Akron where local talent play just baout everynight. I am going to check this out in the near future as well.

Ain't Global Warning Great!

Well, I am sitting in my house right now looking at the snow with a forecast of more snow to come. What about my trip to West Virginia you may be asking. Canceled. It is snowing there also.

I talked to my cousin this morning and he was giving me some of the totals in the area of Monroe County, WV. There are reports in some areas of about two inches. Another area had five. Then there was one area that had close to 18. The temperatures have gotten as low as 16 degrees.

I turkey for several reasons. First, I love it. I love being in the woods. It is a challenge to even get a shot at a bird because their senses are so keen. Second, I love to eat turkey. Third, the season usually is not that cold. I have medium hunting gear not winter gear, because it is normally not like hunting in the tundra.

I thought I was safe not getting heavy hunting gear with all this global warming talk. Al Gore had me convinced that eventually I would be hunting turkeys in short sleeves come November (well not really because then I would have to tattoo camouflage on my arms, but you know what I mean).

Eventually, the nobel prize winner will have to give his medal back if this keeps up. Teachers will have to stop filling our kids the propaganda about global warming. And we will all come to the realization that climate change is cyclical and man can not control it.

Have a great day!

Twitter, Facebook and Blogs

I have signed up for Twitter and Facebook. I have no idea what I'm doing, but since everybody is doing it must be beneficial. I have now entered the hip world of technology. It's official- I am hip! Now everybody can know what I am doing and when I am doing it. That's just what I want, everybody knowing every little detail of my life. I am now the producer of my own "Truman Show."

Hold on, I need to jump over to Twitter and post that I am now blogging.

Great, twitter is down for data base maintenance (it really is!). Now people will not know what I am doing.

By the way, I will not be able to update my blog, twitter or facebook over the next few days. I am heading to West Virginia in the morning to Turkey Hunt. Where I am going not even Nextel will be able to hear me now. Maybe when I get back I will post some pictures on my face book (I guess that is what I am suppose to do). Just so you know, I will be hunting on a ridge above these falls, tomorrow evening.

I going to be in a place where life is much more simple. Technology is not something everyone thinks they need. I think, they even enjoy life more, because they know what it means to slow down.

Hold on, my cell phone is ringing (not really, I am just trying to make a point).

Look, God wants us to slow down and rest. He built it in to the top ten commandments. Jesus said, "The sabbath (day of rest) was made for man, not man for the sabbath."

Wayne Muller wrote a book called "Sabbath." In it he gives some practical ways to practice the Sabbath. He talks about some people he knows that have what they call a sabbath box. They explain, "On Friday, someone stands at the door with the Shabbos box and as people enter the house for the evening meal, they put anything they know should not be taken into sacred space. Then stripped of all our tools and machines, we can truly pray, 'God, there is nothing I can do about these concerns, so I know it is in your hands.'"

We do not rest because we can't let go of our means of communication. We have gotten to a point where we can not live without our cell phone, computer, email, facebook, twitter, blog and other media.

It is refreshing to go to Wayside, West Virginia where that stuff doesn't matter. It is just you, God and people who have learned the secret of slowing down.

How about you? How many times do you slow down and experience the presence of God?

Try it for a day. Fast from your cell phone and computer one day. If you can't, your addicted to those things and that may be cluttering your relationship with God.

Be still and know He is God!

What's with this Geneology Stuff

OK, you tell somebody who wants to know more about Jesus to read the Bible. They ask you where to start and you say, "Matthew." Great choice except it starts with genealogy. There are names like: Ram, Salmon, Bass (just kidding, but the truth is I could use it and 90% of you would not even think twice about it). How about Obed, Boaz and (Tony) Perez (who still is not in the hall of fame). Then they get harder, Sheatiel, Amminadab and Jehoshaphat.

All of us have either skipped it or skimmed through it at least ten times. We would probably even tell people to skip it and go to verse 18. It really doesn't matter, right?

I am starting to think it matters a lot. In some circles people have spent hours giving opinions as to what the genealogy means. Preachers and teachers have pulled the women out of the genealogy creating cute Christmas messages about the redemptive story.

There is a simple answer to the genealogy. Are you ready? Jesus is a human being. He is just like us and has a deep heritage that goes back for generations. Have you ever seen a baby book with a family tree in the front of it? This is the beginning of Jesus' story and here is his family tree.

This is about God in the flesh walking with men, the incarnation. Without a perfect sacrifice, a man living the law perfectly, there is no redemption story. We have to have Jesus be a human being like you and me. That is what we got.

Spend some time reflecting on the truth that Jesus was a man, with an earthly heritage and family tree. It is a truth we sometimes skip over, just like the genealogy in Matthew 1. We can't neglect the incarnation, God with us.

Why Church?

I am reading through the Book, "Breaking the Missional Code" by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. Chapter 4 starts out with this question: "Why did God create and choose this institution called 'church'?"

This was a stop you in your tracks question for me yesterday. I read that question yesterday morning. I did not read any further. And I have been thinking about it ever sense.

Every church leader needs to wrestle with this question. The answer to this question will define the purpose of every leader in the church. The answer to this question will probably be a difficult pill to swallow, because we will find out that maybe we have been doing church wrong for a very long time. The answer to this question will challenge you to rethink the role of the church in your life and in the life of the community.

Think about this question for a while. I would like to know the answer you come up.

Tomorrow is a Big Day for our Country

Today I want to spend some time thinking about tomorrows elections. I would like to share what my dream is for this country, without getting to political. I am going to do it in the format of a top ten list. I will preface my top ten lists with this statement:

I want to live in a country that . . .

10. can remain unified despite differences of opinion.

9. provides an environment where people are challenged and free to live out their
dreams.

8. does not enable people to sit back without contributing to the country, but
encourages people to be givers rather than takers.

7. is good stewards of it's finances. (Cut out wasteful spending. Using what money
that is received through taxes wisely and never driven by personal incentives).

6. is a good steward of the environment, taking care of what God has given us to
manage.

5. supports God's view of marriage. (That it is between a man and a woman).

4. protects and defends the sanctity of life. (Both for the unborn and those who
are dying throughout our world from poverty and a lack of education).

3. cherishes the freedom we have in this great country.

2. believes in absolute truth.

1. sees the phrase "In God we Trust" as more than a slogan, but a way of life.

Tomorrow is a big day. Use your right to vote. Put aside your political preferences and vote based on your core values. Put together your own list of core values, what is non-negotiable. Take an honest look at all the candidates you get to cast a vote for and vote based on your core values, not your political affiliation.

Go Vote tomorrow!