Rachel and the kids came home barely able to contain their excitement over an item that they found for me at a local yard sale.   They even asked me to take a few guesses as to what the treasure that they found could possibly be.  I wasn’t even close!  What was it?  Well, actually, it was a Moses action figure! Yes, a Moses action figure equipped with Ten Commandments, snake and even a burning bush! Disappointingly, they said the only thing that they couldn’t find was his staff/rod.  So Harrison, my 7 year old, replaced the staff with a Star Wars light-saber from one of his Lego Star Wars sets. ~”Pharaoh, Turn from the dark side!”

On a side note, I also found these cool Jesus band-aids a few weeks ago at a different yard sale for 25 cents.  I haven’t opened it up yet to see what the mystery prize is. Do you have any guesses? Hey, maybe it’s Moses’ staff?

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Have you ever seen this video?  What you are about to see is the actual patrol car video footage of a SEVEN year old boy who stole his parents car, and avoided local law officials for several miles, in order to get away from doing something.  Do you know why he stole the car? Can you guess what he was trying to avoid? Watch this short video to find out.

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Thank you!

• Thank You!

First, I wanted to thank everyone for the great feedback (Thanks Scott P. and Eric G.!) and helpful suggestions (Yes, I know the audio was week) on Part 1 of my interview with, author, Brian McLaren.  In the future I am going to set-up 12 Ounce Interviews as a podcast, as well, so that people can listen in their car or on the treadmill (Thanks Ed R.!) .  I realize the first interview was really long, so “Part Two” has been divided up by individual questions/topics.  Each question/answer lasts about 3-4 minutes and is well worth the time! One of the outcomes that Part One generated was a lot of thoughtful questions for me, which I thought was great.

• Ask The Ordained Barista

Ask The Ordained Barista

So, I am starting a new TOB segment called “Ask The Ordained Barista”.  I will answer any questions you have for me in either audio (podcast) and/or blog format. So, If you have a question please click on the email button at the top of the page (Please, do not ask questions in the comments section) and ask me a question on…. Well, anything. …The Ordained Barista, ministry, publishing hopes, being a father of 6, marriage, The Church, theology, sports, culture, coffee, the oil spill, Tiger woods, internet marketing,  Starbucks, teens, web-stuff, parenting, social justice… OK, You get the point. If you wish to remain anonymous please mention that in your email!

These Question/topics links (below the first video)  will take you to my interview with Brian McLaren on The Ordained Barista You-Tube channel.

1. Evangelicalism.

2. Emergent? Emerging? The Emergence?

3. How should we treat people of other faith traditions?

4. Questions on faith.

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By now you have heard that there are plans to build a $100,000,000 Islamic community center, Mosque, 2 blocks from Ground-Zero.  So, what do you think? Should the city of New York allow the Mosque to be built? If you don’t know enough about the subject I have included the most objective video clip on the topic, that I could find, at the bottom of this post. Please come back at the end of the day to see how the voting turned out.

I have closed the “comments” section for this post because I want your vote to be the commentary! Thank you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people in this world, there are roller coaster people and there are non-roller coaster people. We have been on vacation, in Philadelphia, this past week and have gone to a few excursions that have included roller coasters.

On Wednesday we went to Sesame Place, in Langhorne PA, where Annsley, my 9 year old, and I went on the “Viper Trail” (Real Picture) roller coaster together. Ok, I know what you’re thinking…Sesame Place? Roller Coaster? Really? Come-on! But, in all seriousness, it wasn’t a bad little coaster. I managed to wedge my legs under the “safety bar” just enough to be a able to sit down. However, when the ride operator went to start the ride I noticed my bar hadn’t locked because my legs were preventing the safety bars locking device from fully engaging. So I calmly, but loudly, announced to the car operator, and everyone within 20 miles of me, that “our bar is not locked!” The operator, who might have been all of 16, gave me the “you’re a giant doofus” look, put his foot on the safety bar and, with the weight of his entire 115 pound body, slammed the bar into place. Now, if a guy on the street whacked me across the legs with a metal bar, Nancy Kerrigan style, I would have politely, but firmly, ripped his arms from his body. But, in this instance, I found myself actually thanking this kid in my giant doofus voice “uhhh Thank You?” (insert Baby Huey voice here)

Once the feeling came back in my legs and I realized that I SHOULD NOT put my hands up during this ride, it was actually a lot of fun. The big win, however, was getting to experience the roller coaster ride with Annsley who would have not gone by herself! Yes! Dad-1/Roller Coaster-0!

A few days later we took the kids to Ocean City, NJ for a day of beach and boardwalk fun. We love the family atmosphere of Ocean City and hope to go back again next year. Well, at the end of the night, to my surprise, my four oldest kids all agreed to go on the “beginner” roller coaster together called the Sea Serpent. They all got in line together, sat together (all 4 are in the back two cars), and really looked out for one another during the ride. You can’t see it in the video but during the up and down section, especially the first couple times around, Ella and Colby were both a little scared. But, when the coaster slows down and comes around to where I am standing, with the other parents, they are all smiles and having a great time. When they got off the ride I told them all how proud I was that they went on the roller coaster together!

For much of the ride home I was thinking about why I was so proud of them for going on a silly roller coaster. I think, maybe, I was proud of them because they overcame their fears, they trusted me, they stayed together as family, they knew that the ups and downs were only temporary and understanding that truth really allowed them to “enjoy the ride”?

Of course, that got me thinking about life and what I am calling “roller coaster theology”. In the book of James, and many other places in the Bible, the author explains that life is going to have ups and downs, James calls them “trials of all kinds”. But then the author goes on to say that we should actually “take joy” in them, just like the ups and downs on a roller coaster!

Trials and Temptations (and roller coasters)
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

If we can trust that, as scary as life is sometimes, the ups and downs in life complete a purpose in us, it may help us to “en”joy” the ride”. Do you know the scariest part of any roller coaster ride is for me? It’s “the climb”! (insert Miley Cyrus voice here) You know, at the beginning when you’re all amped up with adrenaline and they are dragging you to the top of the ride with that intense loud metal clanking noise vibrating through your entire body and you’re not sure why you actually paid money to do this willingly… but, once you start going you realize the ride is much more “thrilling” than “scary.”  Are you living a thrilling faith story?

What do you think? Are you a roller coaster person? What can we learn from the ups and downs in life? Why do you think I was so proud of my kids? How do you think God looks at us during our ups and downs? What’s the scariest roller coaster you have been on? Is life like a coaster? Please, take 1 minute to leave a comment and become a subscriber to the OB blog.

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Most of us heard the news, last week, that Author Anne Rice has publicly rejected her association with “Christianity” (the organization) on her facebook fan page.  She remains a dedicated follower of Jesus but says she can no longer be associated with the people and beliefs that have caused her a lot of “toxic confusion and toxic anger”.   Anne is a prolific author and most known for writing the book “Interview With a Vampire”.   Although I have never read any of Anne’s books (just not into the whole vampire thing) I became a fan of Anne last year when I saw her “I am Second” testimony, which I have included for you below.

Listen, as a person who has worked for the Church for over a decade I completely understand WHY she wants to stop being associated with Christianity.  I get it. Really, I get it. If you have time to listen to the interview she does with Joy Behar, which I have also posted for you below, you can hear the pain and frustration in her voice.  The Church, at times, can be a messy and painful place. Even though we, the Church, are called to be “The Bride of Christ” sometimes we act more like the proverbial evil mother in law.  However, for many reasons, I don’t think quitting Christianity is the right answer. But, that’s not what I want to talk about this morning.

Here is what anyone has failed to say in any of the blogs I have read on this subject. This happens all the time! Anne represents just a small fragment of our population that have, for all intents and purposes, quit “Christianity”.   Anne represents, in my opinion, the tip of the iceberg, of the people that “practically” quit Christianity everyday.  Now, I don’t mean that they post it on their facebook walls or even tell a single soul about it, they just stop coming to places where Christians are.  They stop coming to Church, small groups and even Chick-Fil-A (Joke). And, I am not talking right and wrong here either, I am just talking about the reality of the volatile religious culture we live in.  As believers we are called to be “Salt and Light” to the world (not just to the Christians that hold the same view as we do about _________).  We are supposed to be the, as Eugene Peterson puts it, “God flavoring” to the world. How can we possibly be the “God Flavoring” to the world if we don’t even like each other? So, my challenge to you this morning is to handle each other with care, love and respect, irrespective of a person’s belief on ___________ (fill in a hot button topic here).

I really want to know what you think about this whole thing. Seriously, it’s why I am writing about it.  I love our little tribe here, at The Ordained Barista, and I really want to know what you think about this!  Have you ever wanted to disassociate yourself with Christians or Christianity? If you have time to watch these videos I think they are really telling.  As always, if you would like to receive this blog directly to your RSS reader or email please subscribe today!

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Most of my readers know that Rachel and I have 6 children.  Whenever someone asks me why we have 6 children, and that happens a lot, I usually tell people that, “Six children is a never ending supply of good sermon illustrations.”  And, that is exactly where today’s post begins.

Last week, while I was at work, I received a frantic phone call from Rachel.  It seems that Colby (5) and Ella (4) were down in the basement “playing” when Rachel called them upstairs for lunch.  While Rachel was passing out stacks of PB& J sandwiches she noticed that Ella’s shorts were covered in hair. She hadn’t noticed at first, but when Rachel looked up she discovered that Ella, who had the most beautiful long hair, had multiple giant chunks of hair sheared off of her head. (Including right in the front of her head, below her barrette, only a few inches from her scalp.)

At first, when Rachel began to question what happened to Ella’s hair, there was a guilty silence. The silence continued for a little while when Ella finally spoke up.

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