Church

This falls under the category of "Why didn't I know this before now?" I just learned tonight that you can enable a feature in Microsoft Word that scores your document in terms of readability.  I pasted in a blog entry and was amazed at how it breaks things down.  To learn more, visit this page at Microsoft. Hat tip to Angel Tuccy for passing this along.

In 1999, I co-founded a company with a few other guys with the intention of helping non-profits raise money online. Having lived in the non-profit world for all of my adult life (serving as a pastor), I was intimately aware of how non-profits had great missions and little money. I was a bit of a romantic: the goal was to set aside 10% of our revenue to go towards church planting.  Unfortunately, we made no money. Shortly after shutting that down, I went to work for the first iteration of Christianity.com (now on its third or fourth owners).  At the beginning we had all the Starbucks coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts we could handle.  At the end, it was "bring your own coffee and napkins."  After a fun ride, I was eventually laid off. After that I went into a period of doing contract work for a law firm handling…

This weekend I'm teaching on the opening lines of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."  A few random thoughts (and hopefully they won't be so random this weekend): The prayer begins with the word "our" and the community/relational aspect continues throughout the remainder of the prayer.  "Give us this day ..."  "Deliver us from evil ..." The way Jesus teaches us to address God is a radical departure from the way the religious leaders of his day prayed. Beyond the generic sense of "God created everyone" therefore he's our Father, when we accept his gift of salvation we are "adopted" into his family.  He becomes our Father by choice, not by accident. The word "hallowed" has survived in most English translations from the time of the King James (1611) through the New International Version (1970's) even though it is not used much in common conversation.…

I go through these phases when I decide to cut my own hair ... partly to save money, partly because it's convenient.  Wielding electric clippers with attachments, I park myself in front of the bathroom mirror and begin crafting a work of art.   Most of the time, it's pretty straightforward and the end result is acceptable.  I've often thought of warming up a towel, placing it on my face, and pretending I'm in one of those fancy salons ... but that would feel a bit weird if someone walked in. Along the way, I've learned a few lessons: Have someone you trust trim the back.  This is as true for life as it is for haircuts. Always trim longer than you think you want it.  You can always go shorter but adding length is impossible. Try to not to trim your hair after drinking mass quantities of coffee.  One little…

This past week in Denver has seen the weather go from snow to a balmy 70 degrees back to snow and now ... rain.  Technically, I believe we are in the spring season. One of the things I appreciate about the different seasons is the rhythm it brings to life.  Spring marks the return of baseball and fall brings the changing of the colors.  Summer is for cookouts and day trips.  Winter is for ... well ... shoveling. We also experience seasons in our spiritual lives.  We may find ourselves in a season of growth or it may be a season of simply holding on.  It may be a season of new awakenings.  Or a season of uncertainty. What season best describes your spiritual life right now: Winter, spring, summer or fall?  And what are you learning?