erikscottberg.com

What is Rickrolling?
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I have a serious question.

Is sleeping a skill?

Because if it is, then my boys haven’t learned it yet. Every night I go in to check on them before I go to bed. 9 times out of 10, I find them in some sort of bizarre position (similar to the pictures). Blankets are half covering them or on the floor, stuffed animals become pillows, one sock is on and off is off. Every night it’s something different.

This doesn’t happen to me. I lay down and wake up in essentially the same position. I don’t lose the covers and my pillow is an essential part of that process.

At least Parker understands the importance of sleeping in. Kent, on the other hand, wakes up at 6am and instantly wants to eat. I don’t really need an alarm anymore when “I wann see-re-all (cereal) now!” is repeated over and over at 6:01.

I love sleep. I just want my sons to love it too (and be good at it).
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I thought I’d make a confession today. You know, in an attempt to make things right before service tomorrow. I have a problem.

“It’s soaking.”

I use this excuse all the time in order to avoid actually cleaning my dishes. Sure, I could just put them in the dishwasher, but what if that doesn’t fully clean it? Then our precious dishes will have that nasty “sort of clean, but still dirty” film on them. If that happens, then it would be even more difficult to clean them.

Or maybe I’m just too lazy.

Either way, I let them soak.

And end up driving my wife insane.

What household chores do you avoid?

(the picture is the remains of my second bowl of Bethany’s amazing chili)
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One of my new favorite websites is neueministry.com. Today there was a post on how the main metaphor for the Church in Scripture is family. The problem, however, is that the church today is dominated with the metaphor of the business corporation. This leads to fragmentation, isolation, and spectatorship. You can (and should) read the article here.

After reading that article, I read Dave Mudd’s blog (a friend of mine) about dealing with conflict between two parties. There’s three sides to every story: yours, theirs and the truth. Getting the sides together is a powerful way to resolve that conflict.

These posts got me thinking about how critical it is that we find ways to experience authentic relationships with others. In a culture where the family is defined by disfunction and brokeness, is it any wonder we see the same faults in the church?

And then what does that disfunction communicate to our culture? If we’re no different, then why bother? If we aren’t willing to “see the other side” of the conflict, what has Christ done for us?

I suppose that leads me to conclude that a significant part of this come from our own self-centeredness. We place ourselves at the center of the universe and expect (demand?) that the world revolve around us.

Please understand, I don’t mean to “beat up” the church or be overly negative. It’s just that there are times when I see how followers of Christ treat each other and I have to ask whether or not we’re really following Jesus or ourselves. It would do us some good to regard each other as family instead of people who punch our timecards on a Sunday. And it would be powerful for us to be willing to face our conflict, seek out resolution and restore broken relationships.

(By the way, I realize the picture doesn’t really have any direct connection to this post, but it came up when I searched for “family” and I thought it was funny.)
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I came across a wonderful little website the other day that will send an anonymous email to someone who fills your inbox with unwanted forwards. It also has some decent netiquette for those who are lacking.

I rarely get forwards anymore, but when I do, I’m amazed at some of the stuff people believe. How does this stuff keep getting sent? It’s crazy to me.

These usually fall into a few different categories:

• Politics – usually the government is accused of something ridiculous and with facts coming from wikipedia, how could they be wrong?
• Money – let’s be clear hear, unless your a orphan in Africa, Bill Gates isn’t going to be sending you money any time soon. Certainly not for annoying your friends with junk email.
• Religion – the email warns of impending doom, supernatural visits from angels, and anything else that could come from a bad Frank Peretti knockoff.
• Cute – 95% of these contain animals. The rest are natural scenes. 100% are awful. These are easily the worst offenders.

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