Ok so today I started Cytoxan which is a form of Chemo therapy for my Minimal Change Disease. It's a long story. Its kinda scary. I don't know what the side effects will be but there is something unsettling about taking 10 pills when you get up in the morning. Anyways as always chin up and hope for the best. who knows what the future holds make each day count.
For those who even mildly care...which I doubt you do, but the purpose of this is to get me off of another drug, which was working but can cause cancer in 25% of people taking, and hopefully wean me off medicine all together and put this into remission. That would be awesome. Nonetheless I still may be on something called Cellcept for a long time but its better than the drug I'm on now.
For all of you CHIPer's and health nuts out there I have looked at alternative methods and both Google and some Dr.'s that I trust say that for this there really isn't much you can do for this disease. In fact I am in such a small segment of the population that right now my Dr. describes what we are doing as 'voodoo' medicine because there is just no research on cures for what I have. that's encouraging isn't it.
Well my class is coming in now so I gotta go. I have lots to blog about especially Adventist Education! so keep your ears tuned.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
So we had buttermilk left over in the fridge so I decided to make buttermilk pancakes. the recipe on cooks.com was not tasty. However the evening was saved by my syrup. Got lucky with it and decided to share. All measurements are approximate
1 Cup Apple Juice
1 Cup cubed Mango (used trader Joe's frozen mango chunks)
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup light coconut milk
2 tsp corn starch
Bring Apple Juice, mango, coconut and coconut milk to a simmer. I used my hand blender to semi-puree the mango, but I left a few chunks. Dissolve the corn starch in water and add to mixture return to simmer for a couple of minutes and then remove from heat.
It was pretty yummy so I decided to share...
Ideas for the future, add pineapple chunks, perhaps some candied ginger or ginger powder?
1 Cup Apple Juice
1 Cup cubed Mango (used trader Joe's frozen mango chunks)
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup light coconut milk
2 tsp corn starch
Bring Apple Juice, mango, coconut and coconut milk to a simmer. I used my hand blender to semi-puree the mango, but I left a few chunks. Dissolve the corn starch in water and add to mixture return to simmer for a couple of minutes and then remove from heat.
It was pretty yummy so I decided to share...
Ideas for the future, add pineapple chunks, perhaps some candied ginger or ginger powder?
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Secrets of girls need exposure
This morning as I was putting on a spritz of the cologne (Tommy Hilfiger) that I've had since college(same bottle), I was reminded of one of the mysteries of life. As a guy who is happily married for almost 10 years I feel it is high time that I receive some answers. Here's my question...How come, in college, whenever I, as the perfect gentleman that I was, loaned out my sweater, coat, or hoodie to a girl did it come back smelling like it had been dipped in the pools of heaven? How do girls do that? I would actually loan out stuff and then not wash it for weeks until the wonderful smell wore off? It wasn't just one girl, its a universal phenomenon it seems that this is a conspiracy. I've tried different sprays, laundry detergents...none of if recreates that smell. I'm completely mystified and my wife is no help it's like there is some sort of conspiracy. Can any of you in Facebook/Blogger land help with this great mystery of life? Thanks
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Communion and more
Ok so below I'd like to post the Special Feature article that I put in the Bulletin this week so that we can get some discussion going on the topic. Part of what made this topic interesting to me is that I've been really wondering for the last few years "what's next." I remember in high school and college how Contemporary Christian Music was what gave the Christian youth of the 90's and early 2000's their identity in the church separate from the adults. Then the adults started liking that music too. Now in my youth group the parents and kids basically listen to the same music, ok the parents are 2-3 years behind, but music no longer creates an identity for youth culture. So how do the youth 'rebel' or feel different or create their own thing for church? To me this is a very interesting topic and perhaps, according to Youth Ministry 3.0 it is an irrelevant question for this generation. Below is the article I wrote:
I don’t know about you but I love to read. I probably read about 5-6 books a month. In fact if you see me walking around with headphones in my ear (which admittedly is a lot of the time) I’m probably listening to a book. (Does that still count as reading? I like to think so.) If you’re a reader like me then you probably also have an ever growing stack of books to be read sitting somewhere in your house. This week I was able to pick up a book from that stack and read it through, and I found some insights that may be valuable to us as a church. See what you think.
As many of you know I like change, probably more than most people. Because of that I’m always on the lookout for trends and asking myself the question “What’s next?” I’ve been challenged in many ways because the future has looked somewhat cloudy. In the past I could go to conferences, hear speakers, listen to the newest music and put my finger on the “next new thing” that was going to bring effective change to the church. However, over the last few years the “next new thing” has gotten seemingly more elusive. In my reading this week I began to get some clarity on why it has been so difficult to identify the newest trends. I was reading a book by Mark Oestreicher called Youth Ministry 3.0. In it he identifies that our culture, especially youth culture, has become more and more contextualized. What this means is that one thing, one program, one event, doesn’t work anymore. This is not only true in culture, but I would venture to guess that even in a church our size that there are multiple contexts and communities within our small congregation. There is no “next new thing” anymore! So how do we be relevant and missional? Perhaps some of the answers come in the idea of community. I know that it is somewhat of a catch phrase, but the more I look at church and it’s reason for existence (even in multiple cultural contexts) community seems to rise to the top. Community answers the key question of the postmodern era “where do I belong and to whom.”
The following are some key concepts of what communion is as described in the above mentioned book. See if you agree, and ask yourself the question as I am: Is the
"Communion is best done small
Communion building takes time and takes patience
Communion is simple and not flashy
Communion is fluid
Communion is present – it demands face time and lives in the here and now
Communion is Jesus-y – God is expected to show up"
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Haircuts
So I went in for a haircut today, much needed. Maybe this is just me but getting a haircut is always a little awkward. Most of you know that I'm a 'people' person, but its just always a little awkward talking to the hairstylist. It's not like you can ask them what the do for a living as a conversation starter.
Anyways, let's get to the point here, I sit down in the chair and get comfortable and then comes the question: "What do you want me to do to your hair" or something like that...The problem is that I never know? Sometimes I'll try to say one thing or another, but what I've found is that I usually don't like the product that I try to explain to the stylist. Tonight I think I surprised the stylist, but just saying, "do what you think is best and I guarantee I'll be happy with it." And you know what, I was. Hey they are the professionals not me, if you can call Great Clips professionals :) So I wasn't sure whether to make that part of my Facebook status or make it part of a blog since I haven't blogged since April. You can see what decision I made.
So as all this is mulling over in my mind, still sitting in the chair, I wonder what my decision making process about getting a haircut says about me? Still not sure, but its fun to think about why we think the way we think.
Sorry for not posting anything deep tonight.
Benji
Anyways, let's get to the point here, I sit down in the chair and get comfortable and then comes the question: "What do you want me to do to your hair" or something like that...The problem is that I never know? Sometimes I'll try to say one thing or another, but what I've found is that I usually don't like the product that I try to explain to the stylist. Tonight I think I surprised the stylist, but just saying, "do what you think is best and I guarantee I'll be happy with it." And you know what, I was. Hey they are the professionals not me, if you can call Great Clips professionals :) So I wasn't sure whether to make that part of my Facebook status or make it part of a blog since I haven't blogged since April. You can see what decision I made.
So as all this is mulling over in my mind, still sitting in the chair, I wonder what my decision making process about getting a haircut says about me? Still not sure, but its fun to think about why we think the way we think.
Sorry for not posting anything deep tonight.
Benji
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Prophetic Arrogance
First let me say before you get up in arms. I'm a big Ellen White fan, for my non-Adventist readers, look her up www.whiteestate.org
I'm sitting here in Prophets class and thinking about the role of the prophet. One of the problems that Israel had was an arrogance that God was only for them because they were the ones who got the prophets. (Interestingly enough look at how much of the writing of the prophets deals with other nations) this notion blinded Israel to the fact that God was a God for all nations, the Abrahamic covenant was for everybody.
Are Adventist falling into the same trap as Israel and thinking that God's message, through his prophetic revelation in Ellen White, means that we have a corner on truth and on God's favor. That line of thinking didn't turn out too well for Israel. How do we not repeat that mistake without throwing out the 'real' role that prophets play.
Question for thought.
I'm sitting here in Prophets class and thinking about the role of the prophet. One of the problems that Israel had was an arrogance that God was only for them because they were the ones who got the prophets. (Interestingly enough look at how much of the writing of the prophets deals with other nations) this notion blinded Israel to the fact that God was a God for all nations, the Abrahamic covenant was for everybody.
Are Adventist falling into the same trap as Israel and thinking that God's message, through his prophetic revelation in Ellen White, means that we have a corner on truth and on God's favor. That line of thinking didn't turn out too well for Israel. How do we not repeat that mistake without throwing out the 'real' role that prophets play.
Question for thought.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Adventist Education
Below I'm going to post an article I just wrote for our church newsletter about the impact of Adventist Education in our church. I know that the system is hurting and in some cases has its issues. But I think you will see from the article the importance that having a both a strong youth program and a Christian school. I know that the three legged stool is
an over used metaphor, but I really think that if the home, the church and the school work together we will do the best at keeping students involved in the church. We have a much better chance with these three working together than we do without it. Let me know what you think of the article and perhaps post your pros and cons of Adventist Education. How can we do better, how can we save the system, should we work to save the system?
"As we are faced with the financial crunches at MCA it is easy for us to ask whether having the school is worth it. I have had the benefit of observing the impact Adventist Education has had over the last 9 years, specifically through MCA. I can not speak for MCA students that attend other churches, but I have kept track of the students who are part of our youth ministry. I have long been curious about whether there is a correlation between church attendance and being enrolled at MCA or another Adventist school. Over the past several weeks I have gathered data about 120 students who are either currently High School aged or have graduated from our youth ministry. For the current students separated them into four groups: Public School, Other Christian School, MCA, Other
SDA schools. Then I looked
at their attendance at church, those students I see at church more than twice a month I marked as involved, less than twice a month: occasional and those I don’t see over a two month period: not involved. Currently there are 35 students in the High School Ministry. As far as our average we are at an all time low of students from the youth group who attend High School at 43%. The average of our alumni who attended MCA is 53%. As you can see both with the alumni and our current students about 60% of the students are actively involved. Here is where the rubber meets the road however. The question to ask is ‘does going to MCA increase the chance of a student being involved in Church?’ Here is what the numbers say 83% of the students who attend an Adventist school are involved in church and the other 17% are occasionally involved. Of the students who do not attend an Adventist school the numbers are different, 35% are involved 17% are occasionally involved and 48% are not involved.
The numbers are impressively stacked in MCA’s favor for our current students, but what about the 84 students who are alumni of our youth program. As you can see from the graphs 53% of our alumni graduated from MCA with a whopping 70% attending Adventist Education. What interested me was the difference in church involvement between those two groups. Historically has MCA been an influencer of future church attendance or involvement. I must admit that there are some assumptions with these numbers and that they are in no way 100% accurate, but I feel that the margin of error is within acceptable ranges. According to national polls of high school students, it is generally understood that 60% of students leave the church after graduating from high school. So that is a benchmark for us to look at. According to my data the students from our church defy those numbers, in our case 68% of our students who attend an Adventist school are still involved in church. This is contrasted with 44% of the students who did not attend Adventist high schools currently being involved in church! That is a big difference. Not only are we 28% above the national average with the kids that attend MCA the numbers for those who did not attend MCA are right around the national average. This tells me two things. First MCA is very important and is beneficial to the long term future of our church. Secondly this tells me that if students do not attend MCA we must to better at keeping them as part of the church. I hope as we consider the future of MCA and Adventist Education in the metro area we keep these numbers in mind, I am so grateful to the commitment of the Minnetonka church’s dedication to Adventist Education and to Youth Ministry. Our kids are important! Let’s keep fighting on their behalf and seeking God’s will for the future of our church."
an over used metaphor, but I really think that if the home, the church and the school work together we will do the best at keeping students involved in the church. We have a much better chance with these three working together than we do without it. Let me know what you think of the article and perhaps post your pros and cons of Adventist Education. How can we do better, how can we save the system, should we work to save the system?"As we are faced with the financial crunches at MCA it is easy for us to ask whether having the school is worth it. I have had the benefit of observing the impact Adventist Education has had over the last 9 years, specifically through MCA. I can not speak for MCA students that attend other churches, but I have kept track of the students who are part of our youth ministry. I have long been curious about whether there is a correlation between church attendance and being enrolled at MCA or another Adventist school. Over the past several weeks I have gathered data about 120 students who are either currently High School aged or have graduated from our youth ministry. For the current students separated them into four groups: Public School, Other Christian School, MCA, Other
SDA schools. Then I looked
at their attendance at church, those students I see at church more than twice a month I marked as involved, less than twice a month: occasional and those I don’t see over a two month period: not involved. Currently there are 35 students in the High School Ministry. As far as our average we are at an all time low of students from the youth group who attend High School at 43%. The average of our alumni who attended MCA is 53%. As you can see both with the alumni and our current students about 60% of the students are actively involved. Here is where the rubber meets the road however. The question to ask is ‘does going to MCA increase the chance of a student being involved in Church?’ Here is what the numbers say 83% of the students who attend an Adventist school are involved in church and the other 17% are occasionally involved. Of the students who do not attend an Adventist school the numbers are different, 35% are involved 17% are occasionally involved and 48% are not involved.The numbers are impressively stacked in MCA’s favor for our current students, but what about the 84 students who are alumni of our youth program. As you can see from the graphs 53% of our alumni graduated from MCA with a whopping 70% attending Adventist Education. What interested me was the difference in church involvement between those two groups. Historically has MCA been an influencer of future church attendance or involvement. I must admit that there are some assumptions with these numbers and that they are in no way 100% accurate, but I feel that the margin of error is within acceptable ranges. According to national polls of high school students, it is generally understood that 60% of students leave the church after graduating from high school. So that is a benchmark for us to look at. According to my data the students from our church defy those numbers, in our case 68% of our students who attend an Adventist school are still involved in church. This is contrasted with 44% of the students who did not attend Adventist high schools currently being involved in church! That is a big difference. Not only are we 28% above the national average with the kids that attend MCA the numbers for those who did not attend MCA are right around the national average. This tells me two things. First MCA is very important and is beneficial to the long term future of our church. Secondly this tells me that if students do not attend MCA we must to better at keeping them as part of the church. I hope as we consider the future of MCA and Adventist Education in the metro area we keep these numbers in mind, I am so grateful to the commitment of the Minnetonka church’s dedication to Adventist Education and to Youth Ministry. Our kids are important! Let’s keep fighting on their behalf and seeking God’s will for the future of our church."
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Sabbath and Sports
A few weeks ago in our staff meeting at church we were discussing the impact of sports on church attendance. Over the years this is something that I have thought about a lot and over the course of this post I hope to explore (and journey together) some of the issues that are being risen by this recent phenomenon in the Adventist Church.
I have found myself on both sides of this issue. Growing up one of the greatest benefits of having an Adventist Education, (it still is a great benefit) is that I didn't have to choose between playing sports and the Sabbath. This choice was made less difficult because I never made a sports team :). My Senior year of high school I went to my first High School football game because a good friend of mine, Kyle, was playing. I remember how rebellious, cool, and guilty I felt as I went to the game and then went to a local pool hall afterwards to hang out with people we'd met at the game. I stayed up so late that it was difficult to make it to church the following day.
As I began youth ministry, the first church I pastored at had no kids in Adventist Education. All the kids attended public school. Dances, and sporting events were all on Friday night and so I had the difficult decision to make about whether I should attend games when invited by students. Part of me wanted to show up and support the kids and part of me wanted to show them my respect for the Sabbath. I remember reading about athletes and teams who had taken a stand and refused to play on Sabbath, and articles were written in the youth magazines lifting them up as heroes of the church for making difficult decisions.
Being a big fan myself, I also read about athletes like Deion Sanders and James Worthy who took a stand for their faith as Christians and were able to spread the gospel in their respective sports. As I thought about it, I was sad that there would never be an Adventist who could share our unique and valuable perspective on Jesus with the sports world. If we were to share the gospel to the entire world didn't that mean athletes? And if people did accept the Sabbath would that mean that they would no longer be able to use their greatest gift to minister to other athletes and use the stage of sport to spread the gospel and the blessings of Sabbath? I didn't have good answers for these questions, and perhaps I still don't. So I left the issue alone.
Recently my mind has returned to these issues. More and more, kids at our church, beginning as young as 5th grade are choosing sports over church and worship. Kids are joining a traveling team or they have tournaments that all take place over a whole weekend. Kids and parents are more and more often choosing sports over community worship. And I, as a pastor, am starting to get worried. Are we going to lose a generation of kids to because of sports. I am seeing that sports is the catalyst that begins the slippery slope of prioritizing things higher than corporate worship. I would love to see some posts by my non-Adventist friends on whether this is an issue in their youth groups as well.
So I want to start a conversation. I am more and more convinced that God is concerned about community and unity. Worship services are one of the church's greatest tools of creating these two things, and more and more families are missing out. Does this concern you or am I over reacting. I'm hoping that people will post on both sides of the issue.
p.s.
After seeing some of the posts I wanted to put up this chart that I have used to evaluate Sabbath in my life. I try to find the balance between Rest (stopping, taking a break) Blessed (what brings joy, happiness) and Holy (set apart for God) which is what God intended the Sabbath to be. I try each week to eat the whole pie, but sometimes more often than not, I fail. I think that for me the most difficult part of the pie is to find the holy aspect of the Sabbath. It is easy to stop our everyday activites and take a break from them, it is easy to be happy (Isa 58) but to find the holiness of God through the Sabbath can be the critical evaluator when we determine how to be fully enriched by the blessing of keeping the Sabbath.
I have found myself on both sides of this issue. Growing up one of the greatest benefits of having an Adventist Education, (it still is a great benefit) is that I didn't have to choose between playing sports and the Sabbath. This choice was made less difficult because I never made a sports team :). My Senior year of high school I went to my first High School football game because a good friend of mine, Kyle, was playing. I remember how rebellious, cool, and guilty I felt as I went to the game and then went to a local pool hall afterwards to hang out with people we'd met at the game. I stayed up so late that it was difficult to make it to church the following day.
As I began youth ministry, the first church I pastored at had no kids in Adventist Education. All the kids attended public school. Dances, and sporting events were all on Friday night and so I had the difficult decision to make about whether I should attend games when invited by students. Part of me wanted to show up and support the kids and part of me wanted to show them my respect for the Sabbath. I remember reading about athletes and teams who had taken a stand and refused to play on Sabbath, and articles were written in the youth magazines lifting them up as heroes of the church for making difficult decisions.
Being a big fan myself, I also read about athletes like Deion Sanders and James Worthy who took a stand for their faith as Christians and were able to spread the gospel in their respective sports. As I thought about it, I was sad that there would never be an Adventist who could share our unique and valuable perspective on Jesus with the sports world. If we were to share the gospel to the entire world didn't that mean athletes? And if people did accept the Sabbath would that mean that they would no longer be able to use their greatest gift to minister to other athletes and use the stage of sport to spread the gospel and the blessings of Sabbath? I didn't have good answers for these questions, and perhaps I still don't. So I left the issue alone.
Recently my mind has returned to these issues. More and more, kids at our church, beginning as young as 5th grade are choosing sports over church and worship. Kids are joining a traveling team or they have tournaments that all take place over a whole weekend. Kids and parents are more and more often choosing sports over community worship. And I, as a pastor, am starting to get worried. Are we going to lose a generation of kids to because of sports. I am seeing that sports is the catalyst that begins the slippery slope of prioritizing things higher than corporate worship. I would love to see some posts by my non-Adventist friends on whether this is an issue in their youth groups as well.
So I want to start a conversation. I am more and more convinced that God is concerned about community and unity. Worship services are one of the church's greatest tools of creating these two things, and more and more families are missing out. Does this concern you or am I over reacting. I'm hoping that people will post on both sides of the issue.
p.s.
After seeing some of the posts I wanted to put up this chart that I have used to evaluate Sabbath in my life. I try to find the balance between Rest (stopping, taking a break) Blessed (what brings joy, happiness) and Holy (set apart for God) which is what God intended the Sabbath to be. I try each week to eat the whole pie, but sometimes more often than not, I fail. I think that for me the most difficult part of the pie is to find the holy aspect of the Sabbath. It is easy to stop our everyday activites and take a break from them, it is easy to be happy (Isa 58) but to find the holiness of God through the Sabbath can be the critical evaluator when we determine how to be fully enriched by the blessing of keeping the Sabbath.
Is it time to change our Outlook.
I'm a little frustrated with our eschatology. Why are we always doom and gloom? This morning at church during prayer I heard the lament again of how awful this world is and that things are going downhill so fast that Jesus better come quick to yank us out of this miserable existence. Now, I will freely admit that I have lived a relatively pain free and sheltered life. Sure I've had some bad things happen to me, but not to the extent of many people especially the millions of children who will die this week because of starvation. But for a while now I've been a little miffed by the view that this world for the lack of a better term, sucks.
I'm blogging about that this week because I am in the middle of reading a book titled "Younger Evangelicals", while I don't really consider myself and evangelical there are many things about the book that resonated with me. In a nutshell what the book said was that from 1950-1975 fundamentalist evangelicals held the view that since Jesus was coming pretty soon, (premillinialism, which Adventism including myself believes) we don't really have to worry about the problems of the world, i.e. the environment, the poor, social justice, because Jesus was going to come and judge everybody and we'd go to heaven and live wonderful blissful lives. I'm finding that this view (often promoted by modernistic evangelists) has gotten the Church (capital C) into a lot of trouble.
I remember being about 15 the first time I thought about Adventist believes in this vein. I had heard through Revelation Seminars or maybe at school that at the end of time those who worship on Sabbath would be persecuted and that Sunday worship laws would force us to choose between the Sabbath and our lives. (Theoretically this could all still happen, who knows) These events would mean that Jesus was about to come. My thinking at the time was why in the world are we paying all of these lawyers to protect the Sabbath, just let it go and Jesus will come sooner!
My postmodernism has taken over my thoughts in this area. I have travelled to several parts of the world. Interestingly enough people are pretty happy. In fact I'm pretty happy. I like living, I like growing in the shape and purpose that God intends for me. I like hearing the stories of peoples lives. I like technology, I like my family, I enjoy a good meal, playing games, sports, music. In spite of some of the crummy things that happen I dig the life that God has given me. So I just don't resonate with doom and gloom eschatalogical thinking. Why do we focus on the bad instead of leading people to the good?
I like to think that I'm looking forward to Jesus second coming as much as the next guy, but perhaps I also am looking forward to the journey of searching for Jesus in this life as well. What do you all think?
I'm blogging about that this week because I am in the middle of reading a book titled "Younger Evangelicals", while I don't really consider myself and evangelical there are many things about the book that resonated with me. In a nutshell what the book said was that from 1950-1975 fundamentalist evangelicals held the view that since Jesus was coming pretty soon, (premillinialism, which Adventism including myself believes) we don't really have to worry about the problems of the world, i.e. the environment, the poor, social justice, because Jesus was going to come and judge everybody and we'd go to heaven and live wonderful blissful lives. I'm finding that this view (often promoted by modernistic evangelists) has gotten the Church (capital C) into a lot of trouble.
I remember being about 15 the first time I thought about Adventist believes in this vein. I had heard through Revelation Seminars or maybe at school that at the end of time those who worship on Sabbath would be persecuted and that Sunday worship laws would force us to choose between the Sabbath and our lives. (Theoretically this could all still happen, who knows) These events would mean that Jesus was about to come. My thinking at the time was why in the world are we paying all of these lawyers to protect the Sabbath, just let it go and Jesus will come sooner!
My postmodernism has taken over my thoughts in this area. I have travelled to several parts of the world. Interestingly enough people are pretty happy. In fact I'm pretty happy. I like living, I like growing in the shape and purpose that God intends for me. I like hearing the stories of peoples lives. I like technology, I like my family, I enjoy a good meal, playing games, sports, music. In spite of some of the crummy things that happen I dig the life that God has given me. So I just don't resonate with doom and gloom eschatalogical thinking. Why do we focus on the bad instead of leading people to the good?
I like to think that I'm looking forward to Jesus second coming as much as the next guy, but perhaps I also am looking forward to the journey of searching for Jesus in this life as well. What do you all think?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Day 2 -- Chillaxin' at the hospital
After getting a few hours of rest at home I'm back at the hospital this morning. What an awesome expeience being a dad again. Holly is just so wonderful, she wiggles and loves being held. Amazingly she has taken to feeding right away with no problems at all. Just a content, and very little, baby.
I thought that I'd go into why we chose the name Holly. First of all like Dylan we made some lists of names, (this time it was even easier because of a sweet application on Steph's ipod touch). Holly is cool for us in many ways, it derives from the term Holy which means set apart and special. Holly is also the birth flower for Dylan's birthmonth (Christmas time duh) so that was a nice tie into Dylan as well.
Marie is my mothers middle name so that ties Holly to my side of the family and Dylan is tied to Stephanies family by his middle name. Marie Carlson is also a great mom here in our church that has been very good to our family and has been present at both our kids birth so the middle name was easy to choose. Here is a video I took with my web cam this morning. Holly has so much hair compared to Dylan and it is very dark. We can't quite figure out who she looks like yet, but tell Stephanie that she looks like her :)
I thought that I'd go into why we chose the name Holly. First of all like Dylan we made some lists of names, (this time it was even easier because of a sweet application on Steph's ipod touch). Holly is cool for us in many ways, it derives from the term Holy which means set apart and special. Holly is also the birth flower for Dylan's birthmonth (Christmas time duh) so that was a nice tie into Dylan as well.
Marie is my mothers middle name so that ties Holly to my side of the family and Dylan is tied to Stephanies family by his middle name. Marie Carlson is also a great mom here in our church that has been very good to our family and has been present at both our kids birth so the middle name was easy to choose. Here is a video I took with my web cam this morning. Holly has so much hair compared to Dylan and it is very dark. We can't quite figure out who she looks like yet, but tell Stephanie that she looks like her :)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Welcome Holly Marie Ferguson
At 8:55 Holly Marie joined us. She weighted 6.2 and is 19 inches long. Everything went fine and we are super excited. She is a beautiful baby girl with wonderful dark hair and bluish grey. Pictures and video very soon.
We're getting on the schedule
Right now there is an anesthesiologist in the room getting Stephanie all set up, blood work, IV and we're going in for surgury between 7 and 7:30. I'm still trying to crank out a paper on the Chronicles of Narnia for my seminary class. I know it sounds rediculous. But this crazy girl is coming early.
I wonder if this is a sign of things to come, this young lady is going to have a mind of her own. I think I'm in trouble :)
Update: We are now scheduled for 8:30. Dr. Dedeker/Torres is coming in for the surgury. Steph is busy puddling on her chux. Dont' ask, the nurse just said it and it sounded funny. So my next post should be after the baby is born!
I wonder if this is a sign of things to come, this young lady is going to have a mind of her own. I think I'm in trouble :)
Update: We are now scheduled for 8:30. Dr. Dedeker/Torres is coming in for the surgury. Steph is busy puddling on her chux. Dont' ask, the nurse just said it and it sounded funny. So my next post should be after the baby is born!
A long drive
So here we are in the hospital, we got a bunch of snow and of course Steph's water broke during rush hour on top of that. So it took about 40 mins to get here, but we're here and Steph is in her hospital gown and now she is getting hooked up to the monitors now. Anyways we'll keep you up to date with whats going on.
The Best Laid Plans
So.. about 15 minutes ago I'm working on a paper for my class and I see Stephanie rushing for the bathroom...It seems that her water just broke so we're heading to the hospital now. Not sure what is in store, but I'll keep people informed.
Only Child No More
In 25 hours Dylan will no longer be an only child...At 7:30 this morning I was summoned by banging on Dylan's bedroom door. The next 20 minutes were spent in bed playing, and snuggling with Dylan, when all of the sudden I realized that this was our last day alone with Dylan. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited, but it is going to be a different experience. As an only child myself, I don't know all that comes with siblingness, this is new territory. My sister-in-law flew in yesterday with her youngest, Jovie. One of the first things she said was how nice it was to have just one child for a couple of days. Robb, her husband said the same thing on Skype last night about Brody and how it was nice just for the moment to have just Brody at home. Of course this doesn't mean a parent loves any less, it just helps us refocus. So as we get ready for baby, today I plan on appreciating that special time with Dylan.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Name Game
Today is Tuesday the 24th of January. If all goes as planned we should have a new addition to our family by about 9:30 A.M. CST on Friday the 27th. Of course we're prepared for surprises, but actually this pregnancy has been surprise free. (Please hear me knocking on wood right now.) So speaking of surprises, since we know the gender (female), and even the birthday (Feb. 27) we're leaving the name for the big surprise, and you'll hear it right here first. So I would suggest checking this blog often on Thursday and Friday as I try to chronicle the first 24 hours of baby right here.
That said things have been busy at home as I try to get caught up on some homework, it never seems to end. And we are trying to do all of our shopping for the next few weeks. With Dylan we told ourselves that we were not going to change our routine of life too much we'd still hang out with friends, go out to eat, etc. I think we did a pretty good job at that, but already the challenge of two kids under the age of two is hitting us. I have no idea how one parent can go get groceries with an infant and a toddler at the same time. I actually don't remember seeing anybody at a store in that situation? Perhaps because it is not possible?
Keep checking the blog, and Keep Jesus #1
Benji
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Ecclesiology and Marketing
Just saw this video on the YS website, I'd love to hear your feedback :) Also to those of you who have subscribed to my blog thanks, I'm glad you have done so, but if possible I'd love it if you could post your responses back on the blog to generate some discussion :)
I add this because it is part of a paper I'm writing now on Ecclesiology. When I was talking to a friend of my about the identity of the Adventist church he said that he thought that the church had a weak ecclesiology. What do you think? What makes church ...church? How do we balance our idea of being the remnant people and the true church with any sort of ecumenicism? Or should we just think that we're the best and nobody else has "the truth."
A few months back as I was sitting in a meeting with a bunch of Adventist pastors somebody started throwing around the term truth like... truth was the Sabbath or belief in Ellen White. What would Ellen White have thought of that? I'm no EG White scholar but I think that she would have pointed to only one truth. Jesus Christ. Wasn't it Jesus that said that he is THE Truth? How do we balance and market (see above video) ourselves and our view point without the arrogance of being the only true religion? Perhaps that is what my friend meant by our having a weak ecclesiology.
Keeping Jesus #1
Benji
I add this because it is part of a paper I'm writing now on Ecclesiology. When I was talking to a friend of my about the identity of the Adventist church he said that he thought that the church had a weak ecclesiology. What do you think? What makes church ...church? How do we balance our idea of being the remnant people and the true church with any sort of ecumenicism? Or should we just think that we're the best and nobody else has "the truth."
A few months back as I was sitting in a meeting with a bunch of Adventist pastors somebody started throwing around the term truth like... truth was the Sabbath or belief in Ellen White. What would Ellen White have thought of that? I'm no EG White scholar but I think that she would have pointed to only one truth. Jesus Christ. Wasn't it Jesus that said that he is THE Truth? How do we balance and market (see above video) ourselves and our view point without the arrogance of being the only true religion? Perhaps that is what my friend meant by our having a weak ecclesiology.
Keeping Jesus #1
Benji
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Not the Caddilac of Computers
So everybody complains about Vista and Microsoft...Let me tell you apple has it's share of issues as well. I bought Stephanie an refurb ipod touch which is a pretty beautiful machine. I was super excited to install some apps but when I hooked it up to itunes I had to pay $10 to install a new OS. Not cool at all, no where on the apple site was I warned about this, I also had lengthy discussions with people at the apple store before I purchaced the ipod asking about the differences between 1G and 2G machines and never was warned about this. I know, it's only $10 but I felt like I was being robbed.
Then on Sunday Stephanie's Macbook crashes. I make an appointment with the genisus at the apple store and they proceed to tell us that the hard drive is toast. All of the data is gone (Stephanie doesn't have an accompanist so we have recorded two versions of all of her choir songs on Garageband...it's all gone) Apple was good enought to do an out of warranty repair and replace the disk as well as upgrading us to leapard and ilife 08. It helped to ease the pain of losing a lot of data. I got the computer back in less than 24 hours however when setting up the computer this afternoon it crashed again! Same thing.
I'm glad (knock on wood) that I'm running my trusty HP. with beautiful windows Vista...I don't understand all of you haters :)
Benji
P.S. after this nerdy post I will hopefully be posting on a fun theological topic in the next day or so.
Then on Sunday Stephanie's Macbook crashes. I make an appointment with the genisus at the apple store and they proceed to tell us that the hard drive is toast. All of the data is gone (Stephanie doesn't have an accompanist so we have recorded two versions of all of her choir songs on Garageband...it's all gone) Apple was good enought to do an out of warranty repair and replace the disk as well as upgrading us to leapard and ilife 08. It helped to ease the pain of losing a lot of data. I got the computer back in less than 24 hours however when setting up the computer this afternoon it crashed again! Same thing.
I'm glad (knock on wood) that I'm running my trusty HP. with beautiful windows Vista...I don't understand all of you haters :)
Benji
P.S. after this nerdy post I will hopefully be posting on a fun theological topic in the next day or so.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sitting in Class at Seminary
Ok, so last week I promised myself that I would post to my blog. Mostly so that Stew couldn't make fun of me about not posting during Intensives. I had this great idea that I would post daily on my progress on my sermon and maybe get feedback that I could incorporate into my sermon. I will do that someday, but obviously it didn't happen last week.
This week I"m sitting in Systematic Theology, which despite me posting during a lecture is pretty interesting. (We are talking predestination right now, which Adventists have conveniently passed over and as far as I know don't discuss much.) This month has been very busy but last Sabbath took the cake, those of you in church know what I'm talking about. I am very much a notes preacher and I lost my notes between services, that was scary, but it went ok.
I posted some new pics of Dylan on Flickr and you need to check them out, I can't you how much Dylan is changing, it's so amazing to watch! Plus we're having a girl end of February/early March!
Hopfully more posts later one some interesting topics, i.e. life and theology
Benji
This week I"m sitting in Systematic Theology, which despite me posting during a lecture is pretty interesting. (We are talking predestination right now, which Adventists have conveniently passed over and as far as I know don't discuss much.) This month has been very busy but last Sabbath took the cake, those of you in church know what I'm talking about. I am very much a notes preacher and I lost my notes between services, that was scary, but it went ok.
I posted some new pics of Dylan on Flickr and you need to check them out, I can't you how much Dylan is changing, it's so amazing to watch! Plus we're having a girl end of February/early March!
Hopfully more posts later one some interesting topics, i.e. life and theology
Benji
Friday, April 25, 2008
Renters vs. Owners
It is somewhat funny that I usually blog during some of my busiest times, when I should be doing other things. However, tonight is the Sabbath and I am enjoying just decompressing from a week of intensives at bethel. This weeks intensive was for my measurement based leadership course. Very interesting... I wonder if there are any of you that read the blog that may wonder if measurement and church should not go hand in hand? Here are my major take aways from the class so far...
We have just scraped the surface of stewardship culture in the church. The issues of time/talent/treasure is nice and helpful, but what we have done is created a culture of renters. Part of this goes back to our wonderful Catholic friends and the idea of a priesthood that we as protestants have never really gotten away from. However I think in the Adventist church, along with others who have a structure like ours where the church does not choose it's pastor, we have aided and abbeded in this renter culture.
Think about it...it is only recently that pastors even think of staying in a church more than 3-5 years. How can a pastor really be an owner of that churches vision to fulfill the Great Commission in a community when they are constantly thinking of their exit strategy and the congregation knows that what ever ideas a pastor pushes on them are going to change when the next guy comes anyways. This creates a culture of both renter pastors and renter congregations that are never allowed to have a long term strategy for reaching the lost in their community because of the revolving door of leadership.
So how do we fix it? I don't know about you but as I look at many of the challenges I have at my church many come down to this issue. It truly is an issue of stewardship. How do we get rid of a patriarchical top down system and replace it with one that is more empowering, one that creates a heart of service and one that has the customer (i.e. the people we want to see in our church) in mind.
Random thoughts post by
Benji
p.s. Couldn't post without adding a Dylan picture, this was taken at the Madison Zoo and this lioness had her eye on Dylan...it was actually a little disconcerting.
p.p.s. I finally broke down and got a facebook page, Stephanie is on Myspace, if you know us please check out our pages!
We have just scraped the surface of stewardship culture in the church. The issues of time/talent/treasure is nice and helpful, but what we have done is created a culture of renters. Part of this goes back to our wonderful Catholic friends and the idea of a priesthood that we as protestants have never really gotten away from. However I think in the Adventist church, along with others who have a structure like ours where the church does not choose it's pastor, we have aided and abbeded in this renter culture.
Think about it...it is only recently that pastors even think of staying in a church more than 3-5 years. How can a pastor really be an owner of that churches vision to fulfill the Great Commission in a community when they are constantly thinking of their exit strategy and the congregation knows that what ever ideas a pastor pushes on them are going to change when the next guy comes anyways. This creates a culture of both renter pastors and renter congregations that are never allowed to have a long term strategy for reaching the lost in their community because of the revolving door of leadership.
So how do we fix it? I don't know about you but as I look at many of the challenges I have at my church many come down to this issue. It truly is an issue of stewardship. How do we get rid of a patriarchical top down system and replace it with one that is more empowering, one that creates a heart of service and one that has the customer (i.e. the people we want to see in our church) in mind.
Random thoughts post by
Benji
p.s. Couldn't post without adding a Dylan picture, this was taken at the Madison Zoo and this lioness had her eye on Dylan...it was actually a little disconcerting.
p.p.s. I finally broke down and got a facebook page, Stephanie is on Myspace, if you know us please check out our pages!
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