Rick Nier...Woo!

It's occurred to me after over 200 blog posts that I may have failed to properly introduce myself. Since this is a slow blog week for me (and I have not scheduled any other posts for today) I'll do that now. Although... I'm not really sure why. At the time of writing this, I have exactly 3 followers on my actual blog. I may have paid one of them and begged another. I can't even convince my wife to follow me to help boost my numbers. I'm not sure if she thinks I care too much or if she's still learning how to do more than email on the internet. Oh well. Allow me to explain the title. If you had as demented a childhood as I did, you may have been exposed to professional wrestling in the 1980's. One of these fine actors was 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair. (Yes, I'm embarassed that I recall his nickname.) Whenever he said his name, he would shout 'woo'. Lest you think I have aspirations of becoming a professional wrestler, I will tell you that te

Sometimes the fascinating details come inbetween the major stories about Jesus. If you have read the Gospel of John much, you may remember John 3 as the chapter that contains Jesus' convo with Nicodemus. John chapter 4 tells the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. These are both great stories that contain wealths of truth. But inbetween... We're told that Jesus went with His disciples to spend time with them. Oh, they also baptized. Where they baptized is significant. Jesus and His crew were in the same place as some guy who sort of became known for baptizing. John, the gospel writer, even notes that there was plenty of water. John 3:22-24 It's almost a side note, but do you see what happened here? Jesus, the Son of God, came and was baptizing. First of all, how cool would it be to be baptized by Jesus. ('I baptize you in the name of the Father, of me, and of the Holy Spirit.') We're told in John 4:1-3 that it was actually the disciples of Jesus

There are certain books which are fun to read. They are light and merely for entertainment. This is not one of those books. Make no mistake, this book should be read. I'm talking about The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. The subtitle pretty much sums it up. 'Living as an ordinary radical.' Everybody is looking for something extreme and radical to stand for. Perhaps living as Jesus called us to is that extreme. Shane Claiborne has written a call to the Church to rise up and be what God created her to be. As he shares story after story, showing us the reality of his dream, one starts to believe it can be done. He tells of how, in a setting where his group of college friends were helping the homeless, a church group brought microwave popcorn to them. They barely had electricity and the church showed her lack of knowledge of real need. Then another group, the mafia, brought bicycles for all the children. "I guess God can use the mafia, but I would lke God to u

Do you remember that dread you would feel when you walked into a classroom, only to hear the teacher say those fateful words, 'Time for a pop quiz.' It was in times like those that I asked God the hard questions in prayer, 'Why, God, do bad things happen to good-looking people? Why?' This dread was matched only by the big test that loomed. You know, the one you knew you had no chance of passing unless you checked out of life and studied for 4 months. The only other possible hope you had was if the teacher decided to grade on a curve and all the nerds were sick...or if something were slipped into their lunch. Well, that dread has returned to my home. My boy, a high achieving first-grader, is already seeing his future shrivel before his eyes as he thinks about his test today. Luke (with tears in his eyes): Dad, I have a test tomorrow. Dad: So, how hard can your work be? Luke: The teacher said she's going to put stuff in there that she hasn't taught us. Dad: She sa

I doubt most people have ever thought of Nehemiah as a tough guy. I know I haven't. To be honest, most people don't think about Nehemiah. He's the guy from the Bible. He organized the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. I think most people, if they think of him, imagine some small-ish guy leading a less-prideful Israel. A lot of this may be due to the children's song about Knee-High-Miah. That's unfair. I'll give you a few reasons why I think Nehemiah was like his generation's Mark Driscoll, but without grabbing headlines. 1. He's a leader. Think less Ross Perot and more Arnold Schwarzenegger. This guy was leading reform and knew how to get it done. When he talked, people listened. 2. He helped rebuild a wall. He's a construction worker. Ever walked past a construction site and seen that 98-pound kid you knew from middle school? If it's the same kid, he's not 98 pounds. Or if he is, you just walked past a Lego construction site, which is

My children have been a wonderful source of joy and laughter. Most of the time, they do that simply because they are fun to be around. But many times throughout their short little lives, it is because of what they have heard incorrectly. Here's just one example from each, all from when they were 4 or 5. Jacie: She used to listen to a kid's tape of Bible verse songs at night to go to sleep. One morning she came out singing 'Bagel eat, and not the weeds, bagel eat, ooo ooo ooo.' After some thought, we realized the song said 'Be the wheat and not the weeds.' Although eating bagels is a good thing too. Luke: His music was a little more rock-n-roll. He came out of his room one day playing the air guitar while sing-shouting 'White Giddy Up! White Giddy Up!' If not for the tune being close to perfect, I would not have figured out he was singing Skillet's Waking Up . (Say it out loud to yourself a few times, add that rock star mumble, and you can see how it

My wife is teaching in the classroom of the preschool she works at. She doesn't normally do this, so she's getting help from her highly efficient team of crack professionals. This includes her 9-year old, 7-year old, 4-year old and me. It's preschool, so all lesson plans revolve around a letter each week. Next week is F-week, so I'm encouraging my kids to think of all the F-words they can. They've only been in school a few years, so I know I'm not in any real danger. Aside from the art of passing gas, they don't really know any dirty words. We're all sounding out words. Ffffffrogs, ffffffeathers, ffffffffairies. "Fantastic', my wife says. We name songs and objects that start with f. The ideas are really flowing. Then our 4-year old chimes in. "Fff- Fff- Fff- Chicken!" I think two thoughts to myself. #1. What am I paying her preschool for? #2 Can't she hear herself? I say none of this out loud, of course, but gently remind her that

This past summer my family went to Family Camp. We borrowed the cabin of a friend. This was the first time our family had gone to a week-long camp. As I was bringing in our bags and food, I heard a scream come from the loft of the cabin, where my very curious 8-year old had opened a window. When she closed it, she forgot to get her finger out of the way. We hadn't been there 10 minutes and now I was taking my screaming daughter and her bloody finger around looking for a nurse. So started our week. As the week continued, scrapes and bumps continued to mount. Playing outside can be dangerous. Which is why we were a bit safer when it rained. Which it did. A lot. Despite all this, tears flowed when we left camp that week. Fast forward 3 months. I am reading a paper my daughter wrote for class. Here's the gist: I love camp! This summer my family went to camp. It was awesome. I almost severed my finger. I bumped my head. It rained everyday. I love camp! Are you kidding me? There was