Rick Nier...Woo!

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 ...

Why Jesus? It sounds like a very callous question, especially written by a pastor. But there it is and I’ll ask it again. Why Jesus? After all, we live in a world that offers us many choices, especially for those of us who live in the U.S. And since we have so many freedoms, I have to ask...why Jesus? Why would someone choose to submit their lifestyle to a Jewish Rabbi from 2,000 years ago? Why would anyone decide that the teachings of Jesus make sense? This is the guy who said we should turn the other cheek if we are hit. This is the guy who said we should love those who hate and despise us. The same guy who said that less of me means more of Him also said my life should be lost. Why would anyone choose Jesus? Jesus, the same guy who claimed to be God, an absurd thought for the people He came to serve. This is the guy whose own generation didn't seem to get Him, whose own people group didn't really like Him. But what if referring to Jesus as 'some guy' is a dangerous a...

Can you please just tell me what I want to hear? Puh-lease?!? I’ve already given at least 5 seconds of thought to this. Clearly I know what I’m doing. So when I ask for your opinion, you are supposed to understand that ‘your opinion’ is code for ‘just sign off on this.’ I do this mostly with my wife, Jennifer. After being married for almost 15 years, I figured she understood the code. (I say ‘almost 15’ even though we just celebrated 14 a month and a half ago. I think 15 sounds more impressive.) Despite our many years together, she doesn’t understand the code. She insists on giving me her true thoughts, much like Brainy Smurf reminding the other Smurfs of what Papa Smurf always said. But, much like the other Smurfs, I do what I want. This inevitably leads to any number of conversations that end with Jennifer saying, ‘I told you so.’ Supposedly she doesn’t find great thrill in that. I’m not so sure. Predictably she’ll remind me of when I originally asked for her opinion. Geesh! Some wom...

I'm trying to figure out which kind of childhood star to tell you to imagine. Should I give you someone like Drew Barrymore who was first seen in E.T.? It seems like it would be more fun to poke fun at Danny Bonaduce. Not that the Partridge Family wasn't top-notch. Everything else has come back. Why not that family? But if we are to actually talk about this book, you're going to want to imagine Gary Coleman or Todd Bridges, you know, poster children for troubled childhood stars. Because that seems to be the mold that author C.B. Shiepe has gotten Clay Grant, childhood star from the fictional Little Guy Mike. Clay Grant is as troubled as they come. Used and abused by adults who should know better than to view a kid as a cash cow, Clay grows cynical. And why not? He doesn't know who he is or who he even wants to be. The description on the back was enough to intrigue me. In a world where entertainment has become our religion and religion our entertainment, Cliff Falls wre...

So in the midst of the story that never ends, between hearing Job's friends accuse him and Job proclaim his innocence, a thought occurs to me. Job's friends weren't all wrong. This story is too often painted with a hero named Job and 3 guys who could have been better friends. Ok, maybe their theology was a little too simplistic and Job wasn't the mass murderer that they may have considered him to be. After all, God did tell Satan that Job was righteous. but God never did say Job was perfect. In Job 22, Eliphaz makes some good points. Are any of us actually innocent? In fact, Elihu, that young punk of a man, makes the best points when he accuses Job of placing his own self-righteousness above the righteousness of God. After all, if we aren't the ones in the wrong, then someone else must be. And in this story, who is left? Do you really want to blame God? Job took awfully great pains and many, many words to convince his friends he was blameless in all this. We often d...