Pops Pizza: Comfort food and comfortable familiarity

Today I went to my a buddy from high schools wedding in Cape Girardeau, about 2 hours south of where I live. It was a wonderful ceremony, but thats really not what I'm going to talk about. So, Matt and Tasha, I love you and congratulations!

After the wedding I met my old Young Life director (who's now a Pastor at a church in Cape, he also officiated the wedding) at perhaps my all-time hands-down favorite restaurant on the planet: Pops Pizza. The place is like a time warp. Pretty much EXACTLY how I remember it from high school. We enjoyed off-campus lunch privileges and with a $5 pizza buffet + drink Pops was (and still is) unbeatable.

The thing about Pops is that its actually a bit dingy. I'm so spoiled in my suburban West-County ivory tower if I went there for the first time today, I might have thought it was a little gross. But what makes Pops so great is that it remains unchanged.

C.S. Lewis talks about what I'm trying to get at in "The Four Loves" with familiarity comes affection. Even something that initially strikes us as unpleasant can with time and consistency become charming. Comfort brings affection. We grow to love the familiar. So the pizza place of questionable quality (certainly questionable caloric content, and if I say that you KNOW its bad) with its smeared sneeze guard and sticky tablecloths becomes a thing of beauty. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Last year my church built a new facility. During the moving process when people would get nostalgic about the old building I would try to keep from rolling my eyes. Maybe its a little sad that I'm comparing how I feel about a pizza place to how others feel about their place of worship for so many years, but I have to say I can sympathize a little bit.

In his book "Intuitive Leadership" Tim Keel talks about what happens when God's people get sentimental and rely to much on the past. Talking about the Israeli/Philistine battles in 1 Samuel:

"...what Israel does in their moment of crisis is revert to their past...Israel could have said 'this was the pattern of God's activity in the past. Based on that, how do we discern what to do now?' But in the confusion and pain of their environment, Israel looks to her glorious past. Implicit in this move is an assumption that because God operated in such a manner in the past, he will do so again...The reality is that God's activity in the past can become a stumbling block in the present. When we refuse to engage the environment as it is before us now, we become prone to sentimentality, going through the motions, employing totems, and spouting meaningless God talk..."

So in conclusion, Pops Pizza is a great place to visit but after a fierce inner debate not a place to oft' return. Likewise, Christians need to always be monitoring our mission, our motivations, and our methods so that we don't become so sentimental that we're detrimental to God's work in the world while we sit undistrubed in our monuments of nostalgia.

Youth MiniStarz

Grandma Betsy

Many friends already know, but Grandma passed away May 19th in Kirksville. She had suffered a stroke. She lived a long, full 84 years, loved and was loved by many. She had lived in Edina pretty much her whole life and was still in the same house that they had bought in 1954! She was honored at her funeral, and I am so glad my whole family was there to grieve and go through all of that week together.

I thought I'd just put up these photos. The top one is very special. It was given to a family member only two weeks ago! It was from someone who went to high school and Grandma and was on the softball team with her. So the top one is of Grandma when she was 16. The bottom one is of Sarah, Grandma, and I at Christmastime. My Uncle told me it was one of her best days in a long time. We will always treasure our last Christmas all together. Grandma, we love you and will miss you dearly. I will close as my Dad did in a prayer at her bedside: Jesus, we reluctantly but willfully commend her into your care.

Goose on the roof!

Wii Bowling Tourney @ Youth

Youth Group + Retirees + Wii=Awesome!

VOTE FOR MY FRIEND KATIE!

Watch the video, then GO HERE to vote for her!

Cold wife

Our heat cut out, luckily our landlord is her cool and on thief way.
In the meantime since our home is 53• Sarah is warming her hands by
the steam from the dishwasher drying cycle.

What?!?!

From Houston: Before

Just getting around to posting some pics from our workcamp over spring break. Here's the main part of the graveyard when we arrived.

From Houston: After

On Fasting

As with many things, if its good enough for Jesus its good enough for me. Fasting is a denial of self to focus on God. Giving up food, something we need, helps us to concentrate on something we need even more; the grace of God. Jesus was quoting the Old Testament when he said “Man does not live on bread alone but by every word of God.” Fasting reminds us of what we need the most.

There are several things about fasting that can be tricky. Jesus warns us elsewhere to not appear pitiful while fasting to get attention. We also shouldn’t use that time we would normally eat to be super-productive either. Many religions fast. Lots of people don’t eat simply to shed calories. What differentiates fasting from merely skipping meals is what you do instead- connecting with the Living God. Check out this quote from Thomas Merton…

"The goal of fasting is inner unity. This means hearing, but not with the ear; hearing, but not with the understanding; it is hearing with the spirit, with your whole being. The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another, but the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence, it demands the emptiness of the faculties, and when the faculties are empty, then your whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind. Fasting of the heart empties the faculties, frees you from limitations and from preoccupations."

Now, as someone who loves more than his share of food fasting can be tough. Part of it for me is surrendering the privileges I enjoy of being able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want it, and how much I want of it. A privilege that works to my disadvantage. I’m attached to food, not only for nutrition but for enjoyment, and often for social purposes as well. Fasting detaches me from my need and allows me to focus on God. This purposeful disruption is an ancient discipline and something that countless saints have utilized in their walk with God.

So, what do you think? Do you fast?

This never gets old

I have lots of stuff to talk about, but right now I'm at church getting ready for youth group. This ad will always be funny to me:

Ol' Bessie rides again

My trusty workcamp hat: 5 workcamps, including two trips over the
border. Smelled like it too until Sarah made me wash it.

That's My Girl!!!

Timber

First day on the job site

Here in Houston...

A survey of our first day at work: Matt finds an old bottle of booze, Dan finds a skull, Cody (our native Texan) shows us what flesh-eating plants to avoid, and zombies attack. It was a pretty full day

hard @ work

Time to go to work

Expectations

I'm currently in Houston TX on a workcamp with High School students. Right now everyone else is asleep. I am not. My airmatress slowly deflated.

Upon unwrapping and after initial inflating we discovered a hole. No big deal, patched it up, I'll inflate it before bed. Bedtime arrives. Airmatress inflated. I then discover a 2nd hole, which I taped ferociously to no avail.

So, I decided to blog before bed.

The greatest thing about workcamp is it defies people's expectations. Jesus did that a lot, that was the focus of our devotion this evening.

In our world, you work to get paid. You don't pay money to go work. The latter is precisely what we're doing. I love that.

We start at our worksite tomorrow, check lwyouth.org for mobile updates.

Our host church has been awesome. Tonight we even had a true-Texan crawfish boil!

Ok, I'm off to try and make my way to an empty couch. Peace, and sleep well!

Houston here we come

Good weather starting Monday!