Missional Living

[latin. 'the die is cast', spoken by Julius Caesar upon crossing the Rubicon.]

Now there’s no turning back. Today I’ve officially registered for the AT&T Austin Half-Marathon (13.1 miles). A good friend asked me at our retreat this last weekend, "What’s your goal?" (She’s a tall, lean, college-age runner….ugh.)

"To finish in a vertical position."

I’ve gone and done it.

After tinkering with a used PowerBook G4 for the last year, I’ve finally ordered my new laptop.

Good bye, sluggish PC. Hello, Mac Book Pro.

With your glossy, hi-res 17′ display, 4GB RAM,  and oh-so-fascinating Logic and Final Cut goodies, I expect to be singing your praises soon.

Merry Christmas to me.

Since I was a freshmen in high school, I’ve loved Dan Fogelberg. (No, it wasn’t ALL hair metal…). Same Old Lang Syne and The Leader of the Band weren’t just songs on the radio–they were experiences. And years later, they still take me back to that freeze-frame moment they created. In fact, I’m a sap: I only listen to Lang Syne at certain times because the place it takes me to is almost sacred.

Fogelberg, 56, died today after an almost 4 year bout with prostate cancer.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Jean, and his famly and friends. A guy I would have loved to have known better, he loved the tonal qualities and subtle range of the acoustic guitar. He loved to laugh and abuse the English language. He loved rock and roll. He always thought he’d quit the music business..but never the music. He was blessed with the never-ending gift/curse of music. And wasn’t cool enough for MTV. And he defined success as having just one person listen to his work and say, "Wow! Thanks for writing that!"

"we tried to reach beyond the emptiness, but neither one knew how…"

Wow! Thanks for writing that.

Here’s a live video to take us back.

It’s the story of a mother who gave birth to a son. And the son who holds the fate of the world in his hands.

Her name is Sarah. Not Mary.

I gotta admit, there’s only about two shows on television I watch with any commitment, so when the announcement came that my one-of-two favorite shows, Heroes, would NOT be aired beginning in January, I fell into a panic.

But God is good. FOX announced the upcoming Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

 After viewing several trailers online, you’ll see why this one is my favorite.

If you want more of the plotline, watch this.

I’m just not over it yet, so indulge me.

The past week was filled with the wonderful monotony of living. The laughter of my four-year-old. The smells of Thanksgiving dinner. The excitement of our 7-year-old as we decorate our Christmas tree. Running through the park, walking in the rain, fishing at sunset, hearing the lap of the water against the shore, the song of the birds flying overhead. All creation screams these subtle hints of the Creator. Our God is like a man hiding, who clears his throat and thus gives himself away. In the stillness, there is a deep-down resound of creation that all is well. And all will be well because He holds us in his mighty hand.

Yet there is still something very wrong. There are still crowds of homeless families under the 6^th street bridge that beg for food. There are HIV-ravaged children. And the single mom working two jobs, whose ex-husband won’t pay child support. The married couple that still can’t get the bill collectors to stop calling. The elderly man who feels desperately alone and forgotten—especially during the holidays. Sometimes we have trouble finding God under the bridge or among the sick and depressed and lonely…although I believe He’s there.

And something tells us he’s been there before. Long before. The lingering scent of hope. The fragrance that reminds me of how things are supposed to be. How they will one day be again like in The Beginning. Hope in the smiles of terminally ill children. The silent strength of struggling parents. The elderly with lapfulls of orphned-now-adopted children. The laughter of the once-hungry-and-thirsty. The peace of giving away the shoes on your feet and knowing God will provide tomorrow’s manna. The chagrin of seeing it all take place under the radar of those lost in a busy, corporate, ladder-climbing rodent race…and knowing it will happen all over again tomorrow because we are still chasing after shalom and its Prince.

The magnificent monotony of it all.

Holidays are insane.

When you talk to people about the craziness of running to family get-togethers, spending days on the highway and in the car,  people always get that nervous little laugh…you know the one I’m talking about? The one that secretly says, "Yeah, I wish I could just stay home and rest, but…whatcha gonna do?" Don’t get me wrong. I love this time of year. LOVE it. Family. Food. Football. Fishing. Catching up with friends and family. But the frantic pace at which our society runs during this time is…well,stupid. (IMH, but accurate, O)

Carl Jung once said, "Hurry is not of the devil. It is the devil."

We were not made for that which we’ve given ourselves to. I’ll resist the urge to chase a rabbit here on consumerism—although I’m sure it’ll surface in the next 6 weeks sometime. For now, let’s just say we are the least disciplined people I know. And our discipline is weak several areas of our collective lives, but especially in the discipline of rest. Instead of a regular Sabbath, we now boast about working an 80-hour week, running from work to church to soccer practice and Taco Bell, then home with just enough energy to finish homework, lay our clothes for work the next morning and set our automatic coffee makers to get us going again in six hours. With all of the Scripture’s admonition to ‘be still and know‘, to ‘wait on the Lord’, and to expect the ’still small voice’. we just don’t get it.

A couple of years ago, I was sitting in a buddy’s office at his church in Corpus Christi, worn out from the pace of ministry and of trying to meet everyone’s expectations. Because of the obvious frantic pace of his growing ministry, I asked Bil, "What do you do when you feel like you need a long vacation?" He smiled. "Take a long vacation."

So, beginning today, I’m out. I’m unplugging and logging off from my laptop, ministry responsibilities, ….and my razor. In return, I’m going to be logging on to my Creator, my family, some fishing, and some long uninterrupted books and wrestling matches with my boys. I’m going to finish my metro-friendly Allure of Hope (think ‘Ragamuffin’ for the testosterone-challenged) and walk slowly through Foster’s Celebration of Discipline for the umpteenth time. After Thanksgiving weekend, I’ll bring you up to speed on things God is teaching me…and maybe we can walk together through the next few weeks without getting imbalanced. And maybe we can learn the discipline of rest together.  Trust me, I know this is a crazy time to be thinking about rest—we’re just now barely getting geared up for holidays and travel and shopping and cooking and buying and going…..and going…and going.

Which is why we need it now. I am not the Energizer Bunny.

See you in a week!

My allergies are killing me. I can’t breathe. I can’t sing. I can’t talk. I sound like a 70-year-old man who’s been smoking cigars for 69 years, 11 months, and 29 days….kind of like Louis Armstrong. Which got me to thinking about some of the great quotes collected on cigars:

Beginning Thursday, I will be offline the rest of the week.

Jimmie and I have a dear college and CastMaster friend who lost his mother to cancer this week. I’ll be travelling to far north East Texas for funeral and family activities. Please pray for Kyle and his family.

Also, have been experiencing some whack-job internet problems this week and my internet access is pretty hit-and-miss. I can receive emails sometimes. Sometimes I can even get the whole email. But I can’t send very many. If you’re reading this, it means this post actually made it through the system successfully. Hopefully, I’ll have The Justice League, Part Two up this afternoon if we’re still live….

The first-ever tomcottar(dot)org online contest was a great success! Great creativity! After much consideration in a difficult situation I realized a few things.

1. I should have been more congnizant of Buffy (Spike Is My Personal Example) and Fight Club (Soap Inspires Mindless Pummeling of Enemies). Dang.

2. Personal emails sent to me asking "Is this right?….." followed by a ton of guesses, don’t count as official contest entries.

3. It’s gonna cost me a hefty sum to send this stuff to our winner.

4. Living is easier after rendering fat.

So…are you ready? Waiting with baited breath? Can you feel the anticipation? The winner is……..a great guy. He got closer than anyone and missed it by a hair. For that reason, I need to tell you that S.I.M.P.E. stands for Spiritual, Intellectual, Mental, Physical and Emotional. Congratulations, Jimmie! Your box of goodies will be packed up and mailed to you on Monday! 

UPDATE: Here is an updated pic of my process, though not yet complete, with sticky notes and reminders of goals and priorities for a fat-free life. Some of the stickys are scribbled with things such as the following:

• date night
• 1-on-1 time with the boys
• finish your book
• books to read
• leaders to mentor/develop (By Design and Student Ministry)
• get the ‘I’ out of worship (this one applies to SIMPE, BY DESIGN, and STUDENT MINISTRY…)
• Houston or Austin Marathon
• be faithful to accountability partners
• schedule a Sabbath
• UPALO (Unplug and Log Off)

My wife and I got a call last night from her sister. It seems that her sister’s friend has a teenage daughter who’s cutting herself. And what’s really freakin’ the mom out is the fact that she herself use to cut when she was in high school, but never told anyone. Now that her daughter is doing it, she’s even more concerned. Unfortunately, she’s not alone. So, without going into the gory details of student ministry, I felt the need to re-post a fantastic story and ministry I ran across a couple of years ago. Here’s the short version:

Jamie had a friend who was working with Joaquin Pheonix on the Walk the Line movie set. Her friend gets her on the set to watch things and she notices that Joaquin doesn’t have an assistant with a notebook to write things down that come to his mind. In fact, Joaquin doesn’t even have a notebook  himself. So he writes things on his arms–to remind him of things to do, things that are important. Jamie loves the idea of being boldly reminded of what’s important and, as things are bad at home for her, writes ‘LOVE’ on her arm to be reminded. Love isn’t such a bad thing to be reminded of…

A few weeks later Jamie sees the movie. And it moves her. She loves watching how ‘patient love can overcome pain’ as Johnny Cash beats his addictions. She also meets another fan, Renee, who is completely inspired by the movie. Only, for Renee, it gave her hope that she could overcome her addiction. Watching the movie, with cocaine-laced tears, she wept in the theater and was moved by hope.

Renee is a cutter. And she cuts deep words of hatred (for herself) into her arm. I won’t tell you the rest of the story, but you can read it here (but beware of the language). The story is beautiful.

These days, Jamie and a host of bands, are now travelling and speaking (and rocking), drawing crowds and attention to the thousands of young people in despair–self-mutilators, suicidal, depressed–bringing a message of hope and love. Bringing the story of the Great Overcomer. Taking the story of the Prince of Shalom everywhere from Florida churches to taverns to Ozzfest.

Check out their resources and website. You may need it.