Super Bowl: I think the most absurd thing I heard about the score of this super bowl is 31-28 Giants.

Let's all stop pretending. Pats by 18.

35-17 Patriots

Dialogue: This is from "Tom" your first myspace friend: Check out what Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul have to say LIVE in today's Super Dialogue. Watch and ask the candidates your questions LIVE on myspace.com/election2008 at 3pmPST/6pm EST. Today, you get to ask the questions and interact with the candidates one final time before Super Tuesday!

Dialogue: funny word isn't it. defined as: a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play or movie.

I think we like the word dialogue because it's less intrusive. If you're in a dialogue with someone and you don't like what they say you can just disregard it as not your opinion and you leave none the worse for wear. There's no harm in a dialogue...after all it's only a movie, book or play.

Mark Driscoll said this originally and I keep coming back to it in my thoughts. Dialogue seems harmless until we consider the garden of eden; the first sin stemmed from a dialogue between woman and the serpent.

Race: I ran in my second 5k today- the Norfolk 5k and half-marathon. Technically it was my third, the first I did walking and the last two running. Thanksgiving was my first running and I finished in 28.43 today I ran a much colder 5k and finished in 26.23. I was happy to improve by 2 minutes and 20 seconds; most of all I really felt I pushed myself the right amount- man I love racing.

Line up for the next few months is a 5k on April 5 and a 10k on April 26 and one at the end of May.

I might need to get a second job to cover race entrance fees but between racing and giving blood I have a ever growing t-shirt collection; some better than others.

Work differences by generation:

The consulting firm Concours Group makes these insightful observations:

Workers under 35 tend to:
Feel less loyal to institutions or the larger workplace than older workers but while they’re working for you consider themselves very loyal.
Want to take on responsibility right away.
Want to give input and not earn their way up.
Be unafraid to make decisions.

Workers age 35 to 54 tend to:
Be more anti-authoritarian and idealistic.
Be ambitious, flexible, and people-oriented.
Have more distrust for leadership.
Stay in their role longer because people ahead of them are retiring later.

Workers age 55 and up tend to:
Be more loyal to their organization.
Trust authority and respect rules.
Feel people should pay their dues before being given responsibility.
Value financial security.
Have higher social skills, making them ideal for customer service.

( Adapted from CMA News, Issue 101, 8/06)

Support Group: My message on Sunday was about two things- the sin of self-sufficiency and living life with no regrets. After service a few people were telling me how they were bummed about what I talked about because now they have to change. I told them that's ok we'll form a support group and do it together. People were casually confessing that they'd need to join the group when Todd says "I'd join your self-sufficiency support group but I don't need it I can get over it on my own!"

Fifty: 50 is the number of miles I ran this month. I have one more running day left but at hitting the milestone I wanted to post. This month I ran a total of 8 hours 37 minutes and 30 seconds. So for 1 work day almost including a lunch break I was running (after thursdays run I'll have taken care of the lunch break). To save you the math that's a pace of 10 minutes and 20 seconds a mile.

Books for Sale: I've sold a good number of books but wanted to repost this to save myself some effort and perhaps you some money. I'll be putting these books on Amazon starting next Monday so if you want any of these books them speak up.

Anderson, Robert The Effective Pastor; a practical guide to the ministry
Atteberry, Mark 10 dumbest things Christians do
Barron's Jack Russel Terriers
Bell, Rob Velvet Elvis
Bivin, David and Blizzard, Roy Understanding the difficult words of Jesus
Blunt, Carl The secrets of the simply youth ministry
Bradley, Michael The Secret Societies Handbook
Brown, Catherine The Jack Russell Terrier
Chrisafulli, Church and Thompson, Kyra Go to Hell
Cladis, George Leading the team-based church
Colson, Charles Lies that go unchallenged in popular culture
Colson, Charles How now shall we live?
Cook, Arnold Must my church die?
Cunningham, Sara Dear Church
Dekker, Ted The Martyr Song
Dobson, James Solid Answers
Downs, Tim Finding Common Ground
Fields, Doug Your first two years in youth ministry
Fox, Emmet The sermon on the mount
Gangel, Kenneth Team Leadership in Christian Ministry
George, Carl Preparing your church for the future
Godin, Seth Purple Cow: Transform your business
Greig, Peter & Roberts, Dave Red Moon Rising- how 24-7 prayer…
Grenz, Stanley and Franz, Jon Beyond Foundationalism
Harris, Sam Letter to a Christian Nation
Johnson, Spencer Who Moved my Cheese
Kennedy, D. James Skeptics Answered
Kimball, Dan The Emerging Church
Lamott, Anne Traveling Mercies
Lindsay, David Mayflower Bastard
Lowry, Eugene The Homiletical Plot
Mansfield, Stephen Faith of George W. Bush
Manual Adobe Photoshop CS2 Classroom in a book & CD-rom
Martoia, Ron Morph
Maxwell, John The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
McCartney, Bill Blind spots; keeping your church for greatness
McGee, Robert The search for significance
Miller, Steve Spurgeon on Spiritual Leadership
Mouw, Richard Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport
Noxon, Christopher Rejuvenile; the reinvention of the american grown-up
Ortberg, John If you want to walk on water you've go to get out of the boat
Palmer, Jim Divine Nobodies
Peacock, Charlie New Way to be Human
Preaching Today More perfect illustrations & CD-rom
Pritchard, Ray Credo
Pritchard, Ray An Anchor for the Soul
Pritchard, Ray An Anchor for the Soul: bible study
Robbins, Duffy Everyday Object Lessons for youth groups
Robison, Haddon Biblical Preaching
Schaeffer, Francis How should we then live?
Shakespeare, William Romeo and Juliet
Smith, Gordon Beginning Well: Christian conversion and transformation
Sweet, Len Jesus Drives me Crazy
Swindoll, Charles Flying Closer to the Flame; Holy Spirit
Wood, Gene Leading Turnaround Teams
Wright, Norman Crisis Counseling
Yancey, Philip What's so amazing about grace?

It must be video friday.

The Bucket List: I have a policy that I don’t cry during tv shows or movies. My thinking is that there is enough to cry about in real life why shed tears for something I’m not personally involved in. But I’ll admit there are times that I do cry during movies, by crying you should know I mean a tear will come to my eye and while I silently blink back the tear, note single tear, I try to figure out a way to touch my eye so I can dry the lone drop before it begins its escape from my eye.

Last night Heather and I went to see The Bucket List. I knew I was going to shed that tear during the movie, I mean how can you not when you watch a movie about 2 terminally ill cancer patients that become friends? But no need to defend myself I’d rather tell you about the movie.

Rarely do I entertain the thought of losing my life and leaving my family on this earth without me. It’s not that I’m that narcissistic but that I hate the thought of… well I’m not quite sure what I hate the thought of. I believe it’s the fear of leaving my family alone, it’s the desire of always wanting to be there for them, especially when they need me.

I guess what most of us want in life is to live a nice long life, one filled with challenges we overcome. I guess most of us want to cheat death a little bit, we want to stretch it out as long as it’s going well. I also believe that the reason why terminal illnesses are so devastating, besides the death part, are that they steal life before they actually bring death. Maybe I need to dwell on that before I declare that my official stance.

Well I’ve gone on for four paragraphs now and I’m not sure what I’ve said besides some sporadic ramblings about life and death. Go watch The Bucket List. It’s a good movie and thought provoking.

Books for sale:I'm purging abut 75 books from my library. Most have been read once and if you know me you know I'm a book nazi and that most of these books will be in mint condition. Let me know if you're interested and I'll ship to you also for only the cost of postage. nick@suffolk-bridge.org- sorry about the spacing from the author to the title- it's a rough excel import.

Anderson, Neil The Bondage Breaker
Anderson, Robert The Effective Pastor; a practical guide to the ministry
Atteberry, Mark 10 dumbest things Christians do
Barna, George Revolution
Bell, Rob Velvet Elvis
Bell, Rob Sex God
Bivin, David and Blizzard, Roy Understanding the difficult words of Jesus
Blunt, Carl The secrets of the simply youth ministry
Brown, Clinard, Northcutt & Fasol Steps to the Sermon
Bryan, Mike The Afterward
Burke, Spencer Making sense of Church
Byland, Richard No Fear: moving mounains and slaying dragons
Chrisafulli, Church and Thompson, Kyra Go to Hell
Cladis, George Leading the team-based church
Clark, Chap Hurt
Cook, Arnold Must my church die?
Cunningham, Sara Dear Church
Dekker, Ted The Martyr Song
Devries, Mark Family-Based Youth Ministry
Donoho, Lanny God's Blogs
Downs, Tim Finding Common Ground
Fields, Doug Your first two years in youth ministry
Fox, Emmet The sermon on the mount
Gangel, Kenneth Team Leadership in Christian Ministry
George, Carl Preparing your church for the future
Godin, Seth Purple Cow: Transform your business
Greig, Peter & Roberts, Dave Red Moon Rising- how 24-7 prayer…
Grenz, Stanley and Franz, Jon Beyond Foundationalism
Harris, Sam Letter to a Christian Nation
Johnson, Spencer Who Moved my Cheese
Jones, Tony The Sacred Way
Kimball, Dan The Emerging Church
Lamott, Anne Plan B: Further thoughts on faith
Lamott, Anne Grace (eventually) Thoughts on faith
Lamott, Anne Traveling Mercies
Lewis, C.S. A Grief Observed
Lindsay, David Mayflower Bastard
Lowry, Eugene The Homiletical Plot
Mansfield, Stephen Faith of George W. Bush
Manual Adobe Photoshop CS2 Classroom in a book & CD-rom
Martoia, Ron Morph
Maxwell, John The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
McCartney, Bill Blind spots; keeping your church for greatness
McGee, Robert The search for significance
McLaren, Brian The secret message of Jesus
McLaren, Brian A New Kind of Christian
McLaren, Brian a Generous Orthodoxy
Michelli, Joseph The Starbucks Experience
Miller, Steve Spurgeon on Spiritual Leadership
Mouw, Richard Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport
Noxon, Christopher Rejuvenile; the reinvention of the american grown-up
Ortberg, John If you want to walk on water you've go to get out of the boat
Palmer, Jim Divine Nobodies
Peacock, Charlie New Way to be Human
Preaching Today More perfect illustrations & CD-rom
Pritchard, Ray Credo
Pritchard, Ray An Anchor for the Soul
Pritchard, Ray An Anchor for the Soul: bible study
Prothero, Stephen American Jesus
Ranier, Thom Surprising insights from the unchurched
Robbins, Duffy Everyday Object Lessons for youth groups
Robison, Haddon Biblical Preaching
Shakespeare, William Romeo and Juliet
Smith, Gordon Beginning Well: Christian conversion and transformation
Stanley, Andy The Best Question Ever
Stanley, Andy The Best Question Ever: Study Guide
Stanley, Andy; Giglio, Evans, Maxwell, etc Blueprint for Life (Package)
Stetzer, Ed Planting new churches in a postmodern age
Sweet, Len Jesus Drives me Crazy
Turner, Matthew Beautitude; relearning Jesus
Wilhite, Jud Stripped: Uncensored grace on the streets of Vegas
Wood, Gene Leading Turnaround Teams
Wright, Norman Crisis Counseling
Yancey, Philip What's so amazing about grace?
Yankoski, Mike Under the Overpass
Yankoski, Mike Under the Overpass workbook
Yohannan, K.P Revolution in World Missions

Can I tell you something?: This Sunday we tried something new after church. Instead of a typical annual meeting we did an event called Bridge 360. Which as the name describes is a 360 view of the church. We looked back to 2007 and forward to 2008.

The first amazing thing of B360 is that we had nearly 100% participation. I believe there was only 1 person that couldn't make it that is a member or regular attender of The Bridge. There was an excitement in the air after an excellent worship service and them moving into B360 right after that was just perfect. As the pastor I was able to clearly share the vision I have of our church and well as the individuals in the church. I was very very honest about our current situation and where we need to be in the next few months. I asked everyone to take responsibility for their own spiritual growth while BJ, our worship leader, and I, do our very best to create a worship experience that challenges them and takes them deeper.

I told them The Bridge Church exists to equip you to have a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ. Thriving is growing, challenging and reaching.

We also talked about money and we talked about our weekly and monthly bottom line that we need to begin reaching. I gave the facts and then we prayed about our situation. I've given everyone pledge cards and asked each family pray that God would make clear to them what they are to pledge to give to God through The Bridge in 2008. We will collect these cards Sunday January 21 and I'll blog then about the amazing way God has provided.

Distance: Today I started a new running program. I'm training to run a 10k (6.25 miles) sometime this spring. I was going to train to run an 8k (5 miles) on March 15 but since my new little boy is schedule to be born on March 14 I thought that would be bad timing. Um...baby. I know you just had a baby and I know it required major surgery. But there is this race today that I really wanna run. I'll be back in a few hours. Don't worry the nurses have it all under control.

So I decided to bypass that and I'll just do a 10k race at a little later date.

So today was my first long run. A long run is a run where you never really get out of breath but your whole purpose is to train your legs and get used to be running and on your feet for long periods of time. Today I ran a new personal distance record of 5 miles and I did it at about an 11 minute mile pace. That's 55 minutes of running.




If you have no idea what that video is I'm sorry. I'm sorry your parents failed you by not letting you watch The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. That dance is called the Carlton and is a staple is any persons' dance repertoire. It's also good for a laugh.

"Oh, that you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the Lord Almighty.

Malachi 1:10-11

This in response to the things happening in the post-exhilic Jerusalem in the book of Ezra.

Ought Eight: So here we are in 2008. Thoughts evade me right now but I feel compelled to get something down here at Thinking Padre. I haven't had time to sit down and think through some of my goals for 2008 but before I do I want to consider something.

I wonder as I get older as I flip through calendars or consider pictures of the past and I come to pictures of 2008 what will I remember. I'll definitely remember my 2nd son being born, I'll remember that Nathan turned three this year. I won't likely remember my physical achievements, I won't remember how much money I made or that I drive an awesome 1995 Honda Accord. I might remember that the Redskins won the Super Bowl (I can dream right) but I won't remember many things about this year.

I wonder how many of my memories of 2008 will be things I planned for or things that just "happened" to me. It seems seldom do our lives go as they are planned and our happiness is dependent on how well we accept those "happenings" rather than how much we cause them.

Perhaps that's how I should consider what my goals will be for this year.

I believe I have come to my first goal of 2008.

1. To make sure I'm right in the middle of what God has planned for me. To obey him with reckless abandon and to strive to be content where he would have me. At first writing this sounds negatively passive but I believe it is the most active thing I can do sometimes.

God keep me aligned this year...please.

Secret Societies Handbook: I picked this book up off the discount rack at Barnes and Noble. It's a little book about how the secret societies have shaped the history of the world and our country. It was a pretty interesting read about the different societies, the famous people that are members of them and their different rituals. This book was missing a few things though. Like actual descriptions of their secret rituals, how the secret societies have shaped history and solid evidence that these secrets are dangerous.

20 of 52


The Martyr's Song: by Ted Dekker. Oh I'll read this little book over Christmas to close out my year for reading. It will be a quick little read a enjoyable little piece during my vacation; those are the words I thought to myself. Why I thought a book titled the MARTYR'S song would be a piece of light reading currently evades me, perhaps the word song threw me off.

Placed at the end of WWII a village of believers with only a priest is persecuted for their faith by a rogue band of bosnian soldiers.

21 of 52

2007: I'm setting a couple of goals for 2007. Brandon keeps asking me what my goals are for 07 and I keep giving him a dumb look. So at his prompting here are a few of my goals.

To read 52 books
To lose 52 lbs
To meet 520 new people this year
and see 52 of them come to a Bridge worship service

I would also like to be intentional about reading through the Bible

As a church we will strive to see 52 people make a decision to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.
(invest and invite)

Those were my goals for 2007. Pretty much I failed at reaching most of those. But don't dismay Mr. Optimistic is here to stay.

Assessment of those goals:
1. I did not read 52 books I read 1 book 52 times (Go dog, go). I did read 21 books, two of which I haven't posted on yet so hopefully I'll get to that today.
2. I did reach my goal to lose 52 lbs. In fact I more than doubled that; as of this morning I have lost 112.3 lbs. (for my canadian readers that's 51 kilos)
3. I did not meet 520 people this year, not even close.
4. We did not see 52 decisions for Christ this year at The Bridge. I think of all the goals to miss and miss it big we did, this one hurts my heart the most.

Stay tuned for my 2008 goals. I'm not thinking I should try to lose 110 more lbs next year...

What?: So I'm at the gym today and I see a guy accidently leave his hearing aid near the showers. I call to the guy, "Hey you forgot your hearing aid." The guy then proceeds to ignore me. Jerk!

Stuff they don't teach you at "pastor school": I threw my bag into my car this morning as I was heading to the gym then opened the garage so I can put the trash can out to the street. I was loading my car with other recyclable trash when I hear someone's cell phone ringing. It being about 6:40 in the morning and the fact that I was outside it dawned on me that it might be my phone. By the time I made it to the phone the person who had called had already been sent to voicemail.

I checked the number and assumed it must have been a wrong number, then the voicemail alert, I checked the message. It was Kristina Sherman (odd, I thought). Then I thought "oh crap, Hannibal is a firefighter and something must be wrong". I listened to the message cliffs version are: huge church fire in portsmouth, Hannibal's crew was first on the scene, from the video on the news it looks like every crew in portsmouth is down there. I turned on the news and it was just the weather. I called Kristina and she was very calm and told me what she had said in the message. I could hear, Eden, their 3 month old son chattering in the background. I told her that I would pray for Hannibal and pray for her. So I prayed for them on the phone and told her to keep me and Heather updated.

As I was driving to the gym I called Heather and told her what was going on. I asked her to call Kristina when she could. Then I went from pastor business mode to pastor friend mode and I just started praying for Hannibal's safety and the safety for the crew he's on. Then I started crying and I was scared and I was worried. I thought it ironic that 10 minutes before I was doing my best to provide comfort and strength to Kristina when really on the inside my heart was shaking and I was afraid it was breaking.

The good news is that Hannibal is safe. His crew was the first ones there and they were the team in the article that went inside searching for people. They began to hear the church collapse and that's when the dropped their equipment and went outside to continue to fight the fire.

I have more to say but don't think I will right now. I'm just greatful that Kristina trusts Heather and I enough to call us and ask us to pray and I'm so greatful to God that Hannibal and the other firefighters are safe after such a dangerous event.

Ok: So I was bluffing. Actually I've been inspired to blog a little more the past few days. Likely nothing profound, hopefully nothing too profane.

Mental: The easiest thing I do everyday is get up and get to the gym. It's the one thing in my life that is measurable, attainable, and progressive consistently. There may be a day where that changes but for now in my life it's true and I appreciate it. I do two main types of workout- cardio and weights. In the weight room there are two things that limit me- my mind and my body. My mind will tell me that weight is too heavy for me when often it's not, the key to progress in the weight room is letting your body prove your mind wrong.

Running has become a new hobby of mine simply because of this mental game. Many times my body will tell me that I'm tired, that my legs are burning and that my lungs hurt and that I need to stop running. It's easy to stop running, to lower the speed on the treadmill and call it a day after all I'm not letting anyone down. But when I run I know that if I stop now I'll be quitting I also know that I have more physically to give and that I'm mentally quitting.

Sometimes when I run I like to pray. This week I have been focusing on areas that I believe The Bridge is struggling in. These are areas like lust, marriages, finances and others. When I run I begin to struggle mentally and physically I begin to pray for these things and for people because it reminds me the severity of that struggle. Yesterday as I was running to began to really pray and like those times you can't plan God came near. I looked to the heavens which was blocked by a gym ceiling. But I prayed and God was there. I felt tired physically, my legs were burning and I was beginning to mentally break down but God was there and he brought me peace, he brought comfort to my body through running but as a message to the spiritual things I was praying for. For a few minutes I just felt him and everyone else and everything else just disappeared. My legs were light, my body felt good and I ran. And God cheered me on and said keep running and said that when I struggle just keep running because he is near.

Amen.

Be a statistic: I heard yesterday that 50% of bloggers are dropping out. Perhaps that explains my lack of posting since about June. Maybe I'm just a statistic.

So without further ado (yes I spelled that correctly) I'm just going to stop blogging.

Thinking Padre signing off.

/thinking padre