Gary Chapman is the guy who wrote the books on the five love languages.  My wife got all caught up in that for a while.  Honestly, I’m not sold on the love languages, and since this new book sort of builds on the love language books, I’m not so crazy about it.  It might be good for you to read; he’s certainly got some good points, but this just isn’t my thing.

Chapman goes through the seven secrets to love:

• Kindness
• Patience
• Forgiveness
• Courtesy
• Humility
• Generosity
• Honesty

Then he gives some practical application for using those secrets in marriage, parenting, and at work.  He had some good points, and some of it made me stop and think about things.  It’d actually make a pretty decent sermon series.

Overall, I guess it was an ok book.  It wasn’t theologically wrong or anything like that, but it didn’t do a whole lot for me.  I’ll pass it on to my wife and see what she thinks about it.

Managing for the American League team in Yankee Stadium for the All Star Game last night, Francona showed some real class.  When it was time for Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter to come out of the lineup, Francona pulled them out while they were on the field.  The significance here is that in doing this, Francona gave the Yankees fans in attendance the opportunity to cheer for the home team players as they left the field.  He could have easily replaced them between innings, but he didn’t.

Then when the time came to choose relievers, and Francona had to decide if the Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera would pitch the 9th inning or if some obnoxious idiot would close it, Francona took the high road and gave the ball to Rivera.  (It went extra innings, and Rivera didn’t get the decision, but you can’t fault Francona for that.)

Francona deserves a nice round of applause next time he’s in Yankee Stadium.  Protocol dictates that he won’t get it, so that’ll never happen.  Still, he deserves it.

I got an email from a girl in my graduating class tonight.  She wanted to know who else in our class of 15 or so would be there.  Of course, I have no idea.  She and I were really close friends in high school, and I haven’t seen her in a few years.  She’s got kids now.  I’ve got kids now.  Man, this growing up stuff is scary.

I remember when I was a kid, we’d go meet somebody my dad knew when he was growing up, and I’d have to smile and act well behaved while Dad and the long lost friend caught up with each other.  This weekend, I’ll be putting my kids through that misery.

They’ll probably not care that Mr. Crosby and I had loogie spitting contests when I was in high school, or that Mr. Robinett was my basketball coach, that Casey and I were in class together from grades 1-12, or that Marty and I were inseparable 13 years ago. I’m ok with that.  My hope is that they see the value of good, solid friendships that are easily rekindled after years of silence. Those good friends we have are too hard to come by.

The trivial bits about these people I’ll see this weekend are just the surface of the relationship that exists below.  Mr. Crosby was the teacher that you could really relate to.  Mr. Robinett was always encouraging me and challenging me to do my best.  Casey is one of the oldest friends I have.  And Marty is that one guy that I could always talk to about anything.

We’ll all be together again this weekend, and it should be a lot of fun.  We’ll have fun laughing and talking and remembering our younger years.  And if there are any loogie spitting contests, I’m quite confident that I’ll be able to defend my championship with honor.

I’ve known Laura’s music since around 2000 when she was with the band Silers Bald.  It was Silers Bald that originally toured with Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” Christmas tour.  And if I’m remembering correctly, she wrote (or helped write) “Labor of Love” (which may be the most beautiful song ever written).

Laura wrote the song “Indescribable” that you’ve probably heard if you’ve been to church or listened to Christian radio at any point in the last couple of years. “Great God Who Saves” features these two songs, and some others that (in my opinion) are even better written (”Immortal, Invisible” and “Grace”).

I’m not really a fan of worship music. That’s an understatement. I’m on the verge of being able to say I hate worship music. I’ve found that so much of the worship music that has become popular is full of shallow (or worse - incorrect) theology and cheap, predictable rhymes. Laura’s lyrics on this album aren’t cheap or shallow. In fact, like the rest of her music that I’ve heard, it’s actually quite deep and very well-written.

If you like really good songs that make you think, you’ll probably appreciate the writing on this album. Even if you’re like me and have a borderline hatred for the worship genre, you should at least give it a listen. Some of these songs are really good.

And if you’re a big fan of the “worship” style of music, you’ll probably like the sound of “Great God Who Saves,” but you may be shocked to find depth and truth that you’re not used to finding on your CCM radio stations.

(You guys like that? Bashing CCM radio and recommending a Christian artist at the same time! Only at moreron.com) 

Here’s the log so far:

• 6/29 - 30 miles (Silver Comet Trail)
• 7/1 - 22 miles (commute to and from work)
• 7/5 - 5 miles (Silver Comet Trail with daughter)
• 7/6 - 31 miles (Silver Comet Trail)

That’s a grand total of 88 miles so far.  I’m planning to add 22 miles tomorrow (work commute) and probably another 10 (off road) on Thursday.  I won’t get a good 30-mile trip in this weekend because we’ll be out of town, so I’ll fall a little behind schedule because of that.  Still, I think I can make it happen.  Anybody else want to join Richard and me in our 30-day quests?

Then we made a trip through Harry’s.  It was my first time through Harry’s, and I was pretty impressed.  It’s one of those supermarkets for hippies and tree huggers, but I did enjoy it.  And we got some really good fresh produce.

Then this afternoon I mowed about 80% of the lawn, grilled some chicken, played games with the kids and just enjoyed the evening off from our regular routine.  Now the kids are in bed, the fireworks outside are lighting up the sky, and this fine Independence Day is winding down.

On a day like this, when we’re free to do so many things (and free from so many things), it’s hard not to remember the brave folks who died to make days like this possible.  One of those fine men was our 19 year old friend Joshua Dingler, who made the ultimate sacrifice while defending freedom in 2005.  May we never forget the price paid for the freedom that we enjoy.

Check it out - NoiseTrade.com

So on Sunday, I was itching to try them out.  I went out to the Silver Comet Trail and logged 30 miles.  I did it intentionally in a higher gear to give my legs more of a workout, and what a difference it made.  I was sore Sunday night and most of Monday.

Last night I cleaned my bike and adjusted the brakes a little in preparation for a Tuesday commute to work.  This is a big reason I wanted the road tires, so I was excited to see that today was going to be a bit cooler with a very slight chance of rain.

On the road tires, I made the 11-mile trip in 45 minutes.  (That’s 15 minutes better than I did it with the mountain tires.)  We’ll see how the trip home goes…I seem to remember more uphill on the way back.

I got 30 miles on Sunday, and I’ll get 22 today.  Maybe I’ll copy Richard and go for 300 miles in 30 days.  I’m not sure I could do it, but it’d be fun seeing how close I could get.

I found her blog after researching the preacher (who turned out to be her husband) in this video to see if the video was a joke or not.  The video is of a pastor telling his congregation that it is against Scripture for a man to pee while seated.  I’m not making this up.  Watch the video if you don’t believe me.

It turns out that it wasn’t a joke (at least not as far as I can tell), and the church is a real church (Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ).  The church’s web site had a link to Zsuzsanna’s blog, and I subscribed to it, mostly out of curiosity.

Zsuzsanna is an amazing person.  She’s the mother of 4 children; she homeschools the ones old enough for school; she works hard to be thrifty; she supports a husband pastor who works a secular job through the week so he can be financially able to be the church’s pastor; and she still finds time to post all sorts of information that could be useful to her blog readers.

Most of the time when I disagree with her, it’s a matter of opinion: women shouldn’t be police officers; it’s wrong to send your children to any (public, private, or Christian) school because homeschooling is the only way Christian families should educate their children; male gynecologists are all perverts who chose their field to be able to take advantage of women; the 1611 King James Version of the Bible is the only real Bible.  The list could go on, and it does.  But it’s all opinion, and I’m happy to let her have her own.

Then today, I read the following on her blog (from this post):

…a derelict and his girlfriend stopped me in their big SUV outside church to ask if the church offered financial assistance to families, and cursed me out when I told them it only helped people who actually CAME to our church.

There!  What’s wrong with Christians…it’s in that paragraph…did you see it?  Christians today are so full of themselves that we’re not willing to help people who come to a church looking for help.

When we are approached by someone who knows we are Christians, we are given an amazing opportunity to practice obedience to Scripture.  Matthew 25 talks about when Jesus returns, and how he will explain to the righteous ones that the little things they had done for “the least of these” had been done as if they were done to Him.

While there was obviously a physical need in this situation, it is likely that there was also a spiritual need.  When we refuse to help meet a physical need, we ruin any future opportunity to meet a spiritual need.  The people asking for help aren’t immediately concerned with (or may not be aware of) their spiritual needs; they’re focused on the immediate physical need, and anyone who helps meet the physical need has an opportunity to move on to the spiritual need.

Should we give money to any person asking for it?  I don’t think so.  Should we blindly overlook people living a lifestyle that obviously goes against Scripture? No.  There must be some discernment, but turning people away because they are not part of your church is wrong.

It is the responsibility of the local church to help people in need.  The needy people know this, but somehow we Christians can’t wrap our brains around the concept of helping people that don’t dress or act like we do.  We get so wrapped up in stupid stuff that we fail to realize that meeting a physical need opens a door to meeting those spiritual needs.

It’s hard to speculate on what she should have done; she didn’t say what their specific need was.  Maybe she turned them away without asking.  Maybe they needed $20 for gas.  Maybe they needed a meal or a shower.  Maybe they were trying to keep their electricity from being turned off.  Maybe they needed a Savior.  Since they were blindly turned away because they weren’t church members, they didn’t get the help they needed.

I hope they found someone to help them, because even if they get the gas, food, shower, or money for the electricity, they’ll still need a Savior.  And I hope they find Him, but I’m guessing they won’t find Him at Zsuzsanna’s church.

• What you say
• What you do
• What you give
• How you live

(That’s from memory, but I think it’s right.)

Today was a rough day.  Nothing specifically went wrong; I got a lot done, but it was really just a tough day.

The last thing I did today was setup an image on our web site for one of our affiliates.  It’s a basic task, but I got frustrated by it because I wasn’t given much to work with (as far as a logo from the affiliate).  I worked through it, got it to look as good as I could, and sent the reply email that it was online.

I left the office feeling completely exhausted and overwhelmed.  Stuff like that really shouldn’t take the wind out of me like that, but today it did.  Shortly after I left the office, I received a reply from the requester:  “This looks great! Thanks so much.”  That reply really made my day today.  It was a quick reply, but it was just what I needed.

For me, it was a “what you say” moment that made the difference.  Somebody around you today probably could use a kind word (or helping hand, generous gift, or an example of behavior).  Go out of your way to give that encouragement today.  You never know what impact a little bit of encouragement could have.