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Men and Women Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful.

What: Following the wild, untamed Jesus

Where: South side of San Jose

Orientation: Missional-incarnational

Please contact me if I have described you.

You can email me through my About page, or send me a message on Facebook.

Technorati Tags: missional

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/334805137/poll-whe

So the other day I was showing Noelle our nifty Roomba, which we like very much. She sort of sniffed and said, "It couldn't have been that great -- you didn't blog about it." Ah, but I did put it in my Facebook status, so Noelle, you're missing out because a fair bit of random stuff goes there.

But that helped me realize that I used to post the random "stuff" of daily life right here -- so those of you who either a) refuse to try Facebook because it's trendy which makes it uncool, or b) are on Facebook but are not one of my "friends", may be missing out. Or not.

So, dear reader, I would appreciate it if you would take this poll. Both of you.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/347200442/poll-res

And the numbers are in! In response to the question of where I should post random "stuff",

44% said "On your blog"

19% said "In your Facebook status"

15% said "Please Twitter it"

15% said "Doesn't matter, I don't follow your daily life"

7% said "Doesn't matter, I don't even read your blog"

I like that last one in particular.

Anyway, I'll try to get back in the habit of putting more "stuff" here. That said, I spent this evening reconnecting with old friends from high school. I'll leave you to guess where.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/347780143/at-home-

Kay will be flying to Ohio later this week to bury her father's ashes, leaving me with the kids. I was planning to work from home, until Kay reminded me that I could use my remaining bereavement leave. So I'll be working Monday and Tuesday, then Kay leaves early Wednesday morning, returning Sunday morning.

This is a pretty unique opportunity: Dad time, with no work, for days. What am I going to do?? This is where I need your help: What would kids between the ages of 10 and 15 enjoy doing with their dad, in and around the South Bay? Your suggestions, please.

(The suggestions don't have to be grand, because I know that the activity itself is less important than the fact that we get to do it together.)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/349130173/the-hobb

One of our family rituals is my reading to the kids at night. I have waited for years to read (until the youngest was old enough to follow and appreciate it) The Hobbit. We finished it tonight. I got through the death of Thorin without crying.

LOTR will have to wait some years yet. (I have some experience, having read it all aloud to Kay when we were newlyweds with no television.)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlogOneAnother/~3/350781828/conversa

One benefit of being home today: a couple of young Jehovah's Witnesses came by. In years past, I would have dialed up my "catalog of cults" to recall just what their heresies were (trying not to get them confused), and Bible verses that refute their teachings. It's almost like the goal was to out-Bible them; if you could do that, you won!

But I am done with the "battle of Bible verses" game.

Today they came by, explaining that they had come before but found no one home. As usual, they offered me a copy of the Watchtower magazine, helpfully opened to an article that would explain something: "We'd like to give to you. Do you think you would read it?"

I replied, "Honestly? No. I would be more interested to hear your own story."

Technorati Tags: jehovah's witness

They smiled nervously and exchanged quick glances. "What do you mean?"

I said, "Tell me about yourself. I want to hear about you."

The leader (only one ever speaks) said, "We're not supposed to talk about ourselves. Our job is to share this message."

"Oh. Well you see, I don't have any friends who are JWs. When did you become a JW, or were your born into the church?"

"I was born into the church. My mother used to be Catholic, then she became Baptist, then she became Jehovah's Witness."

"All right, that's cool." Breaking protocol, I turned to the silent partner. "What about you?"

The silent one replied, "Me too, I was born into the truth."

The leader tried to get back to the script: "What about you, do you have any religion?" she asked.

"I follow Jesus. Or I try to. I've been doing a long time now, but I still find that each step is fresh and takes me forward to a place where it's new all over again. It's exciting."

Then the leader shared something honest: "When I was a kid, I didn't care about the important things. I mean, obviously, God is not here, right? All I did was go to the mall and hang out with my friends. But now I care about the Bible."

"Wait a minute. What do you mean when you say, God is not here?"

"I mean, you can't see him, so he didn't seem real to me."

"Oh, OK. Fair enough. Now, I assume you still go to the mall."

"Of course!"

"And do you see God there?"

She looked puzzled. "No."

"Really! When I go to the mall, I see God there."

"Oh, you mean that God is everywhere." (As I type this, I recall that JWs do not think God is omnipresent.)

"Yes, but not just that. When you go to the mall, God is there. He's doing stuff."

"You mean, you carry God inside of you?"

"Sort of. But one of the things Jesus said was, 'I do nothing except what I see the Father doing.' So we're supposed to do the same thing. I look out and I try to see what the Father is doing -- like here in our cul-de-sac. God is up to something, and I want to be part of it."

They smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's why were doing this. But don't you agree that if everyone believed, the world would be a better place?"

"Of course! Things are broken. But everything will be made new," I said, trying to state a belief that is important to JWs which they probably don't hear from others. I continued, "Now, are you two friends? Do you hang out with each other?"

"Oh yes, we've been friends for a long time."

"That's great. I think that when friends hang out together, God is there."

That was the end. "Well, thank you. It's been nice talking with you. Have a nice day." And they left to try out other homes in our cul-de-sac.

When I shared this with the kids, Shelly said, "That's it, Dad -- they're never coming back."

I agreed, "Oh, they probably put a big X next to our address on their chart."

"Dad, you're so mean when you're so nice!"