in 8 minutes or less

Here in Huntington Beach, California, with less than 8 minutes ticking on the library computer here, I’m writing this blog entry under the gun. It’s very mild weather out here, compared to metro DC, and had spent the past 2 days on the road to do a car exchange on behalf of my sister-in-law, all the way out to Flagstaff where it was snowing.. in essence experiencing the whole spectrum of weather in one day. On the agenda is time with family and extended family out here in California. It is that annual Christmas kind of a thing. That’s how relationships sovereignly work, beyond your or my control: you get the parents and siblings that you have, and the kids you have, you have no choice in the matter. The only ones you have a lil’ say so is your spouse and friends. But few get to spend holidays with friends. Most have to spend it with family.

Will be getting some conversations with people later part of this week, to dialogue about life and ministry matters, the lil’ networking thing. Heard a good networking tip the other day: talk to the people next to you when you’re standing in line. Easy enough! I’d imagine there’ll be quite a bit of line-standing (or queueing, as they say in British countries) when our family goes out to Disneyland on Friday.

why be Episcopalian

I’m a big fan of stand-up comedy, have been since my teen years. One of my favorites is Robin Williams, who is an Episcopalian, shared this – Top 10 Reasons to Be an Episcopalian:
10. No snake handling.
9. You can believe in dinosaurs.
8. Male and female God created them; male and female we ordain them.
7. You don’t have to check your brains at the door.
6. Pew aerobics.
5. Church year is color-coded.
4. Free wine on Sunday.
3. All of the pageantry — none of the guilt.
2. You don’t have to know how to swim to get baptized.
… and the Number One to be an Episcopalian:
1. No matter what you believe, there’s bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.

spiritual by association

Spirituality is mostly relational, if you’re not born into it (many people claim a family religion), then someone introduced you to it… on page 50 of Sterling W. Huston’s book CRUSADE EVANGELISM AND THE LOCAL CHURCH it states: ‘Surveys of Crusade inquirers reveal that at least 80 percent of the unchurched who respond to the invitation were brought personally by someone else.’ (Mr. Huston is the Director of North American Ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.)