Happy Good Winter

i hope this doesn't offend anyone.

i just think this is funny

I am not a huge dessert person. My wife loves dessert, especially anything with chocolate in it. I am much more a meat and potatoes guy. We just had a Christmas lunch with the staff at the church, and I had 2 helpings of mashed potatoes (they were awesome) and no dessert.

I can kind of see this played out in other parts of my life. I am not really into the frilly stuff. It's nice sometimes to have the extras, but it's also nice to be content in having what's necessary. My car gets me where I need to go, my clothes cover up the parts of me that no one wants to see, and my home gives me a shelter even though it is extremely small.

I was watching a show on VH1 the other day about really rich people splurging. I am definitely against waste and I was deeply disappointed in some of the things they spent millions of dollars on. One girl spent 3 million dollars on her summer vacation!! At the same time, I think that sometimes God wants us to allow ourselves to "splurge". I am not talking about expensive vacations or anything like that, but sometimes my wife should be able to get a new outfit. Sometimes I should be allowed to get a toy for my guitar or a new dvd. Obviously not all the time, but sometimes.

Brother Andrew (in his book God's Smuggler) deals with this a bit. He and his wife were committed to bringing Bibles to communist countries. Every penny that came in went out. They dressed their children in the donated clothes. His wife hadn't had a new outfit in a long time. Finally, a friend of theirs challenged Brother Andrew on this issue. He said that God wants to give us good gifts and that He and his wife should be willing to accept them from time to time. This didn't mean that they should blow all the money that came in on fancy houses and cars (as some preachers are in the habit of doing), but that they should definitely splurge a little every now and then.

I struggle with money. I struggle with both attitudes. I get so angry when I see Christians wasting money, and I get angry when there are people who hate others with wealth. I struggle with a middle ground. I know that I only need the meat and potatoes, and I know that every now and then I'm supposed to have dessert. Too much dessert is bad for me and too little is a "crime" against the way God has set it up. I just pray that I can have a correct view of money. Wow, this was random.

Home

From the time I moved out of my parent's house in Madeira, Ohio (home of the Mustangs!!), I moved every year until I got married and my wife and I lived in Mercer, Pennsylvania (home of the Mustangs!!) for almost 3 years. I know reside in Mandarin (home of the Mustangs!! ...seriously people) which is a suburb of Jacksonville, Florida (much better weather).

When you move from place to place so much (literally every year for 9 straight years into a new apartment/townhouse/house/etc.) you really start to think about the question, "what makes a home a home?" Is it the furniture? Your own room? The people you live with? I have been asking myself this question since 1996 when i move in with Scott, Ben, and Dave. I liked that apartment, but it never felt like home. I went to my parent's every week (sometimes more than once a week) and that felt like home. Then, when i moved into an actual house with Kevin, Devon, Chris, and Scott, I thought, "now this will feel like home." And it did more than the apartment, but it still wasn't home. It was just the place i slept (and sometimes didn't sleep because Kevin had to have the loudest fan in the world on at night). Next came a new crop of roomies and a new place. Ryan moved in. A friend from childhood. Surely the history between us will make me feel more at home. And it did a little bit. But not enough.

Greg, Kevin, Ryan, and I lived together (with others in and out) for the next few years in a number of different places (remember punching holes in the wall out of frustration with foosball or Risk?), and I felt more and more at home. I started going to my parent's less even though I only lived 20 minutes away. Even with the moves, it felt more like I lived there as opposed to only sleeping there. I couldn't put my finger on why though for a long time.

It wasn't until PA (that's what people from Pennsylvania call Pennsylvania) that i really felt at home. I was recently married and we bought a house. It was ours (well, it was the bank's but it would be ours in 30 years)! But not until we moved to Florida did I figure out why. Since being in Florida, we have bounced around from an apartment (very small with drug deals going on in the parking lot) to a nice studio cottage (thank God for the Burkes!) and it hasn't felt quite like home. But not because we don't own it, it's because we're the only one's in it. I have discovered that for me to feel at home, I have to have other people coming over. I have to be inviting others to it. Coming in, eating our food, playing with the dog, sitting in my chair (how dare they!!), and even sleeping there when they need to. When I invite people to where I live, to be with me and my wife, I feel at home. I feel this way with my faith. I am not truly owning my faith unless I am inviting others to be a part of my journey with Christ. This may not seem like a great analogy to you, but it was significant to me when I first realized the correlation. I need to be inviting people into my life with Christ or else I'm just sleeping there.

This is the first blog

So I thought it would be fun to put something up here once a week (maybe more if I'm feeling it) just for you guys here at MPC and Crave. If other people read it, that's great to, but hopefully everyone who is involved with Crave (or 908, a small group, or Mars Hill) can come here and get something out of it. Some weeks it might just be a recap of what's going on here. Others I might share some thoughts on what we're talking about. And still others might just be some funny stories. I hope you all keep checking in here, and don't forget to sign up for the ski trip if you haven't already.