christ follower vs christian

200th Post

For my 200th post, I want to let you know that I am going to take a short time away from my blog while Callie and I make some transitions in our lives. I have actually resigned from my position at Hastings FUMC to follow a calling that God has placed in my heart. While it is extremely difficult to leave my friends and the students that I work with at Hastings FUMC, I am excited about the path that God has placed us on. I will be back soon to let you know about the new adventure.

Just a quick update on family stuff. My sister gave birth to her second child this morning. Sophia Lee Ann Bucher is the name of the new baby. We are headed to Grand Rapids to visit shortly. Also, Callie and our baby are doing well. Grady continues to grow and is very active. We can't wait for him to get here. We only have about 2 months to go and we have a lot of work to do in that short span of time! I can't wait to hold that little stinker.

I pray that you are doing well and that you continue to be obedient to God's calling in your lives. God has amazing, wait, mind blowing things in store for you if you continue to be faithful to who he has created you to be! Grace and Peace.

Protect your computer

I went to a fascinating free lecture the other day hosted by Dr. Tim Royer. The lecture was on the topic of our brains and more specifically on how to 'reclaim our brain.' The lecture was absolutely incredible and I would highly recommend it to any and everyone. Here is a link to the website for more info: www.reclaimseries.com

During the lecture, Dr. Royer made an interesting comparison between our brains and the current power grid in America. He said that the power grid is out of date and doesn't work well with many of our home electronics. In fact, he met with the inventor of the surge protector and was informed that having your computer plugged directly into a wall outlet for three years can produce the same result as an intense lighting strike, a fried motherboard.

So, moral of the story, plug your computer into some sort of power conditioner otherwise you could easily end up with a fried computer!

An open letter to President Obama

I am reposting a letter written from Brian McLaren to President Obama. I sincerely respect Brian's heart for people and appreciate the time and effort he put into drafting this letter.

Dear President Obama ... (an open letter on Afghanistan)

I am a loyal supporter of your presidency. I worked hard in the campaign and have never been as proud of my country as I was when we elected you.

I'm writing to ask you to find another way ahead in Afghanistan. I wrote a similarletter to President Bush when he was preparing for war in Iraq.

I believe now, as you and I both did then, that war is not the answer. Violence breeds violence, and as Dr. King said, you can murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. As the apostle Paul said, evil must be overcome with good, which means that violence and hate must be overcome with justice and love, not more of the same.

Obviously, you know things the rest of us don't know. And you have pressures and responsibilities the rest of us don't have. But we have based our lives on the moral principles that guided leaders like Dr. King, Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela. We share a profound faith in a loving, non-violent God. We share a commitment to live in the way of Jesus the peacemaker. That's why escalation is not a change we can believe in.

I don't argue for leaving Afghanistan high and dry as we've done too often in the past. Evil can't be overcome by passivity or abdication, but only by positive good and creative action. In that spirit, I offer this humble proposal:

1. Take the 65 billion we would have spent there in the coming year and turn it into an aid and development fund. If you want to go farther, you could put a value on the cost of American lives that would be lost there (I have no idea how this inestimable cost could be calculated), and add that sum to the fund. 65 billion could build a lot of peace-oriented schools and hospitals in Afghanistan. It could serve as start-up capital for a lot of new businesses and it could pave a lot of roads. It could train a lot of police officers and it could enhance a lot of social infrastructure. It could give hope to a lot of women and girls who currently don't have much hope, and it could provide a lot of constructive outlets for men and boys who right now don't have many options besides picking up a machine gun and joining a warlord.

2. Other nations might contribute to this fund as well, and the fund could be extended into the future based on the number of years our military would have been engaged in Afghanistan. The fund could be administered by the US, or better (in the spirit of international cooperation), an IAEC-like agency could be created, subsidiary to the United Nations, to monitor progress in Afghanistan.

3. Then a set of benchmarks could be set, and the money could be released for development in Afghanistan as the nation reached appropriate benchmarks. This fund would be an enticement to mobilize public opinion in the direction of peace and justice, as people would know that their lives could be substantially improved if their factionalized leaders would start collaborating nonviolently for the common good.

4. With this kind of approach, the people of Afghanistan (and Pakistan) would have two clear choices. Al Queda and other extremists offer violence and unrest. But the international community would be offering support for order, rebuilding, collaboration, justice, and peace. This choice is a much clearer and better one than the choice between two groups of leaders who both depend on violence to achieve their aims.

5. Conservatives could support this kind of approach because it emphasizes personal choice and responsibility among the Afghan people. It would come alongside them in their own nation-building efforts at their own best pace, rather than trying to impose our own nation-building on them at a pace we determine. Progressives could support this approach because it changes the role of the US in the global neighborhood - from reactive bully or intentional dominator to responsible neighbor and partner for the common good.

Mr. President, you have my respect and my prayers at this important time. I believe you have the intelligence and insight to find a creative way to use a new kind of force in the world ... something far more powerful than bombs, guns, and bullets: the generative force of creativity, of justice, of collaboration, and yes, of hope. Can we find a new and better way to help Afghanistan rise out of chaos and complicity with Al Queda? You know the answer many of us will shout and chant: yes, we can.

With respect and hope,
A citizen

Did you hear about this???

Has a hyperactive five-year-old taken over as the director of NASA? It sure seems like it. On Friday morning, an unmanned spacecraft launched in June will crash into the moon's surface. On purpose.

Anyone not named Michael Bay is likely to ask why. Here's the answer: NASA wants to know if the twin impacts of the Lunar Crater Observation and its Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will reveal any ice or water under the moon's surface.

Finding out shouldn't be an issue. When the twin crafts hit the lunar surface at around 6,000 mph, NASA expects "plumes of moon dust — perhaps full of ice — (to soar) 6.2 miles high above the moon's Cabeus crater."

Anticipation among the earthbound is running high. Lookups on "nasa moon bombing" are scorching the search box. Related queries on "nasa.gov" and "NASA moon mission" are also rocketing skywards. More than a few folks are wondering how much the soon-to-be-destroyed LCROSS costs. Answer: $79 million, according to Christian Science Monitor.

Clearly, this is one of those cases where a picture is worth a thousand words. We're gonna go one better and show you a video from NASA. The animated clip shows what NASA expects to happen. The entire sequence looks a bit like one of Dr. Evil's satellites crashing into the Death Star. In other words, it's awesome. See it for yourself below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Baseball postseason

Ah, yes the baseball playoffs are upon us. Besides March Madness and the start of baseball season, this has to be one of my favorite times of the year. We have football in full swing, both college and professional, basketball is starting, and the baseball season is reaching it's peak. Since my Detroit Tigers were eliminated from post season contention, I will be cheering for the Yankees to win the World Series this year.

Speaking of the Yankees, they are playing the Minnesota Twins in the Divisional Series. Last night, Orlando Cabrera from the Twins tried to break a bat over his knee after striking out. It didn't go so well for him. Check out this photo blog for a further explanation. It is rather funny!

http://sports.yahoo.com

Do you want to get well? Part 2

In John 5, Jesus asks a man if he wants to get well. The man then seems to indicate that he does. Jesus tells him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." John then goes on to describe that this action happened on the Sabbath. Let me try and unpack what is going on here.

First of all, the Sabbath was a day set aside for rest. On the Sabbath you would do no work. Now, what was considered work was up for debate. There were endless discussions of what it meant to live out the sabbath and endless discussions of what was considered work and what was not considered work. There was one particular school of thought that identified carrying your mat as a form of work on the Sabbath. Check this out, breaking the Sabbath command was punishable by stoning or in other words, death.

This just blows my mind. Jesus intentionally tells the man to pick up his mat knowing full well that it is the Sabbath. Jesus seems to be communicating on several different levels to several groups of people all at the same time.

The invalid or paralyzed man as some translations say, now has a choice and a huge choice at that. Do I remain in my current state of pain and hurt or do I obey Jesus and risk the possibility of being killed? There are some circles of christianity that say when you follow Jesus, all of your problems are taken care of. They make christianity out to be all flowery and rosey and a life of no problems. Really? It seems to me that by this guy following Jesus he just invited a whole new set of problems into his life. Sometimes following Jesus means our lives get more complicated. That is simply a reality.

And what about the religious leaders who were debating what was or was not considered work on the Sabbath? Jesus seems to step in and take a side in this discussion and does so in a rather brilliant fashion by making the man pick up his mat on the Sabbath. Jesus doesn't have to say a word to the religious leaders yet they know exactly where he stands. In fact, his healing and the man carrying his mat on the Sabbath tick off the religious leaders. The religious leaders were so furious that the man was breaking the Sabbath command that they could not appreciate the good that Jesus had just performed in their midst. Some christians will go out of their way to defend right theology and become so consumed with defending their faith that they fail to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a broken and hurting world. We can be so focused on the rules that we forget about the relationship. Our religious rules/rituals should point people to Jesus and not prevent people from coming to him.

Jesus' ministry seemed to embody the ultimate expression of love. He then tells his followers to go and do the same thing. He seems to be saying, be defined by the love you have for God and for others. Don't get so caught up on the rules and rituals that you fail to see the opportunities for good that you have all around you. I am continually amazed at the sheer brilliance of Jesus!