Electric Ethos

Psalm 100 (NIV)

A psalm. For giving thanks.

 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
       come before him with joyful songs.

 ³ Know that the LORD is God.
       It is he who made us, and we are his;
       we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
       and his courts with praise;
       give thanks to him and praise his name.

 ⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
       his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Over the next month I am going to write a few thoughts and reflections about this great Psalm in preparation for Thanksgiving. This will be a six part series that will look at one or two verses with each post. I want to encourage you to read, reread, meditate and memorize this passage to prepare your heart daily to reflect a life of sincere thanks. I think you will be encouraged as you read each post but I also think you will find yourself being challenged in many areas of your daily life. Let me know what you think and feel free to leave comments.

When it comes to athletic adventures like soccer games I am always the optimist.  Even when over-matched and undersized I believe that my teams have a chance to win.  I want my players to know that I believe in them even when they have had a rough day on the field, and I never want their rough day on the field to changed my optimism for their athletic future.

Soccer Tribe

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine about my young soccer tribe and he encouraged me to record my thoughts about maintaining a positive environment on the sideline on an ongoing basis. The following list is from the coaches perspective and is intended to assist parents, coaches, players, grandparents and fans keep it fun on the sidelines for young soccer players.

• Be passionate about the game and the people.
• Congratulate the opposing coach every game.
• Congratulate every player every game even on the other team.
• Celebrate growth in your players on the field and off the field.
• Affirm your players to their parents.
• Learn the names of all the players
• Talk with other parents on the sideline and learn their names.
• Offer to assist the coach at some point during the season even in a small way.
• Bring hot cocoa on cold rainy days and share.
• Cheer loudly and often.
• Always be the positive voice on the sideline or in the stands.
• Root for the underdogs, the players struggling to keep up.
• Bring a snacks that are healthy.
• Bring extra water for the family who was running late.

One final thought would be to encourage you to leverage the passion for soccer that you and your players or children have to do something good in your community or around the world.  I’m sure you have had even better ideas that the list above so let me know how you would add to the list.  Here’s to your soccer tribe.

Postmodern Paintbrush

Last night at about 10:30 I went on a walk and stumbled across a poster from the Seattle Art Museum.  The poster featured an event called, Target Practice: Painting Under Attack. As I understand it, the idea of the event was to highlight art and artists who creatively stood up to the cultural norm of elevating painters above all other artists.  For centuries it seems, painters were revered as the artistic elite giving them (painters) the inside track to cultural influence and also social dominance. 

The poster represents what I would call a transitional stage in the artist community.  Transitions in the arts community have often led the way to social and cultural reform. The combined images of a box-cutter, hammer and boxing glove each as a paintbrush in their separate contexts tend to mess with the mindset of the establishment.  These images  force the powers that be to rethink and often redefine the meaning of a paintbrush.  New questions arise like, can something other than a paintbrush be categorized or used as a paintbrush?  The arts community would say yes to this question. Another question could be, what is a paintbrush?

What is a Paintbrush?

So, what exactly is a paintbrush?  A paintbrush, like the boxing glove in the poster is anything that changed or changes the landscape of any culture in any time. Notice that the landscape that changes is nothing like a scene from a Bob Ross painting and the  landscape that changes is not on a tightly bound canvas but living, breathing people shaped by a shift in culture. With this definition of a paintbrush as a backdrop, an idea can become a paintbrush, love becomes a paintbrush, books and people become paintbrushes.

  As I walked away from the poster I started thinking about the major influences that have changed the landscape of my life. I wondered about the paintbrushes that have shaped who I have become. And then the thought came to me…

Jesus understands postmodern art. His paintbrush was the cross.

How did Jesus change the landscape of history? He did it with the cross, He did it with love, sacrifice and submission. He continues to paint today through grace, forgiveness and redemption. And He continues to do it by transforming people and the culture people love. 

If you take another look at the poster you will see a box-cutter, hammer and a boxing glove. As you see these, remember the spear that cut Jesus side, the nails the held Him high and the beating he received at the hands men. He took all this because He was the master artist and saw what the establishment could never see… that a cross would become a paintbrush.

Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and reflections.

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Inhumane acts, outrageous legal systems and savage dictators can never enslave men or women whose hearts have been set free internally by their Creator. The Emancipation Proclamation in my view is both good and bad. It is both a happy and sad occasion, when those who had been enslaved, are set free.

Why good and bad?  Why happy and sad? Slavery is always a bad thing, so the call for freedom, set forth in the proclimation brought a real sense of joy for those enslaved, as well as those seeking the freedom of others. It would have been nice if there was never a need to set slaves free. Unfortunately, there was a need for a proclamation nearly 150 years ago. Thank God it happened.

I think that celebrations of freedom and liberty should be preceded by inward reflections about personal freedom in regard to the way we live.  Why celebrate freedom if you are not living free inwardly. Are not all such celebrations charades? Those with freed hearts are responsible to model a life of freedom for those who think freedom of the body is greater than freedom of the soul.

Today I am reminded of the eternal proclamation of freedom set forth by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of internal freedom He gives.  I am thankful that men and women of faith all over the world are living free regardless of the deplorable conditions of physical slavery. About 1600 years ago a young man by the name of Patrick was a slave in Northeast Ireland.  In the midst of slavery, St. Patrick, as he would later be known, had his heart shaped by his Creator, so when he escaped to physical freedom he dedicate his life to the mission of inward freedom for his barbarian captures.

I want to live like a free man, not because a law or a Declaration of Independence say I can, but because my heart has been set free by Jesus. Today is Double Independence Day.

Live free and pass it on. People will think you are electric.

This past week I spent 7 days with my wife and children in a house on Lake Chelan. We were able to stay for free because our friends Aaron and Monica have super cool parents who, unlike many small children, have learned to share. The blueish-green waters of Chelan were unseasonably warm and the beach was positioned perfectly north of the sun for hours of uninterrupted refreshing rays. When it was time to return home we felt like the stay was just right, not too short and not too long. The following are a few thoughts I had while in Chelan.

1. Clean up after yourself.  This is the third year we stayed at the Chelan House for free. The main reason we were able to make a return trip this year was because Christina (my wife) stayed up till three in the morning on the last night of the trip a year ago cleaning up. Sounds like overkill but after we left last year our friends got a call from their parents (the owners) that said “The Owen Family are welcome any time” based on how clean we, I mean Christina left the house.

2. Naps are not just for toddlers.  Every day after a few hours at the beach in the morning, we would walk back to the house for lunch and a nap. Most people go on vacation and feel warn out when they return to the real world because they never took time to slow down and rest. We played hard every day and went swimming more times than I can count, but those naps helped me to feel fresh and rested when I got in the mini-van for the five hour drive, with potty stops and headed for home.

3. Celebrate little things.  Last year Jordan, our middle child was not real interested in water above his knees.  This year he wanted to see the bottom of the lake, at least in the shallows. He was so brave on the first day at the lake and we made a big deal of it.  Why make a big deal of little things at the lake?  Because Jordan is a big deal to us and we want him to know we are watching the little things and later he will know we are paying attention to the big things. I really love Jordan.

4.  Rethink how you pack.  When we left for Chelan the van was loaded inside and out. There was no leg-room in the van and the car-top-carrier slowed us down on the drive. When it was time to pack for the trip home I was able to make several adjustments inside the van I had never made before and our entire load fit with leg-room to spare. I even folded the car-top-carrier nicely and placed it in the van. How did that happen?

Chelan was a blast, it has turned into a great tradition for our family.  Once again we have been blessed at the beach.