Boundless Podcast

This past week, I was a guest on the Boundless Show. The topic was stereotypes you find among Christians regarding singles and single culture. You also get to hear my TRUE feelings on triathlons.

Stick Horses Double Show Attendance

Thank you everyone who came out to support us at our show Saturday night. We were delighted to have nearly 180 paying customers (up from 91 at our last show). It's true that we have some of the greatest fans on earth! Shows remaining in the Colorado Springs School Family Improv Series will take place on March 22, April 26 and May 24 at 7 p.m. Mark your calendar and tell your friends. Tickets may be purchased online!

Also, if you haven't had a chance to read the Gazette article or see the exclusive video, be sure to check 'em out!

Hypocrite

I gave this article the working title "Kill Hypocrisy," because I feel so strongly that hypocrisy is faith-poison and needs to die. (Jesus said it first.)

The conversation started over sushi. A friend and I were eating these incredible chili rolls, and we started talking about growing up in Christian homes. Somehow we got on the topic of our bygone friends of faith, the kids we'd gone to youth group with — the ones who'd challenged us and prayed for us and helped us grow.

"The sad thing is," I said, "a lot of those friends don't walk with God anymore." And we're not talking an I'm-going-through- a-phase-trying-to-find-myself kind of thing. More like Christianity-is-an-evil-oppressive-not-possibly-true-
religion-that-nearly-ruined-my-life.

My friend nodded. "Yeah, I know people like that."

We pondered this some more and decided hypocrisy had something to do with it. The outward appearance all those years did not match what was really going on. I assumed that what I saw in my friends at church was the norm — because it was for me. Later I found out it was an act that was covering up things that were going very, very wrong in the home. Hypocrisy is toxic.

Read more on Boundless.

Stick Horses Featured in Colorado Springs Gazette

Look for a feature on the Stick Horses and Colorado Springs improv on the front page of the Go! section in today's edition of the Gazette. Check out the Gazette's exclusive SHiP video!

A Romantic Classic

I got a lot of comments on this when I posted it last year. Presented again for your Valentine's Day pleasure: Breaking Up According to Theology. A few of my favorites:

Atheist: The burden of proof is on you to establish the existence of this so-called “god” but I believe that if there was any such divine entity “it” would not want us to continue dating.

Intelligent Design Theorist: Our relationship bears the marks of irreducible complexity making it too difficult to explain by way of natural causes. Therefore, there the most reasonable conclusion is that we were designed to break up since things have gotten so complicated.

Calvinist: We were predestined before the creation of the world to break up according to God’s good pleasure. I am, on my own power, unable to break up with you apart from the irresistible draw of God’s sovereign grace which leads me to end this relationship. Those that truly break up will not get back together in the end.

Arminian: While you love me and have a wonderful plan for my life, I have the power to resist your will. If I did not, love would not be possible. For our relationship to be loving it needs to include the possibility of breaking up—something I am doing right now.

Theistic Evolutionist: The beauty and rhythm of random variation and natural selection over long periods of time has presented us with a world where God has shown us that our relationship is too biologically expensive to maintain and is destined for extinction.

Sarah's High School Musical

My sister Sarah is directing a production of Disney's "High School Musical" in Vancouver, Wash., that opens this Friday. It caught the attention of local media. According to The Columbian:

"High School Musical" has been ubiquitous on television and teen radio for a couple of years now. The Disney Channel movie has spawned a sequel, with another on the way, plus a concert that made a recent stop at Portland's Rose Garden arena.

Yet Christian Youth Theater managed to get to the head of the class by presenting the first local staging of the piece, opening Friday and continuing through Feb. 24 in Camas.

That's three months ahead of the national tour, which will bring professionals to Portland to play the parts in late May.

More than 60 Clark County kids will get the chance to portray their beloved characters on stage first, another coup for Christian Youth Theater.

Bravo, Sarah! I'm proud.

Cute Guys

I've known some cute boys in my day, but these two take the cake.


Nephew Ben playing in the snow.


Nephew Aaron—I'm a sucker for a great smile.

"Kindness" on Ungrind

When my friend Ashleigh asked if she could reprint my article "Practice Non-Random Acts of Kindness," on her Webzine Ungrind, I was excited. Partly because this is one of my favorite articles and partly because it contains one of my favorite stories about my brother, Matt.

When my brother became a junior high youth pastor, he didn't do it alone. Dog-Bear was by his side—or more precisely, on his dash. Matt had purchased the cheap, plastic bobble head at a thrift store some time during college. Applied with duct tape, the bulbous-eyed creature became a conversation starter and spawned a lively debate as to whether it was, in fact, a dog or a bear.

Dog-Bear ended up playing a role in a specific act of kindness, which inspired me to write this article. While you're at Ungrind, take a look around. It's a great Webzine.