Bad Things

You know that question people always ask? "Why do bad things happen?" I found myself asking it a few weeks ago as our beautiful 2 year old boxer dog died suddenly and without warning on Thanksgiving day. Our poor dog-sitter returned to the house to find her body while we were hours away with family.


Josie was a new dog to us, that we had gotten through Craigslist 8 months before from a nice family who just didn't have time for her. She spent her days in a kennel while they went to work and school. At 15 months old, she still wasn't potty trained when we got her. But our Chloe needed a playmate and Josie was a sweet little boxer and we brought her home. She quickly learned her place in our lives; playing in the yard with Chloe, going on runs with me, and following my wife Katie to every single room she went to throughout the day. Josie was always touching someone, as lovable as they come. We always believed that her previous neglect caused her to be so dependent on us for affection, and we loved that. And therefore, she wiggled her way into our hearts quickly.


Then she was gone. I am not a cryer. The last time I cried was ten years ago when my grandpa died, and even then, I did it in secret. I am a practical, logical person, and emotion rarely bubbles to the surface in this way. (In fact, I sometimes laugh at inappropriate times instead.) But I balled at the loss of my Josie. Katie and I were a mess. It ruined our Thanksgiving and made us terrible parents to our boys; we just lost all patience for their behavior and yelled unnecessarily. It was a rough weekend.


I, being the impatient person that I am, started looking at Craigslist for another boxer. No, another one wouldn't erase the hurt from missing Josie, but we knew we'd want another for us and for Chloe, and I'm not much for waiting. And there he was; a 6 month old brindle boxer named Prince in Des Moines, who needed a new home. So there we went, 50 miles out of the way on our already horrendous 8 hour drive home from Wichita, to Des Moines to see a dog. And we brought him home.


Cassius - the dog formerly known as Prince - is possibly the tamest boxer I've ever seen. He is mild mannered, sweet, and extremely loving; and a great addition to our family.


So let me get back to the question. "Why did our sweet little Josie have to die?" While I don't know specifically, I do know this. We live in a world wrought with sin, illness, and death; and all of these are a result of the Fall. And because of this, we all die. I don't for a second believe God took my Josie away from me. Not to test my faith, not to punish me, not to make way for Cassius. Jesus loves me, this I know, and His desire is not to hurt me. In fact, I believe He was with my family as we grieved.


But our God is a God of redemption. And He can redeem the worst situations. I've seen it before in my life, and I'm seeing it now. While we miss Josie and would never have wanted her gone, Katie and I talked at lunch today at how happy Cash seems to be now. His previous owners had no room and he went from inside kennel to outdoor kennel and back. Now, he runs and plays with Chloe, chases our boys, and lays on the couch with us at night. In fact, he follows Katie around all day just like Josie did. In the midst of our loss, God is redeeming our family, our hurts, and working for our good.


I know what some of you are thinking: You have way bigger problems than losing a dog. I agree. There are much worse situations in many peoples' lives. But God is there too; redeeming your story and working to give you a hope and a future.


Our world is broken and bad things happen, but our God is hard at work redeeming His creation; getting His hands dirty on our behalf. And I am grateful for His faithfulness, even when my faith wanes.


Thanks, Jesus, for Your love and grace. And tell Josie we love and miss her.

For the Parents... The Machine

This is kind about technology so I'm going to write it.

If you are a parents of a young boy or girl struggling with bed wetting at all, you need to try this.  I've hesitated writing this review out of respect for my son being possibly embarrassed, but I feel like others need to know about this type of product.

We call it "The Machine".

The story: Our oldest son was great with potty training.  At about two and a half years old, he learned quickly how to use the real toilet and has never looked back.  But nighttime was a different story.  He just never woke up when he needed to go, so he'd wet the bed.  From two and a half until five, he would wear Pull Ups at night; unable to stay dry.

Our second son was a potty training rockstar!  At about the same age, he was ready to get out of diapers too and learned in just a couple of days.  But this kid is a camel.  He never has to go potty.  I swear, he goes less than I do.  So nights were never an issue either.  He could hold it all night, wake up in the morning, have breakfast, play, and then a few hours later go to the bathroom.  So imagine the frustration for our oldest when his younger brother could wear underwear to bed while he was still wearing pull ups.  We tried incentives; even to the point of bribing him for staying dry, but he just couldn't control it.

After a conversation with my mom and the things they used when we were kids, I went to the web for something that would help.  Mom mentioned some kind of alarm that would wake up a kid when they were wet in the night, so I started to search.  I found some $100 machines that made that claim, but wasn't sure I could invest that much.  Good ol' Ebay had a better answer.  A DryNite Bed Wetting Alarm.  This was the best $15 I've ever spent.  I knew that for such a low price, it may not even work, but I could handle losing $15 if it didn't.

The Machine came in the mail a few days later, small and cheap looking.  The Machine is a small clip wired to a little pouch which holds a tiny speaker and a 9v battery.  The claim is that if you clip it to the outside of a child's underwear, it will sound the alarm when any moisture touches it.  So if the child starts to go potty, it will wake them up; hopefully training their brain to wake up when they need to go.  To try it, we put a 9v battery in it, and I clipped it to a wet washcloth.  A loud, high pitched alarm pierced our ears.

That first night, I couldn't believe he even was willing to wear it.  But he did, and woke up in the middle of the night crying from the sound of the alarm.  The next night the same, and the next night again.  But over a few days, we noticed that the amount of wetness was decreasing.  He was waking up and stopping.

Two weeks into it, we retired The Machine.  And after several months, he hasn't had a wet night yet.  Often in the middle of the night, he'll wake up needing to go to the bathroom, but always dry.

If you have this situation with your child, spend $15 and help him/her.  I'm so glad we were able to get him past this before he felt more embarrassed about it.

Viva la Machine!!
Ebay Listing

God in the Theater

Where was God when a young man walked into a theater showing of The Dark Knight Rises and began to shoot?  Isn’t that the question we ask when things like this happen?  What a terrible tragedy that seems so senseless and evil. 

Since the shooting, I’ve read response after response of religious and secular people alike giving their opinions of who and what is to blame for this event; as well as trying to explain how and why this could happen.  Many of those questions and blame are aimed at the God who let it all transpire.

While God doesn’t need me to defend Him, I do think it’s helpful to try to understand the world we live in and God’s part in it.

Who’s to blame?  That’s easy; the young man doing the shooting made a choice.  Going all the way back to Adam and Eve, God has given us a choice.  Rather than creating robots programmed to love Him, God made us with the capacity to decide to do our own thing.  The consequences of our choices can affect not only us, but others; and this has been going on for millennia. 

James 1 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”  God is not the originator of evil acts, but His desire for real love from us requires Him to offer us freedom to sin.

So where was God?  There in the theater.  God has never promised that life would be easy but He did promise to be with us.  And He’s not only there; He’s working on us and in us.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  That’s not an “Everything happens for a reason…” cliché; it’s a reality that God can be in the midst of pain and suffering working to heal.  His desire is for good for all of us.

I wish I could say I understand all that God does and doesn’t do, but the truth is, I don’t.  God, the creator of the universe knows and sees beyond anything that we can understand.  How amazing is it that He chooses to invite us into relationship with Him?  So I choose to trust Him in the midst of tragedy.  My prayer is that you do too.

Facebook Filter

Filters are important.  I know, profound, right?  But it's true; we have filters in our coffee makers to keep grounds out of our cup, filters in our vacuums to keep dust from shooting back into the air, and filters in our vehicles to keep our oil clean. 

Right now the important question is: How is your Facebook Filter? Don't have one?  Yeah, we've all noticed.

I've been there.  I've gotten myself in trouble by making angry comments through Facebook, and it doesn't go well.  As a Christian and pastor, I'm ashamed of the times I've used Facebook or Twitter to harm someone.  So, I'm trying to use the filter.

What's a Facebook Filter?  It's the filter you need to use to protect yourself, your relationships, and your witness when using social networking.  It's important for not only Facebook, but also for Google+ and Twitter as well.  This is not a guide for keeping yourself and your family safe or private.  Just a way to control what you do and say through social media.  Here are some basic ways to filter your content.  (Note: I had to turn off my filter to even write this, but I think it needs to be said.  So sorry if you feel like I'm talking about you.  I might be.)

For Everyone:

1. Is it too personal?  Let me say this plainly.  FACEBOOK IS NOT YOUR DIARY.  Your deepest darkest thoughts and secrets shouldn't be shared with your 500 friends.  (And depending on your privacy settings, anyone else that finds you.)  Don't make the mistake of sharing too much.  Instead, write in a diary or journal; it's good for you to put your thoughts down.  Even better, make it a prayer journal.
2. No public attacks.  Whether you mean to harm someone directly or passive/aggressively doesn't matter.  Online is not the place to attack someone.  I've seen friends call friends out in a status and even tag them in it.  Not a good idea.  This is definitely true of couples.  A good rule of thumb is to never criticize your spouse in public; but even more so online.  If you have something to say to someone, do as Jesus teaches, and go directly to them.  (I don't mean directly to their timeline either.)
3. Beware of judgmental attitudes.  Have strong opinions about abortion, gay marriage, politics, or religion?  Fine, you can share your thoughts through social media.  But don't make judgmental statements about the other side.  In recent weeks following President Obama's comments on gay marriage, I've seen people on both sides not only state their opinion on the matter, but also attack those of the other side.  Don't do it.  You'd be surprised how many of your friends disagree with you, and feel judged when you criticize.  On the other side, I have a scientist friend from college who disagrees vehemently with me about the origins of the world, but treats me and those he debates with great respect.  Because of that, we've had some rousing discussions online as friends.  (One more note: this includes the things you share on your timeline.  Sharing an article that attacks others is no better than saying it yourself.)
4. Watch your language.  It's funny how quickly we forget who we allow as friends on Facebook.  I can't tell you how many of the youth of our church forget that I'm their friend and can see the way they talk online.  I'm not a prude, and I understand the desire to drop word bombs sometimes, but Facebook isn't the place to do it.  There's a great conversation in the movie Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne tries to tell his childhood friend Rachel that the playboy jerk he seems to be isn't who he is inside.  What Rachel replies is very poignant.  She says that what's inside doesn't matter.  It's what you do that defines you.  On Facebook, people only see what you post, not what is inside your heart.  So make sure the right you comes out.                                                                                                        This is especially true for Christians.  Your testimony - life with Jesus - is out there for the world to see.  People that know of your faith are watching your every move, post, and uploaded picture.  If you're a counselor at church camp who's friends with campers, quit posting pics of your partying with F-bombs in the description.  Remember, we are responsible for the people we influence for or against Christ.

Special Ministers' Section:

1. We're on the same team!  Love your church?  I love mine too.  Really excited about what God is doing in your church body?  So am I.  So promote it.  Facebook and Twitter are great places to invite, promote, and share about God's work through your church.  But don't be arrogant and self-serving by making comments that hurt your brother and sister churches.  Remember that the Church is not just your group, but all followers of Jesus in this world.  So be careful not to act like your church is the Temple where Jesus Himself resides.  Instead, humbly share what Jesus is doing and invite others to experience it.  I can't believe how many pastors I've seen make comments about their churches being the best one around, or bragging about every little thing they're doing.  Let's remember, the successes we see are God's, not ours.  (BTW, I'm with you.  I want to brag about growing numbers, baptisms, and people coming to Christ too.  But before you do, see #2.)
2. Check your motivations.  Want to tell everyone about all the great stuff going on at church or in your ministry?  Before you post, take a moment in meditation and prayer to make sure you're posting for God's glory and not your own.  We pastors are a confident - sometimes a bit arrogant - attention seeking bunch.  Are you excited to draw attention to yourself or to God?  Make sure before you post.  Remember, Paul tells us to boast only  in our weakness and God's strength.

Most importantly, remember that people see what you're doing, so think before you post.  Hope this helps.

Updated Apps for Ministry

As you may know, I'm an Android user and advocate; as dumb as that is.  I love it's openness and flexibility and it's Google integration.  I've made an earlier post about my favorite apps for ministry, and I thought I'd update and add some new ones that I use a lot.

1. NIV Study Bible by Tecarta.  This is an expensive app at $24.99, but is the new NIV Bible with the NIV Study Bible notes.  It is a great way to have some helpful Biblical notes on the go.  It's a beautiful app in full color, and they've done a great job with the UI.  It has full color maps, charts, pictures, and even videos.  It works nicely on my 10" tablet and my 4.5" phone.  While I still love the Youversion Biblle app, this one has the downloaded Bible and notes, and doesn't need a data connection to use.  
2. Google Docs.  Though I have about every document editing app there is, I love the Google Docs one.  It is simple, has good features, and integrates completely with the cloud.  Again, it works great for my tablet and phone, and it quickly taking the place of Documents to Go, Quickoffice, Polaris Office, and OfficeSuite.
3. Blogger.  Yes, the native Blogger app does a pretty good job of letting me blog from my phone or tablet.  Am I using it right now?  No; that would be stupid with my computer sitting right in front of me. But it's nice.
4. Tabs Tools.  Thanks to an Amazon Appstore free app of the day, I have a more fully featured guitar tab app, that includes things like a tuner and metronome.  
5. Speaking of the Amazon Appstore.  I have a ton of great paid apps that I got for free thanks to Amazon's policy of offering a free app a day.  Some days, it's a game, or some other app I'm not interested in.  But some days, it's a great powerful app that I use for ministry.  I've gotten full versions of Business Calendar, Tabs Tools, OfficeSuite, Quickoffice, PrinterShare, and more thanks to the Appstore.  (The only downside is that apps don't update as quickly through the Appstore compared to the Google Play Store.) 
6. PrinterShare.  Need to print from your phone or tablet?  This app works great.

Rooted Apps I use for ministry.  If you're rooted, you have more access to your phone's core operating system, allowing some apps to have more functionality.  Here's some apps I use that require root.

1. Titanium Backup.  If you mess around with your phone like I do, you need something to backup and restore your apps and data.  Titanium is the best.
2. WiFi Tether.  Yes, you have to buy a special plan from your carrier to tether... usually.  If you're rooted, WiFi Tether will allow you to create a hotspot from your phone.  I use this to give my tablet internet data when not near a wifi hotspot.  I pay a lot of money for my unlimited data, and don't intend to pay more to use the same data.
3. Roam Control.  Going to camp kills my battery, because my phone constantly searches for a better Sprint signal.  Roam Control allows me to force roaming so it uses the closest towers instead of searching for Sprint.  It loses the 3G speeds, but at least is usable while out in the middle of nowhere.

There's an updated app list.  Feel free to leave comments with your favorite apps.

Crazy Times

We are living in a cool time.  Let me give you an example.  Recently, I decided I wanted to buy Leonard Sweet's new book called "Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to Ignite Revival".  Sweet understands the postmodern world and all that comes with it better than most; especially within the Church.  So I make my way to Amazon to buy my Kindle version only to find that the Kindle version of his book costs $11.99 while the paperback is $10.19.  Are you kidding me?  The ebook requires virtually zero manufacturing or production, while the paperback must be printed, produced, and shipped; and it's cheaper?  What a ripoff.  So I made my way to Twitter.  AND HAD A TWITTER CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHOR.  When in the world could anyone ever have done that?  Here's how it went.

Me: @lensweet - As one who understands the digital age, you should know your book Viral shouldn't be more $ for Kindle than it is for paperback.

Sweet: @fbcregan I agree wholeheartedly. But authors don't have any say in this . . .. we don't get to pick our titles, either.

Me: @lensweet - Thought that may be the case. But wanted to point it out. Regardless, looking forward to reading your book. Blessings.

Sweet: @fbcregan it's embarrassing to boot on a resource about digital media . . :)

Me: @lensweet Eventually publishers will figure out digital. Kind of like churches. Way behind.


Needless to say, I bought his book anyway. My advice; get it. As I said before, Sweet understands the change that has happened and separates everyone into two groups: Gutenbergs and Googles. These two groups break at the invention of the cell phone in 1973. As a self-proclaimed immigrant in the the Google world, Sweet shows the differences between the two worldviews and helps us see how to reach a Google world for Jesus. It's worth reading.

Catching up on Tech.

As I warned, I sometimes suck at blogging.  I also have some trouble finding topics to write on regarding both ministry and technology.  So I may have to sometimes branch out into either one or the other.
Today, an update on my technology for ministry.
In a previous post, I talked about my love for the Amazon Kindle for the use of preaching, doing weddings, and funerals, etc.  All that changed when I decided to sell my Kindle Keyboard and buy a Kindle Fire.  (Actually, it didn't change that much since it's still a Kindle.)  While I still go back and forth on which I like better, here are the benefits of the Fire and the ways I use it.
Preaching from my Fire is great.  I worried about it's thickness - which is noticeable - and the backlighting, but neither of those are a problem.  I keep my Fire in a very nice, genuine leather book-style case by Bear Motion.  It's wonderful, and makes holding my Fire look and feel just like holding a Bible when I'm up front.  What's best, though, is my process for creating and transferring my sermons to my Fire.  I write up my notes; cutting and pasting Scripture passages into Google Docs in an outline form.  I have the capability of adding color, highlighting, or even pics within my file, since I"m no longer dealing with E-ink.  (I use 14 point font, which scales nicely.)
On my Kindle, I open the preinstalled app called Quickoffice and open my Google Doc directly.  I can then pinch to zoom to make the font larger or smaller, and the app will adjust so all the words fit on the page.  And I'm ready.
Of course, the Fire brings all sorts of other possibilities for use that my old Kindle didn't.  I can surf the web, read, use Twitter and Facebook, and my boys play games on it like crazy.  The only thing I'm really missing is the E-ink Kindle's Text to Speech feature.  (C'mon, Amazon, bring it to the apps.)
My major gripes with the Kindle Fire are mostly understandable given the price point.  I wish it was thinner and lighter.  I think I could stack three of my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets on top of each other before reaching the Fire's thickness.
So if you have a Fire, try it out for teaching, preaching, and ministry.  It's a nice little 7" tablet.

No more big, heavy, highlighted, Bible?

Technology has done a disservice to my Bibles.  I look behind my desk in my office at church to see 17 different Bibles on a bookshelf staring at me with lonely bindings.  I have Bibles of varying translations like the NLT, NIV, NRSV, NASB, The Message, TNIV, and ESV.  (Yes, I know some of those are paraphrases.)  And I have study Bibles with names like Life Application, NIV Study, Apologetics, Archaeological, Serendipity, Wide Margin, Quest, Sports Devotional, and Student.  And I rarely look at any of them.

As a technoholic, I find myself looking instead at my Youversion Bible App on my phone or tablets, or my NIV Study Bible app if I need some study notes.  Between the two, I can read almost every translation, search for keywords, highlight, write notes, and share to Facebook or Twitter; all without wrinkling a page.  Technology is a great tool for the growing Christian. You can even use reading plans to read through the Bible devotionally.

But the key is actually getting into the Word.  And I'll admit, I don't enough.  Sure, I'm reading the Bible for research, sermon prep, or to plan a Bible study; but I don't let it read me nearly as often as I need to.  And as a strictly undisciplined person, I'm not saying that out of some legalistic, "you have to read your Bible daily to be a Christian" ideal.

Here are my reasons for getting into the Word:

1. God wrote it.  Yes, so did a bunch of men.  But the creator of the universe left us His book and we treat it like it's a hot potato.  The fact that we have access everywhere should not lessen that fact.
2. Overhearing the Gospel.  The Bible does this amazing thing.  Soren Kierkegaard said, "The gospel is seldom heard.  It is overheard."  Tony Campolo says reading the Bible is like standing behind two men talking on a street corner, and realizing that what they're saying applies to you too.  There is no work of literature in history that is written both for the contemporaries of the day and to readers today like the Bible.  And when I read it, I always overhear something that seems written just for me.
3. It reads you back.  God's Word has a way of figuring me out as I read it.  I find myself reading a random Old Testament story that can bring to light issues or sins in my life that I need to deal with.  
4. It's real.  I mean that in a couple of ways.  First, it doesn't hide from the hard questions.  The bible shows main characters' sin, breaks cultural barriers - like the prominence of women in stories, and doesn't shy away from real violence when it happened.  Second, the Bible has stood up to scrutiny and criticism in every way.  It's held up to archaeological evidence, literary and textual criticism, outside historical references, and scientific evidence.  No other religious book - see: Koran, Book of Mormon, etc. - has been so thoroughly attacked and been able to remain credible.

So go read the Word.  I don't care how you do it.  Open the app, turn on your Kindle, or dust off the old family Bible.  Just read it.  And let the Word do the rest.

Tech Can Help You Pray

ThyPhone

Too bad there's not really an "app for that".