...is a meltdown of epic proportions.

Well, having kicked most of the sickness, Kari and I hopped in the car and headed to St. Louis last week to see our first game in the new Busch Stadium. It's a very nice facility. And, as Mike Shannon would say, old Abner was right on duty that night. Pujols came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Brad Lidge, whom he victimized in the playoffs last year, and the Cardinals trailing by one. Two runners were on. Pujols doubled down the left field line, scoring both runs, and giving the Cards a walk off winner. Kari had the presence of mind to take this fantastic picture during the excitement:

What a great first experience at the new ball park. I only wish my dad could have joined me!

I also ran across this beautiful tidbit: Pujols has struck out fewer times this entire season than Adam Dunn has struck out in his last 115 at bats. Ouch.

Had a very enjoyable lunch with Obadiah yesterday, and even got a brief phone call from Doug. (Their blogs are both over there ---->) Obadiah and his wife, Alesha, have a three month old baby named Aurora. He had recently posted how well things were going with Aurora until he bragged on her, at which point she returned to her yelling and screaming and crying incessantly at night. Well, I (the ever experienced father) encouraged him yesterday, telling him things would only get better, and bragging on how rare those times are with Braden these days. You can guess what happened next. Right on cue, Braden woke up four times last night with long, loud cries. Amazing.

Not much more of depth today, just wanted to post some updates. Hope things are well for all of you who make your way to read this every now and then...

As I was watching the OSU-Texas game Saturday night with some friends, something weird started to happen. I hadn't been feeling too hot all day, and it started getting worse. Before I knew it I was shaking almost uncontrollably, feeling quite cold inside but hot outside. I went home, where Kari found that my temperature was 103.3. This is my second highest temperature ever (I hit 106 in Peru...remember that night, James and Dave?). So, yesterday was a quiet day at home with a nasty sore throat, a fever, aches and pains, and lots of football. Here are some thoughts:

• The Colts' run defense is bad. I mean just flat out bad. I think the Colts will still make the playoffs, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jacksonville wins that division.
• Bengals' fans won't like this, but the hit that Geathers guy put on Trent Green was far worse/more classless/more bush league than the hit the guy from the Steelers put on Carson Palmer last year. Don't mess with a guy's head, man.
• I've never been a fan of Joe Morgan. I think he's pretty much the worst color commentator in baseball. It's a shame, because I really enjoy Jon Miller's play-by-play, but Morgan makes me so sick I usually just mute the TV. Last night I was reminded of one of the reasons he's so lousy at what he does. He was talking about how well Woody Williams had handled Barry Bonds, and he said the key was changing speeds (this isn't exactly rocket science for baseball fans to begin with). Then he made this statement: "Every pitch Williams throws him in this at bat is a different speed." Hmmm. Then they replayed the at bat, showing the speed of each pitch. There were six pitches in the at bat. Two were 85 MPH. One was 84 MPH. But, according to Joe, each pitch in the at bat was a different speed. And for this performance he gets ESPN's number one baseball color job? Please.
• On an entirely different (and more selfish) note, Kari and I are in need of new appliances. The house we bought had all the appliances left, but they're less than energy efficient (understatement). Since we don't have a thousand or two bucks laying around unused, we thought we'd just ask all of you for money. Just kidding. But, what you can do is click here and fill out one of the simple offers from FreePay, a site that offers all kinds of free stuff. (Make sure you fill out a free offer...I don't want to be responsible for the financial downfall of my friends.) If enough of you sign up, we'll net a $300 gift card which will help with these needed appliances. We appreciate it in advance.

I've been wondering...What is our (the traditional Church's) fascination with "devotions?" It seems like that makes our "time with God" too cut and dried, implying that our whole day isn't "time with God." It is semantics? If I call it the "Daily Office," is it any different? I've just been struggling with that for some time now. Any thoughts?

On a separate note, Labor Day weekend was fun and included a trip to Cincinnati for a softball tournament, where I was able to see two of my closest friends in the world, Dave and Dave (both their blogs are linked to the right). It was great to see them and I only wish I had had more time to visit with them.

If you click here, you'll go to a site where you can download Derek Webb's CD, "Mockingbird," for free. That's right folks, free! Make sure you click on the link that says "Why is Derek Doing This?" to find out...well...why Derek's doing this. Pretty admirable.

Most people who know me well know what I think about John Maxwell's body of work. I must say I was pleasantly surprised, however, when I read this snippet of an interview with the "leadership guru" in Rev Magazine recently:

Rev!: What would you do differently if you were starting over today?
Maxwell: I’d have a lot less church; I’d have less programs; I’d have less services. I’d have a lot less of everything.
Rev!: Why?
Maxwell: As a pastor I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but one of my major mistakes was thinking that life revolved around the local church and what we were doing. For example, if you were a member of the church, you had to have a ministry in the church. That was a huge mistake. I had high-capacity people in my church doing things that were pretty mundane for business people. If I had it to do over again, I’d have people doing a lot more ministry outside the church, in their workplace or in their community or in their volunteer organizations. I’d find out where they had the greatest influence and make their ministry where their greatest influence was, not confine it to a church. Huge mistake I made. And I didn’t see it until I was out, but I was too inward. I had a lot of high-capacity people who were probably never “salt and light” like they could have been. I’d change that immediately if I went back to the local church. I’d be much more into how we influenced the community and a lot less into “How can I get everybody onboard with my church and with my program?”

(If you want, you can read the rest of the interview here.)

Kari and I also listened to a message by Brian McLaren which was recommended to me both by Jason and linked on James' blog. It was very insightful and challenging, which will be no surprise to anyone who has read McLaren.

In light of some challenges which face the EPIC service here at BCN, we've decided to start an EPIC blog, administrated mostly by Jason, the teaching pastor in EPIC. It can be found here (right now all that is on there is a test post about how lousy the Green Bay Packers were in their preseason game against the Bengals). Hopefully we'll get it up and running soon.

Well, just an update on us. We're wading through (and really enjoying) "The Challenge of Jesus."

I've noticed a couple friends asking anyone who reads their blogs to post a comment to say how they stumbled there, how often they read, etc. This seems like a good idea. So, post away.

Here is a list of the fine, quality, Major League pitchers who have recently beaten the (ahem) defending NL Central Champion Cardinals:

• Dave Williams
• Steve Trachsel
• Aaron Heilman
• Michael Wuertz
• Paul Maholm
• Ian Snell
• Zach Duke

Awesome.

Is-ring-haus-en
Function: noun, proper
Etymology: German, from German issrinhaus, meaning sorry arm

1. An exercise in futility.

...who knows some stuff about composting, help me out. In the interest of not alienating our neighbors with any unpleasant aromas or unsightly piles o' crap (figuratively, of course), is this what we need?

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3 (Except I don't know if they'll ship to the States.)

Also, would these help?

It's been a nice couple weeks.

It all started on my birthday, ironically, when I thought I saw a ghost in the back of the church. Instead, it was my college roommate, Doug, with whom I have shared some of life's most amazing moments, and his lovely wife, Molly. They were visiting from Honduras, where they care for children suffering from HIV/AIDS. You can read about their work or donate to them by clicking here. They couldn't stay long, but it meant a lot to me that they went out of their way to swing by BCN and see if I was there.

While Doug and Molly were there, they invited me to a gathering in Columbus the following Saturday. While there I reconnected with some people who have played an integral role in my spiritual development, saw some old friends from college I haven't seen for years, and met some wonderful new people.

Then I got to have lunch with Brandon last week, one of those friends with whom I have reconnected in this journey. It was a pleasure and a privilege to be with him. He, Doug & Molly, and others (many whose blogs are linked to the right) have had a profoud impact on the (hopefully) deepening of my spiritual walk and commitment to Jesus.

All this sandwiched around a trip to my parents' in Kentucky so Braden have fun in the water, a couple small birthday celebrations, revisiting an old hobby (baseball cards; I've decided to start building my first set, the 1968 Topps set), an opportunity to speak in our EPIC service here at BCN, an amazing all-church prayer meeting, deepening friendships with the people in this new community, and the joy my wife and my son bring me day in and day out.

Kari and I are preparing to tackle our first NT Wright book together, The Challenge of Jesus. We're both excited about it. We're also still dealing with the balance between ministering to the young adults here at BCN and truly developing the Small Groups ministry, which (if accomplished with my true vision) will require quite a culture change. Frankly, there's not much balance at all right now.

I've been dealing with a few questions lately, mostly surrounding nationalism, patriotism, and the Kingdom. There's a great conversation on this topic taking place here and here.

Oh...Kari and I are about to start composting.

Cool.

Well, maybe you heard it somewhere else first, or maybe you figured it out on your own.

The Cardinals are terrible. They did a lousy job building a team to compete their first year in a new stadium. Their ownership, which has always been very aggressive and willing to reinvest profits in player salaries and team improvement, apparently has decided that the bottom line is all that matters anymore.

The Reds will win the NL Central, and they will do so with considerable ease (4 games or more). One of the teams from the West or the Phillies or Braves will win the Wild Card. The Cardinals will go home disappointed, where they deserve to be with a sorry pitching staff like the one they have.

This is not me being a naysayer. It's not me trying reverse psychology. It's not even me trying to prepare myself for the heartache. Any reasonable observer would draw the same conclusion.

Congratulations to the Reds, whose new ownership, as I feared, will embarrass Walt Jocketty and the boys for years to come. What a shame for Pujols.

When the Redbirds leave Cincinnati next Thursday, they'll be comfortably in second place. And they'll be lucky to stay there.