Christian Universalism- The Beautiful Heresy

Universalism- What is it? What isn't it?

Here's what I call Universalism. Since this is a personal journey (as is yours), I'm not going to pretend this definition is accepted by everyone who calls himself a Universalist. Some might ask:

 "Why should I care about this?  I'm saved.  It's not up to me to save the world or worry about their eternal destiny."

Well, as a Christian, I think it is up to you to worry about the rest of the world. We are our brothers' keepers. Is it possible to love your neighbor as yourself and not be concerned that the God you serve wants to eternally torment that person with no hope of escape?

Six Random Things About Me

Kansas Bob tagged me for one of those "meme" things.  I'm supposed to post six random things about me.  This was tougher than it sounds.  Here are my six:

    1.) I only moved once during the time I was in elementary, junior and high school but I attended 7 different schools. I literally have no contact with anyone I went to elementary, junior high, high school or college with even though I only live 100 miles from my home town.

    2.) I started doing laundry, cooking and cleaning when I was about 10 years old. I did 90% of the cooking for the first six years of our marriage.

    3.) Being named Brian Smith, it was important to me to give my kids names that were not so common. When we named Kayla, neither my wife nor I had ever heard the name (we chose it from a book). Now, 11 years later, we cannot go anywhere without running into an eleven year old named Kayla. We have no idea how this happened.

    4.) My favorite color is purple.

    5.) I used to want to be a rock star. Now, my dream job is pro golfer.

    6.) I hate these meme things. ;-)

Oh wait.  I just threw in number six because I couldn't think of another thing.  Here's my real #6

   

    My great, great, great, great, great grandparents were both slave and master. I am a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. It was a weird feeling visiting Monticello last year and looking the slave quarters and the "big house" and knowing my ancestors lived in both, at the same time.

I Love the Olympics

I don't just like the Olympics, I absolutely love the Olympics.  I love everything about the Olympics.  From the earliest one I remember (the tragic 1972) Olympics, I've been hooked.  I remember when I first saw the Olympics thinking "Why don't we do this every year?" (or every month for that matter.

Warren/Obama/McCain

OK.  I gotta admit, I am no Rick Warren fan.  I read The Purpose Driven Life (mostly- as much as I could stomach of it).  It was an OK book and I can see how some people would really like it.  But, I have to say I don't like the Purpose Driven Empire.  It's too much like the Left Behind empire.  And, I was not happy about McCain and Obama's first appearance "together" being a "I'm a better Christian than you face off." Personal feelings aside, I could not miss the opportunity to watch the discussion last night and it turned out to be much better than I thought.

Why We Need Churches Like Nexus

I go back and forth on the whole church thing.  Is it worth it?  Why am I doing it?  Then, I get a reminder of why we need churches like Nexus.  This is a real email from a pastor:

Darlene, I'm glad I ran across your blog. I still miss you. I am sorry to hear that your lover died of breast-cancer. Darlene is God sending you a message? Please consider coming back to Exodus. You are loved and missed. Why would God call you back to lesbianism, give you a lover and then take her away. I'm sorry that you are going through this. My heart is breaking right now but I believe that you belong to the Lord and "He chastizes the one's that he loves". I believe He is calling you back. If you want to talk I am here to listen. Please call me at [removed] if you want to talk. May God Bless You,

Anthony Falzarano

Nexus Search Committee

We had another meeting last night- the first to actually review candidate profiles.  Man, this is even more work than I thought it would be.  But, it's going really well.  Nexus has received a dozen candidate profiles (which means at least a dozen people are interested in exploring the possibility of being the pastor at Nexus).  The meeting went amazingly well.  We went through a dozen candidates in about an hour and did a quick up/down vote on each.  Up means we want to know more about them, down means we think they are better suited for another opportunity.

Sean Is Home

Wow.  What a roller coaster the last week has been.  Sean’s surgery was a week and a half ago now.  After the surgery they were concerned Sean might have brain damage from the lack of oxygen during the operation.  Last week his temperature was up and down, his blood pressure was up and down and the Masters were told that he might be in the hospital for weeks.

Over the weekend, Sean made a dramatic turn for the better and the cardiologist and swallowing therapist (he had lost his ability to swallow) agreed that Sean could go home.

There are still a few financial issues the Masters have to work out.  But, the good news is the operation is over, was  a success and Sean is back at home on the road to recovery.

If you want to see some pictures of Sean's ordeal, click here:  Sean's Photobook

Masters Family (Sean) Still Recovering

This is the latest report from Debra. The good news is Sean is making progress. The not so good news is the recovery is going to take longer than anticipated and the Masters family will have to scramble once again to come up with the resources to be there for Sean's recovery. But, they are staying in good spirits and Sean is making "baby steps" (not literally yet).

Paris Hilton Responds to John McCain

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Dremel your dog's nails- why didn't somebody tell me about this?

I was watching TV the other day and saw an ad again for a device called Peticure. Like all good made for TV products, they told me about my problem and how terrible and unbearable it was and then tried to sell me on their solution.  The difference in this case was I actually hate clipping my dog's toe nails.  I'm not really a squeamish person. But, the thought of clipping a dog's nails actually give me chills.  Peticure was supposed to be the answer to that problem.  So, I checked them out.  Along the way, I made an amazing discovery, something I wish someone had told me years ago.

Sean's Improving

I got word from Debra that Sean is on the mend. This report is from Friday evening. The doctors are optimistic.  It looks like it'll be tomorrow (Sunday- 3 days after his surgery) before they start waking him up though:

good BP today, less up/down/up/down. urine output dropped today so they gave him some lasix. good pulses. he's breathing every other breath even with the ventilator. it breathes then he breathes. you can see the difference on the monitor. eeg has lots of movement so it looks like he's thinking/dreaming. they say people who have been on heart bypass have wild dreams for several months after...his skin doesn't feel like ice anymore, which is really nice. so we are stable. muffled heart tones. responsive pupils (although sluggish). they are very optimistic. so we are trying to be also.  he's off the paralytic medicine and only on pain/sleep meds. he'll be back to 98.6F tomorrow by the time we get up. then they'll start taking stuff off/out. (chest tubes, ventilator, breathing tube). after all is warm and all is out that can be, they will start waking him up. right now they are still saying it will be sunday.

Please Pray for Sean

Sean Masters had his heart surgery yesterday.  I don't have the details yet. But, there were unexpected complications. Sean's mother emailed me that he did not have a pulse for "several minutes" due to some problem with the heart-lung bypass machine.  All I know right now is they are keeping him sedated and cool (below normal body temperature) until tomorrow (Saturday).  We appreciate what you have done for the family with your financial contributions and we are soliciting your prayers as they go through this trying time.

Peace,
Brian

Another Day In Paradise- Music Friday

This song was an instant classic, IMNSHO

My Personality Type

This is actually pretty accurate.  It's a fun test to take.  Very visual.   You just choose the picture that best suits the question they are asking.

Political Polls

Today I had the pleasure of being asked to take part in a  political "survey".   I sometimes wonder where these numbers come from.  Now I have a little better insight.  Taking this survey was actually kind of fun.  I was tempted to lecture the pollster on how leading the questions were (and how misleading the results would be). But, I realized he was just a guy doing his job.

Next Phase for Nexus

If you've been following my church life story, you know I've struggled with which church to go to and even whether to go to church or not.  Over the course of the past two years or so, I've been up and down when it comes to church.  A year and a half ago I found "Nexus" a progressive island in a sea of Christian conservatism.  While Nexus hasn't been perfect, it has been a safe haven for me and my family, a nice compromise.  Ty wants to go to church as a family and I can't stomach "traditional" churches.   Nexus is enough "out of the box" that it works for me. A few weeks ago, Gregg (our pastor) announced that he has accepted a position that will move him to Cleveland, leaving Nexus without its founding pastor.  The next few weeks and months will be "interesting" times.  I'm both excited about the possibilities to do things differently and concerned about what will happen to Nexus.

Reason #5,674 why I can't vote Republican

Up until this year I have not declared a political party. I did declare in the Ohio Democratic Primary so that I could vote for Barack Obama. 

I choose to remain "independent" even though I usually vote Democratic.   There's something about declaring myself to be either Republican or Democrat I find just wrong.  My standing joke is "Republicans are evil and Democrats are stupid."  However, here is another in sea of reasons I just can't pull the lever for the Republicans.  For sale at the Texas GOP Convention:

 

Why I do not spell out God

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time surely you've noticed I use G-d instead of God. It's not because I'm superstitious nor do I think it blasphemous to say or type God since it is not God's name anyway.  I'm not sure if I've explained this before.  But, I'll try to explain it now.

We did it!

I want to thank each and every one of you who contributed to Sean's surgery and/or who passed along the information about his pending surgery and his family's financial needs.  I am so happy to be able to report that we have raised the $8,500 that his family will need to pay for his surgery and for the other expenses they will have as their 13 year old son undergoes his third open heart surgery. 

Music Friday- True

Another blast from the past...

Music Friday- Our House

Enjoy!