Baby J

 
There is our baby J. I think it is a good picture of him, but I was more wanting you to take notice of the contraption he is sitting in. How cool is that thing? It fastens right to the table, and then when you are finished it folds up for storage. I thought it was pretty cool.

I am already saying "well it would have been nice to have that when our kids were growing up!"

Riley Jo

 

Got to see Riley Jo yesterday. She is beautiful and a blessing from our God. Maurie and Joshua seemed to be doing well, as they were just released from the hospital yesterday. Prayers are for sleep, patience (with Riley and each other) and the ability to "soak up the moments."

They sure do go by fast!

Crazy Kylie!

 

Kylie's crazy face. Precious isn't it?

Video

Okolona Men's Retreat Video

Check out the video for the 2007 Okolona Men's Retreat.

Many thanks to my little brother for putting this together. Also a big CONGRATULATIONS for the birth of his little baby girl, Riley Jo. See ya soon!

Kylie's Quotables

Had an interesting lunch with George and Alex Wilson(preaching minister of Portland CoC.) today Hope to begin some work with him in the Portland area - maybe I will learn something.

Now on with the real point of this blog:

1. Daddy, it is a BIG one! (Kylie while on the potty)
2. Can I have a S-N-A-C-K? (heard it 1,000 times if I have heard it once)
3. Daddy, you have a big face. (while getting ready for assembly Sunday morning)
4. OOOH - Daddy you have hair on your pickles. (anytime I am without a shirt)
5. Can I have a S-N-A-C-K? (oh did I already mention that one?)
6. Daddy, I think I need to watch AH SAMANI-A. (when she wants to watch the Lion King)
7. Not quite!!!! (when we say it is time for bed)
8. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for mommy, daddy and Simba. (prayer time)
9. Will you tell me a story about Princess Skylie? (story time character - you know? Not Princess Kylie but Princess Skylie. Daddy is so smart.)
10. Did I just pass gas? I did! Am I stinky? I am. (you get the point)

There are so many - maybe I will start writing them down.

Softball Tourney

Well it is official - I am not 20 anymore. Walker and I played in a softball tourney today. Three games is all it took to wipe me out. I hit pretty well the first couple of games, but by the last one the heat and sun had done their damage. My tank was empty.

We played ok overall. The last game was the most interesting though. We played a pretty good team that acted like they were about 12. Mind you, these guys were my age and older, but I think softball was their sole reason to live. Humiliating people was the name of the game. I don't know - I just can't get there. I mean do these guys understand that they are playing "beer league" softball. They were pretty good, but come on. What causes you to act like that? I just can't understand. It was a good opportunity to "kill them with kindness." But we didn't even do a good job at that.

I must say, I was pretty excited that we got beat that last game. I am not sure what I would have done if we won.

Anyway, fun times and good exercise.

Family

Family left today for St. Louis. Emily is going to spend some time with her parents. She hasn't seen them in a while and misses them. They will be back end of this week.

It is storming here in Louisville at the moment which has killed my plans to get the yard mowed and trimmed (hence my blogging). There are some things that need fixin' around the house - so I am going to give that a go. Wish George was in town to keep me in check. I think I can handle these jobs though.

Taylorsville Lake

Taylorsville Lake
Originally uploaded by adamhanauer

We spent the day on the lake with mom and dad. We were all pleasantly surprised with Taylorsville Lake. I hadn't heard much about it, so I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be a great little lake. There were no shortage of boats and wave runners out today. What can you expect on a 85 degree sunny Saturday in July?

We got to see most of the lake. The kids were well behaved and Kylie didn't pee in the boat this time. We definitely counted that as a small victory. Emily and I got to do some tubing - and I got to fling Emily off of it once. She was a real trooper and had a lot of fun.

I was also pleased with the distance. Took us about 35 minutes from our house. Hopefully mom and dad will make the trip again real soon (wink, wink).

Skiing and Dreams

Mom and dad are coming down to Louisville tomorrow and we are meeting them at Taylorsville Lake. Should be a good time on the water. I enjoy wake boarding, skiing and knee boarding. Hopefully I will have the chance to get Emily on the tube. Should be interesting times.

--------------------------

The older I get the more I seem to dream. When I say dreams, I mean "A condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration". I am not sure if God is the originator of the dreams or what, but I have dreams now. When I was younger I don't remember having many dreams. I guess when I was a young boy, I wanted to be a professional baseball player, but past that I honestly can't think of any.

A wise man once told me "When you have more memories than dreams, the end is near." That might not be exactly right, but you get the idea. I think dreams are good, but what is even more excellent is when they are pursued. So often our dreams stay dreams. We don't act on them - instead we become content with them staying in "dreamland." But I think I want to act on my dreams - even when they might seem ridiculous. I want to pursue the dreams that God has given me, and allow him to shape the future and outcomes. I have a hunch that when we stop dreaming, we stop living. I don't know if that is true or not, but could it be?

Monday

Monday was a pretty good day. Had a productive day at work, and got to eat dinner with the family. Also had another opportunity for conversation with a "stranger." I was walking around this afternoon (trying to get some air) and ran across a guy from Clay County. His wife was in Louisville for a teachers conference. They are trying to start a program down there that would allow kids the opportunity to be exposed to colleges at a young age, to get continuing education in their heads. He said it is a desparate situation down there with regard to jobs and education. Not a lot going on, and they are caught in a cycle of poverty.

Made me reflect on my upbringing and the opportunities I was afforded. Also forced me to think, yet again, there is more to success than just "pulling up your boot straps." This is a myth. Not many people "get ahead" without some help in this life. What an opportunity we have as Christians to find those who are "on the fringes" and lend a helping hand in the name of Jesus.

May we seek out people in our lives that we may bless because of how we have been blessed.

Irish Coffee

Irish Coffee
Originally uploaded by adamhanauer

My wife and I enjoyed this magnificent drink tonight around 11pm. Yummy!

Who do you say I am? - Jesus

Went to downtown Louisville this afternoon to ask people this very question. "Who do you say Jesus is?" As I walked around the park observing people, and getting my thoughts together in my head as to how I was going to pull this off, I noticed the only people that seemed to be alone were homeless. I didn't want to interrupt people in their Saturday afternoon family activity, so I zeroed in on a homeless fellow.

My approach was pretty consistent throughout my different encounters - Went something like this:

"Hi, my name is Adam. Can I talk with you for a minute?"

In every instance there was a few moments of tension or awkwardness as they tried to figure out why I wanted to speak to them. I found out through a couple of my conversations that they frequently have violent encounters for absolutely no reason, by random people just as myself. One guy said he was sucker punched not 10 yards from where we were standing a couple of weeks ago. And just when I thought - yeah right! - we went to a little hut (renting bikes to ride around downtown) to buy a drink, and the guy behind the counter said "you staying away from the crazy people?" To which the homeless man, Robert, said "I told you."

All in all it was a fantastic experience. I think I might frequent that area in the weeks to come in hopes of actually forming some relationships with these guys and others. You may be thinking - "how did they answer the question?" Well it was interesting, b/c most answers I got were "he is my Lord and personal savior." Which to me says a lot about how we as a church "preach the good news."

Jesus has become nothing more and nothing less than "our Lord and personal Savior." I am not even sure that phrase is in the Bible, but oh well - it very well may be.

So when I got home today, and sat on my front porch I prayed for Robert, Stephen and Lester. I pray we meet again.

Faith and Politics

Just found Greg Boyd's (wrote Myth of a Christian Nation) blog, and ran across this post. Thought I would share, as it is fantastic, and "hard to hear" or some might say - challenging.

"Hi folks,
I took Wednesday off from the Science and Theology conference to fly out to Washington D.C. and participate in a one day Conference on Faith and Politics, alongside Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, and Melissa Rogers. It was sponsored by Christian Faith and Ethics Today and The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (which includes 14 different Baptist organizations). About 400 Baptist leaders were present.

We had a wonderful time! Several people told me afterwards that they felt it was the most engaging and animated conference they'd ever attended. (One gentleman who told me this was around 70 years old and said he'd been going to conferences like this all of his life!) We all presented our views with passion, yet there was a discernable mutual respect and love that permeated the conference. Honestly, I love these folks. (And Tony is hands down the best speaker in America!)

Afterwards we all went out for dinner. We got into some very good, always friendly, debates. When I had to leave to catch a plane, I told them very sincerely I wished we had five hours to continue because it was so stimulating, challenging and informative. I honestly was pressed on points I need to think deeply about, and I appreciated this. Melissa (who is a legal expert on church and state relations and a fantastic speaker!) suggested we (and perhaps other like-minded leaders) arrange to do this once a year, and everyone seemed open to the possibility. We'll see.

Anyways, there's a trillion issues I could discuss, but I'll just briefly discuss my take on one. (The word "briefly" in this sentence is used in an Einsteinian sense: It's very relative.)

The four of us all agreed passionately that the most important thing disciples of Jesus can do to further the Kingdom isn't about politics; its about HOW WE LIVE. Furthermore, we all agreed that the Church needs to take responsibility for poverty, homelessness, racism, and all manner of social ills, and that we shouldn't wait on government to do any of this. And we all agreed that the only authority the Church has to speak to anyone is the moral authority it earns by sacrificing for others. (Tony was especially eloquent in his talk about this.) Where we disagreed was that Tony, and even more so Jim, believe that we must also invest energy in being "the conscience of government," holding it accountable to do the right thing. (I'm not sure where Melissa stands on this).

There's six things I'd say in response to this position (most, but not all, of which I expressed in my talk and in our dinner conversation).

1. I think it's EVERY decent person's job to "hold the government accountable." The criteria for good politics isn't Christian faith or self-sacrificial love, but common decency that promotes the common good. There's nothing distinctly Christian about holding a government accountable. Nor does being a Christian give one any special moral insight or wisdom into what government should do about various social ills. What being a follower of Jesus SHOULD do -- and this is our one distinctive -- is that we should be more willing to sacrificially serve others. So, I believe, our focus as Kingdom leaders should be on motivating and mobilizing Christians to sacrifice, not motivating and mobilizing them to vote "right."

2. Tony repeatedly appealled to the paradigm of the prophet going before the King and saying prophetically, "Thus says the Lord..." But this paradigm is rooted in the Old Testament in which both the King and the prophet were under the Israelite covenant. The JOB of the prophet under this covenant was to hold the King (and others) accountable. But America isn't Israel. It makes no more sense in America (or any other country) to proclaim "Thus says the Lord" to the President or Congress than it does to say this to a stranger on the street. Why should they care about what "the Lord" says -- or about what you or I THINK the Lord says? This is why Jesus never challenged Pilate or Caesar, though they were by any standards both very, very bad leaders.

3. I agree in a sense that Kingdom people can function as the "conscience of governement," but it's not by our WORDS, but by our LIFE. The unique Kingdom way to function as the conscience of government is simply by BEING THE KINGDOM -- which means, LOOKING LIKE JESUS. If the Church would sacrificially care about the poor, the homeless, the economically and racially oppressed, etc… it would cast a light on government that would expose its inadequate attention to these issues, just as Jesus exposed the ugliness of earthly governements (and the demonic power behind them, cf. Lk 4:5-7) by allowing himself to be crucified as he entered into solidarity with sinners.

I suspect the reason many if not most American Christians default to political power is because the Church in America is so far from being this kind of "conscience" that most can't even imagine it. Because of the Church's lack of Christ-like sacrificial power, the only kind of power most Americans see is "power over" others -- that is, political power. So they sadly think the Church needs to acquire as much of this kind of power as possible. As I argued in The Myth of a Christian Nation, the quest for this kind of power has always, and will always, destroy the Church. Our only authority is the Cross, not the Sword. And when we pick up the Sword, we put down the Cross.

4. Here's a big one. At dinner I argued with Jim and Tony that if we agree that our only authority to speak to governements or to anyone else is the moral authority we earn by sacrificially serving others, and if we agree (as we do) that the Church isn't remotely close to having this moral authority in western culture, then, I said, doesn't it make sense for us to BE QUIET about politics and put all our energies into motivating and mobilizing the church to be the Jesus-looking kingdom we're called to be in order to perhaps someday gain this authority? And if the Church ever did win this broad respect such that people and government actually cared about our opinions, then we wouldn't have to demand it. It would come naturally. (Moral authority, I believe, can NEVER be demanded. It must be earned).

On the other hand, when we speak into politics without this moral authority, we are heard simply as one of the many political voices trying to enforce our wills on others through the power of law. We're just another "power-over" special interest group. So, shouldn’t we simply "Seek first (to be) the Kingdom of God, and (trust that) all these things (include a voice in steering society) will be given unto you" (Mt 6:33)?

5. On top of this, what business does the Church have trying to get Caesar to act more Christian than we ourselves act? How can we possibly tell Caesar what he should do about the poor when we ourselves are not bleeding as much as we can bleed for the poor? The Church can have a role in leading government, I believe, but only if it does so BY EXAMPLE, not cheap opinions.
Until we ARE this example, I honestly think its counter-productive to the Kingdom to offer public opinions "in Jesus name." It's like those Christians who publically rally Christians to be against gay marriage because they're for family values, when Christians themselves have a higher divorce rate than the rest of America. This sort of thing invites the charge of hypocrisy. Of course, individuals can have whatever opinions they want about gay marriage or any other political issue. The trouble arises when groups publically represent this as "the Christian position." If Christians spent a decade doing nothing but healing their own marriages while sacrificially serving non-Christian gay people, maybe, just maybe, we'd earn the right to lovingly speak into their lives -- and they into ours (since, after all, our sin is like a tree trunk compared to their sin, which is a mere dust particle [Mt 7:1-3]).

6. Finally, my deepest worry is always about the demonic pull of politics. I think the devil loves it when we become so entangled in trying to get Caesar to do what we think he should do that we compromise our Kingdom call to do the one thing WE'RE supposed to do; namely, all the things we're trying to get Caesar to do! We can become so entangled with trying to steer politics that we don't get around to simply BEING THE CHURCH.

I suspect the devil especially loves it when we become divided over what Caesar should do -- as is inevitable once we become preoccupied with the politics Caesar, instead of the Kingdom of Christ. When this happens, we can't as a united front sacrifice together to be the Kingdom. The Matthews and Simons among us become so divided over whether the Democratic or Republican program is the best one to address injustice (or whatever) that we can't unite together to sacrificially do something in Jesus' name about injustice.

Again, we had a wonderful time together, and the conversation will continue. But in the meantime, may I encourage all of us to not wait on the outcome of this discussion, or of ANY discussion. Starting now, JUST BE THE KINGDOM. Unite with other disciples and live in the question: How can we bleed together to manfiest God's love to others?

How you vote isn't going to change the world. How you LIVE will. God promises it.
Blessings"

Weiner Wars Hot Dog Champion

Weiner Wars Hot Dog Champion
Originally uploaded by adamhanauer

Have you ever had that feeling - you know the one - where you feel like you just ate 66 hotdogs?!

Well the guy on the right just did! I know this is becoming an annual event, that most everyone watches, but it is unbelievable to me. How on earth can someone shovel 66 hotdogs, buns and all, into their belly in 12 minutes? Mind blowing......and a little silly if you ask me.

3 max for me, and I am out. But I have always been a bit of a sissy when it came to eating. I blame a "weak" stomach

Monday happenings

Jerry Narron
Originally uploaded by adamhanauer

Well, Jerry Narron is gone. Might not mean much if you don't follow the reds, but it is a pretty big deal when your manager gets fired. The Reds now can boast the worst record in baseball. Entering today they have 51 losses - and we are just about at the halfway point of the season. Disappointing to say the least. They are talking about paying some big bucks for their next manager. I will be watching.

------------------------------------------------

Had the privilege of visiting a community center in South Louisville today, and read with an 8 year old Somalian refugee named Ikra. It was a neat experience - She has seen things, and experienced things that I can't even imagine in her 8 years. She sat patiently and read, as I helped her sound words out. I was impressed with how well she spoke and read English. Hope to be able to return in the future.

------------------------------------------------

Today is Monday and that means Emily is exercising and Kylie is peeing on the couch. I am not sure what I am going to with that girl. If it wasn't for those precious blue eyes..........

Tomorrow is coffee with George, and then we head to Cincinnati. Emily is going to get some training in her new job. She will be filling in for our sister-in-law while she takes some time off after her birth. We plan on meeting Mom at portrait innovations to get some pictures with the kids. Should be a good day.

I have picked up Mere Discipleship for the 3rd time. Hope to glean some more insight from Camp's perspective on the "good news."