Kentucky and Chicago

So we're visiting my sister and Dad and other family here in Owensboro, Kentucky. We flew here about a week and a half ago...



In Kentucky, you eat...good food. This is from a place called Culver's. Home of the famous "Butter Burger". BUTTER BURGER! A Burger with butter. Amie had the pot roast sandwich there...



My Dad is doing ok. He has a dementing illness kind of like Alzheimer's. He doesn't talk very much but it seems he has genuinely enjoyed being with the family as we gather every few days. He watches the kids play and laughs with them and listens to our stories. He is definitely offering his presence and that is very precious to us.



Did I mention that we eat here...this is my Sister and Brother-in-law's church. They have a community soup kitchen every Wednesday. They feed their neighbors good food and offer dignity and a welcoming environment...



This past weekend, my Sister lent us her car and we drove to Chicago to Jesus People, USA for our friend's wedding. Jesus People is like being in one of the elf communities in the Lord of the Rings...you don't quite know how they do anything but it seems to work. Over 500 people all living together in Christian community and care. This is the only shot I got of the place but it kinda describes it very well. This is a shot in the cafeteria of a young guy praying with and caring for a disabled man before the church service on Sunday morning in the cafeteria. You see people of every different kind living, celebrating and working together. It's a beautiful place and a, well, magical wedding.



We went to see the bean. If you don't know about the bean then there's not much to say...except, here's the bean..






Did I mention that we've been eating well on this trip? After the bean, we miraculously found a free parking space one half a block from the miracle mile on Michigan Ave in Downtown Chicago! We wandered looking for FAO Schwarz (which is closed...booo) but stumbled around the corner here where they were just about to open for lunch...



Have you eaten here?! Oh my. Oh wow...





So now we're back in Kentucky...or as Stella calls it "To-tucky". Oh, on our way back we ate here...



...we've been doing that a lot. And we'll while away our last few days being with Dad and participating in church life here. We'll probably eat more and have some campfires and enjoy the fall. Oh yeah, Owensboro has bugs. Really big bugs. They are cool. For more pics from our YWAM work back home and our recent team we hosted from Canada...GLONK HERE! Leave a comment or drop me a line if you can.

I can't watch Monsters Inc. without crying...

Phone pictures

Some snap shots from my phone along the way...



This is the most recent of Stella...right before her ear tube surgery. She did great and is all ready for her trip to Kentucky. She won't stop talking about it..."Daddy, I fly with you to 'tucky?!"



This is Arlie and Dave. Dave was on a team we just hosted from Stanley Park Church in Kitchener, Ontario; Canada and Arlie is from his Hobo shack. Arlie has on a Canada hat and Dave is sporting a Modesto hat. They are both helping to feed to folks of South 9th St. a hot meal.



This is the blue print sketch of our new (to us) church building. On the corner of Hadden and Trask in Modesto, this little church was built for a Wesleyan congregation and has been empty for over 4 years. The Canadian team helped us with a lot of clean up in the yard and inside the building. There is quite a buzz in the neighborhood about the new church that's coming. We're really excited!



And finally for now...if you ever want to know what kind of town Modesto is...this pretty much sums it up. Our portraits of success case in the airport to greet visitors is empty.

Wanna see a few more phone pictures? Go to our YWAM Modesto Blog for a few more.

Be like Momo

This is a picture of my grandparents. We called them Momo and Popo. Popo was a rigger for Louisville Gas and Electric Company. Momo was his wife. They were happy. They were loving. They lived for their family. They grew a huge garden and shared it with their church. They worshiped in simplicity. They rose early and worked hard all day. They canned food for the winter. Popo watered his garden from the rain barrel...by hand (well into his eighties). They rarely complained and always laughed.

I've especially been thinking of Momo lately. She refused to talk politics. She refused to let you know who she voted for on election day. She went to the polls, cast her vote and didn't feel the need to talk about it.

In so many ways, we should all be more like Momo.

Panda Express...foreboding

Life has been a bit nuts lately. This was the last thing I needed.

Some Whitler highlights...

Howdy folks, I got some blog ideas in the works but I thought it'd be nice to show a few pictures and tell a few stories. Here we go...first the kids...



Sam recently finished his Aikido lessons. He did great. He was quite intent on getting the moves just right. Aikido is a martial art that teaches how to defuse a threatening situation. It requires focus and precise movement. Sam grew a lot in these areas and is still practicing. Of course, Josh and I are the only ones that really attack him...so..

Josh. Are pictures really worth a thousand words? ...cause this pretty much describes Josh these days...



Lego and reading. That's it. By the way, Josh is reading the book series that created the fantasy geek that I am today. It's a great little "tip of the hat to Narnia" type series called "the Archives of Antropos" I loved them and it's fun to see him loving them too.

And Stella...A friend of Aaron's stayed with us for a bit (hi Christine!) and Stella loved her and her clothes...



There's not much more to say.

Last week we had a great BBQ on south 9th St. But the only pictures I got were of Arley making his now famous "Burgerdog"





I didn't eat one, I promise.

This past Saturday, we took our kids club out to the park at Knights Ferry, a little community that was built in the 1800's. The river gorge is beautiful and the kids really enjoyed swimming, hiking and frog hunting. I gave the girls my camera and this is what they came up with...





This is the longest covered bridge in California! Here's the kids in front of "Shrek's Shack"



Frogs and snakes and, er, shoes beware!





For several reasons, this is one of my most favorite graffitis ever...



And oh, yeah, recently, for arts sake, I grew a beard that was supposed to become a mustache for a little funny video we were going to try to make. Here's what the world is missing by me not having a mustache. I think this is number 1 on the list of top things that shouldn't be...



Sorry. See you soon!

Real Quick

Alright, I haven't blogged in a while (who reads this anyway?) but, I thought I'd add this just so you know...Jack in the Box now serves fried nuggets of Macaroni and Cheese. Hmm. They're not bad. Hopefully more depth and inspiration come soon.

Failure

I found this at Ben's blog...

Jesus' love

"He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!"

And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent.

After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him." -Mark 3

We don't know a lot about love and how it operates. I've been thinking about love lately. A post by my friend Beth and another from Mary have helped me too. Does love mean you overlook everything and be 'nice'? Does it mean you pick every battle? How do you "sin not" in your anger?

This story about Jesus gives me a clue. He was angry and grieved. This was not a slight on Jesus' personal pride. Jesus was not angry for his own sake. Ever secure, he was grieved and angry on their behalf.

Jesus grieved over how locked in and stubborn they were and with authority (not rebellion) he acted and healing came. Jesus' pro-active authority shut the mouths of his accusers.

There is a time to be angry, reasons to grieve - but complaint and rebellion do not bring healing, love and action do.

The county fair.

We've been here for 7 years this summer. We've never been to the county fair. So, when we heard about "kids get in free night" and "free 'Raven Simone'" night all in the same night...hey, why not. Let's get the ball rolling with some variations on a theme...







And these...when we saw these we could not resist paying waaaaaaaaaaay too much for them. They were not as good as they look...do they look good? I think the fair food smell kinda gets in when you're surrounded with it and well, takes over and makes you do something crazy. Like...buy these fries...



They were VERY greasy. Very. They were wet...soaking with grease. We threw them away before they were done. If you know the Whitlers...that's quite a thing. And then there was Raven. The doors opened at 5 for the 8:30pm show. The stadium was packed at 5. We didn't really make it in. Josh and I squeezed in to standing room. Here she is saying good night...or not...I can't get the sound to work...well, you can kinda see her just like we kinda saw her...



And finally...the carosel...you can imagine the music I guess...



The fair...I dunno...it's kind of like, pay money to get in and spend money. But we took our dinner and only spent a little bit and we saw Raven and got sick on fries and had some fun...so, yeah. The fair. The end.

I keep finding cool quotes...

"The job of the peacemaker is to stop war, to purify the world, to get it saved from poverty and riches, to heal the sick, to comfort the sad, to wake up those who have not yet found God, to create joy and beauty wherever you go, to find God in everything and in everyone."

- Muriel Lester
(1884-1968)

"I don't deny...that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die. I only say...it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, to remind men that they are not dead yet."

—G.K. Chesterton

Pictures from my day

This is the inside of Viva Taco...it is a bus that is a Mexican restaurant. This is (left to right) Arlie, Jimmy's Dad, Pastor Sustar, Sylvester (owner and proprietor and cooking at the moment), John and Jimmy. We love the bus. The bus is good. The bus is here. It was good to be at the bus again. I would suggest the chicken burrito supreme...hot, freshly made and a quality like no other taco truck I've encountered (for my non-Californian readers, we get the best tacos from establishments that have 4 wheels and motors). This is an good picture from my day. Here's another taken by Joseph, the "super" at the Budget Inn on S. 9th St...



These were pretty fun and easy to be in. There are others.

There was the intense warfare of getting relationships right. There was prayer at the 9th street bridge. There was the picture of friends walking into one of the darkest, most depraved places I know of and calling for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done. A picture of mercy as I saw people giving dignity to a broken man. I was in a picture of a family wracked by sickness and sadness. My mind took a snap shot of merciful hands asking for healing. A picture of hope super-imposed. Now an image of woundedness and grief...of a life never affirmed by a mother or father and even now a greater Father weighing in, filling up, setting free. On to, a circle of friends handing the dead parts over to Jesus. It is harder than it looks in the pictures. Next a scene of obligations fulfilled and letting go. Finally, my family with ice cream and laughter.

And in all of these pictures from today, there is a theme, a thread that links them all together. I don't know how these all fit into the same album but I close the cover on my day and the simple label on the front says, "Joy".

A quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Do and dare what is right, not swayed by the whim of the moment. Bravely take hold of the real, not dallying now with what might be. Not in the flight of ideas but only in action is freedom. Make up your mind and come out into the tempest of living. God’s command is enough and your faith in him to sustain you. Then at last freedom will welcome your spirit amid great rejoicing."

People are awesome!

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Back on the ole horse

It's been a while since I've like, blog blogged so I thought I'd try something I've been thinking about for some time. In our garage is a box and several bags chock full of old, unorganized photos. Remember, you know, like an actual picture that you can hold in your hand? Well, I thought I'd go out there, stick my hand in one of the bags and what ever photo came out, I'd write about it...so here it is...



This is Michael...but he wanted us to use the french pronuciation of Mi-kai-el so we did. He was in Dunham, Quebec working with Youth With A Mission. Or Jenesse en Mission in French...in English it's YWAM, very blunt and awkward. In French, it's JEM which also convieniently means "love". ahhhhh. Michael was working there as a part of a language study school from England. As a requirement, he had to spend six months or a year (I can't remember which) in a French speaking nation. He was quite fluent. I remember him thinking the Quebec version of the language to be quirky and endearing. It's all French to me.

I was in Dunham also working with YWAM from the base in Cambridge, Ontario. In a story much too long to go into, we had to run our Discipleship Training School at a different location and the Dunham house was the closest and also available at the last minute. So here we came, 40 or so loud anglo-phones crashing in on a small, french YWAM base in a tiny village in Quebec about 7 miles from the Vermont border...in January. Our hosts were very gracious, it was extremly cold (we had to buy a heater to place on our engine block so our car would start in the morning) and the food was...uh...improvised. We had brought with us a large donation of frozen pasta dishes like tortellini and ravioli all of which we just kept outside. It stayed frozen no problem.

I did not keep in touch with Michael. He stayed in Dunham for a while after we were all gone. But I do remember a conversation I had with him. I remember it every once in a while. He was deciding whether to do his Discipleship Training School (DTS) with YWAM there. We were talking about the way we look to programs to fix us rather than looking to God. He had a very humble view. He told me that he didn't expect the DTS to change him completely but that it was just another season. An extra focused season maybe but one that would come to an end. His goal was to stay on the path toward God no matter what.

Seeing this picture today made me think of the four students from my church now, here in California, that are headed off to YWAM schools this Fall. Seasons come and go. I remember the first time James and Julie came to our youth group...they were just 13 years old. They graduated this year and are both off to YWAM. I'm very proud of them. They are already on that path and getting ready for an intensified season.

I remember when it was me. While those decisions actually did change the coarse of my life,it didn't happen the way I thought it would. For the most part, there has not been the big and the wonderful. It has been the small and the faithful that has made all the difference...friendship, simplicity and good work. Let's stay on the path.

New Podcast

Listen to a new message from Chris about ministry opportunity and how you can activate and get involved...Glonk here.

Sam's B-day blow up

This (along with Lasagna) is the only thing Sam asked for for his birthday...

Jump!

For Sam's birthday, we had a pool party and the dream we've had for 4 years has come to fruition. I give you...Jump!...

New Thailand audio report

Hey everybody, for an audio report from Jimmy and Aaron about their recent trip to Thailand...Glonk here!

Joshua's pictures from Columbia, CA

These were taken by Josh at Columbia State park...

March against violence

Glonk here for a good article from the bee about last Saturday's march.

Pics and events...

First let's start with a couple variations on a theme. Who do you think it's really true of...







And here's Josh and Sam with one in the Theater...hanging with the High School Musical crew...



Sam said he was tripping them...



Last night, thanks to a generous donation from our good friends at Youth For Christ, we were able to take our Saturday "kids club" group to a Modesto Nuts game. That's right, our local team is called "The Nuts" It's especially fun when the crowd
begins to cheer, "Let's Go Nuts!" We had a great, loud, crazy time.



The kids loved it as the Nuts hit the winning run while they were tied at the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and two men on. It was a sweet victory. During the subsequent
fireworks show, one of the guys turned to me and exclaimed, "This is the best night
ever! Do you have tickets for tomorrow night!" We had a blast.



Today was the city's March against gang violence and we participated with a few
of the students we know. The crowd was small, partly due to rain and mostly due to
Modesto not really being an engaged town for this sort of thing. It's hard to get
people out for community events. But you got to start somewhere. The speeches were
good and mostly about preventing the kinds of atmosphere where gangs thrive. It was
good to be there and take part in something important in our city...



We even got to help hold the "Youth for Christ" banner and walk with our friends...



And last but not least, this weekend saw the release of the long fabled, talked, hoped and prayed for 4th Indiana Jones movie...



The Whitlers loved it! Somehow, Sam made it into the cast. It's good to see Indy again on the big screen. For me, it didn't disappoint.

This is the picture Sam brought back from Sunday School this past week. The teachers told him he could draw a picture about the story they read in class or just draw something on their own. Sam drew this. What is it? It's a black hole sucking up the 9 stars of hope. Duh. The end of the world is near.

Our new YWAM Modesto video

Some family pics

Some of these were taken on my cell phone, most of them were taken by our friend Shelly Wason of shellywasonphotography.com

Wonder which are which? : )

Phil!

I've been hungry for a good concert lately. I haven't had a lot of time for music and I've recognized that as a problem. A few weeks ago, a guy named Justin Fox came through town. He's a musician from southern California and was playing a few venues in our area. An acquaintance in ministry works at one of the churches that was hosting a concert and brought up the fact that they were looking for a host home. Aaron was away in Ireland so we had Justin stay with us. We attended his concert. It was good but it was also a youth group and that comes with it's own set of distractions and agenda. It wasn't the "concert" I'd been hungry for. I can't wait to see Justin again though...he's a great guy and makes good music that I'm only starting to get to know.

Earlier last week, I went searching online for a good concert. I looked at Phil Keaggy , Randy Stonehill and Bob Bennett, the latter two being from California my chances were good. Randy Stonehill is coming to Scaremento in August, Bob is playing lots of seminars and retreats but I saw that Phil was coming to Monterey on Thursday! I wondered how I could make it work. Monterrey is at least three hours away...concert at 7, bread truck till 5:30...no way. Boo. But I did find a Randy Stonehill and Phill Keaggy live CD to download on itunes. That went a long way to satisfy my fix. But not quite what I wanted.

The next day I got a phone call from another youth pastor friend...

"Hello?"

"Chris, it's Michael, um...how old are you?"

"I'm 37."

"Oh, well, you might know who I'm talking about. Would you like to come to a free Phil Keaggy concert this Friday night at our church?"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So the rest is history. It was awesome. And Phil just the way you need to see Phil. A small room (280 people), Phil and his guitar and his awe inspiring digital looping on the fly skills. He did all my favorite songs of his. He sang "Here comes the Sun" (do do do do). He sang Bob Dylan's "Make you feel my Love"...a heartbreakingly sweet rendition. I think he did some "Love Song". He shared his heart. He talked about the old days. He talked about Jesus. He humbly shared with wisdom, skill, wit and of course, some mind blowing musicianship.

I recorded a few songs on my phone but the sound didn't work out. So find a few samples of Phil live here...and here...and here.

It felt like when I was 12 and sitting at my very first real concert. It was Dallas Holm and Praise. I was blown away. I had never really been "into" music. I was a bit of a late bloomer having lived a pretty sheltered Christian life on a Christian collage campus in Northern Wisconsin. These guys were not like my Sunday School teachers. I grew up knowing about a nice God who wanted us to be nice people and do nice things. Idefinitely came on the scene post Jesus movement, so Christian music was beginning to lose it's edge. But it wasn't gone yet. These artists challenged me with radical messages of abandon to God, evangelism and challenge to live holy lives that matter. I've said it before, but we need it again...desperatly.

So at the end, Phil came out right where I was sitting and the crowd gathered round for autographs. Amie had been naturally walking toward me and we were soon swept into the Phil mania. So Amie shook his hand...the one with the middle finger missing. Then there was an awkward silence and then Amie said, "Phil, this is my husband, Chris..." And Phil extended his de-fingered hand to me and I shook it and could sense the missing digit. He touched me, oh, he touched me and I'm wondering if I play guitar better now.

So you have to do some looking, but different, real, good stuff is still out there. Who wants to go see Randy with me this August?

And now to really slow down your computer...

Youtube galore! Stella has become obsessed with youtube. Every time I open up my new laptop (thank you generous donor!) she wants to watch manamana...here we are...doing what we do many times a day...



And here's the real thing...



It weird, we can get lost in this stuff forever! Last night, we found some bugs bunny and just kept going...



Oh, and here's a real one from Amie's dance concert this past week...this is from a practice but you'll get the idea if you weren't able to make it.



And the other thing we've discovered is hulu.com...have you been there yet? REally weird...you can watch and embed whole movies. Like, uh, here...watch "Ice Age"...

YWAM Modesto Newsletter

Hey all, thought I'd let you know our new newsletter is done! I know newsletter can conjure feelings of boring statistics and a long commitment, but not this one...it's a five minute read about good news. Go ahead...

Download it here!

Jesus

I was in borders a couple of weeks ago and I was looking in their religious section. So much has been written about Jesus. So much has been done in his name, on his behalf. So many people with very strong feelings about him. Jesus, really Y'shua...a form of our "Joshua." I'm told that Jesus is a kinda badly strained Greek version of his name. Joshua is better for English meaning "God (or 'YHWH') saves". Gayle Erwin points out that on Palm Sunday which recently passed, the people were shouting "Hosanna!" which means "Oh, save!" or "God, save us!" They were shouting "Save us!" to "God saves." Pretty cool.

This week I read the gospel of Luke...it's a good one. I couldn't help but notice how practical Jesus is and it's got me thinking. Over the years, we've added a lot of stuff to his message and acts. I wonder what he thinks about all the stuff? I wonder what Christ really thinks about our buildings, programs, courses, books, seminars, plans, fund-raising and services? Really. The real Jesus, not just our idea about him. Michael Card once sung, "We've made you in our image so our faith is idolatry." How much of that is true in my life?

On this past Good Friday...case in point, we call it Good Friday cause that's the day Christ laid down his life, then, it was just the day they killed people for robbery and treason and the like...anyway, I went to the best "Good Friday service" I have ever been to simply because it wasn't really a Good Friday service. It was a community Bible study at a West side ministry drop in called the Vine house that me and the guys happened to be leading. It wasn't the best because we were leading either. We were quite unprepared.

There was coffee, there was singing, there was a Bible reading, there was sharing and there was prayer all done in a small circle. While we were sitting there I thought, "Wow, this is it. This is what Jesus meant when he established his church." All of the other stuff is extra. Not really bad extra necessarily, but extra none the less.

For all our fanciness, this is how Christ's church in most of the world thrives. This is the Chinese church that no government could take down. I get the feeling sometimes that our western churches would all but fold if we lost the ability to use our tithes as a tax deduction! How can I deduce that these simple circles are really what Jesus meant? Because it's what the Christians did right after they had been with Jesus..."They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42)

I met some great YWAMers last month that are helping people learn how to plant churches with this new but really old idea of "the simple church". It has me hungry and looking for more (by looking for less?). But our meeting at the Vine house was really, the basic idea...there was coffee and just being together, we sang (which is a kind of corporate prayer) and prayed, we heard from the apostles by reading scripture, we responded to the scripture and to each other. And that's it. This is what changes lives. What more do we need?

Ah yes, authority. Well that was there too. Everyone in the room was submitted and growing. And instead of creating false authority, this kind in our little circle happened through friendship. Sure there's things to work through, sure there will be confrontation and dealing with junk...if there are people, it gets messy. But we must get used to a little bit of mess and committed to routing it out of our own life with God's help. That what friends are for.

I'm not leaving my church because we have a building and a sound system. But I am committed to be the real deal at my church. To know people better. To share my life with them. To eat with them. To pray with them. To hear God's word with them. It's the only thing Christ meant...

John 15: 9-17 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."