[psalm63adam]

Hello,

Well, I changed my user name on this here board from imclayinaz to parkway, and so I had to start up a new blog all over again. Which is fine.

However, I am going to transfer all my old rants and raves from before over here and then have Art delete my old blog under the letter I.

I just wanted to say welcome to my blog, and I'll get a rant or a rave up pretty soon. Until then, enjoy my past musings and meanderings!

[psalm63adam]

Okay, so this is my first attempt at a web journal, and although I don't know really anyone on this web site and have probably made a few people mad with my caustic humor and abrasive web personality (it's my alter ego), I thought, "what the hey?"

So, even though it's almost the end of the week, here's my rant of the week:

It has to do with a monopoly that has taken over its niche in the commerce world. Although its commercials are made up of two furry, cute and funny animals, I abhor this monopoly with a passion because of one thing and one thing only.

First of all, what is the company I speak of?

BLOCKBUSTER.

Secondly, what am I ranting about?

The fact that our forests will be depleted by the year 2007 if Blockbuster keeps up its "I don't care about the environment" modus operandi.

Let me explain.

I went to Blockbuster today because I had to rent a couple of movies to get some clips for our worship service this Sunday. The movies? A Christmas Story and Scrooged. Now before you call the movie police on me, let me tell you that our church has the MPLI license, which means we can show parts or all of movies of certain movie companies. So, anyway...

I get up to pay (I of course have a late charge from another time), do so successfully, and as I walk around towards the exit to receive my two videos, I notice A HUGE COMPENDIUM OF PAPER ON THE VIDEO BOXES.

I look at said compendium, and there are FIVE SEPARATE RECEIPTS. There is the receipt that shows my late charge, the two movies I rented, the prices, the subtotal, the tax, the subtotal with tax, the total amount due, what I used to pay for it, and all of that stuff. Second receipt is my credit card receipt. Third receipt proudly proclaims, "YOU'VE GOT TOKENS!" and tells me that if I register at freebie.com, I will collect a bonus 10,000 freebie auction tokens. Do I understand what these tokens are for? No I don't. But, thankfully, my fourth reciept is another freebie.com advertisement, along with the announcement in big bold letters 'WIN A CHANCE TO ATTEND THE PROJECT GREENLIGHT PARTY IN PARK CITY!'

Come on Blockbuster, come on Wayne Hiuzenga (I think that's his name)! Just because you own Blockbuster, the Dolphins and Marlins (Ahh, the Marlins could be its own separate rant) doesn't give you the authority to destroy the natural resources of our country! Give me a break!

You may be asking yourself, "what about the fifth receipt you mentioned?"

It was Blockbuster's contract with Satan.

[psalm63adam]

Now for the RAVE OF THE WEEK!

It comes in the form of a small foil wrapped candy sent straight from heaven.

It's called - the Hershey Mint Kiss.

Haven't had one yet? Throw your keyboard down, go to your nearest supermarket/Target/Walmart/ad nauseum, and pick a bag of these up.

Now, I won't say they will beat the mint chocolate goodness of an Andes Mint.

And in my hometown, there is a candy company called Rocky Mountain Fruit and Nut - they make a mint chocolate candy called the "Alpine Mint". That's the best.

But those Hershey Mint Kisses are pretty darn good.

[psalm63adam]

RANT - Week of 12/15

My brother let me borrow a video game for the computer - he's the kind of guy who likes to try to corrupt my innocence. Okay, that's a lie. My innocence is already corrupted with video games; after all, my favorite all-time game is Goldeneye, a game where you, as James Bond, kill lots of people. With all kinds of weapons. In all kinds of ways.

So anyway, he lets me borrow Grand Theft Auto 3. Now, I've played the second GTA, and was not that impressed by the game. But number 3 does for the Grand Theft Auto series what the H bomb did for war strategy - completely change and revolutionize it.

Grand Theft Auto 3 makes Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and other shoot-em-up games look like a Dress-Me-Up Barbie video game. You kill lots of people; you can literally go up to innocent bystanders and beat them up, shoot them, run them over with your car (which makes a horrific squishing noise), and other gruesome actions.

It's a horrifying game. I can't believe the amount of violence that a single video game could bring into our society. After I played it for a couple of hours, I had to go to the store to get some milk or something like that, and I seriously had thoughts of running over people in the Albertson's parking lot. How sick and twisted is that? I'm thinking "If I as a mature, upstanding citizen of 32 years am thinking these thoughts, what about the impressionable minds of 13 year old kids who had their parents buy them this game?"

I'm also addicted to the game. It's a fun game to play. You basically move up in the crime syndicate of Liberty City by finishing missions. These missions sometimes consist of simple tasks like driving people to different areas of the city. Other times you have to plant car bombs or other difficult things.

I can't wait for my brother to come to my house for Christmas so we can play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on his playstation 2.

Is that so wrong?

[psalm63adam]

RANT of the week - 12/23

I now understand.

Having worked in churches for the last ten years - the first 9 as a youth minister, something would happen every year that would completely perplex me. Something that would send me off in a tirade about worship ministers and their ilk.

What was that something? It was a simple question.

"Why do worship ministers become so grumpy around Christmas?"

I would look at the worship ministers I worked with, see their dour faces during the holiday season, hear them grunt an unintelligble phrase when talked to, and I would just get mad. "Those worship ministers," I would say. "They are ruining my holiday cheer."

I was always cheerful around the holidays because December was pretty much the only month where there wasn't a lot happening in the youth ministry. Which meant I got to relax, watch a children's Christmas program, attend a Christmas musical put on by our church, sing some Christmas songs, go caroling with the youth group, and just enjoy myself.

And so I didn't understand why the worship minister was so grumpy.

Until now.

You see, now I'm a worship minister. I started in March, and haven't experienced the holiday season as a worship minister. Until this month.

And I'm grumpy.

First off, there is the preparation of the Christmas songs that are to be sung during Christmas. I don't come from a traditional church background, the churches I've been a part of have been "contemporary" (this word can mean so many things). Preparing Christmas songs is like going back in time and preparing hymns. Plus I lead worship with an acoustic guitar, and these old carols just weren't written to be led by a guitar. So I've spent a lot of time trying to change them to accomodate my style. Not fun.

Then, there's the Christmas Eve service. I just finished doing Sunday morning with two services and a bunch of Christmas songs and all that, and now two days later I have to do the same thing, with more Christmas songs.

I'm tired. And grumpy.

And the hard thing is that I know it's just going to get harder and harder every year. The church I work for is a 5 year old church plant from a 7,000 member congregation, and our attendance is around 400. We meet in a school, so we can't do a full-blown Christmas service because we just don't have the right facility to do it in. But last week we purchased 40 acres of property and we are planning on being in our first phase by Easter of 2004. Which means we will have the facility to do all that the church wants to do.

You know - Christmas children's musical, adult musical, a Christmas choir, a living Christmas tree, 12 Christmas eve services, etc. etc. etc.

So as you're walking around your own town during the Christmas season, and you see a grumpy person walking around muttering to themselves, you'll know who it is.

A worship minister.

[psalm63adam]

Weekly RAVE - week of 1/5/03

I love the NFL playoffs.

When it comes to ranking the "big four" sports when it comes to my interest level, it goes like this:

4. NBA basketball. I hate this stuff. Someone accurately described an NBA game as "four overpaid players pushing their guys out of the way so that one overpaid, whiny superstar can drive the lane and miss the shot." The only teams worth watching are the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings, because they actually play the NBA as a TEAM SPORT.

3. MLB baseball. It's fun to go to a game, to eat the peanuts and sunflower seeds and all of that, but as a TV watching sport, my answer is "no, I'd rather experiment with sharp power tools on myself all night then to watch this junk." The Rangers and the Royals have built a spring training stadium 1 1/2 miles away from my house, though, so I will probably go to a few games.

2. NFL football. As you will see down a bit further.

1. NHL hockey. What can I say? I'm a sucker for fast-action, puck-handling, fist-flying, goal-sniping, goalie-saving hockey anyday. Heck, the Phoenix Coyotes stadium is being built 10 miles from my house, so maybe I'll get season tickets or something. Or at least go when they play the Avalanche, my personal favorite team. Plus I have NHL Center Ice, which means I can see any game I pretty much want to on TV. Yeah!

But the NFL playoffs rule. This past Saturday night, there were two blowouts which were a little boring, but to see two young exciting quarterbacks, Pennington for the Jets, and Vick for the Falcons, whoop it up on more seasoned veterans was fun to watch.

And then Sunday happened. Holy cow. That's what the NFL is all about, baby - comebacks. To see the Steelers come back against the Browns in dramatic fashion, and then to see the 49ers do the same against the Giants, that was exciting! I grew up a Broncos fan and got to see Elway seemingly come back every week, but there's nothing like seeing a team come back against seemingly insurmountable odds in the NFL playoffs. There's nothing better.

Except for NHL playoff hockey - of course.

[psalm63adam]

RANT of the week - Week of 1/12

In browsing some of the forums that I normally browse (usually deep weighty topics such as "video games", "sports" and "books"), I came across something that inspired me for this week's rant.

The rant is this: Why does Christianity and "Republicanism" (for lack of a better term) have to go hand in hand?

I had friends at my home church in Colorado who would look at you as if you were an alien if you told them that you were a...gasp! DEMOCRAT. All nice thought of you would turn to "I never knew he/she was a left-wing liberal!"

Who says you have to be a democrat and be liberal?

Sure, there are some things about the Democratic party that I don't like. I don't like that they have a lovey-dovey relationship with the unions, with the NEA, with Planned Parenthood and NOW and all those other organizations.

But, there are other things that I do like about Democrats.

Mainly, I like that they are actually concerned about the poor, the elderly, those who are downtrodden. I believe that Jesus would probably be concerned about the same people as well, don't you think? I'd much rather have someone in government who was concerned about saving people's lives and helping people in need than someone who was primarily concerned about beefing up the military and making sure that there can be prayer in schools, etc.

I mostly vote Republican, ok, so don't hate me. But if there is a Democrat or hey, even someone from another party (don't stone me), who I think has more integrity and is more concerned with the people they are senator over, or representative over, or governor over or whatever, than with politics as usual, then I will probably vote for them.

And I'm a Christian. Imagine that.

[psalm63adam]

RANT of the week-

Okay, so this is the end of the week, and I really haven't thought much about any rants or raves - until today. I was looking at the latest edition of CCM magazine, which I think now that April Hefner is no longer editor, it's getting worse as a magazine, and in my opinion, irrelevant.

Anyway, that's not what this is about. I was looking at the magazine, reading the review of Caedmon's Call's new CD called Back Home. I like Caedmon's Call, I liked them a lot when they first came out, and each CD that comes out I like them less and less. Probably just a personal thing. My favorite of their CD's is actually their indie CD "My Calm/Your Storm". Anyway, I was reading the review, and it said this:

"Back Home is the band's fifth major-label release, bringing together the intelligent approach to worship music of last year's In The Company Of Angels: A Call To Worship and the earthy, singer/songwriter sensibility that flows from the 1997 self-titled debut through 2000's Long Line Of Leavers."

What the heck does "intelligent approach to worship music" mean?

Anyway, it got me thinking about all of the CCM artists that have jumped on the worship bandwagon. It probably really kicked off with the success of Third Day's gajillion selling CD "Offerings". Pretty soon, every CCM artist and band that wanted to sell more albums decided to put out a "Worship" album: Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Caedmon's Call, etc.

My point? Why don't you leave worship music to worship leaders, okay?

When I buy a CCM artist's CD (which isn't often), I'm looking for something that defines that artist: Jars of Clay's artistical ingenuity, Caedmon's Call's acoustic musings, DC Talk's blend of rap, rock, and weirdness (i.e. Toby Mac, Michael Tait, and Kevin Max, in that order).

I'm not looking for ______________ (enter CCM artist here)'s interpretation of worship (whether it be intelligent or not), or their version of certain worship songs, or even new worship songs written by said CCM artist. When I'm looking for a worship CD, I look for a worship leader who is leading worship on a weekly basis at a church and who knows what it means to usher people into God's presence.

Not CCM artists who know what it means to sell more CD's.

Period.

[psalm63adam]

Weekly RANT - week of 1/26

I've noticed that I haven't really had a RAVE except for basically one time in my blog, so maybe I should think of some good things in life - I guess I'm just a pessimist at heart.

Anyway, it's time to RANT. Rather than be original this week, I thought I would give you what someone else ranted about, which I absolutely agree with. Tell me what you think:


We encounter many things every day that we take on faith. We take them on faith because to do otherwise would be to admit that almost everyone in every part of the world around us is smiling and lying to our faces.

When your waiter brings you the check and says, "I'll take that up whenever you're ready," that's a lie. What she or he really is saying is, "I'll take that up in about twenty minutes when I get around to coming back to this table. And then I'll keep waiting another ten minutes before I bring you your change. And instead of bringing you even a single five-dollar bill, I will bring you five one-dollar bills in order to encourage you to tip me generously despite my maddening habit of failng to make eye contact with any of the occupants of my tables to prevent them from disturbing my dy with frivolous requests for drink refills."

Hot-Pockets are a lie. Yes, it is true that many of us, myself included, seem only too willing to consume our food in "pockets." With the exception of the pita, however, no food on earth naturally occurs in the form of a pocket. Hot-Pockets are not a convenient dinner-delivery system; they are a combination of vaguely cheese-like substance and something masquerading as a derivative of what might once have been an animal. There is nothing reassuring about this, no matter how happy the people in the commercials seem to be.

You know that little cardboard sleeve lined with some sort of gray, nonmetallic foil that comes with Hot-Pockets? That thing that is supposed to make the Hot-Pocket crispy? That's a lie. The Hot-Pocket sleep imparts as much crispiness as the crisper in my refrigerator. Which is to say, if it's possible, that a negative quantity of crispiness is permeated through the Hot-Pocket.

When the cashier tells you to have a nice day, that's a lie. Your cashier hates you. Your cashier hates her life, her family, and her job. Your cashier hates the fact that anyone over sixty-five is convinced that some sort of organized crime pyramid scheme is taking place at the checkout, a crime that can only be foiled by holding up everyone in line disputing every single price produced by the scanner and then laboriously examining the receipt. Your cashier would like you to take your badly-bagged groceries and go away, thank you. And if, by some sadistic twist of fate, you answer the question, "Paper or plastic?" with the answer, "Paper in plastic," your cashier secretly hopes you will be run down in the parking lot by a woman named Edith Krunkel who is not watching what's in front of her Buick Roadmaster because she's still reading the expired coupon for Metamucil that she's certain they should have accepted.

There are countless other lies, big and small, that we tell ourselves every day.

I would go into further detail, but my Hot-Pockets are burning.

[psalm63adam]

RAVE - week of 2/3/03

Well, lookee here! I'm actually going to be positive, rather than negative. Well, maybe I'll throw in a little negative...

Anyway, I got the Dashboard Confessional CD "The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most". I know it's been out for a couple of years now, but I haven't really noticed DC until the whole MTV Unplugged thing.

I like it.

I sometimes wish Carabba would do more quiet singing than the sometimes screechy high vocals that he does, but I think it works.

Here's my point to this RAVE. You can't question his passion. When he sings the last song "This Bitter Pill", and he starts "screeching" at the end, you can just feel the emotion dripping from him. When he sings "It's wearing off and it's leaving you with such a heavy heart and a head to match. The bottle is waiting the cap is twisted begging to be used and so are you.", you know that he's not just singing the words, he's feeling the words. He's becoming the words.

I wish that I could match his passion for songs about breaking up with girls, heartache, and wishing for real love with my passion for God in the worship songs that I lead each and every Sunday. I wish that when I'm singing "And I will lift my voice to worship You my King, and I will find my strength in the shadow of Your wings", that people could not only know that I'm singing the words, but that I'm feeling the words. That I'm becoming them.

I don't know if I could ever do that. Not on a Sunday. Not when I'm supposed to be the "I have it all together, watch me lead these worship songs with confidence and enthusiasm" leader that people expect me to be. I wish I could just in a worship song, when I'm singing "Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel, will I dance for You Jesus, or in awe of You be still", and I'm thinking as I'm singing about heaven, and standing there before my Savior, and I'm thinking about my mother who died of cancer when I was 18, and what it would be like to see her again, that I could let it all hang out. That I could fall to my knees and weep with tears of joy for the future and anguish for the past and present, and become the song I'm singing.

Could it ever happen? Not bloody likely. But I can let my passion flow in my own heart, in my quiet time, in the way I love my wife and in the way I'm already starting to love my daughter growing in my wife's womb.

Maybe that's enough.

[psalm63adam]

Weekly RANT – Week of 2/9/03

I like America.

I wish I could say that I love America, but I’m beginning to become annoyed more and more at the behavior of my fellow Americans. We’re rude on the road, we drive big cars that are gas guzzlers, and we like blood sausage (sorry, had to throw that in from the movie Groundhog Day). We are more concerned with our own welfare than those who are less fortunate than we are. Christians in America seem to believe that being a “Christian nation” is our God-given right. Isn’t it funny that we really think that America is going to be heavily involved in the end times of Revelation? I don’t see any mention of our country anywhere.

But where I’m beginning to dislike my country more and more is in this area:

Patriotism gone wrong.

Hey, don’t misunderstand me. I can be as patriotic as the next person. There are times when I’m very proud to be an American – of course it was harder during the Clinton era, but the times are still there.

Let me give you two areas of patriotism that makes me shudder in my American-made (I think) shoes:

First of all, I don’t like what I call “reactionary patriotism”. What I mean by that is that when there is a big national tragedy, or a war, then people begin supporting America. After the 9/11 tragedy, patriotism was at an all-time high. Flags were in high demand. You would drive down a street, and there would be flags on poles, flags in windows. It seemed like every car had a flag bumper sticker or at least something American.

My question is, “Why did people decide to become patriotic after the 9/11 tragedy?” Why weren’t people patriotic before? Why aren’t we “proactive patriots” rather than reactive ones? Why do we have to wait for a huge tragedy in America in order to grab a flag, wave it proudly, and declare that we are Americans, and we’re proud to be so?

The other area is what I call “patriotism sells.” After the 9-11 tragedy, it seemed like every commercial you saw on T.V. had an American flag waving proudly in the corner, or a shot of a New York firefighter, or something American. In fact, the reason I’m thinking of this right now is that the collision repair shop right next to my church’s offices just put up a huge flag that is two times higher than the building. I know for a fact that it’s not because all of a sudden they became proud Americans. It’s so that people will be driving by, see the huge flag, and ask themselves, “Who has that huge flag hanging over that building,” and they’ll go over and see what it is and think, “Hmmm, since I’m already here, I do have a ding in my door, so I guess I’ll get it fixed.” In fact, I’ve made it a point not to go to places that try to sell me something by pretending to be patriotic. I’m not buying it.

Patriotism gone wrong. I guess I’m just not as American as I thought I was.

[psalm63adam]

RANT - week of 2/16/03.

I've been delaying this post trying to find a story that I think would go rather well with what I'm going to rant about, but I could never find the story, so I'm going to have to loosely paraphrase, and probably not even get the story right.

The year was 1917. Russia. As the country was about to be swept away by the Bolshevik Revolution and the Communist Party, there was a conference being held by the Russian Orthodox Church. Was it to openly defy the communists? Was it to rally the Russian people and give hope to the hopeless?

No. They were fighting over what kind of communion chalice they were going to start using.

So as their country was basically going to "hell in a handbasket", as the saying goes, the church was fighting over dumb issues that really shouldn't have mattered.

Which brings me to my rant. The Theology Forum. I don't know if you've been there, but if you haven't, don't.

A lot of the threads deal with the ongoing battle between Calvinism and Arminianism. Unfortunately, I got into the debate, and I heard such comments such as "can the words Arminian and scholar actually go together?".

Come on, people. Does it really matter? What is our responsibility as Christians? Is it to endlessly debate each other over issues that are non-essential when it comes to salvation? Yes, that's right, Calvinism vs. Arminianism is a non-essential issue. Of course, there are other debates going on in there as well, but most of them are the same way: debating over issues that really don't matter.

Mark Twain used to say he put a dog and a cat in a cage together as an experiment, to see if they could get along. They did, so he put in a bird, pig and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic; soon there was not a living thing left.

Surprisingly, Mark Twain was not a Christian (that's sarcasm, folks.) I'm sure he saw the hypocrisy of Christianity, where Christians are supposed to love each other, support each other and encourage each other, but he saw the opposite in practice.

John Calvin himself said this about Christian unity:

“Among Christians there ought to be so great a dislike of schism, as that they may always avoid it so fast as lies in their power. That there ought to prevail among them such a reverence for the ministry of the word and the sacraments that wherever they perceive these things to be, there they must consider the church to exist...nor need it be of any hinderance that some points of doctrine are not quite so pure, seeing that there is scarcely any church which has not retained some remnants of former ignorance.”

Not surprisingly, a majority of the debaters in the theology forum are students who are going to some kind of Bible college. It reminds me of what Mark Buchanan had to say about Bible college in his book "Your God Is Too Safe":

"We go to Bible college, hoping that will inoculate us against spiritual languor, will create in us robust faith. But many theological schools and bible colleges are built on borderlands. There is the danger in such places that we will learn much about God and at the same time grow distant from God; we will study the intricacies of doctrine, but lose passion; we will become eloquent at God talk, but cease talking to God."

That's not a condemnation of Bible colleges, just a warning. And it's a warning to those who debate in the theology forum. Don't spend all your time fighting with fellow Christians over non-essential issues. We would all be a church of one person if we were adamant that everyone believed the same as us.

[guitarplayer4jc]

I like that. I used to be quite active in the Calvinism/Arminianism debates, but I have since largely withdrawn. This occured at the same time that I started posting on a 'New Age' board. What is more important: the salvation of a soul, or the 'conversion' of a mind from Calvinism to Arminianism? Granted, good theology is important and we should make every effort to sharpen our perception of God. But couldn't our time be better spent building each other up to follow God and reach a lost world than by arguing about issues that never seem to reach a definite conclusion? This debating seems a bit petty sometimes.

On a different note... You have a nice writing style. Have you ever considered writing a column for a periodical? I think you would do a great job.

[psalm63adam]

Originally posted by guitarplayer4jc
I like that. I used to be quite active in the Calvinism/Arminianism debates, but I have since largely withdrawn. This occured at the same time that I started posting on a 'New Age' board. What is more important: the salvation of a soul, or the 'conversion' of a mind from Calvinism to Arminianism? Granted, good theology is important and we should make every effort to sharpen our perception of God. But couldn't our time be better spent building each other up to follow God and reach a lost world than by arguing about issues that never seem to reach a definite conclusion? This debating seems a bit petty sometimes.

I totally agree. I think that it's fine to debate people, in fact it's healthy to do so...within reason. And again, the Calvinism/Arminianism is not an essential issue, so it's okay to have freedom and liberty to be one or the other. It's just so weird because I'll go in there to ask a question about something, and someone will start arguing with me, and I don't get it. I was there just to ask a question - it wasn't loaded or anything, it was just a question. So I'm staying away from the theology forum, at least for awhile.

On a different note... You have a nice writing style. Have you ever considered writing a column for a periodical? I think you would do a great job.

Thanks! I used to do a lot of writing as a youth minister, and now that I'm a worship minister, obviously my main objective each week is to prepare and lead worship, so the other things I enjoy doing, i.e. writing and teaching, get put on the back burner. That's why I decided to stay on CGR, because it gives me a chance to write, and reflect as well, which I think is important as a Christian.

[psalm63adam]

RAVE - Week of 2/16/03

There are three kinds of people I enjoy having in my life.

First of all, family. Although I don't have a large family - actually it's very small, since pretty much my side of the family consists of two brothers and a grandmother - we do get along and hang out when we can.

Secondly, friends. As I get older, I understand more and more the importance of having people who know you, I mean really know you - the good, the bad, and the ugly. My best friend, who has been my best friend since 7th grade, moved a couple of months ago to a house two miles away from my house with his wife, who is my wife's best friend. It's been great being able to hang out with them again, play the X-box, talk about life, God and the universe in general.

And thirdly, authors. I'm an avid book reader, and try to read somewhere between 3-4 books a week. I had to get a library card because I was spending way too much money on books. In my life, authors are essentially just like friends and family - you hang out with them, you get to know them as you listen to their stories, you connect.

There are some authors that you connect more with. Oftentimes, it's because they write in a genre that you like more than others. For example, I enjoy reading books by Terry Brooks, because I like fantasy (or as my wife puts it, Xena warrior-princess books). Because I don't like the genre of Romance, I'm unfamiliar with the authors and the books of that genre.

Let me get to my rave.

I believe that another reason why we connect with authors is that it seems like they are writing your own life story. As you go through life and experience the joys, struggles, ups and downs of this thing we call "the Christian life", sometimes it feels like a writer is travelling the same road with you, offering advice, explanation and wisdom.

Philip Yancey is that writer for me. If you've never read any of his books, I would strongly encourage you to buy one. Any one. All of them are great. Let me explain why I consider Philip Yancey as a friend and a family member:

- After I lost my mother to cancer when I was eighteen, a friend introduced me to Philip Yancey's book Where Is God When It Hurts? , a book that talks not only about the seeming absence of God in the midst of suffering, but how Christians sometimes make our suffering worse by assuming the role of Job's friends and questioning our faith in relation to our suffering. It was exactly what I needed to get through that difficult time.

- In 1994, I found out I had a brain tumor, and it was when I was recovering from surgery, that I read Disappointment With God . As I was wrestling with a God who doesn't always do what we want Him to do, it was a perfect companion to my wrestling. When I had to go back in for a second surgery six months later, I read the book again.

- At a time I was struggling with the issue of legalism vs. grace, Philip Yancey came out with What's So Amazing About Grace? My favorite quote on grace is found in that book: "There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less."

- The Jesus I Never Knew came at a time when I was searching for the true Jesus, not the Jesus I was taught about at church.

- When I was struggling with church politics, the possibility of getting out of the ministry, and the role of the church in my life, Yancey gave me the gift of Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived The Church . I identified with his struggle with the church, and he helped me through that struggle with his words of hope for what the church offers.

So thanks, Philip Yancey. Thanks for traveling that long road with me, offering me encouragement, insight, hope and your friendship.