Almost There

It's the eve of Jenni's return from an almost 4 day trip to Texas, seventy-five percent of our kids are asleep, and I've finally got a little time to reflect on the past few days. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to actually do that, so I'll just summarize with a few quotes from our little adventure.

• Mayah: Why did you let me have a cookie even though I didn't eat all the food you told me to eat?
• Me: Can someone put Emma's hair in a low bun? Her dance picture is in 30 minutes.
  
• Emma: Did Adam and Eve die in the seventies?
• Ella: But Gram lets me break the eggs when we make cookies.
• Me (silently...and numerous times): One, two, three, four.
  
• Jeff B.: Snake!
• Ella: But Mommy doesn't [insert description of anything I did in the kitchen].
• Emma: Can we dissect the snake to see what it ate?
• The nice lady working the gate at the Tucson Zoo: Sir, that is your membership card for the Children's Museum.

Defending the Turf

My friend Jeff likes to come over and try to catch lizards in the back yard. He typically fails in his quest, but the intensity he brings to the Kelley yard undeniably adds flavor to our lives. Yesterday's events were no exception. Just when he had a rather large lizard cornered, Jeff found something else. Fortunately, after a bit of commotion, he had the wherewithal to grab a shovel.

A New Legend is Born

Am I the only one out there who didn't know Stephen Colbert could sing? He is indeed the entire package.

Time is Money...Maybe

We have several friends in Tucson who are involved in service to the Kingdom that requires them to receive all or part of their salaries from the Church.  I say Church with a capital "C" because these folks are supported financially both by the local body and various individuals or groups of individuals from elsewhere.  Perhaps in a perfect world, necessary funding could be obtained exclusively from the local church, but this world isn't perfect and quite frankly, there just don't seem to be too many people in Tucson who love Jesus or his Kingdom.  So we have to make the most of things, and "support raising" is embraced as part of life.

I've had several conversations with those who are on both the giving and receiving ends of this support of late, and everyone involved seems to recognize a certain level of awkwardness.  This clearly stems at least in part from asking for and being asked for money. But I think there's much more to it than that.  Upon reflection, I've noticed something about myself and quite possibly about some current thinking that extends way beyond me.  Let me elaborate.

The typical support raising conversation (sometimes written, sometimes verbal, but always deeply spiritual) goes something like this:

Here's what is going on with the Kingdom of God in Tucson.

Wow.

Here's my role in that.

Sounds pretty cool.

Will you pray about possibly providing financial support?

Yes, I'll be happy to pray about it.

End of conversation.

On the surface, this sounds like a pretty decent Kingdom-enhancing exercise. After all, the idea of praying through decisions and truly asking God what He has for us should be part of our way of life.  And as it pertains to finances, the idea is particularly compelling since Jesus said things like this and this.  But the above conversation is still just plain odd - not simply in the sense that talking about money is odd (why it's odd is another topic...) - but odd in comparison to many other conversations we routinely conduct as we do life together in the local church and beyond.

Here's what I mean.  How often do we ask each other to meet for coffee and conversation? To help move furniture?  To make a meal for a hurting friend? To celebrate a victory?  To simply sit in silence together?  To host a small get together?

In my context, these conversations happen pretty often.  Yet no one prefaces these questions with "Will you pray about..." And what about the typical response?  If my friend asks me to help move furniture or give him a place to cry, "Uh, yeah, let me pray about that and get back to you next week" doesn't have a very nice ring to it.

But really, what's the difference here?  Just like money, time and energy are resources God has given us to appropriately allocate for His Kingdom.  So it seems to me we should be viewing all of these things in a similar vein.  Can't we somehow extend the whole parable of the talents to apply to all resources with which we are entrusted?

So, here's the answer you've all been eagerly awaiting...the disconnect is that we simply don't take time and energy seriously and if we were as serious in these areas as we are about money, the Kingdom would expand and God would be praised.  And as an added bonus, if we start taking all our resources as seriously as we do money, all these conversations about giving will suddenly become less awkward.

Actually, that's not it.  Making that statement with a straight face would be a covert operation to disguise the lust in my heart for money and status.  In other words, it would be confessing a small and socially acceptable sin as a smokescreen for a deeply sinful mindset that corrupts the very fiber of my being.

I think the sobering truth is that "I'll pray about giving money" is too often appropriately translated "Thank God you gave me a way out on this one.  I'll gladly blame my unwillingness to share my stuff on my passionate pursuit of God.  Now get out of my face and don't ask me again, you fool."

Just to be clear, I don't think the talents are strictly limited to financial resources, and we'd be wise to act and think accordingly.  But, perhaps more importantly, can we create a culture that cuts to the real issues here? Please? I'm tired of pretending.

That Time of Year Again

Sunday marked the beginning of Birthday Season.  Will celebrated his first, and he'll be followed by Mayah next Sunday and Ella the Saturday after that.  That's right folks, July is a very special month in the Kelley household...

Here's to Dreaming

If you want to build a ship, don't summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs, and organize the work, rather teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I ran across this the other day, and it's stuck with me much longer than most things of its nature. So perhaps it's worth sharing. It seems to apply to many areas of life. But more importantly, it begs the question: What is the ocean?

Yielding to the Pressure

For some time now, there has been a mounting pressure surrounding me. While part was self-imposed, the majority came from my lovely bride. It started about halfway through her fourth pregnancy and has intensified over the eighteen months since.

Come on, you really should.

Lots of your friends have done it.

There are so many options that make it really quick and easy.

We’ve got four kids now, so I think it’s well past justified.

What are you scared of? It’s not a root canal.

If not for you, do it for me. Please.

So, after much contemplation, conversation, and gut-wrenching anxiety, I yielded to the pressure. Yes, it’s true. I’ve officially started a blog. And, you know, Jenni was right. This is definitely something I should do, and I now feel much better about it. For the four of you who may actually care, I hope what ensues is useful in some meaningful way.

Okay, enough on the decision to blog. It's time for real stuff. In the spirit of being timely and relevant (since that's what we in the blogging community are), I devote the remainder of this inaugural post to one of the greatest perennial events in all of sports – March Madness. The NCAA tournament is here, and it’s time to celebrate. I’ve filled out the brackets and been to the parties and, don’t get me wrong, those things are great. But this year, there's a new and unique way to get the most bang for the buck (well, 20 bucks, but who’s really counting?). It’s a true once in a lifetime experience.