I thought today would NEVER get here!  We leave for Colorado as soon as I get off of work tonight.  Please pray that we make it there and back safely.  I’m usually not to concerned with these long trips, but at Christmas, our normal 12 hour trip took over 19 hours (because of weather).  Now, our Exloder… sorry… Explorer’s tranny is acting up.  We’ve taken it to two different shops to have it serviced, but Ford, being the stingy company that it is, is the only one who can service the transmissions on their vehicles because it is a sealed system and only Ford has the tools to service them!  Ford wants almost $500 to service JUST THE TRANNY!  I remember the good ole’ days when you could just drop the pan, replace the filter, fill ‘er up, and go, all from the comfort of your own garage.  But I must say, these new transmissions shift a whole lot nicer than the old Turbo 400’s!  Anyway, Just pray that we make it safely and our transmission holds out until we can get back. 

"What does it mean?"  That’s the question I keep getting since getting my latest addition to the body art.  It is the girls’ names written in Hebrew.

The two names you can see here are Bryce (Amira in Hebrew), and Kyla (Kyla in Hebrew).

Ren got an itty-bitty, teensy-weensy tattoo on her toe.  It’s "cute" in female jargon.  I think any tattoo on a toe, regardless of how girlie it is, is too manly to be called "cute."  After much convincing that she had 4 girls, a little tattoo wouldn’t hurt (comparitively speaking).  When we were done, the artist, Flex, said, "If you can get a tattoo on you toe, you can get one anywhere!"  Rennee would agree.

It’s "cute" isn’t it?

Bryce has blue hair (see previous post), Kyla pierced her naval, and the tweebs are goth’s now.  Ok, we’re not to that point yet, but someday… someday.  ; ) 

 This is one of those days to remember.  I am handing over controls of my blog to Bryce so that she can tell you about  her day in her own words.  So, here she is… in her own words.

 Bryce

I dyed my hair blue today.  Guess who did it?  Meredith!  and she did a good job and if you been to Meredith’s shop then you no what it looks like it is bright green with trees.  After she dyed it blue she seaid she was not going to show me my hair i was upset but i’m glad that i did let her do what she did because it turned out realey good all curley  and blue.When i get it wet it slowly turn’s a liter blue and i am going to co monday night and i am going to have to go swiming and it will get liter.    before school start’s i have to cut it off  because it is perniment  that’s why.     Sorry i have to go  before my dad  start’s bouncen arownd like a bowncey  ball.

I could so let Rennee do this post, but who know’s when it would get posted.  No knock on Ren, she’s just way busy right now working this weekend and getting ready to leave for Colorado (WOO-HOO).  But we have BIG NEWS!

ANNA IS WALKING!!!

That’s right, you heard it here first!  I was just checking my emails and she let go of the coffee table and walked over to me!  I’m the only one awake, so no one saw it but me.  But she took two steps yesterday for Rennee!  Emma is still too restless to care about such things as walking.  She’d rather hop everywhere, which requires someone holding onto her.  This is one of those times I wish I had a video camera!  Although I absolutely love my Canon Rebel xti EOS, still pictures just can’t catch the smile on her face when she stands there ready to take a step.  Oh well.

One more thing, Rennee and I had a date night last night and we spent almost 6 hours down in downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum, to be more precise.  I won’t break the other big news on my post, but you have to beg Rennee to tell, or rather show, you her big news.  I won’t even hint about it, so don’t ask me… bug her on her journal about it.  But it’s BIG NEWS too!  I’m so happy!  That’s all I’ll say about it.  But I can’t tell (or show) you my news until she tells everyone about hers, so bug her often!

I know, I know.  I’m late with the announcement… I apologize, Jeff.  I dropped the ball.  I’ll make it up to you by letting you drive my car one day. 

Well, it’s true.  On Wednesday, June 20, 2007, Jeff and Ingrid Gordon welcomed Ella Sofia Gordon into their home.  Little Ella was 7 pounds 1 ounce.  Congrats, Jeff!  And good luck at Infineon this weekend… but I wish I could have seen Mark Martin rock the number 24!  That would have been one of the coolest things on earth!  Oh well, at least you’ll get to race the track you feel at home on.

I was talking to a friend of mine, Paul Watson,  yesterday and we got to discussing many different aspects of our faith, one of which is good and evil.  He then begins to tell me of how his dad, David Watson (one of the greatest global Church Planters to ever live), talks of good and evil.  I could write an entire post of what I know of David Watson (who has trained hundreds if not thousands of church planters all over the world).  And I’ve only actually met the man one time.

Anyway, in our discussion of good and evil, Paul showed me something that is still rocking my world.  Have you ever tried to define good and evil?  It’s not as easy as one might think.  I could not come up with an adequate definition on my own, so here is how dictionary.com defines good and evil:

Good (there are 32 definitions for "Good"): 

morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious

Bad (there are 24 definitions for "Bad" – Interesting, isn’t it?  There are more ways to be good, than to be bad?):  

not good in any manner or degree

But even with every definition used, there still seems to be something missing, something that still doesn’t quite make it all fit.  So here is how David Watson has described good and evil (according to Paul Watson):

Good:  Anything that draws someone near to God

Evil:  Anything that draws you away from God

Now, if you are theologically astute, like my most-humble self, some red flags just started waving like a checkered flag at Daytona!  If you are not theologically astute, let me wave those flags for you.  

If you say that good is anything that draws you toward God, then what may be good for you may be evil to me.  For example,  a traditional Southern Baptist worship service with the organ and piano and hymns does anything but draw me to God.  I can’t worship like that because I’m too distracted by all the "noise."  (I like hymns… if they’re done well.  And by "well" I mean with electric guitars, drums, and a guy leading with tattoos and a Mohawk.)  So, by that definition, that worship service would be evil.  On the other hand, those people who thoroughly enjoy that type of worship cannot stand my type of worship, which is totally cool, because one style of worship just doesn’t work.  We need those different types.

Ok, that was flag numero uno.  Flag numero dos:  These definitions, at first glance sound a bit like relativism.  Relativism is huge in post modernity.  "What is true for you, may not be true for me."  Or, "What is good for you, is evil for me." 

Both of those flags have merit, but are defunct because of one thing.  These definitions do not exclude the fact that there is "pure" good and "pure" evil, or a reference point for defining good and evil.  Pure good would be the birth of Jesus Christ as God in human form to take on the sins of humanity.  Pure evil would be someone savagely beating a 3-year-old little girl and then raping her.  By anyone’s standards, regardless of their belief in God, would say that is a purely evil thing.

Can evil things be good?  Yes.  Let’s look at two examples.  First, the holocaust.  Regardless of your belief (or disbelief) of the holocaust, we would all agree that that event was a grievous event.  Was it pure evil?  Yes.  But did some good (according to our definition above) come from it?  Yes.  Some people were drawn closer to God.  I heard a holocaust survivor talk about how they were not living the proper Jewish life until the holocaust, but because of that event they now live for God and have never looked back.

Another example would be hurrican Katrina.  I’m not going to get into the debate that some of you want me to enter into of whether or not I believe God caused Katrina.  I don’t know, and I don’t care.  Debate done.  But was Katrina a horrible event that we can view as evil?  Yes.  But did some good come from it?  Yes.  I heard a pastor from New Orleans speak in Colorado just after Katrina and he said that the Sunday after Katrina, their worship service (that was being held in a park because lack of a building) was packed out and lasted for over 3 hours.  People were drawn to God. 

I think that these definitions of good and evil are dead-on.  So, to answer my headline question, "Good and Evil:  Does it exist?"  Yes.  There are things that draw us to God, and things that draw us away from God.

I want to hear your comments on this.  I’m still trying to process this and want to know what others are thinking about this.   

It’s true.  They call me a nerd.  A geek.  And for that I say, "Thank you."  But let me tell you a horrible, deep, dark secret.  I’m a wannabe.  This website?  A mask.  Anyone can do what I do here, even if you don’t know jack about the net… well, ok, you need some idea of what you’re doing, but not much.  Thank you to all who keep telling me how impressed they are with my web design skills, but I didn’t build this site.  It’s a template from Squarespace. 

But, being the wannabe that I am, I find all kinds of awesome stuff on the web that the general public just doesn’t know about and it is my job to make sure that you find your way to those places to partake of the awesome-ness.  One such site is Squidoo.  One of my business heroes, Seth Godin, is the founder and "head squidoo".   "What is squidoo?" you say?  Well, basically you go to the site, type in whatever you are interested in… and by whatever, I mean WHATEVER and it will show you other people who are interested in the same things and what they are saying about said subject.  But you really have to give it a try for yourself, don’t take my word for it.

"Do you have a squidoo lens?"  Boy, I’m glad you asked that question!  Just goes to show how brilliant you really are!  Genious, that is the word that describes you best.  Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have a squidoo page.  Well, it’s not mine per se.  My partner in crime built it and manages it, but it’s for the Church Planting Network I work for.  You can see it here.

My pastor, Bob Roberts, Jr. posted an amazing journal entry today on his blog.  For you SBC people out there… pay attention.  Yes, it is long, but never have I ever read a blog that moved me in such a way as this.  Bob’s words are my heart’s cry.

Go HERE to read this. 

My good friend, Donnie, has a new website that is worth checking out.  He’s incredibly brilliant (sometimes he out-thinks himself).  On Father’s Day, he wrote a commentary on Noah’s sons that is awesome.  Go read it. 

How we met Donnie and Meredith is a good story.  Last year we (the Church Planters) were being introduced to the church for the first time.  None of us had really met (one time briefly before that, but we didn’t get to talk to anyone).  Rennee was at home on house rest because of the twins and I was alone.  I overheard Donnie and Meredith talking about how Meredith was a cosmetologist  and I thought to myself, "Hmm… Rennee can’t reach her toes…"  So I asked if Meredith would come to our house and give Rennee a pedicure.  She said she would and they came over a few days later.  Just a few short weeks later, the tweebs show up and Donnie and Meredith were one of the first to come visit us in the hospital.  We’ve been awesome friends ever since.  Donnie and I are going to go get tattoo’s later this week… I can’t wait!